PDP chiefs oppose ChibuikeAmaechi’s bid for second term

TheGuardianwww.ngrguardiannews.com

Conscience, Nurtured by TruthThursday, May 23, 2013 N150Vol. 29, No. 12,565

From Kelvin Ebiri and Ann Godwin, Port Harcourt

CITING the need not to es-calate the political crisis

in Rivers State, leaders of thePeoples Democratic Party(PDP) in the state have urgedGovernor Rotimi Amaechi todrop his ambition to be re-elected as chairman of theNigerian Governors’ Forum(NGF).And a timely intervention ofsecurity operatives yesterdayaborted what might have

WHO lauds Nigeriafor reducing deathof women, kids

NIGERIA was yesterday cel-ebrated by the World

Health Organisation (WHO)and delegates to the 66thWorld Health Assembly(WHA) for leading global ef-forts aimed at reducingmother and child deaths.The Minister of State for

Health, Prof. Muhammad AliPate, was yesterday singledout for special commenda-tion at a high level side eventfor ministers and senior par-ticipants to advance goalsand objectives of the GlobalStrategy for Women and Chil-dren’s Health to end prevent-able maternal and child

been an invasion of the resi-dence of Amaechi by formermilitants. The ex-militants, in their

hundreds, had among them

the leader of the Niger DeltaVigilante Force, Ateke Tom.They staged a protest in PortHarcourt to demand the res-ignation of Amaechi.

The party leaders under theaegis of Rivers State PDP Eld-ers Forum, in a letter toAmaechi yesterday, said theirfindings revealed that the

governor’s intention to seekre-election as chairman ofNGF would further worsenthe crisis rocking the party inthe state.

The letter was jointly en-dorsed by the Convener ofthe forum, Chief FerdinandAlabraba; the Secretary, Dr.Silva Opusunju; Chief Antho-ny Akarolo, Senator BenBirabi and Chief MaxwellTasie Amadi.

“Since Your Excellency’semergence as the chairman(and spokesman) of the NGF,your open and frank disposi-tion appears to have generat-ed controversies that areconsidered inimical to yourposition as governor and in-terests of Rivers State in gen-eral. It will not only aggravatethe already volatile politicalatmosphere but also escalatethe threat to peace, security,good governance and devel-opment of the state,” they

• Govs Forum election holds tomorrow• Ex-militants protest, seek his resignation• Police ban political rallies in Rivers• AIG told not to politicise security

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Prof. Chinua Achebe’s widow, Christie (left); son, Ike and Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, during the celebration of life ceremony for the late literary icon at Ekwueme’s Park, Awka… yesterday.

• Country saves 218,000lives, achieves 78%immunisation coverage

Ombatse leader denies role in death of 50 policemenFrom Madu Onuorah (Abuja), Saxone Akhaine (Kaduna), NjadvaraMusa (Damaturu), Bridget Chiedu Onochie (Lafia), Joseph Wantu(Makurdi) and Charles Akpeji (Jalingo)

SPIRITUAL Head of LakyoVillage, Nasarawa South

Local Council, NasarawaState, Ala Agu, yesterday ab-solved himself of blame over

the recent killing of securityoperatives in Lakyo Village.Agu, who is also the spiritualleader of the cult Ombatsethat is alleged to be responsi-

ble for the killing of 50 po-licemen, said that contrary toreports that he is on the run,he is yet to receive any police

invitation.Agu, who spoke through aninterpreter, alleged that thegovernor sent armed police-

men to come and kill himover an issue he knew noth-ing about.

The spiritual head spoke

when Senator Solomon Ewu-ga, representing NasarawaNorth, made a tour of Lakyocommunity. He said that hedid not know how the securi-ty operatives died eventhough he was informed

• Blames govt for killing, yet to get police invitation• ‘Security operatives’ explosives burnt vehicles’

30 years after HIV’s discovery, scientists optimistic about AIDS cure for some sufferers - Page 9

From Chukwuma Muanya, Geneva

Eulogies, as Nigerians bidAchebe farewell -

- Pages 4 & 5

More on Pages 10 & 11

2 NEWS THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013

Ombatse leader denies getting police invitationCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

that they were instructed tocome and kill him.He also said that he never

forced anybody to be initiatedinto the Ombatse culturalgroup.He said: “I am grateful for

your coming, senator. I amvery, very grateful for yourcoming. Even if the senatordid not come here, I had in-tended to go and see him inhis house but since he is here,I am very grateful.“It is the governor that askedthe people (police officers) tocome here and arrest me, cutmy head and take my head tohim.“When they came, becausethey were themselves drunk,my god did not allow them tocome to me and they died onthe way.“The question I ask is, has thegovernor ever invited me andI refused to go? But he sentpeople to come and kill meand to destroy Lakyo as awhole. That is just what it is.”The spiritual head said he wasin a nearby village when theincident took place only for

him to come back to be in-formed that the governorsent people to come and killhim.Asked whether the incident

has anything to do with thepolitics of the state, he said: “Ifyou are talking about politics,it does not bother me. I don’teven understand Hausa lan-guage. Politics is not for mebecause I am not a politician.Politics is for politicians but Ihear that the time for politick-ing has not even come”.On the claim that he was us-ing force to administer con-coction for people to becomemembers of the Ombatsegroup, he swore: “If I everopened my mouth to forceanybody to take oath, Godshould punish me”.He said that Ombatse is an as-sociation of Lakyo boys intowhich nobody is forced to be-long. According to him, he isready to honour any police in-vitation but insisted that no-body has invited him.The spiritual head continuedthat he was very sad about thedeath of some security men.He added that it was even

more saddening that he is be-ing linked to the incident, es-pecially when he knewnothing about what hap-pened to the operatives.In his contribution, Presi-

dent, Eggon Cultural Develop-ment Association, Mr. Chris E.Mamman, again maintainedthat the only way to get at theroot of what happened wasfor the Federal Governmentto set up a judicial commis-sion of inquiry.Senator Ewuga said he decid-ed to tour the affected area asa matter of national responsi-bility.

Meanwhile, Arewa eldershave commended PresidentGoodluck Jonathan for order-ing the release of families ofBoko Harammembers. It, how-ever, urged the Federal Gov-ernment to allow humanrights monitors into the threestates where emergency rulewas declared in order to as-sess the extent of the militarycampaign. The Board ofTrustees and National Execu-tive Council of the Arewa Con-sultative Forum (ACF),presided over by the Chair-

man of the ACF Board ofTrustees, Lt.-Gen. JeremiahUseni (rtd), met in Kaduna tox-ray the extent of military op-erations in the three northernstates since the state of emer-gency was declared and ad-vised government not to useexcessive military force,which may be counter-pro-ductive to the interests of thecitizens in the troubled areas.However, the Chief of Army

Staff, Lt.-Gen. OnyeaboAzubuike Ihejirika, yesterdaywarned soldiers that theyshould mind the companythey keep, the people they talkwith and the informationthey share with others.Gen. Ihejirika said at the

opening of a three-day armytransformation seminar inAbuja that any officer or sol-dier caught in any of these actswill face disciplinary meas-ures. He tasked the Directorate ofMilitary Intelligence (DMI),Military Police and Com-manders in the Field to con-tinue monitoring activities ofsoldiers, as military servicewas a service of patriotism.

Speaking on the seminartheme, “Building Capacity ofthe Nigerian Army to meetContemporary Challenges”,Ihejirika stated: “Let me usethis opportunity to warn offi-cers and soldiers who indulgein giving out information,both from Army Headquar-ters and other formations,certain vital information thathad one way or the otherworked negatively in our op-erations. There are also someother soldiers that have beenfound posting negative com-ments in the Internet and alsosome had been engaged inconversing with insurgents.”Ihejirika said that the soldierthat gave out information onthe movement of troops toMali and were attacked closeto Okene has been appre-hended and is going to becourt-martialled.The Army chief noted that theseminar is timely as Nigeria isgrappling with series of secu-rity challenges some of whichthreaten the nation’s corpo-rate existence.In a communique issued at

the end of the meeting, ACF

Deputy National PublicitySecretary, Mrs. Fati EuniceIbrahim, remarked that “theforum had earlier expressedreservations about the wis-dom of an all-out militarycampaign as the only strategyof tackling the problem andhad accordingly welcomedthe acceptance by the FederalGovernment to explore theother options of dialogue andconciliation”, saying that “ac-cordingly, the ACF feelsobliged to continue to drawthe attention of the FederalGovernment on the need toensure that on-going militarycampaigns result in a mini-mum destruction of humanand material resources.”In continuation of full im-

plementation of emergencyrule in Yobe State, the JointTask Force (JTF) has bannedhawking and collection ofalms by beggars at all securitycheckpoints and militaryposts in the state.The measure, according to

JTF sources yesterday, was toensure maximum internal se-curity in all the black spotsidentified by the security taskforce in 2011.

Police ban political rallies in RiversCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

said.They said that the gover-

nor’s desire to continue lead-ing the NGF would notprovide the needed politicalenvironment that wouldpromote the best interest ofRivers people. According tothem, Amaechi’s plan to seekre-election is partly responsi-ble for the over-heated polityand the serious collateraldamage to the overallprogress of the state.“It is a highly unnecessary

distraction that will deceler-ate your developmentalstrides and productivity asgovernor of Rivers State,”they said, adding thatAmaechi’s leadership of theNGF “will not provide addi-tional leverage for the ad-vancement of Rivers State inparticular, the South-Southgeo-political zone and theNiger Delta region in gener-al. Given the above back-ground and with all duerespect, it is our most hum-ble opinion that His Excel-lency should defer to theoverall interest of the peopleof Rivers State and reconsid-er his decision to seek re-election to the office ofchairman of the NGF.” Amid this tension in Port

Harcourt and its environs,the Rivers State Police Com-missioner, Mbu Joseph Mbu,yesterday banned all politi-cal rallies in the state exceptwith police clearance.Amid this tension in PortHarcourt and its environs,the Rivers State Police Com-missioner, Mbu Joseph Mbu,yesterday banned all politi-cal rallies in the state exceptwith police clearance.

But Amaechi has cautionedthe police not to politicise se-curity in his state. Worriedabout the security lapses inthe state in recent weeks,Amaechi urged a police dele-gation led by the AssistantInspector-General of Police,Zone 6, Jonathan Johnson,that the police must not playpolitics with the security oflives and property of the peo-ple of the state.Besides, Jonathan Johnson

has justified the withdrawalof policemen attached to theSpeaker of the Rivers StateHouse of Assembly, Otelema-ba Amachree and other gov-ernment officials.The protesters, comprisingex-militants, gathered as ear-ly as 7.00 a.m. at the IsaacBoro Park along the busy AbaRoad, Port Harcourt, fromwhere they began theirprotest march towards theGovernment House, PortHarcourt. But they were pre-vented by a team of police de-ployed to forestall a possibleinvasion of the governor’sresidence.The protesters, under the

aegis of Rivers Peoples As-sembly (RPA), were alldressed in white singletswith the inscription “EFCCprobe Amaechi.” They alsocarried various placardswith anti-Amaechi inscrip-tions amid war songs.

A governmental official,who pleaded anonymity,told The Guardian thatAmaechi was at the Govern-ment House, Port Harcourtwhile the protest was on butthat the police effectivelyprevented the protestersfrom approaching the mainentrance to the Government

House. Though there was amild altercation betweenthe protesters and the po-licemen drawn from the an-ti-terrorism squad, there wasno clash.

Addressing journalists atthe Isaac Boro Park, thespokesman of the protesters,Martyns Mannah, said theytook to the streets in protestagainst Amaechi’s style ofgovernance, which accord-ing to him, is detrimental toRivers people.Mannah also attributed theprotest to the failure of thestate government to accountfor the jet it purchased, theongoing monorail project aswell as perceived Amaechi’sdisloyalty to President Good-luck Jonathan. He, however,denied that their protest wassponsored by political oppo-nents of the state governor.While the protest was on, se-curity personnel at the StateHouse of Assembly Complexalong Moscow Road, PortHarcourt, hurriedly shut thegate and prevented peoplefrom entering the premises.Another group, the Nation-al Youth Rural Empower-ment Advocacy Projects(Youth REAP), gathered atthe PDP state secretariat inthe state capital to demandthe quizzing of the Speakerof the State House of Assem-bly, Otelemaba Amachree,State Commissioners forTransport and Finance bythe Economic and FinancialCrimes Commission (EFCC)to unravel the circum-stances surrounding theownership and documenta-tion of the state bombardierjet.The state co-ordinator of

REAP, Mr. Warigbani Ezekielwho made the call during ayouth congress, also an-nounced that if PresidentJonathan failed to contestand win the 2015 presiden-tial election, he would be re-garded as a disappointmentto the people of the South-South region and Nigeria atlarge.The Rivers State Police Com-missioner, who governmentofficials have accused of be-ing partisan in the PDP con-flict in the state, has warnedthat the police would notcondone any form of politi-cal protest without policepermit.He said: “As from today,

there will be no peaceful orviolent procession withoutdue approval from the com-missioner of police, RiversState. Anyone who does thiswill be arrested and prose-cuted. The police will useminimal force to ensure de-faulters are picked and pros-ecuted”, he warned.The AIG Zone 6, Jonathan

Johnson who was in thestate for a familiarisationtour supported the with-drawal of security officialsfrom political office holdersin the state, saying Mbu’s ac-tion was right.He explained that the with-drawn officers were re-placed by other policepersonnel, describing thisas part of normal changes inthe force.On the allegation of the

Speaker over plans to assas-sinate some serving politi-cians in the state, the AIGurged him (Speaker) tocome out and make a formalpetition with the names ofthose he claimed were onthe list of assassins.

WHO lauds Nigeria for saving 218,000 livesCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1deaths.The minister was commend-ed for the success of the “SaveOne Million Lives Initiative”launched last year by Presi-dent Goodluck Jonathan forsaving 218,000 lives, puttingone million women on ante-natal care, reaching 46 mil-lion under-five children with

Vitamin A supplementation,and achieving 78 per cent Rou-tine Immunisation (RI) cover-age within one year.On October 16, 2012, Jonathanlaunched “Saving One MillionLives”, an ambitious and com-prehensive initiative to scaleup access to essential primaryhealth services and commodi-ties for Nigeria’s women and

children.The delegates also yesterdayendorsed a WHA resolutionon “Securing the Future-Sav-ing the Lives of Women andChildren” and called forspeedy adoption by the wholeAssembly to increase access toessential medicines and sup-plies in the world’s countrieswhere the greatest inequities

exist as well as ensure the im-pact of innovation, overcom-ing barriers to access andaddress financing.The delegates also said a glob-al investment frame-work forwomen’s and children’shealth is needed which willcontribute to strategic,aligned and targeted re-source allocation andstrengthen accountability.

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013 3

NewsImo awards 11.5km roadfor N1.7bFrom Charles Ogugbuaja,Owerri

IMO State Government hasawarded contract for the

dualization of 11.5 kilometreImo University, Owerri–Egbu-Orlu ring road at a cost of N1.7billion, the state governor,Chief Rochas Okorocha, hasdisclosed.Inspecting the preliminary

construction work at the siteon Tuesday in Owerri, capitalof Imo State, Okorocha saidthe state government wasbothered by the increasingmenace of traffic jam in thecity, adding that the contractawarded to J P ConstructionCompany would ease theproblem encountered byscores of motorists in the capi-tal city.

ACN, PDP trade accusations over plot to destabilise EkitiFrom Muyiwa Adeyemi,Ado Ekiti

AHEAD of Supreme Courtjudgment to be delivered

on May 31 on the case of theformer Ekiti State Governor,Chief Segun Oni seeking thereversal of the Appeal Courtverdict that sacked him fromoffice, members of the ActionCongress of Nigeria (ACN)and the People’s DemocraticParty (PDP) are trading accu-sations over plan to desta-bilise the state.The ACN alleged that it haduncovered plot by the PDP tocause crisis in the state afterthe judgement to give way forthe declaration of state ofemergency.The party, in a statement

signed by its Publicity Secre-tary, Tunde Adeleke, allegedthat the PDP at the weekendheld a meeting at a formerfederal lawmaker’s residence,where the alleged plot washatched to unleash terror onthe state on the day of thejudgment.The ACN also said that the

PDP was allegedly planningto assassinate top membersof their party, especially topgovernment functionaries, tocreate the impression that

the state is no longer in peaceor governable.However, the PDP yesterday

urged the Federal Govern-ment to direct the State Securi-ty Service (SSS) to investigatethe allegations raised by theACN.The PDP based its call that theSSS be given the responsibilityto investigate the matter onalleged compromise of thepolice in the state, which theparty alleged was working inconnivance with the rulingparty.

At a press conferenceaddressed by PDP Director ofCommunications, ChiefGboyega Aribisogan, coun-tered that it was the ACN thatwas allegedly recruiting thugsfrom each ward to create con-fusion before the May 31Supreme Court judgment tomisdirect the justices on thematter.Aribisogan maintained that

the Police Commissioner inthe state, Mr. Sotonye Wakamaought to have informed theparty of the ACN allegation,having been earlier informedby the ruling party beforegoing to the press, saying thisis a confirmation that thepolice have been compro-mised.

In another petition dated May22, 2013 and signed by thePDP’s Secretary, Dr. Tope Alukoand addressed to the Commis-sioner of Police, he urged secu-rity agencies to investigate thealleged plan by the PDP tomanufacture/print with thePDP inscription to create the

impression that the party wasaware of the outcome of theSupremeCourt judgment.PDP alleged that the ACN was

planning a victory rally in the16 local council areas of thestate and Ado Ekiti capital citywith the PDP uniform.

It also alleged that the gov-ernment had directed somepolitical office holders topaste posters of fake ACNgubernatorial aspirants allover the state to dent theimage of PDP and createimpression that the party isplanning to destabilise thestate.

Court orders service on Bianca Ojukwu through Nigerian Embassy in SpainBy Joseph Onyekwere

ALAGOS High Court,Igbosere, yesterday

ordered that AmbassadorBianca Ojukwu, wife of lateBiafran leader, Dim Odumeg-wu Ojukwu, be served origi-nating processes through theNigerian Embassy in Spain.

Justice Adebayo Oyebanjigave the order in a suit filedby Chief Debe Odumegwu-Ojukwu, which is one of theseveral pending suits beforedifferent judges over theinheritance of Ojukwu’s prop-erties.

Apart from Bianca, otherrespondents in the suit areOjukwu Transport Ltd, (OTL),Prof. Joseph Ojukwu,Emmanuel Ojukwu, Lotanna

Ojukwu, Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Patricia Ojukwu andMrs Margaret Nwagbo (NeeOjukwu).

Oyebanji had at the lastadjourned date, ordered thatBianca be served through anational newspaper publica-tion, since the claimant couldnot serve her in person as aresult of her current assign-ment as Nigeria’s Ambassadorto Spain.At the resumed hearing yes-

terday, the claimant told thecourt that the cost of placingan advertisement on a nation-al newspaper was high andwill affect his already weak-ened finances.Debe, who appeared in per-

son and on behalf of the sec-ond claimant, Silver Conven-tion Nigeria Limited, said he

has filed a motion experte dat-ed March 27, for a varyingorder in respect of full andeffective service on Bianca.He urged the court to grant anorder enabling him to serveBianca either through the For-eign Affairs Ministry or bycourier to the country’sembassy in Spain.Meanwhile, counsel to the

Ojukwus (Bianca excluded),George Uwechue (SAN), noti-fied the court of a petition sentto the Legal Practitioners Disci-plinary Committee (LPDC),filed by one Ogbonnaya Ojuk-wu Associates and signed byDebe’s wife, accusing Uwechueof tendering false documentsin defence before the court.Uwechue urged the court to

summon the petitioner tocome and proof her point, but

I did not kill my wife, says slain banker’s husbandBy Bertram Nwannekanma

SLAIN banker’s husband, Mr.Akolade Arowolo, who wascharged by the Lagos StateGovernment for killing thedeceased banker, Titilayo onJune 24, 2011 yesterday deniedcommitting the crime.Arowolo, who testified as a

witness at the resumption ofhis trial at Ikeja High Courtpresided by Justice LateefatOkunnu said he loved his latewife so much to want to seeher hurt.His testimony in court, how-

ever, left so many questionsbegging for answers as to whokilled the late banker.Arowolo, a graduate of Genet-

ics from the University ofLagos, had earlier told thecourt at the last adjourneddate that his late wife preferredher ex-boyfriend to him andtheir baby.He also told the court that oneof the reasons they had prob-lems in their marriage was egoand immaturity and notbecause of violence.The witness who, however,

admitted that on the June 24,2011, he and the wife struggledwith a knife, alleged that thedeceased Titilayo stabbed himupon getting into their bed-room to hand over her phonefor a call from one Folake whoasked to speak with her after acall to him to give him birth-day wishes.

Led in evidence by the defencecounsel, Olanrewaju Ajanaku,the witness said: “I wouldn’thave killed my wife for any rea-son. I love my wife so much thatin almost the years of our mar-riage I wouldn’t see her hurt, Idid not kill my wife.”He further told the court that

before the tragedy, his wifewoke him up with a kiss andthey had both agreed to stay athome together before going topick their daughter, Olamidefrom his in-laws in the evening.“But she later dressed up and

when asked where she wasgoing, she slapped me and weboth resolved the quarrel aftera neighbour, Mama Hannahintervened.”

He further said after he

Jigawa to vaccinate 1mchildren against measles

From John Akubo, Dutse

ABOUT 1, 036, 563 eligiblechildren are expected to be

vaccinated against measles dis-ease during the ongoingHealth week exercise in JigawaState.The state Commissioner for

Health, Dr Tafida Abubakarwho disclosed this in a state-ment in Dutse yesterday, saidabout 956,169 children willreceive nutrition supple-ments. He noted that the theme of

this years Maternal, New bornand Child Health week isaimed at improving the healthof women and children in thestate.

The commissioner furtherstated that, the ministry andGunduma health systemboard is dedicating this weekfrom 20th to 24th of themonth to the conduct of theexercise across 576 health facil-ities in the state with deploy-ment of over 3000 ad hoc staffas well as mechanism forsupervision and monitoringthe exercise.

UniAbuja sets up panelto audit staff, studentsFrom Mohammed Abubakar,Abuja

IN compliance with therecent directive of the

National Universities Com-mission (NUC) to universitiesto carry out an audit of theirstaff and students, the Govern-ing Council of the Universityof Abuja (UNIABUJA) yesterdayinaugurated the panel to carryout the exercise.The panel, which is headed

by a former Vice Chancellor ofthe Federal University of Tech-nology (FUT), now ModibboAdama University of Technolo-gy Yola, Prof Abdullahi Ribadu,also has Prof. Anthony Adeg-bulugbe, Prof. Ediga Agbo, andHajiya Aisha Babangida asmembers with Dr. GodswillOgboghodo a one-time Infor-mation Commissioner in EdoState as secretary.

Director, Vivian Fowler Memorial College For Girls Funke Fowler Amba (left); Mrs. Carol Scott-Mchale, recipientof Mathematics Award; Olasumbo Delano, Corona School, Victoria Island; Tobi Akinsanya, Vivian Fowler Memo-rial College for Girls, recipient of Art Award; Shafiq Maryam, Lebanese International School Yaba, recipient ofEssay Award; Leah Atta, Corona School Apapa and guest of honour, Justice Didi Johnson during the EssayMathematics and Art competition for Primary five and six pupils in Lagos State organised by Vivian FowlerMemorial College for Girls in Lagos …yesterday. PHOTO: OSENI YUSUF.

received the call and was goingto give her the phone sheattacked him with a knife say-ing, “I will kill you and killmyself.”The witness claimed that aftermuch struggle with her to getthe knife away from her, theknife fell down and he madefor the door to get help for hiswife.

The witness also told thecourt that he tried to get helpfor his wife after succeeding tocalm her down when the knifefell off her hand.

He said: “But the door waslocked and I went back intothe room to look for the keybut could not found the keythen I attempted to breakopen the door with a knife and

Debe, who argued that hiswife’s action was not prejudi-cial, told the court that pur-suant to Subsection 55(1), ofthe LPDC Act, his wife has aright to complain over aprocess she finds irregularitiesin.They are in court over Debe’s

claims to Ojukwu’s propertiesdespite the allegation that hewas disowned by the late Ojuk-wu.

He is urging the court todeclare that he is entitled tothe properties of the late Ojuk-wu, which he said was deniedhim by those who were sup-posed to be his brothers.Debe claimed he lost “several

contracts, business opportuni-ties and goodwill” due to the“continuous denigration” bythe family.

a hammer I picked from thekitchen.“When I did not succeed, I hadto jump down from their four-storey building”, he said.Arowolo further said he drovehis car to look for help but wasstopped by policemen andwhile explaining to them, a carknocked him down and hepassed out.“But on regaining conscious-

ness at a dump site near a gov-ernment school, “I was helpedby a middle-aged man whotook me to where I made unan-swered calls to my wife’s andfather-in-law’s phones.“ I later called my mother’s

phone where I learnt that peo-ple were crying that I and mywife were dead.

He also claimed that his com-pany, the second claimant,which he was managing onbehalf of the family, financedOjukwu’s burial to the tune ofN100 million.

He prayed the court todeclare that he, “as the firstand eldest son of DimOdumegwu-Ojukwu” is “enti-tled to manage or lead in themanagement and control ofall the disposable assets andbelongings” of Ojukwu Trans-port Limited.Debe claimed that the familydid not let him perform thedust-to-dust burial rites inhonour of “his father”.He asked the court to hold

that he is entitled to collect themilitary paraphernalia usedfor the burial ceremonies ofthe late Ojukwu.

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23 , 20134 NEWS

Issues in the news

Achebe was a true pan-Africanist, “who wrote to en-hance the spirit of Africa, the culture of Africa, and toplace the dignity of the African that came under abusein the years of slavery and colonialism in the forefront ofhuman civilisation.

’‘

Eulogies, as eminent Nigerians bid Chinua Achebe farewellPROMINENT Nigerians from all walks of lifecontinued their effusion of tributes as they

paid their last respect to the master storyteller,Prof. Chinualumogu Achebe, who died onMarch 21 in the United States (U.S.), just as hisremains will be interred today in his home-town, Ogidi, Anambra State.In Abuja, where the weeklong transition ac-

tivities started on Sunday, the literary giantwas eulogised for blazing the trail that othersfollowed. Among the dignitaries during hiscommendation service at The NationalChurch, Abuja, was the Primate of Nigeria, An-glican Communion, The Most Rev. NicholasOkoh, who presided.Others included the Minister of Finance andCoordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr.Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Minister of Information,Labaran Maku; Chief Jim Nwobodo; Mrs.Margery Okadigbo; former Vice Chairman,Nigerian Telecommunications Commission,Ernest Ndukwe; Chief Ogbonnaya Onu; formerChairman, Association of Nigerian Authors,Dr. Wale Okediran, and Chairman, AchebeTransition Committee, Prof. Uzodinma Nwala.Maku described Achebe as one of the most

important Nigerians in the last 100 years, whowould likely live longer that any Nigerian, liv-ing or dead, through his works.He noted: “Through his literature, he has

placed Africa on the world map indelibly andhe would be relevant to human civilisation forthousands of years to come. We see his passingon as only transitory in the physical form, butthere’re the emotions, the history, the philos-ophy that would live after his death and wouldbe far more important than we knew himwhile he was alive.“You can compare him to other immortals

who wrote War and Peace. Achebe did so muchfor this continent. He broke the ground byplacing the African novel on the shelves and somany other writers followed his path. As far ashe was concerned, he was a pioneer.”Maku added that apart from his towering

stature as the leading light of African litera-ture, Achebe was a true pan-Africanist, “whowrote to enhance the spirit of Africa, the cul-ture of Africa, and to place the dignity of theAfrican that came under abuse in the years ofslavery and colonialism in the forefront of hu-man civilisation.“So, he was not just a novelist, he was a de-fender of the dignity of the African and theright of Africa to organise their literature, theirculture. He was a true pan-Africanist, a hu-manist. We pay him respect not just becausehe was an African, but one of the greatestAfricans that ever lived.”While many in the literary community world-wide continued to agonise over the late liter-ary icon not awarded the coveted Nobel Prizefor Literature, Maku said the legendary writerprobably lost out because of his independenceof mind in articulating pan-Africanist visionsthat countered European hegemonic stran-glehold on culture, history and civilisation atthe exclusion of all others.Specifically, Maku noted that Achebe’s rewrit-ing of history, culture and human civilisationwhen he argued against colonialism and West-ern conception of Africa as a barbaric place inhis fictive and non-fictive works, probably costhim the Nobel crown. According to him, “many people feel he didn’tget the Nobel Prize because he projectedAfrica’s right to think independently fromother parts how the world is ordered, and be-cause his writing was anti-colonialism and hegrounded his works in Afro-centricism. It is, in-

deed, arguable because he was found to betoo independent of mind,” as against what Eu-ropeans think, especially in classifyingAfricans on the lowest rung of the race ladder.For His Eminence, Okoh, Achebe was “a gift

God gave to Africa, to Nigeria and to Igbo peo-ple. A man who had a remarkable gift imbuedwith love for life, he spread African literatureto the world through his writing and as edi-tor of African Writers Series.” Okoh said he en-countered Achebe while preparing for hisLondon GCE and fell in love with his writingstyle ever since and promptly read all hisworks.Like the man with five loaves and two fish inJesus’ parable in the Bible, Okoh said Achebeoffered what God gave to him to the worldand made Africa and African traditionsknown to the rest of the world. He noted thatthrough his classic novel, Things Fall Apart, therenowned author presented the old order asstruggling with the new order of Christianityand through his writing, presented a mirrorwith which to look at the time. Christianitywas new to Africa then.He intoned, “there’s no doubt that Achebewas a rich man, but not with money. He had agift given to him by God, and through thatgift, the world knew him and canonised him.”The cleric called on Nigerians to emulate theimperishable values Achebe represented andleave lasting legacies, adding that the trans-lation of Achebe’s works into many languageswas akin to the day of Pentecost in the Bible,as many tongues now know the complexity ofhis environment.On her part, Okonjo-Iweala believes that

Achebe was an incredible figure that all Nige-rians should be proud to have had as a fellowcitizen, for bringing a lot of dignity and fameto the country. She said Achebe’s departurewould create a vacuum in the literary com-munity while his shoes would be too great foranybody to fill.Meanwhile, at the symposium organised inhis honour by the Association of Nigerian Au-thors (ANA) at the International ConventionCentre on Monday, Niger State Governor, Dr.Mua’zu Babangida Aliyu, who was repre-sented by his Information Commissioner,Prof. Mohammed Yahaya Kuta, said thatthough dead, Achebe lives on in the literaryworks he bequeathed to humanity. He further described him as “a writer capa-ble of infinite possibilities, and a man of di-verse sensitive mental choices,” adding: “Wetake consolation in the fact that, of all humanphenomena, none withstands death like thearts” to which Achebe devoted his life-longwork. “Aliyu went on to propose that literature

should go beyond merely being a school sub-ject or academic pursuit but something thatshould “refine our values, norms and incul-cate cultural beliefs in the society. The generalawareness is that there is a gradual erosion ofour societal values through the trends of ac-culturation; literary works must continu-ously seek to put an end to this trend.”He noted that Achebe’s writing covered a

broad spectrum of Nigeria’s national life andaptly captured the social dynamics containedin it. He also added that Achebe’s attitude wasthat of self-righteousness to Nigeria’s nationalissues. According to him, “Achebe’s artistic con-

sciousness navigates a broad spectrum of na-tional issues that span the very scope of ournational life. This philosophy was shaped by

By Anote Ajeluorou

Achebe

like the Greek Homer, the English John Mil-ton, like so many other writers as Leo Tolstoy,

SATURDAY, MAY 25, 2013

TheGuardianConscience Nurtured by Truth

With the upsurge in insurgent ac-tivities, especially in the North, Po-lice officers have increasinglybecome targets of attacks. InBorno, Yobe, Adamawa, Kano,Kaduna, Bauchi and even Bayelsastates, they have been killed bymilitants, cultists and others crim-inals. What is the life of a Police officerworth in the estimate of the coun-try he/she serves? How are thefamilies of slain Police officerscatered for?

The Policeman AsEndangered Species

PLUS

These and many more in The Guardian, on Saturday. Keep a date with us.

Is it given unto man to love but one? Against the back-drop of so many advertised cases of extramarital af-fairs by men, is one woman really enough for a man?You’ll find the answers very interesting indeed!

Why Do Politicians Play‘Monopoly’ At State Level?At the centre, politicians areunanimous on the fairness ofzoning or power rotation. Whythen are the same politiciansfinding it difficult at the statelevel to rotate power? A search-light on some states…

Is Bigamy A Misguided Law?

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23 , 2013 NEWS | 5

Issues in the news

’

‘Eulogies, as eminent Nigerians bid Chinua Achebe farewell

the dynamics of the Nigerian society and theAfrican continent. While he lived, Achebefought, albeit subtly, for the enthronement ofnormative values and ethical conduct in thenational polity.”ANA President, Prof. Remi Raji-Oyelade, alsoraked up some facts about Achebe that wereeasily forgotten, when he pointed out that hewas named Emeritus Professor in 1985 at theUniversity of Nigeria, Nsukka, and that he wasnot just a teacher, but a professor of profes-sors, and a man that could be regarded as abulwark of Nigeria. And while many remem-ber Achebe for turning down two nationalawards, Raji-Oyelade reminded Nigerians thatAchebe did not reject the honour he trulyearned for his hard work, the Nigerian Na-tional Order of Merit (NNOM).Specifically, he called on the Nigerian gov-

ernment to make efforts to recover the manu-script of Things Fall Apart, which he said, wassomewhere in Cameroun, for its properarchiving in Nigeria.And for the Chairman of the All Nigeria Peo-ples Party (ANPP), Chief Ogbonnaya Onu,Achebe was “an unusual human being and agift God gave to humanity,” adding that a fewhuman beings had his rare vision. Onu re-minded his audience of the great politicianthat Achebe was and eulogised the literary leg-end for his political vision in standing on theside of the poor and Talakawa of the Nigeriansociety.“Achebe was a good politician, his interest toparticipate in politics was incisive,” he ob-served. “He was interested that Nigeria tookher rightful place in the comity of nations. Hejoined partisan politics, the People’s Redemp-tion Party - the left of centre party - to help ele-vate the poor and downtrodden. He wasnumber-two in that party and could have

joined the ruling party in his state at thetime, but he did not. He showed clearly thathe was a man of principles, eager to do thecommon good for the common man.”Onu concluded that though Achebe is dead,he would continue to live in the hearts ofmany generations to come through his clas-sic works.The memorial symposium lecture was de-livered by an Achebe scholar, Prof. UmeloOjinmah of Nasarawa State University, Keffi,on the topic: “Swan Song on Iroko: The Life,Times and Work of Chinua Achebe: The Les-sons for Nigeria.” Speaking on the topic, hecastigated armchair critics of his latest work,There Was A Country: A Personal History of Bi-afra, stating that they largely missed thepoint of Achebe’s argument for a better Nige-ria. Professors Olu Obafemi and ChimajumNwankwo of Turkish Nile University, Abuja,were discussants of the paper.To cap a remarkable day of tributes, Presi-dent Goodluck Jonathan, represented byMaku, noted that Achebe was Nigeria’s glob-ally-acclaimed writer, scholar, tutor, culturalicon, nationalist and artist of the very firstrank. Achebe’s frank, truthful and fearless in-terventions in national affairs would begreatly missed in Nigeria.“While others may have disagreed with hisviews, most Nigerians never doubted his im-mense patriotism and sincere commitmentto the building of a greater, more united andprosperous nation that all Africans and theentire Black race could be proud of.”Others who paid tributes included AnambraState governor, Peter Obi; Senator ChrisNgige; Profs. Michael Thelwell and ChudiUwazuruike; former Chief Justice of Nigeria,Alfa Belgore and Senator Ken Nnamani,among others. • Members of Achebe’s family

• Prof. Chukwuemeka Ike

• Prof. Boniface Egboka (VC, UNIZIK) and Prof. Fidelis Okafor (VC, Anambra State University.

Achebe was a good politician, his interest to partici-pate in politics was incisive,” he observed. “He was in-terested that Nigeria took her rightful place in thecomity of nations. He joined partisan politics, the Peo-ple’s Redemption Party - the left of centre party - tohelp elevate the poor and downtrodden. He was num-ber-two in that party and could have joined the rulingparty in his state at the time, but he did not. He showedclearly that he was a man of principles, eager to do thecommon good for the common man.

Anambra stands still, Ohanaeze shelves ikoro for AchebeFrom Kodilinye Obiagwu, Chijioke Iremeka(Ogidi), Lawrence Njoku, Enugu, andChuks Collins, Awka

EVERY other activity literally cameto a halt in Anambra State yester-

day as the remains of the late literaryicon and son of the state, Prof. Chinu-alumogu Achebe, laid in state for ashort but impressive open-air serviceat Dr. Alex Ekwueme Square, Awka, en-route his country home, Ogidi.And at his hometown, Ogidi, as thebody laid in state last night in theclosely watched and guarded familyhouse, the whole town is torn be-tween mourning and celebration. The sombre mood even on the streetsis easily overtaken by the attentionthe town, which is the most populousin the state, has drawn of recent. Atthe Ogidi Town Hall, red cap chiefs

gathered to receive him, blowingpipes and chanting dirges, while aChristian wake went on close by.More so, the state anxiously expectsno fewer than three Presidents tograce his interment in Ogidi thismorning, according to Governor Pe-ter Obi, who led mourners to paytribute in Awka, as the literary giantbegan his final journey home yes-terday.Nevertheless, the Igbo apex socio-cultural organisation, OhanaezeNdigbo, said yesterday that it couldnot play the ikoro for Achebe due towant of time. The body said the ikorowas to be sounded at midnight onTuesday at its secretariat in Enuguduring its Night of Tributes, butcould not do so because the eldersfelt it was not convenient for them.The ikoro - a wooden object - is usu-

ally sounded in the midnight to an-nounce the death of a great son ofIgboland and was billed to besounded by the elders whenAchebe’s remains arrived in Enugu. Secretary General of Ohanaeze

Ndigbo, Dr. Joe Nworgu, explainedthat having an event up to mid-night when the ikoro would besounded was not convenient for theelders.To accord Achebe his rightful hon-our, however, members of theImeobi would attend the burial to-day en-masse, he stressed, sinceAchebe restored the pride ofNdigbo. He added: “Without bias,we can now tell our story our ownway.Achebe, he noted, told the entire

world that Igbo culture was de-stroyed by the European mission in

Africa, just as he stated that the lit-erary icon was an epitome of Igbovalue, courage, resourcefulness andtenacity.Meanwhile, it was indeed a day oftributes, led by Governor Peter Obiof Anambra State. Archbishop An-thony Obinna of the Catholic Dio-cese of Owerri opened the floodgateof tributes by reminiscing on his in-vitation to Achebe to the 1999Odenigbo Lecture series entitled,Echi di ime, taa bu gbo (tomorrow ispregnant, today is timely), duringwhich Achebe warned against thedecline of Igbo Language and cul-ture.He said the invitation was home-

coming for Achebe, who had exiledhimself to the United States for nineyears, and that now, his loomingspirit has been “re-at-homed in our

land so that the mission of rec-tishaping Igbo land, Nigeria and theworld at large may be honourablycontinued and sustained by youand me.”Senator Chris Ngige, whose mal-

treatment by federal powers whenhe was governor accounted partlyfor Achebe’s rejection of nationalhonours, urged the gathering toemulate the late icon’s courage andresilience. He recalled that when hewas attacked repeatedly in 2005and Anambra’s public propertyburnt, only Achebe spoke upagainst the federal impunity.Other speakers at the occasion in-cluded Bishop of Awka, Rev. Dr.Paulinus Ezeokafor; Speaker ofAnambra House of Assembly,Chinwe Nwebili; Prof. Oby Ezekwe-sili, and initiator of Suwakwa Igbo,Prof. Pita Ejiofor, among others.

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 20136 | NEWS

Govt raises committeeto monitor TCN projects

From Emeka Anuforo, Abuja

THE Transmission Companyof Nigeria (TCN) will bene-

fit from an African Develop-ment Bank (AfDB) $500million loan to upgrade its fa-cilities to enable it transportthe generated electricity toconsumers.And as part of the conditionsfor accessing the loan, the Fed-eral Government on Tuesdayinaugurated a monitoringand evaluation committee totrack the execution of the loanfacility.

Minister of Power, Prof.Chinedu Nebo, who inaugu-rated the committee, said ofthe TCN: “We have been chal-lenged by the problem of notbeing able to evacuate powerbeyond 4,500MW. “From the brief TCN gave us,

if we have appropriate fund-ing in the next one year, wewill be able to double ourtransmission capacity. Thetechnical committee is criticalas it is required by AfDB to ac-cess the loan.”

INDEPENDENT NewspapersLimited (INL) holds its Man

Of The Year 2012 investiture atFederal Palace Hotel, Lagos4.00 p.m. tomorrow.INL is the publisher of Daily

Independent, Saturday Inde-pendent and Sunday Independ-entnewspapers.Three distinguished Nigeri-

ans shall be honoured withINL awards. They are AlhajiAliko Dangote, President/ChiefExecutive, Dangote Group;Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru,Managing Partner, Compli-ance Professionals Plc and im-mediate past ExecutiveChairman of the Federal In-land Revenue Service (FIRS), aswell as Chief Theodore Orji(Ochendo), Governor of AbiaState.

Chairman of NationalHuman Rights Commission,Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, is theGuest Speaker and wouldspeak on “Amnesty, HumanRights and The Rest of Us.”

Reps explain delay in passage of Health,Insurance Commission billsFrom Chukwuma Muanya,Geneva

THE House of Representa-tives is placing squarely on

the shoulders of the Senatethe delay in the passage of theNational Health Bill (NHB)and the Bill Establishing aCommission on NationalHealth Insurance (NHIC) withmore regulatory duties fromthe existing National HealthInsurance Scheme (NHIS).On the international front,

India and Nigeria will battle itout at the 66th World HealthAssembly (WHA) in Geneva,Switzerland, for the headshipof member-states’ mecha-nism on substandard/spuri-o u s / f a l s e l ylabelled/falsified/counterfeit(SSFFC) medical products.

The Guardian learnt on Tues-day at the WHA in Geneva,Switzerland, that India wasopposed to Nigeria, repre-sented by the Director Gen-eral of the National Agency forFood, Drug Administrationand Control (NAFDAC), Dr.Paul Orhii, heading the bodybecause it would facilitateNigeria’s quest for self-suffi-ciency in drug productionand World Health Organisa-tion (WHO)- prequalifiedmedical products. Therefore, a formal meeting

of the Steering Committeehas not yet taken place be-cause member-states havenot yet agreed on a chairper-son for the mechanism,though discussions were on-going.It was also learnt that Nige-

ria loses about N160 billion ($1billion) yearly to India ondrug import and that lastyear, the Global Fund spentover N752 billion ($4.7 billion)importing drugs used for de-veloping countries and nonewas procured from Nigeriabecause the country does nothave WHO-prequalifieddrugs.Nevertheless, it was equally

gathered that three Nigerianpharmaceutical firms wouldget WHO prequalification fortheir products by the end ofthis year.Meanwhile, WHA member-

states and delegates at the on-going session in Genevayesterday endorsed the Non-Communicable Diseases(NCD) Global MonitoringFramework.

The framework, which com-prises nine global targets and25 indicators, is set for adop-tion by member-states, andonce adopted, member-states are encouraged to con-sider the development ofnational NCD targets and in-dicators building on theframework.

The Chairman, House ofRepresentatives Committeeon Health, Ndudi Elumelu,told The Guardian yesterdayat WHA: “As a matter of fact, ifnot for this visit to Geneva,we would have concludedthe NHB. Last week, we con-sidered the Dental Technol-ogy, we have passed theNHIC, it is no longer NHIS,but now National Health In-surance Commission (NHIC). “What we have done is to

change the operation of NHISto now say, be a regulator, donot be participating in theservice itself. You should reg-ulate the conduct of theproviders and the players inthe health insurance institu-tion.

“We have passed and takenit to the Senate and wouldhave expected Senate to justadopt it. But again, just likethey had done in the NHB,they have started the novo. Sowe are now going to witnessthem doing public hearingfor that and everything. Untilthey complete that, we prob-ably will not have a confer-ence to agree on areas thatmay be different from theonce we have passed.”

However, Orhii disclosedthat India is opposed to Nige-ria chairing the mechanism,because, “once you are there,you are caught between thepeople who manufacturedrugs, such as the UnitedStates and Europe, andgeneric manufacturers likeIndia.

“India feels strongly thatNigeria is now pursuing pre-qualification of her medi-cines and thinks that becauseof that, her own market willshrink, especially in Africa,because Nigeria is the num-ber one buyer of Indian med-

icines in the African conti-nent. “For instance, Nigeria, with

a population of about 167million, is a major recipientof the donation of drugs pro-cured from India for devel-oping countries. Imagine ifyou want to donate drugs toNigeria and you buy from usbecause we have medicinesthat are prequalified by theWHO!“But even more threateningis Nigeria’s proximity tosome of these neighbouringAfrican countries that arealso major recipients of do-nation of medicines. Thatmeans that Nigeria can beginto sell medicines to some ofthese companies. So they arenot very happy.”Commenting on the NCD

framework yesterday, Minis-ter of Health, Prof. Onye-buchi Chukwu, said it isexpected to drive progress inprevention and control ofNCDs and provide the foun-dation for advocacy, raiseawareness, reinforce politicalcommitment and promoteglobal action to tackle thesedeadly diseases.

Independent Newspapersholds investiture

THE Lagos State InternalRevenue Service (LIRS)

yesterday sealed off an oiland gas exploration firm,NestOil Plc, for allegedly as-saulting its officers.The Head, Distrain Unit of

LIRS, Folasade Coker-Afo-layan, said that the tax offi-cers were attacked whenthey served a notice of taxdebt on the firm.She told the News Agency of

Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos thatthe firm allegedly owed thestate government N9.8 mil-lion in unremitted personalincome taxes of workers in2010 and that troublestarted when the tax officersstarted videotaping theirdiscussions with NestOil of-ficials.

Lagos shuts oil firm overalleged assault

From Joke Falaju, Abuja

FROM 2010 till date, Nigeriahas witnessed 400 bomb ex-plosions, the head of PoliceAnti-bomb Squad of the Fed-eral Capital Territory, OC Adi-gun Tajudeen, has revealed.Tajudeen, who maintained

that the Nigerian Police hadalways been on top of all theinsecurity challenges in thecountry, regretted, however,that of the 400 explosions,the agency has not been ableto identify any concrete evi-dence.Speaking at a lectures and

stimulation exercise on expe-rience sharing on mass casu-alty handling resulting fromImprovised Explosive Devices(IED), which was organized bythe North Central zonal officeof the National EmergencyManagement Agency,Tajudeen said that often, thepublic always gets to thescene where explosion oc-curred before any securityagent and tampers with evi-dence.

‘Nigeria records 400bomb explosions’

Principal and chaplain, CMS Grammar School, Bariga Lagos, Ven. Tunde Oduwole left, president, old Grammar Society (OGS) Toyin Abayomi Akin-John-son and second vice president Godwin Enuoyibo during the media briefing CMS Grammar school 154th Foundary’s Day 2013 anniversary in Lagos yester-day.

• Nigeria loses N160b yearly to drug importation from India

FEC okays new aviation policy From Mohammed Abubakar,Abuja

THE Federal ExecutiveCouncil (FEC) yesterday

rose from its weekly meetingwith the approval of the re-vised National Policy on CivilAviation for the country,aimed at enhancing the oper-ations of the sector. The new policy, according tothe Minister of Aviation, Mrs.Stella Oduah tends to addressseveral key issues in the avia-tion sector.Similarly, the Council also

approved N19.4 billion for theconstruction of the Karshiwater scheme in the FederalCapital Territory (FCT). Thecontract was awarded to

Messrs SCC Nigeria Limitedwith a completion period of30 months.Briefing State House Corre-

spondents at the end of themeeting, Oduah said thenewly approved policy is in-tended to regulate the opera-tion of the sector and bring itin line with the internationalbest practices. Oduah noted that the last

time the civil aviation policywas reviewed was about 11years, noting that since then alot of developments had takenplace within the sector that re-quired updating.Oduah said the new policy

would addresses some funda-mental reforms in the sectorsuch as safety, security, the use

of technology to drive theprocess, such as general avia-tion practice covering privatejets, laws and regulations toensure that they operatewithin acceptable principles.Also, she said the new policyaddresses the Bill of Rights toensure that the rights of pas-sengers and operators areprotected.The minister said that the

new policy also places a lot ofemphasis on safety in the sec-tor, a new directorate wouldbe created to ensure that is-sues relating to safety in thesector; unequal implementa-tion of bilateral agreements,which currently do not favourthe country as well as the pol-icy of national carrier, which

must be private-sector driven, are adequately addressed.According to her, under the

new regime, the Accident andInvestigation Bureau, (AIB) isexpected not only to investi-gate but should ensure that itpartners with the necessaryregulatory agencies such asthe National Civil AviationAuthority (NCAA) to ensurethat the outcomes of their in-vestigations are imple-mented, adding, “Theyshould police the NCAA to en-sure that all their observa-tions are fully implemented.” She added: “In revising the

policy, we looked at the issueof general aviation. When wetalk about general aviationwe are talking about the pri-

• Agency gets $500m AfDB lifeline

vate jets. As of today we haveabout a 100 of them but wehave no law, no policy no reg-ulation to make sure thatthey are operating the waythey should operate withinICAO laws and our aviationpolicy. But most importantly,we want them to operate intandem with global best poli-cies, we also had to highlightpassengers’ bill of right.”Speaking specifically on the

operation of private jets inthe country, the minister saidoperators were not payingenough fees that were com-mensurate as outlined bylaw, adding that new policyintends to address some ofthe inadequacies so identi-fied by the old guidelines.

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013 7News

Court jails man for pirating El-Rufai’s book Seven arrested

over Asadu’s murder, says IGPFrom Lawrence Njoku, Enugu

ADISCLOSURE yesterdaycame from the Inspector

General of Police (IGP),Muhammed Abubakar, thatseven persons have been ar-rested in connection with thekilling of the former KwaraState Commissioner of Police,Mr. Chinwike Asadu.Asadu was murdered aboutthree months ago at hisAmorji Nike residence inEnugu-East Council of EnuguState.Briefing journalists in Enuguduring his official visit to the

state, the IGP said the armsused by the killers during theoperations were also recov-ered by the police.He said following the confes-sional statements of the ar-rested suspects, the policewere on the trail of other col-laborators in the murder.He said: “We have arrested sev-en of those behind the killingof CP Chinwike Asadu. Hiskilling was indeed a sad inci-dent and that was why when Ivisited the family after the in-cident, I made a promise thatwe would stop at nothing toget those behind that dastard-ly act.“I am glad to tell Nigeriansthat of those who took part inthe killing, seven have been ar-rested and arraigned before acourt”.He gave the names of the sus-pects as Ogechukwu Uzoh,Ogechukwu Nnadi, UgwuokeObiora, Okwuosa Anthony,Chukwudi Enete, David ElvisAja and Amobi Nnamchi.“These are the seven personscharged for murder; aside thekilling of the CP, they also con-fessed to killing other inno-cent souls and several acts ofcriminality”, he added.The police boss, however, de-clined giving further detailson the arrest, as well as whatcould have led to the policechief’s murder.On the murder of several po-licemen by the Ombatse mili-tia group in Nasarawa State,the IGP said the matter wasstill under investigation,stressing that “what hap-pened there is condemnableby any reasonable person; af-ter investigation, we will beable to brief the press ade-quately”.Earlier, the IGP, who commis-sioned a medical clinic at theEnugu State Police Headquar-ters, commended the mediafor their partnership role withthe police.

From Muyiwa Adeyemi, Ado-Ekiti

AN Ado-Ekiti High Court hasawarded the sum of N750million damages against TheNation Newspapers and a hu-man rights activist, Mr.Morakinyo Ogele, for libel anddefamation of character of theMr. Segun Ilori, former Chiefof Staff to Ekiti State Governor,Segun OniThe cost was awarded againstthe newspaper for publishingan article by Ogele, allegingthat Ilori was involved in al-legedly bribing judges of Eki-ti State Election PetitionTribunal to the tune of N3 bil-lion. The defendants are also to

publish an apology in threenational newspapers.Ilori had gone to court to chal-lenge the Wednesday, May 12,2010, publication of The Nationnewspapers with the head-line: “Lawyer petitions NJCover bribery allegationagainst election tribunaljudges”, and demanded N3billion as damages.The crux of the publication isthat a petition has been writ-ten to the NJC over allegationof bribery against some mem-bers of Ekiti State Election Peti-tion Tribunal. The publicationalso named Ilori, among oth-ers, as being involved in the al-leged N3 billion bribe to thejudges of Ekiti State Election

Petition Tribunal.According to the judgment,“The claimant denied it,adding that the publicationreferred to him, and has mali-ciously injured his credibility,occupation and reputation.He added that it also broughthim into public ridicule, scan-dal, odium and contempt andlowered him in the estimationof right-thinking members ofthe society”.In the judgment delivered onMay 17, 2013, Justice AdewaleKayode Fowe held that theclaimant, Ilori, had proved hiscase, having led evidence un-challenged by the defendants.The presiding judge said theclaimant’s evidence and thoseof his witnesses: Messrs EricTeniola, Lekan Omoboye andthe exhibits submitted,showed that the publicationwas false, malicious, defama-tory and injured his reputa-tion.The court held that althoughthe defendants filed condi-tional appearance and de-fence, they ignored severalopportunities for cross-exami-nation and defence. He citedseveral cases of requests for ad-journments and non-atten-dance at proceedings withoutexcuse and other antics by thedefendants.Relying on the case of NEPA vAlli & 1 OR (1992 )8 NWLR, perNnaemeka Agu, the court stat-ed: “At the trial, the plaintiffs

By Joseph Onyekwere

AFEDERAL High Court in La-gos yesterday convicted

and sentenced a bookseller tothree months’ imprisonmentfor selling pirated book of for-mer Minister of Federal Capi-tal Territory (FCT), MallamNasir el-Rufai’s The AccidentalPublic Servant.

The convict, AkamuChibueze, a resident of 69,Owodunni Street, Iwaya, Ya-ba, Lagos, had pleaded guiltyto a two-count of piracy andoffer for sale of the piratedbooks levelled against him byNigerian Copyrights Com-mission (NCC).The NCC prosecutor, LyndaAlpheaus, told the court thatthe convict was caught onApril 25, 2013, with two copiesof The accidental public servant,which he offered for sale.She appealed to the court toconvict and sentence thebookseller as charged.In his allocutus, the convict,

Cross River plans law against cybercrime

Court awards N750m against The Nation, Ogele over libel

From Anietie Akpan, Calabar

PIQUED by the rising rate ofcybercrime in the country,Cross River State governmentwill soon enact a law againstthe vice in the state.Chairman of state House of As-sembly Committee on DueProcess, International DonorSupport and Non-Governmen-tal Organisations (NGOs), Mr.John-Gaul Lebo, said the law-makers were committed tothe matter and that Cross Riv-er would become the first statein the country to have a lawagainst cybercrime.Lebo disclosed this on Tues-day at the closing ceremony ofthe first Microsoft NGO Con-nection Day for InformationCommunications Technology(ICT) Training, Networkingand Information SharingWorkshop for Civil Societiesand NGOs in South-South Geo-Political Zone in Calabar.

NEMA donates building materialsto flood victimsFrom Njadvara Musa, Maiduguri

TO assist Borno State gov-ernment in its plan tobuild 250 housing units fordisplaced persons followinglast year’s flood, the NationalEmergency ManagementAgency (NEMA) has donatedbuilding materials to thestate government. Presenting the materials yes-terday in Maiduguri, NEMA’sDirector General, Muham-mad Sani Sidi,said the “support and inter-vention” of NEMA was to per-manently resettle thedisplaced flood victims in Borno State.The flood victims, accordingto the agency’s boss, are over500 households along withtheir livestock used for trans-portation of farm produceand water.He said the building materi-als include 18,000 bags of ce-ment; 25,000 pieces ofplanks; 10,000 pieces of ceil-ing boards and 750 bags ofnails.

Northern elders may sue govt over alleged rights violations AN indication emerged yes-terday that the Northern

Elders’ Forum (NEF) may soonfile a complaint at the Interna-tional Court of Justice (ICJ), ac-cusing the FederalGovernment of human rightsviolations, according to the fo-rum’s spokesman, Ango Abdul-lahi.“What we are doing now is toorganise our evidence thatwould make it possible for usto make a very strong caseagainst the government and itsagencies, or up to individualswho may be complicit, interms of the human rights vio-lations that have been takingplace in the last few years,” saidAbdullahi in an interview withVoice of America (VOA).He said the group has put to-gether a team of lawyers thathas been gathering evidenceindicating that Nigerian sol-diers were involved in the re-cent killing of civilians at Baga.

“There is sufficient evidence,from our point of view, in termsof human rights violations thathave been going on with a lot ofimpunity in the last three yearsor so around the activities ofthe government and its agen-cies and around the country,”said Abdullahi. “I think it’s because nobodyseems to really take the matterseriously to draw attention, notonly to other parts of the world,but also to the Nigerian author-ities themselves”, he added.But supporters of the govern-ment have countered the NEF’sclaims, saying the administra-tion is mandated to protect un-armed civilians and resolve thecountry’s internal security cri-sis. They accused the NEF of failingto engage the government inits attempt to prevent violence,often carried out by membersof the Islamist group, BokoHaram.

Abdullahi also denied specu-lations that the Elders’ Forumis in any way linked to BokoHaram.“We didn’t create the insur-gents. It may have been createdby somebody, but it is up to thegovernment to prove a casethat the insurgency has beencreated deliberately to causehavoc in the country,” said Ab-dullahi. He added: “It happens that

perhaps if there is any indica-tion that this matter has beenpoliticised, it must have beenpoliticised by the governmentor its agencies.”Boko Haram, which is based innorthern Nigeria, has been ac-cused of carrying out violentattacks in an attempt to forcethe country to adopt strict Is-lamic law.Human Rights Watch says

Boko Haram-related violencehas killed an estimated 3,000people since 2009, a toll that

Immediate past President, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), Abiola Popoola (left); pastPresident, CIPM, Dr. Oladimeji Alo; past President, CIPM, Dr. Christopher Kolade; President/Chairman of Council,Victor Famuyibo; Pioneer President, CIPM, Dr. Michael Omolayole and past President, CIPM, Mr. Victor Eburajoloduring the Investiture of Famuyibo as the 16th CIPM President/Chairman of Council… on Tuesday.

gave and called evidence insupport of their pleading, thedefendant called no evidence.In the circumstances, thecourt approached the casefrom the standpoint that inspite of the traverse or denialin the pleading, the defendant,having failed to put anythingon his own side of the imagi-nary balance, is deemed tohave accepted the facts ad-duced by and on behalf of theplaintiffs.“On that basis, therefore, thecourt proceeded to considerwhether the plaintiff dis-charged legal burden of proofincumbent on them, which inthat case, would be dischargedon a minimal proof. I hold thatthe claimant has a minimalburden of proof in this case,which he has discharged cred-itably by giving evidence andtendering Exhibits P1, P2 & P3.“In exhibit P3, the defendantsfalsely and maliciously wrote,printed and published orcaused to be written and pub-lished of and concerning theclaimant, among others, (seepage 4 of The Nation Newspa-pers of 12 May, 2010 VolumeNo. 1392).“The 1st and 3rd witnesses

were called and gave evidencethat they read the publication,which has diminished the rep-utation of the claimant in theirestimation of him.”The court, therefore, held thatthe “Publication made by the

includes killings by securityforces.But Abdullahi added that thegovernment has been unableto resolve the security threatsmembers of Boko Haram poseto the country.“If this sect had been treatedlike many other sects thatwe’ve had in this country formany years, perhaps we wouldnot be where we are now,” saidAbdullahi.He added: “There are thou-

sands of people detained in ter-ribly inhuman conditions allover the country. Among thethousands of people that havebeen in detention for manyyears now, only one as far as Iknow, is in court now.”Abdullahi stressed that the

NEF has decided to hold thegovernment accountable forthe extra-judicial killings,which he added, were some-times carried out by militaryofficials.

defendants in The Nation ofMay 12, 2010, at page 4 thereofis false, malicious and defama-tory of the claimant.

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 20138

9

WorldReport

30 years after HIV’s discovery, scientists optimisticabout AIDS cure for some sufferersON the sidelines of a Paris

conference to mark the30th anniversary of the dis-covery of Human ImmuneVirus (HIV), the virus thatcauses Acquired ImmuneDeficiency Syndrome (AIDS),top scientists were optimisticyesterday of finding a cure forthe disease that has claimed30 million lives.The experts, who said the

cure might not work for allpeople, expressed high hopesfor a treatment that will begiven at an early stage ofinfection – most likely a cock-tail that includes an immuni-ty booster and a virus killer.

An estimated 34 millionpeople are infected with HIVworldwide and about 1.8 mil-lion die every year.However, a report by Agence

France Presse (AFP) quoted thescientists as saying that peo-ple with a long-running,untreated infection and a

compromised immune sys-tem may never benefit froman envisioned “functionalcure,” which means a personretains traces of the virus butno symptoms.“We have had some very

interesting little lights at theend of the tunnel in individ-ual studies,” Anthony Fauci,director of the United States(U.S.) National Institute ofAllergy and InfectiousDiseases, said on the sidelinesof the Paris conference.“It is a difficult road, but a

feasible road,” he said.Proof of vaccine feasibility

lay with a Thai study dubbedRV144, which in 2009 demon-strated protection for 31 percent of some 16,000 peoplegiven an experimental vac-cine, said Fauci.“I think we will likely have a(vaccine that works at) betterthan 31 per cent, but there’scertainly the possibility that

we won’t have a 90 per cent,”Fauci told reporters.Continuing, he added: “AndI think there is even a greaterpossibility that we won’t havea pristine cure that wouldessentially cure everybodywho is HIV infected.“I think it’s not only possiblethat that won’t happen – Ithink it is likely that thatwon’t happen.”Fauci and other scientists

point to the difficulties theyhave encountered to com-pletely expunge the virus thatdestroys the immune systemand exposes infected peopleto pneumonia, TB, and otheropportunistic disease.

Antiretroviral drugs slow

down virus reproduction,allowing people to live symp-tom-free lives and slowingtransmission to others, butmuch of the virus hides awayin “reservoir” cells only toreemerge and start spreadingagain once treatment stops.

A team of scientists atMonash University inMelbourne, Australia, isexperimenting with an anti-cancer drug to flush the virusout of its hiding place, then tobe killed.“Ultimately, we want a cure

that is available to a largenumber of people,” a mem-ber of the team, Sharon Lewinfrom Monash University, toldAFP at the conference.

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013

British soldier killed in suspected terror attack in LondonAMAN suspected to be aBritish soldier was yes-

terday killed in a macheteattack and two suspectswere shot at the scene of theincident by police inWoolwich, south-eastLondon.

Following the attack,Prime Minister DavidCameron said there were“strong indications that it isa terrorist incident” and theUK would “never buckle” inthe face of such attacks.A television footage later

emerged showing a manwielding a bloodied meatcleaver and making politi-cal statements.

The British BroadcastingCorporation (BBC) stated thatthere were unconfirmedreports that the dead manwas a soldier.

Both French PresidentFrancois Hollande and alawmaker, Nick Raynsford,said the dead man was a sol-dier at Woolwich barracks.The footage shown on the

ITV website shows a man,dressed in a grey hooded

jacket, saying: “We mustfight them as they fight us.An eye for an eye, a tooth fora tooth.”He added: “I apologise thatwomen have had to witnessthis today, but in our land,our women have to see thesame. You people will neverbe safe. Remove your gov-ernment, they don’t careabout you.”

British Home SecretaryTheresa May later sum-moned a meeting of the gov-ernment’s emergencyresponse committee, Cobra.

It was later learnt thatboth men shot at the scenewere taken to hospital, oneby air ambulance. One of themen was said to be in a seri-ous condition, the other wasalso being treated forinjuries.Mrs. May said she had beenbriefed by the director gen-eral of Security Service MI5,Andrew Parker, andMetropolitan PoliceCommissioner BernardHogan-Howe on the “sicken-ing and barbaric” attack.

Boston bomb investigatorskill Florida manIBRAGIM Todashev, a Floridaman in United States (U.S.)was shot and killed by offi-cials of Federal Bureau ofInvestigation (FBI) when hebecame violent while beingquestioned by Boston bomb-ing investigators.

According to the BritishBroadcasting Corporation(BBC), the shooting took placeearly yesterday as officialsinterviewed the 27-year-oldman.The FBI initially said their

agent had killed Todashev,but an updated statement leftunclear the question of whohad fired the deadly shot.

Two Massachusetts StatePolice officers were also in the

room, the FBI said.One FBI agent was taken to ahospital with non-life threat-ening injuries after the inci-dent, and an agency team hasbeen dispatched to review theshooting – standard proce-dure in such cases.

U.S. media reported thatTodashev had knownTamerlan Tsarnaev, theBoston bombings suspectkilled in a shootout withpolice days after last month’sdeadly marathon blasts.Todashev was a mixed-mar-

tial arts fighter who, likeTsarnaev, had links to theRussian republic ofChechnya, according toreports.

Mugabe signs Zimbabwe’s newconstitution into law PRESIDENT Robert Mugabehas signed Zimbabwe’snew constitution into law,clearing the path to crucialelections later this year.

The 89-year-old, who hasruled Zimbabwe since inde-pendence from Britain in1980, signed the documenttwo months afterZimbabweans overwhelm-ingly approved it at a referen-dum.“This is a happening of joy,

great joy indeed,” Mugabesaid at the signing ceremony,held in a marquee erected onthe lush green lawns of theState House.

Prime Minister MorganTsvangirai also welcomed theconstitution’s passage intolaw: “As Zimbabweans, weare proud that we are settingon a journey that is based ona new governance system.”The supreme law replaces

the one written in 1979 at

Britain’s Lancaster House.After Mugabe signed the

text, he shook hands withTsvangirai, to loud applausefrom assembled ministers,lawmakers and the chief jus-tice, saying “we want now tobuild the nation.”“We will try to transform

into a tomorrow that is moreenjoyable, that is much moreuplifting,” said Mugabe.Despite the show of solidar-

ity, the handshake effectivelysignals the start of an electioncampaign that will onceagain see the rivals pittedagainst each other.Tsvangirai has challenged

Mugabe for the presidencytwice before, with oftenbloody results.

International observersdescribed Mugabe’s victoryin 2002 as deeply flawed, andin 2008, the vote was plaguedby violence and irregulari-ties.

Police officers cordoned off an area near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, east London, following an incident in which a man thought to be aserving soldier was killed near the barracks and two alleged terror suspects in a serious condition taken to hospital…yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

World Bank unveils $1bn aid package for DR Congo, neighboursTHE World Bank has report-edly unveiled a $1 billion(£660 million) aid package tohelp the Democratic Republicof Congo and its neighbours,as hostility continues nearthe eastern city of Goma.Agency reports indicated

that the money is to be usedfor health, education, cross-border trade and hydroelec-tricity projects.The announcement came asWorld Bank head, Jim YongKim, and United Nations (UN)chief Ban Ki-moon start a tourof the region.

The British BroadcastingCorporation (BBC) cited a UNspokesman as saying that oneperson was killed yesterdaywhen a mortar landed inGoma.

Government forces andM23 rebels have beeninvolved in heavy fightingnear Goma since Monday,killing 19 people. The clashes are the first sincethe M23 pulled out of the citylast year under diplomaticpressure. The UN said it would speed

up efforts to deploy a 3,000-strong intervention force toeastern DR Congo to end thelatest conflict. Some 800,000 people have

fled their homes since theM23 launched its rebellionlast May.

The World Bank aid packageis to support a peace dealsigned in February betweenDR Congo and its neighbours,some of whom are accused ofbacking the rebels.Kim, in a statement, said:

“This funding will help revi-talise economic develop-ment, create jobs, andimprove the lives of peoplewho have suffered for far toolong.” The largest tranche of the aid– $340 million – will gotowards an 80-megawatthydroelectric project inRusumo Falls, providing elec-

tricity to Burundi, Rwandaand Tanzania.

Despite its vast mineralwealth, decades of conflictand mismanagement meanmost Congolese remain stuckin poverty.Meanwhile, the mortar fell

in the Goma neighbourhoodof Ndosho, killing one personand injuring four, said UNpeacekeeping missionspokesman, MadnodjeMounoubai.

He said he did not knowwho fired the mortar.

Campaign group HumanRights Watch researcher IdaSawyer told Reuters newsagency that a two-year-old girldied and three members ofher family, including a boyand girl, were wounded.

The experts, who said the cure might not work for allpeople, expressed high hopes for a treatment that will begiven at an early stage of infection – most likely a cock-tail that includes an immunity booster and a virus killer.

This funding will help revitalise economic development,create jobs, and improve the lives of people who havesuffered for far too long.

10 THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013

Politics

IN the next 24 hours+, the direction in whichthe Nigerian Governors Forum is headedwould be clear. And that direction will be deter-mined by the pattern of voting at the Forum’selection to pick its chairman for the next twoyears.At stake are seemingly the egos of two personal-ities: those of President Goodluck Jonathan andGovernor Rotimi Amaechi, the current chair ofthe Forum.Ordinarily, only one man’s ego, that ofAmaechi, would have been at play, and could bebruised were he to re-contest the position andlose. But now, Jonathan, who is not a governor,has joined the fray, and thus put on the line hisego that could be dented if his stop-Amaechi-at-all-cost failed in the end.The election of the Governors Forum is once intwo years, with the subsisting tenure ending onMay 29. But, perhaps, owing to the back andforth that has seized the Forum since the presi-dency has shown more than a passing interestin who chairs the body in the run-up to the 2015elections; the plan to force the election had to beaborted in March, two months to the actualexercise. Again, the poll had to be brought forward byfive days, from May 29 to May 24 — that is tomor-row — due to alleged pressures from interestedparties, although some governors claimed theydid not get the first notice of the meeting fixedpreviously for today.Without a doubt, the meeting, according to asource last night in Lagos, “was going to beforced for tomorrow (today) until it was discov-ered that that would breach the constitution ofthe NGF, which gives a 72-hour notice to all thegovernors about a pending election in theforum.”“So, to avoid being caught in the web of contro-versy over scheduling of the election, the con-vener of the Forum’s meeting and Rivers gover-nor, Rotimi Amaechi, had to push it back by 24hours,” the source said.So, believe it or not, tonight is the ‘ides of May’even though it has past May 15 (‘ides’, in theancient Roman calendar, are the 15thday ofMarch, May, July and October and the 13thday ofall other months). It is the decision night wheneverything doable (and moveable) will be doneto ensure victory on either side of the political

divide.Scheduled or impromptu meetings, includ-ing caucus assemblies, are reportedly scatteredaround Abuja. These are a natural follow-up toseries of meetings in the day, including that ofthe Northern Governors Forum, which is beingheld to take a common position on the elec-tion.Certainly, the northern governors, rather thanthe governors from the opposition politicalparties, are the “beautiful brides” for the con-test. Hence, both the pro and anti-Amaechigroups are apparently banking on the mass orsubstantial votes from the governors.Fifteen of the 19 governors from the Northbelong to the ruling PDP, three to the AllNigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and one to theCongress for Progressive Change (CPC). For instance, if the 15 governors cast theirvotes for the pro-presidency candidate of eitherIsa Yuguda of Bauchi State or Ibrahim Shema ofKatsina State, or for Amaechi, that would leavethe candidate needing only four votes to gar-ner a simple majority of 19 votes to clinch theelection.Similarly, if all the governors from the Northgo the same way by voting en bloc for eithercandidate — a scenario a respondent said wasnot impossible “because the North is known tospeak with one voice when their interest is atstake” — that would be home and dry for thecandidate, who would have no need for thevotes from the rest governors.But a split in the northern votes would sendthe candidates fishing for more votes from theother three geopolitical zones of the South-South, Southeast and Southwest with six, fiveand six votes, respectively.“This is the extent of the importance of thevotes from the North, not that we are in anyway undermining the importance and votesfrom the other regions,” the source added.This bespeaks of the reported intense lobby-ing and pressures mounted by the candidates’camps on members of the Northern GovernorsForum, and which they may extend to theirmeeting slated for this morning in Abuja.Reports indicated that the anti-Amaechigroup, headed by a South-South governor andanother from the Middle Belt had audiencewith the Chairman of the Northern GovernorsForum, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, to rally his north-ern colleagues for the candidate of the presi-dency.

It was also learnt that the Amaechi camp tooktheir turn later, to drum up support for theembattled governor. The Guardian learnt that the northern votes are“so crucial for the candidates because none issure of getting a comfortable majority from thesouthern votes.”A source described the South as “divided,polarised and separated,” as it concerns theGovernors’ Forum election. According to the source, “Governor Amaechi,ordinarily, would get the votes of the southerngovernors, both in the PDP and in the opposi-tion. But since the feud between him and thepresident, that may not be possible any more.”“The same thing with the president’s candi-date; he cannot get all the votes although thepresident has beaten Amaechi into pulp, politi-cally.” The source continued: “Even if the president’sman gets four votes (minus those of Amaechiand Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State)of the South-South, can he get the five votesfrom the Southeast?“What about the six votes from the Southwestzone? Well, he might get the vote of GovernorOlusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, who is veryclose to President Jonathan. But we can’t say thesame thing for the votes of the governors on theplatform of the Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN).”Indeed, it was gathered that one of theSouthwest governors is an Amaechi campaign-er, who reportedly has the ears of his four partycolleagues in the zone. That being the case, theRivers’ governor can bank on four or five votesfor the region.The snag, though, is that the ACN governors arefree to vote, “according to their conscience, theinterest of the Southwest, and the advancementof true democratic system in Nigeria,” a topparty leader in the zone said yesterday. All said, the ball is in the court of the 19 north-ern governors, whose region is angling, “with allmeans possible,” to ensure political power at thepresidency return to the area in 2015. “That is why the votes will be dicey on Friday,especially for the candidate the presidency ispushing forward,” said a northern PDP stalwart.The source explained the calculations and per-mutations thus: “What is the interest of theNorth in the Governors Forum vis-à-vis the 2015presidency? That is uppermost in the minds ofthe northern leadership.

“It is true that if the North votes for Amaechi,the immediate scenario would be that theSouth-South geopolitical zone would have thePresidency, the Nigerian Governors Forum andthe PDP Governors Forum (PDP-GF). Which isvery lop-sided and top heavy for one zone. “But the North, voting for the candidatePresident Jonathan is rooting for has its widerimplications for the North, as regards the 2015presidency. It means Jonathan’s ambition for asecond term would be a fait accompli. And theNorth does not want that.”Yet, the source acknowledged that individualambition of some northern governors couldscuttle the region’s calculations for 2015.The source expressed deep worry thatJonathan “having his say and way” in the NGFelection could throw a spanner in the politicalworks of the North even in the 2019 presiden-tial election that the Southeast is planning asan alternative to the 2015 contest it is likely toconcede to the president, going by recent forayof the latter in the region.Anyway, interested parties and watchers ofthe polity, put in unnecessary heat by theambition of just two men within a populationof over 160 million, will have barely 24 hours towait for the outcome of the NigerianGovernors’ Forum.The Director-General of the NGF, Mr. AsisamaOkauru, made the notice, and agenda of thesixth meeting available on Tuesday night.According to Okauru: “The chairman, Rt. Hon,Rotimi C. Amaechi has requested for a meetingof all members as follows: Date: Friday 24thMay 2013.“Time: 4.00pm prompt, Venue: Rivers StateGovernors Lodge, Abuja. Address No. 5, JusticeMohammed Bello Street.“Agenda: 1 Election of Forum officials:Chairman, Vice Chairman, Vacant Seats on theBoard of Trustees NCI, NE1, NW2, SW1, SE1 (that’sone vacant seat each from the North Central,Northeast, Southwest and Southeast, while twovacancies exist from the Northwest).“For members of the executive committeerepresenting geopolitical zones (the chairmanand vice chairman automatically representtheir zones).“2, AOB“Notice of intent to run for these positionsshould kindly reach the secretariat before May24, 2013. Thank you.”The dice is certainly cast!

Jonathan Amaechi

NGF election: The dice is cast

What is the interest of the North inthe Governors Forum vis-à-vis the2015 presidency? That is uppermostin the minds of the northern leader-ship. It is true that if the North votesfor Amaechi, the immediate sce-nario would be that the South-

South geopolitical zone would havethe Presidency, the NigerianGovernors Forum and the PDP

Governors Forum (PDP-GF). Whichis very lop-sided and top heavy forone zone. But the North, voting forthe candidate President Jonathanis rooting for has its wider implica-tions for the North, as regards the

2015 presidency. It meansJonathan’s ambition for a secondterm would be a fait accompli. Andthe North does not want that.”

By Ehichioya Ezomon(Group Political Editor)

RIVERS State Governor and Chairman ofNigerian Governors Forum (NGF), Mr.

Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, appears resolute tofend off a fierce challenge and win re-electionof the 36-member forum on tomorrow.A close associate of the governor told The

Guardian in Port Harcourt yesterday thatAmaechi would run for re-election.The male source said the mood in Amaechi’s

camp is that, “whether he wins or not, his deci-sion not to chicken out under immense pres-sure mounted on him by those opposed to hispolitical aspirations is an indicator that he isnot a mere pushover.”“The governor has told us that he would seek

re-election. In fact, he was the one that shiftedthe election to Friday (tomorrow), to enable hiscolleagues participate in the polls,” the sourcesaid. Whether he wins or not is immaterial; the

most salient lesson that we all will learn at theend of the day is that the governor is not a cow-ard or an errand boy of anyone.”Another source (female) close to the governor

said Amaechi was not perturbed about losingthe election. According to her, “if he wins, that will serve as

a boost to the image of the Nigerian GovernorsForum: that the group is not just made up ofpuppets whose strings could be pulled at anytime to suit the whims and caprices ofsome power mongers in the polity.”She observed that though President Jonathan

has been persistently accused of scheming toensure that Amaechi does not get re-elected,“those that will determine the governor’s fateare his colleagues, who, he is quite convinced,will want to prove their independence andcredibility of the group.”“Governor Amaechi is not desperate to win

but at least, he will prove to all that he is not aman that can be cowed,” she said. She alleged that in a bid to thwart Amaechi’s

re-election, the Federal Government has prom-ised to return some oil wells to Cross RiverState. “We are also aware that the Federal

Government has started refunding some statesthe money they spent on federal roads and soon,” she said. “These are parts of the strategy being

employed to undermine Amaechi. But it is theintegrity of the forum that is at stake here.” Considering the seemingly overwhelming

odds against Amaechi based on the allegedoverbearing influence of the presidency andthe national leadership of the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP) on his governor col-leagues not to back him, winning a secondterm is, at first glance, not encouraging for thegovernor.But Amaechi staked his political goodwill at

the polls. He recently told a delegation of theCatholic Laity, led by the Bishop of the Port

Harcourt Diocese, Most Revd CamillusEtokudo, that the past few weeks had beenquite challenging politically. He solicited the support of the church in

terms of prayer, as he re-contests the NGF elec-tion, which he blamed for his political travails.“It’s been quite challenging, critical and diffi-

cult for people like us and the next prayer youwill need to do for me is the prayer for thechairmanship of the Governors Forumbecause that is what all this crisis is about,” hesaid. “So, don’t forget that aspect (in the prayer).

That’s what the entire crisis is about. (But) likea whirlwind, it will soon blow over. “Like I told my friends, I will run; nobody will

stop me from running. Whether I win or notis a different thing, but I will insist on run-ning.” On why the governor was optimistic that he

would win, a top Rivers State government offi-cial explained yesterday that Amaechi had ledthe forum credibly well. “And the fact that the presidency is keenly

interested in wanting to determine whoemerges as the next chairman (of the NGF) isan indication that the forum has become aforce to be reckoned with in the polity,” theofficial said. According to him, “Amaechi is not in a popu-

larity contest with anyone; rather, he hasproven that Nigeria is a federation and that

collective national interest supersedes anyindividual’s interest.”Many pro-Amaechi politicians in Rivers State

said the governors should ideally be allowedto determine their fate without overt externalinfluences. As one of them said: “The NGF has provided a

platform for constructive management ofnational issues and to build smooth and coop-erative inter-party relationships amongst thegovernors, who are drawn from differentpolitical parties.”Besides, the politicians said the country

would suffer if its political elite failed toimbibe the culture of political tolerance,accompanied by constructive engagement. They argued that interference in the affairs of

the Governors Forum would be a major set-back for Nigeria’s efforts to nurture and con-solidate its democratic governance.But not all of Amaechi’s supporters want him

to continue with his NGF ambition. Some ofthem, spoke to The Guardian, expressed con-cerns that Rivers State has been overtly beenvictimised by the Federal Government, due tothe governor’s alleged unyielding stance. They cited the ceding of Rivers State’s oil wells

in Soku to Bayelsa State and others to inOmumu to Abia State.They also cited the lack of Federal

Government presence in terms of infrastruc-tural development in Rivers despite having

voted overwhelmingly for PresidentJonathan in 2011. In addition, the politicians are worried that

if no concerted effort were made to achievesome kind of reconciliation, there might bean instigated collapse of security in the state,which would culminate in the destruction ofall that the governor had laboured to build ina new Rivers State.“Some of us are of the view that the gover-

nor and the president should reconcile theirdifferences,” one the politician said. “The political crisis in the state is affecting

governance. It is a distraction, which the gov-ernor does not need at this point in timewhen he should be consolidating on hisachievements. “Some of us are really of the opinion that he

should let go and concentrate on governingour state. Like he will always say, powerbelongs to God.” Meanwhile, the political temperature in

Rivers State has continued to rise with hun-dreds of youths, suspected to be ex-militantswhom Amaechi had flushed out of the state,taking to the streets of Port Harcourt, todemand for his resignation.So far, the House of Assembly has been

unable to sit because of the apparent laxity ofsecurity in the state, even as the Obio-Akporlocal government secretariat remains underpolice occupation.

WITH hours to the much-talkedabout and politicised election

of a new Chairman for the NigerianGovernors Forum (NGF), lastminute horse-trading, consulta-tions and lobbying have intensi-fied.

All the major actors and shadowstakeholders, including the respec-tive political parties, which pro-duced the governors, have diversi-fied their strategies and raisedtheir lobby to a record high, mak-ing some observers to begin to askwhether we are in 2015, going tocast votes in the presidential elec-tion.

As part of the last-minute lobby-ing, the president is reported to bemaking frantic efforts in the Villato reach out to each of the 36 stategovernors, working the telephoneswith the assistance of one of thegovernors from the South-Southzone.

One of the governors from the

Southwest reportedly contacted bythe presidency is said to haveexpressed surprise that the AsoRock could still make attempt towoo him, knowing fully that he isnot a PDP governor and knowingclearly the position of his party, theAction Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

Though the approach of the mainopposition party ACN to the NGF’spolitics, and its election has beencivil and moderate, devoid of thedirtiness and do-or-die, the partyhas urged its six governors to voteon the basis of their conscience, forthe advancement of democracyand for the rule of law.

The Southwest Publicity Secretaryof the party, Ayo Afolabi, in aninterview with The Guardian inLagos yesterday, said: “ACN gover-nors are already grounded in thephilosophy of the party, the valuesit stands for and advocates at alltimes and in all places; and to theadmiration of everybody willproudly display that in the NGFelection.”

He continued: “We have told themto play their roles, including votingin the governor’s club (Forum),according to the rules and regula-tions guiding the formation of theclub and its activities without com-

promising the ethos and values ofthe party.

“They would carry out all thesewith the greater interest of the peo-ple and the country reigningsupreme. We have drummed itinto their ears that any decisionthey are going to be part of at theirclub (NGF) must make the peoplein their respective states happyand proud.”

The ACN, according to Afolabi, isnot really bothered about the insti-tution of the NGF and its election,but it is deeply worried about theinterference of the presidency inits affairs, especially PresidentJonathan’s restless desire to con-trol it.

Afolabi said the ACN is disturbedthat “the presidency has shocking-ly elevated the NGF crisis to a noto-rious level that it now ranked afterBoko Haram insurgency and kid-napping.”

The reason for this, according tothe party, is as a result of PresidentJonathan’s ambition to re-contest

in 2015, using the NGF as one of hisvehicles to actualise the ambition.

In the view of the party: “It is dis-heartening that PresidentJonathan, while pursuing his con-stitutional right using the platformprovided by democracy, is now des-perate, to the extent that he isemploying undemocratic means,as shown by his ongoing plot totear apart the association formedby the governors if he cannot bringthe leadership and the structureunder his control as an emperor.”Lagos lawyer, Sunday Adeeko, who

condemned the presidency inter-ference in the affairs of NGF, alsoshares the ACN’s position.

He regretted that the “Presidencythat is supposed to be at the van-guard for the growth of democracyand advancement of the rule of lawis now doing the exact opposite inthe matters of the NGF.” “The NGF, as an independent body,

should, therefore, be allowed toelect its officers without any let orhindrance.”

Amaechi presses on with NGF re-election bid

Allow governors freedom to chose their leaders, says ACN

Members of the NGF after a recent meeting

Afolabi

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013 11POLITICS

From Kelvin Ebiri, Port Harcourt

By Abiodun Fanoro and Seye Olumide

TheMetroSectionTHE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 201312

ONE of the victims of the insur-gents in the north, 37-year-old

Adamu Habila from Yobe State mys-teriously lived to tell the story of howhe had a close shave with deathwhen his assailants took him fordead after shooting him.Habila, fatigued after a busy day, re-tired to bed with his wife and theirson, only for their sleep to be inter-rupted at about 11.00 p.m. with abang on their front door and a voiceasking them to grant the uninvitedvisitors easy entrance or risk damageof the door.He narrated that the intruders, whowere in a hurry to execute their mis-sion, did not even wait for them totake decision, before forcing them-selves in asking members of his fam-ily to come out of the bedroom withimmediate effect.As they hurriedly matched out, theydiscovered one of their two un-wanted visitors was armed with a so-phisticated rifle, who asked Adamuto kneel down. It was then it dawnedon Adamu, a Youth Leader of the Dis-trict Council (DCC) of ECWA Churchin Yobe that the intruders were BokoHarammembers on jihad mission.Habila continued: “They told me

they were giving me an opportunityto live and to lead a better life if onlyI could become a Muslim and statethe famous Kamatul Shahadar, a con-fession of faith in Islam. I replied thatI am a Christian and would remain aChristian even in death and turnedto my wife not to worry because the

death of a Christian is a great gainand not a loss.”“The armed one ordered my wife

to go inside with a gun to dispos-sess us of our money and mobilephones while the other man kepton interrogating me.”“ When they returned, the man

outside told his partner that I didnot co-operate. He then placed hisgun on my face, by my mouth andsaid: ‘since you refused to become aMuslim, here is your reward.’ He

then pulled the trigger and the bul-let passed through one side of mycheek to the other. I slumped.”“After my assailants left, I managedto tell my wife to call our ChristianElder, Bab Jibir, the former treasurerof the DCC ECWA, Yobe State. Reportcame that he and his son had beenkilled. Police were called but theydidn’t come and every effort to getassistance from other neighbours,most of whom were Muslims,proved abortive until around 6.00

Briefs

Briefs

am when I was rushed to the Gen-eral Hospital in Potiskum and latertransferred to JUTH in Jos and laterreferred to Kano where the Voice ofthe Christian Martyrs Nigeria tookover my case and provided for theentire family,” he concluded.Commenting on Habila’s case, theNational Director, Voice of theChristian Martyrs, Isaac OluwoleNewton-Wusu lamented the plightof people in Yobe State and said thecase of Habila was just one of manyin Yobe where over 120 churcheshave been destroyed.“There had been massive destruc-tion of lives and properties whereabout 180 villages in different partsof the North were raided by funda-mentalists who have renderedabout 5,000 Christians homeless.“Religious fundamentalists havebeen on the prowl for long in theNorth, maiming and killing inno-cent souls including children andbabies with dangerous weapons.Emergence of Boko Haramhad wors-ened the situation, which hadturned many villages to ghost vil-lages where those who have noplace to go only wait like those thathave been condemned to death.“Voice of Christian Martyrs oper-ates The Stephen Children Home inAbeokuta, Ogun State where over325 children whose parents havebeen killed in various religiouscrises in the Northern parts of Nige-ria are receiving free education, freeaccommodation and free suste-nance. Some are in various Univer-sities under the sponsorship ofVCM,” he explained.

FGCUOSA marks Family Day

Service of Songs holdstoday for Amaobi

Church marks anniversary

Habila

‘They asked me to renounce my faith’By Isaac Taiwo

TO mark Children’s Day, De-Tastee Fried Chicken Ltd.,owners of Tastee FriedChicken (TFC), will on Mon-day, May 27, hold a SpellingBee Competition for Primaryand Secondary Schools at Tas-tee Events Place, FECTAC,Lagos at 9.00a.m.The Executive Director, Mr. Ol-ubunmi Adedayo, said, “TFCloves children and so our com-mitment to them is absolute.Hence, we celebrate them ”. There will be talent displayby students of Pacelli Schoolfor the Blind and PartiallySighted Children, and Atunda–Olu School. Gifts such as Ipad,Latptops, Play Station III, 32”Inches Television sets, Tasteegift cards would be given towinners. Computer sets, andencyclopedia will be given toschools, while participantsand all children at the compe-tition will go home with won-derful gifts.

THE Mbamalu family ofOjoto in Idemili SouthLocal Council, Anambra Stateand Amaobi family of Owere-Nkwoji in Imo State have an-nounced burialarrangements for their wifeand daughter, Mrs.Uzoa-maka Ethel Amaobi , whosedeath occurred on May 8,2013 at the Lagos UniversityTeaching Hospital.The service of songs holdstoday in Lagos at the Ajao Es-tate Primary School, Oluto-sun Ajayi Street, off LateefSalami Street, Ajao Estate at4.00p.m. Meanwhile, she will beburied on Wednesday, June 5,at her husband’s compound,Uhusieke Village, Owerre-Nkwoji, Nkwerre Local Coun-cil, Imo State.

Amaobi

THE year’s Family Day ofFederal Government Col-lege, Ugwolawo Old Stu-dents’ Association(FGCUOSA), Lagos chapterFamily day holds on Satur-day, May 25 at RoseviewCourt, Alagbole Akute,Ojodu, Lagos.The Public Relations Officer,Opeyemi Ajala, said therewould be free transportationfor willing members, whichwould take off at 10.00a.m.at Kernel Park, Kernel Street,off Eric Moore, Surulere.

CELEBRATION of ChristCrusaders’ Deliverance

Ministries’ 15th anniver-sary, which began on May 6,continues tomorrow withPraise Night. It will end onSunday with a Thanksgiv-ing Service at River Bank Es-tate, Akute-Odo, Akute at9.00a.m. Host is Pastor Fes-tus Adewole.

TFC’s Spelling Bee competition holds May 27

THE first set of teachertrainees from MeadowHall teacher training pro-gramme graduated on May10. The programme, whichwas a three- month teachertraining and developmentprogramme aimed atyoung graduates, who arepassionate about the teach-ing profession, came at nocost to the graduates.According to the Directorand the initiator of theproject, Mrs KehindeNwani, the Meadow HallGraduate Teacher Traineeprogramme would be ayearly exercise, where grad-uates passionate about theteaching profession wouldbe trained as a corporatesocial responsibility ofMeadow Hall to the nation. She stated that the pro-

gramme objectives in-clude: to institute profes-sionalism in teaching byproviding the requiredtraining for new entrantsinto the field, to equiptrainable young entrantsinto the profession withthe latest developmentsand international bestpractice for effective teach-ing and learning, to attractinto the teaching profes-sion dynamic individualswho will acquire work-place and professional val-ues to impact children andultimately the nation.The Class President, DanielAlatise, stated that the ex-perience “has exposed himto guiding the learner,catering for all learnersand most of all, on beingthe biggest learner”

School graduates first set of teacher trainees

BESTMAN Games, the ex-clusive distributor in

Africa with the rights toproduce ‘local’ editions ofMonopoly, the world fa-mous board game ownedby Hasbro, will tomorrowhold its first yearly City ofLagos Edition MonopolyTournament at the culturalcentre, Terra Kulture, Victo-ria Island, Lagos.A statement by the ChiefExecutive Officer, BestmanGames, Mrs NimiAkinkugbe, said: “Compet-ing schools, King’s Collegeand Queen’s College willengage in a play session,which will be moderatedby a panel of judges includ-ing Etisalat Nigeria’s Chair-man, Hakeem Belo-Osagie;The Principal, King’s Col-lege, Lagos, Mr. Dele

Olapeju; The Principal,Queen’s College, Mrs. M.O.A.Ladipo and others.”“The City of Lagos Editionwith the support of FirstBank of Nigeria Plc, GTBank

Plc, the Lagos State Govern-ment and Stanbic IBTC Pen-sions Managers Limited isusing this novel tool topresent some basic lessonsin resource managementby educating players.”

City of Lagos edition of monopoly holds in Lagos

Mrs Nimi Akinkugbe presenting the City of Lagos Edition of Monopoly toLagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola

AKOLADE Arowolo, the man who allegedlykilled his banker wife, Omozoje, has told a

Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja that he didnot kill his wife but that she actually stabbedherself, adding that he could not deny thefact that they had a misunderstanding on theday in question.Akolade, while being cross -examined by theprosecution lead counsel, Lagos Director ofPublic Prosecution (DPP), Mrs. OlabisiOgungbesan, stated that they both struggledwith a knife with which she later stabbed her-self and inflicted injuries on him.According to Akolade, on the day in question(June 24, 2011), the deceased took alcohol inthe morning while celebrating his birthday.

He further stated that both of them agreed tobe indoors on that day, but when he returnedfrom his mechanic’s workshop and met herfully dressed, he sought to find out what wasresponsible for the sudden change in pro-gramme, a development he claimed, led toanother round of disagreement.He said the mechanic later returned the carafter he had fixed the shaft at Ladipo. “After the mechanic left, I went to fuel the gen-erating set when a call came in from my sis-ter-in -law that she wanted to speak with hersister (my wife)”.He noted that he took the phone to the roomwith his hand soiled with oil, but the de-ceased slapped him.“I said we struggled with a knife. She wassaying ‘I will kill you and kill myself.’ It was

the knife she used in stabbing herself that sheused in stabbing me, too, and the knife fell onthe floor immediately. I was trying to safe her;I did not consider the cut in my hand. I don’tbelieve that my wife had 76 wounds on herbody as claimed by the pathologist. “When he was shown Exhibit P6 (knife with-out a handle), he denied having such a knifein their house. He noted that their kitchenknife was with a handle.Earlier in his examination-in-chief before Jus-tice Lateefa Okunnu, Akolade said the knife inquestion was presented to the couple as aChristmas gift in December 2010, by his wife’sstep- mother.Justice Okunnu then adjourned the mattertill September 17, 2013 for adoption of writtenaddress.

My wife stabbed herself, says Akolade ArowoloBy Yetunde Ayobami-Ojo

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013 METRO 13

Brief

Photonews

PHOTO: AYODELE ADENIRAN

Noyosayi Osaghae (second right) graduated in Master of Science in International Commerce and Policy with thehighest distinction of academic achievement from Valparaiso University, Indiana, United States of America. ValpoUniversity, which was founded in 1859, is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the United States.At age 20, Noyosayi is also the youngest Masters graduate in the history of Valparaiso University. At the gradua-tion, ceremony on May 19, were his parents, Professor Eghosa Osaghae, the Vice Chancellor of Igbinedion Uni-versity, Okada, (left) and Dr. Veronica Osaghae and another member of the Osaghae family in the United States...

Wife of Lagos State Governor, Abimbola Fashola (left), Managing Director, Dufil Prima Food Plc., Deepak Singhal, andCoordinator, Indomie Fan Club (IFC), Faith Joshua during the IFC Children’s Day party in Lagos...on Wednesday

Students of Adamawa State Polytechnic in Yola parking their belongings following a heavy rainstorm that destroyed theirhostels...on Monday

Nigerian Navy in shooting exercise,ready for deployment

Regional Managing Partner, Ernst and Young Financial Services for West Africa, Henry Egbiki (left), ManagingDirector, Eko Bank, Jubril Aku and Financial Services Leader, Ernst and Young West Africa, Dayo Babatunde atthe Company’s Financial Services Strategic Forum in Lagos...

WITH the security situa-tion in the country con-

tinuing to attract local andglobal attention due to thedeclaration of state of emer-gency in three states in thenorthern region, men of theLogistics Headquarters ofthe Nigerian Navy in Oghara,Tuesday began a three-dayshooting exercise, where itsaid its men would be readyfor deployment to any dan-ger spot across the country.The Flag Officer Command-

ing Logistics Command ofthe Navy, Rear Admiral Shet-tima stated this yesterday atthe 322 Artillery RegimentEkheuan Shooting Range,Ekheuan Barracks, nearBenin City where the offi-cers and Ratings were beingdrilled in weapon handlingand shooting skills at thecommand’s Small ArmsShooting Exercise.Represented by the Chief

Staff Officer of the Com-mand, Rear Admiral S. E.Ogoigbe, Shettima said: “It ismandatory that we havethis training, and whateveryou are learning now, youmust not compromise sothat when you are sent toMaiduguri, Jos or any otherspot in the country, youwon’t be caught unpre-pared, your weapon is yourwife, you must handle itwell.”He told The Guardian thatthe exercise is “aimed at im-proving the proficiency andprofessional competence of

personnel and re-evaluatingofficers and ratings of theNaval Logistics Commandon their mastering ofweapons in line with theChief of Naval Staff vision toput in place a robust andcombat ready Navy that iscapable of effectively com-bating the security chal-lenges in Nigerian’smaritime domain.”He said the exercise wouldalso equip the officers andratings as marksmen withthe aim of reducing casual-ties and enhancing safety inthe use of small arms. “Addi-tionally, the exercise will en-able the Command to testthe serviceability of itsweapons for future naval op-erations.”Meanwhile, a statement bythe command’s spokesman,Lieutenant B. A. Nuhu urgedmembers of the public andresidents living near theshooting range not to panicat the sound of small armsas well as movement oftroops and materialsaround.

From Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu, Benin City

PHOTO: NAN

THE Lagos State Commis-sioner for the Environ-

ment, Tunji Bello saysLagosians should come outin large numbers on Satur-day, May 25, 2013, for themonthly sanitation exerciseand to concentrate oncleaning drains and canalsnearest to their homes inorder to combat flooding.He said such steps had be-come necessary in view ofmeteorologists’ forecastthat the state is to experi-ence rains of high intensityand severe thunderstormacross the state.The commissioner warnedresidents who still patron-ize push-cart operators todesist from the illegal act,but rather dispose theirwaste through Lagos StateWaste Management Author-ity (LAWMA/PSP) Operators.Human and vehicularmovement will be re-stricted between 7.00a.m.-10.00a.m. as usual, whilecommercial bus operatorsand inter-state transportoperators are warned tokeep their vehicles off Lagosroads, as offenders wouldbe prosecuted according tothe state sanitation laws.

Lagos dedicates sanitation exercises todrainage clearance

Oluof Mushin marks 35th coronation anniversary, clocks 75By Tope Templer Olaiya, AssistantLagos City Editor

THE grounds of Arch-bishop Aggey Memorial

Secondary School, Ilasamaja,Mushin, was last Saturdaytrampled by monarchs,politicians and dignitaries,who had gathered to cele-brate the Olu of Mushin, ObaFatai Ayinla Aileru II, as hissubjects rolled out thedrums to mark his 75thbirthday and 35th corona-tion anniversary.Long before the arrival ofthe celebrant and his high-ranking guests, the arealeading to the school and itspremises appeared to beunder a State of Emergency, asstern-looking anti-riot po-licemen and patrol vans laidsiege on every square metresof the school, with threeBlack Marias stationed at thegate to take care of trouble-makers.

Soon, some civilian activi-ties began and the only crite-rion for entry into thefortified school premiseswas the brown Ankara AsoEbi of the celebration. Notlong after, a big van carryinginstruments of foremost fujimusician, King WasiuAyinde Marshal, popularlyknown as K1 De Ultimate ar-rived to set up stage for theband.The roll call was impressiveas commissioners, legisla-tors, Action Congress ofNigeria (ACN) chieftains,obas and celebrities droveinto the school to be ush-ered into their reserved seatsby skimpily dressed delec-table ladies. Eventually, the celebrantarrived in a motorcade sere-naded by his wives (Oloris)and palace chiefs anddecked in his full regalia.The party got underway as

more VIPs arrived in intimi-dating SUVs and luxury cars.Not a man of many words,he spent a few minutes list-ing his achievements on thethrone in the last 35 yearsand didn’t fail to bring tothe notice of his audiencethe myriad of problems fac-

ing the community, one ofwhich is the recurring vio-lent clash between cultgroups and warring factionsthat has defined Mushin inrecent times.He proffered some solutionsto this dilemma: “It is ourspecial request that relevant

authorities should see to theremoval of abandoned vehi-cles along the road, which isnot only impeding the freeflow of traffic, but is usuallyan hideout for criminals.”“The Federal Governmentmust also improve on thewelfare of our policemenand equip our securityforces with gadgets andtraining to boost theirmorale. With all these, it willbe easy for the police to havethe courage to combat crimeand violence and nip it inthe bud.”Born into the family of Oba

Jimoh Gbadamosi Aileru andOlori Elizabeth Alake onMarch 11, 1938, the monarchis the first child of his par-ents. He started his primaryschool career at the Chris-tian Public School, Mushinand proceeded to the Metro-politan College, Surulere, forhis secondary school educa-tion.

The Olu of Mushin, Oba Fatai Ayinla Aileru II surrounded by his wives andchildren at the event

TheGuardian

Editorial

14 | THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013

LETTERS

Conscience is an open wound; only truth can heal it. Uthman dan Fodio 1754-1816

Conscience Nurtured by Truth

Paralysing moments in NigeriaSIR: The events of the last two

weeks or so in Nigeria havebeen quite scary and paralysing.The unacceptable murder ofpolice officers doing their job tomake the country safe inNasarawa State, the killing of lawenforcement agents in Bama,the forcible release of over 100prisoners from a prison and thekidnap of Justice Rhodes-Vivour’s wife, daughter and driv-er were some of the grotesqueoccurrences that proved conclu-sively that we have become abanana republic regardless ofwhat those who claim to be at

the helms think. The truth isthat the political elite have lostit completely. The securityagencies are merely groping inthe dark, while anarchy reignssupreme.

The murders and kidnappingsare unacceptable and thosebehind them must be fishedout and punished swiftly. Let noone politicise the madness thatis going on: it is not a case of fail-ure of leadership or of the state(as some fancy), but theirabsence. The state is not failingin Nigeria; nor has it failed – ithas vanished. Welcome to war-

FOUNDER: ALEX U. IBRU (1945 – 2011)

lordism of the most virulent kind.Our people must brace up and

find an alternative to the absenceof the state. We need to do every-thing necessary to rescue ourstateless-country. If we don’t, weare all in for it.

Meanwhile, we must call on theauthorities to do everything intheir power to rescue the Rhodes-Vivours. They must not beharmed, otherwise we shall holdall those who parade themselvesas holding offices in our statelesscountry responsible.    • Bamidele Aturu,Surulere, Lagos.

Afenifere’s strange bedfellowsSIR: I was alarmed but later

bemused when I read aboutAfenifere’s press conference inthe media recently. Seated withAfenifere’s chieftains wereSenator Iyiola Omisore and Mr.Yinka Odumakin. Odumakinwas the vocal spokesperson ofthe group that broke away fromAfenifere. What then has hap-pened to honour?

Afenifere was established in 1951by the late sage, Chief ObafemiAwolowo, and his associates.Since then, it remained the rally-ing point for the progressives inthe South West geopolitical zonein Nigeria. Since 1999 when thecurrent democratic dispensa-tion took its root, things took anew dimension with real disci-ples of Awolowo trying to alignthemselves together to pursuethe authentic Awo’s vision ingovernance.

It was during this process thatSenator Omisore came to thefold, especially when the Alliance

for Democracy (AD) was beingformed and he became thedeputy governor of OsunState.

Due to obvious differencesand discordant tune of thepolitical music at that time, itwas clear to all that Omisoredid not belong to the fold.Things began to fall apart inthe party and in the leadershipof the Osun State Government,leading to his impeachmentas the deputy governor. Sincethen, Senator Omisore has leftthe AD to pitch his tent withthe PDP. His party deployed allresources at its disposal tofight Awo’s once united politi-cal family with intent of totalannihilation. This culminatedin the annihilation of the AD inthe South West with BolaTinubu of Lagos State the onlyman standing.

Afenifere has since unrav-elled and the various leadershave joined different political

parties. While some are still in theACN, some have joined PDP whilemany of them are with LabourParty. It is curious therefore to seeOmisore nesting comfortablywith Afenifere. Has Afeniferebecome Afenifere-PDP? Let themtell us so that we can know wherethey stand. What they are up toand what scheme they may beplotting is yet to be known butOmisore has his eyes on OsunState governorship election nextyear. Are they Omisore’s friendsand part of his campaign group?Time will tell.

Omisore had surreptitiouslycrept into the rank of the Afeniferegroup again the way he did in1999. This romance obviously islike a political cancer that shouldnot be allowed to fester. Anythingto the contrary can only constitutea death sentence to the peace andtranquillity being enjoyed in theregion.• Kunle Omideyi,Surulere, Lagos.

THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently gave a pass mark to Nigeriaon economic management in its annual Article IV Consultation, an annual

review of the economic policies and outlook of all member states. While theIMF noted positives such as prudent fiscal and macroeconomic policies andthe better health of the banking system, Nigerians ought to be more concernedabout the risks to the Nigerian economy, which the said assessment highlight-ed.

The risks revolve around the possibility of a severe disruption to Nigeria’seconomy should the oil price fall and negatively impact the nation’s capacityto import both consumer goods and raw materials. There is also the govern-ment’s ability to finance its domestic obligations, such as salaries and pay-ments to contractors on which consumption in the economy overwhelminglydepend. A closer reading of the IMF Article 1V Consultation would reveal thatNigeria is doing pretty little to manage these risks. This is even more alarminggiven the very low level of public discussion and total absence of politicaldebate about the key reforms required to reduce Nigeria’s excessive depend-ence on crude oil exports and the severe socio-economic dislocation it may giverise to. While the near term outlook is positive as noted by the IMF, the nationmay well be sleepwalking towards an economic precipice given the uncertainoutlook for growth in Europe, China and the United States, the economies ofwhich determine the international oil price.

On the positives in the Article IV Consultation, tighter fiscal and monetarypolicies have maintained inflation at a level that doesn’t pose a threat to invest-ment and growth. Accruals to the Excess Crude Account is also growing again,currently standing at $5.2 billion, though still very much below its 2007 level of$17.3 billion, because government spending is slowly declining. The IMF is alsopleased that due to the intervention of the Asset Management Company ofNigeria (AMCON), the level of bad debts in the Nigerian banking industry is lowand bank lending is rising again. AMCON has formally announced a cut-offperiod for its operations, thus minimizing the risk that its operations wouldgive rise to moral hazard or become a burden on the Nigerian treasury.

But shortly after the review, the World Bank warned that in the event of a dropin the global oil price, Nigeria’s Excess Crude Account and other reserves wouldbe wiped out in a year. In April, $1 billion was withdrawn from the ECA and dis-tributed among the Federal, State and Local Governments to make up for short-falls in government revenue. It is worrying that withdrawals are being madefrom the ECA while the oil price remains relatively high. According to theWorld Bank, should the oil price fall to $70 per barrel, Nigeria would have toresort to borrowing to close the gap between its income and expenditure. It ismuch wiser for Nigeria to cut its expenditure and increase its reserves or sav-ings while oil prices are still relatively high.

The argument for cutting expenditure and boosting savings is particularlystrong given the well-known failure to translate the funds shared monthly inAbuja by the Federal, State and Local Governments to jobs and better livelihoodfor Nigerians. While the nation’s per capita GDP is roughly $1,300 on paper,over 60 per cent of Nigerians live on less than $2 per day, i.e. $730 per annumusing the most generous unofficial estimate of per capital income.    For achange, the focus needs to be on better quality spending, generating morebang per buck spent in the Ministries of Education, Health, Works etc, whichremain very weak mechanisms for transmitting fiscal expenditure into betterhealthcare, schooling, infrastructure, etc.

What seems to be happening is that technocrats in the nation’s financial sec-tor have managed to gain political acceptance of some policies promotingmonetary and financial restraint, which has somewhat improved the econom-ic atmosphere for investment and growth. But the engine rooms of govern-ment, bureaucratic and political elements in the Ministries, the Presidency andthe National Assembly, which are responsible for wider policymaking and exe-cution, have carried on with the usual mediocrity.      Reforms that can boostinvestment, jobs and growth in Nigeria and the nation’s income from sectorssuch as oil and gas and housing and real estate are either inadequately pro-moted by the Executive branch or stuck in the National Assembly for years. It isamazing that the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) controls both the executiveand legislative arms of government and yet cannot pass legislation such as thePetroleum Industry Bill, the delay of which has resulted in over $80 billion inlost investments. The opposition parties have an equal share of the blame. In afunctioning democracy, their main role is offering feasible policies that theelectorate is convinced would improve their lives, not criticising every govern-ment policy without offering alternatives.

The IMF Article IV Consultation clearly paints the enormity and urgency ofreforms that Nigeria needs to undertake. It is therefore, a fail grade rather thana pass mark for Nigeria’s economic management. The IMF can only advise onreforms such as downstream petroleum sector liberalisation, the passage ofthe PIB and public service strengthening. The political will, focus and credibili-ty required can only be provided by Nigerians.  

IMF’s pass mark

15THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013

Business

‘How to attain Vision 20: 2020’

Nigeria attracts N7.5 trillion investment fromdeepwater oil, gas projects

THE National InformationTechnology DevelopmentAgency (NITDA), has expressedthe need for the country todevelop a Public KeyInfrastructure (PKI) that willguarantee a sustainable andsecure platform for cyberaccessibility, secured transac-tions and credible identity inthe match towards Vision 20:2020 attainment.

NITDA’s Director General,Prof. Cleopas Angaye, who saidthis at a second workshop onand public presentation of thePKI Blueprint for Nigeria in

Lagos yesterday, noted thatwith the rate of uncontrolledinfiltration and proliferationin the use of cyberspace forcommunications and transac-tions, having a PKI technologyhas become imperative.A PKI is a collection of securitytechnologies, procedures,processes and policies that col-lectively provide a frameworkfor addressing the fundamen-tal security issues of privacy,authentication, integrity andnon-repudiation and accesscontrol in data communica-tions.

According to Angaye, theimplementation of the PKI willbring about a cyber ecosystem

where it is easier and safer forbusinesses and individuals tocarry out secure transactions,especially as Nigeria continuesto drive a cashless economy.He described the PKI as the

first comprehensive docu-ment put together by theFederal Government to chart anew course for the emergencefor the emergence of a digitaleconomy in the country.The NITDA DG noted that, in

the process of developing theblueprint and implementa-tion strategies, the agency, inOctober, 2012, inaugurated theNational PKI Committee with

Medical students protest partial passage of violence bill P. 27

By Adeyemi Adepetun and BankoleOrimisan

legislative document thatwould encourage furtherinvestment in the sector.However, he noted that Shelloperated Bonga oil field hasexported about 450 millionbarrels of oil as at December2012, and plans are in thepipeline to expand its poten-tials to Bonga South-West\Aparo and Bonga North,offshore Nigeria.

Wael said the study hasshown huge resource base inthe fields and believed that itwould contribute significant-ly to Nigeria’s oil output.

Speaking also, theCommercial Integration andBusiness Value Manager, TaajShobayo, said that deepwaterexploration and production isexpensive, complex and risky

with long cycle times. He noted that current off-

shore project takes 10 to 20years from license award toproduction. “If for any reasonthe project encounters chal-lenges and is unable to goforeword, the whole invest-ment is lost. It is possible foran investor to lose up to $150million, if eventually the wellis not commercially viable”.General Manager, Nigerian

Content Development ofShell, Igo Weli, said that thecompany has been at the fore-front of the promotion ofNigeria Content Policy.He disclosed that the compa-ny has supported Nigeriancompanies in the building of13 offshore vessels in the oiland gas industry.

By Roseline Okere and SulaimonSalau

FOREIGN Direct Investmentin the deepwater provinceof Nigeria’s oil and gas prolificbasins has been estimated atabout $48 billion for about 10years.However, the deepwater proj-ects, which are currently han-dled by Shell, ExxonMobil,Agip, Chevron and Total have

delivered over 0.8 billion bar-rels up to 2012.The investments were said tohave come through world-class projects like Abo (Agip),Erha (Mobil), Bonga (Shell),Usan (Total), Agbami(Chevron) and Akpo oil fields.

A top official of ShellNigerian Exploration andProduction Company(SNEPCo), Stefan Vos De Wael,who made this known during

a training session forJournalists in Lagos yesterday,said the nation has hugepotential in its deepwaterbasins that are ready to beexplored in the next few years.

Quoting figures fromMcKinsey Multiplier Model,Wael said the InternationalOil Companies were thereforeplanning to invest about $165billion into the industry inthe next five years.

According to him, the deep-water potentials is capable ofgenerating about $3 billionyearly; produce up to 600,000barrels per day and 200,000jobs, which is equivalent togrowing the oil and gas indus-try by 30 per cent.He estimated that the deep-water operators are spendingover $5 billion yearly to devel-op and about five billion bar-rels, hence the need for a fair

Transactions in leasing industry hit N671 billionBy Bukky Olajide

EQUIPMENT LeasingAssociation of Nigeria

[ELAN] has revealed an out-standing lease volume of N671billion for 2012, representing agrowth rate of 7.8 per cent overthe previous year’s figure ofN623 billion.According to a statement

from the association, thisshows that the Nigerian leas-ing industry is experiencinggrowth despite the variouschallenges facing the nation,more businesses are begin-ning to embrace leasing as afinancing model, newinvestors are venturing intothis profitable line of business. Analysis of the various sectorsrevealed that, the oil and gassector continued to dominatethe industry with 32.4 percentof total transactions, closelyfollowed by transportationwhich has been recordingsteady growth resulting fromGovernment initiatives,through public – private part-nership (ppp).

Apart from banks and otherindependent lessors who aremajor contributors, newentrants especially from sub-sidiaries of insurance compa-nies and private investorshave equally buoyed leasing

activities, coupled with theincreasing demand for capitalasset from various sectors ofthe economy.ILAN revealed that operatingleasing has continued to gainmomentum in the industry as

many lessors tint towardsservice oriented leases includ-ing fleet management fortheir corporate clients. Theattraction of operating lease isto mitigate default risk andrespond to market dictates.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

Chairman NEPAL group, Elder Ekeoma Ekeoma (left); Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, NEPAL group, Ngozi Ekeoma; Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan;Chairperson, Brittania-U group, Mrs. Uju Ifejika; and His Royal Highness, The Orefe III of Oghara Kingdom, Chief Noble Oyibo Eshemitan, during the commissioning of the new NEPALgroup ultra-modern tank farm and private Jetty in Oghara, Delta State.

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 201316 BUSINESS

CBN reassures commitment toeffective e-payments systemBy Chijioke Nelson

Imperative ofsecured cyber space

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

THE Governor of the CentralBank of Nigeria (CBN),Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi,has assured that the financialinstitution remains commit-ted to realizing the vision of

providing the country with asecure, robust and accessiblepayment infrastructure,despite challenges.Sanusi disclosed this in a

keynote address at theCBN/Gartner Inc. forum, inLagos, which attracted Chief

Executive Officers of banksand discount houses, as wellas representatives of microfi-nance banks, stakeholders inthe private sector (oil & gas,telecoms, IT consulting, andgovernment ministries,departments and agencies.

The forum, co-hosted byGartner Executives, PeterRedshaw and RishenKyarkanaye, was aimed atbringing world-class industryinformation and technologyadvice to the Nigerian finan-cial sector, to boost the profes-sional image of the apex bankas leader for the country’sfinancial sector.Besides, he emphasized the

importance of effective, effi-cient and safe service deliveryto the banking populace, say-ing that “the success of a coun-try’s payment system isevinced by perceptions of itssecurity, robustness – that is,the ability to cater for a widerrange of preferences – and itsready access to the end-user”.The CBN governor, who spokeon the topic: “Secure, Robustand Accessible PaymentsInfrastructure,” explainedthat the bank had taken delib-erate actions in recent timesto focus attention towardselectronic payments as a veri-table option for efficient pay-ments service towards thepromotion of rapid financialinclusion and increased eco-nomic activities. Sanusi said that the cash-litepolicy was introduced to,among other things, meet theFinancial System Strategy2020/Vision 2020 require-ments for regional and inter-national integration andmodernize the payments sys-tem in the country. “This is just one step towardsthe credible, reliable and effi-cient payments system that isCBN’s dream.

members drawn from variousinstitutions both from privateand public sector such as thebanking sector, Office ofNational Security Adviser andNigeria Computer Society.Listing some benefits of the

benefits of PKI implementa-tion, Angaye said it would leadto the creation He alsoexplained that the creation ofdigital signatures which is evi-dence of “who did what towhom”, that is crititical toelectronic transactions carry-ing high legal risks or compli-ance requirements, amongothers.The NITDA boss also insisted

that when integrated intosmartcards and other elec-tronic transactions processes,PKI is recognised as “the onlypractical solution.”Speaking in the same vein,

the President, NigeriaComputer Society, NCS, Sir.Demola Aladekomo, called onthe NITDA and other relatedagencies to focus on legisla-tion for the PKI and aware-ness.“In our nascent electronic

transactions regime and withgradual effort to drive e-gover-nance and in an effort to applyICTs to all aspects of the econo-my, a blueprint such as thiswill be fundamental to provid-ing the components neededto build a safe cyber environ-ment. But the, we need tofocus on legislation andawareness,” he said.

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THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013 BUSINESS 19

Lagos commences STMP programme to boost transportationBy Taiwo Hassan

LAGOS State Governmenthas announced the com-mencement of the State’sStrategic Transport MasterPlan (STMP) as part ofeffort to manage the ever-growing transportationneeds in the state.According to the state

government, the plan to

commence the STMP proj-ect was to assist it in possi-ble transport facilities andservices to manage thegrowing public challenge.

Commissioner forTransportation, KayodeOpeifa, who made this dis-closure at a media briefingin Lagos, said that the stategovernment through hisministry had commenced

work on the extension ofthe initial STMP to coverLagos metropolis and linkit to relevant locationsbeyond the state.He said that the com-

mencement of the masterplan would now be extend-ed to the end of 2030, andwas aimed to guide theLagos megacity region overthe next two decades as it

Govt enlists software developers for incubation trainingBy Bankole Orimisan

THE Federal Government isexpected to receive the firstbatch of software developersthat would undergo one yeartraining at the LagosIncubation Centre.Accenture Consulting, the

Project Management Office(PMO) that is handling theongoing selection process,said that 10 teams wouldemerge at the end of the exer-cise and would be handed overto the Minister ofCommunications Technology,

Mrs. Omobola Johnson, whowould in turn present them atthe Lagos Incubation Centrefor one-year training.The minister had early thisyear, launched theTechlaunchpad initiative thatseeks to groom software devel-opers and make their prod-ucts marketable and accept-able within and outsideNigeria.Senior Project Manager forTechlaunchpad, Mr. AdebayoEbrahim, who confirmed theongoing selection exercisesaid: “10 Teams will be selectedand sent to the Lagos incuba-

tion centre for one year wherethey will receive training onpractical skills on how to fur-ther develop and improve ontheir software application.He explained that the 10 teamswould be handed over to theminister who would then pres-ent them at the incubationcentre for hands-on practicaltraining for one year. The selec-

strived to manage thegrowing transport demandin the state.The commissioner said

that the plan would alsoassist the state governmentin the development of avision for Lagos state in thefuture, especially withfocus on transport andland use integration, iden-tification of major trans-

port corridors in the stateand development of actionplan for the implementa-tion of the extended STMP.Opeifa said that the state’stransport sector was nowan important componentof the economy, because ofits impact on the develop-ment and welfare of thepopulation.According to him: “Whentransport systems are effi-cient, they provide eco-nomic benefits and socialopportunities which resultin positive multipliereffects such as better acces-sibility to market, employ-ment and investment.When transport systemsare deficient in terms ofcapacity or reliability, theycan have an economic costsuch as reduced or missedopportunities.”He explained that that

was the basic reason for

the transportation sectorremained key to theachievement of thestatewide budget policythrust of poverty eradica-tion, and sustainable eco-nomic growth, throughinfrastructural renewaland development.The commissioner said

that the state was proudto be the economic hub ofthe country and otherWest African countries, assuch, planned a trans-portation system whichacts as catalyst for othereconomic activities tothrive.He also said that the gov-ernment was committedto the transformation inthe transportation sectorand industry through theMinistry ofTransportation and vari-ous agencies in the state.

tion exercise, which com-menced last week, is expectedto end this week and the pres-entation done next week,Ebrahim said.The training programme isthe idea of Techlaunchpad, aninitiative of the federal gov-ernment, with joint sponsor-ship between the federal gov-ernment and the private sec-

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‘Corruption, insecurity may hinder expected growthin privatisation of PHCN’By Roseline Okere

NIGERIA’s infrastructureindustry is expected to see

yearly average real growth ofseven per cent between 2013and 2017 within its construc-tion sector.International watchdog -

Business MonitorInternational (BMI), whichmade this disclosure in its sec-ond quarter 2013 infrastruc-ture report released at theweekend, attributed this

expected growth to on-goingunbundling and privatisationof the Power HoldingCompany of Nigeria (PHCN).But, the report however high-lighted the risks that mayhamper the implementationof major projects, rangingfrom deep-rooted corruption;violence perpetrated by mili-tant Islamists and retaliatoryforces, and a vast yet still inef-ficient bureaucracy.According to the report,

recently work on the Kano-Western bypass has beenstalled due to ongoing securi-ty threats in the country.“Nigeria continues to berocked by persistent violenceperpetrated by militantIslamists and retaliatoryforces, which threatens toescalate if not contained.Protests: The removal of fuelsubsidies spurred nationwideprotests, including a generalstrike, putting immense pres-

sure on the government andeventually forcing it to partlyback-pedal”.To sustain long-term growth,the report advised that thecountry will need to pressahead with the ambitious,and necessary, economic andbusiness environmentreforms, and develop a plan toaddress the root causes of vio-lence in the Niger Delta andthe Middle Belt.Dwelling on major projectsin the country, it stated:

Convicted broker appeals against judgmentBy Joseph Onyekwere

ASTOCKBROKER, AdewaleAdegboyega, convicted andsentenced to three monthsimprisonment with hardlabour and 30 hours of com-munity service by a LagosMagistrate Court, Igbosere,has filed a notice of appealagainst the sentencing.According to the notice of

appeal filed on his behalf byhis counsel, Ifeoma Esom, thestockbroker contends that thetrial magistrate, Mrs. F.OAigbokhaevbo, erred in lawwhen she held that therespondent has proved each ofthe three count charges ofimpersonation, forgery and

uttering beyond reasonabledoubt.“There was no evidence

before the trial magistratethat there was any intentionon the part of the appellant todefraud the complainant orany other person by reason ofthe alleged impersonation.The evidence before the trialmagistrate clearly showedthat the Forms CM001 andDAF07 alleged to have beenforged and uttered wereindeed genuine”, the appel-lant stated, adding that thetrial magistrate failed to con-sider the evidence adducedshowing that the com-plainant was not prejudiced

in any way by reason of thetransfer of his stocks toIntercapital Limited and actu-ally benefited from that trans-fer.In his motion on notice, theappellant prays for the orderof the court granting him bailpending the hearing and thedetermination of his appeal,arguing in his 17-paragraphaffidavit in support of themotion which was deposed toby his younger brother,Adewunmi that he wouldhave completed his prisonterm if the application is notgranted as prayed.Adegboyega was prosecutedby the Commissioner of

Police, tried and convicted bythe court for looting the stock-broking account of one DapoApara, a customer of ZenithSecurities.He was arraigned on a four-count charge of imperson-ation, forgery, uttering andstealing but convicted onthree. The prosecution, in anattempt to prove its case, calledwitnesses, who variously testi-fied and were cross-examined.Count-one reads: “That you,

Adewale Adegboyega, male, onor about March 14, 2006, atLagos in the Lagos MagisterialDistrict with intent to defraud,falsely represent yourself to beone Dapo Apara, the chief exec-

“Nigerian infrastructure devel-opment company Bi-CourtneyHighway Services (BCHS) hasbegun its redevelopment ofthe Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.The $559 million projectinvolves the reconstruction ofboth existing carriageways, aswell as the addition of two car-riageways in each directionbetween the Lagos-Sagamuinterchange. BCHS has beenawarded a 25-year concessioncontract to manage theexpressway, which links Lagos

with Nigeria’s western states.“Nigeria’s Minister of

Aviation has announced theplan to construct a new inter-national airport in Abuja. Theplanned airport would thusjoin a fleet of already ongoingprojects within the airporttransport subsector: wealready note the $683 millionconstruction of five new ter-minals at five different air-ports across the countryawarded to China CivilEngineering ConstructionCorporation, as well as theredevelopment of five existingterminals, approved by thegovernment in February 2011.“Intels Nigeria was awarded acontract by the Nigerian gov-ernment for phase four of theOnne Port Complex at PortHarcourt in Rivers State. The$370.5 million projectincludes land reclamation,the widening of the channelentry, the construction ofthree new berths and theFederal Ocean Terminal, andthe enhancement of existingfacilities at the port. Intels,which has already completedthe first three phases of theproject, will undertake thework in order to allow theport to handle an increase ingas and oil shipments.

utive officer of the InfinitySystems Enterprises and there-by committed an offence pun-ishable under Section 484 ofthe Criminal Code Cap C17 Vol.2 Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria2003”.He was also accused of forg-ing Forms CM 001 and DAF 07addressed to the managingdirector and chief executiveofficer of the Central SecuritiesClearing Systems Limited withintent that it may be actedupon as genuine to the preju-dice of any person in Nigeriaor elsewhere and therebycommitted an offence punish-able under Section 467 of theCriminal Code.

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THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 201326

ILO moves against workplace homophobia, transphobia

Medical students protest partial passage of violence bill

From Emeka Anuforo, Abuja

THE Nigerian MedicalStudents Association

(NIMSA) has faulted the pas-sage of the Violence AgainstPersons Prohibition (VAPP)Bill by the House ofRepresentatives without theinclusion of women rights.

The piece of legislation,which passed second readingin the House last March, seeksto eliminate violence andpunish perpetrators of gen-der-based violence in Nigeria.

But medical students, whostaged a rally around theThree Arms Zone inAbuja, called on the Senate toconsider reintroducing thecritical section of the bill thatwas expunged by the House.

The contentious Section 37(1)(iii) of the Bill, which wasdeleted in the version passedby the lower chamber notes:“Every woman shall have aright to health, which shall beunderstood to mean theenjoyment of the highestlevel of physical, mental andsocial well-being, health careservices, including thoserelated to family planning inparticular rural women shallhave the right to have accessto adequate health care facili-ties, including information,counselling and services infamily planning.

“Every woman shall have the

right to take decisions abouther health needs and require-ments. In particular, she shallhave the right to determinethe processes concerningreproduction in her body.Every woman shall have theright to enjoy reproductiverights including the right tomedical abortion in cases ofsexual assault, rape, incestand where the continuedpregnancy endangers the lifeor the physical, mental, psy-chological or emotionalhealth of the mother”.

Youth Consultant and for-mer National President of theAssociation, Dr. Eze Patrick,stressed the need for theyouths to stand up and play acrucial role in the next stageof the Bill, given  all the cir-cumstances that are prevail-ing in the country.

He said: “As youths, we alsohave to critically look at thebill and we want to start mak-ing important contributions,because if we do not do this,the future of the country maynot be to our benefit in thefuture and since we are thefuture leaders, we have tostart from this point. We arehoping that the Senate wouldbe able to look at this bill andbe able to look at the prob-lems that Nigerians are fac-ing.

“Domestic violence is a  veryimportant issue.  If we, as a

country, have laws that pro-tect the citizens from vio-lence, we will be sure thatthere will be a more peacefulenvironment for eveninvestors to come in. The lastpart and the most importantpart really is on the issue ofrape, incest and all that. The

bill should be able to cater forthe needs of women in thecountry.”

He went on: “We heard thatthat part of the bill was kickedout at the House of Reps. Weare hoping that the bill wouldbe brought back and lookedat critically, especially in con-

sideration of the Nigerianwoman and make sure thatshe is at the focal point of thisbill. This was why this bill wasstarted in the first place. In2009, when I was the nation-al president of this associa-tion, there was a corps mem-ber that was raped and mur-

dered in Maiduguri and weorganised similar rally likethis. It is a pity that we are stilldiscussing this bill in 2013.“It is my hope that the Senate

would take this matter seri-ously and include the impor-tant parts so that we can havea safer Nigeria for the future.”

THE International LabourOrganisation (ILO) is devis-

ing new ways of stemmingworkplace discrimination onthe grounds of sexual orienta-tion or gender identity.

Speaking on theInternational Day against,homophobia and transpho-bia, the ILO Director General,Guy Ryder, described theworld of work as a crucialarena for spearheading legal

change, ending stereotypesand promoting understand-ing of the need for dignity ofall human beings.

And in an effort at puttingyouths to work in Nigeria, theMinister of Labour andProductivity, ChukwuemekaWogu, will today commissiona 250-capacity skills acquisi-tion centre I Rimaye, KatsinaState.

The ILO chief stated thatthrough advancing workplacerights for women, personswith disabilities and peopleliving with HIV, the global jobwatch body has been, and con-tinues to be, at the forefront inadvancing human rights forall workers.

The progress in recognisingthe rights of Lesbian, Gay,Bisexual and Transgender

Lancaster alumni to tackle unemployment in Nigeria

LANCASTER MBA AlumniAssociation has been set up

in Nigeria to address the coun-try’s unemployment and facili-tate growth in the economythrough entrepreneurship,said the Director of MBAProgrammes in LancasterUniversity, Dr JonathanMatheny.

He spoke at the forum of thealumni at Four Point Hotel BySheraton in Lekki, with atheme: Growth Opportunitiesin Nigeria.

He said besides providingopportunity for business net-working, the Forum offers advi-

sory support for professionalsand business leaders in allspheres of life.

Matheny added: “The greatestinvestment usually is in humancapital,” he said. “If you canempower a person on how tothink with results, then the pos-sibilities are limitless. I will saywe are investing in the humanmind. The success of our pro-gramme is evident in theachievements of our alumniwhich is almost obvious.”

He said the university sets outto offer lifetime partnershipwith the alumni. “We supportalumni even after completionof studies. We offer careers sup-port, both in the UK and  over-

seas, networking groups, memo-rabilia and discounts for fami-lies.”Matheny said MBA helps achiev-

ers to become leaders in theirrespective fields. “It helps indi-viduals to explore the leaderwithin,” he said, adding that sev-eral of the alumni have movedinto higher positions in Nigeria.

The guest speaker at the event,Accenture’s Head of ProductOperating Group, Mrs. JulietAnammah, who spoke on“Growth Opportunities inNigeria,” said vast opportunitiesopened to Nigerian entrepre-neurs especially in the con-sumer goods segment.

(LGBT) people over the pastdecade is undeniable.However, major challengesremain.

On this important day forworld recognition of equalityfor all, the ILO affirms its com-mitment to strive for work-places free of discriminationon all grounds, including onthe basis of sexual orientationand gender identity.

Using international labourstandards to end discrimina-tion and the 1998 Declarationon Fundamental Principlesand Rights at Work, member

states have been vigilant inidentifying and opposingunfair treatment in the work-place; yet until recently, dis-crimination against LGBTpersons has not been a specif-ic focus of action.

He argued that this disposi-tion has changed and the ILOis now undertaking targetedresearch in a selected num-ber of countries to start track-ing workplace discrimina-tion on the basis of sexual ori-entation and gender identity,with a view to promotingworkplaces that champion

equality and diversity in all itsforms.

Promoting workplace rightsfor LGBT women and menreflects the attention beinggiven to such rights in otherUN’s fora. More than 60 mem-ber states have acknowledgedsexual orientation as a prohib-ited ground of discriminationunder the Discrimination(Employment andOccupation) Convention, 1958(No.111); and the ILO’sCommittee of Experts on theApplication of Standards andRecommendations has wel-comed this development.

Katsina gets new skills acquisition centreFrom Collins Olayinka, Abuja

Want Senate to include rights of women

Country Head, Olam Nigeria, Mukul Mathur (left); the awardee, John Anyanwu and his wife, Chinwe, at the Olam Nigeria 2013 Long Service Award inLagos…recently

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013 27

Appointments

By Chika Goodluck-Ogazi

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013APPOINTMENT28

From Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu,Benin City

AS part of its contributionto youth empowerment

and capacity building, theNigerian Bottling Company,recently said it has investedN75 million on the trainingof lady mechanics for fiveyears.

The company stated this inBenin City during the gradu-ation ceremony of the firstbatch of Lady mechanics

under the scheme, wherethe Minister of YouthDevelopment, Inuwa Abdul-Kadir, said youth unemploy-ment was a national concernwhich required a multi-sec-toral approach.

Represented by theDirector of YouthDevelopment, LucasJonathan, Abdul-Kadirdescribed the ceremony asunique as it was the first ofits kind in the history of thecountry where such a largenumber of female youth

have benefited from thegoodwill of a corporate enti-ty.

“By this singular act of

EqUITY Assurance Plc hasannounced the appoint-

ment of two Divisionaldirectors, promotion of 49workers.

According to a compa-ny’s statement, AdelekeHassan was appointedDirector, BusinessDevelopment while AdaobiNwakuche emergedDirector, CommercialBusiness.

Hassan, a seasonedInsurance professional andadministrator with diverseexperience spanning overtwo and half decades,joined Equity Assurance Plcin 2003. He is a member ofSociety of Fellow of the

Chartered InsuranceInstitute, London and alsoan Associate Member of theChartered InsuranceInstitute of Nigeria. Heholds a Masters of BusinessAdministration (MBA) fromAmbrose Alli University,Ekpoma. Nwakuche is a dynamic andseasoned Insurance practi-tioner with the ability toachieve exceptional results.She joined EquityAssurance Plc in 2013. Sheholds a Masters of BusinessAdministration (MBA) fromESUT Business School. She isan Alumnae of LagosBusiness School and amember of the Chartered

Insurance Institute ofNigeria and London.

Meanwhile, Four mem-bers of staff were promotedto the position ofControllers, two SeniorManagers became AssistantControllers, One Managergot elevated to the positionof Senior Manager, a DeputyManager became a Managerwhile three SeniorExecutives were promotedto the positions of AssistantManager. Others, who gotpromoted, include 37 mem-bers of staff within the lev-els of clerk to SeniorExecutive. While 38 mem-bers of staff got salary incre-ment.

training 50 young ladies forthree years as AutoMechanics, which includeinternship placement inreputable AutomobileOutfit such as PeugeotAutomobile Nigeria, ToyotaNigeria Limited, HondaMotors, Mitsubishi Chanraiand Tata Motors, Nigerian

Bottling Company PLC, hasnot only fulfilled its corpo-rate responsibility obliga-tions, but has demonstratedits passion for the uplift-ment our teeming youth,particularly, the womenfolk”, the Minister said.

He said his ministry wouldbe willing to partner with

NBC spends N75million to train lady mechanicsNBC in the implementationof its Youth EmpowermentProgrammes in the spirit ofthe Public PrivatePartnership Initiative.

In her speech, initiator ofthe Lady MechanicsProgramme, Mrs SandraAguebor-Akperuah said theprogramme was changingthe perception of Edo asfemale trafficker to femalemechanics, adding that thegoal of the programme is toempower young girls andwomen.

On his part, ManagingDirector of NBC, Ben Lagnatexpressed comitment totraining of the remainingtwo 50 batches of trainees.

TO address Nigeria’s risingdebt profile, the Institute

of Chartered Secretaries andAdministrators of Nigeria(ICSAN) has called for pru-dent management ofresources.

President/Chairman ofCouncil of ICSAN, TeslimBusari, made the call duringthe 39th yearly generalmeeting of the Institute heldat the Council Secretariat,Alausa, Ikeja Lagos at theweekend.

Busari, who frowned at theNigeria’s rising debt profile,said since there is nothingbad in securing foreignloans, the FederalGovernment must ensurethat such loans are directedat providing developmentalprojects to the people.

He said: “There is nothingbad in securing foreign

loans but we must ensurethat the loans are directedat projects that will providedevelopmental projects tothe people. The loans beingsecured must be directed atprojects that will be moni-tored and not to financefrivolous projects.

“In order to guide againstour rising debt profile, pru-dent management andaccountability of resourcesmust be our watchword inthis country and the loans

must be for developmentpurposes such that themoney  will be expended  insuch a way that it will gener-ate funds to repay the loans.

“When the Governmentproperly focus the loanssecured and direct them toproductive area, definitely,our debt profile will reduce,”the ICSAN boss stated.Busari urged members ofthe Institute to double theircommitments to ICSAN toenable it continue to pursueissues that are vital towardsmaking the professionattractive and a force to reck-on with in the country.

On the issue of emergencyrule, the Institute describedthe declaration of emer-gency rule in Borno, Yobeand Admawa States byPresident GoodluckJonathan as a good step inthe right direction.

ICSAN tasks govt on prudence

By this singular act of training 50 young ladies for three years asauto mechanics, which include internship placement in reputableautomobile outfit such as Peugeot Automobile Nigeria, ToyotaNigeria Limited, Honda Motors, Mitsubishi Chanrai and Tata

Motors, Nigerian Bottling Company Plc, has not only fulfilled its cor-porate responsibility obligations, but has demonstrated its passionfor the upliftment of our teeming youth, particularly, the women folk.

When the governmentproperly focus theloans secured anddirect them to productive area,

definitely, our debt profile will reduce.

Equity Assurance appoints two divisional directors

By Dele Fanimo

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APPOINTMENTS 29THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013

Maritime workers tackle NLNG over alleged breach of law

By Yetunde Ebosele and WoleOyebade

MARITIME workers havepetitioned President

Goodluck Jonathan overalleged violation of laws byNigeria Liquefied NaturalGas (NLNG) Limited and itsrefusal to pay statutorylevies.And barring quick interven-tion by Mr. President, theworkers, under the aegis ofMaritime Workers Union ofNigeria (MWUN), mayembark on industrial action,closing all ports across thecountry in the next threeweeks.In an open letter read in

Lagos, the union drew theattention of PresidentJonathan to the lingeringface-off between their regula-tory agency - NigeriaMaritime Administrationand Safety Agency (NIMASA)and NLNG, over the latter’srefusal to pay levies mandat-ed by the law of the land.Addressing the workers at

Apapa port, PresidentGeneral of the Union,Emmanuel Nted, noted thatNLNG had violated the lawthat established NIMASA(NIMASA Act 2007) and itssection 15, which stipulatedthat the agency shall be fund-ed by “three per cent of grossfreight on all internationalinbound and outbound car-goes from ships or shippingcompanies operating inNigeria.”He observed that NIMASA

was the only agency of gov-ernment saddled with mar-itime labour issues in

Nigeria, particularly asregards the training ofSeafarers and Dockworkers.

“It is, therefore, in thisrespect that we are particu-larly surprised to learn ofthe flagrant refusal of theNLNG to pay the statutorylevies due to the govern-ment on it’s shipping activi-ties as well as the two percent on its cabotage activi-ties in Nigeria’s coastalwaters.“The said refusal by the

NLNG to pay the accumulat-ed three per cent grossfreight on its business activi-ties from its inception in1989 to date has drasticallyreduced the revenue avail-able to NIMASA and in turnundermined its ability tocarry out its operations, per-form its statutory responsi-bilities and in particularcompromised its ability tomeet its core functions withrespect to maritime labourissues in Nigeria,” Nted said.He stressed that NLNG as aforeign company - 59 percent foreign-owned and 41per cent Nigerian - must besubjected to the laws ofNigeria being its host coun-try.While the NLNG might

argue that it had a 10 yearstax rebate agreement withthe Nigerian government,Nted said it was pertinentfor the government to notethat the agreement lapsedabout four years ago.“And if the agreement has

been extended, governmentmust find out who extendedit and when. It is right forthe Federal Government to

quickly wade into this crisis;compel the NLNG to payNIMASA without delay, allaccumulated three per centlevies on gross freight andtwo per cent surcharge due

on its cabotage contracts toNIMASA within 21 days, fail-ing which our Union may becompelled to shut down allthe ports in the Federation,”he said.

Secretary General of theunion, Aham Ubani, addedthat continuous refusal ofNLNG to meet its statutoryresponsibility with respectto payment of taxes and

levies due for its operationposes danger to the workerswelfare, coupled with nega-tive precedent it would setamong other companiesoperation in the industry.

Nigeria’s young leaders for global summit

YOUNG leaders fromNigeria will have an

important role to play at theforthcoming One YoungWorld summit scheduled forJohannesburg, South Africafrom October 2 to October 5.According to Africa Directorof One Young World,

Catherine Peter, who visitedLagos to meet with youngleaders and partners, notedthat the enormous poten-tial of Nigeria in all facets ofthe economy has beenrecognised, stressing thatthis formed one of the rea-sons why the country isbeing invited for the forum.Now in its fourth year, One

Young World is a charity thathosts a yearly summit, bring-ing together 1,300 exception-al young people to find solu-tions to local, regional andglobal challenges.Peter said 2013 marks the

first time Africa plays host toa One Young World summit.“Nigeria is a powerhouse onthe African continent, there-

fore it’s crucial the countrysends a strong delegation tothe first ever African-hostedOne Young World summit.“One Young World is all

about impact and encourag-ing leaders of the futurefrom all industries to drivetangible change when theyreturn home from the sum-mit.”

• Threaten to shut ports

By Toyin Olasinde

Members of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), led by their President General, Emmanuel Nted (middle), at rally in appreciation ofPresident Goodluck Jonathan’s approval of overseas training for about 3,000 maritime workers in Lagos…recently. PHOTO: WOLE OYEBADE

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 201330

ScienceGuardianTHE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013 31

IN case I’ve gotten youtensed up, with this techni-

cal jargon, NASA’s Dr. TonyPhillips has a suggestion torelieve your frayed nerves.Go out on these dates, headvises, and face the twilighthorizon:May 24th, when Mercury’s

approach to Venus givesshape to the triangle, whichmaterialises fully May 26th;and on the 28th, whenVenus passes close toJupiter.It’s just what the doctor

ordered.That’s the slightly modifiedending of last week’s col-umn, “A Triangle In The Sky”.It was somehow omittedfrom the hard copy edition,but included in the onlineversion.Happy birthday NASRDA!What could be more apt thisweek, than to say, “HappyBirthday” to the NationalSpace Research andDevelopment Agency (NASR-DA) -whose 14th Anniversaryfell on May 5.Nigeria’s interest in space

actually pre-dates NASRDA.In fact, this country was for-merly a part of the U.S. DeepSpace Network - a global sys-tem of tracking stations,which keeps the NationalAeronautics and SpaceAdministration (NASA) intouch with its orbitingspacecraft.“Nigeria had been interest-

ed in having monitor nodesfor tracking foreign satel-lites,” Dr. Vincent OlusegunOlunloyo, DistinguishedProfessor of SystemsEngineering at theUniversity of Lagos, oncetold me, “as far back as thePresidency of John F.Kennedy in the U.S.A.”A fascinating historical foot-note is that Kennedy andTafawa Balewa, Nigeria’sfirst Prime Minister,engaged in what Dr. AdigunAde Abiodun, a retiredUnited Nations Specialist onSpace Applications, believeswere the world’s first satel-lite-transmitted voice com-munication.

“What,” you might ask,“would have been the topicof these historic talks?” Well,Nigeria’s Dick Tiger had justdefeated Gene Fulmer, anAmerican. Hence Balewareportedly said to Kennedy,“I’m happy Dick Tiger beatyour boxer!”

No wonder NASA laterremoved its equipmentfrom the country! But thisdidn’t end Nigeria’s spaceambitions.

Most of the militaryregimes included satellitedeployment in their devel-opment plans. UntilPresident Obasanjo fundedNASRDA, in 1999, though,the “space” component ofthese “rolling plans”amounted to little morethan numbered paragraphs.

AS part of efforts to addressincreasing demand for

energy and the attendantpressure on the climate due tohigh carbon dioxide (CO2)emissions from fossil fuelslike coal, scientists have madeprogress in search for cleanand affordable alternativeswith Thiopaq for the treat-ment of biogas and cheap syn-thetic polymer materialinstead of nickel and steel forthe storage of LiquefiedNatural Gas (LNG).

The scientists led byresearchers at ShellTechnology CentreArmsterdam (STCA), TheNetherlands have indeedadvanced research into newtechnologies for the produc-tion of biofuels from inediblewaste products, CO2 storagepossibilities and energy sav-ing technologies.The THIOPAQ process was

originally marketed byPaques to be used solely forthe treatment of Biogas,which is produced by anaero-bic digestion of wastewater.Cooperation with ShellInternational has led to fur-ther development of theprocess and resulted in theTHIOPAQ O&G process. According to a study titled

“Rationally synthesized two-dimensional polymers” andpublished in May 2013 editionof Nature Chemistry syntheticpolymers exhibit diverse anduseful properties and influ-ence most aspects of modernlife.The study reads: “Many poly-

The Space Agency took off inturbulent political winds;and the sailing was anythingbut smooth. NASRDA’s climbto pre-eminence, as a paras-tatal, was through swirlingcurrents of doubt, ridiculeand even animosity.Much of the turbulence hassubsided now, of course-thanks to an aggressivemedia and public relationscampaign, which has engen-dered a rising level of nation-al awareness. Added to this,is the Agency’s outstandingperformance under its firsttwo directors general.No two men could be moredifferent. Professor RobertAjaiyi Boroffice, NASRDA’sfounding Chief Executive-now Chairman of the SenateCommittee On Science andTechnology-is an articulateintellectual and a tirelessactivist.His successor, Dr. Siedu O.

Mohammed is, by contrast, areticent technocrat-a special-ist in remote sensing.Boroffice is the pushy, con-quering pioneer, whileMohammed is the stubbornconsolidator. Both men werejust what the agency needed,at the time they came along.NASRDA’s plighted incuba-

tion parallels the evolutionof the “Astronomy” column.Indeed, the space Agency is,in a sense, among the mid-wives of The Guardian’sgroundbreaking journalisticventure.That many of my earliest

columns were devoted toNASRDA is by no means acci-dental. It is a result of twotrips, one to the Agency’s oldMissau Street office and theother to the African RegionalCentre for Space Science andTechnology Education (ARC-SSTE) at Il-Ife.

I arrived at ObafemiAwolowo University, to findthat no accommodationcould be arranged for mebecause ARCSSTE was broke.So Prof. E.E. Balogun kept mein the home of the universityPublic Relations Officer forthree nights.

My talks with Balogunturned out to be a personalRite of Passage: An initiationinto the NASRDA sect, so tospeak. It was my Coming ofAge as an Astronomy andSpace Science columnist.I went to Abuja seeking an

audience with Prof.Boroffice, whom I’d nevermet. Instead, I was referredto his deputy - a slim, soft-spoken Igala. Mohammedexplained that the D.G. wasaway, then handed me acopy of the “National SpaceProgramme”.The “Programme” became

my constant companion, ahandbook I would turn totime and time again, andselect topics to write about.Thank you NASRDA: And

Happy Anniversary! Concluded.

Scientists make progress in searchfor alternatives to fossil fuel

We use a lot of nickel and steel to buildthe storage facility for LNG but thecost of the project was very high forShell. So we were commissioned tofind a cheaper and more effective orequally effective alternative. We now

found this polymer after muchresearch and we now use this polymerinstead of steel for the storage of LNG

merisation methods providelinear or branched macromol-ecules, frequently with out-standing functional-group tol-erance and molecular weightcontrol. In contrast, extendingpolymerisation strategies totwo-dimensional periodicstructures is in its infancy, andsuccessful examples haveemerged only recentlythrough molecular frame-work, surface science and crys-tal engineering approaches. “In this Review, we describe

successful 2D polymerisationstrategies, as well as seminalresearch that inspired theirdevelopment. These methodsinclude the synthesis of 2Dcovalent organic frameworksas layered crystals and thinfilms, surface-mediated poly-merisation of polyfunctionalmonomers, and solid-statetopochemical polymerisa-tions. Early application targetsof 2D polymers include gasseparation and storage, opto-electronic devices and mem-branes, each of which mightbenefit from predictable long-

range molecular organizationinherent to this macromolec-ular architecture.”A fact sheet of the STCA madeavailable to The Guardian bythe Shell Spokesperson, RossWhittam, during a visit of thefacility by the Nigerian team tothe 2013 Shell Eco-Marathon inAnhoy Rotterdam, TheNetherlands, showed that theCentre is one of the three mostimportant Shell research cen-tres in the world and the com-pany in 2012 invested overN208 billion ($1.3 billion) inresearch and development,which is more than any otherinternational oil and gasmajor, a significant portion ofwhich was spent in STCA.Manager at the Materials andCorrossion Department ofSTCA, Frans Jansen, told TheGuardian during a visit of thefacilities last week: “We use alot of nickel and steel to buildthe storage facility for LNG butthe cost of the project was veryhigh for Shell. So we were com-missioned to find a cheaperand more effective or equally

effective alternative. We nowfound this polymer aftermuch research and we nowuse this polymer instead ofsteel for the storage of LNG.”Jansen, however, said that thepolymer developed by Shell isthree-dimensional.

Manager, Gas ProcessingDesign at STCA, Gerard van derZwet, told The Guardian thatthe THIOPAQ O&G Process is tomake sure that the LNG doesnot contain sulphur and CO2using bacteria. He said thatthe key lies in the biologicalaspect, that is the regenera-tion of the bicarbonate solu-tion by the activity of the bac-teria, which belong to thegroup of naturally occurringsulphide oxidising organismssuch as Thiobacilli. “These areautotrophic organisms,which means that CO2 isrequired as their sole carbonsource. The organisms are nat-urally occurring and are notgenetically manipulated ormodified,” he said.Zwet further explained: “The

bacteria population is harm-less to the environment, fast-growing and highly resistantto varying process conditions.The energy needed for growthis obtained from the sulphideoxidation process. The photoon the right shows the mainbody of a bacterium withlumps of elemental sulphur asthese are excreted from thebody. “The bacteria have proven tobe extremely robust in theface of a variety of challenges,which is demonstrated by thefact that not a single applica-tion has required a colonyreplacement since the firstunit started up in 1993.”

Thiopaq process

A triangle in the sky

ASTRONOMYWith J. K. Obatala

Shell invests N208 billion on research in 2012From Chukwuma Muanya,Armsterdam

‘

‘

32 SCIENCE HEALTH THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013

Scientists embrace innovative health technologies By Chukwuma Muanya

Malaria parasite drives mosquitoes to human scent

MEDICAL devices havebeen shown to be indis-

pensable tools for prevention,diagnosis, treatment andrehabilitation in health caredelivery.

Scientists and medicalexperts including theNigerian Medical Association(NMA) say eHealth solutions -from simple SMS appoint-ment reminders on a mobilephone, to more complex elec-tronic medical record sys-tems - are powerful approach-es in the use of informationand communication tech-nologies to support healthsystems and services. However, despite the expo-

nential growth of scientificand technological develop-ment, recent studies haveshown that availability of andaccess to appropriate andaffordable medical devicesand eHealth solutions in low-and middle-income countriessuch as are still inadequate. A systematic review of evalu-ations of e-health implemen-tations in developing coun-tries by United Statesresearchers from Brighamand Women’s Hospital inBrookline, Massachusettsfound that systems thatimprove communicationbetween institutions, assist inordering and managing med-ications, and help monitorand detect patients whomight abandon care showpromise.According to the study pub-

lished recently in HealthAffinity, titled “E-health tech-nologies show promise indeveloping countries” evalua-

tions of personal digital assis-tants and mobile devices con-vincingly demonstrate thatsuch devices can be very effec-tive in improving data collec-tion time and quality. Donorsand funders should requireand sponsor outside evalua-tions to ensure that future e-health investments are well-targeted.The researchers found that

eHealth technologiesimproves continuity of care toenhance patient and physi-cian satisfaction by streamlin-ing and largely automatingtransitions of care and by pro-viding any external medicalrecord and diagnostic qualityimage - when and where it isneeded.

Dutch researchersDepartment of Psychology,Health andTechnology/Centre foreHealth Research and DiseaseManagement, Faculty ofBehavioural Sciences,University of Twente,Enschede, Netherlands inanother study concluded: “Todemonstrate the impact ofeHealth technologies moreeffectively, a fresh way ofthinking is required abouthow technology can be usedto innovate health care. It alsorequires new concepts andinstruments to develop andimplement technologies inpractice. The proposed frame-work serves as an evidence-based roadmap.”

The study published inJournal of Medicine andInternet Resident is titled “Aholistic framework toimprove the uptake andimpact of eHealth technolo-gies.”

Meanwhile, the NMA has rec-ommended electronic health(e-health) to improve servicedelivery.The NMA said the concept ofe-health is safe, secure, ethicaland cost-effective transmis-sion, exchange, sharing anddissemination of health dataand information, through theutilisation of applicationssuch as mobile health (m-health), telemedicine andelectronic health records.President NMA, Dr. Osahon

Enabulele, told The Guardianthat the implementation of astrategic e-health agenda andpolicy by the Nigerian govern-ment will greatly help to

advance healthcare deliveryin Nigeria, particularly in theface of the chronic shortageof health care professionalsand limited resources with itsconsequent negative impacton the management ofNigeria’s disease burden. Enabulele said the NMA in

recognition of the benefits ofe-health is willing and pre-pared to collaborate andcooperate with the federalgovernment and other stake-holders to urgently put inplace an effective strategy forthe implementation of e-health in Nigeria, particularlyone that includes a formida-ble governance and informa-

tion architecture, as well asadequate resources andfinances for its implementa-tion in order to realize itsimmense benefits.

Meanwhile, the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO)has called for innovativehealth technologies: medicaldevices and eHealth solutionsfor low-resource settings 2013.

The WHO said medicaldevices and eHealth solutionshave the potential to improvelives but too many peopleworldwide suffer becausethey do not have access to theappropriate health technolo-gies. This call highlights theimportance of these innova-

tive technologies towardsimproved health outcomesand the quality of life.WHO said it aims to raise

awareness of the pressingneed for appropriate designsolutions with aCompendium series, whichwas initiated to encourage adialogue between stakehold-ers and stimulate furtherdevelopment and technologydissemination. The yearly publication servesas a neutral platform to intro-duce health technologies thathave the potential to improvehealth outcomes or to offer asolution to an unmet medicalneed.

THE notoriously crafty par-asite that causes malaria

may have yet another trickup its sleeve scientists havelearned: It makes mosqui-toes that carry it moreattracted to human body

odor, a new study suggests. Compared with non-infect-

ed mosquitoes, those carry-ing Plasmodium falciparum,the most dangerous of theparasites that carry malaria,visited a fabric covered witha person’s sweat far more fre-quently, researchers report.Hundreds of millions of

people have malaria, andmore than 500,000 die of iteach year. Plasmodium’sability to manipulate itshosts could help explain its

ability to infect so many peo-ple. Researchers have foundthat infected mosquitoestake longer blood mealsthan non-infected ones,increasing the odds that theparasite will be passed on.Since mosquitoes find theirprey-using odor, scientistshave wondered whether theparasite affects its host’ssense of smell. A 2007 studyfound that a species ofPlasmodium parasite thatcauses malaria in rodents

could alter mosquitoes’olfactory proteins.To study how the parasite

affects mosquitoes’ attrac-tion to people, a team led byRenate Smallegange, then ofWageningen University andResearch Centre in theNetherlands, collected footsweat from a volunteer whowore nylon stockings for 20hours. Then her team putthe odor-laced fabric in acage with two groups ofAnopheles gambiae, mos-quitoes that transmit themalaria parasite to people.One group was infectedwith Plasmodium falciparum;the other wasn’t.Infected mosquitoes land-

ed on the fabric three timesas frequently as did non-infected mosquitoes, theresearchers found.

“It’s a very interesting,although somewhat prelim-inary, result,” says MichaelRiehle, an entomologist atthe University of Arizona inTucson. He notes that theexperiment used only 176mosquitoes and just oneperson’s sweat.The researchers don’t knowhow the parasite manipu-lates mosquitoes’ sense ofsmell. It’s also unclearwhich component ofhuman odor is the mostattractive to the mosqui-toes. That informationcould help researchersdevelop traps to catchinfected mosquitoes, theresearchers say.

Coordinator, Partnership for Transforming Health System Phase Two (PATHS2), Dr. Mike Eghoh (left); Senior Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Health,Dr. Ibrahim Labaran; and the Executive Director/CEO, NPHCDA, Dr. Ado Muhammad, at the launch of the NPHCDA Strategic Plan: 2013-2016 in Abuja… recently.

NaturalHealthTHE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013 33

By Chukwuma Muanya

Asystemic review of thelong-term effects of

breastfeeding by a team ofresearchers from the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO)found that even though thetrue effects may be underes-timated, analyses at sevenyears of age showed signifi-cant effects on IntelligenceQuotient (IQ). The present analyses, whichrelied on a considerably larg-er evidence base, including60 additional studies pub-lished in the last five yearsfound no association withblood pressure or over-weight/obesity. However, noresults were given for choles-terol, diabetes or glucose lev-els.The study was published

last week in the WHO LibraryCataloguing-in-PublicationData. The researchers include: Dr.Bernardo L. Horta, and Dr.Cesar G. Victora, of theUniversidade Federal dePelotas, Pelotas, Brazil.The meta-analyses of over-

weight/obesity, blood pres-sure, diabetes and intelli-gence suggest that benefitsare larger for children andadolescents, and smallestamong adults, suggesting agradual dilution of the effectwith time.Another study published in

Proceedings of the NationalAcademy of Sciences byresearchers at the Universityof Pittsburgh School ofMedicine and Children’sHospital (UPMC) found thatan ingredient, which natu-rally occurs in breast-milkmight be used to preventpremature babies fromdeveloping a deadly intestin-al condition that currently islargely incurable.

The study showed thatunlike normal mice, thosebred to lack toll-like receptor4 (TLR4) in their blood ves-sels did not develop necro-tizing enterocolitis (NEC) ina model designed to inducethe condition. TLR4 is an immune proteinthat is involved in recogniz-ing microbes and whichthey recently discoveredplays a role in gut develop-ment.The WHO team concluded:

“This meta-analysis suggeststhat breastfeeding is associ-ated with increased per-formance in intelligencetests in childhood and ado-lescence, of 3.5 points onaverage. Maternal IQ is animportant confounder, butit accounts for only part ofthis association – evenamong those studies thatadjusted for maternal intelli-gence, breastfeeding wasassociated with an addition-al 2.19 IQ points. The twoexisting randomized trial onthis issue also reported sig-

• WHO study dismisses link with reduced blood pressure, obesity risk

How breastfeeding boosts IQ, preventsdeadly intestinal problem

nificant benefits of breast-feeding, suggesting that thisassociation is causal.“On the other hand, the

practical implications of asmall increase in the per-formance in intelligencetests may be open to debate.Nevertheless, one Brazilianstudy suggests that breast-feeding is associated withachieved schooling in ado-lescents, in a populationwhere breastfeeding dura-tion does not presentmarked variability by socioe-conomic position.”

Senior author, WatsonFamily Professor of Surgery,Pitt School of Medicine, andco-director of the FetalDiagnosis and TreatmentCenter at Children’sHospital, Prof. DavidHackam, said the storybegins with a baby who isborn too early, meaningbefore 36 weeks gestation.Once stable, typically thebaby is fed with formulabecause often breast milk isnot readily available to pre-mature infants.Hackam explained: “Withinabout 10 days of birth, thebaby starts to vomit and afew hours later, the bellybecomes distended and dis-colored. It becomes clearthat the child has developeda major problem in his orher tummy, and an X-Raywill usually confirm thediagnosis of necrotizing

enterocolitis, or NEC, inwhich the intestinal tissue isdying. We have no choicebut to remove the dead partsof the intestine, but despitesurgery, half of these pre-emie babies still die from thecondition.”Hackam and his team notedNEC occurs when the intes-tines start getting colonizedwith bacteria, a process thatoccurs normally after birth.They focused on toll-likereceptor TLR4, an immuneprotein that is involved inrecognizing microbes andwhich they recently discov-ered plays a role in gut devel-opment. In the current work,Hackam and colleaguesfound that TLR4 is present inhigher amounts in the bloodvessel lining in preemiesthan in full-term babies.The findings indicate that

bacteria in the blood acti-vate TLR4 leading to a reduc-tion in nitric oxide, which inturn narrows blood vesselsand decreases blood flow.Previous studies have estab-lished that breastfeedinghas well-established short-term benefits, particularlythe reduction of morbidityand mortality due to infec-tious diseases in childhood. A pooled analysis of studiescarried out in middle/lowincome countries showedthat breastfeeding substan-tially lowers the risk of deathfrom infectious diseases in

the first two years of life.Based on data from the

United KingdomMillennium Cohort, Quigleyet al estimated that optimalbreastfeeding practicescould prevent a substantialproportion of hospitaladmissions due to diarrheaand lower respiratory tractinfection.A systematic review by

Kramer et al confirmedthat exclusive breastfeed-ing in the first six monthsdecreases morbidity fromgastrointestinal and aller-gic diseases, without anynegative effects on growth.Given such evidence, it hasbeen recommended that inthe first six months of life,every child should be exclu-sively breastfed, with par-tial breastfeeding contin-ued until two years of age.

The researchers wrote:“Building upon the strongevidence on the short-termeffects of breastfeeding, thepresent review addressesits long-term conse-quences. Current evidence,mostly from high-incomecountries, suggests thatoccurrence of non-commu-nicable diseases may beprogrammed by exposuresoccurring during gestationor in the first years of life(five to seven). “Early diets, including the

type of milk received, is oneof the key exposures that

may influence the develop-ment of adult diseases.”The WHO team, in 2007,

carried out a systematicreview and meta-analysis onthe long-term conse-quences of breastfeeding.The Department ofMaternal, Newborn, Childand Adolescent Health ofthe WHO has now commis-sioned an update of thisreview. The following long-term

out- comes were reviewed:blood pressure, type-2 dia-betes, serum cholesterol,overweight and obesity, andintellectual performance.These outcomes are of greatinterest to researchers, asmade evident by the num-ber of publications identi-fied: 60 new publicationswere identified since 2006.

On long-term effect ofbreastfeeding on total cho-lesterol, the researchersfound there was no effect inthe overall meta-analyses.“In the 2007 review, therewas a significant effectamong adults, which is nolonger present in the updat-ed analyses. The UK trial ofpreterm infants showed asmall protective effect,while the Belarus trial didnot report on this outcome.We conclude that breast-feeding does not seem toprotect against total choles-terol levels.”

On blood pressure, the

THE disruption of sleepand other bodily

rhythms that often accom-panies clinical depressionmay leave a mark on thebrain. A study of gene activity in

the brains of people whosuffered from depressionreveals that their dailyclocks were probably out ofwhack. “This is really important

work, amazing work,” saysNoga Kronfeld-Schor, aphysiologist who special-izes in circadian rhythms atTel Aviv University. “There’sbeen indirect evidence, butthis clearly shows a connec-tion between disrupted cir-cadian cycles and depres-sion.”

In mammals, dailyrhythms such as sleep, hor-mone cycles and eating pat-terns are guided by a mas-ter clock in the brain whoserhythms are maintained inpart by genes and patternsof light and darkness. Themaster clock can get out ofsync with clocks elsewherein the brain and body. Thisdiscord, for example, pro-duces the out-of-sorts feel-ing of jet lag, says Jun Li, astatistical geneticist at theUniversity of Michigan inAnn Arbor.People with depression

also often have off-kilterbody rhythms. But themolecular and cellularmechanisms behind thesedisrupted cycles have beenhard to pin down. Li and hiscolleagues took an ambi-tious approach with anunusual set of samples: thebrains, removed just afterdeath, of 34 people withdepression and 55 peoplewho didn’t suffer fromdepression. All of the peoplehad died suddenly, fromheart attacks or suicide, forexample, and each brainwas immediately put on ice,Li says.After determining how

long after sunrise each per-son’s death was, the teamlooked at what genes wereturned on in six brainregions, gathering a total of12,000 records of gene activ-ity. Among nondepressedpeople, patterns were pret-ty predictable. One gene’sactivity, for example, consis-tently peaked at sunrise,another’s at midday, Li says.But in the depressed brains,gene activity seemeduncoupled from time ofday. Their patterns of activi-ty also weren’t as pre-dictable.

The research doesn’tdemonstrate whetherdepression causes the circa-dian disruption or viceversa, but it confirms a linkand might lead to investiga-tions of the physiologicalprocesses that are affected,says Ying-Hui Fu a molecu-lar biologist and geneticistat the University ofCalifornia, San Francisco.

Changes in body’sclock linked todepression

Breastfeeding...associated with better Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

34 SCIENCE HEALTH THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013

WHO raises alarm over possible pandemic of two new viruses

From Chukwuma Muanya, Geneva

THE World HealthOrganisation (WHO) has

raised alarm over the threat tohuman existence of two newviruses that are mutating atfrightening levels: humaninfections with a novel coronavirus from the same family asSARS, which were first detect-ed last year in the EasternMediterranean Region with 41cases, including 20 deathsand the first-ever humaninfections with the H7N9avian influenza virus withmore than 100 additionalcases were confirmed threeweeks.Director General of the WHO,Dr. Margaret Chan, yesterdayin her opening address at the66th session of the WorldHealth Assembly (WHA) inGeneva, Switzerland warnedthat although recent progresson tuberculosis and malariahad been encouraging, it wasincreasingly threatened bythe spread of resistance tomainstay medicines, and ifthe world is not careful, all thehard-won gains could godown the drain.

Chan also said that thespread of antimicrobial resist-ance was rendering more andmore first-line treatments forTB and malaria useless. Meanwhile, the Minister of

Health, Prof. OnyebuchiChukwu, in his address to theassembly yesterday promiseddelegates that the NationalAssembly was revising the

National Bill, which would bepassed into law before the endof this year.Chukwu said: “The National

Health Bill has been returnedto the National Assembly fol-lowing the resolution of somecontentious issues. TheAssembly is currently revisingthe Bill and we are optimisticthat it will be passed into lawbefore the end of this year. TheNational Health Act will pro-vide additional funding forthe strengthening of PrimaryHealth Care. The additionalfunds will provide financialaccess for all Nigerians to thedefined minimum package ofhealth care as well as providefinancial guarantee for emer-gency medical services.”

On the post 2015Development Agenda,Chukwu enjoined WHO andmember states to remaincommitted and continue tointensify current collectiveefforts to ensure that healthremains a priority. He saidthat one way to do this, was toinsist that the saying, ‘health iswealth’, takes priority over theconverse that ‘wealth ishealth’. The health minister said thatwomen and children’s health,Human Immuno-deficiencyVirus (HIV)/Acquired ImmuneDeficiency Syndrome (AIDS),malaria, tuberculosis, theNeglected Tropical Diseases(NTDs), Non-CommunicableDiseases (NCDs), humanresources for health and uni-versal health coverage must

with development partners,Nigeria recently concludedthe Global Adult TobaccoSurvey (GATS) and the resultwas awaiting formal presenta-tion by the president.He also said that other effortsat NCD control include plansto subsidise mass screeningfor risk factors for stroke andother cardiovascular diseaseslater in 2013, and a majorreview of the mental healthact, now outdated, which isabout to be sent to theNational Assembly for pas-sage. Chukwu said that due to its

high burden, Nigeria had alsoaccorded heamoglo-binopathies greater impor-tance through strengtheningcapacities of health care facili-ties and health care workersto provide adequate care andtreatment to the affected peo-ple. “Trauma related morbidity

and mortality is also receivingattention with the establish-ment of new trauma centresand the upgrading of olderones. A new National RoadSafety Strategy Documentwhich meets the aspirationsof the UN Decade of Action isalmost ready.”Chan said: “We are dealing

with two new diseases rightnow. Human infections with anovel corona virus, from thesame family as SARS, were firstdetected last year in theEastern MediterraneanRegion. To date, 41 cases,including 20 deaths, havebeen reported. Though thenumber of cases remains

small, limited human-to-human transmission hasoccurred and health careworkers have been infected.“At the end of March this year,China reported the first-everhuman infections with theH7N9 avian influenza virus.Within three weeks, morethan 100 additional caseswere confirmed. Although thesource of human infectionwith the virus is not yet fullyunderstood, the number ofnew cases dropped dramati-cally following the closing oflive bird markets.

“...At present, human-to-human transmission of thevirus is negligible. However,influenza viruses constantlyreinvent themselves. No onecan predict the future courseof this outbreak.

“These two new diseasesremind us that the threatfrom emerging and epidemic-prone diseases is ever-present.Constant mutation and adap-tation are the survival mecha-nisms of the microbial world.It will always deliver surprises. “Going forward, we must

maintain a high level of vigi-lance. I cannot overemphasizethe importance of immediateand fully transparent report-ing to WHO, and of strictadherence to your obligationsset out in the InternationalHealth Regulations. “As was the case ten years ago,the current situationdemands collaboration andcooperation from the entireworld. A threat in one regioncan quickly become a threatto all.”

be on the agenda.Chukwu said that Nigeria

was accelerating her efforts toensure the attainment of theMillennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs) and remindedthe Assembly that the govern-ment of Nigeria and theAfrican Union would host theAbuja +12 summit in July 2013.He also said that the summit,which focuses on the MDG 6(combat HIV/AIDS, malariaand other diseases) wouldreview the implementation ofthe Abuja declaration andchart the way forward.

The minister of health saidthat Nigeria remained com-mitted to the control of NCDs.He said that due to the impactof tobacco use as a risk factorfor many of the NCDs, Nigeriahad revised its anti-tobaccobill, which sought to institu-tionalise more stringentmeasures to disincentivisethe production, distributionand use of tobacco and tobac-co products. Chukwu said that this bill

was returned to the NationalAssembly for passage.Similarly in collaboration

Chan

• Alerts on rise in resistance to TB, malaria, antibiotic drugs

SCIENCE & HEALTH 35 THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013

Two-way referral system boosts safe delivery in LagosASTRATEGY to enhance serv-

ice delivery, known as ‘two-way referral system’ is yieldingdividends in safe delivery insome private and publichealthcare facilities in Lagos.The referral system, a two-wayrelationship between a pri-mary – healthcare provider orfacility and a higher-level hos-pital, was initiated byPartnership for TransformingHealth Systems II (PATHS2) toenhanced comprehensiveemergency services, especiallyin obstetric care, reduce infantand maternal mortality in thefocal local government areas.

A recent visit to OguduPrimary Health Centre (PHC),in Kosofe Local Council Area(LGA) of the state revealed thatwomen are benefiting from apublic-to-private hospitalreferral initiative.One of the beneficiaries is

Lola Stevens. She had lost herfirst pregnancy and requiredto undergo a CaesareanSection (CS) to save the sec-ond. The cost of N150, 000 forCS would be an uphill task forStevens, but was assured notto worry. Stevens benefited from a

Memorandum of Agreement(MoA), signed in 2012 between

PATHS2 and six private healthfacilities in Lagos, which enti-tled indigent patients to a 50 to70 per cent rebate on cost ofcare.The hospitals were selected incollaboration with the stateMinistry of Health, theAssociation of General PrivateNursing Practitioners (AGPNP)and the Association of GeneralPrivate Medical Practitioners ofNigeria (AGPMPN).It was big relief to Stevens. Theoperation was to cost N150,000, but courtesy of the MoA,she paid half the cost, and hadaccess to the best availablecare. Part of the MoA is that

Resident doctors chart path to effective training

WORRIED by the downwardtrend of residency train-

ing in the country, residentdoctors will at their 2013Ordinary General Meeting(OGM), discuss the status ofspecialist training in Nigeria,with a view to repositioningthe key aspect of capacitybuilding in the health sector.The doctors, under the aegis ofNational Association ofResident Doctors (NARD), atthe conference in Lagos, comeup with a scientific paper onspecialists training for bothFederal and State governmentsto consider.Speaking at an event to heraldthe weeklong OGM on Tuesday,President of the ARD, LagosState University TeachingHospital (LASUTH) branch, Dr.Olujimi Sodipo, said delegatesacross the federation would bediscussing factors militatingagainst the proper implemen-tation of residency training inNigeria and thorny issues ofdichotomy between Federaland State-owned hospitals.Sodipo noted that a shortfall

in the number of resident doc-tors in hospitals and theirinability to seek overseas train-ing account for the deteriora-tion in various aspects of spe-cialists training in Nigeria.He observed that residency

training is a global phenome-non, moving in the same direc-tion with innovations in med-ical technology and therapy.“But, we are having ‘Nigeriandoctors’ and not ‘doctors inNigeria’ because we cannotkeep tabs on latest happeningsin medicine and specialisttraining around the world,” hesaid.Sodipo, a public health physi-cian, added that the scientificconference would also availthem the opportunity to exam-ine what available trainingmight be doing wrongly, suchas had encouraged medicaltourism among the politicalclass.“We are assessing how special-ists training can reverse theugly trend of medical tourism,which is currently leading tomajor economic and humanresources loss in the country,”he said.Secretary General of the ARD-LASUTH, Dr. Ahmad Sa’eid,added that the OGM meetingsessions would enable dele-gates from Teaching Hospitalsand Federal Medical Centres togive reports on the status ofspecialists training in theirhospitals and a scientific paperwould be submitted to boththe Federal and state govern-ments at the end of the confer-ence on May 26, 2013.“We hope that issues that are

FMC chairman seeks facilityupgrade

THE new board Chairman ofthe Federal Medical Centre

(FMC) Umuahia, Abia state, Dr.Wakil Chibok, has called forthe upgrading of the centre toa teaching hospital. Chibok made the call at the

centre recently, when he ledmembers of the board oninspection of the centre.

He noted that the facilityavailable at the FMC were ade-quate to operate a teachinghospital and surpass those inmany hospitals within andoutside the country.

His words: “We are veryimpressed with the facilitieson ground here and wonderwhy this centre has not beenupgraded to a teaching hospi-tal yet. I therefore call on theFederal Government to con-sider this because the FMCUmuahia fully qualifies for ateaching hospital.

Continuing, he said: “I alsowonder why in spite of thesefacilities in all its units,Nigerians especially those ofthe catchment areas, still seekmedical attention outside the

country”.Praising the FMC manage-

ment led by its MedicalDirector, Dr. Abali Chuku, thenew chairman, tasked theworkers to maintain the facil-ity and still work towardsimproving on their perform-ances.

“We shall look into theirfunding, which we alreadyknow is inadequate for whichwe shall appeal to the FederalGovernment for upwardreview. We also urge the man-agement to look furtherinwards to raise more inter-nally generated revenuewithout necessarilyincreased medical charges”.

According to him, theycould do this by attractingmore patronages throughdiligence in attending topatients, which would in turnattract national and interna-tional assistance.

In addition, he tasked theworkers to imbibe the cul-ture of teamwork, shunstrikes actions and alwaystable their grievances beforethe board for necessary atten-tion.

bedeviling the medical profes-sion in Nigeria and Lagos Statewill finally be put to rest dur-ing the deliberations,” Ahmadsaid.

even if there is no money andthe case is an emergency,there must be intervention.A 36-year-old banker, Funmi

Omoyele, in similar vein, hadput to bed at a private hospitalin Lagos. She was surprised atthe bill of N19, 750 for her babyto be immunised at the facili-ty.She later got a hint of avail-

able services at Ogudu PHC,where she was told her babywas entitled to all immunisa-tions free of charge.At one of the affiliated privatefacilities, Synergy MedicalsClinic located at 27, KujoreStreet, Ojota, three financiallyconstrained pregnant womenhad also been delivered of livebabies via CS, benefiting fromthe rebate in the indigentscheme instituted by PATHS2.Medical Director of the clinic,Dr Dare Dada said with thesupport of PATHS2, servicessuch as Family Planning (FP),

Antenatal Care (ANC), deliver-ies and Postnatal Care (PNC)and Child welfare Services(CWS) were offered in the facil-ity, coupled with acceptance ofreferrals from TraditionalBirth Attendants (TBAs) andnearby Faith BasedOrganisations (FBOs) “to helpreduce maternal and childmortality rates.”He observed that one of the

beneficiaries was a womanwith a bad obstetrics history oftwo consecutive fresh still-births, referred by a FBO mid-wife.Another beneficiary in March2013 was a pregnant lady withbad obstetrics history who wasreferred from Ogudu PHC tosynergy Medicals for care.“Here, she was able to accesscare and was delivered via CS.Synergy Medicals clinic hascontinued to save lives,” Dadasaid.Since PATHS2 introduced the

initiative in about 78 health-care facilities in Lagos, nofewer than 580 cases havebeen referred within clusterhealth facilities. The privateand public care centres nowcomplement one another inservice delivery at the focalLGAs.Commenting on the partner-ship, Lagos team leader,PATHS2, Bisi Tugbobo, said theultimate goal of PATHS2 was toensure that Lagos utilises itsresources effectively and effi-ciently to achieve the health-related MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs).According to her, “the pur-

pose is to improve the plan-ning, presenting and deliveryof sustainable and replicableservices for common healthproblems in Lagos and otherfocal States of Kano, KadunaEnugu and Jigawa wherePATHS2, sponsored by UKaid,is working to strengthen

By Wole Oyebade

By Wole Oyebade

From Gordi Udeajah, Umuahia

36 SCIENCE HEALTH THe GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013

Kaduna Assembly to investigate poormedical services in hospitals

NIGeRIA is implementing anumber of innovative ini-

tiatives to further fast track theelimination of polio anddesigning concrete measuresto ensure the safety of allhealth personnel, both localand foreign, as they go abouttheir business of saving lives.

Health Minister, Prof.Onyebuchi Chukwu, in aninterview with The Guardian atthe ongoing 66th session ofthe World Health Assembly(WHA) in Geneva, Switzerlandsaid that the country was alsodeveloping community-basedmental care centres and thishad proved much better thanthe hospital-based ones. Theminister said that the countrywas working on buildingrehab homes to mainly takecare of people with substanceabuse problems.

The themes of the 66th ses-sion of this Assembly includeNon-Communicable Diseases(NCDs), health in the post-2015development agenda, coun-terfeit medicines, WorldHealth Organisation (WHO)reforms as well as internation-al health regulations amongothers are pertinent and time-ly. The WHA is the apex deci-sion-making body of the WHO.Chukwu said: “I will like to use

this opportunity to assure thedirector general and thisassembly that my countryremains committed to theexpedited eradication ofpoliomyelitis. The PresidentialTask Force on Polioeradication (PTFPe) and theFederal Ministry of Health(FMH) implementing a num-ber of innovative initiatives tofurther fast track the elimina-tion of polio.

“These initiatives includeensuring that no district/localcouncil remains uncovered byour immunization efforts;maintaining vigilance forpolio cross border importa-tion; conducting border postimmunisation; committing toadequately funding thenational programme on polioeradication; maintaining ofactive surveillance within thecountry; exchanging of epi-demiological and laboratoryinformation; GlobalInformation System (GIS)tracking of nomadic popula-tions; and establishment of aNational Polio emergencyOperations Centre (eOC) aswell as five state eOCs amongmany other strategies.”

On the issue of the safety of

health workers, Chukwu said:“We have also had to respondto emerging issues such as theescalating security challengesfaced by health workers as wit-nessed in the recent past in theunfortunate killing of vaccina-tors in Kano State earlier thisyear. This has been widely con-demned by government, reli-gious and traditional leaders,international organizations,local communities, promi-nent personalities and groups,and we are designing concretemeasures to ensure the safetyof all health personnel, bothlocal and foreign, as they goabout their business of savinglives.”On how Nigeria is tackling the

growing challenges of mentalhealth disorders, Chukwusaid: “Nigerian efforts weremade popular by the hospitalmodel at the ARO Abeokuta,which was actually being pro-moted then by well knowndeputy DG of the WHO,Professor. Lambo. Nigeria istrying to build on that experi-ence and presently in Nigeriawe are developing a lot of com-munity based care centres andthis has proved too much bet-ter than hospital based. So Iquite agree.“One other area we are trying

to build in Nigeria is the issueof rehab homes mainly forsubstance abuse. This is anongoing problem in the worldand I think we need to look atsubstance abuse. This is anongoing problem in the worldand I think we need to look atsubstance abuse especiallywith the young people andhow we can develop centresfor this. All in all we have start-ed very well with this and talk-ing about it in theCommonwealth. I think we allgo back after this meeting tobegin really to address theissues of mental health.”

Chukwu added: “We havegone through the full circle.For some years we have beenlooking at communicable dis-eases for a good reasonbecause these are the onesthat are easily transferredbetween individuals andbetween countries and sud-denly it was realised that wehave neglected the NCDs. Ifyou will recall in the last twoyears the world has been talk-ing about NCDs and mentalhealth has recognized evenwithin the umbrella of NCDsas neglected NCD. So two yearsago Commonwealth Ministersof Health decided that thisyear we would select as our

Worried by the decline inquality services coming

from public hospitals inKaduna State, the State Houseof Assembly has called forinvestigation into circum-stances surrounding thedecline.

Moving the motion at arecent plenary, member rep-resenting Makera constituen-cy, Mr. Philemon GidanMana, said that the noncha-lant attitude of some medicaldoctors in the public hospi-tals was responsible for thedecline and needs to bechecked.

According to Mana, “Thestate government hadengaged the services of manymedical doctors but hospi-tals are still without doctors,even at regular workinghours of the weekdays. In

some hospitals, more than 20doctors were employed butgetting doctors to attend topatients is often a difficulttask.

“They report late to workdaily (hardly earlier than 10a.m.) and close before,1 p.m. (putting in less thanthree-hour), decide on thenumber of patients theywould see often not morethan 20 persons, even if thenumber of patients waitingfor medical attention aremore than that number.

“Some personnel at the gov-ernment hospitals are harshto patience and lack the nec-essary hospitality required ina hospital. Most of the doc-tors in the government hos-pital consult at private hospi-tals and spend more time atthe private facilities thantheir place of primary assign-ment,” he said.

Oyo govt to rehabilitateAdeoyo Hospital, others

OYO State Government isset to embark on com-

prehensive rehabilitationof Adeoyo State Hospital,Ring Road, Ibadan andother state-owned healthfacilities through a publicprivate partnershiparrangement with foreignand local consultants.

The State Governor, AbiolaAjimobi disclosed this whilereceiving a delegation of theMalaria Control Partnerscomprising the USAIDWashington and PresidentMalaria Initiative in hisoffice.

Ajimobi said that this was

part of his administration’sefforts at revitalising thehealth sector and improvingthe health status of the peo-ple of the state.

He said that under the newarrangement, medical doc-tors and other health practi-tioners would take over theequipping and the runningof the hospitals while thestate government wouldsubsidise the running costin order to enhance easyaccessibility for the citizen-ry.

Ajimobi said: “We havestarted to equip our hospi-tals. We are now going tointroduce what we call PPPin some of our health cen-tres and hospitals.

300 Abia women benefit fromfree cancer screening

NO fewer than 300 Abiawomen recently benefit-

ed from a two-day breast andcervical cancer campaignheld in Umuahia, Abia stateby Pink Pearl Foundation(PPF), a non-governmentorganisation.

The event featured freebreast and cervical screeningand lectures held at Okparaauditorium.

According to a PPF partnerMr. Onye Ubanatu, about 300women were targeted forscreening, using two volun-

teer doctors and three nurseswith the collaboration andsponsorship of the office ofAbia First Lady, Mercy OdochiOrji.

Ubanatu told The Guardianthat the PPF mission was toempower women, ensuretheir good health andlongevity through appropri-ate education and mobilisa-tion. He added that about5000 women in 11 states inNigeria and neighboringCameroon had so far benefit-ted from the screening exer-cise as at year 2012.

Pfizer tasks stakeholders onpneumonia scourge

AHeAD the 2013 ChildrenDay celebration, one of

Nigeria’s leading pharma-ceutical company, PfizerPharmaceutical Company,has urged all stakeholdersto defend and improve thehealth status of everyNigerian child, as all is set tofete children come May 27.

As part of its contributionto child healthcare duringthis year’s celebration, thefirm has stated that Pfizerwould be partnering theKwara State Government,using the Arts Competitionas a channel of reorienta-tion on diseases thatNigerians often miscon-

strue for spiritual cases.Speaking at a news briefing

on Tuesday, the MedicalDirector of the firm, Dr.Kodjo Soroh said that therewas urgent need for govern-ment, corporate organisa-tion and the individual toexplore partnership strate-gy for a better health care ofthe Nigerian child.He noted that the prevalent

cases of pneumonia anddiarrhoea among childrenin Nigeria called for urgentattention, stressing thateveryone, especially mediapractitioners have a promi-nent role to play in fightingthe diseases while promot-ing a healthy nation.

theme, mental health. It is aneglected issue for many rea-sons. I think one of the mainreasons is because of the stig-ma attached to mental health,people do not want to talkabout it. So now we are plac-ing it on the centre stage andNigeria obviously shares withother countries in the worldthe concern about mentalhealth being neglected.”

Reacting to a new story fromthe WHO on new regulationson Yellow Fever vaccination,Chukwu said: “There havebeen a lot of politics about yel-low fever but people need tounderstand the issues. One isthat you need two factors to bconsidered when you are talk-ing about yellow fever and onof course is the immunity ofthe individual and the otherone are the environmentalfactors. What are those envi-ronmental factors? Whetheryou still have the vectors inyour country in which caseyou stand a risk that even ifyou are all immunized, ifsomebody comes with a caseof the disease, it can be trans-ferred as far as the vector ispresent, which is a form ofmosquito.

“The other one of course isthe presence of the virus itself,which largely the world hasdealt with by giving immu-nization. So when generalpolicies come up, they need tobe examined country by coun-try. I still believe that withinthe general range of saying‘you don’t need yellow feverbooster’, there will be specificreasons and specific circum-stances where those boosterswill still be required.”

On Nigeria’s agenda to thisWHA, the minister said: “Wellwe have keyed in to the agen-da we already agreed at theboard because Nigeriapresently sits at the Board andso we were part of the Boardthat decided what the agendaof the Ministers will be. So hav-ing being part of it, we areduty bound to support theagenda because we are part ofit. You can say the whole of theagenda but there are specialareas of interest for Nigeriaand one of course is the post2015 agenda and luckily that isbeing addressed by theCommonwealth Ministers ofHealth.

“The second one has to dowith fake counterfeit drugs,recognising that Nigeria hasbeen in the lead in getting theresolution that was passedlast year by the WHA on what

we should do along thoselines.

“Thirdly is that Nigeria isinterested in pushing theagenda on NCDs. Yes, we aretalking about the NCDs but weare not talking enough aboutmental health, we are not talk-ing enough abouthaemoglonopatis, we are nottalking enough about traumadue to accident or violence.Trauma lone even in the con-text of Nigeria is killing muchmore people than some of thediseases we are talking about.

“Finally, we want to push onalong with the rest of theworld the issue of universalhealth coverage. One aspect ofthe universal health coverageis health financing which wethink if we have a sustainableway of financing health forindividuals then it becomesfinancially accessible to them.

“But beyond the issue offinance, the other aspect ofuniversal health coverage hasto do with equity in the distri-bution of health manpower,equity in the distribution offacilities and also equity in theissues we tackle. For long wetalk about curative and pre-ventive health but we have notdone so much in terms of pro-motional health. People forgetthat promotional health isalso part of the purview ofthings we are looking at.

On Nigeria’s position on post2015, Chukwu said: “You knowthe MDGs will terminate as itwere in 2015 and everyone isasking ‘after 2015 what next?Do we continue with theMDG? But the world said theywould have SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs). Sowhat will form the ingredientsof the SDGs are the issues athand now.”Women and child healthThe health of women and chil-dren has continued to beaccorded appropriate priorityin Nigeria. The work of the UNCommission on Life SavingCommodities, which is co-chaired by the President ofNigeria and the PrimeMinister of Norway, in identi-fying and promoting the useof a set of essential life-savingcommodities deserves com-mendation. Nigeria hasdomesticated the recommen-dations of the Commissionthrough the introduction ofthe Saving One Million LivesInitiative, with massive pro-curement and distribution ofthese essential commoditiesespecially to improve accessfor the poor.

Nigeria implements anti-polio initiatives• Plans rehab homes, community based mental care centres

Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu (left) and the Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Health, Mrs. Fatima Bamidele at the opening ceremony of the 66thSession of the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Switzerland PHOTO: CHUKWUMA MUANYA

From Chukwuma Muanya, Geneva

By Tony Nwanne

From Gordi Udeajah, Umuahia

From Iyabo Lawal, Ibadan

From Bashir Bello, Kaduna

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013 37

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SCIENCE & HEALTH 39THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013

effects of smoking on thebrain accumulate over time.Therefore, we predicted thatAD, active chronic smokerswould show the greatestdecline in cognitive abilitieswith increasing age.”

“The independent andinteractive effects of smokingand other drug use on cogni-tive functioning among indi-viduals with AD are largelyunknown,” added AleciaDager, associate research sci-entist in the department ofpsychiatry at Yale University.

“This is problematicbecause many heavy drinkersalso smoke. Furthermore, intreatment programs for alco-holism, the issue of smokingmay be largely ignored.

This study provides evi-dence of greater cognitive dif-ficulties in alcoholics whoalso smoke, which could offerimportant insights for treat-

ment programs. First, indi-viduals with AD who alsosmoke may have more diffi-

culty remembering, integrat-ing, and implementing treat-ment strategies. Second,

TREATMENT for alcohol usedisorders works best if the

patient actively understandsand incorporates the inter-ventions provided in the clin-ic. Multiple factors can influ-

ence both the type anddegree of neurocognitiveabnormalities found duringearly abstinence, includingchronic cigarette smokingand increasing age. A newstudy is the first to look at theinteractive effects of smok-ing status and age on neu-rocognition in treatment-seeking alcohol dependent(AD) individuals. Findings show that AD indi-

viduals who currently smokeshow more problems withmemory, ability to thinkquickly and efficiently, andproblem-solving skills thanthose who don’t smoke,effects which seem tobecome exacerbated withage.Results will be published in

the October 2013 issue ofAlcoholism: Clinical &

Experimental Research and arecurrently available at EarlyView.“Several factors — nutrition,

exercise, comorbid medicalconditions such as hyperten-sion and diabetes, psychiatricconditions such as depressivedisorders and post-traumaticstress disorder, and geneticpredispositions — may alsoinfluence cognitive function-ing during early abstinence,”explained Timothy C.Durazzo, assistant professorin the department of radiolo-gy and biomedical imaging atthe University of CaliforniaSan Francisco, and correspon-ding author for the study. “We focused on the effects of

chronic cigarette smokingand increasing age on cogni-tion because previousresearch suggested that eachhas independent, adverseaffects on multiple aspects ofcognition and brain biologyin people with and withoutalcohol use disorders. “This previous research also

indicated that the adverse

From Hendrix Oliomogbe, Asaba

WORRIED by the stigmati-sation of persons for-

merly afflicted with leprosythe, Delta StateCommissioner for WomenAffairs, Community andSocial Development, Mrs.Betty Efekodha has appealedto the public to always showthem affection instead ofostracizing them.Efekhoda who spoke recent-ly during a visit to the ex-lep-ers’ settlement at Eku,Ethiope East Local Council ofthe state expressed dissatis-faction over the way andmanner a section of the soci-ety was treating ex-leperswith disdain.She said that it was iniqui-

tous in the sight of God totreat fellow humans as infe-rior, especially, when theirillness has been cured andfully re-admitted into thesociety.

She, therefore, called onmembers of the public, espe-cially their relatives, not tostigmatise them since theyhave been certified medical-ly fit by experts in the treat-ment of such disease.Efekhoda tasked the mass

media to assist in theenlightenment against allforms of stigmatisationagainst them.The commissioner, while

inspecting facilities of thesettlement, reiterated theministry’s commitmenttowards the rehabilitationof ex-lepers through theskills acquisition pro-gramme of the Governmentin the area of soap making,tailoring and hair dressing.

She disclosed that themajor building housing theskill acquisition centrewould be partitioned toaccommodate selectedtrades for training in the set-tlement.

Commissioner pleads against discrimination of ex-lepers in Delta

REGULAR consumption ofcoffee is associated with a

reduced risk of primary scle-rosing cholangitis (PSC), anautoimmune liver disease,Mayo Clinic research shows. The findings were being

presented at the DigestiveDisease Week 2013 confer-ence in Orlando, Fla.PSC is an inflammatory dis-ease of the bile ducts thatresults in inflammation andsubsequent fibrosis that canlead to cirrhosis of the liver,liver failure and biliary can-cer.

“While rare, PSC hasextremely detrimentaleffects,” says study authorCraig Lammert, M.D., a MayoClinic gastroenterologist.“We’re always looking forways to mitigate risk, andour first-time finding pointsto a novel environmentalfactor that also might helpus to determine the cause ofthis and other devastating

autoimmune diseases.”The study examined a largegroup of U.S. patients withPSC and primary biliary cir-rhosis (PBC) and a group ofhealthy patients. Datashowed that coffee con-sumption was associatedwith reduced risk of PSC, butnot PBC. PSC patients weremuch likelier not to con-sume coffee than healthypatients were.The PSC patients also spentnearly 20 percent less oftheir time regularly drink-ing coffee than the control.The study suggests PSC andPBC differ more than origi-nally thought, KonstantinosLazaridis, M.D., a MayoClinic hepatologist and sen-ior study author says:“Moving forward, we canlook at what this findingmight tell us about the caus-es of these diseases and howto better treat them.”

Coffee linked to lower risk of anautoimmune liver disease

Heavy drinking, smoking linked to early aging of the brainthere are clear benefits forthinking skills as a result ofquitting both substances.”

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49THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013

Education

THE Joint Admissions and MatriculationBoard (JAMB) has come under intense verbal

attacks from candidates, their parents andother stakeholders over its handling of thisyear’s Unified Tertiary MatriculationExamination (UTME).

According to the board’s Registrar, Prof DibuOjerinde, out of the 1, 644, 110 candidates thatsat for the examination, 1, 629, 102 applied to sitfor the Paper Pencil Test (PPT), while a paltry 15,008 others opted for the Dual Based Test.

Only 10 candidates scored above 300 marksout of 400, while 127, 017 scored between 1 and159 marks. About 40, 692 results were declaredinvalid “due to either multiple shading or noshading at all” while 47, 974 candidates wereabsent.

Like last year’s edition, this year’s UTME wasfraught with many problems all over the coun-try. There were cases of candidates who couldnot find their names on the day of the examina-tion; some had the wrong combination of sub-jects assigned to them; the so-called biometricsystem also failed in many centres with manylaptops used for process running out of batterypower.

But Ojerinde could not be bothered. He hasput the blame squarely in the candidates,accusing them of either engaging in multipleshading or not shading the appropriate boxes.He also blamed the candidates over the with-held results, insisting that the results of 68, 309candidates from various centres would have toundergo further screening to ascertain thenumber of those who engaged in malpractice.

For some stakeholders, the yearly JAMB crisishas again put a question mark on its ability toassure universities, polytechnics and collegesof education of the credibility of the UTMEscores.   The latest development has also reopened thecontroversial debate on the Post-UTME test,introduced in 2005 by the universities andwhich has endured.

Former Education Minister, Dr Chinwe Obajiand Ojerinde disagreed over the post-UTMEtest at that time. Ojerinde, who appearedbefore the Senate Committee on Educationinvestigating the legality of Post-UTME, calledfor its cancellation, accusing universities ofusing the test to rip-off university  admission-seekers. But Obaji had also argued that the testwas an intervention by government to addressthe JAMB’s failure to ensure the sanctity of itsexamination. To Ojerinde the Post-UTME testwas another matriculation examination thatcontravenes the law-establishing JAMB. ButObaji insisted that there was no correlation inthe high scores presented by many candidatesand their actual performance in semesterexaminations.

Ojerinde, who appeared on a NigeriaTelevision Authority (NTA) programme at theweekend said over 700,000 candidates scored180 and above in this year’s examination.According to him, some candidates enteredPaper Type as A, B, C, D when the types werecomposed of D, I, B, U (From his name initials),attributing the fake paper type to plans bysome of the students to cheat and beat the sys-tem

While the Registrar insisted that studentswere no longer serious about their studies, heaccused most of them of failing to read the twonovels recommended by JAMB in a particularsubject from which questions were set.Contrary to the accusations of complacency,Ojerinde expressed confidence in the board’s

marking process. He challenged candidateswho feel that their scripts were not properlymarked, to visit JAMB’s office from June 1st toget them remarked. He also pledged a compen-sation of N100, 000 for any candidates if errorswere confirmed in the marking of their scripts.

However, Ojerinde recently announced thatover 227,000 results withheld for lack ofBiometric Data Verification have now beenreleased after scrutiny. He also disclosed thatthe board would scrap the Paper Pencil Test in2015. He said: “By 2015, we will be asking candi-dates to go fully into Computer Based Testing.But that again depends on availability of cen-ters. For now, we have only 70 centers all overthe country and this is not sufficient. We areencouraging as many individuals, who can par-ticipate in this project to go and build their cen-ters, then we will patronize them.”

Vice Chancellor of Caleb University, Imota,Prof Ayodeji Olukoju said: “With all the crisis,JAMB has to look at its operations and seekavenues for improvement. It is unfortunatethat students would have to be subjected to allthese rigours because the responsibility is onthe universities to now also act as a clearinghouse. With the challenge of access to highereducation, we would now have a smaller num-ber of candidates to take in and make the bestout of a bad situation”.

To the Dean of Humanities, BowenUniversity, Iwo, Osun state, Professor DanIzeubaye, those calling for the scrapping ofJAMB are missing the point. Rather than extin-guish it as some have advocated, he advisedthat JAMB’s weakness should be correctedthrough adequate measures to erase corrup-tion and cheating.

His words: “Jamb is a good idea and shouldnot be scrapped. There is a defect but it can be

corrected. JAMB’s Registrar should look for away to block the corruption and cheating goingon. If government scraps JAMB, we are going tohave the problem of multiple applications andthe exploitation of institutions will increase.”

However, Rector of the Osun StatePolytechnic, Iree, Dr. Jacob Olusola Agboola,condemned the conduct of the last UTME,stressing that it was characterized by a mis-match of candidates’ data, which resulted intovarious problems.

“For instance,” he complained, “the names ofsome students were missing from the list ofcandidates, in addition to other logistic prob-lems, which interfered with the reliability thetest. If the conduct was hitch free as JAMB hasclaimed, these problems will not emanate.JAMB should follow the normal procedure anddo things appropriately to avoid all theseerrors.”

To the Dean, School of EnvironmentalStudies, Federal Polytechnic Ilaro, Mr. OlusegunAluko JAMB is moving faster than necessary and“is not considering the interest of the studentswho are the most important factor.” He said:“What is the advantage of students get theirresults immediately after the examination,when they cannot use it? Why is JAMB so muchin a hurry to release results that will be used inthree or four month’s time? If JAMB can releaseresults in two or three weeks and take time todo it properly, we have not lost anything as acountry. But this computer-based thing and allthe issues and problems associated with havenot solved any of the problem we had beforethey (JAMB) embarked on it. 

“Somebody did her fingerprint for her pictureand at the end of the day, they said it could notbe found. Why? Because they are too much in ahurry to release result in the next hour. Again,

some of the computers they gave their officialswere not well charged. They trip off anytime,thereby bringing about loss of information.JAMB is depending so much on electricity tosolve problems when electricity problems inthe country have not been solved. We likedeceit in this country. If JAMB could do a credi-ble examination, we won’t actually have anyneed for a post UTME test.”

However, the Acting Registrar, Ahmadu BelloUniversity (ABU) Zaria, Abdullahi AhmedKundila has a contrary opinion. “JAMB is not tobe blamed,” he declared. “JAMB has done noth-ing wrong. The students are to be blamed andmay be the general system of education in thecountry should be blamed. When you go tomost secondary schools in the Nigeria, you willdiscover that they lack basic learning facilitiesand in most cases, some of their teachers arenot qualified. So, what do you expect?”

The second Vice President, Chartered Instituteof Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Dr Segun Ajibola,said: “JAMB has done a lot to instill some disci-pline into the Nigerian admission system byregulating entry into higher institutions gener-ally. But one thing is that JAMB is running fasterthan its leg can carry it and the country as awhole. They have been moderating the exami-nation very well, but my personal opinion isthat introducing the online examination atthis point, considering the level of computerliteracy in the country, especially among sec-ondary school students, is rather coming tooearly.

Meanwhile, some candidates who spokewith The Guardian expressed disappointmentover the scores “allocated” to them, allegingthat most of them were “failed” by JAMBbecause the board believed that some ques-tions leaked days before the date of the exami-nation.

Deaconess Funso Ayorinde, a teacher andparent said: “If JAMB claims that some candi-dates had answer scripts before the examina-tion, why didn’t they cancel and reschedule theexamination? Why are they in a hurry to con-duct an examination characterized by fraudand subsequently delay innocent candidateswhose results are withheld? By the way, wheredid the candidates get the scripts from, or arethey also from the parents?”

Parents, JAMB disagree over UTME’s high failure rateThe recent release of this year’s UnifiedTertiary Matriculation Examination hassparked off angry reactions from candidatesand their parents, who accused the JointAdmissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB)of inefficiency; a charge the board’s Registrar,Prof Dibu Ojerinde has firmly rejected. MARYOGARand UJUNWA ATUEYI examine the var-ious arguments tabled by those for andagainst the board.

Members of the Nigerian team of engineers comprising of professors and their students from the University of Lagos, Akoka; University of Benin, Edo State; and Ahmadu Bello University(ABU) Zaria, Kaduna State at the just concluded Shell Eco-Marathon 2013 for Europe at Ahoy in Rotterdam, The Netherlands PHOTO: CHUKWUMA MUANYA

the names of some students were missing from the list of candi-dates, in addition to other logistic problems, which interferedwith the reliability the test. If the conduct was hitch free as JAMBhas claimed, these problems will not emanate. JAMB should fol-low the normal procedure and do things appropriately to avoid allthese errors

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013Education50

Nigeria Arabic LanguageVillage not properly managed,White Paper reveals

MANY of the country’s uni-versities offering Arabic

Language and Literature havenot been sending their under-graduates to the NigeriaArabic Language Village(NALV), Ngala, Bornu State forthe mandatory one-year lan-guage immersion course, inspite of repeated directives bythe National UniversitiesCommission (NUC).

Only the Universities ofMaiduguri and Jos have beensending their students to thevillage since 1997 and 1999respectively; while theUniversity of Ilorin sent stu-dents from 2000 to 2003 only;Lagos State University (2001only); Kogi State University(2003 only) and the UmaruMusa Yar’Adua University,Katsina (2010) only.

A Federal Government’sWhite Paper, derived from therecommendations made by aVisitation Panel constitutedby the Federal Ministry ofEducation (FME) in 2011 toexamine the Village, came tothe conclusion that thisanomaly had adversely affect-ed the academic growth of thevillage. Prior to the Village’sestablishment, all Nigerianstudents offering ArabicLanguage as a major course inuniversities “were compulso-rily required to go for the one-year-abroad proficiencycourse in their 300 level, inEgypt, Sudan and other coun-tries.”

The revered Prof. AliuBabatunde Fafunwa estab-lished the Village among oth-ers in 1992, during his tenureas Education Minister underthe military regime of GenIbrahim Babangida (rtd). Thepanel is the first ever to exam-ine the institution, since itscreation.

Its emergence, the panelacknowledged, finally put astop to the practice of sendingNigerian students to othercountries, with its attendantwaste of hard currencies.Yet, the National Assembly

has not even passed the sup-posed law establishing theVillage. The panel was toldthat the Bill intended for thatpurpose has only gonethrough the first reading. Ithowever agonized: “Yet, theinstitution has been in exis-tence since 1992 as an Inter-University Centre for ArabicStudies.”

Besides the lack of anenabling law, the panel wasalso of the view that one of thereasons why universities havebeen reluctant to send theirstudents to the village “is thelow quality of the of recruitedacademic staff.” It also foundthat public awareness of thevillage was low and that suffi-cient attention had not beengiven to the village “in termsof application of concertedefforts to galvanize theresources available for pro-ductive results.”

There were other unpleas-ant discoveries. The panel,which covered the periodbetween 2004 and 2010,affirmed that the principalofficers of the village –Registrar, Bursar andLibrarian “do appear, in gen-eral terms, to be less qualifiedfor the position they occupy,which might be due to the

remote location of the villageand its specialized nature.”The Registrar was, in fact, dis-covered to be an engineer.

When the financial bookswere scrutinized, an auditaccount that revealed that acertain sum of N2, 602,692.00, supposedly depositedin a London Account wasfound, but all efforts to con-firm its authenticity provedabortive. And since its estab-lishment, there was no evi-dence that any auditedaccount and managementreports were submitted to therelevant government organs.The report stated: “The 2.5 percent NHIS deductions whichhad been deducted at sourcewas not reflected on the pay-roll, resulting in over-pay-ment of salaries to staff. Therent deductions of staff occu-pying the government quar-ters were left in the salaryaccount, which ought to betransferred to the RevenueAccount of the Village.

“Multiple sub-heads werepaid on one payment vouch-er, contrary to extant regula-tion which stipulates that sep-arate vouchers shall be raisedfor separate sub-heads andseparate vouchers shall beraised for the payment of dif-ferent services. There was noinvitation letter or memo asevidence for authority to trav-el outside the Village, of whichDTAs (Daily TravelAllowances) were paid.“Invoices and receipts were

not attached to out-of-pocketexpenses. Since inception, theVillage has no Internal AuditUnit and as such, there was noInternal Auditor. The ExternalAuditors reported on this intheir last five years manage-ment report to the Village, butno efforts had been made toaddress the issue. There wasno Fixed Asset Register sincethe inception of the Village. Inthe absence of a Fixed AssetsRegister, it would be difficultto accurately account for fixedassets. The AccountingGuideline and InternalControl procedures are notbeing strictly followed. TheVillage does not prepare man-agement accounts, instead,External Auditors are engagedto handle both the accountspreparation and the audit.”

According to the WhitePaper, the Village received atotal of N1.617 billion between

2004 and 2009. In addition, itgot research grants worth N4,088,456; pension and gratuity– N266,945 and N90, 564, 223from the Tertiary EducationTrust Fund (TETFUND).The actual expenditure, in

respect of capital projectswithin the same periodamounted to N437, 991,512,while personnel cost wasN848, 182, 605 as againstN850, 523, 201 that wasreleased. On the adequacy of staff, it

was observed that the villagehad a total of 192 staff, com-prising 21 academic and 171non-academic staff as atDecember 2010. Nine of theacademic staff members wereon study leave. The Panel wasof the view that, “the numberof academic staff is grosslyinadequate.” Not only that, italso observed that the num-ber of lecturers for theSummer Courses was equallyinadequate. It submitted: “inthe 2009/2012 academic ses-sion, the village had a total of2, 364 students with onlythree lecturers to handle 10different courses for the peri-od. Out of the three lecturers,the most senior is Lecturer 1while the remaining two areLecturer II.”On the application of funds,

the panel found that severalcontracts awarded at hugecosts were either abandonedof badly executed. Forinstance, the contractor com-missioned to supply two sub-mersible pumps with solarenergy facilities at the cost ofN6, 581,000, and was paid N3,290,500, could only supplyone of the pumps before thecontract was terminated.Another firm, that was award-ed a contract for the supplyand installation of solar facili-ties to the central library atthe cost of N8, 293,254 in 2007,and was paid N4, 146,627, hadnot supplied the items at thetime of the visitation. The sup-ply of batteries for the solarfacilities could not even beverified in the store records.

Besides, a contract for theinstallation of solar streetlight was awarded to a firm(name withheld) for the sumof N3, 588,000 of which N3,408,600 was paid in 2007, butaccording to the report,“there was no evidence thatthe solar street light is work-ing.”

By Rotimi Lawrence Oyekanmi

Prof. Rufai

Education 51THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013

‘How 15,000 Indian public schools deliver qualityeducation through digital technology’By Mary Ogar

NIGERIA may share manythings in common with

India in terms of a large pop-ulation and a teeming num-ber of youths. But whileNigeria is still battling withthe challenges of quality,education technologyexperts are calling on thegovernments at all levels andother stakeholders to har-ness the power of educationtechnology to improveteaching and learning andbuild skills among the younggeneration.While the federal govern-

ment and many states arecurrently investing hugesums of money in acquiringdesk top computers and lap-tops for the school system,an Indian EducationTechnology expert, Mr.Shantanu Prakash, has advo-cated the need to pay seriousattention to “content” andinitiate policies that wouldexploit technology to buildskills among the army ofyoung people.

Prakash, the ManagingDirector of Educomp whospoke to journalists duringhis recent visit to the coun-try, said: “It is a matter of factthat the balance of power inthe world is shifting from thewestern economy and noweverybody is talking aboutthe two important conti-nents for the future; which isAfrica and Asia. And the mostprecious resource they haveis their people. So, we musteducate our young genera-tion with the proper tools, sothat we can have a betterhope and better opportuni-ties for our young people.”According to him, any pol-

icy or plan geared towardsadvancing human capitaldevelopment should betaken to the classrooms.“Nigeria is a country withmany young people,” heobserved. “The challengesthat are facing countries likeNigeria and India are similar.So the question is, what

should we do about ourhuman capital in the 21stcentury? I believe thathuman capital is moreimportant than financialcapital because we are rapid-ly entering into a knowledgeeconomy, where intellectualproperty is more importantthan physical property.”According to Prakash, with

40-50 per cent of India’s pop-ulation falling between theages of 18 and 28, similarcountries that have a youngpopulation also have oppor-tunities just as they face adanger. “The opportunity is that if

you train these young peopleand give them the right edu-cation, they can becomeglobally productive citizens,”he affirmed. “But the dangeris, if you do not provide themwith the right education,they can become a demo-graphic disaster.” Comparing the education

system between Nigeria andIndia, he said, “India hasmany things that don’t work.But if there is any thing inIndia that works, it is theIndia education system. Andfor many years, India hasbeen providing very fine pro-fessionals for the rest of theworld. In fact, it has alsobecome a global hub forknowledge process outsourcing.”

He also revealed thatIndia, just like Nigeria, doesnot pay their teachers verywell. He said: “For some rea-sons across the world, teach-ers’ salaries are not very high.In fact, it is increasinglybecoming difficult to attractthe best talents to becometeachers. If you go to a classin India and ask how many ofthem want to become teach-ers, you would find only few.Majority of them wants tobecome football players orgo into politics and others.When a country cannotattract the best quality ofteachers, the delivery of edu-cation is also not so good”.

While Nigeria can take a

cue from India in the effec-tive utilization of digital con-tent rather than focus on justsupplying schools with com-puters and laptops, he statedthat India has deployed arobust digital content to theclassrooms, with 15,000 pri-vate schools and 12, 000 gov-ernment schools currentlyusing digital content in thedelivery of education in thecountry.He revealed that since the

ICT’s emergence inside theclassroom is one of thebiggest initiatives of the 21stcentury, and with over 8 mil-lion students in privateschools and a total of 27,000schools using digital contenteveryday in India as part ofthe learning experience, theimpact has had a huge effecton India’s education sector.

He said: “I was in theschool at Eleme (Rivers State)and I was really pleasantlysurprised to see how disci-plined and bright the stu-dents were. I asked some ofthe Indian Mathematics andscience teachers there howthey find the students inNigeria compared to theIndian students and theygave me a very frank answerthat many of the students arebehind and to bridge thatgap we have to use some sup-port.” He added: “How does a typ-

ical classroom look liketoday in 2013? In most partsof the world, a typical class-room still looks the same, asit was 100 years back. There isfurniture, blackboard andthere is a teacher. We mustnow take note of the fact thatthe society has changed andthat must reflect in the typeof education we offer”.

Confirming the need forNigeria to take an avid inter-est in its human develop-ment, Prakash who was alsoat the World EconomicConference held in CaperTown, South Africa, disclosedthat more than 50 per cent ofthe debate was about youngpeople, human capital and

skills. He advised that the right

place to start developing andbuilding the required skillsshould be inside the schools.He said: “Presently Educompis partnering with the gov-ernment of Rivers state. Inthe state model school, everystudent in that school has alaptop computer; every class-room is enabled with the lat-est Smart classroom. Forinstance, when a teacher isteaching photosynthesis, acommon topic in science,the old system is to use theblackboard and orally

explain what photosynthesisis. It is very difficult toexplain the wonder ofnature. But when you use thedigital content and anima-tion and the students get tosee how the entire process ofphotosynthesis is happen-ing, they get very fascinatedand immediately learningbegins to happen in thebrain. That is the beauty ofharnessing the power of edu-cation technology.”

As a fairly large, globallydiversified education com-pany operating in severalcountries, he explained that

Educomp has in the past 18years worked tirelessly infinding the best and mosttechnologically advancedmethods of making studentsmore efficient, more produc-tive and improving the cur-riculum interaction so as todevelop the human capitalbase.

“We currently work with33,000 schools and serve 21.7million learners and educa-tors across the world. Ourvision is to solve critical edu-cation problems by applyinginnovative solutions focus-

By Mary Ogar

NIGERIAN students nowhave a unique opportu-

nity to secure early admis-sion for the September 2013and January 2014 diet in topuniversities in the UnitedKingdom (UK), Canada,United States and Australia,as the British CanadianInternational Education(BCIE) Limited gets set tohost the its Edufair.

This year’s fair, sched-uled for Eko Hotel on June4, Sheraton Hotel, LagosJune 5, and Abuja SheratonJune 7 and 8, would featurethe University of Wales,Bangor, Anglia RuskinUniversity, University ofHull, University ofWorcester, University ofDerby, BournemouthUniversity, LoughboroughUniversity and Universityof Bolton.Others participating insti-

tutions include: Universityof Brighton, Cardiff

Metropolitan University,Coventry University,Glasgow,Caledonian University,University of Kent, LeedsMetropolitan University,London South BankUniversity, University ofSunderland, University ofUlster, University of theWest of Scotland, York StJohn University, GriffithUniversity and DeakinUniversity Australia.

Briefing journalists inLagos on some of the schol-arship and other opportu-nities available in the insti-tutions, BCIE’s RegionalManager, Ms. FunmiOgunleye said applicationswould be processed freeexcept for those applyinginto non UK institutionssuch as Australia, Canadaand Dubai.

According to her,prospective studentswould have the opportuni-ty to meet with representa-tives of some top universi-

ties in the United Kingdom,Canada, United States andAustralia, one on one, applyfor the September 2013 andJanuary 2014 entries, obtainon-the-spot admissionslots, get scholarshipadvice, a chance to winscholarship based on aca-demic qualifications andalso get to meet the BritishCouncil and the BritishHigh Commission officials.Advice on how secure stu-dent visa would also beoffered. The BCIE’s networkrepresents over 60 univer-sities in its network.

Ogunleye, who advisedparents to consider theirchildren’s preferences inthe choice of courses, alsosaid: “Each university hasits strong points, but manypeople make the mistake ofjust selecting universitiesbecause of their generalranking. We look at stu-dents’ preferences, espe-cially in terms of what theycan afford.”

BCIE to offer admission slots, scholarships at Edufair

Mr Shantanu Prakash (left) and Mr. Shantaram Hegdekatte during the briefing.

Continued on Page 53

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Education 53THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013

Cross section of Meadow Hall Graduate Teacher Trainees at the school’s training school, Lekki, Lagos

‘How 15,000 Indian publicschools deliver quality educationthrough digital technology’

TTHEHE Vice-Chancellor of theFederal University of

Agriculture, Abeokuta(FUNNAB) Professor OlusolaOyewole, has given accountof his stewardship sinceassumption of office, about12 months ago.

Reiterating hiscommitment towards mak-ing FUNAAB a world classUniversity in a short presen-tation titled, Moving FUNAABforward to become a World-class University, the Vice-Chancellor, who spoke at

Adeniyi Adunola

APPARENTLY to bridge theunemployment gap

among youths in the coun-try , an Indian based train-ing and development multi-national organization,Centum Learning in part-nership with theInternational DataManagement Services (IDM)has launched CentumInternational Academy.Speaking at the launch inLagos recently, the ChiefExecutive Officer (CEO) andDirector, Centum LearningSanjeev Duggal said: “Thelaunch of CentumInternational Academy reit-erates our vision to groomyouth to develop vocationalskills beyond India. By part-nering with IDM, we willenable youth to acquireemployable skills and thusgenerate income throughregular employment or self-employment in Nigeria.”

In the same vein, ChiefOperating Officer(COO) –Professional Education &Training, Centum Learning,Kamini Prasad ,said,

“Centum InternationalAcademy is running success-fully in Banglesh, so takingcognizance of the Nigeriamarket, we decided to tie upwith a partner of interna-tional repute to offer qualityeducation to students in thevocational education space.”

the institution’s firstCongregation Meeting,since the beginning of hisadministration, said that hehad been guided by thevision to promote theadvancement of FUNAABtowards a World ClassCitadel of learning, providevisionary leadership,empower the workforce,promote quality and excel-lence in the University’sfocus areas and ensure thatthe University makes animpact on the society.

He noted thatthrough the collective con-tributions by the UniversityCommunity, the currentadministration had provid-

ed focused, transparent, dis-ciplined leadership whichhad aided the entrench-ment of a stable universitycalendar.

Emphasising theimportance of staff capacitybuilding in achieving thevision and mission of theUniversity, he disclosed thatover 71 members of staff hadattended conferences andworkshops all over theglobe in the academic andnon-teaching staff cadres.He added that capacitybuilding was not limited tostaff alone, and that the cur-rent student leaders hadalso undergone a specialleadership programme.

ing on quality of educationand access to education. Weare well known across theworld for a very large num-ber of innovation such as theSmartclass, which brings thepower of digital contentright inside the classroom,”he said, adding, “our leadersneed to have a long termvision. That is the mostimportant aspect. Themoment they can begin tosee ten years into the future,they would start making theright investment today. Wealso expect that our leaderswould make long termchoices that are good for ourcountry and good for ourworld.”

Currently working withthe Rivers state governmentby deploying the technologyin some of their models, hesaid: “We have invented avery affordable system calledEdumate which is a projec-tor, and inside the projector,there is a built-in computerwith all the educational con-tent that is required. This sys-tem is very inexpensive andit works. The teacher goes inthe classroom, puts the sys-tem on and they can showand teach the content in anyclassroom. It is a very suc-cessful product. The digitalcontent is currently beingused in Singapore, India,United States of America,China, Saudi Arabia andmany other parts of theworld.”

On fears that technologycould take away the tradition-al role of the teachers in theclassroom, Prakash  said: “ Mybelief is that the teacher is themost important asset in theclassroom. The magic is notbecause of the technology,but the magic remains theteacher. Our job is only to sup-port the teacher. Our productemphasized the benefit of thedigital classroom and theboard. The blackboard, thechalk and the digital are puttogether. Whenever a newtechnology comes into ourlife, it has not replaced the ear-lier technology it has supple-mented. When radio came, itdid not replace the newspa-per, the television did notreplace the radio and theInternet did not replace all thethree. In our life everythingco-exists and that is the beautyof human life.

“These technologies are ateacher’s aid. They are not toreplace the teacher but theycan only help the teacher tobecome more productive. Theteacher is at the heart of theeducation system.  But mostimportantly for us is the factthat the teachers would haveto be trained. From our experi-ence, the teachers are veryinterested to be trained. Wehave just completed trainingfor 50 teachers in Eleme andthe teachers were even willingto come for the training dur-ing the holidays because theyare also extremely interestedin upgrading the old scheme.

Academy for skills acquisition debuts

How to make FUNNAB world class, by VCContinued from Page 51

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THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013 BUSINESS 59

‘Jonathan’s reforms behind capital market resurgence’

Confidence seems to be return-ing to the Nigerian stock mar-ket. What is responsible forthis?

ITHINK that the way to look atthis is that since the advent ofthe administration ofPresident Goodluck EbeleJonathan there is a clear under-standing of the linkagebetween what happens in thestock market and what hap-pens in the economy as awhole. There is a clear under-standing that the stock marketis the barometer of theNigerian economy. Prior to hisadministration, I would saythere was more focus on specu-lative activities and the stockmarket seemed to be acting inisolation of the economy as awhole. When, you will recall, inJanuary 2010 I joined the SEC(Securities and ExchangeCommission), the market capwas at N4.9 trillion; at the bot-tom in February 2009 I think itwas at N3.99 trillion. Today weare at over 10.34 trillion naira.The market in the last year hasgone up by 60 percent. Sincethat time it has even gone upby much more. But I think that what is more

important to note is that thesechanges have been broad-based. It’s not the banking sec-tor; it’s also the conglomerates,especially the fast-moving con-sumer goods, which reflect thechanges in the Nigerian econo-my that people are warming toenjoy the phenomenon thatNigeria is one of the fastestgrowing economies in theworld. It has a rising middleclass, people with risingincomes. And how do you tapinto these opportunities? Youtap into the opportunitiesthrough investing in the capi-tal market first, and then thenext stage is foreign directinvestment. So, what the Jonathan admin-istration has basically createdis an enabling environment forbusinesses to thrive, and whatinvestors have seen, whether itis the corporate debt market,public equity market, privateequity market, foreign directinvestment, is an opportunityto participate in the benefits ofcreating an enabling environ-ment for businesses to thrive. The first bit of that is to createmacro-economic stability,which is why reforms in thefinancial sector have been very,very important, whether it bein terms of monetary policy,whether it be in terms of fiscalconsolidation, creating an envi-ronment where growth canthrive. We’ve had a relativelystable exchange rate; we’ve hadinflation under control; we’vehad a business environmentthat creates a fair marketplacethat allows businesses tothrive. You’ve seen the workthat is being on the PowerSector Reforms and how we areriding to the power that exists.People are anticipating givenwhat is unprecedented interms of the privatisation of thegeneration (companies) andvery successful handover thathappened to private sector,that this will really become sig-nificant to Nigeria given thatespecially for small and medi-um enterprises, 40 percent oftheir additional costs comesfrom expenses in respect ofpower.

What specific steps didPresident Jonathan take?The approach that thePresident himself has taken isvery critical. Under the auspicesof the Economic ManagementTeam, which brings togetherMinisters from Health,Education, to Finance,Agriculture, Power, and Works,key regulators like the centralbank and the Securities andExchange Commission, theBureau for Public Enterprise,the Tax Office, with businessmoguls who are either in thebanking sector, in industry. Forexample, you have the presi-dent of the ManufacturersAssociation of Nigeria meetingthe president once a month oronce every two months. Andeverybody comes to the table todiscuss policy issues so thatwhen those decisions are beingmade that those who basicallyare operating within that envi-ronment are there and can con-tribute to crafting of policydecisions that are supportive ofthe business environment. Thatis particularly significant. I havebeen in those conversationsmyself and I have seen the veryuseful contributions that thebusiness people have made inmaking sure that these policiesare responsive to an environ-ment that is supportive of busi-ness. That is one thing that verysignificant.The other significant develop-ment is that the macro-eco-nomic environment has beenvery supportive of foreigninvestors investing in this mar-ket. That has been particularlyimportant in the capital mar-ket. As you know, mostly upuntil recently, the foreigninvestors, foreign investorsrightly driving investing,whether in equities or in bonds,and that’s very much inresponse to what I said aboutmacro-economic stability: ifyour exchange rate is relativelystable, people will come inbecause they are not worriedabout a depreciation of yourcurrency. And when you look atthe level of returns that you aremaking in Nigeria relative tothe returns they can make inother parts of the world, theycan see that the returns here arevery compelling and therefore,

is only a place to invest them.And so that’s why you’ve seenover the last three years, for-eign investors have basicallybeen driving the investmentin Nigeria. In the equities mar-ket on a daily basis, it was up to70 percent in favour of foreigninvestors. So, creating an envi-ronment where investors dofeel that their moneys safe,supporting the SEC in ensur-

ing that our markets are of thehighest integrity is also some-thing that the president mustbe given credit for. Another aspect in terms of

support, particularly for thisgreat success that we’ve seen inthe capital market is also thatas you know the governmentprovided forbearance forstockbrokers. There’s also sup-port in reducing the transac-

tion costs for investors. Therewere waivers that were beingprovided in terms of VAT andStamp Duty. That has also beenvery useful in terms of furthernurturing this great perform-ance we’ve seen in our mar-kets. I think that it is important tonotice that once the presidentapproaches this sort of thing tolook at how to ensure that we

have a fair market (you remem-ber that in 2010 a waiver wasgiven for bond transactionsbecause in the past investing insovereign bonds enjoyed a taxrebate which sub-nationals –government and corporatebonds did not enjoy. In Marchof 2010, the presidentapproved that the waiver beextended to corporate bonds

CONTINUED ON PAGE 61

Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC)Director-General, Arunma Oteh speaks on sundryissues in the sector, in an interview with BusinessEditor, ADE OGIDAN

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 201360

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SEC assures sustainable market growthand sub-national bonds, so cre-ating a level playing field butalso allowing the bond marketto flourish. Of course you haveour pension sector which froma domestic institutionalinvestor base is particularlykey. And with these develop-ments, the pension sector hashad the opportunity to be ableto have a diversity of instru-ments to invest in. Today wehave more than $20 of pensionmoney than can be invested.What’s your take on the role ofSovereign Wealth Fund inbuilding confidence in the sys-tem?What is partly related to creat-ing macro-economic stabilityand also related to the govern-ment showing a good exampleis the successful establishmentof the Sovereign Wealth Fund,which is a way that countriesthat have natural resourcesensure that they are able tosave for future generations. Sowhat it does is, it further itextends the role that the ExcessCrude Account has played inensuring that when there arechanges in our primarysources of income, revenues,oil prices, that our expendituredoes not go up and down andthat we are able to save for therainy day. In fact this I think isvery, very important in termsof how we were able torespond to the financial crisis.So it helped protect us from thefinancial crisis because we hadan Excess Crude Account. Butwhat the Jonathan administra-tion has done is to extend itand do what others have done,which is to establish theSovereign Wealth Fund. Andwhat is unique about Nigeria’sSovereign Wealth Fund, whichis not the same with someother sovereign wealth fundsis that it will invest in Nigeriajust as much as it will investoutside of Nigeria. In a lot ofother countries, the sovereignwealth fund invests outside ofthat country, but one otherthing that was decided forNigeria Sovereign Wealth Fundis that it will invest in infra-structure, it will have to fundfuture generations and it willalso have liquidity. In establish-ing a sovereign wealth fund, inencouraging the continuingaccumulation of pensionassets, shows that the govern-ment is an example in terms ofproviding resources that canimpact future generations.This is very, very important.Although confidence is return-ing to the market, this seems tobe more in the secondary mar-ket. It does not appear thatcompanies are convinced yetto come to the market to raisefunds, as we still have a dearthof new listings. The second aspect of being anexample is the privatizationagenda. What we expect is thatthese companies that are bid-ding for the power assets – thegeneration and distributionassets - that at some point thesecompanies will be listed on theNigerian Stock Exchangebecause we do believe that thisis very critical to democratiz-ing the wealth creation and thedistribution of wealth in thecountry. The president himselfin 2010 had asked the NigerianEconomic Management Teambefore he started chairing ithimself to look at ways oil andgas companies and telecomcompanies can be listed on theNigerian Stock Exchange. Andof course one thing to do first isto be the example and with pri-vatization, that can certainly

be an excellent example. Still on the return of confi-dence to the stock market.Certainly, SEC has been anactive agent in driving this.How have you been able to dosome of the things you’vedone?The confidence is the trust.Clearly, prior to 2010, that trustwas broken, particularly withdomestic investors because of anumber of misrepresentationsthat were made. So with thatkind of environment it hastaken a lot to rebuild the trust.And what has rebuilt that trustis first of all that the SEC as anapex regulator has said it has notolerance for anything that isfor wrong doing in our marketand it hasn’t just said that, it hastaken action to show that it hasno tolerance for that. And overthe last three years domesticinvestors, foreign investorshave seen that it is working; it’sstuck in that respect, that it hasno tolerance for anything thatis inappropriate. The other thing is also to pro-vide an avenue for investors,particularly retail investors, tomore efficiently have their com-plaints dealt with, to providemechanisms that allowinvestors feel that the kind ofrisks they were exposed, thatthose risks no longer exist. Andso some of the work SEC hasbeen in encouraging retailinvestors to use mutual funds,unit trust rather than investdirectly is also something thatis very important (to us). In thisrespect, instead of investing allof their moneys in a particularstock, what they can do is tohave access to a variety ofstocks, maybe even have accessto stocks and bonds whichallows them to spread theirrisks, diversify their invest-ments and thereby immunizethem against any temporarychanges in the market. That hasbeen very important in terms ofguiding retail investors as tothe kinds of instruments theyshould be focused on, assuringthem through protecting themand if they have any complaintsthat those complaints would beresolved and ensuring that reg-ulation is much more effective.The other aspect which is veryimportant is ensuring that ourcapital market operates on thebasis of world class. We at theSEC in 2010 said that the compe-tition for capital is global, andso if we want to have a marketthat meets the needs of ourcountry, it’s very, very impor-tant that we operate on world-class standards and thoseworld-class standards are firstof all, as I mentioned, foundedon a market that has integrity.But it’s also a market that has agood disclosure regime whereinformation is easily availableto all investors at the right timeand so some of what we did interms of revising the corporategovernance code and issuing anew corporate code in 2011 andrequiring companies that arelisted to indicate the extent oftheir compliance with the code.Some of what was approved bythe Federal Executive Councilwith respect to adopting theInternational FinancialReporting Standards was alsovery important in terms of rais-ing the standard in our market,ensuring that the for promot-ing many products, because aworld-class market should havevarious products. What really has changed at SECunder your leadership?When I joined the SEC in 2010there was predominantly afocus on equities and there was

predominantly a focus on retail.In the last three years, we’ve hada significant focus on the bondmarket, with great support as Imentioned earlier from thepresident, in the waivers thatwe received. We have a thrivingfixed income today. We nowhave Exchange Traded Funds,which basically allow peoplebasically to invest in a collectivemanner but trading on theexchange. The exchange is look-ing to introduce futures andoptions going forward. So this isvery significant in terms of rais-ing bar in our market, We alsonow have market makingwhich has enhanced liquidityin our market because that isalso one of the important char-acteristics of a world-class mar-ket. The other thing which I think isvery, very significant which Ihaven’t mentioned is that inaddition to the Nigerian StockExchange, the SEC approvedtwo new platforms: theNational Association ofSecurities Dealers , which will belaunched in July , the FinancialMarket Dealers platform, whichis also in the process of startingoperations. What these twoplatforms will do is two signifi-cant things: the FinancialDealers has been an over thecounter market for trading inbonds, primarily driven by thebanks. What it does bring istransparency to this platform,so we are very pleased to have

been able to register such aplatform. The second thing,looking at the NationalAssociation of SecuritiesDealers platform is very fasci-nating. There is an opportunityfor us to have even unlistedsecurities traded on theNational Association ofSecurities Dealers platform,which is just another way ofencouraging companies to ulti-mately list, to bring transparen-cy to what goes on. So compa-nies like Wamco, that are notlisted, where the stocks arebasically exchanged one partyto the other, if you have a plat-form like the NationalAssociation of SecuritiesDealers, this kind of stuff cantrade very easily. It will reallybring transparency in invest-ing in public companies,whether they are listed on thestock exchange or whetherthey are unlisted. The listingagenda is on track. We expectover the coming months anumber of companies to cometo the market. The way it worksis that valuations need to beattractive for companies towant to sell a piece of them-selves. Clearly that happenedwith our market being one ofthe top three best markets inAfrica, and one of the top ten inthe world.Secondly they need to preparethemselves for listing so thatthey can meet the listing stan-dard and some of the things

they need to meet are what Isaid about the InternationalFinancial ReportingStandards. So, if they were notreporting on that basis, theyneed to prepare theiraccounts so that they canreport on that basis. And thatprocess takes some time.Some of what the exchangehas done, which is quite usefulis to, particularly for the small-and medium-scale enterpris-es, revamp the AlternativeSecurities Market. We haverecently approved new rulesfor private equity. We believethat the president’s agenda ofjob creation will only happenif small- and medium –scaleenterprises are supported and

those small-and medium-scaleenterprises would be support-ed if we had an ecosystemwhere we have venture capital,where we have private equity,where when companies wantto list on the exchange thatthey are supported in the list-ing process, and after they arelisted they are supported, postlisting.So, we’ve revamped the rulesfor private equity. Theexchange has revamped theAlternative Securities Market.The Alternative SecuritiesMarket has nominated advis-ers that can handle companiesto list and be with those com-panies while they are listed onthe stock market.

Oteh

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THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013 63

Continuation of the text of the maideninaugural lecture delivered by Prof.Nosa Owens-Ibie, Ph.D, professor ofCommunication, Media and Develop-ment, at Caleb University, Imota, Lagos,on April 9, 2013. (The second part waspublished on Thursday, May 9, 2013.

DESPITE such reactions Ezeobi (2013) has re-ported the existence of a gay club in Lagos.Cynthia Osokogu, a student of Nasarawa StateUniversity was lured to her death by malefriends she made through Facebook (Abdul-salami, 2012; Alao, 2012). Fagorusi (2013: 13) ana-lyzed the impact of the social media platform2gowith 12.5 million subscribers in Nigeriacompared to Facebook (6.63 million) and Black-berry (about 2.5 million). The network wasfounded by two computer science students ofthe University of Witwatersrand, South Africa,has more male than female users mainly in the15-24 years bracket, is quite popular with pupilsof secondary schools and many young peoplewho are out of school, can run on differenttypes of phones, allows anonymity and its “flirtand relationship rooms” are heavily patron-ised. He told the story of his friend’s 23-year oldsister, who was then four months pregnantthrough a relationship contracted through 2gothough both of them were living in Kadunaand Oyo – a distance of 655 kilometres. Theyfound a way of overcoming the physical dis-tance after three months of communicating via2go. Nigeria subscribers on the 2goplatformrepresent 61% of its users.Despite exciting developments and the re-course to the trappings of popular culture to fillan obvious void, a study has found that peoplehave become unhappier since 2009. A Univer-sity of Vermont team monitored over a three –year period 63 million Twitter users and foundthat “except for a rise between January andApril 2009, happiness is in sharp decline on-line” (McMillan, 2011).As it is in the UnitedStates, so it is emerging in Nigeria.A Centenary CircleBrown (2012: 4-6), while announcing the su-pervised interment of the print edition ofNewsweek magazine and the introduction of itsdigital replacement, wrote definitively aboutan inevitability. She said that the decision of the80-year old international newsweekly to go dig-ital is one fact their competitors “will one dayneed to embrace with the same fervor”. The development process in Nigeria echoessuch inevitabilities with variants of a subsistingdependency philosophy playing out. Berrigan(1979: 11) had noted that development is “forMan, by Man, and of Man”, but the operationali-sation of its processes has increasingly tendedto equate development with a modernizationphilosophy with indices rooted in global speci-fications and other externalities which in a con-text is accommodating and in anothersomewhat dismissive of the logics which de-fine/d traditional societies. Tehranian (see Wat-son, 2003: 28) in fact avers that modernizationas a process involves the “universal leveling ofsocieties into relatively homogenous entities”.Since societies “enculturise” individuals, culti-vating them through socialization into “ex-pected patterns of behaviours” (Watson, 2003:12), the State of the Act points in the direction ofan orientation for Nigerian developmentrooted in ironic disorientations. And that fits apattern starting with the colony. Abdullahi’s(1991: 17-18) quote of the Dual Mandate of LordFrederick Lugard published in 1922 illuminatesthis perspective again drawing attention to theRomansAs Roman imperialism laid the foundations formodern civilization, and led the wild barbarians ofthose islands along the paths of progress, so inAfrica today… we are repaying the debt, and bring-

ing to the dark places of the earth, the abode ofbarbarianism and cruelty, the torch of cultureand progress, while ministering to the materialneeds of our own civilization...Let it be admittedat the outset that…Europe is in Africa for themutual benefit of her two industrial classes,and of the native races in their progress to ahigher plane; that the benefit can be made re-ciprocal, and it is the aim and desire of civilizedadministration to fulfil this dual mandate.Film played an instrumental role in the ac-tualization of the Mandate. Mgbejume(1989: 2-3) provides insights into this phasein the evolution of film in Nigeria. The Colo-nial Film Unit was interested in films which“…always draw a large number of unsophis-ticated African folks who will laugh at themost inconsequential things (but generallytwo or three shots late); quantity ratherthan quality is the significant thing”. Manyof these films tended to give a skewed pic-ture of the Western reality “making it luxuri-ous, non-moral if not immoral and almostcertainly materialistic”. The use of guns toearn a living got its early expression in someof those films. While a Black writer, RichardWright in 1948 worried about the impact ofideas conveyed through these films onAfrican natives concerned about their po-tential to destroy their “communal, fragile,traditional, tribal and almost sacred institu-tions”, Colin Beale, Secretary, EdinburghHouse for Visual Aids, made the followingremarks during the 1948 Conference onFilm in Colonial Government:I am convinced that for the African, with hisprimitive mind, his pitifully

meagre mental outlook, his lack of gen-eral cultural background, his semi

and often total illiteracy, his sense ofwonder and his love of fun, the cinema

could have an almost immeasurablygreat future. We believe that educational

films, together with morally uplifting “en-tertainment” pictures both

serious s and comic (the African has a de-lightfully unspoiled sense of

nonsense and a hearty laugh is a well-knownrelief to emotional strain),

would do much to relieve the soul-destroyingboredom which is doing so

much to make the African of today an easyprey of materialistic agitators

of every kindThe outcome of motives and actions in thecolony and post-colony explains the currentscenario where globalization is on the marchand there is an incremental but unfoldingwhittling of the boundaries of tradition despitelevels of cultural resistance. Enforcement andother regulatory mechanisms appear con-strained by demand and supply side econom-ics and the result is evident in variations of therules of engagement with constituencies, in-cluding the media. In 2004 for instance, the Na-tional Broadcasting Commission (NBC)stopped the live feed of some BBC programmeson Ray Power 100.5 FM, but by October 2011, theprogrammes returned. Today, Brila 88.9 FM,Cool 96.9 FM and Beat 99.9 FM, among othersair programmes deriving from partnershipswith international broadcasters. The love of theEnglish Premier League has become the begin-ning of entertainment for electronic and printmedia in Nigeria and the Spanish and Italianleagues are gaining in popularity. Americanbasketball, tennis, golf are regular offers. Chan-nels Television’s programme - The American Ex-ample is only one in a string of programmesand features by electronic and print mediaspotlighting the attractions of that country. These however may just be the icing on a cakefilled with negatives patterned along conven-tional definition of news as exaltation of theshocking, negative and whatever represents adeviation from order. In the process, the vul-nerabilities of the more developed world, espe-cially America gets daily amplified and relayed.This is not just about a fiscal cliff but about anempire on the cliff. Many who are enamouredby the attractions of America therefore worrybecause the trends are replaying gradually andsystematically in a satellite like Nigeria. The Bible in Galatians 5: 9 (King James Version)

states that “A little leaven leaveneth thewhole lump”. On the one hand therefore is acountry that rose from the contradictions ofcolonialism, slavery, racial discrimination,and economic vicissitudes, translating itsdisadvantages to become the pre-eminentglobal force shaping the destinies of na-tions; a nation where the dream of a MartinLuther King Jnr has translated to an African-American occupying the White House inone sign that left many gasping in disbeliefand wonder and who has now despite thechallenges won a second term in office. Hereis a country that is inventing, refining anddeploying the products of science and tech-nology to consolidate its dominance of aglobal space (and outer space) in the midstof a spirited positioning by a country likeChina which is clear enough about its will-ingness to supplant the American Dream.Here is a country that has worked systemati-cally and assiduously to stamp its imprinteconomically, politically and technologi-cally in all corners of the world in a carefullycultivated script and through national andglobal institutions and organizations whichhave become a part of the reality from theNorth Pole to the South Pole. Here is a coun-try that has evolved a cultural package andunrelentingly marketed it so well that likeOwens-Ibie (1990) concludes, America isnow “our America.” Here is a country thathas defined benchmarks in the professionsproviding reference points for global andnational standards. Here is the country ofthe Pulitzers in journalism, the Grammys inmusic, the Oscars in the motion picture in-dustries yearly packaged to hold the rest ofthe world captive, yearning for the next out-ing. Here is the country that has sold itself asa destination of hope no matter where youcome from, showcasing sports stars, scien-tists, journalists, academics and profession-als, entrepreneurs who left their countriesand achieved their dreams in the land of op-portunity.But here too is an America which appearsin what amounts to an ironic wander fromhistory and eternal realities not to be learn-ing the lessons from the Romans who lost adream after 1200 years on the global stage.As Owens (2013) and other watchers of thecurrent phase of the American Dream arenoting, the unmaking of America is evidentfrom the “little leaven” even while the bigpicture is one huge roller coaster rolling ef-fortlessly like the World War 11GermanPanzer over tricky terrains. That little leaventargets the underbelly of that countrysteadily weakening the very foundations ofits rise despite its preference for the enlarge-ment of the coast of freedom, liberty and theliberation of the human spirit from the con-strictions that limit its manifestation. That little leaven while acknowledging theiconic moments of an Abraham Lincolnpresidency and some other exceptionalleadership in its history appear to discoun-tenance what Lincoln symbolised as a manwho stood for freedom and authored easilythe most famous quote on democracy as“government of the people, by the people,for the people” but knew like Hebrews 11: 3states that “things which are seen were notmade of things which do appear”. Lincolnused “Under God” in three major addresses(White, 2008: 58) acknowledging in theprocess that there is a God which createdand controls the affairs of men. Such a standis now grand foolishness to many in thatcountry and elsewhere. As 1 Corinthians 2: 14states it is a case of the natural man not everimagining or being in a position to under-stand the workings of such spiritual princi-ples.

Prof. Owens-Ibie

For The RecordCommunicating an implosion: Signs and wander,popular culture and the crumbling of Empire (3)

THE GUARDIAN,Thursday, May 23, 201364

TO BE CONTINUED

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013 65

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 201366

usually not monolithic. A critic or reviewer shouldtherefore be careful about blanket categorization. The first and third lessons are illustrated in a newbook, Democracy in Nigeria: Thoughts and Commen-tariesauthored by Dr. Anthony Akinola, a Nigeriancompatriot living in Oxford, United Kingdom. I aman illustration of the second lesson. The questionon this second lesson is not how well you can pre-tend, as a reviewer or a critic, to be ideologically“neutral”, but whether you will allow yourself tobe so blinded by ideological prejudice as not to seeflashes of beauty and deep thought when they ap-pear on the “other side”. I shall come to these threeillustrations in the course of this appreciation ofAkinola’s important book.Democracy in Nigeria is a collection of 55 essayswritten by Akinola over a period of 12 years (2000– 2012), most of them in the last few years. Almostall the essays were published in Nigerian newspa-pers, the vast majority in The Guardian. The 219 –page book is divided into 10 parts: Part 1: Ethnic ri-valry over leadership (7 essays); Part 2: Obasanjoand the third term stigma (4 essays); Part 3:Yar’Adua and exaggerated reforms (4 essays); Part4: Jonathan and the zoning controversy (7 essays);Part 5: Elections, parties and qualifications (9 es-says); Part 6: The monster of corruption (6 essays);Part 7: The fallacy of welfarism (2 essays); Part 8: Re-ligion and religiousity (4 essays): Part 9: Federal-ism and the Constitution (3 essays); and Part 10:Between optimism and pessimism (9 essays).The author’s well crafted and carefully balanced6 – page Introduction, together with his preface,ought to be taken as a separate essay, the 56th. Itembodies the political trajectory of Nigeria fromindependence, passing through the (1966 – 1970)turbulence – hence, I believe, the care and the bal-ance employed by the author. Beyond this literarystyle (carefulness and balance), however, the In-troduction signals the author as a convinced lib-eral democrat. The well-known researcher andwriter on Nigerian politics, A.H.M. Kirk-Greene,who appears to have followed the intellectual ca-reer of the author, especially his public commen-taries, for quite some time, wrote the Foreword tothe book. He scores both the author and his newbook very high. Kirk-Greene appears honest in this

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OpinionTHE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013

Gamaliel Onosode: To wear honour like a garment (2)

SO powerful and attractive, and yet so elastic andabused is the concept of democracy that it can beused, and has been used or invoked, as an organiz-ing principle for any critique or defence or articu-lation of any sociopolitical movement, politicalparty or social order. Every intellectual productionon democracy proceeds from, or assumes, the gen-eral definition of democracy – “government of thepeople, by the people and for the people” – pro-posed by Abraham Lincoln about 150 years ago. “De-mocratic”, the adjective formed from democracy,has been used to qualify all sorts of social mon-strosities just as it has been used to mark off gen-uine qualitative differentiations. Concerning this “magic” concept, two particularevents in modern history stick to my mind. As Lin-coln was defining democracy in America – a new na-tion that was built on slavery – those inspired byKarl Marx and Friedrich Engels in Europe were es-tablishing communist groups, cells and, later, par-ties of the working people based on concepts ofdemocracy which they argued were superior – interms of human freedom and liberation – to all pre-viously existing concepts. Later, there emerged inGermany, in the fourth quarter of the 19thcentury,a party called the German Social DemocraticLabourParty. Less than half a century later, in the samecountry, there emerged, Adolf Hitler’s National So-cial DemocraticLabour Party, which was committedto physically liquidating the Communists and theJews whom they regarded as the same thing or twofaces of the same thing.This article is however not about the historical tra-jectory or trajectories of democracy – theory andpractice. The above ironies of history just sprangup before me as I began the present appreciation.There are three particular simple lessons I learntand re-learnt in the business of reviewing or ap-preciating political texts. One is that no politicaltext is ideologically “neutral”. Another, the second,is that no serious political critic or reviewer is, orcan be, ideologically “neutral”. The third lesson isthat what a critic or reviewer – having made his orher ideological choice, implicitly or explicitly – maycall the “other side” in an ideological spectrum is

By Femi Osofisan

Contemporary problems of democracyjudgment. Democracy in Nigeria is “reader-friendly” and “stu-dent-friendly”. By this I mean that Akinola’s newbook will attract and encourage a literate personwho otherwise suffers “book-weariness” or “book-laziness”; and will be a delight to students of Niger-ian politics. In the first place, the book is a collectionof essays, not a single historical narrative and analy-sis; secondly, the titles of the parts, as well those ofindividual essays, show that the issues treated arenot only current but also important and urgent –with some of them, such as Ethnicity as a permanentphenomenon (the 6thessay of Part 1), promising to becontroversial. The two essays on Welfarismthat makeup Part 7 (The fallacy of welfarism): Welfarism in ashrinking economy and The Pandora box of Welfarism,are bound, at first, to shock, and then invite, readerswho had confirmed Akinola as a thoughtful liberaldemocrat. In the third place, each part is preceded by what theauthor calls Synopsis, set in italix, which provides thehistorical background and context to that particu-lar group of essays. Some of the “synopses” are longand substantive enough to be opinion write-ups bythemselves. Finally, Akinola’s language is beautiful,accessible and lucid. But speaking for students, inparticular, I would have loved to see Index at the endof the book. This may be considered for the secondedition. And in doing this the author may also con-sider moving the date of publication of each essayfrom the end to the beginning of the essay. This is tohelp locate the time of the author’s intervension asthe reader begins to read. Also to be considered in anew edition is the need to correct some minor typo-graphical errors like those on pages 34, 36 and 114and other errors like taking CPC as Congress for Po-litical Change instead of Congress for ProgressiveChange.One of the strengths of this book is the sheer bold-ness – intellectual as well as moral and political bold-ness – of the writer in taking and arguing positionsthat are not “popular”, that are “against the current”,so to say. One of such opinions is on the long-stand-ing demand and campaign for the setting up a Sov-ereign National Conference (SNC). His opinion herecomes in the last of the seven essays that make upPart 1: Ethnic rivalry over leadership.

I think I should quickly dispense with this point.Akinola had argued strongly for the rotational pres-idency and the recognition of “ethnicity as a per-manent phenomenon”. In the end he declared:“The major feuds in the Nigerian polity since in-dependence in 1960 have been mainly over lead-ership. Be it the Civil War of 1967 – 1970 or theGideon Orkar-led attempted coup of April 1990, orthe crisis we now simply refer to as June 12, it hasbeen demonstrated in the course of our existenceas an independent nation that the leadership ques-tion is indeed the national question” (emphasismine) (page 30).It is in this context of the author’s almost cate-gorical belief – held over the past three decades –that he declares: “honestly, agitation for anotherconstitutional conference – be it of ethnic nation-alities or that of the intelligentsia – no longer ex-cites” (page 46). He continues: “We have had toomany conferences in the short history of our na-tion and maybe it is time we accepted that im-proving in what we already had is the wayforward” (pages 46 – 47). Of course, on both counts– leadership question being the national questionand constitutional conference being no long “ex-citing” – I strongly disagree with Akinola. But I ad-mire his boldness: he is taking the positions inspite of his knowing that they are “unpopular”, inspite of his being known as a liberal democrat anda progressive over a fairly long time. I do not agreewith him but his position and his argument en-rich my own contrary position. That is one of thestrengths of the book.For a second instance of boldness and “swim-ming against the current”, some historical back-ground is necessary. The government of PresidentOlusegun Obasanjo had, in 2005, set up a NationalPolitical Reform Conference to kick off, I believe, anew process of constitution-making. When delib-erations got to the issue of derivation principle inthe Revenue Allocation debate, delegates from theSouth-south geopolitical zone insisted “on beingpaid 25 per cent of revenue from oil, a percentagethey would like to graduate to 50 per cent over afive-year period”. (page 50). Akinola fully endorsesthis position.• To be continued next Thursday.

Continued from yesterday

THIS explains a number of things. Certainly it explains his pres-ent reclusive nature. And now, expanding on that, he makes ashocking revelation, that he was born with a natural disability: “Iwas the only child of my parents who had a stammer… I thinkthat is part of the reason why I… I was very quiet, you see … be-cause I was a stammerer. I would only open my mouth if I hadto…”A stammerer?! I look at him incredulously. This man who is gen-erally regarded as an orator, from whose lips words pour out atall moments with mellifluous ease, and whose polished elocutionwould be a boon to any media house any day? He must have noticed my astonishment. He smiles. The stam-mer, he explains, had disappeared miraculously when he wasmade a school prefect in the secondary school. “… I said to God,how am I going to discharge this responsibility of making an-nouncements? And you know with stammering, there usually isan emotional kind of thing that fuels it, such that the more excitedyou are, the greater your chances of stuttering. But God just said,My boy, don’t worry, I will be with you. And without subjectingmyself to any therapy, any therapy at all, the thing just vanished!Yes, God just did it!”So now we understand his unbending faith in Christianity andthe Baptist Church.But however, apart from this speech defect, there was also the factthat he began to carry family responsibilities right from youth: “Iseem to have developed without having a period of adolescence…I took over from my father long before he died. And the result isthat I didn’t really have fun like others.” This ascetic solitariness became a habit. Even in school, he didnot take part in sports: “I didn’t like sports… That’s one thing Ihave against Government College. Sports appeared to have beenso emphasized, that I detested it… it was like, this was some op-pression that I had to endure.”Nor did he have girl friends or womanize, like most Nigerianmen: “The bottom line is that I was… even before I came toIbadan… that I took every opportunity that was available to buildup my faith and my character. I did not think sexual activity wassome kind of fun like drinking tea every Sunday afternoon. No!” So what does he then do, you wonder, in his leisure hours? Thereare the church activities of course, which he never misses. But are

those all? Does he never relax?“In fact, that’s my problem,” he admits. “You may find out thatperhaps I’m one of the most boring human beings you can comeacross… I am a private a person as I am. I am not a society person,and I don’t join societies and clubs. I don’t go anywhere to danceto eat or drink... So, it’s a dreary kind of life. But I’m happy.” My assistant and I exchange looks. How much of what he is say-ing is true, and how much is he deliberately pulling our leg? “Yousee,” he continues, “there are some people who say I’m an un-smiling person… I don’t really…I don’t play games… It is sur-prising that I even know how to laugh…”And of course at that we all burst out laughing, the three of us.It is interesting how the exterior so often masks the identity ofthe inner man. For if there is anything Onosode does not knowhow to do, it is certainly NOT how to laugh! At least not in ourcompany since I have come close to him. His face may be sternand austere – like a permanent advert for sainthood, some peo-ple say – but you soon discover that behind that steel exterior is asoft and compassionate personality, prodigiously generous, andeasily vulnerable in fact because of that.Indeed in his company there is never a dull moment, for he tellsmany stories, some of which can crack your ribs. Even now, as Iask about his days at GCU, he repeats one of his favourites, anepisode long ago from a drama production: “It was… one Emordi.He’s dead now. He died a long time ago. They were presentingShakespeare’s Julius Caesar, and when it got to the point wheresomething was to happen to the dead body of Caesar as he waslying there, Emordi said, after looking blank and agitated for abrief moment, he just said – ‘Carry am make we go!’…The follow-ing morning, our Principal, Powell, almost wept in the assembly.He said, Yes, you can be forgiven for not remembering yourlines… If you had said, Please help me remove this body… But,Carry am make we go! How could Shakespeare have known pid-gin English?” The humour ends however when it comes to work. In this,

Onosode will not joke with the matter of efficiency or compe-tence. And above these, is the question of ethics. This, again, is thepowerful shadow of his father. “My father was a highly organizedand disciplined person… he would never compromise on prin-ciple.”Gamaliel proudly recalls the unpleasant occasion when his fa-ther was denied ordination, even after graduating from Ogbo-mosho, because he would not bend to the presiding pastor’s view

on polygamy. Sent out of the vicarage, he moved unrepentant andwithout shame to his wife’s half-completed house, and lived therefor several months. And in the end it was the church that had torecall him. Like father, like son then, one can see. This rigidity on the matterof principle is the recurrent trait that has marked Onosode’s ca-reer. It is where he has earned his reputation of unyielding pro-bity, as a man who would rather quit than compromise. “Oh, Iwas the first in so many things and so many areas… and I alwaysresigned on protest in each case.”It takes great courage to do that, especially in our morally de-praved situation in Nigeria. “Sometimes, quite often,” he confesses,“I just walked into the night! …I didn’t know where I was going.By the time I resigned, I didn’t know what the next job would be. Ijust said well, don’t worry, I’m not going to tolerate that nonsensejust because I want to keep a job.”But the irony was that, because of this risk and the flawless repu-tation he acquired through it, Onosode has always found otherdoors opening almost immediately for him.Honesty pays, once you wear it like a garment. It is his creed ofhonour: “When I’m telling people to be courageous, to stand forwhat is true, I’m not just passing on what I read from Aristotle orfrom Socrates or from whoever. No! I’m sharing my personal ex-perience. I’m not asking them to do what I did not do myself…Thisis the Christ in me.”It will not be easy. It has never been easy to live a clean life. Still, ashe says: “A man has to be a man… You have to be bold to stand forwhat you believe. …You see, if you really stand for a principle, if aprinciple is really for you a principle, you must be willing to paythe price. You can’t have your cake and eat it.”And he concludes: “The reason why we have not achieved as muchor even what could have been is because of the lack of personal in-tegrity. There’s no substitute to that. As a Christian, everything re-volves round that. … I mean, if there is no integrity, no amount ofskill will produce the desired result. It takes only one little man tothrow in a little spanner and the whole thing collapses, right? But,at the same time …it takes perhaps just one man to introduce anidea, a concept, a process that has a transforming effect. So, nevergive up!”I look at my watch. Incredibly we have been here for five hours.What a day! It is time to leave the old man to rest.• Concluded.• Osofisan wrote from Lagos.

By Edwin Madunagu

Opinioning they have done nothing wrong.

In response, the Federal Government set up yetanother committee to look into a solution and pos-sible amnesty terms. The point of developingamnesty terms for a group responsible for themurder of thousands of innocent civilians and se-curity agencies is lost on me more so when theyhave stated quite clearly that they are not inter-ested in amnesty. The very recent declaration of astate of emergency in three states may be a step inthe right direction but only time will tell. What iscertainly not clear is what will happen to the vio-lence that is still continuing in Bauchi, Kano,Plateau, Kaduna and Nasarawa states and howdoes this address the kidnapping in the South Eastand the South South or the political unrest un-folding in Rivers State.

Last week the situation was exacerbated by an ex-change of irresponsible utterances from selfish po-litical thugs whose sole motive appears to be todestabilize the polity and create a chaotic environ-ment where their services will become indispen-sable. The current exchange of verbal fire seems tobe between two specific ethnic groups, the Ijawsversus the Fulanis and they appear to be drawingus closer every day to the American prediction. It isnot clear at what point these two former allies be-came sworn enemies but the battle lines are clearlydrawn and for now the press seems to be the the-atre of war. Will it end in just talk or will this proveto be the catalyst that will finally push us off theedge? Could this be the beginning of the end of theFourth Republic?

Asari-Dokubo, a former militant who boasted afew months ago that he collected huge sums ofmoney from the government which he invested inBenin Republic for the benefit of his several wivesand 18 children, threatened the whole country, par-ticularly the North with a war in the event that thecurrent president does not win the election in 2015.Calls from the National Assembly for his immedi-ate arrest and questioning, enraged him furtherinto recording a video in which he described theFulanis as ‘destitute parasites’ and stated that theywere planning a coup, which he said the presidentwas doing nothing about. He ranted and ravedabout the equally careless utterances of Lawal Kaitaand General Buhari and then dared the authoritiesto arrest him. He threatened that Nigeria would

68 THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013

FORMER Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Com-mission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu has been one of the most

trenchant critics of the presidential pardon granted recently to erst-while Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, whoabout seven years ago pleaded guilty to, and was convicted of cor-rupt offences. In an interview with ThisDay Lawyeron March 19, 2013,Ribadu said: “We have sent a terrible signal that fighting corruptionis not in our culture, that go ahead, behave in the most despicablemanner, it is our way, it is okay...DSP (Alamieyeseigha) actuallypleaded guilty. This is very significant...And now government is com-ing to say that no, no, you are not even fair to yourself.”

Ribadu enjoyed a few years of dubious fame as the nemesis of cor-ruption in Nigeria. But it did not take long for all to realise that be-hind the facade of a crusader, Ribadu was no more than the attackdog that was readily available to hound political opponents of Pres-ident Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007). Both Alamieyeseigha andJames Ibori (Delta State) ranked high on the hit list of the EFCC underRibadu, because they were prizes that Obasanjo desperately wantedin proof, not of any genuine abhorrence of corruption, but rather ofhis dominion over the nation’s political space.

When attention was drawn at the time to his selective chase of al-leged corrupt officials, Ribadu shouted himself hoarse that all gov-ernors who were in office were corrupt, and that his dossier on themwould shame an Edgar Hoover, the renowned Director of FBI. Ribadublamed the immunity clause in the Constitution as the hindrance tohis locking up the governors and throwing away the keys to their re-spective cells. Even before 2010, when he was sent to the Nigerian In-stitute for Policy and Strategic Studies for a year-long course forwhich he whipped up unnecessary sympathy that evaporated sub-sequently, Ribadu as head of EFCC could not actualise his threat.

Nigerian voters were shocked beyond belief when, during the pres-idential election debate in 2011, Ribadu, who embarked on a hope-less effort as a presidential candidate of the Action Congress ofNigeria, ate his words that he never said that all governors whosetenure ended in 2007 were corrupt! That volte-face clarified the hazethat had surrounded one of the most amazing occurrences duringRibadu’s grandstanding as an anti-corruption crusader. One of theformer governors secured a perpetual injunction against any inves-tigation into his financial dealings. What was perplexing about theEFCC’s response was its conniving failure to appeal the judgment.

But, in keeping quiet and allowing the time delimited for appeal toelapse, and therefore make the perpetual injunction binding,Ribadu’s EFCC made a mockery of itself and cemented the widespreadview that Ribadu was presiding over a witch-hunt of targeted indi-viduals.

When it suits them, Nigerian public commentators are quick to in-voke “global (international) best practices” as the measuring rod forour national policies and conduct. So, rather than see that the EFCCwas the attack dog for the vindictive criminalisation agenda by an ego-tistic President who failed in his bid for a third term, and who lookedthe other way when the rot under his roof was stinking, people arestill angry over the pardon granted Alamieyeseigha.

The vindictive prosecution and conviction of Alamieyeseigha abettedthe view that was widespread at the time that political leaders of theSouth-South were mismanaging their oil wealth, and therefore theoil-bearing states did not deserve even the 13 per cent derivation stip-ulated in the Constitution. This argument was peddled mostly byNortherners. Yet, the North with all the money that it gets from theFederation Account has the highest rate of poverty, illiteracy, and dis-ease in the country. Only recently have persons chiding South-Southpolitical leaders begun to keep quiet, seeing that development hasbeen taking place in the region.

On the other hand, it is unthinkable that Northerners who have heldoffices as ministers or governors since 1999 have all been so saintlyamid the decay in their region that none soiled his/her hands and theEFCC could not manage a successful prosecution of Northerners, as itdid against Alamieyeseigha. Go to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, andother havens in the Middle East and see the opulence displayed byNorthern Nigerians. If ever any of them gets to be handcuffed, he isgiven a soft-landing, like the Police Pension thief.

Discerning Nigerians would recall that a few years ago, Nuhu Ribaducame under intense searchlight on a matter of integrity that was even-tually explained away in an unsatisfactory manner. The issue at thetime concerned questions about how Ribadu could have possiblyraised the funds to purchase a house in a high-brow neighbourhoodof Abuja, when Federal Government-owned houses were being soldto the public with occupiers of the property given first refusal. Ribaduand his defenders told the world that the EFCC czar at the time raisedfunds for the property by borrowing money from his father-in-law, aretired Justice. Thereafter, everything was hush-hush. But that shouldhave been the beginning of serious investigation, because the defenceraised more questions than answers.

If Ribadu borrowed money from his in-law, is the latter a financial in-

WITH each passing day, one finds reason toquestion whether or not Nigeria is on the

brink of a civil war and in need of a declaration of astate of emergency in the whole country, not just afew states. The number of violent deaths recordedweekly is far in excess of what is expected in a peacesituation with neither earthquakes nor other nat-ural disasters. The tidal wave of uncertainty riseshigher with every announcement of insurgencyand there is an uneasy feeling of an impending im-plosion. As we approach the next election we areconstantly reminded of the American predictionthat Nigeria will not exist as a country by 2015 andwe seem to be marching rapidly towards the fulfil-ment of that ominous prophecy.

As General Buhari pointed out in his speech dur-ing the recent CPC convention, the country is sink-ing into a state of anarchy. The hopelessness of thesituation is highlighted by the inability of the po-licemen to protect themselves, let alone anyoneelse. In Bama, Borno State, over 20 policemen werekilled and as if that was not bad enough, two dayslater 27 policemen were murdered and another 13captured by a cultist group, Ombatse in NasarawaState, who they had been sent to arrest. A couple ofweeks before that incident, 12 policemen had beenkilled in Bayelsa State and there had been a violentshowdown in Baga between the security agenciesand the Boko Haram, which resulted in the death ofhundreds of innocent citizens. All of this happenedin the space of six weeks! If the policemen cannoteven protect themselves, what hope do civilianshave?

Every state in the country is experiencing somebreakdown of security or the other. The South Eastand South South states are kidnap zones, a threatthat is also creeping into the South West. Most ofthe Northern states are beset with insurgency,which has continued unabated since the 2011 elec-tions and the change of the National Security Ad-viser appears to have made scarce difference to thesituation. Calls for the Boko Haramto surrender andaccept amnesty, which in Nigeria basically meansgetting paid to stop the terrorism have fallen ondeaf ears and instead the Boko Haramadded insultto injury by offering the president amnesty, claim-

stitution? What were the terms of the facility borrowed by Ribadu?How did the in-law, a retired Justice, accumulate such money that hehad a surplus to lend to his son-in-law? Of course, we can see that ifwe were to pursue this matter to its forensic and logical conclusion,the story of those who are grandstanding on anti-corruption will de-velop k-leg (knock knees).

Nigerian commentators must seek to probe into one other curiousdimension of the Alamieyeseigha saga. Yes, he was standing trial inthe United Kingdom; yes, he did not fulfil his bail conditions. That wasin 2005, almost eight years ago. Why is it that the British governmentall these years has not mounted a vigorous campaign for the Nigeriangovernment to extradite Alamieyeseigha to face trial in the Britishcourts? Why has the United States government not called forAlamieyeseigha to be extradited, considering what the U.S. did to Nor-iega in the late 1980s? There must be so much that is unknown aboutthe “international fugitive” issue than is obvious on the surface.

The total lack of interest by the British authorities in the Alamieye-seigha matter since 2005 takes us to another perspective that hasbeen exploited by the anti-pardon group, who argue that becauseAlamieyeseigha is an “international fugitive,” he should never havebeen granted pardon by President Jonathan. This fuzzy perspectiveintroduces a queer notion of extraterritoriality in criminal law. In gen-eral, criminal law is territorial, which means, simply, that what is acrime in one jurisdiction may not be a crime in another jurisdiction.Thus, the criminal law of a country is as defined by the legislature ofthat country.

Alamieyeseigha could only properly be pardoned for an offence hecommitted under Nigerian law. That much is evident from s. 175 ofthe 1999 Constitution (as amended), which provides inter alia that“The President may grant any person concerned with or convicted ofany offence created by an Act of the National Assembly a pardon, ei-ther free or subject to lawful conditions”. Assuming Alamieyeseighahad been convicted under British law, a pardon by President Jonathanfor such a conviction would be hollow, because the 1999 Constitutiondoes not recognise the exercise of the prerogative of mercy for extra-territorial conviction.

No matter how emotional we may feel about it, the alleged offences(money laundering) for which Alamieyeseigha was standing trial inthe United Kingdom do not belong to international crimes (such asgenocide and crimes against humanity) for which nations are underobligation of international conventions to help enforce by not pro-viding a safe haven for anyone wanted for such offences, nor is the actof jumping bail an “international crime”.• Obua writes from Abuja.

cease to exist as a country if he was arrested andcalled the authorities cowards if they don’t arresthim. Interestingly no attempts were made to evenquestion him let alone arrest him.

Following Asari’s explosive video, there was ini-tially a deafening silence from the presidency rais-ing questions as to whether this was indeed theposition of all Ijaws (including the president) asAsari had suggested in his video. If Asari was beat-ing the drums of war, he did not have to wait longto find dancers as two days later, Ango Abdullahi,a member of the Northern Elders Forum re-sponded to his tirade by stating that they (theNortherners) have received the president’s mes-sage sent through his spokesman Asari-Dokubo,and they are ready for the war promised. This wasfollowed by more threats and counter-threats byother supporters on both sides heating up thepolity even more and then finally the Federal Gov-ernment broke its silence. In a statement issuedby Gulak, (a Northern aide to the president) thegovernment dissociated itself from Asari-Dokubo’s position and denounced him in prettystrong terms.

The government’s response seems to have hadvery little impact though. Firstly it arrived a tadtoo late and did not receive the wide exposurethat the video did. Secondly, it came from twoNortherners, Gulak and Bamanga Tukur (PDPchairman) who in reality were not exempt fromAsari-Dokubo’s missiles. The only Niger Deltan inor out of government who has openly taken a po-sition against Asari-Dokubo’s tirade is Tam DavidWest who is known to be a strong supporter ofBuhari. The damage has been done, the North-erners are simmering in silent rage and unlessthere is some significant measure of damage con-trol, the result of this deepening enmity will bedemonstrated at the polls come 2015, regardlessof the threats.

The reasons for the rift between these two for-mer allies are not difficult to understand. In a nut-shell, the Ijaws feel that the Northerners who haveruled the country for decades have usurped theiroil, excluding them from participating in the ben-efits accruing from the oil production despite thefact that their environment was damaged in theprocess and their people impoverished. TheNortherners on the other hand feel cheated out

of the presidency after the death of Yar’Adua trun-cated the Northern rule just two years into “theirturn” (according to the PDP zoning formula), and aredetermined to regain the presidential seat come 2015.But the Ijaws do not want Jonathan’s term to end in2015; they have benefitted immensely from this gov-ernment and they do not want the party to end. Theyare prepared they say, to fight to the last man ifJonathan is not re-elected; well you can hardly call itan election if people are coerced into returning himto power. With both sides threatening hell fire andbrimstone, what does the rest of the country feel?

Most Southerners appear to be sympathetic to theIjaw position despite their disenchantment with thepresent government and their disgust with Asari-Dokubo’s crude method of campaign. Years of re-sentment against the tyranny experienced duringthe military rule, which was largely Northern hastaken its toll and any suggestion of another Northernruler seems to put everyone’s back up. Asari-Dokuboand his supporters are counting on this and in factinvoking it to ensure that the presidency remains inthe South South whilst the likes of Kaita and Abdul-lahi are playing right into his hands by reinforcing inthe minds of the Southerners, the reasons why theywould prefer to avoid Northern rule. Where will it allend?

History records several factors that led to the end ofthe second republic, including a weak political struc-ture, lack of cooperation between the states and theFederal Government, uprising in the North betweenthe farmers and police, teacher’s strikes and the Mai-tatsine (remarkably similar to Boko Haram) riots inKaduna, Kano and Maiduguri. There was also eco-nomic uncertainty due to the end of the oil boom, ex-cessive government spending and high levels ofcorruption. The problems leading to the end of thefirst republic were similar and eventually led to a civilwar, which the country has not totally recoveredfrom years later.

With political unrest and the attendant tension;badly structured political parties with continuous in-ternal wrangling; corruption has reached dizzyingheights and the cost of government is unsustainable;violence and security challenges are stifling our eco-nomic development and growth regardless of whatthe statistics say. It’s a dire situation.• This article was written on 18th May, 2013 by Roz Ben-Okagbue.

By Kenneth Obua

By Roz Ben-Okagbue

Grandstanding on justice against Alams

The drum beats of war

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013 69

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 201370

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013 71

Sports72

Pillars regain topspot, Kwara Unitedshock Lobi 1-0By Christian Okpara

KANO Pillars yesterdayregained top spot on the

Nigeria Professional FootballLeague (NPFL) table when itdefeated hard-fightingKaduna United 3-2 in a Week14 game loitered with contro-versial decisions.

The shock result of theevening, however, was record-ed in Katsina Ala, whereKwara United beat hometeam, Lobi Stars, 1-0.   

Pillars are now on 25 pointsfrom 13 games and occupy thetop position in place ofHeartland, which lost toSunshine Stars by 2-1.

Pillars first hit the targetthrough Rabiu Ali barely aminute into the game, butTijani Adamu equalised forKaduna United in the 12thminute. 

Kaduna United took the leadin the 51st minute throughMichael Anthony, beforeKabiru Umar equalised fourminutes later and got the win-ner in the 90th minutethrough a highly disputedpenalty.

After the game, an angry

Kaduna United Coach, BenDuamlong accused the refer-ee of giving the game to Pillarsthrough a dubious penalty.

According to Duamlong, “wedid everything to get some-thing from the game, but welost the game through a thirdgoal manufactured for Pillarsin added time.”

To Kano Pillars Coach,Mohammed Babaganaru, thedefending champions nearlypaid the price for under-rat-ing Kaduna United.

According to Babaganaru,“my boys relaxed after scoringso early in the game. They didnot expect the kind of fightthey got from Kaduna United,but we rallied to win thegame.”

In the other games playedyesterday, Wikki Touristsdefeated Warri Wolves 2-1,while Akwa United beatEnyimba 1-0.

Dolphins beat GombeUnited 1-0 in Port Harcourt,3SC defeated Nasarawa United2-0, while ABS dispatchedRangers 2-1.

Sunshine Stars won theirbattle with Heartland 2-1, justas Bayelsa United beat neigh-bours, Nembe City, 2-0.

LMC set to tackle clubs’ indebtedness to coaches, players, says IraborTHE League Management

Company (LMC) hasacknowledged the growingconcern of stakeholders forimproved welfare of playersand coaches in the GlobacomPremier League and has givenassurances of its resolve toappropriately address thisgrowing concern for the bene-fit of the players, coaches andthe clubs.

Chairman of LMC, NdukaIrabor stated this in responseto a letter by the NigeriaPlayers Union urging the LMCto deduct all debts owed play-ers by their respective clubs

Kano Pillars and El Kanemi of Maiduguri fighting for points in a recent game. Pillars defeated Kaduna United 3-2at the Sani Abacha Stadium…yesterday. PHOTO: FEMI ADEBESIN-KUTI.

Fans tip GreaterTomorrow, Rangers Juniorfor E.C Clark trophy

GREATER TomorrowAcademicals of Akwa Ibom

and Rangers Junior of Enuguare favoured to cart away themaiden E. C Clark internation-al U-18 tournament holding inUyo Akwa, Ibom State.

After the preliminaries,which saw the participation ofeight teams, Rangers andGreater Tomorrow notchedthe maximum nine pointsfrom three matches to emergethe favourites from the twogroups.

In the last group match,Rangers under the tutelage offormer Rangers greats, AgwoNnaji and Ben Ugwu, defeatedAmakson Academicals fromFCT 3-2 even with 10 playersfrom 65 minutes.

The competition enters thesemi-final stage today withRangers, Group B winners,squaring up to DeltaAcademicals, who were run-ners up in Group A, whileGroup A winners, GreaterTomorrow have for foe,Amakson of Abuja.

The four teams already out ofthe competition are KingAmachree Sportive Academyof Benin Republic, PepsiAcademy of Lagos, Super NovaFootball Academy of Riversand Yenagoa City FootballAcademy of Bayelsa State.

The chief coach of theBeninoise side said he wasdelighted with the standard ofthe tournament, adding, “wewere so sure we were going towin, but when we got here, thestandard of Youth footballoverwhelmed us.”

from their share of theGlobacom title rights feerecently paid by the telecom-munication’s company.

“The issue of players’ welfareis at the heart of the reforms weare driving at LMC and it is ourdesire to have all stakeholderscome to agreement on how toensure that players and coach-es are made the biggest benefi-ciaries of the commercialisa-tion of the league,” remarkedIrabor.

While also acknowledgingthe right of the Clubs as busi-ness concerns to determine thewages and reward packages of

their staff, the LMC insists thatas operators of the NigeriaProfessional Football Leaguelicence, it will set participatoryconditions that will ensurethat decent minimum stan-dards are met by the clubs.

Towards addressing the chal-lenge of huge arrears of unpaidsalaries and sign-on fees ofsome players and coaches,Irabor said the LMC would ini-tiate a meeting with thePlayers Union, representativesof players from each of the 20Globacom League clubs todeliberate on suitable andworkable approaches to

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013

Nigeria Professional Football League

resolve the issue once and forall.

“The LMC will also meet withthe Club Representatives toalso agree on ways and meansto ensure that they meet theirobligations to their players andcoaches,” disclosed Irabor.

He said it is the position of theLMC that the raging outcry hasonce again brought to the forethe need to set up administra-tive structures such as therequirement for Clubs to pro-vide guarantees of financial via-bility through bank bonds.

“We are working on making acompulsory subscription to

Keshi allays fears over Confederations Cup, World Cup qualifiersDESPITE what looks on

paper like a difficult peri-od for the Super Eagles inJune, when Nigeria is billed toparticipate in theConfederations Cup and twoBrazil 2014 World Cup quali-fiers, Coach Stephen Keshisays there is nothing to worryabout.

The Eagles are preparing forcrucial 2014 World Cup quali-fying games and the FIFAConfederations Cup tourna-ment – all taking place in anumber of weeks.

A spate of injuries, first toScotland-based midfielder,

Reuben Gabriel, and 2013African Nations Cup highestgoal scorer, EmmanuelEmenike, and lately to attack-ing midfielders,

Kalu Uche and Victor Moses,had caused anxiety in somequarters and is being hyper-ventilated in public spacesand a section of the media as‘problem in camp.’

But Keshi, who steered less-endowed Togo to that coun-try’s only FIFA World Cupqualification eight years ago,says he is committed to lead-ing Nigeria to next year’sfinals in Brazil, no matter the

challenges.“I am never one to run away

from challenges; I have con-fronted them head-on all mylife. I have very good relation-ship with each and every ofmy players, with mutualrespect and regard being thebedrock.

“The players that we haveinvited for these matches arepatriots and are always readyto defend the green-white-green. We have 16 playershere now and team spirit ishigh. Everyone wants to play.What we will certainly not dois to beg anyone to play for

Nigeria.”Nigeria’s longest-serving

captain said the late arrival ofsome players is to be expectedat this time of the season:“Most of the players have justconcluded very grueling sea-sons and have need to sort outpersonal issues, and of coursethere are talks to hold aheadof next season. These talkshave to be done now consider-ing that the players would beaway for about seven weeks,on duty for Nigeria.”

Super Eagles’ Novina Hotelcamp in Nuremberg swelledyesterday morning with the

arrival of Germany-basedstriker, Joseph Akpala andUkraine-based forward,Babatunde Michael.

Portugal-based John Oguwas being expected last night,while defenders, KennethOmeruo and EldersonEchiejile, as well as, midfield-er, Nnamdi Oduamadi areexpected in camp today.

First-choice goalkeeper,Vincent Enyeama, based inIsrael, is expected tomorrow,while Scotland-based stopper,Efe Ambrose and Italy-basedmidfielder, Ogenyi Onazi,have been granted permis-

Pension Schemes for players bythe clubs to be part of require-ments to be met by any club aspart of the eigibility criteria toparticipate in the Glo PremierLeague from the 2014 season,”declared the LMC chairman.

He further explained that theBank Guarantee remains anasset of the clubs so far they didnot default on their obliga-tions to their employees, espe-cially the players and coaches.

“It will serve as deterrentagainst the enslaving of play-ers and also as an instrumentto enforce compliance withqualifying criteria for contin-

sion to arrive on Saturday dueto club commitments.

Ukraine-based forward,Brown Ideye, will join theteam in Texas, U.S.A, whileAhmed Musa and FegorOgude will join the squad inFrankfurt after the friendlywith Mexico in America, alsodue to club commitments.

The team will fly out ofFrankfurt on Tuesday morn-ing aboard a Lufthansa Airlineaircraft, and will arrive inHouston, Texas in the evening,and camp at the classy TheWestin Galleria and WestinOaks.

ued participation in theLeague,” Irabor insisted.

Some players and coacheshave been contacting the LMCwith allegations of backlog ofunpaid salaries and sign-onfees dating back to four sea-sons by various clubs.

“The LMC is appealing to allclubs in the Globacom PremierLeague to take steps towardsliquidating all debts arisingfrom valid claims confirmedby Arbitration Panels consti-tuted by the Nigeria FootballFederation in respect of claimsby Players and Coaches,” hesaid.

THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013 SPORTS 73

THE newly inauguratedboard of the Nigeria

Weightlifting Federation(NWF) has rolled out its pro-gramme, which it believes

would help in resuscitatingthe sport, one of the eventsthat placed the country on themedals table at the SydneyOlympics games in 2000.

Speaking to the media inAbuja, new President of the

Federation, ChibudumNwuche said the federationhas concluded plans to beginits activities with a nationalweightlifting trial in June.

The NWF president, a formerdeputy speaker of the FederalHouse of Representatives, saidhe was determined to lift thesport within the four years ofhis tenure, adding that thefederation would set up well-equipped weightlifting cen-ters at the zones for the train-ing of youths in its grassrootstalent hunt exercise.

The NWF president disclosedthat the trials would set thestage for the federation to reg-ister athletes for the AfricanChampionship, which Nigeriais billed to host in Septemberbefore it begins preparing theathletes for the WorldChampionship in Malaysia.

“We have an idea of what weplan to do at the Weightlifting

Federation. By June, we willbegin our national trials,which will lead us to theAfrican championship, whichNigeria has already won thehosting right in September.We will also send qualifiedathletes to represent thecountry at the WorldWeightlifting Championship,which is billed for Malaysia inNovember.  We are also hop-ing to set up a weightliftinggyms in Abuja and other cen-ters for athletes to train,”Nwuche stated.

The former lawmaker, whoidentified administration asthe bane of sports develop-ment in Nigeria, describedthe new weightlifting federa-tion board as well composed,adding that it is peopled bycoaches, former athletes, sea-soned administrators andjournalists, who would com-pliment each other to movethe sport forward.

Salem University honours Izamoje VETERAN broadcaster and

Chairman of Sports Radio,88.9 Brila Fm, Dr. LarryIzamoje was recently hon-oured by Salem Universitywith a Doctorate Degree -D.Sc(Honorary causa) inInformation Technology forhis contributions to sportsjournalism and pioneeringsports radio in Africa.

The latest honour from theLokoja, Kogi State-based pri-vate university comes just ayear after Izamoje got an aca-demic doctorate in BusinessAdministration from theBusiness School, Lausanne,Switzerland and a recentinvestiture as a Fellow of theInstitute of Administratorsand Researchers of Nigeria.

In his address during the cer-emony, the Chancellor ofSalem University, ArchbishopSam Amaga said therenowned sports entrepre-neur has served Nigeria withdistinction in various capaci-ties and equally at some of themost critical periods of its his-tory.

“Today, your numerousachievements in sport jour-nalism and public service ringbells nationally and interna-tionally,” Archbishop Amagatold the audience.

In the same vein, the ViceChancellor of the University,Prof. Joseph Adeola Fuwape,speaking for the universitycouncil, said the institutiondecided to honour Izamoje in“recognition of his numerousand meritorious contribu-tions to the field of sportsjournalism in Nigeria.”

An elated Izamoje, whenasked to comment on theaward, described it as some-thing extraordinary, especial-ly coming from an institution

with a base in Christianity- acitadel of learning that bench-marks integrity, handworkand overall positive impact askey criteria in deciding whomin the society deserves specialr e c o g n i t i o n .

Among the dignitaries at theevent were Governor of KogiState, Capt. Idris Wada andsome members of his cabinet.

Dr. Larry Izamoje foundedSports Radio, 88.9 Brila Fm inLagos in 2002. It now hasoffices in key cities like Abuja,Kaduna and Onitsha.

NOA supports Elegbeleye’sappointment as NSC director general

THE Nigeria OlympiansAssociation (NOA) has

joined other stakeholders inapplauding the appointmentof Gbenga Elegbeleye as thenew director general of theNational Sports Commission(NSC).

President GoodluckJonathan last week appointedthe former House ofRepresentatives member toreplace the former NSCDirector General, PatrickEkeji, who retired last month.

A letter of congratulationsigned by the NOA President,Prince Henry Amike describesElegbeleye as an experiencedtechnocrat and a goal- getterin sports administration.

Part of the letter reads: “Weat the NOA congratulate youon your well deservedappointment as the new DGof the National SportsCommission.

“As a foremost administra-tor and goal getter, we haveno doubt that you will  bringyour vast experience to bearin your new assignment.”

NWF outlines roadmap for weightlifting developmentFrom Ezeocha Nzeh, Abuja

Nigeria’s Felix Ekpo tries his hands on the 77kg of the weightlifting event at theLondon 2012 Olympic Games. PHOTO: AFP.

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Germany training tour excites taekwondo team

Fashola pledges support forAdepoju’s Lagos football tourney

By Tony Nwanne

GOVERNOR Babatunde RajiFashola yesterday pledged

his support for the forthcom-ing Lagos InternationalFootball Tournament (LIFT), ababy of Super Eagles’ formermidfielder, Mutiu Adepoju.

The competition, scheduledto hold from July 25 to 28 at theTeslim Balogun Stadium inLagos, will feature Ismaily SCof Egypt, Asante Kotoko ofGhana, RCD Espanyol of Spainand Kano Pillars of Nigeria.

Commending Adepoju fororganising the LIFT, Fashola, at

a press briefing to herald theevent, assured the former 3SCgeneral manager of his govern-ment’s partnership, addingthat the tournament has comeat a time the nation is relishingthe excitement of the SuperEagles’ victory in the recentlyconcluded AFCONChampionship.

Speaking on the need to con-solidate the gains and benefitsof EKO 2012 National SportsFestival, Fashola, representedby the Lagos StateCommissioner for Youth andSports, Wahid Enitan Oshodi,said the government’s willing-ness to partner with Adepojudemonstrated its commit-ment to the development ofsports, especially, football.

“Therefore, this tourney istimely, unique and comingfrom the stable of one ofNigeria’s greatest footballicons, Mutiu Adepoju, you willagree with me that it cannotcome at a better time. I haveabsolute confidence that thepeople of Lagos and Nigeria atlarge will experience real foot-ball excitement with the cal-iber of the teams lined up toparticipate in the Lagos soccerfiesta,” he said.

In his remarks, Adepoju said

the programme was his wayof thanking “almighty Allah,the government and people ofNigeria for the goodwill, loveand support that I havereceived from them duringmy 25 years football career.

“I feel it is important to giveback to the society, and oneway of giving back is throughLIFT, an annual soccer fiesta,which would help to re-posi-tion the game of soccer notonly in Nigeria, but also inAfrica.”

He disclosed that the LIFT isan annual football fiestadesigned to promote andenhance the quality of foot-ball in terms of strategic man-agement, organisation andtactical implementation ofpolicies and programmes inNigeria.

According to Adepoju, thetourney will also provideopportunity for youth foot-ball clubs to mingle, train andinteract with their soccer starsand icons during a footballclinic packaged for the bene-fits of the various footballacademies in Nigeria, addingthat RCD Espanyol of Spainwill also use the opportunityof their trip to Nigeria tolaunch their youth team in

Super Eagles’ former midfielder, Mutiu Adepoju, who is also the CEO, Lagos International Football Tournament(left), Lagos Sports Commissioner, Wahid Enitan Oshodi, and Super Eagles’ former defender, Ben Iroha, who is amember of the Local Organizing Committee at a briefing on the forthcoming Lagos International FootballTournament at the Teslim Balogun Stadium… yesterday.

Korea hails Ashiru’s election, affirmssupport for taekwondo

THE Republic of Korea haslauded the election of

George Ashiru as the presi-dent of Nigeria TaekwondoFederation (NTF), while alsoaffirming their commitmentto the development of thesport.

In a letter addressed to theNTF boss, made available toThe Guardian and signed bythe Korean Ambassador toNigeria, Choi Jong-hyun, themission described Ashiru’svictory as confirmation of hisimmense contribution to thegrowth of the sport inNigeria.

“I most warmly congratu-late you on your election asthe President of NigeriaTaekwondo Federation. Yourresounding victory is a testa-ment to the valuable contri-

butions you have madetowards the development oftaekwondo in Nigeria,” theenvoy said.

He added, “I have no doubtthat with your ability both asa taekwondo practitioner andthe President of NigeriaTaekwondo Black BeltCollege, your commitment tothe development of taekwon-do in Nigeria will be unwa-vered.”

Jong-hyun assured that themission would continue topartner with the federation todevelop the game, pledging,“it is my sincere hope that wecontinue to collaborate in ourunflinching commitmentand dedication aimed at fur-ther promoting and develop-ing this global sport, taek-wondo in Nigeria.”

… As ACA lauds Onyeama, Sagoe

THE African CricketAssociation (ACA) has con-

gratulated the newly electedPresident of the NigeriaCricket Federation (NCF),Emeka Onyeama, on his victo-ry at the polls, just as it com-mended the outgoing NCFboss, Kwesi Sagoe, for thestrides Nigeria made in thegame during his tenure.

In a letter addressed to theNCF and signed by ACACassim Suleiman, the associa-tion said, “on behalf of theAfrica Cricket Association inconjunction with the ICC-Africa Regional Office, its

management and staff, wewould hereby like to congrat-ulate Emeka Onyeama thenewly elected President ofNigeria Cricket Federation.

“We wish you a successfulterm as president of NigeriaCricket Federation and trustthat your expertise and com-mitment serves beneficial andfruitful for the Developmentof Cricket in Nigeria. On thisnote, the ACA-ICC AfricaRegional Office in conjunc-tion with its membershipwould like to assure you of oursupport and assistance at anygiven time.”

• Ismaily, Espanyol, Kotoko, Pillars billed for three-day contest

By Olalekan Okusan

COACH and players of thenational taekwondo

team, which arrived inGermany this morning tobegin a training tour ofEurope, believe the exercisewould aid them in the sport.

An elated Coach John Victoradmitted before the team’sdeparture yesterday “the tripwould open the athletes to alatest techniques of thesport.”

The coach said, “the confi-dence built through this tripwould force the athletes toset higher targets for them-selves, adding that as a coach,the trip would make an inter-

national coach, just as theknowledge gained wouldhelp him to turn grassrootschampions into internation-al fighters.”

Also speaking on the trip,19-year old Segun Olushola, agold medalist at the lastNational Sports Festival,  wasvery excited at his very firstchance of travelling out ofthe country, saying the expe-rience he would gain duringthe international trainingcamp would expand his taek-wondo knowledge.

Bronze medalist at the 2011Maputo All Africa Games, 20year-old Sunday Onofe, choseto focus on the effect the tripwould have on his perform-

ance in international tourna-ment, while Joy Ekhator, whois ranked 40 in the women’s -49kg by World TaekwondoFederation (WTF), is thinkingof the impact of the tour onhis preparation for the worldchampionships later thisyear.

She has been unbeaten inthe past six years as Nigeria’snumber one in the flyweightdivision, but she is yet to get

over her loss in the semifi-nals stage during the qualifi-cation for both the Beijing2008 and London 2012Olympics.

Ekhator, however, believesthe experience on this tripwould increase her chancesof bettering her two AfricanGames medals (silver at AAG2007 and bronze at AAG2011), and qualify for the Rio2016 Olympics.

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THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013 SPORTS 77

Lewandowski won’t quitDortmund, says Klopp

European Round-Off

BORUSSIA Dortmund strik-er, Robert Lewandowski

will not be leaving the club,according to Coach JurgenKlopp.

Lewandowski has beenwidely rumoured to be fol-lowing fellow Dortmundteam-mate, Mario Gotze toBayern Munich this summer,with Manchester United alsoshowing interest in thePolish forward.

Lewandowski is the secondtop scorer in both theBundesliga and theChampions League this sea-son, and scored four goalsduring Dortmund’s semi-

final tie against Real Madridto set up an all-German finalagainst Bayern.

When asked if there wereany developments regardingLewandowski, Klopp wasadamant that the strikerwould stay at theWestfalenstadion.

“There is no topic ofLewandowski’s transferright now,” Klopp told Polishnewspaper PrzegladSportowy. “The rest of theteam and I talk and thinkonly about the final rightnow.

“My conclusion is thatRobert is not leaving

Borussia, and he will playhere for the next season andI will be able to use him. Thatis why I don’t want to eventhink about to which club hemay fit better.”

Klopp also heaped praiseon full-back, Lukasz Piszczek,who he felt had beenDortmund’s best player thisseason.

“All of my Polish players didtheir best and played a greatpart in our success, but thegreatest and the best seasonwas had by Lukasz Piszczek. Iknow only a few players thatwith his health problemscould keep such high level.”

I’m leaving Malaga, Pellegrini confirmsMANUEL Pellegrini has

confirmed he will leaveMalaga at the end of the sea-son.

The Chilean head coach hasbeen heavily tipped to fill thevacancy left by RobertoMancini at Manchester Citythis summer and has nowstated he will not be in chargeof the Champions Leaguequarter-finalists next season.

He said, according toSpanish newspaper websiteMarca.com: “My coachingstaff and I are separating fromMalaga but our union withthis city will be eternal. I’mgoing for sporting reasons.”

The 59-year-old’s exit fromLa Rosaleda has been largelyexpected for weeks althoughthe club themselves have yetto confirm his departure.

His name was being linkedwith City before Mancini’sexit on May 13, althoughPellegrini denied that a dealhad already been done fol-lowing the goalless draw withSevilla on May 12.

“I deny here and now beingthe new coach of ManchesterCity, I haven’t signed any

agreement with anybody,”Pellegrini said on his club’sofficial website at the time.

“I’ve been fortunate enough,and very proud, that everyyear the big clubs have shownan interest in me. I have anagreement with Malaga notto talk to anyone and nothinghas been agreed with anyother club.

“I hope in the coming weeksthat things will become a lit-tle clearer about what isgoing to be the future here atthis club.”

Bayern is simply stronger thanDortmund, Ribery boastsFRANCK Ribery is confi-

dent that Bayern Munichwill beat BorussiaDortmund in Saturday’sChampions League final ashe feels they are “simplystronger.”

The Frenchman hasstressed that Bayern shouldfocus solely on their owngame and has little doubtthat they will emerge victo-

rious if they do just that.“I was impressed how

Dortmund managed to dis-mantle Real Madrid in thesemi-finals, but we shouldonly be thinking of our-selves. Put simply, we’restronger,” Ribery told theofficial Bundesliga website.“If we’re all ready and will-ing to give 100 percent thenwe’ll emerge victorious.

That time appears to havecome with Pellegrini confirm-ing at a function onWednesday that he will leaveMalaga after two-and-a-halfyears in charge.

The Qatari-owned club cur-rently sit in the EuropaLeague places in the PrimeraDivision but are banned fromEuropean competition nextseason due to unpaid bills inbreach of UEFA’s FinancialFair Play regulations. A fur-ther one-year suspended banwas overturned on appeal.

Paris Saint-Germain, Emirates renew deal EMIRATES and 2012/2013

Ligue 1 champions, ParisSaint-Germain, yesterdayannounced a new sponsor-ship deal, granting the air-line a five-year extension totheir partnership with theclub until the end of the2018/2019 season.

Emirates Executive VicePresident, Passenger SalesWorldwide, Thierry Antinori,and President of Paris SaintGermain, Nasser Al-Khelaïfirevealed the announcement,

during a press conferenceheld in Parc des PrincesStadium in Paris.       

“This agreement strength-ens the relationship betweenParis Saint-Germain andEmirates and gives to eachpartner the opportunity toachieve worldwide brandrecognition, simultaneouslyenhancing the image of eachpartner through increasedglobal awareness,” said Al-Khelaïfi.

“This is the perfect time for

Emirates to re-sign with ParisSaint-Germain given theclub’s new internationalplayers and on-going successin the French championship,as Ligue 1 Champions, as wellas, the European champi-onship. Our sponsorship ofParis Saint Germain is astrong platform to furtherextend our brand presencein France, as well as the manyother football focusednations that we fly to global-ly,” said Antinori. 

Javier Pastore (left) and Thiago Silva, Thierry Antinori, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Blaise Matuidi flankedby Emirates Cabin Crew, during the unveiling of the new deal the airline signed with the French Ligue 1 champions.

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THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, May 23, 2013 79

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EJIRO was already out of his gate by 6:00am, he had almost reached the pollingcentre. He decided that this time, he wasgoing to make sure that his vote wouldcount, all those newspaper advertisementsand T.V commercials seemed to have gottento him. He even made sure that Karo andEghosa, his cousins whom he had relocatedwith from Bayelsa to this “Mega City” to makea better life would come out and vote, inspite of all their grumblings that the “Bigmen” of the state had already decided theresult of the election, and that the votingprocess was merely a formality. He had madesure to do his voter registration immediatelythe exercise began, so as not to jeopardize hisvoting power. He believed in this“Metropolitan City” and wanted to be a partof it. Things were not at all good for him; he hadbeen squatting with his mother’s cousin,who lived with her nuclear family: Her hus-band and seven children in a two-roomapartment in the slummiest part of the city.Her husband’s hints of not wanting his pres-ence in the apartment anymore had becomeanything but subtle. He knew it was time togo, but he had nowhere to move to. When hefantasized about his relocation to the city, hehad seen himself riding a big car and livingin a big house. Of course, he knew he had towork hard but the city was not anything likewhat he had wished for. He used all the mon-ey given him by his Uncle Aghogho in Bayelsato construct a little plank (“pako”) shopwhere he sold C.Ds. One morning, after set-tling one of his aunties’ and her husband’sregular domestic fights, Ejiro rushed out tohis wooden shop only to discover that it wasno longer there, it had been burnt, complete-ly unrecognizable; the little wooden signthat read “Ejiro’s Quality C.Ds” was nowhereto be found. It was as though his shop hadnever existed. It was not as if the business had been turn-ing up any profit, but it was all he had. Hehad little education so he could not get a for-mal job and no capital at all to start another.All his life earnings had been in that shopand it was all gone. Ejiro was numb andcouldn’t shed a tear. The governor of the Cityhad ordered the demolition of all ‘illegal’structures, Ejiro never in his wildest dreamsthought that his shop would be classified assuch. So when Mr. Bankole Olumide prom-ised that if he was voted in as governor, peo-ple like Ejiro, who had no Abraham as hisfather and no money in his pocket, peoplewho had been unfairly crushed by the sys-tem, would be protected first above others,Ejiro vowed that he would do all he in hispower to make sure this man became thegovernor of the city. Ejiro campaigned forhim - to his auntie’s family, neighbours,friends and strangers - attended all his ralliesand even helped paste his flyers on the gateof the building of his auntie’s home. Theman had identified himself with the likes ofEjiro; he had sworn that he was a commonman, born without a silver spoon with onlyGod as his true helper. He said it was his Godgiven mission to help the oppressed likeEjiro. Ejiro had been vulnerable; he needed to

hope, because hope was all he had left, all hehad to survive. This politician had seemed tobe all he ever wanted; the only one who madehis dreams feel attainable, thus this was whyEjiro found himself standing at the pollingstation this biting cold dark morning. Ejirocalled up his cousins, reminding them tomake it to the polling station; they grudging-ly muttered “we’re on our way”. The electionexercise went quite smoothly, they had allcast their votes and were on their way homewhen a gun fire broke. Eghosa was unfortu-nately caught by a stray bullet; he bled anddied before medical attention could reachhim. Guilt had swallowed Ejiro up, he couldnot eat for days that his cousin had lost hislife because of his dreams. Thus, when Mr.Bankole Olumide was declared as the emerg-ing governor from the elections, Ejiro did notfeel so much enthused. “Things will get bet-ter from here on”, he had promised Karo,who was still feeling the heat of his brother’sdeath. This was why it came as a shock to Ejiro

when he saw Olumide on the television,declaring that the building that he squattedin with his aunty was to be demolished. Hetrembled in shock and denial after they hadbeen told to evacuate the property; Ejiro felt

afford them.The affluent in the city that have segregatedthemselves from the other classes, contribut-ing little or nothing to the society, not partic-ipating in civil obligations expected of themstill always have their interests first securedby the government though not half as popu-lous as the lower and middle classes. Thegovernment has forgotten that during theircampaigns, it was these so-called slum resi-dents that they went to campaign to, it wasstill these same people that rallied withthem, cheered them, lifted them up and atthe commencement of elections, voted forthem. These politicians targeted the “slumareas” because they were well aware that itwas these areas that carried, at least, 70 percent of the population, and the inhabitantsof these areas were most likely to exercisetheir franchise. No ‘Big man’ will leave hishouse to register for the elections, not to talkof even casting his vote at the commence-ment of elections. Even if he and the candi-date are acquaintances, he will not risk anydanger to his life, thus, he disregards thevery core of his civil responsibilities to thecountry, that is, participation in elections. However, a “lower class” citizen who has

never and will probably never meet a candi-date will do all in his power to make surethat he fulfills all formal and essentialrequirements so as not to affect his capacityto vote. Several instances have been seenwhen innocent people lose their livesbecause of disputes that break out as a resultof elections. So why then will a governor, vot-ed into office through the help of the masseswho consist more of the lower class, thenturn its back on them? Why will he try tomake homeless the people who acceptedhim? Bite off the finger that fed him? The government hiding under the quotes

of making the state a better place strategisesagainst the lower class. Citizen’s homes inthe so-called “slums” have been demolishedwith little or no compensation and nooptions, sending them packing to their vil-lages, only for these homes to be reconstruct-ed and given to the highest bidder. Theirplaces of abode; markets and stalls havebeen demolished and burnt down only to bereconstructed and sold as stalls and shops atexorbitant rates, intentionally, making itimpossible for the lower class to obtain, thusagain, kicking them out of the city. The pub-lic institutions that are vital to the survival ofthe lower class are neglected. These includeschools, places of health care like hospitalsand maternal homes etc. The governmentknows that the rich will always be able topatronise private institutions and with thepurchasing power available to them, theywould never be at a loss for options. On theother hand, the poor would have to settle forwhat their government affords it. The gov-ernment keeps improving the areas wherethese wealthy ones reside; the roads are con-structed with authentic materials and main-tained, streets lights and traffic lights aremade available to them, and potable water isalso not left out. However, the lower classwho cannot in their wildest dreams affordessentials like these experience the govern-ment’s back being turned on them. Whilethe poor are being seen out of the society,the rich are taking over. Some governmentsare even constructing new areas for the richto occupy which come at ridiculous prices.I believe that at the end of it all, we are allhuman beings, and every human beingdeserves respect and dignity. People shouldnot be discriminated against based on whatthey have. I believe that Nigeria has reacheda point where, as Martin Luther King said,the people “will be judged by the content oftheir character”. What then is the need ofgovernment if the society can turn a blindeye to these evil practices, or have we forgot-ten the real reason behind the establishmentof government, the very core of its existence?Was government not brought to life to pro-tect the oppressed, was government not atool of civilisation that was meant todenounce the “survival of the fittest” situa-tion that formerly obtained? Was govern-ment not brought about, not only to thriveon the principles of equality, but also jus-tice? It is quite embarrassing that the gov-ernment has set out to destroy that which itwas set up to accomplish. Thus, if an organ-ised and well-structured organisation suchas the government can embark on such prac-tices, what then is the hope of a commonman? • Uzunma is a 400 Level Law student, BabcockUniversity.

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Lagos 7736351, Abuja 07098513445; Circulation Hotline: 01 4489656All correspondence to Guardian Newspapers Limited, P.M.B. 1217, Oshodi, Lagos, Nigeria.

E-mail letters@ngrguardiannews.com; www.ngrguardiannews.com(ISSN NO 0189-5125)Editor:MARTINS OLOJA . ABC

The Nigerian government:A distorted Robin Hood

so betrayed he cried. It took four govern-ment workers to remove him from thebuilding; he had begged to be broughtdown with the building. Olumide said thatthe building was archaic and not up to thestandard of a metropolitan city. “But Mr.Olumide had promised to protect him”,Ejiro cried. He had said that he too wasborn into abject poverty; he had promisedhim a better life, that he would achieve allhe had come to the city for, why then didhe set out to destroy him and his kind. The

plan of the Mega Mall was already displayedon a bill board next to the building. Most ofthe occupants of the building, like his aun-tie’s family and himself were forced to relo-cate back to the village. Not only had hemade his cousin lose his life, he had alsomade his aunty and her family lose heraccommodation, he thought. The MegaMall was, when built, to be rented out inrespect of stalls to those who could affordthem. The asking price was so much thatonly the rich would have been able to

By Onyekere Chinomso Uzunma