FG, World Bank disagree over budget target

...towards a better life for the people

**

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

VOL. 25: NO. 62659

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

80 killed, 90 injured, as Boko Haram attacks Borno, Adamawa

Ketu hotel killings:

•We're under siege— Residents •P.3

N150

Septuagenarian mum goes on hunger strike 16

Late Taiwo

Late Kehinde

2016 ECONOMIC GROWTH:

FG, World Bank disagree over budget target

By Emeka Anaeto, Economy Editor

L

A G O S — CONTRARY to the projections of the World Bank that pegged the Gross Domestic Product growth rate at 3.7 per cent, the Federal Government economic agenda as contained in the 2016 budget breakdown insisted on GDP growth rate of 4.37 per cent thus making it ambitious.

Earlier this year IMF cut its growth forecasts for the global economy on the back of a slowdown in China, looming recession in Continues on Page 5

•FG aims to achieve real GDP rate of 4.37 per cent •World Bank, others peg growth rate at 3.7 per cent

Police arrest soldier for supplying arms to robbers 7 CARNIVAL CALABAR—A Cross Section of Nollywood Stars led by Patience Ozokwor (M) and Eucharia Anunobi

(right) during the 2015 Carnival Calabar, yesterday, in Cross Rivers State. Photo: Nwankpa Chijioke.

NNPC intensifies effort to end fuel crisis NIGER DELTA VOICE

Sapele youths pummel investor for not paying bribe See Inside C C M M Y Y K K

FEMI ARIBISALA

Why Lai Mohammed must be fired

P.20

YINKA ODUMAKIN

BVN blues

COLUMNISTS:

P.17

9

2016 inspires hope for better Nigeria 9 — ANYAOKU

Mr & Mrs

2 — VANGUARD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015—3

were killed, stressing that the military lost four of its men while two were injured.

General Yushau said the insurgents’ capacity to attack has been degraded and that was why they were bent on attacking soft targets and laying ambush. He then appealed to the public to always be vigilant and report any suspicious movement to the security outfits nearby.

A hospital source from state specialist hospital confirmed that they received 28 corpses while 88 others were receiving treatment from both Sunday and early Monday attacks.

By Simon Ebegbulem, Henry Umoru & Ndahi Marama, with agency report

M

AIDUGURI — NO fewer than 80 persons were killed and 90 others injured between Sunday and yesterday when Boko Haram Islamic terrorists launched attacks in Borno and Adamawa States with rocket-propelled grenades and multiple suicide bombers.

At least 50 people were killed in Maiduguri, Borno State capital. Another twin suicide bombing killed at least 30 people in Madagali, a town in Adamawa State, 150 kilometres southeast of Maiduguri, witnesses said.

Contacted, Brigade Commander of 28 Task Force Brigade, Mubi, Victor Ezugwu, confirmed the incident, saying the casualty figure was yet to be established.

“Two female suicide bombers struck at a garage in Madagali and detonated their devices, and we lost some beloved country men,” Mr. Ezugwu, a BrigadierGeneral, said.

He said the injured had been taken to hospital while the military had cordoned off the area.

The brigade commander said the situation had been brought under control.

In Maiduguri, capital of Borno State, at least 30 were killed according to witnesses who said the death toll could go higher and more than 90 wounded in overnight blasts and shootouts.

Another 20 died in a bombing outside a mosque at dawn, Monday, said Muhammed Kanar, area coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency.

The military said there were multiple attacks at four southwestern entry points to the city.

In another blast, two girls blew themselves up in Buraburin neighbourhood, killing several people, according to civil servant Yunusa Abdullahi.

We're under siege —Resident

“We are under siege,” Abdullahi said, adding: “We don’t know how many of these bombs or these female suicide bombers were sneaked into Maiduguri last night.” He said some residents have found undetonated bombs.

The attack appears to be a challenge to President Muhammadu Buhari’s declaration last week that Boko Haram has been “technically” defeated, capable of no more than suicide bombings on soft targets.

The terrorists firing indiscriminately from the back of three trucks attacked the outlying village of Dawari, soldiers engaged them, and as people were fleeing, a woman ran into the area yelling “Boko Haram, Boko Haram.” When people gathered, she detonated herself, according to village head, Bulama Isa. A rocket-propelled grenade then exploded, setting alight grass-

We've defeated Boko Haram — Ikponmwen

RECEPTION: Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki (left) and his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, during a civic reception in honour of Ekweremadu by Mpu Community, Aninri Local Government Area, Enugu State.

80 killed, 90 injured as Boko Haram attacks Borno, Adamawa We're under siege — Resident We've defeated Boko Haram — Ikponmwen 3 days to deadline on B'Haram: Miracles can still happen — PDP thatched huts, while a second woman blew herself up, according to Isa. Among those killed was the village chief and 10 of his children, according to residents Ahmed Bala and Umar Ibrahim.

Insurgents fire rocket-propelled grenades

A soldier said the insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades into four residential areas on the outskirts of the city. Soldiers fired back, and many civilians were caught in the crossfire, according to the soldier, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to journalists.

Three suicide bombers blew themselves up at a home near Bakassi Estate, killing 18 people Sunday evening, another soldier told The Associated Press.

A nurse at Maiduguri Specialist Hospital said dozens of critically wounded, mainly children and women, may not survive. The nurse, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she is not authorized to speak to

reporters, said the hospital was so overflowing with patients that some had to be cared for in the maternity ward.

About 60 people had wounds from bullets and shrapnel from explosive devices, she said.

Other wounded people had to be sent to other hospitals in the city.

Among them was a baby found dead, still tied to the back of her mother, who survived after being hit by shrapnel, the nurse said.

It was hard to do a body count because so many had been blown into pieces, she said, describing torsos and dismembered arms and legs.

Troops intercept 14 female suicide bombers

Briefing newsmen at the Operation Lafiya Dole media centre, on the attacks, the Theatre Commander, Major General Yushau Abubakar, said 14 female suicide bombers between the ages of 12 and 18 tried to enter Maiduguri with the intention to cause mayhem, confusion and panic but they were intercepted by the troops of Nigerian Army on patrol.

Three of the suicide bombers, however, detonated the IEDs killing 25 persons, while 85 others were injured.

The theatre commander, who was represented by the GOC 7 Division, Major General Lamidi Adeosun, said the terrorists intended to carry out massive and co-ordinated suicide mission through Asmari, Damboa check point, Ali Dawari, Molai Kura, Baderi, Jumari villages all on the outskirts of Maiduguri.

According to commander, “the seven other suicide bombers were gunned down by our troops, three escaped and one was arrested. I believe the troops have averted what would have been a major disaster if they had gained entry into Maiduguri.

One of them went to a nearby house and requested for water to perform ablution but instead prepared herself and came to a nearby mosque and blew up herself killing one person while 13 others were injured.

He said the terrorists also in recent time laid ambush on their troops in Mairari along Maiduguri Monguno and Firgi where 21 insurgents

Meanwhile, former Provost Marshal of the Nigerian Army, Brig. Gen. Idada Ikponmwen (retd), has said the Federal Government had met the December deadline against the Boko Haram sect, saying “what Federal Government is doing now is mopping up the remnants of the sect members.”

According to him, “the target by the President was in good faith and the security services responded equally well to the challenge. This nature of war is not something that will completely go over night because of its very nature.

"If you look at what is happening all over the world you will know that insurgency is not something you fight over night. But if you look at it on the point of view that the insurgents are now running away, it means we have won.

“There was a time they were holding over 20 local government areas in the North-East. Now, the governor of Borno State was talking yesterday, he said they are not even felt in more than two local government areas any more.

"So, by and large the war against Boko Haram has been successful.

This is the time for mopping up, improving on the successes achieved so far. I believe that at this level we can really say that it is practically coming to an end.

“I believe that rather than play politics with this issue, all stakeholders must at this point rededicate themselves to the cause of bringing total peace, not only to the area affected by Boko Haram but also all over the country."

3 days to Dec deadline on B'Haram Miracles can still happen — PDP

Meanwhile, three days to the end of the December deadline given by President Muhammadu Buhari for the military to end the insurgency, the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said yesterday that miracles could still happen.

In a text message yesterday, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh said: “Miracles can still happen. We believe the government will accomplish it before December 31 considering the confidence of the Minister of Information and Mr President."

4—Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

SENATOR STELLA OMU MARKS 70TH BIRTHDAY

Major General Paul Ufuoma Omu (Retd) and Senator (Mrs) Stella Omu share a loving dance at the occasion

From left: Prof. Sam Oyovbaire, Major General Paul Ufuoma Omu (Retd), Senator (Mrs) Stella Omu, Delta State Governor, Sen. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa and Deputy Governor, Barr. Kingsley Burutu Otuaro.

From left: Sese Omu, Elozino Olaniyan, Ayemo Omu, Major General Paul Ufuoma Omu (Retd), Senator (Mrs) Stella Omu, Kome Omu and Ekemere Larry-Ettah.

Deputy Governor of Delta State, Barr. Kingsley Burutu Otuaro unveiling the book Stella Omu: the Unsung Heroine to mark her 70th birthday.

Senator (Mrs) Stella Omu cutting the tape to unveil a dilapidated prison cell she renovated at Ogwashi-Uku prison. She is flanked by husband, Major General Paul Ufuoma Omu (Retd) and the Controller of Prisons ,Delta State Mr Tony Ojih.

Senator Chief (Mrs) Stella Unuezi Omu celebrated her 70th birthday recently.

She also used the occasion to present her book, the Unsung Heroine.

From left: Chief Usige, Barrister (Mrs) Philipa Atagana, Chief Etaluku, Chief Edewor, Delta State Commissioner for Information Patrick Ukah, Major General Paul Ufuoma Omu (Retd), Senator (Mrs) Stella Omu, General Ogomudia, Chief Judith Enamutor and Mrs Ogboru.

From right: Chief & Mrs Alawe Bozimo, General Ogomudia and other distinguished guests at Saint Andrews Anglican Church.

Kome Omu and Senator (Mrs) Stella Omu celebrating at their annual children’s Christmas party.

C M Y K

Lord Bishop, Rt Revd J. U. Aruakpo, giving his sermon at Saint Andrews Anglican Church, Igbide, Isoko South LGA.

From left: Major General Paul Ufuoma Omu (Retd), Senator (Mrs) Stella Omu, Senator James Manager, Kome Omu and Dame Florence Ehinlaye at Saint Andrew Anglican Church.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015—5

POCKET CARTOON

FUN SEEKERS—Fun seekers at the Christmas Family Funfare at the Amusement Park, Apapa, Lagos, weekend. Photo: Diran Oshe.

FG, World Bank disagree over 2016 budget target Continues from Page 1

Russia and continuing weakness in the eurozone.

The Washington-based fund, while warning of a significant decline in growth rates across global economies especially among emerging markets including Nigeria’s against the backdrop of crash in oil prices, cut its 2016 forecasts from 4.0 per cent to 3.7 per cent.

But, the Federal Government’s 2016 budget envisioned expansionary fiscal

measures expected to galvanize the economy to a growth momentum of above 4.0 per cent.

GDP is derived from the value of all goods and services available for final uses and export.

The expenditure approach measures the final uses of, or expenditure on the produced output, as the sum of final consumption expenditure; gross capital formation (investment activities carried out in the economy), and exports less imports.

Though the 2016 target

IT'S UP TO YOU

BY AYO ADIO HERE is a tremendous difference between doing the right thing and doing the bright thing. Achieving good success is about doing the bright thing. It's up to you.

T

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible —Francis of Assisi

I

F YOU want to experience more love, start giving more love. if you want to feel like you’re worth something, start treating yourself as a worthy being, because you most certainly are.

When you change your thoughts, you change your life, you heal the erroneous belief that runs wild in one’s mind about life’s limitations. You become more confident in your abilities to do better and live happier and fulfilled life. You are not controlled by the external things anymore. After all, there is always a step further in life, and even if the circumstances require changes, your joy remains. You can always do better.

SAYINGS OF OUR PEOPLE

Y

OU can never tell who your next friend will be, but you can guess who your next enemy may be.

is lower than 5.5 per cent revised projection in 2015 budget it is clearly ambitious in the light of revised figures given by multilateral institutions and several multinational and local financial institutions as well as real outcome recorded so far in 2015 fiscal year.

Budget Breakdown The growth rate projection, according to the breakdown, would be achieved through alignment of fiscal, monetary, trade and industrial policies.

Also the government intends to enhance the realization of this target by ensuring job creation on every aspect of the execution of the 2016 budget.

Its inclusive growth strategy would entail a reduction in tax rates for smaller businesses as well as subsidized funding for priority sectors such as agriculture and solid minerals.

However a breakdown of the 2016 spending plan showed that nondebt recurrent expenditure was cut by 9.1 per cent to N2.59 trillion indicating that the expenditure approach to GDP will point downwards.

To offset this scenario capital expenditure was increased by 223 per cent to N1.8 trillion which is 30 per cent of

total budget.

Works, Power and Housing got the biggest capital votes of N433.4 billion, followed by transport (N202 billion), Special Intervention Programs (N200 billion), Defence (N134.6 billlion).

Economy analysts believe these allocations would add to GDP rate more significantly.

Also budget deficit of N2.2 trillion which translates to 2.16 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP and an overall debt to GDP of 14 per cent, is expected to further stimulate growth.

The economy has witnessed one of its worst declines in the out going year with GDP initially projected at 6.4 per cent revised by the Federal Government to 5.5 per cent.

It was subsequently revised further down by various multinational organisations including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, IMF, Renaissance Capital, one of the world’s leading private sector financial institutions as well as Bloomberg, world’s leading financial media giant and African Development Bank, AfDB, Africa’s

multilateral financial institution.

Nigerian-based financial institutions such as FSDH Economic Research, an arm of the FSDH Merchant Bank, Afrinvest Group, a Lagos based investment house, among many others have also analysed the economic trend.

Cumulatively, all these organisations brought down the forecast GDP growth rate for 2015 to between 2.5 and 2.8 per cent by year end 2015.

Real GDP growth rate has been largely in the negative this year declining to 3.38 per cent in the first quarter and further down to 2.57 per cent in the second

quarter but it made slight improvement in the third quarter to 2.84 per cent, thereby giving an overall picture close to the forecasts by international and local financial institutions.

In the medium to longer term, the Buhari administration intends to pursue economic diversification through import substitution and export promotion.

The policy thrust of the budget included stimulating the economy and making it more competitive by focusing on infrastructural development; delivering inclusive growth; and prioritizing the welfare of Nigerians.

Road crashes reduced by 33% during Christmas— FRSC A

BUJA—THE Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), has said that road crashes across the country were reduced by 33 per cent during the Christmas period.

This was contained in a statement signed by Mr Bisi Kazeem, Head, Media Relations and Strategy in the commission and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Abuja.

He said that the reduction was a “testimony to the robust efforts” of the FRSC to stem crashes on the nation’s roads during the festive period. Kazeem, however, disclosed that the commission recorded 113 road traffic crashes within one week of patrol across the country.

He said: “113 road traffic crashes were recorded on the roads between Dec.19 and Dec.26, compared with 169 recorded during the same time last year,

which shows reduction of 33 per cent.

“Similarly 86 lives were lost as at Saturday compared to 109 lost within same period last year.

“This shows improvement of 21 per cent in FRSC’s efforts to save lives on the roads.

“422 people were injured within the period this year which amounts to 30 per cent improvement in operation when compared with 606 people that were injured last year.

“Also, 934 people were involved in crashes within the period under review, compared with 1,284 involved last year within the same period, while 426 people were rescued this year unlike 570 last year.”

Kazeem said that 25 per cent improvement was recorded in the area of saving lives on the roads.

On prosecution of those who violated road

rules and regulations, the FRSC spokesman said that the commission had so far arraigned 878 traffic violators, convicted 783 and discharged others.

He urged road users to always obey traffic rules and regulations and cooperate with traffic managers for free flow of movement.

Mr Boboye Oyeyemi, FRSC Corps Marshal, inaugurated "Operation Zero tolerance” on Dec. 18 in Onitsha, Anambra State, with the theme: "Drive safely into 2016."

Oyeyemi said that the commission deployed 36,000 personnel and equipment for the exercise. He said that 200 mobile courts were set up nationwide to try and punish traffic offenders.

The FRSC boss expressed the determination of the commission to ensure that travellers had smooth and safe journey to their various destinations.

6—Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29 , 2015

Man electrocuted in bid to steal electric cable in Kaduna K

ADUNA—AN unidentified middle aged man was electrocuted at the early hours of Sunday while trying to steal electric cable at a power supply installation in Kaduna.

The traditional ruler of the area, Dan Iyar Unguwar Rimi, Alhaji Muhammad Gidado, confirmed the incident that happened at Accra Crescent by LEA Primary School, Unguwar Rimi.

Gidado said that the corpse of the vandal was evacuated from the

scene by the police from Unguwar Rimi Division.

According to him, the vandal was unknown to them in the area and urged law enforcement agencies to step-up patrol as the community has suffered from the activities of vandals lately.

Gidado explained that the deceased tried to steal the 150mm four core up-riser cable at the distribution sub-station along Accra Crescent when nemesis caught up with him.

The Head, Corporate Communications of Kaduna Electric, the operator of Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, Mr Abdulazeez Abdullahi, also confirmed the incident.

He appealed to customers of the company to be more vigilant and report suspicious movement around power supply installations to the police, especially in the night.

Abdullahi lamented that the

activities of these hoodlums was causing set back to the company’s effort at providing steady power supply to its customers.

He warned criminal elements to desist from damaging or removing power supply equipment as the consequence could be very tragic.

Meanwhile, the police said it was investigating the incident with a view to arresting the collaborators of the act and preventing recurrence.

HARVESTING SEASON: Women returning from Guinea corn harvest at Giri in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: NAN.

Police nab 2 robbery suspects in Lagos L

By Esther Onyegbula

AGOS—TWO suspected members of a four-man armed robbery gang have been arrested by officers of the Lagos State Police Command, Ikeja, during a robbery operation at Gowon Estate, Egbeda area of the state.

The two suspects simply identified as Akeem Abu and Banabas Ebijimi were arrested while attempting to cut the burglary proof of a house in the Estate when the security alarm system installed in the building was triggered off.

A member of the family, it was reported, quickly alerted the police who responded immediately and arrested the duo while two others, Sunday (the leader of the gang) and Maxwell escaped.

One of the arrested suspects, 24-year-old Akeem Abu, who claimed to be a butcher at Odunerun at Alaba Rago, said he went into robbery because he needed money to repay the loan he took to buy a motorbike.

He said: “I needed money to

pay for the bike installmentally. I had to go with them for the operation. That was the third operation I was getting involved in. I made over N70,000 from the three operations.”

He added that from each operation that he made about N35,000, “It was at Gowon Estate that we carried out the robbery operation. Sunday is the leader of the gang. Now that I have been arrested, I feel very bad.”

Banabas Ebijimi, who claimed he got to know members of the gang through his elder brother, said he was caught by the Police because he was not familiar with the Estate.

His words: “Others were able to escape because they are familiar with the area. I was caught because I don’t live around the area.

“I was a trailer driver before I went into robbery, when the truck was

collected from me.

“I am not married but I have a child. My child is with my mother. I am the fourth child. I finished my secondary education at Community Secondary School, Akorede in Ondo State. My mother lives at Ajegunle while my father lives in Ondo State.

It was learned that efforts are ongoing to apperhend the two other members of the gang who are currently at large.

....Arrest pastor over alleged burying of charm in church premises

B

ENIN—THE police in Benin has arrested one Apostle Ikenna Okafor on Sunday for allegedly burying charm in his church premises in Benin.

The identity of what the suspect buried was unknown even though residents around the church located along Esigie St. in Benin alleged it was a live animal.

The police took away the

suspect to avoid his being lynched by angry residents who stormed the church.

An eyewitness, Mr Chinedu Nnamdi, said his father woke him up around 2 a.m. on Saturday night to watch what the Pastor was doing.

According to him, the pastor buried something in front of the church and later performed a little ritual by

walking round the church several times.

Confirming the report, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Edo Police Command, DSP Osifo Abiodun, said the suspect was under investigation.

The spokesman explained that the suspect has made useful statements that will assist the police in their investigation.

Fire razes UNN female hostel

By Chinenyeh Ozor

N

SUKKA—ONE of the female hostels of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, was razed by fire with property running into millions of Naira damaged, including personal effects of the students accommodated in the hostel.

An eye witness, who gave her name as Joy Uwalaka, explained that the fire was allegedly caused by power outage in the university community, adding that as soon as Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, EEDC, restored power on campus around 7.30pm with a high voltage, the two storey hostel building went up in flames from the last floor.

Though most of the students were said to be on Christmas vacation, the eye witness said “When other students around saw the fire and started screaming ‘fire, fire’ was when I jumped out from my hostel close to Okeke hostel, only to see heavy dark smoke from the building.

“While the fire rages at the last floor of the building, people ran around to put out the fire” she noted.

Meanwhile, before Enugu state fire service brigade men arrived the scene, the hostel which houses about 300 students, had been damage.

Speaking with Vanguard on the incident, Mr Patrick Aroh, the Chief Fire officer, Enugu North senatorial district, said though they responded on time but they could not do much due to water shortage.

“My men tried their best; we rushed immediately we received the call that there was fire outbreak at Okeke female hostel of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN. When our water got exhausted, we were unable to get refill from the two boreholes on campus, owing to dryness of the two bore-holes, before we could refill our tank outside the campus, the last floor had been completely razed.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29 , 2015—7

Police arrest soldier for supplying arms to robbers

By Ifeanyi Okolie

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AGOS—A Lance Corporal of the Nigeria Army was among eight persons arrested by the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team, SIRT for allegedly supplying arms and ammunition to robbers in Lagos.

Among those the gang allegedly supplied arms were those robbers who raided commercial banks in Lekki, Ikorodu, Festac and Agbara areas of Lagos and Ogun State, where they carted away large sums of money, recently.

It was gathered that the suspects were picked up at various locations in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo and Borno states, reseptively, by the SIRT operatives, led by CSP Abba Kyari, and officials of the Defense Intelligence.

Six automatic pump action rifles, a pistol and some cartridges were recovered from the suspects.

Sources close to the SIRT disclosed that the army corporal who was picked up at his duty post in Maiduguri, Borno State, by men of the Defense Intelligence, is currently undergoing interrogations at the Defense Headquarters, Abuja.

Vanguard gathered that a member of the gang, who was

arrested recently by the SIRT operatives, confessed during, interrogations that his gang received large supplies of arms and ammunition, from the soldier,

who was posted to Borno State, to fight the Boko Haram sect .

A source further disclosed, that the soldier, would conceal weapons within food items

heading to Lagos from Borno and the robbers who were also involved in pipeline vandalism Pipeline at Ikorodu and Ijegemo areas of Lagos, would credit his bank account upon receiving the weapons.

Some of the suspects.

Fire sacks 13 families from storey building in Warri ....Razes hotel in Effurun

By Akpokona Omafuaire

W

A R R I —THIRTEEN families residing in a storey building along Ojabugbe Street in Warri were Sunday sacked by fire which destroyed property worth millions of Naira at about 9am.

Similar fire also consumed another storey building housing Tonvic Hotel in Effurun, as goods worth millions of Naira were also burnt.

The cause of both fire could not be ascertained by our correspondent who visited the scenes.

But rescue efforts were intensified to save wares of building material merchants trading at the basement of the hotel building.

One of the Ojabugbe’s fire victims, who declined comments, was seen gathering his burnt personal effects from the building.

Felix Isaac, another victim, said he was asleep on Sunday when the fire started from the kitchen of his neighbour,simply identified as Mama Ike, a Kerosene seller.

Isaac, however, alleged that Mama Ike had left the plantain she was frying to her13 year old son, Ike to take care of, “ minutes later, flames engulfed the top of the storey building.”

He added that sympathisers poured water and detergent

(Omo) mixtures to help put out the fire before Men of the Delta State Fire arrived.

“Nobody left with anything, but

I managed to rescue my plasma and hometheatre.Myclotheswereburnt, theotherscouldnotsaveapin.”Isaac lamented.

Isaac also noted that since the incident, no government representatives had visited the scene of the incident with a view to giving them succor.

Police nab man, 25, over alleged kidnap in Bayelsa Sagbama Division, arrested While revealing that the

By Samuel Oyadongha

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ENAGOA—FOR his alleged involvement in the abduction of 78-year-old Dennis Ogosi, the Police in Bayelsa State has arrested one of his in-laws, Ebemu Monday, 25, at Sagbama town, Sagbama local government area of the state.

The arrested suspect is believed to be the mastermind of the abduction of Ogosi, aged 78, who was reportedly abducted and whisked away about three weeks ago.

The whereabouts of Ogosi, who was said to be relaxing in the shop of one of his sons at the riverside settlement, when he was abducted is still unknown.

According to a security source, the suspect was arrested at about 9.50pm on Sunday by detectives from the Sagbama Division following a tip off.

The State Police Public Relations Officer, Asinim Butswat, who confirmed the arrest said “on Sunday, at about 2150hrs, based on a tip-off, detectives from

one Ebemu Monday, 25 years, of Akoko-Edo, Edo State, but residing in Sagbama Town.

“He is suspected to be the mastermind of the kidnap of one Dennis Ogosi, 78 years, who was abducted on December 9. The suspect is an In-law to the victim.

suspect has made useful statements and investigation is ongoing, the Police image maker assured that the command has put in place a robust crime strategy to checkmate the activities of criminals and miscreants, during the yuletide celebrations.

Man, 34, remanded in prison in sending fake for jumping bail specialises bank alerts, to unsuspecting

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By Onozure Dania

AGOS—An Apapa Chief Magistrate, Mr. T Abolarinwa, has remanded a 34-year-old businessman, Pius Ozumba to Kirikiri prison, Lagos for jumping bail that was earlier granted him by the court in 2013.

The magistrate said he was sending the defendant to prison so that any time the case comes up in the court, the prisons’ officials will produce him.

The defendant, who

businessmen and dispossess them of large sums of money, is standing trial over an alleged theft of goods worth N9.5 million.

At the resumed hearing of the matter, the prosecutor, Inspector Tony Idibe, informed the court that the defendant was first arraigned on January 3, 2013 and granted bail of N300, 000 by the former magistrate, Mrs. O. I Adelaja, who was handling the matter.

The matter has been adjourned to January 27, 2016, for mention.

DUD CHEQUES:

Court issues bench warrant on Ocean Global boss

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By Onozure Dania

AGOS—FOR failing to appear before an Igbosere Magistrate's Court in Lagos , Magistrate Ola Shonuga has issued a bench warrant on the Chief Executive Officer of LXG Ocean Global Services Ltd, Clement Enenche,over alleged issuance of First City Monument Bank dud cheques in favour of ORYX Oil Marketing Company Nigeria Ltd. Clement Enenche alongside his company, LXG Ocean Global Services Ltd were arraigned for allegedly issuing two dud cheques to the tune of N9 million each.

The dud cheques were issued to partially offset a debt of N160 million owed the complainant for petroleum products he bought from him between September 2014 and March 2015.

At the resumed hearing of the case, the prosecutor, DSP Raymond O. Akhaine, told the court that he was surprised that the defendant was absent from court despite the fact that he is on bail and the case was coming up for the first time after his arraignment.

However, the prosecutor urged the court to revoke the bail that was earlier granted the defendant and issue a bench warrant against him, for failing to appear before the court.

The defendant’s lawyer, in a bid to oppose the prosecutor’s application, informed the court that his client was rushed to the hospital earlier that morning and that speaking from the bar, he was yet to know the hospital that the defendant was admitted.

Reacting to the submission of the defendant’s lawyer, the counsel to ORYX Oil Marketing Company Nigeria Ltd, Mr. Gbenga Ajala, told the court that shortly before the court sat, he overheard the lawyer to the defendant informing the prosecutor that his client was not coming to court without any justifiable reason.

In his short ruling on the application of the prosecutor, MagistrateShonugaorderedthe issuance of a bench warrant on the defendant, and then ordered the lawyer to come with medical reports of his client on the next adjournmentdatebeingJanuary 20, 2016.

8 — VANGUARD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015—9

We're intensifying effort to end fuel crisis —NNPC

By Michael Eboh

A

BUJA — THE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, yesterday, stated that the Special Intervention Fuel Supply instituted by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, is intensifying efforts at eradicating the noticeable fuel queues across the country with the sustained truck-out of petrol to the nooks and crannies of the country.

The NNPC, in a statement in Abuja, noted that with relative product stability in some major cities like Abuja, Kano and Lagos, the intervention is trucking-out large volumes of petrol to the hinterlands and deep country side where product distribution remains a challenge.

According to the NNPC, despite the public holidays, over 22 million litres of petrol were trucked-out nationwide within the last 24 hours with a bulk of the volumes hauled to fuel stations in the countryside to ensure adequate product penetration.

In addition, Kachikwu shed light on the issue of price modulation and subsidy removal, assuring Nigerians that the Federal Government will place more emphasis on products availability and refineries’ efficiency, noting that the price of petrol will not be fluctuating but based on an average price mechanism.

Kachikwu, who stated this during a working tour of the Kaduna Refining & Petrochemical Company (KRPC), assured Nigerians that the NNPC was working hard towards ensuring that full efficiency returns to the nation’s refineries which are expected to produce about 10 million litres of petrol per day by January 2016.

He said: “The president is very emphatic on this; he expects that products should be about N87.

He has also given approval for us to be able to look at market trends and make adjustments as need be.

“My commitment and I think that is what the president’s commitment is, is to provide products at all the time so that there is efficiency, and provide it at the least possible price and let it have some relationship with what the trends are.”

He, however, observed that when the prices of petroleum begin to go up, government will look at those trends and then begin to see how the prices could be adjusted.

“We are not going to be fluctuating prices day to day, we are going to take like an average

and I think that today when you look at prices, we have no subsidy but prices remain low and that is what we need to do. It is the honesty in being able to sell products to Nigerians at affordable prices that make sense, “ Kachikwu added.

On subsidy

Kachikwu said subsidy doesn’t exist at the moment as petrol is still sold at N87 per litre, but in January 2016,

government will look at what the trend is and announce prices.

“If that is less than N87, we will announce it and if it is more than that, we will have to announce it,” he said.

He reiterated that the Federal Government would no longer continue to fund the gap paid on subsidy, which runs into huge amount of money.

“I think everybody is on the same page with us that as much as it is, we need to get out of it.

The reliability of that and the affordability of that is an issue, we need to get away from it

whether or not you believe in subsidy,” he said.

On the refineries gradually coming back on stream, the minister noted that a lot of energy is deployed into ensuring that they are working because according to him, the more they work, the higher the chances that government will fix a ‘comfortable price’ for Nigerians.

He assured Nigerians that by the end of January when all the refineries are fully back on stream, the 10 million type capacity out of about 40 million projected national consumption will be realized.

VISIT: From left, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelama; Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State; his deputy, Udeh Okochukwu and Abia State Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Chief Henry Ikoh when the minister visited the governor in Umuahia. Photo: Ibeabuchi Abarikwu.

Violent disruption of rally: Court awards N7m damages against Police

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

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BUJA — AN Abuja High Court sitting in Maitama, has awarded N7 million damages against the Inspector General of Police, Commissioner of Police FCT, Ministry of Police Affairs and the Police Service Commission, over the violent disruption of a peaceful rally in Abuja, November 21, 2013.

The court order followed a suit marked CV/1624/2013, filed by a non-governmental organization, the Centre for Social Justice, Mr. Eze Onyekpere and five others.

In his judgement, Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf held that the violent disruption of the applicants’ meeting and peaceful assembly at the Millennium Park in Abuja on November 21, 2013 by armed officials of the respondents, “was a wanton violation of the

applicants’ fundamental rights guaranteed by Section 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended.”

The court said the respondents acted against the spirit and provisions of the constitution when it forcefully prevented the applicants from marching to the National Assembly to lodge their complaint.

It said the action of armed officials of the respondents violated the applicants’ right to freedom of movement as enshrined in section 41 of the 1999 constitution.

Consequently, Justice Baba-Yusuf issued “a perpetual injunction restraining the respondents, whether by themselves or their agents, servants or proxies from using chemical weapons or any other type of weapon to disperse, torture or intimidate the applicants or prevent them from

assembling, gathering, moving or marching from or to any part of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The court also granted “an order compelling the respondents jointly and severally to pay to the applicants the sum of five thousand Naira (N5,000) for medical expenses incurred by the applicants in treating participants as a result of the chemical weapons used by the respondents to disperse the gathering of the applicants on November 21, 2013.”

Besides, the court equally awarded N5,000,000 for general damages and N2,000,000 for special damages in favour of the applicants.

The applicants, had through their lawyer, Mr. Kingsley Nnajiaka, gone before the high court to enforce their fundamental human rights.

2016 inspires hope for better Nigeria — Anyaoku

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BUJA— 2016 inspires hope of a real change for the better in Nigeria’s national circumstances, former Commonwealth Secretary General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, has said.

Anyaoku made the remark in a signed statement made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), yesterday, in Abuja.

He expressed hope that the pervading insecurity in Nigeria would be brought under control.

He also expressed hope that corruption which had remained the greatest bane to national development would be effectively tackled.

“The infrastructural deficit in power supply, transportation including roads, education and health will receive attention.

“Youth unemployment together with the widespread poverty of the masses will be productively addressed,” the statement quoted Anyaoku as saying.

The elder statesman described 2015 as a year of historic events which began with insecurity and devastation in the northeastern part of the country.

He said the outgoing year also witnessed growing threat of destructive violence to the national electoral process with potential u n a c c e p t a b l e consequences for the integrity of the nation.

He said: “But thanks to the initiative by some elder-statesmen which led to signing of the Abuja Accord of violence-free campaigns by the 14 presidential candidates and their political parties.

“The elections were peaceful which enabled the country to progress its evolving democracy by having for the first time a peaceful change of government from a ruling to an opposition party.”

Anyoku said the challenge facing the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is to work with all the regions of the country for the realisation of these hopes.

He added that the challenge also calls for collaborative response from all the citizens.

10 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29 , 2015

Petrol'll soon be available — NUPENG

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AGOS—THE National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers yesterday, said that petrol would soon be available in filling stations across the country.

Mr Tokunbo Korodo, the South-West Chairman of the union, who stated this in Lagos said there had been improvement on loading of petroleum at the depots in Lagos.

He observed that Nigerians would appreciate the present regime if it could reduce the price of petroleum.

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, had earlier said that a price modulation in petrol would begin by January 2016.

Kachikwu disclosed this during his inspection of the Port Harcourt Refinery Company, PHRC, on Christmas day.

The NUPENG chairman said that the government meant well for all and sundry, in spite of the few greedy people that worked to frustrate genuine intentions.

We'll defeat Boko Haram as planned, FG insists

By Olasunkanmi Akoni & Emmanuel Elebeke

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AGOS—THE Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has expressed optimism that despite the recent attacks by insurgent, the Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari’s would technically defeat Boko Haram before the end of this December deadline.

Meantime, he also assured Nigerians that the National Art Theatre will not be sold for whatever reason as been speculated in some quarters.

Mohammed made the remarks in Lagos yesterday, while briefing newsmen. He was accompanied by representatives of the Lagos Police Command and Department of State Services, DSS, at the premises of the National Theatre shortly after inspecting facilities at the complex as part of the tour of the parastatals under his ministry.

Reacting to attacks on Jiddari Polo, and Adawari Village, near Maiduguri metropolis, both in Borno State, where scores of people were killed between Sunday and Monday, the Minister said, “We have been vindicated because Bokom Haram have been decapitated compared to the past records.”

While insisting that Boko Haram sect has been technically defeated by the Nigerian military, Mohammed said the pockets of attacks still being witnessed in the country could not be compared to what the near war

ONE LAGOS FIESTA: Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode(2nd left), addressing fun lovers and Agege residents, during the flag-off of the One Lagos Fiesta, at the Agege Mini Stadium, Agege, Lagos. With him are Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa; Minister for Information & Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Arts & Culture, Mr. Folorunsho Coker. situation the sect subjected the country to same time last year.

National Theatre

On the National Theatre, Mohammed said; “We are not averse to a Public-Private Partnership, PPP, arrangement that will add value to the iconic (National Art Theatre) complex.

The process of selecting a preferred bidder under the PPP arrangement is currently under way. ‘’The National Theatre is a national monument and a tourist attraction. We will not allow it to go derelict or become a magnet for hoodlums. This monument is the pride of the nation, and it has always served as the point of

Ambode at One Lagos Fiesta, emphasises all-inclusive govt

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AGOS—GOVERNOR Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Sunday restated his commitment to keep faith with the promise he made during the electioneering campaign to run an all-inclusive government, where every community will not be left out in the scheme of affairs.

Ambode spoke while flagging off the ‘One Lagos Fiesta’ at the Agege Stadium, adiing that the programme was in fulfilment of his campaign promise, as well as improving on what he met on ground on all fronts.

The ‘One Lagos Fiesta’, an initiative of the present administration tailored towards ushering in the New Year, holds between December 27, and January 1, 2016 simultaneously in five locations across the state including Epe, Badagry, Ikorodu, Agege and Lagos Island.

Speaking at the event, Governor Ambode recalled the last time he visited Agege Stadium during the electioneering campaign, saying he was back again to fulfil one of the promises made to the people then.

The governor said his administration was working hard to make Lagos work for all, just as he assured that good things would start happening in Agege, and indeed in the whole of Lagos.

Earlier, the Federal Government, through the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed hailed Lagos State for the innovative annual countdown event, describing it as the biggest of its kind in subSaharan Africa.

Mohammed also congratulated Governor Ambode and the government of Lagos State for

rejigging the event into what is now known as the ‘One Lagos Fiesta’ designed to hold simultaneously in five different locations across the State.

Also speaking, Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa thanked Governor Ambode for showing love to the people of the State, especially Agege, and promised the people that government would ensure that the next edition will be bigger and better.

Prominent musicians, including Dbanj and Seun Kuti, performed at the fiesta.

convergence for Nigerians seeking fun and relaxation, especially during festive periods, and a centre for the promotion of arts and culture,’’ he said.

Mohammed added that the security around the complex would be beefed up to prevent a recurrence of the molestation by hoodlums of fun seekers at the National Theatre on Christmas

Day, and also ensure the safety of the priceless artefacts within the complex.

Earlier, the General Manager of the National Theatre, Mallam Kabir Yusuf Yar’Adua, conducted the Minister around the facilities at the complex, which include; the banquet, cinema and exhibition halls, the sub-power station, the water works, the police post and the artiste village, among others.

NDLEA nabs drug peddlers at MMIA

By Daniel Etheghe

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AGOS—OPERATIVES of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, yesterday arrested two suspected drug traffickers on Boxing Day - one Mr. Ikeh Maxwell Obumneme with six wraps of cocaine weighing 120 grammes, inserted into his anus and Mr. Nwakpo Akumma with 1.860 kilogrammes of methamphetamine sealed in tin tomato paste at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos.

Speaking on the arrest, NDLEA Commander at the Lagos airport, Ahmadu Garba said Obumneme, a 40-year-old man, was arrested on his way from Brazil while Akumma, a 27-year-old, was apprehended while attempting to export the drugs to South Africa.

Garba further said the suspects

targeted the festive period to smuggle drugs.

He said “Intelligence report received by the Agency indicated that the suspects specifically targeted the festive season to smuggle their drugs. Ikeh Maxwell who inserted cocaine in his anus from Sao Paulo through Dubai on Emirates flight was caught on arrival while Nwakpo Tochukwu that hid methamphetamine in tomato paste meant for export to South Africa on South Africa airways flight was equally arrested.”

Meanwhile, acting Chairman, NDLEA, Mrs. Roli Bode-George assured Nigerians that the agency would maintain total alertness in drug detection operation all through the incoming year.

Maxwell hails from Oji River in Enugu State, while Tochukwu is an automobile parts dealer at Ladipo market, Lagos.

Ogun Assembly seeks improved revenue generation

By Daud Olatunji

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BEOKUTA—THE Ogun State House of Assembly has charged the State Internal Revenue Service, SIRS, to enhance its performance with a view to providing prompt and efficient service delivery in revenue generation in the State.

Members of the State House

of Assembly made the submission while taking on the Board’s Chairman of State IRS, Mr. Adekunle Adeosun during the 2016 budget defence session held at Okemosan, Abeokuta.

The lawmakers, which included Oludare Kadiri, Israel Jolaoso, Victor Fasanya, Olusola Sonuga and Ganiyu

Oyedeji unanimously sought for the blockage of leakages in revenue generation, strict monitoring of citizens’ compliance with statutory tax payment as well as identification of new taxpayers.

They noted that such proactive steps would lead to increased revenue generation

to the State to fund all the five cardinal programmes of the State government.

Responding, Mr Adeosun said the agency which had been striving hard to remain outstanding revenue generation through its commitment to best tax practices in friendly environment would in the next year improve tax revenue by 50%.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015 — 11

FG to build 10,000 health facilities in 774 councils

By Rotimi Ojomoyela

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DO EKITI—THE Federal Government will build 10,000 primary health facilities in the 774 local government areas across the country for effective service delivery to the people towards de-congesting the nation’s tertiary health institutions.

Indications emerged yesterday that no fewer than 60 million indigent Nigerians will enjoy unhindered access to medical care under President Muhammadu Buhari’s government within the next two years.

The Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, dropped the hint at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ado

Ekiti while commissioning some recently completed projects there.

The Professor of Gynecology also expressed worry over the leadership tussles and incessant strikes in the federal institutions in recent times, warning the medical personnel that the unsavoury situations are killing the sector and reducing its quality of service delivery with its attendant consequences to the populace.

“The tertiary institutions are not meant to treat malaria or skin rashes, but to attend to critical issues. We are determined to take away over 70 % of patients from the teaching hospitals, but the heads of tertiary institutions must find a way to relate freely with these cadres for effective

healthcare delivery.

“We won’t abandon that cadres, so that the sequence of referralS could be protected,” he said.

On the leadership tussle and strike in federal hospitals, which has become a recurring decimal in federal institutions across the country, the Minister said: “It is unfortunate that our national hospitals are better known for strikes rather than services.''

Commending the Ado Ekiti hospital’s Chief Medical Director, Dr Majekodunmi Ayodele, for his work in the hospital, Prof. Adewole said; “ what is symbolic about today is that we are commissioning 12 projects through the partnership and Memorandum of understanding this hospital signed

with Afe Babalola University.

“I want to thank Aare Afe Babalola for his investment not only in education, but also in this hospital”.

Dr Ayodele, who assured the agitated workers that all their dues will be paid, appealed to the Ministry of Health to grant the request for the payment of take off grants to the hospital as a former medical centre and for its new status as a teaching hospital.

Governor Ayodele Fayose, who was represented by the speaker, Hon. Kola Oluwawole and Chief Babalola, urged the hospital’s management to find ways of ensuring industrial harmony in the hospital.

Crisis looms In Osun over planned demolition of shrine

By Gbenga Olarinoye

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S O G B O — TRADITIONAL worshipers of Orisa-Oko in Osogbo, Osun State have warned against planned demolition of their shrine for the expansion of Osogbo Central Mosque.

Addressing a press conference in Osogbo yesterday, leaders of GOV AHMED PRESENTS BUDGET 2015: Kwara State Governor, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed Olorisa-Oko community in Osogbo Laying the 2016 Appropriation Bill before the State House of Assembly, Ilorin....yesteresday. alleged that the leadership of Osogbo Central Mosque was planning to demolish their family house at Oja-Oba area, which houses their shrine in order to give way for the expansion of the Makinde, member Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja II

By Gbenga Olarinoye mosque. yesterday, extended their representing Ife Central and The traditionalists however SOGBO—GOVERNOR condolences to the family of Hon Minority leader at the Osun warned against fuelling of religious Rauf Aregbesola of Osun Makinde Oladejo Samson who House of Assembly died early crisis by attempting to demolish State and the Ooni of Ife, Oba died at the age 48. hours of Sunday after a brief their ancestral home saying no illness. amount of money offered to them In a condolence message by would make them succumb. the Director of the Bureau of The family head, Pa Jimoh Communications and Strategy, Iyanda while addressing newsmen Office of the Governor, Semiu BADAN—THE Oyo State former Special Adviser on Security, Okanlawon, appealed to the Ataoja of Osogbo Aregbesola land Oba Jimoh Oyetunji Government has said that it Mr. Segun Abolarinwa, among described the death of the House Olanipekun, Larooye II to prevail will investigate the circumstances others. of Assembly member as sudden Addressing newsmen after the and shocking. upon the leadership of Osogbo surrounding the fire incidents that Central Mosque not to embark on engulfed the Sango Alaro plank delegation had inspected the burnt The Governor who prayed for the demolition of their ancient market twice in three days, which sections of the market, Layinka the repose of Hon. Makinde resulted in losses estimated at expressed concern that the market Oladejo Samson’s soul, buildings. could record two fire incidences extended his “profound Pa Iyanda who explained that the several millions of naira. land on which the central mosque Governor Abiola Ajimobi made within three days. condolence to the immediate Describing Ajimobi as peace- family, members of The Peoples was built belongs to the Olorisa this known when he paid a visit to Oko family said after giving that the market which got burnt first on loving, the Governor’s spokesman Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun, portion of land to the mosque, the Christmas day, while another part said it cherished peace and Ife Central and the people of family house is not ready to give was also razed in the early hours anything that would make life more Osun.” comfortable for the people of the out more portions of their land at of yesterday.

Aregbesola urged the Speaker, The governor was represented by state, adding; “This is a state where members of the state House of any cost.

Pa Iyanda while debunking the the Special Adviser on everybody has the right to live and Assembly and family of Makinde insinuation that elders of Olorisa- Communication and Strategy, Mr. trade within the limit of the to take with equanimity the Oko house had received a Yomi Layinka; the Head of Service, Constitution.” loss of Hon Oladejo, The government delegation describing death as an whooping sum of money from some Mr. Soji Eniade; a former Secretary Muslim leaders in the state to the State Government, Mr. appealed to the people, particularly inevitable end for everybody. maintained that the family was not Ismail Olalekan-Alli; a former the traders and members of the ready to offend its god by allowing Special Adviser on Political affected community to remain calm Ooni too the planned demolition.

Matters, Dr. Gbade Ojo; and a and shun any untoward act.

Also, the Ooni of Ife, Oba

Ondo employs 18 first class graduands of state varsity

By Dayo Johnson

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K U R E — GOVERNOR Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo state has offered automatic employment to all the 18 first class graduands of the state-owned Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba, Akoko.

Any of them that is willing to take the appointment would be absorbed in the state civil service.

He made the pronouncement during the 6th convocation of the Institution.

Dr Mimiko said the state is proud of the graduands and was ready to give them automatic employment.

The governor lauded the institution and the students for going six years without interruption of the academic calendar due to strike action.

He assured that the state government would continue to make education affordable to the people of the state.

The vice Chancellor of the university, Prof Igbekele Ajibefun said the institution ultimate desire was to accommodate its over 14,000 students on campus compared to less than 20percent that are now accommodated.

Aregbesola, Ooni condole with family of late Osun lawmaker

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Oyo govt to probe Ibadan plank market fire

I

Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, yesterday, expressed sadness over the death of the minority leader in the state House of Assembly, Dejo Makinde.

This is contained in Ooni’s condolence message sent in Ile-Ife by his Director of Media and Public Affairs, Mr Moses Olafare.

He said that Makinde, who represented Ife Central Constituency in Osun House of Assembly, was a gentleman endowed with attributes of “Omoluabi.”

According to him, his positive impacts will remain indelible in the minds of not only inhabitants of IleIfe but the entire state of Osun, having patriotically served as Ife Central Local Government boss.

The monarch said that “although he left us when his courage and carriage would have been of immense benefit to Ile-Ife and Osun, we pray his gentle soul rests in perfect peace”

12—Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

Why Oshiomhole suspended me from office —Ex-Edo LG Chair

By Gabriel Enogholase

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ENIN—SUSPENDED Chairman of Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State, Mr. Osaro Obazee, has attributed his suspension from office by Governor Adams Oshiomhole to his closeness to a governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Pastor Osagie IzeIyamu. He also insisted that allegations levelled against him by the state government were fabricated to get him out of office.

Obazee, who was suspended last September, said that three months after he was suspended from office, no panel had invited him to tell him why he was suspended, adding that he had approached a court over what he termed his unconstitutional suspension.

Obazee, who spoke with newsmen in Benin, said Governor Oshiomhole lacked the power to suspend him and that only the Edo State House of Assembly or the legislative council of Oredo council could suspend him.

He regretted the control of local governments by state governors, saying: “If autonomy in all ramifications is not given to local governments, then local governments should be made like

an appendage of state governments, like a parastatal or ministry, so that those going to that office will know that they are going for self-enslavement.”

He said that many people had reported him to the governor that he refused to let go of his relationship with Pastor IzeIyamu and that he was

compromised to work for the PDP during the 2015 general election.

He maintained that his crime was that he did not severe his age-long relationship with IzeIyamu, adding that he was a liberal democrat. “If the APC brings a candidate I do not know and that I do not believe in, I will support Pastor,” he said.

He also said that Governor Oshiomhole lacked the moral right to accuse him of not paying workers’ salary because the governor made local governments in Edo State pay teachers’ salary 100 per cent and that he also coughed out N22.5 million every month as retirement benefits for pensioners.

B

ENIN—CRISIS is rocking the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Edo State, following allegations that one of its governorship aspirants (names withheld) diverted rice meant to be distributed to members of the party prior to the presidential election, which was brought to the state by the campaign organisation of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

The crisis erupted after members of the party observed that the governorship aspirant was sharing the rice to his supporters as Christmas gift after he allegedly super-imposed his picture on that of former President Jonathan on the bags of rice.

A chieftain of PDP in the state, Mr Okharedia Ihimekpen, described the discovery as shocking and urged President Muhammadu Buhari to extend the ongoing probe to funds expended during the former President Jonathan's campaign to Edo State.

He said, “It was shocking when we saw that the bags of rice were actually meant to be distributed during the presidential campaign but this aspirant confiscated them. I want to appeal to the Federal Government to extend the Dasukigate probe to Edo State and if this aspirant is indicted he should be prosecuted and C M Y K

By Jimitota Onoyume

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GOTV BOXING NIGHT: From left: Daddy Showkey, John Ugbe, Managing Director, MultiChoice Nigeria and Martin Mabutho, General Manager, Marketing, MultiChoice Nigeria, during the 5th GOtv Boxing Night held at the Indoor Sports Hall of National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos on Saturday.

Crisis rocks Edo PDP over alleged diversion of rice

By Simon Ebegbulem

NCC seeks collaboration to end attacks on telecom facilities

disqualified from the governorship race.

“We call on all Edo people to distance themselves from elements like this because if they are allowed again into the corridors of power, Edo State will be for sale. Such people

should be made to return all the rice and money they collected on behalf of Edo PDP members which they pocketed. We expect PDP to disqualify him because in a decent society, people like that should be charged to

court after they are banned from contesting for political positions.

“The PDP should rediscover themselves before talking about election so that we don’t run into another era of holocaust,” he stated.

P-Harcourt Chamber of Commerce advocates diversified economy

By Davies Iheamnachor

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ORRIED by the dwindling oil revenue in the country, the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce has called for a diversified economy.

The Chamber made the call during the official opening of the 11th edition of Port Harcourt International Trade Fair 2015, at the Gowon Stadium in Port Harcourt.

Speaking, the President of Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Emi MembereOtaji, said that the dwindling oil revenue accruable to all levels of government occasioned by global fall in crude oil price was a wakeup call for the diversification of the Nigerian economy.

Meanwhile, the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Kenneth Kobani commended the Chamber of Commerce Port

Harcourt for its consistency in organizing the annual trade fair.

Kobani said the fair was key to stimulating the local economy, adding that the governor had directed the

Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority to liaise with the Chamber for the allocation of land for the establishment of a permanent site for the International Trade Fair Complex.

DESOPADEC empowers 200 Ndokwa indigenes

By Festus Ahon

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SABA—DELTA State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, has empowered over 200 indigenes of Ndokwa nationality with various categories of starter packs to enable them set up their own businesses and be selfsufficient.

The beneficiaries, drawn from Ndokwa East, Ndokwa West and Ukwani Local Government Areas, received starter packs such as tricycles, motorcycles, hair drying machines, electricity

generating sets, grinding machines and cash to carry out their trade.

Also, widows were given cash gifts and wrappers, while physically challenged persons received wheel chairs, through the state chairman of persons with disabilities, Omor Obruche.

The event at Ashaka, in Ndokwa East, saw the interventionist agency also disbursing cash to traditional rulers, Community Development Committee Chairmen and community youth leaders as part of her Christmas package for the communities.

ORT HARCOURT— COMMUNITY leaders in Rivers State have been urged to help halt the attacks on telecom facilities in their areas.

Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Professor Umaru Danbatta, who made the appeal at the NCC’s day at the Port Harcourt International Trade Fair, said that part of the challenges facing the telecom industry in the country was incessant attacks on their facilities by youths.

Represented by the Commission’s Deputy Director, Consumers Affairs, Dr Yemi Ayetubi, Danbatta said, some youths lock out base stations, steal generating sets installed by service providers for their operations and also steal diesel meant for power plants.

Noting that the vices were disrupting smooth operations of service providers, he pleaded with community leaders to sensitise their people against the acts.

“Another critical role, which the commission is requesting partnership with the public, is in protecting telecom infrastructure.

Vandalization of telecom facilities, including lock out of base stations, stealing of generators, diesels from base stations and some of these vices, affect the quality of service that can be provided in a given location.

“Some communities, or councils, and sometimes, individuals or families, bar service providers for maintaining their sites, or expanding services to other locations. We wish to make it known to the public that the type of services available in this part of the world are unique but can only be possible when base stations are interlinked with one another.”

Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015—13

NSCDC moves to clamp down on oil pipeline vandalism, others T

HE Commandant General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Abdullahi Gana Muhammadu, has set up a special task to clamp down on saboteurs in his drive to stem the tide of vandalism, illegal refineries, oil theft, and illegal bunkering in the country.

This is in line with the Corps' mandate to protect critical infrastructure and national assets.

The Corps' helms man, while charging the Special Task Force on its responsibilities in tracking down vandals and operatives of illegal refineries, also directed the state commandants to cooperate and work in synergy with the Commandant General’s Special Task Force assigned to their states for the special operation in clamping down on illegal dealers on petroleum products, vandals, illegal refineries, illegal bunkering and marketers involved in diversion of petroleum products.

The operation also extends to petrol filling stations selling above approved government pump price, hoarders of petroleum products, those involved in black marketing and racketeering as well as other related crimes, for prosecution in line with the law of the federation.

Stressing the need for the Special Task Force, Abdullahi said the Corps, as at December 2015, had identified and destroyed over 200 illegal refineries in Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, Edo, Kogi, Ondo, Cross River, Akwa Ibom States among others and over 120 suspects involved in the act of vandalism and other associated crimes prosecuted

and sentenced to various prisons terms by the High Courts in their respective states.

He said that, about 250 suspects were still undergoing prosecution in various state High Courts with over 80 trucks containing petroleum products impounded with several operational equipment belonging to

suspected vandals recovered.

Abdullahi charged the Task Force and other operational officers to live up to expectation by justifying the confidence the government and the people have in the Corps by ensuring that vandalism was reduced to the barest minimum by deploying all necessary mechanisms to checkmate the illicit act.

HEAR WORD: Etisalat Nigeria’s Manager, High Value Sponsorship & Events, Opeyemi Lawal; Director and Producer, Hear Word, Ifeoma Fafunwa; Head, Events and Sponsorship, Etisalat Nigeria, Modupe Thani; Hear Word cast members, Joke Silva, Bimbo Akintola and Elvina Ibru, at the Grand Performance of the 2015 edition of Hear Word, sponsored by Etisalat Nigeria in Lagos, weekend.

DESOPADEC repositions for increased productivity

By Akpokona Omafuaire

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ARRI—MANAGING Director/Chief Executive Ofiicer, Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, Chief Williams Makinde, has said that to improve productivity and efficiency, all ethnic cooperative societies and cleavages have to be collapsed into one mega-co-operative society.

He added that 200 female unemployed graduates would be trained in several areas of skill considering the importance of women in nation building.

Makinde said that his agency was also primed to train select journalists in new and developmental media.

The DESOPADEC boss, at the commission's end of year party, said that his board was aware of the many challenges being faced by his workers, describing the situation as part of the evolution of the organisation.

He said: “DESOPADEC is one indivisible family and we will keep it so. I am aware of the various challenges faced by staff. There are issues of lack of office spaces and operational vehicles, among others. It is due

to the evolution of the organisation and its restructuring.

“We shall make specialized training for youths through cooperative society. We shall train 200 unemployed female

graduates in various skills.

“Attitude to work has to change for better productivity.

All issues of tribal cleavages in the coming year must end.

To this end, all ethnic cooperative societies are to be

collapsed into one megaDESOPADEC society in 2016.

This is in anticipation of unity and improved cooperation to achieve greater productively in the coming year.”

Ochor, other Ndokwa appointees hail Okowa’s victory at A-Court the Executive Assistant to the

T

HE people of Ndokwa in Delta State have congratulated the state governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, on his recent victory at the Appeal Court on the 2015 governorship election.

At an inter-denominational church service in Obiaruku, headquarters of Ukwuani Local Government Area, for elected and appointed political office holders from Ndokwa in Delta State, Executive Director, Social Services Development, Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, Chris Ochor, said that the victory was from God, emphasizing that despite all that transpired before the ruling, the governor, and the party still came out victorious.

According to him, “That means that the election of Senator Okowa as the governor was a divine one, as the ruling has vindicated him and the

party.”

He called on the opposition to join hands with Okowa's government to move the state forward.

Speaking in the same vein,

Governor on Religious Matters, Bishop Greatman Nmalagu, said that the victory clearly shows that God is behind the state, and is fully in support of the election of Okowa.

Okowa condoles with Emefiele on emergence as mom’s death

A

By Festus Ahon

SABA—GOVERNOR Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has commiserated with Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, on the demise of his mother, Late Mrs Alice Emefiele, who died on Christmas Day, aged 94.

Okowa in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Charles Aniagwu, described Mrs. Emefiel's death as a great loss, not only to the Emefiele family but also to the entire state and nation in general, given her invaluable contributions to the cause of humanity.

He said that the late Mrs Emefiele was a great matriarch, whose support for her children led to Godwin Emefiele’s

Managing Director of Zenith Bank Plc and later Governor of CBN.

Rep donates 150-bed dormitory to orphanage

By Ochuko Akuopha

O

LEH—MINORITY Leader of the House of Representatives, Mr Leo Ogor, has donated a 150- bed dormitory to the Human Welfare for Empowerment and Development Initiative, HWEDI, an orphanage in Irri community, Isoko South Local Government Area, Delta State.

Commissioning the multi- million naira building furnished with double beds and various facilities, immediate past Secretary to the Delta State Government, Mr. Ovuozourie Macaulay, commended Ogor for his philanthropic gesture to the orphans.

He said: ‘’I have involved myself in giving alms to the orphans for many years but the dream to build an orphanage dormitory as this one has not been met due to series of events while in government. But with the help of my friend and brother it has come to pass.”

Earlier in his remarks, Mr Ogor, who is the member representing Isoko federal constituency in the House of Representatives expressed optimism that the dormitory would assist the orphans to restore the hope they had lost.

Isoko festival holds today

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HE National Union of Isoko Student, NUIS, will hold the Isoko Festival of Art and Culture today at Isoko Central School, ICS, Oleh, Delta State.

The event will start by 12 noon.

14—Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

SPECTACULAR SIGHTS FROM 2015 CARNIVAL CALABAR

Cross River State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade (2nd right) cutting a tape to declare the 2015 12-kilometre walk of the Carnival Calabar open. With him are his wife (right); Senator Florence Ita Giwa (2nd left) and Dr Frank Ayade.

(LEFT): Nollywood gang, led by Patience Ozokwor a n d Eucharia Anunobi.

(RIGHT): A gorgeous reveller.

Dropdead beauties on parade, left and right

Troupe from Italy

Participants from Tanzania

Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015—15

I’m still in PDP —Ekwunife

By Enyim Enyim

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NITSHA— SENATOR Uche E k w u n i f e representing Anambra Central senatorial zone, yesterday, said that she was still in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, contrary to insinuations in some quarters that she had defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC. The senator while reacting to a purported court order that she was disqualified from contesting the March 2016 fresh poll in the area, said that neither her nor her party, the PDP was disqualified from the contest.

“I want to clear one thing and that is, that no state chapter of the PDP conducts the party primaries. It is the business of the national leadership of our great party.

There were five-member panel from the national secretariat that conducted the National Assembly primaries in Anambra State. We all went through the same process so why single me out.

“I have taken everything in good faith. If God that sent me there wants me to be there again, I’ll be there, but I

strongly believe that the issue of disqualification being spread everywhere is the handiwork of my opponent in All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and Chief Victor Umeh.

“Umeh is afraid of election and he thinks the only way he can undo me is through blackmail. No court can disqualify somebody based on

party primaries. Nobody disqualified me, nobody has disqualified PDP. The court has ordered fresh election and not re-run and l have started my campaign.

“I am ready for the election. I am in the race to contest and win. No amount of blackmail will stop me because God abhors injustice. Umeh should leave me alone because I am not

his problem.

"His problem is the electorate, a greater percentage of whom will not vote for him in the forthcoming fresh poll.”

Ekwunife hinted that the PDP had fixed January 9, 2016 for its party primaries, saying that she was confident that she would still fly the party’s flag to contest the election.

PARTY: From left, Ogun State Commissioner for Commerce & lndustry, Mr. Bimbo Ashiru; Mrs. Foluke Bello, Mrs. Funso Amosun, wife of Ogun State governor, and Mrs. Kemi Ashiru, at Bimbo Ashiru's birthday party and wedding anniversary, in Lagos on Boxing Day.

Ekweremadu's a good example for Nigerian politicians —Saraki

By Henry Umoru

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RESIDENT OF the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki has described his Deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, as a perfect example for Nigerian politicians, saying that he has no regret working with him.

Senator Saraki spoke as Senator Ekweremadu described his reemergence as Senator and Deputy President of the Senate as an act of God. The two spoke at a civic reception at the country home of Senator Ekweremadu, in Mpu, Enugu State, shortly after a special thanksgiving service, where Ekweremadu rededicated himself to service Nigeria and

mankind.

Senator Saraki in his address, described Senator Ekweremadu as a man, who every Nigerian politician should look forward to working with.

He said: “For we politicians, it is always better to get close to know somebody because in our meetings in the 7th Senate, myself and him were far apart, but in this current Senate, I am the first person to tell a few people that Senator Ekweremadu is a perfect gentleman. You are a perfect gentleman and I repeat that many times and you are a good example for we politicians.

“He is the type of Nigerian that we will want to continue to serve because he only sees things for

the good of Nigeria. I am grateful to be working with you and I will continue to assure you that we will continue to work closely for the interest of this great country.”

Earlier at the special thanksgiving service by his family, Ekweremadu recalled his journey back to the Senate, saying, "about two years ago, nobody would have believed that we will be here talking about Ike Ekweremadu being a Senator again, let alone being the Deputy President of the Senate. But, by the grace of God, I am today not only the Senator representing Enugu West, but also the Deputy President of the Senate.

“We went through very tumultuous primaries that almost

Njikoka LG embarks on N500m ultra modern market

By Enyim Enyim

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NITSHA—NJIKOKA Local Government Area in Anambra State, has embarked on a N500m ultra modern international timber and general goods market in Enugwu- Agidi community.

Chairman of the council, Mr. Emeka Onuorah at the occasion of the flag-off of the market on the Enugu/ Onitsha expressway, by the Anambra State Deputy Governor, Dr. Nkem Okeke, said

that the market was abandoned for about 23 years, though started under the Col. Mike Atta military government.

“When l came into office as chairman l decided to start the project again to make sure that the people of Enugwu- Agidi and Njikoka in general benefit from the project.”

Onuorah said the project was being carried out through individual efforts with the council’s assistance.

He added that the first phase

had been completed while the second phase would soon commence.

Onuorah appealed to the indigenes and residents to avail themselves of the opportunity of owning a shop in the market by subscribing as soon as possible.

Earlier, the Deputy Governor, while flagging off the project, advised other council chairmen to emulate Onuorah’s development project aimed at providing good governance to the people.

divided our state along the line, but we thank God that today Enugu is united and peaceful.

“After the elections, PDP lost control of the National Assembly and many people thought we were finished, but we went into political engineering and I want to thank my colleagues for that long night. We decided that when we got to the chamber in the morning, we were going to perform wonders and when the time came for the inauguration of the Senate, I was re-elected Deputy President of the Senate.

It was the will of God.”

CD honours DPO, 4 others for service to humanity

By Chimaobi Nwaiwu

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N E W I — ANAMBRA State chapter of Campaign for Democracy, CD, has honoured the Fegge Divisional Police Officer, DOP, Mr Rabiu Garba and four others as CD ambassadors, following to their wonderful, good and superlative service to humanity.

Honouring them while celebrating the 67th Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the state chairman, Mr Vincent Ezekwueme expressed optimism that the DPO would be promoted in due course, stating that he has been able to chase away undesirable elements from the area.

He said, “We commend the DPO for being a pride, source of inspiration and hope to the Nigerian Police Force. He remains to the best of our knowledge the most honest, selfless, hardworking and human rights friendly police officer in the state.”

Those honoured with him included, Onitsha based businessmen, Sunday Ogbodo and Okey Ojimba.

In his vote of thanks on behalf of other honourees, the DPO attributed the increase in crime wave in the area to lack of education.

He urged CD to be firm and not be bias in their approach when perfoming their functions as there would be a lot of attacks and oppositions against them.

He said that CD and police were partners in progress and as such were expected to be above board in their actions and inaction.

Ezinne Ajuluchukwu for burial January 7

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HE BURIAL ceremony of late Mrs. Ezinne Ajulukwu of Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State will commence on Wednesday, January 6, 2016, with a Christian wake-keep from 7p.m. till dawn.

On Thursday, January 7, the body leaves Oraifite General Hospital Mortuary at 7a.m. for her ancestral home, Ibolo-Oraifite and her family home, Awor Ifite, Oraifite.

By 8a.m. the body lies in state at Ajuluchukwu’s compound, Awor-Ifite, Oraifite, followed by the funeral service at St Andrew’s Anglican Church, Awor-Ifite, Oraifite.

Late Mrs. Ezinne Ajulukwu Interment follows immediately after service, while an outing service will hold on Sunday, January 10, at St Andrew’s Anglican Church.

16—Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

Ketu hotel killing: Bereaved septuagenarian mum goes on hunger strike ...as Navy moves corpses of twin brothers to its morgue •Police bury third victim

By Evelyn Usman

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N D I C AT I O N E M E R G E D , yesterday, that the devastated mother of the deceased twin brothers, who were shot to death alongside their friend, weekend, by a drunken mobile policeman, in front of Paulson Hotel in Ketu area of Lagos has refused to eat since the incident.

The bereaved 75-yr-old Mrs. Oyesunle Late Taiwo Oyesunle Late Adesanya Adegoke Sleep has also eluded Late Kehinde Oyesunle the 75 year-old woman, who Jeje, who was shot to death taking Mama to my house. The him (late Adegoke) was a Seaman served, dead silence only stares at sympathisers, who alongside the twin brothers, incident is so devastating. Taiye memorable one. He visited my pervaded the premises. throng her relative’s home on had been buried. The remains and Kehinde were like my house that fateful day, which was Naval sources said preparation Ojefemi Street to console her of the 35-year-old trader, who biological children. also his birthday. He came with a was on to bury Taiwo. On whether “Unfortunately, since the pack of food he bought from an over the loss of her 34-year-old hailed from Ago-Iwoye, Ogun Kehinde would also be buried by State, was interred in a incident happened, the Police eatery. Playfully, I collected the twin children. the Navy, naval sources said that It was, however, discovered cemetery around Ikorodu at have not visited to console with food from him and ate. Like the would depend on the decision Mama. We learned that the easy-going person he was, he that the septuagenarian has two 7.24p.m., Sunday. reached with members of the Vanguard gathered that he Commissioner of Police was at the never complained. He later left, daughters, contrary to earlier bereaved family. report that the deceased were was buried by the Police, with hotel on Sunday, but he never only for me to receive a call that “What is obtainable in this kind came here.” the consent of the family. her only children. threw me off balance. of situation is to identify the body, He also denied news that the However, the corpses of the As at yesterday, she was "The caller informed me that which we have done and we moved out of Ketu to Ogun deceased twin brothers; Taiwo deceased twins were cultists.

Adegoke had been shot by a discovered he was our personnel.

He said: “Taye was a naval man. policeman. I rushed down to State by her daughters, and Kehinde Oyesunle are at Thereafter, discussion with following her deteriorating the moment under the Nigerian He joined the Nigerian Navy Paulson Hotel, where to my members of the family will follow, health condition, owing to her Navy, NN, custody. The corpses about four years ago. I don’t greatest shock, I saw corpses on burial. Our responsibility is to were reportedly transferred think a military man can join a littered on the ground. I went to refusal to eat and sleep. take responsibility forthe burial of Meanwhile, Adesanya from the Ikorodu General cult because he has access to a Jeje’s body, carried him and any of our person who dies in Adegoke, popularly known as Hospital morgue to the gun by the government. Kehinde shook him vigorously as I called service.

Nigerian Navy Reference on his part was working at Mega out his name, hoping he would “But in this case, if it is Hospital, Ojo, by some naval Con Oil station at toll gate, as an answer. But there was dead convenient for the Navy, his twin account officer. personnel, yesterday. silence. I have known him for 20 brother may be buried with him “Currently, the corpses are in years. He was an an amiable The trio were killed by a trigger after we would have finished happy Mobile policeman, Navy custody. They (naval person.” burying our own.”

Sergeant Stephen James, personnel ) came this (yesterday) It was gathered that while some following their refusal to buy morning to take them to their Taiwo Oyesunle's burial naval personnel came to remove him a bottle of beer. He morgue. All we want is justice Vanguard learned that when the body of late Taiwo from the and I know that government news of the death of one of their thereafter, shot himself. morgue, some family members When Vanguard arrived knows what it is supposed to do.” own filtered into the Navy pleaded with them to also take Ajefemi Street, yesterday, the

By Tare Youdeowei Ordinance Depot, where late that of his twin, in order to allow septuagenarian was sighted 'My last moment with Adegoke' Taiwo Oyesunle, an Ordinary easy access to both bodies.

Also on 3, Dairo Street, one of coming out from one of the HE LIAISON Officer, apartments on 6, Ajefemi Street. late Adegoke friends, who Imo State She cast a blank stare on everyone claimed to have witnessed his Government Liaison Office, around, as she was ushered into interment, said: “My friend was Lagos, Mr Steve Asimobi, a waiting vehicle to take her to buried at exactly 7.24p.m., by has promised to work with Ogun State. Her two daughters some policemen on Sunday. staff of the Liaison Office to and a family member joined her Some of his family members were attract investors to Imo and well-wishers,

By Chimaobi Nwaiwu friends present. His family members gave in the vehicle.

State. yesterday, celebrated their Speaking with Vanguard their consent to his being buried Asimobi, who thanked N E W I — N N E W I traditional ruler and longest shortly before they left, the because they said they didn’t Governor Rochas Okorocha community in and serving traditional ruler in septuagenarian’s in-law, Mr. want trouble. for appointing him, said Africa, Igwe Kenneth Orizu “The last moment I shared with outside Nigeria alongside 111, who observed his 90th Segun Shodunke, said: “I am these investors would create job opportunities for birthday and 52nd year on the throne which, according to indigenes of the state. records, made him the longest He promised to use his serving monarch in Nigeria appointment to pursue the Speaking with newsmen as have great idea, there are and the whole of Africa.

By Bartholomew policy thrusts of the state As early as 6.00a.m., canon part of the YALI Network people who can help you to Madukwe government in Lagos. shots heralded the Ofala awards dinner night held in achieve your dream,” he said.

According to him: “My YALI Network is an initiative festival, which was followed by HE NIGERIAN chapter Lagos, Chief Executive projects include Imo State of the American based Officer of SWAPNAIJA, of President Barack Obama of an inter-denominational re-branding shop in Lagos Young African Leaders Opeoluwa Ayegbusi, pointed United States of America to service, which he dedicated to where we'll showcase the Initiative, YALI, Network, Face out that if they could dream encourage young African the victims of the recent gas achievements, proposals 2 Face has advised youths to about SWAPNAIJA and youths which was launched in plant fire incident that took the and development projects lives of many people, last be proactive in their achieve same, other youths 2014. of Governor Okorocha; Thursday. could realise their dreams According to the President of endeavours and not wait on increase of the Internally Officiating during the church also.

YALI Network Face 2 Face service at the Palace of Igwe government.

Generated Revenue, IGR, “You have to be courageous Group Nigeria, Elda David, YALI Network Face 2 Face collection in Lagos State, Orizu III, Anglican Bishop of also unveiled an Android to challenge the status quo. the group, "is a private Nnewi Diocese, Rt. Rev. the monthly clean-up application that allows mobile Always look for ways to turn initiative with the aim of Godwin Okpala, called for a exercise involving all staff phone ushers to swap their negativity to positivity. We recognising members of the minute of silence in honour of of the Liaison office, and airtime from one network to can’t wait for government to network who are doing well in the fire victims. the Best Monthly Staff do everything for us. If you their endeavours." another.

Award.”

Asimobi promises to attract investors to Imo

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Longest serving Igwe in Africa

marks 90th birthday, 52yrs on throne

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YALI network, Face 2 Face, urges youths not to rely on govt

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Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015 — 17

M

OHAMMED Saeed alSahaf was the Minister of Information in the dying days of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq. Nicknamed “Comical Ali” by British tabloids, al-Sahaf made a fool of himself during the Iraqi war by constantly fabricating victories of the Iraqi army, even as territory after territory fell to the American-led allied forces.

What was so ridiculous about him was that his lies were so blatant, only fools could believe them. Even when American tanks rolled into Baghdad, Comical Ali declared: “There is no presence of the American columns in the city of Baghdad at all. We besieged them and we killed most of them. Today, the tide has turned. We are destroying them. The Americans are going to surrender or be burned in their tanks.”

Comical Lai Lai Mohammed, Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, is Nigeria’s homegrown “Comical Ali.” It would not be unfair to fashion him as “the Minister of FABU.” Barely two months of assuming office, Mohammed has established himself as an instrument of cheap propaganda and disinformation. On internet blogs today, he is now generally referred to by his traducers as “Liar Mohammed.” Without a doubt, he has earned this sobriquet by his penchant to be extremely economical with the truth.

Lai Mohammed’s tall tales have now reached epidemic proportions.

It is a contradiction in terms that a government that claims to be anti-corruption, and a president that boasts to be a man of integrity, should have a “Comical Ali” as its face and spokesman. It is doubtful that Mohammed can stop being himself. However, if President Buhari is interested in redeeming his now battered image, he needs to admit he made a big error of judgment in appointing Mohammed as a minister.

Lai Mohammed must be fired immediately. Barring which, the only honourable thing left for the Honourable Minister to do is to resign.

A Minister of Information should not be allowed to become a Minister of Misinformation.

Fictitious Victory On 23 December, 2015, Mohammed told a meeting of editorial heads of media houses in Lagos that the Nigerian military has met President Buhari’s deadline to defeat Boko Haram before 31 December, 2015.

Said Mohammed: “Today, I can report that the war against Boko Haram is largely won.

Today, I can report to you that the entire 70 plus kilometres stretch from Maiduguri to Bama and all the way to Banki

about the N5000 stipend for the 25 million unemployed.

Why Lai Mohammed must be fired which leads to Cameroun and the Central African Republic are in the hands of our gallant troops. They have so degraded the capacity of Boko Haram that the terrorists can no longer hold on to any territory just as they can no longer carry out any spectacular attack.”

Rather than call his minister to order, President Buhari backed him up in the bid to white-wash the gaffe of predicting Boko Haram would be defeated before the end of the year. He told the BBC: “Boko Haram has reverted to using improvised explosive devices. They have now been reduced to that. But articulated conventional attacks on centres of communication and populations.. they are no longer capable of doing that effectively. So I think technically we have won the war because people are going back into their neighbourhoods. Boko Haram as an organised fighting force, I assure you, that we have dealt with them.”

The president conveniently forgot he had said at his inaugural address that: “We cannot claim to have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing the Chibok girls and all other innocent persons held hostage by insurgents.” We have heard nothing about the Chibok girls. Nevertheless, the president now says Boko Haram has been technically defeated. Are we therefore to conclude that the Chibok girls have also been technically rescued?

Boko Haram response The victory declarations of Lai Mohammed and President

A Minister of Information should not be allowed to become a Minister of Misinformation

Buhari turned out not only to be palpably false, but outrightly dangerous. Just two days after Mohammed’s declaration, the Boko Haram who he says “can no longer carry out any spectacular attack” attacked Kimba in Borno State. They killed 14 hapless people and razed the village to the ground.

According to eye-witness reports, “not a single house was spared in the arson.”

One day later, a coordinated fighting unit of Boko Haram infantry attacked Maiduguri.

They came in a military convoy, precisely the manner the president boasted is now impossible. They then dug in for a pitched battle against the Nigerian army. Thereafter, two female suicide-bombers detonated explosives in the Jiddari area of Maiduguri, with casualty figures yet to be determined.

There is no doubt these attacks were direct responses to APC’s vain propaganda.

Boko Haram decided to give the lie to the bombastic statements that it has been defeated either technically or in actuality. To drive home the point beyond reasonable doubt, the insurgents chose to attack Maiduguri, the very command and control epicentre of Nigeria’s military operations in the North-east.

Clearly, the defeat of Boko Haram only exists as figments in the imaginations of APC propagandists. Having won the election by manipulating the press, they now seek to govern by employing a cacophony of jobless youth whose charge is to post “SAI Buhari” comments on as many internet blogs as possible.

They also have the mandate to attack anyone who refuses to buy the many-splendored FABUS of the APC government.

APC’s bogus propaganda is partly responsible for the deaths and destruction in Kimba, Aladuwari and Maiduguri, the full extent of which are yet to be determined. The false victory procession of APC chieftains provoked the Boko Haram to contradict them at the cost of Nigerian lives. It is way too early to call for the impeachment of Mr. President. But it is high time to call for the retirement of Lai Mohammed. We must not

allow this local “Comical Ali” to continue to use Nigerian lives to score cheap political points.

While the APC was busy celebrating the fictitious death of Boko Haram, the New Yorkbased Institute for Economics and Peace declared in its latest Global Terrorism Index that Boko Haram “has become the most deadly terrorist group in the world.” The day before Mohammed’s bombast, UNICEF declared that Boko Haram has succeeded in keeping over one million children out of school, warning that this is likely to add fuel to the insurgency by radicalizing the youth in the North-east.

Campaign recantations It was Lai Mohammed who told Nigerians the promises of the APC during the election were actually not from the APC. The APC denied its key presidential campaign documents: “My Covenant with Nigerians” and “One Hundred Things Buhari Will Do in 100 Days.” Buhari himself presents one of the documents in the first person, saying: “The covenant is derived from the manifesto of my party, the All Progressives Congress.

It however represents my pledge to you all when I become your president.”

But once he became president, Mohammed denied them. He swore that: “Buhari never promised to do anything in 100 days, that’s the honest truth.” However, when APC Senators were forced to vote against their own campaign promise to provide N5,000 monthly to 25 million unemployed Nigerians, Mohammed declared that the government already has 1.4 trillion naira recovered from banks through the TSA ready to fulfil the promise. He said we should expect it in the 2016 budget.

These are his words: “The non-implementation of the payment policy so far is due to the fact that it was not included in the 2015 budget. The Muhammadu Buhari administration has been busy putting in place measures that will make it possible to start the implementation of this project.”

This has turned out as usual to be another tissue of lies.

The 2016 budget has now been announced, and there is nothing

Presidential doublespeak The government of President Buhari is replete with contradictions and doublespeak.

At the APC South-East rally in Owerri, Buhari declared he would make the naira equal to the dollar if voted into office.

He continued: “It is sad that the value of the naira has dropped to more than 230 to one dollar.

This does not speak well for the nation’s economy.” How does it speak for the economy now that the value of the naira has dropped under Buhari to 280 to the dollar?

Buhari said: “Boko Haram is a typical example of small fires causing large fires. An eccentric and unorthodox preacher with a tiny following was given posthumous fame and following by his extra-judicial murder at the hands of the police.” What then are we to say about the extra-judicial massacre of over 300 Shiite Muslims in Zaria at the hands of the Nigerian army under this Buhari administration?

Buhari said during the campaign: “You are all my people; I will treat you all as mine. I will work for those who voted for me, voted against me and those who didn’t vote at all.” Then he said after the campaign: “The constituents (that) gave me 97% cannot in all honesty be treated on some issues with constituencies that gave me 5%.”

On his election, the president said: “Our long night is over and a new dawn has come…

Democracy and rule of law will be put in place.” “I pledge myself and the government to the rule of law, in which none shall be so above the law that they are not subject to its dictates, and none shall be so below it that they are not availed of its protection.” But under his administration, democracy and the rule of law has continued to be violated. The DSS ignores court verdicts with impunity, as happened in the case of Dasuki and Kanu.

Justice Muazu Pindigi was summarily replaced by Justice Ambrosa as chairman of the Rivers state governorship petitions tribunal and PDP’s victory was quickly annulled.

Pindigi said: “The Supreme Court has said that for an election to be annulled, the petitioner has to prove that elections didn’t hold at the polling units where the winner was returned elected. I’m not sure that the Ambrosa’s judgment arrived through that route.”

During the election, Buhari declared the maintenance of the presidential fleet of aircrafts a colossal waste of money. He said: “For me, when we come into office, all these waste will be blocked and properly channeled into our economy. ” However, since he became president, not a single plane has been sold. Billions of naira continue to be spent as the president has gone on one international junket after the other.

18 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015 PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari might have made his most important move since assuming office as elected president seven months ago, releasing the 2016 budget, which is expected to actualise his democracy dividend to the electorate.

Whether this move would be impactful or marginal to the living conditions of average Nigerians depends on the factors surrounding the budgetary provisions.

For one, certain provisions of the budget already indicated the intentions of the regime to improve the living standard of the citizenry despite adverse economic circumstances.

For instance, inclusive in the budget is a N200 billion Special Intervention Programmes to address vulnerable social sectors as well as the implementation of the N5,000 unemployment allowance. Also the massive increase in capital expenditure

Oil, forex budget benchmark 2016 and huge allocations to key infrastructure sectors attest to the intent to stimulate the stressed economy and improve living standards of Nigerians.

However, other provisions of the budget also pointed to major threats on the path to realization of the budget. Key among them are the benchmarks for oil revenue and the exchange rate.

Incidentally the two are by far the most far reaching determinants of the revenue projections, the basis for the execution of the laudable goals.

The oil price benchmark at USD38 per barrel appears not only inconsistent with prudential financial planning but rather

too presumptious on a factor that is totally outside Nigeria’s control. It is even more worrisome that the benchmark came at a time the price has already plummeted.

The tradition and in consonance with erring on the side of caution by dropping the benchmark significantly below current market price where surplus is not lost but invested in both reserves and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Fund as provided by the law.

Similar to the oil benchmark was the exchange rate benchmark fixed at N198/ USD1.0, the ruling rate at the Central

Bank of Nigeria, CBN, regulated market.

Everybody in Nigeria and international observers know how unrealistic this rate has been in the past eight months. Even the President himself has admitted in his budget speech that the market needs tweaking.

How then could the budget be realistically based on that rate?

Though it may appear as official devaluation if the President had based the budget on any rate lower than the official rate, we would have advised that a caveat be placed to the effect that a rate change during the life of the budget would be reflected accordingly. This caveat, we believe, would have starved off the toga of unseriousness the 2016 budget appears to be carrying now.

Benchmarks are not cast in iron, yet a realistic benchmark, especially such as we are discussing here should have been the way to go.

OPINION

Tinubu’s canvass for subsidy removal

By Ikem Adimorah “Tell men of high condition That manages the estate, Their purpose is ambitions, Their practice only hate And if they reply, Then give them the lie”.

T

HAT was one of the stanzas of Sir Walter Raleigh’s final poems some times titled “The Lie”. It was written on realising his impending death and that life is vanity and falsity in 1592.

The satirical poem loaded with irony and metaphor threw up so much that was hidden in the political protests of January 2012 against the removal of fuel subsidy by the PDP led Federal Government.

The hypocrisy has crystallised with the recent provocative urging of the Buhari government by Bola Ahmed Tinubu to quickly do away with the oil subsidy.

Admitting that his view against the removal in 2012 was due to ignorance or sheer quest for power. As he put it “… However, I have reached the conclusion that there are too many demons in the system for that hell to be turned into heaven”.

It is pertinent to recall that Tinubu and his cohorts were of the view that Nigerians deserve the subsidy and should be allowed to enjoy it and that all that government needed then was to block all the loop holes where money use to leak out from government coffers into private pockets. They went further to add that if Nigerians will vote them into power, the subsidy will be increased for the common people to enjoy. Regrettably, the people have

Our experience with politicians has gone full circle and we are taking stock. Politics without integrity has been laid bear for us to see

voted them into government and they are giving us “the lie”. Now they have known and Nigerians will have to pay more for fuel.

The leakages have been blocked and it is still not yet enough. Invariably it was not just the leakages. How many billions of dollars have we wasted in the name of subsidy with the attendant fraud that goes with it?

Many Foreign and local investors would have invested in the down stream sector of the oil industry and created jobs for our people. Three years have been wasted and still counting.

“It is well known that the most radical revolutionary will become a conservative on the day after the revolution” – Hannah Arendt.

Many innocent Nigerians have opposed the subsidy removal for fear of the unknown but majority of us are fed up with the harassment that the removal has caused over the year and will be happier if it will be done with once and for all.

But for the politicians if removed, cannot be used again to deceive us or cajole us to vote for them. May be they will start preaching welfare state which is fast becoming the new lexicon in Nigeria politics. But we should not be

deceived for welfare state and oil subsidy are two sides of the same coin.

Buhari should remove the subsidy that fuels smugglers across our boarders will look for new jobs and allow us know the exact quantity of fuel Nigerians consume daily. That the number of those who die due to fuel tanker accidents will reduce. That fuel queues will disappear at the filling stations. Fuel subsidy should be removed that long official convoys will reduce and the accidents they cause on the high ways will reduce too.

Our experience with politicians has gone full circle and we are taking stock.

Politics without integrity has been laid bear for us to see. Those whose names are synonymous with lies have been noted as the pay day is fast approaching.

Many Nigerians are looking forward to a vibrant legislative arm of government that will make patriotism their watch word and reduce partisan politics in its legislative duties. But, the 8th Assembly seemed to have been cowed due to how the principal officers of the houses emerged.

The stability and focus of this present government is taking a longer time than anticipated. This is taking its toll on the economy such that experts are calling for quick surgical intervention before it becomes too late for all of us.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015— —19

Of minty notes and waste culture

By Sunny Ikhioya

W

E are in the season of festivity. In fact, this year is significant because the Christians and Muslims are celebrating at the same time.

We must maximise this beyond the coincidence of dates. I had mentioned in a previous piece that the challenges of the Nigerian nation are multidimensional, that you cannot get the expected change result if we view it from a very narrow prism. Our challenge is embedded in our culture, our attitude, our way of life; of nonchalance, of no care for the consequences of the whole as long as our individual or narrow interests are protected.

If the people are not getting it, if the messages are not being absorbed and internalised by those at the bottom rung of the ladder, there is no way we can make progress.

Nigerians are used to suffering and smiling; despite our obvious harsh economic environment, when it comes to

party time, we forget our sufferings. There is a tale about a particular ethnic group, that will save their hard earned money from January to December, only to lavishly exhaust such monies at parties during festive periods. That is the way of Nigerians and that is why at some point in time we were rated as the happiest nation on earth.

We are presently in the race to join the ranks of cashless nations, that means, transactions through cash must be reduced to the barest minimum. As a result, people are not expected to have much cash at hand. You will expect that when the cash in circulation is reduced, people are supposed to have new notes for daily transactions but that has not happened. Go to any bank or financial institution in Nigeria, you will never find new notes, no matter how big the cash transaction is. You only see brand new notes at parties, to be flaunted, in conspicuous display of opulence by those who have it. It does not matter

how the money is earned. But it is at such parties that Nigerians announce the arrival of wealth. And so, the people at the apex bank together with other accomplices have perfected ways to profit from this negative Nigerian culture.

Whilst a small percentage profit from it, the generality of Nigerians who need these notes for genuine business transactions are deprived of it.

If you attend any party anywhere in the country, the first thing you notice is the presence of men/women hawking new naira notes in the open. It is exchanged for old notes at a profit. You will think

It is a crime to destroy our money and those in authority must begin to make that aspect of our law functional

National Minimum Wage and governors' hallucination

By Samuel Orovwuje An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity." -Martin Luther King, Jr.

O

VER the last two decades, countless Nigerians in different sectors tell heartbreaking story of wage slavery and how they struggle daily to make ends meet in a country where financial unruliness and corruption among some governors is pervasive and indeed majority of the state governors take from the poor masses to sustain their ostentatious and wasteful political lifestyle in both the private and the public space.

The question is how did we get to the present unacceptable state of financial decadence, debauchery and degeneracy in the country?

The National Minimum Wage Act, 2011, which was passed into law a few years back by the Goodluck Jonathan administration has continued to raise serious concerns and debate in Nigeria thereby exposing the nature and weak structure of the Nigerian state and the unfair practice of fiscal federalism that is skewed in favour of the almighty central government to the detriment of the average Nigerian worker who drops within N18,000 wage band.

Wretchedly, the minimum wage of N18, 000 which is equivalent of 75 US dollar monthly and horrendously as low as 2 dollars per day is a national shame and a sadistic opium by the ruling and political elite particularly the unhurried and deceitful governors to keep the Nigerian workforce down in perpetuity.

It should be recalled that the N18,000 minimum wage act which was signed into law in 2011 is 37% of Gross Domestic Product, GDP and it is ranking one of the lowest in the world and sadly more than 60% of our population live below our national poverty line. The contentious C M Y K

wages are within a national scale negotiated by the Nigeria Labour congress, NLC, the Trade Union Congress, TUC, employers, and the government represents a minimum national threshold for the calculations and collectively bargained agreements which applies to employees in various sectors and occupation in Nigeria.

Furthermore, the minimum wage refers to a gross amount given to workers before deductions of taxes are made. Therefore, after the deductions of statutory taxes and pensions the workers is left with little or nothing to live a decent life in comparison with the greedy governors and their collaborators.

While most analysts and government officials sometimes seek to create the impression that public sector workers do not put much into their jobs to merit deserving incomes, labour and public sector workers think otherwise, arguing they are being short-changed by the political elite and the opportunistic governors who should be accountable to the people who elected them to office for the provision of welfare and service.

Sadly, strikes, demonstrations and other militant tools have unarguably become an effective means of communicating labour grievances and agitations across to government in order to get quick responses. In this regard, governments have often not respected the principle of

The governors forum as a pressure group should as matter of urgency advocate for changes in legislations to correct the overarching military constitution

for just 1% or 2% but no, you have to cough out as much as 10% or even more. That means, for every N100,000 you exchange, you pay or cough out N10,000. So easy for those disbursing this money and their racketeering agents. It has become cool business for some and that is why new notes are never found in normal business transactions in Nigeria.

When you go to the bank all you get are recycled notes, even if you complain to the cashier, they are unable to help because the decision is completely out of their hands.

The practice is still on in this present government and if that is so, urgent change treatment has to be administered. We all need reorientation in this direction. Why do we love the easy and wasteful routes in this country? Why can't our leaders and elite help to educate the people that money is an item that should be handled with care? Why must we trample and mutilate hard currencies in the name of partying? How can we move forward with such reckless handling of cash?

Some years ago, because of the rate at which our currencies get damaged, the Central bank of Nigeria imposed a ban on spraying of currencies at parties. It was well advertised but the will to enforce that law was not there. If the law was

collective bargaining and labour law in Nigeria.

Indeed, the cycle of poverty and the clamour for a decent and living wage will not end through further reduction of wages as being canvassed by the governors forum. The time has come to stop the wage slavery, stop the continued silent killing of Nigerian workers, and stop turning ourselves into beggars in a country blessed with abundant resources.

The recent call by the Nigerian Labour Congress and its affiliates over the minimum wage are few illustrations of the worsening economic situation in Nigeria. In my view, apart from the call by the labour movement, the minimum salary regime does not seem to bring any significant change to workers’ purchasing power in the immediate and the long term particularly with the rising two digit inflation rate and the weak naira against foreign exchange market in Nigeria has further pauperised the average worker.

From an economic value and the devaluation of the naira as at 2015, the minimum wage of N18,000 is 50% less than its value in 2011. Indeed it is a sad reality of the Nigerian worker and the state of the Nigerian economy descending into the abyss.

Robustly, the national minimum wage threshold should be respected by the various state governments, but the several challenges and irregularities that characterise the wage administration particularly the concerns of ghost workers and the mismanagement of state resources by a few to the detriment of a larger majority must stop. Going forward therefore, a serious review of the salary regime should be done with the introduction of biometrics to weed out ghost workers and headcount must be considered periodically to streamline the administration of the state workforce most especially the local government through which the governors perpetuate financial irresponsibility and impropriety. Indeed if the governors are serious with the management of their wage bills they must consider cost reduction strategy that is top - down. One is the reduction of the governor’s parade and convoy of retinue of security personnel that is a drain on the meager resources of the state. The numbers of vehicles that follow them to functions should be reviewed to make savings for capital and recurrent

meant for the poor, maybe it would have been executed effortlessly. But, how do you stop the high and mighty in society from spraying? How do you feed their egos if they are not allowed a public display?

That is our dilemma.

You cannot stop people from having parties because if you ask me, that is the number one stress recovery formula for Nigerians but the culture of deliberately mutilating our naira notes must be discouraged. It is a crime to destroy our money and those in authority must begin to make that aspect of our law functional. Secondly, new notes must be made available for people to use instead of a few people allocating it to themselves for strictly profit motives. It is a great pity that we cannot even find new notes in our ATM machines that is supposed to be the best route through which new notes can be distributed equitably.

This season of festivity calls for more unity and collaboration between and amongst religions in Nigeria.

At this period, the change must trickle down to those racketeering and mutilating our naira notes. *Mr. Ikhioya, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Lagos.

expenditure. Furthermore, the governors should be more creative in the generation of Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, to reduce over - dependence on oil receivables from the centre which has gone down.

Fundamentally, the governors forum as a pressure group should as matter of urgency advocate for changes in legislations to correct the over- arching military constitution that was foisted on us especially those items on the exclusive list that are inimical and an affront to devolution of powers and the territorial dimensions of the state to manage its own affairs while contributing to the centre.

This would enable them practice competitive and cooperative federalism which is the hallmark of sustainable democracy and development. Crucially, the governors must also purge themselves of the ruler mindset of recent eras and get down to work through the evaluation of their state strategic assets that can add value to growth and development. Such creative assets that grow the economy in the short term are agriculture and tourism which has the capacity to unleash a quantum leap for sustainable employment and accelerate the revenue base of the states.

In the final analysis, the governors who are servants to the people must be alive to the right of decent work and the principle of collective bargaining and labour relations which is a fundamental human right enshrined in the 1999 International Labour Organisation, ILO, Decent Work Agenda of which Nigeria is a signatory.

These rights include fair wages, security in the workplace and above all, freedom for workers to express their concerns, organise and participate in decisionmaking that affect their lives and by the same token, the labour movement - the NLC and TUC should seek to understand the changing dynamics of the employment and psychological contract space and the urgent need to enhance the skill sets and employability of its members in the face of global economic downturn and to guide against the horrendous delirium from the perfidious governors in the name of change!

*Mr. Orovwuje is founder Humanitarian Care for Displaced Persons, Lagos.

20—Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 29 2015

BVN blues I get my money Plan my plan finish Start to go for market Start to go for shopping Before I reach market nko o?

Government show don enter My plan don spoil o!

I

T is difficult for me to talk about Abami Eda,the weird one, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti in the past because though the mortal part of him was interred in 1997, his essence lives and speaks to our unfortunate situation every now and then.

Fela is one authentic prophet whose every word continues to perform what exactly it was sent for.

The lyrics excerpted above are from his Overtake Don Overtake Overtake, ODOO,which he released when the crises of the Structural Adjustment Program,SAP, which commenced in 1986 began to turn making it the right way in Nigeria a nightmarish experience.

Fela sang about a Nigerian who was sweating in his room and decided to buy a fan to have some comfort. As at that time there was still a stable supply of electricity to power the fan unlike now when he would also have needed a "I better -pass -my -neighbour generator which was recently banned in a country that raises power tariffs for non-existent supply.

his dream. "Government announce second tier/ Everything come to pieces/ Everything come expensive."

With the devaluation of the Naira, the fan suddenly became N700 and so evaporated the dream of this hard working Nigerian. He wanted to cry but he was brimming with mirth. Yet, the realisation hit him that he could no longer make it the right way. "Now now he come understand him life/ Enjoyment can never come him way/Na now him life dey go reverse."

That was the point something snapped in Nigeria from which we can never recover under this structure except we go back to the foundation to rebuild. It is mere wishful thinking to expect the new to emerge from the rot of the existing order and I will explain shortly.

Joke of the year But first this funny but tragic joke of the year I share with agony of the spirit. A group of Nigerian science professors were going to a very important conference and were all seated in the plane while pre-flight formalities were on. The pilot of the plane proudly announced something he

Non-existent supply The fan was N75 when the dream hatched and the poor fellow was saving from his small salary which was paid regularly then unlike now when a worker is no longer sure of the reward of his sweat.

He gathered the N75 and was on his way to buy himself relief from heat but "Every time he nearly buy the fan/ Government go add ten Naira more/Anytime he nearly buy the fan /Government go start one activity/Till the fan reach N200" The never-say-die spirit of Nigerianity did not derail the dream at this stage as the man continued to save in all the unconventional banking platforms including under the pillow, under cooking pot, inside socks and under the carpet. He gathered N200 and was eagerly on his way to the market when alarm blew on C M Y K

Our journey back to our Eden requires doing away with the present structures of Nigeria and recreating a new polity with a new culture that would re-awaken the positive deployment of the creativity of our peoples within the context of cultural democracy

thought would cause a great excitement amongst the eggheads. "Our distinguished Professors,it gladdens my heart to announce to you that you have the privilege of being the passengers on the maiden flight by this locally made plane by some of the students you trained....hope you will have a wonderful experience".

He had hardly finished when the Professors ran out of the plane.

When the stampede was over only one of them remained glued to his seat reading a soft-sell magazine.

When asked why he didn't run alongside with his colleagues, he replied in a relaxed tone "If truly this plane was made by the students we taught, there is no way it would fly given the level of instructions we passed on to them. Even we their teachers cannot make a functional Keke Marwa."

Though a joke, the above speaks eloquently to the stultification of creative energy in a land where all sorts of restrictions are laid on the path development. The hostile environment has diverted the creative energy of the people in the negative direction and as such our people are daily devising crooked means of survival.

It was not an accident that the SAP marked the burgeoning of the fraud industry in the country. That was when Section 419 of the Criminal Code which had always been there became vey popular. It was a period when people whose only trademark up until then was deep search for knowledge became very active in the "Gbajue", fraud, industry. The criminal creativity of Nigerians was unleashed. Europe and America was in for a period of "reparation" before they woke up to the Nigerian scam. The

white man would have parted with his money and start to look for Mr. Omosetan Omogbebe,The Child was done and has taken to his heels, Mr. Mawamikiri Oyinbogo,Start looking for me foolish white man, et al.

I recall an American journalist telling me in 1991 that when he was coming to Nigeria for the first time he had looked forward to seeing Silicon Valleys all over Nigeria with the way our people were beating computers in America.

Alas we only have "Computer Village" where computers picked from dumb sites in Europe and America are solid.

The fictive fellow in Fela's ODOO has since vowed to have his own revenge and since them he has always been a step ahead of government in any measure it takes with the latter now having to scream MY PLAN DON SPOIL O!

Latest scheme in negative creativity The latest scheme in which the negative creative spirit of the Nigerian is making a mess of government plan is the recent implementation of the Bank Verification Number, BVN. The Central Bank of Nigeria,CBN, made a whole lot of hype about the exercise that was to signal the end of banking transactions for customers without identity.

When the hour came,the measure created Intel hiccups in banking transactions which in many cases were for people who had complied with the BVN exercise.

I recall being in a discussion with a group of respected friends and the issue came up.

There was the feeling among these knowledgeable Nigerians that a lot of funds would be trapped in various banks after the exercise as many people who had opened accounts with fictitious names would no longer be able to access such funds.There was even the tinge of optimism that government could then look for some laws to confiscate such funds.I laughed within me about the underestimation of the capacity of our people.

It didn't take ages for smart Nigerians to make government look stupid once again.All of a sudden the classified ads sections of our newspapers became bulkier than ever with CHNGE a OF NAME all over the place.I started paying forensic attention after noticing the

Happy New year!

I

N three days time it shall be a NEW YEAR as 2015 would have completed its cycle. All projections are that we are going into 2016 with all trepidation as all indices are troubling for our economy .The IMF just projected that oil may go for as low as $20 a barrel while our projection is based on $38. A testy year it is going to be but we shall wade through it successfully if we could interpret the season correctly and do what is needful.

We must keep hope alive and strengthen our faith in the Almighty our help in ages past!

Rest assured CANDID NOTE shall be here with you God willing throughout 2016.

Happy New Year in advance from me to YOU!

sudden upswing in these new identities.

A national newspaper penultimate Saturday had 8 full pages of classified ads and all was for change of name.

Reading through the ads on different newspapers is a session of amazement in the awesome capacity of our people.I came across ads like "I formerly known as Babatunde Olatunji now wish to be known as ODION OSEDEMEN, XYZ Bank take notice". All of a sudden a man who had lived all his years as a Yoruba suddenly changes to an Edo person.

If that was not bizarre enough, I noticed stuff like "Ibrahim Lateef and Shetimma Sheriff wish to be known and addressed as the same person.

EFG Bank take note". I have heard of several breakthroughs in science but I'm yet to come across the art of combining two bodies to now have one soul!

I have also seen a lot of " Yusuf Bello now wish to be known and addressed as Festus Daniel. PRS Bank kindly note". The punishment for apostasy in Islam is stoning to death and many would be scared openly doing this in this season of Boko Haram were it not that some banks must be notified.

With this negative ingenuity, the unstated intention of the BVN has been defeated as I am not aware of any law broken by somebody deciding to bear a new name .You know these people are perverting the system but there is nothing you can do about it because they have not broken any know law.

Re-structure for development I now return to the point I was making earlier about the folly of anyone thinking he can reform this irredeemable order.The system is far too sunk in the sewage pit to be deodorised. It is like a robber snatches a Mercedez Benz 500 Maybach and you ask a policeman to pursue him with a Bedford Lorry. He can only see the dashboard for a few seconds before the woner-onwheels disappear.

We must go back to the very basics where Fela's friend who wants a fan would be able to save enough and buy it without any "government show" spoiling his plan. Unless we restore his capacity to dream, create stability that would restore confidence in the system, all measures to enforce orderliness would be creatively sabotaged by perverted ingenuity.

Our journey back to our Eden requires doing away with the present structures of Nigeria and recreating a new polity with a new culture that would re-awaken the positive deployment of the creativity of our peoples within the context of cultural democracy.

Until then,we continue to walk in different ways that will not work.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

— 21

Nigeria automobile sector to contribute 4.5% of 2016 global sales

By Jonah Nwokpoku

N

IGERIA’s automobile sector may contribute at least 4.5 per cent of 2016 global automobile sales as a result of the country’s increased investment in the automobile sector in 2015, which encouraged local production.

This was contained in the review report of the trends in the automobile sector in Nigeria by online vehicle marketplace, Carmudi.com.ng.

According to the report, “In 2015, investment in the automobile industry in Nigeria was at an all time high as more than 12 automobile manufacturing plants including cars, bikes, tricycles, and trucks began production in Nigeria.

With the rise of local automobile manufacturing industry, investors, auto financing and favourable government policies, 2016 promises to be an interesting year for Nigeria’s automobile industry. It is estimated that the revenue generated from this sector will produce 25 per cent of the national GDP in the first quarter of 2016.”

The report also noted that “vehicle ownership increased in 2015 with the availability of locally manufactured cars, increase in the availability and sale of Nigerian used cars and access to car loans. Use of personal cars also increased.”

The report’s projection for 2016 trends in Nigeria noted that “Ecar technology will be taken into consideration more in 2016. More people will embrace hybrid cars

Managing Director/CEO, New Horizons, Mr. Tim Akano (left), receiving an award on Cyber Security from Director of Public Affairs, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Mr. Tony Ojobo, at the Nigerian Mobile Economy Summit award in Lagos. because of their low fuel consumption and reduced exhaust emission and production of these cars will increase by 4.6 per cent by 2020. Demand for cars with other simple technologies such as GPS, remote sensor locks, car tracking devices, keyless ignition will increase.”

It added: “E car market pen-

searches online for new and used cars in Nigeria.”

On auto brand trends, the report said: “A brand research in 2015 showed that Volkswagen may have greater potential than its closest competitors in Nigeria.

Hyundai market shares will also continue to increase in 2016 followed by Toyota, General Motors

and German automakers.”

Recall that recently, the KPMG 2015 global Automotive Summary Survey pointed out that the automobile industry across Africa will increase in volume and global sales will pass the 100 million mark and continue to rise till the end of the decade.

Govt needs private support to fund social needs — Experts

T

By Peter Egwuatu

HERE is a need to raise funds from private initiatives such as ‘I Will Give’ -0.95 $118.75 (IWG) for government to $3,202.00 -8. 00 finance costs associated with social needs of $14. 98 -0.08 the people, a panel of experts said at a forum $37. 06 -6.25 in Lagos.

The panelists $37. 21 -0.89 who featured at the formal CURRENCY BUYING SELLING presentation of 196.5 197 ‘I Will Give’ to US DOLLAR 196 291.5108 292. 2545 292. 9981 the Nigerian POUNDS 214. 4632 215.0103 215.5574 EURO public included 197. 8 198. 3046 198. 8092 FRANC the Minister for 1.6205 1.6246 1.6288 YEN H e a l t h , 0.3046 0.31146 0.3246 CFA 270.457 2701. 146 271.8359 Professor Isaac WAUA 30.2469 30.3246 30.4022 RENMINBI Adewole, Lagos 52.2165 52.3497 52.4829 RIYAL S t a t e 28.7356 28.8089 28.8822 KRONA Commissioner 271.4012 272.0936 272.7859 SDR for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, the CBN Exchange rate as at 28/12/2015

C M Y K

etration will also increase in 2015 as research paper by Carmudi Nigeria showed that 83 per cent of Nigerians start their search for cars online before purchase. The research also stated that the online car market in Nigeria is driven by internet growth and mobile penetration. 2016 promises to surpass the 300 million

Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme ( NHIS) Mr. Femi Akingbade and Mrs Toyin Saraki observed that it was

becoming increasingly difficult for government at all levels to fund their health and social needs.

‘I Will Give’ is a domestic financing platform developed

by Chestrad International for special intervention in health, education, women and youth, and empowerment using crowd funding strategy.

‘IWill Give’ is a domestic financing platform developed

by Chestrad International for special intervention in health, education, women and youth, and empowerment using crowd funding strategy

Funding strategy Professor Innocent Ujah, the Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Professor Innocent Ujah, who represented the Minister of Health said available statistics show that the way to fund our social needs is through the privatepublic partnership.

On his own part, Dr Idris said providing healthcare for over 23 million in Lagos State is a huge task which a

consistent increase in allocation to health sector has not been able to address. He said while it is good to seek assistance from abroad, charity must, however, begin at home with private initiatives such as ‘I Will Give’.

Mr. Femi Akingbade observed that the government cannot bear the cost of funding all social needs and there is a compelling need to take care of the vulnerable.

‘I Will Give’ as a social enterprise aligns its objectives with the principles of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and especially the United Nations’ Secretary General’s updated strategy of ‘Every woman, every child’. The forum was used to commence a new ‘Giving is Living’ campaign aimed at encouraging the spirit of giving in Nigeria.

22 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

the Commission has set up a task force to go round bank branches and registrars to monitor compliance with the e-DMMS initiative

INVESTOR'S ,

,

TOP 10 PERFORMING STOCKS

By NKIRUKA NNOROM

U

nity Bank Plc led on the top 10 performing stocks with 28.77 per cent or N0.21 price appreciation to close at N0.94 from N0.73. In a bid to consolidate the gains made in the previous year (2014) that returned the bank to path of profitability and to ensure stable s h a r e p r i c e movement, Unity Bank undertook a number of initiatives during the year. Part of which was the share reconstruction. Under the scheme and in line with the board’s recommendation, the 44.2 billion issued and fully paid ordinary shares of 50 kobo each in the capital of the bank were approved for reconstruction into 14.7 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each by converting the 44.2 billion issued and fully paid ordinary shares of 50 kobo each into stock of N14.7 billion and re-converting the stock into 14.7 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each. The share reconstruction, according to the bank, was as a viable option to position it for future stability and profitability with a guarantee of good return on investment and also consolidate its gains. The bank equally appointed Mrs. Tomi Somefun as the new managing director with the resignation of Henry Semenitari.

Available financial indices show that Unity Bank has started reaping from its reposition efforts. Market watchers believe that the tone for improvement in the bank’s financials was set by the former MD, Semenitari. For the second quarter ended June 30, 2015, the bank posted profit before tax of N8.774 billion as against N7.898 billion recorded in the previous quarter, showing an increase of 11.10 per cent, while profit after tax improved from N7.108 billion to N7.89 billion, indicating 11 per cent increase.

The gross earnings rose from N30.851 billion reported in the comparative period to N33.562 billion, while total liabilities grew from N337.041 billion to N345.162 billion at the end of June this year. The net interest income fell by 11 per cent to N14.563 billion from N16.442 C M Y K

billion achieved in 2014 while total assets rose to N429.662 billion from N413.305 billion in the previous year.

Skye Bank Plc placed second, appreciating by 18.70 per cent or N0.23 to close at N1.46 from N1.23 per share. Skye Bank was one of the banks that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) fined for non-compliance with the Treasury Single Account.

Specifically, the bank was fined N4 billion for failing to render appropriate returns on accounts of state-owned energy company – Nigeria National petroleum Corporation and Pension Funds and National Assembly Legislative Aides account balances. The bank, however, said that the penalty was misdirected since it did not conceal any information of the accounts from the central bank.

In the third quarter ended September 30, 2015, the bank posted 21.5 per cent increase in its group profit after tax. The figure rose from N9.866 billion in Q3 2014 to N11.983 billion in 2015, representing 21.5 per cent growth. Its profit before tax rose by the same margin, rising to N14.97 billion in Q3 2015 from N12.3 billion realised in 2014; earnings per share rose to N86 as against N75 in 2014, indicating an increase of 15.7 per cent. Gross earning also went up to N129.2 billion in the period under review from N97.1 billion realised in 2014, showing 33.1 per cent growth. e-Transact followed, rising by 14.70 per cent or N0.41 increase to close at N3.20 from N2.79 per share. The company posted N2.02 billion in revenue for the second quarter ended June 30, 2015 as against N1.75 billion recorded in the same quarter in 2014. Despite the significant increase in cost of sales, which rose to N1.47 billion from N1.39 billion in 2014, the company achieved gross profit of N555.7 million compared to N360.1 million in the previous quarter. Its profit after tax jumped by ... per cent to N165.59 million from N66.93 million in the previous period.

The result is in keeping with the company ’s promise to consolidate on profitability with new relationships, enhancing and deepening existing ones and exploring new partnerships locally and internationally.

SEC sets up monitoring team for e-DMMS

By Babajide Komolafe

I

n response to the several complaints from Investors Forum over the Electronic Dividend Mandate Management System (eDMMS) portal, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has set up a monitoring team to monitor compliance with the implementation of the initiative.

Among other things, investors had complained that banks visited claimed ignorance of the initiative and non-availability of the portal.

Furthermore, Investors Forum had called for massive publicity campaign to create awareness about the eDDMS. Responding to these issues, Head of Corporate Communication, SEC, Naif Abdulsalam, disclosed to Investors Forum that the Commission has set up a task force to go round bank branches and registrars to monitor compliance with the e-DMMS initiative.

He said the Commission was surprised to hear that banks staff said they are not aware about the portal and that it is yet to be deployed.

He explained that the eDMMS portal has been deployed by the Nigeria

Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) and can be access through NIBSS from any bank branch.

He added that on the issue of publicity, the Commission had been running radio jingles across the country in difference languages to sensitise investors about the eDMMS. He said as a result, investors have been registering on the portal, promising that the Commission would issue periodic report on the level of activity on the portal.

He also disclosed to Investors Forum that SEC is going to embark on a road show on the eDMMS in the first week in January and also

The eDMMS portal has been deployed by the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) and can be access through NIBSS from any bank branch

hold Town Hall meetings with retail investors and shareholder groups in Lagos and Abuja on the various retail investor focused initiatives of SEC. Commenting on the three months moratorium for free registration on the portal, Naif said that the three months was initially to commence from November 15th, but it was later shifted to December 17. This implies that investors can register free on the eDMMS portal till March 17th, thereafter registration would cost N100 per registration.

Also last week, Investors Forum was approached by an investor who wanted to know the process for registering on the eDDMS portal. For this purpose and to complement SEC’s publicity effort, the procedure for registering on the portal is reproduced below.

“All Registrars’ offices/ accredited outlets shall be points of upload of completed e-Dividend Mandate forms by investors who may alternatively approach their banker to process their completed e-Dividend Mandate Form(s).

“Every Registrar shall validate investor ’s shareholder account number,

MARKET NEWS

Share price movement: NASD OTC reduces price band to 10% Stories by Nkiruka Nnorom

N

ASD OTC Securities Exchange Plc has reviewed down the price band within which investors can bid for securities quoted on its platform to ±10 per cent from±15 per cent.

The Exchange also introduced a 50,000 minimum volume requirement for a price change to occur in any trading day on a given stock.

Price band is the floor price for the securities or a price band within which the investors can bid for a given security. The Exchange had in January 2015, introduced a price band of ±15 per cent on all trading securities.

In its weekly Newsletter

posted on its website, the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bola Ajomale, said; “As shares are being traded, prices of shares also change to reflect the new prices. This change in share prices, especially in the short term, is called price movement.

Hitherto there was no minimum volume requirement for price movements on securities trading on the NASD OTC market

“The price of a share at the end of a trading day will be the closing price of that security which would have undergone various movements in price during the day. Hitherto there was no minimum volume requirement for price movements on securities trading on the NASD OTC market. As the market matures, it has become pertinent to introduce initiatives that can help stabilise the market and create a better price discovery mechanism for investors.”

He explained that the initiatives are necessary to ensure smoother price movements and provide better stability to share values,

PAGE 25

AGEND A GENDA

40 yrs after massacre by Nigerian soldiers: Tears still flow in C-River community

VOL. 1: No. 76

Politics of Tompolo’s trial

TUESD AY, DECEMBER 29, 20 15 TUESDA 201

•Mr Oborakpororo Arienmughare

•Arienmughare’s petrol station under construction.

Sapele youths pummel investor for not paying bribe •Intimidate Obarakpororo Arienmughara with police officers •Police detain, allegedly extort N4.2 m from investor •Victim speaks on travails on hospital bed; assassins visit lawyer •Community leaders condemn acts of brigandage

By GODWIN OGHRE

S

APELE — REBELLIOUS youths at Sapele, Sapele Local Government Area, Delta State, have knocked the living daylights out of an indigene, Mr. Oborakpororo Arienmughara, who relocated from Russia, some years ago, and stalled work at the petrol station he is building in the town for rebuffing their demand for ‘deve’ (bribe).

To exacerbate matters, the insubordinate youths, suspected to have link with a notorious kidnap gang, contrived an iniquitous plot with some police officers from Benin City, Edo State, to seize C M Y K

PAGE 26

Arienmughara at gunpoint, handcuff and detain him on spurious grounds.

The indigenous investor had his right toe pulled by the police officers in their mercantile bid to extort money from him. A friend of the victim, who had fled Sapele, contacted by his scared stiff wife to get him off the hook, joined the security agents to swindle him of N4.2 million.

Intriguingly, his lawyer, Barrister Festus Elume of F. F. Elume and Co., Elume Chambers, Sapele, already in court over the scandalous affair, is under threat by same gangsters, who trailed him to his Benin City residence, but by divine intervention,

confusion erupted as one of them was about to pull the trigger, paving way for his miraculous escape.

It is because I refused to pay money to the youths that all these things are happening to me.

They pounded me and are using the Police to bully me and my family

•Barrister Elume Leaders of Sapele community are dumbfounded at the impunity of the gangsters, but they seemed hamstrung, as the police supposed to checkmate them were hanging out with them.

My travails

Investigation by Niger Delta Voice showed that Arienmughara’s predicament started when the defiant gang approached him at the site of the petrol station at Okirighwre to give them bribe.

As a “son of the soil”, he reportedly refused their overture and understated threat, saying that it was wrong, but the boys took umbrage and swore to give him trouble.

Narrating his ordeal to Niger Delta Voice from a hospital bed where he is now convalescing, the victim said one of the youths drove to the

petrol station he was building with police officers on November 4, 2015 and pointed at him. The police officers bundled him away at gunpoint, tortured and detained him without verifying the practical details of the allegations against him.

“I am now at a crossroads, if I knew this would happen, I would have remained in Russia. All my colleagues who learnt about my ordeal have sworn never to come back to Nigeria. It is because I refused to pay money to the youths that all these are happening to me.

“They pounded me and are using the police to bully me and my family, can you imagine that police officers arrested and locked me for refusing to offer bribe to youths. They beat me and forced me to write statement at the police station,” he said.

He asserted, “The police officers demanded for N10 million before they would release me, my father was repeatedly threatened by some policemen that he should tell me to cooperate and bring money or they will come and

Continues on Page 24

24—Niger

Delta Voice, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

Sapele youths pummel investor for not paying bribe Continues from Page 23 arrest him too. My father is sick, he came out of his sick bed and began running about to free me.”

Day assassins came for me

How police, friend defrauded me

“My house was repeatedly searched by policemen but nothing incriminating was found. The police officers forcefully collected N350,000.00) from me after threatening that they would plant incriminating evidence in my house and clinic if I do not cooperate with them.

“They threatened to write an incriminating statement against me if my wife does not bring another N100, 000.00 and when my wife had no option, she gave it to them.

That was how they were forcing us to give them money.

They milked us dry through one of my fake friends. The police forced us to part away a total of N4, 200, 000.00,” he said.

Arienmughara disclosed, “Some of the money were collected in cash, others were through money transfers. Here is the transfer slip with which I made one of such money transfers into the account of my friend.”

AIG unknowingly freed me

He recalled that a friend framed him two years ago leading to his detention on December 3, 2013 until the early hours of the next day when they hurriedly released him because D.I.G. Hashimu Argungu, who was then the A.I.G. at zone 5, did not allow such nonsense to continue for long.

According to him, “It was

THE TEAM Emma Amaize, Editor Jimitota Onoyume Samuel Oyadongha Simon Ebegbulem Gabriel Enogholase Festus Ahon Egufe Yafugborhi Emmanuel Una Akpokona Omafuaire Godwin Oghre Tom Moses Chioma Onuegbu Ike Uche Davies Iheamnachor Emem Idio Brisibe Perez Theresa Ugbobu Ochuko Akuopha Barnabas Uzosike Nath Onajoke Chijioke Nwankpa C M Y K

Inspector General of Police wants to see him, the team of policemen did not tell him.”

“On arrival at zone 5, he was told to make a statement and he sought to know the allegation against him, a police officer just told him to put something down that they want to ‘profile him’ He refused, the police officers started beating up our client and told him to raise his leg.

He did and they forcefully removed the nail of his right big toe with a very sharp object.

•Barrister Elume. when that my friend called my wife and she narrated to him how I was arrested by a surveillance team in the middle of the night and whisked away that he came to know about it. He even promised my wife that he was going to secure my release without paying a dime and we trusted him, not knowing that his purpose was to dupe us.”

He further lamented: ''All my company documents have been seized by the said policemen and they have simply refused to release same till date,'' adding, “That my friend having seen that the bubble has burst is now trying to remove himself out of the matter. He even told me to sign a hurriedly arranged power of attorney for him to collect the company ’s document on my behalf. It was just a plot between him and the police to scoop more money from me but I am now familiar with him.

They want to kill me

“I and my entire family now live in fear of them; they now want to kill me. The crime I committed is that I came from Russia to invest and develop my town thereby create employment and some people would rather die than to see this to happen without me pledging ‘loyalty’ to them.

“I would have written to the state government, but I am constrained having seen how its Security Committee handled the Okegborode case in which people were hacked with cutlass and battle axes because of community politics. ''With the way and manner the committee handled the matter, no reasonable person would want to seek government’s intervention in certain security matters because that person would be forced to compromise a case like this involving attempted murder and threat to the security and well being of the state.

•Mr Oborakpororo Arienmughare

How they bundled, pulled my client’s toes — Lawyer

Speaking on the plight of his client, Elume said: “This is jealousy taken too far and demanding money with menace, torture, corruption, frustration of the current government developmental and economic policies.”

He said his client had dragged five persons, including three police officers to the Federal High Court, Abuja, in connection with the matter. In a petition dated November 20, to President Muhmmaudu Buhari, Elume said: “Our client just returned from Russia having spent four (4) years there and decided to start the business of operating a petrol station in Sapele, his home town.

“Our client was in his site at Okirighwre when he noticed a car pulling over ahead and someone who drove the car pointed for some policemen that our client is the man they came for. The policemen told our client that the Assistant Inspector General of Police – Musa A. Duara wants to see him. This was on November 4, 2015. He went with them. The reason why the Assistant

The crime I committed is that I came from Russia to invest and develop my town thereby create employment and some people would rather die than to see this to happen without me pledging ‘loyalty’ to them

His words: “I am being continually trailed by assassins hired by some people I know very well. They are Sapele people whom I am prosecuting criminal cases against in Abuja.

“When they discovered that I have relocated to Benin City because of them, they hired four assassins, who recently traced me to my house in Benin City at about 11.00 pm at night. I had gone to bed then. They scaled through the fence and forced their way in through the main door, which they broke down and ordered me to lie down face down while they searched everywhere for some specific documents that I am using to prosecute them.

“As they could not find the documents, one of them told the others that he was going to shoot me dead, but their leader objected leading to a very sharp disagreement among them, and they began fighting themselves. Just as they were fighting, a little boy in my compound flashed a torch light through the window and I was able to see the face of one of them, who I can identify if I see him again.

“In the ensuring pandemonium, I crept out and escaped. I ran to the University of Benin, UNIBEN gate that night with only pant, where I stayed with the security men till the following morning.

Sapele leaders decry harassment of citizen Arienmughare

Spokesperson of Sapele community, Dr Vincent Ekariko, was disturbed about the plight of Arienmughare.

He said: “The way these people are treating Oborakpororo is not good for the growth and success of this town. I think he should be encouraged to do his own quota towards the development of the town.

Pursuing him all over the place and forcing him to part away with huge sums is unfair.”

“If this trend is allowed to continue, it is bound to scare away investors from Sapele.

We need development in the town; companies and investors have deserted the place because of people who do not want the success of Sapele.

This town was once a second

township after Lagos, but from the 1980s till date, we have been witnessing very slow development, leading to the eventual fall of nearly all economic and social activities,” he asserted.

A youth leader in the area, Mr. Fegudson Barovwe, said, “We the people of Sapele are not happy that some people will just sit somewhere to determine the fate of this town.

These people fighting Oborakpororo now are scaring people and companies away from the town. What has Oborakpororo done that they want him dead? Is it because he has come to add his quota to the development of the town that they want him dead?

“We are not comfortable at all with the whole episode and we want the government to step in and allow the man to do his business. Even if they want the strangers to pay “deve” to them before they can invest in the town, must Oborakpororo , who is a native pay “deve” to them? He queried.

Counter revolt plan

Barovwe added, “If you find out the people fighting him no, you will be surprised that they are strangers who came to settle with us here and they now want to become landlord of the town.

“That is not going to be possible. They should allow him to do his businesses or we will revolt against them soon.

They are not the owner of the town we are the real owners and it is us that will determine who stays here. Since we allow them to stay here, they cannot turn round to drive us away from the town, they should warn them.''

Call me back later

Edo State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Stanley Osifo, who spoke to Niger Delta Voice on phone, referred our reporter to the zonal Police Public Relations Officer, AIG’s Office, Benin City, saying the matter was not under his jurisdiction.

Efforts to speak to the Zonal Police Public Relations Officer, AIG Office, Benin City, were unsuccessful as there was no further response from his phone after he initially answered and told one of our reporters to call him back later.

He did not also reply a text message by another reporter notifying him of the allegations and requesting to hear from him.

An unofficial source at the AIG’s office, however, said, “The victim’s claim of financial inducement to the tune of N4.2 million does not hold water too. The Police did not collect money from him, which is all I can say to you, you can go to the AIG if you like and ask him too.”

Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Celestina Kalu, said: “I do not want to comment on that issue, though I know what you are talking about. In fact, I am busy.”

Niger Delta Voice, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015—25

BAYELSA… GLORY OF ALL LANDS CROSS-RIVER… THE PEOPLE’S PARADISE

How JTF turned tide against oil bunkerers in Bayelsa •With non-combatant strategy •IOCs, soldiers, oil communities happy with new method

By SAMUEL OYANDOGHA GBOMOTORU— IGBOMOTORU community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, Bayelsa State is widely acknowledged as the unauthorized headquarters of oil bunkering in the NigerDelta because of the high concentration of illegal oil

I

•Chiefs at 40th annhiversary of Ugep Massacre.

40 yrs after massacre by Nigerian soldiers: Tears still flow in C-River community •100 villagers killed, 300 houses razed over death of a soldier •Monarch narrates how he escaped death by a hair’s breath •It’s agonizing particularly as he wasn’t killed by inhabitants —Prof Odinkalu, chair, National Human Rights Commission

By EMMANUEL UNA

U

GEP — ON Christmas Eve, Wednesday, December 25, 1975, soldiers from 8 Battalion, Nigerian Army, stationed at Ugep, launched a retaliatory attack on the countryside community located about 100 kilometres from Calabar over alleged killing of a soldier by unidentified persons.

At the end of the operation, over 100 villagers, 300 houses and property worth millions of Naira were destroyed in what has become known as the 1975 Ugep Massacre, an incident which has remained a watershed in the professed largest West African native town.

Defective motive

The soldiers, according to Sebastine Eko, a journalist from the area, acted on the conviction that Ugep indigenes were responsible for the death of a soldier whose remains they found in the town. However, a post mortem conducted by military doctors in the Barracks later revealed that the man was drunk and had an epileptic seizure. The soldier swallowed his own sputum in the success and choked himself to death.

Many fled the community that night and became refugees in surrounding villages following the soldiers’ invasion, effectively putting an end to any celebration of Christmas C M Y K

that year by the people of Ugep.

“Ugep people could not celebrate Christmas that year because they were forced to abandon their homes, which were razed down, most people who could not escape were killed and lots of property destroyed,” Eko told Niger Delta Voice.

Never-ending cry

It was 40 years ago that the unforgettable horror took place last Thursday, December 24, and the people marked it with rendition of songs, photographic displays and poetry recitations.

Traditional rulers, women, youth, academics, politicians from the Ugep community along with their friends and well wishers from across the country and in the Diaspora gathered at the Obol Ubi

It was 40 years that the unforgettable horror took place last Thursday, December 24, and the people marked it with rendition of songs, photographic displays and poetry recitations

Confrence Centre with some weeping openly when they beheld the pictures and images of their loved ones massacred during the attack by the soldiers.

How birds foreshadowed incident

Recalling the incident, the King of Ugep, Obol Ofem Ubana Eteng, said every Christmas Eve, the events of 1975 flood the memory of every living Ugep person, who witnessed what took place that day.

“As a young man in secondary school then, I was that evening pounding tomatoes for the Christmas stew the next day when I saw four big birds hovering over the city and I told my aunty that some evil was about to befall the community, as the sight of the birds was unusual. She ignored me and ordered me to keep doing what she asked me to do.

“Shortly afterwards, I saw people running and I joined them without knowing what was amiss. As we were running, I remembered that my teacher in class two, who is from a neighbouring village kept his box, which contained all his certificates in my room, so I had to go back to get the box and that was when I was nearly killed. That incident has remained fresh in my mind even when I joined the Nigerian Army,” he said.

Preventable butchery

Chair, Nigerian Human Rights Commission, Professor Chid Odinakalu, who delivered the keynote address at the event, said the remembrance of the massacre by the Ugep people was a clear departure from the Nigerian attitude where people often prefer to leave such an incident in the hand of God. “From what I have read on the events of December 24, 1975 in Ugep, it is painful that people should be killed and homes destroyed because of one soldier whose cause of death was unsubstantiated: how is a child who saw the father killed brutally supposed to forget, how is a child who saw the mother raped supposed to forget? You have to remember, remind your children to keep memory alive until we build a country where every life is important,” he said.

Odinkalu asserted that if a soldier was found dead, the wise thing to have done was to investigate and with help of the leaders of the community, fish out the culprits and allow the law to take its cause, and not invade the entire community and kill scores of people.

“Let the resilience of the people of Ugep stay alive by remembering this massacre and we pray that the spirit of those killed will continue to haunt all those, who committed the atrocity,” he added.

If not mass murder, what is

refineries in the area and audacious operations of oil thieves.

The Joint Task Force, JTF, on the Niger Delta, code-named Operation Pulo (Pulo means oil in Ijaw) Shield, for several years, had engaged the oil bunkerers in fiery battles to exterminate bunkering, but lately, it came up with a new tactic- carrot and stick-approach, apparently not fathomed in past military calculations.

From gunfire to diplomacy

However, the reality on ground is that soldiers are no longer chasing crude oil thieves, pipeline vandals in Igbomotoru and other communities in Bayelsa, they are now involved in touching the lives of riverside dwellers and winning their confidence with development projects.

The up-to-the-minute method is working wonders as the people now see soldiers as friends employed by government to rid the community of criminals and toxic effects of oil bunkering, caused by oil thieves.

Niger Delta Voice learned that authorities of JTF after a strategy overhaul decided as part of its corporate social responsibility to renovate and furnish a school abandoned for 12 years at Igbomotoru.

It also sunk a borehole in Koluama I & II and Igbomatoru communities of Bayelsa to alleviate the sufferings of the people. The task force also empowered some rural folks with sewing machines and donated N350, 000 to one Job Morgan for the treatment of an undisclosed ailment.

How we engage youths, elders —Army spokesperson

According to a security source, “The use of force alone cannot solve the problem in the hinterland without the support of the local population, hence the need to win the confidence of the people. This informed the command infusion of noncombatant approach in tackling illegal bunkering in the area.

The carrot and stick strategy in addressing the oil theft menace has turned out be a success.”

This approach, according to the Coordinator, Joint Media Campaign Centre of JTF, Col Isa Ado, “involved engaging the youths, elders and traditional heads of affected communities in the campaign against illegal acts of oil theft.”

26 — Niger Delta Voice, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

AGENDA

facilities. Some top government officials in the state, who inspected the gigantic edifice, last year, oblivious of a latterday impasse marveled and commended the ex-militant leader for his foresight. .

Politics of Tompolo’s trial •Who is the top security officer arm-twisting him to join APC, why?

•Did FG truly approve N13 billion for acquisition of buildings, facilities of Mieka Diving Institute?

•NIMASA’s $108.7 million, N2.1 billion converted without authorization — EFCC Stories by EMMA AMAIZE

W

ARRI — ANYTIME, any day, the docking of ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, is a big deal and his role in the immediate past government of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, appends more impulsion to it.

Therefore, it was not surprising when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, froze his business accounts recently and pointed fingers at him over a N13 billion-land deal with the Federal Government.

Outwitting the fox

With the former National Security Adviser, NSA, Col Sambo Dasuki (retd.) and others in its clutches, adding Tompolo to the list would be a gigantic leap, but the exmilitant leader, who rebuffed the commission’s directive to appear before it, December 17, on grounds that he had already dragged it to court, seemingly outsmarted the fox.

He claimed he was only being witch-hunted for refusing to bow to the overpowering tactics of one of the country’s security chiefs to join the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Bayelsa State, to defeat the former President, Dr. Jonathan and governor, Hon Seriake Dickson, in their home state.

His words: “I know why they are after me. It is not the alleged multi-billion naira property transaction. After all, it went through due process and approved by the Federal Executive Council, FEC,. And as such, if there are any questions to answer, it is the people at the FEC, Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, Federal Ministry of Lands and Survey, Federal Ministry of Transport, NIMASA, etc who approved the transaction that should be answering such questions.

“The real reason this All Progressive Congress, APC-led government is after me is that I bluntly refused to join APC and to support their governorship candidate in Bayelsa State. We cannot all be in APC. Our people have always believed in the Nigerian project and had always hoped to join hands with this administration to move

C M Y K

this project forward, but the conditions attached are not acceptable. I insist on believing in the Nigerian project unconditionally.

“We will continue to pursue our court case. The threat to declare me

Johnny lied, not Tompolo— Ozobo

•Government Ekpemupolo alias Tompolo Court, Lagos, not noticeably on the N13 billion land scam as many thought with its initial strut, but unlawful conversion.

Joined in the suit with him is the former director general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Patrick Akpobolokemi.

Payment of buildings, not land •NIMASA's letter to Tompolo

wanted is an unnecessary attempt to heat up the polity. I will go about my daily business as usual.

The top security chief reportedly called Tompolo, personally, to lay the cards on the table and since the exmilitant leader dropped the bombshell, he had not debunked the allegation.

EFCC responds, files defense, charges

Tompolo also predicated his refusal to appear before EFCC, December 17, on the commission’s refusal to join

issues on the suit he filed against it, but the commission, which did not declare him wanted as earlier announced, according to latest information, had filed its defense to Tompolo’s suit.

It is not clear if the commission acted on the advice of its lawyers not to declare him wanted as intended, but Tompolo’s lawyers, it was learned, had concluded plans to use such faux pas against it in court.

However, the EFCC, last Tuesday, formally charged Tompolo at the Federal High

Before EFCC filed its action, Tompolo’s confidants brought to the public domain information that the trumpeted N13 billion payments was not for land transaction, but for the buildings and facilities of the Mieka Diving Institute, Kurutie, Warri South West Local Government Area, Delta State, which Federal Government acquired for the commencement of Nigerian Maritime University, NMU, Okerenkoko.

Tompolo reclaimed a swampy location to build the institute complete with lecture halls, students’ hostels, administrative blocks, lecturers’ lodge and other

Ask EFCC to leave Tompolo alone, ex-militants beg Buhari W ARRI — FORMER Niger Delta militants, weekend, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to prevail on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to leave ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, alone and follow the rule of law in its dealings with him.

The erstwhile agitators, who met under the auspices of the Transformed Niger Delta Ex-militants Forum, asserted that some persons, who were envious of Tompolo, wrote a petition against him to the EFCC, but advised that the commission in the discharge of its duties should respect the rule of law.

In a communiqué signed by its national president, Meshach Bebenimibo and others, they said, “We appeal to the President as a matter of urgency to instruct the EFCC to follow due process within 1999 Constitution as amended.” At the meeting held in Warri were Prince Bebenimibo, Bayelsa , Edo, Cross River, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Ondo coordinators of the group, Peter Ayeebide, Austin Peremobowei, Korebor Minama, Anthony Youbai, Oluwah Michael and Oloye Tamarayende.

They said: “We want EFCC to leave

Tompolo alone because the petitioners are acting out of jealousy to indict and incarcerate him, that is why they are lying to the whole world that Tompolo sold the land for the building of Nigerian Maritime University, NMU, Okerenkoko.”

According to the communiqué, “The petitioners know the truth and the truth is that Tompolo only sold the International Diving Institute buildings at Kurutie community and the place was sand filled before he built the school. Among the structures are lecture halls, multipurpose pavilion, administrative block, vicechancellor’s lodge and hostels for male and female students.”

“The previous government brought valuers and did all necessary legal things and collected VAT money before paying him about 90 per cent as agreed.

“We also urge EFCC to have a rethink and defreeze Mieka and GlobalWest accounts.” .The group, however, commended President Buhari for his interest in the region, particularly the inclusion of fund for the Amnesty programme in the 2016 Budget presented to the National Assembly, saying, “We really appreciate your kind gesture.”

An Okerenkoko leader, Chief Michael Johnny, who was apparently unaware of the upto-the-minute correspondence

by NIMASA conveying approval of N13 billion for acquisition of the buildings and other facilities on behalf of the Federal Government, had sworn in a phone discussion that Tompolo lied and that the Federal Executive Council, FEC, never approved such payment.

However, national president of the Ijaw People Development Initiative, IPDI, Austin Ozobo, who hauled Johnny over the coals and said,”Johnny accused Tompolo of lying, but he (Johnny) is the one lying. First, he and his cohorts said it was a land fraud and Tompolo explained that he was not involved in any land swindle with the Federal Government, which is true.

“Now, they have found out that there was actually a contract between Tompolo and the Federal Government in respect of the acquisition of the Mieka Diving Institute and its facilities for NMU, Okerenkoko, they are saying it was not approved.”

He asked: “Is this not treachery, what do they want, Johnny said FEC never sat on the matter, but the letter by NIMASA conveying the approval of FEC for the purchase of the facilities at N13 billion had been published and the facts are clear.”

EFCC’s charge

Nonetheless, EFCC in its charge alleged that Tompolo and Akpobolokemi converted the sums of $108.7 million and N2.1 billion, being the property of NIMASA, knowing that the said sum were proceeds of stealing. Charged along with them are three others as well as five limited liability companies.

The other accused are; Global West Vessel Specialist Limited, Odimiri Electricals Limited, Kime Engozu, Boloboere Property and Estate Ltd, Rex Elem, Destre Consult Ltd, Gregory Mbonu, and Captain Warredi Enisuoh. The 40-count charge seems, however, to be poles apart from the alleged N13 billion-land fraud against Tompolo. It is more about the business of another company linked to Tompolo- Global West Vessel Specialist Limited.

In the suit filed on behalf of the EFCC by its prosecutor, Festus Keyamo, the agency alleged that Ekpemupolo, Akpobolokemi, Global West Vessel Specialist Ltd and others conspired amongst themselves, between 2012 and 2014, to commit the offence, knowing that the two sums of money were proceeds of stealing.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015 — 27

,

S FORUM

Despite this array of mutual funds and others still under development as well as efforts by SEC to sanitize the market and create further awareness, there are presently fewer than 250,000 unit holders in Nigeria

,

Mutual Fund as an alternative investment vehicle

By Bunmi Dayo-Olagunju

capitalization and weak regulatory supervision. iberalization of the Nigerian An instructive underlining factor, financial services sector in the albeit ignored, is the seeming mid 80s had a key upshot: mutual insufficient knowledge among funds became part of the country’s Nigerians of mutual funds and the capital market matrix in the 1990s. inherent benefits derivable from The foray was however short-lived. investing in them. This is further Gains made through this investment worsened by an already low savings vehicle quickly disappeared and investment culture. The following further restructuring of the prevalence of unregistered and banking sector in the late 90s, which unregulated ‘fund managers’, narrowed available investment including wonder banks, is another options. It was not until 2004 when major contributor to low penetration. the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Essentially, a mutual fund or unit unveiled the consolidation policy trust scheme or collective investment and reform of the financial services scheme is a common purse into industry that this investment window which investors place their rebounded once again. contributions to create a large pool Currently, the records of the of funds. Subscribers to the fund Securities and Exchange become unit holders, part-owners of Commission (SEC) show that there the fund proportionate to the volume are 43 approved mutual funds of the fund units they hold. The managed by 23 fund managers in funds are managed by an asset the country. About 21 of the funds manager who invests the pool of are quoted on the funds contributed by Nigerian Stock individual subscribers Exchange.

The An instructive in an asset class or dominant players, who across asset classes. underlining control over 85 per cent Generally, targeted of the market are Stanbic factor, albeit instruments include IBTC, ARM, UBA Asset ignored, is the stocks, bonds, Management, Denham, properties, cash, Union Homes, Zenith seeming debentures, gilts and Capital, Kakawa AM, insufficient other securities.

FAML, FBN Capital and knowledge Investors earn returns Global Asset through dividends on Management. Of the among stocks, interests on mutual funds, the Nigerians of bonds, capital gains Stanbic IBTC Money mutual funds and by selling their Market Fund (SIMM), mutual funds’ shares launched in 2010, is the and the inherent for a profit. largest with a net asset benefits Similar to the way a value of over N50 billion. co-operative scheme derivable from Other notable mutual or the local thrift club, funds include ARM investing in also known as Esusu, Discovery Fund, Nigeria them Adashe or Ajo system Energy Sector Fund, is operated, a mutual Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity fund is a platform that brings Fund, Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed together money from many people Investment Fund, Coral Growth and subsequently invested in purely Fund, Legacy Fund, and UBA or a combination of money market, Equity Fund. equities, bonds or other assets.

Despite this array of mutual funds Regardless of their classifications, and others still under development mutual funds are usually targeted as well as efforts by SEC to sanitize at both individuals and corporate the market and create further entities. awareness, there are presently fewer They range from high networth than 250,000 unit holders in individuals, retail investors, and Nigeria, an insignificant proportion Pension Fund Administrators to when juxtaposed with the country’s insurance companies, institutional estimated 150 million people. investors/large corporations, Though the global economic endowments and foundations. meltdown in 2007 had a negative Instructive here is the erroneous impact on the Nigerian capital impression that mutual funds are market, resulting in loss of investor meant for the rich and well heeled. confidence and over 60% of its No. They are aimed at anyone with capitalization, the global crisis was investible funds. In Nigeria, with as also a catalyst of sorts as market low as N5,000 you can invest in reforms became imperative. There mutual funds. were however other inherent systemic challenges such as lack of •Dayo-Olagunju is Chief investor discipline and corporate Executive of Stanbic IBTC Asset governance, decline in return-onManagement Limited. investment, low level professionalism, lopsidedness in ...To be continued next week

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From left: Dr. Zainab Bagudu, First Lady, Kebbi State; Mrs. Siju Iluyomade, CEO Arise Women; Mrs. Ranti Aborowa, member, Arise Women; Dr. Moji Odeku, Arise Chair during the visit of Arise Women to the Internally Displaced Persons in Abuja. name, signature and Clearing House Number (CHN). This shall be followed with upload of scanned copy of completed e-Dividend Mandate Form(s) on to the portal for immediate access by the investor’s nominated bank for the verification of his/her bank account details.

Registrars shall exercise caution when validating names generated by the system for the Clearing House Number, Shareholder Account Number and Bank Account Number against the physical form to ensure there is a reasonable level of congruence before the document is accepted and saved on the portal.

“Investors should be educated to complete separate forms for each shareholder account number, as upload of e-Dividend Mandate Forms

shall be on the basis of individual shareholder number and company of investment indicated by the investor on the physical e-Dividend Mandate Form.

“The receiving bank may reject the mandate uploaded by Presenting Registrars if the signature on the mandate does not tally with the specimen signature of the account holder in the bank.

“Where banks uploads e-Dividend Mandates to registrars for investor detail validation, such mandates must be confirmed by the Receiving Registrar Authoriser within 72 hours (3 days) of transmission by the Presenting Bank Authorizer.” (For comments, questions and enquiries pls w r i t e tovanguardinvestorsforum@gmail.com)

adding: “In line with our goal of creating liquidity transparently, we will continue to monitor the performance and value-add of the NASD OTC market to investors and constantly introduce measures that will enhance the credibility and

efficiency of the market.”

Meanwhile, activity is the NASD OTC market closed negative during the week as in the previous week with the unlisted securities index (USI) closing at 598.78 points, down 6.92 per cent from the previous close of 643.30 points.

Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers named NSE’s 2015 ‘Best Dealing Member Firm’

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tanbic IBTC Stockbrokers Limited has been named the 2015 Best Dealing Member Firm on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) at the 2015 NSE CEO Awards.

The firm was commended for a high performance culture that has enabled it maintain its leadership position in the Nigerian capital market for close to a decade.

During the period under review, the company retained its position as the largest stockbroking firm in Nigeria in terms of transaction value executed on the floor of the Exchange, a position it has consistently held.

The award reflects Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers Limited’s consistent C M Y K

performance over the years, its robust strategy to set clear values, objectives and processes to ensure that investors derive optimal value from their investments.

In his comments at the event, Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers Limited, Oladele Sotubo, said the award validates the company’s appetite and growing capacity of the stockbroking firm to provide robust services in the capital market.

“We are delighted to be recognized for our efforts and credible performances in the Nigerian capital market. The award reflects our strong commitment to consistently deliver relevant, innovative and timely solutions to our ever-growing local and foreign clientele,” Sotubo stated.

28—Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

pply u s s ’ NLNG in of LPGa drops Nigeri by 60%

Nigeria earns N413bn from gas export in three months

By Michael Eboh

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IGERIA earned N412.983 billion from the export of Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG, Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, also known as cooking gas and other gaseous materials in three months, between July and September 2015, according to data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS. The NBS, in its Foreign Trade Statistics Report for the Third Quarter of 2015, revealed that this represented an increase of 9.5 per cent or N35.813 billion when compared to N377.17 billion earned by the country from the export of those commodities in the second quarter of 2015.

Giving a breakdown of the third quarter figures, the NBS stated that the country’s LNG export stood at N262.202 billion; liquefied propane export was valued at N106.803 billion, while the export of other petroleum gases, among others, in gaseous state was valued at N22.762 billion.

In addition, the country earned N10.101 billion from the export of LPG and other gaseous hydrocarbons, while it also earned N8.115 billion from the export of liquefied butanes.

Liquefied propane In comparison, in the second quarter of 2015, the country earned N260.7 billion from the export of LNG; N66.441 billion from the export of LPG and other gaseous hydrocarbons; N43.88 billion from liquefied propane, while liquefied butane export fetched the country N6.15 billion.

Furthermore, the report identified India as Nigeria highest export destination in the third quarter with an export value of N408.24 billion, comprising N382.884 billion and N25.356 billion crude oil and non-crude oil export respectively.

Netherlands followed with total export value of N245.066 billion comprising crude oil and noncrude oil export of N228.2 billion and 16.86 billion respectively, while Spain’s export from Nigeria stood at N211.357 billion, with N159.5 billion been value for crude oil and N51.853 billion from non-crude oil items.

Other export destinations in the quarter under review are: United Kingdom — N192.231 billion total exports, with N85.07 billion crude oil export and N107.17 billion non-crude oil export; Brazil — N169.44 billion, with N140.84 billion and N28.6 billion crude oil C M Y K

and non-oil export.

In addition, France received N106.billion of Nigeria’s total export; South Africa — N105.05 billion; United States — N85.51 billion; Japan — N80.44 billion and Indonesia — N71.37 billion among others.

On the other hand, China emerged the destination with the highest value of Nigeria’s import in the period under review, accounting for N459.4 billion of Nigeria’s total imports. The United States followed with Nigeria im-

ports from the country valued at N160.6 billion, while the country imports from Belgium stood at N128.32 billion.

Others are: Netherlands — N101.82 billion; India — N97.42 billion; Germany — N55.04 billion; United Kingdom — N54.23 billion; Latvia — N44.79 billion; Brazil — N39.51 billion and Thailand — N31.03 billion among others.

Continuing, the report stated that, “Further analysis of Nigeria’s imports by Continent, re-

vealed that the country consumed goods largely from Asia with imports valued at¦ 764.5 billion or 45.3 per cent of total imports.

“The Country also imported goods valued at N596.4 billion or 35.3 per cent from Europe and N241.3 billion or 14.3 per cent from The Americas. Import trade from Africa stood at N65.4 billion or 3.9 per cent while imports from the region of ECOWAS amounted to N16.3 billion.”

Gas plant

Supply glut: eCertify’ll boost Nigeria’s crude oil export — NACCIMA

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By Michael Eboh

ORRIED about the current glut in the sale of Nigeria’s crude oil in the international market and dwindling crude oil export, the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, NACCIMA, has called on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to embrace its electronic Certificate of Origin (eCertify) as this would help turn around the fortunes of the country’s crude oil sale and open new markets for Nigeria’s crude oil.

In a statement in Abuja, Vice President of NACCIMA, Mr. Billy Harry, lamented that prior to now, the NNPC did not apply for certificate of origin in the export of Nigeria’s crude oil, despite the fact that it is part of the requirements for every export emanating from Nigeria.

He further stated that due to the popularity of Nigeria’s crude oil globally, there are a number of countries who are interested in doing business with Nigeria but are not showing interest because of issues surrounding integrity and good business practices.

He said NACCIMA eCertify would help address the issues that are of concerns in the area of crude oil export trade and help open new frontiers for Nigeria’s crude oil.

He said, “Oil export, somehow, also requires documentation, and of course, Nigeria’s crude oil is known all over the world, so we would encourage NNPC to apply for Certificate of Origin to further help in attracting additional

interest to Nigeria’s crude.

“Prior to now, they were not doing that. We advise them to do so, because these are all exports and countries who still today prefer to trade with Nigeria would want to do so as, especially as NACCIMA eCertify would help enhance those values.”

He stated that the eCertify initiative started June 2015, with the support of the Federal Government and other agencies of government involved in export trade. NACCIMA eCertify, he said, is a single source Certificate of Originn for all exportable products and services to the European Union, Asia, North and South America, Caribbean, ECOWAS and all D8 countries.

He said eCertify can be obtained within five minutes after registration of its web portal: www.naccimaecertify.com.

Continuing, Harry said, “We want to make Nigeria good, we want Nigeria’s export business to grow and boom.

We want export business to be the next major revenue earner for Nigeria and going forward NACCIMA is going to be advocating for agriculture and export as a complimentary value for our oil and gas, which we know is something that can be done in abundance in this country.

“And of course, it would create opportunity for jobs, employment, because the more quality goods we are exporting, the more that particular business would expand.”

By Sebastine Obasi

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HE price of liquefied petroleum gas, LPG, otherwise known as cooking gas is likely to go up as The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited, NLNG, supply to the domestic market in the country has dropped from 90 percent to 30 percent.

The drop in supply is attributable to infrastructure and logistics challenges it has been experiencing.

Auwalu Ilu, chief executive officer, Ultimate Gas Limited, who stated this in Lagos, said that inadequate vessels to load LPG and jetty facilities for berthing of LPG vessels had created a dwindling supply of the product from the Bonny Island plant of the NLNG. NLNG, which had accounted for 90 percent of supply to the domestic market, was currently responsible for only 30 per cent, while importation and the refineries accounted for 60 percent and 10 per cent, respectively. According to him, only one vessel, GAS DE PROVIDENCE shuttles between Lagos and Bonny Island to deliver LPG from NLNG to the domestic market, stressing that inadequate jetty facilities have led to situations whereby the vessel could not berth for several weeks, thus accumulating demurrage and creating tight supply situation in the market.

NLNG had in 2007 dedicated 100,000 metric tonnes to the domestic market annually but later increased the volumes to 250,000 metric tonnes.

However, the local market could not absorb the dedicated volumes due to the challenges of infrastructure and logistics to take the product from Bonny Island to Lagos.

Ilu stated that it is cheaper for the operators to import LPG than to take it from Bonny to Lagos. He added that even the LPG loading facilities at the Bonny Island were designed for exports and not the local market, and argued that there is a serious mismatch in the LPG supply chain in the country.

He said:“Getting access to the jetty in Lagos, is an issue and the management of the jetty is also an issue. It sounds strange that you have dedicated 250,000 metric tonnes but you import more than the dedicated volumes.”

Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015—29

Residents call for restoration of power supply to sewage plant

By Ediri Ejoh

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ESIDENTS of Iponri Low-Cost Housing Estate, Surulere Local Government Area, Lagos, have called on Lagos State Government to come to their aid as they suffer a looming epidemic in their environs.

According to them, the sewage plant that drains dirty water from the soak away of more than 400 housing units with 500,000 residents had been disconnected by Eko Distribution Company due to unpaid bills.

They told newsmen in Lagos that non-functioning of the sewage plant had resulted in flooding of the estate by dirty water from the soak away, thereby causing bad odour in the area.

Mr Abdul-Rasak Osho, President, Iponri Housing Estate Residents’ Association said that the sewage plant was constructed by Lagos State Government and maintained by Ministry of Environment.

“The residents noticed that the sewage plant stopped working about three months ago. We met the engineer in charge of the plant who told us that the power supply to the plant had been disconnected because Lagos State Government was owing the EKEDC. “We bought diesel for them to power the plant but it was just for five hours. We have appealed to EKEDC to restore the power supply but they said not until Lagos State Government pays what they are owing the company.

‘The sewage plant has being under the government care since we bought flats in this estate and government has not told us that they can no longer maintain it.

“Presently, the dirty water has flooded everywhere in the estate. We cannot even pass some routes now because it is everywhere,” he said.

Osho appealed to the state government to offload the bill so that power supply would be restored to the sewage plant and save the estate from impending epidemic.

Mr Francis Odukoya, the Secretary General of the association said that they have written several letters to the Ministry of Environment on the flooding but nothing had been heard from them.

6,000MW needed to reduce power outages in Nigeria

By Sebastine Obasi may have NIGERIANS inadequate power sup-

ply for a long time as Sam Amadi, the out-going Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, said that 6,000 megawatts of regular supply of electricity is needed before power outages can be significantly reduced in the country.

Amadi, who was speaking during a public hearing on the activities of NERC and Distribution Companies, Discos, as they relate to infrastructure and billing by the House of Representatives Committee on Power, also said that 55 percent of consumers remain un-metered. He attributed this to legacy issues which have resulted in consumers being charged through estimated billing.

Amadi lamented that the cloning of meters and bypassing of meters remain a major challenge particularly in some parts of the country and this results in loss of revenue for Discos. Responding to reports that the regulatory body is soft on Discos for infractions and inefficiencies particularly in metering, Amadi agreed, but however noted that the agency is not quick to wield the big stick in order to build investors confidence in the sector. He also attributed it to the fact that the Discos are still experiencing several challenges.

“It is in the interest of consumers that we help Discos and generating companies to survive, but from the beginning of this year, we have been penalising. Recently, we asked Abuja Disco to pay N18

PRESENTATION: Chief Operating Officer, Oando Marketing, Mrs. Olaposi Williams (2nd right), presenting a gift to St. Timothy’s College OnikeIwaya’s student, Miss Joy Ogunbajo (2nd left), winner of Teens Can Cook, while the Head Teacher, St. Finbarrs College, Mr. Daniel Ikediobi (right) and St. Timothy College OnikeIwaya’s teacher, Mrs. Nwabueze Folukemi watch during the grand finale/end of the year edition of Teens Can Cook Competition, powered by O-GAS for secondary schools, at St. Finbarrs College, Akoka Yaba, Lagos.

million to the family of a child who was electrocuted, and they did that,” he said.

Amadi added that Abuja Disco was also mandated to com-

Cloning of meters and bypassing of meters remain a major challenge particularly in some parts of the country

pensate 32,000 consumers with about N50 million due to over-billing. He explained further that the Discos are experiencing several challenges. “You talk about tariff, but what about gas? The telecommunications industry has the advantage of technological innovations. Electricity is a conservative technology, we cannot do without gas, even if we build solar everywhere,” he said, adding that the discos have to deal with weak infrastructure.

Also speaking at the public hearing, Mark Karst, managing director, Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, said the company is targeting 20,000 megawatts of electricity by the year 2020 and would need $1 billion annually to achieve the target. He noted

that the money required is a huge sum.

Karst put the current power generation at 4,800 megawatts, with potential for 5,400 and 6,000 in a very short time if certain adjustments are made. He disclosed that the tariff application of TCN with NERC has been pending since the middle of 2014. “Transitional electricity market declared in February 2015 has not been effective,” he said, adding that the power sector remains a difficult field to navigate for all players involved.

Igariwey Enwo, member of the committee, however, challenged that NERC has being soft on Discos which resulted in them not being keen on metering, and campaigning for the switch to smart meters.

“No individual in my state, Ebonyi, has a single pre-paid meter. Many people there have never even seen what it looks like…you have to make it mandatory for them to go ahead with the metering,” he said, The lawmakers raised several challenges which consumers continue to experience, such as mass disconnection, paying for transformers, cables and even labour to get electricity and exploitation through estimated billing.

Daniel Asuquo, chairman, House Committee on Power, said the committee takes the issue of local content seriously, and Nigerians must be given right of first refusal. He also lamented that the TCN wholly owned by the government, is being owed by the discos despite the N213 billion loans granted to them by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

NNPC initiates direct delivery to IPMAN outlets

By Sebastine Obasi N its quest to reduce the fuel scarcity ravaging the country, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has initiated direct supply of petrol to Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) retail outlets in the country.

This was stated by the National Operation Controller of IPMAN, Mr. Mike Osatuyi, during an inspection tour of some IPMAN retail outlets in Lagos.

Osatuyi, who praised the initiative of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, said that more than 300 trucks of PMS were supplied last weekend.

Apart from NIPCO, Capital Oil and very few others, the NNPC previously didn’t supply fuel to IPMAN retail outlets for lack of confidence and irregularities carried out in most of the stations,

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but to bring the current supply situation under control, the Corporation resumed fuel supply to them. Osatuyi stated that one of his filling stations, Nyce Petroleum, located in Akute, Ogun State, benefited from the intervention measure, and got two trucks of 40,000 litres and 36,000 litres, making a total 76,000 litres of petrol.

Under the latest move, NNPC would provide petrol to registered and certified members of IPMAN, deliver the products to their respective retail stations, and ensure that, IPMAN monitors that the products are sold at the approved price of N87 per litre. The current arrangement according to him, has saved IPMAN members the hassles of going to depot to queue for products because NNPC has already taken off the burden of sourcing for products and transporting to the retail stations.

According to Osatuyi, “We are here to showcase what the Federal Government is doing in terms of PMS intervention scheme. You can see that the government is bringing petrol to dealers to sell at official price of N87 per litre, and we are selling at N87.

Benefit of the masses They brought two trucks which we are yet to pay for. This is unbelievable. We have never seen this before. I want NNPC/PPMC (Pipeline and Product Marketing Company) to continue and sustain it. We at IPMAN can assure the government that we will support them now they have agreed to partner with us. We will not fail them. This is for the benefit of the masses, which the government of President Muhammadu Buhari stands for.

“The product is sold at N87 here at NYCE filling station, but about 80 per cent of filling stations in Nigeria sell above N87 but with this intervention, the price of N87 per litre will be uniform across the country. The process has just started, we need to be patient and believe in government, and very soon the question of selling above the official price will not be there at all.

“IPMAN members own and control about 84 per cent of the retail outlets in this country, so now the government is ready to work with us, we too are ready to work with them. If they give us the fuel, we sell it.”

NNPCcanonlysupply52percent of our national need. I understand and have confirmed that they have stepped up importation to bridge the gap. I believe they will sustain the intervention. If they sustain it, we are ready to sell to the public.”

C M Y K

30—VANGUARD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

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T was a double celebration for PAN Nigeria Limited, assemblers of Peugeot Automobile in Nigeria, as it unveiled a new re-modelled Peugeot 508 with major face lift for the driving pleasure of its teeming customers and also signed agreements with the foremost movie producer, and the Chief Executive of Golden Effects Services Limited, Kunle Afolayan.

Unveiling the new car at NAF Conference Centre in Abuja, on Tuesday, PAN Nigeria said the new 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine Peugeot 508 which was wholly assembled at its Kaduna Plant boasts key value propositions and meets the Euro 5 emission standard, making it a very environment friendly car.

Speaking at the occasion, the Managing Director and Chief Executive of PAN Nigeria Limited, Alhaji Ibrahim Boyi said in addition to the outstanding qualities, the new 508 comes with enhanced fuel economy, automatic LED lightening system for better night vision, auto brake system, and touch screen con-

PAN launches new 508 •Appoints brands Ambassador

Kunle Afolayan, Chief Executive of Golden Effects Services Limited poses with his new Peugeot 508 after the contract signing ceremony as the new Peugeot Ambassador.

Kunle Afolayan in a handshake with the Managing Director of PAN Nigeria, Alhaji Ibrahim Boyi

trol panel, making it a full multi media car.

According to him, “I travelled to and from Kaduna to Abuja two times on a full tank of petrol with this car. And as you are sitting at the back, you can shut down your AC and the other people will not be complaining, this is the beauty of this car, it has facilities for tea, coffee and all your drinks, it has so many options and the car is very roomy for executives. When you sit at the back you have so much room.” he said.

Earlier, the popular movie producer, Mr. Kunle Afolayan, who

by the agreement with PAN Nigeria, is to promote the Peugeot brand, described the new 508 Sedan as a machine that deserves the attention of all upwardly mobile Chief Executives and indeed every car lover.

“Sincerely this is as the Germans will call it, a machine. It is well balanced, the sun is scorching and still you could feel the cool breeze in the car. All the buttons and all the electronics makes the car lovely that an av-

erage car lover should have not only because of the look but because of the safety capacity that it has.” he said.

Kunle, who drove away from the event in the new 508 Sedan, said the agreement has a one year contract duration which can be renewed on expiration.

“This deal is for a year, after this year maybe they will renew and maybe the relationship will continue, I believe in sustainability” he said.

The new Peugeot 508 will feature prominently in a new movie called ‘The CEO’ adding that he had to reach out to PAN Nigeria before they started shooting the movie because of his love to promote everything Nigerian.

The Head, Marketing Pan Nigeria, Shepuya Icha expressed optimism that the new Peugeot 508 would be an instant success in the Nigerian market.

She said that apart from enhanced performance, the car parades distinguishable features from the old one, stressing that the front grill just below the bonnet has a distinctive Peugeot logo, while the bonnet is a little wider than the old one.

The launch of the new Peugeot 508 Sedan was witnessed by many stakeholders in the automotive industry, including the Director General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) Aminu Jalal, the representative of the Comptroller General of Nigerian Customs Services, Mr. Tajudeen Olarewaju among other dignitaries.

Mymoto XE unveils customer-friendly vehicle repair package M YMOTO XE, a brand of Rivermews Ltd, has unveiled a new customer-friendly after sales package for owners of new and used cars with the aim of keeping their cars on the road without stress.

Mymoto will be providing a cover called Mymotoshield, a vehicle repair contract or extended warranty that covers the cost of parts and repair services related to a preagreed set of vehicle mechanical and electrical vehicle components that stop working in normal cause of use.

According to Mymoto XE, Mr. Wole Onasanya, who briefed the press in Lagos recently, the products is the first of its kind in Nigeria and is aimed at giving car owners peace of mind.

“Mymotoshield can be purchased for a vehicle that is currently in use by a customer or

at the time of buying a brand new or used car from selected auto dealerships to provide peace of mind,”says Onasanya.

On how the Mymotoshield works, the Managing Director explained that when a customer buys Mymotoshield cover and when the vehicle has a covered repair, all the customer needs to pay a pre-agreed deductible while Mymotoshield takes over the process from there.

According to him, the company has an understanding with a reputable spare parts manufacturer which gives the customer assurance of the use of genuine parts.

Spare parts manufacturer “We utilize high quality parts manufactured by reputable brands that meet the standard demanded in the United States and Western Europe. Also Mymtoshield provides a war-

ranty of six months or 6000 kilometres on all replacement parts used and if a parts fails during this period Mymotoshield will replace it at no cost to the customer.

Under the agreement, Mymotoshield also provide warranty on labour to ensure that the repairs are performed to the highest quality.

On what the Mymotoshield covered, the Managing Director said it covers car components ranging from 300 to 700 but this depends on the product bundle the customer purchase. Some of the components include engine components, electrical components and motor like alternator, starter, window motor and wiper.

Others are transmission components, suspension, steering components, air condition components, hi-tech components, engine cooling components, drive axle, brakes, fuel delivery among others.

Highlighting the benefits of

From left: Akinfemi Morakinyo, Customer Case Officer, MyMoto-Xe; Wole Onasanya, MD/CEO, MyMoto-Xe; Toks Bello, Executive Director, Business Development, Cornerstone Insurance Plc; and Toyin Ajomale, Chief Technology Officer, MyMoto-Xe at a press conference for MyMotoShield in Lagos.

the product, Mr. Toyin Ajomale, Chief Technology Officer of the company explained that it helps with the budgeting and planning of repair expenditure by ptotecting against unforeseen high repair cost that can suddenly occur in the course of owning vehicles. It also gives peace of mind as the right replacement parts are used.

Apart from this, it increases the useful life of the vehicle, thereby keeping the vehicle on the road for longer period

without constant breakdown.

What does it take to take a Mymotoshield, Ajomale explain that a customer can take 12 months vehicle repair contract or more depending on his budget, adding that the cost is very affordable as it has been packaged to give relief to car owners.

The chief technology officer further stated that the Mymotoshield does not cover repairs arising from accidents, scheduled service items, body and structural repair to the vehicle.

VANGUARD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015 —31

By Theodore Opara

Ford to Invest $4.5bn in electrified vehicle solutions F

ORD is investing an additional $4.5 billion in electrified vehicle solutions by 2020 as well as changing how the company develops vehicle experiences for customers - all to make people’s lives better by changing the way the world moves.

Ford is adding 13 new electrified vehicles to its portfolio by 2020, when more than 40 per cent of the company ’s global nameplates will come in electrified versions. This represents Ford’s largest-ever electrified vehicle investment in a five-year period.

On the way next year is a new Focus Electric, which features all-new DC fast-charge capability delivering an 80 per cent charge in an estimated 30 minutes and a projected 160kilometre (100-mile) range - an estimated two hours faster than today’s Focus Electric.

The new Focus Electric, which starts production late next year, also will provide European and North American customers: •SmartGauge with

EcoGuide LCD Instrument Cluster, which offers a multitude of customisable displays that can help the driver see real-time electric vehicle power usage to help maximise vehicle efficiency.

•Brake Coach, another smart feature that coaches the driver on how to use smooth braking to maximise the energy captured through the Regenerative Braking System. The more energy a driver captures through braking, the more energy is returned to the vehicle’s battery •Fun-to-drive character, with agile steering and handling engineered into the vehicle to give drivers a more connected feel to the road Ford’s shift to add electrified vehicle solutions answers increasing global trends calling for cleaner, more efficient vehicles.

Ford also is expanding its electrified vehicle research and d e v e l o p m e n t programme in Europe and Asia this year, creating a “hub and spoke” system that

allows the global team to further accelerate battery technology and take advantage of market specific opportunities.

Experience-led design Ford also is reimagining how to set itself apart in the marketplace by focusing

on the customer experience and not just the vehicle itself. The company is changing its product development process to support the shift.

“The challenge going forward isn’t who

ATA International has promised to give Nigerian improved services in 2016. The company admitted that it had not done enough in terms of growing network across the country. Tata International has been present in Nigeria since 2006 as the distributors of Tata Motors Commercial vehicles. In these nine years, they have sold more than 6,000 vehicles capturing a 15 per cent market share in the segments that they focus on.

The company would also build a plant to assemble vehicles in Nigeria.

The Managing Director of Tata International, Mr. Noel Tata stated this at the inauguration of a new showroom the company built in Lagos as part of its desire to consolidate its stake in the Nigerian auto industry. The Tata group, he said was also committed to the new Auto Policy in Nigeria and “we are pleased to announce the start of our project for the assembly of vehicles in Nigeria through our local partner, IPI. According to

him,“Since we started operations in Nigeria, I am pleased to share that we have trained over 200 technicians in our training school for our network partners and key customers.”

He said, “Today Tata Motors has the largest portfolio of products amongst all our competitors, starting from the ACE, which is a 500 kg payload last mile delivery vehicle, to the recently launched world truck, the Prima range, which are 40 tons and above payload long haul vehicles. Over the last two years, we have also consolidated our presence in specialised vehicles for the mass-transit and waste management segments.”

Tata said in 2016, they would add a full range of vehicles to address the Defence and Police segments as well. “At Tata International, we recognise that we have perhaps not done enough in terms of growing our network across the country, as well as meeting the expectation of our customers on the immediate availability of spares.

Motor Company. “By observing consumers, we can better understand which features and strengths users truly use and value and create even better experiences for them going forward,”he added.

Jaguar XE, XF achieve 5-star Euro NCAP safety rating

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HE Jaguar XE and allnew Jaguar XF have been awarded the maximum five-star rating in Euro NCAP’s 2015 safety

tests.

XE and XF scored highly in every category – Adult Occupant, Child Occupant, Pedestrian and Safety Assist

Tata promises improved service, sets up plant

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provides the most technology in a vehicle but who best organises that technology in a way that most excites and delights people,” said Raj Nair, executive vice president, Product Development and chief technical officer, Ford

“Both these issues are going to be our areas of focus for 2016, and we are undertaking several initiatives to quickly improve our performance. I hope that you will all see a marked difference in our network reach in coming months.”

Tata said to drive these initiatives, they also have a brand new team of Niraj Srivastava, the new head of our Auto business and Naresh Leekha, the head of their West Africa operations.

“Whilst distributorship of

In this business, our focus has been to offer small holders the opportunity of mechanisation and the ability to multiply their incomes rapidly

Tata Motors vehicles has been the foundation of our presence across Africa, we are delighted to represent another global brand – the world leader in farm equipment – John Deere. “In this business, our focus has been to offer small holders the opportunity of mechanisation and the ability to multiply their incomes rapidly. Over the last three years, we have sold over 500 tractors to such small farm holders and commercial contractors.”

He said they have also trained over 80 contractors on using the tractors. "In addition, our financing offers, in conjunction with John Deere Financial, have also enabled purchases and flexible repayments by our customers.

“We recognise that this is only the beginning of what we can achieve in this large market. We will continue to improve on our services to the Nigerian market and look forward to becoming an integral part of the agricultural and transport revolution that we are certain will take place very soon," he concluded.

– and are among the most highly rated models in their respective segments.

“The XE and XF were engineered without compromise: we placed just as much focus on safety as we did on dynamics, performance, refinement and efficiency, and our stringent in-house standards far exceed the requirements of legislative and consumer tests,” said Kevin Stride, Vehicle Line Director for Jaguar XE, XF and F-PACE. The XE and XF are developed from Jaguar’s Lightweight Aluminium Architecture: the inherently light body structures are also stiff and strong, delivering exceptional occupant protection. Both models are further enhanced by driver and passenger airbags, side

airbags and curtain airbags.

In the event of an impact with pedestrians, deployable bonnets help to mitigate serious injuries.

The XE and XF offer a full suite of active safety technologies and advanced driver assistance systems including Dynamic Stability Control, Traction Control, Emergency Brake Assist, Lane Departure Warning, Blind Spot Monitoring, Closing Vehicle Sensing, Reverse Traffic Detection, and Adaptive Cruise Control.

Additional safety features offered in the XF – which will be launched in South Africa early next year– include Lane Keep Assist, Driver Condition Monitor and Adaptive Speed Limiter.

Land Rover Defender takes over London

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ONDONERS were delighted when they spotted a one-of-a-kind Land Rover Defender ‘taxi’ driving through the streets of the capital. The Defender, one of the world’s best-loved 4x4s, had the starring role in a commemorative film to celebrate this global automotive icon and to promote the forthcoming charity auction of the Defender 2 000 000 being held at Bonhams New Bond Street headquarters on 16

December.

The film, released last week, also stars a number of other more unusual, specially modified vehicles including a Series II Land Rover ice cream van, a specially tailored Paul Smith Defender and the first ever Series Land Rover show car, displayed at the Amsterdam Motor Show in 1948, all taking in London’s famous landmarks as they tell the story of the Defender’s rich history.

32—Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

Nigeria: Facilitating resilient and sustainable infrastructural development (2) Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim presented this paper at the annual symposium of Nigerian Students’ Society of Imperial College, London. The first part was published yesterday.

By Gbenga Olawepo-hashim

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S a matter of fact, the country has not witnessed the construction of any new green field port over the last four decades despite a rapidly expanding economy. According to the AFDP 2013 study, of all the freight that arrived Nigerian ports, only 0.2% travelled by rail.

The oil refineries are in an incredibly bad shape. Nigeria, the 5th largest producer of oil has turned into a net importer of petroleum products due to the shameful state of gas and pipeline infrastructure. Hospitals and educational facilities are in a state of decay crippled by the manacles of poor maintenance and underdevelopment.

The reasons for the infrastructure decay are not farfetched. They include; lack of adequate investment from both the public and the private sector, lack of adequate maintenance programme and capacity building issues.

In order to upgrade the nation’s infrastructure for the purpose of supporting the desired economic growth target and socioeconomic development objectives, the AFDP forecasts Nigeria requires $350 billion USD CAPEX investment over a period of nine years. It also estimates that $100 billion USD is required over the same period as OPEX investment.

Private sector commitment A recent McKinsey projection on the cost of upgrading Nigeria infrastructure is not too far from the AFDP assumptions.

McKinsey projects that $31 billion USD is required annually over a period of ten years. Both studies expect most of CAPEX investments to come principally from Federal Government Infrastructure Funding commitment, Public-Private Sector collaboration through the PPP and direct private sector investment. Unfortunately, the funding commitment from the Federal Government to infrastructure has been disappointing as only a meagre $3.6 billion USD commitment to Capital Expenditure was provided for in the 2014 budget.

Private sector commitment has also been small and slow in coming.

Challenges of building a resilient and sustainable infrastructure: The task of building a resilient infrastructure that will meet the developmental needs of the country are many but I will limit myself to five critical areas as I assume that this

President Buhari

audience will be more interested in how to scale the hurdles than an exhaustive list of the problems.

For our purpose I have identified; •Funding, • Administrative and Bureaucratic impediments to private sector participation in infrastructure development, •Man-Power challenges, •Lack of industrial base to locally produce the component of infrastructural facilities, •Recalibrating the Electricity Sector Reform Funding: Though Nigeria has been severally referred to as a rich country whose income has been ravaged by rampant corruption accounting for its abysmal level of infrastructural development; this assumption is only half the truth. The revenue collected by the Federal Government, even when not stolen, is grossly inadequate to cater for a population of about 170 million people.

During the season of high Oil price, the country ’s total receivables from oil sales amounted to about $50 billion USD in twelve months. This revenue is comparable to the 2014 earnings of Disney World, Florida, USA which was a record $48 billion USD. Ancillary to the small revenue base of the country is the misapplication of the revenue collected through a consistent disproportionate allocation of

The burden of high cost of production could be lighter if electricity supply can be assessed at the grid price on a stable basis and even at a price a little higher than the current grid cost

about eighty per cent of revenue to r e c u r r e n t expenditure leaving little or nothing for Capital Expenditure.

Lack of funding for Infrastructure, Manufacturing and Industrialisation is compounded by the shallowness of the Nigerian banking system.

The existing banks have proved incapable of lending to Infrastructure and the real sector.

Policy makers will have to examine whether it makes sense for Banks to hold licenses for merely charging a premium on the economy without adding the needed value for infrastructural growth and development of manufacturing.

It may be time for decision makers to examine the propriety of encouraging successful global banking brands with reputation for infrastructure financing to bring more depth to the Nigerian banking sector.

Administrative and bureaucratic impediments to private sector participation in infrastructure development: There is no doubt that given the size of its market, the high rate of return that investment in Nigerian economy commands compared to other emerging markets, the country should be one of the best destinations for private sector investment in infrastructure. The country also has clearly defined laws and institutions that spell out the path to private sector participation in the economy.

Electricity sector Nigeria’s Electricity Sector Reform Act 2005 for instance, is one of the most advanced reform laws in the emerging markets.

Yet, the bureaucratic civil service, which most of the economic liberalization laws seek to keep out of the way of private sector investment, struggles everyday to return to reckoning keeping investors applications for permits and licenses unattended to for years.

Dismantling the unnecessary administrative red tape and multiple agencies’ interventions in administrative processes is one of the simple but crucial steps Nigeria must take immediately in order to receive the desired private sector investment in her

ailing infrastructure.

Man-power challenges: Project developers in the country frequently bemoan the lack of qualified and technically competent hands for project implementation.

The cost of engaging expatriate hands with requisite skill-sets is unsustainable and also creates cost over runs. There is an urgent need to reform educational curricular with a desire to emphasize the acquisition of technical skills required for the development of infrastructure and industrialization of the country.

Middle level manpower Particular attention must be paid to the development of middle level manpower such as welders, mechanics, builders with up to date certification in modern vocational training centres. The training of Accountants, Engineers, Lawyers with project development and management skills are also urgently required.

The pool of qualified engineers and other professionals of Nigerian descent in the diaspora are crucial to the task of building local manpower capacity for industrialization and development.

Lack of industrial base to locally produce the component of infrastructural facilities: It is trite fact that most modern infrastructure, machine tools and equipment are largely — after invention and design — a product of the coupling together of metals, iron, steel, glass, aluminium and petrochemicals.

The absence of sufficient local production of these items means that a nation will be forever consigned to mass importation of finished goods at prohibitive cost and condemned to the status of a primary producer.

This particular challenge of the Nigerian economy is perhaps its most fundamental impediment to industrialization and infrastructural growth. The quantity of steel produced in a country is a signal to its technological and industrial advancement. Nigeria currently produces only 2.5 million tonnes per year and imports about 17 million tonnes- very low quantity produced and consumedcompared to other middleincome economies. Turkey

produces 34million tonnes per year, India 86.5million tonnes and Brazil 33.9m tonnes per year.

Re-calibrating the electricity sector reform; Building Sustainable Infrastructure and a new industrial economy is impossible without adequate electricity supply at the point of need. Most manufacturers’ particularly small-scale producers in Nigeria have had to bear huge cost through selfgeneration of electricity using diesel and petrol as fuel. The self-generating energy supplier mode has a price tag of N90/kw compared to N22/kw grid price of electricity.

Given that prevailing interest rate to assess finance in Nigeria is 22% compared to 8.5% in South Africa, 7.8% in Egypt, China 3.4% and in the US 2.33%, the Nigerian manufacturer is already not competitive. The burden of high cost of production could be lighter if electricity supply can be assessed at the grid price on a stable basis and even at a price a little higher than the current grid cost.

The electricity sector reform inaugurated by the 2005 Electricity Sector Reform Act in Nigeria was designed to address the challenges facing the sector with a view to making private sector the driver of investment and efficient management of the power sector. The reform rests on two legs; privatization of the existing utilities on one hand and the licensing of Private Independent Power Producers on the other.

Infrastructure development The participation of new Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in the sector are specially very crucial because whilst privatization of existing utilities merely transfers ownership to the new operators, it is the new greenfield IPPs that add capacity to the network. Unfortunately, in the past five years no new IPP has been commissioned in Nigeria. As a matter of fact last year no single turbine was imported to Nigeria and none has been imported this year, compared to 15 GE turbines that were shipped to Egypt this year alone.

Ten years running, this reform has been hampered by the difficulties associated with the private sector participation in infrastructure development identified previously. The difference here is, the sense of urgency that the resolution of these issues in the power sector demands.

They are questions to which answers cannot be delayed further; they must be addressed right now! Policy formulators only lament and sing the power inadequacy like a song and failing to take the practical executive actions that do not even require legislation to achieve.

As an operator in this sector, I have outlined some immediate steps to be taken to recalibrate the power sector reform.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015—33

Declare emergency on forex, Sapele chamber of Commerce urges Buhari A

By Emma Amaize

SABA—SAPELE Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, SACCIMA, Sapele, Delta State, has advised the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on foreign exchange (forex) by stopping the financing imports of all non-government or essential commodities or settlements of important bills and BTA’s, as it was in the mid-80s when forex was allocated for essential imports only.

President of the chamber, Prince David Iweta, in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, said: “The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, should stop allocating forex for importation of petroleum products.

“There is a huge quantity of refined petroleum products all over the world looking for market. They should source their dollars by offshore loans to import their products and use the naira to refinance and sponsor exports of commodities, which our banks do not have capacity to finance at the moment.

“This will lead to petroleum products stability and gradually force down the price of the products. It will lead to massive job creation in the rural areas in the extractive

industry. This will no doubt redirect the focus of our banks from imports of petroleum related products to non-oil export by stimulating non-oil export and revive export of commodities such as cocoa, rubber, timber, palm produce, cashew nuts, fish, animals, and several solid minerals and give birth to Export Boom in 2016.”

Iweta said that while the decision of the apex bank to

repatriate all export proceeds back to the country within a maximum of 180 days from export was commendable, the decision that exporters must sell the proceeds at official exchange rate does not make economic sense.

“The decision of compulsorily forcing exporters to sell the proceeds at official exchange rate is one singular reason that the naira is exchanging at N280

to $1 as at today. This action and decision of CBN of not allowing non-oil exporters to use their earned forex 10 per cent to settle their own import bills or sell to the highest bidder of such privately earned proceeds at this critical period of acute shortage of foreign exchange has negatively affected exports of Nigerian commodities," he added.

GROUND BREAKING: Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State (right), performing the ground breaking for Electricity Meters Assembly Plant, Metering Solutions Manufacturing Services Limited, at Awa-Iman, Onna Local Government Area of the state.

Election appeal: Uboh vows to petition NJC over alleged travesty of justice

By Stephen Mmadukwem

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CCORD Party candidate in the 2015 National Assembly election in Ika federal constituency, Doris Uboh, has threatened to petition the National Judicial Council, NJC, over what she called ‘travesty of justice’ in her case at the Court of Appeal, Benin, Edo State, challenging the judgment of the National Assembly Elections Petitions Tribunal, delivered in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate, Mr. Victor Nwokolo.

Doris Uboh, in a statement by the Media Director of her campaign organisation, Mr. Chiedu Godwin, said that she might have no alternative than approach the NJC to seek redress over the way her case was handled at the Appeal Court.

She noted that when the case first came up, the appellate court set aside the decision of the tribunal and ordered that the case be remitted to be tried on its merit within the 180 days, contending that the case was again struck out as a result of the expiration of the 180 days C M Y K

constitutional provision for elections related petitions to be disposed of when she went back to the tribunal for the continuation of the case.

“This development made me to approach the Court of Appeal for the second time where the

appellate court ruled on December 10, this year, that the decision (judgment) of the lower court was a nullity,” she said, adding that with the ruling of the appellate court, she had only seven days left to further prosecute the case.

According to her, efforts made by her legal team to get a copy of the ruling from the appellate court failed to yield the desired result as the document (ruling) was neither given to her nor her lawyers until December 16 when she had only one day left

Edo NLC hails Oshiomhole over payment of Dec salary

By Simon Ebegbulem

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ENIN—THE Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, in Edo State has commended the state governor, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, for the prompt payment of workers' salaries, describing the state as lucky, unlike some other states in the country.

Chairman of NLC in the state, Emmanuel Ademokun, in a statement, described Oshiomhole’s seven years reign as a huge success, pointing out that the governor’s efforts in blocking leakages in the ministries had yielded fruit.

He appealed to governors of other states to emulate Governor Oshiomhole in the payment of salaries, saying, “It is very sad today that some of our colleagues

went home for Christmas and New Year without getting their November and December salaries.

“That is why we sincerely thank our governor for his unflinching

commitment in the payment of worker’s salaries up to date. Our governor has clearly shown that he is a man of distinction who sees workers as assets and not liabilities.”

UPU applauds judiciary over Omo-Agege's emergence as senator

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HE leadership of Urhobo Progress Union, UPU, in Ghana, has applauded the judiciary for the meticulous way it handled the Delta Central senatorial election petition brought before it by the Labour Party candidate, Obaisi Ovie Omo-Agege.

In a statement by the UPU Ghana Central Region chairman, Mr. David Ukueku, the body said

that Omo-Agege's emergence had further upheld the resolve of the Urhobo in the Uvwiamughe declaration.

Describing Omo-Agege as a dogged fighter, Ukueku explained that having him at the Senate would further give the Urhobo nation a quality representation at the National Assembly.

Delta PDP group hails Okowa's Appeal Court victory

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ARRI—WARRI-based Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, pressure group, Okere-Urhobo Grassroots Political Forum, OUGPF, has described the Appeal Court victory of Delta State governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, over Chief Great Ogboru of Labour Party, LP and Olorogun O’tega Emerhor of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as historic, particularly after the governor gave out his daughter in marriage barely six days earlier.

OUGPF, in a statement, noted that despite the apprehension that trailed the movement of the Appeal Court sitting from Benin to Abuja, Okowa remained unruffled and focused in his quest to fully implement the SMART agenda.

The statement by the immediate past Delta State Commissioner for Special Duties, Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, Mr. Matthew Opuoru and Leader of Warri South Legislative Arm, Mr. Sunday Aguweye, enjoined Deltans to continually back the Okowa administration, insisting that there was no better time for everyone to bring their human and material resources together in the building of Delta State than now, especially against the backdrop of the dwindling monthly federal allocation occasioned by the drop in the price of crude oil at the international market.

IDU gets new President

By Ochuko Akuopha

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LEH—ISOKO Development Union, IDU, the apex socio-cultural organisation of the Isoko ethnic nationality, has elected Chief Iduh Amadhe as its new President-General.

Amadhe, who is taking over from Gen. Paul Omu (retd), emerged after he secured majority votes to beat Chief Vincent Ovuakporie at the union’s delegates election held at Oleh, headquarters of Isoko South Local Government Area, Delta State.

Speaking shortly after his election, Amadhe said his executive would strive to put the Isoko nation in its rightful place in the comity of ethnic nationalities in the country.

Soliciting the support and cooperation of the Isoko people, he reiterated his determination to do all that was necessary to take the Isoko nation to the next level.

34—Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

‘Nnewi fire disaster predicted months ago’

By Vincent Ujumadu

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WKA—THE fire disaster at the Inter Corp Oil Limited, a gas plant owned by the Chikason Group in the industrial town of Nnewi, Anambra State on the eve of Christmas, which claimed dozens of lives and destroyed property worth millions of naira was predicted by a prophet months before the incident.

A staff of the company said the prophet had warned of an impending danger in the company and asked for fervent prayers.

The worker, who declined to give his name, said: “The workers recently concluded two weeks of fasting and prayer after a prophet warned our Chairman of an impending disaster. The prophet did not specify which of the factories would be affected, which was why all workers in Chikason Group participated actively in the prayer sessions.

“I don’t know why all these bad things are happening. Our Chairman is a very good man. He is so passionate about the welfare of the downtrodden even at great personal cost.

“Last time, two of his fully loaded trucks disappeared from the face of the earth.

Those vehicles were carrying items running into millions of naira. We are yet to recover from that incident and now this. The unfortunate thing was that it happened during Xmas preparation period when many people were at the plant to refill cylinders."

A' Court upholds Abia tribunal judgment on Nwagba’s petition

By Anayo Okoli

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MUAHIA—THE Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri, Imo State, has upheld the decision of the Abia State National/State Assembly Election petition tribunal which nullified the election of Mr. Emeka Nnamani of All Progressives Grand Alliance,

APGA, for Aba North state constituency.

Dr. Blessing Nwagba of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had gone to the tribunal to challenge the election of Nnamani in the April 2015 election.

In its judgment, the tribunal upheld Nwagba’s petition and sacked Nnamani on the ground

that he was not a registered member of APGA in his ward at the time of the election.

The tribunal, therefore, ordered for a re-run election for the constituency without APGA participating.

The tribunal also directed the Police to investigate the allegation of certificate forgery against Nnamani, who claimed

to have graduated from the University of Port Harcourt, a claim denied by the institution.

Not satisfied with the decision of the tribunal, Nnamani proceeded to the Court of Appeal challenging the judgment of the tribunal, which, however, upheld the decision of the tribunal.

Support Umahi, Ekweremadu urges Ebonyians Emeka Mamah & Peter Okutu

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EPUTY SENATE President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has called on the people of Ebonyi State to continue to support Governor David Umahi in his efforts to develop the state.

Ekweremadu, who paid a Christmas homage to the governor at his Uburu residence in Ohaozara Local Government Area, said such support would make the governor deliver democracy dividends to them. ‘’It when you cooperate with him that he will be spurred to do more for you. That democracy dividend he

promised you during electioneering will be difficult to meet in atmosphere of rancour,” he told other visitors who were also on a similar homage.

The deputy Senate President described the victory of Governor Umahi in the last governorship election in the state as an act of God. He said, “His administration is an instrument ordained by God for the unification of Ebonyi State.”

Senator Ekweremadu assured that he will use his position to galvanize local and international support for the Govenor Umahiled administration to enable it accelerate the development of the state.

He expressed confidence that

the ongoing efforts by Umahi to transform the markets in the state into modern markets would attract both local and international investors to the state.

Addressing the visitors, Governor Umahi thanked them for coming to share the joy of Christmas with him.

The governor used the occasion of his audience with the members of the state Executive Council to announce the suspension of the collection of Internally Generated Revenue for the month of January, 2016.

According him, "collection of Internally Generated Revenue, IGR should be suspended for the month of January for government to come up with civilized method of revenue

Usman congratulates Okowa on A’Court victory

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ARRI—MR. Sani Usman, Senior Special Assistant (Special Duties) to Delta State Governor, has congratulated Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, on the judgment of the Court of Appeal which affirmed his election.

In a statement in Warri, Usman, said that the judgment was an affirmation that the courts were still the last hope of the common man and no individual, no matter the level of his machination, could

derail the wish of God for His people.

He lauded the judgment as reflective of the wishes of Deltans, stating that the Appeal Court Justices merely gave voice to the people’s desire for Okowa to continue to serve them as a dependable leader.

“The governor is determined to transform every sector of the state’s economy, even in the face of dwindling oil fortune. Hence,

he will not to be deterred by the tortuous journey to justice over the election petition instituted by the Labor Party, LP, and All Progressives Congress, APC, candidates in the state. He will rather be focused on continuing to give Deltans quality dividends of democracy,” he asserted.

Usman called on the opposition parties to sheathe their swords and close ranks with the governor in moving Delta State forward.

drive in the state.”

The governor similarly announced the lifting of the suspension on the Special Assistant to the Governor on Talent Development and Rehabilitation, Mrs. Jacinta Nworie.

He said: “The first thing to give you this Christmas is to lift the suspension order on one of you.” Umahi thanked the council members for their commitment to duty and urged them to be peace makers and bridge builders.

Those that visited the governor included members of the state Executive Council, the stakeholders of Ikwo Local Government Area led by the state Deputy Governor, Dr. Eric Kelechi Igwe; the Board and Management of the state College of Education, led by its chairman, Engr. Fidelis Nwankwo; the Governing Council of the state University, Abakaliki led by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Francis Idike; the Rector of Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic, Unwana, Afikpo, Venerable Ogbonnaya Ibe- Enwo; Ohaukwu Local Government Stakeholders; the state Traditional Rulers’ Council led by His Royal Highness, Charles Mkpuma; and members of the State Fiscal Responsibility Commission.

By Bartholomew Madukwe (08102479985) nwamad@yahoo.com

PEOPLE SPEAK

On what govt, Nigerians are expected to do for devt

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t is great to see people celebrate the festivities.

Boko Haram may not be completely wiped out, but they are greatly diminished. Christians, and everyone celebrating Christmas, are under obligation to pray. -Mrs. Titi Balogun, Nurse

C M Y K

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ell, I know for sure that Nigeria does not need prayers. God has blessed us already with all that we may need as a nation to do great things. I believe that the only thing is to beg the political thieves to stop stealing and do their jobs. -Mr. Kelvin Kingsley, Businessman

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e should respect others, be truthful always and frank but learn to say sorry when wrong.

We should also treat all fairly and not be unduly biased on issues, and shun nepotism in relating to people. -Mr. Shamsideen Sharafa, Footballer

E

veryday is Christmas, with a beauty deeply cast. When you find it does not matter, if you are first or if you are last. When you can face your conscience, and be glad of what you are.

Then everyday is Christmas, with a stable and a star. -Miss Juliet Ogochukwu, Worker

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s we enter 2016, my message to Nigerians and Nigeria, where law and orders are disobeyed and judicial system killed, with no check on governance, and independence in organs of government, Nigerians should wake up from their slumber. -Miss Kubura Aremu, Model

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just want to say here that Nigeria seems to have embarked on a blinking journey, but smiles await at the end. I just want all Nigerians to be patient with this administration, despite the hardship. Things will get better. -Mr. Okie Darlington, Worker

Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015 — 35

KOGI: We'll work with whoever becomes governor — FACTIONAL SPEAKER

By Boluwaji Obahopo

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OKOJA—KOGI State House of Assembly ’s factional Speaker, Godwin Osiyi, said the state legislators are ready to work with anybody who becomes the governor of the state.

Osiyi, who stated this yesterday while speaking with newsmen at the NUJ press centre, said the impeachment of the embattled speaker, MomohJimoh Lawal, is an internal wrangling and not influenced by any ‘external’ forces as being rumoured.

Osiyi, who his representing Ogori/Mangogo state constituency, said the impeachment of the former speaker cannot be upturned, “We have heard many stories that our action (impeachment) was manipulated by some outside forces.

“We will like to reiterate that nobody or anybody from outside engineered our action. Our fight is an in-house fight and not influenced by anybody.

He added “We are here to reenact that MomohJimoh Lawal, former speaker of the State House of Assembly, remained impeached as carried out on the 10th of December, 2015 in the Assembly Hallow Chamber by resolution of seventeen members.

Godwin Osiyi listed the

By Boluwaji Obahopo

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THANKSGIVING SERVICE: From left: Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, Senator Gil Nnaji and Senator Utazi during a thanksgiving service for the Deputy Senate President and family at the All Saint’s Covenant Church, Mpu, Aninri LGA, Enugu State. Photo by Ikechukwu Obi. grounds on which he said Momoh Jimoh Lawal was impeached as “Gross incompetence; insensitive to members interest and plights; misrepresentation between the Assembly and the executive for his personal interest and aggrandizement.

He added that Lawal was impeached based on mismanagement of Assembly

funds and other valuable resources; “betrayal of trust repose on him by members and high-handedness in administration of the Assembly as he operated like sole administrator.

“There is no country where democracy is practice; even America that remains the mother of democracy; that a Speaker will be impeached

and such process will be upturned.

“If anybody is now entertaining fear that the impeachment will affect them in their pursuit to be governor; we say categorically that we will work with anybody that God chooses as the governor. Our role is to legislate and we will not interfere with the executive or judiciary function.”

Prisons officers kick over planned change of uniforms

By Omeiza Ajayi

A

BUJA—THERE is a growing wave of discontent among some officers and men of the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) over the decision of the Minister of Interior, Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau to effect a change of the current fatigues uniform of the personnel.

Gen. Dambazau had at a recent meeting with the management team of the service announced his resolve to change the fatigues of its personnel in an effort to boost their morale.

The current prisons uniform is light-green and entry-level officers are often made to part with N6, 000 to procure them before the end of their stay at the training schools.

However, many junior-level officers who spoke with our correspondent on the condition of anonymity described the move as providing an official leeway for extortion.

They opined that rather than change the uniforms, the new minister should endeavour to change the fortunes of both the service and its personnel.

According to them, aside the issue of stagnation in rank, there is the vexed issue of lack of logistics for effective execution of their mandate.

“The service now has only about 18 functional Black Marias. We still have prisons built with mud. We lack escort vehicles. Many of us have stagnated on one rank for years.

These are issues that should be addressed and not a change of uniform which is at best, merely cosmetic”, said one of the officers.

Another officer told our

Ex-gov Daniel urges prayers for Buhari’s administration

By Olayinka Latona

F

ORMER Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, has urged Nigerians to pray for God’s intervention for the country to overcome current challenges confronting the country.

Daniel made the call at the yearly Christmas Concert of the choir and orchestra of Apostolic Faith Church, West and Central District (WECA) at the church headquarters Campground Road, Anthony Village Lagos with the theme: “Joy To The World.”

He also urged Nigerians to support government to ensure

AJAOKUTA STEEL: Nigerians must support Buhari — OTU

national development, peace and unity.

Applauding Nigerian Army for replacing the death sentences meted out to 66 soldiers with 10 years imprisonment, Daniel said: “The judgment is a good one because the Bible tells us not to kill and anything that mitigates it is a welcome ground.”

The District Superintendent of the Church, Rev Adebayo Adeniran asked Nigerians to put their hope in God like never before and keep praying for peace to continually reign in the country, stressing the need for

Nigerians to shun sin and imbibe the fear of God in order to experience divine transformation in the country.

Adeniran added that Nigerians should approach the New Year with faith and do away with wasting resources like prodigal children.Some of the dignitaries at the concert are: former Head of Interim Government Chief Ernest Shonekan, the Vice-President’s mother, Lady Bisi Osinbajo, former Lafarge Chairman Chief Olusegun Osunkeye, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) executives and others.

correspondent that except the uniforms would be given to them free, many state controllers are likely to put their own price tag different from the official price.

“I can bet that even when they are asked to give us the uniforms for free, there are those who would still place their own monetary demands on top and tell you it is for logistics”, he stated.

OKOJA—THE new General Manager, Corporate Services, Ajaokuta Steel Company, Kogi State, Engineer Thomas Otu, has called on Nigeria to rally round President Muhammed Buhari in his quest at resuscitating the Ajaokuta Steel plant.

Otu made the call at O g a m i n a n a , headquarters of Adavi Local Government Area of Kogi state during a reception organised by Ogaminana Community over his recent appointment.

Otu, who said the resuscitation of the Steel plant will not only be an avenue to generate jobs opportunities, but will serve to boost the revenue generation of the country.

“The current facelift at the Steel Company is the brain work and foresight of the sole administrator, Engineer Joseph Onobere, and he should be commended.

“But most of all, I urged well meaning people of Nigeria to support the President and the role of the sole administrator to realise the aim of resuscitating the plant,” he said.

Non-indigene youths hail Usman’s appointment

O

LEH—THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Non-Indigene Youths Forum in Delta State, NYF, has congratulated Prince Sani Usman on his appointment as Senior Special Assistant (Special Studies) to the Governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa.

In a statement signed by the Patron of the association, Mr. Ochuko Odugba, the group hailed Governor Okowa for choosing Usman, who he described as very suitable for the position considering his wealth of experience as an industrialist with a passion for the welfare

of the downtrodden.

Prior to his appointment by the Delta State government, Usman, coordinated the NonIndigenes Youths in Delta State to vote overwhelmingly for Governor Ifeanyi Okowa in the last general election.

Odugba said: “The new SSA to the Governor enjoys popular appeal among Delta youths, both indigenes and non-indigenes alike. He is a grassroots politician with a knack for empowerment. ''He is coming into government with a lot of innovations that will truly add value to the Okowa administration.”

36—Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

FESTIVAL: Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State(middle) Owa Obokun Adimula of Ijesaland, Oba Gabriel Adekunle Aromolaran (right) and former Inspector General of Police, Dr. Mike Okiro, during the 2015 Iwude Ijesa Festival at Owa's Palace, Osun State.

XMAS THANKSGIVING: From right: Oba Dapo Tejuoso, Osile Oke- Ona Egba, Olori Momolara, Yetunde and Olabisi Tejuoso, at the African Church Cathedral of St. James Idi-Ape, Ago-Oko, Abeokuta Christmas Day Thanksgiving Service. Photo: Wumi Akinola.

VISIT: From left: Medical Director, Gbagada General Hospital, Dr. Lateef Lawal, Apex Nurse, Gbagada General Hospital, Mrs. Oluwabuyide Abosede, Santa Claus, carrying a patient, Chidima Uchenna, Public Relations and Events Manager, Dufil Prima Food Plc., Mr. Tope Ashiwaju, and Mrs. Edith Uchenna, mother of the baby, at the Indomie Santa Surprise visit to Gbagada General Hospital, Lagos.

COMPETITION From left: Member of Panel of Judges, Tolu Erogbogbo (Chef Eros), Senior Brand Manager, Three Crowns Milk, Mrs. Maureen Ifada, Grand Prize winner, Three Crowns ‘Cook Like Mine’ competition, Ms. Onome Uriemu, and and another judge, Uzo Orimalade, at the grand finale of the Three Crowns ‘Cook Like Mine’ competition held in Lagos.

XMAS PARTY: From left: Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (2nd left); his wife, Bolanle (middle), Chief of Staff, Mr. Olukunle Ojo (left), Permanent Secretary, Office of Chief of Staff, Mr. Abiodun Bamgboye (2nd right) and Director, Special Services, Office of Chief of Staff, Mrs. Raliat Alaka, during a Christmas party for Government House Staff, at the Lagos House, Ikeja.

TOUR: From left: Ngozi Jipreze, Director, Legal Services, Saleh Dunoma, MD, FAAN, Femi Oguode, Director, Maintenance and Engineering, Uchenna Ofulue, Director, Cargo Development, and Tito Okpaise, Acting Director, Business and Commercial Development, during the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, team's inspection tour of the Fire Bay of Muritala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

SUPPORT PROGRAMME: From left: MTN Foundation Director, Hon. Reginald Okeya, Commissioner for Women Affairs, Abia State, Lady Chinedu Brown, Commissioner for Information, Abia State, Mr. Boni Iwoha, and Project Manager, SAAS, Mr. Steve Nwaubani with some beneficiaries of the MTN Foundation's Disability Support Programme in Umuahia, Abia State.

AWARDS: From left: Dr. Ajibike Itegboje, Chief Lecturer, Computer Department, Yaba College of Technology, Emma Okonji, ICT Editor, THISDAY Newspaper, Caroline Oghuma, Public Relations Manager, MultiChoice Nigeria, Ozioma Ubabukoh of The PUNCH Newspaper and Dr. Aderonke Bello, CEO, Innovative Technology Literacy Services Ltd, ITLSL, at the 2015 DStv Eutelsat awards adjudication exercise in Lagos.

VANGUARD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015—37

By Joseph Erunke

T

HE year 2015 marked the transition of two Senates.

The roller coaster years of the David Mark Senate came to a swift end following the failure of his Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to produce the required majority in the Senate election of March 28.

However, the supposition that the end of the PDP hegemony would lead to the supremacy of the All Progressives Congress, APC in the 8thSenate was soon dismissed following the failure of the APC to cobble the required unity. In the face of the crisis that engulfed the APC during the National Assembly leadership election, the PDP slipped in and worked out an alliance with a faction of APC senators loyal to Senator Bukola Saraki to enthrone Saraki as Senate President against the wish of the party leadership and reportedly, President Muhammadu Buhari.

As quid pro quo, the PDP got one of its own, in the person of Senator Ike Ekweremadu as Saraki’s deputy.

Saraki, contested the position against Senator Ahmad Lawan, APC, Yobe North and emerged victorious against the will of his party, the APC, which had directed all its senators to queue behind Lawan in the contest.

Saraki, however, was elected the Senate President, after garnering the bloc support of PDP senators and receiving the support of some APC senators who broke ranks with their party, having earlier, shunned a 9 a.m. meeting allegedly summoned by President Muhammadu Buhari on the day of the election.

Mock election of the aspirants Supporters of Lawan who had been bolstered by the endorsement of the party following a mock election of the aspirants, woke up on that fateful day to the news of PDP’s endorsement of Saraki.

Even so, they still headed for the 9 a.m. meeting called by President Buhari. They were waiting for the presidential parley when Senator Saraki and some senators of the APC moved into the National Assembly complex, where the police had thrown a cordon to prevent workers and reporters from entering, for the election of principal officers.

While lawmakers loyal to Senator Lawan were at the ICC waiting for the president to arrive, they were hit with the news of Saraki’s election as Senate President.

He became the Senate President with the support of 57 senators , most of them PDP members, who unanimously C M Y K

•Saraki

2015: Saraki’s Senate struggles, successes Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. It is a fact that Senator Bukola Saraki seems to have learned as Senate President. He, however, soldiers on with a determination to imprint a legacy elected him, after he was nominated by Senator Sanni Yerima, APC, Zamfara Central, and seconded by Senator Dino Melaye, APC, Kogi West, respectively.

Shortly after the emergence of Saraki, the stage was set for election of a senator for the office of the Deputy Senate President. Senator Ike Ekweremadu, of the PDP and the immediate past holder of the office and Senator Ali Ndume of the APC emerged as the two contestants.

In the election that followed, Ekweremadu, PDP, Enugu West polled 54 votes to defeat Senator Ali Ndume, APC, Borno South, who got 20 votes.

Vanguard gathered that getting Ekweremadu into such a key position was one reason the PDP threw its weight

behind Saraki’s emergence as Senate President.

Supporters of Lawan were, however, seriously peeved with the development and for the first four months after the election, they made life uncomfortable for Saraki.

Either working on their own or in concert with outside interests, supporters of Lawan pulled every arsenal available to bring down Saraki and Ekweremadu. A petition was lodged with the police claiming that the Rule Book used for the election was forged, but the police at the end of their investigations could not produce a recommendation and subtly recommended a political solution.

A case of false declaration of assets was also lodged against Saraki at the Code of Conduct

Tribunal.

The Senate President was docked at the tribunal on a 13count charge.

Every day Saraki attended the trial the Senate was shut down mainly on the fact that almost all his supporters thronged the tribunal to give him solidarity.

I n t e r e s t i n g l y, while the Senate President’s case is being handled by the CCT, the Senate on its part has asked a committee of the Senate to in turn, investigate allegations of corruption against the CCT boss.

The development came following a petition by a Non Governmental Group, the AntiCorruption Network, which alleged that Umar did not only err by not only receiving bribe in the course of his assignment but also engaged in other large-scale corruption acts.

Meanwhile, Saraki at the commencement of his stewardship had pledged to draw a line on issues that had brought bad name to the Senate.

One of those issues was the case of huge allowances paid to the senators.

A 10-man committee, chaired

by Senator James Manager, PDP Delta South tasked with studying the allowances payable to senators in its report recommended a slight reduction of 10 per cent in the allowances and salaries of all senators.

Meanwhile, while the

A case of false declaration of assets was also lodged against Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal. The Senate President was docked at the tribunal on a 13count charge

Senators were reportedly surrendering a fraction of their allowances, it emerged towards the end of the year that the Senate had made an elaborate arrangement for the purchase of state of the art vehicles for themselves against the spirit of the monetisation policy under which they were each given car loans amounting to 300% of their annual salary. As with the Mark Senate, the Saraki Senate was quick to defend the car purchases as being procured for committee work though everyone knows, the cars would be used by the senators.

Meanwhile, the election of Saraki seemed to have created a wall between the presidency and the Senate as President Buhari seemed to put off the customary rapport between the presidency and the Senate. It was not until about five months after the election that the president for the first time received the Senate leadership.

Indeed because of the tension created by the election of Ekweremadu from the PDP as DSP, there was much sensitivity to Ekweremadu presiding over the affairs of the Senate in the absence of Saraki as is expected of a deputy to a Senate President.

However, that sensitivity which lingered for four months after the election was finally buried on Wednesday November 11, when Saraki was unavoidably absent because of his presence in the Presidential Villa at the swearing in of ministers.

Recognition by the presidency The invitation to Saraki for the inauguration of the ministers was perhaps the recognition by the presidency that it could no longer afford to disregard the Senate President.

Ekweremadu’s first ascension to the presiding officer’s seat in the Eight Senate was not without drama as some APC senators, under the aegis of Unity Forum walked out once Ekweremadu mounted the dais.

Following the invitation for the ministerial inauguration, Saraki subsequently led senators to a dinner with the president in November, a development that actually drew to a close suspicions that Buhari was determined to push Saraki from office.

The president had been impressed by the way and manner Saraki supervised the screening of ministerial nominees and confessed as much at the dinner that also had APC leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who met for the first time since the brawl started with Saraki and Ekweremadu.

The storm was further quietened after Saraki

Continues on page 38

38—Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

has not resulted in increased cost of running the house. The committee clerks and other staff (of the committees) are sourced from the existing pool of staff (that are) paid salaries and allowances already by the National Assembly.”

“Committee members are already paid salaries also by the National Assembly. No person gets an increased remuneration by virtue of appointment as a committee member or chairman. The National Assembly budget has not been increased as a result’, Speaker Dogara had said at the inauguration of the committees.

DOGARA’S HOUSE:

Still rebuilding

SPEAKER Yakubu Dogara’s determination to build a vibrant House is gathering momentum despite challenges here and there.

•Dogara

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

T

HE inauguration of the House last June was steeped in crisis on account of the defeat of the favourite of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Femi Gbajabiamila by the Bauchi born Yakubu Dogara who was helped to the office by bloc votes of members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and renegade APC members.

Gbajabiamila was commended after his initial concession of defeat. Pleas to him to accept the office of deputy speaker were rebuffed by the former minority leader who showed remarkable statesmanship in defeat. He was, however, to change position later as he sought the position of Majority Leader and was backed by the hierarchy of the APC.

buckled a development that meant that the Southeast zone was left out of the leadership of the ruling party for the first time since the advent of the Fourth Republic.

Meanwhile, by the time Gbajabiamila assumed the position of Majority Leader, Dogara had already broken the ranks of those supporting him with many of the former ’s supporters especially from the Northwest already queuing behind the speaker.

But that did not mean that Gbajabiamila’s support base was totally broken. By the time the House created 95 committees last October, the Gbajabiamila camp again bared its fangs, threatening war, alleging that the majority

C M Y K

otherwise regarded as juicy committees. One of such, education was for example split into two, namely: Basic Education and Services and Tertiary Education and Services.

The argument of retaining big committees and creating subcommittees was thrown out on the assertion that a number of committee chairmen in the past did not allow the subcommittees to work effectively.

In justifying the multiplication of the committees when he inaugurated the committees on November 9, Speaker Dogara, was to reassure critics that it would not amount to an increase in the overall overhead cost of the House.

“It is necessary to point out that the splitting of committees

While acknowledging the right to constructive criticisms by some commentators on the number of committees, the Speaker said experience, gained from the operation of committees since 1999, shows that some committees’ functions and man- dates are very wide indeed and cannot be effectively supervised and ‘over- sighted’ by a single committee.”

Just before the House proceeded on Christmas break a red card was given to one of the members, Mr. Peter Madubueze of the All Progressives Grand Alliance who represented Anambra East/ Anambra West Federal Constituency. In his place, the former National President of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, Dr. Tony Nwoye, a medical doctor and the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP was sworn in on December 17 to take the seat having been declared by the Court of Appeal in Enugu as the winner of the election.

2015: Saraki’s Senate struggles, successes

Hierarchy of the APC His aim, however, tended to put the zoning configuration of the House in jeopardy as it meant that the Southwest which had already produced the deputy speaker in the person of Yusuf Lashun would produce the second and the third ranking officials in the House.

The contention for top offices

by Gbajabiamila and his supporters finally led to a free for all on the House floor on June 25.

Dogara for a time continued to rebuff Gbajabiamila and the leadership of the party but following strong representations from the presidency, the speaker

of what was left of their support base was not taken into consideration in the apportionment of committee positions.

However, majority of members were not disposed towards the assertions as made by the Gbajabiamila camp especially given the fact that majority of the supporters of the House leader had relocated to support Dogara.

Besides the issues from the camp of Gbajabiamila, Speaker Dogara received his first baptism of fire from political stakeholders for his decision to name 95 committees, a record that many saw as an attempt at rewarding political allies.

The increase was brought through the splitting of a number of committees

Constructive criticisms

Besides the issues from the camp of Gbajabiamila, Speaker Dogara received his first baptism of fire from political stakeholders for his decision to name 95 committees

Continues from page 37 conceded strategic committee positions to supporters of Senator Lawan in the 65 Standing Senate Committees that were created in November.

The proliferation of the committee system suspected to be for political expediency was flayed by many Nigerians.

Lawan was made Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence while his key lieutenant, Senator George Akume, APC Benue North, was given the committee on Army.

Some Lawan loyalists were, however, still not pleased. Two of them were Senators Kabiru Marafa, APC, Zamfara South and Sulaiman Hunkuyi, APC, Kaduna Central. Despite their protests, Saraki has since inaugurated the committees

successfully bringing mutters of rebellion in the Senate to an end.

As the tussle between the Saraki and Lawan factions eased, the Senate was brought into focus when it read for the second time a bill to curtail the liberty of social media.

The bill sponsored by Senator Ibn Na’Allah, APC, Kebbi South, and tagged :A Bill for an Act to Prohibit Frivolous Petitions and other Matters Connected therewith”, is seeking a two year jail term or a N2 million fine for social media offenders.

The Senate President has, however, at different fora assured that any part of the bill that does not conform to human rights will be removed.

Given the earlier opposition

from Buhari and his party, the APC, it is not surprising that Saraki has almost always used his influence not to exacerbate tensions especially in several areas where the president has erred.

The Senate under Saraki has overlooked executive pronouncements framed in illegality such as direct appointments made without Senate approval.

The president appointed chairmen of Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, and the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, without regard to the right of the Senate to confirm such appointments before the appointees resumed duty. However, these were treated as no issues.

VANGUARD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015—39

d e x i l i a M r t s n o i t c rea sed propo duction o r t n i e r s e t a g l l o t f o

By Jude Njoku

A

POTPOURRI of reactions has continued to trail the proposed re-introduction of toll gates on Federal highways across the country. While built environment experts welcomed the reintroduction because tolling is a universally accepted procurement standard for the maintenance of roads infrastructure, labour unions opposed the move because in the past, proceeds from toll collection were never effectively deployed for the maintenance of roads.

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, had at his maiden press briefing announced the intention of the Federal Government to re-introduce toll gates on federal highways across the nation. He explained that the revenue generated would be channelled towards sustaining and maintaining quality federal roads.

Maintenance regime Fashola who promised that money generated from the toll gates will be properly accounted for and judiciously put to use, said maintenance would be the watchword of the Buhari administration. “ We are setting up a robust maintenance regime to keep our highways in good shape. This shows that tolling is necessary to support government funding. So, it will not be too much if we ask every road user to pay a little to augment government funding for road maintenance. It is eminentcommonsenseforustofindthat money. We will use technology; so if you don’t pay cash, you will pay by tokens or tickets and the money is accountable and it will go to the right place. We will manage that fund properly and we will hold those who we put there to account,”Fashola who during his tenure as Lagos State Governor defied public pretests to introduce tolling on the Lekki-Epe Expressway said.

Prior to the formal announcement C M Y K

by Fashola, the kite had already been flown by the Senate which advised the Federal Government to re-introduce toll gates on all Federal roads.

The Red Chamber explained that reintroducing tollgates would not just to boost the income for the Federal government but will also to generate more revenue for road maintenance. The Senate took the decision after the adoption of recommendations of its Ad hoc Committee on Works, which investigated the total collapse of federal roads in Nigeria and prevalent gully erosion sites.

Besides, the Senate advised the Muhammadu Buhari administration to introduce weighbridges to protect roads and to discourage overtaxing highways that were not constructed for ferrying heavy vehicles and trucks. The committee further recommended that there should be rehabilitation and constant maintenance of existing roads infrastructure.

Reacting to the proposed reintroduction of toll gates, the President of the Commonwealth Association of Surveying and Land Economy, CASLE, Mr. Olusegun Ajanlekoko described the move as the “only plausible alternative” to raise funds for roads construction and maintenance in the country. Ajanlekoko who is a past president of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, NIQS, described tolling as a universally accepted procurement method for maintaining and build-

Government can no longer continue to build roads and allow them to decay without putting in place the measures to carry out regular and routine maintenance

Lekki toll plaza

ing roads. He however called for the engagement of credible private sector partners with proven tract record of service delivery to man the toll plazas.

Toll gate system According to him, government can no longer continue to build roads and allow them to decay without putting in place the measures to carry out regular and routine maintenance.

Caveat: In his own reaction, the Chairman of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, NIESV, Mr. Sam Ukpong said the land professionals support the reintroduction of toll gate system in the country but added a caveat.

“We must state that the former toll gate system failed because of the inconsistencies in government policies. .If we want to introduces these toll gates, let us look at growth centres. It is a very good thing . It can be cited in one remote location so that people could drive long dis-

tances and rest there. If there are accidents on the highways , treatment of the victims can be handled in these growth centres . Let everything not be concentrated in urban centers . Some banks could be established there, industries could be established there, even if it is a cottage industry.

From these areas where there are tollgates,thegovernmentcando100 kilometres of roads to link the major highway and the infrastructure will attract new settlement to decongest thedenselypopulatedurbancentres.

The traffic situation in cities like Lagos is very serious now because of congestion . when we turn these toll points to growth centres, it will help us to grow and decongest the centre”, Ukpong who spoke at the endofyearpartyofNIESV,Lagosbranch said.

Repair roads first: The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC however opposed government’s move to reintroduce toll gates on federal highways as well as the proposed increase electricity tariff and pump price of petroleum products.

A communiqué signed by NLC

President Ayuba Wabba and the General Secretary Dr. Peter OzoEson, said the enormous public resources expended in the past on the construction and demolition of toll gates, and the proceeds from toll collection were never effectively deployed for the maintenance of roads, but lined the pockets of favoured collectors. “Convinced that proceeds from any new toll collections will suffer the same fate, NLC disagrees with the planned re-introduction of toll gates”, the union leaders declared.

Toeing NLC’s position, the Lagos Chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ called on the Federal Government to repair roads across the country first. The union made the call in a communiqué issued penultimate Wednesday at the 2015 end-of-year congress.

The communiqué, which was signedbytheChairmanoftheCouncil, Mr Deji Elumoye called for major repairoffederalroadsacrossthecountryintheinterestofthecitizenry,before theplannedre-introductionoftollgates on highways in the country.

Tilers raise alarm over influx of quacks in building industry

By Caleb Ayansina HE Association of Tilers, Nigeria, ATN has raised alarm over what the group called invasion of quacks in the building industry.

The President of ATN, Com. Hassan Olanrewaju who noted that unsuspecting Nigerians have continued to fall victims to their activities, described the situation as worrisome.

According to him, these quacks have continued to carry out shoddy jobs to denigrate real professionals in the building industry, a scenario he said portrays genuine stakeholders in bad light.

“The Association of Tilers, Nigeria is a noble professional organisation registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, under the Company and Allied Matters Act 1990.

“Following the worrisome unethical, unprofessional and fraudulent activities of quack tilers in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in particular, the numerous disturbing reports and

T

complaints of site abandonment, use of substandard materials, poor customer relationship, fraud to mention but a few by unprofessional tilers, have reached us at the association’s headquarters,” Olanrewaju said: “The Association of Tilers, Nigeria categorically disassociates itself from these unscrupulous elements, as they are not our members and we don’t have any dealings with them. We have investigated the matter substantially and discovered that these individuals involved are either people who never did any training on tiling,” he said in a statement made available to Vanguard Homes & Property in Abuja.

“We also found out that the general public has been misled by the fake certificates and identity cards they parade which was produced from business centres,” the ATN president lamented Olanrewaju said the association has embarked on drastic measures to put an end to the menace of quacks in the tiling profession.

40—Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

Quantity surveyors have key role in FG’s anti-graft war —Dikko

By Chris Ochayi

T

he president, Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria, QSRBN, Mallam Husaini Dikko, has charged practising quantity surveyors to queue behind President Muhammadu Buhari to wage war against corruption especially in the construction industry. Dikko also called on the construction cost experts to uphold the ethics of their profession in the course of carrying out all their responsibilities.

The QSRBN boss who gave the charge at the recent induction ceremony of newly registered quantity surveyors in Abuja, noted quantity surveyors have a role to play in fighting corruption in the building and engineering industry.

His words: “Quantity surveying is a profession for decent and honest men/women of integrity.

It is not a profession for hustlers and those with compulsive propensity for unbridled materialism

and primitive accumulation of wealth. It is a profession for decent men and women. It is a profession that is founded on trust and you must bear this in mind at all times. The Board will come down heavily on any unethical behaviour or professional misconduct by a registered quantity surveyor.

In this regard, registered quantity surveyors Mallam Dikko, QSRBN President

Quantity surveying is not a profession for hustlers and those with compulsive propensity for unbridled materialism and primitive accumulation of wealth

must queue behind President Muhammed Buhari in his anti corruption crusade. Quantity Surveyors have a key role to pIay in fighting corruption in the building and engineering industry”.

He regretted that “quantity surveyors have been marginalised, incapacitated and sidelined by successive Nigerian governments, thus allowing corruption and looting spree to fester in the industry without any ex-

A housing estate in Lagos

pert to check the malaise.”

Buttressing this allegation, Mallam Dikko said: “Whereas a large chunk of the nation’s annual capital budget is spent on roads, highways and bridges, successive government have not allowed quantity surveyors to get involved in these projects. But contractors who work for government on these projects use the services of quantity surveyors from the beginning to the end. This surely is

curious and should arouse the suspicion of every patriotic Nigerian.

The only way to” fight corruption in such proejects is for government to engage quantity surveyors the same way contractors employ quantity surveyors in their organisations”.

As a starting point, the QSRBN boss enjoined the Federal government to establish an independent department of quantity surveying and cost

Surveyors decry too much pressure on Lagos infrastructure •Say 22m using facilities meant for 4 million

By Kingsley Adegboye

T

HE newly inaugurated chairman of Lagos State branch of the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors, NIS, Mr. Alara Olugbenga, has decried the overstretching of infrastructure in Lagos state, saying the current situation if left unaddressed, could lead to chaos in transportation and planning in the state.

Olugbenga who spoke at the 2015 Annual General Meeting and Luncheon of the Lagos NIS, called on the government and professionals to come together to address the situation.

The new Lagos NIS boss who described surveying as the bedrock of all meaningful planning and development, explained that the contribution of surveying to development cannot be underestimated and the best surveyed cities of the world are the best developed because everything has to be in its rightful place.

“It is the surveyor that will determine what will be in a place in terms of the topography and then the design will now follow the information provided by the surveyor and if the information provided by the surveyor is followed and interpreted by professionals, you will see that we will have better deC M Y K

veloped societies,” Olugbenga said.

Speaking on his plans for the institution during his tenure, the chairman said he would focus on leadership mentoring where the young members of the profession would be tutored on the history of surveying, the practice and morality of governance.

The immediate past Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr.,Toyin Ayinde who was the guest lecturer, stressed the need for strategic planning and implementation to tackle the myriad of challenges facing Lagos as centre of commerce and economic hub in the West African region.

Myriad of challenges The former commissioner who is a town planner, recalled that the Ikorodu Road was constructed in 1976 when the population of Lagos was around four million. According to him, the road is now serving about 22 million people, hence the need for strategic urban renewal thinking, planning and implementation.

Noting that the major solution to the

services in the Federal Ministry of Power, Works & Housing to provide quantity surveying and cost services on building and housing and engineering Services, highways and multi-lateral donor-funded projects for government.

“This is the cost effective way to fight corruption in the building and engineering industry to save Nigeria the notoriety of having the most costly construction projects in the world despite our cheap labour cost. This will inevitably save money for government to spend on other development projects,” Mallam Dikko said.

Cheap labour challenges is good governance at all levels, Ayinde challenged professionals to get involved more in politics and be ready to contribute to the development of the society. According to him, the failure of any country is the failure of its professionals, hence Nigerian professionals must be ready to sincerely and genuinely commit to the development and advancement of the nation.

On the master plan for the development of Lagos, Ayinde said “The truth is that a framework has been laid and for us to make progress and once you have a framework, then you continue to fit into it.

While I was in government, I know for a fact that about eight to twelve plans have been made and all that is left now is Epe master plan and Ikorodu master plan and then at the end of the day something to tie up the whole of Lagos State.

So, I think the government is working towards it. I’m also aware that this government has made an advertisement for expression of interest for those who want to submit proposals for the Epe and Ikorodu master plans. So, if all these things work fine, we should be looking at a Lagos that is better than what we have now”

On the area of risk management which he described as key to the effectiveness of quantity Surveying practice, the QSRBN president argued that “as risks are necessary occurrences in life, understanding the science of risk management is therefore a normal course of life.”

“A registered quantity surveyor must anticipate and simulate various risk scenarios when offering professionals services to clients. As we engage in increasingly complex and technologically sophisticated projects, the imperatives of risk management become more compelling for a registered quantity surveyor.

There are various types of risks that a registered quantity surveyor must anticipate and confront in the course of his professional practice.”

VANGUARD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015 — 41

Iraqi forces raise flag in librated Ramadi I RAQ flew its flag above the main government complex in the western city of Ramadi on Monday, marking its military’s first major victory over Islamic State since the army collapsed in the face of the fighters’ shock advance 18 months ago.

Footage aired on state television showed a handful of soldiers approach a low-rise building and then emerge on its roof to hoist a small tri-color banner above their heads.

“Yes, the city of Ramadi has been liberated. The Iraqi counter terrorism forces have raised the Iraqi flag over the government complex,” joint operations

•Iraqi soldiers hoisting flag in liberated city of Ramadi yesterday. spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool said in an earlier televised statement.

If the government retains control of Ramadi, which

Iran accuses Saudi of promoting poverty, terrorism

I

RANIAN President Hassan Rouhani accused archrival Saudi Arabia Sunday of promoting poverty and terrorism by continuing to bomb Yemeni rebels and supporting armed rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad in Syria. Addressing a conference in Tehran, Rouhani suggested that destroying Syria won’t strengthen those governments in the region which support the antiAssad rebels.

“Does the weakening of Syria benefit its Muslim neighbors? Does the destruction of Syria lead to the strengthening of Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates or other countries? Who is pleased by Syria’s destruction other than Israel,” Rouhani said.

Iran is one of Assad’s main allies and has provided his government with military and political

backing for years.

Rouhani said the Islamic State group and other armed groups are defaming Islam by resorting to barbaric acts and that has led to Muslim states forgetting their common enemy: Israel.

“How many bombs and missiles have you purchased from the U.S. in the past year,” Rouhani asked in an apparent reference to Saudi Arabia."

Pentagon thwarts Obama’s effort to close Guantanamo

I

N September, U.S. State Department officials invited a foreign delegation to the Guantanamo Bay detention center to persuade the group to take detainee Tariq Ba Odah to their country. If they succeeded, the transfer would mark a small step toward realizing President Barack Obama’s goal of closing the prison before he leaves office.

Saudi Arabia budget deficit swells on oil price fall

S

AUDI Arabia’s budget deficit soared to $98bn (£65.7bn) this year as the world’s biggest oil exporter counted the cost of falling crude prices.

In the first budget under King Salman, the kingdom said revenues reached 608bn riyals (£108.7bn; $162bn), down 15% on official expectations.

Spending for the year hit 975bn riyals, some 13% more than forecast. Oil prices have plunged from a five-year high of $125 a barrel in March 2012 to just $37.18 now.

Saudi Arabia said that oil revenues, which make up 77% of the total revenue figure for 2015, are down 23% compared to last year.

was seized by Islamic State fighters in May, it would become the first city recaptured by Iraq’s U.S.-trained army since it fled from the hardline militants in June 2014. In previous battles since then, the Iraqi armed forces operated mainly in a supporting role beside Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias.

Soldiers were shown on state television on Monday publicly slaughtering a sheep in an act of celebration.

Gunshots and an explosion could be heard as a state TV reporter interviewed other soldiers celebrating the victory with their automatic weapons held in the air.

It is the largest member of the Opec oil-producing cartel and has refused to cut output in order to raise prices in an attempt to put other producers - mainly US shale oil companies - out of business. Saudi thinks it can withstand low oil prices for longer than US producers, many of which are small, heavily-indebted firms.

The foreign officials told the administration they would first need to review Ba Odah’s medical records, according to U.S. officials with knowledge of the episode. The Yemeni has been on a hunger strike for seven years, dropping to 74 pounds from 148, and the foreign officials wanted to make sure they could care for him.

For the next six weeks, Pentagon officials declined to release the records, citing patient privacy concerns, according to the U.S. officials. The delegation, from a country administration officials declined to identify, canceled its visit. After the administration promised to deliver the records, the delegation traveled to Guantanamo and appeared set to take the prisoner off U.S. hands, the officials said. The Pentagon again withheld Ba Odah’s full medical file.

Besieged Syria rebels evacuated in rare deal

D

OZENS of wounded rebel fighters, along with members of their families, have been evacuated from a Syrian border town that is besieged by government forces, in a swap deal brokered by Turkey and Iran.

The evacuation was agreed as part of a deal that will, in exchange, see the safe passage of scores of civilians from two government-supporting villages that are surrounded by rebels in northern Syria.

Ethiopia urged to free detained journalists

T

WO journalists arrested in Ethiopia this month should be freed, an international press freedom group said.

The detentions come amid deadly protests over a plan to expand the capital’s administrative control into the

Burundi: Opponents meet for talks in Uganda

U

GANDAN mediators launched talks between Burundi’s government and the opposition on Monday to halt a spiral of violence that has claimed hundreds of lives in recent months.

Representatives from both sides met in the Ugandan capital Kampala on the initiative of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, the East African Community’s mediator in the Burundi conflict, presidential press secretary Linda Nabusayi said.

“If you are only looking out for power, then you are an enemy to the people of Burundi,” Museveni said at the meeting.

Burundian President Pierre N k u r u n z i z a ’ s announcement in April that he would seek a third term in office - despite the constitutional two-term limit - led to violent protests.

Nkurunziza then went on to win a July election boycotted by the opposition.

The United Nations says that at least 400 people have been killed and tens of thousands have fled the country.

Oromia region, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said.

The government has accused Oromo protesters of links with terror groups.

The country criminalises any reporting that authorities consider an encouragement to such groups.

The CPJ said two journalists were detained within a week of each other.

Getachew Shiferaw, who edits the online paper Negere Ethiopia, was arrested on Friday and the next day a court granted permission for him to be held for 28 days for interrogation, the CPJ said

in a statement.

On 19 December, Fikadu Mirkana, a news anchor at the state-run broadcaster Oromia Radio and TV, who also was arrested at his home in the capital, Addis Ababa, the press watchdog said.

“Ethiopia prides itself on development, but economic growth is a hollow achievement if the public does not enjoy fundamental human rights such as the right to receive and share information and divergent viewpoints,” said Sue Valentine, the CPJ’s Africa programme co-ordinator.

•Getachew Shiferaw

•Fekadu-Mirkana

Zimbabwe delays paying salaries as cash crunch bites

Z

IMBABWE has delayed paying December salaries for most of its public sector workers to early next month and has not paid annual bonuses, in a sign of a cash crunch that brought threats of strikes from doctors and teachers on Monday.

Doctors working at state hospitals and the main

DRUG: Malaysian court sentences Nigerian to death by hanging

By Bartholomew Madukwe

A

37-year-old Nigerian man, Ekene Collins Isaac, was yesterday sentenced to death by hanging, by a Malaysian High Court.

The presiding judge, Datuk Wan Afrah Wan Ibrahim, found the Nigerian guilty of trafficking 915.6 grammes of methamphetamine into Malaysia three years ago.

Justice Wan Afrah held that the prosecution had proven the case against the convict.

Isaac (convict) did not show any reaction when the sentence was read out by the judge.

According to the charge, Isaac, who had been a cleaner in Nigeria, allegedly committed the offence at Wad 6C, Serdang Hospital, at Jalan Puchong, Kajang,

between 7.20 a.m. on March 3, 2012 and 1.00 p.m. on March 5 of the same year.

It was gathered that the contra-banned drugs were reportedly found inside his body.

teachers’ union demanded the payment of salaries and bonuses before Dec. 31, warning of possible strikes next year.

Zimbabwe spends more than 80 percent of its budget on salaries, mainly for the army, police, teachers and nurses, but only managed to pay soldiers earlier this month.

Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said in a statement on Monday that December wages for teachers and other education sector workers would be paid on Tuesday.

“Treasury advises that the December 2015 salary payment date for the rest of the public service is also being moved from 29 December2015to5January 2016,” Chinamasa said.

Morocco postpones opening of huge solar plant without explanation With an electricity

M

OROCCO postponed without explanation the inauguration of Noor-1, a solar power plant due to open Sunday in Ouarzazate, part of what will eventually be the world’s largest solar power production facility.

When asked by AFP, the communications agency that organised the inauguration on behalf of Moroccan solar energy agency Masen gave no reasons for the lastminute delay.

production capacity of 160 megawatts, Noor-1 is supposed to allow Morocco to significantly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.

The complex should allow Morocco to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 240,000 tons per year, according to estimates from the energy ministry.

The project’s next phases — Noor 2 and Noor 3 — are to follow in 2016 and 2017, and a call for tenders is open for Noor 4.

42—Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

Lagos in March 2014.

“Thereafter, we gained the support of the World Diabetes Foundation, which also shares the vision of healthy feet for all persons living with diabetes, and held the second workshop also in Lagos in August 2015.

The Rainbow Specialist Medical Centre, the Podiatry Institute and the World Diabetes Foundation are together building local capacity in diabetes foot care in Nigeria.

Public health concern

Diabetes and foot health, why you need a podiatrist

By Chioma Obinna

E

XPERTS say having diabetes is already a challenge but having to deal with the complications could be even more daunting. The fact is that a person living with diabetes who doesn't receive correct care will over time come down with serious complications of diabetes and die early.

Many countries, including Nigeria, are still unaware of the economic impact of diabetes; consequently stakeholders and policy makers are unable to put effective prevention strategies in place that could reduce the rise in prevalence of this condition.

Statistics from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) 7th Edition Atlas (2015) predicts that by 2040, worldwide, 642 million people would have diabetes, and the majority of these people will be from developing nations like Nigeria.

It is also estimated that in Africa, the number of persons living with diabetes will double to 34.2 million from the current figure of 14.2 million.

Unfortunately, despite these scary revelations, more than two thirds of people with diabetes in Africa are undiagnosed.

Currently in the world, 1 in 11 adults has diabetes, and 1 in 2 adults with diabetes is undiagnosed.

However, amongst the many complications that may arise from inadequate diabetes care is nonhealing foot ulcers which can eventually lead to amputation.

In a person with diabetes, the blood glucose, or blood sugar, levels are too high. Over time,

this can damage the nerves or blood vessels. Nerve damage from diabetes can cause loss of feeling in the feet.

You may not feel a cut, a blister or a sore. Foot injuries such as these can cause ulcers and infections and serious cases may even lead to amputation.

Damage to the blood vessels can also mean that the feet do not get enough blood and oxygen, hence, it is harder for the foot to heal, if there is a sore or infection.

Proper foot care

In the views of Dr Afokoghene Rita Isiavwe, Project Coordinator, Diabetes Podiatry Initiative Nigeria, proper foot care is an essential in diabetes management.

Isiavwe, a foot doctor (podiatrist) is also the Medical Director, Rainbow Specialist Medical centre, said taking care of the foot should be a part of a diabetic’s daily routine. “This is because diabetes is a leading cause of lower limb amputations.”

She said that approximately, one in four persons living with diabetes worldwide will develop sores in their feet at one point in their lives. A condition she said could lead to untimely death of the sufferer.

“Majority of diabetes related foot amputations are preceded by foot ulcers. Majority of diabetes foot ulcers are preventable through foot care education and good diabetes management.”

She explained that foot ulcers in diabetics develop because of a combination of many factors,

poor diabetes care leading to damaged nerves with deformities of the joints of the toes and poor sensation of the feet, in addition to damaged blood vessels which lead to poor healing.

“These combined with inadequate knowledge of basic foot care can endanger your feet if you are living with diabetes, she pointed out.

Complications

“If you live with diabetes, form the habit of inspecting your feet regularly, and even more often if you already have reduced sensation or poor blood flow on your feet. Seek medical advice promptly if you notice any change in colour of your feet or blisters or wound.

Do not delay.”

“The types of shoes you wear are also important. Always get your health practitioner to examine your feet and check for sensation and circulation when you go for your check up.”

If you live with diabetes, form the habit of inspecting your feet regularly, and even more often if you already have reduced sensation or poor blood flow on your feet

Dr Afokoghene Rita Isiavwe Regretting that Nigeria has no structured foot care training programme for healthcare workers, Isiavwe lamented that the situation has made it more difficult for persons living with diabetes who have foot related problems to access preventive foot care.

“With a population of over 170 million we have no Podiatry Residency training programme on ground. We at Rainbow Specialist Medical Centre saw this gap, and understanding that prevention is better than cure for diabetes related foot problems, after several unsuccessful attempts, we embarked upon empowering healthcare workers looking after persons living with diabetes since 2013 in basic preventive foot care. This gave birth to the Diabetes Podiatry Initiative, Nigeria.”

She explained that the initiative finally kicked off in partnership with the Podiatry Institute Decatur, Georgia, USA and held the first workshop in

“Currently 11 hospitals in Lagos state- three Lagos state owned, five federal governments owned, one not- for profit organisation owned, and two private hospitals are benefiting from this initiative. We also through this initiative hope to sensitive all stake holders and policy makers in the health industry of the need for establishing a structured foot care training programme in Nigeria.

“A person with diabetes has high blood glucose either because they are not producing enough insulin, or because the body does not respond properly to insulin - the hormone that gets digested blood sugar from the blood to the cells where they are needed.”

There are three main types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes, appears very suddenly, and persons affected cannot produce insulin. Without insulin a person with type 1 diabetes will die.

Type 2 diabetes can be present without giving any warning signs to your body. It may only be discovered incidentally during routine check up, or when complications like eye problems and non-healing foot ulcers develop.

Gestational diabetes is first detected during pregnancy, and may lead to health problems in both the unborn child and mother. It will also later on in life puts the mother and child at an increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

The good news however is that with correct information and good self management, along with correct support, persons living with diabetes can have productive and healthy long lives.

Prevention tips for diabetic foot

First, control your blood sugar levels. Good foot hygiene is also crucial. Check and wash your feet every day. Keep the skin dry, soft and smooth.If you can see, reach, and feel your feet, trim your toenails regularly. If you cannot, ask podiatrist to trim them for you. Wear shoes and socks at all times.

Protect your feet from hot and cold and keep the blood flowing to your feet

Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015—43

Lagos, Kaduna make impressive gains in family planning uptake — SURVEY

By Sola Ogundipe

P

ERFORMANCE Monitoring and Accountability 2020 (PMA 2020) 2nd round survey results released in Abuja recently, show that impressive progress is being made by family planning programmes in Lagos and Kaduna.

Data from the innovative mobile-phone-based survey, led by the Centre for Research, Evaluation Resources & Development, CRERD, and Bayero University Kano, and implemented by the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, demonstrate that there have been considerable gains in access to and use of modern contraceptives, particularly for long-acting methods such as intrauterine contraceptive devices (IUDs) and contraceptive implants.

Long-acting contraceptives are highly effective and can protect women from pregnancy for many years.

The first round of PMA2020 in Lagos and Kaduna was conducted late 2014 while the 2nd round was conducted 12 months later in late 2015.

In the year between surveys, long-acting method use increased by 4 percent points in Lagos and 3 percent points in Kaduna.

Over half of the increase in overall modern contraceptive use in both states is attributable to this rapid uptake of longacting methods. These data may represent progress made under the Nigerian government’s LARC Strategy for 2013-2015, which seeks to ensure that all women who want implants or IUDs can get them through public health sector providers.

PMA2020 data show that 78

percent of implant and IUD users in Kaduna and 65 percent in Lagos obtain their method from the public sector.

Total demand for family planning has increased between rounds and a greater proportion of that need is now being satisfied by the provision of modern methods.

The percentage of women who want to space or limit their births but are not using a method of contraception (i.e.,

The percentage of women who want to space or limit their births but are not using a method of contraception has decreased in Lagos and Kaduna states

unmet need) has decreased in both states, by over 3 percent points in Lagos and 4 percent points in Kaduna. While family planning appears to be reaching more women overall, wealth disparities in use and unmet need persist in both states, suggesting a need for continued efforts to expand access to modern contraception to the underserved poor.

Modern contraceptive use is twice as high among the wealthiest compared to the poorest women in Lagos and over six times as high among the wealthiest compared to the poorest women in Kaduna.

PMA2020 is being conducted in 11 countries in Africa and Asia and supports monitoring for the Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) goal of meeting the family planning needs of 120 additional million women and girls by the year 2020.

HIV/AIDS: NACA empowers 5,000 Shomolu residents

By Sola Ogundipe & Chioma Obinna

A

S part of activities to mark World AIDS Day 2015, the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, NACA, embarked on a 4-day free HIV Counselling and Testing, HCT, as well as tests for diabetes, hypertension and malaria and deworming of children in Shomolu Local Government Area of Lagos State.

Over 5,000 residents benefitted from the 4-day free medical care programme which ran from 14th to 17th December, 2015 at strategic locations within the Local Government Area.

At the flag-off which took place at Olaleye Market, Shomolu, the Principal Programme Officer, NACA, Mrs. Ronke Adeoye noted that the HCT outreach campaign was geared towards making residents to know their HIV

Counseling and testing

HIV COUNSELLING & TESTING : Some beneficiaries of the 4-day free HIV Counselling and Testing services carried out the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, NACA, to mark the 2015 World AIDS Day in Shomolu Local Government Area of Lagos State, recently.

Foundation recruits 30,000 bone marrow donors by 2018

By Chioma Obinna

W

ORRIED about the huge challenge of convincing Nigerians to become bone marrow donors, a Pan African bone marrow and cord blood donor recruitment group, ARA is targeting 30,000 Nigerians and other Africans as bone marrow donors by 2018.

Speaking at maiden edition of the bone marrow drive/ launch of the Foundation in Lagos, the Founder, ARA, Ronke Babalakin said the goal is to provide the logistics and infrastructure necessary to ensure the seamless recruitment of bone marrow donors in cities all over Africa including Nigeria.

Bone marrow transplants can

status and help achieve the 2030 goal of zero new infection, zero discrimination against people living with HIV as well as zero AIDS related death.

Adeoye said the programme organised by NACA and the Millennium Development Goals unit in collaboration with the Lagos State Government, was to get people tested and know their HIV status. “We found out that people will not ordinarily go to the clinic for testing, so we thought it wise to bring the testing to their doorstep; and as a result of this we have sensitised the people and the community to come out for testing.

“This outreach is very important because as a nation we want to get to zero by 2030,which means we want to have zero new infection, zero discrimination against people living with HIV as well as zero AIDS-related deaths.”

Adeoye expressed optimism that the 2030 target is possible if people come out and know their status through counseling and testing. “This is why we have brought HCT to their doorstep in the community to help them in the quest to get counseled and tested; it is our belief that if we do this, we will actually get to our target by 2030.”

be used to treat patients with life threatening blood cancers including leukemia and lymphoma which are on the rise in Africa.

Similarly, diseases which result in bone marrow failure like aplastic anaemia; other immune system or genetic diseases including sickle cell disorder, can be cured using bone marrow transplant.

Data shows that cancer will become more prevalent in Africa and until we find a proper care for cancer, people who have lymphoma and blood cancers do not have a chance to survive.

Babalakin said the bone marrow drive has become necessary as it is estimated that by 2015, Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will have the highest

people with sickle cell anaemia.

However, in spite of the benefits of bone marrow transplant, Babalakin lamented that getting a match for people of African descent is a problem.

Basically, there are two bone marrow transplant registries in Africa - the Nigeria Bone Marrow Registry and the South African Bone Marrow Registry, both of which are internationally accredited. “The total number of donors on both registries is 68,222. Out of these, only 4,212 are of African descent and only 347 are Nigerians.

According to Babalakin, for people of African descent who require healthy bone marrow to survive a health condition, it is difficult to get a match. While the likelihood of white

individual finding a match is 75 per cent, that of a black individual is 19 per cent, she added.

“Ethinc heritage is an important factor in bone marrow donation because patients are more likely to match with someone of a similar genetic background.

“Our aim is to increase the number of donors of African descent to help ensure that African patients find a livesaving match,” she added.

The limited number of existing donors of the African race limits chances of other Africans with health conditions requiring transplant, getting a match.

To address the problem, Delete Blood Cancer, a Bone

Continues on Page 41

She noted that abstinence from risky behaviour remained an important preventive strategy against HIV/AIDS while using protection like condoms and that pregnant women who are HIV positive can give birth to HIV negative children.

The outreach is going nationwide at the Federal Capital Territory including 12 states that are recognized as HIV endemic states.

“We do not want a situation where people will be down with the sickness before they go to the hospital; we want to forestall this scenario by bringing the service to their door step and this is why we are using market spaces and bus stops where people can easily access HCT services”, Adeoye noted.

On his part, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris said HIV burden has gone down nationally but stressed that the State government was still working assiduously to improve access to HCT activities.

“As a responsible government it is our duty to ensure that we prevent our people from contacting HIV/AIDS and that is why we have started this programme with our National body; NACA so that everybody will understand what HIV/AIDS is all about, how it is spread and how we can prevent ourselves from contacting it”.

44 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

•Tinubu

•Fashola

•Ambode

MEGACITY IN 2015 AT the beginning of 2015, the Lagos State Government had expressed its determination of making Lagos, Africa's model mega city, but that dream remains a tall one.

With the exchange of baton from Mr Babatunde Fashola to the incumbent governor, Mr Akinwumi Ambode in May, the signs of Lagos becoming a megacity is yet to pick up.

Stories by Monsuru Olowoopejo

L

AGOS, a megacity only in population.

TEN years ago, Lagos joined the league of megacities. The city was listed by the United Nations, UN, after attaining the required population standard, even as it predicted that the population of Lagos would in 2015 rise to over 16 million.

But the population of the second megacity in Africa has surpassed the figure according to the state government; considering the influx of residents of other states and foreign nationals into Lagos.

After reviewing the World Urbanization Prospects last year, the UN noted that the largest urban growth will take place in Nigeria especially in Lagos, India and China.

And that they will account for 37 per cent of the projected growth of the world’s urban population between 2014 and 2050.

By 2050, Nigeria including Lagos is projected to add 212 million people to world urban dwellers. The exploding urban population growth creates unprecedented challenges for Lagos.

Among which provision for

pipe borne water, sanitation, good roads especially inner city roads, affordable housing

and effective transport system have been the most pressing and painfully felt.

Traffic Law: Lagos to impose fines through mobile courts

T

HREE years after, flagrant disobedience of the 2012 Lagos State Road Traffic Law by motorist has raised questions as to whether the government has the capacity to enforce the legislation.

In a bid to show its muscle against offenders, the state government has decided to explore areas of partnership that will result in joint patrol teams comprising the Vehicle Inspection Services, VIS, the Lagos State Traffic Management authority, LASTMA and officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC. To do their work with dispatch, the teams will be accompanied by Mobile Courts that will ensure fines and other penalties by erring motorists are enforced promptly.

To this end, categories of offences, their fines and related actions have been issued by LASTMA authourity.

FRSC Corp Marshal, Boboye

Oyeyemi at the just concluded traffic summit reiterated the importance of the court, arguing that it would afford instantaneous prosecution.

FRSC Sector Commander, Mr. Hyginus Omeje added that enforcement would be effective when there is mobile traffic court scattered across the state.

According to him, “there is also an established need for a mobile court which will try all the traffic offenders arrested by the joint team.”

Metro-line metamorphoses 32 years after Jakande

S

IX years after the commencement of work on the 27 kilometre Lagos Blue Line Rail, the State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode has budgeted for the completion of the project next year. It is billed to move 400,000 passengers daily.

He said during the budget presentation last week; “The plan in Year 2016 is to fully operationalise our multi-modal transport system through the construction of new jetties and completion of works on the Blue-Rail line project from Mile 2 to Marina. We will deliver this project in Year 2016.”

But the statement raised concerns among the residents, who hoped that the government could keep the promise considering earlier failed promises made by the previous administration.

A special rail system was conceived by the first civilian governor of the state, Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande, Babakekere, who governed

•Jakande: First civilian governor of Lagos

between 1979 and 1983. But he could not commence the project before his administration was ousted by the 1983 coup d’ etat.

Twenty-six years after Jakande’s reign, in 2009, the immediate past governor, Babatunde Fashola (now Minister for Works, Power and Housing) decided to rejig the project that was expected to commute residents from Okokomaiko to Marina, adding more lines to it.

Other lines added to the project were: Red Line Agbado to Marina via Iddo and Muritala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Green Line -Marina to Lekki (Airport), Yellow Line -Otta to Iddo, Purple Line Redeem to Ojo, Orange Line- Redeem to Marina and Brown Line- Mile 12 to Marina.

Impact of the facility At the start, the Blue Line will carry 400,000 passengers daily but would increase to 700,000 when the rail route becomes fully operational.

Barely a month after assuming office, Ambode embarked on a tour of the project to ascertain the level of completion.

At the inspection, he assured that residents of the state would start to feel the impacts of the facility, saying “we are going to mobilise (contractor)

Continues on page 45

VI

Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015 — 45

New industries, shopping malls choking Lekki

MEGACITY IN 2015

T

HE construction of the Lekki-Epe expressway thirty-two years ago by former governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, with the aim of opening the vast area of unhabited land to development has yielded result. But new challenges have emerged with no solution in sight.

Before then, Maroko, a community on the edge of Lagos Island was regarded as a slum. The state of the community forced the former military governor of the state, Col. Raji Rasaki to demolish the community in 1990 to open the door for development in the axis.

Even communities like Bogije, Awoyaya, Lakowe, Akodo, Orimedu and others

located after Maroko had no road. These communities had fewer houses and they were only accessed by sea. The residents often board boat from Ebutte-Ero, Marina to link these communities.

After the demolition and the completion of the Lekki-Epe Expressroad, development started moving towards this axis of the state; houses begun to spring up, increasing the population.

Years later, the axis which was un-accessible through land became the toast of everyone.

Today, it is the seat of luxury government and privately owned estates.

Some of the estates include the Lekki peninsula Scheme I and II.

Traffic chaos on Lagos roads

Lagos, the mega-city grappling with inadequate potable water Continues from page 44 immediately to see that what has been done from Mile 2 to National Theatre is continued to Marina. We should be able to put to use whatever has been done from Mile 2 to Marina.”

For several decades, improved access to portable water, especially in mega cities has been a major concern for governments in the world over.

For Lagos, a megacity with a population of over 21 million residents, providing safe

drinking water has been a vital challenge for successive administrations, including the present administration of Governor Ambode.

In 1980, the then civilian administration of Chief Lateef Jakande, through the State’s Water Board initiated the construction of 10 miniwaterworks, across the state, which supplied up to 3 million gallons of water daily to Lagosians.

Production capacity But today, the Board, now Lagos State Water

Residents of Lagos queueing for potable water C M Y K

Corporation, LSWC, has constructed over 38 Water facilities spread across the state, with a production capacity of over 210 Million Gallons/Day.

Lagos Water Master Plan: Comatose

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HE continued shortage of water in Lagos has forced residents to raise concerns over the 10-year ‘Lagos Water Supply Master Plan,’ drawn five years ago to address water shortage in the state.

five years after

The residents argued that less than a year to the completion of the short-term section of the plan, they were yet to feel the impact of the 2010 plan.

Water is an essential need for every household. This makes

it a primary demand in Lagos homes. Residents of Lagos use it for cooking and bathing.

Consuming it when not well processed leads to water-borne diseases.

Due to this, it became important for the government to provide portable water to its citizens wherever they reside.

In a bid to perform its responsibility to its citizens, the state government constructed water works across the state to cater for residents need.

The state in 2015 commenced the provision of portable water with the construction of the Iju water works with 2.42 million gallons per Day, (MGD). As the population of the state grows, the government constructed more water works. Notable among the water works was Adiyan Phase I commissioned in 1992. Few years after, water shortage hit the state; not minding the N40.43 billion assets of the Lagos State Water Corporation.

The shortage Vanguard gathered was not lack of infrastructure but daily increase in population; which gave the state edge over other states in the country.

46 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

Atletico chase Ighalo A

TLETICO Madrid are reportedly chasing Watford striker Odion Ighalo as Tottenham Hotspur are the latest club to be linked with Jackson Martinez.

According to the Daily Mirror, Spurs are keen on landing another out-andout centre forward to complement Harry Kane and have set their sights on the Colombian.

Injuries and poor form have limited Jackson’s impact at the Santiago Calderon since his •35m transfer from Porto in the summer, but Tottenham still believe he can form a deadly partnership with Kane.

Fichajes.net, meanwhile, is claiming that Atletico will swoop for ex-Granada man Ighalo if Jackson moves on.

The Nigerian has scored 26 League goals this calendar year, the most in English football, and Los Colchoneros are understood to be ready to exploit their cordial working relationship with Quique Pina, who oversees Pozzo-owned clubs Udinese, Granada and Watford.

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ORGE Mendes has reiterated that Cristiano Ronaldo will finish his career at Real Madrid and continue playing until he is 40.

Speculation persists that the Portuguese will have left Los Blancos by the expiration of his contract in 2018, but the agent insists there is no desire on his client’s part to abandon ship. “[Ronaldo’s] the best of all time and will play probably another four, five, six or seven years at Madrid,” he is quoted as saying by AS. “He’ll finish his career there. He’s happy as a

•Ronado Blanco and he’ll hang up his boots when he’s 40.”

No Italy for Mourinho

J

OSE Mourinho’s agent says there are no talks ‘for England, nor for Spain, nor for Italy’ for the prestigious Coach.

The Portuguese has been at the centre of a great deal of speculation since his dramatic sacking from Chelsea.

With such Serie A teams as Milan and Roma rumoured to be looking

•Ighalo

Del Piero challenges Pogba A

LESSANDRO Del Piero believes Juventus are still ‘looking for their symbol’, though Paul Pogba ‘could get there in due time’.

“I think Juve are still looking for a symbol, at least for the future. As of right now, it’s inevitable to mention the old guard.

They’re fundamental, not least in terms of personality: [Gianluigi] Buffon, [Giorgio] Chiellini, [Claudio] Marchisio, as well as [Leonardo] Bonucci and [Andrea] Barzagli.

Right now they’re still driving the team forward.

“Pogba? Paul is a player of great talent. If we think of the number ten as the man who has to astonish with his plays in the game, then Paul is perfect because he knows how to do that and has already done it many times.

“He has the great moves that a protagonist has to possess. Having said that, there are other things that matter in important clubs, because the number ten is much more than an expression of technique.

We just have to give him the time to try.”

Ronaldo to stay until he’s 40

Fabregas wants to quit Chelsea

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H E L S E A midfielder Cesc Fabregas is pushing for a move away from Chelsea, according to Corriere dello Sport.

The Spain star has had a wretched start to the season with the Blues and was dropped on several occasions by former boss Jose Mourinho.

New gaffer Guus Hiddink could also be set to axe Fabregas and the

•Pogba

28-year-old is believed to be looking for a way out at Stamford Bridge.

The Italian publication claims Inter Milan and Juventus are willing to move for Fabregas as early as January, but that a summer departure is looking more likely.

for a new Coach, and with some conjecturing that even Juventus’ Max Allegri could move on, it was only natural that Mourinho should be linked to Italy.

But his manager Jorge Mendes, speaking out at the Globe Soccer Awards, denied any move was being planned at all.

“Jose is in Brazil now, we’ll see what happens when he comes back,” he said, as reported by Gianluca Di Marzio.

“A return to Italy? For the moment there are no talks for England, nor for Spain, nor for Italy.

“He just has to stay calm and not worry about anything, because he’s the best Coach in the world.”

Kane eyes greater success in 2016

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ARRY Kane may have enjoyed a remarkable rise to prominence in 2015 but the Tottenham striker is hopeful next year will bring even greater success. He told the club

website: “I’ve got to keep going, try to take it one game at a time.

“I don’t think about the records or anything like that. It’s been a great year. Hopefully then 2016 will be even better.”

•Mourinho

Benteke: I know how to fire Liverpool to top four

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•Kane

HRISTIAN B e n t e k e believes he’s ready to spearhead Liverpool’s push towards the Champions League spots following a heart to heart with manager Jurgen Klopp.

“I spoke with the manager a few days ago about where I can improve and what he is expecting from me. We had a good conversation.

We had like a ‘man conversation’ and I think it is going to help me and help the team.

“Of course I am still a young player and I want to learn. I think I have to run more and I have to be there for my team-mates.

You could see against Leicester that I showed I understand his message and now I have to keep going like that.”

•Benteke

Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015—47

Enyimba bosses don’t like my face – Ikhana V

ETERAN coach, Kadiri Ikhana revealed that top bosses of Enyimba FC cannot stand him, hence the decision not to renew his contract.

Ikhana led the club to their seventh title with a record 70 points from 38 matches, and was hopeful of winning another CAF Champions League with Enyimba, but he may now be looking for another clubside.

“I expected that my contract will not be

extended because some of my bosses didn’t like my face,” said Ikhana, who, in his first spell at the Aba club won a firstever CAF Champions League in 2003.

It was gathered that Warri Wolves coach Paul Aigbogun and Bulgarian, Mitko Dobrev formerly of IfeanyiUbah are front runners for the top post.

Meanwhile former Giwa FC assistant coach Aminu Musa has been appointed as an assistant coach to the-yet-to-be named head coach at

•Ikhana Enyimba.

Enyimba media officer Farriel Alaputa announced this: “@EnyimbaFC has appointed former head coach of Giwa FC, Aminu Musa as assistant coach.

The 46-year-old would resume immediately.”

Messi beats Ronaldo to Globe soccer awards ...City prepare £400-per-week bid

A

T the Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai yesterday, Barcelona star Lionel Messi took home the award for best player of 2015, beating out Cristiano Ronaldo and others. “[I’m] obviously very happy but all these awards are for the whole club,” Messi said, according to Gulf News.

Messi had a magical 2015, leading Barcelona to five trophies, including the Club World Cup last Sunday. Barca also won the team of the year award.

On the national level, Messi led Argentina to the Copa America final, where it lost to host Chile in the summer.

The Argentine has made 60 appearances for club and country so far in 2015, scoring 61 goals. The talented attacker could add another award in early January when the Ballon d’Or is announced.

Messi is set to be offered £400,000-a-week to join Man City. Messi has 18 months left on his Barcelona deal and has

Ighalo Continues from BP goal came in the 27th minute when Nathan Ake curled in a cross which the ex-Udinese man could only hit off target by five yards on the turn.

Spurs defending trio of Dier, Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld continued to make life difficult for Ighalo and his strike partner, Troy Deeney.

Four minutes to the break, Deeney and Ighalo combined for the goal through their physical styles.

Deeney provided the assist with an improvised header while Ighalo held off Dier well to pick his pocket and then rode on

good fortune to roll the ball beneath Spurs’ goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to level the game and make it evenly poised for the restart.

On 65 minutes, Ighalo got booked for dissent after he felt a decision should have gone in his favour rather than to Spurs midfielder Thomas Carroll.

Watford had to paddle through the last 27 minutes after Ake was sent off for a bad foul on Keiran Trippier.

Ighalo has now scored 14 goals in 18 league appearances for Watford, who occupy seventh place in the BPL table.

Obafemi Continues from BP coach leading the dream team to winning ways in Senegal, so its the dream of every player to be part

of the Olympics,” said Obafemi who has scored 15 goals for Seattle Sounders in their push for the Major Soccer League title.

become frustrated with tax issues in Spain.

The Manchester Evening News cite sources in Spain suggesting that City have made a “tentative approach” to Messi’s advisers with the thought of a £20milliona-year deal.

31 elite athletes sign up for Lagos marathon

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HIRTY one elite runners from eight countries have signed to contest for the top prizes at the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon according to the General Manager Marathon, Yussuf Alli.

They are 24 men marathoners and seven women. 11 of the runners have IAAF gold label and nine of them are from Kenya. They are Abraham Kiptom, Peter Kiptoo Kiplagat, Amos Mitel, Sammy Kipkorir Kibet, Simpson Pkanaan Limareng, Nelson Kirwa Rotich, Kipkemboi Hosea, Philip Kiplagat Biwott Kenya and Isaac Kipkeboi Kosgei. The other two gold label athletes, Mehair Fesshaye and Ali Abdosh Muhammed, are from Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Of the eight IAAF silver label men marathoners on the list, four are from Kenya; they are James Cherutich Tallem, Mathew Bowen, Linus Kipwamdok Chumba and Daniel Kipchirchir Komen.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015

Banned soccer star shot dead A former New York soccer star who was banned from the game for life for his involvement in match

l won’t resign —Van Gaal Man Utd 0 Chelsea 0

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OUIS Van Gaal has ruled out resigning as Manchester United manager despite seeing his side extend their winless run to eight games with a goalless draw at home to Chelsea.

The under-fire Dutchman had previously suggested that he could quit his post rather than be sacked by the club’s board, “It was a good performance we were the dominate team but we didn’t score a goal. You have to score a goal to win,” said United manager van Gaal.

“We didn’t have the luck we need to win.

There were clear cases of penalty.

The players are fighting for me. After this result the fans were applauding. But in football world you will never know. I have good confidence on the board and the players.

“When the players can give such a performance, with this lot of pressure, then there’s not any reason to resign for me,” he said.

“Maybe the media wants that but I shall not do that. “I have a contract, so it’s not a question of staying, it’s a question of fulfilling my contract.

RESULTS C / Palace Everton Norwich Watford West Brom Arsenal Man United West Ham

Today’s match Leicester City

0 3 2 1 1 2 0 2

Swansea Stoke City Aston Villa Tottenham Newcastle Bournmouth Chelsea Southampton

v

Man City

0 4 0 2 0 0 0 1 8.45 pm

fixing has been shot dead in El Salvador.

Alfredo Pacheco, 33, was chatting with a group of friends chatting in a petrol station when an unknown assailant shot at the group various times, authorities said.

Pacheco - who spent a season at New York Red Bulls and is the mostcapped Salvadorian soccer player in history - was murdered, the country ’s attorney general’s office said.

•Pacheco

Rio 2016: Obafemi begs Siasia for chance

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*Van Gaal

Ighalo nets 14th goal as Watford lose

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UPER Eagles striker Odion Ighalo was inevitably among the goals in the Barclays Premier League as the top-flight in England reached the halfway mark this term.

The forward’s first half goal was, however, insufficient to help the Hornets escape a 1-2 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Monday.

The goal represented Ighalo’s sixth successive goal in six league th matches and 14 this season.

Erik Lamela gave Spurs the lead on 17 minutes in which Watford’s main man, Ighalo, enjoyed little joy with the duo of Dier and Jan Vertonghen.

Ighalo’s first sight at Continues on Page 47

ETERAN Super Eagles striker, Obafemi Martins has told Nigeria Under-23 coach Samson Siasia to consider him for one of the three overage players’ slot for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

•Obafemi

Obafemi, who plays for American club Seattle Sounders returned to the Super Eagles fold after almost three years of absence. With 18 goals from 41 appearances for the Super Eagles, he stated that it was would be fulfilling playing at the Olympics. Siasia is yet to name the three overage players, something he has promised to do after his holiday.

“I love my country and I always want to play for my country any time. If Siasia calls me to represent Nigeria at the Olympic Games in Brazil why not, I am always free to be part of the team.

“Siasia is a fantastic Continues on Page 47

QUICK CR OSS WORD CROSS OSSWORD

T OD AY'S PUZZLE ODA

FRI DAY'S ANS WERS FRID ANSWERS

ACROSS 1 Introduce (6) 5 Frightened (6) 9 Unwilling (5) 10 Daunt (6) 11 Elevated (6) 12 Exclude (5) 14 Pitcher (4) 17 Parched (3) 18 Pottery (4) 20 Challenged (5) 22 Lubricated (5) 23 Fish (7) 24 Material (5) 26 Senior (5) 29 Paradise (4) 30 Marshland (3) 32 Facts (4) 33 Drink (5) 35 Clank (6) 36 Required (6) 37 Change (5) 38 Shore (6) 39 Give (6)

DOWN 1 Really (6) 2 Quartz (6) 3 Clothed (4) 4 Played (5) 5 Wander (5) 6 Scorch (4) 7 Scamp (6) 8 Evaded (6) 13 Spanned (7) 15 Declined (5) 16 Lac (5) 18 Flourish (5) 19 Readjusted (5) 21 Barrier (3) 22 Individual (3) 24 Wreckage (6) 25 Tidier (6) 27 Dashed (6) 28 Attacker (6) 30 Sphere (5) 31 Fresher (5) 33 Family (4) 34 Unusual (4)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 4 Stain 7, Titled 9, For 10, Per 12, Ladle 13, Maid 15, Besom 17, Fettle 19, Push 20, Cheer 22, Elf 24, Mingled 27, Pea 28, Arena 31, Area 33, Stated 35, Wiser 37, Wind 38, Cedar 39, Dip 41, Row 42, Demean 43, Ashen.

DOWN: 1, Atomic 2, Strife 3, Rep 4, Solo 5, Tramp 6, Illusion 8, Debt 11, Relegated 14, Deem 16, Sell 18, Trip 21, Hairless 23, Feat 25, Ness 26, Drew 29, Edited 30, Ardent 32, Aware 34, Arid 36, Iron 40, Peg.

How to Play Sudoku

P

lace a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can have two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (also nine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within a bold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. This means that no number can appear twice in any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, division or multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

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