thursday, november 26, 2015 new

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6>>


OLUSEGUN KOIKI

No fewer than 48 Ni-gerians were yes-terday deported

by the United Kingdom over several irregulari-ties.

The deportees arrived the Hajj Camp area of the Murtala Muhammed

International Airport at 8am.

They comprise 44 males and four females.

Before the confirma-

CHIDI UGWU, WOLE ADEDEJI AND WILLIAMS ATTAH

Nigerian National Petroleum Corpo-ration, NNPC, has

engaged the Department of State Services, DSS, and the Economic and Fi-nancial Crimes Commis-

Payment of N5,000 to unemployed kicks off in 2016 –FG

P.8

NNPC engages DSS, EFCC to stop hoarding

P.39

Lagos beach: Untapped revenue spinner

Vol. 5 N0. 1252 Thursday, November 26, 2015 N150National Mirror Online @NationalMirror

P.7

Reps probe sale, closure of newsprint company

DPR seals 17 stations in Bauchi, Gombe

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (3rd left); President Muhammadu Buhari; Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun and others during the burial of the late Mama H.I.D Awolowo at Ikenne, Ogun State, yesterday.

UK deports 48 Nigerians over immigration offences

...Buhari, OBJ, Gowon, 17 govs pay last respect P.2

Eulogies as HID is fi nally buried on centenary birthday

Buhari

L9

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Thursday, November 26, 2015

Filth on Broad Street, Lagososoossoosos PHOTO: SAMUEL ADETIMEHIN

Fuel scarcity

Eulogies as HID is fi nally buried on centenary

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net2 Thursday, November 26, 2015News


Cross-section of judges at the valedictory session for retired Justice John Fabiyi at the Supreme Court, Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN


FEMI OYEWESOABEOKUTA

The remains of late Yeye Oodua and matriarch of

Awolowo dynasty, Chief (Mrs.) Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo, were yesterday committed to mother earth at the fam-ily’s country home in Ikenne, headquarters of Ikenne Local Govern-ment Area of Ogun State.

She was interred be-side her husband inside the Awolowo Mausoleum, located within the family compound, after a funeral service at Our Saviour’s Church, Anglican Com-munion, Ikenne, presided over by Archbishop Met-

ropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria Anglican Church Communion, Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh.

Eminent personalities, which included Senate President, Bukola Saraki, who stood in for President Muhammadu Buhari; former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (Rtd), former President Olusegun Obasanjo, as well as 16 governors all joined the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, and the chief mourner, Gov-ernor Ibikunle Amosun, at the church service.

As early as 8:45a.m, eminent Nigerians and other clergymen, which included the Pastor of Later Rain Assembly,

Tunde Bakare, and Chief Olu Falae had filled the 690 capacity church, while others scrambled for space to pay their last respect to the late matri-arch.

The funeral service, however, commenced at exactly 10 a.m. after the white chariot conveying the gold-plated casket ar-rived the church and the bell on the belfry tolled for the third time.

In his sermon, Primate Okoh described the late HID as a great wife, who stood by her husband, late Obafemi Awolowo, throughout his sojourn on earth.

Okoh prayed that Mama would find eternal

rest after living a worthy life.

The primate also laud-ed the deceased for being courageous, even when she lost three of her chil-dren.

He urged the congrega-tion to emulate her strong heart and firm belief in God.

In his remark, Saraki, who spoke on behalf of President Buhari stated that Mama HID remained politically relevant na-tionally since the death of her husband in 1987.

Saraki, however, prayed that God should grant members of Awolo-wo family the wisdom to sustain the good name left by their late parents and

keep the flag flying by en-suring that their legacies and values were upheld.

President Buhari later arrived at the Awolowo’s residence around 2: 16p.m and headed straight for Efunyela Hall, where he was received by the Vice President, Governor Amo-sun and the two daughters of the deceased, Rev. Tola Oyediran and Ambassa-dor Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu.

Buhari, who was clad in milk-coloured kaftan, was led to the Awolowo mausoleum where the late Yeye Oodua was interred, while security operatives barred journalists from entering.

sion, EFCC, in a renewed effort to arrest hoarding and diversion of petro-leum products by some unscrupulous marketers.

The engagement of the security agencies is also meant to assist in the monitoring of nationwide fuel truck-out to retail outlets.

While apologising to commuters, motorists and the general public for the noticeable hardship faced in accessing petrol across the country, the

NNPC assured that it was doing everything possible to normalise the fuel sup-ply and distribution situa-tion.

Speaking during a working visit to the NNPC depot in Suleja in Niger State and some fill-ing stations in Abuja and environs to evaluate the current fuel supply situa-tion, the Group Executive Director, Commercial and Investment of the corpo-ration, Dr. Babatunde Ad-eniran, said any marketer

found wanting in the sale of petroleum products in-cluding the NNPC retail outlet dealers, would be sanctioned appropriately.

Dr. Adeniran noted that there would be no sacred cow as the corporation was working round the clock by supplying suffi-cient petroleum products to marketers to ensure that Nigerians enjoyed a yuletide season without the pain of fuel queues.

“We must all make sure that petroleum products

get across to Nigerians at the regulated price espe-cially as the yuletide sea-son approaches. We have enough products and we want to plead with the Pe-troleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) not to be involved in the diversion of petro-leum products in order to avoid causing untold hardship to motorists,” Dr. Adeniran enjoined.

Providing insight on the role of the security agencies in curbing prod-uct diversion, the Man-

aging Director of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, Mrs. Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue, said the DSS and EFCC had been mobilised to bring to book any market-er involved in sabotaging the efforts of the federal government in making petroleum products avail-able to motorists across the country.

“We have invited the EFCC and DSS to join us in this campaign of moni-toring the movement of

petroleum products and they have our mandate to sanction any errant mar-keter. Enough is enough,” Mrs. Nnamdi-Ogbue cau-tioned.

She urged Nigerians and other motorists to desist from panic buying assuring that there were sufficient petroleum prod-ucts to satisfy local con-sumption.

Meanwhile, Depart-ment of Petroleum Re-sources (DPR) in Gombe said it had been battling with erring filling sta-tions which were cashing in n the inadequate suf-ficiency level of the prod-uct to cheat costumers and make illegal profits.

To this end, the DPR of-fice in Gombe which over-sees operations of the fill-ing stations in Bauchi and Gombe states, last week, sealed off seventeen fill-ing stations for diversion and selling above gov-ernment approved pump price of N87 per litre.

Briefing newsmen yesterday over their op-erations in the last one week, Mr. Benard Amos, the Assistant Controller in charge of Retail Outlet and Monitoring told jour-nalists that the filling sta-tions affected were found either selling above pump price of N87 as approved by government, under dispensing the product to customers and diversion to unknown destinations.

He explained that five of the sanctioned sta-tions in Gombe included Ummodah Investment Nigeria Limited in Billiri along Gombe Yola road for selling the product at N140 per litre.

Others are NNPC Re-tail Limited (Alkalam) in Gombe town for hoarding the product, Shakkhato Integrated Services Ni-geria Limited in Bojude on Gombe Kano road for selling in jerrycans and also selling at N140 per litre and Samafmar Nige-ria Limited in Kumo, on Gombe-Yola road, for also selling at N140 per litre.

Al-fatmiya Oil Nige-ria Limited, Dadin-Kowa along Gombe-Biu road, for selling at N140 per li-tre.

The other twelve fill-ing stations sealed off in different parts of Bau-chi State for diversion of between 33, 000 to 210,

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 3Thursday, November 26, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net4 Thursday, November 26, 2015

NDLEA chairman, Giade, bows out, hands over to DG

NACCIMA, LCCI says MPR’s reduction will boost nation’s investment opportunities


National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net6 Thursday, November 26, 2015News

UK deports 48 Nigerians over immigration offences CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

L-R: Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Commission, Boboye Oyeyemi; Commandant, National Defence College, Rear Admiral Samuel Ilesanmi Alade, and Deputy Corps Marshal Motor Vehicle Administration, Charles Theophilus, during a working visit to FRSC Headquarters, Abuja, yesterday.

tion, there was conflicting report about the actual number of people deport-ed as information had it initially that about 500 Ni-gerians were involved.

Public Relations Offi-cer, Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, Mr. Ekped-eme King, confirmed the deportation with our cor-respondent on phone, but could not give the regis-

Chairman of the Na-tional Drug Law En-forcement Agency,

NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, yesterday retired from ser-vice.

A statement by the agen-cy’s spokesman, Mr. Mitchel Ofoyeju announced this in Lagos.

It said Giade, who served two terms of five years each, handed over the affairs of the NDLEA to the Director- General of the Agency, Mrs. Roli Bode-George.

According to the state-ment, the former chairman inspected a guard of honour after which he presented a new flag to the DG.

“This is the first time in the Agency’s history that an outgoing chairman will suc-cessfully serve for 10 years without blemish,” the state-ment said.

The statement also quoted Giade as saying that he was leaving the agency better than he met it 10 years ago.

“My greatest legacy is my

zero tolerance for corrup-tion.

“If we must continue to dislodge drug barons and eradicate drugs from our so-ciety, we must remain forth-right and committed to drug control programmes.

“I am also leaving behind a legacy of proactive and in-telligence-led organisation.

“The Agency, under my watch has a representative at INTERPOL headquarters and has successfully raised the international profile of the country through unprec-edented seizures of drugs and arrest of drug barons,” said.

He cited the removal of Nigeria from the list of ma-jor drug transit countries by the U.S. and the cordial working relationship with stakeholders as some of his other achievements.

“The removal of Nigeria from the majors list opened doors to a robust coopera-tion and partnership with stakeholders.

Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Indus-

try, Mines and Agriculture, NACCIMA, yesterday said cut in the Monetary Policy Rate, MPR, would boost the nation’s investment climate.

NACCIMA Vice-Pres-ident Jani Ibrahim said in Lagos that the decision would spur the growth of the real sector and boost in-vestors’ confidence.

Ibrahim said the develop-ment would give banks the opportunity to lend more to the real sector aside other critical factors and stimu-late economic growth.

He commended the Cen-tral Bank of Nigeria, CBN, for the decisive decisions and urged commercial banks to follow the trend by actively lending to entrepre-neurs for the growth of the economy.

Chairman, Agro-Com-modity Export Group of La-gos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, Mr. Obiora Madu, however, said two per cent cut in the MPR still fell short of the mark.

He said the MPR should be further reduced to achieve increased invest-ments and higher Gross Do-mestic Product, GDP, in the country.

“What the CBN has done is good, but interest rates re-duction is not just the only one.

“Government needs to do a lot more for the sectors that will drive economic growth of the country,” he said.

Madu suggested that the Federal Government should address the critical issues of foreign exchange, infra-structure and logistics chal-lenges, among others.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2000 litres of fuel and also selling at N135 per litre were Danlami Petroleum Transport and Company Limited, Sumsons Enter-prises Limited, Al-ihsan Transport Nigeria Lim-ited, AM Naiya and Sons Limited.

Others are Basirka and Sons Nigeria Limited, IMG Petroleum Market-ing Co. Limited, SID Oil and Gas Nigeria Limited, Wahida Nigeria Limited, Chibulco Nigeria Limit-ed, Na-Giade Oils Limited and Majidadi Petroleum and General Services Limited.

However, when jour-nalist insisted on know-ing the different amount fined for each of the afore-mentioned offences due to allegations of extortion from some DPR staff, Mr. Amos declined comments

and said it was only the accounts department from the head office of DPR that could comment on such issues as he was only a technical staff.

In Ilorin, Kwara State, Alhaji Mohammed Al-Ameed, the dealer of the NNPC Mega Filling Sta-tion said the lingering fuel scarcity across the coun-try was a self-inflicting one occasioned by petrol marketers, who would not comply with the directives of DPR and NNPC.

According to him, the directive of both the DPR and the NNPC was to the effect that all filling sta-tions that were supplied fuel must open to consum-ers (motorists) from 6am to the midnight except when the products so sup-plied is exhausted.

Fuel scarcity, like in other parts of the coun-

try had been biting hard in Kwara State especially in Ilorin, the state capital, almost grounding official and commercial activities.

The situation had how-ever brought back the era of old scarcity of the mili-tary regime which gives hoarders (black market-ers) another round of op-portunities profit at the expense of desperate mo-torists.

For now, long queues have returned to the few filling stations that have fuel leaving them to be at the mercy of pump atten-dants and uniformed men that were engaged to help maintain law and order at the stations.

Also, motor mechanics, touts and car-wash boys have turned fuel ‘black marketers’ who sell four litres of fuel for between N1,200 and N1,500 in gal-

lons.According to Al-

Ameed, the NNPC Retails Limited Managing Direc-tor, Mr. Ladipo Fagbola, and the Ilorin DPR gave the directive that all fil-ing stations that were supplied petroleum prod-ucts must stay back till midnight to dispense fuel to buyers as a way of pro-viding succour to the suf-fering motorists.

Apparently one of the few that complied with the directive, the dealer said, they were given the order through the Ilorin DPR Office in line with the department’s guide-line that fuel distribu-tions in the state must be equitably done.

“We are all mandated to set the standard for other stations to follow to assuage the hardships on the people”, he said.

tration number of the air-craft that brought them into the country.

He, however, confirmed that the deportees were repatriated into the coun-try with chartered air-craft from UK.

Besides, a source close to the Ministry of Avia-tion, confided in our cor-respondent that a team from the British High Commission in Nigeria had last Friday visited the MMIA Airport Manager

to inform him of the im-pending deportation.

The source further declared that there was no way about 500 people would be deported at once, stressing that some of them might become violent while onboard and were usually shackled and accompanied by secu-rity officials.

The returnees were received by various agen-cies such as Immigration that checked their iden-

tities to ascertain their nationalities, Police, Na-tional Agency for the Pro-hibition of Traffic in Per-sons, NAPTIP, and other relevant stakeholders.

As at the time of filing this report, the returnees had moved away from the airport.

King told our corre-spondent that the deport-ees were returned to the country for overstaying their visas in the UK, add-ing that it was not the first

time Nigerians would be deported from Britain or any other country for that matter.

He said: “What I can tell you is that some Nige-rians were deported today (yesterday) for immigra-tion offences. Most of those brought overstayed in the United Kingdom and it was not the first time Nigerians would be deported from UK or any other country for that matter.”

Photo NEWS 7Thursday, November 26, 2015National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net

Ubong UkpongAbujA

House of Representa-tives yesterday re-solved to probe the

flawed sale processes of the Ni-gerian Newsprint Manufactur-ing Company, NNMC, by the Bureau of Public Enterprise, BPE, and subsequent failure of the company to operate seven years after the said sale.

Accordingly, the House has mandated its Committee on Privatisation and Com-mercialisation to investigate the seeming flawed process of valuation, liquidation and sale of the company, having ap-parently failed to comply with

Reps probe sale, closure of newsprint companythe provisions of the BPE Act, and report back to the House within eight weeks for further legislative action.

The House also called on the Federal Government to formu-late a blueprint with a view to taking over the company from the buyers, Negris Holdings Limited, for violation of the legal condition that backed up the sale to it, and reactivate same for the purpose of job cre-ation.

It also called on the Minis-tries of Industry, Trade and Investments, as well as Labour and Productivity to partner Akwa Ibom State and take advantage of the state govern-ment’s readiness to ensure full

commercial operation of the Newsprint company.

These resolutions followed the adoption of a motion brought by Hon. Henry Ar-chibong (Akwa Ibom, PDP) to the House on call for investiga-tion of the continued closure of NNMC seven years after priva-tisation.

Archibong noted that NNMC located in Oku Iboku, Akwa Ibom State, was set up to produce 100,000 metric tonnes of finished newsprint papers per annum. He said until it was shut down in 1994, it was producing newsprint of inter-nationally accepted standards which were being exported to Togo, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Cam-eroun, USA, Germany, and other parts of the world.

L-R; Division F Programme Quality Director, Nigeria Toastmaster, China Ezife; Division Director, Patrick Oluyide; District Director, Inam Wilson and Area Director, Afolabi Davidson, during a media interactive session to announce the 2015 Conference in Lagos, recently.

L-R: Director, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, Nestle Nigeria, Dr. Samuel Adenekan; Ag Head, Dept of Human Nutrition, University of Ibadan, Dr. Folake Samuel; Manager, Nestle Nutrition Institute Africa Anglophone Countries, Mrs. Chioma Emma-Nwachukwu; Consultant Gastroenterologist LASUTH, Dr. Olufunke Adeniyi and Vice President, Nutrition Society of Nigeria, Dr. Barthlomen Brai, during a fortification workshop, in Lagos, yesterday.

Ubong UkpongAbujA

Defence Headquarters, DHQ, yesterday said Boko Haram insur-

gents have resorted to conceal-ing bombs in attractive objects.

Director of Defence Infor-mation, DDI, Colonel Rabe Abubakar, disclosed this in Abuja at a media briefing.

He also revealed that after the military released the list of 100 most wanted Boko Haram terrorists, five of them have so far been arrested at various locations in collaboration with other security agencies.

He said: “All these things we are doing is to make sure the populace remain safe from the hands of this Boko Haram terrorists, who are now devis-ing different means of fight-ing through this issue of IEDs and even some cluster bombs, which they conceal in attrac-tive objects and drop in the streets for people to pick.

“We are using this platform to enlighten the citizens to

Insurgents conceal bombs in attractive objects – DHQ

L-R: Former Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Chief Chambers Oyinbo; Chairman/Publisher, Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Publications, Mr. Adedeji Akintilo; former Special Adviser to the President on Petroleum Matters, Dr. Emmanuel Egbogah(OON); Chief Presenter/Chairman and CEO Amni International Petroleum Development Company Limited, Chief Tunde Afolabi and former Deputy Managing Director, Nigeria Agip Oil Company, Chief Akin Aruwajoye, during the launch of the book, Who’s Who in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry (2nd Edition), yesterday. PHOTO: SAMUEL ADETIMEHIN

L-R: WebMaster, Phillips Consulting, Lagos, Mr. Oluwasegun Ogundipe, Associate Partner; Mr. Paul Ayim; Senior e-Learning Advisor, Modupe Thomas-Owoseni; Project Manager, Phillips Consulting Bundle, Feranmi Akande; Representative Skillsoft, South Africa, Jeremie Ferre, during the launch of Phillips Learning Bundle online portal, on Tuesday.

National News

make sure that our citizens do not fall victim about what could be avoided.”

Abubakar said the media was also playing fundamental

role in helping to ensure the ar-rest of these terrorists, urging that all information concern-ing military operations should be carefully verified.

“The more information you give about terrorist activities, the more they thrive, the more they become prominent, the more they become dominant.

“So, we are appealing that this is our country, and the se-curity agencies are Nigerians who are working to serve the Nigerian people. Therefore, it

is duty bound as enshrined in the constitution for the citizens to contribute to the ongoing campaign against insurgency,” Abubakar stressed.

He recalled that in 2008, BPE, under the principle of guided liquidation, and with an expiration period of five years, sold the news-print company for the sum of N4,020,000,000 billion to an indigenous firm, Negris Hold-ing Limited, which renamed it the Oku-Iboku Pulp and Paper Limited, OKIPP.

The lawmaker also recalled that in August of the same year, Negris Holding Limited claimed that it had put in place all financial requirements to rehabilitate the liquidated as-sets of the company, and in 2010 also claimed that it car-ried out and passed all envi-ronmental safety standards required for the smooth take-off of the newsprint company.

Archibong worried that the glaring lack of financial capacity of Negris Holdings to resuscitate the newsprint com-pany, resulting in its continued shutdown despite promises that by early 2013, it would have commenced full opera-tions, even with availability of security, manpower and raw materials. He said that rather, Negris Holdings resorted to as-sets stripping at the newsprint mill in Oku Iboku, and the plantation yard in Akamkpa, Cross River State, where sev-eral items including cranes, heavy duty trucks, stainless steel pipes, giant electric mo-tors, welding machines among others, were carted away and sold as scrap items.

...ask FG to reclaim company

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.netNational News8 Thursday, November 26, 2015

President Women Arise for Change Initiative, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin(3rd right ); Father and Children of Blessing Abraham, during a wake up call for justice on the Murder Blessing Abraham after the case was adjourn to January 27, 2016, yesterday. PHOTO: SAMUEL ADETIMEHIN

Reps to probe status of 90,000 slain policemen...call for replacement, adequate funding

GeorGe ojiAbujA

Senate has directed Minister of Works, Power and Housing,

Babatunde Raji Fashola, to appear before its Com-mittee on Works to explain his ministry’s plan of ac-tion for the reconstruc-tion of all failed bridges nationwide.

The lawmakers also mandated the ministry to undertake an inventory of all bailey bridges across the country and furnish the Senate with their sta-tus within four weeks.

In addition, the Senate asked the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, FERMA, to re-construct the bailey bridges across Ebenyi River at Ikem in

UbonG UkponG and GeorGe opara,

House of Represen-tatives yesterday set in motion ar-

rangements to ascertain the status of 90,000 police-men that were slain in the country, just as it called for their replacement and adequate funding to the service.

The House at its plena-ry, was moved by recent revelation by Inspector General of Police, Solo-mon Arase, that 90,000 men and officers of the Nigeria Police Force lost their lives in the fight against insurgency over the years,

It therefore, mandated its Committee on Police Affairs to launch an in-vestigation into the claim with a view to ascertain-ing its true status and re-port back to the House.

The lawmakers also mandated the commit-tee to liaise with other relevant committees and agencies to look into pos-sible replacement of any shortfall in manpower the police may be facing to en-able it tackle the current security challenges fac-ing the country.

These resolutions were reached following a mo-tion on matters of ur-gent public importance brought by Hon. Ahmed Yerima, wherein he called on the House to mandate the Police Affairs Com-mittee to investigate the claim by the IGP and to find out the status of the 90,000 slain police offi-cers.

Yerima noted that the IGP’s declaration was alarming and disturbing,

obiora ifohAbujA

Federal Government has confirmed that payment of N5,000

to unemployed youths campaign would com-mence early next year.

Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr. Solomon Dalong, revealed this yes-terday in Abuja during a courtesy visit to the Na-

Payment of N5,000 stipend to unemployed kicks off in 2016 –FG

Senate summons Fashola over failed bridges

tional Chairman of All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, to commiserate with the party on the de-mise of Prince Abubakar Audu, who was the par-ty’s governorship candi-date in the inconclusive Kogi State election.

Dalong in an interview with newsmen said the APC-led government has it in mind to fulfill all the

campaign promises made to Nigerians.

“I would want the youths to understand that every promise must be backed up by budget-ary provision and our promise to pay N5,000 is not contained in the 2015 budget. So, definitely, it is going to begin in 2016 as we have made budgetary allocations for that.

“We are committed to the campaign promises

of creating jobs, provid-ing wealth creation and combat poverty. We have embedded in our mani-festo things that we are translating to reality.

“Some of the youth em-powerment programmes that are ongoing, we are busy reviewing them to ensure that they are more viable and people orient-ed. We are also looking at the possibility of realign-ing some of them to our

vision so that in the final analysis, it can add value to the people,” he said.

The minister also said youths need reorienta-tion because they have been frustrated for so long.

“They have lost confi-dence in the system and we need to build that back. In not too long a time, I will be hosting a stakeholders’ summit so that we can reason

together, so that we can grow their confidence in order for them to benefit from this laudable ideas,” he added.

Chief Oyegun, in his response, expressed hap-piness over the appoint-ment of Dalong as a minister, saying his past performances in public offices gave him confi-dence that he will de-liver on the premises of change.

considering the delicate security situation in the country.

He added that the dis-closure was an acceptance of low manpower in the police.

“The United Nations approximates a median of about 300 police officers per 100,000 citizens glob-ally.

“According to recent es-timates from Interpol, Ni-geria has about 205 police officers for every 100,000 citizens, which is 95 police officers shy of the global median.

“There is already a large shortage of man-power in the police and its attendant effects are being felt all over the country, with kidnapping, robber-ies, homicides, communal clashes and ultimately, the Boko Haram insurgency among others,” he said.

Members while speak-ing in support of the mo-tion lamented the situa-tion and urged the Federal Government to take urgent steps to remedy the short-fall by carrying out urgent recruitment exercise with adequate training, equip-ment and remuneration.

Nasir Ali Ahmed said: “For us to lose that num-ber of policemen is a mon-umental loss and very un-fortunate; and we must act fast to provide adequate funding and protective equipment for the police force to enable them pro-tect themselves and then the public.”

Ali Ahmed Patigi also submitted: “I will urge that since this is an inves-tigative matter, it should be thoroughly looked into; because losing 90,000 po-licemen is no mean mis-fortune for a society.

Isi Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State.

The Senate gave the directives following the debate on a motion spon-sored by Senator Gilbert Nnaji (PDP Enugu East).

Nnaji in his lead de-bate noted that the Bailey bridges still in use across the country were built with pre-fabricated met-al truss and have either “caved in or collapsed due to age and pressure thereby causing untold hardship to commuters, motorists and other road users.”

He further said it was disturbing that commut-ers, motorists and other roads users in areas where the bridges col-lapse go through tough times as they have to ter-minate their journeys at

different ends of the riv-er and then cross over to the other end to continue their journeys.

He recalled the col-lapse of a bailey bridge across Ebenyi on No-vember 6, this year, la-menting that such devel-opments often result in loss of lives as well as economic deprivation for affected people.

“The attendant loss of lives and livelihoods as well as other forms of economic deprivation and losses are avoidable if pro-active steps were taken from time to time either to maintain or to reconstruct such bridges,” he said.

In her contribution, Senator Abiodun Olujin-mi (PDP Ekiti South) re-gretted that such bridges are still in existence in the

21st century, noting that in ideal countries, they should have long been phased out.

Other senators such as Chukwuma Utazi (Enugu North) also lamented the difficulties confronting Nigerians who have to ply such bridges to connect adjoining communities as they appealed to FERMA to quickly ensure the re-construction of all bailey bridges in the country.

In his remark, Deputy Senate President, Sena-tor Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the plenary, noted that some of the bridges were so small that they don’t necessarily re-quire the intervention of the Federal Government because they could be handled by both local and state governments.

9National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Thursday, November 26, 2015

Filth on Broad Street, Lagos PHOTO: SAMUEL ADETIMEHIN

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net10 Broad Street Diary Thursday, November 26, 2015

Tinubu Square: Politics, power and influenceland, thus displaying a degree of nation-alism which worried the British colonial government.

The colonial regime latter decided to curb her influence with mass arrests of the organisers of the protest, followed by her expulsion from Lagos.

Tinubu and her followers were de-ported to Abeokuta in May 1856.

In Abeokuta, Madam Tinubu was said to have more than ever before expanded her business activities to include a wide range of wares such as gunpowder and bullets. In time, her influence began to be felt also in Egba politics in which she played two important roles; her contri-bution to the successful defence of Egba land during the Dahomey invasion of 1863 following which she was awarded the title of Iyalode (First Lady) in 1864.

Also, in the Alake succession crisis of 1877, her chosen candidate was installed. The conferment of the title of Iyalode placed her in a position of power, which she was denied in Lagos, for, by virtue of this; she not only acquired a consti-tutional right to participate in Egba af-fairs, but was also accorded honour and esteem respect in the community.

Madam Tinubu died in 1887 when she was at the height of her popularity. To-day in Abeokuta, a monument stands in the town square named after her, Ita Iya-lode (Iyalode Square).

Any visitor or tourists to Lagos Island may not have enough sto-ries to tell until he or she visited

the popular Tinubu Square sited in the centre part of Lagos Island.

The squire now boost of a water foun-tain mounted on an architectural land-scape and with green grasses and flow-ers adorned the squire with the status of the late Madam Efunroye Tinubu sitting atop.

The story of business activities in the early part of Lagos history would not be complete without relishing the story of late Madam Tinubu, one of Nigeria’s businesswoman and patriot.

The story of Lagos as the business hub of Nigeria today, is synonymous with the tale of Madam Tinubu said to be a great merchant whose business tra-verses not only Lagos Island, but other towns within what is today known as Yoruba territories in the present South West Nigeria.

According to history, Madam Efun-roye Tinubu after whom a prominent Lagos landmark, “Tinubu Square,” is named, lived in the 19th century and was born in Abeokuta, the Ogun State to a trading family.

After a period of trading apprentice-ship under her mother, Madam Tinubu went to Badagry, which was then an im-portant trading post on the outskirts of Lagos during the colonial era, where, despite her lack of formal education, she soon established a flourishing trade in tobacco and salt.

The entreprising Tinubu later ex-panded her trade which brought her into contact with the European slave traders, with whom she dealt as a middleperson.

According to historians, Madam Ti-nubu in 1846, then a successful business-woman was said to have played hostess to the exiled King Akintoye of Lagos who sought refuge in Badagry and was said to have used her influential posi-tion to inaugurate a pro-Akintoye move-ment dedicated to the eventual return of the king to the throne in Lagos.

Thus; her involvement in Lagos poli-tics which was before then dominated by men of wealth and education.

In 1851 Akintoye regained his throne and Tinubu was invited to Lagos where she soon relocated her business activity.

Tinubu strengthened her position as an intermediary in the trade between the expatriate community and the in-digenous population of Lagos on the one hand and the interior which include her birth place, Abeokuta, on the others.

Her influence in Akintoye’s court was said to have grown to such an extent that she was often accused of being the power behind the throne, a belief which in 1853 led to the rebellion of two prominent chiefs.

By 1853, when Akintoye was succeed-ed by Prince Dosunmu, Tinubu’s influ-ence grew even more.

In 1855, the late Madam Tinubu was said to have led a campaign against the Brazilian and Sierra Leonean immi-grants in Lagos for using their wealth and power against the King and for sub-verting the ancient customs of Lagos Is-

Except urgent actions are taking, Broad Street on Lagos Island, will gradually turn into a place such as

Ajegule, Mile 12 among others known for their environmental filth and stench with street traders and commercial bus opera-tors over flowing both side of the streets. The street traders not only ply their trade at the sides, they also flaunt their wares dangerously close to the main road.

Irked by the situation, a shopper, Mrs Fayida Salami, told Broad Street Diary, BSD, that government should as a matter of urgency do something about street trad-ing in the market.

“I don’t support the act of street trad-ing, because since government established Central Business District Officers, CBD, sanity has returned to the market and we can shop with ease now.”

She said if government closes its eyes or legalise street trading on Broad Street, the market will returned to Balogun of old where crime was the order of the day.

Another shop owner who does not want his name mentioned also spoke against street trading.

According to him, if the practice is al-lowed, shop owners may not be able to make enough sales.

However, street traders in Balogun market and its environs are of different opinions.

The street traders, who spoke with BSD on Wednesday, said many of them embark on street trading to survive as they could not afford the high cost of renting shops.

They also appealed to the government to build shops that are affordable to mass-es.

“We want the government to help us by building more shops that are affordable to

small-scale traders like us because shops around here are highly expensive,” Mrs. Adejoke Ogunlana stated.

She told BSD that government is the only one that can ameliorate the plight of traders like her. “I don’t even have enough capital to do business, not to talk of how to get money to pay rent even if shops are available.

“We are appealing to the Lagos State Governor,Mr Akinwumi Ambode to con-tinue to allow us trade on the streets be-cause we have dependants that we must take care off.

She commended the state government efforts at reducing crime in the market and for maintaining a clean environment made possible by the Central Business Dis-trict officials who were always on hand to make people comply with laid down rules.

Another trader, Mr Chinedu Nwanze, told BSD that they are appealing because they want the government to allow them to continue to do business on Broad Street.

“Most times we are not always comfort-able because of the fear of the CBD officials who can confiscate our goods.

That was why I usually come very early to sell and sometimes late in the evening when they might have closed”.

Aside from being the commercial hub of Lagos State, Broad Street also plays host to some imposing multi-storey corporate or-ganisations, impressively planned offices, vehicles of different colours and of course fashionable ladies and gentlemen who jostle with hundreds of street traders on their way to their work places. Giving some historical facts about Broad Street, a civil servant, who begged for anonymity, said the colonial masters designed it to be a rep-lica of the ones in Britain. “In the colonial

and post-independence era, Broad Street had important offices like the United State Information Office, Paterson Zochonis (PZ),UAC and many offices of the mission-aries. Because Broad Street was an admin-istrative centre, efforts were made to make it clean everyday to prevent it from losing its aesthetic look. Also, health officials were always on hand to ensure the envi-ronment was clean,” he said. Other places in the world that share the same features and characters with Lagos Broad Street are Broadway, a thoroughfare in New York City, USA, a centre of commercial theatre. And in London, there exist other Broad Streets in Birmingham, Bristol, Oxford and Reading, all in Britain. Here in Lagos, the Broad Street on Lagos Island is also the economic hub of Nigeria, like the ones in other parts of the world which also of boasts important architectural landmarks that represent the government such as the Federal Government Press, Federal Den-tal Clinic, Lagos General Hospital, Odan; Central Bank of Nigeria, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigerian Ports Author-ity and Western House. Also, comfortably sited on it is the Freedom Park, Sterling Towers, AP House, 25-storey United Bank for Africa, UBA, Corporate Headquarters, 17-storey Elephant House, 14-storey Ener-gy House, Premier Bookstore, CSS Book-shops; sundry shops and several stalls, all private business concerns and a residen-tial building, formerly Federal Ministry of Labour’s Occupational Health Division, now occupied by men and women, and their large population of children.

It is hoped that by adhering to preserve it original ideals, Broad Street, will be speared of becoming another slum.

–Saidat Alausa

Street trading and the resurgence of slumsTinubu Square, Lagos

Formerly known and addressed as OGBONNA HOPE OSINACHI now wish to be known and addressed as IKORO OSINACHI HOPE. All former documents remain valid. General public pls take note.

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Senate to probe abandoned N2.4bn NNDC road projects

E/Guinea urged to check maltreatment of Nigerians

Buhari attends CHOGM, UN Confab on Climate Change

Senator Amori ex-plained that the contrac-tor received N360 million as mobilisation fee in 2011 and another N360 million in 2012 from the Federal Government for the ex-ecution of the contract, but unfortunately, there is nothing to show for it in the town.

He lamented that all ef-forts by the community’s leaders to get the contrac-tor to return to site met with brick wall, and re-gretted that the NDDC is not forthcoming with any explanation on the con-tract.

The petition which was co-signed by the commu-nity’s leaders, reads: “We formally write to bring to your notice a clear case of massive corruption go-ing on in NDDC relating to

several development proj-ects in the Niger Delta, using our great kingdom, Agbarho, as a case study.

“After several years of neglect, in 2009, the NDDC awarded the contract for the contraction of Ag-barho Township Roads (23Km) to Messers. Serena Rock Limited at a cost of N2.4b only.

“After a long process of securing presidential approval for funding of the aforesaid project, in 2011 the contractor (Ser-ena Rocks Limited) was paid N360.7m, being 15 per cent mobilisation, to com-mence work on the proj-ect. In 2012 the contractor received another N360 mil-lion payment for the same project with nothing on ground.

“We were later told

that the project design did not include stone base and drainage, although in NDDC’s approved bud-get for 2011 and 2012 the project was captioned as ‘Construction of Agbarho Township road with com-prehensive drainage.’

“All efforts by our com-munity leaders to get the contractor (Serena Rock Limited) to execute the project has met brick wall and NDDC is not forth-coming with information. NDDC officials also con-firmed to us that over N668 million is in the custody of the contractor for over five years now without any job done on the project.

“We are not unaware of the Federal auditor general’s findings of over N183 billion fraud in the commission and we are

The Speaker assured the delegation that the National Assembly would work on outstanding mem-orandum of understanding and other agreements for the mutual benefit of both countries, while assuring of cooperation between the parliaments of both coun-tries.

Earlier, Mbengono had said he was on the visit to convey the best wishes of the Speaker of his coun-try’s parliament.

While appreciating Ni-geria’s support in the secu-rity of the Gulf of Guinea, he noted the long standing cordial relations between the two countries and ex-pressed the desire of his country to continue to work with Nigeria and draw from its experience, especially in the area of election.

He informed the Speaker that his country is with Ni-geria in the fight against terrorism and in address-ing the situation in Nige-ria’s North East.

He assured the Speaker that his country is willing to invest in areas of inter-est, saying, “I have been given specific directions to give priority to African investors and Nigeria is a priority.”

Ubong UkpongABUJA

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara,

has called on the govern-ment of Equitorial Guinea to check cases of maltreat-ment of Nigerians doing legitimate business in that country.

He made the call when he met with a delegation from the country led by its ambassador, Job Obiang Esono Mbengono, who paid him a courtesy visit at the National Assembly yester-day.

Dogara said the govern-ment of Equitorial Guinea has a responsibility to ad-dress the bad treatment meted out to Nigerians who reside and do legitimate business in the country.

While commending the long-standing cordial rela-tionship between the two countries, the Speaker said nothing short of full broth-erly protection is expected for Nigerian citizens living in the country, adding that reports stating otherwise are worrisome.

Highlighting the huge mineral resources in the country, the Speaker noted that in its diversification drive, the present admin-istration under President Muhammadu Buhari is giving priority to invest-ment in these sectors in or-der to ensure that they are developed for the benefit of the country.

persuaded that this is one of such cases. NDDC offi-cials in the last eight years awarded several contracts to their cronies and made advance payments and sometimes full payment with little or no job done in the affected communi-

ties.”The petition was re-

ferred to the Senate Com-mittee on Ethics, Privi-leges and Public Petition by the deputy Senate presi-dent, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided at yester-day’s plenary.

george oji, ABUJA

There are indications that the Senate may order an investiga-

tion into the abandoned Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC’s N2.4 billion Agbarho township roads project in the Ugheli North Local Government Area of Delta State.

Feelers to this followed a petition tendered by Senator Ighoyota Amori on behalf of the Agbarho (Urhobo) Improvement Union before the Senate, complaining about the project.

The petition showed that the contract for the 23-kilometre road was awarded in 2009 to Messer Serena Rocks Limited at a cost of N2.4 billion.

rotimi Fadeyi

President Muham-madu Buhari leaves Abuja today for Mal-

ta to participate in the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which begins in the island nation on Friday.

The Commonwealth is made up of Britain, Ni-geria and 51 other coun-tries that work together to pursue common goals and promote development, democracy, peace, security and good governance.

A statement issued yes-terday by the special ad-viser to the President on media and publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said Bu-hari and other Heads of State and Government

who would be in Malta for this year’s summit are expected to deliberate on fresh Commonwealth ini-tiatives on development and climate change with a view to adding greater value to ongoing global ef-forts in these areas.

A new Secretary-Gener-al of the Commonwealth who would take over from the incumbent, Kamalesh Sharma, would be an-nounced at the summit which would also feature the presentation of a prog-ress report on the eradica-tion of polio.

Head of the Common-wealth, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, would formally declare the sum-mit open and host a ban-quet in honour of Buhari and other participating

Heads of State and Gov-ernment.

At the conclusion of the summit on Sunday, Presi-dent Buhari would leave Malta for Paris where he would present Nigeria’s statement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference scheduled to open in the French capital on Monday, November 30.

The President would join over 100 other world leaders at the Leaders Event on the opening day of the conference which would be hosted by Presi-dent Francois Hollande of France and the Secretary-General of the United Na-tions, Mr. Ban Ki Moon.

Buhari would also par-ticipate in a summit of Heads of State and Gov-ernment of the Lake Chad

Basin Commission and Benin Republic which has been scheduled to take place on December 2 in Paris on the sidelines of the United Nations Confer-ence on Climate Change.

Deliberations at the Paris meeting of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Benin Republic would focus mainly on the war against Boko Haram and other security issues of common interest to par-ticipating countries.

President Buhari would be accompanied on the trip by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geof-frey Onyeama, Minister of Environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed and the Na-tional Security Adviser, Maj.-Gen. Babagana Mon-guno (rtd.)

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 11NewsThursday, November 26, 2015

Protests: MASSOB turns down S’East governors

Cross section of members of NUJ Enugu State Council led by the Chairman, Chief Louis Dilibe (left) during a thanksgiving service as part of activities to mark NUJ Enugu Press Week at the Cathedral of Good Shepherd Anglican Communion in Enugu, recently.

Ugwuanyi denies rift with Chime

Imo raises panel to fight criminals

for the headline of the said news report to scream an alleged probe of the former governor of the state by the incumbent governor when the body of the story con-tains nothing about any ac-tion of the governor in that regard, but purely legislative oversight functions of the Enugu House of Assembly.

“Any discerning mind, which goes through the re-port would naturally ask, ‘Whither the role or hand of the state governor in the ac-tions of the state Assembly, which decided to look into

ecution of their functions. Ejiogu, while challeng-

ing the committee to work hard, also reminded them that half of the uncom-pleted buildings in the state have been turned into hideouts by hood-lums who commit vari-ous atrocities like kidnap-ping, armed-robbery and other vices against the state.

Speaking on behalf of other members, the com-mittee Chairman, Prince Chidi Nwoke, thanked the state government for find-ing them worthy to serve, and assured of their readi-ness to fight hoodlums us-ing the uncompleted build-ings as hideouts.

Federal character, solution to Biafra agitation —APC chieftain

in terms of agitations, would continue.

He said, “There is no doubt that of all the six geo-political zones of Nigeria, the South East is the most marginalised in everything.”

He noted that the for-mer vice president, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, and few others spearheaded the formation of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in 1998, “but shockingly, he was denied the presiden-tial ticket of the party in 1999, because he was from the South-East zone. Owelle Rochas Okorocha was de-nied twice the presidential ticket in 2003 and 2007 be-cause he was from the South East.

“The resurgence of pro-Biafra agitators is due to the marginalisation of the people of South-East and the Federal Government has to urgently address this anom-aly if there is to be progress in the country.”

Chris NjokuOWERRI

A chieftain of the All Progressives Con-gress, APC and Na-

tional Coordinator of Ro-chas Fan Club, Rev. Simeon Nwaulu, has urged the Fed-eral Government to strictly adhere to the principles of federal character for the uni-ty and peace of the country.

He also described this as the panacea for the agitation of Biafra.

Nwaulu, who stated this yesterday in Owerri, Imo State capital, at a press con-ference, noted that margin-alisation has become one of the burning issues in the country that needs to be ad-dressed for peace to reign.

He added that a situa-tion whereby one part of the country is marginalised like is currently being ex-perienced in some states, particularly the South East

out their South South coun-terparts where Biafra upris-ing also holds sway.

In another development, a concerned group of Igbo in Nigeria and Diaspora under the aegis of Izumunna Cul-tural Association has faulted the decision of governors of the five South East states to meet for the purpose of find-ing a solution to the ongoing protests by youths in the area occasioned by the quest for the actualisation of Sov-ereign state of Biafra, saying the meeting was exclusive and might not achieve the desired results.

The group said though the governors’ initiative in finding a solution to the burning issue was a wel-come development, they might not have acted in the interest of the entire Igbo nation because Igboland extends far beyond the five

eastern states to include states in the South South zone and the Diaspora.

The group in a state-ment issued yesterday in Jos by its President, Dr Ugo Ihekuna, and Secre-tary General, Chief Elvis Chukwu, said much prog-ress on Biafra agitation would be made if such issue was handled by the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, which is a repre-sentative of Ndigbo in Ni-geria and the Diaspora.

“Therefore, it is our hum-ble opinion that the gover-nors should allow Ohanaeze Ndigbo handle this issue of agitation for a sovereign state of Biafra on behalf of Ndigbo in Nigeria and the Diaspora as Ohanaeze Ndig-bo stands a better chance of negotiating and achieving better results.

Shortly after that meet-ing in Enugu, Governor Ro-chas Okorocha of Imo State told journalists that a com-mittee would be set up to dialogue with the pro-Biafra group and discuss other is-sues affecting the zone.

But MASSOB in a press statement signed by its Na-tional Director of Informa-tion, Uchenna Madu, said the only way to end the protest and looming crisis in the zone was the uncondi-tional release of Director of Radio Biafra and leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu.

Madu said MASSOB re-jected the resolutions as it did not address the major issue behind the protests – Kanu’s continued detention by the government.

The group also said it was worrisome that South East governors met in their usual characteristic with-

AliuNA GodwiN ANd jAmes AbrAhAm

Members of the Movement for the Actualisa-

tion of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, and Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, yester-day said they rejected the resolutions of South East governors and stakehold-ers to end ongoing pro-tests.

It would be recalled that the governors, including former governors, Ndigbo Ministers, National As-sembly members and other leaders had in a meeting recently in Enugu State re-solved to set up a committee to dialogue with the pro- Bi-afra agitators with a view to end the protests and other crisis.

Chris NjokuOWERRI

Imo State government yesterday constituted a Joint Taskforce Com-

mittee to checkmate all activities going on in vari-ous uncompleted build-ings in and around the state, with a view to bring-ing to book any individual using such buildings as den to perpetrate heinous acts.

Inaugurating the com-mittee made up of officials of Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, Secretary to the Government of Imo State, SSG, Sir Jude Ejiogu, stated that government de-cided to set up the commit-tee to check crimes being perpetrated in the state as a result of availability of uncompleted buildings to criminal-minded individu-als, who use them to per-fect their activities.

He expressed optimism that with the committee in place, every activity go-ing on in any uncompleted building in the state would be monitored.

The state scribe there-fore, charged the commit-tee to work collectively to ensure that the assignment given to them is carried out effectively, while advising them not to compromise with any person no matter whose ox is gored in the ex-

executions of some contracts in the state?

“At the moment, Gover-nor Ugwuanyi is engrossed in several salvage actions of his administration aimed at raising the bar of perfor-mance in all spheres of gov-ernance.

“His is an administration embedded in momentous actions involving flag-off of development projects, con-tinuous engagements with various stakeholder groups, business groups with a view to ensuring that no stone is left unturned in the drive to

achieve all aspects of the four-point agenda of the gov-ernment.”

He added, “The governor being a true democrat, and having served his people for a decade and two years, as a dependable National Assembly member, would not use his office to meddle in the affairs of the legisla-tive arm of government in Enugu State.

“In fact, the Assembly goes about its constitutional duties without any form of encumbrance by the execu-tive arm.”

emmANuel ezehENUGU

Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has

dismissed a media report alleging that he was using the House of Assembly to probe his predecessor, Sullivan Chime.

An online medium had accused the governor of being behind the House’s probe of Chime.

However, in a statement made available to journal-ists in Enugu yesterday by Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Uwakwe Abugu, he described the

news report entitled ‘Enugu Governor Begins Probe of Predecessor, Godfather,’ as a huge deception of the mass-reader.

Abugu said it was “a de-liberate attempt to create and stoke the embers of a non-existent rift among political leaders in Enugu, which currently enjoys vis-ible peace, harmony and progressive actions mid-wifed by the administration of Governor Ugwuanyi.

According to him, “it is an embarrassing distortion of journalistic story-telling

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netSouth East Thursday, November 26, 201512


Politics

Challenges before new ministers

Even though President Muhammadu Buhari had de-scribed Nigerian ministers as noise makers, there is however no gain saying that the ministers play very

pivotal roles in driving the policies of any administration. This fact was even underscored by the President himself with the circumspect which he deployed in the choice of the appointment of the present ministers. For instance, it took the President a whopping four months before he came up with the list of the ministers he eventually sent to the Senate for screening and confirmation. Even the controversies and interests generated by the confirmation process speaks volumes about the importance and the stra-tegic role of the ministers in this administration.

As chief executive officers of the ministries, the minis-ters are expected to be key drivers of the present adminis-tration’s change policies. That is perhaps, why after their confirmation by the senate, the President subjected the new ministers to a two-day rigorous retreat, during which, Buhari took time to ram into their heads, his administra-tion’s style of governance, particularly his position on anti-corruption and rule of law as well as his policy on prudence in governance.

The ministers have since assumed offices and have re-ceived hand over notes from the Permanent Secretaries of their various ministries on the state of affairs in those ministries. Some of the ministers have also been making policy statements that explain the direction of their ten-ures in office.

However, besides the briefs being handed over to the new ministers by the staff of the various ministries, there are general expectations from Nigerians on some priority issues to be addressed by the ministers as they go about their new tasks.

Ministry of DefenceBrig-Gen Mansur Dan-Ali has been assigned the De-

fence ministry.Of course, the ministry was created for the comfort of

the military, to serve and facilitate the needs of the mili-tary before government. The minister therefore must be able to recognise and drive these needs towards achieving results.

As it were, the ministry is currently challenged by the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency that the military is fighting in the North East. The minister is even more chal-lenged by the presidential deadline to end Boko Haram in-surgency by December 2015.

Though he has just taken over as minister of Defence, he is inexcusable because is an Army General, he was around since the war started and merely retired few months ago. His posting was apt and appropriate and he just must jus-tify the confidence reposed in him by Nigerian people and President Muhammadu Buhari.

Dan-Ali is aware of the various Defence needs in terms of funds, hardware, logistics, personnel to prosecute the war. They have, but it is never enough. He has to ensure that the military lacks nothing.

He is aware of complaints bothering on troops welfare and has to discharge this diligently with the Service Chiefs.

The welfare of both serving and retired personnel, as well as that of deceased families, has remained a great

Dan-Ali Fashola

As change agents, the new ministers have just resumed in their various ministries to confront myriads of challenges in the course of their new assignments. In this report, GEORGE OJI, ROTIMI FADEYI, UBONG UKPONG AND DOOSURR IWAMBE examine some of the key issues the ministers may have to deal with as matters of priority.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

Dan-ali is aware of the various Defence

neeDs in terms of funDs, harDware, logistics,

personnel to prosecute the war. they have, but

it is never enough. he has to ensure that the military lacks nothing

challenge in the sector, which he is aware.Allowances, pensions, gratuities, accommodations

amongst other welfare issues have remained vital areas of concern over the decades and in view of the change man-tra, Dan-Ali has a lot on his hands.

Already as a military pensioner, he has said that he is paying close attention to pension issues.

“In line with the anti-corruption stand of the present ad-ministration, the Ministry of Defence in conjunction with the Military Pensions Board recently conducted a verifica-tion exercise of all military pensioners. The exercise was intended to streamline and check leakages in the system as well as maintaining accurate and comprehensive data of military pensioners, the minister told journalists in Abuja.

He has the challenge of continuing to engage pension-ers through relevant organs like the Nigerian Legion, the Veteran Affairs Division and the Military Pensions Board to ensure that government obligations to them are met.

Dan-Ali would also face the challenge of carrying the services and their chiefs along in key government decision

processes and making them to work in synergy to support government to achieve its policies.

Interior MinistryThis is a unique ministry and its challenges too are

enormous, but certainly, may not outweigh Lt-Gen Ab-dulrahman Dambazzau, who has been said to be the right choice for the ministry.

Dambazzau is already at the ministry and he is faced with internal security challenges. For the administration of Buhari to be peaceful and smooth, then Dambazzau has to work.

As a former Chief of Army Staff, COAS. He is now over-seeing all the paramilitary services: the Police, the Prisons, the Immigration, the Civil Defence and Fire Services espe-cially, and he has the challenge of ensuring that they syn-ergise to keep the country peaceful.

The challenges of the Boko Haram insurgency, Biafra movement, Niger- Delta militancy and restiveness, cattle rustling, armed robbery, communal clashes, amongst oth-ers are already staring him at the face but he cannot afford to blink.

The welfare of these personnel must be accorded priori-ty attention as issues of accommodations, pensions, allow-ances, salaries, gratuities amongst others, have continued to form the basis for complaints in these services.

Also to face the minister is the problem of recruitment such as that of the Immigration where several persons died and others injured without still getting the job.

Recently, the House of Representatives commenced probe into the Immigration recruitment saga and asked the service to deploy all those issued appointment letters.

The minister is now faced with the challenge of ensur-ing that their appointment is regularised and salaries se-cured for them.

Recruitment exercises by various paramilitary agen-cies in the ministry have often been characterised by crisis

14 Politics National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, November 26, 2015

The issues of oil subsidy, fuel imporTaTion by independenT markeTers

is a big challenge These minisTers would face

Challenges before new ministers CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13and fraud in most cases.

Ministry of Niger Delta AffairsThe importance of this region to the coun-

try underscores the retention of this minis-try by Buhari and the subsequent assign-ment of Pastor Usani Uguru of Cross River state as minister and Claudius Omoyele Dar-amola of Ondo state as minister of state.

These gentlemen and Niger Delta lead-ers would face enormous challenge deliv-ering development in the region, as they would be blame for any failure.

The creation of the ministry by late Umaru Yar’Adua’s administration fol-lowed the need to end militancy and devel-op the region.

The Niger Delta Development Commis-sion, NDDC was not good enough to push the issues in the region as it was not a poli-cy making and cabinet body. The ministers have the challenge of rolling out and pur-suing policies that would keep the develop-ment of people and environment in Niger Delta on.

Budget and National PlanningThe Minister of Budget and National

Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma and his minister of state, Zainab Ahmed, have since resumed duties, in the face of daunt-ing challenges of the country’s economic crisis.

First of all, the challenges of early bud-get presentation and budget implementa-tion have to be resolved.

Monitoring and evaluation of budget implementation and performance by vari-ous Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, to improve the economy and bring wealth to Nigerians are of the essence.

This could explain the reason for pover-ty as presently experienced in the country, but these ministers have to bring a change.

The current level of hyper inflation and poor standard of living must be addressed to reflect the change mantra of this ad-ministration and these ministers would face the challenge of getting the sectors in-volved to fix these and the entire economy.

Ministry of Petroleum ResourcesNigeria has been noted as an oil-depen-

dent economy but the unfortunate thing is that the corruption in the sector has brought great harm on the economy.

With President Buhari personally head-ing the oils ministry with Ibe Kachiukwu as minister of state, it is believed that some-thing substantial would be done to revive the sector.

However, there is the challenge of fight-ing the cabal in the sector to free the coun-try.

The issues of oil subsidy, fuel importa-tion by Independent Marketers is a big challenge these ministers would face.

The challenge of fixing the nation’s re-fineries and building new ones for high ca-pacity production is waiting for them.

Raking in revenues from oil companies as taxes into the federation account is a challenge. Corporation, NNPC.

Judiciary The Judiciary as we all know is key to

every democratic setting; and as the third arm of government, it acts as a check on the executive and the legislative arm of government. In the past, the judiciary was known for its reputation to function at an

optimum level in dispensing justice with-out fear or favour but unfortunately, in re-cent times, many judges have been found guilty of corruption and other sordid acts.

With some exceptions, corruption, un-due political and other influences, flawed process of judicial appointments, poor performance and denial of justice have be-come the judiciary’s lot. The consequence is a loss of faith in the justice system.

The importance of criminal justice to the smooth running of any society can-not be over emphasised. Indeed an effec-tive criminal justice system is regarded by many as fundamental to the maintenance of law and order. However the Nigerian criminal justice system is not only dysfunc-tional, it is also outdated and absolutely not fit for purpose. Experts say change is possi-ble with fundamental reforms, which must begin from within.

Malami is coming in at a time the ju-diciary is grappling with the challenge of defending its independence and its integ-rity, it is however not in doubt that the new AGF has an enormous task ahead of him, whether he will be able to implement the required reforms that will assist in repo-sitioning the judiciary that will not only regain the trust of Nigerians but will also meet the hope of the common man, only time will tell.

Rotimi Amaechi: TransportationContrary to the expectation of some Ni-

gerians who had tipped him as Minister of Niger Delta, Rotimi Amaechi was assigned to the Ministry of Transportation. He is as-suming office amidst the torrents of chal-lenges besetting the transport sector.

He will have to contend with the Her-culean task of revamping the road sector, which has almost collapsed..

The challenges facing the road network are occasioned by the abysmal neglect of the rail and maritime sectors of the econ-omy. The lacklustre attitude towards the rail sector gave rise to the heavy pressure put on the roads in moving goods such as petroleum products and agricultural pro-duce from the hinterland to the cities and sea ports.

Rail transport, considered cheaper and most suitable mode of transportation for heavy traffic flows, today contributes less than half per cent to the Gross Domestic Products of the transport sector. Thus, the prolonged relegation of the Nigerian Rail-ways Corporation has turned the corpora-tion to drain on the Federal purse, as the NRC depends on government subvention to thrive instead of achieving self-suste-nance by providing freight and passenger services.

Amaechi has the onerous responsibility of giving fillip to water transport, which at the moment has share of about 1.6 per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product. The sector comprises ocean transport, coastal water transport and inland water trans-port. The new minister will be required to tackle the variegated challenges at the ma-jor sea ports in the country.

Audu Ogbeh – Agriculture

Ogbeh is returning to a familiar terrain as this is his third time as a minister. In the Second Republic, he was the Minister of Communications and later became Minis-ter of Steel Development.

His latest assignment as the Minister of Agriculture is seen as yet another veritable opportunity for him to put into practice all he has been advocating over the years on how agriculture could be restored as the mainstay of the Nigerian economy. The

sector suffered a major setback because of oil boom with the groundnut pyramid of the North, cocoa plantations in the West and the oil palm and rubber plantations taking the back seat.

Ogbeh is expected to consolidate on the relative success achieved by the immedi-ate past minister of Agriculture, Dr Ad-esina Akinwunmi, as Nigeria was heavily dependent on agriculture, with the sector accounting for more than 40 per cent of pre-1973 GDP, but which, by 1983, declined 1.9 per cent, while exports fell 7.9 per cent.

Amina Mohammed - Environment Amina Mohammed as the new head of

the Ministry of Environment, which was established at the inception of the Chief Obasanjo administration in June 1999, is to ensure effective coordination of all envi-ronmental matters.

She is expected to also ensure envi-ronmental matters are adequately main-streamed into all developmental activities.

The protection of the environment is paramount to the achievement of the ob-jectives of the country’s socio-economic reforms, including National Economic Empowerment Strategy, NEEDS and other regional and global initiatives such as the New Partnership for African Development, NEPAD, Millennium Development Goals, MDGs which has since changed to Social Development Goals, SDGs and Johannes-burg Plan of Implementation, JPOI.

The minister is also expected to prepare a comprehensive national policy for the protection of the environment and conser-vation of natural resources, including pro-cedure for environmental impact assess-ment of all developing projects.

Education Ministry

The education sector is a very important area needed for the progress and develop-ment of any nation. It is a sector saddled with the responsibility to ensure that the conducive environment and conditions are provided for the impartation of knowledge.

With Mallam Adamu Adamu as the Min-ister in charge of the Education Ministry, he needs to tackle the problem of the rapid fall in quality of education in the country by ensuring improvement in the infra-

Adeosun Fayemi Mohammed

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 15PoliticsThursday, November 26, 2015

Challenges before new ministers structure in schools at all levels.

Poor funding of the education sector at all levels of government is also a challenge in the education sector which must also be urgently addressed.

The new Minister also need to ensure that there is strict compliance with regula-tions and guidelines for private schools at all levels in the county to ensure that they don’t compromise standards.

Communication MinistryFor the new Communication Minis-

ter, Adebayo Shittu, the achievements re-corded so far in the Communication sector should be sustained while efforts should be intensified to ensure further development in the sector.

The communication sector is now a very important area that requires attention be-cause the world has become a global village where we need to communicate and con-nect with other people in the world regard-ing trade, social interaction, politics, educa-tion and other areas of human life.

The ministry should also urgently ad-dress the issue of poor service by telecom-munication companies in the country and ensure that they improve on their ser-vices. The provision of quality service to the growing mobile telephone subscribers should be of utmost importance.

FinanceThis is a very important ministry in

any government as it is in charge of the revenue and expenditure of the govern-ment as well as financing projects of the Federal Government designed for the benefit of the people. With Kemi Adeosun, a financial expert and former Commissioner of Finance in Ogun State now at the Federal level as Minister of Finance, it is expected that she would bring her expertise to bear in the area of managing the economy.

The ministry needs to ensure probity and proper management of government fund and check excesses in government spending and block all financial leakages.

InformationThe Ministry of Information also has a

key role to play in the affairs of the coun-try as it is expected to inform the people on the activities of government. Without prop-erly disseminating information, the people would be in the dark and may not be able to contribute meaningfully to the develop-ment of the country.

The Ministry of Information under the leadership of the new Minister of Informa-tion, Lai Mohammed, should ensure that people are adequately informed on the ac-tivities of government.

The need to ensure positive image of the country before the international communi-ty should also be paramount in the affairs of the ministry.

Industry, Trade and InvestmentThe ministry is responsible for attract-

ing foreign investments into the country and ensuring the growth of local industries and businesses.

With the fall in the price of oil in the in-ternational market, the minister in charge

of this ministry has a responsibility to go all out to attract investments in all the sec-tors in order to stimulate the economy.

The ministry under Okechukwu En-elamah as the minister should also ensure that government provides the conducive environment for the existing industries in the country to grow while funds should be provided to revive those that are dead

The ministry also has the task of ensur-ing that the investments in the country gen-erate employment for the teeming youths while also boosting the economy of the country.

Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis is one of the critical ministries of

every Government. It is the foreign affairs ministry that markets every administra-tion to the outside world. The President is believed to have made a good choice in the person of Geoffrey Onyeama as the minis-ter in charge of the ministry. A seasoned lawyer and an astute administrator, On-yeama is expected to bring his wealth of experiences as a Diasporan to bear in the ministry..

The minister will be confronted with the issue of positioning Nigeria as a nation of investment destination, given the present administration’s quest for foreign invest-ment to complement the dwindling rev-enue from the oil sector.

Already, the new minister has given in-dications as to his policy direction while in office., Onyeama promised to block all financial leakages in the ministry and mis-

sions abroad as part of the effort to actual-ise the change agenda of the Muhammadu Buhari-led government.

He also hinted that the country’s mis-sions abroad would also be reduced in or-der to better manage the budgetary alloca-tion of the ministry.

Ministry of Solid MineralsThis is again, one of the critical minis-

tries that is expected to drive the new ad-ministration’s change agenda. The Solid Minerals ministry is more critical now par-ticularly because of the dwindling income from the oil and gas sectors. If the principle for the diversification of the economy as promised by the President is to make any meaningful impact, the solid minerals min-istry must play a pivotal role.

At the moment, the country is losing huge revenue from the solid minerals sec-tor to illegal miners through uncoordinat-ed and disjointed mining activities. From Plateau State to Nasarawa state to Katsina State to Zamfara and Ebonyi States, the length and breadth of Nigeria is endowed with minerals of various kinds and quali-ties.

Unfortunately, as a result of huge re-sources from hydrocarbon, Nigerians have over the years failed to tap the boundless mineral resources that abound all over the country.

Perhaps, it is based on this enormous potentials in the ministry that President Buhari decided to chose somebody like the former Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, a well tested administrator, aca-demic and technocrat to head the ministry.

Adewole Malami

Group caution against campaign of calumny on SGF office

We never endorse Dickson for second term –Bayelsa Elders

The Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency, CES-

JET has condemned what it termed serial campaign of calumny against the office of the Secretary to the Govern-ment of the Federation by a group from Ebonyi State.

In a press statement issued by the Centre’s Executive

Director on Public Affairs, Comrade Anthony Kola, the centre said it has become necessary to call the persons behind such campaign of cal-umny to order, insisting that such action will continue to discourage people from serv-ing their fatherland if their hard earned reputation is be-ing tarnished.

“The Secretary to the Gov-ernment of the Federation is one man who has performed all his responsibilities with God and humanity at heart”

“It will therefore be dis-heartening for some mis-chief makers to go to the street with his image and reputation to make some cheap political goals against

him knowing well that no one can bend his principles.

“The President was in the first place not wrong about his choice; the SGF has so far demonstrated to be at home with the workings of that office and we implore these elements to desist from drag-ging his name to the mud,” the statement said.

OsahOn JuliusYENAGOA

As controversies contin-ue to trail the gale of endorsement by stake-

holders on candidates ahead of the Bayelsa gubernatorial poll, a prominent member of the Bayelsa Elders Council, BEC, Chief Andy Oputa, yes-terday, denied that the elders endorsed the re-election of the Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson.

Oputa, a retired Major from the Nigerian Army said it was wrong for some per-sons to have sponsored media publications claiming that the council was in support of

Dickson’s second term ambi-tion.

He however confirmed that the council held a meet-ing with the governor and his deputy, Rear Admiral John Jo-nah (retd) on November 15 at the Wetland Centre, Yenagoa.

Oputa said the council at the meeting deliberated on the state of Bayelsa and, thereaf-ter, raised a four-point com-munique.

Oputa in a statement he signed in Yenagoa said the governor only received bless-ings from the first class chiefs present at the meeting as the tradition demands.

He said: “I was physically present at a meeting held by

the council on 15th November, 2015 and l hereby react to a purported news item making the rounds in certain sections of the media in Bayelsa State to the effect that the Bayelsa Elders Council endorsed Gov-ernor Dickson’ second term bid.

“I maintain that there was no resolution to that effect and could not have been since the BEC is non-partisan. Rather the governor received bless-ings from the first class chiefs present as tradition demands.

“The four-point resolution adopted by the council are well documented and duly signed by the chairman and the publicity secretary. I strongly

advise politicians and other political office seekers not to make political capital out of meetings of this highly re-spected elders council.”

Also, a copy of the commu-nique made available to the National Mirror, showed that none of the four-point resolu-tion contained a statement en-dorsing Dickson.

The council in the docu-ment urged all political par-ties to ensure that their can-didates, leaders and followers were of good conduct in the interest of peace and in accor-dance with the Peace Accord they signed with the Indepen-dent National Electoral Com-mission (INEC).

Politics National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, November 26, 201516

No political thugs harass Suswam –Benue Commissioner

Kashamu urges Court of Appeal to validate his election

N45M payment error, ex Naval Officer dares EFCC to arrest him

Kwara Deputy Speaker empower constituents

Kemi OlaitanIBADAN

The Senator repre-senting Ogun East Senatorial district,

Prince Buruji Kashamu, yesterday urged the Court of Appeal sitting in Ibadan, to nullify the judgement of the Ogun State Election Petitions Tribunal which nullified his victory in the March 28 senatorial elec-tion.

At the hearing of his ap-peal against the judgement of the tribunal before the three-man Court of Appeal panel led by Justice A. G. Mshelia, his lead counsel, Dr. Alex Izinyon (SAN), said the tribunal erred in basing its judgement on the evidence of Prosecution Witness 44, who is not an expert.

Other members of the panel are Justice Ignatius

Henry iyOrKaseMAKURDI.

Benue State Com-missioner for Trade and invest-

ment, Dr. Tersoo Kpelai has debunked the claim of former Governor, Ga-briel Suswam that he was harassed by hoodlums at Ukum Local Government Area of Benue state.

The commissioner who doubled as the Chairman Central Planning Com-mittee for the burial of the paramount ruler of

Dare aKOgun

The Deputy Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly, Hon

Mathew Okedare in con-junction with a Non Govern-mental Organisation, NGO, Royal Heritage Health Foun-dation last Monday in Jebba Moro local government area of the state brought suc-cour to five physically chal-lenged with the provision of wheel-chairs and cash gift to widows.

Okedare while present-ing the materials and cash also used the opportunity to commend the government for resumption of work at the Oloru/Jebba road, say-ing that with the return of the contractors to site the people can now heave a sigh of relief.

He however enjoined oth-er well meaning individuals to imbibe the spirit of help-ing the less privileged in the society, adding that, the empowerment programme is apart from his monthly disbursement of N280,000 to his constituents.

“I am glad our efforts on the deplorable condition of Oloru/Bode-Saadu/Jebba road, through the media, liaising with the National Assembly members and the Presidency had yielded positive result because works had commended on the abandoned road project, many lives and property worth millions of naira had been lost to deplorable con-dition of the road.

Okedare also disbursed the cash of N200,000 to wid-ows, aged and other less privileged members in his constituency.

The beneficiaries of wheel chairs who also re-ceived cash gift of N5,000 each included Afolabi Ibrahim from Bode-Saadu, Rukayat Raheem from Jen-kunu; Azeez Olarewaju from Jebba; Gbadamosi Taiye and Azeez Dada who also came from Jebba com-munity.

In their separate re-marks, the chairman of the APC in Jebba Ward, Al-haji Muyideen Bakare and the spokesperson of Jebba Youths Development Asso-ciation, Yusuf Abdullateef noted that the gesture would go a long way in bringing succour to the beneficiaries.

Ter-Ukum, Chief Daniel Dzahan who was buried in the area explained that the burial essentially was non- partisan.

He explained that few people were initially billed to give funeral oration at the programme and that Suswam was not on the list of those to speak at the occasion.

He further stated that “soon afterwards, the former governor, Dr. Ga-briel Suswam arrived the venue with his lieuten-ants and a detachment of

Mobile Police and other entourage he insisted to make a speech”

“Since his name was not among to speak, it was initially rejected but due to the pleadings of tradi-tional rulers of the area and other sympathizers, he was allowed to make a speech”

“Soon as he mounted the podium, he started with vulgar language and subsequently confusion set in and at that point I left the venue .

“For anyone to allude

Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson (centre) acknowledging cheers from ecstatic people of Peretoru Gbene Town on arrival during his Community to Community Meet the People Campaign Tour in Ekeremor Local Government Area of the State, yesterday.

that the occasion was dis-rupted by party support-ers is not true”

“Frankly speaking, those who are insinuating that there was political clash between supporters of different political par-ties at the occasion are not saying the truth and there is no iota of truth whatso-ever in that .

“ I wish to disabuse the minds of the people that the insinuation is borne out of envy and misrep-resentation of facts”, he explained.

ObiOra ifOHABUJA

A retired Naval offi-cer, Navy Captain Jerry Ogbonna who

is said to be on the wanted list of the anti-graft agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC for stealing has said the N45M in question was a part payment of a contract his company executed in 2012 even as he dared the EFCC to arrest him.

EFCC has said the N45 million was paid into ac-count of the former military officer in error by the Cen-tral Bank of Nigeria, but he absconded with the money.

In a release made avail-able to journalists in Abuja, the retired Naval officer de-nied ever stealing the sum of N45M as was alleged, rather he said “the payment to my account with Diamond Bank PLC in 2012 was credited for a contract I have with Ministry of Petroleum Re-sources for the lease of three helicopters from Tunisia for Department of Petroleum Resource.

“ The helicopters were President Yar’dua’s idea to prevent DPR from hiring helicopters from the IOCs who they are supposed to police. The N45M was part- payment of the mobiliza-tion for the contract. The full mobilization is N110 million. So a total of N90 million has been paid by the ministry for the mobi-lization.

“However the CBN staff and some staff from Min-istry of Petroleum wanted me to launder the money and share the money with-out supplying the helicop-ters but I refused. This is against my principle and what I stand for.”

He said the matter is in the Federal High court and International court of arbi-tration for adjudication.

“I am not on the run from EFCC because they know my office in Abuja and my residence. I have no need to run from anybody but no one can intimidate me. Rule of law must be followed at all times. The truth must pre-vail over lies. I sacrificed my life for 30 years in the mili-tary for this nation and can-not at this stage change my habits at 61”, he said.

Agube and Justice M. L. Shuaibu.

According to Izinyon, since the witness himself confirmed that he was en-listed by the first respon-dent, Prince Dapo Abiodun and the second respondent, the All Progressives Con-gress, APC, to analyse the polling materials, his evi-dence should and cannot be relied upon.

He insisted that since the star witness do not have an established skill and ex-pertise as a forensic expert, the appellate court should allow the appeal of his cli-ent and set aside the deci-sion of the tribunal while it should also dismiss the first and second respon-dents’ petition at the tribu-nal.

Speaking in the same vein, lead counsel to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr. R. A. Oluyede,

urged the court to allow the appeal of his client, stating that statues and cases are unanimous that elections are not meant to be perfect.

He said out of the 11 complaints presented be-fore the tribunal by the first and second respondents, only four were accepted by the tribunal on the basis of faulty evidence.

He maintained that the judgements and findings of the tribunal cannot stand when it is clear that they are based on manufactured evidence.

However the lead counsel to Abiodun and the APC, Mr. Yusuf Alli, enjoined the court to dismiss the appeal of both Kashamu and the PDP, noting that the over flogging issue of the evi-dence of P44, is uncalled for.

According to him, while there have been various judgements on the need

to rely on the evidence of forensic expert in electoral disputes, it is important that each case must be de-cided on its merit with its peculiar facts.

After listening to the more than three hours fire-works on the appeals filed by Kashamu and PDP, and cross-appeals filed by Abio-dun and APC, the court said it will communicate the date for judgement to all the parties in the matter.

The appeal filed before the Court of Appeal sit-ting in Ibadan by Senator Buruji Kashamu of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, against the judgment of the Ogun State election petition tribunal which nullified his victory in the March 28 senatorial elec-tion, was Tuesday halted by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa.

Paris massacre and agony of a bleeding world TAYO OGUNBIYI

That terror has attained a global di-mension, once again, became vi-ciously evident as it recently struck

in a damning and audacious fashion in far away Paris. As at the last the count, the well coordinated six strikes by ISIS that devastated Paris, thereby leaving the en-tire world in a state of palpable awe, had left 132 people dead and more than 200 oth-ers injured. This is the second time in less than 11 months that the magnificent city would fall into the devilish hands of terror. The first was the last January 7 attack on Charlie Hebdo, a Paris based satirical mag-azine, which led to the death of 17 people.

In terms of planning, execution and ca-sualties figure, the recent attack is more menacing. Indeed, Sylvie Bermann, the French ambassador in the United King-dom has compared the latest terror strike to the 9/11 incident in America. She said: “I think this is totally different from Char-lie Hebdo attacks. This is more like 9/11. It is an act of war.” Her stance was rein-forced by French President, Francois Hol-lande. In honour of the dead, the French government declared three days of nation-al mourning. Expectedly, there has been widespread global condemnation by world leaders. Even the Russian President, Vladi-mir Putin termed the attack as “the latest testimonial to the barbaric essence of ter-rorism which throws down a challenge to human civilisation.” The Catholic Pontiff, Pope Francis had said: “There cannot be

DAY BY DAY, THE WORLD IS INCREASINGLY

BECOMING TROUBLED AND VULNERABLE

KAYODE KETEFE

It is one thing to desire a thing, and anoth-er to be ready to pay the price to bring that object of desire into reality. Today, every-

body would agree the nation is reeking with disunity and fear, pandemonium and stag-nation. While these four depressing nouns “disunity, fear, pandemonium, stagnation” might have aptly captured the current reali-ties, they are by no means mere fortuitous se-quence of lexical items by this writer.

The words are, ironically, just the direct opposites of the lexemes in the “national motto” enshrined in Section 15 of the 1999 Constitution. The said section provides that the “Motto of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress.” With the rate of insecurity in the land a la Boko Haram; armed robbery and wanton killings of Nigerians, kidnapping of prominent personalities and et al, is it not ironic that the nation now seems a perfect negation of everything each of those ideal

Nigeria: Between fancies and realities MANY CIVIL SERVANTS

ARE NOT ONLY LAZY, THEY SEE THEIR OFFICES

AS AVENUES FOR SELF-ENRICHMENT

Send your views by mail or sms to PMB 10001, Ikoyi, or our Email: [email protected] [email protected] or 08164966858 (SMS only). The Editor reserves the right to edit and reject views or photographs. Pseudonyms may be used but must be clearly marked as such.

concepts in the national motto denotes. But the paradoxical discrepancy be-

tween stated objectives and realities is not confined to the motto alone; it extends more palpably to the virtues described as “nation-al ethics” under Section 23 of the Constitu-tion. The said section states “The national ethics shall be Discipline, Integrity, Dignity of Labour, Social Justice, Religious Toler-ance, Self-reliance and Patriotism”

To project the palpable incongruities between our behaviours and each of these ethics would certainly require writing vol-umes of encyclopedia-sized treatises. Let us briefly examine each of the virtues against the backlight of our experiences, starting with “discipline”. What amount of dis-cipline inheres in our socio-political and cultural contexts? How often do you see Ni-gerians jumping queues at public places in defiance of social etiquette, and in glorifica-tion of indiscipline? Do our policy makers set targets and remain committed to them in consonance with disciplined mindset? What about financial discipline; and moral discipline, too? At the lowest rung of the ladder, you see people urinating or even def-ecating ubiquitously in public places with utter shamelessness. Where is discipline?

Integrity comes next, everyone will agree that if ever there is one scarce com-modity in Nigeria, it is men and women of integrity; the extent of corruption in the land is a direct index of want of integrity in the character contents of a sizeable seg-ment of Nigerians. One of the reasons Ni-gerians clamoured for and voted President Muhammadu Buhari into power is because

he is perceived as a person of integrity – a rarity among the legions of corrupt souls in the political class!

What of “dignity of labour”? Many civil servants are not only lazy, they see their offices as avenues for self-enrich-ment, most of our past governments itself had no workable blueprints for efficient, dynamic labour-force; people also have the attitude of looking down on many jobs for being lowly and me-nial as if white collar jobs are the only ones essential in the society.

As for social justice, is our socio-political and economic order not structured in such a way that the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer? In justice sector for in-stance, you would realise the poor’s ac-cess to justice is not only curtailed by the exorbitant cost of adjudication, it is also hampered by selectivity.

Somebody who stole billions of nai-ra, our justice system would allow him to plea-bargain his way into safety and impunity after been made to part with just a fraction of his loot, whereas a poor man would steal yam and banana in the market and be sent to many years in jail. That is social justice, is it not!

Then we have “religious tolerance” as the next ethic. Don’t we jump at each other’s throat on account of the slightest religious differences. Mind you, don’t let us even talk about Boko Haram because Boko Haram might have taken the affair to an infernal level, it did not start inter-religious belligerence in Nigeria. Our various faiths have always proved inca-pable of harmonious co-existence as a result of mutual intolerance.

Now, who is talking of self-reliance? We cannot even rely on ourselves just to refine our natural products like crude oil, having to import refined PMS from abroad. Don’t we spend hard-earned foreign exchange to import necessities, luxuries and even vanities? Our rate of reliance on foreign expertise is so pain-fully enormous that it is debatable if we can survive without foreign dependency. In every household in any modern Nige-rian city today, 98 percent of all items, utensils, fitting and fixtures are of for-eign provenance.

As for patriotism, where are the pa-triotic Nigerians? May be one in a thou-sand!

The pertinent question here is why is our national character so diametrically opposed to our self-chosen, much-vaunt-ed national motto cum ethics? People as rational, sentient beings must purpose-fully and tenaciously work towards ac-complishment of whatever worthy goals they have set for themselves.

Ketefe may be followed on twitter @Ketesco

justification, religious or human, for the evil act. It is absolutely inhuman”. The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, called the attack “despicable”.

Without a doubt, terrorism has become a major global concern. There is hardly any part of the world that has not tasted the bitter pills of audacious and vicious terror assaults. Day by day, the world is increasingly becoming troubled and vul-nerable. Indeed, the world is in a state of severe bleeding. Leading in this renewed onslaught on global peace are Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and the Tali-ban.

A recent data from the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) reveals that almost 18,000 people died from terrorist attacks in 2013, a 61 percent increase over the 2012 figure. The IEP statistics equally confirms that 80 percent of the deaths that arise from terrorists’ attacks took place in just five countries: Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria while India, Somalia, the Philippines, Yemen and Thailand accounted for between one percent and 2.3 percent of global deaths by terrorism. The rest of the deaths oc-curred in 60 countries across the world. This, no doubt, is a clear indication that the intensity of terrorism is precariously

increasing across the world.It is not really clear what exactly ter-

rorists want that could warrant such monumental disdain they have dem-onstrated for mankind. Religion seems to be a major umbrella under which majority of the terrorist groups hide to accomplish their callous and depraved acts. For instance, four of the main ter-rorist groups namely: Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Boko Haram and Islamic State hinge their dastardly activities on reli-gious ideologies based on excessive in-terpretations of Wahhabi Islam. Many adherents of Islam have, however, dis-owned these organizations’ claim of fighting for the course of Islam.

President Muhammadu Buhari, for instance, once referred to Boko Haram as a ‘godless and mindless’ sect that knows nothing about Islam. Indeed, the Boko Haram sect has given itself out as such, considering its various on-slaughts against Muslims. This goes to actually confirm that the group might by no means be championing the pro-motion of Islam. The fact that the sect particularly chose the revered month of Ramadan to launch criminal at-tacks on renowned Muslim locations and faithful, is a pointer to the reality that it is , indeed, a ‘godless’ and ‘mind-less’ sect. No sane group, purporting to promote religious course, should take recourse to bloodletting when God is known to abhors such tendencies.

If, indeed, terrorists are not fight-ing to advance religious course, what

then could they really want? Could it be that they are being driven by political or separatist tendencies? A recent IEP report discloses that increased social hostilities among diverse ethnic, religious and lin-guistic groups, state-sponsored violence such as extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses could stimulate terrorism. There is, of course, some degree of legiti-macy in this claim. Fears of subjugation of a particular race by another could eas-ily encourage a people or race to embrace terrorism.

The protracted Israeli-Palestinian con-flict is a clear-cut example. The Palestin-ians, rightly or wrongly, believe that they are being unfairly and unduly denied their ‘right’ to settlement at the West Bank. They also believe, erroneously or appropriately, that America and other leading western nations are not favourably disposed to their plight. Since they do not possess the financial and military force to surmount perceived opposition to their nationalistic aspirations, terrorism could, therefore, be the easy response of a frustrated and disen-chanted people.

Ogunbiyi is of the Features Unit, La-gos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 17Thursday, November 26, 2015 Views

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CRITICAL STROKES

18 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Mallam Adamu and the challenges on ground

Two North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Apache helicopters, an AC-130 gunship and two F-15E Eagle fighter jets, entered into the Pakistani border area of Salala in the Baizai subdivision of Mohmand Agency, FATA, at 2am local time, from across the bor-der in Afghanistan and opened fire at two border pa-trol check-posts, killing up to 24 Pakistani soldiers and wounding 13 others.

November 26, 2011November 26, 1983

In London, 6,800 gold bars worth nearly £26 million were stolen by a robbery gang from the Brink’s-MAT vault at the Heathrow Airport. When the bandits arrived Brink’s-MAT, they found three tonnes of gold bullion and stole £26 million worth of gold, diamonds and cash. Once inside, they poured petrol over staff and threatened them with a lit match if they did not reveal the combination numbers of the vault.

George W. Bush was certified the winner of Flor-ida’s electoral votes by Katherine Harris, and subse-quently won the United States’ presidential election, despite losing in the national popular vote. George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politi-cian and businessman who served as the 43rd Presi-dent of the US from 2001 to 2009. He was the 46th Gov-ernor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.

ON THIS DAY

The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, glis-tened and glowed with hope

for a revamped education sector recently when he assumed office in Abuja after the inauguration of ministers by President Muham-madu Buhari. In a meeting with the top hierarchs of the ministry in the nation’s capital, the minister reeled out pervasive corruption in Nigeria’s educational system, under-funding, dearth of regula-tory frameworks, among others as some of the challenges responsible for the deafening regress and rot in the sector.

Said the Minister: “The core prob-lems of education in the country, while inter-related, vary from one level of education to another. It is the crisis of underfunding which gave birth to a whole series of other prob-lems, such as poor infrastructure for teaching and learning. It is also the cause of absence of laboratory equipment for teaching and re-search, poor condition of service for teachers and the menace of brain drain from our tertiary institutions of learning…the crisis of poor en-rolment and access which leave mil-lions of school-age children roaming the streets; and millions of others competing for some thousands of places in our tertiary institutions; and the crisis of regulation, which have turned the entire education system into a jungle where every-thing goes…”

Incidentally, the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), early October while marking the 2015 World Teach-ers’ Day in Ado Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti State, drew attention to a lot of the challenges Adamu outlined, and canvassed the convening of a ‘seri-ous, result-oriented and purposeful’ education summit where profes-sionals and stakeholders would bring their experiences to bear on solutions to them. Indeed, the sullied reputation of the nation’s education sector occasioned by the embar-rassing academic performance of Nigerian students in recent decades; and the huge failure the country’s entire public educational enterprise now represents, equally troubled the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan to the extent it also contemplated a summit similar to the type the NUT suggested at a time. Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, Adamu’s predecessor in office, dropped the hint at the 60th National Council on Education (NCE) meet-ing held in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital between November 3 and 7, 2014. Unfortunately, it turned out to be one of those promises not kept until power exchanged hands between Jonathan and Buhari last May 29.

Education in the country, like several other sectors, has suffered re-tarded growth for long. Some of the tell-tale signs include reports that Nigeria is home to roughly 10 mil-lion out-of-school children. Indeed,

with the recent revelation by the Director of UNESCO’s Regional Of-fice, Abuja, Mr. Benoit Sossou, that “there are still many challenges (for Nigeria), especially with high level of illiteracy more prevalent in the 19 states of the North, and more than 40 million adult illiterates nation-wide”; and several millions more between the ages of six and 11 years out-of-school in a country with a population estimate of 178.5 million (2014 projections), there is every rea-son to worry about Nigeria’s future in a globalised world that thrives on choking competition.

Education in Nigeria, whether at the primary, secondary or tertiary level, is truly underfunded. The country has never come close to funding the sector with 26 percent of its annual budget as the United Nations recommended. Mallam Ad-amu says his immediate objectives would include reforming primary

education through regulation and incentives, as well as reviewing and enforcing regulations relating to staffing, capacity building and qual-ity assurance. He said his ministry, working closely with states and Local Government Councils would trash out modalities for offering free meals to pupils; and enact laws that would make it mandatory for all school-age children to be enrolled. He also promised a de-tailed look at the needs assessment reports conducted for public uni-versities, colleges of education and polytechnics with a view to imple-menting some of the far-reaching recommendations. “The new action plan that will guide my steward-ship as Minister of Education will present practical steps geared towards addressing these burning issues…”, he said.

Like a new broom, Nigerians expect the Education Minister to sweep clean. No less! If the chaos and self-afflicted threat of extinction trailing the nation’s public educa-tion sector can be halted; and the nation’s schools repositioned for better performance, then only can the country sincerely parade itself as being part of the emerging new world; and not a gloating mockery. Ultimately, however, how the Buhari administration cooperates with Mallam Adamu in turning dream to reality would determine the na-tion’s success in this very important sector.

HOW THE BUHARI ADMINISTRATION

COOPERATES WITH MALLAM ADAMU

IN TURNING DREAM TO REALITY WOULD

DETERMINE THE NATION’S SUCCESS IN

THIS VERY IMPORTANT SECTOR

November 26, 2000

Thursday November 26, 2015Editorial

All the Facts, All the SidesAll the Facts, All the SidesA PUBLICATION OF GLOBAL MEDIA MIRROR LTD

BARRISTER JIMOH IBRAHIM, CFR PUBLISHER

SUNDAY OLAJIDE MANAGING DIRECTOR/CEO

BEN MEMULETIWON ACTING DAILY EDITOR

GBEMI OLUJOBI SATURDAY EDITOR

AYO OLESIN SUNDAY EDITOR

DOZIE OKEBALAMA COORDINATOR, EDITORIAL BOARD

CALLISTUS OKE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

OBIORA IFOH ACTING ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF

AUGUSTUS IMEKAN ACTING HEAD, GRAPHICS

WE WILL ENSURE WE IMPROVE ON

OUR REMUNERATION AND MAKE IT MORE ATTRACTIVE TO THE

EXTENT THAT ALMOST EVERYBODY WOULD

WANT TO BE TRAINED TO BECOME A TEACHER.

Onwuka

‘‘

Piracy: Copyright Commission clamps down on bookshops in Kwara

FG has zero tolerance for corruption in universities —Buhari

212320

...lists teachers’ training, high remuneration, othersMy priorities —Minister


AFE BABALOLA UNIVERSITY,ADO-EKITI (ABUAD)

AFE BABALOLA UNIVERSITY,ADO-EKITI (ABUAD)

In ABUAD, You Get It All —Dr Ayodele Fayose, Ekiti State Governor.

Education TodayIN CONJUNCTION WITH

REGINA OTOKPAABUJA

It is no longer news that the nation’s edu-cation sector could no longer produce satisfactorily unlike those old good days

the right manpower needs to develop the economy.

Observers and critics believe that the sec-tor is sick at all level-from primary to tertia-ry education- with successive governments promising to revamp the system’ without the ability to do so.

Now is another government with two ministers, one as a substantive minister and the other as minister of state for the sector. And since President Muhammadu Buhari sworn them in alongside their colleagues two weeks ago, Nigerians just as they often do are continued to express their expecta-tions from them. But last week in Abuja, the Minister of State, who is a professor and two terms Vice-Chancellor of Imo State Universi-ty, Mr. Anthony Nwukka, had an interactive session with journalists to unfold his plans by virtue of his position for the sector.

He told them that of all his plans for the sector, the primary and secondary education with emphasis on the former would be his major concern based on the fact that the level is a foundation upon which other levels are built on.

Speaking like somebody who knows his onion, the minister disclosed that his ad-ministration would start from the calibre of teachers to be engaged both by private and public schools as well as providing enabling environment in schools.

According to him, the ministry would en-sure that only the right calibre of teachers who are trained and passionate about the job would be allowed to teach at various levels of education henceforth in the country without pointing out how possible this is.

While expressing displeasure over the activities of some school administrators in engaging uncertified teachers without con-sidering it crippling consequences, the min-ister who is a former Secretary to Imo State Government vowed that it would no longer be business as usual in the area of teachers’ recruitment.

He lamented the system which he said was defective, saying what worried him most now is the fact that many teachers at the primary school level are not qualified to be there.

He explained that “Ordinarily by law and structure, the National Certificate of Educa-tion, NCE, is the minimum qualification for entrant to teach at the primary school level.

Unfortunately, NCE training does not appear to be in consonance with the expectations of primary school teaching and learning.

According to him, “We have a NCE stu-dent studying Education Physics, Education Chemistry, Education Biology; I have looked through the primary school curriculum, at best what they have is science as a subject, they have language of the environment, Eng-lish, French, Arabic, Mathematics, Science, Physical and Health education, Religious knowledge, Agriculture, Home Economics, Social studies and Civic education, culture and Creative Arts but there is no place I have seen Physics or Chemistry.

“You prepare young men or ladies at the NCE programme with education Physics but comes to the primary school to teach basic science which is not his major course. That has been the practice all along. But now, we

have to address the real demand and supply of teachers at primary school level. This is a task I have set upon myself to ensure we get it right once and for all. This is be-cause what we are doing right now is to prepare NCE graduates for admission into faculties of education in the universities to study bachelors of education. They are not prepared to teach at the primary school level. We must change the mindset and structure and refocus degree education pro-grammes.”

The minister, who believes the National Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN)) has a lot to do in this regards, said teachers must have to be professionally trained and certified by the council before going into the system rather than accept-ing jus anybody who see teaching as a last resort due to high rate of unemployment in

the country.“We just have to elevate the status of teach-

ing in this country at least to a professional level. That is the assignment we have given ourselves and we are ready to do them. Now, the sector is off the rail and we must bring it back to function properly for the betterment of the students, the system, the industry and employers that depend on the products of the school system. We must have to give them what they want to ensure our country moves forward.”

The minister believes that the Federal Government is set to tackle the challenge by introducing measures that will entice many youths to take up teaching as a career.

“We will ensure we improve on our re-muneration and make it more attractive to the extent that almost everybody would want to be trained to become a teacher. That is where we are going and we hope to get the president support.”

On his other plans, the minister said he would ensure that zero tolerance to exami-nation malpractice, corruption, indolence, truanting, cultism and other forms of so-cial ills are maintained across schools just he did according to him during his days in the university as a vice-chancellor.

“We will equally provide necessary basic amenities and learning aids that will make learning and teaching friendlier to both the students and their teachers,” he vowed, while calling for support and cooperation of school administrators, teachers, parents and other stakeholders to achieve the plans.

FG should investigate 2015 NECO results —Onoja

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net20 Thursday, November 26, 2015Education Today

A cross section of students of Queen’s School, Lagos at King’s College, Lagos, during the inter-school football competition as part of activities of retirement ceremony organised for the immediate past Principal of King’s College, Otunba Oladele Olapeju, last week.

Piracy: Copyright Commission clamps down on bookshops in KwaraWole AdedejiILORIN

Books worth several mil-lions of naira were re-cently confiscated in Ilo-

rin, Kwara State by the Nigerian Copyrights Commission, NCC which raided many bookshops in the state capital.

The head of Ilorin Liaison Of-fice of the commission, Mrs. Jus-tina Akinwumi led a team of the commission staff, representa-tives of the Nigerian Publishers’ Association, NPA and policemen to carry out the raid.

Pirated books published by Learn Africa Plc (formerly Long-man) were confiscated at, among others First Sunday Sunday Bookshop and Monday Monday Enterprises both in the metropo-lis where large number of pirat-ed books were seen displayed on their shelves.

While speaking, Akinwumi said the books pirated were mov-ing titles of Learn Africa like New Concept Mathematics for Senior Secondary School from 1 to 3.

She told newsmen that the commission acted on a tip-off.

She said although the com-mission had no power to seal up

any bookshop or warehouse where pirated books were dis-covered, the commission has the right to confiscate have pi-rated books.

She however noted that the owners of those bookshops were already in their office for interrogation, adding that the commission has zero tolerance for piracy.

A representative of Nige-

Education ministry generates N343m in Ogun —Commissioner

RCCG lifts school

Board gives license to Pankshin Health Tech College

The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Lagos Province 37, Solomon’s Porch Parish, pen-

ultimate week donated 200 sets of school uniforms (for boys and girls) and 20 sets of chairs and tables worth N800,000 to the pupils and teachers of Ebenezer Pri-mary School, Egbeda, Alimosho Local Government area of Lagos State.

The Assistant Pastor in-charge of the province, Oluwayemi Olajide said the donation was in line with the church’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, a vision of the General over-seer of the mission, Pastor Enoch Ade-boye to contribute own quota towards the improvement of life of the less priv-ileged in the society.

He noted that the church assisted the school following observing the fact that the school was really in need of the do-nated items.

“The church leadership believes that government cannot all alone provide ba-sic needs of the citizenry,” he stressed.

He however urged the users not only to make good use of the items but also to ensure they translate to better service.

Also speaking, Mrs. Uzoamaka Okpe, a member of the church said the ges-ture would be extended to many other schools as resources permit in future.

Responding, the Head of Schools and Social Mobilization Officer of Alimo-sho Local Government Council, Mrs. Modupe Opadoyi enjoined the church not to get tired in doing good to schools and the society because she was opti-mistic that their children would receive favour in return.

On her part, the head teacher of the school, Mrs. E.O Adeyemi thanked the donor, saying the items would enhance service delivery in the school.

jAmes AbrAhAmJOS

The Registration Board of Nigeria, Community Health practitioners, has finally granted provisional ac-

creditation to College of Health Technol-ogy, Pankshin to train community health practitioners.

In a letter to the college signed by the board’s Acting Registrar/CEO, Salisu Abubakar and dated November 3, 2015, the board said the approval was sequel to the earlier recommendations of a visita-tion panel to the college.

But the board pegged the number of Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWs) and Junior Community Health Extension Workers (JCHEWs) to 75 and 50 in a session, respectively.

The board also gave the college two years within which to address some laps-es it identified to include the college’s re-location to its permanent site and provi-sion of more offices for lecturers among others.

Reacting to the news, the college pro-vost, Dr Jonathan Daboer expressed gratitude to God and the board for the good gesture, which he described as very encouraging and long awaited one. He promised to go for quality training start-ing from next session.

rian Publishers Association, NAP, Alhaji Maruf Ajitoni while speaking lamented that the publishing industry in the country now loses almost 50% of the total turnover of the pub-lishing industry, which runs to several billions of naira.

He said publishing indus-try could not fold its arms and watch pirates wreck havocs at will unchecked pointing out

L-R: Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Technology Akure, FUTA, Professor Adebiyi Daramola; Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission and Representative of President Muhammadu Buhari, Professor Julius Okojie; Chancellor and Emir of Bauchi, Dr. Rilwan Adamu and Pro- Chancellor, Dr Muhammed Shata during the 27th Convocation ceremony of the institution, last Saturday.

…asks FG to amend Copyright Act

Tunbosun ogundAre

The newly installed Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology in Ogun State, Mrs. Modupe Mujota

has disclosed that the ministry was able to generate a sum of N343m internally be-tween January and August this year.

Although she didn’t disclose the sources through which the money was generated, she however promised that the ministry would do better in revenue generation next year.

The commissioner disclosed this while addressing members of the state’s House of Assembly Committee on Education, Science and Technology who paid her courtesy visit in her office recently.

She said her administration would en-

sure nothing but standards is adhered to at all tiers of education in the state.

Ogun State according to her would cre-ate an inspection team that would be going round schools especially the private schools to enforce compliance to set standards by the ministry.

She said standards were not based only on beautiful environment, but also on avail-ability of competent workers, well-equipped facilities as well as instructional materials.

“We will also renovate the dilapidated schools across the state and ensure that pub-lic schools compete favourably with their private counterparts,” she stressed.

Responding, the Chairman, House Com-mittee on Education, Hon. Oladotun Fasan-ya decried the poor learning environment and the low quality of teaching staff en-gaged by private schools in the state, saying that if not checked, it could negatively affect the standard of education in the state.

He called on the ministry to put machin-eries in motion to check activities of private schools especially in the area of infrastruc-ture, manpower and remuneration.

that the jobs of over 100,000 workers in the publishing industry were on the line al-ready if this illegal activities remained unchecked.

Ajitoni appealed to the gov-ernment to empower NCC to seal up bookshops caught selling pirated books and ma-terials and to parents and stu-dents not to patronise pirated books.

Amosun

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 21Education TodayThursday, November 26, 2015

Onoja

FG should investigate 2015 NECO results —Onoja

Principal advocates stakeholder’s support for education

Dankwambo restates commitment to quality education

Saidat alauSa

The Principal, Bab-cock University Schools, Ogba, La-

gos, Mr. Gabriel Fasanu has called, on well to Ni-gerian in the country par-ticularly politicians who represent their communi-ties in state and National Assemblies to assist in the development of education in their various communi-ties.

He said this is necessarily to complement the effort of the government in providing conducive learning environ-ment for pupils and students of such communities.

The principal stated this during the Community Guest day organised by the school, recently.

He explained that such as-sistance will contribute im-mensely to the growth of the educational sector.

Fashanu also added that such assistance can be by way of providing infrastruc-ture, special training for teachers, award of scholar-ships to deserving students among others.

WilliamS attah GOMBE

In keeping to his promise of making education his first, second and third pri-

orities, the Dankwambo ad-ministration in Gombe State has continued to make head-way in this direction with not just the establishment of a college of education, but the commencement of full aca-demic activities.

Known for its educational backwardness compared to other regions of the country, the North has continued to contend with these challeng-es despite efforts to bridge the gap. However, not all efforts have been seen to be really sincere as political will has been lacking in seeing to the success of the education sec-tor.

It has become a known fact that the education sector has largely been politicized by many state administra-tions. The reason why poli-cies and pronouncements only end on paper or at most building school structures without facilities or motiva-tion and capacity building to propel the sector to achieving its desired level.

In Gombe State however,

How would you react to the appointment of Mr. Ad-amu Adamu as the new minister of education?

Honestly speaking, Mr. Adamu Adamu is a fantastic gen-tleman and I have nothing personal against his person. But I don’t think he has the required knowledge and competency to run the ministry well. His appointment is like putting a square peg in a round hole. And I wonder why Mr. President didn’t make the junior minister who has been in the sector all his life a substantive minister and vice-versa. Adamu may probably perform very well as a minister of information con-sidering his background as a columnist and public analyst. But it would have been much better if a professional is given the portfolio and my argument is simple. That is the fact that we don’t need to gamble with the sector again. We have to get it right this time around as a nation so as to move forward.

But all the same I wish him best of luck.

But the minister of state is a professor and two-term vice-chancellor of a university.

That is the home truth but does not follow since he is not the person in charge. As a matter of fact, even if he has bril-liant ideas, he may not want to say it out so that his boss will not think of over shinning him. That is the nature of man.

So, what would think should be their priorities? The major problem of education is at the level of primary

and secondary education. For any country to make meaning-ful impact in education it must make quality of primary and secondary education a priority but Nigeria’s primary educa-tion has nothing to write home about while the secondary ed-ucation is an orphan. I could recall that in May 1999, the then military Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar signed into law the establishment of the National Secondary Education Commission. But because his regime is short, he couldn’t implement the policy and sadly up till now none of the subse-quent governments deemed it fit to consider the commission worthy. That commission is to serve as a regulatory agency solely for secondary education. This is just like the Universal Basic Education Commission for basic education-primary and junior secondary, the National Commission for Colleges of Education for colleges of education, National Board for Technical Education for polytechnics and monotechnics and the National Universities Commission for the universities. So, why can we also have an agency for secondary educa-tion? We are wasting our times as a country unless we have such an agency. It is what we produce at that level that go for higher studies and later become manpower for the economy. So, I want the government to address this issue because all attempts to improve tertiary education would not yield desir-able results.

And secondly is the teachers’ training. Everybody is say-

Chief Sylvester Onoja is a former Commissioner for Education in Kogi State and now the Executive Chairman of the state’s Teaching Service Commission. He is also a member of Nigeria Academy of Education and former Principal of King’s College, Lagos. In this interview with TUNBOSUN OGUNDARE, Onoja faults the choice of non professional as a Minister of Education and the huge disparity between WAEC and NECO in their 2015 May\June SSCE results while advocating a special regulatory agency for the nation’s secondary education. Excerpts:

ing that people are not being attracted to teaching. How can they when teachers are not enjoying the same benefits with their counterparts in other professions? Come to think of it, if somebody wants to study medicine, law, pharmacy or accounting in any of the public universities in the country for instance, such person must have to get up to 270 score or more from possible 400 in the Unified Tertiary Matricula-tion Examination conducted by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) while you just need to score 180 points to study education courses. Why this has to be so? Teaching should be made competitive too. The profession is where there is no hiding place for those who know and those who don’t what they are to teach. That is why we have many teachers who cannot express themselves correctly in a sim-ple grammar. So, just because of poor remuneration and welfare package, many run away from joining the profes-sion. Take for instance, if you pay teachers almost the same salary with those in banks, oil companies or ICT, everybody would like to be a teacher. So, the new government should look into this for positive change.

How do you think recurrent mass failure of stu-dents in the senior secondary school certificate exams can be tackled?

It is simply for all hands to be on deck. Students have to be more committed; teachers have to be all and doing, parents have to dedicate more attention to their children’s education while governments should provide enabling environment. The examination bodies must also live up to their mandate.

Look at the last SSCE May/June results conducted by WAEC and NECO, while WAEC recorded that less than 40 per cent of its candidates passed at credit level and above five subjects including English Language and mathematics, a few weeks later NECO came out to tell us that over 68.9 per cent of its candidates passed its exam. Is that not ridiculous? These are the same exams, for the same set of students, taught by the same teachers under the same curriculum us-ing the same syllabus and marked by the same people. How do we interpret this? What yardsticks NECO used in arriv-ing at its own figure? Is that the way to compensate students or what? That is a gross deception on the part of NECO. The council wants to tell us that everything is going on fine in secondary education. Is that the true position? A state that scored nine or ten per cent in WAEC and now scored up to 60 per cent in NECO and nobody is queried the huge disparity. Nothing stops government to query the record because the implication is that next year, many students would want to abandon WAEC and go for NECO just because they can eas-ily pass the exam. These are some of the problems in educa-tion and at the secondary level in particular.

Speaking on why the school organised the pro-gramme, the educationist said that the programme was to afford the staff and students the opportunity to interact with invited guests from the community on how to protect their mutual inter-ests in the community.

He added that the day would also helps to promote good relationship between the school and the commu-nity.

Speaking during the oc-casion, the President of Western Nigeria Union Conference, Pastor Oyeleke Owolabi commended the leadership of Babcock Uni-versity Schools, Ogba and prayed for the staff and students of the school and charged them to make hard work their watchword and also to depend on God.

The climax of the event was the presentation of award of recognition to some individual for their contri-bution to the growth of the school including President Western Nigeria Union Con-ference of Seventh-day Ad-ventist Church, Pastor (Dr) Oyeleke Owolabi, among others.

the administration of Al-haji Ibrahim Hassan Dank-wambo has been trying in marching words with action since its inception on 29th May 2011when he prom-ised to make education his first, second and third prior-ity. This resulted in the es-tablishment, upgrading and renovation of many schools, primary, post-primary and tertiary institutions. This is apart from the recruitment of over two thousand NCE and first degree graduates as teachers in primary and sec-ondary schools.

And now, having anoth-er mandate of four years, the tempo hasn’t stopped, as a promise that hitherto seemed “political promise” has now seen the light of the day, thus, shaming his oppo-nents.

Since the pronouncement in December 2012 to establish a college of education in Bil-liri, Gombe State, the usual structures for the school had stood out as a sign and commitment of the admin-istration to fulfill its promise. But that is not so with many, because all over the country, many structures have lit-tered many parts of the coun-try as abandoned projects.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net22 Education Today Thursday, November 26, 2015

Adebule wants teachers to acquire ICT skill Francis suberu

The Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Idiat Adebule

has advised principals and teachers in the public and private schools in the state to improve on their knowledge in Information Communication Technol-ogy (ICT) so as to enhance their teaching skills and stay relevant on the job.

She gave the advice at the 29th annual conference of the All Nigeria Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS) held in Lagos, saying for any teach-er to remain relevant, such person must have to meet the 21st Century teaching, learning requirements else will become out-dated in the system.

Adebule noted that educational system that is devoid of the use of inte-grated information technol-ogy in teaching and learn-ing would end up turning

Lagos state Deputy Governor, Dr Idiat Adebule(middle) flanked by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr. Olabisi Ariyo (right) and Principal, Agidingbi Junior Grammar School, Ikeja, Mrs. Folayibi Olayinka during an unscheduled visit and inspection of public schools by the deputy governor recentlly.

L-R: Chief Operating Officer, Supreme Education Foundation, Mrs. Folashade Adefisayo; Director, Vivian Fowler Memorial College for Girls, Mrs. Olufunke Fowler-Amba; Chairperson, Association of Private Educators in Nigeria (APEN), Dr. Olufemi Ogunsanya; Proprietress, Doregos Private Academy, Mrs. Clementina Doregos; Director, GreenSpring School, Mrs. Lai Koiki and Director, Vale College, Ibadan, Mrs. Funso Adegbola, during APEN’s 6th Annual Conference in Lagos, recently.

Rector sets agenda for new education minister

boladale bamigbolaOSOGBO.

The new Minister of Education, Mr. Ad-amu Adamu has been

urged to ensure that the education sector does not witness closure of higher institutions as a result of in-dustrial disharmony during his tenure.

This was disclosed in Ede, Osun State by the Rector, Federal Polytechnic, Ede, Builder Patrick Hussein, who noted that whenever schools are closed to academ-ic activities, previous gains of having the students in school are usually lost before they are back on campus af-ter every closure.

He added that the main

agenda for the new helms-man at the education minis-try must be how to end inces-sant closure of schools due to strike action, stressing that leadership by example was also a key to ensuring stability in education sector.

Hussein, who was ad-dressing newsmen as part of activities for the 9th Con-vocation of the institution, said those in academic envi-ronment most times, tailor their behaviour after what-ever people at the helms of affairs are doing and called for governance with human

face and respect for law to gain the trust of the populace

Reacting to discrimina-tion between degree certifi-cate and Higher National Di-ploma, HND, by employers, Hussein said polytechnic education and its products would only face discrimina-tion from people that are yet to have full understanding of what that form of education stands for.

Although, he conceded that there had been a discon-nect between what poly edu-cation ought to be and what it is, Hussein however added

that the management of the institution had been able to identify the point of discon-nection and fix it by ensur-ing that all students learn a vocation regardless of their course of study.

Rather than being in com-petition, Hussein said HND and Bsc certificates are meant to complement each other because the two have distinct roles that do not conflict, stressing that the collapse of many industries owing to poor power situa-tion further slowed down de-mands for HND graduates.

out half-baked graduates who would be dysfunctional in the global market.

Adebule reassured participants that the pres-ent administration would double efforts in ensuring that the state’s educational system is further made ICT compliant, urging them to always update their knowl-edge of ICT as well as mak-ing use of relevant teaching

and learning tools that will enable school children com-pete globally.

She explained that the state government recog-nised the impact schools managers have on the con-duct of teachers and stu-dents to improve the general outlook of schools and out-come of teaching and learn-ing exercise, stressing that government will be demand-

ing more from ANCOPSS as a group and individual school managers to justify the confidence reposed in them

Earlier, the Chairman of ANCOPSS, Lagos State branch, Mrs. Omotunde Lawson said the association would continue to advance course for welfare of mem-bers and development of education

Expert makes case for engineering studies

Phillips Consulting launches e-learning certification

saidat alausa

A Professor of Chemical Engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Adebayo San-ni has said there was need to develop a new paradigm

for engineering education in order to create a new breed of engineers capable of adding value to the nation’s economy.

This according to him will require a separation of engi-neering as an academic discipline from engineering as a learned profession like in medicine and law.

The emeritus professor said this while delivering the 7th convocation lecture of Bells University of Technology, Ota, recently.

The lecture was titled, “Technology Education in Nigeria: Bridging the 21st Century gap.”

He said this was necessary because university system in Nigeria seems to produce graduates particularly engineering graduates who are not sufficiently discipline and equipped with the appropriate academic and professional skills to sat-isfy the needs of industry.

“The engineering programmes in most Colleges of En-gineering in Nigerian universities are mostly those that ex-isted in the 60s and 70s and the challenges facing Nigeria in the 21st century are completely different from those of the 60s and hence require different approach and solutions.

“It is not surprising therefore that the graduates of those programmes are finding it difficult to fit into the present dis-pensation because teaching 20th century curriculum in the 21st century prepares our students for a world that no longer exist,” he explained.

saidat alausa

Phillips Consulting, a management consulting firm has launched an online learning platform called: “Phillips Learning Bundle.”

It was launched on Tuesday in Lagos in partnership with a South African-based learning and talent management outfit SkillSoft.

The bundle is designed according to the firm to empower individuals through a hassle free learning experience to im-prove their knowledge, skills and competences.

In his welcome address at the launch, Chairman, Phillips Consulting, Mr. Foluso Phillips reiterated the need for the platform which according to him would provide a wide range of e-learning courses, customised specifically to the needs of learners in a manner that ensures learning on varied devices.

“It is our own contribution to national capacity develop-ment to help further develop our society,” he stressed.

Explaining why the company is introducing the bundle, Associate Partner of the firm, Mr. Paul Ayim disclosed that the World Economic Forum in its 2015 Global Competitive-ness index rated Nigeria as having one of the poorest educa-tion and skills development index in the world.

“So, it is in response to this challenge that we are intro-ducing this to Nigerians because we believe that the value of our large population can only be realised and its inherent potential harnessed if it is educated, skilled and continually retrained,” he stressed.

The bundle which he said is affordable, according to him makes learning engaging and effective, by offering 24/7 on-line mentoring, test preps (practice questions for certification exams) and virtual labs for practical application of what is learnt.

“We believe that undoubtedly this will have a national im-pact, because of the digitally driven environment of today. We believe that this platform will be a game changer in empow-ering the nation with more knowledge and capabilities,” he said.

Listing those to benefit from the platform, Mr. Anyim said they include, secondary school leavers, university students, unemployed graduates, underemployed citizens who can now enhance their skills to get better jobs and the fully-employed.

Laying solid foundation in educationIn the mist of the myriads of problems plaguing the

education sector, most observers and stake holders seem to have agreed on the need to begin the ex-

pected revolution from the foundation, that is, from the primary school level! This could be considered a huge leap forward considering that progress in the proposed revival could be stalled by indecisions or uncertainties as to where to begin. The primary school undoubtedly provides the raw material with which the other tiers of the educational sector are constructed.

The inability to recruit the required number and quali-ty of teachers in the primary school system has continued to plague the managers of the universal basic education system in Nigeria and remains a serious obstacle to laying a solid educational foundation. This in turn depends on the availability of candidates and facilities for training the teachers, a mechanism for selecting only the best from the pool of available teachers and a means of attaining opti-mum output from the teachers so recruited. It is therefore not surprising that, in the Education for All (EFA) global monitoring report released in April 2015, Nigeria leads the rest of the world with a whopping deficit of 220,000 teach-ers in primary schools alone, accounting for 15% of the global shortfall in primary school teachers!

The Education for All 2015 national review (2000-2014), published by the Federal Ministry of Education shows that the number of primary school teachers required in fundamental subjects (English, Mathematics, language of immediate environment) were by far more than the avail-able teachers in most of the states. More critical is the fact that not a single state in the country has anywhere near the required number of teachers in these fundamental subjects!

An evaluation of the teachers/pupils ratio over the years shows a worsening trend which stood at 1:70 for

“qualified teachers” to pupils in 2012. Furthermore, re-ports from all over the country indicate that the majority of available teachers do not have the required competence to impart the basic skills of reading and writing to the pupils. Primary four level tests in English language and Mathematics administered to primary school teachers in Kaduna and Kwara states revealed competency levels of between five and twenty percent only among the teachers in the respective states.

The predominance of incompetent teachers in other states became obvious from the strong resistance against competency tests in those states. Competent teachers should not be afraid of competency test; rather they should see it as an opportunity to show off their sterling qualities!

Unfortunately, the situation would get worse unless something drastic is done to stabilize and ultimately re-verse the situation. A successful implementation of the one-meal-a-day free school feeding programme and expect-ed improvements in the security situation in the North East is bound to increase the population of pupils enrolled in the primary school system significantly. If indications from the pioneering programme in Osun state are any-thing to go by, a dramatic increase in the number of pupils registered in the primary school system should be expected on a national scale. A massive influx of candidates into the primary schools in the North East and North West where

nearly half the potential primary school pupils are cur-rently out of school will put a lot of strain on the quality of the products of schools in these regions.

The total enrolment in the primary school in 2012 was 23,476,939. With an expected influx of the large popula-tion of out of school kids following the improved secu-rity in the North-East and the smooth implementation of the free school feeding programme, primary school enrolment may top the 30 million mark within two years. This will require a total of not less than 750,000 trained teachers to maintain a teacher to pupil ratio of 1:40 in the primary school system. This is the formidable task we must accomplish if we must move away from this appall-ing educational statistics.

Training competent teachers is not an easy task, if not we would not be in the present dilemma. There is a need to review the curriculum to improve on knowl-edge of subject areas. The primary school teacher is a multi disciplinary personality with a deep knowledge for the fundamental subjects and effective communication skills; the curriculum should reflect these core values. Candidates for training should have a fair grip of both the Sciences and the Arts at the Senior School Certificate level and a flair for children and teaching.

The first challenge is to provide the necessary incen-tives to attract such gifted candidates into the teaching profession. The second major challenge is to provide the necessary facilities to train the required comple-ment of teachers, especially in the era when every seemingly functional College of Education seeks con-version into Universities. The qualities of teachers we produce will determine the quality and output of our primary school system. We should begin to make the necessary adjustments today to achieve the desired ob-jectives tomorrow.

FG has zero tolerance for corruption in universities —Buhari

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Education Today 23Thursday, November 26, 2015

A cross section of new students of College of Education, Billiri, Gombe State, during their orientation programme, on Monday.

Tunbosun ogundare

President Mohammadu Buhari has called on Nigerian universities and other institutions of higher learning

to reposition themselves and encourage edu-cation for sustainable development.

He also called them to eschew themselves from any form of corruptible practices, saying his government campaign against corruption was applicable to ivory towers nationwide.

He made the call at the 27th Convocation ceremony of Federal University of Technol-ogy Akure, FUTA (FUTA) held last Saturday. A total of 4,435 were conferred with Diplo-mas, first and postgraduate degrees with 28 of them graduating with First Class hon-ours.

He was represented at the event by the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, NUC, Professor Julius Okojie.

Buhari, who is also a visitor to the uni-versity described universities as potential powerful agents of change, explaining that Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs] which is an expansion of Millennium De-velopment Goals (MDGs) were a new set of goals, target and indicators that the United Nations member states have collectively agreed to use to frame their agenda, aspira-tions and political policies over the next 15 years.

To achieve this, he urged ivory towers which are research centers to take the lead in championing and mainstreaming the SDGs in order to address the educational re-

lated issues for national development. The president equally enjoined universi-

ties to be at the vanguard of the fight against corruption and eroded ethics which consti-tute a major component of the social ills as well as enthroning the spirit of hard work, honesty and inspirational leadership.

Reiterating the government stand on “zero tolerance to corruption” he urged school administrators to be prudent, trans-parent and accountable in the activities.

According to him “Government is de-termined to fight corruption at all levels, including schools. We cannot speak of effec-tive and efficient funding of the education sector if our universities are mired in con-fusion, fraud and lack of vision.”

Addressing graduands, the president urged them to take advantage of the vari-ous aspects of the economic programmes of the Federal Government to turn themselves into employers of labour rather than job

seekers.Speaking on entrepreneurship educa-

tion, he said since the increased advocacy for entrepreneurship and its inclusion in the curriculum of universities by NUC and its partners, higher institutions should henceforth strive to graduate students who are enterprising-driven.

Speaking separately, the trio of Chan-cellor, Dr. Rilwanu Adamu; Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council, Dr. Mo-hammed Shata and Vice-Chancellor, Profes-sor Adebiyi Daramola urged the graduands to follow the path of honour, integrity and faithfulness as they continue in their jour-ney of life.

The ceremony witnessed the investiture of the new Chancellor, Dr. Rilwanu Adamu, the Emir of Bauchi as the fourth Chancel-lor of the University and the conferment of Honorary Doctorate of Management of the institution on him.

Ex-students asked to invest in alma maters roberT awokuse

Stakeholders in education sector have called on private individuals to invest more in schools, espe-

cially their alma mater, which has made most people what they are today.

The call was made at the 20th anni-versary celebration of Trinity Interna-tional College, Ofada, Ogun state, held in Lagos last week.

In his address, the chairman on the occasion, Mr. Wemimo Ogunde said selfless-giving to school where one is trained is imperative, stressing that alumni association of any institution should take investing in schools more seriously.

The chairman noted that if funding of schools was solely left to government, the expected development of education-al institutions may be far from reach.

“Harvard is what it is today because many of its products went back to give towards its development. If you also go to Igbobi College, Lagos today, most of the projects that are standing there are provided by the old students.

Ogunde enjoined the gathering to encourage their children to render self-less services to their alma mater.

In her speech at the forum, the Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Modupe Mojota charged all well- meaning individuals to give selflessly to educational institutions, especially schools, saying government cannot do it all alone.

Kemi Busari

Student journalists who are editors of their various jour-nals and magazines across

tertiary institutions in the coun-try have inaugurated a national association to serve as umbrella body of campus editors.

The body called National Asso-ciation of Nigerian Campus Edi-tors (NANCE) was inaugurated at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile- Ife last week.

Addressing his colleagues at the inauguration, the National Chairman, Oyedeji Olanrewaju said the association had come to assert the strength of the pen to-wards a better society.

The association according to him will serve as a body to protect all campus journalists from any form of victimisation and also train editors in the art of objec-tive reporting.

Campus journalists in over 20 tertiary institutions nationwide participated in the historic event.

The head of Southeast region and a student of University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Mr. Divine Nwonye expressed happiness at the feat, charging his colleagues to work as agents for national de-velopment.

“This association is fashioned after the Nigerian Guild of Edi-

Edited by: Saidat [email protected] 08027633686

Ekiti Varsity VC honoured

FEDPOLY Bida produces new ASUP President

aBiodun nejoEKITI

The Vice-Chancellor of Ekiti State Uni-versity (EKSU), Ado Ekiti, Prof Oladipo Aina and the Provost of College of Edu-

cation, Ikere Ekiti, Prof Francisca Aladejana, will today (Thursday) be honoured for promot-ing academic excellence in their institutions.

The awards to the duo are in recognition of their distinguished performance at the helm of affairs at the institutions and for being change agents.

NUJ State Council Chairman, Comrade Laolu Omosilade, in a statement in Ado Ekiti lauded Oladipo and Aladejana for promoting education in the state, saying “their contribu-tions have rekindled education, the only thriv-ing industry in the State”.

Omosilade said the award conferment formed part of the 2015 serial lectures of the union.

He said that the state governor would be Spe-cial Guest of Honour at the event where the lec-ture series entitled ‘Journalism, a Catalyst for Real Change in Nigeria,’ would be delivered by

Senator Abiodun Olu-jimi (Ekiti South).

The NUJ Chairman stated that other chapels that had distinguished themselves in union matters would be hon-oured.

Nigerian participants in the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) in Accra, Ghana with the counsellor at Nigerian High Commission in Ghana, Mr. Fonma Thompson Usoro (middle) during their visit to the envoy.

Dutse

zzzz

Campus journalists inaugurate editors’ associationtors and it will function strictly within the four walls of tertiary institutions and I use this oppor-tunity to call on both members to join hands to uplift the union to a greater height. I also urge us all to be committed towards nurturing that writing spirit in us for the development of our nation,” he emphasised.

Officers of the association

koto); Toyibb Adeyemo (Financial Secretary,FUNAAB and

Sam Adeyinka(Assistant Gen-eral Secretary from the Federal School of Statistics, Ibadan.

The association is to be run at regions by regional heads while a Constitution Drafting Committee was also formed to put up a work-ing legal framework for the asso-ciation.

who will serve for six months pending when election will take place include Olanrewaju Oyedeji (Chairman from OAU); Chukwu Daniel (Vice Chairman UNILAG), Fawole Isreal, Vice-Chairman 2 (LAUTECH); Secretary, Abdul Ganiy Shehu (UNILORIN).

Others are; Hassan Abdul-quadri Temitope(Treasurer, Us-man Danfodiyo University So-

Department of Sociology, University of La-gos, Akoka, recently published a book to mark 35 years of service of one its lectur-

ers, Prof. Felicia Oyekanmi. The book was titled: “The Social Science, Humanities and the Human Condition: An Impact Appraisal- a Festschrift for Prof. F.A.D Oyekanmi at 65.”

The event which was held at the institution was coincidental to the opening ceremony of the 2015 Annual Conference of the Nigerian Anthro-pological and Sociological Practitioner’s Associa-tion.

The 22-chapter book is a discourse on various topical issues that Prof. Oyekanmi pursued in all

UNILAG sociology dept honours lecturer

matthew inyanda HND2 MASS COM.FEDPOLY, BIDA.

The just concluded 2015 election of the Academ-ic Union of Polytechnic

(ASUP) has elected Mr. Usman Dutse of the Federal Polytech-nic, Bida, Niger State as Pres-ident.

The election which took place at the Polytechnic on the 20 of November, 2015 was conducted during the 13th Na-tional Delegates conference tagged Bida/Zungeru 2015 of the union.

The elected President in his acceptance speech lay down agenda for his administra-tion.

He said the dichotomy be-tween the polytechnics and universities has created a wide gap of inequality in the labour market adding that his administration is ready to work with the National Association of Polytechnic Student (NAPS) to fight the menace.

Dutse also lamented over the poor funding of the poly-technics, he said the federal government has punished polytechnic graduate a lot. He believes that if Polytechnics are well funded, technology in the country will be developed.

Other elected executives in-clude, Mr. Timothy Ogunseye as Vice-President, Financial Secretary, Kpanja Shammah; Secretary, Anderson Ezeibe and Joel Akowe emerged the Assistant Secretary General.

Other positions are Inter-nal Auditor, Dr. Bidagbara Godpower; Publicity Secre-tary, Mr. Chris Nlolo; Zone A coordinator, Kabir Yunusa; Zone B Coordinator, Abdulahi Valwa; Zone C coordinator; Olawale Adetunji and Zone D coordinator, Nelson Oganwa.

her academic career such as the advancement of the human condition from a demographic perspective.

It also highlights how academia should use their intellectual competences to advance the welfare of humanity.

Although, Prof. Oyekanmi is a little older than 65, She said It couldn’t have come at a better time than this. “I am truly grateful for the oppor-tunity that life has given me to serve in my field of expertise.”

Prof. Oyekanmi still lectures at the Depart-ment of Sociology and seats on several boards of organisations and NGOs.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net24 Thursday, November 26, 2015

L-R: Director, Centre for Gender studies Ekiti State University, Prof. Olabisi Aina; International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, Sweden, Prof. Adebayo Olukoshi, Celebrant, Prof. Felicia Oyekanmi, lecturers, Sociology dept. UNILAG, Prof. Omololu Syombo; Prof. Ifeanyi Onyeonoru, Lecturer, Sociology dept. University of Ibadan, Prof. Solomon Akinboye, Dean School of Postgraduate Studies, UNILAG, Prof. Iyiola Oni; Dean Faculty of Social Sciences UNILAG, Prof. Lai Erinosho during the book launch in honour of Prof. Oyekanmi, recently.

Ex-Ekiti Speaker advocates vocational training for undergraduates

UK, Nigerian teachers share knowledge

Babcock VC cautions minister against politicising education

Oluwaseun BOlaji

As a way of boosting knowledge and skills of Nigerian teachers, some educationists from United Kingdom have commended training workshop for teachers in

both public and private schools in Abuja and Lagos.The workshop which is in partnership arrangement be-

tween UK-based Taylor Partnership, an immigration legal consulting firm and Nigeria-based ALTS Consulting is free of charge for participants.

Speaking on the objective of the project, the Executive Director of The Taylor Partnership, Mark Taylor said the programme was designed for participants to exchange ideas that would translate to better service delivery that would benefit school children in the country.

He noted that the UK schools were represented by experi-enced teachers who are specialists in their fields– including Special Educational Needs.

“But we see this as the start of a process and hope that, next year, we can have another event in Nigeria and also ar-range for Nigerian teachers to come to the UK,” he stressed.

In her own contribution, Mrs. Anthonia Sawyerr from ALTS Consulting Nigeria said the training was aimed at ad-dressing the dwindling quality of education in the country.

While noting that the desire by Nigerian youths to study abroad had risen drastically in the last five years, Sawyerr said the free workshop would help the teachers from the UK understand the Nigerian environment and the constraints to acquiring quality education.

The initiative according to her is definitely going to ben-efit both parties and hopefully create a real appreciation for both sides.

saidat alausa

The outgoing Vice-Chancellor, Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, Prof. James Kayode-Makinde has urged the Minister of Education,

Mr. Adamu Adamu not to play politics with the sector.He stated this while fielding questions from journalists

during the Presidential luncheon organised by the university for the Education Writers Association of Nigeria, EWAN at Ilisan-Remo, last weekend.

According to him, the minister should make use of right people-who are proven to have high level of probity and com-mitment in the sector rather than make do with those who would not add any value to the system.

Makinde also advised the government to perform more of regulatory roles rather than establishing more universities that may be starved of funds.

“If government continues to establish new institutions without their proper funding, the exercise will amount to nothing as quality of education will continue to go down,” he observed.

Also urging the minister to give out more scholarships that would be competitive, the VC asked schools to build students with creativity and analytical skills that would make them globally competitive.

In his speech, the incoming Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ademola Tayo said both the media and educational institutions have a major stake in the progress and performance of institutions of learning anywhere in the world, particularly in Nigeria.

He however implored the media to work harder and ensure the sector is taken to greater heights according to the world best practices.

He observed that if not for the interventionist role of pri-vate universities, education sector could have been worse.

Miftaudeen Raji200L, MASS COMM.

UNILAG Determined to em-power the youths in the nation’s building through

capacity development and entrepre-neurship, the University of Lagos (UNILAG) has approved the estab-lishment of a youth center by an American-based non for profit mak-ing organisation within the campus of the university.

The university is partnering with We’re Empowered to Achieve the Impossible (WETATi) Interna-tional to empower youths through entrepreneurial development.

Speaking while receiving the founder of the organisation, Dr. Margaret Dureke in his office, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Rahamon Bello, expressed satisfaction with

KeMi Olaitan IBADAN

Former Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Hon. Tope

Ademiluyi has called for continuous training of tech-nicians to drive industriali-sation in the country.

He made the call while

New President, National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS), Olugbenga Adeyeye (middle) with other executive members dur-ing their inauguration at the Federal Polytechnic Bida, Niger State, recently.

Edited by: Saidat [email protected] 08027633686

UNILAG boosts entrepreneurial skills of students

delivering the 10th annual alumni lecture of the Ladoke Akintola University of Tech-nology (LAUTECH), Ogbo-moso, titled, “The Privatiza-tion and Democratization of the Nigeria Education Sec-tor: The Dangers Ahead.”

He said it was high time the nation’s universities of technology and polytechnics

were encouraged to produce graduates in line with the concept that led to their es-tablishment.

He said, “We must have mechanical engineering graduates, who can practi-cally fix faulty cars.

Our agricultural univer-sities must produce gradu-ates, who will take artificial

the aspirations of the organisation, saying that the university looks for-ward to further collaboration with WETATi.

Earlier, at the maiden edition of a 2-day WETATi Youth Empower-ment Conference Nigeria held at the UNILAG Staff School auditorium, students were awarded scholarships just as some key personalities were also honoured with special policy awards.

The conference was graced by the Dean of Students, Prof. Tunde Babawale and hundreds of student-participants.

The Dean, Students Affairs, ex-pressed delight for the partnership saying it would bring global youth

empowerment conference 2015 to the university because the institu-tion believe in the vision and mis-sion of WETATi, adding that it was a synergy in the right direction for the growth of the teeming youths.

Dureke, a US-based Nigerian au-thor, disclosed to Campus News that the move was to inspire by the need to impact creative thinking into whatever students want to do; busi-nesses, service, internship concept, among others.

She however, said the organisa-tion would continue to prioritise on building a nation through mindset, service, volunteerism, mentorship, leadership with integrity and entre-preneurship.

insemination of animals in their strides in the regular day job.

“Students, who choose to go into these schools, should be encouraged with incen-tives like grants and scholar-ships.”

The President of the asso-ciation, Mr. Babajide Bewaji, who stated that construction work on the proposed alum-ni civic center was ongoing, said. “Members of the as-sociation would collectively proffer attainable solutions to problems affecting stu-dents and fellow alumni members as we fight the scourge of unemployment with creative innovations.”

Bewaji said Nigeria at the moment was at a crossroad with identifiable problems like insurgency, economy instability and massive cor-ruption and deficit infra-structures.


Vice-Chancellor, Covenant University, Ota, Prof. Charles Ayo (left) and guest lecturer, Prof. Cecil Blake shortly after delivering the institution’s 44th public lecture, recently.

Giwa

Airtel offers school children multimedia learning platform Tunbosun ogundare

One of the telecommunica-tions service providers in the country, Airtel Nigeria has

launched a mobile education plat-form designed to enhance learning experience of children from age five to 16 years across the country.

The tool, branded Airtel Smart Trybe Junior, integrates three of the major aspects of education: audio visual, textbooks and test to deliver more than 120 courses to students in that category nationwide.

The tool which offers a 3D interac-tive multimedia based learning en-vironment designed to help students achieve deeper understanding and higher retention also features highly engaging animations of laboratory experiments and lecture notes, class-room approved textbooks and an in-dept h compilation of key points and definitions presented as quick study flash cards.

The package also enables users to access pre-loaded e-books, which are exclusively developed for the com-pany based on the current academic curriculum in the country.

26 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, November 26, 2015

‘Ijesa’: Plural noun

L-R, MD/CEO, Mobi Tutor, Barry Taylor; Head, Youth Segment, Airtel Nigeria, Segun Aderinokun; Airtel Smart Trybe Junior Ambassador, Oluwakorede Akande; Winner, Airtel Nigeria’s Got Talent Season 1, Amarachi Uyanne; and Vice President, Segment, Usage and Retention, Airtel Nigeria, Dinesh Balsingh, at the launch of Airtel Smart Trybe Junior in Lagos.

saidaT alausa

An author, Mr. Shola Giwa, has urged book publishers to display their books elec-

tronically to address the piracy and high cost of production in the country.

He said that e-books would total-ly bypass print and reduce piracy.

Giwa stated this at the launch of his book titled: “Lost Love Form: African Chronicles.”

According to him, piracy was quite difficult to combat as law enforcement was not been imple-mented. “If the government pays attention to enforcement of exist-ing laws, we will be fine.”

The book launched on an on-line platform-Amazon and Ama-zon kindle is a 320-page aiming at the typical 21st Century African youths and incorporated humour into the very serious business of life,

He said the book was born out of the desire to make the world a better place by helping to recon-nect the concept of being a youth with positive and realistic attri-butes such as self motivation, true love, conflict resolution and the beauty in being global but African.

“I started this project in 2005

not knowing when it would end, so technically, it has taken 10 years to complete it.

“Like many young writers in Nigeria, I was faced with several challenges, the most challenge be-ing lack of understanding of the economics of the process. Most of us just write (and expect a book to magically appear at the end of it,” he said.

He said more Nigerians are

buying books now because the writers have become more ag-gressive marketers, harnessing every single networking tool including the social media and poetry events adding that the situation was better than what it used to be.

Giwa also disclosed that, on the average, there are more youths writing now than in the past but what was being written

is triggered by what was in demand.

He urged the Nigerian government to look at other means apart from advertis-ing jobs that

usually don’t trickle down to the peo-ple who really deserve and need it.

NATIONAL Mirror of October 22 opens the floodgate this week: “CJ inaugurates two divisions of FCT Court to fast track (fast-track) justice”

“Ijesa in Diaspora backs (back) Osun’s ministerial nomi-nee” Alternatively, Ijesa indigenes in Diaspora—never singu-lar verb

“Delay in cases are (is) caused by multi-factors—Kachina”“Don decries first class (first-class) graduates opting out of

teaching”“The study found that in Nigeria, among multiscreen us-

ers between ages 16 to (and) 45….”“Judgment debts: Why luxury cars rot in (on) court prem-

ises”Still on National Mirror: “Access Bank earnings hits

(why?) N2.58bn in nine months”“We are unaware of Emenike (Emenike’s) retirement—

NFF” “Sincerely, if you break my glass cups you will pay for it

(them).”“The release came a day after the IGP, Mr. Solomon Arase,

was given a marching order by President Muhammadu Bu-hari….” Polscope: marching orders

“First class (First-class) interiors for first class (first-class) travellers”

“As one of the foremost citadel (citadels) of learning in Nigeria….” (Full-page advertorial by Plateau State Govern-ment, THISDAY, September 26)

“FG commissions (inaugurates/auspicates, et al) tremor monitoring (tremor-monitoring) centre in Ebonyi”

“Lamorde, EFCC boss, in soup…accused of relooting Tafa Balogun, Alams, others’ loots” Once again, ‘loot’ is uncount-able. This informal and rudimentary bit: be in the (take note of the article) soup

“Groups petition on (against) Oyo, Rivers, Kwara, Kaduna, 6 other nominees”

“Retired teachers blame Chime over (for) pension arrears” “N15bn debt: Ondo pensioners give Mimiko 4 days (days’)

ultimatum” “Money laundering: Traders decry incessant arrest (ar-

rests), seizure of dollars” “Ortom pardons convicts, reads riot act (the riot act) to

criminals”“Masquerade (Masquerader) kills one, community desert-

ed”“Domestic abuse: India (Indian) court dismisses minister’s

wife (wife’s) allegations against dog”“However, pastoralists and agriculturists (agriculturists’)

conflicts are not the only challenges affecting crop outputs (output)….”

“Govt commended over (for/on) rice importation”THE NATION ON SUNDAY of October 11 takes its turn

with a few “familiar” errors: “Reps calls (how?) for nation-al policy on Hepatitis B,,,raises (why?) alarm (the alarm) over….”

“With such record (a record)….” From the news pages to the COMMENT (EDITORIAL)

of the above medium under review which disseminated two improprieties: “Still, legally a pardon wipes the crime clean; and a fair legal system cannot, in all good conscience, revisit that crime again.” Yank off ‘again’ in the interest of linguistic justice!

Finally from THE NATION ON SUNDAY under focus: “NFF mourns late Okugbe” Once more delete ‘late’!

“…the counsels to the various parties were ready to pres-ent their written addresses for adoption….” ‘Counsel’ is non-count.

DSP: “Bayelsa declares 7 days (7-day or 7 days’) mourning”“…in an evening of pomp and pageantry.” Addressed be-

low (Centrespread advertisement by glo Unlimited, DAILY SUN, October 13)

Author advocates e-books to reduce piracy

“…many are wondering why the federal government did not made (make) its promise to come up with long term (long-term) strategies….”

NATIONAL MIRROR Front Page of October 15 goofed: “Again, gunmen abduct Bayelsa monarch, shot (shoot) police corporal”

“As you handover (hand over) the mantle of leadership….” (Full-page advertorial by NICON Insurance Limited, Nation-al Mirror, October 15)

“SON to clampdown (clamp down) on fake lubricants’ pro-ducers”

FEEDBACKGOV. Ben Ayade of Cross River restates commitment to

the provision of”potable drinking water”, reported a Lagos-based TV station in its 3

p.m. news package on Oct. 12. The word “potable”, which means “fit for drinking” or “drinkable”, was not necessary or should have stood

alone, leaving out “drinking” since potable and drinkable mean the

same thing.In the Viewpoint section of Sunday Vanguard, Page 9,

Oct. 11, the writer probably meant “VEERED OFF” when he wrote that “not known for fulsome flattery, Governor Okowa had in the course of presenting his speech VIED OFF....” (KOLA DANISA/07068074257)

“Islamic finance: SEC pledges to unlock capital market po-tentials (potential or potentialities)” ‘Potential’ is non-count (uncountable).

The PUNCH of October 20 comes next: “The applicants are seeking a court (court’s) order directing the immediate and unconditional release of community members arrested over (for) Disu’s killing.”

L-R: Australian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Jonathan Richardson; President, Miners Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Sani Shehu, and Managing Director, Golden Jewel Trade Ventures ltd., Ahmed Ahmad, at the ipad Nigeria Mining Conference, in Abuja.

27

Olusegun KOiKi

The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, has called on African govern-

ments and airline operators in the continent to take full advantage of the Yamoussoukro Decision, which encourages air transport connectivity in the continent.

Sirika, who gave the charge at the 10th African Air Transport Safety and Security Summit held at the weekend in Accra, Ghana, reiterated that safe, secure and ef-ficient customer focused air trans-port system remained the benefit of sound aviation worldwide and said Nigeria could not be an ex-ception.

The minister, who was repre-sented by the Director of Safety in the Ministry, Captain Taba Al-kali, pointed out that connectivity would play a critical role in the development of African econom-ics, which could be achieved by implementing the ideas of Abuja declaration that set a target for Af-rican airlines to reach world class safety levels by 2015.

He said: “Connectivity is vital for African growth and develop-ment, supporting about 6.9 million jobs and $80.5 billion in economic activity and I hope this will closely knit relationship with seamless connectivity between Nigeria and Ghana in the near future.”

While recalling the relation-ship between Ghana and Nigeria to over several decades, which had led to the exchange of knowledge and friendship through many bi-lateral partnerships in the area of personnel training, expertise and information sharing, the minis-ter charged airlines to live up to their responsibility of ensuring travellers confidence in the sector through the service provided to the public.

Noting that socio-political and cultural ties had been made pos-sible and galvanised by a robust Bilateral Air services Agreement, BASA, Sirika explained that no less than three Nigerian airlines with the fourth commencing op-erations shortly, business connec-tions, leisure travelers and stu-dents between bother countries would be strengthened.

Aviation Minister seeks Yamoussoukro Decision implementation

32

Nigeria’s mobile users dump voice calls for data –Ericsson

BusinessNational Mirror

www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, November 26, 2015

28

He commended the Ghanaian Ministry of Transport and the professionalism of the highest standard exhibited by the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority in al-lowing the implementation of the Yamoussoukro decision between Nigerian and Ghana.

AIRLINES’ FLIGHTSCHEDULES

Lagos- Abuja (Mon-Fri): 07.00, 08.50, 12.00, 16.30. Abuja- Lagos (Mon-Fri): 09.00, 14.00, 15.00, 18.30. Lagos-Yola (Mon-Fri): 8.50am. Yola-Lagos (Mon-Fri): 13.00. Lagos- PHC (Mon-Fri): 17.00. PHC-Lagos: 19.00. Abu-ja-Yola: 11.00. Yola-Abuja: 13.00. Lagos-Abuja (Sat): 08.00, 08.50.Abuja-Lagos (Sat): 10.00, 15.00. Lagos-PHC (Sat): 17.00. PHC-La-gos (Sat): 19.00. Lagos-Yola (Sat): 08.50. Yola-Lagos (Sat): 13.00

Med-View Airline

Dana AirAbuja-Lagos 9am, 1pm, 5.28pm dailyLagos-Abuja 7am, 11am, 1.23pm,3.30pm daily Lagos-PH: 7.20AM, Ph-Abuja9.54am, Abuja-ph: 3.30pm and Ph-Lagos: 5.28pm dai-ly Lagos-Uyo: 9.20am, Uyo-Abu-ja: 11.07am, Abuja-Uyo 1.05pm, Uyo-Lagos: 3pm dailyWeekendsLagos-Abuja: 7.02am, 9am, 3.30pmAbuja-Lagos: 9am, 2.20pm and 5.28pm Lagos -Phc: 11.07amPhc-Lagos: 1.05pm Phc-Abuja: 12.51pm Abuja-Phc: 10.50am Lagos-Uyo: 9.18am Uyo-LOS -3.03pm Uyo-Abuja: 11.07amAbuja-Uyo: 1.05pm

Lag-Abj: 06.50, 13.30, 16.30, 19.45 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun), 12.30 (Sun) 16.45 (Sat) Abj-Los: 07.30, 13.00, 19.00 (Mon-Fri/Sat, 10.30, 14.30, 19.30 (Sun, 18.30 Sat) Lag-Benin: 07.45, 11.00, 15.30 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun) 12.30 (Sun 15.30 (Sat)Ben-Lag: 09.15, 12.30, 17.00 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun) 17.00 (Sat) 14.00 (Sun)Lag-Owe: 7.45am, 2pm daily

Aero Contractors

E-Payment: Stakeholders adopt anti-fraud tools to mitigate losses

Terrorism: Port Security Officers seek access control measures

Moody predicts decliningoil output for Nigeria

sTORies: FRAnCis eZeM

The Port Facility Security Officers FPSO, Forum has made a strong case for the

re-introduction of strict control measures at the nation’s seaports and other related facilities in view of the increasing terrorist attacks in public places globally

The office of the National Secu-rity Adviser NSA, to the President, had recently issued a security alert on the likelihood of terrorist ele-ments attacking the nation’s sea-ports in Lagos.

Vice Chairman of the forum, Dr. Zeb Ikokide, who spoke in an interview, disclosed that Nigeria has reached an advanced stage in her implementation of the Inter-national Ships and Ports Facility Security ISPS Code, especially in terms of ensuring the compliance of many of her port facilities.

He, however, said that the se-curity operations at the major en-

trances to the nation’s seaports, especially those in Lagos are still loose and uncoordinated, a devel-opment that has given rise to strict access control into the ports.

According to him, given the high insecurity situations not only in the country but also across the world, there was urgent need for a streamlining of security op-erations, especially at the major entrances into the nation’s sea-ports and other related facilities.

He regretted that more than 10 years after Nigeria began the process towards complying with the ISPS Code in 2004, the relevant authorities and agencies have yet to take full control of who enters the seaports and for what reason, a development that had made the ports a market place of some sort.

“Access control to the various port facilities has been tightened but the general access gate is still very porous and this is not good enough because if anything hap-

pens to the general areas, it will affect the other terminals and so there is need to beef up secu-rity everywhere around the sea-ports”, he said.

He said: “At commencement of the implementation of the ISPS code in 2004, the Nigerian Ports Authority promised that it would install electronic ac-cess control mechanisms at the gates to ward off unauthorized persons from coming close to the access gates but more than 10 years after, it has yet to fulfill this pledge, which is also a criti-cal factor in the implementation of the code”.

It was gathered that the forum might be compelled to write the current management of NPA to remind it of the urgent need to install electronic access control mechanism, which is the prac-tice in most seaport locations across the world forestall easy ac-cess to unauthorized persons.

He also noted that significant progress had been made in the Abuja Declaration with airlines meeting deadline, but stressed the need for synergy between government regulators and op-erators to ensure that goals were achieved.

Describing air transport as the

most efficient and effective means of transportation for people and high value low volume goods for the West African continent, Siri-ka stressed the need for improved infrastructure, upgrade facili-ties and trained personnel to the highest level of proficiency and professionalism

31

Olusegun KOiKi

The Federal Government has expressed its readi-ness to support the current

President of International Civil Aviation Organisation, ICAO, Dr. Olumuyiwa Aliu for another term in office.

The Minister of State Avia-tion, Senator Hadi Sirika, gave this hint at the ICAO headquar-ters in Montreal, Canada while on a visit to the President-in-council.

Sirika declared that Aliu had nurtured the organisation in its role of being an enabler for the development of international

civil aviation, thereby enhancing friendship and understanding among nations and Peoples of the world.

FAAN’s General Manager, Cor-porate Communications, FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati, in a statement said that Sirika cited some of Aliu’s laudable projects such as the ‘No Country is Left Behind” policy, aimed at providing more direct assistance to States, espe-cially developing countries.

He emphasised that the minis-ter promised to leverage on the of-fice of the President-in-Council to deepen development in the coun-try’s aviation industry.

The Minister who was accom-

DaviD auDu

Managing Director, Total Nigeria Plc, Mr. Alex Vovks has assured

customers that the company is committed to quality services delivery across the country. He made the commitment when the company observed its Customer Service Week tagged, ‘Top Ser-vice Week’, in Lagos recently.

According to Vovks, the cus-tomer service week is a week top management staffs of the company go around some total filling stations to dispense fuel to

customers by themselves.During the service week,

Vovk led members of his man-agement team on field visits to some Total fuel stations. At the Total station in Onigbagbo, along Mobolaji Bank Anthony Road, Ikeja, Lagos, Vovks and some of his staff dispensed fuel to customer, where he said Total has stepped up its efforts at pro-viding one-stop-shop customer service in its fuel stations across the country.

He said the initiative was aimed at ensuring that custom-ers were well served in Total

Total assures customers on quality service delivery

filling stations, noting that qual-ity services is at the heart of the company.

Vovks explained further that each outlet was expected to pro-vide services such as free air, lube bay, wheel alignment, bur-net check, mini-super market and cleaning of wind screen, among others.

He urged that when cus-tomers were not satisfied with services rendered by a Total at-tendant, such customer should lodge his or her complaints through the customer line pro-vided by Total or via Facebook and Twitter.

Vovks revealed that the com-pany’s enforcement team would be visiting the retail outlets across the country regularly, during which customers’ com-plaints would be attended to.

Speaking with journalists in Onigbagbo, filling station in La-gos during his tour as the new Managing Director of Total, Vovks said that the public was witnessing the top service week by all the Total management, including himself to serve our customers in all the stations in Nigeria.

“Total brand is known for the quality of it service and we want to ensure that this top quality is implemented on a regular basis. That is why we came to do it our-selves.”

FG to support incumbent ICAO’s President for 2nd termpanied by the Acting Nigerian Ambassador to Canada, Balar-abe Ja’afar Mohammed and top echelon of Nigerian aviation also urged Aliu to continue to take his job in the organisation as a worthy ambassador.

In his response, Aliu con-gratulated Sirika on his appoint-ment and expressed confidence that he would bring his experi-ence as an aviation expert, to bear on his office.

He called for the upgrading of the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology, NCAT, Zaria, into a regional institution in the Af-rican sub-region, promising to support such initiative.

Regina OtOKpa, ABUJA

The Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, has expressed Nige-

ria’s readiness strengthen diplo-matic ties with China in order to advance technological develop-ment in the country.

Speaking during a meeting with the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. GU Xiaojie, he stressed the importance of tech-nology on creating increased wealth and job opportunities.

According to ONU, it would be of immense socioeconomic benefit to the nation if existing relations were deepened, follow-ing the ability of China through a technological driven economy to fight poverty and boost em-ployment of its citizens.

“There is a need for the both countries to come together and the Xeno-Nigeria relationship will be best if it is based on sci-ence and technology because your economy is innovation driven and you have done what no other nation at least in the re-corded history have done, that is to grow your GDP at a rate of 8 percent and above for more than three decades.

“We want our two countries relationship to grow much fur-ther for the benefit of our people because as Nigerians we are interested in the achievements of China one of which is in the level of job creation, which you were able to deal with.

“We want to make sure that we have job for those who wants to work and also in terms of pov-

FG, China to strengthen diplomatic ties

sYlva eMeKa-OKeReKe

Senior Analytical Ad-viser, Africa of Moody, a rating agency, Mr Au-

relien Mali, has raised seri-ous concern that Nigeria’s oil output would continue to drop by as much as 15 per-cent by the year 2017, unless Federal Government attracts more investments as well as resolve cash shortages at state oil firms.

A report by the agency indicated that officials and lawmakers were often six months late in giving approv-als to national budgets, thus making proposals irrelevant as costs exceed original bud-gets due to unpaid bills have been piling-up.

Mali projected: “By 2017, if there are no more invest-

Moody predicts declining oil output for Nigeria

L-R: Kayode Lawal, Executive Director; Bukola Awosanya, Group Head, Agric Finance; Yemi Adeola, MD/CEO and Abdulhadi Yau, Business Executive, North West, all of Sterling Bank Plc, at the commissioning of the Labana Rice Processing mill financed by the Bank at Birnin Kebbi.

ments, oil productions will drop by 15 percent, affecting government revenues.

“So the cash call funding issues for the joint ventures and the long term funding to drive the deep offshore fields is something that will have to be addressed to maintain at least the production levels of 2.1 million,” he said.

According to him, the pres-ent government promisrf to reform the oil sector and end corruption as well as mis-management, leading to the appointment of the former Exxon Executive, Ibe Kachik-wu as the Head of the NNPC.

He noted that President Bu-hari had taken his first steps towards overhauling the state oil firm by giving its explora-tion joint ventures control over their own budgets as a

way to overcome cash short-ages.

The analyst also noted that Nigeria’s economy had taken been hampered from a plunge in vital oil revenues, weaken-ing the naira currency while

slashing growth.Currently, Nigeria produc-

es about 2.1 million barrels per day of oil with foreign and local companies through pro-duction sharing contracts and joint ventures.

Moody however reported that the projects had been held up due to the Nigerian Nation-al Petroleum Corporation’s, NNPC, needs for parliamen-tary and regulatory approvals for spending.

erty, move many people to the middle class. So the cooperation is important and we believe that this visit will help in many pro-cesses to get our both nations to where it ought to be,” he added.

Furthermore, Onu disclosed that the ministry was on the verge of presenting proposals that would be of mutual benefit given the numerous similarities binding both countries.

Earlier, the Chinese Ambassa-dor to Nigeria GU Xiaojie identi-fied science and technology as key towards developing other industries in the country and to this effect, revealed that China was ready to expand cooperation and share experiences and tech-nologies with Nigeria.

Xiaojie stressed that science technology would help foster de-velopment of others sectors of the economy.

28 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, November 26, 2015Business News

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 29Thursday, November 26, 2015 Global News

Rolls-Royce boss accepts investor ‘confidence not good’

U.S. economy grew at a healthier clip in the third quarter than initially

thought, but strong inventory ac-cumulation by businesses could temper expectations of an accel-eration in growth in the final three months of the year.

The Commerce Department on Tuesday said the nation’s gross domestic product grew at a 2.1 per cent annual pace, not the 1.5 per cent rate it reported last month, as businesses reduced an inventory bloat less aggressively than previ-ously believed.

The pace of economic growth, which was also boosted by upward revisions to business spending on equipment, suggests a resilience that could help give the Federal Reserve confidence to raise inter-est rates next month.

While consumer spending was revised down a bit, its pace re-mained brisk, suggesting consum-ers were cash-flush.

“The economy continues to move along at a good clip relative to its potential. With growth like this, the Fed has the data it needs to light the candle finally and lift off on December 16,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank in New York.

When measured from the in-come side, the economy grew at a

The main cabin crew union at Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) is working with the airline’s

management to find a way to ease tensions and ward off the strikes that the union has threatened for the end of this week.

The union, UFO, on Monday called for a fresh round of strikes starting on Thursday and Friday and continuing on Monday, if Luf-thansa did not show more willing-ness to deal directly with the union in a long-running and increasingly bitter row over early retirement and pensions.

sturdy 3.1 per cent clip, the fastest in a year and an acceleration from the second quarter’s upwardly 2.2 per cent pace. Wages and salaries increased $109.3 billion, $61.6 bil-lion more than initially estimated.

The third-quarter’s respectable expansion should set up the econ-omy to achieve at least two per cent growth in the second half of the year, around its long-run potential. In the wake of robust job growth in October and strong domestic de-mand, the Fed is expected to raise rates at its Dec. 15-16 policy meet-ing.

Other data on Tuesday showed consumer confidence fell further in November, hitting a 14-month low, as sentiment towards the labor market surprisingly soured. Econ-omists suspected the Nov. 13 at-tacks in Paris and rising tensions in the Middle East had weighed on consumer confidence.

Despite the drop, more consum-ers say they plan to buy homes, automobiles and other big-ticket items over the next six months.

“The bigger picture suggests that domestic demand is still firm, spending plans are evolving posi-tively and the housing market con-tinues to post gains,” said Robert Kavcic, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto.

A third report showed house prices rose solidly in August.

U.S. financial markers were little moved by the data as inves-tors worried about global security after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane.

In the third quarter, businesses accumulated $90.2 billion worth of inventories, instead of the $56.8 billion reported last month. That followed more than $100 billion worth of inventories accumulated in each of the prior two quarters.

As a result, the change in inven-tories chopped off only 0.59 per-centage point from third-quarter GDP growth, rather than the 1.44 percentage points the government reported in October.

That, however, suggests inven-tories could be a drag on fourth-quarter growth.

“We are trying to defuse the situation with Lufthansa manage-ment in order to possibly call off the strikes,” union head Nicoley Baublies said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that more infor-mation would be made available on Wednesday.

The cabin crew union staged a week-long strike, the longest in the carrier’s history, earlier this month, resulting in the cancella-tion of about 4,700 flights.

On the final day of the strike, UFO said Lufthansa must change the way it deals with its staff.

Lufthansa, trying to cut costs to better cope with low-cost rivals in Europe and Gulf carriers on long-haul routes, has also seen a series of costly walkouts by its pilots over the last 18 months.

Last week, in a bid to improve re-lations with labor, Lufthansa invited UFO and two other unions repre-senting pilots and ground staff to a roundtable to be held on Dec 2 to discuss jobs and pension issues that have caused tension.

In a letter to management in re-sponse, the cabin crew union com-plained that Lufthansa manage-ment was communicating via the press, rather than with the union directly, and that Lufthansa had determined the time and topics for the roundtable without discussing it with the other parties.

Lufthansa declined to comment on the new talks on Tuesday.

Lufthansa shares were down 4.5 percent on Tuesday, following other travel stocks lower .SXTP in the wake of a U.S. travel alert and as the downing of a Russian warplane near the Syrian border added to geo-political tensions.

Obama

U.S. GDP growth raised for third quarter

Cabin crew union, Lufthansa attempt to avert strikes

Warren East said the engi-neering group had devel-oped an “accounting fog”

which had left investors unclear about the direction it was going.

He said investor “confidence was not in a good place”, and the company must make shareholder returns a pri-ority.

Rolls-Royce’s share price has plunged after a series of profit warn-ings.

Earlier this month, the company saw one of the sharpest falls in its share price since it floated in 1987 af-ter announcing that profits could be £650m lower than expected next year.

The share price fell by a fifth.Mr. East’s comments came as he

unveiled details of a review of the business.

He insisted that despite a down-turn in the aircraft engine business and oil exploration, Rolls-Royce was still a fundamentally strong company.

He said it would focus on boosting its engineering skills and reducing

German prosecutors launch tax evasion probe at Volkswagen

the number of senior managers.Although the company is cutting

costs, Mr. East refused to be drawn on the precise number of jobs that might be lost.

“I don’t actually know the job numbers right now,” he said, explain-ing that more will be revealed when the company reports its full-year re-sults in February.

Rolls-Royce employs more than 21,000 people in the UK, with more than 12,000 employed at its Derby aerospace engines and submarines division.

Mr. East said he wanted to em-ploy more engineers, so it appears that any job losses will be a relatively small addition to the 3,600 already an-nounced.

“The last thing I want to do is lose engineers,” he said.

Rolls-Royce will become a “sim-pler” business which will operate with more “pace” after Mr East ad-mitted that the business was “over-managed” and cumbersome.

Cabin crew

Rolls-Royce engine

Volkswagen President, Michael Horn

German prosecutors have launched an investigation into suspected tax evasion

in connection with cheating on emissions tests by Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), adding to the in-tense scrutiny of Europe’s biggest carmaker.

The investigation focuses on five Volkswagen employees, a spokes-man for the prosecutor’s office in the northern German city of Braunschweig, near Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg headquarters, said on Tuesday, confirming an earlier me-dia report.

As is customary in Germany he did not name any of the suspects.

Volkswagen admitted in Septem-ber that it installed software in up to 11 million diesel vehicles world-wide that vastly understated their actual emissions of smog-causing nitrogen oxides, causing the biggest business scandal in Volkswagen’s 78-year history.

Earlier this month it said it had also understated carbon dioxide emissions, and thereby also the fuel consumption, of 800,000 cars sold in Europe.

As Germany’s car tax is rated according to a vehicle’s fuel con-sumption, the prosecution is now looking into whether owners of the af-fected Volkswagen vehicles underpaid on taxes, a matter which the prosecu-tion’s spokesman said was “not small”.

The main focus of the investigation is tax evasion, but it could also involve fraud, he said.

This investigation will run along-side an ongoing separate probe, in which Braunschweig’s prosecution is investigating several people con-nected with Volkswagen on suspicion of criminal offences like fraud or viola-tion of competition rules.

Wall Street held onto meager gains in subdued trading

on Wednesday, underpinned by healthcare and consumer stocks after a flood of data suggested the U.S. economy was growing modestly.

The data left intact expec-tations that the Federal Re-serve will raise interest rates for the first time since 2006 when it meets for the last time this year on Dec. 15-16.

Worries about the fallout from the downing of a Rus-sian warplane by Turkey, which weighed on stocks on Tuesday, eased as traders looked forward to Thurs-day’s Thanksgiving holiday.

Data showed claims for

rities Solutions Limited, Secu-rities Trading & Investment Limited, Skylimit Investment Limited Slamad Securities, Stacoprime Capital, Stock In-vestment Limited, Synergy Investment & SEC Limited, Taricol Investment Limited, Treasureline Interlink Lim-ited, Truevine Global Asset Management Limited, Unic In-surance Plc, UTB Trustee Lim-ited, Ventures & Trust Limited, Vileo Capital & Asset Manage-ment, Visa Investment & SEC Limited, West African Infra-structure Investment Manag-ers Limited, WizeTrade Capital & Asset Management Limited, WT Securities Limited and Zuma Securities Limited.

Also on the list are, Boston Capital Investment Limited,

IsaIah ErhIawarIEn

A new forex trading apps that will enhance trading at trading

floors globally has been re-leased by forex broker, Forex-Time, FXTM.

The launch of the Forex-Time App, a all-in-one, free-to-download mobile trading tool means easy trading for trad-ers and investors with all the essential news, live currency rates and up-to-date analysis they need to trade the world’s financial markets.

The app is available to download from in English, Chinese, Arabic and Indone-sian for both iOS and Android devices.

Chief Executive Officer, ForexTime Limited, Olga Ry-

balkina, said that in today’s mobile era, “our home and work lives demand on-the-go products and services that al-low us to do what we want to do, when we want to do it.”

He said that at FXTM aims to support its clients with high-tech products and services that allow them to make the most of their trading day say-ing that saying that FXTM pro-actively track evolving global trends, so that it can effectively anticipate the needs of clients.

“The ForexTime App is our latest release and it taps into the mobile trading trend by giving traders reliable access to live currency rates, break-ing financial news and useful analysis, wherever they are in the world”, he noted.

Rybalkina explained that

ForexTime unveils new trading apps for stock markets

Wall Street clings to meager gains ahead of thanksgiving

Johnson okanlawon

The Securities and Ex-change Commission, SEC, may withdraw

certificates of registration of 94 Capital Market Operators, CMOs, for their consistently failed to render their statutory returns to the commission.

A notice at the commission’s website indicated that the oper-ators may have been unable to comply with the new minimum capital requirements before the deadline stipulated by the com-mission, which expired on Sep-tember 30, 2015.

The commission stated: “ The under-listed ninety-four (94) Capital Market Operators, CMOs, were registered by the Securities and Exchange Com-

SEC may delist 94 operators over non-rendition of returns

Stock Updates

GAINERSCOMPANY OPENING CLOSING CHANGE % CHANGE

CAVERTON 2.37 2.59 0.22 9.28

DIAMONDBNK 2.36 2.48 0.12 5.08

IKEJAHOTEL 3.23 3.39 0.16 4.95

GUARANTY 21.00 21.99 0.99 4.71

LIVESTOCK 1.45 1.50 0.05 3.45

TRANSCORP 1.74 1.77 0.03 1.72

NEM 0.65 0.66 0.01 1.54

DANGCEM 158.00 159.99 1.99 1.26

ACCESS 4.60 4.64 0.04 0.87

NB 115.72 116.70 0.98 0.85

LOSERSCOMPANY OPENING CLOSING CHANGE % CHANGE

ETERNA 1.76 1.61 -0.15 -8.52

UNITYBNK 1.14 1.08 -0.06 -5.26

MOBIL 138.99 132.05 -6.94 -4.99

JBERGER 39.50 37.53 -1.97 -4.99

HONYFLOUR 2.09 1.99 -0.10 -4.78

VONO 0.90 0.86 -0.04 -4.44

LAWUNION 0.56 0.54 -0.02 -3.57

INTBREW 16.50 16.00 -0.50 -3.03

ETI 16.50 16.00 -0.50 -3.03

LEARNAFRCA 0.67 0.65 -0.02 -2.99

Market indicatorsAll-Share Index 27,743.92 points

Market capitalisation 9.54trn

Source: NSE

jobless benefits fell more than expected to 260,000 last week, while durable goods orders for October, excluding air-craft, increased 1.3 percent, far more than the 0.4 percent expected.

However, other reports suggested consumers were not in a spending mood, with consumer spending increas-ing just 0.1 percent in Octo-ber compared with the 0.3 percent expected.

The University of Michi-gan’s final index on consum-er sentiment for November also fell short of estimates.

The focus now turns to Black Friday, the traditional start of the holiday shopping

season.“That’s going to be the key,

the swing factor for the next couple of weeks - how holi-day sales shape up,” said Mi-chael Baele, senior portfolio manager at U.S. Bank Private Client Reserve in Portland, Oregon.

“When you consider the job market, low energy costs (and) low interest rates, the consumer’s in pretty good shape.”

At 12:42 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was up 30.57 points, or 0.17 percent, at 17,842.76, the S&P 500 .SPX was up 2.82 points, or 0.13 percent, at 2,091.96 and the Nasdaq Composite index .IXIC was up 18.70 points, or

Description Price Yield Price Yield

15.10 27-APR-2017 1.42 110.79 6.98 111.79 6.29

16.00 29-JUN-2019 3.59 121.00 9.02 122.00 8.73

15.54 13-FEB-2020 4.22 119.11 9.88 120.11 9.61

16.39 27-JAN-2022 6.17 128.59 10.05 129.59 9.86

14.20 14-MAR-2024 8.30 122.89 10.06 123.89 9.90

10.00 23-JUL-2030 14.66 95.27 10.64 96.27 10.50

Tenor Rate (%)

O/N 1.2067

1M 9.9951

3M 11.8784

6M 13.8911

Maturity Date Bid Offer

25-Feb-16 2.16 2.17

26-May-16 4.03 4.11

20-Oct-16 3.95 4.09

Treasury Bills

NIBOR

FGN BondsBid Offer

Closing Market Prices of November 25, 2015

CBN Clearing Rates of November 25, 2015

mission for various functions in the Nigerian capital mar-ket.

“In view of this fact, the Commission hereby directs the affected CMOs to make presentations to the commis-sion, on or before 4th Decem-ber, 2015, giving reasons why their registration as CMOS should not be cancelled.”

The affected operators are, 2As Amao Consult, AIQ Venture Capital Fund Manag-ers Limited, Allbond Invest-ment Limited, Amalgamated capital Funds, Associated Investment Trust Company Limited and Bayhead Alpha Capital Limited Bluebird Cap-ital Limited.

Others are Seasons Trust & Investment Limited, Secu-

Brickfield Road Associates Limited, Capital Partners Limited, Capital Structures Limited, Circular Trust Lim-ited, Citi Asset Management Limited, Citizens Investment & SEC Limited City Invest-ment Management Limited, Consolidated Investment Limited, Consult and Capital Limited, Dakal Services Lim-ited, Deap Capital Manage-ment & Trust Limited, De-Canon Investment Limited, Development Business Com-pany, Dolbic Finance Limited, EazyTrdae Concept Limited, Equinox Asset Management Limited, Express Discount Limited, First Alstate Securi-ties Limited and Gombe Secu-rities Limited, among others.

Inter-Bank RateNaira US DollarN196.98 $1

Exchange Rates (N)

WAUA 270

USD 196.98

EURO 214

CFA 0.32

YEN 1.64

SWISS FRANC

202

POUNDS STERLING

293

SDR 273

Rate (%)

Inflation 8.2

MPR 13

Crude oil price $58.96

FXTM was constantly looking for ways to integrate new fea-tures into the app and several upgrades will implanted over the coming months stressing that every trader has a go-to trading tool and we believe that the ForexTime App is just that.

He also disclosed that the ForexTime App features is user-friendly, and customisable interface that allows traders to create custom groups to track the financial instruments they are most interested in and to fil-ter newsfeeds so that they only see news that is relevant to their trading style and requirements.

He added that users of FXTM’s advanced new release now benefit from up-to-the-min-ute information, direct from the world’s financial markets.

The main features of the

ForexTime App include, Live Currency Rates streamed from top-tier liquidity provid-ers via FXTM’s ECN Server, latest Financial Market News.

Other features are FXTM’s Economic Calendar of key upcoming financial events, Advanced, real-time Currency Charts ,which al-low users to analyze market movements across multiple time-frames, Forex Trading Calculators for the calcula-tion of profit, pips and ex-change rates as well as daily FXTM

Market Analysis prepared by FXTM’s in-house team of experienced analysts.

Users can opt to activate notifications to receive break-ing news as it happens.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 30Thursday, November 26, 2015 Capital Market

0.37 percent, at 5,121.50.

StorieS by iSaiah erhiawarien

The former Director Gen-eral of the National Identity Management

Commission (NIMC), Mr. Chris Onyemenam, has described the implementation of the compo-nents of the National Identity Management System (NIMS) in the country as a successful par-adigm shift in the history of the Commission.

He told journalists in Abuja that the specific value proposi-tion that flowed from the NIMS cuts across the three tiers of government, as well as the pri-vate sector and includes the family, and even the interna-tional society.

According to him, the NIMS by extension have impact on the civil service noting that the concept of ghost workers or du-plicate identities will be elimi-nated through it.

“No one can be in the Inte-grated Personnel and Payroll In-formation System (IPPIS) more than once, because the individ-ual will be traced through the alignment of the ‘unique’ iden-tities in the biometrics driven IPPS and the National Identifi-cation Number (NIN)”, he said.

Expressing confidence in the current setup of the Unique Identification Scheme under the NIMS, he said what the Com-mission is doing is in tandem

with global best practice, which saying, “Uniquely identify ev-ery citizen and legal resident, in terms of ‘who you are’ and not what you are eligible to like benefit identities or what you can participate in like the Voter card, or what you are obliged to like Tax, or what you need to have like the driver’s license.”

Onyemenam explained the ability to create a single version of truth of the identities of in-dividuals that will serve the en-tire country is what NIMC has set up for the nation, “because the NIMS is a cross cutting plat-form. If you don’t know people and they commit a crime, they can deny it. If someone is able to have more than one identity then they can benefit from their own acts of deception.”

He added that NIMS plat-form provides economic plan-ners of the country that hard-core data about some of the socio-economic characteristics of citizens in a slightly more factual sense than what other organisation provides.

He noted that it’s a bit easier and more purposive with the NIMS because “you will use the uniqueness of the identity that has been given to them, to ensure that the benefit goes to them only.”

He added that harmonisa-tion with the BVN is over 95 per cent complete and the data mi-

Former NIMC boss applauds NIMS project, as successor takes over

MainOne upgrades submarine cable network

Info TechNational Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 31Thursday, November 26, 2015

Government Technology

Financial Technology

The students in the CWG Academy organised in partnership with

Oracle has graduated. The students from were the first Oracle Summer boot camp in the entire Sub-Sahara African region.

The boot camp aimed at equipping participants from tertiary institutions in the country with requisite IT skills to proffer solutions to challenges in the industry.

The CWG-Oracle boot camp gave concise, intensive and real-time training to par-ticipants in the fields of Java Fundamentals, Java Program-ming & Database Administra-tion.

It featured a combination of classroom lectures, hands-on exercises and case study sessions that will afford the participants a competitive

advantage in the IT industry. Twenty-two participants from Nigerian tertiary institutions successfully completed the three weeks-long programme free of charge.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony, Chief Executive Officer, CWG Plc Mr. Austin Okere, said that the training is part of the company’s CSR pol-icy, which is focused on quality education.

According to Okere, the CWG-Oracle boot camp was designed to bridge the IT work-force gap in the Nigerian IT in-dustry and in the Sub-Sahara region saying CWG believes that it can empower the Nigeri-an youth to compete favourably in the world sphere, if trained to become the best IT profes-sionals.

He charged the students to live out the lessons they have

learnt and ensure that they prove themselves worthy am-bassadors of CWG and Oracle everywhere they go.

“Let me leave you with three

Pioneer Sub-Sahara Africa’s CWG, Oracle students graduate

grations which will enable the NIMC have a copy of the BVN data has been successfully pilot-ed and would soon be completed.

“Although the harmonisation will help populate the database, I hope that Government will stop funding all schemes that are not fully aligned with the NIMS as a way of ensuring the speedy completion of the harmonisa-tion and eliminating needless fiscal provisions that continue to undermine the future of iden-tity management in Nigeria”, he said.

While admitting that Govern-

ment would still provide for data capture during this transi-tional/harmonisation period, Onyemenam said this would be very minimal and would certainly stop the planned bil-lions of naira for data capture activities for 2019 and the 2016 biometric census – two need-less duplication of efforts.

He also added that the pre-vious efforts driven by the Department of National Civil Registry (DNCR), before it was taken over by the NIMC, focused on Card issuance, and the cards were issued to people

aged 18 years and above as if they are the only citizens who were entitled to being identi-fied.

Meanwhile, President Mu-hammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Engr. Aliyu Aziz Abubakar as the new Di-rector-General and Chief Ex-ecutive Officer of NIMC.

Aziz was a pioneer staff of NIMC and the Direc-tor, Information Technol-ogy and National Identity Database Department of NIMC before he retired in 2014.

L-R: Head of Community Affairs, Lagos State Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs for Mushin Local Gov-ernment, Alhaji Ahmed Akeju; Marketing Manager Home Care Reckitt Benckiser West Africa, Bamigbaye-Elatuyi Omotola; Marketing Director, Oguzhan Silivrili and Director United Nation Information Centre, Ronald Kayanja during the 2015 Harpic World Toilet Day Celebration in Partnership with UNIC and other Associations in Lagos, yesterday. .

important life lessons to-day. First, let your future be brighter than your past. Sec-ond, let your contribution be your focus and not applause.

And third, let your gratitude be more than your requests. I wish you all the best”, he ad-vised.

The growing impact of MainOne in the West Af-rican region has success-

fully upgraded its submarine cable network between Nigeria, Ghana and Portugal to a 100G wavelength system.

The West Africa’s Commu-nications Services and Data Centre provider said the 100G wavelength upgrade was imple-mented using the Xtera Nu-wave Optima optical networking plat-form, which is expected to pro-vide additional capacity support for MainOne’s delivery of high-bandwidth services, and a more resilient network for its custom-ers in West Africa.

Chief Executive Officer, Fun-ke Opeke said that the upgrade will provide MainOne the capa-bility to offer higher capacity bandwidth to its wholesale cus-tomers in West Africa who are increasingly demanding such services for Internet access via their 3G and 4G networks.

“We are starting to see an information explosion in West Africa that has brought about a dramatic increase in network traffic this year and this has highlighted the need to scale up our network for future demand” she said.

Opeke disclosed that “as a leading provider of data capacity

to eight countries in West Africa, and with the pending integra-tion of our NigerCam system to Cameroun and Nigeria’s South-South region, we needed to de-ploy more advanced technology to reliably meet our customer’s need for advanced and robust communications services.”

She said that the upgrade to 100G provides MainOne the plat-form to further deepen broad-band penetration in West Africa and meet the demands of grow-ing wholesale data business not-ing, “Xtera is extremely pleased to help MainOne upgrade its subsea cable infrastructure be-tween Nigeria and Portugal.”

In one single event, InnJoo, Chinese mobile device maker, has unveiled its brand of fin-

ger technology mobile phone in the Nigerian market.

Prior to the launching of its second flagship model ‘InnJoo 2’ and two smartphones with big battery Max 2 and Max 2 Plus, the company had early this year launched the first model ‘InnJoo ONE’, in Lagos.

The flagship model InnJoo 2 is equipped with Fingerprint 2.0 technology which is with the lat-est module of fingerprint detec-tor and recognition algorithm. With its high speed of 508PPI res-olution of finger print, it’s easier and quicker to recognize and re-cord the users’ finger print.

Users will benefits from this new technology with its easier photo taking, higher security and the faster phone unlocking time with only 0.46 seconds.

InnJoo 2 sports a dual 13-mega-pixel camera, the most advanced cameras ever. Both cameras are adopted with Samsung CMOS Sensor, f/2.2 aperture, 88 degrees shooting range, 5P lens, and Blue Glass IR filter, which can produce sharp detailed photos and full HD videos with full-sided zero-delay shutters whenever wherever.

What’s more, InnJoo 2 support Live Photos selecting the live pho-to mode, with just a press, reveal the moments immediately before and after the shot was taken, so you can enjoy a living memory rather than an instant frozen in time.Users also have several

modes including continuous capture (up to 40 and 90 pieces), panorama mode and face beauty optimization mode.

InnJoo’s Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Tim Chen, “We are dedicated in bringing the new technology to the market, with an affordable price and premium quality the market are chasing”,. “Think as a normal user while design products, define the new functions and apply the new tech-nology to the devices. As we see the increasing demands for pri-vacy and security for every per-sonal products, the Fingerprint technology helps to satisfy it com-pletely.”

InnJoo 2 is designed in 2.5D full metal frame, 7.3mm thick-ness and 126g weights. Adopted the world’s strongest Dragontrail glass touch panel, it has 8 times of hardness than its rivals and displays a stunning visual effects with 5.0inch screen.

The new device is also equipped with a powerful Octa-core processor and running the Android Lollipop operating sys-tem, 2GB RAM and 16GB flash memory which can be further expanded to 64GB via microSD card.

The built-in 3200mAh battery with fast charge technology, it ensures a longer battery usage. Based on the Android 5.1 lighter Lollipop OS, InnOS allows a bet-ter user experience for brows-ing the Internet, playing games, watching videos, listening to mu-sic and talking on the phone.

StorieS by iSaiah erhiawarien

More mobile phone users in Nigeria are abandon-ing the use of their mo-

bile for voice call to use of data on platform like FaceBook, What-sapp, Twitter and the traditional text message.

Latest edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report subscriptions list-ed Nigeria as among top five coun-tries for third quarter net global mobile subscriptions additions re-flected the choice of data to voice.

According to the report, the average revenue per user (ARPU) for data has been rising, leading to a higher contribution of data revenue to total operator revenue, adding that this does not quite off-set the drop in voice ARPU.

The report predicted that by the end of 2021, monthly mobile data traffic in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to be almost 2,200 Pet-abytes (PB).

It said that between 2015 and 2021, data traffic is projected to grow 15 times in Sub-Saharan Africa, driven by an increased spread of LTE saying that “smart-phones will account for almost 95

per cent of mobile data traffic by 2021, up from close to 80 per cent in 2015. Voice traffic over the same period will only marginally in-crease.”

The Ericsson Mobility Report also revealed that 5G mobile sub-scriptions will hit 150 million by 2021 forecasting that mobile sub-scriptions in Sub-Saharan Africa will reach one billion by end of 2021, with 690 smartphone.

According to Ericsson, in Sub-Saharan Africa, LTE subscrip-tions are projected to grow almost 28 fold by 2021 with WCDMA/HSPA combined with LTE ac-counting for almost 80 per cent of subscriptions.

The report said that South Ko-rea, Japan, China and the US are predicted to lead with the first, and fastest, 5G subscription uptake noting that 5G will connect new types of devices, enabling new use cases related to the Internet of Things (IoT); the transition will open up new industries and verti-cals to ICT transformation.

The report, a comprehensive update on mobile trends, revealed a significant increase in mobile video consumption, which is driv-

ing nearly six times higher traffic volumes per smartphone in North America and Europe (2015 to 2021).

With 20 new mobile broadband subscriptions activated every sec-ond, global increase in mobile sub-scriptions is another clear driver for data traffic growth, Ericsson observed, adding that as of now, there are the same amount of mobile subscriptions as there are people on the planet; in 2016 we will reach the four billion mark for smartphone subscriptions alone.

According to the latest edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report, global mobile subscriptions are growing around five per cent year-on-year. India grew the most in terms of net additions during the quarter (+13 million), followed by China (+7 million), the US (+6 mil-lion), Myanmar (+5 million), and Nigeria (+4 million).

The regional report covering Sub-Saharan Africa revealed that while total mobile subscription penetration currently sits at 80 per cent, the region expects to see 100 per cent mobile penetration by 2021 with over one billion mobile subscriptions.

32 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, November 26, 2015

Nigeria’s mobile users dump voice calls for data –Ericsson

A volunteer worker with Destiny Trust, a non-government organisa-

tion based in Abuja, has won the Samsung’s Picture Your Dream competition.

The winner, Ifeyinwa Obienu received a plaque from the Man-aging Director of Samsung Elec-tronics West Africa, Mr. Kim Brovo while six other finalists in the competition got the Sam-sung Galaxy J7 for their effort.

The platform availed Nige-rians the opportunity to ex-

press their dreams through a palm selfie contest, which was launched at the end of August 2015.

Commenting on success of the contest, the Head, Product Marketing (IM), Samsung Elec-tronics West Africa, Jumoke Okikiolu said “It was truly a challenge short listing the top seven finalists for this contest,” saying that over 1,300 entries ini-tially received were very inspir-ing.

She said that the seven final-

ists selected after the first round had a busy time soliciting votes from friends and family via so-cial media noting that Obienu’s dream to ‘help destitute kids get off the street’ pulled the highest number votes in the second and final round.

While expressing her grati-tude to Samsung, Obienu said that it felt really good winning saying, “I still cannot believe that I actually won as I am very sure that there were so many en-tries..”

Worker wins Samsung’s Picture Your Dream Competition

L-R: Head, Education Committee, Female Muslim Doctors (IMAN) Dr. Halima Alimi, Marketing Manager Home Care Reckitt Benckiser West Africa, Bamigbaye-Elatuyi Omotola, Director United Nation Information Centre, Ronald Kayanja, Marketing Director Reckitt Benckiser, Oguzhan Silivrili and the Seriki Hausawa Idi- Araba Community, Alhaji Idris Lawal at the 2015 World Toilet Day Celebration where Harpic donated two mobile toilets to Idi- Araba community in Lagos.

InnJoo’s fingerprint technology flagship smartphone

Info Tech

At a recent forum on corporate social responsibility, CSR, experts x-ray its practice in Nigeria with a verdict that the storyline must change to reflect global best practices. DAVID AUDU reports.

From Left: South West Editor/Bureau Chief,The Sun Publicity Ltd, Mr Yinka Fabowale, Managing Director, First Class Production Ltd, Pastor Yinka Adepoju, Chairman BJAN, Mr. Goddie Ofose Mr Head, Media Relation Access Bank Plc, Abdul Imoyo, at the 2015 Annual Brands & Marketing Conference in Ibadan in Oyo State at the week end.

With the world attention shifting gradually to sustainability, the practice of corporate social re-

sponsibility, CsR, has assumed a new di-mension. The focus now more than ever before is how to synegise global efforts to attain sustainable development.

At a recent forum organised in Ibadan in Oyo state, experts agree that the way forward is getting corporate organisations to adhere to agreed standards, reporting CSR activities on global best practices, and in the same breath getting the watch dog of the society, the me-dia, not only to report on these issues but for them to adequately understand the dimension involved.

The even organized by Brand Journalists’ Association of Nigeria, BJAN, brought to-gether experts in marketing communications industry, but with special bias for corporate social responsibility.

Among the speakers include the Manag-ing Director of TruContact, the organiser of the yearly Sustainability and Environmental Reporting Award, SERA, Mr Ken Egbas; the Managing Director of SO&U Limited and cur-rent chairman of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, APCON, Mr. Ufot Udeme, among other seasoned professionals.

With the theme: Challenges of Corporate Social Responsibility in Nigeria- Roles of Organisations, Government and the Media, Udeme, in his presentation titled, ‘Pushing the moral boundaries between CSR spend and CSR marketing budget’, noted that “CSR is the continuing commitment by business to be-have ethically and contribute to economic de-velopment while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large”.

He opined therefore that CSR is the deliber-ate inclusion of public interest into corporate decision making, and the honoring of a triple bottom line: People, Planet, and Profit. It is about how companies manage the business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society – to “make the world a better place.

Experts advocate change in Nigeria’s CSR storyline

WHERE THAT LEAVES YOU IS THAT IT DROP THE STANDARD SO LOW BECAUSE THE JOURNALIST

WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO DEMAND FOR STANDARD DO NOT EVEN KNOW THE STANDARD

FOR CSR AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING, WHICH IS VERY SAD

Thursday, November 26, 2015National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 33

Brands & Marketing

However there are pertinent questions raised in the practice of CSR in Nigeria, such as where does CSR money really go, in whose interest, society, organization or the CEO? Besides, he also queried whether these CSR programmes are designed to create value for society or to earn a bragging right for the com-pany?

“Is there really a need to leverage an or-ganization’s CSR initiatives? It is argued that some of the highest givers around the world give quietly, sometimes even anony-

mously; they sincerely want to meet a need without attracting unnecessary attention to themselves. Why don’t organizations do the same”?

While admitting that CSR investments and objectives can sometimes be difficult to evaluate, he stressed that these usually makes accountability difficult and even raises suspicion towards organizations that manage to come up with seemingly flawless CSR reports.

On his part, Ken Egbas, believes many

companies are not doing enough in their CSR, saying many companies do not under-stand what they should be doing with the money and at the same same time many of them do not even know how to go about their CSR initiatives.

“They call people together and give them gifts, or give exercise books to school children or renovate a school classroom, grade a small stretch of road here, then, they call the jour-nalist and splash the photos on the pages of their paper and they call that CSR.

He pointed out that while the companies themselves do not understand most of what they were doing, the media themselves also do not understand, hence everything goes and as such activities of journalists that are supposed to complement what they do at the end contribute in lowering the standard

“Where that leaves you is that it drop the standard so low because the journalist who are supposed to demand for standard do not even know the standard for CSR and sustain-ability reporting, which is very sad”

He therefore urged on the need to pay at-tention to standards, which he said informed his yearly CSR awards.

He stressed that “until the media pay at-tention to standard, we may not be able to hold organizations accountable”.

In his presentation, Mr. Abdul Imoyo, rep-resenting Access Bank Plc, while acknowl-edging that business must be done ethically and in a responsible manner, for them as a bank they create a mutually beneficial rela-tionship or synergy amongst all stakehold-ers.

“We want our employees to perceive us as caring and catering to their needs; our customers to feel involved and engaged in our business decisions for new products; our local communities to know that we rec-ognize them as the very fabric on which our business is built; our investors to continue to believe in our vision; and our regulators to perceive us as transparent and ethically re-sponsible”.

DAVID AUDU

Before Benjamin Akuruka, a 300 level undergraduate of the Enugu State University of

Science and Technology participated in the Gulder search competition, he had told his 86 year old father, Pa Em-manuel Akuruka, that he would drive him home from a wedding ceremony in a brand new car.

The octogenarian had planned to attend a wedding the same week. He then intimated his father of the Gul-der Ultimate Chase event which was billed for the same Saturday his cous-in was getting married; as well as his resolve to win the brand new Hyundai

Elantra grand prize up for grabs. Even though his father doubted the authen-ticity of the promo, he gave his son the nod to participate.

According to him, he vowed to re-place the family car which had to be sold to offset certain financial obliga-tions.

Akuruka joined over 1000 other contestants who had assembled at the Dan Anyiam Stadium to participate in the Owerri leg of the Gulder Ulti-mate Chase. Despite lagging behind more than 500 contestants, he eventu-ally won the competition and the gift of a brand new Hyundai Elantra car.

After his feat, Benjamin was driv-en in a convoy to the Presbyterian

Church, Aladinma venue of the wed-ding ceremony of his cousin. This was to enable him fulfill his promise of driving home his father in a brand new car.

There was however uproar as the Gulder convoy drove into The Presby-terian Church as it coincided with the period the couple and invited guests were taking photographs. As Benja-min stepped out of the Gulder brand-ed car Hyundai Elantra car, there was uproar of celebration as members of his community who recognized him deciphered that their ‘son’ had just won a brand new car.

A weeping Benjamin then made his way to his father knelt and said:

Gulder Promo winners tell tales of persistence, determination“Daddy, I brought the Gulder car to you. I told you I was going to do it and I’ve done it.”

His father replied: “Thank you Jesus, my son said he was going to bring this car and take me home. Oh God, I came with keke, now I’m going home with a brand new car. I am over-whelmed. I am happy.”

In furtherance of the celebra-tion, the Gulder brand team donated 10 crates of the premium alcoholic brand to the wedding celebrants.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Ayobami Ogundeji emerged the star prize win-ner at the last electronic raffle draw of this year’s edition of Gulder national consumer promotion which was held

at the Sweet Garden Bar in Onitsha, Anambra, making the first time a fe-male would win a car in the Gulder promo

The wife and mother stated that she was shocked when she received the phone call informing her of her good fortune. She said: “When I re-ceived the call that I was the winner of the brand new Hyundai Elantra car, I did not believe at first. It was after I was informed that I won the car courtesy of the Gulder Ultimate Promo that it dawned on me that it was genuine. It has been celebration galore in my house with my husband and my children ever since I received the good news.”

IBEDC to release over 300,000 meters in 2016

L-R: Special Adviser to Governor of Lagos State on Primary Healthcare, Dr. Femi Onanuga; immediate past Vice Chancellor of Lagos State University, Prof. John Obafunwa and Registrar, National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, Prof. Wole Atoyebi, during the 2015 Annual General Meeting/Scientific Conference and Continuing Medical Education, in Lagos, yesterday.

Lagos communities lament eviction by govt officials

Lawyer warns governors against salary reduction

the defunct Power Hold-ing Company of Nigeria, PHCN, with evidence of payment.

He stressed that the initiative would also help eradicate estimated billing and energy loss faced by IBEDC, while at the same time serving as a support scheme to CAPMI.

He, however, stated that as a permanent solution, IBEDC has put in place a 10-year (2015 – 2024) meter-ing plan – with a total in-vestment estimate of about N47.18bn.

“The roll-out plan makes provision for over 80 per cent of our custom-ers to be metered by the end of 2018. Only 182,338

customers were metered at the time IBEDC took over in November 2013, while most of the meters had become obsolete or faulty and would need to be re-placed to ensure quality service.

“From 2016 to 2024, we have projected to meter over 300,000 customers annually, inclusive of the CAPMI scheme. To bridge this metering gap imme-diately, a team headed by the Deputy Managing Di-rector, IBEDC, Engr. John Ayodele, has just returned from China where they have been able to facilitate the supply of cost-efficient smart meters,” he conclud-ed.

Paul ErEwuba

Villages in Ibeju Le-kki area of Lagos State have cried out

to Governor Akinwumi Am-bode to come to their rescue, following forceful eviction from their ancestral land by officials of the state’s New Town Development Author-ity, NTDA.

The villages, which are being taken over with their farmlands and fish ponds by the state officials, in-clude Moliki Salabiu, Daudu Bashiru, Abolade Owoseni and Ishola Saidu.

According to the resi-dents, NTDA officials invad-ed their locality on Novem-ber 9, 2015, and destroyed their crops and fish ponds with bulldozers with secu-rity allegedly provided by officers of the Nigeria Police Force.

The communities have therefore, through their so-licitor, Prince Ademola Ad-ewale, of De-Vine Chambers, called on the governor to pre-vail on the officials to retrace their steps in the interest of peace.

They regretted that their farmlands and fish ponds had been destroyed by the NTDA, a move that is against the policy trust of the pres-ent administration both at federal and state levels.

In a petition to Governor

OjO OyEwamidEAKURE

A human rights lawyer, Morakinyo Ogele, has warned governors

against reducing workers’ salaries.

Ogele called on Houses of Assembly to impeach gover-nors who support reduction of the N18,000 minimum wage.

In a statement issued yesterday in Akure, he also charged workers not to fold their arms but mount pres-sure on their lawmakers to scuttle the plan.

The lawyer accused gov-ernors of wastage, which has unleashed unbearable hardship on the people of the country, lamenting the huge amount of money governors spend on political appointees.

Ogele, who noted that ma-jority of the political appoin-tees add no value to the econ-omy of their states, wondered

Churches must help in national development —Cleric

Ambode, Prince Adewale condemned the use of the police by the state govern-ment officials to chase away the people from their farm-land and fish ponds without prior notice.

The solicitor in the peti-tion claimed that his clients were told that it was Gover-nor Ambode that gave the instruction to destroy their farmlands and fish ponds.

The community leaders, according to their solicitor, were also worried about the likely repetition of the inci-dent that happened in Lekki Free Trade Zone (Okunraye community), where the managing director of the zone was killed.

It was to avert such a de-velopment, they said, that made them to restrain their youths and farmers from taking the law into their hands.

They therefore, appealed to the governor to take ur-gent action to save the com-munity from extinction, even as the Atlantic Ocean had almost eaten up their ancestral home, lamenting that they had no other place to go.

According to the petition, the government’s actions are now inappropriate and ran contrary to its respon-sibility of protecting farm-ers and local communities’ right to their lands and properties.

gap across the country.He said CAPMI allows

customers to get refund on their meter payments via electricity unit rebates over a period of 36 months with 12 per cent interest, while ensuring they only pay for what they use.

He added that IBEDC was committed to serv-ing its esteemed custom-ers, saying that it has em-barked on a robust meter roll-out scheme to cater for customers with unique challenges.

According to him, ex-amples are those who could prove that they are victims of burnt or sto-len meters and customers who paid for meters under

Egbeda, Lagos. According to him, the

donation is in line with RCCG’s Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, project, a vision of the church’s Gen-eral Overseer, Pastor E.O. Adeboye.

Olajide said it was the church’s way of contribut-ing its quota to the improve-ment of life of the less-privi-leged in the society. He added that the church decided to intervene, having seen that the school was in dire need of the items donated.

His words: “The church

is able to do this because of visionary leadership. The problem we have in our churches, which fail to un-derstand the importance of this is leadership. They should understand that we have to complement the ef-forts of government.”

He said the gesture has enabled the teachers under-stand that they are impor-tant, and have reasons to smile.

Head of Schools, HoS, who is also the social mobili-sation officer, Alimosho Lo-cal Government Area, Mrs.

Opadoyi Beatrice Modupe, enjoined the church not to be tired in helping schools and the society, stressing that she was optimistic that their children would re-ceive favour in return.

She, however, warned that the teachers would be held responsible for any careless handling of the furniture.

Head teacher of the school, Mrs. E. O. Adeyemi, expressed gratitude to the church especially for mak-ing teachers’ job worth-while.

bOladalE bamigbOlaOSOGBO

Ibadan Electricity Dis-tribution Company, IBEDC, yesterday said

it would provide meters for over 300,000 customers in 2016.

This was disclosed by Managing Director of IBEDC, Mr. John Don-nachie, at a business ses-sion. He appealed to cus-tomers to take advantage of the Credited Advanced Payment for Metering Implementation, CAPMI, scheme introduced by Ni-gerian Electricity Regula-tory Commission, NERC, as an intervention to bridge the huge metering

A pastor of the Re-deemed Christian Church of God,

RCCG, Lagos Province 37, Solomon’s Porch Parish, Eg-beda, has called on churches in the country to always con-tribute to the growth of their immediate environment.

Assistant pastor in-charge of the parish, Oluwayemi Olajide, made the call when his church donated 200 sets of school uniforms and 20 sets of upholstery chairs and tables worth N800,000 to the pupils and teachers of Ebenezer Primary School,

why they would be receiv-ing huge amount of money while workers who are doing the job receive peanuts.

He said: “A serious gover-nor is expected to utilise the resources within his reach to pay the monthly wages of the workers. Some gover-nors who fail to meet their obligation to the indigenes of their states are punishing them with sundry levies.

“In Ondo State, you have to show your Kaadi Igbe-Ayo that you acquired with N2,000 before you can have access to government hos-pitals, maternities, schools and other infrastructural facilities. Court filing fee has risen by 200 per cent.

“They should reduce the number of their aides be-cause some governors are having 800 aides, ranging from special assistants, per-sonal assistants, principal assistants, personal assis-tants on markets, roads.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netSouth South Thursday, November 26, 201534

Youths display talents at NICON Insurance basketball initiativeNational Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net 35Thursday, November 26, 2015 Young & Next Generation

Joel AJAyiAbujA

As part of its effort to fulfill its corporate so-cial responsibility, the

NICON Insurance Plc. in con-junction with Alfa Plus has organised a three-day basket-ball tournament, an initiative toward empower and help the youths to have a brighter future.

Also, it is aimed at teaching personal excellence in basket-ball and life. Not only that, the event is also channeledl to stim-ulate youths’ interest in actively taking up sports, particularly basketball for recreation and profession instead of crime.

However, no fewer than 200 children from 24 schools across the FCT converged at the Bas-ketball Indoor Court National Stadium Package B Abuja, to compete in the tournament.

On the importance of the event, the Senior Manager Cor-porate Affairs NICON Insur-ance PLC, Mr. Ade Adesokan explained that it is part of the Corporate Social Responsibil-ity (CSR) of the NICON Insur-ance to reduce social vices such hooliganism, cultism amongst others to in the country.

He said: “We want our youth in Nigeria to be fully involved one activity or the other that will impact their life positively.

“Because an adage says ‘an idle hand is the devil’s work-shop’ so, when they are engaged they will be very happy to leave up to expectation, this will assist them by making their brain well alert.

“This is not the first time we are doing something like this. It has become part of our Corpo-rate Social Responsibility in NI-CON insurance. We have done it in the past; we have sponsored Nigeria Universities Games, a programme that produced peo-ple like Seyi Olofinjana.”

“Our former Super Eagles Coach Stephen Keshi was dis-covered by the defunct in-surance company. We have sponsored basketball team to Olympic, we have sponsored squash in Ikoyi Club Lagos amongst others. These are part of things we do to encourage youth to be active in a positive manner.”

Adesokan also disclosed that the company had embarked on what he called Student Welfare Insurance Scheme SWIS, an ini-tiative that will allow parents paying premium or token of five thousand naira or three thou-sand naira.

He stated that with that to-ken if a parent dies or suffers any form of disability then, the management of NICON will take over the responsibility of

leonArd okAchie

All is set for the Africa Meets Reggae and World Music International Fes-

tival scheduled for tomorrow and Saturday in Lagos at Ember Creek, Ikoyi and Hockey Pitch, National Stadium, Surulere, re-spectively.

It will be showcasing the top names in Reggae and world music among whom are the firstliners such as Victor Essiet and The Mandators (Rat Race), Majek Fashek (The Rain Mak-er), Oritse Femi, Eljai (USA), Burna Boy, Pasuma Wonders( Oga nla 1), Ras Kimono(Dub Master), Orits Wiliki( Cool Man Revolutionair), Tee Mac, Righ-teous Man, Stella Monye, Black

Rasta(Ghana), Redfyah(Ghana), St. Peters.

Others billed to perform are: Black Face, Fadabasi, Safin De Coque band, Black Rice, King Wadada, C-Stroke band, Sweat Reggae band, Francis Gold-man, Kupa Victory, Empero Zigzag.

The upcoming artistes in-clude: Delight, Realman, Young Gracy, Jayru, Diggy Dor, Rosey Bassey, Jethro Lion and many many more.

Occation MCs: Da Queen, DJ Rattata( Wazobia FM), Comedi-an MC Soro-soro. Host / Come-dian Koffi Da Guru.

Africa Meets Reggae has been an annual musical event hosted by Echodelic Music and Dub Club in Los Angeles for the past years but now franchised to Vic-

The Mandators, Majek Fashek, others for Raggae music festival

Participants at Nicon Insurance basketball initiative

payment of the school fees till graduation.

He appealed to parents to en-courage their children to be in-volved in this kind of activities that will discourage them from cultism but rather help them to discover their talents at tender age.

“Government alone cannot solve this entire problem that is why corporate organisations have to reach out with youth in the country to assist in the area of sponsorship.

Representative of Alfa Plus, Tony Ujadugele also said the significance of this tournament is to groom the youth to under-

stand the game of basketball “and we believe that we have to start from private secondary school level.

“We are doing this in conjunc-tion with NICON Insurance Plc. and our goal is to take Nigerian kids (10 boys and 10 girls) to the US for them to have more knowledge of this game. We have 24 teams from all over Abuja playing against each other.

“I want to use this medium to call on individual company to invest on youth, to have a better society.”

Meanwhile at the end of three days tournament in the girls’

category Pace Setter School beat Royal Family School while Lou-isville school emerged winner in ladies’ category after beat-ing Jesuit School 22-12.

However, in the boys’ cat-

egory Glisten Int. Academy Schools thrashed Kingsville 24-12 to emerge the winner as Loyola School edged out Rabato School 23 -13 to emerge second runner-up.

tor Essiet (Mystic Records, USA) for Nigeria / Africa.

This year’s Africa meets Reg-gae music festival, according to

the organisers, will be unique and memorable as it cuts across all genre of music with good lyr-ical contents.

Victor Essiet

TFAA announces nominees for Youth Employment... winner to get $5000

Students showcase electric car at NSE conference

Youths celebrate Hellofood at 3

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net

36 Young & Next Generation Thursday, November 26, 2015

Leonard okachie

The Future Awards Africa has an-nounced successful candidates for The Ford Foundation Prize in

Youth Employment - selected after an in-tensive four month period.

Successful applicants were inter-viewed in selected cities Port Harcourt, Abuja, Enugu, Ibadan, Kano and Lagos.

“This prize is very dear to our hearts,”

said Chude Jideonwo, who is co-founder of the awards. “It goes to the core of our work, which focuses on enterprise. “We are de-lighted to have gotten young Nigerians taking charge, doing their bits and solv-ing the issues of unemployment.

“With the goal of the Ford Founda-tion in West Africa to improve gover-nance systems and livelihood opportu-nities and TFAA to inspire the entire continent of Africa through the works

of her citizenry, this award is designed to recognise and support young Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 33 involved in a social program or projects that con-tribute to fight youth unemployment in Nigeria.”

The Ford Foundation Prize in Youth Employment nominees are: Kabiru Seidu-Dankata, Eze Ifedy-Ralph, Olamide Adeleye, Ukinebo Dare, Ifeanyi Aniagoh, Olajide Kabir-Tosin

Leonard okachie

It was all fun for a group of youths , who gathered recently in Lagos to celebrate Nigeria’s leading online

food ordering and delivery platform, Hel-lofood as it clocked it third year in busi-ness in Nigeria.

The platform, which began its opera-tion in Lagos in November 2012, was the

first to be launched in Africa and re-mains one of the biggest.

Speaking on the anniversary at its office in Yaba, Lagos, the Managing Di-rector of Hellofood Nigeria, Guillaume Leblond stated, “We are very proud of serving tens of thousands of customers in Nigeria, and to work with most restau-rants in the Industry, from local Bukkas to big chains. It has been a fantastic jour-ney and it is just the beginning.

“We have made incredible learning’s

Leonard okachie

It was an exciting moment recently at the annual gathering of the Ni-gerian Society of Engineers (NSE)

conference in Akure Ondo state, when the a team of Mechanical Engineer-ing students of the University of La-gos (UNILAG) showcased an electric, eco-friendly car made by them.

The car named DOVE PI, was the product of a project initiated by Olu-sanya Olukoya, now a graduate of Mechanical Engineering. It was first unveiled recently at an exhibition or-ganised by Designed for Zero Vehicle Emission (DOVE) Initiative at the Ju-lius Berger Hall of the university

The conference supported by Star Beer had series of activities from the plenary sessions, young engineer pro-gramme, presidential cocktail, cul-tural night, concurrent session and more.

The rare conference was well at-tended by top dignitaries in Nigeria as well as engineers who trouped in en-masse to learn more about the business and to examine avenues through which infrastructure can be improved to catalyse national growth and economic development.

Guests present at the conference included President of Nigeria, Mu-hammadu Buhari, Governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko, Aare Afe Ba-balola and several others.

Leonard okachie

After years of hard work and inten-sive training session, the Society for the Performing Arts in Nige-

ria (SPAN), recently graduated its second set of 29 artists at a colorful and elabo-rate ceremony.

The event which was held at the pres-tigious Eko Hotels and Suites showcased the best of contemporary African dance and music styles among youngsters in Lagos.

The graduation was a true reflection of the world-class standard for arts edu-cation in Nigeria as SPAN used the op-portunity to exhibit the richness, faith and diversity of Nigeria’s culture. It was a colorful gathering of art enthusiasts, iconic dancers, music lovers, members of the diplomatic community and high profile personalities like Mr. Aditya Chel-laram, Mrs. Evita Moussalli, Mr Ingo Herbert, and Mrs. Olufunmi Olajuyegbe among others.

SPAN displayed a combination of dance and musical performances from graduating students who thrilled guests to a show-stopper with the likes of AbimbolaFakiya, AmbilaJaja, Bamidele Olonisola, Blessing Elikwu, Bobi Odafe, Bryan Ogini-Peters, Busayo Olawole, Daniella Ilechukwu, Promise Enweribe,

SPAN graduates 29 artists, exhibit creativityBidemi Shokunbi, Nneoma Onyekewelu, Gloria Idundun, and Obinna Jackson to mention a few.

Founder of SPAN, Mrs. Sarah Boulos, said, “In 10years, we have served the La-gos community by educating Nigerian

youths to achieve greatness in the per-forming arts and created opportunities for young people to develop and also overcome limitations using the arts as a transformational tool. The graduating students we have today are prepared for

Performers at the SPAN graudation ceremony in Lagos

the future.” Mrs. Boulos stressed that as the fresh

graduates move into tomorrow, they need to hold fast to the words of Freder-ick Douglass, remembering that “if there is no struggle, there is no progress”, and that progress in their own communities , in their world, can only happen when brilliant minds like theirs decide to be-come engaged.

Some of the top patrons and sponsors of SPANFEST 2015 include 7Up Bottling Company, Indomie, Cool FM, Orlean Invest, Chellarams Plc, SCOA Nigeria Plc, I.T.B Nigeria Limited, Eko Hotel & Suites, GA Productions and Power Horse among others.

Furthermore, the second graduation ceremony was part of the lined-up ac-tivities infused into the 2015 edition of SPANFEST which paraded several local and international artists and celebri-ties across different cultures and back-ground.

SPAN is a registered non-governmen-tal organization founded in 2004 with the Helen O’Grady franchise in schools. It offers different classes of training which ranges from Music to Ballet, Tap, Hip Hop, Jazz, Creative Combo, Drama,Contemporary African, fitness, Naija Craze, Salsa and Latin Ballroom dance for beginners, intermediate and professionals.

in how to serve our customers and our restaurants better, to deliver food faster, hotter, and smarter. The best is ahead of us and we are very excited.”

Leblond added that many lives have been changed from over 500 job creation in 11 challenging markets, with roughly 50 per cent of female workers in the group and six Hellofood alumni who have now started their own technology companies.

He said that Hellofood has provided an online food delivery marketplace by con-necting people with a variety of cuisines for people to enjoy in all areas of their city and discover new places at all prices.

He also noted that the Hellofood mo-bile app (free on IOS and Android), pro-vides the simplest and fastest way to order your favourite foods from over 250 of the best restaurants, local restaurants and fast food chains across the country.

The company scooped an award this year by winning the best customer ser-vice company in food retailing at the Ni-geria Customer Service Awards (NCSA).

Guests at Hellofood event

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 37MediaThursday, November 26, 2015

Congratulations on your 10th anniversary. How would you describe the journey so far?

It is an incredible journey building one Africa’s most influential communi-cation agencies, particularly the agency that you can use to reach the largest number of youths in Nigeria and in Af-rica at every point in time.

It’s been a story of starting out amongst all difficulties and challenges that life can throw at you, personally for myself and my partner Chude Jiode-onwo.And then dealing with all the chal-lenges that Nigeria throws at you- the helplessness and hopelessness that you can feel, living in this country, if you are allow your environment to control you rather than you rising above the environ-ment.

So it has been an amazing ride. We have run several amazing campaigns for Blackberry, Guinness, British Coun-cil, and recently for the Nigerian presi-dency. We have created several amazing platforms: from YNaija to Rubbin’ Mind, YMagazine and others, including the one that was started in 2006/2007 in the Guardian called ‘Young &Nigerian’, NTA Youth Talk. It’s been an incredible jour-ney all of these years going to the media.

Would you say that your dream has actually come through?

When we began we wanted to solve the

Future of media is content –Adebola Williams

problem of the coming together and the evolution of the Nigerian youth, which is why we have that much huge influence in youth space because we led that evo-lution of the Nigerian young person – that finding a voice, a platform for a gen-eration that wanted to succeed but didn’t have the model to be able to do that. So we started by presenting them with those models.

We started by bringing them together, building that gathering, that gather-ing that they will rub mind, sharpen each other , and then create a combus-tion and light up the country, and other people are beginning to rise and join the movement that you can be young, conquer and succeed in spite of all the challenges. So we wanted to create that media platform to be able to engage those young people, through television, radio, print and social media. We cre-ated those platforms. Ten years down the line Nigeria has changed with the huge bulge of young people and out of that youth bulge you had a great num-ber of influence who have come out of the platforms that we have created over the years.

Why did you expand into Africa?We expanded into Africa because we

realised that the model we had created in Nigeria worked. Over seven years we had

Africa’s leading omni-media company with a focus on youth, Red Media Af-rica (RED), is celebrating its 10th anniversary . Its founding partner and jour-nalist, Mr. Adebola Williams, in this interview with LEONARD OKACHIE, tells of the organisation’s incredible journey and the future of media. Excerpts:

built the platform for young people who were bold, self sufficient, mod-elled for other people and who were creating a ripple effect- building other young people and had now moved into a realm of themselves, not depending on government, not depending on the failures of the society but actually taking charge of their lives and then using that inspiration to chal-lenge status quo and make bet-

ter demands in leadership, government and so on.

So that model has worked. And ev-ery time you empower people they are able to make better choices. Af-rica currently needs an em-powered gen-eration that is

educated and employed so that they can make better choices.

We have done that in Nigeria. We did for seven years and it worked. So we have to extend it to Africa gradually on the 8th, 9th and the 10th year through our platform – The Future Awards. Even at the communications company as well, we have been working with the footprints across Africa. For us it is an African plan; it is an African takeover. We al-ways tell people that it is not necessar-ily about going global. For us it is bout focusing on the African community ev-erywhere. The global relevance will but it will come because of the incredible work being done on the African conti-nent or for Africans around the world.

You recently honoured some media icons in Nigeria. What informed such awards?

We did that because as we turned 10 it was important that we looked back. So we had the Red Summit which was named West Africa’s biggest media sum-mit. The summit focused on looking back and taking stock of where we have come with communications business and industry in Nigeria. It was about assessing presence and analysing the future and then come up with then come up with the roadmap of what the future communication in Nigeria and Af-

rica will look like. So we did that for insti-tutional legacy. It is an annual summit.

Now the gala, as we turned 10 as well it was important for us to look back and take stock and celebrate those who creat-ed this path where we walk on now. Rath-er than celebrate ourselves, we thought why not honour the living legends and also present them to young people to con-nect them with the power of their story? They are the likes of Modele Sharafa, Jimi Solanke, Dele Momodu, Boiodun Shobanjo, Lola Akinwunmi, Nduka Obaigbena etc, who have done it and some of them are still doing it and some of them have moved on to other ca-reers. But they were the foundation. It was important to spotlight those stories so that young people would be inspired and take lessons from the successes these people created in their time.

What is your impression about media in Nigeria, especially with the presence of social media?

The media landscape is very excit-ing. The options are innumerable. I say to people that the future of the media is the Internet. At any point people would always say ‘Oh this medium will close down that medium’. There will always be different demographics, depending on the demographic you want to reach. If you want to reach young people you use the Internet.

But if you want to reach certain de-mography you still have to sue the ra-dio. If you want to reach the North for example, you use the radio because it is the biggest in the North. If you want to reach certain executive it is the newspaper or nothing. If you want to reach certain people it is lifestyle magazine or nothing. There will al-ways be segmentation.

So it is really not about what is current now. I have always told people there will always be tools. How you use the tool is what matters. If you don’t use the tool properly you can lock in your target market. So even if you are going to use the papers, television or radio, what are you communicating?

I think the future of media is actu-ally content. Content is king; it is what drives the emotion; it is what drives the connection; it is what people see and be-lieve and buy in. Platforms will always be platforms and will forever remain.

Adebola Williams

RichaRd NdomaCalabar

General Manager of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Canaan City FM Calabar, Cross River

State, Mr. EbriInah, has appealed to the Government of Cross River State to as-sist the station in connecting power to the national grid.

Inah made the appeal when the Plan-ning Committee for the 2015 NUJ –Media Week paid him a courtesy visit in his of-fice to solicit the station`s cooperation for a successful event.

The general manager stated that the station had been operating with a power generator set since the electricity supply in the station is not linked to the national grid.

Inah averred that the power outage situation in the state had drastically af-fected smooth operation of the station as the station now goes on air only for 12 hours on daily basis against its normal

LEoNaRd oKachiE

Nigeria’s leading online classified, OLX, won the award for best clas-sified ads website of the year at the

maiden edition of the Nigeria Technology Awards (N.I.T.A) which held recently in Lagos.

While receiving the award on behalf of the company, Country Manager, OLX, Lola Masha thanked the organisers of the awards for the recognition.

Masha acknowledged that although it had been a challenging year, OLX nonetheless re-mained steadfast in providing a safer and se-cure platform for its users.

“We are truly honoured to have emerged winners in this category. I want to specially thank our OLX users who believe in us. I will like to dedicate this award to them and to the OLX team.” she said

Nigeria Technology Awards (N.I.T.A) is or-ganised to recognise and reward technology entrepreneurs, innovators, inventors, acade-micians, and policy makers (Government) in Nigeria. The theme for this year’s award cere-mony was “Rewarding Technology Excellence & Innovations”.

The ceremony had in attendance major players in the ecommerce industry across var-ious sectors of the economy, who gathered to celebrate outstanding achievement in various

JohNsoN oKaNLawoN

Effort of Capital Market Corre-spondents Association of Nige-ria (CAMCAN) to improve on the

capacity of its members has received a boost from some market stakeholder companies, which are supporting the 2015 annual workshop of the association.

They include: FMDQ OTC, Access Bank Plc, Oando Plc, Securities and Exchange Com-mission, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), United Bank for Africa Plc, Forte Oil Plc, Ster-

ling Bank Plc, Skye Bank Plc, United Capital Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc, NASD Plc among others.

The annual workshop serves as an avenue for journalists covering the nation’s capital market to sharpen their professional skills. And the 2015 national workshop is slated to hold on Saturday November 28 and Sunday November 29 in Lagos with theme: “Effective Reporting of Changes in the Nigerian Capital Market.”

According to CAMCAN, the nation’s capital market has witnessed some new developments in the past two years since two new over-the counter (OTC) platforms- FMDQ OTC Securi-ties Exchange and NASD Plc commenced

operations.“These two platforms have brought some

dynamism into the market and it is instruc-tive for members of CAMCAN to understand their operations better in order to educate the wider reading public. By so doing, the market is being developed and made more attractive to investors,” the association said.

CAMCAN disclosed that the Managing Di-rector of FMDQ OTC, Mr. Bola Onadele.Koko and his counterpart at NASD Plc, Mr. Bola Ajomale would be the guest speakers, who would talk about their respective organisa-tions, the many benefits they have brought to the market and investors among others.

chRis NJoKu Owerri

Imo State Deputy Governor, Prince Eze Madumere has endorsed and hailed the resolve of the Correspondents’

Chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalists, Imo State Council to organise a Special Fo-rum to discuss critical issues on national development.

Prince Madumere expressed this sup-port while receiving in audience a commit-tee on 2015 Special Correspondents Forum led by the Chairman of Correspondents Chapel Athan Agbakwuru of Nigerian Pilot and the Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Val Okara when they paid the Deputy Governor a courtesy visit at his official residence in Owerri.

Addressing the group, Prince Madu-mere hailed the idea and averred that agenda setting is one of the cardinal func-tions of the members of the fourth estate of the realm.

He enthused that bringing people to-gether to chart a course towards contribut-ing in the national development is a right step in the right direction.

The number two citizen of Imo State also used the visit to urge journalists to insist on abiding by the ethics of the pro-fession. He told them to be objective in re-porting in events while admonishing them against being willing tools in the hands of desperate politicians who will stop at noth-ing in encouraging unethical practices.

He however called for partnership with the journalists to showcase the activities of the government; saying that people ori-ented policies of the government can only be better appreciated if the media could use their platform to educate the public on the import of policies and programmes of government and their supposed benefits.

Prince Madumere who is also a pa-tron of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Imo State Council in his closing remark thanked the delegation from the Corre-spondents Chapel for the honour and re-spect shown to him by coming to intimate him on their forthcoming programme, which he described as timely and thought-ful.

He therefore pledged to support the event by playing his expected role so as to ensure that the event come out success-fully.

Speaking earlier, members of the com-mittee also revealed that the programme will feature lectures with the topic, “Di-versifying Nation’s Economy: The Role of Media in Agricultural Revolution”.

The journalists who disclosed that the event is slated for December 13, said they have chosen the Vice Chancellors of Fed-eral University of Technology, Owerri, FUTO, Prof. Chigozie Asiabaka and his Michael Okpara Federal University of Agriculture, Umudike, Umuahia counter-part, Prof. Hilary Edoga as Guest lectur-ers.

They also revealed that Governor Okorocha will be the Chief Host Gover-nor while Abia State Governor Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu and his Enugu State counterpart Rt Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, will be the Chief Guests of Honour.

Connect our station to national grid –FRCN begs CRSG

Firms support capacity building for journalists

Media National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net38 Thursday, November 26, 2015

OLX wins best online classified of the year

Madumere endorses 2015 special media forum

24 hours of operation.“It is a serious problem. We run the

station on generator and because of that, we operate only 12 hours daily, from 5: am to 5pm when we are supposed to be broadcasting 24 hours.

“I want the state government to come to our aid because we are here primarily to serve the state and we can only dis-

charge this duty well when we have the required power supply, ‘’ he said.

The Canaan City FM boss charged the state government to sanitise the station’s surrounding and make it green and clean in keeping with the tourism nature of the city.

Inah maintained that the young sta-tion was doing its best to satisfy the in-formation needs of the state and country.

Speaking earlier at the courtesy visit, chairman of the NUJ Cross River coun-cil, Mr. Ndoma Akpet, told the general manager that the committee was in the station to intimate him on preparations for the 2015 NUJ – Media Week and so-licited the cooperation of the station through highlighting of the programmes of the weeklong event.

Also speaking, chairman for the NUJ Media Week Planning Committee, Mr..Judex Okoro, called for full participation of all journalists in Canaan FM in the activities of the week from Nov. 22 to 28, 2015.

categories of the award. OLX is the world’s leading classifieds plat-

form in growth markets and is available in more than 40 countries and over 50 languages

OLX connects local people to buy, sell or ex-change used goods and services by making it fast and easy for anyone to post an ad through the mobile app..

L-R: PR & Communication Lead, Uche Nwagboso; Business Development Manager, Mayokun Soremekun; Country Manager, Lola Masha and Brand Marketing Manager, Fife Aiyesimoju, all of OLX at the recent Nigeria Technology Awards in Lagos

Governor of Cross River, Ben Ayade

Lagos, cradle of Nigeria’s carnivalsNational Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Broad Street Diary 39Thursday, November 26, 2015

Lagos beach: Untapped revenue spinner

Lagos State has a long history of hold-ing carnivals, particularly on Lagos Island, as a result of historical links

with the returnees and their descendants from Brazil, West Indies and Sierra Leone in the late 19th century.

Traditionally, these have being in the form of street parades within various lo-cations, but the new Lagos Carnival was conceptualised in 2011 where all the pa-rades and floats will culminate at the Ta-fawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos Island.

Through the effort of the immediate past Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola in changing the way carnival are held and streamlining many cultural ceremonies in Lagos State, it is also educated the popu-lace on how the ceremonies originated.

Fashola is said to have play an impor-tant role in the renewal of culture, tradi-tion and history of Lagos. The Fashola’s government was credited to have involved older Lagosians in activities or projects that require knowledge of the history of Lagos with the hope of bringing the formal and oral history of Lagos to the younger generations and encourage their sense of pride and belongings.

Origin of Lagos FestivalDuring the 1850’s there was a large in-

flux into Lagos of educated Africans who had earlier been sold into slavery, from Si-erra Leone, Brazil and Cuba. The Sierra Leoneans were known as Akus or Saros, the Brazilians and Cubans as Agudas.

In the 1880s there were four distinct groups in Lagos, the Europeans, the edu-cated Africans (Saros), the Brazilians and the indigenes. The town was physically di-vided into four quarters corresponding to these groups. The Europeans lived on the Marina axis, the Saros mainly west of the Europeans in an area called Olowogbowo, the Brazilians behind the Europeans their quarter was known as Portuguese Town or Popo Aguda or Popo Maro and the indi-genes on the rest of the island behind the three groups. By 1888 there were 3,221 Bra-zilians in Lagos. A prominent member of the Brazilian group was Placido Adeyemo Assumpçao, who later changed his name to Adeyemo Alakija.

Fanti Carnival (also known as Caretta) was brought to Lagos Island by these Bra-zilians who settled around Campos area of Lagos Island to be specific. It was intro-duced by the Da Souza and Kanaku fami-lies. The masked rider and the horse are aspects of Brazillian ranch life. Some of the men dress like cowboys and they are known as FASUTINI and they ride bicy-cles while their leader rides a horse.

It is important to stress that in the early days, women did not partake in the dress-ing up in masks and different clothing, but they were allowed to go around with the different actors.

The carnival comes up three times in a year, Boxing Day, Easter Monday (the first celebration after Lent and Easter Sunday) and on New Year’s Day.

As time went on, the people living in La-fiaji area of Lagos Island, also started to participate in the carnival. Later still, oth-er areas of Lagos, like Obalende, Surulere, Yaba, etc caught the carnival bug.

It is important to note that until recent-ly, Lagos was the only part of Nigeria that hosted the carnival.

A new innovation was however, added to the celebration of carnival with the in-troduction of the Junior Carnival. Prima-ry and secondary schools on Lagos Island are invited to send students to represent their schools at the junior carnival.

The procession usually kicks off at the

All over the world countries lever-age on the existence of their nat-ural water front and beaches as

source of huge revenue.Unfortunately, Nigeria has not tapped

into this area of money spinning ven-ture, thereby leaving the country’s beaches undeveloped.

The Gbara-Maiyegun beach, popularly known as Lekki Beach is one of Nigeria’s famous nature site for beach exploration and tourism in Nigeria. It is usually a place with beehives of activities from music concerts, to parties and relaxation centres for nature lovers who often stand by the beach to look at the sea body and the panoramic view of the environment.

The beach used to be a place of el-egant coconut trees typical of beach en-vironment all over the world which are arranged on a row, with chalets, enter-tainment arenas being land marks at the beach.

The Lekki beach is a beautiful place to reside with different tourist activities go-ing on especially on weekends. Though the beach is nothing but beautiful, its present look are nothing to be compared to its formal glory where the coco-nut trees are giant prices won naturally by the beach from the Creator. Apart from the beauty endowed by nature on the Lekki beach, the warm crispy sand of the area is being eroded and encroached upon by the unrestricted water and waves, with filth, various criminal ac-tivities and vices corrupting the tourist activities of the beach.

A sixty two old beach crawler, Em-manuel Tunde, told Broad Street that

the Atlantic Ocean’s turbulent waves, and the ones seen presently, are newly built.

Economic costsLekki Beach, one of the most valuable

stretches of Nigeria’s coastline, is the beehive of fun and activity during festive seasons and a source of income genera-tion to many Nigerians “If there is a di-saster, Lagos being the financial hub, ac-counting for over 55 percent of industrial activities and for 70 percent of imported goods which comes through the ports, may be adversely affected.

To render this place a horrible scene of unimaginable disaster is damaging to the Nigerian economy,” Philip Asio-du president of Nigeria Conservation Foundation says. In summary, analysts’ estimates put the amount of land lost to erosion on this prime real estate at over a billion Naira.

Already millions of naira that could be made from tourism is lost due to the wreckage of the alpha beach in October 2010.

The erosion may also threaten food security in terms of fish production be-lieves Jide Ayinla, the executive director of the Nigeria Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR).

“It is bound to affect the marine life because it affects the breeding ground of the fishes, by so doing, it creates obstruc-tion to fishing. It can restrict movement of fishermen and if the normal marine habitat is disrupted they will get less fish.” He says the supply of fish produc-tion in Nigeria now is 0.65 million metric per annum yet the requirement is 2.0 mil-lion metric per annum.

Lagos Island carnival dancers

Giwa Barracks, Falomo. Some floats then proceed along Awolowo Road to Tafawa Balewa Square. Another kick off point is Campos Square on Lagos Island. Cel-ebrants parade down to Igbosere Road, Broad Street, Catholic Mission Street, Marina Street and on to Tafawa Balewa

Square. Some floats go through Ozumba Mbadiwe Road and Ahmadu Bello Way on Victoria Island on their way to the Tafawa Balewa Square. The junior carnival kicks off at the National Museum Onikan. The floats then proceed to Campos Square and then to the Tafawa Balewa Square.

though, Lekki beach still retains some of its glamour, its current status irri-tates him. “I have been coming to this beach at least every month for the past fifteen years, this beach is a very signifi-cant place for me because this is where I proposed to my late wife. I usually come here to enliven my memories for her. But I discovered that the place is deteriorat-ing, these coco-nut trees where more than these but the water is washing them away with the help of strong winds. Nobody is taking care of this place even with all the money they collect”

Others complain about the criminal activities going on at the place especially with the red tiny light of cigarettes and strong smell of Indian hemp, not to talk of the prostitutes that harass onlookers especially at night.

A couple that came to the Lekki beach for picnic said they came here to relax their nerves.

A first timer at the beach would know that the beach which is being got rid of its beauty, is gradually becoming a shadow of itself. No doubt, the elegant coconut trees are still erect as though arranged on a row along the beach’s stretch. But a year ago, there were more trees. As at the time of coverage, the shoreline had ad-vanced by at least 900 metres land-ward and the ocean keeps advancing with an unrestrained vehemence as it’s every roar slaps the motionless ships on its shore. The beach chairman, Moses Enebeli, who was in office a year ago, when three ship wrecked, simultaneously reported that tents, chalets, entertainment spots dot-ting the beach, have been washed away by

L-R: Enterprise Technology Specialist, Intel Nigeria, Shada Oluwatobi; Global Education Specialist, Intel, Shelley Shott; Corporate Affairs Manager, Intel Nigeria, Babatunde Akinola and Business Development Director, Intel Nigeria, Stanley Muoneke, during Intel’s Business Partners Professional Development Training Workshop in Lagos, recently.

NCAA suspends oil marketers over depot

Olusegun KOiKi

Nigerian Civil Avia-tion Authority, NCAA, has sus-

pended some oil market-ing companies from sup-plying Jet A1, otherwise known as aviation fuel, from supplying the prod-ucts to airlines in the in-dustry.

The regulatory body in a letter to the affected com-panies said it took the deci-sion following their lack of depot facilities.

Affected companies in-clude Jushad Oil and Gas Limited, Lubcon Limited, Ascon Oil Company Lim-ited, Acon Petroleum Lim-ited and Star Orient Avia-tion Limited.

The NCAA in a cir-cular to the companies with reference number: NCAA/DAW/AD.1104/AOL052/VOL.1, dated No-vember 9 and addressed to Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON, with the title, ‘Notice of Suspen-sion of Some Companies from Providing Aviation Fuel to Airlines at Air-

2015 commenced official registration of all avia-tion fuel marketers in the country.

The agency, according to Usman, took the action as a result of the recent controversies and allega-tions concerning the Jet A1 supply and usage by the airline operators.

Usman said he had signed all the modalities and prerequisites for reg-istration in readiness for the exercise.

Usman, however, charged the relevant de-partments and officials of the authority to quickly hold a meeting with the marketers and all the stakeholders to sensitise them on the guidelines and requirements for reg-istration prior to the exer-cise.

ports in Nigeria,’ said the suspension was because the affected companies lacked depots facilities and therefore should not be engaged in the distri-bution of aviation fuel at the airports.

The circular was signed by Director of Airwor-thiness Standards, Engr. Benedict Adeyileka, on behalf of Director-Gener-al of NCAA, Capt. Muhtar Usman.

The circular also noted that the regulatory au-thority had required the Federal Airports Author-ity of Nigeria, FAAN, to deny the aforementioned companies access into air-ports in Nigeria, includ-ing their aviation fuelling vehicles and personnel till further notice.

The circular further

stated that the integrity and competences of these companies could not be ascertained by the Depart-ment of Petroleum Re-sources, DPR, and advised FAAN that these compa-nies be disallowed from further supply of aviation fuel to airlines located in Nigeria.

The letter said, “This is to notify you that the authority is in receipt of a letter from DPR that the under-listed companies have no depot facilities and should not be engaged in aviation fuel distribu-tion at the airport.

“You are hereby re-quired to suspend the fuel-ing of your aircraft by any of these companies until further notice.’’

It would be recalled that NCAA had in September

Ondo Assembly extends tenure of LG caretakers

Tin-can Customs generates N24.4bn

Police kill 5 robbery suspects in Lagos shootout

Police in Lagos yester-day killed five armed robbery suspects and

arrested one with bullets wounds.

Police sources told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Ikeja that the sus-pects had engaged police-men from Elemoro Division, Ajah, Ibeju-Lekki Local Gov-ernment Area, in a shootout where they were killed.

The source said five of the robbery suspects were killed on the spot, while the one injured was arrested.

“The police in Elemoro got information that the suspects were operating at Abule Parapo, opposite Awoyaya in Elemoro area of Ajah around 2am.

“The suspects engaged the police in a shootout as soon as they saw them. Two

locally-made double-barrel shotguns, one cutlass and iron cutter was recovered from them.

“The gang had been ter-rorising residents of Ajah, robbing and raping wom-en,’’ the source said.

NAN reports that corps-es of the dead and injured suspect were brought to the Lagos Police Command headquarters, Ikeja, at about 12.15pm.

Operatives of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) have taken over the case file from the Divisional Police Officer at Elemoro, SP Sani Limawa, for further investi-gation.

When contacted, the com-mand’s spokesman, DSP Jo-seph Offor, said he was yet to get details from the division at press time.

OjO OyewamideAKURE

Ondo State House of Assembly has elongated tenure

of caretaker committees of all 18 local govern-ments in the state for an-other six months.

The approval was given yesterday during plenary of the House in Akure, Ondo State capital.

Assistant Comp-troller-General of Customs in charge

of Zone A, Lagos, Mr Ep-orwei Edike, yesterday commended Tin-Can Is-land Port Command of the service for generating N24.4 billion so far in No-vember.

Edike gave the commen-dation during his official tour of the command and Port Terminal Multi-Servic-es Ltd (PTML) command in Lagos.

He said the amount was collected by the command between November 1 and 24.

He urged officers of the service to put more efforts to enable the Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Col. Hameed Ali (retd), to achieve his policy, anchored on transparency, honesty and integrity.

“Forty-six per cent of all containers coming to Lagos go to Apapa, while the rest comes to Tin-Can and few goes to Terminal Multi-ser-vices Ltd.

“You should work hard, be at alert and you must col-lect every kobo due for gov-ernment, and never collect less than the amount you are meant to collect.

“If the document or dec-laration of any agent is com-plete and cleared, do not look for faults,’’ he said.

Edike said, ̀ `If any officer is having a problem with Single Trade Goods (STG) platform, such an officer should quickly get in touch

The House, presided over by Speaker Jumoke Akin-dele agreed that there was no need to stress the issue since democracy and gover-nance has to be sustained.

A member representing Akoko North West constitu-ency 2, Gbenga Araoyinbo, moved the motion to grant the extension of tenure to the committees.

Quoting section 12(4), 1 and 2 Local Government

Law 2007 as amended, Araoyinbo said there should be no vacuum in the admin-istration of the local govern-ments.

The lawmaker sought cooperation of all members to grant approval of the ten-ure extension request of the state governor.

The request of the gover-nor had earlier been read at the floor of the House by the Clerk, Bode Adeyelu.

The motion was sec-onded by Olamide George, representing Akure North constituency.

Meanwhile, the House has invited four commis-sioner-nominees to appear before the House Commit-tee on Selection on Decem-ber 1.

The nominees include Mrs. Yetunde Adeyanju, Dayo Awude, Femi Adekan-bi and Segun Ayerin.

with his or her supervisor.’’He said STG should not

be processed in more than 15 minutes, because its delay would amount to delaying Nigerian trade.

According to him, if any officer delays STG, it means he or she is an enemy of the nation.

He remarked that a cus-toms officer’s job was very important, claiming that the government used revenue collected by the service to pay workers in the country and provide other needs of the people.

The customs boss urged all officers not to encourage smuggling and to respect all rules and guidelines of ex-port.

He warned female offi-cers to desist from plaiting their hair in such a way that would not enable them to wear their beret properly.

“You ladies are also ad-vised to stop wearing tight trousers and always dress the way it is approved by the Board, ‘’ he said.

Edeki commended offi-cers at the PTML command for displaying discipline, and expressed confidence in the ability of the Area Com-mander, Mrs Talatu Isa.

“I trusted the CAC for her efficiency and hard work; that is why she was given this position, ‘’ he said.

He advised officers not to hold onto anybody’s docu-ment, adding that ``if there is any fault, such fault should be checked appropriately’’.

…bars them from entering airports

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netSouth West Thursday, November 26, 201540

AIG seeks royal fathers’ cooperation to fight crime

L-R: AIG zone 6, Mr Baba Bolanta; Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike; Commissioner of Police, Rivers Command, Mr Musa Kimo, and others, during the AIG courtesy visit to the Governor in Port Harcourt, yesterday.w

CRPP wants Lucky Igbinedion probed

Nuel Mark set to unveil foundation

Coalition of Regis-tered Political Par-ties, CRPP, in Edo

State has urged Governor Adams Oshiomhole to probe the administration of Chief Lucky Igbin-edion as governor of the state.

Chairman of the group, Dr. Samson Isibor, made the call during a news confer-ence following a meeting of the body in Benin yesterday.

Isibor said it did not mat-ter whether the probe began seven years after Oshiom-hole became governor of the state; “what is important is that it will bring transpar-ency and accountability, es-pecially on the Ava cement factory issue.”

He urged Governor Osh-iomhole not to apologise to Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, father of the former gover-nor, adding that government should stand for the truth

DaviD auDu

To demonstrate its commitment to giving back to the

society, especially the less-privileged, Nuel Mark & Partners has announced plans to unveil its non-governmental organisa-tion, the Nuel Mark Foun-dation, today.

The company’s lead consultant and head of practice, Emmanuel Mark, stated that though the com-pany has been involved in philanthropic gestures in the past few years, the foundation demonstrates the resolve of the company to positively impact on the lives of its business envi-ronment.

He stated that the foun-dation has played some vital role in the past, es-pecially during the last flood disaster in Egbema, Ogba-Egbema Ndoni Local Government Area of Riv-

and should not be misled.“An apology from the

governor to the Esama will be an insult to all residents of the state. We stand by the comrade governor.

“Nothing will happen to him; he should not apologise to anybody.

“We condemn in strong terms the protest by some sponsored, misguided ele-ments, selfish individuals and groups to discredit the comrade governor’s devel-opment strides.

“We expect the governor to take good advantage of the dry season to step-up his development efforts and complete all ongoing proj-ects,” he said.

Isibor said Governor Os-hiomhole could not have commenced any probe of the former governor when the Federal Government was under the control of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Edo lawmakers walk out commissioner for improper dressing

he was asked to leave the chamber.

“So, the commissioner should excuse us be-cause she is not properly dressed,” Kabiru said.

Other lawmakers, who commented on the point raised by the deputy speaker, gave their unani-mous support that the commissioner should quit the chamber.

They asked the com-missioner to leave despite pleas by Mrs. Elizabeth

Ativie, member repre-senting Uhunmwode con-stituency.

Speaker Victor Edoror thereafter directed the commissioner to leave the chamber.

He said a new date would be communicated to her to appear for the briefing.

News Agency of Ni-geria reports that the commissioner wore long sleeved shirt over trou-sers.

therland. He admonished them not

to relent, adding that polic-ing could never come to an end as long as there are peo-ple who seek easy and crimi-nal means of livelihood.

“Police is a humanitarian work. I say it is a humanitar-ian work because you leave the comfort of your homes and come out every night to guide others who are sleeping in their respective homes.

“If we want to make this country to move forward, po-lice must be in the forefront because we are the principal agents for the maintenance of law and order.

“Any other agency that comes in is complimentary,” the AIG said.

In his welcome address, Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Musa Kimo, high-lighted the achievements of

the police under his com-mand, promising that his officers and men would not shirk their responsibilities.

Meanwhile, Governor Nyesom Wike has ordered chairmen of the 23 local gov-ernment areas in the state to buy 46 vehicles for security agencies in their communi-ties.

Speaking while receiving AIG Bolanta in his office, Wike said the decision to provide additional logistics for security agencies in the state was reached at the last state security council meet-ing.

The governor also dis-closed that the council chairmen have been given specific directives to mobil-ise community support for the police and other security agencies as part of efforts to further reduce crime in the state.

Ovia North East II), who raised the observation, said the commissioner was not properly dressed and should not be allowed to appear before the house.

Mr. Adjoto Kabiru (APC Akoko-Edo), who concurred with the obser-vation, said the commis-sioner’s mode of dressing contravened the house’s rule.

“Mr Speaker, you will recall that when one of us was not properly dressed,

Members of Edo State House of Assembly yester-

day asked Commissioner for Health, Mrs. Aihamu-wa Eregie, to vacate the house for improper dress-ing.

Eregie was asked to leave the hallowed cham-ber during presentation of the 2015 budget perfor-mance of the Ministry of Health.

Deputy Speaker, Mr. Bright Osayande (APC-

“We will continue to rely on traditional institu-tions on security and crime prevention. Security is the collective responsibility of everybody and should not be left in the hands of police alone,” he said.

Speaking, King Douglas-Jaja urged the police to be thorough in their investiga-tion of criminal cases and not allow external forces to influence their decisions.

The traditional ruler frowned at situations where criminal cases brought by traditional rulers were al-legedly influenced by promi-nent politicians, urging the police not to be influenced by anybody while investigat-ing any crime.

Also speaking at the state police command, AIG Bo-lanta urged the rank and file to see their work as a voluntary service to the fa-

Dennis nakuPORT HARCOURT

Assistant Inspector General of Police, IGP, in charge of

Zone 6, Calabar, Mr. Baba Bolanta, yesterday called for cooperation between the police and traditional

ers State by donating rea-sonable quantities of bed-dings, food items and other instructional materials to flood victims.

The foundation, he noted, was currently con-structing a state-of-the-art police station at Omagwa, Port Harcourt, which it hopes to formally hando-ver to top echelons of the Nigeria Police at an event that would also coincide with the foundation’s offi-cial public presentation.

“We have also given scholarships to some in-digent children of Rivers State, who are of school age,” he stated.

According to him, the foundation, in partnership with Nuel Mark & Part-ners, is also packaging an inaugural summit on land administration and mass housing construction in the Niger Delta, a summit designed to enhance effec-tive delivery of housing in the country.

rulers in Rivers State to effectively check and pre-vent crime.

Bolanta stated this in Port Harcourt when he paid a courtesy call on the chair-man of Rivers State Tradi-tional Council, King Dan-deson Douglas-Jaja, as part of his familiarisation tour

of police formations in the zone.

He explained that tra-ditional rulers are best partners in fighting and preventing crime due to the influence they wield at the grassroots.

The AIG also said their closeness to the grassroots puts them at a vantage position to be able to iden-tify those likely to engage in crime.

“My visit to Rivers State is part of my familiarisation tour to identify and familia-rise myself with the tradi-tional institutions and the state police command on the need to maintain security and nip crime in the bud.

“The police always suc-ceed in fighting crime be-cause of the role traditional rulers play in giving vital information on ways of pre-venting crime.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Thursday, November 26, 2015 41South South

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net42 Thursday, November 26, 2015 North

Reps chide Customs over poor service delivery, exploitation

Diarrhoea kills 400 under-5 children daily –UNICEF

L-R: Director, Skills Acquisition Unit, Centre for Educational Technology and Entrepreneurial Development of Nigeria (CETED), Dr Grace Jothan; Executive Director, Centre for Human Resource Development and Empowerment Initiative, Mr Muhammed Ali; Vice Chancellor, National Open University of Nigeria, Prof. Vincent Tenebe; Registrar, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Prof Josephine Akinyem, and Director-General, National Teachers Institute, Dr Ladan Sarehu, at the inauguration of NOUN’s Cen-tre for Educational Technology and Entrepreneurial Development Skills Acquisition Unit, in Kaduna, yesterday.

UBONG UKPONG ABUJA

House of Repre-sentatives yes-terday expressed

displeasure over what it described as low service delivery and exploitation by the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS.

This is even as the House also implored the Service’s Comptrol-ler General, CG, Colonel Hameed Ali (rtd), to stop the practise of mounting

Kogi: Faleke supporters may sue INEC, partyCrisis generated by

last Saturday’s gu-bernatorial elec-

tion in Kogi State may not be over yet, as supporters of All Progressives Con-gress, APC, deputy gover-norship candidate, James Faleke, have threatened to drag the Independent National Electoral Com-mission, INEC, to court for declaring the election

inconclusive.The supporters rose

from their meeting in Lo-koja, Kogi State capital, yesterday and accused INEC of ambushing the people’s will by declaring an election that had pro-duced a clear winner in-conclusive.

Their spokesmen, Messrs Achama Matthew and Mohammed Abdu-

won by the Audu/Faleke ticket.

Relying on informa-tion at their disposal, they said only 32,785 of the 49,953 registered voters in the area, where INEC has scheduled to hold the De-cember 5 supplementary election, have Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs.

The communiqué reads: “INEC should be

REGINA OTOKPA

United Nations In-ternational Chil-dren Emergency

Fund, UNICEF, has said about 400 children under the age of five, die daily due to diarrhea-related diseases in the country.

This was revealed dur-ing a four days ‘National Stakeholders Workshop on Draft Hygiene Promotion Strategy’ in Abuja, organ-ised by UNICEF in collabo-ration with the National Tax Group on Sanitation and the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.

Expressing worry over the figure, Chief Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) UNICEF Nigeria, Kannan Nadar, noted that the deaths could be pre-vented if the right mea-sures were employed to scale up establishment of basic sanitation facilities and awareness on proper hygiene and sanitation practices.

According to him, the disease was related to the consumption of contami-nated water and unhygien-

...ask CG to remove road blocks

lahi, said the fresh pri-maries being proposed by the APC to fill the vacu-um created by the death of the party’s standard bearer at the poll, Prince Abubakar Audu, was un-necessary.

According to a commu-niqué signed by the duo of Matthew and Abdu-lahi, last Saturday’s elec-tion was conclusive and

…says Nigeria among 5 top countries practising open defecation

road blocks in search of goods that have already been brought into the country.

The House in its reso-lutions further urged the service to engage in con-tinuous training and de-velopment programmes for its officers for optimal performance.

It also urged the Con-troller-General to deploy more personnel to the bor-ders to curtail activities of smugglers.

These followed a mo-

courageous to declare Audu/Faleke as winner of the election. With 240,867 votes, Audu was leading his closest rival and in-cumbent Governor Idris Wada of the Peoples Dem-ocratic Party, PDP, who polled 199,514 with 41,353 votes.

“From our record, not all the 49,953 registered voters in areas where INEC has scheduled to hold supplementary elec-tion have PVCs. Only 32,785 eligible voters have the PVCs in the 18 council areas. These outstanding votes would still not give the PDP victory even if they all go to the PDP.

“So, even if they all cast their ballot for the PDP, the APC would still be leading with 8,528 votes. That is in the worst sce-nario. The APC, which have its spread in 16 local government areas have its supporters all over the state. The votes would be shared.

“We feel that INEC should be bold enough to

do its calculation very well and do the needful. The APC won the November 21 election squarely. There is no point for a pupil who had passed an examina-tion to repeat class. A party should be saved the agony of going through a process that had produced a winning team.

“What the electoral umpire has done amounts to aborting the people’s will as expressed in the ballot of last Saturday. It is like attempting an abortion after the baby had been birthed. It won’t work.

“As law-abiding party members, we will join is-sues with INEC if the body fails to declare the election conclusive and announce the APC candidates as winner of the November 21 governorship poll.”

The National Working Committee, NWC, of the APC is billed to meet today to take a stand on INEC’s request that it replaces the vacuum created by the de-mise of Prince Audu.

tion brought by Hon Ola-toye Temitope Sugar on low service delivery and exploitation of the masses by the service.

The lawmaker, while noting that the NCS, if ef-fectively managed could be the highest revenue generating agency of the country, said the poten-tials of the service is being hindered by negligence of duties and corrupt prac-tises among its personnel.

“Many factors, includ-ing connivance of person-nel in allowing contra-band goods to be smuggled

ic practices undertaken in the processes of food prep-aration and disposal of stools, given that children were more prone to infec-tions and as a result could fall sick quickly.

The Chief WASH, how-ever, maintained that the high number of diarrhea-related deaths recorded an-nually in the country could be reduced by half if the culture of hand-washing was inculcated among chil-dren from a tender age.

In a report made avail-able by UNICEF, the analy-sis revealed that “As per WHO/UNICEF-led joint monitoring programme 2015 in Nigeria, only 29 per cent of the population have access to improved sanitation facilities, 34 per cent rural population still defecate in open and 30 per cent indulge in other un-improved sanitation.”

Nadar further lament-ed the rate of open def-ecation practice in the country, which he said has placed Nigeria among the top five countries in the world still engaged in unimproved hygiene as a result of low access to ba-sic sanitation.

into the country, failure to enforce payment of requisite duties, poor ac-countability of revenues generated, preferential treatment of high net worth individuals, among others, are responsible for the low revenue genera-tion by the service,” Sugar told the House.

The House called on the Federal Government to invest more on Informa-tion and Communications Technologies, ICT, for the advancement of customs operations to improve op-erational efficiency.

GEORGE OPARA ABUJA

Against the back-drop of terrorism, kidnapping and

other social vices in con-temporary times, Society for Promotion of Peace in Nigeria, SPN, has de-signed a project meant to sway the minds of youths from being possible re-cruits for criminal gangs and terrorist organiza-tions.

SPN plans to do this

Group moves to halt youth recruitments for terror through educational sem-inars and workshop that would impart knowledge, skills, experiences and exposure in entertain-ment.

Addressing journal-ists in Abuja yester-day, Dr. Godson Nnaka, Director-General of the organisation, said the terror- free world project is a two-part programme initiative comprising educational workshop/seminar and talent audi-tion.

He stated that the or-ganisation would directly interface with the youth and offer them opportuni-ty to harness the inner tal-ents, provide career, jobs and help them to attain fame and achieve their dreams.

He noted that visiting Hollywood stars support-ed by their local counter-parts would be responsible for counseling interested youths and judging and se-lecting winners.

In addition to cash and

material prizes, Nnaka said winners in each of the six categories would receive scholarships for training in the United States, Europe and model-ing contract.

This programme is anticipated to have hun-dreds of thousands of Nigerian youths with ex-tended audience of more than five hundred mil-lion people through live media and internet cov-erage within and outside Nigeria.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 43Thursday, November 26, 2015 North

LIVINUS MENEDI YOLA

Adamawa State gov-ernment has said the bailout fund it

received was only used for settling salary liabilities and allowances owed its workforce.

The state government, through Finance Commis-sioner, Mahmood Yunusa, disclosed this yesterday in Yola, while announcing that payment of N362.5m to settle outstanding sala-ries and allowances of 952

KACCIMA lauds Dangote Group at Kano Fair

JAMES ABRAHAM JOS

Majority Leader of Plateau State House of Assem-

bly, Daniel Dem, yester-day narrated how armed robbers abducted him at his residence at Bukuru area of the state capital, and whisked him away to unknown destination.

It was learnt that the four robber suspects lat-er took him to the bush where he was severely tor-

Graduates of Sure-P Disbanded Internship Scheme Programme in Benue protesting non-payment of their monthly salaries at the entrance of Benue State House of Assembly, Makurdi,. yesterday. PHOTO:NAN

Buhari mourns Tor Tiv, Wada

We’ll make use of NITT’s expertise –El-Rufai

ROTIMI FADEYI ABUJA

President Muhamma-du Buhari yesterday expressed sadness

over the death of para-mount ruler of Tiv people of Benue State, the Tor Tiv, Alfred Akawe Torkula, and a Minister of Defence in the first Republic, Muham-madu Inuwa Wada.

In separate condolenc-es, the president commis-

erated with the immediate families, friends and as-sociates of the deceased, the governments and people of Benue and Kano states. He urged them to take solace in the knowl-edge that the departed distinguished Nigerians lived well and contributed significantly to the devel-opment of not only their states but the country in general.

AZA MSUE KADUNA

Kaduna State Gov-ernor Nasir el-Ru-fai has pledged to

make good use of NITT’s unique expertise in the areas of training, entre-preneurship and consul-tancy.

El-Rufai stated this when management of the institute led by Director-General, Dr. Aminu Yusuf, paid him a courtesy visit at Sir Kashim Ibrahim House.

He maintained that his government would work hard to restore the glory of the state, adding that al-ready 200 yellow cabs had recently been launched to improve transportation in the state, noting further that thousands more yellow cabs would soon be commis-sioned, not just for the state capital but Zaria and Kafan-chan as well.

A statement issued by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said Buhari noted that the fourth Tor Tiv was a great advocate of peace and uni-ty during his 24-year reign, and urged his subjects to maintain the existing peace during and after the succession process.

On Wada, the president recalled with pride his ac-

tive years as a renowned teacher, parliamentarian and minister, up until his post-political career as a foremost transporter and industrialist.

He prayed that God grants rest to the souls of the two senior citizens whose wisdom and father-ly counsel would certainly be missed by the current crop of leaders in the country.

He stressed the need for further areas of collabora-tion with NITT, particularly the training and certifica-tion of the next batch of drivers recruited to man the states Yellow Cab Scheme.

The governor further in-formed the management on the progress of the survey on light rail and tram way he recently flagged off, as well as the engagement of General Electric to establish a railway assembly plant in railway compound, Zaria, due to its proximity to NITT.

Earlier, NITT Director-General, Dr. Aminu Yusuf, outlined the institute’s long and short-term pro-grammes as well as NITT’s collaborations with several local and international or-ganisations.

Yusuf stressed the inher-ent benefits in the state gov-ernment taking full advan-tage of the institute’s unique programmes and services.

Adamawa defends application of bailout funds

Customers and visi-tors to the Kano In-ternational Trade

Fair yesterday were ex-cited at the ongoing Mega Million Dangote Cement promo, as the company’s management told visitors that N1million would be won every day while the promo lasts.

This is even as presi-dent of the Kano State Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agri-culture, KACCIMA, Umar Dansuleka, described Dangote Group as a wor-thy partner and major sponsor of the Trade Fair. He said Dangote Group has contributed to the de-velopment of businesses in the country through sponsoring of business activities like the Trade Fair.

Most of would-be cus-tomers that visited the Group’s pavilion said they were thrilled with the pro-mo and would like to par-ticipate in the company’s promo that seeks to create new millionaires as the marketing team of Dan-gote Cement explained the process of participat-ing in the promo.

Similarly, Director Gen-eral of KACCIMA, Aliyu Mustafa, hailed Dangote Group for the sponsor-ship and for supporting the growth of businesses

Armed robbers abduct, release Plateau lawmakertured and dispossessed of his belongings, including his official car, a Toyota Avensis, before releasing him.

Dem, who described his escape as a miracle, told National Mirror that the incident happened around 7:30pm on Friday while he was driving home from work.

He said: “As the secu-rity man in the compound opened the gate, the rob-bers who had laid ambush at a nearby street, drove

behind me into the com-pound. Immediately, four men brandishing AK-47 rifle ordered me into their vehicle and drove off alongside my own ve-hicle.”

According to him, while three of the robbers carried him to a bush, the one who drove his official car headed towards Jos-Abuja highway.

However, luck ran out on the robbers when police commissioner in the state alerted secu-

rity agents on the road, with assistance also com-ing from members of the community, who mobil-ised themselves, a devel-opment which forced the fleeing robbers to abandon the car in Hakibo village and fled.

The lawmaker thanked the security agents and members of the commu-nity for coming to his rescue even as security has been beefed up in the community following the incident.

health officials, whose Sep-tember and October 2014 salaries had lingered.

Yunusa, while address-ing newsmen accompa-nied by his Health and Information counterparts, Dr. Fatima Abubakar and Ahmed Sajoh, respectively, maintained that there was no cause for alarm over the N9.5bn bailout fund it re-ceived.

The commissioner said the government only uti-lised the funds to settle salaries and allowances owed its workers, as well as

offset the two months sala-ries owed the 952 health officials working with the state’s Primary Health Care Development Agency.

He stressed that the bailout, part of which had already been dispensed for settlement of workers’ leave grant and allowances earlier, “remains very safe and locked away in a bank.

“Every kobo that was received to settle liabilities of our workers is still safe and will be utilised solely for that purpose.” Yunusa further stated that the gov-

in Kano State. “Dangote Group is our major spon-sor. We want to commend Alhaji Aliko Dangote for helping businesses to grow in Kano State and by extension the whole of Ni-geria,” he said.

Mustafa expressed op-timism that this year’s trade fair, with the theme: ‘Improving Products Qual-ity and Packaging to Com-petitiveness for the At-tainment of Sustainable Economic Growth,’ is see-ing a higher patronage.

He said as usual West African countries are par-ticipating.

Other countries partici-pating, according to him, include India, Poland, Pakistan, Turkey and Ar-gentina.

Companies from Dan-gote Group on ground at the fair include Dangote Sugar Refinery, NASCON Allied Industries Plc (Dan-gote Salt), Dangote Ce-ment Plc, and Dansa Foods Limited, among others.

Some of the products displayed at the fair in-clude Dangote sugar, ce-ment, salt, DanQ season-ing, tomato paste, various ranges of fruit juice prod-ucts and bottled water from Dansa Foods.

Dangote Sugar will be offering customers differ-ent sizes of granulated sugar packs at the fair.

ernment was able to make a savings of N42.5m after ver-ification of the number of nurses and health workers owed outstanding salaries turned out to be 952 against the 987 initially listed.

According to the finance commissioner, a total of N362.5m has already been earmarked for payment of the affected health work-ers beginning from No-vember 30, adding that the money would be disbursed through table payment af-ter they must have been screened.

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FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS ALOR EKENE M. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS MUOZOBA EKENE M.. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. NYSC AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE.

Formerly known and addressed as SILAS UYOMATA PAUL, now wish to known and addressed as JUBRIL ABUH SILAS. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS USMAN AYIMI CHRISTIANA, NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS DAUDA IDOWU ABASS AYIMI CHRISTIANA. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. NYSC AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE.

Formerly known and addressed as Sule Sunday Ojonugwa, now wish to be known and addressed as Abutu Anthony. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

EDUVIE: I FORMERLY KNOWN. CALLED AND ADDRESSED AS MISS EDUVIE OMONIGHO CYNTHIA. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN CALLED AND ADDRESSED AS MRS. ORHERHE OMONIGHO CYNTHIA. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

I, formerly known as. ANTONIO FOLASHADE OJUOLAPE, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. ADESANYA FOLASHADE OJUOLAPE.former documents remain valid general public note

This is to confirm that I, Mercy lydia David is the same person as Lydia Agbo now known as Mercy Lydia David. All former documents bearing the above names are valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known as OBIOHA EZINWANNE, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. IGWEGBE EZINWANNE MARYAN. former documents remain valid general public note

Formerly known and addressed as Ogbu Helen O, now wish to be known and addressed as Ani Helen O. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known as ANTONIO FOLASHADE OJUOLAPE, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. ADESANYA FOLASHADE OJUOLAPE.former documents remain valid general public note

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CHANGE OF NAMEFormerly known and addressed as Mr. Philip Igbinosa, now wish to known and addressed as Mr Philip Igbinovia. All former documents remain valid. Nigeria Police Force {NPF} and general public please take note.

Formerly known and addressed as AGBO GODWIN, now wish to be known and addressed as ONUH O. JAMES. . All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Formerly known and addressed as Ujunwa Chinenye Umeh, now wish to known and addressed as Ujunwa Chinenye Awili. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Formerly known and addressed as MUSTAPHA YEMISI MORIAMO, now wish to be known and addressed as MUSTAPHA YEMISI MARY. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Formerly known and addressed as UKIWO Iro Elijaw, now wish to be known and addressed as Nnanna Kalu Dede. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

LOSS OF DOCUMENTS



This is to inform the general public that Plot 250 original Customary Certificate of Occupancy with No FCT/MZTP/LA/4257 Abuja Municipal Area Council, FCT, Abuja are missing. All efforts to trace the missing documents proved abortive. Ministry of Lands take note.

Formerly known and addressed as CHIDI DONALD OBUNA, now wish to be known and addressed as CHUKWUDI DONALD OBUNA. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note

Formerly known and addressed as Macaulay Festus Irewole, now wish to be known and addressed as Macaulay Olatunji Festus. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Formerly known and addressed as Idris Oluwatoyin, now wish to be known and addressed as Idris kafilat Aduke. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

CHUKWUEMEKA: I, formerly known and addressed as MR. CHUKWUEMEKA VICTOR NDIDIGWE, now wish to be known and addressed as MR. EBIGBO VICTOR EMEKA. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ENYEREIBE: I, formerly known and addressed as VICTOR .E. HALLIDAY, now wish to be known and addressed as ENYEREIBE VICTOR CHUKWUDI. All former documents remain valid. ZENITH BANK, General public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as HAMMED OMOWUNMI, now wish to be known and addressed as FAUSAT YAHAYA ONYINOYI. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

This is to confirm that I, UMEH PAUL IZUNDU is the same person as UMEH VALENTINE as contained in some documents. All former documents bearing my names remain valid. General public take note.

UGWOKE: I, formerly known and addressed as UGWOKE ONYEMA CHARITY, now wish to be known and addressed as UGWU ONYEMAECHI CHARITY. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

Formerly known and addressed as Ibrahim Balikis Bolaji, now wish to be known and addressed as Oguneso Balikis Bolaji. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Formerly known and addressed as LAWAL ABDULLAHI MOHAMMED now wish to be known and addressed as ADEGOKE KEHINDE ADENIYI.Former documents remain valid general public note

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FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS ORJI PRECIOUS OZIOMA. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS UDEBUANI PRECIOUS OZIOMA. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. THE GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE.

Formerly known and addressed as IBE Justina Nkechi but now wish to be known as Ugwu Jusina Nkechi. General public please take note.

Formerly known and addressed as Moses Glory Chizoba, now wish to be known and addressed as Agomo Glory Chizoba. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

This is to confirm that moses stephen chiemela, moses steven chiemeka and moses steven chiemela belong to one and same person. All documents bearing these names to remain valid.general public take note.

Formerly known and addressed as Miss.Arotimi Esther lyabode, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs.Olujimi Esther lyabode. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS AKINTOYE MOJISOLA FASILAT. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS MOJISOLA FASILAT SUFIANU. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. NYSC AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE.

Formerly known and addressed as ADEDAYO ADESEGUN OGUNNIKA , now wish to be known and addressed as ADEDAYO ADESEGUN SOLOMON-DAUDA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS ONYERO IFEOMA FIDELIA, NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS ALOZIE IFEOMA FIDELIA. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. NYSC, ABSU AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE.

Formerly known and addressed as MUSTAPHA FATAI OLAWALE now wish to be known and addressed as OLUSEGUN OLAWALE OLALEKAN. All former documents remain valid. General public pls take note.

FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS AYEBO SEYI FLORENCE. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS MOSOBALAJE FLORENCE SEYI. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. NYSC AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE.

Formerly known and addressed as MISS. JOSEPHINE M G B E C H I K W E R E AGBARAKWE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. JOSEPHINE MGBECHIKWERE OSIGWE. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known as Miss. Sobanke Omowunmi Morenike now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Adegbore Omowunmi Morenike. All former documents remain valid. General public please note.

This is to confirm to the general public that I, MUSA MOHAMMED is one and the same person known as MAMMAN MUSA. That any documents bearing any of the above mentioned names belongs to me and remain valid. UBA and the general public take note.

Formerly known and addressed as Adenaike Omobusola Ajoke, now wish to be known and addressed as Odunewu Omobusola Ajoke. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Formerly known and addressed as ONIFADE OLUWAKEMI BIMBOLA, now wish to be known and addressed as FATADE OLUWAKEMI BIMBOLA. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note

I formerly known as Oyesidi Sodiq now wish to be known, called and addressed as OYESIJI SODIQ OLALEKAN, All former documents remain valid. First bank plc and general public should please note.

I, KHADIJAH MUKTAR confirms that HADIZA MUKTAR is also my name. Banks, Foreign Embassies,Missions and general public take note

I, formerly known as. OBINWANNE MAUREEN ONYEMAECHI, now wish to be known and addressed as CHUKWUDUM MAUREEN O N Y E M A E C H I . f o r m e r documents remain valid general public note

FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS ADEJARE ADENIKE KHAFILAT, NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS ADEYINKA SULU ADENIKE KHAFILAT. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. NYSC AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE.

Formerly known and addressed as James Isaiah, now wish to be known and addressed as James Isaiah Ukpong. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note

Formerly known and addressed as ADEDAYO ADESEGUN OGUNNIKA, now wish to be known and addressed as ADEDAYO ADESEGUN DAUDA. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

This is to confirm that joseph ogbu, JOSEPH Oforbuike ogbu and gilbert okoye belong to one and same person.all documents bearing these names to remain valid.general public take note

Formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Sanni Rukayat Oluwakemi, now wish to be known and addressed as Miss. Falabi Taofikat Bola. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

PAUL: I, formerly known and addressed as SENJONG PAUL, now wish to be known and addressed as MAKTEP SHIKPHIR SENJONG. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS HAUWA SULEIMAN ALIYU. NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS ABEL HAUWA SULEIMAN. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. NYSC AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

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Formerly known and addressed as HENRY LAYA now wish to be known and addressed as JASON E. ANTHONY. All former documents remain valid. General public pls take note.

Formerly known and addressed as KELLY LORENZ, now wish to be known and addressed as YVONNE AMBAKS. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

Formerly known and addressed to SUNDAY ODIGIE, now wish to be known and addressed as EHIZOGIE SMART EHIS. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Formerly known and addressed as IBE Justina Nkechi but now wish to be known as Ugwu Jusina Nkechi. General public please take note.

I, formerly known as miss Adebayo Sadia Abake now wish to be known and called MRS OGUNTUNJI MARIA. All former documents remain valid. First bank plc and general public should please note.

Formerly known and addressed as Nwogu Goziem Uzoamaka, now wish to be known and addressed as Nwaegbu Goziem Uzoamaka. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

This is to confirm that I, AJAYI SOLOMON AREMU is the same person as AJAYI TAIWO. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

Formerly known and addressed as ABD RAHEEM YUSUF OLATUNJI, now wish to be known and addressed as ABDULRAHEEM YUSUF OLATUNJI. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note

I, OWUAMANAM Emeka Christian Frank is one and same Person as Owuamanam Emeka frank christain Emeka, now to be known as Owuamanam Emeka Christian Frank. All former documents bearing the above names are valid. General public please take note.

FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS NWOKEDI AMARACHI GLORIA, NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS OKEMEFULA ONWUKWE AMARACHI GLORIA. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. NYSC AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE.

ODIATU: I, formerly known as ODIATU NKEIRUKA HELEN, now wish to be known and addressed as ONYELOBI NKEIRUKA HELEN. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Formerly known and addressed as NWODE EBERE RITA, now wish to be known and addressed as NWANGA EBERE RITA. All former documents remain valid. GTBank and general public take note.

JAMES: I, formerly known and addressed as JAMES SUNDAY DANIEL, now wish to be known, called and addressed as AMOO OLUWAGBENGA DANIEL. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

Formerly known and addressed as MISS NWANOLUE EMILIA OLUCHI, now wish to be known and addressed as MISS NWANOLUE NCHEDO EMILIA. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note

EBERE: I, formerly known as MISS EBERE CAROLINE NNALU, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS EMENAKO CAROLINE NNALU. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Formerly known and addressed as EHIZIELEN KELVIN NAPOLEON now wish to be known and addressed as OKUBANJO OLAIFE SAMUEL. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. GENERAL PUBLIC TO PLEASE NOTE.

Formerly known and addressed as SUNDAY KOBINU ABIODUN, now wish to be known and addressed as FASEUN SUNDAY. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note

Formerly known and addressed as OTO STEVEN ANITA, now wish to be known and addressed as OTO STEVEN WILLIAMS. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as ISA ABDUL WAHID now wish to be known, called and addressed as SHEHU BABA BELLO of no 67 Oba Awolesi street GRA sagamu Ogun state.general public note.

Formerly known and addressed as MISS OMIDIJI LATEEFAT BOLA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS ABDULWAHAB LATEEFAT ARIKE. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note

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THIS IS TO CONFIRM ENABELE IYOHA AND PEACE ATALOR ARE FOR SAME PERSON, NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS ENABELE PEACE IYOHA ATALOR. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. DIAMOND BANK AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE

That MUSA RAFIU ABIMBOLA DAVID is my name. That on my Zenith Bank account my name appears as MUSA RAFIU ABIMBOLA, while on my GTBank I used MUSA ABIMBOLA DAVID. I am now adding ‘RAFIU’ to the names I used in GTBank. That my complete names now is MUSA RAFIU ABIMBOLA DAVID. General public take note.


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FORMALLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS ASIYA AMINU NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS ASIYA IMAM FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. THE GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE.

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National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, November 26, 201544

Thursday September 4, 2014 45National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Thursday, November 26, 2015

46 – Chelsea striker, Diego Costa

Yes, there was a bit of disagreement between myself and the manager. But it’s all for the good and we

have settled everything

PSG offer €355k-a-week for Ronaldo

Sport

Rio Olympics qualifying ticket

Awoniyireturns to Senegal…Promises to replicate U20 Championship feat

Dream Team VI striker Taiwo Awoniyi returns to Senegal for the Caf Un-

der-23 Africa Cup of Nations with so much hope, eight months after playing a role in helping the coun-try win the continent’s under-20 championship.

Awoniyi said yesterday before departing to Senegal that he feels a deja vu kind of hunch as he joined Samson Siasia and his Nigerian under-23 teammates in The Gam-bia ahead of their trip to Senegal, where they are expected to play in the city of M’Bour in Group B alongside Egypt, Algeria and Mali.

“Yes Senegal reminds me a lot,” began the striker, who is on loan from Liverpool to FSV Frankfurt.

“I am thankful to God for this opportunity to be part of the squad going for this competition.”

Awoniyi scored three goals at the African Under-20 Champion-ship in March. He netted the open-ing two goals in their 3-1 win over Senegal and followed up with an-other goal against Congo in which

Nigeria won 4-1.The Nigerian under-20 finished

as champions after defeating hosts Senegal 1-0 through Bernard Bulb-wa’s superb goal.

The 18-year-old forward hopes that the Nigerian under-23 team will get off the ground running in Senegal and win a spot to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Jainero, Brazil.

But the teenage striker does not want the spotlight to focus on him as he wants to see Siasia’s men perform well at the tournament.

“I feel good and humble to be in the team. There are many good players here (in The Gambian camp). I pray that we do well and win the Olympic ticket which is very important. The team is not just about one player, but I want to play my role,” he said yesterday.

It is not the first time that Awoniyi will feature for Nigeria’s under-23s as he scored twice to help his country defeat Zambia 2-1 in a 2015 All Africa Games qualify-ing match in Lusaka in April.

Paul ErEwuba

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung has challenged sports journalists to be

courageous to expose corruption that has bastardised Nigerian sports.

In his congratulatory message to the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Lagos State Chapter, as they mark their 50th anniversary today in Lagos, Da-lung said SWAN’s contribution to sports de-velopment in Nigeria cannot be quantified.

“For decades, SWAN has been informing, educating and entertaining Nigeria with brilliant sports stories, excellent documen-taries, celebration of our best moments in sports and defending the rights of the op-pressed in the sports industry, ” he said.

Dalung, who said he was proud to be as-

sociated with SWAN, urged the body to not only to continue its watchdog role in the sports industry, but join hands with Presi-dent Muhammad Buhari and other change agents in the All Progressives Congress, APC, government and fight corruption and other vices that had prevented Nigeria from achieving its potentials in sports.

“Education, entertainment and sports are the most important tools of provid-ing escape from poverty for children from less privileged backgrounds. As at today, our sports industry is facing several chal-lenges, the biggest is corruption which has become a behemoth in the industry.

Sports journalists should take advan-tage of President Buhari’s determination to fight corruption and expose corrupt practices,” the Minister said in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Mrs Nneka Anibeze.

Dalung appealed to sports writers that government’s effort at fighting the rot in sports will be easier with their support and cooperation.

The Minister also urged SWAN to in-vest more in training and education of its members.

“Going forward, SWAN should report and celebrate more of its own and turn them to national and global icons. We should take a cue from the English press and celebrate our sports stars,” he said.

To Dalung, SWAN’s laudable achieve-ment in the last 50 years is not only wor-thy of celebration but also worthy of emu-lation by other professional bodies and unions.

The Lagos chapter of SWAN has lined up some activities to celebrate the associa-tion at 50 on Friday at the National Stadi-um, Surulere, Lagos.

These include Achievers’ Day, an event designed to appreciate SWAN patrons and friends and the investiture of Mr. Akin-wunmi Ambode, Executive Governor of Lagos State, as Grand Patron.

Dalung tasks sportswriters to expose rot in sports

Dalung

Awoniyi

Sports National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net46 Thursday, November 26, 2015

Drogba tips Arsenal to win EPL trophyDidier Drogba has tipped

Arsenal to win the Pre-mier League title be-

cause of his former team-mate Petr Cech.

The Gunners were beaten 2-1 by West Brom on the weekend and slipped to fourth in the ta-ble, two points behind surprise leaders Leicester City.

Cech moved to the Emirates

in the summer from Chelsea for around £11million and has quickly settled to life under Arsene Wenger.

Drogba, who played with the Czech international for nine years at Stamford Bridge, be-lieves that while Manchester City will be strong, he’s backing Arsenal because of his “friend”.

“I think Manchester City will be as strong as they have been in

the last few years,” Drogba told Sky Sports News.

“Unfortunately Chelsea are too far [behind in the title race], so I will go for my friend Petr Cech at Arsenal.”

And when asked if he felt Ar-senal had the strength in depth to maintain a title challenge throughout the season, he add-ed: “They’ve got Petr Cech.

Arsenal eye January move for Manchester United Carvalho

Europa league: Klopp insists Sturridge must prove his fitness

Arsenal are said to be eye-ing up a deal to bring Manchester United tar-

get, William Carvalho to the club in January.

According to reports from the Standard, Arsenal are believed to lining up a January raid for Manchester United target, Wil-liam Carvalho.

The Portuguese midfielder has been identified as a prime target to replace Francis Co-quelin who suffered a long term injury last week, leaving him out for months. Gunners boss, Arsene Wenger has never been a fan of the January window, but has already been urged to consider opening up his cheque

Paris Saint-Germain are set to make a mammoth of-fer for Cristiano Ronaldo

in the summer, according to re-ports.

The Daily Mirror have report-ed that the French giants are will-ing to pay Real Madrid star Ron-aldo, 30, a deal worth a staggering £250,000-a-week (355,000 Euro) af-ter tax. This would be the equiva-

book in the new year. The speculation comes after

in-form Coquelin was sidelined for at least two months after picking up an injury during the 2-1 loss away at West Brom.

Sporting Lisbon wonderkid, Carvalho, 23, has been on the Arsenal and Manchester United radar for some time now and the vacant positions in defensive midfield for the Gunners could be the perfect excuse for him to join the North London side.

No fee’s have been brandished around as of yet, but there’s no doubt the Portugese star would certainly place a huge dent in the Gunners transfer budget.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp continues to play a patient game with Daniel

Sturridge and insists the striker must prove he is more “robust” before he is fully thrown back into first-team action.

The 26-year-old was on the bench for Saturday’s 4-1 win at Manchester City, the first time he has featured in a matchday squad for the German, but that does not mean he will get a run-out in the Europa League at home to Bordeaux today.

Klopp has stressed the need for the England international to prove he will not suffer any more injury breakdowns, hav-

ing seen last season decimated by thigh and calf problems which resulted in a hip opera-tion in May.

His latest issue was a knock to his knee in training and, while he has recovered from that, it does not mean an instant return to the starting line-up.

“Daniel is coming closer and closer so he can train now seven or eight times in a row - that is the longest period since I’ve been here - and that will help him and in the end help us,” Klopp said.

“My decision you will see (on Thursday) but it is closer and that is very good.

PSG offer €355k-a-week for Ronaldo

lent of £500,000 (711,000 Euro) per week by Premier League stan-dards, ruling Manchester United out of the race.

United manager Louis van Gaal confirmed at the weekend that the club were interested in re-signing Ronaldo, who left Unit-ed to join Real for a then-world re-cord £80m in 2009.

“We are looking at all players,

not just Ronaldo. But these play-ers are mostly ungettable,” said Van Gaal after United’s 2-0 win over Watford. “With Ronaldo, let’s wait and hope.”

Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic earns a reported £220,000-a-week (310,000 Euro) after tax at PSG and the Ligue 1 side are prepared to go even high-er to get Ronaldo.

Drogba and Cech

Sturridge

Ronaldo

Carvalho

Formerly known and addressed as OGBONNA HOPE OSINACHI now wish to be known and addressed as IKORO OSINACHI HOPE. All former documents remain valid. General public pls take note.

Formerly known and addressed as ALHAJA GANIYAT AWORINDE, now wish to be known and addressed as ALHAJA GANIYAT BAKARE. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

: Formerly known and addressed as FUNSO EMMANUEL IYANDA, now wish to be known and addressed as ADESOJI FUNSO VINCENT. All former documents remain valid. General public pls take note.

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NAME: MY NAME WAS WRONGLY WRITTEN AS SIMON UFFIA ON MY BVN INSTEAD OF:UFFIA EMMANUEL SUNDAY.

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Senate to probe abandoned N2.4bn NNDC road projects

E/Guinea urged to check maltreatment of Nigerians

Buhari attends CHOGM, UN Confab on Climate Change

Senator Amori ex-plained that the contrac-tor received N360 million as mobilisation fee in 2011 and another N360 million in 2012 from the Federal Government for the ex-ecution of the contract, but unfortunately, there is nothing to show for it in the town.

He lamented that all ef-forts by the community’s leaders to get the contrac-tor to return to site met with brick wall, and re-gretted that the NDDC is not forthcoming with any explanation on the con-tract.

The petition which was co-signed by the commu-nity’s leaders, reads: “We formally write to bring to your notice a clear case of massive corruption go-ing on in NDDC relating to

several development proj-ects in the Niger Delta, using our great kingdom, Agbarho, as a case study.

“After several years of neglect, in 2009, the NDDC awarded the contract for the contraction of Ag-barho Township Roads (23Km) to Messers. Serena Rock Limited at a cost of N2.4b only.

“After a long process of securing presidential approval for funding of the aforesaid project, in 2011 the contractor (Ser-ena Rocks Limited) was paid N360.7m, being 15 per cent mobilisation, to com-mence work on the proj-ect. In 2012 the contractor received another N360 mil-lion payment for the same project with nothing on ground.

“We were later told

that the project design did not include stone base and drainage, although in NDDC’s approved bud-get for 2011 and 2012 the project was captioned as ‘Construction of Agbarho Township road with com-prehensive drainage.’

“All efforts by our com-munity leaders to get the contractor (Serena Rock Limited) to execute the project has met brick wall and NDDC is not forth-coming with information. NDDC officials also con-firmed to us that over N668 million is in the custody of the contractor for over five years now without any job done on the project.

“We are not unaware of the Federal auditor general’s findings of over N183 billion fraud in the commission and we are

The Speaker assured the delegation that the National Assembly would work on outstanding mem-orandum of understanding and other agreements for the mutual benefit of both countries, while assuring of cooperation between the parliaments of both coun-tries.

Earlier, Mbengono had said he was on the visit to convey the best wishes of the Speaker of his coun-try’s parliament.

While appreciating Ni-geria’s support in the secu-rity of the Gulf of Guinea, he noted the long standing cordial relations between the two countries and ex-pressed the desire of his country to continue to work with Nigeria and draw from its experience, especially in the area of election.

He informed the Speaker that his country is with Ni-geria in the fight against terrorism and in address-ing the situation in Nige-ria’s North East.

He assured the Speaker that his country is willing to invest in areas of inter-est, saying, “I have been given specific directions to give priority to African investors and Nigeria is a priority.”

Ubong UkpongABUJA

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara,

has called on the govern-ment of Equitorial Guinea to check cases of maltreat-ment of Nigerians doing legitimate business in that country.

He made the call when he met with a delegation from the country led by its ambassador, Job Obiang Esono Mbengono, who paid him a courtesy visit at the National Assembly yester-day.

Dogara said the govern-ment of Equitorial Guinea has a responsibility to ad-dress the bad treatment meted out to Nigerians who reside and do legitimate business in the country.

While commending the long-standing cordial rela-tionship between the two countries, the Speaker said nothing short of full broth-erly protection is expected for Nigerian citizens living in the country, adding that reports stating otherwise are worrisome.

Highlighting the huge mineral resources in the country, the Speaker noted that in its diversification drive, the present admin-istration under President Muhammadu Buhari is giving priority to invest-ment in these sectors in or-der to ensure that they are developed for the benefit of the country.

persuaded that this is one of such cases. NDDC offi-cials in the last eight years awarded several contracts to their cronies and made advance payments and sometimes full payment with little or no job done in the affected communi-

ties.”The petition was re-

ferred to the Senate Com-mittee on Ethics, Privi-leges and Public Petition by the deputy Senate presi-dent, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided at yester-day’s plenary.

george oji, ABUJA

There are indications that the Senate may order an investiga-

tion into the abandoned Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC’s N2.4 billion Agbarho township roads project in the Ugheli North Local Government Area of Delta State.

Feelers to this followed a petition tendered by Senator Ighoyota Amori on behalf of the Agbarho (Urhobo) Improvement Union before the Senate, complaining about the project.

The petition showed that the contract for the 23-kilometre road was awarded in 2009 to Messer Serena Rocks Limited at a cost of N2.4 billion.

rotimi Fadeyi

President Muham-madu Buhari leaves Abuja today for Mal-

ta to participate in the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which begins in the island nation on Friday.

The Commonwealth is made up of Britain, Ni-geria and 51 other coun-tries that work together to pursue common goals and promote development, democracy, peace, security and good governance.

A statement issued yes-terday by the special ad-viser to the President on media and publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said Bu-hari and other Heads of State and Government

who would be in Malta for this year’s summit are expected to deliberate on fresh Commonwealth ini-tiatives on development and climate change with a view to adding greater value to ongoing global ef-forts in these areas.

A new Secretary-Gener-al of the Commonwealth who would take over from the incumbent, Kamalesh Sharma, would be an-nounced at the summit which would also feature the presentation of a prog-ress report on the eradica-tion of polio.

Head of the Common-wealth, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, would formally declare the sum-mit open and host a ban-quet in honour of Buhari and other participating

Heads of State and Gov-ernment.

At the conclusion of the summit on Sunday, Presi-dent Buhari would leave Malta for Paris where he would present Nigeria’s statement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference scheduled to open in the French capital on Monday, November 30.

The President would join over 100 other world leaders at the Leaders Event on the opening day of the conference which would be hosted by Presi-dent Francois Hollande of France and the Secretary-General of the United Na-tions, Mr. Ban Ki Moon.

Buhari would also par-ticipate in a summit of Heads of State and Gov-ernment of the Lake Chad

Basin Commission and Benin Republic which has been scheduled to take place on December 2 in Paris on the sidelines of the United Nations Confer-ence on Climate Change.

Deliberations at the Paris meeting of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Benin Republic would focus mainly on the war against Boko Haram and other security issues of common interest to par-ticipating countries.

President Buhari would be accompanied on the trip by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geof-frey Onyeama, Minister of Environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed and the Na-tional Security Adviser, Maj.-Gen. Babagana Mon-guno (rtd.)

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 47NewsThursday, November 26, 2015

Vol. 05 No. 1251 Thursday, November 26, 2015 N150

WORLD RECORD

The highest mountain in the world is Mount Everest. Its peak rises to 8,848 m (29,028 ft 9 in) – the highest point in the world.

Highest mountain

SolaOjewusi

S lGuest Columnist

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If Abubakar Audu, the All Progres-sives Congress (APC) candidate for the November 21 Kogi State gov-

ernorship election, had known what awaited him on the verge of victory, maybe he would have prayed harder. May be he would also have done any-thing humanly possible to avert the tragic development that has now set up a huge constitutional hoopla in the nation.

But as the saying goes, the Lord of Life has spoken to us all, politicians and non politicians: Be prepared for eventualities. In the world of vaulting ambition, of power and pageantry, we should always be ready for the inevi-table hour. Always be mindful of the ultimate conqueror. Audu has played his part. The question for us, especial-ly the win-at-all-costs politicians, is: Have we learnt any lesson at all?

So much has been said about Audu. Some have even accused him of being too ambitious. Some, quite morbidly, have gone to the nauseating depth of accusing him of putting his ambi-tion above his personal health. If you are one of these, you got it all wrong. By nursing the clearly dogged desire to lead his people again, Audu did no wrong. Every man is an ambitious po-litical animal. We are only different in the colours and motives of our pur-suits. Every one of us wants to reach that goal. Rather than blame the man who pursued his goal with such admi-rable zeal, let us commend him for his valiant battles. For me, I would rather honour a man who fell fighting than one who chickened out without lifting a finger. Audu would go down in history as a man of great fighting spirit who, however, succumbed, as we all must, to the dictate of the Almighty.

Having said that, we must not over-look the rather dicey undercurrents of this monumental loss. From the pas-sionate responses to this one mighty fall, from the emotional outpouring of grief, dangerous signals are already emerging and those concerned must rise to nip the brewing dangers in the bud. Already many of Audu’s kinsmen are not taking kindly to this tragedy and that may bring another tragedy if not quickly checked. The stories of poi-soning should be well investigated and the true nature of the death should be publicized as soon as possible to fore-stall dangerous speculations. The me-

dia should also be circumspect in its reportage as whatever is being postu-lated may either help uphold the peace or, God forbid, set that state on fire.

For those still finding it hard to ac-cept this loss, I have these words: Learn to accept the inevitability of death no matter how hard-hitting. In this kind of heart-rending tragedy only one re-sponse would augur well for the tran-quility and peace of Kogi: to see it as an act of God.

The APC and PDP must exercise great restraint. Governor Idris Wada has already taken a great, patriotic and statesmanlike step in declaring a three-day statewide mourning for this great man. He has done enough to as-sure his state and make this a non-par-tisan affair. This should be emulated by all.

Kogi people must unite now more than ever. The likely post-Audu scenar-io may bring up its own conundrums. Already an Igala friend is looking at this tragedy as a Yoruba conspiracy to install Audu’s deputy, James Faleke as governor by default. Should this rather unfortunate and erroneous thinking be allowed to fester, we may

Sport Extra

World athletics chief Sebastian Coe has de-nied allegations of a

conflict of interest over his ties with Nike and his role in the 2021 championships being awarded to the sportswear company’s home state.

Coe, head of the International

Association of Athletics Fed-erations (IAAF), told the BBC on Tuesday: “I did not lobby anyone on behalf of the Eugene 2021 bid” in the US state of Oregon.

Nike started out in Eugene and is now based in Beaverton in the same state.

Eugene was awarded the event without a bidding process, de-spite strong interest from the Swedish city of Gothenburg.

“The situation was unusual but not unprecedented. A bid process did not take place when Osaka was awarded the 2007

Athletics:Athletics: Coe denies Nike confl ict interest Coe denies Nike confl ict interest

Coe

Random musing on Audu’s tragic death

THIS TRAGEDY SHOULD BE A LESSON THAT ONLY GOD CAN DECIDE THE PATH OF

OUR LIVES

World Championships,” Coe said.

“The process for bidding is al-ready being reviewed as part of a wide range of reforms current-ly being prepared,” he added.

The defence came following a BBC investigation.

soon have on our hands an unwelcome civil war between the Igala and the Yo-ruba who incidentally have by far the most common of origins linguistically and culturally in Kogi. This calls for serious restraint on the part of the be-reaved. This to me is purely an act of God, without prejudice to the eventual coroner’s report and the result of po-lice investigation into this monumental tragedy if that would ever happen now that the dead had been interred.

Another scenario is the tendency to see this death as the handiwork of the opposing party, the PDP. While this may sound preposterous, such fickle think-ing should not be unexpected in a mo-ment of a loss so fundamental. Losing a promising candidate, a contestant cruising to victory, at the edge of suc-cess can be too hard to accept as an act of God. In the political thinking of many, such force majeure is not possi-ble. Someone somewhere, to them, must have dealt a foul hand. That is why the proper tension-dousing strategy must be employed by those concerned. The current Governor, in spite of vested interests, has the greater role to play as a peacemaker. He must continue to reassure the people that this is what it actually is: an act of God. The Muslim adage, ‘Ina Lillahi wa ina Ilai rajiunah’ (From God we came and to him we must return) should be propagated at this hour of tragedy.

For Audu’s supporters, I preach re-straint and patience even as the excru-ciating pains of this unmitigated disas-ter nag. A man in pain is vulnerable to unintended aggression. It is under-standable that a great lot of dreams, im-minent largess, appointments and other dividends of working with a winning candidate are in heartrending jeopardy. But rather than instigate violence, this tragedy should be a lesson that only God can decide the path of our lives.

Ojewusi wrote via [email protected]

thursday, november 26, 2015 new

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