Primate of All Nigeria, Archbishop Nicholas Okoh (5th right) with priests and new inductees into the Mothers' Union/Women's Guild of the Anglican Communion as part of activities marking the 25th anniversary of the Abuja Diocese of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion at the Cathedral Church of The Advent in Gwarimpa, Abuja, yesterday.

Vol. 4 N0. 994 Monday, December 1, 2014 N150

P.8

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>Okonjo-Iweala

Ashiru

NCAA resolves 55,000 passengers' complaints

P.6

Jonathan, Mark, others mourn Ashiru

P.6

CBN moves to align monetary, fi scal policy thrusts

BUSINESSTHE SECTION

P.2 Free inside

Oil price drops further to $70 per barrel

FG to supply blood to victims in hospitals

UDEME AKPAN

Barely three days after members of the Or-ganisation of Petro-leum Exporting Countries,

OPEC resisted pressures to cut output; the price of crude oil has dropped from about $75 to $70 per a barrel at the global market.

The latest price level re-corded yesterday showed

about three dollars below the $73 per barrel reference price which the Federal Government 2015 budget was based.

The significant drop was

Why we oppose proposed LG autonomy NUT

P.10 P.10

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Christians worship under tight security

Minister asks ICPC to tackle corruption at airports

Kano bomb blast: TOLA AKINMUTIMI, INUSA NDAHI AND ABDULGAFAR OLADIMEJI

Yesterdays church services in Kano were held amid tight security network, as stern looking security person-nel drawn from the Joint Task Force kept vigil over places of worship, while others knitted security cob-web over Sabon Gari area, which plays host to many churches in the state.

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Gunmen kill policemen, others in P'Harcourt

Christians worship under tight security

CBN moves to align monetary, fi scal policy thrusts

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

L-R: Administrative Director, National Agency for the Control of AIDS, Mr. Emmanuel Chenge; NACA Director-General Prof John Idoko and Parish Rev, St Martin Catholic Church, Lugbe, Rev Father, Thomas Edogbayan during the NACA thanksgiving service to commemorate 2014 World AIDS Day in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

TOLA AKINMUTIMI AND FEMI OYEWESO

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has initiated moves to

align monetary and fiscal policy instruments in order to achieve macroeconomic growth.

Disclosing this at the opening session of the Fiscal Liquidity Assessment Com-

mittee retreat in Abuja, the Deputy Governor, Economic Policy Dr Sarah Alade, said the need for monetary and fiscal authorities to strength-en the joint effectiveness of monetary and fiscal policies

had become imperative now with the current revenue challenges facing the coun-try.

Alade, who spoke on the theme, Can Monetary or Fiscal Policy alone Achieve

Macroeconomic Stabil-ity and Growth, listed some the challenges as low fiscal buffers, impact of external shocks, dwindling foreign ex-change earnings, declining reserves, weak oil market expansionary fiscal policy, high volume of maturing instruments and high unem-ployment.

The deputy governor noted that these challenges had redefined the boundaries of macroeconomic manage-ment, thereby necessitating the need for redressing mu-tual suspicion and hostility experienced globally between the two macroeconomic man-agement institutions.

She said: At the moment, the economy faces signifi-cant downside risks of rever-sal in capital flows, reserve depletion, depreciation of Naira, financial market in-stability and higher inflation and we cannot afford not to understand ourselves and work together.

In the next couple of

months, political activities would peak. Anticipated lev-el of injection would require enormous effort to manage domestic excess liquidity to reduce inflationary pressure.

Against this background, FLAC members at this work-shop are enjoined to appreci-ate the importance of their individual and collective roles in confronting the enormous challenges that lie ahead.

It is my hope that this years retreat will offer par-ticipants the opportunity to evaluate the recent challeng-es confronting monetary and fiscal policies and to build the trust required in shar-ing information, which will be key to strategizing for the growth and stability of our economy in the days ahead.

Earlier, the apex banks Director, Monetary Policy Department, Mr. Moses Tule, said that there was the need to sustain macroeconomic stability through effective and efficient domestic poli-cies.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net2 Monday, December 1, 2014News

The men and officers of the JTF engaged in vigor-ous control of human and vehicular movements in and out of Sabon Gari, an area predominantly inhab-ited by non indigenes, who are mostly Christians.

The area also plays host to virtually all Christian place of worship in the state.

Our correspondent gath-ered that, the security beef up was a precautionary measure in the aftermath of last Fridays deadly triple attack launched on the Cen-tral Mosque located at the Emirs palace in the ancient city of Kano.

Our correspondent, who went round the area ob-served that heavily armed uniform men were strate-gically positioned close to places of worship, while assigned church officials engage in the identification of members for easy access into their place of worship

Church members were also subjected to scrutiny before being allowed in, it was also observed that vehi-cles were parked afar from the places of worship.

A military vehicle mounted by armed person-nel was stationed at the pop-ular New road by Igbo road junction, which leads to St

Stephens Anglican church and Anglican Communion, both among the oldest cathe-drals in the city.

France road, leading to the First Baptist church and Our Lady of Fatima Cathe-dral was also under guard by men of the JTF with Eagle eyed church officials complimenting security op-erations.

Our correspondent while touring the area observed a ceaseless patrol by police vehicles.

It would be recalled that Christians under the aegis of Kano State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, had con-demned the bomb explo-sions and shootings that was launched on the Central Mosque on Friday, where over 100 worshippers lost their lives.

The declaration, which was signed by the State Chairman of the Chris-tian group, Bishop Ransom Bello, said the multiple attacks is wicked and un-godly, the attacks were the handiwork of wicked, blood thirsty evil men, wearing the garb of religion.

We send our deepest condolences to the people and Government of Kano State. We sincerely commis-erate with all the families

of the bereaved. We deeply feel and share in their pains at this time of their empti-ness.

The Joint Health Sectors Union, JOHESU, in the state has called off the ongoing strike and directed its mem-bers to return to duty to save the lives of the victims of the bomb and gun attack.

Making this known yes-terday was the Secretary of the union, Comrade Kabiru Ado Minjibir.

JOHESU initially em-barked on strike partially last month over an age long demands from the Federal Government, but the lead-ership of the union later ordered all members to join.

Consequently, the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital and the National orthopedic hospital branches obeyed the directive and joined their counterpart across the country on the indefinite strike.

Minjibir said calling the strike off would allow health workers attend to the hundreds of people that were injured in the blast, which left more than 100 dead.

In a related development, the Federal Government has promised to supply hos-pitals in Kano with blood to help save the lives of the vic-

tims of the bomb blast.Alhaji Musa Ilallah, the

North-West Coordinator, National Emergency Man-agement Agency, NEMA, made the statement in an interview at the weekend, after visiting Murtala Mo-hammed Specialist Hospi-tal.

He said the Federal Min-istry of Health had directed its officials to supply blood from the ministrys blood bank in Katsina to hospitals in Kano.

We went round the hos-pitals to assess the condi-tions of those who are re-ceiving treatment and we were informed that what they needed most is blood and consumables.

I spoke with officials of the Federal Ministry of Health and they have as-sured me that they will mo-bilise blood bank in Katsina to supply blood to the hospi-tals, he said.

The coordinator said the ministry had also promised to supply drugs and other needed consumables from Abuja.

Ilallah commended the state government for provid-ing all the needed materials for the treatment of injured persons receiving treatment in hospitals.

In his remark, Dr Kabir

Maso-Kano, the Executive Secretary, Kano State Hos-pitals Management Board, said lack of consumables was hindering the treat-ment of the victims.

He however commended Kano residents for visiting hospitals to donate blood for the victims.

The group prayed for the repose of the souls of those who lost their lives in the at-tack, stating that in spite of the challenges posed by the insurgency, that Nigeria is greater than the perpetra-tors and their sponsors.

We must all collectively, irrespective of religion, tribes and political differ-ences take a firm stand against terrorism and their actors. We would not, and should not, allow the inten-tion of these terrorists to de-stroy our unity and peaceful co-existence in Kano state or in any part of the country CAN stated.

The Christian body task the Federal Government to exhibited resoluteness and to be undeterred in the bid to put to an end the activi-ties of the perpetrators, it commended the sacrifices being made by security op-eratives for efforts made in combating insurgency in the country.

In another development,

the Igbo Welfare Associa-tion, IWA, a socio-cultural body for Igbo people resid-ing in Borno State at the weekend said that over 200 members of the commu-nity have lost their lives and property worth millions of naira destroyed since the beginning of insurgency in the state.

President General of the association in the state, Chief Maclaw Nwaogu dis-closed this while delivering his speech during the inau-guration of the new execu-tives and award ceremony which took place in Maidu-guri, the state capital.

Chief Nwaogu appealed to Governor Kashim Shet-tima to look into the plight of widows and orphans of the Ndigbo and other non indigenes, some of whom he said have migrated but are still suffering destitution as a result of the loss of their breadwinners to the Boko Haram insurgency.

The President General also called on the governor to fulfill his promise of reno-vating the association's hall which was vandalised at the height of the insurgency.

In addition, we remain very appreciative when in your early tenure you of-fered us free transport dur-

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 3Monday, December 1, 2014

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net4 Monday, December 1, 2014Photo News

WALE IGBINTADE

A court in the Cay-man Islands had ordered former Group Managing Direc-tor of the defunct Inter-continental bank Plc, Mr. Erastus Akingbola, to pay the sums of 1.8 million pounds sterling and N238.4bn to Access Bank Plc in relation to a suit filed against him for the recovery of funds al-legedly misappropriated from the bank.

The defunct Intercon-tinental Bank Plc, now Access Bank, had filed the action in a London High Court for the recov-ery of the banks funds fraudulent converted and misappropriated, and obtained judgment for the sum of N164bn in July 2012.

During the course of

the trial, some of the funds were traced to the purchase of properties in London by Akingbola, consequent upon which the court ordered that the properties be sold.

Based on the court orders, the properties known as Flats 17, 18, 19 and 20 Embassy Court London, NW 8, were sold and 11 million pounds sterling have so far been recovered.

When the bank also discovered that Aking-bola has some assets hidden under a Trust in Cayman Island (specifi-cally property known as 2 Cambridge Court), the bank proceeded to file an application to the Grant Court of the Cayman Is-lands to convert the Lon-don judgment to a Cay-man Island judgment.

Akingbola did not defend the application

and Mr. Justice Andrew Jones QC of the Grand Court of the Cayman Island on the 12th Sep-tember 2014, granted a default judgment in the sum of N238,471,484,162 and 1,800,000 in favour of the bank with interest at 2 5/8 per cent per an-num from April 2014 un-til payment is made.

N164bn debt: Court freezes Akingbolas properties in Cayman Island

L-R: Professor of Nutrition at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Professor Tola Atinmo; Vice-Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Professor Isaac Adewole; Group Head, Mass Mar-ket Segment, First City Monument Bank Limited, Mr. Adetunji Lamidi; Corporate Affairs/Media Relations Officer, Mr. Rafiu Mohammed; Retail Cluster Head, South-West 1, Mr. Kayode Olayinka, and Branch Manager, Agbowo, Ibadan, Mr. Aboyade Ojelakin, during a courtesy visit to the Vice Chancellor by FCMB, recently.

L-R: Divisional Head, Marketing and Corporate Relations, UBA, Mr. Charles Aigbe; Fiona Bruce of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and Managing Director, UBA Europe, Mr. Ebele Ogbue, at the Annual Banker Awards in London where UBA won Bank of the Year in Africa and other country awards for Senegal, Gabon,Cote DIvorie and Sierra Leone.

L-R: Former Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; his wife and honorary doctorate degree awardee, Erelu Bisi Fayemi and another awardee, Prof. Toyin Falola, shortly after the conferment of honorary doctorate degrees on the duo at Tai Solarin University of Education, during the institutions convocation ceremony in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, at the weekend.

L-R: Chairman, Health Insurance and Managed Care Association of Nigeria, Dr. Kola Owoka; MD/CEO, Avon Healthcare Limited Mrs. Adesimbo Ukiri and Managing Partner, Vesta Health-care Partners UK, Dr. Folabi Ogunlesi, during the Healthcare Financing Roundtable in Lagos, recently.

National News

The Anambra Motor Manufacturing Com-pany, ANAMMCO, has begun third-party as-sembly of trucks, bringing its factory in Enugu par-tially back to life.

The News Agency of Ni-geria, NAN, reports that the company now assembles Shacman trucks for Transit Support Services, a Nige-rian company, after recall-ing some of its previously downsized personnel.

Speaking during a poli-cy monitoring visit by the National Council on Priva-tisation at the weekend in Enugu, the Chairman of the company, Dr Godwin Okeke, said the develop-ment was made possible by the new Automobile Indus-try Development Policy.

Okeke said the policy, pronounced in 2013, had enhanced investment, em-ployment and capacity util-isation of assembly plants which had been overtly sub-optimal.

In order to sustain the

growth and development of this policy, it is expedi-ent that it is entrenched by appropriate legislation to guard against frequent and arbitrary policy rever-sal which has constituted a high risk factor to invest-ment in the country.

Faithfulness in adher-ing to the implementation timelines would engender confidence of global stake-holders on the viability, he said.

The industrialist also called on the Federal Gov-ernment to curb the activi-ties of smugglers which threatened the industry.

He also pleaded with the Asset Management Corpo-ration of Nigeria, AMCON, to reschedule the com-panys legacy debts by one year and to stop the litiga-tion arising from the debts.

He also called on the Federal Government to contribute its pre-privati-sation equity holding for the settlement of the retire-ment benefits inherited by

the company to the tune of about N1bn.

Responding, the Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Prof. Nwanze Okidegbe, who led the del-egation, said the visit was to assess the performance of companies privatised under the auspices of the National Council on Priva-tisation, NCP.

Okidegbe said the Fed-eral Government was de-termined to provide the enabling environment for the private sector to thrive in the country.

He said the visit was not a fault-finding one but to give the government first-hand information about how the companies were doing.

ANAMMCO was estab-lished in 1977 as a joint ven-ture between the Federal Government and Daimler AG of Germany. Its factory was commissioned in 1981 and has a capacity to as-semble 7,500 units of trucks and 1,000 units of buses in one shift of production.

Life returns to ANAMMCO as third-party assembly of trucks begins in Enugu

Akingbola

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 5Monday, December 1, 2014 News

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attributed to continuous over supply and weak de-mand for the various crude oil grades, including Nige-rias Bonny Light.

For instance, the price of Brent, which is usually used to benchmark the prices of other crude oil grades dropped from $75 per a bar-rel to $70.15 at the interna-tional market.

The price of OPEC which is the average of the vari-ous crude oil grades that are produced by OPEC member states stood at $70.80 per bar-rel, compared with $73.70 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calcula-tions.

The new OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), Iran Heavy (Is-lamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nige-ria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).

OPEC members admit-ted they had lost the power to determine output and by extension the price of crude oil in the world market at a crucial meeting in Vienna, Austria last week when they decided to leave output un-changed at 30 million bar-rels per day.

The decision was taken mainly because of the awareness that non-mem-ber states, especially United States and Middle East na-tions now have the capac-ity to produce and export commercial crude oil to the world market.

The Managing Director of Cowry Asset Manage-ment Limited, Mr. Johnson Chukwu, who has been watching developments at the volatile market, stated that it is a wake-up call on member states, especially Nigeria to diversify their economic bases.

The development shows that a time has come for us to look beyond oil in the gen-eration of our foreign ex-change. We cannot depend on oil alone especially now that OPEC has lost its mo-nopoly to determine what happens in the market, he stated.

The National President of the Oil and Gas Service Providers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Colman Obasi,

stated that the nation and others need to use oil rev-enues to stimulate the devel-opment of other sectors of their economies.

We have the oil but the oil would not last forever. Now that the oil flows, we should use the oil money to develop other sectors, espe-cially agriculture and solid minerals, he stated.

The former President of OPEC conference, Abdourh-man Ataher Al-Ahirish, noted that a number of fac-tors are responsible for the current situation.

A careful look at the cur-rent situation suggests the recent fall in prices may not be exclusively attributed to oil market fundamentals. Ample supply, moderate demand, a stronger US dol-lar and uncertainties about global economic growth have been key factors in this recent price trend. In ad-dition, as OPEC has noted in the past, the impact of speculative activity in the oil market has also been an important factor, he stated.

He stated that neverthe-less, it is important to recog-nise that if the recent price trend continues, the long-term sustainability of ca-pacity expansion plans and investment projects may be put at risk.

Already, the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala, has re-assured of the Federal Governments readiness to effectively manage the econ-omy in the face of falling oil prices.

She said sundry fiscal measures, including setting a target of increasing the non-oil revenues by N480bn within the next three years and introduction of tax re-liefs for capital market oper-ators are being considered to mitigate the negative ef-fect of the dwindling export oil earnings on the economy.

The minister said con-trary to some misgivings in some section of the public that the Nigerian govern-ment was not prepared for the shocks the drop in oil prices could cause the economy; the minister said that the current crisis in the global oil market was fore-seen far before it occurred.

She recalled the various fiscal initiatives taken over the past decade, including the creation of the Excess Crude Account, ECA, which had savings in excess of

Christians worship under tight security

Oil price drops further to $70 per barrel

L-R: Chairperson, Capital Market Committee, Mrs. Toyin Sanni; Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo and Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms. Arunma Oteh, during the Infrastructure Conference in Abuja at the weekend. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

over $22bn in the 2008-2009 global economic depression, saying that the idea of hav-ing a fiscal buffer to miti-gate impact of dropping oil prices as being witnessed now has never been lost to government.

Okonjo-Iweala stated that even when the ECA had been drawn down re-markably, the National Eco-nomic Management Team, NEMT, was fully conscious of the implications of the

mono-product base of the economy with crude oil ex-port accounting for about 70 per cent of the countrys for-eign exchange earnings and therefore working on short to medium term strategies to cope with the current situation.

The minister allayed fears that the country may not survive, adding that based on extensive discus-sions with international experts within the context

of emerging developments in the global oil market, the NEMT had three scenario based approach to arrive at $73 oil benchmark price for the 2015 budget.

She had stated that even if the oil prices fell below the proposed benchmark, the NEMT could still use $70, $65 or even $60 benchmark oil price for the 2015 budget without the economy crum-bling as some critics of the measures unveiled a few

days ago had predicted.Panic is not a strategy.

We are managing the situa-tion to keep the economy on a stable sustainable course and we will not listen to those who want us to throw up our hands in despair and give up. Our scenario based-approach to managing the impact of the oil price drop is proactive and compre-hensive. Even if the price drops to 60 dollars, we are ready,she stated.

ing Christmas holidays. But shortly after that, it is like the security challenges af-fected that gesture. However, with the cream of new Igbo leadership we call on you to remember our numerous members who want to travel home to spend this year's yuletide.

It is pertinent to bring to your notice that internally displaced people of Igbo ex-traction are been catered for by Igbo Welfare Association. We are appealing to your government to help us rem-edy the situation, the presi-dent also pleaded.

The President General promised to carry every-body along in the affairs of the association.

There is no gain saying the fact that the insurrec-tion in the north east has brought a lull unto our ac-tivities, but under this re-gime, working together with all and sundry will be given the needed fillip, Chief Nwaogu said.

The Civil Society Legisla-tive Advocacy Centre, CIS-

LAC, yesterday condemned the heightening insecurity in the country arising from attacks, kidnapping and bombings, blaming the cri-ses to the lackadaisical and nonchalant attitudes of Ni-gerian ruling class.

The group reacted to the most recent bombardments leading to the death of in-nocent Nigerians in Kano, Adamawa and Borno states.

A statement issued by the Executive Director of the CISLAC, Auwal Musa, Rafsanjani, noted that it was worrisome that despite the intensity of attacks in vari-ous parts of the country, the ruling class had refused to engage in constructive dia-logue to bring end to insur-gency.

The group alleged that instead of making sincere effort towards constructive dialogue, the leaders were caught in various conspira-cies to make live unbearable for innocent citizens, add-ing this among other things validates the report that the attacks are reinforced by political battle triggered by

continuous bloody struggles towards sustaining their miserable positions in 2015 and beyond.

Musa stated: In addi-tion to the aforementioned, Former Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff, and Former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Azubuike Ihejirika who were indicted in Steven Daviss report for sponsoring the insurgents are brazenly found in politi-cal reckoning and supported to deliberate on national is-sues.

It is shameful that de-spite such serious indict-ment, the Former Governor is leading the front to cam-paign for the ruling People Democratic Party, PDP, This shows lack of sincer-ity by the government in fighting the insurgents, he added.

While reflecting on the ethno-religious and po-litical dimensions of the national crisis, CISLAC described the continuous massacre of helpless and innocent citizens under the pretence of religion, of

innocent men, women and children from both Mus-lim and Christians com-munities totally obnoxious and undesirable; as both religious strongly forbade unjustified attacks against innocent individuals and preach peace and unity.

The group therefore called on National Assem-bly for prompt declaration of State of Emergency in Nigerian security sector; for the unresolved massa-cre of innocent citizens and mismanagement of nation-al security vote.

It also advocated imme-diate support and interven-tion by international com-munity into the ongoing mischievous and bloodshed of innocent citizens as well as immediate and patriotic efforts to recover and re-turn the mismanaged and looted various security funds back to the treasury; thorough and exhaustive audit of defence spending since the return to civil rule in 1999 by National As-sembly and other relevant agency.

6 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, December 1, 2014News

OLUSEGUN KOIKI

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Author-ity, NCAA, said it has resolved over 55,000 complaints from air pas-sengers against airlines operating in the country in the last two years.

The agency stated that its Directorate of Con-sumer Protection, DCP, resolved the complaints within the period, but noted that some of these complaints were roll over cases from the previous years, which were even-tually resolved alongside

subsequent ones.An online media state-

ment by the spokesman of the agency, Mr. Fan Ndubuoke stated that in 2013 alone, a total of 15,839 complaints were received from 13,954 international airlines operations and from the domestic airlines 382 from 65,368 operations.

The agency noted that between January and September 2014, there was a drastic reduction in complaints, as it received 5,578 from 11,683 foreign operations and domestic 184 from 51,212 operations.

According to Ndubuoke, most of the

GEORGE OJI AND ROTIMI FADEYIABUJA

President Goodluck Jonathan and the Senate President, David Mark, yesterday, ex-pressed sadness over the death of former Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambas-sador Olugbenga Ashiru,

Jonathan, in a state-ment issued by his Spe-cial Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Aba-ti extended sincere con-dolences to Ashirus wife, children, other relatives, friends, associates, for-mer colleagues and staff of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs as they mourn the exemplary dip-lomat who gave the most productive years of his adult life to the patriotic service of his nation.

The President assured them of the fullest sym-pathy, solidarity and sup-port of the Federal Gov-ernment as they mourn Ashiru who would also be long remembered and honoured as one of the very elite few, who after a long and very distin-guished career as a For-eign Service Officer in the Federal Ministry of For-eign Affairs, was recalled from retirement to serve

as minister and political head of the same minis-try in recognition of his widely acknowledged leadership qualities and diplomatic skills.

Jonathan said Nigeria would always owe the late minister a huge debt of gratitude for his notable contributions, over many years, to the establish-ment of mutually-bene-ficial relationships with other countries where he served as diplomat and ambassador, and for the countrys many diplo-matic successes in the in-ternational arena during his tenure as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The President prayed that God would comfort all who mourn Ashiru and grant his gentle soul peaceful and eternal rest.

Mark in his own mes-sage noted that by the death, Nigeria has lost a fine diplomat and a pa-triot, who promoted and implemented Nigerias foreign policy across the globe.

He recalled late Ashi-rus giant exploits in the protection and promo-tion of Nigeria and Nige-rians cultural heritage in the international com-munity.

Jonathan, Mark mourn Ashiru

Corruption: Minister seeks ICPCs intervention in aviation

NCAA resolves 55,000 passengers complaints in two years

Delta State governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan (right), with the publisher of Our Daily Manna, Bishop Chris Kwakpovwe, during a condolence visit to the Kwakpovwe family over the death of their father, Pa Steven Ekakpamre, in Ughelli, at the weekend.

TOLA AKINMUTIMI AND OLUSEGUN KOIKI

The only way corrup-tion can be wiped out in the Nigerian aviation industry is for the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, to focus its search-light more in the activities in the sector.

This was made known by the Minister of Avia-tion, Mr. Osita Chidoka when he paid a visit to the commissions chairman, Ekpo Nta in Abuja over the weekend.

Chidoka vowed that he was ready to put an end to what he termed low level corruption in the nations

airports.A media statement

signed by the Principal Information Officer, PIO, Ministry of Aviation, Mr. Sunday Iyogun and made available to journalists, stated that Chidoka was in ICPC office to seek their support in tackling the low level corruption at the Nigeria airports and charged the commission to show more enthusiasm in the sector.

Chidoka said that Ni-geria image as a corrupt country was fuelled and entrenched by the experi-ence foreigners and Nige-rians get at the first point of entry at the airports.

He lamented that the country is suffering from

lack of investment in some critical sectors globally, as a result of man-hour loss to clear goods arriving into the country through the airport, adding that this was discouraging as the process was hampered by deliberate delay by the different agencies in-volved in the clearance.

The minister said the delay comes in form of over greeting, insisting on an undue search, which creates an image of sus-tained corruption at our airports.

He declared that the ministry does not have the technical competence and or wherewithal to deal with this low level corruption in the system

and said that partnership with ICPC was pertinent to launch a campaign against corruption so as to deliver high quality service and also serve as deterrent to agencies in-volved in perpetrating corruption across Nigeria airports.

The minister also said that the Global Corrup-tion Free Day coming up on December 9, serves as an opportunity for ICPC in collaboration with the ministry to spearhead the campaign to fight cor-ruption at the countrys airports and to build a system that would make passengers go through the airports without ha-rassment.

complaints were as a re-sult of missing baggage cases from foreign carri-ers, which were 14,828 and 202 from domestic carri-ers in 2013.

In 2014, the agency han-dled 5,428 cases from for-eign carriers and 97 from domestic airlines.

Delayed flights on inter-national routes were 2,341 and 24,358 complaints from local routes in 2013 while in 2014 the interna-tional airlines had 3,288 an upward movement due to some certain extrane-ous factors and the local airlines had 24,111, which was a marginal decrease

from the previous year.Similarly, there were

131 complaints arising from cancelled flights from the international carriers and 229 from the domestic carriers in 2013.A total number of 345 flights were cancelled in 2014 while on the domestic flights we had 167.

Overbooking and de-nied boarding on foreign operations had 57 com-plaints and 63 for local op-erations. The subsequent year 2014 saw foreign op-erations providing 31 com-plaints and the domestic operators had the same number of complaint

within the period.In addition, domestic

operators had a total of 97 mishandled or misrouted baggage and 76 of those baggage were found, while 5,428 on international routes and 22,895 were found within the same pe-riod.

Other complaints such as pilferage and discour-tesy on the international flights received a total number of 109 com-plaints in 2013 and 101 on domestic. These com-plaints reduced in 2014 to 83 on international route and 59 on the local route.

With the attendant increase in the volume of passenger traffic, the regulatory agency said it had correspondingly strengthened the DCP with a wide range of en-lightenment campaign, which were embarked upon by the NCAA.

As a corollary to the increase in consumer protection activities and the success rate of positive closure of com-plaints and attendant compensations, these have caused a multiplier effect on the number of foreign airlines operat-ing into Nigeria. It rose from 29 in 2013 to 34 in 2014, while other applica-tions are receiving atten-tion.

Ndubuoke emphasised that NCAA has taken a decisive and strong ap-proach to ensure that all airlines operating in and out of Nigeria must ensure safe, secure and comfortable operations, adding that passengers parting with their hard earn cash must get value for their money, while all the rules of engagement on the tickets must be continuously upheld.

7Monday, December 1, 2014National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net8 News8 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, December 1, 2014

SEBASTINE EBHUOMHANBENIN

Presidential aspirant of the All Progres-sives Congress, APC, Muhammadu Bu-hari, has said the high quality of projects em-barked on by Governor Adams Oshiomhole in Edo State is testimony of how the APC government at the federal level will transform the country when voted into power in 2015.

The former Head of State who disclosed this at the commissioning of the Ayogwiri-Apana-Ok-pekpe road in Etsako East local government area of the state on Saturday, said having commissioned other projects in Benin City, he had no doubt the state is blessed with one of the most dynamic gov-ernors in the country.

He said, A road like this Okpekpe road will boost the economy and it is something that only gov-ernment can provide, as the Edo State government has done. When the roads are bad, farmers cannot take their products to the city for sale because it is expensive.

It is so expensive be-cause transporters will not come. They will find out (the journey) is not worth it. Commuting to and fro, they discover the repairs are more than the money they earn from the farmers. While the farm-ers themselves feel they are working for the trans-porters.

There is no doubt that this road will give acces-sibility to this community. Without accessibility it will be difficult to convey farm produce, and buy-ers will not want to come

DENNIS NAKUPORT HARCOURT

Unknown gunmen shot and killed two persons, including a policeman in Amadi-Ama axis of Port Har-court, Rivers State yester-day morning.

This is as the police said it has arrested 25 per-sons in connection with the incident, though Na-tional Mirror learnt that some of those arrested may be innocent.

The incident occurred barely 48 hours after no fewer than seven persons were killed by yet-to-be-identified armed men in Omoku, headquarter of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni lo-cal government area of the state.

It was gathered that yesterdays killing oc-curred at about 7am, when residents of the area were preparing to at-tend church service.

Eyewitness said no sooner had they tried to raise the alarm on sight-ing four suspicious armed youths, than they struck.

It was gathered that the other victim (name withheld) is believed to

be a strong member of the Greenlander cult group.

One of the eyewitness-es said the bandit died on the spot after being shot, but that the policeman was rushed to an undis-closed hospital where he gave up the ghost.

The circumstances leading to the shooting of the policeman was not clear at press time, even as the development led to mass arrest by the po-lice.

Wife of one of the persons arrested, Mrs. Seline Koko, said her husband, Mr. Silas, was ironing his clothes when he was arrested by the police, insisting that he was arrested unjustly.

Mrs. Koko lamented that her efforts to trace the police station where her husband was taken to was unsuccessful, just as she appealed to the po-lice authorities and state government to release her husband.

Confirming the re-port, the state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ahmad Muham-mad, said 25 persons had been arrested in connec-tion with the incident.

Gunmen kill policeman in Port Harcourt

Doctors protest: Lagos denies owing medical personnel

2015: APCll replicate Edo success nationally Buhari

Former President Nasrul-LahiL-Faith Society (NASFAT), Alhaji Sheriff Yusuf (left), and President, Engr. Kamil Bolarinwa, during the inauguration of new national executive members in Ogun State, yesterday. PHOTO: ABIOLA ABDULHAMMED

Fashola

FRANCIS SUBERU

The Lagos State Gov-ernment yesterday reiterated that it has always paid the sala-ries of all its employees, doctors inclusive, when due.

Some doctors working in the state governments hospitals had early last week staged a demonstra-tion, alleging that the government owed them an unspecified amount of money covering their sal-aries for July and August this year.

But debunking the allegation, the govern-ment said the complaint by the doctors refers to July and August 2014 during which period the affected doctors went on strike, adding that their salaries were not paid in accordance with the gov-ernments policy of No Work, No Pay.

The Lagos government also recalled, with regret, that the period of the

doctors strike unfortu-nately coincided with the outbreak of the Ebola Vi-rus Disease in the state, pointing out that all en-treaties to the striking doctors to see reason and call off the strike were ig-nored.

In a statement jointly signed by Chairman, Health Service Commis-sion, Dr. M.O. Salako and Chairman, Lagos State University Teaching Hos-pital, Dr. O. Williams, the state government said it resumed prompt payment of salaries to the doctors since they resumed work.

The statement, which reiterated that the state governments policy of No work, no pay was still in force, pointed out

that the policy was in-formed by the fact that it was unjustifiable for any worker to be paid for work not done, maintain-ing that any group of its employees that embarked on strike in contraven-tion of the laid-down procedures governing such actions would be so treated for the period of strike.

Assuring all citizens of the administrations com-mitment to its responsi-bilities of protecting life and property in the state at all times, the state-ment reiterated, Gov-ernments policy of No work, no pay remains in force, meaning you can-not be paid for work not done.

since it will increase cost. Only the government can intervene to ease this problem. May God in his infinite mercy pay you back, he said.

Project like this is a testimony of the high-lev-el thinking of the APC and how the APC government will transform the country for good when it wins the election at the federal level in 2015.

In his remark, Edo State governor, Adams Oshiom-hole, said: Even to survey this road was quite prob-lematic. In the end it was done but the amount re-quired to construct it was

frightening. And I said to myself there is nothing that is good that will come cheap and we are con-vinced that rural Nigeria should benefit from devel-opment.

If government should touch everybody, that we should spread develop-ment to every nook and cranny of the state, then no terrain should be con-sidered too expensive to develop. So we decided to construct the road. As you have seen we decided to do the commissioning here and not in the vil-lage so that you can see the amount of work done to

achieve this level.I feel fulfilled that God

has used us to make a dif-ference in the lives of very ordinary people and there is nothing that is good that any leader wants to do that he wont be able to do. The poverty we face as a nation is not paucity of resources but of ideas and poverty of commitment.

He added: For the oth-er party, they believe that constructing roads to the rural areas is dangerous to their instrument of rig-ging. When the place can-not be accessed, both INEC and the police are not in a hurry to go there and they

will vote for them in the city and announce the re-sult on their behalf.

By constructing this road, we are doing damage to election riggers and dis-mantling their rigging in-frastructure by providing access for election materi-als to get to their location irrespective of where they are.

Also, the traditional ruler of Okpekpe King-dom said in the past many politicians had used the construction of the road as a bait to win votes in the kingdom, adding that they disappeared as soon as the elections were over.

...25 suspects arrested

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 9Monday, December 1, 2014

NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY, KANO (OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR)

APPLICATION FOR THE POST OF VICE-CHANCELLOR

Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates for the post of Vice-Chancellor of Northwest University, Kano which will be vacant with effect from 1st January, 2015. Pursuant to the provisions of the Northwest University Law 2012 No. 8 the Governing Council of the University wishes to start the process of filling the vacancy. Interested candidates are to note the following information for guidance.

A) QUALIFICATIONS REQUIREDThe candidate for the post of the Vice-Chancellor is required to possess a good University

education and should be a proven manager of human and material resources.Specially, the candidate shall:i) Be a highly distinguished academic with a Ph.D;ii) Be on the rank of Professor;iii) Be a successful scholar who is well rooted in the finest academic tradition;iv) Have a wide academic and administrative experience, and be capable of giving dynamic leadership;v) Be able to muster both national and international respect, particularly in the academic world;vi) Possess the ability to create the much needed harmony between staff and students on one hand and between members of the University Community and the host community on the other;vii) Be a person with a clear vision for the development of the University even under resource constraints;viii) Be someone who appreciates and acts on merit and who will not give in to undue pressure;ix) Be of sound mental and physical health;x) Be morally sound, and of unassailable integrity;xi) Be prepared to demonstrate commitment to the Universitys objectives and philosophy;xii) Be a person who is not older than 60 years at the point of assumption of duty as Vice- Chancellor; and xiii) Be computer literate.

B) METHOD OF APPLICATIONApplicants are required to note and comply with the following conditions:i) Each application should be made in 25 copies and should be accompanied with 25 copies of the candidates current curriculum Vitea duly signed and dated by the candidate. The Curriculum Vitea must include the candidates names in full, age, marital status, educational attainment, nationality, professional and academic achievements and any relevant information.ii) Each application should include the names and address of three referees (at least one of whom should be able to testify to the academic standing of the candidate and other to testify to his/her moral character and integrity). Each referee should be contacted by the applicant to forward directly to the Registrar a confidential report on him/her in a properly sealed envelope marked Referees Report for Applicant for the post of Vice- Chancellor at the top left hand corner of the envelope.iii) Each application must be accompanied by 25 copies of statement of the candidates vision of the University in the twenty-first century;iv) All applications shall be submitted under confidential cover and addressed to; The Registrar & Secretary to Council, Northwest University, P.M.B. 3220, City Campus, Kofar Nassarawa, Kano State.v) The sealed envelope(s) containing the applications should be marked Vice-Chancellor at the top left hand corner and forwarded in time to reach the Registrar not later than six weeks from the date of this advertisement.

C) CONDITIONS OF SERVICE The Vice-Chancellor shall serve for a single term of five year. The remunerations and other conditions of service shall be as approve by Council, from time to time.

REG/ADM/171/V.1/xx 26th November, 2014

Signed:Faruk Muhammad Yanganau

Registrar

NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY, KANO (OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR)

VACANCY FOR THE POST OF REGISTRAR

The Governing Council of Northwest University, Kano hereby announces that the position of Registrar of the University will be vacant by 1st January, 2015. In accordance with the provision of the Northwest University Law 2012 and in executing its powers contained therein, the Governing Council wishes to commence the process of filling the impending vacancy. Accordingly, applications are hereby invited from suitably qualified candidates for the position. Interested candidates are requested to note the following information about the University.

THE DUTIESThe Registrar is the Chief Administrative Officer of the University and shall

be responsible to the Vice-Chancellor for the day-to-day administration of the University except as regards matters for which the Bursar is responsible in accordance with section 12 (2) of the Northwest University Law 2012. The Registrar shall by virtues of that office, be Secretary to Council, Senate, Congregation and Convocation.

QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCECandidates should be graduates with good honors degree in relevant discipline

obtained from a recognized University and must have not less than fifteen (15) years post-qualification working experience, including relevant administrative experience not below the rank of a Deputy Registrar in a public University. Candidates must be Information and Communication Technology (ICT) compliant and must command respect and be able to carry colleagues along. Possession of a higher degree(s) will be an added advantage.

SALARY AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICEThe remuneration and other conditions of service are as applicable to the post

of Registrar of all Nigerian Federal Universities and as may be determined from time to time by the Government/Governing Council. The successful candidate shall hold office for a term of five (5) years initially and renewable for another five years.

Fringe benefits include pension in consonance with the Kano State Pension scheme and appropriate allowance as may be approved from time to time by the University Council.

METHOD OF APPLICATIONApplicants are required to submit twenty five (25) copies of their applications

and detailed curriculum Vitea highlighting among others, the following:Full Names; Place and Date of Birth; Permanent Home Address; Contact

Address; Cell Phone Number; email Address; Nationality; Marital Status; Number and Names of Children (if any); Educational Institutions Attended with Dates; Academic Qualifications with dates; Professional Qualifications; Employment Records; Statement of Experience; Publications; Extra Curricular Activities; Name & Addresses of Three Referees; etc.

Each applicant must have three (3) referees who should be requested by the applicant to forward their referees report under confidential cover by courier, hand or post directly to;

The Vice-Chancellor,Northwest University,

PMB 3220,Kano State.

All applications should be submitted by courier service under confidential cover in sealed envelopes marked Post of Registrar, Northwest University to reach his office not later than six (6) weeks from the date of this publications

Only the applications of short-listed candidates will be acknowledged.

REG/ADM/171/V.1/xx 26th November, 2014

Signed:Faruk Muhammad Yanganau

Registrar

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net10 Monday December 1, 2014 South West

BOLADALE BAMIGBOLAOSOGBO

The Nigeria Union Teachers, NUT, has said that its oppo-sition to any constitution amendment that will give autonomy to local gov-ernment councils in the country was hinged on the agony experienced by teachers when primary education was handled by local government.

Speaking to newsmen in Ile Ife, shortly after su-pervising the conduct of elections into executive positions in Osun State chapter of the NUT dur-

ing the Fifth Quadrennial Sixth Delegates Confer-ence of the union, NUT national President, Com-rade Michael Olukoya, stated that the union would not fold its arms, while its members are re-turned to the old days of non-payment of salaries.

To consolidate its posi-tion on the matter, Olu-koya said the National Executive Council, NEC, of the union will call teachers out a for two days warning strike this week to stop any amendment that would return prima-ry education to local gov-

ABIODUN NEJOADO EKITI

The tuition fee pay-able by the students of Ekiti State Uni-versity, EKSU, Ado Ekiti has been reduced from N50,000 to N30,000.

Governor Ayodele Fay-ose, who made the disclo-sure in Ado Ekiti at the weekend, said the stu-dents could also pay the fee in two instalments.

Fayose, speaking in a statewide programme tagged Meet Your Gover-nor, said his administra-tion would also ensure an enabling atmosphere for teaching and learning in state-owned institutions in line with his campaign promises.

It would be recalled that the students had always protested high tuition fees in addition to demand to pay by installment for con-venience.

The governor traced the frosty relationship between him and All Pro-gressives Congress, APC, lawmakers in the state House of Assembly to the legislators selfishness and putting themselves first in all considerations.

Fayose, who said Ekiti interest should take prior attention, said he met with the lawmakers after his inauguration and we agreed to work together. They asked that their monthly running grant of N48 million be paid in full even when other agencies have theirs slashed by 60 per cent or stopped totally because of poor finances, we still gave them their

full grant.The governor accused

the APC lawmakers of having a mindset and di-rective from their party leaders that they must cripple my government and I know the people of the state will not allow that.

They now said they should be given 10 per cent, which is N200 mil-lion, of the N2 billion loan for SMEs that we wanted to access from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and I refused.

The governor, who de-nied receiving reimburse-ment of fund spent by the state government on fed-eral roads and ecological fund, said: The Federal Government is saying it wont reimburse Ekiti be-cause the Fayemi admin-istration did not take per-mission to work on those roads.

We are just liaising with the Federal Govern-ment to get the situation redressed. No kobo has also been given to the state from Ecological Funds, he said.

The governor, who said the state would not en-courage waste, said: A situation where we have 36 permanent secretaries for 14 active ministries does not make sense.

The former governor had 104 special advisers/special assistants and they were given official cars at the expense of the state. By the time they left, most of the cars were not paid for and they left with them, the governor added.

Govt slashes EKSU tuition fees

Insecurity: Nigeria is in serious crisis Aregbesola

Why we oppose proposed LG autonomy NUT

L-R: Wife of Ogun State governor, Olufunso Amosun; General Superintendent, Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor William Kumuyi; his wife, Esther, and Governor Ibikunle Amosun, during a service to round-off a three-day crusade at the churchs new Camp Ground, Kobape, Abeokuta-Sagamu Expressway yesterday.

Osun State Gover-nor, Rauf Aregbe-sola, on Sunday, alerted Nigerians on the serious danger that lurks around with the ceaseless spate of bombing in parts of the country.

He said that last Fri-days bombing of the Cen-tral mosque in Kano, has proved beyond reasonable doubt that the nation is in the throes of life-threaten-ing crisis.

A statement by the Director, Bureau of Communication,Semiu

Okanlawon, quoted Areg-besola as stating these at the weekly prayer session of Nasrullahi -il Fathi So-ciety of Nigeria, NASFAT, Osogbo branch where he joined other adherents to pray for Nigeria and Osun State.

The governor, who con-demned the bombing, said Friday gory picture after the bombing, demonstrat-ed clearly that Nigeria has a serious crisis at hand.

He said that the mosque attacks showed that the insurgency transcends

narrow religious confines, people, government, or-ganisation and public ana-lysts usually ascribe to the dastardly killings.

He added that when a Muslim chose another fel-low Muslim as target and on a Friday (Jumat) con-gregation to strike at him, then this has gone beyond a deliberate targeting of a particular religion by an-other.

He stated that no rea-sonable Muslim can jus-tify attacks of Christians and Churches let alone

Mosques and Muslims as a means of propagating the Islamic faith.

The Friday bombing of Emirs palaces Mosque has proved ultimately and beyond any doubt, that this country faces daunt-ing challenges posed by the Boko Haram insur-gents.

Condemnable as the act is, yet it baffles one that a lot of us still deceive ourselves by reading reli-gious colouration to this whole violence.

I do not believe that

ernments in the country, adding that granting full autonomy to council in the country would affect effective running of pri-mary education.

He called on teachers across the country to pre-vail on their state houses of assembly and press for rejection of the proposed

autonomy for local gov-ernments.

Speaking in similar vein, the Second Vice-President of the NUT, Comrade Saka Adesiyan assured that the union would continue to cham-pion the course of its members with a view to improving their socio-eco-

nomic status.Adesiyan, who called

on warring members of the Osun State chapter to return into the fold, urg-ing them not to allow poli-ticians to divide the union for their selfish interest.

The newly elected Osun NUT Chairman, Comrade Wakeel Amuda, in his ac-

ceptance speech, prom-ised to consolidate on the achievements of his pre-decessor and ensure unity in the union to make it a formidable body.

Amuda also urged mem-bers to support the new leadership of the union so as to take the union to an enviable height.

ABIODUN NEJOADO EKITI

The Ekiti State All Progressives Con-gress, APC, Caucus at the House of Repre-sentatives has described development at the Ekiti State House of Assembly as an act of impunity and lawlessness which the fed-eral legislature will take appropriate steps to re-dress.

The Chairman, House of Representatives Com-mittee on Communica-tions, Oyetunde Ojo and a member representing Ekiti South Federal Con-stituency II, Bamidele Faparusi, said that the matter would be raised on the floor of the House as a motion when it resumed from recess.

The federal lawmakers, who spoke at the weekend at Ode Ekiti in the Gbon-

yin Council area of Ekiti State, said the House of Representatives, in view of its regulatory powers over the state assemblies could not exhibit siddon look attitude when the laws of the land were be-ing trampled upon.

The APC lawmakers spoke in reaction to the recent purported im-peachment of the Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dr Ade-

wale Omirin, by 7 of the 26-member Assembly and his replacement with Dele Olugbemi.

Ojo, who said Omirins offence was calling for due process in the screen-ing of the Commissioner-nominees presented by Governor Ayodele Fayose, said: This is what democ-racy is all about. The pro-cess cannot allow you to assume a dictatorial sta-tus.

Reps seek NASS intervention in Ekiti Assembly crisis

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, December 1, 2014 11South West

L-R: Chief Imam of Lekki Central Mosque, Alhaji Ridwan Jamiu; brides father, Engr. Sina Adegbenro; Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwanso; Prince Bola Ajibola and grooms father, Barrister Dapo Durosinmi-Etti, during the wedding of Khadijat and Abdul-Gafaar in Lagos, yesterday.

ALGON, NULGE launch 2015 vehicle clearance certifi cate

Lagos PDP big boys defect to APC

The Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON, and Nigerian Union of Lo-cal Government Employ-ees, NULGE, in conjunc-tion with the Joint Mobile Advert Agency of Nigeria Limited, JMOAN, have jointly launched the 2015 Biometric Pin Code clear-ance certificate for the identification of genuine local government annual vehicle levies and permits.

This is to eradicate dou-ble or multiple taxation and undue intimidation and harassment of motor-ists.

The representative of

ALGON president, Com-rade Okafor Bartholomew, at the launching in Hotel Doris Dey, Benin City, Edo State, enjoined the motor-ing public to go about their normal businesses without worry and promptly report any harassment to any of the aforementioned bod-ies, their joint task force or the nearest police station if harassed over vehicle stick-ers.

He charged them to pa-tronise only genuine coun-cil revenue workers/of-ficers who must prove the authenticity of their docu-ments by sporting already issued permits with a copy

of the ALGON/NULGE vehicle biometric consoli-dated clearance.

The Managing Director of JMOAN, Mr. Andrew Dare, warned against the use of fake and unauthor-ised permits and biometric certificates. While high-lighting features of a genu-ine biometric clearance, he said its background colour is silver, printed in red and black with ALGON and NULGE boldly written on the serialised sticker.

The event, which was preceded by the An-nual General Meeting of JMOAN had in attendance captains of industries,

council chairmen, state and council officials, rep-resentatives of Ekiti State Board of Internal Revenue, representatives of Lagos State Signage and Advertis-ing Agency, LASAA, stake-holders and other major players in the sticker busi-ness across the country.

Also in attendance were members of the board of JMOAN, including Chief Nnamdi Ogboh, Chief Richard Obeto and Chair-man of the board, Chief G.O.A. Ojoba, who applaud-ed the executives of AL-GON and NULGE for their bold step to finally stop multiple taxation.

BOLADALE BAMIGBOLA OSOGBO

Breakdown or lack of trust has been iden-tified as the major problem bedeviling gover-nance globally.

In Nigeria particularly, dwindling trust between the leadership and the led is said to be the hurdle pre-venting emergence of best leaders or limiting their performance when they are able to get to positions of au-

FRANCIS SUBERU

Former Lagos State deputy governor, Chief Rafiu Jafojo and former chairman of the Nigeria Medical As-sociation in the state, Dr Abayomi Finnih, were part of the Peoples Demo-cratic Party, PDP chieftains amidst thousands of party men and women who de-fected to the All Progressive Congress, APC yesterday in Lagos.

Other party chieftains who defected alongside Ja-fojo and Finnih were Dr. Tunde Daramola, a former financial secretary of the PDP in the state, Chief Mrs Oluwole, Alhaji Okanlawon and Segun Adeyemi.

They were on Saturday afternoon welcomed into their new political affilia-tion by the Lagos State gov-ernor, Babatunde Fashola, his deputy, Adejoke Ore-lope-Adefulire, the partys chairman and deputy chairman, Henry Ajomale and James Odunbaku re-spectively and other APC leaders in the state.

Governor Fashola, while welcoming the new APC members, enjoined them to always believe that the par-

2015: Yoruba race can trust Jonathanthority.

Billionaire businessman and politician, Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim, disclosed these while addressing a one-day summit organised by Yoruba Concerned El-ders in Ile-Ife, Osun State.

According to him, the relative economic stability enjoyed by South West Nige-ria, where the Yoruba peo-ple have their roots, might otherwise work against it and limit the amount of Mr. Presidents attention it gets

when economy of other re-gions are in parlous state.

Quoting from the statis-tics provided by the World Bank on the poverty rating among regions in the coun-try, Barrister Ibrahim, said the poverty rate of South West, which he put at 16 per-cent, remained the least in the country. He added that the threatening 52.2percent poverty rate of North East would ordinarily make any good leader to deploy more resources to where poverty

is prevalent.The Group Managing Di-

rector of Global Fleet how-ever said the South West, despite its economic advan-tage and relative stability when other regions are in need of more attention, can still enjoy the trust of Jona-than should the region help him with the requisite votes in the 2015 Presidential elec-tion.

Stating the mandate of people of the region on be-half of the leading Yoruba

traditional and political leaders, Ibrahim said: In all his decisions so far, Presi-dent Jonathan has been fair. Yoruba people are trustwor-thy and President Jonathan can also be trusted.

In 2011, we didnt do enough, Yoruba people gave President Jonathan less than three million votes out of 17 million votes that won the poll for him. But in 2015, South West is ready to give Mr. President seven million votes.

tys interest is paramount and that it should be consid-ered before the individual interest or aspirations.

Fashola also described the defectors as people with experience in marking out the differences between dif-ferent political parties as they have come from a dis-appointing party to a prom-ising party.

According to the gover-nor, the party in charge of the countrys affairs at the centre has continuously inflected pains on the pop-ulace and the people are ready to say no to continu-ation of poor leadership at the centre.

He said the PDP without election has lost five gov-ernors and the Speaker of the House of Assembly, say-ing Jonathans government would enter the Guinness Book of records for losing five governors prior to election.

The governor congratu-lated the courage of the erstwhile PDP chieftains, saying they must have en-dured much hardship from poor leadership in their former party, adding that change in the incoming election is inevitable.

One of the decamped chieftains, Chief Jafojo said he has always been a pro-gressive and did niot really feel at home while in PDP, adding that his coming to APC is home coming and will yield a lot of dividends for the party and the public in general.

He said: While I was in PDP, I was on sabbatical leave, I dont belong there and I decided to come back to APC especially because they have lots of progres-sive programmes that have improved our society and deliver the dividends of de-mocracy to the citizenry.

As from the beginning of my political life, I have always been a progressive and that is why I joined hands with other progres-sives in APC. I am well known for my progressive activities and in APC, I am at home. There is no doubt about that.

CHANGE OF NAMENWALI: Formerly known and addressed as Wali Chibueze Ransom Okereke, now wish to be known and addressed as Nwali Chibueze Okereke Ransom. All former documents remain valid. British High Commission and general public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAMEFormerly known and addressed as Miss Onyinyechi Nwogu now wish to known and addressed as Mrs Peace Onyinyechi Akagha. All former documents remain valid. Federal Poly Nekede Owerri, NYSC and general public take note

CHANGE OF NAMEFormerly known and addressed as Miss Onyinyechi Jessica Okogbue, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Obiekwe Obinna Onyinyechi Jessica. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public take note

CHANGE OF NAMEFormerly known and addressed as Miss Treasure Patrick, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Treasure Kalu.. All former documents remain valid. General public take note

CHANGE OF NAMEFormerly known and addressed as Miss Egbue Edwin, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Okoye Izundu Edwin. All former documents remain valid. Abia Poly, NYSC and general public take note

CHANGE OF NAMEFormerly known and addressed as Miss Anakebe Nwadiuto Ann, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Okoli Nwadiuto Ann. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public take note

CHANGE OF NAMEMARCUS: Formerly known and addressed as Miss Deborah Marcus, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Deborah Emmanuel Gagarau. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public take note

CHANGE OF NAMEFOWOBAJE: Formerly known and addressed as Fowobaje Anuoluwapo Sarah, now wish to be known, called and addressed as Bimpe-Adelowo Anuoluwapo Sarah. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAMENLEMADIM: Formerly known and addressed as Nlemadim Chioma Joy, now wish to be known, called and addressed as Mrs. Chioma Joy Echendu. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAMEJIMMY: Formerly known and addressed as Miss Jimmy Aniema Precious, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Obasikene Aniema Precious. All former documents remain valid. Nnamdi Azikiwe University and general public please take note

CHANGE OF NAMEFormerly known and addressed as Miss Fashanu Toluwani Ramat, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Laval Toluwani Ramat. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note

CHANGE OF NAMEFormerly known and addressed as Onyekpe Maria Joy, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ochigbo Emmanuella Maria. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note

CHANGE OF NAMEFormerly known and addressed as Barthe C Ariguzooldo Ololo, now wish to be known and addressed as Ariguzo Barthelomew Arinze C. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note

CHANGE OF NAMEFormerly known and addressed as Miss Adeyemo Folake Olayemi Racheal, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Akintola Folake Olayemi Racheal. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAMEFormerly known and addressed as Miss Hammed Taiwo Sakirat,now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Busari-Hammed Taiwo Sakirat. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAMEADENIJI: Formerly known and addressed as Miss Adeniji Olorunfunmi Bose, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Bello Olorunfunmi Bose. All former document remain valid. NYSC and general public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAMEFormerly known and addressed as Aminatu Olayinka Oshilaja, now wish to be known and addressed as Olayinka Oshilaja. All former document remain valid. To whom it may concerned and general public take note.

National Mirror www.nationalmir-12 South East Monday, December 1, 2014

CHRIS NJOKUOWERRI

The authorities of the MTN Foundation at the weekend offered scholarship to 1,205 high performing science and technology oriented stu-dents and 167 brilliant blind students across the country for year 2014.

Offering scholarship to the deserving students the at the 1,000 capacity hall of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, FUTO, during the 2014 MTN Foun-dation Science and Tech-nology Scholarship awards for the blind students, the Foundation Director, Den-nis Okoro said the suc-

cessful beneficiaries, were drawn from various public tertiary schools, including the science and technology institutes.

According to Okoro, the Foundation had concluded plans to be in Abuja, the fed-eral capital territory where successful students in the northern region would en-joy the gesture and there-after, extend same to those from the western region which would be held in La-gos on the December 9.

Our impact goes be-yond statistics and figures, to shaping Nigerias future through education, to make an investment in the lives of tomorrows leaders by providing them with an op-

portunity to pursue their dreams despite financial limitations, said Okoro.

He explained that the exercise was to celebrate academic excellence in stu-dents who had worked ex-tremely hard and who had unquestionably deserved an opportunity to continue to pursue their dreams of a higher education.

The MTNF boss, while congratulating the recipi-ents assured that the foun-dation would continue to support them as long as they maintain the required cumulative grade point av-erage, CGPA, scores every year.

Okoro expressed grati-tude to the Minister of

DENNIS AGBENUGU

Suspected gunmen, during the weekend, abducted the Presi-dent General of Nsukka Town Union, Chief Augus-tine Alumona.

The abductors were said to have taken him through the newly constructed Opi-Ugwogo Nike road, but to no known destination.

A source said that a po-lice officer, who was return-ing from night duty spotted Alumonas vehicle where it was abandoned.

Sensing abnormality in the way the vehicle was parked, he opened it and saw the phone number of one Mr. Moses Ugwu, whom

Gunmen abduct Nsukka town president

however, said it was within the jurisdiction of the Enugu State com-mand.

He assured that the po-lice would soon unravel the circumstance surrounding the kidnap of Alumona.

As at the time of filling this report, no ransom has been demanded on the vic-tim by the suspected kid-nappers.

A source told our cor-respondent that the vic-tim was on his way to the Enugu residence of a PDP gubernatorial aspirant and Managing Director of Peace Mass Transit, Evan-gelist Samuel Maduka Ony-ishi, for a meeting before he was whisked away by the hoodlums.

CHRIS NJOKUOWERRI

Worried by the growing destitu-tion and declin-ing numbers of the aged in the Nigerian society, the Church of Nigeria (Angli-can Communion), yesterday in Owerri, called on both the federal and state govern-ments to quickly fashion out a special welfare pro-gramme that would cushion the effect of the hardship be-ing experienced by old men and women in the country, as it is the case in the many countries of the world.

Bishop of the Dioceses of Ohaji/Egbema, Imo State Rt Rev. Chidi Collins Oparao-jiaku, gave the challenge at the 2014 Diocesan harvest and birthday/Christmas organised for over 100 aged men and women in the area.

The Prelate noted with sadness, that while politi-cians had continued to oc-cupy themselves with party matters and electoral issues, no visible attention has been accorded to the wel-

Bishop chides govt over neglect of aged

L-R: Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Dr. Nwanze Okidegbe; Representative of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Mr. Paulsanctus Uzomah; General Manager, Anambra Motor Manufacturing Company, Mr. Babatunde Kolade and Chairman, Sir Godwin Okeke, during an inspection tour of the company in Enugu, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

MTNF offers scholarship to 1,372 students

Gov, Chime

fare of the various elders statesmen who made invio-lable sacrifices in the nation building and promotion of evangelism.

According to him, the diocese had concluded plans to institutionalise birthday ceremonies for these elders statesmen in the area and to build houses for them in an appreciation to what they had given to the church.

The prelate therefore di-rected all priests in the dio-cese to replicate the gesture in their parishes which he said, was born out of pas-sion, even as he described old age as a special blessing from God which all living souls should long for.

Chairman of the Or-ganising Committee of the ceremony, Venerable God-son Chinonyerem Ejike JP, explained that the com-mittee took the bull by the horns and mobilised the beneficiaries from the vari-ous communities in the dio-ceses which cut across all the denominations and was devoid of political coloura-tion.

Education and his women Affairs and Social Devel-opment counterpart, the National Association of the Blind, NAB, the MTNF partners the Dragnet So-lutions Limited and Anglo-Nigeria Welfare Associa-tion for the Blind, ANWAB, for their cooperation and support.

One of the recipients was the son of the Director General of the Imo Broad-casting Corporation, IBC, Master Michael Chike Eg-buna thanked the founda-tion for the award which he said would better the lots of many Nigerian children who lacked the financial muscle to pursue their edu-cation career.

ALIUNA GODWINABAKALIKI

Ebonyi South zone of the All Progressive Congress, APC, has adopted one of the gover-norship aspirants, Dr Steve Egbo as its consensus can-didate to fly the partys flag come 2015 general election.

The adoption of Egbo was made known during in a meeting that comprises five local government areas of the state;the local gov-ernment are; Ivo LGA, Afik-po North, Afikpo South, Onicha and Ohaozara which make up the Ebonyi South zone.

The meeting held at Court Area in Okposi Devel-opment Centre in Ohaozara Local Government Area of the state, noted that Egbo is the only aspirant from Eb-onyi South zone contesting for governorship.

The political leaders of the zone numbering over four hundred stated that the reasons for adopting Egbo who hails from Onicha Lo-cal Government Area as sole candidate of APC in the forthcoming election, was in-line with the decision of the state governor, Chief

Martin Elechi to hand over power to Ebonyi South zone and urge aspirants who is not from the zone to with-draw from the race stress-ing that it is morally wrong for them to continue.

Addressing his support-ers, Egbo called on the stake-holders of the zone to re-main steadfast in APC and assured them the prepared-ness of the party to win the next years gubernatorial election in the state just as he said, that the alleged fac-tion in the party cannot de-ter APC from flooring PDP in the 2015 general election.

Egbo, further vowed that if elected in the next years general election as the gov-ernor, his government will create massive employment for the teaming youths of the state.

The impact of NIGER-CEM on the economy of the former Eastern Region was noted in the good old days. In view of the abundance of limestone in most parts of Ebonyi State and this, being the major raw material in cement production, my gov-ernment shall, within one year establish a wholly new Ebonyi State owned cement factory.

APC guber aspirant vows to revitalise NIGERCEM

he called and he confirmed that Alumona is his brother from Echara community in Nsukka Local Government area,the source said.

Reacting to the develop-ment, the Secretary Gen-eral of Oha Nsukka Assem-bly, Dr. Ikechukwu Obayi, said the abduction of Chief Alumona was shocking and

unbelievable.He said The wife called

me and broke the news of the abduction of her hus-band along Opi/Ugwuogo Nike road.

Going by the peaceful nature of Chief Alumona in conducting the affairs of Nsukka community, he should be the least person anyone would think of am-bushing or kidnapping, he stated.

Obayi stressed that the matter had been reported to the Enugu State Police Command for quick rescue of their community leader.

When contacted for com-ment, the Area Commander Nigeria Police Command Nsukka, ACP Musa Haladu, confirmed the incident but,

Imposition of candidates is anti-democratic Ortom

What exactly should the people of Benue expect if you become the governor?

Having worked at the local government, state and federal level and having come this far both in politics and in gov-ernance and having had the background of someone from grass to grace, I remain committed to service of humanity.

Specifically, in 2004, I felt fulfilled that I have arrived but how about the others. In the course of my praying and med-itating, God told me he had settled me but I still have the responsibility of settling others. That has been the passion and everything about me since 2004 is to see how I can sup-port and complement the lives of other people and see they can live a good life.

I am going in for the gubernatorial seat of Benue State to try to add value to all sectors of the economy but also having been privileged to know what the economy of the state looks like, having served as local government chair-man, publicity secretary, treasurer of defunct All Peoples Party, APP, secretary of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for six years and deputy chairman in Benue State, I am very conversant with the issues. I can tell you that Benue State is the food basket of the nation, it is an agricultural state but as a farmer myself, I can attest to the fact that the average farmer is not benefiting from the primary products that are being produced and since we do not have industries to go into processing, there has been a very big challenge.

As governor, I will definitely be focusing on how best we can add value to our primary products. One of the chal-lenges we have in Benue State today is unemployment and the way to reduce it is not through the local government or state governments. Already local and state government are battling with how to cope with their overheads. The only way we can do this is to work through the organised private sector and as governor, I will try to add value to the primary products that we have in agriculture through processing, that means we will have to industrialise the state through the private sector and this will give us multiple benefits to create jobs, create wealth and create other opportunities that will come as a result of these industries and by this we will be adding value to the primary products. The average farmer will feel the impact of what they are producing; this issue of rural-urban drift will be reduced to its barest mini-mum.

Most of the vices we have in society today are because we have people coming into the town and not finding jobs and of course, the idle mind is the devils workshop. The only way to curb this is when industries are available to produce these raw materials as primary products coming from the farms and I believe it is one way we can reduce unemploy-ment to its barest minimum. We can also boost commercial activities and trading when we industrialise because if we are industrialising, we will be required to be commercialis-ing, so that the products to be sold within the state and at the national level and even exports; will help us.

For us in Benue State we have a lot of solid minerals and it is a matter of working with the organised private sector, getting the right investors and doing the investments here and this will give us good results.

Ortom

WITH THE KIND OF EXPOSURE THAT I HAVE, SEEING WHAT IS HAPPENING IN ASIA, EUROPE

AND AMERICA, WE CAN REPLICATE SAME HERE

Former Minister of State for Trade and Commerce, Dr. Samuel Ortom, a frontline gubernatorial aspirant in Benue State tells OBIORA IFOH that his government will bail out Benue from its present economic predicaments, while also warning that impositions of candidates are no longer acceptable political norm. Excerpts:

I know that we may not have the resources or the people around here may not have the resources but we can also provide the enabling environment for investors to come in and complement our efforts.

I believe that within four years, if we lay emphasis on or give priority attention to industry, commercial driven activ-ities and investment, we will discover that a lot of benefits will accrue to Benue State and we will not just be depend-ing on the civil service. For now, an average Benue indigene depends on the civil service, there are no commercial ac-tivities going on and so it becomes a very big burden to the state, they depend on the state government to provide jobs, provide income and provide everything, so it has become a huge problem that government is battling to cope with. Yes, we will add value to all sectors of the economy but prior-ity attention will be given to industries, commercial driven activities and investments; government will provide the en-abling environment.

This is a familiar terrain; I have handled work with the Federal ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. It is some level opportunity and advantage to me and to my state because I believe that the capacity that I built while serving as a minister, being able to travel round the world meeting international business men and investors, I believe this will go a long way in helping the state because I know that we have a lot of raw materials, all that we need is to go into processing. Basically, this is what I think will take on the new Benue State if I am given the opportunity to serve as governor.

The present government always complain of low fund-ing and IGR, how do you intend to maximise the IGR so as to help you fund the projects?

It is very simple, that is why I am laying emphasis on working with the organised private sector. What govern-ment need to do is to provide enabling environment, when you have an effective private sector driven economy, defi-nitely they will be paying taxes, so your IGR will be im-proved and you can generate funds to build a lot of other things. I believe that a government under my care will at-tract even some of the civil servants that are lying idle do-ing nothing but collecting salaries, preference to join the private sector.

Basically, we will be able to generate enough funds through taxes, because it makes things work. It is a strat-egy that has worked somewhere else and the same thing will apply in Benue State. We will reduce the burden on state government and generate more funds, there are lots of opportunities here whether in agriculture, solid miner-als, culture and tourism; yet to be tapped. With the kind of exposure that I have, seeing what is happening in Asia, Eu-rope and America, we can replicate same here, it is a mat-ter of adopting the right approach, providing the enabling environment, giving assurance of security to international investors that are coming in to invest and provide security around and I believe that Benue is peaceful enough to ac-commodate all these and I can assure you that we will be able to generate enough funds to take care of our needs.

You criticized the last ward congress, has anything changed since then and what is your next step? Again, what is your take on imposition of candidate, consider-ing that a particular candidate has been endorsed?

I do not know about imposition of candidate but all some of us are asking is for free, fair and transparent process that will usher in the nominated candidates for the February election. That is all I am canvassing for; I am not canvass-ing for extra help.

As a Christian, I know that all power belongs to God, it is God that crowns but at the same time, God deals with the truth, righteousness, fairness, justice, equity and transpar-ency. When it is done in the contrary, then there is a prob-lem. If I go out there and a process is free and fair and I am voted out, I will return home but where it is not done, I will not accept that. The congresses were not free and fair and we have complained and I know that it will be rectified, knowing that the date has been shifted forward. I believe that some of these anomalies will be corrected. In some places they were done freely and fairly but in other places, materials were not seen, they were not taken there in sever-al local governments, it is not right and it is not acceptable, we must try to do the right thing.

I have made my position known to everybody that cares to listen, that is where I stand. We should not attempt to im-pose people at this age; after all, the impositions of candi-dates are no longer working well. You will find out that Mr A will impose this and after two months when the person gets elected, they are apart, it does not make sense. Let us strive to do the right thing, the Bible says you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free, we must strive to do the right things at every time, that is the only way to get it right in this country, so that everybody will have the confi-dence and from there, we can make headway.

PoliticsNational Mirror

www.nationalmirroronline.net 13Monday, December 1, 2014

Politics National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net14 Monday, December 1, 2014

AHEAD 2015 GENERAL ELECTIONS

Delta State House of Assembly Speaker, Rt. Hon. Peter Owusanya, after being declared winner of PDP primary election for Oshimili South state constituency in Asaba, at the weekend.

ADEOLA TUKURUABUJA

As the 2015 general election draws near, National Centre for Women Devel-opment, NCWD, has called on women in the country to form a political asso-ciation that can support female candidates to be elected into government offices.

NCWD Director Gener-al, Lady Onyeka Onwenu, in an interview during the just concluded three-day capacity building on

gender mainstreaming for the media in Kaduna, organised by NCWD with support from UNICEF, explained that the asso-ciation can help female as-pirants who are not finan-cially capable to be elected into offices .

Onwenu said women needs to help one another through financial assis-tance, encouragement and supporting themselves like the male aspirants does.

Saying that Nigeria needs more women in the seats of power, she said: The sky is large enough

EBERE NDUKWU

Kwara State gover-nor, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed, yesterday scaled the All progres-sives Congress, APC, gu-bernatorial screening.

Ahmed who was screened by the Olagunsoye

for all of