-
A commercial bus driver making a U-turn on the road median at
Ojota on Ikorodu Road, Lagos (left) and a BRT driver also crossing
the median on the express lane at Ogudu. PHOTO: ADEMOLA
AKINLABI
Vol. 4 N0. 979 Monday, November 10, 2014 N150
P.8
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>Aganga
...denies removal of 1.4 million persons in Lagos
P.7
2015: Jonathan formally declares tomorrow
P.2
Govt spends $4bn on oil, gas imports CBN
Naira gains 2.35per cent as CBN sells dollars
BUSINESSTHE SECTIONbn ts
P.A4, A5Free inside
Nigeria attracted $59bn investment in 3 years, says FG
FG approves consultancy for staff
OLUFEMI ADEOSUNABUJA
At least $59bn worth of local and for-eign direct in-vestments
came into the different sectors of the
economy within the last three years, the Minister of Industry,
Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, has said.
He attributed the grow-ing quantum of invest-ments in the
country
aimed at diversifying the economic base a way from oil to the
slew of policies initiated by the ministry.
Speaking during the 4th Annual Seminar for Industry, Trade and
In-
Over 60 killed as military moves to retake Mubi P.4
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2>>
Again, health workers begin strike on Wed
Weve not delisted any registered voter INEC
MARCUS FATUNMOLE ABUJA
The National Union of Allied Health Professional, NU-AHP, and
the Joint Health Sector Unions, JOHESU, have threatened to resume
its strike on Wednesday over other demands not ap-proved by the
government.
The Federal Government has approved the position of consultancy
for deserving
ADVERT HOTLINESFor advert bookings and information, please
contact:
LAGOS01-8446073,
08113947415081139474190811394742008113947422
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LCCI blames low turnout at trade fair on Ebola
LAWLESSNESS ON THE HIGHWAY
-
Again, health workers begin strike on Wed
Weve not delisted any registered voter INEC
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>
L-R: Assistant Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Luka Markus; Catholic
Bishop of Bauchi Diocese, Dr. Malachy John-Goltok and Parish
Priest, St. James Catholic Church Gombe, Rev. Fr. John Keane,
during a mass and confirmation of 104 Catholics in Gombe,
yesterday. PHOTO: NAN
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
OBIORA IFOH, GBENGA OGUNBUFUNMI OMEIZAAJAYI AND FEMI OYEWESO
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has said
that it has not del-isted any duly registered person from the
register of voters.
While expressing the commitment to ensure that every properly
regis-tered voter get his or her Permanent Voter Cards, PVC, for
the 2015 general election, the commission
said nobody would be de-nied his or her PVC.
Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, said
it had become necessary to re-assure the voting public against the
backdrop of temporary challenges that had been experienced in the
third phase of the dis-tribution of PVCs in some states. Idowu
added that the commission deferred the distribution of PVCs in four
other states it had earlier listed for this third phase because the
cards for those states have not been fully delivered by
printers.It is partly for the same
reason that the Commis-sion rescheduled the dis-tribution of
PVCs in lim-ited areas of Lagos and Nasarawa states," he said,
adding that the outstand-ing cards would, however, be certainly
distributed in good time before the 2015 general election.
They are presently being produced and have been scheduled for
distri-bution under the fourth phase of the exercise from Friday,
November 28th to Sunday, November 30th, 2014.
Idowu said it is com-pletely false that INEC has removed the
records of 1.4 million persons from the Register of Voters compiled
in 2011 in Lagos State.
He said while it was true that at the end of the 2011 general
registration exercise, the commission announced a figure of 6.1
million registrants in the state, when that data was subjected to
the Auto-mated Fingerprints Iden-tification System (AFIS) software,
82,892 multiple registrations were elimi-nated.
The commission added that there was the techni-cal challenge of
loss of data and incomplete data affecting about one mil-lion
records mostly in 1,792 polling units that were identified and made
public before the present exercise.
That was why/how the Post-Business Rule figure for Lagos State
(on the basis of which PVCs were printed) came down to about 4.6
million regis-trants", Idowu stated.
He said a pre-acknowl-edged data loss and incom-plete data of
some regis-trants is not a conspiracy issue as has been
alleged.
It is a back-end tech-nical challenge that is far from sealing
the fate of affected persons, and for which INEC has already put in
place measures to ensure redress.
The Commission has made provision for eli-gible persons for whom
PVCs could not been print-ed due to data loss or defec-tive data to
come out from Wednesday, November 12th to Monday, November 17th,
2014 for their data to be recaptured during the CVR. In special
consider-ation for the 1,792 polling units in Lagos State where the
challenge of data loss is much pronounced, the CVR will take place
at the polling unit level, as against the Registration Area (RA)
level in other parts of the state.
The Register of Vot-ers is the most important bedrock of the
credibility of any election. It is, there-fore, not in the best
inter-est of the political process, or indeed the enlightened
self-interest of the politi-cal elite, to needlessly im-pugn the
integrity of the Register", he said.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, had raised the alarm over
the three-day distribution of the PVCs in 12 states.
The exercise rounded off yesterday.
The party said that the process was intentionally programmed to
fail in or-der to disenfranchise vot-ers in the states with the
highest number of voters.
In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National
Publicity Secre-tary, Alhaji Lai Moham-med, APC said the fact
that most of the 12 states in which the process had been largely
botched in the past three days had the highest number of voters and
were under the con-trol of the APC point to a clear collusion
between INEC and the PDP.
It said most registered voters were unable to col-lect their
PVCs because INEC engaged in a pro-grammed incompetence to swing
the elections in favour of the PDP..
There is no doubt that this programmed incom-petence has
emanated from just one source, the ICT unit of INEC, with the
intent of sabotaging the PVC distribution process in key states,
hence we are calling on INEC Chair-man, AttahiruJega, to in-stitute
an internal inquiry into the botched exercise with a view to
fishing out the fifth columnists who are behind the sabotage,
meting out the necessary punishment to them.
If INEC is to organize a free, credible and trans-parent
election next Feb-ruary, it must quickly re-turn to the drawing
board to fashion out how to en-sure that all Nigerians who are
eligible to vote are able to do so without hindrance, and also
purge itself of the fifth colum-nists within its ranks who are bent
on sabotaging the elections,'' APC said.
The party said it was curious that most of the affected states
(Kaduna, Kano, Edo, Plateau, Ogun, Imo, Borno, Rivers, Lagos,
Nasarawa, Katsina, Niger) were either opposition strongholds or
harbour the highest huge number of voters.
''This is highly suspi-cious, against the back-ground of
available infor-mation that the PDP-led Federal Government is
working to disenfran-chise voters in opposition strongholds during
the forthcoming polls,'' it said.
APC also slammed INEC for resorting to lame excuses for botching
the exercise, saying Nigerians were not interested in who got the
contract to produce the cards but in being able to exercise their
franchise during the forthcoming elections.
But in Lagos, investiga-
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net2 Monday, November
10, 2014News
health workers in the coun-try.
JOHESU Vice-President, Felix Faniran, said NUAHP leadership met
with the Federal Government last Thursday where the group was
formally given a circu-lar approving the consul-tancy.
He stated that with the circular, health workers had the right
to become consul-tants in their various fields, like the medical
doctor.
We held a meeting with the SGF on Thursday; the government only
released one of the many circulars we told them to release. The one
they released was the one in respect to consultan-cy status which
we say they should correct which they have now corrected.
Other health care pro-
fessionals are recognised as consultants and that it is their
professional bodies that have the right to dictate who should be a
consultant or not and not the Medical and Dental Council of
Ni-geria and that such people shall be qualified to receive
specialist allowance. That is what we have got.
All other issues, particu-larly, that our salary which was
supposed to be adjusted on January this year in the same line with
our col-leagues - the NMA mem-bers, who have had their own adjusted
and whose circulars have not only been issued, but they are already
enjoying a new salary pack-age, our circular is yet to be
released.
We are in the same sec-tor but they are enjoying new salary
while we have not got the circular yet let
alone implementing it.Also, this is already No-
vember, budgets have been prepared in all institutions and ours
have been pre-pared on old rate, so we can no longer wait.
Since the government does not have an answer to this and the
arrears of CONHESS 10 skipping, they are just compiling the list
whereas they have compiled this list long ago, it was sup-posed to
be paid in 2013, they could not pay, we waited to 2014, they said
it was not in budget for 2014 and that we have to wait till 2015,
we are all tired of this rigmarol-ling.
The issue of retirement age, we dont need to argue on this one.
There has been a government White Paper in 1981 that whatever is
hap-pening in the universities should be the same condi-
tion of service in the Uni-versity Teaching Hospitals. So, since
the university is already enjoying 65 to 70 years retirement, it
should be made automatic to the University Teaching Hos-pitals,
since they are sister institutions.
Despite our effort to con-vince them they refused and said they
will wait till De-cember when one commit-tee will meet at state
level. We are not working for the states. If the federal
govern-ment has entered an agree-ment with us since May 2012, why
cant they issue circular to that effect.
So, having disagreed on all other issues, the entire unions, all
the other four unions that made of the JO-HESU have now decided to
go on indefinite strike from Wednesday next week, he declared.
-
3Monday, November 10, 2014National
Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net
-
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net4 Monday, November
10, 2014Photo News
LIVINUS MENEDIYOLA
Counter-offensive op-erations by security forces against the
Boko Haram sect in Mubi recorded some successes with the routing of
the in-surgents at the weekend, a source said yesterday.
Elite anti-riot mobile policemen have joined the battle to flush
out the insurgents, who took over Mubi about two weeks ago.
A resident, Mallam Bello Idi, who fled Mubi as a result of the
military offensive to reclaim the town, said scores of in-surgents
have been killed, while several others have surrendered.
According to him, sev-eral residents who re-mained in the town
were prevented from leaving by the sect.
According to Bello, the real motive of the sect in denying the
residents from fleeing was to use
tell whether the footage was staged for propagan-da purposes,
especially scenes of residents cheer-ing the Islamist fighters.
The message appeared to be aimed at reinforcing Shekaus claim
that he has created a caliphate within Nigeria.
In the 44-minute video, Boko Haram voices sup-port for other
so-called ca-liphates, including the one proclaimed in Iraq and
Syria by the Islamic State (IS) group.
Shekau, who is pictured in closeup shots with rare clarity,
again dismisses government claims about ceasefire talks.
The video, which was delivered through the same channels as past
messages, shows armed men lined along a well-paved road, with three
pick-up trucks bristling with heavy weapons also visible.
Black, crested flags as-sociated with the Islamist
them as buffer against heavy bombardment, add-ing that several
people have been caught in the crossfire.
I saw as much as over sixty bodies on my way out of the town.
What I witnessed was horrific; anybody still left in Mubi is in
serious danger. Many of the insurgents them-selves have been forced
to retreat into the town from the outskirts as the military advance
into the town, Bello said.
Some of the sect mem-bers, fleeing the offen-sive were alleged
to have swooped on some villagers in Makira, on the outskirts of
Mubi, setting ablaze the local church and killing two
villagers.
The villagers, accord-ing to a local vigilante, overpowered and
killed three of the insurgents. A combined team of mobile policemen
and a detach-ment of soldiers stationed in Hong were said to
have
group are also shown.Later, an armoured ve-
hicle rolls down the road lined with both fighters and
individuals who ap-pear to be residents.
Boko Haram has re-leased series of videos showing similar
military hardware, equipment it says was stolen from the Nigerian
military.
No women or girls were seen on the street or any-where else in
the footage.
Most of the message is taken up by a sermon from Shekau,
delivered indoors but apparently played on a speaker to locals
assem-bled outside.
We have indeed estab-lished an Islamic caliph-ate, he said,
restating a claim he first made in Au-gust.
The images of the ser-mon include unusually clear closeups of
the mili-tant leader.
Shekau has previously expressed solidarity with other jihadi
groups and
quickly responded and re-pelled the attackers. In a related
development, an-other top military officer was alleged to have been
arrested by the military in Yola for sabotaging the current war
against insur-gents.
The military officer was said to have been whisked away from the
battle front to the barracks for further investigations, following
the discovery of several billions of bank transac-tions linked to
him.
He was also believed to be providing the sect with vital
information about movement of arms and other tactical moves.
Meanwhile, a new Boko Haram video obtained yesterday shows sect
members on an armoured vehicle parading down a road in an
unidentified town they apparently con-trol and the groups leader
Abubakar Shekau preach-ing to locals.
It was not possible to
leaders.In the latest video, he
seemed to associate ter-ritory under his control with a wider,
global ca-liphate, but did not submit to the authority of any other
jihadi leader.
To everyone living in Islamic Caliphate, we convey our
greetings, he said, specifically mention-ing brethren in
Afghani-stan, Pakistan, Azerbai-jan, Shishan (an Islamist term for
Chechnya), Ye-men, Somalia and the Ca-liphate in Iraq and
Syria.
A graphic shown later includes a picture of the IS groups
leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as well as a portion of the message
his group issued on July 1 proclaiming a caliphate in Iraq and
Syria.
The Federal Govern-ment maintains that it is still negotiating
with Boko Haram envoys in Chad and that a disputed Octo-ber 17
ceasefire declara-tion remains viable.
Over 60 killed as military moves to retake Mubi
L-R: Director-General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Dr.
Joseph Odumodu; Director-General, Consumer Protection Council, Mrs.
Dupe Atoki; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun
Aganga; Permanent Secretary, Ambassador Abdulkadir Musa, and
Managing Director, Bank of Industry, Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa, at the
Ministrys 4th Annual Workshop for Industry, Trade and Investment
Correspondents and Editors, in Abuja.
L-R: Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio; Alaafin of Oyo,
Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III and his wife, Ayaba Memunat, during the
monarchs visit to Akwa Ibom State Government House in Uyo, after
attending the opening ceremony of the Ibom International Stadium at
the weekend.
L-R: Chief Operating Officer, Dangote Group, Mr. Kunle Alake;
Special Adviser to the GMD, Dangote Cement, Hajia Fatima Dangote;
Special Adviser to the Group President, Engr. Joseph Makoju; GMD
Dangote Cement Plc, Mr. Devakumar Edwin, and Special Adviser,
Halima Dangote, during the unveiling of Dangote 32.5 and 3X Cement
in Lagos at the weekend.
National News
L-R: Past President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(LCCI),Dr Ademola Ajayi; Honourary Life Vice President, Chief Segun
Osunkeye; Deputy President, Chief (Mrs.) Nike Akande, and Vice
President, Chief Michael Olawale-Cole, during the LCCI reception
for National Honours Awardees members in Lagos, recently.
Scenes inside Boko Haram-controlled town shown in new video
-
National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 5Monday, November
10, 2014 News
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2
vestment Correspondents and Business Editors, in Abuja at the
weekend, the minister noted that the United Nations Con-ference on
Trade and De-velopment had ranked Nigeria the number one
destination for invest-ment for two consecutive years, with the
country maintaining its top three position last year.
He said, If you look at pipeline investments that have come into
the coun-try within the last three years, we have a mini-mum of
$59bn coming into the different sectors of the economy over the
next five to eight years. This does not include the investments
that are com-ing into the power sector. If you look at the value
chain, we have about $60bn investments going into the power
sector.
Out of the $59bn that I talked about, about $12bn is going into
integrated petrochemical plant. This means that if that
pet-rochemical plant comes on stream as planned by 2018, there will
be no need for the country to import refined petroleum prod-ucts,
and that will be a big boost towards the eco-nomic diversification
of the country.
He added, Also, a lot of investments are going into fertiliser
and ethanol plants, agribusiness such as sugarcane to sugar, rice
mills and cement, among others.
We have new invest-ments going into the au-tomobile sector due
to the implementation of the Nigerian Automotive In-dustry
Development Plan, which is a major compo-nent of the Nigeria
Indus-trial Revolution Plan.
The minister pointed out that the increased investment focus on
Ni-geria, as well as sound policies across all sectors of the
Nigerian economy, had helped to create more employment and increase
the capacity utilisation of key manufacturing sectors of the
Nigerian economy.
He said, unlike in the past, when there was no comprehensive and
coor-dinated industrial policy for the country, the Nige-ria
Industrial Revolution Plan had been developed
as a major game changer.Aganga stated, Presi-
dent Goodluck Jona-than in February 2013, launched the Nigeria
In-dustrial Revolution Plan as a major game-changer. This was based
on the principle that no nation has successfully moved from being a
poor to a rich nation without a robust industrial and services
sector.
In 2011, we did not have a comprehensive automotive policy on
the ground. Today, in the au-tomotive sector, over 22 companies
have signed technical commitments to manufacturing or assem-bling
cars in Nigeria.
He added that the man-ufacturing capacity utili-sation for the
automotive sector had also increased by 40 per cent, while
in-vestment in sugar cane had risen from $100m in 2011 to N3.2bn
today.
In the cement sector, the minister said MITI, under President
Jona-than, had made signifi-cant progress, with in-stalled capacity
currently at 39.5million metric tonnes, up from 16.5mil-lion metric
tonnes per an-num in 2011.
Aganga said, In 2011, the installed capacity in the cement
sector was 16.5 million metric tonnes per annum. Today, it is 39.5
million metric tonnes. When we came in, there were about $9 billion
in-vestment in the cement sector, but today, it is more than
$15billion. In 2011, the direct and indi-rect jobs from the cement
sector were less than 600. Today, the sector provides about 2.2
million direct and indirect jobs.
According to him, un-like in the past when there was heavy
importation of cement, since 2013, the ad-ministration of President
Goodluck Jonathan has not issued any import li-cence.
Our main focus for the cement sector, going forward, is to
improve the standard of cement and to bring the price down. Ce-ment
manufacturers must do it because we do not do price regulation.
There was an announcement a few days ago that one of the cement
manufactur-ers is bringing down the price of its 32.5 by 40 per
Weve not delisted any registered voter INEC
Nigeria attracted $59bn investment in 3 years, says FG
Ongoing work at Marine Beach in Epe, Lagos during Governor
Fasholas inspection as part of his statewide projects inspection in
Kosofe, Ikorodu and Epe axis at the weekend. INSET: Governor
Babatunde Fashola (middle), Commissioner for Works and
Infrastructure, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat (2nd right) and Managing
Director, LOPEK, Mr. Kayode Oladeji (2nd left).
tion by our correspondent revealed that heaps of PVCs which
amounted to millions of cards were yet to be collected by
prospec-tive owners.
A visit to some of the polling units being used as distribution
centres in Ikeja, Agege and Lagos Island saw people coming in
trickles to collect their cards.
To compound the prob-lem, many of those who came to collect
their cards were disappointed as most could not find their names on
the lists pasted around the polling booths used for the
exercise.
In Ogun State, the In-dependent National Elec-toral Commission,
INEC, extended by a day the deadline for the distribu-tion of the
PVC.
A statement signed by the state Resident Elec-toral Commission,
REC, Sam Olumekun, copies of which were made avail-able to
journalists yester-day in Abeokuta, the state capital, explained
that the deadline for the distribu-tion of the PVC would now end
today as against the earlier scheduled date of yesterday.
Olumekun in the state-ment captioned: INEC/
OG/345/VOL.II" explained that the extension granted Ogun State
was sequel to barrage of hitches en-countered by the commis-sion
and the citizens dur-ing the first two days of the exercise which
kicked started last Friday.
National Mirror re-called that the hitches encountered during
the first and second days of the exercise had forced the state
governor, Ibi-kunleAmosun to inter-face with the top echelon of the
commission in the state where he openly ex-pressed his displeasure
of the agonies which the people of the state were subjected to
during the exercise.
Amosun during the meeting with the INECs South-West National
Commissioner, Prof. Lai Olorode, demanded a two-day extension,
fail-ure of which he threat-ened to officially take it up with
Jega.
Olorode himself had told Amosun that the three days earlier
sched-uled for the exercise were the commission's policy decision,
stressing that granting any exten-sion was beyond him.
In what appeared as acknowledging the
home-made flaws howev-er, INEC announced yes-terday that it had
grant-ed an extension of a day rather than two days de-manded by
the state gov-ernor.
In Plateau State, some prospective voters ex-pressed concern
about their inability to obtain the PVC.
A visit to some of the PVCs distribution cen-tres showed that
many voters, who turned up to obtain the cards went home
disappointed.
It was observed that while many could not find their names on
the list at some centres, some polling units were not opened for
the exercise.
Among polling units not opened at all for the exercise were
Mountain Kiew, close to the Federal Secretariat, Hwolshe and Kwata
area in Jos South Local Government Area.
At one of the polling units behind New Era Hotel in Hwolshe, out
of the voters that were reg-istered, only four names appeared on
the list.
The situation was also the same at polling units in Tudun-Wada,
Kabong, Dadin-Kowa and Kabong.
A voter, Mrs.LaraiMai-kifi, who spoke to NAN
in Hotel Junction in Hwolshe, described the situation as
frustrating.
Another voter, Mr Ibrahim Azi, said that he went to his polling
unit at Obasanjo Model Pri-mary School, but did not find his name
in the list.
However, MrTimoth-Golu, the Chief Whip, Plateau House of
As-sembly, has asked INEC to tidy up their arrange-ment so as not
to disen-franchise a large seg-ment of the population.
Golu asked INEC to ex-tend the deadline for the collection of
the PVCs, explaining that the peri-od given for the exercise was
short.
But Mr. Habu Zarma, the INEC Resident Com-missioner in Plateau,
had earlier said that more than more than one million voters, out
of 2.3 million voters, had yet to be captured in the state.
He said that fresh reg-istration exercise would take place in
527 polling units across 11 local gov-ernment areas.
Zarma said that many voters were not captured because of the
challenges faced on printers, scan-ners and capturing finger prints
of voters, among others.
cent from N1,700 per bag to N1,000. The 42.5 is com-ing down
from around N1,800 to about N1, 150 per bag.
He added, There have
been complaints about what is happening in the sector. But
Nigerians should not worry because we know what we are doing. We
have a com-
petition policy, we have anti-trust law that we are looking at
and we have a competition Bill that is going to the National
As-sembly. We will make sure
that industrialists and in-vestors across the country continue
to have the con-fidence that everyone will play on a level playing
ground.
-
6 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, November
10, 2014News
DAVID AUDU
Former Nigerian High Commissioner to the United King-dom, Dr
Christopher Ko-lade, has berated those calling for the continued
retention of immunity clause in the countrys constitution,
describ-ing them as persons with criminal tendencies.
It is only a person who wants to get political ap-pointment and
use it to siphon public funds, that
will ask for the retention of immunity clause in the
constitution.
How else would you de-scribe such a person if his intention is
not to steal, why would he be asking to be immune from crimi-nal
prosecution? Leaders who want immunity has criminal tendencies, he
declared.
Kolade who spoke at a youth empowerment forum in Lagos recently,
tasked Nigerian youths to embrace transparency and integrity of
character,
OLUFEMI ADEOSUNABUJA
The Federal Govern-ment has said that it has set machin-ery in
motion to evolve 30 new export markets with-in Nigeria in the next
five years, all capable of mak-ing Nigeria attained a 7.1 annual
Gross Domestic Product growth and a fi-nancial base of up to $1.6
trillion.
The Executive Secre-tary, Nigerian Exports Promotion Council,
NEPC, gave the hint in Abuja at the weekend during the 4th annual
me-dia conference themed; Building Greater Nation through Sustained
Trans-formation.
He said efforts current-ly being directed by NEPC would offer
not less than 5 million jobs which he said would be directly and
indirectly created in the value chain under OSOP.
The council, he further noted, had been making efforts to
position the ex-port market as the growth opportunity of choice for
private sector earnings and sustainable economic development.
Awolowo hailed the transformation agenda of President Goodluck
Jona-than which he noted, had ensured steady growth in non-oil
export, which ac-cording to him, fetched the country a total sum of
US$2.970 Billion in 2013, a 15.9 percent increase over US$2.561Bn
in 2012.
He said NEPC had de-signed a game-changing approach towards
attain-ing the new initiatives by the government against the
backdrop that only 11 new non-oil products
were exported in 2013 to 11 countries, just as he lamented that
the non-oil export potentials in Nige-ria have not been fully
ex-ploited despite endowed natural resources on the solid minerals,
agricul-ture among others.
He stressed the need for Nigeria to begin to look beyond its oil
resources because the country was already experiencing lack of
patronage from major oil consumers like the US, while the crude oil
price has suddenly fallen by 25 percent.
The NEPC boss how-ever disclosed that NEPC had developed a one
state one product initiative to-wards promoting the ex-port markets
in Nigeria in which case each state would be encouraged to
specialise in the produc-tion of an agricultural product on which
it has comparative advantage over the others.
He said, The pro-gramme will adopt one product in each state and
develop its value chain. It will also adopt key nation-al products
such as cocoa, palm produce, cashew, cassava, ground nuts and
others for priority value addition and develop-ment.
Its time for Nigeria to look beyond oil resources NEPC
FG, port operators lose N35bn to blockade of ports
Kolade berates calls for retention of immunity clause
L-R: Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan; Mr. Jude
Ighoteguonor and his wife, an athlete and former Miss Blessing
Okagbare, after their wedding ceremony in Sapele, at the
weekend.
The Federal Govern-ment and port op-erators have lost about
N35bn in a week to blockade of the Apapa Port activities by customs
agents, Seaports Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria, STOAN,
has said.
The spokesman for STOAN, Mr Bolaji Akino-la, said in a statement
in Lagos on Sunday, that the blockade resulted from customs agents
rejection of port charges.
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the agents action
be-gan on November 3, 2014, adding that the Apapa Port lost N1.4
billion daily since the blockade began.
Akinola said: Ship-ping lines, manufactur-ing companies, haulage
firms, terminal operators,
Nigerian Ports Author-ity, importers, clearing agents and other
agencies of government are collec-tively losing about N3.6 billion
daily.
NAN reports that the Nigerian Shippers Coun-cil, NSC, had in
October published an advertise-ment announcing the re-versal of
storage charges at the ports.
The charges were re-verted to what obtained as at May 1,
2009.
NSC also directed an increase in the free stor-age period at the
ports from three days to seven days.
The council equally directed shipping com-panies to reduce
agency charges from N26,500 to N23,850 per TEU (20-foot container)
and from
N48,000 to N40,000 per FEU (40-foot container).
It also directed ship-ping agencies to refund deposits for
containers to importers and agents within 10 working days after
return of empty con-tainers.
The charges were to be-gin in November.
However, shortly after publishing the directives, terminal
operators under the aegis of STOAN, and shipping line agencies
se-cured interim injunctions from the Federal High Court to stop
the NSC from implementing the directives.
Justice Ibrahim Buba granted an ex parte mo-tion filed by
STOAN.
He gave an injunction restraining the NSC and its agents from
reversing
the charges pending the determination of a sub-stantive suit on
the mat-ter.
Buba adjourned the matter till Monday, No-vember 10, 2014, for
fur-ther hearing.
Shipping lines under the umbrella of the Asso-ciation of
Shipping Line Agencies, ASLA, also se-cured a similar court
in-junction.
Akinola said that the blockade of terminals at the nations
premier port could `hurt the economy.
The association urged the Nigerian Ports Au-thority, NPA, the
police and other concerned authorities to clear the blockade to
allow those wishing to clear their car-goes to gain access into the
ports, he said.
adding that only then can they contribute to build a nation
which future gen-eration would be proud of.
He also urged the youths to support the transforma-tion agenda
of the present government, saying it is an efforts aimed at
devel-opment.
The transformation is not for the people in gov-ernment alone,
but for all Nigerians. There is need for all to key into the
pro-gramme and support ev-ery effort aimed at bring-ing
development, he said.
He said the country is blessed with a youthful population; as
such, they should devote their ef-fort and energies towards
positive contributions that will bring good to the soci-ety, while
urging them to strive to be people of in-tegrity and not to
manifest lower tendencies.
With reference to Nige-rias position in the cor-ruption index,
he said, no situation changes it-self; change has to come through a
conscious ef-fort and that is where our
youths must have a criti-cal role to play, he said.
In a related develop-ment, while giving a key note address at a
sym-posium on politics, busi-ness and the 2015 general elections,
organised by BrandIQ Magazine, in Lagos, Kolade, noted that
Nigerian can only drive engagement through de-liberate
participation in the political system.
He said true demo-
cratic participation en-tails the need for constant dialogue
among citizens, adding that only through such open and frank talk,
can we understand our-selves and find a way to stay together as a
united country.
He therefore tasked stakeholders in the politi-cal process to
endeavour to participate fully to re-alise the democracy of our
dream.
Awolowo
-
ISAIAH ERHIAWARIEN
The Nigerian Commu-nications Commis-sion, NCC, is target-ing a
30 per cent increase in broadband internet pen-etration by
2018.
The increase from its current level of six per cent is expected
to come from the planned historic auc-tion of the 2.6 gigahertz
spectrum band taking place next month in Abuja.
According to the NCC,
the nations telecoms sector will benefit significantly with the
auspicious auction in the area of further deep-ening broadband
internet penetration in the country.
Technical details of the planned auction as contained in the
recent-ly-released Information Memorandum, IM, by the regulator
which defines the process for the licensing of paired spectrum in
the 2.6 GHz band indicates that the auction of the spectrum will
boost the drive by the
The ongoing Lagos International Trade Fair in Lagos, yesterday.
PHOTO: NAN
ABIODUN NEJOADO EKITI
The All Progres-sives Congress, APC, in Ekiti State yesterday
said the petition written by the Peoples Democratic Par-ty, PDP, to
the state Chief Judge, Ayodeji Daramo-la, over reassignment of the
suit filed by a group to Justice Olusegun Ogu-nyemi amounted to
at-tempt to hijack the judi-ciary.
Consequently, the op-position party urged the chief judge to be
firm in his decision on the suit to ensure justice, not minding
criticisms.
The APC State Pub-licity Secretary, Hon. Taiwo Olatunbosun,
told
journalists on phone in Ado-Ekiti yesterday that acceding to
such request based on petition from the PDP would erode the
sanctity and respect of the judiciary.
Olatunbosun, who said the judiciary re-mained the bastion of the
common man, noted that it would spell dan-ger for the country for a
party in a case to dictate who to handle the case.
The PDP, in the peti-tion signed by its State Chairman, Chief
Idowu Faleye, last week had ac-cused Justice Ogunyemi of bias,
saying justice could not be guaranteed in the matter under him,
hence the request to as-sign the case to another judge.
ROTIMI FADEYIABUJA
Preparations are in top gear for the dec-laration of Presi-dent
Goodluck Jonathan for the 2015 Presidential elections slated for
Eagle Square, Abuja tomorrow.
Arrangements for tight security are being made as the major
roads leading to the Eagle Square are expected to be cordoned
off.
The event, which would kick-off at 10a.m, would be witnessed by
top hierarchy of the Peoples Democratic Par-
ty, PDP leadership and members of the National Assembly as well
as top government officials.
Jonathan had on Thursday, October 23 af-ter a meeting with PDP
leaders at the Presiden-tial Villa, set up a 37-man Presidential
declaration committee headed by for-mer Minister of Defence, Bello
Haliru, to make ad-equate arrangement for tomorrows event.
A source close to the committee disclosed yes-terday that
adequate se-curity had been made to ensure that the declara-tion
was hitch-free.
OLUSEGUN KOIKI
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, said it has
discovered 2.235kg of cocaine inside soles of female shoes
im-ported from Brazil into the country.
The agency stated that the illicit drug was detected at the
Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, inward screening of
passengers on board an Etihad Airways flight.
An online media state-ment from the spokesman of the agency, Mr.
Mitch-ell Ofoyeju stated that the suspect, a male who was
simply identified as Mama Solomon who checked-in the bags with
the narcotic had been apprehended by its officials.
Commenting on the sei-zure, NDLEA Commander at the Lagos
Airport, Mr. Hamza Umar stated that the suspect claimed to be a
shoe merchant, however, during interrogation it was revealed that
he only used the shoes to conceal the co-caine.
Umar emphasized that Mama Solomon had two bags containing female
shoes and hand bags.
During interrogation, the suspect Mama Solomon, 27 years old
said that he was given the bag by a friend in
Brazil to take to Nigeria.He allegedly confessed,
I live and work in Brazil. I was given the drug with a promise
that I will be hand-somely rewarded if I suc-cessfully deliver the
bag in Nigeria. They also assured me that somebody will help me in
collecting the bags at the airport in Nigeria. Unfortunately,
officers de-manded to search my bag and in the process, the
co-caine was found in my bag.
The suspect hails from Enugu State.
Also commenting on the discovery, the Chief Ex-ecutive, NDLEA,
Ahmadu Giade said that the agency would continue to detect hidden
drugs and prosecute
drug traffickers.The NDLEA boss also
urged members of the pub-lic not to relent their effort in
reporting suspected drug dealers to the Agency.
This seizure will serve as a warning to drug cartels. Efforts
shall be intensified to train and retrain officers on interdiction
techniques and intelligence gathering in order to maintain our
su-periority over drug traffick-ers. NDLEA shall continue to seize
narcotic drugs and prosecute offenders Giade stated.
Ofoyeju stated that the suspect risks 15 years jail term if
convicted on the charge of unlawful posses-sion of cocaine.
Ekiti APC accuses PDP of ploy to hijack judiciary
NDLEA uncovers cocaine in female shoes
NCC targets 36% broadband internet penetration by 2018
regulator to deepen broad-band internet penetration.
Director, Public Affairs, NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo, said the process
for the licens-ing of the 2.6 GHz spectrum is predicated on demands
by operators for additional spectrum to enable the pro-vision of
Advanced Wire-less Broadband services in line with international
trends.
It is also in line with the mandate of the commis-sion as
accentuated in the National Broadband Plan 2013-2018, approved by
Pres-ident Goodluck Jonathan last year and the objectives
of the Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2013.
According to him, the auction is also in further-ance of the
objectives of the Federal Government of Nigeria as set out in the
Ni-gerian National ICT Policy 2012.
Based on the positive outcome of earlier con-sultations with
necessary stakeholders and the direc-tion of the National
Broad-band Plan, the commission has decided to undertake the 2.6
gigahertz spectrum auction to award spec-trum licenses to build and
operate networks in this
spectrum band to provide Advanced Broadband Wire-less Services
to subscribers in Nigeria, Ojobo said.
He said that to qualify to bid in the December auc-tion,
applicants dont have to be Licensed Network Op-erators, LNOs, in
Nigeria, adding that any successful bidder who does not have a
Unified Access Service Li-cense, UASL, will be grant-ed one upon
payment of the specified fee. The tenure for the UASL will be 10
years, subject to renewal.
He explained the spec-trum is offered by the commission on a
technol-
ogy neutral basis, saying, however, that for roll-out of
services, the commis-sion intends to follow the International
Telecommu-nication Union, ITU, rec-ommendation setting aside
spectrum in the 2.6GHz band for the provision of advanced wireless
broad-band services.
He said further that the commission will offer 14 Lots of 2X5
megahertz FDD paired spectrum in the 2.6 GHz band ranging from 2500
2570 mega-hertz and 2620 to 2690 megahertz (totaling 2 X 70
megahertz) for auction.
2015: Tight security as Jonathan declares tomorrow
National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 7National
NewsMonday, November 10, 2014
-
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net8 Monday, November
10, 2014
President, Trade Pro-motion Board, Dr Michael Olawale-Cole,
yesterday attributed the low turnout of foreign exhibitors at the
2014 La-gos International Trade Fair to fear of the Ebola Virus
Disease, EVD.
Olawale-Cole told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Lagos that
the organisation lost quite a large number of foreign exhibitors
due to the fear.
Nigeria was certified free of EVD on October 20 by the World
Health Or-ganisation, WHO.
Olawale-Cole said, It would have been a bigger fair if not for
the Ebola scare.
Olawale-Cole said: By the time the country was certified free of
Ebola by WHO, it was too late for most of this countries to
come.
They (foreign exhibi-
tors) will need a lot of preparation which will require a month
or even three months.
Thousands of people who would have come from China, Europe and
even some African coun-tries, out of fear, decided to stay
away.
He said that the harm was done as soon as the Liberian-American,
Pat-rick Sawyer, imported the EVD into the country on
July 20.Olawale-Cole told NAN
that LCCI released infor-mation weekly to prospec-tive
exhibitors about the Ebola-free status of the country.
Some of the exhibitors at the trade fair had sa-nitisers at the
entrance of their stalls for usage by prospective customers, NAN
said.
The fair will end on No-vember 16.
L-R: Former Oyo State Chief of Staff, Dr. Saka Balogun; Leader,
House of Representative, Hon. Mulikat Akande-Adeola, and Chief Bayo
Oyeweso, during Akande-Adeolas declaration of intent in the next
election, in Ogbomoso at the weekend.
Kemi OlaitanIBADAN
A university teacher, Prof. Adeniyi Olatu-bosun, has warned the
Federal Government not to see the raging insur-gency of Boko Haram
in the North-East as a regional affair.
Olatubosun, who is a pro-fessor of Law at University of Ibadan,
gave the warn-ing at the weekend while delivering his inaugural
lecture titled, Tough on Crime but Soft on Justice.
The Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan, said: Believing
that Boko Haram terror will be lim-
ited to the northern part of the country is wishful thinking. We
must not seem blind to the enormous cul-tural and global impact the
teaching of the insurgents has had and is having on some Nigerian
people.
We must therefore do all that is necessary now, with all our
might, and wage war against a minion tyranny that has unleashed
catalogue of heinous crime on the Nigerian people. The battle may
take far lon-ger than we would wish; it will entail military, law
en-forcement and diplomatic approaches. With foreign assistance,
Nigeria should prepare for a long, tough
fight. This is because the
same ideology that drove Abdul Mutallab to attempt to detonate
plastic explo-sives hidden in his under-wear while on board
North-west Airlines Flight 253 en route from Amsterdam to Detroit,
Michigan, on Christmas day in 2009, must have inspired hundreds of
youths that are getting radicalised in the country, though we
continue to live in denial of this uncomfort-able truth.
He expressed worry that the conflict has spread from the North
East to the North Central states including the Federal Capital
Terri-
Don tasks FG on spread of Boko Haram
Trade fair: LCCI blames low turnout on Ebola scare
tory, Abuja, thus posing a fundamental domestic chal-lenge to
the countrys secu-rity for nearly five years, with many innocent
souls being killed randomly with-out ceasing.
To get out of the wood of this security challenge, the professor
then urged the Federal Government to adopt the soft approach to
countering the terrorism through de-radicalisation of prison system
on one hand, and mobilising fam-ily, cultural, religious and
national values through partnerships with faith-based
organisations, com-munity-based organisa-tions, and NGOs.
South West
The Outdoor Advertis-ing Association of Nigeria, OAAN, has
cautioned politicians and other individuals engaged in
indiscriminate and il-legal installation of bill-boards for
electioneering campaigns, saying such act would impact negatively
on the environment as well as create new challenges for the
industry.
Rather, the association advised that it is only those companies
that are within its fold or that have been duly licensed to engage
in the business of outdoor ad-vertising by the Advertis-ing
Practitioners Council of Nigeria, APCON, that could lawfully engage
in the prac-tice.
For the avoidance of doubts, we state quite cate-gorically that
it is only those companies that are within the fold of the Outdoor
Ad-vertising Association of Nigeria licensed to engage in the
business of outdoor advertising by APCON that can lawfully engage
in the practice.
Making the plea at the end of its Extra-ordinary General meeting
at Obasan-jo Legacy Resort in Abeoku-
ta, Ogun State, the associa-tions president, Mr. Charles
Chijide, maintained that any group of individuals who engage in the
practice in whatever form, for what-ever purposes and under any
guise, would be commit-ting an act of illegality.
He said the advice be-came necessary in view of the adverse
effect such act of gross illegality consti-tutes to the environment
and the grave danger it por-tends for the society if not checked
immediately.
Buttressing the point, he said: When non profes-sionals and
quacks engage in any specialised area of human endeavour, the
re-sult can only be chaotic, insisting that it was OAANs belief
that the current ac-tivities of those engaging in illegal
billboards instal-lation across the country could only result in
serious negative consequences on the environment.
However, Chijide argued that if professionals are engaged, the
environment will be better for it while the sponsors of such
campaigns would spend less, and still have higher value for their
money.
OAAN warns politicians against illegal billboard
installations
Amid expressions of surprise in the market place, the management
of Dangote Ce-ment Plc at the weekend as-sured that it would evolve
a monitoring process that will ensure that profiteers do not hijack
the new price cut so that it benefits end users of the
commodity.
Speaking in Lagos while unveiling its new cement bags redesigned
in line with the demand of the Stan-dard Organisation, SON, the
Group Managing Director of the company, Mr Devakumar Edwin,
explained that the new price regime was intro-duced in the best
interest of Nigeria and her citizens who have all along been
looking forward to it as manufactur-ers continued to increase their
production capacities to meet and surpass national consumption
need.
He said the price crash is in the companys quest to support the
Federal Gov-ernments efforts to reduce the overwhelming housing
deficit in the country and the hope that the development would go a
long way into as-
Dangote pledges to monitor cement pricessisting in this
regard.
Edwin noted that reduc-tion in price of building ma-terials,
particularly cement, which is within the com-panys control, is one
of the strategies of reducing hous-ing deficit.
The nations foremost cement manufacturer also unveiled its new
product 32.5 cement grade as well as the new packaging as ordered
by the SON for clear distinction among the various cement
grades.
As part of our efforts to make cement affordable to the ordinary
Nigerian, we announced a price slash on all our products, last
Friday. The new prices, which are ex-clusive of Value Added Tax,
VAT, represent about 40 per cent discount on the prevail-ing market
price, currently hovering around N1,700. Con-sequently, a 50kg bag
of 32.5 Grade Dangote Cement, now sells for N1,000, while 50kg of
the 42.5 Grade goes for N1,150. It has always been our desire at
Dangote Cement Plc to reduce the price of our prod-ucts to enable
many more Nigerians to build their own houses, Edwin said.
CHANGE OF NAMEEFEFIONG: Formerly known and addressed as Miss
Emmanuella Chizaram Ekpemandu, now wish to be known and addressed
as Mrs Emmanuella Efefiong Udo-Nya. All other documents remain
valid. Sterling Bank of Nigeria, Wuse 11, Abuja and general public
take note.
CHANGE OF NAMEOWOEYE: Formerly known and addressed as Miss
Owoeye Sherifat Motunrayo, now wish to be called and addressed as
Miss Dickson-Bankole Sherifat Motunrayo. All former documents
remain valid. NSCDC and general public should please take note.
CHANGE OF NAMEONI: Formerly known and addressed as Miss Oni
Oluwabunmi Adefunke, now wish to be called and addressed as Mrs.
Ademola-Atobaba Oluwabunmi Adefunke. All former documents remain
valid. All authority concern and general public should please take
note.
CHANGE OF NAMEOLUWATOKE: Formerly known and addressed as Miss
Oluwatoke Omowumi Aanu, now wish to be called and addressed as Mrs.
Adebayo Omowumi Aanu. All former documents remain valid. Hospital
Management Board (HMB) and general public should please take
note.
CHANGE OF NAMEIJEOMA: Formerly known and addressed as Miss
Onyeukwu Ijeoma Mercy, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs
Seidlitz Ijeoma Mercy. All former documents remain valid. General
public take note.
CHANGE OF NAMEOFUANI: Formerly known and addressed as Miss Irene
Uche Ofuani, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Irene Uche
Omoru. All former documents remain valid. General public take
note.
CHANGE OF NAMEOCHIE: Formerly known and addressed as Miss Ochie
Bibian Onyinye, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ezeanya
Bibian Onyinye. All former documents remain valid. General public
take note.
CHANGE OF NAMEOBIDIKE: Formerly known and addressed as Miss
Obidike Ogechukwu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs
Ibekwuike Ogechukwu Ann. All former documents remain valid. General
public take note.
CHANGE OF NAMEEPUNAM: Formerly known and addressed as Miss
Epunam Onyinye Blessing, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs
Olisah Onyinye Blessing. All former documents remain valid. General
public take note.
CHANGE OF NAMEAIGBE: Formerly known and addressed as Aigbe
Oghosasea P. now wish to be known and addressed as Aigbe Paula. All
former documents remain valid. General public take note.
-
National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 9 South WestMonday,
November 10, 2014
...alleges gov has scrapped due process
L-R: Chairman, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, Mr. John Coumantaros;
Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi; Minister of Agriculture and
Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, and Managing Director, Rom
Oil Mills Ltd, Mr. Mousa Shahimi, during the inspection tour of
Edible Oil Refinery and Margarine Plant in Ibadan at the
weekend.
Nigeria unhealthy under PDP, says Abubakar
You inherited CCT from Fayemis govt, APC tells Fayose
Tambuwal, Ajimobi, Alaafi n, others to grace Ayoades book
launch
ABIODUN NEJO ADO EKITI
Former Vice Presi-dent, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has said that the
only way to sal-vage the country from the untold hardship
occa-sioned by poor economy and leadership fostered on Nigerians by
the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is by voting the party out in
2015.
Abubakar said; Nigeria is not healthy. When you look at the
economy and insecurity in the country, you will know that Nige-ria
is not healthy. The only way that the country can salvaged, is to
seize the op-portunity to bring about change by voting in the All
Progressives Congress,
APC.The APC Presidential
aspirant also took a swipe on PDP for calling on the House of
Representatives Speaker, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal to resign for
de-fecting to the APC.
The former vice presi-dent spoke at the week-end at Ire Ekiti
during the inauguration of a fully-equipped 32-bed hospital built
by House of Repre-sentatives member, Hon Bimbo Daramola, for his
constituents.
Abubakar, who de-scribed the Joan Taiwo Daramola Memorial
Hos-pital, named after the lawmakers mother, as a masterpiece and a
project with direct bearing on the peoples lives, donated five
million for the purchase of
drugs so that the general hospital will start attend-ing to
people now.
The former vice presi-dent said what Ekiti people needed, were
projects and programmes that would uplift them by citing Dar-amolas
gesture. He also de-scribed the stomach infra-structures of the
present administration in the state as a misplaced priority.
He said: The people of this state does not need stomach
infrastructure. Are you going to forgo education for stomach
infrastructure? Are you going to forgo healthcare delivery for
stomach infra-structure? Are you going to forgo infrastructures
de-velopment for stomach in-frastructure? the former vice president
asked.
At the event attended by House of Representatives Speaker,
Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal; former Ekiti State Governors, Otunba Niyi
Adebayo, Chief Segun Oni and Dr Kayode Fayemi, Daramola said the
hospi-tal, which is to be managed by Anglican Church, is to attend
to the healthcare needs of his people to en-sure they no longer
travel to distant towns for medi-cal attention.
The lawmaker, who said the project was among his numerous
efforts to give back to his constituents, also hinged his second
term ambition on the need to do more, saying: I have chosen a
different path in politics; that of service to the greater number
of peo-ple over and above self.
FRANCIS SUBERU
An All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship as-pirant in
Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, has unveiled his action plan for
Lagos State and its resi-dents, even as he wooed the party leaders
in the state, soliciting their support ahead of the party
prima-ries slated for December 2.
The action plan was con-tained in a statement by the Lagos
Deserves More Cam-paign Group, whereby Am-bode promised to run an
in-clusive government, which
The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ekiti State has de-bunked
Ekiti State Gov-ernor, Ayodele Fayoses claim that the Conditional
Cash Transfer, CCT, pro-gramme is part of his stomach
infrastructure programme aimed at re-ducing poverty in Ekiti
State.
The APC also accused Fayose of throwing away due process in the
award of contracts, saying that he has turned himself into a sole
administra-tor.
In the past three weeks, Mr Fayose has awarded contracts worth
N2 billion without passing through due pro-cess, the APC
claimed.
In the statement by the State Publicity Sec-retary, Taiwo
Olatunbo-sun, the party described Fayoses claim of owner-ship of
the CCT as being dishonest.
The truth of the mat-ter is that the CCT, which is a joint
programme of the state government and the MDGs was initi-
ated by the Kayode Fay-emi administration one year ago.
There were 2,250 beneficiaries in five lo-cal governments of
Ise/Orun, Ikere, Irepodun/Ifelodun, Ilejemeje and Ido/Osi cutting
across 450 households of care-fully selected vulnerable women.
Olatunbosun said the total money expended on the pro-gramme was
N375 mil-lion out of which Ekiti State under Fayemi, con-tributed
N187.5 million while the Federal Gov-ernment paid the other
half.
He said the pro-gramme which is to achieve universal pri-mary
education, gender equality and women em-powerment, was coordi-nated
by the office of the Special Adviser to Gov-ernor Fayemi on MDGs.
The first batch of 2,250 received N5,000 monthly for one year and a
tele-phone set, with N100,000 after one year to start an
agriculture related busi-ness.
Lagos 2015: Ambode unveils action plan, pledges continuity
The Speaker of the House of Represen-tatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri
Tambuwal, Gov-ernor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State and the Alaafin of
Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayi-wola Adeyemi III, are among eminent
personali-ties expected at the public presentation of a book in
honour of an Emeritus Professor of Political Sci-ence, John A. A.
Ayoade on Wednesday, November 12, 2014 in Ibadan.
Other dignitaries also expected at the occasion scheduled for
the Confer-ence Room of the National Institute of Social and
Eco-nomic Research, NISER, Ibadan, at 12 noon include the Lagos
State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fasho-la, his Ogun and Osun
state counterparts, Senator Ibi-kunle Amosun and Ogbeni Rauf
Aregbesola.
Other traditional rulers expected to grace the book launch are
the Timi of Ede, Oba Munirudeen Lawal and the Eleruwa of Eruwa, Oba
Samuel Adegbola. The
he said every view and voice would be treated fairly
irre-spective ethnic background, religious inclination and
po-litical affiliation.
Ambode, who served as the Auditor-General for Local Government
and Accountant-General in the state between 2001 and 2012, noted
that his programmes of action would be people-focused if he emerged
the party flag bearer and final-ly elected in February 2015.
He acknowledged the landmark achievement, which he said, had
been re-corded by the Lagos State Government, especially in
infrastructure develop-
ment and urban renewal since the return to demo-cratic rule in
1999.
He said the state govern-ment had done well in jus-tice,
agriculture, tourism, road reconstruction, flood control, skill
acquisition, security, education and oth-ers under the
administra-tion of former Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu and that of
his successor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola.
The governorship hope-ful explained that his de-signed action
plan is aimed at touching lives at different strata of Lagos
metropolis and suburbs in line with the APC manifesto, which
he said, was designed to make Nigeria Africas hope and pool of
human resourc-es.
Ambode said the focus of his action plan is to deepen a
tradition of con-tinuity in government pro-grammes and projects,
which he said the APC-led government in the state has been
implementing since 1999.
He said the action plan centres on employment generation, food
security, affordable health care, integrated transport net-work,
affordable housing schemes and free basic edu-cation among others.
Gov Ajimobi
book entitled ``The Legis-lature and Governance in Nigeria and
edited by Dr. Emmanuel Olugbade Ojo, a Senior Lecturer in the
De-partment of Political Sci-ence, University of Ilorin and Dr. J.
Shola Omotola of the Redeemers University Ogun State, is a
festschrift in honour of the emeritus professor who turns 72 on
November 12, 2014.
A statement issued in Ibadan at the week-end by Dr. Ojo, who is
currently the Special Adviser to the Governor of Oyo State on
Political Matters, named Mr. Yinka Fabowale, the South-West
Regional Editor of The Sun Newspapers, as the reviewer of the
book.
-
National Mirror www.nationalmir-10 South East Monday, November
10, 2014
ALIUNA GODWINABAKALIKI
The Ebonyi State Government, at the weekend, said it has
earmarked over 500mil-lion U.S dollars for the con-struction of
international cargo airport in the state.
The Coordinating Com-missioner for Information and State
Orientation, Dr Ifeanyi Ikeh, made this known while briefing
newsmen in Abakaliki, shortly after the State Ex-ecutive Council
meeting held at the Exco- Cham-bers.
Ikeh said the airport is
sited at Nwezenyi amachi in Izzi Local Government Area of the
state.
The commissioner not-ed that the plan of the state government to
embark on airport construction, was to enable it boost business
transaction in the state especially the foreigners who will be
coming to do businesses at the interna-tional market constructed by
Governor Martin El-echis administration.
Ikeh noted the pre-paredness of the state gov-ernor to ensure
that most of the projects embarked upon by him,such as the
dualisation of a section of
Abakaliki-Enugu express way, starting from Ebonyi State
University to PDP secretariat, Pipe produc-tion factory, Ufuru Akpa
water scheme, Ocho- Udo city secretariat, interna-tional market
among other projects started are com-pleted before leaving office
in 2015.
According to him the council has studied the power point towards
the construction of the cargo international airport. The
international market is up coming. You cant be talking of
international market without airport to boost businesses.
DENNIS AGBOENUGU
Imeobi, the highest de-cision making body of apex Igbo
socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, yesterday, failed to
endorse President Good-luck Jonathan for the 2015 general
elections.
Present at the meeting were Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,
chieftain and one of those that spear-headed the endorsement of
Jonathan by Ohnaeze in the last presidential election, Chief
Emmanuel Iwuan-yanwu, a stalwart of the PDP, Senator Hope Uzodin-ma
who had insisted in the meeting that Ohanaeze should not be
completely left out of politics, former Ohanaeze
President-Gen-eral, Dr Dozie Ikedife, First
Republic parliamentarian, Chief Mbazuruike Amechi, Chief Chekwas
Okories, among others.
It was gathered that some PDP chieftains are seriously lobbing
the lead-ership of Ohanaeze to en-dorse Jonathan for the 2015
elections.
Speaking at the meet-ing, President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo,
Chief Gary Igarawey, told mem-bers of Imeobi, including PDP
politicians who attend-ed the meeting that he delib-erately
included Ndigbo and 2015 presidential elec-tion to attract
prominent people to the meeting.
He, however, said he had continued to insist in his previous
speeches that no-body had been endorsed by Ohanaeze Ndigbo for the
2015 presidential elections.
Igarawey said they would continue to carry out consultations,
noting that candidates of different po-litical parties have not
even emerged, hence the need to continue consultations.
He, however, assured that when the time comes for endorsement of
any candidate, they would con-sult and know the next line of action
to take.
Ohanaeze has not en-dorsed anybody and that is the truth, we are
still con-sulting. Candidates have not even emerged from any
political party he stated.
On the insecurity chal-lenges facing the country, Igarawey said
there was need to look into the plight of Igbos in the areas
cap-tured in some parts of the north.
He expressed dismay
2015: Ohanaeze refuses to endorse Jonathan
that those in the captured areas who were willing to come home,
were yet to get means of trans-portation to come home.
A former governorship candidate of the All Pro-gressives
Congress, APC, Senator Chris Ngige, who also spoke at the meeting,
advocated the insulation of Ohanaeze from partisan politics.
He recalled that Ohanaeze suffered in the past when a candidate
it supported for the presiden-tial election failed and ad-vised
Imeobi members not to make a similar mistake.
Ngige insisted that since the body has its own sons in the
different politi-cal parties, there was need for the apex Igbo body
to be insulated from partisan politics.
ALIUNA GODWINABAKALIKI
Former Minister of Culture and Tourism, Ambassador Frank
Ogbuewu, Senator Nguji Ngele, Dr. Mrs. Norah Aloh and ten others
have emerged the elected national dele-gates for the ruling Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, Eb-onyi State chapter.
Also, no fewer than 513 ward delegates and the 13 national
delegates emerged at the congresses conducted on November 1, and
Novem-ber 8, 2014 congresses of the party in the state.
Others that made the na-tional delegates lists include Sunday
Igwewa, Chief Tony Abel, Chief Chukwuma Igwe, Emmanuel Mbaechi-na ,
Bonny Ofoke, Prof. Ozo Nwke Ozo.
Acting state chairman of the party, Chief Joseph Onwe, who made
this known in a press release signed and made available to National
Mirror in Abaka-liki, explained that despite ploy by some elements
to cause misgivings among
Ex-minister, senator emerge PDP national delegates in Ebonyi
Members of Council of Ozo Ndi Igbo Nigeria during a meeting on
protection of Igbo culture in Enugu, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN
Ebonyi earmarks $500m for cargo airport construction
party faithful, the exercise went peacefully because of the
maturity and disposition of the people to democratic tenets.
Although, a section of the PDP in the state had ex-pressed
reservations as to the conduct of the elections, the party
chairman, Onwe, said that all the elected del-egates at the 3-man
ad-hoc ward congresses and the na-tional delegates are men and
women of integrity.
Onwe added that the par-ty has no doubt that the del-egates
would represent the party creditably well, having occupied various
positions of authority in the past.
He thanked the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party and
the panels that conducted the exercise for their patience.
We highly commended the great patience shown by the panels sent
to Eb-onyi State to conduct the congresses, particularly the
chairman of the National Delegate Congress Commit-tee, Dr. Willy
Ogbeide and the members, the document stated.
So, all we are putting in place is to ensure that there is a
standard cargo airport for Ebonyi State. And so far, the design of
the airport has been done, courtesy of the Ministry of Lands and
Survey.
What I cannot say for now, is whether the contract will be
awarded before we leave office or not, but Im sure of the plan to
construct the airport for the people of the state. Remember that
government is a continu-ous process, if we do not award it now, the
next government will do, he stated.
OLUFEMI ADEOSUNABUJA
The Federal Govern-ments quest to make made- in -Nig eria
products meet acceptable international standards has received a
major boost with the certification of two labo-ratories of the
Standard Or-ganisation of Nigeria, SON, by the American
Associa-tion for Laboratory Accredi-tation, AALA.
The laboratories are accredited in accordance with the
recognised Inter-national Standard ISO/IEC 17025:2005 general
require-ment for competence of test-ing and calibration
Some of the products which will now undergo lo-cal testing in
the laborato-ries before export include maize, beans, soya beans,
rice, cassava, yam among others
The certification also ac-commodates fresh fish, fro-zen fish
and can foods
Speaking while unveil-ing the certificate in Abuja at the
weekend, the Minis-ter of Industry, Trade and
Investment Dr Olusegun Aganga, noted that the ap-proval would
enable the laboratories carry out prop-er testing on some product
categories.
The accreditation dem-onstrate technical compe-tence for a
defined scope and the operation of a labo-ratory quality management
system in the country, said Aganga.
According to him, any product that is certified in the two
laboratories would be acceptable and will not be subjected to any
further testing anywhere across the world.
Apart from that, Aganga stated that with the certi-fication,
some of the Nige-rians products that were hitherto rejected by some
countries for doubtful stan-dards would now be accept-able.
On the significance of the certification on the efforts of
government to promote export, he said, We are all making history
here. Its the first time two of our labora-tory will be accredited
in Ni-geria simultaneously.
SONs laboratories certifi ed for products testingItll boost
export, says Aganga
-
Gbadamosi
National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 11Monday, November
10, 2014
South South
THEOPHILUS ONOJEGHENWARRI
The 15km Eleme/Onne junction sec-tion of the ongoing East-West
Road in Rivers State is expected to cost the Federal Government
about N43 billion, even as 20 months completion dead-line has been
earmarked for the project.
This is as the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs has revealed that
about 80 per cent of the East-West Road project has been completed
by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration.
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Dr. Steve Oru, stated these
over the
weekend during a tour of projects in the region, say-ing a fresh
contract when awarded would involve re-construction of the Eleme
Junction to Onne Junction stretch of the East-West Road.
Oru explained that the new section identified as Point 00 was
not originally part of the project as the road was in a good state
when other areas were be-ing awarded.
The Eleme Junction - Onne Junction stretch of the East-West Road
is one of the most feared portions of the road due to its terrible
state and also following the incidences of high profile criminality
there.
According to Oru, the sum budgeted is due to the terrible
terrain.
The minister, who also inspected the Otuoke Skills Acquisition
Centre project in Ogbia council area, Garri Processing Plants in
Otuse-ga, Ogbia council area and Odi, Kolokuma/Opokuma council
area, all in Bayelsa, identified Reynolds Con-struction Company,
RCC, as the favourite contractor to undertake the proposed
project.
Oru said: We are expect-ing the federal government to award a
new contract very soon, which will lead to the reconstruction and
con-struction of what is Point 00; Eleme - Onne Junction,
L-R: Son of the late Deaconess Agnes Ukeseh and Managing
Director, News Agency of Nigeria, Mr. Ima Niboro; his wife, Jumoke;
other children of the deceased, Bishop Columba Niboro, Mrs. Sarah
Ajiboye and Grace Owraigbo, during the thanksgiving service for
their mother at Emevor in Isoko North Local Government Area of
Delta State n Saturday. PHOTO: NAN
Reprieve may have come the way of the sacked permanent secretary
in Edo State Hos-pitals Management Board, Dr Ofure Eboreime and the
Chief Medical Director of Central Hospital, Benin City, Dr Edith
Kayode-Iyas-ere, as House Speaker, Uyi Igbe, has pleaded for their
recall.
The two were relieved of their appointments last week by
Governor Adams Oshiomhole for their al-leged role in engaging
ca-sual workers in Central Hospital.
Igbe, who led the Majori-ty Leader of the state House of
Assembly, Philip Shaibu, Hons Elizabeth Ativie and Folly Ogedengbe
to the Gov-ernors office to plead for
the sacked doctors, begged Oshiomhole to be merciful.
He said: We are here, the leadership of EDHA, to see you
concerning Dr. Ofure Eboreime, the Per-manent Secretary, Hospital
Management Board and Dr. Edith Iyasere, Chief Medi-cal Director,
HMB.
The House Standing Committee on Health at one time went to the
hospital and did oversight functions there and we found that Dr
Eboreime is somebody that is very competent.
We are here to appeal to you sir to on compassion-ate grounds to
tamper jus-tice with mercy and recall these two persons, Dr. O.
Eboreime and Mrs. Edith Iyasere.
Ogedegbe, who repre-
sents Owan East, said: Even then as NLC Presi-dent, we know your
stand on casualisation, you fought against casualisation of workers
and I can imagine how embarrassed you were when you got to know
that there were casual workers in the state service where you have
long given direc-tives that it should not be.
So on behalf of my own constituency, Owan East and the good
people there, I want to appeal to you to please tamper justice with
mercy and forgive Dr. Ofure Ebeoreime and his col-league, Mrs.
Edith Iyasere, the Chief Medical Direc-tor, and recall them back to
work.
Responding, Governor Oshiomhole said, As a
Edo Speaker begs Oshiomhole to recall Perm-Sec, CMD
East/West road: Port Harcourt section to gulp N43bn
parliament that is representative of the people, one that has
its ears to the ground and one that is committed to the
elec-torate, I know that when we take decisions, we do receive
pressure. But let me tell you why I took that decision.
I am very privileged to be here and I myself am an employee and
all my life, what I have done for a liv-ing is to defend
workers.
When we talk of work-ers, not just junior workers but we make a
representa-tion for the big and for the small and for the
anony-mous, I do not take any joy. In fact, it is always a sad
moment for me when I take a decision to relieve any-body of his or
her job.
The remains of elder statesman, Chief Tayo Akpata, CON will be
committed to mother earth on Novem-ber 21 in Benin City, Edo
State.
The late Ima of Benin passed away in his Ikoyi home on October
13.
According to a press statement issued by the family over the
weekend, the funeral arrangements would commence on Friday November
14 with a Memo-rial Dinner and concert at 5pm to celebrate Chief
Ak-patas raison detre (his life and times). The screening of a
documentary film ti-tled, A sage goes home will also hold the same
evening at the Landmark Village in Oniru, Victoria Island,
La-gos.
On Thursday November 20, a commendation service would hold at
Ikoyi Baptist Church at 8am; thereafter the body would leave for
Be-nin City.
Next day, the funeral ser-vice would commence at the Central
Baptist Church, Kings Square, Benin City. A reception follows
immedi-ately at Edo Hotel in G.R.A, Benin City.
The late Chief Akpata was an alumnus of Edo College, Benin City
and University of Hull, United
Ex-PTF scribe, Akpata, for burial Nov 21
NBA exco holds maiden assembly
a distance of 15 kilometres. As you can see for your-selves, the
section is very bad; theres a total collapse of what was very good
when they awarded section three to RCC; so it was not part of the
contract for section three of the East-West Road.
Because of heavy axel loading over the years, the road is now
lower than its shoulders and the construc-tion is going to mean a
total rebuilding of this section of the road and the people
responsible for the handling of this section from the in-ception of
the East-West Road have been RCC. They would most likely be
award-ed the contract from Eleme Junction to Onne Junction.
Gbadamosi said the agenda for the meeting would include state of
the nation, reports from branches and the constitu-tion of the NEC
and other committees.
He noted that the meet-ing would take off imme-diately after the
8th NBA -Section On Legal Practice, SLP, conference at the same
venue, which the NBA pres-ident, Augustine Alegeh SAN, has said has
not been stopped by any court order contrary.
Kingdom.He would be remem-
bered as a versatile student activist in the 1950s. His for-ay
in politics started as the Vice-President of the West African
Students Union, WASU. He was active and dedicated to the clamour
for Nigerias independence. He was a founding member of the Nigerian
Youth Con-gress.
He served as Deputy Reg-istrar of the University of Ibadan,
wherein he initi-ated and organised the Ni-gerian University Games
Association, NUGA, Games and the West African Inter-University
Games.
A one-time Commission-er for Education in old Ben-del State, he
piloted the Uni-versity Mid-West Institute of Technology to the
full status of a university and was later re-designated the
University of Benin in 1972.
Akpata was the first chairman, Nigeria Youths Service Corps,
Mid-West-ern State. He was also a one-time chairman, Nige-rian
Ports Authority; Direc-tor of NNPC and chairman, Pipeline and
Products Mar-keting Company, PPMC, a subsidiary of NNPC. He was
also a Trustee and Ex-ecutive Secretary of the Defunct Petroleum
Trust Fund, PTF.
The first meeting of the National Ex-ecutive Committee, NEC,
meeting of the Ni-gerian Bar Association, NBA, for 2014-2016
admin-istration will take place from Wednesday Novem-ber 12 at the
Le Meridian Ibom Hotel and Golf Re-sort, Akwa Ibom State.
In a statement by its Na-tional Publicity Secretary of NBA,
Gbolahan Gbada-mosi, the association said the meeting would be
at-tended only by the Statu-tory NEC members. These are the
National Officers, former Presidents, for-mer General Secretaries,
Branch Chairmen, Branch Secretaries, NEC Represen-tatives and NEC
Observers who must have indicated their interests to the NBA
Secretariat through their branch chairmen prior to the meeting.
-
North National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net12 Monday,
November 10, 2014
UNIMAID graduate robbed, shot dead by soldier
Mission schools: Ex-deputy gov demands pact with govt
I am in the race to complete Suntais projects Umar
L-R: Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal;
National Vice Chairman North-West, All Progressives Congress (APC),
Barr. Inua Abdulkadir and former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu
Buhari, during the APC North-West Zonal Executive Committee Meeting
in Kaduna on Saturday.
INUSA NDAHIMAIDUGURI
An officer of the Nigerian soldier serving in Mai-duguri, Borno
State, has allegedly shot dead a graduate of physics from
University of Maiduguri and made away with his car after asking the
dis-eased to give him free a ride, sources said.
Our correspondent learnt that the incident occurred on
Wednesday, when the soldier asked the deceased to give him a free
ride, but later shot him dead before they could get to where he
said he was go-ing and went away with the deceased car.
Speaking to journalists in Maiduguri, the father of the
deceased, Alhaji Konto Sulum said the incident occurred on
Wednesday at about 6:00pm when the sol-dier asked his son Moham-med
Sulum to give him a lift so that he can get to his duty post on
time, but before get-ting to his destination, the soldier pull out
his gun, and shot him dead and made away with the diseased car.
The soldier who thought
Amidst controversy over the return of mission schools to their
original owners in Kwara State, a former deputy governor in the
state, Chief Joel Ogundeji, says government must en-ter into an
agreement with proprietors on the roles to be played by partnering
stakeholders.
Ogundeji spoke in Ilorin on the sidelines of a forum to mark the
70th anniver-sary of Igbaja Teachers College/ECWA Secondary School,
Igbaja.
The elder statesman, who noted that the deplor-able condition of
infra-structure in the school, informed the launching of a N100
million develop-ment fund, said govern-ment must continue to play a
role in the running of such mission schools.
I am sure, even if the schools are returned to the proprietors;
there will be an agreement between the government and the
pro-prietors.
The government will
Boko Haram: Emir of Gwoza urges Jonathan to help reclaim domain
Sulum was dead, dragged his body out of the car and
zoomed off. My son crawled to the roadside near Asita Hotel, in
Bolori where a good Samaritan called the attention of the Civilian
JTF and they tried by rush-ing him to the hospital, but he gave up
the ghost before getting to the hospital, the Father lamented.
He said; Before my son died he informed the Civil-ian JTF that
he was shot by a soldier who ran away with his car. The next day,
his friend saw the soldier and his friend at Oando fil-ing station
Baga road with the car, where they alerted Civilian JTF and they
ar-rested them, he stated.
According to him, his 22 year old son has just graduated from
the Phys-ics Department, Univer-sity of Maiduguri, waiting for his
National Youth Ser-vice Corps, NYSC, call-up letter.
Confirming the in-cident, a source from the Army who does not
want his name in print, said both the culprit and friends have been
arrested and will soon be prosecut-ed by military authorities.
play its own role; even in those days when things were good, it
was govern-ment that would pay teach-ers and do some other
things.
But now it appears that what the government was doing in the
past had diminished greatly, he said.
Ogundeji, a former stu-dent of Igbaja Teachers College, however,
gave an assurance that proprietors of mission schools would
continue to work hard to restore the lost glory of such
institutions.
The Chairman of the anniversary committee, Mr Olaitan
Makanjuola, said the development fund would be used for the
rec-lamation of the schools deteriorating and dilapi-dating
infrastructure and facilities.
He also said a book, A Worthy Heritage-The Story of SIM Igbaja
Teach-ers College, would be launched as part of activi-ties marking
the anniver-sary.
has been in charge of the af-fairs of the state; even as the
governor recuperates.
He said that on assump-tion in office, he took inven-tory of all
the projects initi-ated by his boss and ensured that contractors
were mo-bilised to enhance speedy completion.
He also praised the Na-tional Chairman of the par-ty, Alhaji
Adamu Muazu for sustaining what he called internal democracy in the
PDP; adding that Muazu has given all party members irrespective of
geo-political zones a sense of belonging within his short spell in
of-fice.
He therefore called on party members to support the leader of
the party, Pres-ident Goodluck Jonathans Transformation Agenda,
which according to him could trigger the develop-
ment Nigerians have been yearning for.
On sectarian violence, Umar called on the citizenry to eschew
violence, saying no meaningful development could be accomplished in
an atmosphere of mayhem and upheaval.
The PDP governorship aspirant in Taraba state was among other
aspirants who thronged the party secre-tariat at the weekend to
beat the partys deadline for sub-mission of form.
It would be recalled that PDP had earlier fixed Satur-day
November 8 as final date for the return of forms for aspirants
eyeing the partys governorship and National Assembly ticket.
But in dramatic turn of events, the party backed out; following
a review of its timetable for the prima-ries and extended return
of
INUSA NDAHIMAIDUGURI
The Emir of Gwoza in Borno State, Al-haji Mohammed Idrissa
Timta, yesterday, urged President Goodluck Jonathan to redeem his
pledge on the recapture of his chiefdom that has been under Boko
Haram occupa-tion for over three months.
The Presidential pledge, according to him, was made three weeks
after he re-gained his freedom from insurgents captivity in the
Mandara Mountains, bor-dering Cameroon, 201 kilo-
metres, Southeast of Mai-duguri, the state capital.
Speaking to newsmen yesterday, in Maiduguri; the monarch
disclosed that Boko Haram leader, Abuba-kar Shekau declared the
captured town as the head-quarters of his Islamic Ca-liphate on
August 12, 2014 and renamed it The centre of Wisdom.
His words: After I re-gained my freedom from the Boko Haram by
escap-ing at dawn, I was taken to the Presidential Villa, Abu-ja,
for safety and in the com-pany of the governor on a Saturday
afternoon. My
people are passing through difficulties of what to eat and
resettled. I called on the president to fulfill the prom-ise he
made to us during that crucial meeting with him at the Villa.
Im also appealing to the Federal Government to come to the aid
of our peo-ple. As I am talking to you, many of them are trapped in
Cameroon and many others are taking refuge in various places here
in Nige-ria. Some are in Mubi, Uba, Yola and here in Maiduguri, the
state capital, where two of my colleague monarchs from Bama and
Dikwa had
fled and taking refuge also in an undisclosed location in
Yerwa.
Timta noted: We ap-preciate the efforts of both the federal and
state gov-ernments; but a lot need to be done so that our people
could return to their de-stroyed houses and commu-nities.
He therefore; called on his people to thank God for being alive
in the vari-ous camps; and to continue praying for peace to return
not only Borno State; but other affected states in the North East
sub-region of the country.
OBIORA IFOHABUJA
Acting Governor of Taraba State, Alhaji Garba Umar, has said
that he joined the race for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,
gubernatorial ticket in Taraba State for next year general
election, so as to consolidate on the modest achievement he
re-corded in office and to com-plete projects inherited from his
boss, Danbaba Suntai.
The acting governor, made the disclosure when he returned his
expression of interest and nomination form to Wadata House, the PDP
secretariat in Abuja, at the weekend.
Umar, who took over from Suntai in an acting capacity following
a plane crash on September 25, 2012 that involved the governor,
Umar
governorship/ National As-sembly and presidential as-pirants
forms to November 14 and 15 respectively.
Meanwhile other PDP aspirants who have also shown interest in
the party governorship ticket in the state are; David Sabo, for-mer
Minister of State for Niger Delta, Darius Ishaku, former Nigeria
envoy to Trinidad and Tobago, Am-bassador Musa John Jen among
others.
-
Having two clueless dominant parties leaves much to be desired
Senator Ikeyina
How would you assess President Goodluck Jonathans
administration?
Let me start by acknowledging the fact that the Jona-than
administration has made some modest progress in the area of
infrastructural development, a whole lot needs to be done in this
area. Again, the appalling security situation predated his
administration. So; I will be less hard on him.
Having said that, it is incontrovertible that there is so much
poverty in the land, so much that many of our youths, who
constitute over 60 per cent of our population, are un-employed. As
the saying goes, an idle mind is the devils workshop. Perhaps more
worrisome is the level of corrup-tion which stinks to high heavens.
It is no longer a secret that the dream of most young men going
into politics is to amass wealth. We need a basic re-orientation of
our values. How come we celebrate wealth so much in a country where
over 70 per cent live below the poverty line? A lot needs to be
done in creating employment for the youths especially, in
agriculture, by promoting the establishment of cottage in-dustries
on a massive scale. In addition, the power situation in the country
remains blight on our national development efforts, as nothing can
be achieved without adequate power supply. There is a lot more to
be done.
There is the threat of hell being let loose, should Jonathan
contest or fails to win, considering all these, do you see peaceful
election in 2015?
Jonathan has every right to contest the presidential elec-tion
because it is his right as an individual, if he has met all the
requirements for eligibility. We have not had a free and fair
election in the recent past and it is not a problem that is
peculiar to Nigeria. It is part of the leadership malaise
con-fronting us as a nation