Why weve not defeated Boko Hram-JONATHAN

...towards a better life for the people VOL. 25: NO. 62241

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ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

N150

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

8 2015: Buhari, Atiku clash over procedure for presidential primaries >

Why we've not defeated Boko Haram — JONATHAN

By Ben Agande

•Says Nigerians defeated Ebola through unity •300 Boko Haram members surrender in Cameroon A

NLC HOUSING SCAM: Developer blames labour leaders

7

BUJA—PRESI DENT Goodluck Jonathan said, yesterday, that the fight against Boko Haram terrorists has taken so long because Nigerians were not yet fully united to fight the menace.

Speaking at an interdenominational Church service to mark the country ’s 54th Independence celebration,

Continues on Page 5

COLUMNISTS:

Emefiele's crocodile tears over N300bn surplus P.48

Two Shekaus down; next?

•P.51

Mr & Mrs INDEPENDENCE DAY—From left: Former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon; Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu; Senate President David Mark and President Goodluck Jonathan at the 54th Independence Day Interdenominational Church Service in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: NAN.

FG floats N213bn lifeline for GENCOs•P.18

EKITI: •P.10 Tension as Police make mass arrest

Unease as Benue sells off 30m shares in Dangote Cement •P.58

2 — Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014—3

4 — Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

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Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014—5

POCKET CARTOON

President Goodluck Jonathan (L) being welcomed by Service Chiefs for the 54th Independence Day Interdenominational Church Service in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: NAN.

Why we've not defeated Boko Haram — JONATHAN Continues from page 1 President Jonathan said when Nigerians are fully united, there is no problem that they cannot overcome.

Citing the case of Ebola Virus Disease which Nigeria has effectively contained, President Jonathan said despite political differences, Nigerians were able to unite across political, ethnic and religious divide to fight it.

While thanking religious leaders and other Nigerians for their continued prayers for the country, the President said their prayers have continued to sustain the

country.

“God knows that we have challenges and before they came up, God knew. Because of the prayers of Nigerians, we will overcome our challenges. God is with Nigerians and we will overcome our challenges. If we are united there is no problem we cannot conquer. We were able to defeat Ebola because Nigerians were united and agreed that we should fight it. We have not defeated Boko Haram because Nigerians are not all united yet”, he said.

President Jonathan enjoined politicians to be

LIFEWORDS

BY PASTOR ITUAH

Life is about sacrifice. The only way to live long is to give up all the things that make you think you want to live long.

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

Part of being a man is learning to take responsibility for your successes and for your failures. You can’t go blaming others or being negative . Seeing somebody else’s success as your failure is a cancerous way to live — Kevin Bacon Each time you find yourself pointing out your faults, or questioning a decision, simply STOP. Take a moment to remember what you love about you, and even write it down. Show that negative devil whose boss, and regain control of your mind. Each negative thought should be replaced by a positive one. Positive thinking is a strong tool and plays a major role in the way we see ourselves.

It is important that we surround ourselves with positive people while we are rebuilding our selfesteem. Find a friend or a family member that you feel comfortable talking openly with. Talking to someone about how you feel is a big part of building self-confidence. People are social by nature, and talking to someone will also help you work through the issues that have dragged you down in the past.

cautious in their struggle for political space, saying the interest of the country should be the driving factor.

“When I listen to some comments by some highly placed individuals, I feel sorry for this country. There are some of us who, while struggling to get what we desire, forget that we can not get it if we destroy our country. So, if we come together, while pursuing whatever achievement we want, since we don’t have any other country than Nigeria, I am sure we will overcome Boko Haram.

“We were able to defeat Ebola because Nigerians agreed together to wage war against the disease.

That is the strength of unity. Some of the challenges we are having, whether kidnapping or the greatest problem which is terror, it is because all of us have not united to fight these challenges.”

He commended the Armed Forces for their efforts at containing terrorism and called for encouragement from Nigerians to do better.

“Let us commend the security services because if some of you know what they pass through, and the sabotage, you will appreciate the little they have done.”

In his sermon, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Pastor Ayo Oritsejefor prayed for God to use the occasion

of the independence day celebration to bring back peace and unity to the country.

The CAN president explained that all the problems facing Nigeria as a nation were self inflicted, including corruption and terrorism, perpetrated by the Boko Haram sect.

He said corruption in Nigeria was caused by poverty mentality as a result of people not being satisfied with what they have. According to him, the country’s woes were also caused by those who are desperate to take power.

Pastor Orisejefor, who noted that Nigeria was being troubled by Nigerians, said: “Troublers of Nigeria, get ready for judgement. It doesn’t matter what level you are, the judgement of God will find those who are troubling Nigeria.”

He disagreed with insinuations that the level of terrorism in the country was as a result of poverty. “Terrorism is not fuelled by poverty but poverty can create an environment where more people can be recruited.”

Quoting from the Bible in Acts chapter 5, the

CAN president also warned Nigerian women to desist from shielding their husbands who perpetrate crimes against the country.

Pastor Orisejefor stressed the need for deliberate steps to "deradicalise those who are radicalised because of extremist religious beliefs", addin that Nigerians should support the military.

The first reading was taken from the book of 1 Sam 30: 1-19 by Justice Walter Onoghen while Senate President David Mark took the second reading from Mark 4:35-41.

A special prayer which was sent from the Catho-

lic Pontiff, Pope Francis I was read at the service.

Other dignitaries who attended the event included deputy senate President Ike Ekweremadu; deputy speaker Emeka Ihedioha; former head of state, General Yakubu Gowon; former head of Interim National Government, Ernest Shonekan; Secretary to the Government of the Federation Ayim Pius Ayim; Head of Service of the Federation, Ambassadors of Israel and Greece, the service chiefs and Arch Bishop Nicholas Oko, Primate of the Anglican Communion, among others.

300 Boko Haram members surrender in Cameroon

By Udumas Kalu

L

AGOS—NO fewer than 300 Boko Haram fighters have surrendered in Nigeria’s neighbouring country Cameroon in the past three weeks, Cameroon’s defense ministry has said.

Cameroon’s defence Spokesman Lt. Col. Didier Badjeck told The Associated Press that the militants have given up their arms and asked for asylum in Cameroon.

Their fate has not been decided.

Fighters from neighbouring Cameroon, Niger and Chad have been identified fighting alongside Nigeria’s homegrown Boko Haram group, which in recent weeks also has been attacking border towns and villages in Cameroon.

According to the country ’s military spokesman, Lt. Col. Didier Badjeck, the Islamist militants gave up their arms and asked for asylum in Cameroon.

Cameroon soldiers also Saturday captured

Abakar Ali, one of Boko Haram top commanders.

The country’s army also seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition from the Islamist militants during the operation.

Reports said Ali, who also goes by name “Mustapher Umar” was caught with 5 machine guns, 14 rifles, 24 rockets, 4 rocket launchers, 6 Kalashnikovs, 60 Kalashnikovs magazines, 4 automatic pistols , over 500 9mm ammunition, 469 12.7mm ammunition, 4,454 7.62 mm ammunition, 1,491 5.56 mm ammunition, 822 ammunition of 7.62 mm, 6 grenades, 28 rocket launcher chargers and other weaponized accessories like pincers, tweezers and knives.

Cameroonian soldiers nabbed Mr. Ali with two other Boko Haram fighters in Kousseri, a town in northern Cameroon.

He is described as the insurgent commander, who has been leading the Islamist sect’s attacks around the border towns between Nigeria and Cameroon.

Ali often shuttled between various Boko Haram camps in the area and organized deadly attacks that targeted mostly civilians.

It is expected that the Cameroonian military would share intelligence gathered from the apprehended sect member.

The insurgents have in recent weeks attacked border towns and villages in Cameroon.

Boko Haram had seized a string of towns and declared an Islamic caliphate in northeast Nigeria before the Nigerian military started recording victories with air and ground attacks that have resulted into 135 Boko Haram fighters also surrendering to Nigeria’s army.

According to the Nigerian Defence Ministry, about 135 insurgents surrendered last Tuesday night, some at BuniYadi some 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Konduga and others at Michika, 165 kilometers (100 miles) south of Konduga.

6—Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Rights group petitions IG, alleges unlawful detention of cleric

EBOL A : Workers setting up a new treatment centre as part of the fight against the deadly Ebola virus in Monrovia, yesterday.

Liberia, the hardest-hit nation, has seen 3,000 cases of Ebola and almost 1,600 deaths, with health workers turning people away from treatment units due to shortages of beds and staff.

The country has some 150 foreign specialised medical workers on ground, but the UN has said they need at least 600 and health authorities are aiming to scale its current 400 Ebola beds up to around 2,000 within weeks. AFP PHOTO.

C

IVIL rights group, Crusade for Justice, has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police over alleged assault and unlawful detention of Evangelist Hypolite Akuatuegwu by the police.

The group, in the petition by its President and Founder, Richard Nwankwo, alleged that on July 30, at about 1.30p.m., Akuatuegwu was invited by his friend to a pharmacy (names withheld) in Ikeja, where unknown to him, members of Team 16, Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, GID, Ikeja, Lagos, laid an ambush.

The petition read: “When he arrived the scene to meet his friend, five heavily armed policemen, all in mufti, pounced on him and mercilessly assaulted him in the full glare of the public, slapping him several times, and then handcuffing him.”

The petitioner also alleged that Akuategwu was unlawfully detained for seven days without cause, except that he was asked to provide information as to the whereabouts of the estranged wife of an Alaba International Electronics Market-based businessman, who hails from Igboukwu, in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State.

It read: “That to our client’s greatest shock, he was told orally, without being shown the alleged petition against him, that he stole $5,600 US (N150,000) and some documents from the business man’s house.

“On September 6, at about 7p.m., he was released after he was threatened and made to pay N100,000 to the said team and provide two sureties. All the monies on him at the point of arrest, about N25,000, were taken away from him and never returned.”

It appealed to the Inspector-General to use his good offices to investigate the allegations and ensure that the law took its cause.

Contract scandal hits Ebonyi Agric College Contractor connived with staff, says Acting Provost

By Peter Okutu

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BAKALIKI—THE management of Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu, Ebonyi State, has been hit by a scandal as the Acting Provost, Dr. Felix Anuebunwa, and three others are involved in an investigation by the Zone 6 Command of Nigeria Police over alleged theft of one Mercedes Tipper.

The investigation followed a petition written by Agama Agama of B. N. Ugwu and Company, counsel to Mr. Phillip Orji, the supplier of the said vehicle, with chassis number 341439, to the college.

In a swift reaction, the Acting Provost denied any wrong doing in the transaction, saying Mr. Orji wanted to dupe the institution of several millions of naira through his dubious business proposal.

In the petition, Mr. Orji’s counsel complained to the police that his client supplied the Mercedes tipper to one Mr. Theophilus Ndubuaku in January 2014 at the cost of N6.5 million, stressing that instead of paying him his money, Ndubuaku, in connivance with the Acting Provost, Ikeije and one Ogbomo Nosa, paid the money into the account of Global Growth Construction Company Limited for which Ogbomo Nosa fronted as a director.

The petitioners alleged that after a search was conducted by the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, it became evident that Nosa was not a director of the three-member

company at the time and that the company had never changed its board members since incorporation.

The firm

Alleging that the said Global Growth Construction Company Limited was a conduit through which the money for the vehicle was diverted, the petitioners disclosed that information available to them from the accounts department of the college showed that the Acting Provost and others paid N7.5 million to Global Growth Construction Company Limited, instead of N6.5 million in September 2013, two months before Mr. Phillip Orji imported the vehicle into Nigeria.

While expressing dismay that

three weeks after letters of invitation were served on the Acting Provost and the others

by Zone 6 Police Command, the four men had remained elusive, the petitioners urged the police to do all in its powers to ensure that the suspects were arrested to explain how a vehicle imported in November 2013, as evidenced by the customs paper, was sold in September 2013 by a company that neither imported nor bought the vehicle.

Am not on the run — ACTING PROVOST

Continuing, the Acting Provost, Anuebunwa, said though he was out of the state, he was not on the run as

speculated by the petitioners, adding that he had petitioned the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 6 that Orji should be arrested for trying to dupe the college of large sums of money.

He said Orji, in connivance with a staff of the college, extorted N1.9 million from the college as part of their expenses on the vehicle and went ahead to force the college to purchase a cooling van it did not order.

“It was when Orji started making fresh request for another N1.6 million, after we paid for the cooling van, that we saw through his dubious practices and decided to petition the police,” Dr. Anuebunwa declared.

Family petitions Jonathan over alleged extra-judicial killing of 31-yr-old graduate

By Francis Igata

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NUGU—THE family of late Chukwuma Ihezie, who allegedly died in police custody, has petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan seeking his order for an autopsy to be conducted on the deceased to enable them take his remains for burial.

Chukwuma reportedly died in detention six days after he was arrested by men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, Enugu State Police Command.

The police had tagged the engineering graduate an armed robbery suspect, an allegation his family denied.

It was, however, gathered that few months after, the police

authorities, after an investigation from the force headquarters, found out that the deceased was not an armed robber.

Spokesperson of the family, Mr. Chinedu Ihezie, said their son's car, laptop and other personal effects were released to the family.

He added that although police had asked them to go and bury their son, it would be difficult to do so as Enugu State Police Command had turned down a request for autopsy.

The letter, addressed to President Jonathan, was copied to the Senate President, David Mark; Mathew Omegara, representing Okigwe North federal

constituency, House of Representatives; Chairman, Police Service Commission; the Inspector-General of Police, the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Command; and the Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission, Abuja.

The letter, signed by Chinedu Ihezie on behalf of the family of the deceased, is praying President Jonathan to prevail on the Police authorities to, among other things, arrest and investigate the officers involved in the matter.

Contacted, the Police imagemaker, Enugu State Command, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, DSP, said: “I am not aware of the incident. Send me the details and I will look into it.”

Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 — 7

National Assembly'll do everything possible to end insurgency — MARK

By Naomi Uzor

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AGOS—THE Senate President, David Mark has assured that the National Assembly will do every thing within its power to put an end to the insurgency in the country.

Speaking at one-day interactive forum tagged Democratic Transition and the Nigerian Economy, organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, at the weekend, Mark said “We do not underestimate the consequences of the festering insecurity in the nation. ''Accordingly, we are providing all necessary cooperation through appropriation, legislation and partnership with the executive in the fight against insurgency and terrorism. I am confident that we can end this sad and unfortunate chapter in our contemporary history as quickly as possible.”

Continuing, the Senate President said; “Democracy is not an end in itself but a means to an end and that whatever happens, Nigerians must be able to promote the principles and values of freedom of choice, accountability and transparency, rule of law, protection of the rights of the minorities and the citizen participation, among other things.”

He noted that all over the world, a democratic environment is generally recognised as a necessary condition for the private sector to thrive and it is no coincidence that so many leading economies of the world operate in democratic settings.

“Even in those political environments which may not be classified as fully democratic, free market economics tends to be the predominant mode of capital flow. Because here in Nigeria, we combine democratic governance and free market economics, there is ample opportunity for investors to engage political leadership in order to develop an enabling environment for businesses” he said.

NLC housing scam: Developer blames NLC leaders for project failure

Threatens to sue NLC

By Funmi Komolafe & Victor Ahiuma-Young

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RISTON LALLY, the company disowned by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, for its housing scam and project failure has put the blame squarely on the doorsteps of leadership of the NLC. In a statement weekend, Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of the company, Alhaji Mustapha Umar Madawaki, claimed NLC failed to fulfil its side of the agreement to provide land for the project.

He stated, “The payments made were based upon a direct agreement between me and the NLC President which he later denied and subsequently accused me of forging his signature.”

According to him “NLC had

also actively supported one financing strategy - referred to as a Bank guarantee counterpart funding as suggested by our group, which I also found to be attractive. However, I stopped it even after the NLC had given their full go ahead and performed their due diligence on a fact finding mission to Europe where they met with technical partners and a specific financial group. ''Upon return, NLC gave approval for the Bank Guarantee to be issued. Both the Bank, Access Bank and my international adviser, concurred with me that an unconditional Bank Guarantee is unsafe and advised that my apprehensions about the safety of such a contract were seriously justified and they advised not to proceed. I single handedly

stopped the BG and cancelled it until the financiers accepted a conditional BG. Who then protected the workers funds to the tune of N1.8 Billion, me or the NLC? Supporting documents are available. No scam company or individual would do that.

Conversely, NLC never mentions that.”

Last week, Vanguard exclusively reported a housing scam of about N400 million in which some top NLC officers were alleged to have taken steps that short changed workers.

Continuing, he said: “Who then protected the workers funds to the tune of N1.8 billion, me or the NLC? Supporting documents are available. No scam company or individual will do that. When in October last year, NLC ordered that we should stop

SUMMIT: Nigerian Premanent Representative to the UN and President UN Security Council, Prof. Joy Ogwu (2r) flanked by Governor Ramalan Yero of Kaduna State and the President, Heritage Centre, Nigeria, Dr. Kachi Ononuju (r) while the Nigerian Ambassador to the US, Prof. Ade Adefuye (2l) was flanked

by Representative of the Delta State Governor, Prof. Hope Eghagha (l) and the Chairman Nigerian Young Professionals Forum, Mr. Moses Siliko Siasia as they rendered the national anthem to close the inaugural summit of the NYPF, US Chapter at the Hyatt Hotel, New York, USA...weekend Photo by Abayomi Adeshida

Why I want to be President in 2015, by Kwankwaso

By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North

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ANO—KANO State Governor, Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso says he wants to become Nigeria’s President in 2015 to enable him use his requisite experience to address the fundamental socio-economic challenges facing Nigeria.

Kwankwaso, who spoke with journalists last night in Kano, pointed out that he had been studying the problems facing the country over the years and had come to the conclusion that he possesses the requisite experience and expertise to tackle the issues and give Nigerians and Nigeria a new lease of

life.

He explained that given his rich background as a long-standing public servant, an engineer and a one-time Defence Minister, he truly understands what the country needs in order to become great among the comity of nations.

The governor said the country needed someone like him, who had seen the nation from various angles to be able to solve its problems and advance the interest of Nigerians at all levels.

The governor said that although he was still consulting with other stakeholders across the length and breadth of Nigeria on his next political move, he would

make a formal declaration for the presidential contest at the appropriate time.

Kwankwaso said that more than anything else, the worsening security threat to Nigeria and the seeming inability of the administration to address it were unacceptable as it had driven away over four million Nigerians into Chad, Niger Republic and Cameroun as refugees.

“The situation is so bad that apart from those displaced by the insurgents, many other Nigerians have been hospitalised while others have gone into hiding just to save their lives, while the system continues to give assurance of victory,” the governor lamented.

collecting deposits from the subscribers, we posted that on our website and sent bulk SMS text messages to all those who subscribed. We also informed the Bank in writing to freeze the XPath system and to automatically block further payments.

“However, due to pressures from so many people and in particular from the leadership of NLC, it was decided to allow new clients to pay deposits into our operation account, which was in existence since 2012. This operational account were also used for the financing of Kriston Lally’s contribution to the project: Acquisition of land, payment of salaries, certain administration costs and cash provided to the NLC president upon his requests and treats.”

He also said “Kriston Lally is preparing legal action against the NLC for the reimbursement of all money invested by Kriston Lally shareholders and stakeholders in the project, including damages.

Kriston Lally worked and spent money and energy preparing to construct, but the NLC never provided a plot of land and apparently had no intention or ability to do so. ''The NLC scammed us either as part of their political games or to enable certain NLC leaders benefit personally from the project.''

Madawaki further said “the NLC failed and its failure has almost led to the collapse of the project. Housing will not be delivered as planned, unless there is an immediate intervention by Government, in the provision of Land, or allow us to use the Land already acquired for the project.

All money lodged by depositors will be returned to them. This process has already begun and out of the 3270 depositors, about 200 have already received a refund of their deposits.

“We are not going to allow NLC to transfer subscribers’ money to another developer with a different philosophy and objective, whose costs are not worker friendly, and may not even have the requisite funding, whether local or international to complete the project. Subscribers can apply for a direct refund from Kriston Lally and if they themselves decide later they can join any developer of their choice.

“Kriston Lally has various partners, stakeholders to whom money is due, for services rendered while trying to realise the project and while waiting for the NLC to provide the land plots.

Kriston Lally has every intention of paying all money that is due from us to each and every party.

Part of this will form our legal case against NLC. I would like to say that I have personally put all my own savings into the project and have not benefited from it personally.”

8 — Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

By Emmanuel Aziken,

Political Editor

T

HE All Progressives Congress, APC was at the weekend headed for a serious crisis following strong reservations among its major presidential candidates over the procedure for adopting the 2015 presidential candidate for the party. At the end of a National Executive Committee, NEC meeting of the party last weekend, the party was unable to forge a consensus on the issue with associates of the major aspirants reportedly holding on to their positions.

Two of the major presidential aspirants, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and former vicepresident Atiku Abubakar, Vanguard learnt were at the head of the major divisions over the adoption of a consensus or the conduct of primaries for the adoption of the presidential candidate. The other major aspirants, notably, Governor Rabiu Kwankwanso of Kano State and Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah are reportedly indifferent.

Yesterday, aides of Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, who is also set to enter the fray were largely mute on the issue, as one said it was too premature to express a position

2015: Buhari, Atiku clash over procedure for presidential primaries ...Buhari’s associates favour consensus candidacy ...Atiku's camp proposes Modified Direct Primary given the fact the governor is yet to formally declare his intention.

Buhari wants consensus candidacy

Party sources disclosed that Buhari’s associates in the party were pushing for consensus on the fact that majority of the party positions across board were filled with consensus. On the other hand, the Buhari supporters are praying that if the consensus arrangement is jettisoned for any reason that a direct primary involving all 18 million registered members of the party be held.

Their point is being strongly opposed by Atiku’s growing supporters within the party hierarchy who say that a direct primary would be unwieldy, costly. Rather, the Atiku camp has proposed what it called a Modified Direct Primary that

would involve about 20,000 delegates choosing the party candidate. That prospect is feared by the Buhari camp who claimed that it would offer opportunity to easily woo or take over delegates hitherto pledged to other aspirants.

According to the Buhari supporters, the introduction of full direct primary would limit the prospect of Atiku wooing the delegates unlike a modified primary that could see Atiku and his agents now in the field winning the number of delegates.

“Having carefully examined our great party'' the APC constitution, especially Article 20 and the Electoral Act 2010, one comes to the inevitable conclusion that it is better to adopt consensus in electing our candidates for House of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate, Governor and presidential candidates and where it fails to adopt d i r e c t primary,” a major Buhari supporter in the NEC told selected

newsmen last weekend.

“It is on record that more than 80% of the ward, local government area and state congresses which produced the current executives of our great party were conducted through consensual arrangement. And more than 95% of the current National Executive Committee were elected via consensus,” he said “When one considers the bitterness, rancour and bad blood indirect primary will most likely generate, it becomes safer to work towards a consensual agreement.

We must at all times bear in mind that we are being hunted and that those who boasted to rule Nigeria for 60 years uninterrupted, are still hell bent to scuttle the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians for genuine ideological regime change.

“We must take note that our challenger, the ruling party has just announced the nomination of the incumbent President as its candidate by consensus means and they had commenced presidential campaign with vigour and dexterity”.

Atiku at the weekend, however, pledged his determination to abide by any democratic procedure

adopted by the party even as he canvassed the advantages of the Modified Direct Primaries.

In an email statement issued to correspondents on the issue by his media aide, Mallam Garba Shehu, the Atiku camp said: “Our candidate is a democrat.

What he is opposed to is any undemocratic process going by the name of consensus, imposition or anointment. Back in the PDP, if you remember, he dragged the party to court and won on these issues with a resounding victory.

Atiku's camp proposes Modified Direct Primary

“The decision of our campaign to support the Modified Direct Primary is not because of anything but for its practical applicability.

“If you say you want direct primary, how can you get all 18 million registered APC voters to take part?

“That would mean you will be setting up a vote in every polling booth, doing the same thing as INEC is doing. It will be the same thing as a general election.Where do you have the resources, the manpower, the time and the security support for this?”

“Secondly, don’t forget that the figure of the registered members is not a settled issue in many states. There are many places in which it is being disputed.

Besides, it keeps changing everyday. New members are coming in and some are also leaving us. How do you deal with this?”

“Those who argue for direct primaries also need to factor in the fact that there is no way you take the process from the hands of governors if you allow it to take place in the states.

Genuine fears on the part of some people is that in nearly each state, they may just end up writing the results or where this is not possible, breathe down on the necks of local officials to do as they wish.”

“The Modified Direct Primary cannot on the other hand be faulted as being undemocratic because the delegates coming forward, as proposed, are all elected officials. There is no dispute concerning their status as elected officials. For this reason alone, they are credible because they are representative of their wards. We support it because we believe it is broad enough to make for popular representation.”

“Even at this, 20,000 delegates is still a large number to bring under one roof, considering that even the PDP brings together between four to five thousands delegates only for the their presidential primaries.”

Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 —9

Olowude, IGI CEO, dies in US

By Rosemary Onuoha

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R. Remi Olowude, Executive Vice Chairman/ Chief Executive Officer, Industrial and General Insurance Plc, IGI, in the early hours of yesterday, died in a hospital in the United States, after a protracted illness.

According to a source in the company, Oluwode died from an undisclosed ailment in the US, where he was taken to few weeks after his health deteriorated.

As a result of his death, anxiety is now mounting over the fate of Industrial & General Insurance Plc, IGI. Olowude, is believed to have

PRESENTATION: Marketing Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr. Walter Drenth (3rd right), presenting a dummy cheque of 10 million Naira to the Utere Family, winners of the Maltina Dance All Season 8 (Rhythm of Happiness), held at Eko Hotels, weekend in Lagos.

2015: Lagos PDP dissociates self from suit against Jonathan L

AGOS—THE Lagos State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday, disowned Mr Adejumo Agbaje, who filed a suit challenging the eligibility of President Goodluck Jonathan for the 2015 polls.

A statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr Taofik Gani, the PDP

said Agbaje was not a consequential member or leader of the party in the state.

Agbaje along with some persons parading themselves as PDP members had filed a suit no. FHC/ABJ/CS/662/ 2014 challenging the eligibility of Jonathan in seeking re-election in 2015.

“Agbaje can thus be representing his own interest. He is definitely on a frolic of his own, probably to gain media attention or for pecuniary interest," the statement said.

It warned Agbaje to desist from embarrassing the party forthwith.

The party said while it appreciates the right of

any Nigerian to aspire to any office in the land, it restated the party ’s unequivocal decision on President Jonathan’s candidature and right to seek re-election under the 1999 Constitution.

“Jonathan has achieved well enough to guarantee the success of the PDP at the coming presidential election.

NMA begs Fashola over unpaid salaries

By Chioma Obinna

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AGOS—MEMBERS of the Lagos state Chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, yesterday appealed to the Lagos State Government to pay up withheld emolument of doctors under the state’s employment.

Making the appeal at a press briefing in Lagos, Chairman of the Association, Dr. Tope Ojo expressed worry that the State Government withheld the emoluments of its doctors for the month of August and September 2014 as a result of the July 1 NMA nationwide strike.

Ojo who noted that other states, including the Federal Capital Territory, FCT had complied with the general agreement that led to the suspension of the 55Day old nationwide strike to pave way for peace and further negotiations regretted that “only Lagos State is yet to comply with the agreements.”

The NMA Chairman recalled that the NMA had suspended its strike after series of negotiations with the government and some of its demands were met said: ‘’The sack of resident doctors was reversed and all outstanding emoluments had been paid as agreed which led to the suspension

of its strike. ‘’It is worrisome that till date the Lagos State Government has held on to the emoluments of its doctors for August and September. ‘’Also, May 2012 salary is being withheld till date inspite of several appeals.

This made the State Government the only state that has not complied with the general agreement.’’

Ojo further argued that the strike action was not at the instance of the Lagos State employed doctors but at the instance of the parent body of the association.

Housing scam: Developer threatens to sue NLC Continued from Page 7 leaders benefit personally from the project.''

Madawaki further said “the NLC failed and its failure has almost led to the collapse of the project.

Housing will not be delivered as planned, unless there is an immediate intervention by Government, in the provision of Land, or allow us to use the Land already acquired for the project. All money lodged by depositors will be returned to them. This process has

already begun and out of the 3270 depositors, about 200 have already received a refund of their deposits.

“We are not going to allow NLC to transfer subscribers’ money to another developer with a different philosophy and objective, whose costs are not worker friendly, and may not even have the requisite funding, whether local or international to complete the project.

Subscribers can apply for a direct refund from Kriston Lally and if they themselves decide later they can join any developer

of their choice.

“Kriston Lally has various partners, stakeholders to whom money is due, for services rendered while trying to realise the project and while waiting for the NLC to provide the land plots. Kriston Lally has every intention of paying all money that is due from us to each and every party. Part of this will form our legal case against NLC. I would like to say that I have personally put all my own savings into the project and have not benefited from it personally.”

passed away yesterday in a hospital in the US, leaving a bleak future for IGI. Recall that Olowude was elected as the Chairman of the Nigerian Insurers Association, NIA, in 2012 to head the Association for two years but his ill health did not permit him to run the affairs of the NIA. IGI has been recording a poor performance in the insurance market as the company and failed to submit its financial results to the regulatory authorities in the last two years.

10— Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

MIMIKO'S DEFECTION: Olajumoke heads transition c'ttee

A

By Dayo Johnson

KURE—AHEAD of the public declaration of Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the National Secretariat of the party has inaugurated a seven member committee to work out a smooth movement of the governor and other Labour Party, LP, chieftains to the PDP. Governor Mimiko is expected to defect publicly next month in an elaborate ceremony that will attract President Goodluck Jonathan, the NWC members of the Party and PDP governors .

Members of the committee led by a PDP Board of Trustees member of the party in the state, Dr Bode Olajumoke has representatives from the three Senatorial Districts of the state.

Other committee members include former governorship candidate of the party in the state, Chief Olusola Oke, former Defence Minister, Tokunbo Kayode and the Special Adviser to the President on Amnesty Affairs, Mr. Kingsly Kuku.

Also included are former Information Commissioner in the state, Dr Eddy Olafeso, former council chairman and the PDP National Youth leader, Dennis Alonge-Niyi.

It was gathered at the weekend that the much talked about 60:40 or 70:30 sharing of political positions in favour of the governor and his party members is a ruse.

Speaking with newsmen in Ikare area of the state, a chieftain of the Party and a member of the Committee, Hon Gbenga Elegbeleye said the committee has commenced work.

Elegbeleye said that the committee is expected to liaise with the Presidency and the National Secretariat of the Party on the planned defection.

EKITI CRISIS: Tension as Police make

mass arrests, deploy Mopol Arraign suspects today, prevents reprisal attack over Aderiye's murder As Afenifere accuses security agencies of 'deliberate collaboration'

By Emma Nnadozie, Clifford

Ndujihe, Gbenga Ariyibi, Olasunkanmi Akoni & Gbenga Oke

A

DO-EKITI—THE TENSION and apprehension in Ekiti State reached a feverish peak, weekend, as the Police made mass arrests of those suspected to be behind the orgy of violence in the state. Those arrested will be arraigned today.

Advising troublemakers and their sponsors to have a rethink, the Police high command said in Abuja yesterday that they had appraised the situation of things in Ekiti and given the Commissioner of Police necessary directives to ensure peace.

Force Public Relations Officer, Ag. CP Emmanuel Ojukwu assured that all measures have been put in place to ensure safety and security in the state.

According to him, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police incharge of Zone 11 has taken charge and more mobile policemen have been drafted to the state.

“We have obviously made some arrests but I cannot give you more details on that. They will be taken to court tomorrow (Today),” he added.

protest had taken over the Ajilosun area in Ado Ekiti with an intention to retaliate the attack on their leader.

But in a pre-emptive move, about 10 pick up vans carrying heavily armed anti-riot policemen and soldiers, were on standby to quell the crisis, which a police source said was successful and timely.

The reprisal attempt, which spread across the state capital forced residents to stay indoors, while those who were on their way to worship centres had to take a detour back home.

Police warns

Meanwhile, Ekiti State Police Command has warned those without any legitimate business in Ekiti State to steer clear or face the full weight of the law if apprehended.

In a statement by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Victor Babayemi, the state Police Commissioner, Mr

Taiwo Lakanu warned those planning to cause crisis in the state to have a rethink, adding that the command had intelligence report that some hoodlums were planning further attacks.

“The State Police Command is in receipt of an intelligence report that some hooligans within the state and their accomplices outside the state are planning to wreak more havoc and disrupt further, the existing fragile peace in the state. Consequently, the Command has placed its men on red alert to prevent these bandits from carrying out their nefarious activities anywhere in the state.

“The Command has equally been empowered to enforce the dusk-to-dawn curfew; hence, residents are also warned to abide, very strictly, with this order”, the CP advised.

PDP alleges plot to cause mayhem

Security men prevent reprisal attack

Indeed, following the mass protests that greeted the killing of former state chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, Chief Omolafe Aderiye, security operatives made up of policemen and soldiers, yesterday, in Ado Ekiti prevented a move by members of a rival union to carry out reprisal attacks.

Aderiye was killed by gunmen suspected to be hired assassins in his office at Ijigbo, Ado Ekiti last Thursday.

As early as 8.30 a.m. yesterday, members of the rival Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, RTEAN, loyal to Chief Rotimi Olabiwonnu whose properties were razed in the wake of the

PILGRIMAGE: Senior Manager, Segments, MTN, Saidat Lawal-Mohammed (4th left), with nine of the twenty customers, during the departure of 20 subscribers to Mecca, for this year's Hajj, sponsored by MTN, at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.

Oyo governorship aspirants adopt electronic campaign

I

BADAN—SOME governorship aspirants in Oyo State have adopted the use of electronic campaign bill boards to beat the ban on

indiscriminate posting of campaign posters by the state Signage And Advertisement Agency, OYSAA. The Peoples’ Democratic Party,

N7BN DEBT: Court stops sale of late Arisekola's assets

By Bartholomew Madukwe

L

AGOS—A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has directed parties in a litigation to maintain statusquo and not sell assets of late politician, Alhaji Abdulazeez Arisekola- Alao.

The suit was filed by Guaranty Trust Bank, GTB,

In a separate statement ,Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, alleged that another political party is importing thugs from Lagos to cause mayhem in the state under the guise that they are PDP supporters.

Accordingly, PDP Publicity Secretary, Pastor Kola Oluwawole, called on security agencies to be on the look out for the troublemakers. “These thugs will appear in PDP vests and face cap to execute their dastardly act within one month.

Certainly, they are likely to have arrived Ekiti by now. They will move about on motorcycle to execute their dastardly act.’’

This came on a day that the Afenifere Renewal Group, ARG, accused the security agencies of collaboration in allowing the the crisis to fester instead of nipping it in the bud and former Kwara State Governor, Senator Bukola Saraki berated the Federal Government for keeping mum on the Ekiti matter.

against the Estate of the late Arisekola and two of his companies (Lister Oil Tank Farm and Lister Flour Mills Nigeria) over alleged indebtedness of about N7 billion.

According to the order by the presiding judge, Justice Chukwujekwu J. Aneke, the estate of the late

politician and the companies are not to dispose of their assets, including the personal assets of the deceased, especially a Tank Farm owned by Lister Oil Limited situate at No. 21 Michael Ibru Boulevard (formerly Creek Road) Apapa Lagos, until the determination of pending

applications to restrain their disposal.

GTB is claiming the sum of about 7 billion naira, plus accrued interest being outstanding loans granted to late Arisekola, through his companies, Lister Oil Limited and Lister Flour Mills Limited.

PDP, and All Progressives Congress, APC, aspirants have been using the electronic device to market their programmes.

The campaign bill boards are noticeable at strategic areas around Sango, Mokola, Challenge and Eleyele areas of Ibadan, the state capital.

Mr Yinka Adepoju, DirectorGeneral of OYSAA, however, said yesterday in Ibadan that he was not satisfied with the level of compliance by the aspirants with the ban as the manual posters still defaced the environment.

Adepoju said that was why the agency’s staff were removing the posters along the roads to enforce the ban.

Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014—11

Jonathan commissions Phase I Benin-Ore Road

By Gabriel Enogholase

B

ENIN—PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, weekend in Benin, Edo State, commissioned the Phase I of the Benin-Ofusu-Ore Road, with a promise to ensure that the next phase to Lagos was completed soon.

“We have intervened in a number of highways and we must fix the roads. We are committed.

We must return our roads to class A roads across the country,” he said.

He promised that his administration was also focussing on rail and aviation, adding that the Federal Government decided to set up a Maritime University to train Nigerians in that sector.

On his part, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, described the Federal Government’s effort in reconstructing the road as “the most outstanding intervention the road has witnessed over the years.

“What we are seeing is the outcome of a meticulous design and the appointment of a competent contractor,”

Oshiomhole said, describing the Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, as an architect that not only designs but one that translates his designs into reality.

He said that the road was central to the economic life of the people of Edo and the entire South-South, adding that it would attract investment to the

state.

“In Edo, the people belong to a bigger party, the Federal Republic of Nigeria party. This is why you will see people decamping from left to right, right to left but no one can decamp from the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That’s what unites us,” he said.

Earlier, the Minister of Works,

COMMISSIONING: From left: Mr. Louis Odion, Commissioner for Information and Orientation Edo State; Mr. Simon Ebegbulem, Chairman, Edo NUJ Correspondents Chapel; Senator Roland Owie, Chairman of the occasion; Chief David Edebiri, Guest of Honour and Chief Chris Ogiemwonyi, former Minister of Works (State), during the commissioning of the secretariat of the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, in Benin City.

N-Delta govs chat new course for NDDC

By Festus Ahon

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SABA—MOVED by the need to improve on the socio-economic lives of states in the mandate area of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, the commission’s Advisory Council comprising governors of the NDDC states, Chairman of the board and its Managing Director, weekend met in Asaba, Delta State to plan on how the commission could serve the people better.

The closed door meeting which lasted for over three hours was hosted by the Advisory Council Chairman, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan.

Those in attendance included Dr. Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), Senator Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Chief Henry Dickson (Bayelsa), Mr. Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), who was represented by his Deputy, Chief Theodore Orji (Abia) Mr. Tuoyo Omatsulu (ED Projects, NDDC).

Briefing newsmen, Governor Uduaghan, said the meeting was to fashion out more robust ways to move the commission forward.

“The Advisory Council met, consisting of the nine Niger Delta states governors, the chairman of the board of NDDC and the Managing Director of NDCC with the secretary of the council. We hold our regular meetings and today (yesterday), we held

Onolememen, said that the Phase I of the project was 75 km long and that Phase II suffered a setback because of funding and technical challenges.

He said the project has, however, recorded over 60 percent completion, adding that 61 other roads have been completed across the country.

another one. Governor Mimiko of Ondo State, who gave details of the meeting, said a meeting for the development and creation of jobs in the region was held with the board.

Mimiko said: “As the chairman said, we held another meeting today (yesterday), we had got a briefing from the board, the chairman of the board and the Managing Director. Mainly, they gave us an insight into their programmes and their budgetary proposal but essentially the funding challenges that they have. We are looking at all of these to see how we can help them to leverage some of the outstanding funds among other zones from the oil majors, who are supposed to make some contributions to NDCC."

Rivers community honours Amaechi

I

N recognition of his people-oriented projects in the past seven years of his administration, Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, has been honoured by the people of Emohua Kingdom with a chieftaincy title of Ugwugwu of Emohua, (the pride of Emohua).

The governor also received accolades from the people for his achievements in terms of infrastructure and m a n p o w e r development.

In an address by the Paramount Ruler of Emohua, HRM, Eze

Oha Okor, read by Chief Ozaze Obillor at Rumuchie Emohua, weekend, the eight communities of Emohua clan comprising, Rumuchie, MgbuItanwo, Odohua, Ru m u -A ku n d e , Elibrada, Mgbu-etor, Isiodu and RumuOhia, said: “Because of your regard for Emohua, we have come to appreciate you and to congratulate you on being who you are: bold, courageous, firm, decisive and focused on any agenda you are convinced about."

We have only one House of Assembly — Edo Govt

By Simon Ebegbulem

B

ENIN—EDO State Government has said that there is only one state House of Assembly in the state, noting that those who converge at the Assembly complex on Ring Road, which is undergoing reconstruction, are “dissident lawmakers” who were suspended by their colleagues.

This comes as the Majority Leader of the state House of Assembly, Mr. Philip Shaibu, urged the suspended lawmakers in the House to obey court rulings rather than continue to make mockery of the nation’s democracy which Nigerians, particularly the Nigerian media, fought doggedly to achieve.

12 — Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014— 13

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14—Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Labour Ministry sets up c'ttee on workers' demand As Unity Schools strike enters week two

By Victor Ahiuma-Young

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BUJA—AS the ongoing industrial action by workers, which has crippled the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Education, the Inspectorate Departments, and the 104 unity colleges throughout the country since September 22 enters day 10, Ministry of Labour has set up a committee to liaise with the Budget Office of the Federation with a view to ensuring that workers’ outstanding benefits, including salaries and allowances were paid immediately.

The committee was set up at the end of the marathon meeting on September 25, involving parties to the disputes and presided over by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour, Dr. Clement Illoh.

A statement weekend by Secretary General of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, coordinating the strike, Mr. Alade Lawal, said members of the tripartite committee were drawn from ASCSN, representatives of the ministries of Labour and Education.

He said: “The committee is to liaise with the Budget Office of the Federation to ensure that the promotion arrears and outstanding salaries and allowances are paid to the workers.”

He noted that the meeting had been adjourned till this Thursday to review the situation.

The Secretary General added that “I want to assure the teeming members of our union at the Ministry of Education, the Inspectorate Departments and the 104 unity colleges that the strike continues until directed otherwise.”

The issues in dispute, among

others, are non-payment of promotion arrears from 2007 to 2010 and the balance of 2011 promotion arrears; promotion arrears for 20122013 and unpaid salaries to

some staff for July, August, September, and October 2013.

Others are end-of-year incentives, first 28 days in lieu of hotel accommodation, 2010 Head of Service organised

A

BUJA— MINISTER of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, Senator Bala Mohammed, has commenced the installation of Control Room project, stressing his readiness to tackle traffic problems in Abuja, the nation’s capital city.

According to the minister, installation of Control Room would help enhance traffic management and security of commuters in Abuja.

Speaking weekend after a meeting with some senior officials of the FCT Transportation Secretariat,

the management of the Ministry of Education to settle workers’ legitimate entitlements had always been breached with impunity by successive administrations.

AGRIC DAY: From left— Mr. Chudi Uwadel, representing the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture; Mr. Damilola Eniaiyeju, Director of Agriculture, Ministry of Agric, Mr. Samuel Aende, MD/CEO Terjimin Farms Limited and Mr. Patrick Ohaji, Divisional Manager Agric, Dizengoff West Africa Nigeria Limited, during Horticulture Fresh Produce Structures Farmers’ Field Day celebration in Masaka, Nasarawa State.

Oshiomhole accuses FG of illegalities

By Simon Ebegbulem

B

ENIN—GOVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has accused the Federal Government of making illegal deductions from the Federation Account, which has led to the pauperisation of the states.

He called on the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, to speak up against the many

illegalities being perpetrated by the Federal Government, if democracy must grow in the country.

Playing host to Mr Augustine Alegeh, SAN, President of the NBA at Government House, Benin, Oshiomhole, said that the Nigerian Bar must speak out not only on rule of law but also on political issues without necessarily being partisan.

Oshiomhole said: “I like to

FCTA tackles traffic, begins control room project

By Henry Umoru

mandatory training allowance, repatriation allowance, duty tour allowance, among others.

The union lamented that all agreements entered into with

Senator Mohammed explained that the project, which was in tune with the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan and the Transportation Master Plan of the Federal Capital Territory, was 65 percent completed.

The minister said the FCT administration had upgraded a total of 28 out of the 74 existing traffic light installations from the old technology of incandescent light to Light Emitting Diode, LED, with solar back-up to drastically reduce traffic light problems associated with those

powered by conventional electricity supply.

According to him, 20 additional new intersections had been earmarked for traffic light installation before the end of the year, while 1,200 additional road traffic signs had been installed of various types and sizes.

He added that more roads had been marked in the city and they include Tafawa Balewa Way, Lome Crescent Street, F. O. Williams Street, Babangida Aliyu Street, Nouchott Street, Kashim Ibrahim Way, Sabo Ago Way, Deji Omotade Street, Wada Aliyu Street and Ahmadu Bello Way.

comment on your advice to the obedience to court orders.

Even on this, I ask you to confront the issue frontally.

“There is a Supreme Court judgment about the status of excess crude oil account.

That account is illegal having regards to sections of the constitution. The judgment of the Supreme Court was clear: you can’t keep a part of the Federation Account.

“Crude oil excess is unknown and even the concept of excess is dubious.

How can you have excess at a time you are borrowing?

“That pronouncement is there and I want to hear the voice of the Bar on that issue and you can compel the Federal Government to obey the Supreme Court. When you do that, you can come back to us and ask us to do our part.

“Still talking about the violation. I have had to ask Chief Mike Ozehkome, SAN, to challenge the powers of the Auditor-General of the Federation and the President to make deductions from the Federation Account because the constitution as we understand it is clear.

“All monies must first be

distributed. Even the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON, has its money deducted from source. This is unknown to the constitution.”

On the crisis rocking the Edo State House of Assembly, Oshiomhole said: “The matter you have raised, I pray you will carry out your own independent investigation.

“If Edo bar has not given you all the facts or the facts don’t appear comprehensive, it is to the extent that they have unwittingly made themselves parties to the case in a partisan manner.”

Honour

M

R. Brendon Ukwute will, today, be conferred with the title of Olotor of Owa Kingdom, Ika North Local Government Area of Delta State by HRM, Dr. Efeizomor, Obi of Owa. The ceremony to honour Mr. Ukwute, a businessman, philanthropist and heir of the Ukwute family, will hold at the palace of the Obi of Owa, Owa Oyibu.

Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014—15

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16 — Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 THE normal trend is that Nigeria lags behind in most indices of development and topping the charts when it comes to indicators of backwardness. For instance, in the Africa ranking of attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s), whereas Egypt is first, Tunisia second, Ghana fifth, Nigeria is 47 th , competing with countries like Niger (46th, Somalia (51) and Congo (52 and last).

It is, therefore, cheering news when the United Nations singles out Nigeria’s Delta State for special commendation for meeting international standards in attaining the MDG goals. The UN set these goals in 2001, that by 2015, member countries should follow a universal blueprint to ensure that the world’s poorest countries should be able to overcome deficits in eight critical areas, such as eradication of extreme hunger and poverty, providing greater access to universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowerment of women, reducing child mortality, increasing mater nal health, combating infectious diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, ensuring environmental sustainability and developing global partnership for development.

The Delta State Government, under Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, from inception,

Delta State’s MDG feats embarked on a number of measures aimed at uplifting the status of human development, with emphasis on education, agriculture, provision of potable water/sanitation and development of a grassroots-based microcredit scheme, which correspond to the MDG’s main thematic areas. In Delta State, there is free medical care for children under five and elders above 65, as well as free natal care for pregnant women until delivery, which drastically cut down on child and maternal mortality.

Education is free and compulsory up to secondary school level, and there are

marshals deployed to ensure implementation and eradication of school dropout syndrome.

The state also invited UN assessors who spent about a year in Delta State, and the result was unveiled at this year ’s United Nations General Assembly in New York.

We are very proud of this achievement by the Delta State Government, which will go a long way in readjusting Nigeria’s country ranking in the MDG’s. We recommend this template to other states, and also prescribe the use of peer review mechanisms as a means of upgrading the quality of governance at all levels.

The Delta State example has shown that good governance is not merely a function of developing infrastructure such as roads, bridges and housing estates.

The development of human capacity and quality of life, which is what the MDG’s are aimed to achieve, must be equally factored in. After all, human beings are the centerpiece of democracy and governance.

As we commend the government and people of Delta State for putting Nigeria’s name in the positive kleiglights in New York, we urge other states to redouble their efforts and ensure that the year 2015 does not leave them behind.

OPINION

By Ibrahim Zanda

T

HE Lagos State Government scored another first among the states of the federation when it recently granted a 10day paternity leave to its male civil servants while extending the maternal leave from three to six months. The paternity leave is directly tied to the first two deliveries only. A third delivery would only attract 12 weeks 100% paid maternal leave. The action of the Lagos State Government has been receiving commendations from many as the recipe for a strong family. In particular, Roman Catholics see the policy as an endorsement of the 2014 Year of the Family declared

by His Grace, Archbishop Adewale Martins of the See of Lagos. The policy portrays Governor Babatunde Fashola’s administration as being committed to the wellbeing of the family. Moreover, the six months duration allows nursing mothers to feed their babies exclusively on breast milk.

Parental leave or family leave, called partner leave in Germany, is an employee benefit that is granted in most countries as maternity, paternity or adoption leaves. The employee is paid to remain at home for a stipulated time to care for a newborn or sort out issues affecting a child’s welfare. Governor Fashola appears to have realised that the mega Lagos of his dreams will be more cohesive if the family as the smallest unit of society were reengineered. He got it right with this new policy even though there are those who believe that as a politician he has just

Paternity leave: The family rescue option played a pre-election joker. Others believe that time is running out on Governor Fashola’s second and last term in office and the gentleman is displaying his love of the working class by granting benefits based on his beliefs and not as a reaction to advocacy.

A few believe that the paternity leave is another fad by the LASG in line with the cynic phrase ‘Eko for show’, another flash in the pan for the Center of Excellence. This cynicism merely underscores the novelty of the paternity idea in this country.

When Zinox Technologies, the first organisation to grant paternity leave in Nigeria, announced in 2012 that its male staff could enjoy paternity leave, the news sounded as far-fetched as Nigeria landing on the moon. The company announced that male staff were entitled to a paternity leave of two days for senior staff and three days for junior staff.Like all brilliant trailblazers, the announcement was taken with skepticism in a few quarters, but many thought it was a humble start for an idea that could make a difference in family relationships and re-ordering our values as a people. Those who thought it was a good idea were quick to list the benefits of paternal leave to include the capacity of the father to contribute to the prenatal and postnatal care necessary to nurture a balanced baby; male presence at this fragile moment would instill confidence and give everyone a firmer grip on things, and the couple also enjoys a great sense of bonding.

The benefits of paternity leave also rub off on the employer and the country. It would be insensitive to expect that a male staff would give himself fully to his work when his wife is in the labour ward or has just been delivered of a baby. Definitely, this happy man with divided attention would be fulfilled sitting beside his wife as the new baby arrives. He would be eternally grateful to the organisation he works for if he was officially excused from work with a little money in his pocket. Expectedly, the male staff returns to his work more loyal and more productive. A content work force is a plus to the development plans of any nation.

Paternity leave is an accepted workers benefit in most of the countries that are recognised as the first world or developed nations.

Sweden has about the most generous paternal leave where at least 60 days out of the 480 days set aside for parental leave following the birth of a new baby is reserved for the male partner. The paid leave per child, in Sweden, is pegged at 77.6% of the employee’s monthly salary up to a ceiling of $3,400 per month. The cost is shared between the employer and the State. Norway has similar generous parental leave entitlements. Belgium has three days paternity leave paid 100% by the employer plus an additional seven days that is paid 82% by the insurance company. In Denmark a father is entitled to two weeks of the 52 weeks paid parental leave. Whereas in Germany parental leave is referred to as

partner months consisting of 12/14 months 65% paid up to a limit of 1,800 Euro per month. In Italy, it's 13 weeks 80% paid.

The foregoing shows that paternity leave is an accepted workers’ benefit internationally.

Zinox Technologies, run by computer whiz kid Leo Stan Ekeh, acted in its character of always adapting to world-class standards with its introduction of paternity leave in Nigeria. Good ideas, like good writing styles, would always have followers and sooner than later many states of the Federation would follow the example of Lagos and bring paternity leave to more Nigerians.This might just be the right therapy for a country that has had her values turned upside down by oil induced corruption, materialism, ethnicity, religious bigotry and now fundamentalism. A deepening of family values would set the stage for a societal renaissance.

The National and State assemblies ought to take a cue from the selfless posture of Governor Fashola’s initiative and act in the interest of the people. The NGOs and advocacy groups should align themselves to this lofty ideal and for once give the male folk a sense of belonging, a departure from the trend of treating the male as a gender who must forfeit some of his surplus benefits and privileges. *Mr. Zanda, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Lagos.

46 — Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

FRC more strategic in fighting financial crimes, says chairman

T

PARTNERSHIP: From left: Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, CEO, UBA Africa and Mr. George Otieno, CEO, African Trade Insurance Agency at the signing of the UBA/ATI Business Partnership To Boost Regional And International Trade, held in Nairobi.

Banks breathe easier as FG floats N213bn lifeline for GENCOs zPower sector owing three banks $1.085bn

By OMOH GABRIEL, with Agency reports ederal Government's plan to pay off the over N200 billion gas supply debt owed by defunct PHCN will avert the impending systemic non-performing loans in Nigeria banks.

The payment of the debt overhang by the Federal Government will help power generating companies (GENCOs) meet their debt-service

F

obligations to banks on loans of almost N500 billion, on which some have been falling behind. It has also headed off a threat to the banking industry by assisting the struggling GENCOs with an intervention fund.

The N213 billion ($1.3 billion) fund announced by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration on Sept. 19 will be used to pay off gas-supply debts owed by power companies and to cover revenue shortfalls.

The exposure of banks to the power sector indicate that UBA Plc , Nigeria’s fourth-biggest bank by market value, granted $700 million in loans to several investors, including Transnational Corporation of Nigeria, which got $215 million to buy Ughelli Power, the country’s second-biggest gas-fueled plant with capacity for 900 megawatts.

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, the largest

Continues on page 18

he Chairman, Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), Mr Victor Muruako, has said that the commission is more strategic in fighting financial crimes and corruption than other agencies.

Muruako made the statement in Abuja on Wednesday when he received officials of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Imo branch, in his office. He said the vision of FRC under the current management was to ensure that it fulfilled its mandate of ensuring fiscal prudence and adequate management of resources.

“We want to ensure that we don’t just exist in the Act but we are seen to be doing our assignment and discharging our mandate under the Fiscal Responsibility Act. “If the commission is given the chance and support to discharge its mandate, there will be little or no assignment for the EFCC and the ICPC. This is because FRC is meant to stop corruption before it occurs.

“We will make it difficult for people to defraud the government,” Muruako said.

He said the commission was working to ensure that the Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) under its supervision made appropriate remittances of their operating surpluses into the Consolidated Revenue Fund. Revenue generating agencies owe it a duty to the Federal Government to continuously pay their operating surplus into the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

“This is why this commission is insisting that all MDAs that are under obligation to pay their operating surpluses must do so. Federal Government cannot continue to rely on oil and gas. The Federal Government has set up sufficient bodies to be able to generate

Continues on page 19 C M Y K

18 — Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Cover Story

Youth restiveness and unemployment in Nigeria: the way out part 1

MEETING - From left: Mr Kayode Falowo, Vice President, Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce, NBCC; Dr Ije Jidenna, CEO, Leading Edge Consulting; Prince Adeyemi Adefulu, President, NBCC and Engineer Abdulahi Mohammed, Deputy General Manager, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory commission representing Chairman/CEO, NERC, Dr Sam Amadi at the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce September Breakfast Meeting held in Lagos. Photo Lamidi Bamidele

Banks breathe easier as FG floats N213bn lifeline for GENCOs Continues from page 17 lender by market value on its part advanced $170 million to Mainstream Energy Solutions Ltd for the concession of Jebba and Kainji hydropower plants.

Zenith Bank Plc, the secondbiggest lender, provided N40 billion for the acquisition of two electricity distribution companies in Lagos. Others such as Ecobank Transnational Inc., Diamond Bank Plc and Skye Bank also provided loans to power investors.

“The government is reacting to the risk affecting the power industry as a whole and the sustainability of the reform, which dovetails to the banks,” Pabina Yinkere of Vetiva Capital Management Ltd. told Reuters. “This intervention fund will ease the stress in the industry and in effect reduce the probability of loans going bad.”

Nigeria dismantled its power monopoly and sold the hydro-and gas-powered plants it ran last year to try to bring in investment needed to expand electricity supply, with demand more than three times the current output of about 3,800 megawatts.

Companies including Transnational Corp. of Nigeria Plc, Korea Electric Power Corp. and Forte Oil Plc (FO) paid more than $3 billion for controlling interests in 15 power generators and distributors. Authorities in Africa’s largest economy are putting together new C M Y K

regulations to protect lenders, electricity consumers and other utilities in the event that the power companies fail, according to central bank Governor Godwin Emefiele and Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke.

While the ratio of nonperforming loans in Nigerian banks remains low at 4 percent of all borrowings, compared with a high of 35 percent in November 2010, it is expected to increase for electricity companies “as the new distribution and generation businesses pile up debts and struggle under the early phases of liberalization,” Philippe de Pontet, Africa director at New York-based Eurasia Group, said in a Sept. 24 e-mailed note to clients.

The prominent role the central bank is assuming in managing the bailout indicates that Emefiele, like his predecessor Lamido Sanusi, is keen to give the bank “an active role in the economy ” through areas including power, agriculture and manufacturing, according to de Pontet.

Under Sanusi, the central bank fired the chief executive officers of eight lenders in 2010 for mismanagement as Nigeria reeled from the effects of the 2008 global financial crisis.

The banks were bailed out with 600 billion naira while the government set up the Asset Management Corp. of

Nigeria, or Amcon, to buy bad debts from lenders and save the financial system from collapse. Amcon said last month it won’t buy any more bad debts from lenders.

“The government is sending out strong signals about its intention to make the power sector work,” Dolapo Oni, Lagos-based head of energy research at Ecobank Research, said in an e-mailed response to questions.

“If these interventions allow the declaration of the Transitional Electricity Market, then they may have averted a crisis.”

The bailout will enable an October start to the electricity market, where generators and distributors can buy and sell energy in a process mediated by the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trader, according to a timetable set by regulators.

The bulk trader has almost $1 billion in risk guarantees provided by the World Bank and Nigeria’s Sovereign Wealth Investment Authority, with an additional $750 million to back trading by generators and distributors.

While the bailout doesn’t address all the challenges, it is a step in the right direction, Bismarck Rewane, CEO of Lagos-based Financial Derivatives Co., a risk advisory firm, said. “The signal is that the power investors will be supported,” he said. “Power is too important that the government cannot let it fail.”

he words ‘ youth’ and ‘ restiveness’ have become so commonly used together in the last couple of years that they seem to have taken on a life of their own.

In the last decade and more, there has been a proliferation of cases all over the country and indeed, the world, of youth agitations which have tons of people dead and valuable infrastructure as well as personal properties lost and destroyed.

A sustained protestation embarked upon to enforce a desired outcome from a constituted authority by an organised body of youths, fits the label of youth restiveness.

It is also a combination of any action or conduct that constitutes unwholesome, socially unacceptable activities engaged in by the youths in any community.

It is a phenomenon which in practice has led to a near breakdown of law and order, low productivity due to disruption of production activities, increasing crime rate, intra-ethnic hostilities, and harassment of prospective developers and other criminal tendencies.

This scourge has been around for a long time and it looks as though it is defying solutions. Maybe the question that needs to be asked is what is truly responsible for this expression of dissatisfaction by the youth? Have their complaints over the years not been heard or attended to? Is there more to the killings and destruction than just drawing attention to the needs they want met? Are the youths tr ying to draw society ’s attention to themselves more than the issues they appear to be fronting? These and more are the questions we would try to tackle head on today.

In Nigeria for instance, the Niger-Delta region which is unarguably the bedrock of the oil industry in Nigeria permeated the news for a lengthy period of time as the youths of that region tried various means of getting government and oil companies to pay attention to their dire conditions of living and alleviate their sufferings since according to them, the resources which is building the nation is flowing from their land so by virtue of that, they should also be partakers of its benefits. This

strife led to a rise in kidnapping and vandalization of oil pipelines as well as other vices that were being perpetrated.

After some years, the Nigerian government intervened and the amnesty program was created to help deliver some of the promises which government had made to the youths in those areas.

The baton was soon handed over to Eastern Nigeria.

Increase in the rate of armed robbery attacks, kidnappings as well as unbridled thuggery became the order of the day.

Today, Northern part of Nigeria has literally erupted with unrivalled violence.

Bomb blasts, kidnappings and killings of Nigerians and others have become the prevailing trend. Despite beefing up of security in these areas, the problems still persist. This situation begs the questions, "what is the government of the day willing to do to put a permanent end

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A sustained protestation embarked upon to enforce a desired outcome from a constituted authority by an organised body of youths, fits the label of youth restiveness

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to these problems?"

S T A T I S T I C S • U n e m p l o y m e n t : Unemployment is a hydraheaded monster which exists among the youth in all developing countries. The unemployment rate in Nigeria was last reported at 23.9 per cent in 2011. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has put the figure of unemployed Nigerians in the first half of the year at 23.9 per cent, up from 21.1 per cent in 2010 and 19.7 per cent in 2009.

The National Population Commission (NPC) has said the country’s population has risen from the 140,431,790 it was five years ago when the last national headcount was taken, to 167,912,561 as at October 2011.This represents an annual population growth rate of 5.6 million people.

Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 — 19

of disagreement on managing the tithes and offerings coming into the church. The slogan became how much you can make by being a man of God. Instead of using the money realised from offerings to serve

Fleecing Nigerians in the name of God God and charitable cause, men of God started buying expensive cars, houses in highbrow areas and now jet planes.

Nigerians will remember that in the 1960s, 70s and early part of 80s, magicians were in every major street in Lagos, Benin, Aba, Enugu, Kaduna etc. These magicians who were performing

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hen the white man came to Africa to preach and spread the gospel, he was altruistic, truthful and selfless. He rendered selfless service to humanity. He left the comfort of Europe and risked his life in a land seen then as a dark continent full of evil spirits and peopled by beings that were living on top of trees. He came into a land that was infested with mosquitoes that was a death sentence to the white race as at the time. Yet, in the name and love of Christ, they came.

These missionaries were taken to what many saw as evil forest to settle, with the hope that they will die on their own. Yet again, in the name of Jesus Christ, they conquered every challenge thrown their way. They taught us the truth, showed us the light and the way. In the process of time, they set up schools which many attended without paying anything or just a token.

So we became educated, learnt the art of preaching and teaching the word of life like them. In the process of time, many left the early believers behind as old school, those born before.

They got born again, the fire of revival spread through the continent and Nigeria. Many pastors were raised. General overseers were in their numbers. The church saw prosperity, the born again knew the way to wealth. The message changed from salvation to prosperity.

The name of the Lord soon became the key and access to wealth. Many became attracted to the church.

Many who believed as well as those who did not but wanted a piece of the pie that was in the church, trooped into the church. In their quest for material possession, splitter groups began to emerge as a result

of house am I living in? What part of the city is the man of God living in? Many pastors today if transferred from the city to a rural area, will quit that ministry. It is no longer service to the Lord, but self service. In-fact, the poor, the needy that the church is supposed to cater for are neglected. Men of God in

Men of God in search of wealth and fame dine and wine with politicians; as their political associates, they have become corrupt

magical acts in these cities got inspired by the fact that there was money to be made in the name of the Lord. So they abandoned their magical acts and went into church-planting.

Since the Nigerian state is lax in its laws governing charity organisations, it was easy for these men to creep into the house of the Lord.

In some of these mushroom houses called churches, as soon as you enter, the so-called man of God starts prophesying to you; your mother or sibling is the one behind your travails.

The gullible accept this; the next thing you hear is that the Lord wants you to sow a seed.

Sometimes in thousands of naira. These fake men of God have forgotten that the Bible say, freely have you received and freely shall you give.

These men in Nigerian churches are crucifying the Lord Jesus the second time. In every ministry today, it is all about money. What car am I driving as a pastor? What kind

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search of wealth and fame dine and wine with politicians. They, as their political associates have become corrupt. They bear arms for these politicians, run errands for them and some to the point of money laundering. They cannot serve as the conscience of the society anymore.

They cannot look at these evil politicians, like Elisha did to King Ahab and said: 'You and your father’s house are the problem of Israel.'

Nigerian gospel ministers have lost it. They have shut God Almighty out of the Church, locked Him outside, and are now worshipping money. If today you enter into any Nigerian church with serious money, no one will ask you what work you are doing to make money.

No, it is the Lord that has blessed us.

How can a true man of God openly endorse divorce?

How can a true man of God

use the church's money to build an empire for himself and his family at the expense of his poor congregation? How can a true man of God establish schools that his members' children may never be able to attend? How can a true man of God be competing in worldly possession with his members? How can a true man of God rape teenage girl in his church? How can a true man of God commit adultery with his members' wives?

These acts instead of drawing men to Christ in actual fact bring shame to the gospel. It makes unbelievers unwilling to accept the true gospel.

Instead of many of Nigeria's pastors being the light of the world, they show darkness, cover the true light in preference for money. No responsible man of God will disobey the laws of the land, but what do you have, Nigerian pastors openly disregard the law and even threaten citizens who point out their wrong doing.

No responsible believer in Jesus Christ is happy about the presence of such social evils as racial hatred, a spiraling crime rate, the liquor and drug traffic, slums and violence. He realises that such conditions as these have the potential to destroy his society and therefore ought to be checked. If the Nigerian church had shown enough love, perhaps some of the problems facing the nation today would not have occurred.

If the Nigerian church leaders were not working hands in glove with the political class, if they had consistently denounced

corruption and punished members found to be involved in stealing, the moral decadence in the society today may have been checked.

Where is the power of the Spirit-inspired testimony in the Nigerian Pentecostal/ charismatic and even evangelical churches? It is only the effectual working of God’s power in a human heart that will allow a man to go outside of himself to share the gospel boldly and testify of Jesus. A man with social and political stigma cannot boldly share the gospel.

When a man of God is spiritually healthy and vibrant, it brings light into the local church and city.

Precious are those who are on fire for Jesus especially in times of gross darkness and moral decline as we are in now.

In a time of spiritual declension in Great Britain in the 1800s, Catherine Booth, wife of Salvation Army founder, William Booth, went about the churches “looking for burning words.” She recognised that doctrine alone is not enough. Logically sounding phrases and great swelling words are not enough. Oratory skills are not enough.

We must have the Word on fire and the power and move of the Holy Spirit.

Nigerian churches need to get out of the twilight zone of cessation theology and postmodernism and craze for wealth and learn what it means to be filled with the mighty Holy Spirit and press on into all the fullness of God.

Business & Economy Fertilisers: FG targets 20m farmers in 2015 — D-G

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DirectorGeneral, National Agricultural Seed Councils (NASC) Dr Philips Olusegun-Ojo, said that the Federal Government was targeting 20 million farmers in the fertiliser distribution for the 2015 farming season.

Olusegun-Ojo made this known when he declared open a three-day training on seed certification and quality control held at the Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR) in Zaria.

The training, organised by the council had corps members, NASC certification officers, internal quality control and seed production

officers of seed companies as participants.

Olusegun-Ojo said that in 2014, the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme of the Federal Government reached out to over 90 per cent of Nigerian farmers, saying that this had never happened in the past.

“Before the introduction of GES, only 11 per cent of Nigerian farmers got fertilisers; but now, over 90 per cent receive the commodity from their redemption centres.

“In view of the enormous success recorded by GES in Nigeria, countries like China, Brazil, Kenya and Tanzania came to borrow a leave from us.”

Olusegun-Ojo applauded the Federal Government’s

initiative in introducing the Agricultural Transformation

Agenda (ATA) aimed at creating jobs for Nigerians apart from facilitating the attainment of national food security.

FRC, more strategic in fighting financial crimes, says chairman Continues from page 17 sufficient non-oil revenue for the country,” Muruako said.

He said the commission was currently reviewing financial records of the 31 corporations under its supervision from 2007, so that those that had short-changed the government would be caught.

The FRC boss also said the commission was currently carrying out a nationwide

physical verification of Federal Capital projects to address issues of abandoned projects.

Earlier, the NBA Chairman, Mr Stanley Chidozie, said the association had resolved to have a session during its forthcoming Law Week to be dedicated to looking at: “The Role of Lawyers in Enforcing the FRC Act. “For the success of this commission and the FRC Act, it is important for

lawyers to familiarise themselves with the act.

“It is for this reason that we are inviting you to play a key role in our upcoming Law Week in Owerri. As a lawyer yourself; we urge you to make a difference in this organisation. Be a good representative of the Bar just like lawyers ruling in the U.S. and UK have done,” he said.

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20 — Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Business & Economy

BY CHRIS OCHAY I

NAICOM to consolidate industry’s goals with new Insurance development roadmap

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he Commissioner for Insurance, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Mr Fola Daniel, on last week announced that the commission was developing a new insurance industry development raodmap. Daniel announced this in Lagos at the inauguration of Public Enlightenment and Consumer Protection Programmes of the Insurance Consumers Association of Nigeria (ISCAN).

Daniel, represented by Mr George Onekhena, the NAICOM, Deputy Commissioner (Finance and Administration), said that the development plan would help to consolidate and ensure the targeted goals of the insurance sector.

According to him, the commission will incorporate all stakeholders including consumer associations in the proposed national insurance blueprint.

"The way insurance industry is now, is not helpful to majority of the citizenry because people need insurance to live a good life.

"People should be able to take at least a life insurance regardless of their financial capacity. This is what insurance is all about and the commission feels that the development plan will help with this situation,’’ he said.

Daniel said that insurance companies should support the activities of ISCAN, adding that it was a business meant for all the stakeholders. He said that the support was necessary as ISCAN activities would increase the public demand for insurance.

The commissioner said it would also help to change the general perception about listed insurance companies stocks at the capital market as well as create new employment.

He said NAICOM would continue to work towards its main duty of protecting policy holders and third parties especially victims of hit and run drivers.

The National President of ISCAN, Admiral Isaac Areola (rtd), said the association was formed because of problems of marketing insurance products in Nigeria.

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lobal Business Resources, U.S.A, a consortium of international investors are in Nigeria for a follow-up discussions with government officials for the realisation of two 50MW solar-powered plants in Kumbotso, Kano State and Karu, in Abuja, F.C.T. The Nigerian side, led by the Minister of State for Power, Hon. Mohammed Wakil had earlier met the group in Bridgeport Miami, U.S.A. The group’s mission in Nigeria is to focus on developing Actionable Renewable energy generation strategy, using abundant solar resources in Nigeria.

According to the copy of proposal submitted to the Ministry, in addition to putting in place a framework for the building of the two plants, the group is prepared to undertake Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping for renewable energy as done by some African countries like Ghana, South-Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia, as such a move will help facilitate rural electrification projects on a Public-Private Partnership agreement, if adopted by Nigeria.

The group has the target to develop a master plan that will fast-track 100 per cent rural electrification in the next five years, just as it has informed Nigerians that the project will leverage on resources from Obama Power Africa Initiative.

Speaking on behalf of the Minister, Engr. Abayomi

TELECOM AWARDS - From left: Former Governor, Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel; former Commissioner in Ogun State, Dr. Josephine Olatomi Soboyejo; Mr. Ehizojie Ohiowele, Senior Manager, Ecobank; Ms. Foluke Aboderin, Executive Director and Afeez Onafuwa, Manager, Ecobank at the 10th anniversary of Nigerian Telecom Awards, held in Lagos on Saturday

American investors to spend $106m on 50MW solar plant Adebisi said that Nigerians are excited about this initiative, as the country needs power urgently.

While calling on genuine investors to take advantage of this need-gap, he said the vast resources of oil, gas, wind, sun and biomass should be developed for power generation, especially now that the sector has moved from public control to private driven one. Even the

transmission leg in the electricity chain is now managed by private concern and would soon be privatized to allow for more resources into it.

Expressing optimism in the prompt delivery of the project, James Nicholas, who led the Americans, said that Africa has the most promising solar potential in terms of cost, as the U.S has developed cost-effective technology in response to

the pressures from Green movements.

From the available information, the cost of 2.06 cents per kilo hour is quite reasonable, adding that $106 million will be required to fund these two plants. The group pledged to work with the ministry and other government agencies in the quest for adequate power supply in the country.

Senate decries failure of Free Trade Zones

BY JOHNMBOSCO AGBAKWURU

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HE Senate has lamented that Free Zones in the country have not benefited the economy as a result of the weak regulatory framework guiding their operations.

Consequently, the Senate has started the process of amending the Act which had been in existence for over 18 years with what were described as noticeable inherent inadequacies and operational challenges.

But the management of the Nigeria Export Processing Zone Authority, NEPZA, opposed some aspect of the bill, alleging that despite the fact that the Oil and Gas Free Trade Zone and NEPZA have their various areas of

specialization, the former tried to intrude into NEPZA affairs.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Trade, Senator Odion Ugbesia who lamented the abysmal performance of trade zones in the country during the public hearing on the Oil and Gas Export Free Zones Authority Act 2011 amendment Bill 2014, in Abuja, said it was due to the low performance of free zones coupled with the weak regulatory framework that the Senate embarked on the amendment.

Senator Ugbesia stated that Free Zones all over the world were instrumental to boosting industrial and economic growth, stressing that it was the reason why the Federal Government established the Onne Oil and

Gas Free Zones to provide greater level of foreign direct investment, technology transfer, manpower development, provision of employment opportunities and greater economic selfreliance.

He said: “Simply put, the amendment Bill on Oil and Gas Export Free Zone Act CAP 05 LFN seeks to make consequential provision to the Act for greater effectiveness and efficiency.

“Having operated the Act for about 18 years, some inherent inadequacies and operational challenges were noticed. Hence the need to repeal the existing Act to correct these inadequacies and challenges.

The Amendment Bill therefore seeks to address some of the deficiencies in the Principal

Act by creating a more robust legislative framework to regulate and promote effective operation of the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority.

The most attractive features of a Free Zone anywhere in the world, is the tax holiday which investors enjoy as incentive and encouragement for investment and this amendment provides just that.”

According to Senator Ugbesia, some of the objectives of the Oil and Gas Free Zones Amendments Bill 2014 included the socioeconomic development of the immediate community where the Free Zones and Special Investments Areas were located and its contribution to the growth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 — 21

Business & Economy

Nigerian firm eyes €4bn payout from defaulting Australian companies

BY JIMOH BABATUNDE

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or allegedly dumping their part of a partnership deal to establish a polymer currency printing plant in Nigeria, the Reserve Bank of Australia and two other firms, Securency Private Limited and Innovia Films Limited, all based in Australia, may pay damages of up to four billion Euros (€4bn) to a Nigerian firm.

They are to face a €126 million specific damages for loss of revenue for failure to establish a local polymer plant up to date; and €1.5 billion euros damages for breach of contracts to carry out technology transfer to a Nigerian entity or establish a polymer plant in Nigeria.

This is the value of what would have been saved if the Australian institution, through its subsidiary firms, had effectively transferred and domesticated the technology for the production of polymer currency notes in Nigeria.

The Australian apex bank and the firms are to face legal charges in Nigeria over this, as an Abuja high court ruling has granted order of court to their Nigerian partners, Global Secure Currency to serve them writ of summons.

Justice O.O. Goodluck of the High Court, Maitama, in Abuja, had in a July 2, 2014 ruling, granted Benoy Berry and Global Secure Currency Limited order to serve the writ of summons on the three Australia-based firms, including Securency Private Limited, Reserve Bank of Australia and Innovia Films Limited, to appear in court and defend allegations pertaining to breach of contract agreement for the transfer of Polymer Technology and establish a polymer based mint in Nigeria.

At the resumed hearing of the case, Justice Goodluck dismissed the application of the foreign firms asking the court to set aside court ex-parte order it made on the 2nd of Februar y, 2012, against Reserve Bank of Australia based on the grounds that the order was made outside jurisdiction of the court.

According to the plaintiff, Dr. Benoy Berry, in the terms of the agreement, the Australian Apex Bank had agreed, through its subsidiary, Securency, Australia, to set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to facilitate the transfer of Polymer Technology, including a 0-pacification facility (Substrate Plant) in

Nigeria; and that the marketing of the 1st defendant’s imported polymer products incidental to the general investment in the local market would be undertaken ahead of the establishment of local production.

On the strength of the contract, Dr. Berry claimed

that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) awarded the first contract for the printing of polymer notes to the firms, but along the line, the Australian companies reneged on the contract terms and insisted on supplying orders and demands from polymer plants abroad rather then set up a plant in Nigeria.

It was for this reason amongst others that Dr Berry and Global Secure Currency Limited approached the high court to demand that the Austrian firms must fulfill their obligations as contained in the agreements to manufacture and print polymer notes in Nigeria.

ENDORSEMENT - From left: Prof. Ngozi Nnam (FNSN), National President, Nutrition Society of Nigeria; Tope Banjo, Marketing Manager, Grand Cereals Limited, makers of Grand Pure Soya Oil and Uzoma Obialor, Regional Manager, South-East 1 of Grand Cereals Limited during the endorsement of Grand Pure Soya Oil by Nutrition Society of Nigeria.

Nutrition Society of Nigeria endorses Grand Pure Soya oil

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he Nutrition Society of Niger i a (NSN) has endorsed Grand Pure Soya Oil, one of the flagship brands of Grand Cereals Limited, a subsidiary of UAC Nigeria Plc. This is the second time the brand will be enjoying this kind of endorsement from a professional body having been endorsed about nine years ago by the Nigerian Heart Foundation (NHF) as a ‘heart-friendly oil.’

Speaking at the Endorsement Certificate presentation ceremony, the Marketing Manager of Grand Cereals Limited, Mr. Tope Banjo expressed the company's delight at the endorsement saying it was the result of the investments made on the brand over the years both in packaging and quality.

"Our effort is to ensure we deliver better value to our

consumers; an unending quest to be better than whatever else is being offered in the market place.

"This quest has imposed standards on us, these standards, though exerting, have been fully embraced by us and the result is such highprofile endorsements by reputed professional bodies such as the NHF and now the NSN." He urged consumers to be more discerning about the source of their cooking oil stating that soya beans seed is a single whole source of ‘complete protein.’

"Oils from soya bean seeds are odourless, fumeless and flawless in nature, healthy and don’t oxidize easily," Banjo said.

Emphasizing that not all acclaimed heart-friendly oils were healthy in the long run, he appealed to consumers to cultivate the

habit of checking the labels on the bottles of oil before buying as it will help them get information on the source of the oil. He noted that most recent brands in the market are made from palm oil which is not as healthy as soya oil.

He said that Grand Pure Soya Oil is trans fat-free and contains polyunsaturated fats which help in the control of blood cholesterol levels by lowering the levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) and increasing the level of good cholesterol (HDL).

According to the marketing manager, Grand Pure Soya Oil does not foam and does not fume nor congeal even at very low temperatures.

The oil comes in 0.75 and 2.75-litre PET bottles as well as 4, 10 and 18 litres Jerry-cans.

Facebook to win EU approval for $19 billion WhatsApp bid

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acebook, the world’s leading social network, will win unconditional EU approval for its $19 billion offer for mobile messaging startup WhatsApp in a deal pitting it against telecoms operators, two people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

The landmark acquisition, the largest in Facebook’s 10year history, will give the company a firm foothold in the fast-growing mobile messaging market.

A plan by WhatsApp to add free voice-call services for its 450 million customers later this year, however, makes it a potentially powerful competitor to companies such as Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE), Telecom Italia (TLIT.MI) and Telefonica (TEF.MC).

Analysts said the move is likely to hit telecoms providers’ turnover as the industry heads into its fifth year of revenue decline. The sector had looked to EU regulators to extract concessions from Facebook.

Facebook convinced the Commission that the deal had no anti-competitive effect and, therefore, concessions were not necessary, the sources said.

Quadrant wins Coca-Cola PR account

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oca-Cola Nigeria Limited has announced the appointment of The Quadrant Company as the new public relations consultants to steward her corporate and beverage brands effective September 2014.

In a statement the Public Affairs & Communications Director, Clem Ugorji, said that The Quadrant Company was selected through a pitch that involved six leading PR agencies in the country, including the incumbent agency, C&F Porter Novelli.

According to Ugorji, ‘The recent pitch for the Coca-Cola PR account was informed by its policy to periodically evaluate and refresh our capabilities in order to effectively drive our growth plans”. He noted that the participating agencies all demonstrated remarkable competencies and that The Quadrant Company were adjudged to be well positioned to sustainably deliver on the expectations in the fast evolving PR landscape.

22 — Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Banking & Finance

MasterCard, Ecobank sign pact over branded card

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cobank Transnational Inc. and MasterCard has announced that consumers can now use their MasterCard prepaid, debit and credit cards at Ecobank’s ATMs and Point of Sale terminals in 28 African countries, significantly boosting card acceptance on the continent.

With the culmination of the multi-country licensing agreement signed by MasterCard and Ecobank in January 2014, this initiative gives MasterCard cardholders access to more than 2,500 ATMs and allows them to pay for goods and services in over 20,000 shops, hotels, restaurants and other outlets across Africa.

“Expanding MasterCard’s acceptance in 28 countries across Ecobank’s network is a significant milestone for us as we work together to accelerate the adoption of electronic payments and create a cashless society in Africa,” says Daniel Monehin, Division President, Sub-Saharan Africa, MasterCard.

“Through this partnership, we have combined MasterCard’s global payment technology with Ecobank’s unrivalled panAfrican footprint to give our cardholders more convenient, secure and reliable ways to pay.”

Ecobank subsidiaries now accept MasterCard-branded cards in Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“This partnership forms part of our broader retail banking strategy of providing Ecobank customers with enhanced service levels, which exceed their expectations,” explains Patrick Akinwuntan, Ecobank’s Group Executive, Head of Domestic Bank.

“Our unique platform gives our customers easy access to their Ecobank accounts when travelling, be it on business or for pleasure, without the need for carrying cash.”

AWARD - From left: The Managing Director, NDIC, Alh. Umaru Ibrahim, represented by the Director, Internal Audit, NDIC, Mr. Ibrahim Tafida receiving an award of “Africa’s Meritorious Service” from the President of International Advocacy for Peace and Development Initiative (APDI), Mr Femi Mike in Abuja.

NDIC tasks mortgage banks on corporate governance practices

BY YINKA KOLAWOLE & JONAH NWOKPOKU

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n a bid to address any systemic failure resulting from build up of toxic asset, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC, has cautioned Primary Mortgage Banks, PMBs to adhere to recommended corporate governance practices based on effective and sustainable risk management practices as instituted by regulatory

authorities.

Managing Director/CEO of NDIC, Umaru Ibrahim gave the charge at the corporation’s 2014 Sensitisation workshop for operators of Primary Mortgage Banks in Lagos.

The workshop focused on the theme: “Developing and implementing sustainable effective risk management in Primary Mortgage Banks in Nigeria.”

According to Ibrahim, “Weak corporate governance and risk management frameworks could result in risky behaviours by PMBs, which

could in turn result in the creation of huge toxic assets and ultimately put insured deposits at risk.”

He lamented that the supervisory authorities were deeply concerned about the build-up of toxic assets of micro finance banks, which stood at about 45.70 per cent as against the prescribed maximum of five per cent, while hinting that the corporation’s attention is now being focused on both Micro Finance Bank and PMB subsectors so as to address the emerging challenges.

He, however, advised that PMBs should be interested in enhanced risk management standards because some mortgage portfolios are on a predominantly variable rate and therefore highly sensitive to interest rate fluctuations.

He said: “For instance, an increase in interest rate could make mortgage repayment difficult and result in default which may give rise to toxic assets. Furthermore, new mortgages could become less attractive for consumers’ due assets. PMBs should be able to assess a consumer’s ability to continue with mortgage repayments in the case of an interest rate rise. A lack of thorough and effective assessments could pose a major risk for many PMBs.” Meanwhile, while urging PMBs to look deeper into emerging risk management issues at their various institutions, Ibrahim stated that the corporation and the Central Bank of Nigeria were making concerted efforts to ensure that risk management issues in the financial system were continuously addressed via rapidly developing capacity in the implementation of Basel II and III. However, as part of its effort to protect depositors by ensuring that bank’s affairs are conducted in a safe and sound manner, he disclosed that NDIC developed and deployed a framework for financial assistance for PMBs so as to promptly intervene and assist them to overcome temporary liquidity problems and put in place a robust customer complaint resolution mechanism.

Heritage Bank pledges integration of Enterprise Bank, listing on NSE

BY PETER EGWUATU

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eritage Bank has disclosed its readiness to fulfill all conditions necessary for the acquisition of Enterprise Bank as stated after the recent successful signing of the Share Purchase Agreement between it and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

It also stated that the current staff of Enterprise Bank would be fully integrated into the processes and aspirations of the bank in order to deliver more values to all stakeholders in the deal, even as assurance was given that the entity would be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE.

Speaking to newsmen, the Managing Director/CEO, Heritage Bank, Mr. Ifie Sekibo confirmed that the bank had already paid the initial 20 per cent of the total bid price while efforts were already in place to ensure the payment of the final 80 per cent within the stipulated time frame given by AMCON. “In the spirit of our continuous quest for quintessential banking service delivery aimed at boosting the economy through innovative partnership and professional alignment with like-mind brands, we formally announce the commencement of the process that we believe will finally culminate in the acquisition of Enterprise Bank Limited to further drive our time-proven credo of creating, preserving and transferring

wealth among our teeming customers."

Continuing, he stated: “In line with AMCON’s requirements for the acquisition of Enterprise Bank Limited, HBCL Investment Services Limited (HISL) which is the special purpose vehicle sponsored

by Heritage Bank Limited to bid for Enterprise Bank on Friday last week signed the Share Purchase Agreement (SPA). I am also aware that HISL has paid the initial 20 per cent as specified in the terms of the Agreement.

Efforts are ongoing to ensure that the balance 80 per cent is also paid in line with the terms, conditions and time frame specified by AMCON. This major step towards the acquisition of Enterprise Bank by HISL and by extension, Heritage Bank, fills us with great excitement.

With this take over process going on smoothly, we are sure a more energized bank with improved capacity to create, preserve and transfer wealth will soon emerge,” he stated.

He described staffs of Enterprise Bank as desirable assets that cannot be thrown away given the level of job they had done to keep the bank going in the face of its recent challenges.

Furthermore, the Heritage Bank boss noted that a marriage of the never say die attitude of Enterprise Bank with the uncompromising commitment to innovation and integrity by Heritage Bank could only bring good fruits to all stakeholders in the new bank to emerge as well as the Nigerian banking landscape in general.

Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 — 23

Banking & Finance

World Bank provides $400m to tackle Ebola

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ollowing alarming evidence of the spread of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, the World Bank Group has announced that it will nearly double its financing to $400 million to help the worstaffected countries address the emergency and build stronger health systems for the years ahead This represents $170 million in new funding. With this announcement, the bank will put $230 million toward the emergency response and $170 million for mediumand long-term projects. The new resources – which the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors will consider in the coming weeks – will be targeted at rapidly increasing the health care workforce and purchasing needed supplies in order to bring care and treatment to all parts of the affected countries. The funding also is aimed at building a stronger health care system because it will aim to train cadres of health workers to bolster care at a community level throughout the affected region.

“The global community is now responding with the urgency and the scale needed to begin to turn back this unprecedented Ebola crisis,” said World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim, who was speaking at a special session on the Ebola crisis at the UN. “The real challenge now is to bring care and treatment to the most remote areas as well as the cities and then to build a stronger health care system.

This funding will help the countries start a massive scale up of training of community health workers and bring needed supplies and equipment.

The World Bank Group previously announced that it was mobilizing $230 million for the three countries hardest hit by the crisis—Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone— including a $117 million emergency response. This support – coordinated closely with the World Health Organisation, the UN, US and other international and country partners – has assisted countries in treating the sick, cope with the economic impact and improve their public health systems.

The additional planned support will make $113 million that had been

Kaduna, Skye Bank partner on IGR growth

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PRESS CONFERENCE - From left: Group Head, Retail Banking/3PA (Third Party Acquired), Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Don Pas-Edokpolor; Executive Director, Finance and Strategy, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman and Mr. Murtala Usman of 3PA Unit, during a press conference on the introduction of the bank’s 3PA in Lagos. earmarked in the earlier package for longer-term help immediately available for the emergency response.

The new package will have $170 million set aside in medium- to longer-term assistance for the countries’ health systems.

More people have died in the 2014 Ebola epidemic in

West Africa than in all previous Ebola outbreaks combined since the virus was first discovered in 1976. A World Bank analysis, released last week, found that if the virus continues to surge in the three worst-affected countries, its economic impact could deal a potentially catastrophic blow to these

already fragile states.

However, the analysis also found that economic costs can be limited if swift national and international responses succeed in containing the epidemic and mitigating fear resulting from people’s concerns about contagion, which is fueling the economic impact.

New ACCA president to focus on ethics, public sector

BY BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

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ewly elected President of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Mr. Anthony Harbinson said that his tenure would focus on the issues of ethics and public sector.

Harbinson is Northern Ireland’s Director of Safer Communities and was elected ACCA President for 2014/15 at ACCA’s annual general meeting on 18 September and now, represents 170,000 members and 436,000 students in 180 countries around the world.

As Northern Ireland’s Director of Safer Communities, Harbinson, was responsible for the resourcing, policy and legislative framework for reducing offending, policing and community safety.

Harbinson said: “I am delighted to have been elected to serve as ACCA President, it is a great honour and I look forward to representing our members

and students around the world.

“I will be focusing on two key themes in the year ahead.

The first of these is the issue of ethics and the role of the accountant. Not only does our profession have a responsibility to behave ethically, but it also has a duty to ensure that the organisations for which finance professionals work have an ethical approach to business and operations.

“I also want to use my term of office to emphasise the importance of the public sector, the need for it to be effective and efficient and to have the proper financial expertise to achieve this in the short and long-term.

“The sector has felt the full effects of the global economic crisis – and continues to do so even as the private sector shows signs of recovery.

Ensuring that the public sector can continue to deliver within tight budgets makes it more important than ever to have more fully qualified accountants working in the sector, as well as ensuring that more non-accountants have an enhanced financial

awareness to support them in their decision-making and use of precious resources, “ said Anthony Harbinson.

Prior to his role as Director of Safer Communities, he was Director of Justice Delivery, where he was responsible for the leadership and management of all central services functions and oversight of the Forensic Service Agency, the State Pathologist Department and oversight and direction of the Compensation Agency.

During his career, Harbinson, whose hobbies include football, reading, travelling and charity work, has also served as Director of Resources for the Northern Ireland Office and Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions.

He joined the Civil Service after spending nearly 15 years working in the Northern Ireland Health Service, during which time he held a number of senior roles including Director of Finance, IT and Contracting at Mater Hospital HSS Trust, Director of Finance/ Deputy Chief Executive and Eastern Multifund and Director of Finance, HR and Estates in the Eastern/Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.

aduna State Government and Skye Bank Plc have partnered on increasing the state’s internally generated revenue to accelerate and widen the pace of development in the state.

Kaduna State Governor, Alhaji Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, disclosed this in Kaduna, while launching Point of Sales (POS) Terminal for the revenue collection scheme of the state, powered

by Skye Bank Plc. He also said that the current Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state and the dwindling federal allocation were not enough to develop Kaduna State.

According to him, his government has a huge budget that was expected to be financed by the IGR, but noted that the internally generated revenue has been stagnant at about N1billion per month, for the past five years, hence, the need to develop new and accountable means of revenue collection.

“It is against this background that we have introduced POS to check revenue leakages and other challenges associated with tax collection,” the governor, said.

Ecobank commences rapid transfer “Back to School” campaign

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eptember 22, 2014: Ecobank has commenced a Rapid Transfer “Back to School” campaign enabling parents and guardians pay their children's and wards' school fees in an easy, fast and convenient way and at the same time, get an instant gift.

The Ecobank Rapid Transfer product is an innovative money transfer service available within Nigeria and countries in Africa where Ecobank is present. The service was conceived out of the need to provide convenient, accessible, and reliable money transfer service for its retail and wholesale customers and non-customers.

Announcing the commencement of the campaign, Deputy Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Mr. Anthony Okpanachi said the “Back to School” campaign is conceived to create the necessary awareness.

C M Y K

24 — Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Corporate Finance

UBA, ATI collaborate to boost regional, international trade

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nited Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, one of the largest financial services group in Africa has entered into a partnership with the African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) to ease the flow of credit to clients engaging in regional and international trade.

The partnership was announced in Nairobi Kenya , after officials of both institutions, led by Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, CEO, UBA Africa and George Otieno, ATI’s Chief Executive Officer signed the agreement to formalise the deal.

Under the agreement, ATI will provide insurance cover for eligible UBA Group transactions with its unique range of political risk and trade credit insurance products. The risk mitigation services will provide an alternative to collateral for UBA’s corporate clients, who may otherwise face financial constraints in obtaining credit, while also protecting them against cross-border trade risks and a broad range of investment risks.

“UBA is keen to boost inter and intra-African trade because of its capacity to accelerate development and integration across the continent. Over the years we have supported our customers to grow their business network across Africa and internationally in pursuit of a more prosperous Africa . UBA’s partnership with ATI will ease the flow of credit to our customers and help them expand their businesses across the continent” said Mr.Uzoka, CEO, UBA Africa.

Intra-Africa trade is estimated to be one of the lowest globally at just 10% of total trades on the continent.

This is quite low when compared with Intra-trade among the EU-27 at 70 per cent, 52 per cent for Asian countries, 50 per cent for North American countries and 26 per cent for South American countries.

Africa’s commodities boom, natural resources and related government spending to revive infrastructure development is estimated to have generated 32% of Africa ’s recent GDP growth – while the remaining growth came from sectors such as t r a n s p o r t a t i o n , telecommunications and manufacturing, are all sectors which UBA believes will benefit from expanded credit.

AGM: From left Olorogun O'tega Emerhor, Chairman, Standard Alliance Life Assurance Ltd; Mrs Agnes Umukoro, Company Secretary; Mr Austine Enajemo-Isire, MD and Mr Andrew Agbaja, Director at the 14th AGM Standard Alliance Life Assurance Ltd held in Lagos.

Ai to boost African pension, sovereign wealth fund by $1 trn

By PETER EGWUATU

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frica Investor, Ai has announced its $1billion Africa investor Sovereign Infrastructure Investment Platform, for African pension and sovereign wealth funds – continually developed in close partnership with African pension and sovereign wealth funds.

This was disclosed at the 7th Ai CEO Institutional Investment Summit, held in partnership with the New York Stock Exchange.

According to a statement after the summit, Ai , a leading international investment and communications group and US institutional investors, including sovereign wealth and pension funds, have agreed to invest in Africa’s fastest growing sectors and capital markets.

The new Ai platform is uniquely designed to increase intra-African investment, which is currently at a mere 5 per cent compared to intra-European investment levels in excess of 70 per cent. The Ai Platform will achieve this through its co-investment programme, designed to extend and increase the level of coinvestment between not only African pension and sovereign wealth funds (both public and private), but also amongst their international peers. The Ai Sovereign Infrastructure Investment Platform will therefore catalyse Africa’s domestic assets and de-risk and attract increased allocations from the $30 trillion-plus global institutional capital seeking growth.

Africa investor provided additional thought leadership at the summit with the launch of its new BizClim-supported report, The African Sovereign Wealth and Pension Funds Summit Report, on mobilising domestic African

capital as a tool to leverage global institutional capital.

The report was launched during the 2014 Ai Heads of State Investment Advisory Council Dialogue, held in partnership with UNOSAA and GPF. The Heads of State and ministerial dialogue featured Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama; Hubert Danso, CEO and Vice Chairman, Africa investor; Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson, African Union; Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz, Under- SecretaryGeneral and Special Adviser on Africa, United Nations; Amir Dossal, Chairman,

Global Partnerships Forum, and a number of Ministers from around Africa. The panel saw a further commitment from Africa’s leaders on developing a conducive environment for improving the participation and regulatory environment for African pension and sovereign wealth funds, based on the recommendations from the Ai BizClim-supported report on facilitating co-investments with African pension and sovereign wealth fund capital for infrastructure investment on the continent.

Africa investor Capital also

hosted a series of one-on-one investor meetings during the Summit in partnership with Auerbach Grayson & Company.

Commenting on the Summit, Hubert Danso, CEO and Vice Chairman of Africa investor, said, “We are delighted with the level of the participation of African and global institutional investors, and the realisation that Ai’s co-investment platform not only benefits Africa’s growth, but the global economy also, through reciprocal international allocations and the creation of new markets.”

Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 to deepen Nigeria’s financial market —-Oyetan

BY PETER EGWUATU

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fforts at deepening and accelerating development of the Nigerian capital market have been boosted as the Stanbic IBTC Exchange Traded Fund 30 (ETF 30), which initial public offering opened last week.

Olumide Oyetan, Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic IBTC Asset Management Limited, managers of the Fund, said at two investors’ forums in Lagos that a deep financial sector as well as vibrant capital market is pivotal in enhancing economic efficiency, attracting investment and driving faster growth.

By launching the Stanbic IBTC Exchange Traded Fund 30, Oyetan said Stanbic Ibtc Asset Management, seeks to expand participation of domestic investors in the capital market, which will help in the capital formation process and in turn generate significant returns to investors while fueling wealth creation as well as economic growth.

“The opening of the Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 is a direct response to increased investor demand for passive investment strategies that will deliver the market return for the index being tracked, which in this case is the NSE 30 of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 provides a transparent and flexible structure that allows investors efficiently gain exposure to the securities of these companies that have over time outperformed the broad equity market,” said

Oyetan. The offer, which closes on Wednesday, October 15, 2014, opened with 10,000,000 units of the Fund available at N100 each at par. It offers a minimum subscription of 10,000 units and multiples of 5,000 units thereafter.

Oyetan stated that the Fund is designed to track the performance of the NSE 30 Index which comprises of the top 30 companies listed on the NSE in terms of market capitalization and liquidity. The index serves as the flagship benchmark for the stock market as it represents 92 per cent of the NSE’s market capitalization and the Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 will replicate the price and yield performance of the index. The Fund, Oyetan added, will invest 100 per cent of its assets in the same portfolio of securities that comprise the NSE 30 Index in proportion to their weightings in the Underlying Index.

“The Fund represents a convenient and efficient way for investors to have access to the top 30 most capitalized and liquid stocks on the NSE, in a cost-effective manner. We believe that it will appeal to sophisticated and institutional investors that believe in the growth story of companies listed on the NSE and by extension, in the abundant growth opportunities that exist in Nigeria,” added Oyetan.

The commitment, expertise, experience and global clout of the Standard Bank Group, to which Stanbic IBTC Asset Management Limited belongs, will be deployed to ensure success of the Stanbic IBTC ETF 30, Oyetan assured.

Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 — 25

Tax Matters

Administration of current taxes in Nigeria Education Tax (EDT) he Education tax decree No. 7 which was initially declared in 1993 was amended by Education Tax (Amendment) Decree No. 40 of 1998. As stated in the Act, 2% tax rate should be charged on the profit of all companies registered or resident in Nigeria.

EDT should be paid at the point of payment for the Company Income Tax (CIT) or Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) as the case may be.

As part of the annual Companies Income Tax selfassessment returns, taxable persons should also compute and submit their Education Tax liabilities and make payment at the designated bank.

Stamp Duties (STD) The items and persons subject to stamp duties are instruments (written documents) relating to matters executed between a company and an individual, group or body of individuals.

Instruments which may be subject to stamp duties include financial instruments/transactions, company memorandums and articles of association, statements of share capital ownership, bonds, conveyances on sale, depositions, lease agreements, mortgage bonds, debentures, etc.

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Stamp duties on eligible instruments can be paid through designated banks Companies and persons issuing or dealing with all chargeable instruments shall submit such instruments to the Stamp Duties Office for stamping. The Commissioner of Stamp Duties shall then assess the instruments submitted in line with the provisions of the Stamp Duties Act and specify the duties payable. The duties are then paid to FIRS at the designated bank Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) Persons subject to the Petroleum Profits Tax: ?

Companies engaged in petroleum exploration and production operations in Nigeria (up-stream operations) ?

A person resident in Nigeria employed in the management of the petroleum operations carried on by a non-resident company ?

The liquidator, receiver, or agent of

•Kabir Moha liquidator or receiver of any company carrying on petroleum operations in Nigeria.

Companies carrying on petroleum operations in Nigeria make offshore payments to JP Morgan Chase Bank, the bank then advises the Central Bank of Nigeria to enable the bank credit FIRS accordingly.

Every company engaged in petroleum operations prepares and submits annual returns as specified by the Petroleum Profits Tax Act within five months of the end of each assessment year.

Payment is in two segments beginning with filing of estimated annual return not later than ending of February of each year. Payment for the tax due is then made in twelve monthly instalments beginning from March of each year. Where the actual tax liability arising from the annual tax returns exceeds the cumulative estimated tax, a 13th month instalment is payable and where the contrary is the case, a refund is due.

Withholding Tax (WHT) Withholding Tax (WHT) is not a distinct tax type and therefore has no legislation of its own. It is only a mechanism for the collection of other taxes. Consequently, its application is provided for in the enabling law of other tax types i.e. Section 81 of Company Income Tax Act, Section 54 of Petroleum Profit Tax Act, Section 73 of Personal Income Tax Act and Section 13 of Value Added Tax Act

Pe r s o n s subject to the various tax types may be subject to Withholding T a x deductions for the purpose of offsetting their tax liabilities.

W H T deductions are regarded as advance payments (or payments on account) of the relevant tax liability that will arise from the tax returns of the period concerned.

Where the person benefiting from the payment and the income are taxable, Withholding Tax (WHT) is paid (deducted) at the point of making payment. It is withheld by the payee and the net amount is then paid to the beneficiary through the designated bank(s).

The amount deducted at the point of payment is remitted directly to FIRS through a designated bank in a prescribed format in the name of the person subject to the deduction.

Capital Gains Tax (CGT) All companies incorporated in Nigeria which earns any capital gains or gains on the disposal of all forms of assets.

All forms of property (whether situated in Nigeria or not) that are liable to capital gains tax include: ?

Options, debts and incorporeal property generally; ?

Any currency other than Nigerian currency; and ?

Any form of property created by the person disposing of it, or otherwise coming to be owned without being created Capital Gains Tax is paid at the designated at which the company making the chargeable capital gain pays its Companies Income Tax. In line with the provisions of the Capital Gains Tax Act and the self-assessment regulations presently in operation, a company shall compute the gains on the disposal of all forms of assets in each year of assessment

and submit same together with its Companies Income Tax returns. The returns shall also be accompanied by evidence of the payment of the full amount or first instalment of the tax due.

Payment is made to the designated bank.

Value Added Tax (VAT) Persons subject to the Value Added Tax: Any individual, corporation sole, group, body corporate or organization that consumes buys, procures or imports taxable goods or services is liable to pay the tax. How to pay the Value Added Tax ?

During direct sales or open market transactions, the buyer or consumer shall pay the tax to the seller together with the cost of the goods or services bought. The seller then nets off the VAT paid at the time of purchase of the stocks sold from the VAT collected on the stocks sold and credit the balance to FIRS. ?

Where the goods or services were supplied to a government Ministr y, Department or Agency (MDA) or a company engaged in oil operations, the VAT payable by the MDA or oil company is deducted or withheld at source (at the point of payment). It is then credited directly to FIRS on behalf of the supplier ?

VAT payments are made on a monthly basis not later than 21days of every subsequent month. Tax payers prepare and submit monthly VAT returns accompanied by evidence of payment of the tax due at designated banks VAT remittances may be made at any designated bank; an e-ticket is immediately issued as evidence of payment. This eticket may be presented at the ITO and an e-receipt will be issued the taxpayer.

Company Income Tax (CIT) Persons subject to the Companies Income Tax: ?

All companies incorporated in Nigeria with the exception of companies engaged in petroleum operations. ?

All non-resident (foreign) companies that earn or derive income from Nigeria. ?

All organizations limited by guarantee (institutions of public character or charitable organizations) engaged in profit making activities other than the promotion of their primary objects.

?

The liquidator, receiver, or agent of liquidator or receiver of any taxable company or organization.

Companies incorporated in Nigeria and organizations limited by guarantee pay Companies Income Tax through any of the designated banks. Once payment has been captured by the bank collecting system, an e-ticket is issued is issued the company, this eticket is proof of payment and when presented at the Integrated Tax Office with jurisdiction an e-receipt will be issued.

Non-resident companies make payment through remittance of tax deducted at source to the designated banks.

Resident companies and organizations prepare and submit annual selfassessment tax returns as specified by FIRS accompanied by the evidence of the payment of the full amount or first instalment of the tax due. Payment is made to designated bank.

Non-resident companies are subject to Withholding Tax (WHT) deductions on the income they earn from Nigeria. This becomes their tax upon filing returns Personal Income Tax (PIT) Personal Income Tax Act 2011 (PITA) requires that: ?

Persons subject to the Personal Income Tax Individuals resident in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja ?

F a m i l i e s , communities, trustees and estates resident in the Federal Capital Territory ?

Persons employed in the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Air Force and Nigeria Police other than in civilian capacity. ?

A person resident outside Nigeria who derives income or profit from Nigeria ?

Officers of the Nigerian foreign service. ?

Persons employed in the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Air Force and Nigeria Police, other than in civilian capacity, pay income tax at the designated banks ?

Individuals and enterprises in FCT pay at the designated banks obtain an e-ticket and may request an e-receipt at the Individual and Enterprise Tax Office, Abuja. ?

Organizations, companies and MDAs pay at designated banks, obtain their e-tickets and may request for the e-receipts at the Large Tax Office (LTO) Abuja.

26 — Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Commodity Index

Micro-Finance

Building guild calls for quality among block makers cement, manufacturers Stories by PROVIDENCE OBUH he Building C o l l a p s e Prevention Guild (BCPG) has called on block makers and other professionals in the sector to ensure quality in block and concrete business.

Speaking at a forum, President, BCPG, Builder Kunle Awobodu, said that the need to control quality in the block and concrete business is a task that must be achieved if failure in building is to be minimised.

He said that the sandcrete blocks and concrete production should not remain an all-comers’ business, just as he pointed out that the essence of forming an association for the block moulders is to make producers of sub standard blocks traceable.

According to him, “The association must have criteria for membership restriction and able to separate the chaff from the grains.

National Association of Block Moulders of Nigeria (NABMON) is very relevant in the quality drive. This process is also applicable to the concrete casters and other artisans in the Nigerian building industry.

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“The BCPG, which is majorly constituted of professionals and artisans in the building industry will continue to play an important role in this quality crusade, especially by rejecting the use of low quality blocks and poor concrete mixonsite.

To ensure safety, quality service and project delivery in the construction industry, Awobodu recommended that: Buyers and users of cement should know what they are buying. As such the grade of

TEP launches centre for education innovations

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s part of efforts to improve access to quality education in Nigeria, The Education Partnership (TEP) Centre, weekend, announced the establishment of Centre for Education Innovations (CEI) in Nigeria.

CEI is a nonprofit DflDfunded initiative to improve access to education in developing countries using innovative programmes targeted at the poor.

Speaking at the launch of CEI, Managing Director, TEP Centre, Dr. Mo Adefeso-Olateju, said that the programme aims to support policymakers, funders, and program

Fashola, Emefiele call for accountability across sectors

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details, date of manufacture, batch number, recommended use areas and colour coding be enforced; To forestall sharp practices, periodic tests of cement made available to the public should be done to ensure that what is contained in the bag tallies with what is written; Manufacturers of various grade of cement should not subject Nigerians to astronomically unfair prices that will encourage untoward practices.

he Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele has called for accountability in all sector of the economy.

They made the call during the Society for Corporate Governance of Nigeria (SSGN) 2014 annual conference, held in Lagos, with the theme, “Leadership and Governance in the Public Sector,” Fashola said that justice would not be done to the topic if it is limited to the public sector, saying, “It seems to me that if any justice is to be done on the subject, it cannot be limited to the public sector alone.

We must look across board to the other side, the private sector also, rather than in one sector alone.

This is because to me there is a thin dividing line between the public and the private sectors and one good or bad leadership in one sector has the potential to breed more good or bad leaders in the other sector.”

He said that the private and public sector operators must portray good values in order to produce good leaders. “The leadership question is a question of values such as trust, merit, integrity, strength, justice.

Bad leaders are unlikely to emerge where good values reigns. When values are united and shared, methods and ideas would be easy to hold, it reflects the choice of leadership that we have.

“The answer to the leadership and governance whether in the public or private sector rests with all of us,” he said.

implementers in their effort to improve and better harness the potential of the nonstate sector to achieve educational goals.

To achieve this goal, the program will identify, analyse and connect non-state innovative programmes that improve the quality and affordability of education in Nigeria, she said.

Adefeso-Olateju said that there are significant gaps in global understanding of such programmes, saying, “These gaps therefore, are due to the lack of systematic and easy-toaccess information about such programmes around the world.

“Practical lessons about successful and u n s u c c e s s f u l experiences are even harder to find, and as a result we are left with a world full of innovative models, but without an understanding of how they are distributed, whether they work, and how those that do can be improved, replicated, and scaled up to serve more of the world’s poor.

“It is against this background, TEP Centre will properly harness innovations in education that have the potential to significantly increase access to quality education for Nigeria’s poor,”she said.

She stressed that the TEP Centre is collecting more information on innovative models that will be reviewed and subsequently get the chance of being included in an interactive online database.

Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 — 27

Homes & Housing Finance

Container housing offers cheaper, faster option for mass housing — Tempohousing Nigeria

By YINKA KOLAWOLE

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empohousing Nigeria (THN) specialises in the manufacture and design of flexible and affordable homes using standard ISO shipping containers. In this interview, Dele Ijaiya-Oladipo and David Aderounmu, Managing Partners of THN, explained that the company is leveraging its technology and expertise to create a Nigerian tailored solution to the country’s housing problem. Excerpts.

From left: Dele Oladipo and David Aderonmu, Managing Partners, THN

One-bedroom self-contained unit of Tempohousing Nigeria's Pilot project in Ikeja, Lagos, constructed in four weeks see what the so called container actually looks and feel like, and once you enter you realise that it even looks better than a normal building.

It’s easier to control, not using cement, no cracks and all that. It’s just about education and doing things that people can walk in and see. We’ve done that with our pilot project and everyone that has gone inside has been amazed at what can be done with a shipping container.

As to the notion that if you have not built with bricks you have not built a proper house, that is a Nigerian or African mentality. But the fact is there is a stage for everything.

People graduate every year and go into paid employment.

What we are trying to offer is play within the market where you can own something for yourself, you are not paying rent and you can save money.

Nobody is saying you have to live in there forever. We also plan to partner with financial institutions that will enable young people achieve their

,

Brief introduction on Tempohousing Nigeria Tempohousing Nigeria is a cargo-tecture solutions company. Essentially what we do is to convert shipping containers into habitable spaces. We are partners with Tempohousing Global, a Dutch company – the leading mass container housing provider in the world. We entered into the partnership in 2011 and started operations in 2012. What we do is to tailor the solution to what is here locally. Our mantra is keep it affordable.

We don’t want to import anything apart from our technology. And most importantly we want to deliver at 30 to 40 percent cheaper and 3 to 4 times quicker than if using concrete. We know the demand is there. The market is huge - 170 million people, the deficit is 10 percent of that nationally. In Lagos, it’s 1 million and we need about 100,000 homes annually. With concrete you can’t deliver that. So this is an avenue for alternate solutions that you can build quickly, en mass and cheaper.

What has THN done so far?

So far we’ve been working with some institutions like Ecobank, Exxon Mobil, Dominion Church, Harvesters Church, Oilserv, etc., to provide staff housing, camp solutions, offices, health centres. Now we are seeing that it’s has been accepted more. We have a show home in Ikeja that people can see.

How do you address misgivings of Nigerians on houses not done with bricks?

That’s the biggest hurdle we have with alternative building methods. What we hear is this is container. What we intend to do going forward is to educate people and let them

We know that government involvement will help to change the psyche of people towards container housing

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dream of owning houses. So it’s about education and the way we package it.

We are partnering with Tempohousing in Holland because they are the biggest and they’ve done it all over the world. And it can be done in Nigeria; it has been done in other climes - Australia, Brazil, even in countries having harsher weather than us. Also the market is big enough, and we feel that if the price and the quality is right there will always going to be a demand. Not everyone can

afford concrete. What we are offering is that for what you will spend leasing a house in ten years you can own a home in ten weeks.

Any moves to partner with government on mass hou sing?

Two years ago, Lagos State gave us an award for being the most innovative solution for the housing problem in Lagos. And we’ve been speaking with them over the last two years, with a number of ministries, about putting out pilot projects. It looks like over the next three months, we’ll be doing something with the Ministry of Health. Our ultimate aim is to work with the Housing Ministry, we are in talks with them. We are currently engaged with some of the project managers from the Lagos State HOMS scheme. Essentially they want to see if we can recreate their designs using containers. We know that government involvement will also help to change the psyche of people towards container housing.

How durable are container houses?

Containers are based on International Shipping Organisation (ISO) standards. They are built to withstand high weather conditions. The law is that shipping companies are supposed to renew their fleet after a shipping container has been used for 25 years.

When you are using it for a building requirement and is stationary and within accommodation area, it can last forever. And it’s like any other building, you have to maintain it. In our own fabrications, we don’t usually expose the metal container. Internally, we have wood loggings, plywood, insulations, and depending on your choice, we have plasterboards or PVC. Externally, you could use Alucobond cladding or cement fibre which is being promoted by Nigerite at the moment and is significantly cheaper, because it’s made in Nigeria whereas Alucobond is imported. And before we hand over, we put anticorrosive paint over the metal as well to give it extra durability. There has been numerous constructions globally. And I can tell you that I have never heard about any one collapsing as opposed to cement buildings that do collapse all the time.

Cost and delivery time for a 2-bedroom container home?

It depends on the size of the house. On a cost per square metre basis, we rate between N45,000 and N65,000 per square metre, so it really depends on individual personal preferences for certain things – the finishing, external cladding, etc. For an average 2 bedroom, we are looking at about N2.5 million, all in, that is, you are moving in with only your luggage and movable furniture. And we can deliver in 6 to 7 days.

Plan for students housing We have a plan of developing student housing.

There is a big demand for student housing and very short supply. Once we are able to put structures where students are leaving in, that’s is the first point of education.

So if you are having students living here, over the course of their education, they’ve been used to living in a container structure. After they’ve graduated and have gotten their dream jobs, getting them into another container housing will not be difficult.

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E- Commerce

Drinks.ng records 105% growth Stories by JONAH NWOKPOKU

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igeria’s first online onestop shop for beverages and alcohol drinks, www.drinks.ng has said that it has recorded 105 percent growth within one year of operations.

Founder/Chief Executive Officer of Drinks.ng, Lanre Akinlagun stated this while speaking with Vanguard on the operations of the online drinks portal and state of e-commerce in Nigeria.

According to him, “We have generated over N65 million so far this year. This represents about 105 per cent of our growth and we still have the festive period to come. This has been achieved through key partnerships with the likes of Diageo, Guinness, Pernod Ricard and Moet Hennessy. Our next day delivery service has

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proved popular with consumers.”

Akinlagun explained that Drinks.ng is an innovative tech solution which helps beverage owners who are bringing new drinks into the market; give them easy platform to get their products visible to a large amount of people all at once.

“We have also provided a platform that allows consumers to find easy way to find transparency while searching for products. People know a lot of drinks but they don’t know the prices or where they can get it.

With drinks.ng, you don’t need to worry about that. You just let us know what you want and they will deliver it for you,” he said.

Explaining further, he said: “The opportunity is really there for all three tiers of the beverage and alcohol business. The consumers get accessible way to make choices from a

variety of products. We have over 1,300 drinks and they get to pick through all of them through the categories.

“The manufacturers and the importers on the other hand get an opportunity to display their products in a biggest landscape where more people can see them. If you go to the market, the problem

that you have is that everybody displays the common drinks, the ones that they think everyone wants. These include the Red Label, Hennessy, Jack Daniels, Remmy Martins etc. The smaller and obscure drinks are not seen, and that is where we come in. So the opportunity is really a partnership between the manufacturers, importers, and also a social agreement between us and the

Jovago.com partners Africa World Airlines hotels around the world

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nline booking portal, Jovago has partnered with West Africa’s regional carriers, Africa World Airlines, to provide more accessible hotel booking services to Africans.

African travellers visiting the Africa World Airlines website can find and book over 200,000

Aflix expands to 30 African countries

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flix, a mobile online video streaming app which launched in Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana last month has expanded its operations by unveiling the Hollywood mobile streaming service in thirty other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The new territories include: Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea,

Eritrea, and Ethiopia.

Others include: Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia and Madagascar.

The service has also been made available in: Malawi, Mauritania, Mayotte, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Aflix said it is set to revolutionise the African Vi d e o - O n - D e m a n d space, by providing a large library of Hollywood content at affordable prices to Africans via Android powered mobile devices and Set Top Boxe s .

Aflix is focused on quality and convenience, while continuously striving to create the best possible video experience for viewers.

and 10,000 hotels specifically in Africa, which are all available on Jovago.com. Every one visiting the website to book flights across Accra, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Liberia can as well book their trips easily from the wide selection of hotels available on Jovago.com.

As the official hotel partners of Africa World Airlines jovago will ensure that travellers booking regional flights on Africa World Airlines can find hotels across Africa and around the world.

Marek Zmyslowski, Managing Director of Jovago.com said: ”This is a great achievement for Jovago.com. As the leading hotel booking site in Africa, this is one step towards ensuring that we meet our travelling customers wherever they may be, especially while they are in the booking process.

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36 — Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 “History does not repeat itself; man does. Barbara Tuchmann.

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the nation is exporting less than was budgeted. That by itself would have meant gloom for a nation heavily dependent on crude sales.

The Joint Task Force, JTF, recently put out a statement that crude theft had been reduced from 400,000 barrels per day to less than 90,000 per day. Ordinarily, that should be regarded as good news. But, that piece of positive news hides the fact that aggregate demand for Nigerian crude is also down.

Buyers want less Nigerian crude – whether stolen or not.

Second, in addition to lower demand, the price of crude is falling. Lower prices would have savaged the budget for this year and the Medium Term Plan, MTP, anyway. But, when it occurs at the same time as declining volume, the combined effect is economic calamity of unknown magnitude. One thing is certain; this year’s budget is in shreds. Governments at all levels will feel the impact and those already owing their staff several months salaries will find it increasingly difficult to pay current bill – let alone the arrears of salaries.

Contractors and creditors owed trillions of naira will find it more difficult to get paid.

The most risky thing anybody can do now is to undertake a contract on credit for any government. It might be better to throw the money in the septic tank. Virtually every

From boom to gloom or doom –The Story of Oil (1)

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rude oil has always been slippery stuff – good when under control; destructive when out of control. Crude oil is about to destroy the Nigerian economy faster then Boko Haram or even Ebola.

The government of President Jonathan, already besieged by such social “plagues” like the ongoing civil war in the Northeast, the missing Chibok girls, apparent refusal to fight corruption, and the pervasive feeling that the nation is adrift, will have to add another mammoth problem – Nigeria is going broke once again and faster than anybody imagined.

This past Thursday, September 11, 2014, several news media carried the story that the price of the nation’s crude oil dropped below US$99. It has been trending downwards for weeks – while the President’s friends and government officials joined those campaigning for 2015.

Emperor Nero, A.D 37-68, fiddling while Rome was burning, would be regarded as more responsible than a Finance Minister leaving her desk to engage in the jamboree of re-election when the economy might be in total disarray by election time in 2015 – unless something urgent is done.

The story of Nigerian crude prospects, as it stands right now, is a triple tragedy. First,

The Joint Task Force, JTF, recently put out a statement that crude theft had been reduced from 400,000 barrels per day to less than 90,000 per day

Governor leaving office in 2015 will depart under a hale of verbal missiles. And Ayodele Fayose has my sympathies. He will return to a Government House hardly able to pay its electricity bills.

Down Memory Lane The third reason for concern about the current plunge in crude oil prices can be understood by realising that this fall in crude prices might not be temporary.

Indeed, it could be continuous and result in economic doom for nations heavily dependent on crude oil sales like Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. Already, Saudi Arabia had reduced its forecast of oil exports for the rest of 2014 and for the entire 2015. That is smart thinking.

But, Nigeria is our focus and

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our policy-makers and people must know that we have been here before. Let us briefly travel down memory lane.

From the time OPEC restricted the supply of crude oil, after the Yom Kippur War in 1973 till the President Shagari administration, 19791983, the price of crude rose steadily from US$0.30, (30 cents) a barrel, to about US$28/barrel.

Nigeria suddenly had more money than the commonsense to spend it. We imported and bought everything; we even paid for cement imported which was never delivered and the boat which brought the consignment sank with it.

It was called the Cement Armada; but it was actually a grand pillage of the funds we would later need for our development.

Then, suddenly, the price of crude turned downwards.

At first, some thought it was a temporary setback. But, it lasted until the time of General Sani Abacha, 19941998. It has been going up again ever since – until now.

That prolonged increase in the 1970s and early 1980s was made possible by an unprecedented rise in global GDP and prosperity – the demand for oil outstripped the ability to supply to the leading economies.

Additionally, the number of oil-producing countries was very small and OPEC contributed close to 75 per cent of global crude. The first cracks came when Britain and Norway discovered crude in exportable quantities in the North Atlantic. OPEC lost some key customers but the Asian Tigers were just getting off the mark and they provided markets for crude once again.

Visit: www.delesobowale.com or Visit: www.facebook.com/ biolasobowale

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Advertising & Promotions

LECTURE - From Left: President, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, Mr.Larry Ettah; Doyen of management in Nigeria, Dr. Michael Omolayole and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Mr Seni Adetu, at the 30th Omolayole Management Lecture and book launch organised by AIESEC, at NECA House in Lagos.

How political advertising affects electorate —AAAN STORIES BY PRINCEWILL EKWUJURU

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he 2015 political dispensation is drawing closer, political parties are jostling for positions, but the way and manner with which they go about it will determine the results achieved.

The way their campaigns will touch the minds of the electorate is imperative, and these are things they should ponder about.

The realities on ground in terms of political advertising will determine the mind set of the electorate towards political parties. What the parties do to achieve this feat is another ball game.

Before now, political parties jump to the billboard to make various ‘unfounded political promises’ that never come to fruition, a promise that never aligned to the aspiration of the electorate.

Whether their campaign is skewed towards the need of the people does not matter to them, the important thing is to tell the electorates what they want to hear, and forget about the derivarables.

The parties never deem it fit to carry out encompassing public opinion research to feel the pulse of the electorates on what their needs are.

To achieve results, research has to be carried out to determine what voters care about, who needed to be talked to. How campaign materials should be framed, and what follows after initial research based on the

findings.

All these and more were lacking in past political dispensations. For politicians not to toe the old order or rather take the electorates for granted in the 2015 general elections, the Association of Advertising Agencies of st Nigeria, AAAN at its 41 Annual General Meeting, put together a topic titled: Political Advertising, Perception Building and Voter Education in Abuja recently, to chart a new course for purposeful political advertising in the country and voter education,

brought in Mr. Craig Smith, Senior Adviser for “I’ am ready for Hillary 2016 US Presidential election.”

While describing politics as both an art and science, Smith who was emphatic that research will help political office seekers determine what voters care about, advised that political office seekers should inculcate the habit of researching into the minds of the electorate before embarking on political campaigns.

He however noted that one of the critical pieces in

determining these messages whether be it a brand or political party is to determine ones audience, which polling does. In addition, he pointed out that this method will also help in the phrasing of political campaign materials.

Further, Mr Smith warned that campaigners should be careful how much time and effort spent in talking, because some voters will never vote your candidate, and people will always vote for the candidate they want.

The words and actions of a candidate are important in conveying political messages, this includes not only what the candidate says, but where he or she goes, who they are seen with. What they are doing Conveying messages: Messages should be incorporated in everything the campaigner does, i.e in speeches, advertising and actions. Inclusion of pictures would do magic, since visual is worth more than 1,000 words. Careful choosing of medium is required whether for advertising, the candidate or free media events, proof point has to be given to validate their advertising claim (s), specific policies or actions are also important.

Pro’s and Cons’ of various media: Each medium has pro’s and con’s; Television- reaches the most people quickly, but indiscriminate in its target and very expensive. Cable Television-very effective, but requires the production of multiple expensive ads.

Radio-good for targeting, but without visual is less memorable to voters.

La Casera expands CSD market, unveils has a tradition of delivering ‘Smoov’ Chapman great brands to our

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n a major innovation in the CSD market in Nigeria, The La Casera Company, independent Carbonated Soft Drink, CSD manufacturer, owners of LaCasera, has added another product to its portfolio by introducing first ready-to-drink, rtd, chapman christened Smoov Chapman.

The Smoov Chapman drink comes in a PET bottle with full length plastic. According to the Chief Operating Officer of the La Casera Company, Mr. Dileeban Ponniah, Smoov Chapman is one of the many innovations the company has in store for its ever growing consumer base.

Mr. Ponniah also expressed his pleasure that the launch of the Smoov Chapman - a premium drink that is associated with celebration -

is perfectly timed to co-incide with Nigeria’s 54th Independence Day celebrations and will enable everyone to celebrate in style.

Chapman is a famous, locally made drink invented in West Africa that is ideal for anyone who wants to celebrate but does not want to consume alcohol.

Ponniah further stressed that Smoov Chapman is an exceptional drink that celebrates modern African culture. It is said to be invented in Nigeria and contains a distinctive and refreshing mix of sweet fruity taste and Angustora bitters for a unique taste which enables it to meet the standards of top hotels, restaurants and social events in the country.

“The La Casera Company

consumers. Smoov is no exception. Smoov Chapman is a premium value brand that will not only bring excitement to consumers but also guarantees them value for money as the product is being introduced at the revolutionary price for a Chapman at N100 per bottle.

Truly, we are going to democratize Chapman!”

Also speaking, the General Manager of The La Casera Company Marketing wing, Mr. Peter Candlish, described Smoov Chapman as an ideal drink that has been specially produced to cater for all forms of celebrations forr personal, household and ceremonial consumption.

In addition he said:”Smoov Chapman drink is targeted at chapman lovers everywhere who want a convenient rtd Chapman.”

QuiDig debuts in Nigeria

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he Quadrant Company said it is collaborating with PhaseStream of UK to launch QuiDig in Nigeria.

QuiDig is a five-feature online tool that crawls the internet for comprehensive brand information across media platforms.

Bolaji Okusaga, Managing Director of The Quadrant Company says ‘QuiDig will revolutionalise public relations and marketing communications practice in Nigeria by strengthening online media impact with the qualities it brings to monitoring, measuring and reporting this media segment.’

On the qualities of the innovative package, Okusaga explains that QuiDig is a unique web and mobile application designed to comprehensively track online communications as well as brand and marketing activities. ‘It would thus be useful to the public relations and communications industries as it presents practitioners with a flexible app for monitoring and analyzing social media mentions necessary for campaign measurement and stakeholder management,’ Okusaga says.

QuiDig is the first c o m p r e h e n s i v e communications application in Nigeria. It also comes with a media rating and database management mechanism as well as capacity for tracking brand visibility and campaign effectiveness.

‘With QuiDig,’ Okusaga further explains, ‘it is easy for communications and marketing professionals to view posts, comments and followers online, while measuring engagements, following trends, and tracking hash-tags related to clients’ brands.’

QuiDig has enviable capacity for tracking brand mentions on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google Plus and a wide range of Blogs.

The application would be available in the Nigerian market from September 26, 2014 for a 14-day free trial period. Users would thereafter have to subscribe to the application via email, with differing subscription fees for basic, pro and advanced usage.

48— Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 Email:lesleba@lesleba.com, lesleba@gmail.com Blog page:www.lesleba.com/blog2 Website: www.lesleba.com Tel:0805 220 1997

Emefiele’s crocodile tears over N300bn surplus banks posted profits after tax which are about 15% of gross revenue, industrial giants such as PZ and Guinness posted after tax profits that are barely 8% of their gross revenue!

So how come banks are so profitable, even when they ignore “the ample opportunities for productive and profitable lending to the real sector of the economy” as rightly also observed by the CBN Governor?

Indeed, according to Emefiele, “given the apathy to lending to the real sector, banks may become more inclined with the imminent cash injection of N866bn to lend their surplus cash, ironically, to a captive Central Bank”, inspite of the Governor’s sharp criticism of the product of such borrowing.

Now the critical question, obviously is, why banks prefer to lend to the CBN instead of the real sector? In reality, the answer is quite simple and straightforward, no rational investor ignores a risk free investment that unfailingly yields over 10% rate of return, in favour of a more risk prone investment with lower rate of return. Actually, the higher profitability for government debts is probably the major factor responsible for the reluctance of banks to patronise the real sector.

Indeed, in the event, that over N866bn fresh funds will be injected into the market in October, one should rationally, expect the increased cash surplus in the system to spur bank lending to the real sector; regrettably, this will not happen as we will actually witness a more aggressive sale of Treasury bills by the CBN to mop up

the excess cash in the hands of the banks instead.

We may be pardoned for asking why the same CBN which decries bank’s apathy to lending to the real sector, inexplicably turns out to be the real villain that prevents access to the surplus cash by the productive sector.

Ironically, CBN would consider its aggressive borrowing strategy as altruistic as its intention is to reduce the amount of surplus funds and restrain inflation in truth; uncontrolled inflation is a silent plague that decimates an economy and its citizens

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hat we have seen is that instead of banks channelling what we call excess liquidity in the system into the productive or certain targeted sectors of the economy, what they are doing is either placing these monies in treasury bills or even investing them at the CBN Windows” The preceding excerpt is from the CBN Gover nor, Godwin Emefiele’s comments, when he spoke to journalists shortly after the latest meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in Abuja recently.

Emefiele, frankly expressed the Committee’s consternation that inspite of the resounding reality of the acute needs of the real sector for moderately priced funds, the banks were inexplicably sitting comfortably over N300bn, idle, excess funds; the MPC’s concern was further heightened by the reality that with an imminent injection of an additional sum of N866bn into the system when AMCON’s debts are redeemed in October, the surplus Naira could exceed N1000bn; worse still, inspite of this bountiful cash surplus, the banks still do not show any apparent inclination to support the real sector and instigate industrial expansion and job creation.

Consequently, it would be fair to ask if banks do not freely lend to the real sector, then to whom do they lend to make such comparatively bountiful profits which are largely unattainable in preferred subsectors which have better capacity to induce inclusive economic growth; for example, while 12 Nigerian

Given the apathy to lending to the real sector, banks may become more inclined with the imminent cash injection of N866bn to lend their surplus cash, ironically, to a captive Central Bank

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over time.

Furthermore, the over N1000bn surplus Naira that will become available after the imminent redemption of AMCON debts will also pitch so much more Naira against rationed dollar supplies in the forex market and this imbalance will according to Emefiele also “increase the pressure on the Naira Exchange rate.” In other words, price stability, which is the core mandate of the CBN will become severely

threatened when the economy is ‘cursed’ with so much excess liquidity.

Evidently, even though predictably, CBN’s strategies to control the extent of surplus cash in the system have so far all failed to achieve this objective. For example, even though the CBN recognises that its high monetary policy (control) rate translates into high cost of funds charged by banks for loans to the real sector, the Apex Bank still appears incapable of bringing down its policy rate below 12%, despite the adverse consequences of the prohibitive cost of funds to inclusive economic growth.

Furthermore, even when it is clear that CBN’s strategy of increasing the mandatory cash reserve requirement of banks has also become ineffective in modulating the extent of surplus cash, the Monetary Policy Committee nonetheless, still retained the Cash Reserve requirement at 75% for public sector deposits, while the requirement for private sector deposits remained at 15%.

In reality, the folly of increasing the CRR of public sector deposits appears lost on the MPC; evidently, raising the CRR for Public Sector deposits will be meaningful for containing excess liquidity and prevent liberal consumption, only if Ministries and government’s Agencies do not spend their monthly revenue allocations; the inevitable reality is that these allocations will automatically migrate to become private sector deposits, once staff salaries and contractor ’s bills are settled by MDAs. Clearly, the CBN is not

sincerely committed to liquidating the scourge of excess liquidity as it seems to shy away from addressing the root cause of eternally surplus, and idle cash in the system.

Undoubtedly, excess liquidity is caused by the monthly substitution of Naira allocations for dollar derived revenue by the CBN; nonetheless, a little objectivity will confirm that the adoption of dollar certificates as the instrument for paying dollar derived revenue will immediately extinguish the decades long profligacy of placing government deposits at zero percent and forever mopping up same at double digit interest rates; furthermore, apart from appropriately restoring cash equilibrium and caging inflation with this strategy, the Naira will practically defend itself and become stronger in the forex market without much interference from the CBN. The CBN is aware of this solution which is also amplified in the monetary policy thrust statement of the Vision 20:2020 blue print.

In any event, we must wonder why, inspite of its adverse consequences to economic growth the CBN would continue to pay double digit interest rates in order to sterilise surplus funds in the banks; it really should not require any persuasion for the CBN to adopt the current best practice of the European Central Bank which charges the domestic money deposit banks a token fee of 0.1% to warehouse surplus funds rather than pay any interest to the banks.

Save the Naira, Save Nigerians

Business & Economy Dow Inde x: Coca-Cola HBC is 20 14 indus tr Index: 201 industr tryy leader

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oca-Cola HBC AG, parent company of Nigerian Bottling Company, NBC Limited has been named industry leader amongst beverage companies in the 2014 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices, DJSI. This is the seventh consecutive year that CocaCola HBC has been included in the indices and the first year it has led both the World and European indices.

Dow Jones Sustainability Indices assess over 2,500 of the world’s largest publicly traded companies on financially relevant economic, environmental and social

factors. Following an evaluation, the top 10 percent of companies within each industry are selected for inclusion.

Coca-Cola HBC was ranked first in the beverages sector out of 30 companies in DJSI World and 10 companies in DJSI Europe. The company’s overall score was 89 percent, up from 81 percent last year, and it achieved industry-best scores across the environmental and social dimensions, and more specifically in the areas of health and nutrition, supply chain management, environmental policy,

environmental reporting, social reporting, talent attraction and retention, and human capital development.

Dimitris Lois, Coca-Cola HBC CEO said: “We are delighted to be recognized as an industry leader by this renowned benchmark of corporate sustainability performance. Our substantial improvement this year confirms how committed we are to the sustainability agenda. It remains a key strategic priority for the business and our focus will be on making further progress in order to maintain our leadership position.”

Omoh Gabriel Babajide Komolafe Clara Nwachukwu Peter Egwuatu Yinka Kolawole Favour Nnabugwu Godwin Oritse Godfrey Bivbere Michael Eboh Franklin Alli Ebele Orakpo Ifeyinwa Obi Rosemary Onuoha

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Group Business Editor Deputy Business Editor Energy Editor Asst. Business Editor Snr Bus. Correspondent Insurance Correspondent Maritime Correspondent Maritime Correspondent Energy Reporter Industry/Agric. Reporter Energy Reporter Maritime Reporter Insurance Reporter

CONTRIBUTORS Princewill Ekwujuru Nkiruka Nnorom Jonah Nwokpoku Naomi Uzor Providence Obuh LAYOUT

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Media/Marketing Capital Market E-Commerce Industry Micro Finance Graphics Department

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Those blind to Jonathan’s good works are living in a different world — E.K Clark *Lord Luggard’s Nigeria is now dead *How I nominated Jonathan as Yar‘Adua's running mate

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e is a man with a plethora of prefixes to his name. Former senator, former federal commissioner, former Midwestern Commissioner, former headmaster among others, but consistent social and political commentator, Chief Edwin Clark, in this gives his role in the remaking of Nigeria, his role in the process among other issues.

Excerpts:

The National Conference has come and gone. Many say it was five months of robust discussion. Would you say that the conference was a panacea to Nigeria’s major problems?

I think before we talk about that, the first thing we should go about is to congratulate Mr. President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for taking the bold step in convoking that conference which many Heads of State in the past reluctantly refused to convoke for one reason or the other.

There were those who were asking for sovereign national conference. There were others who were asking for national conference.

Remember people like Gani Fawehinmi, even Tinubu: these were people who were talking about national conference and for a very long time, nobody cared about it.

But when we formed the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly, we went to Mr. President, appealed to him on several occasions, argued with him. He had his own case. And he said, yes, there are problems in Nigeria that cannot be solved by amendments to the constitution alone and finally he agreed to convoke a national conference. He did not just only announce it, he set up a committee under Senator Femi Okurounmu who used to shout in the Senate as if that was the only purpose for which he was elected into the Senate. So, the committee went round the country, saw the modalities

and everything and how it should be organised. Then, the doubting Thomases thought it was a very wrong time and that Mr. President wanted to get some benefits from it. All sorts of things were said. Those of them who could not do it now regarded it as a bad thing.

But there were people who were ready at all times to see whether they can scuttle the conference because they never wanted it. There are people who believe that the status quo in this country should remain. The nation should not move forward as long as it benefits them against millions of Nigerians who are suffering and deprived. For example, the Nigeria that was amalgamated for one hundred years by Lord Lugard had come to an end.

Nigerians have been craving for a new place, a forum where they could all meet to debate and discuss the basis for our living together for the next 100 years. So, what the President did was very, very appropriate and timely at the time.

I think at the end of it, we passed about 600 resolutions and decisions which were very, very relevant to developing a new country and I remember one of my colleagues, Professor Jibril Aminu, one of the most intelligent persons in this country came and sat by me and said that we should take a photograph. We took the photograph and at the end, he said a new Nigeria has been born. And I emphasized the same that you are right; a new Nigeria has been born.

Why? Because we touched every aspect of living in Nigeria. What aspect did we

not touch?

You said that the Nigeria, Lord Lugard amalgamated in 1914 has come to an end. What do you mean by that?

In 1914, Lord Lugard signed an agreement which amalgamated Southern and Northern Nigeria together. I didn’t say it ended as such but at the end of 100 years, there was a need to renew it because when it was made, nobody was consulted. So, it was appropriate that we have lived together for 100 years and therefore there was need

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By LEVINUS NWABUGHIOGU

These went on for over ten days. People thought that the conference was going to end abruptly which made Lamido of Adamawa to say that if this country breaks up, some of us have no place to go to, but they will go to Adamawa State in the Cameroons. That’s what he said. He again said that those of you who are close to Mr. President have come here to oppose Mr. President’s decision; that his decision is to go on 75 percent. We said no. Mr.

One of the problems we had first was that most of the northerners never wanted the conference; they believe in the status quo; even when they came in, they wanted to scuttle it

to renew our living together for another 100 years.

Now, do you think that the resolutions reached and taken at the conference have brought peace between the north and the south?

I think so. One of the problems we had first was that most of the northerners never wanted the conference. They believe in the status quo.

Even when they came in, they wanted to scuttle it. So, we disagreed first of all whether decisions were to be taken by 75% or by two-third majority.

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President is a liberal man. He has set up a body. How we arrive at our decisions is no business of his. So, we knew that some of us were being attacked indirectly by him.

But could you believe that at the end of the conference, we embraced ourselves and we said no more going to Cameroon and we took photographs together. That shows the level of understanding.

But unfortunately, some of the most educated northerners, like the Yadudus were ready to scuttle the conference at all cost for reasons best known to

them to the extent that some of us had to “attack” him personally; that he was not only the professor around. So, even towards the end of the conference, some of them were still ready to scuttle the conference.

But I believe having spent about 5 months together, we all have realized that the conference was a useful one.

With my interviews with a lot of them both men and women from the north, I think we have gained from the conference and the decisions of the conference will go a long way to improve the lots of everybody in Nigeria.

How did you take the unanimous decision of the National Executive Committee, NEC of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to endorse President Jonathan as the sole candidate for the next presidential election?

Oh! Fantastic. In fact, you must have seen our congratulatory message, message of thanks to members of BoT, members of the National Working Committee, NWC, members of NEC, the Governors Forum for thinking it wise enough that a sitting president should be allowed to contest again undisturbed which is the practice in America and all over the world. We did it with Shagari. It is not a novelty. In Continues on page 43

50—Vanguard, MONDAY,

SEPTEMPER 29, 2014

Continued from page 42 1979, Shagari contested. In 1983, there were many men of timber and caliber from all over the country but nobody contested it with him. So, I think this is the right step. So, I congratulate the members of the various organs of the party.

You were recently quoted as saying that you made Dr. Jonathan Vice President in 2007. But one wonders if that is true given counter claims in some other quarters.

Well, I am not very happy going back into all these types of history but for record purposes and those who have to read history again, it may be necessary to say something about it. It will be recalled that on November 4, 2004, the leaders of South-South went to

Lord Luggard’s Nigeria is now dead many others bought his views.

After a meeting in Uromi, we sent Ambassador Lawrence Ekpegbu and his team to the Northeast. They were received by the Shehu of Borno and so forth. There was no time the northerners said there was zoning and that, therefore it was their turn. No. And it was now through the zoning that Obasanjo brought in Yar’Adua. He had his own reasons. One of the reasons was that he was a prudent fellow. He had N6bn in his purse. Another one was that he was a very intelligent fellow. He was a lecturer and was very humble. Those were the reasons he gave and we bought into it. Then, along the line, it was stated that Odili should be running mate to Yar ’Adua. This was agreed upon but we later learnt that some elements in PDP, I can name some of them; el-Rufai, Ribadu and many others met and changed the acceptance speech of Yar ’Adua without his knowledge, without Odili knowing. In the acceptance speech, it had been written that Sir, Peter Odili will be my running mate. But they changed it to “I will name my running mate after I have consulted with the elders of the party.” So, the two men went to the podium and when Yar ’Adua read his speech, there was nothing like Odili.

Odili was very upset. So, they came out.

In the morning on Sunday, I was watching the television.

I saw what happened. By 10 O’clock, I had some visitors including Mr. Ayokobe Whisky who is now Dr. Ayokobe Whisky. He used to be Commissioner for Housing in Bayelsa State. They were with me in the room with one other person, I can’t remember. Then I had an emissary from the Sultan of Sokoto. They were introduced to me, that they came from Yar ’Adua, the Governor of Katsina. And the emissary gave me a piece of paper

which had about 20 names listed on it including Ibori, Donald Duke and others, saying I should pick a good running mate for him from the list. I looked through the list, there was nobody I thought there could work with Yar ’Adua. I said well, let me suggest somebody who would do the job, who had the qualities which Obasanjo told me about Yar’Adua. And I said that Jonathan was a lecturer also.

He had Ph.D,

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Calabar for a declaration that South-South should produce the next president in 2007.

Most of the governors today attended the meeting and we came out and called it Calabar Declaration. So, those who were interested we called them to participate. It will be recalled that Dr. Peter Odili, governor or Rivers state, Arc. Victor Attah, governor of Akwa Ibom state, Dr. Donald Duke, governor of Cross Rivers state, then we had Admiral Akigbe, now late, and others who were very superior people said they were contesting. So, it was not a matter of fancy but a matter of fact that our people wanted to be president of Nigeria.

Later, Dr. Saraki wrote me a letter that he too had an organization known as Northern Union. They too wanted a northerner to contest and we met for the first time in Warri at Wellington Hotel.

His members and our members met. We told him that we wanted presidency.

He said he wanted it also. We later held series of meetings in Kaduna, Abuja and other places to decide that. We hadn’t come to a conclusion when Obasanjo decided to impose Umaru Yar ’Adua as the candidate. Then, Odili had to withdraw. We didn’t know that Nuhu Ribadu, the then EFCC chairman was specifically asked by Obasanjo to probe Odili. He submitted an interim report which said that Odili embezzled N100b of Rivers State money. Nobody has proved that anyway. But this was between Obasanjo and Ribadu. Then Attah had his own problem with Mr. President and Donald Duke also had his problem through his wife. So, he used it to blackmail them and the three of them withdrew. But late Admiral Akigbe refused to withdraw. Let me say this, when people talk about zoning, it upsets me. That’s why I have decided to tell you the story. There was no time at that time the northerners talked about zoning. In fact, they deceived us. Odili went on, spent money and time.

Alhaji Shehu Shagari and

father, that is Obasanjo.

Jonathan had received a chieftaincy title from Owu, Obasanjo’s home town and Jonathan had taken over from Alamaesigha. So, Jonathan was a pet son of Obasanjo and I knew that if I recommend him, Obasanjo will not disagree. So, Obasanjo as the president of Nigeria must have contributed a long way to making Jonathan running mate to Yar ’Adua. In fact, he told me a story when I led

Don’t mind what some people may say, O! There will be trouble. There is not going to be any trouble; Jonathan’s election will be like any other person’s election; those who failed in 2011 are still in this country even though they caused riots

academician, humble, transparent and loyal. I said both of them should be able to work together. So, I wrote Jonathan’s name on the list and they left. Then I didn’t know whether Jonathan would accept. One of them suggested that we call him and I said phone him. Within 20 minutes, Jonathan arrived at my Transcorp Hilton suite and I told him. He was reluctant. He said he doesn’t want to. He said I want to be the governor of Bayelsa State in the next four years. I do not want to be deputy to anybody.

Then I said that the people of South-South went to Calabar at a certain time and said they wanted a president and if we have not got that presidency because of what has been imposed on us, let us have an elected Vice President. He kept quiet for sometime and then said, well, if that’s your choice, so be it but I am not in favour of it. I said it is our choice. He left. Later the name was announced. And I know very well that Jonathan at that time was a child loved by a

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some south southerners to his house in Aso Rock that same evening to thank him for taking Jonathan. He said that was a good choice, that when he sent for Jonathan, he was not ready for it. Then he told him, that I will give you one of the hats you people gave me when I visited Yeneagoa and they all laughed because they had to take photograph together. That shows the role played by Obasanjo in making Jonathan Vice President. Clark could recommend but Obasanjo can reject. But in this particular case we agreed and so that’s how it happened. So, when people talk about what happened here and there, I laugh. Jonathan was not ambitious. He never wanted to be vice to Umaru Yar’Adua.

Many people posit that Jonathan’s presidency has further divided the country.

Do you share this view?

Those people with that view are living in a different world. They are not

Nigerians. The people who have that view, they are not only mischievous and wicked, but they are living in a different world. How can anybody say that Jonathan’s presidency has divided the country the more? It has rather united this country. We have just discussed. Jonathan was able to assemble 492 Nigerians from different persuasions for five months to debate and discuss the way forward in Nigeria. And at the end of it all, we succeeded.

We have also submitted the report to him waiting for him to take action and I also saw that he has set up a panel to look through the report before appointing a body for the implementation. So, it is not true that Jonathan has come to divide Nigeria rather Jonathan’s presidency has united this country by everybody coming together to discuss problems facing Nigeria and he has been able to pilot it through. So, I do not know why people are talking about division. If there was going to be any division, it would have come through the National Conference. Even the National Conference at a certain time, people thought it would break but it never broke. We remained till the end and we all agreed that we have succeeded. In my speech I said we came and we have conquered. And not only that, we had a good dinner together a night before the final day. So, it is not true that Jonathan has divided the country.

Most people like you think that the endorsement of Mr. President is an automatic victory. Now, should he contest in 2015 and fail, what will happen?

Nothing will happen.

Nothing will happen. I have said so several times.

Jonathan is like any other Nigerian politician who wants to contest election or who is contesting election. When you contest election, two results will come up. You either succeed or you fail. Jonathan will not be different. If he fails, he will pack his things and go home. We will not cause trouble as some people did in 2011 when they caused riot and so on. Jonathan will go home without making any problem. Don’t mind what some people may say, O! There will be trouble. There is not going to be any trouble.

Jonathan’s election will be like any other person’s election. Those who failed in 2011 are still in this country even though they caused riot.

Ribadu contested as a presidential candidate, but he has gone to PDP today. He has been hobnobbing with Mr. President. So, I do not think

Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014—51

The killing of the two Shakau’s is like cutting off a hydra’s head: it will simply grow another unless you stamp it out conclusively. This we must do, by standing together with our armed forces.

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Y now, the Nigerian military should be picking up a few useful insights into guerrilla warfare, which is going to be the preferred face of armed confrontation in the foreseeable future. During the conflict in the Niger Delta between the militants and the Nigerian Armed Forces, the militants used two names to issue public statements and threats: Jomo Gbomo and Cynthia Whyte. Gbomo has fallen mute since the Independence Day bombing in Abuja 2011, when the leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Henry Okah, was apprehended and put on trial in South Africa. It is Cynthia Whyte that is still talking any time MEND or those parading with the name issue a threat or claim responsibility for some mishap in the Niger Delta to prove they are still active even after five years of the Amnesty programme.

Boko Haram under its founder, Mohammed Yusuf, was not more than its predecessor jihadist anarchists led by Maitatsine and “Musa Makaniki” in Maiduguri and Jimeta, respectively in the 1980s. But when he was captured and killed and the original Abubakar Shekau

Alex Otti bags OFR

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Two Shek au’s do wn; ne xt?

Shekau’s down; next? military and security facilities, killing officers and seizing arms and logistics.

Mutinies took place and soldiers shot at their commanding officers, which led to a court martial. The Minister of Defence, Alhaji Aliyu Gusau, threatened to resign over quarrels with Service Chiefs, and Nigerian troops sent to the war front often fled in the face of Boko Haram assaults.

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The Nigerian Army must have realised that guerrilla warfare is more about brains than brawn. It is a mind game. Boko Haram under Shekau II fought us with deft application of mind game, and surged forward

emerged, Boko Haram assumed the toga of a full guerrilla outfit, feeding off sumptuous funding, floating arsenal of the deposed Muammar Gadhafi armoury and internal sabotage in the military and government by Boko Haram acolytes.

When the military announced it had killed the original Shekau, Boko Haram mimicked the Niger Delta militants and brought out another bearded figure, which it said, was Shekau, to portray that the military was lying.

Unfortunately, most Nigerians chose to believe Boko Haram rather than the army fighting to protect them. Even the media stopped putting punctuation marks after the name of this upstart impostor. The military did not help matters because during the reign of Shekau II, a number of events took place to deflate the confidence Nigerians had in them. The Chibok girls were abducted in the most bizarre manner, with the insurgents making the Borno State and Federal Governments look like common idiots.

Boko Haram struck and overran some

In the streets, we fought one another on political party or ethno-sectional basis. All these reinforced Boko Haram under Shekau II and emboldened them to storm out of their hiding places in Sambisa Forest and start seizing territories to plant their comical “Islamic Caliphate” pennants.

The Nigerian Army must have realised that guerrilla warfare is more about brains than brawn. It is a mind game. Boko Haram under Shekau II fought us with deft application of mind game, and surged forward. It also took a commonsensical use of wits to snare Shekau II to his end.

Our soldiers captured some Boko Haram fighters in the battle of Konduga. They forced them to stage a false victory celebration and invite Shekau II to come and officiate. They laid an ambush and wasted the bastard. The tide of public opinion has now changed. Nigerians now believe the Army more on the death of Shekau II. Boko Haram fighters have lost their nerve and are surrendering.

By Romanus Uwa

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ODAY September 29, some Nigerians will be conferred with the National Honour Award by President Goodluck Jonathan at the International Conference Centre, Abuja. Among the awardees are President Jonathan’s steward, a taxi driver, a traffic warden and the Abia State governor, Chief Theodore Orji. In the recent past many have criticised the criteria for the selection of the awardees, while others believe that it is in order considering that it is a standard practice globally. Beside, it is a known fact that Nigeria is a fertile ground for undue armchair criticisms, especially when it involves the Presidency and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. One remarkable thing about this year ’s list of awardees is that it is all encompassing and qualitative given the men and women of integrity on parade. For some of the awardees, the award is long overdue, considering their track records in public service and the private sector over the years. But many believe that the award is better late than never as it is obvious that these awardees waited patiently to be fished out, instead of pushing for the recognition.

For instance, Chief Theodore Orji, before becoming the governor of Abia State in 2007 had paid his dues in the public service as a seasoned administrator. He is reputed to have distinguished himself while serving with the National Electoral Commission, NECON(now the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC), with the positive impact he made said to have remained a reference point in the Commission till date.

After his graduation from the prestigious University of

We must keep chasing them right to the gates of hell, as US Vice President, Joe Biden would put it. The war has just gone into a new phase. It may not end tomorrow.

Guerrilla wars never end that easily.

Unless we press our advantage, Shekau III is likely to emerge. Boko Haram is already using their media acolyte, Ahmad Salkida; to deceive the public by saying Shekau is “alive, hale and hearty”. This simply means, “get ready for Shekau III”.

HE Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Diamond Bank PLC, Dr. Alex Ozioma Otti, has added yet another feather to his cap by being nominated as Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR), the fourth most prestigious national honour.

Otti, who is nursing the ambition of emerging as the next governor of Abia State, will join the rest of the awardees tonight in Abuja to receive his medal from President Goodluck Jonathan. Otti, whose three years in Diamond Bank has witnessed its total turnaround from loss making to the path of profitability, is hoping to bring his enormous intellectual gifts, vast experience in financial management and network of contacts worldwide to upgrade the level of governance in his state as from 2015.

Here is wishing him more success.

Minister Adesiyan again!

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INISTER of Police Affairs, Alhaji Jelili Adesiyan seems to walk in the wake of negative publicity. Remember, he was a close confidant of the late Chief Bola Ige. He was arrested and tried in connection with Ige’s murder. Though he was cleared of the offence, he ran into a storm during his screening in the Senate when Senator Olusola Adeyeye, who represents Osun Central Senatorial District in the Senate, openly and fanatically opposed his appointment as minister.

I also noticed, during the screening by the senators, that this man, in spite of his long standing association with education, could not speak good English. He garbled his tenses. I agreed with Senator Adeyeye that this man should not be cleared; at least on the ground of inability to communicate adequately in our official language (the children are listening!). In spite it all, Adesiyan was cleared and appointed Minister for Police Affairs.

The next time he went public, it was at a press conference in Osogbo. Reports quoted him as saying he would have beaten former Governor of Osun State, Alhaji Isiaka Adeleke “to pulp” if he were not a Minister! I quote: “”if I had not been a Minister I would have beaten Adeleke to pulp on that day. I will one day leave office as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and any time I leave office I will fight Adeleke. He alleged that I punched him on the chest, for God’s sake, if I had punched Adeleke, could he still be moving around”! Adeleke’s offence? Adesiyan said he and his supporters “frustrated” him!

I don’t know if the Isiaka Adeleke that I know can be so easily beaten “to pulp”.

When Adesiyan leaves office and wants to go for that punch-up, I would like to be invited.

Adesiyan was back in the news when his helicopter landed at the premises of the Bodija International School, Ibadan and caused serious damage to property. He did not bother to ask for permission. The school has since written a petition to the state government and another to the Minister.

I hope, when he repairs the private school’s damaged property he does so with his own money, not public funds.

OPINION National honour award and Orji Ibadan in 1977 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language, Gov. Orji opted for civil service job, instead of the white collar job that was in vogue then. His over two decades career in the service is remarkable or its unblemished record.

On assuming office as governor in 2007, his government was faced with enormous infrastructural, political and social challenges. But he was undeterred by the enormity of the challenges. Despite initial political interferences and stumbling blocks orchestrated by his predecessor, Gov. Orji trudged on till the state was liberated from a godfather who was holding sway then.

Since then, Orji’s government has been in a hurry to regain lost ground. Every sector of the state economy is receiving steadily government’s attention. Several road projects have been completed, while others are ongoing.

The New Umuahia known as Ogurube Layout is now a huge construction site. At the site is a completed workers Secretariat, a five-star international conference centre nearing completion. Also adjacent to it is a new modern Government House and several other edifices. Also at Ubani Ibeku is a modern market of international standard with all the needed facilities. The State that was at a time under the siege of kidnappers is today one of the most secured and peaceful state in the country.

The commercial city of Aba for the first time since 1999 has witnessed government’s intervention in road rehabilitation, security and waste disposal. The education sector has also been doing well with the State emerging

as the second overall best in the country in WAEC results in the last two years.

In recognition of his loyalty, humility and commitment to good governance, Governor Orji was appointed the South East Caucus Leader of the PDP. He is also today the Chairman, South East Governors Forum. Since assuming these positions, Gov. Orji has repositioned the party in the zone ahead of the 2015 polls. He has taken the zone to the mainstream politics that is favourable for the zone. In the just concluded National Conference, Gov. Orji rallied his colleagues to support and spur delegates from the zone to canvass for issues of national interest that will address the zone’s political problems. That is how it was agreed at the Conference that one additional state should be created out of the zone.

Particularly remarkable is the fact that his government has not borrowed money from any financial institution to finance the numerous projects he has executed.

So the National Honour Award on him can only be regarded as befitting and well-deserved. The award also rubbishes the current campaign of falsehood being propagated against him by his ahead the 2015 polls. The award is an indication that falsehood, no matter how contrived, cannot triumph over fact. With the award, Gov. Orji’s government and people of the State have been vindicated. *Dr. Uwa, a political commentator, wrote from Aba, Abia State.

52 — Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

—53 Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014—

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HE present call by a group that styles itself the “Buhari Vanguard” that the revered National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor be arrested clearly amounts to an unbridled frontal assault on the collective integrity of the body of Nigerian Christians symbolized today by his person; much the same way a call for the arrest of the person of the revered Sultan of Sokoto means to the Muslims of this country.

The fact that the Federal government has owned up to the responsibility of the $9.3 million cargo, in the same manner that present operator of the leased aircraft has owned up to the responsibility is quite enough reason to absolve the respected CAN President of any culpability.

But this position does not seem good enough to satisfy the desperate political garbagemongers masquerading as agents of opposition.

First it was the disused, abandoned and desperate once self-acclaimed “Governor” of the Federal Capital Territory Malam Nasir el-Rufai who had the audacity to vilify the person of the CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor. One wonders where he should have been had a southern President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria not brought him to limelight? One fact which most Nigerians have failed to acknowledge is that the North is poorer and would continue to be

even poorer in future because of the likes of Nasir el-Rufai whose fundamentalist-feudalistic mentality has remained a fortress against the growth of the commonman in the North. Appointed over and above their more qualified Hausa and Middle Belt counterparts on account of their Fulani blood, their mission in Government has always remained to protect the vexatious feudal structure in the North, maintain the sorry poverty level among the talakawa class and used Islam as a perpetual political bait court the poverty-striken mostly un-educated masses of the North. If one may ask el-Rufai, how far did he use his office as both the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises superintending over the sale of Federal Government-owned companies, and the “Governor” of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to reduce the poverty in the North?

Yet, this type of political torn-coats are audacious enough to cast aspersion on the person of the President and respected Southern leaders whose main concerns in government have been the overall well-being of their people. It is only unfortunate that people like some of us in the South are not from the North, otherwise one would not see the basis of such a fundamentalist as el-Rufai, who once said that unless those he styled as devils convert to Islam he would never cross-over to PDP seeking to rule Kaduna State, a predominantly Christian enclave as Governor.

Perhaps most amusing and yet more ridiculous than the wobbly

The fact that the Federal government has owned up to the responsibility of the $9.3 million cargo, in the same manner that present operator of the leased aircraft has owned up to the responsibility does not seem good enough to satisfy the desperate political garbagemongers masquerading as agents of opposition

unaware of his symbolic image as the terrain-buster of Global Jihad intent in Nigeria through the twinagencies of Sharia and Boko Haram.

The fact is obvious. Never in the history of Nigeria has Christians so collectively stood up under a single leadership to the audacious challenge the domineering perpetual intents of Northern jihadists. And it is not uncommon that such a gifted leader should face repeated vilification from those who see him as their stumbling block. But coming this time from no less a group that dedicates itself to the promotion of the political objectives of an incorrigible jihadist becomes a

The media ahead of 20 15 2015

By Bobson Gbinije “Even in the common affairs of live, In love, friendship and marriage, How little security have we when we Trust our happiness in the hands of others!”

- William Hazlitt (1778-1830) On Living to Oneself VERY profession has its esoteric jargons.

The profession of journalism is not left out. But the editor is critically crucial in the newspaper publication industry.

Without slips of prolixity, a newspaper is an alphenstock designed to carry the reader up the mountain of information, entertainment and education, etc. It is a daily or weekly publication consisting of folded sheets and containing news, features and advertisements etc. Indeed, a newspaper incarnates the matrix, nexus and praxis of any society. It is the heart of any nation and a good newspaper is a nation talking to itself.

To enhance its functionality, mission statement and the core essence of its fundamental objectives, its publishers employ people or journalists with multidimensional ambience. But the editor is one employee that stands out with singular diaphaneity. There are many types of editors in any newspaper setting. They are usually categorized and dichotomized along professional or areas of specialization.

It is the duty of the Editor to prepare text for publication by checking, amending, altering and improving its accuracy and clarity. It is also the duty of the Editor to ensure that opinions expressed in the newspaper are in congruency and consistent with the Editorial policy, the religious, political, socio-economic and ideological mission statement of the publisher. Indeed, Editors, especially editors in government owned newspapers luxuriate in outright falsehoods, splendiferous theatrics, and

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propaganda hypes, laced with panegyric histrionics, which smacks of hitleric and Goebbelian antics. They can only mirror – out and not mirror –in, like parrots that repeat words after their masters without understanding them.

There are editors and there are indeed editors. Some editors are coquettish with the government and political leaders and are trapped in conscience vendorization through pecunious inducements. There are also editors in private and government owned newspapers who tell it as it is notwithstanding whose ox is gored.

It is the genre of conscience mortgaging and filthy lucre editors who are slavishly tied to the apron strings of their paymasters who have rubbished the integrity of the profession. At best they are paid hirelings, government area-boys, surrogates and newspaper terrorists. It is this type of negative zeitgeist that propelled essayist Norman Mailer to assert that, “once a newspaper man touches a story, the facts are lost forever, even to the protagonist”.

The empirical testability and presence of corruption in most newspaper newsrooms remains an inviolable truism. Since what is newsworthy is subject to the capricious whimsicality of the ‘gargantuan’ Editor, he as the Alpha and the Omega decides which Reporter and Correspondent's report should occupy the front page and whatever strategic space is in the newspaper. He could also decide to publish articles, letters, opinion and reports of his cultic friends, relations and monetary expectations from government public relations agents for appointments or monetary reward.

It must however be conceded that the mission statement of his newspaper as spelt out by his Publishers, Members of his Editorial Board and his Employers determine to a large extent the oscillatory pull of the editors ideas. After all, the man

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the following facts and by the same token call the so-called Buhari Vanguard to rebut as and when necessary.

First, General Buhari, the man whom the Buhari Vanguard represents is a man who does not recognize the necessity of the Nigerian Federation to maintain its secularity.

Acutely fundamentalist and ethnically bigoted in both character and outlook, Buhari does not recognize the existence of any other religion in Nigeria apart from Islam, nor does he recognize the capacity of any other ethnic group in Nigeria aside from the Fulani to lead the nation. He demonstrated this acute political dementia through

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By Tony Nwaezeigwe

different cup of tea entirely.

The Muhammadu Buhari Vanguard should be the least of all masquerading as youth group because in reality, they are thugs.

So to demand for the arrest of any leader in this country for whatever reason and under whatever guise is totally out of order. Today it has become a commonplace thought that the worst thing that can happen to Nigeria, even more devastating to the present raging Boko Haram insurgency, is for General Muhammadu Buhari to be elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I stand by

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Between Oritsejafor and the war on terror

ranting of el-Rufai is the outburst of the political homunculus called Buhari Vanguard, which assumes that by riding on the back of a tiger they could as well be likened to a tiger, but who by that action only exposed their kola-nut-coated set of dentition for surgical examination. One fact is obvious, whatever angle it is taken, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor today represents the living symbol of Nigeria’s resolve to extricate herself from the virus of Islamic fundamentalism, be it in the political garb of Sharia or the monster-jihad called Boko Haram. Nigerians are not

We want to see more righteous indignation, critical and incisive commentaries analysis and avantgardism against the rot of our political leaders and the society from our editors

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who pays the piper dictates the tune.

But we are saying furthermore that notwithstanding all these truisms, the editor of a newspaper can still conduct and manage his submissions in such a manner as to mitigate the odium and the blanket of cerebral manacles in which he is cocooned.

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e are asserting here with unambiguous clarity, that the editor must be first and foremost conscience-and-duty-bound to the truth and the general good. What will an editor gain when a society and its leadership are convoluted in the altar of despotism, illegal detention, election rigging, police brutality, assassinations, economic injustice, extra judicial killings, tribalism, bribery and corruption?

It is the bounden duty of the editor as part of the watchdog of society, Member of the Fourth Estate of the Realm and the conscience of society to condemn these evils in no uncertain terms. Our ‘gargantuan’ Editors must note the admonition of Marcus Cicero “Salus Populi est suprema lex” (the good of the people is the supreme law).

They must note that criticism is an

his appointment of fellow Muslim, fellow Fulani even though masquerading as GambariYoruba, and fellow Northerner, General Tunde Idiagbon as his second-in-command in such multiethnic and multi-religious nation as Nigeria. He also demonstrated that only President Shehu Shagari, a fellow Muslim, fellow Fulani and Northerner had the exclusive right of comfort in detention at the Government Reservation Area (GRA), while the likes of Vice President Alex Ekwueme and a host of other Southern and Middle Belt State governors were only good for the Kirikiri Maximum Prison.

Second, if Nigerians speak of transparency in government today among their past and present political leadership, the likes of Buhari should be consigned to the lowest throng of the ladder.

Nigerians may be treated with the communist theory of repeated lies equal a truth by telling false tales about a transparent Buhari, but if we still believe in the theory of history vindicating the just, and the Buhari is left to the judgment of history, then it will be established that General Buhari has no record of transparency in the history of his political adventure both in and out of military uniform.

If there is an epidemic of oil theft today, its original virus was transmitted from General Buhari days in office. His tenure as Nigeria’s Petroleum and Energy Minister under Murtala/Obasanjo regime institutionalized oil theft in Nigeria.

Continues tomorrow on Viewpoints *Dr. Nwaezigwe, Acting Director, wrote fromCentre for Igbo Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

uncompromisable condition of democracy and freedom. Criticism is the hallmark of intellectual discourse, since it provokes argument and argument would, well handled, facilitate the attainment of good resolutions. Again, it is a mere emotive rationalization to expect that because an idea appears so good by its sheer sound or its face value, it should be accepted wholesomely without questioning from our leaders, government agents, publishers and informed members of the public.

The handling of public opinions by most editors must be revolutionized, as most opinions are either edited out of context or not published at all. Every Human being in any democracy deserves to be heard notwithstanding his communication deficiency. It is in recognition of the importance of public opinion that, Abraham Lincoln said, “with public opinion on its side, nothing can fail with public against it, nothing can succeed.” The facts are sacred and comments free, but most newspaper editors have traditionally been content to state their own views and rely on logic of their arguments, the force of direction and reasonableness of their advocacy to commend their views to the public. But it must go beyond this. Let the truth and altruism be their hallmarks. Finally, as our inchoate and embryonic democracy metamorphoses into adulthood, the editors of our newspapers have catalytic role to play. They must prove Sidney Haword wrong. He said “an editor is a person employed by a newspaper, whose business it is to separate the wheat from the chaff and to see that the chaff is published”.

We want to see more righteous indignation, critical and incisive commentaries, satyagrahi- like analysis and avant-gardism against the rot of our political leaders and the society from our editors. It is not life that matters but the courage we put into it.

This should be the path the media should tread as we approach 2015. *Mr. Gbinjie, a social critic, wrote from Warri, Delta State.

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Unease as Benue sells off 30m shares in Dangote Cement Targets N20 billion from sale's scheme Opposition queries motive

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AKURDI— THERE is considerable unease in Benue State over the sale of Dangote Cement shares held in trust for the indigenes by the Benue Investment and Property Company Limited.

The sell-off, which is taking place on the floor ot the Nigerian Stock Exchange, has erased about 30 million shares, valued at over N7 billion off the original over 90 million shares, which serves as portfolio investment for the state and the parastatals.

Sources, however, said that the government plans to sell all the shares, before the elections setting a target of N20 billion from the exercise.

If carried through, Benue State would have lost all the shares of its portfolio investment in the cement manufacturing conglomerate.

Investigation revealed that many Benue indigenes are taken aback by the government’s decision which they say is to deprive the people of their priced investment in Dangote Cement.

Some top leaders of the

Action for Progressive Change, APC, queried the motive behind the sale and called on the state government to urgently clear the air over the development to avoid any untoward reaction from the people.

It was gathered that a considerable number of persons questioned the rational by the state government to deprive its people of what they termed, “this valuable investment,” at a time the company is doing well in the capital market.

They feared that if no action is taken to prevent the wholesale sale of the shares, the state would be the loser, since the proceeds so far realized have not been invested in any profitable venture, nor disclosed to the State House of Assembly for appropriation as required by law.

“We suspect the state government is building a war chest for the 2015 elections by the surreptitious manner the share are being sold. Otherwise, what stops it from informing the citizens of the state about it?

NASU lauds Jonathan on education sector devt

By Demola Akinyemi

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LORIN—THE NonAcademic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, NASU, weekend, commended President Goodluck Jonathan for his commitment to the funding of the education sector in the country, stressing that budgetary allocation to the sector had steadily been increasing since the advent of his administration.

The union, however, condemned the high rate of unemployment in the country saying that most of the unemployed youths were now turning to crime which was fast becoming a lucrative ‘’profession.”

President of NASU, Mrs Ladi Iliya who spoke at the National Executive Council, NEC, meeting of the union in Ilorin, recalled the tragedy that marred the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, recruitment exercise on Saturday March 15, 2014 following the death of several applicants looking for jobs.

She also cautioned politicians in both the ruling and the opposition parties in the country to stop playing politics with the nation’s protracted problem of insecurity but rather close ranks to fight the current insurgency facing the country to a standstill.

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Keshi invites bench warmer, ignores Uche I

NTERIM Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi has announced his squad for back to back African Nations qualifiers against Sudan next month.

There are some strange untested new faces in the squad list made public on Friday afternoon, with as many as four players earning call ups for the first time.

The coach still ignored inviting Ike Uche.

Striker Sunday Emmanuel, a benchwarmer at Austrian Bundesliga strugglers SV ScholzGrodig, who has 65 minutes of playing time since the start of the season was considered good enough by Stephen Keshi.

Also in line to make his international debut is Ugonna Anyora, a central defender cum defensive midfielder currently on the payroll of Haugesund.

The 23 - year - old has struggled to earn a starting shirt for his Norwegian team in the current season, having made 11 starts out of a possible 24.

Reading midfielder

Hope Akpan and inform Guangzhou R & F attacker Aaron Samuel will get their chance to don the colours of the

Super Eagles for the first time, after they both missed out on the provisional World Cup roster.

There are recalls for Babatunde Michael, Victor Moses and

Kimetto smashes marathon world record in Berlin

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Dennis Kimetto of Kenya is presented with a hardearned beer after setting a new marathon world record in Berlin.

Okagbare Continues from BP surpassing their former outing in New Delhi, India.

Similarly, members of the national U-17 and a few of the Women U-20 team and their coaches will be honoured by President Goodluck Jonathan tonight. But the man whose NFF regime produced some of the best results in the nation’s football history, Alhaji Aminu Maigari will be conspicuously missing from the podium.

The former President of the NFF Maigari has been denied the privilege of receiving the National award which he so much craved for.

It was reported long before now that Maigari had been lined up for

Raheem Lawal while Villarreal striker Ikechukwu Uche remains in the international wilderness after being ignored by Stephen Keshi.

the award by President Goodluck Jonathan which informed why they appealed that the impeachment carried out on him be dropped so as not to stain his record.

But investigations have revealed that the Presidency made a Uturn when they noticed that Maigari was more consumed by his desire to remain in NFF than keeping to the agreement reached with him when they met at the Secretary to the Government of Federation’s office.

The Minister of Sports and chairman, National Sports Commission, Dr Tammy Danagogo had e x p r e s s e d disappointment with the former NFF president

when he declared the August 26 Congress open. He blasted Maigari for not being gentlemanly enough, stressing that he flouted every agreement reached with him.

While Maigari’s name was missing, several Nigerian sports men and women found their names on the list. And, among those penciled for the award are, Peters Dedebvo who led the Nations U-20 women team to the final of the last FIFA Women world cup in Canada, Manu Garba, who led the Nations U-17 team to win the last U-17 FIFA World Cup in Dubia and several other Nigerians who have done well in recent times.

ENYAN runner Dennis Kimetto comfortably beat the marathon world record in Berlin on Sunday, winning the race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 57 seconds after setting a blistering pace from the start to shave 26 seconds off the previous best.

The 30-year-old prerace favourite broke away in a seven-man group, including fellow Kenyans Emmanuel Mutai and Geoffrey Kamworor.

Kimetto pulled clear from his compatriots in the latter stages to become the first man to complete the race in less than two hours and three minutes.

This is the second consecutive world record set along Berlin’s flat race, considered the world’s fastest marathon course, after fellow Kenyan Wilson Kipsang’s previous world best of 2:03:23 was set in the German capital last year.

“I feel good because I won a very tough race,” Kimetto told reporters. “I felt good from the start and in the last five kilometres I felt I could do it [break the record].”

Pillars on course for 3rd straight title

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ANO Pillars stayed on course for a third straight league title when they defeated Lobi Stars 2-0 at home yesterday with their closest rivals dropping points.

Pillars now have 50 points from 29 matches, while Enyimba moved into second place on 44 points after they were held at home 0-0 by regional rivals Heartland.

Nasarawa slipped to fourth place after they lost 2-1 at Dolphins, who are now third on

•Murray

Murray wins Shenzhen Open

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NDY Murray has that winning feeling again af ter completing a spectacular turnaround in the Shenzhen Open final to end his title drought.

Murray faced five match points in a second set tiebreak – four of them in succession from 6-2 behind – but saved them with some of his best tennis on his way to a 5-7, 7-6, 6-1 victory over Tommy Robredo – his first tournament triumph since Wimbledon in July 2013.

Yohana wins Commodore’s boat race Club’s jetty in Ojo and

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T was pomp and pageantry at the Navy Sailing Club as eight boats and thirteen sailors were vying for the golden trophy in the 2014 Commodore’s Boat Race.

The race began at the

Obafemi

Continues from BP

4-2 win for Sounders against Chivas USA. Popularly known as ObaGoal, Martins is now Sounders FC top single scorer knocking off Eddie Johnson ‘s fourteen set in 2012.

On Saturday, Obafemi Martins showed class, his continuous runs troubled Chivas USA back line which later gave up to two of his goals.

45 points. Goalkeeper and captain Theophilus Afelokhia gave the hosts the lead from the penalty spot in the 10th minute after Azeez Shobowale was brought down. Shobowale doubled Pillars lead to seal the victory in the 26th minute.

New boy Ubong Ekpai would have made it 30 for the champions, but he shot straight into the waiting hands of Terkaa Melai in Lobi Stars goal in the 52nd minute.

The former FC Ebedei forward who has been snubbed by Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi seem to know Chivas so well. In 2014 alone, ObaGoal has scored five goals and made an assist against Chivas USA. After Saturday’s 4-2 victory, Martins has emerged as Seattle Sounders FC top season scorer with 15 goals and 10 assists.

terminated at Ibeshe beach with Denise Yohanna emerged the overall winner.

“It’s my first race in 2 years,” Yohanna said, adding, “I surprised myself because I have been away from sailing since 2012. But I give thanks to God for this victory.”

There was also a boat cruise which saw a lot of guests and journalist take part. “It was an afternoon to remember,” Stella Bamawo of the Nation’s Newspapers told this reporter after the cruise.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Canoeing, Rowing and Sailing Federation( NCRSF) has finally taken delivery of six boats which were impounded by the Customs for over seven years.

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Imoke hails 5-star Golden Eaglets M S ENATOR Liyel Imoke (CON), the amiable Executive Governor of Cross River State, has felicitated with the Golden Eaglets following their qualification for Niger 2015 African Championship after a fivestar performance in a 5-0 massacre of Gabon at the U.J Esuene Stadium in Calabar over the weekend.

Speaking to the players inside the locker room after the match on Saturday, Hon. Patrick Ugbe, the state’s commissioner for Sport and Youth Development, quoted the Governor as saying he was glad that the Golden Eaglets sealed their qualification yet again in Calabar as did their predecessors on their way to winning the 2013 FIFA Under-17 World Cup. “Let me congratulate you on behalf of His Excellency, Governor Liyel Imoke for the wonderful performance you put up this evening (Saturday),” said Ugbe who represented the Governor as the Guest of Honour. “The joy for me today, is that I was here on behalf of His Excellency to watch this wonderful

performance and what you have done was to spell Gabon.”

Ugbe who was in company of Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme , NFF’s Director Technical, said the team deserved a part on the back for showing the visitors

they were the better side despite losing 2-1 in Libreville.

He was of the opinion that they would go places in Niger with the same ‘never-say-die’ spirit and play against their peers without any fear.

SNEPCo Junior Championship kicks off with top juniors from abroad

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HE second Shell Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Junior Tennis Championship kicks off at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club with several players just back from international competitions or training programs eager to show off their new form. Marylove Edwards 12, spent a full month at the Dubai International Tennis Academy sponsored by CBN while Serena Teluwo, 9, spent about the same time in America. Both are back in time for the very junior championship.

Also raring to go are Chris Itodo of Kaduna, the boys 16 and under champion who qualified for the Africa Junior Masters concluded in Cairo

over the past weekend. He will be joined by the Ezeh brothers, Tochukwu and Ekene from Onitsha who participated in three weeks of International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Championships in Togo and Benin. Meanwhile, the International Tennis Academy, organisers of the junior circuit, have announced record entries for the tournament with teams from Ekiti, Kaduna, Ogun and Port Harcourt arriving with over 15 players each.

The Academy has also upped the conditions of entry to include negative malaria and typhoid fever test certificate. “This is not a time to be sick in Nigeria” the entry form emphasized.

Messi 'never imagined' reaching 400-goal mark

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OUR-TIME World Player of the Year Lionel Messi said he could never have envisaged scoring 400 goals in his career after passing that landmark in Barcelona's 6-0 rout over Granada on Saturday.

The Argentine scored twice and took his tally of assists for the season to eight with two more as Neymar bagged a hattrick to take Barca back to the top of the table.

Messi's two goals took him to 359 goals for Barca allied to his 42 at international level in 525 games for club and country.

"I never imagined I could achieve anything like this in my career," he said via his official Facebook page.

"Thanks for all the congratulations on scoring 400 goals with FC Barcelona and the Argentinian National Team. I'll continue working hard to reach more targets."

Messi is the only player to have started all seven games under new Barca boss Luis Enrique as the 44-year-old has been otherwise keen to rotate his squad.

But Enrique admitted even he is enjoying watching the 27-year-old too much to hand him a

break. "I don't think if we added together the goals we have scored on the playground it would reach 400," he said in his post-match press conference.

"Messi is someone who has been touched by a magic wand and he is desperate to enjoy playing football.

"I prefer to see him on the pitch until the last minute to press and participate in our collective play.

"The temptation is there, it could happen at any point in the season, but his habitat is on the

field.

Granada's Colombian forward Jeison Murillo (L) vies with Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lio "He is very intelligent and knows how to manage his efforts and he is one of the players who presses the most. I am confident his physical ability is up to that of being the number one."

Next up for Barca is their biggest test of the season so far as they travel to face French champions Paris SaintGermain in the Champions League.

Chelsea's Oscar, centre, celebrates scoring his teams' first goal, with Chelsea's Diego Costa, left, and Chelsea's Willian, who both later scored a goal each, during their English Premier League soccer match against Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge, London, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014.

IDFIELDER Gianni Imbula and winger Dimitri Payet scored first-half goals Sunday as French league leader Marseille beat Saint-Etienne 2-1 at home to record a sixth straight win.

Imbula put Marseille ahead after just seven minutes with a low shot that skimmed inside the post, and Payet doubled the lead in the 28th after converting Ghana winger Andre Ayew's cross from the left.

"We have to be honest.

This is all down to the coach (Marcelo Bielsa)," Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda said.

"He's precise, everyone knows their role."

Saint-Etienne's attack featured Turkey striker Mevlut Erding and 17year-old Allan SaintMaximin, and he set up defender Jonathan Brison's goal in the 53rd to ensure a tight finish.

But Marseille came closest to scoring again when top scorer AndrePierre Gignac saw his shot well saved by goalkeeper Stephane Ruffier in the 84th.

"We knew it would be a big game at home and we wanted to keep our winning run going,"

Marseille gets 6th straight win to lead Associated Press Marseille winger Andre Ayew said. "We played really well in the first half and then we eased up a bit and conceded the goal. But we showed we have a great team spirit."

Ayew praised the notoriously turbulent Marseille fans, who are fully behind the team this season.

"The stadium was boiling hot tonight," he said. "We're all enjoying this and there's nothing better." After eight matches, Marseille has 19 points and is five ahead of bitter rival Paris Saint-Germain, which is in fourth place.

"Marseille is a candidate for the title," Saint-Etienne coach Christophe Galtier said.

Fourth-place PSG has 14 points and leads Metz and Saint-Etienne on goal difference.

Meanwhile, midfielder Thomas Toure created the opening goal and scored the winner with seconds remaining as secondplace Bordeaux beat Rennes 2-1. All the goals

came in the second half, with Rennes striker Mahamadou Habibou canceling out winger Wahbi Khazri's opener for Bordeaux before Toure pounced in the third minute of injury time.

Rennes looked the more dangerous side before Khazri's goal, with winger Paul-Georges Ntep causing problems with his pace and technique.

He created chances for center forward Ola Toivonen and Steven Moreira but they were unable to take them.

The win gives Bordeaux 17 points, putting it two points behind Marseille.

Lille is third with 15 points and two-time defending champion Paris Saint-Germain is one point behind.

"The players never gave in, they finished the game exhausted and they still managed to go and get a winner in the closing stages," said Bordeaux coach Willy Sagnol, France's right back when it reached the 2006 World Cup final.

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Obafemi won’t stop scoring!

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I G E R I A international, Obafemi Martins has continued with his rich form in the MLS as he increased his goal tally to 15 after he got a brace and made an assist in a Continues on Page 59

National Award:

President Jonathan honours Okagbare, 38 others •Why Maigari was omitted

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014 Commonwealth Games double gold medalist, Blessing Okagbare and her compatriots who made the nation proud in Glasgow will today be honoured with national awards by President Goodluck Jonathan at the Aso Rock Villa.

Nigerian sportsmen and women gave the country reason to cheer at the Glasgow Games when they finished in eighth position, winning 11 gold, 11 silver and 14 bronze medals,

Continues on Page 59

BLESSING FOR NIGERIA — Blessing Okagbare celebrates with Nigeria's flag after winning 2 gold medals at the C'Wealth Games in Glasgow

Results NPFL Sunshine Kaduna Giwa Dolphin Enyimba K. Pillars Rangers Nembe El Kanemi

0 3 2 2 0 2 1 1 1

West Brom Liverpool Chelsea Crystal P Hull City Man Utd Southampton Sunderland Arsenal

4 1 3 2 2 2 2 0 1

Getafe Deportivo Villarreal Barcelona Atletico M A Bilbao Levante

1 0 0 6 4 0 0

La Liga Malaga Almaria R Madrid Granada Sevilla Elbar Rayo V

0 1 2 0 0 0 2

Sassuolo Cesena Chievo Inter Milan Torino Roma Atalanta

0 1 1 1 1 2 0

Serie A Napoli AC Milan Empoli Cagliari Fiorentina Verona Juventus

1 1 1 4 1 0 3

EPL

Akwa Utd Gombe Bayelsa Nasarawa Heartland Lobi FC Taraba Crown Sharks

0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1

Burnley Everton Aston Villa Leicester Man City West Ham QPR Swansea Tottenham

0 1 0 0 4 1 1 0 1

Pillars on course for 3rd straight title — Pg.59

Keshi invites bench warmer, ignores Uche — Pg.59 QUICK CROSSWORD

TODAY'S

PUZZLE

YESTER DAY'S YESTERDAY'S

ANSWERS

ACROSS 2 Broom (5) 7 Loathe (4) 8 Charm (6) 9 Leaflet (5) 11 Dog (3) 13 Crowd (3) 15 Stagger (4) 16 Seed (3) 18 Idol (4) 19 Regain (7) 20 Principal (4) 22 Gap (4) 23 Encourage (7) 25 Stove (4) 27 Youth (3) 28 Gull (4) 30 Free (3) 31 Delved (3) 33 Musty (5) 36 Figurine (6) 37 Envelop (4) 38 Jam (5)

DOWN 1 Obscure (5) 2 Wager (3) 3 Ocean (3) 4 Rug (3) 5 Cunning (3) 6 Earlier (5) 10 Fashionable (4) 11 Maker (7) 12 Attained (7) 13 Deserved (7) 14 Fleeing (7) 16 Gem (5) 17 Sat (5) 18 Girl’s (3) 21 Chicken (3) 24 Acid (4) 26 View (5) 29 Rustic (5) 32 Pig-pen (3) 33 Stitch (3) 34 Help (3) 35 Sheep (3)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 1, Leapt 5, Gashed 8, Recur 10, Bureau 11, Iris 14, Docile 15, Discard 18, Bet 19, Eel 21, Deed 23, Enter 24, Rash 27, Ten 29, Oar 31, Risible 32, Brutal 34, Line 35, Notion 38, Fatal 39, Target 40, Feted.

DOWN: 2, Emu 3, Preach 4, Tea 5, Grid 6, Sliced 7, Defend 9, Current 12, Rob 13, Site 16, Idea 17, Deter 20, Lenient 22, Evil 24, Robust 25, Soul 26, Hating 28, Little 30, Ran 33, Left 36, Oaf 37, Ode.

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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D14—Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMPER 29, 2014

Botched $9.3m arms deal: The war between APC and PDP lawmakers For two consecutive days last week, members of the House of Representatives bickered over news of the seizure of $9.3m from Nigerian officials involved in a botched arms deal in South Africa. The episode climaxed with allegations of $50.000 bribe given to PDP lawmakers

T

HE ruling by the deputy speaker, Rep. Emeka Ihedioha had prompted spontaneous burst of anger which disrupted sitting last Tuesday.

In their numbers, they marched through the back entrance of the chambers led by the petite but eloquent Rep. Samson Osagie to the Presss Centre.

The All Progressives Congress, APC members in the House of Representatives had been provoked by what they deduced as the actions of the presiding officer and deputy speaker of the House, Rep Emeka Ihedioha on the matter of the $9.3 million cash for arms scandal involving Nigerian officials in South Africa.

They were according to them frustrated that their quest for an exhaustive debate on the matter, but Ihedioha had ruled out debate on the issue preferring to send the issue to a committee of the House.

The Genesis Rep. Suleiman Kawu, the deputy minority leader had earlier that day under Matters of Urgent National Importance, reminded the House that his

motion about the need to investigate the seized $9.3 cash, listed on the order paper the preceding Thursday was not relisted that Tuesday for debate. He explained that he was not available on the Thursday it was listed because he went on a mission for the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal.

His action raised a stir on the floor. Immediately Ihedioha who had earlier referred the matter to House Committee on Rules and Business asked its chairman, Hon. Sam-Tsokwa to explain and probably suggested a leeway.

In his explanation, Tsokwa said Kawu’s absence stalled the debate, adding “So, there was nothing we could do about that and I advised we step it down.

He did not inform the Rules & Business (committee) that he was travelling with the Speaker and we were not given enough notice for the motion to be taken.”

When he was not certain he would have his way, Kawu said “Mr Speaker, I hope you are giving me the assurance that my motion will be taken tomorrow if it is stepped down today.”

But before he could sit down, Ihedioha gave his nod for the motion to be taken immediately, saying he had consulted with the

leadership of the House.

The motion Moving the motion, Kawu said that “the report in the City Press Newspaper of South Africa on September 5, stated that two Nigerians and an Israeli citizen flew into Lanseria International Airport, northwest of Johannesburg, in a Challenger 600 Jet piloted by one Captain

,

By Levinus Nwabughiogu

that the motion be voted on immediately without a debate but the vote on whether or not it should be taken to the committee on national security led to bedlam on the floor.

Briefing the media At the media center, the minority whip and leader of the opposition, Hon. Samson Osagie, who led the group said the action of the deputy speaker was uncalled for. By way of ventilating their grievances, he also raised questions for the federal government over the seized funds.

The questions that we have for the Federal Government are as follows: *Is it faster or safer to do an international transaction of such magnitude by ferrying cash across the continent or simply through wire transfer that can go through in matter of seconds or matter of few hours? *If indeed, the matter involves security issues like the purchase of arms by a foreign government like Nigeria, why was the South African government not brought into the picture beforehand and how could the South African government be sure that the arms were purchased legitimately by the Nigerian government and not by the insurgents when there were no officials of the NSA (National Security Adviser) office or the Director, Department of State Service, DSS, that accompanied such money? *If indeed the manufacturers of such equipment were expecting large sums of money by cash, why did they not make adequate arrangements with the authorities in South Africa to declare the cash on arrival since it was the law in South Africa that you must declare any amount in excess of 2,500 dollars? *Why was the money belonging to the Federal Government and meant for the purchase of equipment for the Federal Government moved by a private jet when we have over five to six airplanes in the Presidential air fleet? * Why would the government

The following day, Wednesday, the issue took another life of its own when members raised issue about news reports that PDP members had been bribed to the tune of $50,000 each to kill the motion the day before.

Tunde Ojongbede while carrying the sum of $9.3m cash.”

The motion sought a “thorough investigation of the matter” by the House committees on Defence and Aviation, to be reported back within two weeks.

He insisted that the integrity of the country was at stake if nothing was done and demanded the Parliament to debate it.

After the motion was read, Ihedioha, however, proposed

,

that is at the peak of promoting cashless policy in our country be the chief breaker of that policy by moving such amount of cash if indeed, it was a legitimate transaction of the Federal Government? *why were the officials of our embassy in South Africa not on hand to make the entry easier and smoother? Since the South African government has said the amount was above the limit of cash allowed into the country,

why would a whole government like Nigeria not know the simple immigration law of a sister country and why would they have to take it out of the Oliver Tambo International Airport and land in a village where you have a local airport? *why would the Federal Government seek to carry 9.3 million dollars? A country that is regarded as a giant of Africa smuggling an amount worth 1.5 billion Naira, in a country where citizens are wallowing in poverty for unexplained reasons?

Is it just a wicked coincidence that the aircraft belonging to the President of CAN (Christian Association of Nigeria) was used to carry cash to South Africa? *If contrary to the above posers, the transactions were contracted out to a private company in Nigeria, does it amount to the offence of money laundering under our laws for the Federal Government to have allowed that company to attempt to pay for the equipment by cash to the tune of that amount without passing through financial institutions? *For us as a people and for us lawmakers, we find this unacceptable, unethical, illegitimate and in our view, it is an illegal transaction. The Nigerian government owes the Nigerian people an explanation as to what source that money came from.

Day Two The following day, Wednesday, the issue took another life of its own when members raised issue about news reports that PDP members had been bribed to the tune of $50,000 each to kill the motion the day before.

Tsokwa had raised a point of order that his privileges had been breached through the publications.

Rep. Ali Madaki (APC, Kano) stirred the angst of many PDP members when he rose up and claimed to have leaked the alleged bribery to the press saying that he had it on good authority “that PDP members were given $20,000 each.” He however said it was $20,000 each and not $50,000 he told the press.

The audacious confession again set the House in commotion, bringing it close to free-for-all for some time. But when calm finally returned, the Deputy Speaker committed the matter to Ethics and Privileges Committee for investigation.

Deputy Majority leader kicks The PDP deputy leader, Rep. Leo Ogor was quick to dismiss the allegation describing it as a fabrication and an act of blackmail.

However, for now, the matter like many other controversial issues has been passed on to the House committee on ethics and public petition. It is expected to die there like the other controversial issues that have passed through the House of Representatives.

Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMPER 29, 2014—D15

Enugu 2015: Strange bubbles in PDP T

HE adoption of the popular member of the House of Representatives, Ifeanyi Uguwanyi as the consensus gubernatorial candidate of the mainstream section of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP was a political masterstroke from the camp of Governor Sullivan Chime. But how far it removes the battle with the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu is another thing.

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor and Francis Igata •Ekeremadu: Will he agree? said to have briefed his guests on the need to produce a consensus candidate among those interested for the purpose of a seamless transition. Some of the aspirants were said to have expressed uneasiness with the arrangement, notably, Senator Ayogu Eze, a two term member senator, Speaker Eugene Ode, the presiding officer of the House of Assembly.

As the meeting progressed some of the aspirants as if they had earlier been briefed started stepping down for Ugwuanyi prompting fears among some of the aspirants

,

The choice of the popular Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, as the consensus candidate by the mainstream section of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP aligned to Governor Sullivan Chime as the party’s 2015 gubernatorial candidate was received with excitement across many. Hailed as Gburugburu, Ugwuanyi had represented the Udenu/IgboEze North Federal Constituency for three straight terms since 2003 and had gained some measure of popularity not just across his federal constituency, but across the state.

Even more remarkable, he had been able to ably manage the difficult bridge between the Chime camp and the camp of PDP stakeholders aligned to Senator Ike Ekweremadu.

Having served three terms in the House, Ugwuanyi was already looking beyond the chambers of the House of Representatives for his future political directions, especially given the directive by the governor that federal lawmakers who have served two terms would not be returning to the National Assembly. He was among the more than one dozen aspirants who had quietly commenced mobilisation for the governorship contest.

Last Friday the governor had called all aspirants interested in succeeding him alongside some major stakeholders including the party chairman to a stakeholders’ meeting. All the aspirants as had been resolved by Chime were from Enugu North senatorial district, the only section of the state yet to produce a governor in the Fourth Republic. Some aspirants claimed that they were hitherto not briefed on the purpose of the meeting.

Once the meeting commenced, the governor was

•Ugwuanyi: Presumptive nominee senator representing Enugu North senatorial zone came out to openly denounce the decision saying he was hoodwinked into the meeting.

He pledged to forge ahead with his gubernatorial ambition on the platform of the PDP. Expressing his rejection of the decision on Ugwuanyi, he said: “My supporters are particularly worried by the aspect of the story claiming that I have stepped down for the said anointed candidate.

I wish to state clearly and unambiguously that I’ve not and will not step down for any

Even more remarkable, he had been able to ably manage the difficult bridge between the Chime camp and the camp of PDP stakeholders aligned to Senator Ike Ekweremadu

of what one of the aspirants called a kangaroo arrangement.

With more than eight of the aspirants having stepped down for Ugwuanyi, Governor Chime according to sources was said to have proposed that the stakeholders should formally adopt Ugwuanyi, a proposal that said through despite the opposition of some of those present, notably Senator Eze and Odo. The opposition nonetheless, the stakeholders progressed to adopt Ugwuanyi and the decision quickly seeped through to the mass media the following day, Saturday.

Indeed, barely 48 hours after the resolution, Senator Ayogu Eze, the two term

,

anointed candidate. I’m still squarely in the race for the Enugu Lion Building in the year of our Lord 2015.

“I was invited to a meeting of a gathering of the people of my senatorial district presided over by the governor at the Governor ’s Lodge in Enugu on Friday September 26, 2015. Prior to our arrival at the Government House that Friday afternoon the agenda of the meeting was not circulated. Neither was the criterion for selecting those attending the meeting made known to me.

“At the meeting I pointedly stated that though I was already in their midst in a sort

•Chime: Masterstroke move

of an ambush I was not bound by their decision, to which I believe they were entitled. It is their inalienable right to choose a consensus candidate in the same manner that to my supporters and well wishers I’m also consensus candidate.

“I look forward to all the consensus candidates of the various interest groups meeting in the field at the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship primaries on November 29, 2014 to test which of the various consensus blocs is numerically stronger.

“Democracy is about elections and the will of the people. Those elements of democracy will be put to test when we arrive the field for the primaries. I’ll gladly accept the outcome of the primaries and go the extra mile to work for the party with resources and whatever it will take to give the opponents of the PDP a run for their money.”

Meanwhile, the decision of the outgoing governor to incline himself towards Ugwuanyi was being described as a masterstroke among political stakeholders in Enugu, given the popularity and acceptance of the presumptive nominee among the two major camps.

“The decision to incline towards Ugwuanyi is one that may have been influenced by the decision to propose somebody that Ekweremadu would find difficult to object to,” one source said at the weekend.

The state chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, meanwhile, has dismissed the exercise as a charade saying, “It is clear that the PDP through its mechanism has

shut its door to the 12 other aspirants from their party.”

“Worse still is that, Governor Chime has made himself the king over 4.5 million citizens of Enugu state and over 2.5 million registered voters in Enugu. But Enugu people are not stupid people and those aspiring to lead Enugu State are lucky to have an alternative in APC. “In this regard, they will have their voice heard in APC in 2015. The battle line has been between the people choice and Governor Chime’s choice in PDP.” National Chairman of United Progressives Party, UPP, Chief Chekwas Okorie in his own reaction, said, “the Governor just invited people he recognize as stakeholders from Enugu-North senatorial zone to arrive at a candidate.

“That does not mean that another person cannot purchase the governorship form when the time comes from PDP headquarters, Abuja.”

In the same vein, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Enugu State Chapter, noted that the party will field a better candidate that will out shine Ugwuanyi.

APGA spoke through its state Chairman, Mr. Sunday Nwachukwu.

“It is a party issue. Although Ugwuanyi is credible, APGA will ensure it fields a more credible candidate come 2015.

Our candidate will be acceptable to the people and will have better credentials when compared to PDP’s.

“The important thing is for the masses to vote a candidate that will deliver good governance to our impoverished people. For now, that ‘Moses’ that will lead our people to the promise land is what APGA will field in Enugu State.”

D16 — Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Demand information on medicines, pharmacists urge Nigerians

By Christopher Njoku

N

IGERIANS have been urged to demand for the names and information on drugs given to them by health professionals at any point in time.

Speaking on this year ’s World Pharmacy Day, Chairman, Lagos State Chapter of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, ACPN, Pharm. Abdulsalami Yinka, said information on medicines would help eliminate the disadvantages of medicines.

Abdulsalami , who spoke during an annual event organised by ACPN to mark the day, with the theme “Access to community pharmacists is Access to Health,” said medicines cure diseases and also fundamental on the preventive and educational elements of healthcare.

He stressed the need for patients to have proper understanding of medicines. “Medicines are special in such a way that one needs a directive from experts to know how to use them.

Medicines do interact with other

medicines, if you don’t get maximum information on a medicine, you can get a dangerous interaction.

“You can also have an interaction that will render the medicine useless and that may not address the problem that you took it for. That is one of the reasons it is emphasised that medicines are not ordinary commodities, but special commodities that should be understood clearly before use.”

Abdulsalami who raised alarm over the incidence of fake drugs, called for alert on drug regulators about fake pharmacists. He said lack of information on the use of drugs at the grassroots informed ACPN decision to focus on the rural communities.

“It is very important because of the position that the pharmacists generally hold in healthcare services.

So ever y year, Phar macists harmonised the efforts of how to come to the society to impact information.

“From the previous programmes in Ikotun, and Ketu, we Identified that members of the community at the grassroots lack information on health

issues. When you talk about government presence and regulation on health issues, it’s very poor, probably because of manpower problem from the regulatory bodies.

“So as pharmacists who knows what is happening in communities, we are trying to play our parts for the benefits of the citizens of Nigeria,” he stated.

• Abdulsalami - Yinka, Lagos ACPN Chairman

Breast cancer:

Pink Pearl launches Pink Hope

A

S part of the global campaign against breast cancer, Pink Pearl Foundation, PPF, - a public service charity organisation championing women empowermentinthefightagainstbreastcancer willholditsmaidenone-dayprogrammetitled: Pink Hope PPF next month. Hope Session is a breast cancer support group designed to provide psychological help to breast cancer patients and survivors.

The support group consists of informative and interactive seminars which include psychology, well-being, therapy, body aesthetics & recreation programs anchored by the foundation’s ambassadors – Maje Ayida, Banke Meshida-Lawal, Leila Fowler amongst others.

According to the Chief Executive Officer, Pink Pearl Foundation, Orode Ryan Okpu, the programme will hold 25th October 2014 in Lagos. Her words, “The most significant progress we have made to reduce death rate from cancer is through early detection; this yields better long term outcomes and lower morbidity rates. Pink Pearl Foundation contributes to the reduction of suffering, permanent physical damage/ disfigurement anddeathcausedbybreastcanceraswebelieve that if you can save a woman, then you have saved a generation.”

LUTH gets ISO 15189 accredited laboratory

L

AGOS University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, last week blazed the trail in medical laboratory services as it became the first public hospital with an ISO 15189 Accredited laboratory in Nigeria. The certificate of international accreditation was presented to the Chief Medical Director at a board meeting by the Chairman of PathCare Laboratories.

This is coming on the heels of the hospital’s efforts in the containment of Ebola virus by providing the first Virology Laboratory in Nigeria to provide testing for the deadly virus.

Receiving the certificate, the Chief Medical Director, LUTH, Professor Akin Osibogun, stated that the Public Private Partnership, PPP, which was approved by the erstwhile Minister of Health, Professor Oshitimehin in 2009 is a contributing factor in achieving the ISO 15189 accreditation.

He said: “Starting was not easy because many people did not buy into the PPP project, but the board approved it because they were convinced that it was better we had laboratory services in-house to improve patient management as wrong diagnosis and failed treatment was a major issue.

GSK in polio virus pollution scare

F

OLLOWING new problems at its Canadian flu vaccine plant and a fine for violating the US Clean Air Act, GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccine production operation hit another stumbling block lately with the accidental dumping live polio virus from its Rixensart plant into the Belgian sewer system.

Belgian authorities that reported the leak to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, ECDC, said 45 litres of concentrated live poliovirus processed at a nearby sewage treatment plant was released into a river.

Although it was noted that the risk of infection is extremely small, ECDC has concerns, as the affected river eventually joins the Scheldt and flows through the southwestern part of the Netherlands, a region in which orthodox protestant communities live. Tests of water samples from the rivers have found no poliovirus, suggesting the event is more likely to be

an embarrassment for GSK than a public health disaster. The polio dump is the latest in a string vaccine manufacturing problems at GSK. Canada has been the site of the most high-profile problems, but the Belgian operation has also had difficulties.

Earlier this year GSK warned of a shortage of chickenpox vaccines after batches produced in Belgium fell short of standards.

• A child receiving polio vaccination

D16 — Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Demand information on medicines, pharmacists urge Nigerians

By Christopher Njoku

N

IGERIANS have been urged to demand for the names and information on drugs given to them by health professionals at any point in time.

Speaking on this year ’s World Pharmacy Day, Chairman, Lagos State Chapter of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, ACPN, Pharm. Abdulsalami Yinka, said information on medicines would help eliminate the disadvantages of medicines.

Abdulsalami , who spoke during an annual event organised by ACPN to mark the day, with the theme “Access to community pharmacists is Access to Health,” said medicines cure diseases and also fundamental on the preventive and educational elements of healthcare.

He stressed the need for patients to have proper understanding of medicines. “Medicines are special in such a way that one needs a directive from experts to know how to use them.

Medicines do interact with other

medicines, if you don’t get maximum information on a medicine, you can get a dangerous interaction.

“You can also have an interaction that will render the medicine useless and that may not address the problem that you took it for. That is one of the reasons it is emphasised that medicines are not ordinary commodities, but special commodities that should be understood clearly before use.”

Abdulsalami who raised alarm over the incidence of fake drugs, called for alert on drug regulators about fake pharmacists. He said lack of information on the use of drugs at the grassroots informed ACPN decision to focus on the rural communities.

“It is very important because of the position that the pharmacists generally hold in healthcare services.

So ever y year, Phar macists harmonised the efforts of how to come to the society to impact information.

“From the previous programmes in Ikotun, and Ketu, we Identified that members of the community at the grassroots lack information on health

issues. When you talk about government presence and regulation on health issues, it’s very poor, probably because of manpower problem from the regulatory bodies.

“So as pharmacists who knows what is happening in communities, we are trying to play our parts for the benefits of the citizens of Nigeria,” he stated.

• Abdulsalami - Yinka, Lagos ACPN Chairman

Breast cancer:

Pink Pearl launches Pink Hope

A

S part of the global campaign against breast cancer, Pink Pearl Foundation, PPF, - a public service charity organisation championing women empowermentinthefightagainstbreastcancer willholditsmaidenone-dayprogrammetitled: Pink Hope PPF next month. Hope Session is a breast cancer support group designed to provide psychological help to breast cancer patients and survivors.

The support group consists of informative and interactive seminars which include psychology, well-being, therapy, body aesthetics & recreation programs anchored by the foundation’s ambassadors – Maje Ayida, Banke Meshida-Lawal, Leila Fowler amongst others.

According to the Chief Executive Officer, Pink Pearl Foundation, Orode Ryan Okpu, the programme will hold 25th October 2014 in Lagos. Her words, “The most significant progress we have made to reduce death rate from cancer is through early detection; this yields better long term outcomes and lower morbidity rates. Pink Pearl Foundation contributes to the reduction of suffering, permanent physical damage/ disfigurement anddeathcausedbybreastcanceraswebelieve that if you can save a woman, then you have saved a generation.”

LUTH gets ISO 15189 accredited laboratory

L

AGOS University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, last week blazed the trail in medical laboratory services as it became the first public hospital with an ISO 15189 Accredited laboratory in Nigeria. The certificate of international accreditation was presented to the Chief Medical Director at a board meeting by the Chairman of PathCare Laboratories.

This is coming on the heels of the hospital’s efforts in the containment of Ebola virus by providing the first Virology Laboratory in Nigeria to provide testing for the deadly virus.

Receiving the certificate, the Chief Medical Director, LUTH, Professor Akin Osibogun, stated that the Public Private Partnership, PPP, which was approved by the erstwhile Minister of Health, Professor Oshitimehin in 2009 is a contributing factor in achieving the ISO 15189 accreditation.

He said: “Starting was not easy because many people did not buy into the PPP project, but the board approved it because they were convinced that it was better we had laboratory services in-house to improve patient management as wrong diagnosis and failed treatment was a major issue.

GSK in polio virus pollution scare

F

OLLOWING new problems at its Canadian flu vaccine plant and a fine for violating the US Clean Air Act, GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccine production operation hit another stumbling block lately with the accidental dumping live polio virus from its Rixensart plant into the Belgian sewer system.

Belgian authorities that reported the leak to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, ECDC, said 45 litres of concentrated live poliovirus processed at a nearby sewage treatment plant was released into a river.

Although it was noted that the risk of infection is extremely small, ECDC has concerns, as the affected river eventually joins the Scheldt and flows through the southwestern part of the Netherlands, a region in which orthodox protestant communities live. Tests of water samples from the rivers have found no poliovirus, suggesting the event is more likely to be

an embarrassment for GSK than a public health disaster. The polio dump is the latest in a string vaccine manufacturing problems at GSK. Canada has been the site of the most high-profile problems, but the Belgian operation has also had difficulties.

Earlier this year GSK warned of a shortage of chickenpox vaccines after batches produced in Belgium fell short of standards.

• A child receiving polio vaccination