...towards a better life for the people

N150VOL. 25: NO. 61635

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

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Mr & Mrs

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•P 6

10 killed in multipletanker explosions,building collapse

TRAGEDY—No fewer than nine petrol tankers exploded, yesterday, on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Some of thetankers at the scene of the accident. INSET: The collapsed church building in Ibadan. Photos: Wunmi Akinola and Dare Fasube.See more pictures on Pages6&7.

Reps to probe$1.3bn oilbloc scam

•P 8

Lagos reinstatessacked doctors•P.13

New electricity tarifftakes off today •P.5

Kidnapped German,six gunmen killed

JTF INVADES BOKO HARAM'S DEN:

BY ABDULSALAM

MUHAMMAD

KANO—A GermanEngineer, Edgar

Fritz Raupach, who washeld hostage by gunmensince January 26 thisyear was killed by hiscaptors yesterday whenNigerian security forcesstormed their hideout, abungalow apartmentlocated at Danbaresurburb, along Gwarzohighway, in Kano.

It was gathered thatmembers of the securityforces who conducted araid on the building wereunaware that the Germanwas being held there butattacked the buildingbased on intelligence

•P.10

UNILAG:We'llimplementPresident'sdeclaration— NUC

2 — Vanguard, FRIDAY , JUNE 1, 2012

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Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE1, 2012—5

New electricity tarifftakes off today•Government says it is a burden we must carry

By OSCARLINEONWUEMENYI,

EMMAN OVUAKPORIE& KUNLE KALEJAYE

A NEW electricity tariff regime with po-

tentially grave cost impli-cations for urban dwell-ers, the rich and commer-cial concerns commencestoday. The new tariff re-gime reduces the cost ofelectricity for rural con-sumers who do not useelectronics or other heavyequipment. However,more affluent consumers,commercial and industri-al consumers would paysignificantly higher ratesabove the N4 per kilowatthour that would be paidby the very poor.

Ahead of the commence-ment of the scheme, yes-terday, the Federal Gov-ernment said it was dis-

House of Representatives,yesterday, the Minister ofPower, Prof. Barth Nnaji,said the new tariff regimewas formulated to stabilisethe sector as well as at-tract private investmentsthat is required to drivethe sector in the mediumto long term. Ministrysources also said the newpricing regime will en-throne efficiency andgood governance in theNigerian Electricity Sup-ply Industry (NESI),eliminate waste and guar-antee cost-reflective pric-ing.

Besides, Vanguardlearnt, yesterday, that theMinistry of Power is to dis-tribute free energy savingbulbs that allow lowerpower consumption andconsequently lower elec-tricity bills to be paid bythe customers. Four-watt

that Customer ComplaintsUnits (CCUs) will now befully operational in all dis-tribution companies toaddress all customer com-plaints, and “where theCCUs fail, customers cannow seek redress at theNERC Forum Offices alsoto be operational in allelectricity distribution of-fices nationwide. Thesestructures have been putin place to ensure effec-tive and efficient servicedelivery under the newtariff order.”

Tariff hike isnot political

Appearing before theHouse of Representatives,Nnaji said: “To solve theproblem of power we can-not be talking of margin-al increase. Certain mea-sures have to be taken.Electricity is not a prod-uct of parties or issue tobe played with politics orparty ideology but is whatconcern everybody. Webuy the product and it hasto be priced very well.”

He stressed further thatthe increment was to cre-ate a good platform whichwould be attractive to in-vestors that would comeinto the country with thesole aim of improving onthe present situation sothat Nigerians could en-joy uninterrupted supplyof electricity.

The minister told thelawmakers that tariff canonly work with sector re-form, adding that the ab-sence of a cost-recoverywas a key reason for thefailure of the power sec-tor to serve Nigerians forthe past three decades.

He said: “The tariffframework provides in-centives for improvingperformance cost reduc-tions and quality of ser-vice. However, tariff re-balancing is only a part ofthe equation and can only

work in tandem with thecurrent reform/privatisa-tion programme”.

While explaining thebenefits, the minister toldthe lawmakers that exist-ing customers that havenot paid for meters do notneed to pay further as thecost of the meters havebeen included in their tar-iffs. He said new custom-ers will only pay standardconnection fee with noadditional charges for themeter and that the metermaintenance fees havebeen abolished since Nov2011.

Lagos Chamber ofCommerce lauds tar-iff

Meanwhile, the DirectorGeneral of Lagos Chamberof Commerce and Industry,Muda Yusuf, yesterday,said it was difficult to faultthe position of NERC andthe power minister, espe-cially in the light of the na-tion's clamour for a privatesector driven power sector.

Yusuf said: "I believe it isa sacrifice that is worthmaking. In any event, it willstill be much cheaper thanproviding electricitythrough generators pow-ered by diesel or petrolgenerators, even with thetariff review. We also ex-pect that this process wouldlead to the ultimate exit ofthe public sector in the di-rect management of thesector. I should stress thatthe citizens should not bemade to pay for inefficien-cy or corruption costs. It isimportant to evaluate theelements of the current costsoperations.

"The good thing is that thetariff would be discrimina-tory in favour of the poor. I would urge that it shouldalso be discriminatory infavour of business. The gov-ernment should be given achance to follow throughthe process."

From left: Mrs Maureen Bakare, Elder Felix Ohiwerie and Chief Simeon Olakunri at thefuneral service for late Prof Adetokunbo Babatunde Sofoluwe, former Vice chancellor ofthe University of Lagos, at the All Saints Church, Yaba, Lagos, yesterday. Photo: BiodunOgunleye

energy saving bulbs,which are said to be saferand reduce health haz-ards, will be deployed inplace of present heavyenergy consuming 40 and60 watt bulbs.

NLC opposesincrease

Meanwhile, the NigeriaLabour Congress, NLC,last night said it was in-sisting on its opposition tothe new tariff. Congresshad last Sunday declaredits strong opposition to theJune 1, 2012 planned de-claring that the proposedenergy tariff without im-proved power supply isnot only uncalled for, butinsensitive to the prevail-ing plight of workers andthe Nigerian people.NLC in a statement by its

P r e s i d e n t ,Comrade Ab-dulwaheedOmar, calledon the Feder-al Govern-ment to put onhold any fu-ture increasein electricitytariff until allthe issuesraised againstsuch movehave beendealt with toavoid the

wrath of Nigerian mass-es.

At a briefing in Abuja tokick start the new regime,Chairman of the NationalElectricity RegulatoryCommission, NERC, Dr.Sam Amadi, noted that thenew tariff is established toensure steady power sup-

ply and guarantee effi-cient customer delivery inNigeria.

He said: “The tariff isstructured to attain cost-reflective pricing that willensure private sector in-vestment in the genera-tion, distribution andtransmission of power inthe country. Securing pri-vate sector investmentwill guarantee the desiredavailability, reliability andstability in electricity sup-ply and efficiency in cus-tomer service delivery."

Stressing that with sta-ble power supply, busi-nesses will thrive and theeconomy will flourish,Amadi added: “Small andmedium scale enterpriseswill once again have theelectricity they need tokeep their businesses run-ning. Hairdressers, vulca-

nizers, barbers and othersmall-scale enterpriseswill no longer have to de-pend on generators whilebigger commercial andindustrial ventures willconsiderably reduce theircost of doing businessleading to a general re-duction in the cost ofgoods and services.”

Amadi said that privatesector participation wascentral to the Power Sec-tor Reform aimed at trans-forming the sector in linewith the NERC’s mandateto ensure adequate andaffordable electricity toevery Nigerian. He saidunder the new tariff re-gime, different classes ofconsumers will pay differ-ent rates applicable totheir classes for their elec-tricity supply, adding:“Low income earners whouse less electricity will payless than high incomeearners who consumemore electricity. Lifelineconsumers (R1) will enjoythe special benefit of notpaying a fixed charge fortheir electricity.”

The NERC boss further stated that all

electricity consumers willbe metered within a max-imum of 18 months, add-ing that all distributioncompanies (DISCOs)have been asked to sub-mit their meter installationplan to the Commissionin order to receive themeter component of thetariff.

Amadi stated: “This willaddress the perennialbilling fraud suffered bymany electricity consum-ers through estimated bill-ing. A methodology toensure accuracy of esti-mated billing is being de-signed by NERC to fur-ther protect the rights ofcustomers and preventover-billing while esti-mated billing is beingphased out." He added

bursing a N100 billionstabilization fund to sub-sidise the cost to be borneby consumers rated belowthe N24/Kwh cost of pro-duction over the next twoyears, at the rate ofN50billion for 2012 and2013 respectively.

Middle income consum-ers would be expected topay between N11 andN12/Kwh. The highestrate would be paid by con-sumers living in highbrow areas of the countrysuch as Maitama, Asoko-ro in Abuja, Ikoyi and Ba-nana Island in Lagos.Consumers in these areasgrouped as R3 and R4would pay as much asN23.71/kwh with fixedmeter charges ofN21,256.30 andN118,830.56 respectively.

Appearing before the

The new electricity tariff released by NERC and which takes effect today

NEW ELECTRICITY TARIFF

•Lagos Chamber of Commerce lauds tariff

POCKET CARTOON

TAKE HEARTBY ELLA RANDLE

6—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

10 killed in multiple tankerexplosions, building collapse

LIFEWORDSBY PASTOR ITUAH

Is it any wonder that the richest one per cent ofthe world’s population owns 40 per cent of the totalhousehold wealth, while the bottom half of theworld makes do with barely one per cent? Themajority can be wrong. The reason they can bewrong is that they have the wrong assumptionsabout life, money and success.

Any person who desires to be a great success andbe a leader both to themselves and to others mustnot take anything for granted. Let your knowledgebecome your power.

It takes vision, focus, determination, hard work,and grit to make a difference.

“The fear-determined persons go about puttingout the sun in other people.” This happens whenwe focus on other people’s faults and weaknesses.If you are ruled by fear, you not only go aboutputting out the light of others, you also extinguishyour own light. - John McMurray-

THE English psychoanalyst McMurray spokeof people being either ‘fear-determined’ or

‘love-determined’: There are two emotionalattitudes through which human life can be radicallydetermined. They are love and fear. The fear-determined have no sun in themselves and go aboutputting out the sun in other people. Whereas thelove-determined have life in them, abundant life.They are the people who are really alive, of whomit can be said that they possess eternal life as awell within them perpetually springing.

Here are the thoughts that put out your own sun:“No use trying!”, “I’m hopeless at that!”, “I’ll neverlearn!”, “This is too difficult!” Each time you playthese negative tapes, you extinguish your light, andnegate your potential. And when you look at othersand their perceived talent and success, you mayfeel envy – which is really a wish to extinguish thelight of others.

Mary Jacsch sums aptly: "As your heart’scapacity for love and kindness grows, you’ll find agreat fullness of being, discover a warm kinshipwith all beings, and reveal the radiant heart within.

LAGOS—AT least 10people died yesterday intwo unrelated accidentsbetween Lagos and

Ibadan.On the Lagos- Ibadan

expressway, five peoplewere burnt in a multipleaccident involving ninefuel tankers while a

building underconstruction at the site ofNew Covenant Church,Sagbe, Ojoo in Ibadancollapsed during adownpour, claiming fivelives including twowomen with two othersseriously injured onWednesday night.

It was the promptresponse of security men,men of the Federal RoadSafety Corps, policemen

and other sympathizersthat saved the twosurvivors.

Governor AbiolaAjimobi of Oyo State andhis wife, Florence visitedthe scene around 1.30amto give helping hands tothose who were trappedunder the rubbles.

When Vanguard visitedthe scene of the incident,all the workingimplements like headpans, shovel, clothes were

seen scattered on theground.

One of the survivors,Mr Wole Sokunbi said,“ we were 13 peopleworking on the buildingwhen the rain started andwe were waiting underthis building to collect ourdaily allowances frompastor, the foreman.Suddenly the buildingcollapsed. Only pastor,myself and one of the

women fetching water forus survived”.

All the corpses andthose injured had beentaken away from the site.

According to aneyewitness, the workershad finished the day’swork and were waiting forthe contractor to comeand pay them their wageswhen the structures cavedin suddenly.

He said: “They hadfinished working for the

day. They had cleaned upand were waiting for thecontractor. Then, the rainstarted. It was then theytook shelter under thedeck. Then, suddenly, weheard a loud bang. Twoof them who are Hausastried to escape but the ironrod held their legs. But,they were quicklyrescued and taken to thehospital.”

A member of the church,Mr. Oyegoke Francisdescribed the incident asunfortunate.

Governor Ajimobiblamed the incident onthe failure of thecontractor handling thechurch building to usequality materials as wellas his (contractor ’s)intention to cut cost.

“If the contractor hadnot compromised quality,this incident would nothave happened,” the

governor said, regrettingthat it could happendespite repeatedwarning that peopleshould ensure quality ineverything they weredoing, including buildingconstruction.

He ordered thatthorough investigation becarried out on thec i r c u m s t a n c e ssurrounding the collapseof the building.

Five feared deadin Ogunexplosion

Also, no fewer than fivepersons were feareddead early yesterdaymorning in a multipleaccident that occurred atIbafo, a few kilometers toRedemption Camp,around Danko Villagealong the Lagos-Ibadanexpressway when atanker loaded withPremium Motor Spirit,petrol, rammed into sometrucks parked along theexpressway.

An eyewitness toldVanguard that theaccident occurred when atanker with registrationnumber, KEBBI,XB370ZUR rammed intosome of the petrol tankershaphazardly parked onthe two sides of theexpress way, leavingseveral people criticallyinjured.

The tankers were,according to the source,immediately gutted byfire and not less than fivepeople popularly calledmotor boys were burnt,while it also burnt not lessthan nine of the tankers.

When Vanguard visitedthe scene of the accident,there was heavy gridlockleading to the diversionof vehicles to other areasof the road.

It was gathered that,three tankers and sevenarticulated vehicles wereinvolved in the accident.

Speaking withnewsmen on theaccident, the FederalRoad Safety Corps SectorCommander in OgunState, Ayobami Omiyalesaid the accidentoccurred at about 12 :30am yesterday, addingthat, no fewer than 30passengers wereinvolved in the accidentwhich claimed twounidentified personsburnt beyondrecognition.

He further said that,five people were critically

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Another set of tankers caught up in the inferno.

Rubble of the church building that collapsed in Ibadan.

BY OLA AJAYI &

DAUD OLATUNJI

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012—7

injured in the accidentwhich was caused bydangerous driving, whileexplaining that, one of thearticulated vehiclesinvolved in the accidentcaught fire which resultedin an inferno thatconsumed the two victimsand some of the vehicles.

He said: “One of thearticulated vehicles wastrying to navigate betweentwo cars and it lost controlbefore catching fire thatled to the accident on theroad.”

He however disclosedthat the injured werereceiving treatment atundisclosed hospitalsnear the scene.

He also said the burntbodies had been

deposited at the OlabisiOnabanjo UniversityTeaching Hospital,Sagamu.

According to him, thefire was put out by men ofthe fire service, addingthat the FRSC was stillmaking efforts to removethe burnt vehicles andcontrol the trafficcongestion that resulted.

As at the time of filingthis report, men of OgunState Traffic Complianceand Enforcement Agencywere seen moving to thescene of the accident tocontrol traffic and removethe burnt vehicles.

TRACE UnitCommander for Mowe-Ibafo, Olusola JohnsonOjuoro told newsmen thatthe agency was on groundto clear the accidentscene.

10 killed in multipletanker explosions,building collapseContinues from Page 6

Kidnapped German, 6 otherskilled as JTF ambush gunmen

File photo of Late Edgar Fritz Raupach as acaptive.

File photo of Edgar Fritz Raupach and his captors.

Rescue at the scene of explosion.

report that sect memberswere hiding there.

A reliable source whowitnessed the incidentrelated how it happened.Said he: “Members of theSura Council wereholding their meeting ina secluded place in Kano.The Sura Council is thehighest decision makingorgan of Boko Haramcomprising theiroperation commanders,thinkers, planners andstrategists. Somehow, thesecurity forces includingthe Joint Task Force gothint that Boko Harammembers were meetingthere and stormed theplace in full forceunknown to them that thekidnapped Germannational was being keptthere. There was heavyexchange of fire and whenthe sect members realisedthat there was no escapefor them they killed theGerman. In the course ofthe gun battle, the securityforces killed all themembers of the SuraCouncil at the meeting, nosingle one escaped. It wasonly their leader, Shekauwho was not at themeeting that escapedbeing killed”.

The German’s deathcame on the heel of asimilar incident on March8th in Sokoto when aBriton and two Italiansdied in a failed rescueattempt by security

A counter terrorismofficer who participated inyesterday ’s operationtold Vanguard oncondition of anonymitythat seven people died inthe operation while oneAK 47 was recoveredincluding129 rounds ofammunition and a handgrenade

Security sourceshowever explained thatsix people died during theencounter including thefive sect members, awoman, while threesoldiers were believed tohave sustained injuryfrom a blast that rockedthe building during theoperations.

Vanguard learnt that thesect members detonated aprimed ImprovisedExplosive Device whenthe Special Forces stormedtheir residence.

In a statement issued byJTF spokesman in Kano,Lt Ikediche Iweha heconfirmed the death of theGerman saying that hewas killed by his captorswho held him hostage.

Lt Iweha stated that thesecurity forces stormed theenclave where he wasbeing held near BUK,adding that “Upon searchof the premises thesecurity forces, found thehand cuffed gruesomelymurdered corpse of anexpatriate, later identifiedas the German national,Mr Egdar, who waskidnapped since January26rd 2012 along Zaria byepass Kano. The Germanwas apparently killed bythe terrorists on noticingthe security forces”.

Iweha added that“During a further searchof the terrorists’ hideout,the security forcesrecovered 2 AK 47 rifles,huge quantity ofammunition. 36 handgrenade and ImprovisedExplosive Devices storedby the terrorists forpossible attack againstinnocent persons andsecurity personnel”.

Giving a graphic detailsof the operation, the ArmySpokesman explained

that “At the early hours ofthis morning (31/5/2012)precisely at about 0635hours, based onintelligence of an ongoingmeeting of seniorcommanders of theterrorists elements, theJTF raided an enclavenear Bayero UniversityKano new site, where theterrorists seniorcommanders weremeeting”. On sighting thesecurity forces, theterrorist elements openedfire and threw ImprovisedExplosive Devises on thesecurity forces. Thesecurity forces respondedimmediately resulting ina gun duel that lasted forabout thirty minutes.During the encounter fiveof the terrorists werekilled”. A military sourcein the city confirmed thatthe body of the Germanengineer and the six othercasualties have beendeposited at the ArmedForces military Hospital inKano.

Residents reportedhearing explosions andgunfire in theneighbourhood ofDanbare for more thanhalf an hour at around6:00 am, and said itappeared severalhundred soldiers wereinvolved along with trucksand armoured vehicles.

“Following intelligencereports, men of [a militarytask force] raided ahideout where he wasbeing held by hisabductors.”

A shootout occurred andthe abductors alsodetonated explosives,said the official.

“They were subdued,but realising that it was theend for them, they killedthe hostage,” the official

added.Another military source

and a police sourceconfirmed Raupach’sdeath. He was said to havebeen shot and stabbed byhis captors.

The sources also said anumber of the abductorshad been killed in the raid,with differing accountsputting the figurebetween two and five.

Al-Qaeda in the IslamicMaghreb (AQIM) said inMarch it was holding theGerman and that it wantedto swap him for FilizGelowicz, the jailed wifeof Fritz Gelowicz, theleader of a Sauerland-based group of Islamists.He is serving 12 years in

prison for a bomb attack,while she is serving two-and-a-half.

They released a videowhich showed Raupachflanked by two armedmen, begging for his life.

Speaking first in

German and thenEnglish, he asks theGerman government to dosomething. “I beg mygovernment to save mylife,” he said. “My life isin your hands now, I begyou, or these people will

kill me here.”AQIM has not been

known to operate directlyin Nigeria, thoughIslamist group BokoHaram and otherextremists in the countryare believed to have linksto the group.

Continues on Page 1

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8—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Traffic gridlock caused as a result of flood due to deplorable condition of the road.

Flooded Mile 2 area of Oshodi-ApapaExpressway after a heavy down pour in someparts of Lagos, yesterday. Pix: Shola Oyelese.

CBN mounts fresh hurdle for

bank customers

Commuters finding it difficult to cross the road at First Rainbow Bus Stopas a result of failed drainage system.

LAGOS—THE CentralBank of Nigeria, CBN,

yesterday, imposed freshcondition for owning a bankaccount saying that fromJanuary 8, 2013, theNational Identity Number,NIN, would be criteria forowning and operating abank account in the country.

To this effect, fromSeptember 1 this year,CBN in conjunction with theNational IdentityManagement Commission,NIMC, and the NigeriaInterbank SettlementSystem, NIBSS, wouldcommence a three monthsenrollment exercise for allexisting banks’ customers tocapture their biometrics andissue to them NIN as wellas a General PurposeIdentity Card.

This was announced viaa circular to all depositmoney banks, microfinancebanks and primarymortgage institutions,PMIs, on the use of theNational Identity Number,NIN, for the Know YourCustomer, KYC,verification.

The circular was signedby Mr. Dipo Fatokun,Director, Banking andPayments SystemDepartment.

The circular said: “As part

BY BABAJIDEKOMOLAFE

of CBN’s efforts to bolsterthe banking industry andthe entire financial system,the Bank in the recent pastcommenced steps tooverhaul the KYCprocesses in banks,including the recentlyconcluded customeraccount verificationexercise. In furtherance tothis exercise, the BankersCommittee at a recentmeeting resolved to adoptthe new National IdentityNumber, NIN, which isexpected to be issued fromSeptember 2012 by theNational IdentityManagement Commission,NIMC, in conjunction withits front-ends partners as thenew basis for KYC forfinancial transactions goingforward.

“As you may be aware, theNIMC was established bythe NIMC Act 2007, toestablish, operate, maintainand manage the newNational IdentityManagement System,NIMS, which is the avenuefor achieving governmentdesire to develop anddeepen the customer creditsector, enable e-payment,facilitate financial inclusion,develop commerce andharmonise all existing andfuture identificationscheme. The output of theNIMC is the issuance ofnational Identity numbers,i.e. an eleven digit number

which is unique andunchangeable to anindividual and the issuanceof a general multi-purposecard, GMPC, based onchip technology to allcitizen and legal residentsin Nigeria. The new systemwill be backed-up by acentral standardisedidentity data base which willin turn enable financialinstitutions verify theidentity of their customerson an online-real time basisusing their NIN biometrics.

“Consequently, the CBNhereby directs that starting8th January 2013, the NINwould be become the basisfor KYC verification andcompliance by all depositmoney banks and byextension other deposittaking financial institutionsincluding microfinancebanks and primarymortgage institutions,PMIs, in Nigeria.

"Presently, NIBSS isworking in collaborationwith the NIMC to integratethe Nigeria Central Switch,NCS, operated by NIBSSwith the NIMS. Thisintegration will enablebanks to conduct identityverification on NIMSthrough NIBSS and willenable NIBSS to provideidentity related valueadded service to banks e.g.Automatic BankReferencing."

Reps to probe alleged$1.3bn oil block scam

Motorists groan as floods takeover Oshodi-Apapa Expressway

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG & KINGSLEY

ADEGBOYE

LAGOS—THE ever-busy Oshodi-Apapa

Expressway was,yesterday, shut down androad users trapped forseveral hours following anafternoon down pour thatflooded First Rainbow andMile 2 Bus Stop areas of theroad.

The flood caused agridlock that stretchedbeyond Ijesha Bus Stopforcing commuters to treklong distances.

The afternoon rain caughtmany road users unawaresas the only alternative roadfrom Lord ChosenCharismatic Churchthrough the OmuwoOdofin Industrial estate,also witnessed heavy traffic.

Motorcycle operatorspopularly known as Okada,took advantage to makebrisk business and chargedhapless commutersoutrageous fares.

The Oshodi-ApapaExpressway has becomenightmarish for road userswith its accompanyingincessant gridlocksparticularly when it rainsand it appeared to havedefied every redemptiveapproach.

The major dualcarriageway has continuedto inflict untold hardship onmotorists and causedunimaginable economicloss to individuals,organisations andgovernments.

Yesterday’s rain was thesecond major rainfall inLagos this year and the

flooding it caused hasshown that all palliativeefforts of the Federal andLagos state governments toprevent flooding on theexpressway, according toMr. Moses Ogunleye, atown planner, have notbeen effective.

The former chairman,Lagos Chapter of theNigerian Institute of TownPlanners, NITP, said:“What the drainagechannels require is aholistic approach thatinvolves the realignment ofthe drainage system, assome portions may havefailed completely.”

He added that, “anyapproach that does not talkabout redesigning thedrainage channels willamount to wastefulventure.”

BY OKEY NDIRIBE &EMMA OVUAKPORIE

ABUJA—THE Houseof Representatives,

yesterday, passed aresolution to investigatethe role of the FederalGovernment in thealleged sale of an oilblock worth $1.3 billionto Shell/Agip joint oilexploration partnershipwithin the next threeweeks.

The oil blockdesignated OPL 245 wasalleged to have beensold in highlyq u e s t i o n a b l ecircumstances especiallygiven the manner theproceeds weredistributed by theofficials involved in thetransaction.

Mr. Robinson Uwakrepresenting OronFederal Constituency inAkwa Ibom had raised aHouse order barely 10minutes into the plenary

when he said he wasrelying on Order 8 Rule48 and 49 0f the HouseRule “to point out anissue of publicimportance that hasgenerated so muchmedia hype therebycausing so muchembarrassment at homeand abroad.

He said: “Thetransaction betweenShell and the FederalGovernment is not reallythe issue but thesubsequent transfer ofthe $1.3 billion toMalabu Oil and Gascompany; this is what Iimplore this House toinvestigate and save thecountry fromembarrassment.”

Deputy Speaker of theHouse, Mr. EmekaIhedioha who presidedput the matter to a voicevote and the ayes carriedthe day.

Continues on Page 13

CMYK

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012—9

BY EVELYN USMAN

Immigration deports4,000 illegal aliens

Free check-upfor Ajegunleresidents

BY EVELYN USMAN

BY BARTHOLOMEW

MADUKWE

Prison warder docked forallegedly killing man

BY GODWIN ORITSE

NIMASA arrests vessel with200,000 litres of diesel

Jonathan urged to sign Tobacco Bill

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

From left, Mr.Wael Ammar, ChiefCommercial Of-ficer, Etisalat Ni-geria; Mr.Olusegun Aganga,Minister of Trade &Investment and Mr.Oluwole Rawa, Di-rector, MarketingSegments & Strat-egy, Etisalat Ni-geria, at the MarketAccess NigeriaConference spon-sored by EtisalatNigeria in collabo-ration with the En-terprise Develop-ment Centre of PanAfrican Universityin Abuja, yesterday.

Task forparents

Briefly

LAGOS—PARENTSand guardians have

been urged to discoverand develop inherent tal-ents in their children soas to encourage them bethe best in whatever theyengage in, thereby add-ing value to the society.

National Coordinator ofThe Chosen ChildrenMinistry of St. JosephChosen Church of God,Mrs. Star Abache, madethe call during the chil-dren’s yearly musical con-cert tagged “Catch themyoung,” in Lagos.

BY OLAYINKA LATO-

NA

LAGOS—A 29-year-oldprison warder,

Akinkunmi Gbadebo, was,yesterday, arraigned be-fore a Lagos State HighCourt in Igbosere, for al-leged killing one AkuboyeMeinkeme by stabbinghim to death following ascuffle over a chair.

Gbadebo, a Sergeant inthe Nigeria Prisons Serv-ice, Dog Unit, was said tohave been held down bysome protesting men atPrison Training School,claiming that he killedMeinkeme , but was laterhanded over to the policeat Kirikiri Police Station.

The charge reads: “thatyou, on or about Novem-ber 16, 2010, at KirikiriTown in the Lagos Judi-cial Division, murdered

one Akuboye Meinkemeby stabbing him to death,an offence contrary to Sec-tion 316 of the CriminalCode Law CapC17, Vol-ume 2 Laws of Lagos State2003.”

It was gathered thatGbadebo, who is facing aone count charge of mur-der, and his friends, con-fronted Meinkeme over achair that he (Meinkeme)was sitting on. They toldhim to get up, that it wasGbadebo, who was sat onthe chair earlier.

Meinkeme’s refusal tovacate the seat led to afight, during whichGbadebo allegedlystabbed 27-year-oldMeinkeme on the chest.

The accused pleadednot guilty to the charge.The court, meanwhile,adjourned the matter tillJuly 10, for further hear-ing.

LAGOS—THE WesternNaval Command of

the Nigerian Navy,Apapa, Lagos, yesterday,embarked on a free medi-cal check-up for residentsof Ajegunle in Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Govern-ment Area of the state,distributing treated mos-quito nets to pregnantwomen, as part of activi-ties to mark its 56th anni-versary .

At Ajeromi General Hos-pital, where the medicalrhapsody was held, Com-mander, Navy ReferenceHospital, Ojo, Dr.Christopher Abu, ex-plained that the aim of thefree medical check-upwas to promote civil-mili-tary relations.

Abu said the targetedgroups were pregnantwomen and children un-der five years.

LAGOS—NIGERIANNavy personnel at-

tached to MaritimeGuards Command of Ni-gerian Maritime Admin-istration and SafetyAgency, NIMASA, yes-terday, arrested a vessel,MT Floris, carryingaboard 185 tons (aboutover 200,000 litres) of sus-pected illegally refinedAutomative Gas Oil (Die-sel).

NIMASA’s spokesper-son, Hajia Lami Tumaka,in a statement, said theNaval officers effected thearrest while on routinepatrol of the Lagos an-chorage area.

The 200-ton vessel witha 11-man crew was ar-rested when the captaincould not produce anypapers stating the prod-uct it was carrying, pointof loading and dischargedestination.

It was learnt that duringquestioning, the captainof the vessel, Mr. MartinsOdedele, confirmed theillegal cargo, but claimedthat he was an emergencycaptain and was unawareof the illegality of the tripuntil he got to the location.

The Captain said: “Inever knew it was an ille-gal transaction until wegot there and it was toolate for me to disembarkas I had to captain thevessel back to Lagos.”

The captain, it was gath-ered during interrogation,said the vessel was ownedby Jowal Dreams MarineLimited.

Efforts to get the compa-ny’s reaction at press timewas unsuccessful.

Tumaka said the productwas loaded at Akassa,near Brass in BayelsaState, allegedly from anillegal refining facility asthe density of the AGOand its flashpoint werewell below standard.

LAGOS—AS the world,yesterday, marked

2012 World No TobaccoDay, President GoodluckJonathan has been urgedto sign the long-awaitedNational Tobacco Bill intolaw, to avert avoidabledeaths caused by tobaccoconsumption.

At a briefing, as part ofactivities to mark the daywith the theme, ”TobaccoIndustry Interference,” Ni-gerian Heart Foundation,NHF, Chairman, 2012

World No Tobacco Day Or-ganising Committee, Dr.Bolaji Adebiyi, remindedPresident Jonathan of astatement credited to himabout his mother’s warningon the dangers inherent intobacco smoking.

Represented by NHF Di-rector on Tobacco RelatedIssues, Dr. Dapo Rotifa,Adebiyi noted: “Mr Presi-dent said at a function heattended that his motherwarned him against tobaccosmoking, saying that if hesmoked, he would dieyoung.”

Adebiyi, who enjoinedPresident Jonathan not togo back on his mother’swarning and take action onthe much-needed bill tosave Nigerians from avoid-able deaths, noted that mostcountries were working to-wards eradicating smok-ing, as tobacco was a majorcause of non-communica-ble diseases.'' Tobacco,whether active or passiveis a major cause of heart,stroke and blood vessel dis-ease, accounting for about10 percent of all non-com-municable diseases.''

LAGOS—MINISTERof Interior, Mr Abba

Moro, yesterday, in La-gos, said 4,000 illegal al-iens had been eased outof the country, while16,000 others, found notto have any legal busi-ness to do in the countrywere refused visa.

The measure, accordingto the minister, whilefielding questions fromnewsmen at the NigeriaSecurity and Civil De-fence Staff WelfareScheme, Kirikiri Prisons,Lagos, was part of the in-ternal security measuresto stop the infiltration ofillegal persons into thecountry.

Moro, who said the ac-tion became necessaryconsidering the security

situation in the country,noted that the arrest wasmade by the Nigeria Im-migration Service.

He said: “What we aretrying to do to ensure in-ternal security from theperspective of the Minis-try of Interior is to ensurethat only people who le-gitimately possess ourdocuments enter Nigeria.Where other persons whodo not have the legal pa-pers to enter Nigeria, en-ter Nigeria, the effort ofthe Nigeria Immigrationhas been to ensure thatthey are properly identi-fied, screened and pro-filed appropriately. In thatregard we have been ableto reduce, to a very sig-nificant level, the numberof persons who come intothe country illegally.

''Even those who had

infiltrated our country, wehave been able to identifysome of them, screenedthem and, of course, sendthem back to their coun-tries.

''Today, with confidence,I can tell you that over4,000 aliens had beeneased out of the countrybetween February andnow. About 335 of themhad been deported while16,000 people who do nothave any business cominginto Nigeria have beenrefused entry. ”

Asked what the ministrywhich also oversees thePrisons Service was doingto check the attack andsubsequent release of in-mates by hoodlums, Morosaid plans wereunderway to reconstructthe prisons, as well asequip, train and recruitmore prison wardens.

He said: “The situationis not that of ill-equipmentor ill-preparedness, it hasto do with the entireprison system which thisadministration inheritedfrom previous administra-tions.''A

KURE—A supposedmilitant who claimed

to be an army officer, OwefaBright, accused of terror-ising the Niger Delta areahas been arrested by thecombined team of the Ni-gerian Navy and a localvigilante group in the Ese-Odo area of Ondo State.

The local vigilante group,headed by the ex-militantleader in Ondo State, ChiefBibopere Ajube and theNaval officers stormed thesuspect's village.

The arrest of the middle-aged suspect followed theinvasion of Adoloseimocommunity in Arogbo-Ijaw,in Ese-Odo Local Govern-ment Area by no fewer than15 armed men about 2 am,yesterday.

The people, who invadedthe village in one gun boatwith dangerous weaponssuch as cutlass, AK 47 ri-fles and charms were saidto have shot sporadicallyinto the air as they invadedone of the houses in thecommunity.

A victim, Faye Rabbi, saidpeople numbering about11 invaded his residenceabout 2 am and demandedto see him from other occu-pants of the house. He saidthe people threatened to killthe occupants of the house,including a pregnantwoman if they refused toshow them where he washiding.

He said he managed toescape through the bushwhen it was obvious thatthe people were out to dealwith him.

Alleged unrepentant militantleader arrested in Ondo

BY DAYO JOHNSON

10—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Battle of wits as UNILAG remains shut�Students encouraged to stay put

UNILAG TO MAULAG: NIGERIANS REACT

�We'll implement President's declaration — NUC�Abiola's daughter demands justice

BY LEKE ADESERI,

South-West RegionalEditor, BEN AGANDE,

OLASUNKANMI

AKONI & DAYO

ADESULU

�S-West gov meet Jonathan, back Abiola's recognition

�How best to immortalise MKO, by Tinubu

LAGOS—THE nature ofthe real battle of who

will laugh last in the re-christening of University ofLagos, UNILAG, asMoshood Abiola Univer-sity, Lagos, MAUL – be-tween the Federal Govern-ment led by PresidentGoodluck Jonathan and theuniversity community–emerged yesterday withmost of the students ada-mant to vacate the campuswith the backing of a ma-jority of the senior staff.

Authoritative sources toldVanguard that the studentsand respected voices oncampus were unanimous inthe condemnation of thesudden change, consider-ing the fact that most of thesenior staff are alumni of theuniversity.

The ‘stay-on-campus’stance of the university com-munity is said to be ex-cused under the need togive a befitting burial to theVice-Chancellor, ProfessorBabatunde Sofoluwe, whodied on May 11.

Another developing sce-nario is what will play outwhen the closure order islifted. The university, whichhas not witnessed any stu-dents’ protest in the last 10years, is bound to be polar-ised between the Vice-Chancellor who will bebounded to do the wish ofthe Federal Government, onthe one hand, and othermembers of the community,said to be resolute about re-jecting the new name onthe other.

Meantime, despite theorder from University ofLagos authorities that stu-dents should vacate theirvarious hostels on campus,many of the students andlecturers were, however,present on campus appar-ently to pay their last respect

a regulator of universities.We have heard (Universityof) Ife changed in 1987, wehave heard Usman DanFodio now University ofSokoto, we have heard Yola,Modibbo Adamawa, wehave Nnamdi Azikiwewhich was University ofAwka before. This is aboutthe seventh.

''The President had an-nounced that we want tohonour Abiola on Democ-racy Day which everybodythinks is in order. The Presi-dent has given a directive,the rest is for us to followthe implementation” hesaid.

He explained that thepresident consulted beforetaking the decision, notingthat he did not need to con-sult with the Vice-Chancel-lor of the university and itsSenate because the FederalGovernment is the propri-etor of the school.

Abiola’s daughter wel-comes recognition

Mrs. Hafsat Abiola-Costello, daughter of thewinner of June 12, 1993Presidential Elections inNigeria and business mo-gul, Chief M.K.O. Abiola,has welcomed the decisionof the Federal Governmentto honour the memory of herfather.

In a statement, Hafsatdescribed her father as anicon of democracy whoheld unto the mandate

freely given to him in themost free and fair presiden-tial elections ever held inthe history of Nigeria till hislast breath.

While commending theFederal Government for therecognition, Hafsat said thebest way to immortalise herfather was through trans-parent free and fair elec-tions, obedience to the ruleof law, due process andbanishment of injustice,poverty and want in Ni-geria.

She, however, said therewas need for the govern-ment to revisit the circum-stances surrounding thedeath of Chief Abiola.

S-West govs meetJonathan

The governor of EkitiState , Dr Kayode Fayemiyesterday supported inprinciple the decision byPresident Jonathan to rec-ognise the role of Abiola inenthroning democracy inthe country by renamingUniversity of Lagos afterhim, but argued that thereshould have been widerconsultation before arrivingat that decision.

Fayemi, who spoke withState House correspond-ents after a meeting of someSouth-West governors withPresident Jonathan said thestudents who are protestingthe renaming may not un-derstand the import of thepivotal rold played by thelate Abiola.

According to the gover-nor, as an alumnus of theuniversity, “I know that thePresident means well by ac-knowledging the role thatChief Abiola played in se-

curing us this democracywe are all enjoying. And,as an activist of that eramyself, I could not stressenough the importance ofthe role that Chief Abiolaplayed.

“But clearly, this is an is-sue that ought to have alsobeen comprehensively dis-cussed by all thestakeholders in order toensure that everyone takesownership of the decisionthat has been taken”.

On the meeting withPresident Jonathan,Fayemi said “We were in-vited by Mr. President fordiscussions on areas ofmutual interest, infrastruc-ture, roads, rail, transpor-tation particularly. It was avery positive discussion, wehad highlighted to MrPresident the poor state ofthe road infrastructure in theSouth-West particularly fed-eral roads and Mr Presi-dent agreed with us on theimportance of doing some-thing quickly about this. ''

In his remarks, the gov-ernor of Ogun State,Ibikunle Amosun, said hewas still opposed to the con-cession of the Lagos-Ibadan road, this he saidshould be withdrawn andthat the governors in thestate were ready to fix it.

Governor BabatundeFashola of Lagos State wasabsent at the meeting.

How best to immortal-ise Abiola, by Tinubu

Former Governor of LagosState, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu,has suggested ways theFederal Government couldappropriately honour ChiefAbiola and immortalise

him.He suggested the nam-

ing of a national monumentat the Federal Capital Ter-ritory (Abuja) after Abiola;his posthumous declarationas president and the set-ting aside of a day in hishonour.

Tinubu played a promi-nent role in the struggle forthe actualisation of the June12, 1993 presidential elec-tion won by Chief Abiola.He was a member of thethen leading pro-democ-racy movement, the Na-tional Democratic Coalition(NADECO).

The National Leader ofthe main opposition party,the Action Congress of Ni-geria (ACN) advised Presi-dent Jonathan to work withthe National Assembly inthis regard.

He contended thatthough the President’s de-cision to rename UNILAGafter Abiola was welcomed,it fell short of what is re-quired.

Tinubu spoke in Lagos onWednesday while receivingprotesting students from theuniversity. Numberingabout 100, the students,who handed a protest let-ter to the former governor,said they were at his office- Freedom House, VictoriaIsland office – to expresstheir displeasure over therenaming of their school.

Tinubu said: “We mustcongratulate the presidentfor attempting to do it, butwe say-do it right. MKOwas elected by the entirecountry not just by theYoruba- he was arrestedand taken to Abuja.

Lagos AG urges aggrievedpersons to seek NASS reversal

to the late Pro. Sofoluwe,who was laid to rest yester-day.

Tears flowed freely fromfamily members, students,lecturers and otherstakeholders in the educa-tion sector who came to paythe late Sofoluwe their lastrespects. Before, he wastaken to Ikoyi cemetery at1pm for burial.

He was honoured withservice of songs at the uni-versity.

NUC to implementPresident’s order

The Executive Secretaryof National UniversitiesCommission, NUC, Prof.Julius Okojie, said yester-day that following the re-naming of University ofLagos as Moshood AbiolaUniversity, what the com-mission and other govern-ment agencies would do isto ‘follow the implementa-tion’ of the presidential dec-laration.

Speaking with StateHouse correspondents,Prof. Okojie said the reac-tion of the students whichled to the closure of theschool was not unexpectedbecause ‘There is nothingyou do in the university sys-tem these days that studentswon’t react.

“We are familiar withthese issues, I have beenin the úniversity system forthis long. I speak as Execu-tive Secretary of NUC and

BY ABDULWAHABABDULAH & ONO-

ZURE DANIA

LAGOS—LAGOS StateAttorney-General and

Commissioner for Justice,Mr. Ade Ipaye, yesterday,said rather than go intothe streets to protest thechange of University ofLagos, UNILAG, toMoshood Abiola Univer-sity, MAU, the studentsand other stakeholders,should pressure the Na-tional Assembly not toamend the law on thename-change.

He spoke at a capacity

development workshoporganised by NationalAssociation of JudiciaryCorrespondents, NAJUC,in Lagos.

He argued that sinceUNILAG was a creation oflaw, the one way tochange the name was bythe amendment of thesame law, notwithstand-ing the President’s an-nouncement, urging thestudents and othersstakeholders to prevail onthe National Assembly notto amend the law settingup the university, whichwas the only way thename-change can be ef-

fected in law.Stressing the importance

of judiciary reporters tothe development of lawsand justice system, Ipayesaid the training work-shop for journalists, espe-cially those covering thecourt cannot be over-em-phasised.

He commended the or-ganisers of the pro-gramme while promisinghis ministry’s collabora-tions with the journalists.

Ipaye said: “Any moneyand time spent on train-ing of judiciary corre-spondents can’t be saidto be a waste.”

The main gate of UNILAG blocked by students over the renaming of the school,to Moshood Abiola University, during the peaceful protest by the student, Wednes-day. Photo:Kehinde Gbadamosi

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012—11

Erosion: Bayelsa community underthreat of extinction

C-River community disownsmonarch for allegedly sellingcemetery

BY JOHNBOSCO

AGBAKWURU

Group tasks oil firm onestablishment of flow station

‘Manager, Mutu beaconsof hope for N-Delta youths'

BENIN—AHEAD of

the July 14 gover-norship election in EdoState, Assistant InspectorGeneral in charge of Ni-geria Police, Zone 5,Benin City, Alhaji Hash-imu Argungu, hascharged politicians toplay the game by therules.

Addressing newsmenin Benin, yesterday, hecalled on journalists inthe state to help “beat thedrum” for politicians toplay according to therules of the game, notingthat the media was thebridge between the po-lice and the public.

He said: “There arelaws guiding every-thing, including theElectoral Act. The politi-cians must play by therules guiding elections,and you people (media)are the bridge betweenthe police and the pub-lic. I seek your maximumcooperation. I had goneround, and believe weare ready to do the job.”

He stressed the needfor officers in charge ofpolice formations acrossthe country to continue to

BY FESTUS AHON

Director's redeploymentrocks Delta Civil Service

BY SAMUEL OYA-

DONGHA

Edo guber race : Play by the rules,AIG charges politicians

BY SIMON EBEG-

BULEM & GABRIEL

ENOGHOLASE

build on the achieve-ments of their predeces-sors in office to ensurecontinuity.

Reacting to commentson the transformation ofthe zone by the ActingInspector General of Po-lice, Mr. Abubakar Mo-hammed, who served asan AIG in charge of thezone, Argungu notedthat the lack of continui-ty on the part of serving

officers had impactednegatively on theachievements of theirpredecessors in office.

“I want to build onwhat he had done. Histransformation of thezone is commendable.Lack of continuity on thepart of serving officersdoes not mean well forthe achievements ofthose who served beforeus."

YE N A G O A — A Nenvironmental ad-

vocacy group, Environ-mental Right Action andFriends of Earth, ERA/FoEN, has expressedconcern over the fate ofAnibeze community inSagbama Local Govern-ment Area of BayelsaState, which is on theverge of being washedaway by erosion.

The group urged theState and Federal Gov-ernments to interveneand avoid the mass relo-cation of the people of thecommunity to neigh-bouring communities inPatani, Delta State andAdagbabiri community inSagbama council, Bayel-sa State.

State coordinator ofERA/FoEN, Alagoa Mor-ris, in a report on the ero-sion, said that based onthe testimonies of somemembers of AnibezeCommunity Develop-ment Committee, led bya former Secretary, Sam-uel Ese, the situation inthe community has be-come frightening.

He said: “It is betterimagined than being amember of the communi-ty facing such ecologicaltrauma. The hope of thepeople that help wouldeventually come theirway has really ebbedconsidering their effortsin the past to get the at-tention of the state andfederal governmentagencies as what thecommunity is facing isbeyond their power tocheck.”

Chairman of Anibeze

Community Develop-ment Committee, Mr.Lucky Opuana, on hispart, said: “ I have livedin this community andwitnessed most of theland and buildings being

washed into the river.“It is very pathetic and

we don’t know what to doto protect our land andbuildings now. We hopethe authorities will hearour cries and come quick-

ly to our assistance. Wehad lost two big genera-tors given to the commu-nity by the administra-tion of Chief MelfordOkilo, in the old RiversState.”

UGHELLI—CRISIS

is brewing in Del-ta State Civil Serviceover the deployment ofEngr. E. Odogwu, a Di-rector in the state Min-istry of Water Resources,to Rural DevelopmentAgency, RDA, as Gener-al Manager, by the stateHead of Service, MrOkey Odili.

Association of PublicOfficers and GovernmentParastatals, Delta State,in a statement, yester-day, argued that it wasnot for the state Head ofService to redeploy a Di-rector in a Ministry to aparastatal as GeneralManager, insisting that it

was the duty of the Sec-retary to the State Gov-ernment, SSG.

Leader of the Associa-tion, Mr. Ken Chukwu-ma, described the rede-ployment of the Directoras usurpation of the dutyof the SSG, noting thatthe duties and powers ofthe Head of Service endswithin the civil service.

Insisting that it was anerror on the part of theHead of Service to havegone outside the Minis-try to appoint a GeneralManager for a par-astatal, he wondered,who the next victimwould be, adding thatthe Head of Service hadno powers to redeploystaff in a governmentparastatal.

Muslim students commendDelta, Edo govts for peace

A GROUP, Niger

Delta RevolutionMovement, has warnedSeplat Petroleum in Del-ta State, against allegedplans to run their oilpipeline from Jesse inthe state to Oben in EdoState.

Briefing newsmen yes-terday, Chairman of thegroup's monitoring unit,Mr. Ben Ajogri, said

rather than lay a pipe-line, Seplat Petroleumshould emulate PanOcean which built a flowstation in Oghara, in thesame local governmentarea with Jesse with lessthan six oil wells.

He noted that if a flowstation is built in Jesse,it will create jobs for un-employed youths andaccrue revenue to thestate government.

CALABAR — E K ORINIM Communi-

ty in Calabar MunicipalLocal Government Areaof Cross River State, hasdisowned the VillageHead of Ekpo Abasi Roy-al Council clan, Mr. Bas-sey Etim and his deputyMr. Effiong Asuquo, forallegedly imposingthemselves on the peopleand selling several hec-tares of community land,used as cemetery.

Meanwhile, the Cala-bar Municipal councilhas written the General

Manager of the stateowned Cross RiverBroadcasting Corpora-tion, CRBC, informinghim that Chief NyongEkpo is the authentic vil-lage head-elect of Eko-rinim village under Obu-tong clan of the munici-pality.

The community, whichbriefed newsmen, yes-terday in Calabar, la-mented that the duo soldcommunal land to seniorofficers in the State Se-curity Service, Army,Navy and Police, whichhad made it impossiblefor them to recover theland.

BY EMMA AMAIZE

WARRI—MUSLIM

Students’ Societyof Nigeria, MSSN, Edo/Delta Area, has laudedthe governments, tradi-tional rulers, religiousand youth leaders in thetwo states for their rolein ensuring peace andsafety of lives of Muslimsin the states and Niger

Delta region.The group, in a state-

ment at the end of itsannual leadership train-ing programme in Effu-run, Delta State, sued forcontinuity and enjoinedreligious, political,youths and ethnic lead-ers to shun violence as ameans of agitation, butrather explore dialogueas a means to an end.

PRESIDENT, Niger

Delta Democrats,NDD, Mr. Gbaboyo Wu-rus, has described Sena-tor James Manager andMr. Nicholas Mutu, bothmembers of the NationalAssembly, as beacons ofhope for youths of theNiger Delta region andtrue democrats, sayingthat the lawmakers be-lieve in the potentials ofyouths.

Wurus, who spoke inWarri, Delta State, whileaddressing members ofthe group drawn from theentire Niger Delta re-gion, during the 2012Democracy Day celebra-tion, said the federal law-makers were of great pos-

itive influence to thepeople of the region, par-ticularly youths.

He said the duo hadembarked on several eco-nomic empowermentprogrammes for youths tomake them self reliantand become useful mem-bers of society, addingthat such action had en-hanced the quality of thelives of the people.

Noting that both menwere outstanding as theycontribute meaningfullyto debates at plenary andat various committee sit-tings, Wurus maintainedthat Senator Managerand Mr. Mutu weregood managers of humanand material resources.

LAUNCHING: From left: Mr. Basil Kenbo, State Vice Chairman, PDP, Bayelsa State; Princess PreyeInokoba, Editor-in-Chief, Trust Magazine; Mr. Donald Daunemigha, former Ekeremor Local Govern-ment Chairman and Mr. Austine Simon, representative of chief launcher, Mr. Alamene Wilfred, Com-missioner, Ministry of Special Duties, Bayelsa State, during the launch of Trust Magazine, in PortHarcourt. Photo: Nwankpa Chijioke.

12—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Court orders firm to evacuate productsfrom impounded vessels in N-Delta

Bayelsa inaugurates pensioners’gratuity review c'ttee

Lori-Ogbebor bags Centrefor DemocracticGovernance award

Don't appoint Toby as Chairman ofCouncil, UNIBEN unions warn FG

BY SIMON EBEG-

BULEM

BY SAMUEL OYA-

DONGHA

Adinson Moha for burial

A COMMUNITY

leader in Ibusa,Delta State, Mr. AdinsonMoha, is dead, aged 65.

A statement by Mr.Ambrose Moha for thefamily, said burial cere-mony will begin with aVigil Mass on Thursday,June 7, at St. Augus-tine’s Catholic Church,Ibusa, followed by awake keep at his resi-dence. A Requiem Masswill be held at 12 noonnext day at the samechurch followed by inter-

ment at his Okponta Ibu-sa residence. He is sur-vived by his widow,many children and rela-tions.

Late Mr. Adinson Moha

BENIN—FRESH cri

sis is brewing in theUniversity of Benin, UN-IBEN, as Senior StaffAssociation of NigerianUniversities, SSANU;National Association ofAcademics Technolo-gists, NAAT and theNon-Academic Staff Un-ion of Educational andAssociated Institutions,NASU, have appealed toPresident GoodluckJonathan not to re-ap-point the former chair-

YENAGOA—THEFederal Govern-

ment, yesterday, handedover the court order, au-thorising the NigeriaNavy to allow the man-agement of Femix ImpexCompany (Nigeria) Lim-ited to evacuate theproducts in two vesselsthat were arrested by theNavy in the coastal re-gion of Niger Delta.

The vessels, MT Ber-serk and MT Hope, arein the custody of NNSDelta.

Femix Impex Companywas directed by the courtnot to engage in any actsoutside the content ofthe court order to evacu-ate the products.

The representative ofEconomic and FinancialCrimes Commission,EFCC, Mr. Ade Haas-trup, formally handedover the court order to theFlag Officer Command-ing the Central Naval

BY CHARLES KUMOLU

PROMINENT women leader, Chief

Rita Lori-Ogbebor, hasbeen nominated for theaward of ConsistentAdvocate of Good Gov-ernance by the Centrefor Democratic Govern-ance in Africa, CDGA.

The award is in recog-nistion of her relentlessfight for gender equalityin the country and hernumorous efforts at en-suring accountability ingovernance.

Briefing newsmen, yes-terday, in Lagos, the Di-rector General of the

Centre, Dr. Dafe Ak-pocha, said the awardpresentation ceremonywould take place nextweek in Lagos.

He said: ‘’The award isto identify with the goodleadership qualities ofour respected amazon.We have been followingall her efforts at ensuringthat there is good govern-ance at all levels of gov-ernment. Her belief thatNigerian women shouldhave a prestigious placein all spheres of nation-al life has been instru-mental to the level ofwomen empowerment inNigeria.’’

BAYELSA State Gov

ernment has set upa six-member committee,with a mandate to tackleall issues concerning thewelfare of pensioners inthe state.

Inaugurating the Pen-sioners’ Gratuity ReviewCommittee at Govern-ment House, Yenagoa,Governor Seriake Dick-

son condemned the uglytrend where public serv-ants, who had served thestate meritoriously weredenied their retirementbenefits.

Governor Dickson, in astatement by his SeniorSpecial Assistant on Me-dia and Public Affairs,Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, described pub-

lic service as critical toservice delivery, addingthat his administrationwas committed to improv-ing the welfare of bothserving and retired civilservants in the state.

He said: "We don’t wanta situation where peopleserve with all their livesto give their best to thisstate, and when they re-tire, they are not sure ofwhen to get their gratui-ties.”

AFRICA-SINGAPORE BUSINESS FORUM: From left: Mr. Kazeem Adedeji, Commissioner for Trade,Investment & Cooperatives, Oyo State; Ray Ferguson, Chief Executive Officer, Standard CharteredBank, Singapore; Bola Adesola, Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Bank; Haresh Aswani,Honorary Consul – General, Republic of Singapore to Nigeria and Mr. Adebayo Olagbenro, Commis-sioner for Industry, Applied Science & Technology, Oyo State, during the Africa-Singapore BusinessForum, in Lagos.

man of the UniversityCouncil and Chancellor,Dr. Gabriel Toby, aschairman of the yet to bereconstituted council ofthe university.

The unions threatenedto down tools if their re-quest was not consideredin the reconstitution ofthe University Council,adding that the unionssuffered neglect in theirwelfare during Toby'stenure as Chairman ofthe Council.

It will be recalled thatDr. Toby had insisted inthe past that his tenure

Command, Yenagoa,Bayelsa State, Rear Ad-miral Johnson Olutoyin.

Speaking at the han-dling over ceremony inYenagoa, Olutoyin saidthe two arrested vesselswere in the custody ofthe Navy at NNS Delta.

He said, “With thehanding over of thecourt order to the Navy,the unit where the arrest-ed vessels are located,we will direct NNS Del-ta to allow the company,Femix Impex evacuatethe product and ensure

compliance.”Olutoyin, who decried

the high incidence of il-legal bunkering on thewaterways of the region,urged the company torestrict its duty to evacu-ation of products in thearrested vessels.

as chairman of the uni-versity council, broughtindustrial harmony,which led to the appoint-ment of a Vice-Chancel-lor for the University, af-ter several months of dis-pute.

Addressing newsmenin Benin City, yesterday,Mr. John Alile, SSANUChairman; Mr. SundayMomoh, ChairmanNAAT and Mr. Joel Idon-ije, NASU, insisted thatthe university desired aCouncil Chairman whowould appreciate thewelfare of workers, nomatter their offices.

They said: “Our per-sistent call on Mr. Presi-dent to ignore those lob-bying seriously to ensurethat Toby was re-appoint-ed is because of the cri-sis the university of Be-nin was embroiled in be-fore the ascendancy ofthe current administra-tion of the institution. Itis not our wish that whathappened then shouldrepeat itself, however, wewill not hesitate to ex-plore all available meansto make the universityungovernable if he isfoisted on us."

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012—13

Lagos reinstates sacked doctors

BY SOLA OGUNDIPE,OLASUNKANMI

AKONI, CHIOMAOBINNA & MON-

SOOR OLOWOOPEJO

LAGOS—THE long-drawn face-off between

the Lagos State governmentand the Medical Guild tooka dramatic twist yesterdayas Governor BabatundeFashola ordered the stateHealth Service Commis-sion, HSC, to reinstate thesacked 788 doctors with im-mediate effect, even as theNigeria Medical Associa-tion said it received the pur-ported reinstatement withmixed feelings. The doc-tors were sacked threeweeks ago in the wake ofan industrial dispute in thestate’s health sector.

Although the details of thereinstatement were notmade available at presstime, Vanguard gatheredthat the development cameas a result of the appealsfrom concerned Nigerians,notably the Action Congressof Nigeria, ACN, who man-dated the former Governorof the state, Asiwaju BolaTinubu, to prevail on Fas-hola to have a rethink onthe issue.

It would be recalled thatthe indefinite strike em-barked upon by the doctorswho were supported by theircounterparts in the NigeriaMedical Association,NMA, over the sacked doc-tors began on April 24, 2012.

The doctors who were ag-itating for the implementa-tion of the ConsolidatedMedical Salary Structure,CONMESS, alleged thatgovernment reneged in anagreement it entered withthem over the CONMESS

Fashola who gave the or-der for their reinstatementafter an emergency meet-ing with Tinubu whichkicked off immediately af-ter the commissioning of thenew Lagos State House ofAssembly chamber, re-marked: “One could nothear all those appeals of thecommon people on thestreets of Lagos State andremain unmindful and un-responsive to their de-mands.”

Negotiation continues

He said: “It is in that lightthat I have consulted withthe health service commis-sion and they have assuredme that the issue of dis-missal will be suspendedimmediately. “It is now leftfor the doctors to return towork and regularise theirstatus with the HSC who istheir employer. And I hopethat in the interest of ourpeople they will seize thisopportunity and let us geton with the developmentalwork that we are tasked

with at this time.”The governor argued that

the sack of the 788 doctorswhich further resulted intoan indefinite strike of thedoctors in the state employwas about institution andnothing more, adding “andhow we can work togetherto provide developmentaland quality healthcare forthe residents of the state.”

He, however, commend-ed the ACN and the Nige-rian Labour Congress,NLC, for their intercessoryrole on the matter and cler-ics across the country whohave chosen to mediate be-

tween both parties ratherthan to take side with oneof the parties. “I want tothank residents of the statefor their appeals, counsel onthe issue. But I will like toassure them that we remaincommitted to provide thebest service for them,” Fas-hola said.

Earlier, Tinubu who con-firmed what transpired be-tween both parties duringthe meeting, stated: “I havebrought the appeal of all theleadership of the party andwell meaning Nigeriansand other organisationswho are committed to thewelfare of our people forhim to be more flexible, forhim to really look at the is-sue of the doctors on strikecritically and I can say thathe has agreed to suspendthe question of the dismiss-al of those doctors and thatthey should go back to theirduty post.

The former governor com-mended Fashola for look-ing at it from the perspec-tive of the residents of thestate. Tinubu, however, ap-peal to the doctors to imme-diately resume their workin earnest and forget thisintractable position.

“We can solve all thoseproblems; I don’t want tocomment further until allparties respect this out-come, the governor allalong has not been impos-sible, it’s a question of the

institution that we all havedeveloped. And he has re-peated that the hiring andfiring of the doctors is in thehands of the HSC, I amvery much aware of it and Ihave to understand him.”

NMA reacts

Meanwhile, the NigeriaMedical Association said itreceived the purported re-instatement of the sacked788 Lagos doctors withmixed feelings. While theNational President of theAssociation said it was vic-tory to the medical profes-

sion.The Lagos State Branch

of the Association and theMedical Guild described itas rumour, maintainingthat neither the bodies wereinformed officially beforethe announcement wasmade.

Reacting yesterday, theNational NMA President,Dr Osahon Enabulele whodescribed it as victory to themedical profession, com-mended the Lagos Statedoctors for ensuring thattheir labour rights were giv-en full expression. Enab-ulele, noted that this re-versal of the sack was a testto proof that the state gov-ernment was ready to en-gage the doctors in mean-ingful negotiations to avertfuture crisis in the sector.

“This is a litmus test toproof the state govern-ment’s commitment to en-gage the doctors in mean-ingful negotiations. We be-lieve that this is real and itcomes with no conditions.

“We commend PresidentJonathan’s intervention andt other groups, such as theNUPENG, Association ofNigerian Students amongstothers. It was a collectiveeffort that led to the recall.We want to appreciateASSU, the Joint ActionFront, NUPENG and ourmedical unions that sup-ported the Nigerian Medi-cal association, including

NARD. We commend thedoctors in Lagos state forstanding very resolute andvery firm.

“We can now get back tothe negotiation table to seehow the government canget more committed to theagreement it signed withthe doctors.”

However, in his reaction,the State Chairman ofNMA, Dr Edamisan Temi-ye who said the NMA La-gos was not part of the de-cision said there was no for-mal communication fromthe state government yet.

A ccording to him, “I have

been at LUTH since morn-ing and nobody contactedme about anything. We justheard it now. I hope it is notanother government’sgames. But if it is true, weare yet to authenticate it.Until then, we will nowknow what action to take.

Medical Guild reacts

The Chairman, Medical-Guild, Dr. Olumiyiwa Odu-sote told Vanguard that itwas still a rumour to thedoctors as they have notbeen communicated offi-cially.

“The government had nochoice but to reverse thesack after it had realisedthat the doctors would notback down or adhere to theterms which it gave to theGuild during negotiationsand mediations led by theNigerian Bar Associationand the House Committeeon Health.

According to Odusote, atthe NBA-led negotiationmeeting held in Lagos onWednesday, officials of thestate government which in-clude the Head of Service,Mr. Adesegun Ogunleweand the various ex-secretar-ies of health in the state hadinsisted that the 788 doctorsthat were sacked shouldwrite letters of apology tothe Health Service Commis-sion before they could be re-instated.

�NMA receives news with mixed feelings

BRIEFING—From right: Former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju BolaTinubu; Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State and Commissioner forEnvinronment, Mr. Tunji Bello during a briefing calling on the sacked doc-tors to resume duty. Photo: Bunmi Azeez.

He asked, Mr. Uwak tolead the debate on themotion which wasseconded by Hon KamilAbdulraheem Bashiru fromOyo State.

Uwak said that “theHouse should investigatethe role the FederalGovernment played in thealleged round-tripping inthe sale of OPL 245 oil blockto and the immediatetransfer of the fund toMalibu Oil and Gas Ltd.”

“The tripartitearrangement is suspiciousbecause the purpoted$1.092billion that wasimmediately transferredinto the account of MalibuOil and Gas Ltd did notfollow due process and thepattern of distribution.”

Uwak further said: “TheHouse should investigatewhether the manner theissue was handled did notcontravene the rules of theCode of Conduct and ouranti-corruption laws. Thefact that based on available

Continues from Page 8

reports, the ethical andlegal issues whichsurround the transactionhave further beencompounded by themanner of distribution ofthe proceeds of the saleafter its receipts by MalabuOil and Gas Company”.

He continued: “There aresubstantial grounds for theinvestigation of this matterbecause of the negativepublicity which it hasgenerated within Nigeriaand abroad withconsequences for ournational image andcredibility thereby makingit necessary to present itbefore this HonourableHouse.”

It would be recalled thatthe transaction had elicitedintense public attention inrecent times leading to adenial of the presidency’salleged complicity in thecontroversial deal.

The Federal Government,through the Attorney General ofthe Federation, MohammedAdoke has last Sunday deniedculpability in the scam andclaimed that it only played therole of a facilitator in the resolutionof a long standing dispute.

Reps to probeoil block scam

14—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Orji blames dearth ofinfrastructure in Abia onpast govts

BY ANAYO OKOLI

Democracy remains bestform of govt—Stakeholders

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG & RITAOBOECHINA

Tragedy as 23-yr-old UNNstudent hangs self

BY TONY EDIKE &CHINENYEH OZOR

�Leaves suicide note with the inscription "Controversy is over"

ENUGU—A third-yearstudent of Physics and

Astronomy at theUniversity of NigeriaNsukka, UNN, Mr.Onyebuchi Okonkwo, 23,yesterday, reportedlyhanged himself, leaving asuicide note which read“The controversy is over.” The student was said tohave left his room in one ofthe male hostels at about 2am apparently for his usualstudy in the classroom, butunfortunately hiscolleagues woke up to findhis lifeless body danglingfrom a rope in theunfinished FrancoBuilding beside the Hockeypitch on the campus. Onyebuchi said to be inhis early 20s was a leaderin the Scripture Union.Fondly called “Ozone”, thelate student was studyingon Shell scholarship andheld the position of CourseRepresentative for hisdepartment. Okonkwohailed from Nkpor inAnambra State and hisbody was seen dangling atthe hockey pitch with anelectric cable tied to hisneck, with his tonguethrusting. Vanguard learnt at thescene of the incident thatthe deceased who wore ablack T- shirt and boxerspants with his trousersfolded, even as some hisfemale classmates weptp r o f u s e l y .

Text message to parentsover suicide mission

Sources told Vanguardthat the student who usedto live with his parents atOnitsha, Anambra State,reportedly sent textmessages to them hintingthem of his intention to takehis life, but it could not beascertained whether theparents responded to thetext before the unfortunatei n c i d e n t . He was also said to havenotified some of his room-mates of his plan to commitsuicide but this could notbe confirmed by press timeyesterday as the schoolauthorities were said tohave commencedinvestigations to ascertainwhy Onyebuchipurportedly killed himself. One of his friends whospoke on the condition of

anonymity told Vanguardthat he schooled with hislate colleague at St. CharlesSecondary School,Onitsha, explaining thattwo of them were long timefriends from secondaryschool to the university.

Incident, shocking tous — Dean

The Dean, Student AffairsDepartment of theuniversity, ProfessorChukwuemeka Oyeoku,described the incident asunfortunate and shocking.“No matter what is theproblem, the best is not tocommit suicide. There is noproblem shared withfriends and relations thatwould not be solved. Todayis a sad day for theuniversity,” the don said. Another close friend of thedeceased who pleadedanonymity said Onyebuchiwho was their classrepresentative was not apoor student, noting that he

was on Shell and MTNscholarships, “I amsurprised and shockedabout what could have ledhim to take his life.” “We attended lecturetogether on Wednesdayafternoon at Centre forEntrepreneurship andDevelopment Research. Hesent me and some studentstext messages around11.43pm to come and meethim in Cricket Pitch only forus to discover this morningthat he has committedsuicide,” the friend said. The corpse of Onyebuchi,who was described as apeace-loving and brilliantstudent, was howeverremoved by the police anddeposited at theuniversity’s medical centremortuary yesterday.

Enugu CP ordersinvestigation

Meanwhile, the EnuguState Commissioner ofPolice, Mr. Musa Daura,

UM U A H I A —G O V E R N O R

Theodore Orji of Abia State,has decried the perceivedlack of interest shown bypast administrations to thedevelopment of the state,claiming it was responsiblefor the dearth ofinfrastructures in the state.

The governor argued thathe met the state without anysolid foundation to build onand noted that the situationhad made him to workextra-hard to see that thestate compete with itscontemporaries in the

country.Orji spoke during this

year’s democracy day andfirst year of his second termin office as the governor ofthe state.

According to him, “as theformer leaders werevisionless, withoutdirection, this is why thepresent administrationunder my leadershipdecided to correct theanomaly. But today we havebuilt 210 health centresacross the state, whilegeneral hospitals are beingupgraded, since we do notwant to preside over theaffairs of sick people.”

A cross session ofNigerians at a

seminar organised by theNational Union of Textile,Garment and TailoringWorkers of Nigeria,NUTGTWN, in Lagos, tomark the nation’sdemocracy, said in spite ofthe several shortcomings ofthe country’s, democracyremained the best form ofgovernment for Nigeria. The Seminar titled“Strengthening InternalUnion Democracy” wasattended by labour leaders,workers, civil societyorganizations anduniversity lecturers.

Speakers included

Comrade Issa Aremu,General Secretary ofNUTGTWN and VicePresident of Nigeria LabourCongress, NLC, ComradeOladele Hunsu, Presidentof NUTGTWN, ComradeBension Opia, Head ofNLC Parliamentary LiaisonOffice, Comrade RufusOLusesan, Vice Presidentof the National Union ofShops and DistributiveEmployees, NUSDE andChairman Campaign forWorkers Democratic Rights,CWDR and Prof FunmiAdewumi of Osun StateUniversity.

Comrade Aremu said thenation was celebratingdemocracy not for anythingelse but because it wasbetter than other forms ofgovernment and called onNigerians not to doanything to undermine it.

COMPETITION—From left: Mr Chima Chukwendu Okoro, Contestant; Mr.Sunny Bangera, LG (GM) IT Sales West Africa; Ijeoma Nnorom, Contest-ant; Mr Ashutosh Rahul, LG (GM) Retail West Africa; Mr Chukwu Phillips,Contesant; and Mr. Gberikon Lubem during LG cinema 3D competition inLagos. Photo By Diran Oshe.

ordered full investigationinto the alleged suicide byMr Onyebuchi. According to thecommissioner, theinvestigation was aimed atunravelling thecircumstances surroundingthe incident, which manysympathizers havedescribed as veryunfortunate. ”The incident occured inthe early hours of May 31,2012 at a place in theinstitution called FrancoHockey Pitch where heallegedly hanged himselfwith a rope. The dead bodyof the deceased has beendeposited in a nearbyhospital for a post-mortemexamination,” the policecommissioner said throughthe command’s PublicRelations Officer, Mr. EbereAmaraizu yesterday. He, however, expressedshock over the incident andwondered why peopleshould take their own livesfor no just cause.

SSS arrests man for cloning Gov Elechiphone number

BY PETER OKUTU

AB A K A L I K I —OPERATIVES of the

State Security Services,SSS, in Ebonyi State,yesterday arrested oneEbube Mbonu for allegedlycloning Governor MartinElechi’s phone number andusing same to swindle topgovernment officials ofhuge sums of money. This came as five others,described as “notoriouscable thieves” whospecialized in stealingN i g e r i aTelecommunicat ion

Limited, NITEL, cables inAbakaliki, were alsoparaded at theheadquarters of the stateC o m m a n d . Parading the suspects,SSS’s Assistant DirectorOperations andIntelligence, Mr. DamianIhejirika, said the suspectwas rounded up afterinvestigation andmonitoring of eventssurrounding his activities. He pointed out thatMbonu had used thecloned Governor’s GSMnumber to send textmessages to about 10 topgovernment officials in thestate, posing as Governor

Elechi and telling hisvictims to pay the sum ofN300,000 into his(Mbonu’s) Eco Bankaccount number, warningthem to keep it confidential. The SSS Director said themessages which were sentout a few days to the recentvisit of the First Lady, DamePatience Jonathan, to thestate made somegovernment officials tobelieve that the textm e s s a g e sactually originated from thegovernor and out of fear oflosing their jobs, proceededto call the number indicatedin the text messages forfurther directives.

Communities leaders' warnindigenes

BY ANAYO OKOLI

�For using name of Ihejirika to causetrouble

UM U A H I A —LEADERS of

Amaba and Ovimcommunities in IsuikwuatoLocal Government Area ofAbia State have warned theindigenes to stop droppingthe name of the Chief ofArmy Staff, COAS, Lt- GenAzubuike Ihejirika, anindigene of the area, tocause trouble.

The warning followed theaction of some youths whorecently went to a popularmarket in the area,Ogwumabiri, located closeto the railway line inIsuikwuato, to demolish themarket and claimed thattheir action had the

blessing of the COAS.Speaking separately with

newsmen, the President-Generals of bothcommunities, Dr.Ezeagwula Madukwe forAmaba and OkechiNdukwe for Ovim,condemned the use ofIhejirika’s name byunscrupulous groups orindividuals from the twocommunities to causetrouble.

According to Dr.Madukwe, “the problem ofwho owns the land wherethe market is situated hasbeen on since 1951 whenthe railway line came to theplace, and was named therailway station Oviminstead of Amaba.

CMYK

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012—15

NNPC's inefficiency costsNigeria $65m—KPMG

ICPC investigates monetisation ofexam marks

ABUJA—MORE rev-elations emerged,

yesterday, as the Senateresumed its ongoing in-vestigation into the mis-management of fuel sub-sidy in the country, as theinternational auditingfirm, KPMG, said ineffi-ciency in the NigerianNational Petroleum Cor-poration, NNPC, costs thecountry $65 million from2007 till December 2010.

KPMG also told theSenator Magnus Abe-ledJoint Senate Committeeon Petroleum Resources,Downstream, Appropria-tions and Finance, that theGoverning Council of Pe-troleum Products PricingRegulatory Agency,PPPRA, was very weak, asmost vital decisions of theorganisation were takenby the Executive Secre-tary, Reginald Stanley.

While, answering ques-tions from the Committee,a partner with KPMG,Dimeji Salaudeen, whodenied receiving any let-ter from the Senate Com-mittee, inviting the com-pany, said: “We only re-ceived e-mail last nightand also heard it on net-work news. What we didwas to put aside everyother business.

“We had today (yester-

day) to ensure that we arehere this morning (yester-day) because of our re-spect for the Committeeand the Senate.”

On the work the com-pany did during the sub-sidy regime, Salaudeen,said: “The work on thesubsidy regime was com-missioned in 2010 andwhat we were required todo was to review the sub-sidy regime and make rec-ommendations to the Fed-eral Government and thescope of our review was tocover the period from Janu-ary 2007 to June 2010.”

The Committee, mean-while, summoned the Min-ister of Finance, Dr. NgoziOkonjo-Iweala, and formerExecutive Secretaries of thePPPRA to appear before iton Tuesday next week. Italso subpoenaed the ChiefExecutive Officers ofFolawiyo and Oando Plc toappear next week or riskthe full wrath of the law ifthey fail to appear.

Speaking further, the au-diting firm alleged thatPPPRA fraudulently paidabout N25 billion to oilmarkers, adding thatsome unregistered com-panies were also man-dated to import fuel intothe country.

Salaudeen said: “Wewere required to reviewthe subsidy regime. In the

course of our work, wehad interactions withNNPC, PPPRA and with afew marketers. In thecourse of the work, we ac-tually had major chal-lenges.

“The bulk of the chal-lenges had to do with get-ting information on a timelybasis from a number of theparticipants. In some cases,we got complete informa-tion and made specific rec-ommendations to the gov-ernment.

“We found that N1.6 tril-lion was paid out as sub-sidy between 2007 and2010, N460 billion per an-num. We also observedthat there was a lot of con-centration in terms of par-ticular people receivingthe bulk of the sum. Wefound that 10 out of themarketers got over 80 per-cent of the total sum of al-locations.

“If you consider thefact that as at the timewe did our work, therewere close to 70 market-ers and that when thescheme started in 2007,they were only 14 market-ers, the gate opened andcertain participants, with-out ability to operate prop-erly, were allowed in.

“We took the record,which was presented byPPPRA and did a straightreview of the figure.”

�As Senate subpoenas Oando,Folawiyo, summons Okonjo-Iweala

BY HENRY UMORU

AB U J A —

INDEPEND-ENT Corrupt Practicesand Related OffencesCommission, ICPC, yes-terday, said it will inves-tigate alleged collabora-tion of teachers and ex-aminers in monetisationof examination marks forstudents.

Secretary to the com-mission, Mr. E. Oglafa,at the 2012 Children’sForum, organised by theCode of Conduct Bu-reau, CCB, in Abuja,said: “The mandate ofICPC is to eradicate allvestiges of corruption inNigeria and to restorethe country to a levelwhere it will take itspride of place among thecomity of nations.”

Emphasising the deter-

mination of the commis-sion to synergise effortswith CCB towards eradi-cating graft and corrup-tion in private and pub-lic sectors of the economy,he warned that “devi-ants and those who findit difficult to imbibe thetenets of integrity will

... as expert tasksparents on child grooming

BY IKECHUKWU

NNOCHIRIR

MANAGING Direc-tor of Tendercurls,

Mr. Adesola Adetola, yes-terday, urged parents togroom their children to be-come better leaders.

Adetola, who spoke at thecommissioning ofTendercurls, a kiddies sa-lon in Lagos, said parentsshould dream of providingenvironments where chil-dren and teenagers will becomfortably attended to ina manner that suits themand empower them to de-

velop properly.On Tendercurls, Adetola

said the organisation hadtaken out time to providemultichannel televisions,and other amenities to cre-ate fun for the children,while they were beingbeautified.

He noted that from hisvarious trips abroad, he hadobserved that children wereoften taken to adult salonswhere their rights andprivileges were often tram-pled upon.

have to contend with thelaws of the land, asmany of such will endup in jail.

“The saying that chil-dren are leaders of tomor-row may be a mirage forsome children if they failto imbibe the appropriateintegrity codes.”

16 — Vanguard, FRIDAY , JUNE 1, 2012

Donu Kogbara SSSSSwwwwweeteeteeteeteet & & & & & SOURSOURSOURSOURSOUR

CMYK

Responses to:donzol2002@yahoo.co.ukor to 0802 747 6458 (textsonly). PLEASE KINDLYNOTE THAT UNLESSYOU SPECIFICALLY

REQUEST ANONYMITY,YOUR COMMENTS MAY

BE PUBLISHED INVANGUARD, WITH YOURNAMES AND NUMBERSOR EMAIL ADDRESSES

ATTACHED.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE1, 2012 — 17

PRESIDENT GoodluckJonathan’s decision to re-

name the University of Lagos,UNILAG, Moshood AbiolaUniversity has not had the de-sired impact. Abiola’s familyis, of course, pleased andgrateful. I’m also touched bythis development for personalreasons. Abiola, a great philan-thropist and democratic icon,was close to my late father andwas extremely kind to me andmy siblings when we wereyoungsters. And I am friendlywith a couple of his children.

And there have been smatter-ings of applause from moreemotionally detached quarters.But the nation’s reaction seemsto have been pretty negativeoverall. Several prominent andregular citizens - includingYorubas who held their brotherAbiola in high esteem, journal-ists who used to work for hisnewspaper (Concord) and de-mocracy activists who solidlysupported him during his life-time and continue to reverehim to this day - have roundlycondemned the name change.

Avoidable quarrelfrom his administration’s fail-ures or of indulging in trivial,patronising gesture politics.They are, in my opinion, beingtoo curmudgeonly and toocynical.

Honours should sometimesbe taken at face value and aresometimes sincerely offered forthe right reasons; and a manwho was imprisoned and (Ithink) murdered because hewas the people’s choice, won

choices at your disposal, whyrisk controversy by choosing aplace that inspires emotionalreactions and has been aroundfor ages and has acquired astrong identity of its own?

Unilag is not just an insipidlabel that merely reflects the lo-cation of a university. It is a veryfamous and longstanding (byNigerian standards) brand.And the general public in ev-ery country tends to becomevery jittery and tetchy whenyou tamper with brands theyhave grown up with and be-come attached to. I imaginethat a similar outcry would en-sue if Mr President or anyoneelse attempted to do away withcosily familiar householdnames like Milo or SuperEagles or Coke.

Furthermore, Unilag is notjust a brand name or an anony-mous set of buildings in whichpeople earn a living or acquiredegrees in law or physics orwhatever. Unilag has been atreasured HOME to the mil-lions of students and lecturerswho have passed through itsince it was founded.

They have slept there andeaten there and cried

there and laughed there andlearned how to stand on theirown two feet there and ma-tured there and fallen in lovethere and married in its chapeland reared their offspring in itsresidential spaces.

When I was a youth corpsmember in Lagos three de-cades ago, I often socialisedwith Unilag students and they

were always grumbling abouttheir halls of residence or lec-ture theatres or professors. Butit was obvious that they adoredthe place despite its shortcom-ings. And I know that it willalways hold a dear place intheir hearts because I am stillin touch with some of theseformer students.

An educational institutionthat one has graduated from isoften described as one’s “almamater ” (or “nourishingmother”) - very significantwords that convey a deep bondbetween old schools and ex-pupils. And I wouldn’t havedared to mess with the Unilagname if I had been in PresidentJonathan’s shoes! And I urgehim to listen and be flexible andto kindly reverse his decision.

Feeling andbitterness

To further illustrate thestrength of feeling and bitter-ness that this issue hasaroused, here is a letter a Van-guard reader who hails fromLagos State recently sent me:The sad irony is that the re-naming has even attractedsome hostility towards MKOhimself. The FederalGovernment of Nigeria hasalways been known to destroyinstitutions in Nigeria, due totheir half-baked education andabsolutely no exposure.Goodluck Jonathan had tocompound this trend further bychanging an originalinstitution, a renowned and

to gain political points! ThankGod my scroll proudly reads‘University of Lagos’.

MKO fought for democracy,agreed, but I would say it wasfor his ambitious spirit, any-way! He was brave enoughto...(rebel) because he winedand dined with the monsterswho killed him with a ‘stab inthe back. He didn’t attendUNILAG and none of hischildren, I dare say, attendedeither.

There are other monumentsthat could have been namedafter him and a host of schoolsalready bear his name! Like itor not, I would not be proud toannounce that I am a gradu-ate of MKO University! So this‘spineless government’ shouldreinstate the name ‘UNIVER-SITY OF LAGOS’ and learnfrom institutions like ‘Oxford,Cambridge, Havard, Yale, toname a few, and never mixpolitics and education, ever.Reinstate the UNILAG nameGoodluck Jonathan!

Please circulate this email tillhe is haunted, whether asleepor awake, and surrenders tothe voice of reason - the massesthat made him President!

And quite a few have contactedme to express their displea-sure.

Meanwhile, so many Unilagstudents took to the streets ear-lier on this week to protest thatthe campus has been closeddown in order to facilitate therestoration of peace. And Iknow that a large number ofcurrent and former Unilag aca-demic staffers are privatelyechoing the students’ frustra-tion. And I can, to be honest,understand why some of theabove are not happy. Now Idon’t share the views of criticswho are accusing the Presidentof “playing to the gallery” orof trying to deflect attention

an election and became an ob-stacle to power-crazed rivalsdeserves to be rememberedwith immense respect. Andwhat better way is there to dis-play this immense respect andkeep Abiola’s name alive thanto emblazon his name on amajor establishment?

However, why not pick aplace that has a neutral andpurely professional image? TheInstitute of International Af-fairs, for example, would havebeen a befitting and ideal placeto rename after MKO, espe-cially since he had a high in-ternational profile and waswarmly received in many coun-tries. When you have several

,

,

reputable Universityof Lagos, to MoshoodAbiola University!!!All in a desperateeffort to please who?He had to furtherprove to the world bythis foolish act thatthe education sectorin Nigeria is at thebottom of his agenda!This confirms he issurrounded by dozensof clueless andsychophantic advis-ers and assistantswho obviously did notattend an institutionlike UNILAG!

I bet it was a politi-cal decision to makethe ‘Yoruba folk’happy. Well, he hasjust infuriated us fur-ther as the enlight-ened and exposedYoruba indigenes un-derstand the mean-ing of building andmaintaining institu-tions as well as beingproud of one’s ‘AlmaMater’. Who does athing like this? Onlya NIGERIAN Presi-dent who thinks hecan do as he pleases

UNILAG students protesting the renaming of the school

I wouldn’t have dared to mess withthe Unilag name if I had been inPresident Jonathan’s shoes! And Iurge him to listen and be flexible andto kindly reverse his decision

OPINION

18 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

BY OCHI NOSIRI

*Mr. Nosiri, a commentator on national issues, wrotefrom Lagos.

Allegations ofcorruption: FCT Ministermust intervene

THE article published on page 20 of Thisdaynewspaper of Thursday May 3, 2012, whose title

alluded to alleged racketeering in the FCTA HealthDepartment makes interesting reading.This writer has, after reading the level of impunity, flagrantabuse of due process and acts of corruption exhibited bysome officials of the Health and Human Services of FCTA,been expecting either a denial of these irregularities bythe concerned officials or a statement by the Ministry ofFederal Capital Territory indicating that the complaintsby the security companies have been addressedsatisfactorily and the erring civil servants have beenbrought to book. Since none of these has been done tilldate, it means that the business as usual situation in thedepartment has been allowed to go on.In the past few months, the Nigerian media have beeninundated with news of embezzlement of billions of nairaof Police pensions and other retirees pension funds, billionsof naira embezzled in fuel subsidy scam, misappropriationof funds in the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC,and racketeering in the FCT Lands Department. And nowthis – award of security contracts to themselves by officialsof the FCTA Health and Human Services Department.These negative news about Nigeria makes the countryrank high in the world corruption index and our nationalssubjected to the worst forms of indignity when they travelabroad.The revelations of corrupt activities by the FCTA Healthand Human Services Department officials call for theimmediate intervention of the Minister of FCT to preventthe sleaze by his staff constituting a dent on the goodimage he has as one of the performing ministers in the

President Goodluck administration.Some pertinent questions arise from the said storypublished in Thisday.*Why should the Department terminate the services of thefirms it engaged for security services without paying themfor services rendered?*Why should the Department engage new security firmswithout complying with the provisions of the PublicProcurement Act which include advertisement in at leastone national newspaper and public opening of tenders?*Why should the Department engage new security firmsthat were not registered with the Corporate AffairsCommission?*Why should the new firms not be registered with theNigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, asrequired by law?*Why should the new firms be engaged at over 500 percentincrease of the fees paid to the disengaged firms?Questions, questions and more questions

It is even alleged that the newly engaged firms arecompanies owned by some of the Health Department

officials; that is, the officials are working and being paidby the FCTA and in addition they are securities servicescontractors to the FCTA when duly registered securitycompanies that went through competitive tendering hadtheir contracts terminated without being given any

reasons.It is clear to any observer of this ugly situation that thereason for the termination of the contracts of the securityfirms was to make way for engagement of the firms ownedby the contractor-civil servants in the Health and HumanServices Department of the FCT.The Minister of the FCT should expose the officialsinvolved in this contract racketeering and discipline themfor their acts of corruption and disregard of the nation’sextant laws.This shameful and embarrassing situation further callsfor the intervention of the officials of the ICPC and EFCC.They cannot continue to sit idle at their desk while somepublic servants converts millions of naira public fundsinto their pockets using phoney companies. If they intendto become security contractors, they should resign theirappointments and duly register their companiesaccordingly. In this way, they will be in a position tocompete with other Nigerians outside for the security jobsin the FCTA Health and Human Services Department.They cannot be working and being paid both as civilservants and security contractors.The anti-corruption crusade, a component of PresidentGoodluck Jonathan’s National Transformation Agendamust succeed. It is the duty of every Nigerian to contributeto the success of the crusade by exposing acts of corruptionwhenever and wherever it is observed. The irregularitypresently going on in the FCTA Health and HumanServices Department with respect to its security servicesmust not go unchallenged.The erring officials should be called to order.The FCT Minister should act accordingly.

THE most strident argument Central Bankof Nigeria makes for its autonomy – best in-ternational practices – is also one of theweakest points, if it is to convince Nigeri-ans it has a right to supervise itself.How did “best international practices”

serve Europe and America whose econo-mies are in a mesh? Were their central banksnot independent when banks and other fi-nancial institutions put their economies ina spin?Central banks in Greece, Spain, Italy, Por-

tugal and the United States of America en-joy autonomy. Is there anything in the stateof their economy to recommend their “bestinternational practices” to Nigeria?Agreed we cannot operate outside the in-

ternational financial system, but our aspi-rations should be to make the best of ourmembership of the international communi-ty for the benefits of our people.Every economy has its peculiarity, possi-

bly caused by the ways of its people. Themajor function of CBN is to create stabilityin the economy. It is a business it shouldapproach with transparent perspicacity that

CBN – We Need To

Knowleaves no doubt that it wants to serve theinterest of Nigerians. If it happens, Nigeri-ans would be falling over themselves toaward it more room to foster the growth ofthe economy.Concerns of the National Assembly over

CBN may be doused in the Nigerian’s grow-ing loss of faith in anything from the Na-tional Assembly, but they are genuine. Itcould be dangerous to dismiss them.In what ways would an independent CBN

serve Nigerians better? How would an au-tonomous CBN regulate its processes toavoid internal abuses that could provideworse shocks than the worst political inter-ferences? Has CBN found answers to itsauditors who award banks high marks in

approving their accounts and withinmonths the banks are bankrupt?Fears abound about unbridled freedom for

any institution, particularly of a kind thatwould come with minimal accountability.CBN, in addition to seeking independence,must grow its internal capacity to manageits affairs on which the economy rests.Arguments at the National Assembly re-

flect different interests. Everyone has a rea-son for curbing another’s freedom. Themore freedom CBN has, the less room foranother institution to operate. CBN mustappreciate the dynamics of positions andprovide evidences it would manage its au-tonomy to the benefit of the economy.If economies in more organised spheres

collapsed right under the attentive watchof their central banks, then the stand thatautonomy is the panacea for economicgrowth and stability would deserve morescrutiny. CBN needs to articulate its aspi-rations in a better way. We may understandthe benefits of autonomy for central banks,but how would it work in Nigeria? CBNneeds to tell us.

CMYK

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012 — 19

,,

,

,Mangroves: A vanishingresource (2)

*Mr. Ainofenokhai, a politicalanalyst, wrote from Benin, Edo State.

BY JOHN AINOFENOKHAI

THERE is desperation in the politicalspace of Edo State. Blackmail and

intimidation have been freely deployedagainst public policy and legal obligationin order to gain what vested interests mighthave taken as electoral advantage.

The critical victim of this extreme measureis the Continuous Voter Registration, CVR,in the State that is provided for in law totake place ahead of the scheduled July 14,2012 governorship election, and which theIndependent National ElectoralCommission, INEC, has unilaterallysuspended until after the election.

No one, not even the Commission, hascontradicted the claim by the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP, that the decision bythe Commission to suspend the exercise wasnot done in consultations with the politicalstakeholders in the State.

Although the decision was announced byProfessor Attahiru Jega in his openingremarks at a meeting with the stakeholderson Friday, May 18, 2012 in Abuja, one isstill at a loss why Jega did not make it anagenda issue for discussion so that aconsensus could be reached on it towardsreaching an acceptable decision.

That development is what has continuedto question the propriety of theCommission’s decision. Shouldn’t theCommission have sounded out the politicalstakeholders and weighed their positionsagainst the provisions of the Electoral Act?

In fact, rather than douse the tension and“the charged political atmosphere and theserious threat to law and order” as claimedby the Commission, the decision to suspendthe exercise until after the election has nowcreated a potential legal basis fordisadvantaged parties to proceed againstthe outcome of the election.

The point must be made that theCommission, in unilaterally taking thedecision to suspend the critical pre-electionprerequisite, would appear to havepandered to the whimsical strategy ofOshiomhole of making the wild allegationof a plot by the PDP and the Commission tomanipulate the voters registration.

DDC machines: ACN’s dishonesty and

INEC’s clarifications

He did not stop at making theunsubstantiated allegation; he had alsomobilised protesters to march on and laysiege to the INEC office in Benin. In thatprocess, a death was recorded and severalpeople were injured. But significantly, anINEC official was manhandled, beaten andrecorded on camera for being in possessionof Direct Data Capture Machines, DDMCs.

Oshiomhole’s claim was that the man,acting the script of the PDP, had been secretlyregistering fake voters ahead of thecommencement of the exercise. He hadlatched on the “arrest” of the INEC officialto reinforce his party, Action Congress ofNigeria, allegation the previous day,Sunday, May 13, 2012, that the PDP and theCommission had perfected a plot at ameeting in Abuja to mutilate the Edo voterregister.

The allegation by Oshiomhole withregards to the apprehended INEC officialwith DDC machines was treated by theCommission as very critical even though itdid not rush to make a statement about it.Initially, I had thought there was a quietconcert between Oshiomhole and Jega,perhaps because of their union background,to allow the Comrade- Governor run ringsround the PDP, put the party on the spot andsucceed in demonizing it.

Certain actions and inactions had givenrise to this notion. For instance, why

did Jega unilaterally announce thesuspension of the CVR without allowing thematter to be discussed first at thestakeholders’ meeting? Why did he shy awayat the meeting from mentioning the siege tothe INEC office in Benin by Oshiomhole andhis co-protesters comprised of drivers andruffians?

It is possible that the Commission was atthe point, when it appeared to be vacillating,yet to be availed with the outcome of itsinvestigations into the incident. The silenceof the Commission while the investigationslasted was quite worrisome. It had tendedto give credence to Oshiomhole’s allegationof criminal complicity between theCommission and the PDP. But now, notanymore!

The Commission has now come upwith an official statement, which waspublished as paid advertorial in, at least,three national newspapers (Vanguard, TheNation and Saturday Sun all of May 26,2012) wherein it confirmed that the officialallegedly manhandled by Oshiomhole andhis co-protesters was in its employ and howhe happened to be in legitimate possessionof two DDC machines as of the time he wasapprehended near INEC office in Benin onMonday, May 14, 2012.

The statement signed by theCommission’s Secretary, Abdullahi A.Kaugama said that the “person allegedlycaught with the DDCM is a bona fide staffof INEC. He is an Assistant ExecutiveOfficer at the Igueben Local GovernmentArea office of the Commission”. TheCommission said: “He duly signed for, andcollected two DDCMs and other trainingmaterials from the ICT Unit of the INECState Office in Benin City for the training ofNational Youth Service Corps, NYSC,members and INEC staff shortlisted to serveas Assistant Registration Officers, AROs,during the CVR exercise.”

Determined to fully account and exposeOshiomhole’s dishonesty and desperatepolitical antics, the Commission had furtherstated that: “He (official) had used theDDCMs and other materials for training theofficers drawn from three LocalGovernment Areas, namely: (i) Esan North,(ii)Esan Southeast, and (iii) Igueben. Thetraining started on Friday, May 11th andran till late on Saturday, May 12, 2012, atthe Local Government Council Hall inUromi, Esan North East Local Government

Area.“Similar training held at Fugar (for

Etsako Central, and Etsako East), Auchi(Etsako West and Akoko Edo), Afuze (OwanEast and Owan West), Abusu (Orhionmwonand Uhunmwonde), Ekpoma (Esan Westand Esan Central), Okada (Ovia South Westand Ovia North East) and benin City (Oredo,Ikpoba Okha and Egor)”.

According to the Commission:“Investigations showed that he was returningwith the DDCMs to the INEC state office inBenin City at about 8.10 am on Monday,May 14th, when he ran into protesters whohad laid siege on the entrance to thepremises. Apparently sensing danger fromthe protesters, he was advised by some co-staff to take shelter for a while in theadjoining Court of Appeal premises, wherethe protesters eventually tracked him downand manhandled him. Forensicexamination of the DDCMs found with himrevealed the data of only a handful of corpsmembers who were registered with themachines, apparently as part of the trainingpractical(s)”.

But while I commend the painstakingefforts by the Commission to put the

lie to Oshiomhole’s claim and thus exposehis dishonesty, I still believe that the decisionto suspend the Continuous VotersRegistration until after the election ispatently wrong and unjustifiable, especiallyin the face, letter and spirit of Section 9(5)of the Electoral Act as amended in 2010.

By that decision, the Commission had,because of Oshiomhole’s unsubstantiatedallegations, shenanigans, morbid fear anddesperation, disenfranchised thousands ofEdo people and residents who have turned18 years since after the last registration/election in the State from being capturedand accommodated in a register that wouldhave been updated for use during the July14, 2012 governorship election.

Is Edo State sitting on a tinderbox becauseof this massive and widespreaddisenfranchisement occasioned by the CVRsuspension? Is a potential conflict due tothe inherent infraction of the electoral lawbrewing? Time will tell.

How the disenfranchised persons,political parties and the Commission willreact to this breach of the provision of theElectoral Act if the issue goes into thejudiciary arena for litigation.

The decision tosuspend thevoters registrationuntil after theelection ispatently wrongand unjustifiable,especially in theletter and spirit ofthe Electoral Actas amended in

THE prevailing theoryamong scientists, reports

the Mangrove Action Project,is that the plant originated inthe Indonesia-Malaysia(Indo-Malaysia) area.Between 66 and 23 millionyears ago, it apparentlymigrated, via ocean currents,westward to India and east toSouth and Central America

From South America, thetheory holds, currents carriedthe mangrove to the CaribbeanIslands, from where itcolonized the eastern USA andeventually found its way toAfrica. This, someinvestigators believe, explainswhy Mangrove species in WestAfrica, the USA and theCaribbean are similar.

“The mangrove swamps ofNigeria and of West Africagenerally,” wrote R.W.J. Keay,a British Forestry official inIbadan, in 1948, “from theRiver Senegal to Angola, aresimilar in composition to thoseof the Atlantic shores ofAmerica and its neighbouringislands”.

According to S.A. Abere andB.A. Ekeke, of the Rivers StateUniversity of Science andTechnology, the mangroveswamps in Nigeria cover atotal of 10,000 square km andextend from Badagry in theWest to Calabar in the East.They form a 15 km to 45 km“vegetation band” along ourcoast, consisting of soil that isinundated regularly by salt

water.“The mangrove region is

widest,” they write, “on thesides of the Niger Delta 35 km– 45km and narrows towardsthe centre to a width of 15kmexcept for the channel of theBrass River, which hasextensive mangroves farupstream”.

Nigeria’s coastal wetlandsare rich in biodiversity.

But investigators generallyagree that the mangrovepopulation consists mainly ofsix species which fall intothree families. The mostimportant family isRhizophora—the red

mangrove—which makes upabout 90 percent of thepopulation.

Rhizophora has contributedimmensely to the identity ofthe Niger Delta, both by itsbeauty and its distinctivetraits. Too often in our struggleto right the wrongs of thissociety called Nigeria weforget the little things. In thepool of self-pity that many acitizen has waded, thepositives are sacrificed for thenegatives. With the reader ’sforbearance, therefore, I wouldlike to digress a bit anddiscuss this plant in somedetail.

Rhizophora is not only moreabundant but it is also thebiggest of all mangrove plantsin Nigeria. Keay notes thatone species, R. racemosa “canreach 150 feet in height andeight feet in girth”. In additionto its size and reddish colour,you can also easily identifyRhizophora by its famousstilted root system.

“The most important featureof the mangrove forest,” Keayavers, “is the stilt roots ofRhizophora”. But these roots,he notes do not penetratedeeply into the ground.Instead, they divide into agauze-like mat, just beneaththe surface, and extendoutward from the tree.

Thus the red mango “standsupon a system of arches

entirely supported by a thickfelt raft of its own making. Anordinary root system,” Keaucontinues, “would obviouslybe unable to support a largetree on such a swampyground”.

Finally, Rhizophora standsout as well, because of itsunique reproductive system,which I mentioned earlier. Itsseeds actually germinatewhile still hanging on the tree.The parent tree actually dropsthe seedling into the mud asa complete plant, with astrong 12-inch root alreadyformed.

A knowledge ofRhizophora’s fascinatingbiology—and that of otherflora and fauna in the NigerDelta--should be taught atevery level of our educationalsystem. It should also but bepart of the training of boatmen,tour guides pilots, drivers andother individuals who havecontinuous contact with thepublic. Any typical lover ofnature would marvel at whatwe have and take for granted.I am currently on a tour ofother civilisations and what Ihave come to learn is we aresimply the best. My prayer isone day leaders we lead us tothis realisation. I thank Godfor the Mangroves.

To be continued.

Any typicallover of naturewould marvel atwhat we haveand take forgranted; I amcurrently on atour of othercivilisations andwhat I havecome to learn iswe are simplythe best

CMYK

20—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Day of rage over changeof name for UNILAG•Renaming is not our problem — Residents

IN his Democracy Dayspeech of Tuesday, May 29,

2012, President GoodluckJonathan announced the renam-ing of University of Lagos to Mos-hood Abiola University, Lagos. Butwhat was expected to elicit joyand praise had immediatelysparked off outrage among stu-dents and lecturers of the institu-tion. The institution was renamedafter Chief Moshood KasimawoAbiola, who died on July 7, 1998while fighting to validate his June12, 1993 presidential mandate.

STORIES BY BOSE

ADELAJA

Before this time, the institutionhad lost two of its staff to deathwithin the month of May: the ViceChancellor, Professor Tokunbo Ba-batunde Sofoluwe died at the ageof 62 on Saturday, May 12 and an-other lecturer from the Departmentof Creative Art, Chief E.A. Basseywho died a week after.

Sofoluwe’s corpse was still in themortuary with a service of songsslated for Tuesday, May 29, 2012when Mr President made the pro-nouncement that has sincethrown the institution intoturmoil, with students and lectur-ers now protesting in the streets.

They anchor their protests onthe claim that UNILAG was not

the most appropriate institution tobe named after the late politician.The protesters barricaded the maingate of the institution, thus prevent-ing entrance in and out of theschool from where they marchedto Abule-Oja and the school’senvirons, singing anti- PresidentJonathan songs.

During the protest that lasted forhours, commuters and motoristswere forced to place leaves on theirheads and vehicles as the protest-ers blocked the Yaba end of theMurtala Muhammed way for over30 minutes and it took the effort ofthe Lagos State Deputy Commis-sioner of Police in charge ofoperations, Mr. Tunde Sobulu to

This caused a gridlock that last-ed for hours as some passengersdisembarked and resorted totrekking, while others had to ter-minate their journey. Somemotorists who spoke withVanguard Metro expressed dissat-isfaction at the protest and calledon government to prevent furtheroccurrences. Also, the protestcaused panic and apprehensionamong residents of the area asmany of them scampered forsafety, while the situation was al-most hijacked by hoodlums butfor the timely intervention of theLagos State Commissioner of Po-lice , Mr. Umar Manko, whoarrived the scene and restoredsanity in the area.

Meanwhile, the University boardthrough its radio station has an-nounced the closure of the institu-tion for two weeks and asked stu-dents to vacate the school premisesbefore 11am of that day.

Residents react

Reacting to the development,some residents of Yaba and its en-

It’s fun all the way for 2000 less privileged children

IT was fun all the wayfor some less-privileged

children in Lagos as about 2000 ofthem were feted at an event tocommemorate the children’s day.

The event which was the first ofits kind by Instinct Events took placeat Lobby D Entrance Hall and theEntrance C Lawn of the NationalTheatre Iganmu was used toempower some of the children.

Speaking with Vanguard Metroafter the event, Chief ExecutiveOfficer of Instinct Events, JohnUmoh, promised to make it a year-ly experience and tasked parentsto nurture and protect the Nigerianchild as a veritable asset of the coun-try.

Umoh said the occasion wasmeant to make the children feelgood on their day, adding: “AsMay 27 of every year is mappedout for children, Instinct Events willbe organising events yearly forchildren to make them feel goodon their day. This event is unusualand celebrated with a difference,adding fun unlimited, learningand at the same time, reap the pur-pose of being present”.

Some children who spoke withVanguard Metro said the event,titled Kids Funtacia was fun un-limited, educative and informativeas well as a source ofempowerment. No wonder manyof them arrived early for the Red

verse this decision”, “Jonathan hadno shoes, we gave him bata,”among several others. Some ofthem trooped to areas like Alago-meji, Yaba, Sabo and Ikorodu road,restricting vehicular activities forhours.

As a result of the protest, com-muters and motorists were strand-ed for about four hours as the pro-testers barricaded the affected ar-eas. The protest was heightenedat Fadeyi Bus-stop as two BRT bus-es were hijacked by the protestersand used to barricade the two sidesof the road, thereby preventing ve-hicular activities. Many of them saton the bus while others hung on it.

virons said the protest preventedthem from getting to their respec-tive places of work but added thatit was a step in the right directionand blamed government for doingthe wrong thing at the wrong time.“The protest really affected us butI am happy the students were ableto send a signal to the FederalGovernment; this is not the timefor renaming,” said two residentsof Alagomeji, Keji Tiamiyu andTeem Bakare.

Also, a resident of Adekunle and

President of Soul Winning Chap-el, Dr. Moses Iloh, condemned therenaming and hailed the studentsfor the protest. “The governmentis taking us for a ride; there are somany issues to address in thiscountry but President GoodluckJonathan chose to be adamant.Boko Haram has killed many peo-ple, there is doctors’ strike in La-gos and nothing was done. Whoasked him to recognise the lateM.K.O. Abiola? Renaming of theschool is not our problem. Mr. Pres-ident is surrounded with a bunch...who have advised him wrongly,the students were not armed afterall,” he said.

arrest the situation.While Lagosians thought the pro-

test was over, the protesters caughteverybody unawares the followingday as they blocked the ThirdMainland Bridge in Lagos. Manyof them marched from their maincampus at Akoka, Yaba throughHerbert Macaulay Street to theAdekunle link bridge carrying var-ious placards and singing solidar-ity songs.

Some of the placards read: “Weremain UNILAG”, “Jonathan re-

Carpet which took place around9am before the commencementtime of 11am.

The children were treated to avariety of Funtacia, fun, games,choreography, competitions andskills acquisition like corporategifts packs wrapping and beadmaking as well as indoor and out-door programmes. There was nodull moment as some of themdanced with a gospel artist, FaithJoshua who graced the event.

“The less privileged children fromfive homes came to mix up withthe privileged ones for free, as thereis no difference between them; theydeserve to have fun and interactwith one another,” he added.

,

,The protest really affected us but I

am happy the students were able tosend a signal to the Federal Govern-

ment, this is not the time for renaming

UNILAG students during the protest Photos: Kehinde Gbadamosi

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012 — 21

Managing Director of Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Yemi Adeola (left) , in a warm handshake with Governor TheodoreOrji of Abia State when the Management of the Bank visited the Governor in Abia.

FEDERATION of InformalWorkers of Nigeria, FIWON, has

called for massive investment in thecritical sectors of the economy andcalled on the government to ensure aconducive working environment forworkers especially those in theinformal sector.

The umbrella body for the informalworkers in the country specificallydemanded investment in decent workplace, basic shelter, potable water andstorage facilities to provide conduciveworking environment for them.

FIWON, in a statement by itsGeneral Secretary, Comrade GbengaKomolafe, to mark 2012 DemocracyDay, lamented that despite the fact thatthe informal sector constituted over 80per cent of the Nigerian populationcontributing over 65 per cent of theGross Domestic Product, GDP, theirworking environment remainedmakeshift, hazardous and precariouswith oppressive regulatory controls.

According to the statement, whereasinformal workers constitute over 80per cent of the Nigerian populationcontributing over 65 per cent of theGDP, the environment of work ofinformal workers remain makeshift,hazardous and precarious; regulatorycontrols remain oppressive,contradictory and uncoordinated withinformal workers suffering needlessharassment, intimidation and extortionin the streets daily. Infrastructuresand services remain primitive andhazardous in the absence of decentpublic toilets, potable water, electricity,sanitation and good decent workspaceincluding storage facilities; socialprotection especially health insurance,disability and old age pension arenon-existent while the elitistgovernance structures have no spacefor informal workers’ representationwith appropriate bargaining

Informal workers call for massive

investment in critical sectors

framework, not even at the level oflocal governments that are supposedto be the closest governance structureto the grassroots informal economyoperators.”

“The over 70 million people toilingaway in the informal sectors of theeconomy in Nigeria, in the light of theforegoing therefore, on this occasionof 2012 Democracy Day, calls on alltiers of government in Nigeria toinvest more in the provision of criticalinfrastructure especially decent workspaces with sanitation, basic shelteragainst the elements, potable water

and toilet as well as storage facilitiesto provide conducive workingenvironment for informal workers. Asthe Nigerian government proceeds tothe International Labour Conferenceof the ILO in Geneva next monthwhere a new recommendation on aminimum provision for socialprotection would be adopted, it is alsoimportant for the government to keyinto this global campaign for minimumsocial security provision forhealthcare, disability, and old age byputting appropriate mechanisms inplace for implementing these. In this

STANDARD Chartered Bank has

restated its readiness to facilitatetrade between Nigeria and Singaporeas Nigeria was Singapore’s 51stlargest trading partner in 2011 withbilateral trade rising 25 per cent from2010 figures to S$481.5 million.

In a statement, the bank stated thatthe exports from Nigeria accounted for83 per cent of the total trade value.Primary exports include refinedpetroleum products, heating andcooling equipment, and ship and boatparts, with Singapore’s main importsbeing base metal ores, followed by oilseeds and telecommunicationsequipment.

The bank said it will be hostingrepresentatives from 15 Singaporecompanies in Nigeria this week, partof the Singapore BusinessFederation’s (SBF) official tour to twoWest African economies, Nigeria andBenin.

According to statement from the

Nigeria, Singapore bi-lateral trade rises by25% — Standard Chartered

bank, “Given Standard Charteredboasts a strong presence in Singaporeand Nigeria, the Bank is ideallypositioned to facilitate key businessintroductions for the visitingdelegates, as well as provide valuableinsight into the dynamics of doingbusiness in Nigeria and more broadly,West Africa.”

Delegation aims to initiate andenhance commercial trade andinvestment links between West Africaand Singapore.

Bola Adesola, CEO of StandardChartered Nigeria said, “We havedeep, local knowledge of both Africaand Asia and will continue to providethe necessary financial tools andstrategic advice to Asian companiesdoing business in Africa – assistingsustainable economic development inboth regions. This is an excellentopportunity for us to showcase Nigeriaand West Africa’s investment andgrowth opportunities. StandardChartered is perfectly placed tofacilitate and support Africa-Asia tradeand investment corridors, and we are

respect, we reiterate our call for socialpension for those aged 65 years andabove, as well as the disabled, andbroadening the scope of the NationalHealth Insurance Scheme to includeinformal workers.”

“This only conforms to Section 16(2d) of the Nigerian constitution whichstates “that suitable and adequateshelter, suitable and adequate food,reasonable national minimum livingwage, old age care and pensions, andunemployment, sick benefits andwelfare of the disabled are providedfor all citizens”.

By VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL SELLING

CBN Exchange rate as at 31/05/2012

106.89 +0.34

90.87 +0.21

166.10 -0.80

2,094.00 -11.00

19.64 +0.06

CFA 0.2768 0.2868 0.2968

KRONER 26.176 26.2606 26.3452

EURO 194.5362 195.1648 195.7933

POUNDS 242.9266 243.7115 244.4964

RIYAL 41.2623 41.3956 41.5289

SDR 234.926 235.6851 236.4441 S

FRANC 161.8047 162.3275 162.8503

DOLLAR 154.75 155.25 155.75

WAUA 234.0918 234.8482 235.6045

YEN 1.949 1.9553 1.9616

RENMINBI 24.3865 24.4658 24.545

delighted to host Singapore businessrepresentatives in Nigeria, promotingbusiness partnerships which stand tobenefit the economies of both regionsfor many generations to come.”

As a strategic partner of theSingapore Business Federation andmission leader of the Singaporebusiness delegation’s visit to Nigeriaand Benin, Standard Chartered’sSingapore CEO, Ray Ferguson added,“Singapore companies cannot afford toignore Africa from their expansionplans as the continent is now amongthe fastest growing regions in theworld. On the other hand, Singapore’simpressive attributes as a key regionaltrading centre, the world’s busiestport, and a top location for investmentsin Asia have also led companies inAfrica to view Singapore as a gatewayto the rest of Asia. “

Continuing, he said, “This is whyin 2010, Standard Chartered formeda strategic partnership with theSingapore Business Federation for theestablishment of the Africa BusinessGroup (AFBG).

By PETER EGWUATU

CMYK

22 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

By NKIRUKANNOROM

Stockbroker seeks establishment of morestock exchanges

A financial expertand the Managing

Director, MaxifundSecurities Limited, MaziOkechukwu Unegbu,has called for theestablishment of morestock exchanges acrossthe nation, saying thatthe demutualization ofthe current exchange

without providingalternative tradingpoints will portenddanger for the entireeconomy.

Unegbu who spoke atthe Bi-monthly discourseof FinancialC o r r e s p o n d e n t sAssociation of Nigeria,in Lagos, said thatprovision of alternativemarkets will not onlybreak the strangleholdof monopoly, but will

promote competitionamong the variousexchanges.

He argued thatdemutualization of thecurrent stock exchangewithout an alternativewill ground the activitiesof the stock market to ahalt in case of anyeventualities.

“It is dangerous tohave monopoly inbusiness. That monopolyholds all the power. If

you now say you want todemutulaise thatparticular monopolywithout other competingorganizations, you aregoing to have problem.Supposing somethinghappens to thatprivately ownedbusiness, like somebanks that have failed inthis country; supposingin those banks thatfailed there is no NDICto pay people their

NCR Nigeria Plc

has expressedoptimism of a significantimprovement in itsfinancial performance inthe years aheadfollowing the CentralBank of Nigeria’s recentreversal of the directiveon offsite AutomatedTeller Machines, ATM.

Speaking at the 60th

annual general meetingof the company inLagos, Chairman of thecompany, OtunbaAdekunle Ojora said thedirective stopping banksfrom setting up offsiteATM impactednegatively on itsrevenue base andprofitability as itconcentrated on theservice andmaintenance of existingATMs with a minimalnumber of sales of newATM to banks.

Specifically, he saidthe company hasrecorded significantimprovement in the saleof ATMs in the currentfinancial year and isoptimistic that the salewill impact positively onits financials by the endof the 2012 financialyear.

N100,000, N200,000,and there is no otherbank to go to, what willhappen? The system willbe grounded to a halt.

“So why I ampersonally calling forestablishment of moreexchanges is so that ifwe demutualise thecurrent stock exchangeand something goeswrong with it, there willbe an alternative thatyou can go to refinanceyour stock,” he said.

“Assuming you havethe shares of First Bankof Nigeria (FBN) andthey demutualise theNigerian StockExchange, and becauseof the greed ofcapitalism, because ofthe greed of one directoror a staffer, or because ofso many other thingsthat can affect thatbusiness, because it hasto compete with otherexchanges outsideNigeria and somethinghappens to it, and youhave the shares of FirstBank to sell, but there is

NCR optimistic of improvedprofitability, eyes increasedATM sale

since listing on the floorof the NSE in 2009 hasbeen consistent indeclaring profit, from2009 to 2011.

He stated that the firmhas posted a Profit AfterTax (PAT) of N181,144,102 million,179,427,759 million andN245, 353,061 million inyears 2009, 2010 and2011 respectively.

“The Board hasproposed a dividend of 5kobo for the financial year2011 subject toshareholders’ approvalat the forth comingAnnual GeneralMeeting (AGM). Thisrepresents 11.11 per centgrowth from 4.5kobo in2010. In 2009 and 2010we had paid three koboin 2009. The dividendyield in 2011 was 10 percent from 9 per cent in2010, representing agrowth of 11.11 per centgrowth. P/E Ratio in

2011 stood at 6.03x from8.25x in 2010, Earningyield in 2011 was 16.5per cent from 12.12 percent in 2010,representing 36.79 percent growth.”

Other performanceindicators show 36.2 percent growth in turnoverto N855.6 million in 2011from N627.83million in2010; Other Income grewby 7.68 per cent toN259.74 million in 2011from N241.20milllion in2010 ; Gross profitpercentage improved by4.52 per cent to 42.55 percent in 2011 from 38.03per cent in 2010; Netprofit margin remainrelatively stable at 28.68per cent in 2011from28.59 in 2010.

While analysing itsoperations, theCourteville boss said, “Our Motor VehicleA d m i n i s t r a t i o nDocumentation (MVAD)

CO U R T E V I L L EBusiness Solutions

Plc, a quoted entity on theNigerian Stock Exchange(NSE) has recordedconsistent profit in thepast three (3) years from2009 to 2011, ManagingDirector/CEO of thecompany, Mr. AdebolaAkindele has said.

Speaking at thecompany’s fact behindthe figures presentationof its 2011 financials,Akindele said, “Despitethe harsh operatinge n v i r o n m e n texperienced within theseperiods, we are able tomeet our promises andprojections because thecompany is well focusedand determined tosucceed in its operationsby initiating localproducts. So Courteville

Courteville has recorded consistent profit,dividends for 3 years — Akindele

From left: Chairman, Courteville Business Solutions Plc, Group Captain Salami Murtala Osuolale (Rtd);Executive Director, Market Operations and Technology of Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. AdeoluBajomo; and Group Managing Director, Courteville Business Solutions Plc, Mr. Adebola Akindele, atthe presentation of Courteville Business Solutions Facts Behind the Figures on Wednesday at the Exchangein Lagos.

BY PETER EGWUATU& CHINEDUIBEABUCHI

is currently deployed in18 States and in theRepublic of Sierra Leone.We also have 3rd Partymotor vehicle insurancemarketing and salesapplication and RemoteDocument verificationdevice currentlydeployed for FRSC,LASTMA and threeother StateGovernments as well asfor NIID.”

Furthermore, he saidthe company hasRemote Data Capturemobile application thatcan be deployed on asimple mobile phone.On the future outlook ofthe company, Akindelesaid the company williincrease concentrationon e-business solutions;expand into the African& Caribbean market; aswell as enhance itsexisting Egole e-commerce platform andcreation of universal.

The company, despitea 40 per cent growth inits turnover, recordedsignificant decline in itsoperating profit, profitbefore tax and profitafter tax for its 2011financial year.

It recorded a turnoverof N2.855 billion, risingfrom N2.042 billionrecorded in its 2010financial year.

Ojora attributed theincrease in its turnoverto the cashless economypolicy of the CBN, aswell as the reversal ofthe offsite ATM directive

Its operating profit,however, dipped by 67per cent to N369.275million, from N1.104billion in 2010; profitbefore tax stood atN369.681 million,dropping by 65 per centfrom N1.061 billionrecorded in 2010, whileprofit after tax dipped by73 per cent fromN721.586 millionrecorded in 2010 toN196.646 million in theyear under review.

Despite the decline inits profit, the companydeclared a dividend ofN345 million,representing a dividendper share of N3 for itsshareholders.

no alternative window,there will problem.

Secondly, if that thinghappens, people thatwant to raise moneycannot. So you are goingto have the problem ofilliquidity and problemof not being able to raisedevelopmental capitalfor the market; but ifthere are alternatives,you don’t need todepend on that. You cantake your shares to otherexchange to raise moneywith your shares,” headded.

He noted that effortsshould be concentratedin encouraging the localinvestors to patronizethe market rather thanpursuing the foreigninvestors, saying thatexit of over 80 per centforeign investors in2008 worsened theimpact of the globalcrises in the market.

His word, “the problemwe had was that themoment Nigeria hadproblem in 2008, thoseforeign investorsdumped their shares,made their money andran away.”

BY MICHAEL EBOH

CMYK

CMYK

Vanguard, FRIDAY , JUNE 1, 2012—23

BRIEF

Financial experts explain needfor CBN autonomy

FINANCIAL experts saidthat the autonomy of the

Central Bank is a critical to mac-roeconomic growth and stabil-ity.

“The formal autonomy of thecentral bank is a pre-requisitefor macroeconomic stability inNigeria., said Samir Gadio,Emerging Markets Strategist,Standard Bank London.

Commenting on-going effortsto amend the CBN Act, he said,“There is such a wide consen-sus on this concept both in Ni-geria and externally that onecan only wonder about the realmotivations behind the pro-posed bill to amend the CBNAct. If passed, the new legisla-tion would be a major setbackfor the reform process and pricestability…a setback of such mag-nitude that it is still unclearwhether the authors of the billgenuinely want it to be adopted.

Unlike the present Act whichmakes the CBN governor as thechairman of the board and theDeputy governors as boardmembers, the proposedamended CBN bill would pro-vide for the appointment of aChairman of the CBN Board (inreality a political appointee) andthe exclusion of CBN DeputyGovernors and Directors from theBoard.

Annualbudget

Also, the Board would includerepresentatives of the Ministryof Finance and the Accountant-General of the Federation. Fur-thermore, the bill seeks to divestthe Board of the power to con-sider and approve the annualbudget of the central bank.“Generally, we (RenCap) thinkall central banks across theworld, not just the CBN, shouldbe independent so that they arenot influenced in terms of policydirection,” said YvonneMhango , Vice President, Sub-Saharan Africa Economist, Re-naissance Capital (RenCap)

“You have the government thathas the treasury under theirmanagement and controls fiscalpolicy. Fiscal policy in Africa isa stronger policy tool than themonetary policy and the reasonis because monetary policy is ablunt instrument. This is be-cause the transmission mecha-nism between the financial mar-ket and the real economy is veryweak.

“So, the government has thefiscal policy and monetary policyshould be left for the CBN whichshould be independent. In Af-rica, I don’t see why thereshould be significant appetite tocontrol monetary policy.”

Vice Chairman and Chief Ex-

From left: Tosin Odukoya, Head of Investor Relations, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Hon. SamadOgunbo, Supervisor of Works, Eti-Osa East Local Council Development Area, Morin Adeyemi,Head of Corporate Social Investments, Stanbic IBTC Bank and Memudu Bakare, Chairman,Community Development Association (CDA), Ogombo Town, during the handing over ofborehole facility donated by staff of the bank to the community.

ecutive Officer, Ancoria Invest-ment and Securities Limited, Dr.Olusola Dada, also said that allover the world, central banks areindependent. Dada advised thatthe CBN Act should not beamended such that the apexbank will be reporting to theministry of finance, insisting thatthe Bank ought to report directly

to the Presidency.“In this era of globalisation, Ni-

geria cannot afford not to followthe global trend. A truly inde-pendent and autonomous CBNhas become more imperative forthe integration of our financialsystem with the world economyin general and the West Africansub region in particular.. “What

is required now is not to erodethe financial autonomy of theCBN but rather to build andstrengthen relationships thatwould enhance complementaryrole between the monetary andthe fiscal authorities, and ensureaccountability and transpar-ency,” he added.”

AfDB records 36% increase in loan, grantcommitments

THE African DevelopmentBank (AfDB) Group made

approvals of almost USD 8.5 bil-lion in 2011, which representeda 36-percent increase on 2010approvals which totaled ap-proximately USD 6.2 billion. Thefigures were revealed at a fi-nancial presentation of theAfDB’s results and operationsfor 2011 made on 30 May inArusha, Tanzania, where theinstitution is holding its meet-ings.

The largest area of operationsin financial terms was infra-structure, accounting for justover 38 percent of loans andgrants, followed by multisectorloans and grants which came toalmost 21 percent of the total.The multisector category coverspublic sector management, in-cluding good governance andanti-corruption programs, in-dustrial import facilitation andexport promotion.

Another large sector was fi-nance, accounting for just over19 percent of the total. The fi-nance operation includes fi-nancing to development bank-ing, commercial banking, non-

bank financial intermediation,reinsurance and microfinancefunds.Infrastructure is one ofthe four main pillars of theAfDB’s strategy for assisting thedevelopment of the African con-tinent.

The other three are investingin the private sector, educationand promoting good gover-nance. The Bank’s Treasurer,Pierre Van Peteghem, whomade the presentation, de-scribed some of the outcomes ofthe AfDB’s infrastructure invest-ments.

Boostingelectrification

He highlighted a USD 23-mil-lion Rural Electrification Projectin Guinea which is boostingelectrification from 3 percent toa target of 20 percent by 2015.Mr Van Peteghem went on topoint out that the USD 82 mil-lion Kazungula Bridge projectbetween Zambia and Botswanawill slash the border transit timefrom 30 hours to just six hourson completion in 2018.Between

2009 and 2011, he said, 12.5million people benefitted fromnew or improved access to wa-ter and sanitation. Almost 11million people enjoyed betteraccess to transport over thesame period. Those years sawthe construction, maintenanceor rehabilitation of 25,000 km ofroads and feeder roads.In thesame period, almost 15,000 kmof power transmission lineswere installed or rehabilitated,and 6.7 million people gainedaccess to electricity.On the pri-vate sector, Mr Van Peteghemsaid the AfDB’s operationswould make long-term positiveimpacts across Africa. The pri-vate sector accounted for 25projects approved by the AfDBin 2011, or 15 percent of Groupapprovals. Mr Van Peteghemsaid that over the next 20 to 30years those projects were ex-pected to raise USD 3.5 billionin taxes for governments in Af-rica. They were also expectedto create 86,600 permanent andtemporary jobs. Another out-come would be credit or busi-ness opportunities for 1,160women-led businesses.

Enterprise Bankupgradesinformation systems

AS part of its resolve to bethe preferred bank for

value creation, Enterprise Bankhas completely retooled andupgraded its Information Tech-nology (IT) system.

A statement from the bank atthe weekend said that the thrustof the systems upgrade is to im-prove service delivery andmake its customers exceedinglyhappy. It says: “we have up-graded our IT infrastructure togive us the necessary speedand flexibility to serve our cus-tomers faster and better.”

One of the key items in theretooling exercise is the re-placement of the former e-mailsystem with the more robustand resilient Microsoft Ex-change, which has significantlyimproved internal and externalcommunications as well as staffproductivity.

As a corollary to the improvedcommunication process, a creditrisk management system solu-tion, Enterprise CRIM, hasbeen developed and equally,successfully, implemented, en-suring an improvement of thecredit approval process’ turn-around-time.

There has also been a thor-ough revamp of the bank’s datacentre and an extension to con-form to industry standards aswell as provide the right envi-ronment to protect our IT in-vestments.

Stanbic IBTCemployeesdonate boreholeto community

RESIDENTS of Ogombo community in Eti-Osa Local

Council Development Area(LCDA), of Lagos State, nowhave access to potable water,courtesy of the Finance team ofStanbic IBTC Bank, who do-nated a borehole, water treat-ment plant and a 2,000 litre ca-pacity tank to the community.In addition to enhancing con-venience, the facility is ex-pected to reduce water-bornediseases in the riverine commu-nity. The staff volunteerismproject aligns with the Corpo-rate Social Investment policy ofthe Standard Bank Groupwhich aims to improve thewellbeing of people across dif-ferent communities. MorinAdeyemi, Manager, CorporateSocial Investment and TosinOdutayo, Head of Investor Re-lations, both of Stanbic IBTCBank, handed over the facilityto Mr. Samad Oseni Ogunbo,Honorable Supervisor for Worksand Housing, Eti-Osa East Lo-cal Council Development Areaand Mr. Memudu Bakare,Chairman, Community Devel-opment Association (CDA),Ogombo Town last week

Stories by BABAJIDEKOMOLAFE

24—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Fishing: Chinese gradually taking overNigerian waters

The Chief Executive Officerof Fiki Marine, a

subsidiary of Fiki BalInternationa , Mr. TaofikiBalogun, has berated the rateat which Chinese are comingto the Nigerian waters to fishat the expense of Nigerians,urging Nigerian governmentto explore its potential to thefullest for the benefit of theeconomy and its citizenry.

He said, “The Chinese arecoming to fish in the Nigeriansea and it’s unfortunate thatthey are coming all the wayfrom China to catch our fish.When you get out into theocean from the bar-beach areaabout six miles down, the

water becomes navy blue withbig shark inside.

“The fish catching boat arecommon in South Africa, I amtrying to introduce it toNigeria, and I have just threefishing boats, we also havepassenger boats that is takento the beach, all our boats arewell equipped, it has all thenavigation aids, the VHFradio, compass and all othersafety measures you can thinkof. We also ensure that all ourboats have more than oneengine incase one breakdown.”

He said customers whorented the fishing boats areprovided with the required

The Israeli Ambassador toNigeria, Mr Moshe Ram,

has commended the NigerGovernment’s efforts torevamp its agricultural sector.

Ram gave thecommendation in Minnarecently during thetransplanting of the firstseedlings under the IsraeliAgricultural HumanitarianProject.

“This approach to go back toagriculture is something thatthis country should adapt; Ithink that agriculture shouldtake its rightful place in thiscountry.”

He underscored the need togive the sector priorityattention and to train peopleto produce enough food andgenerate employment forpeople.

The envoy said that theyounger generation in thecountry needed tounderstand that oil and gaswould one day dry up.

“One day oil wells will dryup while agriculture willalways be a source oflivelihood to the people ofNigeria”.

•Cattle grazing in one of the FAMAG-JAL farms in Abuja.

B R I E F

Agriculture:Farmers need inputs now toavoid food crisis —Mafindi

ALHAJI Alhaji Tafida Mafindi, the owner of

FAMAG-JAL farms, has com-mended the Federal Govern-ment’s Growth EnhancementSupport Scheme (GESS) orthe e-wallet programme .

The large scale farmer in thecountry said as laudable as theprogram is that there is need topay attention to distribution offarm inputs to farmers this year.

In a move aimed at drivingthe transformation agenda, theagric ministry is focusing onensuring that farmers get theagricultural inputs necessary toincrease their productivity, prof-itability and move the poorestof our people out of the shack-les of poverty.

According to the Minister ofAgricultural and Rural Devel-opment, Akinwunmi Adesina,“Under the new fertilizer poli-cy, we have moved away fromflat price subsidy to targetedsupport – what we are callGrowth Enhancement Support– directly to reach 20 millionfarmers.”

The minister revealed that theGrowth Enhancement SupportScheme (GESS) is a policy andpragmatic shift within the ex-isting Fertilizer Market Stabi-lization Programme that placesthe resource constrained farmerat its center through theprovision of series of incentivesto encourage the critical actorsin the fertilizer value chain towork together to improve pro-ductivity, household food secu-rity and income of the farmer.

Commercialisingof agriculture

Speaking with Vanguard inhis modern abattoir in Abujaweekend, Mafindi said thegovernment policy should becommended as the private sec-tor will take the lead in agri-culture development in thecountry.

“When we say agriculture isgoing to be commercialized, itis no longer to be in concurrentlist where the three tier ofgovernment are into it, but theprivate sector will lead the wayas we are doing now, so thatwhatever is going into the ag-riculture unit will be accountedfor.

He added “if there is anysubsidy, it will go to the realuser of the subsidy, not a situa-tion where somebody is givencontract to supply fertilizer andhe ends up supplying rubbishand pocketing the bulk of themoney.

“Today, the fertilizers and oth-er farm inputs come through

the private sector and the dis-tribution will be done and thesubsidy will get to the realfarmers. Before now, the sub-sidy gets to 11% of farmerswhile the remaining 89% goesanywhere. All this is going tochange with the new policy.

Alhaji Mafindi said with thegood intention of the govern-ment, that a big mistake as beenmade for this year which needto be rectified on time to avertfood crisis in the country.

“We have made a mistake thisyear, because the handling wasnot done properly, we have toquickly call the attention ofwhoever is concern to look at itin such a way that agriculturecan be readjusted quickly, be-cause we expected rain to comein June /July, but the rain cameearly.

He said the fertilizers are notavailable for the farmers to usenow that the rain has come ear-ly just as other farm inputs likethe seeds and tractors are not

there, “so this year, though weare not praying for bad luck,but we may end up notproducing what we use to pro-duce.

“And if we don’t producewhat we use to, it means, theconsumer or the common manin Nigeria will for the first timeknow that the government hasnot taken care of them, becausebefore when agricultural prod-ucts come to the market, no-body cares what the govern-ment is doing or what they aredoing with oil revenue, becausethe common man is satisfiedwith the food he is getting.”

Mafindi explained thata visit to some farms

will show the enormity of theproblem at hand “if you go toten farms today, you will findthat about eight are not culti-vated up till now and you knowthat the nutrient we get comefrom the harmattan and sograsses have grown where you

are supposed to have maize,groundnuts and guinea cornsand we have no fertilizers tosupplement when the farmersare able to farm.”

He added “Today, there isnowhere you don’t have grassgrown to half a meter, we aresupposed to have crops and notgrass to that level. If you go toKatsina where the rain used tocome in July, it came in Apriland may, not that we are notinformed as the meteorologicalunit has informed since Decem-ber that there will be early rain,and they advised those incharge of agriculture and farm-ers to take note, but from lookof things they did not act.

He, therefore, appeal to thoseinvolved to mobilize whoeveris given the authority to pro-vide the farmers fertilizers, “sothat the farmers can get the fer-tilizer as we are talking and notwait till June or July as they areexpected to get it through e-wallet.”

personnel and equipment forthe fish catching tour, sayingthat the capacity of passengeron the dual station-equippedfishing boat is eightpassengers.

Speaking with journalistsrecently in Lagos, he disclosedthat his company has threefishing boats in stock whichare rented out for those whoare interested in catching fish,adding that the boat has adevice (High DefinitionSystem) underneath with amonitor that made it possibleto see the down of the seaclearly as against the orthodoxmethod of throwing net intothe water to catch fish.

KADUNA State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr

Ramalan Giwa during theweek said that the govern-ment would distribute65,000 tons of fertiliser tofarmers in the state.

Giwa,who disclosed this inKaduna, said thatthe fertiliser was procured atthe cost of N7.2 billion.

Giwa said that 14,800 tonsof the fertiliser worth N1.6 bil-lion would be distributed un-der the Federal Government’sGrowth EnhancementSupport Scheme (GESS) orthe e-wallet programme.

He added that the remain-ing 50,200 tons would be solddirectly to the farmers.

The commissioner recalledthat the state governmenthad also procured65,000 tons of the commodi-ties last year.

Already, Gov. Patrick Ya-kowa had launched the saleof the commodity for the 2012farming season at a ceremonyon Monday in Kaura LocalGovernment Area.

The governor assured farm-ers that the state had enoughfertiliser for sale to farmers andthat the price hadbeen subsidised by 50 per cent.

Fertiliser: KDSGdistributes 65,000tonnes to farmers

BABATUNDE JIMOH

with agency report

IsraeliAmbassadorcommendsNiger Govt

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012—25

Arc Thomas Chukwuemeka Awagu, President of the Chamber (middle) with ChiefSunbo Onitiri, Member Training & Programmes Committee (left) and Mr Ray Attey,Deputy Chairman Training & Programme Commiittee (right) at the press briefing bythe Nigerian British Chamber of Commerce on the “June 2012 Trade Mission to UK”in Lagos. Photo: Biodun Ogunleye

From right: Mr. Adeyemi Adeyinka, Managing Director, Intermarc Consulting Ltd; Mr. AbiodunAjadi, Credit Card Unit, Diamond Bank; Mrs. Funmi Fagbulu, Corporate Communications, Secure IDLtd and Omokehinde Ojomuyide, Country Manager, West Africa, Mastercard Worldwide at a pressconference in Lagos on Card, ATM and Mobile Expo 2012 coming up on June 12 - 14, 2012 at CivicCentre, Lagos. Photo: Lamidi Bamidele

Africa’s time has come — US

AFRICA has become thenext economic frontier,thanks to outstanding re-cent growth, new reformsand better governanceacross the continent, ac-cording to Assistant U.S.Trade Representative forAfrica Florizelle Liser.

"With the kinds of growthrates that we see, the re-forms that have taken placein many sub-Saharan Afri-can countries, the ... busi-ness reforms that theyhave made, the leadershipthat we're now seeing onthe continent and advanc-es in democracy [and]fewer conflicts, we recog-nize that Africa's time hascome," Liser said in testi-mony before the HouseForeign Affairs Subcom-mittee on Africa, GlobalHealth and Human Rights.

Liser said testimony thatcompanies around theworld looking to grow "ab-solutely must have an Africastrategy" for engagement.

At the heart of the U.S.government's work withAfrica, Liser said, is the Af-rican Growth and Oppor-tunity Act (AGOA).

"AGOA has defined our

trade relationship with thecontinent and been re-sponsible for expandingand diversifying Africanexports to the UnitedStates" since it was signedinto law by then-PresidentBill Clinton in May 2000,she said.

The pivotal economicdevelopment program,designed to promote U.S.trade and investment tieswith sub-Saharan Africa,provides trade preferencesto the 40 participatingAfrican countries throughthe removal of nearly alltariffs on goods exports. Italso breaks down othertrade and customs barriersin an overall effort to helpstimulate economicgrowth, encourageeconomic integration andhelp bring sub-SaharanAfrica into the global econ-omy.

AGOA has helped manyAfrican countries increaseand diversify their exports,bringing U.S. imports fromthe region to $74.2 billionin 2011, up 14 percentfrom the previous year.This growth was drivenlargely by increases in

exports of mineral fuels,precious metals andstones, vehicles and cocoaproducts.

U.S. exports to the re-gion have tripled from lessthan $7 billion in 2001 tomore than $21 billion in2011, according to the U.S.Department of Commerce.This growth was driven byincreases in exports ofmachinery, vehicles,mineral fuels, cereals andaircraft.

"Not only has AGOAbeen good for Africa, but ithas also been good for U.S.businesses," Liser said.Critical in supporting thiscontinued growth and di-versification, Liser said,will be AGOA. The 2012AGOA annual forum willbe held in WashingtonJune 14-15 and will focuson how to improve Africa'sinfrastructure to facilitateand increase trade and de-velopment. It will bringtogether more than 600participants, includingsenior U.S. and Africangovernment officials,members of the privatesector and civil society rep-resentatives.

MOST Africancountries have

come to recognise thecritical role that the privatesector can play to help thecontinent reach its full eco-nomic and social potential,according to the 2011 Afri-can Development Reportof the African Develop-ment Bank (AfDB)launched in Arusha.

Focused on private sec-tor as the engine of Afri-ca's economic develop-ment, the report examinesthe challenges facing thesector's development andhighlights ways to addressthese challenges, takingcountry differences into ac-count.

"After being hamstrungfor decades by difficultpolitical and economic con-ditions and burdensomegovernment policies, it isnow poised to become themain engine of growth forthe African continent," saysAfDB president, DonaldKaberuka. in the report.The report ends with a dis-cussion of the AfDB's rolein support of private sec-tor development in Africa.

The African Develop-ment Bank is committed toaddressing the constraintson private sector develop-ment.

"The private sector is alsoa provider of essentialgoods and services to thepublic, and a key source ofthe revenues that Africancountries need to meettheir development chal-lenges," he adds.

Having promoted devel-opment of the sector formore than 40 years, theAfDB has made privatesector development one ofthe four priorities of its Me-

Private sector key to Africa'sgrowth — 2012 African Dev Report

Africa urged to produce own fabrics

AFRICAN coun-tries were chal-

lenged to invest more inproduction of fabrics forsustainable growth of thelabour-intensive and ex-port oriented textile in-dustry.

"The cotton to clothingvalue chain is broken inindividual countries andAfrica as a whole," Profes-sor Dorothy McCormickof the University of Nai-robi told a seminar on"China and Africa: Win-Win Strategies of theClothing Trade.

Prof. McCormick said:"A gap exists between cot-

dium Term Strategy (MTS)for 2008-12, along with in-frastructure, governance,and higher education.

In order to generate agreater developmental im-pact, the AfDB is integrat-ing private sector develop-ment across all its opera-tions with threefold objec-tives.

According to the report,they are: supporting re-gional member countries inimproving business ena-bling environments, andstrengthening their interna-tional competitiveness;broadening participationand inclusion in the privatesector and supporting localenterprise development forspurring robust employ-ment creation and improv-ing social well-being; andencouraging the embed-ment of social and environ-mental responsibility,sustainability, and goodcorporate citizenship inprivate sector development.

Private sector

statistics

Though the private sec-tor helps reduce poverty, re-liable statistics on privatesector activities in Africancountries are scarce. Mostof the activities are infor-mal, carried out by micro,small and medium enter-prises.

Among its other findings,the report says laws andregulations critical for pri-vate sector developmentand corporate governancewere undermined by poormonitoring andenforcement. "DevelopingAfrica's infrastructure at thepace necessary to unleashits economic potential re-quires a concerted effort toimprove planning, prepa-

ration, and procurementcapacities in line ministriesand relevant sector units;mobilize financial resourc-es; and adopt a regionalapproach to infrastructuredevelopment," says thereport.

Africa's private sectoraccounted for more than 80percent of total production,two-thirds of totalinvestment, and three-fourths of total credit to theeconomy over the 1996-2008 period. It was also re-sponsible for 90 per centof formal and informal em-ployment.

Although the privatesector in African countriesfaces common challenges,the impact of theseconstraints variesaccording to the stage ofeconomic development.Fundamentally, the con-straints include insufficienttransport networks andlack of access to power andfinance.

ton production and clothmanufacturing becausevery few African countriescurrently undertake spin-ning, weaving, knittingand finishing of textilesat the standard necessaryto supply the clothing in-dustry."

She told participants ina seminar on the side-lines of the African De-velopment Bank (AfDB)Annual General Meet-ings at this tourist city ofArusha. Prof. McCormickcalled for appropriatepolicies that would en-courage the clothing in-dustry in Africa to up-

grade."African countries need-

ed policies which wouldmitigate the high costs ofdoing business, encour-age sharing of resourceswithin Africa and pro-mote investment and in-novation," she said. Shesaid a research conduct-ed by the African Cloth-ing and Footwear Re-search Network (ACFN)recently found that manyAfrican countries cloth-ing exporters have seentheir export decline overthe last decade, as Chi-na's clothing exports rose.

BY DANIEL GUMM

CMYK

26—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

FOR many, the fear oftravelling on water will

not allow them to have a feelof what Lagos looks like from the lagoon.

For some it is thecondition of the boats that plythe water that deters themfrom exploring the splendourLagos has to offer on water.

But Lagos has a lot to offertourists with a water masscovering 787 kilometres oflagoon and creeks out of theentire Lagos state”s 3577square So, with such asizeable portion of a city deepin water, it is just logical,especially for theadventurous, to explore theother side of Lagos.

STARTING POINT

Anchored at FikiBalogun Jetty on

Ozumba Mbadiwe were the newly commissioned sevenair-conditioned 35 passenger-capacity boat just brought intothe country by Mr. TaofikBalogun ( Fiki).

The white seats were stillcovered with polythenecovering to prevent them fromstaining, everything was neat. The elements decided to bemagnanimous. The near mid-day sun was graduallywarming up the atmosphere,but far from beinguncomfortable. The food was neatly packed with thedrinks inside a cooler. Onthis particular trip, Fikidecided to pilot the boathimself. For him, it was notwork. It was simply enjoyingsomething he has been doingall his life.

He said the company hadabout 27 boats in its fleets andintended to add more to it soas to facilitate tourismdevelopment in the country.

Speaking extensively on thecompany’s boating tour, “We

Cruise across Lagos water laneBY JIMOH BABATUNDE have our regular shuttles of

picnickers in Lagos to variousbeaches like Takwa Bay beachalso along the Badagry creek,there are several beacheswhich include Ilashe beach;Ibeshe beach; Ikare beach;Agaja beach all the way towhispering palms and theBadagry beach where theslave trade took place. Somepeople also go to Epe arealike Eleko beach,” he said.

ACTIVITIES

With the twin engine ofthe boats responding to

the touch of buttons from Balogun, the boat gentlyeased from the jetty as we movetowards the Civic Centre,Oriental Hotel and Tarzan Jettyon the Ozumba Mbadiwe sideof Victoria Island. The shoresof the Ikoyi Island of thelagoon ooze affluence-beautifulbuildings with private jettiesfacing the water.

With Balogun concentratingon piloting his boats, those ofus on board were amazed atthe way he maneuvered onwater as there is no milestones,no markers to indicate thedirection to take. There wereactivities on the waterways. Wepassed different sets offishermen engaged in fishing.There were also some ferryboats conveying passengers todifferent parts of Lagos.Occasionally, we had somesightings of exotic birdsprecarious perched on dry treestems on the water.

The ride afforded us theopportunity of seeing JuliusBerger workers working onthe bridge linking Lekki andIkoyi.

The Lekki-Ikoyi CableBridge is one of those iconicnew road projects beingembarked on by Lagos Stategovernment.

When completed, it will makehistory as one of the first majorcable powering bridges to bebuilt in West Africa It is

expected to be completed bythe end of this year, 2012.

The 1.4km long bridge witha cable stayed pylon of 90min the middle and a full spanapproach and departingbridge linking Admiralty Wayto Bourdillon Road willdefinitely be cynosure ofadmiration and will make thelist of iconic constructions inLagos State.

As we left the OzumbaMbadiwe lagoon area headingtowards the Five Cowrie creek,the boat picked up and in frontof us was the acclaimedmillionaires’ paradise in Lagos,the Banana Island.

From the water, we did notcome close enough toappreciate fully some of theacclaimed architecturalmasterpieces that are said tobe common in this affluentneigbourhood, but one thingI am sure of is that I did notsee any sign of bananas. Maybe they were all uprooted tomake way for buildings.

Passing the Five Cowriecreek, we made for the right,ease out in the more openlagoon. It was as if we wereon high sea. The water herewas more active, but nothingto raise one’s blood pressure.

The cool breeze hit us.Malik, the cultured youngson of Fiki graciously broughtout our lunch packs anddistributed them. The boatwas on a steady trot, gentlybopping on the water as wemoved. The food was tastier,it seems, within the rarifiedambience of the open.

After a few minutes, westarted seeing the ThirdMainland Bridge from afar. Wecrossed the three bridgeslinking up the mainland to theisland. The Ebutte Ero area ofthe water, most especially theunder the bridges, is aneyesore. Refuse is dumped intothe water, making the area anunpleasant sight. We cruisedto the Wharf area burstingwith activities.

Hard timesawait touts atPassportOffice inFestac

GETTING the Nigerian

green passport hadalways been difficult forbusiness and leisure travelersat the Nigeria ImmigrationService’s offices in Lagos.

But things are changing atthe Festac passport office asa visit to the office during theweek revealed that the placehas been sanitized as therewas no tout around to usherprospective passportapplicants.

The security measure put inplace by the PassportComptroller, ACIOnwuasigwe, has been ableto checkmate the activities oftouts in and around thepremises and those who poseas agents.

From the gate, the servicepolice officers are on hand toscreen those coming into thepremises with modernsecurity gadgets, while otherofficers are seen patrollingthe vicinity of the passportoffice to apprehend thoseloitering around.

Securitymeasure

This security measure in thepremises is to ensure thatonly those that havelegitimate business are seenthere while at the same time,educate applicants on thegrave danger of giving theirpersonal data to someonethey don’t know who can usesuch data for mischievouspurposes.

The areas which applicantsdo had complaints, thePassport Comptroller, haseffectively put a check to themenace.

For example, a passportapplicant is expected to havecompleted the first phase ofprocessing his/her applicationoutside the passport officepremises before coming forthe data capture.

This first phase includefilling of the application formsand making payment online,areas the touts would claimthey assist applicants for afee. There is also placednotices around the premiseswarning applicants not todeal with touts.

It was also discovered thatthe Passport Comptroller haszero tolerance for indisciplineand corruption and theofficers and men know this.Therefore, any operative thatis foolish enough to getinvolved in corrupt practiceshas himself/herself to blame.The Pco makes sure officerswear name tags on theiruniforms, so that the publiccan bring such connivancewith touts or hoodlums tomanagement’s notice.

•A ride on Lagos water

200 masquerades for newyam festival

OVER 200 masqueradesare expected to feature at

this year’s new yam festivalholding in Igbo ukwu inAguata Local GovernmentArea of Anamba state.

This was revealed by theIdu II of Igbo Ukwu, Igwe Dr.Martin Ezeh, during a visit tothe Nigerian Tourism Devel-opment Corporation in Abujarecently.

The monarch told the Direc-tor General of NTDC, Otun-ba Olusegun Runsewe, that aspecial talent hunt is alsoplanned to feature as part ofseveral activities lined up tocelebrate this year’s festival.

Speaking further the Idusaid, “We are here once moreto felicitate with one of our

own and father who made thetourism industry what it isand what it should be in thecountry.

Before now, people didn’tknow there is beauty in Ni-geria and this great beautywas hidden until the emer-gence of the God sent man inthe person of Otunba Oluse-gun Runsewe who came on amission to beautify Nigeria.”

Commending the NTDC in-itiative of bequeathing to IgboUkwu, a National Yam House,Igwe Martin Ezeh said, “Theonly National Yam House inthe country has been fullybuilt and operational for morethan 3 years running, all toyour vision and credit whomade it happen.

CMYK

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012—27

NLC house of intrigues•Rotates acting gen sec

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

,

,

THE intrigue in the Nigeria LabourCongress, NLC, that started ahead of

the March 1 to 3, 2011 National DelegatesConference, NDC, that culminated to theforced retirement of Comrade John Odahas the General Secretary, has remainedunabated.

The latest of the intrigues is the NationalAdministrative Council, NAC, decision tobe rotating the position of the Acting Gen-eral Secretary among the departmentalheads in NLC for six months each pend-ing the appointment of a substantive Gen-eral secretary.

Labour Vanguard gathered that conse-quently, the current Acting General Secre-tary, Comrade Owei Lakemfa, who hasbeen acting since the exit of Odah, willhand over to Comrade Chris Uyot, theHead of Information and Public Relationsunit on June 17. But because 17 is a Sun-day, the hand over is possibly taking placeon Monday, which is 18.Uyot is expected to act till December be-fore handing over to another departmen-tal head.

From Labour Vanguard investigations,there are about six of such departmentswith each headed by a senior AssistantGeneral Secretary.

Labour Vanguard gathered that the ro-tation system which is not new at Congressas it was done for about three months dur-ing the presidency of Comrade AdamsOshiomhole, will be in place pending theadvertisement and appointment of a sub-stantive General Secretary from either with-in or outside the NLC depending on theassessment of the performance of the se-nior Assistant General Secretaries.

Loomingimplosion

The decision to start rotating the posi-tion was informed by the desire to avert alooming implosion of the secretariat. It wasargued that the secretariat has become lessfunctional and more fictionalized than no-ticed before the last NDC. The factionswere not only plotting on how to outwithothers, but also working at cross purposes.

In the midst of all this, it was allegedthat the acting general secretariat insteadof being a rallying point for the secretariat,became very individualistic and took criti-cal unilateral decisions without recourseto the President or NAC.

Unilateral actionsThe Acting Secretary was among others,

alleged to have nominated himself as La-bour representative to the board of theNational Pension Commission, PenComwithout recourse to the NAC. Another ofsuch unilateral actions being cited was thestatement issued on May 13, 2012 accus-ing government of plans to break NLC andregister a perceived pro-government la-bour centre.

No matter the veracity or otherwise ofthe claim, it was alleged that the secretarydid not consult with the President or theNAC before issuing the statement.

The claim which though elicited govern-ment denial, prompted a reaction from theGroup of Industrial Unions, formed byaggrieved members of congress as a re-

sult of the fallout of the 2011 NDC.NLC in a statement by its President,

Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, after theNAC meeting while calling for unityamong its affiliates, said “theNLC reaffirms the unity and indivisibilityof the Congress and salutes the solidarityof all its affiliates in the face of the currentchallenges facing workers.Congress, regrettably noted the recentmedia statement credited to the General

some appointments in the congress.But the meeting had to be called off atthe last minute when it became obvi-ous that there were some counter andformidable plots to cause some remov-a l s .Labour Vanguard was informed that aday before the NAC, the Acting Gen-eral Secretary told the NAC membersthat he wanted to retire and it was gath-ered that members of NAC told him,

Unity schoolTeachers returnto NUT

IN a bid to belong to a strong body wherethey believe their interest will be better

protected, Unity School teachers in thecountry have returned to the NigerianUnion of Teachers, NUT. This came as NUTdenied having anything to with the Aca-demic Staff Union of Secondary Schools,ASSUS.

Coordinator of unity school teachers, MrEmeka Okonta said in Abuja that they hadto return to their professional body whichunderstood the needs of teachers, saying“We, the teachers in federal governmentcolleges have joined the NUT because weare professional teachers”He recalled that government made them tobelieve another union name (withheld),was the better for them, but that “we wereoften reminded when it gets to salary im-plementation and 13th month payment thatthey are indeed teachers and not civil ser-vants. ”They told us to register with Teach-ers Registration Council which we did butwhen it comes to teachers’ salary imple-mentation; we were told that we were civilservants and no longer teachers.When the federal government in 2010, ap-proved what upholds to all civil servantsand just when we thought our time hadcome, teachers in federal unity collegeswere not paid”

Again, when President GoodluckJonathan approved 13th months for teach-ers in 2011, and our colleagues in civil ser-vice were being paid N120,000 each butwhen it got to our turn, they paid teachersN5,000 each. It was at that point we decid-ed that enough is enough”

”We have come back to NUT and we willinform other of our colleagues that theyshould not be afraid to return to NUT. Wewill let them know that the Association ofSenior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN,is not a stakeholder in education therefore,there is no way ASCSN can fight theircourse. Let come back to where they trulybelong.”

NLC restatesopposition to hike inelectricity tariff

NIGERIA Labour Congress, NLC, hasunequivocallyreiterated its strong op-

position to the June 1, 2012 planned hikein electricity tariff, declaring that the pro-posed increase energy tariff without im-proved power supply is not only uncalledfor, but insensitive to the prevailing plightof workers and the Nigerian people.

NLC in a statement by its President, Com-rade Abdulwaheed Omar, yesterday calledon the Federal government to put on holdany future increase in electricity tariff untilall the issues raised against such move havebeen dealt with to avoid the wrath of Nige-rian masses. It will be recalled that Com-rade Omar had on Sunday issued a state-ment emanating from the National Admin-istrative Council, NAC, meeting of NLC,opposing the planned hike and threatenedindustrial unrest over it.

Sensing that the government appearedunrepentant over the increase in the midstof dwindling power supply nationwide,Comrade Omar, in yesterday’s statement,said the position of Nigerian Electricity Reg-ulatory Commission, NERC, that the sec-tor requires substantial increase in tariff forinvestment to be possible was not tenable,as well as assurance that the working poorand rural poor would not be adverselyaffected by the increase.

gress and join theCongress in thegreat indivisibletask of defence ofworkers’ rights.”

Plots, counterplots:

It was gatheredthat NAC meetingwas hurriedly heldin Abuja instead ofan earlier jointNAC and NationalExecutive Council,NEC, meetingscheduled for Loko-ja for May 21 and22, with a clandes-tine motive to forceconfirmation of

Congress noted that at notime was there a decision toengage any of the affiliate

unions of the NLC, includ-ing great unions like NASUand (NUHPSW) in unneces-

sary media exchanges

Abdulwaheed Omar, NLC President

that there was noproblem.

However, the fol-lowing day, Com-rade Lakemfa wassaid to have apolo-gized to NAC thathe was no longerretiring.

Efforts to speakwith Owei wereabortive as he wassaid to be out of thecountry.

For those who were at ComradeOlaitan Oyerinde’s burial at Ede, OsunState, they saw how the NLC Presi-dent was humiliated. It was allegedthat the humiliation suffered by Omarduring burial, when sachets of purewater were hurled at him by some stu-dents and was almost prevented fromdelivering his speech before the arriv-al of Edo State Governor, Comrade Ad-ams Oshiomhole, was instigated fromwithin the NLC with active connivanceby some entrenched interest in the civilsociety.

Before the hurl of the sachets of purewater, the NLC President and leadersof Trade Union Congress of Nigeria,TUC, were openly accused of betray-ing the Nigerian workers and massesin the January anti-fuel price hike pro-test.

Some have argued and perhaps,rightly too, that the NLC’s secretariatneeds complete overhauling and re-structuring to give the congress theneeded force to effectively service members and Nigerian masses.

There is a general consensus that con-gress as it stands today has performedbelow expectations in its primary re-sponsibilities of protecting and defend-ing workers’ rights in the midst of in-creasing unfair labour practices andrights denials by employers.

Secretary of the Non Academic Staff Unionof Educational and Related Associations,NASU, Comrade Peters Adeyemi, and thePresident of the National Union of Hotelsand Personal Services Workers, NUHPSW,Comrade Leke Success, purported to be areaction to a similar regrettable statementpurportedly issued by the Congress. Con-gress noted that at no time was there adecision to engage any of the affiliateunions of the NLC, including greatunions like NASU and (NUHPSW) in un-necessary media exchanges and war of at-trition over issues that are purely internaland clearly surmountable.”

As a democratic organisation, internal contestations are inevitable. In-

deed debates and divergent views are partof the great democratic heritage of theNLC. Therefore, recent discordant voicesof some unionists after the last Delegates’Conference of the NLC are not unusual. Ithas happened in the past and the NLChas emerged even stronger and better po-sitioned for the defence of workers’ rights.NLC therefore wishes to call all its affili-ates to service its unity through its timetested internal democratic structures. Congress notes that there is no dividedlabour family as all grievances are sur-mountable. Accordingly, NAC urges theleaders of the aggrieved unions in the in-terest of the Nigerian workers to utilise theconflict resolution mechanism in the Con-

TIT BITS

CMYK

28—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

It’s absurd to thinkI’m gay—Charly Boy

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1 , 2012—29

CMYK

INSIDE

IT was all fun and no dullmoment last Saturday in

Lagos, as actress GenevieveNnaji led her colleagues inthe industry to the weddingceremony of one of their own,Funke Akindele.

Funke tied the knot withher beau Kehinde AdeolaOloyede, at The Haven EventCentre, Ikeja GRA, amidpomp and pageantry.

Present at the event werethe big and the might inNollywood includingGenevieve Nnaji, Ini Edo,Sikiratu Sindodo, SusanPeters , Tiwa Savage,Desmond Elliot.

Others were ChiomaAkpotha, Eniola Badmus,Kaffy, Grace Amah, HalimaAbubakar, Mabel Makun,Opeyemi Ayeola,Peju Ogun-

mola, Toyin Afolayan (LolaIdijie), Kolade Odunlade,AY Makun , eLDee and Ju-lius Agwu. The list is end-less...

Funke’s wedding was in

Day Funke Akindelepainted Lagos redwith her beau

Continues on page 30

I leaveeverythingto GodEnebeli Elebuwa

MAVERICK musician,Charly Boy has been

blowing hot following thepublications last week by twonational newspapers,(notVanguard) which reportedthat he is a gay and a mem-ber of the illuminati, a secretcult.

Reacting to the publica-tions, which he said has cost-ed him ‘great hurt and dis-tress’, in a telephone inter-

view with WG, the area fathersaid “it’s absurd” for anyoneto think he’s a gay and amember of a cult all becausehe’s trying to be himself. Heis threatening to seek redressin court.

According to him, “‘I’m notconcerned about namecalling, but the way andmanner in which we applyprofessionalism in whateverwe are doing. If I’m gay, I willfight for the right of homosex-uals. I am not gay and I amnot part of any organisationcalled the illuminati in anyway, shape or form. I have

BY AMADI OGBONNA,ENTERTAINMENT

EDITOR & BENJAMINNJOKU

never had problems withwhatever the press writesabout him. But these publica-tions have gone beyond theboundaries.”

The eccentric entertainerhowever expressed dismay,following the embarrassmentthe negative reports may havebrought to his personality aswell as the accusation that heuses his wife only as a cam-ouflage for his illicit affairswith men like him.

For Christ sake, he contin-ues, “I’ve been married formany years. My wife and Ihave a good relationship with

our children and we even havegrand children. So, how couldanybody think such a thing aboutme!”

Also frowning at the accusationin respect of why he is fond of ap-plying make-up and lipstick onhis face like that of a woman, in-cluding the bling-blings all overhis face, nose, neck, fingers andbody, Charly Boy explained thatmake-up and blings have been anintegral part of the Charly Boy

brand, which he created abouttwenty years ago.”

“I don’t see anything new aboutmy make-up and jewelries. It’s beenlike that for the past twenty years!Everything is part of my publicitystunt!”

Concerning the inciting photo hetook with popular OAP, DenreleEdun, where they both kissed andcurdled each other closely, Charlysaid ‘it’s all part of my publicitystunt.’

BY OPEOLUWANIAKINTAYO

LG unleashesthe gamingpotentials in3D TV

Fox,Ojewuyi forSoyinka’slecture

•Charly Boy

Funke & her hubby

30—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Movie Schedule April 6th -8th 2012

Movie of the weekMy purported healing:

GENESIS DELUXE CINEMAS, LEKKI

Men in Black 3: 12:50pm, 3:00pm, 5:10pm, 7:20pm, 9:30pm, 11:40pm.Battleship: 12:00pm, 2:35pm, 5:10pm, 7:45pm, 10:20pm.American Reunion: 8:00pm.Arthur Christmas: 10:10am, 2:15pm.The Hunger Game: 6:30pm, 9:15pm. GENESIS DELUXE CINEMAS, PORT HARCOURT Men in Black 3: 10:00am, 2:30pm, 4:35pm, 6:40pm, 8:45pm.Battleship: 2:00pm, 7:30pm.Ghost Rider 2: 11:00pm.The Hunger Game: 6:10pm, 8:55pm, 11:40pm.The Vow: 5:20pm. GENESIS DELUXE CINEMAS, ENUGU Men in Black 3: 10:30am, 12:40pm, 2:50pm, 5:00pm, 7:10pm, 9:20pm.Battleship: 5:50pm, 8:20pm.The Vow: 3:30pm.The Hunger Game: 8:15pm. OZONE CINEMA, YABA

Men in black 3: 4:20pm, 6:30pm, 8:40pm.Battleship: 3:45pm, 6:25pm, 9:00pm.American Reunion: 10:35am, 12:25pm.Dr Seuss: 11:50am. SILVERBIRD CINEMAS, THE GALLERIA, LAGOS Men in Black 3 (3D): 11:00am, 5:50pm.Men in Black 3 (2D): 1:10pm, 3:50pm, 8:00pm, 10:20pm.Battleship: 1:30pm, 8:10pm, 10:10pm.Ghost Rider 2: 1:30pm, 8:10pm, 10:10pm.The Vow: 1:30pm, 8:00pm, 10:10pm. SILVERBIRD CINEMAS, SEC, ABUJA Men in Black 3: 12:40pm, 2:50pm, 5:00pm, 7:10pm, 9:20pm.Battleship: 11:20pm, 1:50pm, 4:20pm, 6:50pm, 9:30pm.The Vow: 12:20pm, 2:40pm, 4:50pm, 7:00pm, 9:05pm.American Reunion: 11:10am, 1:30pm, 3:50pm, 6:10pm, 8:50pm.Dr Seuss: The Lorax: 12:00pm, 2:00pm, 4:00pm, 6:00pm, 8:00pm. SILVERBIRD CINEMAS, CEDDI PLAZA, ABUJA Ghost Rider 2: 4:40pm, 8:50pm.The Hunger Games: 1:30pm, 4:10pm, 9:00pm.21 Jump Street: 12:30pm. SILVERBIRD CINEMAS, SHOWTIME, PORT HARCOURT Men in Black 3: 1:30pm, 3:50pm, 6:10pm, 8:30pm.Battleship: 12:20pm, 3:10pm, 5:50pm, 8:40pm.Ghost Rider 2: 1:50pm, 4:10pm, 6:20pm, 8:20pm.The Vow: 3:30pm, 9:00pm.Dr Seuss: 12:50am, 3:00pm, 5:00pm. SILVERBIRD CINEMAS, IBOM TROPICANA, UYO 21 Jump Street: 12:40pm, 2:55pm, 4:55pm, 6:55pm.The Vow: 12:20pm, 2:40pm, 4:50pm, 7:00pm.Seeking Justice: 12:30pm, 2:35pm, 4:40pm, 6:55pm.Machine Gun Preacher: 11:30am, 1:55pm, 4:20pm, 6:45pm.Man on a Ledge: 12:45pm, 2:45pm, 4:45pm, 6:50pm

Synopsis

TOBI, a movie by US-based Nigerian producer, Emmanuel Ijehpremiered at Ozone Cinema, Yaba, on May 18. Directed by Bethels

Agumuoh, the film features Chet Anekwe, Chisom Oz-Lee, Mark Williams,Jimmy Allen, Elizabeth Harness, and Ray Reynold. It explores theconsequences of the decision of 21-year old Akinola Tobi to join a gang.Played by sensational newcomer Mark Williams, Tobi is caught betweena father, Chet Bashari Anekwe, who’s love knows no bounds and asociety that doesn’t seem to have anything to offer. A l a s tminute decision is bound to determine whether he livesor dies. A heart wrenching drama that slowlyunfolds and takes you through a world ofunconditional love, betrayal, pride, and triumph.The film, shot in New York and New Jersey,boasts of a deployment of first class legal battleantics beautifully woven into the court roomscenes.In the words of the producer, “my dreamwas to bring the Nigerian movie industrycloser to its American counterpart,Hollywood.”

Tobi premieres in Nigerian box office

Day Funke Akindele painted Lagos red with her beau

three phases, privateNikkai ceremonyfollowed by a little whitewedding and thereception which had DjSpinall and the shugaband. Comedians likeAlibaba made the toastwhile Gbenga Adeyinkacompered the event.

When it was time forher to give vote of

thanks, Funk over-whelmed by the eupho-ria of the day muted;‘My darling colleaguesand friends, I thank youso much for coming out.You are single todayright? Believe in God,he will do it because I’ma testimony. I know mywedding is a big sur-prise to you all and Ithank God for this.” And

when the time came forher to throw her flowerbouquet, she said, “Iwon’t throw this, I willshare it.”

The next day she alsoshowed appreciation toher fans and friends viatwitter, ‘Morning myTwthrts!! Tnx a lot for dluvly wishes! God blessu all. Sulia Kan!Tweethrts Kan!!

Continues from page 29

PASTOR SignFireman of Perfect

Christianity Ministry, Su-rulere’s claim that he hashealed Enebeli Elebuwawas debunked during theweek as WG investigationrevealed that the ailing ac-tor is still lying critically illin an hospital in Abuja.

Last weekend, Sign Fire-man released a video onYoutube where he calimedthat he has healed the ail-ing veteran actor. But re-acting to the purportedhealing when contactedby WG, the actor said con-trary to the man of God’sclaim as showed in the vid-eo which he released onYoutube, his condition hasnot changed.

Though he admitted vis-iting the church as well asreceiving prayers fromFireman, Elebuwa insistedthat his conditions didn’t

I leave everything toGod —Enebeli Elebuwa

By BENJAMIN NJOKU

improve as claimed by thecontroversial pastor.

He said: “If he claimsthat he has healed me, Ileave everything to God. Iwas in his church and heprayed for me but my con-dition did not improve.” Inthe video released lastweek, Freeman claimedthat Enebeli was alreadyhealed and that in a mat-ter of days he would be fullyback on his feet.

The veteran actor is cur-rently receiving treatmentat the Abuja National Hos-pital. He needs the prayersand support of well-mean-ing Nigerians to get backto his feet again. Enebeliwas struck by stroke late lastyear. Enebeli has been sickfor more than a year nowand he has been takingfrom different hospitals inLagos and Abuja.

AHEAD of nextm o n t h ’ s

governorship election inEdo State, famous Abuja-based stand-upcomedian, RolandIgbadumhe popularlyknown as YoungestOldman has temporarilyrelocated to Benin, all inthe bid to assist instrengthening GovernorAdams Oshiomhole’scampaign train.WG gathered that the

notable comedian whowas named City People’sMost SuccessfulComedian in 2011, iscurrently seen in thestreets of Benin citycampaigning vigorouslyfor the ex-labour leader’sreturn to the GovernmentHouse.

The dreadlocks carryingc h u b b y - c h e e k e d

Youngest Oldman relocates to Benin for Oshiomhole

entertainer believesOshiomhole that remainsthe best and mostcredible leader to moveEdo State forward.

“As a true and proudson of Edo State that hasseen the good works ofour Governor in the lastfour years, I am ready toshout “Vote Adams AliuOshiomhole again” tothe whole world becausehe is a man of the people,our people should comeout and vote him andCAN, back to power.”

Continuing, thecomedian who has beenthrilling Edo indigenessince Oshiomhole’scampaign train startedgoing round the state,said, he had no regretscampaigning anddrumming support forthe incumbent, whom he

Top 5 films for the week1. Men in Black2. The Vow:3. American Reunion4. Battleship “5. GhostRider

equally described as Godsent to Edo people.

“My Governor ’s re-election is very passionateto me, which was why Iabandoned my very busyschedule in Abuja, to beon his campaign train andI have no re-gret what-soever.”

Pastor Fireman with Enebeli

CMYK

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012—31

,

,

Noise at Ogbe Stadium attracted meto football –Dudu-orumen

I encountered football veryearly in life then in Warri,where I stayed oppositeHussey College as a child.And in my teenage years, Istayed behind Ogbestadium in Benin City

Growing Up

GROWING up forme wasmemorable. I’m

from a polygamousfamily, my mother was amatron in a Generalhospital. She also hailsfrom a privileged familywhere her elder brotherand her young sistertrained as lawyers. So, Igot gripped with life tooearly. Yes, growing up ina polygamous settingreally thought me whatlife is all about.

I hail from Oke Ora inOwan Local GovernmentArea of Edo state . Butin reality, I’m more ofan indigene of DeltaState because my mothercame from Itsekiri. I’mthe first child of threechildren from mymother ’s side.But myfather had 16 childrenfrom his different wives.I happened to be thesecond child in thatorder. I have faced somany challenges in life.At a time, I battled andsurvived a cancerrelated ailment. I stillhave reasons to thankGod for sparing my lifeup till today.

As a child, I was ahandful. Whenever Iwas not around,everybody would feelm yabsence.Interestingly,I became fond of sportsearly in life. While

By KATE OBODO

Godwin Dudu-Orumen is a lawyer, journalist, marketerpromoter and a lover of sports. He has carved a niche forhimself in the world of sports promotion. In this interview,with Hi groove, he talks about lifestyle, how he met his wife

and many more.Excerpts:

growing up, I gotinvolved in playingfootball in the street.One important aspect ofmy childhood was thefact that I respected myparents and never gotinvolved in bizarreactivities. I wasrespected by people whowere older than me.Then, I did not cultivatethe habit of smoking anddrinking.

Romance with footballI encountered football

very early in life way backin Warri. During myearly years, I was livingbehind Ogbe stadium inBenin City. Obviously,the noise generated as aresult of the footballmatches frequentlyplayed in that stadiumattracted me to football.Later, I started going tothe stadium to watchfootball matches.Then, Iwatched one of the bestfootball teams in thecountry known asBendel Insurance.

I also watched the thenGreen Eagles when theycame to play in Benin.Later, I got interested inEuropean football too, asI subscribed to foreignmagazines thatprovided me with moreinformation aboutEuropean football. Soon,my interest in sports,especially footballbecame stronger.

Typical day for me

My typical day

begins by gettingto work at

7.30am, clear my deskand eat my meals at 12noon and I’m done forthe day.

Most times, I set myappointment between11.00am and 2.00pm . Ialso do everything

possible to avoid beingheld up in traffic.Afterattending to myappointments, I hit theroad to watch Europeanmatches for a minimumof 3-hours everyday.And of course, since myfamily is based abroad,I’m always at home; thismeans that I have to stayout of trouble.

Most times I hang outat my two sports bars inSurulere and VictoriaIsland with some friends.

I don’t do too much thingsoutside sports- thatdoesn’t mean I’m anintrovert. It’s just that Itend to watch what I do.

My kind of dressingI wear suits most often,

especially whenever Ihave meetings to attend.I also like T-shirts andties. But in the 1990s,

after my surgericaloperation, I was advisedon medical grounds notto wear ties anymore. Interms of native attires, Iwear Buba and Sokoto tosocial gatherings.

I’m not particularabout labels. I’ll ratherwear what makes mecomfortable but if it hasa label and it’s worth theprice, I won’t hesitate tobuy it.

Although I’m not tooexpensive in my dress

sense, but I could buy asuit worth 200, to 1000pounds. The cost is notan issue to me. Ofcourse, my shoes andwrist-watches could be abit expensive. I also weargood and qualityperfumes. My mood alsoaffects the way I dress. Idress as the occasiondemands but I wearmore of T-shirts andtrousers.

My kind of carI like big engine cars,

minimum of V6 and I’ma fast driver even at myage. Reason is that, Ilearnt to drive very earlyin life and I derive joy indriving. I also like to doroad journey a lot. If theroad is on a good stretch,I could go as fast as 200or 240 Kilometers perhour and within two andhalf hours, I’m in Benin.

Me and my Women

I have a lot of femaleadmirers’ right from

time. I actually grew-upamongst women. Mymother was Itsekiri andshe had a lot of sisters,this made me havemany aunties and I wasloved by them all.

Also, in my primaryand secondary school

days, I had a lot offemale students in myclass. Even in myUniversity days and alsoin the Law school, I hada lot of female friends.Coming to sports andentertainment, I have aso many femaleadmirers but nothingintimate.

Meeting my wife

My late Uncleformed my idea

of what a pretty ladywould be. So, when I sawmy wife at the Universityof Benin then, we wereboth freshers on campus.I knew she was going tobe my wife because of thebeauty she possessed.When we met, I told her Iliked her and we becamefriends.

Really, it was not loveat first sight. When I sawher, I liked her as a personespecially as she was verybeautiful. We dated for 10years after which we gotmarried. We now havetwo sons.

RelaxationI relax mainly by

watching sportsprogrammes. I also playscrabble- that’s one sportI enjoy most. It may alsosound funny, I relax bydriving and anybodywho knows me wouldtestify to the fact that Idrive extremely fast. Ialso exercise twice orthrice in a week.

Happiest and saddestmoments

I lost my younger sisterand my favourite unclebut my saddest momentwas when I lost mymother. Her deathpained me because wewere close to each other.Watching her die, was asif I was watching amovie.

She sang someglorious songs and beforeI could realise what washappening, she gaveupthe ghost . Myhappiest moment waswhen my first son wasborn.

My best meal andfruits

My best meal wouldalways remain white riceand stew or vegetable. Idon’t like swallowing eba,fufu or pounded yambecause my systemresponds to such food veryfast and I also put onweight very fast.

For fruits, I eat a littleof them, like pineapple,carrot and apple. I don’tlike orange because itruns my stomach.

•Dudu-orumen

CMYK

32—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

GROOVE Extra

IT was indeed an unforgettablenight of fun and excitement recently,

as the world’s number one French brandySt.Remy, hosted the first edition of itsmonthly party tagged St.Remy GbeduSlam Jam at Rita Lori Hotel, Surulere,Lagos.

The event which had a massivelyimpressive turnout on the night, startedby 10pm prompt and DJ Atte of Naija FM102.3 had the crowd rocking and partyinghard till the early hours of Saturdaymorning. Captivated would not be enoughto describe the audience on the night asone by one, a star-studded lineup featuringWe are Africans crooner, Skills of JJC,Phenom, Orezi, D’Pzle, Flowsick, amongothers thrilled them while the brand alsointroduced a fast-rising and hugelytalented diva named Kiss who also gavethe people a taste of her undeniableprowess on the mic. There was no dullmoment as two of Nigeria’s finest hype-men – Shody and Coded – duly assistedDJ Atte to ensure the atmosphereremained charged all through the night.

There was also heavy media presence

Skills, Phenom lights up inauguralSt.Remy Gbedu Slam Jam

in the house as crews from TRACE UrbanTV and Naija FM 102.7, who are theofficial media partners of the event – wereon hand to capture the excitement of theevent.

According to St.Remy Brand & MarketsManager, Antoine Couvreur, this month’sevent is just a tip of the iceberg as the brandis leaving no stone unturned in ensuringthat it rewards its loyal consumers who overthe years have stayed true to it.

A HIGHprofile lec-ture hasbeen in-cluded aspart of themain activ-ities mark-ing thisy e a r ’ sP r o j e c tWS78, thei n t e r n a -tional cul-tural ex-

change programme, in honour of its pa-tron, Professor Wole Soyinka, the NobleLaureate.

The lecture will be delivered byProfessor Robert Fox and entitled “FromTigritude to Transcendence: TheConscience and Conscientiousness ofWole Soyinka”. It will take place in Lon-don, Lagos and Akure, respectively.

The lecture is billed to attract scholars,students, writers, artisans, culture

Fox, Ojewuyi for Soyinka’s lecture

enthusiasts and other profession-als from business and public ser-vices.

It will be moderated by thecerebral Professor Segun Ojewuyiof Southern Illinois University,Carbondale, US, who alsodoubles as the co-executiveproducer of the laudableprogramme.

According to the organizers,Zmirage Multimedia Limited(Nigeria and UK), led by amiableAlhaji Teju Kareem andGlobalNewHaven (Nigeria andUSA), the lecture was conceivedas an academic injection into theWS78 international culturalexchange programme for 2012,tagged: The Mind of a Patriot.

They also submitted that theforthcoming landmark lecture hasadded further intellectual contentto the programme., which holdsin Nigerian from July 13through17, and July 28 to 29 inLondon, respectively.

POPULAR stand upcomedian and top pidgin

English radio presenter, who isalso the organizer of LaughGoes On comedy and musicalconcert, Akpobome Ogude,a.k.a Ogusbaba, is out with abang and this time, it is the un-veiling and launch of his newcomedy audio CD and DVD,O g u s b a b a .The humour merchant says theDVD is a collection of his worksand performances in theentertainment industry whichwill be a delight to his growingfans spread across the country,while the audio CD is his latesteffort at bringing joy toindividuals and families.

In a chat with WG, he said “Ihave painstakingly put theworks together to express myundying love and appreciationto all those who have spentmoney and time to watch me domy thing on different stages inthe country, and I put the worktogether for the benefit of thosemy fans that weren’t able toattend any of my shows- theycan sit in their living rooms andwatch me perform on theirscreens.”

The DVD and Audio tagged“Ogusbaba’ will be officiallylaunched in an event which willhave all the trappings ofglamour and bliss on the 29th

of June, at the Beniza hotel,

Ogusbaba out withnew comedy DVD

Asaba Delta State.The launch will be chaired by the Sena-

tor representing Delta North in the Na-tional Assembly, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa,and top dignitaries like his Excellency, theExecutive Governor of Delta State, Dr.Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan,theExecutive Governor of Enugu state DrSullivan Chime, The Deputy SenatePresident Sen. Ike Ikeweremadu .

THE Future Project, organizers ofthe prestigious Future Awards

and other capacity developingprojects for young individuals,officially launched its 7th season, onWednesday, May 29, at an exclusive,invite-only event, held at The CoralR e e f , L a g o s .The awards billed to come later inAugust and to be hosted by AMBOBox Office winner, O.C Ukeje andmedia personality, Shade Ladipo,promises to be an exciting melangeof music, fashion and comedy.Speaking on the forthcoming event,Chairman of the Awards CentralWorking Committee, Ohimai Atafosaid “Nothing excites us more thanthe experience of celebrating youngachievers in Nigeria and we knowthere are a lot of them. Comingtogether to celebrate outstandingyoung people in different sectors aswell as reward them with The Future

The Future Awards season 7 debuts

BY OPEOLUWANI AKINTAYO

L-R- Head of the award’s Central Working Committee, Ohimai Atafo, TaraFela Durotoye (Entrepreneur of the Year and Young Person of the Year),Uche Nnaji (Style Entrepreneur of the Year) and Tolu Ogunlesi (Journalistof the Year), may 28,2012

Awards has inspired greatnessamongst young Nigerians andpushed them further in achievingtheir set goals in life. We have nodoubt that this year’s edition will doeven more in unearthing andrewarding the potential of youngNigerians within and outside theshores of this great nation.”

With past winners such as ToyosiAdenrele, Funke Akindele, TufaceIdibia, Chimna Amanda and others,this year’s awards seek to reiteratethe project’s value propositionsthrough its ‘Aspire, Strive, Achieveand Tagline. With previous themessuch as the ‘Authentic Celebration’in 2010 and successful mediacampaigns in the past like ‘I amNigeria.’ And ‘I Represent Naija.’The theme for this year’s campaignis ‘Tearing Down the Walls.’ This, inessence urges young people topursue and achieve their dreams inspite of difficulties or challenges theymight face.

LAST Friday, May 25, theAdamasingba stadium in

Ibadan played host to StarTrek, Nigeria’s biggest rollingconcert tour. Given the splen-did performance displayed bythe featured artistes, the tourwill keep tongues of the con-cert visitors wagging formonths to come.

The thunderous ovation thatheralded Tuface Idibia as hemounted the Star Trek stagewas evidence of a crowdthirsty for songs from Niger-ia’s best musical act. He didnot disappoint. With the fullcomplement of a live band,Tuface dished out song aftersong from his repertoire ofpast albums.

2Face, Wande Coal, 9ice thrill audiences at Star Trek 2012

His stage-craft and mas-tery of lyricsensured thatthe crowd wasnot boredthroughouthis perform-ance whichlasted close toan hour. Someof the songswhich sentthe crowd ona wild frenzywere: Impli-cation, Free,For Instance, See Me As Your Brother, HolyPass and My Love is Here To Stay. Others in-cluded the classic, African Queen, Nfana Ibagaand the fast-paced Implication.

•Ogusbaba

•Phenom

•Soyinka

•2 Face on stage

CMYK

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JUNE 1 , 2012 — 33

CMYK

34 — Vanguard, FRIDAY , JUNE 1, 2012

A frenzy of hitching upand breaking up appears tohave hit the entertainmentindustry latel , but whose styleis best?

THERE were shock rippleslast year in Nollywood

and beyond when, wearing alacy, virginal white gown,Mercy Johnson walked downthe proverbial isle of one of themore upscale churches inLagos. It was difficult torecognize the keenexhibitionist with the body socurvaceous as to inspire poetryin male fans. “Lord haveMercy!”

The new generation actresslooked positively innocent, asthough butter couldn’t melt inher mouth. She did not seemto notice that a good many ofher colleagues had boycottedthe event. It did not matter,either, that some woman on theother side of the world wascrying blue murder , protestingviolently that the groom on theoccasion painted above wasstill married to her legally.Since the aggrieved was notpresent to protest the nuptialceremonies went on accordingto schedule and the duo waspronounced man and wife.

It is different strokes fordifferent folks, as the sayinggoes, and as gory details ofmarriages get in the publicspace more and more, so dodetails of separations. Onceupon a time, no entertainmentcouple would admit to a break

Celebrity Romance:

Speaking Out orKeeping Mum?

earstwhile wife Tony Paine.The two said little, giving nodetails and keeping virtuallymum as the public painted foritself whatever picture itwanted.

It was to be a different sortof style for celebrated

talking drum genius Ara, whojumped over the broom onlyto jump right back on thewrong side within a space oftime some might haveconsidered indecent. She gavethem scant opportunity to doso. She wasted no time incoming out and telling it all.It did not matter if it was onlyher own side of the story thatwas being heard, wheneveryone knows one side is

only half thestory. If thehusband- whomshe clearlyaccused ofviolence anddomestic abuse,did not deem itfit to denyallegations or atleast share hisown side to thesordid story, theformer wifecannot beaccused of beingdramatic, nor thepublic and thepress thought tobe one sided.

only for the drama and theindiscriminate romanticcarryings on. Her publicsregarded her with as muchpity as disgust when news hitthe newsvines last month of herintention to tie the knots withsome Moslem guy whoalready had one wife and who,according to popular opinion,has every right to practicepolygamy. Funke offers noexplanations to her teemingfans who generally think shecould have done better in herchoice of man. Her silencemight not be misconstrued, andmight be misconstrued forguilelessness as it has been fora long time for 2face Idibia,who is still so belovedregardless of his sloppyromantic dalliances.

At least she does not sound

as confusing as recentlydivorced Kate Henshaw who,like Ara, respected her fansenough to share the most recentalterations in her marital statuswith them, but ends upoverkilling the whole thing. Tomake matters worse, she bringsin the daughter of the unionwith her Englishman ex,actually going as far as sayingthe poor child is the mostimportant party in the wholething! Really?

And then there is Asa, whois in a class of her own, asusual. She it was who took amatter to court about someparties accusing her of carryingon romantically with hermanager who, by the way, is awoman. She has made nopublic denial .

up, let alone actually sharingthe details. Whatever got inthe public space was mostly amixture of fiction andconjecture, and mostly thefigment of the imagination ofthe gutter press. Take forinstance, the break upbetween singer Nice and his

PR detail, for having the goodsense of turning a bad affairinto rather positive publicity.

In the meantime, Jenifasuperstar Funke Akindele

appears to have morphed intothe character she created, if

,

,

Since the aggrieved was notpresent to protest the nuptialceremonies went onaccording to schedule and theduo was pronounced manand wife

78%The percentage of women

citing domestic violence asgrounds for divorce inIndonisia. A recent researchaimed towards helpingIndonesian women get betteraccess to basic governmentopportunities found thatwomen in this country bringtwice as many divorce cases tocourt than men.

1.4billionThe number of people- one-

quarter of the population of thedeveloping world—lived on

less than $1.25 a day in2005.The World Bank projectsthat the number of poor peoplewill increase in the comingyears due to slowingeconomic growth.

9%The rate at which

Bangladesh reduced povertybetween 2000 and 2005. Thiswas discovered in a recentreport which aimed tocontribute to reducingmalnutrition in Bangladeshthrough a betterunderstanding of gender-

nutrition linkages.

60%Of persons living with HIV

are women.

Statistics

3.1%The percentage by which the

the global maternal mortalityratio (MMR) reduced,

representing a decline from400 maternal deaths per 100000 live births in 1990 to 210in 2010 .

Mercy Johnson

If anything, thumbs upshould be given to Alex, her

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012 — 35

Like they have always said, there isonly one cure to growing old. Dyingyoung. Those who have accepted

this realize growing gracefully is the onlyway forward.

The best stylists all agree about this:there are two ways to look old and dated-dressing too old, and dressing too young.

Dressing too OldMaybe you were a hot young thing inyour day , so you got stuck in a time warpand you think bell bottoms, brown powderand Ray Barns will keep you foreveryoung. Big mistake. They make you lookdated, and as if you are trying too hardto look younger than you are.

Dressing too Young

You have something to prove- that youstill look as hot as any young thing,

and what better way to prove that than towear exactly what the teenagers arewearing any given season? For somereason, you still have to put on displayall your essential body parts,

The Rules

The rules of fashion are ever changing,but not so much that simple intuition

and discretion cannot help a woman keepup. The ideal situation is to have style,rather than fashion, in mind. In addition,the general rules are still the same.

20s

Test the waters. You’ll win some andlose some, but always remember to

maintain an open mind. This may be the

Age appropriateDressing

only chance you’ll ever have in life to pushyour luck — and get away with it.

30s

The twenty-something rules still apply.If your figure starts to head south,

maybe after you’ve had a couple of kids,wear blousier but not baggy silhouettes.With extra curves you don’t want to wearanything that is too tight or fabrics thatare too thin. Go for monochromaticseparates that will give you clean andclassic lines that can never be ruined. Youcan even wear these underneath flatteringpieces that have vertical detailing in termsof color, texture, and patterns.

40s

Those things you relied on wearing toget you through your every day life

have been taken for granted and need tobe energized. Pair down to the basics. Fitis paramount. Then add an element thatexpresses how you want to feel: A colorfulbag, a leopard print sweater, a decorativejacket, a stylish boot, a fabulous faux in-your-face piece of jewelry. by getting outof your comfort zone and experimentingwith new shapes and styles and colors.Move slowly, but with focus. Dress upyour favorite jeans with great shoes, apretty blouse and tailored jacket.

50S

Refined, tasteful choices are thefoundations of age-appropriate

dressing. Tailoring and structure are key,as are clean lines and fuss-free pieces ina simple palette.

From the days since theYorubas have denied that

giving Obasanjo thepresidency is just and propercompensation for the

Abiola deserves honour, but thecontroversy dishonours him

prevention of chief MKO Abiolafrom claiming the mandate heso gloriously won on June 12,1993, there has been talk abouthonouring the late Politician

and businessman for bringingdemocracy into theconsciousness of Nigeria.

Indeed he did, and not bydefault.

When Ibrahim Babangida,the dictator of old, openlyaspired to the presidency ofNigeria in the more recentpast, he was rightly accusedof attempting to reap where hehad so blatantly not sown. Ithad been expected, back in theday, that it would be businessas usual, and Abiola wouldshrug it all off as amisadventure. There wasevery likelihood that he wouldhave been handsomelycompensated, keeping inmind that he needed neithermoney nor fame. It was ashock to most people who hadknown MKO as an easygoing,happy-go-lucky fellow whenhe insisted that the votes of thepeople of Nigeria shouldcount, perhaps for once.

There is therefore nocontroversy about whetherAbiola attained hero status

legitimately, or whether hedeserves to be honoured.President Obasanjo waslambasted left right and centerfor doing nothing to honourMKO, and could not bebothered, while the latepresident Yaradua might havedone something had he beengiven enough time. Had heused his discretion properly,Goodluck Jonathan wouldhave been applauded widelyfor honouring Abiola on themost important of days_Democracy Day.

How could he go so wrong?Perhaps if it had studied thepersonality of Abiola wellenough, the presidency wouldnot have missed perhaps themost important essence of thepersonality of the latepresident elect: His great loveand sensitivity to people, bothgreat and small.

President Jonathan IBB MKO

Oluchi

36 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

,

,

ONE YEAR AFTER:

Rising debtprofile raisesfear, tension

AROUND this period seven years ago,Nigerians were in a joyful mood because formerPresident Olusegun Obasanjo had successfullyliquidated Nigeria’s estimated $30b external debt.This feat represented a watershed in the nation’smarch towards economic recovery and growth asObasanjo warned that “to prevent re-occurence,we must remain vigilant at community,local, state and federal levels of authority. Noamount is too small or too big to be protectedfrom being looted or wasted”. But while thenation is still relishing this freedom fromindebtedness, Nigeria is again back to thedebtors' club. CHARLES KUMOLU reports.

FGN Bonds 3,665,853,859,000 6 1.44NigerianTreasy Bills 1,947,185,098,000.00 3 2.63Treasury Bonds 353,730,500,000.00 5.93TOTAL 5,966,769,457,000.00 100

Nigerians: Faced with another round of debt payment

If we do not put a stop tothe culture of borrowing byplacing a ceiling to whatgovernment can borrow,we stand the risk ofaccumulating debts for ourchildren and futuregenerations

ALARMED Senators: Thevenue was the upper

chamber of the NationalAssembly, NASS. And the day’ssitting was specifically amongother things, for the inaugurationof the Senate Committee on Localand Foreign Debts. From thiscommittee that had barely spent24 hours as a group came abombshell. Raising the alarm wasthe Chairman of the Committee,Senator Ehigie Uzamere, whosaid Nigeria’s debt profile hadrisen to US$39.72 billion (aboutN6.02 trillion) with external debtput at US$5.398 billion whiledomestic debt was N5.21 trillion.

He said the debt profile was“more than the FederalGovernment’s yearly budget asits external component translatesto 2.76 percent of Gross DomesticProduct, GDP, and its domesticcomponent translates to 17.53percent of the GDP. "The amountis unsettling and calls forconcern. Do we have the capacityto repay this money consideringour yearly revenue profile?

Futurevalue

What is the future value of thetotal debt in 10 years time?Needless to say that proper DSAreveals a country’s susceptibilityto debt distress; the committeewill align its energy with theexecutive to review the country’sdebt policy and therefore,redefine its debt strategy,” he hadsubmitted.

Uzamere urged the FederalGovernment to focus onborrowing for projects with self-repaying capacity and jobgeneration rather thanborrowing to finance gaps inbudgets that are largelyrecurrent. He stressed the needfor government to embrace PublicPrivate Partnership, PPP, throughadequate legal framework for Ni-geria’s external debt.

This concern that was raised in

November 2011, practically setthe tone for the wave of mixedfeelings trailing the country’scurrent debt status. For instance,barely three months after theSenate brought the issue to thefore, the House ofRepresentatives on March 26,urged President GoodluckJonathan to, within 60 days,submit to the NASS Nigeria’sdebt ceiling in line with theprovisions of the FiscalResponsibility Act, 2007.

The lower chamber of theNational Assembly said pegging

the limit to whichgove rnmentcould borrowhad becomenecessary giventhe fact thatNigeria’s totaldebt portfoliohad risen to anall-time high ofN13 trillion. Theresolve todemand thesubmission of adebt ceiling came through amotion sponsored by theMinority Leader of the House,Femi Gbajabiamila (ACN/Lagos), and endorsed by a crosssection of the lawmakers.

In the lead debate,Gbajabiamila noted that since theAct came into effect about fiveyears ago, the President had notcomplied with the provisions ofSection 42, a situation which, hesaid, had led to arbitraryborrowing by both the federaland state governments.

“The overall intention of theFiscal Responsibility Act 2007 isto enable us live within ourmeans and only engage in pru-dent and responsible borrowingwhere necessary. The non-implementation of Section 42 ofthe Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007is capable of encouragingimprudence and recklessness ingovernment borrowings andimproper utilisation of borrowed

funds to the detriment of our eco-nomic growth. It is a provisiondesigned to instil fiscal disciplineand restrain government fromarbitrary borrowing and frivolousexpenditure. If we do not put astop to the culture of borrowingby placing a ceiling to whatgovernment can borrow, westand the risk of accumulatingdebts for our children and futuregenerations,” Gbajabiamila said.

Debt as at March 31, 2012Relatedly, an indication that the

country’s debt, appears to be on

an all time rise, was confirmedby Vanguard Features, VF,checks on the official website ofthe Debt Management Office.The figures as gathered showedthat the debt stood at $38.37bn(N5.97tn), while the externaldebt stood at $5.91bn ,N919.44bn,as at March 31, 2012. Theexternal debt owed to financialinstitutions accounted for 83.28per cent(see box for more details).

Accordingly, debt owed to theInternational Bank forReconstruction and Developmentis $6.31m, while the InternationalDevelopment Association is owed$4.29bn. The AfricanDevelopment Bank is owed$43.55m, while the AfricanDevelopment Fund is owed$387.23m. The InternationalFund for AgriculturalDevelopment, also a member ofthe World Bank group, is owed$70.25m.

Also, non-Paris Club debt

accounts for 8.26 percent ofNigeria’s external debt. TheEuropean Development Fund is$110.08m and the IslamicDevelopment Fund, stands at$14.56m. Bilateral loans stand at$433.84m, while commercialloans stand $54.63m. The$500m, the country borrowedfrom the International CapitalMarket in 2011, accounts for theremaining 8.26 per cent of theexternal debt. Details of thedomestic debts, on the otherhand, showed that FGN bondsaccounted for N3.67tn or 61.44per cent of the money borrowedby the Federal Government frominternal sources. Treasury Billsalso amounted to N1.95tn or32.63 per cent, while bondsaccount for N353.73m or 5.93 percent.(see box for more details).

Obasanjo’sintervention

Given that this is coming barelysix years after Obasanjo secureda debt relief of $30 billion fromthe Paris Club, VF findings haveshown that there are worries inboth government and privatesectors that the country isheading back to the debtors club.

Why Nigeria would alwaysborrow: Those, who are scaredabout the situation are quick tolament that the country is aboutblowing the gains achieved byformer president Obasanjothrough the 2005/2006 debt buyback deal. “The debt profilewould rise when we areimporting and not a producingeconomy; all the things that weimport, we can produce them

DEBT MANAGEMENT OFFICE, ABUJA DOMESTIC DEBTSTOCK BY INSTRUMENTS AS AT MARCH 31ST, 2012

INSTRUMENT AMOUNT %

Continues on page 37

here in Nigeria, but governmentdoes not consider making thatpossibility a priority. The truth ofthe matter is that the environmentof this country must be madeconducive for the economy togrow so as to discourage recklessborrowing by the government,"Executive Director of Social andEconomic Rights and Account-ability Project ,SERAP, Mr.Adetokunbo Mummuni told thisreporter.

Obasanjo, it would be recalled,inherited over $30 billion externaldebt from his predecessors. Withthe situation constituting a hiccupto his then proposed socio-economic policies, Obsanjoembarked on the process ofliquidating the debts.Consequently, with theassistance of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in 2005, Nigeria paid thesum of $12 billion to buy back $18billion Paris Club debt. Thisprepared the ground for thecountry to completely pay off itsdebt by April 2006 and made herthe first African country to fullydo so. This exit from debt trapwas celebrated both nationallyand internationally.

Following this feat, an elatedPresident Obasanjo told thenation in a national broadcast onJune 30, 2006 that, “there isnothing like freedom from debtand the image that the debt reliefand exit from Paris Club debt giveto Nigeria’’, stressing that ‘’ thedebt relief has brought benefitsto Nigerians and that it first rep-resents a direct saving on debt-service repayment, interest, sur-charges and other fees. It also im-

CMYK

DEBT MANAGEMENT OFFICENigeria’s External Debt Stock as at 31st March, 2012

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012— 37

Continues from page 36

•Nguema

Category Principal Principal Total Percentage Total Balance Interest InterestMULTILATERAL World Bank Group

IBRD 6.31 0.00 0 6.31

IDA 4,291.93 0.00 0.00 4,292.93

IFAD 70.25 0.00 0.00 70.25

African De-velopmentBank Group

ADB 4 3.553 0 0 43.55

ADF 387.28 0.00 0.00 387.28

EDF 110.06 0.00 0.00 110.06

IDB 14.56 0.00 0.00 14.56

SUB-TOTAL 4,923.93 4,923.93 83.28%NON-PARIS BILATERAL

0.00 00.00 43.55387.28

EDF 110.06 0.00 0.00

110.06

IDB 14.56 0.00 0.00 14.56

SUB-TOTAL 4,923.93 4,923.93NON -PARISBILATERAL

433.84 0.00 0.00 0

COMMERCIAL54.63 0.00 0.00 0.00

SUB TOTAL 488.47 488.47 0.00 0.00

ICM 500.00 0.00 0.00 8.46%

GRAND TOTAL5,912.40 0.00 0.000.00 100.00%

Rising debt profile raises fear, tension

proves the country’s worthinessin the global community andbuilds credible financialconfidence for transactions. Moreinvestment would start to flowinto Nigeria knowing we are nomore classified as a bad anddoubtful debt country. The debtrelief is expected to create jobsand new wealth with newinvestments, which wouldtranslate into improved standardof living.”

But the prevailing hue and cryover the latest fate of the nation’sdebt status has revealed that thecountry’s economic future wouldbe doomed if the debt profilecontinues to grow at this rate.Speaking on the matter, anEconomist and a Member ofManufacturers Association ofNigeria, MAN, Chief ModestusOgbonnaya said: “Those in theposition of authority shouldrealise that monumental debtprofile is a signal to the financialinternational community thatNigeria is an investor’s night-mare. Though most economiesrequire public debt as one of theinstruments of public expendi-ture, that does not mean that weshould encourage increasing ourdebt profile without good rea-sons. It leads to a decline in thecountry’s external assets and theproductive capacity of thenational economy. It is evidentthat the mounting debt is anational yoke and a burden togenerations of Nigerians yetunborn”.

Permissionto borrow

He however added that: “I amnot saying it is wrong to borrow.Yes, an economy can borrow forthe purpose of economic growth.We are all aware of the way andmanner the US congresshandled the issue of borrowingrecently in the United States andit eventually gave PresidentObama the permission to borrowwithin a specified limit; soborrowing to grow the economyis not wrong." But the a formerpresidential candidate of Confer-ence of Nigeria Political Parties,CNPP, Dr. Olopade Agoro arguesdifferently as he sees everythingwrong in borrowing.

Nigeria now a bankruptnation: For Agoro, if an economyis performing at its peak, therewould not be any need to seekfinancial aid from multilateral fi-nancial institutions. “Nigeria isnow a bankrupt nation, all thesepeople in and outsidegovernment have beensabotaging the economy throughbunkering and corruption. Whywould they not go borrowing.Nobody has been able to tell uswhat Nigeria is worth now. Themoney saved in excess crude byObasanjo, which was $62 billionwhen he was leaving office hasdeflated to nothing. That is why

they are playing on the intelli-gence of Nigerians that they wantto create a Sovereign WealthFund with N1 billion. How doyou replace $62 billion with $1billion? Nigeria's foreign reserveas at the time Obasanjo was leav-ing office was over N400billion,but it was depleted to about N200billion,’’ he noted.

In addition, Agoro said: ‘’It issad that the country is now adebtor nation and it is borrowingmoney recklessly. Dr NgoziOkonjo-Iweala is fooling thenation when the country is in theinternational financial market toborrow money. The moneyaccuruable from crude oil saleshas consistently been misman-aged by those in authorities".

Still expressing sadness aboutthe matter, Agoro added that ‘’go-ing back to the foreign nations toborrow, amounts to mortgagingthe future of our children.Nobody can even say how muchwe are owing local contractors.As at last month, it was hoveringbetween one hundred and fiftybillion naira. Unfortunately forthe nation, we are suffering capi-tal flight. Rather than investingin Nigeria, people are goingoutside the shores of Nigeria toinvest. Most investors in Nigeriaare Indians and Chinese. NoAmerican or British is ready toseriously invest in Nigeria. Wedon't know how much we areearning and saving. What isneeded is for President Goodluck

Jonathan to open up and speakto the nation about the rising debtprofile; this should be taken as amatter of urgency becauseObasanjo addressed the nationwhen he cleared the debt heinherited.

"The truth is that governmenthas not been able to comeforward with what is happeningto the economy. Even the CentralBank Governor is deemed not tohave been forthcoming in this re-gard. Why do they always bor-row when we generate fundsfrom sale of petroleum products”.

The concerns raised by Agoro,especially the question on whypast and present governments atall levels, usually seek financialaid, was also amplified byMumuni.

"The question to ask is: Whatare we borrowing for? Theyshould tell us what they are usingthe money they are borrowingfrom international organsiationsfor. Why would they borrow andthere is nothing on ground tojustify the borrowing. It is not thata country cannot borrow but forwhose interest are they doingafter?’’ he queried.

Not done with his damningverdict on the state of Nigeria’seconomy, the SERAC boss said,“we have abundant petroleumresources yet we are stillexporting fuel, the country alsohas abundance of coal deposits,but electricity generation is a

problem to us. This is a countrythat has professionals in everyfield, yet those who are ingovernment do not provide theenabling environment for themto realise their dreams, and thesituation has led to brain-drain.There is no country in the worldwhere you will not find Nigerianprofessionals. They are contrib-uting meaningfully to theeconomic development of thesecountries. The reason why we willalways find ourselves borrowingis because of those that rule thiscountry. They steal so muchmoney from the state. They mis-manage so much; some of themget these loans and convert themto personal and questionableuses.”

Least indebted countries:Regardless of this growingoutrage, the Federal Governmenthad come out to defend Nigeria’sdebt status, noting that thecountry was also doing well interms of its debt to GrossDomestic Product, GDP, ratio,now at 17 per cent. It said thatNigeria presently has $5.6 billionexternal debt, but warned that thecountry should not go beyond the25-30 per cent sealing it had setfor itself. “Our domestic debt isabout 15 per cent of the GDP. Weneed to watch it so that we do

‘’It is common practice even inthe most advanced economies inthe world to borrow funds tosupplement the income theygenerate for developmentprojects. That Nigeria is foundworthy of such credit facilitiesshows the improved credit ratingof the country that was non-existent only a few years ago,’’Metuh said in his defense, whichhas been generally describedexpected of a PDP member.

Meanwhile, attempts weremade by VF to know at what pointNigeria started borrowing withreckless abandon. Accordingly,inquiries showed that the coun-try’s debts date back to the early1980s, and had ballooned tomore than $35bn due to penaltiesand late fees during the 1990s.

A report by the DBO titled:NIGERIA’S DEBT RELIEFDEALWITH THE PARIS CLUBrevealed that: ‘’Nigeria’s firstloan from the Paris Club ofCreditor Nations was a US$13.1million loan taken from theItalian government in 1964 forthe building of the Niger Dam.From thattime till the end of thedecade, Nigeria’s borrowingfrom foreign lenders wasgenerally insignificant.

‘’However the oil boom of 1971-1981 introduced the era of big,

,

Dr. Okonjo-sIwealaObasanjo Jonathan

not overdo things and have aborrowing that is above what wecan sustain. We need to bringdown the over N5 trillion we havein domestic debt so that what weuse in the budget to pay our debtdo not escalate. Our foreignborrowing is about two per cent.The bulk of the external debt isconcessionary,’’Minister ofFinance, Dr. Okonjo-Iwealastated recently.

Also defending the FederalGovernment, was the NationalPublicity Secretary of PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP, ChiefOlisa Metuh, who said Nigeriais still one of the least indebtedcountries among comparativegrowing economies with a debt/GDP ratio of 17.45% as at2011compared with countriessuch as Indonesia at 24.5%,South Africa at 35.6 per cent andGhana at 38.7 per cent.

borrowing in Nigeria. Loanswere acquired by various tiers ofgovernment as Nigeria em-barked on major developmentand reconstruction projects in thewake of the civil war. Theborrowing continued well into thecivilian era, as the Federal Gov-ernment embarked on theguaranteeing of many unviableloans taken by private banks,state governments andparastatals’’.

Continuing, the report said: ‘’In1982, when oil prices crashed,Nigeria was unable to pay off theloans it borrowed. Interestpayments spiked, penalties rose,the crisis had begun. This patterncontinued well into the militaryregimes of 1985-1993 and 1993-1998, when Nigeria stoppedpaying its debts to the Paris Clubaltogether, after the Paris Clubrefused to substantially reduceNigeria’s debt.

In 1982, when oil prices crashed,Nigeria was unable to pay off theloans it borrowed; Interest pay-ments spiked, penalties rose, thecrisis had begun

CMYK

38—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

BY ISHOLA BALOGUN

email: isholaism@yahoo.co.ukTel: 08098097290

Every little ibaadah counts

•From right: Adesokan Kabir, Chairman Orgnising C'ttee, NAPPS;Ibrahim Aderemi, MD, Echoes Resources; Erinfolami E.A. V/ChairmanNAPPS Offin Ward; Ajayi Femi, Project Mgr, Echoes Resources andAfewolara Paul, PRO NAPPS Offin Ward during a funfare organised byEchoes Resources to mark the Children day recently.

,

,

Bismillahi Rahamani Raheem.Wasalatu wasalam ala seyidinaMuhammad, wa ala alihi, waashabihi, wasselim.

RAJAB as the seventh monthin the Islamic lunar calendar

reminds us of the preparation ofRamadan. In less than five weeksfrom now, preparation would havereached high levels by Muslimsindividuals for the glorious month.This month, also as one of the sacredmonths (Al-Ashhur-al-hurum) itbrings to mind why we need to stepup our good deeds, never to wrongone another and draw closer toAllah. This month specifically hassome historical events in Islamwhich jogs one’s memory on theNight Journey and Ascension, theBattle of Tabuk, and the liberation ofAl-Aqsa Mosque from the crusadersat the hands of Salah Ad-Din Al-Ayubi (AH 538). All these happenedin the month of Rajab.

Essentially, what comes to mindof many Muslims is fasting in themonth of Rajab. Apart from the themonth of Ramadan where we arecommanded to fast 29 or 30 days,no other month in the IslamicCalendar has that honour. But muchas fasting in itself is a form of ibaadah,we are not dissuaded from fastingin the month. There is no hard andfast rule on it. The fastingprescription on other months otherthan Ramadan could apply inRajab, one could decide to go furthersince it is supererogatory. Fastingas prescribed in Rajab is the sameas that prescribed in other months-

namely fasting on Mondays andThursdays, and the three days ofal-Beed, fasting alternate days orfasting at the beginning, middleand end of the month, etc. Thereare scholars and ulamas who alsodeclare the whole month for fasting.

The late Sheikh Imam Sheez inAjegunle who was buried ten yearsago was recently found to be fresh;his body intact when his body wasexhumed late last year. He wasknown to be fasting most days ofhis life. Do not listen to anyone whosays there is no need for fasting in

the month of Rajab. Every little actof ibadah to Almighty Allah will beto your credit. Besides, no oneknows exactly the last thing we willdo to get the favour of Allah. Let mebring to you the story of a thiefduring the time of Prophet

Muhammad. (s.a.w): In the time ofthe Prophet (s) there lived anotorious thief. He used to rob anddisposes people of their valuablesat nights. Sometimes, he maimedand killed in the process. He becameelusive and the Prophet (s.a.w) usedto curse him for inflicting pain onpeople. The thief died one day and

the prophet said he would not prayfor his soul or bury his remains inthe Muslims cemetery.

Because the Prophet (s.a.w) usedto curse him, the children draggedhis body through the streets ofMadinah and threw him into a drywell. Immediately, God spoke to theProphet (s.a.w) and said, ‘O mybeloved Prophet, today one of mybeloved has passed away. You mustgo and wash him, clean him, coverhim, pray for him and bury him.’The Prophet (s.a.w) was astonishedbecause all the man’s life he hadinflicted pain on others. Now, thathe had passed away, God told himthat he was a saint. How could hebe a saint? But no one can interferewith God’s knowledge, not even theProphet (s). If Allah wants to save athief from hell, no one can questionHis authority. As Muslims, we don’thave to write people off based on whatwe think he is doing. You do not knowif God is going to raise that personabove you for what you know not.

Leave everyone to his or her Lord.

The Prophet (s.a.w) wascommanded to purify him and buryhim accordingly. He did and theman was buried in Baqi cemetery,a distance of fifteen minutes’ walkfrom Madinah. Waman tashaunaa, illa anya sha’Allahu Robu-alameean. Who can do anythingexcept what Allah desires, the Lordof the world.

The Prophet (s.a.w) with Abu Bakras_Siddiq (a.s) went to the house ofthat burglar to meet the daughterjust to find out what good deed heused to do. The daughter said tothem: “He robbed and stole day andnight, except for one month duringthe year. When that month came,he would say, ‘This is the month ofGod,’ because he heard you say,‘Rajab is the month of God, Shabanis the month of the Prophet andRamadan is the month of theCommunity.’ So he said, ... I amgoing to sit in my room and performseclusion during this month.’ Thatis why some people used the monthto perform Umurah, while someengage in fasting. Every little ibadahcounts.

With every little practice, you canprogress spiritually and very quicklytoo. You will arrive much faster toDivine presence on a rocket and notby riding a donkey.

As one of the Ashhur-al-hurum(sacred months), our prayers just asthe prophet said at the begining ofevery Rajab, we should endeavourto say: “O Allah, make the monthsof Rajab and Sha’ban blessings forus, and prolong our lives up toRamadan, so that we may benefitfrom its merits and blessings.” Amin.

THE chairman ofNational Association of

Proprietors of Private Schools,NAPPS, Offin Ward,Evangelist Johnson BolaAdelaja has enjoined leaders,parents and youths to shunacts that could bring shame tothe country. The cleric whomade the call against thebackdrop of the spate ofviolence attacks in some partsof the country said “whateveran individual cannot do to hisown family should not be doneto others or the country.” Hesaid this at a funfare organisedby Echoes Resources to mark

Shun illicit acts, Adelajaadvises youths, leaders

this year’s children’s Day inOffin community, Ikorodu,Lagos recently.

“We have the responsibilityto develop our country byourselves, we should not doanything Whatever anybodyis doing, that will not bringglory to the country, state orcommunity, it is not worthdoing at all.”

He stated that the Muslimsand the Christians are oneadding that the religions in thecountry have derailed fromthe path of God and onlyprayer will bring desiredsolution. “We have already

disobeyed God and onlyprayer can move us out of thisdoldrums. God wants us toreturn to Him,” he said.

Speaking on the issue,the vice chairman of theassociation in thecommunity, Erinfolami E.charged leaders to provideenabling environment forthe the younger ones todevelop and realise theirpotentials. He stated:“They are our leaders oftomorrow, if we developedthem, we are not onlydeveloping our future, butthey will also be able todevelope their youngerones and that means thefuture of our unborngeneration is assured,” hesaid.

THE Movement forIslamic Culture and

Awareness (MICA) hascalled for urgent re-orientation of the citizenryas a way of promotingpeace and stability in thecountry.

The Coordinator ofMICA Abuja chapter,Alhaji Abdulbasit Bakaremade the call on Sundayin Abuja at the launchingof a N250 million IslamicCentre project.

He said the neworientation was necessaryin view of the securitychallenges as well asunpatriotic tendencies ofboth leaders and followersin the country.

Bakare said that theproposed Islamic centrewould be a “One StopIslamic Centre” meant toensure Islamic culturalawareness, re-orientationand nationaldevelopment.

He decried the lack ofpeace, unity and religioustolerance, saying theCentre would go a long wayin providing a platform forsolving some of the vicesin the country.

The coordinator said

MICA launches N250m Islamic

Centre

With every little practice, you canprogress spiritually and veryquickly too. You will arrive muchfaster to Divine presence on arocket and not by riding a donkey

UNIFEMGA doles out N7.7m scholarshipsto 152 OAU students

THE Obafemi AwolowoUniversity Muslim

Graduates Association(UNIFEMGA) has given atotal of N7.741 million worthof scholarship to 152 studentsof Obafemi AwolowoUniversity, OAU, ile- ife,Osun state.

The outgoing president ofthe Association, Alhaji AhmedPopoola said this in ile-Ifewhile handing over thecheques of the award to theDean of Students Affairs DrLateefah Durosinmi duringthe annual national reunionconference of UNIFEMGA.

Popoola said that in the lastthree years, the associationhas succeeded in givingfinancial support to 152students because of theiracademic performance andbehaviour.

He said 53 of the figuresbenefitted from the 2012scholarship scheme with Postgraduate and physicallychallenged students inclusivewith a total sum of N2, 955million. “I wish tocongratulate this year’sscholars and hope that thesegestures will them to cushiontheir financial needs and spurthem to focus on their studies”he said.

Popoola said some of thestudents did very well in theirstudies with CGPA rangingfrom 4.28 to 4.90 with theleast collecting N50, 000 and

highest N75, 000. He saidthe Association was equallygrateful to the Institution for

giving it a parcel of landwhere a 96-room femalehostel was being constructedfor the students to easeaccommodation problem.

that the Centre, which isunique in Nigeria, wouldcater for spiritual, social,economic and politicalwell being of Muslims aswell as their healthy livingthrough provision offitness centre.

He called on other faith-based organisations, andCivil Society Organisationsto join MICA in evolving avirile and peaceful society.

In his lecture entitled: “ALegacy Beyond Measure”,Malam AbdulfattahAdeyemi, urged Muslimson the need to strive forrighteousness and creategood legacies for theyouths.

He said the IslamicCentre was a good legacythat would go a long wayin building the nation.

Adeyemi said the Centrewould avail Muslims andthe family an avenue tointeract, pray and engagein capacity building.

The proposed multi-purpose Islamic centre islocated in FHA Lugbe,Abuja and will have ajumat Mosque,Educational Library,Multi-purpose hall,Fitness centre, Officespaces, Guest inn whencompleted.

\

L E I S U R ETHOUGHT FOR TODAY

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012 — 39

VIRGINIA

KAPTAIN AFRIKA in “Princess Shii’ By Andy Akman

dadadekola@yahoo.com

TERROR MUDA in “Never say goodbye” By Kola Fayemi

YOUR LUCK TODAY

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING

Send your date and place of birth to the AstrologicalCounselling, P.M.B 1007, Apapa, Lagos

Commen3 by Lawrence Akapa

By Richard Eromosele

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139

VIRGO: You sincerely believe in intelligent argument ordiscussion. And if you allow your ability to be diplomaticcome to play today, you’ll be better for it. Enjoy your lovelife.

LIBRA: You’ll tend to become both creative and persuasiveto the administration of others. Then those who’ve beenresisting secret love may slip suddenly and become ex-cited.

SCORPIO: Even if opposition persists, supports you aregetting from the influential people will be enough to seeyou through. Yet, the more cooperative you are the better.

SAGITTARIUS: Your creativity quotient within your work-ing arena will today be enhanced. You’ll be blamed if youkeep official issues secrets from your challenges at work.

CAPRICORN: After a few tension soaked days, you’ll havethe needed opportunity to look through windows of theworld and have your way as well. Magnetic and/or magicdays is predicted for lovers today.

AQUARIUS: Even if you continue to work under pressurevia increased workload, you will have good results to showfor your efforts today. Be steadfast.

PISCES: Better than yesterday. And the more co-operativeyou are today the better for you. Those of you travelling forlove are in for an exciting day.

ARIES: Those of you willing to let go hard feelings at workare for a progressive day to the betterment of your finances.Let go yesterday, move ahead.

TAURUS: Once again, you’ll have the needed opportunityto assert yourself to the administration of others. Both loveand financial success can be yours with efforts. Reasonwith your tried and trusted friends.

GEMINI: You can make it a successful day with positiveapproach on your part. You will be in a better position todefuse tension within your working arena. Try to be moreambitious.

CANCER Yes! You’re not scared a bit even, when opposi-tion and/or competition come your way but, if you give into diplomatic approach, you’ll fare better today.

LEO: Pressure that came your way suddenly will give wayunexpectedly, today, to the betterment of your course. Themore financially ambitious you are today, the better foryou. Be steadfast.

About day I was born?Dear Joshua,

Kindly tell me how the planets lined up when I was bornand the day of the week I was born but don’t publish mydate of birth.Sam, Kano

Dear Sam,

With the Moon in Libra when you were born influence ofLibra be pronounced in your characteristics build up but,you are mainly a Scorpio born personYOUR HOROSCOPE DATADay of Birth = SundaySun Sign = Scorpio. Sun in Zero Degree of ScorpioMoon Sign = Libra: Moon in 5th Degree of LibraMercury in 12th Degree of ScorpioVenus in Zero Degree of SagittariusMars in 1st Degree of AquariusJupiter in 29th Degree of CancerSaturn in 10th Degree of ScorpioUranus in 27th Degree of CancerNeptune in 25th Degree of LibraPluto in 26th Degree of LeoNorth Node in 8th Degree of CapricornSouth Node in 8th Degree of CancerNo planet in earth spar sign, one in available, two in fire,three in air, four in cardinal, fixed and water star signshosted five planets each.PHYSICAL INFLUENCE = 50%NON-PHYSICAL INFLUENCE =50%PLANET AT HOME = NONEANALYSIS OF THE HOROSCOPE DATAYou are both an intelligent and emotional person. And asthere was planet at home when you were born, too manyideas will always struggle for prominent place in your mind,thus decision making is difficult but most times, your intel-ligence comes to the rescue.Certainly, you appear to other as a gentle person who canbe mistaken for soft fellow but your inner-self is the person-ality with a steel like will power.You are the consistent type who may find it difficult tochange once you have made up your mind as indicated bydistribution of the planets as written out in paragraph twoof this exercise.

Where is yourideas file?I

DEAS are thefoundation of ev-

erything you are to-day. Whatever you dotoday, whatever youwill do tomorrow andwhatever you haveachieved in the past,they all derived theirbeginning from acommon, simple and

an ordinarily lookingidea which is firstmuted in your mind.Therefore, our chal-lenge today, is how tohusband these ideas.

If an idea crops up in

your mind now; howdo you safeguard it?Do you just assume itis permanently storedin your mind? Thatwill be a mistake. Foryou to have a workable

idea, you must writedown the idea. In ad-dition, you must havean idea file where youstore your ideas forconstant and periodicreview and develop-ment

Learn to protect yourideas today. Have anideas file where youkeep all your jottings.

40-Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

LG boss getsaward

S-West CNPP hails ACN

Mimiko's wife lauds women's role in politics

Govt, church leaders taskedon fight against piracy

Firm petitions Fashola overdemolition of property

Rights activist slamsJonathan over UNILAG

BY EMEKA MAMAH

BY EVELYN USMAN

ANNIVERSARY: From left: Dr. Michael Ugbeye,Chairman, Alpha-May Club, Mr Emmanuel Ogidi, guestspeaker, Chief Arthur Mbanefo, chairman of the occasion and Chief Brodrick Bozimo, guest speaker duringAlpha-May Club's 27th anniversary with the theme; Ingredients of Unity Among The Ethnic Nationalities in DeltaState at Metropolitan Club, Victoria Island, Lagos. Photo: Shola Oyelese.

LA G O S — T H EConference of

Nigeria Political Parties,CNPP, South West chapterhas commended theleadership of the ActionCongress of Nigeria, ACN,including their governors,for upholding the tenets ofdemocracy in the last 13years of civilianadministration in thecountry.

While commending theleadership of Asiwaju BolaTinubu whosedetermination made itpossible for ACN to reclaimOsun and Ekiti states at the2007 general elections afterlegal battles that are very

LAGOS—A call hasgone out to

governments at alllevels, church leadersand teachers to joinhands and wage waragainst piracy.

Speaking at the three-

From left: Archbishop Magnus Atilade, Chairman, South-West, ChristianAssociation of Nigeria, CAN; presenting a certificate to Oba Dapo Tejuosho,Osile Oke-Ona of Egbaland, after his induction as patron of the South-Westzone of CAN and ordination as pastor and general evangelist at St. James'Cathedral African Church, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

KADUNA—A rightsactivist and

President of the CivilRights Congress ofNigeria, CRCN, ShehuSani has accused PresidentGoodluck Jonathan ofseeking popularity with thelate Chief Moshood Abiolaby renaming the Universityof Lagos, UNILAG, afterh i m . Sani said in a statementin Kaduna, yesterday, thatJonathan should proclaimAbiola president and namethe newly-establisheduniversity at his home town

AKURE—WIFE ofOndo State

Governor, Mrs. OlukemiMimiko has said that therole of women in politicaldevelopment cannot beoveremphasised as theyare the anchor of life onwhich human existencedepends.

Mrs. Mimiko spoke,yesterday, during ameeting with womengroups in the state atOkitipupa in OkitipupaLocal Government Area ofthe state even as she calledfor their effectiveparticipation in politics. According to her, statisticshad shown that women

THE leadership ofOde-Itsekiri Commu-

nity Development Commit-tee (CDC) has called on thepeople of Delta State to sus-tain the existing peace inthe state and also live inharmony as one unitedfamily.

Mr. Araye Ebobo, Chair-man of the committee, in astatement yesterday notedthat the Governor of DeltaState, Dr. Emmanuel Udu-aghan is a man of peace,and has been preachingpeace and unity among

historical, CNPP recalledhow the former Alliance forDemocracy, AD, wonall the six states in theSouth-West at the inceptionof civil rule in May 1999,but lost five states in the2003 general election,except Lagos State, whichwere all later reclaimed in2011.

CNPP in a statement tomark Democracy Day,noted how the people of theSouth-West did not hesitateto entrust the governmentof Ogun and Oyo states tothe party in the 2011general election, inaddition to Lagos, Ogunand Ekiti states.

LAGOS—NASIHATransport Services

has petitioned GovernorBabatunde Fashola overthe demolition of itscompany’s property atMarine Beach loop inApapa area of Lagos, bythe State Special TaskForce on Environmentaland MiscellaneousOffences, without priornotice. It alleged that theaction was instigated bya chieftain of the PeoplesDemocratic Party(nameswithheld)

The company whichdisclosed that itsproperty worth N200million was destroyed,also argued that it wasnever in breach of anycondition in the use ofthe site, nor was itamong structures markedfor demelitionstruction.

Appealing to GovernorFashola to redress theaction of the Task Force,

in Otuoke, Bayelsa State,if he was serious abouthonouring Chief Abiola,and not to appease theSouthwest, which had beenopposing his alleged "misgovernance and corruptionin the polity." He said: ‘’The recentdecision by the FederalGovernment to rename theuniversity of Lagos afterchief MKO Abiola is not anhonour but a popularitycraving exercise by theJonathan leda d m i n i s t r a t i o n .’’It is also a deceptive effortto appease the SouthWest’s growing opposition

to the mis-governance andcorruption in the polity. ’’If President Jonathan isa fan of Chief MKO Abiolahe could have renamed thenewly-built federaluniversity in Otuoke,inBayelsa State since the latechief also won in thoseareas in 1993 presidentiale l e c t i o n s .’’No amount of renaming ofmonument will dampen thepopular call on the FederalGovernment to recognizethe late Abiola as a formerp r e s i d e n t . ’’The 13 year resistanceby the Peoples DemocraticParty, PDP, led governmentsto rename the NationalStadium and the NationalAssembly after the late heroof democracy cannot beforgiven by the renaming ofthe University of Lagos.’’solicitors to the company,

Falana and Falana’sChambers, in thepetition by IfeanyiMaduabuchi, explainedthat the company wasdirectly undersupervision of the

Ministry of Works andthe Federal Ministry ofLand, Housing andUrban Development, towhich all dues and landcharges were paid andalso met the Lagos Statepolicy on beautification. A

B A K A L I K I —CHAIRMAN, Ikwo

Local Government inEbonyi State, Mr. CelestineIgberi, have won this year’sRootswatch MagazineMerit Award for localgovernment chairmen inthe country.

At the presentation of theaward in Abuja last week,Mr. Igberi was described asa man of dedication whohad devoted his timetowards infrastructuraldevelopment in the councilarea.

Mr. Igberi, also thechairman of Association ofLocal Governments ofNigeria, ALGON, in thestate was presented withthe award of best councilchairman in infrastructuraldevelopment in the South-East.

day training at theProfessional RetailInstitute for Booksellersin Lagos, yesterday, thelead facilitator andDirector of Training,Christian AssociationInternational, CTAI, Mr.Jack Scott, said piracymakes inferior goods tobe supplied to readers atcheaper prices to thedetriment of the originalowners.

Scott described Nigeriaas unique, saying thatmarketing of Christianliterature needs a lot ofvigour as the people haddeveloped readingculture, which makes forcompetition and growth.

He said for theChristian bookseller to besuccessful, he must knowhow to source theproducts and make themavailable for the readersand must be adaptable tochanges and must besensitive to whathappens around him.

were not very active inpartisan or politicaldevelopment.

She noted that democracy

guaranteed equality beforethe law, be it economic,social or political.

Itsekiri CDC backs UduaghanDeltans.

The Itsekiri chieftainalso advised that it was timethe people of Delta irre-spective of tribe and politi-cal affiliations shun ethnicsentiment and live asbrothers.

While congratulatingGovernor Uduaghan on hisone year in office, he as-sured that Deltans willcontinue to benefit moreon dividends of democ-racy, as the Governor iscommitted towards betterlife for the people.

CMYK

CMYK

41 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

THE Minister of Foreign Affairs of Swe-

den, Mr Carl Bildt is dueto visit Nigeria from June5 to June 6, to meet withNigerian officials to dis-cuss bilateral issues aswell as developments inthe region.

A statement madeavailable to journalists inAbuja Wednesday by theAmbassador of Sweden inNigeria , Per Lindgärdesaid the Swedish Minis-ter of Foreign Affairs isalso scheduled to delivera key note address at theNigerian Institute of In-ternational Affairs (NIIA)in Lagos on June 6, 2012.

A m b a s s a d o rLindgärde in the state-ment also informed thathis tour of duty as ambas-sador ends in June thisyear, while his successoris expected to resumeduty in September 2012.

According to the state-ment, “The Swedish Min-ister for Foreign AffairsCarl Bildt will be in Ni-geria 5-6 June. Duringhis visit he will meetPresident Goodluck EbeleJonathan, Foreign Min-ister Olugbenga Ashiruand some other high lev-el government officials in

Swedish minister visits Nigeria

Abuja, to discuss both bi-lateral issues and devel-opments in the region aswell as some internation-al issues of mutual inter-est.

Mr. Bildt will also visitLagos to meet businessrepresentatives and tomake a speech at the Ni-gerian Institute for Inter-national Affairs, on the

topic “The New Africa-Sweden and EU’s Col-laboration with Africa “

Speaking on hisplanned departure backto Sweden , AmbassadorLindgärde said, “I wouldlike to inform you that Iwill be leaving Abuja inthe end of June as myassignment here comes toan end.

A Pakistani doctorwho helped the US

find Osama bin Ladenwas imprisoned for aidingfighters and not for linksto the CIA, as Pakistaniofficials had said, accord-ing to a court document.

Last week, a court in theKhyber tribal region nearthe Afghan border jailedShakil Afridi for 33 years.But militants accused ina Pakistan court of con-spiring with a doctor re-cruited by the CIA to findOsama bin Laden saidyesterday that they hadnothing to do with himand threatened to killhim.

He was arrested afterUS troops killed bin Lad-en in May 2011 in thetown of Abbottabad wherehe set up a fake vaccina-tion programme in thehope of obtaining DNA

Militants vow to kill Osama Bin Ladin’s doctor

samples to confirm theAl-Qaeda leader’s pres-ence. But he was convict-ed for treason over al-leged ties to Lashkar-e-Islam and not for workingfor the CIA, for which thecourt said it did not havejurisdiction.

Lashkar-e-Islam, led bywarlord Mangal Bagh, isa militant organisationfeared for kidnappingsand extortion in the trib-al district of Khyber,where Afridi worked foryears as a doctor. Thecourt said Afridi had“close links” to the group,saying the doctor’s “love”for Bagh and “associationwith him was an opensecret”.

But a spokesman and acommander in the organ-isation both told AFP thatthey had nothing to dowith Afridi.The govern-

ment may have wanted toshow a largely anti-USpublic that Pakistan willnot tolerate any co-oper-ation with the US spyagency, especially at atime of troubled relationswith Washington.

RUSSIA has insistedthat new action

against its ally Syriawould be premature,amid Western calls for in-creased pressure on the

...Russia says new action is premature

SYRIAN presidentBashar Asad came

under increased pressureyesterday as UN secre-tary-general, Ban Ki-moon, said that massa-cres of civilians, such asthe one perpetrated inHoula last weekend,could plunge Syria into adevastating civil war.

Ban cited fears raisedby Kofi Annan, the UN-Arab League envoy, thatSyria may have alreadyreached a “tipping point”following the slaughter of108 people in Houla lastFriday.

“The massacre of civil-ians of the sort seen lastweekend could plungeSyria into catastrophic civ-il war - a civil war fromwhich the country wouldnever recover,” he said inIstanbul.

Meanwhile, state me-dia reported that 500prisoners who were ar-rested on suspicion of in-volvement in the 14-month-old revolt hadbeen released, two days

UN, US, mount pressure on Bashar Assadafter Annan urged Presi-dent Bashar al-Assad tofree detainees.

The warning came asthe United States raisedsimilar concerns that thefailure of Annan’s planfor the embattled countrycould have dire conse-quences. The U.N., U.S.Ambassador to the Unit-ed Nations Susan Ricesaid there were threeways the Syrian conflictcould end.

The first would involvethe Syrian governmentdeciding to comply withthe ceasefire. The secondwould involve the Secu-rity Council taking actionto pressure Damascus tofully comply. An Amateurvideo coming out of Syr-ia shows no let up to theviolence in Syria.

Now the United Statesis warning that if theU.N. Security Councildoes not take swift actionto pressure the Syriangovernment to end its 14month assault, nationsmay have no choice but

to consider acting out-side.

“In the absence of thosetwo scenarios there seemsto me to be only one oth-

er alternative. That is in-deed the worst case andthat is unfortunately atpresent the most proba-ble. And that is that the

violence escalates, theconflict spreads and in-tensifies, it reaches ahigher degree of severi-ty. It involves countries

in the region, it takes onincreasingly sectarianforms, and we have amajor crisis not only inSyria but in the region.”

•President Obama UN Scribe, Ban-Ki Moon

regime as the death tollrises.

UN under secretarygeneral Herve Ladsousgave the UN SecurityCouncil a “sombre” ac-count of both the latestkillings in the easterntown of Assukar — 13people killed execution-style — and of last week’smassacre near the centraltown of Houla in whichmore than 100 peopledied.

The United States,France, Britain and Ger-many all came out of aUN Security Councilmeeting on the worsen-ing crisis urging mea-

sures up to sanctions bythe 15-nation body.

All governments are in-creasingly concerned asthe Syria death toll pilesup and UN-Arab Leagueenvoy Kofi Annan leftDamascus this week withno apparent concessionsfrom President Bashar al-Assad.The UN observermission chief in Syria,

Major General RobertMood, said he was“deeply disturbed” by thelatest killings in Assukar,calling it an “appallingand inexcusableact.”Thirteen bodies werediscovered in the area ofAssukar, 50 kilometres(30 miles) east of Deir Ez-zor,” the veteran Norwe-gian peacekeeper said.

Fuel strike cripples India

A nationwide strikeagainst rising

petrol prices in India hasclosed shops and dis-rupted public transport,with the under-fire gov-ernment facing new dis-sent over its economicmanagement.

Opposition political par-ties and trade unions en-forced a shutdown inmany cities on Thursday,with anti-governmentmarches held in New

THE Embassy of Israel in Nigeria has

celebrated 20 years of re-newed diplomatic rela-tions with Nigeria. Dip-lomatic relations betweenthe countries were sev-ered in 1973 when thenow defunct Organisa-tion of African Unity(OAU) ordered Africancountries to cut ties withIsrael over its 1973 War

Israel marks 20yrs of renewedties with Nigeria

BY VICTORIA OJEME,

Abuja

with Egypt.Speaking at an elabo-

rate event at the weekendin Abuja to mark the re-stored ties, the IsraeliAmbassador to Nigeria,Mr. Moshe Ram, said therestored diplomatic ties isa significant move thatsymbolised Israel’s returnto the most importantcountry to Israel in Afri-ca. Ram recalled that inthe 1960s and early 70sbefore break in diplomat-ic ties, Israel play a sig-nificant role in the devel-opment and moderniza-tion of Nigeria as hun-dreds of Israeli expertshelped in Nigeria‘s agri-culture sector, education-al system and medicalinstitutions.

Amb. Olugbenga Ashiru

Delhi and commercialhub Mumbai. In NewDelhi, most shops wereclosed and traffic was ex-tremely light, with manyworkers deciding to stayhome because of the lackof public transport. InMumbai, the Shiv Senaparty, a BJP ally, instruct-ed residents that they“should not venture outof their houses” and therewere reports of buses be-ing stoned and offices at-tacked.

BY VICTORIA OJEME,

Abuja

CMYK

42—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

WHAT is the latest on theimpasse?

Members of the House Com-mittee on Health came MondayLast week and they came main-ly because of the actions that aretaking place in the federal insti-tutions. However, on Wednesday,May 23, 2012, they came backand they eventually met with theLagos State Government. Aftermeeting with the Lagos StateHouse Committee on Health,they eventually met with us here(NMA Secretariat) and thatmeeting lasted till about mid-

•Whither the place of agreement?

By SOLA OGUNDIPE &

CHIOMA OBINNA

night. There was some under-standing that was reached at thatmeeting and they were sup-posed to go back to the govern-ment and get back to us. Theygot back to us on Thursdayevening and from what we gotfrom them, we felt that there weresome positive developments.However, by Saturday, What wefelt was a positive developmenthas disappeared. So we are backto square one.

Can you be more specific?Between the house commit-

tees, the House of Representa-

tives, the State house committee,the medical elders who are alsopoliticians and us, having heardfrom the government, we wereable to iron out a lot of differenc-es that was between us. Issueswere laid on what are the truepositions of things agreedupon. That caused us to write anagreement with them. Then, wewrote a letter to the governor tointervene and stop what wasgoing on and they took the letterto the governor. From the reportthey gave us, we were expect-ing a positive response from theLagos State government.

In fact from that point, we low-ered our guard, we were expect-ing a solution latest by tomorrow,

Monday, May 28, 2012, but toour amazement, by Saturday, lastweek what we heard from gov-ernment side was an attempt towater down what had beenagreed upon, an attempt to takeus back to us back to what wehave rejected before. So up tillnow, we have not heard any-thing directly from the govern-ment. As far as we are concerned,we are back to square one.

Governor Fashola said he hasno power to hire and fire. Howdo you view such statement?

I think we have heard that hesaid he is not involved in hiringand firing. To my mind, it is anabdication of responsibility. NoGovernor in the developed coun-tries will ever say that kind of athing because it can lead to theremoval of that Governor. We are

running a system called execu-tive presidency. The Governor isan executive Governor. When aGovernor now starts saying thathe has no power over those whoare under him, whom he ap-pointed, then we are in trouble,deep trouble. One of the nation-al dailies editorial said it all to-day, there is no governance inthis country. Corruption is rulingand the country is falling apartand the Governor is sitting downand the people he is governingover are dying. And he said hehas no power over the people heappointed to help him run thegovernment, then, we are indeep mess.

The doctors were accused tohave insulted constituted author-ities, how true is this?

I was not there at the meetingbut you will know that this gov-ernment has engaged itself in somuch blackmail that it will be dif-ficult to know what they are say-ing again. I have seen peoplewho have explained to me whathappened at that meeting. I don’tthink anybody insulted anybody.

Continues on page 43

CONMESS:

•3 agreements in 3 years, no implementation

IN September 2009, following severalyears of negotiations between the

Nigerian Medical Association and theFederal Government, the ConsolidatedMedical Salary Scale, CONMESS,circular SWC/S/04/S.410/220 wasreleased by the National Salaries,Incomes and Wages Commission.CONMESS is a uniform salary structureinitiated by the Federal Government forall doctors in the country. MedicalGuild had been agitating for implemen-tation of the CONMESS through severalletters and representations to govern-ment. This culminated in the strikeactions of August to November 2010,and February to March 2011.

However, in 2010, the State Govern-ment agreed to adopt CONMESS andthis followed with the signing of the firstever agreement to implement the salarystructure in the state. The agreement,dated November 19, 2010 with numberLGS/HOS/06/Vol.VI/30 was signed bythe Head of Service, Mr AdesegunOgunlewe.

In 2011, the State government re-neged on the agreement which led to afour months protracted strike in thestate. With the intervention of well

meaning Nigerians, the doctors wentback to work after signing anotheragreement on the same issue with theState Government. The second agree-ment was dated March 24, 2011 wassigned by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, HenryAjomale and Dr. Jide Idris.

However, in the last one month, thestate health sector has been in crisisfollowing the alleged failure of the Stategovernment to, yet again; fulfill agree-ment over the same issue. In the wakeof the crisis have been series of eventsbeginning with the sacking of 788doctors, their eviction from officialquarters, legal actions in IndustrialCourt and the solidarity strike byFederal doctors in the state. The twoparties, (Lagos State Government andthe Medical Guild) have had threeseparate agreements over the CON-MESS implementation and at eachpoint; negotiation has broken downbecause government allegedly failed tokeep its own part of the bargain.

This brings to question what anagreement represents. According to abusiness dictionary, an agreement is “Anegotiated and usually legally enforce-able understanding between two or

more legally competent parties. Al-though, a binding contract can andoften does result from an agreement, anagreement typically documents thegive-and-take of a negotiated settle-ment and a contract specifies theminimum acceptable standard ofperformance”

Of what use is an agreement if it isnot binding on the parties involved?Then, can it still be described as anagreement? Can two walk togetherexcept they agree? Going by thebiblical perspective; (Amos 3: 3) “twocannot walk together except theyagree.” Keeping of agreement may notbe the strongest attribute in this part ofthe world. Nigerians have almostbecome used to having broken promisesthrough failed agreement. Today, it is acommon place in Nigeria to find variouslabour unions embarking on strikes dueto failure of the government to honourone agreement or the other for thebenefit of the people.

The foregoing may explain the currentsituation in the Lagos State HealthSector. The effects of this break down ofagreement has brought calamity on notjust the parties involved but the entire

health system, the patients, innocentLagosians and the entire nation as awhole. Everyone has had their ownshare of the crisis. Countless lives havebeen lost unnecessarily. The healthsystem has virtually shut down. Reve-nue running into billions has gone thanthe drain while even the future ofmedicine is seriously threatened. Butperhaps the most shocking was theunprecedented sacking of 788 doctors ata go. Never in the nation’s history oranywhere in the world have such ahuge number of doctors been sacked ina single day.

Even after suffering this crushing blowthe doctors don’t appear to have earnedpublic sympathy for the singular reasonthat they went on strike in the firstplace. Worse still, the state governmentcontinues to maintain sealed lips overthe status of the various agreements.Now the doctors who are down havecome out to say they have nothing moreto fear and as a result they are nowquestioning the place of an agreementin a country like Nigeria basing theirargument on recent attempts by theState Government to renege on yetanother agreement would have re-solved the lingering crisis in the statehealth sector.

Pulling back from agreementor denying it is worrisome —Dr. Edamisan Temiye, Chairman NMA Lagos

In an exclusive interview with Sola Ogundipe andChioma Obinna, the State Chairman of the LagosState Chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association,NMA, Dr. Edamisan Temiye calls to question therelevance of governance and state government’scredibility on the issue of agreements. Excerpts:

Dr. Edamisan Temiye, NMA, Lalgos chairman

CMYK

There may be one on one discus-sion with one person or the otherin a word that is raised but thatdoes not mean that somebodyinsulted the system. The govern-ment is finding a reason why theywill not act. They are finding areason why they want to call blackwhite and white black. This mat-ter is simple, if somebody insult-ed the system, there are proce-dures to take. What has broughtthis matter up is that they aretransferring a labour issue to civ-il service issue because they haveplanned before hand what theywanted to do to destroy the civilservice structure in Nigeria.

A lot of labour people feel un-concerned. If this passes through,the civil service structure and thelabour service structure we havein Nigeria as we know it todaywill disappear in the next oneyear. Our governance is disman-tling the system so that they en-trench themselves and continueto fix on the people. What drivespeople out of the country to seekasylum is corruption, mis-gover-nance and authoritarianism. Thatis what we are witnessing today.

What do you say about a situa-tion in which government will gointo an agreement, renege andenter into another agreementand renege?

I see it, is pushing us back to the17th and 18th Centuries. That iswhere we are going and I hopethose in government pull backand bring us back to the 21st Cen-tury so that we have mutual re-spect and when government sayssomething we will really believeimmediately that they are goingto do it. When there is mistrust,there is big problem in makingadvancement in governance.

low peace to reign?I don’t know what you mean,

but if I am a free born of this coun-try and you want to enslave meand I say you cannot enslave meand you are now telling me to goand put the chain on my neck thenyou are the one whom wants tokill me. What the Lagos State gov-ernment is doing today is to ac-tually destroy the medical profes-sion and we will not allow Lagosstate government to destroy ourprofession. In fact you will be sur-prised at the anger of other doc-tors in other places who are notin Lagos. It is not only the medi-cal profession they are going todestroy, they are going to destroythe civil services structure. Peo-ple don’t see it. The press are notlooking at it.

Violation of

labour laws

You are not seeing the documentthe state government is workingwith and you turned your eyesaway from it, it violates all the la-bour laws in the land. It is be-cause they want to implement thatdocument that the sack came. Youare looking away from that mo-tive and why the government isdifficult, that is one. Number two,you are looking away from a situ-ation a group of people have en-tered into different agreementsseparately on almost the sameissue for two years and that gov-ernment has failed to implementit.

Some of your colleagues aretaking appointment with the La-gos State government. How doyou view such action? You threat-ened to sanction these doctors,what kind of sanction are youplanning? Again, the issue of loc-um doctors, while the govern-ment is claiming that it is a glo-bal practice, the NMA is sayingis casualising the profession,

Pulling back from agreement or denying itis worrisome—Dr. Temiye

am surprised that Government issaying such thing and you didnot go and look for the documentthat is a surprise to me. Youshould have gone to look for thedocument and read it

Just last weekend, State Chap-ter of the Association of Gener-al and Medical Practitioners ofNigeria, AGPMPN, draftedabout 1,200 facilities to offer freemedical services to card carry-ing patients of the Lagos Statehospitals, what is your take onthis?

Let me tell you something, theperson sitting by my left is a mem-ber of AGPMPN and his facilityhas not been drafted. By my rightis an AGPMPN member his fa-cility is not involved. Actually, itis a political gimmick. The per-son sitting close to you is also anAGPMPN member; his facilityhas also not been drafted. If inmy executives that I have threeout of 9 AGPMPN members, youknow that there are some peopledoing some things that are notright. We are also aware thatthose facilities have also failed tooffer free medical services. Thatpatients who have seen the ad-vertisement and had approachedthose facilities, find out that theyhave to pay for the services ren-dered to them.

Political

statement

What of patients who are not inGovernment care at that time whohave not obtain card at that timethat now need medical care? Sowhen they go there are they go-ing to pay? That includes some-body who has just had an okadaaccident and he is rushed to someof these facilities and he did nothave card before. So you couldsee that, that is not the kind ofservices that is going to help thepeople. It is just a political state-ment. Have you the press ap-proach any of them? We have hadreport s of people going to thefacilities to obtain services andafter services, they say sorry youhave to pay, it is not free. What Iam telling is that those who haveused their cards to receive servic-es there have been asked to payfully not part for the services ren-dered.

At what point should a doctorembark on strike?

At the point which he felt he hasbeen frustrated, he had been ig-nored and insulted. At that pointhe can embark on a strike.

What is the way out of the cri-sis?

There is a subsisting agreementthat Lagos State government hasnot denied. As a responsible, re-sponsive and democratic govern-ment they should fulfill thatagreement. And because it wasthat agreement that led to all theseactions, since it was the govern-ment that failed to fulfill thatagreement, they should moveback to the point where theyshowed evidence that they are notgoing to fulfill that agreement.Because they should move backto that point, they should recallall the doctors they have sacked.Once they do that there are noissues anymore. And of course,this paper, (waving the LagosState document on locum) on loc-um doctor should go to the trashbin because that is where it be-longs. It was used in 17th Cen-tury and it cannot come out in 21stCentury again.

The public has continued tosuffer, what is your message forLagosians?

They have a government. Theyshould go back to the governmentand say why are you doing thisto us? Why has the Governmentof Lagos State decided to be pun-ishing the citizenry of this state?They should ask them questions.Our people don’t know how toask their government questions.The government is not abovethem. The people put them thereto serve them. They should askthem why are you doing this andwhy do you want to denigrate aprofession? Why do you want topush a profession down and de-stroy a profession?

Why do you think that thebest solution is to sack a

massive 788 doctors at a go? Whydo you think this is the solutionto your not fulfilling agreementyou reached with them severally.You know that people are afraidof government and they think thatthe people they should harassand push down is the doctors.The doctors are already down.There is a song that says: “He thatis down needs fear no fall”.

So we are already down wedon’t need to fear to fall. So weare fighting from down. Thepeople too, they are down. Theyneed fear no fall. So they can alsoask pertinent questions and theyshould demand an answer. Whya Governor should say the peo-ple under him sacked 788 doc-tors and he knew nothing aboutit. And he cannot reverse it forthe good of the society? I think itis important to ask those ques-tions from the government.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012 — 43

Continues from page 42

,

,Why has the Government of Lagos

State decided to be punishing thecitizenry of this state? They shouldask them questions. Our people don’tknow how to ask their governmentquestions

what is reallya locum em-ployment?

Have youseen the doc-ument on loc-um? (Display-ing the locumdocument) I

to. At thispoint, youwill quietagree thatthe crisishas lingeredfor too long,now youwill alsoagree thatthe crisishas also af-fected themedicineprofession.Again, pa-tients arebeing de-nied theright toh e a l t h ,don’t youthink thereis need fordoctors toshift grounda little to al-

This is what the medical pro-fession has been going throughin the hands of Lagos State Gov-ernment since 2010. And that iswhat has led to this crisis. Now,the government has abandonedthat, when you ask them ques-tions on the agreements theydodged it. Ask them how muchyou are paying the doctors, theydodged it. Did you or did you notdemote these doctors, theydodged it. Did you not wipe theyears of their service? Theydodged it. Did you not wipe sixto seven years of their service,they dodged it. T

hey actually made publicationthat they are paying figure for fig-ure, money for money, when theyknow that they are not doing it.When a government behaves likethat and when it loses truth andit starts embellishing mistruthwith falsehood as gospel truth,then, you start wondering whatgovernance means, whetherthere is any contract between gov-ernment and governance, wheth-er the workers are slaves andcould be treated anyhow. Theaction of the government, the way

The government has engaged ina lot of blackmail. Pulling backfrom agreement or denying it andthen using other extraneous andunimportant things to explain theaction, that is worrisome to me.

There have been allegationsthat Governor Babatunde Fash-ola walked out of negotiationmeeting. How true are these al-legations?

Well, to some extent, I will tellyou that he did not walk out. Hetruly excused himself and said hehad other meetings he wanted togo to. But because of the experi-ence we had before with the peo-ple he was referring us to then,and he is referring us to againnow, then, we knew he was notready for a solution. I will say hewas not ready to take a decisionand he is still not ready to take adecision but yet he excused him-self.

Cut in: I think he advised thatthe doctors should go and ap-peal and that they will now sitdown to consider the appeals.

I don’t know anything aboutappeal and I don’t know whomthe doctors are going to appeal

Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola

Dr. Odusote, Medical Guild chairman

CMYK

44 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

OYO: Peace at last

THE difficulties of the newadministration in Oyo State were

well articulated by the one woman whoshould know at the end of the first 100days. The governor’s wife, Mrs.Florence Ajimobi, speaking at athanksgiving service to mark the first100 days of the Action Congress ofNigeria, ACN administration said:“Ordinarily, the beginning of everythingis always challenging. But the firsthundred days of this administrationhave been very challenging.”

Mrs. Ajimobi said she noted thechallenges from natural disasters amongother issues that encumbered the firstdays in office of the new administration.Though it was never expected to beeasy given the milieu of violence andpolitical antagonism that preceded theadvent of the new administration.

The opposition Peoples DemocraticParty, PDP, has predictably scored theAjimobi administration low sayingthrough one of its new groups, the PDPSynergy Group, that the ACNgovernment is in slumber. It cited the

CONGRATULATIONS onthe anniversary of your

first year in office. Against thebackdrop of your battle againstthe PDP during theelectioneering process, howdo you feel being one year oldas governor of Oyo State?

Thank you for this visit. Thegreatest glory for my being thegovernor of Oyo State can onlybe given to the Almighty Godwho, in His infinite mercies,decided that I would be sittingon this seat today. I do tellpeople that the battle for theApril, 2011 elections in OyoState was like that of the biblicalDavid and Goliath. In terms ofphysical size, I was not in anyway near the size of my co-contender. In terms of money,I was not anywhere near hisaccumulated war chest. Evenin terms of ability to rouse thesecurity apparatus to hiselectoral advantage, I wasalmost nil. But my most prizedpossession was the people ofOyo State and the AlmightyGod who had promised to bringour government and party torescue the people from theirforced labour. So ultimately, it

Akala was not agood example forus — Gov Ajimobi

*Ajimobi: I am going after excellence

ON the heels of his first anniversary in office,

Governor Ajimobi in this interview reviews his

challenges, achievements in office and the direction

he claims to be leading the Pace Setter State.

Excerpts:

was not me but those twounassailable factors. Whilethey relied on their ability, theirmoney and power of coercion,we relied on the majesty ofGod and the immeasurablelove of our people to becomethe occupant of AgodiGovernment House.

As governor-elect, the thenincumbent shut all doorsagainst our transitioncommittee from accessing thestate of affairs of the state sothat we could have a pre-government blueprint of ouradministration. But my brother,we did not envisage the levelof rot that we eventuallyconfronted when we assumedoffice. Virtually everything had

broken down.On the first day of my visit to

the office that I was supposedto sit and administer the state,what we saw shocked us. Therug was threadbare, cobwebshung on the book shelf and wesaw snails and rats by theSecretary’s office. These wereclear signals to me and my teamthat we had a lot of work to do.

And in all facets of

administration of Oyo State, wewere to confront that replica ofthe rot of the office of governorthat we saw. So our first sixmonths was spent facing thechallenges of the degradationand trying to bring Oyo Statefrom its Ground Zero level.

By the grace of God, when wefinish our first tenure of office,we hope to have significantlyaltered global conception ofOyo State which used to be thatit was a state administered byand bedeviled by a failedleadership.

What will you say, in concreteterms, you have been able toachieve as governor in the lastone year?

Thanks for that question. Inthe area of the intangible aspectof governance, I will say myadministration’s greatestachievement of the last oneyear has been making Oyo

State peaceful again.You will recall that, by the time

we were coming into office, weinherited the typecast of ourstate being perceived in allparts of the world as a placewhere unprovoked andunwarranted violencetakesplace, almost every otherday. If it was not politiciansshedding their factional bloodtoday, it would be motor parkmiscreants fighting forlegitimacy and spatialhegemony.

You will particularly recall themost audacious one when afactional leader of the stateNURTW called Eleweomo wasbrutally murdered in asupremacy battle and somepoliticians within the samePDP were alleged to have hada hand in the murder by the

,

,

Wherever I can find excellence,I go for it and I do not allowparty affiliation or tribe to inhibitme. I do not allow the usual gulfthat exists between governmentsand opposition to deter me in theadministration of our state

BY OLA AJAYI

Continues on page 46

administration’s difficulties in managingthe Ibadan flood disaster as its yardstick.The group in a statement issued byPrince Dotun Oyelade and MorounkolaThomas pointed at what they describedas the the “callous neglect of flooddisaster victims numbering over ahundred thousand across the state andin Ibadan” as a basis of their claim thatthe Ajimobi administration is withoutvision.

However, their claim remarkably is notwholly adopted within the PDP familygiven the other measure of performanceby some PDP chieftains. Dr. Dejo Raimi,a staunch loyalist of the immediate pastPDP governor, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala has cited the restoration of peaceto the state as a notable achievementeven going as far as disagreeing withthe PDP Synergy Group as hemaintained that Ajimobi was prompt inhis response to the Ibadan flood disasterof last year. Indeed, the assertions of thePDP Synergy Group were countered bythe Oyo Patriotic Front through itsChairman, Chief Lare Adepoju.

He noted: “It is unthinkable that thesemajor actors of a profligateadministration that ran Oyo Stateaground and left nothing but ruinscould now constitute themselves intoopposition and advocates of goodgovernance,”just as he reminded theformer governor and his cohorts that ifthey had performed wonders while inoffice they would not have been shovedout of office.

Adepoju said: “It is regrettable thatOyo, which had been ruled by the likesof Chief Obafemi Awolowo, ChiefSamuel Ladoke Akintola, Chief Bola Igeand Dr. Omololu Olunloyo, wasrelegated to a state where violence,brigandage and unprecedentedcorruption reigned supreme. Indeed,peace which was almost totally elusivein the last four years of the PDP regimehas been restored to the state. Not evencritics and political opponents of thegovernor would disagree with the totalpeace that the state now enjoys.

"It is a big surprise that the violentactivities of members of the National

Union of Road Transport Workers in thestate have been effectively tackled. Forseveral years, the violent tendencies ofNURTW members became an albatrossfor successive governments in the state.Besides the dividend of peace, thegovernor after some initial lethargy hasmoved on to the development ofphysical infrastructure and developmentof job creation schemes. About sixmonths after he was inaugurated, thegovernor launched the Oyo YouthEmployment Scheme popularly knownas O-YES through which 20,000 personswere immediately recruited into varioussectors of the state’s public service. "Afree health scheme has also beenlaunched for all citizens of the state inthe state’s health facilities, constructionof a N2.13billion overhead bridge atMokola Roundabout has beeninaugurated, construction of a new five-star hotel to boost tourism was flaggedoff last week and with these the initialscepticism that almost clouded the initialeuphoria of the coming of the Ajimobiadministration has started to clear. Itgives hope that beyond the remarkablepeace that is the hallmark of thegovernor’s first year, that much morecould come from the Ajimobiadministration in its second year."

CMYK

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012—45

POL SNIPES

THE political odditiesthat have shadowed

Anambra State since the adventof democratic rule in 1999without doubt exceed thepolitical cranks that may haveerupted in any of the otherstates of the federation.Under the tenure of its firstfourth republic governor, Dr.Chinwoke Mbadinuju, thestate became a battle field forthe many godfathers in thestate.

Chief Emeka Offor pitchedagainst Chief Arthur Eze werethe leading power brokers inthe state until the emergenceof the ultimate politicalgodfather, Chief Chris Uba.

Uba who was allegedly beforehis advent on tutelage to agodfather was helped in hisascendancy by his elder brotherand presidential assistant, Dr.Andy Uba. By some accounts,President Olusegun Obasanjoso trusted this aide that hecould close his eyes, open hismouth and allow this assistantdrop anything inside.

Anambra was to drawattention to itself when justbefore the 2003 election,Mbadinuju became the onlyincumbent that was refused thenomination form by the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP.

With Mbadinuju out, theUbas adopted a quiet partyapparatchik and formermedical doctor, Dr. ChrisNgige who was expected toplay along with their script forpolitical dominance in thestate.

Shortlist of

candidates

Besides the gubernatorialticket, Chris Uba also allegedlywrote down a shortlist of hiscandidates for the NationalAssembly, all of whom wereannounced as winners of theNational Assembly election,albeit after some drama.

But that was only thebeginning of the problems thatwould engulf the Uba brothers.Some PDP members who wonthe party primaries to representthe party in the NationalAssembly elections alleged thatthey were shoved aside afterthe election and allegedlyreplaced by the nominees ofthe Ubas.

After all, the Ubas with thesupport of Obasanjo were infull control of the party.

It was as such not surprisingthat the judicial principle thatpolitical parties and notcandidates win electionsemerged from the judicialmaze created by the NationalAssembly elections in Anambrain 2003. Within three monthsof the inauguration of theUba’s handpicked governor,the state projected its political

Anambra: Home for all oddities

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN,

POLITICAL EDITOR

infamy to a nauseating heightwhen the incumbent governor,Dr. Ngige was kidnapped by ahorde of policemen allegedlyacting the script of his politicalgodfather. That act was,however, the action thatliberated Ngige and set him ontowards a legacy of goodgovernance in the state.

But whatever he did wasbased on a hijacked mandateand so the Court of Appealruled leading to theinauguration of Mr. Peter Obi,the candidate of the AllProgressive Grand Alliance asgovernor in 2006. Thatinevitably upset the scheduleof inaugurations removingMay 29 as a landmark forgubernatorial inaugurations inthe State. That too was another

legitimate candidates of thePDP in the 2003 senatorialelection. The pair of Mrs.Emodi and Chief Obi were totemporary put Anambra on thebright side of history with thesparkling performance theyexhibited in the Senate thatrekindled the razzmatazz andverbal pomposity that was thehallmark of one of the firstAnambra senators in 1999, theOyi of Oyi, Senator ChubaOkadigbo.

While Emodi throughdecorous dignity and panacheput forth a legacy in herchairmanship of the SenateCommittee on Education,Senator Obi was to serve asone of the principal resourcecentres that derailed the third

judgment that displacedSenator Emodi from the senatein 2010, Igbeke got anothercourt judgment to declarehimself as the PDP flag bearerin the 2011 senate election. Thecourt pronouncement wasallegedly obtained throughaffidavits that the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation, AGFalleged were procuredfraudulently. Based on that theSenate refused to swear him in.

Before Igbeke got the courtjudgment the major contendersfor the senate seat wereerstwhile Minister of State forFCT, John Chukwuemeka andOkadigbo’s widow, Margery.

,

,

Okoye worried about the non-representation of theconstituency in the senatewants INEC to declare any oneof the aspirants on the platformof the PDP as the winner andallow others to contend withhim. After all, legal contentionis the norm in Anambra.

Among other oddities,Anambra is also the only Statein the country not to haveconducted a local governmentelection since 1999.

Fittingly, no one can establishthe correct identity of thechairman of the state chairmanof the PDP. Not less than fivecontenders claim the office!

Among other oddities,Anambra is also the only Statein the country not to haveconducted a local governmentelection since 1999

*Emodi: Anambra North quiet since her exit *Margery: Seeking to build on husband's legacy

term agenda allegedlypowered by yet, anotherAnambra son, Dr. Andy Uba.

The oddities from Anambrait seems are not endinganytime soon. By next TuesdayAnambra State would haveestablished another notoriousrecord. It would be one yearthat the Anambra North Senateseat would have beenunoccupied.

Senator Alphonsus Igbeke,dubbed as the politician whogets political offices throughthe courts and not throughelections, is again at the centreof the squabble. Afterobtaining a controversial court

unhelpful first from Anambra.An attempt by Dr. Uba to

return inaugurations to May 29after he won the April 2007gubernatorial elections turnedinto a pyrrhic victory for him ashe was removed from office bythe Supreme Court after only17 days in office as governor.That too is another Anambrarecord.

Before then the duo ofSenator Joy Emodi and SenatorBen Obi in 2005 successfullydislodged the pair of EmmaAnosike and Sir IkechukwuAbana from the senate afterthey proved at the Court ofAppeal that they were the

T h eIndependentNationalElectoralCommission,I N E Cw h i c hh a du p o nIgbeke’sc o u r to r d e ri s s u e dh i m ,Igbeket h ecertificateof returnsubsequentlywithdrewt h ecertificateallegingit hadb e e ni s s u e din error.

N o w,one ofthe PDPsenatorialaspirants,Andrew

WHAT is your reactionto the fact that majority of

the State Houses of Assemblyrejected the constitutionalamendment to give themautonomy?

Before the National Assemblycame up with it, we (Lagos StateHouse of Assembly) had it. Thefact that some Houses came backto say no, should be a concern toevery one of us. Everystakeholder in this Nigeriashould feel concerned becausethat tells us that the valueattached to legislation anddemocracy itself, is put toquestion in some states.

It is also a sign that we havesome dictators in some states ofthe federation. There are someHouses where the leadershiplacked the courage to look intothe eye of the governor and saywe should have it. They areworried; they are scared that thegovernor can get them removed.That is the honest truth;otherwise there was no goodreason for it.

The PDP in Lagos State calledfor your step down as theSpeaker because of the allegedcase of fraud, what is yourcomment on this?

I don’t think there is anythingwrong for anybody voicing hisopinion in a democratic setting,whether that opinion is logical orsomething else. If anybody thatis alleged in this polity, is to stepdown, l don’t think there wouldbe anybody left. From the headto the tow of the leadership of thenation, you hear allegations ona daily basis. So we should nothave anybody in office at all?

Let us go back to the story ofthe allegation against thespeaker of the Lagos State Houseof Assembly. The news startedflying that he has embezzled N7billion and that the EFCC isinvestigating him but today, it hascome down to N500milion whichit is said did not go through dueprocess.

Upon which one is the Speakerexpected to step down? Was it onthe allegation of N7billion or theone that did not go through dueprocess? Upon which one shouldhe step down? Since the case isin court, anybody standing in thecourt is presumed innocent untilthe court finds him guilty. I don’tknow why they are afraid?

Some governors havesuppressed their legislativehouses — Speaker IkufurojiAhead of the commissioning of the brand new legislative complex of the

Lagos State House of Assembly yesterday, Speaker Adeyemi Ikufuroji

spoke with newsmen during which he gave an overview of the issues and

challenges that have confronted the legislative branch of government in

the country. Ikurfuroji also dismissed calls for his resignation based on the

corruption allegations raised against him by the Economic and Financial

Crimes Commission, EFCC just as he lamented the intrusion of the liberty

of state legislative houses by some governors.

What is your relationship withthe Executive and what do youthink is the cause of instabilityin the leadership of some StateHouses of Assembly?

The legislative branch in thecountry is 13 years old while theexecutive is as old as Nigeria. Wehave been having the executivearm of government since theamalgamation of Nigeria in 1914.This is equally applicable to thejudiciary.

The truth of the matter is that a98 year old papa who had beenput under the oversight of a 13year old boy, you do not expectthe child to carry out his dutywithout fumbling, stumbling orboxing himself to a corner. So thelegislature is in a precarioussituation more than any other armof government in the country andhas many curves which are totallydifferent from others. It will takeus time, we would get there, andwe are already on the way.

If you are a Speaker and youforget that every other person inthe House is a potential Speaker,you are already in trouble.Despite the fact that they call youtheir boss, the truth of the matteris that you are their servant whotakes care of their needs. If yousee yourself as the big boss,before you know it, there is

conspiracy. The constitutionmakes it so easy to the House toimpeach the Speaker.

Before a House could impeachthe governor, a process must befollowed, but in the case of aSpeaker, it is very simple. Thereis no condition attached. TheHouse can just wake up and saythe Speaker must go and beforeyou know it, it is done. This givesthe executive a lot of leverage.That is basically why there isinstability

On my relationship with theexecutive, I will say we are verylucky in Lagos. In 1999, the manwho headed government thenwas a legislator. He is a democratto the core; that is Bola Tinubu.His relationship with thelegislature was the type thatmakes legislature to grow. Hemade sure that the legislaturewas on its feet in the state andthe tradition continues. Hetolerated divergent opinion. HisSpeaker could tell him to his face,Your Excellency; this is notacceptable to us. You can arguewith him to any length withoutleading to any sanction.

If your argument is superiorTinubu will back out and let thesituation be. With that type of aman, the Lagos House startedcutting its teeth and growing

firmly on ground faster than anyother legislative House in thecountry. By the time l took overin 2005, the one and half years lspent with him gave me thenecessary ingredient to forgeahead. On my first day in officewhen l went to his office, he stoodup to greet me, Mr. Speaker. Thatemboldened me. I guarded thatjealously.

When the new governor came,the initial challenge was to keepthe legislative House intactpreparing it for the job to bedone. I did a lot of things to makesure that the House is behind thegovernor for a successful journey.I give glory to God that wesucceed and kudos to mycolleagues for their commitmentand dedication.

What have you been able toachieve?

I know where the House wasin December 29 2005 and wherewe are today, it was a longjourney full of events and results.We have been able to turnaround the fortune of the state.

We are able to expose thelegislature and the supportingstaff to the best practices you canthink of in the country. I knowthere is no single House that canequal us in the country in termsof giving the right training andbest practices to the extent thatthere is no single month we donot receive visitors from otherstates who come to study onething or the order that we havedone. We are not a rubber stampHouse like in other places yet wedo not set the state on fire in orderto make our point. We still putthe executive arm on his toeswithout unnecessarily creatingpandemonium. We ask relevantquestions and we demandanswer to them.

Do we actually have reason tocelebrate democracy day?

We still have many things tocelebrate. We are in a hurry;democracy is only 13 years old.We cannot have everything in 13years. We must learn to be patientand be focused.

BY CHARLES KUMOLU

*Ikufuroji: Dismisses PDP pressure to step down

unwarranted violencetakesplace, almost every otherday. If it was not politiciansshedding their factional bloodtoday, it would be motor parkmiscreants fighting for legitimacyand spatial hegemony.

You will particularly recall themost audacious one when afactional leader of the stateNURTW called Eleweomo wasbrutally murdered in asupremacy battle and somepoliticians within the same PDPwere alleged to have had a handin the murder by the past stategovernment.

It was so bad that it was allegedthat one of the factional leadersof the touts was sleeping in theGovernment House and statemachinery was being deployedto stoke the violence in the state.When we came on board, welooked dispassionately at this

Akala was not a good example for us — Gov Ajimobicrisis and concluded that the onlymissing gap was a dispassionateleadership.

Even though it was alleged thatone of the factional leaders of theNURTW worked for us, wedecided that whether you wereAuxiliary or Genuine, whetheryou were Tokyo or Osaka, thegovernment of Oyo State wouldnot abet or fan schism in theNURTW.

We also showed the world thatwe would not spare anymastermind of violence, no matterhow highly placed they may be.

Our mantra of rule of law andjustice is our governmentalabiding principle. This wedemonstrated when a member ofour Pilgrims Welfare Board wasalleged to have had a hand inviolence against his Chairman.

Yes, we like the person incontext; yes he is a member ofour party but we asked the courtto do its job. In the interim, we

removed the person from hisposition. If the court thereaftersays he is not guilty, so be it.

In concrete terms, we have alsosucceeded in changing the faceof the state. Even though ourmileage ought to have been morethan this, but we were operatingin peculiar circumstances. Wehad no template of goodleadership to build upon.

But many people havecriticized your bringing intoyour cabinet members ofopposition parties. What is thephilosophy behind it?

Well, permit me if this isimmodesty, my exposure is atissue here. First, I have workedround the whole place,especially in the oil industry,where I was a major player forupward of 30 years. I have metdiverse people.

I am not totalitarian in my viewof government and governance.I believe that I don’t have a

greater share in this governmentthan the man in Action Allianceparty for instance.

I am just fortunate to beadministering the state at thisparticular time. So why should Iact like a totalitarian? Yes, theywere in opposing parties but theywere not in an opposing state! Itis still the same Oyo State. Soimmediately we came on board,I called all of them, nominateyour people into our governmentbut I gave a caveat: it must beyour best brains.

My attitude or if you like, myphilosophy is, if I can make useof the best brains of Oyo Statepeople and infuse them into myadministration, who takes theultimate glory? Is it not God,through me? So why should I notthrow the door open to those whocan help us develop our state viatheir deposit of human capital?

Continued from page 44

46—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1 , 2012 — 47

Untold story of howteenage girl stoleand sold friend’sbaby for N.3m

MRS. Femi Akintunde wouldhave debunked any prophesy tothe effect that her five month-oldson would be a subject ofunpalatable publicity when sheleft home last Wednesday, May23, 2012 for her shop atFolashade street, Ijegun area ofIkotun, Lagos. At the shop, theunsuspecting mother had breastfed her baby, gently laid him ona mat and dashed to the back ofthe shop to answer the call ofnature. But she was toexperience the shock of her lifewhen she came back to discoverthat the baby she left minutes agohad disappeared into thin air!

Perplexed by the unfoldingscenario, Mrs. Akintunde wentberserk, dashing from oneneighbour ’s apartment toanother asking questions abouther son’s whereabout. Quickly,a search party was launched andsoon, every nook and cranny ofthe area was combed. But thesearch was effortless. Then it was

to adopt one, a decision she saidshe confided in her friend, oneUche. Not quite long, Uchereportedly called to inform herthat there was a child ready foradoption in Lagos.

On reaching Lagos, she saidBenedicta claimed to be themother of the child and explainedthat she wanted to put her up foradoption because of her inabilityto take care of him, since she hadno husband. She added also thatafter paying them the sum, shegave them her contact in order tobe reached at any given time.

On how she was arrested,Crime Alert learnt that followingPatience’s confessional statement,the police put a call across to Mrs.

•Patience

•Mother and child

that the Divisional Police Officer,Mr. Austin Akika, was personallyinvolved in the investigation. Itwas learnt that in the course ofinvestigation, the distraughtmother gave names of her visitorsthat fateful day and the exact timeeach visited. They were all invitedand interrogated. Incidentally,Miss Ben was the last to visit andbecame of course; the prime,

,

However, while the family of themissing baby waited in anxiety, newscame that the baby had been found infar away Abuja, where findings byPolice detective attached to IkotunDivision revealed that the baby wasactually stolen and sold away for apaltry sum of N300,000

By EVELYN USMAN

•Medical doctor, twoothers in police net

statement has led tothe arrest of amedical doctor, DrAlonge; the buyer,Mrs Nwafor and afemale accomplice,Oriwo Benedicta.

How the baby wasfound

Crime Alert

gathered that afterthe futile search forthe baby, the casewas reported at theIkotun Policedivision, followingwhich investigationstarted. It wasreliably gathered

clear that little Michael mighthave been kidnapped. And as itis normal of kidnappers, parentsof baby Michael waited for callsfor ransom but none came.

However, while the family of themissing baby waited in anxiety,news came days later, that thebaby had been found in far awayAbuja, where findings by Policedetectives attached to Ikotundivision revealed that the babywas actually stolen and sold fora paltry sum of N300,000.

Curiously, the person allegedto have stolen the innocent childturned out to be one of MrsAkintunde’s friends. She wasidentified as Miss Patience Benwhose age was given as 19. TheOwan, Edo State born Miss Benis already helping the police onhow she perpetrated the crime.Already, her confessional

street, Abaranje,claimed to haveknown Mrs.Akintunde for a while,as they both attendedthe same hospital fora n t e - n a t a l .Unfortunately for her,she claimed her babywho would have beenthe same age matewith her friend’s diedat birth. Narratinghow she perpetratedthe crime, Miss Bensaid: “I just went to theshop, met the child onthe floor and carriedhim. Immediately Icontacted Benedicta

who earlier told me she had founda buyer. Together, we went to meetthe buyer in the hotel she lodgedand she paid us N300,000.”

Asked how she felt whencarrying out the illicit transaction,she simply said it was thehandiwork of the devil. On whatwas her share of the proceeds, shesimply stated that the amount wasshared among the partiesinvolved; the doctor, a lady whomshe claimed introduced her to thebuyer and herself. At a point, sheburst into tears, apparentlyregretting her actions.

On the part of the buyer, MrsNwafor, she claimed she neverknew the baby was stolen. Rathershe explained that she was madeto believe that the child was upfor adoption. In an emotion ladentone, she narrated how she wasmade a public ridicule owing toher years of barenness. And inher desperate move to have a childshe could call her own, she opted

suspect. It was even her statementthat gave her out.

In her confessional statement,Patience, a resident of Islamic

Nwafor, pretending to be thedoctor and informed her to bringthe child that they were no longerinterested to sell him. Followingthe new development, MrsNwafor said she took the nextavailable flight to Lagos, whereto her surprise, she discoveredthat the caller was a policeman.47-year-old Mrs Nwaforlamented that her desperatesearch for a child has not onlyadded to her woes but hasbrought her to public ridicule. Thesuspects are currently at the StateCriminal InvestigationDepartment(SCID) where furtherinvestigation into their culpabilityis on-going.

CMYK

48 — Vanguard, FRIDAY , JUNE 1, 2012

Vanguard, FRIDAY , JUNE 1, 2012 — 49

FG to commence disbursement of CVFF

VOL. 02 No. 10 MAY 2012 www.vanguardngr.com

Continues on page 51

SECRETARY General of the Memorandum of Understanding on

Ports State Control for West and Cen-tral African Region (Abuja MoU), MfonEkong Usoro, has said that the body hasimproved the level of compliance of itsmembers to port state control since sheassumed office.

The body is also set to hold a work-shop for heads of maritime administra-tions of its 22 members in Nigeria nextmonth.

Usoro who disclosed this in Lagos,said that the body has been able to cre-

We have improved ship inspection for Abuja MoU — Scribe

ate a data base of the activities of itsmembers as it concern ports state con-trol. The Abuja MoU scribe pointed outthat the creation of the information database has brought a lot of accolade to thebody, as the international communitynow see members as serious about portstate control.

She noted that before her appointment,the body was almost grounded with somemembers backing out. Presently, shecontinued, most of the 22 members in theregion have come back to the fold andare very active in the affairs of the body.

In line with the agreement she noted,members now submitt report on at least15 percent vessels inspected. Usoro alsosaid that there has been a lot of complainsfrom ship owners and that the AbujaMoU have been able to intervene betweenboth parties.

She commended Nigeria for being upto date in forwarding its inspection de-tails as at when due.

In her words, “Nigeria never fails tosend her inspection details which is for-warded to the secretariat. Nigeria sub-mits its report promptly.” She however

container-ships Nigerianports could handle wereabout 3,500 TEU. However,the WafMax vessels with ashallow draught but widebeam that allows for 17 rowsof containers across theirdecks are able to come intoApapa almost fully laden.Ajayi pointed that the shal-low nature of the Lagos portsmakes the Authority ’s drivefor the construction of deepseaports in Lekki andBadagry very necessary. Henoted that with the deep seaports, the problem of shallownature does not arise.Ajayi said that NPA will givethe necessary support inmaking the nation’s portswork better.

that with the 13.5 meters lev-el, specialized vessels thatare bigger have started call-ing at the ports, especiallyWafMax vessels belongingto Maersk Line. WafMaxvessels were the first con-tainer ships designed spe-cifically for the ports situat-ed in the West African sub-region, where the waterdepths are relatively shal-low, and also the largest inthe trade. They are replac-ing ships of around 2,500TEU previously on MaerskLine’s FEWA2 loop betweenAsia and West Africa.Prior to the removal of wrecksand derelicts from the Lagoschannels, as well as itsdredging, the largest

office that the quays of theLagos ports are about 14meters and should the chan-nel be dredged to or above14 meters, the would col-lapse.Ajayi explained that NPA in

NIGERIAN Ports Authority, NPA has at

tributed its inability todredge the channel leading

Why we can’t go further than 13.5 meters — NPA

* l-r: Deputy Chairman House Committee on Marine Transport, Amunia Kadiri, DGNIMASA, Patrick Akpobolokemi and Chairman House Committee on Marine Transport,Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, at this year's Offshore Technology Conference, OTC in Houston,Texas.

Email: godfrey_bivbere@yahoo.co.uk

…to hold workshop for heads of maritime administration for members

stressed that compared to otherMoU’s there is still room for im-provement.

For the training programme,Usoro noted that it is a three dayworkshop that is being put to-gether by the body and the In-ternational Maritime Organiza-tion, IMO and will hold from the18th to 20th of June in Uyo, AkwaIbom State.

According to her, as a means ofimproving the performance of

50—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Channel dredging:

Stories by GODFREY BIVBEREto the ports in Lagos furtherthan 13.5 meters to the na-ture of the port.General Managing incharge of Public Affairs ofthe NPA, Chief MichaelAjayi, told Vanguard in his

collaborationwith LagosC h a n n e lManagement,LCM, has thecapacity todredge theLagos portschannel fur-ther down butfor the reasonm e n t i o n e dabove. TheNPA imagemaker noted

AFTER five years of waitinggame, federal government has fi-

nally given the management of the Ni-gerian Maritime Administration andSafety agency, NIMASA, the green light

to commence the dis-bursement of theCabotage Vessel Fi-nancing Fund, CVFF.To this end, NIMASAmanagement haveinstructed the fivebanks selected tomanage the fund toprocess all the appli-cations send to themby intending benefi-ciaries.A source close to themanagement of NI-

MASA who disclosed this to Ports-andHarbours, said that the some of thebanks should have already started con-tacting those applicants who are quali-fied for the loan.The source also told PortsandHarboursthat a meeting has been schedule to holdin Abuja between the apex maritime agen-cy’s management and top officials of theministry of transport this month.Confirming this to Vanguard, Public Re-lations Officer of NIMASA, Hajia LamiTumaka, said that all arrangements hasbeen concluded and that the banks wouldstart the disbursement soon. Similarly,President of Women’s International Ship-ping & Trading Association (WISTA), Mrs.

NIMASA task force arrests boat carryingover 2,645 litres of AGO

A JOINT Task Force Monitoring Team led by Nige-

rian Maritime Administrationand Safety Agency, NIMASA,has arrested a boat carrying over2,645 litres of Automative GasOil (AGO) on board near theNNPC pipeline at Atlas Cove,

Lagos.The petroleum products were

stored in nine drums each con-taining 205 litres and anothersixteen Jerry cans each contain-ing 50 litres.

The fibre boat named AmomoMarine, was apprehended by

both NIMASA officials andNavy personnel and taken to theAgency’s Kirikiri jetty.

A statement signed by head ofPublic relations of NIMASA,Hajia Lami Tukaka, said duringquestioning by NIMASA offi-

Continues on page 51Continues on page 51

Email: godfrey_bivbere@yahoo.co.uk

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012—51

cials at its Kirikiri office,the crew members whosenames were given asGaniyu Abbas and JamiuMatthew said they weresent by their boss to sup-ply rice, fish and water toan unnamed ship at seaand that they would bepaid with one and a halfton of diesel.

She pointed out that thecrew member who spokein pidgin said “We deyhouse this morning weyour oga come call us saymake we come go packrice, fish and water, andsmall boat come carry usgo to ship side. They cometransfer the water, rice andfish, na him they comegive us markets (diesel).”

The suspected sponsors,Mrs. Sikirat Oba and Mr.Emiko Nelson were alsoapprehended after theywere called by the boatcrew.

statement

A statement by the duorevealed that they werecontacted by one Mr. Seunto supply food stuff; rice,fish, and water to a vesseland they will in turn bepaid with one and a halfton of AGO and that theboat was on its way backwhen the NIMASA TaskForce apprehended it.

Meanwhile officials ofthe Agency have evacuat-ed the boat to stop the con-tinued spill of the oil withresultant negative effectson marine and aquatic life.

The suspects and a totalof nine 205 litre drums andSixteen 50 litre cans ofAGO have been handedover to the Marine Policeat Kirikiri for further inves-tigations.

While the Agency will

NIMASA task force arrests boat carrying over2,645 litres of AGO

‘We have improved ship inspection for Abuja MoU'

members flag and portstate control mandate,“It has become appar-ent to the IMO and Abu-ja MoU Secretariat, thatheads of of maritimeadministrations beingadvisors to governmenton matters of maritimepolicy in general andthe implementationagencies of harmonisedport state control prac-tice and procedures, aswell as signatories tothe regional Memoran-dum of port state con-trol, need to be fully

involved in the supper-mechanism developedby the IMO, in order tobuild adequate capaci-ty for the maritime sec-tor, and, in particular,port state control in theregion.”

to speak with your stategovernment because weare there in that state.”

She further explainedthat since top members ofthe Association are staffof NIMASA, it makes iteasy for them to furtherpush the case of suchmember to be in the finallists to be send for train-

Continues from page 50

Continues from page 50continue to patrol the wa-terways and creeks tocheck illegal activities atsea and incessant pollutionof the marine environmentby non convention vesselsand crafts, awareness cam-paigns to operators ofthese small crafts remaincritical. The Agency hasresolved to increase thetempo of these campaignsin a bid to ensuring saferand cleaner maritime do-

main.It will be recalled that

NIMASA, the Agency re-sponsible for the adminis-tration of maritime safetyin the nation has powersto arrest ships, non con-vention vessels and smallcrafts suspected of carry-ing out illegal activities insection 35 (1) of the Mer-chant Shipping Act 2007.

Jean Chiazor Anishere,confirmed that one of hermembers haave gotten aletter from one of the fi-nancial institution inform-ing her that she has beenselected as one of the ben-eficiaries of the fund.On why it took severalyears before the disburse-ment, Tumaka saidthough there were somegrey areas which werebeing smoothing, it is bet-ter to start it well and laterthan to have a repeat ofthe Ship Acquisition andShip Building Fund (SAS-BF). She explained thatthe agency’s managementunder its Director Gener-al, Patrick Akpobolokemi,is determined to get itright this time. It would berecalled that the NIMASAhelmsman had raised analarm early last year thatpoliticians were scrab-bling for the funds andhad vowed that no politi-cian, no matter how high-ly place will benefit fromthe fund.He noted that the agencyis bidding its time to avoidto ensure that the over$110 million lifelinemeant to empower ship-

ping practitioners does notgett into wrong handsAccording to him, “NoNigerian politician, underwhatever guise and nomatter how highly placedwould be allowed to accessthe Cabotage Vessel Fi-nancing Funds”. “Politi-cians see the fund as a bo-nus and I have resisted allmanner of pressure to dis-burse the funds so far.“Everybody is scramblingfor the money but we arecarefully scrutinising allapplications. I shall per-sonally inspect the facili-ties and other logistics ofall the intending benefi-ciaries to ensure thatthose who eventually getthe loans use them for thepurpose they are meant”,Akpobolokemi declaredThe agency over two yearsago, selected four commer-cial banks from the 21 thatindicated interesting inadministering to fund.The four banks are Fideli-ty, Sky, Diamond and ETB.The four banks have sincebeen given letters of au-thority to that effect wereselected after a rigorousprocess including theirexperience and expertiseof maritime business.

FG to commencedisbursement of CVFF

Continues from page 50

ing abroad.On the Cabotage Act,

the WISTA Presidentpointed out that it is un-fortunate that there hasbeen no beneficiary interms of funding for ac-quisition of ships but not-ed that there has been achange in the process.

Anishere, toldPortsandHarbours thatone of her member hasgotten a letter from oneof the financial institu-tion informing her thatshe has been selected asone of the beneficiaries ofthe Cabotage Vessel Fi-nancing Fund, CVFF.

Vanguard

ADEREMI – I, for-merly known andaddressed as MissAdebomi TitilayoAderemi, now wishto be known andaddressed as Mrs.Adebomi TitilayoFadare. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

FUNFADE – I, for-merly known andaddressed as JohnGowon Funfade,now wish to beknown andaddressed as JohnJonathan Sunday.All former docu-ments remain valid.General publicplease take note.

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CLASSIFIED

52—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012 — 53

Nadal coasts on

RAFAEL Nadal improved his record at the FrenchOpen to 47-1, advancing to the third round

Thursday by beating Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-2, 6-2, 6-0. Nadal has won the French Open title sixtimes, and one more will break the record he shareswith Bjorn Borg.

The second-seeded Spaniard’s only loss at the clay-court Grand Slam came in 2009, when he lost to RobinSoderling in the fourth round.

Overall, Nadal has won 10 Grand Slam titles, in-cluding at least one at each of the four majors.

Murray limps into next round

GRIMACING in pain with almost every step,Andy Murray nearly had to call it quits Thurs-

day because of a back spasm at the French Open.Instead, the fourth-seeded Brit rebounded from an

awful first set to beat Jarkko Nieminen 1-6, 6-4, 6-1,6-2 and reach the third round.

“I was few points probably from stopping,” Mur-ray said. “I just didn’t really want to stop the match.Then at the end of the second set I started standingup at the change of ends, and my back started toloosen up a little bit.”

Defending champion Rafael Nadal also made it tothe third round, defeating Denis Istomin of Uz-bekistan 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 and improving his record atRoland Garros to 47-1.

Li Na canters into third round

DEFENDING champion Li Na raced into theFrench Open third round when she brushed

aside Frenchwoman Stephane Foretz Gacon 6-0 6-2on Thursday. Chinese seventh seed Li, who lastyear became the first Asian player to win a grandslam singles title, needed just 52 minutes to advanceon Court One. Foretz Gacon, the world number 86,won the first two points but that was as close as shecame to victory as Li bagged the opening 10 games.

Foretz Gacon pulled a break back but the revivalwas short-lived with Li setting up a meeting againsteither Lauren Davis or her fellow American Christi-na Mchale.

AFTER four days ofplay, the French

Open was left without aWilliams sister in thedraw when former run-ner-up Venus joined2002 champion Serena inmaking an early exit.

Venus, seven times agrand-slam winner butnow coping with an auto-immune disease, wentout tamely 6-2 6-3 to thirdseed Agnieszka Rad-wanska.

Serena, whose shockfirst-round defeat byFrenchwoman VirginieRazzano reverberatedthrough the Roland Gar-ros courts on Tuesday,was in the stands to seeher big sister thrashed byan in-form Radwanska.

Tennis fans rued theloss of both Americans,two of the biggest char-acters in the women’sgame, but thankfully themen’s favourites are

playing to form and bothworld number one No-vak Djokovic and record-breaking 2009 championRoger Federer survivedinto the third round.

At least one of the Wil-liams sisters has featuredat every French Opensince 1997, except forlast year when they wereboth injured, and theycontested the final in2002, with Serena win-ning.

...Venus joins Serena as spectator

Sister act over in Paris

TRANSFER UPDATE......TRANSFER UPDATE

LIVERPOOL havereportedly agreed a

compensation fee withSwansea for BrendanRodgers. Talks whichbegan on Wednesday re-garding compensation,with the Welsh club look-ing for between £4mil-lion and £5million to cov-er the three-and-a-half-year contract the North-ern Irishman signed inFebruary, appear to havebeen straightforward onThursday.

Another point of con-tention was Rodgers’ de-sire to bring members ofhis backroom staff withthree in line to make themove to Anfield.

Reports in Wales sug-gest the trio includeRodgers’ trusted assist-ant performance analystChris Davies and per-formance consultant GlenDriscoll.

Once those have allbeen ratified - and thereis yet to be confirmationfrom either club - thenthe Reds can officiallyinstall Rodgers as suc-cessor to Kenny Dal-glish, although an an-nouncement may still notbe made until Friday.

The new manager ’sfirst job will be to assess

Liverpool agree’’Rogers fee

the squad he has inher-ited and start makingplans for the summer

•Rogers

transfer window, whichis complicated slightly byEuro 2012.

CHELSEA and Tottenham are pondering movesfor Newcastle striker Demba Ba, whose £7

million release clause is activated today for a periodof two months, reports the Daily Mirror.

The 27-year-old striker scored 16 goals for theMagpies last season, and struck up a sound part-nership with fellow countryman Papiss Cisse in thelatter part of the campaign, to help fire Alan Pardew’smen into the Europa League next year.

Newcastle are bracing themselves for a stampedeof offers during the Senegalese international’s pri-vate transfer window, with Blues owner RomanAbramovich seeing Demba Ba as a potential Stam-ford Bridge replacement for Didier Drogba.

Chelsea, Spurs battle over Demba Ba

•Venus

FRENCH OPEN

WATCH

Man U make

Asamoah

move

REPORTS coming outof Italy have claimedManchester United arefavourites to sign Udi-nese midfielder KwadwoAsamoah, who is alsowanted by Juventus.Sir Alex Ferguson isdetermined to bolster hismidfield this summerwith both defensive andcreative additions.

Borussia Dortmundplaymaker ShinjiKagawa is expected toarrive at Old Trafford inthe coming weeks andFerguson will reportedlyturn his attentions to thesigning of a moredefensive-minded play-er once the deal for theJapan star is complete.

It was reported byGazzetta dello Sport twoweeks ago that Unitedhad an original bid of•12 million rejected forAsamoah with Udinesepresident GiampaoloPozzo unwilling to ac-cept anything less thanthe club’s asking price;reported to be •15 mil-lion.

CMYK

VanguardCLASSIFIED

OMUEKPEN – I,formerly knownand addressedas Miss IluobeRespect Omuek-pen, now wish tobe known andaddressed asMrs. OgbeifunRespect Iluobe.All former docu-ments remainvalid. Generalpublic please

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DADA – I, former-ly known and ad-dressed as MissYetunde Oluwa-seyi Dada, nowwish to be knownand addressed asMrs. Yetunde Olu-waseyi Kunle-Ka-kanfo. All formerdocuments remainvalid. Generalpublic please takenote.

ELECHI – I, for-merly knownand addressedas Miss EugeniaElechi, nowwish to beknown and ad-dressed as Mrs.Eugenia MmaAnyanwu. Allformer docu-ments remainvalid. General

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54 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

Moses: We will overrun Namibia

Continues from BP

Uche Kalu stands out

was good in trainingyesterday and showed itwith his play.

The entire team feltgood training, for thefirst time, on lush greenturf of UJ Esuene Stadi-um yesterday and aftertheir training some ofthem made a plea to Ni-gerians especially Cala-bar fans:

"Don't panic during thegame on Sunday and ifgoals don't come earlycontinue cheering forthey will surely come."

This was passed downby stand-in captain Vin-cent Enyeama.

Calabar has been agreat host to them andsports commissioner PatUgbe works hard tomake the place a homefor them.

Saintfiet wishes Namibiagood luckContinues from BP

Namibia is evolvinginto a formidable side.

“I was last Saturday inWürzburg at the game(between) Mozambiqueand Namibia and saw avery talented Brave War-riors team. These youngguys have a bright fu-

ture, it’s great to seethem,” said Saintfiet.

“Fifteen of the 21 play-ers I selected before butthe young guys becamemore mature and areready for the big tasks. Iwish the Brave Warriorsgood luck for the upcom-ing games!”

No starting 11 for Eaglesyet

that would give awaysome of the players heintended to parade onSunday, but that wasnever the case. In goalhe started Chigozie Ag-bim on one side and lat-er he brought in VincentEnyeama, captain of theside and first choicegoalie. Towering Israelibased goalie, AustinEjide, was all alone onthe right side of thepitch.

In the defence, God-frey Oboabona, JuwonOshaniwa and Azu-buike Egwueke, werethought to have wonthemselves shirts, butthat was never the caseas Gege Soriola andPapa Idris, who has justrecovered fully fromknocks were introducedon the side that manythought were the proba-bles.

John Utaka, VictorMoses, Kalu Uche and

Ikechukwu Uche, inter-changed at will in thecentre of the attack. Atsome point, Sone Alukoand Sunday Mba alsohad their bite of thecake, while, NnamdiOduamadi, Ejike Uzoe-nyi, Obinna Nwachuk-wu ran the wings inter-changeably. At the endof the day, it seems onlyEnyeama, is sure of ashirt, as Keshi continuesto juggle his team, wish-ing for the perfect mixthat should make thenational team thickagain come Sunday.

NFF Technical Com-mittee Chairman, Chris-topher Green, whowatched the training,praised the level offighting spirit in theteam and concluded thatthe UJ Esuene Stadium,with the turf he has seenlooks ready to re-launchNigeria into interna-tional football promi-nence.

Continues from BP

WIGAN Athletic starVictor Moses has

said Nigeria haveenough quality to over-run Namibia in a WorldCup qualifier on Sun-day.

Moses, who will begunning for his secondinternational cap for Ni-geria, said in an exclu-sive interview: “Fromwhat I have seen of ourtraining sessions, I haveno doubt that we will rundown the Brave Warriorson Sunday.

”I know we have thequality and talent to dothe job on Sunday andwe are focused on doingit for Nigerians.”

Moses made his longawaited Eagles debut asa late substitute againstRwanda in February in

a 2013 Africa NationsCup qualifier, whichended goalless.

The Wigan Athleticswinger said he is nowitching for his home de-but.

”I can’t wait to play athome. You know I neverhad the chance eventhough was close to fea-turing in the gameagainst Zambia, but amhappy and hungry toplay in front of a packedstadium with Nigerianscheering”

Victor Moses has rep-resented England at var-ious age levels but washanded the all-clear toplay for Nigeria by worldfootball governing bodyFIFA last year after heopted for a change ofnationality.

Namibia in highspirit for EaglesBY JOHN EGBOKHAN

INTERIM Coach ofNamibia’s Brave War-

riors, Bernhard Kaanju-ka expects a spiritedperformance from hischarges against Nigeriain this Sunday’s 2014World Cup qualifier atthe U.J Esuene Stadiumin Calabar

The Namibians havespent over a week camp-ing in the German townof Kaiserau.

In an interview withThe Namibian, CoachKaanjuka said that thecamp has served its pur-pose and they have thor-oughly utilised all theresources available tothem.

He said the morale inthe camp was sky-high,which he hopes wouldpropel the team to im-press against the Nige-rians.

“The players’ will toplay is very high andthe atmosphere of to-getherness in the campis exceptional and we

are confident it will bereplicated on the pitch inthat match”, Kaanjukasaid.

Kaanjuka said he waspleased with the com-mitment and disciplinewithin the squad.

“The senior players arevery helpful and theyoung ones are willingto listen and take adviceand that I believe issomething that we needin the team.”

He added that theywere not going to awedby the past heroics ofthe Nigerians when bothteam square up on thepitch in Calabar.

“This is a game for menand past pedigree wouldnot count because we areequal to the task ahead.We are not going to playas boys but as men”,said Kaanjuka.

Keshi: No pressures, nomust win mandate

SUPER Eagles handler, Stephen Oke-

chukwu Keshi, has saidthat he was not underany form of pressurefrom any quarters to ex-cel with the nationalteam, declaring that de-spite that, excellence ishis ultimate desire ashandler of the Eagles.

“There is nothing likepressure coming fromany quarters. Tension orpressure is a naturalthing in life. When youleave your house for afunction you are underpressure to do it well,when you are drivingyou are under pressureto get to your destina-tion, so life itself is full

of pressure of all types,but no NFF official hasput me under pressure.

Keshi, praised the sup-port he has been receiv-ing from NFF PresidentAminu Maigari, notingthat the Bauchi stateborn football administra-tor, has been a perfectgentleman in the man-ner he has piloted theaffairs of the NFF. “No,he has not given me anymandate to win all thegames I have becausethat may be impossible.But it’s my desire to winall my games, but younever can tell in a gameof football”, he said.

Keshi also spoke on hisrelationship with NFFTechnical CommitteeChairman, BarristerChristopher Green, as-suring that the bond isstrong and united forthe sake of Nigerian foot-ball. “I’m on the samepage with Barr Greenand members of theTechnical Committee”.

•Keshi

England’s Lamp goes out

FRANK Lampard hasbeen ruled out of

England’s UEFA EURO2012 campaign.

The Chelsea midfield-er suffered a thigh inju-ry in training yesterdayand went for a scan thisafternoon to discover theextent of the damage.

However, Lampardand manager Roy Hodg-son were preparing forthe worst and the Foot-ball Association havenow confirmed the play-er, who will be 34 nextmonth, will not be partof England’s 23-mansquad.Jordan Hender-son will be called into theEngland squad provid-ing Hodgson gets thegreen light from UEFA.

Utaka expectstough test

JOHN Utaka has declared that Nigeria’s

Super Eagles will notlook down on theirNamibian counterparts,the Brave Warriors whenthey clash in Calabarthis Sunday.

Both teams go head-to-head in a 2014 FIFAWorld Cup qualifying.

Utaka made it clearthat the Namibians willnot be easy foes this Sun-day.

The HSC Montpellierforward, however as-sured that the SuperEagles will defeat theBrave Warriors as “it isimportant to start on awinning note.”

“We don’t expect aneasy game againstNamibia. But we knowhow important this game

is to us and the countryand that is why we havetold ourselves it is im-portant to start on a win-ning note.

“This team have a lotof quality to win thematch (against Namib-ia). I am confident wewill win,” he said.

The 30-year-old for-ward also expressedhappiness at getting asecond chance to featurefor Eagles.

“I’m delighted to beback in the team and Ijust want to give my bestand help the team wingames,” said Utaka.

Utaka has played inmore than 40 games forNigeria and was lastpart of the team duringthe 2010 Fifa World Cupas an unused substitute.

•Kalu Uche

CMYK

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012 — 55

FRENCH coachHerve Renard has

attempted to downplayenormous expectation inZambia that the Africanchampions can qualify fortheir first World Cup.

Renard’s side won theirinaugural Africa Cup ofNations crown in Febru-ary when beating IvoryCoast in the final.

Fans now believe Zam-bia can overcome GroupD rivals Ghana, Sudanand Lesotho as they chasea place at Brazil 2014.

“We were the best forone tournament but I’mreally sure we are not thebest team in Africa,” Re-nard told BBC Sport.

Zambia travel to Sudanthis weekend to opentheir qualifying campaignagainst a side they beat3-0 in the quarter-finals ofthis year’s Nations Cup.

A home match againstGhana on the 9-10 Junein Ndola follows, as theChipolopolo face anotherNations Cup opponent -with the Zambians beat-ing Ghana in the semi-fi-nals in February.

“There are some teams

World Cup qualifiers:Renards fears for Zambia

that are stronger than usand we know that,” saidRenard.

“We know we have to bevery, very good to go to theWorld Cup because if weplay at half our level, wewon’t go to the World Cupbecause I think Ghana arestronger than us."

“We have a very toughgroup because Sudan weregood during the (2012)Nations Cup qualifiers asthey were able to draw inGhana, and it is difficult toplay in Khartoum.”

•Renard

THE final leg of thezonal qualifiers for

the 2012 edition of the Gul-der Ultimate Five AsideFootball Competitionkicks off today at the Na-tional Stadium, Surulere,Lagos with matches to beplayed at the New Gym-nasium of the NationalInstitute for Sports (NIS)from Frida to Sunday,June 3, 2012.The zonal qualifierswhich started on Friday,April 27, 2012 have seentwo teams each qualifyfrom every zone, from the

Abu King Shulluwa PlayingGround, Makurdi, venueof the North-Central zonalqualifiers to the trainingpitch of Rangers Interna-tional Enugu, venue of theSouth-East zonal matches.

Two teams equally quali-fied from the practice pitchof the Liberation StadiumPort Harcourt, venue of theSouth-South qualifiers. Thetrain later moved to OlehTownship Stadium, Oleh,for the Mid-Western zonalmatches from Friday, May18 to Sunday, May 20,2012, which also producedtwo representative teams forthe zone.

Gulder 5-Aside: Lagos hostslast zonal final

CMYK

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e-mail: rowolove@yahoo.co.uk

How to Play SudokuTHE VIGILANTE

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.

QUICK CROSSWORD

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

TODAY'S PUZZLES YESTERDAY'S ANSWERS

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012

ACROSS

1 Thong (5)5 Steam (6)8 Canal-boat (5)10 Fruit (6)11 Boss (4)14 Occupier (6)15 Customary (7)18 Entrap (3)19 Cat (3)21 Daybreak (4)23 Bar (5)24 Network (4)27 Lair (3)29 Record (3)32 Fated (6)34 Story (4)35 Evoke (6)38 Helped (8)39 Strand (6)40 Principle (5)

DOWN

2 Also (3)3 Counting-frame (6)4 Tap (3)5 Undershirt (4)6 Trimmed (6)7 Decayed (6)9 Turned (7)12 Number (3)13 Facts (4)16 Relax (4)17 Wanderer (5)20 Threatened (7)22 Desire (4)24 Demure (6)25 Aperture (4)26 Respect (6)28 Part (6)30 Solidify (3)33 Deceased (4)36 Permit (3)37 Wrath (3)

ACROSS: 2, Match 7, Rota 8, Office 9, Trace11, Dud 13, Bus 15, Read 16, Bat 18, Hero 19,Demoted 20, Slap 22, West 23, Genteel 25,Even 27, Had 28, Miss 30, Did 31, Lot 33,Anger 36, Famous 37, Open 38, Pilot.

DOWN: 1, Vogue 2, Mat 3, Tea 4, Hoe 5,Aft 6, Scour 10, Cram 11, Dressed 12, Dam-aged 13, Bedevil 14, Softest 16, Berth 17,Towed 18, Hew 21, Pen 24, Earn 26, Vital29, Sober 32, Coy 33, Asp 34, Gel 35, Rot.

EAGLES: Uche Kalu stands out•Eagles send a messageto Nigerians

BY ONOCHIE

ANIBEZE

BEFORE the NationsCup qualifier Febru-

ary 29 in Rwanda UcheKalu performed aboveaverage in training andthe friendly match inLiberia.

He clearly stood out asone of the best amongthe local players.

But when the foreign-based stars arrived forthe match in RwandaKalu lost his place in theteam. It was difficult forStephen Keshi to fieldhim in place of OsazeOdewengie and YakubuAiyegbeni. And with IkeUche as the striker onthe bench Kalu couldnot even find a placeamong the dressedplayers.

After 90 minutes inRwanda, Stephen Keshi

and his entire crew re-gretted leaving outKalu. Considering thecircumstances no onecould blame them. Kalusimply needed to con-vince the crew more thathe has come of age. Hehas been doing so andeven came close to scor-ing when his jab hit thepost in the internationalfriendly against Peruthat Nigeria lost lastweek. And in the train-ing sessions the Enyim-ba player has won him-self a place and justhopes that he will get achance against Namibiaon Sunday. He scored intraining yesterday andmay start the match thestars around not with-standing. There are IkeUche, John Utaka, Vic-tor Moses, Sone Aluko inthe team but Kalu willsurely get a place evenif he doesn't start. He

CContinues on page 54

No starting 11 forEagles yet

CContinues on page 54

Saintfiet wishes Namibia good luck

FORMER Brave Warriors coach Tom

Saintfiet has wishedNamibia luck for theirWorld Cup qualifieragainst Nigeria on Sun-day.

Saintfiet, now em-ployed as technical di-

rector of Nigerian foot-ball, sent his best wish-es via e-mail to hisformer employer andNamibia Football Asso-ciation president JohnMuinjo.

The Belgian, whoseNigerian appointment is

the subject of much de-bate in that country, alsosaid he has been keep-ing tabs on the BraveWarriors.

And based on his as-sessment of the squad,

THE Super Eagles resumed training

Thursday evening at thenew-look UJ EsueneStadium in Calaba, theCross River State capi-tal, with the technicalcrew giving nothingaway on the likely 11players that will startSunday’s game againstNamibia.

The training whichstarted at about 3:40pm,saw the players in-volved in all manner ofdrills, especially quickbreaks, counter-attacksand blinder shots, beforeHead Coach StephenKeshi decided it wastime for 11-aside .

Many had thought

CContinues on page 54

•Uche

Namibia in high spirit for Eagles — Pg 54

•Uche Kalu

•Moses

•Aluko

CMYK