The change game begins

...towards a better life for the people VOL. 25: NO. 62416

**

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

N150

The change game begins zThe Special Handover Pullout 25

zAs Buhari takes over from Jonathan

...Says Jonathan changed Nigeria's political history “SINCE the telephone call you made, you have changed the course of Nigeria’s political history and for that you have earned yourself a place in our history, for stabilising multi-party democratic system and you have earned the respect of not only Nigerians but world leaders”.

By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North; Ben Agande, Levinus Nwabughiogu and Emmanuel Elebeke

A

BUJA —”Since the telephone call you made, you have changed the course of Nigeria’s political history and for that you have earned yourself a place in our

TOP AGENDA FOR BUHARI: Why 8 subsidy must go (3) Adesina 24 emerges AfDB President C M Y K

history, for stabilising multi-party democratic system and you have earned the respect of not only Nigerians but world leaders”.

These words from the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari to Continues on Page 5

Mr & Mrs

2 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 3

C M Y K

4 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 —5

POCKET CARTOON

HANDOVER—From left: Alhaji Lai Mohammed; Mr. Musiliu Obanikoro and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State during the official presentation of Handover notes to the President-Elect at the Aso Chambers, State House, Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida.

The change game begins Continues from Page 1

out-going President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, summed up the mood at the council chambers of the Presidential Villa as President Jonathan presented hand-over notes to his successor, Buhari, who will be sworn in today.

Speaking at the Presidential Villa after receiving the hand-over notes as well as the report of the National Conference from President Jonathan, Buhari said by the singular phone call that Jonathan made to him conceding defeat, he has changed the course of the nation’s political history.

According to Buhari, by choosing to concede defeat, President Jonathan saved the lives

of many Nigerians that would have been lost if he had insisted on sitting tight.

He said President Jonathan was capable of using the power of incumbency to scuttle the electoral process at the expense of the lives of poor Nigerians, but he chose to toe the path of honour and selflessness.

Buhari continued: “All the leaders who spoke to me and congratulated us for arriving at the point we arrived, mentioned this and I could understand a lot of relief in their voices that Nigeria has made it after all and this is largely owed to a situation.

“You could have made things difficult and that would have been at the expense of lives of poor Nigerians, but you chose the path of honour and

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE When you want to attract something into your life...think about what you have asked for and make sure that your actions are mirroring what you expect to receive— B Byrne

T

O become who you want to be in life then act upon the inner picture, as if everyone you meet is part of your intention to attract ideal people into your life. Share with others your needs and desires.

Talk to experts who might be of assistance, and state your desires. They’ll want to help you. Don’t expect anyone else to do the work of attracting the right people for whatever you seek, be it a job, admission to college, a financial boost.

Be proactive and stay alert for a sign of synchronicity, that is when an experience occurs one time too many drawing your attention to something that is important for you to do in the moment. And by all means, do avoid resistance thoughts; such negativity only affirms what you do not need in your life. Remember, if you focus attention on other people’s lives, you tend to attract those things you do not want to yourself.

C M Y K

may God help all of us.

Thank you very much, Your Excellency,” he said.

The hand-over notes On his part, President Jonathan told Buhari before handing over the notes as well as the report of the National Conference that “this will give you (Buhari) a mission statement of the commitment of this government for the past five years and the directions we are going that will help you to navigate.

“It is my pleasure, on behalf of the Vicepresident, members of the executive council and other senior functionaries to formally hand over these notes to Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, the Presidentelect who will assume office tomorrow (today).

Congratulations.

“There is another document that I will hand over to you; to me this is more important than the hand over notes.

The hand-over notes contain the activities of an administration, showing where we started, where we are going. In some of the cases you may follow, in other cases you may take a different approach.

“This is a document that was compiled by Nigerians, the report of the National Conference 2014. We gathered almost 500 Nigerians from all walks of life, and they were not influenced by government in any

way.

“And if most of the recommendations here are followed, most of the grey areas, even in our politics will be smoothened.

This document deals with most of the areas where people complain bitterly, such as corruption. Some of the people here were members of that great body of about 500 egg heads.

“We were unable to implement the report because of the shortness of time. However, we have sent a copy to the National Assembly and this is a document that we are very hopeful that your government will look into and give it the attention it requires.

“It is also my pleasure, on behalf of the Vicepresident, members of the executive council and other senior functionaries and especially the conference members that developed this report, the baby of the nation, to hand over this also to you.”

The President in his address enumerated the achievements of his administration in all sectors of the economy.

He equally spoke on the challenges his administration had been facing, occasioned by the violent activities of the terrorist group, Boko Haram.

He acknowledged that the Boko Haram menace preceded his administration, but expressed hope that it would be eradicated.

Jonathan also noted that he was optimistic that the abducted Chibok schoolgirls would return safely.

Before presenting the hand-over notes to Buhari, Jonathan had taken the President-elect on a guided tour of the Villa.

No regrets losing Presidency to Buhari — Jonathan Meanwhile, in a related development, President Goodluck Jonathan has said that despite the painful loss of the presidential election to his opponent of the All Progressives Congress, Muhammadu Buhari, he has no regret over his defeat, describing the development as an act of God. The President, who is handing over the mantle of leadership to Buhari

today, spoke at a grand House Reception organised in his honour on Wednesday by Chairman Emeritus of DAAR Communications Plc, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi, owners of AIT and RayPower.

The elaborate sendforth event, which attracted top Nigerians from all walks of life, was held at the Daar Communications Headquarters, Kpaduma Hills, Asokoro and was attended by many top Nigerians, including the Vice President, Namadi Sambo; Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko and Chairman/ Publisher of Vanguard Newspapers, Mr. Sam Amuka.

Jonathan, who was also presented with rare mementos by Dokpesi, said: “By this time people are supposed to be running away from someone who has lost an election but I am being celebrated by Daar Communications Plc. For me, whatever happened in the election I have accepted it in good faith.

Even though, some have argued that those I entrusted with my campaign disappointed me but I have no regrets for losing because in any political processes, there are all kinds of stories and conspiracies.

“We are a very religious society; whether Christians or Muslims or some other religions, I believe it is the will of God that the election went the way it did. I have always maintained that for the ordinary Nigerian, what is important is the style of governance, not who is even the president.

“Anybody can be the president any day but if the country is peaceful, and economic activities are going on smoothly, our children are going to school, hospitals are okay and they can eat

what they want to eat, then, of course people will be happy.

“I believe the incoming administration will toe that line and Nigerians will begin to see that there is no difference between political parties because even as we see there is no difference between the PDP and the APC. If you look at the number of people that moved from PDP to APC, then you will really see that both parties are almost the same.

“What is important to us as Nigerians is what the government is bringing to bear and I have always maintained that politicians must learn to put the people first. If our aspiration is really for the interest of the people, then you wouldn’t want to hurt these people, you wouldn’t want anybody to be slapped because of your own ambition.

“For me, my ambition is to see what contribution I can make for the ordinary people and that is why their lives are special to me. And I wouldn’t do anything that would create crisis, to kill innocent people.

People should not be surprised for the decision I took in Nigeria. I wouldn’t want to be a party to anything that will diminish this country.

“There is combination of bad and good in my administration just like in any other administration, but what should be uppermost in the mind of the leader is to make sure that the bad is not more than the good. One thing I must always ensure is peace and unity of this country.

“We must have a nation before aspiring to hold any position: without a nation, you can’t be elected to any post. I charge all politicians to consider the people first before self. You can lose Continues on Page 14

6—Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

DEMOCRACY DAY:

Shettima pardons 15 convicts

By Ndahi Marama

M

AIDUGURI— GOVERNOR Kashim Shettima of Borno State has granted pardon to 15 convicts serving various jail terms in the state in exercise of his power as governor to grant prerogative of mercy to convicted persons.

Shettima, who was represented by the outgoing Attorney General of the state and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Kaka Shehu Lawan, said he granted amnesty to the 15 convicts after carefully scrutinising the application for amnesty presented to him for 37 inmates of Maiduguri and Biu prisons.

He said 10 of the 15 prisoners, who received pardon, were from Maiduguri prisons, while the remaining five were picked from Biu prisons.

“We received 37 applications and after thorough scrutiny, 15 inmates were qualified for pardon,” the governor said.

“He also announced a donation of two cows and assorted foodstuffs to the prisons to ensure the inmates celebrate democracy day like others who enjoy freedom,” he said.

Beside, the governor announced donation of N50,000 to each of the female inmates, while each of the 15 pardoned inmates was given undisclosed amounts to assist them purchase clothing and handle their transport fare to their respective communities.

Police rescue 2 abandoned toddlers in Lagos

By Esther Onyegbula

L

AGOS—TWO toddlers, reportedly abandoned in different locations at Owutu, Ikorodu, a suburb of Lagos, have been recovered by police.

It was learned that one of them, a day-old baby girl, purportedly abandoned by a young mother, was found by a good Samaritan identified as Kola Oyekunmi, around Yinka Oguntile Street, Igbolowo Estate at Owutu, Ikorodu.

The other, who is about two years old, was found by one Mrs Adesina Yomi of Olabose Olatan Crescent in the early hours of yesterday.

Kola Oyekunmi, who reported the case of the newborn to Owutu Divisional Police Station, said: “We found the baby by the side of a bush close to our house crying. It was the cry of the baby that alerted residents in the area. Surprisingly, the baby still had blood all over its body and its placenta still attached.

“All attempts by residents in the Estate to find out who gave birth to the baby or who abandoned the baby were futile.

We had no option but to take the baby to the police station.”

Vanguard learned that officers of the Juvenile Welfare Centre section of Owutu Divisional Police, headed by Inspector Bolanle Akinsanmi, took the baby to Ikorodu General Hospital, where its placenta was detached.

The baby is currently undergoing medical care at the

zFoundations fight for baby girl; reject boy over special needs zPolice feed, tend him; DPO in charge of diapers

The boy after police took over care.

One of the toddlers, when he was rescued. intensive unit of the hospital.

Found at dumpsite

Vanguard gathered that Mrs Yomi alerted Owutu Divisional Police, when she discovered the toddler near a dumpsite beside her shop at NEPA area

UNILORIN undergraduate dies, as teaching hospital workers' strike persists

By Demola Akinyemi

I

LORIN—THE ongoing strike in University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, UITH, Ilorin, Kwara State, has led to the untimely death of a female student of the university, who was rushed there on emergency.

The Vice Chancellor, Professor Abdulganiyu Ambali, recalled the sad incident at a meeting with journalists.

He explained that the female student was admitted in the university clinic for three days until there was the need to rush her to the teaching hospital,

60-yr-old woman bites off neighbour's ear

K

ADUNA—A 60 years old woman, Nana Shehu, was hauled before an Upper Sharia Court, Tudun-Wada in Zaria for allegedly biting off her neighbour’s right ear.

The accused, who resides at Kwarin Dangoma, Tudun Jukun, Zaria, is facing a twocount charge of assault and causing grievous harm.

The prosecutor, Sergeant Ado Ahmad-Kofardoka, told the court that the accused

of Isawo Road, at about 6:40a.m.

She said: “When I found the child, I looked around to see if his parents were close by, but there was no one around, apart from passers-by who had gathered around the child. It was then we alerted the police

committed the offences on May 24 at 11a.m.

He said the accused had waylaid and assaulted the 22year-old Ibrahim Saminu, by biting off his right ear.

According to AhmadKofardoka, an iron door that Saminu carried mistakenly hit the accused’s shop, which angered her.

He said: “This led to verbal assault on the complainant. In the ensuing argument, the

accused physically assaulted the complainant and bit off his right ear.”

The prosecutor said the offences contravened Sections 213 and 241 of Penal Code.

The accused pleaded not guilty.

In his ruling, the judge, Malam Muhammad Aliyu, granted her bail in the sum of N50,000 with a surety in like sum and adjourned the case to June 1 for further hearing.

when her condition became critical.

Ambali said: “Unfortunately, when she was taken to the teaching hospital, there was no one to attend to her because they are on strike and by the time she was taken to another private hospital, which was not also in full operations, the lady had passed on.”

Professor Ambali also expressed concern over the high rate of expulsion of students in the university.

He noted that the university authorities always felt sad whenever it resorted to expulsion, adding that the number of expelled students was negligible compared to the total number of students in the university.

“We are established to produce graduates worthy in moral, character, and academic ability that will in turn be models in the society,” he said.

of the discovery.

“He was rushed to Ikorodu General Hospital when the police officers from Owutu Police Division discovered that he was very pale and sick with rashes all over the body and liquid coming out from an injury on his head.

“At the hospital, it was discovered that the reason he could neither sit, stand nor walk was because he is a child with special needs.”

Nursing policewomen

Vanguard gathered that after the child was discharged from the hospital, female police officers on duty took turns to bath, feed and care for the child, as investigations continue.

Police officers of Owutu Police Station bought a mattrass for the baby, and brought their children's clothes for him.

The DPO has taken it on himself to provide diapers for the toddler.

Ironically, while foundations are jostling to take the new baby girl, who is still at the General Hospital, Vanguard gathered that the boy was rejected by officers at the Juvenile Welfare Centre at Alakara on the grounds that they do not have facilities to accommodate the child’s special needs, but referred them to the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Social Development, Alausa.

When Vanguard visited, the child’s health condition had improved, although he was still unable to sit or stand, the injury on his head and rashes on his body were gone.

Vanguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 — 7 FRIDA MAY

8—VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

Why fuel subsidy must go (3)

By Clara Nwachukwu & Sebastine Obasi Continues from yesterday

War of figures

W

HILE the National Assembly appears to be divided over the removal or retention of the subsidy regime, which is believed to be fraught with corruption, different parties are now quoting figures of how much has gone down since President Goodluck Jonathan’s government.

A former governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzo Kalu, last week said: “The Federal Government has spent N6.354 trillion as subsidy on petroleum products in the last five years, when President Goodluck Jonathan assumed leadership of Nigeria.”

This week, a former governor of Kwara State, Senator Bukola Saraki, argued that a “minimum of over $32 billion was wasted on it over the last five to six years.”

Orji, who felt the total subsidy payments were colossal, noted: “You can imagine what the N6.345 trillion spent on subsidy can be used for in terms of infrastructure development in this country.”

Subsidy not benefitting the poor

He maintained that the subsidy regime is nothing but fraud, which is only benefitting a few people.

He said: ”The subsidy is not benefitting the poor because the marketers smile to the bank after collecting the full benefit on the over 40 million litres of products (PMS and DPK) consumed by Nigerians per day, leaving a lopsided distribution network, where not all Nigerians are able to get the products at the regulated price of N87 per litre.

“In fact, a recent study showed that it is only in Lagos and a few urban centres that the products are sold at regulated prices. The larger chunk of the populace buys the product still at exorbitant prices despite subsidy.”

In Saraki’s opinion, subsidy has never provided any solution to the fuel crises in Nigeria because of the corruption associated with its management, which he described asthe biggest platform for fraud among marketers andgovernment officials.

The law maker, who insisted on the scrapping of subsidy, also noted that the fraud in the scheme was allowed to fester by government through issuance of import licenses to very bogus number of companies totalling 82.

“It has impacted on our exchange rate, it is going to impact on our infrastructure, there is no money for capital budget,” he added.

In May 2012, Reuters had reported a $6.8 billion fuel subsidy scam, during which President Jonathan was pressured to prosecute top officials or face protests. But he was unable to C M Y K

Tankers queuing for fuel on Oshodi-Apapa expressway. Photo: Akeem Salau.

because many of those implicated were allies he needed to protect to keep his power base intact.

Reuters said: “A string of investigations, audits and committees were set-up to investigate the fuel subsidy scheme…The national oil company, central bank and other government agencies have defended themselves against some accusations.”

Endemic corruption and entrenched inefficiency

It also listed some observations of the House of Representatives report that: The subsidy regime between 2009-2011, the period the report covered was fraught with “endemic corruption and entrenched inefficiency.”

Importers were being paid for 59 million litres a day, while the country only consumes 35 million.

Mismanagement and theft by fuel marketers and government officials cost $6.8 billion over three years - about a quarter of Nigeria’s annual budget.

Nigeria spent N2.587 trillion ($16.46 billion) on the fuel subsidy in 2011, 900 per cent more than the N245 billion in the budget.

The overspend is equivalent to over half of the 2011 federal budget.

NNPC is accountable to no one.

It owed the government N704 billion for various violations of the subsidy scheme and it owes a string of fuel traders, including Trafigura, $3.5 billion - about the amount in the Excess Crude Account, meaning that Nigeria essentially has no savings.

Petroleum Minister, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, has a conflict of interest by being both on the board of NNPC - a fuel importer - and the supervisor of the subsidy regulator, the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).

The number of fuel importers rose from five in 2006 to 10 in

2007, 19 in 2008 and 140 in 2011.

This decision taken by PPPRA was one of the biggest causes of fraud. Many firms only existed on paper and collected subsidies on fuel that never existed.

In one example of mismanagement, the AccountantGeneral’s office made 128 subsidy payment transactions of N999 million each in the space of 24 hours between January 12 and 13, 2009 — equal to about $6.36 million almost every 10 minutes.

Recommendations

President Jonathan should reorganise the oil ministry to make it more effective in carrying out reforms to the sector. The oil minister’s role should be divided between two people.

The management and the board of NNPC should be overhauled and those involved in any infractions should be investigated and prosecuted. The company should be unbundled to make it more transparent and efficient.

NNPC should be audited to determine its solvency due to a plethora of claims of indebtedness.

NNPC through local refining, swap arrangements and offshore processing should be able to

The management and the board of NNPC should be overhauled and those involved in any infractions should be investigated and prosecuted

provide enough fuel for Nigeria.

Therefore, the government has no reason to grant subsidy import licenses to other companies.

The chairman of PPPRA between 2009-2011 and its entire board during that time should be reprimanded. The executive secretaries of the PPPRA during that period should be investigated and prosecuted by anti-corruption agencies.

PPPRA should conduct a full performance assessment on all companies who import fuel into Nigeria.

All those in the Finance ministry, Budget Office and the Accountant General’s office involved in the overspend on subsidies between 2009-2011 should be sanctioned.

No one has been sanctioned

Despite the findings and recommendations, no one has been brought to book or truly punished for any infraction; just as nothing has changed the widely-held belief that subsidy regime is fraudulent, with billions gone down the drain.

Ironically, subsidy is not free money to marketers or importers, rather, it is meant to reimburse those importing refined products for the market differentials between the local and the international prices.

However, the scam that has trailed the system is so big that it has overshadowed the essence of the programme, so much that many insist it must be scrapped because billions were paid just for getting allocation papers without importing one litre of any product.

According to the former CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, “just forge documents and have them stamped without bringing in anything and collect the subsidy; PPPRA pays based on documents.”

Not even the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC’s declaration after the revelations in 2013 resulting from

the multiple probes of subsidy that “oil subsidy scam,” has led to the conclusion of any case brought against the subsidy suspects.

Recall that the EFCC’s spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, had told journalists then that about 17 oil marketers were being tried in court for subsidy scam.

Apart from the 17 oil marketers, the EFCC also said some 23 oil marketing companies and 81 suspects have been arraigned for alleged oil theft as well as seized 11 tanker vessels and 16 tanker trucks used for alleged oil theft.

Uwujaren further said: “But if you add the individuals and their companies, we have over 40 cases on trial for obtaining subsidy from the Federal Government without supplying products. Those cases are ongoing; they are progressing in court at different stages. Apart from the one we have in court, there are also a number of investigations that are going on.

“Investigation of subsidy is not a straight-forward thing; it is a very complicated procedure. It is not something you can just conclude within a country; you have to deal with organisations with proper jurisdiction, and these things take time.

“That is the reason some people think we don’t have enough people standing trial in court. It is a complicated procedure, and that process is still on.

“In terms of whether or not we have recovered money from the subsidy thing, I say yes. I recall that about two months ago, the Executive Chairman of the EFCC announced that the commission had recovered N4.3 billion from the subsidy scam. That is very significant, considering the complicated nature of those transactions. We are not relenting in our determination to get to the root of the matter.”

But analysts argue that government enforcement agencies have not done enough, as some cases should have been concluded by now.

They also believe that the inability to really bring the arrow heads of the fraud to book might not be unconnected with the fact that all are involved in the corruption along the value chain of the verification of claims.

Subsidy claims, which are tied to the quantity of product brought in, are subjected to a series of verification beginning with the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR. The department works in conjunction with other agencies, including the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulation Agency, PPPRA; Ministry of Finance, the Budget Office, Office of the Accountant-General, and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, which issues the final cheques after all the necessary clearance have been made In analysts opinions, officials along this chain are culpable in the subsidy scam, including the banks, as they are the ones that issue the fake bank documents (Letters of Credit, Form M, etc), which were allegedly submitted to the PPPRA, by the importers in collaboration with bank officials.

In view of the string of the web of corruption, analysts are not surprised that infractions in the subsidy regime have continued unabated.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015—9

Court stops NERC from implementing new electricity tariff

By Innocent Anaba

L

AGOS— A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, yesterday, restrained the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, from implementing the planned new electricity tariff slated to take effect from June 1, 2015.

Trial judge, Justice Mohammed Idris, restrained the NERC and the electricity distribution companies from effecting any increment in electricity tariff pending the hearing and determination of the suit, challenging plans to tariff hike.

A Lagos lawyer, Toluwani Adebiyi, in the application, which he argued in person, had urged the court to restrain the NERC and the electricity distribution companies from foisting further hardship and unjustifiable tariff increment on Nigerians, as widely announced by the commission.

NERC Chairman, Dr Sam Amadi, had in Abuja, announced plans by the commission to implement the upward review in electricity tariff effective from June 1, adding that with the review, most electricity companies will retain the N750 fixed charge.

But Justice Idris, after entertaining arguments from Adebiyi, ordered the NERC to maintain status quo to the planned upward review of electricity tariff from June 1.

The court directed that the motion and other processes in the suit be served on the NERC. The court also granted leave to the applicant (Adebiyi) to serve the originating summons, the affidavit in support, list of exhibits and the written address on the defendant (NERC) in Abuja, which is outside Lagos judicial division of the Federal High Court and adjourned further hearing in the suit till June 11, 2015.

Adebiyi, in the suit, is seeking an order restraining the NERC from implementing any upward review of electricity tariff without a meaningful and significant improvement in power supply for at least18 hours in a day in most communities in Nigeria..

He also wants the court to restrain NERC from foisting compulsory service charge on pre-paid meters until “the meters are designed to read charges per second of consumption and not a flat rate of service not rendered or power not used.”

He also wants the service charge on pre-paid meters not to be enforced until there is visible efficient and reliable power supply like those of foreign countries where the

C M Y K

idea of service charge was borrowed.

He also prayed the court to mandate NERC to do the needful and generate more power to meet the electricity use of Nigerians, adding that the needful should include and not limited to a multiple long-term financing approach, sourced from the banks, capital market, insurance and other sectors of finance to power the sector.

He averred in an affidavit in support of the suit that

despite the motto and mission of NERC which were expressly stated as “keeping the light on and to meet the needs of Nigeria for safe, adequate, reliable and affordable electricity,” most communities in Nigeria do not get more than 30 minutes of electricity supply, while the remaining 23 hours and 30 minutes were always without light and in total darkness.

“Nigeria poor masses are paying an estimated and indiscriminate residential bills ranging from N5, 000 to N18,

000, spending an average of N15, 000 to N20, 000 for fuel to maintain generating set.

Businesses have collapsed, industries have closed down, and residents cannot sleep comfortably at night due to inefficiency of our power industry.

“Companies and commercial Houses are groaning under throat-cutting power bill which they are paying for, yet not getting the benefit for such payment,” Adebiyi averred.

TOUR: Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo (left) and Vice President-elect, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, during a tour of the Vice President's office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday.

More Nigerian professionals in Europe than Nigeria, says EU A BUJA— THE European Union (EU) says there are more Nigerian professionals in Europe than there are in Nigeria, warning that the development can be detrimental to the development of the country.

The EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr Michel Arrion, disclosed this at a Conference on National Migration Policy Thematic Areas, organised by UN International Organisation for Migration in Abuja.

Arrion explained that EU welcomed migration as long as it was legal, adding that “it enhances the movement of factors of production, particularly labour, especially in Europe.

“Migration is good. We (Europe) like migration as long as it is legal. We need migration for various reasons.

“Movement of factors of production is a good thing and labour moving freely is a very good thing.

“In Europe and in other

western countries, we have this specific issue of aging population. So we need fresh blood in our countries but we have to be careful sometimes about brain drain.

“As you know, there are more PhD holders from Nigerian origin in Europe or in America than in Nigeria.

“There are more Nigerian doctors and nurses in Europe and in America than in Nigeria.

So, let’s be careful with that. It is good to attract the best people but not to the detriment of the development of your country.”

In his remarks, the Minister of National Planning and Deputy Chairman, National Planning Commission (NPC), Dr Abubakar Sulaiman, said Nigeria was grappling with a wide range of migration issues.

He said “Nigeria as the most populous country on the continent grapples with a wide range of migration issues, from internal migration to massive intra and inter-regional migration.

“Migration of highly skilled

and unskilled labour workforce, trafficking in persons, Diaspora engagement and remittances amongst others, have shaped the current migratory trends and dominated contemporary migration discourse.”

Represented by Mr Bassey Akpanyung, the Secretary of NPC, Sulaiman pledged Nigeria’s commitment toward migration issues.

He said the Federal Government’s commitment in this regard had been demonstrated by the endorsement of the National Labour Migration Policy and the National Migration Policy.

The minister said the policy recognised the challenges of migration in Nigeria, especially relating to smuggling and trafficking in persons and irregular migration.

According to him, it addresses the benefits of migration and considers ways of maximising opportunities to use the huge remittance flows from the Diaspora.

Foreign reserves rise to N29.6bn —CBN

L

AGOS — THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says the nation’s foreign exchange reserves stood at to 29.61 billion dollars as at May 27.

This is contained in a posting on the bank’s website on Thursday.

The CBN said the figure was an increase of 0.3 per cent from 29.52 billion dollars recorded on April 27.

It said the 29.61 billion represented the ‘gross’ amount while 28.74 billion was ‘liquid’ while 875 million as ‘blocked’.

NAN reports that the CBN had in 2014 relied heavily on external reserves to support the Naira which came under pressure following a fall in the price of crude oil.

According to the CBN, the continuous pressure on the foreign exchange market is due to the rise in the internal demand for the dollar.

The price of crude at the international market now hovers between 62.39 and 65 dollar per barrel.

Glo congratulates Nigerians on Democracy Day

N

IGERIA’S total information and communications technology solutions provider, Globacom, has congratulated the people of Nigeria on the 16th anniversary of Democracy Day and the successful transition of power to a new civilian government.

In a statement yesterday, the company observed that democracy, globally acclaimed as the best form of governance, has taken firm root in the country in the last sixteen years as evident in the outcome of the last general elections which marked the first time an incumbent government would concede power to an opposition in an election it supervised.

Globacom commended Dr. Goodluck Jonathan for his patriotism and efforts to deepen democracy in the country, and congratulated the incoming President Muhammadu Buhari on the success of his bid for the country’s highest seat.

10 — V anguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 Vanguard, FRIDA MAY

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 11

AHEAD OF BUHARI'S INAUGURATION:

REGISTRATION OF TAXIS:

Fayose, opponents in war of words

Lagos govt, FAAN spoil for war

A

By Gbenga Ariyibi

DO EKITI— GOVERNOR Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and his political rivals were locked in a war of words yesterday ahead of today ’s inauguration of Muhammadu Buhari as president of the country.

End to impunity

While Ekiti Youths under the Ekiti Youth Vanguard affirmed that the commencement of another administration in Abuja had brought an end to the reign of impunity under which Fayose prevailed, the governor in a riposte warned politicians against latching on the inauguration to fan trouble.

Alleged road blockade

The Ekiti Youths in a statement particularly warned the drivers’ unions and their members against releasing their vehicles to Governor Ayodele Fayose to block all roads leading to Ekiti to prevent APC lawmakers from entering the state.

Reacting to reports that the governor had directed that all roads into the state be blocked with state owned luxury buses and buses obtained from commercial drivers, the youths in a statement by their Coordinator, Charles Fakunle, warned drivers not to surrender their vehicles for any illegal act to disturb public peace.

“Any driver that releases his vehicle for that illegal act will have himself to blame. We warn seriously again that any driver that gets himself involved in this illegality will regret his action.

“We warn that any driver that wants to remain in business should not release his vehicle for any illegal operation and anyone who refuses to take our advice, we wish him good luck,” the statement said.

The group said the era of impunity ended midnight yesterday, saying that the time when President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Fayose rendered the nation’s constitution a joke was now over.

Fayose to be called to order

“The law will begin to operate by midnight today. After that, Fayose will be called to account for all his illegal acts.

From midnight today, the police, SSS and soldiers will be under a retired disciplined Nigerian Army officer. Any one who flouts the nation’s law will

pay dearly for it.

“By this, Fayose will no longer be in a position to protect any law breaker, including himself against any illegal conduct. It is on this note that we warn okada operators and drivers to protect their personal businesses instead of protecting, through illegal means , the governor that puts his children thousands of miles away in safety and enjoyment in America and Europe while arming innocent Ekiti youths with guns to fight security forces.

Fayose advises Nigerians

Meanwhile, Governor Fayose, in a Democracy

Day message, called on Nigerians to see today ’s transfer of power as an opportunity to develop Nigeria.

He also called on the people of the state to imbibe the tenets of democracy in order to bring about prosperity in the state.

He urged all Ekiti people to pursue the ideals and actions that would strengthen rather than undermine democratic values in the polity.

Fayose called on security agencies to ensure proper maintenance of law and order, saying the call became necessary following reports that some might foment trouble following today ’s emergence of the APC as the governing party.

His words: ‘’Ekiti people are known as a strong, resilient

and courageous people, therefore, we must all rise in unison with patriotic zeal and collective determination to overcome various challenges confronting our dear state.

In addition, he said: “As a state, we have our good and bad days, but it is important to understand that rancour poses a serious threat to the development and sustenance of democracy. Despite the challenges we face in Ekiti State, we must commend all peace-loving people for opposing forces of evil who are the enemies of democracy, determined to truncate the electoral wishes of the people.

“I again assure you all that I will not go back on my promise to provide good governance and make this state better than I met it.’’

CONGRESS: From left: Managing Director, PRM Africa and President/Executive Producer, AFRIMA, Mike Dada, Coordinator, African Re-imagined creative hub, Simphiwe Dana, Creative/Communication Manager, ONE Campaign, Africa, Nde Ndifonka and Country Director, AFRIMA, The Gambia, Ibrahim Ceesay at the African Union Commission 4th Pan African Cultural Congress, PACC4, held at Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Court strikes out suit against Multi-Choice

L

By Innocent Anaba

AGOS—A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, yesterday, struck out the suit by some aggrieved subscribers, challenging the recent 20 per cent increment on subscription rate of Digital Satellite Television, DStv, being operated by Multi-Choice Nigeria Limited.

The subscribers, Osasuyi Adebayo and Oluyinka Oyeniji, who are also lawyers, in the class action on behalf of themselves and other subscribers across the

country, prayed the court to restrain Multi-Choice from implementing the 20 per cent increment on DStv subscription rate which began on April 1, 2015.

Trial judge, Justice Chukwujeku Aneke, in a ruling, upheld the preliminary objection by Multi-Choice, and held that the suit amounted to an abuse of court process.

The judge disagreed that Multi-Choice deserved not to be given right of audience having failed to abide by an earlier ex-parte order restraining the company from implementing the increment.

The judge said the court was

bound to entertain arguments from all parties before it, irrespective of the alleged violation of the court order and held that the suit disclosed no reasonable cause of action, as the plaintiffs were not under any obligation to continue to subscribe to the services of Multi-Choice in the face of the increment.

The court agreed with MultiChoice’s argument that the suit failed to comply with mandatory provisions of Sections 97 and 98 of the Sherrifs and Civil Processes Act, providing that a writ to be served outside jurisdiction must be concurrently issued.

L

By Olasunkanmi Akoni

AGOS—THE Lagos State government and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, may be heading for a showdown over compulsory registration for intra-city transport operators within the international and local airports.

In a statement, the Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa accused FAAN of flouting the state Transportation Laws.

The statement read in part: “The attention of the Lagos State government has been drawn to the act of impunity and disrespect for the state transportation law being perpetrated by the management of the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, by illegally registering taxi operators and intracity transport operators despite several attempts made to dissuade them from this illegal act.

“For the avoidance of doubt and the education of the public, it is only state governments that have the legal and constitutional rights to regulate transportation matters in their domain, a fact that was reiterated and confirmed by several resolutions of the National Council on Transport."

Vincentians begin 6th women conference tomorrow

L

AGOS—THE Vincentian Retreat Centre, Ojodu, Yakoyo, Lagos, will tomorrow commence its two-day 6th Women Conference/ Retreat with the theme; Behold the Lamb of God-Solution to your Problems. The event which will end on Sunday, May 31, will feature seminar, prayer, counselling, holy mass, among others.

The retreat will be hosted by the Vincentian priest; Rev. Fr. Jude Dimonyekwere and Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Nwaloka, and will commence by 9am daily.

12—Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

I'll restore security of lives, property, Wike assures Rivers people R

IVERS State governorelect, Mr Nyesom Wike, has assured the people of the state that his administration will restore security across the state.

He assured that the right environment will be created for the people of the state to engage in different businesses and also relax after work, without fear of being molested by criminals.

Speaking at the preinauguration variety night at Port Harcourt Polo Club, Wike said that security was central to the development of any society.

He said: “We have had a wonderful variety night with the right dose of comedy, music and cultural displays. Earlier in the day, we were at the Sharks Stadium for a novelty football match.

“We need more of these recreational activities going forward. This can only be possible with adequate security.

I want to use this opportunity to assure the good people of Rivers State that under the incoming administration, security of lives and property will be our watchword.”

He denied allegation by the outgoing Governor Rotimi Amaechi that he was involved in extra-judicial killings during the last elections.

He said that the allegation was malicious and merely concocted by the outgoing governor, who he said was finding it difficult to accept the will of the people.

Wike said that during and after the elections, he respected all electoral guidelines as he had always done since he joined politics.

The governor-elect regretted that up till Wednesday, the outgoing governor and his associates were still shopping for an illegal injunction to stop his inauguration. He said that their latest failure at a Federal High Court in Lagos shows that the outgoing governor was not tired of impunity.

Chairman of the Wike

inauguration committee, Mr Austin Opara, said that the night was organised by committee for the people to relax ahead of the inauguration.

First class comedians, choral groups, musicians and the Rivers State Cultural troupe entertained guests at the variety night.

COMMISSIONING: Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State during the commissioning of Delta Mall in Effurun.

Court order in suit against NPA, at variance with earlier judgment, Intels insists

By Innocent Anaba

I

NTELS Nigeria Limited has insisted that the exparte order made by a Federal High Court, Lagos, in the suit

by Ports &Terminal Operators Limited, PTOL, Nigerdock and LADOP against the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, was at variance with an earlier judgment delivered by the Port Harcourt division of the court in 2014.

Reacting to a statement credited to the Managing Director of PTOL, Mrs. Liizzie Ovbude, in the media, the General Manager, Legal, of Intels, Mr. Mike Epelle, said that the Port Harcourt Division of the Federal High Court, in a judgment delivered by Justice Lambo Akambi on July 8, 2014, in the suit by Associated Maritime Services Limited, AMS vs City Real Estate & Property Management Company Ltd., held: “That under and by virtue of the NPA Act CapN123 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 and in particular, Sections 7(a),(b),(c) and (k); 8(1) and 32(1) thereof, the NPA is vested with powers

C M Y K

to enforce compliance with the arrangements made by the BPE designating all federal ports in the country as to guarantee, among others, efficient management of ports operation.”

He noted that the court also held: “That all imports or exports of oil and gas cargoes are to be undertaken through the designated oil & gas

terminals and are liable to be charged such rates and delivery charges applicable to oil and gas cargoes, as approved by the NPA (the Concessioner).”

According to him, the effect of the order made by the Federal High Court, Lagos, in the various suits by PTOL, Nigerdock and LADOL, which now restrained NPA in

respect of vessels meant for those terminals, that NPA cannot issue directive as to the appropriate port terminal for such vessels to berth even if they are carrying oil and gas related cargoes.

“This is at variance with the pronouncement of Justice Lambo in the suit AMS against City Real Estate and Property Management Company," he said.

Delta A-G's disappearance in bad faith —Uduaghan

By Festus Ahon

A

SABA—OUTGOING governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, yesterday, said that the disappearance of the Accountant-General of the state, Mr. Cyril Agbele, six days to handover to the new administration was in bad faith.

The governor, when serving and retired Permanent Secretaries paid him a farewell visit at Government House, Asaba, expressed surprise that after a fruitful discussion on

arrangements for the inauguration of the new administration, including security and entertainment, the Accountant-General made himself incommunicado.

He said: “The AccountantGeneral has disappeared in the last five or six days. The truth is that on Thursday last week, we met and I told him we had some payments to make in the area of the swearing-in ceremony coming up tomorrow (today). He did not object. He did not say no, and on Sunday, I was calling him but he was

not picking my calls.

“And of course, on Monday, his phones had been switched off and on Tuesday, he sent in a paper that he was sick. By Wednesday, he sent in a memo and I find this act very inconsistent and irresponsible.

“If there is something that I had done that was not right, he should be free to tell me instead of disappearing. Just imagine running the affairs of the state for a week without funds. Even security men have started withdrawing from their posts across the state."

Rivers debt profile N17.7bn, says Amaechi

P

By Jimitota Onoyume

ORT HARC O U R T — OUTGOING governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has said that the state was indebted to the tune of N17.7 billion.

Amaechi, in his statewide broadcast yesterday, in Port Harcourt, said it was the least amount owed by any state in the country.

The governor said that the state owed pensioners, adding that he had taken steps to clear one month out of the three months owed them.

He said: “Our state was Nigeria’s next economic giant. Today, Rivers State is the least indebted state with a loan portfolio of N17.7 billion to banks owed as follows: Agriculture loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN – N2 billion; Zenith Bank Plc - N15.7 billion.

Our loan from Access Bank will be on zero balance by the end of the month."

Don't re-open flow stations shut by NPDC —HOSTCOM

By Onuzure Dania

T

HE leadership of Host Communities of Nigeria Oil and Gas, Urhobo and Isoko chapters, Delta State, yesterday, warned that flow stations presently shut down by aggrieved staff of Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, will remain closed until the pending disagreements over the pipeline surveillance contracts are resolved.

HOSTCOM, in a statement by Mr. Efe Okovwurie, Morrister Idibra, Pastor Richard Erhurhore, John Obaro, Dr. Edegware David and Wilson Kokarhare, vowed to pressurise the Federal Government and management of NNPC to decentralize the pipeline surveillance/intelligence gathering contract for Urhobo and Isoko to have their separate contracts.

The leaders lamented that HOSTCOM which initiated the surveillance programme was not given the contract to manage, despite having the blueprint to effectively implement the project.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 13

C M Y K

14—Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

DAAR Communications organizes dinner for President Jonathan

From left, Vice President Namadi Sambo; President Goodluck Jonathan, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, and Mr. Sam Amuka, drinking to a toast for the President, at the dinner organised for the President by DARR Communications, at Abuja, Wednesday.

Photos: Abayomi Adeshida

From left, Prince Abubar Audu, former governor of Kogi State; Professor Jerry Gana, and Alhaji Tanko Yakasai.

Vice President Namadi Sambo, and Mr. Raymond Mr. Labaran Maku, former Minister of Information (right), Dokpesi (Jnr), Director, DAAR Communications From left, Hajia Bola Shagaya, Chief Mike Ozekhome Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN, middle), and guest. (right) (SAN), and Mr. Mike Onolememen, Minister of Works.

The change game begins...as Buhari takes over Continues from Page 5 today and win tomorrow but anybody that dies in the process can’t be revived again.

While looking for political offices, we must conduct ourselves in a way that will not halt the lives of innocent people,” Jonathan said.

Jonathan, a rare leader — Dopkesi DAAR Communications Chairman, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi, described Jonathan as a rare leader, who has made Nigeria and Africa proud because of his exemplary leadership, o u t s t a n d i n g achievements that would be difficult to erase, despite bowing out of office.

Dokpesi explained that the event was specially organised by his company to pay tribute to the President for the sacrifice he made for peace to reign in Nigeria and for the numerous contributions he made in the area of infrastructural development.

Dokpesi said Jonathan had made history as the first African incumbent President to concede defeat.

While thanking the C M Y K

President, Dokpesi said the whole world will remember him as the one who laid foundation of democracy in Nigeria.

He is a selfless man — Amuka Speaking at the grand event, Chairman of Vanguard Media Limited, Mr. Sam Amuka, who presented the star gift to President Jonathan, described him as a selfless man, who put Nigeria’s corporate interest above all other interests by conceding defeat just as the elections results were announced.

Amuka said: “God has used you to preserve Nigeria by one singular action you took. You saved this country by giving them peace. You are not only a national hero, you became an African hero and that made you a world statesman. Nigeria will not forget you for what you did, that moment you called the presidentelect, Buhari, and conceded defeat. We will always thank you and appreciate you, Mr. President. God will bless you and go with peace of God”, the veteran Nigerian journalist and

publisher, said.

Speaking at the ceremony, a member of the PDP’s Board of Trustees, Prof Jerry Gana, questioned the audacity of the critics of

J o n a t h a n ’ s administration, describing them as pathological cynics who had refused to admit the unprecedented achievements of President Jonathan spread across the country.

Gana asked such critics to learn to give due credit to President Jonathan and his administration, which he said had made a mark in the country. He also said that Jonathan had by his leadership style proved to the world that it is possible for a leader to be endowed with enormous powers but yet remain humble and human.

While reacting to the allegation by the APC that the PDP had failed in the last 16 years, Gana said the ruling party had succeeded in restoring democracy and confidence of Nigerians in the electoral system.

May 29: Eagle Square wears new look

Meantime, ahead of today ’s inauguration of the president-elect, the

popular Eagle Square, venue of the event in Abuja is already wearing an impressive new look.

V a n g u a r d correspondent who visited the arena located at the central business area of Abuja metropolis yesterday saw that massive decoration of the place was still ongoing.

The VIP stand wore very exquisite look with the decorators still putting finishing touches to it.

There was a platform located some 100 meters away from the stand which appears to be where the rituals of the swearing in and indeed all other official protocols would be observed.

Flags of over 20 different countries of the world also adorned the outer part of the area that faced the National Assembly.

It will be recalled that over 50 different Heads of States and Governments would be witnessing the occasion.

The careful lavishing of the Green-white-green, colour of the Nigerian flag would surely convince any passer-by that a great Nigerian event was in the offing.

Most public buildings such as the Office of the Head of Service and a flank of the Federal Secretariat buildings also had a touch of

green-white-green colour. Some broadcast media organizations were also seen setting up their equipment while security presence was high.

A combined team of soldiers, police and Department of State Service, DSS and Civil Defence Corps was visible within and outside the square.

Police patrol vehicles also littered the place just as the adjoining roads to the place had been off and cordon ed

movements restricted.

Heavy security at Abuja Airport as more guests arrive Security at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja was strengthened, yesterday, as more guests arrived for the inauguration of President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari today.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Nigerian Air Force has taken over the entire security network at the airport to ensure smooth movement for the guests.

NAN observed that all the car parks at the

airport have also been cleared, pushing all the cab operators away from the terminal.

Mrs Henrietta Yakubu, Deputy General Manager, Public Affairs, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) told NAN that the entire airport security had been taken over by the military.

Yakubu said that the measure was to ensure that adequate security was provided for both the local and international guests trooping in for the p r e s i d e n t i a l inauguration.

She said that the clearing of the car parks was to ensure that there were no hitches in the movement of foreign guests during the period.

“You can see that the Air Force has taken over the security in the airport here; this is to ensure adequate security for all the invited guests to the presidential inauguration tomorrow.

Even taxi operators have been moved out of the car parks because we don’t want any traffic jam when the foreign dignitaries start arriving and it is for security reasons too,” she said.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 15

C M Y K

16—Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

NLC gives Abia AG ultimatum to retract denial of govt's indebtedness to workers

By Anayo Okoli

U

MUAHIA—ABIA State chapter of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has given the Accountant- General of the state, Mr. Gabriel Onyedinefu, a week within which to retract his statement that the state government was not owing workers one kobo, saying he lied about the government's indebtedness to workers.

Onyendilefu was quoted in a national paper as saying that the state government had paid its workers up till May. But Chairman of the NLC in the state, Comrade Uchenna

Obigwe, who gave the ultimatum yesterday, warned that should the Accountant-General fail to retract his statement, the union would take the case to its national headquarters for necessary action.

The labour leader disagreed with the Accountant-General’s position, insisting that the government still owed its workers several months arrears of salaries.

According to the state chairman of NLC, Comrade Uchenna Obigwe, the Accountant-General deceived the public by his statement.

He said over nine parastatals still owed salary arrears, ranging

from three to eight months.

Obigwe named the parastatals being owed to include Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Aba, which he said is owedeight months, Hospital Management Board, seven months, Nigeria Union of Pensioners, four months and Abia State Universal Basic

Education Board, six months.

Obigwe said teachers in the state were owed six months salary arrears; local government workers, three months; the state radio station, BCA, three months; Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, four months; and College of Education (Technical),

Arochukwu, seven months.

Obigwe said Labour was disappointed that the Accountant-General would dish out such lies to the public, when workers were actually suffering.

He urged the AccountantGeneral to retract his statement and tell the public the truth.

GOV ELECTION KILLING: Ibusa, Oshimili North LG elite urge IGP

to prosecute politicians, thugs

A

CROSS SECTION of prominent indigenes of Ibusa and other communities of Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State have made a passionate appeal to the Inspector

General of Police, IGP, Mr. Solomon Arase, to ensure that all the politicians, thugs and sponsors fingered in causing mayhem at the last House of Assembly election which resulted

in the death of a youth in the area were apprehended and prosecuted.

Speaking during a press conference, the spokesman, Chief Vincent Ajufoh, urged the IGP not to allow anybody, no matter how highly placed in the society, to influence his actions.

He added that his recent elevation to the position of IGP was a result of his track records and commitment to duty.

Ajufoh also regretted that almost a month since the murder of the youth, including injuries afflicted on others still receiving treatment in the hospital, no arrest had been made as suspects go about boasting that with their connections, nothing couldn be done to them.

They stated that as elders and leaders, they would not wish the youths to take law into their hands to avoid breakdown of law and order.

Meanwhile, they also appealed to the incoming governor-elect, Sen. Ifeanyi Okowa, not to allow his government to be dragged into the mud as being speculated by those involved in the crime.

Deaconess Arobieke for burial

Late Deaconess Arobieke

D

EACONESS T H E R E S A Arobieke (Yeye Rotoba of Ire-Ekiti, Ekiti State), is dead, aged 51.

Christian wake-keep held yesterday at her residence, Arobieke compound, Macaulay Busstop, Igbogbo/Ikorodu.

She will be buried at same venue today.

She is survived by children and a widower.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 —17

Cheers and tears

S

O, it has finally arrived – the day on which General Muhammadu Buhari will become the President of the Federal Republic for the second time.

The flags are out. Armed forces personnel and police officers have, for weeks, been diligently rehearsing for the swearing-in ceremony that will take place in Eagle Square. I have watched some of their marching-and-music practice sessions and my heart has soared with patriotic pride because they and their brass band and their handsome prancing horses look and sound so impressive.

I will be at the swearing-in ceremony; and, like millions of other Nigerians who campaigned and voted for APC - and will either be in Eagle Square or watching on TV - I will jubilantly cheer The General on and shed a few tears of joy.

But you know what?

I am riven with mixed feelings and will also shed a few tears of profound sadness when Dr Goodluck Jonathan, the first-ever Niger Deltan President of Nigeria, a man I once passionately supported like a sister, takes his final salute and departs the venue for his new life as a private citizen of sorts.

Jonathan’s diehard fans, especially those from our South-South region who have bombarded me with allegations of treachery since I switched my allegiance to Buhari, will no doubt say that any tears I shed for him will be crocodile tears.

But I know in my heart that my regrets about his downfall are utterly sincere…and that I genuinely liked Dr Jonathan as a person when I met him, desperately wanted him to shine like a star and only abandoned him when I morosely concluded, a couple of years ago, that he wasn’t likely to improve his performance or strictly control people – his wife, his Minister of Petroleum and his Minister of Interior, for example - who C M Y K

*President Goodluck Jonathan

*General Muhammadu Buhari were ruining his reputation and driving a wedge between him and those who had elected him in 2011.

Why did Jonathan not bother to implement the United Nations Environmental P r o g r a m m e ’ s recommendations for my area, Ogoniland, which has been badly ravaged by oil-related pollution?

Meanwhile, I don’t understand why Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke decided to carry on like an Empress and totally alienated a whole heap of former fans within and outside our geopolitical zone.

I have known Diezani since childhood and she comes from an immensely respectable home; and I was so happy when she became a Minister because I was convinced that she would do her job stylishly as well as effectively.

Why on earth did she not care more and dynamically invigorate the liquefied natural gas plant in her backyard in Bayelsa – the one that is languishing in Brass?

Why did she hold the natural liquefied gas plant in Bonny

I will jubilantly cheer The General on and shed a few tears of joy; I will also shed a few tears of profound sadness when Dr Goodluck Jonathan, takes his final salute

back?

As for Abba Moro, only God knows why Jonathan bestowed a national honour on him – instead of sacking him – when he presided over a botched Immigration Service recruitment exercise that led to several totally

avoidable deaths.

I know from bitter experience that the most painful personal tragedies are those that we foolishly bring upon ourselves.

And I’m sure that Jonathan knows, deep down, that he could have done A LOT better for this country and himself.

But we all – myself included

- make mistakes and all possess weaknesses; and Jonathan isn’t entirely or solely responsible for every single problem that has dragged this nation down. Many of our most chronic headaches predated his tenure, so let me just wish him and his family the very best in future.

Great expectations

I

T is time to put the past behind us and look forward rather than backwards. And I almost pity Buhari because of the Great Expectations that are being invested in him by an emotionally and financially battered population that is yearning for Change and will be disappointed if Change doesn’t happen instantly.

There are also frissons of excited anticipation rippling through the international community. Many foreigners who have interests in Nigeria are harbouring extremely high hopes; and some of those I’ve spoken to are overoptimistically expecting Buhari to make Nigeria MUCH more investor-friendly overnight.

Whenever I am in London, the taxi drivers who ferry me around are mostly expatriate Nigerians who miss Home badly but have stayed abroad, often for decades, because they feel that they cannot make a decent living here.

All of them are HUGELY thrilled about Buhari’s victory.

And my favourite regular, a well-educated graduate driver called Tunde who frequently regales me with refreshingly intelligent analyses of the

world at large, told me last month that he will sell his UK residence this summer, pack his bags and return to Lagos with his spouse and offspring because he is absolutely sure that The General will completely transform our society and economy within a matter of months.

I gently begged Tunde to give The General time in which to settle down and achieve results; and I advised him to postpone his relocation plans by a year.

Tunde gave me a crestfallen glance and said, in a depressed, subdued tone of voice, that he would take my advice while fervently praying that the renaissance he expected from our new Oga At The Top would not be delayed interminably.

I assured him that it wouldn’t be. And I’m keeping my fingers tightly crossed.

I’ve only met Buhari briefly, so I cannot claim to know him; but one of my senior cousins, Florence Obi, a US-trained engineer, knows him well.

Florence is one of the smartest and most honest individuals I’ve ever encountered. She has worked with and for Buhari for

13 years and has told me so many wonderful things about him.

I love the fact that he is unmaterialistic and lives very simply and only owns one or two modest houses. And I’m hugely impressed by his reputation for loathing corruption and thrilled that his wife, Hajiya Aisha, is not a noisy harridan.

Florence is a progressive feministic Southern Christian woman who has never spotted an iota of Islamic bigotry or offputting male chauvinism in her Boss; and I totally share her view that he has what it takes to be a great head of state.

Responses to: donzol2002@yahoo.co.uk or to 0802 747 6458 OR 0811 675 9752 (texts only).

PLEASE KINDLY NOTE THAT UNLESS YOU REQUEST ANONYMITY, YOUR COMMENTS MAY BE PUBLISHED, WITH YOUR NAMES AND CONTACT DETAILS ATTACHED.

18 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 FOR the first time in 16 years, May 29 would elicit more emotions than celebrations of a new government, rather another government, assuming office.

May 29 is laced with trepidations about what the new government would do. The fears are mainly among those who have run the affairs of Nigeria since the 1999 season of civil administrations.

The immediacy of the fears has been located in indications that the eyes of the government may not wonder beyond a few years in the prosecution of its anti-corruption agenda. The befuddlement over the age of Nigeria’s corruption and the interesting analyses to save a select few from the blows, if they ever come, are another interesting side to the inauguration of the presidency of Muhammadu Buhari. Whatever he does would be a new aspect of our governments; how he does it may bear more importance.

A Dif Diffferent Ma Mayy 29 If history was made on May 29, 1999 with the return to civil rule, barely a year in the life of the Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar administration, today is simply historic. For the first in our history, an opposition party won the election at the centre.

Nigeria has managed 16 years of uninterrupted civil administration: two and half times the six-year duration of the post-independence civilian administration, and three times longer than the 1979-post military government of President Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari.

The quadrennial routine of swearing in governments also re-

minds politicians that their time has started “running”. Many of them understand this to mean that they should immediately commence plans for their re-election in 2019 and decide who succeeds them in 2023.

Section 14 2(b) of the Constitution, to which the President, Vice President, Governors and Deputy Governors would swear to today, should be at the centre of the contract between Nigerians and their governments.

It states, “ The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. ” Do politicians act as if the people’s security and welfare are the purpose

of government? Which actions of governments have shown the importance of the people? How do governments relate to the people? Has democracy improved lives of Nigerians? Is the country more democratic today than in 1999?

Our governments have assumed the authoritarian ways of the military. The separation of powers the Constitution intended is a mirage. Local government administrations, the third tier of government, are dead. In most States, Governors are imperial.

They are Executive Governors, a title alien to the Constitution.

When they embark on their frequent travels, governance waits until they return. They are accountable to nobody as the State Houses of Assembly are compliant.

Today could mark the beginning of governments where the people count.

OPINION

Politicians and ingratitude

By BOBSON GBINIJE “Man”, notwithstanding philosophical, archeological, anthropological, historical and scientific researches remains a mystery – a complex conundrum and a prodigious myth waiting to be unraveled. His changing mien, conduct, disposition, traits, characteristics and idiosyncrasies monumentally attest to these assertions.

It was in this context a bewildered 18th century philosopher and poet, John Arbunot, had asked in his poem “Know Yourself”: What am I?How produced? And for what end whence drew I being? To what period tend? Am I the abandoned orphan of blind chance, dropped by wild atoms in disordered dance? Or from an endless chain of causes wrought? And of unthinking substance born with thought? The enigmatic labyrinth called ‘man’ gets more complex every day.

But in the midst of the quandary, Man has through emotion and reasoning established a symbiotic and functional relationship with all other things. He has intra and inter-human relationships, realising that as a catholic entity and person it behoves man to husband himself and harness other things around him. In making this relationship active and feasible, generosity, beneficence, charity, altruistic commitment and kindness to his kind and others becomes critically crucial.

What do we expect in return for showing kindness and generosity in material or spiritual format? Many will argue that they expect C M Y K

nothing for showing kindness, some will say they expect a thank you and nothing more.

Whatever we say is an attestation to the complex nature of Man. But in all, a vast majority of people will expect gratitude. Have our politicians been grateful to the povertystricken masses of Nigeria right from 1960 till date?

Gratitude, as a human trait, lies in the deepest recesses of a noble mind. It entails a form of reciprocal action, an avid desire to show appreciation, gratefulness and recognition of good. It is the drive line between great minds and mundane ones. Ability to show gratitude stimulates and extends the tentacles of altruism and munificence.

Egomaniacs do well and show kindness because they want to be thanked in front of the market place. In front of the church and on radio or television. They are self-seekers.

Theirs is, no matter what we say, is termed philanthropy or generosity, but there is a material price in their generosity. But giving or doing good without caring about self is true goodness. Such has a spiritual price. Man is not armed with tools to decipher and competent to judge a true giver, but we know that it is more blessed to be a selfless giver. Let every generosity be hallmarked by gratitude.

Will the politicians that won and lost in the 2015 elections be grateful to the electorate who stood in an Indian file under inclement weather to help them achieve their political ambitions?

It is recorded in one of the synoptic Gospels

that ten leapers were healed by Jesus Christ, but only one came back to show gratitude and that one left with Christ’s approval. William Shakespeare the English playwright in his drama piece “Julius Caesar” showed how the great Caesar was attacked by the conspirators, and as a Roman war General he wanted to fight back but when he saw his own friend Brutus –a noble man- being one of them he became despondent. And it was said of him: “Mark how the blood of Caesar rushed out of doors to see if Brutus so unkindly stabbed and as he plucked his cursed steel away ingratitude and treachery stronger than the traitors hands burst his mighty heart ……. this was most unkindest cut of them all.”

The Nigerian politicians have never ever been grateful to the totality of the Nigerian electorate.

That is why 99.9% of Nigerians still wallow in poverty and neglect. We still experience shortage of drinkable water, we have no shelter, no good, motorable roads; no security, no medical care facilities, no good schools; pensioners still die on the queue; we still experience psychotic corruption in all strata of leadership. We ask our politicians to show gratitude to the electorate by pursuing the greatest good for the largest number of Nigerians.

We ask our politicians to show gratitude to the electorate by pursuing the greatest good for the largest number of Nigerians

Ingratitude is wicked and a ghoulish trait in man. It is a gross inability to show appreciation, gratefulness and thanks in the face of obvious and clear assistance. It unearths the Biblical “Cain – Strings” in man. Ingratitude shortcircuits goodness. It smacks of Neanderthal man’s instinctual primordialities and breeds secular humanism – a consummate belief in self. That all I have, all I am and all I shall become are within my purview and powers only.

Secular humanism has become the Modus and Locus of the modern era; it tends to overemphasize man and de-emphasise “GOD”. We claim and boast that all our successes are by dint of our hard work. We in all honesty know that this is a brutal lie. God puts everything in place. He fine-tunes the logistics, perfects the strategies and orchestrates the actions that led to whatever we have achieved. Little-man is too full of himself that he arrogates himself false dignities and claims God’s glory by showing gross ingratitude to him. Will our politicians continue to stew in the irreverence of ingratitude after 2015?

Continues on Monday *CHIEF GBINIJE, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Warri MIX-UP Our attention has been drawn to the by-line error in yesterday's opinion titled: "A season of courtesy calls." The article was written by Hon Eddie Mbadiwe but was wrongly credited to Cyril Ezeani. We regret the mix-up --Editor

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015— —19 Send Opinions & Letters to: opinions1234@yahoo.com

Seeking unity for a united people

W

EST Africans were more united in pre-colonial times than under the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which turned forty years yesterday, Thursday, May 28, 2015. There was generally, free movement of persons in the region before the colonialists, mainly French and British, imposed artificial boundaries even amongst the same ethnic group and introduced custom duties which have since then restricted movement and prevented integration.

Badagry, in Western Nigeria for instance, was established primarily because of the prevailing freedom of movement in the region, and partly by refugees. It was founded by a combination of Ghanaians mainly of the Ga extraction, Togolese, particularly the Ewes, Beninese primarily from Whydah and Porto Novo and the Awori from Nigeria who trace their origin to Ile – Ife. It was perhaps the first city in the region founded by labour in search of better life.

To ensure integration, they integrated their various languages into what became known as Ogu (Egun)

When the French and British imposed artificial boundaries, they cut Badagry off from the ancestral homes of most Ogus, and free movement was curtailed. This was the same way Porto Novo was cut from the Yorubas of Nigeria.

Perhaps the most integrated West African country is Togo which was established by the Burkinabes, Beninese, Malians, Nigerians and Ghanaians.

Taking advantage of the free movement of people, these groups who make up part of the thirty national groups in Togo today, settled in the country from the 11th to the 16th Century. The main nationality is the Ewe which had migrated from Nigeria. They first made a stopover in Western Benin Republic where some live until today, before finally settling in Southern Togo.

The Ewes in Togo were one people, one culture, one language, one ancestry living in a contiguous area even after they were colonized by the Germans.

But after the latter lost the First World War, Togo, was taken a war booty and shared with Britain taking a third, and France, two thirds. In sharing Togo, no thought was given to

the people; the Ewes were sliced into two with Britain taking a part and adding it to its Gold Coast (Ghana) territory and the French keeping the rest. So a united people were forced into two different countries; one part with English as the new official language using the British Pound (now the Ghanaian Cedi) and the other, French speaking with the Franc as currency. The Ewe people of Togo now needed passports to visit their fellow Ewes in their homestead of Volta Region in Ghana.

After independence, Ghanaian President, Kwame Nkrumah proposed a merger with Togo, to resolve the colonial problem, but his Togolese counterpart, Sylvanus Olympio, himself an Ewe, asked Ghana to hand over the Ewe part of Ghana back to Togo. There was a stalemate, and the Ewes, remain divided.

Artificial colonial boundaries also separated the Ga, indigenes of Accra, the capital of Ghana, from their ancestral home in Nigeria.

Moving further upstream, we find the Mossi who had built a pre-

For ECOWAS to be meaningful, relevant and achieve integration, it must allow West Africans return to their pre-colonial status of free movement; tear down the colonial boundaries

Some reality of 2015 change

By Clement Udegbe

T

ODAY, power changes hands from President Goodluck Ebelle Jonathan, GEJ, of the PDP , to President Muhammadu Buhari ,MB, of the APC ,as he takes charge of the affairs in our blessed nation, Nigeria. APC becomes the ruling party, while PDP, if it survives the pains, and traumas of defeat, becomes the opposition. However, should the PDP fail to become the opposition, as they appear headed to, by their internal wrangling, we will end up with an octopus APC as the ruling party, carrying with it, all the dangers that entrapped and pulled down the PDP, implying that we will be back to where we started. I pray this will not happen.

In any case, this is another special occasion. The expectations are as high as it was in 1999, when we had the first transition from Military dictatorial government to a democratically elected government. Many world leaders came to celebrate with us then, and many will also be with us for this one.

Two main reasons why this calls for special celebration, is that first, it exults the spirit of the dogged fighter, in MB, which confirmed that God willing, a man will get what he wants on this earth if he refuses to quit. MB, lost three different elections serially since 2003, before succeeding on this fourth attempt. He deserves to be celebrated.

Second, and perhaps more important is that we made it still together, in spite of predictions that Nigeria will break up after 2015.We became a pleasant surprise to them all. Nigerians in their peculiar ways applied themselves to the 2015 C M Y K

elections; The media, the professionals, the clerics, and the workers played their parts.

They wrote, talked, some abused, and insulted others, Priests, Pastors and Clerics prophesied in all manner of directions such that at the end, and before voting started, “the born to rule” and the “difficult to follow” realised that Nigeria is one hard bull to ride, if you ride roughly, this bull will throw you out! So we made it, from one democratic government to another, in Nigeria, in spite of the strong undercurrents, and thus, deserve to be celebrated by the peace lovers of this world. Halleluya!!

As a build up to this hand over, Nigeria almost shut down as a result of fears by the major petroleum products marketers that the incoming APC government may not pay over N200 billion owed them as subsidy on petroleum products price.

They in response, had to shut down supplies and nearly brought the economy to its knees but for the timely intervention of the distinguished Senators who assured

The reality is that corruption cuts across the two political parties.

It will fight back, and may fight dirty

colonial kingdom covering areas in Burkina Faso like Wagadugu, the capital, Tenkodogo and Yatenga. The Mossi people had extended through Northern Ghana and co-founded Togo.

Again, the French and British imposed artificial boarders sub dividing the Mossi into various countries where the people, like was done to the Ewe, had to carry different passports, speak different foreign languages and use different currencies.

The Burkinabes, in fact suffered more, because after their country was used as an administrative centre by the French, the colonialists in 1932, abolished the country and divided the territory amongst its Niger, Cote d’Voire and Mali colonies. It was after series of protests, that the colonialists in 1947 reconstituted the Burkina Faso colony which was then called Upper Volta. The artificial border problem also led to civil war in Cote d’Voire.

The Lagos of my childhood was a mini West Africa with large populations of Ghanaians, Sierra Leoneans (Saro) Togolese (Agoin) Liberians and Beninese. We were one big family.

Visionary leaders like Kwame Nkrumah were by the early 1960s, pointing out the direction we should take with the initial union of Ghana, Mali and Guinea despite being so-called Anglo and Francophone. Then we had visionless leaders like Kofi Bussia who put a knife on the ties that bind us by expelling Nigerians from Ghana. Eight years after the founding of ECOWAS, Shehu Shagari carried out the same infamy, expelling Ghanaians from Nigeria.

While Europeans who divide us are united with no boundaries, we remain quite divided. A few years ago, I undertook a road travel from Banjul, Gambia

them that their debt will be inherited, by the incoming administration. Democracy is sweet!

The election campaign lies that the Price of Petrol would be reduced to N40/ litre by MB if elected, has just collapsed and now leaves us with the reality of the bizarre likelihood of subsidy removal, because the money we spend on subsidy for one year can build two refineries.

What will be the likely reaction of the people to subsidy removal, and to President MB, who also promised to influence the international oil prices during campaigns? Can Nigeria remove subsidy, or effectively tinker with reduction of petroleum pump price, without having six functional refineries, at the least, within the next four years?

The Igbos and the Niger Deltans understandably, feel bad that events have turned out this way against them, because the one they looked up to, GEJ, has sacrificed their chance in order to avoid conflict in Nigeria.

Although GEJ has never claimed to be an Igbo man, and is indeed, not an Igbo man, but they tagged him as an Igbo man in order to push him out. The peace GEJ gave Nigeria is most appreciated especially by the Igbos, for obvious reasons.

The reality these people must have to face however, is to accept their common fate, as the oppressed minority, in Nigerian politics, encourage themselves in the Lord, and turn their sadness into joy by building a common political plank or base that must have to be reckoned with in the nearest future.

Last Sunday, the Fulani Herds or tribes men, armed with AK 47 Rifles, killed over 100 persons in Benue State. This must be their own horrible way to welcome MB, who happens to be a Fulani man, to Aso Rock. To date, Fulani Herdsmen, have killed over 3000 persons, rendering them

through Senegal to Guinea Bissau; it was hell being harassed by the police, paying numerous official and unofficial fees and having two pages of my passport covered with all sorts of stamps.

Driving a private car from Accra to Lagos through Cotonou with ECOWAS insurance papers and international car permit, is a hell better imagined. You will be lucky if your car is not impounded along the way. In Ghana, the home of African unity, citizens from West Africa are foreigners whose children pay over 300 percent more for tertiary education, and require Residence permit as students.

ECOWAS proclaims that “The aims of the Community are to promote co-operation and integration, leading to the establishment of an economic union in West Africa in order to raise the living standards of its peoples, and to maintain and enhance economic stability, foster relations-among Member States and contribute to the progress and development of the African Continent” But its constituent states are the very obstacles to achieving these. The leaders jealously guard their borders, prefer to be kings in their small economies. Essentially, ECOWAS remains a forum of states, not of the peoples.

This month, I was in Rwanda; all an African needs to obtain visa on arrival, is to produce a passport from any part of the continent. Citizens of some of its neigbouring countries, do not even need a passport, just an identity card.

That is integration!

For ECOWAS to be meaningful, relevant and achieve integration, it must allow West Africans return to their precolonial status of free movement; tear down the colonial boundaries!

homeless from Platueu, Benue and Taraba States, etc.They spring upon their targets in their sleep in the midnight, killing them, and raiding their homes. Their targets are mostly, predominantly Christian and non-muslim settlements.

Some have reasoned that this is a deliberate religious cleansing effort within the middle belt as a grand plan towards pushing to the South East, and South South.

It becomes a serious cause for concern, because it is rare to hear of Fulani Herds men attacks in any of the core northern states like Kaduna, Katsina, Bauchi, Sokoto etc. When added to the rage of the run-away monster, called Boko Haram, which is terrorising sections of the north especially the north east, we arrive at another reality, that, blame who we may, the Core muslim north, must come together to agree on certain sections of the Qu’ran that should not be taught or that should be de-emphasised in teaching their youth to reduce the growing incidence of violence by muslim youth in the north of Nigeria.

This has to be done to kill or temper the idea, that there is a big link between Islam and violence. President MB, in his spare time should read the Holy Bible, in order to be able to moderate the thought patterns of the Christian and the Muslim in the interest of peace in Nigeria.

Power and Electricity generation has gulped billions of Naira to no avail, and one fact facing President MB, is that most of the so called DISCOS are cover up investments of some corrupt governors.

A simple peep will shock him. The reality is that corruption cuts across the two political parties. It will fight back, and may fight dirty.

•Mr. Udegbe, a legal practitioner, wrote from Lagos.

20 — V anguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 Vanguard, FRIDA MAY

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

— 21

overseas. The target of the international market influenced its location at the Lekki Free Zone,” he said.

He stated that the drop in the global oil price is a blessing in disguise because the government will lay more emphasis on diversification and agriculture remains the major sector that creates employment.

Anudu affirmed that it is unsafe for a country to depend on importation and not to produce anything locally that is why Candel has commenced with its agrochemical plant which will also assist the government in development.

He said that the multi billion Naira company is at its first phase of the project and will deliver a facility with a capacity for 80 million litres of formulated products per annum.

AWARD: From left: Mr.Olusoji Odukoya, Deputy Registrar, Admin Services, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and an Awardee; Mr.Chidi Ajaegbu, President of the Institute and Mr Rotimi Omotoso, Registrar/ Chief Executive at the 2015 ICAN Staff Long Service Award in Lagos.

Nigeria to save N86bn annually from agrochemical importation

By Dotun Ibiwoye

T

HE establishment of Candel Agrochemical Manufacturing Plant will save the country about N86.4 billion annually which was usually spent on the importation of agrochemical products from abroad.

This was disclosed by the chairman of the company in Lagos during the commissioning ceremony of the plant at Lekki Free Zone in the state.

The Chairman of the company, Mr. Charles Anudu, said: “There is currently no local production of crop protection agrochemicals in Nigeria with over $400 million in foreign exchange expended annually to import them.

“Crop protection chemicals protects crops from weeds, pests and diseases when in field , during transportation and in store. This helps for increased crop yields and better preservation by Nigerian farmers.

“Candel’s factory is configured to produce products specially targeted at small scale farmers as well as customized formulations with different surfactant levels for large scale farmers.

“The facility has five processing plants for soluble liquids (SL), Emulsifiable Concretes (SC) of products from diverse chemicals families.

“It has sufficient capacity to supply Candel’s own distribution network in

Nigeria and Ghana with enough spare capacity for third parties in Nigeria and

It is unsafe for a country to depend on importation and not to produce anything locally that is why Candel has commenced with its agrochemical plant which will also assist the government in development

He added: “Construction of the production facility began in early 2014 after an extensive Environmental impact Assessment (EIA) exercise under the full supervision and guidance of the federal and Lagos State ministries of Environment.

The Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, said that the major catalyst for development of the country lies in ‘Made in Nigeria’ products.

The Governor noted that the plant will open the door to more industries in the Free Trade Zone and would help farmers get cheaper agrochemical products and better quality assurance compared to the products coming from abroad.

Fashola said that irrespective of languages differences among the people, business and development speak one language, which is that of prosperity for us all.

“China has shown that example and that is why they are the largest economy in the world today. We can replicate that achievement here and that is why they are our formidable partner. The road to prosperity in the Nigeria is in three words: ‘Made in Nigeria’.

Stakeholders call for review of NRC’s tax reform act $124. 55

0.05

$3,123.00

-11.00

$11.95

0.08

$61.88

57.03 CURRENCY

BUYING

DOLLAR 196 POUNDS 302.0556 EURO 214. 2868 FRANC 206.882 YEN 1.5977 CFA 0.3144 WAUA 275. 0583 RENMINBI 31.5916 RIYAL 52.2639 KRONA 28.7411 SDR 272.6556

-0.18

-0.48

CENTRAL 196.5 197 302.8262 303.5967 214.8335 215.3801 207.4098 207.9375 1.6017 1.6058 0.3244 0.3344 275.76 276.4617 31.6727 31.7537 52.3972 52.5305 28.8144 28.8877 273.3512 274.0467

CBN Exchange Rate as at 28 / 05 /15

C M Y K

By EDIRI EJOH

S

takeholders have called for the review of the Non-Resident Companies, (NRCs) with a view to having more time to prepare their tax returns. Disclosing this at KPMG Tax Breakfast Meeting in Lagos, Patner, Tax, Regulator and People Services, Adewale Ajayi, of KPMG Nigeria said that the policy needs critical review for a profitable and more practical tax auditing laws.

According to him: “The objective of the meeting was basically to provide a platform where stakeholders in the tax space can engage with the FIRS to clarify certain issues, and it is clear that there are a whole lot of issues that the FIRS have to resolve.

He argued that the policy is on the heels of aggressive taxation, instigated by dwindling oil revenues. ”The era of aggressive taxation is here, revenue has gone down significantly, and the only focus has to be on taxation.

“When you look at most of the states in Nigeria, they are broke; they can’t even pay civil servants, and most of them only generate about 40 percent of their total revenue from internal sources, which is basically tax. So, there’s a need for them to actually increase their internally generated revenue, and the only way they can do that is through tax,” he added.

Ajayi however, cautioned that the tax authorities must be careful, so as not to make it difficult for responsible taxpayers to comply with the laws of the land.

For Mr. David Alvins, who works with Hercules, an international accounting firm said that , said there are a lot of challenges ahead with the new system.

He said revenues were easy to identify, but that costs are not, especially for non-resident companies with operations in other countries.

Alvis said: “The government and Federal Inland Revenues Services,

FIRS, are in for a massive shock. They will be surprised at the revenues they are going to collect, because our margins are reducing. We will comply, but we may not comply on time. However, it is going to be interesting.”

The Coordinating Director, Enforcement Support Group, FIRS, Ajayi Bamidele, who gave a presentation on the ‘Requirement for Non Resident Companies to File Tax Returns with Financial Statements’ hinted that the NRCs are worried, due to the amount of work and effort that goes into preparing audited accounts and computing capital allowances.

“Issues raised at the meeting revolved around the almost impracticability that some NRCs, who are not based in the country, to provide audited accounts for only its Nigerian region, the riddle of capital allowances computation, and the timeframe for compliance with the new policy, among others.”

22 — V anguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 Vanguard, FRIDA MAY

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 — 23 FRIDA MAY

C M Y K

24—Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

Adesina emerges new AfDB President

By Yinka Kolawole

N

IGERIA’s outgoing Minis ter of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina was yesterday elected as the new president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) at the bank’s Annual General Meeting in Abidjan, Cote D’Ívoire. This is coming on the eve of the inauguration of Nigeria’s newly elected President, Muhammadu Buhari. After six rounds of voting, Adesina defeated seven other contenders for the top job.

He secured around 60 percent of the vote.

Mr Musibau Azzze, National Coordinator of RUFIN confirmed yesterday in Addis Ababa that, Nigeria’s Agriculture Minister, won the AfDB elections. Adesina will now take over from outgoing bank president, Donald Kaberuka on September 1. The election was part of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the bank in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Adesina defeated contenders like Sufian Ahmed, Jaloul Ayed, Kordjé Bedoumra, Cristina Duarte, Samura M. W. Kamara,Thomas Z. Sakala and Birama Boubacar Sidibé to become the 50-year-old body’s eighth leader.

Earlier, President-elect Muhammadu Buhari had requested the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to support the candidacy of Adesina as the body’s president. Gen. Buhari had communicated his backing of Dr Adesina’s candidacy to Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama, the chairman of ECOWAS, a statement by his spokesman, Garba Shehu, said.

Reacting to his victory, Adesina told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone interview that he was highly honoured and delighted. He promised to revolutionalise agriculture in the continent and give it a new face.

The minister said that he will not let anybody down, saying hie emergence was a straight fight, which he appreciated. Also reacting, Dr Abimbola Adubi, Agricultural expert with the World Bank described the outcome of the election as a victory for the continent. He said Adesina will bring his experience to bear considering what he had done in the agriculture sector in Nigeria and Africa.

Adesina who holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University (USA), will take over from outgoing bank president Donald Kaberuka of C M Y K

Rwanda on September 1 to become the leader of the 50year-old continental bank.

Adesina will have to guide the Bank through the continent’s increasingly complex financial environment, where nations are turning to non-traditional partners like China and international debt markets.

Until his appointment as Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2011, Adesina was Vice President (Policy and Partnerships) for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), an organization established with support from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with the goal of bringing a green revolution to Africa, and lifting millions of poor farmers out of poverty and food insecurity.( He has also held senior leadership positions in a number of agricultural institutions in the world.

The newly elected AfDB president has over 20 years of experience in African agriculture, development policy and rural development. He won the Rockefeller Foundation Social Science Research Fellowship in 1988, which initiated his career in international agricultural development. He has worked in senior research positions in international agricultural research centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. He joined the Rockefeller Foundation, New York, as a senior scientist for Africa in 1998 and later served as Rockefeller Foundation representative for Southern Africa, based in Harare, Zimbabwe (1999-2003).

He was also an associate director (food security) at The

My vision is to help build a new Africa with prosperous, sustainable and inclusive growth

•Akinwunmi Adesina Rockefeller Foundation, based in Nairobi, Kenya. Adesina helped to design, inspire and galvanize support for the landmark Africa Fertilizer Summit. He was at different times consultant on agricultural development issues in Africa by the World Economic Forum, World Bank and African Development Bank, among other institutions.

Adesina was a lead organizer of the Africa Fertilizer Summit for African heads of state in 2006.

He was instrumental in framing the soil health policies adopted there by over 40 African governments, the African Union the New Partnership of African Development (NEPAD), and other leading global development institutions. He has worked in senior research leadership positions at IITA, WARDA and ICRISAT. In July 2007, he received the YARA Prize for the African Green Revolution in Oslo for his pioneering work with agricultural inputs and agrodealer networks in Africa.

In 2008, he was honoured with Purdue University’s College of Agriculture Distinguished Agricultural Alumni Award, for his inspiring leadership in spearheading transformative change in African agriculture. In 2009, Mr. Adesina was appointed into the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Advocacy Group to

drive the rapid achievement of the Goals across the globe. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon described him as an “eminent personality” who had shown outstanding leadership in promoting the implementation of the MDGs.

Vision

My vision is to help build a new Africa with prosperous, sustainable and inclusive growth; one that is peaceful, secure and united, regionally integrated and globally competitive. A continent filled with hope, opportunities, liberties and freedom, with shared prosperity for all. An Africa that is open to the world, one that Africans are proud to call home.

AfDB

The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is a multilateral development finance institution established to contribute to the economic development and social progress of African countries.

The AfDB was founded in 1964 and comprises three entities: The African Development Bank, the African Development Fund and the Nigeria Trust Fund. The bank’s mission is to fight poverty and improve living conditions on the continent through promoting the investment of public and private capital in projects and programs that are

likely to contribute to the economic and social development of the region. AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies investing in the regional member countries (RMC).

The overarching objective of the AfDB is to spur sustainable economic development and social progress in its regional member countries (RMCs), thus contributing to poverty reduction.

The bank achieves this objective by: mobilizing and allocating resources for investment in RMCs; and providing policy advice and technical assistance to support development efforts.

Past presidents

Previous presidents of AfDB are: Mamoun Beheiry (Sudan), President, African Development Bank, 1964-1970; Abdelwahab Labidi (Tunisia), President, African Development Bank, 19701976; Kwame Donkor Fordwor (Ghana), African Development Bank, 1976-1980; Willa Mung’Omba (Zambia), President, African Development Bank, 1980-1985; Babacar N’diaye (Senegal), President, African Development Bank, 1985-1995; Omar Kabbaj (Morocco), President, African Development Bank, 1995-2005; and Donald Kaberuka (Rwanda), President, African Development Bank, 2005-present.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 25

PROLOGUE

Change and change agents

C

By Owei Lakemfa

HANGE is natural and normal.

Life is not static; like the sea, it is in a continuous, sometimes, turbulent flow. Since change is inevitable, it can be amazing that there are people who fear it. Whatever the case, it is futile to stop an idea whose time has come.

Human beings, given objective conditions, can change their circumstance. The old must give way to the new; that is what change is. However, not all change is progressive. Therefore, as human beings we should strive for change that results in

T

By Charles Kumolu

HE country that Muhammadu Buhari takes control of today, in the estimation of some, has literally fallen under. It is a country where the primary ingredients of a functional state are in many cases in immeasurable deficit to the harrowing plight of the citizenry.

With all indices of human capital development indicating that the country hardly spent its huge income to bring about quality life for its over 170 million people, Nigeria is once again at a crossroads.

Interestingly, that fact was not lost on Buhari, who had variously conceded that he would be leading a nation of altered dreams and wasted journeys.

The political challenges

The challenges facing the new government are not limited to the inherited governance issues being left behind by the just exited administration. The Buhari administration is also going to grapple with the political challenges of managing its success and one of the immediate challenges before it is on how to grapple with the division among the leaders of the All Progressives Congress, APC on the emergence of the new presiding officers of the National Assembly.

It is not difficult to forget that the difficulties of the Jonathan administration were partly rooted in the emergence of Speaker Aminu Tambuwal against the permutations of the president and his party.

Perennial challenges

The enormity of the challenges is such that miracles are being expected from the man, whose electoral victory was a product of general resentment towards an administration that was largely perceived as irresponsive to the issues.

C M Y K

improvement.

The All Progressive Congress(APC) which becomes Nigeria’s ruling party this week, chose change as its slogan. It will be the second time in our contemporary political history that the change slogan will be deployed to the electoral battle field.

The first major use was in 1983 when the progressive alliance led by Alhaji Abubakar Rimi adopted Chanji as its slogan, especially in the Kano State gubernatorial elections. The progressives coalition lost the elections, but the victors also lost as within three months, the military led by General Muhammadu Buhari

booted them out of power into prison.

Nigerians are simple; they are not a people who ask for the moon. Their desire is job in hand, food on the table, roof over the head and shirt on the back. It is in this sense, change will make a meaning; they will not live by slogans alone or be contented with a diet of promises.

The APC must move from sloganeering to meeting the aspirations and needs of the people. It must distinguish itself from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and bring true change; it has to implement the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy as contained

Continues on Page 26

Hard decisions awaiting Buhari In spite of the fact that the prospects of surprises had been dashed by Buhari, who after a thorough appraisal of the Nigerian situation cautioned against such, analysts have outlined some critical spheres of the nation’s life in need of urgent attention.

The areas include; backlog of unpaid salaries, perennial fuel scarcity, fuel subsidy regime, cost of governance, size of government, review of power sector privatisation, institutionalised corruption, security votes, alleged missing oil money, national reconciliation, the Niger Delta question, insurgency, and general insecurity.

An early and as well pragmatic approach to these national challenges could go a long way in defining the direction of the new administration.

Backlog of unpaid salaries

Though the practice of not paying salaries is endemic in Nigeria’s public and

So pathetic are the attendant effects on federal and state workers that many want payment of salaries to top Buhari’s agenda

private sectors, the matter is now at an alarming rate following the slump in oil prices.

Of the country’s predominantly 36 unviable states, 22 have not been able to meet their financial obligations to civil servants for months following shortfalls in federal allocations.

So pathetic are the attendant effects on federal and state workers that many want payment of salaries to top Buhari’s agenda.

The extremity of the situation came to the fore during the last May Day celebration, as government workers in some parts of the country openly grumbled at the parade ground over the lengthening delay in the payment of their entitlements.

Therefore, for Buhari’s government to hit the ground running, hard decisions that would result in generating the needed funds for this purpose must be made urgently.

Buhari is particularly expected to get the incoming and re-elected governors into prioritising the need for regenerative sources of revenue in view of the current financial crisis.

Perennial fuel scarcity

The re-emergence of fuel scarcity in Africa’s largest oil producing nation at this time, no doubt has compounded the myriad of challenges for the new government.

Since February this year, Nigeria’s struggling population has faced acute fuel crisis resulting in increase in the price of goods and services.

Continues on page 30

26 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

Change and Change agents

Continues from Page 25 in Chapter II of the Constitution.

Part of that Chapter states that it is a basic duty of Government to ensure “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.”

The PDP has done well in establishing fourteen new universities to meet the growing demands of the people. In this case, change would be the adequate funding of education. Real change in education will mean the APC government implementing the constitutional provision making universal education free and compulsory, and making secondary school, university and adult education free.

Change will mean adding value to the crude oil we sell, and refining our petroleum product needs. This will be a positive change that will significantly boost our income and eliminate the need for subsidy.

Change means supplying adequate electricity rather than deregulating darkness.

Change means being commonsensical enough to know that you cannot chase two rats at the same time, you endBuhari up losing both. You cannot doggedly pursue neo-liberal agenda or be a fanatical follower of the market forces religion and also hope to create mass sustainable jobs or implement Chapter II of the Constitution.

On the issue of jobs for instance, while the APC manifesto promises mass creation of jobs, its leading lights like Mallam El-Rufai are advocating mass lay-offs, the same treatment meted out to public servants in the twilight of the Obasanjo PDP-led administration. At that time, the Committee led by El-Rufai sacked tens of thousands of public servants who were promised immediate payment of severance benefits which, of course did not materialize.

This leads to the issue of change agents. Change is change, but whether change is positive or negative would depend on the change agents. Currently, many assume that since the APC advocates change, then its members are on the same page. Nothing can be further from the truth. Change fundamentally depends on who is carrying out the change, for what purpose, for whom and in whose benefit? Change is not free of interests and values.

That a politician moves from the PDP to the APC does not mean he has become a progressive, and if the reverse were the case, does not mean he has become a conservative.

People cross-carpet for various reasons. So while the APC platform of change is attractive enough to secure votes, it might have few change agents.

Many are confident that President Muhammadu Buhari, said to be austere, honest and patriotic, will make the difference. This may turn out to be true, but like the trite goes, a tree does not make a forest; while a nation can find its voice in a man, that man cannot constitute the nation. No matter how strong, tactical and strategic a general is, he needs officers and men to win a battle or war. The challenge to change may not come from the opposition, but from within the APC itself; the insect that devours the vegetable usually resides inside the vegetable itself.

C M Y

How Buhari'll play his politics HOW Nigeria’s new president will play his politics is a sort of mystery to many people including his close aides. However, almost everyone agrees that the advent of the Buhari era in Nigeria’s democratic dispensation will bring a change to the way and manner former holders of the office of president had played their politics.

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

A

ministers knowing that their appointments are at the mercy of a stern and rule of law president would be tempered in any effort to overreach themselves in their states. The president would also seek to use moral suasion in some of the issues of concern to him as relating to the governors.

At a meeting with the governors of his party just before the presidential election in Owerri, he had told them to urge their Houses of Assembly to review pension laws enacted for governors, describing the financial provisions as indefensible.

The urge was upon the realisation that he could not as president prevail on the governors or the state legislators. Hence, in several issues where he may not have direct power to influence the governors, he would be expected to use moral suasion to bring the governors into line.

Of more significant would be his dealings with the National Assembly.

The new president prior to his inauguration had sought to distance himself from the squabbles in his party over the choice of presiding officers of the two chambers of the National Assembly.

As he told the same newspaper in the interview, he would not bother himself with the politics of the emergence of the presiding officers, affirming that he was determined to work with whoever is produced as Senate President or as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

There is, however, no doubt that the practice of influencing legislators with money to push key legislative proposals or appointments would not be tolerated in the Buhari presidency.

This new dispensation is bound to shake up the system and inevitably bring some sanity to legislative oversight and operations of the machine of government.

stalwart of the new president, Osita Okechukwu who has fol lowed him since 2002 said that Buhari would be a sticker to the rules of the democratic enterprise discharging the responsibilities of his office strictly according to the laws of the land and in the dictates of his conscience.

Given the high expectations on him, Buhari, it was also gathered, would live to his reputation and ensure that the uprightness that has followed him all through his public life is not soured.

But how he plays his politics will be seen in his dealings with the other arms of government, the governors and his party.

The advent of Buhari will for the first time erode the overwhelming influence that Nigeria’s governors had in the past pulled on the levers of the Federal Government. Governors had in the past arrogated to themselves the privileges of appointing ministers they foisted on the president.

Buhari and his party However, under Buhari that practise Buhari may want to deny it, but his apmight change. As he said in an interproach towards the APC leadership would view with a newspaper ahead of his There is, howalways be shadowed by the experience inauguration today, “the type of peoand betrayal he got from his former party, ple I am supposed to appoint, like in ever, no doubt the cabinet and the Secretary to the that the practice the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP in his two presidential bids on the platform of Government of the Federation, and that party. It is, however, instructive that service chiefs will be different from of influencing how the PDP appointed its. Definitely legislators with in the days leading to the merger of the the system is going to be different from money to push three parties that formed the APC, that Buhari’s objection to the participation of what we had under the PDP where key legislative the ANPP was mellowed by convincing governors nominated ministers.” facts on why the party was needed.

Unlike some of his predecessors and proposals or Such attitude would be seen in his funotably, President Goodluck Jonathan, ture engagements with the APC. The Buhari is going to work with only those appointments president would be swayed by convinche has personally verified their com- would not be ing arguments on issues. It is expected petence.

That decision, good as it is, also could tolerated in the that the caucus of the national leadership would continue in pushing forward party provoke political consequences as the Buhari presipositions on issues, but such issues would ministers may be tempted to see them- dency not be expected to becloud Buhari’s judgselves as political rivals of their govContinues on Page 27 ernors in their states. However, the

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 27

Wearing new, ill-fitting shoes:

PDP as opposition

zBello Haliru Mohammed

zGoodluck Jonathan

zAyo Fayose

popular, charismatic leader who is able to command the respect and loyalty of its members from across the geopolitical zones. A political party without a strong leadership will be an open warehouse for poaching by the ruling party. This was the experience of the ANPP and the defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD) at the hands of the PDP at the rave of its power.

It must also evolve means of enforcing party discipline and control, without which no group can be strong enough to bid for power against a powerful ruling party.

Tackling the APC Federal Government The PDP must learn from the strategies and resilience of the major parties that produced the APC from a basket of regional political parties. For instance, from the South West, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ACN was very strong and able to manipulate the media, judiciary and civil society to its benefit. This was its unique attribute which it brought to bear in the making of the Muhammadu Buhari presidential victory. On the other hand, the CPC and ANPP, being North-based parties, equally had strong media partners, especially regional newspapers, radio, television and the social media. They were able to ramp up regional and religious sentiments which eventually turned the mind of the North against President Goodluck Jonathan and

By Ochereome Nnanna

and LP will stay within the “alliance”. It is all a the PDP in favour of Buhari and APC. question what political leaders consider as what On the other hand, the PDP was very lackadaiN the presidential system of gov serves their interests. For the former ruling party sical, even cavalier with the media, civil society ernment, there is no official oppo to succeed as an opposition party, it has to satisfy and the judiciary. Jonathan was aloof from these sition, as evident in the Parliamentary a number of conditions. critical stakeholders in our democracy in his betype. But opposition parties do exist. In a The first is that the party has to quickly get over lief that they should be allowed to do their thing. multiparty system, there are political par- its misfortunes at the polls and revamp itself. It The out-going president confessed he neglected ties outside power which would like to take should not be deterred by the residual gale of the media during the late part of the campaigns, over governance from the ruling party. When defections to the victorious APC. That is a normal and when he decided to do something about it, it the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was in thing to expect from politicians who cannot sur- was already too late. power, political platforms regarded as the vive outside the federal feeding bottle. The party The PDP must also establish a strong and stra“opposition” included the All Nigerian Peo- must discover the true meaning of PDP based on tegic platform to monitor the APC federal governple’s Party (ANPP), Congress for Progres- its founding principles, which were jettisoned. It ment and its ruling party, and hold it to account sive Change (CPC) and the Action Congress must entrench democratic principles and due proc- on its campaign promises, especially the fight of Nigeria (ACN), all now defunct. ess in its day-to-day dealings, particularly in against corruption, insecurity and the pledge to They later came together in the most suc- choosing its leaders and candidates for elecdiversify the economy to create cessful merger in Nigeria’s history and took tions. There must be a strong PDP way of jobs and shore up the value of over power. In fact, today, May 29th 2015, is doing things which will distinguish it from The opposithe Naira to equal that of the US an epochal date in Nigeria’s history, because the APC and give it unique appeal.

Dollar. It must also monitor the APC, the former opposition party is assumIn this revamp process, the PDP must tion must human rights record of the new ing the mantle of leadership of our country avoid becoming a regional party. After the avoid the regime, and ensure that it does as the current dominant party by virtue of elections, the party has become almost nonnot allow the fight against corthe result of the 2015 general elections. Con- existent in the North West and North Cen- temptation of ruption to become selective and versely, the PDP, which had been in power tral, with only nominal presence in the competing political, and that sections of the for 16 years, will now lead the new pack of North East and South West. It is strongest country are not marginalised opposition parties, which include the All in the South-South, with a healthy pres- with the APC based on religion, region or how Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the ence in the South-East, along with its alli- in market they voted in the preceding Labour Party (LP). These three parties have ance partner, APGA. The PDP, therefore, elections. Where such takes worked together as “allies”. Now, it is ex- owes itself the duty to re-establish its pres- women-like place, it must raise the alarm. pected that they will carry the flag of the ence in the four geopolitical zones where exchange of The opposition must avoid the “opposition” and ensure that the new domi- it used to have commanding presence: a temptation of competing with the nant two-party system that has emerged will presence that was strong enough to pro- insults, mockAPC in market women-like exgrow and give Nigerians credible options duce a President each from South West and ery and change of insults, mockery and or clear choice every four years.

North West; a Vice President from the North name-calling. It must raise the For PDP to be an effective opposition East and a Senate President for two terms name-calling quality of criticism and discourse In truth, the PDP is the main opposition. from North Central. of national affairs by presenting Nobody can even guarantee that the APGA Furthermore, the PDP must look for a the facts correctly and in a matured tone to earn the respect of people looking for credible information about how the APC Federal Government is ruling the country.

It must also encourage good governance in all the states where it is in power and uphold them Continues from Page 26 as the paradigms to encourage people to see it as can check Buhari should the president attempt a recharged alternative, in case the APC is unment. to wreck the system that the two of them conable to prove itself as the messiah it had promised Buhari would be expected to make a distinc- ceived. tion between the roles of the government and However, such assertions betray the confi- during the campaigns.

The process of providing credible opposition to the party in running the country. The party may dence that Tinubu and Buhari have for each a ruling Federal Government in Nigeria has never articulate policies, but the implementation other. The two men have over time weathered would solely be that of Buhari and those he past several other controversies including the been a stroll in the park. This was why no opposidelegates such responsibilities to. nomination of Yemi Osinbajo as vice-presiden- tion party was ever able to claim the presidency Relationship with party elders tial candidate without as much as rocking the from a ruling party. It took a lot of determination, passion, perseverance, focus, insight, cooperation Party elders such as Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, na- boat. tional chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, It is thus expected that the two men would and commitment for the leaders of the APC to pull former ANPP national chairman, Ogbonnanya continue to push forward the collective goal off the coup that catapulted them to power and Onu (if not given an appointment) would con- for which they effected a change in the lead- glory.

It will take a major re-enactment of the same tinue to play roles from the background and ership of the country. positively so, except they overreach their principles by the new opposition if they ever hope Though Buhari’s position has been consolibounds wherein the president would step in to dated with his new position, assertions that to return to power. It is in the overall interest of check them. the president would cage Tinubu underplay our democracy and polity if the APC and PDP can It has been alleged that Tinubu’s reported the simple fact that though he has dropped stand at almost the same strength level with clear support of two of the leading candidates for his cherished title of General, the fact remains lines of appeal, whereby Nigerians can seamlessly the office of Senate President and Speaker of that Buhari remains an officer and a gentle- choose between one and the other, depending on the House of Representatives is to ensure that man. He would not ordinarily rock the system their performance as the ruling or opposition parhe has able men in the National Assembly who except something extraneous develops. ties.

I

How Buhari'll play his politics

C M Y K

C M Y K

28 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

By Chioma Gabriel

T

HE Igbo stirred up contro versy by the way they voted in the last presidential and national assembly elections. This has put the people in a very precarious position in the new government of Muhammadu Buhari and has generated a question of what fiddle they could play in the scheme of things.

From the results announced afterward, the South East States except Imo gave their almost undivided votes to President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Presidential and National Assembly polls.

Simply put, Ndigbo are perceived to have voted themselves out of relevance in the APC government except a miracle happens that could integrate them into the system.

Looking at the scenario, the Igbo who have been lucky in the past to play second, third or fourth fiddle would play no fiddle at all in the new government. As perceived, no Igbo person will be President, Vice President, Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker, House of Reps or Deputy Speaker, House of Reps.

This portrays that yet again, Ndigbo have suffered defeat and would mostly likely continue to be treated as defeated people as they have always been treated since the civil war.

But as bad as it seems, many are still optimistic that there is a place for them in the new government, at least, as provided by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Chekwas Okorie, one of the presidential candidates in the last general election said that although the voting pattern of Ndigbo will make it difficult for them to make claims in the APC government, there are certain things that are the right of Ndigbo as guaranteed by the constitution which must be given to them.

“It is the constitutional provision that every state must be in the Federal Executive Council, FEC, every state have a Minister and that cannot be denied. “ However, it will be to Buhari’s political benefit that some key positions be allotted to the South-East because he is the president of Nigeria and not the president of APC. South-East is part of the Nigerian state and therefore should not be sidelined because they voted mostly for PDP. From records, he got a significant number of votes from the South-East too and that should not be disregarded. “ The new president should also know that anybody in government wants to be there in the next government. I’m sure that he would want to continue in 2019 and it is the way he handles things that will determine the future. If he ignores Ndigbo now because they didn’t vote for him, what happens in 2019?

Will he come back to campaign?

APC should have their eyes in 2019 and therefore, should not disregard Ndigbo because of their bloc vote.

“The new government should also realise that in 2015, more than 50% of traditional Igbo votes did not go to Jonathan or to Buhari. The truth of the matter is that many Igbo were aloof. They didn’t vote at all because they were not with Jonathan and they were suspicious of Buhari. So,

zNdigbo at an event

Ndigbo in the new government Buhari should not give Ndigbo Nduka Eya, the Secretary-General cause to believe they were right in of the apex Igbo socio-cultural ortheir suspicion of him by ignoring ganisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo said them. He is Nigeria’s president and that whatever becomes the fate of should therefore focus on the fu- Ndigbo in the new administration ture and what determines the fu- should be blamed on the much deture is what happens now.” sired change.

On reference to statements cred“ We must know that this is a deited to Oba of Lagos, Oba Akiolu mocracy. The Peoples Democratic and Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Party, PDP, ruled for 16 years. We Soyinka on the politics of Ndigbo, talked about change but nobody deChekwas Okorie refrained himself fined the change we talked about. from commenting on what the tra- Now, the reality has dawned on us. ditional ruler said. According to him, In the whole South-East, only Imo “ He is not a politician and there- is APC. So, a lot depends on the fore I don’t want to talk about him. government. They should realise As for Soyinka, let me give give that they cannot run the country him benefit of doubt especially as without the South-East. Buhari is he denied ever saying what he was the president of Nigeria including alleged to have said. those in opposition. So, the oppo“My concern more is the attitude sition should organise themof the Southselves because without West in the Now, the reality Ndigbo, there will be no Niwhole issue geria. This is a pointer to any of APC and has dawned on government . You cannot igtheir pur- us. In the whole nore someone because he is view that in opposition. This country is they are the South-East, only run with a constitution and ones that Imo is APC. So, a therefore Ndigbo should not gave Buhari lose confidence. lot depends on the victory. “ The South-East is not That is not the government. alone here. There is also the true and that They should South-South. All South -East is not right.

States are PDP except Imo Even if they realise that they which is APC and Anambra did, I think cannot run the which is APGA. The entire they should South-South is also PDP exbe more ac- country without cept Edo state which is APC. commodat- the South-East So, what are we talking? ing espeBuhari must appoint a Mincially in the way they portray them- ister from each state of the federaselves in the new government and tion. It is for him to choose statesstop talking down on others.” men as ministers and not praise A former governor of Anambra singers. state, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife how“ Let me also tell you another ever does not perceive any prob- thing. APC is as good or as bad as lem for Ndigbo in Buhari’s govern- PDP. Nigerian politicians play poliment. Ezeife opinion is based on tics of their pockets. Buhari is althe fact that Nigeria is operating a ready in. Let us see what he will do political party system and whoever differently. We must hold him to wins at the end of the day becomes task on his promises because he the people’ president. must fulfill all and we want him to “ General Buhari is Nigeria’s prove that APC politicians will be president and not APC president. different from PDP politicians. He He contested on the platform of a must keep to his words because that political party as established but is what change is all about. And so, having won election, will he now we must keep him on his toes on become the president of APC? He the top promises he made to Nigeis the peoples president and should rians while campaigning such as : therefore be a man of the people”. reducing fuel price to N45.00 per In his own submission, Chief

litre ; giving N5000 per month to every unemployed youth; creating 3,000,000 jobs per annum; providing free meals for all elementary/ primary/almajiri schools; giving one year allowance for youth corps post NYSC members; promise of free and qualitative education up to SSS 3 ;. building 2 million houses yearly for the next four years; generating 48,000 megawatts of electricity within four years; applying zero tolerance for corruption, wiping out corruption by the force of his personal example; banning medical tourism by our politicians from May 29, 2015, annihilating Boko Haram within two months, equating N1.00 to $1.00 and stabilising the oil price .

We want to see Buhari ask questions about peoples wealth especially those of his party men. People should be able to account for the stupendous wealth they flaunt all over the place. I want to see change in all its ramifications, not selective change or abusive change.”

Dr Chinweoke Mbadinuju, another one-time governor who recently defected from PDP to APC opines that the way things are, the position of Ndigbo in today’s political calculation is highly pathetic.

“Igbo have not had it worse than this, from the time of Zik, to Okpara, to Ojukwu and a few others. It has been like from fire to frying pan. But it is entirely not the fault of Ndigbo. It was circumstantial. For whosoever loses war goes on the receiving end which is where the Igbo now are on the receiving end apart from Zik whom the British awarded the office of ceremonial Governor of Nigeria and this was the highest political office an Igbo ever held. Even when Chief Alex Ekwueme became Vice President under Alhaji Shehu Shagari, still the Vice Presidency was without political powers except the much Shagari assigned to him.

“Anyway, the constitution could grant a VP power like Chairmanship of Economic Council, but Dr. Ekwueme will know whether such power was good or ephemeral.

Continues on Page 31

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 29

The Buhari phenomenon should also spread to states — ATTAH Obong Victor Attah, the former governor of Akwa Ibom State and a life member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in this interview reviews the events that led to his party’s defeat in the recent presidential election and how the party can recover its steps.

Excerpts:

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

N

IGERIA is at the point of a historic transition with transfer of power from one party to another. What is your view of this?

I am really quite excited because while it was from one party to the same party it was almost always expected to go smoothly and it went smoothly. But now from one party to another party? I am excited and anxious to see how it will go, particularly, when that new party is coming in with the slogan of change. I want to see what they want to change, how quickly they will change them and the means they will use in effecting the change. I am really quite excited.

So, you agree that there are things that really needed to be changed in this country?

Yes, quite a lot. There is no doubt about that. I made a statement once that “people should not be surprised if Jonathan loses the election because it had got to the point where everybody was saying that we cannot continue like this, we cant go on like this. We cant go on like this. When people reach that kind of stage, the only other thing that needs to come is change.

It is interesting because I read one of Jonathan’s own campaign adverts saying that when they come back that there are certain things that they would do differently. That means they themselves also recognised the fact that there is need for change. So, it is not surprising that this change came because it needed to come.

As a member of the BoT of the PDP do you feel pained with the loss?

Let me redefine my membership of the BoT because there are people who are elected into the BoT. I am a life member of the BoT. If I die today, I cannot be replaced because I earned it through the fact that I was one of those who founded the party. I will feel pained if the party was the only issue, but Nigeria is a greater issue because there are some of us who tried to tell our party that what was being done was not good for Nigeria, that we should change and do it differently, but nobody wanted to listen to us. Sadly and unfortunately, nobody listened to us.

I went to one BoT meeting and the agenda was that we should ratify, ratify and ratify certain things.

I said what is this? This is the highest advisory organ of the party, the conscience of the party, and I called Prof. Jerry Gana and I told him, I designed this umbrella and it was an open umbrella and the concept was everybody, come in, say what you want to say, discuss and we take a joint decision, but that today, it seems that some people have folded up the umbrella,

stuck it under their armpit and made it a personal property.

Otherwise, why should we be called at this level to come and ratify and the only meaning that that can have, is that there is a party somewhere taking decisions and we are just here to ratify.

Maybe, that is why we wont have a BoT meeting anymore than two or maximum, three times in a year because the party was never a party, it was fragments.

The PDP for a long time ceased to function as a coherent, cohesive party. It was always factions, those who can hold the ears of the president, those who can hold the ears of that one and the ears of the other one. That is why there would be a campaign organisation outside of the party and the campaign organisation will fight the party and the party will fight back. It did not surprise me that PDP lost because zObong Victor Attah we did not manage good human relationships, good political sense to hold such a meeting and we did not manage good because it was very infrequent. governance either.

Outside of that, I didn’t belong So, do you believe the claim by to any particular faction, I some PDP stakeholders that the didn’t belong to any caucus, I party did not lose the presidential didn’t have access to the election? president and I can say that We lost the election. You can ask openly, I didn’t have access to any and everybody. Everyone the president, so all my efforts knows that change has come but to try and give an opinion were people did not want to put that frustrated and so, I watched on change in the hands of PDP. If PDP the sidelines. had truly shown that it was in a position to change from what it was So what are the prospects before, maybe we can try them for the party? again. But we didn’t show any The prospects are very good willingness to do that. We thought because there is no way that we could continue to use the former you can tell me that APC is methods that Anenih defined as better. I cannot accept that, but doing the things that we know best I have advised, that is if my how to do. But Nigeria has moved advice is taken, I said, let’s from there. Nigerians decided that observe certain things. CPC it is only good governance and care had General Buhari as a for the people and concern for and rallying point, ACN had Bola the wellbeing of the people. That Tinubu, APGA had the late means security, that means solving Ojukwu, ANPP had the problem of unemployment and Ogbonaya Onu a very above all, show some sense of respected and suave fighting this corruption which has gentleman, and we can say almost been elevated to a that at some point with all his government policy. quirks and But what imperfections, we efforts did you had Obasanjo.

But and your fellow today, who do we members in the I think we have to build the BoT do in the essentially need party around? face of all Secondly, if you these? two parties and if want to be proud, We are not PDP can gather you drown because allowed to we are no bigger discuss the all these other today than any of contents of our parties and form those parties were a BoT meetings otherwise I will one other party so few years ago. So, we must pick up advise you to that there is APC the fragments. The read the way that the PDP minutes of our and there is this BoT meetings other new party, I should go is to eat the humble pie, and read Obong think Nigeria will swallow its pride Attah’s views and now go on a number of be in a better negotiating what is things. That left of PDP, APGA, was whenever position Labour and Accord it was possible democratically

and any of the others so that there will be one strong party that can oppose APC, the way APC was put together from the fragments of other parties.

I think we essentially need two parties and if PDP can gather all these other parties and form one other party so that there is APC and there is this other new party, I think Nigeria will be in a better position democratically.

Can you identify an individual in the PDP to drive the rebranding of the party?

There are quite a few but they may not go for those ones. But the way I am reading PDP, they have been so immersed in impudence that they may not be looking at those people because they would think that those people would be a reproach to them.

Is President Goodluck Jonathan in a position to do that?

He is in a position to attempt it but he should be willing to surrender if he finds that he himself can identify somebody better. Labour has just lost in the UK and they had a leader who had to resign, but they could him back if his party decides that there is no better person but otherwise, he would help to rebuild the party through somebody else.

What are the prospects for the change mantra you expect from Buhari?

General Buhari will have to depend on the person that he is and to define that, I refer that to a story I read about him in an interview in Vanguard by General Tarfa about some cadets in the NDA breaching the schools law in sleeping outside. Read the story of how they tried to intimidate him with the fact that more than half of the indicted students were Muslims but Buhari insisted that they should be sacked that if those cadets could not be disciplined that the army is ruined.

That is the kind of person I respect and I have no reason to suspect that Buhari is going to depart from that and so long as he can do that, you will see a complete change and I believe that he is capable of doing that.See, the root cause of all of these is corruption.

C M Y K

30 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

GOVERNOR Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State was until today the senator representing Delta North Senatorial District and was elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. In this interview, he speaks on his plans, politics and prospects as governor of the state.

Excerpts:

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

I

s it a challenge to you that you would be governor of Delta State at a time that another party would be in control of the central government?

I don’t see it as a major challenge, I am not losing sleep over that. The reason is that I believe that the president has Nigeria as his constituency and all Nigerians are part of his constituency. To that extent, I am not seeing him going there to play APC politics but to govern the people of Nigeria and therefore, Delta being one of the component parts, he will be relating to the government of Delta State as he relates with the people of Delta State.

We have been elected to serve our people and not to serve our party. We are not party officials, we were elected by the people to serve in government. To a very large extent, I know he means well for Nigeria, and I mean well for the people of Delta State. We will need to collaborate with each other and on my part, will offer the best in my ability to support the government of the federation to do its best concerning Delta and to achieve a peaceful state.

I offer my partnership and I will ensure that that partnership is really in the best interest of the people of Delta State which also know that to a very large extent Delta State being one of the oil producing states in Nigeria, is a state that the Federal Government cannot largely ignore and it is our duty working with the Federal Government in partnership to ensure that the resources of the country coming from Delta actually come. So, I will offer cooperation to the Federal Government and I don’t intend in any manner to be confrontational to the Federal Government.

That will not be of any help to my people and I also believe that the president would also want to see Delta State as one of his own and in the best interest of the people of Nigeria and the state that he will do what is right.

From what you gleaned from the efforts of your transition committee, do you see any challenges ahead of you?

Obviously, there are challenges going ahead. We are aware that nationally, many states, local governments and even the national government are in debt but it appears to me that the debt burden we are going to meet is going to be a huge challenge, huge enough to cause a scare but by God’s grace, we hope that we will find a way from our experiences to restructure it in such a manner that we are able to manage it going forward.

Otherwise it is obvious that we are going to meet a huge challenge financially in the first few months and probably in the first two years.

Will this challenge impede the delivery of your campaign promises?

I will stay focused on my agenda, I will stay focused on my promises to the people, but obviously, there will be a slowdown in the processes that will lead to the actualisation of the promises because the promises definitely will have to be funded in one manner or the other but we are putting everything in place to lay the foundation for the takeoff of the programmes that we have in terms of creation of jobs, creating wealth for the people, restructuring and supporting technical education and entrepreneurial skills development and in terms of having universal health coverage. We are looking at the totality of all these. We are creating the needed platform, but there will be a slowdown in the processes that will eventually get them to be fully functional and implemented, but you will realise that if you have a challenge to the extent that a state like Delta is not able to pay salaries, then you will know that it is huge.

You need to pay salaries before you begin to implement programmes. We have to grapple with payment of salaries of workers and that C M Y K

The people of Delta should expect a competent government committed to the will of the people, a government committed to developing the people and developing the state zIfeanyi Okowa

best interest of ensuring that investors come into the state.

We are also very hopeful that the president will also support us through the Federal Government programmes that will help to continuously engage these people and together we will be able to build that peace that will enable the development of our areas and the continuity of the production of oil and gas.

Are you envisaging discord in your relationship with other arms of government, especially the House of Assembly?

Not at all. I believe that the experiences and exposures I have had in government that I should be able to relate with them perfectly. When we are able to understand what the people seek and there is a partnership created from the beginning in which all sides are well informed, both the executive and the legislature, I believe that we would rather work in partnership rather than in confrontation.

What should the citizenry expect from you from May 29?

The people of Delta should expect a competent government committed to the will of the people, a government committed to developing the people and developing the state. A government committed to overcoming the challenges that it is going to meet on ground. A government that will keep the people informed of the activities of government and get them to have a voice in the governance of the state. That, they should expect. We will respect people, we will treat people with respect, I will treat people with respect and I will direct the government to treat people with respect and by the grace of God, we shall be accountable to the people. But in all things that we do, including in appointments and distribution of infrastructure and programmes, we will ensure that we are fair, just and equitable.

There are challenges in Delta, but I'll be focused — Okowa in itself is a huge challenge but I am not scared.

I have no choice but to keep focused on my programmes, to reassure the people but without holding information from the people. They need to know the challenges that we are in so that they can partner with us to get out of the challenge.

Do you see the challenge from militancy arising again?

It is something that we have to take special note of, we have our peace building efforts, we are in touch with the leadership of such groups across, they were quite effective in trying to show ability to be part of the civil society even in the process of the campaigns on all sides of the political divide. We are definitely going to engage them from the beginning. We will not let them lose and we hope that through our managerial skills that we will be able to let them see the reason why we all need to partner to keep the state stable and peaceful because it is in the best interest of our people and it is in the

Hard decisions awaiting Buhari Continues from Page 25 The fact that most homes depend on petroleum as a result of unsteady power supply underscores the agony of Nigerians at this time.

Across the country, the product currently sells betwee N150 and N300 per litre, representing over 60 and 100 percent above the official rate of N87.

Despite promises by the Goodluck Jonathan administration that the country would be flooded with petrol, the situation is deteriorating on a daily basis with people finding it increasingly difficult to buy the commodity.

Fuel subsidy regime The new government will have to frontally address the issue of fuel subsidy which is reportedly at the centre of the crisis in the supply of fuel products. Given the general upheaval that attended the last effort by the Jonathan administration to remove the alleged subsidy in January, 2012, President Buhari is bound to be in a catch 22 situation. While it is a given fact that the subsidy regime is polluted with fraud, it is also a fact that Nigerians do not want to pay astronomical prices for the product.

Cost of governance Buhari’s determination to force the cost of governance is not an issue with many. What, however, is of concern is the resistance of those who have been used to the system to adapt with his moves.

At a pre-election summit with governors of his party, Buhari had urged them to address the

exorbitant pension scheme that many Houses of Assembly had passed for their governors and speakers.

The Buhari administration is also expected to cut down on the number of aides and ministers, but one challenge the president would face is the constitutional requirement that requires each state to produce at least one minister.

Apart from that, the ministries reportedly have about 400 parastatals. The ministries with the highest numbers are Health, 77; Science and Technology, 40; Education, 41; Agriculture, 44; Power and Steel, 27 agencies. The worsening nature of the current financial quagmire is such that Buhari’s government can’t but review this age-long practice of servicing profligacy.

However, in doing this, the new administration would need to draw blood in shedding body weight which would entail reduction in the number of staff, an action that would in the immediate future draw ill-wind from those affected and the labour unions.

Alleged missing oil/NNPC probe Even without being persuaded Buhari has calmed fears that the allegation of missing oil money may be swept under the carpet.

He specifically vowed to investigate the 20 billion dollars allegedly missing from coffers of NNPC, with the view of bringing anyone found wanting to book.

With that came sighs of relief from Nigerians, who had thought that the matter would receive

Continues on Page 31

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 31

I'll lead Benue by example — ORTOM

Governor Samuel Ortom ahead of his inauguration spoke on his plans for the state, the perceived challenges that may confront his administration, the issues surrounding his emergence as the All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship candidate among other issues. Excerpts:

By Peter Duru

H

ow would your first day in office be like?

The first day will be dedicated to looking at and assessing the challenges confronting us. But as a Christian, I believe in the potency of the power of God and I will commit the office into the hands of God and ask for his divine direction to help me surmount the challenges of the office.

What are the perceived problems you see ahead of you as the new Governor of the state?

The problems are well known to most of us; the first one is security.

Government’s foremost responsibility is to protect lives and property. Today in Benue State, everyone is running.

My priority is to ensure security of lives and property of our citizens.

And the second thing is the issue of welfare. Salaries are not paid and Benue is a civil service state. The implication of not paying salaries for months is devastating. I will give it a priority and wherever I can put resources together to solve the matter, I will not hesitate to do. As Governorelect of the All Progressives Congress, APC, we have already made an appeal to the Presidentelect, and I believe that he will also support any move we make to raise funds to clear the backlog of salary arrears and also continue paying as at when due. He will do that, so that we can stabilize and take off from there.

What would be the centrepiece of your administration?

Of course, as a way forward, I have said that we must begin to look outside the box of government to create wealth, to generate employment and to create job opportunities. We must encourage industrialization in order to create opportunities for our teeming farmers to process our agricultural products and also exploit our solid minerals and in several other areas where we enjoy comparative advantages especially in agriculture.

Moreso, I must state clearly that we are going to give priority attention to the fight against corruption in this state. Corruption has been a

cankerworm and a major cause of retrogression within the system. It has been the bane of our growth and development. We must all join hands to fight it and bring it to its knees. And like I’ve always said, for me I’m going to promote excellence a g a i n s t mediocrity and sycophancy. And in doing this we must ensure rule of law and due process, and if these things are done I believe we are going to have a better Benue.

Mark you I’m going to take the lead, I’m going to lead by example.

There were •Samuel Ortom insinuations that you were not properly nominated clear. as governorship candidate of the APC? What is your reaction to Well, these things are coming insinuations that former from people who are ignorant about Governor George Akume helped the provisions of the APC to influence your election and constitution. The truth is that I left would be overbearing in your the PDP on the 9th of December administration? after I was manipulated out of the People are very ignorant about primaries of the party. I wasn’t some of these things. I am a very defeated, I was manipulated out at independent minded person and the primaries everyone knows it everybody knows and the Senate because a free and fair primaries Minority Leader is a man I served would have seen my emergence as as Secretary of our former party, the candidate of the PDP. the PDP and later Deputy And on the 9th I joined APC and Chairman. He appreciates me followed due process, secured the and I appreciate him a lot too. I form, got clearance got waver and also appreciate the fact that he my name was included in those contributed immensely to that were contesting the election ensuring that I emerged. For on the 10th and 11th. That was instance, he initiated and what happened; so how would supported the granting of my somebody say I didn’t join waiver at the National Secretariat properly? People making that claim of our party. I appreciate all that are just ignorant. And maybe if this and we have been together all this is coming from any APC member, while; and I appreciate him as my it is likely that they are not former Governor and as an elder conversant with the provisions of statesman who is a strong the party constitution. The stakeholder in Benue State. constitution is there and it’s very

Hard decisions awaiting Buhari Continues from Page 30 the kind of attention it got under President Jonathan.

Mallam Sanusi had last year accused the NNPC of not accounting for $49.8billion oil money. He later reviewed the sum to $20 billion after a reconciliation of the figure by the NNPC, the Federal Ministry of Finance and other government agencies. Aside the probe, many are expectant that other activities of the NNPC would be urgently looked into in order to reposition the corporation and as well restore public confidence.

Institutionalised corruption Given that most of the challenges to be inherited by the Buhari administration were brought about by corruption, there is hardly any surprise in the urgency to curb the menace. Buhari himself had alluded to this during the campaign with his famous quote that “If we don’t kill corruption this corruption will kill us.” Among the most challenging issues on corruption that Nigerians would be expecting the new administration to tackle are the allegations of a missing $20 billion from the Federation Account, the subsidy funding scheme, among many others.

Insecurity The security chiefs of former President Goodluck Jonathan had given the assurance that they would find the secondary school girls captured from Chibok before handing over to the new administration.

However, as at press time the school girls were yet to be rescued even as the Boko Haram group has continued to rear its head here and there. Hence, insecurity is another challenge that the Buhari administration would have to put at the front burner in its efforts at restoring normalcy to the land.

National healing The election left the country almost divided with the majority of the South-South and the Southeast almost left out of the Buhari phenomenon that squashed out the first South-South president of the country. Though a democratic expression, the new administration would have to address concerns of the people of the two regions who may feel apprehensive over their marginalisation in the government that took office today.

Ndigbo in the new govt Continues from Page 28 “So since the end of the civil war, subsequent leaders did not see it good to integrate the Igbo into the mainstream. Abacha did not.

Obasanjo did not. Even Mallam Yar’ Adua and Jonathan did not.

All they did was to pick up one Igbo man or woman and give them little, and they would be parading them as Igbo leaders. “ But now, I know that political power is not given, it is taken.

Igbos must learn to earn power and to exercise it. For now, it is not easy to know how President Muhammadu Buhari will pattern his methods. He was a soldier and former Head of State. He knows his onion, and within this short time he won the Presidential election, he is showing capacity to lead Nigeria into prosperity. Nigeria will surely prosper. Nigerians will surely assist President Buhari to end corruption; build security around our people; employ the unemployed; build power and energy; reduce cost of governance; he will handle the electoral reform or confab as occasion warrants.

“Whether we are Igbos or Nigerians, we must all embrace the Buhari’s concept of “change” for Nigeria. If Nigerians, and indeed the PDP, had allowed Chief Ogbulafo and Dr. Nwodo to go on with their job of being Chairman of the Party (PDP) there would have been no collapse of the party which had wanted to rule for 64 years but stopped at 16 years.

When some friends ask if I really defected to PDP which I helped to nurture, I told them I did not defect rather PDP defected.

“At the end of the day we must all embrace the concept of “change” , not just “change”, but “positive change”. Nigerians will see that the hunger for food and drinks are not that alone, but we must deal with physical hunger; spiritual hunger; monetized hunger’ waste and wastages; and life of ostentation.

“The Igbo people are not asking Muhammadu Buhari for many appointments. It is enough that the South-East people knew or ought to know the adage that “He whose bread I eat, his song I will sing”.

So since the South-East did not vote for Buhari, it means that Igbo cannot complain if Buhari did not grant them appointments commensurate with other zones which got more and who worked harder and got more offers.

“Good politics under Buhari will further enhance the neighbor to neighbor approach that will bridge any gap of good relationship. It is not God that will unite our people in understanding each other. This is the job Nigerians will do by themselves and it shall be well for all Nigerians. It is true that there are so many ethnic groups competing among themselves for preservation, but good education will help in ceiling the gaps created by politics and politicians many years past. Today we still can recapture the Nigerian factor if we work hard for it and one day we will see the North calling the Igbo “my brothers.”

C M Y K

32 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

God has brought change to Plateau — LALONG

By Mary-Therese Lalong

A

s a new governor, how prepared are you for the task ahead?

I will not say we are not prepared, we came into the campaigns, we have a manifesto, and we have a blueprint for the people of Plateau state. This is not my first time of being in government, I was the Speaker of the State House of Assembly for six years and as a Speaker, I had full knowledge of some of the problems we had. Of course, in the last eight years, it hasn’t been easy for the people of Plateau state with the kind of governance that we went through and as we were campaigning, we were also aware of the enormous problems we are coming to meet on ground but we are not afraid because as politicians, it is when you come in, if you have some good ideas and then you can change the game. We are prepared.

Talking about the just concluded elections, how would you rate that exercise?

The election was very free and very fair in some places I would say but in some places where they refused the use of card readers, it was very glaring. The first election, that is the Presidential election, we understand that a directive came in that people should use manual so some people took advantage of it. Those who had gone to court to say they will not use the card reader, the same people who were protesting that they will not use card reader now took advantage of it and went into thumbprinting discarding the card readers. That is why we lost in some places in the National Assembly election, the Senatorial election was a good example in the Northern zone where we lost, they didn’t use the card readers, and they didn’t follow the rules. When we got to the gubernatorial, it was very clear again that we were going to use the card readers, Jega made it very clear that everybody must use card readers but some of us in my own Party kept to the rules and insisted that we must use the card readers but surprisingly again, only God saved

zGovernor Lalong us because many of the places where PDP won the election, they were not using card readers.

They were thumb-printing and writing but I think that will be exhibited at the tribunal. We have records of these and we are hoping that when the tribunal starts, it will unveil itself. Above all, since there were no crises, I would say that we thank God that it was a good election.

You consistently raised alarm about the debt profile of Plateau state, in a few days; you will be the Governor of the State. How do you hope to address this issue and bring relief to the people of the State?

You know in the election, I told people that it

was the miracle of God and the collective resolution of the people of Plateau state. For the first time, people were coming together to vote, civil servants taking risks in their jobs saying we damn the consequences, people coming together and deciding that we need a change. If we needed a change because there are so many problems on ground; God brought the change, we were seeing a lot of problems; I mentioned that we were in debt but they kept denying saying they will not leave any debt but today, they are trying to correct it by employing additional civil servants from eight thousand, we are getting to nine thousand; additional civil servants being employed in the last two weeks. That means there is a problem, there is a deliberate attempt to cover what they had done. We mentioned that we have huge debts, quickly; they took a bond saying that they used it to clear the debts but if you use 28 billion to clear a debt, a bond is also a debt so you have not cleared anything but adding to it. However, we are waiting for our Committee to finish their assignment and then the truth will come out, revealing what we are facing as a State to see whether we are telling lies or not.

Governor Jonah Jang assured he will not leave any abandoned project but the reality on ground shows otherwise. As you resume duty, will you complete all the projects or will you initiate new ones?

No, I won’t say all the projects will be completed because we are also going to prioritize because you know that he is leaving huge salaries arrears and salaries of civil servants are very important. We will have to start looking for money to pay salaries first and then we will prioritize the projects that will serve the people of Plateau State. Projects are for the people of Plateau State but we will definitely not go into those he believed they

Continues on Page 65

I'll run Cross River like a business — AYADE GOVERNOR Ben Ayade of Cross River State in this interview reveals how he is going to run Cross River State. Excerpts:

zBen Ayade

W

hat are your remarks as you take over the mantle of leadership of Cross River State?

Given the outcome of the result, it is evident to me that I have support across all parts of the state and I should therefore thank the people so much for the overwhelming victory and with the trust and confidence entrusted in me, I shall not fail them because my victory is that of everyone in the state.

It is known that Cross River State has a huge debt profile and it is assumed that whoever takes over the reins of government will inherit a moving carcass which he has to do to bring to C M Y K

live. What do you intend to do to revive this carcass First, that assumption is wrong, Cross-River State is not a moving carcass I am inheriting a very robust government. The fact that the state owes does not make it a carcass. We can actually convert the debt to asset; it all depends on the management style I shall bring to bear in the state. We have a very vibrant economy with huge natural resources even though most of the resources fall under the exclusive list of the Federal Government, I do believe that I will have a healthy relationship with the Federal Government and through that relationship give the economy a robust change so that with the looming climate, we can overcome the challenge. I believe that for every single failure it is the best door for success. My conviction is that I am going to bring all my business acumen to bear and reconstruct the economy based on commoditizing and commercializing the state and shift away from depending on the Federal Allocation. I will isolate the state and run it as a business model and with that in combination with my contact and exposure I believe we can overcome whatever challenges as a state and turn the carcass to a huge economy.

How do you hope to bring in investors to the state to help drive the economy in keeping with your electoral promise?

As I speak I just came from upstairs where I have a team from the United States and Canada and we have been having a series of meetings. The cardinal issue is as a state, we owe a lot but we know and can see what the money was used for. Cross River State today can boast of having the biggest conference centre in the whole of Africa and that will bring a lot of traffic into

the state and that would revive the economic profile of the state and of course create opportunities for employment and for private investments to thrive. Okay, I do believe that the core focus of my administration is to take advantage of all the natural resources we have got in the state to develop enhance development. It is not true that you have to inherit plenty to succeed. The whole essence of meeting with the investors who are already talking with me is how I can package our debts and turn the economy around. I have a model which is to package the state for investment and that is by turning the liability into assets by creating and presenting the fundamentals to be exciting.

This is a state that has over one million hectres of pristine forest and that forest which is an asset that has remained unexploited and this forest has been conserved over time without exploitation and that is not the way we are going to go forward, we are going to move from forest conservation to forest management which means we are going to be needing two to three thousand young men who will be responsible for regeneration of forest. As we are deforesting for development by processing it into ply wood and vinyl for export we are also correspondingly investing hugely for regeneration. That regeneration regime alone is going to Continues on Page 65

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 —33

C M Y K

34— Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 —35

C M Y K

36 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 37

C M Y K

38 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 39

C M Y K

40 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 41

42 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 43

C M Y K

44 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 45

C M Y K

46 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 47

48 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

VOL. 1: NO. 13

FRIDAY, MAY 29 , 2015

•One of the injured during the crisis

By Gbenga Ariyibi

I

T all started as a minor argument between two persons, but later degenerated into a free-for-all which lasted for three consecutive days.

The face-off was between members of road transport workers and some traders of northern extraction in Ado Ekiti.

The resulting pandemonium crippled social and commercial activities in the town.

Worst hit were the biggest market in the town, known as Oja’ba and Atikankan where most of the Hausa reside.

The development led to the destruction of goods and properties worth millions of naira, while no fewer than 10 persons from both sides were said to have sustained various degree of injuries.

Trouble was said to have started in the night of Tuesday when the wife of one of the leaders of road transport

Three days of horror, pandemonium in Ekiti •As FFa ayose relocat es Hausa community relocates workers was allegedly molested.

Her bag which was alleged to have contained an undisclosed amount of money reportedly got missing in the process.

Cases of harassment of women and bag snatching had become a daily occurrence in the area.

It was learnt that an attempt by the enraged husband of the victim and his followers to find out who actually harassed his wife led into a fist- cuff.

Further investigation by Vanguard showed that about five vehicles belonging to the drivers were vandalized, while close to 15 houses and offices occupied by the Hausa were razed.

The development provided an opportunity for some cutlass wielding hoodlums to break into shops and cart away goods belonging to Hausa traders.

It took the personal intervention of the Ewi of Ado Ekiti,Oba Rufus Adejugbe and

IN THIS EDITION

OGUN EKITI: It's Fayose's SPEAKER: It is pastor and comrade in the struggle a YYe ewa question •Pages 2 Pages-3

Landmark projects Ambode can’t wish away •Page 7

the new Police Commissioner in the state , Mr. Etop James to bring sanity to the troubled community.

They led scores of regular and mobile police men to the

The development has led to the destruction of goods and properties worth millions of naira

spots to avert further break down of law and order.

It was however gathered that the traders, who lost their goods, have vowed to carry out a reprisal attack.

Claims that there were casualties, were dismissed by the state police command.

According to the Police image maker, Mr. Alberto Adeyemi , no one died as a result of the violence.

He said: “Nobody died in the incident contrary to reports, only two persons sustained pellet wounds while 22 others sustained various degrees of injuries. All the injured were taken to Police clinic in AdoEkiti where they are responding to treatment.”

Adeyemi urged the residents to go about their lawful businesses, adding that security arrangement had been made to forestall a recurrence.

To forestall another crisis, the state government promptly evacuated the Hausa community from Atikankan to Shasha, Ikere Road pending the return of normalcy.

The three -day curfew imposed by the state governor, Mr Ayo Fayose following the crisis has been lifted.

C M Y K

2 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

OGUN STATE

OGUN SPEAKER: It is a Yewa question

By Daud Olatunji

NUMBER OF LEGISLA T ORS LEGISLAT

•APC: 17 •PDP: 9

O

N June 6, the new House of Assembly in Ogun State will be inaugurated and the new leadership would emerge.

Who will lead the 8th legislative house might be determined by some factors which include the choice of the governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun.

The present speaker, Mr. Suraj Adekumbi, is a Yewa man who was nominated by his party, the defunct, Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN. Adekumbi was subsequently elected by 17 members of the defunct ACN upon the consensus reached between the party leadership at that time and the governor. However, Khadijat Adeleye-Oladapo who was presented by the party leaders for the office of deputy speaker, lost to the governor ’s nominee, Tola Banjo.

But, this time around, Amosun undoubtedly has almost total control of the All Progressives Congress, APC structure and is in pole position to determine who gets what in the legislature which is composed of 17 APC members and nine members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. After its inauguration, next week, the House will produce its speaker from the rank of APC lawmakers and the choice, according to the

Osun monarchs praying for President Jonathan during his visit.

•Adekunbi: Outgoing Ogun Speaker House rule must be a ranking lawmaker , but, can come from any of the parties.

The odd seems to be favouring the current Speaker of the assembly following the body language of the party leader-

ship.

Political wisdom is that the speaker would come from Ogun West where Adekumbi comes from given the fact that the governor is from Ogun Central and his deputy is from

Political wisdom is that the speaker would come from Ogun West where Adekumbi comes from given the fact that the governor is from Ogun Central and his deputy is from Ogun East

Ogun East.

But it is not Adekunmbi’s choice for the picking as three APC lawmakers were reelected from Ogun West, which consists of Yewa and the Awori. The possible threat to his aspiration for a second term from Ogun West could come from the chairman , House Committee on Finance

and Appropriation, Mr. Olusola Akanbi and Mr. Aina Akinpelu representing Ado-Odo/ Ota II and Ado-Odo/Ota I constituencies respectively.

Findings have shown that, the APC with its majority members at the house can, however, only boast of Adekunbi in the Yewa region as the other four Yewa seats were won by PDP candidates.

Though Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government gave Amosun the highest number of votes in the region-36,108, APC may not lead itself into crisis by fielding an Awori man as Speaker since the senator-elect for Ogun West senatorial district, Gbolahan Dada hails from the area.

This does not stop Akanbi and Akinpelu from contesting the speakership seat.

As the only APC lawmaker from Yewa, Adekunbi may have gotten the support of the party for the second term .

OSUN: Continuing the 2011 battle

By Gbenga Olarinoye, Osogbo

W

C M Y K

ITH a few days to the end of the current session of the Osun House of Assembly, the battle for the position of speaker is generally seen as a continuation of the battle that led to the enthronement of the incumbent, Najeem Folasayo Salaam.

The Salaam era witnessed a kind of peace in the state assembly and cordiality with the executive arm of government, the kind of which had not been experienced since the advent of the Fourth Republic.

The reason was simply because all the members were elected on the platform of the APC and were easily influenced by the intentions of the governor, Rauf Aregbesola.

Ahead of the inauguration of the House in 2011, the main contenders at that time were Salaam representing Ejigbo state constituency and Abio-

dun Adewale Awolola, of Egbedore state constituency.

Both of them coming from Osun West Senatorial District.

With both of them back in the House about to be inaugurated, there is much speculation that the 2011 battle may again be reignited.

This, somehow, has set a stage for an intense horse trading among the returning lawmakers and the newly elected ones, as the race towards choosing the assembly’s principal officers gathers pace.

Remarkably, both candidates for the post of speaker have noticeably similar, if not same legislative experience. They both experienced chequered careers having been first elected into the assembly in year 2007 on the platform of Action Congress, AC before they were sacked by the election tribunals. Both men, remarkably returned in 2011.

Factors that may shape

NUMBER OF LEGISLA T ORS LEGISLAT

•APC: 26 •PDP: 2 Speakership race Of particular significance is the makeup of the incoming assembly which will have two members elected on the platform of the opposition PDP. Also, 14 out of the present set of 26 APC lawmakers, will be returning in the next assembly with nine coming in as first termers.

Those pushing for Salaam’s return as speaker believe it will help consolidate on the existing harmonious relationship with the executive, while those plotting his exit are of the opinion that, members’ interest will be better protected by another lawmaker.

There is also the issue that Ejigbo axis of Ede Federal Constituency has returned a member to the next House of

•Salaam: Outgoing Osun Speaker Representatives and that is besides the fact that the outgoing senator for Osun West is also from Ejigbo axis.

The pro-change lawmakers, it was learnt, are pushing for switch in Speakership post to assuage the perceived bruised

ego of other areas of Ede Federal Constituency and Egbedore local government is believed to be prominent on the radar.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 3

EKITI STATE

EKITI: It's Fayose's pastor and comrade in the struggle

By Gbenga Ariyibi, Ado Ekiti

T

HE contest for the plum position of Speaker of Ekiti State House of Assembly is unique and a matter of fact of no contest in the wholly PDP dominated House to be inaugurated next week.

It was an exercise that had been concluded a long time ago. Governor Ayo Fayose left without bothering himself for election last April devoted himself to ensuring that only trusted allies were positioned in the party to legislate in the new House.

Pastor Kola Oluwawole from Osan Ekiti in Boba Local government area according to informed sources is positioned to be the next speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly and it is no surprise that members-elect are already deferring to him as the first among equals.

Governor Fayose is from Central Senatorial District, while his deputy, Dr Kolapo Olusola is from the South, a situation that has made it natural for the North senatorial District where Oluwawole comes from to produce the Speaker of the state House of Assembly based on the existing zoning

NUMBER OF LEGISLA T ORS LEGISLAT

•PDP: 26 •APC: 0

Pastor Kola Oluwawole from Osan Ekiti in Boba Local government area according to informed sources is positioned to be the next speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly of political offices.

Therefore, the contest for the

•Adewale Omirin: Outgoing Ekiti Speaker position of the Speakership of the seventh House of Assembly in Ekiti State was narrowed down to lawmakers from the North Senatorial District.

Before the party’s primaries early this year, only two people showed interest in the position. The two were Chief Gboyega Aribisogan from Ijesha Isu in Ekiti North Federal Constituency 1 and Pastor Oluwawole.

Remarkably, the duo are confidants of the governor

and his foot soldiers. However, for undisclosed reasons or for some unknown political calculations, Fayose took preference for Oluwawole. Indeed, when it became apparent that Fayose was leaning towards Oluwawole, all the others from Ekiti North who had eyes on the plum seat simply caved in, in deference to the desire of their political leader, Fayose.

Oluwawole has been a long time ally of Fayose and served as a commissioner during

Fayose’s first outing and was also a chief of staff to Fayose between 2003-2006.

Aside this, the pastor had been part of Fayose’s political struggles in and out of office.

He followed him to Labour Party when it appeared Fayose was not comfortable with the way PDP was being run in the state during the regime of Engr. Segun Oni and returned with him to the PDP just before the governorship election.

LAGOS: Five horse race NUMBER OF LEGISLA T ORS LEGISLAT

•APC: 32 •PDP: 8

•Adeyemi Ikuforiji: Outgoing Lagos Speaker

By Dapo Akinrefon

A

S the race to the speakership seat of the Lagos State House of Assembly gathers momentum,

the list of those angling for the plum position has been pruned to five.

Those believed to be in the running for the plum position of the speaker in the House

are the current deputy whip of the House, Mr. Rotimi Lateef Abiru, Adefunmilayo Tejuosho, representing Mushin constituency 1, Itori, Mudashiru Obasa, Agege 1, Lanre Ogunyemi representing Ojo II and Moshood Olanrewalu Oshun who is representing Lagos Mainland II. All the contestants are members of the APC which for the first time has a sizeable proportion of the PDP in the House to offer meaningful

opposition.

Given the stability that pervaded the tenure of the out-

All the contestants are members of the APC which for the first time has a sizeable proportion of the PDP in the House to offer meaningful opposition

going speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, it was not surprising that he recently urged the next set of lawmakers to look out for experienced and a team player to elect as the next speaker.

Ikuforiji gave the advice while speaking at the Quarterly Interaction & Long Service Award for Assembly staff in Alausa Ikeja.

He noted that all the returning aspirants were his allies and that whoever among them emerged as the next speaker would deliver.

The speaker advised the lawmakers to look for someone who is selfless and has the interest of taking the Assembly to greater heights rather than emphasising on zones.

C M Y K

4 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

OYO STATE

Permutation for Oyo Speaker

By Ola Ajayi, Ibadan

NUMBER OF LEGISLA T ORS LEGISLAT

•APC: 18 •ACCORD: 8 •LABOUR: 6 •PDP: 0

A

S the struggle for the position of speakership in the Oyo State House of Assembly intensifies, the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state has said it would be a sheer waste of time for anybody to be running from pillar to post wanting to get selected.

Though the party has said zoning would not be one of the criteria for selecting who becomes the Speaker of the state eighth legislative arm, the political situation in the state may not make this happen.

The five geo-political zones in the state comprise Ibadan, Oyo, Ogbomoso, Oke-Ogun, and Ibarapa. Currently, two legislators, Mr. Michael Adeyemo representing Ibarapa East and Olusegun Olaleye Olaniyi aka radical representing Ibadan North 11 are contesting the highest legislative position in the legislative arm. Both of them are re-elected lawmakers and wield a lot of influence among their colleagues.

Another experienced legislator who could have equally been a credible aspirant for the position is Mr. Kola Bolomope who defected from Accord to APC before the election. But, he was not reelected. Out of the 32 seats available, APC has 18 seats, Accord 8 and Labour 6. The Peoples Democratic Party does not have a single seat in the House as against 8 which it had in 2011.

Even though, zoning would not be used, many observers believe the position will not emerge from Ibadan which produced Governor Abiola Ajimobi. Doing so,

Even though, zoning would not be used, many observers believe that the position will not emerge from Ibadan which produced Governor Abiola Ajimobi

•Monsurat Sunmonu: Oyo Speaker would run contrary to the political equation in the state.

While speaking with Vanguard on the modalities to be used in the selection of the Speaker, Chief Akin Oke, the State APC Chairman said it should not be a source of worry.

According to him, all necessary considerations would be used in selecting who becomes the speaker. While stressing that zoning is certainly not one of the criteria, he said the party would not compromise standard, experience, quality, integrity while

sourcing for the right candidate.

Chief Oke added that anybody lobbying for the position may as well be wasting his time as the party would soon call its members together to decide which zone produces the Speaker. To him, since the broom party has the majority in the House, it is certain that the party would produce the Speaker and wherever he comes from does not matter.

Underscoring the party’s consideration for quality, he alluded to the performance of the

out-going assembly saying the quality of the Speaker, Monsurat Sunmonu did a lot in steering the ship of the legislative arm.

He said, “It is a settled matter that zoning will not be used in choosing who becomes the Speaker. We will bring equity, fairness, quality, integrity and experience into consideration.

Zoning is not in our constitution and if anybody goes to court, the court will throw it out. All those running about for the position should have waited for the party.

Very soon, we will come together to brainstorm”.

Out of the two aspirants for the position, Olaniyi may not be considered because he comes from Ibadan as the city cannot produce both the governor and the Speaker at the same time while Ogbomoso, Ibarapa, Oke-Ogun and Oyo will look on. The pendulum may swing towards Michael Adeyemo who is seen to have every quality that a speaker should possess. He is matured and credible. He seems to enjoy the confidence of his colleagues who see him as a worthy candidate for the position. In addition, he comes from Ibarapa which appears to have been marginalized. By whatever standard, he is likely to be well-favoured.

A feminine flair in Ondo

By Dayo Johnson, Akure

F

ROM all indications, the present Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly Rt. Hon. Jumoke Akindele who is the first female Speaker in the history of the state will remain in the position till next year October when the tenure of the governor Dr Olusegun Mimiko lapses.

The PDP will control 21 seats while the opposition APC will have five seats in the next House.

Her retention of the exalted position will only fail if she steps on banana peel which may make her colleagues revolt and kick her out.

But the relationship between her and other lawmakers seems cordial for now and if she could maintain this till October, she will definitely survive it.

The zoning configuration also gives her some latitude. The state governor comes from Ondo Central and the Deputy Governor is from Ondo North, a development that has opened her Ondo South to the third ranking position in the state.

C M Y K

NUMBER OF LEGISLA T ORS LEGISLAT

•PDP: 21 •APC: 5 This zoning arrangement may change at the end of Mimiko’s tenure in October, 2016 as the PDP in the state is believed to be muting the idea of picking its next governorship candidate in 2016 from the South where the present Speaker comes from.

If this sails through, then the speaker may be zoned to the North while the position of the Deputy is zoned to the Central senatorial district.

Many political observers believe that for now, the PDP will not tinker with the zoning which distributes the three most important positions across the three senatorial districts areas of the state.

Rt. Hon. Akindele became the speaker after the former Deputy Speaker, Hon Dare Emiola acted as the Speaker following the death of the former speaker Rt. Hon. Samuel Ajayi Adesina over a year

ago.

Since Akindele became the speaker, the house which had been in limbo came alive again.

Vanguard learnt that the party is not thinking of altering the status quo as regards the zoning of the position of the speaker.

An advantage for the incumbent speaker in the leadership contest in the next assembly is the fact that she would be the only ranking member from her Ondo South Senatorial District.

Those from the region who sought re-election failed.

Her major challenger for the office a year ago was Hon

•Ms Jumoke Akindele: Outgoing Ondo Speaker Oyebo Aladetan from Ilaje constituency. Unfortunately for him, the zoning permutation in the oil rich Ilaje constituency knocked out Aladetan from recontesting in the last Assembly election.

Aladetan who was the former Chairman House Committee on Information would have

thrown his hat in the ring after the expiration of the tenure of governor Mimiko in October.

The Speaker, Jumoke Akindele represents Okitipupa Constituency II. She is a lawyer and had served as the Chairman of House Committee on Education before her election.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — A1

C M Y K

A2 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — A3

C M Y K

A4 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — A5

C M Y K

A6 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — A7

A8 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

Vanguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 — B1 FRIDA MAY

C M Y K

B2 — V anguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 Vanguard, FRIDA MAY

Vanguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 — B3 FRIDA MAY

C M Y K

B4 — V anguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 Vanguard, FRIDA MAY

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 — B5 FRIDA MAY

C M Y K

B6 — V anguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 Vanguard, FRIDA MAY

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 — B7 FRIDA MAY

C M Y K

B8 — V anguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 Vanguard, FRIDA MAY

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 — B9 FRIDA MAY

C M Y K

B10 — V anguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 Vanguard, FRIDA MAY

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 — B11 FRIDA MAY

C M Y K

B12 — V anguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 Vanguard, FRIDA MAY

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 — B13 FRIDA MAY

C M Y K

B14 — V anguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 Vanguard, FRIDA MAY

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 — B15 FRIDA MAY

B16 — V anguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 Vanguard, FRIDA MAY

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — A9

A10 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — A11

A12 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — A13

A14 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — A15

A16 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 5

OSUN STATE

UNPAID SALARIES: Effects of strike bite harder

By Gbenga Olarinoye, Osogbo

T

HE people of Osun state are already groaning following the effects of the industrial action embarked by civil servants in the state.

Already, food vendors around the secretariat and commercial drivers plying the route are complaining of poor patronage.

The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, in the state had on Monday directed all civil servants to commence indefinite industrial action over non payment of their outstanding salaries.

NLC and other affiliate unions had issued a 14-day ultimatum to the government to pay the outstanding salaries.

Addressing newsmen in Osogbo, before the commencement of the industrial action, the NLC chairman, Comrade Jacob Adekomi, said apart from the issue of unpaid salaries, workers are also demanding payment of deductions from their contributory pension scheme.

He said: “I direct that an indefinite strike should be commenced by all the workers in the State of Osun as from Tuesday, 26th May, 2015 due to the failure of the government to accede to our legitimate demands, as

contained in our letter dated 12th May, 2015”.

Reacting to the development, Director of Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Office of Osun governor, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, said: “The root of all these issues being raised is insufficient funds.

Regardless of the terrible

revenue crisis that has led us to this, we must bear in mind the very prudent manner the Aregbesola government has managed the affairs of Osun.

Therefore, workers can be certain that once the revenue complications are solved, all these issues will vanish. As a responsible government, we

would still appeal for understanding.”

Meanwhile, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Najeem Salaam has asked the leadership of the workers to suspend the strike.

In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Goke Butika, Salaam

acknowledged that workers and political office holders were suffering as a result of delayed salaries.

He however called for patience to enable the new government take off with a view to correcting the anomalies.

•Osun State secretariat under lock and key

NLC, NMA, NUT set agenda for •Assess gov's first term Amosun

By Daud Olatunji

G

OVERNOR Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State would commence a fresh term today following his victory at the last governorship election in the state.

The governor had in 2011, contested and won on the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria ,ACN. At the inception of his first term, Amosun had pledged to turn the state around within four years.

He anchored his programmes on a five-point agenda which are; affordable and qualitative education, efficient health care delivery, increased agricultural production, affordable housing/ urban renewal and employment generation.

Findings by Vanguard showed that the administration had actually achieved its goals in some key areas, while it

fumbled on others.

That was also corroborated by some professional associations in the state, as they maintained that Amosun did not perform badly.

Groups that gave their verdict in this regard are; Nigeria Labour Congress,NLC, Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, Nigeria Union of Teachers and All Farmers Association of Nigeria, AFAN. The state Chairman of the NLC, Mr. Akeem Ambali, who scored Amosun high on road infrastructure, berated his performance in other aspects.

He however, lamented that rural roads did not get the same attention as urban roads.

The NLC further advised Amosun to revive the scrapped Ogun Road Maintenance Agency, OGROMA. He also said the governor has improved tremendously in his relationship with workers in contrast to what was obtainable in the early period of his

administration.

He said: “Amosun should pay all the deduction from our salaries. He should bring the NLC closer to his government. He should also employ more workers in all the 20 local government areas of the state. We want him to also look into the cases

•Gov Ibikunle Amosun

of Tai Solarin University of Education and Tai Solarin College of Education.

“So far, he has done averagely well within the last four years, but he needs to improve in other areas. We advise that he considers more technocrats and not politicians.”

On its part, the NUT through its state chairman, Mr. Dare Ilekoya claimed that education hardly received the needed

attention from the government.

He said: “ To some extent free education is a good policy if it is properly implemented. But we are not comfortable with the way it is being practised in Ogun. As far as Ogun State is concerned, free education is not being well implemented.”

Continuing, he said “We are still expecting the balance of our peculiar allowance. It has

not been paid since October last year. We hope that the governor will fulfil his promises without any further delay this time.”

On its part, the NMA scored the government low on the health sector.

Its state chairman, Dr. Mrs. Odewabi Adenike lauded Amosun for giving attention to the primary health sector, even as she lamented that the tertiary sector was neglected.

Adenike said: “Many state hospitals don’t have enough personnel. Staffing was not done in line with our expectations. The governor must make health accessible to people. Health insurance is needed. The rate of maternal mortality is high. It is so because health insurance is not made available to everyone. It was only being practised in communities in the state.”

The AFAN on its part said the governor deserved applause for his efforts on agriculture.

The AFAN said the administration has paid the state counterpart funding for cocoa development, noting that cocoa seedlings were available for the farmers.

C M Y K

6 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

LAGOS STATE

By Olasunkanmi Akoni

A

S Governor-elect, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode takes over the administration in Lagos State for the next four years today, he will be inheriting various ongoing projects under the infrastructural developments of the state government.

Fashola had also at public events announced plans to conduct the Lagos hand-over ceremony today in a low-key manner because of the economic reality of the state.

He urged Ambode to continue to support and complement developmental projects that will grow the economy of the state.

However, while thanking everyone for giving him and his out-going administration necessary support, Fashola, called on stakeholders and residents to give greater support to the incoming administration of Ambode for more growth and development of the residents and the state.

The followings are some of the projects needing urgent attention

by Ambode: Lagos-Badagry Expressway Despite the delay in completing the second phase of the ongoing N220 billion LagosBadagry Expressway expansion project, the Lagos State government has reaffirmed its resolve to complete the massive project.

Obviously, the 10 lane project would not be delivered by the Babatunde Fashola administration which had fixed an earlier date for the completion of the second phase of the ambitious scheme.

When the contract was awarded in January 2012 to Messrs China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, CCECC, the Lagos State government fixed January 2015, a 36-month period for its completion.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Kadri Hamzat an engineer, while assuring that the project would be completed and delivered after the expiration of the life of the Fashola administration, disclosed that the first phase or Lot 1 beginning from BabsAnimashaun in Suru-Lere to Mile Two has been fully completed.

Similarly, Phase 2A which is between Mazamaza and Agboju has reached 90 per cent completion while Phases 2B and 2C have attained 45 per cent and 10 per cent completion levels respectively.

Hamzat made this disclosure while reacting to the comment of the Minister of State for Works, who posited that without federal roads, Lagos State is nonexistent.

According to Hamzat, “The Phase 1 is practically completed while Phase 2A from Mazamaza to Agboju has recorded 80 per cent completion. Phases 2B and 2C of the project have reached 45 per cent and 10 per cent

C M Y K

•Fashola: Outgoing Lagos governor

•Ambode: Governor-elect

Landmark projects Ambode can’t wish away •As Fashola plans low inauguration ceremony respectively”.

Admitting that the project cannot be completed under Fashola’s administration, Hamzat noted that the government is a continuum, hence, the incoming administration is expected to continue with it.

The Commissioner attributed the slow pace of work by the contractors to factors such as the challenge of relocation of PHCN cables and NNPC pipelines as well as the request for an expanded Right of Way (RoW).

Obviously, the 10 lane project would not be delivered by the Babatunde Fashola administration which had fixed an earlier date for the completion of the second phase of the ambitious scheme

The Commissioner listed Federal roads taken over by the state government to include the Lagos-Badagry Expressway; Eko Bridge (34 expansion joints) and Mile 12 -Ikorodu Road.

N29bn Ikorodu Road expansion project Also the Mile 12-Ikorodu Road expansion project, which includes a Bus Rapid Transit, BRT, corridor, will definitely be commissioned by Ambode.

The 13.5 kilometer Road, which is about 97 percent completed, is already awaiting commissioning.

The new six-lane road is designed with two designated lanes for Bus Rapid Transit, BRT, at the median of the road. Also, pedestrian bridges are located in strategic points for residents to either cross the road or to access the BRT bus stations with the pedestrian walkway.

•Lagos Badagry expressway

One of the highlights of the project is that construction of the BRT lanes in the middle of the road will allow its buses operate unhindered from private or commercial vehicles except at designated new U-turn points.

Ilubirin, Ijora Badia, Housing projects •On-going construction of Ijora-Badia Lagos Homes Ownership Mortgage Scheme (LAGOS HOMS) Housing Estate, Ijora, built by Lagos State Government.

Work has reached an advanced stage at the Ilubirin, Ijora Badia, and Alausa Housing Estates under the Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (Lagos HOMS), aimed at providing affordable accommodation to its teeming populace.

The Olubirin Housing Estate

in Ikoyi is a two phased estate of a total of 66 blocks of houses consisting of 1,254 apartments of 2 and 3 bedroom flats. The Phase 1, consisting of 33 blocks of flats, is currently under construction and making progress while the Ijora Badia Housing Estate consists of 1,008 flats of 2,3 and 4 bedroom apartments.

While inspecting the Ilubirin Housing project, Fashola, who expressed satisfaction with the progress of work at the site, however, said the limiting factor was fund, promising that the incoming government would continue to supply the funds as they come to enable the contractors finish the work.

Noting that the contract for the first phase of 33 blocks was awarded in March last year, the governor, who said the work on the site would have been finished by now, attributed the delay to “slow down in the economy, revenues to the State and all the concomitant effects” as well as “electioneering”.

Lekki Free Trade Zone, LFTZ to generate 1m jobs The Lagos State Government’s multi-billion Naira Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ), if properly managed is capable of generating about one million jobs. The planned Lekki deep sea port and Dangote Refinery are also underway.

Located in Lekki axis, the multibillion dollar Lekki Free Zone project covers 553.62 hectares of land or 20.20 percent for residential use, 575.03 hectares or 21.42 per cent for industrial use while Central Business District covers 226.43 hectares or 7.57 per cent with 150 hectares or five per cent as the start-up area.

The major players in the LFTZ project are NEPZA as a regulatory body established by the Federal Government in charge of free zones in Nigeria; Lagos State Government; Lekki Worldwide Investments Ltd (SPV) - a special vehicle set up

by Lagos State Government to promote, plan and coordinate local and foreign investors and developers for the four phases of the Lekki Free Zone; China Africa Lekki Investment Ltd – a consortium of Chinese companies involved in the development of Phase 1 and LFZDC, a joint venture company between the Lagos State Government and a Chinese Consortium authorised to develop and lease land for Phase One of the Four phase zone.

Lekki Free Trade Zone was established with a mission to develop an offshore economic growth zone, attract foreign investments, promote export, create job opportunities, minimize capital flight and establish a onestop global business haven. It is a product of a vision which is to engage directly in the economic development of Lagos State and Nigeria by providing a choice for investors in the most conducive free zone business environment

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 7

Oluwafunmilola Kajopaiye & Oluwamuyiwa Adesina’s Wedding •Traditional Wedding, took place on 20 February 2015, while the white wedding was on 21 February 2015, at Grandeur Event centre Ikeja Lagos

•Oluwafunmilola Kajopaiye & Oluwamuyiwa Adesina on the dance floor •Oluwafunmilola Kajopaiye & Oluwamuyiwa Adesina during their traditional during their white wedding wedding Oluwamuyiwa Adesina and his friends prostrating before his wife’s family

Oluwafunmilola Kajopaiye’s parents handling her to Oluwamuyiwa Adesina’s parents

The propritress of At – Bet International School Amuwo Odofin Pupolola Atoyebi celebrated her 60th birthday on May 1, 2015

•Pupolola Atoyebi,her husband Remi Atoyebi & their children cutting her birthday cake

•Guests having a swell time at Pupolola Atoyebi's birthday

•Oluwafunmilola Kajopaiye flanked by her friends during her white wedding

•Pupolola Atoyebi, being sprayed on the dance floor

•Guests having fun at Oluwamuyiwa and Oluwafunmilol’s wedding

Pupolola Atoyebi & her husband Remi Atoyebi during her 60th birthday C M Y K

8 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

END OF THE ROAD: How Police arrested robber on wedding day

By Ola Ajayi & Bukola Ifegbayi, Ibadan

O

LUMIDE Asiyanbi, a suspected notorious robber, is not new in the business of making others cry by maiming and dispossessing them of their hard-earned monies and valuables.

Having participated in more than 10 different armed robbery operations, Asiyanbi has severally left behind sorrow, tears and serious psychological fear on his various victims.

Though, he was lucky to have escaped from all those operations, the cries of his victims might have reached the high heavens as he was later caught through the high powered intelligence of the Oyo State Police command led by the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Muhammed Katsina.

Interestingly, Asiyanbi was arrested on a day he was tying a nuptial knot with his unsuspecting and unlucky

attack one of the first generation banks. As they came in, we picked them one after the other. We will soon charge them to court. You can see the pistol we believe might belong to one of the law enforcement agents. Knowing that the game was up, the suspect confessed that he had been

Interestingly, Asiyanbi was arrested on a day he was tying a nuptial knot with his unsuspecting and unlucky bride

•A Police officer chasing a robbery suspect bride.

The suspect, who is a 42 yearold man, was arrested when he was at the registry to sign the marriage certificate.

According to the police, he was among a six-man-robbery gang who had variously terrorised residents of Challenge area of Ibadan.

Giving insights as to how the suspect and his colleagues were pinned down, Mr Katsina said “he was about to wed before we caught him. We laid ambush for them for more than seven days.

When they decided to strike, it would have been one of the deadliest. They had wanted to C M Y K

involved in 10 different robbery attacks before he was apprehended.”

For Asiyanbi, he narrated how he met his waterloo on his wedding day.

Hear him: “I am 42 year-old. I hail from Osun state, Ile-ife. I was arrested on my wedding day at the registry. We went to rob and we were caught along Challenge area. I was arrested on my wedding day. I met the gang leader, James Agba, last year, who told me that he knew how we could be getting regular money. He then initiated me into the gang. I have taken part in at least 10 operations since I joined

them.

"We are six in number. We use guns but the guns belong to James Agba and Alhaji Sulaiman.”

Asked how he got guns, James Agba, 35 years, an Urhobo man from Delta State said, “ we got the guns in Abuja from my secondary school friend, Joel. When I robbed four times, I was given a laptop and a phone. I bought the pistol from Emeka in Abuja. We collected phones and laptops in our four operations.”

Also arrested with the robbery suspects was a 63year-old Ghanaian, James Matthew, who abandoned his security job and chose the path of destruction.

According to Matthew, “I am a security man at Ajibade area, Coca-cola in Ibadan. We use guns in our operations, but I don’t know where James was buying them from.

Sulaiman and Alhaji, who are also in the gang, know how the guns were bought for our operations. I have fired shots at our targets but nobody was killed.”

While parading the suspects, the CP hinted that some suspected burglars were also arrested.

He disclosed that among the robbers were those, who allegedly used tranquillising drugs to force their victims to sleep after which they rob them of their valuables.

According to the CP, after the suspects had induced their victims to sleep, they would leave them for about thirty minutes.

He said: “ we also arrested house breakers and burglars who perpetrate evil by injecting sleep-induced chemicals into the houses via the windows of innocent citizens of Nigerians who open their windows at night for fresh air as a result of the heat. Thirty minutes after this unscrupulous act is done, they go and rob these people who might have been asleep almost to the point of coma”.

Items recovered from them include LCD television sets, laptops among other items.

Speaking further, Katsina said, “at times you park your vehicle in front of your house, by the time you wake up the following morning, your vehicle is gone. So, we have decided to hunt them one after the other. But, in this case, this bus was snatched at Iwo, Osun state and this one from Akure.

This is what they use in damaging the ignition key no matter the type of vehicle, look at the owners of the vehicles as we return their vehicles to them.”

BITS BRIEFLY NDLEA storms Kashamu’s house in Lagos

I

N commando-style,officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, stormed the Lekki residence of senator-elect (Ogun East, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP), Prince Buruji Kashamu.

Some of the officers, hooded (masked) and heavily armed, broke down the gates to the main residence. In addition, in an attempt to get to Kashamu, three doors in the duplex, where he resides, were broken in their bid to get at him.

It was learnt from very dependable sources in the office of the Chairman, Chief Executive of NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, that there was indeed an extradition request on Kashamu.

Oyo, Osun workers begin strike over unpaid salaries Following directive from the national leadership of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, civil servants in Oyo and Osun states embarked on an indefinite strike. In Oyo State, the union directed workers to proceed on strike from today over accumulated unpaid salary and pension arrears owed workers by the state government.

Addressing newsmen in Osogbo on Monday, Osun State NLC Chairman, Comrade Jacob Adekomi, told workers to down tools until demands placed before government are met. Apart from the issue of unpaid salaries, Adekomi said workers are also demanding payment of deductions for their contributory pension scheme, payment of pension and gratuities, among others.

Three kidnap suspects arrested in Ekiti The war against kidnapping waged by the Ekiti State government in conjunction with security agencies started yielding fruit with the arrest of two kidnap suspects.

The wife of the head of the kidnapping syndicate was arrested.

All three are undergoing interrogation.

Governor Ayo Fayose announced this in a broadcast. The governor said Olumide (31) and Folorunsho both from EsureEkiti were arrested between Ikere and Iju while trying to escape.

According to him, the wife of the leader of the kidnappers, Austin, who was believed to be preparing food and taking care of the victims, was also arrested. A manhunt has been launched for the remaining five kidnappers, who are believed to hail from Benin, Edo State.

SUPREME COURT: Omisore’s case lacks merit The Supreme Court upheld the victory of Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola in the August 9, last year, governorship election.

A seven-man panel, led by Justice John Fabiyi, upheld the concurrent decisions of the election tribunal and the Court of Appeal in the petition filed by Iyiola Omisore of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Justice Centus Chima Nweze, in the lead judgment, held that the two appeals by Omisore (SC/204/2015 and SC/204A/ 2015) were without merit and dismissed them.

He upheld the decision of the election petition tribunal and Court of Appeal to the effect that the appellant failed to lead credible evidence to support his claim of malpractices in the election.

Justice Nweze upheld the cross-appeal by Aregbesola and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), to the effect that the tribunal was wrong to have assumed jurisdiction over Omisore’s petition which, it found, was filed outside the seven days allowed under the Electoral Act.

THE TEAM Editor: Adeleke Adeseri

Correspondents: Ola Ajayi Gbenga Olarinoye Dayo Johnson Gbenga Ariyibi Dapo Akinrefon Daud Olatunji Olasunkanmi Akoni Monsuru Olowoepejo

Ibadan Osogbo Akure Ado Ekiti Abeokuta Lagos

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 49

50 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 51

52 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 53

54 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 55

56 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 57

C M Y K

58 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 59

C M Y K

60 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 61

C M Y K

62 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 63

C M Y K

64 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

C M Y K

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 65

I'l run Cross River like a business Continues from Page 32 be creating over three thousand jobs for young men. We are also going to create a green city and that green city by creating huge levels of canopy trees in parts of the cities in the state and that will provide young men a reserve centre to undertake horticultural activities. To do that we need to provide them water and other activities. That will be part of the gymnastics that would be coming We also think that as a state, we must own a shipping line. The national shipping line is gone moribund and there is nothing wrong with a state government owing a shipping line to ship in our own petroleum products to generate additional revenue sources and all we need is just a federal license. As I keep saying, the time for politicking is over. We must move away from our party lines and realise that party simply a container and the content is what is important.

God has given us power through the people’s votes; we must therefore go out there and work for the people. It is not about APC, it is not about PDP, so when people say I am now in an opposition party, I tell them I am simply in PDP not in opposition party but PDP is done I am now the governor of Cross River State and I need the Federal government to be able to resources, it is their duty also under the law to succeed, I must therefore relate with the Federal provide for the people. Therefore, the structure and present to them my ideas and assumption that private organisations should programmes and I do believe that it will be time be responsible for developing the economy and to work together but if party is the issue, providing jobs while government is to provide time would tell but I believe that the President, the enabling environment is wrong. We are two General Buhari would definitely recognise the hundred and twenty years away from that fact that the whole country is now his scenario. For now, government must do business constituency and whole world will be watching with business. For instance if today we had our the way and manner he deals with opposition Calabar Cement Company as it then was, the company would be creating jobs and if we had and not divide the nation on party lines.

I believe that as someone with a military a state owned refinery, it would be creating jobs. background, he will act fast and see the outcome We as a state must create a vehicle to exploit of the election as watershed in Nigerian history. our natural gas and with the gas plant running, We as a state will recreate and reconstruct our we can have power and create opportunity to export our gas. We can create economy and stop over a mini LNG plant and this dependence on the federal The truth is that the state can depend on that to government. The sales of oil is the economy. right way for us to go sustain falling every day, foreign How do you achieve this reserve is depleting every day , is agriculture. business model in view of the naira is getting weaker the bureaucracy which the everyday against the dollar and Unfortunately, we public and private civil it is affecting both our macro and have a long way to go servants are used to. Be able micro economy so we need to reto key into your vision. engineer our economy to meet our on the reorientation We a have a government needs as a state. of our people. There that patrnosises people based We owe our people a duty and on duration of stay in the civil that duty is to make sure we put is this command service so promotions are jobs on the table and I state it structure in our designed to elevate people clearly, it is time we stopped based on time spent on one privatising government assets economy and level but with me all that and put them in the hands of sociological polity would change. What you are individuals. There is nowhere in going to experience in the such that for you to the world where government first six months what you are assets are passed into the hands say you are doing going to experience is of individuals. Developing massive deployment to well, you have to economies all over the world restructure the civil, service depend on government assets for wear a tie and go to which we need to do. We are job creation because when going to do a lot of orgasmic work government takes over all natural

God has brought change to Plateau Continues from Page 32 are good for him. Some of those projects were not evenly spread, they were concentrated in one area and as a government of the people, and we intend to spread our projects.

We will initiate our projects and pick some of his to complete depending on the advice we get from the Committee. The present Committee which is on ground, when they finish their assignment, they will make recommendations to us, we will look at those projects and see what we can do for, the ones that we can’t do, we have our reasons but we will take time to look at them.

Considering the importance of Plateau in Nigeria, how will you tackle insecurity and what assurance will you give investors to come and invest in the state?

From the time of our campaigns, we knew it; it is like a family in your house that have crises and you say you don’t know some of the reasons or the crises, it means you are not the head of that family. We are Plateau people, we know where some of these crises are coming from and the best way to address them is to get the people united. The last administration got their way in that kind of thing because they survive on crises; divide and rule. There are divisions here and there among the ethnic groups so you have them fighting here and there and the governor will be comfortable but in our own case; this is a thing that we will not want to do. We want to bring the people together and we will give everyone some consideration and embarking on unity campaigns, taking care of the 53 ethnic tribes on Plateau state; running inclusive

surgery to move hands from the civil service structure to a business model and those who cannot fit, we shall give them a robust retirement programme.

It is essential to recognise the fact that we must do business and by this I mean that as a head of unit, whether as a permanent secretary, you must wear jeans because you have to be in the field. We have to improve upon what we have now and that means we have a ministry of Water Resources and the question is why can’t that ministry construct a giant borehole and reticulate it in a small rural community and pay its own salaries and remits the excess to government purse. How can we have ministry of works and all it does is to supervise contracts when actually the original philosophy of the Ministry of Works is to do works. And so if I decide to partner with Volvo, a Swedish company to supply the state all the practical construction equipment, the Ministry of Works will be responsible for most of our roads, to construct them because with the state of our funds, we cannot afford to award contracts. We have a big project coming up here, the Summit Hills which we must complete, this is a project that will attract about five thousand visitors to the state so we need to put our hands on it. So basically we are going to revolutionalise the ministries, reconstruct them and also carry out a massive deployment by ensuring that the white collar jobs will present only ten percent of our work force, the green collar jobs which is the agriculture and the blue collar jobs which is the factory takes the rest but the reverse is the case now because everybody in the employment of government is a white collar worker and so we need to reverse that equation.

What we will do is to take all those people who are in the ministries sitting down, move them to the field. So if you are a geologist and you are in water resources, you have no business being in the office, get to the field and locate where we need is which is to sink our bore holes. You must be able to come with these ideas which will create a new economy based on minimalistic cost and maximalistic returns.

Cross River State has a number of estates, robber, cocoa, oil palm; how do you intend to reactivate them or are you going to bring them down.

The truth is that the right way for us to go is agriculture. Unfortunately we have a long way to go on the reorientation of our people. There is this command structure in our economy and sociological polity such that for you to say you are doing well, you have to wear a tie and go to work. If you ask a graduate of Agric Engineering where he wants to work, he would rather be in the office than in the farm. When we take agriculture as the way to go and our people don’t have the orientation for hard work anymore and this is not a Cross River issue but a Nigerian issue. It is a national issue that the mentality for hard work is taking a back burner.

People understand hard work by way of award of contracts and subletting the contract and taking the margin and money that you make synthetically like that is not wealth but agriculture provides the opportunity for wealth creation which is not different from being wealthy.

governance.

That way; we will change the mind of the people. The next one is security; I have also approached the President-elect because they say governors are the Chief Security Officers but answerable to the President. We need the cooperation his cooperation in the area of security. There are many measures we are going to put on ground to ensure we have security and we are united, these are the reasons people will come to Plateau. After the elections, you can see the change, areas that people were not going, on their own, they are feeling that with this new change, there is hope and there is need for reconciliation, there is hope for unity and there is hope for security.

So, on their own, they are mending fences, it is just for us after the inauguration, the concepts that will further cement these relationships will be unveiled.

C M Y K

C M Y K

66 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

THE ECONOMY

achieved about 94 per cent level of secondary school and terriary enrolment, Nigeria, during the same period (1965-1986) achieved 29 per cent. The implication is that while these countries have reached a self sustaining growth, Nigeria has been trapped in debt, $32 billion in 2004, deficit budgeting N315 billion in 2003 and population explosion 120 million 2004. The effect is that the living standard of the populace is on onward decline and this has dragged more Nigerians into the poverty line.

In fact, a recent study by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that more than 70 per cent of Nigerians live below $1.25 a day.

The situation has not changed much. These are the realities starring the populace in the face as a new government takes office.

Kalu Ojah, Professor of Finance, Wits Business School at University of the growth rate, discovered that during the two Witwatersrand South Africa in a paper titled decades from 1965 to 1987 Korea, with a “Nigeria: economic priorities are clear – here population of 42 million in 1987, joined the is what Buhari needs to do” said “In order rank of middle income countries by increasing to embed a new era of sustainable and its per capita income from $650 to $2,400. inclusive growth, Nigeria must focus on During this same period Malaysia and Brazil political reform and deepen ongoing accomplished the same while Nigeria’s per economic reforms. Buhari needs to set some capita income declined from $440 in 1965 to a early priorities, as well as setting out clearly mere $375 with a high population of 120 whether the private or the public sectors million in 2004. Further Nigeria’s per capita should play a more prominent role in the was $420 in 2000 lower than what it was in economy”.

1965. In 2001 it rose to $432, $407 in 2002, Professor Ojah said “Buhari is fabled to be $452 in 2003 and further to $510 in 2004. This incorruptible but the same may not be said implies that in 2004 Nigerians welfare is not for those around him. Indeed, a major worry anywhere near what Indonesia, Malaysia and is that government-led production could be a Brazil attained in 1987. concealed platform for high-level corruption In the same period the World Bank and wasteful spending. There is some observed, Korea’s industrial share in GNP argument that the drive for profit that usually increased from 25 to 42 per cent; in Indonesia governs private sector-led production would from 13 to 32 per cent and at least lead to more productivity” in Argentina about 42 per According to Ojah, “Buhari’s cent of GNP. By World Bank victorious APC party is a political calculation, the most potent coalition bridging both the southfactor in economic growth is west and north of Nigeria. SouthBuhari’s gross domestic savings. westerners (the Yoruba) have been From 1965 to 1986 Korea’s among those most vociferous in calls administration savings rate increased from to restructure Nigeria’s political recan get off the eight to 35 per cent; for organisation, particularly during a Indonesia from eight per National Conference convened by starting-blocks cent to 24 per cent; for India Jonathan in 2013. Past national talk quickly by from 16 per cent to 21 per shops were evidently just that – talk cent. For Nigeria, it shops. But this one was different continuing this decreased from 17 per cent because many Nigerians believed to 10 per cent and for Japan process, the conference was not convened to it was maintained at 32 per placate aggrieved ethnicities or for particularly the cent. The situation in political foot dragging by someone Nigeria remains largely the devolution of leaving office. Instead, a reputed same as savings has not chairman oversaw the proceedings; power and improved beyond what it people from all works of life and was in the 1980s if not resources from ethnicities were involved; there was worse off. no political interference from the the centre to Going by World Bank presidency; no subject regarding reckoning, while Korea states or regions Continues on Page 67

Break the vicious poverty circle in Nigeria, stakeholders tell Buhari

By Omoh Gabriel, Business Editor

T

HE Nigerian economic situation can be aptly described as an interlocking set of vicious circles that perpetuate economic stagnation and rural poverty. One of these circles involves the savings - investment gap in rural Nigeria. In Nigeria, productivity is low because investment is low. Investment is low because savings is low; savings is low because income is low; income is low because productivity is low. That is the situation bulk of the population is going through today except the few who have gotten hold of money one way or the other, fair or foul. The current Nigerian situation is aptly explained

by Adam Smith.

Adam Smith in his inquiry into the wealth of nations said that “The annual labour of every nation is the fund which originally supplies it with all the necessaries and conveniences of life which it annually consumes, and which consist always either in the immediate produce of that labour, or in what is purchased with that produce from other nations. Accordingly therefore, as this produce, or what is purchased with it, bears a greater or smaller proportion to the number of those who are to consume it, the nation will be better or worse supplied with all the necessaries and conveniences for which it has occasion. From this Adam Smith’s perspective, Nigeria has not been able to get the basis of getting the economy to run on auto pilot. Nigerians are not productive enough to generate enough resources to maintain the population. For instance countries that were at the same level of economic development with Nigeria at independence have long left the nation far behind.

The World Bank in comparing 12 countries

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 67

Break the vicious poverty circle in Nigeria, operators tell Buhari Continues from Page 66 restructuring of the polity was a taboo.

Recommendations in a subsequent report were split into two: those implementable via executive powers and those that needed legislative ratification – both of which Jonathan promised to move towards after the elections.

“Buhari’s administration can get off the starting-blocks quickly by continuing this process, particularly the devolution of power and resources from the centre to states or regions. The north used to be a bastion of agricultural production, while the south had a cottage industry of manufacturing and a high work rate. However, with the fixation on oil, agricultural production has been effectively abandoned. This process needs to be reversed.

“One of the first specific priorities for Buhari should be to avoid the temptation of destructive policy U-turns that could set the country back. Jonathan’s administration made some footprints in the sand when it came to economic reforms that Buhari should follow and deepen. His economic team must build on the established efficient budgeting and fiscal management that befits a rich resource-based economy that is supported by a credible national bureau of statistics producing clear data. There should also be efforts to ease the burden of oil subsidies on the country’s recurrent budget expenditure – which has perennially been greater than 80% of total budget pushed slightly lower under Jonathan’s administration.

Buhari should insist the newly improved, but long overdue petroleum industry bill, which sets out a raft of reforms to the oil sector, gets quickly passed into law. The country also needs to push hard to strengthen the development and management of its capital markets, with a view to making Nigeria a regional hub of finance. This should include a beefed-up, independent Security Exchange Commission, upgrading the Nigeria Stock Exchange’s soft and hard infrastructures, and better linking with capital markets in the West African region and beyond” Ojah said.

The Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON) advised the Presidentelect, Muhammadu Buhari, to implement policies that would deepen the capital market.

Mr Emeka Madubuike, the ASHON President, said that the incoming government should pursue friendly policies that would enhance market growth and development.

Madubuike said that the new government should embrace the capital market instruments for long-term development projects instead of relying only on money market instruments.

“We will continue to run round the circle because our economy cannot grow on money market borrowings,” he said. According to Madubuike, the new government needs to take a paradigm shift and pursue policies that will transform the economy. He also advised that the incoming government should show more discipline in spending and ensure blockage leakages of resources.

OPS

C

hief Bassey Edem, Acting National President NACCIMA, said There is need for the incoming administration to recognize the importance of power to the survival of the industries in this country and ensure that the reforms in the sector are improved upon so as to deliver to the generality of the Nigerian populace much desired stable power supply.

“We also want to counsel the incoming administration to demonstrate the political will needed for the development of alternative sources of power such as solar, wind energy, coal etc so as to significantly improve on the power supply in the country.”

According to him, another critical area where manufacturers are facing some challenges is in the area of interest rate, “Interest rate currently hovers between 18 – 28 percent depending on the profile of the firms, which is

zAffordable, decent accommodation is beyond the reach of the majority too high for any productive venture and has negative effect on the global competitiveness of Nigerian firms and their products with their foreign counterparts.

“It is important to acknowledge the effort of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in addressing the various fiscal challenges in our nation. However, the continued retention of the MPR at 13 percent is worrisome and is affecting credit availability and liquidity creation from the Commercial Banks. This continues to exact monetary shocks on the economy, thereby negatively influencing the level of investment in the country and endangering our industries.

“We therefore counsel that the CBN should make effort towards reducing the MPR to a single digit so as to have a reduced lending rate. The apex Bank should also initiate policies that would create the enabling environment for investors to look inward for investment opportunities in the country.

There is also a need to pursue macroeconomic policies, including fiscal prudence which is supported by good monetary policy to contain inflation at single digit,” he said.

In view of the foregoing, going Forward, operators would like the new government under President Muhammadu Buhari, to: *Review the whole process of Power Sector Reform by conducting an assessment study in order to identify area of challenges; and there is need to overcome the power challenge until the target of 10,000MW is achieved *They are also demanding that the new government should put in place a financial policy that would ensure a single digit interest rate to drive the manufacturing sector’s growth in line with global trend.

Land and Housing

M

r. S.P.O. Fortune-Ebie, pioneer Managing Director of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and former Managing Director of Nairobi-based Shelter Afrique, advised the incoming administration to make funds available in order to subsidise mortgages and as well make land available to the people.

“The most important thing to do to address this alarming housing deficit in Nigeria is that government must make funds available.

Whoever is telling government that housing is not subsidised is a liar. Even recently in the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister has worked out a scheme for new house owners with subsidies for students to make them become house owners. But here, the President is told that housing is not subsidised. All over the world, housing is subsidised. Also, the question of title to land must be concluded and land made available to people. Also, people who are experts in the built industry

The most important thing to do to address this alarming housing deficit in Nigeria is that government must make funds available.

Whoever is telling government that housing is not subsidised is a liar should be put in place in the housing subsector, and not charlatans. Once Buhari does these things, the housing problem in Nigeria will be solved,” he stated.

President, Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Rev. Ugo Chime, on his part, urged the government to inject more funds into the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and even restructure it if need be to assist it make houses more affordable for Nigerians.

According to him, government has used privatisation to remove safety nets from the common man. “Government should take steps to beef up the capital base of FMBN. People are contributing 2.5 per cent to the National Housing Fund (NHF) and over 90 percent of these people cannot access the NHF loans due to poor funding by the government,” he said.

In his own submission, Mr Debo Adejana, Managing Director, Realty Point Limited, a real estate firm, declared that financing of housing projects remained one of the biggest problems in the sector. “The major issue is funding, getting appropriate funding. There is money flowing everywhere but the right type of money needed for long term project like housing is not available. We have not been able to raise so much of insurance money in this country but we have at least tried to raise a reasonable amount of pension fund. These are monies that are put into these kinds of uses anywhere in the world.

It’s not enough to just be putting these monies in paper transactions and stock markets. If we can also get some insurance money into real estate in the way that it can fund purchasers, mortgage and construction, it will be a good way of making things more affordable,” he said.

Continues on Page 68 C M Y K

68 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 Continues from page 67

Agriculture

Engineer Idowu Asenuga, Managing Director, Agri Supplies and a farmer, said he wants to see the new administration deepen and broaden the gains already made in the area of funding of agriculture as well as agricultural insurance. “The outgoing administration has made great effort in the area of the macroeconomic stability especially in the area of funding and agricultural insurance. Several initiatives have been put in place that allows farmers to access single digit interest facility with tenor as long as 10 years.

Hence l wish to see the new administration deepen and broaden the gains already made in this area. “ While commending the Agricultural Transformation Agenda of the outgoing Administration, he said Nigeria as a nation currently needs to quickly as a matter of great urgency fix the burden issues within the agricultural sector. There is the need to move from paying lip services to agriculture to unlocking the huge potential inherent in the sector most especially for job creation.”

Asenuga said the sector can through a combined effort of the federal, state and local government create a minimum of 2.5 million new direct and indirect jobs in the sector annually with the involvement of other key stakeholders and good policy framework.

“If this is done the new administration would have created a total of 10 million new jobs in the agricultural sector in four years.

Hence my number one expectation from this incoming administration is job creation. We must be able to focus more on crops and livestocks that gives us comparative and competitive advantage and can be easily intensified to boost food production.”

He said he will want to see the incoming government activate a national agricultural policy that uses an inclusive strategy that allows the creation of a land to table value.

“This kind of policy must be carefully implemented in such a way that the entire value chain is covered.

While calling for technology and knowledge driven agriculture, Asenuga said emphasis must be placed on quality because this is the singular factor responsible for the rejection of the agricultural commodities in the western world, “and subsequently the disappearance of our groundnut pyramids, cocoa commodity boards, and oil palm among others.”

He added “with the production of quality exportable commodities Nigeria can begin to earn direct foreign income from other countries. I still insist that we need to learn from our neighbor across the Atlantic Brazil which was in the same agricultural export level with Nigeria in the 60’s but has over the years grown to become the third largest agricultural exporter after United States and the EU with an annual agricultural export of over $30 billion dollars which is equivalent to our annual income from oil.”

Research and Development as foundation for agricultural development Prof. Shehu Garki Ado , the Vice Chancellor, Al-Qalam University, Katsina said Nigeria needs demanddriven research agriculture as the sector is expected to provide food security, employment, raw materials to industries and income among others.

He said Nigerian farmers and policy makers have achieved a series of significant successes in

C M Y K

Break the vicious poverty circle in Nigeria agricultural development although these successes are still inadequate in number and scale to counter its daunting demographic challenge.

Prof. Ado said Agricultural research is one of the most important drivers of growth in agricultural productivity, food security, rural poverty reduction and economic transformation. Additional investment in agricultural research and development will increase agricultural productivity more than any other form of public investments in rural areas He said considering the vast human and natural resources endowed in the country, it is quite feasible for agricultural research to propel agricultural development, if conducive policy environment is maintained and resources are used judiciously.

“Research and focused efforts have led to sustained gains in specific commodities.

Researchers have introduced a number of crop varieties and livestock breeds and fisheries as well as innovative soil and water conservation initiatives in a wide variety of locations to contend with declining soil fertility and declining fertilizer subsidies.”

Prof. Ado, who was once the Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University, Samaru Zaria, said Agricultural research can help alleviate poverty in many ways. Farm households that adopt improved technologies can benefit directly from higher yields and incomes. The indirect impacts of

Increased agricultural development and irrigation, enhancement of the commerce and water supply were some of the measures that must be tackled

research such as cheaper food and more jobs can also improve the living standards of the wider population.

He urged the incoming government to fund Research Institutes in order for them to commercialize their findings like mechanical technologies generated instead of waiting for manufacturing companies to come and request for them.

He said the incoming government should focus on proper intervention in extension activities, which he said can result in doubled or tripled crop yields above the national averages giving rise to marked improvement in income and living standard. “Standards of quality, size and packing are required for various fruits and vegetables to aid wholesale marketing and export. He added that given the growing role of private research in biotechnology and hybrid breeding, incoming governments must develop partnerships and protocols for making new technologies developed in the private sector available to smallholder farmers.

He said for Nigeria agriculture to become number one national revenue earner, irrigation development should be given the needed attention, “Increased agricultural development and irrigation, enhancement of the commerce and water supply were some of the measures that must be tackled before a solid foundation for agricultural development is built.

SMEs

A

ccording to the Managing Director, Accion Microfinance Bank, Ms. Bumi Lawson, “We certainly know that with the incoming government, there would be an expansion in the role of micro-finance banks. We do know that the micro finance banks truly provide financial access and when people have financial access they are able to grow their income level.

“If you look at the poverty level in Nigeria, it is quite high, so the role of MfB is to provide capital, save savings, accumulation of wealth, micro insurance, certainly needs to be highlighted. As the incoming government comes in, they need to focus on economic growth and improving the well being of the average Nigerians on the street.

“In last regime we have seen economic growth but it was not distributed across all sectors of the Nigerian economy, when you talk of income strata for people at the bottom of the pyramid, low income earners were left out. Microfinance needs to address that and I believe the incoming government needs to provide access to capitals, technology improvement and infrastructure improvement so that we can expand our reach and really address our needs and improve the lives of the average Nigeria,” she said.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 69

Recent developments in funding the economy inherited by Buhari

By Emeka Anaeto, Economy Editor

A

s we continue to give independent review of what the administration of President Mohammadu Buhari is taking over from ex-president Goodluck Jonathan some issues in the private sector-driven economy that has defile solutions by successive governments at the centre appears worsening. They key amongst these is the funding gaps in the real sector and the associated issues are presented here.

Interest Rate Developments Available data has indicated that banks’ interest rates trended upwards since second half of 2014 up to date with lending rates outpacing deposit rates just as the spread between deposit rate and lending rates widens. According to data from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) while the weighted average deposit rate (demand, savings, time/ term) has increased to 5.02 per cent from 4.5 per cent mid last year lending rate increased from 25 per cent to 30 per cent by second quarter 2015.

At about 25 percentage point, the spread reflects high margins for the banks against extremely high cost of borrowing for businesses.

The organized private sector has been clamoring for proper regulations that would address the issue of high operating cost by banks which has not only necessitated the high lending rate but also the widening spread between the two rates.

Microfinance Banks borrowing window: As the conventional banks appear to be unwilling to extend credit facilities to the small and micro enterprises the microfinance option was created and that has been helping to some extent. However there seems to be a worrisome trend of gradual erosion of capacity in this sector since late last year.

Total liquid assets of the Microfinance Banking (MFBs) sector in the last quarter of 2014 stood at N80.9 billion, representing a massive decrease of N55.9 billion or 40.9 per cent and N2.4 billion or 2.9 per cent below the levels reported in the preceding quarter and corresponding period of 2013 respectively.

Shareholders’ funds of MFBs amounted to N53 billion representing a frightening decrease of N147.5 billion or 73.5 per cent and N11.9 billion or 18.3 per cent below the levels reported in third quarter 2014 and corresponding quarter of 2013 respectively. The 73.5 per cent decline in the funds was attributed to the decrees of N78.9 billion or 59.1 per cent and N68.6 billion or 102.2 per cent in paid-up capital and reserves (including the year’s losses) respectively.

This obviously indicates a dying financing window for the small businesses which constitutes the largest employer of labour in Nigeria today. A recent data below from CBN already points to this development.

MFBs aggregate credit to the domestic economy in the last quarter of 2014 amounted to N114.1 billion representing a decrease of N36.1 billion or 24 per cent and N14.4 billion or 11.2 per cent below the levels reported in the preceding quarter of 2014 and the corresponding period of 2013 respectively.

The 20 per cent decrease in domestic credit was largely accounted for by the decrease of N20.1 billion or 16.9 per cent and N8.9 billion or 68.1 per cent in loans and advances and long term investments respectively.

The N535b CBN Intervention Funds One of the very commendable steps of the government of ex-president Goodluck Jonathan is the establishment of the CBN Intervention Fund under the management of Bank of Industry which was rolled out two years ago to address specific needs of some critical sectors facing funding crises. The fund amounted to N535 billion. The programme consists of two schemes, namely, the N235 billion Intervention Fund for Refinancing and Restructuring Facility (RRF) to SME/ Manufacturing sector and the N300 billion Power and Aviation Intervention Funds, (PAIF). BoI manages these intervention funds with the participating banks and the Nigerian Export Import Bank (NEXIM) to disburse to various beneficiaries.

By December 2014 the RRF fund was fully disbursed with over 80 per cent of request unattended. In fact even those that applied represented less than 20 per cent of the need to be met in this critical sector. As at now no immediate plan is in place to further address this huge gap.

On the other hand a total of N330 billion PAIF

Continues on Page 70

I’ll focus Jigawa's economic revival through agric devt — BADARU Tina Akannam & Aliyu Dangida, Dutse

A

s a successful international business man, with diverse background, Alhaji Muhammadu Badaru Abubakar, is the Jigawa State governor-elect. In this interview with Tina Akannam and Aliyu Dangida he spoke on his plans, vision and dreams for Jigawa State.

Sirm You contested side with the outgoing governor Sule Lamido in 2011 under the defunct APC and lost, now that you won the governorship position, did you anticipate the victory?

Yes, as we all know majority of Nigerians including Jigawa intelligent and have chosen the better candidate that will bring about the change they desire. They know that APC understands the economy better, they know we understand their feelings, demands and we can resuscitate the economy and build on what has been on ground in the state.

Now that the elections are over, what should Jigawa people expect from you sir?

Well, the major concern of the people are jobs.

There are many youth that have no jobs, and those who have jobs are under-employed. Most

state can sustain itself and continue to run without depending sole on federal allocation to run the affairs of the state.

How will you tackle unemployment problem rate among the youths ?

I am a businessman. I am confident that the moment we start creating wealth by revamping the agricultural sector employment problems will be addressed.

At least the educational sector have been improved in the 8years by the of them have a small farm land outgoing administration. to cater for their needs only.

Today, Jigawa state is This is a massive longer referred to as challenge, the the most educational citizenry is backward state in the looking up to us country, our in the area of job administration will creation and consolidate on what wealth creation, •Alhaji Muhammadu Badaru my predecessor had they believe we Abubakar, Jigawa State Governor done. There is no have the way you will create a design for a expertise to turn around the situation. sustainable economy without including What are your major campaign promises educational sector. for Jigawa people?

We intend develop an economy blueprint, we The major thing the APC government will focus on is creating an economy for Jigawa through cannot do that without defining what the agricultural development, agro processing and existing labour force in the state.

There were quite a number of programmes boost trading activities. We feel it our major challenge because the people are and projects initiated by the outgoing governor Sule Lamido PDP led government, predominantly farmers . We will start by focusing on agricultural development in a and even Turaki’s government, especially on industries. Will you continue with them? large scale and study where we have Yes, Jigawa is our state, our political difference advantage and improve on the areas which will not affect our judgment of what is good. we hope will help create jobs for our youths.

We have to adopt sustainable development Continues on Page 71 plan to develop the state economy do that the C M Y K

C M Y K

70 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

What Buhari promised Nigerians O

n May 29, Muhammadu Buhari will take office as President of Nigeria.

Expectations are high as most Nigerians expect the coming government to wave a magic wand and make all their problems disappear. The Buhari campaign which ran on a ‘CHANGE’ mantra made numerous promises to Nigerians during the campaign.

Buhari’s campaign promises as presented by Vanguard

On Politics and Governance:

I, Muhammadu Buhari, believe that our politics is broken. Our nation urgently needs fundamental political reform and improvement in governance more transparency and accountable. If you nominate me in December, 2014 and elect me in February 2015, my administration will: 1. Initiate action to amend the Nigerian Constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties, and responsibilities to states in order to entrench true Federalism and the Federal spirit; 2. Strengthen INEC to reduce, if possible, eliminate electoral malpractices in Nigerian’s political life; 3. Attract the best and brightest of our sons and daughters into our politics and public service by aggressive recruitment of private sector people, academics, and professionals within Nigeria and in the Diaspora through internships, fellowships, executive appointments, and special nomination to contest elective offices; 4. Prevent the abuse and misuse of Executive, Legislative and Public offices, through greater accountability, transparency, strict, and implementable anti-corruption laws, through strengthening and sanitising the EFCC and ICPC as independent entities; 5. Amend the Constitution to remove immunity from prosecution for elected officers in criminal cases; 6. Restructure governance for a leaner, more efficient, and adequately compensated public service sector, while promoting effective participation of the private sector for more robust job creation programmes to employ the teaming youth.; 7. Require full disclosure in media outlets, of all government contracts over N100m prior to award and during implementation at regular intervals; 8. Reform and Strengthen the Justice System for efficient administration and dispensation of justice with the creation of special courts for accelerated hearing of corruption, drug trafficking, terrorism and similar cases of national importance; 9. Fully enforce the Freedom of Information Act l so that government held data sets can be requested and used by the public and then such data sets be publish on regular basis; 10. Amend the Constitution to require Local governments to publish their meeting minutes, service performance data, and items of spending over N10M.

Security and Conflict Resolution

On National Security and Defence: I will urgently secure the territorial integrity of the nation. I will never leave the defence of the nation in the hands of Hunters, Children, and Civilian JTF through the following: 1. Urgently address capacity building mechanisms of law enforcement agents in terms of quantity and quality as this is critical in safeguarding the sanctity of lives and property; 2. Establish a well trained, adequately equipped and goals driven Serious Crime Squad to combat insurgencies, kidnapping, armed robbery, ethno-religious and communal clashes, nationwide; 3. Consult and amend the Constitution to enable States and Local Governments to create

city, Local government and State Policing systems, base on the resources available at each levels, to address the peculiar needs of each community. I will therefore work with the National Assembly to set and revised, when needed, boundaries of operations, for Federal, State, and Local government policing units, through new Criminal Justice legislation to replace the Criminal Code, the Penal Code and the Police Act. 4. I will push for more robust support in the Security and Economic stability of the West-African subregion and African Continent as a whole. I will seek and maintain close and frank relationship with ALL of West Africa; Special relationship with South Africa and its Sub-region; UK, USA, Canada, EU, Asia, and the Middle East .

On Conflict Resolution, National Unity, And Social Harmony:

I will; 1. Establish a Conflict Resolution Commission to help prevent, mitigate, and resolve civil conflicts within the polity; 2. Bring permanent peace and solution to the insurgency issues in the North-East; the Niger Delta; and other conflict prone states and areas such as Plateau, Benue, Bauchi, Borno, Abia, Taraba, Yobe, and Kaduna in order to engender national unity and social harmony; 3. Initiate policies to ensure that Nigerians are free to live and work in any part of the country by removing state of origin, tribe, ethnic and religious affiliations from documentation requirements in our identification of citizens and replace these with State of Residence and fashion out the appropriate minimal

qualification for obtaining such a state of residency, nation-wide.

On Foreign Policy:

I will; 1. Make regional integration a priority within ECOWAS including free trade with a view to ensuring that common tariff currency are in use by the end of my term in office, under Nigeria’s guidance and leadership, base on the size of its market force; 2. Maintain a strong, close and frank relationship within the Gulf of Guinea, the Commonwealth, South Africa and the rest of the world.

3. Establish a special relationship with the leading emerging markets like Brazil; Russia, India and China (BRIC) and other strategic partners around the world.

Continues on page 71

Recent developments in funding the economy inherited by Buhari Continues from Page 69 was approved by CBN comprising of N177.9 billion or 53.8 per cent and N152.7 billion or 46.2 per cent for Aviation and Power sector respectively. BoI disbursed total of N236.4 billion with a share of N117.4 billion and N118.9 billion to 15 and 19 beneficiaries in the Aviation and Power sectors respectively. The sector, especially the power companies are presently in deadly stress of cash crunch, abandoned by banks over huge infrastructure and operational funding gaps. The sector is heading for a major crises if nothing urgent is done.

Agric sector funding Agriculture sector is perhaps the most neglected in the private sector business funding chain. Recognising this gap the government at various times have rolled out several initiatives to address this but with little results. However the most outstanding institutional arrangement for this came with the establishment of Bank of Agriculture (BoA).

Aggregate credit to the sector by BoA in the last quarter of 2014 stood at N16 billion representing an increase of N1.1 billion or 7

per cent above the level recorded in the preceding quarter but a massive decrease of N9.2 billion or 36.6 per cent below the level recorded in the corresponding period of 2013. The decrease is not as much a problem as the volum of credit available compared to demand which has been abysmal over the years due to weak capacity of the bank.

Shareholders’ funds of the BoA stood at N3.4 billion in the last quarter of 2014. As poor is this figure is it represented a decrease of N4.4 billion or 56.4 per cent below the level in the corresponding period of 2013.

Other measures of capacity also show gross inadequacies. Total deposit liability of the bank amounted to N8.7 billion representing increase of N 0.1 billion or 1.5 per cent and N1.7 billion or 24.1 per cent above the levels recorded in the previous quarter and corresponding quarters of 2013 respectively.

Long term loans of BoA stood at N 0.2 billion a stagnation.

The new government needs to look into the capacity of BoA to deliver on its mandate and be relevant in this very important sector.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 71

What Buhari promised Nigerians Continues from page 70

The Economy & Infrastructure Base On the Economy:

I will; 1. Maintain sound Micro and macro-economic policy environment, and run an efficient government and preserve the independence of the Central Bank; 2. Restore financial confidence in the citizens and the world, by putting in place a more robust monitoring, supervising, and regulating of the financial institutions; 3. Make our economy one of the fastest growing emerging economies in the world with a real GDP growth averaging at least 10-12% annually 4. As at 1999, Nigerian rate of unemployment stood at about 8%, today it is estimated from official statistics to be close to 30%. I will embark on vocational training, entrepreneurial and skills acquisition scheme for graduates along with the creation of Small Business Loan Guarantee Scheme to create at least 5 million new jobs by 2019. A Small and Medium Enterprises Development Commission will be created for this purpose. I will also encourage State Governments to focus on employment creation, by matching everyone job created in the same state.

5. Integrate the informal economy into the mainstream and prioritize the full implementation of the National Identification Scheme to generate the relevant data; 6. Expand domestic demand and will undertake associated public works programmes to achieve this goal; 7. Embark on export and production diversification including investment in infrastructure; promote manufacturing, through Agro Based industries; and expand and promote sub-regional trade through ECOWAS and AU; 8. Make Information Technology, Manufacturing, Agriculture and Entertainment key drivers of our economy, by reviewing the present reward system, which is based on certification, to that based on skills, competencies, and performances; 9. Balance the Nigerian economy across regions by the creation of 6 Regional Economic Development Agencies (REDAs) to act as subregional hubs in order to promote healthy regional competitiveness; Put in place a N300bn Regional Growth Fund

with an average of N50bn in each geo-political region; to be managed by the REDAs, to encourage private sector enterprise and to support places currently reliant on only on the public sector, to migrate to a private sector reality; Amend the Constitution and the: 10. Land Use Act to create freehold/leasehold interests in land along with matching grants for states to create a nationwide electronic land title register on a state by state basis; 11. Create an additional middle-class of at least 4 million new home owners by 2019 by enacting a national mortgage single digit interest rates for purchase of owner occupier houses as well as review the collateral qualification to make funding for home ownership easier, with a 15 to 30 year mortgage terms. This will equally help our banking system migrate from short to long term perspective of their role in sustaining the economy.

12. Create a Social Welfare Program of at least Five Thousand Naira (N5000) that will cater for the 25 million poorest and most vulnerable citizens upon the demonstration of children’s enrolment in school and evidence of immunisation to help promote family stability.

13. Provide allowances to the discharged but unemployed Youth Corps members for Twelve (12) months while in the skills and entrepreneurial development programmes.

14. Equate N1.00 to $1.00

On Agriculture:

I will; 1. Modernize the sector and change Nigeria from being a country of self-subsistence farmers to that of a medium/large scale farming nation/ producer; 2. Create a nationwide food inspectorate division with a view to improving nutrition and eliminating food-borne hazards 3. Inject sufficient funds to the Agricultural sector to create more agro-allied jobs by way of loans at nominal interest rates for capital investment on medium and commercial scale cash crops; 4. Guarantee a minimum price for all cash crops and facilitate storage of agricultural products to overcome seasonal shortages of selected food crops.

5. Move the nation to an all year round small, medium, and commercial farming through a coordinated integrative irrigation of our existing dams as well as creation of more dam to collect the over flooding waters, nationwide.

6. Revive our Agricultural Research Institutes that are in a state of comatose; 7. Review and strengthened Veterinary practices nationwide.

On Infrastructure:

I will; 1. Review the Public Private Partnership (PPP) enabling environment with a view to addressing the legal, regulatory and operational bottlenecks, challenging the effective administration of the system, by introducing enabling legislation. In addition, I will create a National Infrastructural Development Bank to provide loans at nominal interest rates, exclusively for this sector; 2. Generate, transmit and distribute electricity on a 24/7 basis whilst simultaneously ensuring the development of sustainable/renewable energy, by 2019.

3. Embark on a National Infrastructural Development Programme as a Public Private Partnership that will (a) ensure 5,000km of Superhighway including service trunks and (b) building of up to 6,800km of modern railway completed by 2019; 4. Enact new legal and regulatory frameworks to establish independent regulation and incentives to accelerate public and private sector investment in seaports, railways, and inland waterways; 5. Embark on PPP schemes that will ensure every one of the 36 states has one functional airport, with all 21st Century safety tools for effective commercial air travel.

On the Oil and Gas Industry:

I will: 1. Revive and reactivate our minimally performing Refineries to optimum capacity; 2. Make the industry and Nigeria one of the world leading/cutting edge centres for clean oil and gas technology; also producing leading world Oil and Gas technologist, scientists, and owing mega structure installations, drilling, processing, and production facilities and engineers. These facilities and scientists will be supported with the best services and research facilities.

3. Fully develop the sector’s capacity to absorb more of the nation’s new graduate in the labour market. The sector will be funded to produce more home-grown, but world class engineers, scientists, technologist, etc.; 4. Modernise the NNPC and make it the

Continues on Page 72

I’ll focus Jigawa's economic revival through agric devt — BADARU Continues from Page 69 Let me make one thing clear, we will continue with all laudable programmes and projects embarked on by our predecessors in all sectors.

But we will be careful in our economic policies. There are competition around the world terms of World Trade Agreements (WTA).

And the competition is high and for us to be able to compete, we have to create mega industries. For instance If you look at Dangote Cement company compared to other cement industries in the country, you will see that their cost of production is less, which is why it has an edge in market.

So, in our case here in Jigawa we have to research ant identify industries that are competitive for export or import in agro based produce..

Will continue with ongoing projects?

Sure, ongoing projects such as road constructions Yes, most of them are good. The road construction does not have issues. But, we assess other ongoing projects, if they are okey. we will continue with it. I don’t believe we will invest our money into something, then stop it because someone else started it. We have to finish it because we have invested so much money into these projects.

You have been in private sector as the president of National Association of Chambers of Commerce and now a governor. What should Jigawa people expect from you?.

I thank Allah for his blessings. As a successful businessman, I will use my business management skill to improve my state economy.

The simple fact in economy is if one is good in management it doesn’t matter whether you are in the private sector or the government. The best operator is he, who manages cost and the best person that manages cost is the businessman and for any businessman to be successful, he has to make a good choice in costing, think of where to invest his money and how to invest it wisely and the returns. Our approach will be different.

The airport in Jigawa, is been named as one of the cargo airport in Nigeria by present Goodluck Jonathan How will make it work?

Jigawa airport will be a successful cargo airport, but we are looking at two or three options. The first option is to create a green house or a vegetation and garden around that area that has very good market in Europe. So if we are able to partner with some good businessmen and export our products (I know we have enough land and the ability to produce cash Crops around the airport and other parts of the state) so that we can transform the Jigawa airport into a cargo airport, with green houses around the airport so that perishables can be delivered to Europe. The second option we are looking at is creating a hanger for Jigawa. If we can get a good partnership, we will create a very good hanger, where aircraft can be fixed or repaired

in Jigawa. These are the two options that we believe at this moment will make the airport viable.

With the present state of Nigerian economy, what is your advice to your colleagues?

I had anticipated this; since 1999, I have been telling the PDP led government that there is potential problem because almost every year, oil is being discovered in one country or the other, there are innovations on how to reduce the use of oil by inventing battery cars, solar cars, hybrid cars and nuclear energy. All these things are being developed so that the use of fuel will be reduced. So when you have an environment where you have a decreasing demand because oil is being discovered every day you have the possibility of price crash and that is what we are facing now. The demand is getting lower and supply is becoming bigger, that is the problem that we have.

This problem will continue in this tune over time and will create a lot of problems. That is why I keep telling the states to look inward, to see what they the have competitive advantage of doing. Unfortunately, so many things we have advantage of producing are being taken over by other countries. So we have to look inward to see what we have international comparative advantage of doing and then invest time and money in it.

C M Y K

72 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

EPILOGUE

Change, chance, chant

By Ikeddy Isiguzo, Chairman, Editorial Board

I

T may be too late in the day – at the sunrise of the Buhari administration – to interrogate the content of the change Nigerians have. Change is change, someone retorted, when another tried a conversation on what the change chants that seized the airwaves since last year meant. He may be right. Some argued that change took place on 13 April when President Muhammadu Buhari defeated Goodluck Jonathan in the election.

The context of change is important, possibly as important as the content. Change is a chance, an opportunity, a window that we could convert to a platform to improve the conditions of our people, gain respect for ourselves and count more worthily as humanity.

Few words would aptly address change in these circumstances, but like good music, you may be unable to define it, but when you hear it, you know it. Change is different. It needs to be seen, felt, nationally, which does not mean in Abuja. Our villagers are waiting for change; it means different things to them, just as the terrains of their situations differ.

Does this change also mean hope, for a

change? If we resurrect hope that people no longer had in many sides of life, would that be change?

Anything that this administration does differently from its predecessors would be change. It has enough people trumpeting its intentions as if they were actions. The fixation with change is a burden.

Buhari created it throughout his campaign. It resonated with the people. Change, hopefully, would reverse their blighted circumstances, which revisionist historian Chief Obasanjo tells us began eight years ago, a cut off point that reckons the Obasanjo years in bliss.

Change can become a chant, even a charade, if the approach to managing the challenges Nigeria faces remains episodic. Change means mitigating situations we cannot obliterate. Change can become a celebratory chant or chant of chagrin, if we under-estimate the intricacies of change.

Whatever happens as this administration takes charge is change. The biggest thing the administration has going for it is that people have imbibed change as a chant. It may not matter what it becomes. However, change, charted in chants that defy description, definition, or denotation, imposes additional challenges of dissonance.

How will change come? When will change come? What will change cost? Who will pay for change? Who will not pay for change? How will

What Buhari Promised Nigerians Continues from Page 71 national energy champion. I will consider breaking it up into more efficient, commercially driven units; and may strip it of its regulatory powers, so as to enable it tap into international capital market; 5. Enforce the government master plan for oil companies to end flaring that pollutes the air and damages the communities and people’s health and ensure that they sell at least half of their gas produced within Nigeria; 6. Speedily pass the much-delayed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and ensure that local content issues are fully addressed 7. Make Nigeria the world’s leading exporter of LNG through the creation of strategic partnerships.

8. Stabilise oil price

The Society & Human Capital Development On Education:

I will; 1. Fully review provisions of the Universal Basic Education Act with emphasis on gender equity in primary, secondary school enrolment whilst improving the quality and substance of our schools, through outcome based education, that address the individual, family, and societal roles in education; and the associative skills and competencies that go with these responsibilities; 2. Targeting up to 20% of our annual budget for this critical sector whilst making substantial investments in training quality teachers at all levels of the educational system; 3. Implement a performance based education, predicated on outcomes, skills, and competences as against the current certificate based qualification. I will adjust the reward system accordingly too. This way, exams malpractice and certificate forgery will be resolved once and for all. Young men and women interested in real liberal arts education, based on a true understanding of scientific, the humanistic, and the social sciences will fill our classrooms to be prepared for future leadership of the nation; 4. Enhance teacher training and improve the competence of teachers in the light of the 21st Century and beyond understanding of the learner types, intelligence types, as the multiple assessment types, in order to open up learning for all our children types. The era of one student type will give way to an all learner type for our children and young people as well as adults who want to return to the classroom to sharpen their skills, competencies, and sensibilities. This re-engineering of our education will be followed with a clearly thought out and vigorous national

C M Y K

inspection programmes; 5. Make learning experiences more meaningful for children as the nation’s education will no longer be a preparation for life, but life itself. Our children will be democratised for education, rather than be educated for democracy. This view of education will make educating our children more cost-effective in the long run; 6. Provide One Meal a day for all elementary/ primary/Almajiri schools That will create jobs in Agriculture, Catering, and Delivery Services 7. Develop and promote effective use of innovative teaching methods/materials in our schools; 8. Ensure a greater proportion of expenditure on university education is devoted to helping our youth to understand the juxtaposition of Science, Technology, the Humanities and the Social Sciences.

9. Establish at least six new universities of Science and Technology with satellite campuses in various states. These six universities should be fully equipped with ICT technologies in order to attract and encourage small and medium scale ICT enterprises after their university education; 10. Establish technical colleges and vocational centres in each state of the federation; 11. Provide more conducive environment for private sector participation in all levels of education. Re-authorised the NUC, TETFUN, JAMB, etc, Acts to enable Private institutions of Higher learning to benefit from research funds and programmes that will serve the national good; 12. Establish six centres of excellence to address the needs of special education;

On Healthcare:

I will; 1. Prioritise the reduction of the infant mortality rate substantially; reduce maternal mortality rates to the levels acceptable by the World Health Organisation; reduce HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases drastically and improve life expectancy by an additional 10 years on average through our National Healthy Living program; 2. Increase the number of physicians from 19 per 1000 population to 50 per 1000 through deliberate medication education as epitomize by nations such as Ghana. I will increase national health expenditure per person per annum to about N50,000 (from the less than N10,000 currently); 3. Increase the quality of all federal government owned hospitals to world class standard by 2019; 4. Invest in cutting edge technology such as tele-medicine in all major health centers in the

we pay for change?

We are in the morning of great times, taut times. The conversion of campaign promises to the realities of a changing world, and Nigeria’s place in it, cannot leave us unchanged.

Our 16-year-old civilian rule, almost twice the length of previous experiences, witnessed the victory of an opposition party, is that not change? We used card readers in the 2015 elections; that is change. We hear of change, in oil prices, in the Constitution, in poverty levels, unemployment and renewed despoliation of our common purse.

When the military handed over to a civilian government, 16 years ago, we thought it was change. Change, then was couched thus, “it would no longer be business as usual”. Just as we are stretching today’s change to new frontiers of imagination, change since 1999 has left us wondering what we were expecting, and what we got.

The blinkered enthusiasm of the Nigerian for change appears unquenchable. It is bold, blunt, blustering. It gives Buhari a blank canvas to sketch change above the chants of the charlatans countering the colours of change for their own change.

Change has come. We will court it. We will count it. country through partnership programmes with communities and the private sector; 5. Provide free ante-natal care for pregnant women; free health care for babies and children up to school going age and for the aged; and free treatment for those afflicted with infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS; 6. Boost the local manufacture of pharmaceuticals and make non adulterated drugs readily available.

Set an effective prosecution and punishment systems, for those importing or adulterating drugs in the country.

7. The enhancement of the Epidemiological Units / Centres for Diseas Control to meet up with Global standards in containment of disease outbreaks, proper vaccine storage and research; 8. Create an Insurance Policy for our Journalists as the nation faces hard times and our Journalists face more dangers in the discharge of their investigative work, to educate Nigerians in their rights and responsibilities.

9. Ban medical tourism by our politicians from May 29, 2015.

On Youth, Sports and Culture:

I will; 1. Provide the opportunities such as setting up functional recreational facilities, Library with e-services, Community Centers, in collaboration with States, Local Government Authorities, Local Development Areas, etc for youth to realize, harness, and develop their potentials to the fullest, in order to facilitate the emergence of the new generation of citizens, who will be committed to the sustenance of good governance and service to the people and the country; 2. Establish Zonal world-class sports academies and training institutes and ensure that Nigeria occupies a place of pride in global sports and athletics; 3. Revive and restructure the Nigerian Football League and put incentives in place to make it as competitive as other national leagues 4. Put in place measures to identify talents early and ensure their participation in local and international games to enable them to be true professionals; 5. Help as well as mandate schools and communities to create neighborhood playgrounds/sports centre. I will create matching support funds for communities to acquire the needed equipment to develop skills and competencies; 6. Assist Nollywood to fully develop into world class movie industry that can compete effectively with Hollywood and Bollywood in due course.

I will support the creative and performing arts with the necessary environment where by our great entertainers do not end their lives in abject poverty as is currently the case.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29 29,, 2015— 73

THE DIEZANI MADUEKE'S INTERVIEW

Ho ww e ttac ac kled cabals in oil indus tr How we ackled industr tryy —Diezani

O

utgoing Minister of P e t r o l e u m Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, in this interview with ARIT ESSANGA, a freelance journalist with the African Free Press, in London, explains the intricacies and how she tackled the cabals in Nigeria’s oil industry .

Excerpts.

Thank you for granting me a few minutes of your time for this pressing discussion about the future of policy evolution in Nigeria. But I want to quickly talk about the fuel scarcity that has come just weeks before the hand-over to the new administration.

The time of my appointment as Minister of Petroleum Resources 5 years ago was a time when the nation was in the throes of many years of continuous fuel scarcity and the abandonment of our fuel facilities. This was having such an adverse impact on the masses, especially in terms of livelihood and quality of life.

This situation certainly affected me and my household. I was one of those who went out to queue at filling stations and what left an indelible mark on me was the plight of the many, many women who were queuing for this essential commodity for their families! We are looking at time when women where losing their lives as a result of adulterated products as kerosene stoves were exploding all over the country! So the problem was not just about getting access to the product but also purchasing the right quality products to ensure the safety of their households of my fellow women. It was a time when cars were ‘knocking’, generators that cost hundreds of thousands of naira were also breaking down because of adulterated products. People around the country were losing many millions of Naira as a result of loss of business incomes and we are talking of taxi drivers, face-me-I-face-you traders in the market, the lorry drivers transporting food to the markets, the okada drivers basically the engine room of the economy was affected.

I am a mother and grandmother myself and I understand the pressure that women go through in order to put food on the table for their families. I am very sensitive to the struggles of the Nigerian woman. So, when granted the opportunity to serve the country as Petroleum Resources minister, I made this my first priority. Dealing with the fuel scarcity was a key issue that I resolved to address as soon as I stepped into office. Nigeria is a country that relies on access to petroleum products for C M Y K

businesses to thrive, for families to survive and for communities to evolve. For me it was a fundamental issue.

I immediately set to the task.

Several inter-ministerial committees were formed to get to the root of the matter including liaising with marketers and the unions.

A few things were identified such as the process of payment to marketers as well as the improvement of the distribution & monitoring mechanisms. The Ministry of Finance is charged with addressing the payment process while the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and its parastatals tackle production, distribution and monitoring aspects.

What did you do in terms of tackling the issue of access to products?

Firstly sectorial reforms were put in place, and an attempt was made to establish a uniform pricing regime across the country, which still requires task forces to be put in place to oversee its success. Secondly, an aggressive strategy was completed to build as well as refurbish over 23 Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) depots across the country many of which, had lain fallow for several years.

This is the result of the determined efforts of the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the NNPC. The aggressive establishment of the depots occurred from Aba to Benin, from Gusau to Suleja, in an attempt to ensure a more robust delivery of products, to not only those areas but also all contingent areas. Thirdly many vandalized pipelines have been restored and expanded in addition, fuel products are now transported by rail where possible to ensure that the products get the depots in good time to avert situations of shortage. Furthermore, NNPC now holds and maintains a 30day stock of PMS, as part of the National Strategic Stock Reserve for products.

The Ministry has also increased the flash point for DPK (kerosene) from 44 to 45 (curbing the incidences of kerosene cookers exploding) – I cannot remember the last time a kerosene cooker has exploded; implemented inspection of trucks at each NNPC Depot for cleanness (preventing contamination) and lab testing of truck samples for quality control. DPR also introduced colour coding for all trucks loading any petroleum product, this means the trucks cannot be used for any other purpose apart from what it has been coded to load. Many Nigerians will attest to the fact that before now, the country has

Diezani Allison- Madueke

been “wet” with products with even filling stations in remote areas, able to dispense products.

I also led the roll out of robust measures to identify and penalise those behind the activities of fuel adulteration as well as pipeline vandalism, in a joint effort between security agencies, the NNPC and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). The first joint meeting between the key parastatals, the Service Chiefs and Inspector General of Police took place at the Oriental Hotel.

It was the first meeting of its kind in the history of the sector.

If all these measures have been put in place why has there been this crippling fuel crisis?

The fuel scarcity that we see today I can only describe as the ‘fear of the unknown’ in these last few days before hand-over.

It is also a backlog following the attempts by the government to stamp-out the subsidy fraud and clean the system in November 2011. Identifying and cutting out up to 92 marketers who had been roundtripping reduced the subsidy payments by about 50%. This also brought about a few delays

This is a difficult situation more peculiarly because this administration did not incur all the debt, which actually goes back 40 years.

in payment, as the investigations to identify erring marketers were robust and took time.

We are faced with a situation where the marketers want this administration to pay them all the money they are owed before the tenure runs out on May 29.

This is a difficult situation more peculiarly because this administration did not incur all the debt, which actually goes back 40 years. It is a rolling obligation. There has never been a time, when the debt obligations was reduced to zero it is cyclical. What the marketers are asking for is not just the outstanding amount to be paid but also for the exchange rate differential that they have incurred. This is in the light of the many conversations that are on going about deregulating the subsidy payments. The transition period is allowing the marketers to try to forestall any losses as a result of a change in regime, while this makes good business sense it is the polity that suffer. The Ministry of Finance and the presidency are giving this situation the priority it deserves.

Let’s talk about some of the allegations that you face with regards to ensuring stability of supply across the country, more specifically about the debate on the subsidy. The memory of Occupy Nigeria is still distant but we see this same situation by marketers holding the country to ransom?

Let me start by making the distinction that the decision as to whether subsidy payments are made or not is entirely economic and outside my purview as Ministry of Petroleum Resources. What we are responsible for is the production, distribution and marketing aspects. What we also do is give a view as to the status in terms of these 3 areas and the decision becomes an economic one from the Presidency.

that the country remains wet with products and the sector run more efficiently. I have constantly ignored the viciousness and focused on my job.

The most important point to make in terms of stability of supply is that today, marketers have a clear contract to deliver their products on specified dates. Marketers are put under strict terms to deliver products at dates specified if they miss the cut off date for delivery then their cargo goes into demurrage which in itself acts as an incentive to ensure supplies.

More recently, as part of the transition activity I have instructed that all of the swap operators across the board provide detailed and clear reports about their export and import activities so that a reconciliation can be conducted and published for all Nigerians to see. These swap transactions involve extremely high volumes and huge cost obligations to banks. The contracts with these operators are very stringent indeed and delivery specifications clear.

There are serious ramifications to the operators for non-delivery most especially by the banks for non-delivery this is dependent generally on the lines of credit arrangements.

This is being done as part of my commitment to accountability and transparency to Nigerians. It will also put to bed the various claims in the press about different alleged practices by the operators that are being associated to me. The operators deal with the NNPC according to tight contractual agreements.

All the swap operators were well vetted and passed as credible Nigerian corporations capable of executing such major stringent contracts with no room for any offences to the system.

So when you have strict contracts in place and bank obligations it is surprising that mischief-makers can say that I am in league with some of these operators in acts of corruption! It shows that they have no idea how the system works and I would ask that they educate themselves before they speak. If Aiteo, Talevaras or any other operator were cheating the NNPC it would be made public as the system has been reorganized to do this automatically. The publication of the reconciled transactions from the time the contracts were assigned to them will also be a testament to this commitment.

Erring contractors will be made to face the legal implications of any wrongdoings that are uncovered.

74—VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

For a man to tame me, he needs to be confident — Ms Jaie

BY KEHINDE AJOSE Janine Ayorinde Temitope Dada whose stage name is Ms Jaie, is a rising RnB artiste. She relocated back to the country from London to pursue her career in music. She gained attention when she was signed on to the now defunct Storm Records ,releasing groovy songs like Kilon poppin, Korrect guy and Right Here.She was dubbed to be Nigeria’s version of Kelly Rolands and signed an endorsement deal with Christian Audigier,a beverage bottling company back in 2012. Ms Jaie is ready to take the front seat in the music industry. In this interview, she opens up on why she relocated to Nigeria,her experience working with Olamide and what transpired between her and Storm Records among others.

Who is Ms Jaie behind the cameras? lot of my fans don’t know that I am actually a shy person. My perfect day is being at home and listening to good music.So, my home persona is very different from my ‘Ms Jaie’ brand. I laugh a lot.I laugh when am nervous and I laugh when I am happy. Ms Jaie is my own way of connecting with people, you know music connects. I stand for strength . I let my girls know that no matter how many times you fail,the most important thing is for you to rise up again. I am more reserved as a person.

A

When you say you stand for strength what exactly do you mean?

Moving back to Nigeria in itself is a leap of faith. I relocated towards the end of 2011, and that was crazy. I always knew that when I was old enough I will move back . But I didn’t know exactly how it’s going to happen.

What was your growing up like?

I grew up in South London, an estate called Dudeenton.It was rough but I didn’t know it was.When I was growing up, you have drug dealers in every corner, you have crack pills on the floor.That was just life.When I was a little older, I realized that there were some white kids that lived across the road . A group called So Solid, lived right down the way.They became role C M Y K

models to the other young people who lived within the vicinity.This made me realize that you can become famous through music.

I think it’s God.When you work with God,you will learn to pray about your decisions.If he tells you to move,just make that move and trust in him.

Did you study music?

I studied Music Technology which focuses on mixing and mastering music.

You have mentioned God a few times, are you that spiritual?

Without God, what can you really do?

I can’t do anything in my strength.Everytime I get a cold, I remember that my voice is from God and If can’t sing any more, it reminds me that the talent isn’t mine.I am grateful.

Have you ever mixed any of your song?

I have not mixed anything song per se. The guys I’m working with now are far better than myself. I know what I wanted.For example,the song I did with Olamide was mixed about ten times. I was not just happy. I wanted to feel it in my soul and make the bass heavy.I am very much involved in my music because I studied it and I know what I am doing.

What inspired your decision to relocate to Nigeria?

Battle for MTV Africa Music Awards begins

How do you balance between being spiritual and being in showbiz?

Sometimes you get into a compromising position,like people wanting you to wear something or say something that doesn’t really agree with your beliefs. I just don’t do anything that I don’t have the desire to do. I won’t wear what I don’t feel like wearing or sing about what I don’t feel like singing

about.At the end of the day, I am accountable for what my fans listen to, on air.

So what it’s the limit for you?

The limit for me will be something I don’t feel comfortable in .I won’t wear an outfit If it’s not something I want my future children to see. At the moment, I cannot say what the limit is, and what it’s not.I do understand that this is entertainment, it’s not suppose to be that serious .Ms Jaie is a brand.I stand for happiness, I stand for fun. So I don’t take myself too seriously.

Why did you decide to work with Olamide?

Not only do I love him, I love his music so much.I love what he represents. I love his energy.I think that we are so different that it was interesting to see

Continues on page 75

How dangerous can familiar tech hazard carbon monoxide be?

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015—75 *Timi Blaze

For a man to tame me, he needs to be confident — Ms Jaie Continues from page 74 what will happen if we actually made a song together.This guy is amazing.He got into the studio, heard the song and was like: “Put the mic on”.He didn’t write anything down and recorded his part within ten minutes.I will definitely like to do more songs with him.

Timi Blaze unveils Genius Music label

Why did you leave Storm records?

I won’t say I left Storms, Storms ended.There isn’t any Storm records anymore.

By JULIET EBIRIM

What was your state of mind when it ended?

Storm is more than a record label to me, it’s a famlily.So when everything happened, it took a lot from me emotionally. It was difficult emotionally.Like everything in life,when you fall down you definitely come out stronger and that is what I feel.

Which one pays more.Your lingerie line or music?

I didn’t work last year in terms of my music.When one is consistent, music pays more. But my lingerie line has been paying me more for now.

Are you signed to any label?

Right now, I am working with Stars Up Entertainment. Its a record label and a management company.I am excited because they understand what I want to do and I am in control of what I am doing.

You said in an interview that only a strong man can handle you.What did you mean by that?

People reacted differently to that story.

But what I meant was I am a strong personality. I know what I want and I don’t compromise much. For a man to tame me, he needs to be extremely confident.He needs to know exactly who he is, and not to be fazed.I am busy working and my life is not different from from a man’s. So anyone that will be my guy as to be strong enough not be fazed by that.

Don’t you think that statement will scare away your male admirers?

It will scare away the scared cats which is what I want.The strong ones will come closer.

Who is the love of your life at the moment?

It’s Jesus and my music right now.

What is important to you right now?

Becoming successful and being a better person is important to me right now.

Who is your industry crush?

They are all like my friends.Burna Boy is cute but he is a baby. He is young.

What is your opinion about the injection of soft porn in our music?

C M Y K

G

It’s a shame.When we were growing up music was the soundtrack to our lives.You see Alicia make braids and you want to make braids too.You see Jayz on a certain trainers and you want to wear the trainers.Now, I feel like people are moving away for what music stands for.I never condemn anybody.I have seen enough twerking to last me a lifetime.It will be nice to put on my TV and see something different.Men are more about what they can see so when you show them everything, they are bored.

What does love mean to you?

Love is amazing.If you are lucky enough to find love in your life, you are a blessed person.

Have you ever be heartbroken?

Yes.I broke up with my long time boyfriend and you know there is no drug to help with heart break unfortunately.They need to actually invent one.When you are heartbroken, you will be like “Oh my God! I want to die”.Its horrible.Once you get over that hurt, you realize that life does go on and life actually gets better and what’s yours will come back What do you think Tiwa Savage’s pregnancy means for Nigerian female musicians?

Tiwa Savage is very professional and her music is her passion.She is not going to be away from the scene for that long.I think her doing this, shows that we can be versatile.We can be family women and have a successful career.Its like an inspiration for me because being a mum is important more than anything in the world and shows me that I can aspire and aim at doing that alongside having a successful music career.

ENIUS Music’ young and vibrant music producer, Dawodu Oluwadurotimi popularly known as Timi Blaze, has finally unveiled his new independent record label, called Genius Music.

The record label unveiling also coincided with the release of his 15 track debut mixtape tagged ‘Just B4 I Begin’. The mixtape features great music acts in the African music scene.

According to the fast-rising rapper cum record label founder, there are too many record labels in the country that are solely for profit with little or no preference for quality music.

He however stated that Genius Music is concerned about creating a platform that can help develop upcoming artistes who have real talents and not the junk that characterize the country’s musical landscape. He further noted that the label has the interest of artistes at heart and not just concerned with profit making.

He said, “The label is set up by

an artiste for artistes. We are not biased to signing ready-made superstars, rather we want to discover as many raw talents as we can and providing them with the right sustainable platform to horn their craft and talents regardless of the genre they represent. We shall also be responsible for promoting and distributing their jobs across the world.”

The Genius brand is a consortium of entertainment professionals and music industry stakeholders. It is a subsidiary of the Genius Creative Group, a creative media company based in Lagos, which specializes in music production and events management.

‘Lagos: Fastest Growing City in the World and the Future of Planet Earth’ featuring late Fatai Rolling Dollar. It should be recalled that Duro produced Fatai’s hit ‘Won kere si number.’

In a similar vein, the songs are part of a ten-track album project started in 2009 by Ikujenyo and produced by Gold Records and The New Age Production. Artistes featured on the songs include Nigerian–European singers, Ayinke Martins and Keziah Jones.

Fela’s Pianist, Duro Ikujenyo releases new tracks, documentary

By TOFARATI IGE

P

IANIST and music producer, has Iku jeny o Dur o his of ase rele the ced announ late st mus ic effo rt whi ch com pris es of thre e son gs, a documentary and a music video.

The documentary and video wer e co-p rod uce d by late Angelbert Theurezberther from Austria and Duro Ikujenyo and is titled, ‘Lagos: Fastest Growing City in the World and the Future of Planet Earth’ featuring late Fatai Rolling Dollar. It should be reca lled that Dur o prod uce d Fatai’s hit ‘Won kere si number.’

In a similar vein, the songs are part of a ten-track album project started in 2009 by Ikujenyo and produced by Gold Records and The New Age Pro duc tion .

Artistes featured on the songs incl ude Nig eria n–E urop ean sing ers, Ayin ke Mar tins and

*Duro Keziah Jones.

Mea nwh ile, the new son gs and documentary will be officially unveiled at Bogobiri House, Ikoyi, Lagos, on 5 June, 2015, from7pm to 11pm at an event which marks the concluding two weeks program of Africa Day. This performance also marks thirty six years of Duro Ikujenyo on stage. His career started as a rhythm pianist with Fela and the Egypt 80 in May 25, 1979.

76 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 77

C M Y K

78 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

Clergyman moves against women involvement in ‘black-market’ trade

By Prisca Sam-Duru

T

he archbishop and president of the Gospel Baptist Conference of Nigeria and former chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Lagos state branch professor Magnus Atilade, has decried the emerging trend of women hawking petroleum products in jerrycans on the streets, otherwise known as ‘black market’.

He did this while parleying with the media on Buhari’s new administration for change in Nigeria in Lagos last week in his capacity as president of the Coalition of Christian NGOs and Christian Welfare Initiative (CWI).

While bemoaning the ongoing fuel crisis and the attendant socio economic effects to the society in the country’s cosmopolitan cities such as Lagos, he said the quest for easy wealth has pushed women into a trade that was hitherto the preserve of men.

“It was very sad to see women- elegant women, beautiful women, well proportioned women standing in the sun. Could this be our daughters, sisters, wives who have been reduced to immoral, illegal hustlers? It is only a matter of time before they are drawn into prostitution and even kidnap!”

Lauding the decision of “elder Buhari” to drop the tag of ‘General’, he congratulated the presidentelect and his vice, saying names are very important to the character that would be exhibited by every individual. In addition, he announced that his organization of patriotic Nigerians will coalesce to form initiative for good governance for a new Nigeria, whose objective is to

serve as a vanguard to monitor the welfare of Nigerians and to proffer well considered suggestions for good governance towards improved welfare of Nigerians and other sensitive issues as they arise in the nation.

Also calling for a religious balance in the four top constitutional positions so as to disabuse suspicion in the hands of a section of the country and religious bias, he declared that change must be Tangible, Measurable and Radical.

Other proffered suggestions included change from a certificate based objective in Education to achieve mass literacy, reintroduction of Moral lessons into schools and improved social security for Nigerians through effective

economic empowerment programs.

Others include Policy of zero tolerance for corruption, full disclosure of government

By Kehinde Ajose

the Public Defender),Valentina PeterNkwo (Mirabel Center), CSP Monday Agbonika and Nollywood Actor Desmond Elliot are some of the facilitators who sensitized, enlightened, encouraged and educated several primary and secondary school students in Lagos

practice, economic diversification and elimination of Boko Haram within 100 days of the new administration.

Rubies Ink takes rape sensitization to secondar hool secondaryy sc school

C

Also calling for a religious balance in the four top constitutional positions so as to disabuse suspicion in the hands of a section of the country and religious bias, he declared that change must be Tangible, Measurable and Radical

ollege Acquaintance Rape Education (C.A.R.E) is one of the mediums Rubies Ink use to combat the growing trend of rape culture in Secondary Schools. It's a RAPE prevention workshop led by trained peer educators, who have massive experience on gender relations, socialization, dating violence and sexual violence prevention.

The three months sensitization workshop which kicked off on the 18th of February 2015 at the Adeyemi Bero Hall, Alausa and moved to the six Education district in Lagos, ended on the 29th of April at Dolphin High School, Lagos Island .Mr. Ade Ipaye (Attorney General and Commisioner for Justice Lagos State), Mrs Omotola Rotimi (Director, Office of

state on Rape and the need to speak up.

C.A.R.E is a Rubies Ink Initiative in partnership with the Lagos State Ministry of Justice and the Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) and the follow up plan for the annual Walk Against Rape Campaign.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 —79

Nollywood Abuja releases movie to condemn ‘Make it Syndrome’ in society

By Caleb Ayansina

A

Towards empowering women for global impact

By Prisca Sam-Duru

F

or years now, there has been consistent clamour for the empowerment of women and the girl child so as to be able to make meaningful contributions to the growth of their nations as well as the entire world. This agitation has seen individuals, organisations both profit and non governmental including religious organisations, making concerted efforts to empower women and the girl child through formal education, workshops, skill acquisitions, etc, so as to be useful to the society.“The Daughters Of Destiny (DOD) International, a nondenominational fellowship, took a bold leap in the above regard ultimate week, when it held a 2-day power-packed conference where women were educated on the very need to be empowered to make positive impact which is not limited to their immediate environment but globally.“The conference themed “Empowering Women For Global Impact”, brought together, women from across the nation and few who came in from the United States of America, at the SEE Events Centre, former LASU Campus, Lekki Epe Expressway, Lagos.“Speakers; Reverends Yinka Badejo and Gbemi Olaleye; Mrs Tara FelaDurotoye of House of Tara, and the founder of DOD, Apostle Busola Jegede where drawn from within the country while

Rev. Obii Pax-Harry flew into the country with some members of her ministry from the UK.“While expressing optimism that women can build the kind of world everyone desires to live in, Apostle

Empowering Women For Global Impact brought together, women from across the nation and few who came in from the United States of America, at the SEE Events Centre, former LASU Campus, Lekki Epe Expressway, Lagos.

Jegede posited that “Women are transiting from applying themselves as change agents to a place where they will make tremendous impact on their world. Surely, we live in a world that is desperately in need of positive impact in all areas of human endeavours.

This is time when women need to rise beyond environmental, traditional, and physical barriers, and stretch out to maximise their full potential.

Our power of influence puts us in a unique position to impact others...when your purpose is to be a world changer, you must have a very high personal standards. So, start by being empowered before aiming to empower all around the globe.”

“Citing examples of women in the likes of Rosa Parks, the American who refused to give up her seat in 1955 because of her belief that oppression of Blacks must stop; Noble Prize Winner, Malala Yousafai, a girl child education campaigner, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, a major role player in the Bring Back Our Girls Campaign, Dr Joe OkeiOdumakin public activist and renowned writer, Chimamanda Adichie for successfully attracting a new generation of readers to African Literature, Jegede maintained that women have capabilities to make global impact since within every woman is a seed of greatness waiting to be unleashed on her world.“She enjoined women to be “Diligent, have solid foundation in your calling and faith, identify and develop your

brands and let your brand stand you out. Inject motivation into your brand and it is a must that women embrace technology because that’s the dimension the world is going.”““Women who are willing to make global impact must have a vision”, Tara FelaDurotoye declared. Vision she said is infectious, stressing that, “You must be committed to the business you are nursing, obey God’s call to serve in whatever area, do not go into business because it is the in-thing.” She insisted that it is futile for any woman to have a business no one knows about. “In her business world, Tara explained that she had a vision to make a global impact which she is successfully doing at the moment but was initially unsure of how to go about it.

She insisted that “There must be something about you that attracts you to people, be sure of where you are coming from and where you are going.

Always guide your space jealously, trust in God to see you through while challenges of setting up a business, last.”

She emphasised that every woman’s vision must be greater than her, and is nursed and developed through education, by reading about other entrepreneurs as well as by submitting themselves to mentorship and positive relationships.““It is only women who will let the entire world know that women are not biological mistakes and so can make positive impact globally” Rev. Yinka Badejo intoned.

BUJA - The yearning to make it in life as quick as possible at all cost, no doubt, could not be ruled out as one of the factors responsible for the increase in crime rate in the society.

This situation, generally accepted, is rampant nowadays among the youths in the society.

To correct this anomaly, Nollywood Abuja is set to premier a movie; ‘Dairy of the Triplets’, featuring veteran movie artists and on-air personalities, to promote value for hard work among the Nigerian youth for a peaceful society.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja, the Producer/Director of the movie, Bright Wonder, said “Diary of the Triplets” is a classic comedy movie serial that chronicles the story of three young men on their journey in pursuit of success.“According to him, the trio was raised in Christian homes, but driven by an irresistible desire for success; they would do almost anything to break out of poverty.

He said; “the classic movie chronicles the story of three young men on their journey in pursuit of success. They were raised in Christian homes, but driven by an irresistible desire for success; they would do almost everything to break out of poverty.”

Bright explained that the hilarious movie had three different seasons which include; ‘soft landing’, ‘survival’ and ‘Inspired’.

“Now the movie industry is set to witness a ground-breaking comedy film that will exceed the expectations of Nollywood’s newfound status and one that its fans have waited a long time for,” he said.“The director noted that the Nollywood’s franchise comedy movie will arrest movie audience and keep the glue to the set, adding that the movie is destined to take the African and international box office by storm.

“The producers of ‘Diary of the triplets are willing to franchise the premiere of the movie to across other states in Nigeria, Africa, United kingdom and other countries of the world.

“Diary of the Triplets” features popular Nollywood acts such as Kalu Ikeagwu, Ayo Emmanuel, Jide Attah, Sydney Diala, Iyke Adiele, Osas Iyamu, amongst others.“The movie, produced by High Definition Film Studios, Abuja, will be premiered at the Silverbird Cinema, Abuja.

80 — V anguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 Vanguard, FRIDA MAY

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 —81

Biafran National Guard calls on FG to release detained MASSOB members

By Chimaobi Nwaiwu

N

NEWI—BIAFRAN National Guard, BNG, a breakaway group from the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign

State of Biafra, MASSOB, has called on the Federal Government to release all the 35 members of MASSOB being held in Enugu and Anambra State prisons and others detained in other prisons in

the country.

The group in a statement issued by Mazi Godswill Okoro, Personal Assistant to the National Leader of BNG Mr. Innocent Orji, said it had become very imperative to release all the MASSOB

members being detained all over the federation because they were not known to have committed any offence that should warrant their continued incarceration.

The call came, even as the group celebrates the 48

years of Biafra after the Biafran/ Nigerian Civil War of 1967 which led to the loss of many lives of both Biafran and Nigerian Army troops.

The group thanked all its members for their commitment and support, especially during the burial of late Dim Ojukwu and for responding to the recent remembrance and honouring of all the dead Biafrans massacred in 1966.

They were honoured at Alex Ekwueme Square Awka on January 12, 2015. “ We a l s o u s e t h i s 4 8 anniversary to commend the Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, and all the crew and Uche Mefor at Radio Biafra, London, for the marvelous work they are doing, including all their tireless effort in educating, sensitizing and orientating all indigenous people of Biafra globally,” he said.

AWKA LEADERSHIP TUSSLE: Our tenure still running, PG

insists

By Vincent Ujumadu

A

WKA—THE embattled President-General, PG, of Awka Development Union Nigeria, ADUN, Mr. To n y O ke c h u k w u , s a i d yesterday, that his tenure was still running, insisting that he would never be stampeded out of office.

A section of the community had accused the PG of trying to perpetuate himself in office against the constitution of ADUN, arguing that his tenure expired on March 7, 2015.

The group went ahead to select a 7-member caretaker committee to oversee the activities of ADUN, pending the conduct of the elections in line with the provisions of the law.

But in a statement made available to Vanguard in Awka, the Public Relations O f f i c e r o f A D U N , M r.

Emmanuel Onyejiaka, said that contrary to the allegation of some Awka people, the present leadership was legitimately in office.

The statement read: “The tenure of the ADUN executive led by Engr. Tony Okechukwu is still running.

The said executive is not hanging on to power as it is legitimately in office.

“Any Izu Awka (general meeting) not called by the Otochalu (the oldest man) is void. The so-called gathering at Umuoranma Square not having been duly called, was totally void and all resolutions reached thereat, null and not binding on any native of Awka town. ADUN has a current constitution duly registered and the current

B o a r d o f Tr u s t e e s i s i n place.

“There was never a time the present executive was removed from office. On the contrary, the status quo of the leadership is still being maintained until such a time, not too long a w a y, a n e l e c t i o n i s conducted as provided by the ADUN constitution.

“There is no seven-man committee appointed or elected by the appropriate authority to conduct any

election and in any event, elections into ADUN will never be conducted by a seven-man committee.”

Onyejiaka urged the people to resist what he described as “attempts by mischievous and disgruntled elements in Aw k a t o d e c e i v e a n d mislead the public for their selfish interest.”

He expressed the determination of the PG and his team to build a strong and prosperous Awka.

Platform Petroleum donates patrol vans to police

By Etop Ekanem

P

L A T F O R M PETROLEUM Limited has donated two Hilux patrol vans to Umutu and Obiaruku Divisions of the Nigerian Police in Delta State.

Speaking at the commissioning of the vans, the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, Umutu Division, DSP Azuka Enuechie, described security job as a dangerous enterprise, which elicited high expectations in the form of protection of lives and property from the public.

According to him, the high expectations of the public

makes the job more cumbersome.

While commending Platform Petroleum for the laudable steps, Enuechie called on corporate bodies and public spirited individuals to partner with the police to make their job easier.

He, however, reassured the people of Ukwuani Local Government Area of the preparedness of the Police to reduce crime in the area to the barest minimum.

On his part, Base Manager of Platform Petroleum Limited, Chief Austin Abaneme, noted that the enviable role of the Police was responsible for the hitch-free activities enjoyed by the company, adding that

explained why it was inevitable to encourage them through the donation of the Hilux patrol vans.

Also, Group Managing Director of Platform Petroleum Limited, Mr. Emmanuel Konyebagu, said the cordial relationship existing between the Police and Platform Petroleum Limited dated back to time of inception of the company.

The donation, he said, was part of the company’s corporate social responsibilities aimed at impacting on communities within areas of their operations, noting that the police were continually in the front burner in matters of

crime control and prevention and should be encouraged.

Responding, the Assistant Commissioner of Police and Area Commander, Delta North, ACP Atahiru Isah, who represented Delta State Commissioner of Police, CP Alkali Baba Usman, showered praises on Platform Petroleum Limited and their partners for the donation, pointing out that mobility was one of the challenges facing the force among others.

He promised not to let the company down as the vehicles will be put to proper use to enhance the job of protecting lives and property of the citizenry.

By Bartholomew Madukwe (08102479985) nwamad@yahoo.com

PEOPLE SPEAK

On rescued females from Sambisa Forest by troops

A

t this time, Boko Haram knows that there is no point keeping the Chibok girls as hostages. The main aim to discredit the outgoing government has been achieved; so they should just release the innocent girls and others. Mr. Nnamdi Okoji, Student

C M Y K

C

ongratulations to our gallant soldiers, Nigerians are proud of you. Sooner or later, there won’t be any safe place in Nigeria for these animals, terrorists, bloodsuckers, pedophiles,... to incubate and hatch their eggs. -Mr. Ndubuis Igwe, Engineer

T

hese girls will need counselling for the next 10 years or so. And I hope that they are not just returned to their families and abandoned. Some have lost their parents; and they will need help to relocate, get education and adapt to normal life. -Mrs. Morayo Simeon, Worker

G

MB, the Presidentelect, is a God-send, the wind around him has started blowing gradually till he gets on the seat. I see more victories for him and the Nigerian military in the continuous combing of Sambisa Forest and rescue mission. -Mr. Jibrin Aliyu, Worker

N

othing this present government does relating to the Chibok girls will ever suffice for their failure. Even if they are found now, no credit will go to them. In fact, it will be more of an indictment. PDP will pay for this crime for a very long time to come. Mr. Sam Omale, Bizman

S

ambisa has been a no fly zone for the past six years or so, but today our troops have broken that yoke and once again the Nigerian people salute our troops for their bravery. And I hope this is good news for the family of the girls. -Miss Ukogu Chinasa, Vocalist

82—Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

May 29: Bayelsa plans grand reception for President Jonathan, wife

By Samuel Oyadongha

Y

E N AG OA — B AY E L S A State Government, yesterday, said plans have been concluded to accord President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Dame Patience, a grand reception today in Yenagoa after his disengagement from office.

Accordingly, movement is expected to be restricted at designated areas in the capital city and Otuoke, the President's home town, given the anticipated influx of visitors to the state.

Jonathan, according to the state government, has over the years performed meritoriously and deserved to be honoured by his kinsmen and the state.

President Jonathan is expected to arrive Yenagoa today accompanied by his wife, Dame Patience and other top government functionaries.

Delta LG PDP members pass vote of no confidence in exco

Speaking to newsmen in Yenagoa, the state Commissioner for Information, Esueme Dan-Kikile, said the outgoing president served the nation meritoriously.

He said: “The government and people of the state are proud of him as our beloved son,” adding that the hosting of Mr. President by his

kinsmen was to demonstrate that Bayelsans love him and also demonstrate the gratitude of Bayelsans to Nigerians for the honour done him for giving their son the opportunity to lead the nation.

“The government and the people of Bayelsa feel proud to celebrate him as the former president of the Federal

Republic of Nigeria.

“The reception will take place at the state cultural centre, Yenagoa and later the president will be received by his kinsmen at Otuoke.

“We also thank the people of Bayelsa State and South/ South region for the support accorded President Jonathan to serve the country,” he said.

REPORT: Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State (left) receiving reports from Chairman, Transition Committee, Elder Sunday Akpadiaha, at the Banquet Hall, Uyo.

By Perez Brisibe

U

G H E L L I — MEMBERS of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Udu Local Government Area, Delta State, have passed a vote of no confidence in the Udu council chairman of the party, Mr. Sam Ughujohwovwo and his executive over alleged anti-party activities, maladministration and gross misconduct.

The party members, in a protest letter by Chief C. Wiliki, Chief Matthew Uparan, Chief Luke Djebah, Israel Macaulay and 196 others and addressed to the state party chairman, Chief Edwin Uzor, said that with the vote of no confidence, the executive of the PDP in Udu council, led by Ughujohwovwo, stands removed with immediate effect.

They stated in the letter that the state governorelect, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa and the state Working Committee of the PDP should disregard an earlier frivolous allegation and purported suspension of over 40 members of the party.

C M Y K

Don’t jettison zoning of political offices, Abe tells APC leaders

A

CHIEF TAIN of All Progressives Congress, APC and out-going senator representing Rivers SouthEast in the National Assembly, Senator Magnus Abe, has appealed to the leadership of the party not to jettison the zoning of political offices.

Abe, in a statement in Port Harcourt, said: “In a fragile democracy like ours, we can’t ignore a fundamental issue like zoning of political offices among component parts of a federal structure where every section expects to have a voice.

“Let us not wish away fairness, balance and national character in the occupation of strategic offices. Incidentally, there are capable hands with solid characters across the length and breadth of this country that can hold their own in every endeavour.”

Nigeria as a nation, the senator said, was yet to overcome ethnic and religious sentiments in political considerations, adding that disregard for geo-political zones and interest groups in the sharing of offices could be costly.

APC, he said, must remember that what destroyed

the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was not zoning but nonadherence to the zoning principle as enshrined in the PDP constitution.

“We cannot suddenly claim not to believe in zoning because it was zoning that gave birth to General Muhammadu Buhari from the

North-West, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, South-West, and Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, South-South, as President, Vice President and party Chairman, respectively,” he said, adding that the zoning consideration assisted in facilitating APC’s victory at the presidential poll.

Imoke blasts aspirants contesting Ayade’s victory

By Emma Una

C

ALABAR—SENATOR Liyel Imoke, the outgoing governor of Cross River State, has lashed out at governorship aspirants, who lost the contest and have resorted to the court to challenge the emergence of Senator Ben Ayade on technical grounds, saying that anyone who gets into office through such means would not enjoy the support of the people.

Imoke, during a valedictory media interaction with newsmen in his office, said Ayade went through a process which was credible, fair and free and enjoyed the support of the

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, members during the primaries and got the support of the bulk of the people of the state at the general elections and should, therefore, be supported by all to succeed.

“Those who scored minimally during the primaries are now resorting to technicalities just to subvert the will of the people.”

NDLF slams Kuku's alleged detractors

By Emma Amaize

W

ARRI—THE Niger Delta Liberation Force, NDLF, yesterday, described those accusing the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme of financial mismanagement as mischief-makers and disgruntled elements.

NDLF, in a statement by its spokesman, Mark Anthony, said: “We want to say that Kingsley Kuku ran the amnesty programme under his watch judiciously. He convinced Mr. President and Nigerians of his capability by restoring peace to the Niger Delta from the month of his appointment in January 2011 till date."

Ex-militants make case for Urhobo to head Amnesty programme

By Perez Brisibe

U

GHELLI—SOME ex-militants under Phase III of the amnesty programme have appealed to the President-elect Muhammadu Buhari to appoint an Urhobo as chairman of the amnesty programme to ensure equal representation of all ethnic nationalities taking part in the programme.

Rising from a meeting in Ughelli, Delta State, the ex-militants, who called for the sustenance of the amnesty programme, noted that the two chairmen of the programme since its inception were both of Ijaw extraction from Ondo and Bayelsa States, adding that it will only be fair if an Urhobo heads the programme in the next dispensation.

Madam Wemambu for burial

M

RS Victoria Wemambu of Okpanam, in Oshimili North Local Government Area, Delta State, is dead, aged 84.

Funeral service and interment will take place tomorrow at her family

residence in UmuolieAmachai-Okpanam, in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State.

She is survived by sons, grand children, great grand children and other relations.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 83

KADUNA: K

Yero's govt roguish—El-Rufai

By Luka Binniyat & Abdullahi Garba

ADUNA—KADUNA State governor-elect, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has described the outgoing administration of Governor Ramalan Yero as roguish.

El-Rufai also, reaffirmed his determination to recover “every kobo” allegedly looted by officials of the government.

The former minister of the FCT spoke yesterday at his preinauguration lecture with the theme, “Building Rome in a Day with one Kobo: El-Rufai and the Challenge of 21st Century Kaduna.”

According to him, the incoming government in Kaduna would inherit what he described as an empty treasury along with debts.

He said he would not waste his time trying to recover money from those who stole government money amounting to some few thousands.

“Nigerian problem is man made. This is a country well blessed and endowed, but our problems are ourselves. Look at what happened in the power sector. A country that was producing 4,500 Megawatt deliberately dropped to 50 Megawatt sometimes this month.

This is out of shear wickedness to frustrate the incoming government of Gen. Buhari. But they will not succeed.

“We are inheriting serious

difficulties, and the expectation from us is very high. But the way we won our election clearly shows that there is the hand of God in it. So we are going to do our best; we are going to put in a lot of sacrifices. If we fail, it would not be that it was because we did not do our best.

“And we are not even thinking of failure. We are going to make Kaduna State great again.

“The resources of the state have been looted and we will

insist on accountability but we will not waste our time chasing those who stole small amounts of money.

“We will chase those who stole billions of Naira but we will forgive those who stole hundreds of thousands.

“We are not interested in the pick pockets but we want to get the armed robbers among them.

As for the small thieves, even the Holy Books say we should forgive these set of people.

“We will work hard to make Kaduna State work again and we are not going to give any excuses for non-performance,” El-Rufa’i said.

Also speaking at the programme, a former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Martin Luther Agwai, and the immediate past chairman of Subsidy Removal Empowerment Programme, SURE-P, said he had no regrets demanding for change.

HANDOVER: Hon. Bethel Amadi, immediate past President, Pan African Parliament (left), handing over Flag Of Office to the newly elected President, Pan African Parliament, Hon. Rogers Nkodo Dang, member of Cameroun Parliament at the Pan African Parliament Chamber in Midrand, South Africa, yesterday.

GTB appeals N5.2bn judgment, seeks stay of execution A BUJA—GUARANTEE Trust Bank, GTB, has appealed the judgement of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, Abuja,

Yuguda swears in new Grand Khadi, 3 others

B

By Suzan Edeh

AUCHI—OUTGOING governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda yesterday swore in the new acting Grand Khadi, GK, of the Sharia Court of Appeal and three other high court judges of the state.

The Grand Khadi, Dahiru Abubakar Ningi, was sworn in along Justices Mu’azu Abdubakar, Sa’ad Ibrahim Zadawa and Lamido Mohammed Kabir.

Performing the swearing-in ceremony at the Council Chambers, Government House, Yuguda commended the Judiciary for ensuring smooth and cordial working relationship with the executive arm of the government during the last eight years of his administration in the state.

C M Y K

ordering it to pay N5.240 billion to an Abuja-based lawyer, Dr Ted Edwards.

In the notice of appeal before the Appeal Court sitting in Abuja, the bank through its counsel, Chief Anthony Idigbe, SAN, is asking the appellate court to allow the appeal and set aside the judgement of the lower court made on Monday May 18, 2015, as per Justice Valentine Ashi.

The bank is further praying the appellate court to order the remitting of the matter in suit N0 FCT /HC/CV/939/15 to the Chief

Judge of the FCT for transfer to another judge of the FCT for retrial.

The bank is further asking the Appeal Court to stay execution of the judgement of the lower court, pending the determination of the appeal.

The bank is contending in the appeal, that the trial judge erred in law when he held that he had jurisdiction to determine Edwards’ suit.

According to the bank, Edwards had no locus standi to institute the suit as constituted and did not disclose any

reasonable course of action against it.

The appellant also contended that the lack of locus standi and/or reasonable course of action on the part of the plaintiff robbed the trial court the jurisdiction to entertain the suit, pointing out that all proceedings conducted without jurisdiction amounted to nullity.

The bank added that the judge erred when he also held that it (appellant) did not disclose a prima facie defence to the first respondent’s suit.

Rep-elect warns against northern domination

SPEAKERSHIP:

A

By Henry Umoru

BUJA—AS the race for the election of the Speaker, House of Representatives gathers momentum, a memberelect for Egor/Ikpoba Okha Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Ehiozuwa Johnson Agbonayinma has warned against the domination of the north in sensitive positions in the country.

Speaking in an interview with

Vanguard, Agbonayinma who was elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said that in line with the 1999 Constitution, federal character principle must be a guiding spirit for all as very high positions of leadership must not be concentrated in the north or any other part of the country to the detriment of others, adding that the speaker, must come from the south and not the north.

According to him, ‘’for equity and as someone from the South,

the Minority leader, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila should be supported for the position of the Speaker of the House.

He further said that Gbajabiamila was the best man for the position, adding that he was there for President Jonathan when the issue of acting President came up just as he supported the outgoing Speaker and Sokoto Stategovernor-elect, Aminu Tambuwal for the position.

Jang commssions N15bn Govt House complex

J

By Marie-Therese Nanlong

OS — O U T G O I N G Governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang, has commissioned an ultra modern Government House complex built at the cost of N15 billion.

However, the incoming governor of the state, Simon Lalong has said he will not make use of the edifice as the cost was outrageous.

Jang who commissioned other projects, including road networks also named the 7.50km Jos University Teaching Hospital, JUTH road constructed at the cost of N3.7billion after former President, Olusegun Obasanjo.

He said he named the road after the ex-President because he started building the Teaching Hospital during his tenure as the military Head of State when the ex-President asked him to build the access road leading to the hospital.

Be agents of light, Nigerians told

A

BUJA—PRESIDENT, Christ‘s Eaglets Foundation, Mrs. Achile Unekwu-Ojo, has urged Nigerians to be the light of the new Nigeria they expect from the incoming administration.

Unekwu-Ojo gave the charge, yesterday, at the first annual Childrens’ festival of Light held at Millenium Park, Abuja.

According to her, the festival with the theme; Walk in the Light of the Lord, was set aside for children to celebrate childhood having been forgotten for too long by the society.

She said the event was not only packaged to celebrate Nigerian children but to imbibe good traits and habits that would launch them into a new Nigeria.

She said: “We have gathered here in our own best way to celebrate these children because we have observed that the nation is moving very fast towards industrialization, but we need to carry along the children who are the future of Nigeria. We don’t want to leave them behind but want them to feel what is happening around."

84 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 85

C M Y K

86 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MAY 29 , 2015

Cameron to Hollande: EU status quo ‘not good enough’

US urges end to island-building in S/China Sea U

S Defence Secre tary Ash Carter has called for an immediate end to islandbuilding by China and other countries near the South China Sea, urging the participants to stop militarising the dispute and to find a peaceful solution.

Carter said yesterday that China’s islandbuilding efforts were “out of step” with the regional consensus and that US military aircraft and warships would continue to operate in the area as permitted under international law.

“China’s actions are bringing countries in the region together in

new ways,” he said in a military ceremony in Hawaii. “They’re increasing demand for American engagement in the Asia-Pacific.

We’re going to meet it.”

“We will remain the principal security power in the Asia-Pacific for decades to come,” Carter said. Carter’s comments, at Pearl Harbour, came a week after the US Navy sent a P-8 reconnaissance plane carrying navy and television camera crews to film Chinese islandbuilding activity in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. In Beijing, the foreign ministry said the United

States had “double standards”.

“I want to emphasise that the US has been selectively mute on individual countries that have selectively occupied China’s islands and reefs, but have made irresponsible remarks on the construction activities that are lawful, fair and reasonable within China’s scope of sovereignty,” ministry spokes woman Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing on Thursday.

“The Chinese people can make their own

judgment. No one has the right to tell China what to do,” she added.

US officials say China has added some 2,000 acres (800 hectares) to five outposts in the Spratly Islands, including 1,500 acres since the start of this year.

“We want a peaceful resolution of all disputes, and an immediate and lasting halt to land reclamation by any claimant. We also oppose any further militarisation of disputed features,” Carter said in his remarks.

French President, Francois Hollande (R) greets Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron at the Elysee Palace ahead of a meeting in Paris, France,

F

Nor th KKorean orean nuclear and North missile eexper xper ts visit Iran xperts

*US Defence Secretary Ash Carter

RANCE wants Brit ain to remain in the European Union, President Francois Hollande said yesterday after talks with UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who insisted the status quo in Europe was “not good enough”.

“France wants the UK to remain in the European Union,” Hollande said at a joint news conference with Cameron in Paris. “We think it’s in the interest of Europe and in the interest of the United Kingdom to be together but the people must always be respect-

WHO warns that Ebola crisis not over

T

*North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gives field guidance at the 810 army unit’s Salmon farms

A

N exiled Iranian opposition group said yesterday a delegation of North Korean nuclear and missile experts visited a military site near Tehran in April amid talks between world powers and Iran over its nuclear program.

The dissident National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) exposed Iran’s uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and a heavy water facility at Arak in 2002. Analysts say it has a mixed record and a clear political agenda.

Iran says allegations that is trying to develop a nuclear weapons capability are baseless and forged by its enemies.

Iran and six world powers are trying to meet a self-imposed June 30 deadline to reach a comprehensive

deal restricting its nuclear work. Issues remaining include monitoring and verification measures to ensure it cannot pursue a clandestine nuclear weapons program.

Citing information from sources inside Iran, including within Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, the Parisbased NCRI said a seven-person North Korean Defense Ministry team was in Iran for the last week of April. This was the third time in 2015 that North Koreans had been to Iran and a nine-person delegation was due to return in June, it said. “The delegates included nuclear experts, nuclear warhead experts and experts in various elements of ballistic missiles including guidance systems,” the NCRI said.

HE World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday warned against complacency about the deadly Ebola virus, saying that the crisis isn’t over.

“We have to keep our guard up,” Sylvie Briand, head of epidemiology at the UN’s health agency, told a stock-taking meeting on Ebola in Paris.

Briand said the situation in Guinea, one of the

three West African states where Ebola has killed more than 11,000 people, left her “deeply concerned.”

Briand warned against hopes that a line could be drawn under the epidemic. stressing that “the crisis isn’t over”.

“I am afraid there could be another wave that could spread to neighbouring countries,” she said.

The WHO official noted that Ebola emerged in Guinea at the end of 2013 and by April of 2014 had practically disappeared there.

It then dramatically bounced back a couple of months later before spreading to neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone, with a scattering of cases in Mali, Nigeria and Senegal.

Liberia was recently

ed.”

Cameron said that his priority was to reform the EU to make it more competitive and address the concerns of the British people.

“The status quo is not good enough,” he said.

“I believe there are changes we can make that will benefit not just Britain, but the rest of Europe, too.”

He added: “We have different priorities but we share a common objective, which is to find solutions to these problems and what matters is that the European Union and its 28 members are flexible and imaginative enough to respond to these issues and to work together to find answers that will make the European Union more successful.”

Cameron was starting a two-day European tour to try to charm EU leaders into backing his reform drive, something he has promised to complete before giving Britons an EU membership in-out referendum by the end of 2017.

Putin classifies information on deaths of Russian conference call. troops in peacetime U.S. State Department

P

RESIDENT Vladimir Putin ordered yesterday that deaths of Russian soldiers during special operations in peacetime should be classified as a state secret, a move that comes as Moscow stands accused of sending troops to fight in eastern Ukraine.

Putin, who has repeatedly denied any involvement of Russian

troops in a pro-Russian separatist rebellion there, amended a decree that had previously classified only deaths during war time as secret.

Asked to explain the rationale behind Putin’s move, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied any link to Ukraine.

“The improvement of the state secret law is under way,” he said in a

spokesman Jeff Rathke said at a news briefing the law was a blow to free press and transparency. “We see this as a misplaced effort to cover up what everyone knows, and that is that Russian active duty military personnel are fighting and dying in eastern Ukraine and that the Russian government is denying it,” he said.

*Putin

Vanguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 — 87 FRIDA MAY

88 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

Re: Osoba: The veteran politician at bay

By Bola Adeyemi

RIGHT OF REPLY

D

R Olatunji Dare’s piece, Osoba: The veteran politician at bay, published in Vanguard of May 14, 2015, was an elegant public relations stunt. Any reader without the knowledge of the politics of Ogun State in recent years will come to the conclusion that Chief Olusegun Osoba was shortchanged by the current governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun.

From the very choice of the title, the writer meticulously crafted the piece to arouse public sympathy for Osoba and adroitly cast Amosun in bad light. Dr Dare clearly scored an offside goal, which must be disallowed.

Wrote the columnist: “Hounded ceaselessly by Gbenga Daniel who never saw an opponent he did not want to destroy, Osoba went into political hibernation in Lagos, where he busied himself rebuilding the Ogun State ACN and positioning it to return to power in 2007 with Ibikunle Amosun, a former PDP Senator, as Governor…

Then, things began to go sour.

Osoba could not get his nominees appointed to the state’s cabinet or given senior positions in the Amosun Administration, I gather.

Though chair of the ACN in Ogun State, his influence was at best slight. He found himself being pushed closer and closer to the margins.”

Dr Dare will not be the first pro-Osoba writer to slant the mutually-beneficial relationship between Osoba’s ACN and a new entrant from the ANPP, Ibikunle Amosun, which culminated in the latter ’s victory at the governorship election in 2011.

But the public deserves to know the whole truth.

Movement of politicians from one party to another is not new in Nigeria; and until we overcome the problem of lack of internal democracy and ensure electoral justice at all times through a level-playing ground for all members of a political party, such will continue.

Amosun was a distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic from 2003 to 2007 on the platform of PDP. In that 2003 Ogun Central senatorial election, Chief Osoba, then incumbent governor and leader of AD, lost his polling booth, ward and local council to Ibikunle Amosun, a grassroots politician par excellence. If one may add in parenthesis, it is not C M Y K

Chief Olusegun Osoba surprising that the same fate befell Osoba’s SDP in the recently-concluded general elections. It lost at all levels to Amosun’s APC. In 2007, Amosun contested the governorship election in Ogun on the platform of ANPP. The AD, under the leadership of Chief Osoba, fielded Chief Dipo Dina (of blessed memory) as its candidate. At the close of the poll, the incumbent governor, Gbenga Daniel of the PDP, was declared winner.

Amosun was second while Osoba’s AD came third. An enraged Amosun contested the results because he believed he won the election.

And the general feeling in Ogun up till today is that Amosun won the 2007 election but his victory was upturned from above.

with immense electoral value and goodwill while ACN had better platform in comparison to ANPP. So, it was a win-win situation for both Amosun and Osoba.

Intrigues that played out There were other intrigues that played out, especially on the choice of candidates for the Ogun State House of Assembly and National Assembly. Amosun, not being a rookie in politics, would not commit political hara-kiri by meeting all the expectations and demands of Osoba or walk into a political trap that would have turned him into a figurehead governor who could be impeached on flimsy grounds

Setbacks The public was fed up with the PDP anyway, but how do you dislodge them from power in the state when the incumbent governor, Gbenga Daniel, was poised to install a successor at all cost? By 2010, ANPP had suffered some setbacks nationally. Senator Amosun, consumed with passion to restore the glory of Ogun State and make it 21st century compliant, then decided to pitch his tent with ACN. He was welcomed. But why was he given the governorship slot when ACN already had candidates jostling for the post? Simple.

Amosun, based on his performance in 2007 and his public profile as a grassroots politician, stood a better chance to deliver victory for ACN. In other word, Amosun came

Amosun will continue to treat Osoba with utmost respect and will be the first to seize by the forelock any opportunity for political reconciliation

in order to satisfy the whims and caprices of a godfather. In such circumstances, the extraordinary achievements witnessed today in Ogun would have been impossible.

Contrary to the impression created in the said piece, half of the politicians in the cabinet of Ogun State are from Osoba’s camp. Indeed, there are many loyalists of Osoba, including his direct nominees, holding senior positions in the government and totally dominating at the party level of the ruling APC in Ogun State.

Could Amosun, who is an exemplar of prudence in public finance management in Nigeria, have bought all of them over? Certainly, no. Why then are they following him?

It is because they believe in his Mission to Rebuild Ogun State. And the outstanding results are there all across the state for everyone to see.

The governor is a thoroughbred Yoruba who will not attack or abuse his elders.

And it is to his credit that despite the acerbic attacks and abuses directed at him from the Osoba camp, no one can accuse Amosun of ever insulting Chief Osoba.

According to Dr Olatunji Dare, “The day Osoba returned to Ogun State and his home in Abeokuta has got to be one of the most glorious in his eventful life. He was met at the Lagos-Ogun boundary by a cavalcade of jubilant party men and women, admirers, and supporters, and escorted to the state capital and his home with song and dance. Rarely had the ancient city witnessed such a carnival.”

Could it be possible that the writer knew about this “Osoba’s triumphant entry” but was not aware that Amosun was at the vanguard of that memorable homecoming arrangement for Chief Osoba?

I have no problem with any writer trying to portray any benefactor in a positive light.

The picture painted of a Governor Osoba while in power was quite appealing and commendable. But we must place such side by side with his picture on the political front so that we may arrive at a fair and balanced assessment.

Disagreement is a human phenomenon. Even at the best of time, husband and wife disagree let alone participants in a political marriage. While Amosun was still expressing the hope that the misunderstanding would be resolved as one family, just like Dr Olatunji Dare said he attempted to do, Chief Osoba

closed the door against reconciliation in the following words at his residence in Ibara, Abeokuta in May, 2014: “Where we are now, no room for harmonization or reconciliation... not even 70/ 30; 80/20; 95/5... I vowed to them that I will not forgive or reconcile with anybody...As I stand before you today, I swear before God and Jesus Christ, my Lord, I promised you all that the issue of forgiveness is no more... They said they have set up elders’ committee, don’t mind them.

I don’t know who is older than me politically among them.

None of them is closer to Awolowo than I was. I wined and dined with him… They are coming very soon, when they come, they would not meet me… Leave them, we are moving to the Promised Land and over there, there are many offices and positions available…”

Not a few argued that no astute politician could have uttered such words. Indeed, I know not a few loyalists or fans of Osoba both within and outside Ogun that recoiled and turned back on account of his near blasphemous words.

“Why bring in Jesus Christ into such a mundane matter?” they queried. Both the Bible and Koran preach forgiveness and reconciliation.

Pride goes before a fall Pride goes before a fall.

Among those that went to plead with Osoba were paramount traditional rulers, the now President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Amosun himself, National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Chief Bisi Akande, Baba Olu Adebanjo (now deceased), the South West APC Governors and friends of Governor Amosun. Chief Osoba turned down all entreaties. He said “no reconciliation, no forgiveness!!!”

Therefore, the only logical conclusion is that Chief Osoba is the architect of his own situation in the contemporary Nigerian politics.

Ordinarily, Senator Amosun is now in a position to gloat over his victory against Osoba after such a titanic battle. But he is not a triumphalist. He believes power comes from God. Besides, he has no personal axe to grind with Osoba. It is a question of political differences.

Amosun will continue to treat Osoba with utmost respect and will be the first to seize by the forelock any opportunity for political reconciliation.

Bola Adeyemi is Senior Special Assistant on Communications to the Governor of Ogun State.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015—89 NIGERIA, through the divine intervention, and the singular act of a statesman, is witnessing today the happy end of an era and the hopeful beginning of another phase. This would be a sad disappointment to the prophets of doom with their forecast of possible disintegration of the country in 2015. Perhaps the prognosis of apocalypse has turned to be a blessing in disguise.

There is no doubt that the outgoing president Goodluck Jonathan has, indeed, been a very lucky individual, answering fondly to his name, “Goodluck”.

At the age below sixty years, he has reached the pinnacle of his political career, with invective broad laughter but with less stress. Within the last sixteen years of his political life, he had been a Deputy Governor, a Governor; the Vice President, acting President and elected in 2011 as President of the Republic of Nigeria and the Commanderin-Chief of the country`s Armed Forces – a romantic accolade. Not many people are that lucky. The brilliant duo of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo could not win any presidential election, even at their advanced age. And that is why the statesmanship in Goodluck Jonathan prompted his admission of defeat and his message of congratulations to Buhari, his conqueror at the March 28, 2015 presidential election. That was a glorious act of true statesmanship that should remain a lasting hope for democracy in Nigeria.

In power, President Goodluck Jonathan has been a member, and then, a leader of his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the party whose iron grip on Nigeria‘s political system in the last sixteen years will inevitably come to an end today. There is little doubt that many loyal members of the party and a good number of Nigerians would have wished for a peaceful end to a tumultuous reign full of pitfalls and the culture of impunity associated with public office. It is a pity that President Jonathan saw his

JONATHAN'S EXIT, BUHARI'S ENTRY:

A critical view party’s‘ ills and comedy of errors with a dark goggle of a partisan politician. At times, he appeared effete when strong action of a strong leader was necessary against political rascality. It may be too early to discover the extent of mismanagement of the country’s resources during his administration inspite of the widespread allegations by the Opposition.

Though the PDP as a party is not well known for its internal democracy, it has contributed immensely to the growth of democratic practice in the

There is no doubt that the APC possesses the right people to face the challenges successfully, it is right for Nigerians to give new administration the trust

country. Many see this as a result of its laxity on the cardinal principles rather than a conscious effort to promote the fine concept of democracy.

A more serious indictment of the PDP in government has been the penchant for internal convulsion and lack of respect of its elders or members who for one reason or the other, have reasons to have opposing views to the widely entrenched views of the party.

Some of their state and national officers appear to be experts in the principle of calumny and vilification.

According to some observers during the last elections, the PDP with strong support throughout the country became jittery and defensive, avoiding as much as possible, real issues of the debate.

Some of their campaign leaders portrayed neither sophistication nor clarity but infantile inclination on serious political matters. In defeat, which the great party seemed unprepared for, some leaders have resorted to the usual bickering and internal self destruction.

A crucial question that needs a quick answer in the following days is: Will the PDP be a credible Opposition? It may be asked whether the PDP legislators and the members would follow the statesmanship of their outgoing leader, Goodluck Jonathan. It is necessary to find an answer in

view of the fact that the year 2015 is yet to end and the events unfolding – strikes, fuel scarcity and total darkness – are fearful and could upset any nation. To many observers, the PDP as a party is not yet dead, but “sleepeth” , perhaps, waiting for the golden mourn for resurrection.

The new administration of Muhammadu Buhari will certainly face the greatest problems any country could face in the modern world. Many Nigerians, in utter desperation, have chosen priorities for the new administration – power supply, fuel scarcity and resurgent Boko Haram attacks. The new administration, will no doubt, give its best if given the opportunity to get its acts together.

The advantage of the new administration is that Muhammadu Buhari is not new to power – he understands its responsibility and accountability.

However, the sufferings of Nigerians in the past weeks would have dried the moisture of sympathy for politicians and their unfulfilled promises. It may be that the sins of the PDP could be visited on the APC so soon. There is no doubt that many Nigerians will trust the new administration if it starts today with a statement of intent on crucial problems of the moment – power, fuel and security.

There is no doubt that the new administration is having a

Ndoma-Egba and his swan song, a rejoinder

By Ernest Irek IT took me about 20 minutes for me to do a double-take on the article written by one George E Omini about the political career of Distinguished Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN).

After some soul-searching and sober reflections, it dawned on me that I consider myself an appropriate person to throw light on this issue and article and indeed, subsequent and future ones.

I was there when Ndoma-Egba contested for the gubernatorial race in 1991. I was there again when Senator Liyel Imoke contested the Senatorial seat in 1992. I was the state Treasurer of NRC, the platform both of them used. Again, providence put me on the scene when the 4th Republic took off in Cross River State.

Apart from being one of the original 13 conveners of the PDP in Cross River State, I emerged the very first state Chairman of C M Y K

the party. Indeed, I was also around when Ndoma-Egba headed for the Senate in 2003.

He went there on a populist ticket.

History, again, placed me in the centre of events when Senator Liyel Imoke contested the 2007 gubernatorial elections. The intrigues that played out there were no different from those that played out in getting NdomaEgba to the Senate. Therefore, I am well located to comment on these individuals and the roles they played in the political developments of Cross River State without prejudice.

When I read Omini’s piece tagged “Ndoma-Egba and his swan song,” I wondered if he even took the trouble to look up the true meaning of ‘swan song.’

In this context, it would mean the final performance of NdomaEgba’s career as a politician.

I would let the writer know that the only people who can sing the swan song for a politician are his constituencies and in Victor’s

case, we have not gotten to that bridge yet; how much more talk about crossing it.

The hate campaign being mounted against Ndoma-Egba has reached a crescendo that has got us believing that the sponsors are not only out to destroy his political career but to annihilate him. The events of the December primaries that eventually led to the defeat of the PDP at the national level are crystal clear to all political watchers today.

In Cross River State, a properlyconstituted panel headed by a revered party leader Alhaji Shuaibu Oyedokun conducted free and fair elections that were hailed even by the stats governor and his aides as free and fair. At that point, it was only NdomaEgba who complained about some irregularities during the poll but his protest was brushed aside!

The PDP Appeal Panel arrived Calabar and received no petitions. Thereafter, 72 hours later, some inept politicians woke up to the reality that they had lost

the primaries! For 23 days, Cross River State and her politics became drama personified.

In an unfortunate turn of events, Cross River State took centre stage at the national level.

The media war that followed was something else. The PDP at the national level was caught in their own game. They knew NdomaEgba and his group had outmaneuvered them politically. The last resort in the game played by the powers-that-be in our state was to leverage in on their relationship with Mr. President.

This gambit worked and the free, fair and credible delegates congress was cancelled, without informing stakeholders in the state.

Abuja simply handed down an instruction that fresh primaries be conducted and that was it. This directive from the party at the national level was done with a court order subsisting and judgement was expected but all these were flung aside to politically crucify Ndoma-Egba

politically divided polity and a devastated economy. However, the quality of the new cabinet and the seriousness of the administration would determine its eventual success. There is no doubt that the APC possesses the right people to face the challenges successfully. It is right for Nigerians to give new administration the trust, support and time to perform the magic of clearing the mess.

The economy Apart from the enumerated pressing issues, the new administration has the failing economy to battle with. The growing unemployment and looming poverty could be traced to the observable dormant economy.

It is known that general unemployment for any length of time could be sad and soul destroying; prolonged unemployment (especially among graduates) could be an invitation to chaos and instability in the country. There is little choice for the federal government other than expand more than its income to induce a net increase in demand for resources. If total spending is high, the level of output will be high (thus lowering inflation) and the level of employment is bound to be high.

However, it has been observed

by Professor J. Pen, “a national economy that has lost its balance socially and politically cannot have that balance restored by a purely economic Neo-Keynesian policy”. More radical measures are needed.

This includes equitable distribution of income which can make a positive contribution to wage stabilization, as unfair distribution of goods of these world forms a constant threat to the stability of the economy with all its attendant consequences. In the formulation of a sound economic policy, developmental Economists like Professor Pat Utomi and Mr. Bismak Rewani (if available) could be a part of a formidable team in the new administration.

and his group.

At this point, it became glaring that the hands of those trying to enthrone true and internal democracy in the PDP had been tied and it became apparent that the PDP was headed for defeat.

The results certainly did not disappoint.

That the Labour Party gave PDP a bloody nose can be seen with the recent bribe scandal that has engulfed the INEC Cross River State with the Electoral Commissioner now on the run!

Social media and indeed, the print and electronic media are having a field day.

With all these, can you believe that in a situation where there is no level playing field,you can begin to talk about swan song for a national like Ndoma-Egba?

Again, I would let the writer know that the only way a Legislator can be said to have performed is by the number of bills he has sponsored on the floor of the chamber he belongs to. *Hon. Irek is a former member of the National Assembly and Director General of Victor Ndoma-Egba’s 2015 Campaign.

90—Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

Fashola accuses Jonathan, others of frustrating Mohammed's blueprint for Lagos

By Olasunkanmi Akoni & Monsur Olowoopejo

L

AGOS—LAGOS State governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola yesterday accused past military and civilian administrations in the country of frustrating the blueprint put in place by the administration of late Head of State, General Murtala Mohammed for the state.

He said this during a live interactive session with some select journalists from print and broadcast media.

His words: “I hope that President Muhammadu Buhari will redeem it. And this is because what late Mohammed meant was that all the assets built by the central government should not be left for Lagos to manage. The state will need support to maintain the facilities. It was a promise made by him but has not been redeemed by any of his successors.

“I wrote to late President Musa Yar ‘Adua and Jonathan, but they didn’t honour it.’’

He faulted the idea of establishing Ministry of Lagos Affairs, as a means of giving special status to the state.

“Legally, it is not right, politically it isn’t advisable. The attention nations give to their former capital is a necessity and this can be defined under special status.

“For me, the real support is not creating bureaucracy but funding support for the state. You can do it

as a constitutional provision or include it in the budget of the country.

“In the 70s, the central government under the military regime gave special funds to Brigadier Mobolaji Johnson (rtd). It was on environment, sanitation, water supply and others. It isn’t about ministry but

practical support.

“Land issue is a residual matter and not in concurrent or exclusive list. Some of these things were anomalies from the military regime. The federal government should only have ministry in areas where it has constitutional responsibilities.”

On the fuel subsidy, he said,

“I think that is not an individual stand but a national stand. It is a related discussion. What do we want as a people? Fuel again is not a gift but a service. The more one consumes it the more he pays. Government must recover its cost. Whether subsidy or not, the real debate is who should pay for the cost of fuel.’’

HANDOVER: Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN (right), with the Governor-elect, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, during the presentation of his hand over notes to the governor-elect, at Lagos House, Ikeja, yesterday.

NDLEA vacates Kashamu's home after 6 days

By Etop Ekanem & Evelyn Usman AGOS—THE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, last night vacated the siege mounted on the Lekki, Lagos residence of senatorelect, Prince Buruji Kashamu, after six days. They left at exactly 7:45pm, after first tightening the siege that for six days saw the Ogun state born chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP restricted to the toilet in his bedroom.

His media aide, Mr Austin Oniyokor, confirmed the departure of the NDLEA operatives saying that Kashamu was presently attending to his health and would speak to the media after recovering.

Expressing thanks to the judiciary for the intervention that led to the development, Oniyokor said: “We also salute the judiciary for once again rising to the occasion and proving yet that it is truly the last hope of the common man and the oppressed. We are grateful that the judiciary has again affirmed Prince Buruji Kashamu’s innocence of the charges against him, thus turning for good what was meant for evil.

“Our appreciation also goes to

L

C M Y K

the media, civil society groups, student bodies and all wellmeaning Nigerians for their prayers, support and solidarity during the period.

“After attending to his health, Prince Kashamu will address the media, Nigerians and the whole world on his ordeal and the intricate web of political intrigues behind the wicked attempt to abduct him for no just cause using the instrument and machinery of state.”

Earlier in the day, the operatives tightened the siege with the addition of more operatives to the operation around the residence. The development quickly brought the harsh rebuke of Kashamu’s

lawyer, Ajibola Oluyede who disclosed that the six day incarceration had stated taking its toll on the health of his client who he said has made complaints of health problems ranging from blood circulation blockage, palpitation and general body

pains.

Earlier in the day, the standoff between the politician and the NDLEA drew protests from women groups and students of tertiary institutions in Ogun State who lamented what they called the infringement of Kashamu’s rights by the NDLEA.

L

By Ikenna Asoma

K

By Abdulsalam Muhammad

ANO—THE Transition Committee set up by Kano State Governor- elect, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje yesterday, said that the outgoing governor, Rabi’u Kwankwaso has not only left an empty treasury but additional liability of N379 billion.

Chairman of the 93member committee and Deputy Governor-elect, Professor Hafiz Abubakar, who read the abridged copy of its final report stated that ‘’hard times await Kano and it might take patience to get along.’’

Abubakar, a professor of Food Nutrition gave the break down of liability by the Kwankwaso’s administration adding that the total capital receipt to the state between May 2011 and May 2015 stood at N 419.75 billion out of which N430.6 billion was spent.

He further said total capital receipt by the 44 local government areas of the state within the same period stood at N346.591 billion which was expended on joint projects between the state government and the local governments.

Abubakar who served KwankwasoasCommissioner for Finance between 1999-2003 explained that the outgoing administration initiated over 4,000 projects, for which over N140 billion was paid to contractors with N4.5billion still outstanding.

Kaduna's problem not too bad, says El-Rufai

K

By Luka Binniyat

ADUNA—THE incoming governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El Rufai yesterday made a U-turn over his allegations that the out-going administration of Ramalan Yero was a roguish regime, saying that he did know that things were not

as bad as he thought.

El-Rufai had said at different times in the past painted a gloomy picture of the state economy, blaming the situation on looting by the outgoing officials.

However, the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory,

NDAMA honours ex-NANS leader, others AGOS—ORGANISERS of Niger Delta Achievers Merit Award, NDAMA honoured a former Vice President of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, Mr George Turnah.

Turnah, currently the Special Assistant on Youth Mat-

Gov-elect accuses Kwankwaso of leaving empty treasury

ters to the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, was awarded the ‘Youth Supportive Personality of the Year’ at the ceremony held in Abuja.

The Director General of Newaves Innovations, Akakabota Derick, described Turnah as an inspiration to

the Niger Delta youths, adding that the award was initiated “to recognise, inspire and celebrate distinguished Niger Deltans who have demonstrated uncommon patriotism, excellence and great leadership through governance and social responsibility in their various capacities.”

FCT, who reversed himself when he received the handover notes of the administration from Yero shortly after he had vowed to pursue the alleged looters whom he likened to armed robbers at a public lecture earlier in the day.

Yero, had said on the occasion that he was handing over about N8.6 billion cash in various accounts. He also said that the state was leaving behind a debt of N73.45 billion.

Speaking during the handover ceremony, Yero said: “We have done our best within the time and circumstances that we have found ourselves. We have embarked on 82 projects of various descriptions and we have completed 39. We are leaving behind N8.6 billion cash in various accounts. And we are also leaving behind a total debt profile of N73.4 billion.

Vanguard, TFRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015—91

2015 HAJJ: Lagos inaugurates 10 man c’tee

By Ikenna Asomba

T

HE LAGOS State Government has inaugurated a 10-man committee to ensure hitchfree 2015 Hajj exercise.

The Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture, Hon. Mohammed-Bello Danmole, inaugurated the committee on behalf of Governor Babatunde Fashola.

A statement by the spokesperson for Lagos State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, LSMPWB, Durojaiye Olanrewaju, quoted the commissioner as saying that the committee members were chosen based on their unblemished track records in the last four years, urging them to be good ambassadors of the state and also see to the optimum welfare of the state pilgrims.

Members of the committee are Dr. Tajudeen Akerele, head of Medical team; Dr. Nosirudeen Onibon, head of Publicity sub-committee; Dr. Abdullateef Abdulhakeem, head of Orientation subcommittee; Alhaji AbdulFatai Fashola, head of Passport & Visa subcommittee; Alhaji Soji Bada, head of Accommodation subcommittee and Alhaji Rilwan Akinjagunla, head of Airlifting and Luggage sub-committee.

Others are Alhaji Ahmad Jebe, head of Transportation sub-committee; Alhaji Shakirudeen Gafar, head of Muna and Arafat subcommittee; Alhaji Ibrahim Odunewu, head of Security sub-committee and Alhaja Risikat Ogunbunmi, head of Feeding and Women Affairs sub-committee.

Publishers lose dad

T

WO PUBLISHERS, Jimmy Enyeh of Abuja-based National WAVES (weekly and quarterly), and his younger brother, Julius Enyeh of Lagos-based ICON Weekly magazine, lost their 82year-old father, Mr. James Enyeh, on May 26, 2015.

According to them, he will be buried on a later date.

Late Mr. Enyeh C M Y K

ENUGU: Tension as community awaits

police action in murdered kinsmen’s case T

HE POLICE in Enugu have been urged to crack the mystery of the gunmen who shot and killed three young men from the same family on a disputed piece of land at Amechi Awkunanaw, a bursting suburban town, south of the coal city, three weeks ago.

The victims were identified as Nnaemeka Agbo (Alias

Echidime), Sunday Nnamani, and Nnamani Ikpa.

The disputed land lies directly opposite government owned Millennium Estate under construction, along Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway, some five minutes drive from Enugu State capital.

Since the killings on May Day, tension and uneasy calm have

enveloped Amechi Awkunanaw, home town of notable political celebrities, including former governor, Jim Nwobodo and former Senate President, Ken Nnamani.

“It has been a big challenge to restrain agitated youths from any form of reprisal action,” an elder told reporters.

According to an informed

COMMISSIONING: Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano (2nd left), cutting the tape to commission Bank of Industry office, in Awka, Anambra State, while the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa (2nd right); Executive Director, Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs, Mr. Waheed Olagunju (left), and Chief of Staff to the Governor, Professor Joe Asike (right), watch.

....Ezeilo makes history as first female deputy gov

By Francis Igata

E

NUGU—EXCITEMENT is in the air, especially for women in Enugu State, as Mrs. Cecilia Ezeilo, makes history as first female deputy governor of the state.

Enugu State, since creation in 1991, has not had a woman occupy the two top positions of governor and deputy governor.

Governor-elect, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s announcement of Ezeilo as his running mate at the end of last year elicited wild jubilation as she would be sworn-in today.

Dr. Rita Ugwu, President, Enugu State Branch,National Council of Women’s Societies, NCWS, told Vanguard: “Today has opened a new horizon for women empowerment in the state. Her position as deputy governor will add impetus for more women to aspire and attain biger government positions.

“Ugwuanyi’s choice of female deputy has broken a jinx in the state and has endeared him to women and youths who form the greater majority of the electorate. ‘’His choice of female deputy is a midas touch that will

galvanise his re-election bid come 2019 when Enugu State will experience the most keenly contested election, given an All Progressives Congress, APC, led administration at the centre.

“She should not lower her guard but rather, up her ante to justify the confidence reposed in her in the course of discharging her duty.

“This is time for her to roll her sleeves and brace up for the task ahead. She is carrying on her shoulders the expectations of over three million women and children of the state."

EBOLA: Port Health Director commends Dangote's

N900m assistance

D

IRECTOR OF Port Health Services, Ministry of Health, Dr. Nasiru Gwarzo has commended Dangote Foundation for the infrastructure and financial assistance in tackling the scourge of Ebola in Nigeria, having already committed over N900m in the fight against the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, in Africa.

Speaking in Lagos after the Dangote foundation offered to spend another N69m to defray the cost of quarantining the Nigeria’s returnee health worker volunteers from the Ebola ravaged countries, who arrived the country after six months in the West African countries, Dr Gwarzo said, “the

intervention of the Dangote Foundation in the containment of the Ebola Virus is unprecedented in the history of intervention efforts in Nigeria by a single business entity.

“Dangote Foundation has paid the bill all the way through in the fight against the Ebola Disease in Nigeria. The Foundation provided 12 state- of- the art thermal Cameras for the airports, trained 160 staff of the federal Ministry of Health and paid for workers to manage the 200 returnees currently in our custody and spent millions more.”

Justifying the decision then, Chairman of the Foundation,

Aliko Dangote said: “The national response to the unfortunate outbreak of Ebola in our country has been impressive.

"We have, therefore, decided to lend our support to the effort. The Ebola Emergency Operation Centre, EOC, is an important innovation that will strengthen our health system, even long after this particular health crisis has abated.”

In his own remark, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Professor AbdulsalamNasidi said the role of the Dangote in the containment of the Ebola Disease is immeasurable.”

source, the three young men who were killed on the day in question, had been part of a delegation of about 15 sent by a faction of those laying claims to ownership of the land, to undertake an on-the-spot inspection of the swath of hilly land, and report back to the larger family.

Curiously, the two factions locked in the bloody dispute are from the same kindred-the Umuaniebos of Isiagu, Amechi Uwani.

Traditional ruler of the town, Igwe Joseph Aniebonam Ogbodo, had to cut short his over-seas trip to rush home to behold a restless kingdom.

“We have no doubt that the police can do the job; let them fish out the culprits and bring them to book, if they (police) have difficulty, they should get the headship of the affected family (Umunengene) to assist them,” the source said.

According to knowledgeable insiders, the three families of Umuaniebo kindred namely, Umunwakum, Umunogo and Umunengene, originally jointly owned the disputed land and several other swathes of land in various parts of what now constitutes Enugu capital territory area, especially Achara and Independence Layouts and Awkunanaw areas.

The source said the Umunengenes suddenly turned round to claim exclusive ownership of the piece of land on which the fatal shootings took place on May Day. The contest now pitted them (Umunengene) against the two other families – Umunwakums, and Umunogos.

All the disputants came from the same progenitor, and were referred to as the Umuaniebos.

Newswatch Newspapers CEO resigns

M

ANAGING DIRECTOR/ Chief Executive Officer of Newswatch Newspapers Ltd., Publishers of Daily Newswatch, Mr. Moses Jolayemi, has resigned his appointment.

In his resignation letter addressed to the company’s Chairman/publisher, Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, he said he was disengaging from all executive functions and day-to-day running of the company from June 30, 2015 In his letter, he said, “in stepping down I want to thank the Chairman/ Publisher, Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, OFR, for the cherished and invaluable opportunity to serve and demonstrate my capability not just to run a national newspaper of this stature but to build such a gargantuan establishment, thereby bringing to a glorious zenith a shining career of 25 years.

92 — V anguard, FRID AY, MA Y 29, 2015 Vanguard, FRIDA MAY

Vanguard CLASSIFIED EKEH—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Success Uchechi Ekeh, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Success Uchechi Chidi. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

NJOKU—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Njoku Onyinyechi Catherine, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. O n y i n y e c h i Catherine Isidore Ibeakalam. All former documents remain valid. General Public please take note.

formerly

public please take note.

IBHONITIEA—I, formerly known and addressed as Ehimare Peter, now wish to be known and addressed as Ehimare Peter Ibhonitiea. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

BELLO—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Omowunmi Bello, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Omowunmi Orianzi. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

NDUMELE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Nnenna Sandra Ndumele, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Nnenna Sandra Titus Alani. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OYENOWO—I, formerly known and addressed as Dr. Oyenowo Temitope Mewayeone, now wish to be known and addressed as Dr. (Mrs.) Ihekuna Temitope Mewayeone. All former documents remain valid. Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) and general public please take note.

ABOLUSODUN—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Abolusodun Adetoun Fatimah Omobolanle, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adetoun Fatimah Omobolanle Jegede.

All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

BADMUS—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Olabisi Rukiyat Badmus, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Olabisi Rukiyat Okanlawon. All former documents remain valid. National Youth Service Corps, NYSC and general public please take note.

UNUAGBA—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Elizabeth Ese Unuagba, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Elizabeth Ese Obi. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

EKEMA—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Olowu Gloria Ekema, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Olowu Gloria Ekema Nathan. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public please take note.

EGBO —I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Cecilia Obiageli Egbo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Cecilia Obiageli Anih.

All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AGUN —I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Blessing Ihiaba Agun, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Blessing Ihiaba Adigwerex. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

A N YA N W U — I , formerly known and addressed as Miss Cynthia Anyanwu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Cynthia Rueben. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OKPU—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Edna Nkechi Okpu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Edna Nkechi Otuseso. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AWOH—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Uchenna Phoebe Awoh, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Uchenna Phoebe Daniel. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ITIAT– I formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Rose Christopher E. Itiat, now wish to be known and addressed as Miss Rose Edwin Asuquo.

All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OKPALA—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Okpala Oluchukwu Joy, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Uzor Oluchukwu Joy. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

GODWIN—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Godwin Jessica Chioma, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Odinakachukwu Favour Chioma. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AMOS—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Amos Ifeoma Goodness, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ifeoma Goodness Ogbonnaya Aneke. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AKPOJEVUGHE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Akpojevughe Rukevwe, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Orjinweke Rukevwe.

All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OGWURIKE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ogwurike Joy Anurika, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Anyamele Joy Anurika. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

N WA N E R I — I , formerly known and addressed as Nwaneri Chidiebere Nnamdi Uzochukwu, now wish to be known and addressed as Chidiebere Nnamdi Uzochukwu Bertram.

All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

STOW—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Stow Oyindenyefa, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Anedo Oyindenyefa Stow. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

MAKORO—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Makoro S a n d r a Ighometuwevwire, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Idundun Oritsuwa S a n d r a Ighometuwevwire. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OKORO—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Okoro Ngozi Joy, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ajuzie Ngozi Joy. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Reconciliation of names The names Brian Dodo Barnabas and Brain Dodo Bakam are one and the same person.

All documents bearing the said names remain valid. FCMD and general public, please take note.

OKUTE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Okute Nneka Precious, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Abraham Nneka Okute. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ISAH—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Zainab Rilwan Isah, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Zainab Mohammed BawaMomodu. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

EDEAGU—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Edeagu C h i k a o s o l u Nkechinyere, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Udunna Chikaosolu Nkechinyere. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

O B U K O E F E UMENU—I, formerly known and addressed as Edebi Obukoefe Umenu, now wish to be known and addressed as Edebi Moonshine Efemena.

All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OHU—I, formerly

FA M WA N G — I , formerly known and addressed as Miss Ramya Rebecca Famwang, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ramya Blessed Mamvong. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

SELUMUN—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Iorhuan Jennifer Selumun, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Bajah Jennifer Selumun Terese. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

A N YA F U LU — I , formerly known and addressed as Miss Anyafulu Ada Assumpta, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adilike Ada Assumpta. All former documents remain valid. Island Clinic and Maternity and general public please take note.

UGOAGHA—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ugoagha Patricia Chigozie, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Iwuchukwu Patricia Chigozie. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OMU—I,

OZOYA—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Enitan Ozoya, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Enitan Abolarinwa. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

MOSERI—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Sandra Nko Moseri, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Sandra Nko Dibie. All former documents remain valid. Delta State University Abraka, NYSC and general public please take note.

OKPUNO—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Jennifer Awele Okpuno, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Jennifer Awele Odonwodo. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

EKEH—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ekeh Obianuju Fidelia, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Nwafor Obianuju Fidelia. All former documents remain valid. Federal Polytechnic, Nekede-Owerri, National Open University, UBA Plc and general public please take note.

OGUNBIYI—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss M o s u n m o l a Ogunbiyi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. M o s u n m o l a Salawoka. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

EZE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Frances Chikaodili Eze, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Frances SamuelNmezi. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

known and addressed as Ohu Onyeka, now wish to be known and addressed as Uti Onyeka. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

known and addressed as Miss Tome Omu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Tome Jeana Osakue.

All former documents remain valid. General

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015—93

Vanguard CLASSIFIED DOMINGO—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Omotola Andressa Domingo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Omotola Andressa Olugbodi. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

UDOGIE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Gladys Abieyuwa Udogie, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Gladys Abieyuwa Johnson-Doe. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

IGWE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Igwe Ukamaka Stella, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Azubuike Ukamaka Stella. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Improvised explosive devices, IEDs, in the making in Gombe State.

Above is the tricycle used in transporting them.

Kidnappers of Jonathan’s cousins demand N50m ransom

By Samuel Oyadongha

Y

ENAGOA—THE kidnappers of Patience Egbeni and Kate Eni, cousins to President Goodluck Jonathan, have reportedly demanded N50 million ransom for their release.

The victims were kidnapped on May 20 at Akipelai, Jonathan’s maternal home town in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

Vanguard learned that the victims were part of Jonathan’s family relations looking forward to his triumphant return to the state today after his service to the country.

The gunmen were said to have contacted their families five days after their abduction demanding the N50 million ransom to set them free.

When contacted, Police Public Relations Officer, Butswat Asinim, said the victims had not

been released.

Asinim said he was not aware of the ransom demand, adding that security agencies were still making efforts to free them.

However, a youth leader in Ogbia, who did not disclose his name, said it took the hoodlums more than four days to establish contacts with their families.

He said: “They called and demanded N50 million ransom.

The families are still negotiating with the kidnappers.”

BORDER LAND DISPUTE: Gunmen kill 5 bus passengers in Rivers ADVERT HOTLINE 01- 4544821

FOR ENQUIRIES, CALL ADVERT HOTLINE: 01-4544821, OR 08028289689, 08033163424.

By Jimitota Onoyume

P

ORT HARCOURT— FIVE persons were reportedly killed, yesterday, morning around Kpopie junction in Gokhana Local Government Area of Rivers State as gunmen opened fire on a passenger vehicle.

A source said the border crisis between two communities, Deeyor and Deeken, could have been responsible for the incident.

The source said: “This morning (yesterday), around 6a.m., suspected fighters from one of the communities allegedly opened gunfire on a commercial bus travelling through the Kpogie junction, killing five passengers and injuring others.

“Deeken and Deeyor villages have been at war over a border land around Kpopie junction.”

Vanguard could not reach the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ahmad Muhammad, for comment as text messages sent to his mobile phone were not replied at press time.

Meanwhile, some residents of Port Harcourt have urged the incoming government of Mr. Nyesom Wike to give special attention to security of lives and property.

They flayed incidents of cultrelated killings in the state,

saying urgent steps should be taken to address the issue.

Police statement

Rivers State Police Command has confirmed the death of six persons shot dead yesterday in Kpogie junction by gunmen suspected to be from Deeken in the local government area.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ahmed Muhammed, said those who fired the shots were on a motorbike.

He said: “Unidentified

gunmen on motorcycles, suspected to be from Deeken, openned fire on some people at Kpopie junction, who happened to be from Deeyor, killing six persons.

“The attack may not be unconnected to the protracted land dispute between the two communities.

The Commissioner of Police has already drafted additional policemen to the area to prevent further escalation of the violence between the communities and as well hunt for the culprits.”

Girl gang-raped by boyfriend, 3 others

By Dayo Johnson

A

KURE—DETECTIVES from Ondo State Police Command have arrested four students of Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, for allegedly gang-raping a female student of the institution.

Vanguard gathered that the victim is a girlfriend of one of the suspects.

The suspects, according to a police source, are student in the Department of Business Education in the institution.

Police source said the victim, who is on admission in a private hospital, was raped at a residence in Oka area of the town until she became unconscious.

It was gathered that the suspects, who have made confessional statements, were picked up after the report was lodged at the police station in Ondo town.

Reports had it that the victim who resides outside the campus, was invited by her girlfriend and together they went to visit another friend.

On getting to the residence of one of the friends, others reportedly pounced on her and took turns raping her.

The victim reportedly regained consciousness and on return home, collapsed again and was rushed to the hospital where she was placed on admission after bleeding profusely from her private part.

Court acquits suspect over HIV status

By Onozure Dania

L

AGOS—MAGISTRATE M. Opeagbe of an Igbosere Magistrate’s court, yesterday, discharged and acquitted a HIV positive and tuberculosis patient, Aliu Musa, 38, who allegedly stole an i-Pad valued at N85,000.

The magistrate discharged him of the theft based on his health status, adding that she did not want him to go and infect other inmates in the prison, if sent there.

The defendant, who was arraigned on a two-count charge of conspiracy and stealing, pleaded guilty to the charges against him.

Musa, who was coughing out blood in court while the charge was being read to him, was handed tissue paper by the magistrate to cover his mouth.

The magistrate read the statement of the defendant, indicating that he had tuberculosis and also an HIV positive patient.

Musa told the magistrate that he had tuberculosis and HIV after the registrar told the court that he was pretending and nothing was wrong with him.

The magistrate asked the investigating police officer, Corporal Ishiaku Wasiu, from Onikan Police Station if he knew Musa's health status.

Wasiu said: “He was brought to the court because there is nobody to bail him from the police station and he cannot just be released.”

However, the court said the defendant could not be sent to prison to infect thousands of people.

The prosecutor, Inspector Clifford Ogu, had told the court that the defendant and one other, now at large, committed the alleged offence on March 3, at about 1:30p.m. at Paramount Wood Work Limited, located at 156, Awolowo Road in Ikoyi area of Lagos.

94 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

FIFA U-20 World Cup Group E:

Nigeria, Brazil are top picks

•Awoniyi Nigeria IGERIA will be making their 11th appearance at this tournament and have serious pedigree - beaten finalists in 1989 and 2005 and third in 1985. The Flying Eagles, who have failed to reach the knockout stages on only two occasions, qualified for this tournament as African champions.

Brazil Brazil have featured in this tournament on all but two occasions since the first Youth World Cup in 1977.

They have lifted the trophy on five occasions, one behind great rivals Argentina.

Their qualifying campaign was solid but unspectacular, as they struggled to score goals and grab the fourth

N

and final qualifying spot.

North Korea Always a bit of a mystery, North Korea will be competing in a Fifa Under20 World Cup for the third time, after appearances in 2007 and 2011. They reached the final of the Asian qualifying tournament - beating Japan

on the way - and will be strong defensively, super fit and well organised.

Hungary Hungary are somewhat fortunate to be in New Zealand - they lost two of their three qualifying matches and only scraped in - but shouldn’t be underestimated. They have a promising roster, with several players at top European clubs, and reached the semifinals in their last appearance at this level (2009).

Favourites Brazil and Nigeria. The yellow shirts will be keenly watched, as they bring their brand of “Samba soccer” to New Zealand’s shores. The team adopted more of a defensive approach during their qualifying games, but still have plenty of flair.

They should comfortably get out of a tricky group.

Nigeria arrive in New Zealand as African champions, and will be expected to progress well into the later stages of the

S/Africa denies FIFA was paid World Cup bribe OUTH African minister said.

S

officials have dismissed allegations

by US investigators that a $10m (£6.5m) bribe was organised for Fifa officials to host the 2010 World Cup. There had been a “clean audit report” at the end of the World Cup, a government

•2010 CEO: Jordan

Iheanacho Continues from BP Squad.

“Yes, they have won five times, but that time is past. This is a new generation and a new competition. It will be determined in 90 minutes.

“We have to do well as a team, put in our best for us to beat them because they are also a very good team. And then take it on from there and face the other teams in our group.

“It will be a very good experience for me and the team as well. We hope we will do much better than we did with the U17s because we have grown up now and C M Y K

tournament.

Star man Brazilian playmaker Andreas Pereira is one to watch.

Based at Manchester United since the age of 15, he was named their under-21 player of the year last season and scored several vital goals for the youth team before making his Premier League debut in March.

Stat Brazil last lifted the Under-20 World Cup in 2011, when three goals from Oscar (now a star at Chelsea) lifted them to a 32 over Portugal.

Did you know?

Nigeria have won the Under-17 World Cup more than any other country (four times), but have yet to repeat the success at the next level.

Prediction Nigeria and Brazil should take the top two places (in that order) and the clash between North Korea and Hungary will likely decide third spot.

this is another level of football so we have to perfect many things we did not do with the U17s and play more professionally.”

He missed the team’s three-week training tour of Germany, but he expects his past experience with the squad will come in handy at the World Cup. “I would have loved to be in Germany with the team, but I encountered visa issues and coupled with my injury, it was not possible to come down,” said the MVP of the FIFA U17 World Cup, which Nigeria won two years ago in UAE.

A football official added that the bid was run by “men of integrity”, including the late Nelson Mandela.

South Africa was the first African nation to host the World Cup. Fifa, the world football governing body, chose it ahead of Morocco.

New Zealand Continues from BP which is the average age that establishes Nigeria as the youngest squad at New Zealand 2015. The oldest, meanwhile, will be provided by the European duo of Germany and Ukraine, both of whom have an average age of 20.

Then there is 14 seconds, which was all it took Nigeria’s Monday Odiaka to score the fastest goal in U-20 World Cup history against Canada in 1985.

His compatriot, John Owoeri, netted the second-quickest, four seconds shy of the record in 2005.

Also Nigeria’s Wilfred Ndidi is one of only seven players to arrive at New Zealand 2015 having already played at a U-20 World Cup. All seven took part at Turkey 2013: the Mali trio of Ichaka Diarra, Souleymane Sissoko and Hamidou Traore, Ghana’s Clifford Aboagye, New Zealand captain Bill Tuiloma and Zhabikillo Urinboev of Uzbekistan. A total of 77 players at this tournament have experience of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, with New Zealand alone boasting 12 veterans of that particular tournament.

Brazilian playmaker Andreas Pereira (r) a Manchester United player will play against Nigeria in New Zealand

StarTimes plans exciting FIFA U-20 W/Cup coverage

S

TARTIMES is set to thrill Nigerian football fans with new sport channels and exclusive live sporting action on its digital TV platform. The company announced that it has secured exclusive rights to screen various pulsating FIFA World Cup football games to excite its Nigerian subscribers and offer them fantastic sports actions and entertainment.

The games are the FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand between May 30 and June 20; FIFA Women World Cup Canada 2015 between June 6 and July 5; FIFA U -17 World Cup

in Chile 2015 between 17 October and 8 November, 2015.

StarTimes will also show European qualifiers live between 12 and 14 June; the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2015 in Portugal on 9 – 19 July and the preliminary draws of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Russia on July 25. The International Champions Cup (ICC 2015) cricket games will also be screened live on StarTimes Sport channels between 11 July and 05 August 2015 with 15 clubs and 23 games live in action.

Blatter Continues from BP “absolutely sickened” and said “people have had enough”.

Blatter is seeking a fifth term as president when he takes on Prince Ali bin alHussein in Friday ’s election.

Several influential football figures had called for the vote delayed after seven Fifa officials were arrested in Zurich on Wednesday.

But Uefa, which governs European football, decided on Thursday not to boycott the election and will continue to back Prince Ali, although some member associations, like Russia, have said they will back Blatter.

Caf, which looks after the interests of Africa, has also reiterated its support for Blatter.

So has the Asian Football Confederation, although one of its members, the Australian football federation, has

announced its intention to vote for Prince Ali. “A big, big big majority of the European associations will vote for Prince Ali,” said Platini.

“People have had enough, they don’t want this president any more.”

Fifa was plunged into fresh crisis on Wednesday when United States authorities indicted 14 people and arrested seven senior football officials on bribery and racketeering charges.

In a separate development, Swiss officials opening criminal proceedings into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid processes.

Blatter ’s decision to chair an emergency meeting with representatives from Fifa’s six confederations is significant.

Such gatherings are rare.

It also took place without two of its nominated members.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015 — 95

NOC hails Oshoala’s

Make 10.1secs or forget Beijing 2015, AFN tells athletes ...Golden League starts June 11

By Ben Efe

A

THLETICS Federation of Nigeria president, Solomon Ogba has tasked Nigerian athletes to make the A standards of the IAAF, if they hope to feature at the August World Championships in Beijing, China.

Ogba, was speaking against the background of flagging performances, most especially by Nigerian male athletes, home and abroad. He argued that at these present times when running the A stands was not even a guarantee to reach the final of the competitive events such as the sprints, Nigerian athletes must work harder to be among the world’s top 10.

“Our sprinters need to do 10.16 seconds to stand a chance. Even at that, we will still select the best performances. We do not

want athletes who will not be able to reach the semifinals.

“But we will be more flexible for the All Africa Games. Competition is tough even in Africa now.

“We have athletes from Cote’d Ivoire, South Africa who are doing well so our athletes must have to brace up for the challenge’’, Ogba stated.

He added that the AFN was making all efforts to keep the athletes busy ahead of the two important events adding that this year’s golden league will start on June 11 at the newly constructed tracks of the the Rojenny Stadium in Oba, near Onitsha in Anambra State.

“We are going to have top four from each event for the golden league. We are starting in Oba, from there to Kaduna, Ilorin and then finally we will have the Warri Relays on July 18 and then on July 25 we will be in Calabar for the trials.”

Odunayo, Adeniyi top Wrestlers to African championships

By Jude Opara, Abuja

O

UTGOING Minister and Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Dr. Tammy Danagogo said he may have stepped on toes in the course of his duty because of his decision to change certain things he believed were not working well at the commission.

The Minister who spoke on Wednesday at the occasion of the official commissioning of the Elite Athletes Hostel in Abuja said what makes a leader is his ability to take decisions that he feels necessary irrespective of who may feel offended.

•Danagogo Apparently reacting to his running battle with the former Director General of the Commission, Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye who eventually lost out in the power game, Danagogo said all he did was to reposition sports in the best interest of the nation and not to suit any individual’s interest.

NOC hails Oshoala

T

TALL ORDER...Christy Udoh and others must hit world standards.

HE Nigeria Olympic Committee, NOC, has applauded Asisat Oshoala on her award as BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year winner describing the award as an indication of good things to come to the amazon and to the country.

The 20-year old was named the BBC

Women’s Footballer of the Year and become the first player to win the new award from the BBC World Service which is voted for by football fans around the world.

She won the award ahead of Spain’s Veronica Boquete, Germany ’s Nadine Kessler and Scotland’s Kim Little and also Brazilian forward Marta.

By Solomon Nwoke

Chelsea get traditional Thai welcome in Bangkok

C

J

OMMONWEALTH Games Gold medallists, Aminat Adeniyi and Adekuoroye Odunayo topped the list of 25 wrestlers that left yesterday for the 2015 Africa championships holding in Alexandria, Egypt The list represented the full teams of six athletes each in Greco Roman, Freestyle and Female Wrestling with the President of the Nigeria Wrestling federation, Hon. Daniel Igali as the leader of the delegation The Alexandria, Egypt championships serve as a pre-qualifier for the Olympic qualifiers holding at the World championships in Las Vegas in September this year.

Speaking ahead of the championship, Dr Igali said tournament would afford the federation the opportunity to test the wrestlers readiness for the All Africa Games later this year in Congo Brazzaville

C M Y K

Why I stepped on toes —Danagogo

•Daniel Igali “As the first tournament of the year for the wrestlers, it would afford the federation the opportunity to gauge the wrestler ’s preparedness for the All Africa Games which comes up later in Congo Brazzaville”, said Dr Igali.

In the same vein, technical director of the federation, Sir Damian Ohaike expressed optimism of a good outing for his team, stressing that despite being the first tournament for the wrestlers in 2015, he had no doubt that the Nigerian Wrestlers will perform according to expectations at the African championships.

OSE Mourinho has set his sights on European glory next season after arriving in Bangkok ahead of Chelsea’s friendly against Thailand All-Stars.

The Blues were given a traditional Thai welcome on Thursday at Don Muang International Airport as they touched down in the Far East ahead of their friendly on Saturday.

And upon arrival, Mourinho said he wants a better run in Europe next season after being knocked out of this season’s Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain at the last-16 stage.

‘We are going to try next season to do better than this season in European football,’ the Chelsea boss said after arriving in Bangkok. Chelsea will take on the Thailand All-Stars on Saturday after a 12-hour flight to the Far East before heading down under for a game against Sydney FC on Tuesday.

John Terry (left) and Jose Mourinho (right) arrived in Bangkok ahead of Chelsea’s friendly

£100m corruption scandal: FIFA could lose millions from sponsors officials arrested and

M

AJOR FIFA sponsor Visa has threatened to withdraw their backing and demanded world football’s governing body clean up its act in the wake of the £100million corruption

scandal.

Visa said its ‘disappointment and concern’ were profound and demanded ‘swift and immediate’ action following Wednesday’s dramatic events, which saw a wave of football

two investigations launched.

FIFA stands to lose millions if their stable of sponsors turn their back on them and Visa’s was the most stronglyworded of the statements released on Wednesday.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

New Zealand 2015: Nigeria in FIFA records •Fastest ever goal, youngest squad, others

F

IFA released a set of numbers ahead of the New Zealand 2015 U-20 World Cup yesterday, with Nigeria featuring prominently.

The football governing body ’s website took a statistical look into the upcoming tournament and the competition’s history

and came up with interesting figures concerning Nigeria.

One of the figures is 18 years and nine months, Continues on page 94

Brazil ’ll meet a different Nigeria – Iheanacho • Garba

F

LYING Eagles forward, Kelechi Iheanacho has vowed to ensure Brazil is taken care of in their opening match in the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand.

“We hope to scale through in our first game against Brazil and go on from there,” said the highly-rated 18-year forward, who has recovered from an old ankle injury to come back strongly with goals for the Manchester City Elite Development

Continues on page 94

• PREDATOR: Iheanacho ready to pounce on Brazil.

FIFA crisis: Blatter refuses to quit S

EPP Blatter has refused to resign as Fifa president following a request from Uefa chief Michel Platini.

The 79-year-old Swiss held an emergency meeting with key Fifa officials on Thursday after world football’s governing body was subjected to yet more damaging corruption claims.

Make 10.1secs or forget Beijing 2015, AFN tells athletes — P.95

Platini then made a personal appeal for Blatter to quit.

Platini said he addressed Blatter “like a friend” but that the Fifa

boss had told him it was “too late” to resign.

Platini added that the latest crisis had left him

Continues on page 94

• EMBATTLED: Blatter

QUICK CROSSWORD

TODAY'S

PUZZLE

FRI DAY'S FRIDAY'S

ANSWERS

ACROSS: 1 Pant (4) 4 Obese (3) 6 Cunning (4) 8 Amble (6) 9 Pressing (6) 10 Limb (3) 12 Fishing-basket (5) 14 Brush (5) 15 Sordid (5) 18 Divided (6) 20 Response (6) 24 Storehouse (5) 26 Employees (5) 28 Declined (5) 30 Charge (3) 32 Useless (6) 33 Idiotic (6) 34 Irritable (4) 35 Ballad (3) 36 Flat (4)

DOWN 2 Following (5) 3 Demur (7) 4 Dropped (4) 5 Ruffian (4) 6 Wrath (5) 7 Comfort (7) 11 Tree (3) 12 Beaker (3) 13 Shelter (3) 16 Append (3) 17 Yelp (3) 19 Astonish (7) 21 Present (3) 22 Law (7) 23 Wand (3) 25 Sheep (3) 27 Sprite (5) 29 Chosen (5) 30 Sense (4) 31 Notice (4)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 2, Askew 7, Tunic 8, Swain 10, Lager 12, Aim 13, Later 15, Deficit 17, Eluded 19, Sat 20, Derided 23, Aged 25, Dell 26, Deposed 30, Net 31, Daring 34, Devotee 37, Melon 38, Vat 39, Drape 40, Renew 42, Decry.

DOWN: 7. Ailed 3, Scared 4, Eyed 5, Awaited 6, Limit 9, Arc 11, Resided 13, Legal 14, Tuned 16, Fad 18, Devoted 21, Devil 22, Align 24, Denoted 27, Pet 28, Damper 29, Revel 32, Reeky 33. Novel 35, Van 36. Erne.

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.

Printed and Published by VANGUARD MEDIA LIMITED, Vanguard Avenue, Kirikiri Canal, P.M.B.1007, Apapa. Phone: Newsroom: 018773962. Deputy Editor: 01-4548355. Advert Dept Hotline: 014544821. Abuja Advert Hotline: 09-2921024. E-mail: editor@vanguardngr.com, news@vanguardngr.com, letters@vanguardngr.com. Advert:advertproduction@yahoo.com Website: www.vanguardngr.com (ISSN 0794-652X) Editor: MIDENO BAYAGBON. Phone: 01-7742861, All correspondence to P.M.B. 1007, Apapa Lagos.

C M Y K