...towards a better life for the people

N150VOL. 25: NO. 61951

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013**

Mr & Mrs

COLUMNISTS:

ROTIMIFASAN

DEAR BUNMI•P.34

Continues on Page 5

Jonathan courtsObasanjo for 2015

•P.19

•Reaches out to Ahmadu Ali, Middle Belt•He is wasting his time — Northern elders•PDP NEC meets tomorrow

OGAGAIFOWODO

•P.19

BY SONI DANIEL,REGIONAL EDITOR,

NORTH & HENRYUMORU

ECONOMIC TEAM MEETS—From left: Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Chairman Stanbic-IBTC Bank, Mr Atedo Peterside; Director-General, Bureau for Public Enterprises, BPE, Mr Benjamin Dikki; Chairman, Forte Oil,Mr Femi Otedola and President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote at a meeting of the Economic Management Team withPresident Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, in Abuja. STATE HOUSE PHOTO.

President orders immediateaction to end ASUU strike

P.8

A B U J A — T R O UBLED by the cri-

ses his party and theemergence of more po-litical parties, PresidentGoodluck Jonathan hasentreated former Presi-dent Olusegun Obasanjoto throw his weight be-hind him to surmount theopposition to his re-elec-tion in 2015.

Vanguard learnt thatJonathan has also sought

Bankerscommit N18bnfraud — NDIC

14

12Gunmen kill 3 policemen, raid station in Kaduna

2 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013 — 3

4 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

POCKET CARTOON

TAKE HEARTBY ELLA RANDLE

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013—5

LIFEWORDSBY PASTOR ITUAH

Continues from Page 1

Jonathan courts Obasanjofor 2015

There is nothing training cannot do. Nothing isabove its reach. It can turn bad morals to goodmorals; it can destroy bad principles and re-creategood ones; it can lift men to angelship. It can turnthe tide and turn all things around.

COMMISSIONING—Vice President Namadi Sambo, flanked by thePolice Affairs Minister, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade (right) and the Inspec-tor General of Police, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar (left) as he cuts the tapeto commission the Force CID building complex at Area 10, Garki, Abuja,yesterday. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida.

IF something in your life is making youunhappy, whether it’s the amount of money you

earn or a person you work with, set new goals foryourself, not the other person...with creativeimagination you can live the wish fulfilled —Harold Klemp

There are many choices to happiness; perhaps,the first one is the road of pleasure. When you followit, you maximize the nice things in your life whileminimizing the painful things. Even though everywisdom points out that pain cannot be eliminatedfrom life and that pleasure is always temporary,millions choose this path. In the end, it is actuallya source of pain. Even if your fix is a new car or asugary dessert instead of hard drugs, the brainbecomes used to its old fixes, requiring larger andlarger doses to get even a fraction of the old high.

Deepak Chopra, surmises in his writings that thereis a path to happiness called the path of wisdom,and I like to call it applied common sense ineveryday living. In terms of happiness, followingthe path of wisdom, include choices, values andbeliefs that actually succeed in making us happy.If children can be guided from an early age, theycan be taught to make such choices.

From experience and observation, children whoare thought to respect the right and property ofothers become refined in character which leads toan enhanced added value that influences a higheraltitude in life.

the forgiveness ofObasanjo over unbridledattacks unleashed onhim by some of his aidesin recent times.

This came as the rul-ing Peoples DemocraticParty (PDP), has sched-uled a National Execu-tive Committee (NEC)

meeting tomorrowwhere issues like recentregistration of opposi-tion parties, reconcilia-tion efforts, Anambra,South-West crisis andratification of conven-tion date are expected totop the agenda.

It was gathered thatJonathan met privately

with Obasanjo and solic-ited his assistance to-wards dislodgingmounting opposition,particularly from theNorth, towards his re-election.

Competent presiden-tial sources said thatJonathan initiated themeeting with Obasanjofollowing the withdrawalof the former presidentfrom the administrationas a result of some irrec-oncilable differences.

The meeting was alsosaid to have been neces-sitated by the com-plaints of five PDP gov-ernors against PresidentJonathan and the PDPleadership to Obasanjoand their claim that thenation and the partywere adrift and neededurgent rescue.

The five governorswere said to have givensome stringent condi-tions under which theywould back Jonathan, amove that was said tohave jolted Jonathanand Obasanjo.

An impeccable sourcesaid that Jonathan, whofelt slighted by the actionof the five governorsand worried that theycould also sway theirsupport to the opposi-tion, appealed toObasanjo to use his fa-therly disposition to callthe ‘rebel’ governors toorder so as not to rob himof victory in the nextelection.

Rebuilding ofPDP

Jonathan reportedly

begged Obasanjo to‘come back’ and helprebuild the party so thatit would not be dis-graced by the rampag-ing opposition.

The source said that atthe meeting, Obasanjodrew the attention of thePresident to the spate ofattacks unleashed by hisaides on him despite thefact that he facilitatedhis emergence as Presi-dent and asked him tocall his aides to order.The former ruler wassaid to have, however,accepted Jonathan’splea to step into the po-litical imbroglio and bailhim out.

According to findingsby Vanguard, it was af-ter the meeting withJonathan that Obasanjoinvited the five Northerngovernors to meet withhim at the PresidentialVilla to ‘sort out areas ofdisaffection’ with thePresident.

Although Jonathanwas not directly involvedin the meeting thatstretched for two daysand ended in a dead-lock, he nonetheless,provided the platformfor his mentor to gaugethe feelings of the fivegovernors and their Riv-ers State counterpart,Rotimi Amaechi.

Findings also showedthat apart from meetingthe aggrieved governorsof the party at the Villa,Obasanjo also advisedPresident Jonathan totake urgent steps tomeet with former leadersof the party, one of themDr. Ahmadu Ali, whowas the chairman of thePDP under Obasanjo.

The former Presidentalso asked Jonathan toreach out to influentialleaders from the MiddleBelt to speak out againstthe clamour by the Northto clinch the Presidencyin 2015, a suggestionthat the Presidentbought into.

Reaching out toMiddle Belt

“It is true that thePresident also met pri-vately with Ahmadu Aliin his house in Abuja afew days ago andpleaded with him not tostand aloof while theparty was boiling,” asource close to the meet-ing of the two men said.

“You can also see thatmany Middle Belt lead-ers, who have beentapped by the Presidentto help him secure a sec-ond term ticket, havebeen taking turns in themedia to castigate thecore North of beinghasty in taking another

shot at the Presidency.“The other day it was

Ameh Ebute and todayyou may have seen theinterview by GeneralLawrence Onoja argu-ing that it was not timefor the North to take overpower.”

But the NorthernElders Forum (NEF)said yesterday that itwas aware of the recruit-ment of some MiddleBelt leaders to speakagainst the core Northso as to prevent themfrom clinching the Presi-dency in 2015.

A waste of time— Northern Elders

Secretary General ofthe NEF, Prof AngoAbdullahi, noted the re-sort by the Presidency tocheap tactics to dividethe North for selfish po-litical gains ahead of the2015 election.

The former ABU Vice-Chancellor said, how-ever, that the plot by thePresidency against theNorth will fail, as thetactics being employeddo not add up.

“I can tell you thatthose Middle Beltvoices speaking againstthe North know theirlimitation and that whatthey are doing will nothelp them in any way.

“In any case, time willtell if the Middle Beltcan stop the North fromgetting the Presidencyin 2015,” the NEF leaderstated.

PDP holdsemergency NECtomorrow

Meanwhile, the PDPwill tomorrow hold anemergency NEC meet-ing at the Wadata Plaza,National Secretariat ofthe party.

It was gathered that atthe meeting which willhave PresidentJonathan, ChiefOlusegun Obasanjo andother members in at-tendance, will deliberate

on the crises rocking theparty as well as assessthe successes recordedso far by the GovernorSeriake Dickson-led Na-tional ReconciliationCommittee.

The PDP NEC will alsostrategize on the August24 governorship pri-mary election forAnambra State, the elec-tion itself and that ofEkiti.

The meeting which isa follow up to the oneheld on June 20, willhave its members ratifythe August 31 date fixedfor the Special NationalConvention.

It will be recalled thatNEC at its last meetingapproved July 20 for theSpecial Congress butthe Professor JerryGana-led Special Con-vention team changedthe date to August 31 andwill require NEC to ap-prove it.

As gathered, membersof NEC will discuss thecrisis currently rockingthe South-West zone ofthe party.

It became imperativefor the NEC to discussthe South-West PDP po-litical quagmire againstthe backdrop of specu-lations, yesterday, thatsome stakeholders haveobtained a court injunc-tion from an Osogbohigh court stopping thespecial congress sched-uled to hold in the zonethis weekend.

Prince OlagunsoyeOyinlola, the former Na-tional Secretary of PDPhad obtained an injunc-tion restraining the PDPfrom conducting theSouth West zonal con-gress on the groundsthat he still has a pend-ing matter at the Courtof Appeal.

The court ruled that thestatus quo be main-tained, pending the de-termination of the case.

The sacked NationalAuditor of the party,Chief Bode Mustapha, itwill be recalled, is alsochallenging his removalfrom the party’s NWC atthe Supreme Court.

6—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

Court stops Lagos govt from demolishing buildings in Shasha

BY ABDULWAHABABDULAH

LAGOS — AN Ikeja HighCourt, yesterday, restrained

the Lagos State Building Con-trol Agency, LSBCA, from car-rying out planned demolition ofsome residential and churchbuildings located in ShashaOlogunfe/Boundary inAkowonjo area of the state.

The ruling of the court pre-sided over by Justice JosephineOyefeso was sequel to the writof summons filed by landlordsand residents of the area con-testing the planned demolitionsof their buildings to createspace for market stalls.

The government through theLSBCA was said to havemarked buildings situated inthe area for construction of mar-ket stalls, owing to the argu-ments that the area was earlierearmarked for market by the lateOba of Shasha, an argumentthat was debunked by the resi-dents.

Joined in the suit was the At-torney- General and Commis-sioner for Justice and LSBCA.

The landlords had prayed thecourt for a perpetual injunctionrestraining the defendantswhether by themselves, agents,servants or privies from demol-ishing the buildings, structuresand from disturbing the claim-

Final year LASU student charged withexam malpractice

BY ONOZURE DANIA

Two fleeingprison inmatesrearrested inDelta

OGWASHI-UKU —TWO inmates who es-

caped from the Ogwashi-Uku prison at different dateshave been recaptured aftermassive manhunt and intel-ligence gathering by offic-ers and men of the DeltaState Command of the Ni-gerian Prison Service.

The names of the recap-tured inmates are LouisAchollo Etomi and SundayAcholo wo are said to becousins. They escaped fromthe Ogwashi-Uku prison ondifferent dates but were re-captured the same week af-ter a massive manhuntwhich paid off Friday.

Their offences includeconspiracy, kidnapping,robbery and stealing.

The former who is anawaiting trial inmate wasremanded in prison on De-cember 14, 2011 by anAsaba High Court withcharge no A/15c/2012 andthe later who is a convict,was sentenced to 12 monthsimprisonment on May 13,2013 by a Delta Magis-trate's court sitting at Ibusa.

Court remandsman over fakecurrency

GUSAU— A ZamfaraMagistrates’ court,

yesterday, ordered 38-year-old Nasiru Lawal of BirninRuwa area of Gusau re-manded in prison for al-leged possession of fakecurrency.

The prosecutor, Sgt. Dan-iel Longwal, told the courtthat on July 21, Saratu Nuraand Rukkaya Salisu, both ofUngwar Gwaza area,Gusau, reported the case atTudun Wada police station,Gusau.

Longwal said on July 7,the accused bought 22 bot-tles of groundnut oil, worthN4,650 and deceitfully gavethe complainants a N1,000note suspected to be fake.

The prosecutor added thatwhen the police searchedthe accused, nine otherN1,000 notes suspected tobe fake were found on him.

He said the offence con-travened section 439 of thePenal Code, but the accusedpleaded not guilty to thecharge.

The magistrate, MalamMusa Usman, ordered thatthe accused be remanded inprison and adjourned thecase to September 2.

How children stage-manage kidnappingsto defraud their parents — Delta CP

BY EMMA AMAIZE

ASABA — COMMISSIONER of Police, Delta

State, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba,has said there was a new trendin kidnapping in the state, inwhich children conspire withkidnap syndicates to demandand collect ransom from theirparents.

Speaking to Vanguard in aninterview, he said from theseries of kidnap cases inves-tigated by the police, theemerging pattern showed in-volvement of insiders.

Aduba, who described thedevelopment as shocking,said: “Brothers now plot andkidnap brothers in the state toextort money from their par-ents, while children set uptheir parents for kidnappers.”

He, however, said “there isno state that it is crime free. Itis not where you have one ortwo crimes, you generalize itthat there is crime everywhere.We have a very strong anti-crime mechanism in the state.Twenty four hours, our men onalways on the street.”

According to him, “recentlyin the state, a kidnapped vic-tim in Warri and all of themwho kidnapped him, includ-ing an undergraduate, werefound to be children of same

Some of the houses in Shasha community.

parents. They stage-managedthe kidnap to defraud theirown father.

“When we told their fatherthat there was an insider ’sfactor, he did not believe. Itinvolved the entire family. Hethought we were joking, butthree of his sons were in-volved. Even the one kid-

napped was part of the game.The man broke down when thefacts unfolded before him.

“There was also a particularcase in which a boy wantedto dupe his father of N30 mil-lion that he had been kid-napped. At the end of the day,we retrieved the boy in a na-tive doctor ’s place.”

Aduba said police were notmagicians and needed infor-mation from members of thepublic.

He said:“We follow up, butwhen the people chicken out,what do you expect the police todo? The one in Issele-Uku, wewere following up, all of sudden,the family chickened out.”

ants possession of the saidland.

They also asked the court todeclare that the land which “isthe subject matter of the suit isthe bonafide property of theclaimants and free from anygovernment acquisition.”

Arguing the motion, yester-day, the claimants, throughtheir counsel, Chief AdekunleFunmilayo, told the court that

officials of the Building Con-trol Agency had been comingto the area to terrorise the land-lords, threatening to demolishthe property if they refused tovacate the land despite the factthat the case is pending incourt.

But counsel to Lagos State, J.Kasali, a senior state counsel,informed the court that therewas a communication break

down between the landlordsand the state, adding that theBuilding Control Agency willnot embark on any action thatwill contravene the laws of thestate.

The vacation judge, in hershort ruling, ordered both par-ties to maintain status quopending the determination ofthe suit in court.

LAGOS — A 43-YEAR-OLD LASU student and

one other were, yesterday, ar-raigned before an Ikeja Mag-istrate's court over alleged ex-amination malpractice.

The suspects are Bruno AireEhidiamen, 43 and DavidOnuche, 35.

The defendants who weredocked before MagistrateEniola Fabamwo, are facinga four-count charge of con-spiracy, examination malprac-tice, forgery and impersona-tion.

Examination malpractice ispunishable with 10 years im-prisonment under the crimi-

nal law.The police prosecutor, ASP

Police Barth Nwaokoye, toldthe court that the defendantscommitted the alleged offenceon August 15, 2013 at about 4pm at Agidingbi area of Ikeja,in Lagos.

He said the defendants con-spired together to cheat andengage in examination mal-practice.

Nwaokoye said with intentto cheat at the examination,the defendants forged LagosState University, LASU, ex-amination docket.

He also said that Onucheunlawfully assisted oneEhidiamen to write the LASUfinal year Faculty of Law ex-

amination.The prosecutor claimed that

Onuche impersonated byfalsely representing himselfas Bruno Aire Ehidiamen towrite the examination.

According to the prosecutor,the offence committed is con-trary to section 409 and pun-ishable under section 378 (2)of the criminal laws of Lagosstate of Nigeria 2011. How-ever, when the charges wereread to the defendants, theypleaded not guilty.

Magistrate Fabamwogranted the defendants bailin the sum of N200,000 eachwith two surties in like sumand adjourned the case toOctober 16, 2013.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013—7

Man, 29,remandedover N15mrobbery

PROTEST: Residents of Upper Sakponba, Dumez Road, St. Saviour, protesting "no lightfor six months" at the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, headquarters, BeninCity, Monday. Photo: Barnabas Uzosike.

4 siblings nabbed for murder in AbiaBY ANAYO OKOLI

ABA — THE Police inOsisioma, Abia State have

arrested four members of the samefamily over alleged murder oftheir kinsman, 58-year-oldSamuel Nwakoromadugba.

The four suspects fromObiekwensu village, Aro-Ngwain Osisioma Ngwa Local Govern-ment are Izuchukwu Uzoma,Kenneth Uzoma, Chika Uzomaand Edith Uzoma.

They were alleged to have con-spired among themselves andkilled one SamuelNwakoromadugba of the samevillage, with machete at about11.50 a.m last Sunday.

According to sources, before theincident, the Uzoma andNwakoromadugba families ofObiekwensu village were said tobe having a dispute which wasreported at the Osisioma policedivision.

The source said the dispute be-tween the two families involveda case of alleged threat to lifewhich was said to have been re-ported by the son of the deceasedto the police.

Following the report, the fatherof the suspects was arrested and

detained by the police at theOsisioma Division of the AbiaPolice Command.

Irked by the action of theNwakoromadugba family, thesuspects were alleged to haveambushed the deceased on hisway home and gave him severe

machete cut on the head whichled to his death.

The matter was said to havebeen reported to the police in thearea who took the corpse to themortuary.

The Abia State Police Commis-sioner, Usman Tilli Abubake,

could not confirm the incident ashe was attending the state secu-rity council meeting when ourreporter called him. Calls also putto the Aba Area Commander andCommand’s PPRO were unan-swered.

Blackberry phone thief bags 3-monthcommunity service

LAGOS — A 20-YEAR-OLDSamuel Emmanuel, who stole

a Blackberry mobile phone val-ued at N21,000, was, yesterdayin Lagos sentenced to threemonths community service.

An Oshodi Magistrates’ courtwhich handed down the judg-ment said the court had no op-tion than to sentence Emmanuelsince he had pleaded guilty to theoffence.

The Magistrate, Mr AkeemFashola, ruled: “You (Emmanuel)are hereby sentenced to threemonths community service with-out an option of fine since youhave pleaded guilty to thecharge.”

Fashola said the accusedshould serve the punishmentwithin Oshodi-Isolo Local Gov-ernment Area.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Cpl.Kehinde Olatunde, told the courtthat the accused committed theoffence on August 9 at OdalumeStreet, Sogunle.

According to him, the accusedstole the phone belonging toDolapo Audu, where he wascharging it.

He said: “Audu was charginghis phone at a viewing centrewhen the accused, who came pre-tending he wanted to playgames, stole it.

“When the accused was ar-rested the following day, he con-

fessed that he had sold the phoneto someone in Ikeja Computer Vil-lage for N10,000.”

Olatunde said the offence con-

travened Section 285 of the Crimi-nal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

Section 285 provides threeyears imprisonment for stealing.

KidnappedIrrua hospitaldoctorregainsfreedom

BY GABRIELENOGHOLASE

BENIN —THE residentdoctor of the Irrua Special-

ist Teaching Hospital, Irrua,Edo State, Dr. EdeaweOsahogie, who was abductedon August 12, 2013 while re-turning home from the hospi-tal has been released by hisabductors.

President of the Associationof Resident Doctors, Irrua Spe-cialist Teaching Hospital(ISTH), Dr. Charles Gigi in astatement, yesterday, con-firmed that Osahogie was re-leased Sunday night after overa week in captivity.

Gigi who did not saywhether any ransom was paid,noted that the release of his col-league followed a protestmarch by members of the As-sociation of Resident Doctors,MDCAN, private medicalpractitioners in the area andother doctors with the Chair-man of the Edo State chapterof the Nigeria Medical Asso-ciation (NMA) in attendance.

Gigi who was full of praisesto God for the release of theabducted physician, expressedthe appreciation of the residentdoctors in the hospital to thosewho offered prayers for his re-lease.

Fracas in Ikorodu as Police allegedlykill Okada rider

BY BOSE ADELAJA &MONSUR OLOWONPEJO

LAGOS — FRACAS brokeout, yesterday, in Ikorodu

following the death of a mo-torcyclist after he was alleg-edly shot by a Policeman at-tached to Ikorodu Division,Lagos State.

The tragedy struck around4p.m at Ojubode area leadingto a serious gridlock whichlasted for hours as the de-ceased's colleagues troopedout to protest the killing.

This resulted into pandemo-nium as commuters and resi-dents scampered for safety.Also, shops and offices wereshut for hours by owners forfear of the unknown.

Although information wassketchy as at press time, aneye witnesses said the motor-cyclist identified simply asHaruna, met his untimely

death when the Policemenstormed the area to impoundhis motorcycle but the de-ceased refused arrest on theground that the Policemen vis-ited last weekend asking himto part with an undisclosedamount of money.

To his surprise, the same Po-licemen came back yesterdayto impound the motorcycle andout of annoyance, Haruna re-fused to release the motorcy-cle and started struggling withone of the Policemen.

According to reports, one ofthe Policemen fired a shot athim, which led to his death.

Vanguard gathered that thecorpse was removed by the Po-licemen to an unknown desti-nation while scores of motor-cyclists were said to have gath-ered at the palace of the Obaof Ikorodu to protest the kill-ing.

In a telephone chat with

BY ONOZURE DANIA

Vanguard, Chairman, Motor-cyclists Association of LagosState, MOALS, Ikorodu zonepopularly called'Jendor‘'described the incidentas barbaric and called on gov-ernment to bring the perpetra-tors to book.

He said: "As you can see, weare very busy now, you canhear a lot of noise from ourmembers. This is too much forus to bear’’

Haruna’s death occurred sixmonths after a policeman at-tached to Ikorodu DivisionCorporal Goroye Folagbade,was dismissed for stealing animpounded motorcycle fromSaheed Owolabi of the sameOjubode park.

Effort to get the Lagos StatePolice Public Relations Officer,Ngozi Braide's commentproved abortive as she couldnot be reached on phone.

LAGOS — AN Ikeja Magistrates’ court, yesterday,

remanded a 29-year-old manin Kirikiri prison over allegedrobbery of N15 million.

The magistrate, MrsAbimbola Komolafe, orderedthat the defendant should beremanded in prison custody,pending the legal advicefrom the Office of Director ofPublic Prosecutions, DPP.

The suspect, IzuchukwuMbadogha, was arraigned ona two-count charge of con-spiracy, robbery and unlaw-ful possession of dangerousweapons.

The police prosecutor, In-spector Iranus Nnamonu,told the court that the defend-ant and others at large con-spired among themselves tocommit the alleged crime onJuly 7, 2013, at about 6 a.m,at 71, Cooker Street, Ilupejuarea of Lagos.

He said Mbadogha, whilearmed with dangerous weap-ons robbed one ArthurOkonloji of his one pair ofshoes, two shirts, three belts,four pair of trousers and othervaluables, worth N15 million.

The prosecutor said the of-fence was punishable undersection 1 (2) (a) of the Rob-bery and Firearms (SpecialProvision) Act, Cap 398, volxxii, Laws of the Federationof Nigeria 1990, as amended.

8—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

ASUU STRIKE: From left— Chief Emeka Wogu, Minister of Labour and Productivity; Professor Ruqayyatu Rufa'i, Ministerof Education; Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance, and Senator Pius Anyim, Secretary to the Government of theFederation, at a meeting with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, in Abuja, Monday. PHOTO: Abayomi Adeshida.

ABUJA—PRESIDENTGoodluck Jonathan, yes-

terday, directed the two Fed-eral Government committeesnegotiating requests by Aca-demic Staff Union of Universi-ties, ASUU, to take immediatemeasures towards ending theongoing strike.

The Chairman of the Univer-sities Needs ImplementationCommittee, Governor GabrielSuswam of Benue State, madethis known after a closed-doormeeting of the two committeesand other stakeholders withPresident Jonathan at the StateHouse in Abuja.

Vice-President NamadiSambo, Chairman of theEarned Allowances Committeeand Secretary to the Govern-ment of the Federation, SGF,Senator Pius Anyim, were inattendance at the meeting.

Also in attendance were Min-isters of Education, ProfessorRuqayyatu Rufa’i; Labour,Emeka Wogu; the ExecutiveSecretary of National Univer-sities Commission, NUC, Pro-fessor Julius Okogie and Chiefof Staff to the President, ChiefMike Oghiadomhe.

Suswam told newsmen thatthe meeting was summoned bythe President “to take some de-cisions that would end thestrike.

“The President has instructedus as to what to do, and he hasshown commitment to flaggingoff projects worth about N100billion in all the universities inthe country: about 61 of them.”

FG offers N30bnSuswam said with the

progress so far made in nego-tiation, the strike embarkedupon by the university teach-ers should be called off in nodistant future, noting that fromits initial position that there wasno money to meet the demandof academic staff, governmenthad offered N30 billion and in-dicated its willingness to meetother demands by ASUU.

He said: “I can say that wehave made substantial progressand we are hoping that thisstrike should be called off basedon some of the mechanismsthat we have put in place tomove the sector forward. Wemet extensively yesterday(Monday).

“You know there are two com-ponents to the whole issue: theneeds assessment component,which is the one that I’m han-dling. We have, to a large ex-tent, concluded on that.

“The other is the earned al-lowances committee, which isbeing headed by the SGF; thatis where there are some con-tentions.

“But as you must have heard,Federal Government made anoffer of N30 billion to assist thevarious councils of our univer-sities to be able to pay theearned allowances.

Another N100bnfor projects

“There is also N100 billion.That is why I, the Minister ofFinance, the SGF, ministers ofeducation and labour, Chief ofStaff to the President and theVice President have just risenfrom a meeting with the Presi-dent to take some decisions thatwould end the strike.

“The President has instructedus on what to do and he hasshown commitment and flag-ging off a project worth aboutN100 billion in all the universi-ties in the country.

“So we are hoping that we willbe able to see the end of thestrike very soon if at the end ofthe day ASUU is satisfied withthe measures that have so farbeen taken.”

Governor Suswam further re-vealed that the Federal Govern-ment will also be meeting withthe university councils and vicechancellors of universitieswithin the week to update themon some of the decisions takenso far.

He said: “The President hasgraciously agreed that in thefirst week of September he willbe able to flag-off the projects.

“You also know that the pro-curement process will have tobe followed and these projectsinclude hostels in our universi-ties, classrooms and theatres, li-braries and laboratories,amongst others.

“Some are renovation, someare new and all the 61 universi-ties are going to benefit from oneproject or another. So it is notgoing to be selective. All the uni-versities are going to benefitfrom this infrastructural revitali-

sation of our universities.“The Federal Government

has opted to also meet withthe councils and manage-ments of the universities be-cause earned allowance issomething that can be certi-fied by the management andcouncils of the universities.

“I think that the governmenthad demonstrated some sub-stantial faith. If ASUU said thatthis is the amount of moneythat the Federal Governmentis owing them and the Fed-eral Government has shiftedground from its initial postureof there was no money to of-fering N30 billion, it meanswe are moving forward.

“With N100 billion availablefor addressing the physicalinfrastructure deficit in ouruniversities, I think FederalGovernment has done quitewell to have moved to wherewe are today.”

APC tasks FGMeanwhile, All

Progressives Congress, APC,has called on Federal Govern-ment to honour its agreementwith ASUU to end the ongo-ing strike that had paralysedacademic activities in the na-tion’s public universities.

According to a statement byits Interim National PublicitySecretary, Alhaji Lai Moham-med, ASUU was not makingany fresh demand beyond theagreement it reached with thegovernment in 2009, adding“agreements are meant to behonoured, and breachingthem comes with some conse-quences.”

The party said the system

had deteriorated so much thatno Nigerian university waslisted in the top 100 universi-ties in the world and only afew Nigerian universities havemade the top 100 in Africa.

It said: “The 87 billion nairathat ASUU is demanding rep-resents earned allowances,hence, cannot be renegotiated.In any case, this amount palesinto insignificance whenplaced side by side with theone trillion naira that has beenspent on federal legislators inthe past eight years.

“Or the frivolity involved ina government minister travel-ling to China to negotiate a$1 billion loan in a charteredjet (with its attendant costs)and with a retinue of staffers,who earned generousestacode in hard currency.

“It is an indication of thekind of priority that this Fed-eral Government attaches toeducation that while it has re-fused to meet its own side ofan agreement it reached withASUU since 2009, it could payout three trillion naira in non-existent fuel subsidies to fatcats, spend 10 billion naira an-nually to maintain the jets inthe presidential fleet and dolittle or nothing to prevent thestealing of 400,000 barrels ofcrude oil per day, which trans-lates to $120 million.”

Niger Gov blamescorruption

In a related development,Governor Babangida Aliyu ofNiger State, yesterday, blamedcorruption in the public sectorfor the collapse of educationalsystem in Nigeria.

He stated this in Abuja, whiledeclaring open the 3rd AfricanRegional Centre of expertisemeeting in Abuja.

The governor said: “Educat-ing our children is imperativefor the development of ourcountry.

“I strongly believe that Ni-geria can afford to give freeeducation to its citizens, fromprimary to secondary and ahighly subsidised universityeducation without any lecturergoing on strike.

“If we reduce the amount ofstealing in this country, wewould be able to give qualityeducation to our children.”

Education Ministerreacts

In her address, ProfessorRufa’i said no nation couldmake sustainable economicprogress without quality edu-cation that addressed develop-ment challenges.

She said: “Our universitiesmust, therefore, see themselvesas champions of our desire forprogress and position them-selves as leaders in address-ing problems where they exist.

“Let me use this opportunityto reiterate that it is unaccept-able, for example, that a uni-versity that prides itself in thepresence and acknowledgescholarship of professors of ur-ban planning would have itscampus surrounded by sprawl-ing slum.

“I, therefore, call on the NUCto institute means of encourag-ing universities to live up totheir community outreach man-dates by engaging in commu-nity-centric research.”

Jonathan orders immediateaction to end ASUU strike

Agreements are meant to be honoured, says APC

BY BEN AGANDE,OLASUNKANMI AKONI,

LAIDE AKINBOADE

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013—9

FG appoints board chairmen,members for 42 parastatals

Healthworkersbegin strike

BY SOLA OGUNDIPE& VICTORIA OJEME

ECONOMIC MGT TEAM: From left— Mr. Femi Otedola, Chairman, Forte Oil; Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Chairman,Dangote Group; Mrs. Deziani Alison-Madueke, Minister of Petroleum Resources, and Prof. Chinedu Nebo, Minister of Power,during National Economic Management Team meeting at the State House, Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: Abayomi Adeshida.

ABUJA—PRESIDENTGoodluck Jonathan, yes-

terday, approved the composi-tion and appointments of chair-men and members of the Gov-erning Boards of 42 FederalGovernment-owned parastatalsand agencies.

This was contained in a state-ment issued by the Secretaryto the Government of the Fed-eration, SGF, Senator PiusAnyim.

Among those who were ap-pointed into the new boardswere former governors ofAnambra, Kwara and Sokotostates.

They are Dr. ChukwuemekaEzeife, former Governor ofAnambra State, who now headsthe National Commission forColleges of Education as Chair-man; Alhaji Adamu Atta, formerGovernor of old Kwara State,who now presides over Nige-rian Tourism Development Cor-poration and former Governorof Sokoto State Alhaji GarbaNadama, who will assume dutyas Chairman of National Busi-ness and Technical Examina-tion Board, NABTEB.

Others appointed as chair-men of boards include Sen.

Abubakar Girei, NationalMathematical Centre; A. J.Turner, Universal Basic Edu-cation Commission; ElderBolaji Anani, National In-stitute for Education Plan-ning and Administration;and Alhaji Yau Abubakar,National Institute for FreshWater Fisheries Research.

GaladimaOthers are Alhaji

Suleiman Galadima, For-estry Research Institute ofNigeria; Alhaji Bello Gusau,Nigeria Institute of Ocea-nography and Marine Re-search; Ginger Ibeneme,National Cereals ResearchInstitute; Prof. C. I. P.Anibeze, National Eye Cen-tre; Chief Oluwole Aina,National Root Crops Re-search Institute; and JulietWayoka, National Horticul-tural Research Institute.

Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu,National Inland WaterwaysAuthority; Mr. Emeka Otozi,National Animal ProductionResearch Institute, Zaria;Cairo Ojougbo, Nigeria Ex-port Processing Zones Au-thority; Kanayo Kanayo, Na-tional Institute for Hospital-ity and Tourism Studies; Dr.

Tosin Awolalu, National Insti-tute for Nigerian Languages,Aba; and Dr. Esther Uduehi,National Commission for MassLiteracy, Adult and Non-For-mal Education.

Bongos Ikwue headsFilm Corporation

Chief Bongos Ikwue, Nige-rian Film Corporation, Jos;Engr. Dele Okeya, NigeriaBuilding and Road ResearchInstitute; Lt-Col Edoh Obi(rtd.), National OrientationAgency; Senator Nuhu Aliyu,Sheda Science and TechnologyComplex; MohammedShettima, National Commis-sion for Nomadic Education;Chief Emmanuel Edohoeket,Nigerian French Language Vil-lage, Badagry, Lagos; andBrimmo Yusuf, Centre for Blackand African Arts and Culture.

Tokunbo Kayode, Citizen-ship and Leadership TrainingCentre; Innocent Nyirigefa,National Productivity Centre;Major Lancelot Anyanya (rtd.),National Oil Spill & DetectionResponse Agency; IshakuMshelia, National Environ-mental Standards and Regula-tions Enforcement Agency andEngr. Emmanuel Mbaka,Project Development Institute.

The Nigerian Investment Pro-motion Commission now hasAlhaji Ibrahim Bio as Chairman;Nigerian Council for Manage-ment Development has EmmaAguariavwodo as Chairman; LakeChad Research Institute, YakubuTsala; Federal Road Safety Com-mission, Mr. Felix Chukwu; Nurs-ing and Midwifery Council ofNigeria, Dr. Abisola Clark; andNigerian Agricultural InsuranceCorporation, Mrs. ChiomaOhakim.

NANCocoa Research Institute of Ni-

geria has Prof. Francis Fadahunsias Chairman; News Agency ofNigeria, NAN, has Alhaji IbrahimBuba; Agricultural and RuralManagement Training Institute,ARMTI, Rt. Hon. Goodluck Opia;and National Information Tech-nology Development Agency,Tosin Ajayi.

The statement further indicatedthat membership of each Govern-ing Board shall include all thestatutory ex-officio members inaccordance with the EnablingLaws of the Parastatals and Agen-cies, adding that dates for the for-mal inauguration of the Govern-ing Boards will be announced indue course by the supervisingauthorities and ministers.

BY OKEY NDIRIBE

BOKO HARAM: Analyst explains how JTF reached conclusion on Shekau

DARK clouds havegathered over the for-

tunes of the health sectoryet again as workers of allFederal tertiary health in-stitutions nationwide, un-der Joint Health SectorUnions will embark on anindefinite strike from 12midnight today.

In a statement issuedyesterday, the unionsnoted that the strike wascalled at the expiration ofa 21-day ultimatum issuedto government on the Au-gust 1, to accede to the10-point demand andagreements reached onMay 10, 2012.

The statement wassigned by National Presi-dent and Secretary-Gen-eral, Medical & HealthWorkers’ Union of Nigeria,Mr. Ayuba Wabba, and Mr.Marcus Omokhuale, re-spectively; National Presi-dent, National Associationof Universities, TeachingHospitals, Research Insti-tutes and Association Insti-tution, Mr. Adeniji A. andthe Ag. General Secretary,National Association ofNigeria Nurses and Mid-wives, Mr. Yusuf BadmusW.

It said members of theunions at the states andlocal governments healthfacilities are expected tojoin the strike as from 12midnight by August 28.

Recalling the events thatled to the current face-off,the unions pointed outthat at a meeting calledby the Minister of Labourand Productivity on Mon-day, August 19, neitherthe Minister of Health norhis representative at-tended the meeting.

They also recalled anearlier meeting, where itwas resolved that itemsagreed upon required theaction of the Ministry ofHealth on or before May29, 2012, to allow theTechnical Working Groupcommence its sitting.

A security analyst, CaptainUmar Ali (rtd.) says the

timeline used by the Joint TaskForce, JTF, in concluding thatthe Boko Haram Leader,Abubakar Shekau, was killedcould be true.

Ali spoke in a Channels Tel-evision programme yesterday,

adding that confirming thepossibility of the sect lead-er's death still leaves “roomfor doubt” on the part of thepeople.

JTF in Borno State, Opera-tion Restore Order, reported,Monday, that AbubakarShekau might have died asa result of injuries sustainedduring a recent military on-slaught on his group.

Though this was yet to beverified, Ali said the verifica-tion process was the possibleexplanation for the time lagbefore the information was re-leased.

He further explained that in-formation is passed throughthe “intelligence cycle” beforeit is released. Besides, headded, the JTF used “socialindicators” to confirm their

speculations.Ali said: “After the Sambisa at-

tack, we saw a kind of withdrawal.We saw the terrorists’ attacks abat-ing greatly. There was virtually alull before Kano came up.

“And added to that, based on in-formation and follow up I’ve done,in camps that were raided, thingswere discovered that gave the im-pression that these people lefthere in a hurry.

“A lot of things were aban-doned. Those they couldn’t gowith, they burnt.

“So it’s possible that theleader was injured and theyhad to abandon ship. And theycrossed over to Amitchide andtried to patch him up but he didnot survive.”

Ali also said the Bornomosque attack could have beenretaliation for the loss.

BY UDUMA KALU,with agency report

10—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

FG bans sale of drugs in open marketBY CHIOMA OBINNA;KOSISO UDEMBA &MODINAT AMUSAT

11 Nigerian poets shortlisted for CORA/NLNG Literature Prize

Gani’s widowfaults FG onASUU strike

BY MONSUROLOWOOPEJO

Lagos task force impounds Police-registeredbullion van

NasarawaState Varsitystudentdeclaredmissing

THE family of a stu-dent of Nasarawa

State University, Mr.Olu-Francis Olufunso,aged 30, has declaredhim missing.

A native of Ilutitun inOkitipupa Local Gov-ernment Area of OndoState, he was last seenin 2007, during the gov-ernorship election in thestate.

A relative, Mr. Babat-ope Adebisi, who spokewith Vanguard, saidOlufunso was active inthe election in his hometown and he was also at-tacked during the crisisthat marred the electionin Okitipupa LGA.

The family urged per-sons with information onhis whereabouts to reportto the nearest police sta-tion.

LAGOS—THE Federal Government, yesterday, an-

nounced that from June 30,2014, drugs would no longerbe sold in the open market inNigeria, declaring an emer-gency in drug distribution sys-tem in the country to addressthe chaotic situation.

Consequently, the NationalAgency for Food, Drug Ad-ministration and Control,NAFDAC, has introducedState and Mega Drug Distri-bution Centres, SMDDCs, totackle challenges posed by thepresent drug distribution sys-tem in the country.

Speaking at a stakeholders’sensitisation meeting, aheadof the commissioning of Meg-acentre pharmaceuticals Lim-ited, Onitsha, the Minister ofHealth, Professor OnyebuchiChukwu, said the uncoordi-nated drug distribution in Ni-geria had posed a big chal-lenge to the pharmaceuticalsector. He said fake, adulter-ated and sub-standard drugsin circulation constituted athreat to the healthcare deliv-ery system.

Represented by the Director,National Drug Policy Pro-gramme, Mrs. Joyce Ugwu,Chukwu traced the presentuncoordinated drug distribu-tion in the country to import

liberalisation in the early 80’swhich allowed all manners ofpeople to import drugs intothe country.

Lamenting that Nigeria wasstill faced with challenges ofillegal open drug markets, heannounced that the presentStates’ Central MedicalStores, CMSs, could be usedas the take-off hubs for thenewly introduced State DrugDistribution Centres, SDDCs.

He said: “The main attrac-tion of the new National DrugDistribution Guidelines is thatdrugs will no longer be sold

in open market with effectfrom June 30, 2014, as manu-facturers and importers willchannel drugs to only SDD-Cs, MDDCs and other chan-nels in the provisions of theguidelines, while defaulterswill face varying degrees ofsanctions. Healthcare facili-ties at all levels, includingprivate facilities, are guidedby the guidelines in theirdrug procurement activities inorder to avoid the currentpractice that is lacking in pro-fessionalism.

Corroborating, the Director-

General, NAFDAC, Dr. PaulOrhii, said: “We have not re-ally had an effective way ofsanitizing drug distribution inNigeria and that remains amajor challenge. While thenew guideline provides a dis-tribution channel whichwould help identify sources ofdrugs at every level of health-care and create orderliness indrug distribution system, thismove will ameliorate the cha-otic nature in the present drugdistribution system which en-courages sales and distribu-tion of sub standard medi-cines in open drug marketamong genuine brands.”

VISIT: From left; Missionary-in-charge, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jammariya in Nigeria, MaulivAbdulkhalique Nayyar, Alhaji Soliu Akewugberu, Amir Dr. Mashood Fashola Adenrele andSecretary-General, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, (NSCIA), Prof. IshaqOloyede, during a visit to NSCIA, in Abuja. Photo by Gbemiga Olamikan.

LAGOS—ELEVEN Nige-rian poets have been

shortlisted, out of over 200, tocompete for this year’s CORA/NLNG Nigeria Prize for Lit-erature, the News Agency ofNigeria (NAN) reports.

The President, Association ofNigerian Authors, ANA, Prof.Remi Raji, told NAN yester-day in Lagos, that the winnerwould receive a prize of$100,000 (about N16 million).

Some Nigerian poets com-peting for the prize are: IquoEke; Amu Nnadi; PromiseOgochukwu and Remi Raji.

Raji described thecompetition as very engagingand involving.

He urged young poets tostudy hard if they must liveup to the billing of being apoet.

He said: “Many people pre-tend to be poets but it does notwork that way. If you reallywant to come up, you must lis-ten to people who teach aboutwhat you do, you must readand you must be ready to beinfluenced. There are manypeople who appear on SocialMedia, they will just writeone or two lines and say that

they are poets. They think thatpoetry is just a reality show; ittakes a lot of work to be there.”

He said that for those whowanted to come up, some of

them were really hard work-ing and were doing well.

“I know we have many oth-ers spread all over the coun-try but I wish them the best,”

he added. He appealed to alltiers of governments and cor-porate organisations to sup-port and encourage writers inthe country.

Mr. Olufunso

WIFE of the latehuman rights ac-

tivist, Chief Gani Fawe-himi, Alhaja GaniatFawehimi, has faultedthe stance of both Coor-dinating Minister of theeconomy and Finance,Dr.Ngozi Okonjo-Iwea-la and Minister of Edu-cation, Professor Ruq-quayat Rufai, on the lin-gering industrial actionby the Academic StaffUnion of Universities,ASUU.

Prof. Rufai had recent-ly said that ASUU’s de-mand was too much andcould not be addressedby the Federal Govern-ment.

Similarly, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala said the nation’seconomy could not ac-commodate the strikinglecturers’ demands.

However, speaking anevent organised by theCoalition Against Cor-rupt Leaders, CACOL,in Lagos, Alhaja GaniatFawehinmi said bothministers’ positions onthe strike were unaccept-able.

BY OLAYINKAAJAYI

LAGOS—LAGOS StateTask Force on Environ-

mental and Special Offences,yesterday, impounded a Po-lice-registered bullion vanwith cash and arrested thedriver for vi-olating thestate roadtraffic law,2012.

The driverof the vanwith platenumber PF4582 SPY, Mr.Joseph Edo,50, has beencharged tothe Special

Offences court, Alausa.Edo, in an interview with

Vanguard, said: “When I lefta commercial bank (namewithheld) at Alausa Secretar-iat, Ikeja, I drove towards mynormal route. But immediate-ly I heard a gunshot, I had nooption than to drive againstthe traffic. This was based on

my experience last year whenone of our officers was killedin a gun battle with armedrobbers.

“At that time I was appre-hended, I didn’t know if I wasthe only driver who heard theshot and drove against thetraffic. The bullion Van wasloaded with cash.”

...declares emergency in drug distribution

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013—11

Osun declares public holiday for traditionalworshippers

Roadtransportworkers oweEkiti govtN170m

Osogbo ruling houses disown incumbentAtaoja

BY GBENGA OLARINOYE

OSOGBO—GOVERN-MENT offices and

business institutions in OsunState were shut yesterday fol-lowing a public holiday de-clared for adherents of tradi-tional religions.

Many workers in the publicand private sectors were una-ware of the public holiday un-til they got to their offices.

Miss Dupe Oluwadare, astaff of the state House of As-sembly, said she was notaware of the holiday up till theclose of work on Monday.

Oluwadare, however, saidshe would spend the day rest-ing and doing householdchores.

Mr. Alfred Folayan and Mrs.Doyin Ajayi, both bankers,said they would spend the dayat home for private engage-ments.

Mr. Toyin Alatiba, a busi-nessman, who was at a bankon Old Governor’s Road tomake a deposit, expressedsurprise that the holiday couldaffect financial institutions.

The two local governmentsecretariats in Osogbo, thestate capital, Olorunda andOsogbo, also wore a deso-late look as workers stayedaway to observe the public

holiday.The public holiday was an-

nounced, late Monday, on thestate broadcasting station byMr. Sunday Akere, the Com-missioner for Information.

Akere said the public holi-day was to celebrate theworld’s traditional religionson a day known as Isese.

According to the commis-sioner, Governor Rauf Areg-besola declared the public hol-iday in the spirit of equalityamong the various religiousgroups in the state.

Isese Day, among tradition-al religion believers, is the cel-ebration of the peak of festivi-ty in Yorubaland known asOdun Nla.’

“Hence, the holiday was giv-en to them to celebrate with

members of their families,”Akere said.

Mr. Sikiru Ayedun, the stateCommissioner for Home Af-fairs, Culture and Tourism,said, yesterday, that the holi-day was to be observed annu-ally in the state.

He said: “It is a further proofof the fact that Governor Ar-egbesola respects the freedomof all citizens of the state topractice their beliefs.

“Christians have Christmas,Muslims have Sallah. It is nottoo much for traditional reli-gion worshippers to have theirown holiday in the spirit ofequality.

“The traditional religion wor-shippers had made a presen-tation for the holiday to thegovernment.”

OSOGBO—THE royalfamilies of Osogbo in

Osun State have disowned thetraditional ruler of the town,the Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Ji-moh Olanipekun, declaringhim as an illegal occupant ofthe Ataoja stool.

The ruling houses also de-clared that there was no tradi-tional ruler in the town goingby the judgment of an OsogboHigh Court.

Speaking at a press confer-ence addressed by all the rep-resentatives of the rulinghouses led by Alhaji NasiruOyeniyi, the royal families toldOba Olanipekun to vacate thethrone.

Alhaji Oyeniyi, who spoke onbehalf of the four ruling hous-es, Sogbo, Matanmi, Lahanmi-Oyipi and Lajomo (Olude andAderohunmu), said ObaOlanipekun did not belong toany of the ruling houses andwondered how he got himselfto the Ataoja throne.

He said the judgment of thestate high court, Osogbo,which declared the stool ofAtaoja vacant and nullified theselection and appointment ofOba Olanipekun, was still in-force

He enjoined ObaOlanipekun to toe the path ofhonour and vacate the throneto avoid being disgraced outof the palace.

He said: “We wish to stateclearly that Olanipekun is justan interim occupant on thestool of our forefathers. We areonly waiting for the Court ofAppeal in Akure to determinethe appeal of Olanipekun by

upholding the judgment ofthe Osun State High Courtwhich dethroned Olanipekunas Ataoja of Osogbo.

“Two judges of the OsunState High Court, Justices

Yinka Aderibigbe and JideFalola, in their separate rul-ings, had ordered Olanipekunto vacate the throne of Ataojaof Osogbo and declared thethrone vacant."

He added that the royal fam-ilies were in support of theongoing Osun Osogbo festivalbut would not participate inany of the rites of the festivalto avoid crisis.

ADO EKITI—EKITIState Government

has lamented that somemembers of the commer-cial road transport work-ers operating in the stateare indebtedness to thestate government to thetune of N170million

Ekiti State Governmenthad stood as guarantorfor the road transporterswho had procured somebuses on hire purchase,but majority of them haddefaulted, a developmentthat has compelled thegovernment to confiscatesome of the buses.

The state Commission-er for Works and Trans-port, Mr. Sola Adebayo,made the disclosure inAdo Ekiti, yesterday,while speaking with thenewsmen.

BY GBENGA ARIYIBI

Why I’m in Ekiti guber race, by OluboladeBY GBENGA ARIYIBI

ADO EKITI—THE Min-ister of Police Affairs,

Navy Capt Caleb Olubolade,has explained why he decidedto run for the governorshipelection in the state, assuringthat he would revive the for-tunes of the state for the better.

A statement by his Special As-sistant on Media, Mr. TaiwoOlatunji, said his move was notaimed at blocking the chances

of other aspirants.Olubolade slammed Governor

Kayode Fayemi for allegedlycommitting the state into overN20 billion debt on projects thatare not expected to generaterevenue.

The minister, who is apparent-ly reacting to agitation from Peo-ple’s Democratic Party, PDP, as-pirants in the South SenatorialDistrict that it is their turn toproduce the governor in the

state, said the PDP is now in adisadvantaged position, beingin the opposition, saying theparty must get itself right if it iscommitted and determined totake over from the present par-ty in power.

“I am presenting myself forthe race because I feel, with allsense of responsibility that I amin the best position, for obvi-ous reasons, to win the electionfor the PDP," he said.

Steer clear ofIjebu-Ode,new policeboss warnscriminalsI JEBU-ODE —AS-

SISTANT Commis-sioner of Police, ACP, Ab-dullahu Mudassiru, thenew Police Area Com-mander for Igbeba in Ije-bu-Ode, Ogun State, hasvowed to make the areauncomfortable for crimi-nals.

Mudassiru gave thewarning in an interviewwith the News Agency ofNigeria yesterday.

The police boss, whonoted that the commandwas doing everything nec-essary to eradicate crimein the area, said:

‘’I will be consistent andpersistent in the fightagainst crime in Ijebu-Ode and its environs.

‘’This is a terrain I amwell familiar with and peo-ple can put me to test onthis."

INSPECTION: From left: Managing Director, KAM Industries Ltd, Alhaji Kamaldeen Yusuf; Kwara State Governor, Dr.Abdulfatah Ahmed; wife of the MD, KAM Ind., Hajia Mariam Yusuf and Personal Assistant to the Governor on PoliticalAffairs, Alhaji Lekan Alabi, at the KAM Industry in Ilorin, yesterday.

12—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

KADUNA — GUNMENMonday night attacked a

police station in Kajuru town,about 35km South of Kadunatown, killing three policemen,

injuring others before settingfree all the inmates in the sta-tion.

The heavily armed invaders,were said to have launched theattack at the police station atabout 11:30p.m.

Two policemen were said to

have died on the spot while thethird victim, who was amongtwo others who sustained inju-ries, died on the way to St.Gerald Hospital Kaduna.

It was learnt that the police-men on duty at the time of theattack were overwhelmed by the

superior fire power of the at-tackers and had to escape butthree of them were felled by thebullets coming from the sophis-ticated weapons of the hood-lums.

Some of the policemen weresaid to have disguised as sus-pects in the cell by pulling offtheir uniforms while othersmanaged to escape to the near-by bush.

One of the policemen, whosurvived the attack but chosenot to disclose his name, toldnewsmen that, “the gunmencame in many vehicles andstarted shooting sporadicallyas they arrived the police sta-tion.

“We were not many and wecouldn’t stand their sophisti-cated weapons. They killedthree of our colleagues; an in-spector and a sergeant werekilled. Three of our colleaguessustained serious injuries andwere rushed to the hospital inKaduna. A female police officerdied on the way to the hospi-tal.

“They (gunmen) camearound 11:30p.m. and they op-erated for about one hour. Itwas the mobile police teamfrom a different location thatsaved the situation; otherwisethey would have started attack-ing residents of the town.

GTBank records N57.36bn in 6 months

BY PETER EGWUATU

GUARANTY TRUST Bank(GTBank ) Plc, yesterday

announced a Profit Before Tax(PBT) of N57.36 billion for thesix months financial periodended June 30, 2013. This rep-resents an increase of 6.8 per-cent from N53.67 billion re-corded in the correspondingperiod of 2012.

The Bank is also proposingan interim dividend paymentof N7.36 billion to sharehold-ers, translating to N0.25 per or-dinary share of 50 kobo each.

A review of the June 2013 re-sult submitted to the NigerianStock Exchange (NSE) shows

Delta govtthreatens toarrest parentsof school-agehawkers

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA

ASABA— HENCE-FORTH, any par-

ent or guardian who al-lows his child and wardof school age to roam thestreets during schoolhours in Delta State willbe arrested and pros-ecuted accordingly.

This decision wasreached at the ExecutiveCouncil meeting of theDelta State Government,in Asaba.

It is aimed at discour-aging those out to frus-trate the state govern-ment’s determination toachieve its compulsoryand free educationpolicy.

State Commissioner forBasic and SecondaryEducation, ProfessorPatrick Muoboghare,who stated this in Asaba,yesterday at a ministe-rial press briefing, la-mented that it was frus-trating to find childrenof school age roamingthe markets and streetswhile their mates werein the school.

Rector urgesBayelsa govtto upgradeBYCAS toPoly

YENAGOA—THEmanagement of

Bayelsa State College ofArts and Science, BYCAS,yesterday, appealed toGovernor Seriake Dicksonto upgrade the College toa Polytechnic.

The appeal is coming onthe heels of the NationalBoard for Technical Educa-tion, NBTE, call on the stategovernment to change thenomenclature of BayelsaState College of Arts andScience, BYCAS, toBayelsa State Polytechnicto enable it benefit fromfunds given to tertiary in-stitutions in the country.

The Rector of BYCAS, Dr.Jeremiah Yabefa inYenagoa, when the leader-ship of the Federated Cor-respondents Chapel, FCC,of Nigeria Union of Jour-nalists, Bayelsa State, vis-ited the college, said NBTEhad accredited three ma-jor courses in the schoolsince its resuscitation in2012.

SCHOLARSHIP: From left, Mrs. Iyabo Ayobami-Ojo, Deputy Manager, Public Affairs Divi-sion, PAC Production Sharing Contract; Miss Ododo Owodeba-Ashaka, one of the awardeesand Mr. Udom Inoyo, Executive Director, Mobil Producing Nigeria, during 2013 Esso Inter-national Postgraduate Scholarship Awards, in Lagos. Photo: Lamidi Bamidele

BY SAMUEL OYADON-GHA

...proposes N7.36bn interim dividend

Kaduna: Gunmen kill 3 policemen instation raid

BY LUKA BINNIYAT &MAYEN ETIM

positive performance in majorperformance indicators .GrossEarnings for the half year pe-riod of 2013 stood at N124.20billion an increase of N10.68billion from the N113.53 billionreported for the correspondingperiod in 2012. Profit After Taxstood at N49.01 billion an in-crease over the N45.55 billionreported in June 2012.

The Bank closed the half yearended June 2013 with Total As-sets and Contingents ofN2.50trillion, customer depos-its of N1.25 trillion and Share-holders’ Funds of N296.95 Bil-lion.

Mr. Segun Agbaje, the Man-aging Director/CEO of GTBankattributed the Bank’s success

during the half year period tothe continued support of its cus-tomers, hard work of its dedi-cated staff and strong corporategovernance standards.

According to Agbaje, a majorobjective for the Bank this year isadding value to its stakeholdersthrough excellent customer serv-ice delivery, innovative productsand value adding services. It isthe Bank’s beliefs that success onthese fronts would enable itdeepen its share of market acrossall sectors and improve profitabil-ity, despite today’s extremelychallenging business environ-ment. He also thanked the cus-tomers for their loyalty and stafffor their continued hard work anddedication.

Ogbe Onokpite: We were slighted, humiliated — KeyamoLAWYER AND activ-ist,

Mr. Festus Keyamo, hasdenied media report that hebetrayed the family of slaingubernatorial candidate ofCitizens Popular Party, CPP,Chief Ogbe Onokpite, bywithdrawing from the case,when he noticed that the fam-ily of the late Chief Onokpite

was fighting for compensa-tion.

Kayamo in a statement byhis law firm said: “The atten-tion of Festus Keyamo Cham-bers has been drawn to a cer-tain comment by Mr. DiemoOnokpite that our Head ofChambers abandoned thecase relating to the murder of

Ogbe Onokpite. He also be-trayed the politics behindsuch a statement by conclud-ing that the Urhobos shouldassess properly who they votefor, knowing full well thatKeyamo is running for elec-tion in the state.

“Our simple response is thatour Head of Chambers,

Keyamo, out of deep love forthe cause of the Urhobo peo-ple and sympathy for theOnokpite family, took up thatcase free of charge.

“Even at a point when Mr.Onokpite called our Head ofChambers and offered to raisesome money to pay us, Keyamoturned it down and said thathe didn’t want any money.

“Like Keyamo has done forthousands of Nigerians, hetook up this case with all zealand passion, even when allthose who directly benefitedfrom Onokpite, ran away out offear and others, who wereelected into various positions,refused to say anything pub-licly till today.

“The point of departure of ourchambers with the family wasthat on December 24, 2011,whilst we were still at the heatof exchange of correspondencewith the Inspector-General ofPolice as to how and who toconduct investigation in orderto bring the culprits to book, wewoke up to read in the Van-guard Newspaper of that daythat the family had gone to an-other lawyer to file an action forthe enforcement of fundamen-tal right in court.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013—13

LAUNCH: From left, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, Secretary to Edo State Government, andMr. Oma Djebah, Senior Special Adviser (Foreign Relations) to the Governor of DeltaState, at the launching of Layola Jesuit University, in Abuja, weekend.

Group faults Amaechi on new Rivers Ag. CJ’sappointment

BY EGUFE YAFUGBORHI

PORT HARCOURT— A group in Rivers

State, Grassroots Develop-ment Initiative, GDI, haskicked against the appoint-ment of the President of Riv-

‘12 killed pirates wereNDLF militants’

I’m a loyal APC member— Emerhor

BY SONI DANIEL

ABUJA—DELTA Centralsenatorial aspirant,

Olorogun O’tega Emerhor,has said that he remains aloyal and committed memberof All Progressives Congress,APC, and will continue towork for the success of theparty in all elections.

BY EMMA AMAIZE

WARRI — THE 12 sus-pected pirates killed, weekend,

in a gun battle with the Nigerian Navy,have been identified as recalcitrantmilitants of the defunct Niger DeltaLiberation Front, NDLF, formed by ex-militant leader, the late “General” JohnTogo, who refused to embrace the am-nesty.

A top official of the disbanded group,told Vanguard: “If you remember,when we surrendered arms, the Sec-retary to the Delta State Government,Mr. Ovuozorie Macaulay, noted thatsecurity information indicated that thegroup did not surrender all its arms.

“He is very correct, not all the armswere brought, one of the leaders keptthe arms and it was these arms that hehanded over to these boys, who re-fused to embrace amnesty, they wererobbing people in the creeks.

“We told them that militancy was over

BY EMMANUELAZIKEN, Political Editor

and they cannot hide under itto commit crimes, they re-fused to listen. You can seewhere it had landed them,they are all John Togo boys, Iregret to disclose this, but thatis the truth.

“My advice is that the saidleader of the disbanded group,who armed the boys shoulddisarm them and hand overwhatever was remaining tothe government,” he added.

Over 120 militants of thedefunct NDLF surrenderedarms to the state government,last December, but some oth-ers, who were in possessionof a large cache of munitionsrefused to surrender and wentinto piracy.

THE PEOPLESDemocratic Party,

PDP, disciplinary com-mittee constituted by theNational Working Com-mittee, NWC, has com-menced deliberations oncases of allegedindiscipline by seniorparty members, it waslearnt, yesterday.

The commencement ofdeliberations is despitethe fact the committeeheaded by Alhaji UmaruDikko was yet to be in-augurated. Dikko is hos-pitalised and is outsidethe country.

The informal meet-ings, authoritativesources told Vanguard,were informed by theneed to dispose press-ing disciplinary issuescurrently facing theparty.

Other party sources,however, alleged thatthe rush by the commit-tee was to provide thelegal backing for the ex-pulsion of some gover-nors from the party. in-cluding GovernorChibuike Amaechi ofRivers State, who hadbeen suspended.

Governors and othermembers of the NationalExecutive Committee,NEC, of the party canonly be expelled fromthe party upon the rec-ommendations of a dis-ciplinary committee.

It was gathered, yes-terday, that the activitiesof some prominentmembers of the party,notably some governorsmay have been pre-sented to the committee.

Rumpus asPDPdisciplinaryc’tteecommenceswork ongovs’ cases

Emerhor said that he hadno reason whatsoever to backany other party in the coun-try given the lofty programmesand policies, which the newly-registered APC had outlinedfor the development of Ni-geria and its people.

The aspirant, while reactingto an interview, said his atten-tion was drawn to the said in-terview and the several mis-

representations containedtherein and wondered whatthe reporter wanted to achieveby inserting what he did notdiscuss with him in the saidinterview.

He said: “My attention hasbeen drawn to an interviewwith the caption ‘Delta Central:My plans, my prospects,” withso many misrepresentationspurported to have been madeby me.

“However, when I confrontedthe interviewer, he promptlyapologised for inserting sev-eral statements I never madethroughout the interview.”

“The truth of the matter isthat the interview I granted wasabout my desire to representDelta Central senatorial district,following the vacancy createdby the sudden death of Sena-tor Pius Ewhereido.

“For the avoidance of doubt,I am a loyal APC member, to-tally committed to building theparty in Delta State, and en-suring its victory at all electionsfrom the ward to the nationallevel.

“As a matter of fact, the issueof performance of the currentPeoples Democratic Party, PDP,government in Delta State un-der Governor EmmanuelUduaghan and support forPDP Presidency in 2015 nevercame up for discussionthroughout the interview.

“These were the opinions ofthe reporter injected into theinterview for inexplicable rea-sons.

“As an APC member, I owemy unwavering support andloyalty to the party and I amalways guided by the party’spositions on its candidates forall elections in Nigeria,” hesaid.

ers State Customary Court ofAppeal, Justice PeterAgumagu as acting ChiefJudge of the state, saying thatGovernor Rotimi Amaechi vio-lated the provisions of the1999 Constitution in the ap-pointment.

Addressing newsmen in PortHarcourt, yesterday, shortlyafter Amaechi swore inAgumagu, President Generalof GDI, Bright Amaewule,noted that where a vacancyoccurs in the office of the ChiefJudge, Section 271(4) of the1999 Constitution providesthat until a substantive ap-pointment was made, the mostSenior Judge of the HighCourt assumes as acting ChiefJudge.

He said, “Now, Amaechiand the Rivers Attorney Gen-eral in clear violation of theprovisions refused to swear inJustice Daisy Okocha, who isthe most Senior Judge of theHigh Court of Rivers State inan acting capacity until theniceties of appointing a sub-stantive Chief Judge are ful-filled.

“Justice Okocha happens tobe the same Judge that boththe Rivers State Judicial Serv-ice Commission and the Na-tional Judicial Commissionrecognised and recom-mended to Governor Amaechifor appointment as the newsubstantive Chief Judge.”

SERVICE OF Songswill hold tomorrow

for late DeaconessPatricia Okeregwu at theNational Christian Cen-tre, behind CBN Head-quarters, Abuja.

On Friday, there willbe lying in state at thefamily house, Plot 259,Mamman KontagoraCrescent, Katampe Ext.Abuja.

This will be followedby funeral service andinterment at the LivingFaith Church(WinnersChapel), Durumi.

FuneralBurutu LG embraces Uduaghan’seducation programme

DELTA STATE Commissioner for Works, Chief

Solomon Funkekeme, has as-sured Governor EmmanuelUduaghan of the readiness ofthe people of Burutu LocalGovernment Area of the stateto embrace the governor ’s‘Delta State Education Mar-shal Programme to ensurethat every indigene of thearea acquired sound educa-tion.

Funkekeme during a con-sultative meeting with com-munity chairmen and promi-nent leaders across BurutuCouncil, said as the Commis-sioner for Works and an indi-

gene of Burutu, it was rightfor him tell his people govern-ment programmes.

He said: “This consultativemeeting is the first of its kindin the area, it is a show ofparadigm shift. Making com-munities focal point is the gov-ernment priority, so that noone will misunderstand itspolicies.

“The time has come for us tocarry our mid-term briefing tothe communities that is whyas the Commissioner forWorks and an indigene ofBurutu Council, I deem itright to tell you the programesof government.”

14—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

First Int'l flightarrives Enuguairport

Bankers commit N18bn fraud in2012—NDIC

BY EMMA UJAH, ABUJABUREAU CHIEF

Only appropriate laws can guaranteefree, fair polls in 2015, says NBABY TONY EDIKE

N1TRNEXPENDITUREALLEGATION:NASS 'll sooncome up withaccuratefigure—MACCIDO

BY JOHNBOSCOAGBAKWURU, JOSEPH

ERUNKE & LEVINUSNWABUGHIOGU

BY IKECHUKWUNNOCHIRI

MEETING—From left: Sir Nnamdi Obi, CEO, Embassy Pharmaceuticals; Dr Paul Orhii,DG NAFDAC and Mrs Joyce Ugwu, Director, National Drug Policy Programmes,representing Minister of Health at a stakeholders' meeting. Photo: Biodun Ogunleye.

Says only 10 banks sound in Nigeria

ABUJA—DESPITE claims thatthe nation’s 24 banks are

strong and posting huge profit,fraudulent practises have continuedamong operators with no fewer than3, 380 cases involving N17. 97billion recorded last year. According to the Nigeria DepositInsurance Corporation, NDIC,annual report for 2012, this hasresulted in a loss of about N4. 52billion.

The report, released in Abujayesterday, also said only 10 bankswere rated sound in the year underreview.

“The DMBs reported 3,380 fraudcases involving the sum of N17.97billion with expected/contingentloss of about N4.52 billion in 2012.

“The expected/contingent losshad increased by N455 million (10.9percent) as against N4.072 billionreported in 2011,” NDIC said.

The corporation said, however,that the amount involved in thefraud cases decreased by 36.4percent from N28.40 billion in 2011to N18.04 billion in 2012.

It said DMBs posted a combinedprofit before tax of N525 billion,adding that last year’s performancewas an indication that the bankswere strong and well capitalised.

“The banking industry wasadequately capitalised in the yearunder review with capitaladequacy ratio of 18.07 percentcompared to 17.71 percent recordedin 2011. All the DMBs also met the

minimum liquidity thresholdof 30 percent. The asset quali-ty significantly improved dur-ing the year as the ratio of non-performing loans to total loansdecreased from 4.95 percent in2011 to 3.51 percent in 2012.

“The improvement in thebanking industry’s asset qual-ity was due to the purchase ofthe non-performing loans ofDMBs by AMCON and theenhanced credit risk manage-ment by DMBs. The overalleffect was an improvement inthe industry’s profit before taxwhich increased from a loss ofN6.71 billion in 2011 to a profitof N525.34 billion in 2012,” itsaid.

The report said in terms of

level of soundness, 10 bankswere rated sound, nine satisfac-tory, while one bank was ratedmarginal, adding that “the in-dustry could be considered tobe relatively stable in 2012.

It insisted that “there was nounsound bank in the bankingindustry as at December 31,2012.”

The corporation said it contin-ued to pay depositors of banks-in-liquidation during the yearwith cumulative payment ofN6.82 billion to 528,212 insureddepositors of closed banks byDecember 31, 2012 as againstN6.68 billion paid to 527,942insured depositors as at Decem-ber 31, 2011.

The NDIC said the feat was

achieved in spite of the long clo-sure of the banks and the unwill-ingness of many depositors to filefor their claims.

Similarly, it said a total sum ofN2.505 billion was paid to 75,322verified depositors of 95 of 103closed MFBs during the year,against the sum of N2.249 billionpaid to 72,062 verified depositorsin 2011.

“Also, the sum of N73.58 billionhad been paid as liquidation divi-dend to 250,209 depositors ofDMBs as at December 31, 2012. It is pertinent to indicate that a to-tal of 14 out of the 34 banks-in-liq-uidation prior to 2006 had declareda final dividend of 100 percent oftheir total deposits, indicating thatall depositors of the affected closedbanks had fully recovered theirdeposits,” the corporation said.

ABUJA—THE Nigerian BarAssociation, NBA,

yesterday, said the country wasin dire need of appropriatelegal framework that will triggercredible, free and fair electionin 2015.

The NBA, which stated thiswhile briefing newsmen aboutits upcoming annual generalconference scheduled to holdin Calabar, Cross River State,next week, maintained that,henceforth, every legalpractitioner in the countrywould be compelled to own anofficial stamp and seal.

It said the initiative wouldhelp to put corrupt lawyers incheck and engenderprofessionalism.

Speaking through its NationalPresident, Chief Okey Wali,SAN, the NBA, stressed that thetheme of its conference, “LawLeadership and Challenges ofnationhood in the 21st CenturyNigeria”, was carefully chosen,in view of the current state ofaffairs in the country.

Wali said: “The NBA is theprofessional association oflawyers with over 70, 000members in 100 branchesspread across 36 states and theFederal Capital Territory, FCT.

“It is the biggest professionalassociation in Africa and theSouth of the Sahara. Every year,the NBA holds its AnnualGeneral Conference. It isreputed to be the highestgathering of lawyers in theworld.

“The theme of this year ’sconference was carefully chosenin view of the current state ofaffairs in Nigeria.

“We believe that thechallenges facing Nigeria as anation is the absence of theappropriate legal framework thatwill trigger credible, free and fairelections and economicdevelopment. All this will lead toaccountable and exemplaryleadership.”

He maintained that PresidentGoodluck Jonathan was expectedto declare open the conferencewhich will be chaired by formerChief Justice of Nigeria, CJN,S.M.A Belgore, while Secretary ofthe Federation, Senator PiusAnyim Pius, will deliver paper onthe topic, “Challenging the Giants:100 years of Building a Nation.”

ENUGU—FOUR days tothe official commencement of

international flights at the AkanuIbiam International Airport, Enu-gu, billionaire businessman, ChiefArthur Eze, yesterday, flew intoEnugu airport from Senegal.

The aircraft marked No 5MPZE,which landed at the modernisedairport at about 3.20pm direct fromSenegal, became the first interna-tional aircraft to touch down at theairport after it was upgraded.

President Goodluck Jonathangave approval for the upgrade ofthe airport to an international sta-tus two years ago and laid the foun-dation for the construction of theinternational wing early this year.

The Federal Ministry of Aviationhas slated the official commence-ment of international flights fromEnugu for Saturday, with Ethiopi-an airline billed to fly in and out ofthe coal city.

ABUJA—THE Senatesaid, yesterday, it

would soon release to thepublic accurate figure ofits expenditure, saying ithas nothing to hide.

This came on a day theHouse of Representativesspokesman, Zakari Mo-hammed, refuted claimsthat lawmakers in theNational Assembly werethe highest paid lawmak-ers in the world.

Chairman, SenateCommittee on Appro-priation, Senator AhmadMaccido,PDP, SokotoNorth, said he would gothrough the records andcome up with authentic fig-ure of amounts released andexpended so far.

Maccido,who respondedthrough a short text mes-sage to Vanguard, in Abuja,on the latter’s questionseeking his reaction to Mon-day’s statement by formerMinister of Education, Mrs.Oby Ezekwesili that Nigeriahad so far spent more thanN1 trillion on the mainte-nance of National Assemblyin the past eight years, saidthe Senate was not preparedto join issues with her.

He said the upper legis-lative chamber had nothingto hide, saying it had beentransparent in the course ofits functions.

Maccido also insisted thatappropriate figure onmoney released to the Sen-ate would in no time bemade available.

He said: “It needs sometime to go through recordsand come up with accuratefigure and at the moment Iam not in Abuja.”

The former Minister ofEducation had stirred thehornet’s nest with her alle-gation that a whopping N1trillion had not only beenspent on the maintenanceof members of the NationalAssembly but also N9.08billion on maintenance ofpresidential fleet.

Mrs Ezekwesili, who isthe immediate past Vice-President of the World Bank(Africa), had equally de-cried the budgetary alloca-tion system in the country,which gave more to recur-rent expenditure than capi-tal projects.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013—15

Rivers crisis: Court remands 2 PDPchieftains in prison

BY IKECHUKWUNNOCHIRI

Jonathan urgespolice todouble effortson crimefighting

BY KINGSLEYOMONOBI

Nigeria signsAVU charter

BY LAIDEAKINBOADE

MEETING—From left: Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Dr. Mac John Nwodo;Governor of Niger State, Dr Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu and representative of ExecutiveSecretary of the National Universities Commission, Mr. Akinbode Agbaoye, during thethird African Regional Centre of Expertise, RCE, meeting in Abuja, yesterday.

ABUJA—AN Abuja ChiefMagistrate Court,

yesterday, remanded thechairman of Peoples DemocraticParty, PDP, in Omuma localgovernment area of Rivers State,Mr. Charles Amoefule, andAssistant Secretary of the partyin the state, Mr Godwin Leo, inprison custody.

The court, which was presidedover by Magistrate BabashaniAbubakar, ordered that the duo,who are perceived to be loyal toGovernor Rotimi Amaechi,should remain in Kuje Prison tilltomorrow when their joint bailapplication will be determined.

Spirited efforts by their lawyer,Ms Regina Okotie-Eboh, tosecure their release provedabortive, as police vehementlyopposed it, insisting that theaccused persons were at risk ofbeing jailed for 17 years shouldthe court find them guilty of theone-count amended charge inthe First Information Report, FIR,it entered against them.

Their trial is sequel to a petitionsent to the Inspector General ofPolice, IG, MohammedAbubakar, on July 15 by oneKelechi Nwogu, who is said tobe loyal to the Minister of Statefor Education, Chief NyesomWike.

Police alleged that the accusedpersons conspired with oneOnwukwe Anyanwu, said to beat large, and caused anannouncement to be made on tworadio stations in Abuja that theState Executive Council of PDPin Rivers State had beendissolved and reconstituted.

It told the court that the firstaccused, Charles, in the saidannouncement which was madeon July 11, 2013, declaredhimself as the new state chairmanof the party, information theprosecution said inciteddisturbances in Rivers State andresulted in breakdown of law andorder.

According to the police, thealleged offence, which botherson criminal conspiracy, falsestatement, impersonation,inciting disturbance and criminalintimidation, ran contrary tosections 97, 164, 179, 114 and397(b) of the Penal Code Law.

After the accused personspleaded not guilty to the charge,they relied on the decided case-law in Abiola vs FRN, 1995, 1-NWLR and the case of Bamaiyivs State, 2001, 8-NWLR, andpleaded the court to allow themto go home.

Their lawyer informed the courtthat the police had on August 7,granted the first accused personadministrative bail few hours afterhe was re-arrested upon hisdischarge by another Chief

Magistrate Court at Wuse Zone2, adding that he voluntarilyappeared in court yesterday toface trial.

Okotie-Eboh further relied onsection 341(2) of the CriminalProcedure Code, CPC, andinsisted that the offence leveledagainst them was ordinarilybailable, stressing that they oughtto be deemed innocent untilproven guilty.

Opposing the oral bail request,the prosecutor, Assistant

Inspector, Usman Jubril,maintained that the accusedpersons failed to depose to anaffidavit indicating theirwillingness to face trial,contending that whereas thethird accused was still at large,“it was war before we could getthe first accused personarrested.”

After listening to both parties,Magistrate Abubakaradjourned the case till tomorrowfor ruling.

Meanwhile, the court hadearlier struck out the initial FIRfiled against the second accusedperson, following anapplication by the police whichexpressed its decision toconsolidate the charge againstthe two PDP chieftains and trythem together.

Prior to their re-arraignment,a mild drama had ensued afterthe court struck out the previousFIR and discharged the secondaccused.

ABUJA—PRESIDENTGoodluck Jonathan,

yesterday, charged the NigeriaPolice Force to be morecommitted in the discharge oftheir duty of tacklingcriminality in the face ofincreased rate of violent crimesand acts of terrorism.

He stated this whilecommissioning the renovatedForce Criminal InvestigationDepartment, FCID, complexin Abuja.

The President, who wasrepresented by Vice PresidentNamadi Sambo, commendedthe police for the initiative toimprove working environmentof its officers, adding thatgovernment was committed toequipping the force, even ashe tasked them on propermaintenance of the structure.

Minister of Police Affairs,Navy Captain CalebOlubolade (Rtd said therenovation of the FCID hadplaced the police in a betterposition to fight crime, addingthat this would result in a safercountry.

ABUJA—MINISTER ofEducation, Professor

Ruqayyatu Rufai, yesterday,said the African VirtualUniversity, AVU, wouldensure open and affordabledistance learning institution toserve the African continent.

The minister, who stated thisat the signing of the AVUCharter in Abuja, said it wasimperative for the continentand Nigeria to consider everyangle in provision of qualityeducation to its citizens.

AVU is a Pan AfricanInternational Organisationwhich aim is to increase accessto quality higher educationand training through the useof Information andCommunication Technologies,ICT.

It was established in 1997and has since trained over43,000 students andestablished the largest networkof distance and e-Learninginstitutions in over 30 Africancountries.

The minister said: “Thefuture of Nigeria and continentof Africa is tied closely toaccess to quality education. Itis, therefore, for this reason thatwe must consider every anglein our drive to provide qualityeducation to our citizens."

Gana backs ASUU, says education requiresbetter funding

BY CALEB AYANSINA

ABUJA—FORMER Ministerof Information, Professor

Jerry Gana, has stated that for ameaningful transformation to takeplace in the country, governmentat all levels must be ready to fundthe education system adequately.

Professor Gana, who is also thePro-Chancellor of University ofLagos, also threw his weightbehind the agitation of AcademicStaff Union of Universities, ASUU,in its ongoing strike.

He noted that ASUU’s demandwas not about salary but the needfor required infrastructure tofunction better.

The Academic Staff Union ofUniversities, ASUU, and theFederal Government had been atloggerhead over failure of thelatter to fully abide by the 2009agreement reached with theformer.

Gana insisted that governmentwas not doing well with thecurrent funding of educationsystem in Nigeria, adding thateducation deserved seriousattention for the county to moveforward.

He said: “We are not fundingeducation properly in Nigeria.Because education is very

important, we must invest ineducation if we are reallyserious about transformation.

“ If anybody says educationis more expensive, then tryignorance. As a nation, we mustresolve to spend our GDP on

the education sector. In the past,Chief Awolowo in the SouthWest used to spend 50 percenton education, the same thing inthe north, we must fundeducation, and any good thingis expensive."

BY EVELYN USMAN

Navy rescues hijacked oil vessels, 9crew members; arrests 4 suspects

BARELY 48 hours after aship,MT NORTE hijacked

by 20 suspected pirates wasrescued with the crewmembers alive, another ship,was again rescued yesterday,by Naval operatives attachedto NNS Beecroft, Apapa,around 10 nautical miles off thecoast of Escravos, Delta State.

Arrested at the end of theensuing gun battle betweennaval operatives and thepirates, were four suspectedpirates while nine crewmembers were rescued.

The Ship, MT CROW, loadedwith 200 metric tonnes of AGO,was reportedly hijacked atAiyetoro area of Ondo State on

August 14.Parading the suspects before

newsmen at the Defence Jetty,Lagos, the Commander, NNSBEECROFT, Commodore ChrisEzekobe, explained thatfollowing information receivedfrom the Regional AwarenessCentre that a ship had beenhijacked by unknown gunmen,naval fast track ships weredeplored on rescue mission.

According to him, ”the teamran into the hijacked shiparound Aiyetoro area of OndoState. By the time it was sited, ithad a speed boat tied behindthe vessel. All attempt made atgetting the sea robbers to stop,failed. It was at this juncturethat the naval operatives thatwere circling the vessel openedfire.

16—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

Failure of northern elders blamed onneglect of Ahmadu Bello’s legacy

BY PETER DURU

FORUM: From left: Mr. Umar Manko, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Major TundePannox (rtd), Speacial Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Security Matters, Mrs. OmolaraOdebunmi, representing Lagos State Deputy Governor, Ms. Lola Akande, representing Sena-tor Oluremi Tinubu and Mr. Olajide Jimoh, Chairman, Yaba Local Council DevelopmentArea, during the security awareness foum, at UNILAG Auditorium, Akoka, Lagos. Photos:Joe Akintola, Photo Editor.

From left: Mr. Victor Ayara, Mr. Olajide Jimoh, Chairman, Yaba LCDA and Mrs. AishaTosan-Agberebi, guest speaker, at the event.

Kwara electoral body promisesfair LG poll

BY ABDULSALAM MUHAM-MAD

Benue dep gov joins 2015guber race

SECURITY AWARENESS FORUM

M A K U R D I —DEPUTY Governor of

Benue State, Chief StevenLawani, yesterday, declared hisintention to contest the 2015gubernatorial election in thestate.

Lawani said he had threeweeks ago informed the BenueState leadership of the rulingPeople’s Democratic Party, PDP,of his intention to run for theposition.

The deputy governor spokewhile receiving in audience,members of the Benue StateGovernor’s Aides Forum fromthe Benue South Senatorial dis-trict at his Makurdi office.

He said: “About three weeksago, before I travelled, I had in-formed the state executives ofthe People’s Democratic Party,PDP, of my intention to put my-self forward to run for the officeof Governor of Benue State.

”Before today I have had del-egations coming to me to urgeme to run and I am declaringtoday before you that I am run-ning and I am counting on yoursupport to actualize the dream.”

Speaking, chairman of the fo-rum, Mr. Clement Okoh, said

KANO—ELDER statesman,Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule,

yesterday, attributed the failureof northern leaders in theemerging political order to theneglect of the legacy of late Pre-

mier of Northern Nigeria, SirAhmadu Bello.

The former Nigerian Perma-nent Representative to theUnited Nation, told a gather-ing of youths during one dayworkshop organised by ArewaCitizen Action for Change,that what helped the north-

ern region to be reckoned within the Nigerian polity was thatthe northerners whether Mus-lims or Christians were nur-tured by the Sardauna.

He said: “I remember thatwhile Sardauna was leadingthe activities of the region asPremier he helped in the for-mations of the Northern Asso-ciation of Christians of Ni-geria, before it was adopted byall and transformed to CAN.”

According to him, that washow the north was built re-gardless of religious or ethnicbigotry, which ensured thatnobody called himself with hisreligion or tribe, saying peo-ple were so proud to alignthemselves with Arewa.

Maitama Sule noted that theassumption of the likes ofSardauna at independence in1960 was that Nigeria would

be in the rank of developednations by 1980, but thatdream had since evaporated.

He contended thatSardauna died a pauper with-out a bank account anywhereor share in any company.

He lamented that the storywas different from “what wehave today as modern dayleaders are ‘treasury looters’,with mansions and houses inDubai and other places.

“We have leaders today asa result of the oil discoverywho buy luxury cars for theirgirl friends. They imbibe theculture of looting the treas-ury and shamelessly stuffingthem outside, building man-sions where there is no roadnetwork. That is why todayNigeria yearn for who aregenerous, kind and patri-otic.”

the visit was purposely to elicitthe deputy governor’s posi-tion on the forthcoming 2015general election.

”As leader and father of thegovernor’s aides from BenueSouth District, we are here toseek your direction ahead ofthe forthcoming 2015 generalelection.”

Ahmed tasksP r o v o s t s ,Rectors ondearth ofmiddle levelmanpower

I LORIN — G O V E RNOR Abdulfatah

Ahmed of Kwara State,has tasked Provost of col-leges of education andRectors of polytechnics inthe country to focus onfinding solutions to theproblems of middle levelmanpower deficit in Ni-geria. Governor Ahmed spoke yesterday, whiledeclaring open the 126thregular meeting of Coun-cils of Heads of Polytech-nics and Colleges of Tech-nology in Nigeria,COHEADS, at the KwaraState Polytechnic Ilorin.

The governor said: “Iimplore you to focus onfinding solutions to thecritical problems of mid-dle level manpower defi-cit confronting our nation,especially as it affects theeducational system.”

”Today, our labour mar-kets are sadly saturatedwith unemployablegraduates and youthswho cannot clearly ex-press themselves, not totalk of possessing the re-quired skills for self-em-ployment.

“As heads of polytech-nics and colleges of tech-nology who determine thedirection of our techno-logical development,there is the need for youto refocus attention onquality education andbusiness skills to prepareour youths for successfulentrepreneurship ongraduation.”

BY DEMOLA AKINYEMI

I L O R I N — M R .UTHMAN Ajidagba, the

Chairman of Kwara State In-dependent Electoral Commis-sion, KWASIEC, yesterday,reiterated the commission’scommitment towards conduct-ing a free and fair local gov-ernment election. He made the pledge at asensitisation forum in Omu-Aran and Ilofa, headquartersof Irepodun and Isin LocalGovernment Areas of Kwararespectively.

Ajidagba, who was repre-sented by Hajia MariamMustapha, the Commissionerin charge of works and main-

tenance in the commission, saidthe conduct of peacefulelection was a collective re-sponsibility.

He said: “All loopholes andhindrances inimical to a peace-ful election have been takencare of.

“I want to assure our people,especially in Kwara South thatirrespective of their political af-filiation, that we are going todischarge our responsibility tothe best of our capabilities.

“We have taken time to studythe conduct of the past localgovernment elections since thecreation of the state and we haveput in place effective strategiesto achieve results.”

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013—————1717171717

OPINION

18 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

*Mr. Jarikre, a social critic, wrote fromSapele, Delta State.

BY MURID JARIKRE The Al-majiri problemTHE root cause of the Al-Majiri in

Nigeria, is due to the fact that the NigerianMuslim intelligentsia, have failed to adopt themodernist scholars’ interpretation of HolyKoran Chapter 4 verse 3 and in preferencechosen to hold on to the old orthodox school’sinterpretation of the above-mentioned verse.

There are two interpretations of Holy Koran4:3 viz: the orthodox scholars’ interpretationand the modernist scholars’ interpretation.

The Holy Koran which is the final authorityon all matters concerning the religion of Islamlegislates in Holy Koran 4:3 thus:

“…..then you may marry other wives whoseem good to you, two three or four of them.But if you feel you cannot maintain equalityamong them, marry one only…… This willmake it easier for you to avoid injustice.”

The orthodox Islamic scholarsThe orthodox scholars who had held sway in

the past one thousand three hundred years ofthe existence of Islam have always regardedthe above verse as an exhortation to believersto piety. Thus in those countries in which theold orthodox school of thought holds sway, theMuslim male is permitted to marry up to fourwives without any kind of interference fromthe State Islamic authorities.

Thus, the orthodox scholars’ interpretationof the relevant verse of the Holy Koran, HolyKoran 4:3, has permitted Nigerian Muslimsfor example, to marry up to four wives withoutconsideration of the level of income of the meninvolved. This has led to the creation of verylarge families by the lower income group ofthe Nigerian Muslim society which has in turndeposited this problem on society at large as

the Almajiri. The modernist Islamic scholarsBut the modernist Islamic scholars of the

20th and 21st Centuries adopt a differentinterpretation of Holy Koran 4:3. To them theclause below is fundamental to theinterpretation of Holy Koran 4:3:

“This will make it easier for you to avoidinjustice.”

To them therefore, the above is a positivelegal clause of the Sharia which must be takeninto consideration by the Islamic State, if aman is to be given permission by the State tomarry a second wife.

According to the modernist Islamic schoolof thought, justice among four wives alsomeans social justice to the off-springs of such amarriage in the form of good education, properhousing and other necessary amenities. Thisstandard concludes the modernist scholar, iswell-nigh impossible for many believers toachieve in the socio-economic setting of the20th and 21st centuries.

Moreover the individual Muslim is unjustto society when he saddles the rest of the societywith the problem of children he is incapable oftaking care of, as in the case of the Almajiri.

The modernist scholars view themselves asmen who through their own interpretation ofthe Sharia seek equity and social justice for allsections of the society especially women andchildren including orphans.

The modernist Islamic scholars thereforeurged the Islamic State to intervene bylegislation to discourage Muslims frommarrying more wives than they are

economically capable of maintaining. Hitherto as noted earlier, the Islamic State

did not intervene in such matters. Themodernist Islamic scholars have been greatlysuccessful in their efforts. Their influence hasstamped itself on the legislation as regardsmarriage in over 80% of the Islamic world.

The Syrian Law of Personal Status of 1953,Article 17, provides “The judge is empoweredto refuse permission to marry another womanif it is established that he the husband is not ina position to support two wives……………..Defaulters are liable to penalties and the courtwill not recognize such a marriage. Please seeThe Sharia by Professor A I Doi Chapter 26.

In Iraq, the Law of Personal Status 1959,Article 3, reads: ”It is not permissible to

marry more than one woman without anauthorization from the judge. The grant ofpermission is regulated by the condition thatthe husband’s financial status permits forsupporting the wives and it is for a genuinebenefit.” Similar legislations are in force inAlgeria, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Iran, Indonesia,Malaysia, Morocco and Sudan.

Turkey and Tunisia went even further. Bothcountries prohibited polygamy entirely. InTurkey, the Civil Code of 1926 provides: ”If atall such a marriage is contracted, the court isempowered to declare such marriage invalid.”And in the case of Tunisia, the Law of PersonalStatus of 1957 states: ”Polygamy is forbidden.Any person having entered into a bond ofmarriage contracts another marriage before

the dissolution of the preceding one, is liableto one year imprisonment and a fine.Criticism of the modernist Islamicscholars

The scholars of the old orthodox school areup in arms. ”By rejecting the prohibition”writes the much respected scholar, ProfessorAbdurraham Doi, formerly of Ahmadu Belloand Ife Universities, “the so-called modernistreformers have refused to accept Quranicinjunctions and have indirectly rejected theSunnah (the ways and examples of the HolyProphet Mohammed, may the peace andblessings of God Most High be with him),declaring such to be unworkable, and havedisregarded the opinions of the pious scholarsand Imams.”

To the orthodox, the views of the modernistscholars’ position is the result of a subtlebrainwashing over the years by Europeancolonialism. Hence also the modernists’scholars readiness in accepting hybrid legalsystems such as Anglo-Mohammedan andFranco-Mohammedan legal systems. Hencealso, the modernist scholars’ unacceptableinterpretation of the family laws of the Sharia.

The views of the modernist school of thoughtin interpreting Holy Koran 4:3 isrecommended for adoption in Nigeria. Thiswill in consequence lead to an amendment ofthe Marriage Laws of the Sharia to ensurethat Muslim males marry only the number ofwives they are economically capable ofmaintaining.

By so doing, the Almajiri problem will overa period of time disappear from Nigeria.

COLLECTIVE relief swept through theworld when Mali’s post war elections passedoff peacefully with Soulmania Cisseconceding victory to Ibrahim Boubacar Keitain the second round of ballot.With tenuous security in the impoverished

West African country, the election was amajor step towards democratic renewal inMali where Captain Amadou Sanogo seizedpower from former President AmadouToumani Toure in March 2012. Toure hadover thrown Gen. Moussa Traore. Themilitary sacked Traore’s government forfailing to contain the advancement of the Al-Qaeda backed insurgents that were pushingto take over the country after they hadestablished a stronghold in the Northern partwhere they created Republic of Azawad.The election of Keita, 68, and former Prime

Minister from 1994 to 2000, is obviously awelcome development. His party, Rally forMali, overcame 22 of the 25 candidates thattook part in the first round. Keita, whosecampaign was “For Mali’s Honour”, needsto embark rebuilding his country. He has totalk with the separatist Tuareg rebels, who

Mali’s DemocraticMali’s DemocraticMali’s DemocraticMali’s DemocraticMali’s DemocraticRRRRReneeneeneeneenewwwwwalalalalal

signed a two month ceasefire agreement forthe elections to hold. There are other troublemakers - Ansar Dine, Movement for Unityand Jihad for West Africa, Al-Qaeda in IslamicMaghreb and the Islamic Movement forAzawad - all affiliated to Al-Qaeda.The ease with which instability in Mali

affected West Africa and Europe with trans-border movement of criminal groups, drugtraffickers and smugglers of small armsindicated the increasing linkages requiredto sustain global security.Keita rightly sees “the need to revive

dialogue between all sides and gatheredMalians around the values that promoteddignity, integrity, courage and hard work.”Cisse displayed courage in accepting defeat

even before the official result wasannounced. It is a mark of sportsmanshipthat he accepted defeat in the interest of thelasting peace in Mali.Mali needs more than aid money to solve

its socio-political and economic problems.It is land locked, devastated by climatechange, and the war ruined its infrastructure.Mali is one of the poorest countries in theworld.The agitations of the National Movement

for the Liberation of Azawad are festering.The Islamist militants that occupied Gao,Kidal and Timbuktu to impose strict Islamiclaw remain active in northern Mali. Thewithdrawal of over 4,000 French troops thatforced the Islamists into disarray, and scalingdown of troops from AFISMA, wouldencourage the Islamists to renew theirstruggle to establish an Afghan typeleadership in Mali and in the Sahel. Theworld has to help Mali, its stability is key tosecurity in the Sahel, North Africa and evenEurope.Mali may be back to democratic

governance, but it remains fragile.

CMYK

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013—————1919191919

,

,

,

,NGOZI Okonjo-Iweala has two

designations. She is Nigeria’sMinister of Finance andCoordinating Minister for theEconomy. Without intending to beperverse, I wonder what thedifferences are between both titles.What would a Finance Ministerof a country such as ours be doingif she is not responsible (call itcoordinating, managing,overseeing or whatever) for theentire economy? Could thetautology of these titles be theJonathan administration’s way oftelling would-be adversaries, be itin the Central Bank, the InternalRevenue Service, etc, that theauthority of the Minister ofFinance on economic matterscannot be questioned? This shouldbe understandable as ours is astrange country in whichsupremacy battles are quiteroutine among public officeholders. The era of the SuperPermanent Secretaries belongedin the 1970s. This might be theepoch of the Super Ministers whomust be above the Ministers whoare in turn above the Ministers ofState. More on this in the thirdpart.

But Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has

ASUU and Abuja: ‘Noagreement today; noagreement tomorrow’ (1)

told us this past week thatgovernment cannot afford the N92billion (ASUU says its N87 billion)that striking university teachers aredemanding as ‘earnedallowances’. Her joining theGabriel Suswan-led FederalGovernment negotiating team,which Suswan thought was veryimportant as it would give a clearpicture of the economy, has trulychanged the tempo and tenor ofthe negotiation between theAcademic Staff Union ofUniversities and Abuja. Thechange Okonjo-Iweala brings tothe discussion is however not sofundamental, for the song she’ssinging is an old one that has leftNigerians jaded. It ranked top ofthe chart of past ASUU/government negotiations. Like arepeating clock, we shall be backhere again soon when the contrivedtruce that would eventually end theASUU/Government disagreementagain breaks down for non-implementation. Even if the strikeis called off as I write this, thedamage to the academic calendaris already done.

It’s obvious Okonjo-Iweala’smessage won’t sell in the ears ofASUU. And it can’t and shouldn’t

sell when it’s clear that the sameeconomy that we are told cannotsustain the lecturers’ demandsomehow takes care of the claimsof a grossly bloated governmentof seat-warming executive andlegislative officials; so-calleddemocracy that is by universalassent the most expensive and, onemight say, irresponsible in theworld. It’s unfair, as the ministerhas observed, that the country’srevenue should be spent entirely onrecurrent expenses of just three percent of our entire population of160 million. Nigerians have madea lot of sacrifices, smiling andliving in a state of want andsqualor amid the nauseouslyostentatious and unearned livingof public office holders, peoplewho construct two-kilometreroads and drill a few boreholesthat are powered by generators incity centres and roll out the drumsin celebration.

Nigerians have borne thetragedy of seeing the

promised transformation of theircountry ’s potential atindependence remaining just merepotential in nearly 60 years.They’ve seen their hopes go up inbursts of wind so often they now

turn on one another in hatefulethnic strife and contest ofsuperiority, measuring povertyagainst poverty in a bid todetermine which ethnic group hashelped itself most to our fastdiminishing resources. Indeed,Nigerians have played the foolwhen they could very reasonablyhave demanded more of theirleaders. We are all witnesses to theroiling ethnic battles and inanitiesthat are being waged in the mediaover the deportation/integrationand dismissal from service ofpersons of different ethnic groupsin the last couple of weeks. Mattersthat have stared us all in the facelong before now but about whichwe have done and said nothinguntil we have become victims oftheir suppurations. We’ve takenhardened positions ofrecrimination and counter-recrimination in contest for scarceresources following themismanagement and looting of thelittle that is available by personsin authority and their cronies inthe private sector.

It’s now a zero-sum game thathas turned us all enemies of oneanother. It’s in the midst of this thatthe same government is calling formore sacrifices from lecturers whobelong in one of the most abusedand neglected sectors of the polity.Of course, university lecturers arenot entirely blameless in the rotengulfing the land. But let’s beclear on one thing: If moresacrifices are to be made byNigerians, they must commencefrom Abuja down to the states andlocal governments where publicoffice holders, civil servants,legislators and members of theexecutive arms continue tosquander the resources and wealthof this nation in criminal andinhuman neglect of the vastmajority. The mantra of ‘ wecannot afford earned allowances’of lecturers, as are other servicesand duties that responsiblegovernments the world over

execute on behalf of their citizens,would take nobody anywhere. Itcan only polarize the countryalong sectarian and ethnic divides,deepen the fissures of suspicionamong the different religions untilit blows up in our collective face.

In ‘The ICPC Report on theNigerian University System’, two-part editions of this column thatran on 10 and 17 April this year, Iex-rayed the report of the outcomeof the survey conducted by theIndependent Corrupt Practicesand Other Related OffencesCommission on Nigerianuniversities and the problemsconfronting them. These two-partseries had been preceded by aseries titled ‘The ICPC/NUC reportand sexual harassment in Nigerianuniversities’ which was publishedrespectively on 20 and 27 March2013. These March editions of thecolumn had reacted to a statementwhich turned out to have no basisin the report it supposedlyemanated from, credited to Mr.Ekpo Nta, the ICPC chair, to theeffect that sexual harassmentranked ‘extremely high’ amongcorrupt practices in ouruniversities. The statement,reported by the Punch hadprompted an editorial in thenewspaper.

I had in my submissions in thesearticles called attention to themore fundamental problem ofdecayed infrastructure or non-existent infrastructure includingill-equipped laboratories, librariesfilled with outdated books,crowded classrooms, dinghyoffices, poorly trained and poorlymotivated personnel, teachingand non-teaching alike, etc. Theseproblems, I argued, create thecondition that make it possible formischievous and irresponsiblelecturers to perpetrate criminalacts including ‘sexual harassment’and irresponsible students andtheir criminally-minded parents toseek to pervert standard academicprocedures for their own benefits.

I HAVE taken extreme liberties with theanguished cry of Samuel Taylor

Coleridge’s narrator in “The Rime of theAncient Mariner” for good reason. Had thattraumatised and glittering-eyed characterof one of the world’s best-known narrativepoems undertaken his doomed voyage inthe 21st and not, presumably, the 19thCentury, then chanced to be blown ashorein Lagos, he might, I think, have approvedof this rendering of his unfathomable terror.With every of his crewmates dead and hecondemned to roam the seas alone aspunishment for the unconscionable act (“ahellish thing,” in his own words) of killing abenevolent albatross — in other words,cruelty to nature — his was the supreme ironyof dying in the midst of plenty; hence his cry,“water, water every where nor any drop todrink.” But I exaggerate because it is clearto me that we are getting dangerously closeto a similar ordeal as the Ancient Mariner’swith regard to air, another vital element.Lagos, quite literally, is fast becoming animpossible place to breathe.

The dangerous effects of air pollution areindisputable: the scientific view is that itcauses serious cardiovascular andrespiratory diseases. Which can cause deaththrough lung cancer, pneumonia, asthma,COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonarydisease, including bronchitis andemphysema), while also increasing the riskfactor in diabetes and heart patients. As isoften the case, infants and the elderly withinsufficiently developed or weakenedimmune systems are the most vulnerable.

Of course, air pollution is not a Lagosproblem but Nigeria’s as a whole. In fact, it

Air, air, everywhere, not a placeto breathe in Lagos!

is a global problem, given that ultimatelyall of earth’s inhabitants breathe the sameair. Those immediately exposed to bad airmay suffer more in the short term, but soonenough what goes round comes round toimperil biological life everywhere. But Ifocus on Lagos in this essay because it is myfavourite city, even though I have visited andeven resided in a few of the world’s moststoried cities. And, also, partly on the basisof personal experience; of which, morepresently.

It is true that many around the world,especially in Europe and America, considerChina as a literal pollution nuclear bombwaiting to detonate and cause anenvironmental Armageddon. But as TheEconomist of London shows in its cover storyof August 10, 2013, China may in fact bewell ahead of Europe and America incleaning up its phenomenally fouled air.Quite remarkable is the sheer amounts ofmoney ($275 billion over the next five years,twice the size of the annual defence budget)that China is devoting to the urgent task ofimproving air quality. Its commitment toclean and more efficient alternative energysources to coal and fossil fuel has alreadymade it the leader in solar panelmanufacturing.

Needless to say, Nigeria is not remotelyclose to the scale of industrial activity thatmakes China the factory of the world. Still,when it comes to the burning of fossil fuel,the chief source of air pollution in Nigeria,Lagos, I suspect, will top Shanghai.Unregulated emissions from the diesel andpetrol engines of millions upon millions ofcars, buses, trucks and generators lead to

astronomicallyhigh levels ofcarbon andsulphur oxidesand othervolatile organiccompounds ,VOCs, in the air.With an energyc o r p o r a t i o nformerly knownas NEPA orNever Expect Power Always/At All, but whichlately became PHCN or Problem Has

Changed its Name, Nigeria, and so Lagos,enjoys the dubious distinction of thegenerator capital of the world.

Until recently, I did not know that itwas vehicular and generator

emission that made me ever so miserable inLagos. I am a mildly asthmatic allergysufferer, and just last month it dawned onme that I tend to have my worst breathing,sneezing, runny and itchy-eyes momentswhenever I have been more directly exposedto densely polluted air. Such as when intraffic; particularly, when caught for a whilebehind vehicles pumping black clouds of

petrochemical poison into the air. Or duringprolonged exposure to the fumes ofgenerators. Double wahala then: noise andair pollution!

According to the World HealthOrganisation, outdoor air pollution causesan estimated 1.3 million deaths worldwideannually, mostly among inhabitants of poorcountries. But WHO may have understatedthe figure. A Cornell University study, led byProfessor David Pimentel, finds that as manyas 3 million people die from air pollution ayear. Even more worrisome, environmentaldegradation contributes to themalnourishment and susceptibility todiseases of 3.7 billion people.

By reducing particulate matter (in the 10micron diameter category) from 70 to 20micrograms per cubic metre, says WHO,deaths related to poor air quality can bereduced by about 15 percent. Yet, the PM10for Lagos is estimated at 122.3 and theaverage for Nigeria is 123.6! Given that asindividuals we cannot control our exposureto polluted air, government at the local, stateand federal levels must begin to take seriousand urgent steps to sanitise our air (as wellas water and soil). Lagos, a mega-city thathas, under Governor Babatunde RajiFashola, begun to take itself seriously, canno longer push air quality to the back-burner of its priorities. Breathing should beas free of health hazards as good air.

It’s obviousOkonjo-Iweala’smessage won’tsell in the ears ofASUU; the sameeconomy that weare told cannotsustain thelecturers’ demandsomehow takescare of a bloatedgovernment

Lagos, a mega-cityunder GovernorFashola, can nolonger push air qualityto the back-burner ofits priorities;breathing should be asfree of health hazardsas good air

20—20—20—20—20—VanguardVanguardVanguardVanguardVanguard, WEDNESDAY, WEDNESDAY, WEDNESDAY, WEDNESDAY, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, AUGUST 21, AUGUST 21, AUGUST 21, AUGUST 21 , , , , , 20132013201320132013

Debate of the masses

‘‘

We have a very longway to go! (1)

BY EBELE ORAKPO

TRULY speaking, wehave a very, very long

way to go as a people,” com-mented Iyke as the commut-er bus glided through the sur-prisingly light traffic along theOshodi – Oworonshoki road,en route to Obalende viaThird Mainland Bridge. “Ev-erything is just wrong! Weare specialists in the copyand paste business, yet, wehave not been able to copythe western world correctly.”

“We are very good copiersall right but we copy the as-pects that suit us and leavethe rest,” said Mike.

“If we are really copyingeverything, by now, weshould have known that inthe US for instance, if you livein Texas, you are regardedas a Texan and if you moveto Alaska tomorrow, you arean Alaskan and you are freeto contest election if youknow you have what it takes,”said Iyke.

Americanfootball player

“Exactly! I remember anAmerican lady called to askme if a popular Americanfootball player was my rela-tion because we bear thesame last name and I saidno, but he is from my hometown. The way she quicklyrefuted that, you will think Ihad committed sacrilege. Shesaid; “No, he is an Ameri-can, may be his parents arefrom Nigeria.

“I didn’t know what to say.This was quite different fromwhat is going on in our coun-try. Here, a child is born in atown, grows up in the place,graduates and starts work-ing, paying tax in that samestate, may even buy land andbuild houses or open his ownbusiness and employ peo-ple; despite all these, he isstill regarded as a settler, astranger in his country andwhen the chips are down, hediscovers that if he has noties in his so-called state oforigin, he is damned,” saidAda.

“As long as this attitude con-tinues, we are simply goingto be moving round andround the circle without mak-ing any progress,” noted

Mike.“The Black man is some-

thing else. He complains ofthe white man discriminat-ing against him, and now hedoes even worse to his fel-low Blacks. South Africa is agood example,” said Iyke.

“But the Igbos who are al-ways seeking to move to oth-er regions, buy land, put upstructures and establish busi-nesses, what is wrong withtheir own part of the coun-try? Is it a taboo to establishtheir businesses there?’ que-ried Kaycee.

“I like what Hon. DinoMelaye said during a booklaunch in Abuja recently. Thebook was on the civil war.Melaye said the Igbosshould forget about the civilwar and forge ahead. He said80 per cent of the hotels inAbuja are owned by Igbos,they are very enterprising sothey should get themselvestogether and go and devel-op the South-East, make it astrong economic bloc andpeople will come looking forthem,” said Austin.

“True talk! Some will tellyou if they move their busi-nesses to the South-East,(SE)people will not patron-ise them and I tell them it’s abig lie! Look at Onitsha Mainmarket for instance, peoplecome from all nooks and cran-nies of West Africa and be-yond to buy things so if to-day, they decide to movedown to the SE, believe youme, people who need whatthey have to offer will go look-ing for them,” said Iyke.

“Good point my brother. Ithink the ball is now in thecourt of the South-East gov-ernors to do something. Theymust create a conducive en-vironment for businesses tothrive. I know that lack of fed-eral government presence inthe SE contributed to thatmovement but we can reme-dy the situation. It is not toolate,” counselled James.

“The SE governors shouldprovide the space and thebusiness people will devel-op it because if you wait forgovernment, you will wait for-ever. After all, all the placesthey built up outside the SEwere done by the businesspeople themselves and notgovernment,” said Austin.

•Benson Bus-stop, Ikorodu

End of the road formotorbike robbers•Nabbed after snatching N450,000 at gun point

BY BOSE ADELAJA

TRAVELLING all theway from Lukosi area

of Ogun State to Ikoroduin Lagos on a motorcycleis certainly remarkable.But more remarkable isthat when the threetravellers stopped besidea new generation banklast Friday, this did notimmediately arouse anycuriosity or suspicion,especially as theirmission was unknown tothose who saw them. Thatwas until an alarm wassuddenly raised,prompting somemembers of the public aswell as securityoperatives to go afterthese three jolly goodfriends.

In what looked like ascene in a movie, thethree-man gangsnatched N450,000 atgun point from a middle-aged man who obviouslyhad made some withdraw-als from the new genera-tion bank. But followingthe alarm raised, the po-lice had swooped on therobbers, arrested two ofthem and recoveredN68,000; one of the rob-

bers, however, succeededin disappearing with thebulk of the loot. The flee-ing robber was said to

have thrown the N68,000at his pursuers to enablehim make good his escape.

The arrested robbers arepresently cooling theirheels at Panti while thePolice have continuedinvestigation into thematter, vowing to flush outthe fleeing robber from hishiding place soon.

Eye witnesses accounthas it that one of therobbers took to his heelsand escaped as soon as adistress call was put acrossto the Police. But theothers were not so luckyas one was apprehendedat Powerline and the otherat Sagamu road.

The victim of the robberyattack, who do not want

his name in print, wassaid to be walking to-wards where he parkedhis car across the road

carrying a Ghana-Must-Go bag assumed to con-tain a huge sum of mon-ey. On sighting him withthe bag, his assailantswent after him and dis-possessed him of themoney in the bag.

A hawker at Ikorodugarage, Victoria Ojeme,told Vanguard Metro themoney was meant for abusiness transactionwhich seem now on theverge of being abortedas the Police could onlyrecover N68,000 fromthe suspects.

According to her, theman had raised alarmwhich attracted passers-by who took after the

robbers. After a hot chase,one of robbers escaped ona motorcycle but luck ranout against the rest whowere apprehended withthe help of the Police atSagamu road Division.

The two suspects weretaken to Sagamu roadDivision where theyconfessed they wereresidents of Lukosi. Thecase has been transferredto Criminal InvestigativeDepartment, Panti, forfurther investigations.

Since the arrest of therobbers, banks in Ikoroduhave beefed up theirsecurity as residentscalled on law enforcementagents to patrol the areaday and night. Althoughhappy that two of therobbers were caught,worried residents arecalling on the NigeriaPolice to intensify effortsin ensuring that the arearemain crime-free.’’Robbers want toturn this place into theirden, but we are equal tothe task. Police wereimmediately contactedand they launched anattack leading to thearrest of two of the robbersbut one escaped anddisappeared into thinair,’’ said Mr. AfeezOladimeji.

“

The fleeing robber wassaid to have thrownN68,000 at his pursuers toenable him make good hisescape

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013 — 21

organisations’s last fiscal yearthat ended in June, 2013.

According to him, theinfrastructure and naturalresources sector got 25 percent, about N60bn, whilemanufacturing andagribusiness got 25 per cent.The financial markets gotN120bn about 50 per cent ofthe total investments.

“We have significantlyincreased our volume ofactivities both in terms ofinvestments and advisoryservices. On the investmentfront, we have in the past fiscal

I N T E R N A T I O N A LFinance Corporation,

IFC said it has invested 25 percent, about N60 billion of its2012 total investment inNigeria on infrastructure.

Vice President, Sub-SaharanAfrica, Latin America and TheCaribbean, Jean PhilippeProsper stated this in Lagoswhile interacting with newsmen during his visit to Nigeria.

He said that IFC hasinvested a total of $1.5bn inNigeria within the

year, which is from July 1st

2012 to June 30, 2013,invested about $1.5bn inNigeria which represents closeto 30 per cent of what we havedone in Africa this year. Thatwas about 50 per cent infinancial markets, 25 per centon infrastructure and naturalresources and the other 25 percent in manufacturing andagribusinesses,” he said.

He added that, “Over all inAfrica, we have significantlyincreased our activities ininfrastructure developmentparticularly in power and

transport, because those arethe key areas of need in Africa.In Nigeria, our major focus ison power and we as a WorldBank Group are working withthe government and others andwe have developed a jointWorld Bank approach on whatwe call Energy BusinessPlan.”

He further noted thatNigeria’s economy isproviding veritableopportunities, presentinghuge prospects for growth andIFC will continue to do morebusinesses in Nigeria.

IFC invests N60bn in infrastructuredevelopment in Nigeria

By VERA SAMUEL ANYAGAFU

NIGERIANS abroad have been identified as the biggest inves-tors into the country’s economy,which is seen as one of the fastestgrowing in Africa.

The chairman, House of Repre-sentatives Committee on Diaspora,Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa disclosedthis at the just concluded NigerianDiaspora Direct Investment Summitin London where she urged theNigerian government to ensure thatNigerians abroad are given the nec-essary support needed to have asmooth inter-business transactionsin their various countries of abode.According to the lawmaker, “Nige-rians living abroad may have turnedout to be the biggest investors inthe country, and I urged the gov-

Nigerians abrNigerians abrNigerians abrNigerians abrNigerians abroad, biggesoad, biggesoad, biggesoad, biggesoad, biggest invest invest invest invest investttttororororors in Nigerias in Nigerias in Nigerias in Nigerias in Nigeria— — — — — Dabiri

ernment to provide them with the en-abling premise, through engaging andembracing them for a better Nigeriaeconomy.”

Also disclosing that a Diaspora Com-mission would be established beforethe end of 2013, to add up to the pro-posed compilation of a database ofNigerians abroad for appropriate Di-aspora vote in the year 2015, the law-maker urged all responsible Nigeriaauthorities to join hands in efforts toachieving a prosperous Nigeria, withthe best economy in Africa.

In a similar development, the Secre-tary to the Government of the Federa-tion (SGF), Senator Anyim PiusAnyim, has lauded the contributionsof Nigerians abroad to national devel-opment, saying, “ Remittances of over$21 billion in the last one year, appearsthe highest so far in Africa.

Anyim further stated that, “ Ni-gerians in Diaspora are excel-ling in their various fields ofhuman endeavours abroad andhave continued to enormouslycontribute to national develop-ment, particularly in the educa-tional and health sectors.

Adding that, “Nigerians abroadhave donated educational mate-rials such as books and comput-ers; medical equipment anddrugs, in addition to fundingmany free medical missions tomany communities in Nigeria.These they do, through groupssuch as ‘Association of NigerianPhysicians in the Americas’ An-ambra State Association (ASA);Women and Calvary Torch Inter-national, etc.”

“In terms of doing businessin Nigeria, we would have notbeen able to increase ourvolume of business if therewere no opportunities.Clearly there areopportunities, it is a vibranteconomy as the economy hasgrown to over 7 per cent in thelast three years and it isexpected to continue to groweven in a relatively fasterpace. Of course there areissues but what is importantto us is that we are seeingpositive trends in the economyand we are excited about theopportunity for us to continueto do more business,” he said.

On the $1bn bonds that IFCplans to issue in Nigeria andhas approved fullauthorisation to commencethe process, Prosper said, itwas to boost investors’confidence in the financialmarket and also to make longterm loan available to localcompanies in the country.

“The $1bn bond that wewant to issue would have twoimportant effects. First, therewill be huge confidence. Allthe international investors willsee that IFC is willing to takethe risks on Nigeria, becauseat the end of the day we areissuing it in naira. Also, thatinvestment will help us toissue long term financialinstrument to local companies.This is because once we getthat money, we will use it tolend to companies that neednaira, we will give more tolocal companies in long termproject of up to fifteen yearswhich commercial bankscannot give because theydon’t have such instruments,”he explained.

BY JONAH NWOKPOKU

MEETING: From left: Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Tourism & Internally Generated Revenue, Mr Ashamu Fadipe;Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Mr. Oladisun Holloway; Senior Special Assistant to Lagos State Government/Secretary,Lagos State Hotel Licensing Authority, Aduke Gomez and Director, Leisure and Hospitality, Mrs. Mosunmola Johnson, at theHotels & Tourism Establishment stakeholders’ meeting organised by the ministry, in Lagos.

22—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

CMYK

What is risk?

WE have the dictionary meaning of risk as wellas the insurance definitionof risk. But to the ordinaryman out there, risk is thechance of a loss happening.It is the possibility of an un-fortunate thing happening toyou. Risk is you and I facingthe unexpected that is notdesired by anybody. Life isfull of risks, that is, uncer-tainties of life. In our person-al and business life we areexposed to various forms ofrisks. So in all endeavoursof life, we are faced withrisks. So better put, all hu-man endeavours are associ-ated with one form of risk orthe other.

So the question is ‘how dowe react to risks since weknow that we face risks in allwe do every day?

Classification of risksRisks can be classified in

a number of ways. We havespeculative or pure risks. Wehave financial and non-financial. Then we havefundamental risks. So it isgood for one to recognisethese classifications becausewhen you understand them,you know how best to treatthem.

Financial risksFinancial risks are those

risks that if they happen ormaterialise will result infinancial losses. And a goodexample is the risk of yourcar being stolen. You willsuffer to the extent of the costor the purchase value of thatcar. In the case of anaccidental damage to the car,you will suffer financially tothe extent of what it takes youto repair it. In the case of therisk of causing injury or thedeath of a person by usingthat car, you will sufferfinancially to the extent ofliability damages that youhave to pay either for thedeath or for treating theperson.

Non-financial risksNon-financial risks are

risks that will not result infinancial losses butsomebody will suffer a losswhen such risks happen.However, it can be verydifficult to quantify them infinancial terms. Examplesare sentimental or emotionallosses. For instanceemotional losses attached tothe disappointment one facesin the event of a failedrelationship, marriage etc.

Speculative riskA speculative risk is one

that leaves room for gain orloss, e.g gambling, betting.When you gamble or bet, you

Risks you are exposed to andhow you can manage them

BRIEFBRIEFBRIEFBRIEFBRIEF

MARINA Securities Limited has

won the CFI.co 2013international award forBest Stock Brokerage,Nigeria. Marina Securi-ties is one of Nigeria’sinvestment and financialadvisory servicescompany offeringfinancial advisory, stockbroking and investmentresearch services.

The CFI.co annualaward programmeidentifies individualsand organisations thattruly add value to theirrespective businessstakeholders andcommunities.

According to astatement published byCFI.co in its Summer2013 issue, the winneremerged from a carefulconsideration of theshortlisted firms by apanel of judges whoare pleased to an-nounce Marina Securi-ties as “‘Best StockBrokerage, Nigeria.”

The publication alsostated, “With theincreasing levels ofinterest in the Nigeri-an financial marketsboth domestically andinternationally, topquality brokerage firmsare key to sustainablefinancial development.”

It went further to state“As the Nigerian Mar-kets continue to growand opportunities arecreated, investorslooking to take advan-tage of the situation willbe in safe hands withMarina Securities.”

,

,

By Dr. Wole Adetimehin,Immediate Past President,Chartered InsuranceInstitute of Nigeria, CIIN

already know the risk you arefacing. For a risk to beauthentic there must be anelement of uncertainty, that is,the chances that this willhappen or not. If it happens,you will suffer a loss, if itdoesn’t happen, you will be atpeace. Speculative riskprovide for gain or losesituation, therefore it does notqualify as an insurable risk.

Pure riskPure risks are the ones that

expose you to financial lossesin the sence that you willnever make any gain from it,

them because we now havecovers for terrorism, politicalrisks and so on, but by theirfundamental nature, lossesemanating from them could beso huge that they could leadto total destruction.

Are all risks insurable? From the classifications

above, not all risks areinsurable. So what areinsurable risks and what arethe factors that must bepresent.

From the classification,financial risks are insurable

because you can quantify thelosses, that is, you canreduce the losses to financialterm.

Sentimental/emotionallosses are non-financialbecause you cannot quantifythem. You can’t express it infinancial terms so it becomesdifficult for you and theinsurer to agree on all theother things.

For pure and speculativerisks, pure risks areinsurable because there is noelement of you profiting orgaining from losses comingfrom pure risks while forspeculative risks, youalready know what you aregoing into because certainthings are bound to happenand you are either making again or a loss. In essence, itwill not qualify for insuranceor make it insurable. It willbe against public policycoupled with the fact thatyou already know what youare going into. The keyelement in insurance isprobability; therefore, if youare certainly sure of what youare staking, then it is notinsurable.

Fundamental risks, whichare risks of war, earthquake,terrorism, political risks and soon are insurable. In the earlytimes of insurance, they werenot insurable, however, inmodern times, they areinsurable. Due to theircatastrophic nature when theyresult in losses and because ofthe effect and magnitude offundamental risks, it has beendifficult for insurance housesor markets to build the requiredcapacity that can provide forsuch losses. However, by theday people are beginning tolook at ways and means ofproviding cover for such risks.In our market, people areasking that we provide coverfor kidnapping, terrorism,political risks. In some parts ofAfrica, e.g South Africa, Egypt,and Tunusia, people arealready coming together tounderwrite such risks.

e.g loss to your car due to theft;accidental damage to your car;fire damage to your house etc.Any compensation that you getwill just bring you back to theposition you were occupyingbefore the loss.

Fundamental risksThese are risks of nature

that goes beyond any scientificmanagement. They are suchthat when they happen, themagnitude can ruin anynational economy, e.g war,earthquake, terrorism. It is notthat insurance cannot handle

MarinaSecuritiesgets bestbrokerageaward

SEND YOUR QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS TOinsuranceandyou@yahoo.com

How do we react torisks since we knowthat we face risks inall we do every day

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013 — 23

EXISTING and prospectivecustomers of pension fund

administration will enjoy even moreconvenience as Stanbic IBTCPension Managers, a member ofStanbic IBTC Holdings, deploys aninnovative mobile office, the first ofits kind in the pension industry inNigeria.

At the formal unveiling of the Stan-bic IBTC Pension mobile office inLagos on August 19, the PensionFund Administrator said the moveis in line with its commitment toensure that clients are able to expe-rience excellent and convenientservice at all times.

The mobile office, sited on a bus,has been deployed in Lagos and willbe subsequently deployed in othercities, and will enhance access tocustomers. Head of Service, LagosState Civil Service Commission, Mr.Adesegun Ogunlewe, representedby Mrs. Folashade Onanuga, Exec-utive Director, Technical, Lagos StatePension Commission, performed the

Stakeholders advocate PPP in healthinsuranceSTAKEHOLDERS in the

health, finance,industrial and oil and gassectors have called for theadoption of the Public PrivatePartnership, PPP, model inreaching the grassroots and insustaining of healthcareinitiatives in Nigeria through.The stakeholders, in acommuniqué at the LivewellInitiative, LWI, Strategic FocusGroup Meeting on PromotiveHealthcare in Lagos, said thePPP model, in addition to aproactive and deliberatestrategy, will help facilitatewellness promotion and healthstatus awareness among thep o p u l a c e .The communiqué signed byMrs. Bisi Bright, ChiefExecutive Officer, LWI,emphasised the need forhealthcare services to be madeavailable to the generalpopulation, especially in viewof the burden of diseases whichis a multi-disciplinary, multi-agency affair.“The starting point should beadvocacy, awareness andthereafter, there should beleadership by government andthe private sector, and, lastly,legislation and enforcement.“Health insurance should beoffered to workers throughtheir employers so they canaccess healthcare. Out ofpocket expenditures forhealthcare should beminimised with communityhealth insurance for theinformal sector and for poorer

populations who pay for healthout of pocket.“Preventive measures shouldbe emphasised in order to avoidloss of health, financial costs oftreatment, and loss of ability towork, which can lead to furtherimpoverishment. “A lack ofawareness and understandingof current public healthresources including theCommunity Based HealthInsurance Scheme (CBHIS)exists, which results in wasted

resources due to underutilisedstaff. Raising awareness of this,health fairs, screeningopportunities, and otherhealthcare resources must bemade a priority,” thecommuniqué noted.Participants at the meetinginclude: Dr. Dr. OlufemiOlugbile, Permanent SecretaryHealth Lagos State , who actedas the Chairman; Dr. MonaKhanna, Clinical AssociateProfessor, University of Illinois,

USA, and Fox Chicago NewsMedical Contributor, whodoubled as the Co-Chairman;Dr. Edet Edet, Public HealthAdviser, Shell PetroleumDevelopment Company; Mrs.Kemi Ajayi, Chief OperatingOfficer, Banwo & Ighodalo; Mr.John Edheku, National SalesManager, May & Baker, Mrs.Bisi Bright and Dr. Adebola O.Hassan, Technical SpecialistHealth, USAID SHOPS,among others.

BRIEFBRIEFBRIEFBRIEFBRIEF

MALLAM Isa Yuguda,Executive Governor of

Bauchi State and chiefexecutives of leadinginsurance firms in thecountry are set to grace the5th Anniversary Lecture/Awards of Business Journalmagazine scheduled forFriday, September 6, 2013 atSheraton Hotel, Ikeja.

A statement by thePublisher/Editor-in-Chief ofBusiness Journal, Mr.Prince Cookey stated thatYuguda would be thespecial guest of honour atthe event and will alsoreceive an award for‘Champion of GoodGovernance & SustainableDevelopment’ inrecognition of his sterlingqualities in promoting thetenets of good governancein Nigeria and embarkingon sustainabledevelopmental strides inBauchi State.

In the same vein, leadinginsurance firms in thecountry would be honouredwith ‘Insurance IndustryLeadership Award’ inrecognition of theircorporate achievements andperformance in theinsurance industry over theyears.

Cookey said theanniversary lecture whichhas ‘Is Nigeria GrowingForward or DevelopingBackward’ as theme, isdesigned to provide aplatform for stakeholders incritical sectors of theeconomy to review thestate of the media industryand national economy, anddraw a roadmap forsustainable future.

He said the theme is aptgiven the inability of theeconomy to create jobs andreduce high level of povertyin the country despite GrossDomestic Product (GDP)growth of between six andeight per cent per annum,according to latest figuresfrom the government andvarious internationalfinancial institutions.

The Business Journalpublisher said the eventwould be chaired by Engr.Ernest Ndukwe, immediatepast Executive Vice-Chairman, NigerianC o m m u n i c a t i o n sCommission (NCC) whilethe guest speakers includeMr. Chike Mokwunye,Group Managing Director/CEO, Royal Exchange Plcand Mr. Roberts Orya,Managing Director/CEO,Nigerian Export-ImportBank (NEXIM).

Yuguda, insurancechiefs tobrainstorm oneconomy

unveiling ceremony.Chief Executive Officer, Stanbic IBTC

Pension Managers, Dr. Demola Sogunle,said the growing visibility will demystifythe pensions subject and encourage moreNigerians to subscribe to the contributo-ry pension scheme, thereby enhancingfinancial inclusion.

“We believe that this initiative whichspeaks of convenience and accessibilityis one of our key steps towards buildinga legacy of exceptional service deliverywhere the customer is the focal point ofall our activities. This initiative will bringpension service to the doorsteps of ourcustomers and prospective customersalike.”

Sogunle said plans are currently beingfinalized to deploy more mobile officesin various cities across the country. Thenew service window will complement thegroup’s expanding footprint in Nigeriaby adding to the almost 200 branches ofStanbic IBTC Bank, Stanbic IBTC Pen-sion Managers’nine regional offices, aswell as selected branches of Zenith Bankwhere the PFA operates. Other accesspoints include the internet, telephone,email and SMS.

Sogunle said it was to enhancerapport and uninterrupted interfacewith its customers that Stanbic IBTCPension Managers launched its 24-hour, multilingual call centre thatcomes in the three major Nigerianlanguages namely Yoruba, Igbo, andHausa as well as Pidgin English.Customers who call into this callcentre, he said, have the option ofbeing attended to in their preferredlanguage.

As a member of the 150 year-oldStandard Bank Group, Sogunle em-phasized that Stanbic IBTC PensionManagers is backed by the requi-site expertise and experience, strongand sound financial clout, ensuringefficiency in the management andsafety of clients’retirement savings.

“We believe that the support, ex-perience and capabilities of theStandard Bank Group to which webelong, have been instrumental inenhancing our expertise, resourcebase and general service delivery,thus reinforcing our goal of provid-ing excellent service to all our cus-tomers,” he stated.

Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers launches mobile office

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By ROSEMARY ONUOHA

By ROSEMARY ONUOHA

LAUNCH: From left: Mrs Folashade Onanuga, Executive Director, Technical, Lagos State PensionCommission; Dr Demola Sogunle, Chief Executive Officer, Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited;Mr Paul Awoyemi Ebong, Principal Insurance Officer, National Open University of Nigeria; MrSteve Elusope, Executive Director, Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited and Mrs Bunmi Dayo-Olagunji, Head Benegist Administration, Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited during the launchof Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited mobile office, in Lagos. Photo: Joe Akintola.

24—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

,

,

CONTRACTS for the constructionof roads and other infrastructure

as well as for the supply of goods andservices usually have provisions for anadvance payment to be made by theproject owner to the company/personexecuting the contract. The contractsusually require the contractor topresent an advance paymentguarantee issued by a bank before thepayment is made. The guarantee isusually designed to ensure theperformance of the contract up to thevalue of the payment and theguarantee is valid for a specifiedperiod of time.

Ordinarily, with an advancepayment guarantee, the contractorshould not have cash-flow difficultieson a project provided the projectowner makes other payments as andwhen due. The project owner and thecontractor on one project worked outa payment schedule with 20% of thecontract sum as advance payment andwith the remainder as 16 equalmonthly payments although thecompletion period for the project was12 months. The project owner and thecontractor did not have any advancepayment guarantee arrangements butthe project was delivered within thescheduled period and with paymentsmade as previously arranged. Thesignificant factor in this was the long-standing business relationshipbetween the project owner and thecontractor.

The first factor that could delayprogress of works on a constructioncontract is the financial status of thecontractor at the commencement ofthe contract. There have beensituations in which an advancepayment to a contractor only servedto plug a deficit in the contractor ’sbank account. The contractor wouldnot be able to obtain further fundsfrom the bank and the execution ofthe project would be delayed.

Another factor is the procedureadopted by banks with respect toadvance payment guarantees. Theadvance payment is usuallyconverted into an interest-earningdeposit for the contractor while thecontractor is made to take a loan thathas to be secured independent of thedeposit. The result is that thecontractor would not have readyaccess to the funds whilearrangements are made to providesecurities for the loan. In themeantime, the validity period of theguarantee is being used up withoutmuch work being done on the project.One finds that by the time the validityperiod runs out the work done on theproject is not commensurate with theadvance payment.

There is concern that governmentinfrastructure projects are not beingdelivered and that a lot of money isbeing spent with little to show for theexpenditure. One factor is the

Should we stop advancepayments on contracts?

manner the contracts involvinggovernment agencies are set up.When an advance payment is made,there is usually an arrangement thatthe advance will be repaid throughinstallmental deductions from thevaluations for work done. A typicalarrangement would be for an advancepayment of 25% of the contract sumwith repayment in ten equalinstallments. Once the contractor hascommenced work and he has executedsome work he could ask for a valuationof work done. If, for example, the workdone at first valuation is 6% of thecontract sum, a repayment of 2.5% ofthe contract sum is deducted from thevaluation leaving a net valuation of3.5% of the contract sum as due to thecontractor. If this net valuation is notpaid, the contractor may stop workwhich is often the case on governmentprojects.

We have a situation in which the

contractor has been paid 25% of thecontract sum with the work doneequivalent to 6% of the contract sumbut the contractor stops work becausehe is owed 3.5% of the contract sumin accordance with the terms of thecontract. This is one of the reasonswhy a lot of money has been paid out,the work done is not commensuratewith the payment made and thegovernment seems unable to doanything about the failure of thecontract. Government also awards fortoo many contracts than the resourcesavailable and the impression iscreated that all the government wantsto do is award new contracts such thatadvance payments can be made inrespect of the new contracts.

A profit-making organisation wouldnot leave its projects uncompleted. Forgovernment, the losses fromuncompleted projects are reflected ina population that has not been able toimprove their basic economic andliving conditions. One stepgovernment should take is stop thepractice of advance payments oncontracts. Others steps would beconsidered while discussing budgets,project execution and budgetperformance in the weeks ahead.

WEMA Bank Plc, which successfulyraised N40 billion ($247.4 mil-

lion) earlier for expansion of its op-erations across the country, said it’sseeking an additional $200 million overthe next two years to fund its loan book.

“The sum of $100 million is plannedto be raised in the first quarter of nextyear and the balance by 2015, when wewould have improved on our return onequity.” Chief Financial Officer TundeMabawonku said, “We’re looking atseveral options including bond, loanand debenture for funds.”

Wema Bank, which operates as a re-gional bank in western Nigeria andthe capital, Abuja, plans to seek regu-latory approval for a national banking

Wema Bank plans to raise$200m to fund loan stock

licence this year, allowing it to op-erate in Nigeria’s six regions.

The Central Bank of Nigeriachanged licensing rules as part ofreforms after a debt crisis in 2009brought the banking industry to theverge of collapse.

Banks in Nigeria are either li-censed as holding companies, op-erating local and internationalunits, or as national and regionalbanks.

The bank plans to open an addi-tional 20 branches to increase thenumber to 149, Mabawonku said.‘Our loan book is planned to in-crease by 20 percent this year and60 percent in 2014,” he said.

By NKIRUKA NNOROM

WORRIED by the level of financial illiteracy in the Nigerian

capital market, the Securities andExchange Commission, SEC, has re-iterated its commitment towards im-proving the level of financial educa-tion of micro-investors.

Speaking during a courtesy visit tothe Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE,the SEC Director-General, MsArunma Oteh, said that increasingthe level of investors’ education wascritical to ensuring the protection oftheir rights.

Though she said that the Commis-sion had done a lot to ensure rulesenforcement, Oteh noted that arminginvestors with knowledge of the mar-ket was a veritable tool for protectingtheir rights, adding that, “An inves-tor, who does not have the knowledgeof his right, will not know where togo to make sure that those rights areprotected.”

Her words, “We think that enforce-ment is key, but I think most impor-tant for us in investors protection isunderstanding of their rights and thatis why as a team of financial sectorregulators – the Central Bank, thePension Commission, the NAICOM,along with the Stock Exchange andSEC, we have agreed that we mustform a group, which we have already

inaugurated, the Financial LiteracySteering Committee.

“Basically, what we want to do istackle cases of financial illiteracyhead on; learn from one another whatwe do in our various agencies, butalso coordinate our efforts, becauseyour best form of protection is yourknowledge.”

She noted that over the last threeyears, the Commission has made alot of new rules, as well as strength-ened the existing rules to ensure anefficient market.

“We have made a lot of rulechanges because we believe thatrules shape behaviours; they set theboundary and it is a way to commu-nicate to people, this is what you cando and this is what you can’t do. Butwe feel that we have to do more thanjust count rules, so what we havedone over the last three and halfyears is a greater focus on enforce-ment,” she stated.

“We now have a situation wherepeople will say you have a lot ofregulation because we have a his-tory of an under-regulated market.What we have done is tighten en-forcement because enforcement wasweak, and what we did is partnerwith other agenciest. We havepeople seconded from the AttorneyGeneral’s office because justice de-layed is justice denied.

SEC reiterates commitmentto investors’ education

AWARD: From left: Executive Director, Human Resources, Seven-Up BottlingCompany Plc, Mr. Femi Mokikan; recipient of the 2013 Seven-Up HBSScholarship, Mayowa Kuyoro and Head of Marketing, Seven-Up BottlingCompany Plc, Mr. Norden Thurston at the unveiling of the third winner of 7-Up Harvard Business School scholarship award, in Lagos.

There is con-cern that gov-ernment infra-

structureprojects are notbeing deliveredand that a lot ofmoney is beingspent with littleto show for the

expenditure

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013—25

DIARYDIARYDIARYDIARYDIARY

PreviewPreviewPreviewPreviewPreviewNew inventions

shaping life and living

Select ICT eventsSelect ICT eventsSelect ICT eventsSelect ICT eventsSelect ICT events

INSIDE

CMYK

TextAnywhereworkswithoutservice

Text Anywhere usesIridium satellite technol-ogy to send and receivetexts even in areas with-out cellular coverage.

The Text Anywheredoes not require a sub-scription plan, whichkeeps the costs lowerthan other satellite bea-cons. It works via a Webapp and taps into theIridium satellite networkto provide global cover-age in most areas, and isdesigned to be pairedwith WiFi equipped com-puters. Once the devicehas been selected as theuser’s WiFi network andthe browser-based appli-cation opened, text mes-sages or text-only emailscan be both sent and re-ceived.

Continues on page 27

EDITED by Adekunle Adekoya

ITEXPO West2013. Holds 27-29

Aug 2013 in LasVegas, USA.

Design & Man-ufacturing Mid-

west 2013. Holds10-12 Sep 2013 in

Chicago, USA.

Middle EastTelco World Sum-

mit 2013. Holds23-24 Sep 2013 in

Dubai, UAE.

P & T EXPOCOMM CHINA

2013. Holds 24-28Sep 2013 in Bei-

jing, China.

CRM-expo2013. Holds 24-26Sep 2013 in Stutt-

gart, Germany.

THE strategies anddynamic approach-

es needed to succeed inthe competitive marketworld has made internetmarketing a kind of life-line for businesses thatmay not have to toil any-more to break even intheir prospective en-deavours.

However, an issue ishow proactive the busi-nesses can be in adopt-ing digital marketing, tocreate that constant inno-vation required to seal offdeals.

These are the realisa-tions that spurred tech-nology expert and CEOWSI-Axon West Africa,Chief Edirin Abamwa topitch his tent in LagosNigeria with the inten-tion to provide innova-tive internet marketingsolutions for clientsworldwide.

Abamwa said that hav-ing been involved in de-veloping and executingresults-oriented digitalmarketing strategies thatare custom-tailored tonew technologies, Ni-geria was a better desti-nation giving thenumber of new business-es sprouting up by theday.

Speaking with Van-guard Hi-Tech, he ex-

plained the benefits andleverages a businesscould derive from en-gaging digital marketingas a strategy.

Business edgeof digital mar-keting

“Engaging in digitalmarketing gives busi-ness edge. For instancewhen a business signs to

a digital marketing com-pany like ours which cov-ers Nigeria, South Afri-ca and Ghana, via Goog-le, yahoo and other plat-forms, what it means isthat any online productcampaign it runs, wouldbe accessed by internetusers in those places.The catch is that thenumber of yahoo users,which actually is enor-mous, will get the com-pany ’s messages andwhen that happens, thecompany is on the marchto the top. Rememberthat as many as possiblethat stumble on the on-line promos and becomeinterested are automati-cally the company’s cus-tomers, despite distanceand regardless that no-body physically talked to

New NCSpresidentunfoldsagenda

BY PRINCE OSUAGWU

BY EMMA ELEBEKE

Continues on page 27

NEW President ofthe Nigeria Com-

puter Society, ProfessorDavid Adewumi says hewill Liaise with Federalministries to embark onaggressive application ofICT tools in all govern-ment agencies. ProfessorAdewumi made the as-sertion at the weekend,during his inauguralspeech as the 18th Presi-dent of the association.

He said that his missionas President of the 18thNEC of the NCS is tomeet the demands ofmembers and the dyna-mism of the time. Thenew NCS boss also prom-ised to expand the mem-bership base of NCS bycompleting the establish-ment of NCS chapters inall states of the federation.He also stated that themain focus of NCS duringhis tenure with the sup-port of NEC will be to con-tinue to build a society,whose focus would be arobust membership baseand ICT driven.

"An articulate and high-ly proactive NEC andwell informed member-ship, a society which willbe able to pay its bills withor without external sup-port.

"With the support ofNEC, NCS presence inAbuja will be strength-ened just as there will beregular review and im-provement of our web-site,’’ he added.

On the membershipbenefits, Adewumi said aprovision of digital News-letter to all registeredmembers on happeningsin the IT industry in Ni-geria and beyond wouldbe introduced and thatmembers will henceforthreceive their membershipcertificates and other doc-umentations through cou-riers’ services.

The catch is that thenumber of yahoo users,which actually is enor-

mous, will get the compa-ny’s messages and when

that happens, the companyis on the march to the top

Gionee's E6series spicesAndroid market

What publicists, PRfirms should know

about YouTube

Tecno sues fordialogue as brandwar gets underwayat Computer Village

How internet marketingcan boost businesses

— WSI-AXON boss

Oracle bids toraise quality of

Nigerianmanpower

CATCH THEM YOUNG: Commercial Operations & Marketing Leader, General Electric (Oil & Gas),Tanya Spencer (left); Managing Director, General Electric (Health Care), Pamela Hall (2nd right);Executive Director, Women In Technology Empowerment Centre, Ore Somolu (right); presenting alaptop to a student, Ogbeide Emmanuella at the GE Girls In Technology Day.

26— Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

What publicists, PR firmsshould know about YouTube

,

Gionee's E6 series spicesAndroid market

JUST as the battle formobile phone

market hots up, China-based handset maker,Gionee last week inLagos announced thelaunch of its latestsmartphone, the GioneeElife E6.

Launched last June inChina, the smartphone,which features a uni-body design, sports a 5-inch One-Glass-Solutionamoled display with aresolution of 1080x1920pixels and pixel densityof 441ppi will be availa-ble in the Nigeriamarket in a matter ofweeks.

Extremely thin at just6.18mm, and weighing128 grammes, it ispowered by a 1.5GHzMediatek quad-coreprocessor, along with2GB of RAM and 32GBinternal storage.

It also parades a 13-megapixel auto focusrear camera, which alsoincludes a secondgeneration BSI sensor,along with an LED flashand a 5-megapixel front-facing camera with a28mm lens. Both camer-as support 1080p videorecording. The phoneruns Android 4.2 with itsown custom Amigo UIlayer. The phone ispowered by a 2020mAhbattery.

Major featuresGionee Elife E6 key

specifications includes a5-inch One-Glass-

Solution AMOLEDdisplay with a resolutionof 1080x1920 pixels,1.5GHz quad-coreprocessor, 2GB RAM,32GB internal storage,13-megapixel rearcamera with auto focusand LED flash, 5-megapixel front facingcamera, Android 4.2Jelly Bean with AmigoUI, Wi-Fi/GPS/Bluetooth4.0/FM radio and non-removable 2020mAhBattery.

Motion sensorSpeaking to IT Jour-

nalists during thelaunch in Lagos, TheMarketing Manager ofthe company, Mr.Gabriel Nwabuezedisclosed that the phonehas a motion sensor thatallowis users to answerphones by directlyraising it up to theirears; answers calls bywaving hands over thescreen, flip betweenpictures by a sweepingmotion and automatical-ly play/pause videoswhen the user looksaway from the screen,

among othergestures.

Sophisti-cateddesign

Nwabuezethat "Withits intuitiveuser inter-face, wehavedevelopedthe Elife E6with thecustomers'interest atheart,supplyingwhat is trulyimportant tothem interms ofquality,performanceand affordability all in astylish and sophisticateddesign."

The company claimsthat the Gionee Elife E6features HeartbeatSynchronizing Technolo-gy that enables thesystem to synchronouslywake up applicationsevery ten minutes,reducing the number ofapplications wake ups,

TraditionalTV operationsare governedby schedules

that determinethe what view-ers see at eve-ry time of theday, YouTubecontent is al-

ways available

thus improving powerconsumption. Thephone's operatingsystem also automatical-ly sets a white listensuring essentialapplications to be wakenup at any time. Theproduct is available inBlack and White colourvariants with matchingcolour cases.

— Emeka Aginam

AT the just concluded second quarter

industry forum on MobileNumber Portability, MNP,organized by the ICTPublishers Alliance heldin Lagos recently, telcosunder the umbrella of theAssociation of Telecom-munications Companiesof Nigeria , (ATCON) dis-agreed with the regula-tor, NCC, over options ofsanctions for errant mobileservice providers underthe Mobile Number Port-ability scheme.

MNP allows subscribersto switch from one net-work to another in searchof better telecoms service,while still retaining theiroriginal mobile numbers.

Speaking at the forum ,ATCON President, Mr.Lanre Ajayi, told thegathering that sactionwas not the best for ailingoperators under the MNP.He argued that serviceproviders would haveused the money placed onthem as sanctions to buildnetwork capacity in thecountry.

“Sanctions have notworked for the sector. It isnot the way to go becauseit involved taking themoney that should be in-vested in the networks togive to the regulator. It isthe bail out option. Iamnot in support of sanctions

as an option. The opera-tors could have used themoney to build capacity inthe country” Ajayi said.

Disagreeing with AT-CON boss, the SpecialAssistant (Technical) tothe Executive Vice-Chair-man, NCC, Mr. EdoyemiOgoh told the audiencesanction was only a toolused as deterrent to oth-ers thereby restoring san-ity in the system.

“There is always sanc-tions in any system. NCCuses sanctions to restoresanity in the system. It is

always the last option af-ter several warnings andreminders. When all ave-nues have been exploredby the NCC to correct theoperators and they still donot want to change, thenwe sanction. This willeventually force them todo what is right,” Ogohwho represented NCCEVC Dr. Eugene Juwahsaid..

Also speaking at the fo-rum, the Chief OperatingOfficer, InterconnectClearing House Limited,Mr. Uche Onwudiwe,

while agreeing that thenumber of subscribersporting across the net-works were on the risenoted that there was needto review the 90-day time-line to 30 days.

Although NCC intro-duced the porting schemewith much enthusiasm, itappears Nigerians arenot so excited about it, asonly 22, 000 subscribershave successfully portedtheir numbers in fourmonths, of the 114 millionactive subscribers acrossall networks.

ATCON, NCC differ on number portability sanctionsBY EMEKA AGINAM

GIONEE LAUNCH: From left: Mr Chukie Eze, Gionee Nigerian repre-sentative; African Regional Manager, Jack Yung, and Marketing Manager ofthe company, Mr. Gabriel Nwabueze during the launch of Gionee Elife E6series in Lagos last week. Photo: Emeka Aginam

WIKIPEDIA defines a celebrity

as a person who has aprominent profile andcommands some degreeof public fascination andinfluence in day-to-daymedia. While many attaincelebrity status as a resultof their great work, in oth-er cases, people becomecelebrities due to mediaattention.

As we the internet con-tinues to play a moreprominent role in helpingto spread information andshape perception, it is im-portant for current and as-piring celebs, and publi-cists to understand onlinestrategies that can help tobuild fame and accept-ance.

YouTubeempowerspeople on aglobal scaleto share in-formation,knowledgeand experi-ences inways thatwere neverbefore pos-s i b l e .YouTube isa truly 21st-c e n t u r yplatform forpolitical en-gagement,b reak ingdown tradi-tional barriers by connect-ing voters around theworld with governmentleaders.

Entertainment is one ofthe biggest spectrums onYouTube since the earlydays of the site. Whatstarted as a platform forfriends to share their vid-eos and ideas with otherfriends is now a platformthat gets thousands ofpeople famous all overthe world. Youtube allowsa person or group to posta video of their perform-ance for all to see. Youtubeis free to use to view con-cerns and any video thatis posted on this site. Themore views a person hasthe more popular they be-come.

Creative people aresome of the first set ofpeople to understand thetrue power of YouTube.From musicians like Jus-tin Bieber, Soulja Boy toFred, the power ofYoutube to help connectlarge numbers of peopleto a message, therebybuilding fame for thespeaker has been consist-ently proven.

BY TAIWO KOLA-OGUNLADE

Here are 3 crucial rea-sons why every body with-in in Nigeria’s entertain-ment space should havea strong YouTube pres-ence:

NumbersMore than 1 billion peo-

ple come to YouTube eve-ry month. That’s almosthalf the people on the In-ternet. In 2011 alone,YouTube had more than 1trillion views -- that’s al-most 140 views for everyperson on earth, with 4billion of those views de-livered per day. Thispresent an opportunityfor entertainers who con-stantly need to share theirwork with large numbersof people. From Psy, to theOlympics, to the Harlem

S h a k e ,YouTubes h a p e swhat mat-ters inc o n t e n tand cul-ture to-day.

ReachIn addi-

tion tohelping tor e a c hl a r g enumbersof people,t h eYouTubeplatformwill help

entertainers connect tomore people across differ-ent countries. This is par-ticularly useful to coun-tries where a largenumber of nationals re-side or travel abroad.Take for example YouTubereaches more US adultsages 18-34 than any ca-ble network. So if you areaspiring to be popular inthe US, you might wantto consider YouTube.

On demandBecause traditional TV

operations are governedby schedules that deter-mine the what viewers seeat every time of the day,YouTube content is alwaysavailable throughout theday. So even in the casewhere most people missthe live broadcast, theycan always go back to seethe video.

And if you are still notconvinced, hear this, Bill-board’s Hot 100 now in-corporates YouTube viewsin ranking song popular-ity, meaning that YouTubeviews propel songs to thetop of the chart.

Ognkolade is withGoogle Nigeria.

CMYK

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013—27

How internet marketing can boost businessesContinues from page 25

them”. Another platform that

digital marketing alsofacilitates, include theopportunity of holdingonline meetings and dis-cussions with unit headsand all marketers. Con-sidering that most organ-izations don’t have themeans to converse inter-nally, digital marketinggives that opportunity ofcloseness and promptcontact between unitheads and marketers bythe intranet that comeswith the portfolio.

Continues from page 25

On the NCS secretariat,he said that the NCS sec-retariat will undergo re-structuring to meet thegrowing needs of bothmembers and the bestpractices, even as he saidthat members will hence-forth receive prompt at-tention to request/in-quires. He equally gavea hint on his plan to over-haul the NCS RecordsManagement System,stressing that he wouldliaise with Federal minis-tries to embarking on ag-gressive application ofICT tools in all govern-ment agencies.

"With the support of theNCS National ExecutiveCouncil, we shall improve

inter and intra-govern-ment relationships withNCS.

Our focus is to build onthe current visibility ofNCS in Nigeria in partic-ular and the world in gen-eral, create a more pro-ductive working relation-ships with the interna-tional community andmaintain good workingrelationship with otherprofessional groups with-in and outside the coun-try."

Planning for digitalmarketing

However, digital mar-keting is not a tea partyand Abamwa admittedthat to invest in digitalmarketing takes a lot ofpreparation. “We try asmuch as we can to letpeople understand thatto get the edge in digit-al marketing; one how-ever, has to start plan-ning ahead, between sixmonths and one year atthe minimum. Besidesthis planning, website isanother very importantaspect of digital market-ing. A poor website kills

the prospects of thestrategy while a welldesigned website drawsthe benefits closer”

Way forwardin a cashlesssociety

If there is a time totake digital marketingseriously, it is nowwhen every transactionis going cashless. “ Ni-gerian businesses forinstance has no choicein this. Today nobodyexchanges cash. It’s acashless society we are

trying to entrench andpeople do their purchas-es online these days. Sohow can a business that isnot online survive? If Ni-geria businesses do notmove as the world is mov-ing, very soon it will findit impossible to do busi-ness with the rest of theworld. So it is inevitable.This is the way the worldis moving. However, theargument is not whetherthe digital media will re-place conventional mediabut we should develop thesense of seeing them astwo sides of a coin thatcomplement each other.

New NCS presidentunfolds agenda

SAP, AxelshowcaseERPsolutions foroil and gas

PORT Harcourt-basedAxel Enterprise SystemsLimited, in partnershipwith global business so-lutions developer SAP,has collaborated to show-case the best enterpriseresource planning (ERP)computer systems recent-ly in Port-Harcourt. Thecompany used the ave-nue to show players in theoil & gas sector how SAPsolutions will guaranteeadvantage for them in acompetitive environment.

Mr. Chude Osiegbu, adirector at Axel explainedthat SAP solutions cater forall sectors of the economy,noting that needs in theoil and gas sector areenormous. He wentahead to list some of theunique advantages of us-ing SAP solutions in thiscritical sector of the Nige-rian economy as EHS(Environmental, Healthand Safety) RegulatoryDocumentation On-De-mand; Enhanced visibili-ty, insight, and decisionmaking; Increased flexi-bility for innovation andexpansion; Better per-formance with Asset An-alytics; Improved efficien-cy across mission-criticalprocesses; Extended En-terprise Content Man-agement; and Proven, com-prehensive support for along-term competitive edgeusing industry specific bestpractices

Osiegbu added that “SAPhas developed industry-specific ERP solutions thataddress the needs of over28 industrial sectors and ispresent in more than 120countries worldwide. SAPhas managed to build up aclient base of more than 12million users worldwide.Those numbers are estimat-ed to grow as more andmore enterprises jump onthe SAP ERP bandwagon”he concluded. Corroborat-ing this position, SAP Part-ner Account Manager, Ay-okanmi Ayuba, said adopt-ing SAP ERP suite is a stepto organizational success.She said SAP had beentried and trusted and withAxel’s presence in Port-Har-court Nigeria, provision ofSAP business solutions isnot far-fetched.

CMYK

28 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

WOLVES and Akwa United will clash in ahistoric Federation Cup semi-final as

both teams seek a place in the final for the firsttime. Akwa beat Wolves 1-0 in a rescheduledleague match to set the tone for a grudge gamein Bauchi on Wednesday.

Akwa United captain Ini Akpan saidthat his side are destined to be in thefinal so Warri Wolves won’t stop them.

”I am sure we are destined to play inthis year’s Federation Cup final. We willdo our best and leave the rest to God, Iknow it won’t be easy but I don’t seeWarri Wolves stopping us. We puteverything in God’s hand,” Akpan said

Akwa created a major upset when theyeliminated cup holders Heartland 5-4 onpenalties after fulltime scores stood at1-1. Wolves goalkeeper John Dosu, whofeatured for Akwa United last season,said that he has the keys to unlock theUyo-based team.

”It is a big game that we must win. Weare ready for the match. The trophy isour target and we will see off AkwaUnited. We want to write our name ingold,” he said.

F E D E R A T I O N C U P :

Wolves, Akwa chasehistoric final spot

By ONOCHIE ANIBEZE

Nigeria’s Ambassador to Russia andBelarus, Chief Assam E. Assam has

said that he would advise PresidentGoodluck Jonathan to approve more fundsfor sports development, saying that sportsnot only develops the individual, “it’s a greatunifier and image booster which everycountry craves for.”

Ambassador Assam said this in a receptionhe held for the Nigeria’s delegation to the14th edition of the Athletics Championshipshere in Moscow Saturday night.

He told the athletes that two medals fromthe championships after a 14- year droughtwas an achievement that he wanted the teamto be proud of.

“Your achievement here might look smallto you but it is not. For 14 years we neverwon anything from the championships. Nowwe have two medals and with more effortsand funding the next edition would bebetter,” Ambassador Assam told the athleteswho intermittently applauded his remarks.

He said that Nigeria has had problems butwas now changing and that there was hopein the future of the country. He urged theathletes to seize any opportunity that comestheir way to improve themselves positivelyand also contribute to the growth of thecountry.

The Ambassador added the following: “Youhave done us proud and you must not relentin your efforts to continue to improve andwin more laurels for Nigeria. Your generationhas a future. You must seize everyopportunity to make that future great. And Iwant to be part of the group that willencourage that great future. We have hadbad sports administration for long but thingsare changing and I’ll tell Our President thatwe cannot continue to approve little fundsfor sports and expect huge results. Nigeriacan be the best if we put our acts right. Twodays ago, I was in the team that welcomedthe President of Kenya here and the firstissue that I mentioned to him was acongratulatory message on his election andthe next was the performance of the Kenyanteam here which we all congratulated him.He did not come for bilateral talks but towatch the Kenyan team and motivate them.Our own President is also encouragingathletes now and will do more for you. I wantyou to believe in our country. When you wear

“I played for Akwa Unitedbefore, I know the team inside andout, and that will be used to beatthem. We can’t afford to lose tothem this time around.”

Sports funding:

Ambassador Assam

to take case to

President Jonathan

Chief Assam EAssam, Nigeria’sAmbassador toRussia andBelarus withBlessing Okagbareand ReginaGeorge during thereception he heldfor the Nigeriandelegation to theWorldChampionships inMoscow.AmbassadorAssam wantsbetter funding forsports in Nigeria

these our colours, wear themproudly, put in your best andyou will never regret it.”

Team captain BlessingOkagbare, in response,thanked the Ambassador forhis words and said that it wasa great honour for her andthe team to be hosted by thesports loving Ambassador.

The team enjoyed theirtime at the Nigerian Housewith Nigerian delicacies. TheAmbassador and team doctorand AFN member, Dr. KenAnugwueje entertained theofficials with interestingstories of their days asstudents at the University ofNigeria.

Tottenham ace Gareth Baleis excited about his

imminent move to Real Madrid.The People says the Spanish

giants tabled an £86.3millionoffer for Bale, 24, last month –and will put the Welshman onGalactico wages.

Bale will sign a five-year dealworth a basic £150k per week –putting him on a par with Real’sother superstars CristianoRonaldo, Iker Casillas, SergioRamos and Xabi Alonso.

The Welshman is understoodto be in awe of the fact he israted on a par with the Spanishclub’s superstars and that’s amajor factor in his desire to joinReal.

Bale to accept£50M Real deal Man U offer

£35m forFellaini, BainesMANCHESTER United plan to make

an improved offer for Everton pairMarouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines inthe coming days.

The Daily Mail says United are preparedto go to £35m for the Everton duo.

The Barclays Premier League championshad a joint offer of £28m turned down anddescribed as ‘derisory and insulting’ byEverton yesterday.

With Everton setting a private valuation of£40m on the two players, United look set fora struggle that will in all likelihood last untilthe end of the transfer window.

Fellaini

•Gareth Bale

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013 — 29

Di Matteo tipsEagles for WorldCup glory

By SOLOMON NWOKE

FORMER Chelsea coach, RobertoDi Matteo has predicted that the

Super Eagles may be the first Africanteam to win the World Cup going bythe increasing level of their tactical skilland competitiveness at internationalcompetitions.

Di Matteo who was in Lagos at theweekend to kickoff the GuinnessFootball Manager campaign said heenjoyed a cordial and fruitful workingrelationship with most African playersas he described Nigeria’s midfielder,Obi John Mikel and Victor Moses asdependable players.

Relishing the attributes of a goodfootball manager, the Italian soccertactician said, “as a football manager,you need to show good leadershipqualities, you need to have the passion, the knowledge, honesty and respectfor your players and that’s veryimportant. And as the head of thegroup, your team believes in you.

I knew Eagletswere over-aged— Ghana coachGhana U-17 coach Paa Kwesi

Fabin feels vindicated followingnews that many Nigeria U17 playershave failed age tests. Nigeria have been forced to revamptheir squad for the FIFA U17 World Cupin UAE this October.

Fabin complained bitterly about theages of the Golden Eaglets whothumped the Black Starlets 6-1 at theAfrican Championship in Morocco.

”I’m not surprised because I haveworked as a youth coach for a very longtime and when I saw the Nigerian teamat the tournament, they were too oldfor the U17 age limit,” Fabin has beenquoted by Joy FM.

”This shows that CAF has not beentruthful to us and the MRI Scan theyconducted on the Nigerian team beforethe tournament in Morocco was afallacy.

Mourinho fan-ciesSuarez bid

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho isconsidering joining the battle for

Liverpool striker Luis Suarez.The People says Manchester United

ace Wayne Rooney is Mourinho’spriority, but he is willing to lookelsewhere if he can’t settle on a dealwith Old Trafford chiefs.

Chelsea have also been givenencouragement to bid for Liverpool’sSuarez by his camp.

The Uruguayan is a long-shot optionbut could yet move up the wish list.

West Bromeye VictorMoses

West BromwichAlbion boss Steve

Clarke is eyeing Chelseawinger Victor Moses.

Clarke wants a widemidfielder signing andwith talks stalling over adeal for ManchesterCity’s Scott Sinclair, heis now consideringalternatives. The Express& Star says Moses is onClarke’s radar this week.

Wenger bows toArsenal fans...says we will spendArsenal boss Arsene Wenger has

apologised to fans for defeat toAston Villa.

The Daily Star says Wenger is finallyready to bow to pressure fromsupporters furious with his failure tospend this summer.

The Frenchman apologised to fansfollowing the opening-day 3-1 homedefeat to Aston Villa - and last nighthis weekly e-mail to supporters read:“We want our fans to be happy. Whenyou don’t achieve that, you feel sorryand disappointed. People think we donot want to spend. We want to.”

ARSENAL have been hand-ed a number of fitness

boosts ahead of the first leg oftheir Champions League qualifi-er against Fenerbahce tonight.

Super Eagles duo of JosephYobo and Emmanuel Emenikeare expected to be in the thick ofthe action in defence and attack,respectively.

The Gunners slipped to a 3-1home defeat to Aston Villa on theopening day of the Barclays Pre-mier League season at the week-end, but manager Arsene Wengerwould have been delighted to seeBacary Sagna, Kieran Gibbs,Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshereand Tomas Rosicky all train onTuesday morning.

There had been fears over thefitness of those individuals, espe-cially full-back Sagna who land-ed awkwardly towards the end ofthe game on Saturday, but theycould all play some part in Tur-

C H A M P I O N S L E A G U E :

EmenikEmenikEmenikEmenikEmenike,e,e,e,e,YYYYYobo battleobo battleobo battleobo battleobo battleArArArArArsenalsenalsenalsenalsenal

T O N I G H T ’ S F I X T U R E S

Dinamo Zagreb v Austria Memphis Magna 7:45pmSteaua Bucuresti v Legia Warsaw 7:45pmFenerbahce v Arsenal 7:45pmLudogorets v Basel 7:45pmSchalke v PAOK Salonika 7:45pm

key as Arsenal look to seal aplace in the lucrative group stag-es of the Champions League.

England’s Alex Oxlade-Cham-berlain is a certainty to miss outafter suffering a serious knee in-jury in the defeat to Villa, withsome reports suggesting the 20-year-old could be ruled out for upto six months.

Qualification to Europe’s eliteclub competition is seen as amust for a club like Arsenal, andhaving as strong a squad as pos-sible for the match at the SukruSaracoglu stadium on Wednes-day night gives Wenger’s side thebest chance of getting a positiveresult ahead of the second leg atthe Emirates next Tuesday.

If Arsenal do reach the groupstages there will be even morecalls for new faces in north Lon-don, after a bid for Newcastlemidfielder Yohan Cabaye was re-jected on Monday.

Luis Suarez

Vic-tor

Moses

•Emenike

CMYK

30—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

Oracle bids to raise qualityof Nigerian manpower

A P P A R E N T L Ypiqued by the low

level of skilled manpow-er in Nigeria, technologysolution provider, Oracle,at the weekend, promisedto flood the Nigerian mar-ket, with skilled manpow-er. The company said itwould do that by trainingpeople across differentindustries, in cuttingedge technology devices,solutions and innovationsthat would make the hith-erto unemployable youthsemployable and help ad-vance businesses forthose in business.

The company in flyingoff this project, partneredwith Interdist Alliances, aPlatinum level member inOracle PartnerNetworkand Value Added Distrib-utor, to unveil Oracle Part-ner HUB in Nigeria.

The Hub located atInterdist Alliances’ offic-es in Lagos, Nigeria, pro-vides a comprehensiveportfolio of services todrive the growth of part-ner organizations andtheir business. The con-cept of an Oracle PartnerHub combines Oracle’stechnical knowledge, pro-fessional services andmarketing support to helpensure the best possiblesupport for partners.

Oracle has been build-ing an extensive partnernetwork and partner sup-port program around theglobe. In Nigeria, collab-oration with partner or-ganizations is part of Or-acle’s success and thenewly launched PartnerHUB builds on this.

BY PRINCE OSUAGWU Oracle Partner HUB in-tegrates Oracle Studio, acontemporary and profes-sional meeting placewhere you can demon-strate business solutions,meet other professionalsand hold networkingevents; Oracle Academywhich offers specialisttraining in Oracle soft-ware, hardware and en-gineered systems at dis-counted rates; and OracleISV Migration Centerwhich provides technicalsupport for migration toOracle software, in onelocation.

The Studio is an impres-sive location to meet withclients to showcase solu-tions using Oracle tech-nology. It's open to allpartners who are mem-bers of Oracle PartnerNet-work. The Studio consistsof the latest technology fortesting and demonstrat-ing business solutions;enables access to salesand marketing supportfrom Oracle, includingopportunities to partici-pate in joint marketingcampaigns; gives admin-istrative support for busi-nesses to run seminars,client hospitality and par-ticipate in networkingevents

It delivers over 5,000training days every year,educating over 1,500 part-ner consultants.

The Academy is dedicat-ed to training partners,covering the full Oraclestack: hardware, technol-ogy and applications.Shorter course durationsmean that partners canlimit the time spent awayfrom the office.

THE National SpaceResearch and Devel-

opment Agency, NASR-DA says Nigeria did notseek or receive any finan-cial grant from the Unit-ed Kingdom for its spaceprogrammes.

Director General of NAS-RDA, Dr. Seidu Moham-med stated this in Abujawhile debunking a claimthat the country has ap-proached UK for spacegrants.

He acknowledged thatNigeria and a UK basedsatellite company, SSTL,went into partnership in2002 to build and launchNigeriasat-1, Nigeriasat-2 and Nigeriasat-X, butnoted that the partnershipnever translated intogranting Nigeria a grantby the UK.

He further describingthe claim as false, sayingthat the relationship be-tween Nigeria and UKwith regards to space pro-

Nigeria denies seeking UK aidfor space programme

grammes has purely beenon a commercial basis andnever on grant.

“NASRDA has not atany time received finan-cial aid or grant from theUK for space programme,besides the existing cor-dial relationship estab-lished with Surrey Satel-lite Technology Limited(SSTL), a UK based com-pany, in our quest for theutilization of space andscience technology for thesocio-economic develop-ment of our nation. Let mesay point blank here thatthe partnership has beenpurely on a commercialbasis”, said Dr. Moham-med.

The NASRDA boss fur-ther stated that the coun-try has been reapingbountifully from its satel-lites, adding that suchclaims that Nigeria re-ceived grant for its spaceprogramme was meant todistract the country fromits space technology ad-vancement drive.

WHILE the marketfor mobile phone

continues to grow in ge-ometric progression inNigeria where the de-mand is so high, thereappears to be fresh bat-tle for market suprema-cy among OriginalEquipment Manufactur-ers, (OEMs) .

Just recently, the Mo-bile Phone Dealers Asso-ciation of Nigeria hadsome grey areas in theirbusiness relationshipwith TECNO Mobiles.However, the phonedealers had alleged thatthe TECNO brand whichis already the toast ofmany Nigerians wasscheming to corner agreater percentage of themarket share.

The phone dealershave also alleged thatTECNO was behind a re-cent action by the Stand-ards Organization of Ni-geria (SON), where sev-eral substandard andunapproved mobilephones were discoveredand confiscated from themarket.

The phone dealers itwas gathered, had de-manded that the ChiefExecutive Officer ofTECNO should come toNigeria to address themone on one.

This development, itwas further gathered hadled to the pulling downsome banners and billboards proclaiming theTecno brand in the Com-puter Village by thephone dealers who also

Tecno sues for dialogue as brand wargets underway at Computer Village

BY EMEKA AGINAM alleged that their profitmargins from Tecno hasdropped.

With this development,TECNO Mobile, hascalled for dialogue toaddress the current mar-ket misunderstandingbetween it and phonedealers in the ComputerVillage Market in Ikeja,Lagos.

Reacting to the devel-opment, the Public Rela-tions Manager, Market-ing Department, TECNOtelecom Limited in anemail to Vanguard Hi-Tech said that the allega-tions were not true.

“Tecno products aregood quality products,we don't have any prob-lem with the SON, justwith competitors who arelaunching many rumorson Tecno to break ourbrand image” he ex-plained.

However, TECNO issuing for peace, callingfor a meeting with offi-cials of the associationwhere all the issueswould be tabled, dis-cussed and settled ami-cably. Accordingly, thephone maker has askedofficials of the associa-tion to bury their hatchetand make themselvesavailable for discussion.

But market watchershave reasoned that thecurrent posture of phonedealers may have beenmasterminded by a com-peting brand in the mar-ket as a result of currentstruggle for market su-premacy among all kindsof brands which may not

have been type-ap-proved by the NigerianCommunications Com-mission, NCC.

“Tecno is a strong brandin the market. I do notsee the reason whyphone dealers shouldsay that Tecno is tryingto control the market. Weare in a free market en-vironment. A good brandlike Tecno will alwayssell itself. A new brandwho sees Tecno as athreat is behind the cur-rent market impasse, Ican ell you this” an offi-cial of Computer and Al-lied Product Dealers As-sociation of Nigeria,CAPDAN who pleadedanonymity told Van-guard Hi-Tech in an in-teraction at the weekend.

According to him, SONmay have visited themarket based on its stat-utory function as a regu-latory authority and noton the invitation of TEC-NO.

Meanwhile, efforts tocontact the president ofphone dealers, Mr. God-frey Iyke Nwosu for com-ment failed as at presstime but he had beenquoted in a media reportas saying that Tecno wasskimming to control agreater percentage of themarket share.

But the Deputy Gener-al Manager, TECNONigeria, Mr. ChidiOkonkwo while reactingto this development in apress conference lastweek said that the alle-gations were not trueeven as it called for dis-

cussion with the phonedealers to address theissue.

“The issue can be ad-dressed peacefully. Thephone dealers have notapproached us formallyfor discussion but I havemet with the President ofthe phone dealers whoexpressed his anger say-ing TECNO was tryingto control the market.

“SON is a regulatoryagency in Nigeria. Wecannot invite SON toperform its legitimateduties.We make sure thatour products conformwith SON standard. It isnot true that we invitedSON to clamp down onthe market. We havetried to maintain rela-tionship with our chan-nel partners.

This is something wecan handle within our-selves without orderingour Chief Executive Of-ficer to come to Nigeriafrom China, and we arewilling to enter into dia-logue with them, in or-der to address the issuesamicably. We also wantto know exactly what thereal issues are.

“The issue at stake isnot clear to us. Thegrouse of phone dealersassociation is not clearand their demand for thephysical presence of ourChief Executive Officeris not well defined. ThePresident said that theywill not discuss with usexcept the CEO comes toNigeria. If they come tous formally and clearly,we are ready for discus-

BY EMMA ELEBEKE

DONATION: From left, Danjuma Atta, Regional Director, North, Dataflex; Mr M. A Sambo, Director,Estate Department, ABU; Professor Abdullahi Mustapha, Vice Chancellor, ABU Zaria; Cyril Omelu,and Regional Manager North, Dell Nigeria at the presentation of 550 units of Dell Thin Clients comput-ers, supplied by DATAFLEX for Computer Based Tests (CBT) to the Ahmadu Bello University Zaira(ABU).

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013 —31

,

32—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

CONFLICTS IN NORTHERN NIGERIA (5):

Seeds of hope and harvestsof despair

BY AKINLADE, M. T.

Bashorun Randle in this first part of the discourseargues that it is wicked and inhuman for anyone whois put in a position of trust to be corrupt

Map of NigeriaOXFORD University is in Oxfordshire whichshares a common border with the Cotswold

arguably the most picturesque and scenic part ofEngland. However, we were denied theindulgence of proceeding with our scheduledexcursion to Burford the mini-capital of theCotswold when His Eminence, AlhajiMuhammadu Saa’d Abubakar, the Sultan ofSokoto delivered his address at the Africa Week:“It is the primary responsibility of the Governmentto safeguard the lives and property of the peopleregardless of where they choose to live.

“Once a government fails in performing thisobligation, it opens up the nation to chaos andviolence. I appeal to all Nigerians to shun bigotryand work together for the national development.No nation can develop when the mode ofcommunication among its citizens is throughviolence. Also, it is a matter of serious concernthat Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children. We have no businessaccumulating illiterates if our nation’s resourcesare properly managed.” The Sultan was warmlyapplauded for his candour. Indeed, as if taking acue from the Sultan, the Anglican Bishop ofKaduna, Most Reverend Josiah Idowu Fearongrabbed the bull by the horn and declared:

Every facet of Nigeria is corrupt: “Every facetof our communal life as a nation including thechurch, government, military and the civil service

economy is alleged to be growing but the lives ofthe majority of our citizens do not convey thistestimony. We have more places of worship persquare metre than most nations on this earth, butcorruption and violence threaten our very survivalas a nation. We have some of the best agriculturallands in the world but we import food. We arethe sixth largest producer of crude oil but weimport fuel.

“The National Assembly is already at theforefront of charting a new course for our countrycommencing with the huge task of amending the1999 Constitution, in order to entrench economicand infrastructural renewal.” Then he explodedin fury. He dropped a bombshell by calling for arevolution!! “Throughout history, the mostcompelling reasons for revolution have beeninjustice, crushing poverty, marginalization,rampant corruption, lawlessness, joblessness andgeneral disaffection among the ruling elite - allof which are evident in the Nigerian equation.

Successive governments have tried to deal withthese issues but to no avail. The legislature hasbecome increasingly concerned about the over-celebration of input-oriented budget that does notincorporate feedback mechanism for output andoutcomes.” That was when it hit us that our

country is in real trouble. Before the applausehad died down, Chief Ladi Williams SAN aneminent lawyer whose father the late Chief F.R.A.Williams S.A.N. and grandfather as well asbrothers and children are lawyers stepped up todeclare:

Capital punishment is the solution tocorruption: “For me, a desperate situationrequires drastic steps to be taken. If you are ajudge and you are found to be corrupt; if youbring shame to the judiciary, if you are a judgeand have no integrity; or you habitually breakthe code of conduct of your office, we should applythe Chinese solution. That is execution. In Chinaif you are corrupt, you will be executed becauseyou are a danger to the larger community.

Once you are convicted of corruption, it is notenough to say we have retired you. No. If youare corrupt you should be executed, otherwisethis nation will not move forward. I think the lawof the land should be revised to deal ruthlesslywith corruption and nothing short of executionwill stop corruption. There is no reason why thechildren of the poor must remain poor.

There is no reason why every child of schoolgoing age should not be enjoying free education,free health care, and free transportation to andfrom school with the millions and billions of nairawe are making from oil. It is wicked, inhumanfor anybody who is put in a position of trust to becorrupt. That is why I think the death penalty, ifonly for a short while, let it be a short-term therapyand you will see that there will be change.

THE level at which violentconflicts ravage northern

Nigeria today is a manifestationof the fact that, all is not well withthe country as all the three geo-political zones in the region areaffected.

Meanwhile, all hope is not loston peaceful co-existence ofnorthern residents irrespective ofsocial, political and economicstatus and place of origin as wellas tribe/region as they can forgivethemselves and put theirdifferences aside as Blacks andWhites did in South Africa as wellas Hutus and Tutsis in Rwandaand Burundi did. Governmenthas to take the lead in thisprocess, if result is to be quicklyachieved.

Recommendations: It is clearfrom the above that, theattainment of peace in northernNigeria is a project that must beconsciously and vigorouslypursued. Meanwhile, the recipefor the various conflicts willcertainly differ since their causesvary but certain salient factors areobservable in all the conflictswhich will make the followingsuggestions useful in a bid toensure peace in the country. Thesuggestions are:

achieve this, agriculture, powersupply and good roads must begiven the right attention. Also,our present capitalist modeleducational system that onlyproduce specialists in one area,which in turn fail to make bestuse of human potential must beaddressed. Our educationalsystem must emphasise doing(skill/practical) to the extent that,every graduates will be an expertin a theoretical field like politicalscience, along a practical worksuch as tailoring. The idea muststart from the primary andsecondary schools.

•“Almajiris” must be integratedinto the civilised society. This isonly when the north will knowpeace. This can be achievedthrough aggressive constructionof modern boarding schools in allparts of the north. The schoolsmust be completely free, freemeal must be given and Mallammust also be co-opted into thesystem. The practice of “almajiri”must also be outlawed. Theschools, which will also provideskills for the adult wanderers willbe operated jointly by the federaland state governments and oncean almajiri comes in, he will bewell treated and not allowed todepart the premises for at leastfour months. This is to make him

•Restructuring of Nigerianfederal arrangement must begiven priority. The restructuringshould entail the power to makelaws that best suit the feelings ofthe various states, and statepolice, while the federalgovernment continues to controlthe armed forces and federalcapital territory police.

We do not share the view ofthose opposed to the creation ofstate police. It is our strong viewthat, the country is over-governed since she has 774 LGs,36 States and one FederalGovernment but with little impactand high burden on publicresources.

We, therefore, recommend thedissolution of the present localgovernment councils and states,while the 108 senatorial districtswith the exception of the one inFCT are made states with nolocal government councils. Thiswill make government closer tothe people and will also makebetter impact on the lives of thepeople. A comprehensiveformula for the working of thisarrangement would be workedout. In this sense, mostcommunal or ethnic conflictswould be addressed.

•Provision of employmentopportunities cannot be forgottenin a hurry as joblessness providesarmy of experts in violence. To

federal government is a welcomedevelopment but the schoolsmust be in thousands, the lessthan five schools established willnot make a difference, as thereare about ten million “almajiris”at present.

•The various reports ofcommissions of enquiry intocertain conflicts should bereviewed and implemented withutmost objectivity.

•The government and peopleof Nigeria must developinquisitiveness, to the extent thatorganizations and government ofother countries that issuesstatement about the state of affairsor predictions about the countryare made to explain the indicesor premise upon which theirconclusions were made. Forinstance, United States ofAmerica issued a statement in2010 predicting thedisintegration of Nigeria before2015. Rather than ask why sucha conclusion was drawn, theywere called prophets of doom.Also, we can’t completely rule outtheir influence in some of theseconflicts.

Therefore, our security agentsmust also look in theirdirection.•The Nigerianeducated elite and press must putthe interest of the country first intheir conduct while also takingfairness seriously.

internalisevalue for selfand others.T h eestablishmentof “almajiri”schools by the

,,

,among others are infested withcorruption. I advocate thepassing of a bill in the NationalAssembly to fight corruption as away of addressing the menace.The insecurity bedeviling the

To be continued

The law of the land should be revised todeal ruthlessly with corruption andnothing short of execution will stopcorruption

13 years of civil rule inperspective

Akinlade in this concluding part notes that the level atwhich violence is rocking northern Nigeria suggests thatall is not well with the country.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION:

BY BASHORUN J. K. RANDLE

as president,governor or anyother positionshould be madeto declare theirassets beforeand after theirtenure in office.I n d e e d ,although it isnot in theConstitution,b i s h o p s ,g e n e r a loverseers andpublic office

holders should be made to declare their assetspublicly.” The entire hall burst into a frenzy of“Good Talk Bishop.” As confirmation that thelegislature must have its say, the Speaker of theHouse of Representatives, Hon Aminu Tambuwal,walked briskly to the podium and declared:“Nigerians today live in a country of fantasticcontradictions where there are great human andmaterial resources, yet we are always on the listof countries with the worst poverty index. Our

country today is as a result of corruption. I stronglycondemn the manner in which corrupt officersare being celebrated in our country. There can beno meaningful development if corruption is notchecked. We must all come together whether youare a Christian or a Muslim. We must all go backto our religions and know what our religions haveto say about corruption. God hates corruption.Nigerians who are coming in as politicians, either

BASHORUN J.K.RANDLEBASHORUN J.K.RANDLEBASHORUN J.K.RANDLEBASHORUN J.K.RANDLEBASHORUN J.K.RANDLE

Restructuring of Nigerianfederal arrangement must begiven priority

CMYK

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013—————3333333333

CMYK

34—VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 201334—VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 201334—VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 201334—VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 201334—VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

Share your problems and re-lease your burden. Write now to

Dear Bunmi,Vanguard Newspapers, P.M.B

1007, Apapa, Lagos. orbunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

Must men ogle women allthe time?

How can I last longer

He went back to his wife, now he's back

My mum's ego-boostingruined my life

I'm sleeping with mysister's brother-in-law

He left because I was too fat’

I constantly accuse my husband of looking

at other women. When wego shopping we argue be-cause I think he’s ogling

women. I can’t bearthe thought that my

husband fanciesthem

Dear Bunmi,Three years ago, my partner

went back to his ex - appar-ently for the sake of their twochildren. Before then, he com-plained bitterly of his wife’sindifference to him. He lefther so we could set up hometogether and we currentlyhave a daughter.

He left without giving athought to our daughter, butit only lasted six months withher. Eventually he came backto me. I’ve tried to forgive himbut I still feel resentful that he

chose her over me and ourdaughter. Do you think Ishould walk away in case hehurts me again?

Dolapo by e-mail

Dear Dolapo,It’s understandable that you

should feel betrayed by yourpartner. But I think you’reputting all your focus on thefact that he left - and forget-ting that he came back toyou. It must have been veryhard for him to leave his kidsbehind - he fathered them just

as he fathered your owndaughter. The fact that ulti-mately he chose you overthem must mean that, in theend, you mean more to him.

Please be compassionate.Understand just how hard itmust have been for your part-ner - and how much he mustbe suffering now because heknows you still can’t forgivehim for what he did. For thesake of your child, don’t letyour resentment win. Forgiveyour man and move on.

Dear Bunmi,I am an only child and my

mum spent my whole child-hood telling me how wonder-ful I was and how I was bet-ter than others. But this seemsto have led all sorts of prob-lems for me. I can’t get onwith people and I struggle tokeep friends. Is it too late tochange?

Jessica bye-mail

Dear Jessica,It’s never too late to change.

But I wonder why your mum’ssupport and validation hasresulted in your having so

many problems. It’s usuallywhen parents criticise theirchildren that their lives getmessed up. Perhaps your prob-lems aren’t down to yourmother’s influence at all. Be-ing an only child, she tried allshe could to give your ego theboost she thought you desire.

So, don’t try to solve thisproblem alone. Find a goodcounsellor or a trusted ally andexplore what really happenedin your childhood, and whatmight have led to your currentunhappiness. Get to the bot-tom of that and I’m sure youcan win through.

Dear Bunmi,After six children, it would

be understandable to put ona lot of weight. But my hus-band of 15 years has recentlyleft me because he says I’mtoo fat and he doesn’t love orfancy me any more. He saidhe always felt embarrassed tobe seen in public with me andthat my weight was even stop-ping me from being a goodmother to the children. NowI’m depressed and desperate.I need to find a diet that couldwork for me so I can win himback.

Sinatu, bye-mail

Dear Sinatu,

If you’re dangerously over-weight, your doctor will giveyou a healthy diet and sup-port. However, if your hus-band is using your weight asan excuse to leave, then go-ing on a diet won’t get youanywhere. Instead, you needto focus on how to feel betterabout yourself, how to recoverfrom your break-up and howto get support to cope withyour children.

In the meantime, the well-being of you and of the chil-dren comes first. Any manwho wants to stray would doso - fat wife or not!

Dear Bunmi,About two years ago, I came

to live with my elder sisterwhen I gained admission intoa catering school. My sister’sbrother-in-law lives very closeto us and visits from time totime. He seems to know whenI’m alone in the house andhas been forcing me to havesex with him for some timenow. He gives me money toshut me up but I don’t want itto go on. His wife is reallynice. So is my brother in-lawand I don’t want a situationwhere I would be sent pack-ing in disgrace. How do Imake him stop?

Maggie, by e-mail

Dear Maggie,If you deliberately set out to

seduce this man, or let himseduce you, you would havedone wrong. But that wasn’twhat happened. Your sister’sbrother-in-law is a recklessopportunist who’s using yourbeing so naive to take advan-tage of you. This must stop.For a start, you could getpregnant or he could give youSTD.

When next he shows up inthe house, tell him you’re nolonger interested in his ad-vances and follow this up byleaving the house, if he per-sists, tell him you will let yoursister know you are beingsexually abused. Whateverhappens, you have the powerto say no, and short of rapingyou, he’d have no choice butto leave you alone.

Dear Bunmi,My husband of four years

and I have plenty of great sex,but it always follows the samepattern. He seems to enjoy ithard and fast - but I would likeus to have softer, slower, moreromantic lovemaking once ina while.

Do you think men actuallyenjoy this calmer type of sexwhich I find really romantic?

Grace, by e-mail

Dear Grace,Men often like urgent

thrusting- it’s the easiest andquickest way for them to cli-max. But when there’s moretime, and a more emotionalmood, many men opt forslower, gentler sex. As foryour husband, have you toldhim you’d like to vary things?If he’s found something thatworks, chances are he’s stick-ing with it because he thinksyou like it. Try asking him tocalm things down occasion-

ally and show him by yourresponse that it turns you on.If he knows slow and gentlepleases you, he’ll be far moremotivated to do it.

Dear Bunmi,When I was a teenager, I

noticed that my father wouldstare at attractive women.Now he’s in his 70s, he stilldoes it. Some weeks back, mynext-door neighbour washanging out her washingwhile my dad was getting hisnewspaper and I saw him fum-ble for his glasses so that hecould get a better look of her.My father makes my bloodboil. I believe he’s a dirty oldman.

Last year, my niece invitedus to the debut programme ofa theatrical show she wasglad to be a part of. Some ofthe actresses were dressed inprovocative costumes. I wassitting next to my dad and Ithought he was going to passout with excitement. If my

mum noticed, it didn’t seemto bother her.

I’m currently married withthree children and I’m pain-fully insecure. I constantlyaccuse my husband of look-ing at other women. When wego shopping we argue be-cause I think he’s oglingwomen. I can’t bear thethought that my husband fan-cies them. If there are attrac-tive women in a film on TV, Ishout: ‘I bet you wish I lookedlike that!’ I need your advice.

lyande, by e-mail

Dear lyande,I’m sure you know deep

down that resenting men’s in-terest in attractive women isirrational. From the cradle tothe grave, men everywhereconstantly appraise the oppo-site sex. A man may love the

woman in his life with all hisheart. He may be incapableof betraying her yet, despitethis allegiance to her, he willsearch for and enjoy thebeauty of every female he en-counters. Although they’remore discreet, women aresimilarly vigilant to the sexualattractiveness of men.

The men of your familyhave a healthy interest in theopposite sex. The cause ofyour unease, as you sug-gested, is an uncertain rela-tionship with yourself. Theoverly sexual behaviour of themen you love seems threaten-ing because you fear that theywill abandon you for otherwomen. That’s ok. Every oneof us is influenced by age-long fear. Recognise and copewith yours. Allow yourself tolaugh at the anger that riseswithin you when you sensethat your dad or your husbandis looking at an attractivewoman. By refusing to beafraid of anger, we diminishits potency. Count to 10.Sense your anger wash overyou and move on. Refuse tocondemn men for likingwomen.

‘

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013—————3535353535

CMYK

36—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

08102479985 By Bartholomew Madukwe(nwamad@yahoo.com)PEOPLE SPEAK

Amaechiswears innew Ag CJfor Rivers

On ‘deportation' of Igbo from Lagos

Oshiomhole has done well— Omobude

PA Samson Ebule, 82,father of the Editor-in-

Chief of Fresh Angle News-paper, Mr. Ebule Anthony,and former Secretary ofOkere Community in WarriSouth, is dead.

He will be buried inEbule compound, Odek-poro quarters, Okere,Warri, Delta State, on Sat-urday, August 24 by 12noon after traditional rites.

He is survived by eightchildren, 25 grandchildren,10 great grandchildren andmany relations.

Burial

PORT HARCOURT—GOVERNOR Rotimi

Amaechi of Rivers State,yeaterday, swore in JusticePeter Agumagu as the newActing Chief Judge, CJ, ofthe state, following the re-tirement of the former CJ,Justice Iche Ndu.

At a brief ceremony inGovernment House, PortHarcourt, the governorcharged Agumagu to dis-charge his duties conscien-tiously.

Amaechi said Agumagushall hold his office pend-ing when the National As-sembly would approve thecandidate recommendedfor appointment as the stateChief Judge by NationalJudicial Commission, NJC.

BY JIMITOTAONOYUME BENIN—PRESIDENT of

Pentecostal Fellowship ofNigeria, PFN, Reverend FelixOmobude has said that Gov-ernor Adams Oshiomhole hasrepositioned Edo State in theforefront after many years ofneglect by past administra-tions.

Speaking during a courtesyvisit to the governor in Benin,

Reverend Omobude saidthatfrom the onset it was clear thatOshiomhole had a positive vi-sion for the state.

He said: “You left no one indoubt that you mean well forEdo State. I’m very thankfulto God and proud that onceagain Edo State has come tothe forefront.

“While we commend your ef-forts so far, we know that thereare many things to be done;

many miles to be crossed.“We want to assure you of

our prayers; we stand withyou and by you to move ourstate forward. I thank you formaking yourself available forthe giant strides your admin-istration is making.”

He noted that GovernorOshiomhole had a respectedvoice locally and nationallyand should, therefore, con-tinue to speak up on ways to

move the country forward.

GovernorOshiomhole's reaction

In his remarks, GovernorOshiomhole commendedOmobude for his role in pio-neering technical educationin the rural communities.

He said: “I congratulate youon your well-deserved victoryas president of PFN.

“I know that the PentecostalFellowship won’t have been ina better hand at this time andconsidering the visibility of theimmediate predecessor acrossthe country.

“We appreciate your out-standing contribution to edu-cation, especially technicaleducation, as represented bythe Lighthouse Polytechnic,where you are investing hugeresources in a rural commu-nity.

“I emphasise rural commu-nity, because the challenge ofrebuilding a new Nigerianeeds development and toachieve even developmentand keep our rural peoplewhere they are and reverseurban-rural migration, wemust bring development to ru-ral areas, not by sermon.

“That is what your pioneer-ing effort in this regard hasdemonstrated.”

Your contribution to rural devt, education worthy of emulation— Oshiomhole

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

I'll resist rigging, says Odibo

Ibekachukwu begins installation with symposium

Delta South youths backObielum for 2015 Delta guber

YOUTH leaders from DeltaSouth senatorial district,

comprising the Ijaw, Itsekiriand Isoko, have thrown theirweight behind Chief GodswillObielum for the 2015 gover-norship election.

The youth leaders in a state-

ment by GbaboyokeyerimeneFaith (Ijaw), Omaghomi Tietie(Itsekiri) and Emmanuel Ilori(Isoko) affirmed that they weredrumming support for ChiefObielum so that he can do inDelta State from 2015, whathad been witnessed in Akwa

Ibom State from 2007 underGovernor Godswill Akpabio.

According to them,modalities had been put inplace to reach out to theirbrothers in Delta Central andNorth senatorial districts andhouse-to-house visits to carrythe message of Obielum’s To-tal Change and Transforma-tion project come 2015.

They said that Obielum wasnot tribalistic and has the cred-ibility and political where-withal to pilot the affairs of thestate, adding that based onequity, justice and fairness,Delta North should have thegovernorship slot in 2015.

DR. Emmanuel Ibekachikwuis to be installed as the 11th

Odogwu of Onicha Ugbo. Theevent is slated for August 24, atthe place in Onicha-Ugbo,Aniocha North Local Govern-ment Area, Delta State.

Preliminary activities for theinstallation ceremony will com-mence with a Youth Empower-ment Symposium in OnichaUgbo on August 23.

A statement by the Head of

Media and Publicity Commit-tee of the Odogwu title Instal-lation Committee, Mr. HugoOdiogor, said that the maininstallation will take place onAugust 24 at the Eze ChimaPalace of the Agbodigi Obi Vic-tor Chukwumalieze I, the Obiof Onicha-Ugbo.

The symposium, which is ex-pected to attract unemployedgraduates and youth fromUmu-Eze Chime Kingdom and

beyond is the first part of Dr.Kachikwu’s vision to use hisnew position as the Odogwu,to promote socio-economictransformation of his society,attract resource persons in dif-ferent fields, notably theacademia, military, business,among others, with the goal ofexposing the youths to how totackle their problem of jobless-ness and the frustration that isassociated with it.

UGHELLI—A senatorialaspirant in Delta Central

senatorial district on the plat-form of Democratic People’sParty, DPP, Sir Richard Odido,has vowed to resist any at-tempt by opposing politicalparties to rig the forthcomingby-election in the district.

Speaking with journalists inOvwian, Udu Local Govern-ment Area of the state, Odibosaid: “No political partyshould think of rigging theelection because they will notfind it easy.

“Any attempt by any politi-cal party to rig the election willbe resisted vehemently. No-body should think of rigging,let us do it democratically.”

Expressing optimism that hewould emerge as the party’sflag bearer, he assured that ifelected, he would build a bridgeof friendship with other ethnicnationalities.

BY FESTUS AHON

DEPORTING na-tionals of thecountry from La-

gos cannot pass any legalor moral wicket. I praisethe governors that reactedagainst it. If Lagosians inother states were treatedin such manner, I knowthat the courts would bebusy by now.— ChiefMorah Ekwunoh, Lawyer.

G O V E R N O RFashola left thereal destitute,

street urchins and theAlaye boys roaming allover Mushin, Agege,Shomolu-Bariga and La-gos Island. He humiliatedgenuine petty traders. It isnot fair! God is watching.—Miss Osondu Benedicta,Businesswoman.

IT is very elementaryto appreciate thatyou cannot “deport”

your nationals, neitherdo you “ rehabilitate”your nationals by dump-ing them at a bridgehead or junction or mar-ket square by 4 a.m.They should say some-thing else.— Mr. NelsonAzubuike, Cleric.

THE behaviour ofGovernor Fasholais contrary to the

provisions of our constitu-tion and we shall keepharping on it till he re-lents. This is a governorthat is professionallyprivileged to know theprovisions of the constitu-tion.— Miss BlessingUbah, Student.

IGBO make up a largepart of internationaltravelers from Nigeria.

We need to gradually, butsteadily, withdraw fromLagos and sell off ourproperty in Lagos toHausa/Fulani. Any sooth-ing words or coercionfrom any quarter is meredeceit.— Mr. AjiboyeSunday, Music Director.

SOME people’srights have beenseriously violated.

Where are smart lawyers?Can someone please sueLagos State Government?In developed world, thiscase may be worth bil-lions. Well, let's see howit will end. We are allwatching.— Miss JudithEkwu, Student.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013—37

Edo LG vice chairman escapesfrom kidnappers in Obiaruku

Oghararesidentsexpress worryoverindiscriminateparking oftrailers

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

Delta community petitions IG, allegesassault of chairman by oil firm

BY GODWIN OGRE

Warri Northcrisis: JamesManagerdonates reliefmaterials

BY FESTUS AHON

VALEDICTORY—From left: Minister of State for Education, Mr Nyesom Wike; Ministerfor Youth Development; Imuwa Abdulkadiri and National President, Nigerian BarAssociation, Mr. Okey Wali, SAN, at the valedictory thanksgiving service in honour ofJustice Iche Ndu, retiring Chief Judge of Rivers State, yesterday. Photo: Nwankpa Chijioke.

Customsseizes 1,200poultry foods

BENIN CITY—VICE-CHAIRMAN of Uhumnwonde

Local Government Area, Edo State,Mr Walter Aiwekhoe was,yesterday, abducted on his way tothe office by gunmen suspected tobe kidnappers, but escaped fewhours later from where he was keptin the forest.

The incident was said to havehappened at 10am on the Benin-Auchi Road. An eyewitness saidthat the suspected kidnappersblocked the Vice-Chairman’svehicle with a jeep and ordered

him out of his car. They shotsporadically before forcing himinto the waiting vehicle.

However, at 1pm, the ChiefPress Secretary to the Chairmanof the council, Mr OsaroIdahosa, who earlier confirmedthe incident to Vanguard, saidthe Vice Chairman escapedfrom his captives in Obiaruku,in Delta State from the forestwhere he was kept.

He said: “We are celebratinghere because he just calledfrom Obiaruku in Delta Statethat he is presently at the policestation. He said he escaped

from where they kept him andran towards the road, where hemet policemen. So, we aregoing to pick him up from thepolice station in Obiaruku.”

The news of the escapedoused tension at the council,yesterday, as youths andpolicemen stormed the bush insearch of the Vice-Chairman.

Vanguard learnt that after thekidnap operation, the Edo StatePolice Commissioner, MrFolunsho Adebanjo went intoaction with his men with a viewto ensure that the suspects wereapprehended.

Seplat Oil management, read“We which to inform you of howour chairman was brutalisedby one Mr. Asesoris, a workerin Seplat oil company based inSapele.

“The unprovoked assault ofour chairman by One Mr.Asesoris, a Surveillance

Supervisor with Seplat Oil, tookplace on August 5, 2013. Themalicious battering of Mr.Kekakpor in the hands of Mr.Asesoris was because he askedhim about the true position ofthe 0.6 km Ovhor-Lima serialflow line that had been sharedbetween, Egbeku and Sapele."

UGHELLI—SENATORrepresenting Delta

South Senatorial District inthe National Assembly,Senator James Manager,has donated reliefmaterials worth millions ofnaira to victims of the recentcrisis in Warri North LocalGovernment Area, DeltaState.

Presenting the items,Senator Manager enjoinedthe transition committeechairman of the council, MrDavid Edun to ensure thatthe materials get to theaffected victims.

Describing the crisis asunfortunate, he expressedshock at the level ofdestruction and appealedto the victims not to takelaws into their hands. Hesaid that the governmentwas doing everythingpossible to ensure that theywere resettled.

Manager, who wasrepresented by his PersonalAssistant, Otobo Ugbome,condemned the crisis,noting that violence doesnot solve problems.

BY IFEYINWA OBI

SAPELE—RESIDENTS ofOghara, the

administrative headquartersof Ethiope West LocalGovernment Area of DeltaState, have expressed worriesover indiscriminate packing oftankers on the Oghara/Ajagbodudu dual carriageway, waiting to loadpetroleum products at Rain OilDepot in the community.

Some shop owners, whospoke through their leader,Mr Raphel Ukanebevwe toVanguard said that thetankers packed on the majorroad were causing accidentson the road.

“It is no longer an easy ridefor us, shop owners on thebusy Oghara Road to makessales of our stocks as tankershave blocked the road.”

The residents accused somechiefs of collecting bribes fromthe tanker drivers, to allowthem to block the road.

They called on the stategovernment to intervene andstop the tanker drivers from theindiscriminate packing. Theyurged the management ofRain Oil Ltd to construct aparking space for the tankerswaiting to load products fromits depot.

Adeniyi, veteranbroadcasterpasses on

Late Mr Adeniyi

A veteran broadcaster, Mr.Victor Adeniyi, 78, is

dead.He was a pioneer staff of the

defunct Western NigerianTelevision and WesternNigerian BroadcastingService, WNTV/WNBS.

The late broadcaster had astint with the NigerianBroadcasting service nowFederal Radio Corporation ofNigeria, FRCN, before joiningWNTV/WNBS IN 1959.

He is survived by a wife,Mrs. Loretta Adeniyi andseveral children.

Business school holds training

business challenges as wellcurrent business needs.

He said, “these capacitybuilding programmes focuses oncourses in marketing, digitalmarketing, finance andmanagement and will run forthree days at different intervalsthrough a 12 month-duration inLagos and Accra. The trainingsessions will be facilitated byhand-picked experts from withinand outside Nigeria."

EJEKIMONI Community inSapele Local Government Area

of Delta State, has sent a petitionto the Inspector General of Police,IG, Mr Mohammed Abubakar, overbrutalisation of their chairman, Mr.Samson Kekakpor by a surveillancesupervisor with Seplat OilCompany based in the council.

The community in the petition,narrated that “when he approachedthe oil firm worker, simply calledMr. Asesoris as regards informationon the contract for the protection ofthe pipeline which runs throughthe community, the said workerstarted beating, brutalising andassaulting him, which left himwith bruises in one of his eyes. Hewas subsequently hospitalised forone week for injuries he sustained.”

The petition by Mr. Francis Ikoyoand Mr. Isaac Onokprayunu, Vicechairman and General Secretaryrespectively, and also copied theCommissioner of Police, DeltaState; Sapele Divisional Police and

SIMON Page BusinessSchool is to hold a three-

day programme that will enableprofessionals learn new skillson marketing, digitalmarketing, finance andmanagement.

A statement by the ChiefExecutive Officer of the school,Mr. Princewill Omorogiuwa,said that the programme focuseson helping professionalsdevelop skills for future

A truck-load of over 1,200contraband poultry foods

concealed in cartons of frozenfish has been seized by theNigerian Customs FederalOperations Unit, FOU, Zone‘A’ Ikeja, Lagos.

According to Issa Nuhu,Controller FOU, the truckwith number plane PHC 653XA, was intercepted on theLagos-Ibadan expresswayfollowing a tip off.

He said: “As part of ourcommitment, my men led byHinga Philips, interceptedthe truck with number platePHC 653 XA, laden with over1,200 cartons of importedpoultry products.

"The smugglers’ plan wasto contravene the laws of theland as the seizure wasintended to deceive myofficers by concealing thetruck load of contraband withcartons of frozen fish.”

Nuhu added that the unitwould continue to live up toexpectations and acceptablestandards in thwarting effortsof smugglers.

Meanwhile, the teamarrested one person, whilethe truck driver, who escapedis now being trailed.

38—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

Med-View airlinesloses GM

BY TONY EDIKE

2015: PDP okays Nsukka zone forEnugu guber seat

Mbakwe’s wife wants help for family of deceasedgovs

BY ANAYO OKOLI

Abia inaugurates reconstituted boards

Anambra LPholds guberprimariesAug 28

BY ENYIM ENYIM

BY BENJAMIN NJOKU

ANNIVERSARY: CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor (2nd left), Minister of Niger DeltaAffairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe (2nd right) and others, at the third-year anniversary ofGlory Sanctuary Christian Centre, Ogbogbagbene, Burutu LGA of Delta State.

LAGOS—CHAIRMAN ofAfrican Anti-abortion Coa-

lition, Dr Philip Njemanze,has said Nigeria remained thehighest exporter of humaneggs and embryos.

Njemanze, who is also thechairman, Association of Gen-eral and Private Medical Prac-titioners of Nigeria in ImoState, added that a study hadshown that Nigeria had beentrafficking in eggs in the in-ternational market since 2006

OWERRI—WIFE of formergovernor of old Imo State,

Mrs. Victoria Mbakwe, hascalled on governors of theSouth East, especially, Imo,Abia and Ebonyi, which madeup old Imo State, to initiate apolicy that would cater for thefamily of deceased governorsin the region.

She lamented her abandon-ment by past governments inthe South East zone since thedeath of her husband, ChiefSam Mbakwe.

Mrs. Mbakwe, who told herstory of lamentation when Gov-ernor Rochas Okorocha of ImoState and Obowo DevelopmentAssociation, ODA, honouredher late husband, however, ac-knowledged receiving sometoken from a past governor andpresent administration in thestate.

Remarking that her husbanddid not loot Imo treasury, un-like today’s governors, Mrs.Mbakwe asked the new cropof leaders in the zone to emu-late her husband who was

ONITSHA—THE Labour Party in

Anambra State will onAugust 28 hold its gov-ernorship primaries tonominate the party flagbearer for the November 16governorship poll in thestate. Addressing reporters atthe party secretariat, Awka,the state chairman, Mr SamOnyearugbulam, said sofar, the party had three as-pirants, including DrIfeanyi Ubah and two uni-dentified others. He said of the three as-pirants, only Dr IfeanyiUbah had paid the neces-sary fees and scaledthrough the party screen-ing to qualify him to con-test the primaries, while theunidentified aspirantswere yetto concretize their intentionto run for the plum positionon the platform of the party. Last week, the party in itscongress, elected five del-egates each from the 21 lo-cal government areas of thestate that would join thestatutory delegates to nomi-nate the party flag bearernext Wednesday. Onyearugbulem, whosaid he was very comfort-able with INEC arrange-ment for the governorshippoll, urged the electoralbody to give all the politi-cal parties a level playingground by conducting ac r e d i b l e ,free and fair election.

ENUGU—ENUGU Statechapter of Peoples Demo-

cratic Party, PDP, has endorsedthe earlier decision by Gover-nor Sullivan Chime’s state cau-cus to zone the 2015 governor-ship seat to Enugu North sena-torial zone, specificallyNsukka.

In a communiqué issued atthe end of its State ExecutiveCommittee meeting in Enugulast weekend, the party alsopassed a vote of confidence onGovernor Chime and statechairman of the party, Mr. VitaAbba, for their visionary lead-ership in piloting the affairs ofthe state and party.

The party said: “The resolu-tion of the state caucus of theparty to zone the governorshipposition of the state in 2015 toEnugu North senatorial zone with an un-derstanding that after eightyears it will move to EnuguEast senatorial zone and,thereafter, Enugu West.”

The communiqué signed bythe state Publicity Secretary,Dr. Okey Eze, said the SEC alsoapproved the appointment ofMr. Ogbonna Henry Ugonnaas the organizing secretary ofthe party in the state.

His appointment was sequelto the existing vacancy in theState Working Committee,SWC, brought about by theunfortunate death of the formerorganizing secretary, Mr. John

UMUAHIA—GOVERNORTheodore Orji of Abia

State yesterday inauguratedthe reconstituted boards of thestate-owned institutions, withon warning to the members todisplay honesty and diligencein their assignment.

They include the boards ofthe Polytechnic, Aba; Collegeof Education Technical,Arochukwu; and Aba GlassIndustry.

The governor charged themembers to revive the institu-tions and make them betterthan they met it.

According to him, the estab-lishments are dear to the gov-ernment, hence the need for theboard members to work hard tomake them better.Orji told the members that theywere chosen based on their

LAGOS—THE management of Med-

View Airline yesterday,announced the suddendeath of its pioneer Gen-eral Manager, Mr. DavidOni Babatunde, in La-gos.

The late Babatundedied in the early hoursof Monday in his Ikejaresidence.

Until his death, Mr.Babatunde was in-charge of the overall co-ordination of the airline’sactivities, a position thatsaw him as a DeputyManaging Director.

A graduate of Physicsfrom the University ofLagos, he joined the Ni-geria Airways as an op-erations officer and rosethrough the ranks to As-sistant General Man-ager (Flight Technical),until the airline was liq-uidated in 2003

Onuigbo.The SEC further approved

September 10 and 14, 2013, forconduct of the ward and localgovernment primaries of theparty respectively to elect can-didates for the November 2,2013, local government coun-cil elections in the state.

To ensure discipline amongmembers of the party, the SECmeeting, presided over by thestate chairman, Engr. Abba,

reconstituted the State Disci-plinary Committee with thereappointment of the immedi-ate past chairman of the com-mittee, Chief CharlesEgumgbe, to head it.

The chairman had earlier inhis address to the SEC mem-bers, praised the decision ofthe party caucus to stick to thezoning arrangement for thegovernorship seat, describingit as a welcome development

which had the potential tobring about sustainablepeace, equity and justice inthe state.

He thanked GovernorChime for being in the van-guard of the noble course andemphasized the need for theparty to put its house in or-der, respect the existingagreements and make neces-sary sacrifices that would en-sure the progress of the stateand party.

called the “weeping governor”because of his insistence thatIgboland should be developed.

The recognition given toMbakwe and others, which waspart of this year ’s Ezumezu

Obowu, an intellectual andNew Yam celebration of thecommunity, organised byObowu Development Associa-tion, ODA,, the umbrella

socio cultural organisation ofthe entire Obwou people, alsowitnessed the conferment oftraditional titles on someother eminent Nigerians.

BY ONOZURE DANIA

‘Nigeria, highest exporter of humaneggs, embryos’

antecedents, adding that theessence of their appointmentswas to re-engineer the insti-tutions, not to kill them.He recalled that the govern-

ment had had teething prob-lems with the educational in-stitutions which had com-plained of inadequate sub-vention to pay salaries.

without the consent of thewomen or anybody.He spoke at the annualCatholic Marriage, Familyand Human Life Unit andMarriage Instructors Confer-ence, which took place atYaba, Lagos.

Njemanze, who spoke onthe imminent danger facingthe family in Nigeria, said ifNigeria allowed such athing, about a 100 millioneggs would be needed peryear to supply laboratories todo their stem cell embryonicresearch.

CMYK

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013—39

CONFERMENT: From left, Otunba Olu Onasanya,presenting a gift on behalf of the church to SirEmmanuel Onabanjo and his wife, Simi, during athanksgiving service for Sir Emmanuel Onabanjo,who was conferred with the Knighthood of JohnWesley, at the Methodist Church, Ipara Remo,Ogun State. Photo: Lamidi Bamidele

SIGNING: From left, Lazarus Angbazo, President/CEO, GE Nigeria; DarrylWilson, Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, Distributed Power,GE Africa, and Akeem Agbaje, Chairman/CEO, Entec Power and UtilitiesCompany Ltd, Nigeria, during the signing of a Letter of Intent, in Nairobi,Kenya

UNVELING: From left, Dr. Lawrence Nwosu, Chief Sales Officer, SproxilNigeria Limited; Mr. Ashkay Kumar, MD/CEO, Grand Oak Limited, and AareFatai Odesile, Commercial Director, during the unveling of Lords Dry Gin,in Lagos. Photo: Joe Akintola.

VISIT: From left, Mr. Rotimi Omotoso, Registrar/Chief Executive; Chief Ajomale, Councilmember; Mrs. Onome Olaolu, Council member; Alhaji Mohammed, President, all ofInstitute of Chartered Accountants, ICAN; Tajudeen Akande, Senior Resident Partner,PKF; Mrs. Comfort Eyitayo, Council member, ICAN, and Najeeb Abdul-Salaam, Part-ner, PKF, during a courtesy visit by ICAN to PKF, in Lagos.

SCREENING: From l eft, Supervisor for Health and Medical Serv-ices, Bisi Thomas; MD of The Bridge Clinic, Dr. Richard Ajayi; theChairman of Yaba LCDA, Mr. Jide Jimoh; MD of PathCare, Dr.Pamela Ajayi, and Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Alli-Balogun,during PathCare's free medical screening exercise, in conjunctionwith other partners, through 'Doctors on Air Medical Mission,' forthe public at the Yaba LCDA, in Lagos.

Miss Adetutu Obateru graduated recently with afirst class in Economics from Covenant Univer-sity, Ota. Vanguard's Correspondent, Taye Obateru(left) joined his twin brother, Kennie Obateru (thefather) to rejoice with her, at the convocation.

BRIEFING: From left, Miss Izegbuwa Izevbaye,Assistant Brand Manager, Dairy, Promasidor; Mr.Gboyega Akosile, MD; Miss Shola Bankole, PRO,both of Bridgeworld Communication, and Mr.Goddie Ofose, President, Brand Journalists Asso-ciation of Nigeria, during a press briefing on theforthcoming Nigeria Brand Expo/Brands TVAwards, in Lagos, yesterday. Photo: LamidiBamidele

PRESENTATION: From left, Commercial Operations & Marketing Leader, GeneralElectric (Oil & Gas), Tanya Spencer; Adepiti Oyinlola, receiving a laptop; MD, GeneralElectric (Health Care), Pamela Hall, and Executive Director, Women In TechnologyEmpowerment Centre, Ore Somolu, during presentation of the laptop, at the GE GirlsIn Technology Day, in Lagos

LAUNCH: From left, President of Association of Reproductive andFamily Health, Prof. Oladapo Ladipo; President of Society of Ob-stetricians and Gynaecology of Nigeria, SOGON, Prof . Fred Achem,and the Executive Secretary of National Primary Health Care De-velopment Agency, Dr. Ado Muhammad, at the launching of agendafor voluntary obstetricians, in Abuja. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan

40—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

Islamic clericchargesmuslims toembracepeace

Youth groupembarks onunity project

APC has nothing to offerNigerians — Abba Moro

Okada riders return to Kano streets

Securityexpertlauds JTFoverkilling ofBama

COST OF GOVERNANCE— From left, Mr Ademola Agbejo of Civil SocietyOrganization; former Minister of Education, Prof. Oby Ezekwesili with Executive Directorof Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center, Auwal Ibrahim Rafsanjani at one day discus-sion on the cost of Governance in Nigeria in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan.

SANGO—THE chiefImam of Sango

Central Mosque, AlhajiTajudeen Shafi has ad-vised muslims in Sangoarea to embrace peaceand shun religious andpolitical rancor. He saidthis while addressingMuslim faithful in thearea. The Imam chargedthem to follow tenets ofIslam, tolerate each otherand eschew violence.

The cleric tasked OgunState people to cooperatewith Senator IbikunleAmosun so that moredividends of democracywould spread to other ar-eas of the State.

BY PETER DURU

MAKURDI —MINISTERof Interior, Abba Moro,

has described the newly regis-tered All Progressives Con-gress, APC, as an amalgamationof diverse interests that havenothing to offer Nigerians andlacks the capacity to dethronethe ruling Peoples DemocraticParty, PDP.Moro who spoke, yesterday, inUgbokolo, Benue State, said:“There is nothing new in theAPC. The only thing you can sayis that it is an amalgam of sepa-rate interests pretending to havethe capacity to wrestle powerfrom the PDP, and to effect anychange. If you look at the char-acters or the persons that are inthe ship, you’ll want to ask your-self some fundamental ques-tions. Are they new persons, arethey angels from somewherethat have not participated in theruins that Nigeria is today; whoare they?

"There is no single person thatis there that has not been anactive participant in the politi-cal process of Nigeria. A few ofthem that are the henchmen ofthe APC have been men who atone time or the other assumedthe highest positions in thiscountry. I continue to insist thatwe are where we are today be-cause those yesteryears leadersof the country failed to do thosethings they should have doneto take us to the next level."Why are we having issues withroads today? Because somebodythat was in power yesterdayfailed to fix the roads. Why arewe having issues with electric-ity today? It’s because the per-

son who was in charge ofgovernment yesterday wasunable to fix power. Why isour education going downthe drain, because somebodydid not have the proper roadmap for education in Ni-geria, that is where we aretoday.

"So, when you now pretendto have assumed a new lifeto be able to effect changesin this country, it is barely adesire to change leadership,nothing more. What is thevision of the APC? Apart fromthem saying that the PDP isnot performing and that the

APC wants to come andchange so that they can per-form, what programme havethey brought out for Nige-rians to see. What is their pro-gramme, what is their visionfor Nigeria? What is theirmission? They don’t have.And so when people gallivantaround and profess a newname, APC, yes we haveseen it before, we had ANPP,we had ACN, APP and therest of them before; samecharacters. And they are hereagain hoodwinking Nigeri-ans to believe that they havethe magic wand, it is toobad."

BY ABDULSALAMMUHAMMAD

KANO—COMERCIALMotor Cycle Opera-

tors, otherwise known asOkada riders, have fully re-turned to Kano streets de-spite government ban ontheir activities in eight localGovernment areas of thestate.

Investigation revealed thata sizable number of Okadariders popularly known asAchaba in local parlance areseen offering quick servicesto customers early morningand late night in some ma-jor streets and in the neigh-bourhood.

The Governor Rabiu MusaKwankwaso administrationhad at the wake of attack on

the Emir of Kano, AdoBayero by unknown gunmenJanuary 19, restricted Okadariders’ activities and directedthem to vacate Kano streetsby 6pm and must not carrypassengers within the met-ropolitan councils.

Sequel to the development,residents that witnessed sev-eral killings allegedly mas-terminded by gunmen onmotor bike hadexpressed concerns.

Malam Bala Dan’azumitold Vanguard that “we areworried by the gradual re-turn of Achaba riders inKano streets most especiallywithin the neighbourhoodwhere it has become a pasttime for them to carry outtheir nefarious activities."

Dan’azumi who lives in

Kurna Asabe noted that “thereis laxity on the part of enforc-ing authorities who at the mo-ment appear not ready to en-force the law for reasons bestknown to them. I know Kanotoo well, if others are doing itand getting away with it, berest assured that multitudewould join them in the nextfew days, and it would be dif-ficult to control them”

But the Police Public Rela-tions Officer, Magaji MusaMajia, in a reaction declaredthat “the ban prohibiting theiractivities between 6am-6pm isstill in force, stressing that “theorder restricting cyclist fromcarrying passenger is also infull force. It was occasioned bythe relaxation of enforcementduring the Holy month ofRamadan.”

By EVELYN USMAN

L A G O S — R ENOWNED secu-

rity expert, Dr. OnaEkhomu, yesterday,commended the JointTask Force, JTF, on theelimination of MomoduBama, the second in com-mand to Boko Haramleader, Imam AbubakarShekau.

The decimation of thetop leadership of the ter-rorist organization, ac-cording to Ekhomu,would lead to early vic-tory in the war on terrorand safety of Nigerialives. He urged leadersof the sect to embracepeace and stop furtherattack on innocent citi-zens.

Describing JTF opera-tion in the North-East asa success, Ekhomu in astatement, urged theMilitary to develop newsecurity master planaimed at containing iso-lated terrorists attacks onthe civil populace in theregion.

He called for the imple-mentation of a securityinitiative which hetagged “CommunityVigilance DefenceShield” CVDS, assertingthat the Civilian JTF inBorno State was essentialin winning the anti-terrorwar.

LAGOS—ROTARY ClubAmuwo, has installed a

new president, RotarianIfeoma Mba, to lead the clubbetween 2013-2014.

Speaking after the instal-lation ceremony, Mba, saidshe hoped to enhance lit-eracy, water and sanitation,economic and communitydevelopment in her cover-age communities.

According to her, thetheme of this rotary year is“Engage Rotary, ChangeLives.

"By this, we are enjoinedby RI President Ron DBurton to develop rotary’sprojects to bring about sus-tainable developments inour communities and makerotary more relevant tothem.”

Rotary ClubAmuwoinstalls newpresident

LAGOS—AHEAD ofnext year’s centenary

celebration, Will and WiserNigeria, a youth re-orienta-tion and developmentgroup, plans to collate over100 different Nigerian lan-guages with a word that con-notes unity to be written onthe country’s green-white-green flag.

Head of Operations &Projects, Mr. Yomi Soniyi, ata briefing in Lagos, said theaim was to use the country’snational flag as a symbol tostrengthen her unity.

Soniyi explained that theinitiative tagged ‘UnityFlag’, is intended to send astrong message of unitywithin and outside Nigeriathat “irrespective of ourchallenges and our diver-sity, we will remain andthrive as one country.”

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013 — 41

42—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

ALTHOUGH the issue of

inconsistent powergeneration is seeminglyf r u s t r a t i n gindustrialization inNigeria, majority ofIndian industrialists inthe country havedeclared theirbusinesses productiveand prosperous.

Reacting to the issue ofpoor power generationin Nigeria, which isnoted as a scourge thatundermines virtuallyeverything that couldmove Nigeria towards a

Doing business in Nigeria

5th L: Head, India High Commission, Lagos office, Rani Malick; VicePresident, Indian Professions Forum, Mr. Grover and other dignitariesat the event.

consularadvisory@vanguardngr.com

India maintains stable visa policywith Nigeria — Malick

BY VERA SAMUELANYAGAFU & PRISCA SAM-

DURU

THE Head, Indian HighCommission, Lagos

office, Rani Malick, hasdescribed India visa policywith Nigeria as stable,stressing that from the outsetof both countries’ bi-nationalcommission agreement, theduo have enjoyed a mutualunderstanding in diversesectors.

Malick who spoke at theevent to mark India’s 67thindependence anniversary

noted that both countries’ bi-national agreement in keysectors of their economies haveenormously contributed to thecordial relationship they bothenjoy.

According to the consulargeneral, “Our visa policy withNigeria for the past twodecades is stable andsuccessful and the number ofNigerian immigrants to Indiaare increasing by the day. Wehave more Nigerians cominginto India for various intendedreasons, just as more Indianscome into Nigeria.”

She added, “Presently, thepopulation of Indians inNigeria is over 40,000, anindication that both countriesare deep rooted in their bi-national commission, and I donot foresee a situation thatwould present any visaproblems between Nigeria andIndia.”

Also disclosing India’srelationship with Nigeria astraditionally consistent, andgrowing from strength tostrength, Malick said, “I amoptimistic that India would notengage Nigeria in any policy

that could mar the consistentrelationship we havemaintained over the years. Iencourage both Indian andNigerian nationals to oftenengage in practices that wouldonly reflect a penchant foronward growth of bothcountries’ economies.”

She said both countriesnationals should pay heed to

important ingredients thatwould enable them worktowards building a sustainableIndia-Nigeria bi-nationalrelation, taking intocognizance the ideals ofpatriotism, self restraint,discipline and honesty, whichare instrumental to achievingproductive paths.

development, the VicePresident, IndianProfessionals Forum inNigeria Mr. Anil Grover,encouraged Indiansresident in Nigeria tokeep up the good workof standing forthrightwith the government andpeople of Nigeria inefforts to address issuesof great concern for abetter and cordial bi-national relationship.

He said, “We aredelighted doing businessin Nigeria and withNigerians, because weboth have successfully

established a highdegree of friendship andcooperation.

“We must endeavour torediscover the virtues ofour heritage, whilemoving towards greatersocial harmony, peaceand prosperity.Although, we both havediverse cultures, we aredoing well in terms ofefforts to identifyadditional areas wherewe can contribute toimmensely grow oureconomies.”

Indian businessmen andthis to an extentexpresses the level ofrelationship betweenNigeria and India.

There are not manycountries with whichIndia shares such deeprelationship andstanding on this existingfact, India governmentwill not relent insupporting thegovernment of Nigeria toensure that the on-goingpower sector reformprocess in Nigeriabecomes a success.”

In a similar

b r i g h t e re c o n o m y ,Malick positedthat this has fora long timecrippled majorindustries inNigeria.

Malick said,“ I n d i a ng o v e r n m e n tfeels committedto strategiesthat are capableof regulatingp o w e rgeneration inN i g e r i a .Nigeria isaccommodatinga number of

Indian PM Manmohan Singh

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013 —43

IT had long been predicted thatthe two big fishes in the APC,

Senators Chris Ngige and hispredecessor in the Senate,Senator Annie Okonkwo who arethe driving forces in the new partywould sooner than later clashover their individualgovernorship ambitions.

Last week, the pair of Okonkwoand another governorshipaspirant in the APC, Mr GoddyEzemo had announced theappointment of the chairman ofthe defunct All Nigeria PeoplesParty, ANPP in the state, Mr. PatOrijiakor, as the interim chairmanof the APC in the state.

The appointment of Orijakorwithout Ngige’s endorsementwas immediately rebuffed by theNgige camp.

The state publicity secretary ofthe defunct ACN in the state, Mr.

War in APCBY EMMANUEL AZIKEN,

POLITICAL EDITOR

Okelo Madukaife in a statementmade available to Vanguard,yesterday, dismissed the

announcement saying that thecombined executive of the threelegacy parties in the APC has

been combined and is still co-chaired pending the statecongress due on August 31.

"The general public is herebyinvited to ignore any otherinformation purported toemanate from the APC to the

effect that the party appointedone Mr. Pat Orjiakor as APCinterim state chairman. By itsconstitution and through logic,party officials are not appointedby aspirants,” Mr. Madukaifesaid.

•Okonkwo•Ngige

DR Chike Obidigbo whowas disqualified from the

APGA nomination process bythe party’s screening panel hasurged supporters to keep calmpending what he claimed asongoing consultations withstrategic stakeholders.

The decision of the screeningpanel was also upheld by theappeal panel.

While addressing supportersin Awka, Ogidigbo said hemade wide and extensiveconsultations before declaringhis intention to seek themandate of the people for thegovernorship and that he wasstill sure of the support he gotto enter the contest.

He said that it would be tooearly to announce his decision

Disqualified Obidigbo urges supportersto remain calm

BY CHRIS OCHAYI on the contest following thedisqualification by APGA as hesaid that would still consultwith all relevant stakeholders,who gave him their strategicendorsement beforeannouncing his next move.

The gubernatorial aspirantrestated that his desire to seekelection into the office ofgovernor of Anambra state wasborne out of the fact that hepossesses the needed capacityto fast track the economicdevelopment of the State.

“As a renowned industrialist,administrator, academic andphilanthropist, my life andpursuits have always revolvedaround uplifting people.”

Several PDP aspirants whorelocated to Abuja after theannulled ward congress

penultimate Monday wereyesterday spread across thestate monitoring therescheduled congressesordered by the party.

CHIEF Onwuka Ukwa, amember of the party’s

Governorship ScreeningCommittee, which disqualifiedProfessor Charles Soludo andfive others from the contest, hasurged all those his committeeruled out to support thenominee of the party.

While affirming that thecommittee was notprogrammed to disqualify anyof the aspirants, he said thesame parameters were used inscreening all the aspirants.

His claim follows insinuationsthat the APGA hierarchy wascoerced by forces in thepresidency to screen out Soludofrom the contest on theassumption that Soludo couldbe antagonistic to the PDP’spresidential candidate in 2015.

Governor Peter Obi hadearlier washed himself fromculpability in the conspiracytheory.

Explaining that APGA wasadopting a new attitude topolitics, he advised thedisqualified aspirants to acceptthe result, remain focused andsupport the party.

“It’s not the end of the world;it’s not a do-or-die affair,” Ukwasaid as he reminded them oftheir vow to support whoeveremerged the candidate of the

APGA screening panel member wantsSoludo, others to support party

BY TONY EDIKE

party.Chief Ukwa emphasized that

the committee conducted thescreening based on the party'sguidelines and constitution.“The intention is to make surethat those going into politicsare doing so strictly for service.When some of us go to America,France and Britain, we see thatthe important thing there isservice; the motivating factor isrendering service to the nationand the people. But when someof us come back to Nigeria, webegin to do things in the wrongway,” he said.

He was also quick to distancethe party’s National Chairman,Chief Victor Umeh from thefate of the six disqualifiedaspirants.

•Soludo

MRS. Blessing Ulasi, theNnewi-born lawyer, who

had until recently been basedin the United Kingdom isgiving fresh life to theProgressive Peoples Alliance,PPA, the party founded byformer governor of Abia State,Chief Orji Uzor Kalu.

It will be recalled that brieflybefore the 2010 gubernatorialelection that the party madesome sparkles when itpresented Mrs. Uche Ekwunifeas its candidate in that election.But following that election, Mrs.Ekwunife decamped to APGA,the platform on which she isnow presently seeking anotherquest to occupy theGovernment House.

Since her exit, the party had

Ulasi picks PPA ticketlaid practically comatose.

Mrs. Ulasi who recentlyreturned to Nigeria has nowrevived the party and ispresently only aspirant on theplatform of the party and thePPA’s presumptive nominee.

Speaking to party members atan outing yesterday, thereturnee lawyer said she isdetermined to wrest control ofgovernment from APGA at theNovember election.

She told members of the party:“PPA may not be making noiselike other political parties, butwe know what we are doing,Governorship election is not amatter of making so much noisebut planning properly for therace.

“My assurance is that we will

enter the Government House inMarch next year and I want tourge our members to be patientbecause so much ground workis currently going on about theNovember 16 election.”

State chairman of PPA, Mr.Matthias Ameke said the partyhas solid structure in all the 326political wards of the state,adding that all the wardofficials are prepared to movethe party forward.

He explained that theproblem they had in the pastwas that the candidates of theparty came through the backdoor which discouraged mostmembers from working for PPAduring the last election.

•Obidigbo

ONE of the governorshipaspirants on the cards of the

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),Senator Emma Anosike, has saidthat the ruling All ProgressivesGrand Alliance (APGA) could notstop PDP at the polls in spite ofthe performance of GovernorPeter Obi.

Noting that party indisciplinecost PDP the seat in 2010, he saidthe party would get it right thistime around.

He also made a case forAnambra North producing thenext governor. However, he saidthe zone should produce asellable candidate.

“I am a good candidate and Ican go for the battle and win thebattle. Also, everything work tomy advantage because thegovernorship position has been

PDP'll be unstoppable — Anosike

BY GBENGA OKE zoned to Anambra North whereI hail from, both the currentGovernor and the masses in thestate have been clamouring thatit is the turn of Anambra North.PDP which is my party wasformed on the platform of equityand justice, even, it is enshrinedin the Constitution that equity isthe key to what we are doing.Therefore, I come from AnambraNorth, I am a good candidate andI have been to the House ofRepresentatives, I am a Senatorand I have contestedgovernorship before and I was arunning mate to Charles Soludoand I have all it takes to governAnambra State

On the chances of PDP at theupcoming elections, he said:“What happened in 2010 wascrazy because it has to do withparty discipline. "

44—VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

BY DAPO AKINREFON

HOW far has the PDPgone in settling

differences within the party inthe Southwest?

We actually set up a six-member committee per stateand I must confess that I amvery impressed with theoutcome of their exercise.When their report wassubmitted to us, we also set upa review committee under thechairmanship of Professor FemiOkubanjo.

They have come up with theirreport, but one thing that isinteresting is that even withoutthe report, the kind of appealand discussions that membersof that committee had withstakeholders in each state, youwill discover that there has beena lot of improvement in all thestates particularly in Ondo,Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ogun.

I am also happy that theNational Working Committeeand the new reconciliationcommittee under GovernorSeriake Dickson adopted ourposition. The matter in Ekiti hasbeen settled and everybody isnow living in peace.

In addition, the Ekiti Statechapter was made tounderstand that their executivehas no right to set up areconciliation committeebecause it is only the NWC thathas the power to do it and atthe appropriate time. They will

Bode George is a drowning man,I won't go down with him — Filani

South west PDP:

CHIEF Ishola Filani is the South West caretaker committee chairman of the People’s DemocraticParty, PDP. In this interview with Vanguard, Chief Filani lampooned former Deputy National Chairman, South, ofthe PDP, Chief Olabode George, describing him as the major problem of the party who has singularly impededthe party’s chances of election victory in Lagos State. Excerpts:

there are nine states and Lagosis one of the nine states (withissues).

I am not concluding onanything but all I am saying isthat it is because of those ninestates that we are nowrepeating the convention tocorrect the anomaly. So, I donot see where one state will besingled out. The only problemwe have in Lagos is leadershipproblem.

What do you mean?A situation where the

leadership in Lagos State hasnot been responding to thehopes and aspirations of themembers of the party. We heldelections in 1999 PDP lost, weheld in 2003, the PDP lost, weheld in 2007, the PDP lost, weheld in 2011, still the PDP lostunder the same leadership.

That is why we have all theseproblems and everybody inLagos is complaining.Everybody is saying pleasecome and assist us.

We could win elections inLagos State because it couldhave been the easiest state forus to win because of the factthat it is a state that comprisesof every ethnic group inNigeria but we have not beenable to win because of badleadership. That is as far asLagos State is concerned.

How can that be corrected?The only way you can correct

that is to sensitize the people,review their leadershipstrategy and structure.Strategize it by reviewing thestructure of the leadershipwhich can only be done by theLagos State PDP.

We hope and pray that thescale on their eyes will beremoved in the name of Godso that they can come togetherand get a leadership that willbe acceptable to all of them. Allother states are in order.

There cannot but be oneproblem or the other in a partylike the PDP that is democraticin nature. We are not the kindof party that has somebodycommanding us from the top;everything you have to do inthe PDP has to be discussedand accepted before it isimplemented.

You talked about the absenceof leadership in Lagos PDP,but Chief George has alwaysbeen seen as the leader, howdo you reconcile that?

You see it is a system that iswrong, it is system that isautocratic and that is why weare having problems.

What is responsible for therift between you and ChiefBode George?

Bode is a drowning man andhe is just looking for anybodyeither to save him from gettingdrowned or drown with him.

That is why he is mentioningall kinds of names, in one formor the other. Bode’s grouseagainst us is he is saying thatbecause we are caretakercommittee, we cannot contest.

Let him supply to us thecontext of the law or rule of lawor any instrument whatsoeverthat says we cannot contest.

Prophetof doom

I have better cause now tosympathise with him and whatBode requires not to drowncompletely is prayer and I willcontinue to pray for him.

Do you think the PDP standsa chance to win elections inOsun and Ekiti states in 2014with the coming on board ofthe All ProgressivesCongress?

The APC is not a party eventhough they have now beenregistered as one politicalparty. They are aconglomeration of distinctpolitical parties with distinctideologies and principles, theywill continue to exist within thatparty as individual parties andI am not a prophet of doom butone thing I want you tounderstand is that by the timethey want to start theirnominations in Ekiti and Osunstates, it is then you will seethat they are all kinds of peoplewho just want to oppose thePDP which has 23 states.

You can see that it is only 10governors that came togetherto form the APC. At the end ofthe day, alignment has neverworked in Nigeria.

The time has come to revealthe lies and get our people outof oppression. All thesestatements will be justifiedbecause the APC is not a threatto us.

,

,

•Filani: PDP lost Lagos under the same leadership

I have better cause now to sympathisewith him and what Bode requires not todrown completely is prayer and I willcontinue to pray for him

set that in motion if it is the bestthing to do in the circumstance.

In Lagos State, we hadreports that their congresseswere not the best and we donot know what the status of thedelegates from Lagos State isnow until we hear apronouncement from the NWC.

But the state chairmanrecently addressed a pressconference where he said the

state chapter had no issueswith the congress

I am not aware of that butwhat we are aware of is that

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013 — 45

46 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013 — 47

,

,I overheard a man saying the job wasa lucrative one if carried outsuccessfully. He told me he was withsome jerrycans and would sell 50litres to me at the rate of N1500 perjerrycan

48 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

BY EVELYN USMAN

OWOYE Ebiwe, 20, fromOndo state, was among the tensuspected pipeline vandalsparaded Monday by operativesof the Inspector-General of Po-lice Special Task Force on Anti-Pipeline vandalism Unit. Thesuspects were reportedly arrest-ed at the verge of siphoningpetroleum product from a pipe-line belonging to the NigerianNational Petroleum Corpora-tion, NNPC, located in Eleketearea of Ogun state.

While all the suspects freelyopened up confessing their al-leged involvement in the crime,Ebiwe was unusually calm.While that lasted, he bentdown, scribbling what did notmake sense on the wet ground.

When approached, he raisedhis head and behold, he wasshedding tears. Asked why hewas crying, he lamented thewoes he claimed had befallenhim and eventually led him intothe unpalatable situation hefound himself.

My story: According to him, “As I speak with you, my wife isdying in the hospital back inOndo state. She needs moneyfor treatment. You see, I ven-tured into this all in a bid to savemy wife. I am an orphan. I havebeen struggling to make endsmeet without making any head-

I needed moneI needed moneI needed moneI needed moneI needed money ty ty ty ty to sao sao sao sao savvvvveeeeemmmmmy wify wify wify wify wife’s life’s life’s life’s life’s lifeeeee

tal but because there was nomoney to pay for the drugs, wehad to bring her home to ad-minister local herbs on her.

“In trying to suggest a possi-ble solution, one of my relatives,asked me to come down to La-gos; that there was a businessthat would fetch me money totake care of my wife and family.

Withoutasking what type

of business, I borrowedsome money and left Ondo onSunday, for Lagos. When I methim, he just said I should fol-low him to the place and likean obedient servant, I did, un-til I found myself in the creeks.That was when he informed methat some people would sooncome with boats and jerrycans;that all I needed to do was to

Confession of suspected pipeline vandal

able amount at the end of theday. That my relative told mehe had money to buy the prod-ucts; that all I needed to do wasto bring the jerrycans out of thecanoes and also help to sell toready buyers at the end ofwhich payment would be deter-mined on the quantity sold.

I was there with him andLuke, waiting for the arrival ofthe boats when we were round-ed up by the police. You cannow see why I have been cry-ing,” he stated.

Location of markets: Whilethe trio were arrested at about9pm, along side another three-man gang identified as IsaacAbejae,Towei Terryprecious

Osuwo, four others said to havestormed the area the previousday, where they succeeded insiphoning petroleum productinto sixty-two jerrycans werealso arrested on their way outof the creeks.

One of them, Power Segmefe,26, disclosed that they were ontheir way to sell the products toready buyers in Majidun areaof Lagos when luck ran againstthem. Like Ebiwe, he statedthat he was tempted to joinsome vandals he met , follow-ing an urgent need of help hisailing father.

Hear him, “My father had aneye problem and had sincestopped going for his timberwork. I took over from him. Onthat fateful day (Saturday), wehad gone for timber at about6pm . When we got to the waterarea, I overheard a man saying

the job was a lu-crative one ifcarried out suc-cessfully. Hetold me he waswith some jerry-cans and wouldsell 50 litres tome at the rate ofN1500 per jerry-can. I told him Iwas interestedand stayed withhim all night.

He told me Icould sell themat Majidun andIkorodu; thatbuyers usuallythrong there inthe morning. Iwas tempted bythe profit I

would make and concluded thatat least it would help get my fa-ther the prescribed medicationfor his eye problem.”

“So , next day at about 8am,as I was moving the filled jerry-cans to Majidun to sell atN300,000 per 50 litres jerrycan,I was arrested. It is even better Iwas arrested because I do notknow how I would have facedmy father to tell him that themoney that was borrowed wasgone just like that,”

The suspects, according to theUnit’s Commander, Friday Iba-din, would be charged to courtsoon.

way. I havefive children but lost

one recently because of lack offund to provide medicare. Andnow, my wife is on danger list.If she dies, tell me, who willtake care of the children? Shewas initially taken to the hospi-

wait by the shore and bring thejerrycans out of the boats. Theplace was like a market placebecause I saw other peoplewaiting for their members too.

“That was when it dawned onme that it was vandal business.Honestly, I did not know it wasa big offense. All I was told wasthat I would be given a reason-

• Suspects: PowerSegmefe (1st right)

•SuspectIbiwe

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013 —49

BY BARTHOLOMEWMADUKWE & MICHAEL

NWOPOKE

THREE persons havebeen arraigned by the

Police from Orile Divisionbefore an Ebute-MettaChief Magistrate’s Court,Lagos, for allegedlyhaving canal knowledge ofa 14 -year-old girl.

A self-acclaimed pharma-cist, Ijezie Chidiebere, 24,was charged along withChikezie Ejesi, 25, andOkechukwu Ezea, 25.They were accused to havegiven the victim a ‘spiritu-al olive oil’ for her to drinkunder the pretense ofcleaning her of demonicspirit to enable them haveunlawful canal knowledgeof her.

The police in a chargesheet number FCL/46/2013, said the threeaccused had committedthe offense on August 3,2013, at 8, Kekere-EkunStreet, Orile-Iganmu, atabout, 9pm.

Victim’shymen

According to the charge,the accused had conspiredtogether to have canalknowledge of the victimwho was sent to buy somedrugs without her consentand in the process, de-stroyed the victim’shymen. The accused werealso alleged to haveconducted themselves in amanner likely to cause abreach of the peace byfalsely calling themselvespastors and gatheredpeople inside the Chem-ist’s shop; and ordered

BY LINDA AMALU

THE traditional ruler of Ibagwa Nike inEnugu East Local Government Area ofEnugu state, His Royal Majesty, IgweEmmanuel Ugwu, has described therelationship between the state command ofthe Nigeria police force and traditional rulersin the state as cordial.Igwe Emmanuel Ugwu who is also thestate chairman, Committee on security forthe traditional rulers in the state stated thiswhen the state commissioner of police,Abubakar Adamu Mohammed and hisentourage paid him a courtesy visit in hispalace at Okwe kingdom palace beforeproceeding to address his officers and otherstake holders at Abakpa Nike Police station.According to the monarch, there was needfor police and the traditional rulers to furthersynergize in order to send crime andcriminality into the abyss since perpetratorsdon’t drop from the sky but live in the neigh-borhood.

In his response, the Commissioner of

police, Adamu Abubakar Mohammedthanked the monarch for all his securitysupport which has helped the commandimmensely and solicited for morecooperation between the traditional rulersand the state command in order to makethe entire domain safe and secure.Earlier, the police boss visited EzeaguPolice division with his entourage andTrans Ekulu Division where he addressedstake holders including members of thepolice community relation committee aswell as his officers and men whom hecharged to be professional in theirapproach to duty while also sensitizingthem on the need to key in to theprogrammes of Fokas loan and mortgagebank which he described as a laudableprogramme and beneficial to personnel.He further used the occasion to distributedistress call numbers and his numbers foreasy contact. The CP was accompanied bythe Acp Johnson Woke, Area commander OjiRiver,Csp Mamman Giwa, CommanderMopol3, Enugu.

Royal father hails relationshipbetween police and rulers in Enugu

THE Inspector-General ofPolice, Muhammed Da-

hiru Abubakar, has assuredthat the Nigerian police iswell equipped to tackle terror-ism head on in the country.The police boss spoke throughthe Assistant Inspector- Gen-eral of Police in-charge ofZone 11, Lagos, MammanTsafe, at the graduation cere-mony of Explosive Ordinance

140 anti-bomb technicians and investigatorsgraduate from Police bomb unit

•CP Abdulmajid Ali,Commissioner of PoliceEOD (Anti-Bomb) Command

Department, EOD, (Anti -Bomb) Technicians and Inves-tigators Training Course, at thePolice College Ikeja, Lagos,recently.

In his welcome address, theCommissioner of Police, EODCommand, Abdulmajid Ali,extolled the leadership quali-ties of the IGP Abubakar, say-ing the passing out paradewhich witnessed a large num-ber of trainees since inceptionin 1976, was a vivid testimonyto the IG’s leadership prow-ess. “The training exercise

which is part of the IG’s agen-da towards improving the per-sonnel strength of the com-mand has repositioned theCommand to combat the chal-lenges of terrorism and insur-gency in the country. We eval-uated the grey areas of EOD(Anti-Bomb) Command andoperational challenges and

put in place, lasting mecha-nism to rectify them by pro-viding for personnel compre-hensive training programmeconducive for qualitative po-licing in Nigeria.”

He equally advisedgraduands to maintain highsense of dignity in all their

actions, while on and off duty.The well attended event wit-

nessed the presence of topranking officials of the Nige-ria Police Force, and dignitar-ies from all over the country.High points was the presen-tation of awards to outstand-ing students during the train-ing.

3 docked for allegedrape of 14-yr-old girl

•deceived victim with fake spiritualolive oil

them to call the victim allsorts of derogatory names,such as witch, wizard anddemon possessed girl, allunder the pretense ofcleansing her spiritually.Sergeant Quasim Adams,who held brief for theprosecutor, CorporalAnthonia Osayande(Mrs.), told the court theoffenses contravenedsections 409, 137 and 166(1) (d) of criminal laws ofLagos state of Nigeria,2011, and section 247 (b)of the criminal code cap‘C38, laws of the federa-tion of Nigeria, 2004.

However, when the pleasof the accused were taken,they pleaded not guilty tothe charges; and theircounsel, Mr. Peter Omolu-dun, Ikechukwu Onodiand Ike Okafor, informedthe court that the partiesin the case were at theverge of settling thematter.The presiding magistrate,Mr. K. O. Ogundare, whowas not satisfied with thesubmission of the defensecounsel, asked the victimif she was molested by theaccused and she answeredin affirmative. Ogundareadmitted the accusedpersons bail in the sum ofN100, 000, with twosureties each. He orderedthat the sureties must begainfully employed notself-employed and show tocourt evidence of threeyears tax payment toLagos state government.The magistrate also toldthe police to transfer thecase to Family Court atSurulere, for properadjudication while thematter was adjourned tillSeptember 24, for mention.

• Passing out parade of PoliceAnti Bomb Squard

By UJU MBANUSI

50— 50— 50— 50— 50— Vanguard,Vanguard,Vanguard,Vanguard,Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

6 ‘superfoods’ you may not be eatingOFTEN times it’s not that healthful

eating isn’t tasty, but rather it’sthe lack of variety. Adding variety ofsuper nutrient dense foods to dietensures the body gets the whole list ofvitamins and minerals to thrive.

You know fruits and vegetables arehealthy,processed foods are not. You areaware too much meat and fried foodsare also not healthy. There are, however,those foods you should be eating butfor one reason or another you tend tooverlook. Here are superfoods that youhaven’t yet added to your diet.

SpirulinaSpirulina is a blue green algae that’s

a wonderful food especially for thosethat avoid meat products. Though thisis certainly true of everyone, adeficiency in B12 is more common invegans and some vegetarians becauseB12 is found in animal products. Thereis no whole food source of B12 forvegans, except for spirulina. What’smore, spirulina has iron. Add spirulinato shakes and smoothies by the spoonful.

Hemp SeedsHemp seeds are a great source of

omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 3 is madeup of three acids EPA, DHA, and ALA.ALA can be found in hemp seeds, flaxseeds, and chia seeds. Hemp seeds alsohave more protein than milk or eggsand they’re easier to digest than bothof them.

Adzuki BeansThey’re smaller than black beans and

reddish brown in color but loaded with

TREM wages war against cancerthrough PEACE campaign

THE growing incidences of breastand cervical cancers have become

a public health cancer in Nigeria. Thesituation is not helped by the high levelof ignorance and cultural/religious be-liefs surrounding the disease.

In recognition of these and more, con-cerned organizations such as Womenof Global Impact, WGI, through the Pro-viding Early Attention for Cervical Can-cer Everywhere, PEACE Campaignembarking on massive awareness cre-ation on early intervention as panaceato check the progression as well as pre-vention in the remotest part of the coun-try.

Speaking during the 12th MedicalFair organised recently, Convener of thePEACE Campaign and ResidentBishop of The Redeemed EvangelicalMission, TREM, Bishop PeaceOkonkwo, vision and the objective ofthe PEACE Campaign is to ensure thatno woman dies of breast or cervical can-cer since both can be treated and pre-vented if detected early.

During the event held at the TREMHeadquarters in Lagos, Okonkwo, whostated the programme was establishedto mark her 60th birthday, said it also

BY CHIOMA OBINNA targeted widows. At least 4,500 womenhave been screened for breast and cer-vical cancer since its flag off in 2012while effort is on to reach 10,000 women.

“This is an initiative to prevent ourwomen from dying. I have a burden inmy heart to help women that are dyingespecially widows. Women don’t haveto die because of cervical cancer that istreatable at early stage,” she argued.

Okonkwo affirmed that knowing yourstatus does not mean death. “The ‘pre-vention is better than cure’ adage istrue. People should go to places wherethey can be screened and it should beevery year. If they detect anything bad,they get it treated; you’d live your lifeto the fullest and eat the fruit of yourlabour. Don’t just die for other peopleto take your place,” she said.

Okonkwo said further that it is igno-rance that still prevents many Nigeri-ans, especially believers, from takingcharge of their health, adding that it isGod that gives doctors the wisdom totreat. “When you know what is wrongwith you, then you will know where todirect your prayers,” she said.

Coordinator, PEACE Campaign, Dr.Oluwayomi Uteh, said several liveshave been saved through theprogramme.

• Cross section shot of drugs being administered to participants during the 2013 PEACECampaign free Medical programme in collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry ofWomen Affairs and Poverty Alleviation at TREM Headquarters, Obanikoro, Lagos.

• Adzuki beans

nutrients and contain some of thehighest levels of protein and lowestlevels of fat of any variety of beans. Theyalso contain high levels of potassium,fibre, B vitamins, iron, zinc, andmanganese. Adzuki beans promoteregular bowel movements, are a goodsource of energy, and help lowercholesterol. Try them out

Twig teaIt’s called twig tea and it’s been

• Twig tea

around for centuries. It’s made with thestems, stalks, and twigs of the tea plant.Initially, farmers sipped on the teabecause it was what was leftover fromthe harvesting of the more expensiveleaves. It’s known as a peasant’s drinkin Japan but in the West we’ve startedto praise the health benefits of the teafor its ability to promote longevity. It’s

especially known for its ability tobalance acidity in the body, which canlead to disease and ill health down theline.

GheeThis is clarified butter often used in

Indian cooking. Ghee is made bysimmering unsalted butter in a pot untilall water has boiled off, the milk solidshave settled to the bottom. Traditionally,ghee has been used to promote memory,

intelligence, digestion and bolsters theimmune system as well.

GrapefruitsOk, you may still be eating these, but

probably not enough. Grapefruitscontain monoterpenes which sweep thebody of carcinogens.They also containvitamin C and folic acid. Try mixed citrussalad.

BREAKFAST is a great kick-start to the day. True to its

name,''breakfast'' breaks the ''fast'' of thenight and offers a healthy and nutritiousway to start the day. Eating breakfastprovides energy for the brain, andimproves alertness – which is importantfor learning. Breakfast restores thebody’s glucose levels – the brain’senergy source.

Eating a nutritious breakfast gives theenergy and nutrients to get through themorning. Those who skip breakfast oftendon’t make up for the missed nutrientslater on in the day. So eat breakfast. Justdo it!

Make yourmorning better,eat breakfast

A TOTAL of $697 has beencommitted to HIV/AIDS and

related disorders in Nigeria by the USgovernment.US Consul General, JefferyHawkins, who disclosed this recentlysaid the sum is o ensure those affectedreceive proper medications, and tofurther strengthen our bi-nationalrelationship with Nigeria, in its healthsector.Hawkins spoke at the U.S bi-nationalcommission meeting in Lagos, wherehe noted that combating HIV/AIDS andother health issues in Nigeria wasprimal to ensure Nigeria and otherAfrican countries are supported to fightHIV/AIDS.“ Since 2004, the American people haveinvested over $3 billion into combatingHIV/AIDS in Nigeria. We support ARVtreatment for over 400,000 Nigerians,as well as over 250,000 OVCs impactedby HIV/AIDS in addition to makingtesting and counseling possible for overtwo million other Nigerians.”Much of the financial assistanceprovided through several US non-governmental entities is expected to beused wisely to improve life for theaverage Nigerians, he noted.

HIV: US spends$697m in Nigeria— HAWKINS

BY VERA SAMUEL-ANYAGAFU

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013 — 51

Heavy security is still in place on the streets of Cairo

Egypt crisis: El Baradei gets September trial date

A Cairo court has seta September trial

date for MohamedElBaradei, the recently-resigned interim vicepresident for foreignaffairs, on charges of“breaching nationaltrust.”

The charges againsthim were filed by a lawprofessor at Cairo’sHelwan University,according to a report inthe state-run Al-Ahram.He stands accused of“betraying” the public byresigning on August 14,a misdemeanour chargethat could carry an $1,430fine if he is convicted.

Khaled Dawoud, aformer spokesman of theNational Salvation Frontof which ElBaradei wasone of the founders, toldAl Jazeera that theprosecutor general’sdecision to refer the caseto court was probably aconsequence of thecurrent atmosphereof polarisation in thecountry.

“This is a reflection ofthe atmosphere in Egyptright now. You cannottake your independentstand or otherwise youwill be consideredbreaching national trust”Dawoud said.

“The complaint againstElBaradei is ridiculous. Ijust even could notbelieve this kind of casewill be filed.”

The longtime diplomatstepped down hours aftersecurity forces

brutally dispersed twoprotests in support ofdeposed PresidentMohamed Morsi, killingat least 830 people,according to officialfigures.

In his resignation letter,

ElBaradei lamented theviolent crackdown,warning of a “state ofpolarisation and gravedivision... the socialfabric is threatened asviolence breedsviolence.”

Egypt’s MuslimBrotherhood hascondemned the arrest ofits leader MohammadBadie over allegations ofincitement to violenceand murder.

A Brotherhoodspokesman said the arrest

was part of a plot againstthe 2011 revolution thatousted Hosni Mubarak.

Mr Badie was detainednear the site of a Cairoprotest camp cleared bypolice last week withheavy loss of life.

Zimbabwe’s opposition leader faces contempt charges

Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980, isset to be sworn in as president as early as this week.

Z I M B A B W E ’ sopposition leader

Morgan Tsvangirai mayface contempt of courtcharges for “disparagingremarks” he made aboutthe judiciary.

High Court judgeChinembiri Bhunu saidprosecutors would be

informed.His comments came as

Mr Tsvangirai’sMovement for DemocraticChange (MDC) party losttwo court cases relating tothe disputed 31 Julyelection.

The Constitutional Courtsaid President RobertMugabe’s re-election was“free, fair and credible”.

Mr Mugabe won with61% of the presidentialvote against 34% for MrTsvangirai.

The two had been partof power-sharinggovernment formed in2009 under pressure fromregional leaders followingelections the year beforemarred by violence andallegations of rigging.

French Islamist brotherscall for jihad in Syria

WHAT makes ayoung middle-

class man turn to Islamand want to risk“martyrdom” in Syria? AFrench father, who hasjust been bereaved, tellsthe BBC’s ChristianFraser what happened tohis sons.

The jihadist video isfamiliar in both style andcontent. In front of theblack flag proclaimingallegiance to Allah, is aman who calls himselfAbu Abd Al-Rahman.

“I am French,” hesays. “My parents areatheists; they do notsubscribe to anyreligion.”

In fact his parentswere baptised Catholic -as was he - and theyknow him as Nicolas. Heis a 30-year-old convert.

He comes from a middle-class background inToulouse. His motherworks for the army.

In the second half ofthe video, Nicolasappears in militaryfatigues, a Kalashnikovrifle across his legs.

UK defends Snowden-linked detention

THE British government has defended

the detention of a jour-nalist’s partner for ninehours at Heathrow Air-port, saying authorities“have a duty to protectthe public and our nation-al security”.

Police used an anti-ter-rorism law to detain Dav-id Miranda, the partnerof Guardian newspaperjournalist Glenn Green-wald, at London’s main

airport for nine hours onSunday.

Miranda’s electronicequipment was also con-fiscated, and he wasquestioned about bothhis links to the Guardianand his private life.

Greenwald has pub-lished stories about USand British surveillanceprogrammes based ondocuments leaked byformer National Securi-ty Agency contractor Ed-

ward Snowden.The Home Office said

on Tuesday that policewere right to stop peoplesuspected of possessing“highly sensitive stoleninformation that wouldhelp terrorism”.

Britain’s oppositionLabour Party is demand-ing to know whether thegovernment knew in ad-vance of the police deci-sion to detain Miranda.

Merkel to visit Dachau camp

ANGELA Merkel yesterday visited the

former Nazi concentra-

tion camp of Dachau ,in the first such visit tothe site by a Germanchancellor. She made aspeech warning of thecontinuing threat fromthe far right before tour-ing the camp, wheretens of thousands weremurdered.

The visit was part ofMrs Merkel’s electioncampaign and will befollowed by a rally in abeer tent nearby.

Political opponentshave called the combi-nation “tasteless”.

After making a shortspeech, Mrs Merkel isto lay a wreath of flow-ers and tour the rem-

nants of the camp.Max Mannheimer,

the 93-year-old presi-dent of the Dachaucamp committee, haslong lobbied for MrsMerkel to go to thecamp, near Munich insouthern Germany.

He hailed her deci-sion as “historic” and a“signal of respect forthe former detainees”.

But a leader of the op-position Greens party,Renate Kuenast, de-scribed Mrs Merkel’sprogramme of the campvisit followed by anelection rally as a “taste-less and outrageouscombination”.

•Brotherhood condemns Mohammad Badie arrest

Court indicts Musharraf forBhutto’s murder

Pervez Musharraf, Paki-stan’s former military rul-er, has been charged withmurder of former PrimeMinister Benazir Bhutto,who died in a gun andbomb attack in December2007, court officials say.

The case of Bhutto’smurder is one of severalthat Musharraf is facingsince his return from self-imposed exile earlier thisyear.

“He was charged with

murder, criminal conspir-acy for murder and facili-tation for murder,” publicprosecutor ChaudhryAzhar said at the anti-ter-rorism court in Rawalpin-di hearing the case onTuesday.

Musharraf, 69, who at-tended court proceedingsamid high security, deniedthe charges and the casewas adjourned until Au-gust 27.

Six other people, includ-ing two senior police offic-ers, are also facing charg-es in the case.

Bringing chargesagainst a former armychief is an unprecedentedmove in a country ruled formore than half of its histo-ry by the military.

The decision by a courtin Rawalpindi marks thefirst time Musharraf, orany former army chief inPakistan, has been chargedwith a crime.

Musharraf seized pow-er in a bloodless coup in1999, and was forced outby a democratically elect-ed government in 2008.

52 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

Arsenal plot Casillas raidARSENAL are

considering adramatic move for RealMadrid goalkeeper IkerCasillas as they step uptheir pursuit of areplacement for error-prone WojciechSzczesny.

The Spain captain isknown to be unsettled atthe Bernabeu afterlosing his automaticplace in the first teamunder Jose Mourinhoand the Gunners arekeeping a close eye onhis situation.

Arsenal - shocked bytheir Barclays PremierLeague opening-daydefeat by Aston Villa -are desperate to land aworld-class goalkeeperand the World Cupwinner and Europeanchampion wouldcertainly fit the bill.

The north London clubdiscussed moving forChelsea No 1 Petr Cechbefore the transferwindow opened,believing that ThibautCourtois would returnfrom his loan spell at

Atletico Madrid andreplace Cech in thepecking order atStamford Bridge.

Although ArseneWenger is keen onCasilllas, the stumblingblock could be his price.Casillas is 32 and ever-prudent Arsenal do notwant to pay big moneyfor a move knowing fullwell they cannot sellhim on.

They would consider afee of around £8millionbut fear Madrid wouldnot listen to offers belowthe £15m mark.

Raul: Bale too expensiveReal Madrid legend

Raul Gonzalez saysGareth Bale is tooexpensive and suggestshis former team droptheir interest.

There has been variouscash figures thrown

around by media withreports suggestingaround •120 millionwould get the playeraway from TottenhamHotspur.

Raul, who currentlyplays for Al Sadd SC inQatar, reckons that Baleis not worth that amountof money.

“[Bale] is a wonderfulplayer,” he told the Al-Sadd official website.

“I understand the RealMadrid board isworking hard toassemble the best teampossible.

“But the price is waytoo high,” he added

We’re tired of playing second fiddle— Bakare

CHIEF coach ofNigeria’s senior

national male basketballteam, Ayo Bakare hassounded it clear to hissquad at the 2013Afrobasket holding inAbidjan, Cote d’Ivoire thatthe country was no longerwilling to play secondfiddle to any team in Africa.

He gave this charge tothe players captained byboth Olumide Oyedeji andIke Diogu at the Westpointhotel in Abuja on theteam’s arrival from theUnited States shortly beforethey departed Abuja forAbidjan Sunday.

Bakare, who qualifiedthe team for their first everOlympics in 2012, chargedthe players to put in theirbest as they begin thecampaign for the title they

have never won in thecompetition’s historyagainst Mali Wednesday.

The coach assured theNigeria BasketballFederation, NBBF,

president, Tijjani Umar thatthe present bunch ofplayers are the best thecountry has everassembled and are in agood position to come outtops in the competition.

BY PATRICKMORODION, Abidjan

Technical Committee recommendsOkon as Falcons’ caretaker coach

RISING from itsmeeting at the NFF

Secretariat, Abuja onTuesday, the Technicaland DevelopmentCommittee of theNigeria FootballFederation announcedthat it has recommendedthe constitution of acaretaker coaching crewfor the Senior WomenNational Team, SuperFalcons.

Acting GeneralSecretary, Dr. EmmanuelIkpeme stated that thecommittee made the

r e c o m m e n d a t i o n ,pending the ratificationof the NFF ExecutiveCommittee, in view ofthe two internationalfriendly matches againstthe Senior Women’sTeam of Japan, comingup in two Japanesecities on 22ndSeptember and 26thSeptember respectively.

Edwin Okon, who ledthe U-20 Women’s Team,Falconets, to the semifinals of last year’s FIFAU-20 Women’s WorldCup, incidentally hostedby Japan, will beassisted on thiscaretaker basis byChristopher Danjuma,with Bala Mohammed asgoalkeeper coach.

Ikpeme said: “The duowill have charge of theteam for only thefriendly games, assubstantive coachingcrews for the SuperFalcons, Falconets (U-20) and Flamingos (U-17) will be constituted indue course.”

The committee alsorecommended that theNFF ExecutiveCommittee approve forfour-time AfricanWoman Player of theYear, Perpetua Nkwochato proceed on a coachingcourse.

Casillas

•Raul

•Olumide Oyedeji (l)

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013 — 53

LIST OF INVITED PLAYERS

Foreign based Home based

Victor Moses (ChelseaFC, England); OgenyiOnazi (SS Lazio, Italy);Nnamdi Oduamadi (ACMilan, Italy); NosaIgiebor (Real Betis,Spain)Forwards: AhmedMusa (CSKA Moscow,Russia); Brown Ideye(Dynamo Kyiv,Ukraine); Shola Ameobi(Newcastle United,England); EmmanuelEmenike(Fenerbahce FC,Turkey); Obinna Nsofor(Lokomotiv Moscow,Russia);Uche Nwofor (VVVVenlo, Netherlands)

(Kwara United)

Midfielders: SundayMba (Enugu Rangers);Solomon Jabason (AkwaUnited); OlufemiOladapo (ShootingStars); Etebo Oghene(WarriWolves); Rabiu Ali (KanoPillars); Moses Orkuma(Lobi Stars)Forwards: MuhammadGambo (Kano Pillars);Ifeanyi Edeh (EnyimbaFC);Mbah Ezekiel (AkwaUnited); BarnabasImenger (Lobi Stars);Izu Azuka(Sunshine Stars);Dimgba Stanley (KwaraUnited); OsadaiyeJoseph(Warri Wolves)

Keshi invites 24 home boys, 18 pros forMalawiSUPER Eagles’ Head

Coach, StephenKeshi has invited 24h o m e - b a s e dprofessionals and 18overseas-based players tocamp ahead of nextmonth’s 2014 FIFA WorldCup qualifying gameagainst Malawi inCalabar.

Only five of the 24home boys will eventuallyjoin the 18 overseas-based stars for the biggame, as well as for theinternational friendlyagainst the Etalons ofBurkina Faso in Kadunaon Tuesday, 10thSeptember.

Usual suspects,goalkeeper ChigozieAgbim, defendersAzubuike Egwuekwe,Solomon Kwambe andBenjamin Francis, as wellas midfielders SundayMba and forwardMuhammad Gamboheadline the home boys’contingent. Defensivepillar Godfrey Oboabonahas been called, but willcome in as an overseas-based professional if heis able to conclude histransfer to Rizespor ofTurkey in a few days.

All 24 home boys areexpected at the BoltonWhite Apartments, Abujaon Sunday, 24th August,while the 18 Europe-based stars are expectedto arrive unfailingly inCalabar on Monday, 2ndSeptember.

“We are calling up 24home boys in order to beable to identify newplayers for the 2014African NationsChampionship, for whichwe have alreadyqualified,” said Keshi.

Goalkeepers VincentEnyeama and AustinEjide, defenders EfeAmbrose and EldersonEchiejile, midfieldersJohn Mikel Obi, OgenyiOnazi and Victor Mosesand forwards EmmanuelEmenike, Ahmed Musaand Brown Ideye top thelist of the Europe-based.

Two-goal hero againstSouth Africa in lastweek’s Nelson MandelaChallenge, Uche Nwoforretains his slot whileSpain-based midfielderNosa Igiebor returns forthe first time since theAfrica Cup of

Nations finals.England-based SholaAmeobi and LokomotivMoscow’s Obinna Nsoforalso return.

Nigeria, on nine points,need only to avoid defeatagainst seven-pointerMalawi at the U. J.

Esuene Stadium on 7thSeptember, to reach the10-team final eliminationround of the Africanqualifying race for nextyear ’s showpiece inBrazil.

The friendly against theEtalons at the Ahmadu

Pistorius to stand trial

OSCAR Pistorius, the26-year-old double-

amputee Olympian, isto face trial in March nextyear after being indicted oncharge of murdering hisgirlfriend ReevaSteenkamp.

Pistorius, 26, was handeda copy of the indictmentand the court adjourned onMonday in Pretoria.

“Mr Pistorius, the matteris then transferred to theHigh Court and isscheduled to start on the3rd of March 2014 and willrun until the 20th of March2014,” Desmond Nair, themagistrate, said.

The sprint star walkedinto the court on Mondaywearing a black suit andlight blue shirt, and startedpraying with his sister

Aimee and brother Carl,holding hands with themand crying.

The indictment papersare expected to include alist of witnesses to be calledby the prosecution anddetail some of the evidencepolice investigators havegathered in the six monthssince Pistorius shotSteenkamp in a bathroomin his home on Valentine’sDay. The statement, fromthe office of South Africa’snational policecommissioner, saiddetectives, forensic experts,ballistics experts,psychologists andtechnology experts allworked on the case and areconfident that they havethe evidence to convictPistorius.

Bello Stadium three dayslater brings together thetwo teams that battled forthe Africa Cup of Nationstrophy in Soccercity,Johannesburg onFebruary 10.

Nigeria won 1-0 thatday.

Sharapova changes surnameMARIA Sharapova

is intending tochange her surname toSugarpova for the USOpen, a move designedto plug her line of sweets.

The 26-year-oldRussian has asked abouta name change throughthe supreme court ofFlorida with a view toreverting back toSharapova after thetournament, according tothe Times. There is asuggestion that theSugarpova candy logo, apair of red lips, willappear on her clothingduring the final grandslam of the year.

Sharapova may needthe permission of thegrand slam committee togo through with thename change which, ifgranted, could see herintroduced andaddressed as MissSugarpova duringmatches. The formerworld No1 is likely to bethe No3 seed for theevent.

The issue is in dangerof proving a distractionfor the player, who lastweek split with her coach,Jimmy Connors, afteronly one match, a defeatto Sloane Stephens inCincinnati.

Sugarpova, according

to its website, “is apremium candy line thatreflects the fun,fashionable, sweet side ofinternational tennissensation MariaSharapova”. Its 12

different flavours includeFlirty, Smitten Sour,Splashy and Sassy. Aportion of all proceeds gotowards the MariaSharapova Foundation.

Enyeama’s return not aproblem, says Ejide

NIGERIA goalkeeperAustin Ejide, who

won the Nelson MandelaChallenge match againstSouth Africa lastWednesday, is notconcerned about the returnof number one goalkeeperVincent Enyeama to theside.

Despite Ejide not beingfully tested by Bafanastrikers, one thing thatstood out for him was hispositioning as he was

always on the right spot intheir 2-0 win.

With the return of numberone goalkeeper Enyeama,Ejide said he is just happyto be part of the squad andnot concerned about otherthings.

“There are many playersthat make up a squad andI am glad that I am one ofthem. I am not reallyconcerned about the returnof Enyeama,” Ejide said.

Oscar Pistorius with late girlfriend.

Brown Ideye (r) evades a Namibian defender during a World Cup qualifier inWindhoek

•Ejide

54 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

Our sports Minister must bite and not only bark— AFN official

BY ONOCHIEANIBEZE

Sports in Nigeria maynot grow the way theNational SportsCommission is staffed,structured and run,”Jide Josiah, an athleticsofficial said in Moscowwith authority.

Josiah is growingwhite hairs over thefrustrations sportsassociations face in theirattempts to grow theirsports. Josiah bared hismind in a chat inMoscow during 14th

edition of the WorldChampionships whichended on Sunday. Saidhe:

“Officials of the sportsministry have a way oftampering with fundsmeant for theassociations. Somesecretaries of theassociations connivewith some senior staff ofthe ministry and what isdue to the associationsnever gets to them. It’sa cabal. They are in theworld of their own. Evenkits supplied toassociations end up inthe markets. They sellthem. They appropriatethe big and small thingsto themselves and leave

out the athletes.That’s how petty they

are. They make claimson behalf of theassociations and whenthe funds are releasedthey never get to theassociations. This sportsminister has shown thathe wants to changethings. He needs thesupport of Nigeriansespecially thePresidency. He cannotperform well with manyof the people in thesports ministry.

They cage all ministerssent to sports. Theyknow how they do it. Atthe end of the day it isour sports that suffersand these people remainthere. Bolaji has been

barking. He needs tostart biting. He hasalready done a fewthings and the peopleare grumbling. He mustnot look back. He mustcleans the system of badeggs but he needs thesupport of thePresidency to carry outthe kind of sweepingchanges that will helpour sports.

He must do things theway he feels will helpand not the approachthat has failed us for along time. We all knowthat sports is not beingfunded adequately. Butwhat use do they put thelittle that comes? Howdo the staff of theministry plan andexecute sportsprogrammes?

Something must bedone to the NSC. Bolajihas started but he needsto do a lot more aboutsports development. Hecannot succeed withsome people in thatministry.

That’s why he shouldbe allowed to hirepeople on contract basisto work for sports. Theymust not be civilservants. That’s why Isay that he needs thesupport of thePresidency to changesome things. The goodthing is that the mannow appears to knowwhere the real problemsare and he wants toaddress so many issues.He should bark and bite.I hope he does so.”

AFN president — OgbaMinister — Abdullahi

•BLESSING — Okagbare was the sole medallist for Nigeria at the Moscow 2013 Athletics Championship .

Lagos Int’l T/Tennis Classics:Lagos Int’l T/Tennis Classics:Lagos Int’l T/Tennis Classics:Lagos Int’l T/Tennis Classics:Lagos Int’l T/Tennis Classics:

Nigeria will shine – Toriola

SIX times Olympian, Segun Toriola has assured thatthe Nigerian team for the Lagos International Table

Table Tennis Classics will be good enough to win honoursfor the country at the end of the championship.

Speaking in Lagos yesterday, the France basedNigerian international told Sports Vanguard that “Nigeriais a great table tennis playing nation that is respected allover the world. We have a great reputation among tabletennis playing countries. We are good and I can assureyou, we won’t disappoint.”

He said he was aware of players coming from countrieslike Chinese Taipei. Egypt, Italy, Congo DR, amongothers but remained certain of a good outing for TeamNigeria. He was particularly happy over the positive effectthe tournament will bring to bear on local players. “Thetournament will expose our players and the experiencethey stand to gain from the event will go a long way theircareers,” Toriola said.

On her part, former African champion, FunkeOshonaike, the event couldn’t have come at a better timethan now. “I feel so wonderful and overjoyed. I will justenjoy myself and have a good time while it lasts,” shesaid. A former national champion, Offiong Edem alsospoke on the coming championships. “It is one of thebest things to happen to our game locally. It is not goingto be easy but we will give it our best shot,” she said,

BY JACOB AJOM

•Toriola

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013 — 55

CMYK

Printed and Published by VANGUARD MEDIA LIMITED, Vanguard Avenue, Kirikiri Canal, P.M.B.1007, Apapa. Phone: Newsroom: 018773962. Deputy Editor: 01-8944295. Advert Dept: 01-7924470;Hotline: 01-8737028; Abuja: 09-2341102, 09-2342704. E-mail: editor@vanguardngr.com, news@vanguardngr.com, letters@vanguardngr.com. Advert:advertproduction@yahoo.com

Website: www.vanguardngr.com (ISSN 0794-652X) Editor: MIDENO BAYAGBON. Phone: 01-7742861, All correspondence to P.M.B. 1007, Apapa Lagos.

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

Sudoku

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

QUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORD

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21 , 2013

ACROSS: 1, Maniac 5, Circle 8, Obsolete9, Risk 10, Pep 12, Stunt 15, Rod 17, Rut 18,Hue 19, Ado 20, Amuse 21, Ire 22, Off 23,Mug 24, Elf 26, False 29, Net 33, Hard 34,Precious 35, Rebate 36, Rotten.

DOWN: 2, Amble 3, Idol 4, Cleft 5, Clean6, Rare 7, Lasso 10, Place 11, Proof 12,Staff 13, Usual 14, Theme 15, Reign 16,Dwelt 25, Leave 27, Ample 28, Swear 30,Elude 31, Idea 32, Gift.

ACROSS1 Aspersion (4)4 Cushion (3)6 Cease (4)9 Chop (3)10 Practice (8)11 Attack (4)14 Lettuce (3)16 Proverb (5)19 Captive (8)21 Hammer (5)23 Legitimise (8)24 Elbow (5)27 Free (3)31 Moist (4)33 Outside (8)34 Fuel (3)35 Repudiate (4)36 Spoil (3)37 Neat (4)

DOWN2 Fibbed (4)3 Shoal (4)4 Private (8)5 Action (4)6 Scrap (5)7 Beverage (3)8 Due (5)12 Scorn (5)13 Inflexible (5)14 Tooth (3)15 Cut (5)17 Confess (5)18 Surpass (5)20 List (8)22 Youth (3)25 Custom (5)26 Romany (5)28 Side (4)29 Summons (4)30 Brave (4)32 Male (3)

KKKKKeshi ineshi ineshi ineshi ineshi invitvitvitvitvites 2es 2es 2es 2es 24 home4 home4 home4 home4 homeboboboboboys, 1ys, 1ys, 1ys, 1ys, 18 pros f8 pros f8 pros f8 pros f8 pros for Malaor Malaor Malaor Malaor Malawiwiwiwiwi

LIST OF INVITED PLAYERS

Foreign based Home basedGoalkeepers: VincentEnyeama (Lille FC,France); Austin Ejide(HapoelBe’er Sheva, Israel)

Defenders: EldersonEchiejile (SportingBraga, Portugal); EfeAmbrose(Celtic FC, Scotland);James Okwuosa(Chippa United, SouthAfrica)

Midfielders: JohnMikel Obi (Chelsea FC,England); Fegor Ogude(Valerenga FC,Norway); John Ogu(Academica de Coimbra,Portugal);

Continues on Page 53

Goalkeepers: ChigozieAgbim (EnuguRangers); Daniel Akpeyi(Heartland FC)

Defenders: AzubuikeEgwuekwe (WarriWolves); GodfreyOboabona(Sunshine Stars);Solomon Kwambe(Sunshine Stars); UmarZango (KanoPillars); BenjaminFrancis (Heartland FC);Kunle Odunlami(SunshineStars); ChibuzorOkonkwo (EnuguRangers); Yinka Adedeji(Sharks FC);Ganiyu Ogungbe

Continues on Page 53

Story on page 53

Pistorius tostand trial— P.53

Sharapova changes surnameto Sugarpova — Page 53Raul: Bale too expensive— Page 52Arsenal plot Casillas raid — Page 52•Emenike

•Pistorius

•Sugarpova

TWO WEEKS TO LIVE