Vol. 3 N0. 657 Thursday, July 4, 2013 N150 Vol. 5 N0. 1137 Thursday, June 18, 2015 N150

…as 23 states generated N587.75bn IGR in 2014

Buhari consults Northern power brokers over cabinet

P.10CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>Yari

President’s age an asset, says Presidency

...as TUC decries N9bn jumbo allowancesP.2

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National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net

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Thursday, June 18, 2015

INSIDE

Why street trading culture Why street trading culture thrives on Broad Street thrives on Broad Street >47

>48

Lagos Island car parks, an Lagos Island car parks, an untapped revenue assetuntapped revenue asset

Book sellers lament low Patronage

Reminiscences of early Lagos settlers

P.4

Bombs abandoned by Boko Haram kill 23 in Borno

...Dambazau may become NSAKwankwaso, Fashola, Ngige, Fayemi still on list

AZA MSUEKADUNA

There were strong in-dications yesterday that President Mu-

hammadu Buhari has con-sulted key northern power brokers and close associates and loyalists in Kaduna over his proposed ministerial and Special Advisers, SAs’ list for their input.

This was just as the President is set to announce his ministers and the ap-proved 15 SAs any moment from now, barring any un-foreseen circumstances or change of mind.

National Mirror gathered that President Buhari, who arrived Kaduna from the African Union, AU, summit

L-R: Celestine Enwerem, Sani Zaharadeen and Hamisu Yunusa, some Nigerians evacuated by NEMA from Yemen, on their arrival at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

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P.6 P.38

Telecoms: Subscribers, operators groan even in face of profi ts

T lINSIGHT

Lawmakers kick against pay cuts

Governors move to probe predecessorsOBIORA IFOH AND TOLA AKINMUTIMI Governors yesterday

resolved to set up bodies to unravel

where their predecessors “hid the resources accru-

ing to states from the fed-eration account.”

The governors also warned that if nothing was

Military to commence full operation from Maiduguri in 21 days

Buhari consults Northern power brokers over cabinet

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net2 Thursday, June 18, 2015News

Lawmakers kick against pay cuts

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

L-R: Governors Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), Chairman, Nigerian Governors’ Forum/Zamfara State Governor Abdul-aziz Yari and his Katsina counterpart, Alhaji Aminu Bello Matsari, during the first meeting of Nigerian Governors’ Forum in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

GEORGE OJI AND OLUFEMI ADEOSUN

Some members of the National Assembly yesterday kicked

against calls by Nigerians to cut the salaries and al-lowances of lawmakers in the country to reflect the current dwindling resourc-es and austere financial situation.

This is even as the Trade Union Congress, TUC, ex-pressed dismay over moves to pay N8.64bn as allow-ance to senators and House of Representatives mem-bers, describing the plan as outrageous.

It was reported on Tues-day that members of the National Assembly would take home N8.64bn next week as wardrobe allow-ance.

The report consequent-ly triggered public rage against the lawmakers, even as there have been calls for the slashing of the salaries and allowances of the legislators.

But reacting to the de-velopment, some lawmak-ers who spoke to National Mirror decried the report of jumbo pay for the leg-islators as false, which ac-cording to them, does not reflect the true situation of things.

They explained that contrary to the report, the amount is meant to cover allowances such as their

vehicle fueling and main-tenance, domestic staff, personal assistants, con-stituency offices, house maintenance, utilities and entertainment, among oth-ers for the entire 469 law-makers.

According to the law-makers, the allowances are usually a one-off payment to cover four years and not annually as it was wrongly perceived by Nigerians.

They contended that their predecessors had al-ready committed them to enough sacrifice by slash-ing the annual budget of the National Assembly from N150bn to N125bn in this year’s budget.

A re-elected senator, rep-resenting Ondo North Sen-atorial District, Ajayi Sam-uel Boroffice, who spoke to National Mirror on phone described the report as false and misleading.

He said the report, which has been consistent recently, portrays the law-makers in bad light before the electorate, stressing that the public do not ap-preciate the purpose of the allowances paid to lawmak-ers as well as the onerous demands on the legislators.

“People talk about these allowances as if you take it and put in your pockets and go home. As a legislator, I have to maintain a mini-mum of six offices in my constituency; one in each local government, staffed and funded. Until recently,

I had to employ somebody to clean my office. I buy my stationery; I fuel my car,” he said.

Drawing comparisons between elected lawmak-ers and other categories of public officers, the senator said: “When I was in the ministry as a director gen-eral, all those things were done by government: my telephone bills were paid by government; electricity bills were paid by govern-ment. I had official driver; my car was fueled by gov-ernment; my trips abroad were paid for by govern-ment. “Then, I did not have any office in my local gov-ernment. When you look at

all these, you will discover that things are different now.

“For instance, people want to bury their parents; people want to pay school fees, people want to pay hospital bills. They are on us because it is easier to reach us than the gover-nors or the President.

“So, we bear the brunt; we are the people they see as politicians and they want us to solve all their problems. So, when you know what the responsibil-ities of a legislator are, you will be amazed and you will have pity on us.”

Another re-elected sena-tor from the South East

zone, who did not want his name mentioned, de-scribed as wrong, the per-ception by many Nigerians that National Assembly members enjoy jumbo pay and allowances.

Drawing a compari-son with members of the executive, the lawmaker claimed that once a person is appointed a minister, for instance, he is given about N30m to enable him up-grade his lifestyle as a min-ister, in addition to fleets of cars and free accommo-dation, among other perks of office.

He stated that compared with ministers who are mere appointees of the

President, when an elected senator manages to get one official car, the public usu-ally make big issue out of it.

“I feel there is a deliber-ate attempt by the media to paint a wrong impres-sion of members of the National Assembly, par-ticularly on this issue of salaries and allowances. Otherwise, if the objective is to ensure prudence in public spending, the me-dia should turn its search-light on the executive,” he added.

However, one of the new senators, who is pushing for a cut in the allowances

in South Africa on Tuesday evening, was said to have consulted with his close northern loyalists and top power brokers in the region to put final touches on his cabinet list and fish out com-petent, committed and un-blemished Nigerians, who can drive the All Progres-sives Congress, APC, elec-tion campaign promises.

It was learnt that Buhari, who was received by Kadu-na State Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, alongside other top security chiefs at the Kaduna International Airport, went straight to his private residence, at Sultan road, Unguwan Rimi G.R.A, where he held unofficial dis-cussions with different in-fluential northerners to get their views on how to pick the best hands and brains

to help him run his admin-istration.

Sources close to the Presi-dent revealed that Buhari, who had consulted some former Presidents and Heads of State, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and former Vice President Atiku Abuba-kar, among others, moved to Kaduna, headquarter of the northern region for consultation and recom-mendation from trusted friends and loyalists that are not seeking ministerial appointments in his gov-ernment.

One of the sources, who spoke to National Mirror, but did not want his name mentioned, said: “President Buhari is set to announce his cabinet any moment from now, as he is now back from the AU summit.

“Mr. President has to consult at home too for inputs. Those Mr. Presi-dent may consult from the North are honest, sincere and straightforward people with no ambition of serv-ing in his government.

“Those powerful men will tell him the truth about who to work with from any part of our country. After Mr. President’s private con-sultations in Kaduna and maybe Katsina, his home state, he will seal his list and announce his cabinet members.”

The President, according to National Mirror findings, had consulted also with prominent people in the southern region, including the former governor of La-gos State and national lead-er of the APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, among others over

the pending appointments.However, facts have also

emerged that some names earlier considered to form President Buhari’s cabinet have been dropped, while those retained include for-mer Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Abdurahman Dambazau (rtd), who is be-ing tipped to become the National Security Adviser, NSA.

Those being retained for ministerial appointments, according to National Mir-ror findings and despite al-leged strident opposition from Tinubu to their inclu-sion, are former governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola and former gover-nor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi.

Others in the cabinet list are the immediate past governor of Kano State

and now a senator, Rabiu Kwankwaso, and former governor of Anambra State, Senator Chris Ngige, among others.

National Mirror also gathered that the immedi-ate past governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, may also against all odds, make the President’s ministe-rial list, even as it was also learnt that retired civil servant per excellence, Ahmed Joda and former Minister of Petroleum Re-sources under the former President Ibrahim Baban-gida’s military adminis-tration, Prof. Tam David-West, may be recalled from retirement to join in run-ning the Buhari adminis-tration.

Part of the consulta-tions was on who and who would serve the President

as his advisers. This followed the ap-

proval, by the seventh Senate, of the President’s request to appoint 15 SAs.

Although, efforts to confirm President Bu-hari’s final decision over his cabinet and SAs during his private visit to Kaduna failed, as his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, was not available for com-ment, National Mirror can report that the delay in an-nouncing the ministerial list was not unconnected with the President’s desire to assemble the best that Nigeria can produce in terms of human resources to drive the engine of gov-ernance to deliver on his campaign promises and the ‘change’ mantra of the governing APC.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

3Thursday, June 18, 2015National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net

L-R: Manager, Commercial Integration and Business Venture, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Mr. Taaj Shobayo; Senior Business Advisor to Managing Director, Mr. Ed Ubong; General Manager, Commercial and Non-Operated Venture, Mr. Richard Denny; MD and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Osagie Okunbor; Deputy President, Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Dapo Adelegan; Vice President, Mrs. Theresa Ananyi; Director-General, Mrs. Joyce Akpata and Manager, Business Communication and Campaign Implementation of SPDC, Mr. Eddie Yacim, during the chamber’s visit to Shell in Lagos, recently.

…50 insurgents die in raid

L-R: Member, Advocate for Peoples Rights and Justice, Barr. Solomon Moses; National Coordinator, Barr. Victor Giwa and member, Barr. Jesse Obiyo, during a press briefing on application of the administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 by other relevant agencies to ensure proper dispensation of justice, in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA.

INUSA NDAHIMaiduguri

At least, 23 people have been killed in Borno State when

a bag filled with Impro-vised Explosive Devices, IEDs, exploded acciden-tally.

The IED-filled bag was discovered by operatives of the youth vigilante (Ci-vilian JTF) at a camp de-serted by Boko Haram in-surgents near Monguno.

National Mirror learnt that troops in collabora-tion with the vigilante had earlier stormed the Boko Haram hideout, where over 50 terrorists were killed.

It was further learnt that arms and ammuni-tion, as well as IEDs were abandoned by surviving insurgents, who fled the onslaught.

One vigilante, however, carried one of the aban-doned IEDs, which he hid

Bombs abandoned by Boko Haram kill 23 in Borno

L-R: Zonal Coordinator, National Lottery Regulatory Commission, Mr. Fidelis Ajibogun; Group Executive, Technology and Services, FirstBank, Mr. Abdullahi Ibrahim; Director-General, National Lottery Regulatory Commission, Mr. Adolphus Ekpe and Deputy Director, Mr. Henry Uwadiae, during a courtesy visit by the National Lottery Regulatory Commission to FirstBank in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the commission, recently.

L-R: Managing Director, Julius Berger Plc, Engr. Detlev Lubasch; Company Secretary, Mrs. Cecilia Madueke and Chairman, Dr. Nurudeen Imam, during the 45th annual general meeting of the company, in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net4 Thursday, June 18, 2015 Photo NEWS

National News

in his bag without the knowledge of military operatives.

He allegedly took the bag to Monguno for peo-ple to see. Unfortunately, as many residents gath-ered to see the IEDs, it ex-ploded, living 10 dead on the spot while 13 others, who sustained severe in-jury, could not make it to Maiduguri for treatment.

An operative of the Vigilante Group of Ni-geria, VGN, Haruna Bu-kar, told journalists on phone that Civilian-JTF stumbled upon the bag containing metallic sub-stances at the Boko Ha-ram camp.

“When they found the bag containing what later turned out to be im-provised explosives, they brought it to Monguno town where people gath-ered to take a look.

“As they were busy fid-dling with the content of the bag, the IEDs went

off with a massive blast that killed many persons and injured dozens of others.

“It was really a very sad incident that affected many families. Most of those affected are young men and a few females,” he said.

An officer of the VGN in Maiduguri, Abbas Gava, also confirmed the incident to journalists, even though he did not give the actual number of casualties.

“Initially we thought it was a Boko Haram attack as it was being rumored in the town of Maiduguri.

“But when we later checked, we discovered that it was somehow an accidental explosion caused by the foolish-ness of the Civilian-JTF operatives who discov-ered such a dangerous device and refused to call on the police or military that has the expertise to

handle such things,” Gava said.

Sources in Maiduguri said dozens of dismem-bered bodies were brought into many hospital mortu-aries, including the State Specialists Hospital yes-terday by security opera-tives.

Briefing Governor Kashim Shettima who vis-ited the State Specialists Hospital to sympathise with the victims, the Chief Medical Director of the state Hospital Man-agement Board, HMB, Dr. Salisu Kwayabura said, the news of the incident

was received at about 3am yesterday.

He said 13 out of the 55 injured victims died while being conveyed to Maidu-guri. He added that 13 oth-ers have been were treated and discharged, while 28 were still on admission.

National Emergency Management Agen-cy, NEMA, on Mon-

day, received the first batch of Nigerians in Yemen as the Federal Government commenced evacuation of its citizens from the crisis-ridden country.

Director-General, NEMA, Mr. Muhammad Sani-Sidi, said the exercise was in line with government’s directive to immediately evacuate Ni-gerians stranded in Yemen.

The DG, represented by Navy Capt. Michael Igwe, Head, Mission Control Cen-tre, NEMA, received the returnees at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Air-

Nigeria brings back citizens in Yemenport, Abuja.

Igwe explained that the operation was ongoing as the government, along-side its Embassy in Saudi Arabia, was working in collaboration with the gov-ernment of Saudi Arabia to ensure their safe return.

“Yemen is at war and the Federal Government directed that Nigerians stranded in Yemen should be evacuated and there are about 58 Nigerians that are stranded there.

“However, our Embassy in Saudi Arabia, which we are coordinating with, has been able to get three Nige-rians out,” he said.

Igwe said the returnees had undergone the pre-liminary stages of their resettlement as they have been tested by ports health authorities and have been profiled and registered in the data base.

He noted that the Federal Government would contin-ue to assist them until they were fully settled in with proper means of livelihood.

Receiving the returnees, the Liaison Officers from Kebbi, Kaduna, and Adama-wa States where the return-ees hail from, said arrange-ments had been made for them to reunite with their families.

Lawmakers kick against pay cuts

Governors move to probe predecessors CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

L-R: Central Bank of Nigeria Manager, Birnin Kebbi, Amina Umar; Special Assistant to CBN Governor, Paul Eluhaiwe and Kebbi State Governor Atiku Bagudu, during their visit to the governor in Birnin Kebbi, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

done urgently to block rev-enue loopholes, the country might be plunged into deep-er fiscal crisis.

They resolved at the end of their meeting in Abuja to meet with the Federal Government to resolve problems precipitated by the downturn in the econ-omy.

Reading the communi-qué at the end of the Nige-rian Governors’ Forum, NGF, its chairman and Zamfara State governor, Al-haji Abdullazeez Yari, said they would meet with Pres-ident Muhammadu Buhari to hand over to him, their template towards resolving the problem.

Before former President Goodluck Jonathan left of-fice, the NGF had series of disagreement with the presidency on fiscal is-sues, especially the excess crude oil receipts, revenue receipts from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corpo-ration, NNPC, Sovereign Wealth Fund, SWF, and dwindling revenue to the Federation Account.

In pledging to work with the President and over-come the problems, the governors emphasised that dwindling resources was not that of states alone, but an issue that had serious national import.

On non-payment of sala-ries and other financial problems, Governor Yari stated: “We discussed that extensively and we are try-ing to find a lasting solu-tion. We will meet with the President to discuss with him. The Federal Govern-ment is also facing similar problem. The problem is not peculiar to state gov-ernments alone so, we are working with them to find lasting solutions.”

Speaking at the sidelines of the meeting, Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiom-hole, emphasised that the issue was about halting the “mindless fleecing” of pub-lic resources, adding that not only would the mecha-nisms for plugging loop-holes be set in place, but would seek out the stolen funds and retrieve such to where they belonged.

Oshiomhole said: “The issue is about government meeting its obligations to the Nigerian people. To stop the fleecing; stop the stealing and get those who had stolen return the

money. We are surprised the excess crude fund has dropped to $2.5bn from over $30bn. How did this happen? No nation makes enough money to feed the greed of its people.

“The issue is not about payment of salary. In Edo State, we are paying. We are not in arrears at all. We have paid for last month, but the issues is not that (about paying workers sal-ary) because even the Bible said the labourer deserves his wage. Nothing justifies the situation in which we find ourselves now.

“A situation where what accrues to the states is less than what is required to pay workers; I think there are a couple of issues.

“Governors are pre-pared to assist in plugging all loopholes. You don’t need to witchunt anybody, just plug the loopholes. The crisis we face now, concern-ing huge debts in the public sector; if we don’t pay con-tractors, for instance, the day they lay off their work-ers, we have a greater prob-lem to contend with.

“We shall speak with Mr. President because he also is inheriting huge debt stock and there is no money to do anything. So, he also needs our advise. I guess these are issues we need to discuss objectively and see how we get out of it so that never again shall we get to this problem.”

Earlier, the All Pro-gressives Congress, APC, Governors Forum and the opposition Peoples Demo-cratic Party, PDP, Gover-nors Forum held their sep-arate meetings where they also lamented the dwin-dling revenue at both the states and federal levels.

The governors also sym-pathised with the North East people, especially on the destruction of lives and property in the zone, stress-ing they would forge a com-mon front to assist the zone.

Meanwhile, National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, yesterday put the Inter-nally Generated Revenue, IGR, of 23 states at about N587.75bn last year, with Lagos State raking in about N276.16bn or 46.99 per cent of the revenue accruals.

However, the report showed that Abia, Adama-wa, Borno, Cross River, Ebonyi, Edo, Kano, Ondo, Taraba and Yobe states did not provide the agency

their revenue accruals for the year under review.

In the report, which was jointly produced by NBS/Joint Tax Board/State Boards of Internal Rev-enue, the IGR covered Pay As You Earn, PAYE, Direct Assessment, Road Taxes and Other Revenue.

A breakdown of the

IGR collections on value basis showed that Lagos State topped the list with N276.16bn, followed by Riv-ers State with N89.11bn, while Delta State grossed N42.82bn.

Enugu collected N19.25bn, Ogun State raked in N17.50bn; Oyo State came fifth N16.31bn,

Akwa Ibom, N15.68bn, Ka-duna, N12.78bn, Bayelsa, N10.96bn and Anambra, N10.45bn.

Also, Osun State raked in N8.51bn, compared to Benue’s, N8.28b and Pla-teau, N8.28bn. Imo State generated N8.12bn, Kogi, N6.57bn, and Katsina, N6.22bn.

A further analysis of the IGR indicated that Ni-ger State grossed N5.74bn, while Sokoto collected N5.62bn.

Bauchi collected N4.85bn, Nasarawa, N4.09bn, Kebbi, N3.83bn, Ekiti, N3.46bn and Zam-fara, with the least IGR of N3.15bn.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 5Thursday, June 18, 2015 News

of the legislators told Na-tional Mirror that the issue is not with the lawmakers, but the huge allowances, which are difficult to de-fend before the electorate.

He said: “When people complain about the jumbo pay for lawmakers, what they are referring to is the allowances, which is not captured by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission, RMFAC, but are accom-modated from the National Assembly budget.”

The lawmaker also ex-plained that he has issues with the resources his col-leagues appropriate from Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Govern-ment, MDAs, during over-sight visits, which are also not captured by the rev-enue commission.

Meanwhile, the TUC said the planned payment of N8.64bn to the lawmak-ers marked high level of in-human conduct, especially at a time workers in over 23 states were yet to be paid their salaries.

TUC, in a statement by its president, Comrade

Bobboi Kaigama and Sec-retary General, Comrade Musa Lawal, described as more worrisome, the fact that most governors who owed workers’ salaries were either re-elected in the last general elections or now members of the Na-tional Assembly.

The congress charged politicians not to betray Nigerians again, because of the grave sacrifice the people made to ensure that the much-touted “change” is entrenched in all facets of our national life.

“If the ‘change’ we ex-pect must come, this ad-ministration must review the provisions of the con-stitution that expressly stipulate such privileges for political office-hold-ers.

“The cost of gover-nance in our country is outrageously high and unsustainable and we may resort to civil disobe-dience or other legal mea-sures to compel a reduc-tion of same if nothing is done about it in the nearest future.” TUC said.

The congress lamented

the display of affluence by politicians even on social media, explaining that the only difference between the Nigerians who live in slums and those squander-ing the commonwealth is misappropriated opportu-nity.

“Considering the na-tion’s present socio-eco-nomic realities, it is totally indefensible for senators and members of the House of Representatives to be paid as much as N2m and N1.8m respectively as basic salary every month.

“Where then lies any jus-tification for their claims to being contributors to the growth of a nation where unemployment and other social vices are the order of the day

“The enormous cost of governance contributes immensely to the eco-nomic crises rocking the Nigerian boat. How is this huge amount justifiable in the light of the current financial dilemma the na-tion is overwhelmed with?

“What do the legis-lators, who often turn down proposals for wage increase for the workers,

do to deserve these mind-blowing sums of money?

“We think it is high time Nigerians take their destiny in their hands and stand firm against these injustices and inequality.

“We urge the Federal Government to remember its campaign promises which include monthly al-lowances for unemployed graduates, fight against corruption and insecu-rity, provision of quality infrastructure, etc. Nige-rians cannot wait to see the promised change.

“While we commend the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, for commencing the process of revoking licences awarded to power generat-ing companies who failed to live up to the terms and milestones specified in their contracts, we also wish to discourage them from fur-ther increase in tariff.

“On states that owe their workers, we demand prompt payment immedi-ately to ensure continued peaceful industrial environ-ment. Please do not steal our ‘change’ again,” the congress added.

GEORGE OJIABUJA

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has warned that Fed-

eral Government will no longer tolerate delayed or non-remittance of all rev-enue due to it.

He regretted that non-compliance by agencies of government to remit collected revenue has con-tinued to negatively affect governance and stressed that government would henceforth punish agen-cies that default.

Saraki gave this di-rective when he hosted Chairman of the Revenue

Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, Engr. Elias Mbam, and his team in his office at the National As-sembly, Abuja, yesterday.

The Senate President stated, “Monetary revenue and allocation is a serious challenge to our economy. Though, diversification of economy is very impor-tant, but it is not an over-night issue. We must block every leakage in govern-ment revenue.

“We made campaign promises to Nigerians and must fulfill all our pledges. It cannot be business as usual. We will do every-thing within our capacity

to elevate the living stan-dard of Nigerians.”

Commenting on the reported N8.64 billion wardrobe allowance for members of the Na-tional Assembly, Saraki explained that fixing of remunerations for public office holders, including lawmakers remains the sole responsibilities of the commission and not any other agency of govern-ment.

Earlier, RMAFC boss, Mbam, restated the cor-dial relationship that had always existed between his commission and members of the National Assembly and wished it continues.

Mbam condemned me-dia report that exagger-ated wardrobe allowances for Senators and members of the House of Represen-tatives, saying that ward-robe allowance was 25 percent of the basic salary, which when broken down amounts to N506,600 per legislator, per annum.

Meanwhile, Saraki has restated commitment of the Senate to conclude passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, in no distant time.

Saraki, who spoke while hosting Managing Direc-tor of Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, Osagie Okunbor,

and his team in his of-fice yesterday, pointed out that Senate will continue to embrace dialogue to fast-track easy passage of the bill. He noted that PIB remains a priority bill in the Senate, adding, “We have to engage discus-sion and dialogue. We can break the jinx which can only be achieved devoid of politics. PIB is a priority in this Senate.”

Commenting on the issue of environmental hazard, gas flaring and re-muneration to host com-munities, Saraki assured that the Senate will collab-orate with oil companies and other stakeholders to

find lasting solutions to all aggrieved parties.

He stated that on the part of the Senate, “We will continue to come up with legislation that will make our country an in-vestment destination and provide conducive envi-ronment for such invest-ment to thrive.”

Reacting, SPDC Man-aging Director, Okunbor, congratulated the Senate President for his success-ful election while pledging unflinching support to the Senate.

He said the survival of petroleum industry de-pends greatly on passage of PIB.

Days of unremitted funds by govt agencies over –Saraki

Buhari’s age an asset –Presidency

Military to operate from Maiduguri in 21 days

ROTIMI FADEYIABUJA

The Presidency yes-terday said at 72, President Muham-

madu Buhari has in quan-tum the wisdom, patience, temperance and forbear-ance that age brings.

A statement issued by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said the virtues possessed by Buhari considering his age have been brought to the Presidency to make a difference in national life.

Adesina was reacting to reports, which quoted Buhari as saying that his age may affect his perfor-

mance in office.The statement said at 72,

the Buhari persona has not changed, stressing that he remains the simple, hon-est, incorruptible patriot he has always been.

Adesina added that all the virtues and values of the Buhari persona would be deployed into gover-nance in the weeks and months ahead.

The statement said, “On Monday evening, Presi-dent Buhari spoke with the Nigerian community at the Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg, South Africa. Speaking extem-pore, because, according to him, he wanted to “speak from the heart,” the Presi-

dent urged them to be good ambassadors of Nigeria, a country he went to the warfront to keep together.

“Still extolling the vir-tues of our country, Nige-ria, the President, who had served as a military gov-ernor of the then North-Eastern State at 33 years old, declared: “I wish I be-came Head of State when I was a governor. Now at 72, there is a limit to what I can do.”

The above comments have been reported by some newspapers to mean that the President was say-ing he was too old to cope with the demands of his office. Far from it!

“As the saying goes,

Old wines are tasty and the President Buhari we have today is a man, like old wine, that has gotten tastier. At 72, yes, he can’t be called a youth, but he has in quantum of wis-dom, the patience, temper-ance and forbearance that age brings. And all these virtues he has brought to the Presidency to make a difference in our national life,” the statement added.

“The President assured the Nigerian community in South Africa that his administration will make a positive impact on the country. And that he would do.

“Insecurity as symbol-ised by insurgency will

be brought to an end, cor-ruption will be fought to a standstill, employment will be created for the teeming army of unem-ployed, the economy will be revived, and the qual-ity of life of Nigerians will take an upward swing again. These will not come by a sudden flight, but they will happen in the life of this administration.

“At 72, the Buhari per-sona has not changed. He remains the simple, hon-est, incorruptible patriot he has always been. And because Nigerians ear-nestly desired change, that was why they voted for him overwhelmingly at the general elections in

March, this year, all the virtues and values of the Buhari persona will be deployed into governance in the weeks and months ahead.

“The Nigerian commu-nity in South Africa was enthralled as President Buhari spoke with them on Monday. In fact, leaving the venue was an effort, as they swarmed round the President, who shook hands with as many of them as he could.

“They took his message well. That is the essence of good wine. It gets better with age. And it is a mes-sage for all Nigerians, both at home and in the Diaspo-ra,” the statement added.

UBONG UKPONG

Nigerian military yesterday an-nounced that its

Command and Control Centre recently relocat-ed to Maiduguri, Borno State, would commence full operations within the next 21 days, even as the Centre has taken delivery of high-tech equipment and additional operations personnel.

In a statement issued in Abuja through its Director of Army Public Relations, DAPR, Colonel Sani Us-man, the military said the installation of high-tech

equipment were expected to be completed within the period.

Upon taking over power, President Muhammadu Buhari, in his inaugural speech, directed the mili-tary Command and Control to move from Abuja to Mai-duguri, to combat the Boko Haram menace.

Equally, the Nigerian Army last week announced the deployment of a recon-naissance and an advance team for establishment of the Military Command and Control Centre, MCCC, in Maiduguri and Yola.

Similarly, the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lt-Gen. Kenneth Minimah, and that

of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu, last Tues-day, had since taken over control and commenced op-erations at MCCC.

According to Colonel Us-man in the statement, “The installations of hi-tech equipment, infrastructural development of the Centre and posting of additional operations staff have also commenced.

“These are to be com-pleted within 21 days when MCCC would be fully opera-tional.”

With the establishment of the Centre, he said, all strategic and operation-al decisions on the fight against terrorism and in-

surgency would emanate from the MCCC.

“This will ensure faster response time; improve situational awareness and better coordination of all stakeholders.

“The centre will also give the needed impetus that would ensure prosecution and successful conclusion of the war against terror-ism.

“It will also provide the required interface between the Armed Forces of Ni-geria and Multi-National Joint Task Force to be de-ployed at the Lake Chad Basin area at the end of the month of July 2015,” he said.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net6 Thursday, June 18, 2015News

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 7Thursday, June 18, 2015

CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIAwww.cbn.gov.ng

INVITATION TO TENDER FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF A TRADE MONITORING SYSTEM(FOREX FORMS AUTOMATION)

RFP NUMBER: CBN/ITD/RFP/TRMS/2015/004

MANAGEMENTCENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA

Signed:

1.0 INTRODUCTION: 1.1 One of the core mandates of the Central Bank of Nigeria (hereafter referred

to as “CBN” or “the Bank”) is the maintenance of the country’s external reserves in order to safeguard the international value of the legal tender currency. Also, the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring & Miscellaneous Provisions) Act of 1995 empowers the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to prescribe guidelines for export and import trade transactions in collaboration with relevant agencies of government.

1.2 The Central Bank of Nigeria, leveraging on the initiative of the modernization project of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) by the Federal Government of Nigeria, integrated its requirements of a Trade Monitoring System (TRMS) into the Nigeria Single Window for Trade (NSW). CBN in collaboration with NCS, therefore, automated the Form “M” in Phase I of the Project for “Automation of Forex forms”. The other three forms (“NXP” (Commercial Export), “NCX” (Non Commercial Export), and “A” (Invisible Trades) are still being processed manually.

1.3 The CBN intends to execute the Phase II of the initiative being the automation of the other forex forms (i.e. Forms “NXP”, “NCX” and “A”) as well as some enhancements to the already automated form “M”.

1.4 The CBN now invites sealed bids from qualifi ed bidders for the design, development, installation, testing and commissioning of a Trade Monitoring System (Forex Forms Automation). Training, maintenance and support should be part of the bid. This Request for Proposal (RFP) is being extended to a set of eligible and competent Vendors.

1.5 Proposals from single vendors or from multiple vendors working together as a team would both be considered. The ideal vendor(s) would have certifi ed and relevant knowledge and verifi able capacity and experience in the software industry. Experience in the public or banking sector is preferred, but not mandatory.

2.0 SCOPE OF WORKThe scope of this RFP is to seek for proposals for a Trade Monitoring System

(Forex Forms Automation) for the Central Bank of Nigeria. The minimum specifi ed work to be undertaken by the bidders has been captured as follows:

• The development of a Trade Monitoring System by the automation of the following trade forms • Form “NXP” (Commercial Export)• Form “NCX” (Non Commercial Export)• Form “A” (Invisible Trades)• Integrating the database and workfl ow of various operational processes associated with the automated forms on the Nigeria Single Window for Trade (NSW)• Provide a central database in CBN with ability to mirror and replicate synchronously with the Database at the NSW• Development of the interface between the TRMS and the CBN banking application Temenos T24.• Enhancement of the already automated Form “M” on the NSW• Comprehensive training of all related stakeholders.• Implementation services• Support services• Maintenance services

3.0 GENERAL REQUIREMENT Interested and competent Vendors wishing to provide the above service to CBN must submit the following documents for verifi cation:-a.) Evidence of certifi cate of incorporation and registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).b.) Certifi ed true copy of Memorandum and Article of Associationc.) Evidence of payment of tax for the last three (3) years as at when due.d.) Comprehensive company profi le including registered offi ce address, functional contact email address, GSM phone number(s), facsimile number(s).

e.) Verifi able evidence of similar jobs successfully executed in the past.f.) Reference letter from bank stating fi nancial ability of the Vendor to carry out such project(s).g.) Current company’s audited statement of accounts.h.) Current Pension Clearance Certifi cate from PENCOMi.) Evidence of Compliance Certifi cate with the provisions of section 6(1) (3) of the amended Industrial Training Fund (ITF) Act No.19 of 2011j.) Evidence of registration with Financial Reporting Council (FRC)

3.1 SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTDetails are contained in the Request for Proposal (RFP) and Bidding Document.

4.0 COLLECTION OF BID DOCUMENTSInterested Service Providers who possess the above minimum requirements

may collect the bidding documents on the payment of a non-refundable fee of N50,000.00 (Bank Draft in favour of Central Bank of Nigeria) from:

The Secretary, Major Contracts Tenders Committee 2nd Floor, Wing C CBN Head Offi ce Complex, Central Business District, Abuja, FCT Nigeria. Phone No: 09-462-37216

5.0 SUBMISSIONThe submission shall be in two separate envelopes as follows;a) The general requirements should be submitted in a wax sealed envelope boldly marked at the top left corner:- “Prequalifi cation and Technical Proposal for the “DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF A TRADE MONITORING SYSTEM (FOREX FORMS AUTOMATION) FOR THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA’’b) The Financial Proposal should be submitted in a second, wax sealed envelope boldly marked at the top left corner:- Financial Proposal for the “DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF A TRADE MONITORING SYSTEM (FOREX FORMS AUTOMATION) FOR THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA”

And addressed to:- The Secretary, Major Contracts Tenders Committee 2nd Floor, Wing C CBN Head Offi ce Complex, Central Business District, Abuja, FCT Nigeria. Fax NO: 09-462-38239 Phone: 09-462-37216 E-mail: mctc@cbn.gov.ng or tenders@cbn.gov.ng

6.0 CLOSING DATE All submissions must be received at the above address not later than 12:00 noon on the 29th July 2015

7.0 OPENING DATE The prequalifi cation and Technical Proposal will be opened immediately, after close of submission of the bid on the 29th of July, 2015.

8.0 IMPORTANT NOTICE A) Nothing in the advert shall be construed to be a commitment on the part of the CBN.B) The successful company(s) will be notifi ed formally, published and posted on the CBN website (www.cbn.gov.ng) and notice boards in CBN locations.

...arrest five over mutilated Poly student

L-R: Member, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Segun Olulade; Speaker, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa and State Chairman, National Union of Road Transport Workers, Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede, during Agbede’s visit to the speaker in Lagos, yesterday.

Lagos clarifies dissolution of boards

Woman found dead in Ondo

NSCDC hails revocation of pipeline contracts

Lagos State govern-ment says heads of government agen-

cies and parastatals were not affected by the disso-lution of boards as recent-ly directed by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.

The clarification was con-tained in a statement signed by Secretary to the State Government, Mr Tunji Bel-lo, yesterday in Lagos.

The government in the statement announced that the House of Assembly Commission is also exempt-ed from the dissolution di-rective.

OjO OyewamideAKURE

Residents of Olu Foam area of Akure, Ondo State capital, yester-

day morning found a wom-an, Seyi Adewumi, hanging dead in an uncompleted building near her home.

Cause of death of the 40-year-old mother of two was yet-to-be ascertained as at press time.

A resident, who spoke with journalists, described the deceased as a gentle and friendly housewife.

Husband of the de-ceased, Gbenga Adewumi, expressed shock over the tragedy, saying he only just

Femi OyewesOABEOKUTA

Commandant-Gen-eral of Nigeria Security and Civil

Defence Corps, NSCDC, Dr. Ade Abolurin, yester-day described the Federal Government’s revocation of pipeline surveillance and protection contracts earlier granted to ethnic militias as the best deci-sion in the collective inter-est of the citizenry.

Abolurin gave the com-mendation while speaking with journalists yesterday in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, shortly after deliv-ering his address at a 4-day workshop organised by the College of Security Manage-ment of NSCDC in collabo-ration with the Institute of Security Studies, Lagos.

Abolurin, who was rep-resented at the workshop by

“The clarification had be-come necessary because of different wrong interpreta-tions given to the media an-nouncement of the dissolu-tion,” the statement said.

The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that Governor Ambode had on Monday approved the dis-solution of all boards of parastatals and agencies of government in the state.

The state’s Civil Service Commission, Judicial Ser-vice Commission and the State Independent Electoral Commission were also ex-empted from the directive.

returned home from a vigil. He said: “Last night (Tues-

day night), I went to a vigil organised by our church. I left her in the house hale and hearty.

“But to my surprise, I got back home this morning and saw some of our neigh-bours gathering in front of our house. They broke the news to me and took me where she hung.”

Adewumi, who described the incident as a mystery, wondered why his wife would commit suicide.

State Police Public Rela-tions Officer, Wole Ogodo, said on phone that he had not been contacted at the time of filing this report.

agencies handle such things more so as it regards pipe-line vandalism in Nigeria.”

Earlier in his address at the workshop, tagged “Stra-tegic security management for change in private secu-rity practice,” Provost of NSCDC Security College, Commandant Iskil Makinde explained that the workshop was packaged together for the purpose of familiarising operators of the licenced private security guard com-panies with the develop-ments in government poli-cies in matters of security.

Emphasising that secu-rity situation in the country called for a collaborative ef-forts between government and private sectors, Ma-kinde also stated that who-ever is to be engaged by the licenced private security guard companies must have been trained by NSCDC and certified capable and free of

any crime, stressing that the era of picking anybody on the streets and kitting such with security guard uni-forms were gone.

At the workshop which had in attendance about 100 Chief Executive Of-ficers of the Licensed Pri-vate Security Guard Prac-titioners of Nigeria drawn from across the country, the stakeholders called on federal government to fur-ther evolve a stiffer penalty against any quacks and unregistered security or-ganisation caught in the security practice across the country.

The stakeholders, under the auspices of Association of Licensed Private Security Guard Practitioners of Ni-geria, ALPSGPN, stressed that such move would bring about standardisation in security practice across the country.

...stakeholders seek stiffer sanctions against security quacks

Police uncover ritual killers’ den in OgunFemi OyewesOABEOKUTA

Men and officers of Ogun State police command have dis-

covered a shrine in Eposo-Akaka community of Isara Remo in Remo North Local Government Area where hu-man flesh were allegedly eat-en, sold and used for rituals.

Police also arrested five suspects in connection with the crime and ownership of the shrine where severed

Remo, to include 29-year-old Adeyemi Ademolu; Lateef Ali, 23; Dare Akinyemi, 22; Wasiu Sotola, 23, and Taiwo Omolaso, 22.

The CP disclosed that the five suspects, including a commercial motorcyclist that conveyed the victim to the scene would soon be ar-raigned in court on comple-tion of investigation.

Ntomchukwu appealed to members of the public to al-ways volunteer information to the police, noting that if

body parts suspected to be that of a missing female stu-dent of Gateway ICT Poly-technic, located at Saapade area of the state, was found decomposing.

The 21-year-old female student of Science Laborato-ry Technology department, identified as Morenikeji Owolabi, was allegedly lured to the shrine on Saturday, June 6, by a commercial motorcyclist identified as Ademolu before the police eventually discovered the

shrine last Monday, June 15, on receiving information about the incident.

Commissioner of Po-lice, Val Ntomchukwu, who led reporters to the shrine where dismembered bod-ies of Morenikeji and other victims were found, said the prime suspect identified as Femi Awise, who is a herbal-ist, is still at large.

Ntomchukwu gave names of the five suspects arrested and detained at Divisional Police Headquarters, Isara-

NSCDC Zonal Commandant in charge of Zone “F”, Assis-tant Commandant-General Jacobs Amujare, stressed that quacks tend to com-promise security standards to the detriment of citizens when allowed to thrive in the country’s security circle.

Abolurin’s commenda-tion of the Federal Govern-ment’s decision was, how-ever, coming on the heels of government’s revocation of the pipeline surveillance and protection contract earlier awarded to many in-dependent ethnic militias, which included the Oodua People’s Congress, OPC, and the Niger Delta militia group by the administration of former President Good-luck Jonathan.

“Since they are not well trained, they wouldn’t know the nitty-gritty of the job. Therefore, it is better to have well trained security

don’t know how long this shrine has been in existence, but we assure you that this particular nefarious activity would be put to an end.”

The police boss urged members of the community to be watchful and always cooperate with the police by providing information that would expose suspected criminals.

As at the time journalists were led to the scene Tues-day night in company of the police rescue team, an iron pot filled with cooked human flesh was laid on a stand, oozing putrid odour.

The decomposing legs of the victim were dug out of a shallow grave they were buried few metres from the shrine.

Human flesh apparently cooked and butchered into pieces was seen in a black pot, while the right limb of the victim was seen in a nearby shallow grave.

the command had gotten the report on time, it might have stopped the crime.

“What we want to tell the public is that they should monitor the movement of their wards and children, es-pecially when they are left to be in school and other public institutions. They should always watch over their children, call them regularly and where they don’t see them, they should quickly report to the police.

“If we had received this report on time, we would have been able to trace this lady. By the time we got the report, we now started scout-ing for information, only to arrest the okada man (mo-torcyclist) that brought her to this particular place.

“It was from that okada man that we were able to know that she was taken to this area and by discreet investigation, we were able to discover this shrine. We

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netSouth West Thursday, June 18, 20158

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 9Thursday, June 18, 2015

INSIDE

Why street trading culture Why street trading culture thrives on Broad Street thrives on Broad Street >47 >48

Lagos Island car parks, an Lagos Island car parks, an untapped revenue assetuntapped revenue asset

Book sellers lament low Patronage

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net10 Broad Street Diary Thursday, June 18, 2015

Reminiscences of early Lagos settlersWhat is today known as

Lagos is a city where a host of African re-

turnees from Brazil, Portugal and Cuba resettled after the abo-lition of the slave trade.

According to historians, the word ‘Lagos’ means Lagoon and the city was so named because it took very much in terms of its physical and geographical fea-tures after Lagos- a small coast-al town in Portugal.

It is not surprising that an-other historical account says that the word ‘Lagos’ is derived from the Portuguese word “La-gos de Curamo”.

A writer, L.C Leard in the Ni-gerian Magazine published in 1953 writes “The official discov-ery of Lagos, according to my [sic] research, can be ascribed

to one of two Portuguese sailors –either Lancelot de Freitas or Gonclaves de Cintra.

“I’m inclined to think the odds are Lancelot de Freitas, af-ter all he was a local “Lagosian” in the year 1450 whereas Gon-claves came from Cintra or Sin-tra [as his name suggests] and returned from his voyage down the African coast in 1461.”

Besides these early settlers in the city of Lagos, other notable figures included, an ex-slave and clergyman, Samuel Ajayi Crowther, who returned to Af-rica in 1864.

It was learnt that on his arriv-al, he settled in Lagos and located the headquarters of his church in the city from where he made missionary incursions into the hinterland of the Yoruba.

Water house on Broad Street

Our correspondent gathered that other prominent settlers and indigenes were; a surveyor and nationalist, Herbert Macau-lay, an urbane lawyer, Sir Kitoye Ajasa, a politician, Akanni Doherty, a horse -racing pro-moter, Sir Adeyemo Alakija, no-table wealthy merchants, Joao Essan Da Rocha, Taiwo Olowo and another businessman, J.A Ajao of Ajao and Brothers at Elegbaata Street, Lagos among others.

Although these early settlers are no more, not many Lagos residents, beyond historical ac-counts, really know the depth of their contributions to the socio-political development of the country.

For instance, Macaulay who was prominent, could be re-membered for his nationalism quest when the Nigerian Na-tional Democratic Party was formed in 1923, but not many youths of this generation are aware that he lived on Odun-lami Street, a few metres away from the CSS Bookshop House, Lagos.

An Octogenarian, Pa. Dele Oduyemi, who lived on the Is-land in the late 50s up to early 60s, said “Macaulay was a very

vibrant politician who wrote several articles in the newspa-per criticizing the colonial poli-cies. He lived around Tinubu and Odunlami Street, Lagos.”

He said because of Macau-lay’s fiery stance, the politician was given a host of nicknames including “Wizard of the Kirst-en Hall” and “Ejo N’gboro “

He said that the politician took ill in the train while on his way to the North for a political activity in 1946, adding that “he died and was buried in Lagos.”

In Macaulay’s memory, two statues were erected in front of the CSS Bookshop House on Broad Street, Lagos and on Herbert Macaulay Street, Sabo, Yaba respectively.

He also said Da Rocha, was a wealthy and successful mer-chant who lived on Kakawa Street, Lagos behind the high-rise CSS Bookshop House.

He said “Da Rocha’s house was often called Water House because he sold water to the residents in the area.’’

Da Rocha’s imposing one-sto-rey mansion is a visible sight on Kakawa/ Broad Street junc-tion. It was learnt that after his death in the late 1950s, he was buried in Ikoyi cemetery.

An 82-year old retired post-master, Pa Ishola Abudu, cor-roborated this assertion and recalled that Alakija was a suc-cessful horse- racing promoter in those days.

His words, ‘’Sir Adeyemo was very prominent and well -known for his active involve-ment in social and sporting events. He was very visible in Race Course and was one of the founders of the elite Island Club.”

Abudu also recalled that Olo-wo belonged to the class of in-dividuals who founded village settlements in Lagos, adding that after his death, he was bur-ied on Broad Street and a mon-ument was built on his tomb.

He said “His descendants have always kept his memory alive and his tomb is usually painted white regularly.”

A Septuagenarian, Pa James Kehinde, said Ajasa was a no-table lawyer who was closer to the colonial authorities and often applauded their policies while Doherty was one of the pioneer leaders of the defunct of the Action Group.

- Francis Famoroti

BESIDES THESE EARLY SETTLERS IN THE CITY OF LAGOS, OTHER NOTABLE FIGURES INCLUDED,

AN EX-SLAVE AND CLERGYMAN SAMUEL AJAYI CROWTHER

BESIDES THESE EARLY SETTLERS

IN THE CITY OF LAGOS, OTHER NOTABLE FIGURES INCLUDED,

AN EX-SLAVE AND CLERGYMAN SAMUEL AJAYI CROWTHER

Ekiti to confiscate properties used for kidnapping

Ikeja Electric to distribute 2,000 smart meters, says official

Dangote donates $1m to Nepal’s earthquake victims

Ikeja Electric, a distribu-tion company, said yes-terday it would begin

distribution of 2,000 units of smart meters at the end of June under its pilot scheme.

Mr. Pekun Adeyanju, Assistant General Man-ager, Public Affairs, told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, that another 5,000 me-ters would be installed in July.

The smart meter is a new technology in power consumption measurement that ensures regular inter-face between electricity pro-viders and consumers.

It is both pre-paid and post-paid meter.

Adeyanju said: “Ikeja Electric will distribute 2,000 units of smart meters by the end of June and another 5,000 units in July under the pilot scheme.

“Consumers, who engage in illegalities such as by-passing the meters in their homes, will be checkmated by the smart meters.”

He disclosed that about 12,000 and 15,000 units of the meter would be distributed in subsequent months.

His words: “We will also distribute between 12,000 and 15,000 units of the me-ters in subsequent months.’’

Adeyanju said the elec-tricity company had invest-ed $100 million (about N20 billion) in the smart meter technology to boost its ser-vices.

Meanwhile, the Eko Elec-tricity Distribution Com-pany, EKEDC, said it has in-stalled 5,400 units of smart meters between April and June.

“We have installed 5,400 smart meters within the zone in the last three months,’’ Mr Godwin Ide-mudia, the Assistant Gener-al Manager, Public Affairs, told NAN yesterday.

He, however, appealed to customers to apply for the smart meters under the company’s Credited Ad-vance Payment for Meter-ing Implementation (CAP-MI) scheme.

He promised that the meters would be made avail-able within 45 days after payment.

According to him, a one-phase smart meter costs N39,650 while three-phase meter costs N68,906.

Idemudia said the new meter would address all sharp practices and prob-lems associated with crazy or estimated bills and by-passing of meters.

A truck driver (left) who lost control of his vehicle and hit the median, causing serious injury to himself in a lone accident at Ijebu-Ode-Sagamu road in Odogbolu Local Government Area of Ogun State, yesterday.

Lagos CJ frees 21 inmates from Kirikiri PrisonsMatthew IrInoye

Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Olu-funmilayo Atilade,

yesterday freed 21 inmates of Medium Security Pris-ons, Kirikiri, Lagos.

The freed inmates were awaiting trial before the fa-vour granted them.

In releasing the inmates, the CJ acted on the powers conferred on her under Sec-tion 1 (1) of the Criminal Justice Release from Custo-

dy Act, Laws of the Federa-tion of Nigeria 2007.

She urged the freed in-mates to be of good behav-iour as they return to the society, adding that they should stay away from crime.

The CJ admitted that the challenge of prison conges-tion was a recurrent one. She expressed regret that awaiting trial inmates con-stitute a sizable number of prison population.

The Lagos judiciary head, however, assured that

her visit to prisons to exer-cise her statutory powers would not be a one-off ex-ercise, as she promised to make further visits for the same purpose.

The medium prison, which has capacity for 1,700 inmates, now holds 2,452 in the open, 92 con-victed, and about 2,349 awaiting trial; while 32 are detainees.

Earlier in his speech, Deputy Commissioner of Prisons, DCP, Kirikiri Me-dium Prisons, Mr. Kayode

Odeyemi, thanked the CJ for the gesture, saying his administration would en-sure synergy with other arms of the criminal jus-tice system for effective jail delivery, which would give legal freedom to inmates and also decongest the highly populated medium prison.

The DCP also urged the CJ to implore the executive arms of government in the state to provide vehicles, buses and trucks to convey prison inmates to courts.

Dangote Foundation yesterday donated $1 million to Nepal

over the earthquake that killed thousands of people in May.

Two major devastating earthquakes with a magni-tude of 7.3 and 7.8, respec-tively, had occurred in Nepal on May 12, 2015, killing more than 8,800 people and injur-ing over 23,000 others. The earthquake was reported to have shifted the high-est mountain in the world, Mount Everest, by 3cm South-West.

Dangote Foundation do-nated the amount in line with its mandate of provid-ing relief in times of di-saster, with a message that chairman of the Founda-tion, Aliko Dangote, and the people of Nigeria share in their moment of grief.

Chief executive officer of the Foundation, Zouera Youssoufou, said on be-half of Dangote during the cheque presentation to Prime Minister of Nepal, Mr. Sushil Koilara in Kath-

abIodun nejoADO EKITI

Henceforth, any build-ing, farm land or property harbour-

ing criminals or discovered to be used for criminal activ-ities in Ekiti State would be confiscated or demolished by the state government.

The government added that owners of such prop-erties would also be sanc-tioned heavily and treated as collaborators.

These were part of reso-lutions reached at a meet-ing of the state government with traditional rulers and leaders of some non-Ekiti indigenes resident in areas noted as hide-out for kidnap-pers in the state.

This resolve is coming against the recent spate of kidnapping and other crimes in the state.

The meeting, which held at the deputy governor’s of-

fice, was attended by repre-sentatives of Commissioner of Police and Director of State Security Services in Ekiti State.

Deputy Governor, Dr. Ko-lapo Olusola, frowned at the spate of kidnapping in Ekiti State, which he noted was adjudged the most peaceful and with lowest crime rate in Nigeria before now.

Olusola, who said kid-napping and some other criminal activities now a re-curring decimal in the state were alien to Ekiti, adding that those kidnappers would not have been successful in their operations if there had not been collaborators in those communities, hence the need to urgently address the issue before they grow out of hand.

He called on the tradi-tional rulers whose domain had been identified as kid-nappers’ hideouts to hold meetings with their subjects

and other ethnic groups liv-ing in their community to be vigilant and report im-mediately any suspicious movement in their areas to security agents before crim-inals carry out their nefari-ous acts.

The deputy governor also praised the efforts of the security agents in securing the release of a Catholic priest, Rev. Father Emman-uel Akingbade, on Tuesday without the payment of any ransom.

He charged leaders of the various ethnic groups from outside the state to cau-tion their kinsmen living in those areas and in Ekiti State generally to be careful and avoid harbouring any criminal because most of the suspects arrested over the kidnap saga so far are not Ekiti State indigenes.

Representatives of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. AbdulKadir Moham-

med and the Director of the State Security Services, Mr. M. C. Odika, also lauded the cooperation of the govern-ment and the people so far and called for more timely information from the peo-ple.

The security top ranks who said people should go about their lawful business without panic, assured that the police would be relent-less and work round the clock to ensure that peace and security are restored in Ekiti State.

The Elesure of Esure-Ekiti, Oba Adebanji Ajibola and the Olugbole of Igbole-Ekiti, Oba Emmanuel Adeti-loye, who in their separate remarks explained their various personal efforts and that of their communities to assist the security agents, noted that security officers need to be more pro-active and respond more quickly to distress calls.

mandu, the country’s capital, the gesture was to support government’s emergency ef-forts in providing relief for victims of the earthquake.

Dangote conveyed his sympathy to the government and people of Nepal, assur-ing them of the Foundation’s support in rehabilitating vic-tims of the unprecedented tragedy.

Responding to the ges-ture, the Prime Minister expressed gratitude of the people and government of Nepal to Dangote and the Foundation, for the humani-tarian support in this diffi-cult moment in his country’s history.

Dangote Foundation has been touching lives both within and outside the shores of Nigeria since its establishment in 1993, pro-viding opportunities for so-cial and economic transfor-mation through investments and interventions that im-prove and promote health and education, and broaden economic empowerment op-portunities.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 11Thursday, June 18, 2015 South West

•BornoreviewscurfewinMaiduguriRamadan begins today in Nigeria, S’Arabia, others

African Children Emergency Foundation and Zamaar Institute organising candlelight to mark Day of the African Child in Abuja, on Tuesday. PHOTO: NAN

Nutritionists, health practitioners decry low malnutrition awareness

Rivers: Court denies LG chairmen preservative order

Inusa ndahIMAIDUGURI

Several countries across the world, including Nigeria,

will today begin the one month-long Ramadan.

Saudi Arabia, birthplace of Islam, announced yester-day that today would be final day of the lunar month of Sha’aban.

Similar official an-nouncements were made by religious authorities in Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qa-tar, Yemen and Palestine.

Reports said the begin-ning and end of Ramadan

depends on the sighting of the new moon.

“During Ramadan, de-vout Muslims abstain from eating, drinking and smok-ing from dawn to sunset.

“Ramadan this year coin-cides with the summer heat in the Middle East where the fast could reach 15 hours a day.

“Fasting is one of Islam’s five pillars, alongside decla-ration of faith, prayer five times a day, alms-giving, and the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia,’’ it said.

Meanwhile, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of La-gos State has called for strict adherence to the dictates of

Participants, including various nutritionists and health practitio-

ners, have expressed con-cern on the need for more awareness on increased nu-trient intake, as a way of re-ducing the alarming rate of malnutrition in the society.

During a forum in Abuja, and a public presentation of the study on the “status of malnutrition at the National and three focal states”, or-ganised by the Civil Society for Scaling up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), it was reliably gathered that the low level of understanding on good nutrition had been responsible for the rate of malnutrition in Nigeria.

The study, which was meant to create awareness and bring to the fore roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in the National Strategic Plan of Action for Nutrition, NSPAN, was as a result of the need to call attention of relevant stake-holders and government agencies to take urgent ac-tions to support the scale up of food and nutrition programmes nationally and globally, following slow prog-ress in addressing malnutri-tion and mortality.

The review, which was based on key drivers of mal-nutrition, using UNICEF’s conceptual framework for causes of malnutrition, had its major focus on child mal-nutrition and its determi-nants over time in Kaduna, Nassarawa and Niger states of Nigeria.

Dr Yinka Adekugbe of Save the Children Interna-

dennIs nakuPORT HARCOURT

A Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yester-

day refused to grant a pre-servative order to stop the new chairmen from being dissolved, while the matter was still in court.

Justice Hassan Quadri gave the order following an application by counsel to the 22 chairmen to grant an order to protect them from being dissolved by the state government.

Justice Quadri also gave the order following the ab-

Islam.In a statement signed by

the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Habib Aruna, Ambode said Ramadan sig-nifies a month of piety and total abstinence from food and all vices for all believers.

While urging that the pe-riod of abstinence should also accentuate orderly be-haviour and obedience to constituted authority, the governor said with the fear of God, people will obey all laws.

He said all Muslims must ensure that the abstinence from all vices which is em-braced during Ramadan period should become an ev-eryday affair because in do-ing so each person would be at peace with him or herself.

Speaker, Lagos House of Assembly, Mudashiru Oba-sa, also urged Muslim faith-ful to use the period to pray

for peace and unity to reign in the country.

The Speaker in his Rama-dan greeting to Muslims on the commencement of the 30-day fast, in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Musbau Ra-sak, described the period as one of sober reflection which gives Muslims op-portunity to move closer to Allah and seek His face in supplication and prayers.

Obasa stated that with the present situation of things in the country, there is a need for all Nigerians to seize the opportunity brought about by the fasting to pray for Ni-geria’s unity and for peace to reign in the country.

The Lagos Assembly Speaker stated further that one major feature of the pe-riod is sharing of love, hence there is need for Muslims to share love not only among

themselves but also among adherents of other religions which will engender broth-erliness among Nigerians.

In a related development, Borno State government yesterday reviewed the cur-few imposed on Maiduguri and its environs following the start of Ramadan.

Maiduguri, the state capi-tal of Borno has been under 6am to 7pm curfew for the past several months follow-ing the insecurity posed by insurgency in the state. The curfew will now last from 6am to 9:30pm throughout the period to enable people move about and observe their prayers and obliga-tions.

Announcing the exten-sion of curfew after a secu-rity meeting with service chiefs, Governor Kashim Shettima, who personally addressed newsmen in a

tional, in her remarks on the occasion noted that there was a reality in the fact that malnutrition is a major issue in Nigeria, and as such, com-bating the menace requires a collective responsibility of government and everyone in creating more awareness for good nutrition.

Discussing the study findings and recommen-dations, Dr Kola Anigo of Ahmadu Bello University, who is the study lead person emphasised on the need for the three focal states to take steps to see that, where there are policy gap, they should try to close them as malnu-trition is worse in northern Nigeria.

Anigo also called on the relevant government insti-tutions to conduct periodic food and nutrition survey, insisting that “it is time for Nigerians to take it as a pri-ority.”

Representing Head of Nutrition, Federal Ministry of Health, Joseph Gbenga, applauded the initiative which he said was a call for all stakeholders to perform their duties and responsi-bilities, so that the current status can be improved upon and there can be better in-dices in subsequent evalua-tion.

The report indicated that trends in nutritional sta-tus of children under five, showed proportion of chil-dren stunted declined from 42% in 2003 to 37% in 2013 while wasting and under-weight increased from 11 to 18 and 24 to 29 respectively within the same period.

sence of a counsel to the House of Assembly, who was also a party in the matter, adding that it was necessary to give room for fair hearing.

Solicitor-General of the state, Rufus Godwins, who represented the state gov-ernment and Attorney-Gen-eral, Emmanuel Aguma, in the matter, had argued that Aguma, who had just been sworn-in as Commissioner for Justice, deserved some time to prepare the state gov-ernment for the matter.

Godwins, who is also Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, prayed the court for a short

adjournment, stressing that there was no need for the court to be in a hurry to hear the motion, since the matter was appearing in court for the first time.

Counsel to the council chairmen, Adebayo Owoni-koko, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, appealed to the court to grant an interim preservative order to protect the chairmen from being dissolved.

Owonikoko explained that the council bosses need-ed to be protected, while the matter was still in court.

Speaking to newsmen shortly after the sitting, the

Solicitor-General, Mr. God-wins, said the order of the court was justified, espe-cially as his argument was considered for adjournment.

Also, Counsel to the chair-men, Owonikoko, said all the parties were not expected to take any action on the mat-ter that would undermine what was before the court.

The matter was ad-journed till June 24 for hear-ing on motion.

The 22 newly elected chairmen had gone to court to challenge the power of the state governor, Nyesom Wike, to remove them from office.

live broadcast, said: “The curfew is only applicable to residents of Maiduguri me-tropolis and Jere local gov-ernment area, while those wishing to enter the town outside the metropolis will be restricted on or before 7pm.”

He noted that the 6am- 7pm curfew still stands enforced especially for mo-torists and passengers that will be coming from out-side Maiduguri metropolis, while residents of the city are allowed to go about their normal businesses within the extended curfew period during the Ramadan sea-son.

He however urged all and sundry to be vigilant and be law-abiding, and equally called on the Muslim um-mah to use the period of the Ramadan to pray for restora-tion of peace in the state.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netNews Thursday, June 18, 201512

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 13Thursday, June 18, 2015

Politics

Bukola Saraki/YakuBu Dogara’S emergence

SignifieD a graDual Shift to the inDepenDence

of the Bicameral legiSlature towarDS

graSSrootS Development following their

creDiBilitY aS competent leaDerS

Danna

Rifkatu Samson Danna, is a member of the immediate past Bauchi State House of Assembly, who was suspended by the House, but was reinstated after a prolonged court battle which terminated at the Supreme Court. She bares her mind on sundry national issues, including the emergence of her kinsman, Hon Yakubu Doghara as Speaker of the House of Representatives. EZEKIEL TITUS brings excerpts:

How would you describe the recent election of

the leadership of the National Assembly, where

Senator Bukola Saraki and Hon Yakubu Dogara

emerged Senate President and Speaker of the House of

Representatives respectively?

In fact, this is a victory for the survival of the nation’s nascent democracy. We had a situation where members were allowed to elect their princi-pal officers without regards to any external influ-ence. Bukola Saraki/Yakubu Dogara’s emergence signified a gradual shift to the independence of the bicameral legislature towards grassroots de-velopment following their credibility as compe-tent leaders that can stabilise the National Assem-bly independently

As a constituent of Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa-Balewa federal

constituency, how do you look at Dogara’s victory as

Speaker?

Let me make it clear, Dogara’s victory as the Speaker, House of Representatives is not only a victory for him alone, but for the entire people of his constituency, Bauchi State, North-East as well as the whole country, because he is now a national figure and property of Nigerian electorate. But on a more serious note, his victory is a good omen to nation building because I am sure his experience as a legislator will attract initiative development hence, the House will also experience progressive leadership towards change in the conduct of leg-islative business and I am sure the House under Dogara will be put in its proper position for good governance, being a highly focused, accountable and detribalised politician.

What does the constituency and Bauchi State stand to

benefit from the emergence of Dogara as Speaker of the

House of Representatives?

The emergence of Dogara has further brought not only Bauchi State to lime light, but the entire North-East region politically and his contribution as Speaker while in office will build confidence in the capability of Bauchi State people, especially in leadership responsibilities. However, Dogara is not leaving any stone unturned to consolidate on the gains of democracy more than what he has achieved in his Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa-Balewa fed-eral constituency, not only in Bauchi State alone, but across Nigeria.

How do you see the role played by Peoples Democratic

Party, PDP, elected lawmakers in the emergence of

Dogara/Saraki as Senate President and Speaker of the

House of Representatives respectively?

As loyal member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, I commend the stand of newly elected PDP members in the National Assembly, because they determined the victories of Dogara/Saraki tickets for a genuine democratic process and it was a wise decision to effect the yearning for change in spite of the All Progressives Congress, APC’s move to impose its surrogates and I con-gratulated the Senate President and the Speaker, House of Representatives and wish them the best

in the discharge of their duties.

What is your relationship with Dogara, having contested

against him in PDP?

My relationship with Dogara is very cordial. I have no grudge against him being my mentor, kinsman and at the same time my elder brother. In reality I did not contest against him, because I lost out in the primaries in the PDP while Dogara contested and won in the APC and I believe that

politics of do-or-die is not my option. I will have given Dogara my full support even if I contested with him in the same party.

If he offers you the opportunity, would you accept to work together with Dogara?

Oh yes, if it is a call to serve my people in na-tion building, I will definitely accept the offer be-cause in PDP, we carry people along for the best interest of national development not because of personal interest.

What should Nigerians expects from Dogara as Speak-er, House of Representatives?

Nigerians should expect a lot from Dogara, be-cause he is meticulous, focused in execution de-livery, being an experience legislator with good background of law. I am sure he is going to help Buhari and his team to turn-around the country because I know Dogara as a team player that car-ry elected member along irrespective of any dif-ference.

What is the up-date on the legal battle against your purported suspension by the Bauchi State House of Assembly since 2012, following your constitutional con-tribution on the floor of the House regarding the reloca-tion of Tafawa-Balewa council headquarters to Bununu?

The case is over and I have been reinstated, even though it came at a time when the House was about winding up; having won my case at the state High Court, Court of Appeal, Jos, as well as the Supreme Court, with the House, through its counsel, withdrawing its notice of motion for stay of execution before the Supreme Court.

You should note that the court had declared my suspension as illegal, null and void and of no con-sequence and I have resumed office with my full entitlements.

How would you describe the concession of defeat by former President Goodluck Jonathan to President Mu-hammadu Buhari, even before the final announcement of the presidential poll results?

Former President Goodluck Jonathan remains a global hero because his decision to have conced-ed defeat was aimed at bringing peace to Nigeria and bequeathing a united nation to his successor, irrespective of his personal interest and such peo-ple are very rare in the world. Jonathan believed that power belongs to God and politics is not a do-or-die affair, so leaders should learn to emulate the former president.

Saraki/Dogara’s emergence tonic for our democracy –Hon Danna

14

NASS saga: Why APC’s expected change may not come

Despite the recent pronouncement by the leaders of the All Progres-sives Congress, APC, that the par-

ty has reversed its stand on the contro-versial election of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, to lead the 8th National Assembly, and ac-cepted the result of the election, political analysts in the country are of the strong belief that the antecedents that led to the emergence of the duo will go a long way to determine the success of the 8th National Assembly and the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

The ongoing political game in the rul-ing party, which some political pundits say may truncate the people’s expecta-tions, has without doubt been giving the party’s supporters across the country concern.

Many analysts believe that the recent intrigue leading to the election of the leadership of the National Assembly, if not given the required attention, may jeopardise the expectation of people in APC.

As the events keep unfolding, many believed that the newly surfaced issues in the APC have their roots in what brought the actors that made it together. Looking at it all holistically, one does not need a prophet to tell that the big inhi-bitions that will likely face the party is how to manage its success after winning the March 28 election, bearing in mind that the party as a whole is a product of fragments with diversified visions.

As it is, despite that APC has decided to sheathe its sword in the Saraki/Dog-ara episode, and made a volte face to ac-cept them, what seem like big concern to the party followers now is how the Sen-ate will be well managed by the party’s disciples who have already broken into fragments. Apart from this, another fac-tor that call for strong political scrutiny is how the APC-led 8th Senate will have its boat sailed smoothly, with the oppo-sition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which took advantage of the power tus-sle in the governing party, to emerge em-powered, by successfully cornering the Deputy senate President position.

Looking at the likely games which may play themselves at the Senate, despite the calmness which seem to have come the APC way after several appeals from all and sundry, political pundits are of the opinion that the mathematics which saw Saraki through to the Senate Presi-dency, may be one of the bottlenecks to watch out for in the Senate soon.

They are of the belief that Saraki’s romance with the opposition PDP sena-tors, which earned him the Senate Presi-dency and the PDP the Deputy Senate Presidency, may later pose a big alba-tross to him, to the extent that he may be faced with the challenge of properly managing the Senate, and the National Assembly, as he also assumes the leader-ship of the National Assembly, as what has gone around in the Senate may even-tually come around.

One of such major issues that need to be adequately and urgently tackled by Saraki is the call by senators loyal to Senator Ahmad Lawan, the party’s con-sensus candidate for the Senate Presi-dency, that Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who emerged the Deputy senate Presi-dent, resigns with immediate effect; they

added that Ekweremadu’s resignation is one of the conditions that would not only assuage their battered feelings and ego, but will also make them recognise Sara-ki as the President of the Senate.

PDP’s Ekweremadu had emerged the Deputy President of the Senate, having defeated Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume of the APC by 54 to 20 votes.

With the turn of events that saw Ekweremadu, the first Nigerian senator to be elected Deputy Senate President for the third consecutive time, some big-wigs among the governing APC, have also insisted that the pro-Saraki sena-tors, otherwise called Like Mind Sena-tors, LMS,must explain their reason for such dangerous chess move, which has cost the party the position of the Deputy Senate President. Among these senators making the demands is a frontline mem-ber of the Senate Unity Forum, SUF, Sen-ator Kabir Marafa, who described the act of the senators to have disregarded all the arrangements put in place by the leaders of the APC to produce consensus candidates for post of Senate President and Deputy Senate President, as efforts to sabotage the party’s well meant vision for Nigerians.

Calling for thorough investigations into why the Clerk of the National As-sembly, Salisu Abubakar Mai Kasuwa, was in so much a hurry to conduct the election of the Senate President and the Deputy without following the normal procedure as contained in the Senate

Standing Order, Marafa said: “We de-mand that Senator Ekweremadu must resign his position because he needed at least 55 senators to emerge as Deputy Senate President. Ekweremadu is a law-yer and as an experienced lawmaker, he knows he is not qualified to win the elec-tion with 54 votes.”

Marafa further said the pro-Saraki lawmakers should explain to the party leadership why they rushed to the cham-ber on June 9 and hurriedly conducted the controversial election that favoured Saraki and Ekweremadu, while the rest of the APC lawmakers were at the Inter-national Conference Centre, ICC, where they were expected to meet President Buhari.

He added: “Our colleagues, the Like Minds Senators, on three occasions failed to honour the directive of the par-ty for an arrangement to produce con-sensus candidates for the Senate Presi-dent and Deputy Senate President.

“They refused to take part in the mock election when 35 APC senators elected Senators Lawan and George Akume as the party’s consensus candidates for the two top positions in the Senate.

“They also refused to honour the in-vitation extended to all of us to attend a meeting with Vice-President Yemi Osin-bajo on June 8, and another meeting called by President Buhari on June 9.”

Corroborating the argument that Mr. Ekweremadu was not properly elected, another prominent member of the SUF

from the South-West, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said the re-quests of the group had been forwarded to the party leadership, adding that all efforts shall be ensured that Ekwere-madu is made to jettison the position of Deputy Senate President.

He said: “The Deputy Senate President, Ekweremadu, was not properly elected. For him to win the position according to law, he requires a simple majority vote of 55, but he got 54, so he did not win and we cannot recognise him. We refuse to. Our party has asked us not to talk to the press but we will not keep quiet over the issue.”

In the meantime, as pro-Lawan sena-tors are putting up with various strate-gies to gain their strength back in the Senate, senators who are in support of Saraki, in silent conjunction with PDP senators, have not stopped in their ‘math-ematical strategies’ to counter any move by their in-house opposition, a move that people have been saying may bother Pres-ident Buhari’s progressive administra-tion.

Speaking with National Mirror, one former senator who spoke on condition of anonymity maintained that the on-going rage in the Senate may cost the citizenry to lose trust in the APC, saying: “With the way things stand, APC leaders need to act fast to ensure things are prop-erly restored, because, failure to do so may have a huge effect on the running of the Senate and the government at large.”

As the heat increases with iron melt-ing on the political corridor, observers and Nigerians who are keenly watching with bated breath, are pondering if the needed change from the governing party will truly be delivered, considering a lot of distraction that have greeted it from the onset of its assumption of power.

It is however pertinent to point out to APC leaders that Nigerians still hold the ace and would not hesitate to show it the exit door, should it fail to fulfill its prom-ises to them.

Saraki DogaraBuhari

ADELEKE ADESANYA writes that the expected change from the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, by Nigerians may after all become elusive, following the party’s management of the election of the leadership of the National Assembly.

It Is pertInent to poInt out to ApC leAders thAt nIgerIAns stIll hold the ACe And would not hesItAte to

show It the exIt door, should It fAIl to fulfIll Its promIses to them.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netPolitics14 Thursday, June 18, 2015

NASS saga: Why APC’s expected change may not come

Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike (right) welcomeing Speaker of Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Monday Okemeni Ikpuya, and his colleagues, during a courtesy visit to the Government House in Port Harcourt, yesterday.

Benue Govt House PS debunks looting rumour

Eko Foundation enjoins Nigerians to support Buhari

Henry IyorkaseMAKURDI

Contrary to insinu-ation making the rounds in Makurdi,

the Benue State capital of large scale looting by the immediate past ad-ministration of Gover-nor Gabriel Suswam, the Permanent Secretary of the Government House, Mr Eugene Ivase, has disclosed that nothing of such evern happened.

Debunking the insinu-ations yesterday in a chat with National Mirror, Mr. Ivase contended that as far as he is concerned, he was not aware of any loot-ing that took place par-ticularly in his place of domicile.

He maintained that be-fore the departure of the last administration, both the former Governor Ga-briel Suswam and new Governor Samuel Ortom met for inspection of the Government House and stock inventory taken and issues of concern were raised and resolved by both parties.

He however empha-

robert awokuse

sised that when people make unsubstantiated al-legations, sometimes one starts to wonder where the information is coming from. He said that as far as he was concerned, no form of looting took place in the government House.

He further stressed that former Governor Suswam was in the National As-sembly for eight years and when he resumed in 2007, some of his aides, particu-larly cooks, were brought from there and as soon as his tenure terminated, they also left with him.

Ivase said: “Therefore, without mincing words, I will categorically inform you that these people who were brought elsewhere also took back their per-sonal effects and in that wise, one cannot quantify it to looting.”

He recalled that “as the last administration wound up, there was this reported case of thievery of utensils at the liaison guest house and we swung into action with a view to verify the claims and after careful scrutiny it was dis-covered that the informa-tion was not correct.

keem Damola, during the group’s recent extraor-dinary meeting, admon-ished well meaning Nige-rians to x-ray the nation’s political climate.

Reflecting on the politi-cal situation in the coun-try, Damola said the soci-ety and the nation rightly deserved the much ex-pected stability, especially at this crucial political pe-riod, urging political play-ers and concerned Nigeri-ans to support the desired change promised by the present administration.

He also seized the event to salute the maturity and courage of the leadership

of the All Progressives Congress, APC, espe-cially President Buhari and the former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, com-mending their efforts in stemming and arresting the National Assembly leadership crisis.

He said: “We commend singularly, the rare ster-ling leadership qualities of Asiwaju Tinubu, Presi-dent Buhari and other APC chieftains on their careful and mature han-dling of the fragile situ-ation which eventually doused the tension that could have torn the party,

Suspended Bayelsa APC leader sends SOS to national headquartersosaHon JulIusYENAGOA

An appeal has gone to the national leadership of the

All Progressives Congress, APC, to quickly intervene in the crisis of confidence currently brewing in the Bayelsa State chapter of the party, as politicians in the state gear up for what will be regarded as the mother of all elections come 2016.

The passionate appeal was made by an embattled leader of the party and former secretary of the de-funct New Peoples Demo-cratic Party, New PDP, Mr. Godwin Sidi, who was one of the seven party lead-ers suspended by the state APC for alleged anti-party activities.

In an interview yester-

day, Mr. Sidi, said that his appeal to the national lead-ers was very necessary for them to intervene in the crisis and save the party from disintegration.

Describing his suspen-sion as unconstitutional, he claimed that the per-son who announced the suspension, the state APC Secretary, Marlin Daniel, was no longer the party secretary as at the time the announcement was made.

He said: “I find it expe-dient to react to the said suspension, reason being that the person who made the announcement, Dan-iel, does not have the ca-pacity to do so because he is no longer the secretary of our great party, APC.

“You may recall that the so-called Daniel resigned as the state secretary to contest the just concluded

House of Assembly elec-tions and as such he is no longer the secretary.

“If by any means he is parading himself as one, he should be regarded as an impostor and the pub-lic should disregard him. There is no truth in the suspension and it is base-less and does not hold wa-ter.

“I am therefore calling on the South-South Vice Chairman and national leadership of our great party to intervene in or-der to strengthen the state structure. Their interven-tion will also avert disinte-gration ahead of the com-ing gubernatorial election in the state. “

He alleged that the idea of the suspension was to subvert the attention of members of the APC and the public of the gross

misconduct and abuse of office by the state APC chairman, Tiwei Orun-imighe and his cronies.

Another elder of the party, Mr. Christopher Abiriowei, said the Mon-day suspension of some leaders of the APC, in-cluding himself, was il-legal and lacking in fair hearing.

He said: “Some of the APC members allegedly connived among them-selves to suspend some party members without following the party rules and constitution as well as the law of fair hearing.

“We the concerned members of the party still remain resolute in the quest to bring change to the party for utmost result ahead of the forth coming governorship elections in the state.”

APC USA commends Transition Planning Committeeebere ndukwu

lung, your submission to President Muhammadu Buhari, means his admin-istration has a roadmap to kick-start Nigeria. We enjoin Nigerians to brace up, make sacrifices, bear with Mr. President to race the country to the promise land.

The group noted that they are fortunate to have President Buhari, urging him to include electoral reforms, considering Di-aspora electoral bill/Dias-pora Nigerians voting in 2019 general elections in his programmes.

Reacting in a statement made available to news-men, Barr Dalung, praised APC USA International Secretariats’ campaigns, rallies, Skype, Whatsapp, Facebook, Tweeter, Free conference calls, and pub-lications most especially at the poll shift, adding: “That was the first of its kind, best commitment ever in the history of Ni-geria. Diaspora outpoured support for democracy.”

Dalung added that the President is aware of the efforts of Nigerians in the Diaspora towards the suc-cess of the party at the last general elections.

the society and the nation apart as envisaged by the opposition and other de-tractors of our great na-tion Nigeria.”

The foundation how-ever appealed to all politi-cal gladiators to embrace peace in order to maintain hitch-free governance, adding that all necessary measures should be put in place to ensure party unity and national devel-opment.

In attendance at the meeting were, the presi-dent of the foundation, Professor Wale Smith, the Secretary, Mr. Tayo Shasanya among others.

Eko Foundation has called on Nigerians to support the gov-

ernment of President Mu-hammadu Buhari through prayers and constructive suggestions which will promote meaningful and gainful socio-economic and political turnaround in the country.

In a statement by its publicity secretary, Ar-amide Noibi, made avail-able to National Mir-ror, the chairman and pioneer chairman of Eko Foundation Board of Trustees, BoT, Alhaji Ha-

United States of America, USA, All Progressives

Congress, APC, has com-mended the APC Transi-tion Planning Committee members for their excel-lent performance, saying that their resilience in persuading the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which was initially unco-operative and violent, to do what they never intend-ed doing was fantastic.

APC USA International Secretariat in a telephone conversation commended the efforts of the commit-tee, adding that the com-mittee’s expertise and team work provided inroad to ac-countability and transpar-ency.

They said: “We quickly want to make known to many who are not aware of your outstanding perfor-mances, including Diaspo-ra Nigerians how much we appreciated your selfless services for the develop-ment and progress of our battered country.

“Conclusively, Diaspora Nigerians are proud of you; Barrister Senator Da-

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Politics 15Thursday, June 18, 2015

L-R: Governors Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Akinwunmi Ambode (Lagos) and Umaru Tanko Al-Makura (Nassarawa), during the Nigeria Governor’s Forum meeting in Abuja, yesterday.

Lagos tribunal fails to open hearing in PDP petition

Taraba govt to restore Jalingo master plan, destroys illegal structures

Matthew IrInoye

The National Assem-bly Election Tribu-nal sitting in Ikeja,

failed to open hearing yes-terday in the suit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate for Lagos West senatorial dis-trict, Segun Adewale chal-lenging the declaration of Olamilekan Adeola, of the All Progressives Con-gress, APC, as winner of the March 28 election.

At the resumed sitting of the panel, APC coun-sel, Bayo Badmus told the court that the respondent was yet to file his reply on the point of law as or-dered by the tribunal.

Badmus therefore asked the tribunal led by Justice Sylvanus Oriji for more time to file the reply.

PDP counsel, Dr. Yemi Oke, did not oppose the application and Justice Oriji therefore adjourned the matter to June 22 for

hearing and reiterated his order for parties to file all applications before the next adjourned date.

At the last hearing, APC, represented by Muiz Banire had told the tribu-nal that the petitioner did not specify the law under which he brought the peti-tion and also failed to state the scores of the candi-dates, adding that he only stated the score of the re-spondent.

He had said: “By provi-sion of Electoral Act, the petitioner is expected to specify the scores of all the candidates in the elec-tion. He only specified his own score and that of APC candidate which is re-spondent,” citing the case of Ikeh vs Njoke 9 NWLR Pt 59A at page 263 and em-phasized that his failure to do that eroded the validity of the process adding that where such happen, the petition becomes incom-petent and urged the court to discountenance it.

Group rejects President’s old age excuse, urges him to start workingebere ndukwu

JustIn tyopuusuJALINGO

Following renewed efforts by the Tara-ba State govern-

ment to restore Jalingo master plan and develop it to reflect the status of a state capital, the state’s Environmental Taskforce yesterday swooped on some traders operating businesses illegally in ar-eas not approved by the government.

The exercise which was carried out by the Minis-try of Environment and Urban Development, de-stroyed shops around Mi-chelin roundabout, state university gate, roadblock area and other locations within the town.

National Mirror reports that the taskforce team, in company of fully armed security men pulled down makeshift business struc-tures and containers where traders displayed their goods close to the roadside.

One the affected busi-ness operators, Garba Ibrahim, lamented that the exercise caught them un-awares, saying they were not given enough time to relocate, adding that many of the traders would find it difficult to cope since their means of livelihood has

deliver on his campaign promises and to rule the country better.

In a statement made available to newsmen yesterday, CHRSJ execu-tive chairman, Comrade Adeniyi Alimi Suleiman, while reacting to a state-ment credited to President Buhari that at 72, “there’s

been taken away.But, secretary of the

committee in charge of the demolition exercise, Abel Bako Lau, said gov-ernment embarked on the demolition of business structures sited illegally by the roadside to sanitise the town.

He explained that gov-ernment had to clear the area to enable it lay water pipes to supply some areas within the state capital with water, adding that government had earlier dispatched letters to the affected traders to move out of the area but that some of them refused to oblige.

limit to what I can do,” dis-agreed with the President, saying that such an excuse was not tenable before the Nigeria public”, stressing that Buhari knew quite alright that he was an old man of over 70 years be-fore he requested for the votes of Nigerians.

Cautioning that Presi-

dent Buhari should not re-nege on his ‘change prom-ise,’ Suleiman said he has not been impressed by the President’s style of gover-nance, characterised by different excuses since his inauguration on May 29.

He called on Nigerians to rise and put the Presi-dent on his toes to ensure he fulfils his electioneer-ing campaign promises, noting that the expecta-tions of Nigerians from the new administration are high and that the Pres-ident should be ready to deliver on his campaign promises without further delay.

He said: “All these ex-cuses from President Buhari are not tenable because age has nothing to do with performance in governance. By now, Buhari should have come out with his government agenda and begin execut-ing it one by one; anything short of this is not tenable before Nigerians.”

Resign if age will hinder you, PDP tells Buhariadeleke adesanya

the APC, saying that such statement by the President is a way to compromise the huge task before him, as well as an indication that Nigerians who have reposed a lot of trust in him will be woefully disap-pointed.

Calling on the President Buhari to immediately re-sign his position if feels his age will hinder his per-formance, Olorunoje said, “The statement by the president over his age to limiting his performance is simply an indication that his regime will yield nothing good to Nigerians. And at this time of the day, if the man is telling us that

his age will limit what he can do as the president, I think that will be the big-gest excuse of the century, and I will call that an early failure of his government. It is an indication that this government will not pro-duce anything good for Ni-gerians.”

He added that the Presi-dent, having known that his age will hinder his performance in office wouldn’t have vied for such sensitive position which determines the fate of millions of Nigerians for the next four years, add-ing that the President and his party should be held re-sponsible by Nigerians for

deceiving them.He also contended that

the statement by the Presi-dent is shameful, consider-ing that it was made out-side the country, adding: “I can’t even imagine that the statement was made even outside the country, and I believe that it was a nation-al shame to this nation”.

It would be recalled that President Buhari expressed regret that he became the President of Nigeria at advanced age of 72, saying that this poses a great limitation to what he could do, wishing that he were the President of Nige-ria much earlier when he was younger.

We’ll work to ensure Dogara succeeds –Aliyuabdulgafar oladIMeJIKANO

Member represent-ing Birnin Kudu/Buji federal con-

stituency in the House of Representatives, Magaji Dan Aliyu, has stated that, the 360 members of the House of Representa-tives have affirmed their determination to work for the success of the Yakubu Dogara-led House.

Aliyu pointed out that the circumstance through which the principal of-ficers of the 8th National

Assembly emerged was a lesson in democracy, add-ing that “we have accepted it as a lesson and not a dis-traction.”

He said: “The lawmak-ers are one family bounded by destiny and we are fully conscious of the facts of the challenges ahead of us to warrant unnecessary bickering.

“It was clear to every one of us that we had a contest that produced no victor, no vanquished and that our leadership was voted by all.”

He expressed the opti-

mism that the 8th National Assembly would in the fu-ture be referred to by many keen watchers as a peace-ful parliament, owing to the matured and dogged manner the House would conduct its activities.

The lawmaker from Jigawa State said: “Our loyalty any day remains with the party, and to our leader, President Muham-madu Buhari.

“Individual members have resolved to work for the success of the prin-cipal officers, despite the controversy that trailed

the emergence of Doga-ra as the Speaker of the House of Representa-tives.”

He averred that the era of mutual suspicion be-tween the executive and the legislature was over, maintaining that the 8th National Assembly would ensure smooth flow de-mocracy and its tenets.

He added: “Nigeria has got the opportunity to get it right and we in the Na-tional Assembly would be playing a positive role under the leadership of Dogara.”

The People Democrat-ic Party, PDP, has chided President

Mohammadu Buhari and the ruling party, All Pro-gressives Congress, APC, over the recent statement made by the President in Johannesburg, South Africa, about his age as a factor which may limit his performance in office. Speaking over what he de-scribed as insubstantial excuse by the President for his early failure, a chief-tain of Lagos State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr Owolabi Olorunoje, repri-manded the president and

Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice, CHRSJ, has

rejected the old age excuse of President Muhamma-du Buhari, saying that Ni-gerians will not take age as an excuse for failure to

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netPolitics Thursday, June 18, 201516

Reinventing Nigeria’s grassroots democracyBABA CRUSOE

Nigeria’s democracy is structured almost entirely in line with Amer-ica’s. Although there are certain

minor variations at the local level of gov-ernance in America, both systems operate three tiers of government, namely, federal, state and local government. Within the American system, the pattern of admin-istration at the local government varies from state to state. Nigeria, in accordance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitu-tion ought to be operating a unified system of local government administration, with-out variations in terms of form and mode of administration. But distortions and abuses of the system abound, depending on the disposition, whims and caprices of respective state governors. This is quite un-like the American system, which follows a definite, periodic and consistent pattern of democratic governance without any form of interference whatsoever from the state governors.

The American constitution, as it is also the case in Nigeria, confers on the state gov-ernors the power to ensure the existence of a democratically elected system of admin-istration at the local government levels. The major difference, however, is that in Nigeria, the law guaranteeing the existence of a democratically elected government at the local level has been subjected to untold abuse, willful violations, persistent infrac-tions and manipulations by those conferred with the constitutional power to ‘’provide for the establishment, structure, composi-tion, finance and functions’’ of the local

THE DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE AT

THE LOCAL LEVEL IN NIGERIA IS CRYING

FOR REDEMPTION AND REINVENTION

Last Friday, June 12 marked the 22nd anni-versary of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which the late entrepreneur par

excellence, philanthropist, sport enthusiast and astute politician, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, won with a landslide. On that day, Nigerians of all hues, defied ethno-religious sentiments and ideological biases to vote en mass for Abiola. That day is now generally ac-cepted as a symbolism of the sovereignty of the peoples of Nigeria and epitome of the invincibil-ity of their collective vision for a strong and vi-able united nation.

Born on August 24, 1937 in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, Abiola’s birth was not greeted with explosive joy and celebrative hullabaloo that normally followed childbirth in this part of the world. The reason was that he was the 23rd child of his parents, and since all the preced-ing 22 had died in their infancy and his parents, smarting understandably from the inexorable feelings of déjà vu, welcomed the new arrival

Remembering MKO Abiola, martyr of our democracyJUNE 12, 1993 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS

AFFIRMED TO BE FREE AND FAIR BY LOCAL

AND INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS

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

with repressed enthusiasm. Their scepticism for his survival was aptly captured in the name, ‘Kashimawo’ (let’s wait and see), they gave him!

MKO had a rough beginning as he grappled with poverty after his father’s early death. He resorted to menial jobs like hewing firewood to sell in Abeokuta. He was, however, determined to survive and he did.

It is a great tribute to human indomitable spirit that the young Abiola, armed with great resource of natural, intellectual talents and the greater asset of unflagging determination, dealt a mortal blow to poverty at a young age. He conquered human wants and deprivations and rewrote the scripts of his life, substituting the negative episodes and scenery of penury, privation, wants and powerlessness with the positives like satiety, prosperity, powers, self-actualisation and escape into elitism.

After self-liberation, Abiola was not con-tented with fulfillment of his own dream alone, he was impassioned to share the triumph with countless number of people, who were not so lucky to help themselves out, hence his pursuit of phenomenal altruism and charity.

Now, on the unwarranted controversy as to which of the historical dates of June 12 and May 29, constitutes the real symbolism of popu-lar democracy in Nigeria, I would say there is simply no basis for comparison. June 12 simply carries the authentic and superior sanctity; it was an epitome of a contract sealed with blood in contradistinction to May 29, which is nothing but a symbolism of a contract anchored on the quicksand of empty promises if not outright

deceits (at least till now). How many of all those wonderful promises made on succes-sive May 29 have come to fruition?

Abiola was a legend on two major fronts. First, through his phenomenal phi-lanthropy, he remained till today the most outstanding altruistic Nigerian dead or alive, and if he had done nothing else he would still have been remembered in the annals of great people on our continent. Second, he made the supreme sacrifice of accepting in exchange for life! In a singular devotion to the ideal of liberal democracy, he chose die instead of relinquishing the ‘mandate to lead’ Nigerians gave to him in the June 12, 1993 presidential election. The military authorities did all what they could to buy-off that mandate, but Abiola would not budge.

He was incarcerated for many years, held incommunicado, subjected to harrow-ing experience, legally prosecuted, but the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland refused to succumb. He was pressurised, begged,

threatened etc, but he would simply not ex-change his mandate for personal freedom.

His wife, Kudirat, a firebrand activist and advocate of democratic ideals in her own right, was brutally murdered by the ty-rannical dictatorial regime of the late Gen-eral Sani Abacha; Abiola’s business empire suffered great reverses, as he experienced other tragedies that would have broken a mortal of a lesser psychological constitu-tion, but the great Egba man faced all these vicissitudes with stoical resignation and in-ner calm.

He was often heard to say: “The only enti-ty I fear is Almighty God”. But at last, he paid the supreme sacrifice, having died on July 7, 1998 at a youthful age of 60, and in a circum-stances that the later generations would defi-nitely have a lot of questions to ask from all those involved, including all those directly and remotely connected.

June 12, 1993 presidential election was affirmed to be free and fair by local and in-ternational observers. Furthermore, the Chairman of the then National Electoral Commission, Professor Humphrey Nwosu, came out several years after Abiola’s death to declare that he won the election. That is why many people felt that President Muhamma-du Buhari should have declared last Friday, June 12, 2015, a public holiday in Nigeria. That gesture should have shown Nigeria still has conscience!

Ketefe may be followed on twitter @Ke-tesco

governments in the country.At the inception of the Fourth Republic,

a democratically elected system of govern-ment in line with other tiers of government was duly enthroned. However, soon after the expiration of the three year tenure of the elected council members, most Nige-rian governors took advantage of the loop-holes in the 1999 Constitution to subvert the process of democratic governance at the lo-cal government levels.

Contrary to the experience at the local governments, elections at the federal and state governments levelse been consistent, periodic, guided and conducted within a definite time framework in line with the legal provisions guaranteeing their exis-tence. It is unarguable that the greatest hall-mark of the democratic process and gover-nance rests squarely on the conduct of free, fair and credible elections, as at and when due. In Nigeria, the governors have brazen-ly appropriated to themselves the sovereign right of the citizens to decide who their leaders should be at the local level, and in some cases nullifying such rights by arbi-trary removal of democratically elected council chairmen and councilors. While the 1999 Constitution guarantees the exis-

tence of the local government, it merely conferred the power to make laws for such existence on the state governments without providing further guidelines that ought to determine the modus ope-randi of such laws to guarantee continu-ity and consistency of a democratically elected system of government at the lo-cal level.

Thus, the democratic governance at the local level in Nigeria is crying for redemption and reinvention. Once pro-gressive and proactive steps are taken in this direction, the political survival and existence of the local government as a democratically and constitutionally instituted tier of government that is not given to abuse and arbitrary violation and willfully devious subversions, will be guaranteed. To achieve such objective, the existing laws must either be strength-ened or amended accordingly.

In a recent publication in some of the national newspapers, a Lagos based legal practitioner, Iwilade Akintayo, in-sisted that ‘’the law must now be clear and decisive on the status of the local government as an autonomous tier of government that deserves to hold peri-odic elections in which the people of the respective localities determine who leads them, and how…’’ Beyond this, the new National Assembly should address the is-sue as national emergency by fashioning a proper legal framework that will tackle the ugly development and save Nigerian democracy from institutionalized abuse and mockery. Whatever reason that in-formed the release of federal allocations to Joint State and Local Government Ac-

counts has proven counterproductive in the circumstances due to obvious misappropria-tions of the funds by state governors.

Every election, whether presidential, sen-ate, House of Representatives, state Assem-bly or councils polls, is rooted in grassroots politicking and electioneering process. Since the Independent National Electoral Commis-sion (INEC) has been successfully conduct-ing elections into these respective positions, save for the council elections, it should equal-ly be given the constitutional responsibility of conducting all elective political positions in Nigeria. Governments are instituted in order to ensure that the common good and welfare of the people are pursued and real-ized. Where the mechanism for governance proves otherwise becomes a veritable source of shortchanging the will of the people, it naturally loses its legitimacy and validity. Now that we are all relishing the euphoria of change, the distortions of democracy at the grassroots must be checkmated. Unless the state governments are disinvested of the constitutional powers invested on them by the 1999 Constitution to control the affairs of the local government, Nigeria’s democracy in reality and practice will remain half-baked and at the local level, and thus a mockery of the democratic process.

Crusoe, a Lagos-based public affairs analyst, wrote via bazcrusoe@yahoo.com

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 17Thursday, June 18, 2015 Views

KAYODEKETEFE

kketefe@nationalmirroronline.net 08032147720 (SMS only)

CRITICAL STROKES

18 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Rehabilitation of oil refi neries

Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud was appointed the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. Prince Salman was born on December 31, 1935. He is reported to be the 25th son of King Abdulaziz. Therefore, Salman is a member of the Sudairi Seven; and his governmental experience dated back to the 1950s. At just 19, King Abdulaziz ap-pointed him as his representative and the Emir or May-or of Riyadh on March 17, 1954.

June 18, 2012 June 18, 1953

The Egyptian Revolution of 1952 ended with the over-throw of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty and the declara-tion of the Republic of Egypt. The revolution began a year earlier with a military coup staged by the Free Of-ficers Movement (FOM), a group of army officers led by Muhammad Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser. It was initially aimed at overthrowing King Farouk, but soon moved to abolish the constitutional monarchy.

A major clash between about 5,000 policemen and a similar number of miners took place at Orgreave, South Yorkshire, during the 1984-1985 United Kingdom miners’ strike. The strike was a major industrial ac-tion that affected the British coal industry, led by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) which was es-tablished in 1888. In 1991, the police were forced to pay 500,000 pounds to 39 miners arrested during the crises.

ON THIS DAY

That the Port Harcourt Refinery may commence production at the end of

this month, if reports credited to the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Joseph Dawha, some days ago are any-thing to go buy, came as a refresh-ing breather, especially when the immediate past civilian admin-istration of President Goodluck Jonathan and others before it indulged in double-speak on the need for government to run refin-eries. On different occasions, the Presidency, Federal Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Petro-leum Resources under Jonathan harped on the non-viability of refineries, on the one hand and on the other, gave approval for the building of new ones or maintaining the old ones. In 2002, the government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo issued licences to 18 investors to build new refineries. But 13 years on and still counting after, the country still relies almost wholly on imported petroleum products, with no visible capacity to refine enough of the products locally to meet even domestic needs.

The Federal Government in June 2012 also signed a Memo-randum of Understanding (MoU) with some private American investors in respect of a $4.5 bil-lion (N698 billion) deal to build

six modular refineries in col-laboration with the NNPC. The Minister of Trade and Invest-ment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, had stated that two of the new refineries would be ready by May 2013, and would be contribut-ing 10 million litres of fuel daily. When fully operational, it was projected that the six refineries would have the capacity to refine 180,000 barrels of crude per day. But it ended there. Former NNPC Group Managing Director, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, once said all the MoUs signed with foreign firms since 2010 to establish refineries in the country could not work because “no investor will come and invest in a regulated environ-ment”. Meanwhile, FG’s iron cast hold on and control of the pric-ing of petroleum products, which discourage competition and the abandonment at the National Assembly for over eight years of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) meant to open up the oil sector, are among the main factors scar-ing away potential private inves-tors in oil refining.

Dawha, NNPC’s new helms-man says, however that “We are carrying out phased implemen-tation of rehabilitation of the refineries … the Port Harcourt Refinery, which has reached an advanced stage will start receiv-ing crude by the end of this month… At the end of 18 months,

most of the refineries would have been rehabilitated”. The country has four refineries, two in Port Harcourt, and one each in Kaduna and Warri, all with in-stalled capacity of 445,000 barrels per day. But they have scarcely exceeded 35 percent production capacity.

Official figures say Nigeria’s average daily consumption of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) is 40 million litres; Automotive Gas Oil (diesel) 12 million litres; Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) 11 mil-lion litres; and Liquefied Petro-leum Gas (LPG) 1.2 million litres. But the country refines only 5.10 million litres of PMS; three mil-lion litres of AGO; 2.10 million litres of DPK; and 0.34 million litres of LPG daily and imports the difference of 34.90 million litres of PMS; nine million litres of AGO; 8.90 million litres of DPK; and 0.86 million litres of LPG per day; about 90 per cent of Nigeria’s daily petroleum prod-ucts’ need on a rough average;

and NNPC is calling the shots.Former Petroleum Minister,

Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, said the FG would have spent N152 billion on refineries repairs by 2013; and that the total installed capacity of all the country’s refineries would be increased to 90 percent by 2014 - another failed promise. Billions of dollars also went down the drain, especially between 1990 to date, in the name of turnaround maintenance (TAM) of the four refineries, all with spittle as the result, contrary to what obtains in other well managed crude oil producing na-tions that earn handsome foreign exchange through refined petro-leum products and enable their citizens enjoy that gift of nature.

If the Petroleum Resources Ministry and NNPC have now seen good reasons to revive the nation’s refineries, it is a huge relief, though belated. But it must be matched with sincere deregulation and opening up of the oil and gas upstream and downstream sectors to competi-tion and transparency; as against their use before now as nests for corruption and dubious political patronage. The facts that diesel costs a fortune long after its pump price was deregulated; and kerosene is hardly sold at subsi-dised rate, have since exposed the rump of the oil sector. The rot is no longer a shrouded mystery.

DIESEL COSTS A FORTUNE LONG AFTER

ITS PUMP PRICE WAS DEREGULATED; AND

KEROSENE IS HARDLY SOLD AT SUBSIDISED

RATE

June 18, 1984

Thursday June 18, 2015Editorial

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

BARRISTER JIMOH IBRAHIM, CFR PUBLISHER

SUNDAY OLAJIDE MANAGING DIRECTOR/CEO

BEN MEMULETIWON ACTING DAILY EDITOR

GBEMI OLUJOBI SATURDAY EDITOR

AYO OLESIN SUNDAY EDITOR

DOZIE OKEBALAMA COORDINATOR, EDITORIAL BOARD

CALLISTUS OKE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

ISE-OLUWA IGE ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF

AUGUSTUS IMEKAN ACTING HEAD, GRAPHICS

Boladale BamigBola OSOGBO

When Osun State House of Assembly passed the bill establishing the multi-

campus state university (UNIO-SUN), in December 2006, and former governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyin-lola, signed it into law, they obvi-ously, did not envisage the current crisis that is threatening the soul of the institution.

A clause in the said law, in a man-ner not pre-emptive enough, of the growth and attendant increase in the revenue and expenditures of the university, pegs the approval limit of the Vice Chancellor to N1 million and that of the board to N5 million.

Almost nine years after, that hydra-headed monster carefully crafted in the law that established the university is rearing its ugly head and threatening its continued

Panel commissioned by the state government to investigate the re-mote and the immediate causes of the crisis that pitched UniOsun management and its governing council against each other, Prof. Biyi Daramola, while presenting its report to Governor Rauf Areg-besola, traced the origin to the law establishing the university, say-ing something was fundamentally wrong with it.

Although, Daramola did not make specific reference to the clause that states the approving limit of the VC and that of the board, going by the major allega-tion levelled against the three man-agement staffers, that the overshot their approval limit, then it can be safely concluded that Daramola must have been referring to the clause.

However, after several weeks of uncertainty and waiting for the re-

existence.The Governing Council of the

university, in a letter written to Governor Aregbesola last Septem-ber, had accused the Vice Chan-cellor and other principal staff of fraud which it claimed was perpe-trated while sharing the proceeds of the institution’s pre-degree pro-grammes.

But in his reaction, the vice chancellor, Prof Okesina, though admitted approving up to N18 mil-lion when his approval limit was N1million, referred to the era of Prof. Sola Akinrinade when as VC, he had to approve up to N12 million when proceeds of the pre-degree programmes was being shared among those that generated it, based on the ratio 70 percent for the institution and 30 percent for the of-ficers involved.

Giving an insight into the cri-sis, the chairman of the Visitation

lease of white paper on the findings of the panel, the tetchy relationship between the governing council and three key principal officers of the university, may have finally con-sumed the affected officers.

For many, the recommendation for sack of Prof. Basiru Okesina, the vice chancellor, Dr. Julius Fani-ran, the registrar and Alhaji Fatai Lasisi , the bursar, by the Prof. Ga-briel Olawoyin-led governing coun-cil, was never a surprise.

The unhealthy relationship between the institution’s manage-ment and the governing council which was triggered off by the sharing formula adopted for the proceeds of the present degree pro-grammes of the institution, had not only successfully polarised the institution, it has also exposed the defect in the laws establishing the school.

It would be recalled that before

the recent recommendation to the visitor, Governor Rauf Aregbesola that the three affected principal of-ficers be sacked, by the governing council, the officers were in Feb-ruary this year, suspended by the council and an acting VC appointed to run the institution.

Reliable sources in the universi-ty also disclosed that both Olawoy-in, the pro-chancellor and Okesina, the VC had never enjoyed the best of relationships but had to condone each other until the situation could no longer be managed between them.

But, after the intervention of the governor, who set up a panel to probe the remote and immedi-ate causes of the upheaval, peace appeared to have returned to the institution.

However, since the recommen-

CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

... Anxiety mounts over Aregbesola’s silence on plan to sack VC, othersHow controversial law plunges UniOsun into crisis

Olawoyin Aregbesola Okesina

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 19

IN CONJUNCTION WITHEducation Today

Thursday, June 18, 2015

AFE BABALOLA UNIVERSITY,ADO-EKITI (ABUAD)

AFE BABALOLA UNIVERSITY,ADO-EKITI (ABUAD)

It is second to none —Yakubu Gowon

Nation’s devt depends on quality education —VC

Kogi teachers groan over unpaid salaries

Group wants more girls enrolled for sciences

202422

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net20 Thursday, June 18, 2015Education Today

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), National Open University of Nigeria, Prof. Patrick Eya (left) in handshake with the Regional Chairman of Lions Club (District 404), Asaba, Delta State, Sir. Monday Onyeme during the presentation of text books by the club to the university in Asaba.

Lions Club donates books to NOUN

Nation’s devt depends on quality education —VC skills needed to close the technology ad-vancement between students in African and students in developed countries,” he said.

He attributed poor quality of education to decayed infrastructures and prolonged military rule in the country.

The Managing Partner, Softcom Limited and an alumnus of the university, Mr. Yomi Adedeji said that the essence of the confer-ence was to inspire, educate and connect leaders from selected universities annually to technology for improving education ser-vice delivery towards bridging the gap in the system.

Adedeji said that MTN Nigeria would be subsidising the cost of connectivity for 50 Nigerian universities while Diamond Bank would provide loan facilities and Samsung the tablets.

He said education had gone beyond con-ventional learning because students used

Saidat alauSa

Vice-Chancellor, Covenant Uni-versity, Ota, Ogun State, Prof. Charles Ayo has said that the

strength of any nation depends on the quality of education which could be used as a weapon to change the world.

He disclosed this during the Future Ready University Conference organised by Softcom Limited, with the theme “Building Thriving Tertiary Institution Using Tech-nology,” held in the university, last week.

According to him, it has been observed that multinational appointments in Africa were Asians just because of their standard of education and technological advance-ment.

“The introduction of mobile learning tablet was one of the right equipment and

technology for dissemination of informa-tion and this promotes interaction among them.

Mr. Kayode Odedina, Deputy Director of e-Learning unit at the National Universities Commission (NUC) said that there was the need for Nigerian universities to embrace mobile learning device as the practice in the developed countries around the world.

Speaking on the topic, “Generating ex-ploits through efficiency management of resources,” the Chancellor of the univer-sity, Bishop David Oyedepo said individual should be able to pay full price for the future he or she wish to see, adding that every man star is in him and only those that think rightly would get results.

Commending the alumni’s initiative he said Nigerian graduates would need to come out of their comfort zones to do ex-traordinary things.

of corruption on the African education system and predicts a worsening situation with in-creasing students’ enrolment. Unless concrete plans are put in place to checkmate this evil, the educational sector will remain in shambles no matter how much fund is thrown at it.

There are two principal sources of funds for the opera-tion of public universities in Ni-

abolaji adebayo

Wife of Ogun State governor, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun has said that technology remains a veritable

instrument to upgrade the education standard, charging the educators and oth-er stakeholders to move with the trend of education technology to tackle the falling education standard in the country.

She explained that technology defines the way students learn and it is important that educators keep abreast with the challenges if they are to inspire the children to learn.

Speaking during the 7th edition of The Total School Support Seminar/Exhibition with the theme: “Inspiring the Future” in Lagos last week, Amosun said that the realm of education had been changing with the advancement of technology, adding that education should be made affordable and ac-cessible for all citizens if the country must develop.

She also noted that that the quality of education a country gives its citizens de-termines, to a large extent, the magnitude of political stability and technological ad-vancement of such country.

Explaining the concept of effective teach-ing further, Amosun said, “If we are to re-alise Article 13 of the United Nations’’ 1966 International Convention on Economic, So-cial and Cultural Right, which recognises the right of everyone to an education, as much as possible, educators must ensure effective learning for our children and in a conducive environment.”

Meanwhile, the Principal Consultant, Edumark, the organiser of the seminar, Mrs. Yinka Ogunde, said that no nation could de-velop without a serious commitment by the government towards the education of its people.

She said there must be focused determi-nation “by our leaders to ensure we raise a generation that can bring about the Nigeria that we all dream of. The process must en-sure that our children have access to quality education. It must ensure that teachers, who have the task of raising new generation of Nigerians, are equipped to inspire them.”

The Academic Staff Union of Uni-versities (ASUU), Taraba State University chapter, has said that

on the state government should give cash-backing to the N100 million cheque issued to it.

It said that sit would suspend its three-month-old strike as soon as the state gov-ernment fulfilled this condition.

The Union chairman Dr. Reuben Jona-than disclosed this in Jalingo on Tues-day while reacting to the call by the gov-ernment that the union should suspend the strike.

It should be trecalled that the state government gave the union a bounced cheque for N100 million in March, as part payment for the lecturers’ out-standing allowances of over N400 mil-lion.

Jonathan, however, urged the govern-ment to fulfill its commitments.

Amosun’s wife urges technology education

ASUU gives Taraba govt condition for strike suspension

tunboSun ogundare

Corruption no doubt is a significant factor in the unprecedented decay in

the Nigerian tertiary education-al system. A recent article by Professor Goolam Mohamedb-hai, a former vice-chancellor of the University of Mauritius in the global edition of the univer-sity world news (June 5 2015), highlighted the negative impact

geria. The first and most impor-tant is the subvention from the institutional proprietors namely, the federal or state governments, and the many funding parastat-als. The second source is what is popularly referred to as the internally generated revenues (IGR).

Internally generated rev-enues are derived mainly from fees charged by the various insti-

tutional administrators on a year-ly basis to make up for the short-falls in funds from the proprietors. Though the fees that largely make up the IGRS in some institutions have risen to the level of those charged by some privately owned universities, there has been no im-provements in infrastructure and facilities in these institution. It is our belief that the basic underly-ing problem is corruption.

Apart from fees paid by the regular students, the need to broaden the internally generated revenue base is the reason for the flourishing non NUC approved programmes in Nigerian univer-sities. These consist of the variety of part time programmes includ-ing the distant learning centres and the week-end programmes, the pre-degree programmes and diploma programmes. However, these programmes often add little or no value to their patrons in terms of knowledge and skills acquired because of corruption in their operation. Many lectur-ers just take advantage of the cor-ruption in the system and embark on their own internally generated rev

Deputy Vice-Chancellor,(Development), Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Prof. Felix Salako; Deputy Vice-Chancellor, (Academics), Prof. Waheed Adekojo and Chairman on the occasion, Prof. Bola Okuneye during the 6th In-house Annual Workshop, organised by the University Secretarial Staff Association (USSA), in collaboration with the National Association of Professional Secretarial Staff of Nigeria (NAPSSON), FUNAAB chapter, recently.

Jubilation as firm donates borehole, library to Lagos schoolTunbosun ogundare

Pupils and teachers of Local Government Primary School, Ikeja, Lagos went into jubila-

tion last Thursday as Nielsen Nige-ria Limited inaugurated and hand-ed over a functional borehole and library to the school authorities.

Nielsen Nigeria, which also do-nated some textbooks to the library of the 63-year-old school, is a perfor-mance management and consumer insights firm operating in over 100 countries around the world.

Handing over the projects to the school, Managing Director of the company, Mr. Lampe Omoyele said the company took the initiative as part of its corporate social respon-sibilities on education to contribute to the development of the sector.

He explained that that the com-pany had made it a practice to support educational institutions as well as students meaningfully knowing full-well the importance of education to the development of the economy.

He noted that the donation of the projects was in commemoration of the company’s 2015 Global Impact Day celebration.

With the two projects, pupils and teachers of the school can now

boast of potable water and func-tional library capable of serving the school community effectively.

Omoyele however promised to extend the gesture to many other schools in the country, saying gov-ernment cannot all alone provide for education and other needs of the citizenry.

Appreciating the company for the donation, the Assistant Head Teacher of the school, Mrs. Eliza-beth Akapo said accessing potable water now in the school premises would stop both the students and teachers from going elsewhere to look for this all essential commod-ity for use including drinking when necessary.

She also said with the library wearing a new look and stored with relevant books, pupils as well as teachers would be encouraged to make use of the facility.

“That is why we are most grate-ful to Nielsen Nigeria and members of staff for the love, care and sup-port,” she stressed. The school stu-dents’ population is 280 against 30 teachers.

In her remark, the Education Secretary of Ikeja Local Govern-ment, Mrs. Bolanle Shittu gave ku-dos to the donor, saying the donated facilities would be greatly impactful on the school community.

Experts sensitise students on earth depletion

L-R: Principal, Federal Science and Technical College (FSTC), Yaba, Lagos, Rev. Chris Ugorji; Managing Director, Vodacom Business Africa, Mr. Guy Clarke; Co-ordinating Inspector, Federal Inspectorate Service, Lagos, Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs. Ada Ibrahim-Alfa and Vice Principal, FSTC, Mrs. Jane Nwanah dur-ing the hand-over and inauguration of 220KVA generator and ICT equipment donated by Vodacom to the college last Thursday

ABUAD N1bn In’t School begins, revives HSC

Tunbosun ogundare

The students of Federal Science and Techni-cal College, Yaba, Lagos

hosted their counterparts from CMS Grammar School, Bariga; Federal Government College, Ijanikin, Angus Memorial High School and others last Thursday to a seminar where they were sensitised on how best to manage natural resources and human ac-tivities to make the environment friendly to all.

The forum, organised by FSTC’s Conservation Club as a

maiden edition was to commem-orate this year’s World Environ-ment Day with the theme: “Sev-en billion dreams: One planet, consume with care.”

In her keynote address, Head of Conservation and Ecology, Lagos State Ministry of Envi-ronment, Mrs. Titilayo Raji told the students to cultivate habit of reducing waste and recycling of used items, saying doing so would in no small measure re-duce burning and other activi-ties that can deplete the earth.

She also told them to stand up against indiscriminating dispose of refuse inside drain-

ages and flood in their neigh-borhoods, saying it was only friendly environment that can sustain economic development anywhere in the world.

She therefore encouraged participants who are yet to have climate or conservation clubs in their schools to form one and make it functional.

Earlier in his speech, the chairman on the occasion and Senior Environmental Officer, Nigerian Ports Authority, Mr. Omiyi Kelvin Ehijele told partic-ipants to take the message of the forum to their peers and family members, noting that awareness

saidaT alausa

Again, relief has come the way of 32 brilliant but indigent students as a not-for profit making organisation,

Wilson Badejo Foundation awarded them scholarships in Lagos, last week.

With the new set, a total of 207 people have benefited from the scheme in the last eight years.

Speaking during the presentation of award at the foundation’s 8th Annual lec-ture, Founder and Chairman of the foun-dation, Dr. Wilson Badejo said the aim is to help the students have access to functional education which they cannot afford due to financial constraint.

He disclosed that the lecture series cen-tres on his birthday anniversary annually which he has also chosen to celebrate by identifying with the downtrodden masses of the society who by reasons other than their faults have been schemed out of the main-stream of the economic system.

“Though I have friends among the high and mighty in our society whom I can invite to celebrate with me in a grandiose fashion, but I have chosen the path of my mentor, Je-sus Christ who during His earthly ministry was always in the company of the society’s lowly men and women”, he said.

The cleric said youths represent the most vibrant and productive of all segments of the society and neglecting them means to draw back the hands of the clock of the na-tion’s socio- economic and political develop-ment.

He therefore urged the government to put in place programmes designed to transform the youths into responsible citizens.

In his lecture, titled: “Nigeria, entrenched poverty and the growing underprivileged class: What blueprint for positive affirma-tive change,” Prof. Edward Oyewo of the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos said Nigeria is a nation that is in abundance but bedeviled by the scourge of poverty.

He said poverty of the spirit was what is seen in wanton corruption in the country so much that politicians amass wealth that cannot finish even to their fourth genera-tion.

The former students of Fiditi Gram-mar School, Fiditi, Oyo State, Lagos branch will this Sunday hold their

monthly general meeting at 30, Adedoyin Street, Ogba, Ikeja.

The major agenda of the forum is the election of new leaders to steer the affairs of the alumni association.

Welfare of members and the develop-ment of the school will also be discussed.

abiodun nejo ADO EKITI

The founder of Afe Ba-balola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare

Afe Babalola, has said that the International School of the university would take off in September with a view to imbibe academic and moral excellence on the future lead-ers from infancy.

He said that the ABUAD International School, which gulped over one billion naira, comprised creche; nursery school, primary school; ju-nior and senior secondary schools; and post-secondary school.

Aare Babalola, a legal luminary said the interna-tional school was designed to enable children receive func-tional and qualitative round education from early age and to prepare them for univer-sity and beyond.

According to him, “We intend to make it a model and of international stan-dard like ABUAD where the children here will be able to compete favourably with their peers overseas.

“Children will learn

Badejo tasks govt on youth transformation

Fiditi Grammar School alumni meet

and advocacy are paramount for people to understand what envi-ronmental issues are all about.

In his remark, the principal and director of the host school, Rev. Chris Ugorji said the es-sence of the seminar was to catch the students young so that they would not only preach the message to others but also live by it to adulthood.

Represented by the vice-principal (Academic, Science 1), Mr. Gbolahan Oladoyinbo, the principal promised that the school would sustain the club and make it activities public-oriented.

international languages from early age. They will learn to work on the com-puter from age one and as well have access to world-class sporting facilities”.

He said the purpose of reviving the post-secondary school certificate where Higher School Certificates would be awarded was to ensure students are exposed to necessary subjects that would give them the neces-sary exposure and maturity before they gained admis-sion to university to study certain courses.

He said: “Products of school certificate or senior school certificate are not ma-ture. That is why we need to revisit the HSC scheme to en-sure only mature student go to study certain courses like Law. In England, GCE Ad-

vanced L e v e l is re-quired t o s t u d y Law, we should toe that line.”

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 21Education TodayThursday, June 18, 2015

Badejo

dation of the governing council was report-ed, the institution has been immersed in fresh rounds of trouble with different groups singing discordant tunes in their reactions to the development.

For instance, the UniOsun chapter of the Non Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, NASU described the recommendation for sack of the officers as a step in the right direction.

This was however contrary to the position of their academic counterparts (ASUU), who, in a statement signed by Dr. Seye Abiona, its chairman, condemned the governing council for recommending to the Visitor to the uni-versity that the vice chancellor and others be sacked.

ASUU said the recommendation was in bad fate and pre-emptive since the white paper on the report submitted by the Prof. Adebiyi Daramola-led panel instituted by the visitor to investigate causes of the crisis has not been released.

Similarly, the only ASUU delegate at the council meeting where the decision to recom-mend the affected officers for sack, Prof. Gbo-lagade in a letter detailing what transpired at the meeting said: “ I wish to state categorical-ly and with all sense of assertion that I was the only delegate at the council meeting who registered my non-acceptance of the Coun-cil’s decision.

“I note, as part of reasons to the council members, that I am of the opinion that the decision is not appropriate at the moment, given the fact that a Visitation Panel on the crises in the University, to which the Coun-cil is also a party, was already set up by the Visitor and the said panel had submitted its report to the Visitor which shall be imple-mented by the Visitor.

“I reminded the Governing Council that the Panel was set up by the Visitor to look into all the issues causing crises in the Uni-versity one of which is the abrupt suspen-sion of the principal officers among other issues. Consequently, taking this further step of recommending the Vice-Chancellor for re-moval and termination of the appointments of the Registrar and Bursar is a premature action which would frustrate the good ef-forts of the Visitation Panel as graciously conducted by capable hands in the academia with good years of experience in crises man-agement and who had submitted a detailed report to the Visitor.

“The said panel had submitted its report, which I am aware the Visitor is thoroughly considering before the release of the white paper on the crises involving the manage-ment and the Governing Council among other issues. It is very key that the Govern-ing Council careful evaluate the situation without any haste before reaching an objec-tive position on the issues.”

However, NASU in a statement signed by

its chairman, Mr. Isaiah Fayemi; secretary Suleman Olugbeja and treasurer Mrs. Fisayo Ojeleke, said the recommendation for sack of the affected officers was rather lenient and warned the governor against taken a contrary decision to that of the Governing Council on the matter in order not to subvert justice.

Also, Association of Senior Professors of the institution, aligned with the action of the governing council saying in a statement that “we want to dissociate ourselves from the position of ASUU and others because it did not emanate from the congress of our union. In the absence of a collective ASUU congress whatever release the ASUU Chairman and his cronies have made should be disregarded by the public.

None of the principal officers affected could be reached for comment on the lat-est development but a senior lecturer in the institution, who does not want to be named, told National Mirror that all parties involved are working on securing the support of Gov-ernor Aregbesola, adding that more startling revelations should be expected because “ those involved are not ready to sheath their sword.

“The silence of the Visitor on the suspen-sion of the three officers even when ASUU demanded that the action should be reversed, suggests the governing council is winning the battle.”

Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), Prof. Adebiyi Daramola (left) with guest lecturer and Vice-Chancellor, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo- State, Prof. Igbekele Ajibefun shortly after delivering FUTA’s 69TH inaugural lecture on “Nigeria’s agricultural policy, productivity and poverty: The critical nexus,” in Akure, recently.

L-R: Actress, Funke Akindele; Administrator, Grace Children Schools,Lagos, Mrs. Tokunbo Edun and Mr. Ernest Ezenwa at the school 2015 funfair, recently.

How controversial law plunges UniOsun into crisisCONTINUED FROM PAGE 19

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net22 Education Today Thursday, June 18, 2015

Kogi teachers groan over unpaid salaries union and the board members of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).

He explained that if the state government had followed the law which mandated it to also contribute to the funding of basic education, the problem would not have arisen, argu-ing that what happened is that the state government only put the burden on the local govern-ment.

According to him, the law that set up SUBEB in Kogi was

Wale IbrahImLOKOJA

The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Kogi State chapter has

blamed the state government for the salary and other allow-ances related problems bedev-iling teachers of basic educa-tion in the state.

The state Chairman of the union, Mr. Suleiman Abdul-lahi disclosed this while speak-ing with journalists shortly after a meeting between the

signed by former governor Ibrahim Idris in 2005, it stipu-lated that the financing of SUBEB should be carried out by the state and local govern-ments but this is not the case. So if the state government has been responding in this regard, many of the problems would have been solved.

Abdullahi noted that a com-mittee had been set up headed by the Secretary to State Gov-ernment Professor Olugbe-miro Jegede to look into the matter for purpose of resolv-ing it permanently. He pointed out that apart from November and December salaries and

A frontline civil engineer, Mayne David-West, has been honored with the Fellowship Award of the

Nigerian Academy of Engineering. At the academy’s 2015 annual lecture, Da-

vid-West, a Principal of Pearl Consultants, was recognised for his professional and mer-itorious contributions to the civil engineer-ing practice in Nigeria spanning 37 years.

A member of COREN, among other six engineering bodies locally and abroad, Da-vid-West was honored for “NICE Award of Professional Excellence in Recognition of exceptional accomplishments as a Civil En-gineer”.

The erudite engineering consultant, who believes engineering is a medium to express himself and his creativity, has over 200 ex-citing projects to his credit, including the 27km Port Harcourt Ring Road Design with first class cable-stayed bridge, the East-West coastal road design (Calabar-Lagos) strad-dling 706 km and such other cable-stayed remarkable works in Rivers State.

David-West, a native of Buguma in Rivers State and better known as a renaissance en-gineer is married to Juliet and blessed with children.

Teachers in Lagos State have been advised to use local illustrations while teaching in order to expose

students to their culture and restore moral and value system in the country.

Director-General, Education Quality Assurance, Lagos State Ministry of Educa-tion, Mrs. Ronke Soyombo, gave the advice recently at a sensitisation workshop for Pro-prietors of Private Schools in Lagos.

She said that the use of indigenous refer-ences would ensure effective learning by the pupils and students of primary and second-ary schools.

“When children know their culture, know where they are coming from and where they are heading, it contributes to their character-moulding, which is para-mount in education,” she said.

Soyombo stressed that teachers should use the nation’s famous people as examples, to instill Nigeria culture and history in the children, in order for them to appreciate Ni-gerian heroes.

She also said that it is good to send chil-dren to British schools, “but we should not lose our culture; there should be a synergy between our culture and the British cul-ture.”

She reiterated that the nation is losing its culture, “and the earlier we get back on track, the better.”

The DG also said that History should be re-introduced in schools, with Nigerian fa-mous history included in the syllabus.

David-West bags NAE award

David-West

Use local illustrations in class, teachers urged

allowances is the cumulative N25 billion balance on the min-imum wage since 2011.

Speaking on the unpaid leave grant for teachers in ba-sic schools, the chairman said the SBEB blamed the educa-tion secretary of various lo-cal governments for it, saying they are yet to forward names to board for onward submis-sion to the government to ef-fect payment.

He therefore however plead-ed with members of the union to remain calm and wait for further directive as govern-ment had set up a committee to look into the issue.

Corruption and funding in Nigerian universities

Children showcase talents at Indomie exhibition

L-R: Indomie Fan Club Coordinator, Mrs. Faith Joshua; Head, Indomie Fan Club, Sony Dorai and Chief Operating Officer, Dufil Prima Foods Plc, Adhi Narto during the “Indomie Team-up with Mum” art exhibition held at the company’s headquarters in Lagos, recently.

Billions of naira collected as fees are expended on

routine recurrent administrative headings

Kila

Corruption no doubt is a significant factor in the unprecedented decay in the Nigerian tertiary educational system. A recent article by Profes-

sor Goolam Mohamedbhai, a former vice-chancellor of the University of Mauritius in the global edition of the university world news (June 5 2015), highlighted the negative impact of corruption on the African education system and predicts a worsening situation with increas-ing students’ enrolment. Unless concrete plans are put in place to checkmate this evil, the educational sector will remain in shambles no matter how much fund is thrown at it.

There are two principal sources of funds for the opera-tion of public universities in Nigeria. The first and most important is the subvention from the institutional propri-etors namely, the federal or state governments, and the many funding parastatals. The second source is what is popularly referred to as the internally generated revenues (IGR).

Internally generated revenues are derived mainly from fees charged by the various institutional administrators on a yearly basis to make up for the shortfalls in funds from the proprietors. Though the fees that largely make up the IGRS in some institutions have risen to the level of those charged by some privately owned universities, there has been no improvements in infrastructure and facilities in these insti-tution. It is our belief that the basic underlying problem is corruption.

Apart from fees paid by the regular students, the need to broaden the internally generated revenue base is the reason for the flourishing non NUC approved programmes in Nige-rian universities. These consist of the variety of part time programmes including the distant learning centres and the week-end programmes, the pre-degree programmes and di-ploma programmes. However, these programmes often add little or no value to their patrons in terms of knowledge and skills acquired because of corruption in their operation. Many lecturers just take advantage of the corruption in the system and embark on their own internally generated rev-

enue drive through sales of books and grades!The first indication of a lack of accountability in the sys-

tem is the finding that many institutional heads do not know the exact number of students that are enrolled in their in-stitution. This may initially sound like sheer incompetence, but I dare say, incompetence arising from corruption in the employment process which allows round pegs to occupy square holes. Though nearly all year one students proceed to the second and subsequent levels of their university study, many are not registered officially and the number of stu-dents in the system thereafter remains unknown. This is an ideal scenario for the alleged massive corruption in the university system.

The second and equally absurd, is the inability of the au-thorities to collect fees from the students after the first year of study. Collection of fees from returning students appears to present an insurmountable challenge to administrators of some Nigerian universities. Many students actually gradu-ate without paying more than the first year fees and some-

how manage to collect their certificates by further exploiting the corruption in the system. The university authorities ap-pear to make up for the resulting shortfall by increasing the fees payable in the first year, which is the only one they are sure of!

A third and occasionally more important aspect of cor-ruption in university finances is the issue of ‘unbudgeted expenditure’. Spending of available funds on items that benefits a few individuals and lack of accountability in the disbursements probably contribute more to the scarcity of funds for essential projects than loss to poor book keeping. The purchase and fuelling of official cars and funding of overseas trips are often prioritized ahead of essential labo-ratory equipment and reagents. Often, the university ad-ministrators seem to consider the administrative unit as the centre of the ‘university world’ and the academic units as peripheral. Billions of Naira collected as fees are ex-pended on routine recurrent administrative headings, and hardly trickles down to the centres of academic activities.

All these are possible because the proprietors of public universities in Nigeria do not know the total amount of revenue accruing to their institutions nor do they monitor how such revenues are spent. I recommend that the uni-versity administrations should be held accountable for all revenue accruing to their institutions, including the inter-nally generated components. Universities must be made to prepare and defend budgets and obtain approvals based on all expected revenue before the appropriate authorities on a yearly basis.

Furthermore, not more than a quarter of all accruing revenue should be spent on university administration. The remaining three quarters should be devoted to improving the academic programmes which are directly beneficial to the students. Such should include provision of adequate lec-ture and laboratory spaces, routine laboratory reagents and research materials and audio visual materials. This would lead to rapid improvement in teaching and learning environ-ment and an improvement on the quality of graduates.

Saidat alauSa

In line with its commit-ment of showcasing the creative abilities of chil-

dren, Dufil Prima Foods Plc, makers of Indomie instant noodles, recently held a cre-ative exhibition at the compa-ny’s headquarters in Lagos.

The exhibition was aimed at celebrating the creative works of children who sent entries for its ‘Team up With Mum’ competition geared towards strengthening the bond between mother and

child.The Indomie ‘Team up

With Mum’ competition which lasted for a month was exclusive to members of In-domie fan Club.

The Indomie Fan Club is an initiative of the company. The aim of the club was to create an environment of learning, fun, excitement and bonding for children between the ages of 5 to 12.

In partnership with their mums, the children were required to come up with ex-citing designs using Indomie cartons and packs. The com-

petition recorded over 37, 000 entries.

Speaking during the exhi-bition, Indomie Fan Club Co-ordinator, Mrs. Faith Joshua, stated that the competition served as a platform to deep-en the existing bond between mother and child while also exposing the creativity of the child.

She said, “The exhibition is an avenue to showcase the creative abilities of the chil-dren and to also bring out the best in them. By the time we are done with the final selec-tion process, the top three en-

CIAPS holds seminar on fuel subsidy Stakeholders and var-

ious professionals will tomorrow con-

verge on Lagos to discuss the thorny issue of fuel subsidy in Nigeria.

The round table, tagged: “Fuel subsidy: A closer look” will hold inside au-ditorium of the Centre for International Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS), Ikeja, the organ-iser of the conference.

The Vice-Chancellor, Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State, Prof. Mobo-laji Aluko; Mr. Henry Boyo, a public analyst; Mr. Tosin Adeyanju and the Executive Director of Conscience Ni-geria are billed as speakers and panelist for the event.

The Director of the cen-tre, Prof. Anthony Kila in a press release, said discus-sants would analsye past and future of fuel subsidy, its effect on the country and its relation to the current fuel scarcity and proffer a practicable solution to the crisis.

He noted that many legis-lators, representatives from civil organisations and

members of the public are expected to be part of the programme.

Kila, a Professor of Strat-egy and Development at Oxford University, United Kingdom explained that the roundtable would be part of the professional training for some students of Media and Journalism of the cen-tre. The students according to him are Fatima Melissa Turay, who is their leader; Charity Azubike; Shimat-ever Sunday and Omolara Abioye.

He said CIAPS is the first paperless institution in Af-rica and runs career-orient-ed programmes aimed at getting graduates and pro-fessional into jobs in their chosen professions.

tries will be rewarded with cash prizes of 100, 000, 75, 000 and 50, 000 respectively while a lot of consolation prizes will be given out.”

It would be recalled that dur-ing the recent children’s day cel-ebrations where Indomie feted over 70, 000 children across Ni-geria, Head, Public Relations and Event, Dufil Prima Foods Plc, Mr. Tope Ashiwaju, stated that Indomie is a children cen-tric brand and will continue to support causes and activities that will help their development both mentally and physically and ensure they are happy.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Education Today 23Thursday, June 18, 2015

Ali Toyin Abdul300L LAW UNILORIN

Faculty of Engineering, Uni-versity of Ilorin, Kwara State was beehive of ac-

tivities recently when students exhibited their innovations at the annual Projects exhibition of the faculty.

This year edition tagged EPEX 2015, featured ten students from various departments in the fac-ulty.

Two students, Obinna Isiwek-peni and Hafeez Olajide, kept the judges and audience agape when they designed a Cloud-based Home Automation System. With that innovation, a person can powered his appliances at home

Edited by: Saidat Alausasaidat_alausa@yahoo.com 08027633686

MSSN UNILAG targets 1,000 muslims for free meal during Ramadan

Group wants more girls enrolled for sciencesEddy uwoghirEn 300L, MED AND SUR. UNIBEN

Worried by the decline in enrolment of girls in science related disci-

plines, Organisation of Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD), University of Be-nin (UNIBEN) chapter organised a one day seminar to address the issue.

The seminar which was tagged: “Science is fun and inno-vative” was held last week.

One of the participants, Dr. Edith Odia of Business Adminis-tration Department said the semi-nar was borne out the associa-tion’s desire to encourage female participation in sciences.

In a lecture, titled: “Career Prospect in Science,” Prof. Eiche of Pharmaceutical Technology Department made it known that there were lots of career opportu-nities available to girls in science related fields.

She observed that the age long notion that science was difficult, inadequate learning materials, poor motivation, quality of teach-ers, and dearth of libraries in schools were responsible for the decline.

She called on the government to properly fund the teaching of science in schools stressing that no nation developed without ad-equate investment in Science.

MifTAudEEn rAjiUNILAG

The Muslim Students’ Soci-ety of Nigeria (MSSN), Uni-versity of Lagos (UNILAG),

branch has said that no fewer than 1000 Muslims will benefit from its free meal on campus during Rama-dan.

The President of the branch, AbdulRasheed Adeoye, told Cam-pus News in an interview that the programme was aimed at creating more awareness for the new month and making the fasting easy for Muslims.

He said having considered many factors, one of which is the stress of academic activities for students, the feeding scheme will provide for the pre-dawn meal and during breaking of fast at sunset in order to relieve them of the rigorous stress of cooking. “Before now we do it for only 15 days during but this year we got more sponsors that is why we will do the feeding from the first to the last day,” he explained.

UNILORIN engineering students showcase innovations at exhibitionwhile elsewhere.

While commending the two students for the ground-breaking design, one of the judges, Ibrahim Ogundeko of Samsung West Afri-ca, promised to market the project beyond the precinct of the school.

The design clinched the first prize and the most innovative award.

A lady, Abimbola Lois, a 500 Lev-el civil engineering student, stole the show when she was declared the only female among the par-ticipants. Her project titled, Design

professionals in whom we are well pleased. We have no fear concerning the services you are about to offer the world. This is because we know the quality of lecturers you have all passed through.

He noted that the introduction of PHARM D programme by the university had placed them ahead of their peers.

He therefore urged them to go on to create a niche wherever they find themselves.

The class representative of the class, Andrew Saba thanked all those present after which there was presentation of awards and cutting of cake.

“Graduating with the PHARM D certificate is a rare privilege. I thank the good Lord for making the course a possibility in UNIBEN. The certificate has faced many hurdles yet God has made it sacrosanct. We hope to serve hu-manity in the best way we can and proffer solu-tion to man’s major health problems,” he said.

Remembering what it was like during the hectic six years of study, one of the graduate, Rosemary Chibogwu stated that one of her most troubled moment was whenever the fac-ulty examination officer was about to paste re-sults. According to her, that was always a source of palpitation for her.

and Modeling of a Typical House-hold Rainwater Harvesting Sys-tem, received applauds and com-mendation of the panel of judges.

She went home with the third prize.

In his welcome remark, the president of the faculty, Abdulrah-man Abdulhakeem, a 500 Level Engineering student, revisited the ideas behind the programme and the purpose it would serve on the students.

He said the programme is ex-pected to stimulate the innovative

Sponsor of the of Sir B.E.I Nwofor Annual International Inter-University Moot Court Competition, Sir Beluolisa Nwofor (left) handing over the trophy to University of Benin team, winner of the competition held at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, recently.

Pharmacy graduates at the luncheon.

EzEkiEl EfEobhokhAn 400L, PHARMACY, UNIBEN

The graduating class of University of Benin, Edo State holds a luncheon last week to commemorate the end of their

programme in the institution.Present at the event were academic staffs,

non- academic staffs of the faculty and labora-

and technical skills among stu-dents and to motivate them.

The panel of judges was drawn from four faculties in the univer-sity as well as the engineering in-dustry. At the end of the competi-tion, the first prize winner, second prize winner and third prize win-ner went home with a cash prize of N70, 000, N50, 000 and N30, 000 respectively. While the winners of the two special awards, best eco-friendly and most innovative proj-ects, were each presented a plaque of recognition.

tory attendants. Addressing the newly graduated students the Dean of the faculty, Prof. Akerele en-couraged them that the whole world is waiting for them to show what stuff they are made of.

His words, “You have all been certified excel-lent in character and in learning, you are the new

UNIBEN pharmacy graduates celebrate

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net24 Thursday, June 18, 2015

DG NIMASA, 38 others bag PhD from UNIPORT Francis EzEm

The University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has conferred

the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Admin-istration and Safety Agency NIMASA, Dr. Ziakede Pat-rick Akpobolokemi and 38 others with its Doctorate De-grees.

The NIMASA boss was conferred with a doctorate degree in Strategic Market-ing Initiatives and Business Performance of the Nigeri-an Maritime industry from the Management Sciences Faculty of the university.

The event was part of the activities that marked the 30th convocation ceremony of the university, held at the weekend.

Dr Akpobolokemi, while speaking shortly after the conferment of the doctorate degree, thanked the Univer-sity for providing a condu-cive environment for him to continue his academic quest in order to strengthen his capacity to provide services to the nation’s maritime in-dustry.

According to the DG, his area of specialisation pro-vided him with valuable insights as his research documented the best prac-tices in Strategic Marketing Performance Management

Experts chart ways for human capital devtEmEka chukwuEmEka, FCE (T) UMUNZE

As part of efforts in development of human capital through edu-cation prospects and challeng-

es in developing countries, profession-als, as well as students and educators recently converged on Federal College of Education (Technical) Umunze, Anambra state to brainstorm and sug-gest ways of developing and maintain-ing human resources capital in differ-ent fields.

The conference was organised by the International Association for Pro-moting Professional Excellence in Re-search and Education (INTAPPERE).

In his lead paper, entitled: “Educa-tion and Human Capital Development: Changing Global Dynamics and Skill-Set,” Prof. Ben Osisioma of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra

Challenges In Developing Countries” Rev. Uchechukwu Felix of St. John’s University, New York, argued that the developing countries (Africa in gen-eral, and Nigeria in particular), are in need of development, and that the most promising way of achieving this desired goal (development) is by devel-oping the human capital through edu-cation.

Earlier in his address, the Provost of the college, Prof. Josephat Ogbuagu represented by Prof. Ezimma Nnabuife of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka said for any nation to be adjudged as de-veloped, the human beings there must be above board.

He added that an important ap-proach to nation development is its human, education on the other hand is the intellectual laboratory of any nation and the engine that propels the economy through human resources”.

Edited by: Saidat Alausasaidat_alausa@yahoo.com 08027633686

Vice-Chancellor, University of Portharcourt, Prof. Joseph Ajienka (left) with DG, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA during the conferment of doctorate degree on the DG at the institution’s convocation, last Saturday.

Cross section of students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, displaying their certificates L-R: Mr. Odey John; Ms. Onashile Peace; Dr. Orifowomo; Odunola Akinwale and Mr. Amuda Toheeb at the programme.

State, observed that human develop-ment is concerned with the richness of human life, rather than the richness of the economy.

He noted that education is the pivot of national transformation and devel-opment, adding that dysfunctional edu-cational system would perpetuate and deepen poverty and underdevelopment in the country.

And consequently according to him, resource rich economies like Nigeria, would report abysmal performance in human development indices.

Osisioma therefore said that there is need to raise a generation of men and women that think critically, solve com-plex multi-disciplinary and open-ended problems, create and innovate through communicate and collaboration.

Presenting the second paper titled, “Development of Human Capital Through Education: Prospects And

(MPM).This, it was gathered was

based on the survey results of various firms and institu-tions in the maritime sector both in Nigeria and any-where in the globe.

A major feature of the convocation ceremony was the installation of the Emir of Gwandu, Alhaji Muham-mad Iliyasu Bashar, a re-tired Major General, as the Chancellor of the university.

President Muhammadu Buhari who was the special guest at the event, said the Federal Government was committed to improving the lots of the educational sec-tor in the country through proper funding.

The president, who was represented by the Execu-tive Secretary of Nigerian Universities Commission NUC, Prof. Julius Okojie, promised that education would receive the needed budgetary allocation under the present administration.

While describing the education sector as key to national development, Pres-ident Buhari pledged that the goal of his administra-tion is to provide modern facilities, rehabilitate and upgrade existing ones in or-der to ensure that learning, teaching and research facili-ties are constantly upgraded and updated to meet inter-national standards.

OAU students win international competition saidat alausa

Students of Obafemi Awolo-wo University, Ile-Ife re-cently made Nigeria proud

at the 4th Africa Regional Round of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition held in Pretoria, South Africa.

The competition is based on a hypothetical space law dispute before the International Court of Justice; a “Case Concerning Plan-etary Defense.”

The competition yearly pres-ents a unique opportunity for African students to engage in matters of public international law of contemporary relevance to outer space, to develop their legal advocacy skills with other top universities from the region, and to interact in a unique forum for intellectual and cultural ex-change.

The Moot Problem presents

the competition during the Inter-national Astronautical Congress (IAC), in Jerusalem, Israel be-tween 12th and 16th October, 2015.

The team will compete with

the Regional Winners from Asia Pacific, Europe, and North Amer-ica.

The Obafemi Awolowo Univer-sity, Ile-Ife had previously won

the maiden Introductory Africa Regional Round in 2011 as well as the 1st and 3rd Africa Regional Rounds in 2012 and 2014, respec-tively.

issues relating to the response to a threat to the Earth posed by the risk of collision with a Near Earth Objects (NEOs).

It also addresses the utilization of natural resources of the celes-tial object, and liability for dam-ages occasioned by the NEO.

Participating Law Faculties were from the University of Pre-toria, South Africa; Mount Ke-nya University, Kenya; Makerere University, Uganda; University of Juba, South Sudan; Niger Delta University, Nigeria; and the Oba-femi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

University of Pretoria and the Obafemi Awolowo Univer-sity were finalists and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nige-ria emerged overall winners.

The team will now represent Africa during the World Finals of

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 25Thursday, June 18, 2015

Oppositional press (2)

Babcock alumni to build N250m secretariat Saidat alauSa

Babcock Univer-sity Alumni As-sociation, Ilishan

-Remo, Ogun State is set to build alumni house worth N250m in the uni-versity.

The President of the group, Dr. Owolabi Shitta stated this at the fund-raising committee inauguration recently, saying the initiative had been conceived long time ago but on hold due to land and fi-nancial constraints.

“But the leadership of the institution has donated land that can accommodate a two-storey shopping mall while we are now look-ing for money to execu-tive the project,” he ex-plained.

He disclosed that the mall which will serve

ans to support the ini-tiative which he said when completed would be one of the best in Ni-gerian universities.

Speaking at the foun-dation laying ceremony shortly after the inaugu-ration, the university’s

Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Kayode Makinde said the edifice when com-pleted would not only add to the infrastructur-al development of the institution but would help to unify graduates of the university.

L-R: Director, Babcock University Alumni Association, Mr. Adeboye Makinde; Chairman, Fund Raising Committee, Dr. Rotimi Oladele; President, Dr. Owolabi Shitta; Vice-Chancellor, Babcock University, Prof. Kayode Makinde and Dr. Adekunle Wright during the foundation laying ceremony of the university’s Alumni Association House at the institution, recently.

as a unifying force for the institution’s alumni would have shops, of-fices, event centres, and eateries, among others.

Shitta however called on the former students of the institution, and well-meaning Nigeri-

Catholic training institute secures monotechnic statusBoladale BamigBolaOSOGBO

A 31-year-old Olu-ponna Fish Farm-ing Educational

Resource Centre, Offer Centre, has been granted status of monotechnic.

The centre, established by the Emeritus Bishop of Cath-olic Arch Diocese of Ibadan, His Grace, Felix Alaba Job in 1984, in conjunction with multinational companies, has been involved in training of youths in fishery, integrat-ed farming, computer opera-tions and entrepreneurship.

Disclosing the new status during the inauguration of hostel facilities donated by ESSO Exploration and Pro-duction Nigeria Limited, EEPNL, the director of the centre, Rev. Father Macarius Olatunji said by this develop-ment, the centre would start awarding National Innova-tive Diploma.

He said the centre would now to be known and called OFFER Institute of Agricul-ture and operating in con-junction with the National Board for Technical Educa-tion.

Tracing the relation-ship between the centre and ESSO Exploration and Pro-duction Nigeria Limited, EEPNL, Olatunji said the EEPNL had in 2007 with a grant assisted the centre to complete its administrative block.

“Ever since, OFFERCen-tre in collaboration with EEPNL has jointly empow-ered 3 other sets of 20 youths each selected from across the country”. In all we have trained 8 set of youths un-der one year training pro-gramme at the centre,” he stressed.

The cleric appealed to EEPNL not to discontinue its sponsorship of training in the centre.

DESPITE the creation of the Abia State Environ-mental Protection Agency (ASEPA), headed by Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, the governorship stooge of Orji

who has taken over from his benefactor, Abia State is to-day, unequivocally, the dirtiest state in the country. It is so bad that the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) coaches cannot move due to refuse blockages of tracks. The issue became so bad that Engr. Sijuwade of the NRC had to cry out for intervention from higher authorities. Yet, the com-pensation for this inefficiency is the reward of governor-ship ticket to Okezie by Orji in perpetuation of his fiefdom and perpetration of mediocrity.

From the foregoing and other issues coming up it is easy to understand why Orji is always pelted with sachet water anytime he visits Aba. This explains why during the last prsidential campaign of former President Goodluck Jona-than in the South East, Orji did not want the President to go to Aba but for the insistence of the like of Mr. Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State who ensured that the ex-First Citizen stepped into Aba. If there were still time for Orji to constrainedly visit Aba, he would be stoned—no more kid-glove treatment with sachets of packaged water.

One of the agencies that deceived Orji is the Broadcast-ing Corporation of Abia (BCA). This is probably one of the worst, if not the worst, public information outfit in the country. All that the BCA does from morning to night is to sing the praises of the former governor and his wife. If any of them is constipated from gastronomical indulgence, the station announces it like a paid advertisement for as many times as the unprofessionals in the organsiation get to the point of imbecilic satiation with such idiocies. There can be no other newsy development other than Orji and his spouse, 24/7. I have never seen this kind of journalis-tic tragedy in my life. I am sure they will move over to the new governor and the life of stupidity goes on to the det-riment of their tax-paying audiences. The same asininity plays out in the state-owned newspaper, The Ambassador. In the same breath, most of his commissioners, SAs and the entire media team were simply incompetent, ignorant

and selfish officials who dug their employer’s grave ahead of handover!

My take in the T. A. Orji disastrous years (2007-2015) is that there was a visible lack of accountability, transparen-cy and equity in the awful administration of the state. Orji carried on as if it was a family business and rode rough-shod above anyone resident in the state. And those outside the state like me were either abducted (I shall return to this presently) or cowed to silence, if not wasted!

In 2012, there was a budget of N12.06 billion and the next year N134.14 billion. Still, as you read this there is nothing to behold in the entire state—forget the photoshop pictures and documentaries splashed across multimedia platforms in ochestration of propagandistic governance. I have de-liberately left out the 2014 budget as I learned that most of it was deployed in the emergence and potential enthrone-ment of Orji’s puppet. Okezie, at all costs by fire, by power, by pound sterling, by dollar, by naira, by any means, as the next governor of Abia State. I just hope the tribunal aborts this malarial dream! Otherwise, my state is doomed for-ever!

The establishment of the Abia State Oil Producing Ar-eas Commission by an act of parliament to ameliorate the privations of communities in the state that produce oil has turned out to be another drainpipe as such communities remain neglected while the funds for their rehabilitation are siphoned in cahoot with the regime of misappropria-tion, graft and thievishness. Unfortunately, the House of Assembly that should have checked some of these excesses has become a collusive partner in the wilful and bestial progress of the Executive. I have always insisted that what we have in Nigeria are rubber-stamp legislatures at all lev-els who cannot interrogate another arm of government because the so-called legislators have been mortally com-promised.

I can never forget the observation of Prince Arthur Eze not too long ago that Abia State was in a state of rot and needed a messianic intervention from the Presidency or any other liberator who can halt the drift. The Jonathan presidency that Prince Eze looked up to in the redemption of Abia State was indeed one of the greatest supporters/problems of Orji in his ledership vacuity, mediocrity and hopelessness. Of course, pedestrian attempts by Orji’s megaphones to burst into the mind and oupourings of Prince Eze and recreate verifiable facts on the ground end-ed in an embarrassing fiasco.

Orji’s case should be left to God as he quits to oblivion, karmic retributions and harvest of lethal seeds and land-mines that await him in either Umuahia or Abuja— God forbid he succeeds in his warped and megalomaniac sena-torial quest! I thought the Senate was meant for people with profound dignity, profuse honour, a deep sense of responsi-bility and a track record/profile of public service quintes-sence—not the obverse.

Finally, for conniving with the Abia State Commisssion-er of Police Hassan Adamu to abduct me by a combined team of 17 cops from Lagos to Umuahia handcuffed for 12 hours, driven on bumpy roads and clamped in virtually all the cells in Umuahia in unwarranted humiliation over frivilous charges of sedition, among other crazy counts, it will never be well with Theodore Ahamefula Orji, an amne-sic, vainglorious and petty-minded mongrelous ingrate. As for his rudeness, disrespect, demonization, harassment, de-scration and futile dehumanization of Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, I leave the ingratitude to posterity.

May Ochendo never find peace for the rest of his feeble life for his ruination of Abia State and other drunken atrocities against God and the human race. Amen.

Here comes the end of ochendoistic stagnancy! To God be the glory.

26 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, June 18, 2015

L-R: Interim National Secretary, Motor Dealers Association of Nigeria, Malam Suleiman Kato; Chairman, Northern Zone, Mr. Rotimi Fabiyi and Interim President, Alhaji Ibrahim Bello, during the national meeting of the association in Kaduna recently. PHOTO: NAN

27

TOLA AKINMUTIMI

The Civil Society Legisla-tive Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, has called on

President Muhammadu Buhari administration to ensure that the recommendations of the in-dependent auditors in the An-nual Reports of the Nigeria Ex-tractive Industry Transparency Initiative, NEITI in the past 10 years are immediately imple-mented.

It specifically urged the new government to make sure that about $11.6 billion (N2.32 trillion), which represents outstanding to-tal dividends arising from loans and interest repayments from Federal Government’s investment in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), among others, is also remitted into the nation’s coffers for nation-al development.

In a statement issued by its Ex-ecutive Director, Comrade Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani), on Tuesday, CISLAC observed that this figure, if verified, was more than 50 per cent of the total expen-diture in the 2015 annual budget about 10 per cent bigger than the recurrent expenditure allocation and about 75 per cent of the capi-tal budget provisions for the fiscal year.

The civil society group there-fore reiterated that this state of affairs had resulted because of lack of political will in previous

CHIDI UGWUABUJA

The visiting Chair of the global Extractive In-dustries Transparency

Initiative (EITI) Clare Short, yesterday said only the Federal Government can effectively sanction oil and gas companies indicted by Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initia-tive (NEITI) for defrauding the country.

He gave the hint during a meet-

ing of members of international board of EITI and NEITI and the Inter-ministerial task team on re-mediation, noted that government can achieve sanctions through ef-fective enforcement of the laws of Nigeria.

“The sanctions are enforce-ment of the laws of Nigeria. To insure that all the companies pay their taxes, and those taxes are properly managed and spent for the benefit of the people. The sanctions are in the hands of the government of course you know

that some international action is being taken against corruption” she said.

Short said at this crucial point in Nigeria’s history the govern-ment was better placed to drive through reforms in the oil, gas and mining industry leveraging on the well detailed analyses done by NEITI.

According to her, NEITI in its report did not only present the analyses of the problems of the oil, gas and the mining sector but also dealt with on missing or un-

explained money and how the sys-tem can be better improved so that the sector is better managed for proper benefit of the Nigerians.

She recalled that about three years ago NEITI won the Chair’s award for excellence, through its analyses which also contain what needs to be done to reform the sec-tor, making it easy for President Muhammadu Buhari’s govern-ment which has made commit-ment to eliminate corruption and reform the sector.

CISLAC seeks recovery of NLNG’s $11.6bn outstanding dividends

...Only FG can sanction indicted fi rms on NEITI audit –EITI Chair

29 35

Mixed reactions trail new Cybercrimes Act

Africa’s illicit trade value hits $50bn yearly –SON boss

Experts task corporate entities on focused CRS initiatives

BusinessNational Mirror

www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, June 18, 2015

31

administrations to implement remedial action emanating from recommendations from previous NEITI audit reports, which had been reinforced by the reports of several probe panels and Commit-tees.

It stated: “We recall that one of the President’s promises during the campaigns was to implement the recommendations from the NEITI reports and believe that the time to start is now. We are aware that lack of political will is what has long hindered the ability of

the Inter-ministerial Task Team IMTT and the Board of the NEITI to implement these recommenda-tions, block leakages and recover unremitted funds.

“CISLAC calls on the Federal Government to empower and strengthen the IMTT to effec-tively carry out its mandate. It might also be necessary to review the NETI Act 2007 to strengthen sanction mechanisms which are presently weak and probably em-power the NEITI Board or some other independent Body to en-

force more stringent sanctions on erring stakeholders outside of the usually politicized and sluggish Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation”, it added.

Acknowledging the ability and willingness of the NEITI to pro-vide necessary information to assist the Federal Government in recovering these funds, the group stated that there will be no need to invest precious time and resourc-es in setting up of any more su-perfluous Panels to conduct any fresh probes, investigations.

Dana Air

AIRLINES’ FLIGHTSCHEDULES

Abuja-Lagos 9am, 1pm, 5.28pm dailyLagos-Abuja 7am, 11am, 1.23pm,3.30pm daily Lagos-PH: 7.20AM, Ph-Abuja9.54am, Abuja-ph: 3.30pm and Ph-Lagos: 5.28pm dai-ly Lagos-Uyo: 9.20am, Uyo-Abu-ja: 11.07am, Abuja-Uyo 1.05pm, Uyo-Lagos: 3pm dailyWeekendsLagos-Abuja: 7.02am, 9am, 3.30pmAbuja-Lagos: 9am, 2.20pm and 5.28pm Lagos -Phc: 11.07amPhc-Lagos: 1.05pm Phc-Abuja: 12.51pm Abuja-Phc: 10.50am Lagos-Uyo: 9.18am Uyo-LOS -3.03pm Uyo-Abuja: 11.07amAbuja-Uyo: 1.05pm

Lagos- Abuja (Mon-Fri): 07.00, 08.50, 12.00, 16.30. Abuja- Lagos (Mon-Fri): 09.00, 14.00, 15.00, 18.30. Lagos-Yola (Mon-Fri): 8.50am. Yola-Lagos (Mon-Fri): 13.00. Lagos- PHC (Mon-Fri): 17.00. PHC-Lagos: 19.00. Abu-ja-Yola: 11.00. Yola-Abuja: 13.00. Lagos-Abuja (Sat): 08.00, 08.50.Abuja-Lagos (Sat): 10.00, 15.00. Lagos-PHC (Sat): 17.00. PHC-La-gos (Sat): 19.00. Lagos-Yola (Sat): 08.50. Yola-Lagos (Sat): 13.00

Lag-Abj: 06.50, 13.30, 16.30, 19.45 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun), 12.30 (Sun) 16.45 (Sat) Abj-Los: 07.30, 13.00, 19.00 (Mon-Fri/Sat, 10.30, 14.30, 19.30 (Sun, 18.30 Sat) Lag-Benin: 07.45, 11.00, 15.30 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun) 12.30 (Sun 15.30 (Sat)Ben-Lag: 09.15, 12.30, 17.00 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun) 17.00 (Sat) 14.00 (Sun)Lag-Owe: 7.45am, 2pm daily

Med-View Airline

Aero Contractors

…implementation of other NEITI audit recommendations

BEDC, Elizade varsity sign MoU on human capacity devtThe Benin Electricity Dis-

tribution Company has signed a Memorandum

of Understanding (MoU) with Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State, to promote human capital development in the pow-er sector.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of BEDC, Mrs. Funke Osibodu, told journalists in Benin, Edo State, that the MoU was part of efforts of the Disco’s core investor, Vi-geo Power Ltd, to train new and existing personnel of the firm on best technical practices for

addressing the needs of electric-ity consumers in the country.

Osibodu according to a state-ment, explained that the five-year partnership would cover the cost of training facilities in the university and remunera-tion of staff drawn from both in-house academy and the private institution.

She said that the Disco had recruited about 200 graduates in relevant fields in electricity management who had received on-the-job and rotational train-ing and were set to commence the classroom training in the

university, which she said shared the vision of the com-pany.

“This signing of a Memoran-dum of Agreement commits us to work together closely towards our common goal, which is grooming a crop of skilled work-force as a way of building capac-ity in the power sector.

“Each party will pursue nu-merous significant activities such as effective classroom trainings, fieldwork, physical ac-tivities and community develop-ment projects to mention a few,” she added.

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Valentine Aletor, described the initiative as a timely intervention to ad-dress major challenges such as human capital deficit and cor-ruption practice in the power sector.

Aletor said, “VIPL-EU joint initiative is to engender gov-ernment-industry-university partnership in research and in-novation for the projection of local initiatives, which would ultimately lead to the building of home-made alternative, in-digenous technologies that are

ISAIAH ERHIAWARIEN

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), disclosed in a re-

port published in Rome, that the Europe’s 50-million-strong mi-grant population sent home 110 billion dollars in 2014.

It stated that the funds consti-tuted a critical lifeline for mil-lions of individual households, helping families raise their living standards above subsistence and vulnerability levels.

“It will help with improved health, education, housing and levels of entrepreneurship and supporting the livelihood of 150 million people.’’

The Fund reported that 109.4 billion dollars were wired from rich Western European nations and from Russia to poorer parts of Europe.

It said that the benefiting coun-tries include Balkans and former Soviet bloc countries, Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus and Asia.

IFAD said that a report from the UN’s rural development bank indicated that the top five senders of so-called migrant remittances were Russia, Britain, German, France and Italy.

It added that the top five benefi-ciaries were Nigeria, China, Mo-rocco, India and Uzbekistan,.

The Fund’s President, Dr. Kanayo Nwanze, said the figures were released amid growing in-tra-European tensions on migra-tion.

He said that mostly, with Italy complaining of receiving insuffi-cient solidarity from the EU peers, as it deals with a record number of sea arrivals from North Africa.

Nwanze argued that even though they should not be seen as a substitute for development aid, yet the remittances brought a measure of hope and stability to their countries of origin, and the international community could do more to help maximise their positive effect.

He stated that if the G20 objec-tives to reduce money transfer costs to five per cent from the cur-rent levels of eight per cent were to be met, migrants could send an extra 2.5 billion dollars to help their families back home, adding that the immense potential of re-mittances for development was still largely under-utilised.

He said that in spite of this it was within IFAD’s capacity to make every-hard earned euro, ruble, krona or Swiss franc sent home count even more.

Europe’s migrants remit $110bn in 2014 –IFAD

easily adaptable to solving the emerging technical and engi-neering problems that have be-devilled electricity generation and distribution in Nigeria.

He also noted that the part-nership would serve as a major incentive to improve the univer-sity’s drive for global excellence in technological innovation, adding that the second phase of the programme would focus on the “production of light equip-ment and accessories to effect minor routine repairs within the power sector.”

OSAHON JULIUSYENAGOA

Bayelsa State Government in collaboration with One Earth, One Ocean, Ger-

many-based Non Governmental Organization, (NGO), on Tuesday commenced a clean-up of the oil spill sites in the state with Kalaba Community, Yenagoa Local Gov-ernment Area, as the exercise’s flag-off point.

Speaking at Kalaba spill site op-erated by Agip, Commissioner for Environment, Mr Iniruo Wills,

said that the state was collabo-rating with the German environ-mental group on the project, not-ing that the state’s environment remained the most polluted in the Niger Delta region.

The Commissioner, who as-sured that the clean-up exercise would be extended to other pol-luted sites in the next phase, ex-plained that the Ministry was conducting the clean-up on a test basis with new organic material that absorbs crude oil on water and marshy terrain.

According to him, the NGO

had donated the Polymer based chemical and oil binder for trial purposes.

“We are conducting this pilot clean-up test with the materials provided by the German Environ-mental group in consultation with National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency.

“The German NGO is provid-ing the polymer based absorbent binder to be tested by the oil spill agency on oil polluted water, we have seen demonstration of the material at presentations but to-day we had it tested on a spill site.

SYLVA EMEKA-OKEREKE

Leaders across the global have warned against the risk associated with cli-

mate change, saying such risk cannot be ignored.

Agreeing to work together to bring down emissions, the lead-ers said 73 countries and 11 states and provinces are responsible for 54 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and 52 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, GDP.

According to some global lead-ers, these countries joined 11 cit-ies as well as over 1,000 businesses to drum supports for carbon pric-ing through series of initiatives, being announced at the UN Sec-retary-General’s Climate Leader-ship Summit.

Already, China, South Africa, Russia and Marshall Islands are planning for carbon pricing.

The business cuts across in-dustry, energy, transportation and institutional investors with more than $24 trillion in assets.

The Summit had 74 countries and 23 sub-national jurisdictions with the additions of Czech Re-public and Lagos State.

Vice President of the World Bank Group and Special En-voy for Climate Change, Rachel Kyte said, “The science is clear. The economics are compelling. We are seeing a shift toward the economic architecture that will be necessary to avoid a 2-degree-warmer world, an architecture that supports green growth, jobs and competitiveness’’.

He said, this is a wake-up mo-ment. Carbon pricing if expanded to this scale and then globally, has the potential to bring down emis-sions in a way that supports clean energy and low-carbon growth while giving businesses the flex-ibility to innovate and find the most efficient choices.

Carbon pricing brings together two distinct groups that have each spoken in favour of climate ac-tion, but rarely worked together to address climate change.

Governments, which have been

testing carbon trading systems, carbon taxes and businesses have started setting internal “shadow” carbon prices to help guide deci-sions for a cleaner future.

China is the latest to begin test-ing waters with seven local pilot carbon markets helping govern-ment to plan for a national carbon trading system.

In the private sector, there is a wide belief among business lead-ers that carbon will be priced and preparations are already under-way in several companies.

Bayelsa govt, German group fl ag-off pilot cleaning of oil spills

World leaders raise fresh alarm over climate change risks

L–R: Head, Corporate Services Division, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Bola Adeeko; artiste, Banky W Wellington; Chairman, Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) #GivingTide, Prof. Pat Utomi; Convener of CECP, Mrs. M.R.A. Adeleke and Group Managing Director /CEO, United Capital Plc, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Sanni, during the closing gong ceremony to commemorate the National Cancer Week at the weekend.

28 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, June 18, 2015Business News

Business News

SYLVA EMEKA-OKEREKE

Director General of Stan-dards Organisation of Ni-geria, SON, Dr Joseph Od-

umodu, has put the value of illicit trade in Africa at $50 billion yearly.

Odumodu, who made the dis-closure in Lagos, said 80 percent

of phones and accessories in the country, were either substandard or counterfeit.

He also estimated that 70 per-cent of television sets in Africa comprised fairly-used sets, not-ing with displeasure that in 2011, when he was appointed as Direc-tor General, the value of used tyres in the nation’s market had

hit about 50 million. The standards enforcement

chief pointed out that Africa had become a dumping ground for sub-standard products with the attendant socio-economic risks to the various economies.

Odumodu explained that the continental forum for the National Standards Bodies, NSBs, in Africa,

scheduled for next week in Abuja would strengthen continent’s anti-dumping policies, adding that ‘technical barriers to trade, anti-dumping, common standardi-sation policies for integration, competitiveness and economic emancipation will form parts of the agenda of the meeting.

According to him, one of the

Africa’s illicit trade value hits $50bn yearly –SON boss

REGINA OTOKPA

A Nigerian, Mr Shola Taylor, was yesterday named the new Secretary-General of

Common Wealth Telecommunica-tions Organisation (CTO), to take over from Prof Tim Unwin.

His appointment was an-nounced by the outgoing Secre-tary General at the ongoing Com-monwealth Broadband Forum taking place in Abuja.

Taylor until his appointment was the Chief Executive Officer of Kemilinks International, a global ICT consultancy firm based in Lagos and would commence op-erations in his new office from the 17th of September this year.

A telecommunications engi-

neer by training, he brings to the CTO over 35 years of global expe-rience in ICTs with government and the private sector.

Previous positions held include regional director for Africa at Inmarsat (1994 - 1999), space tech-nology coordinator for develop-ing countries at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU, 1993 - 1994) and project director, also at the ITU (1987 - 1993).

Twice elected as a member of the ITU’s Radio Regulations Board (vice-chair in 2004, and chair in 2005), Mr Taylor has a rich inside knowledge of international or-ganisations. Early in his career, he worked in telecommunication en-gineering, including as senior en-gineer at Nigerian Telecommuni-cations (1981 - 1985) and spectrum engineer at Intelsat (1985 - 1987).

Commenting on his appoint-ment, he said: “I am both excited and honoured at being appointed as secretary-general of the CTO, a community of diverse member-ship, and one that has accrued tremendous strengths over a hundred years. Given the impact of ICTs in our lives and the enor-mous opportunities for the socio-economic development of nations, I have accepted this challenge to make a positive contribution to-wards improved access to ICTs for all.

“I look forward to working closely with the CTO’s members, the Secretarial staff and other stakeholders, to ensure that the CTO remains the preferred part-ner for sustainable ICT develop-ment for all its members”, Taylor added.

OLUSEGUN KOIKI

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA, stated that it pro-

vided a two-day training and ori-entation exercise on the e-flight for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s, NCAA’s, officials in Lagos.

A statement by the agency’s Acting General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs. Olajumoke Adeto-na, described the training as an interactive exercise as partici-

pants from NCAA offered modi-fications and other suggestions on ways to make the e-flight clearance software more encom-passing and user-friendly.

She stated that the trainees commended NAMA for blazing the trail with innovative soft-ware, which they considered first-rate standard and ground-breaking.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Aviation, Hajia Bin-ta Adamu Bello, had last week commenced a facility tour of major airports across the coun-

try with a visit to Lagos Airport.Bello, who was accompanied

by top officials of the ministry, was led by aviation Chief Ex-ecutive Officers, CEOs, as she inspected the dry cargo termi-nal site under construction, old and new Federal Airports Au-thority of Nigeria, FAAN, power houses, new CCECC Terminal Building under construction as well as the arrival and depar-ture wings of the international terminal building.

NAMA stated that the Perm Secretary also took time to go

round the airport perimeter fence and inspected Surveil-lance and Navigational facilities like the TRACON site, Doppler Omnidirectional Radio Range (DVOR), Localizer and Glide Slope.

She was also quoted as saying that the purpose of the visit was to enable her have a first-hand assessment of on-going projects in terms of progress and quality of work in relation to the funds being expended so as to make for an informed assessment.

THEOPHILUS ONOJEGHEN WARRI

Four thousand Delta State youths have been empow-ered through the world

Bank project, Employment and Expenditure for Result, SEEFOR, programme in the last two years.

The state coordinator of the programme, Ojoko, disclosed this during a one-day empowerment and capacity training workshop for beneficiaries programme in Asaba, the Delta State.

Noting that the beneficia-ries areengaged various capac-

ity such as refuse collection and roads maintenance, he said that the programme was being imple-mented in six local governments of the twenty-five council areas of the state.

Ojoko explained that SEEFOR aimed at adding values to society through the programme, adding that the programme has since its introduction in 2013.

He said: “The 4,000 youths were engaged to maintain roads and refuse collection in the six lo-cal government areas where the SEEFOR project is currently im-plemented. The six cities where

the programme is being imple-mented in the state are Asaba, Ughelli, Warri, Uvwie, Sapele and Udu.”

While commending the State Government for keying into the skill acquisition programme, he said that the beneficiaries would be trained on money manage-ment, entrepreneurship skills and mentorship.

He explained further that at the end of the training that inter-ested beneficiaries would be en-rolled into acquiring vocational and technical skills.

World Bank empowers 4,000 Delta youths

NAMA trains NCAA staff on e-fl ight clearance

Nigeria’s Taylor appointed CTO’s Secretary General

objectives of the meeting is to mobilize NSBs into membership of ARSO with a view to driving standardization programmes necessary for strengthening com-petitiveness of Made-in-Africa” products as well as engendering regional and continental fusion into an economic block.

Odumodu, who is also the Pres-ident of ARSO, also disclosed that 34 Chief Executive Officers of the NSBs in Africa, including leaders of multi-national and global agen-cies were expected to grace the oc-casion.

Tagged, “Boosting Intra-Afri-can Trade”, the forum has agreed to establish a continental free trade area by the year 2017, as a strategy to boost trade within the continent.

The forum, is also expected to provide a veritable avenue for Af-rica’s integration, removal of all technical barriers to trade, anti-dumping, common standardi-sation policies for integration, competitiveness and economic emancipation among others.

L-R: Herbert Wigwe, Group Managing Director Access Bank Plc, Gbenga Oyebode, Chairman Access Bank Plc and 9-year old Adolfito Cambiaso receiving the Access Bank Cup from Herbert Wigwe at the Access Bank Polo Day’ last Saturday at the Guards Polo Club, Windsor, United Kingdom.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 29Thursday, June 18, 2015

30

VAT on services of Banks and other fi nancial institutionsThe Value Added Tax Act Cap V1

LFN 2004 (as amended) imposes a tax known as Value Added Tax

(VAT) on taxable goods and services. Part 2 of the First Schedule to the Act only ex-empts services rendered by Community banks, Peoples bank and Mortgage insti-tutions from VAT. Accordingly, all banks and financial institutions, except those exempted, are required to charge VAT on services rendered by them to their customers and account for same to the Federal Inland Revenue Service. This is in line with Section 2 of the Act, which stipulates that “the tax shall be charged and payable on the supply of all goods and services (in this Act referred to as “taxable goods and services”) other than those goods and services listed in the First Schedule to this Act.Definition of Bank and other Financial Institutions

These are legal entities incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA)of 1990 and engage in bank-ing and financial activities as defined by the Banks and other Financial Institutions Act(BOFIA), 1991. They are companies within the financialsector of the Nigerian economy and are either publicly quoted or private companies. Banks will ordinar-ily include commercial banks, merchant banks and development banks while other financial institutions will include; finance houses, insurance companies, re-insurance companies,stock-brokerage firms, invest-ment companies and financial consultants.VAT Liability

Banks in particular, charge commission, fees, or other charges for services rendered to theircustomers. VAT calculations are ex-pected to be based only on the charges made forservices rendered. It should however, be noted that the focus of VAT is on the charg-es leviedon customers for the consumption of services rendered by Banks.

The provision of loans and advances does not in itself constitute a vatable ser-vice but thereare other ancillary services to the provision of bank loan/advances or bank overdrafts, which are vatable. The documentation and perfection of loan/overdraft agreements are examplesof such ancillary services and fees charged,which would attract VAT. The resultant interest chargeable on the loans and overdraft is however not vatable.

Insurance companies’ brokers/agents earn commission, loss adjusters earn fees, surveyors earn fees, brokers earn com-mission and agents earn commission for various services rendered to the Insurance Companies. The services which generated these income are vatable services, andeven though the premium received on policies is not vatable as it represents cost of risk tothe insured, the commission paid to bro-kers/agent from premium will attract VAT; with theburden of VAT being borne by the insurance company itself.Vatable Services Rendered by Financial Institutions

In arriving at what constitutes vatable

financial services, a distinction should be made betweenactivities that constitute re-turn on investment and consumption of services rendered by financialinstitutions.All charges arising from the services of banks and financial institutions will ordi-narily attract VAT and they include among others, the following:

• Commisssions/fees charged on forex trading or remittance;

• Commission on turnover (COT), ledger fees etc;

• Legal and other fees chargeable on lease arrangements;

• Fees charged for advisory servic-es e.g. mergers and acquisition, financial strategy counseling etc;

• Fees chargeable on public/private issues;

• Debt conversion fees;• Fees/commission on asset trad-

ing;• Fees earned on fund management;• Fees and commissions earned on

letters of credit/documentary collection to finance import/export;

• Commissions on sale of Bank-drafts/certified cheques;

• Fees chargeable on stock-broker-age and trust services;

• Commissions paid to brokers, reinsurers, underwriters and other insur-ance agents by an insurer.Services of Banks and Other Financial Insti-tutions not Liable to VAT

A simple criteria for determining wheth-er a service is vatable or not is the identi-fication of those activities that constitute return on investment as distinct from those that represent consumption of services. The services of Banks and other Finan-cial Institutions that willnot attract VAT include:

• Premium on insurance policies;• Interest on loans/advances and

overdraft facilities;• Interest on savings accounts;• Interest on bank deposits;• Dividends;• Interbank placements; and• Profit/gain on disposal of govern-

ment securities.

VAT Registration and Rendition of ReturnsBanks and other Financial Institutions

are taxable persons within the provisions of the VAT Act and all services rendered by them are taxable with the exception of the servicesof Peoples Bank, Community Banks and Mortgage Institutions which are exempted by theVAT Act. These Banks and Other Financial Institutions are to register for tax with the relevant tax of-fice and obtain TIN. VAT returns are tobe made regularly to the relevant tax office within twenty one (21) days after the month oftransaction. Accounting Procedure and Records to be kept by Banks

The mode of operation in the banks does not permit the issuance of tax invoices to customers. The VAT charges therefore have to bereflectedin the customers’ statements of accounts in order to enhance disclosure and easy verificationby tax officers. Banks and other Financial Institutions are re-quired to adopt the following simple meth-ods of recording their transactions for VAT purposes:

(i) When any service is identified as vatable, internal entries are raised by the Bank for the cost of the service plus 5% VAT.

(ii) The Bank is expected to debit the account of the customer accordingly with the cost of the service plus the 5% VAT charged.

(iii) Credit the Income account of the Bank or Institution with the income el-ementof the charge excluding the VAT

(iv)Credit the FIRS VAT account in the particular Bank or Institution with the 5% VATdeducted from (ii) to arrive at (iii).

Section 16 subsection (b) provides that where input tax exceeds output tax, the taxpayer will be entitled to refund of the excess tax from the FIRS on production of such documents as theFIRS may, from time to time require. With regards to banks and otherfinancial institutions, thisis not appli-cable because of the provision of Section 17 of Value Added Tax Act on allowable input tax, which provides that input tax on any overhead, service, and general administra-tion of any business which otherwise can

EmefieleOgungbesan

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, June 18, 2015

Taxationbe expended through the income statement (profit and loss accounts) shall not be al-lowed as a deduction from output tax.

It is a common knowledge that the bank and other Financial Institutions render ser-vices; they do not produce goods and there-fore regarded as final consumer of those goods purchased or servicesrendered to them. In this connection, all input VAT pay-able in respect of assets purchasedfor use in the banks and other Financial Institutions should be added to the cost of the assets on which capitalallowances may be claimed. Similarly, all VAT payable in respect of services consumed by thebank should be regarded as part of normal operational expenses chargeable to Statement of Profit or Loss Account. Under no circumstance should input tax on such items be claimed or deducted from output tax collected. Banks and other Financial Institutions can-not claim or deduct any input tax suffered. The entire amount collected on behalf of the FIRS should be promptly remitted in whole as prescribed by the law. The Central Bank

The position of the Central bank with re-gards to VAT payment is not different from that of otherbanks in the system. The Cen-tral Bank performs nearly all the services listed in paragraph 4 aboveand also acts as banker to other banks. It is therefore ex-pected that VAT would be charged on pay-ments made to it by the banks for vatable services rendered to them. This makes it necessaryfor the Central Bank to register for VAT purposes.Offences and Penalties

Banks and other Financial Institutions have obligations to fulfill under the VAT Act like other taxable or registered persons. Part V of the Act contains the list of of-fences and penalties to be imposed. These include among others:

• Failure to register within six (6) months of the existence of a bank;

• Failure to issue tax invoice (debit note showing amount of VAT collected in the case of banks);failure to charge and re-mit VAT collected;

• Failure to keep proper records and accounts;

• Rendition of incorrect or false re-turns.

For these offences, stringent penalties are imposed to check possible defaults.

Banks and other Financial Institutions are taxable persons within the provisions of the VAT Act and all their services are vatable except those specifically mentioned in the First Schedule. Bank officials are strongly advised to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the VAT Act. What-ever is peculiar to any Bank or Financial In-stitution in terms of procedures which has not been dealt with in this circular should be referred to the FIRS without delay.

Finally, where computerization has been established and it is likely to skip these pro-cedures, the FIRS should be notified of the system in operation and how it would take care of all procedures without leaving out anything uncaptured.

Having waited for several years after the revolution of telecoms in the country, stakeholders finally heaved

a sigh of relief recently, when a bill seeking to punish cyber criminals and protect tele-coms infrastructure was signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Although, the quest from the stakehold-ers’ in the nation’s telecom industry is for a specific law that addresses the vandalism of telecoms infrastructure such as base sta-tions and fibre optic cables, yet the consen-sus from the stakeholders is that the new law is a welcome development.

The Cybercrimes Prohibition, Preven-tion Act provided for punishment ofany crime or injury on Critical National In-formation Infrastructure (CNII), sales of pre-registered SIM cards, unlawful access to computer systems, Cyber-Terrorism, amongst others.

The Act lists offences and penalties including unlawful access to computers, unlawful operation of cyber cafes, system interference, intercepting electronic mes-sages, emails, e-money transfer, tampering with critical infrastructure, computer-relat-ed forgery as punishable under the Act.

The battle against cybercrimes became fiercer in the country when the activities of those making money through cybercrimes activities began to rob on the image of Ni-geria such that today, those involved in the act are either referred to as 419,’ derived from the Section 419 of the Criminal Code on Fraudulent Activities or simply as Ya-hoo boys.

While the battle against cybercrimes rages, a new breed of criminal elements that vandalise telecoms infrastructure emerged which resulted to a twin battle for the stakeholders.

As the media was spreading the news of those counting their losses resulting from the activities of cybercriminals and van-dals of telecoms infrastructure, key indus-try association such the Nigerian Internet Group, NIG, the Associationof Telecommu-nications Companies of Nigeria, ATCON, Association of Licensed Telecommunica-tions Companies of Nigeria, ALTON began to agitate for a law to curb the menace of telecoms vandals and that of cybercrimi-nals.

To solve these problems, there were sev-eral collaborations in the industry. While the Ministry of Communications Technolo-gy and the Nigerian Communications Com-mission, NCC collaborate to sponsor a bill on the issues before the National Assembly to make telecom facilities, Critical National Infrastructure, the industry associations were on the other hand tackling cybercrime along aside that of telecoms infrastructure protection.

Managing Director of PiNET Group,

Mixed reactions trail new Cybercrimes ActThe enactment of the Cybercrimes Prohibition, Prevention Bill into law at the twilight of the end of the immediate past administration has continued to elicit reactions from a broad spectrum of the ICT industry. Although many stakeholders lauded the legislation, its implementation and key issues it seeks to address are seen as the tasks ahead writes ISAIAH ERHIAWARIEN.

EACH TIME I GO OUT FOR STAKEHOLDERS

MEETING I HEAR PEOPLE SAY THAT WE HAVE

NOW HAVE A TELECOMS INFRASTRUCTURE BILL.

AND I ASKED THEM BEFORE THIS TIME WAS IT NOT AN OFFENCE TO

DESTROY A BASE STATION OR CUT THE FIBRE OPTIC

CABLE OF TELECOMS SERVICE COMPANY

the former president will not only attract more online trade but create confidence in the minds of foreign investors saying that foreigners will be willing to do online busi-ness with Nigerians.

Nigerian Internet Group, NIG, President, Engr. Bayo Banjo however did not see any-thing new in the Cybercrimes Prohibition, Prevention Act which addresses the quest for the protection of telecoms infrastruc-ture .

According to him, there had existed be-fore the law on Critical National Informa-tion Infrastructure, CNII, was enacted a law that protected the facilities of the NITEL describing the whole exercise that led to the new Act as the activities of those that want to score political point.

He said his concern was that the country did not have the political will to enforce the law saying that each time I go out for stake-holders meeting I hear people say that we have now have a telecoms infrastructure bill. And I asked them before this time was it not an offence to destroy a base station or cut the fibre optic cable of telecoms services company. So, how will the new one work?”

He disclosed that there is every single law to stop corruption but despite that, the nation has not been able to stamp out cor-ruption, stressing that what we need is the commitment to enforce the law.

He however noted that telecoms infra-structure can be brought into the cyber-crime Act since it is part of what is required to access the internet and could be at one risk or the other.

Also Chairman of the Africa ICT Alli-ance, Mr Jimson Olufuye, noted that “what is needed is the comprehensive implemen-tation to combat problems enumerated in the new law which have brought embar-rassment to the nation and huge investment losses to organisations and individuals”.

Chief Executive Officer, Internet Solu-tions Limited, Mr OlusolaTeniola, said that although he was yet to see the full content of the Act but that it is a great news that the bill has finally become law.

He said that what the industry is wait-ing for now is to see how the law will be fully implemented to secure telecoms infrastruc-ture in the country, which before now has been at the mercy of vandals.

He called for the effective use of the Act to clean up the ugly image that cybercrime has brought to bear on the country saying that beyond financial loss to victims it has also affected online business across interna-tional frontiers.

A source in one of the infrastructure companies said that they are waiting to see how the law will secure their facilities say-ing that there had be laws before now but yet vandalism of infrastructure remains a regular occurrence.

Engr. LanreAjayi, who played a leading role then both as former president of the Nige-rian Internet Group and now as President of ATCON, told National Mirror that the news of the passage of the cybercrime bill into law was a positive development for the industry saying that he has studied the Act and he is satisfied with the work the Nation-al Assembly has done.

Reacting to the linking of the telecoms protection bill with the cybercrime bill, which eventually came out as one in the Cy-bercrimes Prohibition, Prevention Act, he said that the Act clearly addresses his quest as a stakeholder in the industry.

According to him, the fact that there is no separate Act for telecoms infrastructure as Critical National Infrastructure does not mean that Cybercrimes Prohibition, Pre-vention Act, issues on the protection of tele-coms infrastructure has not be addressed.

He said that Section 3, 1 of the Act has taken care of that worry noting that the Acts states that it is the National Security

Adviser that will advise the president on what constitutes Critical National Informa-tion Infrastructure.

He stated further that the Act can be re-viewed by regulation as often as the office of the National Security Adviser desires adding that it makes better than to be very specific in the Act concerning infrastruc-ture vandalism.

He added that by mentioning in specific terms of base stations or fibre optic cables or other telecoms infrastructure as critical national infrastructure limits the scope of the Act.

Ajayi disclosed the Cybercrimes Prohi-bition, Prevention Act will be one of the key issues that will come up for discussion when ATCON holds its stakeholders strate-gic meeting soon.

The ATCON president who was a leading voice for the cybercrime had recently advo-cated that the signing of the bill into law by

Ajayi

31National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, June 18, 2015

Info Tech

32 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, June 18, 2015

Tech Box

Adobe now has solutions on how to capture those colours and reuse them

with its latest version of video-editing application, Adobe Pre-miere Pro CC 2015.

Adobe Premiere Clip and Adobe Hue CC, which attempt to expand video editing beyond the desktop. Adobe Premiere Clip has been around since last year; it allows you make simple edits to video on your phone and then upload the composition to Pre-miere Pro, which will retain the edits and let you make additional ones. Hue CC is new; you can use it to take photos and capture their “looks”—colour hue sets—which you can then import into Pre-miere CC and apply them to other videos.

So, for example, you could cap-ture a cold, cloudy beach, with its blueish, muted colors, and apply them to a nice, short video of a large bull chasing you.

Now, you can create a look in Hue CC or in Premiere Pro CC, but you can only apply a stock

Dollar fl uctuations reduce PC shipment to Nigeria

Determined to stem the tide of counterfeiters cur-rently creating challenges

for its product in the Nigerian market, global consumer product maker has resorted to the use of the hologram technology.

The company has also adopted the short code technology that will make consumers to verify the authenticity of every product that bear its name.

General Manager, Consumer Lifestyle, Philips Innovation Nige-ria Limited, West Africa, Chioma Iwuchukwu-Nweke made the dis-closure during the flag-off “Buy Original” campaign stated that Philips is setting up an text mes-sage number for authentication of the Philips Lighting portfolio in case of doubt.

Iwuchukwu-Nweke explained

that the consumer (in Nigeria) has to send the 16-digit serial number of the lighting product via text message to the short code 20822 and they will receive immediate feedback on whether the product they are planning to buy or have bought is genuine or fake.

She said that the informative multi-year outreach aimed at protecting consumers, creating awareness about counterfeit prod-ucts in the market and educat-ing consumers in identifying an original genuine product versus a counterfeit one.

Making reference to Global In-tellectual Property Centre (GIPC) world-wide report, she said that cross border trade in physical counterfeits alone cost the global economy USD 250 billion a year.

According to her, in Africa,

counterfeit products are pos-ing serious concerns for local economies and brands who have worked hard to build reputation and consumer confidence in their markets.

She explained that consum-ers in most instances aren’t even aware that they are buying coun-terfeit products saying that Phil-ips wants to put consumers in a position that they are confident that they are purchasing an origi-nal Philips product.

“A genuine product is subject to quality and safety control and will protect the consumers and their family. It also provides customers the after sales guarantee and the peace of mind that the after-sales commitment will be honoured”, she said.

Adobe takes video editing beyond desktop STORIES: ISAIAH ERHIAWARIEN

The volume of personal computers, PCs, shipment to Nigeria from across the

world in the first quarter of 2015 fell by 9.6 percent due to the dol-lar fluctuations in the Nigeria and the global market.

The same scenario was also reflected in markets like Turkey, Egypt, and Algeria where the dol-lar was rate was unstable in the period under review, according to report from International Data Corporation, IDC, on released on this week.

Research Manager for Personal Computing, Systems, and Infra-structure Solutions at IDC Fouad-Charakla said that low oil prices have also had a negative impact on almost all parts of the region, with the extent varying from country to country.

He also said that inventory pile-ups from the previous quarter also caused the Turkey market to decline faster year on year, while ongoing political and social un-rest in the ‘Rest of Middle East’ sub-region compounded the de-cline for MEA as a whole.

The report, which covered Middle East and Africa, MEA, PC market said that shipments to the region was 4.3 million units attrib-uting the market’s poor perfor-mance to currency fluctuations in a number of the region’s key markets, as well as to the ongoing instability in global oil prices.

The firm’s research showed that portable PC shipments de-clined 9.4 percent to 2.7 million units, while desktop shipments fell 10.0 percent to 1.6 million units.

IDC said revealed that the top three vendor positions in the re-gion remained unchanged, with

each of the top three vendors ex-periencing annual growth despite the market’s significant overall decline.

The report explained that HP continued to lead in terms of market share, growing 6.5 percent yearly, while Lenovo maintained second position with growth of 5.3 percent adding that third-placed Dell’s shipments were up 3.5 per-cent over the same period, while fourth-placed Toshiba suffered a considerable downturn of 34.3 percent.

IDC reported that on the top five list, Asus posted a yearly de-cline of 7.2 percent noting that the segment of market players that suffer the most were local desk-top assemblers, as they faced stiff competition from multinational PC brands and, more important-ly, the refurbished PC market in many parts of the region.

Philips tackles counterfeiters with hologram technology

look in Premiere Clip; you can’t create or import one, though an updated version of Clip that will add these capabilities is due any day, according to Adobe.

The new Lumetri Colour pal-ette lets you create looks and see a preview of how they’ll look on your video.

You can create looks in Pre-miere Pro CC 2015 by using a new Lumetri Colour panel. Premiere Pro picked up the Lumetri Colour engine from Adobe SpeedGrade in 2013, but then, you couldn’t create looks in Premiere Pro; you had to create them in Speed-Grade. Now, you can import and export look files in Premiere Pro, but only using the Lumetri Co-lour panel. In the Effects panel, you’ll find Lumetri Presets but you still can’t add any to this list unless you use SpeedGrade.

However, if you drag a Lumetri Preset to a video on your timeline, it appears in your Effects Control panel as a Lumetri Colour effect, and you can edit it there. You can access looks from your Libraries panel, which pulls from your on-line Creative Cloud account, but they do not show up as options in your Effects panel or even the Lu-metri Colour panel.

Managing Director, New Horizons Solutions Ltd, Mr. Tim Akano (left); Vice Chancellor, Babcock University, Illishan, Ogun State, Prof. Kayode Makinde; Chairman, New Horizons management board, Mr. Dotun Suleiman (right) and others, during the foundation laying ceremony of ultra modern international IT and e-Business skills certification building at the university campus, at the weekend.

Info Tech

STORIES: ISAIAH ERHIAWARIEN

Government across African are still burdened with the challenges of provid-

ing internet access to its growing population.

According to Cisco, only 39 per-cent of the global population en-joys access to the Internet despite the fact that more than half now owns a mobile phone and Africa having one of the highest mobile phone penetrations.

General Manager, Cisco, Ni-geria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone,Mr. Dare Ogunlade said that the lack of access to the In-ternet is depriving many Afri-cans of the opportunity to take full advantage of e-learning as well as online financial, data and health services.

He stressed that governments can shape policies that will spur development of broadband ac-cess saying that while Kenya’s networked readiness ranking im-proved, climbing six places to 86th position, the same is not true for other major African economies.

He explained that while Nige-ria dropped seven places and now ranks 119th South Africa dropped five places and now ranks 75th

leaving Egypt dropping three places to be at the 94th position.

According to Ogunlade, Cisco has discovered that technology helps people find innovative solu-tions to address societal problems saying that “We believe there has never been a better time to com-bine human ingenuity and tech-nological innovation to improve the lives of all Africans.”

He added that as home to nine of the world’s 15 fastest grow-ing economies, Africa is ripe for transformation and is an increas-ingly attractive environment for global business investments not-ing that Technology is at an inflec-tion point and African economies need to prioritise ICT adoption to take full advantage of the benefits that embracing digital transfor-mation strategies will offer.

Commenting on the World Economic Forum’s Global Infor-mation Technology Report 2015, Ogunlade said the report sug-gests that investing in infrastruc-ture and education; supporting the development of local content; and creating an enabling environ-ment by promoting competition through sound regulation will correct the imbalance in many African countries today.

He disclosed that Cisco is com-

L-R: Director, Enterprise Development Centre, Pan-Atlantic University, Mr. Peter Bamkole; a winner of Diamond Bank Building Entrepreneurs Today (BET4) Award, Mr. Uzokwe Ike and MD/CEO, Diamond Bank Plc, Mr. Uzoma Dozie, during the award dinner and gala nite in Lagos, recently. PHOTO: ADEYANJU OLOWOJOBA

Internet access, challenge to government

Enterprise solutions growth link to corporate governance quest

Info TechNational Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 33Thursday, June 18, 2015

Government Technology

Financial Technology

ISAIAH ERHIAWARIEN

The quest by more enter-prise to pay attention to is-sues relating to reporting

standards, governance, and risk management maybe responsible to the rapid growth in demand for Enterprise Resource Planning, ERP, solutions in Nigeria, across all sectors of business.

Sony reaches $2m Shenmue III game target on KickstarterSony has reached its target of

$2m (£1.3m) to fund the mak-ing of Shenmue III within

hours of launching a Kickstarter campaign.

The countdown to the start of the fund-raising campaign took place on stage during the Sony press conference at E3.

The press event also saw Sony announce that long-awaited game The Last Guardian would soon be released.

Open world action games Shenmue I and II are well-known among gamers and are often on lists of all-time best games.

Creator Yu Suzuki appeared on stage at the Sony event to say that he chose to crowd-fund the project to let fans have more of a

role in bringing the game to life.Other well-known games also

featured during the press confer-ence.

Many were surprised to hear that The Last Guardian was al-most ready for release as it has been under development for al-most a decade.

It is being put together by the team that worked on the widely praised Shadow of the Colossus, and involves the adventures of a young boy and a giant bird/cat hybrid creature called Trico who must escape from a derelict and dangerous castle.

Footage from the game showed Trico and the boy working togeth-er to solve puzzles and overcome obstacles as they make their way

through the castle.Sony also generated much

comment among attendees by an-nouncing that Final Fantasy VII: Remake will be coming first to PlayStation 4. The game will be a complete overhaul of the original that was first released in 1997.

Maybe the expectation was too high. Maybe it’s being saved for another special event.

Whatever the reason, the VR -shaped hole in Sony’s PlaySta-tion conference will perhaps go down as something of a disap-pointment.

Andrew House, head of Sony Computer Entertainment, came on stage to announce that Project Morpheus - its VR headset - would allow multiplayer.

mitted to working with public and private sector organisations in Africa to work on strategies for the digital transformation, there-by helping them transform their IT strategy, connect everything, embrace analytics, and secure their technology and operations.

According to Ogunlade, Africa

can make massive strides in con-necting more citizens and bring-ing about positive social and economic change by improving its Networked Readiness saying that with political will and com-mitment from the private sector, progress can be made in bring-ing the benefit of ICTs to more

people.He also said that Africa is al-

ready facing the next wave of the Internet – the Internet of Every-thing (IoE) and that Africa needs to prioritise ICT development if it is to benefit from the new experi-ences and efficiencies that the IoE will bring.

Also the quest to make sure that these issues meet international requirement is also said to be one of the most important recent de-velopments in the adoption of In-ternational Financial Reporting Standards, IFRS, in Nigeria.

Regional Director, Sage West Africa, Mr. Magnus Nmonwu who made the observation revealed further that there is a growing focus on promoting sound corpo-

rate governance and enforcing regulatory compliance from the Nigerian government.

He added that the growing foreign investor interest in the country is driving interest in en-terprise business applications in Nigeria stating that the Federal Government and tax authorities are now taking a tougher line on compliance than ever before.

He disclosed that companies

now find themselves under pres-sure to improve financial report-ing and corporate governance to address the demands of multina-tional business partners, inves-tors, and customers.

According to him, the country is becoming an increasingly im-portant player on the global eco-nomic stage stressing that “one consequence of that is we are see-ing a bigger focus on compliance.”

Nmonwu said government un-derstands that a stable regulatory compliance framework is essen-tial to attracting business invest-ment and growing the economy, and there is also a concerted focus on growing the tax base.

He said the IFRS is important for Nigeria because it makes glob-al comparison of financial state-ments for companies easier, say-ing that it ensures transparency, reliable disclosure and a better quality of financial reporting, all of which give investors more con-fidence in the companies in which they are planning to invest.

“We’re seeing many interna-tional companies looking to invest in Nigeria, and they want a clear

view of the financial health of the companies they are evaluating as possible partners, customers or investors,” Nmonwu said.

He explained that they want to see financials reported using global standards adding that IFRS has already done a great deal to improve investor confidence in Nigeria.

Nmonwu said further that Nigerian enterprises are invest-ing in ERP solutions to cater for a newly demanding regulatory environment stating that Sage of-fers a range of compliant software packages that help businesses to produce the reports that IFRS re-quires from them.

He said the software makes it easier to capture data and in-formation required for statutory reporting under IFRS, and that companies that don’t have auto-mated software in place will find it difficult to keep track of their financials.

“Our software is up to date with the latest relevant local laws and regulations in Nigeria to help businesses become and remain compliant,” Nmonwu said.

India’s food safety regulator says tests have found the in-stant noodles “unsafe and

hazardous” and has accused Nestle of failing to comply with food safety laws.

The company insists that the noodles are safe and is challenging the ban.

Nestle has 80% of India’s instant noodles market.

The company said in a state-ment that the value of withdrawn noodles include stocks taken off the shelves and stocks stored in fac-tories and with distributors.

“There will be additional costs to take into account, for example bringing stock from the market, transporting the stock to the de-struction points, destruction cost etc. The final figure will have to be confirmed at a later date,” Nestle said.

Earlier this month, Nestle began withdrawing the Maggi brand from stores, after regulators said they found higher-than-allowed levels of lead in some packets.

The company is challenging the ban in the high court in the city of Mumbai and “raised issues of in-

Nestle to destroy noodles worth $50m

terpretation” of India’s food safety laws.

Nestle’s global chief executive Paul Bulcke has asked to see the results of the laboratory tests and promised to return Maggi to store shelves soon.

Several states have also been testing the noodles for the chemi-cal monosodium glutamate, widely known as MSG.

The instant noodles arrived in In-dia in 1983 and can be found in cor-ner shops across the country.

Speaking to the BBC at the Paris Airshow, Mr. Bregier said the aircraft manufacturer was

committed to its 16,000 employees based in the UK.

He added Airbus had no plans to relocate its British factories.

Airbus has said in the past that a “Brexit” might change its plans.

Last month, Airbus UK’s chief executive, Paul Kahn, said that if the UK voted to leave the EU in the planned in-out referendum, Airbus would reconsider future investment in the UK.

On Tuesday, Mr. Bregier admitted he would have to make a judgement about what the consequences would be for the competitiveness of his busi-ness following the referendum.

His comments come as ministers tabled an amendment to the EU ref-erendum bill on Monday evening, ruling out holding the plebiscite on 5 May 2016, the same day as Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish assembly elections and local elections.

It means the referendum will now almost certainly take place next au-tumn or not take place until 2017, de-pending on the prime minister’s abil-ity to negotiate concessions from his European counterparts and despite calls for the UK to get the vote over

U.S. permits for future home construction surged to a near eight-year high in May,

suggesting a building up of momen-tum in housing and the broader economy after a dismal perfor-mance at the start of the year.

While housing starts fell last month, that followed a robust gain in April and groundbreaking re-mained at levels consistent with a strengthening housing market.

Housing’s improving fortunes, marked by rising home prices and sales, are likely to be acknowledged by Federal Reserve officials, who were preparing to gather for a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday.

Policymakers have repeatedly singled out housing as one of the weak spots in the economy. The U.S.

with.Businesses have repeated raised

concerns about the level of uncer-tainty caused by the timing of the referendum and the potential eco-nomic harm caused as investment decisions are delayed as a result.

Last month, Mr. Kahn said the UK must compete for international investment.

“The best way to guarantee this is by remaining part of the EU,” he said.

“I believe that it is vital for a com-pany such as Airbus to come out and

make a stand in favour of Britain remaining in the European Union.”

Airbus, the world’s second-largest aircraft manufacturer after Boeing, employs 6,000 people at its site at Broughton, north Wales, where it assembles the wings for all Airbus aircraft.

Several thousand more people are employed at Filton, near Bristol, designing wings and testing landing gear.

Mr. Kahn stressed that if the UK were to leave the EU, the company would not suddenly close.

central bank is expected to raise in-terest rates later this year. It has kept its short-term lending rate near zero since December 2008.

“Residential construction has been the laggard in this recovery and the moon shot surge in new permits today means the final piece of the recovery puzzle is now falling into place,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank in New York.

Building permits jumped 11.8 per cent to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.28 million units, the high-est since August 2007, the Commerce Department said. It was the second straight month of increase. Permits have been above a 1 million-unit pace since July.

Groundbreaking dropped 11.1 per

cent to a 1.04 million-unit rate. While that partially reversed the prior month’s large gain, April starts were revised up to a 1.17 million-unit rate, the highest since November 2007.

Economists had forecast both building permits and housing starts falling to a 1.10 million-unit pace last month. April starts were previously reported to have increased to a 1.14 million-unit rate.

The Commerce Department re-port came on the heels of solid data on retail sales, consumer confidence and employment that have sug-gested the economy was rebounding from the first quarter’s soft patch, when gross domestic product con-tracted.

Growth estimates for the second quarter are currently as high as a 3.3 per cent annual rate.

The dollar rose against a basket of currencies and U.S. Treasury debt prices were higher on safe-haven bids amid worries Greece could de-fault on its debt.

U.S. stocks were trading margin-ally higher after a two-day losing streak. But the S&P homebuilding index .SPLRCHOME fell 0.55 per cent. D.R. Horton Inc (DHI.N), the largest U.S. homebuilder, slipped 0.52 per cent. Lennar Corp (LEN.N), the nation’s second-largest homebuilder, fell 0.60 per cent.

Airbus aircraft

Airbus has ‘no intention’ of pulling out of UK over EU

U.S. building permits near eight-year high; starts pull back

34 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, June 18, 2015Global News

Transport costs helped the UK’s inflation rate turn positive in May after one

month of negative inflation.Inflation, as measured by Con-

sumer Prices Index (CPI), rose to 0.1% in May, up from -0.1 per cent in April.

The biggest contribution to the rise came from transport, notably air fares, the Office for National Statistics said.

In April, CPI inflation turned negative for the first time since 1960, mainly due to a drop in air and sea fares.

He added that the falls in food and fuel costs over the past year “have eased this month, helping to push inflation up”.

While the prices of food and fuel rose in May from the previous month, the prices were still lower than a year earlier.

However, while the overall ef-fect of food and fuel on CPI infla-tion pulled the rate down by about 0.5 percentage points in May, this was less pronounced than the month before when the prices had a negative effect of 0.7 percentage points.

Ben Brettell, senior economist at Hargreaves Lansdown, said that “seasonal factors surround-ing the timing of the Easter holi-day were at work in last month’s figures - CPI inflation was pushed down by cheaper air fares relative to last year. Now those factors have

UK inflation rate turns positive

dropped out of the calculation we are back where we started.”

Negative inflation “proved both marginal and fleeting”, said Howard Archer, chief UK and Eu-ropean economist at IHS Global Insight.

“We doubt that deflation will recur in the UK, although it can-not be completely ruled out if oil prices take a renewed appreciable downward lurch,” he said.

Nevertheless, inflationary pres-sures “remained limited in May and core inflation was still only 0.9 per cent after hitting a 14-year low of 0.8 per cent in April,” Mr Archer added.

Martin Beck, senior economic advisor to the EY ITEM Club, said that CPI inflation measure could briefly turn negative again during the summer.

A house in U.S Indian PM, Narendra Modi

David Cameron

When the Nigerian government through the federal Execu-tive Council (FEC) in 2008 ap-

proved the development of a Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, policy for the country, it was to instill ethical dis-cipline in Nigerian businesses.

The then minister of National Plan-ning Commission, Dr Sanusi Daggash, who gave details of the memorandum, stressed that the policy would lead to the adoption of responsible business practices by organizations, with a view to improving the society at large.

It was understood then that the poli-cy would include “beyond law commit-ment”, activities that will necessitate an expectation to ‘give back’ to the soci-ety. Pulled together, the policy would en-sure corporate governance and ethics, health and safety, human rights, human resource management, anti-bribery and anti corruption measures.

A recent global report notes that to-day, “there is needs for helping hearts and hands to improve the quality of life, and there are many who give selflessly to altruistic activities. Whether we do-nate our time, money or talent, the ul-timate goal is to make an impact in the world around us. We also expect the same from the companies we purchase from, work for and who also depend on the community for their profitability”.

It is therefore interesting to note that report on consumers about social responsibility have indicated that, over-whelmingly, consumers prefer to buy products from firm with proven CSR record.

Specifically, a Nielson global report on CSR show that about 67 per cent, more than two-thirds of respondents in the online survey, say they prefer to work for a socially responsible compa-ny, while 55 per cent, more than half say they are willing to pay extra for prod-ucts and services from companies that are committed to positive social and en-vironmental impact.

In advanced environments, where consumer rights awareness and sensi-tivity are high, the report speaks vol-ume and firms would double over each other to win consumer confidence.

What this clearly implies is that firms that are positively disposed to CSR win the trust and confidence of the people.

But has CSR in Nigeria positively changed people’s attitude such that will make them to begin to align with com-

Experts task corporate entities on focused CSR initiatives

NIGERIAN COMPANIES ARE COMING UP HIGH ON CSR REPORT, BUT TO MAJORITY OF THEM, IT IS ONE

ASPECT OF THEIR PUBLIC RELATIONS GAME

Corporate organizations have over the years embarked on corporate social responsibility with the aim of giving back to society. But often, the CSR projects are not need based or lack adequate care. DAVID AUDU reports.

Thursday, June 11, 2015National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 35

Brands & Marketing

panies doing CSR? And how sustain-able and need based are CSR efforts by companies operating in Nigeria?

It has been observed that beyond making profits, businesses are account-able for the totality of the impact they exact on the community and the envi-ronment. This is what is denoted by Corporate Social Responsibility, which essentially means that any company should be a good neighbour within its host community, and by extension, within the global community.

CSR activities are increasingly tar-geted at overall national development goals. However, there is also an increas-ing need to shift from casual approach to structured project based and ac-countability approach.

Recent reports in Nigeria media that a certain telecommunication operator (the four operators in Nigeria have CSR in education in one form or the other) is now evacuating computers it gave to a frontline university for lack of use and maintenance has called to the fore the need based focus as peg of CSR efforts.

Every year billions of money is in-vested into CSR effort in Nigeria, but many have been asking to what extent these investments have benefited the so called target community. The case of the evacuation of the computer from an ivory tower, which it is expected should know the benefit and keep them in top shape, is just a tip of the iceberg. Sev-eral community based projects have been abandoned as soon as they are fin-

ished. Some reasons given are that the communities do not see the immediate benefits of such projects.

Besides, some roads are name after some corporate organization with the understanding that the firm will take care of its maintenance. We know of a popular milk company which adopted one street, but have not been able to live up to expectation.

According a lecturer in Pan Atlan-tic University who wishes to remain anonymous, who confided in National Mirror, said while Nigerian companies are coming up high on CSR report, but to majority of them, it is one aspect of their public relations game.

He said as a university with strong CSR programmes, the need for focused CSR initiative is imperative for com-munity corporate relationship, more so, for national harmony and develop-ment

Some analysts believe that corpo-rate should shift the focus of their so-cial responsibility agenda from mere-ly charity oriented interventions to development oriented programs. “In order to utilise their designated CSR funds, industries seek to develop need-based programs, ascertain the impact of existing programs and forge public-private partnerships to administer these programs.

This also implies that activities un-der CSR should be implemented by specialised agencies and not by the staff of the companies. Specialised

agencies would include community based organizations (NGOs), academ-ic institutes, trusts and missions, self-help groups, etc.

Today, the line between corporate entities and their business environ-ments is increasingly becoming thin-ner. The era of corporations being separate and distinct from the com-munities where they operate is fast go-ing into extinction. Corporate organ-isations are gradually adopting new strategies and model of business op-eration, with an underlying objective of directly connecting to the needs, aspirations and goals of, not only the immediate members of their operat-ing communities, but also those of the wider communities.

Some identified areas for such need based intervention include Access to clean water, improving access to sanitation, eradicating poverty and hunger, combating non communicable diseases, ensuring environmental sus-tainability and reducing child mortal-ity

Corporate such as FirstBankplc, Zenith Bank, MTN Nigeria, Etisalate, amomg others have been adjudged to have robust CSR initiatives, but have been tasked further to make it more need based.

For example, the 2013 CSR report of WAPCO operations indicates that the company’s annual budget appro-priation on community development between 2006 and 2012 had continued to witness a steady growth from an expenditure of N77 million in 2006 to N189 million in 2013. An authoritative source confirmed that the CSR budget for year 2014 was over N200 million.

According to Lafarge, “Our Sustain-ability Ambitions 2020 will help us to make a net positive contribution to so-ciety. This is not about philanthropy; it’s about defining our role towards society while at the same time creat-ing value for shareholders, customers, employees and communities.

Speaking to cross section of journal-ists at an interactive forum recently, First Banks Head of Corporate Com-munications, Folake Ani-Mumuney, noted the banks sustainability efforts over the years, saying it runs into sev-eral billions and targeted to the needs of the host communities and individu-als where applicable.

DAVID AUDU

Kunle Ogunrombi better known as K-Peace has won the 5th season of the Etisalat-

Sponsored Nigeria Idol and smiled home with a brand new SUV car, cash prize of N7.5 million and a re-cording deal with Universal Music Company at the grand finale show held in Lagos recently.

His emergence as the winner ended months of heart-wrenching performances that started with thousands of contestants at the auditions that took place in Benin, Abuja, Port-Harcourt, Ibadan and Lagos, to knock-out rounds and down to the Top-2 contestants who won the hearts of the judges and

viewers nationwide. The highlight of the finale was

the performance of the Nigerian-French singer, songwriter and re-cording artist, Asa who lit up the stage and hearts of guests with hit songs from her chart topping new album, Bird of Stone.

Speaking at the event, Chief Marketing Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Francesco Angelone, said that the company recognised Nigerian Idol as a veritable platform to identify, nurture and celebrate young talent-ed Nigerians.

Angelone said:“Etisalat is liv-ing up to its reputation as a lifestyle brand that is passionate about the youth and Nigerian Idol is one of our platforms to celebrate the Nige-

rian youths. This season, all the con-testants have been amazing in their individual right and K-Peace par-ticularly has been outstanding from the audition stage and we are glad that the voting public has crowned a winner deserving of his crown.’’

K-Peace, who was unable to control his happiness, shed tears of joy and declared that he was overwhelmed and shocked at being crowned the winner of the competi-tion.

“I am overwhelmed getting to this stage today because I faced tougher and amazing talents, espe-cially Dolu. I thank the sponsors of this competition for giving me the opportunity to pursue my dream.”, he said.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net36

DAVID AUDU

Djembe Communications, a pan-African communica-tions consultancy agency, has

embarked on an expansion plan to further grow its presence and build industry capacity in sub-Saharan Af-rican markets. The agency is target-ing the growth in demand from both African and international organiza-tions for more sophisticated commu-nications as these organizations look to realize the region’s significant eco-nomic potential.

According to the Managing Di-rector, Mitchell Prather, “Africa’s eco-nomic growth potential, coupled with the region’s very young demographic and burgeoning middle class segment is giving rise to greater market oppor-tunities, which has led to a dramatic increase in demand from companies wanting to invest in brand building to

develop a competitive edge. At the same time, government re-

lated entities are increasingly focused on enhancing their reputation in in-ternational and local markets, which is crucial to attracting foreign invest-ment while enhancing public confi-dence in these critical institutions.”

As noted recently by the Holmes Report for the Best New Agencies for EMEA 2015, “Djembe is one of the best of the new generation of Afri-can PR firms, combining high-level strategic consultancy with a rigorous understanding of local market condi-tions across the continent.

“This powerful combination has propelled Djembe to impressive growth that has seen the consultan-cysignificantly increase from few em-ployees to now have presence across Africa, Europe, the Middle East and North America, and expand from one to seven offices in key African and in-ternational markets. For the second

L-R: Manager, Prepaid Acquisition, Airtel Nigeria, Nelba AKinyemi; Zonal Business Manager, Abuja Lynda Umeh; Proprietor, Christ Foundation Orphanage, Mr. Kute Gabriel; Proprietress, Christ Foundation Orphanage, Mrs. Kute Gabriel; Regional marketing Manager, North Central, Airtel Nigeria, Ifeoma Azogu and Human Resources Manager, Oladipo Babalola, during the presentation of computers and accessories to Christ Foundation Orphanage in Kuje, Abuja, recently.

Djembe Communications plans expansion in Nigerian market

Nigeria deficient in professional hair stylistsDAVID AUDU

Natures Gentle Touch Hair Institute has re-stated its commitment to

empower Nigerian youths with skills needed to establish a ca-reer in the beauty industry.

Public Relations Manager, Rec-are Limited, manufacturers of Na-tures Gentle Touch range of hair care products, Mrs. Toyin Adepegba, said that the company’s decision was informed by the shortage of profes-sional hair stylists in the country.

She explained that the Natures Gentle Touch Hair Institute was es-tablished to bridge the gap in hair care services in the country by em-powering young people with the knowledge and skills required to practice professional hair care ser-

vices. “Our students are taken through

an eight-month intensive training in cosmetology and trichology before practicing. They are also exposed to modern styling equipment and ex-perts, who take them through theo-retical and practical classes ‘’, she said.

Established in 2006, the Natures Gentle Touch Hair Institute has birthed several professional hair stylists, whom have gone ahead to start off lucrative careers in the beauty industry.

Students graduating from the institute also have huge potentials to make impact in various other fields beyond the salon. They are employ-able in the media industry as beauty care experts or product development executives in cosmetic companies.

U.S. internet ad revenue risesAdvertisers spent a record-

breaking $13.3 billion on U.S. Internet advertise-

ments in the first quarter of the year, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Online ad revenue rose 16 percent compared to the same period last year, when the category recorded an $11.4 bil-lion haul, the IAB reported

“Digital screens are an in-disputable part of consumers’ lives,” said Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the IAB, in a press release. “This double-digit growth speaks to the incred-ible popularity of interactive

Bharti Airtel Africa, a leading telecommunications service provider with operations in

20 countries across Asia and Africa, has today announced Yaya Touré as the new African face for its upcoming continental campaign.

Airtel’s partnership with the Ivory Coast’s captain and Manchester City’s midfield will launch the brand’s “It’s Now” campaign which seeks to nur-ture and grow talent in Africa through various consumer touchpoints such as sports, lifestyle and music while providing customers with access to connectivity and technological solu-tions that will enable them explore op-portunities around them.

Airtel Africa Chief Executive Of-ficer, Christian de Faria, said that the campaign reiterates the company’s commitment to support the youth in Africa as well as drive economic growth by unlocking people’s poten-tial.

“We are excited to be signing the pact with Mr. Touré who is respected in Africa and beyond. As the first player to win African Player of the Year four consecutive times, Touré is an inspiration to everyone working

to achieve their potential and striving to be their best every day,” said Mr. de Faria.

Speaking on his partnership with Airtel Africa, Mr. Touré said, “Throughout my career I have been fortunate to have a great deal of suc-cess on the field. However, I know that the strongest performances come only when you commit 100 percent to the task at hand and display the strength and mettle to give it your all. “It’s Now” is a campaign that is close to my heart as it calls on Africans to embrace the opportunities around them to better their lives. I am glad to be working with Airtel, with its wide reach within Africa, in order to in-spire many people.”

The partnership will see Mr. Touré support Airtel’s corporate social re-sponsibility particularly in youth em-powerment for development.

Having entered the African mar-ket in 2010, Airtel Africa has steadily increased its customer base in Africa to reach over 70 million people. Airtel currently has Africa’s widest 3G foot-print across 17 countries, coupled with the widest mobile commerce footprint in Africa with Airtel Money.

Airtel campaign for improved focus, strategy

screens.”The New Media Group of PwC

produces the report for the IAB, polling companies that sell adver-tising on the Internet. Revenues have increased sharply since data collection began in 1996.

The rise in year-over-year fig-ures is the direct result of brand and media agencies’ increasing commitment to digital market-ing,” said David Silverman, a partner at PwC US, in the press release. “It is clear that interac-tive has become an imperative in reaching key demographics with tailored messaging and creative.”

Thursday, June 18, 2015Brands & Marketing

K-Peace wins Etisalat-sponsored Nigerian Idol Season 5

half of 2015, the consultancy will greatly increase its local presence in key African, Middle East, North American and UK markets, he said.

Africa’s growth metrics are leading the world. According to the Global Economic Outlook 2015 SSA will continue to experience steady growth at around five percent annu-ally between 2020 and 2025. McKin-sey forecasts consumer spending to grow from USD 860 billion in 2008 to USD 1.4 trillion by 2020, while accord-ing to Standard Bank, 14 million new households will join the middle class segment by 2030.

In the communications sector the Middle East and Africa saw the biggest surge in advertising spend in 2014, up by 14.6 per cent against 3.2 per cent worldwide, which points to the immense opportunities in Af-rica right now according to a Nielsen study.

DAVID AUDU

Flippy Campus team has been named the most outstanding start-up in the just concluded

Demo Africa pre-screening event in Accra.

The first tech-entrepreneur group that would be present at the Demo Af-rica stage in September. Out of the 10 teams that pitched at the event, Flip-py Campus was the most convincing to the jury on their ability to link in-novation, creativity and scalability.

DEMO Africa’s pre-screening activities and feedback sessions are expected to raise the standards of the technology products that are pro-duced by start-ups across Africa to ensure that the confidence of various investors is secured.

Demo Africa is one of the flagship initiatives of the Lions@Africa and

aims to connect African startups to the global ecosystem. It is the place where the most innovative compa-nies from Africa get a platform to launch their products and announce to Africa and the world what they have developed with the hope of at-tracting investors. Nigeria hosted this event in 2014.

The event which brought togeth-er start-ups from across West Africa, had judges Todd Holcombe, senior lecturer at Meltwater Entrepreneur-ial School of Technology, which has one of the leading acceleration pro-grammes in Africa; Martin Obuya, DEMO Africa’s Accra Event Direc-tor, Erick Osiakwan, AfrISPA and Juliet Amoah of British Council as-sessed the various solutions from the startups and provided feedback to the teams.

Flippy is a product that improves campus experience by keeping stu-

dents up to date on current campus happenings. By following the Flippy Campus channels, students are able to follow campus events from their halls and social groups including re-minders for these events.

Speaking on their success, David Sleek, founder, Flippy Campus ex-pressed optimism at what the future holds for the group. “I am elated at this win and I look forward to learn-ing more from other entrepreneurs and mentors at the DEMO Africa event in Lagos in September.”

While congratulating the winner, Obuya expressed enthusiasm at the ability of entrepreneurs to create wealth in Africa using innovations. “What took place today is a clear demonstration of the great ability of entrepreneurs across Africa to cre-ate wealth from world class solutions which solve our own problems first, then the rest of the world”, he added.

DAVID AUDU

African youths charac-terized by exuberance and technology sav-

vy will dominate consumer spending by 2020 says Chief Executive Officer of a pro-grammatic advertising agen-cy, Cape Town’s Atmosphere Orange, Craig Utermark.

“Half of all Africans are under the age of 20, with those aged 16-34 accounts for 65 per cent of the entire continent’s trillion-dollar consumer spending’.

He said with this being the fastest growing continents with strong smart-phone use, advertisers are obsessing on how best to reach them. “They read all the time, but not news-papers or magazines.

“But they are all zero’ed in, whenever and wherever they can, surfing the social freeways on their phones. It is there that advertising brand managers are targeting them among the noise of millions of gigabytes of information. And it’s possible, with the lat-est technology, programmatic marketing allows brand man-agers to reach 95 per cent of the Sub Saharan African mar-ket with 34 global exchanges, giving us access to 70,000 web-sites that are relevant to the South African market.”

Another ad monitoring agency, Frukt, says that 65 per cent of consumer spending is attributable to young people, not necessarily with buying but as influencers too of their parent’s spending decisions.

“Unlike their somewhat spoilt Western counterparts, Africa’s Millennial genera-tion is not pessimistic about its future (even with rapidly rising unemployment rates), in fact they are infectiously optimistic about what lies ahead.

“With the youth popula-tion in Africa set to rise faster than any other continent over the next decade, this ‘A Gen-eration’ is one to watch as the next wave of youth pioneers tap into the continent’s rich cultural heritage and make their collective voice, and spending power, known.”

Frukt says Africa has “ar-guably the strongest and most passionate musical culture on the planet,” and that is one way to get the attention of the A Generation. They say that by 2020 youth will domi-nate Africa’s $1.3tn consumer spending.

Utermark concurs, saying these generations of youth are incredibly sophisticated. The South African Social Media Landscape 2015 report recently revealed that just in this country Twitter has 6.6 million users and visual plat-forms YouTube and Instagram have seen a user increase of 53 per cent and 65 per cent re-spectively over the past year.

“So our young people, like those across the world want ads with great visuals, ideally set to a great musical beat, something they can share on social media and be seen as cool by their friends.”

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 37Thursday, June 18, 2015 Brands & Marketing

L-R: President, African Union of Architect, Arch. Tokunbo Omisore; MD, Nigerite Ltd, Mr. Frank Lebis; Chairman, Prince Adekunle Adeniji-Adele; Regional Director, Africa Etex, Mr. Mark Vanoverbeke and Chief Finance Officer, Nigerite Ltd, Alhaji Gbolahan Tijani, during the launch of Kalsi Building Board Solution in Lagos, yesterday.

DAVID AUDU

Casers Group and Mawal Group have announced a definitive merger agreement under

which Casers Group acquires Mawal, amarketing communications net-work in French West and Central Af-rica.

Enyi Odigbo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Casers Group, explained that the acquisition demonstrated his company’s commit-ment to deploy resources that will de-liver value to existing and prospective local and multinational clients.

Odigbo said the strategic combi-nation eliminated the need for busi-nesses that require a regional mar-keting communications solution to

Casers Group acquires Mawal marketing network

seek partners on a country by country basis, which often results in disparate service levels, in terms of quality and resource deployment”.

“This merger has developed out of the successful DDB led partnership of Casers Group, Mawal Group and Innova DDB in partnering MTN, the largest mobile telecoms operator in the Middle East and Africa. DDB cur-rently manages MTN in Nigeria, Gha-na, Liberia, Cameroun, Cote d’Ivoire, Republic of Benin, Guinea Conakry, Guinea Bissau and Congo Brazzaville.

Joel Nettey, MD of INNOVA DDB and President of the Advertising As-sociation of Ghana said “The oppor-tunity to partner on MTN for the past 4 years throughout the region provid-ed the learning curve needed to dras-

tically reduce the teething problems associated with deals of this nature”.

Reacting to this development, Bayo Adekanbi, Chief Marketing Officer, MTN Nigeria said that the acquisition would facilitate Casers’ quest to deliv-er solutions to the increasing market opportunities, in West and Central Africa.

The Founder and Executive Chairperson of Mawal Group, Mrs. Mareme Malong will retire but will continue to serve as adviser to the board.

She said that she and her team members “are excited at this develop-ment because it is the coming togeth-er of like-minded Africans to form a more formidable entity that will out-perform our individual operations.

Konga unveils new e-payment solutionDAVID AUDU

Nigeria’s Online Mall, Konga.com, has an-nounced the develop-

ment of an online payment solu-tion called KongaPay, packaged to foster trust and safety for on-line shoppers in the country

KongaPay is a payment solu-tion that allows users to perform one-click payments on the Konga marketplace.

Chief Executive Officer, Sim Shagaya, said: “KongaPay is a partnership with Nigeria’s banks. We strongly believe that together, we could change the face of online shopping in Nigeria by removing the uncertainties customers asso-ciate with pre-paying for goods and services they are yet to receive.”

Speaking about the benefits of the product to online shoppers on Konga.com, Sim Shagaya said, “Payments made with KongaPay are held in escrow until the trans-action is satisfactorily completed. With KongaPay, shoppers on Kon-ga’s marketplace can rest assured

knowing that their transactions are fully protected.

“They are in full control of their money, and will get instant refunds for cancelled or returned orders with just an easy click. The use of KongaPay eliminates the need to enter sensitive personal informa-tion such as card details or Internet banking passwords”.

The product was unveiled at a KongaPay Demo event in Lagos.

Shagaya disclosed that after live demonstrations of the easy and secure use of KongaPay on the center-stage, industry executives gathered around various shopping stations where they too signed up and used KongaPay to for their purchases.

KongaPay is now available on a “limited first-look release basis” with national launch scheduled for Q3 2015.

So far, Konga has completed integrations with Access Bank, Diamond Bank, Ecobank, FCMB, First Bank, GTB, Heritage Bank, UBA and Zenith Bank. It is expect-ed that by its national launch, most

Nigerian banks will have complet-ed integration in order to achieve widespread access to KongaPay.

Demo Africa 2015: Flippy Campus emerges first start-ups

Youths to dominate Africa’s $1.3tn consumer spending by 2020

The Nigeria telecommunications industry has been classified as the fastest growing in Africa, but ISAIAH ERHIAWARIEN reports that daunting challenges have continued to truncate its growth, thereby denying consumers quality services.

Nigerian telecommunications industry will still undergo an-other round of revolution for the

country to start feeling the full impact of emerging technology sweeping across the globe.

The reason is that after the first 10 years of what is termed the sporadic growth that made the telecoms market in Nigeria to be regarded as the fastest growing in Africa, minor issues that in-hibit the growth of a true success story are still far from being resolved.

National Mirror investigation re-vealed that the industry is still grappling with such irritants as unsolicited text messages and calls, drop calls, consci-entious regulation, unfair competition and lack of protection for telecoms infra-structure among others.

It was gathered that these issues, as well as others are responsible for the challenges that have made quality ser-vices far from been experienced by the subscribers.

The implication is that subscribers will have to wait for another round of revolution to experience the best of tele-coms services in the country, just like the one that brought the telecoms services to Nigeria initially.

Before 2000, the year telecoms revolu-tion was said to have begun in Nigeria telephone was the exclusive right of a privileged few. It was the year, when the now moribund state owned and run Ni-geria Telecommunications Limited (NI-TEL) held sway in the industry, and de-cided who got which telephone lines.

Reflecting on the days before the col-lapse of NITEL, Chairman and Chief Ex-ecutive Officer of Teledom Group Lim-ited, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, described the introduction of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) as one of the most unimaginable in the history of telephony in the country.

Ekuwem told the National Mirror that then it took almost a year, between applying for a telephone from NITEL and getting the handset delivered to either in one’s home or office, adding that only the very rich and well connected Nigerians ever got to have telephone lines within a short period.

He added that in the days when NITEL held the industry to ransom, and later in-troduced the phone booth, the story still did not change as long queues were the norm at most phone booths due to poor network connection.

According to him, when the GSM took root in Nigeria, the story changed and Nigerians irrespective of their social status were able to own a telephone lines without delay.

He said that although it was expensive initially to buy a GSM SIM pack, which cost about N50,000, however, market forc-es have within the last few years brought it to as low as N150 with free packs taking over soonest.

There was excitement in the industry because Nigerians had never had it so real as been able to make calls. Subscrib-ers were glued to their mobile phones, spending long hours of talk on networks with limited capacity, while the large

the GSM, operators began to have issues with the quality of services and other re-lated telecoms challenges, resulting into the NCC organising a public hearing to address the problems.

The inquiry was one of the require-ments of the rule making process of the NCC, where the industry and stakehold-ers gather and consult for the purpose of issuing regulations and guidelines in ac-cordance with Section 71 of the NCC Act, and enforcement of the said Act.

The inquiry, which was held in 2009, and the first in the industry was meant to administer and monitor closely a Per-formance Management Programme to ensure that operating companies main-tained minimum performance levels jointly agreed between them, consumers

Telecoms mast

SUBSCRIBERS WILL HAVE TO WAIT FOR ANOTHER ROUND OF REVOLUTION TO EXPERIENCE THE BEST

OF TELECOMS SERVICES IN THE COUNTRY, JUST LIKE THE ONE THAT BROUGHT THE TELECOMS

SERVICES TO NIGERIA INITIALLY

population created a market that made it easy for the operators to sell their SIM cards; the result was congestion across the network.

But the new development in the tele-coms sector came with its own bundle of challenges that is taking the industry regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), as well as the opera-tors too long to address. In the early days of the GSM revolution, the former Exec-utive Vice-Chairman of the NCC, Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, had advocated that one of the fundamental priorities for the regulator was to seek to meet the require-ments of the consumer for modern, good quality, widely available and affordable services.

However, nine years into the era of

representatives and the NCC, and, con-sistent with world class standards.

The hearing was also as a result of media reports in 2008 chronicling public outcries over the state of the telecoms in-dustry.

Ndukwe who is now into private practice, said then that the extremely high market demands resulted in the net-works being in a constant mode of expan-sion and barely able to keep up with the demands.

“Congestion is further worsened be-cause since Nigeria is a huge market still in its emerging phases, and extremely competitive with each of the operators investing heavily to continue to build out their networks, the operators are likewise motivated to quickly earn high returns on their investments by intro-ducing new services and promotions to secure the most subscribers and call minutes or revenue on their network,” he said.

President of the Association Li-censed Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Engr. Lanre Ajayi, told our correspondent that subscribers desire much from the operators, and that one of such expectation is that when-ever they make calls, the calls should go through, but unfortunately that is not the present situation in the sector.

According to him, there are several complaints from subscribers ranging from drop calls to poor network connec-tion, and sometimes a complete network failure, adding however, that bulk of the blame do not necessarily fall on the shoulders of the mobile operators.

He stated that one big problem in the industry which needs to be urgently addressed is the vandalism of telecoms infrastructure, saying that any damage done to a base station has a sporadic ef-fect on other operators since it takes more than just one base station for calls to be connected successfully.

Ajayi said that telecoms operators are losing millions of naira to the activities of the vandals, acts that not only affect the quality of services, but send lots of funds meant for other investments down the drain.

Statistics from industry experts re-vealed that it costs about N24,750,000 to install a single base station together with its tower, special antennas and two gen-erators to power the station.

Regrettably, a source in MTN re-vealed that 180 cuts were experienced on its fibre optic cable that transmits voice and data across the country whenever local, states and the federal government engaged in road construction works.

Last year a major damage was done to MTN fibre optic cable in Akute, Ifo Lo-cal Government Area of Ogun State by a Chinese company that was working on the 35kms Ogun State suburb road that stretches from Sango through Ijoko, Ag-

Telecoms: Subscribers, operators 38 National Mirror

www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, June 18, 2015 Insight

Engr Ernest Ndukwe

A vandalised mast in Maiduguri

Ex-Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs Omobolaji Johnson

prove the quality of services. Chairman of the Association Li-

censed Telecommunications Operators (ALTON), Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, la-mented that the Critical Infrastructure Bill is still not passed by the National As-sembly even in the face of rising vandal-ism.

According to Adebayo, the harsh op-erating environment replete with mul-tiple taxations, inadequate power, thefts and dearth of supporting infrastructure, among other issues are making quality services seem to be out of reach of the subscribers.

He stated that due to the rising inci-dences of security issues, operators have now had to go through a learning curve to build and develop robust security net-works, stressing that these investments are in addition to efforts operators have taken to address the daily challenges ear-lier highlighted.

Although government did not respond swiftly as expected by the stakeholders, it however setup the Universal Access Provision Fund (USPF), to facilitate the achievement of the national policy goals for universal access and universal ser-vice to information and communication technologies (ICTs) in rural, un-served and under-served areas in Nigeria.

Following the establishment of the USPF was the establishment of the Infra-structure Companies by the NCC, which although was received with mixed feel-ings by a cross section of stakeholders has seemed to have settled down for effec-tive take-off.

Already, two companies, MainOne Cable and IHS, have been licensed to pro-vide telecoms infrastructure for Lagos area and the North Central respectively. Both are major players in the provision of infrastructure in the nation’s telecom industry.

The Licensing of Infracos is a major precursor to the soon-to-evolve broad-band revolution in the country.

Yet, stakeholders think that govern-ment has not done enough to protect the existing infrastructure in the country, and that the operating environment is still bedevilled with teething problems that seem to have no solution.

Despite the challenges, it did not stop the NCC from lashing the three leading telecoms operators, MTN Nigeria, Globa-com Limited and Airtel Nigeria Limited with several sanctions.

One of such sanctions was the im-position of N647.5million fines for fail-ing to provide service quality on their networks. The fines imposed on them in February 24, 2014 showed that Airtel and MTN were fined N185m each, while Glo-bacom was fined N277.5m.

The operators have also gotten knocks from subscribers over what they de-scribed as outright invasion of their pri-vacy, and that is the unsolicited text mes-sages and calls, most of which are from the Value Added Services (VAS) provid-ers, who ride on the infrastructure of the mobile networks to transmit messages of their clients to their targets.

The ATCON president, Ajayi, de-

THE NEW DEVELOPMENT IN THE TELECOMS SECTOR CAME WITH ITS OWN BUNDLE OF

CHALLENGES THAT IS TAKING THE INDUSTRY REGULATOR, NIGERIAN COMMUNICATIONS

COMMISSION (NCC), AS WELL AS THE OPERATORS TOO LONG TO ADDRESS

groan even in the face of profi tsscribed them as a big menace saying, “I noticed the increase in the sms spam, and the voice spam is becoming a big men-ace,” adding, “it is something that needs to be dealt with.”

Although Ajayi said he is not sure how to overcome the menace of these un-solicited texts and calls, he however sug-gested, “if all the stakeholders put heads together we will be able to address it. I learnt that some operators have put some spam filters in place, but even with that we still get the spam but there must be a way out, and I think it requires further engagement.”

In an apparent move to curb the grow-ing menace of unsolicited texts the NCC visited two radio stations, Metro FM 103.5 and UNILAG FM 103.1 and used the me-dia to inform subscribers on what it has done so far to stem the tide of unsolicited text messages.

Director, Public Affairs of the NCC, Tony Ojobo, who was on air at both sta-tion at different times said the Com-mission had issued several directives to mobile network operators to minimise the rate of unsolicited text messages sent to subscribers through their networks, stressing that the NCC has begun to fine them for that.

The NCC is also said to be warming up to come hard on mobile operators who are integrating VAS providers into their systems, thereby aiding and abating ille-gality.

Some Nigerians residing abroad de-scribe the present state of telecoms ser-vices as very unsatisfactory, saying the trend globally is quality services for ev-ery customers.

Robert Omonoseh who lives in Min-nesota, in the United States of America in an interview online told National Mir-ror that drop calls are alien to him, say-ing the service providers in the USA have only one objective of satisfying their cus-tomers.

He said the service providers are aware of the importance of the right of the consumers, and their interest is on how to make the consumers happy and not to create lines of complain.

Craig Agbonyeme who relocated home from Malaysia described the cur-rent trend of quality service as annoying, saying beside the fact that the operators took chances to reap off the subscribers, the unsolicited text messages from the operators have become unbearable.

“If for any reason your phone did not work due to technical issues you get com-pensated. Here in the UK, you have what we term Contract Pay as you go. They have different advantage and disadvan-tages,” Jolly Iguodala, who relocated to London long before the telecoms revolu-tion began in Nigeria, said.

Head, Lagos office of the Consumer Protection Council, Tam Tamunokonbia, said the operators are obviously aware that the consumers are the key factors if service delivery must be efficiently done.

He said the relevant bodies concerned with the issues that subscribers have over the years complained about are be-ing addressed by the agencies concerned.

bado, Oke-Aro, Lambe, Akute and some parts of Ojodu in Lagos State.

The Statistics also showed that on the average the operator suffers a monthly 70 fibre optic cable cuts due to the activities of construction works across Nigeria.

According to MTN Nigeria it has lost network availability in over 1,000 base stations cumulatively across the country after damage to its fibre infrastructure adding that this has disrupted services in the South East, particularly in Onitsha, Port Harcourt, Kano, Abuja, Kaduna and Ibadan recently.

Recently, the company, in a press state-

ment, appealed to members of the public to report any suspicious activity around installations, which it said were Critical National Infrastructure (CNI).

In its December 2013 financial report, the South African company revealed that it recorded N793.614billion as rev-enue, representing 5.31% increase from N753.578b in 2012. But due to the challeng-es of the operating environment, it in-curred a total of N260.572bn as operating expenditure, out of which 12% or N31.2bn represented the cost of diesel. The huge amount would have built 5,200 90-square-metres base stations that will help im-

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 39Thursday, June 18, 2015 - Insight

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net40 Thursday, June 18, 2015Cocktail

xx

Georgia woman thrilled to be divorced, standing near the decorated truck.

The Washington State Patrol said a woman who became lost

while riding her mobility scooter was escorted home by a trooper at 6 mph.

The patrol said Trooper Dave Hintz responded June 9 to a report of an elderly woman riding her scooter in circles on a stretch of High-way 546 in Lyden and he asked the woman to move to the side of the road.

Hintz said the woman told him she had been riding in circles because she was lost

about 4 miles from home.“I just treated her the way

I would’ve wanted somebody to treat my mom,” Hintz told KOMO-TV.

Hintz drove behind the woman at 6 mph to escort her home. He said the jour-ney took more than an hour.

Amused witnesses posted photos and videos of the es-cort on social media.

“Our motto with the state patrol is service with humil-ity,” Hintz said. “It took a lot of patience and humility to take care of this lady.”

Oddities

‘Just Divorced’ woman celebrates by decorating truck

Woman lost on mobility scooter gets police escort

Coast Guard rescues leatherback turtle from lobster trap

U.S. Coast Guard members stationed in New York shared

video of a large leather-back turtle being rescued from a lobster trap.

The Coast Guard’s Mon-tauk station said the fish-ing boat Captain Ron sum-moned help Monday for a leatherback turtle caught in a lobster trap in Fort Pond Bay and a crew soon arrived to cut the line.

“The turtle would have most likely died if the crew did not respond to assist,” Coast Guard crew member Matthew Foster said in a statement.

“The line was around the turtle’s neck and fin and was getting tighter. We are glad we were able to execute the mission safely and release the trapped turtle quickly,” he said.

A Georgia woman is celebrating her long-awaited di-

vorce by driving around in a pickup truck embla-zoned with the words, “Just Divorced.”

Leona Metcalf of Law-renceville said her hus-band of nearly a decade walked out on her five years ago, but her divorce wasn’t finalized until late last week.

Melcalf affixed cans to her Ford F-150 pickup truck and wrote “Just Divorced” on the win-dows and tailgate of the vehicle in a reference to the custom of decorat-ing the cars of the newly married.

“I’m an independent woman,” Metcalf told WAGA-TV. “To me, it’s a celebration because it should have been over 5 years ago.”

“You see people put-ting ‘Just Married’ on their cars to celebrate

their wedding so I decid-ed, hey, why not put ‘Just Divorced’ on my truck to celebrate my divorce?” she told The Huffington Post.

Metcalf said her truck

has earned her a lot of honks of support from other motorists.

“I had absolutely no idea it would receive this much positivity and pub-licity,” she said. “I simply

thought it was a cute idea. But everywhere I go people tell me they think my positive spirit is awesome and shout things like ‘what a cool idea’ and ‘you go girl!’”

The dollar extended losses against the euro and yen, while

U.S. stocks gained in volatile afternoon trading, after the Federal Reserve indicated there would be a rate hike by end of the year.

The U.S. central bank said the economy was likely strong enough to support an interest rate increase by the end of the year, though it also lowered its expectations for 2015 economic growth be-cause of a weak start to the year.

The Fed has said that it would first raise rates when it deems the economy strong enough to handle it. Analysts are torn on whether the first hike in about 10 years will oc-cur in September or Decem-ber.

Investors also continued to watch the uncertain situa-tion in Greece, fretting about the potential fallout if the

ing existing generating assets at Ughelli and determining a course of action for total re-covery and as a result, we are on track to achieve 850MW per day by year-end 2015, which represents a major contribu-tion to the country’s total en-ergy output.

During the TUPL Board meeting last Tuesday, Trans-corp Plc Board Chairman, Mr. Tony Elumelu, predicted long-term mega-growth, say-ing “we are determined to produce a quarter of all power generated in Nigeria and we are clearly on track to achieve this, thanks to the cohesive-ness of the leadership team and the hard work of the staff, driven by the TUPL CEO.”

According to the Board,

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 41Thursday, June 18, 2015 Capital Market

JOHNSON OKANLAWON

Nigerian equities mar-ket dipped further yesterday in bearish

transactions, with the twin market performance that measures the NSE ASI and market capitalisation drop-ping by 0.37 per cent.

The decline in value was due to profit taking by inves-tors.

The All-Share Index dropped 124.25 basis points or 0.37 per cent to close at 33,478.42 as against 33,602.67 recorded the previous day

while the market capitalisa-tion of equities depreciated by N43 billion or 0.37 per cent to close at N11.427 trillion from N11.470 trillion as mar-ket sentiment returned to red trajectory.

This was just as a turn-over of 204.9 million shares worth N7.4 billion in 3,696 deals was recorded in the day’s trading.

The banking sub-sector of the financial services sector was the most active when measured by turnover volume; with 106.5 million shares worth N1.7 billion ex-

changed by investors in 1,255 deals. Volume in the sub-sec-tor was largely driven by ac-tivities in ETI Plc and Zenith Bank Plc.shares.

Other financial services sub-sector was boosted by activities in the shares of FBNH Plc with a turnover of 34.7 million shares valued at N262.3 million in 665 deals.

22 gainers were recorded at the close of trading ses-sion companred with 24 with dipped stock values

Berger Paints Nigeria Plc led the gainers’ table with a gain of 10.20 per cent

to close at N11.24 per share while Pharm Deko Nigeria Plc followed with a gain of 4.93 per cent to close at N2.34 and Eterna Oil Plc added 4.74 per cent to close at N2.65 per share.

Guinness Nigeria Plc led the price losers’ table, drop-ping 5.28 per cent each to close at N174.80 per share. Beta Glas Nigeria Plc fol-lowed with 4.99 per cent to close at N37.32 per share while May & Baker Plc fol-lowed with a loss of 4.91 per cent to close at N1.55 per share.

Equities dip 0.37% on bearish market trend

Dollar falls, Wall Street up in volatile post-Fed trading

TOLA AKINMUTIMI

Transcorp Ughelli Pow-er Limited (TUPL), the power generation and

investment subsidiary of Ni-gerian’s conglomerate Trans-corp Plc, has projected to increase its generated power daily from the 610 megawatts (mw) at the end of 2014 to 850mw by end of this year.

The company’s 2014 Annu-al Report and Accounts were also approved by sharehold-ers at its 2nd Annual General Meeting (AGM).

The report detailed the progress made by the nation’s largest gas-powered generat-ing company during the first full calendar year of opera-tions.

Transcorp Ughelli Power targets 850mw daily by year end

Stock Updates

GAINERSCOMPANY OPENING CLOSING CHANGE % CHANGE

BERGER 10.20 11.24 1.04 10.20

PHARMDEKO 2.23 2.34 0.11 4.93

ETERNA 2.53 2.65 0.12 4.74

CHAMPION 6.72 7.00 0.28 4.17

HONYFLOUR 3.85 4.00 0.15 3.90

DANGSUGAR 6.69 6.90 0.21 3.14

CONOIL 40.95 41.98 1.03 2.52

STANBIC 27.00 27.50 0.50 1.85

CILEASING 0.56 0.57 0.01 1.79

SKYEBANK 2.50 2.54 0.04 1.60

LOSERSCOMPANY OPENING CLOSING CHANGE % CHANGE

GUINNESS 184.55 174.80 -9.75 -5.28

BETAGLAS 39.28 37.32 -1.96 -4.99

MAYBAKER 1.63 1.55 -0.08 -4.91

AIICO 0.95 0.91 -0.04 -4.21

ACADEMY 0.95 0.91 -0.04 -4.21

COSTAIN 0.96 0.92 -0.04 -4.17

THOMASWY 0.73 0.70 -0.03 -4.11

WEMABANK 0.99 0.96 -0.03 -3.03

DIAMONDBNK 4.36 4.23 -0.13 -2.98

OANDO 16.95 16.49 -0.46 -2.71

Market indicatorsAll-Share Index 33,478.42 points

Market capitalisation 11.43trn

Source: NSE

country was unable to avoid a default on IMF loans, which could result in it leaving the euro or the European Union.

“I haven’t figured out whether the rate hike will be in September or Decem-ber, but I think September is more likely, and I would pre-fer to get it out of the way,” said Wayne Kaufman, chief market analyst at Phoenix Financial Services in New York.

“People have been expect-ing a rate hike to come, and the market is ready for that. At the same time, we’re also still worried about Greece.”

The MSCI International ACWI Price Index .MIWD-00000PUS rose 0.2 percent on the day.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 30.26 points, or 0.17 percent, to 17,934.74, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 3 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,099.29 and the Nasdaq Composite . IXIC

added 8.63 points, or 0.17 per-cent, to 5,064.19.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note US10YT=RR fell 3/32 in price, pushing the yield up to 2.3272 percent. The U.S. dollar index .DXY, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.5 percent.

Euro zone finance minis-ter are due to meet on Thurs-day, but there was talk of plans being put in place for another emergency summit over Greece at the weekend. Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the president of Eurogroup fi-nance ministers, said there was a “very small” chance that a deal would be reached at the meeting.

The pan-European FTS-Eurofirst 300 index FTEU3 closed down 0.5 percent. The euro EUR= rose 0.6 percent to $1.1314.

In the commodity space, U.S. crude futures CLc1 fell

Description Price Yield Price Yield

13.05 16-AUG-2016 1.17 99.03 13.94 99.18 13.79

15.10 27-APR-2017 1.86 101.79 13.94 101.94 13.85

16.00 29-JUN-2019 4.03 105.71 14.09 106.01 14.00

16.39 27-JAN-2022 6.61 110.03 14.00 110.33 13.94

14.20 14-MAR-2024 8.74 101.16 13.95 101.46 13.89

10.00 23-JUL-2030 15.10 68.00 15.55 68.30 15.48

Tenor Rate (%)

O/N 15.1000

1M 15.9685

3M 16.8676

6M 17.6790

Maturity Date Bid Offer

10-Sep-15 12.00 12.34

17-Dec-15 12.61 13.46

02-Jun-16 12.53 14.24

Treasury Bills

NIBOR

FGN BondsBid Offer

Closing Market Prices of June 17, 2015

The Fixings of June 17, 2015

In his remarks, the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Adeoye Fadeyibi, outlined TUPL’s “short term, post-acquisition operational strategy as one based largely around the re-covery of installed capacity.”

In the year under review, the company increased gen-eration capacity from 342 megawatts (MW) at Decem-ber 2013 to 610MW at the end of 2014, representing 78 per cent increase year-over-year and a 300 per cent increase from takeover.

Transcorp Plc Group Pres-ident/CEO Emmanuel N. Nnorom expressed delight on the company’s performance

He said: “Our team is excited and united. Ade has done a fantastic job of assess-

2015 will see the execution of expansion plans through key acquisitions, as well as a Greenfield project set to com-mence operations in 2018.

The financial advisory firm Renaissance Capital (RenCap), had projected this year that Transcorp Plc would more than quintuple its profitability by 2017 in part because of the outlook for TUPL.

RenCap stated: “We be-lieve the government’s deter-mination to make centralised electricity supply a reliable source of power for the econ-omy, at half the price of the currently widely used diesel generators, is sufficient rea-son to see a bright future for the assets”.

Inter-Bank RateNaira US DollarN197.00 $1

Exchange Rates (N)

WAUA 270

USD 197

EURO 214

CFA 0.32

YEN 1.64

SWISS FRANC

202

POUNDS STERLING

293

SDR 273

Rate (%)

Inflation 8.2

MPR 13

Crude oil price $58.96

0.5 percent to $59.69, while Brent crude LCOc1 fell 0.1 per-cent to $63.66 per barrel. Oil trading was volatile after gov-ernment data showed a sur-prise gasoline inventory build last week, even as production eased.

1st Tier Securities1st Tier SecuritiesSector Company name No Of Deals Quotation(N) Quantity Traded Value of Shares(N)

Stock exchange daily equities summaryEquities as at June 17, 2015

Sector Company name No Of Deals Quotation(N) Quantity Traded Value of Shares(N)

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, June 18, 2015 Capital Market42

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 43Thursday, June 18, 2015 News

L-R: Former Chairman, Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), Federal Medical Centre, Ebute Metta, Mr. Ebenezer Akande; Chair-man, Medical Health Workers Union, Mr.Julius Achonwa; Chairman, JOHESU, Mr. Shehu Sulaiman; Chairman, National Associa-tion of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, Mrs. Blessing Israel and Secretary of JOHESU, Mr. Chijioke Ejiofor, during a protest over high medical bills and poor equipment by joint workers of the Federal Medical Centre, Ebute-Metta, Lagos, yesterday.

Aviation unions kick against planned merger

OLAJIDE OMOJOLOMOJU

All Progressives Congress, APC, has described the

statement credited to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Media Watchdog, asking President Muham-madu Buhari to resign be-cause of comments over his age, as a product of poor thinking and deliber-ate mischief.

APC, in a statement by its National Publicity Sec-retary, Lai Mohammed, in Lagos yesterday, said if the authors of the state-ment understood simple English, taken the pains to engage in deep think-ing and contextualised the comments, they would not have rushed to the press to ask the President to resign.

It said: “What President Buhari was saying, which was lost on those who is-sued that jejune statement, is that only his love and passion for the country could have made him, at his age, to come out of re-tirement to seek the office

of president, over 30 years after he presided over the affairs of the country.

“For 16 years, Nigeri-ans gave the PDP benefit of the doubt to move the country forward, but in-stead, the party put Nige-ria in reverse gear at a high speed, spinning it towards a doomsday that was only averted when Nigerians showed the PDP the red card. This is what neces-sitated President Buhari to continuously seek the country’s highest political office, so he can help put the country on a forward march again. “Nothing else matters, not for him the excitement of an office he previously held and the quest for personal accom-plishment. If the country had been well-managed, President Buhari will not at 72 be criss-crossing the world seeking solution to Nigeria’s problems.”

The statement added that within three weeks of his inauguration, Presi-dent Buhari has succeeded in returning Nigeria to the comity of nations, to such

an extent that world lead-ers are now so eager to engage him on how to as-sist Nigeria in key areas, including security and the fight against corruption. Mohammed added: “With-in three weeks of Presi-dent Buhari’s inaugura-tion, he had done what the PDP government could not do in six years: invigorate the fight against Boko Ha-ram by rallying a regional and global front against the terror group. Today, the US has pledged to give $5 mil-lion for the fight against Boko Haram, in addition to other material support. This is apart from the sup-port that has been pledged by the G-7 for Nigeria’s efforts to quell the insur-gency.

“Thanks to President Buhari’s shuttle diploma-cy, the Multi-National Joint Task Force, MNJTF, that the PDP government could not bring together for all of six years is ready for deployment next month, while the president has ordered the release of $21 million to facilitate the

establishment of the head-quarters of the force in N’Djamena, Chad.

Mohammed averred that only anarchists and non-democrats will ask a president who has not spent one month in office to resign, saying that “it rankles when those mak-ing these calls are from the ranks of the party that failed to avail itself credit-ably in 16 years.’’

He added that APC has de-liberately refused to join is-sues with the PDP, which he said has been issuing series of insipid press statements that clearly showed its un-preparedness to provide a ro-bust opposition to the APC-led Federal Government.

He said: “For the ump-teenth time, we say that the PDP and its satellite bodies must realise that in order to be relevant, credible and make the necessary impact, they must pick on real issues and articulate them intelligently, rather than latching on to trite matters. This very ama-teurish display won’t get them anywhere.”

OLUSEGUN KOIKI

Three unions in Ni-geria’s aviation in-dustry are severely

kicking against planned merger of agencies in the sector and the Ministry of Aviation with the Ministry of Transport.

The unions insisted that merging the agencies and the ministry by the new administration was not the solution to problems facing the sector.

The unions, National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE; Na-tional Association of Air-craft Pilots and Engineers, NAAPE; and Air Transport Services Senior Staff As-sociation of Nigeria, ATSS-SAN, through their lead-ers, Comrades Olayinka Abioye, Aba Ocheme in a joint open-letter said merg-ing the ministry with trans-port ministry would make

it weaker in performance. The petition recalled

that the ministry was merged with the transport ministry during the regime of former President Oluse-gun Obasanjo, but this could not yield the desired result, which later led to its de-merging by the late Pres-ident Umaru Yar’Adua.

The petition insisted that the merging of the two min-istries was as a result of ill-advice from some “cabals” in the aviation sector and advised President Muham-madu Buhari to be mindful of the antics of the cabals.

The unions explained that the problem of the sector emanated from the appointment of politicians as ministers in the sector, rather than a technocrat with aviation background.

The unions said the ministry was self-sustain-ing through the agencies under it and need not to be merged with any other ministry or agencies.

Why we want Delta Tribunal relocated –Emerhor

Jostling for 2019 now unpatriotic –DogaraTORDUE SALEM ABUJA

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Yakubu

Dogara, has described politicians already plot-ting to take power in 2019 as unpatriotic.

The speaker made his observation yesterday on the occasion of a courtesy call on him by Presiden-tial Primaries Convention Committee.

“We have to rally round with all the tools we can get to make this govern-ment a success. We cannot

PDP’s statement on Buhari product of poor thinking –APC

fail our people, and that is why I fault those who are already having their eyes on 2019,” he said.

The speaker, who quot-ed an American writer, Thomas Stearns Eliot, warned that the pre-occu-pation of lawmakers and party members should be about the wellbeing of the entire country, instead of a few selfish politicians.

He restated his re-solve to collaborate with President Muhammadu Buhari’s government to implement pro-people agenda of his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC.

The Speaker also pledged to maintain peace with former Minority Leader of the House, Hon-ourable Femi Gbajabiami-

OBIORA IFOH ABUJA

Governorship candi-date of All Progres-sives Congress,

APC, in Delta State, Oloro-gun O’terga Emerhor, yes-terday explained that he requested for relocation of the state’s governor-ship and State Assembly Tribunal to Abuja because his supporters were undu-ly being harassed, adding that the way things are, he feared there would not be justice at the end of the day.

Governorship Election Tribunals for Taraba, Akwa Ibom, Rivers and the entire North East zone were relocated to Abuja for reasons bordering on insecurity of the tribunal

members.Emerhor, who also

feared that the tribunal verdict might be compro-mised, insisted that he had already instructed his lawyers to file neces-sary applications for the relocation.

He said: “The gover-norship election in Delta State was fraudulent as it was in Akwa Ibom State, Cross River State and oth-ers, so we went to the tri-bunal because we believe we have a point.

“We have applied for re-location to Abuja because we believe we need to be in a neutral place. Where the tribunal is sitting in Delta State and you can imagine the pressure we are facing in putting out our case.

la and his party.Dogara, who defeated

Gbajabiamila on Tuesday, June 9, to emerge speaker, was not the choice of the leadership of his party.

Earlier, Dr. Alex Ideh, who led the defunct Presi-dential Primaries Con-vention Committee to visit the speaker, urged him to make peace with Gbajabiamila and APC

leadership. “Please, reach out to

Honourable Gbajabiami-la and the party in the true spirit of humility and sportsmanship,” the group advised.

The group said a strong cooperation between the National Assembly and the Presidency would has-ten development in the country.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net

44 Young & Next Generation Thursday, June 18, 2015

L-R: General Manager, Lucky Fibres, Mr. Jitesh Pamnani; Founder, Hearts of Gold Children Hospice, Mrs. Laja Adedoyin; Head, Business Development, BD Consult, Ms Tayo Azeez, with Children of Hearts of Gold Hospice during donation of specially designed children’s rugs and carpets to Hospice in Surulere, Lagos.

Science for Kids ‘Kids Say the Darndest Things’ debuts on Father’s Day

Nobel Carpets donates rugs to orphanage

StorieS by LeoNArD oKACHie

Worried by the prevalence of hunger in Nigeria, leading on-line food delivery service, Hel-

lofood has challenged its community and has held campaigns to help raise aware-ness on eradication of hunger in the so-ciety.

The group has for the past couple of weeks been going around areas in Lagos that have a high level of poor helpless children where people are not assured of their next meal and given them food

In commemoration of the World Hun-ger Day 2015, the group recently visited Ebute- Metta in Lagos where they fed the helpless children in the area.

Hellofood’s Head of Business Develop-ment, Oluwaseyi Adepoju called for seri-ous actions to re-establish the dignity of the Nigerian particularly, children. He

As part of initiatives geared to-wards giving back to the society, Lucky Fibres Plc, makers of No-

bel Carpets and Rugs, has donated sets of specially designed children’s rugs and carpets to the Hearts of Gold Children Hospice in Lagos.

General Manager, Lucky Fibres, Mr. Jitesh Pamnani who was present dur-ing the donation, said “We are happy to be here today to donate these things to these kids. We thought about how we can beautify the lives of these children and decided to design colourful carpets that had the English alphabets and also num-bers on them which would go a long way in beautifying their environment and also aid their development”.

Commenting on the quality of the carpets, Mr. Pamnani stated that Nobel Carpets and rugs have been in Nigeria for about 25 years manufacturing top quality durable carpets and rugs here in

Nigeria. He said, “We produce made in Nigeria

carpets and rugs that are of the highest international quality. We can even cus-tomize and design carpets to the specifi-cations of the customer. The quality of the rugs and carpets donated today is a reflection of our capabilities”

Speaking at the presentation of the donated items, founder, Hearts of Gold Children Hospice, Mrs. Laja Adedoyin stated that the home has had a great re-lationship with the company for quite a long time.

She said, “What they have been do-ing for us is indeed commendable. Over the years, they have been very support-ive. We urge other companies to come forward to aid what we are doing here. These rugs and carpets donated will go a long way in enhancing the lives of these children because they are bright and co-lourful and which aids in learning”.

Much anticipated Nigerian ad-aptation of popular American children’s television comedy

series ‘Kids Say the Darndest Things’ will hit TV screens with an exciting Father’s Day Special on Sunday June 21, 2015. The show which is powered by Cliqlite from Etisalat Nigeria will air on AIT Channel 21 and DSTV Channel 253.

The premise of ‘Kids Say the Darndest Things’ is that children of-ten respond to life’s questions in the most unexpectedly smart and amus-ing ways. The programme features kids between the ages of 2 and 10 as they respond to these posers thrown at them by the host of the show, Tony Okungbowa.

Head, Sponsorship and Events, Eti-salat Nigeria, Modupe Thani said, “As an innovative company, Etisalat Nigeria recognises the importance of education, learning and the whole-some development of children which is why we support education at vari-ous levels.

“The Etisalat payoff line is ‘Now you’re talking’ and this show will offer Nigerian children the opportu-nity to communicate better and talk better, express themselves, interact with, and learn from their peers. Helping to bring Kids Say the Darnd-est Things to Nigeria through Cliqlite is yet another way to practice what we preach.”

Speaking on the show, its Executive

Hellofood feeds under-privileged children in Lagos

Producer, Chichi Nwoko enthused that Nigerians are in for a fantastic show that would delight both kids and adults, stressing that Nigerians would be amazed at how knowledge-able Nigerian kids are, particularly, about Nigeria.

Nwoko added, “We are excited that a show of this magnitude, which cel-ebrates our children and focuses on family is now in Nigeria. Our key ob-jective is to deliver a top-quality fam-ily entertainment television show.”

Parents of the children who au-ditioned for the show in December commended the initiative and said they looked forward to an enter-taining show in the standard of the American version.

One of the parents, Mrs. Lade Ba-balola said, “I have seen several epi-sodes of the American version of the program and it is a very hilarious children’s program and I like it.

“I think it is a good programme for children to share their views, show the intelligence and intellectual sides of Nigerian children as well as enable them communicates with each other. It is good that it has come to Nigeria.”

“Kids Say the Darndest Things” currently enjoys wide viewership in many countries including, Austra-lia, Singapore, India and Italy. The show will run every Sunday starting from this Saturday.

stressed that when people are not well fed, the economy cannot develop.

He said: “The nation is the way it is be-cause the people are not well fed. Poverty is looming in the land and the people will soon begin to steal to survive. So what do you call that?”

The organisation recognises that more than 800 million people in the world are currently suffering from hunger and pov-erty. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the highest prevalence of hunger.

Hellofood.com Africa, is a mobile plat-form where people can order food from restaurants in their cities. It was founded by Africa Internet Holding (AIH) with an investment from telecommunications company MTN in 2012.

It operates in over 45 countries around the world and 11 countries across Africa, attracting hundreds of independent res-taurants and international chains for customers to order from.

Hellofood feeds children at Ebute Meta, Lagos, on World Hunger Day 2015.

...Islamic TV, radio channels debut

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 45MediaThursday, June 18, 2015

StorieS : LeoNArD oKACHie

National Broadcasting Commis-sion (NBC) has granted licence to a St. Ives Communication, to

operate Nigeria’s first radio station for women, in the country.

The radio station will provide a plat-form to engage on issues of local, na-tional and international importance for Nigerian women.

According to the director of the me-dia firm, ‘Toun Okewale Sonaiya, as the glory of the celestial nymphs burnishes the luster of merely human women, so will St. Ives Communication’s first radio station for women, improve the lot of the Nigerian woman.

As the glory of the celestial nymphs burnishes the luster of merely human women, so will St. Ives Communication’s first radio station for women, improve the lot of the Nigerian woman, according to ‘Toun Okewale Sonaiya, director of the media firm. St. Ives Communication was recently granted license to operate Nigeria’s first radio station for women by the National Broadcasting Commis-sion (NBC).

Sonaiya in a statement said the radio station’s programming is geared towards the advancement and social wealth of Nigerian women and their families by providing access to a truly independent and commercially run radio station for the female gender.

This, She stressed , will be achieved through quality, informative and en-tertaining programming that will cut across business, politics, sports, news and entertainment from the woman’s perspective.

Though focused on women, the radio station will also cater for the interests of the male gender, family and everything important to Nigerian women.

Sonaiya emphasised that the pro-gramming style will be interactive and engaging, to foster a sense of connection among Nigerian women and their fami-lies across all ages, social, cultural, reli-gious and ethnic backgrounds.

She said: “We will operate 24 hours of ongoing conversations and less music addressing everyday issues for Nigerian women and their families.

The radio station will be Nigeria’s first reliable and trusted source for up to date information on the interests and is-sues for women and their families.”

In a related development, an Islamic organisation, the Jama’atu Izalatul Bi-dah Wa Iqamatis Sunnah (JIBWIS), has launched its radio and television satellite stations for the propagation of Islam.

According to the News Agency of Ni-geria, NAN , the Chairman of the organ-

Nigeria’s first women radio station launched

Female students in a campus radio studio

isation, Sheikh Bala Lau, told guests at the inauguration in Abuja that the two channels would be known as Manara Ra-dio and Television stations.

He said that the stations were coming at a time when the country was facing se-rious security challenge.

Lau said that the launching of the two stations would give enlightenment to the Muslim Ummah so that they could be-come self-reliant, especially in areas of information and communication.

He said that the launching of the two stations would also create job opportuni-ties and empower women, especially the youths.

“We are thinking of generating funds through various Jumaát Mosques using Manara stations to assist the less privi-leged in the society.

“We want to change the entire Mus-lim Ummah’s lives through Manara, in area of preaching to them to do the right thing and always avoid anything capable of breaching the peace,” he said.

Lau said the organisation had been very instrumental in the area of philan-thropy, as it had sent relief materials to the North eastern states affected by in-surgency.

He recalled that long before now, the organisation had a television satellite called Sunnah satellite television, trans-mitting from outside the country “by our brothers and sisters who had the li-cense”.

He said that both the Muslims and non-Muslims would benefit from Manara stations to enable them understand the teachings of Islam better.

He called on the Muslim Ummah to do the right thing and abstain from “what Allah hates in order to deepen their re-ligious belief as well as believe in Al-mighty Allah”.

Responding, Gov. Abdulazeez Yari of Zamfara said the launching of Manara Radio and Television stations would cre-ate an opportunity for the Muslim Um-mah to communicate more with one an-other.

Yari, who was the Guest Speaker at the ceremony, said that the stations would also create an enabling environment for the Muslims to interact more and freely with non-Muslims within and outside the country.

He said that information and commu-nication had become very important to the Muslim world today, especially now that everything had gone digital.

“We are happy that Manara Radio and Television stations and many others have come on board.

“The Muslims should put in their best in the area of communication and infor-mation because it is the bedrock of what-ever an individual, groups or govern-

ment is doing today,” he said.Also, the Chairman of the occasion,

Alhaji Abubakar Sa’ad, the Sultan of So-koto, represented by Alhaji Ahmed Oga, the Andoma of Doma, urged the organ-isation to employ quality staff for qual-ity service delivery.

“I have no doubt in my mind that the stations will compete favourably with their foreign counterparts like VOA, BBC and CNN, among others.

“I can assure the Muslims and Nigeri-ans that another innovation in the area

of radio communication and television has come on board,” he said.

The Sultan, however, urged the Mus-lim Ummah to give the stations the nec-essary cooperation in order to achieve the aims and objectives for setting them up.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that while the radio station would be received on SW 15.440 frequency in morning hours and SW 177.65 frequen-cy in the evening, the television station would be broadcast on 11595 Channel.

BBC World provides service on mobile phone in NigeriaDetermined to give its listeners

better and efficient service, BBC World Service is collabo-

rating with ZenoRadio - a leading ser-vice that enables radio to be heard on the phone - to give on-demand access to BBC World Service’s audio streams in English (option 1) and Hausa (option 2).

According to a press statement by BBC management, mobile phone users in Nigeria can tune in to the Service by dialing the local number, 01 4405 222.

Phone users in the country can dial 01 4405 222 and choose the language they prefer from the audio menu to hear the programme. Calls are to be charged at a normal rate, according to network packages and tariffs.

The statement said the users can lis-ten to the broadcasts from any mobile network in Nigeria.

It said “English-language radio is streamed live around the clock. Pro-grammes in Hausa are streamed live at 06.30, 15.00 and 20.30 Nigeria Time

and then repeated until the next pro-gramme is broadcast”.

BBC Africa Editor, Solomon Mugera said the 01 4405 222 service provides open and easy access to the BBC’s radio programming that until now has only been available in Nigeria via short-wave, online and satellite. “Thanks to this development, anybody with a mo-bile phone in Nigeria can listen to BBC World Service in English or Hausa at any time,” he said.

There are 132 million active mobile devices in Nigeria. By using ZenoRa-dio’s technology, the BBC dramatically improves its accessibility to Nigerian audiences, with every mobile phone user getting the chance to tune in to BBC radio.

Chief Executive Officer of ZenoRa-dio, Morris Berger, in his remark said listeners in Nigeria can now stay con-nected to their favourite BBC content from any phone. “As this is our first foray into Africa, we are proud to work with the BBC on this,” Berger said.

Costolo

Twitter CEO out as growth pressure mounts

Apple News service to hire journalists

Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards’ season is under-way, and for the first time ever,

BET has introduced a new fan-voted award category celebrating rising stars from across the channel’s international footprint: the Viewer’s Choice Best NEW International Artist.

(BET) is an American basic cable and satellite television channel that is owned by the BET Networks division of Via-com.

Comprising three hot new artistes from Africa and three new artistes from the UK, the category will see Cassper Nyovest (South Africa), Eddy Kenzo

(Uganda), Mz Vee (Ghana) go up against George The Poet (UK), MIC Lowry (UK) and Novelist (UK).

BET previously revealed that talented actors, comedic geniuses and on-screen co-stars Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross will be unleashing the good times as hosts of this year’s “BET Awards” 2015, taking place on Sunday 28 June at the Nokia Theatre, live in Los Angeles, CA.

The BET Awards recognizes artists, entertainers, and athletes across 20 categories with the “BET Awards” 2015 nominations. The nominations are se-lected by BET’s Voting Academy, which

Twitter chief executive Dick Costolo is surrendering his post, handing the reins back

to co-founder Jack Dorsey as the popular service struggles to boost its ranks of users.

Costolo will step down on July 1, and Dorsey will take back the Twit-ter chief job in an interim capacity, the company announced on Thurs-day. Dorsey previously held the job for about a year and a half, leaving the post in 2008. Costolo came on board in 2010.

“The future belongs to Twitter thanks in large part to Dick Costolo’s dedication and vision,” Dorsey said.

Dorsey said he will stay at the Twit-ter helm while the board finds some-one to replace Costolo long-term.

Costolo will remain on the Twitter board of directors, and Dorsey will continue to be chief of mobile-cen-tered financial transactions compa-ny Square that he co-founded in 2009.

The shake-up comes amid rumors that Costolo was under tremendous pressure from investors to prove his worth by ramping ranks of Twitter users and revenues brought in by the globally popular one-to-many mes-saging service.

“Unfortunately this news isn’t surprising,” Forrester analyst Nate Elliott said. “The bottom line is that Twitter isn’t very good right now at serving either its users or its market-ers.”

Costolo guided the San Francisco-based firm through its initial public offering, but growth has been disap-pointing and the company has yet to show a profit. Twitter shares jumped more than three percent to $37.16 in after-market trading that followed re-lease of word Costolo is out as chief.

Dorsey said during a conference call that he will split his time be-tween Twitter and Square, relying on management teams he knows and trusts. He expressed faith in the strategy Costolo has in place at Twit-

Media Abroad

BET announces first ever Viewer’s Choice award category

Apple is hiring a team of journal-ists to run its Apple News ser-vice, part of a broader push by

the company to personalise the content it selects and delivers to users of its de-vices.

The Apple editorial team will liaise with publishers, which in-clude the Financial Times, New York Times, The Guardian and The Economist, which have signed up to provide content to the news service.

A job ad posted for Apple News, which replaces Apple’s Newsstand and will compete with Facebook’s new Instant Articles service, said successful candidates would “iden-tify and deliver the best in breaking national, global, and local news”.

It is seeking candidates with more than five years of “newsroom experience” able to “recognise orig-

inal, compelling stories unlikely to be identified by algorithms”. Apple declined to comment beyond the job ad.

One publisher that has had nego-tiations with Apple over the news service said the hiring of journal-ists was “jaw-dropping” and “a real surprise”.

Ken Doctor, an analyst with New-sonomics, pointed to other exam-ples of technology companies hir-ing journalists, such as Flipboard and Yahoo. “Apple hasn’t done it so it’s a departure but it’s not a sur-prising departure,” he said. “To do curated distribution you either use algorithms, like Google News, or you use people.”

The launch of the Apple service comes weeks after Facebook un-veiled its own deal with a group of

publishers to publish some of their content directly through the social network rather than simply hosting it on their own sites.

Apple’s news recruitment drive is the latest example of a steady up-tick in traffic from Fleet Street to Silicon Valley. In the last few years, social networks Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have hired reporters and editors from the likes of News Corp and NBC to help broker rela-tionships between media groups and their distribution platforms. Within the past six months, Snap-chat has hired reporters from CNN and tech site The Verge.

Apple itself has brought on jour-nalists in the past to help select apps and games to be featured on the homepage of its App Store.

Source: ft.com.

CEO, BET Networks, Deborah Lee

is comprised of fans and an esteemed group of entertainment professionals in the fields of television, film, music, social media, digital marketing, sports journalism, public relations, and the creative arts.

Fans can vote for their favourite new artist at www.BET.com/ViewersChoi-ceIntl and on Instagram @BET_Africa using the hashtag #iPick. Voting opened on June 15, 2015 at 5PM and will close on June 27, 2015 at 01:00AM CAT.

The BET Awards 2015 will premiere across Africa on BET (DSTV channel 129) and BET2 (DSTV channel 135) on June 30, 2015 at 8:10PM.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net46 Thursday, June 18, 2015

ter and products in the company’s pipeline.

“I don’t foresee any changes in strategy or direction,” Dorsey said. “The opportunity is absolutely mas-sive. The intention is to certainly bring it to everyone around the world.” The plan to do that includes making Twitter easy and rewarding for users, according to Dorsey.

“If we build a product people love and value, advertisers and users will follow,” Dorsey said.

Costolo said he began discussing departure with the board late last year and opted to step down now be-cause remaining during a search for a successor would have been too dis-tracting to the company.

Criteria had yet to be established regarding what Twitter is looking for in a new chief. “We are looking for someone who really uses and loves the product in every single way,” Dorsey said.

Source: AFP

Book sellers lament low Patronage National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Broad Street Diary 47Thursday, June 18, 2015

Books sellers at the popular Kakawa market on Broad

Street and its environs has complain of low patron-age in recent times.

The traders told BSD that except during re-sumption of new academ-ic session when shoppers flood the market to buy books for their children, patronage is always low.

Yes, it is true, we only make our sales between August and September when parents need to buy the recommended text-books for their children, explained, a trader.

Mr. Oladipupo Ha-meed told BSD that from the time of resumption through to the next aca-demic session, we only sell in trickles.

“And since this is the only trade we are known for, we still come to the market regularly hoping to make some sales.”

When asked what are the causes of high cost of books, Oladipupo said

the increase in the price of books during that sea-son was not their fault but that the publishers deter-mine rate at which a book should be sold.

“The publishers always claim that cost of produc-tion is high and at the end they increase prices before it gets to us.”

Oladipupo who had been in the trade for some years now, however, urged gov-ernment to create a condu-cive business environment in the country particularly electricity which is im-portant to all aspect of the economy.

Another trader, Mrs. Mariam Olotu told BSD that books sellers have started stocking their shops with new books because as from next month sales will improve as some parents do buy recommended text-books immediately the chil-dren close for the session.

“We are preparing for the season because this time comes once in a year and we make sure we do

Do you know that street traders make more money

selling on the streets? Broad Street Diary found out how they get their goods and make sales.

Anyone coming into Broad Street which com-prises of Balogun market, Martins, Tinubu, Ebute Ero and Idumota among others, will definitely see these traders displaying

their wares on the floor with some that selling clothes sometimes hang it for people to see.

BSD gathered that not all their goods are origi-nal as some sell imita-

tions, while some get their wares from shops that are doing clearance sales.

But the truth is that they make more sales be-cause people get to them before they go into the

Why street trading culture thrives on Broad Street

BSD

Shoppers’ Guide

our best to have all our cus-tomers will ask for.”

On the claim by shoppers that book sellers hike prices at that time of the year, Olo-tu said it was not true, “the amount we get the books determines the amount we sell it to our customers.”

A parent, Madam Ruth Falonpe told BSD at the market that, books are not like food or cloth that is why they only come to buy whenever it was recom-mended by the school.

She however said, she didn’t only patronise the

book sellers during school resumption, but anytime her children school asked them to buy books.

Falonpe said parents are always at the receiving end during at that period of the year.

“They book (sellers)

should realise that we are all from this country not that we came from some-where where they print money, they should con-sider our pocket too,” she said.

-Saidat Alausa

A book seller at CMS

market and their prices are lower compared to the goods inside the market.

One of the traders, Mrs. Hannah Adejumo who spoke with BSD said they always make their sales in the morning and some-times in the evening when workers have closed for the day.

She told BSD that some of the wares they sold are from the shops in Balogun or Idumota, “We usually get them from some the shops that do clearance sales.”

She further revealed that they are not limited to a particular product, “we sell any good that is available, ranging from weave-on, hair accesso-ries, clothes, shoes, kitch-en wares among others.

“But I prefer clothes and weave-on because I have realised that they sells faster than other wares.”

On whether she would get a shop in the future, Adejumo said if she gets a shop that is affordable she might consider getting one because selling under the sun and rain is not the best.

A shopper, Miss Mon-

surat Oladele told BSD that she just got a bead necklace at the Leventis bus-stop and if she wants to buy same from shop owners she would be-tween N1,500 or more.

“Anytime I want to re-sume for a new session I always come here to shop and you will be surprised that you get nice tops from these people.”

She said instead of buy-ing second hand clothes she can get new ones at cheap rate from street traders at Balogun mar-ket.

But she however, said shoppers like her are usu-ally not lucky because they do buy inferior wares sometimes, “so you need to be smart when you come here.”

A worker, Mrs. Victoria Onigbale told BSD that she sometimes patronise street traders because she realised that they some-times have good wares.

“I do buy my shoes from them and so far I have been lucky because the ones I got from them are of good quality.

-Saidat AlausaStreet traders on Broard Street PHOTO: SAMUEL ADETIMEHIN

… prepare for next academic session

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net48 Broad Street Diary Thursday, June 18, 2015

In this day of dwindling revenue from the federation account, one expect both the state governments and the local govern-

ment in the country to put their thinking cap on, so as to generate enough resources that would enable them run their government without complaining.

There are several ways by which govern-ment particularly local governments can generate revenue through many of the un-derestimated assets. In some countries of the world, governments generate billions from fines on traffic offences, parking on roads set-backs and so on.

However, because of the reliance on oil money, the different cadres of government in Nigeria, has jettisoned major areas of rev-enue generation.

It was as a result of this, that the potentials of the various car parks in Lagos Island as revenue assets particularly to the local gov-ernment is examined.

When Broad Street visited some of the car parks along Marina axis, the potentials of revenue that could be generated from it was awesome. As early as 8.30 am, a young man who wore a red tight fitting T-Shirt and put on a blue face cap concealing much of his forehead and a Jeans trouser was seen busy with the job of collecting money from potential car owners who struggled to get a spaces to park their cars, but unfortunately, the money being collected by this young man may end up in private pockets, rather than the coffer of government.

Ademola who refuses to give his other names was seen busy sorting out car keys from a bowl in front of him. While standing anxiously waiting to get away from the after-noon sun beating down was a young lady of about 30 year, with a baby strapped around her waist.

Both of them were obviously eager to get done with the business. Somewhere inside a Hyundai Jeep were two young men honking for the cars that have blocked them in front to give way. But Ademola was unperturbed, as he checked for the keys of the woman with a

Lagos Island car parks, an untapped revenue assetWE ARE NOT TOUTS, AND AS YOU CAN

SEE SOME OF THESE PARKS ALSO BELONG TO CORPORATE ORGANISATIONS. THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMES HERE TO

REGULATE. ALL WE DO IS TO BRING ORDERLINESS INTO IT

WE ARE NOT TOUTS, AND AS YO

SEE SOME OF THESE PARKS ALSO BTO CORPORATE ORGANISATIONS

LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMES HE

REGULATE. ALL WE DO IS TO BORDERLINESS INTO IT

child. As soon as he gets done with them, he moved quickly to attend to other cars stream-ing in, honking and seeking space to park.

At the background continued the persis-tent buzzing of giant generators that supply light to the skyscrapers along Marina. There, you find the rows of skyscrapers belonging to the big corporate companies such as UBA, Union Bank, First Bank, Wema Bank, among others, and below were endless human traffic that swaddled through. There you find street traders, hawkers, cars and the red buses of Lagos Transport Authority.

Back to Marina car park where Ademola and other henchmen presided, it has always a busy day from Monday to Friday, one of them volunteered. The Broad Street and Ma-rina axis parking lots attract fees as much be-tween N500 and N1000 per space, but in some other places, fees are charge depending on the duration the car is parked.

According to one of the parking attendant, a man of about 55 years who gave his name as Ajayi and who said he has been there for the past 10 years, said operating a parking space on the Island is a money spinning venture. Giving a rough estimate, he disclosed that be-tween four to five thousand cars pass through the park on daily basis. Giving further in-sight, he said, the park makes more money not through those who park and go their of-fices, but those who come to shop. “Just cal-culate the money that will be realized when hundreds park and within hours they leave, and as they are struggling to leave, others are

looking for space to park”.But when asked if he must be very rich

since he has been on it for years, he said “it is not that easy. We work here by commission depending on how much we make. But you must also understand that the owners of the park have a lot of interest to settle.

Obviously, the parking space on the Broad Street and Marina axis is a racket controlled by touts. But a ‘Big Man’ within the area dis-agrees. “We are not touts, and as you can see some of these parks also belong to corporate organisations. The local government comes here to regulate. All we do is to bring order-liness into it. We pay to them’. Asked how much and how often, he said, “it is a private agreement, but we pay heavily. Do you think government will just leave individuals to be collecting thousands of naira from people and they will not put an eye on it? It is not possible. A lot of people think we are touts, but that is not true. It is government land and they know what we are doing,” he said.

This also brings to the fore why Lagos State Government has been reluctant to build a multi level parking plaza on the Marina Broad Street area on the Island. Analysts be-lieve that availability of parking spaces could have a very positive impact on rental values as it encourages visitors to come to a particu-lar building to transact business, for leisure and relaxation purposes, among others.

At the neighbourhood Level, where park-ing spaces are available, it fosters the smooth flow of traffic and eases potential “bottle-

necks” that could be particularly trouble-some during emergencies, when, for in-stance a fire engine, the Nigeria Police Rapid Response Squad vehicle is trying to foil a crime or a Hospital Ambulance conveying a Patient needs to move rapidly from Point ‘A’ to Point ‘B’. Multi – Level Car Parks seem to be the solution of choice for Central Lagos, in meeting this vital requirement of any good urban transportation system.

A Quantity Surveyor and chief executive officer of Dwab Costprudence Company, a firm of Quantity Surveyors, Project Manag-ers & Development Consultants, Mr. Olayemi Shonubi, in a newspaper report few months ago stressed the importance of a multi-floor parking infrastructure at Marina.

Shonubi explains that “with the current redevelopment of Lagos Island Central Busi-ness District, CBD, which is the centre of commerce in Lagos and in fact for the entire West Coast of Africa, it is expected that there would be a corresponding increase in hu-man as well as vehicular traffic to this part of Lagos.

‘’ Furthermore the various steps taken by the State Government to develop the Marina as a leisure/relaxation spot cannot, but gen-erate unending traffic,” Shonubi said.

He says given the increase in vehicular traffic, it is expected that there would be a corresponding increase in parking spaces as well as facilities as there are not enough ap-proved parking lots in Lagos Island.

“Thus a multi-storey or multi-floor park-ing development is most likely to satisfy the yawning gap that currently exists. This is due to the fact that most Nigerians would rather go to their business places in the com-fort of their vehicles with the attendant secu-rity and safety, than use the inadequate and sometimes unsafe public transport system, which they have hitherto been subjected to due to lack of adequate parking space.”

-David Audu

-David Audu

Marina car park in Lagos. PHOTO: SAMUEL ADETIMEHIN

Protesting staff disrupt company’s operation over intimidation prising contractors and staff lamented that they were going through untold hardship in the hands of their employer, who they also accused of withhold-ing their entitlements.

Speaking to newsmen during the protest at Sed-co Road yard of Bredero Pipelines in Uvwie council area, Delta State, the pro-testers accused Managing Director of the company,

Shamin Khaan, of using men of the Nigeria Police attached to the company to harass and intimidate workers.

The placards-carrying protesters gave names of dead colleagues as Mi-chael Akpojivi and Saro. They added that their lives could have been saved if the company paid them salaries to attend to their illness.

Theophilus onojeghen WARRI

Aggrieved staff of oil servicing company, Bredero

Pipelines, yesterday al-most grounded operations at the company’s premises following what they de-scribed as “undue harass-ment and intimidation” and unabated delay in pay-ment of salaries, which led to the death of two of their colleagues.

The protesters com-

ECOWAS commission tasked on arms proliferation

Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa (left) and State Chief Judge, Hon. Justice Marshall Umukoro, during a visit to the governor in Asaba, yesterday.

JTF raids illegal refineries in Delta

RichaRd ndomaCALABAR

Chairman of Ni-geria’s Presiden-tial Committee on

Small Arms and Light Weapons, PRESCOM, Am-bassador Emmanuel Imo-he, on Wednesday charged ECOWAS commission to intensify efforts in combating proliferation of small arms and light weapons within the West African region.

Imohe made the charge while delivering a speech

Theophilus onojeghenWARRI

In continuation of its clampdown on activi-ties of oil thieves in

Niger Delta region, the Joint Task Force, code-named ‘Operation Pulo Shield’ yesterday raided several locations used for refining stolen crude oil in five communities in Delta State.

The illegal refineries were located in Odimodi, Yokri, Forcados, Otegele and Opumami beneath In-land in Burutu and Warri South-West local govern-ment areas.

At a press briefing after the operation, JTF Coor-dinator, Joint Media Cam-paign Centre, Lieutenant Colonel Isa Ado, said the force cannot win the fight against oil thieves all alone, calling on people of the state to key into their campaign in area of information to de-feat them.

Speaking at the premises of Sector One of the Joint Task Force in Warri, Ado explained that the troops within the period of opera-tion raided 32 illegal refiner-ies, while several equipment belonging the criminals were also discovered.

Giving a breakdown of

at the annual meeting of National Commissions on Small Arms of Economic Community of West African States in Calabar.

Imohe, who was rep-resented by Head of Pro-grammes of the commis-sion, Dickson Orji, described the proliferation of illicit small arms and light weap-ons being circulated in West Africa as a hydra-headed monster that must be re-solved as quickly as possible.

Earlier, Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security of the commission,

the operation, he said, “32 illegal oil refineries and 86 drums containing various products were discovered. 27 dugout pits and 25 surface tanks filled with stolen crude oil were also discovered and destroyed.”

He added that, “other il-legal bunkering equipment discovered during the op-eration included 29 cooking ovens and ten pumping ma-chines. The sites and prod-ucts were destroyed in line with JTF operation in the Niger Delta.

JTF spokesperson stated further that the operation was a continuous one based on intelligent information aimed at eradicating illegal oil bunkering activities in the region in line with Major General Emmanuel Atewe’s zero tolerance campaign against oil theft and illegal bunkering.”

Our correspondent who witnessed the operation re-ports that some oil thieves on sighting the officers flee into the high sea, living their clothes and food including other personal belongings behind. At one of the sites in Otegele, this reporter trekked over five kilome-tres to arrive at the illegal oil refineries spanning over four kilometres with several tanks used in the illicit busi-ness.

Mrs. Salamatu Hussaini, said the porosity of African nations’ borders allow easy accessibility of dangerous military style weapons to non-state actors.

She said the case of Sahel region and Northern Nige-ria in particular, revealed the deficiency in enforce-ment capacity of security forces, a situation the com-missioner said was being ex-ploited by criminals to kill, maim and damage proper-ties in our communities.

“This trend must be stopped by limiting state

arms acquisition and con-tinuous advocacy with in-ternational community in order to effectively control arms transfer around the world.

Cross River State Deputy Governor, Professor Evara Esu, who represented Gov-ernor Ben Ayade, thanked ECOWAS commission for convening the annual meet-ing in Calabar and charged delegates from different ECOWAS countries to delib-erate on issues that would take African countries to greater heights

Army deserters, two others arrested over robbery

Rivers’ll remain PDP state —Wikeosahon julius YENAGOA

Detectives from Bay-elsa State Police Command yester-

day arrested a 30-year-old Army deserter, Nanabo Perezito, and two others for their alleged involve-ment in various armed robbery incidents and ille-gal possession of military uniforms.

Police authorities also confirmed the arrest of two other members of the sus-pected armed robbery gang identified as ThankGod Vic-tor, 22, and Hanson Victor, 20.

Spokesman of Bayelsa State Police Command, Butswat Asimni, said the suspects were arrested at Opolo community in Yena-goa Local Government Area after intelligence gathering on series of armed robbery attacks within and outside the state.

According to Asmin, the

He said he would pro-mote independence of the legislature by ensuring that funds of the Assembly come as a first line charge.

“You don’t need to pocket the legislature before you think you are safe in gov-ernment. What is needed is cooperation with the As-sembly in the interest of good governance,” Wike said.

He said he would con-tinue to further regional cooperation in the South South for sustainable devel-opment.

Earlier, Speaker of Delta State House of Assembly, Monday Ikpuya Okemeni, commended Governor Wike for returning Rivers State to PDP, saying the governor proved the APC wrong with his political art-istry.

dennis naku PORT HARCOURT

Rivers State Gover-nor, Nyesom Wike, has said that despite

claims by the All Progres-sives Congress, APC, that they own the election, Riv-ers will remain a Peoples

Democratic Party, PDP, state.

He said Rivers people voted overwhelmingly for the PDP in the last general elections in the state.

Speaking during an au-dience he granted Delta State House of Assembly on Wednesday, Wike said no

amount of intimidation will change the mandate the peo-ple of Rivers State gave him on April 11.

According to him, “while the APC, who were defeated at the poll, were busy em-barking on negative propa-ganda because they had ex-cess to money, we were with the people at the grassroots selling our programmes to them.

“That was why they voted for us massively. We are not worried by their claim that they have the tribunal.

“All we know is that Riv-ers State will always remain a PDP state. The people are with us,” the governor said.

He stated that his admin-istration will always main-tain separation of powers, saying that never again will Rivers State House of As-sembly sit in Government House.

suspects were arrested on June 6 this year during a special operation by special detectives attached to Ekeki division of the police, “they were arrested and items re-covered included 7 pairs of military uniforms, one AK-49 rifle, 39 rounds of live am-munition, one locally made pistol, two drivers’ licences and a locally cut to size pis-tol.”

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Thursday, June 18, 2015 49South South

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, June 18, 201550 North

Solders kill 2 women in Plateau

Group commends Al-Makura’s health strides

Kebbi State Governor Atiku Bagudu (right) welcoming leader of Food and Agriculture Organisation’s delegation, Mr. Neil Pullar, to his office in Birnin Kebbi, on Tuesday. PHOTO: NAN

HENRY IYORKASE MAKURDI

Benue State command-er of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, has apprehended four of its staff for allegedly receiv-ing gratification from motorists while on duty and may risk losing their jobs if found guilty and face prosecution accord-ingly.

State commander of the corps, Mr. Habu Dauda, who made the disclosure yesterday to National Mirror in Makurdi, the state capi-tal, maintained that the officers, who he declined to give their identity, would be booted out as soon as investigation into the matter was concluded and they are found guilty of the offence.

He restated determi-nation of the command to ensure that bad eggs among its staff were flushed out, insisting that anyone caught contraven-ing the rules and regula-tions would be severely

dealt with. Similarly, the FRSC

boss revealed that some of his men (names with-held) connive with licens-ing officials to issue driv-ing licence to heavy duty vehicles, especially tank-ers so that they do not have to go through the cumbersome processes involved in issuance of such licences.

According to him, “we shall do everything within the power of the law to ensure that those who constitute a cog in the wheel of progress are summarily dismissed and subsequently handed over to security opera-tives for prosecution.”

He implore members of the public with useful information regarding misconduct of FRSC offi-cers to feel free and come forward with such, assur-ing that such informa-tion would be treated in strict confidentiality and that after the scrutiny if a claim is true, punitive measures would be ac-corded to the offender.

ABDULGAFAR OLADIMEJI KANO

Industrial strike embarked on by resident doctors in teaching hospitals across

the country has caused more hardship for sick persons in Kano, as the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, AKTH, has shut its doors to persons seeking medical attention.

Management of the hos-pital said it was compelled to stop admitting sick per-sons, thus leaving many sick people stranded, while those on admission have been hur-riedly discharged.

National Mirror, which visited the hospital yester-day to assess the situation, observed that the hospital that usually enjoys huge hu-man traffic has turned al-most a ghost yard.

The wards were almost empty, with only few pa-tients on admission and a handful of others who had scheduled appointments with consultants that were being attended to.

Kano residents bemoaned the hardship imposed on them by the resident doc-tors’ strike. Many of them

alleged that they had to seek the services of private ortho-dox and unorthodox medical practitioners at exorbitant costs in contrast to the sti-pends they normally pay at the teaching hospitals for quality medical services.

Those whose relatives were hurriedly discharged bemoaned the fate of their beloved ones, as many had to take them back home, la-menting that they do not have the financial means to seek health services in private health institutions.

Others said they were referred to AKTH as the hospital of last resort, and had no reasons to proceed to another hospital in search of health services.

Commenting on the de-velopment, the assistant director of information, of the teaching hospital, Alhaji Aminu Inuwa, said the strike forced the hospital to stop ad-mitting sick persons.

According to Inuwa, the decision to stop admitting sick persons was to enable medical consultants on duty have a sizeable num-ber of patients they could attend to efficiently.

4 FRSC personnel in custody over alleged graft

Resident doctors’ strike: AKTH bans admission of patients

IGBAWASE UKUMBA LAFIA

Health Reform Foundation of Ni-geria, HERFON,

yesterday commended ef-forts of Nasarawa State Governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, in improving the standard of primary healthcare delivery in the state.

Chairman of the state chapter of HERFON, Su-leiman Mohammad, gave the commendation dur-

ing a one-day workshop organised by the foun-dation for National Ori-entation Agency, NOA, staff and media practi-tioners in the state.

He, however, lamented that the state had only achieved three out of the nine pillars that would make the primary health-care agency effective and functional under one roof based on validation exer-cise conducted in 2013 by the agency in collabora-tion with HERFON.

JAMES ABRAHAM JOS

Two women have al-legedly been shot dead in the Hei-

pang axıs of Barki Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State by sol-diers of the Special Task Force, STF, on Jos crisis, code-named, ‘Operation Save Haven.’

Our correspondent gathered that there was accusation in the past of military involvement in killings in the area, as the community protested against the mounting of a military checkpoint around the area.

Investigation revealed that last night, there was an attack on the commu-nity, which led to the dis-covery of a military iden-

tity card in villages in the area, and this led to a peaceful protest by main-ly women and youths.

The protesters were shouting: “We do not want military check-points in our area;” and “no to military check-points,” among others.

Confirming the inci-dent to our correspon-dent in Jos yesterday on phone, chairman of Bar-kin Ladi Local Govern-ment Council, Emmanuel Loman, said the military shot dead two women who were protesting the inces-sant attacks and killings in their communities.

According to him, there was a disagreement between the protesting women and the soldiers, who were mounting checkpoint in the area.

As the women moved into their shops across the road, a soldier from the STF met them and shot two of them to death at close range.

He also added that a middle-aged man, who was also beaten to stupor by the same soldier, is re-ceiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital in the area.

But in a swift reaction, spokesman of STF, Cap-tain Ikediche Iweha, told National Mirror that no woman was shot dead by any soldier in the area.

According to him, there was a directive from their headquarters on the need to review checkpoints in the area.

According to him, when the STF person-nel arrived the area to

review the checkpoint as well as mount them, some groups, made up mainly of women and youths mo-bilised and went about destroying the check-point being put together by the STF personnel.

He added that in the process, there was a gun-shot, which hit two peo-ple in the crowd.

“I am not aware of any death; nobody died in the confusion, except two women that were hit in the crowd, sustained injuries and were taken to the hospital for treat-ment,” he said.

He appealed to mem-bers of the public not to take the law into their hands, but to show un-derstanding to enable the task force serve them bet-ter.

HERFON head in the state said the change of government and tran-sition in the state have paved way for the foun-dation to push ahead with the newly inaugu-rated legislative house and the executive to en-sure all loose gaps were addressed appropriately.

Mohammad said the workshop was timely and serves an avenue for coming together to rub minds on the issue with a view to providing last-

ing solutions and way forward for better part-nership and collabora-tion with relevant stake-holders to achieve the set targets.

Permanently Secre-tary in the Ministry of Health, Mr. Naphtali Da-chor, commended HER-FON for the initiative, which, according to him, was aimed at effectively disseminating health in-formation to facilitate easy access to health for all and sundry.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 51Thursday, June 18, 2015 North

B’Haram: UMTH blasts NEMA, Borno’s neglect of victims

Taraba gov gets Assembly’s nod to appoint 25 aides

Director-General of NEMA, Alhaji Sani Sidi (middle) and management staff of the University of Maiduguri, during his visit to the institution, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

N255m cars: Group wants EFCC to probe Oduah

Bank of Industry disburses N16bn loans in Kano

JOEL AJAYIABUJA

A group, Voice of Arewa Youths, VAY, has warned

that the promise by Presi-dent Muhammadu Bu-hari’s administration to rid the nation of corrup-tion would be a mirage if incidences of corruption were allowed to go un-checked.

The group wants the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the Independent

Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC, and other related agencies to revisit the scandalous N255 million purchase of bullet proof automobiles by former Minister of Aviation now a Senator, Stella Oduah.

In a statement signed by the group’s secretary, Engr. Jethro Annum, and made available to jour-nalists yesterday in Abu-ja, the group also urged the agencies to investi-gate particularly persons

TORDUE SALEM ABUJA

House of Represen-tatives will put up for discussion the

lingering redundancy of Ajaokuta Steel Company and the oil-induced bound-ary dispute between Kogi, Anambra and Edo states, Speaker Yakubu Dogara said yesterday.

The Speaker made the pledge during a courtesy call on him by Kogi State caucus of the House.

“On the issue of Ajaoku-ta Steel, it appears there are some demons besetting the place. So, I think we need to pray and also show some leadership example in that direction. If we do this, we will achieve the dream of having Ajaokuta work,” he said.

On boundary dispute

among Anambra, Edo and Kogi states, Dogara said as much as it was political, the House would include it and the Ajaokuta crisis in its agenda, and open debate on the matter.

He, however, said top on the agenda of the 8th House would be agriculture, un-employment and poverty reduction, adding that to attend to the issues, the House would set specific dates to discuss them and even welcome motions on them.

He also suggested that any member of Kogi cau-cus could raise motions on the items.

Earlier, Chairman of Kogi caucus, Buba Jibrin, regretted that successive governments abandoned Ajaokuta complex.

He said if the steel complex was running,

Bank of Industry, BoI, yesterday said it had disbursed

over N16 billion loans to 68 enterprises in Kano State.

Managing Director of the bank, Rasheed Olaolu-wa, disclosed this at the commissioning of the bank’s new office in Kano.

“I would like to add that BoI has, on its own, provided direct loans in excess of N16 billion to 68 enterprises in Kano State,’’ he said.

Olaoluwa said as part of the bank’s efforts to transform the nation’s industrial sector by pro-viding financial and busi-ness support services to enterprises, it accredited 122 Business Development Service Providers, BDSPs, nationwide in November 2014. “Of this number, 28 have national coverage, while 14 specifically cover the North-West geopoliti-cal zone of the country.

“The BDSPs are to assist entrepreneurs package bankable loan proposals that have a high probabili-ty of loan approval, as well

Reps to debate Ajaokuta steel, boundary dispute

JUSTIN TYOPUUSU JALINGO

Taraba State House of Assembly has ap-proved the request of

Governor Darius Ishaku to appoint 25 special advisers.

The request, which was contained in a letter to the House by the governor, said it was in line with section 196 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, and was read on the floor of the House by the Clerk, Ismaila Ten-tason.

In his contribution, member representing Ta-

the power problem of the country would be substan-tially addressed in Benue, Kogi, Nassarawa and Niger states.

He said a revamped Ajaokuta Steel would have made Nigeria an automobile-producing na-

tion and generated lots of jobs.

The caucus also decried the boundary conflicts be-tween Anambra, Edo and Kogi over the location of oil wells. He sought the in-tervention of the House to resolve the crisis.

INUSA NDAHI MAIDUGURI

Chairman, Medical Advisory Commit-tee of the Univer-

sity of Maiduguri Teach-ing Hospital, UMTH, Dr. Mohammed Tahir, yester-day carpeted the Nation-al Emergency Manage-ment Agency, NEMA, and Borno State government over their indifferent at-titude and lack of care for injured Boko Haram victims.

Tahir said since 2009 to date, UMTH had been treating victims of Boko Haram, including secu-rity operatives, whereby N130 million was spent on drugs and related medical care, adding that all pleas for NEMA to as-sist the hospital fell on deaf ears.

He also expressed sad-ness over the inability of Borno State govern-ment, through the new State Emergency Man-

agement Agency, SEMA, to donate more than N10 million used in taking care of victims by the hospital.

The committee boss made these revelations when Director-General of NEMA, Sani Sidi, led some of its officials and other humanitarian agency staff like the Red Cross on a one-day visit to UMTH to sympathise with insurgency victims receiving treatment.

as provide post-finance services,’’ he said.

According to him, the bank is currently partner-ing 10 SME-friendly banks to provide working capi-tal for BoI customers at a negotiated interest rate of Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) +6 per cent.

“At the current MPR of 13 per cent, the applicable interest rate is 19 per cent per annum.

“In pursuit of inclu-sive growth, the bank has worked assiduously to identify SME clusters in Kano with the aim of ex-tending financial support to the entrepreneurs oper-ating there,” he said.

Olaoluwa therefore, called on people of the state to take advantage of the bank’s presence in Kano, to boost socio-eco-nomic activities.

“We believe the develop-mental impact of the bank will be greatly enhanced in support of the real sec-tor and complement the state government’s socio-economic development ob-jective,” he said.

…other corrupt offi cials too alleged to have corruptly enriched themselves and are occupying elective po-sitions.

“Any attempt to allow these elements go un-punished will rubbish the much-talked about anti-corruption stand of the president. Char-ity, they say, begins at home; therefore, the anti-corruption agen-cies must beam their searchlights on such persons.

“At a time the nation is undergoing economic re-cession, there cannot be a better period to recover all stolen monies to in-

vest in critical sectors of the economy,” the state-ment noted.

The group maintained that it would soon stage a protest in Abuja to en-sure the probe was car-ried out to serve as deter-rent to others, who may be tempted to engage in corrupt practices.

It would be recalled that the House of Rep-resentatives Committee had indicted the former minister of wrongdoing on the matter, but appro-priate agencies to pros-ecute offenders did not show commitment over the issue.

kum II Constituency, Mark Useni, said the request was in order, noting that the governor was mindful of the number of appointees requested given the present financial situation of the state.

Members unanimously supported the request, which resolution the Speak-er, Abel Peter Diah, request-ed that the Clerk communi-cate to the governor.

In another development, the Assembly has set up a five-man ad hoc commit-tee to look into issues sur-rounding poor internally generated revenues, IGRs, in the state with a view to boosting the state’s revenue profile.

John Kizito Bonzena (Zing Constituency) had earlier in a motion raised concern over non-remit-tance of Pay As You Earn, PAYE, taxes and IGRs to government, adding that the new administration must end all leakages in revenue generation in the state.

In their various contribu-tions, members described the motion as timely and unanimously supported it.

World News52 National Mirror

www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, June 18, 2015

What about the masses’ wish list, Mr. President?

Continued from Back Pagesystem. The railway sector,

given some whispering boost by the Jonathan administra-tion, must now burst forth into the arena of true change and revival. Nigerians deserve better transportation facili-ties than they have been given over the years. Why shouldn’t we have modern, fast train ser-vices linking the major cities of Nigeria? Why can’t I shuttle from Lagos to Kano in three hours and return to Lagos in the evening, mission fulfilled? Is Nigeria not ripe for this? Air travel is another behemoth. Why can’t you assure us fast that you are ready to break the jinx? Indeed, I expected this to have been part of your G7 wish list, given the urgency and im-portance of this sector to na-tional advancement.

Agriculture is another item requiring true, urgent attention. The last administration truly did so much in this sector and you must advance the momentum without delay. In the fast waning world of the influence of oil, in a global village moving rapidly from mono product economy, Nigeria must break the shackle of undue dependence on the moribund petroleum resources. Agriculture is one such ray of good hope and, blimey! We are so endowed. The economy needs di-versification and you would have started well if the success record-ed by Jonathan in agriculture is advanced to greater heights.

There is also the anti-corrup-tion battle. This is one area that really boosted your advent to the much desired presidency, given your pedigree. You must give true teeth to the battle now or never. The shenanigans of politics, like the one that erupted in the Na-tional Assembly recently, must not deter you from the stance you are known for. You can do it, but time is of the essence.

The list is long, sir, but like you were given hope in Germany, Ni-gerians demand true hope back at home. Mr. President, arise and shine.

Ojewusi wrote via solaojew-usi@yahoo.com

We are a nation that appreciates and recognises the rights of every individual and their freedom of worship. We will not allow

any person to force on us a way of life that is not ours.–Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta

DR Congo President, Joseph Kabila

law and a lack of institutional capacity ... undermine efforts to combat entrenched systems of patronage, while exposure to corrupt public officials and a reli-ance on third party agents is also higher,” Trevor Slack, Verisk Ma-plecroft analyst, said in a state-ment.

A key reason why politicians fail to fight bribery is that senior officials responsible for address-ing the issue profit from it most, the report said.

Middle Eastern countries such as Iraq or Syria continued to dom-inate the list of countries where graft remained a major blow to the business environment due to conflict and almost non-existent rule of law.

The study named some of the world’s top energy producers as having extreme corruption risk,

countries on the prevalence of bribery and government effec-tiveness in fighting it.

Paul arheweWITH AGENCY REPORTS

Half of the 10 most corrupt countries in the world are in sub-Saharan Africa, a region that is attracting increasing investor in-terest due to its natural resources and rapid population growth, ac-cording to a global graft index re-leased yesterday.

Democratic Republic of Con-go topped the 2015 Corruption Risk Index by risk advisory firm Verisk Maplecroft, followed by Somalia, Central African Repub-lic, Sudan and Equatorial Guinea.

The report blamed factors in-cluding high levels of poverty and lack of institutions to combat bribery for sub-Saharan Africa being the region most affected by corruption.

“Factors such as weak rule of

among them Iraq, Russia, Ven-ezuela, Nigeria and Kazakhstan.

The annual index ranks 198

DR Congo tops global corruption index

Police said they were unable to sedate the Tiger because it was too aggressive

Escaped tiger kills man in Georgia ISIS kills 5 policemen near Iraq’s Baiji refinery

Two ex-junta members indicted for Guinea stadium massacre

The zoo had said on Tuesday that all of the missing lions and tigers had been found dead, with one jaguar unaccounted for - sparking confusion when news of the tiger attack on the two men emerged.

Internal Affairs Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri told the press that the animal was found “hiding in an unused store room”.

“We tried our best to sedate the tiger, but it was not possible be-cause the animal was too aggres-sive. So unfortunately we had to liquidate it,” he said.

Special police units drafted in to deal with the threat posed by dangerous animals have faced criticism, with zoo workers alleg-ing that animals have been killed unnecessarily.

The zoo’s website says two white Bengali tigers live at the facility, one male and one female.

A tiger that killed a man and wounded another after escaping from a

flooded zoo in Georgia has been shot dead, the Georgian interior ministry says.

The animal was one of several to break free from enclosures at Tbilisi Zoo last weekend follow-ing severe flooding.

Police said they tracked the tiger to a disused warehouse but could not sedate it because it was too aggressive.

The flash floods devastated parts of Tbilisi, claiming the lives of 13 people, including three zoo keepers.

There was uncertainty on Wednesday about the number of dangerous animals still on the loose, with reports on Twitter of another tiger being cornered in a city centre cafe after the first was shot dead.

The flash floods devastated parts of Tbilisi, claiming the lives of 13 people, including three zoo keepers.

Up to six people are still miss-ing and about 40 families lost their homes.

Hundreds of volunteers took to the streets on Wednesday to help clear up the mess left by the floodwater.

“It is hard work, yes, but we should do it, it is our job,” one volunteer told the BBC. “We do not work for the zoo, we are just citizens helping to arrange every-thing. It’s the only zoo we have.”

The volunteers, many dressed in trainers and ordinary clothes and armed only with shovels, helped dig animals from the mud and carry them away.

Islamic State has killed five po-licemen in a town near Iraq’s biggest refinery, in an attack

that may help ease pressure on some of its fighters trapped in the strategically important facility, a security official said yesterday.

The official in a regional secu-rity command centre said the in-surgents mounted the operation at Tal Albu Jarad village as part of a battle for control of Baiji re-finery, which has changed hands several times.

After receiving reinforce-ments, Islamic State militants re-captured three neighborhoods in the town of Baiji near the refin-ery, but fresh clashes have erupt-ed there, the security official said.

A court in Guinea has indicted two generals, both senior officials in

the country’s former military junta, for a 2009 massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators, a leading human rights cam-paigner and judicial officials said yesterday.

President Alpha Conde, elected in 2010 in Guinea’s first democratic handover of power since independence from France in 1958, has faced criticism from

rights groups for the slow pace of the investigation into the rapes and killings at the rally.

Though charges have been brought against a number of of-ficials, none has yet stood trial for the violence.

“Generals Mamadouba Toto Camara and Mathurin Bangoura were indeed charged along with other soldiers and civilians,” said Thierno Maadjou Sow, president of the Guinean Human Rights Organisation.

Thursday September 4, 2014 53National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Sport55

Joel AJAyi ABUJA

Nigeria Football Federa-tion (NFF) General Sec-retary, Dr. Mohammed

Sanusi, has decried the woeful performances of the Flying Eagles and Super Falcons in the ongoing FIFA U-20 World Cup and Women’s World Cup, saying the teams disappointed

The two finalists at the ongoing FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand

have been determined, with Brazil and Serbia set to fight for the crown on Saturday.

On FIFA’s 14th annual An-ti-Discrimination Day, it was the five-time champions from South America and the dark horses from south-east Europe who were celebrating come the

African championships and qualifiers where they defeated all comers.

“Actually we are not happy with the performance of our teams at the World Cup, par-ticularly the Flying Eagles. We had high expectations but that was not to be. You can see that this is a wake-up call and we need to go back to the drawing board and find out what we did

120 minutes of nail-biting ac-tion before triumphing over Mali 2-1.

On a day filled with tension, emotions and drama, one young-ster in particular also emerged as his team’s hero for the second time in New Zealand.

Meanwhile, two African

not do well so as to effect cor-rection,” Sanusi said.

Similarly, the NFF 1st Vice President, Barrister Seyi Akin-wunmi, yesterday, while apolo-gising to Nigerians for the unfulfilled dreams of the Fly-ing Eagles and Super Falcons disclosed that the Federation is making moves to correct tech-nical deficiencies in all the na-tional teams.

sides, Senegal and Mali, that were considered rank outsid-ers prior to the tournament will go head-to-head in the Play-off for Third Place after losing in yesterday’s semi-fi-nals, but they can go into their last encounter in Auckland on Saturday

“We have from the outset no-ticed deficiencies in various as-pects relating to the technical aspects of our national teams and moved swiftly to address the situation, hence one of our first initiatives was to organ-ise training courses for match readers and to also buy into the Prozone Match Reading Software in order to build local competencies and match read-ing expertise to help our teams. Unfortunately these tourna-ments have come too early for us to reap the full benefits of this initiative which will take a little while to come to frui-tion,” Akinwunmi said.

He continued, “In the Super Falcons, we saw so much po-tential, youthfulness and abil-ity, but it is clear that while we have conquered Africa there is still a lot of work to be done in the area of technical support before we can take on the world of Women’s football.”

Nigerians.Sanusi told newsmen yes-

terday in Abuja that the NFF and Nigerians had high ex-pectations when the teams left for New Zealand and Canada respectively, but regretted that the expectations were mis-placed.

According to him, the per-formances of the teams fell short of their abilities at the

final whistle in their respective matches, and both now have the trophy in their crosshairs.

The two semi-finals were vastly different affairs, with the Seleçãozinha scoring early on before easing to a comfort-able 5-0 victory over Senegal, while Serbia played through

N’Zealand 2015: Brazil, Serbia set up final date

–Chelsea midfielder, Oscar

I would not have had so good in any league all over the world. Nothing like the English Premier League

...Akinwunmi apologises

...Senegal, Mali battle for bronze

NFF admits F/Eagles, Falcons shamed NigeriansNFF admits F/Eagles, Falcons shamed Nigerians

NJF stages AAG trials

Brazil players celebrating their 5-0 Semi-final victory over Senegal, yesterday

54 Sports National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, June 18, 2015

Action at the Lagos version of the Principal’s Cup tournament

returns as Falconets’ coach

Dedevbo

Paul ErEwuba

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has re-appointed Peter

Dedevbo as Head Coach of the U-20 women’s national

team, the Falconets.NFF spokesman, Ademo-

la Olajire, who revealed this yesterday in Abuja, said the appointment took immedi-ate effect.

Dedevbo was in charge of the team last year when the

Falconets made it to the fi-nal of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada, where they lost 1-0 to Germany.

The gaffer will take charge of the Falconets as they begin their quest for qualification for the 2016

FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup when they take on Li-beria next month.

The Liberians edged out Sierra Leone in the earlier round of the qualifiers to set the stage for this en-counter.

afolabi Gambari

The FCT Football Associa-tion has approved the or-ganisation of the maiden

2015 Principal’s Cup Football Competition for all secondary schools in Abuja.

Chairman of the association, Alhaji Musa Saeed Talle, said the board aimed at grassroots development that would see

hidden talent discovered and nurtured.

“We also hope to bring back the glamour that is associated with secondary school football competition in the past,” Talle said.

Meanwhile, the Main Organ-ising Committee for the compe-tition has been constituted.

1st Vice Chairman of the Abuja FA, Mr. Patrick Ng-waogu, heads the committee.

Other members are Mr. God-win Bamigboye (Vice Chair-man), Mr. Zakari Musa, Mr. Kayode Adeniyi (FCT SWAN Chairman), Mr. Akin Adejumo and Mr. Luka Mohammed.

Barrister Victoria Nlemigbo, Alhaji Adamu Mohammed, Mr. Hashimu Adamu and a repre-sentative from the FCT Second-ary Education Board complete the membership while Haruna Usman Ilerika will serve as Sec-

retary.Talle disclosed that the MOC

would be inaugurated on June 23 when the Medical Committee of the FA, headed by Dr. Charles Agadu, will also be unveiled.

Other members of the Medi-cal Committee are Mr. Patrick Mbah, Dr. Maimagani Ibrahim, Mr. Ibrahim Bako, Mr. David Habakuk and Ms Queendolyn Akpan who will serve as Secre-tary.

Chelsea will begin their Pre-mier League title defence with a home game against

Swansea on the weekend of Au-gust 8 and 9.

Manchester City, who finished eight points adrift of the Blues, travels to West Brom while Man-chester United hosts Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford.

Arsenal hosts West Ham, Liv-erpool goes to Stoke City, New-castle plays Southampton and Leicester welcomes Sunderland.

Promoted trio Bournemouth, Watford and Norwich face Aston Villa, Everton and Crystal Palace respectively.

The top-flight season starts a week earlier than last season on the same weekend as the Football League, as the 2016 European Championship starts on June 10.

ifEanyi Eduzor

General Manager of Sharks Football Club of Port Harcourt, Okey

Kpaluku, has commended Riv-ers State Governor Nyesom Wike for approving the payment of backlog of salaries for all the state-owned teams, including Dolphins.

Kpaluku, who spoke after the teams received assurances from the Permanent Secretary of the state’s Ministry of Sports that the governor had approved the payments, described the gesture as a confirmation of an earlier promise by the governor that his administration would give sports a face-lift in the state.

“We are highly motivated and I think this will lead to a change of fortunes for us,” he said yesterday.

EPL:Chelsea, Swansea kick-off season

Wages offset excites Sharks, Dolphins

Abuja FA constitutes MOCPrincipal’s Cup:

Peter Dedevbo

Mourinho

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 55SportsThursday, June 18, 2015

The Permanent Secretary, Office of Sports (OS), Lagos State Ministry of

Youth, Sports and Social Devel-opment (MYSSD), Mr. Sewedo Oluseyi Whenu, yesterday hosted the Director, Kasperov Founda-tion, African Zone, Mr. Graham Jurgensen in his office.

Jurgensen, who is on an of-

ficial visit to Nigeria along, vis-ited Whenu in company of Ni-geria Chess Federation (NCF) President, Mr. Lekan Adeyemi, and Secretary, Mrs. Bidemi Gani-yu Opollo.

“The Lagos government be-lieves that our youth are our tomorrow and they should be assisted to excel in their aspira-

tions,” Whenu said.“The Office of Sports has a

department in charge of schools sports that will propagate the mini chess game initiative in con-junction with other agencies such as Ministry of Education and La-gos State Universal Basic Educa-tion Board (LSUBEB) as it would help enhance the pupils in under-

standing and solving english and mathematics problems,” he add-ed, stressing, “We will not relent in developmental sports with var-ious initiatives like the Adopt-A-Talent Sports to identify, develop and mentor our athletes, as well as provision of scholarships to athletes in schools and skill acqui-sition trainings, amongst others.”

Director, Kasperov Founda-tion, African Zone, Mr. Graham Jurgensen, said his visit aimed to strengthen the cordial relation-ship between NCF and Lagos State.

“I urge a continued working re-lationship between NCF and La-gos State to get the private sector to drive the development of the game,” Jurgensen said.

IfeanyI eduzor

The Nigeria Judo Federa-tion (NJF) is staging a two-day trial in Abuja

with a view to raising a team ca-pable of winning laurels at the 11th All Africa Games billed for Congo Brazzaville,

National Mirror learnt yester-day that the event scheduled for July 2 to July 5 and will see men and women judokas in all the weight categories with valid li-cence compete at the Civil Defence Academy, Sauka near Abuja.

President of the NJF, Dr. Musa Oshodi, said the trials would en-able the federation to raise a team that could face any opposition at

the Africa Games.“We need the trials to get the

very best of judokas who can make Nigeria proud,” Oshodi said, adding that athletes who excelled at the trials would be in-vited to camp ahead of the AAG.

“We have little time in our hands. Immediately after the tri-als, we will open the camp for in-tensive preparation. But the judo-ka must not be less than 18 years in August.

Athletes’ representative on the NJF board, Segun Gbayi, said the trials would enable the federation to determine the current form of the judokas.

“Nigeria cannot afford to go to the Africa Games with a second rate squad,” Gbayi said.

afolabI GambarI

International Master, Bunmi Olape, has emerged as the winner of the maiden Mil-

lionaire Chess Festival in Lagos.

Olape, a veteran of several in-ternational chess tournaments, also won an all-expense paid trip to the 2nd Millionaire Chess scheduled for October 8 to 12 in Las Vegas, USA.

With a total of $1milion in priz-es, it is the highest-stakes open chess tournament in history.

Olape’s victory was assured fol-lowing a major setback by inform Eugene Uwana in his final game of the event when he made a blun-der against Oluwadurotimi Lapi-te, enabling Olape to secure a win against Femi Adeshina to level on seven points with Lapite.

“I started badly in the opening rounds but happy to return into wining way,” Olape said, adding,

“My opponents brought out the best in me.”

About 170 players participated in different category of play in four-day tournament held at the Chevron Event Centre, Gbagada, Lagos.

President of Nigeria Chess Federation (NCF), Mr. Lekan Ad-eyemi, commended the Million-aire Chess company which pro-motes chess and organises global tournaments for the sport.

The tournament provides op-portunities for chess players from African federations, even as the Kasparov Chess Foundation has agreed to provide full sponsor-ship of $5, 000 each to the three winners of the Millionaire events.

Paul erewuba

With four more matches to round off the Con-ference play-off of the

on-going DStv Men’s Basketball Premier League, Union Bank Basketball team has vowed to improve on its current third position, even as the club meets Oluyole Warriors in their Week 11 encounter this weekend.

Union Bank Coach, Johnson Ayinla, told National Mirror yes-terday in Lagos that his charges would emerge victory in the game.

Despite playing away to the Warriors, Ayinla said his players would take the game to their op-ponent’s half of the court from the blast of the whistle.

“The game will be tough con-sidering that the Warriors are still struggling for a slot in the

Final 8 Play-off. But we will come good,” the coach added.

Meanwhile, Atlantic Confer-ence league leader, Lagos Island-ers, will take on Delta Force while Nigerian Customs battle Police and Kwara Falcons host Dodan Warriors of Lagos in Ilorin.

Defending champions, Kano Pillars, will be at home against FCT Rocks in the Savannah Con-ference, while Plateau Peaks face Gombe Bulls in Jos.

‘Lagos, home of Nigeria chess’

…Olape reigns at Millionaire Festival

DStv B’ball: Union boss sure of victory

NJF stages AAG trials

PRO, Office of Sports, Lagos Ministry of Sports, Olumide Filade (r); Yemisi; President NCF, Lekan Adeyemi; Director, Kasperov Foundation, Afri-can Zone, Graham Jurgensen; Perm Sec., Office of Sports, Sewedo Oluseyi Whenu; Secretary, NCF, Bidemi Ganiyu Opollo; Head of Sports, Office of Sports, Nunayon Travih, and Adebisi Aderemi-Adewale during NCF delegation’s visit to the Lagos Ministry of Sports

Olape

Judo action at a recent event

Vol. 05 No. 1137 Thursday, June 18, 2015 N150

WORLD RECORD

The largest stick bomb consists of 30,849 sticks and was achieved by the Tulln Domino Team (Austria) at the BSZ-Turnhalle, Tulln, Austria, on 30 March 2015.

Largest stick bomb

SolaOjewusi

S lGuest Columnist

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, Port-Harcourt Offi ce: Suite 115, NICON Hotel, 6, Benjamin Opara Street, Off Olusegun Obasanjo Rd, GRA Phaze 3, Phone: 07032323254 Email: mail@nationalmirroronline.net.

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When mint-fresh President Mu-hammadu Buhari was a guest of the G7 nations in Germany

recently he had in his pouch what has now become known as the “wish list”, which he eventually presented to the in-ternational giants. Although it remains to be seen how much of the mouth-wa-tering wishes would be made good by the powers-that-be, who incidentally asked for them in the wake of the inter-national euphoria that greeted Nigeria’s smooth transfer of power, there are indi-cations that some goodies would eventu-ally come the way of Nigeria.

Of course, in the eyes of the western powers, we have suddenly become the new beacon of African democratic val-ues. We have proved doomsayers wrong and have kept our commonwealth in-tact, despite the high decibel jangles of disintegration cymbals prior to the 2015

general elections. We have been able to raise the hope of the larger world, and there is such a breath of fresh air that has inspired the powers-that-be to view our nation again with the eye of hope. We are really expected to reap the divi-dends of dancing to the tunes of the world powers. So let the promised good-ies come.

But then, no matter our level of expec-tation as a nation, we should not expect heavens from the G7 stalwarts. For the change that we were promised by our new leaders to be truly manifested, char-ity must surely begin from home. And so, just as our President has gone to the outside world to present the expectations of his government to the world economic powers now courting us, Nigerians are also coming out with their national wish list - burning demands that President Buhari must not handle with levity. The items on the list are legion, but out of these, some are more pertinent and more pressing than the others. Some of these I will help the people present to Mr. Presi-dent in this discourse.

But before we even talk of the wishes, let me say there are disturbing signals emanating from the corridors of power that I believe with all sense of responsi-bility the President must address with military dispatch. One is the now fes-tering notion that Mr. President is not showing signs that he is ready to hit the ground running. Mark me, I do not per-sonally think that a fortnight at the helm is enough to judge the speed of a govern-ment’s policy direction, but Nigerians,

having been promised so much, and having been denied so much in the past, are looking at the new leadership with expectant eyes.

In case the President does not know, thousands in the social media are al-ready sharing cartoons in which the President is caricatured as riding on a snail on the trip to the Promised Land. Do not be deceived, Mr. President, it is very easy for the euphoria that ushered you into Aso Rock to wane quickly if slothful decision making begins to rear its head as the hallmark of the new lead-ership. Experience has taught Nigeri-ans, rightly or wrongly, not to be patient with dithering leadership. Many believe that only a leadership of laggards would still be without ministers two weeks into a four-year tenure. Many are not buying your argument of caution when urgent duties of state are lying fallow without the stewards to tend to them. Signals from the villa are not encourag-ing to many and they have begun to vent their anger in many forums, especially the social media.

When you visited 10 Downing Street

Sport Extra

WBA Welterweight Cham-pion, Keith Thurman, is confident of securing

a big-money fight with pound-for-pound pugilist Floyd Mayweather.

Thurman defends his title against Luis Collazo on July 11 in Tampa and believes another eye-catching performance can

help him earn a bout with WBA (super), WBO and WBC champion Mayweather.

The 26-year-old will be mak-ing his first defence against Col-lazo.

Mayweather is now 38 but with the likes of Thurman and Amir

Khan making public their desire to face him in one last ‘super-fight’, he may try to finish his career by reaching 49 fights unbeaten.

“We’re definitely in line for the Mayweather shot. We’ve been in line for the Mayweather shot for a minute but it doesn’t matter who

Boxing: Boxing: Mayweather gets Thurman challengeMayweather gets Thurman challenge

Mayweather

What about the masses’ wish list, Mr. President?

EXPERIENCE HAS TAUGHT NIGERIANS,

RIGHTLY OR WRONGLY, NOT TO BE PATIENT

WITH DITHERING LEADERSHIP

I fight in the welterweight divi-sion,” Thurman, who is unbeaten in his 25 bouts as a professional, said yesterday.

“I want to be a legend and the best way to become a legend is by taking out a legend, and that would be Floyd Mayweather.”

days to your inauguration, one expected that you would have borrowed a leaf from the dispatch with which David Cameron constituted his own cabinet as soon as he won the British election. Remember that, apart from the millions of admirers who voted for you, there are at least 10 million others who rather voted for your opponent. Go to the streets or at best the social media, these opponents of yours are already giving hell to your loyalists, harassing them with this I-told-you-so smugness that is really making your ad-mirers uncomfortable. Be reminded, sir that frustration is contagious. You must act with dispatch and reassure the nation that we are not in for a “go-slow change” as being feared from many quarters.

Sir, in an urgent battle, two lines of ac-tion are dangerous. To take the snail’s route tends to create despair in the hearts of expectant citizens. To also act without confidence can stymie the momentum. You must show true tenacity. You need to roll your sleeves fast and galvanize the nation into a believing citizenry. You must debunk the notion of senility rearing its ugly head in some quarters given your perceived slow take-off at the helm. Your leadership trajectory needs to be revved up with more determined transformational velocity, my dear leader. That to me is the true domain of serious agents of change. Really, I know you have the heart and will to make the dif-ference but the speed of action is leaving much to be desired.

On the burning issues in the wish list, sir you cannot speed fast enough in the nagging quest to transmogrify our elec-tricity from the realm of mirage to that of true advancement. This is one very critical item in the national wish list. Nigerians need to be reassured that the years of electricity locusts are truly gone forever. Who is going to midwife the pow-er ministry and serve as the true face of this all important battle?

Another is the imperative for a func-tional, truly integrated modern transport

Continues on page 52