Why weve not defeated Boko Hram-JONATHAN

Mr & Mrs

...towards a better life for the people

N150VOL. 25: NO. 62241

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014**

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Why we've not defeatedBoko Haram — JONATHAN

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

By Ben Agande

A BUJA—PRESIDENT Goodluck

Jonathan said, yester-day, that the fightagainst Boko Haram ter-rorists has taken so longbecause Nigerians werenot yet fully united tofight the menace.

Speaking at an inter-denominational Churchservice to mark thecountry ’s 54th Inde-pendence celebration,

Emefiele's

crocodile tearsover N300bnsurplus

Two Shekausdown; next?

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 ChurchService in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: NAN.

7NLC HOUSING SCAM: Developer blames labour leaders

Unease as Benuesells off 30mshares in DangoteCement

FG floatsN213bn lifelinefor GENCOs

2015: Buhari, Atiku clash overprocedure for presidential primaries

> 8

EKITI:Tension asPolice makemass arrest

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2 — Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014—3


CMYK

POCKET CARTOONVanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014—5

Why we've not defeatedBoko Haram — JONATHAN

TAKE HEARTBY ELLA RANDLE

LIFEWORDSBY PASTOR ITUAH

President Jonathan saidwhen Nigerians are fullyunited, there is no prob-lem that they cannotovercome.

Citing the case ofEbola Virus Diseasewhich Nigeria has effec-tively contained, Presi-dent Jonathan said de-spite political differ-ences, Nigerians wereable to unite across po-litical, ethnic and reli-gious divide to fight it.

While thanking reli-gious leaders and otherNigerians for their con-tinued prayers for thecountry, the Presidentsaid their prayers havecontinued to sustain the

Continues from page 1 country.“God knows that we

have challenges and be-fore they came up, Godknew. Because of theprayers of Nigerians, wewill overcome our chal-lenges. God is with Ni-gerians and we willovercome our chal-lenges. If we are unitedthere is no problem wecannot conquer. We wereable to defeat Ebola be-cause Nigerians wereunited and agreed thatwe should fight it. Wehave not defeated BokoHaram because Nigeri-ans are not all unitedyet”, he said.

President Jonathanenjoined politicians to be

cautious in their strug-gle for political space,saying the interest of thecountry should be thedriving factor.

“When I listen to somecomments by somehighly placed individu-als, I feel sorry for thiscountry. There are someof us who, while strug-gling to get what we de-sire, forget that we cannot get it if we destroyour country. So, if wecome together, whilepursuing whateverachievement we want,since we don’t have anyother country than Ni-geria, I am sure we willovercome Boko Haram.

“We were able to defeatEbola because Nigeriansagreed together to wagewar against the disease.That is the strength ofunity. Some of the chal-lenges we are having,whether kidnapping orthe greatest problemwhich is terror, it is be-cause all of us have notunited to fight thesechallenges.”

He commended theArmed Forces for theirefforts at containing ter-rorism and called forencouragement from Ni-gerians to do better.

“Let us commend thesecurity services be-cause if some of youknow what they passthrough, and the sabo-tage, you will appreciatethe little they havedone.”

In his sermon, Presi-dent of the ChristianAssociation of Nigeria(CAN) Pastor AyoOritsejefor prayed forGod to use the occasion

of the independence daycelebration to bring backpeace and unity to thecountry.

The CAN presidentexplained that all theproblems facing Nigeriaas a nation were self in-flicted, including corrup-tion and terrorism, per-petrated by the BokoHaram sect.

He said corruption inNigeria was caused bypoverty mentality as aresult of people not be-ing satisfied with whatthey have. According tohim, the country’s woeswere also caused bythose who are desperateto take power.

Pastor Orisejefor, whonoted that Nigeria wasbeing troubled by Nige-rians, said: “Troublers ofNigeria, get ready forjudgement. It doesn’tmatter what level youare, the judgement ofGod will find those whoare troubling Nigeria.”

He disagreed with in-sinuations that the levelof terrorism in the coun-try was as a result ofpoverty. “Terrorism isnot fuelled by povertybut poverty can createan environment wheremore people can be re-cruited.”

Quoting from the Bi-ble in Acts chapter 5, the

CAN president alsowarned Nigerianwomen to desist fromshielding their hus-bands who perpetratecrimes against the coun-try.

Pastor Orisejeforstressed the need fordeliberate steps to "de-radicalise those who areradicalised because ofextremist religious be-liefs", addin that Nige-rians should support themilitary.

The first reading wastaken from the book of 1Sam 30: 1-19 by JusticeWalter Onoghen whileSenate President DavidMark took the secondreading from Mark4:35-41.

A special prayer whichwas sent from the Catho-

lic Pontiff, Pope FrancisI was read at the serv-ice.

Other dignitaries whoattended the event in-cluded deputy senatePresident IkeEkweremadu; deputyspeaker EmekaIhedioha; former head ofstate, General YakubuGowon; former head ofInterim National Gov-ernment, ErnestShonekan; Secretary tothe Government of theFederation Ayim PiusAyim; Head of Service ofthe Federation, Ambas-sadors of Israel andGreece, the servicechiefs and Arch BishopNicholas Oko, Primate ofthe Anglican Commun-ion, among others.

300 Boko Haram members surrender in Cameroon

By Udumas Kalu

LAGOS—NO fewerthan 300 Boko

Haram fighters have sur-rendered in Nigeria’sneighbouring countryCameroon in the pastthree weeks, Cameroon’s defenseministry has said.

Cameroon’s defenceSpokesman Lt. Col.Didier Badjeck told TheAssociated Press that themilitants have given uptheir arms and asked forasylum in Cameroon.Their fate has not beendecided.

Fighters from neigh-bouring Cameroon,Niger and Chad havebeen identified fightingalongside Nigeria’shomegrown BokoHaram group, which inrecent weeks also hasbeen attacking bordertowns and villages inCameroon.

According to the coun-try’s military spokes-man, Lt. Col. DidierBadjeck, the Islamistmilitants gave up theirarms and asked for asy-lum in Cameroon.

Cameroon soldiersalso Saturday captured

Abakar Ali, one of BokoHaram top commanders.The country’s army alsoseized a huge cache ofarms and ammunitionfrom the Islamist mili-tants during the opera-tion.

Reports said Ali, whoalso goes by name“Mustapher Umar” wascaught with 5 machineguns, 14 rifles, 24 rock-ets, 4 rocket launchers,6 Kalashnikovs, 60Kalashnikovs maga-zines, 4 automatic pistols, over 500 9mm ammu-nition, 469 12.7mm am-munition, 4,454 7.62 mmammunition, 1,491 5.56mm ammunition, 822ammunition of 7.62 mm,6 grenades, 28 rocketlauncher chargers andother weaponized acces-sories like pincers,tweezers and knives.

Cameroonian soldiersnabbed Mr. Ali with twoother Boko Haram fight-ers in Kousseri, a townin northern Cameroon.

He is described as theinsurgent commander,who has been leadingthe Islamist sect’s at-tacks around the bordertowns between Nigeriaand Cameroon.

Ali often shuttled be-tween various BokoHaram camps in the areaand organized deadlyattacks that targetedmostly civilians.

It is expected that theCameroonian militarywould share intelli-gence gathered from theapprehended sect mem-ber.

The insurgents have inrecent weeks attacked border towns and vil-lages in Cameroon.

Boko Haram hadseized a string of townsand declared an Islamiccaliphate in northeastNigeria before the Nige-rian military started re-cording victories withair and ground attacksthat have resulted into135 Boko Haram fightersalso surrendering to Ni-geria’s army.

According to the Ni-gerian Defence Minis-try, about 135 insurgentssurrendered last Tues-day night, some at Buni-Yadi some 200 kilometers(125 miles) west ofKonduga and others atMichika, 165 kilometers(100 miles) south ofKonduga.

Part of being a man is learning to take responsi-bility for your successes and for your failures. Youcan’t go blaming others or being negative . See-ing somebody else’s success as your failure is acancerous way to live — Kevin Bacon

Each time you find yourself pointing out yourfaults, or questioning a decision, simply STOP. Takea moment to remember what you love about you,and even write it down. Show that negative devilwhose boss, and regain control of your mind. Eachnegative thought should be replaced by a positiveone. Positive thinking is a strong tool and plays amajor role in the way we see ourselves.

It is important that we surround ourselves withpositive people while we are rebuilding our self-esteem. Find a friend or a family member that youfeel comfortable talking openly with. Talking tosomeone about how you feel is a big part of build-ing self-confidence. People are social by nature,and talking to someone will also help you workthrough the issues that have dragged you down inthe past.

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

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

6—Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

EBOLA: Workerssetting up a newtreatment centre as part ofthe fight against thedeadly Ebola virus inMonrovia, yesterday.Liberia, the hardest-hitnation, has seen 3,000cases of Ebola and almost1,600 deaths, with healthworkers turning peopleaway from treatment unitsdue to shortages of bedsand staff.

The country has some150 foreign specialisedmedical workers onground, but the UN hassaid they need at least 600and health authorities areaiming to scale its current400 Ebola beds up toaround 2,000 withinweeks. AFP PHOTO.

Rightsgrouppetitions IG,allegesunlawfuldetention ofcleric

Contract scandal hits Ebonyi AgricCollege

CIVIL rights group,Crusade for Justice,

has petitioned theInspector-General ofPolice over alleged assaultand unlawful detention ofEvangelist HypoliteAkuatuegwu by thepolice.

The group, in thepetition by its Presidentand Founder, RichardNwankwo, alleged that onJuly 30, at about 1.30p.m.,Akuatuegwu was invitedby his friend to apharmacy (nameswithheld) in Ikeja, whereunknown to him,members of Team 16,Special Anti-RobberySquad, SARS, GID, Ikeja,Lagos, laid an ambush.

The petition read:“When he arrived thescene to meet his friend,five heavily armedpolicemen, all in mufti,pounced on him andmercilessly assaulted himin the full glare of thepublic, slapping himseveral times, and thenhandcuffing him.”

The petitioner alsoalleged that Akuategwuwas unlawfully detainedfor seven days withoutcause, except that he wasasked to provideinformation as to thewhereabouts of theestranged wife of anAlaba InternationalElectronics Market-basedbusinessman, who hailsfrom Igboukwu, in AguataLocal Government Area ofAnambra State.

It read: “That to ourclient’s greatest shock, hewas told orally, withoutbeing shown the allegedpetition against him, thathe stole $5,600 US(N150,000) and somedocuments from thebusiness man’s house.

“On September 6, atabout 7p.m., he wasreleased after he wasthreatened and made topay N100,000 to the saidteam and provide twosureties. All the monies onhim at the point of arrest,about N25,000, weretaken away from him andnever returned.”

It appealed to theInspector-General to usehis good offices toinvestigate the allegationsand ensure that the lawtook its cause.

A B A K A L I K I — T H Emanagement of Federal

College of Agriculture,Ishiagu, Ebonyi State, hasbeen hit by a scandal as theActing Provost, Dr. FelixAnuebunwa, and three othersare involved in aninvestigation by the Zone 6Command of Nigeria Policeover alleged theft of oneMercedes Tipper.

The investigation followeda petition written by AgamaAgama of B. N. Ugwu andCompany, counsel to Mr.Phillip Orji, the supplier ofthe said vehicle, with chassisnumber 341439, to thecollege.

In a swift reaction, theActing Provost denied anywrong doing in thetransaction, saying Mr. Orjiwanted to dupe the institutionof several millions of nairathrough his dubious businessproposal.

In the petition, Mr. Orji’scounsel complained to thepolice that his client suppliedthe Mercedes tipper to oneMr. Theophilus Ndubuaku inJanuary 2014 at the cost ofN6.5 million, stressing thatinstead of paying him hismoney, Ndubuaku, inconnivance with the ActingProvost, Ikeije and oneOgbomo Nosa, paid themoney into the account ofGlobal Growth ConstructionCompany Limited for whichOgbomo Nosa fronted as adirector.

The petitioners alleged thatafter a search was conductedby the Corporate AffairsCommission, CAC, it becameevident that Nosa was not adirector of the three-member

company at the time and thatthe company had neverchanged its board memberssince incorporation.

The firmAlleging that the said Global

Growth Construction CompanyLimited was a conduit throughwhich the money for the vehiclewas diverted, the petitionersdisclosed that informationavailable to them from theaccounts department of thecollege showed that the ActingProvost and others paid N7.5million to Global GrowthConstruction CompanyLimited, instead of N6.5 millionin September 2013, two monthsbefore Mr. Phillip Orji importedthe vehicle into Nigeria.

While expressing dismay that

three weeks after letters ofinvitation were served on theActing Provost and the othersby Zone 6 Police Command,the four men had remainedelusive, the petitioners urgedthe police to do all in its powersto ensure that the suspectswere arrested to explain howa vehicle imported inNovember 2013, as evidencedby the customs paper, was soldin September 2013 by acompany that neitherimported nor bought thevehicle.

Am not on the run— ACTING PROVOST

Continuing, the ActingProvost, Anuebunwa, saidthough he was out of the state,he was not on the run as

speculated by the petitioners,adding that he had petitionedthe Assistant Inspector Generalof Police, Zone 6 that Orjishould be arrested for trying todupe the college of large sumsof money.

He said Orji, in connivancewith a staff of the college,extorted N1.9 million from thecollege as part of theirexpenses on the vehicle andwent ahead to force the collegeto purchase a cooling van it didnot order.

“It was when Orji startedmaking fresh request foranother N1.6 million, after wepaid for the cooling van, thatwe saw through his dubiouspractices and decided topetition the police,” Dr.Anuebunwa declared.

By Peter Okutu

Contractor connived with staff, says Acting Provost

ENUGU—THE family of lateChukwuma Ihezie, who

allegedly died in policecustody, has petitionedPresident Goodluck Jonathanseeking his order for anautopsy to be conducted on thedeceased to enable them takehis remains for burial.

Chukwuma reportedly diedin detention six days after hewas arrested by men of theSpecial Anti-Robbery Squad,SARS, Enugu State PoliceCommand.

The police had tagged theengineering graduate anarmed robbery suspect, anallegation his family denied.

It was, however, gatheredthat few months after, the police

authorities, after aninvestigation from the forceheadquarters, found out thatthe deceased was not anarmed robber.

Spokesperson of the family,Mr. Chinedu Ihezie, said theirson's car, laptop and otherpersonal effects were releasedto the family.

He added that althoughpolice had asked them to goand bury their son, it wouldbe difficult to do so as EnuguState Police Command hadturned down a request forautopsy.

The letter, addressed toPresident Jonathan, wascopied to the Senate President,David Mark; MathewOmegara, representingOkigwe North federal

constituency, House ofRepresentatives; Chairman,Police Service Commission; theInspector-General of Police, theCommissioner of Police, EnuguState Command; and theExecutive Secretary, NationalHuman Rights Commission,Abuja.

The letter, signed by ChineduIhezie on behalf of the familyof the deceased, is prayingPresident Jonathan to prevailon the Police authorities to,among other things, arrest andinvestigate the officersinvolved in the matter.

Contacted, the Police image-maker, Enugu State Com-mand, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu,DSP, said: “I am not aware ofthe incident. Send me thedetails and I will look into it.”

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

By Francis Igata

Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 — 7

By Naomi Uzor

NationalAssembly'lldo everythingpossibleto endinsurgency— MARK

NLC housing scam: Developer blames NLCleaders for project failure

By Funmi Komolafe &Victor Ahiuma-Young

Threatens to sue NLC

KRISTON LALLY, thecompany disowned by

the Nigeria Labour Congress,NLC, for its housing scam andproject failure has put the blamesquarely on the doorsteps ofleadership of the NLC.

In a statement weekend, ChiefExecutive Officer, CEO, of thecompany, Alhaji Mustapha UmarMadawaki, claimed NLC failedto fulfil its side of the agreementto provide land for the project.

He stated, “The paymentsmade were based upon a directagreement between me and theNLC President which he laterdenied and subsequently ac-cused me of forging his signa-ture.”

According to him “NLC had

also actively supported onefinancing strategy - referred to asa Bank guarantee counterpartfunding as suggested by ourgroup, which I also found to beattractive. However, I stopped iteven after the NLC had given theirfull go ahead and performed theirdue diligence on a fact findingmission to Europe where they metwith technical partners and aspecific financial group.

''Upon return, NLC gaveapproval for the Bank Guaranteeto be issued. Both the Bank, AccessBank and my international advis-er, concurred with me that anunconditional Bank Guarantee isunsafe and advised that my ap-prehensions about the safety ofsuch a contract were seriouslyjustified and they advised not toproceed. I single handedly

stopped the BG and cancelled ituntil the financiers accepted aconditional BG. Who thenprotected the workers funds to thetune of N1.8 Billion, me or theNLC? Supporting documents areavailable. No scam company orindividual would do that.Conversely, NLC nevermentions that.”

Last week, Vanguard exclusivelyreported a housing scam of aboutN400 million in which some topNLC officers were alleged to havetaken steps that short changedworkers.

Continuing, he said: “Whothen protected the workers fundsto the tune of N1.8 billion, meor the NLC? Supporting docu-ments are available. No scamcompany or individual will dothat. When in October last year,NLC ordered that we should stop

collecting deposits from the sub-scribers, we posted that on ourwebsite and sent bulk SMS textmessages to all those who sub-scribed. We also informed theBank in writing to freeze the X-Path system and to automatical-ly block further payments.

“However, due to pressuresfrom so many people and in par-ticular from the leadership ofNLC, it was decided to allow newclients to pay deposits into ouroperation account, which was inexistence since 2012. This oper-ational account were also usedfor the financing of Kriston Lal-ly’s contribution to the project:Acquisition of land, payment ofsalaries, certain administrationcosts and cash provided to theNLC president upon his requestsand treats.”

He also said “Kriston Lally ispreparing legal action against theNLC for the reimbursement of allmoney invested by Kriston Lallyshareholders and stakeholders inthe project, including damages.Kriston Lally worked and spentmoney and energy preparing toconstruct, but the NLC never pro-vided a plot of land and appar-ently had no intention or abilityto do so.

''The NLC scammed us eitheras part of their political gamesor to enable certain NLC lead-ers benefit personally fromthe project.''

Madawaki further said “theNLC failed and its failure has al-most led to the collapse of theproject. Housing will not be de-livered as planned, unless thereis an immediate intervention byGovernment, in the provision ofLand, or allow us to use the Landalready acquired for the project.All money lodged by depositorswill be returned to them. Thisprocess has already begun andout of the 3270 depositors,about 200 have already re-ceived a refund of their deposits.

“We are not going to allow NLCto transfer subscribers’ money toanother developer with a differ-ent philosophy and objective,whose costs are not workerfriendly, and may not even havethe requisite funding, whetherlocal or international to com-plete the project. Subscriberscan apply for a direct refundfrom Kriston Lally and if theythemselves decide later they canjoin any developer of theirchoice.

“Kriston Lally has various part-ners, stakeholders to whommoney is due, for services ren-dered while trying to realise theproject and while waiting for theNLC to provide the land plots.Kriston Lally has every intentionof paying all money that is duefrom us to each and every party.Part of this will form our legal caseagainst NLC. I would like to saythat I have personally put all myown savings into the project andhave not benefited from it per-sonally.”

L A G O S — T H ESenate President,

David Mark has assuredthat the NationalAssembly will do everything within its power toput an end to theinsurgency in the country.

Speaking at one-dayinteractive forum taggedDemocratic Transition andthe Nigerian Economy,organised by the LagosChamber of Commerceand Industry, LCCI, at theweekend, Mark said “Wedo not underestimate theconsequences of thefestering insecurity in thenation.

''Accordingly, we areproviding all necessarycooperation throughappropriation, legislationand partnership with theexecutive in the fightagainst insurgency andterrorism. I am confidentthat we can end this sadand unfortunate chapter inour contemporary historyas quickly as possible.”

Continuing, the SenatePresident said;“Democracy is not an endin itself but a means to anend and that whateverhappens, Nigerians mustbe able to promote theprinciples and values offreedom of choice,accountability andtransparency, rule of law,protection of the rights ofthe minorities and thecitizen participation,among other things.”

He noted that all overthe world, a democraticenvironment is generallyrecognised as a necessarycondition for the privatesector to thrive and it is nocoincidence that so manyleading economies of theworld operate indemocratic settings.

“Even in those politicalenvironments which maynot be classified as fullydemocratic, free marketeconomics tends to be thepredominant mode ofcapital flow. Because herein Nigeria, we combinedemocratic governance andfree market economics,there is ample opportunityfor investors to engagepolitical leadership in orderto develop an enablingenvironment forbusinesses” he said.

SUMMIT: Nigerian Premanent Representative to the UN and President UNSecurity Council, Prof. Joy Ogwu (2r) flanked by Governor Ramalan Yero ofKaduna State and the President, Heritage Centre, Nigeria, Dr. Kachi Ononuju(r) while the Nigerian Ambassador to the US, Prof. Ade Adefuye (2l) was flankedby Representative of the Delta State Governor, Prof. Hope Eghagha (l) and theChairman Nigerian Young Professionals Forum, Mr. Moses Siliko Siasia as theyrendered the national anthem to close the inaugural summit of the NYPF, USChapter at the Hyatt Hotel, New York, USA...weekend Photo by Abayomi Adeshida

Why I want to be President in2015, by Kwankwaso

By Soni Daniel, Region-al Editor, North

KANO—KANO StateGovernor, Alhaji Rabiu

Musa Kwankwaso says he wantsto become Nigeria’s President in2015 to enable him use his req-uisite experience to address thefundamental socio-economicchallenges facing Nigeria.

Kwankwaso, who spoke withjournalists last night in Kano,pointed out that he had beenstudying the problems facingthe country over the years andhad come to the conclusion thathe possesses the requisite ex-perience and expertise to tack-le the issues and give Nigeri-ans and Nigeria a new lease of

life.He explained that given his

rich background as a long-stand-ing public servant, an engineerand a one-time Defence Minis-ter, he truly understands what thecountry needs in order to becomegreat among the comity of na-tions.

The governor said the countryneeded someone like him, whohad seen the nation from variousangles to be able to solve its prob-lems and advance the interest ofNigerians at all levels.

The governor said that al-though he was still consultingwith other stakeholders across thelength and breadth of Nigeria onhis next political move, he would

make a formal declaration for thepresidential contest at the appro-priate time.

Kwankwaso said that more thananything else, the worsening se-curity threat to Nigeria and theseeming inability of the admin-istration to address it were unac-ceptable as it had driven awayover four million Nigerians intoChad, Niger Republic and Cam-eroun as refugees.

“The situation is so bad thatapart from those displaced by theinsurgents, many other Nigeri-ans have been hospitalised whileothers have gone into hidingjust to save their lives, whilethe system continues to giveassurance of victory,” the gov-ernor lamented.


2015: Buhari, Atiku clash over procedurefor presidential primaries

By Emmanuel Aziken,Political Editor

THE All ProgressivesCongress, APC was at the

weekend headed for a seriouscrisis following strongreservations among its majorpresidential candidates over theprocedure for adopting the 2015presidential candidate for theparty. At the end of a NationalExecutive Committee, NECmeeting of the party lastweekend, the party was unableto forge a consensus on theissue with associates of themajor aspirants reportedlyholding on to their positions.

Two of the major presidentialaspirants, Gen. MuhammaduBuhari and former vice-president Atiku Abubakar,Vanguard learnt were at thehead of the major divisions overthe adoption of a consensus orthe conduct of primaries for theadoption of the presidentialcandidate. The other majoraspirants, notably, GovernorRabiu Kwankwanso of KanoState and Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiahare reportedly indifferent.

Yesterday, aides of GovernorAdams Oshiomhole of EdoState, who is also set to enterthe fray were largely mute onthe issue, as one said it was toopremature to express a position

given the fact the governor isyet to formally declare hisintention.

Buhari wants consensuscandidacy

Party sources disclosed thatBuhari’s associates in the partywere pushing for consensus onthe fact that majority of the partypositions across board werefilled with consensus. On theother hand, the Buharisupporters are praying that ifthe consensus arrangement isjettisoned for any reason that adirect primary involving all 18million registered members ofthe party be held.

Their point is being stronglyopposed by Atiku’s growingsupporters within the partyhierarchy who say that a directprimary would be unwieldy,costly. Rather, the Atiku camphas proposed what it called aModified Direct Primary that

would involve about 20,000delegates choosing the partycandidate. That prospect isfeared by the Buhari camp whoclaimed that it would offeropportunity to easily woo or takeover delegates hitherto pledgedto other aspirants.

According to the Buharisupporters, the introduction offull direct primary would limit theprospect of Atiku wooing thedelegates unlike a modifiedprimary that could see Atiku andhis agents now in the fieldwinning the number of delegates.

“Having carefully examinedour great party'' the APCconstitution, especially Article20 and the Electoral Act 2010,one comes to the inevitableconclusion that it is better toadopt consensus in electing ourcandidates for House ofAssembly, House ofRepresentatives, Senate,Governor and presidential

candida tesand where itfails to adoptd i r e c tprimary,” amajor Buharisupporter inthe NEC tolds e l e c t e d

newsmen last weekend.“It is on record that more than

80% of the ward, localgovernment area and statecongresses which produced thecurrent executives of our greatparty were conducted throughconsensual arrangement. Andmore than 95% of the currentNational Executive Committeewere elected via consensus,” hesaid

“When one considers thebitterness, rancour and bad bloodindirect primary will most likelygenerate, it becomes safer to worktowards a consensual agreement.We must at all times bear in mindthat we are being hunted and thatthose who boasted to rule Nigeriafor 60 years uninterrupted, are stillhell bent to scuttle the yearningsand aspirations of Nigerians forgenuine ideological regimechange.

“We must take note that ourchallenger, the ruling party hasjust announced the nomination ofthe incumbent President as itscandidate by consensus meansand they had commencedpresidential campaign with vigourand dexterity”.

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

adopted by the party even as hecanvassed the advantages of theModified Direct Primaries.

In an email statement issued tocorrespondents on the issue byhis media aide, Mallam GarbaShehu, the Atiku camp said:

“Our candidate is a democrat.What he is opposed to is anyundemocratic process going bythe name of consensus, impositionor anointment. Back in the PDP,if you remember, he dragged theparty to court and won on theseissues with a resounding victory.

Atiku's camp proposesModified Direct Primary

“The decision of our campaignto support the Modified DirectPrimary is not because ofanything but for its practicalapplicability.

“If you say you want directprimary, how can you get all 18million registered APC voters totake part?

“That would mean you will besetting up a vote in every pollingbooth, doing the same thing asINEC is doing. It will be the samething as a general election.Wheredo you have the resources, themanpower, the time and thesecurity support for this?”

“Secondly, don’t forget that thefigure of the registered membersis not a settled issue in manystates. There are many places inwhich it is being disputed.Besides, it keeps changingeveryday. New members arecoming in and some are alsoleaving us. How do you deal

with this?”“Those who argue for

direct primaries also need tofactor in the fact that thereis no way you take theprocess from the hands ofgovernors if you allow it totake place in the states.Genuine fears on the partof some people is that innearly each state, they mayjust end up writing theresults or where this is notpossible, breathe down onthe necks of local officials todo as they wish.”

“The Modified DirectPrimary cannot on the otherhand be faulted as beingundemocratic because thedelegates coming forward,as proposed, are all electedofficials. There is no disputeconcerning their status aselected officials. For thisreason alone, they arecredible because they arerepresentative of theirwards. We support itbecause we believe it isbroad enough to make forpopular representation.”

“Even at this, 20,000delegates is still a largenumber to bring under oneroof, considering thateven the PDP bringstogether between four tofive thousands delegatesonly for the theirpresidential primaries.”

...Buhari’s associates favour consensus candidacy

...Atiku's camp proposes Modified Direct Primary

Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 —9

NMA begs Fashola over unpaid salariesBy Chioma Obinna

LAGOS—MEMBERSof the Lagos state

Chapter of the NigerianMedical Association,NMA, yesterday appealedto the Lagos StateGovernment to pay upwithheld emolument ofdoctors under the state’semployment.

Making the appeal at apress briefing in Lagos,Chairman of theAssociation, Dr. Tope Ojoexpressed worry that theState Government withheldthe emoluments of itsdoctors for the month ofAugust and September2014 as a result of the July1 NMA nationwide strike.

Ojo who noted that otherstates, including theFederal Capital Territory,FCT had complied with thegeneral agreement that ledto the suspension of the 55-Day old nationwide striketo pave way for peace andfurther negotiationsregretted that “only LagosState is yet to comply withthe agreements.”

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

Housing scam: Developer threatens to sue NLC

Olowude, IGI CEO, dies in US

2015: Lagos PDP dissociatesself from suit against JonathanLAGOS—THE Lagos

State Chapter ofthe Peoples DemocraticParty, PDP, yesterday,disowned Mr AdejumoAgbaje, who filed a suitchallenging theeligibility of PresidentGoodluck Jonathan forthe 2015 polls.

A statement by itsPublicity Secretary, MrTaofik Gani, the PDP

said Agbaje was not aconsequential member orleader of the party in thestate.

Agbaje along withsome persons paradingthemselves as PDPmembers had filed a suitno. FHC/ABJ/CS/662/2014 challenging theeligibility of Jonathan inseeking re-election in2015.

“Agbaje can thus berepresenting his owninterest. He is definitelyon a frolic of his own,probably to gain mediaattention or forpecuniary interest," thestatement said.

It warned Agbaje to desistfrom embarrassing theparty forthwith.

The party said while itappreciates the right of

any Nigerian to aspire toany office in the land, itrestated the party ’sunequivocal decision onPresident Jonathan’scandidature and right toseek re-election underthe 1999 Constitution.

“Jonathan hasachieved well enough toguarantee the success ofthe PDP at the comingpresidential election.

The NMA Chairmanrecalled that the NMA hadsuspended its strike afterseries of negotiations withthe government and someof its demands were metsaid: ‘’The sack of residentdoctors was reversed andall outstanding emolumentshad been paid as agreedwhich led to the suspension

of its strike.‘’It is worrisome that till

date the Lagos StateGovernment has held on tothe emoluments of itsdoctors for August andSeptember.

‘’Also, May 2012 salaryis being withheld till dateinspite of several appeals.

This made the StateGovernment the only statethat has not complied withthe general agreement.’’

Ojo further argued thatthe strike action was not atthe instance of the LagosState employed doctors butat the instance of the parentbody of the association.

Continued from Page 7

leaders benefitpersonally from theproject.''

Madawaki further said“the NLC failed and itsfailure has almost led to thecollapse of the project.Housing will not bedelivered as planned,unless there is animmediate intervention byGovernment, in theprovision of Land, or allowus to use the Land alreadyacquired for the project. Allmoney lodged bydepositors will be returnedto them. This process has

already begun and out ofthe 3270 depositors, about200 have already receiveda refund of their deposits.

“We are not going toallow NLC to transfersubscribers’ money toanother developer with adifferent philosophy andobjective, whose costs arenot worker friendly, andmay not even have therequisite funding, whetherlocal or international tocomplete the project.Subscribers can apply for adirect refund from KristonLally and if theythemselves decide laterthey can join any developer

of their choice.“Kriston Lally has various

partners, stakeholders towhom money is due, forservices rendered whiletrying to realise the projectand while waiting for theNLC to provide the landplots. Kriston Lally hasevery intention of payingall money that is due fromus to each and everyparty. Part of this will formour legal case againstNLC. I would like to saythat I have personally putall my own savings intothe project and have notbenefited from itpersonally.”

By Rosemary Onuoha

MR. Remi Olowude,Executive Vice Chairman/

Chief Executive Officer, Industrialand General Insurance Plc, IGI, inthe early hours of yesterday, died ina hospital in the United States, aftera protracted illness.

According to a source in thecompany, Oluwode died from anundisclosed ailment in the US,where he was taken to few weeksafter his health deteriorated.

As a result of his death, anxiety isnow mounting over the fate ofIndustrial & General Insurance Plc,IGI.

Olowude, is believed to have

passed away yesterday in ahospital in the US, leaving ableak future for IGI.

Recall that Olowude waselected as the Chairman of theNigerian Insurers Association,NIA, in 2012 to head theAssociation for two years buthis ill health did not permithim to run the affairs of theNIA.

IGI has been recording apoor performance in theinsurance market as thecompany and failed to submitits financial results to theregulatory authorities in thelast two years.

10— Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

EKITI CRISIS: Tension as Police makemass arrests, deploy Mopol

By Emma Nnadozie, CliffordNdujihe, Gbenga Ariyibi,Olasunkanmi Akoni &

Gbenga Oke

Oyo governorship aspirants adopt electroniccampaign

By Dayo Johnson

MIMIKO'SDEFECTION:Olajumokeheads transitionc'ttee

Arraign suspects today,

AKURE—AHEAD of thepublic declaration of

Governor OlusegunMimiko of Ondo State forthe Peoples DemocraticParty, PDP, the NationalSecretariat of the party hasinaugurated a sevenmember committee to workout a smooth movement ofthe governor and otherLabour Party, LP, chieftainsto the PDP.

Governor Mimiko isexpected to defect publiclynext month in an elaborateceremony that will attractPresident GoodluckJonathan, the NWCmembers of the Party andPDP governors .

Members of thecommittee led by a PDPBoard of Trustees memberof the party in the state, DrBode Olajumoke hasrepresentatives from thethree Senatorial Districts ofthe state.

Other committee membersinclude former governorshipcandidate of the party in thestate, Chief Olusola Oke,former Defence Minister,Tokunbo Kayode and theSpecial Adviser to thePresident on Amnesty Affairs,Mr. Kingsly Kuku.

Also included are formerInformation Commissioner inthe state, Dr Eddy Olafeso,former council chairman andthe PDP National Youthleader, Dennis Alonge-Niyi.

It was gathered at theweekend that the much talkedabout 60:40 or 70:30 sharingof political positions in favourof the governor and his partymembers is a ruse.

Speaking with newsmen inIkare area of the state, achieftain of the Party and amember of the Committee,Hon Gbenga Elegbeleye saidthe committee has commencedwork.

Elegbeleye said that thecommittee is expected to liaisewith the Presidency and theNational Secretariat of theParty on the planneddefection.

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

By Bartholomew Madukwe

I B A D A N — S O M Egovernorship aspirants in

Oyo State have adopted the useof electronic campaign billboards to beat the ban on

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

indiscriminate posting ofcampaign posters by the stateSignage And AdvertisementAgency, OYSAA.

The Peoples’ Democratic Party,

PDP, and All ProgressivesCongress, APC, aspirants havebeen using the electronic deviceto market their programmes.

The campaign bill boards arenoticeable at strategic areasaround Sango, Mokola,Challenge and Eleyele areas ofIbadan, the state capital.

Mr Yinka Adepoju, Director-General of OYSAA, however,said yesterday in Ibadan that hewas not satisfied with the levelof compliance by the aspirantswith the ban as the manualposters still defaced theenvironment.

Adepoju said that was why theagency’s staff were removing theposters along the roads toenforce the ban.

LAGOS—A FederalHigh Court sitting in

Lagos has directed parties ina litigation to maintain status-quo and not sell assets of latepolitician, Alhaji AbdulazeezArisekola- Alao.

The suit was filed byGuaranty Trust Bank, GTB,

against the Estate of the lateArisekola and two of hiscompanies (Lister Oil TankFarm and Lister Flour MillsNigeria) over allegedindebtedness of about N7billion.

According to the order bythe presiding judge, JusticeChukwujekwu J. Aneke,the estate of the late

politician and the companiesare not to dispose of theirassets, including thepersonal assets of thedeceased, especially a TankFarm owned by Lister OilLimited situate at No. 21Michael Ibru Boulevard(formerly Creek Road)Apapa Lagos, until thedetermination of pending

applications to restrain theirdisposal.

GTB is claiming the sum ofabout 7 billion naira, plusaccrued interest beingoutstanding loans granted tolate Arisekola, through hiscompanies, Lister OilLimited and Lister FlourMills Limited.

A D O - E K I T I — T H ETENSION and

apprehension in Ekiti Statereached a feverish peak,weekend, as the Police mademass arrests of those suspectedto be behind the orgy of violencein the state. Those arrested willbe arraigned today.

Advising troublemakers andtheir sponsors to have a rethink,the Police high command saidin Abuja yesterday that they hadappraised the situation of thingsin Ekiti and given theCommissioner of Policenecessary directives to ensurepeace.

Force Public Relations Officer,Ag. CP Emmanuel Ojukwuassured that all measures havebeen put in place to ensuresafety and security in the state.According to him, the AssistantInspector-General of Police in-charge of Zone 11 has takencharge and more mobilepolicemen have been drafted tothe state.

“We have obviously madesome arrests but I cannot giveyou more details on that. Theywill be taken to court tomorrow(Today),” he added.

Security men preventreprisal attack

Indeed, following the massprotests that greeted the killingof former state chairman of theNational Union of RoadTransport Workers, NURTW,Chief Omolafe Aderiye, securityoperatives made up ofpolicemen and soldiers,yesterday, in Ado Ekitiprevented a move by membersof a rival union to carry outreprisal attacks.

Aderiye was killed by gunmensuspected to be hired assassinsin his office at Ijigbo, Ado Ekitilast Thursday.

As early as 8.30 a.m.yesterday, members of the rivalRoad Transport EmployersAssociation of Nigeria, RTEAN,loyal to Chief RotimiOlabiwonnu whose propertieswere razed in the wake of the

prevents reprisal attack over Aderiye's murder

protest had taken over theAjilosun area in Ado Ekiti withan intention to retaliate theattack on their leader.

But in a pre-emptive move,about 10 pick up vans carryingheavily armed anti-riotpolicemen and soldiers, were onstandby to quell the crisis, whicha police source said wassuccessful and timely.

The reprisal attempt, whichspread across the state capitalforced residents to stay indoors,while those who were on theirway to worship centres had totake a detour back home.

Police warnsMeanwhile, Ekiti State Police

Command has warned thosewithout any legitimate businessin Ekiti State to steer clear or facethe full weight of the law ifapprehended.

In a statement by theCommand’s Public RelationsOfficer, Mr Victor Babayemi, thestate Police Commissioner, Mr

Taiwo Lakanu warned thoseplanning to cause crisis in thestate to have a rethink, addingthat the command hadintelligence report that somehoodlums were planning furtherattacks.

“The State Police Command isin receipt of an intelligence reportthat some hooligans within thestate and their accomplicesoutside the state are planning towreak more havoc and disruptfurther, the existing fragile peacein the state. Consequently, theCommand has placed its men onred alert to prevent these banditsfrom carrying out their nefariousactivities anywhere in the state.

“The Command has equallybeen empowered to enforce thedusk-to-dawn curfew; hence,residents are also warned toabide, very strictly, with thisorder”, the CP advised.

PDP alleges plot to causemayhem

In a separate statement ,EkitiState chapter of the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP, allegedthat another political party isimporting thugs from Lagos tocause mayhem in the state underthe guise that they are PDPsupporters.

Accordingly, PDP PublicitySecretary, Pastor KolaOluwawole, called on securityagencies to be on the look outfor the troublemakers. “Thesethugs will appear in PDP vestsand face cap to execute theirdastardly act within one month.Certainly, they are likely to havearrived Ekiti by now. They willmove about on motorcycle toexecute their dastardly act.’’

This came on a day that theAfenifere Renewal Group, ARG,accused the security agencies ofcollaboration in allowing the the crisisto fester instead of nipping it in the budand former Kwara State Governor,Senator Bukola Saraki berated theFederal Government for keeping mumon the Ekiti matter.

As Afenifere accuses security agencies of 'deliberate collaboration'


Jonathan commissions Phase I Benin-OreRoad

By Gabriel Enogholase

N-Delta govs chat newcourse for NDDC

BENIN—PRESIDENTGoodluck Jonathan,

weekend in Benin, Edo State,commissioned the Phase I of theBenin-Ofusu-Ore Road, with apromise to ensure that the nextphase to Lagos was completedsoon.

“We have intervened in anumber of highways and we mustfix the roads. We are committed.We must return our roads to classA roads across the country,” hesaid.

He promised that hisadministration was also focussingon rail and aviation, adding thatthe Federal Government decidedto set up a Maritime Universityto train Nigerians in that sector.

On his part, Governor AdamsOshiomhole of Edo State,described the FederalGovernment’s effort inreconstructing the road as “themost outstanding intervention theroad has witnessed over the years.

“What we are seeing is theoutcome of a meticulous designand the appointment of acompetent contractor,”

Oshiomhole said, describing theMinister of Works, Mr. MikeOnolememen, as an architect thatnot only designs but one thattranslates his designs into reality.

He said that the road wascentral to the economic life of thepeople of Edo and the entireSouth-South, adding that itwould attract investment to the

state.“In Edo, the people belong to a

bigger party, the Federal Republicof Nigeria party. This is why youwill see people decamping fromleft to right, right to left but no onecan decamp from the FederalRepublic of Nigeria. That’s whatunites us,” he said.

Earlier, the Minister of Works,

Onolememen, said that the PhaseI of the project was 75 km longand that Phase II suffered asetback because of funding andtechnical challenges.

He said the project has,however, recorded over 60percent completion, adding that61 other roads have beencompleted across the country.

By Festus Ahon

A S A B A — M O V E Dby the need to improve

on the socio-economic lives ofstates in the mandate area ofthe Niger Delta DevelopmentCommission, NDDC, thecommission’s AdvisoryCouncil comprising governorsof the NDDC states, Chairmanof the board and its ManagingDirector, weekend met inAsaba, Delta State to plan onhow the commission couldserve the people better.

The closed door meetingwhich lasted for over threehours was hosted by theAdvisory Council Chairman,Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan.Those in attendance includedDr. Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo),Senator Liyel Imoke (CrossRiver), Chief Henry Dickson(Bayelsa), Mr. Rotimi Amaechi(Rivers), who was representedby his Deputy, Chief TheodoreOrji (Abia) Mr. TuoyoOmatsulu (ED Projects,NDDC).

Briefing newsmen, GovernorUduaghan, said the meetingwas to fashion out more robustways to move the commissionforward.

“The Advisory Council met,consisting of the nine NigerDelta states governors, thechairman of the board ofNDDC and the ManagingDirector of NDCC with thesecretary of the council. Wehold our regular meetings andtoday (yesterday), we held

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

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

Mimiko said: “As the chairman said, we heldanother meeting today (yesterday), we had gota briefing from the board, the chairman of theboard and the Managing Director. Mainly,they gave us an insight into their programmesand their budgetary proposal but essentiallythe funding challenges that they have. We arelooking at all of these to see how we can helpthem to leverage some of the outstanding fundsamong other zones from the oil majors, whoare supposed to make some contributions toNDCC."

We have onlyone House ofAssembly —Edo Govt

By Simon Ebegbulem

BENIN—EDO StateGovernment has

said that there is onlyone state House ofAssembly in the state,noting that those whoconverge at the Assemblycomplex on Ring Road,which is undergoingreconstruction, are“dissident lawmakers”who were suspended bytheir colleagues.

This comes as theMajority Leader of thestate House of Assembly,Mr. Philip Shaibu, urgedthe suspendedlawmakers in the Houseto obey court rulingsrather than continue tomake mockery of thenation’s democracywhich Nigerians,particularly the Nigerianmedia, fought doggedlyto achieve.

Rivers communityhonours Amaechi

IN recognition of hispeople-oriented

projects in the pastseven years of hisa d m i n i s t r a t i o n ,Governor RotimiAmaechi of RiversState, has beenhonoured by thepeople of EmohuaKingdom with achieftaincy title ofUgwugwu of Emohua,(the pride of Emohua).

The governor alsoreceived accoladesfrom the people for hisachievements in termsof infrastructure andm a n p o w e rdevelopment.

In an address by theParamount Ruler ofEmohua, HRM, Eze

Oha Okor, read byChief Ozaze Obillorat Rumuchie Emohua,weekend, the eightcommunities ofEmohua clanc o m p r i s i n g ,Rumuchie, Mgbu-Itanwo, Odohua,R u m u - A k u n d e ,Elibrada, Mgbu-etor,Isiodu and Rumu-Ohia, said: “Becauseof your regard forEmohua, we havecome to appreciateyou and tocongratulate you onbeing who you are:bold, courageous,firm, decisive andfocused on anyagenda you areconvinced about."


Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014— 13

CMYK

14—Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Labour Ministry sets up c'ttee on workers'demand

ABUJA—AS the ongoingindustrial action by

workers, which has crippledthe headquarters of the FederalMinistry of Education, theInspectorate Departments, andthe 104 unity collegesthroughout the country sinceSeptember 22 enters day 10,Ministry of Labour has set upa committee to liaise with theBudget Office of the Federationwith a view to ensuring thatworkers’ outstanding benefits,including salaries andallowances were paidimmediately.

The committee was set up atthe end of the marathonmeeting on September 25,involving parties to thedisputes and presided over bythe Permanent Secretary,Ministry of Labour, Dr. ClementIlloh.

A statement weekend bySecretary General of theAssociation of Senior CivilServants of Nigeria, ASCSN,coordinating the strike, Mr.Alade Lawal, said members ofthe tripartite committee weredrawn from ASCSN,representatives of theministries of Labour andEducation.

He said: “The committee is toliaise with the Budget Office ofthe Federation to ensure thatthe promotion arrears andoutstanding salaries andallowances are paid to theworkers.”

He noted that the meetinghad been adjourned till thisThursday to review thesituation.

The Secretary General addedthat “I want to assure theteeming members of our unionat the Ministry of Education,the Inspectorate Departmentsand the 104 unity colleges thatthe strike continues untildirected otherwise.”

The issues in dispute, among

others, are non-payment ofpromotion arrears from 2007to 2010 and the balance of2011 promotion arrears;promotion arrears for 2012-2013 and unpaid salaries to

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

Others are end-of-yearincentives, first 28 days in lieuof hotel accommodation, 2010Head of Service organised

mandatory trainingallowance, repatriationallowance, duty tourallowance, among others.

The union lamented that allagreements entered into with

the management of theMinistry of Education to settleworkers’ legitimateentitlements had always beenbreached with impunity bysuccessive administrations.

By Victor Ahiuma-Young

As Unity Schools strike enters week two

MR. BrendonUkwute will, today,

be conferred with the titleof Olotor of OwaKingdom, Ika North LocalGovernment Area of DeltaState by HRM, Dr.Efeizomor, Obi of Owa.

The ceremony to honourMr. Ukwute, a business-man, philanthropist andheir of the Ukwute family,will hold at the palace ofthe Obi of Owa, OwaOyibu.

Honour

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 andMr. Patrick Ohaji, Divisional Manager Agric, Dizengoff West Africa Nigeria Limited, during Horticulture Fresh ProduceStructures Farmers’ Field Day celebration in Masaka, Nasarawa State.

BENIN—GOVERNORAdams Oshiomhole of

Edo State has accused theFederal Government ofmaking illegal deductionsfrom the FederationAccount, which has led tothe pauperisation of thestates.

He called on the NigerianBar Association, NBA, tospeak up against the many

illegalities being perpetratedby the Federal Government,if democracy must grow in thecountry.

Playing host to MrAugustine Alegeh, SAN,President of the NBA atGovernment House, Benin,Oshiomhole, said that theNigerian Bar must speak outnot only on rule of law but alsoon political issues withoutnecessarily being partisan.

Oshiomhole said: “I like to

comment on your advice tothe obedience to court orders.Even on this, I ask you toconfront the issue frontally.

“There is a Supreme Courtjudgment about the status ofexcess crude oil account.That account is illegal havingregards to sections of theconstitution. The judgment ofthe Supreme Court was clear:you can’t keep a part of theFederation Account.

“Crude oil excess isunknown and even theconcept of excess is dubious.How can you have excess ata time you are borrowing?

“That pronouncement isthere and I want to hear thevoice of the Bar on that issueand you can compel theFederal Government to obeythe Supreme Court. Whenyou do that, you can comeback to us and ask us to doour part.

“Still talking about theviolation. I have had to askChief Mike Ozehkome, SAN,to challenge the powers ofthe Auditor-General of theFederation and the Presidentto make deductions from theFederation Account becausethe constitution as weunderstand it is clear.

“All monies must first be

Oshiomhole accuses FG of illegalitiesBy Simon Ebegbulem distributed. Even the

Association of LocalGovernments of Nigeria,ALGON, has its moneydeducted from source. This isunknown to the constitution.”

On the crisis rocking theEdo State House of Assembly,Oshiomhole said: “The matteryou have raised, I pray youwill carry out your ownindependent investigation.

“If Edo bar has not givenyou all the facts or the factsdon’t appear comprehensive,it is to the extent that theyhave unwittingly madethemselves parties to the casein a partisan manner.”

FCTA tackles traffic, begins control room project

ABUJA— MINISTER ofthe Federal Capital Territory

Administration, FCTA, SenatorBala Mohammed, hascommenced the installation ofControl Room project, stressinghis readiness to tackle trafficproblems in Abuja, the nation’scapital city.

According to the minister,installation of Control Roomwould help enhance trafficmanagement and security ofcommuters in Abuja.

Speaking weekend after ameeting with some seniorofficials of the FCTTransportation Secretariat,

By Henry Umoru Senator Mohammedexplained that the project,which was in tune with theTransformation Agenda ofPresident Goodluck Jonathanand the TransportationMaster Plan of the FederalCapital Territory, was 65percent completed.

The minister said the FCTadministration hadupgraded a total of 28 outof the 74 existing traffic lightinstallations from the oldtechnology of incandescentlight to Light EmittingDiode, LED, with solarback-up to drasticallyreduce traffic light problemsassociated with those

powered by conventionalelectricity supply.

According to him, 20additional new intersectionshad been earmarked for trafficlight installation before theend of the year, while 1,200additional road traffic signshad been installed of varioustypes and sizes.

He added that more roadshad been marked in the cityand they include Tafawa BalewaWay, Lome Crescent Street, F.O. Williams Street, BabangidaAliyu Street, Nouchott Street,Kashim Ibrahim Way, Sabo AgoWay, Deji Omotade Street,Wada Aliyu Street and AhmaduBello Way.


CMYK

OPINION


*Mr. Zanda, a commentator onnational issues, wrote from Lagos.

Paternity leave: The family rescue optionBy Ibrahim Zanda

THE Lagos State Government scoredanother first among the states of the

federation when it recently granted a 10-day paternity leave to its male civil servantswhile extending the maternal leave fromthree to six months. The paternity leave isdirectly tied to the first two deliveries only. Athird delivery would only attract 12 weeks100% paid maternal leave. The action of theLagos State Government has been receivingcommendations from many as the recipe fora strong family. In particular, RomanCatholics see the policy as an endorsementof the 2014 Year of the Family declaredby His Grace, Archbishop Adewale Martinsof the See of Lagos. The policy portraysGovernor Babatunde Fashola’sadministration as being committed to thewellbeing of the family. Moreover, the sixmonths duration allows nursing mothers tofeed their babies exclusively on breast milk.Parental leave or family leave, calledpartner leave in Germany, is an employeebenefit that is granted in most countriesas maternity, paternity or adoptionleaves. The employee is paid to remain athome for a stipulated time to care for anewborn or sort out issues affecting achild’s welfare. Governor Fashola appearsto have realised that the mega Lagos of hisdreams will be more cohesive if the familyas the smallest unit of society were re-engineered. He got it right with this newpolicy even though there are those whobelieve that as a politician he has just

played a pre-election joker. Others believethat time is running out on GovernorFashola’s second and last term in office andthe gentleman is displaying his love of theworking class by granting benefits based onhis beliefs and not as a reaction to advocacy.A few believe that the paternity leave isanother fad by the LASG in line with thecynic phrase ‘Eko for show’, another flash inthe pan for the Center of Excellence. Thiscynicism merely underscores the novelty ofthe paternity idea in this country.When Zinox Technologies, the firstorganisation to grant paternity leave inNigeria, announced in 2012 that its malestaff could enjoy paternity leave, the newssounded as far-fetched as Nigeria landingon the moon. The company announcedthat male staff were entitled to a paternityleave of two days for senior staff and threedays for junior staff.Like all brilliant trail-blazers, the announcement was taken withskepticism in a few quarters, but manythought it was a humble start for an ideathat could make a difference in familyrelationships and re-ordering our values asa people. Those who thought it was a goodidea were quick to list the benefits ofpaternal leave to include the capacity of thefather to contribute to the prenatal and post-natal care necessary to nurture a balancedbaby; male presence at this fragile momentwould instill confidence and give everyonea firmer grip on things, and the couple alsoenjoys a great sense of bonding.

The benefits of paternity leave also rub offon the employer and the country. It would beinsensitive to expect that a male staff wouldgive himself fully to his work when his wifeis in the labour ward or has just beendelivered of a baby. Definitely, this happyman with divided attention would befulfilled sitting beside his wife as the newbaby arrives. He would be eternally gratefulto the organisation he works for if he wasofficially excused from work with a littlemoney in his pocket. Expectedly, the malestaff returns to his work more loyal and moreproductive. A content work force is a plus tothe development plans of any nation.Paternity leave is an accepted workers benefitin most of the countries that are recognisedas the first world or developed nations.Sweden has about the most generouspaternal leave where at least 60 days outof the 480 days set aside for parental leavefollowing the birth of a new baby isreserved for the male partner. The paidleave per child, in Sweden, is pegged at77.6% of the employee’s monthly salaryup to a ceiling of $3,400 per month. Thecost is shared between the employer andthe State. Norway has similar generousparental leave entitlements. Belgium hasthree days paternity leave paid 100% by theemployer plus an additional seven days thatis paid 82% by the insurance company. InDenmark a father is entitled to two weeks ofthe 52 weeks paid parental leave. Whereasin Germany parental leave is referred to as

partner months consisting of 12/14 months65% paid up to a limit of 1,800 Euro permonth. In Italy, it's 13 weeks 80% paid.The foregoing shows that paternity leave isan accepted workers’ benefit internationally.Zinox Technologies, run by computer whizkid Leo Stan Ekeh, acted in its character ofalways adapting to world-class standardswith its introduction of paternity leave inNigeria. Good ideas, like good writing styles,would always have followers and sooner thanlater many states of the Federation wouldfollow the example of Lagos and bringpaternity leave to more Nigerians.Thismight just be the right therapy for a countrythat has had her values turned upside downby oil induced corruption, materialism,ethnicity, religious bigotry and nowfundamentalism. A deepening of familyvalues would set the stage for a societalrenaissance.The National and State assemblies ought totake a cue from the selfless posture ofGovernor Fashola’s initiative and act inthe interest of the people. The NGOs andadvocacy groups should align themselvesto this lofty ideal and for once give the malefolk a sense of belonging, a departure fromthe trend of treating the male as a genderwho must forfeit some of his surplus benefitsand privileges.

THE normal trend is that Nigeria lags behindin most indices of development and toppingthe charts when it comes to indicators ofbackwardness. For instance, in the Africaranking of attainment of the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDG’s), whereas Egyptis first, Tunisia second, Ghana fifth, Nigeriais 47th, competing with countries like Niger(46th, Somalia (51) and Congo (52 and last).

It is, therefore, cheering news when theUnited Nations singles out Nigeria’s DeltaState for special commendation for meetinginternational standards in attaining the MDGgoals. The UN set these goals in 2001, thatby 2015, member countries should follow auniversal blueprint to ensure that the world’spoorest countries should be able to overcomedeficits in eight critical areas, such aseradication of extreme hunger and poverty,providing greater access to universal primaryeducation, promoting gender equality andempowerment of women, reducing childmortality, increasing maternal health,combating infectious diseases such as malariaand HIV/AIDS, ensuring environmentalsustainability and developing globalpartnership for development.

The Delta State Government, under GovernorEmmanuel Uduaghan, from inception,

Delta State’s MDGDelta State’s MDGDelta State’s MDGDelta State’s MDGDelta State’s MDGfeatsfeatsfeatsfeatsfeats

embarked on a number of measures aimed atuplifting the status of human development,with emphasis on education, agriculture,provision of potable water/sanitation anddevelopment of a grassroots-based micro-credit scheme, which correspond to the MDG’smain thematic areas. In Delta State, there isfree medical care for children under five andelders above 65, as well as free natal carefor pregnant women until delivery, whichdrastically cut down on child and maternalmortality.

Education is free and compulsory up tosecondary school level, and there are

marshals deployed to ensure implementationand eradication of school dropout syndrome.

The state also invited UN assessors whospent about a year in Delta State, and theresult was unveiled at this year ’s UnitedNations General Assembly in New York.

We are very proud of this achievement bythe Delta State Government, which will go along way in readjusting Nigeria’s countryranking in the MDG’s. We recommend thistemplate to other states, and also prescribethe use of peer review mechanisms as a meansof upgrading the quality of governance at alllevels.

The Delta State example has shown thatgood governance is not merely a function ofdeveloping infrastructure such as roads,bridges and housing estates. Thedevelopment of human capacity and qualityof life, which is what the MDG’s are aimedto achieve, must be equally factored in. Afterall, human beings are the centerpiece ofdemocracy and governance.

As we commend the government and peopleof Delta State for putting Nigeria’s name inthe positive kleiglights in New York, we urgeother states to redouble their efforts andensure that the year 2015 does not leave thembehind.


CMYK

SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Continues on page 18

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

Federal Government's plan topay off the over N200 billiongas supply debt owed by

defunct PHCN will avert theimpending systemic non-performingloans in Nigeria banks.

The payment of the debt overhangby the Federal Government will helppower generating companies(GENCOs) meet their debt-service

Power sector owing three banks $1.085bnBy OMOH GABRIEL,with Agency reports

obligations to banks on loans ofalmost N500 billion, on which somehave been falling behind. It has alsoheaded off a threat to the bankingindustry by assisting the strugglingGENCOs with an intervention fund.

The N213 billion ($1.3 billion) fundannounced by President GoodluckJonathan’s administration on Sept. 19will be used to pay off gas-supplydebts owed by power companies andto cover revenue shortfalls.

The exposure of banks to the powersector indicate that UBA Plc ,Nigeria’s fourth-biggest bank bymarket value, granted $700 millionin loans to several investors,including Transnational Corporationof Nigeria, which got $215 million tobuy Ughelli Power, the country’ssecond-biggest gas-fueled plant withcapacity for 900 megawatts.

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, the largest

FRC morestrategic infighting financialcrimes, sayschairman

The Chairman, FiscalResponsibility Commission

(FRC), Mr Victor Muruako, has saidthat the commission is more strategicin fighting financial crimes andcorruption than other agencies.Muruako made the statement inAbuja on Wednesday when hereceived officials of Nigerian BarAssociation (NBA), Imo branch, inhis office. He said the vision of FRCunder the current management wasto ensure that it fulfilled its mandateof ensuring fiscal prudence andadequate management of resources.

“We want to ensure that we don’tjust exist in the Act but we are seento be doing our assignment anddischarging our mandate under theFiscal Responsibility Act.

“If the commission is given thechance and support to discharge itsmandate, there will be little or noassignment for the EFCC and theICPC. This is because FRC is meantto stop corruption before it occurs.

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

He said the commission wasworking to ensure that the FederalMinistries, Departments andAgencies (MDAs) under itssupervision made appropriateremittances of their operatingsurpluses into the ConsolidatedRevenue Fund. Revenue generatingagencies owe it a duty to the FederalGovernment to continuously pay theiroperating surplus into theConsolidated Revenue Fund.

“This is why this commission isinsisting that all MDAs that are underobligation to pay their operatingsurpluses must do so. FederalGovernment cannot continue to relyon oil and gas. The FederalGovernment has set up sufficientbodies to be able to generate


Banks breathe easier asFG floats N213bn lifelinefor GENCOs

CMYK


Cover Story

Continues from page 17

,

,

The words ‘ youth’ and‘ restiveness’ have

become so commonly usedtogether in the last couple ofyears that they seem to havetaken on a life of their own.In the last decade and more,there has been aproliferation of cases all overthe country and indeed, theworld, of youth agitationswhich have tons of peopledead and valuableinfrastructure as well aspersonal properties lost anddestroyed.

A sustained protestationembarked upon to enforce adesired outcome from aconstituted authority by anorganised body of youths, fitsthe label of youth restiveness.It is also a combination of anyaction or conduct thatconstitutes unwholesome,socially unacceptableactivities engaged in by theyouths in any community.

It is a phenomenon whichin practice has led to a nearbreakdown of law and order,low productivity due todisruption of productionactivities, increasing crimerate, intra-ethnic hostilities,and harassment ofprospective developers andother criminal tendencies.

This scourge has beenaround for a long time and itlooks as though it is defyingsolutions. Maybe thequestion that needs to beasked is what is trulyresponsible for thisexpression of dissatisfactionby the youth? Have theircomplaints over the years notbeen heard or attended to? Isthere more to the killings anddestruction than just drawingattention to the needs theywant met? Are the youthstrying to draw society ’sattention to themselves morethan the issues they appearto be fronting? These andmore are the questions wewould try to tackle head ontoday.

In Nigeria for instance, theNiger-Delta region which isunarguably the bedrock of theoil industry in Nigeriapermeated the news for alengthy period of time as theyouths of that region triedvarious means of gettinggovernment and oilcompanies to pay attention totheir dire conditions of livingand alleviate their sufferingssince according to them, theresources which is buildingthe nation is flowing fromtheir land so by virtue ofthat, they should also bepartakers of its benefits. This

Youth restiveness andunemployment in Nigeria: theway out part 1

strife led to a rise inkidnapping andvandalization of oil pipelinesas well as other vices thatwere being perpetrated.After some years, theNigerian governmentintervened and the amnestyprogram was created to helpdeliver some of the promiseswhich government had madeto the youths in those areas.

The baton was soon handedover to Eastern Nigeria.Increase in the rate of armedrobbery attacks, kidnappingsas well as unbridled thuggerybecame the order of the day.

Today, Northern part ofNigeria has literally eruptedwith unrivalled violence.Bomb blasts, kidnappingsand killings of Nigerians andothers have become theprevailing trend. Despitebeefing up of security in theseareas, the problems stillpersist. This situation begsthe questions, "what is thegovernment of the day willingto do to put a permanent end

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 hydra-headed monster which existsamong the youth in alldeveloping countries. Theunemployment rate inNigeria was last reported at23.9 per cent in 2011. TheNational Bureau of Statistics(NBS) has put the figure ofunemployed Nigerians in thefirst half of the year at 23.9per cent, up from 21.1 percent in 2010 and 19.7 per centin 2009.

The National PopulationCommission (NPC) has saidthe country’s population hasrisen from the 140,431,790 itwas five years ago when thelast national headcount wastaken, to 167,912,561 as atOctober 2011.This representsan annual population growthrate of 5.6 million people.

A sustainedprotestationembarked upon toenforce a desiredoutcome from aconstitutedauthority by anorganised body ofyouths, fits thelabel of youthrestiveness

Banks breathe easier as FG floats N213bnlifeline for GENCOs

lender by market value on itspart advanced $170 million toMainstream Energy SolutionsLtd for the concession of Jebbaand Kainji hydropower plants.Zenith Bank Plc, the second-biggest lender, provided N40billion for the acquisition oftwo electricity distributioncompanies in Lagos. Otherssuch as EcobankTransnational Inc., DiamondBank Plc and Skye Bank alsoprovided loans to powerinvestors.

“The government is reactingto the risk affecting the powerindustry as a whole and thesustainability of the reform,which dovetails to the banks,”Pabina Yinkere of VetivaCapital Management Ltd. toldReuters. “This interventionfund will ease the stress in theindustry and in effect reducethe probability of loans goingbad.”

Nigeria dismantled itspower monopoly and sold thehydro-and gas-poweredplants it ran last year to try tobring in investment needed toexpand electricity supply, withdemand more than threetimes the current output ofabout 3,800 megawatts.

Companies includingTransnational Corp. of NigeriaPlc, Korea Electric PowerCorp. and Forte Oil Plc (FO)paid more than $3 billion forcontrolling interests in 15power generators anddistributors. Authorities inAfrica’s largest economy areputting together new

regulations to protectlenders, electricity consumersand other utilities in theevent that the powercompanies fail, according tocentral bank GovernorGodwin Emefiele andPetroleum Minister DiezaniAlison-Madueke.

While the ratio of non-performing loans in Nigerianbanks remains low at 4percent of all borrowings,compared with a high of 35percent in November 2010, itis expected to increase forelectricity companies “as thenew distribution andgeneration businesses pileup debts and struggle underthe early phases ofliberalization,” Philippe dePontet, Africa director at NewYork-based Eurasia Group,said in a Sept. 24 e-mailednote to clients.

The prominent role thecentral bank is assuming inmanaging the bailoutindicates that Emefiele, likehis predecessor LamidoSanusi, is keen to give thebank “an active role in theeconomy” through areasincluding power, agricultureand manufacturing,according to de Pontet.

Under Sanusi, the centralbank fired the chief executiveofficers of eight lenders in2010 for mismanagement asNigeria reeled from theeffects of the 2008 globalfinancial crisis.

The banks were bailed outwith 600 billion naira whilethe government set up theAsset Management Corp. of

Nigeria, or Amcon, to buybad debts from lenders andsave the financial systemfrom collapse. Amcon saidlast month it won’t buy anymore bad debts from lenders.

“The government issending out strong signalsabout its intention to makethe power sector work,”Dolapo Oni, Lagos-basedhead of energy research atEcobank Research, said in ane-mailed response toquestions. “If theseinterventions allow thedeclaration of the TransitionalElectricity Market, then theymay have averted a crisis.”

The bailout will enable anOctober start to the electricitymarket, where generators anddistributors can buy and sellenergy in a process mediatedby the Nigeria BulkElectricity Trader, accordingto a timetable set byregulators.

The bulk trader has almost$1 billion in risk guaranteesprovided by the World Bankand Nigeria’s SovereignWealth Investment Authority,with an additional $750million to back trading bygenerators and distributors.While the bailout doesn’taddress all the challenges, itis a step in the right direction,Bismarck Rewane, CEO ofLagos-based FinancialDerivatives Co., a riskadvisory firm, said. “Thesignal is that the powerinvestors will be supported,”he said. “Power is tooimportant that thegovernment cannot let it fail.”

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

CMYK


Business & Economy

,

,

When the whiteman came to

Africa topreach and spread thegospel, he was altruistic,truthful and selfless. Herendered selfless service tohumanity. He left thecomfort of Europe and riskedhis life in a land seen then asa dark continent full of evilspirits and peopled by beingsthat were living on top oftrees. He came into a landthat was infested withmosquitoes that was a deathsentence to the white race asat the time. Yet, in the nameand love of Christ, theycame.

These missionaries weretaken to what many saw asevil forest to settle, with thehope that they will die ontheir own. Yet again, in thename of Jesus Christ, theyconquered every challengethrown their way. Theytaught us the truth, showedus the light and the way. Inthe process of time, they setup schools which manyattended without payinganything or just a token.

So we became educated,learnt the art of preachingand teaching the word of lifelike them. In the process oftime, many left the earlybelievers behind as oldschool, those born before.They got born again, the fireof revival spread through thecontinent and Nigeria. Manypastors were raised. Generaloverseers were in theirnumbers. The church sawprosperity, the born againknew the way to wealth. Themessage changed fromsalvation to prosperity.

The name of the Lord soonbecame the key and accessto wealth. Many becameattracted to the church.Many who believed as well asthose who did not butwanted a piece of the pie thatwas in the church, troopedinto the church. In theirquest for materialpossession, splitter groupsbegan to emerge as a result

Fleecing Nigerians in the name of God

of disagreement on managingthe tithes and offerings cominginto the church. The sloganbecame how much you canmake by being a man of God.Instead of using the moneyrealised from offerings to serve

God and charitable cause, menof God started buyingexpensive cars, houses inhighbrow areas and now jetplanes.

Nigerians will remember thatin the 1960s, 70s and early partof 80s, magicians were in everymajor street in Lagos, Benin,Aba, Enugu, Kaduna etc. Thesemagicians who were performing

magical acts in these cities gotinspired by the fact that therewas money to be made in thename of the Lord. So theyabandoned their magical actsand went into church-planting.Since the Nigerian state is laxin its laws governing charityorganisations, it was easy forthese men to creep into thehouse of the Lord.

In some of these mushroomhouses called churches, as soonas you enter, the so-called manof God starts prophesying toyou; your mother or sibling isthe one behind your travails.The gullible accept this; thenext thing you hear is that theLord wants you to sow a seed.Sometimes in thousands ofnaira. These fake men of Godhave forgotten that the Biblesay, freely have you receivedand freely shall you give.

These men in Nigerianchurches are crucifying theLord Jesus the second time. Inevery ministry today, it is allabout money. What car am Idriving as a pastor? What kind

of house am I living in? Whatpart of the city is the man ofGod living in? Many pastorstoday if transferred from thecity to a rural area, will quitthat ministry. It is no longerservice to the Lord, but selfservice. In-fact, the poor, theneedy that the church issupposed to cater for areneglected. Men of God in

search of wealth and famedine and wine withpoliticians. They, as theirpolitical associates havebecome corrupt. They beararms for these politicians,run errands for them andsome to the point of moneylaundering. They cannotserve as the conscience of thesociety anymore.

They cannot look at theseevil politicians, like Elishadid to King Ahab and said:'You and your father’s houseare the problem of Israel.'Nigerian gospel ministershave lost it. They have shutGod Almighty out of theChurch, locked Him outside,and are now worshippingmoney. If today you enterinto any Nigerian churchwith serious money, no onewill ask you what work youare doing to make money.No, it is the Lord that hasblessed us.

How can a true man of Godopenly endorse divorce?How can a true man of God

use the church's money tobuild an empire for himselfand his family at the expenseof his poor congregation? Howcan a true man of Godestablish schools that hismembers' children may neverbe able to attend? How can atrue man of God be competingin worldly possession with hismembers? How can a trueman of God rape teenage girlin his church? How can a trueman of God commit adulterywith his members' wives?These acts instead of drawingmen to Christ in actual factbring shame to the gospel. Itmakes unbelievers unwillingto accept the true gospel.Instead of many of Nigeria'spastors being the light of theworld, they show darkness,cover the true light inpreference for money. Noresponsible man of God willdisobey the laws of the land,but what do you have,Nigerian pastors openlydisregard the law and eventhreaten citizens who pointout their wrong doing.

No responsible believer inJesus Christ is happy aboutthe presence of such socialevils as racial hatred, aspiraling crime rate, the liquorand drug traffic, slums andviolence. He realises thatsuch conditions as these havethe potential to destroy hissociety and therefore ought tobe checked. If the Nigerianchurch had shown enoughlove, perhaps some of theproblems facing the nationtoday would not haveoccurred.

If the Nigerian churchleaders were not workinghands in glove with thepolitical class, if they hadconsistently denounced

corruption and punishedmembers found to beinvolved in stealing, themoral decadence in thesociety today may have beenchecked.

Where is the power of theSpirit-inspired testimony inthe Nigerian Pentecostal/charismatic and evenevangelical churches? It isonly the effectual working ofGod’s power in a human heartthat will allow a man to gooutside of himself to share thegospel boldly and testify ofJesus. A man with social andpolitical stigma cannotboldly share the gospel.When a man of God isspiritually healthy andvibrant, it brings light into thelocal church and city.Precious are those who are onfire for Jesus especially intimes of gross darkness andmoral decline as we are innow.

In a time of spiritualdeclension in Great Britain inthe 1800s, Catherine Booth,wife of Salvation Armyfounder, William Booth, wentabout the churches “lookingfor burning words.” Sherecognised that doctrine aloneis not enough. Logicallysounding phrases and greatswelling words are notenough. Oratory skills are notenough.

We must have the Word onfire and the power and moveof the Holy Spirit.

Nigerian churches need toget out of the twilight zone ofcessation theology and post-modernism and craze forwealth and learn what itmeans to be filled with themighty Holy Spirit and presson into all the fullness of God.

Men of God in search ofwealth and fame dine and

wine with politicians; as theirpolitical associates, they have

become corrupt

sufficient non-oil revenue forthe country,” Muruako said.He said the commission wascurrently reviewing financialrecords of the 31 corporationsunder its supervision from2007, so that those that had short-changed thegovernment would be caught.

The FRC boss also said thecommission was currentlycarrying out a nationwide

physical verification of FederalCapital projects to addressissues of abandoned projects.

Earlier, the NBA Chairman,Mr Stanley Chidozie, said theassociation had resolved tohave a session during itsforthcoming Law Week to bededicated to looking at: “TheRole of Lawyers in Enforcingthe FRC Act. “For the successof this commission and theFRC Act, it is important for

lawyers to familiarisethemselves with the act.

“It is for this reason that weare inviting you to play a keyrole in our upcoming LawWeek in Owerri. As a lawyeryourself; we urge you to makea difference in thisorganisation. Be a goodrepresentative of the Bar justlike lawyers ruling in the U.S.and UK have done,” he said.

FRC, more strategic in fighting financialcrimes, says chairman

Continues from page 17

Acting Director-G e n e r a l ,N a t i o n a l

Agricultural Seed Councils(NASC) Dr PhilipsOlusegun-Ojo, said that theFederal Government wastargeting 20 million farmersin the fertiliser distributionfor the 2015 farming season.Olusegun-Ojo made thisknown when he declaredopen a three-day training onseed certification and qualitycontrol held at the Institute ofAgricultural Research (IAR)in Zaria.

The training, organised bythe council had corpsmembers, NASC certificationofficers, internal qualitycontrol and seed production

Fertilisers: FG targets 20m farmers in 2015 — D-Gofficers of seed companies asparticipants.

Olusegun-Ojo said that in2014, the Growth EnhancementSupport (GES) scheme of theFederal Government reachedout to over 90 per cent ofNigerian farmers, saying thatthis had never happened in thepast.

“Before the introduction ofGES, only 11 per cent ofNigerian farmers got fertilisers;but now, over 90 per cent receivethe commodity from theirredemption centres.

“In view of the enormoussuccess recorded by GES inNigeria, countries like China,Brazil, Kenya and Tanzaniacame to borrow a leave fromus.”

Olusegun-Ojo applaudedthe Federal Government’s

initiative in introducing theAgricultural Transformation

Agenda (ATA) aimed atcreating jobs for Nigeriansapart from facilitating theattainment of national foodsecurity.


CMYK

Business & Economy

American investors to spend$106m on 50MW solar plant

BY CHRIS OCHAY I

G lobal BusinessR e s o u r c e s ,U.S.A, a

consortium of internationalinvestors are in Nigeria fora follow-up discussions withgovernment officials for therealisation of two 50MWsolar-powered plants inKumbotso, Kano State andKaru, in Abuja, F.C.T.

The Nigerian side, led bythe Minister of State forPower, Hon. MohammedWakil had earlier met thegroup in Bridgeport -Miami, U.S.A. The group’smission in Nigeria is to focuson developing ActionableRenewable energygeneration strategy, usingabundant solar resources inNigeria.

According to the copy ofproposal submitted to theMinistry, in addition toputting in place aframework for the buildingof the two plants, the groupis prepared to undertakeGeographic InformationSystem (GIS) mapping forrenewable energy as doneby some African countrieslike Ghana, South-Africa,Kenya and Ethiopia, as sucha move will help facilitaterural electrification projectson a Public-PrivatePartnership agreement, ifadopted by Nigeria.

The group has the targetto develop a master planthat will fast-track 100 percent rural electrification inthe next five years, just as ithas informed Nigerians thatthe project will leverage onresources from Obama -Power Africa Initiative.

Speaking on behalf of theMinister, Engr. Abayomi

Adebisi said that Nigeriansare excited about thisinitiative, as the countryneeds power urgently.

While calling on genuineinvestors to take advantageof this need-gap, he said thevast resources of oil, gas,wind, sun and biomassshould be developed forpower generation,especially now that thesector has moved frompublic control to privatedriven one. Even the

transmission leg in theelectricity chain is nowmanaged by privateconcern and would soon beprivatized to allow for moreresources into it.

Expressing optimism inthe prompt delivery of theproject, James Nicholas,who led the Americans, saidthat Africa has the mostpromising solar potential interms of cost, as the U.S hasdeveloped cost-effectivetechnology in response to

the pressures from Greenmovements.

From the availableinformation, the cost of2.06 cents per kilo hour isquite reasonable, addingthat $106 million will berequired to fund these twoplants. The group pledged towork with the ministry andother government agenciesin the quest for adequatepower supply in thecountry.

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

Senate decries failure of Free Trade Zones

BY JOHNMBOSCOAGBAKWURU

THE Senate haslamented that Free

Zones in the country havenot benefited the economyas a result of the weakregulatory frameworkguiding their operations.

Consequently, the Senatehas started the process ofamending the Act which hadbeen in existence for over 18years with what weredescribed as noticeableinherent inadequacies andoperational challenges.

But the management of theNigeria Export ProcessingZone Authority, NEPZA,opposed some aspect of thebill, alleging that despite thefact that the Oil and Gas FreeTrade Zone and NEPZA havetheir various areas of

specialization, the formertried to intrude into NEPZAaffairs.

Chairman, SenateCommittee on Trade, SenatorOdion Ugbesia who lamentedthe abysmal performance oftrade zones in the countryduring the public hearing onthe Oil and Gas Export FreeZones Authority Act 2011amendment Bill 2014, inAbuja, said it was due to thelow performance of free zonescoupled with the weakregulatory framework thatthe Senate embarked on theamendment.

Senator Ugbesia stated thatFree Zones all over the worldwere instrumental toboosting industrial andeconomic growth, stressingthat it was the reason why theFederal Governmentestablished the Onne Oil and

Gas Free Zones to providegreater level of foreign directinvestment, technologytransfer, manpowerdevelopment, provision ofemployment opportunitiesand greater economic self-reliance.

He said: “Simply put, theamendment Bill on Oil andGas Export Free Zone ActCAP 05 LFN seeks to makeconsequential provision to theAct for greater effectivenessand efficiency.

“Having operated the Actfor about 18 years, someinherent inadequacies andoperational challenges werenoticed. Hence the need torepeal the existing Act tocorrect these inadequaciesand challenges. TheAmendment Bill thereforeseeks to address some of thedeficiencies in the Principal

Act by creating a morerobust legislative frameworkto regulate and promoteeffective operation of the Oiland Gas Free ZonesAuthority. The mostattractive features of a FreeZone anywhere in the world,is the tax holiday whichinvestors enjoy as incentiveand encouragement forinvestment and thisamendment provides justthat.”

According to SenatorUgbesia, some of theobjectives of the Oil and GasFree Zones Amendments Bill2014 included the socio-economic development of theimmediate community wherethe Free Zones and SpecialInvestments Areas werelocated and its contributionto the growth of the country’sGross Domestic Product.

The Commissioner forInsurance, National

Insurance Commission(NAICOM), Mr Fola Daniel,on last week announced thatthe commission wasdeveloping a new insuranceindustry developmentraodmap. Daniel announcedthis in Lagos at theinauguration of PublicEnlightenment andConsumer ProtectionProgrammes of the InsuranceConsumers Association ofNigeria (ISCAN).

Daniel, represented by MrGeorge Onekhena, theNAICOM, DeputyCommissioner (Finance andAdministration), said thatthe development plan wouldhelp to consolidate andensure the targeted goals ofthe insurance sector.According to him, thecommission will incorporateall stakeholders includingconsumer associations in theproposed national insuranceblueprint.

"The way insuranceindustry is now, is not helpfulto majority of the citizenrybecause people needinsurance to live a good life.

"People should be able totake at least a life insuranceregardless of their financialcapacity. This is whatinsurance is all about and thecommission feels that thedevelopment plan will helpwith this situation,’’ he said.Daniel said that insurancecompanies should support theactivities of ISCAN, addingthat it was a business meantfor all the stakeholders. Hesaid that the support wasnecessary as ISCAN activitieswould increase the publicdemand for insurance.

The commissioner said itwould also help to change thegeneral perception aboutlisted insurance companiesstocks at the capital marketas well as create newemployment.

He said NAICOM wouldcontinue to work towards its mainduty of protecting policy holdersand third parties especiallyvictims of hit and run drivers.

The National President ofISCAN, Admiral Isaac Areola(rtd), said the association wasformed because of problems ofmarketing insurance products inNigeria.

NAICOM toconsolidateindustry’s goalswith newInsurancedevelopmentroadmap


Business & Economy

Nigerian firm eyes €4bn payout fromdefaulting Australian companies

BY JIMOH BABATUNDE

For allegedly dumpingtheir part of apartnership deal to

establish a polymer currencyprinting plant in Nigeria, theReserve Bank of Australia andtwo other firms, SecurencyPrivate Limited and InnoviaFilms Limited, all based inAustralia, may pay damagesof up to four billion Euros(€4bn) to a Nigerian firm.

They are to face a €126million specific damages forloss of revenue for failure toestablish a local polymer plantup to date; and €1.5 billioneuros damages for breach ofcontracts to carry outtechnology transfer to aNigerian entity or establish apolymer plant in Nigeria.

This is the value of whatwould have been saved if theAustralian institution, throughits subsidiary firms, hadeffectively transferred anddomesticated the technologyfor the production of polymercurrency notes in Nigeria.

The Australian apex bankand the firms are to face legalcharges in Nigeria over this,as an Abuja high court rulinghas granted order of court totheir Nigerian partners,Global Secure Currency toserve them writ of summons.

Justice O.O. Goodluck of theHigh Court, Maitama, inAbuja, had in a July 2, 2014ruling, granted Benoy Berryand Global Secure CurrencyLimited order to serve the writof summons on the threeAustralia-based firms,including Securency PrivateLimited, Reserve Bank ofAustralia and Innovia FilmsLimited, to appear in court anddefend allegations pertainingto breach of contractagreement for the transfer ofPolymer Technology andestablish a polymer based mintin Nigeria.

At the resumed hearing ofthe case, Justice Goodluckdismissed the application ofthe foreign firms asking thecourt to set aside court ex-parteorder it made on the 2nd ofFebruary, 2012, againstReserve Bank of Australiabased on the grounds that theorder was made outsidejurisdiction of the court.

According to the plaintiff,Dr. Benoy Berry, in the termsof the agreement, theAustralian Apex Bank hadagreed, through its subsidiary,Securency, Australia, to set upa Special Purpose Vehicle(SPV) to facilitate the transferof Polymer Technology,including a 0-pacificationfacility (Substrate Plant) in

Nigeria; and that themarketing of the 1stdefendant’s importedpolymer products incidentalto the general investment in the local market would beundertaken ahead of theestablishment of localproduction.

On the strength of thecontract, Dr. Berry claimed

that the Central Bank ofNigeria (CBN) awarded thefirst contract for the printingof polymer notes to the firms,but along the line, theAustralian companies renegedon the contract terms andinsisted on supplying ordersand demands from polymerplants abroad rather then setup a plant in Nigeria.

It was for this reasonamongst others that DrBerry and Global SecureCurrency Limitedapproached the high courtto demand that the Austrianfirms must fulfill theirobligations as contained inthe agreements tomanufacture and printpolymer notes in Nigeria.

Nutrition Society of Nigeria endorsesGrand Pure Soya oil

The Nutrition Societyof Nigeria

(NSN) hasendorsed Grand Pure SoyaOil, one of the flagshipbrands of Grand CerealsLimited, a subsidiary of UACNigeria Plc. This is thesecond time the brand willbe enjoying this kind ofendorsement from aprofessional body havingbeen endorsed about nineyears ago by the NigerianHeart Foundation (NHF) asa ‘heart-friendly oil.’

Speaking at theEndorsement Certificatepresentation ceremony, theMarketing Manager of GrandCereals Limited, Mr. TopeBanjo expressed thecompany's delight at theendorsement saying it wasthe result of the investmentsmade on the brand over theyears both in packaging andquality.

"Our effort is to ensure wedeliver better value to our

consumers; an unendingquest to be better thanwhatever else is beingoffered in the market place.

"This quest has imposedstandards on us, thesestandards, though exerting,have been fully embraced byus and the result is such high-profile endorsements byreputed professional bodiessuch as the NHF and now theNSN."

He urged consumers to bemore discerning about thesource of their cooking oilstating that soya beans seedis a single whole source of‘complete protein.’

"Oils from soya bean seedsare odourless, fumeless andflawless in nature, healthyand don’t oxidize easily,"Banjo said.

Emphasizing that not allacclaimed heart-friendlyoils were healthy in the longrun, he appealed toconsumers to cultivate the

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

habit of checking the labelson the bottles of oil beforebuying as it will help themget information on thesource of the oil. He notedthat most recent brands inthe market are made frompalm oil which is not ashealthy as soya oil.

He said that Grand PureSoya Oil is trans fat-free andcontains polyunsaturatedfats which help in thecontrol of blood cholesterollevels by lowering thelevels of bad cholesterol(LDL) and increasing thelevel of good cholesterol(HDL).

Accord ing to themarketing manager, GrandPure Soya Oil does notfoam and does not fume norcongeal even at very lowtemperatures.

The oil comes in 0.75 and2.75-litre PET bottles aswell as 4, 10 and 18 litresJerry-cans.

Facebook to winEU approval for$19 billionWhatsApp bid

Facebook, the world’sleading socialnetwork, will win

unconditional EU approval forits $19 billion offer for mobilemessaging startup WhatsAppin a deal pitting it againsttelecoms operators, two peoplefamiliar with the matter saidon Thursday.

The landmark acquisition,the largest in Facebook’s 10-year history, will give thecompany a firm foothold in thefast-growing mobilemessaging market.

A plan by WhatsApp to addfree voice-call services for its450 million customers laterthis year, however, makes it apotentially powerfulcompetitor to companies suchas Deutsche Telekom(DTEGn.DE), Telecom Italia(TLIT.MI) and Telefonica(TEF.MC).

Analysts said the move islikely to hit telecomsproviders’ turnover as theindustry heads into its fifthyear of revenue decline. Thesector had looked to EUregulators to extractconcessions from Facebook.

Facebook convinced theCommission that the deal hadno anti-competitive effect and,therefore, concessions werenot necessary, the sourcessaid.

Quadrant winsCoca-Cola PRaccount

Coca-Cola NigeriaLimited hasannounced the

appointment of The QuadrantCompany as the new publicrelations consultants tosteward her corporate andbeverage brands effectiveSeptember 2014.

In a statement the PublicAffairs & CommunicationsDirector, Clem Ugorji, saidthat The Quadrant Companywas selected through a pitchthat involved six leading PRagencies in the country,including the incumbentagency, C&F Porter Novelli.

According to Ugorji, ‘Therecent pitch for the Coca-ColaPR account was informed byits policy to periodicallyevaluate and refresh ourcapabilities in order toeffectively drive our growthplans”. He noted that theparticipating agencies alldemonstrated remarkablecompetencies and that TheQuadrant Company wereadjudged to be well positionedto sustainably deliver on theexpectations in the fastevolving PR landscape.


Banking & Finance

Ecobank TransnationalInc. and MasterCard

has announced thatconsumers can now use theirMasterCard prepaid, debitand credit cards at Ecobank’sATMs and Point of Saleterminals in 28 Africancountries, significantlyboosting card acceptance onthe continent.

With the culmination of themulti-country licensingagreement signed byMasterCard and Ecobank inJanuary 2014, this initiativegives MasterCardcardholders access to morethan 2,500 ATMs and allowsthem to pay for goods andservices in over 20,000 shops,hotels, restaurants and otheroutlets across Africa.

“Expanding MasterCard’sacceptance in 28 countriesacross Ecobank’s network isa significant milestone for usas we work together toaccelerate the adoption ofelectronic payments andcreate a cashless society inAfrica,” says DanielMonehin, DivisionPresident, Sub-SaharanAfrica, MasterCard.“Through this partnership,we have combinedMasterCard’s globalpayment technology withEcobank’s unrivalled pan-African footprint to give ourcardholders moreconvenient, secure andreliable ways to pay.”

Ecobank subsidiaries nowaccept MasterCard-brandedcards in Benin, Burkina Faso,Burundi, Cameroon, CentralAfrican Republic (CAR),Chad, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire,Democratic Republic ofCongo (DRC), Gabon, TheGambia, Ghana, Guinea,Guinea Bissau, Kenya,Liberia, Malawi, Mali,Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda,Senegal, Sierra Leone,Tanzania, Togo, Uganda,Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“This partnership formspart of our broader retailbanking strategy ofproviding Ecobankcustomers with enhancedservice levels, which exceedtheir expectations,” explainsPatrick Akinwuntan,Ecobank’s Group Executive,Head of Domestic Bank.“Our unique platform givesour customers easy access totheir Ecobank accounts whentravelling, be it on businessor for pleasure, without theneed for carrying cash.”

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

NDIC tasks mortgage banks oncorporate governance practicesBY YINKA KOLAWOLE &JONAH NWOKPOKU

In a bid to address anysystemic failureresulting from build up

of toxic asset, NigeriaDeposit InsuranceCorporation, NDIC, hascautioned PrimaryMortgage Banks, PMBs toadhere to recommendedcorporate governancepractices based on effectiveand sustainable riskmanagement practices asinstituted by regulatory

authorities.Managing Director/CEO of

NDIC, Umaru Ibrahim gavethe charge at the corporation’s2014 Sensitisation workshopfor operators of PrimaryMortgage Banks in Lagos.

The workshop focused on thetheme: “Developing andimplementing sustainableeffective risk management inPrimary Mortgage Banks inNigeria.”

According to Ibrahim, “Weakcorporate governance and riskmanagement frameworkscould result in riskybehaviours by PMBs, which

could in turn result in thecreation of huge toxic assetsand ultimately put insureddeposits at risk.”

He lamented that thesupervisory authorities weredeeply concerned about thebuild-up of toxic assets ofmicro finance banks, whichstood at about 45.70 per centas against the prescribedmaximum of five per cent,while hinting that thecorporation’s attention is nowbeing focused on both MicroFinance Bank and PMB sub-sectors so as to address theemerging challenges.

He, however, advised thatPMBs should be interested inenhanced risk managementstandards because somemortgage portfolios are on apredominantly variable rateand therefore highly sensitiveto interest rate fluctuations.

He said: “For instance, anincrease in interest rate couldmake mortgage repaymentdifficult and result in defaultwhich may give rise to toxicassets. Furthermore, newmortgages could become lessattractive for consumers’ dueassets. PMBs should be ableto assess a consumer’s abilityto continue with mortgagerepayments in the case of aninterest rate rise. A lack ofthorough and effectiveassessments could pose amajor risk for many PMBs.”Meanwhile, while urgingPMBs to look deeper intoemerging risk managementissues at their variousinstitutions, Ibrahim statedthat the corporation and theCentral Bank of Nigeria weremaking concerted efforts toensure that risk managementissues in the financial systemwere continuously addressedvia rapidly developingcapacity in theimplementation of Basel IIand III.

However, as part of its effortto protect depositors byensuring that bank’s affairsare conducted in a safe andsound manner, he disclosedthat NDIC developed anddeployed a framework forfinancial assistance for PMBsso as to promptly interveneand assist them to overcometemporary liquidity problemsand put in place a robustcustomer complaint resolutionmechanism.

Heritage Bank pledges integration of Enterprise Bank,listing on NSE

BY PETER EGWUATU

Heritage Bank hasdisclosed its

readiness to fulfill allconditions necessary for theacquisition of EnterpriseBank as stated after therecent successful signing ofthe Share PurchaseAgreement between it andthe Asset ManagementCorporation of Nigeria(AMCON).

It also stated that thecurrent staff of EnterpriseBank would be fullyintegrated into the processesand aspirations of the bankin order to deliver morevalues to all stakeholders inthe deal, even as assurancewas given that the entitywould be listed on theNigerian Stock Exchange,NSE.

Speaking to newsmen, theManaging Director/CEO,Heritage Bank, Mr. Ifie Sekiboconfirmed that the bank hadalready paid the initial 20 percent of the total bid pricewhile efforts were already inplace to ensure the paymentof the final 80 per cent withinthe stipulated time framegiven by AMCON.

“In the spirit of ourcontinuous quest forquintessential banking servicedelivery aimed at boosting theeconomy through innovativepartnership and professionalalignment with like-mindbrands, we formally announcethe commencement of theprocess that we believe willfinally culminate in theacquisition of Enterprise BankLimited to further drive ourtime-proven credo of creating,preserving and transferring

wealth among our teemingcustomers."

Continuing, he stated: “Inline with AMCON’srequirements for theacquisition of EnterpriseBank Limited, HBCLInvestment Services Limited(HISL) which is the specialpurpose vehicle sponsoredby Heritage Bank Limited tobid for Enterprise Bank onFriday last week signed theShare Purchase Agreement(SPA). I am also aware thatHISL has paid the initial 20per cent as specified in theterms of the Agreement.Efforts are ongoing to ensurethat the balance 80 per centis also paid in line with theterms, conditions and timeframe specified by AMCON.This major step towards theacquisition of EnterpriseBank by HISL and byextension, Heritage Bank,fills us with great excitement.

With this take over processgoing on smoothly, we aresure a more energized bankwith improved capacity tocreate, preserve and transferwealth will soon emerge,” hestated.

He described staffs ofEnterprise Bank as desirableassets that cannot be thrownaway given the level of jobthey had done to keep thebank going in the face of itsrecent challenges.Furthermore, the HeritageBank boss noted that amarriage of the never say dieattitude of Enterprise Bankwith the uncompromisingcommitment to innovation andintegrity by Heritage Bankcould only bring good fruitsto all stakeholders in the newbank to emerge as well as theNigerian banking landscapein general.

MasterCard,Ecobank signpact overbranded card

CMYK


Banking & Finance

September 22, 2014:Ecobank has

commenced a Rapid Transfer“Back to School” campaignenabling parents andguardians pay theirchildren's and wards' schoolfees in an easy, fast andconvenient way and at thesame time, get an instant gift.The Ecobank Rapid Transferproduct is an innovativemoney transfer serviceavailable within Nigeria andcountries in Africa whereEcobank is present. Theservice was conceived out ofthe need to provideconvenient, accessible, andreliable money transferservice for its retail andwholesale customers andnon-customers.

Announcing thecommencement of thecampaign, Deputy ManagingDirector, Ecobank Nigeria, Mr.Anthony Okpanachi said the“Back to School” campaign isconceived to create thenecessary awareness.

World Bank provides $400m to tackleEbola

Following alarmingevidence of thespread of the Ebola

epidemic in West Africa, theWorld Bank Group hasannounced that it will nearlydouble its financing to $400million to help the worst-affected countries address theemergency and build strongerhealth systems for the yearsahead

This represents $170 millionin new funding. With thisannouncement, the bank willput $230 million toward theemergency response and$170 million for medium-and long-term projects. Thenew resources – which theWorld Bank’s Board ofExecutive Directors willconsider in the coming weeks– will be targeted at rapidlyincreasing the health careworkforce and purchasingneeded supplies in order tobring care and treatment toall parts of the affectedcountries. The funding also isaimed at building a strongerhealth care system becauseit will aim to train cadres ofhealth workers to bolstercare at a community levelthroughout the affectedregion.

“The global community isnow responding with theurgency and the scale neededto begin to turn back thisunprecedented Ebola crisis,”said World Bank GroupPresident, Jim Yong Kim,who was speaking at a specialsession on the Ebola crisis atthe UN. “The real challengenow is to bring care andtreatment to the mostremote areas as well as thecities and then to build astronger health care system.This funding will help thecountries start a massive scaleup of training of communityhealth workers and bringneeded supplies andequipment.

The World Bank Grouppreviously announced that itwas mobilizing $230 millionfor the three countries hardesthit by the crisis—Guinea,Liberia, and Sierra Leone—including a $117 millionemergency response. Thissupport – coordinated closelywith the World HealthOrganisation, the UN, US andother international andcountry partners – hasassisted countries in treatingthe sick, cope with theeconomic impact andimprove their public healthsystems.

The additional plannedsupport will make $113million that had been

earmarked in the earlierpackage for longer-term helpimmediately available forthe emergency response.The new package will have$170 million set aside inmedium- to longer-termassistance for the countries’health systems.

More people have died inthe 2014 Ebola epidemic in

West Africa than in allprevious Ebola outbreakscombined since the virus wasfirst discovered in 1976. AWorld Bank analysis,released last week, found thatif the virus continues to surgein the three worst-affectedcountries, its economic impactcould deal a potentiallycatastrophic blow to these

already fragile states.However, the analysis alsofound that economic costs canbe limited if swift national andinternational responsessucceed in containing theepidemic and mitigating fearresulting from people’sconcerns about contagion,which is fueling theeconomic impact.

PRESS CONFERENCE - From left: Group Head, Retail Banking/3PA (Third PartyAcquired), Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Don Pas-Edokpolor; Executive Director, Finance andStrategy, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman and Mr. Murtala Usman of 3PA Unit, during a pressconference on the introduction of the bank’s 3PA in Lagos.

New ACCA president to focus onethics, public sector

BY BABAJIDEKOMOLAFE

Newly elected Presidentof the Association of

Chartered CertifiedAccountants (ACCA), Mr.Anthony Harbinson said thathis tenure would focus on theissues of ethics and publicsector.

Harbinson is NorthernIreland’s Director of SaferCommunities and waselected ACCA President for2014/15 at ACCA’s annualgeneral meeting on 18September and now,represents 170,000members and 436,000students in 180 countriesaround the world.

As Northern Ireland’sDirector of SaferCommunities, Harbinson,was responsible for theresourcing, policy andlegislative framework forreducing offending, policingand community safety.

Harbinson said: “I amdelighted to have beenelected to serve as ACCAPresident, it is a great honourand I look forward torepresenting our members

and students around theworld.

“I will be focusing on twokey themes in the year ahead.The first of these is the issueof ethics and the role of theaccountant. Not only does ourprofession have aresponsibility to behaveethically, but it also has a dutyto ensure that theorganisations for whichfinance professionals workhave an ethical approach tobusiness and operations. “I also want to use my termof office to emphasise theimportance of the publicsector, the need for it to beeffective and efficient and tohave the proper financialexpertise to achieve this inthe short and long-term.

“The sector has felt the fulleffects of the global economiccrisis – and continues to doso even as the private sectorshows signs of recovery. Ensuring that the publicsector can continue to deliverwithin tight budgets makes itmore important than ever tohave more fully qualifiedaccountants working in thesector, as well as ensuringthat more non-accountantshave an enhanced financial

awareness to support themin their decision-making anduse of precious resources, “said Anthony Harbinson.

Prior to his role as Directorof Safer Communities, he wasDirector of Justice Delivery,where he was responsible forthe leadership andmanagement of all centralservices functions andoversight of the ForensicService Agency, the StatePathologist Department andoversight and direction of theCompensation Agency.

During his career,Harbinson, whose hobbiesinclude football, reading,travelling and charity work, has also served as Director ofResources for the NorthernIreland Office and SeniorAssistant Director of PublicProsecutions.

He joined the Civil Serviceafter spending nearly 15 yearsworking in the NorthernIreland Health Service, duringwhich time he held a numberof senior roles includingDirector of Finance, IT andContracting at Mater HospitalHSS Trust, Director of Finance/Deputy Chief Executive andEastern Multifund and Directorof Finance, HR and Estates inthe Eastern/Northern IrelandAmbulance Service.

Kaduna, SkyeBank partneron IGRgrowth

Kaduna StateGovernment and Skye

Bank Plc have partnered onincreasing the state’sinternally generated revenueto accelerate and widen thepace of development in thestate.

Kaduna State Governor,Alhaji Mukhtar RamalanYero, disclosed this inKaduna, while launchingPoint of Sales (POS) Terminalfor the revenue collectionscheme of the state, poweredby Skye Bank Plc.

He also said that thecurrent Internally GeneratedRevenue (IGR) of the stateand the dwindling federalallocation were not enough todevelop Kaduna State.

According to him, hisgovernment has a hugebudget that was expected tobe financed by the IGR, butnoted that the internallygenerated revenue has beenstagnant at about N1billionper month, for the past fiveyears, hence, the need todevelop new and accountablemeans of revenue collection.

“It is against thisbackground that we haveintroduced POS to checkrevenue leakages and otherchallenges associated withtax collection,” the governor,said.

Ecobankcommencesrapid transfer“Back to School”campaign


Corporate Finance

United Bank for Africa(UBA) Plc, one of thelargest financial

services group in Africa hasentered into a partnershipwith the African TradeInsurance Agency (ATI) toease the flow of credit toclients engaging in regionaland international trade.

The partnership wasannounced in Nairobi Kenya, after officials of bothinstitutions, led by Mr.Kennedy Uzoka, CEO, UBAAfrica and George Otieno,ATI’s Chief Executive Officersigned the agreement toformalise the deal.

Under the agreement, ATIwill provide insurance coverfor eligible UBA Grouptransactions with its uniquerange of political risk andtrade credit insuranceproducts. The risk mitigationservices will provide analternative to collateral forUBA’s corporate clients, whomay otherwise face financialconstraints in obtainingcredit, while also protectingthem against cross-bordertrade risks and a broad rangeof investment risks.

“UBA is keen to boost interand intra-African tradebecause of its capacity toaccelerate development andintegration across thecontinent. Over the years wehave supported ourcustomers to grow theirbusiness network acrossAfrica and internationally inpursuit of a more prosperousAfrica . UBA’s partnershipwith ATI will ease the flow ofcredit to our customers andhelp them expand theirbusinesses across thecontinent” said Mr.Uzoka,CEO, UBA Africa.

Intra-Africa trade isestimated to be one of thelowest globally at just 10% oftotal trades on the continent.This is quite low whencompared with Intra-tradeamong the EU-27 at 70 percent, 52 per cent for Asiancountries, 50 per cent forNorth American countriesand 26 per cent for SouthAmerican countries.

Africa’s commodities boom,natural resources and relatedgovernment spending torevive infrastructuredevelopment is estimated tohave generated 32% of Africa’s recent GDP growth – whilethe remaining growth camefrom sectors such ast r a n s p o r t a t i o n ,telecommunications andmanufacturing, are all sectorswhich UBA believes willbenefit from expanded credit.

Ai to boost African pension,sovereign wealth fund by $1 trnBy PETER EGWUATU

Africa Investor, Ai hasannounced its$1billion Africa

investor SovereignInfrastructure InvestmentPlatform, for African pensionand sovereign wealth funds– continually developed inclose partnership withAfrican pension andsovereign wealth funds.

This was disclosed at the 7thAi CEO InstitutionalInvestment Summit, held inpartnership with the NewYork Stock Exchange.

According to a statementafter the summit, Ai , aleading internationalinvestment andcommunications group andUS institutional investors,including sovereign wealthand pension funds, haveagreed to invest in Africa’sfastest growing sectors andcapital markets.

The new Ai platform isuniquely designed toincrease intra-Africaninvestment, which iscurrently at a mere 5 per centcompared to intra-Europeaninvestment levels in excess of70 per cent. The Ai Platformwill achieve this through itsco-investment programme,designed to extend andincrease the level of co-investment between not onlyAfrican pension andsovereign wealth funds (bothpublic and private), but alsoamongst their internationalpeers. The Ai SovereignInfrastructure InvestmentPlatform will thereforecatalyse Africa’s domesticassets and de-risk and attractincreased allocations from the$30 trillion-plus globalinstitutional capital seekinggrowth.

Africa investor providedadditional thought leadershipat the summit with the launchof its new BizClim-supportedreport, The African SovereignWealth and Pension FundsSummit Report, onmobilising domestic African

capital as a tool to leverageglobal institutional capital.

The report was launchedduring the 2014 Ai Heads ofState Investment AdvisoryCouncil Dialogue, held inpartnership with UNOSAAand GPF. The Heads of Stateand ministerial dialoguefeatured Ghanaian PresidentJohn Dramani Mahama;Hubert Danso, CEO and ViceChairman, Africa investor;Erastus Mwencha, DeputyChairperson, African Union;Ambassador MagedAbdelaziz, Under- Secretary-General and Special Adviseron Africa, United Nations;Amir Dossal, Chairman,

Global Partnerships Forum,and a number of Ministersfrom around Africa. The panelsaw a further commitmentfrom Africa’s leaders ondeveloping a conduciveenvironment for improvingthe participation andregulatory environment forAfrican pension andsovereign wealth funds,based on therecommendations from the AiBizClim-supported report onfacilitating co-investmentswith African pension andsovereign wealth fund capitalfor infrastructure investmenton the continent.

Africa investor Capital also

hosted a series of one-on-oneinvestor meetings during theSummit in partnership withAuerbach Grayson &Company.

Commenting on theSummit, Hubert Danso, CEOand Vice Chairman of Africainvestor, said, “We aredelighted with the level of theparticipation of African andglobal institutional investors,and the realisation that Ai’sco-investment platform notonly benefits Africa’s growth,but the global economy also,through reciprocalinternational allocations andthe creation of new markets.”

Efforts at deepening and acceleratingdevelopment of the Nigeriancapital market have been boosted

as the Stanbic IBTC Exchange TradedFund 30 (ETF 30), which initial publicoffering opened last week.

Olumide Oyetan, Chief Executive Officerof Stanbic IBTC Asset ManagementLimited, managers of the Fund, said at twoinvestors’ forums in Lagos that a deepfinancial sector as well as vibrant capitalmarket is pivotal in enhancing economicefficiency, attracting investment anddriving faster growth.

By launching the Stanbic IBTC ExchangeTraded Fund 30, Oyetan said Stanbic IbtcAsset Management, seeks to expandparticipation of domestic investors in thecapital market, which will help in thecapital formation process and in turngenerate significant returns to investorswhile fueling wealth creation as well aseconomic growth.

“The opening of the Stanbic IBTC ETF30 is a direct response to increased investordemand for passive investment strategiesthat will deliver the market return for theindex being tracked, which in this case isthe NSE 30 of the Nigerian StockExchange (NSE). The Stanbic IBTC ETF30 provides a transparent and flexiblestructure that allows investors efficientlygain exposure to the securities of thesecompanies that have over time out-performed the broad equity market,” said

Oyetan. The offer, which closes onWednesday, October 15, 2014, opened with10,000,000 units of the Fund available at N100each at par. It offers a minimum subscriptionof 10,000 units and multiples of 5,000 unitsthereafter.

Oyetan stated that the Fund is designed totrack the performance of the NSE 30 Indexwhich comprises of the top 30 companieslisted on the NSE in terms of marketcapitalization and liquidity. The index servesas the flagship benchmark for the stock marketas it represents 92 per cent of the NSE’smarket capitalization and the Stanbic IBTCETF 30 will replicate the price and yieldperformance of the index. The Fund, Oyetanadded, will invest 100 per cent of its assets inthe same portfolio of securities that comprisethe NSE 30 Index in proportion to theirweightings in the Underlying Index.

“The Fund represents a convenient andefficient way for investors to have access tothe top 30 most capitalized and liquid stockson the NSE, in a cost-effective manner. Webelieve that it will appeal to sophisticated andinstitutional investors that believe in thegrowth story of companies listed on the NSEand by extension, in the abundant growthopportunities that exist in Nigeria,” addedOyetan.

The commitment, expertise, experience andglobal clout of the Standard Bank Group, towhich Stanbic IBTC Asset ManagementLimited belongs, will be deployed to ensuresuccess of the Stanbic IBTC ETF 30, Oyetanassured.

Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 to deepen Nigeria’sfinancial market —-OyetanBY PETER EGWUATU

UBA, ATIcollaborate toboost regional,internationaltrade

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


Tax Matters

Education Tax (EDT)

The Education taxdecree No. 7which was

initially declared in 1993 wasamended by Education Tax(Amendment) Decree No. 40of 1998. As stated in the Act,2% tax rate should be chargedon the profit of all companiesregistered or resident inNigeria.

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

As part of the annualCompanies Income Tax self-assessment returns, taxablepersons should also computeand submit their EducationTax liabilities and makepayment at the designatedbank.

Stamp Duties (STD)The items and persons

subject to stamp duties areinstruments (writtendocuments) relating tomatters executed between acompany and an individual,group or body of individuals.Instruments which may besubject to stamp dutiesinclude financialinstruments/transactions,company memorandums andarticles of association,statements of share capitalownership, bonds,conveyances on sale,depositions, leaseagreements, mortgagebonds, debentures, etc.

Stamp duties on eligibleinstruments can be paidthrough designated banks

Companies and personsissuing or dealing with allchargeable instruments shallsubmit such instruments tothe Stamp Duties Office forstamping. The Commissionerof Stamp Duties shall thenassess the instrumentssubmitted in line with theprovisions of the StampDuties Act and specify theduties payable. The dutiesare then paid to FIRS at thedesignated bank

Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) Persons subject to the

Petroleum Profits Tax:? Companies engaged

in petroleum exploration andproduction operations inNigeria (up-streamoperations)

? A person resident inNigeria employed in themanagement of thepetroleum operations carriedon by a non-residentcompany

? The liquidator,receiver, or agent of

Administration of current taxes in Nigeria

liquidator or receiver of anycompany carrying onpetroleum operations inNigeria.

Companies carrying onpetroleum operations inNigeria make offshorepayments to JP MorganChase Bank, the bank thenadvises the Central Bank ofNigeria to enable the bankcredit FIRS accordingly.

Every company engaged inpetroleum operationsprepares and submits annualreturns as specified by thePetroleum Profits Tax Actwithin five months of the endof each assessment year.Payment is in two segmentsbeginning with filing ofestimated annual return notlater than ending of Februaryof each year. Payment for thetax due is then made intwelve monthly instalmentsbeginning from March ofeach year. Where the actualtax liability arising from theannual tax returns exceedsthe cumulative estimated tax,a 13th month instalment ispayable and where thecontrary is the case, a refundis due.

Withholding Tax (WHT)Withholding Tax (WHT) is

not a distinct tax type andtherefore has no legislation ofits own. It is only amechanism for the collectionof other taxes. Consequently,its application is provided forin the enabling law of othertax types i.e. Section 81 ofCompany Income Tax Act,Section 54 of Petroleum ProfitTax Act, Section 73 of PersonalIncome Tax Act and Section13 of Value Added Tax Act

P e r s o n ssubject tothe varioustax typesmay besubject toWithholdingT a xdeductionsfor thepurpose ofo f f s e t t i n gtheir taxl iabi l i t ies .W H Tdeductionsare regardedas advancepayments (orpayments onaccount) ofthe relevanttax liabilitythat willarise fromthe taxreturns ofthe periodconcerned.

Where the personbenefiting from the paymentand the income are taxable,Withholding Tax (WHT) ispaid (deducted) at the pointof making payment. It iswithheld by the payee andthe net amount is then paidto the beneficiary through thedesignated bank(s).

The amount deducted at thepoint of payment is remitteddirectly to FIRS through adesignated bank in aprescribed format in thename of the person subject tothe deduction.

Capital Gains Tax (CGT)All companies incorporated

in Nigeria which earns anycapital gains or gains on thedisposal of all forms of assets.All forms of property(whether situated in Nigeriaor not) that are liable tocapital gains tax include:

? Options, debts andincorporeal propertygenerally;

? Any currency otherthan Nigerian currency; and

? Any form of propertycreated by the persondisposing of it, or otherwisecoming to be owned withoutbeing created

Capital Gains Tax is paid atthe designated at which thecompany making thechargeable capital gain paysits Companies Income Tax.

In line with the provisionsof the Capital Gains Tax Actand the self-assessmentregulations presently inoperation, a company shallcompute the gains on thedisposal of all forms of assetsin each year of assessment

and submit same togetherwith its Companies IncomeTax returns. The returns shallalso be accompanied byevidence of the payment ofthe full amount or firstinstalment of the tax due.Payment is made to thedesignated bank.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

Persons subject to the ValueAdded Tax:

Any individual, corporationsole, group, body corporateor organization thatconsumes buys, procures orimports taxable goods orservices is liable to pay thetax. How to pay the ValueAdded Tax

? During direct sales oropen market transactions, thebuyer or consumer shall paythe tax to the seller togetherwith the cost of the goods orservices bought. The sellerthen nets off the VAT paid atthe time of purchase of thestocks sold from the VATcollected on the stocks soldand credit the balance toFIRS.

? Where the goods orservices were supplied to agovernment Ministry,Department or Agency(MDA) or a companyengaged in oil operations,the VAT payable by the MDAor oil company is deducted orwithheld at source (at thepoint of payment). It is thencredited directly to FIRS onbehalf of the supplier

? VAT payments aremade on a monthly basis notlater than 21days of everysubsequent month. Taxpayers prepare and submitmonthly VAT returnsaccompanied by evidence ofpayment of the tax due atdesignated banks

VAT remittances may bemade at any designatedbank; an e-ticket isimmediately issued asevidence of payment. This e-ticket may be presented at theITO and an e-receipt will beissued the taxpayer.

Company Income Tax(CIT)

Persons subject to theCompanies Income Tax:

? All companiesincorporated in Nigeria withthe exception of companiesengaged in petroleumoperations.

? All non-resident(foreign) companies that earnor derive income fromNigeria.

? All organizationslimited by guarantee(institutions of publiccharacter or charitableorganizations) engaged inprofit making activities otherthan the promotion of theirprimary objects.

? The liquidator,receiver, or agent ofliquidator or receiver of anytaxable company ororganization.

Companies incorporated inNigeria and organizationslimited by guarantee payCompanies Income Taxthrough any of thedesignated banks. Oncepayment has been capturedby the bank collectingsystem, an e-ticket is issuedis issued the company, this e-ticket is proof of payment andwhen presented at theIntegrated Tax Office withjurisdiction an e-receipt willbe issued.

Non-resident companiesmake payment throughremittance of tax deducted atsource to the designatedbanks.

Resident companies andorganizations prepare andsubmit annual self-assessment tax returns asspecified by FIRSaccompanied by the evidenceof the payment of the fullamount or first instalment ofthe tax due. Payment is madeto designated bank.

Non-resident companiesare subject to WithholdingTax (WHT) deductions on theincome they earn fromNigeria. This becomes theirtax upon filing returns

Personal Income Tax (PIT)Personal Income Tax Act

2011 (PITA) requires that:? Persons subject to the

Personal Income TaxIndividuals resident in theFederal Capital Territory,Abuja

? F a m i l i e s ,communities, trustees andestates resident in theFederal Capital Territory

? Persons employed inthe Nigerian Army, NigerianNavy, Nigerian Air Force andNigeria Police other than incivilian capacity.

? A person residentoutside Nigeria who derivesincome or profit from Nigeria

? Officers of theNigerian foreign service.

? Persons employed inthe Nigerian Army, NigerianNavy, Nigerian Air Force andNigeria Police, other than incivilian capacity, pay incometax at the designated banks

? Individuals andenterprises in FCT pay at thedesignated banks obtain ane-ticket and may request ane-receipt at the Individualand Enterprise Tax Office,Abuja.

? O r g a n i z a t i o n s ,companies and MDAs pay atdesignated banks, obtaintheir e-tickets and mayrequest for the e-receipts atthe Large Tax Office (LTO)Abuja.

•Kabir Moha

Commodity Index Micro-Finance

Stories byPROVIDENCE OBUH

The Lagos State Governor, Mr. BabatundeFashola 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 annualconference, held in Lagos, with the theme,“Leadership and Governance in the Public Sector,”

Fashola said that justice would not be done to thetopic if it is limited to the public sector, saying, “Itseems to me that if any justice is to be done on thesubject, it cannot be limited to the public sector alone.We must look across board to the other side, theprivate sector also, rather than in one sector alone.This is because to me there is a thin dividing linebetween the public and the private sectors and onegood or bad leadership in one sector has thepotential to breed more good or bad leaders in theother sector.”

He said that the private and public sector operatorsmust portray good values in order to produce goodleaders. “The leadership question is a question ofvalues such as trust, merit, integrity, strength, justice.Bad leaders are unlikely to emerge where goodvalues reigns. When values are united and shared,methods and ideas would be easy to hold, it reflectsthe choice of leadership that we have.

“The answer to the leadership and governancewhether in the public or private sector rests with allof us,” he said.

Building guild calls for qualityamong block makers

The BuildingC o l l a p s eP r e v e n t i o n

Guild (BCPG) has calledon block makers andother professionals inthe sector to ensurequality in block andconcrete business.

Speaking at a forum,President, BCPG,Builder Kunle Awobodu,said that the need tocontrol quality in theblock and concretebusiness is a task thatmust be achieved iffailure in building is tobe minimised.

He said that thesandcrete blocks andconcrete productionshould not remain anall-comers’ business,just as he pointed outthat the essence offorming an associationfor the block moulders isto make producers ofsub standard blockstraceable.

According to him,“The association musthave criteria formembership restrictionand able to separate thechaff from the grains.National Association ofBlock Moulders ofNigeria (NABMON) isvery relevant in thequality drive. Thisprocess is alsoapplicable to theconcrete casters andother artisans in theNigerian buildingindustry.

“The BCPG, which ismajorly constituted ofprofessionals andartisans in the buildingindustry will continue toplay an important rolein this quality crusade,especially by rejectingthe use of low qualityblocks and poor concretemix on site.

To ensure safety,quality service andproject delivery in theconstruction industry,Awobodu recommendedthat: Buyers and usersof cement should knowwhat they are buying. Assuch the grade of

cement, manufacturersdetails, date ofmanufacture, batchnumber, recommendeduse areas and colourcoding be enforced; Toforestall sharp practices,periodic tests of cementmade available to thepublic should be done toensure that what iscontained in the bagtallies with what iswritten; Manufacturersof various grade ofcement should notsubject Nigerians toastronomically unfairprices that willencourage untowardpractices.

As part of effortsto improveaccess to quality

education in Nigeria,The EducationPartnership (TEP)Centre, weekend,announced theestablishment of Centrefor EducationInnovations (CEI) inNigeria.

CEI is a nonprofit DflD-funded initiative toimprove access toeducation in developingcountries usinginnovative programmestargeted at the poor.

Speaking at the launchof CEI, ManagingDirector, TEP Centre, Dr.Mo Adefeso-Olateju,said that the programmeaims to supportpolicymakers, funders,and program

TEP launches centre foreducation innovations

implementers in theireffort to improve andbetter harness thepotential of the non-state sector to achieveeducational goals.

To achieve this goal,the program willidentify, analyse andconnect non-stateinnovative programmesthat improve the qualityand affordability ofeducation in Nigeria,she said.

Adefeso-Olateju saidthat there are significantgaps in globalunderstanding of suchprogrammes, saying,“These gaps therefore,are due to the lack ofsystematic and easy-to-access information aboutsuch programmesaround the world.

“Practical lessonsabout successful andu n s u c c e s s f u lexperiences are evenharder to find, and as aresult we are left with aworld full of innovativemodels, but without anunderstanding of howthey are distributed,whether they work, andhow those that do can beimproved, replicated,and scaled up to servemore of the world’s poor.

“It is against thisbackground, TEP Centrewill properly harnessinnovations in educationthat have the potential tosignificantly increaseaccess to qualityeducation for Nigeria’spoor,”she said.

She stressed that theTEP Centre is collectingmore information oninnovative models thatwill be reviewed andsubsequently get thechance of beingincluded in aninteractive onlinedatabase.

Fashola, Emefiele call foraccountability across sectors


Homes & Housing Finance

Tempohousing Nigeria(THN) specialises inthe manufacture and

design of flexible andaffordable homes usingstandard ISO shippingcontainers. In this interview,Dele Ijaiya-Oladipo andDavid Aderounmu,Managing Partners of THN,explained that the companyis leveraging its technologyand expertise to create aNigerian tailored solution tothe country’s housingproblem. Excerpts.

Brief introduction onTempohousing Nigeria

Tempohousing Nigeria is acargo-tecture solutionscompany. Essentially what wedo is to convert shippingcontainers into habitablespaces. We are partners withTempohousing Global, aDutch company – the leadingmass container housingprovider in the world. Weentered into the partnershipin 2011 and startedoperations in 2012. What wedo is to tailor the solution towhat is here locally. Ourmantra is keep it affordable.We don’t want to importanything apart from ourtechnology. And mostimportantly we want todeliver at 30 to 40 percentcheaper and 3 to 4 timesquicker than if usingconcrete. We know thedemand is there. The marketis huge - 170 million people,the deficit is 10 percent of thatnationally. In Lagos, it’s 1million and we need about100,000 homes annually. Withconcrete you can’t deliverthat. So this is an avenue foralternate solutions that youcan build quickly, en massand cheaper.

What has THN done so far?So far we’ve been working

with some institutions likeEcobank, Exxon Mobil,Dominion Church, HarvestersChurch, Oilserv, etc., toprovide staff housing, campsolutions, offices, healthcentres. Now we are seeingthat it’s has been acceptedmore. We have a show homein Ikeja that people can see.

How do you addressmisgivings of Nigerians onhouses not done with bricks?

That’s the biggest hurdle wehave with alternative buildingmethods. What we hear is thisis container. What we intendto do going forward is toeducate people and let them

Container housing offers cheaper, faster option formass housing — Tempohousing Nigeria

By YINKAKOLAWOLE

We know thatgovernment

involvement willhelp to changethe psyche of

peopletowards

containerhousing

,

,

see what the so calledcontainer actually looks andfeel like, and once you enteryou realise that it even looksbetter than a normal building.It’s easier to control, not usingcement, no cracks and allthat. It’s just about educationand doing things that peoplecan walk in and see. We’vedone that with our pilotproject and everyone thathas gone inside has beenamazed at what can be donewith a shipping container.

As to the notion that if youhave not built with bricks youhave not built a proper house,that is a Nigerian or Africanmentality. But the fact is thereis a stage for everything.People graduate every yearand go into paid employment.What we are trying to offer isplay within the market whereyou can own something foryourself, you are not payingrent and you can save money.Nobody is saying you have tolive in there forever. We alsoplan to partner with financialinstitutions that will enableyoung people achieve their

dream of owning houses. Soit’s about education and theway we package it.

We are partnering withTempohousing in Hollandbecause they are the biggestand they’ve done it all overthe world. And it can be donein Nigeria; it has been donein other climes - Australia,Brazil, even in countrieshaving harsher weather thanus. Also the market is bigenough, and we feel that if theprice and the quality is rightthere will always going to bea demand. Not everyone can

afford concrete. What we areoffering is that for what youwill spend leasing a house inten years you can own ahome in ten weeks.

Any moves to partner withgovernment on masshousing?

Two years ago, Lagos Stategave us an award for beingthe most innovative solutionfor the housing problem inLagos. And we’ve beenspeaking with them over thelast two years, with a numberof ministries, about puttingout pilot projects. It looks likeover the next three months,we’ll be doing something withthe Ministry of Health. Ourultimate aim is to work withthe Housing Ministry, we arein talks with them. We arecurrently engaged with someof the project managers fromthe Lagos State HOMSscheme. Essentially theywant to see if we can recreatetheir designs usingcontainers. We know thatgovernment involvement willalso help to change thepsyche of people towardscontainer housing.

How durable arecontainer houses?

Containers are based onInternational ShippingOrganisation (ISO)standards. They are built towithstand high weatherconditions. The law is thatshipping companies aresupposed to renew their fleetafter a shipping containerhas been used for 25 years.When you are using it for abuilding requirement and isstationary and withinaccommodation area, it canlast forever. And it’s like anyother building, you have tomaintain it. In our ownfabrications, we don’tusually expose the metalcontainer. Internally, wehave wood loggings,plywood, insulations, anddepending on your choice,we have plasterboards orPVC. Externally, you coulduse Alucobond cladding orcement fibre which is beingpromoted by Nigerite at themoment and is significantlycheaper, because it’s made inNigeria whereas Alucobondis imported. And before wehand over, we put anti-corrosive paint over themetal as well to give it extradurability. There has beennumerous constructionsglobally. And I can tell youthat I have never heardabout any one collapsing asopposed to cement buildingsthat do collapse all the time.

Cost and delivery time fora 2-bedroom containerhome?

It depends on the size of thehouse. On a cost per squaremetre basis, we rate betweenN45,000 and N65,000 persquare metre, so it reallydepends on individualpersonal preferences forcertain things – the finishing,external cladding, etc. For anaverage 2 bedroom, we arelooking at about N2.5million, all in, that is, you aremoving in with only yourluggage and movablefurniture. And we can deliverin 6 to 7 days.

Plan for studentshousing

We have a plan ofdeveloping student housing.There is a big demand forstudent housing and veryshort supply. Once we areable to put structures wherestudents are leaving in, that’sis the first point of education.So if you are having studentsliving here, over the courseof their education, they’vebeen used to living in acontainer structure. Afterthey’ve graduated and havegotten their dream jobs,getting them into anothercontainer housing will not bedifficult.

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



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E- Commerce

Nigeria’s firstonline one-stop shop for

beverages and alcoholdrinks, www.drinks.nghas said that it hasrecorded 105 percentgrowth within one yearof operations.

F o u n d e r / C h i e fExecutive Officer ofDrinks.ng, LanreAkinlagun stated thiswhile speaking withVanguard on theoperations of the onlinedrinks portal and state ofe-commerce in Nigeria.

According to him, “Wehave generated overN65 million so far thisyear. This representsabout 105 per cent of ourgrowth and we still havethe festive period tocome. This has beenachieved through keypartnerships with thelikes of Diageo,Guinness, Pernod Ricardand MoetHennessy. Our next daydelivery service has

Drinks.ng records 105% growth

Stories by JONAHNWOKPOKU

proved popular withconsumers.”

Akinlagun explainedthat Drinks.ng is aninnovative tech solutionwhich helps beverageowners who are bringingnew drinks into themarket; give them easyplatform to get theirproducts visible to alarge amount of peopleall at once.

“We have also provideda platform that allowsconsumers to find easyway to find transparencywhile searching forproducts. People know alot of drinks but theydon’t know the prices orwhere they can get it.With drinks.ng, youdon’t need to worryabout that. You just let usknow what you want andthey will deliver it foryou,” he said.

Explaining further, hesaid: “The opportunityis really there for allthree tiers of thebeverage and alcoholbusiness. The consumersget accessible way tomake choices from a

variety of products. Wehave over 1,300 drinksand they get to pickthrough all of themthrough the categories.

“The manufacturersand the importers onthe other hand get anopportunity to displaytheir products in abiggest landscapewhere more people cansee them. If you go tothe market, the problem

that you have is thateverybody displays thecommon drinks, the onesthat they think everyonewants. These includethe Red Label,Hennessy, Jack Daniels,Remmy Martins etc. Thesmaller and obscuredrinks are not seen, andthat is where we comein. So the opportunity isreally a partnershipbetween them a n u f a c t u r e r s ,importers, and also asocial agreementbetween us and the

Aflix, a mobileonline videostreaming app

which launched inNigeria, Kenya andGhana last month hasexpanded its operationsby unveiling theHollywood mobilestreaming service inthirty other countries inSub-Saharan Africa.

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

Aflix expands to 30 African countries

Eritrea, and Ethiopia.Others include:

Gambia, Ghana, GuineaBissau, Kenya, Lesotho,Liberia andMadagascar.

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

Aflix said it is set torevolutionise the AfricanVi d e o - O n - D e m a n dspace, by providing alarge library ofHollywood content ataffordable prices toAfricans via Androidpowered mobile devicesand Set Top Boxe s . Aflix is focused onquality andconvenience, whilecontinuously striving tocreate the best possiblevideo experience forviewers.

Online bookingportal, Jovagohas partnered

with West Africa’sregional carriers, AfricaWorld Airlines, toprovide more accessiblehotel booking services toAfricans.

African travellersvisiting the Africa WorldAirlines website can findand book over 200,000

Jovago.com partners AfricaWorld Airlines

hotels around the worldand 10,000 hotelsspecifically in Africa,which are all availableon Jovago.com. Everyone visiting the websiteto book flights acrossAccra, Nigeria, Senegal,Sierra Leone and Liberiacan as well book theirtrips easily from thewide selection of hotelsavailable onJovago.com.

As the official hotelpartners of Africa WorldAirl ines jovago wil lensure that travellersbooking regional flightson Africa World Airlinescan find hotels acrossAfrica and around theworld.

Marek Zmyslowski,Managing Director ofJovago.com said: ”Thisis a great achievementfor Jovago.com. As theleading hotel bookingsite in Africa, this is onestep towards ensuringthat we meet ourtravelling customerswherever they may be,especially while they arein the booking process.


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30 —Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014



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“History does not repeat itself; man does. Barbara Tuchmann.

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

Crude oil has alwaysbeen slipperystuff – good when

under control; destructivewhen out of control. Crude oilis about to destroy theNigerian economy faster thenBoko Haram or even Ebola.The government of PresidentJonathan, already besiegedby such social “plagues” likethe ongoing civil war in theNortheast, the missingChibok girls, apparent refusalto fight corruption, and thepervasive feeling that thenation is adrift, will have toadd another mammothproblem – Nigeria is goingbroke once again and fasterthan anybody imagined.

This past Thursday,September 11, 2014, severalnews media carried the storythat the price of the nation’scrude oil dropped belowUS$99. It has been trendingdownwards for weeks – whilethe President’s friends andgovernment officials joinedthose campaigning for 2015.Emperor Nero, A.D 37-68,fiddling while Rome wasburning, would be regardedas more responsible than aFinance Minister leaving herdesk to engage in thejamboree of re-election whenthe economy might be in totaldisarray by election time in2015 – unless somethingurgent is done.

The story of Nigerian crudeprospects, as it stands rightnow, is a triple tragedy. First,

the nation is exporting lessthan was budgeted. That byitself would have meantgloom for a nation heavilydependent on crude sales.The Joint Task Force, JTF,recently put out a statementthat crude theft had beenreduced from 400,000 barrelsper day to less than 90,000per day. Ordinarily, thatshould be regarded as goodnews. But, that piece ofpositive news hides the factthat aggregate demand forNigerian crude is also down.Buyers want less Nigeriancrude – whether stolen or not.

Second, in addition to lowerdemand, the price of crude isfalling. Lower prices wouldhave savaged the budget forthis year and the MediumTerm Plan, MTP, anyway. But,when it occurs at the sametime as declining volume, thecombined effect is economiccalamity of unknownmagnitude. One thing iscertain; this year’s budget isin shreds. Governments at alllevels will feel the impact andthose already owing their staffseveral months salaries willfind it increasingly difficult topay current bill – let alone thearrears of salaries.Contractors and creditorsowed trillions of naira will findit more difficult to get paid.The most risky thing anybodycan do now is to undertake acontract on credit for anygovernment. It might be betterto throw the money in theseptic tank. Virtually every

,

,Governor leaving office in2015 will depart under a haleof verbal missiles. AndAyodele Fayose has mysympathies. He will return toa Government House hardlyable to pay its electricity bills.

Down Memory Lane The third reason for

concern about the currentplunge in crude oil prices canbe understood by realisingthat this fall in crude pricesmight not be temporary.Indeed, it could becontinuous and result ineconomic doom for nationsheavily dependent on crudeoil sales like Nigeria andSaudi Arabia. Already, SaudiArabia had reduced itsforecast of oil exports for therest of 2014 and for the entire2015. That is smart thinking.But, Nigeria is our focus and

our policy-makers and peoplemust know that we have beenhere before. Let us brieflytravel down memory lane.

From the time OPECrestricted the supply of crudeoil, after the Yom Kippur Warin 1973 till the PresidentShagari administration, 1979-1983, the price of crude rosesteadily from US$0.30, (30cents) a barrel, to aboutUS$28/barrel. Nigeriasuddenly had more moneythan the commonsense tospend it. We imported andbought everything; we evenpaid for cement importedwhich was never deliveredand the boat which broughtthe consignment sank with it.It was called the CementArmada; but it was actually agrand pillage of the funds wewould later need for ourdevelopment.

Then, suddenly, the priceof crude turned downwards.At first, some thought it wasa temporary setback. But, itlasted until the time ofGeneral Sani Abacha, 1994-1998. It has been going upagain ever since – until now.

That prolonged increase inthe 1970s and early 1980s wasmade possible by anunprecedented rise in globalGDP and prosperity – thedemand for oil outstrippedthe ability to supply to theleading economies.Additionally, the number ofoil-producing countries wasvery small and OPECcontributed close to 75 percent of global crude. The firstcracks came when Britain andNorway discovered crude inexportable quantities in theNorth Atlantic. OPEC lostsome key customers but theAsian Tigers were justgetting off the mark and theyprovided markets for crudeonce again.

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

The Joint Task Force, JTF, recentlyput out a statement that crude thefthad been reduced from 400,000barrels per day to less than 90,000per day


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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 andManaging Director/Chief Executive Officer, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Mr Seni Adetu,at the 30th Omolayole Management Lecture and book launch organised byAIESEC, at NECA House in Lagos.

STORIES BYPRINCEWILLEKWUJURU

The 2015 politicaldispensation isdrawing closer,

political parties are jostlingfor positions, but the way andmanner with which they goabout it will determine theresults achieved.

The way their campaignswill touch the minds of theelectorate is imperative, andthese are things they shouldponder about.

The realities on ground interms of political advertisingwill determine the mind setof the electorate towardspolitical parties. What theparties do to achieve this featis another ball game.

Before now, political partiesjump to the billboard to makevarious ‘unfounded politicalpromises’ that never come tofruition, a promise that neveraligned to the aspiration ofthe electorate.

Whether their campaign isskewed towards the need ofthe people does not matter tothem, the important thing isto tell the electorates whatthey want to hear, and forgetabout the derivarables.

The parties never deem it fitto carry out encompassingpublic opinion research to feelthe pulse of the electorates onwhat their needs are.

To achieve results, researchhas to be carried out todetermine what voters careabout, who needed to betalked to. How campaignmaterials should be framed,and what follows after initialresearch based on the

How political advertising affectselectorate —AAAN

findings.All these and more were

lacking in past politicaldispensations. For politiciansnot to toe the old order orrather take the electorates forgranted in the 2015 generalelections, the Association ofAdvertising Agencies ofNigeria, AAAN at its 41st

Annual General Meeting, puttogether a topic titled: PoliticalAdvertising, PerceptionBuilding and Voter Educationin Abuja recently, to chart anew course for purposefulpolitical advertising in thecountry and voter education,

brought in Mr. Craig Smith,Senior Adviser for “I’ amready for Hillary 2016 USPresidential election.”

While describing politics asboth an art and science, Smithwho was emphatic thatresearch will help politicaloffice seekers determine whatvoters care about, advised thatpolitical office seekers shouldinculcate the habit ofresearching into the minds ofthe electorate beforeembarking on politicalcampaigns.

He however noted that oneof the critical pieces in

determining these messageswhether be it a brand orpolitical party is to determineones audience, which pollingdoes. In addition, he pointedout that this method will alsohelp in the phrasing ofpolitical campaign materials.

Further, Mr Smith warnedthat campaigners should becareful how much time andeffort spent in talking,because some voters willnever vote your candidate,and people will always votefor the candidate they want.

The words and actions of acandidate are important inconveying political messages,this includes not only whatthe candidate says, but wherehe or she goes, who they areseen with. What they aredoing

Conveying messages:Messages should be

incorporated in everythingthe campaigner does, i.e inspeeches, advertising andactions. Inclusion of pictureswould do magic, since visualis worth more than 1,000words. Careful choosing ofmedium is required whetherfor advertising, the candidateor free media events, proofpoint has to be given tovalidate their advertisingclaim (s), specific policies oractions are also important.

Pro’s and Cons’ of variousmedia:

Each medium has pro’s andcon’s; Television- reaches themost people quickly, butindiscriminate in its targetand very expensive. CableTelevision-very effective, butrequires the production ofmultiple expensive ads.Radio-good for targeting, butwithout visual is lessmemorable to voters.

In a major innovation inthe CSD market inNigeria, The La

Casera Company,independent Carbonated SoftDrink, CSD manufacturer,owners of LaCasera, hasadded another product to itsportfolio by introducing firstready-to-drink, rtd, chapmanchristened Smoov Chapman.

The Smoov Chapman drinkcomes in a PET bottle with fulllength plastic. According tothe Chief Operating Officerof the La Casera Company,Mr. Dileeban Ponniah,Smoov Chapman is one of themany innovations thecompany has in store for itsever growing consumer base.

Mr. Ponniah also expressedhis pleasure that the launchof the Smoov Chapman - apremium drink that isassociated with celebration -

La Casera expands CSD market, unveils‘Smoov’ Chapman

is perfectly timed to co-incidewith Nigeria’s 54thIndependence Daycelebrations and will enableeveryone to celebrate in style.

Chapman is a famous,locally made drink inventedin West Africa that is ideal foranyone who wants tocelebrate but does not want toconsume alcohol.

Ponniah further stressedthat Smoov Chapman is anexceptional drink thatcelebrates modern Africanculture. It is said to beinvented in Nigeria andcontains a distinctive andrefreshing mix of sweet fruitytaste and Angustora bitters fora unique taste which enablesit to meet the standards of tophotels, restaurants and socialevents in the country.

“The La Casera Company

has a tradition of deliveringgreat brands to ourconsumers. Smoov is noexception. Smoov Chapmanis a premium value brand thatwill not only bring excitementto consumers but alsoguarantees them value formoney as the product is beingintroduced at therevolutionary price for aChapman at N100 per bottle.Truly, we are going todemocratize Chapman!”

Also speaking, the GeneralManager of The La CaseraCompany Marketing wing,Mr. Peter Candlish, describedSmoov Chapman as an idealdrink that has been speciallyproduced to cater for all formsof celebrations forr personal,household and ceremonialconsumption.

In addition he said:”SmoovChapman drink is targeted atchapman lovers everywherewho want a convenient rtdChapman.”

QuiDig debutsin Nigeria

The Quadrant Companysaid it is collaborating

with PhaseStream of UK tolaunch QuiDig in Nigeria.QuiDig is a five-featureonline tool that crawls theinternet for comprehensivebrand information acrossmedia platforms.

Bolaji Okusaga,Managing Director of TheQuadrant Company says‘QuiDig will revolutionalisepublic relations andmarketing communicationspractice in Nigeria bystrengthening online mediaimpact with the qualities itbrings to monitoring,measuring and reportingthis media segment.’

On the qualities of theinnovative package,Okusaga explains thatQuiDig is a unique web andmobile application designedto comprehensively trackonline communications aswell as brand andmarketing activities. ‘Itwould thus be useful to thepublic relations andcommunications industriesas it presents practitionerswith a flexible app formonitoring and analyzingsocial media mentionsnecessary for campaignmeasurement andstakeholder management,’Okusaga says.

QuiDig is the firstc o m p r e h e n s i v ecommunications applicationin Nigeria. It also comeswith a media rating anddatabase managementmechanism as well ascapacity for tracking brandvisibility and campaigneffectiveness.

‘With QuiDig,’ Okusagafurther explains, ‘it is easyfor communications andmarketing professionals toview posts, comments andfollowers online, whilemeasuring engagements,following trends, andtracking hash-tags relatedto clients’ brands.’

QuiDig has enviablecapacity for tracking brandmentions on Twitter,Facebook, LinkedIn,YouTube, Google Plus and awide range of Blogs.

The application would beavailable in the Nigerianmarket from September 26,2014 for a 14-day free trialperiod. Users wouldthereafter have to subscribeto the application via email,with differing subscriptionfees for basic, pro andadvanced usage.


Email:[email protected], [email protected] page:www.lesleba.com/blog2Website: www.lesleba.comTel:0805 220 1997

48— Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Omoh Gabriel - Group Business EditorBabajide Komolafe - Deputy Business EditorClara Nwachukwu - Energy EditorPeter Egwuatu - Asst. Business EditorYinka Kolawole - Snr Bus. CorrespondentFavour Nnabugwu - Insurance CorrespondentGodwin Oritse - Maritime CorrespondentGodfrey Bivbere - Maritime CorrespondentMichael Eboh - Energy ReporterFranklin Alli - Industry/Agric. ReporterEbele Orakpo - Energy ReporterIfeyinwa Obi - Maritime ReporterRosemary Onuoha - Insurance Reporter

CONTRIBUTORSPrincewill Ekwujuru - Media/MarketingNkiruka Nnorom - Capital MarketJonah Nwokpoku - E-CommerceNaomi Uzor - IndustryProvidence Obuh - Micro FinanceLAYOUT - Graphics Department

Business & Economy

,

,

What we have seen isthat insteadof banks

channelling what we callexcess liquidity in the systeminto the productive or certaintargeted sectors of theeconomy, what they are doingis either placing these moniesin treasury bills or eveninvesting them at the CBNWindows”

The preceding excerpt isfrom the CBN Governor,Godwin Emefiele’scomments, when he spoke tojournalists shortly after thelatest meeting of theMonetary Policy Committee(MPC) in Abuja recently.Emefiele, frankly expressedthe Committee’s consternationthat inspite of the resoundingreality of the acute needs ofthe real sector for moderatelypriced funds, the banks wereinexplicably sittingcomfortably over N300bn,idle, excess funds; the MPC’sconcern was furtherheightened by the reality thatwith an imminent injection ofan additional sum of N866bninto the system whenAMCON’s debts areredeemed in October, thesurplus Naira could exceedN1000bn; worse still, inspiteof this bountiful cash surplus,the banks still do not showany apparent inclination tosupport the real sector andinstigate industrial expansionand job creation.

Consequently, it would befair to ask if banks do notfreely lend to the real sector,then to whom do they lend tomake such comparativelybountiful profits which arelargely unattainable inpreferred subsectors whichhave better capacity to induceinclusive economic growth; forexample, while 12 Nigerian

Emefiele’s crocodile tears over N300bn surplusbanks posted profits after taxwhich are about 15% of grossrevenue, industrial giantssuch as PZ and Guinnessposted after tax profits that arebarely 8% of their grossrevenue!

So how come banks are soprofitable, even when theyignore “the ampleopportunities for productiveand profitable lending to thereal sector of the economy” asrightly also observed by theCBN Governor?

Indeed, according toEmefiele, “given the apathyto lending to the real sector,banks may become moreinclined with the imminentcash injection of N866bn tolend their surplus cash,ironically, to a captive CentralBank”, inspite of theGovernor’s sharp criticism ofthe product of such borrowing.Now the critical question,obviously is, why banks preferto lend to the CBN instead ofthe real sector? In reality, theanswer is quite simple andstraightforward, no rationalinvestor ignores a risk freeinvestment that unfailinglyyields over 10% rate of return,in favour of a more risk proneinvestment with lower rate ofreturn. Actually, the higherprofitability for governmentdebts is probably the majorfactor responsible for thereluctance of banks topatronise the real sector.

Indeed, in the event, thatover N866bn fresh funds willbe injected into the market inOctober, one shouldrationally, expect theincreased cash surplus in thesystem to spur bank lendingto the real sector; regrettably,this will not happen as we willactually witness a moreaggressive sale of Treasurybills by the CBN to mop up

the excess cash in the handsof the banks instead.

We may be pardoned forasking why the same CBNwhich decries bank’s apathyto lending to the real sector,inexplicably turns out to bethe real villain that preventsaccess to the surplus cash bythe productive sector.Ironically, CBN wouldconsider its aggressiveborrowing strategy asaltruistic as its intention is toreduce the amount of surplusfunds and restrain inflation intruth; uncontrolled inflation isa silent plague that decimatesan economy and its citizens

over time. Furthermore, the over

N1000bn surplus Naira thatwill become available after theimminent redemption ofAMCON debts will also pitchso much more Naira againstrationed dollar supplies in theforex market and thisimbalance will according toEmefiele also “increase thepressure on the NairaExchange rate.” In otherwords, price stability, which isthe core mandate of the CBNwill become severely

threatened when the economyis ‘cursed’ with so muchexcess liquidity.

Evidently, even thoughpredictably, CBN’s strategiesto control the extent of surpluscash in the system have so farall failed to achieve thisobjective. For example, eventhough the CBN recognisesthat its high monetary policy(control) rate translates intohigh cost of funds charged bybanks for loans to the realsector, the Apex Bank stillappears incapable of bringingdown its policy rate below12%, despite the adverseconsequences of theprohibitive cost of funds toinclusive economic growth.

Furthermore, even whenit is clear that CBN’s strategyof increasing the mandatorycash reserve requirement ofbanks has also becomeineffective in modulating theextent of surplus cash, theMonetary Policy Committeenonetheless, still retained theCash Reserve requirement at75% for public sector deposits,while the requirement forprivate sector depositsremained at 15%.

In reality, the folly ofincreasing the CRR of publicsector deposits appears lost onthe MPC; evidently, raisingthe CRR for Public Sectordeposits will be meaningfulfor containing excess liquidityand prevent liberalconsumption, only ifMinistries and government’sAgencies do not spend theirmonthly revenue allocations;the inevitable reality is thatthese allocations willautomatically migrate tobecome private sectordeposits, once staff salariesand contractor ’s bills aresettled by MDAs.

Clearly, the CBN is not

sincerely committed toliquidating the scourge ofexcess liquidity as it seems toshy away from addressing theroot cause of eternally surplus,and idle cash in the system.

Undoubtedly, excessliquidity is caused by themonthly substitution of Nairaallocations for dollar derivedrevenue by the CBN;nonetheless, a little objectivitywill confirm that the adoptionof dollar certificates as theinstrument for paying dollarderived revenue willimmediately extinguish thedecades long profligacy ofplacing government depositsat zero percent and forevermopping up same at doubledigit interest rates;furthermore, apart fromappropriately restoring cashequilibrium and caginginflation with this strategy, theNaira will practically defenditself and become stronger inthe forex market without muchinterference from the CBN.The CBN is aware of thissolution which is alsoamplified in the monetarypolicy thrust statement of theVision 20:2020 blue print.

In any event, we mustwonder why, inspite of itsadverse consequences toeconomic growth the CBNwould continue to pay doubledigit interest rates in order tosterilise surplus funds in thebanks; it really should notrequire any persuasion forthe CBN to adopt the currentbest practice of the EuropeanCentral Bank which chargesthe domestic money depositbanks a token fee of 0.1% towarehouse surplus fundsrather than pay any interestto the banks.

Save the Naira, SaveNigerians

Given theapathy to lendingto the real sector,banks maybecome moreinclined with theimminent cashinjection ofN866bn to lendtheir surpluscash, ironically,to a captiveCentral Bank

Coca-Cola HBC AG,parent company ofNigerian Bottling

Company, NBC Limited hasbeen named industry leaderamongst beverage companiesin the 2014 Dow JonesSustainability Indices, DJSI.This is the seventhconsecutive year that Coca-Cola HBC has been includedin the indices and the firstyear it has led both the Worldand European indices.

Dow Jones SustainabilityIndices assess over 2,500 ofthe world’s largest publiclytraded companies onfinancially relevant economic,environmental and social

Dow IndeDow IndeDow IndeDow IndeDow Index: Coca-Cola HBC is 20x: Coca-Cola HBC is 20x: Coca-Cola HBC is 20x: Coca-Cola HBC is 20x: Coca-Cola HBC is 20111114 indus4 indus4 indus4 indus4 industrtrtrtrtry leadery leadery leadery leadery leaderfactors. Following anevaluation, the top 10 percentof companies within eachindustry are selected forinclusion.

Coca-Cola HBC wasranked first in the beveragessector out of 30 companies inDJSI World and 10 companiesin DJSI Europe. Thecompany’s overall score was89 percent, up from 81percent last year, and itachieved industry-best scoresacross the environmental andsocial dimensions, and morespecifically in the areas ofhealth and nutrition, supplychain management,environmental policy,

environmental reporting,social reporting, talentattraction and retention, andhuman capital development.

Dimitris Lois, Coca-ColaHBC CEO said: “We aredelighted to be recognized asan industry leader by thisrenowned benchmark ofcorporate sustainabilityperformance. Our substantialimprovement this yearconfirms how committed weare to the sustainabilityagenda. It remains a keystrategic priority for thebusiness and our focus will beon making further progress inorder to maintain ourleadership position.”

Those blind toJonathan’s goodworks are living in adifferent world— E.K Clark*Lord Luggard’s Nigeria is now dead*How I nominated Jonathan asYar‘Adua's running mate

He is a man with a plethora of prefixes to his name. Former senator, formerfederal commissioner, former Midwestern Commissioner, former

headmaster among others, but consistent social and political commentator, ChiefEdwin Clark, in this gives his role in the remaking of Nigeria, his role in theprocess among other issues.

Excerpts:

By LEVINUSNWABUGHIOGU

The National Conference

has come and gone. Many sayit was five months of robustdiscussion. Would you saythat the conference was apanacea to Nigeria’s majorproblems?

I think before we talk about

that, the first thing we shouldgo about is to congratulateMr. President, Dr. GoodluckEbele Jonathan for taking thebold step in convoking thatconference which manyHeads of State in the pastreluctantly refused to convokefor one reason or the other.There were those who wereasking for sovereign nationalconference. There wereothers who were asking fornational conference.Remember people like GaniFawehinmi, even Tinubu:these were people who weretalking about nationalconference and for a very longtime, nobody cared about it.But when we formed theSouthern Nigeria PeoplesAssembly, we went to Mr.President, appealed to him onseveral occasions, arguedwith him. He had his owncase. And he said, yes, thereare problems in Nigeria thatcannot be solved byamendments to theconstitution alone and finallyhe agreed to convoke anational conference. He didnot just only announce it, heset up a committee underSenator Femi Okurounmuwho used to shout in theSenate as if that was the onlypurpose for which he waselected into the Senate. So,the committee went round thecountry, saw the modalities

,

,

and everything and how itshould be organised. Then,the doubting Thomasesthought it was a very wrongtime and that Mr. Presidentwanted to get some benefitsfrom it. All sorts of things weresaid. Those of them who couldnot do it now regarded it as abad thing.

But there were people whowere ready at all times to seewhether they can scuttle theconference because they neverwanted it. There are peoplewho believe that the statusquo in this country shouldremain. The nation should notmove forward as long as itbenefits them against millionsof Nigerians who aresuffering and deprived. Forexample, the Nigeria that wasamalgamated for onehundred years by LordLugard had come to an end.Nigerians have been cravingfor a new place, a forum wherethey could all meet to debateand discuss the basis for ourliving together for the next 100years. So, what the Presidentdid was very, very appropriateand timely at the time.

I think at the end of it, wepassed about 600 resolutionsand decisions which werevery, very relevant todeveloping a new countryand I remember one of mycolleagues, Professor JibrilAminu, one of the mostintelligent persons in thiscountry came and sat by meand said that we should takea photograph. We took thephotograph and at the end,he said a new Nigeria hasbeen born. And I emphasizedthe same that you are right; anew Nigeria has been born.Why? Because we touchedevery aspect of living inNigeria. What aspect did we

not touch? You said that

the Nigeria,Lord Lugardamalgamated in 1914 hascome to an end. What do youmean by that?

In 1914, Lord Lugard signed

an agreement whichamalgamated Southern andNorthern Nigeria together. Ididn’t say it ended as suchbut at the end of 100 years,there was a need to renew itbecause when it was made,nobody was consulted. So, itwas appropriate that we havelived together for 100 yearsand therefore there was need

to renew our living togetherfor another 100 years.

Now, do you think that the

resolutions reached andtaken at the conference havebrought peace between thenorth and the south?

I think so. One of the

problems we had first was thatmost of the northerners neverwanted the conference. Theybelieve in the status quo.Even when they came in, theywanted to scuttle it. So, wedisagreed first of all whetherdecisions were to be taken by75% or by two-third majority.

These went on for over tendays. People thought that theconference was going to endabruptly which made Lamidoof Adamawa to say that if thiscountry breaks up, some of ushave no place to go to, butthey will go to Adamawa Statein the Cameroons. That’swhat he said. He again saidthat those of you who are closeto Mr. President have comehere to oppose Mr.President’s decision; that hisdecision is to go on 75percent. We said no. Mr.

President is a liberal man. Hehas set up a body. How wearrive at our decisions is nobusiness of his. So, we knewthat some of us were beingattacked indirectly by him.But could you believe that atthe end of the conference, weembraced ourselves and wesaid no more going toCameroon and we tookphotographs together. Thatshows the level ofunderstanding. Butunfortunately, some of themost educated northerners,like the Yadudus were readyto scuttle the conference at allcost for reasons best known to

them to the extent that someof us had to “attack” himpersonally; that he was notonly the professor around. So,even towards the end of theconference, some of themwere still ready to scuttle theconference.

But I believe having spentabout 5 months together, weall have realized that theconference was a useful one.With my interviews with a lotof them both men and womenfrom the north, I think wehave gained from theconference and the decisionsof the conference will go along way to improve the lotsof everybody in Nigeria.

How did you take the

unanimous decision of theNational ExecutiveCommittee, NEC of thePeoples Democratic Party,PDP to endorse PresidentJonathan as the solecandidate for the nextpresidential election?

Oh! Fantastic. In fact, you

must have seen ourcongratulatory message,message of thanks tomembers of BoT, members ofthe National WorkingCommittee, NWC, members ofNEC, the Governors Forum forthinking it wise enough thata sitting president should beallowed to contest againundisturbed which is thepractice in America and allover the world. We did it withShagari. It is not a novelty. In


One of the problems wehad first was that most of thenortherners never wantedthe conference; they believein the status quo; even whenthey came in, they wanted toscuttle it

Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMPER 29, 2014—49

Calabar for a declaration thatSouth-South should producethe next president in 2007.Most of the governors todayattended the meeting and wecame out and called it CalabarDeclaration. So, those whowere interested we calledthem to participate. It will berecalled that Dr. Peter Odili,governor or Rivers state, Arc.Victor Attah, governor ofAkwa Ibom state, Dr. DonaldDuke, governor of CrossRivers state, then we hadAdmiral Akigbe, now late,and others who were verysuperior people said theywere contesting. So, it was nota matter of fancy but a matterof fact that our people wantedto be president of Nigeria.Later, Dr. Saraki wrote me aletter that he too had anorganization known asNorthern Union. They toowanted a northerner to contestand we met for the first timein Warri at Wellington Hotel.His members and ourmembers met. We told himthat we wanted presidency.He said he wanted it also. Welater held series of meetingsin Kaduna, Abuja and otherplaces to decide that. Wehadn’t come to a conclusionwhen Obasanjo decided toimpose Umaru Yar’Adua asthe candidate. Then, Odilihad to withdraw. We didn’tknow that Nuhu Ribadu, thethen EFCC chairman wasspecifically asked byObasanjo to probe Odili. Hesubmitted an interim reportwhich said that Odiliembezzled N100b of RiversState money. Nobody hasproved that anyway. But thiswas between Obasanjo andRibadu. Then Attah had hisown problem with Mr.President and Donald Dukealso had his problem throughhis wife. So, he used it toblackmail them and the threeof them withdrew. But lateAdmiral Akigbe refused towithdraw. Let me say this,when people talk aboutzoning, it upsets me. That’swhy I have decided to tell youthe story. There was no timeat that time the northernerstalked about zoning. In fact,they deceived us. Odili wenton, spent money and time.Alhaji Shehu Shagari and

,

,

many others bought his views.After a meeting in Uromi, wesent Ambassador LawrenceEkpegbu and his team to theNortheast. They werereceived by the Shehu ofBorno and so forth. There wasno time the northerners saidthere was zoning and that,therefore it was their turn. No.

And it was now through thezoning that Obasanjo broughtin Yar’Adua. He had his ownreasons. One of the reasonswas that he was a prudentfellow. He had N6bn in hispurse. Another one was thathe was a very intelligentfellow. He was a lecturer andwas very humble. Those werethe reasons he gave and webought into it. Then, alongthe line, it was stated thatOdili should be running mateto Yar’Adua. This was agreedupon but we later learnt thatsome elements in PDP, I canname some of them; el-Rufai,Ribadu and many others metand changed the acceptancespeech of Yar’Adua withouthis knowledge, without Odiliknowing. In the acceptancespeech, it had been writtenthat Sir, Peter Odili will be myrunning mate. But theychanged it to “I will name myrunning mate after I haveconsulted with the elders ofthe party.” So, the two menwent to the podium and whenYar ’Adua read his speech,there was nothing like Odili.Odili was very upset. So, theycame out.

In the morning on Sunday,I was watching the television.I saw what happened. By 10O’clock, I had some visitorsincluding Mr. AyokobeWhisky who is now Dr.Ayokobe Whisky. He used tobe Commissioner for Housingin Bayelsa State. They werewith me in the room with oneother person, I can’tremember. Then I had anemissary from the Sultan ofSokoto. They were introducedto me, that they came fromYar ’Adua, the Governor ofKatsina. And the emissarygave me a piece of paper

academician, humble,transparent and loyal. I saidboth of them should be able towork together. So, I wroteJonathan’s name on the listand they left. Then I didn’tknow whether Jonathanwould accept. One of themsuggested that we call himand I said phone him. Within20 minutes, Jonathan arrivedat my Transcorp Hilton suiteand I told him. He wasreluctant. He said he doesn’twant to. He said I want to bethe governor of Bayelsa Statein the next four years. I do notwant to be deputy to anybody.Then I said that the people ofSouth-South went to Calabarat a certain time and said theywanted a president and if wehave not got that presidencybecause of what has beenimposed on us, let us have anelected Vice President. Hekept quiet for sometime andthen said, well, if that’s yourchoice, so be it but I am not infavour of it. I said it is ourchoice. He left. Later the namewas announced. And I knowvery well that Jonathan at thattime was a child loved by a

which had about 20 nameslisted on it including Ibori,Donald Duke and others,saying I should pick a goodrunning mate for him from thelist. I looked through the list,there was nobody I thoughtthere could work withYar’Adua. I said well, let mesuggest somebody who woulddo the job, who had thequalities which Obasanjo toldme about Yar’Adua. And I saidthat Jonathan was a lectureralso. He had Ph.D,

father, that is Obasanjo.Jonathan had received achieftaincy title from Owu,Obasanjo’s home town andJonathan had taken over fromAlamaesigha. So, Jonathanwas a pet son of Obasanjo andI knew that if I recommendhim, Obasanjo will notdisagree. So, Obasanjo as thepresident of Nigeria musthave contributed a long wayto making Jonathan runningmate to Yar’Adua. In fact, hetold me a story when I led

some south southerners to hishouse in Aso Rock that sameevening to thank him fortaking Jonathan. He said thatwas a good choice, that whenhe sent for Jonathan, he wasnot ready for it. Then he toldhim, that I will give you oneof the hats you people gaveme when I visited Yeneagoaand they all laughed becausethey had to take photographtogether. That shows the roleplayed by Obasanjo inmaking Jonathan VicePresident. Clark couldrecommend but Obasanjo canreject. But in this particularcase we agreed and so that’show it happened. So, whenpeople talk about whathappened here and there, Ilaugh. Jonathan was notambitious. He never wantedto be vice to Umaru Yar’Adua.

Many people posit that

Jonathan’s presidency hasfurther divided the country.Do you share this view?

Those people with that

view are living in a differentworld. They are not

Nigerians. The people whohave that view, they are notonly mischievous and wicked,but they are living in adifferent world. How cananybody say that Jonathan’spresidency has divided thecountry the more? It hasrather united this country. Wehave just discussed. Jonathanwas able to assemble 492Nigerians from differentpersuasions for five months todebate and discuss the wayforward in Nigeria. And at theend of it all, we succeeded.We have also submitted thereport to him waiting for himto take action and I also sawthat he has set up a panel tolook through the report beforeappointing a body for theimplementation. So, it is nottrue that Jonathan has cometo divide Nigeria ratherJonathan’s presidency hasunited this country byeverybody coming together todiscuss problems facingNigeria and he has been ableto pilot it through. So, I do notknow why people are talkingabout division. If there wasgoing to be any division, itwould have come through theNational Conference. Eventhe National Conference at acertain time, people thoughtit would break but it neverbroke. We remained till theend and we all agreed that wehave succeeded. In my speechI said we came and we haveconquered. And not only that,we had a good dinnertogether a night before thefinal day. So, it is not true thatJonathan has divided thecountry.

Most people like you think

that the endorsement of Mr.President is an automaticvictory. Now, should hecontest in 2015 and fail, whatwill happen?

Nothing will happen.

Nothing will happen. I havesaid so several times.Jonathan is like any otherNigerian politician who wantsto contest election or who iscontesting election. When youcontest election, two resultswill come up. You eithersucceed or you fail. Jonathanwill not be different. If he fails,he will pack his things and gohome. We will not causetrouble as some people did in2011 when they caused riotand so on. Jonathan will gohome without making anyproblem. Don’t mind whatsome people may say, O!There will be trouble. Thereis not going to be any trouble.Jonathan’s election will belike any other person’selection. Those who failed in2011 are still in this countryeven though they caused riot.Ribadu contested as apresidential candidate, but hehas gone to PDP today. He hasbeen hobnobbing with Mr.President. So, I do not think

Lord Luggard’s Nigeria is now dead

1979, Shagari contested. In 1983, there were many men of timberand caliber from all over the country but nobody contested it withhim. So, I think this is the right step. So, I congratulate the membersof 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 istrue given counter claims in someother quarters.

Well, I am not very happy going back

into all these types of history but forrecord purposes and those who have toread history again, it may be necessaryto say something about it. It will berecalled that on November 4, 2004, theleaders of South-South went to

50—Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMPER 29, 2014

Don’t mind what somepeople may say, O! There willbe trouble. There is not goingto be any trouble; Jonathan’selection will be like any otherperson’s election; those whofailed in 2011 are still in thiscountry even though theycaused riots

Continued from page 42


,

,OPINION

By Romanus Uwa

*Dr. Uwa, a political commentator, wrote from Aba, AbiaState.

National honour award and OrjiTODAY September 29, some Nigerians will be conferred

with the National Honour Award by PresidentGoodluck Jonathan at the International ConferenceCentre, Abuja. Among the awardees are PresidentJonathan’s steward, a taxi driver, a traffic warden andthe Abia State governor, Chief Theodore Orji. In the recentpast many have criticised the criteria for the selection ofthe awardees, while others believe that it is in orderconsidering that it is a standard practice globally. Beside,it is a known fact that Nigeria is a fertile ground forundue armchair criticisms, especially when it involvesthe Presidency and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party,PDP. One remarkable thing about this year’s list ofawardees is that it is all encompassing and qualitativegiven the men and women of integrity on parade. Forsome of the awardees, the award is long overdue,considering their track records in public service and theprivate sector over the years. But many believe that theaward is better late than never as it is obvious that theseawardees waited patiently to be fished out, instead ofpushing for the recognition.

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

After his graduation from the prestigious University of

Ibadan in 1977 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in EnglishLanguage, Gov. Orji opted for civil service job, instead ofthe white collar job that was in vogue then. His over twodecades career in the service is remarkable or itsunblemished record.

On assuming office as governor in 2007, hisgovernment was faced with enormous infrastructural,political and social challenges. But he was undeterredby the enormity of the challenges. Despite initial politicalinterferences and stumbling blocks orchestrated by hispredecessor, Gov. Orji trudged on till the state wasliberated from a godfather who was holding sway then.Since then, Orji’s government has been in a hurry toregain lost ground. Every sector of the state economy isreceiving steadily government’s attention. Several roadprojects have been completed, while others are ongoing.The New Umuahia known as Ogurube Layout is now ahuge construction site. At the site is a completed workersSecretariat, a five-star international conference centrenearing completion. Also adjacent to it is a new modernGovernment House and several other edifices. Also atUbani Ibeku is a modern market of internationalstandard with all the needed facilities. The State thatwas at a time under the siege of kidnappers is today oneof the most secured and peaceful state in the country.

The commercial city of Aba for the first time since1999 has witnessed government’s intervention in roadrehabilitation, security and waste disposal. The educationsector has also been doing well with the State emerging

as the second overall best in the country in WAEC resultsin the last two years.

In recognition of his loyalty, humility and commitmentto good governance, Governor Orji was appointed theSouth East Caucus Leader of the PDP. He is also todaythe Chairman, South East Governors Forum. Sinceassuming these positions, Gov. Orji has repositioned theparty in the zone ahead of the 2015 polls. He has takenthe zone to the mainstream politics that is favourable forthe zone. In the just concluded National Conference, Gov.Orji rallied his colleagues to support and spur delegatesfrom the zone to canvass for issues of national interestthat will address the zone’s political problems. That ishow it was agreed at the Conference that one additionalstate should be created out of the zone.

Particularly remarkable is the fact that his governmenthas not borrowed money from any financial institutionto finance the numerous projects he has executed.

So the National Honour Award on him can only beregarded as befitting and well-deserved. The award alsorubbishes the current campaign of falsehood beingpropagated against him by his ahead the 2015 polls. Theaward is an indication that falsehood, no matter howcontrived, cannot triumph over fact. With the award, Gov.Orji’s government and people of the State have beenvindicated.

BY now, the Nigerian military shouldbe picking up a few useful insights into

guerrilla warfare, which is going to be thepreferred face of armed confrontation inthe foreseeable future. During the conflictin the Niger Delta between the militantsand the Nigerian Armed Forces, themilitants used two names to issue publicstatements and threats: Jomo Gbomo andCynthia Whyte. Gbomo has fallen mutesince the Independence Day bombing inAbuja 2011, when the leader of theMovement for the Emancipation of theNiger Delta (MEND), Henry Okah, wasapprehended and put on trial in SouthAfrica. It is Cynthia Whyte that is stilltalking any time MEND or those paradingwith the name issue a threat or claimresponsibility for some mishap in theNiger Delta to prove they are still activeeven after five years of the Amnestyprogramme.

Boko Haram under its founder,Mohammed Yusuf, was not more than itspredecessor jihadist anarchists led byMaitatsine and “Musa Makaniki” inMaiduguri and Jimeta, respectively in the1980s. But when he was captured andkilled and the original Abubakar Shekau

TTTTTwwwwwo Sheko Sheko Sheko Sheko Shekau’s doau’s doau’s doau’s doau’s down; newn; newn; newn; newn; next?xt?xt?xt?xt?

emerged, Boko Haram assumed the togaof a full guerrilla outfit, feeding offsumptuous funding, floating arsenal of thedeposed Muammar Gadhafi armoury andinternal sabotage in the military andgovernment by Boko Haram acolytes.When the military announced it had killedthe original Shekau, Boko Harammimicked the Niger Delta militants andbrought out another bearded figure, whichit said, was Shekau, to portray that themilitary was lying.

Unfortunately, most Nigerians chose tobelieve Boko Haram rather than the armyfighting to protect them. Even the mediastopped putting punctuation marks afterthe name of this upstart impostor. Themilitary did not help matters becauseduring the reign of Shekau II, a numberof events took place to deflate theconfidence Nigerians had in them. TheChibok girls were abducted in the mostbizarre manner, with the insurgentsmaking the Borno State and FederalGovernments look like common idiots.Boko Haram struck and overran some

military and security facilities, killingofficers and seizing arms and logistics.

Mutinies took place and soldiers shot attheir commanding officers, which led to acourt martial. The Minister of Defence,Alhaji Aliyu Gusau, threatened to resignover quarrels with Service Chiefs, andNigerian troops sent to the war front oftenfled in the face of Boko Haram assaults.

In the streets, we fought one another onpolitical party or ethno-sectional basis. Allthese reinforced Boko Haram underShekau II and emboldened them to stormout of their hiding places in SambisaForest and start seizing territories to planttheir comical “Islamic Caliphate”pennants.

The Nigerian Army must have realisedthat guerrilla warfare is more about brainsthan brawn. It is a mind game. BokoHaram under Shekau II fought us withdeft application of mind game, and surgedforward. It also took a commonsensicaluse of wits to snare Shekau II to his end.Our soldiers captured some Boko Haramfighters in the battle of Konduga. Theyforced them to stage a false victorycelebration and invite Shekau II to comeand officiate. They laid an ambush andwasted the bastard. The tide of publicopinion has now changed. Nigerians nowbelieve the Army more on the death ofShekau II. Boko Haram fighters have losttheir nerve and are surrendering.

We must keep chasing them right to thegates of hell, as US Vice President, JoeBiden would put it. The war has just goneinto a new phase. It may not end tomorrow.Guerrilla wars never end that easily.Unless we press our advantage, ShekauIII is likely to emerge. Boko Haram isalready using their media acolyte, AhmadSalkida; to deceive the public by sayingShekau is “alive, hale and hearty”. Thissimply means, “get ready for Shekau III”.

The killing of the two Shakau’s is likecutting off a hydra’s head: it will simplygrow another unless you stamp it outconclusively. This we must do, by standingtogether with our armed forces.

THE Group Managing Director/ChiefExecutive Officer of Diamond Bank

PLC, Dr. Alex Ozioma Otti, has added yetanother feather to his cap by beingnominated as Officer of the FederalRepublic (OFR), the fourth mostprestigious national honour.

Otti, who is nursing the ambition ofemerging as the next governor of AbiaState, will join the rest of the awardeestonight in Abuja to receive his medal fromPresident Goodluck Jonathan. Otti,whose three years in Diamond Bank haswitnessed its total turnaround from lossmaking to the path of profitability, ishoping to bring his enormous intellectualgifts, vast experience in financialmanagement and network of contactsworldwide to upgrade the level ofgovernance in his state as from 2015.

Here is wishing him more success.

Alex Otti bags OFRAlex Otti bags OFRAlex Otti bags OFRAlex Otti bags OFRAlex Otti bags OFR

MINISTER of Police Affairs, Alhaji Jelili Adesiyan seems to walk in the wake ofnegative 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 clearedof the offence, he ran into a storm during his screening in the Senate when SenatorOlusola Adeyeye, who represents Osun Central Senatorial District in the Senate, openlyand fanatically opposed his appointment as minister.

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

The next time he went public, it was at a press conference in Osogbo. Reports quotedhim as saying he would have beaten former Governor of Osun State, Alhaji IsiakaAdeleke “to pulp” if he were not a Minister! I quote: “”if I had not been a Minister Iwould have beaten Adeleke to pulp on that day. I will one day leave office as a Ministerof the Federal Republic of Nigeria and any time I leave office I will fight Adeleke. Healleged 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 beinvited.

Adesiyan was back in the news when his helicopter landed at the premises of theBodija International School, Ibadan and caused serious damage to property. He didnot bother to ask for permission. The school has since written a petition to the stategovernment and another to the Minister.

I hope, when he repairs the private school’s damaged property he does so with hisown money, not public funds.

Minister Adesiyan again!Minister Adesiyan again!Minister Adesiyan again!Minister Adesiyan again!Minister Adesiyan again!

The Nigerian Army must have realised thatguerrilla warfare is more about brains thanbrawn. It is a mind game. Boko Haram underShekau II fought us with deft application ofmind game, and surged forward


Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014—————5353535353

,

,

By Bobson Gbinije

Between Oritsejafor and thewar on terror

*Mr. Gbinjie, a social critic, wrote fromWarri, Delta State.

By Tony Nwaezeigwe

THE present call by a group thatstyles itself the “Buhari

Vanguard” that the reveredNational President of the ChristianAssociation of Nigeria (CAN),Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor be arrestedclearly amounts to an unbridledfrontal assault on the collectiveintegrity of the body of NigerianChristians symbolized today by hisperson; much the same way a callfor the arrest of the person of therevered Sultan of Sokoto meansto the Muslims of this country.

The fact that the Federalgovernment has owned up to theresponsibility of the $9.3 millioncargo, in the same manner thatpresent operator of the leasedaircraft has owned up to theresponsibility is quite enoughreason to absolve the respectedCAN President of any culpability.But this position does not seemgood enough to satisfy thedesperate political garbage-mongers masquerading as agentsof opposition.

First it was the disused,abandoned and desperate onceself-acclaimed “Governor” of theFederal Capital Territory MalamNasir el-Rufai who had theaudacity to vilify the person of theCAN President, Pastor AyoOritsejafor. One wonders where heshould have been had a southernPresident of the Federal Republicof Nigeria not brought him tolimelight? One fact which mostNigerians have failed toacknowledge is that the North ispoorer and would continue to be

even poorer in future because ofthe likes of Nasir el-Rufai whosefundamentalist-feudalisticmentality has remained a fortressagainst the growth of the common-man in the North. Appointed overand above their more qualifiedHausa and Middle Beltcounterparts on account of theirFulani blood, their mission inGovernment has always remainedto protect the vexatious feudalstructure in the North, maintainthe sorry poverty level among thetalakawa class and used Islam asa perpetual political bait court thepoverty-striken mostly un-educatedmasses of the North. If one may askel-Rufai, how far did he use his officeas both the Director-General of theBureau of Public Enterprisessuperintending over the sale ofFederal Government-ownedcompanies, and the “Governor” ofthe Federal Capital Territory (FCT)to reduce the poverty in the North?Yet, this type of political torn-coatsare audacious enough to castaspersion on the person of thePresident and respected Southernleaders whose main concerns ingovernment have been the overallwell-being of their people. It is onlyunfortunate that people like some ofus in the South are not from theNorth, otherwise one would not seethe basis of such a fundamentalistas el-Rufai, who once said that unlessthose he styled as devils convert toIslam he would never cross-over toPDP seeking to rule Kaduna State, apredominantly Christian enclave asGovernor.

Perhaps most amusing and yetmore ridiculous than the wobbly

ranting of el-Rufai is the outburstof the political homunculus calledBuhari Vanguard, which assumesthat by riding on the back of a tigerthey could as well be likened to atiger, but who by that action onlyexposed their kola-nut-coated setof dentition for surgicalexamination. One fact is obvious,whatever angle it is taken, PastorAyo Oritsejafor today representsthe living symbol of Nigeria’sresolve to extricate herself from thevirus of Islamic fundamentalism,be it in the political garb of Shariaor the monster-jihad called BokoHaram. Nigerians are not

different cup of tea entirely.The Muhammadu Buhari

Vanguard should be the least of allmasquerading as youth groupbecause in reality, they are thugs.So to demand for the arrest of anyleader in this country for whateverreason and under whatever guiseis totally out of order. Today it hasbecome a commonplace thoughtthat the worst thing that canhappen to Nigeria, even moredevastating to the present ragingBoko Haram insurgency, is forGeneral Muhammadu Buhari tobe elected President of the FederalRepublic of Nigeria. I stand by

his appointment of fellow Muslim,fellow Fulani even thoughmasquerading as Gambari-Yoruba, and fellow Northerner,General Tunde Idiagbon as hissecond-in-command in such multi-ethnic and multi-religious nationas Nigeria. He also demonstratedthat only President Shehu Shagari,a fellow Muslim, fellow Fulaniand Northerner had the exclusiveright of comfort in detention at theGovernment Reservation Area(GRA), while the likes of VicePresident Alex Ekwueme and ahost of other Southern and MiddleBelt State governors were onlygood for the Kirikiri MaximumPrison.

Second, if Nigerians speak oftransparency in government todayamong their past and presentpolitical leadership, the likes ofBuhari should be consigned to thelowest throng of the ladder.Nigerians may be treated with thecommunist theory of repeated liesequal a truth by telling false talesabout a transparent Buhari, but ifwe still believe in the theory ofhistory vindicating the just, and theBuhari is left to the judgment ofhistory, then it will be establishedthat General Buhari has no recordof transparency in the history ofhis political adventure both in andout of military uniform.

If there is an epidemic of oil thefttoday, its original virus wastransmitted from General Buharidays in office. His tenure asNigeria’s Petroleum and EnergyMinister under Murtala/Obasanjoregime institutionalized oil theftin Nigeria.

*Dr. Nwaezigwe, ActingDirector, wrote fromCentre forIgbo Studies, University ofNigeria, Nsukka.

,

,

“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 Livingto Oneself

EVERY profession has its esoteric jargons.The profession of journalism is not left

out. But the editor is critically crucial in thenewspaper publication industry.

Without slips of prolixity, a newspaper isan alphenstock designed to carry the readerup the mountain of information,entertainment and education, etc. It is adaily or weekly publication consisting offolded sheets and containing news, featuresand advertisements etc. Indeed, anewspaper incarnates the matrix, nexusand praxis of any society. It is the heart ofany nation and a good newspaper is anation talking to itself.

To enhance its functionality, missionstatement and the core essence of itsfundamental objectives, its publishersemploy people or journalists withmultidimensional ambience. But the editoris one employee that stands out with singulardiaphaneity. There are many types of editorsin any newspaper setting. They are usuallycategorized and dichotomized alongprofessional or areas of specialization.

It is the duty of the Editor to prepare textfor publication by checking, amending,altering and improving its accuracy andclarity. It is also the duty of the Editor toensure that opinions expressed in thenewspaper are in congruency and consistentwith the Editorial policy, the religious,political, socio-economic and ideologicalmission statement of the publisher. Indeed,Editors, especially editors in governmentowned newspapers luxuriate in outrightfalsehoods, splendiferous theatrics, and

propaganda hypes, laced with panegyrichistrionics, which smacks of hitleric andGoebbelian antics. They can only mirror –out and not mirror –in, like parrots thatrepeat words after their masters withoutunderstanding them.

There are editors and there are indeededitors. Some editors are coquettish withthe government and political leaders andare trapped in conscience vendorizationthrough pecunious inducements. There arealso editors in private and governmentowned newspapers who tell it as it isnotwithstanding whose ox is gored.

It is the genre of conscience mortgagingand filthy lucre editors who are slavishlytied to the apron strings of their paymasterswho have rubbished the integrity of theprofession. At best they are paid hirelings,government area-boys, surrogates andnewspaper terrorists. It is this type ofnegative zeitgeist that propelled essayistNorman Mailer to assert that, “once anewspaper man touches a story, the factsare lost forever, even to the protagonist”.

The empirical testability and presence ofcorruption in most newspaper newsroomsremains an inviolable truism. Since what isnewsworthy is subject to the capriciouswhimsicality of the ‘gargantuan’ Editor, heas the Alpha and the Omega decides whichReporter and Correspondent's report shouldoccupy the front page and whatever strategicspace is in the newspaper. He could alsodecide to publish articles, letters, opinionand reports of his cultic friends, relationsand monetary expectations fromgovernment public relations agents forappointments or monetary reward.

It must however be conceded that themission statement of his newspaper as speltout by his Publishers, Members of hisEditorial Board and his Employersdetermine to a large extent the oscillatorypull of the editors ideas. After all, the man

who pays the piper dictates the tune.But we are saying furthermore that

notwithstanding all these truisms, the editorof a newspaper can still conduct and managehis submissions in such a manner as tomitigate the odium and the blanket ofcerebral manacles in which he is cocooned.

We are asserting here with unambiguousclarity, that the editor must be first and

foremost conscience-and-duty-bound tothe truth and the general good. What willan editor gain when a society and itsleadership are convoluted in the altar ofdespotism, illegal detention, electionrigging, police brutality, assassinations,economic injustice, extra judicial killings,tribalism, bribery and corruption?

It is the bounden duty of the editor as partof the watchdog of society, Member of theFourth Estate of the Realm and theconscience of society to condemn these evilsin no uncertain terms. Our ‘gargantuan’Editors must note the admonition ofMarcus Cicero “Salus Populi est supremalex” (the good of the people is the supremelaw).

They must note that criticism is an

uncompromisable condition of democracyand freedom. Criticism is the hallmark ofintellectual discourse, since it provokesargument and argument would, wellhandled, facilitate the attainment of goodresolutions. Again, it is a mere emotiverationalization to expect that because anidea appears so good by its sheer sound orits face value, it should be acceptedwholesomely without questioning from ourleaders, government agents, publishers andinformed members of the public.

The handling of public opinions by mosteditors must be revolutionized, as mostopinions are either edited out of context ornot published at all. Every Human being inany democracy deserves to be heardnotwithstanding his communicationdeficiency. It is in recognition of theimportance of public opinion that, AbrahamLincoln said, “with public opinion on its side,nothing can fail with public against it,nothing can succeed.” The facts are sacredand comments free, but most newspapereditors have traditionally been content tostate their own views and rely on logic oftheir arguments, the force of direction andreasonableness of their advocacy tocommend their views to the public. But itmust go beyond this. Let the truth andaltruism be their hallmarks. Finally, asour inchoate and embryonic democracymetamorphoses into adulthood, theeditors of our newspapers have catalyticrole to play. They must prove SidneyHaword wrong. He said “an editor is aperson employed by a newspaper, whosebusiness it is to separate the wheat from thechaff and to see that the chaff is published”.We want to see more righteous indignation,critical and incisive commentaries,satyagrahi- like analysis and avant-gardismagainst the rot of our political leaders andthe society from our editors. It is not lifethat matters but the courage we put into it.This should be the path the media shouldtread as we approach 2015.

The media ahead of 20The media ahead of 20The media ahead of 20The media ahead of 20The media ahead of 201515151515

The fact that the Federal government hasowned up to the responsibility of the $9.3million cargo, in the same manner thatpresent operator of the leased aircrafthas owned up to the responsibilitydoes not seem good enough to satisfythe desperate political garbage-mongers masquerading as agents ofopposition

unaware of his symbolic image asthe terrain-buster of Global Jihadintent in Nigeria through the twin-agencies of Sharia and BokoHaram.The fact is obvious. Never in thehistory of Nigeria has Christiansso collectively stood up under asingle leadership to the audaciouschallenge the domineeringperpetual intents of Northernjihadists. And it is not uncommonthat such a gifted leader shouldface repeated vilification fromthose who see him as theirstumbling block. But coming thistime from no less a group thatdedicates itself to the promotionof the political objectives of anincorrigible jihadist becomes a

the following facts and by the sametoken call the so-called BuhariVanguard to rebut as and whennecessary.

First, General Buhari, the manwhom the Buhari Vanguardrepresents is a man who does notrecognize the necessity of theNigerian Federation to maintainits secularity. Acutelyfundamentalist and ethnicallybigoted in both character andoutlook, Buhari does not recognizethe existence of any other religionin Nigeria apart from Islam, nordoes he recognize the capacity ofany other ethnic group in Nigeriaaside from the Fulani to lead thenation. He demonstrated thisacute political dementia through

Continues tomorrow onViewpoints

We want to seemore righteousindignation, criticaland incisivecommentariesanalysis and avant-gardism against therot of our politicalleaders and thesociety from oureditors





CLASSIFIEDVanguardVanguardVanguardVanguardVanguard

O B I N WATA — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissO b i n w a t aM a r i a g o r r e t t iAkuchukwu, nowwish to be knownand addressed asMrs. UwaomaM a r i a g o r r e t t iAkuchukwu. Allformer documentsremain valid. NYSCand general publicplease take note.

O N Y E A N U S I — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissOnyeanusi RitaOnyinyechukwu, nowwish to be known andaddressed as Mrs.Okpani Aja RitaOnyinyechukwu. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please takenote.

E G B A B O R — I ,formerly known andaddressed as OghaleEgbabor, now wish tobe known andaddressed as OghaleIcheoke. All formerdocuments remainvalid. Edjeba PrimarySchool, Edjeba,NNPC Staff School,Ekpan, Seat ofWisdom ModelSchool, Ekpan andgeneral public pleasetake note.

O K E R E K E — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissUzoamaka OkerekeGetrude, now wish tobe known andaddressed as Mrs.Akpofure UzoamakaGetrude. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

E Z E A P U T A — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissChidinma NnennaEzeaputa, now wishto be known andaddressed as Mrs.Chidinma NnennaUzoegbu. All formerdocuments remainvalid. Abia StatePolytechnic, Aba,NYSC and generalpublic please takenote.

OBI—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss ObiN k e m d i l i mMagdalene, now wishto be known andaddressed as Mrs.O n i c h a e m e k eN k e m d i l i mMagdalene. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please takenote.

EJEH—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss EvelynOjorbonetan Ejeh,now wish to be knownand addressed asMrs. EvelynOjorbonetan EjehDede. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

A Y O D E L E — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissAyodele TolaniOluwafemi R., nowwish to be known andaddressed as Mrs.Ogundairo TolaniOluwafemi Rebecca.All former documentsremain valid. ZenithBank Plc and generalpublic please takenote.

N WA D I O G O — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissNwadiogo MaryjaneIfeoma, now wish tobe known andaddressed as Mrs.Ugbah MaryjaneIfeoma. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

Confirmation of nameThis is to confirm thatthe names IkenwaChuks Elvis andMichael Chuks Elvisrefer to one and thesame person. I nowwish to be known andaddressed as IkenwaChuks Elvis. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please takenote.

EDEH—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss Joy AnwrikaEdeh, now wish to beknown and addressedas Mrs. Joy AnwrikaAkpa. All formerdocuments remainvalid. Nasarawa StateUniversity, Keffi andgeneral public pleasetake note.

U K O U D O — I ,formerly known andaddressed as UkoudoEmmanuel Sunday,now wish to be knownand addressed as UkoEmmanuel Sunday.All former documentsremain valid. CentreFor ManagementDevelopment andgeneral public pleasetake note.

NNAJI—I, formerlyknown and addressed asMiss Nnaji EmmanuelaChinemere, now wish tobe known and addressedas Mrs. NwaokoukwuEmmanuela Chinemere.All former documentsremain valid. NationalCommission for MassLiteracy, Adult and Non-Formal Education, Abujaand general publicplease take note.

Confirmation of NameNNOCHIRIONYE—This is to confirm that thenames NnochirionyeChinwenwa Chinyereand NnochirionyeChinwe are one and thesame person but fromnow on I wish to beknown and addressed asN n o c h i r i o n y eChinwenwa Chinyere. Allformer documents remainvalid. Interra Networks,Nigeria ImmigrationService, embassies andgeneral public pleasetake note.

Correction of nameMy correct name isTanko Paul Hassanand not Tanko PaulOgechi as erroneouslyrecorded in my WASCstatement of resultMay/June 2013 withcentre no 42604519and candidate no 256.WAEC, FederalPolytechnic Nasarawaand general publicplease take note.

IGBOBA—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss Vivian IsiomaIgboba, now wish to beknown and addressedas Mrs. Vivian IsiomaArchibong. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

O H A G W U — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissOhagwu UzoamakaMary, now wish to beknown and addressedas Mrs. IkerionwuUzoamaka Mary. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please takenote.

O B I U W E V B I — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissEjiroghene BarbaraObiuwevbi, now wishto be known andaddressed as Mrs.E j i r o g h e n eObiuwevbi - Adegor.All former documentsremain valid. TheNigeria Police Forceand general publicplease take note.

OGBU—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss OgbuLovelyn Nwakaego,now wish to be knownand addressed asMrs. Ishiwu LovelynNwakaego. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

A S O G W A — I ,formerly known andaddressed as Dr.Asogwa, FlorenceChiji, now wish to beknown and addressedas Dr (Mrs) Albi-Oparaocha, FlorenceChiji. All formerdocuments remainvalid. FederalUniversity Ndufu-Alike Ikwo (FUNAI)and general publicplease take note.

O L O P E L E — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissOlopele TibiebiFancy, now wish to beknown andaddressed as Mrs.Sofiyegha TibiebiFancy. All formerdocuments remainvalid. AdeyemiCollege Of EducationOndo, NYSC andgeneral public pleasetake note.

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A B I O D U N — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissAbiodun KemisoyeOlayemi Comfort,now wish to be knownand addressed asMrs. Arowooye AlimatOlayemi. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

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Unease as Benue sellsoff 30m shares inDangote Cement

M A K U R D I —THERE is con-

siderable unease inBenue State over thesale of Dangote Cementshares held in trust forthe indigenes by theBenue Investment andProperty Company Lim-ited.

The sell-off, which istaking place on the floorot the Nigerian StockExchange, has erasedabout 30 million shares,valued at over N7 billionoff the original over 90million shares, whichserves as portfolio in-vestment for the stateand the parastatals.

Sources, however, saidthat the governmentplans to sell all theshares, before the elec-tions setting a target ofN20 billion from the ex-ercise. If carriedthrough, Benue Statewould have lost all theshares of its portfolioinvestment in the cementmanufacturing conglom-erate.

Investigation revealedthat many Benue indi-genes are taken aback bythe government’s deci-sion which they say is todeprive the people oftheir priced investment inDangote Cement.

Some top leaders of the

Action for ProgressiveChange, APC, queriedthe motive behind thesale and called on thestate government to ur-gently clear the air overthe development toavoid any untoward re-action from the people.

It was gathered that aconsiderable number ofpersons questioned therational by the state gov-ernment to deprive itspeople of what theytermed, “this valuableinvestment,” at a timethe company is doingwell in the capital mar-ket.

They feared that if noaction is taken to pre-vent the wholesale saleof the shares, the statewould be the loser,since the proceeds so farrealized have not beeninvested in any profit-able venture, nor dis-closed to the StateHouse of Assembly forappropriation as re-quired by law.

“We suspect the stategovernment is buildinga war chest for the 2015elections by the surrep-titious manner the shareare being sold. Other-wise, what stops it frominforming the citizens ofthe state about it?

Targets N20 billion from sale's schemeOpposition queries motive

NASU lauds Jonathan oneducation sector devt

ILORIN—THE Non-Academic Staff Union

of Educational and Asso-ciated Institutions,NASU, weekend,commended PresidentGoodluck Jonathan forhis commitment to thefunding of the educationsector in the country,stressing that budgetaryallocation to the sectorhad steadily been in-creasing since the adventof his administration.

The union, however,condemned the high rateof unemployment in thecountry saying that mostof the unemployedyouths were now turningto crime which was fastbecoming a lucrative‘’profession.”

By Demola Akinyemi President of NASU,Mrs Ladi Iliya whospoke at the NationalExecutive Council,NEC, meeting of theunion in Ilorin, recalledthe tragedy that marredthe Nigeria ImmigrationService, NIS, recruit-ment exercise on Satur-day March 15, 2014 fol-lowing the death of sev-eral applicants lookingfor jobs.

She also cautionedpoliticians in both theruling and the opposi-tion parties in the coun-try to stop playing politicswith the nation’s protractedproblem of insecurity butrather close ranks to fightthe current insurgency fac-ing the country to a stand-still.



surpassing theirformer outing in NewDelhi, India.

Similarly, members ofthe national U-17 and afew of the Women U-20team and their coacheswill be honoured byPresident GoodluckJonathan tonight. Butthe man whose NFFregime produced someof the best results in thenation’s football history,Alhaji Aminu Maigariwill be conspicuouslymissing from thepodium.

The former Presidentof the NFF Maigari hasbeen denied theprivilege of receivingthe National awardwhich he so muchcraved for.

It was reported longbefore now that Maigarihad been lined up for

OkagbareContinues from BP

the award by PresidentGoodluck Jonathanwhich informed whythey appealed that theimpeachment carriedout on him be droppedso as not to stain hisrecord.

But investigationshave revealed that thePresidency made a U-turn when they noticedthat Maigari was moreconsumed by his desireto remain in NFF thankeeping to theagreement reachedwith him when they metat the Secretary to theGovernment ofFederation’s office.

The Minister of Sportsand chairman, NationalSports Commission, DrTammy Danagogo hade x p r e s s e ddisappointment with theformer NFF president

when he declared theAugust 26 Congressopen. He blastedMaigari for not beinggentlemanly enough,stressing that he floutedevery agreementreached with him.

While Maigari’s namewas missing, severalNigerian sports menand women found theirnames on the list. And,among those penciledfor the award are, PetersDedebvo who led theNations U-20 womenteam to the final of thelast FIFA Women worldcup in Canada, ManuGarba, who led theNations U-17 team towin the last U-17 FIFAWorld Cup in Dubia andseveral other Nigerianswho have done well inrecent times.

4-2 win for Soundersagainst Chivas USA.

Popularly known asObaGoal, Martins is nowSounders FC top singlescorer knocking offEddie Johnson ‘sfourteen set in 2012.

On Saturday, ObafemiMartins showed class,his continuous runstroubled Chivas USAback line which latergave up to two of hisgoals.

ObafemiContinues from BP The former FC Ebedei

forward who has beensnubbed by SuperEagles coach, StephenKeshi seem to knowChivas so well. In 2014alone, ObaGoal hasscored five goals andmade an assist againstChivas USA.

After Saturday’s 4-2victory, Martins hasemerged as SeattleSounders FC top seasonscorer with 15 goals and10 assists.

Keshi invites bench warmer,ignores Uche

INTERIM Eaglescoach, Stephen

Keshi has announcedhis squad for back toback African Nationsqualifiers against Sudannext month.

There are somestrange untested newfaces in the squad listmade public on Fridayafternoon, with as manyas four players earningcall ups for the first time.The coach still ignoredinviting Ike Uche.

Striker SundayEmmanuel, a bench-warmer at AustrianBundesliga strugglersSV ScholzGrodig, whohas 65 minutes ofplaying time since thestart of the season wasconsidered goodenough by StephenKeshi.

Also in line to make hisinternational debut isUgonna Anyora, acentral defender cumdefensive midfieldercurrently on the payrollof Haugesund.

The 23 - year - old hasstruggled to earn astarting shirt for hisNorwegian team in thecurrent season, havingmade 11 starts out of apossible 24.

Reading midfielder

Hope Akpan and in-form Guangzhou R & Fattacker Aaron Samuelwill get their chance todon the colours of the

Super Eagles for thefirst time, after they bothmissed out on theprovisional World Cuproster.

There are recalls forBabatunde Michael,Victor Moses and

Raheem Lawal whileVillarreal strikerIkechukwu Ucheremains in theinternational wildernessafter being ignored byStephen Keshi.

Pillars on course for3rd straight title

Kimettosmashesmarathon worldrecord in Berlin

Dennis Kimetto of Kenya is presented with a hard-earned beer after setting a new marathon worldrecord in Berlin.

KENYAN runnerDennis Kimetto

comfortably beat the mar-athon world record inBerlin on Sunday, win-ning the race in a time oftwo hours, two minutesand 57 seconds after set-ting a blistering pacefrom the start to shave 26seconds off the previousbest.

The 30-year-old pre-race favourite broke awayin a seven-man group,including fellow Ken-yans Emmanuel Mutaiand Geoffrey Kamworor.Kimetto pulled clear fromhis compatriots in the lat-ter stages to become thefirst man to complete therace in less than twohours and three minutes.

This is the second con-secutive world record setalong Berlin’s flat race,considered the world’sfastest marathon course,after fellow Kenyan Wil-son Kipsang’s previousworld best of 2:03:23 wasset in the German capi-tal last year.

“I feel good because Iwon a very tough race,”Kimetto told reporters. “Ifelt good from the startand in the last five kilo-metres I felt I could do it[break the record].”

KANO Pillarsstayed on course

for a third straightleague title when theydefeated Lobi Stars 2-0at home yesterday withtheir closest rivalsdropping points.

Pillars now have 50points from 29 matches,while Enyimba movedinto second place on 44points after they wereheld at home 0-0 by re-gional rivals Heartland.Nasarawa slipped tofourth place after theylost 2-1 at Dolphins,who are now third on

45 points. Goalkeeperand captain TheophilusAfelokhia gave thehosts the lead from thepenalty spot in the 10thminute after AzeezShobowale was broughtdown. Shobowale dou-bled Pillars lead to sealthe victory in the 26thminute.

New boy Ubong Ekpaiwould have made it 3-0 for the champions, buthe shot straight intothe waiting hands ofTerkaa Melai in LobiStars goal in the 52ndminute.

IT was pomp andpageantry at the

Navy Sailing Club aseight boats and thirteensailors were vying forthe golden trophy in the2014 Commodore’s BoatRace.

The race began at the

Yohana wins Commodore’sboat race Club’s jetty in Ojo and

terminated at Ibeshebeach with Denise Yo-hanna emerged theoverall winner.

“It’s my first race in 2years,” Yohanna said,adding, “I surprisedmyself because I havebeen away from sailingsince 2012. But I givethanks to God for thisvictory.”

There was also a boatcruise which saw a lot ofguests and journalisttake part. “It was an af-ternoon to remember,”Stella Bamawo of theNation’s Newspaperstold this reporter afterthe cruise.

Meanwhile, the Ni-geria Canoeing, Rowingand Sailing Federation(NCRSF) has finally tak-en delivery of six boatswhich were impoundedby the Customs for overseven years.

Murray wins Shenzhen Open

ANDY Murray has that winning feeling again after completing a spectacular turnaround in the

Shenzhen Open final to end his title drought.Murray faced five match points in a second set tie-

break – four of them in succession from 6-2 behind –but saved them with some of his best tennis on his wayto a 5-7, 7-6, 6-1 victory over Tommy Robredo – his firsttournament triumph since Wimbledon in July 2013.

•Murray



CMYK


SENATOR LiyelImoke (CON), the

amiable ExecutiveGovernor of Cross RiverState, has felicitated withthe Golden Eagletsfollowing their qualificationfor Niger 2015 AfricanChampionship after a five-star performance in a 5-0massacre of Gabon at theU.J Esuene Stadium inCalabar over the weekend.

Speaking to the playersinside the locker room afterthe match on Saturday,Hon. Patrick Ugbe, thestate’s commissioner forSport and YouthDevelopment, quoted theGovernor as saying he wasglad that the GoldenEaglets sealed theirqualification yet again inCalabar as did theirpredecessors on their wayto winning the 2013 FIFAUnder-17 World Cup.

“Let me congratulate youon behalf of His Excellency,Governor Liyel Imoke forthe wonderful performanceyou put up this evening(Saturday),” said Ugbewho represented theGovernor as the Guest ofHonour. “The joy for metoday, is that I was hereon behalf of His Excellencyto watch this wonderful

Imoke hails 5-star Golden Eagletsperformance and what youhave done was to spellGabon.”

Ugbe who was incompany of Dr. EmmanuelIkpeme , NFF’s DirectorTechnical, said the teamdeserved a part on the backfor showing the visitors

they were the better side despite losing 2-1 inLibreville.

He was of the opinionthat they would go placesin Niger with the same‘never-say-die’ spirit andplay against their peerswithout any fear.

THE second ShellPetroleum Exploration

and Production Comp-any Junior TennisChampionship kicks off atthe Lagos Lawn Tennis Clubwith several players just backfrom international compe-titions or training programseager to show off their newform. Marylove Edwards 12,spent a full month at theDubai International TennisAcademy sponsored byCBN while Serena Teluwo,9, spent about the same timein America. Both are back intime for the very juniorchampionship.

Also raring to go are ChrisItodo of Kaduna, the boys 16and under champion whoqualified for the Africa JuniorMasters concluded in Cairo

SNEPCo JuniorChampionship kicks off withtop juniors from abroad

over the past weekend. Hewill be joined by the Ezehbrothers, Tochukwu andEkene from Onitsha whoparticipated in three weeksof International TennisFederation (ITF) JuniorChampionships in Togo andBenin. Meanwhile, theInternational TennisAcademy, organisers of thejunior circuit, haveannounced record entries forthe tournament with teamsfrom Ekiti, Kaduna, Ogunand Port Harcourt arrivingwith over 15 players each.The Academy has alsoupped the conditions of entryto include negative malariaand typhoid fever testcertificate. “This is not a timeto be sick in Nigeria” theentry form emphasized.

Marseille gets 6th straightwin to lead AssociatedPress

M I D F I E L D E RGianni Imbula

and winger Dimitri Payetscored first-half goalsSunday as Frenchleague leader Marseillebeat Saint-Etienne 2-1 athome to record a sixthstraight win.

Imbula put Marseilleahead after just sevenminutes with a low shotthat skimmed inside thepost, and Payet doubledthe lead in the 28th afterconverting Ghanawinger Andre Ayew'scross from the left.

"We have to be honest.This is all down to thecoach (Marcelo Bielsa),"Marseille goalkeeperSteve Mandanda said."He's precise, everyoneknows their role."

Saint-Etienne's attackfeatured Turkey strikerMevlut Erding and 17-year-old Allan Saint-Maximin, and he set updefender JonathanBrison's goal in the 53rdto ensure a tight finish.But Marseille cameclosest to scoring againwhen top scorer Andre-Pierre Gignac saw hisshot well saved bygoalkeeper StephaneRuffier in the 84th.

"We knew it would bea big game at home andwe wanted to keep ourwinning run going,"

Marseille winger AndreAyew said. "We playedreally well in the first halfand then we eased up abit and conceded thegoal. But we showed wehave a great team spirit."

Ayew praised thenotoriously turbulentMarseille fans, who arefully behind the teamthis season.

"The stadium wasboiling hot tonight," hesaid. "We're all enjoyingthis and there's nothingbetter." After eightmatches, Marseille has19 points and is fiveahead of bitter rival ParisSaint-Germain, which isin fourth place.

"Marseille is acandidate for the title,"Saint-Etienne coachChristophe Galtier said.

Fourth-place PSG has14 points and leadsMetz and Saint-Etienneon goal difference.

Meanwhile, midfielderThomas Toure created theopening goal and scoredthe winner with secondsremaining as second-place Bordeaux beatRennes 2-1. All the goals

came in the second half,with Rennes strikerMahamadou Habiboucanceling out wingerWahbi Khazri's opener forBordeaux before Tourepounced in the thirdminute of injury time.

Rennes looked the moredangerous side beforeKhazri's goal, with wingerPaul-Georges Ntepcausing problems withhis pace and technique.He created chances forcenter forward OlaToivonen and StevenMoreira but they wereunable to take them.

The win gives Bordeaux17 points, putting it twopoints behind Marseille.Lille is third with 15points and two-timedefending champion ParisSaint-Germain is onepoint behind.

"The players never gavein, they finished the gameexhausted and they stillmanaged to go and get awinner in the closingstages," said Bordeauxcoach Willy Sagnol,France's right back whenit reached the 2006 WorldCup final.

Messi 'never imagined' reaching400-goal mark

FOUR-TIME WorldPlayer of the Year

Lionel Messi said hecould never haveenvisaged scoring 400goals in his career afterpassing that landmark inBarcelona's 6-0 rout overGranada on Saturday.

The Argentine scoredtwice and took his tally ofassists for the season toeight with two more asNeymar bagged a hat-trick to take Barca back tothe top of the table.

Messi's two goals tookhim to 359 goals for Barcaallied to his 42 atinternational level in 525games for club andcountry.

"I never imagined Icould achieve anythinglike this in my career," hesaid via his officialFacebook page.

"Thanks for all thecongratulations onscoring 400 goals withFC Barcelona and theArgentinian NationalTeam. I'll continueworking hard to reachmore targets."

Messi is the only playerto have started all sevengames under new Barcaboss Luis Enrique as the44-year-old has beenotherwise keen to rotatehis squad.

But Enrique admittedeven he is enjoyingwatching the 27-year-oldtoo much to hand him a

break. "I don't think if weadded together the goalswe have scored on theplayground it wouldreach 400," he said in hispost-match pressconference.

"Messi is someonewho has been touchedby a magic wand and heis desperate to enjoyplaying football.

"I prefer to see him onthe pitch until the lastminute to press andparticipate in ourcollective play.

"The temptation isthere, it could happen atany point in the season,but his habitat is on the

field. Granada'sColombian forwardJeison Murillo (L) vieswith Barcelona'sArgentinian forward Lio

"He is very intelligentand knows how tomanage his efforts andhe is one of the playerswho presses the most. Iam confident hisphysical ability is up tothat of being the numberone."

Next up for Barca istheir biggest test of theseason so far as theytravel to face Frenchchampions Paris Saint-Germain in theChampions League.

Chelsea's Oscar, centre, celebrates scoring histeams' first goal, with Chelsea's Diego Costa, left,and Chelsea's Willian, who both later scored a goaleach, during their English Premier League soccermatch against Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge,London, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014.


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Website: www.vanguardngr.com (ISSN 0794-652X) Ag. Editor: EZE ANABA. Phone: 01-7742861, All correspondence to P.M.B. 1007, Apapa Lagos.

How to Play Sudoku

Place a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line canhave two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (alsonine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within abold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1through 9. This means that no number can appear twicein any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, divisionor multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

YESTERYESTERYESTERYESTERYESTERDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSTODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLE

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

VANGUARD, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

QUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORD

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, Line35, Notion 38, Fatal 39, Target 40, Feted.

ACROSS2 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)

DOWN1 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)

DOWN: 2, Emu 3, Preach 4, Tea 5, Grid 6,Sliced 7, Defend 9, Current 12, Rob 13, Site16, Idea 17, Deter 20, Lenient 22, Evil 24,Robust 25, Soul 26, Hating 28, Little 30, Ran33, Left 36, Oaf 37, Ode.

NPFL

Sunshine 0 Akwa Utd 0Kaduna 3 Gombe 0Giwa 2 Bayelsa 0Dolphin 2 Nasarawa 1Enyimba 0 Heartland 0K. Pillars 2 Lobi 0Rangers 1 FC Taraba 0Nembe 1 Crown 1El Kanemi 1 Sharks 1

EPLWest Brom 4 Burnley 0Liverpool 1 Everton 1Chelsea 3 Aston Villa 0Crystal P 2 Leicester 0Hull City 2 Man City 4Man Utd 2 West Ham 1Southampton 2 QPR 1Sunderland 0 Swansea 0Arsenal 1 Tottenham 1

La LigaGetafe 1 Malaga 0Deportivo 0 Almaria 1Villarreal 0 R Madrid 2Barcelona 6 Granada 0Atletico M 4 Sevilla 0A Bilbao 0 Elbar 0Levante 0 Rayo V 2

Serie ASassuolo 0 Napoli 1Cesena 1 AC Milan 1Chievo 1 Empoli 1Inter Milan 1 Cagliari 4Torino 1 Fiorentina 1Roma 2 Verona 0Atalanta 0 Juventus 3

Results

President Jonathan honoursOkagbare, 38 others

National Award:

Keshi invites bench warmer, ignores Uche — Pg.59

Pillars on course for 3rd

straight title — Pg.59

2014 CommonwealthGames double

gold medalist, BlessingOkagbare and hercompatriots who madethe nation proud inGlasgow will today behonoured with nationalawards by PresidentGoodluck Jonathan atthe Aso Rock Villa.

Nigerian sportsmenand women gave thecountry reason to cheerat the Glasgow Gameswhen they finished ineighth position, winning11 gold, 11 silver and 14bronze medals,

•Why Maigariwas omitted

Continues on Page 59

Obafemiwon’t stopscoring!

N I G E R I Ainternational,

Obafemi Martins hascontinued with his richform in the MLS as heincreased his goal tallyto 15 after he got a braceand made an assist in a Continues on Page 59

BLESSING FOR NIGERIA — Blessing Okagbare celebrates with Nigeria'sflag after winning 2 gold medals at the C'Wealth Games in Glasgow

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D14—Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMPER 29, 2014

By Levinus Nwabughiogu

THE ruling by the deputyspeaker, Rep. Emeka

Ihedioha had promptedspontaneous burst of angerwhich disrupted sitting lastTuesday.

In their numbers, theymarched through the backentrance of the chambers led bythe petite but eloquent Rep.Samson Osagie to the PresssCentre.

The All ProgressivesCongress, APC members in theHouse of Representatives hadbeen provoked by what theydeduced as the actions of thepresiding officer and deputyspeaker of the House, RepEmeka Ihedioha on the matterof the $9.3 million cash for armsscandal involving Nigerianofficials in South Africa.

They were according to themfrustrated that their quest for anexhaustive debate on the matter,but Ihedioha had ruled outdebate on the issue preferringto send the issue to a committeeof the House.

The GenesisRep. Suleiman Kawu, the

deputy minority leader hadearlier that day under Mattersof Urgent National Importance,reminded the House that his

motion about the need toinvestigate the seized $9.3 cash,listed on the order paper thepreceding Thursday was not re-listed that Tuesday for debate. Heexplained that he was notavailable on the Thursday it waslisted because he went on amission for the Speaker, AminuTambuwal.

His action raised a stir on thefloor. Immediately Ihedioha whohad earlier referred the matterto House Committee on Rulesand Business asked itschairman, Hon. Sam-Tsokwa toexplain and probably suggesteda leeway.

In his explanation, Tsokwa saidKawu’s absence stalled thedebate, adding “So, there wasnothing we could do about thatand I advised we step it down.He did not inform the Rules &Business (committee) that he wastravelling with the Speaker andwe were not given enoughnotice for the motion to betaken.”

When he was not certain hewould have his way, Kawu said“Mr Speaker, I hope you aregiving me the assurance that mymotion will be taken tomorrow ifit is stepped down today.”

But before he could sit down,Ihedioha gave his nod for themotion to be taken immediately,saying he had consulted with the

leadership of the House.

The motionMoving the motion, Kawu said

that “the report in the City PressNewspaper of South Africa onSeptember 5, stated that twoNigerians and an Israeli citizenflew into Lanseria InternationalAirport, northwest ofJohannesburg, in a Challenger600 Jet piloted by one Captain

that the motion be voted onimmediately without a debate butthe vote on whether or not itshould be taken to the committeeon national security led tobedlam on the floor.

Briefing the mediaAt the media center, the

minority whip and leader of theopposition, Hon. SamsonOsagie, who led the group saidthe action of the deputy speakerwas uncalled for. By way ofventilating their grievances, healso raised questions for thefederal government over theseized funds.

The questions that we have forthe Federal Government are asfollows:

*Is it faster or safer to do aninternational transaction of suchmagnitude by ferrying cashacross the continent or simplythrough wire transfer that can gothrough in matter of seconds ormatter of few hours?

*If indeed, the matter involvessecurity issues like the purchaseof arms by a foreign governmentlike Nigeria, why was the SouthAfrican government not broughtinto the picture beforehand andhow could the South Africangovernment be sure that the armswere purchased legitimately bythe Nigerian government andnot by the insurgents when therewere no officials of the NSA(National Security Adviser) officeor the Director, Department ofState Service, DSS, thataccompanied such money?

*If indeed the manufacturersof such equipment wereexpecting large sums of moneyby cash, why did they not makeadequate arrangements with theauthorities in South Africa todeclare the cash on arrival sinceit was the law in South Africa thatyou must declare any amount inexcess of 2,500 dollars?

*Why was the moneybelonging to the FederalGovernment and meant for thepurchase of equipment for theFederal Government moved bya private jet when we have overfive to six airplanes in thePresidential air fleet?

* Why would the government

why would a whole governmentlike Nigeria not know the simpleimmigration law of a sistercountry and why would theyhave to take it out of the OliverTambo International Airport andland in a village where you havea local airport?

*why would the FederalGovernment seek to carry 9.3million dollars? A country that isregarded as a giant of Africasmuggling an amount worth 1.5billion Naira, in a country wherecitizens are wallowing in povertyfor unexplained reasons?

Is it just a wicked coincidencethat the aircraft belonging to thePresident of CAN (ChristianAssociation of Nigeria) was usedto carry cash to South Africa?

*If contrary to the above posers,the transactions were contractedout to a private company inNigeria, does it amount to theoffence of money launderingunder our laws for the FederalGovernment to have allowed thatcompany to attempt to pay for theequipment by cash to the tuneof that amount without passingthrough financial institutions?

*For us as a people and for uslawmakers, we find thisunacceptable, unethical,illegitimate and in our view, it isan illegal transaction. TheNigerian government owes theNigerian people an explanationas to what source that moneycame from.

Day TwoThe following day, Wednesday,

the issue took another life of itsown when members raised issueabout news reports that PDPmembers had been bribed to thetune of $50,000 each to kill themotion the day before.

Tsokwa had raised a point oforder that his privileges hadbeen breached through thepublications.

Rep. Ali Madaki (APC, Kano)stirred the angst of many PDPmembers when he rose up andclaimed to have leaked thealleged bribery to the presssaying that he had it on goodauthority “that PDP memberswere given $20,000 each.” Hehowever said it was $20,000each and not $50,000 he told thepress.

The audacious confessionagain set the House incommotion, bringing it close tofree-for-all for some time. Butwhen calm finally returned, theDeputy Speaker committed thematter to Ethics and PrivilegesCommittee for investigation.

Deputy Majority leader kicksThe PDP deputy leader, Rep.

Leo Ogor was quick to dismissthe allegation describing it as afabrication and an act ofblackmail.

However, for now, the matterlike many other controversialissues has been passed on to theHouse committee on ethics andpublic petition. It is expected todie there like the othercontroversial issues that havepassed through the House ofRepresentatives.

Botched $9.3m arms deal: Thewar between APC and PDPlawmakersFor two consecutive days last week, members of the House of

Representatives bickered over news of the seizure of $9.3m from Nigerianofficials involved in a botched arms deal in South Africa. The episodeclimaxed with allegations of $50.000 bribe given to PDP lawmakers

,

,Tunde Ojongbede whilecarrying the sum of $9.3m cash.”

The motion sought a “thoroughinvestigation of the matter” bythe House committees onDefence and Aviation, to bereported back within two weeks.

He insisted that the integrityof the country was at stake ifnothing was done anddemanded the Parliament todebate it.

After the motion was read,Ihedioha, however, proposed

that is at the peak of promotingcashless policy in our country bethe chief breaker of that policyby moving such amount of cashif indeed, it was a legitimatetransaction of the FederalGovernment?

*why were the officials of ourembassy in South Africa not onhand to make the entry easierand smoother? Since the SouthAfrican government has said theamount was above the limit ofcash allowed into the country,

The following day, Wednesday, theissue took another life of its own whenmembers raised issue about newsreports that PDP members had beenbribed to the tune of $50,000 each to killthe motion the day before.

Vanguard, MONDAY, SEPTEMPER 29, 2014—D15

Enugu 2015: Strange bubbles in PDP

By Emmanuel Aziken,Political Editor and

Francis Igata

The choice of the popularHon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, asthe consensus candidate bythe mainstream section of thePeoples Democratic Party,PDP aligned to GovernorSullivan Chime as the party’s2015 gubernatorial candidatewas received with excitementacross many. Hailed asGburugburu, Ugwuanyi hadrepresented the Udenu/Igbo-Eze North FederalConstituency for threestraight terms since 2003 andhad gained some measure ofpopularity not just across hisfederal constituency, butacross the state.

Even more remarkable, hehad been able to ably managethe difficult bridge betweenthe Chime camp and the campof PDP stakeholders alignedto Senator Ike Ekweremadu.

Having served three termsin the House, Ugwuanyi wasalready looking beyond thechambers of the House ofRepresentatives for his futurepolitical directions, especiallygiven the directive by thegovernor that federallawmakers who have servedtwo terms would not bereturning to the NationalAssembly. He was among themore than one dozenaspirants who had quietlycommenced mobilisation forthe governorship contest.

Last Friday the governorhad called all aspirantsinterested in succeeding himalongside some majorstakeholders including theparty chairman to astakeholders’ meeting. All theaspirants as had beenresolved by Chime were fromEnugu North senatorialdistrict, the only section of thestate yet to produce agovernor in the FourthRepublic. Some aspirantsclaimed that they werehitherto not briefed on thepurpose of the meeting.

Once the meetingcommenced, the governor was

said to have briefed hisguests on the need to producea consensus candidate amongthose interested for thepurpose of a seamlesstransition. Some of theaspirants were said to haveexpressed uneasiness withthe arrangement, notably,Senator Ayogu Eze, a two termmember senator, SpeakerEugene Ode, the presidingofficer of the House ofAssembly.

As the meeting progressedsome of the aspirants as ifthey had earlier been briefedstarted stepping down forUgwuanyi prompting fearsamong some of the aspirants

senator representing EnuguNorth senatorial zone cameout to openly denounce thedecision saying he washoodwinked into the meeting.He pledged to forge aheadwith his gubernatorialambition on the platform ofthe PDP.

Expressing his rejection ofthe decision on Ugwuanyi, hesaid:

“My supporters areparticularly worried by theaspect of the story claimingthat I have stepped down forthe said anointed candidate.I wish to state clearly andunambiguously that I’ve notand will not step down for any

of an ambush I was not boundby their decision, to which Ibelieve they were entitled. Itis their inalienable right tochoose a consensus candidatein the same manner that to mysupporters and well wishersI’m also consensus candidate.

“I look forward to all theconsensus candidates of thevarious interest groupsmeeting in the field at thePeoples Democratic Party,PDP, governorship primarieson November 29, 2014 to testwhich of the variousconsensus blocs isnumerically stronger.

“Democracy is aboutelections and the will of thepeople. Those elements ofdemocracy will be put to testwhen we arrive the field forthe primaries. I’ll gladlyaccept the outcome of theprimaries and go the extramile to work for the party withresources and whatever it willtake to give the opponents ofthe PDP a run for theirmoney.”

Meanwhile, the decision ofthe outgoing governor toincline himself towardsUgwuanyi was beingdescribed as a masterstrokeamong political stakeholdersin Enugu, given thepopularity and acceptance ofthe presumptive nomineeamong the two major camps.

“The decision to inclinetowards Ugwuanyi is one thatmay have been influenced bythe decision to proposesomebody that Ekweremaduwould find difficult to objectto,” one source said at theweekend.

The state chapter of the AllProgressives Congress, APC,meanwhile, has dismissed theexercise as a charade saying,“It is clear that the PDPthrough its mechanism has

shut its door to the 12 otheraspirants from their party.”

“Worse still is that, GovernorChime has made himself theking over 4.5 million citizensof Enugu state and over 2.5million registered voters inEnugu. But Enugu people arenot stupid people and thoseaspiring to lead Enugu Stateare lucky to have analternative in APC.

“In this regard, they will havetheir voice heard in APC in2015. The battle line has beenbetween the people choice andGovernor Chime’s choice inPDP.”

National Chairman of UnitedProgressives Party, UPP, ChiefChekwas Okorie in his ownreaction, said, “the Governorjust invited people herecognize as stakeholdersfrom Enugu-North senatorialzone to arrive at a candidate.

“That does not mean thatanother person cannotpurchase the governorshipform when the time comes fromPDP headquarters, Abuja.”

In the same vein, the AllProgressives Grand Alliance,APGA, Enugu State Chapter,noted that the party will fielda better candidate that will outshine Ugwuanyi.

APGA spoke through its stateChairman, Mr. SundayNwachukwu.

“It is a party issue. AlthoughUgwuanyi is credible, APGAwill ensure it fields a morecredible candidate come 2015.Our candidate will beacceptable to the people andwill have better credentialswhen compared to PDP’s.

“The important thing is forthe masses to vote a candidatethat will deliver goodgovernance to ourimpoverished people. Fornow, that ‘Moses’ that willlead our people to the promiseland is what APGA will fieldin Enugu State.”

of what one of the aspirantscalled a kangarooarrangement.

With more than eight of theaspirants having steppeddown for Ugwuanyi, GovernorChime according to sourceswas said to have proposed thatthe stakeholders shouldformally adopt Ugwuanyi, aproposal that said throughdespite the opposition ofsome of those present, notablySenator Eze and Odo.

The opposition nonetheless,the stakeholders progressedto adopt Ugwuanyi and thedecision quickly seepedthrough to the mass media thefollowing day, Saturday.

Indeed, barely 48 hoursafter the resolution, SenatorAyogu Eze, the two term

anointed candidate. I’m stillsquarely in the race for theEnugu Lion Building in theyear of our Lord 2015.

“I was invited to a meetingof a gathering of the peopleof my senatorial districtpresided over by the governorat the Governor ’s Lodge inEnugu on Friday September26, 2015. Prior to our arrivalat the Government House thatFriday afternoon the agendaof the meeting was notcirculated. Neither was thecriterion for selecting thoseattending the meeting madeknown to me.

“At the meeting I pointedlystated that though I wasalready in their midst in a sort

,

,

•Ekeremadu: Will he agree? •Ugwuanyi: Presumptive nominee •Chime: Masterstroke move

THE adoption of thepopular member of the

House of Representatives,Ifeanyi Uguwanyi as theconsensus gubernatorialcandidate of the mainstreamsection of the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP was apolitical masterstroke fromthe camp of Governor SullivanChime. But how far it removesthe battle with the DeputyPresident of the Senate, IkeEkweremadu is another thing.

Even more remarkable, hehad been able to ablymanage the difficult bridgebetween the Chime campand the camp of PDPstakeholders aligned toSenator Ike Ekweremadu

D16 —D16 —D16 —D16 —D16 —Vanguard,Vanguard,Vanguard,Vanguard,Vanguard, MONDAY, MONDAY, MONDAY, MONDAY, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, SEPTEMBER 29, SEPTEMBER 29, SEPTEMBER 29, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014

Demand information on medicines,pharmacists urge Nigerians

NIGERIANS have been urged todemand for the names and

information on drugs given to themby health professionals at any pointin time.

Speaking on this year ’s WorldPharmacy Day, Chairman, Lagos StateChapter of the Association ofCommunity Pharmacists ofNigeria, ACPN, Pharm. AbdulsalamiYinka, said information on medicineswould help eliminate thedisadvantages of medicines.

Abdulsalami , who spoke during anannual event organised by ACPN tomark the day, with the theme “Accessto community pharmacists is Accessto Health,” said medicines curediseases and also fundamental on thepreventive and educational elementsof healthcare.

He stressed the need for patients tohave proper understanding ofmedicines. “Medicines are special insuch a way that one needs a directivefrom experts to know how to use them.Medicines do interact with other

issues. When you talk aboutgovernment presence and regulationon health issues, it’s very poor,probably because of manpowerproblem from the regulatory bodies.

“So as pharmacists who knows whatis happening in communities, we aretrying to play our parts for the benefitsof the citizens of Nigeria,” he stated.

By Christopher Njoku

• Abdulsalami - Yinka, Lagos ACPNChairman

• A child receiving polio vaccination

medicines, if you don’t get maximuminformation on a medicine, you canget a dangerous interaction.

“You can also have an interaction thatwill render the medicine useless andthat may not address the problem thatyou took it for. That is one of thereasons it is emphasised thatmedicines are not ordinarycommodities, but special commoditiesthat should be understood clearlybefore use.”

Abdulsalami who raised alarm overthe incidence of fake drugs, called foralert on drug regulators about fakepharmacists. He said lack ofinformation on the use of drugs at thegrassroots informed ACPN decision tofocus on the rural communities.

“It is very important because of theposition that the pharmacistsgenerally hold in healthcare services.So every year, Pharmacistsharmonised the efforts of how to cometo the society to impact information.

“From the previous programmes inIkotun, and Ketu, we Identified thatmembers of the community at thegrassroots lack information on health

GSK in polio virus pollution scarean embarrassment for GSK than a publichealth disaster. The polio dump is thelatest in a string vaccine manufacturingproblems at GSK. Canada has been thesite of the most high-profile problems, butthe Belgian operation has also haddifficulties.

Earlier this year GSK warned of ashortage of chickenpox vaccines afterbatches produced in Belgium fellshort of standards.

FOLLOWING new problems at itsCanadian flu vaccine plant and a fine

for violating the US Clean Air Act,GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccine productionoperation hit another stumbling blocklately with the accidental dumping livepolio virus from its Rixensart plant intothe Belgian sewer system.

Belgian authorities that reported theleak to the European Centre for DiseasePrevention and Control, ECDC, said 45litres of concentrated live poliovirusprocessed at a nearby sewage treatmentplant was released into a river.

Although it was noted that the risk ofinfection is extremely small, ECDC hasconcerns, as the affected river eventuallyjoins the Scheldt and flows through thesouthwestern part of the Netherlands, aregion in which orthodox protestantcommunities live. Tests of water samplesfrom the rivers have found no poliovirus,suggesting the event is more likely to be

Breast cancer:Pink Pearllaunches PinkHope

AS part of the global campaignagainst breast cancer, Pink Pearl

Foundation, PPF, - a public service charityorganisation championing womenempowerment in the fight against breast cancerwill hold its maiden one-day programme titled:Pink Hope PPF next month. Hope Session isa breast cancer support group designed toprovide psychological help to breast cancerpatients and survivors.

The support group consists of informativeand interactive seminars which includepsychology, well-being, therapy, bodyaesthetics & recreation programs anchored bythe foundation’s ambassadors – Maje Ayida,Banke Meshida-Lawal, Leila Fowler amongstothers.

According to the Chief Executive Officer,Pink Pearl Foundation, Orode Ryan Okpu, theprogramme will hold 25th October 2014 inLagos. Her words, “The most significantprogress we have made to reduce death ratefrom cancer is through early detection; thisyields better long term outcomes and lowermorbidity rates. Pink Pearl Foundationcontributes to the reduction of suffering,permanent physical damage/ disfigurementand death caused by breast cancer as we believethat if you can save a woman, then you havesaved a generation.”

LUTH gets ISO 15189 accreditedlaboratory

LAGOS University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, last week blazed the trail in

medical laboratory services as it becamethe first public hospital with an ISO 15189Accredited laboratory in Nigeria. Thecertificate of international accreditation waspresented to the Chief Medical Directorat a board meeting by the Chairman ofPathCare Laboratories.This is coming on the heels of thehospital’s efforts in the containment ofEbola virus by providing the first VirologyLaboratory in Nigeria to provide testingfor the deadly virus.

Receiving the certificate, the ChiefMedical Director, LUTH, Professor AkinOsibogun, stated that the Public PrivatePartnership, PPP, which was approved bythe erstwhile Minister of Health, ProfessorOshitimehin in 2009 is a contributing factorin achieving the ISO 15189 accreditation.

He said: “Starting was not easy becausemany people did not buy into the PPPproject, but the board approved it becausethey were convinced that it was better wehad laboratory services in-house to improvepatient management as wrong diagnosisand failed treatment was a major issue.

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Demand information on medicines,pharmacists urge Nigerians

NIGERIANS have been urged todemand for the names and

information on drugs given to themby health professionals at any pointin time.

Speaking on this year ’s WorldPharmacy Day, Chairman, Lagos StateChapter of the Association ofCommunity Pharmacists ofNigeria, ACPN, Pharm. AbdulsalamiYinka, said information on medicineswould help eliminate thedisadvantages of medicines.

Abdulsalami , who spoke during anannual event organised by ACPN tomark the day, with the theme “Accessto community pharmacists is Accessto Health,” said medicines curediseases and also fundamental on thepreventive and educational elementsof healthcare.

He stressed the need for patients tohave proper understanding ofmedicines. “Medicines are special insuch a way that one needs a directivefrom experts to know how to use them.Medicines do interact with other

issues. When you talk aboutgovernment presence and regulationon health issues, it’s very poor,probably because of manpowerproblem from the regulatory bodies.

“So as pharmacists who knows whatis happening in communities, we aretrying to play our parts for the benefitsof the citizens of Nigeria,” he stated.

By Christopher Njoku

• Abdulsalami - Yinka, Lagos ACPNChairman

• A child receiving polio vaccination

medicines, if you don’t get maximuminformation on a medicine, you canget a dangerous interaction.

“You can also have an interaction thatwill render the medicine useless andthat may not address the problem thatyou took it for. That is one of thereasons it is emphasised thatmedicines are not ordinarycommodities, but special commoditiesthat should be understood clearlybefore use.”

Abdulsalami who raised alarm overthe incidence of fake drugs, called foralert on drug regulators about fakepharmacists. He said lack ofinformation on the use of drugs at thegrassroots informed ACPN decision tofocus on the rural communities.

“It is very important because of theposition that the pharmacistsgenerally hold in healthcare services.So every year, Pharmacistsharmonised the efforts of how to cometo the society to impact information.

“From the previous programmes inIkotun, and Ketu, we Identified thatmembers of the community at thegrassroots lack information on health

GSK in polio virus pollution scarean embarrassment for GSK than a publichealth disaster. The polio dump is thelatest in a string vaccine manufacturingproblems at GSK. Canada has been thesite of the most high-profile problems, butthe Belgian operation has also haddifficulties.

Earlier this year GSK warned of ashortage of chickenpox vaccines afterbatches produced in Belgium fellshort of standards.

FOLLOWING new problems at itsCanadian flu vaccine plant and a fine

for violating the US Clean Air Act,GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccine productionoperation hit another stumbling blocklately with the accidental dumping livepolio virus from its Rixensart plant intothe Belgian sewer system.

Belgian authorities that reported theleak to the European Centre for DiseasePrevention and Control, ECDC, said 45litres of concentrated live poliovirusprocessed at a nearby sewage treatmentplant was released into a river.

Although it was noted that the risk ofinfection is extremely small, ECDC hasconcerns, as the affected river eventuallyjoins the Scheldt and flows through thesouthwestern part of the Netherlands, aregion in which orthodox protestantcommunities live. Tests of water samplesfrom the rivers have found no poliovirus,suggesting the event is more likely to be

Breast cancer:Pink Pearllaunches PinkHope

AS part of the global campaignagainst breast cancer, Pink Pearl

Foundation, PPF, - a public service charityorganisation championing womenempowerment in the fight against breast cancerwill hold its maiden one-day programme titled:Pink Hope PPF next month. Hope Session isa breast cancer support group designed toprovide psychological help to breast cancerpatients and survivors.

The support group consists of informativeand interactive seminars which includepsychology, well-being, therapy, bodyaesthetics & recreation programs anchored bythe foundation’s ambassadors – Maje Ayida,Banke Meshida-Lawal, Leila Fowler amongstothers.

According to the Chief Executive Officer,Pink Pearl Foundation, Orode Ryan Okpu, theprogramme will hold 25th October 2014 inLagos. Her words, “The most significantprogress we have made to reduce death ratefrom cancer is through early detection; thisyields better long term outcomes and lowermorbidity rates. Pink Pearl Foundationcontributes to the reduction of suffering,permanent physical damage/ disfigurementand death caused by breast cancer as we believethat if you can save a woman, then you havesaved a generation.”

LUTH gets ISO 15189 accreditedlaboratory

LAGOS University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, last week blazed the trail in

medical laboratory services as it becamethe first public hospital with an ISO 15189Accredited laboratory in Nigeria. Thecertificate of international accreditation waspresented to the Chief Medical Directorat a board meeting by the Chairman ofPathCare Laboratories.This is coming on the heels of thehospital’s efforts in the containment ofEbola virus by providing the first VirologyLaboratory in Nigeria to provide testingfor the deadly virus.

Receiving the certificate, the ChiefMedical Director, LUTH, Professor AkinOsibogun, stated that the Public PrivatePartnership, PPP, which was approved bythe erstwhile Minister of Health, ProfessorOshitimehin in 2009 is a contributing factorin achieving the ISO 15189 accreditation.

He said: “Starting was not easy becausemany people did not buy into the PPPproject, but the board approved it becausethey were convinced that it was better wehad laboratory services in-house to improvepatient management as wrong diagnosisand failed treatment was a major issue.

Why weve not defeated Boko Hram-JONATHAN

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