monday, may 6, 2013

P.4

Vol. 3 N0. 614 Monday, May 6, 2013 N150

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6>>


NGF: Amaechi may withdraw from race

Stock market investors gain N2.35trn this year

Robbery kingpin, Tijani, still held 10 years after arrest

We’re not behind his travails –PresidencyRivers Speaker alleges plot to arrest him

BUSINESSTHE SECTION

P.A4,A5 Free inside

New guidelines fortakaful fi rms, favourscentralised approach

ree inside

P.4

P.11

Gunmen kill fi ve ex-militants, three others in Bayelsa

FG approves $3.7bn to improve power generation

P.8Opposition, women hail Adelabu’s nomination as Ekiti dep gov

JOHNSON OKANLAWON Investors on the Nige-rian Stock Exchange have so far gained

N2.35trn this year, as the market outperformed its

peers in Africa in the first four months driven by strong financials from the banking sector and blue

OBIORA IFOH, SAM OLUWALANA AND OLUSEGUN KOIKI

Rivers State Governor and Chairman of Nigerian Governors’

Forum, NGF, Rotimi Amae-chi, may at the next meet-ing of the body withdraw his candidature as chair-man of the forum.

Impeccable sources told National Mirror that Amae-chi will withdraw from con-testing for a second term in office.

The Presidency is against his re-election. President Goodluck Jona-than’s choice for the NGF chairman is Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema.

National Mirror gath-ered at the weekend that although no date had been

LCCI urges FG topatronise locallymade prepaid meters

AbubakarOnyema

L-R: Group Chief Executive Officer, First Bank Holdings Plc, Alhaji Bello Macchido; Executive Director, First City Monument Bank, Mr. Peter Obaseki; Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Chief Executive Officer, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Mrs. Sola David-Borha and Group Chief Executive Officer, Union Bank, Mr. Emeka Emuwa, during a courtesy visit to the minister in Abuja at the weekend.

Nebo

P.2

P.13

...seek police protection, fl ee to Abuja

Nigeria emerges Africa’s best with 25% YTD gain

Monguno: Northern politicians, businessmen panic

Dickson

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1




Northern politicians, businessmen panic

L-R: British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr. Andrew Pocock; Minister of State for FCT, Chief Olajumoke Akinjide and The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Mr. Alderman Glifford, during a courtesy visit to the minister in Abuja at the weekend. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

AUGUSTINE MADU-WEST, OMEIZA AJAYI, INUSA NDAHI AND AZA MSUE

Following Friday’s kid-napping of the for-mer Minister of Pe-

troleum Resources, Alhaji Shettima Ali Monguno, top government officials, politi-cians and businessmen in the North are now living in fear with some of them seeking police protection.

The growing wave of kidnappings and the gen-eral state of insecurity in the country have been giv-en important personalities serious concern.

Monguno was report-edly kidnapped by some gunmen soon after he said Friday’s congregational prayers at Mafoni Ward in Maiduguri metropolis.

The ward is one of the hotbeds of terrorist activi-ties in the Borno State capi-tal.

Although the police con-firmed that there had been demands for special protec-tion, they said the applica-tions would pass through a rigorous screening process before they could be grant-ed. The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, has placed strin-gent measures to prevent the process from being abused.

Before now, findings showed that the demand for bodyguards had been prom-inent in Anambra, Imo and Abia states. There is also a growing demand in Kogi, Nasarawa and Benue states ostensibly because of the communal clashes in some parts of the three North-Central states.

It will be recalled that last week, the JTF spokes-man, Sagir Musa, in a state-ment issued in Maiduguri, warned residents, particu-larly politicians, civil ser-vants, traditional rulers and others important per-sonalities on the wave of crime in the state.

A source told our cor-respondent that a highly respected traditional ruler in the state (name with-held) had relocated his fam-ily to Abuja even as he had restricted himself to his palace for the fear of the unknown.

Also a top business mo-gul (name withheld) who has since relocated from Maiduguri with some of

his family members said: “I have to relocate from Mai-duguri because apart from the threat letter issued to me by suspected members of the sect, I was informed by security agents that I am among those being hunted by some terrorists after they were apprehended in the state while trying to kid-nap one of my colleagues recently.”

In fact, the issue of kidnapping is becoming so rampant more than what obtains from the Ni-ger- Delta, because, in the case of Maiduguri and its environs, the kidnappers hardly demand for a ran-som. For example, since the elder statesman Dr. Mon-guno was kidnapped in a Mosque at Mafoni ward of the metropolis on Friday after Juma’at prayers, his abductors have not come out publicly demanding for a ransom.

National Mirror gath-ered that some Northern elites who are based in Ka-duna have partially moved to Federal Capital Territory for security reasons.

But, former governor of defunct Kaduna State, Al-haji Balarabe Musa, said he has no money to pay kidnappers’ ransom and no other place to go apart from his Kaduna home.

In a telephone interview with National Mirror, Musa said kidnappers can kidnap him too but all his belong-ings cannot reach half of the ransom been demanded from victims.

The elder statesman, while condemning in strong term the kidnapping of Monguno, said he had warned government about the menace but nobody ad-hered to his advice.

Musa however called for a holistic approach by gov-ernment and Nigerians to end kidnapping whom he described as a dangerous dimension to insecurity.

In Kano, the political class and leaders in the state are also living in fear of their safety.

National Mirror findings show that some of the lead-ers have already made con-tact with police authorities with a view to seeking the protection of the security agents against any form of attack, and those in this cat-egory we further gathered included notable political leaders and elders with contacts at the Presidency

and political office holders ranging from House of As-sembly members to sena-tors and top businessmen.

Although police authori-ties in Kano have denied any contact with political

office holders or leaders along that line, it was gath-ered that such arrangement is being kept top secret and negotiated privately with police divisions or posts nearest to anyone seeking

such protection.However, one police

source said that homes of prominent persons espe-cially those in government are enjoying some measure of privileged security atten-

tion.A prominent northern

leader in Second Republic, who wanted his name out of print, doubted whether the fate of the former MPN

fixed for the next meeting of the NGF, the governor would soon call members of the forum to render ac-count of his stewardship in the last two years.

The embattled gover-nor assumed office in June 2011, shortly after the gen-eral elections and thereaf-ter fixed a date for the next election which must take place this month.

Sources with knowledge of the situation told Nation-al Mirror that most of the governors, including the progressive, had suggested that a neutral governor would be suitable for the forum.

The progressive gover-nors, it was learnt, had also advised Amaechi not to contest for a second term in the interest of the NGF.

The source, who is an aide to one of the governors from the North Central and an anti- Jonathan crusader, said: “The governors are worried that the issue of who chairs the forum is unnecessarily being politi-cised and it has taken off the shine of why the forum was created. “NGF is not a political party, it is a body where the governors them-selves assess their perfor-mance while in office, using as benchmark what similar states have done and suc-ceeded.

“But the people are making it to look as if it is

purely a place to play poli-tics and plot unnecessary gamesmanship.

“In a few days, a new chair will emerge not based on the popularity of the candidate or who is behind such one but on the grounds that other colleagues will learn a few things from how he has managed his state and steered the state away from the common malaise of misgovernance.”

Though the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, at the weekend in Ontario, Cana-da, promised the embattled governor that he would en-sure that he retained his po-sition, a promise many peo-ple believed was a political statement, more pressure had continued to mount for the removal of Amaechi and his immediate replace-ment with a neutral candi-date.

Tukur had said: “PDP is the party that produced President Goodluck Jona-than and also the governor. The party is their father. As their father, the party will intervene in the crisis and ensure that there is peace between the President, who is the leader of the party, and the governor.”

Over the weekend in To-ronto, Canada, some PDP governors, party leaders, including members of the National Working Commit-tee, NWC, and top officials

of the Rivers State govern-ment, had attempted to end the rift between the gover-nor and the President but their efforts were unsuc-cessful.

The meeting, hosted by Nigerian Ambassador to Canada, Chief Ojo Madue-kwe, was discreetly organ-ised to settle the fast degen-erating intra-party crisis within the hierarchy.

It will be recalled that at-tempts by the governors to hold an election in March was suspended when the supporters of President Jonathan received signals that his candidate for the NGF chairmanship, Katsi-na State Governor Ibrahim Shema, was heading for a defeat against Amaechi.

“When it was clear that Amaechi would have easily won re-election, they (Jona-than’s loyalists in the NGF quickly called for the post-ponement of the election, saying that the current leadership should be al-lowed to finish its tenure in the spirit of democracy,” a governor-participant at the NGF meeting in Abuja told one of our correspondents.

On the eve of the sus-pended poll, the Peoples Democratic Party Gover-nors’ Forum was formed during a meeting presided over by Jonathan in Aso Rock and Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Ak-pabio, a known loyalist of Mr. President, emerged as

the chairman of the new forum.

Meanwhile, indications emerged yesterday that the State Security Services, SSS, and other security agencies would soon inves-tigate the particulars of the grounded Bombardier air-craft belonging to the Riv-ers State Government.

Information gathered yesterday by National Mir-ror revealed that the Minis-try of Aviation might have handed the documents at its disposal to the security agencies for further inves-tigations.

The jet, a Bombardier – BD 700 Global Express with the registration num-ber 5N565RS, operated by the Rivers State Govern-ment was on April 26, 2013 grounded by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, for flying illegally in the Nigerian airspace.

The aircraft’s papers, ac-cording to the government, had expired on April 2, 2013 and an extension was given by the NCAA for the Rivers State Government to renew the papers, but the state still failed to meet the require-ments for renewal.

The Rivers State Govern-ment had tendered docu-ments indicating that the aircraft was being managed by Caverton Helicopters, but the company, according to the Ministry of Aviation and the NCAA, had said that those

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net2 Monday, May 6, 2013News

Monday, May 6, 2013National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 3

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net4 Monday, May 6, 2013 Photo News

Tijani, trans-border robbery suspect, still detained 10 years after arrest WALE IGBINTADE

Indications have emerged that a cross-border robbery sus-

pect, Hamani Tijani, will be spending 10 years in prisons custody by Sep-tember, yet his trial may not have been concluded.

Tijani was arrested sometimes in September 2003 in Cotonou, Benin Republic, and was hand-ed over to the Nigerian Police at Seme border for prosecution.

Tijani is currently standing trial before Justice Sybil Nwaka of a Lagos High Court on a three-count of conspira-cy to commit armed rob-bery, armed robbery and receiving stolen goods respectively.

The defendant had through his lawyer, J H Bashir, filed a “no case submission’’ and asked the court to discharge and acquit him for lack of diligent prosecution, but his request was re-fused by Justice Nwaka

in a ruling delivered on October 23, 2012.

When the matter came up on January 14, 2013, the prosecution was not in court as a result of which it was adjourned till March 12, 2013.

However, the trial was stalled again on March 12 as the court did not sit and the case was further adjourned till May 9.

It was learnt that many months after his “no case submission’’ application was refused, the court is yet to give the reasons for the re-fusal.

Tijani had in his ap-plication, reminded the court that of the six witnesses listed by the prosecution, it had only called one Sgt Oluwemi-mo Banjoko as a witness eight years ago (2005) adding that no further witness testified in court in support of the pros-ecution.

He added that after much waiting and no progress was made in the matter, his lawyer ap-

plied that the case of the prosecution be closed which was granted by the court.

In his application, Tijani wanted court to determine whether the prosecution has estab-lished a prima facie case of conspiracy to commit robbery as contained in section 403A of the Criminal Code Laws of Lagos State and whether the testimony of the only prosecution witness was enough for him (Tijani) to answer the allegation of armed robbery.

His lawyer submit-ted that for an offence of conspiracy to exist, there must be evidence before the court that the defendant (Tijani) con-stituted direct involve-ment, adding that mere suspicion was not an of-fence in law.

Specifically, he said that the burden of proof in adversarial criminal justice system demands that the prosecution proves its case beyond all reasonable doubts, say-

ing: “There is need for the prosecution to prove that the defendant re-ceived the stolen goods’’.

He also challenged the evidence of Sgt. Banjoko who he said was not the investigating police offi-cer, but merely a member of the Special Investiga-tion Panel (SIP) consti-tuted by the then Inspec-tor -General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun.

Tijani was paraded with 30 other suspected cross-border robbery suspects before journal-ists in Abuja by the then IGP.

Subsequently in 2004, the Lagos State Govern-ment charged him to court for receiving sto-len property contrary to Section 427 of the Crimi-nal Code Cap C.17 Vol.2 Laws of Lagos State 2003.

He was alleged to have on or about August, 2003 at Porto-Novo in Be-nin Republic received a Peugeot 607 salon car marked: AY 651 APP knowing same to be sto-len.

CHIDI UGWU ABUJA

The Federal Govern-ment has approved $3.7 billion for the

improvement of power generation to 20,000 mega watt.

The Senior Special As-sistant on Media and Pub-licity to the Vice-President, Umar Sani, said in a state-ment that Vice-President Namadi Sambo disclosed the government’s decision to improve the power gen-eration at a meeting with Nigeria-Canadian Asso-ciation in Toronto.

According to the state-ment, Sambo explained the various efforts initi-ated by the Federal Gov-ernment to develop infra-structure at the meeting.

Sani said President Goodluck Jonathan’s ad-ministration was com-mitted to the provision of infrastructure, saying: “Efforts are being exerted in the areas of power sup-ply, transportation, avia-

tion, Information Com-munication Technology, agriculture, provision of affordable healthcare ser-vices and provision of good governance.

The statement appreci-ated the contributions of the Nigerians in the Dias-pora to national develop-ment.

The statement said that it was in recognition of their contributions that a Diaspora bond of N1 bil-lion was set up and urged them to key into the initia-tive.

Earlier, the President of the Nigeria-Canadian As-sociation, Fabian Nwoha, expressed the associa-tion’s desire to contribute to the development of the nation, but was reluctant due to the reported crimi-nal activities in the coun-try.

Nwoha, however, re-minded the government of its promise to provide a consular office in Toronto so as to enhance robust diplomatic issues.

FG approves $3.7bn to improve power generation to 20,000 mw

L-R: Deputy President, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines & Agriculture, Iyalode Alaba Lawson; wife of the Governor of Ogun State, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun and former Speaker, The Gambian & ECOWAS Parliament, Hon. Fatoumatta Ceesay, at the 2013 Women Advancement Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa

L-R: Retired Anglican Bishop Diocese of Lagos West, Rt. Rev (Dr) Peter Adebiyi, his wife, Caroline and Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi, during a special thanksgiving service to mark Adebiyi’s 70th birthday and retirement at St Paul’s Anglican Church, Osi-Ekiti, yesterday.

L-R: Resource person, Mr. Kehinde Oyeleke; Initiator, Mrs. Fola Ogunsola; Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Duro Oni and consultant, Mr. Wale Ogunsola at the programme tagged: “Path to becoming an employable graduate” organised for UNILAG final year students in Lagos, recently.

L-R: Director, La Casera Company Plc, Mr. Bankole Animashaun; Group Financial Director, Jotina, Mr. Sanjeev Chhetri and Managing Director, Mr. Anil Bapna, during the 2013 partners’ conference held in Lagos, at the weekend.

National News

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 5Monday, May 6, 2013 News




Northern politicians, businessmen panicScene of a car bombing by a suicide attacker near a government convoy in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, killing at least seven people yesterday.

documents were forged. Although Caverton He-

licopters had declined to make a public statement on the issue, one of its media consultants had told our correspondent last week that the company had ten-dered relevant documents requested on the issue.

The General Manager, Corporate Communications, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Mr. Yaku-bu Dati, said government had established a case of forgery against the owners of the aircraft and insisted that the matter would be fol-lowed to a logical conclusion.

He explained that the is-sue had gone from that of ex-pired papers to forgery as Ca-verton Helicopters had said that its papers were forged, stressing that soon, security

agencies would come in to investigate the matter.

“Anyone who contra-venes the concession grace is usually fined. As we stand now, the issue is go-ing into forgery because Caverton Helicopters has come out to say its papers were forged.

“So, it is more like a se-curity issue now and that is why the security authori-ties or relevant organisa-tions would come in to play their part.

“The major question is: Who is the owner of the air-craft? The papers are that of Bank of Utah from the United States of America, but what is written on the body of the aircraft is Riv-ers State Government. So, the question is who owned the aircraft?

“If the owner of the air-

craft is found, the law will take its cause. We have laws in this country and when it comes to issue of forgery or what have you, the relevant authorities are there to take action. As far as the aviation authorities are concerned, we found an alien object fly-ing in our skies,” Dati said.

Also, the Acting Direc-tor-General, NCAA, Mr. Joyce Nkemakolam, said that the agency had done its part by verifying the docu-ments before it.

Nkemakolam added that the government, through the NCAA had already tak-en a position on the issue with the grounding of the aircraft, stressing that for every violation, there must be a sanction.

He could not however con-firm if monetary sanction would still be imposed by the

agency after the grounding of the aircraft, but explained that NCAA was acting ac-cording to the International Civil Aviation Authority, ICAO regulations.

He said: “For every viola-tion, there is a sanction and the sanction of exceeding the limitation of your clear-ance is grounding, which the authority has already done. The aircraft has been grounded. Then, we will do the necessary thing if there is any financial implication and all that. That is the law anywhere in the world.

“Aviation is one in the globe and we draw our power from ICAO regula-tions and we domesticate it, which now gave us the NCAA. We are not inventing or reinventing the wheel. Whatever we do is in line with ICAO standards and

chieftain and Borno leader has anything to do with the activities of the Boko Ha-ram sect.

In a text message sent to National Mirror he said: “I am not convinced that it is the work of Boko Haram. Some people with other mo-tives might be involved, so we have to investigate the matter further before tak-ing a position on it. The gen-eral impression is that Ali Monguno is not so anti-Bo-ko Haram, his kidnappers may have come from one of the three groups: either a group of non-Nigerians or a faction of Boko Haram supporters or some people from outside the North, nothing should be ruled out for now. Thorough investi-

gations could unravel who the perpetrators were.”

The police however de-nied any request for protec-tion from any quarters as a result of the kidnapping.

“As far as I am concerned we have not been contacted by any politician or po-litical office holder for the deployment of security personnel to their homes on account of the anxiety generated by the Kidnap of Ali Monguno,” the Kano Police Public Relations Of-ficer, Musa Majiya, said in response to an enquiry by our correspondent.

Meanwhile, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State, yesterday re-echoed a passionate appeal to Mon-guno’s abductors, pleading for his release and caution-

ing them of the spiritual gravity of contributing to the death of a 92-year-old man, who is known for helping orphans, widows and the needy.

The governor’s message was relayed to newsmen by his Special Adviser on Communications, Isa Umar Gusau after his return to Maiduguri from Abuja, se-quel to an emergency meet-ing with President Goodluck Jonathan over Mongunu’s abduction on Friday.

According to the gover-nor, “Allah places high pre-mium on orphans, He said in many portions of the Quran that taking care of orphans is one of the best deeds before him because His noble Prophet Mu-hammad (S.A.W) grew

up as a poor orphan. Al-lah has clearly described those who help orphans and feed the poor as the righteous ones He is pleased with.

“Those who help or-phans and the poor have special place before Allah and this makes our elder statesman, Shettima Ali Monguno a special person before Allah because over the years he has dedicated his lifetime to catering for orphans, widows and the needy; he feeds them, cloths them, takes care of their health and other social needs, he sponsors them for Islamic education, builds Is-lamic schools for orphans, widows and women.

“He is a righteous old man as all humans can

testify, leaving Allah to be the judge; he is asso-ciated with honesty and integrity. This means Al-lah cannot be happy with anyone that hurts this good servant of His if for nothing because of his help to orphans.

“Monguno is an old man of over 90 years, he hardly eats well because of his age, he takes routine drugs about seven times a day to make up for lack of eating, keeping him in cus-tody away from his drugs can make his health dete-riorate very fast.

“I strongly appeal to his abductors to consider his old age; they should re-gard him as their own fa-ther and grandfather. They should realise that by keep-

ing Monguno away, they are breaking the hearts of many orphans and whom Allah has special interest in; they should realise even during the times of the Prophet when Jihads were fought to liberate Islam, Allah abhorred harming old persons, children and women unless if they arm themselves at battlefields.

“The abductors should realise that they are keep-ing an old man that is one of the leading voices against bad leadership, against corruption, against oppression; against public freedom. They are keeping in custody, an old man who has over the years raised his voice in defence of the masses and against their oppressors.”

recommended practices.”“I work for NCAA. We

play our part and we allow other agencies to play their part. If there is security is-sue involved, then, the ap-propriate security agencies will handle it. So, ours is to say this is the documents that we have and show them our own side.”

In another develop-ment, the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Mr. Otelemaba Amachree, yesterday al-leged that security agents were plotting his arrest when the House recon-venes today.

He said that a plan had been hatched to create pandemonium at the As-sembly complex in order to seal it off and declare a state of emergency in the state.

Speaking through his Personal Assistant on Media, Mr. Jim Okpiki, Amachree said that some hoodlums had been hired to fire gunshots and cause stampede during today’s session.

He added that there was a plot to abduct him during the ensuing confusion and take him to an unknown destination to destabilise and destroy democratic structures in the state.

The Speaker’s aide said: “We have uncovered a plot to arrest the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Mr. Otelemaba Amachree, after creating confusion at the Assembly

complex on Monday. “The plan is that some

hoodlums would be hired to fire gunshots within the Assembly complex to cre-ate panic and in such situa-tion, they would arrest the Speaker.”

Meanwhile, indications were rife yesterday that the Assembly could reverse itself on the suspension of the Chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Mr. Timothy Nsirim, as members of the House are scheduled to deliberate on the political crisis affect-ing the state PDP.

The local government Caretaker Committee Chairman, Mr. Chikodi Dike, has alleged plan by some Abuja-based politi-cians to storm the secre-tariat with hoodlums with the aim of unleashing may-hem.

Dike, in a statement is-sued in Port Harcourt yes-terday, alleged that the plot was to be championed by a former chairman of the council.

“We can now authori-tatively reveal to Rivers people that the same Abuja forces, who orchestrated the barricading of our council premises by the po-lice, are planning to storm the same council offices on Monday, May 6, with dif-ferent shades of hoodlums and miscreants and then unleash violence and may-hem on the good people of Obio-Akpor Local Govern-ment Area.”


TOBORE OVUORIE AND MARCUS FATUNMOLE

The Acting Execu-tive Secretary, Nige-rian Health Insurance

Scheme, NHIS, Dr. Abdulrah-man Sambo, at the weekend disclosed that only 4.3 per cent of Nigerians were cov-ered by various health insur-ance programmes.

This is as the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, has expressed dismay over the slow pace of the NHIS.

Sambo, who spoke in Abuja, put the total number of persons covered by the scheme across the country at a little over seven million, out of the over 160 million popu-lation.

He said: “Under the formal sector at the federal level, we have close to 2.7 million peo-ple. Earlier last year, it was 2.1 million. We were able to increase it to 2.7 million. It is slow because people haven’t presented themselves or take time to present themselves for registration.

“Under the organised pri-vate sector, we have well over a million. Currently, we have over seven million Nigeri-

ans covered in the various programmes. The students at the tertiary institutions, the community-based health insurance programme, the organised private sector, the Millennium Development Goal, MDG, on its own, we have 1.8 million pregnant women and children under-five covered.”

The acting executive sec-retary blamed low coverage across the country on the fail-ure of state and local govern-ments to key into the scheme.

Sambo decried the ab-sence of data of Federal Gov-ernment employees which he said made it possible for any-one to fraudulently enrol for the scheme.

He said: “If we have the database of all civil servants in the country; that would have been the best way to go. But, you say you are Ahmed Ibrahim, you go online and do registration and you are not a civil servant. You will get cov-er because we don’t have data-base of federal employees.

“Once you register, you are queued in… So, if you allow online registration, we don’t have the database to check who is a civil servant is or not.”

L-R: Senior Special Assistant to the President on Aviation, Mrs. Anne Ene-Ita; Acting Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Aviation, Mr. Clement Dosunmu and Director-General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Mr Joyce Nkemakolam, during the public presentation of the new aviation policy 2013 in Abuja, at the weekend. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

Nigeria won’t know peace, if Jonathan isn’t re-elected –Asari-Dokubo

Stock market investors gain N2.35trn this year

NHIS covers only 4.3% of Nigerians –Executive Secretary

Suspected cultists kill two brothers, pregnant woman

chips as well as renewed confidence by offshore in-vestors.

The All Share Index post-ed a 25 per cent year-to-date gain as at Friday, a decent margin by any means, shad-owing the strong showing by African stock exchanges including Kenya and Bot-swana, compared with the more established European bourses.

Kenya, Nigeria and Bot-swana have been the top three performing Exchang-es as at April 30, 2013 with YTD gains of 24.5 per cent, 19.08 per cent and 16.29 per cent respectively while Egypt and South Africa be-ing the two least perform-ing exchanges.

Nigeria however over-took Kenya on Friday to take the top spot as the ASI surged by almost two per cent to the highest close since 2008, helped by gains by conglomerate United Af-rica Company of Nigeria, UACN, banking and cement stocks to record YTD gain of 25.04 per cent.

As at May 3 last year,

Nigerian equities had only managed to gain 7.81 per cent to close at 22,351.00 points, from 20,730.63 points at which it opened the year.

On Friday, the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index closed at 35,109.33 points, compared to 28,078.81 points at which it opened the year on January 3, 2013, while market capi-talisation rose by N2.35trn to close at 11.2trn, up from N8.87trn in the beginning of the year.

The index closed 1.76 per cent higher at 35,109 points on Friday, its highest since November 28, 2008 when it peaked on N12.6trn.

Shares of UACN rose the maximum 10 per cent to hit N64.68 per share, a record high, Union Bank appreci-ated by 10 per cent to N9.78, while Dangote Cement gained 3.82 per cent to a re-cord high of N185, breaking the previous day’s record.

The Managing Director of Trust Yields Investment Limited, Alhaji Rasheed Yussuff, said the market is being driven largely by in-vestors’ reactions to the pos-itive financials posted by

the banking and consumer sectors, and the sustained growth in the economy.

According to him, the market was on its way to a full recovery as market op-erators take advantage of growth in the local econo-my and increased oppor-tunities being created by privatisation of the power sector and expanding con-sumer base.

“If you look at the Amer-ican stock index, it has sur-passed its pre-2008 level and Nigerian stock is still below half of its peak in 2008, so we have room to grow fur-ther,” Yussuff said.

Following the banking consolidation exercise in 2005, the equities market rode on the back of an un-precedented bull run which peaked at a market capi-talisation of N12.62trn in March 2008.

The global financial cri-sis and the local banking crisis mellowed down in-vestors confidence, which led to huge sell-offs and the market capitalisation lost significant value to as low as N6.27trn in November of 2011.

The banking sector stocks lost more than half of their value, the stock market floundered between 2009 and 2011 until the re-forms initiated by the Cen-tral Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, which bought up the non-performing loans from the balance sheets of the banks, started to yield fruit.

In 2012, foreign and insti-tutional investors started to regain confidence in the market and began to take positions, resulting in a growth of 34.5 per cent by December ending.

But indications emerged there have been declining trend in the flow of for-eign portfolio investment in equity trading, as local investors began to regain confidence in the market. According to data posted at the NSE website, Foreign Portfolio Investment, FPI flow, which stood at 15 per cent in 2007, consistently increased over the years to stand at 67 per cent in 2011 but dropped to 61.4 per cent in 2012.

FRANCIS SUBERU

There was apprehen-sion in Surulere area of Lagos, following

the killing of two brothers and a pregnant woman by suspected cultists.

The incident occurred about 7:30p.m last Thursday at Shitta Street, Surulere, Lagos, when suspected cultists went on rampage shooting the two brothers whose names were yet-to-be-known and a pregnant woman.

Apprehension in the area

at the weekend culminated in the deployment of the policemen drawn from the Lagos State Security out-fit, Rapid Response Squad, RRS, Area ‘C’ Command headquarters, Surulere and Surulere Divisional head-quarters to prevent the situ-ation from escalating.

As at the time of filing the report, details of the cause of the incident were sketchy.

Also, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, could not be reached to comment on the killings.

OBIORA IFOHABUJA

The leader of the Ni-ger Delta People’s Volunteer Force,

NDPVF, Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, has warned that Nigeria would not know if President Good-luck Jonathan was not re-elected in 2015.

Asari-Dokubo also la-belled Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State a traitor and warned that even if the ongoing recon-

ciliation between the gov-ernor and Jonathan suc-ceeded, he would still make the state ungovernable for him.

He said: “I want to go on to say that there will be no peace, not only in the Niger Delta, but everywhere if Goodluck Jonathan is not president by 2015, except God takes his life, which we don’t pray for.

“(Chief Olusegun) Obasanjo had uninterrupt-ed eight years of two terms to be president, according

to the Nigerian constitu-tion. We must have our uninterrupted eight years of two tenures. I am not in support of any amendment of the constitution that will reduce the eight years of two tenures that Goodluck Jonathan is expected to be president of Nigeria.”

Asari-Dokubo also warned that attempts to smuggle in former mili-tary leader, General Mu-hammadu Buhari, into the Presidential Villa by all means by the northern oli-garch would not only fail but would be resisted by all means by the Niger Delta.

The former president of Ijaw Youth Congress, IYC, insisted that Jonathan re-

mained the best President Nigeria ever had.

He said: “We from the Niger Delta have been fair. We criticise our own, but that does not change what I have always said that ‘mon-key no fine, but him mama like am’. We will continue to support and stand by Goodluck.”

Asari-Dokubo claimed that Buhari would go down as the most corrupt leader in Nigeria.

He said: “They talk about Buhari and I asked them what would Buhari show in all the years he has been in government? He was a governor in the North, later he became commissioner for Petroleum and Natural

Resources, he was Head of State, and he also headed the Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF. In all of these posi-tions he held, what are his achievements?

“When we go to Dubai and other former third-world countries, we see the achievements of their lead-ers, if Buhari is so good, let him show us one thing that he achieved when he was in the positions he held be-fore.”

Speaking about Amae-chi’s administration, Asari-Dokubo said: “If Rotimi Amaechi has singled him-self out as a traitor, he will be treated as a traitor, there is nothing anybody can do about it. There is a

monumental corruption going on in Rivers State un-der Amaechi. He budgets $3 billion every year, and there is nothing to show for such budget in Rivers State, which is a one city state.

“If they like, let them settle him and Goodluck, but we the people of the Ni-ger Delta will not settle and allow a traitor in our midst. We will never allow a trai-tor to be in our midst. Be-cause if God brings you out from poverty, you should be grateful to God, and not to drag yourself back to pov-erty; that is what Amaechi wants to do. We will help him go back to slavery and poverty, but will never al-low him to drag us along.”


Jonathan leads delegation to World Economic Forum on Africa

A commercial passenger bus gutted by fire that broke out from its engine compartment at the Fadeyi area of Lagos, at the weekend. PHOTO: YINKA ADEPARUSI

JOHNSON OKANLAWON

The Securities and Exchange Com-mission, SEC, has

postponed indefinitely, the deadline of Monday June 3, 2013, for tran-sitioning to e-dividend payment.

E-dividend refers to payment of dividends due to shareholders through a direct credit to their nominated bank accounts rather than the issuance of cheques or warrants.

SEC in a notice posted on its website last Friday, said consequent upon the feedback received from various stakeholders in the capital market, the commission postponed the compliance till fur-ther notice.

According to SEC, the postponement will en-able the commission to further enlighten retail investors and other in-vesting publics on the merits of e-dividend pay-ment.

“The commission is also engaging the mon-etary authorities on mo-dalities for e-dividend to be paid into both savings and current accounts.

“We hereby assure all investors that protect-ing their interest is the key focus of the commis-sion. In this respect, the commission is seeking to ensure that investors no longer lose their divi-dends due to diversion and loss of dividend war-rants,” the commission said.

It also encouraged

listed companies and reg-istrars to do all that is necessary to reduce the quantum of unclaimed dividends.

SEC’s Director-Gener-al, Ms. Arunma Oteh, had in March this year; put the value of unclaimed dividend by investors in the country’s capital mar-ket at N60 billion as at De-cember 31, 2012.

This means that the amount of dividend de-clared by quoted com-panies, but remained unclaimed by the end of 2012 grew to 2, 770, 81 per cent, in 13 years from N2.09 billion in 1999 to N60 billion.

The enabling laws say that dividend, once de-clared, becomes statute bared (reverts to the firm that offered it, where it remains unclaimed for 12 years).

In 2003, the unclaimed dividend pool increased to N6.4bn. It dropped in 2004, but by 2008 it was N17.9 billion, before galloping to 89.54 per cent by the end of 2010 to N33.9 billion.

In that year, accord-ing to SEC, five banks accounted for the bulk. While First Bank ac-counted for N19.9 billion, Access Bank had N6.15 billion, Guaranty Trust Bank, N3.61 billion, Inter-continental Bank, N3.03 billion and Fidelity Bank, N1.26 billion.

Meanwhile, Access Bank recently told share-holders that there has been a drastic 72.04 per cent reduction in the un-claimed dividends on its books from N2.46 billion to N687.7million in 2012.

MARCUS FATUNMOLEABUJA

President Goodluck Jonathan will today lead the Nigerian del-

egation to the World Eco-nomic Forum on Africa, holding this week in Cape Town, South Africa.

The delegation includes key members of Nigerian Economic Management Team.

The event, scheduled to commence on Wednesday, will bring together regional and global leaders who are expected to brainstorm on new strategies for acceler-ating economic diversifica-tion in Africa. The forum is also expected to look at the availability of essential infrastructure on the conti-nent.

The forum, which has “Delivering on Africa’s Promise” as its theme, is also expected to provide a platform for African lead-ers in government, busi-ness and civil society and their counterparts from other regions of the world to deepen the continent’s integration agenda and re-new their commitment to a sustainable path of growth and development that will further unlock Africa’s po-tentials and talents.

President Jonathan will, upon arrival in South Afri-ca today, pay a state visit to South Africa ahead of the opening of the world eco-nomic forum.

The President and his delegation will also par-ticipate in the Grow Af-rica Investment Forum being jointly hosted in Cape Town by the African Union, the New Partner-ship for African Develop-ment, NEPAD, and the World Economic Forum to accelerate investments and transformative change in African agriculture based on national agricultural priorities, and in support of the Comprehensive Af-rican Agricultural Devel-opment Programme.

Jonathan will, in the course of the state visit, confer with President Ja-cob Zuma, Deputy Presi-dent Kgalema Mothlante and other South African government officials on ways of improving trade and economic relations be-tween Nigeria and South Africa.

SEC postpones compliance date on e-dividend

Baga: ‘Again, Jonathan has failed the nation’

Tax management workshop holds tomorrow

Opposition, women hail Adelabu’s nomination as Ekiti deputy gov

OBIORA IFOHABUJA

The Congress for Pro-gressive Change, CPC, has once again

said that President Good-luck Jonathan has not lived up to expectation in the ar-eas of security and welfare of Nigeria and particularly his inability to visit the Baga community, weeks after the community was completely razed due to armed confron-tation between insurgents and the military.

In a statement by the Na-tional Publicity Secretary of the party, Rotimi Fasha-kin, the CPC said that it is

reminding the President that part of his oath of of-fice is to preserve the fun-damental objectives and directive principles of state policy in chapter two of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The party said what is more annoying is the refus-al of the President to visit the area to get first-hand in-formation after more than two weeks of this unfortu-nate incident.

“It is our belief that the refusal of the President in visiting Baga does not only show insensitivity, but is a conduct that is not states-man-like for those that bear

presidential authority over a jurisdiction.”

The party recounted that on September 7, 1980, Presi-dent Shehu Shagari visited Ibadan, Oyo state within days of the Ogunpa flood di-saster. On touring the areas affected by the devastation which left about 240 people dead and thousands home-less, he said: ‘I have seen real disaster!’

“On January 28, 2002, President Olusegun Obasan-jo visited Ikeja Military Bar-racks barely 24 hours after bomb explosions destroyed lives and property. In a rare show of empathy with the distraught victims, includ-

The Joint Tax Board, JTB, and the Char-tered Institute

of Taxation of Nigeria, CITN, will tomorrow be-gin a two-day workshop in Lagos.

Titled; “Tax adminis-tration and enforcement strategies,” the workshop is primarily designed for top local government of-ficials, states Board of

Internal Revenue, Minis-tries of Finance and Fed-eral Inland Revenue.

The workshop will also hold in Asaba on May 28; Enugu on June 11 and Abuja on June 29.

The Chartered Institute of Local Government and Public Administration Nigeria is also part of the workshop being coordi-nated by a reputable firm.

ing women and children, who had lost loved ones and were rendered homeless, the President preferred to tread bare-footed!

“Shortly after the Bos-ton Marathon Bombing, President Barack Obama, was on hand to offer words of comfort to the bereaved and assuage the pains of the wounded.”


ABIODUN NEJOADO EKITI

The nomination by the Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, of the

Chairperson of the state Uni-versal Education Board, SU-BEB, Prof. Modupe Adelabu, as the deputy governor of the state has been described as a welcome development.

Leaders of the opposi-tion Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and women in the state under the auspices of the National Council of Women Societies, NCWS, said Adelabu merited the position in view of her achievements in her chosen career and as SUBEB chair-person.

State PDP Deputy Chair-man and governorship aspirant in the 2014 gover-norship in the state, Hon. Femi Bamisile, said “Prof. Adelabu has contributed immensely to her profes-sion and the state as the SU-BEB boss. I am sure that the

governor would have seen something in her which culminated in her nomina-tion as deputy governor.”

The opposition party leader, however, advised Adelabu, when her appoint-ment is finally ratified by the state House of Assem-bly, to “use her time and office to contribute to the development of the state.”

Fayemi had, at the week-end, forwarded the name of 63-year-old Adelabu, a Pro-fessor of Education, to the Assembly for consideration as the new deputy governor in place of the late Funmi-layo Olayinka, who died on April 6, after a protracted battle with cancer.

Similarly, the state PDP Director-General, Director-ate of Media and Publicity, Chief Gboyega Aribisogan, said appointing an individu-al like Adelabu as the deputy governor “gladdens so many hearts because she merits it.”

Aribisogan, who said

delivery in that position, required teamwork and cor-dial relationship with the governor, said the professor’s age and maturity would as-sist her in handling matters of the state.

He continued: “As an op-position party member, I know that appointing any-body as deputy governor would not change Ekiti people’s perception about the Fayemi administration which they are ready to throw out with their votes.”

In the same vein, women in the state, who had earlier said they would not allow Olayinka’s death to rob them of the slot, said they had been celebrating since Adelabu’s name was announced.

State NCWS President, Evangelist Nike Obatayo, said; “I have been celebrat-ing with women since the announcement. People have been celebrating with us. That lady is our lady. It is a right choice. This is a round peg in a round hole.”

ADEOLU ADEYEMOOSOGBO

As the throne of Oluwo of Iwo is now vacant following the death

of Oba Ashiru Tadese, some indigenes of the ancient town yesterday called on kingmak-ers not to give them a nonen-tity as the next king.

Speaking through Iwo Patriotic League at a press conference held in Iwo, the indigenes said they want a credible and competent per-son to be installed as king.

Their spokesman, Mr Kazeem Adeyemo, who said Iwo deserves a literate mon-arch with contacts and pas-sion for development, added that they would not allow a moron to steer the ship of the town.

The indigenes, however, expressed support for one of the contenders to the throne, Ismail Adebayo, and ap-pealed to the kingmakers to ensure equity, fairness and transparency in the selec-tion process.

The spokesman, Adey-

emo, said: “As it is the turn of Adegunodo Royal House to produce a king for Iwo, we call for the selection of a literate, forward-looking and compassionate candidate. Iwo, by every inch, deserves a competent ruler.”

Two candidates from Ade-gunodo Royal House - Prince Azeez Adio and Prince Ade-bayo - have indicated inter-ests in the throne.

Other ruling houses in the town include Gbase, Alausa, Ogunmakinde-Ande and Tadese.

Ibadan elders have praised Oyo State Gover-nor Abiola Ajimobi for

his administration’s urban renewal programme, saying that they were proud of him.

The group, under the ae-gis of Ibadan Elders’ Forum, gave the commendation in a letter dated April30, 2013 and addressed the governor.

In the letter signed by Ambassador Olusola Sanu and Chief Ona Ajibola, the Chairman and Secretary of the Forum, said the com-mendation was sequel to the decision taken at a meeting of the forum held in Ibadan on April 18, 2013.

According to them, the commendation became nec-essary in view of the out-standing performance of the

governor and the achieve-ments he had recorded since he assumed two years ago.

They particularly praised the governor for restoring peace, which they said had served as the foundation of the economic development of the state.

The elders said: “Before your assumption of office, Oyo State faced serious se-curity problems unleashed by armed robbers, political thugs as well as members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) factions strug-gling for ascendancy. You have now changed the vio-lent situation to a peaceful one.

“You have restored peace and made good use of law

enforcement agencies to ensure same. The notoriety of the NURTW factions has been checked and by so do-ing, you have ensured that miscreants are not allowed in any guise to make Oyo State a haven for their nefari-ous activities.’’

The governor, they added, changed the face of the state through his restoration and transformation agenda.

The elders said: “Apart from the construction of a flyover at Mokola, you have rehabilitated/constructed or are rehabilitating/construct-ing many roads and bridges across the nooks and cran-nies of Oyo State. Drains were cleared, rivers, canals and streams were dredged to prevent flood.

MURITALA AYINLA

The Lagos State Traf-fic Management Au-thority (LASTMA) at

the weekend honoured 99 distinguished officers, just as it charged them to shun corrupt practices while dis-charging their duties.

Some of the officers re-warded were those with no records of malpractices and those who frequently report traffic situations at their duty posts on the state's Traf-fic Radio.

They were recommended for the honour by concerned citizens.

The pioneer LASTMA General Manager, the late Adegboyega Coker, was also posthumously rewarded.

Presenting the multi-million naira worth of gifts

and plaques to the officers, the LASTMA Chairman, Mr Young Arabamen, charged the officers to continue to serve with diligence and de-sist from acts capable dent-ing the image of the agency.

He said: "Always dis-charge your duty as expect-ed, Only God can reward you abundantly. For those of you who are still tarnishing the good image of this agency, you need to be contended with what you have. Corrup-tion is a sin and its conse-quence is great. Don't hurt your fellow man because of money. If you collect or demand money from a less privileged, you are cursing yourself.

"There are no plans to scrap LASTMA, those who are saying that are only de-ceiving themselves. Imagine Lagos without LASTMA, so you have to continue your

good work.” LASTMA General Man-

ager, Mr Babatunde Edu, ex-plained that the gesture was part of the re-engineering processes in the agency, say-ing the management had de-veloped several mechanisms to monitor the attitudes of the traffic officers towards motorists.

He said: "The distribution of home appliances to the outstanding officers is one of the several new ways of motivating the workforce in LASTMA. We are working on ways of making officers who serve diligently see the gains of good conducts.

"People are watching you, no matter what you are do-ing, just be of good conduct and serve with human face, you will be rewarded. LAST-MA will continue to improve on its service in spite of the growing population.”

Iwo indigenes to kingmakers: We don’t want a nonentity

Ibadan elders hail Ajimobi’s urban renewal programme

LASTMA rewards 99, asks officers to shun corruption

•Say governor’s performance outstanding

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 9South WestMonday, May 6, 2013

Osun guber: ACN, PDP trade accusations over rigging plans

Family rejects police report on slain EKSU student

OPD receives 1,221 petitions this year –Lagos AG

Peter Adebiyi, a man of integrity, hard work –Fayemi

ABIODUN NEJOADO EKITI

The family of a 400-level student of Ekiti State Univer-

sity, EKSU, Mr. Seyi Fasere, who was shot dead by po-licemen in Oye-Ekiti on February 28 has rejected the police report on inves-tigation into the killing.

The family said its deci-sion was based on the re-fusal of the police to allow the family to be represent-ed during the autopsy on Fasere’s body and as well allow the family access to copies of their investiga-tion’s report.

Consequently, the fam-ily has turned down an offer by the police at Oye Division to come and claim the body of the slain stu-dent for burial.

A human rights activ-ist, Mr. Musibau Ayodeji Ali, who spoke on behalf

of the Fasere family of Ilupeju-Ekiti in Oye Local Government Area of Ekiti State, told journalists in Ado-Ekiti at the weekend that “a judicial panel of in-quiry should have been put in place by the Ekiti State Government”.

Ali said such judicial panel was to “investigate the matter and recom-mend appropriately to the relevant authorities. The name of the boy should be cleared because so far, we cannot agree that he was an armed robber as the police have been trying to make the whole world to believe”.

Fasere, who was return-ing to school from his Ilu-peju-Ekiti hometown in a commercial bus, was killed by the police who said he was one of the armed rob-bers that attacked their station and a commercial bank that day.

But the Fasere family decried the unilateral ac-tion of the police in the matter, alleging that no member of the family had been given a copy of the report of the investigation carried out by the police in the matter, adding that “we don’t believe that the police have concluded work on the investigation”.

Ali said: “We rejected the police position because we do not have a copy of ei-ther the ballistic or autop-sy report. We were not in-formed when the autopsy was carried out so that we could nominate our own doctor to ascertain the re-port. So without the repre-sentation of the family, we cannot accept the report.”

The activist, who said it would be assumed that the panel that investigated the murder had not completed its job because it did not in-vite the human rights com-

munity to be part of the investigation, wondered whether the police were “saying that the boy should be buried in the current state in which no one has been able to ascertain the status of the killed boy, who the police labelled an armed robber?”

The human rights ac-tivist requested that fam-ily members who were arrested, detained and dehumanised in the guise that they were “relations of an armed robber” should be compensated for the trauma that they have been through”.

He said: “The family is not ready to collect the corpse from the police until we are sure of what the report is all about and what it contains be-cause we are not party to the report, nor are we sure yet what the report is all about.”


The Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, and the Peoples

Democratic Party, PDP, at the weekend accused each other of planning to rig the forth coming gover-norship election in Osun State.

As the ACN said it had uncovered plans by the PDP to rig the election following the arrest of some members of the op-position party using the Subsidy Reinvestment

Programme, SURE-P, to induce people to trade their voter’s cards for cash and employment, the PDP described the claim as baseless and untrue.

The PDP said it was rather the ACN which had mapped out strategy to rig the election.

An ACN leader in If-elodun Local Government Area, Alhaji Kehinde Ola-molu, and the Executive Secretary of the council, Mr. Sanusi Lawal, who claimed to have appre-hended one of the suspect-ed agents purchasing the

voter’s cards in Ward 2, Oke Amala, said attempts were being made to arrest others at large.

They said the plan by the PDP and its agents to rig the election might not be peculiar to Ifelodun council, vowed that the ACN would not allow elec-toral manipulation under any guise.

Olamolu said that aside one Toyin Adesina al-ready apprehended and handed over to the divi-sional police in Ikirun with voter’s cards, the party was on the trail of

others suspects. The PDP, however, said

information at its disposal showed that the ACN had been holding a series of meetings on how rigging would be perfected in the election.

The state PDP Chair-man, Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa, said the ACN claims were mere propa-ganda.

Meanwhile, an ACN member representing If-elodun state constituency in the state House of As-sembly, Hon. Olalekan Afolabi, said his party would nip such electoral fraud in the bud “before members of the PDP use their stock in trade to throw the state into cri-sis”.

L-R: Alhaja Muyibat Ibrahim; one of the graduating students, Mohammed Abdulsalam; Alhaji Tiamiyu Alapepesile; Sheikh Jamal Rashwan and Rector, Arabic and Islamic Training Centre, Sheikh Muhammed Habibullah El-llory (OON), during the graduation ceremony of students at the centre in Lagos, at the weekend. PHOTO: OLUFEMI AJASA

KENNY ODUNUKAN

The Lagos State Office of Public Defender, OPD, has received 1,221

petitions since January from different persons in respect of various matters.

The state Attorney-Gen-eral and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye, who disclosed this to journalists at the weekend, said the OPD had facilitated the recovery of over N11 million on behalf of the petitioners.

He said: “Since January 2013, OPD has received and is processing a total of 1,221 pe-titions in respect of various matters. It has also facilitated the recovery of N11,075,746 on behalf of various petitioners.

“This sum includes out-standing salary from employ-ers, debts that have become bad, maintenance for chil-dren and many others.

“OPD appears in court where necessary to repre-sent indigent Lagosians free

of charge including accused persons brought to court on Saturdays.

“In further demonstration of our commitment to the pro-motion of law and order, our Office of the Public Defender, OPD, and the Public Advice Centre have continued to of-fer free and qualitative legal service to Lagosians.

“These have helped to avoid or resolve conflicts as well as strengthen the dynam-ic relationship between the public and the government.”

Ipaye, who said govern-ment sought to decongest prisons through monitoring of its community service unit, said in April 202 com-munity service cases were completed.

This, he said, brought the number of completed com-munity service cases from inception to 1,356.

The AG disclosed that the office of the Director for Pub-lic Prosecutions, DPP, con-cluded and obtained judge-ments in 13 cases between January and March.

Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State yesterday

described the retired An-glican Bishop of Lagos West Diocese, Rt. Rev. Pe-ter Adebiyi, as a man of distinction whose service to God and humanity was marked by integrity, hard work and genuine love for the people.

Fayemi said this dur-ing a thanksgiving service marking Adebiyi’s retire-ment and 70th birthday at St Paul’s Anglican Church, Osi-Ekiti,.

The governor said those virtues exhibited by the retired bishop earned him the Ekiti State brand am-bassador.

Fayemi, who also pre-sented a Sport Utility Ve-hicle, SUV, vehicle as re-tirement gift to the Ekiti State-born bishop shortly after the service, said Adebiyi deserved more than a mere gift because he had consistently exempli-fied the values of integrity, honesty and courage for which Ekiti indigenes were known.

Adebiyi, according to him, always speaks truth to power.

He added that the cler-ic’s contributions to the development of Ekiti State

and Nigeria could not be overemphasised.

Fayemi, however, urged the coming generation to emulate the virtues that make the retired bishop to stand out as a true repre-sentative of the state.

In his remarks, Adebiyi expressed surprise at the gift and thanked Fayemi for the gesture.

According to him, when government recognises a citizen’s hard work, it en-courages other citizens to put in their best.

He said: “I am more than surprised at this demon-stration of love. It is an honour indeed to be so rec-ognised by one’s state gov-ernment. I believe this will also encourage other citi-zens to put in their best.”

Other dignitaries at the thanksgiving service in-cluded former Minister of National Planning, Chief Ayo Ogunlade; former Sports Minister, Major-General O. Olutoye (rtd) and his wife, Prof. Olutoye; Ekiti State Commissioner for Education, Mr. Ke-hinde Ojo, Special Advis-ers to Ekiti State governor, Bashorun Ayo Odetola and Chief Abiodun Akin-Fasae and Chairman, Ekiti State Teaching Service Commis-sion, Chief Bayo Adeniran.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net10 Monday, May 6, 2013South West

Gov. Seriake Dickson

EMMA GBEMUDUYENAGOA

Suspected militants at the weekend killed five ex-mili-

tants and three others in Lobia community, South-ern Ijaw Local Govern-ment Area of Bayelsa State.

The incident occurred on Saturday night.

Two of the corpses have been retrieved from the creek and buried im-mediately in the commu-nity, while others were still not recovered as at

press time.It was gathered that the

victims were reportedly tricked to the water front by some hired gangs of the deadly militant group be-fore they were killed there.

Panic has gripped resi-dents of the community over the rising insurgen-cy of the militants' activi-ties now at large.

Among the ex-mili-tants murdered was 37- year-old Judah Wilson, a younger brother to a lead-ing ex-militant leader in the state and Niger Delta, Pastor Reuben Wilson.

Eyewitness accounts in the community said the incident is generating tension in the area.

It was learnt that the killers of the eight youths may be the same militants that ambushed and killed 12 policemen on April 5 along Azuzua-ma creek.

National Mirror learnt that local fishermen in the area had alerted the community’s leadership of strange movements by some persons in its water-ways.

On investigation, it was

learnt that the eight victims had already been killed.

When our correspon-dent visited the residence of Pastor Wilson in Yena-goa, sympathisers were seen wailing over the shocking death of his younger brother.

Wilson confirmed the killing of his sibling and described it as sad and unfortunate.

Contacted, spokesper-son of Joint Military Task Force, JTF, Lt. Col. Ony-ema Nwachukwu said he had not received the de-tails of the incident.

SAM OLUWALANA EMMA GBEMUDU

Even as the Federal Government pegged the price of fuel at

N97 per liter, residents of Ni-ger Delta states that produce the bulk of the country’s oil wealth, buys the products at between N140 to N200, de-pending on the distance be-tween the community and the state capitals, where the substance is loaded and dis-tributed.

The residents are appeal-ing to the Federal Govern-ment to approve licences for communities in the Niger Delta to refine the product on a smaller scale to cush-ion the effect of the high price they pay for goods and services in the area even as some residents have lashed out at northern leaders for calling on government to deal with oil thieves.

Residents of the region, especially those from Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom States are groaning under the weight of ris-ing costs of transportation which also put pressure on other goods and services in the region.

In Rivers State, fuel costs about N190 to N200 in three local government areas of Akoko Toru, Bonny and An-doni/Nkoro, while residents of Opobo, Degema and Asa-ri Toru, pays between N140 and N200 for the product that drives the economy of the communities.

In all the other 17 local government areas, resi-dents pay as much as N250

in some towns. Transport fares between

communities that are as close as five kilometres are as high as N600, while those that as far as 50 to 100 kilometres could be as high as N3, 000.

For example, a bus ride from the Polytechnic town of Oko, just about 13 kilo-metres from Port Harcourt, could cost between N700 and N1, 000, while a trip to Bonny Town, where about 30 per cent of Nigerian crude oil is produced, costs the residents between N2, 500 to N3, 500, depending on the season and type of transportation.

The biting cost of the products, especially, fuel and kerosene, are also becoming unbearable for inhabitants of the oil bearing communi-ties in Bayelsa State.

They lamented that the lack of functional filling sta-tions in the communities was attributed to the high cost of fuel which is sold at between N200 and N250 per litre.

To worsen the matter, businessmen from the state are afraid of building filling stations in riverine commu-nities owing to its expensive nature.

But, there are an array of filling stations owned by lawmakers, technocrats, top politicians and civil ser-vants in Yenagoa and other few upland communities in the state.

Dealers of fuel and kero-sene buy them in large plas-tic drums in Yenagoa, the state capital and resell in jerry cans and beer bottles in the coastal communities at cut-throat prices. EMMA GBEMUDU

YENAGOA

A fresh oil spill from facilities belonging to the Shell Petro-

leum Development Compa-ny, SPDC, has contaminated the creeks and farmlands in Ikarama community, Okor-dia clan, in Yenagoa Local Government, Bayelsa State.

The extent of the damage on the community could not be ascertained as at the time of filing this report.

It was learnt that the af-fected spill site has crude oil pipelines belonging to SPDC and the National Agip Oil Company, NAOC, traversing the community.

The cause of the spill which erupted on April 28 was not ascertained as at press time.

It will be recalled that Ikarama has one of the highest records of oil spill in the state owing to alleged

frequent pipeline vandalism by suspected oil thieves in the locality.

In an interview with National Mirror, an indi-gene of the community, Moses Onyah, said the spill splashed into the air thereby attracting residents of the area.

His words: “We heard of the spill on Sunday, April 28 2013. But the spill must have occurred in the night of April 27. If not for the spray-ing into the air that attract-ed passersby, we wouldn’t have known in time.

“SPDC came to clamp the ruptured point on April 30, 2013. As for the cause of the spill, we are not sure; but SPDC claimed it was sabotage.

“The crude oil flowed into the water channel and down it goes into the Taylor Creek. The Taylor Creek is not far from here; if people say they saw crude oil spreading to their community, it may be

from here.”In February this year, the

management of NAOC was compelled to shut down its onshore crude production facilities in the state due to the high level of oil theft.

The Italian oil major had on March 23, lamented that oil theft from its facilities in the state accounted for a dai-ly loss of 7, 000 barrels out of its 40,000 barrels crude pro-duction and declared force majeure on its oil output.

Speaking with our cor-respondent yesterday in Yenagoa, an environmen-talist and state Project Of-ficer, Environmental Rights Action, Alagoa Morris, ob-served that the source of the spill could either come from facilities belonging NAOC or SPDC as the two firms engage in exploration in the community.

He said: “The informa-tion had it that the oil spill was sighted at Ikarama

community, in Okordia clan and that it was suspected to be coming from either JK4 in Ahoada West local Government Area of Riv-ers State owned by Shell or from Biseni; in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa operated by Agip.”

When contacted on the development, spokesman of the SPDC in Port Har-court, Precious Okolobo, said the company would soon react on the fresh spill in Ikarama.

EMMA GBEMUDUYENAGOA

There was tension at the weekend in Yenagoa, as armed

soldiers fire shots in the air to stop Ijaw youths from attacking the Coordi-nator of the Amnesty Im-plementation Programme, Kingsley Kuku, over the proposed amendment of the Ijaw Youth Council constitution.

Unconfirmed reports said an Ijaw youth sustained a bullet injury during the in-cident.

Investigations revealed that Kuku, who is a Presi-dential Adviser on Niger Delta and former President of the IYC is plotting to make all the past presidents of the

group as Board of Trustees in the amended constitution, but majority of the body are kicking against it.

According to findings, the board of trustees would have dominance on the new executive that would emerge in a couple of weeks.

The meeting by the ex-presidents of IYC and other stakeholders of the socio-cultural group generated a heated debate that almost re-sulted to a free-for-all before the soldiers waded in.

A source in the IYC con-fided in our correspondent that the disagreement has led to the suspension of the planned amendment of the constitution that would support President Goodluck Jonathan’s elec-tion in 2015.

Gunmen kill fi ve ex-militants, three others in Bayelsa

Niger Delta residents groan under high cost of fuel

Fresh oil spill hits community

Soldiers rescue Jonathan’s aide from attack

Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole (left), presenting the first prize cheque of $25, 000 to the winner of the the Okpekpe International 10kms Road Race, Moses Massai from Kenya, in Auchi at the weekend. PHOTO: NAN

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 11Monday, May 6, 2013 South South

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net12 Monday, May 6, 2013 South East

ALIUNA GODWINEBONYI

Governor Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State at the week-

end asked the Federal Gov-ernment to refund the N9 billion his administration spent on the reconstruc-tion of federal roads in the state.

Elechi made the de-mand while addressing the

people of Ohaozara Local Government Area during a visit to the people of the area.

The governor regretted that the delay by the Fed-eral Government to refund the money had affected his administration’s plans to embark on other projects that would raise the peo-ple’s standard of living.

He, however, called on President Goodluck

Jonathan to ask the Fed-eral Ministry of Works and Transport to refund the money to enable the state government to accomplish the ongoing projects before leaving office in 2015.

Meanwhile, about 150 members of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, have defected to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ebonyi State.

Addressing journalists

at Ohaozara shortly after moving to PDP, the leader of the defectors, Hon. Dar-lington Okereke (former member of the House of Representatives, who rep-resented Ohaozara/Ivo Federal Constituency) said he was returning to the party as a result of his con-tributions to the progress of PDP in the state.

Okereke, who contested for Ebonyi South senato-

rial seat at the 2011 general elections on the platform of ACN and failed, said he was returning to PDP for peace to reign.

But while addressing the people of Ohaozara, Elechi said: “I want to tell particularly those who are coming back, that we are open minded. We welcome them with open arms, with good minds. But we will re-baptise them so that they

will be fit for PDP.“Somebody said be-

cause of his prowess in op-position party that PDP is sleeping with one eye open. But I want to tell you that PDP in Ebonyi has never slept with one eye open. PDP has always been sleep-ing with two eyes closed. But now we are having returnees, this is the time PDP will sleep with one eye open.”

Federal roads: Ebonyi asks FG for N9bn refund

Cleric seeks support for Okorocha’s administration

Natural Resource Fund: CNPP demands ex-president’s probe

L-R: Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba; father of the bride and Delta State Deputy Governor, Prof. Amos Utuama; Delta State Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Peter Nwaoboshi and mother of the bride, Dr. Nelly Utuama, during the wedding ceremony of Utuama’s daughter in Delta State, at the weekend.

Ngige declares interest in Anambra guber seatCHARLES OKEKEAWKA

Senator Chris Nwabueze Ngige said at the weekend that he

had consulted key stakehold-ers and other interest groups on his desire to contest the Anambra State governor-ship election holding later in the year.

Ngige disclosed this while addressing members of “Critical Stakeholders in the Anambra Project,” drawn from members of state House of Assembly who served during his tenure and former political appointees who hosted him at the Mar-

ble Arch Hotel, Awka, The senator disclosed that

he and his family did not think he should contest the election because of the stress and heavy financial involve-ment it required.

Earlier at the event, mem-bers of the Critical Stake-holders, led by Chief Ben Oranusi, had appealed to Ngige to contest the gover-norship post again, while promising to support him.

Responding, the senator promised to contest election provided they offered him unwavering support.

He said: Two months ago, I was called by Chief Ben Oranusi that some people

were organising a meeting for my role for the governor-ship, I did some soul-search-ing on the benefits both to me and my family and to Anambra people.

“For me, I did not see any benefit and for my fam-ily, they did not also see any benefit for my involvement in the governorship project again. My and family I did not think it is worth the jour-ney because of the stress and heavy financial involvement that is required.

“On my own part, I have made up my mind that I can carry the cross, but how about you? That is the major question. I hope you won’t

disappoint me.” Ngige, who represents Anambra Central in the Senate, used the oppor-tunity to enumerate some key programmes he would execute if elected.

He said: “If by 2014, if things work out fine and I become governor, my prom-ise is that those who would come home for Christmas in 2014 will land in an airport sited in Anambra State.

“I will conduct local gov-ernment election when I come in. I assure Anambra people that local government election is my priority and would be conducted within the first year of my new ad-ministration.”

CHRIS NJOKUOWERRI

The Archbishop of Owerri Archdio-cese, Rt. Rev. An-

thony Obinna, yesterday solicited support for the Governor Rochas Okoro-cha-led administration in Imo State.

Obinna also called on Okorocha to put machin-ery in place to create jobs to check surge in crime in the state.

The cleric, who spoke through the cathedral ad-ministrator of the Asumpta Catholic Church, Rev. Fa-ther Andrew Nkwocha, dur-ing the special thanksgiving to mark the Imo Freedom Day celebration, urged the church to pray for the ad-ministration to succeed, noting the state had reasons to celebrate after two years of impactful governance hinged on the fear of God.

According to him, the state has witnessed tre-mendous infrastructural development in the last two years.

Obinna urged the gov-ernor to continue with his good work.

He said: “In the last two years, we have witnessed tremendous changes in the way the state is governed. Every Imo State indigene has cause to celebrate and thank God for this admin-istration which is entirely the work of God.”

The cleric warned against sabotaging the ad-ministration, while urging politicians to embrace and support the current effort to transform Imo State.

The archbishop, how-ever, pointed out that, “a lot still needs to be done to create job opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths in the state to curb crime and other social ills associated with unemploy-

ment”.He also charged Okoro-

cha to sustain his admin-istration’s anti-corruption crusade and to jettison ac-tions and policies that may create suspicion between the government and the people.

Responding Okorocha, who was at the event with his wife, Nneoma, the Dep-uty Governor, Eze Madu-mere, Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Anthony Anwuka, and other government officials, thanked the church and the people for their prayers and support for the admin-istration.

The governor observed that his journey to the Government House started from the church, which he said gave him support when political forces with-in and outside the state stood against his ambition.

He said: “We are here to-day because of the support of the masses, the common people, artisans, the cler-gymen, the poor and the needy that fought for the change that gave birth to this administration.

“I have come to remind you that the change you de-sired and stood for is work-ing and to assure you that we will not let you down.

“It was a struggle that many laid down their lives for, many were imprisoned and many others brutal-ised by the oppressive ca-bal that never wanted the state to be freed.

“But today our people are happy and may I in-form you that your sacri-fices are not in vain. Today Imo State is free from the shackles of poverty, mis-rule and the wickedness of the evil men. We must all make the necessary sacrifice to make Imo State better and Imo must be bet-ter.”

DENNIS AGBOENUGU

The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, CNPP, has

called on anti-graft agencies to immediately investigate former President Olusegun Obasanjo over alleged mon-umental corruption in the Natural Resource Fund.

CNPP’s call on the Eco-nomic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and Independent Corrupt Prac-

tices Commission, ICPC,followed revelation last

week by the Senate Public Accounts Committee that the former President was culpable in the misuses of the fund created under his administration in 2002.

The Senate Committee led by Senator Ahmed La-wan gave details of how N701.4 billion out of N1.5 trillion fund created by the then President, at variance with Sections 80(2) and 162 of the 1999 Constitution,

was squandered.The CNPP, therefore,

said it was of the view that the Natural Resource Fund was the foundation of the unprecedented corruption which, it said, generated unintended fault lines of militants in the Niger Delta, Boko Haram insurgency and kidnapping across the country.

In a statement issued yesterday by the CNPP Pub-licity Secretary, Osita Oke-chukwu, the coalition said

the fund was created with the predetermined objective to enrich Obasanjo and his followers.

The CNPP, therefore, de-manded to know how the N750 million Abuja Down-town Mall, N20.2 billion loan among other missing funds were spent.

The group had earlier in 2007 petitioned the EFCC, questioning the alleged pervasive and monumental corruption that took place under Obasanjo’s watch.

L-R: Vice-President Namadi Sambo; Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio and National Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Bamanga Tukur, during a town hall meeting of the Nigerian/Canadian Community in Canada on Saturday.

Presidency not behind Amaechi’s travails –Abati

Probe Fashola’s administration, PDP tells EFCC

AYODELE OJO

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday hit at the

Goodluck Jonathan admin-istration over what it de-scribed as “brazen assault on the freedom of expres-sion and the press, the use of national institutions against perceived enemies and a growing inclination to denigrate opposition leaders.”

Specifically, ACN said the way President Jona-than is handling his politi-cal disagreement with Gov-ernor Rotimi Amaechi has portrayed him as a leader who is willing to jettison democratic ideals and prin-ciples on the altar of per-sonal ambition.

The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mo-hammed, said by its action, the government is steadily descending into despotism.

“The Jonathan admin-istration is anchored on a Transformation Agenda.

has publicly stated that this particular allegation is a piece of fiction created by certain persons and the me-dia. We insist that President Jonathan is not engaged in any quarrel or dispute with Governor Amaechi. And it is wrong to use the mat-ter of the aircraft that was grounded by the aviation authorities to concoct sto-ries of persecution.

“The institutions in-volved have offered reasons publicly why they took their decision with regard to the unlicensed aircraft, which, in any case, is an as-set of the state, not the gov-ernor’s personal property. The President has nothing to do with that incident.”

The Presidency said that

The Presidency yes-terday denied hav-ing a hand in the

travails of Governor Roti-mi Amaechi over the con-troversy that has trailed the grounding of the state aircraft.

Presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, in a state-ment issued last night in-sisted that the President had no quarrel with the Rivers State governor

Abati also described as a tissue of lie the labelling of President Jonathan as a despot by the Action Con-gress of Nigeria (ACN).

He said: “The ACN’s allegation that there is a disagreement between the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi is also wrong-headed and mischie-vous. Governor Amaechi

party man, what will he do against the opposition? Why is it that a democrati-cally-elected President can-not be challenged by any-one, whether or not he is a member of his party?”

The party also accused the Jonathan administra-tion of stifling freedom of expression. It stated: “Also, the ferocity with which the Jonathan administration went after a former Minis-ter of Education, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili, for claiming

that President Jonathan frittered away the $67 bil-lion in foreign reserves which she said President Olusegun Obasanjo left be-hind in 2007...

“These anti-democratic measures will worsen as the 2015 elections ap-proach. Therefore, all lov-ers of democracy must join us in speaking out against the Jonathan administra-tion’s descent into despo-tism. This is the only way to prevent a President’s

desperation for power from torpedoing our coun-try’s democracy. After all, a critical benchmark of a democratic society is the existence of a vibrant, free and independent media that will give the citizenry a platform to freely and vigorously debate current issues.”

The ACN also expressed concerns at the growing propensity of the adminis-tration to stifle the freedom of the press.

But the only transforma-tion that we can see is the one from a democratically-elected President to an em-peror, a despot,’’ Moham-med said.

The party added that “If the President is not prevailed upon to change course, Nige-ria may be in for another sea-son of anomie, reminiscent of the days of the maximum ruler who took the country to the brink before his sud-den demise.”

The party also decried the role of the Ministry of Aviation, its parastat-als like the NCAA, NAMA and FAAN, as well as the Economic and Finan-cial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the police, among others, in the Presi-dency’s face-off with Amae-chi.

ACN said: After the theat-rics of the aviation agencies and their parent ministry, the EFCC has suddenly re-alised that the cost of the Rivers State’s plane was inflated by US$10 million while the police have sacked the Secretariat of Obio-

the accusation of the ACN represents yet another at-tempt by the party to stand the truth on its head and indulge in the politics of abuse.

“They should not be al-lowed to get away with their perfidy,” he said.

“President Jonathan is a democratically elected leader who is running a people-oriented, inclusive and progressive govern-ment. Under his watch, Ni-geria’s democracy has been consolidated; the scope for human freedoms has been further expanded and there is respect for due process and the rule of law. Ordi-nary Nigerians appreciate the fact that they have a President who is humane,

disciplined and focused. “Does Lai Mohammed

know the meaning of the word, despotism, or is he just throwing the word around for onomatopoetic effect? He and his sponsors are in fact beneficiaries of the openness and freedom that this administration promotes. The paradox is that those who do not al-low freedom and equality in their own party or back-yard, those who are well known as self-proclaimed godfathers and closet des-pots, are the same ones who are now quick to ac-cuse others of despotism. The ACN should start by removing the log in its eyes. President Jonathan is not a despot. ACN is the real abode of budding des-pots in Nigeria,” he added.

Akpro local government in Rivers. The question is: Who gave the orders for the po-lice to sack the secretariat, and in the process take sides with the President in the political disagreement with the governor?

“Which are the other national institutions that will be drafted into this scorched-earth campaign against a perceived non-conformist party member? If the President can go to this length against his own

•Says ‘Jonathan not a despot’

Amaechi: Jonathan turning to a despot, says ACN

OLAJIDE OMOJOLOMOJU

The Lagos State chap-ter of the Peoples Democratic Party

(PDP) yesterday called on the Economic and Finan-cial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the ac-tivities of the Babatunde Fashola administration in Lagos State, alleging mas-sive corruption.

The state chairman, Olatunji Shele, alleged that the Fashola administra-tion was trying to hide the massive misappropriation of public funds by gagging its officials and preventing them from speaking to the media.

Shelle said: “Recently, the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Adeyemi Iku-foriji, had disclosed plans by House Committees to be-gin the probe of ministries

in the state. This move, we learnt, has been vehemently opposed by Fashola and the leadership of the ACN.”

He added that Fashola needs to explain how the over N23 billion that ac-crued to the Lagos State Se-curity Trust Fund (LSSTF) was spent.

Shelle also expressed un-certainty in completion of the light rail project of the Fashola administration by June as promised despite the over N1 trillion claimed to have been spent on the project.

He advised Fashola to give a human face to the purported housing estates in the state which, he said, was out of the reach of mid-dle and low income earn-ers, while also challenging the governor to explain his silence over the acquisition of state properties by his predecessor, Bola Tinubu.

PoliticsNational Mirror

www.nationalmirroronline.net 13Monday, May 6, 2013

2015: Zoning ‘ll count in Akwa Ibom – Etteh

14

senatorial districts.

How do you see the emergence of Gover-nor Akpabio as chairman, PDP Governors’ Forum?

For me as the leader of the House of Assembly and member representing Esit Eket /Ibeno state constituency in the state Assembly, Akpabio’s emergence as chair-man PDP Governor’s forum is a big-plus for Akwa Ibom State. This means that Akwa Ibom is working. PDP and its gov-ernors’ forum cannot appoint someone without a track record to lead them. The party’s leaders, stakeholders and Board of Trustees (BoT) must have sat down, look at his track record of performance before set-tling for him. They also know that he has the capacity to lead; he has the energy to work tirelessly to ensure there is peace and cohesion in the party. This is one appoint-ment done on merit. The position again is a recognition of what Akwa Ibom State has offered PDP, because this is one state that is committed to the party. If you want to look at the performance of PDP in Nige-ria, Akwa Ibom is a case study.

Criticisms have trailed Governor Akpabio recently over his donations to individuals and groups. Were these donations cap-tured in the state budget?

As far as I am concerned, monies are budgeted to office of the governor; the gov-ernor has security vote and administrative money. Has anybody in this country asked the President how he spends his security vote? This is because security matter is one that is not discussed openly. The gover-nor has salary and hospitality votes to run his office; there is room for miscellaneous expenses and Governor’s Office admin-istration. There is provision in the state budget, allocating money to the office of the governor. So, whatever money the gov-ernor spends is allocated to the office of the governor. We can only say the governor

THE ZONING OF POLITICAL OFFICES IS

THE STRENGTH OF PDP AS A PARTY. ZONING OR ROTATION IS ENSHRINED IN PDP CONSTITUTION

WHETHER IT IS WRITTEN OR NOT

What is your position on zoning which has dominated 2015 governorship election in Akwa Ibom?

Since the creation of Akwa Ibom, there has always been zoning. With the emer-gence of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1999, Victor Attah from Uyo Senatorial District became the governor, and from 2007 till date, Godswill Akpabio from Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District has been the governor. That is to show you that there is zoning, whether written or unwritten; Akpabio is not from the same senatorial district with Attah. Akpabio came from Ikot Ekpene while Attah came from Uyo, meaning that two senatorial districts have occupied that office. Whether there is zon-ing or not, it is one senatorial district that is left to occupy the governorship seat.

The zoning of political offices is the strength of PDP as a party. Zoning or ro-tation is enshrined in PDP constitution whether it is written or not. Take for in-stance, when Attah was governor for eight years, the deputy governor came from Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District, the Speaker emerged from Eket Senatorial District. The party chairman came from Eket Senatorial District, the secretary of the party came from Uyo Senatorial District while the deputy chairman came from Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District. Is that not zoning? There is no written document that says it will go that way; it is a convention by ratification. Today the governor is from Uyo Senatorial District, the deputy gover-nor from Eket Senatorial District and the Speaker of the House of Assembly and chairman of the party is from Uyo Senato-rial District. Do we have any written docu-ment that says those offices should rotate that way? No, it is because we are PDP and PDP believes in zoning as enshrined in the party. In as much as you are a member of PDP, there is zoning. Every true PDP mem-ber believes there is zoning in PDP.

Okay let us leave the word zoning and call it rotation. Some people don’t like the word zoning. For instance, the first person who represented my constituency in 1999 was Bassey Essien from Esit Eket and to-day I am the Assembly member from Ibe-no. After my tenure, it reverts to Esit Eket and that is the rotation, there is no written agreement on the movement of the seat, everybody knows it’s going there because I will no longer contest for that office. The word zoning is embedded in PDP, there is no argument about that, the moment Presi-dent Goodluck Jonathan says he is no more interested in the presidency, automatically the seat moves, but he has a right to contest again because he is in his first term.

As a card-carrying and founding mem-ber of the PDP in my ward since 1998, I will tell you that there is zoning in PDP. We don’t need any document to prove there is zoning. If any member of the PDP says there is no zoning from one ward to anoth-

er and one constituency or district to an-other, that person is not a member of PDP because if the person was a member of the party from 1998 and followed the records and proceedings of the party, he or she will know there is rotation or zoning and will not argue about it. It is incumbent on PDP to know that two out of three have taken their slots for governorship remaining one, so it is not issue for debate for justice and equity sake.

There is also an argument that the rota-tion of the governorship should be based on ethnicity in that the state is sitting on a tripod of Ibibio, Annang and Oron ethnic groups. Do you share this view?

I am the leader of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly and I represent the PDP in the Assembly. The PDP of which I am a card-carrying member does not rec-ognise ethnic groups. So, in the context of zoning or rotation, the PDP constitution recognises the senatorial district. So the is-sue of Annang, Ibibio, Oron, Obolo is no is-sue when it comes to the norms in PDP as a party. The party cannot include the over 300 tribes in the country into its constitu-tion.

President Jonathan is not Nigerian president because he’s an Ijaw man but because he is from South-South. So, what am saying is that zoning of governorship does not follow ethnic nationalities but the

did not spend the money well if the report from the House Committee on Public Ac-counts indicts the governor or if the Audi-tor General sends in its annual report that the governor has misappropriated funds, that is when the public account will invite the governor to come and explain. But if you have looked at all the budgets passed and reports on implementation from the office of the Auditor General, there is no indictment of the office of the governor that he has misappropriated funds.

So, what people are saying is not correct, the governor has salary and many other subheads to spend money. To me there is nothing wrong with what the governor has done so far.

The state Assembly has just approved a $500 million (N80 billion) loan for the governor. It was said that the Houes was divided before it was passed. What really happened?

When the proposal came from the ex-ecutive to the legislature, it was our duty to find out why he needs the money; it is not enough to read the governor’s letter and approve. That was why the House decided to summon the Commissioner for Finance, Commissioner for Economic Development and the Permanent Secretary, Budget Of-fice to come and explain the merits and demerits of taking this loan, because we have earlier ratified the governor’s request for N50 billion. since his inauguration as governor in 2007 he has never gone to any bank for loan and from that year we have been having provision for N50 billion loan in the state budget. So, with the magnitude of ongoing jobs, we granted the governor the approval to get the first loan of N50 billion from a local bank with 18 per cent interest and the government came back and said that the interest on the loan is so much and that the state may not be able to pay before May 2015 and that we have a bet-ter offer from an international bank with single digit interest rate of less than nine per cent. What they wanted to do was to use the already approved funds provided in two initials budgets of 2012 and 2013 in which provisions were made for N40 bil-lion loan each totalling N80 billion. So, for us at the Assembly we saw that as the best for the state. It is a good deal for Akwa Ibom State and there is no division among the lawmakers on this.

There appears to be peace in the state As-sembly after a recent crisis that threatens to sack the Speaker. How do you achieve this stability?

As far as I am concerned, there is no crisis in the House ever since we came on board. From June 2011 till date, we have been in peace and the Assembly has been peaceful. If there is crisis, I will tell you as the Leader of the House. What you hear are rumours and speculations, people don’t believe we can stay together for two years without crisis. They call us rubber stamp because we work harmoniously with the executive. The government seeks and obtains the House approval before un-dertaking any major projects and these ac-counts for the harmony and peace between both arms of government.

Etteh

Hon. Okpolupm Ikpong Etteh is the leader of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly. He speaks on zoning of governorship in the state ahead of 2015, Governor Godswill Akpabio’s donations, among other issues in this interview with TONY ANICHEBE in Uyo. Excerpts:

2015: Zoning ‘ll count in Akwa Ibom – Etteh

14 Politics National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, May 6, 2013

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 15Monday, May 6, 2013 Views

CALLISTUSOKE

[email protected] 08054103275 (SMS ONLY)

HeartBeat

OFFICIALDOM AT THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS

COMMISSION, ABUJA HAS STALLED

PROGRESS IN THIS DIRECTION

BECAUSE THE NAME NIGERIA KINDNESS

MOVEMENT HAS BEEN REJECTED BY CAC

THE BUREAUCRACIES OF MANY COUNTRIES

OF THE THIRD WORLD ARE PEOPLED BY

UNDER-REMUNERATED AND UNMOTIVATED

WORKFORCE

The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is pre-pared to die at any time -Mark Twain

The American author and humour-ist, Samuel Langhorne Clemens (pen name Mark Twain), wants us

to believe that one who lives a worthy life needs not fear death. Why then are good Christians who should long for heaven afraid to die?

This is the context I situate my being on Monday April 15, 2013 when I received the news of the death of Dr. Ebenezer Adeolu Adenekan. On the night of the previous day my nephew, Barrister Steve Oke, had called me from General Hospi-tal, Gbagada, Lagos intimating me with his health challenge.

“There is no cause for alarm. He per-sonally walked into the hospital and would soon see the doctors. He is present-ing making some calls”, he assured me.

However, at about 1 pm the following day when I got another call from him, it was to tell me Doctor was dead!

“How did it happen?” I asked. Of what use is the detail of that untoward ex-change? Death had come when it chose.

Two weeks earlier, Doctor had chaired a meeting in which I was in attendance.

The entire Third World agonises on the pervasive crisis of development. How can we in the 21st century still

be talking of the evils of colonialism and neo-colonial agenda when we ourselves are guilty of internal despoliation? Is it the colonialists that are still responsible for the deliberate rape of state resources or the neglect of harnessing them?

Walter Rodney’s How Europe Unde-veloped Africa, Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth and Ayi Kweh Amah’s The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born are books that have helped shape my consciousness of the African tragedy. Today, I no longer blame our woes on former colonialists. It is our fault if we still depend on colonial-ists’ expertise to address our development challenges. It is our folly that we value the advice of foreign consultants.

We have made so much fuss about re-forms in the Third World, launched so many development programmes and proj-ects which outcomes and impacts are only in the bulging bellies of certain members of the political elites and their surrogates, who constitute the implementing teams. We can only see the change they inspire in the number and opulence of their man-sions, fleet and exoticness of their cars and prestige of the foreign universities their children attend or of the foreign hos-pitals they seek medical attention. In all these, we see the waste of national wealth; we see corruption.

So, our reform projects suffer some

fundamental crises and contradictions in their implementation process, public ac-ceptance and support because the drivers and facilitators compromises the process. That it is why we are always returning to the drawing boards. Therefore, policy re-forms are victims of public mistrust be-cause the average citizen doubts the genu-ineness of intention and the sincerity of purpose of the policy elites in and outside the governments. Even where the pro-moters are sincere, reform projects and programmes are often open to abuse and exploitation by the underpaid street level bureaucrats who implement them as their own pot of honey.

These civil servants take joy in the ex-tortion of beneficiaries and offenders, confiscation of their properties, delay and bottlenecks in service delivery and refusal to ensure distributive justice in the servic-es they provide. Such officers become law unto themselves, defeating the purpose of the law they are to enforce, the service they are to provide or the policy they are to implement.

Simply therefore, the implementation and success of any reform agenda wheth-er social, economic or political, whether in the introduction of some changes, or modification of public values and behav-iors, are contained within a continuum of factors, which exclusion or weakness at any point will result in a dislocation. At one end is the genuineness and sincerity of intention of the promoters and at the

Adieu, Ebenezer Adeolu Adenekan

Missing links in Third World reform initiatives

end point is the leadership’s will in push-ing through the reform agenda.

There are three major anchors within this implementation continuum. First, the process of implementation is smooth-ened by the depth and quality of research that go into identifying the issues and problems of public concern needing inter-vention. The second is the efficiency and integrity quotient of the bureaucracy that is the engine-room of policy implementa-tion. The bureaucracies of many coun-tries of the Third are peopled by under-remunerated and unmotivated workforce even if they are well-trained. And, if we add the lack of sincerity and trust in pu-bic engagement and communication we see why most of our reform initiatives fail in the Third World.

How can the government be trusted when it does not explain to all that mat-ter before it acts and prepare those to be affected by the policy for adjustment? The

beneficiaries and other stakeholders lack information to guide their response to policy change. How can the people see the long term benefits of a policy in sight and so endure the pains of reform and change when they are not given hope or some lit-tle incentives?

Nigeria is a classical case study of pol-icy glut and multiplicity of reform initia-tives. We have come to accept that we do not lack the people or the ideas to reform the country. We have reached the level of advocating for a return to the previous constitutions or structure of government while many are now questioning the vi-ability and legitimacy of our nationhood just because we have not focused on build-ing the nation, but interested in milking it.

This is the tragedy of most Third World countries.

Solanke, [email protected], is Head, Voice of Nigeria Training Cen-tre, Ikorodu, Lagos

[email protected], 08090585723 (SMS only)

ABDUL-WAREES SOLANKE

A

Mirror of the moment

Dr. Adenekan might not have been a household name in Nigeria. I never heard about him till last January when I was literarily taken to his Ketu abode by Bar-rister Oke on an issue he had been work-ing to elicit my interest: membership of World Kindness Movement (WKM).

Since my relationship with the de-ceased was on the basis of our shared interest in World Kindness Movement, a global coalition of various kindness movements, it is not out of place to talk about the Movement as he related it to me. But first let me connect my nephew with WKM; he is the interim Administra-tive Secretary of the yet to be registered Nigerian chapter.

The seed WKM was planted in Tokyo in 1996 from the fertile imagination of a Japanese medical doctor, Wataru Mori. A man of profound insight, Dr. Mori had envisioned that “a more compassionate and peaceful world could be achieved if

a critical mass of acts of kindness was ignited” by people.

The Movement currently has pres-ence in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, India, Italy, Japan, Nepal, Neth-erlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, Romania, Scotland, South Korea, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the USA. Switzerland, Uganda, Liberia and Seychelles are un-der consideration for membership.

Curiously, Nigeria’s WKM is sub-sumed under the Pan-African Reconcilia-tion Centre (PARC), a grassroots commu-nity of people working for socio-political as well as moral emancipation of Africa on the basis of nonviolence and ‘self-giv-ing love’. It is the brain child of Dr. Aden-ekan. He also had the African Centre for Peace Education and Training as part of the process for enduring peace in Africa.

His last unfulfilled project is the regis-tration of Nigeria Kindness Movement. The global body, WKM, had ordered the globalization of the WKM brand. How-ever, officialdom at the Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja has stalled progress in this direction because the name Ni-geria Kindness Movement has been re-jected by CAC. The only excuse is that ‘Movement’ connotes anti-establishment! We are at our wit ends on how to make CAC see reason.

It is for this reason that South Africa Kindness Movement has emerged as Af-rica’s only official affiliate of WKM till date. Instructively, Dr. Adenekan, as the Vice President of WKM for Africa, had responsibility to nurture the organiza-tion in the continent, yet he was unable to convince Abuja to accept the name,

Nigerian Kindness Movement. At our meeting penultimate Saturday

to deliberate on Dr. Adenekan’s burial ar-rangement, we resolved to do everything to get the Nigerian chapter of WKM regis-tered. But how to surmount CAC’s move-mentphobia to register Nigeria Kindness Movement is still problematic.

Ade was born at Coker Market, Ifo, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria 68 years ago. He attended various educational in-stitutions both in Nigeria and abroad and had a PhD in political science to the bar-gain.

His working trajectory took him to all the corners of the earth using global institutions and non-governmental orga-nizations like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Afri-can Development Bank (ADB), African Union, the Prague-based Christian Peace Conference, The Netherlands-based Inter-national Fellowship of Reconciliation, Ge-neva-based International Peace Bureau, the world’s oldest peace federation and Dialog International, a Dusseldorf-based Germano-African law, democracy, peace and development organization.

Perhaps a befitting epitaph for Doctor is this tribute by Michelle Tay, Associate General Secretary (Partnerships) Singa-pore Kindness Movement:

“Indeed he’s been a kindness advocate in Nigeria and his vision is that kindness will continue to spread not only in Nigeria but also to the southern African countries.”

He is survived by, Mrs. Titilayo Ad-enekan (wife),Ms Temitayo Olaseinde (daughter), Taiye Olowokere ( daughter), Kehinde Adenekan (son) and Juwon Ad-enekan (daughter).

16 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netEditorial Monday, May 6, 2013

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

BARRISTER JIMOH IBRAHIM, OFR PUBLISHER

STEVE AYORINDE MD/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

YELE AKINROLABU ED OPERATIONS

SEYI FASUGBA DAILY EDITOR

BOLAJI TUNJI SUNDAY EDITOR

GBEMI OLUJOBI SATURDAY EDITOR

LANRE OYETADE GENERAL EDITOR

DOZIE OKEBALAMA COORDINATOR, EDITORIAL BOARD

ADESOYE ADEKOYA CONTROLLER, PRODUCTION

CALLISTUS OKE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

ISE-OLUWA IGE ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF

KAYODE BALOGUN JNR SM, STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT

FRANK OBOH HEAD, GRAPHICS








LANRE OYETADE GENERAL EDITOR







PEACE KEEPERS ARE NOT PARTIES TO WARS.

IT IS INHUMAN TO MAKE THEM BEAR THE BRUNT OF LEADERSHIP

INCOMPETENCE AND FAILURES














The Joint African Union–United Nations Peacekeeping Mission

(JAU-UNAMID), about a fortnight ago, reported the killing of an international peacekeeper by unknown gunmen in the eastern part of Sudan’s Darfur region. The victim was shot dead near Muhajeria in East Darfur. Two other peace keepers were also wounded in the process. The Mission did not provide the identity of the victims, but said it had commenced investigations into the incident. The killing, according to the report, brought the total number of peacekeepers killed in Darfur since 2007, when the internal crisis in the country got out of hand, to 44. We may recall that war began in Darfur in 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government in Khartoum for allegedly neglecting the remote region and marginalizing its ethnic minorities.

Sudan is one of the largest countries in Africa, populated mainly by Arabs and Blacks. The Arab region has witnessed more development when compared to the southern parts of the country, including Darfur. The differences in religion and race among the North, South and Darfur had largely fuelled the war in Sudan. The state had been character-ized by power struggles on racial

and religious grounds. Eventu-ally, rebel groups emerged in the South and Darfur in pursuit of independence. The war between the Sudanese government and the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA), led by the late John Garang, remains one of the most perplexing and long drawn wars in Africa’s history. It is on record that after about 20 years of cease-less hostilities, Khartoum and the SPLA negotiated a political settle-ment that resulted in Garang emerging as the Vice President of Sudan, before he later died in a plane crash. Southern Sudan has since gained independence; and has been admitted into the Afri-can Union (AU) and the United Nations. Meanwhile, Khartoum has continued to resist the inde-pendence struggles of the Darfur region.

Worrisome, however, have been persistent reports of mass killings and torture of blacks in Darfur by the Sudanese armed

forces. The hostilities had led to the intervention of the UN peace-keeping mission to prevent further escalation of the crisis. International peace keeping, as a diplomatic initiative, is meant to intervene in such conflicts as the one raging between Khartoum and Darfur. The peace keepers, in the eyes of international law and the relevant protocols, are unbi-ased interventionists, drawn from different countries not linked in any way with the conflict. Indeed, their assignments are mainly humanitarian. The peace keeper, in civilized climes, is supposed to be protected against killing, tor-ture and rape or any manner of violence. Insurgents or belliger-ents are expected to respect these rules, more so, when the warring parties in Sudan willingly ac-cepted the entry of international peace keepers. It is condemnable, therefore, that despite the pres-ence of what is, perhaps, the world’s largest peace keeping mis-sion, presently, in Dafur, fighting has continued unabated between the Sudanese army and the rebels, with rising banditry and ethnic clashes as the side effects.

The investigation initiated by UNAMID on the cruel killing and wounding of peace-keepers in Darfur is commendable; and ought to be handled with dis-patch. Care should, however, be taken to ensure that the Sudanese

government is not directly or in-directly involved in the investiga-tion. The leadership in Khartoum has been accused of genocide and war crimes by the International Criminal Court, (ICC). Therefore, Khartoum seems the least quali-fied to be part of the investiga-tion.

In addition, we strongly sug-gest a review of the mandate of the UN mission in Darfur in the light of the high insecurity and recurrent killings international peace keepers are experiencing in the troubled region. The UN may need to upgrade its mandate in Darfur from mere ‘peace keeping’ to ‘peace enforcement’ status, for example, with a view to disarming the belligerents, stemming further killings of peace keepers, banditry and ethnic clashes, as well as pro-tecting critical social facilities and infrastructure. Without a concrete response like peace enforcement, it may be extremely difficult to contain the long-drawn war that has resulted in huge losses in human and material resources. Again, the rebels, if found to be responsible for the reckless as-saults on peace keepers, should be compelled to observe the Geneva Convention on war, which is equally applicable to peace keep-ers. Peace keepers are not parties to wars. It is inhuman to make them bear the brunt of leadership incompetence and failures.

Darfur region and killing of peace-keepers

ON THIS DAYDutch politician, Pim Fortuyn, was assassinated by an animal

rights activist. Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn (February 19, 1948 – May 6, 2002), was a Dutch politician, civil servant, sociologist, author and professor who formed his own party, Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn or LPF) in 2002. Fortuyn provoked controversy with his stated views about multi-culturalism, immigration and Islam in the Netherlands.

May 6, 2002 May 6, 1997

The Bank of England was given independence from political control, the most significant change in the bank’s 300-year history. The Bank of England, formally the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world, after the Sveriges Riksbank, and the world’s 8th oldest bank.

May 6, 2001

During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II became the first pope to enter a mosque. John Paul II, sometimes called Blessed John Paul or John Paul the Great, born Karol Józef Wojtyła (May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005) reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 1978 until his death in 2005. He was the second-longest serving Pope in history and the first non-Italian since 1523. John Paul II was acclaimed as one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, May 6, 2013 A2 18 Business CourageCourage

A Publication of GLOBAL MEDIA MIRROR LTDBARRISTER JIMOH IBRAHIM, OFR PUBLISHER

SEMIU SALAMI EDITORADEJUWON OSUNNUYI STAFF WRITERTAYO ADELEKE SENIOR REPORTER

OLATOYE RAPHAEL HEAD, PRODUCTIONSEYI OKUMODI SENIOR GRAPHIC ARTIST

BusinessCourage

Cover

This may not be the best of times for Diezani Alli-son Madueke, Minister of Petroleum Resources and

one of the powerful cabinet mem-ber in the President Goodluck Jonathan administration. Last week, the bubble fi nally burst when the National Assembly de-cided to beam its searchlight into the allegations of illegal transfer of four prime oil blocks to Atlan-tic Energy and Drilling Concept, owned by Jide Omokore and Sep-ta Energy Limited, allegedly with-out due process.

The revelation, which was the fallout of a protest staged at the National Assembly two weeks ago by members of the Delta State Oil-Producing Communities, who had petitioned the Committee of both the Senate and the House of Representatives over what they called a secret transfer of oil blocks OMLs 26, 30, 34 and 42 to Atlantic Energy and Drilling Concept.

The community alleged that the proven reserves in the blocks are fi ve billion barrels valued at $380 billion, about N58.9 trillion. The community alleged that the true value of OML 30 would have

Diezani Alison Madueke, Minister of Petroleum Resources once again, comes under scrutiny over her alleged involvement in the illegal transfer of four oil blocks with a combined value of N58.9 trn to Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited, owned by Jide Omokore and Septa Energy Limited

By Semiu Salamibeen $800 million, rather than the $50 million paid as initial entrance fee, if the Nigerian Pe-troleum Development Company (NPDC), had carried out competi-tive bidding. They claimed that Shell received $1.3 billion for its 49 per cent for its equity inter-est in the same block, which they claim as a violation of the Public Procurement Act.

The community comprising of Itsekiri, Ijaw, Urhobo, Isoko and Ndokwa oil-producing communi-ties of Delta State had stormed the National Assembly on April 25, and handed the Assembly a 30-day ultimatum to redress what they alleged was fraudulent allocation of OMLs, or risk the oil fi elds being shut down.

The community members claimed that the deal was per-fected “two days before President Goodluck Jonathan dissolved the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in 2011…”

In the petition presented to Senate President David Mark and Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, the communities alleged that there was “deliberate exclusion of indig-enous rights to pre-emption and/ or fi rst refusal and breach of open and competitive bidding on the four oil blocks.”

They demanded an outright

cancellation of “the on-going hand-over of OML 4, 26, 30, 34, 38, 41 and 42 to Atlantic Energy and Septa Energy” while the deal “be put on hold pending the de-termination of the issues raised in the petition.” The communities demanded an investigation of the abuse of due process by the Na-tional Assembly.

A part of the petition reads: “We, members of the oil-produc-ing communities, are compelled to bring to the notice of the Na-tional Assembly the manner and /or mode upon which the alloca-tion of the oil mining leases were fraudulently allocated by the Min-ister of Petroleum Resources, the offi cials of the ministry and the SPDC. Jide Omokore’s Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited neither tendered for, nor bided for the blocks. By this deal, 60 per cent of NNDC’s 55 per cent stake of these assets is about fi ve billion barrels, which when calculated with the 2013 crude oil bench-mark comes to $380 billion or N58.9trillion. This fi gure is exclu-sive of the four trillion cubic feet (4TCF) of gas asset in the blocks valued at $15.72 trillion.”

According to the petition, the game behind this deal is brought sharply into focus by noting the fact that, on OML 26, 30, 34 and

42, Deiziani Alison-Madueke’s al-leged no–bid approach via the so called “Strategic Alliance Agree-ment” fetched the Federation Ac-count an upfront cash payment of little more than $50 million as initial entrance fee from Atlan-tic Energy, while SPDC’s open and competitive bidding process, though excluding indigenes of the area on the other hand, got $1.3 billion from Heritage Oil Plc, for its 45 per cent joint venture ben-efi cial stake of the same block.

“Clearly, the true market value of the OML 30 assets divested to

Atlantic Energy by NPDC, if the open and competitive bidding process mandated by Public Pro-curement Act had been followed, should not be any less than $800 million,” the communities alleged.

Already, both chambers of the national assembly have stepped into the allegation with a view to unravelling the veracity or other-wise of the allegations.

In a resolution unanimously adopted by the House on a mo-tion sponsored by the Deputy Chairman of its Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Victor

A ministerminister in thedockdock

Alison-Madueke

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, May 6, 2013 A3 19Business CourageCourage

Cover

BC

Ogene, the House of Representa-tives has urged every stakeholder, authorities or bodies with the req-uisite information to co-operate and assist the committee in its investigations.

Ogene, while raising the issue under matters of urgent public importance, alleged that Alison-Madueke, Shell Petroleum De-velopment Company (SDPC) and NPDC offi cials worked in collabo-ration with the fi rms to farm out the marginal oil fi elds. “A colos-sal sum of $380 billion or N59 trillion, and $15.72 trillion worth of gas assets were alleged to be at stake in the shady deal,” Ogene said.

Ogene informed the House that the deal breached Sections 3(1), (2) and 5 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Act (No. 2), by denying indigenous op-erators the right of fi rst refusal to bid for the leases.

Part of the motion read, “It was disclosed that $800 million would have been earned by the Nigerian government in place of the N50 million received had there been

an open and competitive bidding required by Section 16 of the Public Procurement Act, 2007. The alleged resultant part-sum of $750 million in the entire racket or fraud scheme became possible through a mischievous process of hinging the transaction on the ‘Strategic Alliance Agreement’, an action which was deliberately de-signed to circumvent due process and transparency in contraven-tion of Section 3 of the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative Act, 2005.”

Similarly, the Senate Commit-tee on Petroleum Upstream head-ed by Senator Emmanuel Paulker has issued summons to all stake-holders in the oil sector who are linked with the oil blocks alloca-tion, summoning the Minister of Petroleum, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC), Shell Petroleum Development Company (SDPC) among others over the claims by the commu-nity.

However, the Nigerian Na-tional Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) denied the allegations, cleared Omokore’s Atlantic En-ergy Drilling Concept Limited of any wrongdoing and insisted that the strategic Alliance Agreement entered into with the company ensured that the NNPC received funds to fi nance its 55 per cent equity interests in the affects oil blocks.

The detailed response from the NNPC which was signed by the Group Managing Director, Andrew Yakubu indicated that the deal neither violated the Pub-lic Procurement Act nor denied government of ownership of the oil blocks. “The Strategic Alliance Agreement entered into between Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited and Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited, was not a divestment of Assets nor transfer of operatorship but simply an alternative funding ar-rangement in order to meet the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited’s cash call obli-gations in the affected OMLs,” the NNPC stated.

NNPC further said that con-

trary to the allegations submitted by the oil producing communi-ties, the Strategic Alliance Agree-ment does not amount to a bid-ding process for the allocation of oil blocks and that the Agreement is in furtherance of funding cash call obligations from alternative sources.

The submission listed alterna-tive sources of funding currently being used in the oil sector as including service contracts, pro-duction sharing contracts and alternative funding arrangements being used in the Traditional Joint Venture operations. “It is instruc-tive to note that the Nigerian Pe-troleum Development Company Limited (NPDC) is still the opera-tor and still owns 55 per cent in-terest in the OMLs. The company has not divested any of its inter-ests in the OMLs as erroneously alleged by the petitioners.”

The NNPC GMD also stated that contrary to claims that the transaction contravened the Pub-lic Procurement Act, the NNPC through the Strategic Alliance Agreement gets funding for its equity interests and that the or-ganisation is not involved in any form of procurement of goods and services as envisaged in the Act.

NNPC insisted that the Stra-tegic Alliance Award is only a fi -nancial arrangement between the NNPC and Atlantic Energy Drill-ing Concepts Limited. “There has been no award of a block during the entire exercise not to talk about discretionary award,” the statement submitted by the NNPC further indicated.

Also, the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) said that the allegations by the Oil Producing communities were unfounded and spurious. A state-ment by the management of NPDC indicated that the claim of exclusion by the oil communities was unfounded since the NPDC represents the wider scope of all Nigerians who are the owners of the oil blocks. It also stated that the actions taken by the NNPC on the oil blocks are in accordance with the law.

“In line with the governing provision regulating divestment

or transfer of participatory inter-est in any oil block, the minister, after due consideration, approved the assignment of NNPC’s inter-est to NPDC. Needless to say, the minister’s action is within the scope of her statutory oversight responsibility and in essence for the greater benefi t of the na-tion. We must also point out that NPDC, as a subsidiary of NNPC, is as indigenous as any community can claim to be and represents a much wider scope of indigenous rights than the Delta State Oil Producing Communities. The al-legation of deliberate exclusion of indigenous rights is in contrast with the established pro-indige-nous position of the minister as demonstrated in her administra-tion of the oil and gas sector, ” it said.

The NPDC further stated that “there was never any sale of eq-uity involved but merely a trans-action between NNPC and its subsidiary, NPDC, in compliance with the provisions of the Joint Operating Agreement (JOA). The transaction at issue was not an acreage allocation exercise nei-ther did it involve the issuance of a prospecting license.”

Despite the spirited denials, reliable sources told Business Courage at the weekend that a lot of underhand dealings were involved in the transaction. The source assured that the national assembly will go extra mile to verify the claim and ensure that the truth of the matter is uncov-ered. “We cannot be brow-beated by a fl urry of denials, claims and counter claims. We all know the dirty things happening in the oil and gas sector, particularly with-in the top echelon of the petro-leum ministry and the NNPC, the more reason why we won’t treat this matter on its face value,” said a lawmaker who spoke under an-onymity at the weekend.

Interestingly, the current chal-lenge which the petroleum minis-ter is facing is not the fi rst since she was moved to the ministry un-der President Goodluck Jonathan.

As minister of transport, she was accused of paying N30.9 bil-lion to contractors between 26

and 31 December 2007 while the road remained in the deplor-able state. In October 2009, she was the only serving minister among fi ve former ministers of state and four permanent secre-taries indicted and recommended for prosecution by the Senate fol-lowing its probe of the question-able spending of N300 billion in the transport sector. She was alleged to have transferred N1.2 billion into the private account of a toll company without due pro-cess and in breach of concession agreement.

Yet she remained a minister. All that could be done, it seemed, was to deploy her to the ministry of mines and steel development, where she was again accused of impropriety.

There was also the 2010 KPMG report on the “process and forensic review” of NNPC which returned a damning verdict on ev-ery aspect of the oil industry. Re-markably, the report was incon-clusive in three areas that lie at the heart of the gigantic corrup-tion machine that has brought the country to its knees: issue and renewal of importation sup-ply contracts, evaluation of petro-leum products importation bids, criteria for allocation of products and volumes to importers, and periodic prequalifi cation lists of approved importers. KPMG could not conclude these aspects of its work due to NNPC process own-ers’ (ultimately, the oil ministry’s) “inability to provide supporting documents.”

In January 2012, in the af-termath of the fuel subsidy crisis and subsequent subsidy payment probe, she was variously indicted for her role in the way the subsidy fund was managed. She was also accused, along with other former Transport Minister of mismanag-ing the huge budgetary provisions for road construction and rehabil-itations.

In all these, however, the min-ister has always come out un-scathed, a situation which many have linked to her close relation-ship with President Jonathan. So will the current probe also end as a storm in a tea cup?

Mark Tambuwal


News

IFAD commits $88.5m to ATA, says NwanzeBy Stanley Ihedigbo

The President of Internation-al Fund for Agricultural De-

velopment (IFAD), Dr. Kanayo Nwanze has disclosed that his organisation has committed $88.5 million into supporting Nigeria’s Agricultural Transfor-mation Agenda (ATA).

Nwanze, who stated this during a visit to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Develop-ment, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, said he was delighted at the assurance of progress of ATA’s value chain development to which IFAD has committed the fund.

He noted that IFAD would design on-going projects in close collaboration with ATA, assuring that IFAD would re-main focused on rural popula-tion in developing countries, particularly the rural agricul-tural population, for continued support.

He observed that although IFAD’s investment in poverty reduction is being reassessed, the organisation will, however, contribute – in the next three years – to moving 80 million people out of poverty, world-wide.

Responding, the Minister, Dr. Adesina, commended Dr. Nwanze for decentralising IFAD’s operations to the fi eld, adding that IFAD, as a devel-opment fi nance organisation, is making signifi cant impact on smallholder farmers and assured that ATA will reach 20 million farmers by 2015.

He acknowledged that IFAD has supported Nigeria in community-based agricultural and rural development pro-gramme, working with seven states in the north, in which the fi nancial support has been drawn down 100 per cent. In the south, the minister added, IFAD has supported in com-munity-based natural resource management programme of $50 million worth.

The benefi ciary states, he said, will be urged to pay their own counterpart funding.

Abuja has tremendous investment prospects – Minister

The Minister of State for FCT, Olajumoke Akinjide, has

said that Abuja has great busi-ness potential for investors.

Akinjide who disclosed this while receiving delegates from the City of London, who were in Nigeria on a trade visit, said the FCT has ``tremendous investment prospect’’ in various areas, including waste manage-ment, urban transformation, affordable housing and tourism development, among others. ``We have in place generous incentives that make Abuja investors’ haven, we are waiting for London business men to come on board,” the minister said.

She said that out of the 18 satellite towns in the territory, only three were being devel-oped, while the remaining were yet to be provided with the necessary infrastructure.

She said that the Federal Government was focused to-wards attracting Foreign Direct Investors to Nigeria. ``The government is working to re-verse the malaise of collapsing infrastructure, which dogged the country for decades.”

Akinjide said the FCT’s transformation agenda was aimed at placing Nigeria among the 20 leading global economies by the year 2020, adding that the 37-fl oor World Trade Centre under construction, when com-pleted, would spur businesses, improve Abuja skyline and boost the economy.

She said that the Abuja light rail project was on track and would be completed by 2014, adding that on completion, the rail would handle two million passengers daily.

Akinjide said that each of the rail stations was designed to be a business centre, com-prising of shopping malls and land for foreign investors.

Mayor of London, Hon. Roger Gifford, commended the FCT for the effort to improve the territory.

He said there were more than 200 thousand Nigerians living in London, adding that London was a multi-cultural city that had people from other parts of the globe.

Gifford said that no less than fi ve Nigerian banks were operating in London, adding that the city would open a new page of business with Nigeria. ``We look up to the opportunity to work with Nigeria,” he said.

14 fuel-laden ships to discharge at Lagos Ports

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has said that about

13 ships were waiting to dis-charge petroleum products at the various oil terminals within the Lagos Ports.

The NPA announced this in its daily publication, the Ship-ping Position, made available to newsmen in Lagos.

The publication reported that six of the 14 ships would discharge petrol; two would discharge diesel, fi ve kerosene and one bulk gas. According to the publication, two other ships will discharge bulk wheat and bulk malt.

It also said that 110 ships, carrying different cargoes, would sail into the ports be-tween May 3 and May 28.

The publication said that 13 of the ships would arrive with petroleum products, while 24 would sail in with new and used vehicles.

It said that 43 other ships would arrive with contain-ers and others with general cargoes, bulk fertiliser, bulk wheat, fresh fi sh, bulk salt, crude palm oil, base oil, bulk sugar, bulk Soya, bulk gypsum and bulk cement.

LCCI urges FG to patronise locally made prepaid meters

The Lagos Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (LCCI),

has urged the Federal Govern-ment to renew its commitment to patronise local manufactur-ers of prepaid meters.

Muda Yusuf, the Director-General of the chamber, who made this appeal in Lagos, said that the Federal Government has announced its decision to start patronising locally manu-factured goods, but this has not really been effected.

“Local manufacturers, in-cluding meter manufacturers, have been groaning in loss due to very low patronage they have been experiencing. We want the Federal Government to renew its commitment to start patronising local meter manu-facturers in order to boost their

production,” Yusuf said.He said that the low patron-

age of local manufacturers of-ten accounted for poor quality and packaging of their goods, which many had complained about.

Yusuf urged the Federal Government to involve local meter manufacturers in the Transformation Agenda in the power sector to boost the coun-try’s gross domestic product.

It would be recalled that Kola Balogun, one of the local manufacturers of meters and Chairman, Electricity Manu-facturers Company Ltd., had earlier appealed to the Federal Government to stop importing meters.

Balogun said that the manufacturers were losing a lot of money due to low patron-age from the government.

Foundation to train smallholder farmers in integrated agriculture

The Citizen Foundation for Agricultural Development

(CFADA) says it is set to train smallholder farmers in the country as part of efforts to im-prove farmers’ living standard and ensure food security.

The National Secretary of the foundation, Gozie Okoli, told the News Agency of Nige-ria (NAN) in Enugu that the training programme was being co-sponsored by the UNDP and the Enugu State Government. ``What we do is that we recruit

smallholder farmers, the rural farmers, train them and em-power them in every aspect of agriculture in Nigeria; we are currently doing this in Enugu State in collaboration with the Speaker of the state assembly.

He said that the Foundation was targeting 5,000 farmers in Enugu and other states except Kano and Lagos States where 7,000 farmers would be trained due to their population. “We are recruiting farmers right now in Enugu; the programme will run for fi ve years. We will be training them every year in integrated agriculture,’’ he said.

He said that each of the farmers would be trained at the cost of N25,000 with the total cost of training the 5,000 farm-ers amounting to N25 million.

According to him, the Foun-dation has realised that food suffi ciency and security would be achieved through integrated agricultural activities, in order to actualise the MDG 1 on abject poverty and hunger reduction.

Okoli, therefore, urged farmers to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the training to improve their capacity to become self-em-ployed as well as enhance their economic status.

Wrong fertiliser application affects output, says expert

An agriculture expert, Dr Olawumi Odeyemi, has

said that wrong application of fertiliser to plants could affect output negatively.

Dr. Odeyemi who spoke in Osogbo, Osun State last Friday, also said that such practice made farm produce hazardous for consumption. ``Though chemical fertilisers increase crop yields, farmers should adhere strictly to its us-age to avoid affecting produc-tion negatively,’’ he said.

He also argued that crops grown with organic fertiliser which contain essential nu-trients for plant growth were better in quality than those cultivated with chemical fer-tiliser.

He, therefore, urged farmers

Nwanze

Akinjide

Yusuf

Fuel ship at the port


Newsto embrace the use of organic fertiliser rather than the chem-ical variety, which according to him had irreversible effects on the soil composition.

“Chemical fertilisers kill the soil but organic ones im-prove the condition of the soil, increase nutritional content in plants and prevent plant diseases. Government and corporate bodies in the agricul-ture sector should encourage farmers to use organic fertiliser which is cost effective, simple to make but messy,’’ he said.

Dr. Odeyemi further ad-vised farmers to plant hybrid crop which increase yields and guaranty more production.

On the ongoing transforma-tion of the agriculture sec-tor, Odeyemi urged farmers especially peasants, to take maximum advantage of the numerous opportunities in the sector by engaging in commer-cial farming.

He noted that farming had become a profi table profession open to all categories of people, even as he appealed to the state government not to relent in re-energising the Ministry of Agriculture in its bid to boost food production and raise the living standards of Nigerians.

Jigawa provides tube wells, water pumps for irrigation

The Jigawa government said last Friday in Dutse that it

had provided 2,000 tube wells and water pumps to 3,000 farmers to encourage dry sea-son farming.

Rabiu Isa, the Commis-sioner of Agriculture and Natu-ral Resources, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that farmers across the 27 local government areas of the state benefi tted from the materials provided.

Isa said that the project was designed to engage unem-ployed youths through effective utilisation of agriculture and water resources found in abun-dance in the state.

“More than 3, 000 farmers have benefi ted from the project

with 2, 000 water pumps to assist them to lift water from drilled boreholes for irrigation. We purposely did this in order to boost the living standard of the people of Jigawa State be-cause during dry season a lot of people do not have much to do but by providing this tube wells and water pumps most of our youths now embark on dry season farming,’’ Isa said.

He said the state govern-ment had also distributed fer-tiliser and seeds to farmers to further encourage agricultural activity in the state.

The commissioner stated that the state government had concluded plans to establish three agriculture training centres in Kila, Danzomo and Malammadori, explaining that the gesture was to facilitate training of extension workers and enhance farmer education as well as support services at the grassroots.

LAGBUS assures of improved service

LAGBUS Assets Manage-ments Ltd., operators of

LAGBUS intra-city buses, has assured commuters in the Lagos metropolis of improved service delivery, more buses and additional routes.

Yemi Odubela, LAGBUS Ex-ecutive Director, said in Lagos that the yearnings of commut-ers for better services and more buses would soon be met.

Odubela said that the management had organised series of trainings for its bus operators and ground staff on measures to improve on their service delivery for commuters.

He added that the manage-ment had equally commenced rapid maintenance work on its faulty buses to increase the number that could be de-ployed.

“The management has received lots of complaints from our passengers and has commenced rapid repair of all our buses to make them up to our passengers’ tastes. Ours is transformation redefi ned and we are committed to this motto; so, we want to raise the standard of our buses for bet-ter performance,’’ he said.

He urged passengers to be patient with his members of staff and report misconduct to the appropriate authority.

According to him, passen-gers should not be interested only in boarding buses, but equally be security conscious at parks and bus stops, stress-ing that they should report all suspicious cargoes and per-sons.

Olu Ogunyankin, Deputy Head, Operations, LAGBUS Assets Management Ltd., urged staff to always check the physi-cal condition of buses before putting them on route.

Ogunyankin, who threat-ened to punish any offi cer that put unwholesome vehicle on route, advised them to report cases of fault to the mainte-nance unit.

“It is very important to look at the physical condition of the vehicle you are putting on routes. Smokey vehicle should not be allowed to ply. No man-age of vehicles. Any vehicle that is not good should not be allowed to ply. Any offi cer that fails in this will be punished. Captains (drivers) should report all the faulty vehicles to the maintenance unit to put them right,” he said.

The director noted that captains should always check the tyres, fi re extinguishers, indicators and the neatness of vehicles before putting them on the road.

New guidelines for takaful firms, favours centralised approach

A new guidelines to oversee the operation of takaful

(Islamic insurance) industry has been issued. The new rule, favours a centralised format that is gaining favour across the Islamic fi nance world.

Nigeria is trying to establish itself as the African hub for Is-lamic fi nance, having approved rules for issuing sukuk in March. It hopes the guidelines will boost insurance penetra-tion for a sector that had total assets of N621 billion as of December 2011.

The guidelines, issued last month, require each takaful fi rm to establish an advisory council of experts; at least two of the experts must be sharia scholars appointed to four-year terms, which are subject to renewal.

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) will in turn establish a takaful advisory council of its own to oversee industry products and practices, mirroring the centralised approach favoured by countries such as Malaysia and Oman.

Advisory council members must comply with eligibility criteria and an internal code of conduct, and attend a mini-

mum 75 per cent of meetings or face disqualifi cation.

Under the guidelines, sharia scholars can only be members of one advisory coun-cil at a time and must undergo a formal assessment to ensure appropriate training and expe-rience.

Islamic scholars are experts in fi nancial and religious law, but they are not certifi ed or ac-credited like other professions, so regulators are increasingly developing ways to ensure the hiring of experienced and fi nancially literate scholars.

Conventional insurers in Nigeria will also be allowed to offer services through takaful windows, as long as operations are ring-fenced to avoid leak-age and comingling with funds that are not sharia-compliant.

The use of takaful win-dows has been limited to a few countries such as Indonesia, Kenya and Pakistan. The lat-ter prompted a legal challenge from full-fl edged takaful fi rms against Pakistan’s efforts to encourage competition.

A separate circular sets a relatively low minimum capital requirement for takaful fi rms, which need to place a de-posit of N100 milliona with the central bank and takaful will operate under three models: mudaraba, wakala and hybrid.

Under the mudaraba model, a takaful fi rm acts as a manag-ing partner for a policyholder’s money, working under a profi t-sharing contract with any losses borne by participants.

In wakala, the fi rm operates under an agency agreement, managing funds on behalf of policyholders in exchange for a management fee, which can also include a performance fee.

The hybrid model uses the mudaraba format for invest-ing and the wakala format for underwriting.

All takaful investments must be in sharia-compliant assets but if these are limited, fi rms may engage with con-ventional instruments subject to approval by their advisory councils.

Firms are also encouraged to consider guidelines issued by the Malaysian-based Is-lamic Financial Services Board and the Bahrain-based Ac-counting and Auditing Orga-nization for Islamic Financial

Institutions, though they are not legally binding.

Fidelity Bank issues $300m five-year Eurobond

Fidelity Bank Plc has issued a $300 million fi ve-year Eu-

robond paying a 6.875 per cent coupon and priced at a dis-count to give a 7 per cent yield, the bank said on Friday.

A senior offi cial of the bank, who declined to be named, said the bond sale was completed last Thursday. Citibank and Deutsche Bank were joint lead managers on the deal, a pro-spectus shows.

Fidelity Bank’s chief execu-tive offi cer, Reginald Ihejiahi told Reuters last month that the planned bond was part of a funding drive for projects with dollar fi nancing needs, includ-ing in oil, power and infra-structure.

Foreign investor appetite

for emerging market debt is soaring, as the hunt for yield amid rock-bottom interest rates in Western countries pushes bond buyers further afi eld.

Samir Gadio, emerging market strategist at Standard Bank, said the issue price had been 99.48 per cent and that the bond gives a spread over US Treasuries of 635 basis points.

He added that fair value would have been between 6.5 per cent and 6.75 per cent yield, but said he expected the bond to perform well nonethe-less, since the deal was not widely marketed and the global environment remains one of low global rates and ample liquidity.

Lagos register 125 hotels, tourism operators

The Lagos State Government has announced that it had

so far registered and issued op-eration licences to 125 hotels Isa

Ihejiahi


News

and tourism establishments in the state.

Disun Holloway, the state Commissioner for Tourism and Intergovernmental Rela-tions, made the disclosure in an interactive session with newsmen in Ikeja. ``The state government has commenced registration of hotels and leisure outlets operating in the state. A total of 125 hotels and hospitality outlets have so far been registered and licensed by the ministry,’’ he said.

Holloway said it was man-datory that all hospitality and tourism establishments operat-ing within Lagos be registered, adding that the registration and licensing of hotels was in accordance with the provisions of the State Hotel Licensing Law 2003.

The commissioner said that the registration of hotels became necessary as it would enable the ministry to keep a tab on each hotel for proper supervision.

He said the ministry had held various meetings with Hoteliers’ Association of Ni-geria (HAN), Hotel & Personal Services Employers’ Associa-tion of Nigeria (HOPSEAS), on the need for their members to register with the ministry.

He advised other operators of hotels and tourism estab-lishments in the state that had not complied with the law to do so by registering with the authority.

He said that the ministry would not relent in its effort at ensuring that ``Lagos is a safe destination for both local and foreign tourists’’.

Customs seize 35,194 bags of rice valued at N213m

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said that it intercept-

ed 35,194 bags of smuggled

L-R: Chief Executive Offi cer of Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Oscar Onyema; President of NSE, Aliko Dangote and Acting Company Secretary, Josephine Igbinosun at the 52nd Annual General Meeting of the NSE, held in Lagos, weekend

rice in the last two months with Duty Paid Value of N213 million.

Wale Adeniyi, spokesman of the service, told reporters in Abuja that customs offi cers in different area commands across the country intercepted the contraband goods in March and in April.

He said the highest seizure of 8000 bags of rice was re-corded by the Federal Opera-tions Unit Zone A, Lagos State, followed by another, involving 7,269 bags of rice, in the same zone.

“The fi rst two seizures were made by a patrol team of Fed-eral Operations Unit and these were operations that were conducted using intelligence cultivated by our offi cers and it is an operation that lasted for three weeks. Offi cers had to stay in a particular village monitoring movement on the creeks and monitoring move-ment of the smugglers before the seizure was made,” he said.

According to him, the fi rst one was about 7,000 bags of rice and the second one was about 8000 bags of rice. “For you to get an idea of what 8,000 bags of rice is, we are talking of 14 trailer-loads of rice,’’ he said.

The seizures in Lagos State were made at a creek in Agbara near Egbede village, Badagry and Yekeme creek, near Gbaje, also in Badagry, he said.

Adeniyi also said that the service had been inundated with complaints from rice importers and distributors al-leging wide scale smuggling of rice into the country.

“We want to acknowledge the fact that these are stake-holders in the Nigerian econ-omy. A couple of them have invested lot resources into rice production and distribu-tion. We believe that they have the right to raise this alert if they observe incidents of

smuggling. But as a regula-tory agency charged with the statutory function of dealing with the issue of smuggling we want to give a strong and fi rm reassurance that Nigeria Customs Service has been up to the task of ensuring that smuggled rice is kept out of our nation,’’ he said.

Adeniyi noted that the service had been ``constantly re-strategising’’ its methods to

combat smuggling, adding that the service now relied more on the use of ``information and intelligence’’.

“You will recall that we had to dismantle check points in the hinterland last year and we have focused our atten-tion around the border areas and numerous creeks. Rice can now be only brought in le-gitimately through the seaport and because of that people who want to circumvent that fall back to using the creeks or the various porous entry points in the hinterland. So we now have to rely more on the use of information and intel-ligence to be a step ahead of smugglers,’’ he said.

Adeniyi said the service had also deployed air surveillance to curb smuggling since it acquired an aircraft for border patrol in 2012.

He said fi ve suspects had been arrested in connection with incidents in the Federal Operations Unit Lagos), and its Zone B counterpart in Kano.

He said the Comptroller-General of Customs had constituted a task force to curb the smuggling of rice, adding that the task force had a direct link with the air fl eet and regularly provided them with information on smuggling activities.

A breakdown of the sei-zures shows that the task force recorded 1,926 seizures at the Jimeta-Yola axis; 1,736 seizures in Katsina and 385 seizures in Oyo axis during the period under review.

NCC to prosecute pre-registered SIM card offenders

The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) says it

will henceforth prosecute those involved in pre-registered SIM card racket.

Efosa Idehen, Head of Enforcement of NCC, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday in Owerri that the com-mission would soon commence the prosecution of those ap-prehended in connection with the pre-registered SIM cards racket.

He said that in spite of the Federal Government’s directive, through the NCC, that indi-viduals should register their SIM cards, some people were still selling pre-registered SIM cards.

He said that by doing this, such people were undermining the purpose of the SIM card registration exercise.

Idehen blamed operators for failing in their responsibili-ties by not making adequate checks on systems for SIM registration. “The issue is that the NCC has before this time warned people associated with pre-registered SIM cards to de-sist whether as a user, dealer or operator. But this time, the commission has moved away from the users, dealers and is now tracing the operators,” he

said.He said that the law al-

lows questioning the operators for the pre-registration. Now, there is no hiding place for those selling pre-registered SIM cards. “People should not buy pre-registered SIM cards. It is only criminals that don’t want to buy and register their own SIM cards. People should be warned that buying pre-regis-tered SIM card is a grievous of-fence. There are lots of benefi ts derivable from registering your own SIM card. People cannot swap your SIM or use your details,” he said.

Idehen said that three of-fenders had been apprehended and would be prosecuted; add-ing that some individuals had indulged in such practice in the past and thought they had escaped the wrath of the law.

Nigeria to become gateway to African capital markets– Dangote

Aliko Dangote, the President, Nigerian Stock Exchange

(NSE), says Nigeria will soon be the gateway to African capital markets.

Dangote who made the forecast at the 52nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the NSE on Friday in Lagos, said that Nigeria would launch the derivatives market in 2014 to increase the number of trad-able products.

According to him, the NSE has invested N40 million in the Nigerian Association of Securities Dealers Ltd (NASD) to boost the market, adding that the investment was made during the fi nancial year ended December31, 2012.

The NASD is a formal Over-the-Counter (OTC) platform for the trading of unlisted equi-ties, bonds and money market instruments.

Dangote said that the NSE acquired 6.86 per cent through private placement offer to di-versify its revenue stream.

The NSE president said that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Decem-ber 2012 approved the NASD application to establish the OTC platform, adding that the sum of N50 million was also invested in FMDQ OTC Plc, a newly established fi rm regis-tered to carry out the business of securities dealings.

Besides, he said that the fi rm was promoting and over-seeing OTC market platforms for trading securities.

“We made a strategic deci-sion to invest in FMDQ to broaden our market reach, diversify revenue stream and to remain at the forefront of an evolving globally competitive fi -nancial market,” Dangote said.Eugene Juwah, NCC Boss

Abdullahi Diko, Customs Comptroller General


BC

News

NIMASA reads the riot act over marine environment pollutionBy Francis Ezem

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety

Agency (NIMASA) has said it is no longer going to take kindly any act of pollution on the part of any shipping company and other stakeholders operating on the Nigerian waters

This is sequel to Federal Government’s recent ratifi ca-tion of the Marine Pollution Convention which is the major instrument of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) on the prevention of pollution of the marine environment.

The convention was there-after domesticated into the national laws in June 2012 through the gazette of the Marine Environment Manage-ment Regulations among which was the Sea Protection Levy (SPL) and Merchant Shipping Regulations.

The Convention covers six annexes and has regulations stipulating various methods by which member states, ship owners, operators and mari-time stakeholders should im-plement its provisions in order to prevent and control marine incidents/pollution emanating from ships and offshore instal-lations.

Director-General of the agency, Patrick Akpolokemi, who spoke at a stakeholders’ sensitization seminar on the need for the protection of the marine environment in Nige-ria, warned that NIMASA has commenced the enforcement of all relevant conventions of the IMO on marine environment protection.

According to him, the one-day interactive session with the stakeholders had become necessary in the quest by the agency to facilitate effec-tive implementation of marine protection regulations in the interest of all stakeholders.

Akpobolokemi, who was represented by the agency’s

Executive Director, Maritime Safety and Shipping Develop-ment, Captain Ezekiel Agaba said: ‘There is the need for us to enhance sustainable devel-opment of the nation’s mari-time environment management system by putting in place a self funding mechanisms that preserve and protect it against degradation and the destruc-tion of the ecosystem with attendants economic implica-tions from oil pollution.’’

He also remarked that the IMO, in response to indiscrimi-nate discharge of ship-gener-ated wastes into the marine environment adopted the International Convention of the Prevention of pollution from ships (MARPOL) Convention.

The executive director, who is in charge of safety had while commenting on the issues raised at the meeting observed that oil pollution of the sea is recognised as a major problem and that various countries have introduced national regu-lations to control discharges of oil within their territorial waters.

According to him, Nigeria, as a signatory to the conven-tion has decided to also gazette the regulation on Marine Envi-ronment Management other-wise known as Sea Protection Levy and the Merchant Ship-ping (Ship-generated Marine Waste Reception Facilities) last year.

Meanwhile, head of Marine Environment Management De-partment of the agency, Julian Abiodun-Gunwa said minimal and haphazard monitoring of polluters within the nation’s territorial waters, if contin-ued unchecked will adversely affect socio-economic condi-tions of the Nigerian popu-lace. She disclosed in order to facilitate a better monitoring of the nation’s waters of pollut-ers; NIMASA has engaged the services of a private fi rm under a public- private partnership arrangement.

It was gathered that NIMASA has commenced the implemen-tation of the regulations espe-cially the sea protection levy under which it plans to take

off the offshore waste reception facilities as soon as possible.

NIMASA had before now released details of the pay-ment of SPL collection, which says that for a vessel to fall in the category of paying for the levy, it has to be of 100GT and above, more than 24 meters in length and have on board not less than 10 tons of oil.

Under the scheme, Nige-rian fl agged vessels, which are expected to pay in naira will pay N500 per gross tonnage (GT) for those from 100-1000 metric tonnes (MT) while, those from 1001-10000GT will pay 350 GT.

Other Nigerian fl agged ves-sels with 10001-100,000MT will pay N300 per GT and those from 100,000 and above MT will pay 250 per GT.

For the foreign fl agged vessels, that are expected to pay in dollars, the payment schedule is as follows: Those from 100-1000 metric tonnes (MT) will pay $0.1 per GT, those from 1001-10000MT will pay $0.15, per GT, those from 10001-100,000MT will pay $0.2per GT and those from 100,000MT and above will pay $0.3 per GT.

NDIC seeks students’ support on deposit insuranceTola Akinmutimi, Abuja

The Nigeria Deposit Insur-ance Corporation (NDIC)

has urged the National Asso-ciation of Banking and Finance Students (NABAFS), Federal Polytechnic Nasarawa, to lend a hand of support to its cur-rent efforts aimed at improv-ing public awareness about the Corporation’s mandate in protecting depositors’ interest in the country.

The step, according to the management of the Corpora-tion is pivotal to the nation’s fi -nancial stability and economic development.

Making the call when a del-egation of the students visited the Corporation’s headquarters on an educational excursion in Abuja, the Deputy Director Research, Policy and Interna-tional Department (RPID), Dr. Usman Wali, said the visit was crucial to the enhancement of the NDIC’s public awareness on its mandate and activities.

Wali, who pointed out that the operations of the NDIC were focused on its core man-date which include deposit guarantee, banking supervi-sion, distress resolution and liquidation, urged the students to spread the knowledge gained during the visit to their friends, families and colleagues.

He said that the NDIC insured deposit liabilities of deposit money banks (DMBs),

microfi nance banks (MFBs) and primary mortgage banks (PMBs) licensed by the Cen-tral Bank of Nigeria, adding that each depositor of insured banks was entitled to receive up to N500,000 for DMBs and N200,000 for MFBs and PMBs in the event of failure.

The representatives of Bank Examination Unit (BEU) and Insurance and Surveillance Department (ISD), Mr. Shehu Aladire and Mr. Okechukwu Amadi spoke about the NDIC on-site and off-site operational activities which were aimed at operational effi ciency and com-pliance with banking rules and regulations as well as safety, soundness and stability of the banking system.

Aladire identifi ed the four types of on-site bank examina-tion as maiden, routine, target and special examinations and noted that majority of the infractions in the banks were largely due to lack of corpo-rate governance, weak internal control system, insider abuses, high volume of non-performing loans and erosion of sharehold-ers funds.

e-clearance of cargo will eradicate corruption at ports – shippers’ council

The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has as-

sured Nigerians that corrupt practices at the nation’s ports would be eliminated with the introduction of e-clearance of cargoes.

The Acting Executive Sec-retary of the council, Hassan Bello, said this when a group, “Save Nigerian Freight For-warders, Importers and Export-ers Coalition’’, paid a courtesy visit to the council’s headquar-ters in Lagos.

Bello said that government was making efforts to minimise human contact at the ports where transactions would be done electronically like in other jurisdiction of the world.

“I am sure when this is done, it will take care of cor-ruption as port reforms are meant to fi ght corruption. We

still have a lot to do and that is why your group is very im-portant as you are the eyes of the shippers and by extension government,’’ he said.

Bello said that Nigeria still had the challenge of inter-mod-al transportation at the ports, stressing that the hinterlands were still not accessible. “It is a great relief for us that the Nigerian Railway Corporation had resumed its transportation of cargoes,’’ he said.

He said that at this stage, as a maritime nation, Nigeria should not be talking about container deposits and con-tainer return.

Bello said the issue of container deposits and return was a vexed one for the Nige-rian shippers, adding that the problem would soon be past. “Nigerians cannot be taken for granted. If we say shipping is international, what obtains in other jurisdiction should obtain here,’’ he said.

Earlier, the National Coordi-nator of the coalition, Chukwu Osita, urged the council to act as the commercial regulator of the ports. ``We are soliciting that the government should give you the tool to work to stop all these arbitrary charges at the ports as the freight forwarders are losing money weekly,’’ Osita said.

PPMC denies knowledge of pipeline commission

The Pipeline Products Mar-keting Company (PPMC)

at the weekend said it had no knowledge of any plan by the Federal Government to set up a pipeline commission.

The Manager, Public Affairs of PPMC, Imodagbe Nasir, told newsmen in Abuja that the government was only interested in ending pipeline vandalism and had intensifi ed surveillance on all routes of petroleum pipelines.

He said that inasmuch as the government had taken a number of steps to protect pipe-lines, the idea of setting up a commission was unfounded and government was not ready to associate itself with such idea.

Nasir said that the offi cers of the National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) the Police and the army had been highly responsive to the protection of the pipelines and oil infrastructure.

He explained that a private consortium had been engaged to re-lay some of the pipelines which were hidden and were diffi cult to monitor.

Nasir urged Nigerians to be involved in the protection of pipelines as a national asset since pipeline vandalism had been the nation’s major chal-lenge.

Akpolokemi

Bello


Global News

BC

Japan to sign Turkey nuclear deal

The Turkish government is expected to sign a deal

later with a Japanese-French consortium to build a new nuclear power station. The contract estimated to be worth $22 billion (£14bn), is expected to be signed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a visit to Turkey.

The deal comes as part of renewed efforts to promote Japanese nuclear technologies abroad, despite concerns over safety.

One of the Japanese fi rms included in the consortium is Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, one of the companies behind the Fukushima plant damaged in an earthquake in 2011.

Turkey is also prone to earthquakes, and the govern-ment cited Japan’s expertise in earthquake protection as one of the factors in signing the deal.

The other fi rms are Itochu Corporation and French utility group GDF Suez.

Japan is looking to boost exports of its technological ex-pertise as it attempts to boost economic growth and escape two decades of near-stagnant growth.

Fast-growing Turkey, mean-while, is looking to invest in domestic energy generation to reduce its dependency on im-ports as the economy expands.

The new nuclear plant will be Turkey’s second. It currently imports almost 97 per cent of its energy needs.

Nedbank to acquire Mozambique Banco Unico

South Africa’s Nedbank Group said last Friday that

it plans to acquire an initial 36 per cent share of Mozambique’s sixth-largest lender Banco Unico, and that it would later increase the stake to a majority shareholding.

The announcement comes as South African lenders are scouring the under banked

African continent in the hope of making acquisitions to hedge rising competition back home.

Nedbank, South Africa’s fourth largest banking group, also plans to convert a $285 million loan to pan-African lender Ecobank later this year, it said.

In its fi rst quarter trading update, Nedbank said that net interest income in the fi rst three months grew 7.3 per cent to 5.121 billion rand ($571 mil-lion) from 4.774 billion a year ago.

It recorded higher retail impairments as elevated con-sumer indebtedness and unse-cured lending continued into 2013, while the credit loss ratio increased to 1.22 per cent from 1.08 per cent a year ago.

India cuts interest rates to stimulate growth

India has cut interest rates for the third time this year in an

attempt to revive growth in its sluggish economy. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lowered its key rate to 7.25 per cent from 7.5 per cent.

India’s growth rate has dipped, amid a slowdown in key sectors such as manufac-turing, prompting the govern-ment to lower growth forecasts.

As a result, the central bank has been under pressure to take steps to help stimulate a fresh wave of economic growth in Asia’s third-largest economy.

However, the bank - which has taken some measures in recent months - said that there was limited room for it to ease its policies further.

It said that high consumer price growth continued to remain a key threat and that it “cannot afford to lower its guard against the possibility of resurgence of infl ation pres-sures”.

“The balance of risks stem-ming from the Reserve Bank’s assessment of the growth-infl a-tion dynamic yields little space for further monetary easing,” the RBI said in its monetary policy statement.

Earlier this year, India lowered its growth forecast to fi ve per cent for the year to 31 March 2013, underlining the challenges it faces in reviving the sluggish economy.

There have been concerns that its growth rate may slow further, not least because of a delay in key reforms, which have hurt foreign investment.

The central bank argued that while it had lowered inter-est rates, the government also needed to take adequate steps to help boost confi dence in the economy as well.

“Without policy efforts to unlock the tightening supply constraints and bring enduring improvements in productivity and competitiveness, growth could weaken even further and infl ationary strains could re-emerge,” it warned.

Analysts said the central bank’s statement suggested that it was unlikely to take fur-ther steps until the government itself acted.

“The central bank is un-likely to embark on an aggres-sive easing cycle if they are not convinced that the struc-tural constraints have been addressed,” said Radhika Rao, economist at DBS bank.

Angola toughens rules to boost transparency in banking

Angola has introduced tougher regulations for

banks on ownership dis-closure, auditing and risk management, responding to in-ternational calls for increased transparency and supervision in the oil-rich country’s boom-ing fi nancial sector.

Riding on the coat-tails of an oil boom - Angola is Africa’s second largest crude producer - the country’s banking sector has posted rapid growth in the last decade and attracted foreign players.

However, the expansion has raised questions about transparency, an area in which rights groups and international organisations have urged An-gola to improve its record.

The new regulations, issued by the central bank, come in response to recommendations from the IMF and the World Bank, a senior executive in the sector told Reuters.

“This will help reduce ques-tions about transparency in the sector and strengthen the central bank’s supervisory capacity,” said Joao Fonseca, executive director at Banco Angolano de Investimentos, the top bank in terms of assets.

Angola’s banking market is dominated by fi ve banks, including units of Portugal’s Banco BPI and BES .

But with deposits rising by a third and assets by a fi fth in 2011, overseas players such as Standard Bank and Rus-sia’s VTB are expanding their presence.

Under the wide-ranging new corporate governance code, banks will have to publish information about their share-holding structures, including details about who owns direct and indirect stakes. Rights groups have criticised opaque-ness in a system in which large stakes are owned by secretive offshore companies.

If an Angolan bank opts to have non-executive direc-tors on its board, it must also appoint an executive board to handle day-to-day manage-ment in a transparent and responsible manner and one independent board member to oversee it.

“The rules are very demand-ing and will require banks to strengthen management capac-ity,” Fonseca said, adding that the deadline for implementa-tion by the end of 2014 had been agreed with the sector association ABANC.

Stricter rules on auditing, risk management, compliance and stress testing will enhance the central bank’s ability to supervise the fi nancial system.

The rules will also help oil companies operating in Angola as they switch to making pay-ments through local banks and demand transparency, Fonseca said.

Zimbabwe lures foreign investors

After shunning Zimbabwe during its years of hyper-

infl ation and political strife, foreign investors are fi nding the southern African country increasingly attractive.

The main index, up more than 25 per cent this year, hit a record high of 191.16 last Friday and offshore investors have been strong buyers.

Zimbabwe’s adoption of the dollar, a new constitution that curbs presidential pow-ers after 33 years of President Robert Mugabe’s rule, and

cheap valuations are luring some foreign investors to its stock market.

But nagging concerns about elections due this year and the government’s policy of forcing fi rms to cede majority stakes to black citizens are deterring larger portfolio infl ows and the foreign direct investment that Zimbabwe needs, investors say.

“Zimbabwe used to be the breadbasket of Africa so the potential to restore its lost glory is still there,” said Funmi Akinluyi, Silk Invest’s sub-Sa-haran Africa investment direc-tor, adding that the fi rm has no investments in Zimbabwe but is looking at it closely.

Zimbabweans in March approved a new constitution limiting presidential powers, removing the main barrier to an election in the second half of this year after a disputed 2008 poll.

Those investing in Zimba-bwe, including Renaissance Asset Managers, Investec and Stanlib, say they are cautious but believe it has already seen the bottom. They also say companies are cheap compared to regional peers, while tough conditions have produced strong managers.

“The management is bril-liant,” said Sven Richter of Renaissance, citing one fi rm that adopts two business plans each year for high and low in-fl ation. “When the environment is particularly harsh you fi nd the best management teams come to the fore.”

In the fi rst three months of 2013, foreigners were net buyers of $11 million worth of shares a month on average, more than double the monthly average in 2012, according to data from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.

But some investors are waiting until after the elec-tions, hoping for more clarity on the new government’s poli-cies.

“If this is a real turning point for the economy then we’re going to want to be in-vested for years, not months,” said Andrew Brudenell, man-ager of HSBC’s $250 million frontier equity strategy, which invests in Nigeria and Kenya.

Abe

Duvvuri Subbarao, India’s Central Bank Governor

Robert Mugabe (R), Zimbabwe President and Prime Minister Morgan


Continued on pg A10

Remi Makanjuola may not be a very popular name in the realm of highly successful Ni-

gerian businessmen, but the impact which his chain of busi-nesses has made in the Nigerian economy over the years cannot be easily dismissed with the wave of the hand.

A graduate of the Universi-ties of Leicester and Manches-ter, Makanjuola’s experience in the business world transverses various sectors of the economy, where he sits on the board of

His choice of entrepreneurial endeavour is strategic. After several years, of banking career which culminated in his appointment as Executive Vice Chairman of the defunct Devcom Merchant Bank, Remi Makanjuola did not opt to place his fortune in the finance sector. Rather, he opted for the maritime and the oil and gas sectors; two highly lucrative service industries in Nigeria. Today, he is better for it as his Caverton Group of business continues to play a major role in the money spinning sectors

The hiddenhidden treasuretreasure

By Adejuwon Osunnuyi several key institutions in the country.

Having acquired over two decades of progressive banking experience, the last being as Ex-ecutive Vice Chairman of the de-funct Devcom Merchant Bank, owned by the business mogul, Mike Adenuga Jnr, his earlier career path has indeed stood him in good stead in the running of Caverton Offshore Support Group where he is the founder and Executive Chairman. Ca-verton is Africa’s fi rst integrated offshore support service provid-er. The company provides ma-rine, aviation and logistics sup-port services to oil exploration

and production fi rms based in West Africa.

His sojourn into the Oil and Gas servicing is perhaps instructive. Primarily, when Makanjuola formed the Caver-ton group, what he had in mind, as gathered by Business Cour-age was for him to create the fi rst fully indigenous integrated offshore support company in Africa, which is able to provide “end-to-end” services to its cli-ents and other major players within the industry.

In the petroleum shipping industry where Makanjuola had in mind to massively explore, operations in the sector have al-

ways been lopsided in favour of the foreign multinational fi rms. It was perhaps, in response to the prevailing imbalance that the ministry of transport in con-junction with the National Mari-time Authority had to set up a committee to work out the mo-dalities for the involvement of Nigerian shipping companies in this trade. This was also buoyed by the passage of the Cabotage Bill into law by the National As-sembly, restricting transporta-tion of petroleum products in the region to Nigerian owned vessels, an area where foreign companies had always fed fat.

Even under the current dis-

pensation, Nigerians are yet to fully tap the benefi t from the lu-crative maritime trade as what many Nigerians fi rms had man-aged to achieve was simply be-coming agents to foreign ship-ping fi rms.

Determined to break away from the norm, Makanjuola, full of vision, courage and determi-nation in July 1999 incorporated Caverton Marine Limited as one of the Nigeria’s fastest growing indigenous shipping companies.

As an indigenous shipping company, Makanjuola believed that the coming of Caverton Ma-rine would go a long way in in-

Makanjuola


‘

‘

troducing young vessels (which had not been the case for nu-merous shipping companies) in the region as a way of promoting indigenous participation aside being a profi table venture.

Thus, from the word go, Car-verton Marine Limited was set for rapid growth and expansion in line with government policy on substantial indigenous par-ticipation in key sectors of the nation’s economy. Since incep-tion, carverton Marine limited has rendered services to many organizations like Oando Plc- supply of petroleum products, Total- supply of petroleum prod-ucts, African Petroleum, now Forte Oil,- supply of petroleum products, Shell Trading and Shipping Company UK-/Vessel charter, Shell Petroleum Devel-opment Company- Vessel char-ter, Nigeria LNG- Vessel char-ter, Oxton Company limited, Belize(foreign)-Vessel charter.

As a follow up to the Caverton Marine, Makanjuola again raised the bar with the establishment of Caverton Helicopters in Septem-ber 2002 as a charter, shuttle, sales and maintenance company providing varieties of services in the Marine and Oil and Gas sec-tors, including equipment sup-plies, provision of Marine Ves-sels, Workboats, Jack up rigs, Tugs and allied equipment and services. Caverton Helicopters and Caverton Marine, which made up the group, together have provided services to clients working within the Nigerian oil and gas industry for a combina-tion of 15 years and currently have a global workforce of over 500 employees.

Headquartered in Lagos, Ca-verton Helicopters is the fi rst wholly indigenous civil helicop-ter company to work in the oil and gas industry. Operating from facilities around the coun-try and more recently in other parts of West Africa, Caverton Helicopters provides a range of services including transporta-tion, maintenance, search and rescue and related services to offshore oil companies and other

business sectors.While Caverton Helicopters

was initially set up to bridge the gap in the on-shore helicopter services, the company has since broaden its scope by venturing into the offshore support service industry and has become a key player in the provision of various services to the major oil and gas companies. Caverton Helicop-ters currently operates out of a 10,000 square metre fl ight facil-ity at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, a 9,000 square metre facility in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and operates a he-liport in the Lagos Metropolis (Victoria Island), and also oper-ates a facility in Cameroon, West Central Africa.

The company’s focus and primary business, according to information made available to Business Courage, is to pro-vide logistics and environmen-tal support services to oil and gas fi elds with broader plans to support energy operations along the West African shelf as well as other ancillary support services.

Over the years, Caverton He-licopters has been able to diver-sify its range of services follow-ing on the success of the shuttle services between Victoria Island and Ikeja, Lagos. For Caverton, it has been able to make its mark as it currently offers ser-vices such as offshore and on-shore logistics (helicopters and fi xed-wing), private charters (in-cluding air tours and aerial pho-tography), maintenance, repair and overhaul services (helicop-ter), executive ground handling services (helicopter and private jets) and hangerage and use of facilities at the private terminal.

Boosted by the successes it has so far achieved in the avia-tion, oil and gas section, Caver-ton Helicopters also decided to raise the bar with its appoint-ment as an AgustaWestland Authorized Service Centre for the AW139 intermediate twin helicopter in Nigeria. With this, Caverton’s service centre based in West Africa’s commercial hub, Lagos provides maintenance and

repair services and an extensive a spare parts inventory for the type, offering an even greater level of service to AW139 opera-tors across the region.

Caverton’s relationship with AgustaWestland, the Anglo-Italian helicopter company, a total capability provider in the vertical lift market, owned by It-aly’s Finmeccanica, was further strengthened with a partnership agreement.

Through its rotorcraft sys-tems design, development, pro-duction and integration capa-bilities, its experience in the training business and its cus-tomer focused integrated op-erational support solutions; the company delivers unrivalled mission capability to military and commercial operators around the world.

Caverton also has an agree-ment with Heli-Union as well as DanCopter A/S. HELI-UNION was founded in 1961 to rapidly become France’s largest heli-copter operator. With over 70 per cent of its activity conducted internationally, the company is present on four continents and ranks among the world lead-ers on its market. Heli-Union’s teams of professionals are rec-ognized for their high level of skills and experience as well as for their ability to perform their works under virtually all types of environments, including the

most hostile ones.The third of the Caverton

Helicopters’ partners, DanCop-ter A/S, is a Danish helicopter company founded in 2002. The company transports passen-gers to platforms and ships in and around the North Sea and is a company which highly pri-orities safety, quality, honesty, and great fl exibility on all levels. DanCopter is a well known and respected helicopter company in the European market. The posi-tion in this business was further strengthened in 2008 when the Norwegian concern Blueway AS bought 100 per cent of Dan-Copter shares. Blueway AS has years of experience with helicop-ter operations in many parts of the world.

Clearly, all these affi liations and partnership agreements have tremendously helped the operational effi ciency and scope of Caverton Helicopters. Recent-ly, it entered into a partnership with Shell companies in Nigeria which provided it a loan of $85 million to upgrade its fl eet with more advanced aircraft, the AW 139. With the $85 million loan, Caverton placed orders for six AW 139s, making it the largest operator of the aircraft in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Under the Caverton/Shell agreement, while two aircraft would be used for Shell Nige-ria Exploration and Production

Company (SNEPCo), the rest would be used in the operations of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

The deal, according to Chike Onyejekwe, SNEPCO Managing Director, is a giant step for a Ni-gerian company.” Recalling that the partnership journey started in 2010 when the company awarded the biggest aviation contract to a Nigerian company, Onyejekwe said that both Shell and Caverton have worked hard to take the contract to a higher level, assuring that the story will get even better in the coming years not just for Shell compa-nies but also for service provid-ers in the aviation sector and the wider economy.

Makanjuola himself affi rmed that in two years since Caver-ton signed the contract with Shell, the company has grown from one with a staff strength of 90 to over 500, creating a pool of highly skilled Nigerians that can work anywhere in the world. “The support we have enjoyed from Shell is a lasting testament to Nigerian content develop-ment,” he said.

The AW 139 is a new genera-tion twin-engine helicopter that incorporates the latest technol-ogy for safer and more economi-cal operations. It seats 12 pas-sengers with a state-of- the-art cockpit to reduce pilot workload and cabin air-conditioning as

Makanjuola himself affi rmed that in two years since Caverton signed the contract with Shell, the company has grown from one with a staff strength of 90 to over 500, creating a pool of highly skilled Nigerians that can work anywhere in the world


BC

‘

‘

well as more luggage capacity. Caverton will repay the loan from the proceeds of the con-tract it executes for Shell.

Caverton currently operates six AW139’s performing offshore transport missions in support of the oil and gas industry in Ni-geria and is the largest operator of the type in the region. Geoff Hoon, Managing Director Busi-ness, AgustaWestland, who spoke at the signing ceremony, noted that while he was delight-ed Caverton Helicopters have or-dered the AW139 to meet their requirements for a long range helicopter to serve deepwater oil and gas rigs, he was of the belief that the contract highlights the continued success of the AW139 in West Africa and grows its successful partnership with Ca-verton Helicopters, who are not only the largest operator of the type in the region but are also its Authorised Service Centre.

To Makanjuola, the order represents another major mile-stone for Caverton as it broad-ens its client base and continues to increase its capacity in Africa. The choice of the AW139, ac-cording to him, was a testament to its unrivalled performance and capability in the company’s operating environment as it re-mains confi dent that it will con-tinue to deliver exceptional re-sults for Carverton.

The AW139 delivers best-in-

class performance with a maxi-mum cruise speed of 165 knots (306 kph), and superior perfor-mance for range, endurance and hovering. With its power reserve, the AW139 assures Category “A” (Class 1) performance from a he-lipad (elevated or at ground lev-el) at maximum take-off weight. The AW139 is the market leader in the medium twin class and the only helicopter in service in its class that meets all the latest safety requirements.

Carverton is believed to have more than 500 aircraft which are now in service performing many roles including EMS/SAR, off-shore transport, VIP/corporate transport, law enforcement and military transport. More than 180 customers from almost 60 countries have ordered over 700 AW139 helicopters so far.

Designed with inherent multi-role capability and fl ex-ibility of operation, the AW139 is capable of carrying up to 15 pas-sengers at very high speed, in a most spacious and comfortable cabin. The ample baggage com-partment is accessible both from the cabin and externally. The AW139 provides the best power reserve of any helicopter in the medium twin-engine class.

The AW139 is powered by two Pratt & Whitney PT6C-67C turboshaft engines. Together with this and a state-of-the-art 5 bladed main rotor, the AW139

delivers a high cruise speed even in demanding conditions at all weights. The AW139 is a new generation medium twin-engine helicopter offering unmatched performance, capacity and safe-ty. It meets the most stringent civil and government certifi ca-tion standards, including the FAA and JAA FAR/JAR Part 29 requirements.

Caverton Helicopters is the fi rst wholly indigenous civil he-licopter company to acquire the AW139 Helicopter. Its heli-copters are fully equipped and tailor-made to handle the re-quirements of offshore support operations in Nigeria.

Aside the AW139, other lat-est addition to the Caverton Helicopters fl eet includes the S-76C series. While the S-76C se-ries has been improved to meet the needs of today’s operators and the rigors of the demanding offshore oil support mission, it incorporates technological ad-vances that deliver enhanced safety and reliable performance day after day, mission after mis-sion. The S-76C++ helicopters features modern technology enhancements, including more powerful engines, along with im-portant safety features and im-provements.

Also, Caverton Helicopters currently operates two DHC6 Twin Otter airplanes on a dedi-cated passenger transfer basis.

This is high-winged, unpressur-ized; twin-engine turboprop air-craft is a 20-passengers STOL utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Cananda. The de Havilland twin other (DHC-6) is a highly manoeuvrable, versa-tile aircraft which can be fl own slowly (80-160 knots/150-300 km/hr). The aircraft fi xed tricy-cle undercarriage, STOL abilities and relatively high rate of climb have made it a successful cargo, regional passenger airliner and MEDEVAC aircraft.

Around the world in jungles, deserts, mountains, the Arctic, and anywhere where rugged re-liability and short-take-off-and-landing are required, the Twin Otter is often the fi rst choice for dependable passengers’ safety and confi dence.

Caverton Helicopters also op-erates a fl eet of two Bell 412 EP Helicopters for on-site and off-shore logistic services. The Bell Helicopters 412 EP twin turbine helicopter is an advanced tech-nology design with excellent reli-ability and dependability derived from the rich heritage of the Bell Huey series. These various he-licopters are serving commer-cial needs of over 115 countries throughout the world. The latest version of the venerable series is the Bell 412EP.

Aside Carverton Helicopters and Caverton Marine Limited (Shipping), Makanjuola is also the founder of Le Global Gas Limited, the company, an indig-enous oil and gas service com-pany which is Nigeria’s largest independent marketer and dis-tributor of LPG and a key lifter from the current Nigeria LNG LPG domestic LPG supply pro-gramme.

There is also the Carverton Properties Limited involved in real estate development.

Makanjuola believes that his group of business in its few years of existence has risen to prominence through a steady and consistent adherence to global standards, processes and systems.

Having earned public con-

fi dence in the management of public funds and public af-fairs, Makanjuola is the Chair-man, Board of Directors, Lagos State security trust fund which was conceived by the Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola and established by a Law of the Lagos State House of Assembly in September 2007. The idea of establishing the fund which is modelled on a public/private arrangement became imperative when the Governor received and reviewed the report of the high powered Security Committee he established un-der the chairmanship of Musiliu Smith, former Inspector General of Police, to look into ways and means of combating the growing menace of violent crimes in the state and the seeming inabil-ity of the police to confront this challenge in spite of their best endeavours.

A review of the report made it crystal clear that the problem was essentially related to logis-tics, mobility, communications, kitting and so on especially when considering the peculiar challenges the state poses. It was the fi nding of the security committee that a minimum of N3.7 billion was required as the cost of providing standard secu-rity cover for Lagos State includ-ing the waterways.

The Fund was a practical re-sponse to the reality of the op-erational defi ciency of the Police and other federal security agen-cies within the state due to long years of neglect by the Federal Government, particularly in ar-eas of funding and provision of modern equipment.

As the Chairman of the Board, he has been responsible for the day to day administra-tion of the Fund. Since coming on board, the state has been able to beef up the police with Armoured Personnel Carriers, APC, and Patrol Vehicles among other security kits.

Makanjuola, an experienced banker and economist, also serves as the chairman of Vono Foam Plc.

Makanjuola

Aside Carverton Helicopters and Caverton Marine Limited (Shipping), Makanjuola is also the founder of Le Global Gas Limited, an indigenous oil and gas service company which is Nigeria’s largest independent marketer and distributor of LPG and a key lifter from the current Nigeria LNG LPG domestic LPG supply programme


Management Principles

ThebuddingEntrepreneurs

Ten golden rules for great customer service

The story of the Igwe twins, Tobias and Titus, could rightly be said to be that of

the popular dictum, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” To-bias and Titus, both Managing Director/ Chief Executive Offi cers of Speedmeal Mobile Kitchen, through sheer restlessness, cour-age and the never-say-die spirit were combined to embolden them in their struggle to make a mean-ing out of their existence.

The journey into entrepreneur-ship started very early for this en-terprising young twins due largely to the death of their father. Tobias and Titus Igwe lost their father in October 2009, when they were barely 22 years old and had to eke out a living, by not only fending for themselves but also catering for their aged mother and seven other siblings, being the eldest sons in the family of nine.

At the time of their father’s death, Titus and Tobias were studying Business Administration at the University of Lagos. Des-perate to complete their educa-tion even with the untimely death of their father, they searched for jobs to fund their studies and also to assist their mother and seven younger siblings. After engag-ing in a few menial jobs, it soon dawned on them there had to be a better way of approaching life and achieving their dreams.

While the search for a life wire continued, the Igwe twins decided to start up something on their own, something that they would enjoy doing and at the same time, be lucrative enough to cater for their needs. And that was how they enrolled in a catering train-ing school where they learnt the rudiments of baking.

With the practical experience in cake baking and the strong de-termination to achieve success in life, the Igwes decided to put what they learnt in the catering school into practice, but they were faced with the challenges of raising cap-

The mobile kitchenmobile kitchen twinsTwo years after they flagged off a catering outfit with N50, 000 out of sheer desperation to make something meaningful out of live, the Igwe twins, Titus and Tobias now sit comfortably as co-owners of Speedmeal Mobile Kitchen, a food delivery services company with a net income of about N20 million. Besides the gradual flow of income, the Igwe twins have also found fame, courtesy of Fate and Ford Foundations, where Titus now acts as resource person in various entrepreneurial development programmes

By Stanley Ihedigbo ital.With strong determination to

succeed, Tobias and Titus decid-ed to temporarily put their univer-sity education at a halt by using their school fees and what was left after their father’s burial, to start up their catering business. They applied for deferment, adding another one year to their under-graduate studies.

With the start-up capital, To-bias and Titus were then faced with the challenge of getting customers. Interestingly, at this point, they were at the edge of succumbing to pressures from family members and friends who had cautioned them against going into the catering business on the pretext that the business terrain is already saturated.

However, with sustained cour-age, Tobias and Titus decided to give their idea a trial. Weeks af-ter they had started the business and nothing much was forthcom-ing, they decided to take their case to little children whom they were teaching bible study in the church. They felt the kids could go a long way in convincing their parents in patronizing them in helping them make their birthday cakes.

One Saturday, they thought of the idea of baking small cakes and taking them to church to sell after the church service. They approached the children in the church and asked them to show the cakes to their parents, inform-ing them that their bible teachers too could bake delicious cakes as well as small chops.

That idea actually worked. While some of the children gave their parents the cakes, inter-estingly, some other ones would cry insisting that their mothers should go and buy more cakes for them. From there, they started baking birthday cakes for them for as low as N5, 0000. With sustained patronage, minimal though, Tobias and Titus knew it was time for the business to grow, hence they decided to take their business to the next level, but

then, this time around, it was still within the church premises.

They visited marriage counsel-ling classes in churches in order to meet with intending couples. “We also baked cakes and used to take them to marriage classes in the churches where intending couples are being counselled as a kind of advertising our products. When we meet the couples, we used to give them samples to taste

and because they were able to be convinced, we started getting pa-tronage from them as well know-ing how important cake is to any wedding,” Tobias said.

Now, having gained their con-fi dence, they decided to raise the bar, charging between N25,000 and N50,000 to bake the wedding cakes; depending on the sizes or quantity of materials to be used. From there, again, the twins took

another step, this time, widening the scope of the business into full catering services.

But then, the catering busi-ness did not also come without its own challenges. At the initial stage, whenever they secured contract of supplying meal, aside having the challenge of staffi ng, they were also faced with the chal-lenge of accommodation. They had little space to work with be-

Think about the last time you had a negative buying experience. An online store may have failed to respond to your email inquiry. Maybe a sales asso-ciate at your wireless store didn’t know the key differences between an iPhone and a Blackberry. Or

perhaps you were left on hold for an inordinate amount of time when you called a mail-order company’s toll-free line.

Negative buying experiences are almost always linked to shoddy customer service. These days, it is rare to fi nd great customer support, even though most businesses claim they put customers fi rst. But even with the increasing popularity of online shopping, customer service hasn’t gone the way of the dodo. In fact, good customer service can be a differentiator between you and your competition. Heeding the fol-lowing 10 basic rules will go a long way toward making your business a success.

Commit to quality serviceEveryone in the company needs to be devoted to creating a positive experience for the customer. Al-

ways try to go above and beyond customer expectations.Know your productsConveying knowledge about products and services will help you win a customer’s trust and confi dence.

Know your company’s products, services and return policies inside out. Try to anticipate the types of questions customers will ask. Make sure your employees are fully trained about your products.

Know your customersTry to learn everything you can about your customers so you can tailor your service approach to their

needs and buying habits. Solicit feedback from customers. Talk to people and listen to their complaints so you can get to the root of customer dissatisfaction.

Treat people with courtesy and respectRemember that every contact with a customer — whether by email, phone, written correspondence, or

a face-to-face meeting — leaves an impression. Be courteous and use phrases like “sorry to keep you wait-ing,” “thanks for your order,” “you’re welcome” and “it’s been a pleasure helping you.”

Never argue with a customer You know that the customer is not always right. But instead of focusing on what went wrong in a

particular situation, concentrate on how to fi x it. Most customers will do business with you again if you

Titus and Tobias Igwe


BCBC

Personal Finance

ThebuddingEntrepreneurs

BC

BC

Bad social media habits businesses must avoid

cause as at then, they were living with one of their friends. “What we usually do then was that if we got a job, we would beg some of our friends that had big apart-ment to allow us cook in their house. If our friends have gas cooker, we may pay for the gas,” they told Business Courage.

Incidentally, that was the ini-tiative that gave birth to Speed-meals Mobile Kitchen, a food delivery services company that started out with less than N5, 000 in 2010 but is now said to worth well over N20 million.

With its headquarters in Ilu-peju, Lagos, Speedmeals Mobile Kitchen, according to Tobias and Titus, is a proudly Nigerian, world class food and services company of choice, working with the most suffi cient technology in food pro-cessing. Apart from catering for big weddings, it also cooks and manages canteens belonging to Zenith Bank, First Bank, hospi-tals and many others.

As a registered food and ser-vices company that cooks and supplies food to schools and corporate organisations, Speed-meals Mobile Kitchen, according to the Igwe twins, is driven by the knowledge that customers know and trust their services. “Our food is produced from the fi nest ingre-dients with passion and pride. In 2010, we were declared the overall winner of Samsung Real Dreams initiative by Samsung West Af-rica,” Tobias said.

In 2012, Speedmeals Mobile Kitchen won the MTN award for business entrepreneurs’ competi-tion worth N5 million grants along other business support like the Glo business fi nancial support for

young entrepreneurs. Tobias and Titus are presently MTN ambas-sadors for young entrepreneur in Africa and Nigeria, and are having international links to colleges and universities, most of which are partnering with them on capacity building.

Interestingly, Tobias and Ti-tus are not only involved in ca-tering services alone, they are also involved in entrepreneurial development initiatives through their Speedmeals Academy, es-tablished in June 2010, to train youths through the Opportunity of a Life Time programme. This programme is an innovation to train unemployed youth on how to bake cake and make ‘small chops’ so that they can become self-reliant.

Under this arrangement, Speedmeals runs foundation pro-gramme for those who are very new to the business while the ad-

vanced classes are for those who have the basic idea already with each participant paying commit-ment fee of N2,500, which Tobias says is to help sieve for people who would be serious with the skills acquired.

In conjunction with the Fate Foundation, Speedmeals also provides entrepreneurship train-ing for all participants through the Samsung Real Dreams pro-gramme, a training programme sponsored by Samsung and the International Youth Foundation (IYF).

Tobias says the vision of Speedmeal is “To be the most sought after food vendor brand in Africa with a global competitive edge”. To achieve this, he said the company would be working with professional brand strategists and nutritionists.

If wishes were horses, in the next fi ve years, Speedmeals food should be eaten by everyone in Lagos. “Near every ‘mama put’, you should see a Speedmeal mobile kitchen. Most of the food sold by the local vendors is of-ten prepared under unhygienic conditions. We are going to be employing professional nutrition-ists, taking Lagos as our primary market; then we’ll spread out to other states. We want to revolu-tionize the food sector in Nige-ria and open up a new page. We are thinking of an enlightenment campaign to educate people on the importance of healthy eating. We do not intend to just put the ‘Mama put’ out of job; we are look-ing at selling them franchises and helping them to learn to be better service providers in the long run. If you want to remain relevant in the market, you know you have to step up,” Titus said.

Tobias and Titus are also in-volved in Corporate Social Re-sponsibility projects, through which they give support to organi-zations like Nigeria Sickles Foun-dation, Nigeria Red Cross while they have taken it upon them-selves to organise reading com-petition across the states.“Those ways, we also contribute towards national building and create jobs. Even now, we want to increase our work force up to 30 to 50 direct staff who will work in our kitchens, preparing and serving the meal,” Titus said.

Whilst social media has connected many millions of people around the world and boosted business and customer relations, there are certain issues to remem-

ber in order to make your fi rm a nuisance free zone. The unfor-tunate truth is social media has the potential to bring out the worst in people and facilitate some truly annoying behaviour. You must steer your business away from such a fate, otherwise customers won’t be interested in what you have to say, and you may even lose followers.

Here are some of the worst sins you can commit yourself to on social media networks, and this goes for whether they’re from a business or personal accounts.

Automated Direct Messages on TwitterOne of the worst things you can do on Twitter is set up an

automated DM message. Firstly, any Twitter user who has spent more than a few weeks on the service will already be inundated with these things (after two years my Twitter DM mailbox is clogged with thousands of automated DMs). By do-ing this the Automated DM Twitter user is coming across as spurious, lazy, arrogant, and it’s an extremely irritating prac-tice to employ. It may seem like a tempting concept, but it will, ultimately, make you very unpopular.

Overdoing the postingIt’s a fi ne line each business must tread when posting on

their social media accounts. You do need to be sending daily messages out, but do not inundate your followers with endless updates. Post fun updates to encourage customers to engage with you, and each other, with this in itself being far more productive than endless Tweets about what products you have to offer.

NarcissismShowing off isn’t a good idea. If your company has just won

an award keep it to yourself and don’t brag to your customers about how amazing you think you are. Be subtle with your suc-cess by adding icons onto your website so the success can be seen by customers, without having to rub their faces into it.

Marketing too muchThe customers who “like” and “follow” your social media ac-

counts know exactly what you do – this is why they’re following your activity. They already like your products and, when they want more of it, they will buy more. Unfortunately this doesn’t register with some businesses, many of whom proceed to lam-bast their followers with endless information about how amaz-ing their products are; endless tweets, Facebook posts.

Widget overloadWhilst it’s vital to have widgets for Facebook, Twitter,

Google+, Pinterest, and/or Stumble Upon at the end of articles, you should limit it to these networks. It is clear a site has en-tered desperation stakes when they’re practically begging you to share the article on Digg, Reddit, Tumblr, Instagram, Bebo, MySpace, WordPress, amongst many other networks. Stick to the most popular and let everything else take its course.

Begging for Shares/RetweetsPestering yours customers/other users for social media

shares is desperate and irritating. if you’re only interested in self-promotion, people will realise and you won’t go anywhere.

Ignoring Shares/RetweetsIf someone has found an old blog post/tweet on your com-

pany website/social media account and retweeted it, do not consider this a deserved right and completely ignore the person. Always remember the real reason you are online to begin with; social media is, after all, about engaging with people; thank the individual and ask them a few questions about the post.

Belated responsesYour average customer knows full well there is a person

lingering somewhere around your social media accounts, and if you spend several days in the wilderness before jumping In with a response it doesn’t look good.

resolve a complaint in their favour.Don’t leave customers hangingHandle repairs, call-backs and emails with a sense of ur-

gency. Customers want immediate resolution, and if you can give it to them, you will probably win their repeat business. Research shows that many dissatisfi ed customers will do business with a company again if their complaint is resolved on the spot.

Always provide what you promise Fail to do this and you will lose credibility — and custom-

ers. If you guarantee a quote within 24 hours, get the quote out in a day or less. If you can’t make good on your promise,

apologize to the customer and offer some type of compensation, such as a discount or free delivery.

Assume that customers are telling the truthEven though it sometimes appears that customers are lying or

giving you a hard time, always give them the benefi t of the doubt. The majority of customers don’t like to complain; in fact, they’ll go out of their way to avoid it.

Focus on making customers, not making sales Salespeople, especially those who get paid on commission,

sometimes focus on the volume instead of the quality of the sale. Re-member that keeping a customer’s business is more important than closing a sale. Research shows that it costs six times more to attract a new customer than it does to keep an existing one.

Make it easy to buy The buying experience in your store, on your Web site or through

your catalogue should be as easy as possible. Eliminate unnecessary paperwork and forms, help people fi nd what they need, explain how products work and do whatever you can to facilitate transactions.

You probably know more than you realize about customer service. The golden rule — do unto others as you would have them do unto you — is certainly applicable when it comes to treating customers like kings. It helps to identify times when you’ve been frustrated by another company’s customer service and try not to make the same mistakes.

Adapted from Richard Harroch’s article in Allbusiness.com


All over the world, that the adoption of Information Communications Tech-

nology has been able to bring a lot of desirable benefi ts that usher in development and helps in changing the standard of liv-ing of people especially in devel-oping countries is no doubt fast becoming an acknowledged fact. Ranging from computers and re-lated accessories such as moni-tors, key boards, GSM handsets, radio and television sets, these gadgets are all in one way or the other in most homes.

Obviously, in Nigeria, just like any other country of the world, the rate at which technol-ogy has been growing has been so tremendous that newer tech-nologies are being embraced dai-ly. With the rapid advancement in technology however, the crave to upgrade to new equipments has no doubt been rendering most of these technologies ob-solete and subsequently be-coming scrap otherwise known as e-waste. Naturally, in many homes, while it is not out of place seeing children play inno-cently with remains of TVs, ra-dio, video, computer keyboards, monitors, GSM handsets, and wireless devices, experts are of the opinion such scraps known as electronic waste, e-waste, or

Lurking dangersdangers of e-wastee-wasteSteady rise in the importation of second hand computers, handsets and electronics due to rapid adoption of Information Communications Technology in the country sparks fresh fears of health hazard to millions of Nigerians as posed by toxic electronics waste, called e-waste

By Adejuwon Osunnuyi Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) are hazard-ous as they can lead to serious health and pollution problems. Discarded electronic devices like air conditioners, electronic toys, washing machines, lifts, kitch-enequipments are not exempted from e-waste.

Laced with deadly chemicals and toxins, these electronics which are classed as post-con-sumer hazardous waste, experts say, the indiscriminate process-ing or handling of discarded or obsolete electrical or electronic devices known as e-waste con-tain substances like lead, cad-mium, mercury, polyvinyl chlo-ride (PVC) can cause serious harm to human health and en-vironment.

However, despite the fact that e-waste has been acknowledged to be very hazardous, reports have shown that Nigeria is fast becoming a dumping site for all these toxic chemicals. While over 80 per cent of the world’s high-tech wastes lands up in landfi lls in Asia and Africa, that Nigeria is emerging as one of the top dump-ing grounds for toxic, chemical and electronic waste from the developed of the world is already sparkling fresh concerns.

An expert in occupational and environmental health, Dr. Layeni Adeyemo, said the largest quantum of toxic, chemical and e-waste from developed coun-

tries entered Nigeria through different routes.

Adeyemo, who categorised e-waste into three, namely: house appliance such as refrigerators and washing machines; tele-coms appliances and consumer equipment like disused televi-sion sets, raised the alarm over the grave health implications of the items, saying they caused damage to the central and pe-ripheral nervous system, blood and kidneys. She added that they could cause harm to the re-productive systems of both man and woman as well as the brain development of children and the endocrine system.

In a paper she delivered at the Post e-Waste Stakeholders’ summit, organised by the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), Adeyemo said an estimated 50 million tonnes of e-waste were produced glob-ally every year. According to her, the United States alone discard-ed 30 million computers yearly while Europe disposed of 100 million mobile phones yearly. Out of the fi gures, she claimed that only between 15 and 20 per cent were recycled while the remaining 80 per cent or more found their way to Africa and into landfi lls.

“While over 80 per cent of the world’s high-tech waste ends up in landfi lls in Asia and Africa, Nigeria is emerging as one of the

top dumping grounds for toxic, chemical and electronic waste from the developed world,” she said.

As a matter of fact, large parts of groundwater in Nigeria are said to have become pollut-ed and un-safe for human con-sumption due to the indiscrimi-nate disposal of e-waste as they have contaminated the soil, air, and food also.

But some Nigerian business-men especially those who deal in electronics seem not bothered about the claimed hazards of the e-waste as reports have shown that many of them have contin-ued the indiscriminate impor-tations of used electronics into the country. For instance, at the popular Computer Village, Ike-ja, some businessmen, who are hell-bent in making fast money have been taking advantage of the large size of the electronics market in turning the country into a major dumpsite for unus-able computer accessories and systems.

The same situation also plays itself out at Alaba market, where used electronics have been the order of the day.

According to Godwin En-amoh, public relations offi cer, Computer and Allied Products Association of Nigeria (CAP-DAN), umbrella body of comput-er dealers, many at times trad-ers or even dealers travel out

to buy scraps to clone. “Most of the time, the junks from such efforts out-numbered what was gained from it. It is not a fi ght that could be done by CAPDAN only but by the collective efforts of all stakeholders.”

A United Nations Environ-mental Programme (UNEP) ti-tled, “Recycling - from e-Waste to Resources’ indicates that 20 – 50 million tons of e-waste is generated each year worldwide and 200 million TVs and one billion pieces of computer equip-ment will be disposed each year for the rest of this decade.

The report noted that the amount of e-waste being pro-duced globally could rise by as much as 500 percent over the next decade in some countries, such as India.

The United States is the world leader in producing elec-tronic waste producing about 30 million tons each year, says the report. China already produces

Adeyemo

Remains of TVs, video, computer keyboards and monitors Scrap computers pile up


TechnotipsTechnotips

BC

BC

How to keep your Android device Safe from Threats and Malwares

about 2.3 million tons (2011 estimate) domestically, second only to the United States plus other countries like Japan, Ko-rea Republic and Europe. These developed countries routinely export e-junks to developing na-tions with destinations in India, China, Pakistan, Asia, and Af-rica: Nigeria and Ghana.”

The Director General, Nation-al Environmental Standards and Regulatory Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Dr. NgerisBenebo who disclosed that obsolete ma-terials are mostly exported to developing nations like Nigeria said, “About 500 container loads of e-waste enter Nigeria through the Lagos port every month.20 per cent of these imported ma-terials are fully functional and could be directly re-used. About 5 per cent could be put to use with minimum repairs, while another 15-20 per cent could have their components used for local repairs and the remaining become unusable and end up as junks.

Nigeria may not be the only country that is being affected by e-waste, other countries like China, India and some Africa nations are also not left out. In-dia may be smarter because she now exports her e-waste to other parts of the world.

Globally, e-waste is grow-ing at a rate of about 40 million tonnes per year as consumers, in both developed and develop-ing nations, buy new gadgets and discard the old ones.

According to a United Na-tions report, by 2020, China and South Africa could see e-waste generated by old computers rise by 400 per cent. In a decade, es-timated the report, e-waste from mobile phones will be seven times higher in China and 18 times higher in India.

According to the report, “Some nations are happy to take in e-waste to use in order to ex-tract some of the precious ma-terials and metals that go into making modern consumer elec-tronics.”

For instance, said the report, in an average year global pro-duction of mobile phones and computers uses 3 per cent of the silver and gold mined, 13 per cent of the palladium and 15 per cent of the cobalt.

While a PC may contain 700 different chemical compounds including Toxic metals: mer-cury, lead, gallium, germanium, nickel, palladium, beryllium, selenium and arsenic etc, ther valuable metals such as gold, silver, copper brominated fi re re-tardants Plastics. Valuable Met-als Gold is said to worth about $6; Copper $5 worth; and Silver going for $1 worth.

To John Oboro, General Secretary of the Computer and Allied Products Dealers Asso-ciation of Nigeria (CAPDAN), the failure of the Federal Govern-ment to take a decisive step to manage the waste arising from the importation of disused elec-tronics into the country under various guises is dangerous as the nation may have to pay for it in an unpleasant way in future.

Oboro who spoke in an in-terview with Business Courage, lamented that the nation has systematically been turned into a dump site for disused elec-tronics from Europe.

According to him, these items fi nd their way into the country either as charity items or as outright import for commercial purposes by unpatriotic citizens who are not bothered by the ad-verse effects the wastes have on health, safety and the environ-ment.

“Some other countries are saying no to e-waste like Kenya, but Nigeria feels that’s the best way to put food on the table of Nigerians. But we can do it right if there are reductions. Even though the new ones that we are bringing are also going to be obsolete one day, at least, we should have a control. Control in the sense that we should look at how we manage our e-waste. The unfortunate thing is that once these things got bad, in-

stead of calling e-waste manag-ers to come and take away these products for proper disposal, they prefer to give them to cart pushers. But what they are giv-ing the cart pusher is nothing but a gift of death.”

To fi nd solution to the e-waste, Oboro challenged the relevant government agencies to ensure that junks do not enter the country to put the interest of the nation fi rst by ensuring that only goods tested and certifi ed fi t for use are allowed.

“We are sitting on a keg of gun powder that will one day ex-plode. Developed countries have discovered ways of managing e-waste. It is unfortunate that the manufacturers of even the new ones do not have plans of how to ‘take back’ these things when they become obsolete,” he lamented

According to him, these things have a pattern of fl ooding the market as they are shipped and air-freighted into the coun-try. They also pass through what is supposed to be the crucible of the litany of security agencies that struggle for recognition at the nation’s sea, air ports as well as approved and unapproved but known border routes in the country.

Speaking in the same vein, UdumaOkeh, Executive Direc-tor of Green Earth Preserva-tion Charter (GEPC) said while the Government can pass laws to restrict and limit the fl ow of hazardous substances and dis-carded electronics into Nige-ria, it also needs to ensure that only electronics manufactured by companies who comply with non-toxic components require-ment and those with details in-forming consumers about the chemicals used are allowed into Nigeria. He said the National As-sembly also needs to adopt an e-waste legislation called National Electronic Waste Management Act which would help regulate the disposal of e-waste add-ing that other steps that could prove signifi cant in reducing hu-man and environmental poison-ing include a systematic study the discarded waste products in the Nigerian market to assist their appropriate management, the creation of strategic waste stream banks selection locations and the exclusion of all electron-ic devices, especially cathode ray tubes from landfi lls and inciner-ators as well as a massive public education exercise through print and electronic media on the con-tents of discarded electronics and impact on the environment and health, and how to handle and dispose of them in an eco-friendly way.

Okeh urged the government to hold a public stakeholder ex-ercise which would include ma-jor electronics importers State and Local Government offi cials, recyclers, retailers, environmen-tal organisations, EU and UN representatives, and G-8 nations representatives, to deliberate on e-waste and how to reduce its incessant fl ows into Nigeria.

Benebo

With the world becoming increasingly dependent on smartphones, the need to educate the users on to how to improve their security in the cyber world

has indeed become imperative. The smartphones that we use today are capable of a host of functions and can either make your life easier or a sad one if a few precautions are not heeded.

Online protectionThe need of antivirus software is essential in a smart-

phone. You may have to make various transactions on your smartphone, for which you need a secure transaction passage. This may be provided by the concerned fi nancial institution and the rest is handled by the antivirus pro-gram. Believe me when I tell you, investing in an antivirus software for you smartphone is exactly like buying one for your desktop or your laptop. You’ll never regret it!

Security Certifi catesNext would be to install security certifi cates. Various

fi nancial institutions and websites issue security certifi -cates for mobile phones. These are essentially small fi les which include an added layer of the latest security system of the world. Outdated security certifi cates are like an open invitation card for malwares and other viruses.

Take some time, and explore the security measures present in your phone. Sometimes, the manufacturer installs a few security features on their respective models. Check and activate them for a safermobile environment. Moreover, there may be an option to edit permissions on your android smartphone. This is a very essential part of the security feature on an android operating system. This feature helps you in customizing and using an app accord-ing to your usage patterns. You may or may not give the app express permissions to use all of the system’s re-sources. You control the app behavior by using this option. Edit permissions for most of the apps and you will have a secure life.

Precautions against unknown sourcesDownloading apps from sources other than the android

market may cause irrevocable harm to your smartphone. Avoid installing apps from unknown sources. If you are an adventurous person then you may do so at your own risk of bricking your smartphone. Keep in mind the conse-quences before performing any action. There is a reason

why such things are not recommended by the android system maker. Never stray into unknown waters.

Back-upUse the cloud service

and back up your data. The most important part of your smartphone is your data which obviously you would never want to lose.

Recently, there has been news of malwares be-ing present in the apps on

the android market. No matter how much efforts Google is putting into removing such apps is immaterial if you do not exercise a little precaution while downloading apps. Down-load apps from famed publishers. If that’s not the case, check the comments and reviews of the concerned app. Goo through most of the reviews, and see what the users have said about the app. Surely if there is anything, it’ll be refl ected in the reviews. Accordingly, make your decision. Moreover, update the apps on your smartphone for a better experience. Updating the apps would make the software more stable and secure. Take a little precaution and you’ll never complain.


BC

Cashless: CBN cheque truncation now live across the countryStories by Kunle Azeez

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s concerted effort

at ensuring the country’s economic policy is at par with what obtains in other parts of the globe is yielding fruits, as cheque truncation system has gone live across the country.

What this denotes, according to the bank, is that the settlement cycle of a cheque in Nigeria has now been reduced to one day.

The Nigeria InterBank Settlement Systems (NIBSS) and Nigeria’s leading fi nancial services software provider, Precise Financial Systems, PFS, worked with the CBN to achieve this breakthrough across all the 37 branches of the CBN located in states capital including the federal capital territory, Abuja.

The CBN branches are Umuahia, Yola, Uyo, Awka, Bauchi, Yenagoa, Makurdi, Maiduguri, Calabarand Asaba, Abakaliki, Benin City, Ado-Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Owerri, Dutse, Kaduna, and Kano.

Others are Katsina, Birnin Kebbi, Lokoja, Ilorin, Ikeja, Lafi a, Minna, Abeokuta, Akure, Oshogbo, Ibadan, Jos, and Port Harcourtas well as Sokoto, Jalingo, Damaturu, and Gusau.

According to a statement signed by Chief Executive Offi cer, PFS, Yele Okeremi, with the new regime all cheques presented for settlement would be resolved within stipulated date across the country.

The cheque truncation system would allow all branches of the CBN to capture all cheques in the respective branches and maintain them in a central server in Lagos.

The system then allows all captured cheques from the bank to be transmitted to the clearinghouse from Lagos.

According to him the system is responsible for the processing of all inward cheques and NEFT transactions of banks. While

it would address all required management reporting, its controls are guided “as the system implements all required maker checker rules of the banks”, he said.

With the activation of cheque truncation through iTELLER platform in Nigeria, important challenge the system has addressed is the ability of the CBN to meet the deadline for cheque truncation nationwide.

Aside, the platform has also assisted the CBN to reduce cost, time and the stress level involved in its cheque clearing operations. “This system removes all logistics costs associated with clearing”.

While further enumerating on the benefi ts of cheque truncation, he said before the cheque truncation regime, the banks would have to send their outward cheques to respective central clearing departments by dispatch riders or bullion vans.

However, with the system, cheques can be truncated directly at the branch of deposit.

“This removes time-wasting collation and photocopying usually carried out at the bank branches. It also removes the need to post-encode cheques, and this provides the platform to use more agile cheque scanners for image and MICR capture”.

Other benefi ts of the new systems, according to him, include reduction of stress and human efforts in clearing, elimination of all cheques substitution tendencies, reduction of time of consummating manual transaction thereby enabling the cashier to focus on other customer requirements as well as reduction of the man-hours required to attend to other customer’s need among others.

Resourcery receives new recognition

A leading systems Integrator in West Africa, Resourcery

Plc., has received a Cisco Best Integrated Marketing Cam-paign award.

Cisco unveiled the 20 global winners at its annual Mar-keting Velocity conference in

Cannes, France, recently.The award was in recogni-

tion of the company’s creativity and execution of an excellent integrated marketing campaign centered on the business ben-efi ts of Cisco’s Video Collabora-tion solution.

With one event each in Lagos and Accra, the company was able to provide customers with live technical demonstra-tions connecting Lagos, Accra, Norway and United States respectively as well as one-on-one enablement opportunities.

Speaking during the event, the Vice President, Global Partner Marketing at Cisco, Sherri Liebo, said, “Cisco is proud to work with so many well-respected and industry-leading channel partners and distributors, and it is an honor to recognize as a Cisco Best Integrated Marketing Cam-paign award winner.”

According to him, “The Best Integrated Marketing Campaign award presented to Resourcery from Nigeria recog-nizes its marketing excellence and quality execution in 2012.”

Receiving the award for Re-sourcery, the Public Relations Specialist of the company, Onome Okwah, noted that the company fulfi lled the follow-ing criteria to qualify for the award; “use of Cisco Resourc-es, creativity and innovation, business and alignment with Cisco’s business drive.”

He said further explained that “This award is in recogni-tion of the excellent job done by our dedicated sales team, the Business Voice and Video Solution unit and the market-ing efforts of all involved in delivering the award winning marketing campaign. The team has clearly demonstrated that it understands the need to strategically align the com-pany’s marketing activities with Cisco’s channel enable-ment activities for maximum impact.”

Onome recalled that Re-sourcery, which was founded in 1985, provides end-to-end business solutions to its cus-tomers across the West African market.

“The company offers busi-ness solutions that cut across enterprise network infrastruc-ture, business voice & video solutions, data security and business intelligence solutions amongst others,” he added.

TD, Huawei partner on enterprise market

Nigeria’s leading Informa-tion and Communication

Technology, Technology Distri-butions Limited and Huawei, a leading global ICT solutions provider, have partnered to create maximum value for tele-com carriers, enterprises and consumers.

In the partnership, the TD

will be a distributor of Huawei enterprise-focused solutions in the country by providing competitive ICT solutions and services.

Both companies are pull-ing their resources together. While Huawei is known for innovative and trusted manu-facturing capacities, TD has a highly motivated and massive distribution network in West Africa and will to provide a wide range of effi cient ICT solu-tions and services to enterprise customers of all sizes.

Speaking while receiv-ing the Huawei Distributors License, the Managing Director of TD, Chioma Ekeh, described the partnership as ‘timely because it was coming at a time when government was embarking on a transformation program across all sectors of the economy.’

According to her, “ Huge investments were being made in the transportation, energy, education, health, aviation etc and it would be absurd if Huawei enterprise solu-tions, deployed already in 140 countries, were not part of the choices that TD would offer to her top notch clientele.”

Besides, she added, 2015, the date set for the attainment of the Millennium Develop-ment Goals ( MDGs) was just a stone throw away and industry analysts were expecting that governments and non-govern-mental organisation (NGOs) would make further heavy investments in ICT infrastruc-ture.

She assured resellers and the market that characteristi-cally TD would stock large quantities of Huawei En-terprise Servers, Enterprise Switches, Enterprise Routers, E-sight, WLAN Solutions, Fire-wall Solutions, Tele-presence Solutions and UPS.

She reaffi rmed the TD com-mitment to immediate delivery anywhere in West Africa. As usual every purchase from TD would come in the traditional incentive-laden package for which TD has become legend-ary.

Presenting the Distributor Licence earlier to the TD boss, the Director, Channel Depart-ment, Huawei, Mr. Vincent Zhou, said that Huawei had appointed TD a distributor after an impressive assessment of its capacities in corporate governance, marketing, fi nan-

cial muscle and logistics.Zhou revealed that Huawei

Enterprise is one of Huawei’s three business groups. He said that the TD partnership would leverage on Huawei’s strong Research & Develop-ment capabilities to service customers in government and Ministries, Departments and Agencies, fi nance and bank-ing, oil and gas, commercial businesses and Internet Ser-vice Providers.

DStv mobile devices now available for purchase at Konga.comBy Adejuwon Osunnuyi

With the growing trend of electronic payment

especially the online purchase of goods and services in the country, leading pay enter-tainment service provider, MultiChoice Nigeria has an-nounced that its DStv mobile range of products can now be purchased online through Ni-geria’s leading online retailer, Konga.com.

With this development, customers can now conve-niently order the DStv mobile range of products through Konga.com and get them delivered to them within one to three days within Lagos and within three to fi ve days outside Lagos with DVB-H coverage at no additional cost.

The range of products which include the Walka 7( N18,900), Walka 3.5 (N10, 000), Wi-Fi Drifta (N12,250), Drifta USB (N8,500) and iDrifta(N9,500) can be used to access some of the exciting content that DStv is synony-mous with; including sports, music, general entertainment, news and children’s program-ming among others.

Also, DStv Premium, Compact Plus, Compact and Family subscribers can ac-cess the DStv mobile services as a value-added feature at no extra monthly subscription fee.

To order the device, a customer simply needs to visit the website www.konga.com, read through the list of features of each device and select his preference. Pay-ment options include Pay on Delivery (available in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt) or via a debit card from most Nigerian banks. The deliv-ery of device within Lagos is between one to three days while delivery outside Lagos is within three to fi ve days of purchase.

DStv mobile services are currently available in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja, Ibadan, Kaduna, Aba, Enugu, Benin and Asaba.

Sanusi Lamido, CBN Governor

Tani Fafunwa, Managing Director Resourcery

Ekeh

to close on Friday at 35,109.33 while the market capitalization of the listed equities on the mainboard advanced by 5.88 per cent to close at N11.225 trillion. Also, the NSE 30 Index appre-ciated by 85.10 points or 5.37 per cent to close at 1,668.67.

Other NSE sectoral indices also ap-preciated during the week: NSE Con-sumer Goods, NSE

Banking, NSE Insurance, NSE-Lotus II and NSE Industrial Goods by 2.53 per cent, 2.68 per cent, 2.25 per cent, 6.16 per cent and 9.13 per cent respectively. However, NSE Oil and Gas Index declined by 3.50 per cent. Meanwhile, NSEASeM Index remained fl at.

SUMMARY OF PRICE CHANGES Forty-three equities ap-

preciated in prices during the week higher than 34 equities of the preceding week. Twenty-fi ve equities depreciated in price low-er than 46 equities of the preceding week, while 128 equities remained constant higher than 116 equities of the preceding week.


BC

Refl ections with Semiu Salami07043280449 sms only

i

The Stock Market last week

The Market opened for four days last week as the Federal Govern-ment of Nigeria declared

Wednesday May 1, 2013 (May Day) a public holiday to mark the Workers’ Day Celebration.

A turnover of 1.511 billion shares worth of N15.867 billion in 20,965 deals were transacted last week by in-vestors on the fl oor of The Exchange in contrast to a total of 1.758 billion shares valued at N17.898 billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 23,958 deals.

At the close of trading activities for the week, the Financial Services sec-tor (measured by turnover volume) led the sectors and accounted for 1.261 billion shares valued at N10.855 bil-

lion exchanged hands by investors in 12,786 deals. Consumer Goods sector followed in the activity chart with 48.204 million shares valued at N3.224 billion traded in 3,427 deals.

Similarly, the Banking subsector of the Financial Services sector was the most active during the week (mea-sured by turnover volume) with 1.090 billion shares worth N8.879 billion traded in 8,818 deals. Volume in the Banking subsector was largely driv-en by activities in the shares of UBA Plc, Unity Bank Plc and Skye Bank Plc. Trading in the shares of the three banks accounted for 629.968 mil-lion shares worth N3.414 billion ex-changed by investors in 2,418 deals contributing 41.69 per cent to the to-

tal equity turnover volume recorded during the week.

In the course of the week, 1,887 units of NewGold Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) valued at

N4.182 million were executed in four deals compared with a total of 14,905 units valued at N32.677 mil-lion transacted last week in 50 deals.

Also, 300 units of FGN bonds val-ued at N35, 520 were traded during the week in three deals in contrast to 1,420 units valued at N173, 253 transacted the previous week in eight deals.

INDEX MOVEMENTThe NSE All-Share Index rose by

1,950.25 basis points or 5.88 per cent

TOP 10 PRICE GAINERS:Company Open Close Gain (N) % ChangeCAP PLC 38.70 46.80 8.10 20.93A.G. LEVENTIS NIGERIA PLC 1.50 1.81 0.31 20.67WAPIC INSURANCE PLC 0.93 1.12 0.19 20.43ABC TRANSPORT PLC 0.67 0.80 0.13 19.40IKEJA HOTEL PLC 0.77 0.90 0.13 16.88DANGOTE CEMENT PLC 158.85 185.00 26.15 16.46U A C N PLC 56.00 64.68 8.68 15.50ACCESS BANK PLC 9.12 10.44 1.32 14.47STANBIC IBTC HOLDINGS PLC 13.36 14.90 1.54 11.53RED STAR EXPRESS PLC 3.60 4.00 0.40 11.11

BC

TOP 10 PRICE LOSERS:Company Open Close Loss (N) % ChangeR T BRISCOE PLC 2.00 1.62 -0.38 -19.00COSTAIN (W A) PLC 1.30 1.06 -0.24 -18.46U T C NIG. PLC 0.69 0.60 0.19 -13.04NEIMETH INTL PHARMA PLC 0.82 0.72 -0.10 -12.20IPWA PLC 0.70 0.63 -0.07 -10.00VONO PRODUCTS PLC 2.60 2.34 -0.26 -10.00CUTIX PLC. .1.62 1.46 -0.16 -9.88TOTAL NIGERIA PLC 157.00 143.00 -14.00 -8.92BETA GLASS CO PLC 10.67 10.00 -0.67 -6.28UNITY BANK PLC 0.66 0.62 -0.04 -6.06

Things are obviously looking up for the Nigerian deposit money banks in terms of huge profi ts

and general bottom-line indices. Both for the league of the fi nancially sound banks, as proclaimed after the Sanusi-led CBN’s stress test and those rescued by the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), the season of jumbo profi t is back and the banks are not making any pretence about it.

For the 2012 fi nancial year, the re-sult of which most banks are celebrat-ing now, it is becoming increasingly clear that most, if not all the banks have fully recovered from the burden of debt overhang which they were compelled to write off in the aftermath of the eco-nomic meltdown that started in 2008.

For instance, for the fi nancial year ended December 31, 2012, Access Bank posted a profi t after tax of N42.9 billion, an increase of 150.9 per cent when com-pared to N17.1 billion recorded in the same period of 2011. It recorded a gross earnings of N208.3 billion, a 53.6 per cent increase over the N135.6 billion it recorded in 2011.

GTBank on its own declared a profi t after tax of N87.3 billion for the fi nancial year ended December 31, 2012, a 69 per cent when compared to N51.7bn re-corded in the same period of 2011. The

Are we back to paper profit season?bank’s profi t before tax stood at N103 billion in 2012, higher than N66.1 bil-lion recorded in the corresponding pe-riod of 2011, while gross earnings rose to N221.9 billion.

Zenith Bank declared a profi t af-ter tax of N95.8 billion, an increase of 132 per cent when compared to N41.3 billion recorded in the same period of 2011. It grew its total assets by 12 per cent from N2.17 trillion in 2011 to N2.44 trillion.

Its gross earnings increased by 30 per cent, from N214.9 billion in 2011, to N279 billion in 2012, while its total de-posit stood at N1.8 trillion, an increase of 14 per cent when compared to N1.58 trillion recorded in the corresponding period of 2011.

Stanbic IBTC declared a profi t after tax of N10.2 billion for the fi nancial year ended December 31, 2012, an increase of 53 per cent over N6.6 billion recorded in the same period of 2011.

Gross earnings increased to N91.9 billion from N63.4 billion while total as-sets increased to N676.8 billion from N554.5 billion.

Skye Bank posted a profi t after tax of N12.6 billion for the 2012 fi nancial year, an increase of 692 per cent when compared to N1.59 billion recorded in the same period of 2011. Gross earnings

rose by 24.8 per cent to N127.7 billion in 2012, from N102.4 billion in the cor-responding period of 2011.

Total assets appreciated by 23.9 per cent to N914.4 billion in 2012, from N737.9 billion in 2011, while deposit from customers increased to N716 bil-lion, from N563 billion in 2011.

Fidelity Bank on its own posted N18.2 billion in 2012, an increase of 604.3 per cent from the N2.58 billion recorded in 2011, while Diamond Bank declared a profi t of N22.1 billion, an in-crease of 261 per cent from the loss of N13.9 billion recorded in the same pe-riod of 2011.

Its total operating income rose by 149.4 per cent, from N38.5 billion re-corded in 2011 to N96.03 billion in 2012. The balance sheet showed a net asset of N108.9 billion in 2012, from N85.9 billion in 2011, while total assets stood at N1.18 trillion from N796.2 bil-lion in 2011.

Ecobank Transnational Incorpora-tion (ETI) declared a profi t after tax of N45.9 billion, up by 39 per cent from the preceding year, while the group revenue increased by $555 million or 46 per cent to $1.8 billion, from the corresponding period of 2011. Ecobank Nigeria report-ed profi t before tax of $64.1 million, an increase of $25 million or 65 per cent

when compared with 2011. Sterling Bank also declared gross

earnings of N68.9 billion for the 2012 fi nancial year, an increase of 50.8 per cent when compared to N45.7 billion re-corded in the same period of 2011.

Total assets increased from N504 billion to N580.2 billion, while custom-er deposits increased by 18 per cent to N463.7 billion, from N392 billion re-corded in 2011.

Gradually, it appears we are return-ing to the pre-Sanusi era, when banks were declaring jumbo profi t, often re-ferred to as paper profi t, mere declara-tion that are in most cases are really not cash-backed.

Much as it’s heartwarming to see the banks return to full profi tability, my sincere hope is that the profi ts this time around would be real enough to sustain the integrity of our banking system. I also hope that, with improved profi tability, our banks would be better positioned to play their roles in the eco-nomic development of the country.

Going forward, I hope the banks would now consider funding of critical infrastructure and providing support to the real sector, it’s only when this is done that we will be able to truly ascer-tain that these profi ts are indeed, not a mere paper declaration.


Behind d WheelsThis page is open to sponsorship

For years, Toyota has been the benchmark for gas-electric vehicles. Utter

the word “hybrid” and the Prius immediately comes to mind. Toyota’s impressive technology has also migrated successfully to several other models in its stable.

But it seems like Hyundai isn’t easily deterred, as the new 2013 model features serious under-the-hood upgrades and modifi cations that make it more than just a rival to the Toyota hybrids, but a rival for the lead in its segment.

Hyundai is one of several car companies that has taken a successful midsize sedan and installed a hybrid powertrain that provides increased fuel mileage and makes the car ap-pealing to a wider range of con-sumers. In addition to its 38 mpg combined EPA fuel econ-omy rating, the 2013 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid stands out for its generous standard equip-ment list and available in-cabin technology.

In the middle of 2012, the Sonata Hybrid saw its EPA rat-ings drop from 35 mpg city/40 mpg highway to 34 city/39 highway. Since then, Hyundai has made some changes to the hybrid system to improve the sedan’s effi ciency. An upgrad-ed 35-kilowatt electric motor allows the car to spend more time in electric mode, which benefi ts mpg and allows the car to achieve 35 city/40 high-way ratings once more. During Edmunds testing of a 2011 So-nata Hybrid, we were unable to achieve the EPA’s mpg esti-mates in normal driving. How-ever, we plan to test the 2013

The 20132013 Hyundai SonataHyundai Sonata HybridHybrid

model to see how its improved fuel economy ratings hold up in the real world.

Hyundai has also made changes to the computer-controlled clutch between the Sonata Hybrid’s 2.4-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine and its electric motor to help smooth out the transitions between the gas and electric power sources in traffi c. In addition, the auto-maker has fi tted the sedan with a lighter, more compact lithi-um-polymer battery pack. This opens up extra trunk space, as the Sonata Hybrid goes from just 10.7 cubic feet last year to a respectable 12.1-cubic-foot trunk in 2013.

These updates should add up to a better Sonata Hybrid, but it’s still facing stiff compe-tition from the similarly priced 2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid (47 mpg combined EPA rating) and 2013 Toyota Camry Hybrid (41 mpg com-bined), which of-fer higher mpg ratings and a more refi ned driving ex-perience.

B o d y

S t y l e s , Trim Lev-els, and Options

S t a n -dard equip-ment on the base model in-cludes 16-inch al-loy wheels, automatic head-lights, LED running lights, fog lights, heated mirrors, keyless ignition/entry, dual-zone au-tomatic climate control, cruise

control, an eight-way power driver seat, a tilt-and-telescop-ing steering wheel, heated front seats, Bluetooth, Hyundai’s BlueLink emergency commu-nications system and a six-speaker sound system with CD player, satellite radio, an iPod/USB audio interface and an auxiliary audio jack. Hyundai doesn’t offer any major options on the base Sonata Hybrid, so if you want more amenities, you’ll need to look to the new Limited model.

The 2013 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid Limited comes with 17-inch wheels, leather seating surfaces, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, power driver seat with lumbar support, heated rear seats, a navigation system with a 7-inch touch screen, rear-view cam-e r a , an upgraded Infi nity au-

dio sys-tem with nine speakers and HD

radio, and an auto-dimming rear-view mirror. A panoramic sunroof is optional on the Lim-ited.

Powertrains and Perfor-mance

The 2013 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid is powered by a 2.4-li-tre four-cylinder petrol engine generating 159 horsepower and 154 pound-feet of torque that is paired with an electric mo-tor rated at 47 hp (35 kilowatts) and 151 lb-ft. Combined, the two power units are good for 199 hp. A six-speed automatic is the only transmission offered.

For 2013, Hyundai says fuel economy estimates will be 35 mpg city/40 mpg highway and 38 combined. Note that the So-nata Hybrid’s combined rating drops to 37 mpg on the heavier Limited model.

SafetyStandard safety features on

the 2013 Hyundai Sonata Hy-brid include antilock brakes, stability control, traction con-trol, front side-impact airbags, full-length side curtain airbags and active front head restraints. Hyundai’s BlueLink emergency communications system is also standard.

In government safety tests, the Sonata Hybrid earned a top fi ve-star rating for overall crash protection, with four out of fi ve stars given for overall frontal protection and fi ve stars for overall side protection. In In-surance Institute for Highway Safety testing, the 2013 Hyun-dai Sonata earned a top rat-ing of “Good” for frontal-offset, side-impact and roof-strength protection.

Design and special fea-

turesNot surprisingly, the Sonata

Hybrid’s passenger cabin looks and feels very similar to its tra-

ditionally powered sibling. The interior is handsome

and controls are straightfor-

w a r d

Fusion Hybrid (47 ned EPA rating) oyota Camry

mpg com-ch of-mpg a

d

ein-ch al-automatic head-running lights, fog d mirrors, keyless

ry, dual-zone au-mate control, cruise

e r a , an upgraded Infi nity au

dio sys-tem with nine speakers and HD

Limited model.Design and special fea-

turesNot surprisingly, the Sonata

Hybrid’s passenger cabin looks and feels very similar to its tra-

ditionally powered sibling.The interior is handsome

and controls are straightfor-

w a r d


Behind d Wheels

AutocareThis page is open to sponsorship

BC

and intuitive to use, regardless of whether you have the base model or the Limited and its standard touch screen inter-face. The slick-looking gauge cluster sets the interior apart from the non-hybrid model and includes a separate LCD dis-play meant to encourage more fuel-effi cient driving.

Front seats are comfortable and supportive. The backseat offers plenty of room for two adults, though taller passen-gers will fi nd headroom in short supply. All hybrid sedans lose a good bit of trunk space due to intrusion from the hybrid system’s battery pack, and the Sonata Hybrid is no exception, with 12.1 cubic feet of capacity compared to 16.4 cubic feet in the regular Sonata. Among hy-brid midsize sedans, the Sonata Hybrid offers comparable trunk space to the Fusion Hybrid and 1 cubic foot less than the Cam-ry Hybrid.

More electric, less fuelThose comparing numbers

from 2012 to 2013 will see an interesting difference. Power is down seven hp, yet torque is up 40 lb-ft. That’s not a typo: the Sonata Hybrid has beefi er elec-tric components with its elec-tric motor now putting out 35 kW (from 30 kW in 2012) and the hybrid battery is also up-graded to a maximum output of 47kWs (from 34 kW.) From there, Hyundai tuned the whole powertrain to rely less on its gas motor, and provide more mid-range torque.

It’s no marketing gobbledy-gook, as the Sonata is now rat-ed at a combined 38 mpg. While up just one mile per gallon over last year’s car, recent testing proved this updated powertrain is even more effi cient than that, getting about 42 mpg during a week of driving. By comparison, last year’s car failed to achieve its rating with an as-tested 34 mpg.

That 42 does, however, come with a catch; it was achieved with Hyundai’s effi cient driving mode, called Blue drive. As the default driving mode, the car is vehemently against motoring in any manner other than slowly. Throttle response is dull, mean-ing from a stop the electric mo-tor stays on longer, and saves you more gas. The transmission is eager to up shift and reluc-tant to release the higher gear in order to keep the drive serene and thrifty. It all works very well and managed to keep fuel economy around and above the coveted 40 mpg mark.

Fortunately, slow and calcu-lated is not the only method of driving the Sonata Hybrid. Turn off Blue mode, and suddenly the car feels like a standard, yet torquier Sonata. It will still turn off the gas motor at a stop and while coasting, and can still manage solid fuel effi ciency at 36 mpg, all while providing a more engaging driving feel.

CompetitionAgain, Hyundai’s effort here

is evident, as the new Sonata Hybrid has a sense of refi ne-

ment which is on par with Toy-ota’s Camry Hybrid. The transi-tion from electric-to-gas, then back to electric is smooth, and hardly noticeable on the road. There’s very little shift-shock as the clutch engages the gas mo-tor while the car is moving, and there’s better logic in how the hybrid system operates, with the car disengaging the gas motor often while coasting and braking.

One complaint is that while stopped, a shuddering sensa-tion is still felt when the gas motor shuts off.

Edge One key feature that the So-

nata has over its Japanese rival comes with how it drives. The ride is communicative without being too stiff and uncomfort-able. Additionally, there is far more steering feel here than what’s offered on the Camry, which is fl oaty and vague.

Braking on the Sonata Hy-brid could use another look from Hyundai’s engineers. Like many other regenerative brak-ing systems, they provide ex-cellent initial bite that tapers off after prolonged or additional pedal pressure. It causes a bit of an inconsistent feel. Improve-ment in this area could really propel Hyundai above other hy-brids on the market, and help to blur the lines between how hybrids and non-hybrids drive.

The superfi cial stuffAgain, this year’s Sonata Hy-

brid proves itself to be wonder-ful beyond its gritty technical bits. A unique, modern design distinguishes the Hybrid from its non-hybrid siblings. The features are there too. Costing $25,650 (about N4 million), the Hybrid holds a $4,500 premium over non-hybrid Sonatas. That extra price gets you more than just the hybrid system, with more standard items like dual-zone climate control, automatic headlights, fog-lights, heated seats and some exclusive bling such as LED accents on the headlights.

Those looking for a fully loaded Sonata Hybrid will have to spring $30,550 (N4.76 mil-lion) which includes 17-inch alloys, a leather-rich interior, heated rear seats, navigation, backup camera and a premium audio system. Buyers can also buy a sunroof package which costs an extra $1,000.

In comparison, the Sona-ta Hybrid is $490 (N76, 440) cheaper than the Toyota Camry Hybrid, and features more head and legroom for folks in up front. If you’d like more space, Toyota’s option is more appealing with substantial 4.3-inches of addi-tional legroom for back-seat pas-sengers and an additional cubic foot of cargo space.

Automatic transmission fl uidAn automatic transmission depends on the transmission fl uid for transferring engine power to the wheels, shifting gears,

lubricating moving parts and cooling down the transmission. Check the transmission fl uid when your car is serviced and change it as recommended. Different cars have different ways of checking the transmission fl uid level; some require the engine to be shut off (e.g. Honda), some cars don’t have a transmission dipstick at all and the fl uid can only be checked in a repair shop. Check your owner’s manual for proper procedure.

After the vehicle was driven for a while to let the transmission fl uid warm up, place your vehicle on a level ground. Set the parking brake. Make sure the transmission is in “P” (Park) position. Leave the engine running. Find the automatic transmission dipstick (your owner’s manual will tell you where it is located). Pull the dipstick out.

Wipe the dipstick off with a clean lint-free rag. Insert it back fully. Pull it out again and check the fl uid level. A transmission fl uid expands when warmed up, so if the car has been driven for a while (20-30 minutes), the transmission level should be between “HOT” marks. If the vehicle is cold, the level should be between “COOL” marks. Check the fl uid condition: a very dirty fl uid with strong burnt smell is a warning sign of transmission problems. Normally, the automatic transmission fl uid should be clean and transparent.

If the transmission fl uid level is low, you can top it up, but be careful not to overfi ll it. Overfi lling the transmission can cause problems. It’s very important to use only specifi ed transmission fl uid type - check your owner’s manual or simply visit your local dealer, they always have proper transmission fl uid in stock. Incorrect fl uid type can damage your transmission. You can top up the transmission fl uid by using a thin funnel; add a small amount of the fl uid through the dipstick pipe. Wait for a few minutes - let the fl uid drain down. Recheck the level again. Don’t overfi ll.

BatteryCheck the battery condition visually. If you see any leaks,

cracks or other damage, the battery needs to be replaced. Make sure the battery terminals are tight and not corroded. Corrosion at the battery terminals will cause poor connection, which can result in all kinds of problems, including a no-start.

You may fi nd the tips how to clean the battery terminals in your vehicle’s owner’s manual or online. Be careful, that white fl aky corrosion stuff is very acidic.

Windshield wipers

Replace the wipers at least once a year or earlier if they don’t clean the windshield properly. If you still have the original wipers installed, you can just replace the rubber refi lls. Check if the windshield washer jets are working properly.

TiresCheck the tire pressure regularly - at least once a month. If you

don’t have the tire pressure gauge, it’s worth to buy a good one. You can fi nd the recommended tire pressure in the owner’s manual or on the tire pressure placard, which might be located on the driver’s door jamb, inside the gas tank lid or inside the glove box.

Measure tire pressure when the tires are still coldPump or defl ate to the recommended pressure. The maximum

pressure listed on tires is NOT the proper pressure! There is a safe limit of the tread wear. If the tire is worn below

this limit, it’s unsafe to drive. Your owner’s manual has the direction how to measure tire wear or your mechanic can check your tires for you.

Feel vibration at cruising speed? Have your tires balanced. Uneven tire wear indicates alignment problem. Improper alignment causes increased tire and suspension components wear and poor handling. If a car pulls aside, wanders or feels unstable on the road, have the alignment checked. Properly done alignment will make your car ride a lot more enjoyable.

Tire rotation

Front and rear tires wear at different rate and have different wear pattern. On a typical front-wheel drive vehicle, for instance, the front tires would wear out a lot faster than the rear ones if not rotated regularly. By rotating your tires regularly, you are making sure that your tires wear more evenly and last longer. Some manufacturers recommend rotating tires at every oil change, others may recommend to do it at different intervals. Tire rotation pattern is also different for different tires. It’s best to check your owner’s manual or call your local dealer for exact recommendations for your tires.

Car maintenance checklist for DIYs

BC


Of banking beyond the grave

BC

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) reported last Friday that its All-Share Index crossed to 35,000

mark for the fi rst time after the capital market crashed in 2008.

The index appreciated by 606.95 points or 1.76 per cent to close at 35,109.33 on Friday from the 34,502.38 posted on Thursday.

Similarly, the market capitalisation, which opened at N11.03 trillion, grew by N194 billion to close at N11.23 trillion as a result of price appreciation.

Guinness led the gainers’ table by N7.87 to close at N274.02 per share.

Dangote Cement appreciated by N6.80 to close at N185, while UACN inched by N5.88 to close at N64.68 per share.

Total gained N5 to close at N143, while Nigerian Breweries rose by N1.49 to close at N161.50 per share.

Analysts attributed the renewed in-terest in the equities to improved fi rst quarter results released by some com-

All-Share Index crosses 35,000 mark since 2008 – NSE

panies this weekThey also attributed the new interest

to the dividend of N1.50 and bonus of one for fi ve shares proposed by UACN in the 2012 fi nancial year.

Conversely, Beta Glass topped the losers’ chart by 67k to close at N10 per share.

Ashaka Cement dipped by 45k to close at N23.30, while ETI lost 24k to close at N15.21 per share.

RT Briscoe dropped 18k to close at N1.62, while UBA Capital lost 12k to close at N1.08 per share.

The volume of shares traded appre-ciated by 89.10 per cent due to the ex-change of 573.47 million shares worth N5.41 billion in 4,958 deals.

This was against the 303.26 million shares valued at N3.75 billion traded in 5,756 deals on Thursday.

UBA was the toast of investors, ac-counting for 362.55 million shares worth N2.54 billion.

The fi rst quarter results of the Ni-gerian Breweries released at the weekend showed a profi t after tax

(PAT) N9.417 billion, a slight 0.2 per cent increase over the same period in 2012.

While sales at N64.6 billion were up by fi ve per cent year-on-year, Profi t Be-fore Tax (PBT) declined three per cent largely because of a nine per cent year-on-year growth in operating expense; that was in addition to a 150bp y/y de-cline in gross margin.

A 10 per cent y/y reduction in the tax charge to N4.2 billion as a result of a lower effective tax rate of 30.7 per cent compared with 33.1 in Q1 2012 resulted in PAT coming in fl at y/y.

In terms of sequential trends, al-though sales grew 16 per cent q/q, profi t before tax (PBT) and PAT declined by 26 per cent q/q largely because gross

margin fell 1,680bps.However, Nestle Nigeria’s fi rst quar-

ter (Q1) 2013 results Friday shows sales growing 7.1 per cent y/y to N30.7 billion but profi t after tax (PAT) declined 2.9 per cent y/y to N5.995 billion.

This was because Nestle booked N465 million in interest charges in Q1 2013 vs interest income of N505m in Q1 2012.

Although operating expenses grew 11 per cent y/y, an expansion of 128bps in gross margin more than offset the trend in operating expense to lead operat-ing profi t higher by 9.8 per cent y/y to N7.5bn.

However, because of the interest charge, profi t before tax (PBT) came in at N7.1 billion, down four per cent y/y. A modest fall in the tax rate helped lim-it the decrease in PAT to just three per cent.

NB Plc raises profit as Nestle’s drops

BC

Members of the House of Repre-sentatives last week raised a very important issue concern-

ing the billions of naira trapped in the accounts of deceased customers and remain unclaimed either due to igno-rance of the existence of such accounts by the deceased relatives or more likely as a result of the huge diffi culties in securing the required documentation to access such accounts.

This is a problem that has existed for eons and not much has been said about it despite the sufferings and dis-appointment that relatives of deceased account holders go through, with some even wallowing in poverty despite the fact that they have millions of naira within reach.

According to the legislators, some N100bn remain in such accounts and the banks have been contented with trading with these funds.

The House has therefore mandated its Committee on Justice and Judi-ciary to liaise with the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Aloma Mukhtar to relax the requirements for access to bank accounts of deceased persons by their next of kin and dependants.

According to the lawmakers, this can be done by simplifying the process of obtaining Letters of Administration from the courts. Letters of Adminis-tration, by the way, is an instrument issued by a court or public offi cial authorising an administrator to take control of and dispose of the estate of a deceased person.

I cannot agree more with the law-makers’ proposals, which will likely re-solve a long standing problem that has actually worked against efforts to get Nigerians to use the banks and indeed negates the very essence of the savings culture, which is part and parcel of the Nigerian being.

While it would be inaccurate to as-sume that banks deliberately sit on de-ceased customers’ funds, they do not appear to have actively sought to help benefi ciaries access the funds either. I wonder how many banks routinely track owners of dormant accounts with substantial balances that cannot be reasonably assumed to have been abandoned. What sort of assistance or advice do they give to next of kin or other benefi ciaries of deceased cus-tomers?

Indeed, in a situation where some bank workers steal from living custom-ers, moving huge sums from their ac-counts, what chance do the dead have in the hands of such crooks?

I have personally learnt of instanc-es where bank workers, upon learn-ing that a particular customer is dead, clean up their accounts by generating

phony transactions thereafter.Such malpractices are encouraged

largely due to the strict requirements for accessing deceased customers ac-counts especially the Letters of Admin-istration, which must be issued by the courts. Of course, our courts are not particularly known for being effi cient and palms have to be greased to get even the most routine things done.

In Lagos State for instance, dozens of offi cials having to sign off at the Pro-bate Registry in addition to the ridicu-lous requirement that the benefi ciary has to pay a 10 per cent tax on the val-ue of the estate being claimed upfront before such Letters of Administration.

How many widows or other class-es of account benefi ciaries can afford such taxes on money that is yet to reach their hands?

The more logical approach is that if taxes must be paid at all, it can be deducted at source just like withhold-ing tax.

Benefi ciaries of bereaved con-tributors to the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, also experience same cumbersome process of getting Letters of Administration, as the lawmakers noted. In these cases, apart from get-ting the Letters of Administration, it is the National Pension Commission headquarters in Abuja that will have to give a fi nal approval before such pay-ments are made. This process, even with the most effi cient Pension Fund Administrator, will usually take a year to conclude.

While one hopes that the Chief Jus-tice will take a look at this issue as part of the sweeping reforms of the Judicia-ry, which is already being carried out as promised during her inauguration, I think that Nigerians also have a take a more positive attitude towards mak-ing their wills to ease the burden of im-mediate family members who are the likely benefi ciaries of bank and retire-ment savings account balances.

The conventional wisdom is that anyone who has acquired some form of landed property and has depen-dants should make a will even if he is 30 years old. It is not a death sen-tence as many fear, rather it helps tidy up things, giving one a voice from the grave as it were and prevents some predatory members of the extended family from grabbing what does not be-long to them under the excuse of tradi-tion or whatever.

The lawmakers should pursue the current effort to a conclusion and en-sure that the simplifi ed requirements and steps for obtaining Letters of Ad-ministration are published in order to empower future benefi ciaries by de-mystifying the process. BC


Stock Updates

GAINERS

COMPANY OPENING PRICE CLOSING PRICE CHANGE

UACN 58.80 64.68 10.00

AFRIPRUD 1.40 1.54 10.00

ETERNA 2.70 2.97 10.00

UBN 8.90 9.79 10.00

AGLEVENT 1.65 1.81 9.70

LOSERS

COMPANY OPENING PRICE CLOSING PRICE CHANGE

NEIMETH 0.80 0.72 -10.00

RTBRISCOE 1.80 1.62 -10.00

IPWA 0.70 0.63 -10.00

UBCAP 1.20 1.08 -10.00

ROYALEX 0.61 0.55 -9.84

Inter-Bank Rates

TENOR RATE%(PREV) 26-April-2013 RATE%(CURR) 02-May-2013

CALL 10.2500 – 11.5000 10.2500 – 13.0000

OBB 10.1000 – 11.8500 10.2500 – 12.6000

Primary Market Auction

TENOR AMOUNT (N’mn) RATE (%) DATE

91-Days 24888.9 10.35 25-April-13

182-Days 30000 12.09 25-April-13

364-Days 85730.42 12.25 25-April-13

Open Market Operation

TENOR AMOUNT (N’mn) RATE (%) DATE

230-Days 50,000 12.50 03-May-13

231-Days 10,000 12.50 02-May-13

226-Days 10,000 12.50 30-April-13

Wholesale Dutch Auction System AMOUNT OFFERED MARKET DEMAND AMOUNT SOLD DATE

$300m $266m $266m 17-April-13

$300m $232m $232m 15-April-13BC

Market Indicators for Week Ended 03-05-13All-Share Index 33,159.08 pointsMarket Capitalisation N11,225,230,428,678.72

Dangote Cement Plc has recorded a 79.5 per cent rise in its earnings per

share for the fi rst quarter of 2013.

In its just released unaudit-ed results for the three months ending March 31, the pre-tax profi t also rose to N53.7 billion and increase of 80.6 per cent, indicating good returns on in-vestment for its shareholders.

The results came on the heels of new management deci-sion to automate its operations and processes in order to re-spond more rapidly to its cus-tomers’ needs.

The fi rst quarter results which showed that strong in-crease in sales outpaced good market growth and improve-ment in margins is a confi rma-tion of the Company’s promise last year that the management would not relent in its avowed commitment to ensure the Ce-ment company remains the market leader.

The Consolidated Group revenue in the fi nancial high-lights came up by 39.5 per cent to N95.4 billion, while the gross profi ts rose by 64.7 per cent to N66.0 billion. The Consolidated Earnings before interest and Taxation (EBIT) moved up by 77.8 per cent to N55.4 billion at 58.1 per cent margin.

Chief Executive of Dangote Cement, Devakumar Edwin said the year has begun well for Dangote Cement and “Our 38 per cent increase in volumes far outpaced the Nigerian market’s

strong growth of 16 per cent. Our gas supply has been better this year and that has driven margins upwards from the fi rst quarter of 2012, when our new capacity at Ibese and Obajana were just coming on stream. We are increasing our focus on de-livering directly to our custom-ers and have made it easier for them to order and pay for our cement. This has allowed us to improve our position in the market and we remain confi -dent of a good year”, he stated.

Edwin told distributors and dealers of Dangote cement brand at a Customers Forum held in Lagos at the weekend that some of the new strate-gies involved the automation of some of its processes to remove bottlenecks in the product dis-tribution process.

One of the new moves by the management, according to him, is the Improved Sales Order Process (ISOP), a web applica-

tion, which the company had come up with in partnership with its bankers to speed up payment and product collection process across the country.

Edwin explained that the de-cision to automate the payment and products collection process was informed by the need to reduce man hours and undue delay in the present process and fast track businesses for its customers.

Edwin disclosed that the Company had approached the Ogun State government on its intention to rehabilitate roads around its Ibese plant saying that it was awaiting the re-sponse of the government as all arrangements have been con-cluded on the planned rehabili-tation of three different roads in the host community areas as parts of its Corporate Social services.

Taking the customers through the new payment and collection process, Adeola Akanda, Head of Application, Dangote Communication said the new application was devel-oped to ease the payment and product collection procedure by reducing the delay inherent in the present order.

With the new application, Akande explained that pay-ments would now be done seam-lessly with customized Dangote Cement deposit slip in the part-nering banks and that all details as fi lled in the slip with the bank also refl ects in Dangote data base in its offi ces.

Dangote cement earnings rise by 79.5 per cent in Q1

BC

Edwin

The Nigerian Stock Ex-change’s NASDAQ OMX Group Incorporation trad-

ing platform will be operational by the third quarter of this year.

The Chief Executive Offi -cer of the NSE, Oscar Onyema stated this on Friday at the ex-change’s Annual General Meet-ing that the system is currently being tested.

The platform will allow the bourse to trade options in 2014 and futures in 2015 to help deepen the market.

The bourse is targeting a $1trn market value by 2016 and the All-Share Index has advanced 23 per cent this year, the best performance in Africa after Ghana and Kenya.

“We’ve seen a vote of confi -dence from foreign and local in-vestors with regards to reforms that have taken place. The lo-cals tend to be more momen-tum traders and so I believe

Nasdaq platform to start by third quarter, says OnyemaJohnson Okanlawon

they’re coming back in a faster pace than the foreigners who were the thrust to actually start to get the market going,” Oscar said.

According to him, domestic investors, who accounted for as little as 33 per cent of trading in 2011 after a market crash in 2008, have now fl ocked back to the exchange, overtaking for-eign buyers with 58 per cent of volumes last year.

He said that the bourse saw N14m of bonds traded on its retail investor platform last month, the highest amount since its February start.

Trading was previously re-stricted to institutional inves-tors through the over-the- counter market, where banks and brokers set prices with typ-ical minimum trades of N100m.

He said, “We’re not where we’d like to be. If you think there are fi ve million investors

in the market place and if each one was to have balanced port-folios we should be seeing sig-nifi cantly higher numbers.”

New trading fl oor licenses aren’t being considered af-ter media reports that the Ex-change is considering the ap-plications from some global investment banks, Onyema said.

“We’ve seen a lot of interest from foreign broker dealers that want to access the market there directly and we are engaging them and talking to them and trying to fi nd a way to get them to participate in the market. It doesn’t mean they cannot buy other licenses,” he said.

He added that the Exchange is waiting on guidelines to be approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission before it begins the process of de-mutualization and selling its shares.


BC

GT BankFinancial Data 2012 (‘Nm) 2011 (‘Nm) ChangeGross earnings N221.9bn N182.4bn 17.8

Profi t before taxation N103bn N62.08bn 39.7

Taxation N16.34bn N14.27bn 12.7

Profi t from continuing operation N86.7bn N47.8bn 44.9

Profi t from discont’d operation N609m N3.938bn

Profi t for the period N87.29bn N51.74bn 69

Non-controlling interest N337.8 N537.9 59.2

Profi t attributable to

equity holders N86.96 N51.20 41.1

Earnings per share N3.06 N1.69 44.8

Guaranty Trust Bank’s bottom line rose signifi cantly in

the 2012’s fi nancial year on improved risk management and high corporate gover-nance standards. Its net income, after deducting all expenses like interest, de-preciation and tax, stood at N87.3 billionn, an increase of 69 per cent when com-pared to N51.7 billionn re-corded in the corresponding period of 2011.

The bank’s top line rev-enue increased by 22 per cent to N221.9 billion in 2012, from N182.4 billionn recorded in 2011, while profi t before tax soared to N103 billion, from N62.1 billion recorded in 2011, representing 66 per cent in-crease.

Speaking on the result, the bank’s Chief Execu-tive Offi cer, Segun Agbaje, attributed the success to its adherence to a defi ned growth plan, high corpo-rate governance standards and the cultural values for which it is known. He said these factors, coupled with a resourceful board, an in-depth understanding of the market and the passion of the bank’s employees have enabled it grow market share and continue to avail its stakeholders with value adding services.

Business strategiesThe fi nancial perfor-

mance of the bank was based on an aggressive acquisition of customers, commissioning of both tra-ditional and e-branches, introduction of innovative product and services, im-proved system security and execution of business strat-egy by well trained staff. It maintained the culture of excellence with the use of world class enterprise-wide risk management systems and operation.

The strategic steps taken by the bank translated into real and appreciable value, as the total dividend payout for the year grew by 41 per cent to 155 kobo as against 110 kobo paid during the preceding year fi nancial period. Its products offer-

GTBank Plc:GTBank Plc: Renewing its target towards SMEsBy Johnson Okanlawon

ing through introduction of seniors account which offer free banking for senior citi-zens from age 65 years and above broadened the bank’s savings income.

The bank also created business division focused on Small and Medium En-terprises to identify and meet the peculiar fi nancial needs of SMEs in the coun-try. This division is critical because of the positive cor-relation between national growth and the performance of SMEs sub sector.

Financial HealthThe fi nancial year under

review witnessed improved performance of the bank as major profi tability indica-tors added substantial val-ues. The difference between the bank’s revenue that is generated from its assets and the expenses associated with paying out its liabilities was higher than the fi gure recorded the preceding year fi gure. The bank’s net in-terest income increased by 39.5 per cent, from N98.5 billion recorded in 2011 to N130.7 bn in 2012. The bank adopted new account-ing rules and disclosed huge goodwill write-offs. Loan im-pairment charges reduced to N738.8 million in the review period, from N19.50 billion recorded in 2011. Fees and commission income stood at N44.3 billion in 2012, from N43.5 billion in 2011, while fees and commission expenses dropped to N1.59 billion in 2012, from N1.84 billion recorded in 2011.

The bank’s profi t for the year which stood at N87.3 billion was driven by a 22 per cent growth in gross earnings to N221.9 bil-lion, well ahead of expense growth of 10 per cent, as

the bank grew revenue from quality mix of earning as-sets. The directors of the bank have recommended a total dividend payment for the fi nancial year of N45.6 billion, representing a divi-dend of N1.30 per 50 kobo share held and brings to-tal shareholder receipts for the year to N1.55 per share, when added to the interim dividend payout of N0.25 per share the bank made last year.

Asset QualityAnalysis of the bal-

ance sheet showed that the

bank’s total assets appreci-ated substantially compared to the value recorded the preceding fi nancial year. Total assets grew by eight per cent to N1.73 trillion in 2012, from N1.61 trillion re-corded in 2011. Total assets and contingents stood at N2.26 trillion in the review period, from N2.14 trillion in 2011, an increase of eight per cent and six per cent re-spectively.

Further analysis showed that deposit liabilities of the bank increased by 12 per cent to N1.15trn in 2012, refl ecting a decent growth of N120bn from the N1.03trn closing position in the corresponding period of 2011. This growth in cus-tomer deposits fuelled the increase in the loan book as net loans and advances closed at N783.9bn, trans-lating to a growth of 11 per cent over the N707.1bn in 2011. Shareholders’ funds increased from N230.4bn in 2011 to N283.4bn in 2012.

However, the bank’s to-tal fi nancial obligations, in-cluding all creditor claims on assets increased by 5.03 per cent, from N1.38 trillion in 2011 to N1.45 trillion in 2012. This could be attrib-uted to the bank’s drive to increase its customers and its investment in securities. For instance, deposit from customers stood at N1.15 trillion, as against N1.02 trillion recorded the preced-ing year, while current in-come tax liabilities and oth-er liabilities stood at N15.6 billion and N80.9 billion, in contrast to N14.1 billion and N52.3 billion recorded the preceding year respec-tively.

Managing CostIn terms of operation ef-

fi ciency asset quality, the bank’s nonperforming loans ratio stood at 3.4 per cent, compared to 3.5 per cent in 2011, while cost-to-income ratio improved signifi cantly to 42.7 per cent, from 52.9 per cent in 2011.

Also, return on equity and return on assets closed at 33.9 per cent and 5.2 per cent, from the 23.2 per cent and 3.7 per cent recorded in 2011, respectively. The bank’s stance as an up-standing social citizen and commitment to full disclo-sure was further evidenced by its 2012 tax liabilities, which came to over N16.3 billion.

Business OutlookThe bank expects emer-

gence of virile SMEs bank-ing business, as it plans to support entrepreneurship in various sectors. This will drive the expected growth in the local economy as the bank also seeks to convert more of the unbanked pop-ulation through increasing-ly accessible mobile money services.

Besides, the bank will continue to explore the boundless opportunities inherent in the digital eco-system by consolidating on the reach of the social bank-ing platform, which enables customers to open their ac-counts online and perform money transfer.

Agbaje

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, May 6, 2013 A23 39

STOCKWATCH

AGRICULTURE/AGRO-ALLIED Crop Production FTN COCOA PROCESSORS PLC 0.50 19 600 0.64 0.50 2 200 000 000 0.10 N/A 0.50OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. 100.00 1 257 622 34.01 14.53 476 955 000 6.73 0.01 99.99PRESCO PLC 24.15 1 347 991 16.15 6.40 1 000 000 000 2.75 -1.43 24.50Fishing/Hunting/Trapping ELLAH LAKES PLC. NT NT 4.26 4.26 60 000 000 0.00 N/A NTLivestock/Animal Specialties LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC. 2.68 1 023 700 1.70 0.48 1 199 549 736 0.11 6.35 2.52CONGLOMERATES Diversifi ed Industries A.G. LEVENTIS NIGERIA PLC. 1.81 331 250 2.54 0.74 2 191 895 983 0.08 20.67 1.50CHELLARAMS PLC. NT NT 7.60 5.81 963 900 300 0.24 N/A NTJOHN HOLT PLC. 1.54 10 980 8.82 5.32 389 151 408 0.00 N/A 1.54S C O A NIG. PLC. NT NT 8.28 5.52 821 666 666 0.35 N/A NTU A C N PLC. 64.68 224 837 42.50 28.70 1 600 720 323 6.89 N/A 56.00CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Building Construction ARBICO PLC. NT NT 26.00 14.09 148 500 000 0.00 N/A NTCAPPA & D’ALBERTO PLC. NT NT 95.49 95.49 196 876 000 4.50 N/A NTBuilding Structure/Completion/Other COSTAIN (W A) PLC. 1.06 200 200 7.97 2.46 920 573 765 0.00 N/A NTG CAPPA PLC NT NT 14.46 14.46 125 000 000 0.00 N/A NTNon--Building/Heavy Construction JULIUS BERGER NIG. PLC. 53.00 86 518 62.26 21.55 1 200 000 000 4.93 0.00 53.00ROADS NIG PLC. 10.07 310 8.69 3.01 20 000 000 4.73 N/A 10.07Real Estate Development PINNACLE POINT GROUP PLC NT NT 7.28 7.28 0.00 N/A NTUACN PROPERTY DEV 15.20 229 796 20.15 8.82 1 375 000 000 1.66 1.33 15.00Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) SKYE SHELTER FUND PLC NT NT 100.00 97.00 20 000 000 11.75 N/A NTUNION HOMES REAL ESTATE INV NT NT 50.00 50.00 250 019 781 0.75 N/A NTCONSUMER GOODS Automobiles/Auto Parts DN TYRE & RUBBER PLC 0.50 2 666 0.50 0.50 4 772 528 415 0.00 N/A 0.50Beverages--Brewers/Distillers CHAMPION BREW. PLC. NT NT 4.63 2.23 900 000 000 0.00 N/A 4.78GOLDEN GUINEA BREW. PLC. NT NT 0.68 0.68 272 160 000 0.03 N/A NTGUINNESS NIG PLC 274.02 309 882 265.00 186.00 1 474 925 519 9.46 8.29 253.04INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES PLC. 20.65 125 550 12.83 5.23 2 112 914 681 0.25 N/A 20.65JOS INT. BREWERIES PLC. NT NT 3.20 1.61 562 000 000 0.00 N/A 1.33NIGERIAN BREW. PLC. 161.50 1 671 774 138.85 72.50 7 562 562 340 5.08 0.94 160.00PREMIER BREWERIES PLC NT NT 0.97 0.93 126 000 000 0.00 N/A NTBeverages--Non-Alcoholic 7-UP BOTTLING COMP. PLC. 50.00 10 965 48.91 38.31 640 590 362 2.69 N/A 50.00Food Products BIG TREAT PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 2 000 000 000 0.00 N/A NTDANGOTE FLOUR MILLS PLC 9.12 248 703 19.90 4.15 5 000 000 000 0.00 0.00 9.12DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC 7.70 7 424 776 16.20 3.64 12 000 000 000 0.91 2.80 7.49FLOUR MILLS NIG. PLC. 76.00 81 713 95.00 52.50 1 879 210 666 3.79 0.00 76.00HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC 2.86 1 005 500 6.60 1.91 7 930 197 658 0.51 1.78 2.81MULTI-TREX INTEGRATED FOODS PLC NT NT 2.70 1.00 3 722 493 620 0.00 N/A NTN NIG. FLOUR MILLS PLC. 23.80 30 000 43.96 20.41 178 200 000 2.50 N/A 23.80NATIONAL SALT CO. NIG. PLC 9.05 1 221 120 6.70 3.86 1.07 0.56 9.00P S MANDRIDES & CO PLC. NT NT 5.66 5.66 40 000 000 0.08 N/A NTU T C NIG. PLC. 0.60 114 500 0.88 0.50 1 233 375 004 1.13 -13.04 0.69UNION DICON SALT PLC. NT NT 4.22 4.22 360 000 000 0.00 N/A NTFood Products--Diversifi ed CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. 34.98 315 310 29.20 9.15 3 129 188 160 1.35 8.60 32.21NESTLE NIGERIA PLC. 910.00 482 302 684.00 367.83 792 656 250 25.43 1.34 898.00Household Durables BETA GLASS CO PLC. NT NT 15.58 10.03 3.90 N/A NTNIGERIAN ENAMELWARE PLC. NT NT 42.66 34.39 63 360 000 1.61 N/A NTVITAFOAM NIG PLC. 3.18 902 841 6.75 3.01 819 000 000 0.54 -3.64 3.30VONO PRODUCTS PLC. NT NT 3.67 2.66 300 000 001 0.00 N/A NTPersonal/Household Products P Z CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC. 41.53 212 430 43.50 22.07 3 176 381 636 0.70 2.54 40.50UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC. 58.65 1 331 062 41.60 22.56 3 783 296 250 1.44 6.64 55.00Textiles/Apparel UNITED NIG. TEXTILES PLC. NT NT 0.97 0.57 843 284 027 0.00 N/A NTFINANCIAL SERVICES Banking ACCESS BANK PLC. 10.44 7 555 903 11.70 4.76 17 888 251 479 1.42 14.47 9.12DIAMOND BANK PLC 6.13 10 609 302 9.27 2.01 14 475 243 105 0.90 2.34 5.99ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INC. 15.21 483 051 17.05 9.97 9 873 614 567 2.81 1.20 15.03FIDELITY BANK PLC 3.09 19 207 423 3.20 1.14 28 974 797 023 0.43 9.57 2.82FIRST CITY MONUMENT BANK PLC. 4.50 3 573 845 8.30 3.04 16 271 192 202 0.60 -4.26 4.70GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. 25.70 6 848 530 20.30 11.64 29 146 482 209 2.10 0.59 25.55SKYE BANK PLC 5.79 33 010 228 10.17 2.73 13 219 334 676 0.71 4.14 5.56STERLING BANK PLC. 2.63 1 693 817 2.91 0.97 12 563 091 545 0.54 8.68 2.42U B A PLC 6.92 362 545 726 5.21 1.64 32 334 693 693 0.67 0.44 6.89UNION BANK NIG.PLC. 9.79 1 295 980 10.07 1.96 13 509 726 273 0.00 8.78 9.00UNITY BANK PLC 0.66 6 979 749 1.92 0.50 33 675 576 085 0.00 0.00 0.66WEMA BANK PLC. 1.34 1 581 865 1.75 0.50 12 821 249 880 0.00 -1.47 1.36ZENITH BANK PLC 20.20 16 097 896 21.10 11.70 31 396 493 790 2.09 1.00 20.00Insurance Carriers, Brokers & Services AFRICAN ALLIANCE INS. COY. PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 20 585 000 000 0.00 N/A NTAIICO INSURANCE PLC. 0.84 7 219 123 1.01 0.50 7 809 391 256 0.05 0.00 0.86CONFIDENCE INSURANCE PLC NT NT 0.64 0.61 211 626 000 0.00 N/A NTCONSOLIDATED HALLMARK INS. PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 6 000 000 000 0.05 N/A NTCONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC 1.10 155 001 1.20 0.61 10 372 624 157 0.14 0.00 1.04CORNERSTONE INS. COY. PLC. 0.50 60 750 0.50 0.50 8 820 010 363 0.02 0.00 0.50CUSTODIAN AND ALLIED INS. PLC 1.71 325 500 3.51 1.31 5 100 846 808 0.28 0.00 1.69EQUITY ASSURANCE PLC. NT NT 0.50 0.50 8 847 298 420 0.00 N/A NTGOLDLINK INSURANCE PLC NT NT 0.69 0.50 4 549 947 000 0.00 N/A NTGREAT NIGERIAN INSURANCE PLC 0.50 10 000 0.50 0.50 3 827 485 380 0.00 N/A 0.50GUINEA INSURANCE PLC. NT NT 0.50 0.50 720 000 000 0.00 N/A NTINTERCONTINENTAL WAPIC INS. PLC 1.12 466 714 0.80 0.50 5 061 804 000 0.00 N/A 0.93INTERNATIONAL ENERGY INS. PLC 0.50 127 000 0.50 0.50 6 420 427 449 0.00 0.00 0.50INVESTMENT AND ALLIED ARN. NT NT 0.50 0.50 28 000 000 000 0.02 N/A NTLASACO ASSURANCE PLC. NT NT 0.50 0.50 7 323 313 227 0.00 N/A NTLAW UNION AND ROCK INS. PLC. 0.50 123 965 0.61 0.50 3 437 330 500 0.00 N/A 0.50LINKAGE ASSURANCE PLC 0.50 123 965 0.50 0.50 4 083 713 569 0.03 0.00 0.50MANSARD INSURANCE PLC 2.40 451 000 1.93 0.95 10 000 000 000 0.16 0.00 2.40MUTUAL BENEFITS ASSURANCE PLC. NT NT 0.50 0.50 7 998 705 336 0.01 N/A NTN.E.M INSURANCE CO (NIG) PLC. 0.71 804 692 0.66 0.50 5 332 830 881 0.37 0.00 0.71NIGER INSURANCE CO. PLC. NT NT 1.11 0.50 5 649 693 923 0.02 N/A NTOASIS INSURANCE PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 5 003 506 791 0.04 N/A NTPRESTIGE ASSURANCE CO. PLC. 0.63 466 714 2.35 0.50 2 508 315 436 0.06 0.00 0.63REGENCY ALLIANCE INS. COY PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 6 668 750 000 0.04 N/A NTSOVEREIGN TRUST INSURANCE PLC 0.50 85 000 0.52 0.50 5 203 757 266 0.09 0.00 0.50STACO INSURANCE PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 6 141 087 609 0.00 N/A NTSTANDARD ALLIANCE INS. PLC. 0.50 60 000 0.50 0.50 8 493 173 450 0.00 N/A 0.50UNIC INSURANCE PLC. 0.50 708 026 0.50 0.50 2 581 733 505 0.00 N/A 0.50UNITY KAPITAL ASSURANCE PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 13 000 000 000 0.02 N/A NTUNIVERSAL INS. COMPANY PLC 0.50 3 627 0.50 0.50 16 000 000 000 0.00 N/A 0.50Micro Finance Banks FORTIS MICROFINANCE BANK PLC NT NT 6.00 0.00 0.01 NTNPF MICROFINANCE BANK PLC 0.90 500 000 1.15 1.00 0.07 0.90Mortgage Carriers, Brokers &Services ABBEY BUILDING SOCIETY PLC 1.43 80 1.51 1.33 4 200 000 000 0.03 N/A 1.43ASO SAVINGS AND LOANS PLC 0.50 100 000 0.50 0.50 8 679 148 676 0.02 N/A 0.50RESORT SAVINGS & LOANS PLC 0.50 2 000 0.50 0.50 13 175 732 404 0.00 N/A 0.50UNION HOMES SAVINGS&LOANS PLC NT 1 0.99 0.50 7 812 500 000 0.00 N/A NTOther Financial Institutions CRUSADER ( NIG) PLC. NT NT 0.61 0.50 3 778 005 975 0.00 N/A NTDEAP CAPITAL MGT & TRUST PLC 2.02 900 2.02 2.02 1 333 333 333 0.00 N/A 2.02FBN HOLDINGS PLC 19.55 22 203 372 19.60 8.50 32 632 084 358 3.03 -0.26 19.60NIG SEW. MACH. MAN. CO. PLC. NT NT 0.15 0.15 5 880 000 0.00 N/A NTNIGERIA ENERYGY SECTOR FUND NT NT 552.20 555.20 2 500 000 12.65 N/A NTROYAL EXCHANGE PLC. 0.71 114 237 0.66 0.50 3 608 657 661 0.00 N/A 0.71STANBIC IBTC HOLDINGS PLC 14.90 18 498 13.36 6.40 18 750 000 000 0.87 11.53 13.36HEALTHCARE Healthcare Providers EKOCORP PLC. 4.80 400 5.31 5.05 498 600 908 0.12 N/A 4.80Medical Equipment UNION DIAGNOSTIC &CLINICAL PLC 0.50 3 500 0.50 0.50 3 553 138 528 0.00 N/A 0.50Medical Supplies MORISON INDUSTRIES PLC. 2.23 6 780 10.54 7.39 152 178 750 0.06 N/A 2.23Pharmaceuticals EVANS MEDICAL PLC. 1.65 224 000 1.65 0.50 486 473 856 0.00 0.00 1.65FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC 1.53 4 314 495 3.20 0.76 1 500 000 000 0.44 1.32 1.51GLAXO SMITHKLINE CONSUMER PLC 47.25 12 305 49.00 19.30 956 701 192 2.62 -3.57 49.00MAY & BAKER NIGERIA PLC. 1.80 540 758 5.61 1.62 980 000 000 0.20 -0.55 1.81

NOTE NT=Not Traded on 03-05-13 N/A=Not Avialable

NEIMETH INT PHARM PLC 0.72 145 780 1.96 0.76 1 925 717 268 0.09 -12.20 0.82NIGERIA-GERMAN CHEMICALS PLC. NT NT 12.91 8.59 153 786 012 0.00 N/A NTPHARMA-DEKO PLC. NT NT 4.28 3.50 100 000 000 0.00 N/A NTICT Computer Based Systems COURTEVILLE BUSINESS SLN PLC 0.50 212 000 0.52 0.50 2 960 000 000 0.10 0.00 0.50Computers and Peripherals OMATEK VENTURES PLC 0.50 1 000 0.50 0.50 2 941 789 472 0.00 N/A 0.50Electronic Communications Services MTECH COMMUNICATIONS PLC NT NT 0.91 0.91 4 966 666 668 0.00 N/A NTIT Services NCR (NIGERIA) PLC. 17.00 2 300 18.28 13.12 108 000 000 0.00 N/A 17.00TRIPPLE GEE AND COMPANY PLC. 2.29 1 146 3.59 2.41 492 825 600 0.01 N/A 2.29Processing Systems CHAMS PLC 0.50 13 873 0.50 0.50 4 620 600 000 0.00 N/A 0.50E-TRANZACT INTERNATIONAL PLC NT NT 4.97 4.04 4 200 000 000 0.04 N/A NTTelecommunications Carriers STARCOMMS PLC NT NT 1.47 0.50 6 878 478 096 0.00 N/A NTTelecommunications Services IHS NIGERIA PLC PREF SHARES NT NT 2.25 0.00 0.00 N/A NTIHS PLC 2.35 17 050 000 3.50 2.46 4 400 000 000 0.00 N/A 2.35MTI PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 4 893 594 400 0.00 N/A NTINDUSTRIAL GOODS Building Materials AFRICAN PAINTS (NIGERIA) PLC. NT NT 3.32 2.86 260 000 000 0.00 N/A NTASHAKA CEM PLC 23.30 1 116 825 30.00 9.10 2 239 453 125 2.14 -0.85 23.50BERGER PAINTS PLC 7.50 44 604 12.57 7.27 217 367 585 1.09 0.00 7.50CAP PLC 46.80 89 314 43.98 14.50 560 000 000 2.28 20.93 38.70CEMENT CO. OF NORTH.NIG. PLC 8.70 115 146 15.49 4.20 1 241 548 285 1.47 8.75 8.00DANGOTE CEMENT PLC 185.00 137 842 132.51 95.00 15 494 019 668 8.33 16.46 158.85DN MEYER PLC. NT NT 3.51 0.93 242 908 200 0.00 N/A NTFIRST ALUMINIUM NIGERIA PLC NT NT 0.75 0.50 2 109 928 275 0.00 N/A NTIPWA PLC 0.76 1 112 980 0.99 0.91 513 696 000 0.00 N/A 0.76LAFARGE WAPCO PLC. 77.00 141 282 56.50 37.00 3 001 600 004 4.10 0.00 77.00PAINTS & COATINGS MANFACT.PLC NT NT 3.36 0.52 792 914 256 0.26 N/A NTPORTLAND PAINTS & PRDT NIG. PLC 1.87 87 259 5.28 2.27 400 000 000 0.23 N/A 1.87PREMIER PAINTS PLC. NT NT 13.40 10.93 75 000 000 0.00 N/A NTElectronic and Electrical Products AUSTIN LAZ & COMPANY PLC NT NT 2.00 2.00 0.03 N/A NTCUTIX PLC. 1.46 405 500 2.50 1.33 510 396 608 0.11 -9.88 1.62NIGERIAN WIRE AND CABLE PLC. NT NT 0.73 0.50 2 220 000 000 0.00 N/A NTNIGERIAN WIRE IND. PLC NT NT 2.58 2.58 15 000 000 0.00 N/A NTPackaging/Containers ABPLAST PRODUCTS PLC. NT NT 3.98 3.98 25 000 000 0.00 N/A NTAVON CROWNCAPS & CONTAINERS 1.90 1 711 6.91 2.19 683 974 528 0.05 N/A 1.90BETA GLASS CO PLC. 10.00 108 000 12.71 9.53 0.05 10.67GREIF NIGERIA PLC NT NT 15.03 13.28 42 640 000 0.90 N/A 12.68NIG. BAGS MANFACT. COY PLC 2.70 2 717 101 3.60 1.60 6 215 000 000 0.24 0.00 2.70POLY PRODUCTS (NIG) PLC. NT NT 1.86 1.05 240 000 000 0.22 N/A NTW A GLASS IND. PLC. NT NT 0.63 0.63 199 066 550 0.00 N/A NTTools and Machinery NIGERIAN ROPES PLC NT NT 8.69 8.26 265 409 280 0.00 N/A NTSTOKVIS NIG PLC. NT NT 0.14 0.14 2 918 000 0.00 N/A NTNATURAL RESOURCES Chemicals B.O.C. GASES PLC. 8.50 10 000 9.20 5.70 393 120 000 0.76 0.00 8.50Metals ALUMACO PLC NT NT 7.75 7.75 75 600 000 0.00 N/A NTALUMINIUM EXTRUSION IND. PLC. NT NT 12.39 10.55 100 000 000 0.43 N/A NTNon-Metallic Mineral Mining MULTIVERSE PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 4 058 989 226 0.00 N/A NTPaper/Forest Products HALLMARK PAPER PRODUCTS PLC. NT NT 3.22 3.22 50 000 000 0.04 N/A NTTHOMAS WYATT NIG. PLC. NT NT 1.38 1.38 220 000 000 0.00 N/A NTOIL AND GAS Energy Equipment and Services JAPAUL OIL & MARITIME SER. PLC 0.60 2 730 339 1.02 0.54 6 262 701 716 0.13 0.00 0.60Integrated Oil and Gas Services OANDO PLC 15.30 1 167 154 24.80 10.94 2 262 711 568 1.73 1.53 15.07Petroleum &Petroleum Products Distributors AFROIL PLC NT NT 20.71 20.71 125 487 475 0.00 N/A NTBECO PETROLEUM PRODUCT PLC 0.50 10 000 0.70 0.50 3 716 976 579 0.00 N/A 0.50CONOIL PLC 23.00 54 916 41.89 19.61 693 952 117 0.47 0.00 23.00ETERNA PLC. 2.97 10 297 5.59 2.12 1 249 162 828 0.61 2.77 2.89FORTE OIL PLC. 14.24 133 897 28.69 9.12 1 080 280 628 0.00 0.00 14.24MOBIL OIL NIG PLC. 114.00 23 661 163.50 111.51 300 496 051 6.11 -4.04 118.80MRS OIL NIGERIA PLC. 18.15 5 300 72.00 32.29 253 988 672 3.62 N/A 18.15TOTAL NIGERIA PLC. 143.00 61 741 240.00 125.00 339 521 837 14.63 -8.92 157.00SERVICES Advertising AFROMEDIA PLC NT NT 0.72 0.50 4 035 497 307 0.00 N/A NTApparel Retailers LENNARDS (NIG) PLC. NT NT 3.48 3.48 0.19 N/A NTAutomobile/Auto Part Retailers R T BRISCOE PLC. 1.62 3 770 302 3.65 1.12 980 294 400 0.21 -19.00 2.00Courier/Freight/Delivery RED STAR EXPRESS PLC 4.00 413 425 3.67 2.11 589 496 310 0.58 11.11 3.60TRANS-NATIONWIDE EXPRESS PLC. NT NT 6.40 3.28 198 819 763 0.25 N/A NTEmployment Solutions C & I LEASING PLC. 0.55 409 646 1.64 0.85 865 808 912 0.08 N/A 0.53Hospitality TANTALIZERS PLC 0.50 400 0.75 0.50 3 211 627 907 0.01 N/A 0.50Hotels/Lodging CAPITAL HOTEL PLC 6.27 10 000 8.00 3.00 1 548 780 000 0.18 N/A 6.27IKEJA HOTEL PLC 0.93 97 000 2.59 1.16 2 078 796 396 0.92 24.00 0.75TOURIST COMPANY OF NIGERIA PLC. 4.53 100 4.76 4.31 1 772 884 297 0.00 N/A NTTRANSNATIONAL CORP. OF NIG.PLC 1.50 27 080 317 1.95 0.50 25 813 998 283 0.22 0.00 1.50Media/Entertainment DAAR COMMUNICATIONS PLC 0.50 10 000 0.50 0.50 8 000 000 000 0.00 N/A 0.50Printing/Publishing ACADEMY PRESS PLC. 1.85 21 080 3.68 1.64 403 200 000 0.14 N/A 1.85LEARN AFRICA PLC 2.20 857 726 8.00 1.94 771 450 000 0.29 N/A 2.12STUDIO PRESS (NIG) PLC. NT NT 2.92 2.78 0.01 N/A NTUNIVERSITY PRESS PLC. 4.84 100 100 6.82 3.09 425 641 111 0.50 2.98 4.70Road Transportation ABC TRANSPORT PLCPLC 0.80 1 300 886 0.80 0.50 1 507 000 000 0.00 N/A 0.67Specialty INTERLINKED TECHNOLOGIES PLC NT NT 5.15 4.90 236 699 511 0.00 N/A NTSECURE ELECTRONIC TECH.PLC NT NT 1.88 0.80 5 631 539 736 0.03 N/A NTTransport-Related Services AIRLINE SERVICES AND LOGISTICS PLC 3.30 603 152 2.78 1.54 634 000 000 0.38 N/A 3.29NIG. AVIATION HANDLING COY PLC 6.00 478 782 11.75 5.15 1 230 468 750 0.81 -0.83 6.05ASeM CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Property Management SMART PRODUCTS NIGERIA PLC NT NT 1.43 1.04 45 000 000 0.12 N/A NTCONSUMER GOODS Food Products MCNICHOLS PLC 0.97 11 000 1.02 1.02 201 885 335 0.00 N/A 0.97Personal/Household Products ROKANA INDUSTRIES PLC. 0.60 500 0.60 0.60 30 000 000 0.00 N/A 0.60HEALTHCARE Pharmaceuticals AFRIK PHARMACEUTICALS PLC. NT NT 0.50 0.50 24 898 850 0.00 N/A NTINDUSTRIAL GOODS Electronic and Electrical Products NT NT NTADSWITCH PLC. 1.63 500 1.88 1.63 125 005 250 0.00 N/A 1.63NATURAL RESOURCES Metals W.A. ALUM. PRODUCTS PLC. NT NT 0.50 0.50 6 650 000 0.00 N/A NTOIL AND GAS Petroleum & Petroleum Products Distributors ANINO INTERNATIONAL PLC. NT NT 0.21 0.21 24 200 000 0.00 N/A NTCAPITAL OIL PLC 0.50 20 000 0.50 0.50 5 857 500 000 0.00 N/A 0.50RAK UNITY PET. COMP. PLC. NT NT 0.31 0.31 15 000 000 0.00 N/A NTUNION VENTURES & PET. PLC NT NT 0.63 0.63 98 600 000 0.00 N/A NTSERVICES Apparel Retailers UDEOFSON GARMENT FACT. NIG PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 20 000 000 0.00 N/A NTFood/Drug Retailers and Wholesalers NT NT NTJULI PLC. 2.76 16 000 3.05 2.76 194 700 000 0.00 N/A 2.76ETF’s Sector ETF NEWGOLD EXCHANGE TRADED FUND 2 638.00 100 2 706 2 422 0.00 2 638.00

PRICE 52 WK 52 WK SHARES MOV.SECURITY (=N=) QUANTITY HIGH LOW OUTSTANDING EPS (%) Previous

PRICE 52 WK 52 WK SHARES MOV.SECURITY (=N=) QUANTITY HIGH LOW OUTSTANDING EPS (%) Previous

Stock Exchange weekly equities summary as at Friday, May 3, 2013

Business CourageCourage

Monday, May 6, 2013 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net40

On your next visit tothe land of peace...

Ghana

We’re there for yourfinancial interest

GNAT Heights, 30, Independence Avenue, Accrawww.energybankghana.com

Contacts: [email protected] +233302234033-4, +233302234309

ENERGYBANK...supporting your aspirations

was said to have fulfilled the fine obligation shortly after the verdict, and thus, walked away a free man.

Expectedly, there was a massive public outcry and condemnation of the lighter pun-ishment imposed on Yusufu.

It would be recalled that the anti-graft agency had charged the convict under Sec-tion 309 of the Penal Code, after withdrawing the earlier 10-count charge brought against him under Section 315 of the Penal Code. Interestingly, the initial law attracts a maxi-mum jail term of 14 years.

NJC’s decision, according to the state-ment, was a culmination of the investigation carried out by its “Fact Finding Committee”, which was commissioned on February 20, af-ter the council’s emergency meeting on the petition and public outcry that greeted Yu-sufu’s sentence.

Its action, it further stressed, was pursu-ant to “the exercise of its disciplinary pow-ers under the 1999 Constitution of the Fed-eral Republic of Nigeria as amended.”

The statement reads in part: “The Nation-al Judicial Council under the Chairmanship of the Hon. Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar, GCON, at its meeting which was held on 24th and 25th April, 2013 suspended Hon. Justice Abuba-kar Mahmud Talba of the FCT High Court from office for a period of twelve months without pay.

“Hon. Justice Talba was suspended from office sequel to the Findings by Council that he did not exercise his discretion judicially and judiciously with regard to the sentences he passed on one of the accused persons, Mr. John Yakubu Yusuf in the Police Pension case of FRN Vs Esai Dangabar and 5 Ors.

“It would be recalled that the National Judicial Council at its Emergency Meeting which was held on 20th February, 2013 set up a Fact Finding Committee to investigate the allegations levelled against Hon. Justice Talba in the Police Pension case of FRN Vs Esai Dangabar and 5 Ors.

“The National Judicial Council, in the exercise of its disciplinary powers under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, also issued serious warning to Hon. Justice Talba to desist from unreasonable exercise of judicial discretion in all matters brought before him.”

It is pertinent to underscore the fact that Justice Talba is not the first “casualty” of what seems to be an ongoing “cleansing and purification” in the judiciary, under the leadership of the first female CJN, Justice Mukhtar.

Precisely on February 20, the Mukhtar-led NJC recommended the retirement of Justice Charles Archibong of the Federal High Court, Lagos to President Goodluck Jonathan. This was even as it recommended the dismissal of another judge of the Plateau state judiciary, Justice Thomas Naron.

Archibong was sacked upon discovery “That there were glaring procedural irregu-larities which showed that Hon. Justice Ar-chibong did not have a full grasp of the Law

It is an established canon in the administra-tion of justice that judges must endeavour, at all times, to exercise their inherent dis-

cretionary powers over matters before them “judicially and judiciously”. That way, justice will not only be seen to have been done, but be manifestly seen to have been done.

Therefore, the failure of the court to abide by this time-honoured belief, may ultimately rob either of the prosecution, the accused or the society as a whole of justice. Thus, where a judge exercises his discretion rightly or wrongly, its effect is bound to be felt by the par-ties.

It was against this backdrop that the Na-tional Judicial Council, (NJC), in its wisdom, on Friday April 26, wielded the suspension hammer on a judge of the Federal Capital Ter-ritory, FCT, Justice Abubakar Talba.

Some Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) have, however, disagreed with the action of the NJC, saying the decision on whether or not a judge exercised his discretion “judicially and judiciously”, rests with a superior court; not with an administrative body.

The unanimous contention of these law-yers came on the heels of a statement signed by NJC’s Acting Director of Information, Mr.

Soji Oye, announcing the suspension of Jus-tice Talba, for failing to “exercise his discre-tion judicially and judiciously”, in respect of the sentence he handed down to the convicted police pension thief, Mr. John Yakubu Yusufu.

Yusufu was charged with an “illegal act” of conspiring with others to steal over N23 billion pension funds; being money meant for police retirees.

Specifically, he pleaded guilty to counts 18, 19 and 20, of the amended charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

After pleading “guilty”, Justice Talba sen-tenced him on January 28, to a prison term of two years, with a fine option of N750, 000; he

Law & Justice“It is settled law that statutes which overreach the citizen’s right of access to court are subject to vey

strict interpretation.”

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 41Monday, May 6, 2013

[email protected]

JUSTICE DAHIRU MUSDAPHER, RETIRED JUSTICE SUPREME COURT OF NIGERIA

CONTINUED ON PAGE 42

Let’s disgrace bad judges, lawyers –Oke

46

How S’Court barred Orin monarch from Ode-Ekiti farmland

Tobi, oracle of law

42

44 Talba: NJC can’t operate as appellate court –Yusuf Ali, Kalu, others

Justice TalbaJustice Mukhtar

About two weeks ago, the National Judicial Council (NJC) in an unprecedented decision suspended an Abuja High Court judge, Justice Abubakar Talba, from office for 12 months. The reason for his suspension, which was described as an improper exercise of discretion has generated criticisms among some Senior Advocates of Nigeria, EMMANUEL ONANI writes.

IT IS ONLY A COURT OF LAW THAT CAN

DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT A DISCRETION HAS BEEN EXERCISED

JUDICIALLY AND JUDICIOUSLY

FRANCIS FAMOROTI HEAD, JUDICIARY

Justice Niki Tobi is a retired Justice of the Su-preme Court who is often acclaimed for his eru-dition and wide knowledge of legal principles

of Nigerian jurisprudence. The jurist has made the country proud through his contributions to the devel-opment of law in the country.

A prolific writer who initially made his marks in the aca-demics before joining the Bench, he was the Dean of the Fac-ulty of Law, University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID). He later became the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Services) in UNIMAID.

After a stint in the academics, Justice Tobi joined the Bench in 1985 as a Judge of the High Court of Rivers State where he served till 1990. He was elevated to the Court of Appeal Lagos in 1990 and served there till 1993. He was later moved to Enugu Court of Appeal in the same 1993.

Tobi was further elevated to the highest Bench as a Jus-tice of the Supreme Court in 2002 following the retirement of Justice Adolphus Karibi- Whyte from the apex court.

His wealth of experience, without doubt, aided his per-formance at the Bench. As a brilliant law teacher and law-yer, he represented towering excellence at the apex court.

The profile of the jurist would be incomplete without al-luding to the fact that he is a man who excelled in two difficult worlds.

One of his kinsmen once said ‘’He was excellent in the

and procedure of the Court.”In the same vein, NJC’s axe located Naron because he

engaged in “constant and regular voice calls and exchange of mms and sms(text messages between Hon. Justice Naron and one of the Lead Counsel for one of the parties to the Suit in the Osun State Gubernatorial Election Tribu-nal contrary to the Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria vide Section 292(1((b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.”

Notwithstanding the determined moves by the current leadership of NJC to sanitise the system, some Senior Ad-vocates of Nigeria, SANs, have argued that it is only a court of superior record, not an administrative body that has the constitutional power to decide whether or not a judge exer-cised his discretion judicially and judiciously.

According to a former Attorney- General (AG) of Abia state Dr. Awa Kalu (SAN), said:”My view on the matter is that the National Judicial Council is not an appellate court; it is only a court of law that can determine whether discre-tion has been exercised judicially and judiciously.

“It is a legal matter and not a disciplinary matter”, he added.

Expressing similar sentiment, Mallam Yusuf Ali (SAN)

noted that, since the NJC did not operate as a court, it could not sit in judgement over the proper or improper exercise of discretion.

Ali said: “Well, when it comes to the functions of the court as given to it by the constitution, it can only be exer-cised within the four walls of the court, and once a Judge exercises his discretion, only a higher court can set it aside; that is, if the discretion of the lower court was wrongly ex-ercised.

“The NJC cannot, since it is not sitting as a court”, he asserted.

Another SAN, Sir Mike Ahamba simply warned: “We have to be very careful, otherwise, we have administrative appeals over judicial decisions; one cannot forecast the lim-it to which an administrative thinking can go in the control of exercise of judicial functions.”

A Makurdi-based SAN, Mr. Jubrin Okutepa also criti-cised the NJC’s decision saying that ‘’the suspension of Justice Talba is uncalled for, it is unjust and there was no basis for it. There is no evidence as far as I am concerned that the judge took bribe, neither is there any evidence that he was influenced outside the law.’’

However, Access to Justice (AJ) in a statement noted that the decision to suspend Talba from office for a one- year period without pay was likely without precedent in all of Nigeria’s history.

According to the statement by the AJ’s Executive Di-rector, Mr. Joseph Otteh, ‘’Hon Justice Talba has a fresh chance to reappraise his own place in the judiciary: he should resolve the difficult choices placed before him in manner that can be redemptive, both for himself and the judicial institution and salvage whatever can be salvaged from this situation.

‘’ What has happened has diminished his moral standing and authority and would adversely affect perceptions court users would have of his forthrightness and autonomy.

AJ praised the courage of the CJN and noted that ‘’there is so much more that needs to be done to lift up the Judi-ciary from the doldrums and make the institution relevant for Nigeria’s future.’’

academic world as a lecturer and became a reference point in the legal world. This legal icon and academic guru has proved that beyond oil resources, the people of Niger Del-ta are extra ordinar-ily gifted.’’

The Vice-Presi-dent Namadi Sambo during the launch of two of Tobi’s books about two years ago had cause to de-scribe him as “a rare gem whose legal

competence stands him out among his contemporaries in the country’s judiciary.”

Among the list of cases the jurist had handled on the Bench where he delivered the lead judgment was Festus Ibidapo Ad-esanoye. v. Prince Francis Gbadebo Adewole SCN (2006).

In Onagoruwa v. IGP, Justice Tobi declared; “Nigeria is a democracy and by the grace of Almighty God, it will remain a democracy for all times. The foundation of any democracy is anchored on the rule of law both in its conservative and con-temporary meaning. Putting it naively, we are paid mainly and essentially to uphold the rule of law in the entire polity. And so once we fail to uphold the rule of law, anarchy, des-potism, and totalitarianism will pervade the entire society. The social equilibrium will be broken. Law and order breaks down…We as judges cannot afford to see the society decay to such irreparable level. We must rise up fully to our duties by vindicating the tenets of the rule of law in our practised de-mocracy.’’

He was the Chairman of the Presidential Election Peti-tion Tribunal that validated the April 2007 election of Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net42 Monday, May 6, 2013Law & Justice

Tobi, oracle of law

AliKalu

Tobi


’Only higher court can set aside wrongful exercise of discretion’

CRIMINAL TRIAL LEGAL TIPS

SINCE THE NJC DID NOT OPERATE AS A COURT, IT COULD

NOT SIT IN JUDGEMENT OVER THE PROPER OR IMPROPER EXERCISE

OF DISCRETION

•A Criminal trial commences when an accused appears or is brought before the court.The charge shall be read and explained to him to the satisfaction of the court by the Registrar. He shall thereafter be asked to plead to the charge. This is called arraignment.

Options open to an accused

•Preliminary objectionHe may raise a preliminary objection to the jurisdiction of the court to try him or a defect in the charge. His objection shall be duly considered and if upheld, he shall be discharged. However, if overruled, then he shall be asked to plead.

•Refusal to Plead He may refuse to plead to the charge. He shall thereafter be asked by the court to state his reasons. Where the court is the view that those reasons are not valid and the accused still refuses to plead, a plea of ‘’’not guilty’’ shall be entered on his behalf and the trial shall proceed.

•Stand MuteHe may stand mute and the court shall call evidence to determine whether his muteness is of malice or due to visitation of God. If the court finds out that his muteness is of malice, a plea of not guilty shall be entered and the trial shall proceed. However, if his action is due to visitation of God (e.g. insanity), the trial shall not proceed and the accused shall be ordered to be detained until the pleasure of the Governor is known.

•Plea GuiltyWhere an accused pleads guilty, it shall be recorded by the court. The judge or magistrate will then follow the laid down procedure before convicting him.

Written by Francis Famoroti, Head, Judiciary. We welcome feedback and reactions from readers via our e-mail: [email protected]

How can law be used as an instrument to curb corruption menace in Nigeria generally?

I must admit that law as an in-strument of social engineering, has it limits. This is because law has never proved to be the magic wand for corruption-free society. If law is effectively deployed and enforced, it will definitely serve as the most ef-fective instrument of social ordering. For law to curb corruption in Nige-ria, we must look at a “selective jus-tice” by punishing the rich harshly, in comparative terms, more than the poor. The law punishes the poor for stealing goat, snatching cars of the rich, among others. The rich tends to get away with their brand of crime, which is largely corruption and em-bezzlement of public collective goods

or assets. The insatiable thirst of the elite for wealth is the basis of corrup-tion. Mismanagement of public good created a misfit situation in which the disadvantaged masses get push to desperately look for means to survive, including resort to crime.

Would you say the issue of energy crisis has some legal solutions to it or is it entirely political?

Energy crisis needs legal and polit-ical solution. Take the Manitoba issue as an example. Manitoba Hydro Inter-national (MHI) had a clear contract with the Federal Government; they had a clear mandate and very clear on what they are supposed to do, but the bureaucrats did not let them do what they were supposed to do. The Federal Government has threaded carefully

as a result of local and international outcry against its attempt of the Gov-ernment to revoke the contract. It has claimed its casualties, the Minister of Power is gone, and the Director of Public Enterprise is gone. It has re-ally claimed a number of casualties quietly and overtly, but it is better for the country. However, let us pray we get it right and put our house in order. MHI is the Canadian company with which the Federal Government had contractual agreement to manage power transmission in Nigeria with the terms of the contract including staffing and management of key de-partments of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) such as the Systems Operations, Transmission Service Provider, National Control Centre, Information Technology and Market

Operation.

What reform would you recommend to improve the regime of electricity gen-eration, distribution and consumption in Nigeria?

While some countries have stepped-up their electricity regula-tory frameworks through various en-ergy options and incentives amongst others things; Nigeria appears to be receding rather than accelerating in the quest for the much-desired stable electricity in the country. The Consti-tution leaves no doubtful impression of a decentralised electricity regime in Nigeria. The Nigerian Constitu-tion places electricity generation, transmission and distribution on the Concurrent Legislative List- to enable the Federal and State Governments partner in production of sustainable electricity. What obtains in practice however clearly depicts the opposite of a decentralised regime envisaged by the Constitution owing to needless federal dominance in electricity gov-ernance, which permeates off-grid power generation systems such as rural electrification and captive elec-

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net44 Monday, May 6, 2013Law & Justice

Oke

Dr. Yemi Oke is an international legal consultant with specialisation in Electricity Law and Energy Resources. He obtained his PhD degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Canada. He was, at various times, senior counsel in leading law firms in Nigeria including Chief Rotimi Williams’ Chambers; Babalakin & Co; and Olaniwun Ajayi & Co before joining the University of Lagos (UNILAG) as a senior lecturer. In this Interview with KAYODE KETEFE, Assistant Head, Judiciary, he speaks on diverse legal issues. Excerpts.

OperationDr Ye i Oke is a i ter atio al legal co s lta t ith specialisatio i Electricit La a d E erg

Let’s disgrace bad judges, lawyers, says Oke

THE ONLY SOLUTION TO CORRUPTION IN THE JUDICIARY IS TO DISGRACE BAD

JUDGES, INCLUDING COLLABORATING

LAWYERS, THROUGH THE NJC AND THE

NBA

tricity generation. State Governments should under-

take off-grid electricity regulation like rural electrification, captive generation and other forms directly, and/or in collaboration with the Fed-eral Government as envisaged by the Constitution. Nigerians await effec-tive implementation of the Constitu-tion through a genuinely decentral-ised electricity governance model that will eventually lead to the estab-lishment of state electricity regula-tory institutions.

State electricity regulatory com-missions should be able to license pri-vate companies to engage in off-grid electricity generation, transmission and distribution (including renew-able electricity), captive electricity generation, rural electrification and

others as provided by the Constitu-tion. If the ultimate objective is to ensure regular supply of power for economic development, the Federal and State Governments must act as collaborators, not as competitors, in terms of electricity governance in Nigeria.

Do you share the view that there is a lot of corruption in the Nigerian Judiciary? How best can the prob-lem of corruption in the judiciary be tackled?

I will be first to admit that there is corruption in the judiciary, like every aspect of the Nigerian polity. This is why I am glad at the retire-ment or dismissal of some Judges by the Chief Justice Aloma Mukhtar recently. I honestly think the ‘Tsu-

nami” sanitisation should continue and be sustained. The only solution is to disgrace erring judges, includ-ing collaborating lawyers, through the National Judicial Council and the Nigerian Bar Association. The Bench is not, and should not, be an avenue for money-making. It is for decent, contented ones who have a calling to do nothing but justice. Jus-tice should neither be bought nor sold, no matter the temptation.

How would you rate the Nigerian Ju-diciary in general in terms of attain-ment of justice administration?

I would give them 50 per cent in terms of performance. That is aver-age, it must be added though, that the score sometimes oscillates around the average. Justice is being delayed and denied in many instances. There is need to rework the operationalisa-tion of our judicial system to be able to respond to contemporary chal-lenges of social and economic devel-opment.

How would you assess human rights records of President Jonathan?

Human rights is really not a chal-lenge of the Jonathan administra-tion, but corruption and terrorism. In terms of human rights, I think the current administration has per-formed above average. No serious abuses of human rights have been recorded, save for accusations and counter-accusations of extra-judi-cial killing of some members of the Boko Haram sect. you may recall that the present administration gave Ni-gerian Freedom of Information Act, which Nigerians are yet to really put to test after hyped expectation of the law. That’s not Jonathan’s problems, but that of the generality of Nigeri-ans.

There are ongoing activities to amend the 1999 Constitution, if you are asked to suggest one or two areas that need urgent amendment, what will be your views?

First, I will recommend regional-ism. I will also suggest that we revert to Parliamentary System of Gov-ernment, like UK and Canada. The current National Assembly should be pruned down. It will be more ap-propriate if we have one senator per state. These are to work on part-time basis to undertake or perform main-ly advisory roles. Members should be men and women of proven records. The House of Representatives should consist of four or representatives per State.

What is your view on the falling stan-dard of education?

I will not admit that the standards are falling. I would rather say that the educational system has grown and public educational institution-al is no longer adequately funded to sustain the standards. The cur-ricula have changed. If you engage children of nowadays in discussion, you would discover that their levels, in relative terms compared to when we were of their age, have gone up. Of course there are schools that have gone from bad to worse. There are also Nigerian schools that have produced globally-acclaimed stu-dents. It is a question of where one stands in the divide. There are very good schools (which though are ex-pensive) where standards are going up on daily basis. There are also bad schools, very cheap and sometimes free or publicly-funded, where stan-dards are falling daily. So the gener-alisation may not be helpful.

The problem of brain drain, especial-ly among the academics, has been ongoing for decades; what omen does this signify for the country’s quest for development?

My response to that phenomenon is both good and bad omen. Good in the sense of knowledge exchange and repatriation of foreign capital. I must also add that a lot of Nigerian experts and scholars are returning home since there are increasing op-portunities at home with the spring-ing-up of private universities and enhanced, but still inadequate, pay of University teachers. It is bad on accounts of the loss of highly-skilled manpower to Nigeria.

Are you satisfied with the ratio allot-ted to academics at present in the appointment of Senior Advocates of Nigeria every year?

I am not satisfied at all. In other countries, academics get more slots. They write books and other materi-als that lawyers and judges deploy. A brief at the Court of Appeal and Su-preme Court of less than the worth of a seminar on our LL.M class for instance. For sure, it is less in value compared to a well-written journal article in established foreign or lo-cal journals. This is aside books and other published works. In terms of productivity, academic lawyers would have worked 700per cent more in comparison to the work of a prac-tising lawyer even to be noticed as deserving of the award.

That’s why our colleagues com-bine both and go for the one that best meets their target in terms of speed of actualisation. We should encour-age legal academics to submit papers to be examined for SAN as a legal practitioner and/or legal academics simultaneously. Non-teaching legal writers and authors should also be allowed to explore SAN application based on their publications and/or number of cases. This will create level-playing field and bring about healthy competition in the legal pro-fession. Not all academic lawyers are in the classroom.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 45Monday, May 6, 2013 Law & Justice

I WILL SUGGEST THAT WE REVERT TO

PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT, LIKE UK AND CANADA AND

THE CURRENT NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SHOULD BE

PRUNED

Monday, May 6, 2013Law & Justice46 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

FAMOUS CASES

How S’Court barred Orin monarch from Ode-Ekiti farmland

Orin is a small community within the neighbourhood of Ikole-Ekiti in the present day Ekiti State. Some-

times in early sixties, the then Oniran of Orin, Osanyinlusi, and a community lead-er, Chief Aderibigbe Jeoba were embroiled in a dispute over a parcel of land in Ode Ekiti. This dispute led to a legal battle be-tween Jeoba and the Oniran at an Akure High Court.

In the summons, the plaintiff claimed that the Oniran was the head of the Orin Quarter of Ikole-Ekiti and was sued as rep-resenting the Orin Quarter of Ikole-Ekiti.

Specifically, Jeoba sought against the monarch among others, a declaration of title to the piece or parcel of farmland situ-ate and being at Ese-Itaoloke in Ode Ekiti and more particularly described on the plan edged red on survey plan No. 1154; £50 general damages for trespass commit-ted by the defendant, his servants and/or agents on the said land; and an injunction restraining the defendant, his servants, agents and all those deriving title through him from committing further acts of tres-pass.

At the hearing on April 27, 1964, both the plaintiff and the defendant were pres-ent and were both represented by their lawyers. Pleadings were ordered and were duly delivered.

Indeed, there was a meeting point by both parties that defendant had exercised dominion over the land by placing tenants on the land for over 15 years and these ten-ants planted cocoa, kola nut trees and cash crops.

On three occasions between November 13, 1967, and May 7, 1968, when the case was listed before the court for mention, a counsel, Mr. Ajibade appeared for the de-fendant. At the hearing on December 4, 1968, the court was informed that the de-fendant was ill. On May 15, 1969, the court was told by the defendant’s counsel that he had died.

However, on September 21, 1970, the plaintiffs applied to the court to substitute one Osho Owonifari (the present defen-dant) for the deceased.

The application was granted on April 19, 1971. When the hearing started on April

20, 1971, the plaintiff testified that he sued the defendant’s father, the Oniran of Orin village and that the defendant’s father was dead. The plaintiff said he substituted the defendant’s for his father because he had started collecting Ishakole from Akoko tenants on the land in dispute.

In his testimony, Owonifari raised an objection against the suit and said the late Oniran was his father and following his death, he agreed to be substituted as the defendant in the present suit.

However, the defendant’s counsel sub-mitted inter alia that the original defen-dant, Chief Oniran of Orin-Ikole, was not a juristic person.

Besides, he argued that the supposed de-fendant was merely the name of an office held by a person. The counsel therefore submitted that as originally constituted in the suit there was no defendant known to law, and that when Oniran died, it was impossible to substitute a person for a non-existent defendant.

The trial judge then ruled that the plain-tiff ’s claims be struck out and that there was no defendant before the court, nor a surviving cause of action against Chief Oniran.

The judge also held that the present de-fendant (a legal person) could not be made to replace a non-existing person.

The plaintiff filed an appeal to the West-ern State Court of Appeal against this deci-sion and it was dismissed by a majority of two to one (Fakayode, J.A. dissenting).

Dissatisfied, Jeoba further lodged an appeal at the Supreme Court. Chief J.A. Adeyefa led two other lawyers to argue the appeal.

The panel of the court are; Justices George Baptist Ayodola Coker; Atanda Fa-tayi-Williams; and Ayo Gabriel Irikefe.

In the lead judgement delivered by Jus-tice Fatayi-Williams on October 25, 1974, the apex court said it was not persuaded by the argument that the use of Oniran of Orin as a defendant was only a misnomer.

‘’ We feel unable to accept this argument for the simple reason that misnomer, in this connection, means the use of wrong name of a legal person whereas the position here was that there was no legal person at all for which a wrong name could have been used. What was used here was the name of an of-fice and not the name of a legal person.

‘‘The name of the office was correctly stated as Chief Oniran of Orin. No one has said that this was the wrong name of the office stated as defendant and therefore there can be no question of misnomer on the facts of this case.’’

The Supreme Court declared that the trial judge and the Western State Court of Appeal committed the grave jurispruden-tial error of stating that Chief Oniran of Orin could not be sued because he was not a legal person.

‘’From the above, it is indisputable that the original defendant - Chief Oniran of Orin - is a natural person and not a legal person. That being the case, he could not, in his lifetime, be described, as both the learned trial judge and the Western State Court of Appeal had done, as a non-exis-tent person.’’

Besides, the Supreme Court said the ex-istence of the Oniran of Orin as a natural person was unmistakable throughout the hearing of the case.

The record of proceedings, the apex court held showed that he was present in court on April 27, 1964 when the case was first listed.

‘’He accepted service of the plaintiff ’s statement of claim and filed his defence thereto. His death thereafter was reported to the Court by his counsel and this was confirmed by the plaintiff himself in his testimony before the court. His son was

substituted for him by order of court and he too confirmed his father’s death on oath. In any case, the defendant was sued in a representative capacity and his son also de-fended the action in that capacity through-out.

‘’ In the face of all these facts, we think, with respect, that by referring to the de-ceased defendant as a non-existent person, both the trial judge and the Western State Court of Appeal appeared to have been indulging in a flagrant form of make-be-lieve.’’

It is manifest that the plaintiff sued the original defendant by the name he was gen-erally known. Indeed, the record of pro-ceedings shows that all the witnesses called by both sides referred to him as Oniran.

Justice Atanda-Williams said ‘’ mani-festly, the misnomer, if any, has been recti-fied by the substitution of Osho Owonifari (the present defendant) for the Oniran of Orin.

The Supreme Court declared that the appeal save for the amendment which it had ordered, must succeed ‘’ and it is, therefore, allowed. ‘’

It accordingly set aside the judge-ment of the learned trial judge in Suit No. AK/25/64, including the order as to costs, delivered on May 15, 1971. The judgement of the Western State Court of Appeal affirming the verdict was equal-ly quashed as well as its order for costs.

Instead, the court ordered among oth-ers, that the plaintiff should be granted declaration of title to all that piece of farmland situate at Ese-Itaoloke in Ode Ekiti and more particularly edged red on survey plan No. 1154; and that the said plaintiff be and is hereby awarded £50 (N100.00) as damages for trespass com-mitted by the defendant, his servants and/or agents on the said land.

It also declared that the said defen-dant, his agents and all those claiming title through him are hereby restrained from committing further acts of trespass on the said land.

THE SUPREME COURT SAID THE

EXISTENCE OF THE ONIRAN OF ORIN AS A NATURAL PERSON WAS UNMISTAKABLE

THROUGHOUT THE HEARING OF THE CASE

Justice Irikefe

The Supreme Court, in its 1974 verdict 39 years ago, over a land dispute between Oniran of Orin in Ekiti State and a com-munity leader, Chief Aderibigbe Jeoba, set aside the decision of the lower courts. The apex court also barred the Orin mon-arch from further exercising do-minion over a piece of farmland at Ese Itaoloke in Ode- Ekiti. FRANCIS FAMOROTI, Head, Judiciary writes.

PAUL ARHEWEWITH AGENCY REPORTS

Seven people were killed yes-terdays morning when a suicide bomber attempted

to ram a car laden with explosives into a military convoy escorting a four-member Qatari delegation.

Gen. Garad Nor Abdulle, a se-nior police official said the mem-bers of the Qatari delegation who were being escorted in the interior minister’s convoy were unharmed and safely reached their hotel.

Abdulle said the interior min-ister was not in the convoy.

Mohamed Abdi, an officer at the scene of the blast, said four civilians and a soldier died im-mediately. Another two people died in hospital and 18 were be-ing treated of wounds from the blast, said Dr. Duniya Mohamed Ali at the Medina hospital.

The Qatari delegates are in-volved in development projects in Mogadishu, Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said.

Mohamud blamed al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group al-Shabab for the attack.

He said “suspects” have been

arrested.After the explosion soldiers

fired in the air to disperse crowds that had gathered at the blast site at the busy KM4 junc-tion.

Separately, four Somali sol-diers were wounded Sunday when a roadside bomb struck a government vehicle in Deynile district, in Mogadishu’s north-west, said Ali Jimale, a captain

with the Somali police.The Somali government re-

opened key roads in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, four days ago which had been closed for security reasons. The roads were closed after the govern-ment received intelligence that militants were planning attacks, officials said.

KM4 is among the busiest roads in Mogadishu, largely

used by government officials and African Union forces. It con-nects the presidential compound and other government offices to the airport.

The car bombing falls into a pattern of attacks blamed on the Islamic extremist group al-Sha-bab, which has been pushed out of much of the areas it occupied in South and Central Somalia by African Union troops.

A woman died and 44 people were se-riously wounded

when a bomb exploded in a Roman Catholic church in northern Tanzania, po-lice said yesterday.

The woman died in the hospital as a result of the bombing in the Arusha church just be-fore Mass, which was attended by the papal envoy to Tanzania, said Magesa Mulogo, the re-gional police commis-sioner of Arusha.

Mulogo said eyewit-nesses report that the bomb was thrown from a motorcycle into the church. Mulogo said the

driver of the motorcycle has been arrested.

The Vatican’s am-bassador to Tanzania, Archbishop Francisco Montecillo Padilla, was at-tending the official open-ing of the church when

the explosion occurred. He escaped unhurt.

Mulogo said the motive of attack is not known, but Tanzania has, in the re-cent past, experienced sec-tarian violence between Christians and Muslims.

Wounded churchgoers lying on the ground as Roman Catho-lic nuns run for cover after the blast at the Church in Arusha, Tanzania, yesterday. PHOTO: AP

47National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, May 6, 2013

World News

One Ethiopian peacekeeper was killed and two others wounded when a U.N. convoy was caught up in a tribal clash in the Abyei border region claimed by Sudan and South Sudan, the United Nations said yesterday.

Sudan and South Sudan in March agreed to resume cross-border oil flows and defuse ten-sions which have plagued them since the South seceded in 2011 after an independence vote.

But they were unable to decide on the ownership of Abyei, which both the Dinka tribe allied to South Sudan and the Arab Misseriya tribe allied to Sudan call their home.

Kuwal Deng Mayok, the top Dinka leader in Abyei, was trav-elling with a U.N. convoy when he was killed by members of the Misseriya in a clash on Sat-urday that risked fuelling new tensions in the flashpoint area.

An Ethiopian peacekeeper was also killed and two others seri-ously wounded by a Misseriya tribesman, U.N. Secretary-Gener-al Ban Ki-moon’s office said.

“The Secretary-General urges the governments of Sudan and South Sudan and the ... Dinka and Misseriya communities to remain calm and avoid any escalation of this unfortunate event,” it said in a statement.

Abyei straddles the border between the neighbors, who fought one of Africa’s longest civil wars. It is prized for its fer-tile land and small oil reserves.

Ethiopian peacekeeper killed, two injured in Sudanese clash

Madagascar’s president to run for re-election

Madagascar’s President An-dry Rajoelina will stand for re-election in July, despite earlier assurances that he would not run to help return stability to the Indian Ocean island nation.

A showdown looms between Rajoelina and the wife of former president Marc Ravalomanana who are among the 41 presi-dential candidates who were approved by the Special Elec-tions Court on Friday. Former President Didier Ratsiraka and two former prime ministers are among other candidates ap-proved.

Rajoelina defended his decision to run for re-election, although regional leaders have urged him and Ravaloma-nana not to stand for election. Rajoelina said he decided to run because the candidacy of Ravalomanana’s wife, Lalao, is the same as Ravalomanana running himself. The island of 20 million people has been in political turmoil since Rajoelina seized power in 2009.

WORLD BULLETIN

Zimbabwe’s army commander said he would not speak

to the nation’s prime minister, describing him as a “sellout” and a “psychiatric patient,” re-ported a state-controlled Sunday newspaper.

Gen. Constantine Chiwenga dismissed calls for him and other top security officials to meet with Prime Minis-ter Morgan Tsvangirai to discuss demands for reforms in the armed forces ahead of cru-cial elections this year, reported the Sunday Mail, which is a mouth-piece of President Rob-ert Mugabe’s party.

Chiwenga denied

claims by Tsvangirai’s party, which is in a shaky coalition with Mugabe, that military chiefs have welcomed approaches on reforms. He called the claims “hallucinations” and said the military chiefs will not meet with politicians who did not fight in the guerrilla war that ended colonial rule in 1980.

“We have no time to meet sellouts. Clearly Tsvangirai is a psychi-atric patient who needs a competent psychia-trist . he seems to be suffering from halluci-nations,” said Chiwen-ga. “We are different. Just like oil and water, we cannot mix.”

Zimbabwean army chief: No talks with Prime MinisterOne die, 44 injured in

Tanzanian church explosion

“The help and assistance from the U.S. is for our National Directorate of Security. That is state-to-state,

government-to-government regular assistance”” –AFGHANISTAN PRESIDENT, HAMID KARZAI

Suicide car bomber kills seven in Somali capital

48

Israel strikes Syria, targets Hezbollah arms

Somali security officers carrying a wounded civilian after the suicide car bomb blast in Mogadishu, yesterday. PHOTO: AP

Tens of thousands of support-ers of leftist parties marched through central Paris yesterday to express disappointment with President Francois Hollande’s first year in power, criticizing the leader for reneging on his promises to rein in the world of finance and enact economic stimulus.

Hollande, a Socialist, rose to the presidency last May, promising to spare France the austerity measures imposed elsewhere in Europe. And the French government has largely avoided the deep spending cuts, big tax hikes and the wide-ranging reforms of many of its neighbours.

Instead, it has nibbled around the edges of its deficit, cutting 10 billion euros ($13 billion) in spending and increasing taxes, largely on the rich, by 20 billion euros. That’s relatively little for a country with 2 trillion euro economy of which 57 percent is government spending.

Pope Francis is calling for courageous defence of children to protect them from abuse.

Francis made no mention of the church scandals in many countries in which clergy abused children and hierarchy cov-ered up for them. At a Mass he celebrated yesterday in crowded St. Peter’s Square, Francis said abuse victims are in his prayers.

He stressed that all must work with courage so that chil-dren, who are among the most vulnerable people, be always defended and protected.

Ignoring sometimes heavy rain, Francis toured the square in a popemobile, but left the vehicle to embrace disabled adults and children along his route.

Venezuela brushed off criti-cism from U.S. President Barack Obama yesterday and main-tained its accusation that an American detainee in Caracas is a spy pretending to be a filmmaker.

During his visit to Latin Ameri-ca, Obama said on Saturday the allegations against Tim Tracy, 35, were “ridiculous.”

But Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres insisted that intelligence agents tracking Tracy since late 2012 had un-covered ample evidence he was plotting with militant anti-gov-ernment factions to destabilize Venezuela with violence.

“When you want to do intel-ligence work in another country, all those big powers who do this type of spying, they often use the facade of a filmmaker, docu-mentary-maker, photographer or journalist,” he told state TV.

“Because with that facade, they can go anywhere, pen-etrate any place.”

Obama’s comments about Tracy, and others questioning socialist leader Nicolas Maduro’s democratic credentials after last month’s disputed presidential vote, have infuriated the govern-ment and revived accusations of “imperialist meddling.”

Thousands protest Hollande’s first year in office

Pope urges protection of children from abuse

Venezuela rebuffs Obama, repeats case against US spy

WORLD BULLETIN

Malaysia’s ruling coalition won the early results on

Sunday in an election that could weaken or even end its 56-year rule, with the major-ity of seats yet to be decided as it faces an opposition pledging to clean up politics and end race-based policies.

The ruling Barisan Nasi-onal (BN), or National Front, won a string of parliamen-tary seats in its traditional stronghold of Sarawak state on Borneo island. But the opposition retained econom-ically important Penang state as its leader Anwar Ibrahim sought to build on his alliance’s stunning gains in 2008.

With less than a quarter of parliamentary results confirmed in the Southeast Asian nation, the National Front was leading with 37 seats to the opposition’s 13, according to the country’s Election Commission. A count by the independent Malaysiakini website gave the seat tally as 29 to 21 in favour of the coalition.

Either side needs 112 of 222 parliamentary seats to form a majority, although Prime Minister Najib Razak is under pressure to win back the two-thirds majority that the BN lost in the last national election in 2008. Final results were ex-pected by early on Monday.

The coalition is expected to win, but opinion polls showed a tightening race with Najib struggling to translate strong economic growth and a deluge of so-cial handouts into votes.

Before most votes were

counted, Anwar declared victory in a surprise state-ment that appeared to be a tactic to whip up support. “PR has won,” Anwar wrote on his Twitter account, urg-ing the ruling party and the country’s Election Commis-sion “not to attempt to hi-jack the results”.

Election officials said vot-er turnout in the country of 28 million people was about 80 percent, a record high in what could be the most closely contested election in 56 years of rule by the Na-tional Front coalition.

Israeli jets bombed Syria yes-terday, rocking Damascus for hours and sending pil-

lars of flame into the night sky in what a Western source called a new strike on Iranian missiles bound for Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Local people reported massive explosions and internet video showed the capital’s skyline lit by flashes; Syrian opponents of Pres-ident Bashar al-Assad rejoiced at Israel’s third raid this year, and second in 48 hours, while anger in Tehran highlighted how Syria’s civil war risks spinning further beyond its borders.

Israel, while declining to con-firm the strike, stressed its focus was to deny its Lebanese foes new Iranian firepower and not take sides between Assad, long seen as a toothless adversary, and rebels who have won sympathy from Is-rael’s Western allies but who also include al Qaeda Islamists hostile to the Jewish state.

It appears to calculate that Assad will not risk forces he needs to fight the rebels by at-tacking a much stronger Israel.

Syrian state television said the bombing around a military research facility at Jamraya caused “many civilian casual-ties and widespread damage” and quoted a letter from the foreign minister to the United Nations saying: “The blatant Is-

raeli aggression has the aim to provide direct military support to the terrorist groups after they failed to control territory.”

People living near the Jam-raya base spoke of explosions over several hours in various places near Damascus, includ-ing a town housing senior of-ficials: “Night turned into day,” one man told Reuters from his home near Jamraya, also struck on January 30.

CNN quoted Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mek-dad calling Sunday’s attack a “dec-laration of war”, and the Iranian foreign minister urged countries to resist Israel. But a senior Ira-nian commander also said Syria was strong enough to defend itself without Tehran’s help - though he also offered training.

A confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel hoped that by not

confirming its attack, it would not force its enemies into seri-ous retaliation. There was little response from Hezbollah, Syria or Iran to an earlier attack on the Jamraya compound, near the Lebanese border, on January 30.

After an Israeli strike on Friday, U.S. President Barack Obama defended Israel’s right to defend itself from Hezbollah, which fired many rockets into Israel during a war in 2006.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak (C) arriving at his party headquarters after polls closed in Kuala Lumpur, yesterday. PHOTO: REUTERS

Malaysian poll results: Ruling coalition takes early lead

Israel strikes Syria, targets Hezbollah arms

Syrian president Bashar Assad(right) surrounded by bodyguards as young people, wave at him, on Saturday. PHOTO: AP

610 bodies have been pulled from the rub-ble of a Bangladeshi clothing factory complex that collapsed last week, police

said in a report yesterday.Dozens more bodies were retrieved from

the ruined eight-storey Rana Plaza yesterday.Bangladesh’s worst industrial disaster

has sparked nationwide anger.A preliminary government investigation

said this week vibrations from four genera-tors on the upper floors triggered the collapse.

Main Uddin Khandaker, head of a govern-ment inquiry team, said the generators start-ed up after a power cut, sending powerful vibrations throughout the building, which - together with the vibration of thousands of sewing machines - triggered the collapse.

The building had been constructed with weak materials, such as sub-standard steel rods, Mr Khandaker added, which meant it could not withstand the vibrations.

The architect of the building has said it was designed to house shops and offices rather than factories or industrial equip-ment, and that three floors had been illegally added to the original building.

Yesterday, police working at the site of the collapse in Savar, outside the capital Dhaka, put the death toll at 610.

But they would not say how many more bod-ies were likely to be recovered from the area.

Nine people have been arrested in connec-tion with the collapse: the building’s owner Mo-hammed Sohel Rana, his father Abdul Khalek, four owners of garment factories that operated inside the building, and three engineers.

Bangladeshi building collapse toll now 610

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net48 Monday, May 6, 2013World News

Fulani herdsmen, farmers clash over farm lands

Community MirrorNational Mirror

www.nationalmirroronline.net 49Monday, May 6, 2013

50


The Bishop of Ijesa Dio-cese of African Church, Rt. Rev. Hezekiah

Adeleke Adetoro, has warned politicians against making un-fulfilled promises at election-eering campaigns.

Rev. Adetoro who gave the warning at the official open-ing and dedication of church ultra modern auditorium built for the congregation of Saint

Mark’s African Church, Esa-Oke in Obokun Local Govern-ment Council of Osun State by Hon. Oluwole Oke, stated that the political class must desist from making false promises, thereby raising the hopes of al-ready pauperised Nigerians.

The clergy man further warned against inhuman acts that could disintegrate the country saying “we are having lot of crises and security chal-lenges including Boko Haram, because the ruling class is us-

ing it to get political relevance”. He therefore warned that

ungodly acts should be stopped before they disintegrate the na-tion, as for that will do no one or section any good.”

On the battered economy, Rev. Adetoro blamed the devel-opment on the failure of those in authority who make prom-ises they will never fulfill after getting into office.

While thanking Hon. Olu-wole Oke, the cleric called on politicians to emulate him.

According to him,” Hon. Olu-wole Oke fulfilled his pledge to build a new church auditorium to the congregation despite failing in his re-election bid in 2011. “When he did not win, we thought he would not fulfill his pledge, but he never looked back. He is our own Nehemiah and we thank God for his life. If politicians in the country can behave this way by keeping to their pledges, this country would have been better than this”, he said.

Bishop warns politicians against false promises

Gani Adams calls for cultural revivalAYO ESAN

National Co-ordinator of Oodua Peoples Congress , OPC, the pan Yoruba

socio-cultural organisation, and promoter of Olokun Festival Foundation, Otunba Gani Adams has urged governors of the South West to enhance the revival of Yo-ruba culture.

Gani Adams,who spoke at his 43rd birthday celebration said that the negation of traditional culture has led to increase in crimes.

He therefore called on govern-ments in Yoruba land to encourage the promotion of culture, saying “if we impact the Yoruba culture into our children, they will grow to be the best in their behaviour , dressing and imbibe the attributes of ‘Omoluabi’ which the Yoruba cherish so much”.

While paying tribute, the Lagos State Commissioner for Rural De-velopment, Hon. C.O Ojelabi who represented Governor Raji Fasho-la , said the contribution of Ad-ams to the improvement of securi-ty in the South West and the nation cannot be over emphasized,even as he urged other Nigerians to emulate him and put in their best in whatever they are doing to con-tribute to the development of the country.

Also speaking, the Director of Bureau of Communication, Osun State Governor’s Office, Mr Semiu Okanlawon, who represented Governor Rauf Aregbesola, also urged Nigerians to emulate Gani Adams’ in perseverance saying, such an attribute took Adams to the top.

“We have heard these things whereby relatives of these victims organised these crimes trying to make money out of it. So people must be wary of their

business environment, partners and domestic staff, even their relations.”LAGOS STATE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE, MR. UMAR MANKO

A cultural troupe performing at the Centenary May Day celebration in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. PHOTO: NAN

ABIODUN NEJOEKITI

A total of 78 houses built on waterways in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State capital

have been marked for demoli-tion.

The Governor, Dr Kayode Fay-emi who made this known dur-ing an advocacy meeting with environment stakeholders in Ado Ekiti, said the demolition became necessary as the affected structures were built on water-ways and have caused environ-mental threat in the area.

It would be recalled that the

governor had inspected some communities affected by recent flooding ago and directed the Ministry of Housing, Urban and Physical Planning, to carry out an assessment of Olorunda, Ade-bayo, Peace Avenue and Omisan-jana, the affected communities for permanent solutions.

Fayemi who stated that the ministry had after assessment identified 78 buildings for demo-lition, said government cannot allow citizens to build houses in unauthorised areas; adding that indiscriminate erection of structures constitute environ-mental hazard to the society.

While expressing displeasure at the exclusion of the state from weather forecast by some television stations, Fayemi an-nounced that the government has approved the establishment of a standard meteorological station, even as it would conduct hydro-geophysical investigation for ground water pollution in Ado Ekiti.

The governor, who added that government has also approved the construction of six public toilets in Ado metropolis and other local government head-quarters, said the proposed bus stops for the state capital will be

completed before the end of the year.

He said the administration is considering establishing a zoo-logical garden and recreation park in Ado Ekiti, as well as the conversion of Isan-Ayede forest reserve to a game park, while the conservation of Ise forest re-serve for Cameroon Chimpanzee is under construction.

In her remarks, the Commis-sioner for Environment, Dr. Eniola Ajayi , said the govern-ment through State Environ-mental Protection Agency, SEPA, has started aggressive channeli-sation of flood prone areas and

dredging of water ways, while the ministry is also embarking on some earth dredging in some of the flood prone areas to tack-le incessant flooding within Ado Ekiti metropolis.

While stating that govern-ment will not tolerate street trading, the Commissioner said government would enforce a minimum set back of four me-tres along the roads for outdoor traders, while the enforcement of laws against illegal parking on roadsides, removal of illegal structures and indiscriminate dumping of building materials will also commence.

Ekiti to demolish structures on water ways

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net50 Monday, May 6, 2013 Community Mirror

Fulani herdsmen, farmers clash over farm landsKEMI OLAITANIBADAN

A major crisis may erupt between Fulani herds-men and farmers in

Igbosaland, Ido Local Govern-ment Area of Oyo State follow-ing the incessant destruction of farmlands by cattle.

Farmers in the community comprising Olopade, Onifufu, Onilanbe, Aba Eemo, Eleyele Oko, Elere Adeogun,Elere Akilo and several others, allege that the herdsmen have been ter-rorising them, while the police have remained indifferent.

The farmers led by their tra-ditional rulers including Al-haji Rafiu Olaifa, Chairman of Igbosa Development Associa-tion; Shereef Aderibigbe, Baale of Ilaju village; Biliaminu Akintunde, Baale of Olopade village; Alhaji Tajudeen Pako-runkun, Baale of Pakorunkun; Ojebisi Ayoola, Baale of Abule Ayo village; Sefiu Asade,Baale of Batake village; Oyedele Ladipo, Baale of Idi Amu vil-lage; Ramoni Adekunle, Baale of Elere Akilo village; Jamiu Akintunde, Baale of Aba Eemo village; Jimoh Sanusi, Baale of Onikanga village and Olawale

Bankole, Baale of Onifufu vil-lage, protested at the council headquarters.

They were at the council headquarters for a meeting with the ‘Fulani-Bororo and Farmers Peace Committee’ and the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in charge of the Ile-Ido police station, where they dis-closed that a petition had been forwarded to the state governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi and all relevant security agencies.

In the petition, the farmers appealed to the government to wade into the matter to avert a crisis that could likely fol-

low the activities of the Fulani herdsmen, who seem to have the backing of the Criminal Inves-tigative Department, Zone XI, Osogbo.

Titled, “Petition on immi-nent break down of law and order against the Fulani herds-men at Olopade Village in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State”, written by their coun-sel, R.O Muraina from Musibau Adetunbi and Co, the farmers maintained that their farm-lands have been the object of wanton destruction caused by grazing by cattle.

They lamented that the re-

sponse each time they reported cases of destruction of their farmlands at the Ile-Ido police station, they were told to pro-duce the Fulani whose cattle destroyed their farm, and so in January, they caught three cows belonging to one Adamu Gafar after the destruction of the farm of one, Sulaimon Olopade.

The farmers however, ex-pressed surprise that while the matter was before the Omi-Adio Chief Magistrate Court, the Sar-kin Fulani of Eruwa, whom the police gave custody of the cows and Adamu Gafar, who was re-leased on bail, approached the

Assistant Inspector Gen-eral of Police,AIG, office Zone X1, Osogbo, and ac-cused Sulaimon Olopade and Biliaminu Olopade of stealing three cows.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 51NorthMonday, May 6, 2013

WALE IBRAHIM LOKOJA

The Kogi State Inde-pendent Electoral Commissioner (KS-

IEC) has announced the Peo-ples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates as winners of all the 21 chairmanship seats in Saturday’s local government election.

The party also won many councillorship posts.

Announcing the elec-tion results yesterday at the KOSIEC Headquarters in Lokoja, the commission’s Chairman, Abraham Ayo Olaniran, said the poll was peaceful, free and fair.

Olaniran said the results indicated that PDP won all the chairmanship seats and

the Action Congress of Nige-ria (ACN) won about 10 coun-cillorship seats.

Meanwhile, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) have described the election as charade.

This followed their earlier withdrawal from participat-ing in the poll and the low turnout that marred it.

Addressing journalists yesterday, a chieftain of the ACN, Prince Abubakar Audu, accused the ruling PDP of using state apparatus

to suppress the opposition.The former governor al-

leged that his brother, John Okpanachi, was shot dead for no just cause by some anti-riot policemen.

He, however, praised sup-porters of opposition parties for boycotting the poll.

Also speaking yesterday, a former House of Repre-sentatives member and ACN chieftain, Hon. Dino Melaye, said the poll was boycotted in every part of the state.

Melaye alleged that de-spite the boycott, the ruling PDP rigged the election, adding that the party “has

advanced from scientific rig-ging to vodooism, which is beyond the comprehension of the people.”

He said the council poll was marred with irregulari-ties and poor distribution of election materials across the 21 local government areas of the state.

But Governor Idris Wada described the election as peaceful.

The governor, wife Hajia Halimat Ladi and his aged father, Pa Wada, cast their votes at about 2pm after been accredited by the SIEC at about 10am at Odu Ward 1 in

Dekina Local Government Area.

No fewer 25 suspects were arrested by the police for various offences during the poll.

In a statement signed by the Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ajayi Okasanmi, the suspects are in the police net helping in investigation.

The statement said that a two-room apartment rented from one Suleiman Atachuje and used as KSIEC office was razed by two suspected arsonists in Bassa Local Government Area. The two

suspects have, however, been arrested.

The statement also con-firmed the death of a PDP councillorship candidate, Adonist Omeh of Awo Apolokuta in Okaba, who was allegedly ambushed and shot dead by some unknown assailants at Awo Oliko-chipo.

The police said one Au-gustine Ebiloma died as a re-sult of injuries he sustained while fighting with another suspected thug, Danjuma Omode, in Dekina Local Government Area.

The police, however, de-nied that the incident oc-curred on May 3, 2013.

PDP wins Kogi local govt election

Plateau violence: Fulani, Berom embrace peace

Ahmed urges moderation of Islamic preaching

L-R: Former President, Court of Appeal, Justice Mustapha Akanbi; author of Language Skills for Arabic Students, Dr. Uthman Kankawi; Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, during the presentation of the book in IIorin, at the weekend.

Insecurity: Kano police begin enforcement of restriction order AUGUSTINE MADU-WEST KANO

The police have begun enforcing the mid-night movement re-

striction order initiated by the Kano State Government as part of the measures to tackle security challenges and other criminal activi-ties.

The state Commissioner of Police, Musa Daura, told journalists that the police decided to enforce the order, which restricts movements of people in Kano city to 12midnight, as one of the

major steps to tackle inse-curity.

According to him, the police have embarked on arrest of persons violating the order.

Daura said: “We have observed fragrant violation of this order as people still move around even beyond 12midnight irrespective of the security situation in the state. We have reviewed this situation with a view to enforcing it as part of our efforts to tackle crime rate.”

The police boss urged residents to support the ongoing war against terror-

ism by obeying the order, saying: “Security of Kano is everybody’s business.’

Daura, however, praised those volunteering infor-mation regarding the activ-ities of hoodlums in their areas.

He pointed out that with-out such information, secu-rity agents would not have achieved much in tackling insurgency in and around Kano.

The police chief also de-nied that there is conflict among security agents over their attempt to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency.

Daura said: “There is no conflict of any form as the security agents are work-ing towards one goal - resto-ration of peace and stabil-ity in Kano State.

“I do not see anything that will bring conflict be-cause we are all aiming at one goal and whatever had been achieved in this regard is through collective efforts of all the agencies in Kano.

“As far as I am concerned, it is baseless to insinuate that the agencies are at log-ger heads or locked in some kind of power tussle, it doesn’t make sense.”

After years of devas-tating communal bloodbath with

heavy casualties on both sides, Fulanis and Beroms in Plateau North say they have forgiven one another and resolved to co-exist peacefully.

The News Agency of Ni-geria (NAN) reports that the usually guerilla-fashioned violence had been charac-terised by deadly midnight attacks, killing of farmers and herdsmen on the fields, destruction of farmlands, as well as the killing and rustling of cattle.

Thousands were report-edly killed in the bloodbath that persisted, in spite of heavy military presence, the declaration of state of emer-gency in the affected areas, as well as military-organised peace and security meetings.

The Special Task Force(STF) deployed in Plateau for maintenance of peace had also initiated various measures including medical outreaches, sports competitions and other so-cial fora to promote togeth-erness and foster peace, but to no avail.

NAN reports that the peace resolution in the early hours of yesterday in Jos followed series of meetings during which leaders from both sides voiced out their grievances, resolved their differences and agreed to bury their hatchets.

The peace talks, uniquely initiated by the warring com-munities and supervised by the Senator representing Plateau North, Gyang Pwa-jok, witnessed frank discus-sions, revelations and ended with a resolve for peace after

both sides decried the devas-tating effects of the violence and opted to return to the past when they communed peacefully.

Pwajok, while setting the tone for the final talks, had described the session as `”unique’’ as it was the first time both sides called out each other on their own voli-tion, without being forced to do so by security forces.

He said: “We resolved to hold this session so that we can listen and understand one another because the STF and the police have failed in enforcing peace on us; clearly, it is only we that can agree to live in peace.”

Pwajok pointed out that the STF was equally frus-trated over the persistence of the violence, and

Pwajok called for conces-sions from both groups, and pointed out that there will always be farming and graz-ing ̀ `whether we like or not’’.

Chairman of Miyetti-Al-lah Cattle Breeders Associa-tion, Alhaji Haruna Boro, who led the Fulani team, urged both communities to forgive each other “from the bottom of our hearts” and declared that his communi-ty had forgiven all and was prepared for peace.

Boro said: “We have re-solved to forgive and forge ahead. The only thing that remains is to take the mes-sage to the rural dwellers so that they can equally key into the new resolve.

“We want the Beroms to demonstrate equal forgiving spirit by allowing our graz-ing cows to move peacefully because we have resolved never to attack anyone any longer.’’

WOLE ADEDEJIILORIN

Kwara State Gov-ernor Abdulfatah Ahmed yesterday

called for an institution-alisation of a Council of Ulamas to moderate preaching by Islamic cler-ics.

Ahmed made the call at

a presentation of a book en-titled: “Language skills for Arabic students” in Ilorin, the state capital.

He said such a council should consist of reputable and knowledgeable Islamic scholars.

The governor said: “Such a move will also provide an opportunity to instill in our youths, the

values of peaceful co-exis-tence, love, integrity and equity which, Insha Allah, will insulate them from fundamentalist preaching through the internet and other sources.”

He advised Muslims not allow the action of a few individuals to define and shape the practice of Islam.

Ahmed also appealed

to leaders of Islamic faith to always preach eternal values of peaceful co-exis-tence as enshrined in the Quran.

Ahmed, who copiously made references to chap-ters and verses of the Quran, urged Muslims to shun violence by safe-guarding the lives of the in-nocent in the society.

•Poll, a charade –Opposition •25 held over malpractices

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net52 North Monday, May 6, 2013

L-R: Commander, Guards Brigade, Brig.-Gen. Emmanuel Atewe; Nasarawa State Governor, Umaru Al-Makura and Corps Command-er, Nigeria Army Engineering, Maj.-General Funsho Owonibi, during the visit of a delegation from the Army Headquarters to Lafia at the weekend. PHOTO: NAN

IGBAWASE UKUMBALAFIA

Military authori-ties in Abuja were at the weekend

reported to have approved the location of a military battalion in Doma town, headquarters of Doma Lo-cal Government Area of Nasarawa State.

Consequent upon that, about 1, 000 hectares of land has been acquired along the

Lafia-Doma highway to be used as barracks to house the battalion as the military authorities have indicated interest to commence work on the proposed barracks without delay.

Nasaawa State Commis-sioner for Information, Hamza Elayo Mohhammed, disclosed this while brief-ing journalists at the end of an emergency meeting of the state executive council which was presided over by

Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura.

His words: “Council noted the courtesy call by a delegation from the Chief of Army Staff to the state government for the sitting of a military barrack in the state. You are aware of the security challenges that have faced the state in the past two years and the con-stant appeal by Governor Al-Makura to the Federal Government to ensure at

least a permanent re-en-forcement of military men in the state.”

The Information Com-missioner went further that barely two months ago, the Inspector-General of Police through the President, de-ployed a battalion of riot policemen to the state. Ac-cording to him, the riot po-licemen are accommodated at Passa, a suburb of Lafia, the state capital, where there is a police barracks.

Mohammed also told journalists that the state executive council has ap-proved the plan by the state government to celebrate the second year in office of the Al-Makura adminis-tration in the state and has consequently constituted a steering committee to pre-pare for the ceremony that would come up on May 29.

He announced that the council has noted a minor cabinet shakeup which saw

the former Higher Educa-tion Commissioner, Inno-cent Lagi, taking over as the new Commissioner for Jus-tice, while the former Jus-tice Commissioner, Yakubu Na’Awa, was deployed to take charge of the Ministry

for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs as the former commissioner of that ministry, Philip Sheku, was reassigned to the Ministry of Higher Ed-ucation.

Military approves location of barracks in Nasarawa

DANJUMA WILLIAMSGOMBE

At least 20 persons with different physi-cal disabilities in

Gombe State have been em-ployed into different grade levels of the Gombe State civil service.

Presenting employment letters to the people at a Blind People’s Workshop in Gombe, the Head of the Gombe State Civil Service, Mr. Eli Meller Akeme, prom-ised that more disabled persons would be offered

employment in the nearest future.

According to him, the 20 were employed based on a recommendation by the state Ministry of Women Af-fairs last year that has been accommodated in this year’s budget.

He promised that when another list is presented this year, it will be considered for next year’s budget, adding that it will be an on-going programme since there are many qualified disabled candidates who possess pro-fessional certificates in the

state. On the request for free

education for people living with disabilities, especially in tertiary institutions, the head of service promised to forward the request to the state governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan Dank-wambo, hoping that it will be processed and approved since the governor has a strong feeling for disabled persons.

Earlier in his speech, state Chairman of the Joint As-sociation of People with Dis-abilities, Comrade Umar Ali

Goro, commended the state government for the employ-ment of his members and es-pecially the office of the Wife of the State Governor, Hajiya Ummi Adama Hassan Dank-wambo, for constructing a befitting computer training centre for the blind.

He said employment op-portunities offered his mem-bers; sponsorship of activi-ties of the disabled people as well as many developmental programmes of the state has given his association the feel-ing that they are in the plan of government.

20 physically-challenged persons absorbed in Gombe

DANJUMA WILLIAMSGOMBE

The communities host-ing Ashaka Cement Plc are threatening to

take Lafarge Group of Com-panies to court if it insists on merging Ashaka Cement Plc with the West African Ce-ment Company, WAPCO.

Chairman of Funakaye Development Forum, Dr. Garba Mohammed Bajoga, stated this in a press briefing in Gombe. He said the com-munities are ready to go to the International Court of Justice, ICJ, in The Hague to press for their demand if Lafarge insists on its action.

According to him, they held a meeting with manage-ment of Lafarge, including its country representative in Nigeria, saying the meet-

ing ended in a stalemate be-cause Lafarge is insisting on the merger.

He said all the reasons giv-en by Lafarge for the merger were not strong enough for the communities to allow what they described as “al-lowing the only living star in the North to be economically subjugated by the South.”

He said unlike what ob-tains in the South, where de-mands become violent, they are not going to engage in any violence, since they have never done so in the past.

He said for Ashaka to be merged with WAPCO, the re-sult will be complete failure because WAPCO at a point recorded losses for almost five years at a stretch which Ahaka has never experi-enced in its last 35 years of its existence.

EZEKIEL TITUSBAUCHI

As part of its com-mitment to ensure abundant food pro-

duction in the state, Bauchi State Governor, Isa Yuguda, has set aside N1 billion for the procurement of assorted fertilizer during the 2013 farming season.

Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, Hon. Abdulkadir Moham-med, member representing Darazo/Sade Constituency made the disclosure at the weekend while speaking to journalists; he said the mea-sure is to boast agricultural activities in the state.

Mohammed added that government has also ear-marked N200 million for upgrading the state-owned fertilizer blending company to ensure effective and speedy production of the commodity.

Also, the Bauchi State Ag-ricultural Company, BASAC, is to get N200 million to effect

all the necessary mainte-nance of tractors and other agricultural equipment in the state and also to procure chemicals for use by farmers.

However, Mohammed was quick to add that govern-ment is aware of the need for more tractors to enhance agricultural production as government will procure ad-ditional 20 tractors to facili-tate farming work in all the 20 local government areas of the state.

The chairman said the decision was informed by the proactive steps of the Yuguda administration to eradicate poverty and youth restiveness through agricul-tural activities which will also lead to economic boom in the state.

The lawmaker main-tained that government has indicated interest and that plans have reached ad-vanced stage to commence the exportation of cotton, millets, groundnuts, among others, for economic growth.

Ashaka communities threaten Lafarge with court action

Yuguda releases N1bn for fertilizer procurement

AZA MSUEKADUNA

A s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l group, the Centre for Development

and Rights Advocacy, CDRA, at the weekend, called on the electorate to vote out incompetent Southern Kaduna lawmak-ers come the 2015 elections.

In an online statement signed by CDRA spokes-man, Dr John Danfulani, the group accused the law-

makers of inducing the electorate with money and other items to win their hearts ahead of the general elections, saying such ges-ture is not a solution to the challenges facing the zone.

CDRA further argued that politics of shar-ing money, motorcycles and others is not part of lawmakers’ functions as stipulated in the 1999 Con-stitution of the Federal Re-public.

The group said the

benchmark for them to be voted again depend purely on how they end the kill-ings, skew political struc-tures and how they are able to tackle the under-development bedeviling the zone.

The statement reads in part: “In their odd politick-ing, dignity and political value of Southern Kaduna people hinges on ‘cash and carry,’ and for the highest bidder.

“Counting all these mal-

adies as legislative achieve-ments proves the dire need to clean the mess we are in, though we quite appreciate those working above board.

“We are appealing to all Southern Kaduna people to discard such characters by voting them out in the 2015 elections. The survival of the area depends on com-petent and capable repre-sentatives.

“So vote out incompe-tent lawmakers as we begin a trip to greater heights.”

2015: Vote out incompetent lawmakers –Group

53National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, May 6, 2013

I will have to see fi rst what happens before I consider the shoulder

operation. But I am just fi ne- LIVERPOOL CAPTAIN, STEVEN GERRARD

SportIghalo scores in Spain as goal drought hits Nigerian strikers

54

Juan Mata celebrating his goal for Chelsea, as the Blues defeated Man United at Old Trafford yesterday. PHOTO:DAILY MAIL

Tennis: Atseye, Akingbade claim CBN prizesYEMI OLUS

Tournament’s number four seed, Hen-ry Atseye, emerged victorious in the men’s singles of the 35th Central Bank

of Nigeria Senior Tennis Tournament held over the weekend at the National Stadium Su-rulere, Lagos.

Playing before an appreciable capacity crowd which included the Central Bank Gov-ernor, Sanusi Łamido Sanusi, represented by Director, Procurement and Support Services, Mr. Olakanmi Gbadamosi, Atseye defeated Cli-ford Enosoregbe 7-5 to cart away a giant trophy and N700, 000 tournament’s prize money.

In the women’s category, unseeded Ronke Akingbade, who came in through the quali-fiers with a wild-card granted by the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF), stroked to the final of the singles event where she defeated experi-enced Christy Agugbom 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 to also win N700, 000 and a giant trophy.

The pair of Abdumumuni Babalola and Shehu Lawal, won the men’s doubles event after beating Samuel Omoile and Nonso Mad-ueke 6-3, 6-0 in the final while women singles runners-up, Agugbom paired with Blessing Samuel to victory by beating Ibrahim Omo-tayo and Sarah Adegoke 7-5, 6-2.

In the wheelchair category, men’s singles second seed, Wasiu Yusuf outclassed tourna-ment top seed, Alex Adewale, 7-6, 6-1 to win the title and became first player to win the CBN Wheelchair Tennis men’s singles title. Women’s top seed, Remilekun Fasanya, beat number two seed Oluwatoyin Dawodu 5-3, 5-3 to emerge as champion.

Recreativo Libolo of Angola is the latest club to join in the chase for Super Eagles’ AFCON 2013

hero, Sunday Mba, who made a goal-scoring debut against the Southern Af-rican side in a CAF Champions League clash on Saturday.

Recreativo advanced to the group stage of the League after they defeat-ed Rangers 3-1 in a return leg clash at home after their first leg clash ended goalless in Nigeria a fortnight ago. Recreativo President, Rui Campos, told MTNFootball.com that with the quali-fication of his club to the nest stage

of the competition, the move for Mba would become imperative.

“We are not resting as the challenge will surely become tougher,’ Campos said yesterday.

“We are going to recruit more qual-ity players to help us actualise our dreams and Rangers no 8 (Sunday Mba) is a sure target for us.

“We are ready to go the long length to have him play for us because he is a special player.” Recreativo striker, Joah Thomas, also described Mba as a player who will add value to his club. “I think he will be a good buy for us should we

pull it through,” Thomas said. Thomas said his club deserved to

stay in contention for the Champions League at the expense of Rangers. “It was good we qualified ahead of Rang-ers. We played better and deserved to win after the first leg ended scoreless,” he remarked.

“I am not disturbed that I did not score. What really mattered was for the team to win matches. Ahead of the group stage, I know we have a lot of work to do and from here, anything can happen.”

President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) Engr. Sani Nda-

nusa, has congratulated Mr. Mitchel Obi on his election as President of AIPS Africa and Vice President of the world body of sports journalists in far away Sochi, Russia.

Obi, a veteran and versa-tile journalist with envious credentials, has thus become the first Nigerian to get to the height of International Sports Press Association, AIPS.

“Certainly, your victory in Russia is a testimony to the confidence reposed in you by journalists all over the world and it confirms your outstand-

ing leadership qualities and competence, fearlessness, in-telligence, diligence and your mastery of many languages,” Ndanusa wrote in his congrat-ulatory message.

Ndanusa who is also the President of Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) said the NOC applauds the magnifi-cent contributions of Mitchel to sports and urged Nigerian journalists to rally round him to ensure that he succeeds in his new assignment.

“I am quite sure that this is a familiar terrain for you, but we in NOC pray that God gives you the wisdom, guidance and good health to accomplish this important task.”

The Nigeria Football Fed-eration (NFF) has ex-pressed sadness over the

deaths of former Board Member, Chief Ayo Omodara and Assis-tant Coach of the U-20 Women’s National Team (Falconets), Mr. Chris Nwaehi, both within a few days.

Spain-based Coach Chris Nwaehi died in Lagos in the ear-ly hours of last Wednesday after being reportedly turned back from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport for not be-ing fit enough to travel.

Chief Omodara, who served on the Board of then Nigeria Football Association died in his Ekiti State home on Saturday morning after protracted ill-

ness. Chairman of the NFF Me-

dia and Publicity Committee, Chief Emeka Inyama, said in a statement yesterday “The deaths of both individuals came as a rude shock to the Nigeria Football Federation. Both men surely contributed their quota to the development of Nigeria football.

“Sadly, the young Chris Nwaehi was part of the impres-sive story of the U-20 Women National Team, Falconets, at the FIFA U-20 World Cup finals in Japan last year. The team earned effusive praise by no less a person than FIFA President Sepp Blatter for its bold and beautiful brand of football.”

AIPS: NOC lauds Mitchel Obi NFF mourns Omodara, Nwaehi

Angola club eyes Mba capture

Experienced Christy Agugbom fell to unseeded Ronke Akingbade in the women’s singles final

54 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, May 6, 2013 Sport

IKENWA NNABUOGOR

Victor Anichebe was as usual on from start to finish for Everton as

they held city rivals Liverpool to a goalless draw at the Mersey-side yesterday. Anichebe, who recently caused a stir by turning his back on the Super Eagles to fully concentrate on club duties, was shown a yellow card in the 56th minute as Everton stepped up the chase for the one of the Champions League’s spots. With the sharing of points yesterday, Everton still maintain their five point advantage over Liverpool, placing sixth on the log.

Still in England, it was a rare outing for one-cap Eagles strik-er Shola Ameobi who was made to play from the bench for New-castle in their goalless draw at West Ham on Saturday. The Ko-gi-born star, who has spent the better part of his career at the Magpies, was introduced in the 65th minute as the visitors con-tinued to search for an elusive win and maximum points that will help them escape the chop.

In France, John Utaka re-turned to full time action after spending four weeks in the side-lines due to thigh muscle strain, for defending champions Mont-pellier as they beat Brest 2-1 on Saturday. Utaka, who missed three straight league games in the process, has so far played 27 times for his side, scored five times and entered the referees’ book four times.

In Spain, Jude Ighalo hit the target for Granada in their 1-0 home victory against Malaga on Saturday, to move the Andalu-sian side into 15th position and away from relegation zone. The former Lyn Oslo striker struck in the 28th minute and that proved to be enough even as he was substituted in the 62nd min-ute. Ighalo has now netted four goals in 25 outings for the Span-ish side. He has so far gone into the referees’ books four times.

In Belgium, Kim Ojo was only on for 13 minutes but still found time to make one assist as Genk beat Zulet Waregem 4-0 at away on Saturday. Ojo, who joined Sunday Oliseh’s former club last January as usual, came off the bench to replace Belgium international Jelle Vossen in the game, seven of the cham-pionship play-offs in Belgium. Ojo teed off Israeli star Elyaniv Barda to fire in the fourth goal as Genk demolished their hosts to set a tone for a UEFA Europa League spot next season.

Still in search of his first goal in the Championships play-offs in Belgium, Nigerian kid sensa-tion Imoh Ezekiel failed to find the range in Standard Liege’s

2-0 loss at Anderlecht on Sat-urday. Ezekiel started from the bench as he was introduced in the 58th minute for Ivorien de-fender Zie Diabate as Standard sought for goals. The former 36 Lion striker will have to add to his 15-goal account in the three remaining fixtures before the Belgian Jupiler League draws its curtains. He has also seen red one and yellow three times.

In Russia, Super Eagles striker Ahmed Musa failed to hit the target for table toppers CSKA Moscow, who beat Terek Grozny 1-0 on Saturday. The

former NPFL top scorer was on from start but was replaced in the 78th minute for fellow Af-rican, Ivorien striker Seydou Doumbia.

In the Netherlands, former schoolboy international Uche Nwofor could not score for VVV Venlo as they were held to a goalless draw by visiting Groningen yesterday. Nwofor has thus failed to score to keep his new found scoring form that saw him score in two previous games.

On the visitors’ side was for-mer Super Eagles midfielder Femi Ajilore, who was meant to start from the bench for his Groningen side in the drawn game. Ajilore was introduced in the last five minutes of the game. Having previously start-ed nine games, Ajilore was play-ing his 18th game for his club. He’s yet to get on the score sheet and has seen yellow three times.

Super Eagles central de-fender Kenneth Omeruo was as usual on for 90 minutes for ADO Den Haag as they even surprised themselves beating Feyenoord 2-0 at home yesterday. Omeruo was magnificent in the rear as the hosts claimed their first win in six consecutive league games. The Super Eagles revelation, however, picked a yellow card in the 53rd minute. He has so played all the games for his side since he returned from African Cup of Nations in South Africa in February. He has so far made 27 league appearances.

In Turkey, scoring machine Kalu Uche failed to hit the target

for Kasimpasa for the third con-secutive as they were held to a goalless draw at Gençlerbirli�i on Friday.

Former Super Eagles mid-fielder Yusu Ayila was on for 90 minutes for Orduspor, who were hammered 4-2 before their home fans by fourth-placed Bursaspor on Saturday. Ayila was yellow carded in the 26th minute. Ay-ila, on loan from Ukrainian top side, Dynamo Kiev has now played seven games, scored once and cautioned twice.

In Ukraine, former youth in-ternational Haruna Lukman,

who hit a brace last week, failed to score and save his side Dy-namo Kiev from 2-0 defeat at Metalist on Saturday. Lukman was then pulled out in the 71st minute.

Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye, was also on the losing side as he failed to find the back of the net for the third consecutive time as Dynamo Kiev were beaten 2-0 at Met-alist. He lasted the entire du-ration of the game. Ideye has so far made 25 league appear-ances and has been in the ref-erees’ books just twice.

John Utaka

Ighalo

Ahmed Musa

Ighalo scores in Spain as goal drought hits Nigerian strikers

Euro Leagues – Results

England

Liverpool 0-0 Everton

Man Utd 0-1 Chelsea

Fulham 2 – 4 Reading

Norwich 1 – 2 Aston Villa

Swansea 0 – 0 Man City

West Brom 2 – 3 Wigan

QPR 0 – 1 Arsenal

Liverpool 0 – 0 Everton

West Ham 0 – 0 Newcastle

Spurs 1 – 0 Southampton

Germany

B. Dortmund 1 – 1 Bayern

B Monchengladbach 0 – 1 Schalke

Stuttgart 0 – 2 Greuther Furth

Hannover 2 – 2 Mainz

Werder Bremen 2 – 2 Hoffenheim

Nuremberg 0 – 2 Bayer Leverkusen

Freiburg 2 – 0 Augsburg

Spain

Valencia 4 – 0 Osasuna

Granada 1 – 0 Malaga

Real Madrid 4 – 3 Real Valladolid

Mallorca 1 – 1 Levante

D. La Coruna 0 – 0 Atletico Madrid

Celta Vigo 1 – 1 Atletico Bilbao

Chelsea claims vital win at Old Trafford

A deflected Juan Mata strike gave Chelsea a win at a lacklustre

Manchester United which lifts the Blues up to third in the Pre-mier League.

An Oscar shot for Chelsea was palmed on to the post by home keeper, Anders Linde-gaard, before United’s Robin van Persie glanced a shot just wide.

The match appeared to be petering out when Mata’s shot went in via a ricochet off Phil Jones.

BBC Sport reports that Unit-ed had Rafael red-carded late on for a kick on David Luiz.

The win against United was more important than the per-

formance for Chelsea as they moved a point ahead of Arsenal in fourth, with a game in hand over the Gunners.

Victor Moses

Vol. 03 No. 614 Monday, May 6, 2013 N150

WORLD RECORD

Largest computing gridThe Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) was

originally created to process the huge amounts of data for the SETI at Home project (search for extra-terrestrial intelligence).

Printed and Published by Global Media Mirror Ltd: Head Offi ce: Mirror House, 155/161 Broad Street, Lagos Tel: 07027107407, Abuja Offi ce: NICON Insurance House, Second Floor, Central Business District Area, Abuja Tel: 08070428249, Advert hotline: 01-8446073, Email: [email protected]. Editor: SEYI FASUGBA. All correspondence to PMB 10001, Marina, Lagos.

Printed simultaneously in Lagos, Abuja and Ondo State. ISSN 0794-232X.

NFF President, Aminu Maigari

Liverpool captain, Steven Gerrard, be-lieves controversial

striker Luis Suarez will remain at the club next sea-son.

Suarez is currently serv-ing a 10-match suspension for biting Chelsea defender

Branislav Ivanovic, leading to suggestions he may quit Anfield in the summer, but Gerrard is confident the Uruguay international will stay.

“Luis has done the right

thing by apologising and taking his medicine,” Ger-rard said over the weekend.

“He’s really unhappy he can’t help the team, and he was really down when the ban came through. But

once he is back from his ban, we will be the ones that benefit.

“We can cope without Luis until the end of the season..

“I don’t think Luis will

be affected much in terms of his future. Maybe later we will have to accept that Luis wants to move on, but that will be his decision.

“Luis has been really happy here at Liverpool and I don’t see him want-ing to leave.”

Sport ExtraSuarez won’t depart Anfi eld–Gerrard

Printed and Published by Global Media Mirror Ltd: Head Offi ce: Mirror House, 155/161 Broad Street, Lagos Tel: 07027107407, Abuja Offi ce: NICON Insurance House, Second Floor, Central Business District Area, Abuja Tel: 08070428249, Advert hotline: 01-8446073, Email: [email protected]. Editor: SEYI FASUGBA. All correspondence to PMB 10001, Marina, Lagos.

Printed simultaneously in Lagos, Abuja and Ondo State. ISSN 0794-232X.

CJN’s reforms and judicial appointmentsIn a liberal democracy, every institu-

tion of the government is open to scrutiny, and nothing harms reform

objectives worse than retrograde actions in their implementation. The former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Dahiru Musdapher, had introduced radi-cal reforms designed to stop the rot in the nation’s judiciary. And to his credit, he didn’t leave office without submitting his proposals to the National Assembly for legislative backing. The benefits of these reforms will live beyond him.

One of the interesting features of his reform proposals is that private lawyers can be appointed as judges. There is noth-ing wrong with this intention, provided the implementation process does not sacrifice merit and experience in such

appointments. He had also put together a proposal for appointment of 15 judges into the new Federal Industrial Courts to be created to reduce the backlog of indus-trial related cases in the country.

For lawyers to qualify for appointment as judges of these new courts they should have 10 years post-call experience at the bar and must have a record of winning 10 cases before the courts. Magistrates as-piring for appointments are also required to have 10 years post-call experience in addition to producing 10 successful judg-ments, which were never contested or appealed against. No reasonable person should have any quarrel with these com-petitive conditions.

Sometime in May last year, 48 law-yers and magistrates aspiring to become judges of the proposed industrial courts attended the prescribed screening and passed. But the sad thing is the intro-duction by the incumbent CJN, Justice Aloma Mukhtar, of an alien condition requiring aspirants for these positions to attach state of origin certificates to their documentation. This unusual condition is causing deep concern among Nigeri-ans. And this concern stems from the fact that some female aspirants for such posi-tions may suffer undue discrimination.

We have not forgotten the controversy generated by CJN Aloma Mukhtar’s uni-lateral action when she attempted to stop the swearing-in of Justice Ojomo from Abia State as a Justice of the Federal Court of Appeal, despite the fact that the woman became a judge in Abia State by virtue of her marriage to an indigene of Abia State. Besides, Mrs. Ojomo was duly nominated by the Abia State government.

Chief Justice Aloma’s latest but silent attempt to re-introduce the repugnant

condition of state of origin through the backdoor in the appointment of these judges is threatening to put a bar on the path of some women qualified for such appointments. This new condition by the CJN means that regardless of the num-ber of years they have been married to husbands outside their original states, these innocent women cannot enjoy citi-zenship by virtue of marriage.

Antecedents don’t favour Aloma’s lat-est unpopular decision. Justice Amina Augie became a Federal Judge on the in-digeneship of Kebbi State being married to the late Senator Adamu Augie. Amina is from Anambra State but a citizen of Kebbi State by marriage. The current Chief Judge of Zamfara State, Justice Kulu Aliyu, is from Kebbi State but en-joys the indigeneship of Zamfara by vir-tue of her marriage to a Zamfara State indigene. One can go on and on to show the weaknesses of the condition the CJN, in her “infallible” wisdom and “absolute

power”, is now attaching to those seek-ing to become judges of the proposed 15 industrial courts.

Given the outrage of the National As-sembly, the Presidency, the media and the larger Nigerian public that greeted Chief Justice Aloma’s controversial de-cision on Justice Ojomo, one would have expected her to save us another bitter division. The spirit of our constitution must be respected and upheld.

Is there any reason why a woman that enjoys indigeneship by virtue of her marriage to a husband in another state should suffer discrimination on the ba-sis of CJN’s alien condition, which is anti-women?

Former CJN Musdapher delayed the promotion of his own daughter as a judge, despite the fact that she is duly qualified in all respects. He chose to al-low his successor to do it. His action was pure humility and, even if he had confirmed her appointment himself, he wouldn’t have breached the consti-tution or any other law. However, his action leaves the question of whether it is a crime for the children of public office holders to rise to the pinnacle of their professions through merit? The late American President, John F. Ken-nedy, appointed his brother, Robert Ken-nedy as Attorney General of the United States. The appointment didn’t raise any controversy because Robert Kennedy was qualified for the office in his own right.

Nobody should suffer discrimination on petty grounds that have no constitu-tional bearing. As the first ever woman CJN, Justice Mukhtar should not go down in history for harming the ambi-tion of women on the grounds of the re-pugnant and unconstitutional condition she has added outside the main qualifi-cations for appointment of judges of the industrial courts.

Obduracy in the face of reality and genuine public concern is not going to bring any credit to CJN Aloma Mukhtar.

Zagga, [email protected], an Abuja-based journalist, is a public af-fairs commentator

IS THERE ANY REASON WHY A WOMAN THAT

ENJOYS INDIGENESHIP BY VIRTUE OF HER

MARRIAGE TO A HUSBAND IN ANOTHER STATE SHOULD SUFFER

DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF CJN’S

ALIEN CONDITION?

Na-Allah Mohammed Zagga

Guest Columnist

Luis Suarez

monday, may 6, 2013

Documents

group chief executive

ngf chairman

mer minister of pe

police protection

bank holdings plc

union bank

city monument bank

chief olajumoke akinjide