boko haram: change tactics, pdp govs tell gej

...towards a better life for the people

N150VOL. 25: NO. 62096

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014**

Mr & Mrs•P.48

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Change tactics,PDP govs tell GEJ

BOKO HARAM:

SHUT-DOWN: Shut-down on Mile 2-Apapa expressway as a result of indiscriminate parking of fueltankers, yesterday. PHOTO: JOE AKINTOLA, PHOTO EDITOR. (More photos on page 15).

•Jonathan, Mark call for prayers•We've lost over 100,000 people — Senator•NIS sets up border patrol corps

MILE 2-APAPA ROAD: Fashola,Police surrender to tankers•Why we took over the road —NUPENG

BY WOLE MOSA-DOMI, JOHNBOSCO

AGBAKWURU,VICTORIA OJEME &CALEB AYANSINA

MINNA — EIGHT-EEN governors un-

der the aegis of PeoplesDemocratic Party Gover-

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Pete Edochie, Rita Dominic, others win big at AMVCA

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Alam's loot:Bayelsagovt dragsEFCC tocourt

MILE 2-APAPA EXPRESSWAY SHUT DOWN

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TAKE HEARTBY ELLA RANDLE

Continues from page 1

LIFEWORDSBY PASTOR ITUAH

If you’re supposed to be looking backwards, you’d haveeyes in the back of your head, no one drives a car bylooking through the rear view mirror.

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harderbattle —Plato

Living a life filled with gratitude brings inner peace,and that means, one should strive and endeavour to befully present in living a beautiful consciousness. This alsomeans there will be no need to worry or be upset aboutanything. If you make your heart a place of compassionand love, life invariably brings the bounties of goodwillin all that you do. Be tender and patient with yourselfand others too.

For in humility comes beautiful love where all cares isreleased in the ether and a greater light fills you withmore zest for life. You are love, made from love and forlove. So keep on loving beautifully as always.

This love is soul’s divine heritage. Be grateful for todayand that you have this moment in the sun to express andlive your beingness.

From left: Wife of Anambra State Governor, Margaret; Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State; Alhaji AlikoDangote and Chief Emeka Anyaoku during Gov. Obi’s End of Tenure Report at the Women Development Centre,Awka, weekend.

nors' Forum, yesterday,took a critical appraisal ofthe security situation in thecountry with the BokoHaram killing and maim-ing of innocent people al-most on a daily basis in theNorth Eastern part of thecountry unchallenged.

They urged the FederalGovernment to change itstactics of fighting the insur-gents.

PDP governors made theappeal on a day PresidentGoodluck Jonathan andSenate President, DavidMark called for prayers toovercome the nation's se-curity challenges.

The Nigerian Immigra-tion Service, NIS, on itspart, announced that it hadset up a new unit, the Bor-der Patrol Corps, to patrolthe nation's land borders,especially in the North-East, to stem attacks by in-surgents.

This was even as a Sena-tor representing BornoCentral Senatorial Districtclaimed that over 100,000

residents of the district hadbeen killed by BokoHaram.

The PDP Governors Fo-rum, after its meeting inMinna, Niger State, yes-terday, particularly con-demned the recent killingsof innocent students inYobe State. The forum,therefore, urged the secu-rity agencies to changetheir tactics towards con-taining the insurgency.

Chairman of the PDPGovernors Forum andGovernor of Akwa IbomState, Godswill Akpabio,said though the forum ap-preciated efforts of the se-curity agencies in contain-ing the crisis so far, it heldthat there was the need forthem to look more inwardby changing their tactics inconfronting the crisis.

He said: “The forum ap-preciates and commendsefforts of the security agen-cies in fighting the insur-gency but we urge them asa matter of urgency tochange their tactics to getrid of these insurgents.”

The governors thensymphatized with parentsand families of the innocentchildren who were mur-dered in cold blood.

On national confabGovernor Akpabio, who

read the communiqueshortly after the meeting,said the forum alsocommended the Presidenton the bold step taken onthe national conferencecoming up soon and urgeddelegates to the conferenceto put national interestabove their personal de-sires.

The communique said:“This forum strongly iden-tifies with our President onthe forthcoming nationalconference and notes withsatisfaction the zeal andenthusiasm shown by Ni-gerians in participating inthe conference.

"We urge all delegates tothe confab to put nationalinterest above all other con-siderations during the de-liberations.”

Governors of Jigawa,Katsina, Benue, CrossRiver, Abia, Bayelsa, Kogi,Bauchi, Kaduna, Gombe,Ebonyi and that of Niger,the host, were presentwhile Sokoto, Taraba,Adamawa, Delta andNasarawa were repre-sented by their deputies.

Jonathan, Markcall for prayers

Meanwhile, PresidentGoodluck Jonathan, week-end, expressed the FederalGovernment's readiness tostop the acts of terrorismperpetrated by the BokoHaram sect in theNorth-Eastern part of thecountry.

The President, who statedthis at the 2014 maidenedition of the CatholicBishops Conference of Ni-geria, CBCN, annual sum-mit with the theme ‘Churchand State Partnership inProviding Quality Educa-tion for the Nigerian Peo-

ple’ decried the deteriora-tion of values and moralsowing to poor educationalpolicies.

Jonathan assured on gov-ernment's efforts to confrontthe challenge of insurgencyin the country, while urg-ing the gathering to prayfor Nigeria to overcome hercurrent problems.

He said: “I urge you topray for our dear countryto speedily overcome thecurrent challenges we face,especially insurgency, ter-rorism and the heinouskillings of innocent chil-dren in schools.”

Speaking further on ter-rorism and the wanton kill-ing of students in YobeState, President Jonathansaid: “I believe that withyour prayers and the strat-egies we have put in place,we shall surely surmountthese challenges.”

Senate President, DavidMark, in his remark, de-scribed the murder of thestudents as barbaric andcondemned “the senselessand gruesome killings byso-called disgruntled ele-ments. “That’s not the wayto express grievances,”Mark said, adding that theact of killing students hasno justification.

Onaiyekan bemoanssocio-political crisis:

The Catholic Bishop ofAbuja, John CardinalOnaiyekan, in his sermonbemoaned the growingsocio-political crisis in thecountry, calling for con-certed efforts to rid Nigeriaof many of her troubles.

Onaiyekan maintainedthat “many are the evils inour land: socio-political,corruption in high places,widening economic in-equality, insecurity of allkinds, misuse and perver-sion of religion,” notingthat while the problems arenumerous, “let us not beafraid to tackle the evil thatoverwhelm us. Despairand apathy only play into

the hands of the evil.”

NIS sets up borderpatrol corps

In a related develop-ment, the Nigerian Immi-gration Service said it hadset up a new unit to beknown as the Border Pa-trol Corps, dedicated topatrolling the nation's landborders, especially in theNorth-East, where theFederal Government re-cently announced the clo-sure of its land border withCameroun to stem insur-gents attacks.

Comptroller General ofImmigration Service,David Parrang, whilespeaking with newsmen,weekend, said additional500 border control posts willbe established within theyear as part of measures toreduce the number of ille-gal entry points from thecurrent figure of 1,400.

The CG noted that shortof the Ethiopian model ofcomplete fencing of its bor-ders fitted with sensors,prevailing scarce resourceswas compelling the serv-ice to adopt more practicalmeasures to conform withthe current funding chal-lenges.

On the new border pa-trol corps, he said: "We aredesigning a practical wayof border patrolling. Wewent to the Minister of In-terior and asked that wedevelop a Border PatrolCorps and he gave us per-mission to do so. We areabout to launch that borderpatrol corps.

"We need to give that sec-tion specific training; weneed to give them the bor-der patrol gear that is thedress, the arms, the equip-ment to ensure they carryout their duties effectively.

"We are almost at the con-cluding stages of that proc-ess now. We are going tohave the initial border pa-trol corps of about a thou-sand staff dedicated totallyto border patrol, and aftertraining we deploy them.We are not recruiting athousand people for borderpatrolling; we are moppingthem up from differentunits to be able to be partof the border patrol corps."

The Immigration helms-man disclosed that, the

border patrol corps wouldbe deployed to additionalcontrol posts along the1,400 illegal entry points,as part of measures to re-duce the porosity of Nige-rian land borders withinthe year.

We've lost over100,000 people— Zannah

Also, Senator AhmadZannah Khalifa, represent-ing Borno Central Senato-rial District, has said theBoko Haram insurgency inBorno State has claimedover a hundred thousandpeople of the state whileabout 20 local governmentareas were still under thecontrol of the terrorists withthe nation's security help-less in the whole situation.

Zannah, who is also vicechairman, Senate Commit-tee on Gas, in an interviewin Abuja, however, said theinsurgency could be com-pletely eliminated if theFederal Government couldrecruit a good number ofthe youths as the civilianJoint Task Force and givethem enough trainingwithin a short period.

He said: "I want them toengage our young menwho are willing to die tosave their people. Evennow they follow the mili-tary into the bush some-times with bathroom slip-pers, without any protec-tive wear.

"If you give them 15 daystraining, 20 days training,30 days training even just1000 of them, even 500 ofthem, let them go togetherwith the military, they willwipe out the Boko Haramwithin a month. I assureyou that, I have confidencein my constituency, so letthe government give us thebenefit of doubt.

"This is what had hap-pened in Sierra Leone. Youknow that the SierraLeonean rebels were cut-ting the limb of our soldiers,killing our soldiers whenwe went to restore peacein that country, but by in-volving the locals, givingthem arms they were ableto defeat the terroristswithin no time, somethingwhich the military could notsolve in two years but whenthey involved the localsthey were able to accom-plish it."

Change tactics, PDP govs tell Jonathan

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014 — 7

SUSPECTS: Suspected cultists paraded by Ebonyi State Police Command, weekend.PHOTO: Peter Okutu.

Kidnappers of Rivers PDPchieftain demand N30m ransom

2 bag 22years forabductingBaraje'sson

Shot Osun LP member dies

Bauchi police arrest 3 for raping,plucking out woman's eyes

PORT HARCOURT—KIDNAPPERS of Mr.

Dickens Worlu havedemanded N30 million naira

ransom for his release.It would be recalled that Mr.

Worlu, a chieftain of PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP, waskidnapped about a week agoat his residence in Ojike

Street, Diobu, Port Harcourt.The victim’s wife, Patricia,

who spoke yesterday when theNational Association ofSeadogs, A.K.A. PiratesConfraternity paid her a

sympathy visit, said thefamily had been praying forthe safe and unconditionalrelease of her husband.

She said the family had notbeen the same since the sadincident. She also appealed tothe kidnappers to have pityon the family and release thehusband.

She said: “We don’t have themoney. Where will themoney come from? We arebegging that they release myhusband unconditionally.”

Professor TemiAkporhonor, who led othermembers of the SeaDogs onthe visit, lamented the stateof insecurity in the country,adding that the Rivers Stategovernment and the securityagencies should take practicalsteps to secure theunconditional release of thehostage.

Describing Mr. Worlu as apersonal friend, Akporhonorsaid it was sad that somecriminal elements weretrying to reduce the nation toa jungle.

He urged the wife of thehostage and other familymembers to be strong;assuring that the securityagencies and governmentwould work to secure releaseof the head of the family.

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

OSOGBO— A chieftain ofLabour Party, LP, in Osun

State, Mr. Tunji Oyelade, whowas last week shot in his housein Inisa, a town in Odo OtinLocal Government Area byunknown gunmen, died atLadoke Akintola University ofTechnology, LAUTECH,Teaching Hospital, Osogbo,weekend.

A close family member, whopleaded anonymity, toldVanguard in Osogboyesterday that the latepolitician died as a result ofgunshot injuries he sustained

after suspected assassinsattacked him and his wife.

The source added thatOyelade underwent series ofoperations to extract bulletsfrom his stomach before hefinally died on Friday.

It would be recalled that twomasked men attackedOyelade at Oju’ run area ofInisa town last Wednesdayevening and shot him in thestomach.

After Oyelade had been shottwice, his wife, who was in thehouse when the attackerscame, had her mobile phoneseized and was bound whilethe operation lasted.

BY GBENGA OLARINOYE

BAUCHI— POLICE inBauchi State says it has

arrested the three suspectedritualists that wereresponsible for plucking outthe eyes of a middle agedwoman, Zainab Mohammed,after raping her in Lukshivillage, Dass LocalGovernment Area of BauchiState.

The state Police PublicRelation Officer, PPRO,Deputy Superintendent ofPolice, Haruna Mohammed,gave the names of thesuspects as Sabo Rabo of DurrKat Village, Bitrus Yakubu ofDado Village and MohammedBamigboye of Durr KatangaVillage.

He said: “The three suspectsthat were responsible forraping and removing the eyes

of a young lady, while she wasreturning from a ceremony,were arrested following someuseful information given tothe police by some residentsin the area.”

The PPRO said the suspectshave confessed to the crimeand will be charged to court.He urged residents in the stateto be conscious of theirenvironment and report anysuspicious character to police.

BY SUZAN EDEH

Cultists storm Rufus Giwa Poly, 8 arrested

AKURE— NO fewer thaneight students suspected

to be cult members have beenarrested at Rufus GiwaPolytechnic, Owo, OndoState, by Police detectives.

They allegedly stormed theinstitution, weekend, insearch of another cultmember said to have crossedtheir line.

Their arrest from theirhiding places by men of theState Anti Robbery Squadfollowed intelligence report.

Report had it that they werearrested with different kindsof sophisticated weapons asthey attempted to enter themain campus, which is

opposite Ikare Owo Akureexpressway, but were deniedentrance by the institution’ssecurity officials.

A shootout ensued betweenthe cult members and thesecurity operatives in theinstitution, following whichthere was stampede in theschool premises.

One of the student leaderswho spoke with newsmen saidthe cult members invaded theinstitution in search of onestudent who belonged toanother confraternity.

He said the cultists hadearlier invaded one of the offcampus hostels called Igbolodu, before moving toinstitution’s gate.

Spokesman of the state

Police Command, WoleOgodo, confirmed the arrest.He said Police was stillinvestigating the identities ofthose arrested.

BY DAYO JOHNSON

ILORIN— AN IlorinHigh Court Judge

has sentenced twokidnappers, Ajadi ObaAbdulRasheed andAyeni Abayomi, toimprisonment forcriminal conspiracy tocommit kidnap,extortion and armedrobbery in respect ofBiodun Baraje, son ofthe former actingNational Chairman ofPeoples DemocraticParty, Alhaji KawuBaraje.

It would be recalledthat AbdulRasheed,Abayomi and two othersat large, kidnappedAbiodun Baraje onFebruary 4, 2010 atSuccess and RegardsFilling Station alongAsa Dam Road, Ilorin.

Justice MahmudAbdulGafar, whiledelivering the judg-ment, said two othersthat were connected withthe offences, Rasaq andYakubu AbdulRasaq,also known as AlfaTaiye, were still at large.

BY DEMOLAAKINYEMI

... 9 in Ebonyi for cultism, attempted murder

ABAKALIKI—EBONYIState Police Command,

weekend, arrested andparaded nine suspectsallegedly involved in crimesrelated to attempted murder,arson and cultism.

The suspected cultists, whoare mainly undergraduates ofEbonyi State University,

EBSU, Abakaliki, wererounded up at their meetingspot in Ishieke, Ebonyi LocalGovernment Area of the stateby the State Anti-RobberySquad, SARS, when theywere about introducing newmembers to the old ones.

The cult group, BurkinaFaso Confraternity, alias BF,was said to be notorious forterrorising the campus

community.According to Police, the

suspects confessed to beingmembers of the confraternity.

They are Adidakun Segun,28; Augustine Dike, 26; OkoroMaduabuchi, 25; IgweChukwunonso, 22; UdoraEmeka, 25; Kingsley Nzekwe,26; Samuel Ikpenyi, 28;Ifeanyi Odo, 25 andOkonkwo Ikechukwu, 30.

BY PETER OKUTU

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8—Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014

Stop bemoaning our exit; fix PDP, Nigeria’sproblems, 5 APC govs reply Jonathan

Alamieyesiegha’sloot: Bayelsagovt dragEFCC to Court

AWARD: From left—Yul Edochie, son of Pete Edochie, winner of Industry Merit Award; MichelleBello, winner of Trail Blazer Award; Biola Alabi, Managing Director, M-Net Africa; John Ugbe,Managing Director, MultiChoice Nigeria; Rita Dominic, winner in the Best New Era Award andWalter Drenth, Marketing Director, Nigeria Breweries during the 2014 Africa Magic ViewersChoice Award, held at the Eko Expo Hall, Eko Hotel ,Victoria Island, Lagos on Saturday.

FIVE former governors ofthe Peoples Democratic

Party, PDP, who defected tothe All ProgressivesCongress, APC, lastDecember, yesterday, askedPresident Goodluck Jonathanto stop bemoaning their exitbut to find urgent answers tothe problems bedevilling hisparty and Nigeria.

The governors of Adamawa(Murtala Nyako), Rivers(Rotimi Amaechi), Sokoto(Aliyu Wamakko), Kwara(Abdulfatah Ahmed)andKano, (Rabiu Kwankwaso)said they had left the PDP forgood and were notconsidering returning to theirformer party because of thehigh level of impunity andinjustice, which drove themaway to APC.

The governors, whodisagreed with the Presidentthat they were the cause ofPDP’s problem, advised himand the leadership of the PDPto take their eyes off themand concentrate on their ownparty members and issues asthey were no longer part ofthe PDP.

President Jonathan, hadwhile addressing a PDP rallyin Minna, the Niger Statecapital on Saturday,described the five governorswho defected from the PDPas the cause of the party’sproblems and said that it wasgood that they exited from itsfold.

The President, who alsolikened the five governorsand other defectingpoliticians to chameleons,said such politicians shouldnot be trusted, as theycontinued to change theirplatforms.

But in replying Jonathan,

the governors accused him ofpresiding over a party thatadopted impunity,lawlessness and injustice asa manifesto and treatedNigerians with disdain all ina bid to satisfy the interest ofa few elements within itsfold.

The governors, who spokethrough the Adamawa StateGovernor, Murtala Nyako,noted that Jonathan hadthrough his leadership styleand his party done more thananybody else to make peopleto turn political chameleonseither through directinducement or through highlevel of impunity andinjustice.

The governor, who spokethrough his Director of Pressand Public Affairs, Mr.Ahmad Sajoh, said PresidentJonathan was pained that he

lost five governors at once toa more responsible party andthat the APC was sure ofvictory in 2015 to end the 16years of lawlessnessperpetuated by the PDP inNigeria.

The governors said, “Wewant to plead with Mr.President to stop bemoaningover our defection from thePDP. Indeed, our advise tohim is to begin to lookinwards and see what iswrong with his party andNigeria and find answers tothe challenges rather thancontinuing to mourn over ourdeparture from a sinking shipcalled PDP.

“If we were the problems ofthe PDP as the Presidentclaimed, we wish him and hisparty goodluck now that wehave joined forces with theother party to rebuild Nigeria

and meet the needs ofNigerians who have beensuffering in the last 15 yearsunder his party.

"While consoling him overthe loss of governors andother party members to theopposition, we plead withhim to act as the leader ofNigeria by treating allNigerian citizens withrespect irrespective of partyplatform, tribe or religion andstop playing politics witheverything,” the governorspleaded.

The governors have ruledout the possibility ofreturning to the PDP despiterepeated pleas by theNational Chairman of theparty, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu,who disagreed with PresidentJonathan’s attack andpleaded with them to returnto the PDP.

A B U J A — T H EBayelsa State

government has dragged theEconomic and FinancialCrimes Commission, EFCC,before the Abuja Division ofthe Federal High Court,asking that the sum of N1.4billion and another1.3million USD that wasrecovered from the formergovernor of the state,Diepreye Alamieyesiegha, beremitted to its treasury.

In a writ of summons itentered before the high courtagainst EFCC and itsChairman, Mr IbrahimLamorde, Bayelsa State,applied for a declaration thatthe failure of EFCC to remitthe complete funds recoveredfrom Alamieyesiegha after hewas investigated andprosecuted and“subsequently trading withthe funds by way of fundsplacement/fixed deposits isan act of corruption and aneconomic crime contrary tosections 6 and 7 of the EFCC(Establishment) Act, 2004.”

The state, through itslawyer Mr AnthonyAgbonlahor, further prayedthe court to issue an orderdirecting the anti-graftcommission to forthwith, paythe monies with the interestwhich had accrued on themover the past years.

Besides, the plaintiff, urgedthe court to declare that theEFCC boss, Lamorde, whotook part in the investigationand prosecution ofAlamieyesiegha, should nothave allowed the lootedfunds recovered from the ex-governor to be traded with.

It therefore beseeched thecourt to hold that Lamorde isnot qualified to continue inoffice as chairman of EFCChaving violated his oath ofoffice.

More so, it prayed the courtto order EFCC to pay 21 percent interest on the N1.4Billion and the $1.3 millionfrom 1 November 2013, untiljudgment was delivered bythe court.

Bayelsa state further askedthe court to, “direct EFCC topay to it $400,000.00 beingthe amount forfeited by itsformer governor and whichfunds had since beenrepatriated by the UnitedStates Government to theEFCC.”

No date has been slated forthe commencement ofhearing on the matterwhich has already beenassigned to Court No. 6 atthe Federal High Court.

BY IKECHUKWUNNOCHIRI

BY SONI DANIEL, RegionalEditor, North

LAGOS—LEGENDARYactor, Pete Edochie and

producer of the award-winingfilm, “Flower Girl”, MichelleBello, emerged the bigwinners at this year’s editionof the AfricaMagic ViewersChoice Award, AMVCA,which held weekend, witheach walking away with abrand new Hyundai SUV car.

Edochie, who has sojournedin the movie industry for 35years after playing the leadrole of Okonkwo in an NTAadaptation of Chinua Achebe’sall time best selling novel,“Things Fall Apart” in the 80s,was honoured with theIndustry Merit Award for his

contribution towards thegrowth of the film sector inAfrica. He was presented witha brand new Hyundai SUV carwhich was received on hisbehalf by his son,Yul Edochie.

Also, Michelle Bello whose‘Flower Girl” film won the BestWriter in a Comedy awardsmiled home with an HyundaiSUV car, having won theTrailblazer award. RitaDominic won the Best NewEra Award as the award camewith a trip to Dubai.

Other Nollywood stars whowon big at the event wereFunke Akindele - Best Actressin Comedy, Nse Ikpe-Etim-Best Actress in Drama for herrole in “Journey To Self’, OsitaIheme–Best Actor in Comedy

for his role in “The Hero”,Desmond Elliot - BestSupporting Actor in Drama forhis role in “Finding Mercy”,Elvis Chucks - Best actor inComedy, Obi Emelonye-BestSound Editor and LukeCorradine(Last Flight toAbuja), Mercy Aigbe - BestIndigenous Language Yorubaaward among others.

However, Kenyan’s film,“Nairobi Half Life” was thehighlight of the night as themovie won 4 of the 5 awards wonby Kenyan actors. Also,Ghanaian ace-producer, ShirleyFrimpong-Manso won threeawards for the movie, “Contract.”

The awards night, whichheld at the Expo Hall, EkoHotel and Suites, Victoria

Island, Lagos, and hosted byIK Osakioduwa, OsasIghodaro and Vimbai Mutinhiwas filled with glamour andglitz, as Nollywood andGhollywood stars, legendsgraced the event. Thrilling theaudience with liveperformances were Davido,Bez, Waje and Cobhams.

Speaking at a pressconference after the event, theManaging Director of M-netAfrica, organisers of the event,Mrs Biola Alabi said, theessence of organsing theaward is to celebrate theAfrican film makers as well aspromote their works. Theaward night was held inassociation with MultiChoiceAfrica and Amstel Malta.

Pete Edochie, Michelle Bello, Rita Dominic, others win big at AMVCABY BENJAMIN NJOKU

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014—9

National confab: Beware of past mistakes,Okoh urges FG

BY SAM EYOBOKA,HENRY UMORU, CALEB

AYANSINA & CHRISOCHAYI

2015: Declare now, South West PDP youths, elderstell Jonathan

BY HENRY UMORU

ABUJA—AHEAD of 2015 presidential election, the

South West Youth wing of thePeoples Democratic Party, PDPyesterday said that they wererunning out of patience and veryeager to see President GoodluckJonathan declare his intention fora re-election, just as they vowedto deliver all the states in the zonefor him.

Addressing journalists in Abujayesterday, spokesperson for thePDP youths and youth leader,Ogun State chapter, AlhajiTaofeek Osundara expressed histotal support for the Alhaji AdamuMuazu-led National WorkingCommittee and the president,adding that youths in the zone

will never disappoint him.According to Osundara, whose

theme of the South West gatheringwas 'Peace, Unity and Love forNational Development', “We arein total support of the leadershipof our party in the South West andtheir actions towards seeing thatMr. President returns to office in2015. That is why the youths fromall the states in South West havegathered here in Abuja with morethan over 1,000 delegates from allthe six states in the South West.

“We want to reiterate here thatwe want Mr. President to comeout and contest. There is noreason why he should be delayinghis declaration because we areeagerly waiting for him and weare ready and have what it takesto deliver the South West; with the

effort of our leadership and thewomen in the South West, we willdeliver the six states from theSouth West to Mr. President. Thatis why we are calling on him tocome out for the people to knowall that he has done for this nation.I don’t think he should delay orhesitate in coming out in a minutebecause we are waiting andeager.

Also yesterday, the South Westleaders of PDP under the aegis,South West Elders Council led byformer Deputy NationalChairman, Alhaji ShaiubuOyedokun threw its weightbehind President Jonathan’s re-election bid and asked him to asa matter of urgency declare thathe was running for the election.

Meanwhile, Chairman of PDP

Board of Trustees, BoT, Chief TonyAnenih has pleaded with partystakeholders, elders, leaders andmembers from the South West tobury their hatchets and reconciletheir differences for the interestof PDP if they must remainrelevant in the Party.

Anenih, who spoke at hisresidence when he receivedmembers of South West Networkled by its Chairman and SenateDeputy Chief Whip, SenatorHosea Agboola, stressed thatagainst the backdrop of thepolitical scenario in the Zone,it has become imperative forthe group to work with eldersof the party at the states andthe National level to addressthe dwindling fortunes of theparty in the west.

...As Anenih calls for unity among members

THE Inspector-General of Police, Moham-

med Abubakar has ordereda full scale investigationinto the circumstances sur-rounding the invasion ofGovernment House, Enu-gu, weekend, by a gang ofarmed men during whichone person was killed whilethree others were arrested.

Police sources at the ForceHeadquarters, Abuja inti-mated Vanguard that thepolice boss who was visiblypiqued by the developmentdirected both the AssistantInspector-General of Policein-charge of Zone 9,Umuahia and the Commis-sioner of Police, EnuguState to swing into actionwith a view to unravelingthe motive behind the ear-ly morning attack duringwhich dangerous weaponsincluding guns, machetesamong others were freelyused for hours before secu-rity men comprising police-men, men of the NigeriaSecurity and Civil DefenceCorps, NSCD, and soldiersprevented the assailantsfrom gaining entry into theofficial residence of Gover-nor Sullivan Chime.

The sources said both thepolice high command andthe Presidency were high-ly rattled by the ugly devel-opment which they saidshould be regarded asinsurrection and haveordered all relevant se-curity agencies to swinginto action and round upboth the fleeing attack-ers and their sponsors.

IG orders probeof EnuguGovernmentHouse invasionby armed men

BY EMMA NNADOZIE

ABUJA—EXACTLY seven days to the beginning of

the National Conference, thePrimate of the AnglicanCommunion, Most ReverendNicholas Okoh, has asked theFederal Government to guideagainst issues that torpedoed pastexercise, warning that failure ofthe conference could send awrong signal on the future andunity of the country.

Okoh, who noted that mostNigerians were looking forwardto the confab with high optimism,said the atmosphere should bemade conducive for delegates todiscuss relevant issues withfrankness and sincerity.

He said although thegovernment of Nigeria wascommitted to indivisibility of thecountry, he averred that delegates,who feel that the unity of Nigeriais negotiable, should feel free toexpress their views.

Okoh, who made this known inAbuja during an interview withnewsmen, stated that at no timethan now should the componentunits in Nigeria use the confabas a veritable opportunity todetermine whether or not Nigeriashould be.

His words: “The conferencemust not fail. If it does, Nigerianswould be disillusioned. It mustsolve the Nigerian problems. Thequestions about the Nigerianproject must be thoroughlyaddressed. If the federation ofNigeria should remain indivisibleand indissoluble in line with thethinking of the government, thenafter

this conference, I should be ableto sleep in Kano and close my twoeyes without any fear. Somebodyfrom Kano should be able to livein Kano, sleep there with his eyesclosed. Somebody should liedown in Lagos or Warri withoutthinking of ethnic sentiments. Thesame thing should happen inZamfara, Yobe, Sokoto,Maiduguri and other states in theNorth without outsiders havingfear about religion and otherthings. If we went to the NationalConference and come backwithout resolving the issues, thenwe have not started as a Nation.”

Okoh spoke as former localcouncil chairmen disowned thelist of delegates as theirrepresentatives just as aprominent Ijaw leader, Bolou-Owei of Izon-Ebe, Chief TundeSmooth condemned the non-inclusion of the Itsekiri Nation inthe conference.

The former council chairmen,who spoke on the banner ofFormer Elected LocalGovernment ChairmenAssociation, FELGOCAS,yesterday, said those on the listof former council chairmen

CONFERENCE: President Goodluck Jonathan (5th right) with Catholic Church Bishops at the NigerianCatholic Bishops' Conference opening session at the Our Lady Pro Cathedral, Garki, Abuja yesterday.

delegates were unknownpersons.

In a protest letter signed byNational President ofFELGOCAS, Iliyasu IsaDanmusa, the former chairmenexplained that following therequest by the FederalGovernment for nomination ofdelegates, the umbrella body ofthe former council chairmen hadlast month forwarded a list of itsnominees to the office of theSecretary to the Government ofthe Federation (SGF).

The names of those it forwardedto the SGF were Hon Iliyasu IsaDanmusa (North West), HonHassan Kafayos (North East),Hon Bala Salisu Lokoja (NorthCentral), Hon MartiasEkweremadu (South East), HonEmmanuel Soroku (South-South)and Hon Prince Adesegun AbdelMajid Adekoya (South-West).

However, those published asdelegates are Hon. Felix Akhabue,Barr. Nasiru Ibrahim Junji, Alhaji

Abubakar Sadiq Ahmed, BarristerIgberi Nweme, Hon. EmmanuelTsamdu and Chief SholaEbiseeni.

Alleging manipulation of the list,FELGOCAS in the protest letterdated March 7, urged thegovernment to effect the requiredchanges and accept its dulynominated delegates because“we are the legitimate registeredmembers under former electedlocal government chairmenassociation with the CorporateAffairs Commission.”

Reacting to this development, aformer chairman of Kosofe localgovernment in Lagos State, PrinceAdesegun Adekoya said membersof FELGOCAS will not condonethe manipulation of the delegates’list and will do everything legallypossible, including mobilization offormer and incumbent councilchairman, to protest hijack of thedelegates list.

Prince Adekoya, who is also theFELGOCAS National Vice

chairman (South West) explainedthat there is only one legallyrecognized umbrella body offormer elected council chairmenin the country and wonderedwhere the office of the SGF gotthe list it published as formercouncil chairmen.

Include Itsekiri— SmoothCriticising the exclusion of the

Itsekiri in the conference, ChiefSmooth, described thedevelopment as unfortunate,adding that the nationalconference should be a truerepresentation of every ethnicgroup irrespective of the size,colour and location.

According to him, “the Itsekiriswho are one of the major oilproducers in the Niger Delta andhaving contributed immensely tothe growth and development ofNigeria should not have beenexcluded from this very importantdialogue where the fate of thecountry would be discussed.”

...Former LG chairmen disown delegates

...Ijaw leader flays exclusion of Itsekiri

10 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014

BY GBENGA OLARINOYE

Pharmacy college seeks fake drugselimination

O SOGBO—INTERIMNational Chairman of the

All Progressives Congress,APC, Chief Bisi Akande hascondemned the IndependentNational Electoral CommissionINEC for what he described asinefficiency and electoralmanipulation ahead of the2015 general election.

Akande who bore his mindon the three days PermanentVoters Card collection in OsunState condemned the exercise,saying that he wasuncomfortable with the INEChandling of the exercise.

Alleges fraudAccording to Akande, the

collection of the PVC wasmarred with irregularities andfraud which underscored INECinefficiency and incompetence.

Akande who spoke withjournalists, weekend, aftercollecting his PVC in his countryhome, Ila said: “My assessmentof the collection of permanentvoters card is that amuncomfortable.

“I came for the validation of myvoters card where I registered andvoted in 2011 today. I was able tocollect my card but some of the

Bisi Akande flays INEC over alleged inefficiencypeople that came after mecould not find their names onthe list.

Repetation of names“Some names which

appeared once on the votersregister in 2011 appearedtwice. Some names thatappeared in 2011 did not

appear again on the list forthe collection of the PVCwhich makes me to becomeworried and I began to askquestions. Even in some unitswhere INEC registered 100people, the register nevercovered 60 per cent successin such areas.

“This makes me to doubt INEC

which smuggled 100, 000 namesinto the voters register in OndoState and used it to rig election.If we don’t act now and let theworld know that INEC isinefficient and fraudulent andthat INEC has startedmanipulation of Osun Stateelection with this exercise, we willbe doing a bad thing to Nigeria.”

Akande registered and col-lected his PVC at Unit 12Obalumo compound,Atewogbade Street, Isedo 1 inWard 4, Ila, Ila LocalGovernment Council Area ofOsun State.

Reports INEC to APCThe APC chairman said he

has reported the situation to thenational office of his party;saying: “We have justconcluded the registration ofour party members and wehave met the biometric controlfor the registration of partymembership."

DEFECTION: Former Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Alhaji Rafiu Ogunleye (middle),addressing defectors to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Abigi, Ogun Waterside LocalGovernment. With him are Chairman, Organisation and Mobilisation Committee, PDP, SouthWest, Prince Buruji Kashamu (left) and State Chairman, Engr. Adebayo Dayo.

LAGOS—SENATOR representing LagosCentral Senatorial District in the National

Assembly, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, weekend,criticised the convocation of a National Dialogueby President Jonathan saying it is a distraction andmere waste of time and resources.

She also questioned the rationale behind theconvocation of a National Dialogue when the 2015elections is around the corner.

Speaking during the 10th Town Hall meeting withconstituents of Lagos Central Senatorial District,Sen. Tinubu said the government must get itspriorities right in pursuing real economic growthand Nigeria must cure itself of waste and overdependence on oil income.

According to her; “In the 2014 budget that justpassed through second reading on TuesdayFebruary 4, 2014, a total sum of 7 billion wasallocated for the National Dialogue. I am not againstconvening a National Conference, but the questionis why now that gubernatorial elections in Ekiti andOsun states are just around the corner.”

Giving reports of her stewardship and activitiesat the Lagos Central District, she said: “During oureighth Town Hall Meeting on September 27, 2013,pioneer trainees under the Youth Empowermentand skills Acquisition Scheme, YESAS, graduatedafter learning various skills to enhance theirindependence and economic productivity."

Confab: It’s adistraction, waste ofresources —TINUBU

BY GBENGA OKE

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

LAGOS—WORRIEDabout the effect of fake

drugs on human health,West African PostgraduateCollege of Pharmacists,WAPCP, has called for totalelimination of fake drugs in

L A G O S — S O C I O -Economic Rights and

Accountability Project,SERAP, has requested theFederal Government tomake public what itexpended on the centenarycelebration.

In a statement issued inLagos, yesterday, by itsexecutive director, Mr.Tokunbo Mumuni, the nongovernmental organisationcondemned what it called acelebration of corruption bythe government for given out“public awards to indictedcorrupt public officials,sending a wrong messagethat amounts to a triumphof corruption over publicprobity and integrity.”

Besides, SERAP in itsstatement, supported theNobel laureate, ProfessorWole Soyinka on hisrejection of the centenaryaward, and said that anypublic award for corruptpeople was not portrayingthe government as ready tobattle corruption in Nigeria.

The organisation said:“The award to the latemilitary dictator, Gen. SaniAbacha, considered one ofthe most corrupt leaders thecountry ever had, cannot bejustified on any groundwhatsoever, and in fact sendthe message that corruptionpays."

FG shouldreveal costof centenarycelebration—SERAP

BY ABDULWAHABABDULAH

Nigeria.Making the call at a

briefing in Lagos on itsforthcoming 26th AnnualGeneral Meeting andScientific Symposium, theChairman, Ike Onyechiwho described fake drug asa global menace said

though statistics from theNational Agency for Foodand Drug Administrationand Control, NAFDAC,showed huge reduction inthe incidence of fake drugsin the country, the war isnot over until fake drugs areeliminated completely.

CMYK


BY HENRY UMORU

BY GBENGAOLARINOYE,

ABUJA—AHEAD of thisweek's March 15 primary

election of the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP, theparty’s screening Committee,weekend, screened 16aspirants, cleared 15 anddisqualified one of the maleaspirants, just as the fivemember committee wouldsubmit its report to the party’sNational Chairman, AlhajiAdamu Muazu today.

Vanguard gathered at theend of the exercise held onSaturday which started asearly as 10 am and ended 8:15pm that the committee that hasthe Senate Majority Leader,Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba asChairman, cleared formerGovernor Ayodele Fayose,immediate past Minister ofPolice Affairs, Navy CaptainCaleb Olubolade, GbengaAluko, Adedayo Adeyeye, and11 others, and disqualifiedone following his failure toproduce evidence of dues paidto the party.

At the end of next Saturday’sprimary election where acandidate would emerge forthe party, the party’s standard

EKITI GUBER: PDP clears Fayose, Olubolade, Adeyeye,12 others, disqualifies one

bearer would then square upwith the incumbent governor,Kayode Fayemi of the AllProgressives Congress for theJune 21 Ekiti StateGovernorship election.

Meanwhile, there was amild drama at the Wadataplaza when Senator Ndoma-Egba-led screening committeesent home one of theaspirants, Mrs. BolarinwaOloyede, saying that her namewas not among the 16 names sentto the Committee to screen,adding the mandate of theCommittee was to attend to thenames sent to it and not anyoneoutside the list, even as hestressed that the Committee didnot have before it herdocumentation.

But explaining her ordeal, Mrs.Oloyede said that she could notmeet up with last Thursdaydeadline for the submission ofexpression of interest form aheadof yesterday screening exercisebecause of the lingering fuelscarcity in the country where shehad to queue for fuel in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State capital for fourhours last Thursday, adding thatshe rushed to Lagos to catch aflight to Abuja but could not meet

up.Prior to the commencement of

the screening exercise, SenatorNdoma-Egba who addressed theaspirants disclosed that thecommittee would give all a levelplaying field, would be

transparent as well as carry outa thorough assignment, just ashe said that the committeewould be guided by theConstitution of the FederalRepublic of Nigeria, the PDP’ sconstitution and the guidelineof the party. He also commendedthe aspirants, describing them

as the party’s engine room,adding that whoever emergeswould reclaim the state fromGovernor Kayode Fayemi.

The Senate Majority Leaderfurther disclosed that hisCommittee would submit itsreport today.

Osun PDP in fresh crisis overscribe’s removal

OSOGBO—A majorcrisis of confidence is

brewing in the Osun statechapter of the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP, overplanned removal of thestate secretary of the party,Major Raphael Tewogbola(rtd) by a faction of PDPsuspected to be loyal to oneof the party’s threegovernorship aspirants

Already the state workingcommittee of the party hadscheduled two meetings forthe Party secretariat thismorning to consider a

motion for the secretary’sremoval.

Investigation furtherrevealed that the firstpractical step towardsachieving the removalstarted at the weekend withthe collection of signaturesfrom the Secretary’s wardin Ife Central LocalGovernment area of thestate calling for his removal.

The move was thenfollowed by a senatorialmeeting for Osun EastSenatorial district whichheld at Osu yesterday, thereports of the two meetingswill be tabled at today’s

meeting.Today’s meeting may,

however, be stormy becausethe State Chairman who isallegedly leading theonslaught for theSecretary’s removal mayreceive a shocker and beconfronted with allegationsof wrong doings and amotion of no confidencemay also be moved againsthim.

The state Chairman wasalleged to be working forthe success of one of thegovernorship aspirantswho sees the Secretary as astumbling block towards aplot to install him as Party’scandidate at the primariesslated for April 5, 2014.

AKURE—THE Court ofAppeal, Akure Judicial

Division weekend sackedthe Jegun of Idepe,Okitipupa, Ondo state,Oba Micheal AdetoyeObanuga and ordered himto vacate the throne withimmediate effect.

Consequently, the Courtordered that a freshselection process whichmust exclude the sackedmonarch and the RulingHouse which producedhim be initiated by thegovernment forthwith.

It will be recalled that an

Appeal Court sacks Oba in OndoBY DAYO JOHNSON High Court sitting in

Okitipupa had sacked theOba over faulty selectionexercise by the king-makers.

Justice Mojeed AdekunleOwoade who delivered thelead judgement dismissedthe nine-year-old appealfilled by Oba Obanuga onthe grounds that it lackedmerit and failed in itsentirety.

The judgement wasunanimously supported bythe presiding Judge, JusticeSotonye Denton West andJustice Cordelia IfeomaJombo-Ofo.

They upheld the decisionof the trial judge of theLower High Court, JusticeJ. Akintoroye which wasdelivered on December 14,2005, that the Oba was notselected at a proper or validmeeting of the kingmakersto the Jegun of IdepeChieftancy.

Appellants in the appealOba Obatuga and HighChief Felix OladejoyeObamonire had filed 12grounds of appeal throughtheir lawyer, Chief WoleOlanipekun, SAN, inwhich they raised sevenissues for determination.

BIRTHDAY: From left: Chief Ernest Shonekan, former Head of Interim NationalGovernment, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, former Head of State, Otunba Subomi Balogun, thecelebrant and his wife, Olori Abimbola Balogun, Chief Christopher Ogunbanjo, Mrs. OlufunsoAmosun, First Lady of Ogun State and Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, at the80th birthday of Otunba Subomi Balogun in Lagos. Photo: Akeem Salau.

CMYK


BNC faults exclusion of Ovonramwen fromcentenary awards

OKONJO-IWEALA'S MOTHER: May 15for judgment on N3b suit against NA

Onlytaxpayers 'llenjoy freeservices— AKPABIO

Mein-Butu community leadersseek release of 8 detainees

IT is now compulsoryfor parents and wards

of children benefitingfrom free education andhealthcare services inAkwa Ibom State to showevidence of tax payment.

Governor GodswillAkpabio, who gave thedirective after signing the2014 Appropriation Billinto law, noted that publicservants were alsoaffected by the directive.

He said: “The Ministryof Finance and Board ofInternal Revenue mustcarry out taxpayers’registration of everyworker in the state.”

He said that theMinistry of Health andMinistry of Educationmust make sure that theparents' Tax IdentificationNumber, TIN, was givenbefore a child couldbenefit from freeservices.

B E N I N —G O V E R N O R

Adams Oshiomhole ofEdo State, weekend,assured private investorsthat his governmentwould provide anenabling environmentand incentives foroperations.

He gave the assurancewhen he grantedaudience to themanagement of theAzura Power Plant, whopaid him a courtesy visitat the GovernmentHouse.

The governor said: “Wecannot appreciate youenough for theconfidence you havedemonstrated in our stateand country by locatingthe power plant here.

“We are ready to doanything that is lawful andreasonable to encourageyou. The paradox of theNigeria society is theissue of power supply.This is a project whoseviability in not in doubt.”

POWER:Oshiomholeassuresinvestors ofgovt'ssupport

BY SIMONEBEGBULEM

LEADERS of Mein-Butucommunity, Delta State, have

appealed to President GoodluckJonathan, Chief E. K. Clark andHRM, Augustine Ebikeme ofOporomor kingdom to prevail onChief Government Ekpemupolo,A.K.A. Tompolo, to release ChiefMichael Johnny, Chief MoscoJohnny and six others fromdetention.

The six others are Bullet Otuaro,

Tony Ikpessan, Messo German, ItareChristmas, Imole Jonny and AlexGovernor.

Representatives of the community,Zinc Bouudle, Mike Gomeromo,Andabafa Nama, Denco Moni andTobo Fubri, said the dispute betweenTompolo and them was a familymatter and should be settled as such.

They said they were making movesto broker peace on the dispute whichled to the arrest and detention.

ASABA— AN Asaba highcourt in Delta State has

fixed May 15 to deliverjudgment in a N3 billion suitinstituted by 63 residents ofthe state against the NigerianArmy over illegal arrest anddetention during the searchfor the kidnappers ofProfessor Kamene Okonjo,mother of the Minister ofFinance, Prof. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

The court scheduledjudgment after the partiesexchanged papers and madesubmissions on point of law.

Warrant Officer, Ojo Yahayaof Headquarters, 2 DivisionNigerian Army, AdekunleFajuyi Cantonment Odogbo,Ibadan, in a counter-affidavit

opposing the applicants’Motion on Notice stated that“the commandant of the 4Brigade MilitaryHeadquarters, Benin,referred to in the affidavit isnot one of the legallyrecognised officers of the

Nigerian Army and thatPresident Goodluck Jonathandid not at any time give anultimatum to the NigerianArmy or any of its legallyrecognised officers to fish outthe kidnappers of Mrs.Kamene Okonjo.”

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA

AP faction rejects delegates to nat'l confab

BENIN— CRISIS isbrewing within the

Accord Party, AP, over thenomination of formerGovernor of Oyo State, AlhajiRasheed Ladoja andMohammed Nalado by theparty as its delegates to the

National Conference withtheir rejection by a faction ofthe party led by Rev. IsaacAdeniyi and Dr. SamsonIsibor.

A statement in Benin,yesterday, by Rev. IsaacAdeniyi and Dr. SamsonIsibor, factional NationalChairman and Secretary,respectively, at the end of the

party’s National ExecutiveCouncil, NEC, and theNational WorkingCommittee, NWC, saidAlhaji Mohammed Naladoand Rasheed Ladoja were nolonger members of AP,having earlier been expelledin line with the party ’sconstitution.

It said: “We reject in itsentirety the inclusion of thetwo in the list of delegates tothe proposed conference asrepresentatives of AP.”

BY GABRIELENOGHOLASE

THE Benin NationalCongress, BNC,

weekend, described asunacceptable the failure ofPresident Goodluck Jonathan

to include Oba OvonramwenNogbaisi in the list ofawardees in the recentcentenary celebration.

BNC, in a statement by itsnational President,Aiyamenkhue Edokpolo,

after a meeting of the groupin Benin, recalled that ObaOvonramwen of BeninKingdom resisted the Britishand wondered why his namewas excluded from the list ofawardees referred to asHeroes of Nigeria.

The group urged thecommittee that came up with

the list of the awardees toapologise to the Bini, just asit urged President Jonathanto address the anomaly.

According to the statement,“we find it utterly regrettablethat Oba Ovonramwen, whoresisted western imperialismthat led to the ultimate price,where genocide wasunleashed on the kingdom,looting of our shrines andkidnapping of women andchildren, among otherafflictions, could bemisplaced in a list meant tohonor the living and deadpatriots of Nigeria.

“It is an unprovoked attackon the psyche of our people.It is unthinkable that thelegendary Oba Ovonramwendid not attract the spotlight ofthe centenary committee inspite of our open letter.”

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

CMYK


CMYK


CELEBRATION: From left, Mr. Bode Ogunlela, Cathedral Warden; Mrs.Modupe Kolawole, Secretary, 50th anniversary; Professor Wale Omole, Chairman, 50th anniversary of Vining Church, Rev. James Odedeji,Bishop of Lagos West; Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, Archishop, Metropol-itan, and Primate of All Nigeria, Rev. Johnson Atere, Bishop of Awori;Chief Segun Osunkeye, Chairman, Nestle Plc and Venerable Abel Aji-bodu, Dean of the Cathedral, during the grand - finale of the goldenjubilee celebration of Archbishop Vining Memorial Church Cathedral,and the thanksgiving service, in Lagos.

FG urged to check pilferageat airports, seaports

BY DANIEL ETEGHE

THE FEDERAL Government has been

urged to put measures inplace to check pilferingof cargoes and luggageat airports and seaportsin Nigeria.

Managing Director,HontGlobal Services Ni-geria, Limited, Mr.Humphrey Okonkwo,who made the call, saidmillions of dollars hadbeen lost to the pilferageof luggage and cargoes

BY TONY EDIKE

2015: Chime insists on power rotation in Enugu

ENUGU — GOVERNORSullivan Chime of Enugu

State has reiterated his earlierposition that elected public offic-ers on the platform of the PeopleDemocratic Party, PDP, from thestate, including members of theNational Assembly, who haveserved more than a tenure shouldgive way for fresh candidates toemerge in 2015.

The governor, who spoke at theState Executive Council, SEC,meeting of the party in Enugu,weekend, said there was need forelected public officers to eschew

Gov. Orjitasks Abiadelegates atthe NationalConfab

UMUAHIA —AHEAD of next

week’s inauguration ofthe National Conference,Abia State governor, ChiefTheodore Orji, hascharged the state’s dele-gates to represent it well.

He specifically chargedthem to articulate in clearterms the state’s positionon issues that would comeup for discussion.

Orji, who met with thedelegates, weekend, atGovernment House,Umuahia, said the confer-ence would involve brainwork, pointing out that itwould provide them theopportunity to showcaseAbia State and them-selves.

In his response, leaderof the team and formerSenate President, ChiefAdolfus Wabara, gave theassurance that the dele-gates would fight for AbiaState with one voice andwill be guided by the re-port of the technical com-mittee, assuring that theywould not let the statedown.

BY ANAYO OKOLI

sit-tight syndrome and allow oth-ers who never had the opportu-nity of enjoying the benefits ofsuch offices to do so.

He said political offices shouldnot be seen as a football clubwhere players would remain solong as they could actively play,stressing that even in football pro-fession, players that had over-

stayed were usually retired to en-able younger ones to take over.

His words: “We must work veryhard to save this party; we mustwork very hard to save the policyand system already entrenched.

"We have been able to have verypeaceful transition. Enugu Statehas held four local governmentelections and it is only few states

that can achieve that. "In each election we kept on improv-

ing. During the last election, the unex-pected happened because all our 17local government chairmen were re-turned unopposed.

“My wish is that in the very near fu-ture if not next year, we should be ableto produce a governor unopposed. Itwill happen. We are working towards

gether and endorse one ofour own and give him theauthority to run for the of-fice of governor and thatperson, whoever we chosewhen presented to the stateshould be accepted by ourpeople.

“So we must be carefulabout the choice of candi-date. But sacrifices must bemade. People should beready to say I want to letthis go in the interest of ourparty. We don’t becomeanything in Enugu PDPbecause we have money.

it. We will not impose anycandidate, of course, theidea of imposition breedsviolence, thuggery and allthat."

“We are hoping that laterthis year we will come to-

at both airports, andeven seaports in thecountry.

He appealed to thegovernment to instal so-phisticated scanningmachines as well asClose Circuits Televisioncameras, CCTVs, at air-ports and seaports as oneof the ways to check pil-ferage of cargo, stressingthat the normal routine ofCustoms officers cuttingthrough cargoes was de-stroying goods.

Falana gives Auditor General7 days to publish findings onNNPC’s account

BY ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH

LAGOS LAWYER, Mr. Femi Fala-na, SAN, yesterday, urged the Au-

ditor General of the Federation, AGF,to publish the periodic checks of the ac-counts of the Nigerian National Petro-leum Corporation, NNPC, carried outby his staff to shed more light on thealleged missing money.

In a response to the letter written tohim from the office of the AGF on hisearlier request, Falana gave him sevendays to provide the information, else hewould initiate legal proceedings to com-pel him to carry out his constitutionalduties.

In his new letter, Falana challengedthe AGF to provide the information inview of the binding duty on the Federal

Government to promote transparencyand accountability, promising that hewas ready to apply for the certified truecopy of the report if AGF's office wasnot inclined to make the report public.

The lawyer, had on February 7, 2014,in the wake of the allegation by sus-pended Governor of the Cental Bank ofNigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanu-si’s allegation that about $49.6 billionoil money was missing from the federa-tion account, requested for informationon the missing money under the free-dom of Information Act and audit of thefederation account by the AGF.

The Office of the Auditor General ofthe Federation, OAuGF, in its responseto Falana's request, said that some eth-ics and professional threats are work-ing against its capability to carry out theaudit of NNPC's accounts.


MILE 2 - APAPA EXPRESSWAY SHUT DOWN

NIGERIA 2015 QUESTION CONFERENCE BY PEOPLES DAILY

Unprecedented gridlock on Mile 2 - Apapa expressway as a result of fuel tankers andother articulated trucks' illegal parking on the road, yesterday. Photo: Joe Akintola,photo editor

Other vehicles trapped for hours.

No exit, even for emergencies! ...at Berger Suya on Apapa Road

From the left, Speaker House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal; Chair-man of the event, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), and the Rivers State Infor-mation Commissioner, Ibim Semenitari

Publisher, Peoples Daily, Malam Wada Maida, wel-coming guests.

Former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, flanked by Speaker, House of Representatives,Hon. Aminu Tambuwal (left), and Reprdsentative of the Chief of Army Staff, Brig. Gen. Olajide Olaleye(2right), and former Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria, NPAN, Chairman, Malam Ismai-la Isa (left), during the 2nd Conference on 'Nigeria: The 2015 Question,' oganised by Peoples DailyNewspapers, at Sheraton Hotels and Towers, Abuja. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida

Cross-section of guests

CMYK

OPINION

16 Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014

BY IJEME OMOLEGHO

*Mr. Omolegho, a public affairscommentator, wrote from Lagos

Okotie and other viable optionsLET'S think hypothetically for just a

minute. What should we expect if Rev.Chris Okotie of the FRESH Party, becomesPresident and Commander-in-Chief of theFederal Republic of Nigeria? The same olddisplay of inept and un-creative governance,or a departure from the status quo to worldclass ideologies that shape the times, andbrings international discussants to ‘study’the new and emerging Nigeriangovernance model? Other options that havebeen mentioned, who fit into this hypothesisinclude Governors Adams Oshiomhole andRaji Fashola, Mallam El-Rufai and NuhuRibadu, etc.This thought takes me back to the electionsof 1979, when we had the luminous politicalquartet of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (NPP), ChiefObafemi Awolowo (UPN), Alhaji WaziriIbrahim (GNPP) and Mallam Aminu Kano(PRP), all of blessed memory, as actors vyingfor the office of the President of Nigeria onour political stage? What would havebecome of Project Nigeria if we had got itright at that crucial point? With hindsight,that ‘Judelex (Judicial, Legislative andExecutive) coup’ as Chief ObafemiAwolowo described it after the 1979elections, was the genesis of today’s failingNigeria.Unfortunately, we missed that boat, whichresulted in the subsequent line of Buhari-IBB-Abacha-Shonekan-Abdulsallam-ledgovernments which cocooned us in almosttwo decades of pariah nationhood. At thatcrucial juncture in our socio-political andeconomic evolution, we made a wrong turn,which spiraled our nation down to the abyss

that entrenched corrupt politicking as aninherent nature of our politics.1999 also presented the opportunity for ashift, as we all hoped for a new beginningas a nation, but again sentiment ruled overreason, and almost two decades on, withhindsight, we obviously took a wrong turnas the images of our democracy leaves littleto be desired or celebrated. That wasprobably why Comrade UcheChukwumerijie said in a recent GuardianNewspaper interview that, “we have notbegun our journey to nationhood”.By 2015, it will again be almost twodecades after the elections of 1999 like theelections of 1979 before it, and looking atthe stage of obvious possible aspirants, wecan safely say that we again need a shift inour political paradigm, which is vital indetermining the course of our lives, bothindividually and as a nation.In dealing with the failing bureaucraticstructures of any system, as in our politics,a shift from the norm presents the bestpossible option to reverse the adverse effectsof wrong decisions, and create a newbeginning for maximizing the potentials ofthe human capital and national assets, forthe general good of the people. This is whata paradigm shift accomplishes.We need to reappraise our assessment ofaspirants, and our stance on national issuesthat affect us adversely. This is why I believein Rev. Okotie’s call for a paradigm shift. Ithas become a national imperative that wechange our thinking.Anyone with an objective outlook, who hasheard Okotie speak on national issues, or

has read his commentaries on Facebook andthe national newspapers, can tell withoutdoubt that he has a sound understanding ofthe problems that confront us and how theycan be solved. He announced this grasp ofpolitical profundity before the 2003elections when he appeared on thePresidential debates, where he literarilymade mince meat of political stalwarts whodebated with him.By 2011, his invitation to the debates waswithdrawn, for obvious reasons, whichsubsequently led to other aspirantsboycotting the debates as PresidentJonathan had to be interviewed alone. Wewould like to hear Okotie on the politicalrostrum speaking in a public debate ormedia chat on matters arising on the localand international scene.But one of his biggest challenges is that hehas not been a public figure in terms ofreligious, social or political appearances,so people have not been able to properlyappraise him, and we are generally afraidof the unknown. That is why we fear change.We seem to be more comfortable with whatwe are used to. Like President Clinton oncesaid: “We vote for people we claim to hate”.The public on one hand wonders if he willnot go the same way as our corruptpoliticians, while the political class believeshe will carry out a witch hunt of corruptpoliticians when he ascends office. This islike living between a rock and a hard place.Pundits have also expressed the fear thatOkotie is an unknown in the field of politics,or the corridors of power. They have askedwhat political pedigree equips him to handle

the nation’s problems. In an apparentresponse to this reasoning, he told hisaudience last year on the occasion of the26th anniversary of his church that“ministry is all about service. It is probablythe best nursery and training ground forleaders in any sphere of human endeavour.It is in ministry that the complex problemsof humanity stare you in the face”.But how does this equip him for partisanpolitics and all its internal convolutions?He again said that in ministry, “youencounter circumstances that only Godcould handle because of their sheercomplexities and bizarre nature… financialchallenges, domestic upheavals, issues ofeconomics, ministry politics, envy, rivalries,competition, you name it! That soundsfamiliar to veteran politicians”. That is whyhe once said that the government shouldnot ask the people to tighten their belts;rather, government should tighten its beltby reducing recurrent expenditures.Rev. Okotie has declared his intention tocontest in the coming 2015 presidentialelection, offering us another “ParadigmShift” option. If we miss the 2015 boat, thenthe 1979- 1999 abnormalty will berepeated. As mentioned earlier, there aremany other viable Nigerians like Rev.Okotie, Mallams El-Rufai and NuhuRibadu, Governors Raji Fashola and AdamsOshiomole and several captains of industrywho are out there, who can take this countryto unimaginable heights on theinternational scene. These are the kind ofmen we need to power Project Nigeria. Thetime has come for them to emerge and takethe bull by the horns.

Following the successful completion ofthe recently revitalised Nigerian UniversityGames (NUGA) hosted by the ObafemiAwolowo University, Ile Ife, the Universityof Maiduguri (UNIMAID) emerged as thesurprise host of the next edition of the bi-annual Games, which will come up in 2016.An elated Vice Chancellor of the

University, Prof Emmanuel Kucha,rhapsodised that the Games coming to theterrorism-stricken capital of Borno Statewill be a befitting occasion to mark theSilver Jubilee of the institution.No one would have raised an eyebrow if

all was well with the city of Maiduguri, theepicentre of the Boko Haram Islamistterrorist insurgencies that have wrackedthe Nigerian northeast for over three yearsnow. Even though the campaign of massmurder and destruction of property by themilitants has been confined to more remotefringes of Borno, Yobe and AdamawaStates, virtually no day passes withoutreports of fresh attacks on innocentcitizens. In fact, only a couple of monthsago, the daredevil insurgents struck atmilitary facilities and the MaiduguriInternational Airport, wreacking havoc and

UNIMAID as nextUNIMAID as nextUNIMAID as nextUNIMAID as nextUNIMAID as nextNUGA hostNUGA hostNUGA hostNUGA hostNUGA host

killing scores.Even though it is reasonable to assume

that our gallant military personnelconducting anti-insurgency operations onthat frontier should be able to defeat thethreat before 2016, we hasten to cautionthat the war on terror, like all the othersof its type in Afghanistan, Pakistan,Chechnya, Somalia and the IslamicMaghrib have proved difficult tocompletely stamp out. The case of Nigeriais further complicated by the fact that BokoHaram is operating on a desert,multinational theatre fringed by other poor

countries with porous borders, such asNiger Republic, Chad and Cameroun.We are against any decision that could

risk the lives of the Nigerian youth, whomay seen as juicy targets by bands ofsuicide attackers operating in isolatedcells. Let another university in safer areasof the country be awarded the hostingrights of the 2016 Games until thenortheast has been completely secured. Weforesee a situation where the UNIMAIDGames might be boycotted by universitiesand athletes if by 2016 there remains ashadow of doubt about security.Alternatively, there should be a reserve

host in case the coast is not clear inUNIMAID. Everything must be done to ensure that

factors that led to the collapse of theGames in the past are not allowed topresent again, this time as security threats.The post-election killing of dozens of

Youth Corps members after the 2011elections in the North, and frequent nighttime slaughter of innocent students by theinsurgents show the extreme extent thatBoko Haram is ready to go.Let UNIMAID wait a little more.

CMYK

MARCH 10, , , , , 20142014201420142014

CHBO DINNER - From left: Uju Ogubunka, Registrar, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN); Anogwi Anyanwu, Executive Director, MainstreetBank; Caroline Anyanwu, Executive Director, Risk Management & Control, Diamond Bank and Ben Onyido, former Director, Currency Operations, CentralBank of Nigeria (CBN) at the Committee of Heads of Bank Operations (CHBO) Annual Dinner in Lagos.

THE International MonetaryFund (IMF) Executive Board,has advised the Federal

Government to take strong action toaddress oil theft and productionlosses. IMF also advised the

Take strong action tostem oil theft, IMFtasks FG

By OMOH GABRIEL,Business Editor

government to strengthen Nigerianoil industry regulatory framework bypassing a sound Petroleum IndustryBill with enhanced oversight andtransparency provisions. It said thatthe framework for anti-moneylaundering and combating thefinancing of terrorism could supportthese efforts.

IMF in its review of the Nigerian

economy in its Article IV, 2014 releasedweekend urged the government to alsohighlight the need to improve oilrevenue management by completingthe transition from the Excess CrudeAccount to the Sovereign Wealth Fund.These measures, it said, should besupported by full implementation ofthe Treasury Single Account and the

Continues on page 18

CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL SELLING

CBN Exchange rate as at 07/03/2014

108.31 +0.76

102.49 +0.93

197.00 +2.20 2,963.00 +25.00

17.94 -0.38

DOLLAR 154.75 155.25 155.75STERLING 258.3706 259.2054 260.0402EURO 212.967 213.6551 214.3432FRANC 174.8983 175.4634 176.0285YEN 1.5191 1.524 1.5289CFA 0.3059 0.3159 0.3259WAUA 238.6622 239.4333 240.2044RENMINBI 25.1859 25.2677 25.2677RIYAL 41.2612 41.3945 41.5278KRONA 28.5343 28.6265 28.7187SDR 239.429 240.2028 240.9764

Urges govt to cut oil subsidy, rebuild fiscal buffers,curtail waivers, boost non-oil revenue

Cover Story

CMYK


Continued from page 17


,,

,

,

*From left: Jack Doan, Transaction Banking, Sales Manager, Chinese Client Standard Char-tered Bank, Jiang Ping Ping, China Chamber of Commerce in Nigeria, Remi Oni, ExecutiveDirector, Client Coverage, Standard Chartered Bank and Peng Gen Fang, Chief Finance Con-troller, CCECC Nigeria Limited during the 2014 The Chines of The Horse celebration in Abuja.

Nigeria faces a number ofchallenges that can only

be met if it has innovative,well-educated andentrepreneurial citizens who,whatever their walk of life, havethe spirit and inquisitivenessto think in new ways, and thecourage to meet and adapt tothe challenges facing them.Moreover, a dynamic economy,which is innovative and ableto create the jobs that areneeded, will require a greaternumber of young people whoare willing and able to becomeentrepreneurs, young peoplewho will launch andsuccessfully develop their owncommercial or social ventures,or who will become innovatorsin the wider organisations inwhich they work. Becauseeducation is the key to shapingyoung people’s attitudes, skills

Entrepreneurialeducation revolution:An imperative for sustainabledevelopment in Nigeria: Part 2

and culture, it is vital thatentrepreneurship education isaddressed from an early age.Entrepreneurship education isessential not only to shape themindsets of young people butalso to provide the skills andknowledge that are central todeveloping an entrepreneurialculture.

It is important we embracethis ‘global age’ paradigm inour education system as it hasbeen done in China, India,Australia, Europe, U.S.A andof late, the Asian tigers(Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwanand the Koreas).The mostadvanced form of this newmodel is what is referred to as‘TEACHERPRENEUR’ whichBill Gates was referring to in2010 when he said ‘five yearsfrom now on the web, you willbe able to find the best lecturesin the world and it will bebetter than any singleuniversity.’

This involves embeddingentrepreneurial education intoeducation and training right

from the primary school tosecondary school and tertiaryinstitution. The essence of thisis because education is key toshaping young people’sattitudes, skills and culture, itis vital that entrepreneurialeducation is addressed froman early age, besides, age isno barrier to entrepreneurshipas Tony Hsieh of Zapposstarted selling worms from rawmud when he was nine yearsold, Steve Job, RichardBranson and Mark Zuckerbergof the Facebook fame all startedoff as young entrepreneurs.

The time is ripe for us as acountry to stop celebratingmere certificates anddormancy, while primacy andrecognition should be given tocreativity, skills andenterprising spirit. It has beenshown over time that the globalarena is blind to yourcredentials but is a wealth-creating slave to your skills andabilities. Anyway, it is not yourcredentials that guaranteessuccess in the global/information age but rather ,your problem-solving abilities,critical thinking ability that candiscern ‘fact from fiction’, yourability to adapt (un-learn & re-learn), your creative andinnovative abilities and yourlife-long love of learning. Ifyour ‘piece of paper’ failed todeliver these then whilst it mayhave successfully preparedyou for the industrialised 20thCentury economy, it hascertainly failed you in theglobalized 21st Century.

As Alvin Toffler puts it,‘The illiterates of the 21st

Century will not be those whocannot read and write, butthose who cannot learnunlearn and re-learn.’ It is theacceptance of this open secretthat should make policymakersand the general populace toshift attention from theconventional way of thinkingthat you must be a graduatebefore achieving success. Someof the inventors such as BillGates and Mark Zuckerbergdropped out of school to makeit in life because of theirinnovative, creative andenterprising spirit and notnecessarily because ofcertificate.

The globalarena is blind toyour credentialsbut is a wealth-creating slave toyour skills and

abilities

Take strong action to stem oiltheft, IMF tasks FG

integrated informationmanagement systems.

It said that maintainingfiscal discipline in the run upto the elections is alsoimportant.

The body also urged theFederal Government to

rebuild fiscal buffers, reduceoil subsidy, curtail waivers,and boost non-oil revenue inorder to ensure currentprogress in the country. IMFboard commenting on theNigerian economy in itsArticle IV consultation withthe Nigerian authoritiesreleased weekendemphasized the need torebuild fiscal buffers and tostrengthen the frameworkfurther.

In the report, IMF said:“Efforts should be gearedtowards boosting non-oilrevenue by broadening thetax base, improving taxadministration and curtailingexemptions, and furtherreducing oil subsidies.

“Directors underscored thatadopting a rule-basedreference oil price in fiscalprojections and furtherstrengthening public financialmanagement should help theauthorities achieve theirconsolidation objectives.Directors commended theauthorities for loweringinflation and considered thecurrent tight monetary policystance to be appropriate,given the risks associatedwith potential capital flowreversals. To better manageliquidity, they generallyencouraged more reliance onopen market operations toguide short-term interest

rates.“With regard to exchange

rate policy, directors notedthat greater exchange rateflexibility could serve as animportant buffer againstexternal shocks. Directorsnoted that the financialsystem is well capitalised withlow non-performing loans andrecommended continuedimprovements in thesupervisory framework,especially with regard toincreased exposure from crossborder financial activities.Directors encouraged theauthorities to build on theprogress made instrengthening prudentialpolicies by further enhancingthe framework for anti-moneylaundering and combatingthe financing of terrorism, andimplementing the remainingFinancial Sector AssessmentProgram (FSAP).

The report “welcomed theplan to wind down theoperations of the AssetManagement Corporation of

Nigeria, AMCON. Directorsemphasized that structuralreforms remain critical toimproving competitivenessand productivity, andreducing poverty andinequality. They encouragedthe authorities to perseverewith their TransformationAgenda with continued focuson education and healthreforms, the improvement ofpower supply, andbroadening agriculturalproduction.

“Reform efforts should alsoaim at enhancing the businessenvironment, improvingproductivity, boostingfinancial access to small andmedium sized enterprises,and strengtheninggovernance and institutionalcapacity. The upcomingrelease of re-based GDP dataand further improvements instatistical data collectionshould strengthen the basisfor policy and private sectordecision-making in Nigeria.

According to the IMF,“Executive Directors

welcomed Nigeria’scontinued strongmacroeconomic performance,underpinned particularly bysustained high growth in thenon-oil sector. Inflation hascontinued to decline and thereserves position is adequate.While the economic outlookremains favourable, key risksinclude continued lower oilrevenues from oil productionlosses and lower oil prices,the impact from theunwinding of unconventionalmonetary policy in advancedeconomies, and domesticpolitical and security

Reform effortsshould also aimat enhancing the

businessenvironment,

improvingproductivity,

boostingfinancial accessfor small andmedium sized

enterprises, andstrengthening

governance andinstitutional

capacity

CMYK


Continued from page 17

Cover

,

The decision of the Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, to suethe Federal Government over what he described as illegal deductionof one per cent from statutory allocation to states in the federation,

may not be a surprise to many Nigerians. Some, especially those who havesympathy for the PDP, will see it as an action instituted by opposition. In as

,

Who is afraid ofNational EconomicCouncil meeting?

much as the opposition hasbeen firing some salvo at theFederal Government at theslightest opportunity, thedisclosure by GovernorFashola that the nation’seconomic council has not metfor once in the last six monthsand that one per cent ofallocation to states is beingdeducted, should give causefor worry to those whounderstand the precarioussituation the nation’s economyis in.

The governor, whilepresenting the nation’s grimfinancial standing beforemembers of the State House ofAssembly in Lagos said thedecline in revenue was alsocredited to decline in oilproduction, which wasadduced to pipelinevandalism and crude oil theftand that the debate onaccounting on crude oil is outthere. Fashola lamented thatsince October last year, theFederal Government has beendeducting one per cent fromstates’ statutory allocationswhich was said to be for Policereforms, describing it asunconstitutional and vowed tochallenge it in court.

Nigerians who areconversant with trends in thecountry, will recall that for thefirst time in almost 15 years ofthe nation’s democraticexperience, the countryrecorded some walkoutsstaged by commissioners offinance during meetings of theFederal Accounts AllocationCommittee in Abuja. The firstone happened in 2011, whilethe country witnessed more ofsuch walkouts in 2013 due toirreconcilable accounts of thefederation. Some states havehad, in the recent past, to

borrow to keep the governmentgoing.

On October 7, last year, thiscolumn in an article entitled:Nigeria will survive withoutoil, warned the nation of theconsequences of over-dependence on oil revenue.“In the last three months, localgovernments, states andFederal Government officialshave been at each other'snecks over shortfalls inrevenue allocation from thefederation account. The war ofwords is as a result of panicby state governments that theymay not be able to meet theirobligations to their workers ifallocations from the federationaccount continues to dwindle.The current panic stems fromthe fact that if the revenueshortfall from the federationallocation committee to statesfalls below some levels, it willresult in many of the states notbeing able to pay theiremployees.

“On two occasions now,members of the committeefrom states have walked out onthe Minister of State forFinance over the amount duefor sharing. It is a shame thatthe committee members are notseeing the opportunity theshortfall is offering them tothink and act to remove their

states from the shackles of oil.Before the discovery of oil,regions in the country hadtheir economies. Theysurvived based on primaryproduce from the variousregions. Nigeria will survivewithout oil. All that is requiredis for people to think. It is asad story that the committee isnot querying the FederalGovernment for not investingwisely; it is not asking for

investment in the severalminerals that dot the country,they are simply bickering oversharing.

“It is the sharing of cheap oilmoney that makes Nigerianpoliticians dummies, men andwomen who cannot think.They only wait to share. It issharing that makes ministerscome to office and leavewithout making any impact onthe economy. It is the same forpresidents and governors whopreside over a sharingformula and nothing else.Over the years, they justbecome political birds ofpassage.

It is the sharing of oil moneythat is tearing the PDP

apart. It is sharing that hascaused the sharp division inthe country — North vs South.If there was no oil revenue toshare at the centre, the fightover the zone to produce thenext president will not be a do-or-die affair. It is a shame thatin the Nigerian politicalequation as of today, none isthinking about how to make abigger cake for all to share.

“While the bickering oversharing is on by cluelesspoliticians and their co-exploiters, it is important forthe federal, state and localgovernment functionaries toput on their thinking cap tofashion out how to generateinternal revenue to sustain

their operations. It will befoolhardy for the governmentat all levels to continue to relyand plan on proceeds from oilsales. For a very long time, thesignals are showing thesimple fact that this economycannot continue to run oncrude oil sales. Many of thestates whose commissioners offinance gather in Abuja toshare from the federationaccount cannot generate up toN200 million per annum.Local governments are worse;some cannot generate even amillion naira a year. Yet, allgather in Abuja to share oilmoney.”

The challenge now is thatwhilst this revenue declinehas gone up, the nation hasbeen unable to hold theNational Economic Council,NEC, meeting in Abuja. In therecent past, the meetings hadheld every month. Themeeting has not been heldnow for at least six months inspite of clear revenuedeclines. The NationalEconomic Council is an organfor the discussion of economicissues concerning the 36states of the country andcomprises governors, theGovernor of the Central Bank,the ministers of NationalPlanning, Finance and others.The question is; what is theFederal Government afraid offor not allowing the economiccouncil to hold its meeting? Isthis government afraid ofbeing asked to give account ofthe operations of NNPC? Infact, what about NIMASA,NPA, Customs and FIRS? Allmust render proper account toNigerians. There is no escaperoute for this government.

It is a shamethat the

committeemembers arenot seeing theopportunity

that theshortfall is

offering themto think and actto remove theirstates from theshackles of oil

Take strong action to stem oil theft, IMF tasks FGuncertainties.

“Directors underscored thatsteadfast implementation ofprudent macroeconomicpolicies and reforms will beessential to addressing therisks and vulnerabilities,generating more inclusive andbalanced growth, andreducing unemployment.

“Directors welcomed theauthorities’ continuedcommitment to fiscalconsolidation and noted theimprovements made to thefiscal framework. However, toensure macroeconomicstability, they emphasized theneed to rebuild fiscal buffersand to strengthen the

framework further.“Directors commended the

authorities for loweringinflation and considered thecurrent tight monetarypolicy stance to beappropriate, given the risksassociated with potentialcapital flow reversals.

To better manage liquidity,they generally

encouraged more reliance onopen market operations toguide short-term interestrates. With regard to exchangerate policy, Directors notedthat greater exchange rateflexibility could serve as an

important buffer againstexternal shocks. Directorsnoted that the financial systemis well capitalized with lownon-performing loans.

“They recommendedcontinued improvements inthe supervisory framework,especially with regard toincreased exposure from crossborder financial activities.Directors encouraged theauthorities to build on theprogress made instrengthening prudentialpolicies, including furtherenhancing the framework foranti-money laundering andcombating the financing of

terrorism, and implementingthe remaining FinancialSector Assessment Program(FSAP) recommendations.

“They welcomed the plan towind down the operations ofthe Asset ManagementCorporation of Nigeria.Directors emphasized thatstructural reforms remaincritical to improvingcompetitiveness andproductivity, and reducingpoverty and inequality. Theyencouraged the authorities topersevere with theirTransformation Agenda withcontinued focus on educationand health reforms, the

improvement of powersupply, and broadeningagricultural production.

Reform efforts should alsoaim at enhancing the businessenvironment, improvingproductivity, boostingfinancial access to small andmedim sized enterprises, andstrengthening governance andinstitutional capacity. Theupcoming release of re-basedGDP data and furtherimprovements in statisticaldata collection shouldstrengthen the basis for policyand private sector decision-making in Nigeria.”


CMYK

Business & Economy

Agric attracts $9bn investments — ADESINA

N i g e r i a ’ sagriculturals e c t o r

attracted $9 billioninvestments from local andforeign business groups inthe last two years.

Dr. Akinwumi Adesina,Minister of Agriculture andRural Development,disclosed this at a chat withmedia executives in Abuja,on the newly establishedExecutive Leadership ofNigerian AgribusinessGroup.

“We have received a totalof over $4 billion inexecuted Letters of Intent(LOIs) for investments by30 private sectoragribusinesses. We haveestablished relationshipswith over 150agribusinesses in Nigeria.

“Local fertilizermanufacturing andblending capacity hassignificantly expanded,with $5 billion in newinvestments. To fix thestorage segment for allvalue chains, the Ministryof Agriculture and RuralDevelopment attractedBlumberg, one of thelargest manufacturers ofwarehouses in the world, tocommit to using Nigeria asthe regional hub formanufacturing warehousesin West Africa,” he said.

The minister explainedthat the President GoodluckJonathan administration’sresolve to make agriculturea source of wealth forNigerian farmers and allthose involved in theindustry, was total andwould be pursued to alogical conclusion.

“We have been very clearfrom the beginning thatagriculture will not betreated any longer as adevelopment programme,but as a business. We willno longer manage povertywith agriculture. We willuse agriculture to create thefuture millionaires andbillionaires of Nigeria. Weare determined to changethe fortunes of our farmers,for the poverty we see todaymust give way to wealth allacross our rural areas, aswe make agriculture abusiness that helps to liftmillions of farmers out ofpoverty.

“Farmers are the largestprivate sector in thiscountry. Everything fromthe farm, to the storage,

BY EMMA UJAH,ABUJA BUREAUCHIEF

processing, to the valueaddition up to the market,must work to create marketfor our farmers”, he said.

Dr Adesina added that theestablishment of theAgribusiness Group was ademonstration of the FederalGovernment’s drive not onlyto turn around agricultureinto a business, but alsobuild institutions to sustainthe significant gains beingachieved in the agriculturalsector under the leadership

of President GoodluckJonathan.

Our approach wasdeliberate: grow theagriculture sector usingprivate sector to drive thegrowth, focus on value chainsfor all commodities, andconnect farms to mills,aggregators, storage,improved logistics, processorsand value addition.

The minister said curbingthe corrupt system of rent-seeking, especially in the

purchase and distribution offertilizer in the ministry wasa blow to the old order andthat everything must be doneto sustain the new order.

“The old corrupt system ofdirect governmentprocurement and distributionof fertilizers was scrapped.Private sector seed andfertilizer companies now sellfarm inputs directly tofarmers, instead of to thegovernment,” he said.

BY FAVOUR NNABUGWU

The meeting scheduledby the Consumers

Protection Council, CPCwith telecommunicationcompanies over publicoutcry on poor servicedelivery to consumers, wasstalled as some operatorsshunned the meeting.

CPC had summoned chiefexecutives of all telecomoperators to a meeting toaddress subscribers’complaints of poor services,compensation to thecomplainants as well asprovision of quality services.

The meeting neitherreached identifiableconclusion nor practicallyaddressed issues borderingon drop calls andunsolicited messagesamong others.

Director-General of theCouncil, Mrs Dupe Atoki,after a brief meeting with therepresentatives of some ofthe telecom operators told

Dropped calls, unsolicited messages: CPC,telecom operators’ meeting stalled

journalists the duo wouldhave to reconvene themeeting.

Atoki said Nigerians arefaced with poor networkservice delivery. Among otherthings, she said this makes itimpossible to receive callswhile also experiencing dropcalls, lack of sustainability ofcalls, unsolicited textmessages at oddh o u r s , u n s o l i c i t e dtelemarketing, deceptivebroadband speed adverts andfailure to compensateconsumers for poor services.

Atoki said operators riskprosecution and jail terms ofup to five years ifinvestigations currently on-going reveal that theydeliberately short-changeNigerians.

“CPC can make orders in theinterest and protection ofconsumers and disobedienceis also criminalised by law.While NCC can impose fineson an offending operator,CPC can in addition, commit

such recalcitrant offenders tojail terms for contraveningany consumer protectionenactment,” she said.

It is common knowledgethat the operators arepract ical ly r ipping of fNigerians. As far as theirservices are concerned,Nigerians have beenlargely short-changed. Thelast 18 months, inparticular, have witnessedthe worst service regime.Making or receiving calls isa most f rustrat ingexperience. And the otherservices using broadbandare not better. There is littlevalue for money. Sadlyenough, there is noef fect ive channel ofcomplaints and gett ingredress.

She reiterated that theCPC has the power tosanction, prosecute andcompel any product orservice provider to answera lawful inquiry, of whichdisobedience iscriminalised.

Americanhousehold wealthup $10trn in2013The boom in the stock

market and the recoveryin house prices led to a nearly$10 trillion increase last year inthe net worth of Americanhouseholds, according to datareleased Thursday.

The net worth of Americanhouseholds grew last year by$9.8 trillion, or 14 percent, to$80.66 trillion, according to theFederal Reserve. That includesa nearly $3 trillion jump in thefourth quarter alone. Most ofthe gains in net worth, $5.6trillion, came through the stockmarket, as the S&P 500 climbednearly 30 percent, and $2.3trillion came in the value of realestate as home prices rose. U.S.home prices grew over 13percent last year, according tothe Case-Shiller 20-citycomposite index. Those gainsaren’t, of course, sharedequally by Americans. A recentstudy from Ohio State said thatthe mean net worth of Americanhouseholds in mid-2013 wasstill 14 percent below theprerecession peak in 2006.

AfDB to spend$930m in Kenyain 5 yearsThe Africa Development

Bank Group (AfDB) hasapproved injection of $930million into Kenya’s economyfor infrastructure developmentand enhance job creation for thenext five years. GabrielNegatu, Regional Director forthe AfDB’s Eastern AfricaResource Centre, said onThursday in Nairobi that theCountry Strategy Paper (CSP),which was approved by theboard articulates the bank’spriority areas of support toKenya from 2014-2018.

He said the CSP supports thecountry ’s ambitions andaddresses its maindevelopmental challenges bypromoting job creation as theoverarching objective. “Toachieve our main objective, wehave designed the CSP aroundtwo main pillars, we willcontinue to support thegovernment’s effort to enhancephysical infrastructure tounleash inclusive growth andsecondly, develop skills for theemerging labor market forKenya’s transformingeconomy,” he said. Negatu saidit would also explore ways ofrestructuring poorly performingoperations in the portfolio orcancelling them, andredeploying freed-up resources

DRAWS: From left, Head of Marketing, Nutricima Limited, Mrs Wande Oluwasegunfunmi;Assistant Director/Coordinator, Lagos Zonal Office of National Lottery Regulatory Commission,Mr. Fidelis Ajibogun; Assistant Manager, Legal, Lagos State Lotteries, Gbemi Ajibose; e-raffledraw presenter, Ifedayo Olarinde; Category Marketing Manager (Standard Milk) and Director,Regulation & Monitoring, National Lottery Regulatory Commission, Prince Emmanuel Jeminiwa,at the first e-raffle draw of Nutricima Mega Cash Consumer Promo held in Lagos.


CMYK

Business & Economy

Consumer behaviourin Nigeria hasrevealed some

interesting unique traitsabout the most lucrativemarket in Africa, a researchby Nielsen, world’s leadingmarket research company,has shown.

Country Manager, Nielsen,Mr. Harshvardan Sarda,while sharing some of thesemarket insights to clientsduring ‘Nielsen ClientInsight Event 2014’ in Lagos,said that a typical Nigerianconsumer would want tostand out and keep with thetrend just as he expects theproducts he is willing to buyto be fairly common andavailable.

According to him,Nigerians go after affordableand available products. Butbeyond availability ofproducts, Sarda said there isa whole lot more that isunique to Nigerianconsumers: “They wantproducts that are made forthem. They don’t wantsomething that is beingadapted from somewhereelse. Nigerians like productswhich are unique to themand which meet their needsbut at the same time must beproducts with good quality,value, fashionable andtrendy.”

Sarda added that fortypercent of Nigerians spendtheir income on consumergoods, which makes itpossible for growth for brandseven as he revealed that the50 percent of the Nigerianpopulation which are youth

Nigerian consumers haveappetite for unique, qualityproducts —Researchpositions Nigeria as a countrywith high possibilities fortrying new products. Theyouth population, accordingto him, is educated, mobileand any serious brandtargeting the youth shouldhave presence on the socialmedia to connect with theyouth.

Alisa Wingfield, ExecutiveDirector, Marketing &Communication, Africa andMiddle East, Nielsenexplained the purpose of theget together with clients andsaid: “There is more to

achieving success and you cando that by showing insight ofwhat consumers want. Most ofwhat is more important for usas a business is understandingwhat consumers want andmeeting their needs. We havedone concept testing ofproducts in the Nigeria marketand those that have beensuccessful; we want to sharethose insights with our clientsas to how to launch successfulproducts that meet the needsof the Nigerian consumer.

“Also to share someinformation, we have done a

census in Nigeria, we haveenumerated some retailoutlets in Nigeria and havecovered over half a millionoutlets. So it is about sayingthat when you have a reallygreat product, how do youget it to the consumer andmake sure that you are inthe right place to reachthese consumers. Again,we have used thisinformation which we gotfrom over 500,000 storeswhich are the key stores tobe able to identify greatestimpact in terms of reachingconsumers and salesconsumer brand inNigeria”.

On how to compareconsumer behaviour inNigeria and otherdeveloping markets,Wingfield said that marketsacross Africa are notcomparable to one anotherbecause they are sodiverse and cuts across 54different countries, adding,‘by no means can weassume that consumerneeds in one country arethe same as the other.’

According to her, “thefirst thing we know is thatinstead of trying to groupsimilar consumers weknow, we need to look outfor the diversity and someof the keys to success isunderstanding consumersin different places. To makeit a little bit easier, we havelooked at consumersegmentation in 15countries in Africa, tryingto identify similar traits,life styles and behaviour tobe able to help our clientstap into these consumergroups.”

By NKIRUKA NNOROM

Latest securityinitiatives, trends,challenges and

emerging technologies willbe the focal point of theforthcoming West Africaexhibition, billed to takeplace in Lagos.

The exhibition will bringtogether leading commercial,homeland and cyber security,fire protection and safetysuppliers and is targeted atdelivering strategictechnologies, training andintelligence solutions to themarket.

Evaluating existingcounter terrorism policies,understanding new domainthreats posed by regionallyactive militant organisations,cyber security, trainingsecurity forces, strategicapproaches to emergingthreats and accessing gaps inexisting commercial andhomeland securityinfrastructure, implementing

Security takes center stage atSecurex West Africa exhibition

effective resilience measuresto mitigate potential crisis andmore will be covered at thetrade show taking place 18 –19 March 2014 in Lagos.

Speaking on the Securexexhibition, Mr Fola Arthur-Worrey, CEO of Lagos StateSecurity Trust Fund, said: “Inthese times of increasingconcerns surroundingnational and internal security,not just in Nigeria but indeedacross the globe, securityexhibitions such as Securexare critical in interrogatingcurrent security challengesand then designingappropriate national, sub-national and private sectorresponses to them; and, moreparticularly, in drivingspecialisation across the broadspectrum of possibleresponses both human andtechnological.

Mr. Sean McCarthy,Regional Sales Manager inthe Exports Division at ElveySecurity Technologies, SouthAfrica, said: “For our

company, the greatest valuewe generate from exhibiting ata show like this, is theexposure we get to anexpanded installer market aswell as business leaders fromvarious other sectors, such asthe banking industry, forexample.”

The Securex West Africatrade show is being organisedby Montgomery West Africaand sponsored by HIK Vision,Halogen Security, KontzEngineering and Rapid Vigil;supported by the UnitedKingdom Trade andInvestment, Association ofIndustrial Security and SafetyOperators of Nigeria,Nigerian Institute forIndustrial Security, Institute ofSafety Professional of Nigeria,International Institute ofProfessional Security, LagosState Safety Commission,World Trade Center of Nigeria,International Institute of Riskand Safety Management andOccupational Safety.

Anchor Insurancedeclares 2.5kdividend per share

Akwa Ibom owned AnchorInsurance Ltd has declareda dividend of N2.5k pershare for shareholders forthe year ended December31, 2012. This is an increaseof 25 per cent over thedividend paid in theprevious year. Its Chairman,Board of Directors, MrSenas Ukpanah, made thedeclaration during thecompany’s 23rd AnnualGeneral Meeting onThursday in Uyo.

Ukpanah said that theincrease in dividendpayment was in fulfillmentof the promise made earlierby the board to itsshareholders. He said thatthe board and managementwould work hard to remainprofitable and make thecompany a rewardinginstitution to investors.

”I am indeed pleased toinform you that the board ofdirectors is recommendinga dividend of N2.5K pershare, being an increase of25 per cent dividend. Thisis an indication that theboard kept to the promisemade at this gathering lastyear to improve on thedividend payment,” he said.

Senatecommitteeexpressesconcern overdecline in FCTbudget

The Senate Committee onthe FCT has expressedconcerns over the dwindlingbudgetary allocation to theFederal Capital TerritoryAdministration (FCTA). Thecommittee made theobservation when theMinister of the FederalCapital Territory (FCT),Sen. Bala Mohammeddefended the 2014 budgetestimates of the FCTA. TheChairman of the Committee,Sen. Smart Adeyemi, saidthat while the demands forinfrastructure in the FCTincreases, the budgetaryallocations had continued todecline over the years.

Adeyemi said consideringthe continued reduction inthe budget of FCT, theAuthority might not be ableto deliver on its mandate ofproviding the neededinfrastructure for the FCTand satellite towns.

OBAFEMI AWOLOWO U-10: From left, Mr Stephen Kola-Balogun, Commissioner for YouthDevelopment, Osun State; Mr Benson Evbuomwan, Executive Director, Marketing, HoneywellFlour Mills PLC; Dr Mrs Tokunbo Awolowo Dosunmu, Executive Director, Obafemi AwolowoFoundation and Senator Bode Olajumoke at the first U-10 Obafemi Awolowo Memorial KidsCup 2014 sponsored by Honeywell Flours in Lagos on Thursday. Photo Lamidi Bamidele.


CMYK

Banking & Finance

WADA Zakari’s countenancedoes not reflect the burden ofthe enormous responsibilitieshe carries as the Chairman ofthe State Universal BasicEducation Board, Kano (KanoSUBEB).

He is responsible for thepayment of the salaries of over60,000 staff of the Board. “Itused to be a very herculeantask with lot of challenges”, hesaid. Addressing a conferenceon electronic payment inAccra, Ghana, he explainedwhy the Board abandonedmanual payment of salaries forelectronic payment. “We usedto pay manually with paymentvouchers (PVs) preparedmanually by account clerks.But there were numerouschallenges. These includedelay in the preparation ofpayment vouchers, delay insalary disbursement due to latesubmission of PVs by localgovernment educationauthorities (LGEAs) as well asthe time consuming task ofsigning lots of cheques. Inaddition to these were, rampantcomplaints by staff onirregularities/ inconsistence oftheir monthly salaries, andrisks of moving cash frombanks to LGEAs, schools andindividuals," he said.

Switching to electronicpayment did not only eliminatethese problems, it made itpossible for Zakari to pay thesalaries of over 61,000 staff with the click of a button andfrom anywhere in the world.“We now do end-to-endpayment from the Board’selectronic payment software tothe accounts of beneficiaries in

Cashless Policy: The Remitae-payment proposition to economyBy BABAJIDEKOMOLAFE

,,

their banks. No more delaysfrom writing cheques, and ithas helped us to reduce casesof corruption," he said, adding,“that is why I can attend thisconference at the end of themonth, without worrying howto pay salaries of my staff.

Similar testimony was sharedby Olabode Ajigbolamu, Director, Central Pay Office ofthe Accountant General, OndoState. He spoke on themovement of Ondo state frommanual to electronic paymentthrough a project calledFirstpay Payroll, Biometricsand e-Payment. He said theproject, which was apartnership between Firstbankand Ondo State government,

has helped the state to achievemany things including:Biometric data capture for allworkgroups; Live run ofpayroll, e-payment, andbiometrics for all workgroup;Direct and timely salaryremittance to staff bankaccounts; and Direct deliveryof staff payslips and paymentalerts to their email and cellphones.

The ease and comfort ofpaying thousands of people atthe click of a button was notjust made possible byswitching to electronicpayment, but by a

multifunctional electronicpayment platform calledRemita.

“What Remita does is topromote paymentelectronically, paperless, saidJohn Obaro, Chief ExecutiveOfficer of SystemSpecsLimited, the Nigerian companythat developed Remita.

He spoke to Vanguard at thesidelines of the conference,titled, Winning Big with E-payment, organised bySystemspec.

“Our objective is that we donot want to see cash; we don’twant to see cheques. Webelieve these things can bedone in an electronic mannerboth from a corporate

perspective where you havejoint signatories and from anindividual perceptive," he said.

Remita, which is the Greekword for ‘remittance’ was achild of necessity. It wasnecessitated by the need ofcorporate organizations for acomprehensive purpose-builtone-stop corporate e-paymentsolution.

“The needs of thesecorporates keep changing,” hetold the gathering of e-paymentexperts from Central Bank ofNigeria, Nigeria InterbankSettlement System (NIBSS)and Nigerian banks. “ First

they ask for salary payment,then after discovering theirproblems have not disappearedthey ask for payroll processingsolution, then biometrics, thenhuman resources, while thecustomer continues to sendmanual schedules to PFAs,HMO etc, and process taxremittances manually. Theywant a robust e-Paymentsolution that can help makevendor/third party payment.They also want a collectionsolution with automated directdebit capability. They wantsomething that integrates withtheir in-house solutionsespecially as they become moreIT aware," he said.

Efforts by SystemSpecs torespond to these needs led tothe creation of Remita in2005. Though initiallydeveloped to help corporatebodies post payroll paymentselectronically, Remita hasmoved beyond just e-Paymentto an integrated one-stopsolution – Biometrics, PayrollPreparation, e-Payment and e-Collections for Corporates andIndividuals.

Thus Remita can be used todeliver funds of customers totheir nominated accounts inany financial institution orpurse, and “collect” funds onbehalf of customers fromdesignated accounts or tellersin any bank. This can be viastanding orders, direct debit ordirect credit. It can also be usedfor payroll preparation andprocessing, electronic deliveryof schedules to third parties, aswell as delivery of customers’electronic schedules to relevantbodies such as pension fundadministrators (PFAs), pensionfund custodians (PFCs), taxoffices and cooperatives.

Though originally developedto meet e-payment needs oforganizations, it can also beused by individuals. Accordingto Deremi Atanda, ExecutiveDirector, SystemSpecs, withRemita, individuals can makepayments to beneficiaryaccounts in their bank or anyother bank from the comfort oftheir home or office. They canissue one or several chequesat a time. In addition, they canissue standing orders on a one-off basis for the payment of theirtithes, offerings, and monthlypremiums, and annualsubscriptions, regular andsteady transfers to theirparents, children, otherdependents or charityorganizations. Remita Personalkeeps a comprehensive viewof your transactions andstanding orders across allbanks.

Our objective is that we do not wantto see cash; we don’t want to seecheques, we believe these thingscan be done in an electronicmanner both from a corporateperspective where you have jointsignatories and from an individualperspective

Accion MfBopens 21stbranch at Ajah

Accion MicrofinanceBank has once again

demonstrated its commitmentto financial inclusion as itopens its 21st branch at Ajahwithin the Lagos metropolis.The opening of the new branchfurther enhances the bank’smission to provide sustainable,profitable and ethical financialservices with a bid toeconomically empower micro-entrepreneurs and low incomeearners in the country.

Declaring the Ajah Branchopen, Accion MicrofinanceBank Managing Director,Bunmi Lawson said, “We haveconsistently grown ourcustomer’s businesses as theyhave easy access to loans andour other products. AccionMicrofinance Bank is safe andsecure, and we will continueto serve our customers to givethem a brighter future. This isthe value we bring to the Ajahcommunity”.

With Accion MicrofinanceBank formally declared openfor business, several guests atthe opening ceremony took theopportunity to open accountswith the bank. Officers of thebank were also on hand tointroduce the bank’s productsand services.

Awodein retiresfrom Skye BankBoard

A non- Executive Directorof Skye Bank Plc, Mr.

Kola Awodein (SAN), hasretired from the board of thebank with effect fromFebruary 18, 2014.

A statement issued by theFinancial Institution said theBoard and management of theBank thanked the legalluminary for 12 years ofmeritorious service andwished him success in hisfuture endeavors.

Mr. Awodein is a SeniorAdvocate of Nigeria. Agraduate of the University ofIfe (Now Obafemi AwolowoUniversity) and an alumnusof the Harvard BusinessSchool he started his legalcareer at Olajide Oyewole &Co and later established hisown law practice.

He has played a significantrole in several big tickettransactions and has beenawarded several prizes andawards in recognition of hiscontribution . In addition toholding severalappointments, he is also a very active member of theNigerian Bar Association.Awodein is well known for hispublications and editorials.

COMMISSIONING: From left Mr Edgar Dominguez, Branch Manager, Texas Office, HontGllobal Services; Mr Humphrey Okonkwo, MD and Mrs Chinwe Okonkwo, Director at the pressconference and commissioning of Nigeria office of Hont Global services, a logistic services compa-ny based in Hoston, USA. Photo by Lamidi Bamidele

CMYK


Banking & Finance

CBN, IFC partner to promote sustainable bankingBy JONAHNWOKPOKU

THE Central Bank ofNigeria, CBN and In-ternational FinanceCorporation, IFC hasentered into partner-ship to drive the im-plementation of thesustainable bankingprinciples in Nigeria.

CBN said the part-

nership is a demon-stration of the strengthof the sustainabilityagenda in the country.

Speaking at an inter-national sustainablebanking forum organ-ized by the two fi-nance bodies in La-gos, Acting governorof CBN, Dr. SarahAlade, said the part-nership is an approachto driving socially re-

sponsible and sustain-able banking.

Represented by theDeputy Governor, Op-erations, CBN, Dr.Kingsley Moghalu,she said in a keynoteaddress, that the fo-rum was to upscaleknowledge in emerg-ing markets by meet-ing the needs of todaywithout compromis-ing the opportunities

of tomorrow throughsustainable banking.

According to her, “Inthe 21st century, beingsustainable is nolonger an option but aprerequisite for sus-tainable business.”

She explained thatthe nine principles toensure sustainablebanking in Nigeriahave been adopted.

“The CBN has is-

sued circulars for im-plementation of theseprinciples. The struc-tures to institutional-ize the principles havealso been put in place.The CBN is alsobuilding capacities tostrengthen competen-cies since it is anemerging sector,” shesaid.

She further ex-plained that, “After the2007 global financialcrisis, the issue of sus-tainability has be-come so crucial be-cause we saw theshortsightedness ofjust focusing exclu-sively on profit. Thecrisis rose as a resultof financialisation,people making moneyfrom finance in fi-nance, but neglectedthe people, the sus-tainability, the eco-nomic developmentand real sector devel-opment? That is whysustainability is veryimportant and that iswhy CBN is spear-heading it and we arevery proud that theCBN is leading theway in the financialsector. Sustainabilityis the future.”

Earlier in a welcomeaddress, the CBN

Deputy Governor, Cor-porate services, Sule-iman Barau said theforum sought to offerinnovative and sus-tainable developmentsolutions to the bank-ing industry as the fo-rum provided oppor-tunity to share knowl-edge and technicalexpertise required todrive sustainablebanking.

On his part, IFCCountry Manager forNigeria, SolomonQuaynor said thatIFC has been commit-ted to sustainablebanking for 25 yearsand in Nigeria, it iscontributing in thatdirection through theprovision of gas-based power plantssince they are more ef-ficient and environ-mentally friendly.

He disclosed IFC isabout to close 450MWIntegrated PowerProject, IPP deal andhas also advanced onits gas project.

According to him,,“Sustainability is cen-tral to inclusive eco-nomic growth andaligns with IFC’sstrategy for long termeconomic develop-ment.”

Criteria for promo-tion were based onperformance assess-ment score, promo-tion readiness, ten-ure on current gradeand absence of disci-plinary actions.

While congratulat-ing the staff, the Key-stone Bank boss ad-monished them to bespurred to “higherperformance and ex-hibit a more passion-ate approach towardscontributing to andachieving the Bank’scustomer centricgoals.”

Keystone Bank is atechnology and serv-ice-driven bank withover 200 business of-fices in Nigeria.

Keystone Bankpromotes 627 staff

KEYSTONE Bankhas announced

the promotion of 627members of staff be-tween the ExecutiveTrainee and DeputyManger grade.

The promotion exer-cise according to theManaging Director/CEO, Mr. Philip Ikea-zor, is “in line withManagement’s com-mitment to recognizemerit and reward. Itis also a major stridein the spirit of foster-ing and building ahigh performanceand engaged work-force, delivering con-venient and reliablebanking services toour esteemed cus-tomers.


Corporate Finance

Stakeholders in thecapital marketsaid lack of

effective secondarymarket trading affectsAfrica’s domestic bondmarket, just as FBNCapital, a subsidiary ofFBN Holdings Plc, hasadvised the stategovernments in thecontinent to seekliquidity status toimprove the liquidity ofstate government bonds.

It should be noted thatAfrican economies havebeen growing faster thantheir Western counterpartsin recent years. Thisyear ’s Bonds & LoansAfrica event, thecontinent’s only Pan-African Capital Marketsconference, which tookplace in Cape Town on the26th and 27th of February2014, offered a rareplatform and opportunityfor local and internationalbanks, borrowers, issuers,investors and financialservice providers,investors, financedecision-makers, andstakeholders, to hear fromkey decision-makersacross Africa, supporttheir economies andencourage investorparticipation locally andinternationally.

With over 300 attendeesfrom companies andinstitutions across Africaand Europe, FBN Capital,along with panelists fromInvestec AssetManagement, andBayport InternationalGroup among others,spoke on the sessionexploring issuesregarding why a lack ofsecondary market tradingis damaging the progressof Africa’s domesticmarket. The key areaswhere local FundManagers can help inkick-starting developmentin domestic African bondmarkets, and what hasbeen done so far inreforming African PensionFunds as well asdiscussing where they arecurrently investing.

The event provided anopportunity forstakeholders andpotential investors to meetkey market players andpotential businesspartners, and gain aninsight on where theopportunities lie on thecontinent going forward.

Speaking at the eventwhich was co-sponsoredby FBN Capital, Tairat

Lotus wins IFN’slead IssuingHouse awardson SukukLotus Capital, a company

listed on the NigerianStock Exchange, NSE haswon the prestigious 2013Islamic Finance News, IFNAfrican Deal of the YearCategory as the Lead IssuingHouse for the N11.4billionOsun State Sukuk issuewhich was listed on the NSEin September 2013.

This was the first ever sub-sovereign Sukuk in Africa.The issue was oversubscribedby about 20 per cent whichwas a positive confirmation ofthe trust and confidence themarket placed on the offer.The Osun State Government,represented by theHonourable Commissioner ofFinance, and the Solicitors tothe Issue, Kola Awodein andCo, were also award recipientsfor the deal.

According to a statementfrom the NSE, “Close to 400transactions were nominatedfor 2013 in over 30 categoriesin the IFN Awards Deal of theYear, signifying a 33 percentrise in the number ofnominations and a 20 percentincrease in categories overthe previous year.”

The Federal Government, in2010, granted a tax waiver for

10 years on bonds, a movewhich improves the yield onall State Government and

corporate bonds

•Michael Oyebola, Director & Head, Asset Management,FBN Capital

Lack of secondary markettrading affects Africa’s domesticbonds — OYEBOLA

,

,Tijani, Head of Debt CapitalMarkets of the firm saidduring the panel whichexplored the evolution ofthe local bond markets inAfrica, “In terms ofliquidity, we see a lot ofactivity in sovereign bonds.

Whilst we have seen somesub sovereign issues, theseinstruments have not beenas liquid as the bonds issuedby the FederalGovernment”.

Tairat further stated thatstate governments in

Nigeria are now beingencouraged to seek liquiditystatus to improve theliquidity of state governmentbonds as banks will be able toinvest in these instrumentsand put it towards theirliquidity ratio calculations.In addition, she noted thatNigeria’s FederalGovernment, in 2010,granted a tax waiver for 10years on bonds, a move whichimproved the yield on allState government andcorporate bond issues andcould potentially reduce thecost if issue”.

Also speaking at the forum,the Director General, DebtManagement Office, DMO,Mr.Abraham Nwankwo,stated that “A useful indicationof the appetite of foreigninvestors for Nigeria is theresponse to the 2013Eurobonds issuances which

saw the subscription of about191 reputable Fund Managersand investors in the Julyissuance”. He said Nigeria hasa strong resource base andurged that the financialmarkets focus on the bigpicture and not react to smallevents.”

FBN Capital Limited is a fullservice Investment Bank andAsset Management Company,and a subsidiary of FBNHoldings Plc, one of thestrongest and mostdependable financial groupsin Africa. The firm wasrecently recognised as BestInvestment Bank in Nigeriafor the third year running byGlobal Finance Magazine,and in 2013 was also namedin the World Finance BankingAwards as the Best InvestmentBank in Nigeria and theEMEA Finance AfricanBanking Awards as the bestlocal Investment Bank.

Arqaam Capital Ltd., aD u b a i - b a s e d

investment bank focusing onemerging markets, said itplans to trade African bondsand derivatives afteropening a brokerage inJohannesburg in January.

Arqaam became the firstbroker to joinJohannesburg’s stockexchange in three years,pitting it against researchteams from Deutsche BankAG (DBK), RenaissanceCapital Holdings Ltd.,Standard Bank Group Ltd.(SBK) and JPMorgan Chase& Co. (JPM)

BY PETER EGWUATU

Arqaam Capital plans trade in Africanbonds, derivatives

“We’re under no illusionsthat this is a tough market,”Ross Abbott, head of Arqaamin South Africa, said in aninterview in Johannesburglast week. “We believe we’llbe the first Cape-to-Cairobroker. We started with cashequities and we’re looking atthe bond market, derivativesand maybe asset managementwith an Africa fund” Abbottadded.

Arqaam plans to extend itscoverage to the miningindustry from the 49 Africanfinancial-services stocks itcovers, before buildingresearch on consumer, real

estate, aviation and othersectors, Abbott said. The firmplans to trade over-the-counterbonds and is focusing oncountries including Kenya,Ghana, Nigeria, Morocco andEgypt, he said.

RenCap, the Russianinvestment bank controlled bybillionaire Mikhail Prokhorov,said Feb. 24 it had hired RupertPreece to head sub-Saharanfixed-income trading asdemand for African bondsincreases. Last year CreditSuisse Group AG (CSGN)switched its coverage of fixedincome in sub-Saharan Africafrom London to Johannesburgto boost emerging marketrevenue.

CentenaryCelebration: FGoffers N100mlottery to rewardNigerians

As part of Nigeria 100years celebration, the

Federal Government hasannounced a partnershipwith a lottery firm, SecuredElectronic Technology Plc, toorganise a N100 milliongrand prize centenary lotterypromotion to rewardNigerians for their loyalty tothe country.

The announcement wasmade in Lagos by theSecretary to the Governmentof the Federation (SGF), Pius Anyim at a pressconference to make public themodalities for the NigerianCentenary Lottery.

According to the SGF, whowas represented at the eventby his Special Assistant onMedia, Sam Onwuobasi, isinitiated by the governmentas a poverty alleviating andwealth creating program.

Anyim who expressed thesupport of the FederalGovernment for the projectalso noted that the projectwas purely private sector –driven.

CMYK


Corporate Finance

DISCOURSE: From left, Managing Partner, SIAO, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo; CEO, Prima GarnetAfrica, Mr. Lolu Akinwunmi; COO/GM, Cutler Communications, Ms Laura Oloyede; and CEO,Business School Netherlands, Nigeria, Mr. Lere Baale, during a public discourse on ‘JobCreation: Harnessing Entrepreneurial Skills,’ in Lagos.

Following the need to keep stockbrokersoperating in the nation’s capital market

abreast of latest technology in the market, theNigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, said thatarrangements have been concluded to carryout its Continuous Professional Development(CPD) training for dealing clerks.

The programme, which is scheduled to takeplace at The Stock Exchange Building inMarina Lagos on March 15, 2014, will offerbrokers insight into how to reach the retailmarket using new technology implementedwith X-GEN.

“The objective of the workshop is to providepractising stockbrokers with a stronggrounding in the advanced functionalities ofthe new trading system -X-GEN, explainedMr. Ade Ewuosho, Acting Head, MarketOperations, NSE.

He noted that it will also providestockbrokers with detailed understanding ofthe new market structure recently introducedin late 2013.

SMEs urged to leverage NASDplatform for funding needs

STORIES BY NKIRUKANNOROM

Small and Medium scaleEnterprises, SMES,

have been urged to takeadvantage of the platformprovided by the NationalAssociation of SecurityDealers Plc, NASD, to accessfunds for their operations.

Bola Ajomale, ManagingDirector/CEO, NASD, madethe call at the Fidelity SMEForum, a weekly radioprogramme organised byFidelity Bank Plc.

Speaking on the ‘Sources ofCapital for SMEs: Optionsand Requirements’, Ajomaleexplained that NASD doesnot provide fund but a marketfor those who have funds andthose who are seeking fundsto meet their operationalneeds.

“If a company wants to raisemoney, they would approachus through an adviser andthey showcase themselves aswell as their funds. They canalso promise theirshareholders or those thatinvest in them that they cansell down through the market.

“A private equity firm orventure capital firms actuallyhave their own funds frommanaged funds that they areseeking to invest. So, we arenot seeking to invest, ratherwe are creating a marketwhere both existing andprospective investors andshareholders can meet andtrade.”

He explained that NASD is

a collection of capital marketoperators under the umbrellaof the Securities andExchange Commission, SEC,mandated to trade on non-listed securities.

“The whole idea was thatthere are a lot of securitiesthat are not listed on theNigerian Stock Exchange,NSE, but the investor stillneeds liquidity andessentially the SECchallenged the capital marketindustry to create an avenuewhere this can be tradedeasily.

“Our platform provides anavenue through which youcan at least show that you

have these shares to sell andalso allows people to see whatis available to buy because assome people want liquidity,other people are looking forinvestments to get into. Wematch both the investor andone who is getting out oninvestment together.”

On how a company canqualify to take advantage ofthis platform, Ajomale statedthat there is an eligibilitycriterion for every singleentrant and stage, stressingthat there are large and smallcompanies already tradingon the platform. “Essentially, what we do, wecategorise them. You have

the blue category and thepink category which isprobably younger withcorporate governance issuesto deal with. They probablyhave some finance issues todeal with. They need to havea certain amount of structurealso for them to be attractiveto investors.

”They must have advisers.We would encourage themeven if they just haVE sevenshareholders and once youhave shareholders, you canregister as a Plc. We wouldencourage them to be apublic limited companybecause that way, they canaccess a wider range of funds.We do not have a number ofsize of the capital per say butwe’ve started talking to SMEcompanies.”

Fidelity SME Forum is adeliberate attempt by thebank to resuscitate the Smalland Medium – scaleEnterprises (SMEs) andcreate a new generation ofentrepreneurs with the “I cando” spirit in Nigeria. This isnot only seen as the bank’sbelieve in SMEs as a growthcatalyst but also a clearcommitment to efforts aimedat revamping the Nigerianeconomy.

The weekly radioprogramme, essentially seeksto empower Nigerianentrepreneurs withknowledge, know-how andexpertise that will help thembuild successful businesses.This it does by bringingrenowned entrepreneurs tothe show on weekly basis toshare their experiences andencourage potential andexisting entrepreneurs. Thisis aside the other financial,legal and business advisoryservices the FidelityManaged SMEs Businessrenders to customers

NSE facilitates capacity training for dealing clerks

According to Ewuosho, “The broad-basedprogramme will also provide the participantswith an opportunity to hone in their existingskills as well as interact with other stockbrokersto deepen their knowledge of the new system.This will be the first CPD programme sincethe Exchange went live on their new platformin September 2013. Emphasis will focus on themarket participants, minimum operatingrequirements amongst other newdevelopments in the capital market.”

Continuing education programmess benefitboth businesses and workers; businessesencourage continuing education in order tosustain a highly skilled and specialisedworkforce –one with the skills to perform avariety of tasks or workers with “cross-functional” skills. Dealing Clerks, on the otherhand, may receive promotions, gain morepower in the job market, or become morevaluable employees by enrolling forcontinuing-education programmes, he stated.

Old Mutual setfor publicoffering,proposesdividend

Old Mutual Plc hasannounced intension toproceed with an initial publicoffering of a minority interestin its US Asset Management(USAM) business in 2014,even as the company hasproposed 6.0p per sharedividend for the year endedDecember 31, 2013.

The company in a statementsaid the public offering,which is being undertaken toenhance USAM’s financialand operating flexibility,would be subject to prevailingmarket conditions.

It further stated that thepublic offer will help thecompany to deploy capital tocontinue to grow and furtherdevelop its multi-boutiqueasset management business.

We expect that this offeringwill broaden USAM’s accessto capital to pursue futuregrowth initiatives across itsbusiness, includingcollaborative investments inaffiliate growth and furtherpenetration of non-USmarkets through its globaldistribution platform, as wellas strategic partnerships withhigh quality boutique assetmanagement firms withcomplementary investmentproducts, the company said.

ETI shareholdersapprovegovernanceaction plan

Shareholders of EcobankTransnational Incorporated,ETI, have ratified theGovernance Action Planproposed by the Board ofDirectors in compliance withthe recommendations of theSecurities & ExchangeCommission, SEC.

The implementation of thedetailed 51 point plan,according to notice to theNigerian Stock Exchange,NSE, will commenceimmediately.

The bank stated that at theirmeeting, which was attendedby institutional shareholdersas well as minorityshareholders, the current 12person Board of Director wasretained following thedecision by the institutionalshareholders of the PIC,AMCON and IFC towithdraw a motion which theyhad proposed to create asmaller Interim Board.

26 —Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014

CMYK


CMYK

Micro-FinanceCommodity index

Feb 28-Mar 6, 2014

UmuchinemereP r o - c r e d i tMicro Finance

Bank (UPMFB) hasdisbursed total loans ofN886.23 million to 4,174active poor, in thefinancial year ended,December 31, 2013.

Also, it gave out a totalmicro credit fund ofN1.05 billion underloans and advances to atotal of 5,288beneficiaries pursuant toits goal of eradicating

UPMfB disburses N886mloans in one yearStories byPROVIDENCEOBUH

poverty in the societyand improve quality oflife.

In a statement, Head ofthe bank’s CreditDepartment, Mr.Odinaka Okeke, said thebank surpassed its targetof N595.89 million in2013, with the totaldisbursement of N1.05billion.

Okeke assured ofimproved performance in2014, stating that thebank is targeting a totalmicro credit facilitiesdisbursement of N1.3billion, made up of N550million micro loans,

N500 million otherloans and N240 millionadvances.

He urged thecustomers to use thefacilities wisely andensure prompt payment,so as to continue toreceive more from thebank. The Creditmanager said thefacilities were aimed atcreating maximumwealth for thebeneficiaries, hence headvised them to manageit with prudence andhonesty.

UPMFB’s Head ofFinance and Accounts,Mrs. Bibbian Ofoje, saidthe bank recorded anunaudited total incomeof N372.08 million witha total unaudited profitof N121,242, in 2013,which she attributed toincrease in the bank’sfinancial activities in theyear.

Chairman of the bankand a Roman CatholicPrelate, Msgr. ObioraIke, said the bank wouldnot relent in its effort toimprove the quality oflives of the poor withinthe Nigerianenvironment throughmicro financing.

R Wells Media andA d v e r t i s i n g

Company Limited hascalled for a proper placefor mothers as importanttools for nation building,while announcing its2014 mothers day fiesta.

The fiesta tagged:' C e l e b r a t i n gMotherhood” isscheduled to hold inLagos.

Managing Director, RWells Media, Mrs. JibeOlogeh, made the call ata press briefingheralding the fiesta,stating that the fiesta iscentered on mothers'world, where the newwave of the gamemovement is no longeracceptable to mothers.

Describing mothers asvery important in nationbuilding and in thefamily, Ologeh citedProf. Grace AlileWilliams, saying that thehand that rocks thecradle rules the world.

She said, “if mothers

R Wells calls for proper place formothers in society…holds 2014 mothers day fiesta

are properly positionedin the scheme of thingsin the society, in thefamily and in the nation,am sure you will haveless destitute childrenand men who beat theirwife and less childrenwho drop out of school.

“This is not only to

celebrate mothers, it isalso a call for mothers tobe responsible andresponsive to theirinitial role of raising thefamily.

On mothers world, wesay the new wave of thegame movement is notacceptable to mothers."

International Finance Corporation, IFC, incollaboration with Goldman Sachs has launched

a $600 million global facility that will increase accessto finance to as many as 100,000 womenentrepreneurs in emerging markets.

The Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility isthe first of its kind to be dedicated exclusively tofinancing women-owned small and mediumbusinesses in developing countries.

In a statement, IFC said that it will invest an initial$100 million and the Goldman Sachs Foundation willprovide $32 million and manage the facility expectedto mobilise up to an additional $468 million frompublic and private investors.

“The facility is part of the World Bank’s overallstrategy to promote gender equality and ensure thesocial and economic welfare of one-half of the world’spopulation.

IFC, Goldman Sachs launch $600mfacility for female entrepreneurs

From left: Mr. Yemi Cardoso, Chairman of theBoard, EFInA; Ms. Salah Goss, Programme Officer,Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Ms. ModupeLadipo, Chief Executive Officer, EFInA; Mr. PeterGoldstein, Vice President, InterMedia.


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CMYK

Homes & Housing Finance

Niger to build1,000 housingunits this year

Niger State governmenthas concluded

arrangement to constructadditional 1000 housing unitsin the state before the end ofthe year, with Suleja andMinna getting 500 housingunits each. Governor Mu’azuBabangida Aliyu said the ideais to reduce housing deficitconfronting the two towns inthe state. The governor madethis known when he hostedthe management of anindigenous firm that willhandle the project. Hedirected the ministry of landsto make available thenecessary documents to theconstruction firm so as tocommence work immediatelyon the sites. Aliyuadmonished the company toensure that it keeps to theterms of the agreement,adding that government willnot hesitate to revoke thecontract if found to be inbreach of the agreement. Henoted that the administrationhad gone into partnership withmany companies to providecheap and decent houses forthe people because of its beliefthat if people were made tolive in decent environmentthey will give their best to theservice of the state and thenation.

Kaduna seals PPPdeal on masshousing

Kaduna Stategovernment has signed

a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) withTrans Atlantic IntegratedDevelopment Limited for theconstruction of 3000 units ofhouses under a Public PrivatePartnership (PPP) masshousing scheme. GovernorMuktar Ramalan Yero whoattributed the widespreadcorruption in the country todesperate efforts by citizens toown personal houses, saidwith this type of developmentpeople will no longer beunder pressure to own theirhouses. “Our administrationattaches great importance tohousing development inKaduna State andgovernment is concernedabout finding ways to addressthe huge deficit in housing,”he said. Under thearrangement, Trans AtlanticIntegrated DevelopmentLimited is to construct 3000units of houses, while KadunaState government providesCertificate of Occupancy for100 hectares of land to be usedfor the project.

Stories by YINKAKOLAWOLE

The Lagos HomeO w n e r s h i pMortgage Scheme

(Lagos HOMS) will becomeself-sustaining in seven yearsif all beneficiaries of thescheme pay up theirmortgages promptly. LagosHOMS is an initiative of thestate government to helpresidents of the state ownhouses in a sustainable way.

Governor Babatunde Fasholastated this when the first drawto pick homeowners under thescheme was held in Lagos lastweek. He emphasised the needfor prospective home ownersunder the scheme to pay theirmonthly mortgages regularly,pointing out that this wouldensure that money is alwaysavailable to build more housesand give other tax-payingLagosians the opportunity toalso benefit from the scheme.

“By so doing, you will bringback a pool of money into thesystem that allows us andenables us to build for otherpeople who have also paidtaxes and who are waiting onthe queue. If all mortgageowners who benefit from thescheme pay up theirmortgages promptly, in sevenyears time the scheme wouldbecome self-sustaining andgovernment would not need tocommit money to the scheme.In that case the Lagos StateGovernment will no longerneed to put any more moneyinto this scheme because of themoney that will be coming out.So that is the biggestresponsibility that homeowners have,” he stated.

Fashola also charged thebeneficiaries to ensure they pay

Lagos HOMS to becomeself-sustaining in 7yrs— FASHOLA

up their maintenance chargesso that the houses would notbe like that of Jakande estatesthat the people failed tomaintain. “The owners musttake responsibility of payingrates and charges that comewith the privilege and the rightto own a home, such asmaintenance charges. If yousee many of the homes built byAlhaji Lateef Jakande over thelast few years, government stillhas the responsibility to go andclean, to go and paint, to goand maintain homes that it hassold. This will not be allowedunder this scheme. Homeowners must take responsibilityfor their homes and paymaintenance charges,” he said.

Meanwhile, the governorsaid that the second phase ofthe Lagos HOMS projectwould soon commence with theinvolvement of private sector

participants. He said under thesecond phase, the privatesector would be allowed tobuild houses for the schemewith government being theguarantee purchaser of thehouses for sale to the publicunder the scheme. “By sodoing, we will be in theposition to either double ortriple the number of homesfrom 200 to 600 or 800 permonth if we allow private sectorto build. We will buy from themand put into the mortgage pooland distribute out,” he said.

In his remarks, the ExecutiveSecretary of the LagosMortgage Board (LMB), theboard saddled with theresponsibility of managing thescheme, Mr. Akinola KodjoSagoe, explained that a total of200 houses were available forthe draw. He, however, notedthat of the 322 applicants in the

d i f f e r e n tcategories, only 98met therequirements andcut-off date forsubmission of formsfor the first draw,out of which only31 beneficiariese m e r g e d .According to himthe remaining 169houses from thefirst draw would berolled over to thenext draw for nextmonth where boththose who could notwin this month andthose who did notmeet therequirement for thefirst draw will have

another opportunity withouthaving to apply again.

Two hundred homes were putup for the draw but only 98applicants were successfullypre-qualified, out of which atotal of 31 homeowners wereproduced through the draw. Sixpersons won one 3-bedroomflat each while another six wonone 2-bedroom flats each andtwo persons won one 1-bedroom flats each in ShittaScheme in Surulere; fourpersons won one 3-bedroomflats each in Hon OlaitanMustapha Estate, Ijaiye,Ojokoro; ten persons won one3-bedroom flats each in ObaLateef Adams Estate, Iloro,Agege; two people won 3-bedroom flats each in CHOISGardens, Abijo; while oneperson won a 3 bedroom flat inAlhaja Adetoun MustaphaEstate Ijaiye, Ojokoro. Some ofthe winners are Mrs BukolaLawal, Mrs Nkiru Omenyi, Mrand Mrs Taiye Hassan Laaro,Mr. Olusegun Babalola , MrOlukayode Adegboyega for theShitta housing scheme.

The Federal Government has commencedmoves to review the implementation of

all Public Private Partnership (PPP) projectsin the housing sector.

Erstwhile Supervising Minister of Lands,Housing and Urban Development, Mr.Muhammad Sada, who disclosed this inAbuja, said that the ministry has set up a taskforce for this purpose. He said the task forceis to develop appropriate guidelines andeligibility criteria for the participation ofqualified parties in the design andimplementation of PPP projects in theministry.

The minister further disclosed that the movewas aimed at further strengthening the PPParrangement in the ministry for effectivecontributions to sustainable housing deliveryin the country. He said the ministry wasdetermined to actualise the long termdevelopment agenda in the housing andurban development, adding that it willcontinue to collaborate with the private sectorto accomplish the task. “The ministry will alsocontinue to collaborate with governments at

FG moves to review PPP housing projectsthe state and local levels to actualise PresidentGoodluck Jonathan’s aspirations for thehousing sector,” he said.

Sada said the housing ministry has reachedan agreement with Home Builders Institutein the U.S. to train 1,000 artisans andcraftsmen within the year to enhance theircompetence. He said the training will focuson building structures, building services andfinishing. He said the ministry has also enteredinto an agreement with the Ministry ofNational Development in Singapore to buildNigeria’s institutional capacity in the housingsector.

According to him, participants would bedrawn from block and brick layers, plumbers,painters, carpenters, aluminum fabricators andwelders, adding that the training would alsoinclude landscaping and solar energy facilitiesmaintenance. “This is to enable us tocompetently address the developmentalchallenges of sustainable land administration,management, affordable housing and urbandevelopment on a long term basis.

•Lagos HOMShousing estate inShogunro


CMYK

Insurance

VISIT: President of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers,(NCRIB) Mr AyodapoShoderu (right), in a handshake with the Group Managing Director of Geepee Group ofCompanies, Mr. Prakash Vaswani, when the former paid a visit to the NCRIB Secretariat inLagos. With them is the Director, Human Resources of the NCRIB, Mr Lukeman Adeleye (left)and the Council’s Director of Finance, Mrs Lola Ogedengbe.

There is need for theboard andmanagement of

insurance companies to setaside yearly budget for trainingand re-training of all staff inorder to boost human capacityand enhance productivity.

Director General of theChartered Insurance Instituteof Nigeria, Mr. Kola Ahmedwho made this assertion inLagos, noted that theimportance of regular trainingfor insurance practitionerscannot be over emphasised.

According to Ahmed, theinsurance industry still needsto do more as regards trainingof their workforce to enhanceproductivity.

Ahmed said that the budgetfor training should not beskewed towards the topechelon of insurancecompanies alone, but must bespread to accommodate bothjunior workers.

This he said is necessary ifthe board and managementexpects the performance ofworkers to increase goingforward.

Meanwhile, ManagingDirector of FBN Life Assurance,Mr. Val Ojumah, has chargedinsurance operators toregularly send their staff fortraining in order to equip themto play effective role in the oiland gas risk business.

According to Ojumah, thelevel of knowledge on oil andgas business by someinsurance practitioners isrelatively low therefore oneway of ensuring that companiesplay actively in the oil and gasbusiness is to demonstrate andshow that employees are sentto training institutions.

Ojumah noted that trainingof insurance personnel could

Experts urge insurers to prioritizetrainingStories byROSEMARY ONUOHA

serve as key for the industry tobreak the myth that surroundsthe oil and gas industry.

Also, former ManagingDirector of CrystalifeAssurance Plc, Mrs. OluseyiIfaturoti said that the successof the insurance industry is

hinged on the effective trainingand retraining of human capitalin the industry.

Ifaturoti said that trainingand retraining programmesmust assume a differentdimension with emphasis onpreparing the workforce for

higher challenges. The CIIN,according to Ifaturoti, isstatutorily empowered to caterfor the insurance industryeducational and trainingneeds, a function which hasbecome more imperative in theemerging scenario.

The Chartered InsuranceInstitute of Nigeria,

CIIN, said that the College ofInsurance and BusinessManagement will take-off forbusiness by June 2014.

Accordingly, the CollegeRector, Mrs. Yeside AbiodunOyetayo is billed to assume

College of insurance to kick off in June… CIIN appoints rector

By GODFREYONORIODE

duty in April with expectationof fast-tracking the initiation ofcollege programme in thecourse of the year.

Director General of theInstitute, Mr. Kola Ahmed,disclosed this to Journalists ata press conference held in itsSecretariat in Lagos.

According to Ahmed, theinstitute is in the final phaseof completing the college.

He said that the first phase

which includes the Admin/Multipurpose block, therestaurant and three Chaletswere on ground as at May2013 while the second phasewas also completed last year.

He said that six additionalstructures has been added tothe third and final phase whichincludes 50 bedroom (allensuite) hall of residence, 1storey 2,3-bedroom senior staffquarters and four units ofchalet which are expected to becompleted before the end ofApril. He said that the fourbuildings under constructionsare 1-twin duplex rector ’slodge and 3 additional chalets.He noted that these effortsrepresent an uninhibitedcommitment towardsactualisation of the collegeproject and ultimatelylaunching it for full take off.

On staff renumeration, theCIIN boss said that theGoverning Council hasapproved new salary structuresand promotions of threeerstwhile deputy directors tofull directors; they are Mr.Joseph Obah, Director/HeadCorporate Affairs, Admin & HRDirectorate.

Corporate business institutions havebeen advised to utilise the services

of insurance brokers in sustaining theirbusiness prospect.

President of the Nigerian Council ofRegistered Insurance Brokers, MrAyodapo Shoderu gave the advice whenthe Chairman of Geepee Group ofcompanies, Mr. Prakash Vaswani paid acourtesy visit to the NCRIB Secretariat inLagos. According to Shoderu, the fortunesof businesses and their sustainability aredetermined by risk managementstrategies put in place by management,of which insurance is pivotal.

“The extent of risk exposures by mostbusiness concerns, especially in the

Corporate businesses advised to utilise services of brokerschanging global environment calls forproactive initiatives by business managersand this will determine their continuedexistence,” Shoderu noted.

The NCRIB President said that insurancebrokers assist their clients in maximisingtheir insurances as they provide them withdifferent profitable rates, in addition to theirrendition of personalised services.

Shoderu disclosed that public confidencein insurance brokerage services had beenenhanced by the promulgation of theNCRIB Act 2003 through which the Councilregulates the ethical conduct of its membersand provide them with regular trainingexposures, to catch up with changingdynamics of the profession.

Business journalholds insurancesummit

The first Business JournalInsurance Summit &

Exhibition 2014 is set to holdtoday in Lagos.

The theme is: ‘ClosingInsurance Awareness Gap forBusiness Growth.’

Mr. Prince Cookey, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of BusinessJournal, stated that the summitis to provide a platform forstakeholders in the insuranceindustry to brainstorm on keyissues driving the immediateand future growth of themarket.

“It is also our desire to keepinsurance on the front-burnerof national discourse to createbetter awareness andunderstanding of the industryand ensure sustainablegrowth,” Cookey said. “As thetheme suggests, we stronglybelieve that closing theyawning insurance awarenessgap in Nigeria will lead todramatic increase in thefortunes of the industry for theoverall benefit of allstakeholders-regulators,operators and consumers.”

The Business Journalpublisher urged currentstakeholders in the industry toseize opportunity of thesummit to honestly address thechallenges retarding rapidgrowth of the market to re-writethe history of the insurancesector in Nigeria.

He described the summit asthe little contribution ofBusiness Journal magazine tothe development of theinsurance industry in Nigeria.He promised that the summitwould be an annual event toconstantly evaluate theprogress of the industry,identify weak spots andgenerate ideas to address themand move the market forward.

Cookey said Mr. Fola Daniel,Commissioner for Insurance,National InsuranceCommission (NAICOM)would be the Special Guest ofHonour at the event to bechaired by Mr. Fatai, K. Lawal,President/Chairman ofCouncil, Chartered InsuranceInstitute of Nigeria (CIIN).

The Distinguished GuestSpeakers include Dr. AkinOgunbiyi, Group ManagingDirector/CEO, Mutual BenefitsAssurance Plc; Mr. GbolahanOlutayo, Managing Director/CEO, Goldlink Insurance Plc;Mr. Abdul Koledoye, President/Chairman of Council, NationalInstitute of Marketing ofNigeria; Chief Yemi Soladoyeof the Insurance ConsumersAssociation of Nigeria; Mr.Ademayowa Adeduro,Managing Director/CEO,


CMYK

,,

In the end it will not matter to uswhether we fought with flails orreeds. It will matter to us greatly

on what side we fought.”GKCHesterton1874-1936. (VANGUARDBOOK OF QUOTATIONS p 60).

“The recovered amount waschanneled into rural projects andprogrammes as per the agreement withthe Swiss Government whichrepartriated the funds. A combined teamof Nigerian and Swiss NGOs , with theWorld Bank, later verified the use of thismoney…”

Paul Nwabuikwu, Special Adviser toMinister of Finance. Guardian, March2, 2014, p 53.

This is going to be war of words; but,it will be hot and relentless between thetwo tag teams – Okonjo-Iweala/Nwabuikwu versus Olumhese/Sobowale. And, it is all about YOUNigerians. More specifically, it is allabout what had happened to the Abachaloot which were recovered from abroad– how much, who received the fundsand what happened to them? The firstquestion that comes to your mind is:why team up with Olumhese? Theanswer is simple. For years, if I had tochoose one columnist to read everySunday, and no other, it would beOlumhese. I stopped buying Guardianon Sunday when he left. Today, March2, 2014, I just asked for Guardian, andthere was Olumhese in a battle of wordswith Paul Nwabuikwu, spokesman forthe Finance Minister. Spokesmen areechoes, not voices; they are likemicrophones. They can only say outloud what someone else had said.Unfortunately, on an issue such asAbacha loot, they become part of a tagteam – the Minister and the “echo.” LikeOlumhese, I have had considerable dataon Abacha loot which are at variancewith what the Minister of Finance andher “partner” are trying to peddle tothe public. So, I have invited myself toOlumhese’s corner – as his tag teampartner, of course. I feel sorry for theother side already. They are lyingthrough their teeth – all 32 of them. But,before going into specifics, permit me alittle digression. All is fair in war, afterall.

Long-term readers of this page mustremember how painful it had been forme as one respected columnist, afteranother, had left the fourth estate of theRealm to join the First. Suddenly, the“highly intelligent” writer dies and isreplaced by someone worse than anenvoy – who has been described as “anhonest man [woman] sent to lie abroadfor the good of his country”, by SirHenry Wolton, 1568-1639. (BOOK OFQUOTES p 9).

When our former colleaguesdisappear into governments, theyemerge as people sent out to lie toNigerians for the good of thegovernment they serve. The last thingon their minds when they operate is,what is good for Nigeria? That is whysome of them make statements which,if they were not in government, theywould be ashamed to be associated with.The statement which was lifted from PaulNwabuikwu’s rejoinder to Olumhese inthe Guardian, titled Where OlumheseGoofed on Okonjo-Iweala, is a classic

Okonjo-Iweala vs SonalaOlumhense: Tag teams (1)

example of an intelligent Nigerianlending his powers to deceiveNigerians on a matter of graveimportance – just because he is aspokesman for minister. Is this the samePaul we used to read with greatadmiration or has there been an identitytheft? I wonder.

For those who might not understandwhat the palaver is all about, let mequickly explain. First, there is a disputeabout how much was repatriated. Thenthere is a query regarding whathappened to the money. Finally,Olumhese is requesting, on behalf ofNigerians, for accountability – whathappened to the money; how was itspent, can we verify the claims? To me,nothing could be more patriotic andclearer. Instead of providing answers,the Minister, through her spokesman(tag team partner), had resorted tofalsification of all available records andinsults. We set aside, for now, thequestion of how much? Rest assuredthat the Minister and Paul will be taught

a lesson they will never forget. Let ustake a look at the statement made byPaul, quoted above.

What Paul is saying, in the usually,tall grammar of officialdom, when outto deceive, is simple. Nigerian money,stolen by Abacha, was traced to Swissbanks. The Swiss Government, insteadof returning our money, insisted theywere going to supervise how the moneywas spent. This arrangement receivedthe blessing of the World Bank – whenOkonjo-Iweala was there. Okonjo-Iweala and Paul applaud this insult toour sovereignty. Nothing can be moreunpatriotic. Would the SwissGovernment have insulted America,Russia, or China the same way if theirstolen funds find their way into corruptSwiss banks? Here was a country whichhad developed itself on stolen fundsfrom every country, as well as fundsfrom criminal activities globally, tellinga victim of its corrupt bankingestablishment how to spend its ownmoney.

Furthermore, Okonjo-Iweala and Paulknow too well that the Nigerianconstitution stipulates that any fundsbelonging to the country should be paidinto the federation account – first andforemost. Thereafter, it would beallocated, on agreed formula, to all thethree tiers of government. Since, it wasnot clear that the loot was taken fromthe Federal Government alone, evenany agreement to dispense the fundsbetween the Federal Government andany other party, including the WorldBank, was unconstitutional.

Nigerian money,stolen by Abacha,

was traced to Swissbanks; the SwissGovernment, instead ofreturning our money,insisted they weregoing to supervise howthe money was spent

”

Vanguard, MONDAY, MACRH 10, 2014 — 33

CMYK

Aviation

Nigerian AirspaceM a n a g e m e n tAgency, NAMA, is

yet to be paid its outstandingN4 billion debts airlineoperators owe the agency asenroute charges. Theoperators have refused to paythese charges for some yearsnow and the charges haveaccumulated to more than N4billion.

NAMA last month won anappeal by the AirlineOperators of Nigeria, AON,

Airline operators yet to pay NAMA N4bnen-route charges

as the Supreme Court in aunanimous judgment,dismissed the appeal by AONover the payment of enroutecharges.

It will be recalled that afterthe Supreme Court judgment,the former Managing Directorof NAMA, Engineer NnamdiUdoh had appealed to thedomestic carriers to“commence the process ofliquidating their respectiveoutstanding bills of more thanN4 billion on the enroutecharges.”

According to the GeneralManager, Public Affairs,NAMA, Mr Supo Atobatele,

“NAMA is statutorilyempowered to charge thedomestic airlines on thecontroversial en routeservices like their foreigncounterparts.

“The Supreme Courtthereafter awarded a cost ofN100,000 in favour of NAMA.NAMA on record loses anaverage of N500milllionaccruable revenue annuallyfollowing the refusal of thedomestic carriers to honourbills on enroute services asthey often claimed to have'godfather’s right' to evadepayment.”

NAMA had in 2006 won an

appeal by domestic airlineoperators over the same issueat the Appeal Court in Lagoswhich declared that theairlines had no cogent reasonnot to pay for servicesrendered to them by theagency.

Engr. Udoh had said:‘’From the beginning of thiscase in 2006, we have chosennot to disrupt the activities ofthe airlines, even when theAppellant Court in Lagosgave us the power to collectour charges.

‘’We were patient enoughnot to rock the boat and thatis why we followed it up tothe Apex Court with the AONand today (Friday), the panelof judges in a unanimousdecision dismissed the appealto our favour.”

Dana Airsupportschildeducation

Dana Air has extendedthe focus of its

corporate social responsibilityto child education as theairline in partnership withBi-Courtney Aviation ServicesLimited (BASL) took pupilson an educational excursionof airport facilities thatincluded having a firsthandexperience of how an airplaneworks. The week longprogramme saw the airlineopening its aircraft doors toover 500 pupils drawn fromvarious schools across LagosState.

According to SamuelOgbogoro, Media RelationsManager of Dana Air, whilewelcoming the pupils to theaircraft provided by Dana Airfor the expedition purpose,the Chief Pilot of the airline,Captain Segun Omaleexpressed happiness thatDana Air is once againleading in the drive to impacton the lives of children.

Captain Omale said thatDana Airline identifies withall global and local initiativesto improve the educationpursuit of children. “We are acaring airline that willcontinue to pay seriousattention to issues thatconcern proper education ofthe future generation and ourcommitment to take thechildren on this all importantexcursion is anchored on ourfirm belief that a well informedchild represents hope for thefuture of mankind asinformation drives thedevelopment of any nation.”

Aviation stakeholders worry overNigeria's Category-1 statusAviation experts and stakeholders have

expressed fears that the removal of theDirector-General of Nigerian Civil AviationAuthority, NCAA few days to the visit of FederalAviation Administration, FAA, of the UnitedStates inspectors to Nigeria to re-certify thecountry’s Category-1 status, may send wrongsignals to the inspectors and consequentlyaffect the country’s chances.

The D-G of NCAA is supposed to have atenure after being cleared by the Senate. Thisis to create stability in the system and allowthe D-G concentrate on his job of providingsafety for the delicate aviation industry.

The former DG of NCAA, Captain FolaAkinkuotu had told aviation reporters last weekthat “the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)has once again written to inform us that theywill be visiting Nigeria for a mandatory re-assessment of our Category One certification.”

“It is, however, important to make itabundantly clear that as part of the conditionsattached to certification is that there will be are-assessment of the receiving country afterevery three years. Towards this re-assessment,the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority is putting

all hands on deck to ensure that the nationacquits itself very well in the impendingexercise.

“To this effect, a Technical Committee hasbeen inaugurated to provide fillip and driveall the preparation process.”

The team of American inspectors will becoming to Nigeria on 31st of March. Therecertification of Category 1 Status by FAAis a regular exercise and those countries thathave not met the re-certification processeshave had their certificates withdrawn.

Reacting to the sack of the DG of NCAA,the President, Aviation Roundtable, Capt.Dele Ore, said: “I actually think the removalof NCAA DG, Captain Fola Akinkuotu is anaberration. I think the removal of the manshows that we have shot ourselves in the footby that particular action. It is likely to weighagainst the country in terms of the oncomingaudit by the United States Federal AviationAgency.

“The painful part of the removal ofAkinkuotu is that Oduah actually did notallow that man to do anything in the veryfew months he was DG. She tied his hands.”

SAHCOLrestructuresworkforce

The Skyway AviationHandling Company

Limited ,SAHCOL, hascommenced restructuringof its workforce.According to BasilAgboarumi, AssistantGeneral Manager,C o r p o r a t eCommunications, theexercise is to, “refocusthe company in line withcurrent realities andmake it more prepared toface future projections ofsurpassing customer ’sexpectations”

In the new structure,Olumide Odebiyi, DavidOlorundade, AdigunOlaniyi and LanreAdekola, who wereformally AssistantGeneral Managers,Operations, HumanResources, Sales &Marketing, andEngineering &M a i n t e n a n c e ,respectively, have nowbeen elevated to theposition of GeneralManagers.

Also, Olujimi Osho,Formerly CompanySecretary/Legal Adviser,is now General Manager,Legal Services/CompanySecretary, LawrenceAdejo, the erstwhileChief Accountant, is nowGeneral ManagerFinance, while BasilAgboarumi, formallyHead CorporateCommunications, is nowAssistant GeneralManager, CorporateCommunications.

Furthermore, Mrs.Boma Ukwunnadeployed from the SifaxOffduck Okota, asubsidiary of the SifaxGroup, is now theGeneral Manager, CargoServices.

“In a letter detailingthis new structure, theManaging Director ofSAHCOL, Olu Owolabi,disclosed that therestructuring exercisewhich is on-going, willspill-over to all staff,hence called for thesupport, loyalty, andcommitment of every staffto realize the companygoal.”

STORIES By LAWANIMIKAIRU

PRESENTATION: From left, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and chairman of occasion,General Ike Nwachukwu, Mrs Nnenna Orji, wife of the author; Dr. Herbert Orji, author, andAigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, former GMD/CEO, Access Bank Plc/chief presenter, at the officialpresentation of the book “Platinum Essays in the Philosophy of Applied Economics of Develop-ment” in Lagos.PHOTO BY AKEEM SALAU

By LAWANIMIKAIRU


CMYK

People in Business

Why we started SkytrendNews:

According toAdeoya, SkytrendNews is another

initiative from the stables ofSkytrend Consulting.

“With my knowledge of theemerging market in the onlineworld, I thought of gettingNigerians acquainted withrelevant information to helpthem make informeddecisions. I have been asocial crusader passionateabout good leadership inNigeria for quite some timenow and also being a memberof a few civil societyorganisations, I felt the needto set up a medium to sharesocio-political and economicinformation with Nigerians.

It was this passion thatbrought about the idea ofSkytrend News which is notyour regular online news website. It is unique in the contextof being a web-based newssite established primarily toherald the news of Nigeria toNigerians and to be an activestakeholder in the socio-economic development of thecountry in particular and theworld at large.

Skytrend News is not abusiness-focused venture, itwas formed mainly to rendera national service – to providefactual information toNigerians that will help themmake informed decisions ascitizens in every area of ournational life and as it affectsthe enthronement of goodleadership which will in turnhelp the nation’s socio-

Skytrend Newsformed to rendernational service—FEMI ADEOYA

•Femi Adeoya ....It is our considered opinion that suchunilateral closure should not happen in a democracy.

M r. Femi Adeoya is theChief Executive Officer ofSkytrend Consulting Ltd, a

business development and accountingsolutions firm which recently addedanother feather to its cap, SkytrendNews, an online news publication. Inthis chat with Financial Vanguard,Adeoya, an accountant by profession,speaks on Skytrend’s newest initiativeand how it is impacting society forgood. Excerpts:

By EBELE ORAKPO ,,

economic development. “ I n Skytrend News, our

vision is to champion aknowledge-based growth andbe the leading voice in theestablishment of goodleadership, expose corruptionand social ills in the society,establish sound corporateculture, promote the right ofevery citizen, and thepolitical/socio-economicdevelopment of our country.We hope to achieve these byeducating, re-orientating andinforming with a view tobuilding an egalitarian andequitable society,” Adeoyasaid.

Recounting some of thestrides made by the outfitbetween August 2013 when itstarted and now, Adeoya said:“We have been able to makesome meaningfuldevelopment. Prof. WoleSoyinka once said: ‘The mandies in him who keeps quietin the face of injustice.’Nigeria started her4th Republic on May 29,1999 and since then, we havehad a lot of ups and downs inour political life.

"Our nascent democracy isstill developing and we feelthat there is need for aplatform that would be able toprovide information that willhelp the citizens and thecountry not only developfaster but get to her desiredhaven," he said.

Selling point:

Adeoya noted thatSkytrend News follows

every story to its logical end."In Skytrend News, we don’tjust break the news but we acton the story with our readersand stakeholders, and thatforms our unique sellingpoint. We will never stop atjust reporting, our aim isalways to dig deeper, get tothe bottom, right the wrongs,dot the ‘i’s and cross the‘t’s.”

Explaining further,Adeoya said: “What

most of the regular web sitesdo is to break news, informpeople and then stop at thatbut we are different. We don’tjust want to break the newsand inform or just educate, wewant to act on the story, andwe want to develop the story

l i k e CNN does. WhenCNN breaks a story, they willsay ‘developing story.’ That istheir unique selling point sothey don’t just stop atbringing the story, they reportevery area as it develops andthey analyze it. Once we geta piece of information, we tryto get to the root of it and whenwe are acting on it, we don’tjust act unilaterally, we do soin partnership with ournumerous followers andstakeholders.

"An example is the recentclosure of Iponri market inLagos. For us, it was not justenough to report that story, wefollowed it up, we interviewedthe Surulere Local GovtChairman, we spoke with thetraders and we were able todiscover that the reason whyit was locked up was notacceptable and the processill-thought out. It is ourconsidered opinion that suchunilateral closure should nothappen in a democracy andthat processes should be wellspelt out and defined toguide market activities.

This was not the case inthis particular situation.

So when we have a ‘marketleader ’ locking up aparticular market forpecuniary gains or suchuntoward motive and askingtraders to bring certaindocuments before re-opening, we want toinvestigate the reason(s) forthat. So we act on the storyand in doing this, we involveconcerned Nigerians in suchtrending issues and we come

out with a collectiveposition.”

Health sector problems:“There have been problems

in Nigeria’s health sector –between the doctors andother health professionals.The medical doctors try toprove that they are the mostsenior having had the mostextended years of learningand therefore the ones whoshould be the administratorsin hospitals.

We published an articleon the need for

relevant stakeholders toquickly address this issue.Thanks to modern onlinecommunication technology,we were able to assemblestakeholders to have anindepth discussion on ourweb-based discussionplatform where we engagedthem thoroughly, havingidentified the core problemsin the sector.

“Many of the healthprofessionals wrote us andmade practical and pragmaticcontributions for a solutionthat would be acceptable toall, and we in turn publishedthem for our readers todigest. Whenever we havestrikes in this sector, patientsbear the brunt. That sectorhas been bedeviled by a lotof problems and the patientsare the ones always at thereceiving end. Today, youhave medical doctors goingon strike and once theyresolve with government andthe strike is called off, theother health professionalsalso call out their staff onstrike. This is notacceptable.

“So in cases like this, wewant to partner withstakeholders in the healthsector, not just reporting thehealth problems, but alongwith them to look for asolution and see how we canresolve the problems. Thatarticle in question attracteda lot of readership and wepostulated some areas wefeel the government andNational Assembly shouldlook into to resolve theproblems.

"We also encouraged ourgovernment to deployinternational best practices inthe health sector. Hopefullythis can resolve the lingeringproblems in that sector.

So this is one of the wayswe try to help society.Basically therefore, it is notjust about news reportage, itis about giving back to thesociety, being a sort ofwatchdog to the government,it’s about providingalternative solutions andmaking policy suggestions tothe government and moreimportantly, it’s about beingthe conscience of the nation."

It is not just about newsreportage, it is about giving

back to society, being a sort ofwatchdog to the government, it’s

about providing alternativesolutions and making policy

suggestions .... it’s about beingthe conscience of the nation


CMYK


CMYK

E- Commerce

BY JONAH NWOKPOKU

BeyondBranchesI n t e r n a t i o n a lLimited has

deepened its mobile moneypenetration through theexpansion of its agentbanking service initiative toOwo, in Ondo state.

BeyondBranches is aUnited Kingdom basedagency banking and mobilepayment platform with asubsidiary in Nigeria.It wassetup in 2013 to supportcashless, agency bankingand mobile paymentinitiatives in the country.

L5Lab, the venture firmbehind Jobberman

and Cheki in conjunctionwith 88mph-a companythat specializes onaccelerating internetstartup growth in Africa,have launched aninvestment platform called440.ng, to assist twentymobile and internet start-ups in Nigeria.

The partnership whichmakes over $1.5 millionavailable to new andexisting mobile andinternet start-upsbusinesses across Nigeriaover the next two years willalso provide training,mentorship, tech advice,and an energizingenvironment to help speedup their businesses whilebuilding and getting theirproducts into the market.

Speaking at the officiallaunch of the partnership inLagos, Chika Nwobi,Managing Partner ofL5Lab, described thecollaboration as anopportunity to scale theircompany’s impact bycreating more Nigeriansuccess stories, havingmade a small number ofvery successfulinvestments over the lastthree years.

She said, “We want to putsome equity of between$10, 000 and $100,000 in acompany and anybody thatis going to invest we aregoing to move them into thespace that we have createdwhich will accommodateabout ten companies at atime. Google is takingsome part as a partner andwe are also bringing someother partners into the

Police investigatesPolice investigatesPolice investigatesPolice investigatesPolice investigatesanother bitcoinanother bitcoinanother bitcoinanother bitcoinanother bitcoinbank failure inbank failure inbank failure inbank failure inbank failure inCanadaCanadaCanadaCanadaCanadaCanadian police have

launched aninvestigation after onlinebitcoin bank Flexcoin, whichclosed its virtual doors, lastweek, said that it had lostabout $600,000 worth of thedigital currency in a hackerattack.

The company reported thetheft of 896 bitcoins on itswebsite on Monday and saidit “does not have theresources (or) assets ... tocome back from this loss.” Itblamed the attack on hackerswho had targeted its onlinewallet.

Bitcoins stored in Flexcoin’scold storage facility, which isbasically an offline bank,were not affected by the hackand will be returned tocustomers, the company said.

The Edmonton PoliceService (EPS) said they wereinvestigating the issue.

Flexcoin’s demise comesclose on the heels of thecollapse of Mt. Gox, once theworld’s dominant bitcoinexchange, which filed forbankruptcy last week after itsaid it had lost some 850,000bitcoins.

EBay topshareholdersagree on PayPalChief Executive Officer

of the global e-retailer,EBay, John Donahoe said onWednesday that several of theonline retailer’s most activeshareholders have assuredhim they support his effortsto resist demands by activistinvestor, Carl Icahn for aspin-off of the PayPal unit.

Donahoe told Reuters thathe has spoken with as manyas 16 of the 20 most-activeshareholders in eBay, andmost favored hanging on tothe fast-growing PayPalpayments unit. He did not saywhat percentage of thecompany’s shares was held bythe investors who agreed withhis resistance to Icahn.

“I met with 15, 16 of our top20 active investors, haveengaged back and forth indialogue with them,”Donahoe said in an interview.

“The majority of themunderstand that they’restronger together,” he said.

PayPal had become thepreferred online paymentmethod of the onlinemarketplace’s customerswhen eBay acquired it for $1.5billion in 2002.

Venture firms partner to accelerateNigerian mobile startups growth

By JONAH NWOKPOKU& WILLIAM JIMOH

space so that they can get thesupport and all the thingsthat they need in order forthem to have the best chanceof succeeding while gainingdesign and technicalknowledge. This is to enablethem build their products ifthey are not having onealready."

Also speaking, 88mph

founder, Kresten Buch, notedthat, “Seeing the greatpotential of our existingportfolio in Cape Town andNairobi, Kenya over the pasttwo years, we think Nigeriais the next step for 88mph andour method of investing isaccelerating startups growth.

“440.ng was designed tofocus at investing cash intobusinesses that we believecan become very successful.And like a channel partner,they work with us and thatenables them to have access

to bank and other players thatthey may need and also, if thepartnership works, it will alsoattract venture capitalists thatare interested in putting inmoney to ensure that thebusiness grows.

“This is not just for peoplethat have not yet started acompany, it is also for peoplewho already have a companyrunning but maybe they arelacking exposure, finance oraccess to certain channels topartners that can help theirbusiness to grow well.”

BeyondBranches Nigeria deepens mobilemoney penetration

The Chief Operating Officerof BeyonBranches in Nigeria,Simon Aderinlola, instatement saidBayondBranches’agent ,Olabisi Olaniyi, whodeployed the mobile paymentservices to Ondo on behalf ofBeyondBranches, hasrecorded tremendous success.

Customers, according to theagent, have been delightedby the convenience that theservice has been able to offerthem, by enabling airtime top-ups, pay-tv subscriptions andcash deposits in the banks.

According to him,“BeyondBranches identified

Ondo State as a key target forthese innovative services in2013. This was finalised inDecember 2013, whenBeyondBranches visited DrOlusegun Mimiko– Governor of Ondo State – aspart of a delegation of Britishbusinesses led by Mr. PeterCarter – the British DeputyHigh Commissioner inLagos. The delegation alsovisited Ekiti and Oyo states.

Speaking on what hasmotivated the deployment ofthe services, Aderinlolaexplained that, “According tothe World Bank, there areover 11million Micro, Small

and Medium Enterprisesin Nigeria. We hope toprovide valuable mobile-based services to helpthese businesses becomemore efficient in theiroperations. However, wehave started by enablingspecific and targetedo v e r - t h e - c o u n t e rpayments for our partnerorganisations. We havealso been runningpromotions to encourageagents to sign-up and getactive from the outset. Ourpromotions also aim todrive agent transactionsand repeat consumerpatronage.”

VISIT: From left, Olayinka Oni, Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft Nigeria, Kabelo Makwane,Country Manager-Designate, Microsoft Nigeria, Jean-Philippe Courtois, President, MicrosoftInternational and Awawu Olumide-Sojinrin, Marketing and Operations Director, MicrosoftNigeria during the visit of Jean-Philippe to Nigeria recently.


CMYK

Tax Matters

The NigerianGovernment has overthe years put in place

many different andoverlapping incentiveschemes to attract both localand foreign investment. Taxexemption is generallyregarded as an industrialinvestment device; manydeveloping countries likeNigeria offer it as one of theirmajor incentives. Basically,tax incentives are designed toencourage investments incertain preferred sectors of theeconomy and sometimesgeared towards attractinginflow of foreign exchange tocomplement domesticsupplies for rapid economicdevelopment.

Tax exemption otherwiseknown as Tax holiday is oneof the most widespread taxincentive. Tax exemptionsimply means a period ofexemption from payment oftaxes imposed by thegovernment and this may becomplete or partial. The grantof pioneer status, therefore,gives a company a preferredposition in gettingestablished, usually throughexemption from income tax.

A pioneer company is acompany that engagedmanufacturing, processing,mining, servicing andagricultural industries whoseproducts have been declaredpioneer products on satisfyingcertain conditions in asdetermined by IndustrialDevelopment CoordinatingCommittee (IDCC) of theGovernment under theIndustrial Development(Income Tax Relief) Act Cap179 LFN 1990. The pioneerTax holiday is for an initialperiod of three years orsubject to further extension oftwo years or five years (onesand for all without furtherextension).

Enabling ActAct Chapter 179 laws of the

federation of Nigeria (LFN)1990 but first enacted byDecree No22 of 1971 andcommenced on 1/4/1970.

Commencement Date 1stApril, 1970

•“An Act to repeal and re-enact, with major changes,the industries Development(Income Tax Relief) Act and tomake provision for Tax relieffor certain industries that maybe issued with pioneercertificates by the minister andother matters ancilatory thereto”

•Conditions:*Industry is not being

carried out on a suitablescale as required and there

Tax relief for pioneer companiesBy AHMEDIBRAHIM ALIYARA

are prospects for furtherdevelopment in thecountry or its product.

*If it is in the public interestto encourage the industry orits product.

*Application may be madefor the inclusion of a producton the pioneer list

Mode of Application*All application to be

addressed to the Minister*State the status of the

company*Give details of qualifying

capital expenditure to beincurred

*Give sources of qualifyingcapital expenditure andestimated cost

*Specify location of Assets*Date of production of

pioneer products*Any by product not being a

pioneer productTERMS OF PIONEER

CERTIFICATE*Must be in terms of the

application to which it relates.*Specify permissible by-

products to be produced.*Specify period within

which company must beincorporated and conditionsto be endorsed

*Pioneer status will only beissued from a date whencompany was incorporatedand shall be effective from adate not earlier than the dateon which the application wassubmitted to the minister ordate of incorporation,whichever is the later.

,,

*Any other condition will bespecified by the minister

*The minimum Tax reliefperiod not exceeding five yearsto be stated 3(6)(a-b)

Amending of PioneerCertificate to Add NewProduct

Section 4 (1) – (3) alloweda company during its

pioneer period to makeapplication in writing to theMinister to add a new product.

R E T R O S P E C T I V EPIONEER OPERATION

•Where a pioneer certificateis to be operative from aretrospective date, all Acts shallbe treated as not having beenclosed or not having happenedand all taxes paid (if any shallbe repaid as soon as may afterthe expiration of three monthsfrom the production day.

PRODUCTION DATE•No later than one month

when the company is goinginto commercial production(marketable quantity), thecompany shall apply in writingfor the certification of itsproduction date.

•Not later than one monthafter the production date or anyextended period granted by theBoard, the company shall makeapplication in writing to theBoard for the certification of theamount incurred as qualifyingcapital expenditure prior to theproduction date.

Cancellation of PioneerCertificate

i)Company may apply for

cancellationii)If company contravened

any provision of the Act orfailed to meet conditions set.

Tax Relief Periodi)Commencing from the

production date, it shallcontinue for three years (butcan be extended):-

ii)for another one period oftwo years (if the standard andrate of expansion aresatisfactory), local rawmaterial utilizationexpansion, Training andDevelopment of Nigerians,Government Policy Priority)

iii) Five years (once andfor all).

TRANSITION FROMPIONEER STATUS

Conditions of Old Trade orBusiness of a PioneerCompany

*The old trade shall bedeemed to ceasedpermanently at the end of thetax relief period

*The pioneer companydeemed to have set up a newtrade on the day nextfollowing the end of its reliefperiod

*All capital expendituresincurred and used by apioneer company shall bedeemed have been incurredon that day next followingthe end of its tax relief period

*Where it incurs a Net loss,that loss shall be deemed tohave been incurred on thedate on which its new tradecommences i.e. it will beallowed to deduct all thelosses brought forward fromthe pioneer period

*The company must submitto the Board a list of its assetsfor certification.

*At the end; the Board willissue a certificate ofqualifying expenditure

*The Board is expected toissue the company for each

year, the amount of income asascertained and loss asarrived at (if applicable).

Treatment of CapitalAllowances and Losses

•A capital expenditureincurred shall be deemed tohave been incurred on thatday next following the end ofthe pioneer period. i.e.regardless of the number ofyears granted a pioneercompany, all capitalexpenditures incurred in linewith the provision of thesecond schedule within theperiods shall be deemed tohave been incurred after theTax relief period.

•For losses incurred withinthe pioneer period, thecumulative amount will bedeemed for computing totalprofits to have been incurredon the day, next following thepioneer period i.e. it will beallowed as a deduction in thenew business.

D O C U M E N T AT I O NREQUIRED BY FIRS

*Memorandum and Articleof Association

*Certificate of Incorporation*Answer to standard

questionnaire*Pioneer Certificate issued*The period approved*Production date*Products and by-products*For a going concern, the

Audited account ended beforethe production date to befurnished (regardless of thenumber of months).

Rendition of Returns*The conditions governing

the submission of tax returnsin CITA are applicable to apioneer company.

*One year fromcommencement of productiondate

*Period of one yearsuccessively

*Last year of the reliefperiod.

*Example: Kano MoneyLender Ltd was granted apioneer status commencingfrom 1st July, 1999. Thecompany has 31/12 as it’saccounting date. The periodgranted was for five years.

*At expiration of the pioneerperiod, it submitted Accountsfor the years ended 31stDecember, 2004 and 2005 youare given these additionaldata

The data: 2004 (N) 2005 (N)

i) Net Profits16,980,155 9,758,273

ii) Depreciation 32,157,000 46,102,328

iii) Capital Allowance b/f 172,314,886 —

iv) Investment Allowance10,378,700 8,033,243

v) Initial Allowance 7 5,414,556 58,020,388

vi) Annual allowance 37,975,662 60,659,786

You are required to computebasis period and the relevanttaxes payable by thiscompany.

Tax exemption simply meansa period of exemption from

payment of taxes imposed bythe government and this may

be complete or partial

BIRTHDAY SEMINAR: From left Mr. John Ehiguese, Group MD, Media Craft Associates;Mazi Mike Okereke, Chairman of the Occasion; Mr.Nn'emeka Maduegbuna, Managing Di-rector, C and F Porter Novelli, celebrant, and his Wife, Mrs Augusta Maduegbuna during the60th Birthday Lecture and Celebration of Nn'emeka Maduegbuna, in Lagos. Photo by LamidiBamidele.


CMYK


Advertising, Media& Marketing

CMYK

Laws of ServiceExcellence — Part Three

In the last couple of weeks, we have been discussingthe laws of service excellence. Organisations thatexcel in service operate on certain principles, or

laws, as we call them here. Here’s a quick recap of theprinciples we have discussed so far:

*The customer is the boss*The frontline is the company*Service is driven and supported by organisational

culture*External service mirrors internal service*Customer experience matters more than company

communications.*Excellent service comes at a price*All customers are not equal*Little things matter*Most dissatisfied customers won’t complain*The customer is not always right*The customer is self-centredShould you wish to look at these principles in depth, I

suggest you get a copy of 20 Universal Laws of ServiceExcellence. Aside from other things it contains, the bookoffers you 120 actionable ideas you can use right awayto make your service sparkle. And if you’re looking forways to infuse some of the ideas we share here into yourbusiness and prepare your team to compete on service,do get in touch; we might be able to help. Meanwhile,let’s consider five more laws.

Frontline employees understand customers moreSales people, receptionists, secretaries, relationship

officers, bank tellers, and service engineers – these areall part of the frontline of organisations. These workersare well placed to represent the organisation before thecustomer. Indeed, they are the company to mostcustomers. At the same time, they are in a vantageposition to act as customer advocates and transmitfeedback to the organisation. Ideally, by virtue of itsregular contact with customers, this category ofemployees knows much more about the customer thanother people within the company. If you’re not tapingtheir knowledge of customers and market situations,you’re really missing out. You need to listen to yourfrontline. Excellent organisations do.

You get what you measure and rewardPeople will strive to do virtually anything if they know

there is a reward for their effort. Organisations that seekto instil a culture of service must have objective criteriafor measuring service from the customer’s point of viewand rewarding employees who deliver exceptionalservice. In other words, there should be clearly definedways of measuring and rewarding excellence.

Reliable service is criticalReliability may mean different things to different people

in different situations, but the key thing is that thepromised service is delivered when, where and how itwas promised. Reliability has its rewards. Earning areputation for reliability is one of the best things thatcan happen to an organisation. But it never happens!It comes as a result of painstaking effort to make surethe customer is never disappointed, barring exceptionalcircumstances.

Marketing is everyone’s jobMost great organisations usually have marketing

departments; but they know that marketing iseverybody’s job. The marketing departments onlycoordinate this job. Excellent companies go to greatpains in ensuring that every employee is a marketer!

It’s easier to keep current customers than attract newones

Profit comes when a customer buys again and again.Simply because we need less advertising money, fewersalesmen’s calls and less effort to get an existingcustomer to buy it is easier and cheaper to sell to currentcustomers. For this reason, it also makes a lot of businesssense to try to keep existing customers happy.

BRIEFING: From Left: The Managing Director ARESVEEPEELimited,Ms Kemi Koyejo, the Project Consultant, Keskese Limited,Mr Tade Adekunle and the Executive Director, Nigeria Food FiestaLimited during a press conference on the forthcoming NigerianFoods & Drinks Exhibition held in Lagos.

In compliance withCentral Bank ofNigeria, CBN directive

in 2010 to revoke universalbanking practice in Nigeria,GTHomes has changed itsname to Imperial Homes, andexpressed commitment toproviding best services.

The name change meansthat Guaranty Trust Bank Plc(GTBank) divested from itssubsidiaries includingGTHomes Limited. Theshares of GTHomes owned byGTBank prior to thedivestment were acquired bya select group of investorsthrough a special purposevehicle.

This divestment providesthe bank a fresh opportunityand imperative for achievingits internal goals and missionof being the leadingMortgage Bank out of Africa.

In line with the divestmentby GTBank and as with GTAssurance, GTB AssetManagement, and other of itssubsidiaries, GTHomesLimited was required tochange to a new name, saidthe Managing Director ofImperial Homes BenAkaneme, while speaking atthe name change event inLagos.

According to him, “We arepleased to introduce the newidentity of GTHomes Limitedas Imperial Homes MortgageBank Limited. The nameImperial Homes reflects ourdesire to continue to provideour esteemed customers thebest internationally bench-marked services in mortgagebanking through our highly

New Identity: GTHomesbecomes Imperial HomesStories by PRINCEWILLEKWUJURU

motivated and innovativeemployees and expresses ouridentification with the visionof housing for all.”

Continuing he said: “as wehave done through the years,our goal will continue to be theprovision of excellentservices. The core values thatGTHomes inherited fromGTBank remain the guidingprinciples for Imperial HomesMortgage Bank Limited. Weremain the same people, thesame institution operatingwith the same core values andprinciples despite our name

change.”.“Our Logo has been enhanced

but retains its essence. It is still abrief description of our brand. Theorange and gray continue torepresent our friendly,professional and trustworthynature. The four sides of the boxsignify our Customer focus,Customer Service, innovativenessand Total Quality Managementwhile the ‘I’ in the box representsour intensity and single mindedfocus on our customers; for us theonly thing that matters is ourhighly esteemed Imperialcustomers.

Sweet sensation fetes couples

The valentine season mayhave come and gone, but

families celebrated duringthe day did not forget theingenuity of Sweet SensationConfectionery.

The couples’ dinner tagged‘Red Hot Valentine’ inpartnership with Coca-colarounded-off this year ’sValentine’s celebration.

According to the ExecutiveDirector, Olatunji Kamson,’2013 couples dinner was thestarting point of a creativerevolution of “give back” in alove relationship between theforemost QSR Brand and itsCustomers. He went onfurther to say that thesuccesses recorded in 2013spurred us to bring it back but

in a hotter mode.The Head, Marketing Yemi

Yusuf stated that to qualify toattend the dinner, couplesbought any Sweet Sensationmouth-watering meal withany coca-cola products worthN1, 500 in a single purchase(with their contact detailsclearly written on the back ofit) and dropped theirpurchase receipts in adesignated receipt bowl in theoutlet. The receipts wereshuffled in a raffle draw onThursday 13th Februarywhere lucky winners werepicked from each of theiroutlets. The winners werethereafter contacted andencouraged to pick up theirtickets for attendance.

Reinstating itscommitment to the

brand promise, Eat Better, LiveBetter, Bayswater Industries,makers of Mr. Chef seasoningcubes rewarded its loyaldistributors across the countrywith the presentations of11cars, cash prizes and other

Mr Chef rewards distributorsconsolations prizes inappreciation for their patronage.

Speaking at the event, theExecutive Director, Chief ReggiUduhiri, said, “BayswaterIndustries, makers of Mr. Chef,have instituted the ‘DistributorsReward Scheme’ as a high valueincentive to our dedicateddistributors who havedemonstrated commitment andloyalty to the brand.”

He added that the companyalways believed that the threeparameters behind Mr. ChefBrand success are quality, qualityand quality. He explained thus“Quality in terms of Product,Quality in terms of Manpower &Marketing and Quality infulfilling our promise.” Hedisclosed that the secret behindMr. Chef seasoning success wasin its natural ingredients whichhelp in giving nutritional benefitsto consumers.

The event which was held inLagos was also the celebration ofthe brand’s 5th anniversary, thecompany General Manager, Mr.Rajesh Kumar disclosed that thegrowing patronage testify that ‘Mr. Chef ’ seasoning is now anaccepted brand leader forNigerian consumers.


Email:[email protected], [email protected] page:www.lesleba.com/blog2Website: www.lesleba.comTel:0805 220 1997

Business & Economy

CMYK

Omoh Gabriel - Group Business EditorBabajide Komolafe - Finance EditorClara Nwachukwu - Energy EditorPeter Egwuatu - Head, Capital MarketYinka Kolawole - Snr Bus. CorrespondentFavour Nnabugwu - Insurance CorrespondentGodwin Oritse - Maritime CorrespondentGodfrey Bivbere - Maritime CorrespondentMichael Eboh - Capital Market ReporterOscarline Onwuemenyi - Energy ReporterFranklin Alli - Industry/Agric. ReporterEbele Orakpo - Energy ReporterIfeyinwa Obi - Maritime ReporterRosemary Ohuoha - Insurance Reporter

CONTRIBUTORSPrincewill Ekwujuru - Media/MarketingNaomi Uzor - IndustryProvidence Obuh - Micro FinanceLAYOUT - Graphics Department

,

,

Nigerians generallybelieve that largeforeign reserves are

useful for defending theexchange rate of the naira. However, our total foreignreserves actually comprise oftwo primary income streams;the first is the Excess CrudeAccount (ECA), which consistsof all crude oil revenue inexcess of budget estimates.

In the recent past, over$10bn accrued annually intothe ECA. Surprisingly,however, government alwaysmanaged to consume theproceeds in this account inaddition to the hundreds ofbillions of naira, borrowed bygovernment, at costs usuallyabove 12%, to fund earlierprojected ghost deficits, whichwere induced by themisguided conservative priceand output benchmarksadopted in annual budgets.

The inherent contradiction offederal budgets thatinexplicably accommodatedeficits as well as actualrevenue surplus is regrettablygenerally lost on our people,and our illustrious EconomicManagement Team.

The second majorcomponent of our foreignexchange reserves is what theCentral Bank of Nigeria (CBN)describes as its “own reserves”;the value of this reserve iscurrently about $40bn. CBN’sclaim to sole ownership of the$40bn reserves is founded onthe principle that the federationcannot lay claim to this fundsince government was alreadythe beneficiary of the naira‘equivalent’, which the apexbank unilaterally created andsubstituted as allocations forconstitutionally distributabledollar revenue.” For thisreason, CBN’s $40bn reservescannot be appropriated fordefraying deficits in ourbudgets, nor to redress some

Phony defence of the Naira andthe folly of a nationof our serious infrastructuraldeprivations.

A good example of thisbizarre outcome may drive thepoint home; some Nigerianswill recall that Mr. Presidentwas in China last year, partlyto raise funds for infrastructuralenhancement, and indeed,apparently raised about $1.5bnwith an interest rate that maynot be far short of the 7% rateon our existing Eurobonds. Interestingly, however, theCBN Governor was also inChina to assess investmentopportunities for some part ofCBN’s dollar reserves! However, it is unlikely thatSanusi found any investmentopportunity that wouldultimately produce a yield ofmore than 4%; in such an event,there is nothing that stopsChinese investors fromborrowing directly from CBN ata cheaper cost for onwardlending to the Nigeriangovernment at a higher rate ofinterest!

Sadly, the aboveillustration is indeed also

mirrored by the process ofdomestic debt accumulation. To substantiate thisobservation, we quote LamidoSanusi’s revelation as reportedin Thisday Newspaper’s issueof 24/07/2013. “…First of all,you have got liquidity (naira)surplus in the bankingindustry; … there is over N1.3tror so sitting in banks andbelonging to governmentagencies. Now basically, they(these funds) are at zeropercent interest and the banksare lending about N2tn to the

government and charging 13to 14%! Now, that is a verygood business model, isn’t it? Give me your money for freeand I lend it to you at 14%; sowhy would I go and lend toanyone?” Worse still, thefunds mopped up (borrowed)by the CBN are simplysterilised or kept idle, despiteprevailing significant budgetdeficits!

Thus, as CBN’s reservesgrow, so also does the extentof naira surplus in the systemexpand to inadvertently

promote a conducive platformfor a general price rise, andlower exchange rate as CBN’sobtuse and patentlyunconstitutional paymentsstrategy constantly induces amarket mix of systemic surplusnaira chasing relatively few‘goods’ and rationed dollarsupply from the CBN everymonth.

Thus, the flipside of CBN’sincreasing dollar reserves isactually the constant threat ofinflation as well as increaseddomestic borrowing, as theCBN ‘posthumously’ embarkson a borrowing spree at double-digit interest rate, in order toreduce the burden of surplusnaira that become increasingly

worrisome with CBN’sunceasing monthly substitutionof naira allocations fordistributable dollar revenue. Asignificant part of Nigeria’sestimated N8tn domestic debtwas actually accumulated withthis suicidal monetary strategywhile service charges on such“useless” debts probablyexceeded $3tn in the last sixyears.

Furthermore, CBN’sforced appetite to borrow

hundreds of billions of naira at

such high cost, inevitably alsocrowds out the real sector fromaccessing cheap funds. Thescarcity of cheap funds to SMEsultimately contracts thedomestic economy, thus,inducing an increasing level ofunemployment as collateral. Consequently, it seems ourpeople have to become poorerfor CBN’s reserve to grow.

In a failed attempt to stemnaira depreciation in the recentpast, Sanusi wrongly identifiedabnormal dollar demand as theprime villain for increasingmarket pressure. The CBN,therefore, reduced its weeklyforex allocations to Bureau DeChange (BDC) from $1m to$250,000. Not surprisingly,

however, rather than dousedemand, the vibrant forexmarket experienced dollarsupply shortage, whichexpectedly intensified thepressure on the naira exchangerate. Consequently, less than60 days later, the suspendedCBN Governor, in anothercharacteristic policysomersault, summarily liftedthe limit on sales of dollars toBDC, despite the recognitionof the BDC’s role in facilitatingmoney laundering, capitalflight and the ignoblesmuggling enterprise, whichkills our industries.

Invariably, even Sanusi’sincongruous policy flip-flopcould not reduce the pressureon the naira, because heprobably failed to appreciatethat the problem was not onlydollar supply, but significantlyalso the unceasing deliberatecreation of excess naira supplyby the same CBN. Forexample, the apex bank’s ill-advised provision of over N1tnto settle AMCON’s non-CBNdebts in the last quarter of 2013inadvertently also added almostN10tn worth more of nairaliquidity into an already naira-suffocated money market tofurther worsen the plight of thenaira against the dollar.

Thus, it becomes a farcicalexpression of concern, whenthe same agency thatconsciously created thedisenabling naira surfeit turnsround to sell rations of dollarrevenue it earlier captured, inits futile bid to “defend” thenaira rate of exchange. Nevertheless, these unforcedcontradictions in the product ofmonetary strategy will becomesuccessfully resolved with theadoption of dollar certificates forthe disbursement of the dollarcomponent of distributablerevenue.

jobs. Mrs. Olomola added thatNBC’s sponsorship andparticipation in recyclingactivities is borne out of an activecommitment of the Company toPackaging Waste Recovery andRecycling, one of its seven (7)Sustainability pillars, and notedthat the partnership withWecyclers, therefore, representsa community-led, measurable,scalable and sustainableinitiative.

Speaking further, she emphasized that NBC was notonly concerned with refreshingconsumers with a wide rangeof products but is also interestedin working in partnerships tominimise the impact ofpackaging on the environment.

NBC affirms commitment to waste recovery, recycling

By PRINCEWILLEKWUJURU

The Nigerian BottlingCompany (NBC) Limited

has restated its commitmentto preserving and protectingthe environment bysupporting Wecyclers NigeriaLimited. Wecyclers is anorganisation that seeks to solvethe urban waste challenge byusing a fleet of low-cost cargobicycles to offer convenienthousehold collection ofrecyclable waste inneighbourhoods.

To support and expand itscurrent collection capacity, thecompany recently purchased

and handed over eight (8)tricycles, known as Wecycles,to Wecyclers Nigeria Limited.

Speaking at the handoverceremony which took place inthe Lagos State WasteManagement Agency(LAWMA) yard in Ebute-Metta, one of Wecyclers’collection hubs, Mrs. AdeyanjuOlomola, Head, Public Affairsand Communications, NBC,said the Company wasdelighted to supportWecycler’s drive to expand itscapacity to collect waste fromhouseholds in Lagos State. Shenoted that the expansion alsohad a multiplier effect on jobcreation as the additionWecycles would create 10 new

Even Sanusi’s incongruouspolicy flip-flops could not reduce

the pressure on the Naira,because he probably failed to

appreciate that the problem wasnot only dollar supply


CMYK

46 Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014


Terrorists may have bombedMalaysian plane —EXPERTS

BY UDUMA KALU withagency report

.Airliner's fragments found

WHILE THE wreckage of the planehas still not been found, new pho-

tos of oil slicks in the South China Sea agrowing body of evidence is beginning topoint towards a terrorist attack.

At least two passengers on the missingMalaysia Airlines flight travelling on falsepassports have also become the focus of agrim investigation as aviation and securi-ty experts claimed a bomb was the mostlikely cause of a crash believed to haveclaimed 239 lives.

Debris from the missing Boeing 777 flightis believed to have been found off Viet-nam as Interpol investigates whether upto four passengers boarded the plane us-ing stolen passports.

And dramatically, a second pilot whowas in the skies over the South China Seawhen the 777 vanished has spoken abouthearing ‘mumbling’ at the other end ofcommunications with the plane.

The captain, who asked to remain anon-ymous, said he was asked to get in contactwith the pilot flying the missing plane onan emergency frequency and establishtheir position. He said he believes he spoketo the co-pilot, but that there were ‘inter-

ference’ and ‘mumbling’ before they lostthe connection.

Earlier on Saturday, two oil slicks werespotted by the Vietnamese air force in theGulf of Thailand, about 90 miles south ofVietnam’s Tho Chu Island - the same areawhere the flight disappeared from radar.Investigators are narrowing the focus oftheir inquiries on the possibility that theplane disintegrated in mid-flight, a seniorsource said on Sunday

‘The fact that we are unable to find anydebris so far appears to indicate that theaircraft is likely to have disintegrated ataround 35,000 feet,’ said the source, whois involved in the investigations in Malay-sia.

The passports were used to buy ticketsbooked in the names of Italian Luigi Ma-raldi and Austrian Christian Kozel on March6, 2014, and issued in the Thai city of Pat-taya, a popular beach resort south of thecapital Bangkok.

The security breach has led to fears thatmissing Malaysia Airlines flight MH307may have been taken down by terrorists tobe heightened.

It comes as the chief of the Malaysian AirForce said that radar indicated the missingplane may have turned back before itcrashed.

‘What we have done isactually look into the record-ing on the radar that wehave and we realised thereis a possibility the aircraftdid make a turn back,’Rodzali Daud, the RoyalMalaysian Air Force chief,told reporters at a news con-ference.

Associate Professor FelixPatrikeeff, of Adelaide Uni-versity, said he was con-cerned by the number ofChinese passengers onboard and it may have beentargeted by the an anti-Chinese group such as theUighur militants from Chi-na’s restive Xinjiang prov-ince in the country’s north-west responsible for a sav-age knife attack that left 33dead at a Yunnan railwaystation on March 1..

Professor Patrikeeff saidthe plane may have beentargeted as a result of thenumber of prominent ar-tistes and calligraphers onboard — skills revered bythe Chinese.

Iraq suicide bombattack kills dozens

Ukrainian PM visits US over Crimea

A SUICIDE bomberdriving a mini-bus

packed with explosives haskilled at least 45 people andwounded 157 in the south-ern Iraqi city of Hilla, po-lice and medical, sourcessay.

The attacker approacheda main check-point at anorthern entrance to thelargely Shia Muslim cityand detonated the mini-bus, a police officer said oncondition of anonymity.

At least 50 cars were setablaze with passengerstrapped inside and part ofthe check-point complexwas destroyed, the officersaid.

It was not immediatelyclear who was behind theattack, but suicide bomb-ings are a trade-mark of al-Qaida-affiliated groups.

“I was sitting inside my

kiosk when suddenly a hor-rible blast threw me outsideand hurled my groceries upin the air. I saw cars setablaze with people burninginside,” said Abu Nawar,owner of a make-shift kioskmade of palm-tree leavesnear the check-point.

Police were using cuttingequipment to break insidethe burnt vehicles and liftout charred bodies, the po-lice officer said, adding thatthe death-toll was expect-ed to rise.

“When a policeman sus-pected the mini-bus, heasked the driver to pull overfor a check, but the vehicleexploded,” the police offic-er said.

Bombings and other at-tacks killed almost 8,000civilians in 2013, the worstperiod for the country since2008.

ARSENY YATSENIUK, the primeminister of Ukraine’s fledgling gov-

ernment, will visit Washington on Wednes-day, the White House has confirmed, asthe crisis over the seizure by Russian forc-es of the Crimean peninsula continues.

Yatseniuk revealed the Washington trip,in which he will visit the White House, ata government meeting in Kiev on Sun-day, saying it was aimed at “resolving thesituation unfolding in our bilateral andmultilateral relations”. It will involve “top-level meetings”, he said, though the WhiteHouse has yet to make clear whether thatwould include an audience with President

Barack Obama.Obama’s press secretary, Jay Carney,

said on Sunday the visit would highlight“the strong support of the United Statesfor the people of Ukraine, who have dem-onstrated inspiring courage and resiliencethrough recent times of crisis”.

Top of the agenda will be the search fora peaceful solution to Russia’s military in-tervention in Crimea, Carney said, as wellas economic support for the new Ukraini-an government.

The European Union has already offeredUkraine at least $15bn in aid, and the USa further $1bn.


OPINION

,

*Mr. Enekwechi, a public affairsanalyst, wrote from Abuja.

BY CHUKWUDI ENEKWECHI

,Innoson and Nigeria's industrialrevolutionBEFORE our very eyes, history is being

made with the emerging industrialrevolution in the country. While somepessimists are still looking in the future forNigeria’s version of industrial revolution,most discerning and visionary minds knowthat with the first made-in-Nigeria vehiclesby Innoson Group already on our roads, thestage is set for the expected sudden leap inindustrial activities.

Gladly, we have in place a visionaryPresident who understands that laying a solidfoundation for Nigeria’s industrial take offis a sine qua non for the nation’sdevelopment. For the first time in our history,we have a government that lays emphasison encouraging local industries to grow totheir fullest potentials.

For example, with the deliberate policy ofthe Dr Goodluck Jonathan administrationto patronise locally made vehicles likeInnoson, in preference to foreign madevehicles will no doubt spur many othercompanies to look inwards by setting uptheir plants in Nigeria. It is unimaginablethe level of relief this singular move willbring to the already saturatedunemployment arena. It is noteworthy thatdeveloped economies like USA, Japan,South Korea, China and Germany, among

others, boast of having majority of theircitizens employed in the automobileindustry.

Back home, with the emergence ofInnoson Vehicles Manufacturing Plant atNnewi, Anambra State, many qualifiedgraduates and non-graduates alike aretoday gainfully employed by the company.Additionally, by the singular innovation ofthe Innoson Group of manufacturingvehicles locally, many import- dependentmotor companies are now makingdesperate moves to set up their plants inNigeria, and this move would greatly helpto reduce the number of unemployed youthsin the country.

The move has the potential to save hardearned foreign currency, as this would nowbe channelled towards growing our GrossDomestic Product as well as strengthen theNaira. Government on its part has beenlending the necessary support by initiatinga National Automotive Policy, which seeksto redirect our attention to manufacturingmade-in-Nigeria vehicles. With the recentlaunch of the second phase of Nigeria’s

industrial revolution plan by PresidentJonathan, Nigeria is set to reap abundantbenefits of the multi-dimensional impactthese policies will have on the nation’seconomy.

It is, therefore, a thing of joy that theINNOSON Vehicles Manufacturing firmtook the first initiative to do the “impossible”– manufacturing Nigeria’s first vehiclesranging from cars, trucks, SUVs,compactors, buses and other brands.

Imagine for a moment where we have twovehicles manufacturing plants like Innosonin each of the six geo-political zones of thecountry, and the great boost it will bring tothe nation’s economy. It is acknowledgedworldwide that the private sector plays therole of growing the economy while thegovernment puts in place the relevantpolicies to drive and support them, as wehave in the National Automotive Policy.

The Jonathan administration is arguablythe first to envision the limitless potentialsavailable in the automotive sector, and theyhave rightly positioned it to play a majorrole in the industrial revolution of the

country. There is no arguing the fact that forNigeria to develop to the level of Asia Tigers,more emphasis needs to be paid to othersectors, other than oil. For instance, everystate or region ought to concentrate inareas that they have comparativeadvantage such as agriculture in theNorth, Cocoa in the West, Palm produceand industrial knowledge in the East.There is no doubt that if these areas areadequately tapped, Nigeria’s growth anddevelopment will be astronomical.

It is, therefore, worthy of commendationthat Innoson Vehicles ManufacturingCompany has taken the bold step to leadin setting up the first indigenous vehiclesmanufacturing plant in Nigeria. All handsmust be on deck to support their efforts,by patronising their products which gladlyhave been tested and certified as moredurable and qualitative than the importedvehicles.

Additionally, the patriotic act of Mr.President in privatising the power sectorwill no doubt result in an increase in thenation’s productive capacity. What ishowever required is for the government tomaintain a consistent policy direction forthe overall development of the nation.

FROM time to time, things hap pen and provide us the plat-

form to interrogate Nigeria’s cheq-uered history and relive its bitterimpact on one section or the otherof the country. When, about a yearago, Professor Chinua Achebejoined his ancestors, the system vir-tually exploded. His views in hislast book: There Was a Country, por-trayed Achebe’s views about theways the nation handled the eventsbefore, during and after the Bia-fra/Nigeria war. It became an oc-casion to reopen an old wound,which, to our shock, we discoveredwas still sore and suppuratingrather than healed even after fortythree years.

The celebration of the Centenaryof Nigeria’s history on Friday, Feb-ruary 28th 2014 by the FederalGovernment was another oppor-tunity to go down the blood-spat-tered memory lane of our history,particularly the stretch of it thatbrought about startling changes,which we are still experiencing tilldate. We will come to it shortly. Let

Soyinka versus Abacha orphans

me do the first things first.The Federal Government pub-

lished a list of 100 Nigerians it saidwere “outstanding” in the rolesthey played in the first 100 days ofNigeria’s existence. Of course, thatlist is the opinion of the FederalGovernment under PresidentGoodluck Ebele Jonathan. Per-haps, if another person had theprivilege of occupying that posi-tion today, there might be slightvariations. I daresay that the 100“outstanding” Nigerians who willbe celebrated by Diaspora Nigeri-ans on June 27th 2014 at theWaltham Forest Town Hall, Lon-don, will definitely parade starklydifferent set of awardees.

The word: “outstanding” can beconfusing, even misleading. Eve-rybody on that list was outstand-ing, indeed; but that is not the samething as being “saintly”. Thosewho criticised some individualsthere probably felt that a personought to be outstanding in a posi-tive way to make the list. But then

again, the word: “positive” canalso become contentious. For in-stance, under the subhead: “Out-standing Promoters of Unity, Pa-triotism and National Develop-ment”, all nine names except thelate President Umaru Yar’ Adua,were retired military generals, allnine names were also former pres-idents or heads of state except LtGen TY Danjuma. These were peo-ple who plotted coups against ourdemocracy, committed war crimes

during the civil war, promoted sec-tional domination, misruled Ni-geria to destitution, institutional-ised corruption and looted oureconomy. These were people whodestroyed the basis of our nation-al unity now being branded as“promoters” of patriotism and na-tional development simply be-cause they found themselves at thehelm of the nation’s affairs.

The most annoying name on thatlist is that of TY Danjuma, the manwho, in a fit of regional revenge,abducted and butchered his ownSupreme Commander, GeneralAguiyi-Ironsi. Danjuma, who is en-joying the fruits of his “labour” isa proud owner of oil blocks whohas become so rich that he doesnot know what to do with his mon-ey. Yet, Col. Adekunle Fajuyi, theman who performed an outstand-ing demonstration of honour, prin-ciple, patriotism and sacrifice, byoffering his life in defence of hisSupreme Commander and guest,Ironsi, was omitted. Well, it is said

that who win wars write histories.This list is the history written bycounter-coupists of July 1966 whopromoted pogroms in NorthernNigeria, committed genocidesduring the civil war and went onto seize the oil resources of theformer Eastern Region and NigerDelta. They can afford to thumptheir chests and declare themselves”patriots”, even though in theirforty one years of misrule theysowed poverty, disease, destitution,corruption, violent crimes, reli-gious conflicts and ethnic hatred.They left behind a nation thatlacked basic things like power, re-fineries, good roads, functionalhospitals, viable educational sys-tem and what have you.

The families of the late humanrights activist, Chief Gani Fawe-hinmi (SAN) distanced themselvesfrom the list, saying it was Babang-ida; one of the “promoters of pa-triotism and national develop-ment” who exposed their patriarchto the dangers that led to his even-tual demise. The Ransom-Kuti’sdemanded an apology first for thekilling of their grandmother, Mrs.Funmilayo by Obasanjo’s “Un-known soldiers” ordered by Dan-juma to burn Fela’s “KalakutaRepublic”. Both Fela and mummade the 100 names, and so didObasanjo and Danjuma. What anirony!

Professor Wole Soyinka is not astranger to rejection of awardsfrom the Nigerian governing es-tablishment. He has done so twicein the past. But this time, he con-sidered being lumped into thesame list with the late GeneralSani Abacha as a “national insult”he was not willing to partake of.He calls Abacha a “murderer andthief of no redeeming quality”. Ina rage, two of Abacha’s childrenwent on the social media andhurled insults back at Soyinka,

and mounted a spirited defence oftheir father. While Sadiq Abachatold Soyinka that his days as thepioneer Chairman of the FederalRoads Safety Corps (FRSC) wasnot exactly spotless as it witnessedthe “misuse” of funds, Gumsu saidshe was withdrawing her respectfor the Nobel Laureate.

Sadiq and his sister coming instout defence of their demised fa-ther is understandable. What elseshould they do? It was for their sakethat Abacha stashed away thosebillions. Ironically, as they bad-mouthed Soyinka, the UnitedStates government announced itwas confiscating yet another $458million Abacha loot. A Justice De-partment source, who disclosedthat the funds were stashed in bankaccounts in Britain, France andJersey, described Abacha as “oneof the most notorious kleptocratsin memory, who embezzled billionsfrom the Nigerian people whilemillions lived in poverty”.

Nigeria'shistory

The Abacha family is insulatedfrom the shame of their father’splace in Nigeria’s history becauseGeneral Abacha is still regardedas a hero in many parts of ArewaNorth. In fact, even some south-erners sometimes remember someof the good things the dictator didwhile alive. Though he hangedOgoni activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, thepeople of erstwhile backwater ar-eas like Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Ekiti,Nasarawa, Gombe and ZamfaraStates are still grateful to the manfor giving them their own states toenable them develop their home-lands with federal allocation.Abacha is also remembered forcreating the six geopolitical zones,which are now seen as potentiallymore viable federating units than

the 36-state structure. Abacha afi-cionados point to the exploits ofthe defunct Petroleum Trust Fund(PTF) which, even though it wasused to enrich northern techno-crats and unfairly site a large pro-portion of its projects in the Northunder General Muhammadu Bu-hari, its Executive Chairman, re-mains much talked about almosttwenty years after.

Whether some of these Abachagestures were by design or default,the fact remains that when he sud-denly died on June 8th 1998, thewhole nation erupted in jubilationas though Nigeria had won theFIFA World Cup. Abacha was setto remove his uniform and imposehimself as president for life justbefore he died. He would haveturned Nigeria into another Togo,Gabon and Syria, where sons in-herited the presidency from theirfathers. Nigerians would havelived under the servitude of theAbacha family till goodness knowswhen.

Abacha took Northern hegemo-ny to its worst extreme and wasready to make war on Yorubalandto do to it what was done to theEast and the Ogonis. After the fallof Abacha, the military – and theNorth whose interests they werepushing socio-politically and eco-nomically – became unpopular,and power shifted to the South.Power shift was the only thing thatstood between Nigeria and disin-tegration by the time Abacha’sreign of terror was over.

I think it was a good idea to markone hundred years of Nigeria’s ex-perience as a country. I don’t thinkit was a great idea naming those100 “outstanding Nigerians”,since the country is not yet out-standing except, in most cases, forthe negative reasons. Why wouldsuch a list have a place for SheikhAbubakar Gumi, whose preachingpromoted hatred between Mus-lims and Christians in the North,while keeping away Dr. Alex Ek-wueme, the proven most above-board public officer who ever oc-cupied the Vice Presidency as wellthe greatest promoter of transitionto the current democracy we arepractising today between 1996 and1998? And how many are moreoutstanding in Nigeria’s historythan Dim ChukwuemekaOdumegwu Ojukwu, ex-Biafraleader and the only non-presidentof Nigeria to be given a nationalburial by the Nigerian army?

They can afford to thump their chests anddeclare themselves ”patriots”, even thoughin their forty one years of misrule theysowed poverty, disease, destitution,corruption, violent crimes, religiousconflicts and ethnic hatred

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014—49Film academyplans careerempowermentMAGNUS Film

Academy (MFA),a subsidiary of MagnusFilm and Entertainment, isconducting a career train-ing programme for youthsin film production, model-ing and media presentationat its Enugu training cen-tre, March 14-19, 2004.

The academy with an af-filiation in the United Statesof America and France of-fers internship training andassociate degree pro-gramme and courses onfilm production, cinematog-raphy, acting, directing,producing, screen writing,video editing, media pre-sentation, creative designand modeling.

The career training pro-gramme tagged: “Scholar-ship Certified InternshipCourse On Art And FilmProduction” was precededby auditioning/entranceexamination conducted forprospects between Febru-ary 28 and March 1 2013,where qualified partici-pants emerged in differentcategories based on thegrades scored from assess-ment of judges comprisingactors/actresses from theNollywood, amongst whomwere film director, EmekaJonathan and Nollywoodactress Mrs. FlorenceOwanta. Also in atten-dance to give credence tothe exercise was chairman,Actors Guild of Nigeria,Enugu State Chapter, Mr.Stan Kay Amadi.

A CHIEFTAIN of theAll Progressives

Congress, APC, and formerCommissioner forCommerce, Tourism andCooperatives in OgunState, Chief Jide Ojuko,weekend, describedthe recently released AllProgressives Congressroad map as a laudableproject aimed at re-buildingthe nation.

Ojuko who spoke in Ota,Ogun State said that an AllProgressives Congressgovernment in 2015 wouldimplement people-orientedprogrammes that will makeit an envy of otherdeveloping countries.

The chieftain who said alot of researches have beenconducted by the party onways to move the nationforward, noted that with allthe nature’s gift in thecountry, the APC wouldharness the resources toturn them into fortunes. Hesaid that with the presentAPC controlled states in thesouth-west being modelsfor other states of thefederation, the APCneeded the people’ssupport and loyalty for theparty to form thegovernment in 2015.

Ojuko laudsAPC roadmap

J A I Y E O L A — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissJ o s e p h i n eOluwatoyin Jaiyeola,now wish to be knownand addressed asMrs. JosephineO l u w a t o y i nOlukotun. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

CLASSIFIEDVANGUARD

IGWEH —I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss Igweh Nneka,now wish to be knownand addressed as Mrs.Iweriebor Nneka. Allformer documentsremain valid. NigeriaPolice Force andgeneral public pleasetake note.

UZOMA—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss UzomaOgechi Abigail, nowwish to be known andaddressed as Mrs.Onyenobode OgechiAbigail. All formerdocuments remainvalid. MadonnaUniversity andgeneral public pleasetake note.

O K U N B O R — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissOkunbor Ogor Jessy,now wish to be knownand addressed asMrs. Igunbor OgorTestimony. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

O Y A K H I R E — I ,formerly known andaddressed asOyakhire StanleyElvis, now wish to beknown and addressedas Akweh StanleyElvis. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

O G B E V I R E — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissOgbevire EkugbereBrenda, now wish tobe known andaddressed as Mrs.Izakpa EkugbereBrenda. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

EKPERE—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss SoniaEkpere, now wish tobe known andaddressed as Mrs.Sonia Alohan. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please takenote.

E L I Z A B E T H — I ,formerly known andaddressed asElizabeth Japan, nowwish to be known andaddressed asOyakemeagbeghaJapan. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publictake note.

Confirmation of NameThis is to confirm thatthe name GodwinEjenavi Tete, refers toone and the sameperson as Samson TeteOsoro, now wish to beknown and addressedas Samson Tete Osoro.All former documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please take note.

PIUS—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss Esther PiusOmoize, now wish tobe known andaddressed as Mrs.Ekebafe EstherOmoize. All formerdocuments remainvalid. NYSC andgeneral public pleasetake note.

ANUNA—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss JulianaOgochukwu Anuna,now wish to be knownand addressed asMrs. JulianaO g o c h u k w uEzechukwu. Allformer documentsremain valid. NnamdiAzikiwe UniversityTeaching Hospitaland Union Bank Plc,Nnewi Branch, pleasetake note.

AMADI—I, formerlyknown andaddressed as MissChioma PrincessAmadi , now wish tobe known andaddressed as Mrs.Chioma PrincessJojo. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

ALKALI—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Mrs. AlkaliOluwakemi Zainab, nowwish to be known andaddressed as Mrs.Emmanuella OluwakemiOla Osanaiye. All formerdocuments remain valid.Nigerian Police Forceand general publicplease take note.

01- 8737025

ADVERTHOTLINE



DID you have the intentionof seeking a second term

when you sought for election thefirst time?

I did not seek for election in2007, as you put it. I wasn't evenin politics in the partisan senseof politics. I was prevailed uponto run. There is no one in politicsat that time that would say that Iwas one of those running aroundwanting to be governor. I did notset out to be governor which inthe true sense of it, is a duty andnot an ambition.

So, I was not ambitious. I wasnot interested but I waseventually convinced of thenecessity to put my hat into thering at the time.

So, if you want me to answeryour question properly, this isactually the first time I amrunning on the strength of myown conviction that I want to begovernor in Ekiti State. So, youcould call me an accidentalgovernor. But then, that accidentquickly stopped at the time Ireally became active in the race.

Attractiveperiod

I was convinced to run. I movedround the state and assessed theenormity of the challenge anddon't forget, when I threw my hatinto the ring the first time, acertain gentleman called AyoFayose was governor here and itwas not the most attractive periodfor anyone to want to becomegovernor in this state.

The question then amongmany of my friends in academiaand civil society was: ‘do youhave a death wish?’ ‘Why wouldI want to go and do this in a placeas dangerous as Ekiti?’ That wasthe general feeling. It was almostaimless boldness to venture intothe political terrain in Ekiti Stateat the time I did.

And I was like the most

IT was set to be a 40-minute interview with the Vanguard Political Desk that commenced shortly after 10 p.m. inthe Governor’s Office in Ado Ekiti last Tuesday. However, as Governor Kayode Fayemi churned out statistics onhis adventure in the Ekiti political turf, the time keeping Chief Press Secretary, Yinka Oyebode, lapsed in his dutyas the interview stretched beyond the hour. Governor Fayemi, a one-time democracy activist, and civil societychampion is at his most eloquent self when talking about how he is using the platform of office to champion theegalitarian ethos that he at one time could only talk about. The daily soup kitchen for citizens, the N5,000monthly cash benefit to the elderly and the uplifting of public schools are among indices that would give himattention in the congregation of social democrats. Excerpts:

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN,GBENGA ARIYIBI, DAPOAKINREFON, CHARLES

KUMOLU & GBENGA OKE

unknown quantity. If you recallat the time I came into the racein 2006, you already had the likesof Ayo Arise, Caleb Olubolade,Segun Oni, Dayo Adeyeye, DareBabarinsa already in the ring. Inmy party, we had 20 people,prominent Ekiti citizens, whowere in the race for the job.

I was an unknown quantity asfar as politics was concerned. Ididn't have the ambition to begovernor. I never really had anambition to be governor but whenI was convinced to be governor,I saw it as a duty to the partywhich was out of office at the time.

One of the people whoconvinced me to run happenedto be the former governor,Otunba Niyi Adebayo.

Now why do you want to gofor a second term?

I have an unfinished task. Thetask is not complete. We haverestored Ekiti back to its pride ofplace. But restoration does notnecessarily equate totransformation. Restorationbrings Ekiti to a point of stability.

definitely dented the impact ofpoverty in our state but we stillhave some way to go.

Given the saying that nogovernor of Ekiti State goes fora second term, could it besuggested that your declarationfor a second term is the causeof the heightened tension in thestate?

I have already indicated that forme, this is a duty and not an

ambition. And I have made adistinction between a duty andan ambition. What am Iconstitutionally and legallyallowed? I don't believe I amsubverting the constitutionalobligation that I have asenshrined in the Nigerianconstitution. I also think it isactually a myth when people sayin this part there has been notwo-term governor. Even thoughwe had seven governors in thelast seven years before I becamegovernor, that simply tells youthat none of them evencompleted a term in office, letalone have ideas about runningfor any other term. You need tocomplete one term beforewanting to run for another. So,when they say that, they don'tadd that only one governorcompleted a democratic term inoffice, and that is Governor NiyiAdebayo.

And there are many people inthis state who continue to insistthat Adebayo won the election in2003. Let us even assume that itis true that there has been none,(but) so it was in Kano beforeShekarau became a two termgovernor. So it was next doorOndo where it was also said thatno one could be a two-termgovernor. The choice is verysimple.

Luckily, this a state where theprominent parties have both hada go at it. PDP had been incharge of this state for seven andhalf years. Place the twogovernments of the PDP and oursside by side and do adispassionate analysis of what weboth contributed to governance.Every asset that is standing onground in this state, happenedunder the progressive wing.Whether you are talking of EkitiHouse in Abuja, Ikogosi WaterSprings that many people arevisiting now, or the revived bricksfactory among others, you willrealise they all happened underthe watch of the progressives.

I do not delude myself that wehave achieved all that we set outto achieve.

First, most of the people I knoware no longer ashamed to say thatthey are from Ekiti now unlikewhat used to happen.

For me, people make referenceto what we have done in theeducation sector, infrastructure,health care and particularly, thesocial security for the elderly, butthat is not my most profoundvalue addition if you ask me. Itis the restoration of dignity andrespect to Ekiti. So, when we sayland of honour, people know thatwe are honourable people whohave nothing else but integrityto sell. And it is a high net-worthvalue for me.

That has since translated intopractical deliverables in thevarious sectors because the factthat my word is my bond hasenabled me to say that Ipromised this on October 16, 2010when I delivered my inauguraladdress, and this is where we arenow on that agenda. We have

•My success story•Second term is not a myth for Ekiti governors•Why life expectancy is highest in Ekiti

Ekiti guber: Why I don’t trust INEC — Gov Fayemi,

,That is in terms of physical

infrastructure. If you talk in termsof human development, whichinvolves social security, youthvolunteer scheme, peace corps,we have also done much. InAgriculture, the story is clear. Ifyou talk of health care in termsof the state of hospitals, access tohealthcare, health insurance, it

gone way beyond the 70 per centmark, but it is still unfinishedbusiness because poverty has notbeen totally eradicated.

The vision as advertised toeverybody in Ekiti, whichbecame a mantra in the eightpoint agenda for Ekiti recoverywas that we want to make povertyhistory in Ekiti State and I don'tthink we have fully done that. We

•Fayemi: I didn't have the ambition to be governor

So, if you want me to answer your questionproperly, this is actually the first time I amrunning on the strength of my own convictionthat I want to be governor in Ekiti State

CMYK


Continues from page 50is only under us that these thingsoccurred. Of course, if you talkof education, the statistics arevery clear. You only need to go tothe merged Ekiti State Universityand see a focused governmentthat has an agenda foreducational reform. If you don'twant to go as far as the university,check out what is happening atthe secondary school level. Thestatistics are also clear.

So, I don't know how that willnow be the source of tension. Theevidence before us suggests thatif you don't want to arrestdevelopment, then continuity isvery critical to growth, especiallyin an environment where everytime government has beensidetracked or affected by theterm of office, you also almostautomatically have abandonmentof key initiatives.

This is the only government inEkiti State that did not abandonprojects of previous governments.The projects that GovernorAdebayo did that wereabandoned, the residences of ourHouse of Assembly members thatFayose never touched are there.This (Governor’s Office) is a

government that has pioneeredall these things.

This is a government thatrenovated and reconstructed 183secondary schools and 856primary schools, some of themhad not been touched sinceduring the time of Chief ObafemiAwolowo. We received the goodnews from Abuja of having thebest primary school in thecountry. The Stock Exchange dida competition just late last yearand our College of EducationDemonstration School in Ikere-Ekiti came first. The stateuniversity made the best resultin the Law school this year. Forthe first time in 34years, EkitiState University has all its coursesaccredited by NationalUniversities Commission,(NUC).

This was a university that wasin the doldrums when I becamegovernor and I took that step thatmany believed to be foolish bymerging three universities. I didwhat I had to do and I told peoplethat leadership is not bypopularity contest, it was abouta clear mission, a solid missionand about the deliverable. Myinterest is that teachers who teachin our schools must improvethemselves. Today, we have seenthe results because students areleaving private schools for publicschools in Ekiti State and wehave to give the credit to theteachers for the work they havedone but they should not relentbecause I want the future of ourchildren to be better.

Is there any truth tospeculations that you and yourone-time political associate,Opeyemi Bamidele are in talksfor reconciliation?

If Opeyemi believes that he isnot my friend, that is hisprerogative. Opeyemi is myfriend. He will remain my friendfor as long as I live. I considerhim more than a friend. I considerhim a brother and that is why hecould do all of what he is doingwithout my batting an eyelid. ButI also said to you, in times past,that there is nothing wrong inhaving an ambition, it is

legitimate.The only objection I had was

the notion that he was houndedout of the party because there wasno space for him to contest. I willgive you specific examples andevidence that Opeyemi neverapproached the party that hewanted to run for any office, notat the ward level, not at the localgovernment level and not at thestate level. So, nobody couldhave denied him the right to run.

Denial ofright to run

His objection was that somepolitical leaders in our party hadendorsed the governor and youcannot legislate againstendorsement. Endorsement isnot election, it is not primaries.Chief Obafemi Awolowoendorsed a gentleman named JSOlawoyin as the candidate forUPN in Kwara State. Thatprimary held thrice, someunknown university lecturernamed CO Adebayo defeated thegiant of Kwara politics.

Chief Awolowo had no choicethan to accept the result eventhough his own colleague andfriend, whom he wanted, was thevictim of that race. Nobody saidOpeyemi could not run.Opeyemi, in his own estimation,looked at the terrain and felt ifthis man has been endorsed bysome leaders of the party, if I runagainst him, it may be a futileeffort. Why don't I go to anotherparty? And he is right in doingthat. I don't think that shouldmake enemies of us.

Are there indications onground to buttress claims byINEC chairman that the Ekitielections would be the best in thecountry given the fallouts fromthe recent election in Anambra?

Let’s just say the taste of thepudding is in the eating. INECis always good at demonstratingpreparedness but there is alwaysa difference betweendemonstrating preparedness andimplementing preparedness.

I would like to think thatProfessor Jega is genuinelycommitted to a clean and credibleprocess. The little that I know ofhim gives me that sense that heis genuine about his claims.

But when you do things thesame way and you expectdifferent results, it does not comeacross to me as genuinepreparedness. I will like to beproved wrong that I have notseen that qualitative, objective,independent readiness. MaybeI don't know enough of what isin place.

But I sit in my vantage position,I monitor what is going on and Ialso talk to those who aresomewhat involved in theprocess and I do not get a sensethat we have learnt lessons. Butthen, my reactions maybeextreme because I have been avictim as you know and I am notprepared to give INEC a benefitof the doubt. My own mantra isto be over prepared for them.

that those local roads are beingconstructed. In Ado, we have hada peculiar challenge with thecontractor handling thebeautification and the contracthas been revoked. And there isa process to that. We cannot geta new person to do it until welegally remove those who werein charge of the original contract,that is the reason for that. I knowthat the new contractors are aboutto start work on the beautificationof Ado Ekiti.

Your administration initiatedcommunity developmentprojects across the state. To whatextent have they benefited thepopulace?

We have spent so far aboutN614 million on the variousprojects. The way we went aboutit was that we had a philosophythat the people are the bestmonitors and implementers ofprojects that are dear to theirhearts.

Best monitors andimplementers

These were projects submittedby the communities and notgovernment projects. They are

that you are going to use thecompetitive test introduced byyour government to sack them?

Anyone who asks you toimprove cannot hate you. Ifsomebody is interested in youbecoming better and much morequalitative in what you do, thenthe person loves you. I think Imust admit that there are timeswhen good initiatives may becommunicated in a way that itdoes not achieve the objectivethat you set out to achieve. I don'tthink there is any teacher in thisstate that believes that I hateteachers.

First, I am a product of a teacherand secondly, I am a teacher bytraining. Thirdly, free educationis an obsession for me and atevery opportunity. I also want toimprove myself and I wantpeople around me to also beimproved. Fourthly, I am aproduct of public schooleducation in this state, not inLagos or Abuja. You can walk tomy school in ten minutes fromhere (Governor’s Office).

So, I grew up here and I knewwhat solid public education waswhen I was growing up, and Ireally wanted to rekindle thatwhen I became governor here. Ican tell you that teachers in Ekitihave never had it so good.

Core subjectallowance

So if you teach English,Mathematics or you teach basicscience in Ekiti. On top of yournormal salary, you get 20 per centas an incentive. This is anaddition to the general teachers’peculiar allowance. In fact, otherworkers of government arecomplaining that teachers in Ekitiare too well treated to their owndetriment. For the first time in thehistory of this state, primaryschool teachers are getting carloans. We gave car loans tosecondary schools and civilservants in. the state. But theprevious government did noteven give loans to anybody,whether you are primary orsecondary teachers. This is the

•Fayemi: I said I was not going to abandon any project

, ,hotel built by Governor Adebayoand somebody came and saidthis is more befitting for me asan office, but we would have beenmaking more money if it hadremained in its original state thatGovernor Adebayo put it.

I came and said I was not goingto abandon any project. Peoplethought I was stupid, ‘how couldyou be doing the road to yourenemy’s hometown?’ But I saidGovernor Oni is not my enemy. Ionly challenged him because Iwas convinced that I won anelection. The money that wasbeing used to construct the roadto Ifaki was not Governor Oni’spersonal money. It is Ekiti money,it is our commonwealth. So, whywould I abandon it simplybecause it goes to Oni’s village?When I came, the road toGovernor Fayose's home townwas the worst road in the state. Iwas the one who did it. Virtuallyall the roads leading to thesupposed enemies' home towns,I did them because I felt it wasright the thing to do.

I don't see any tension.Naturally, when election is on theway, it is the nature of politiciansto exaggerate their ownimportance and to give a senseof 'if not me, hell will break loose'.

The urban renewal projectembarked upon by youradministration in Ado Ekitiseems to have stagnated. Is itpaucity of funds?

Work has not stopped. If yougo to Ikole or Ikere, you will see

not really gigantic projects. Whatwe did was to take the presidentsand secretaries of the townunions to a workshop. Theywould bring their projects. Theywould also bring their plans andthe costs.

We will then send people fromour Ministry of RuralDevelopment to assess andevaluate projects and we thengive them money in phases. 50per cent to start, then 30 per centand 20 per cent subsequently.

And the evidence before usindicates that in virtually all thecommunities where we haveprojects, it is almost 80 per centcompletion, and they have beencompleted on time and cost.They have done much bettermore than we are able to do as agovernment that awardscontracts to people outside.

From the assessment I havedone, it simply shows that peopletake ownership of what theyimplement and it is difficult tosteal community money. If it isgovernment, nobody isgovernment. Governmentmoney is money for everybodyand whoever can grab. I have anunfinished task at Govt House.

That is the notion that has beenengraved in people's mind. Butfor communities, you need to seethe kind of accounting recordsthat they keep. It is one of themost successful project initiativeswe have come up with.

Why do you hate Teachers inEkiti State given the allegation

Opeyemi never approached the party that hewanted to run for any office, not at the wardlevel, not at the local government level andnot at the state level

Ekiti: 2nd term is not a myth — Fayemi

CMYK

52—————Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014

CMYK


CMYK


Leon Balogun, will after allnot undergo surgery on hisinjured right foot, Germanmedics ruled at the week-end.An excited Balogun saidfrom his German base onSunday that when he wentfor a second check on hisinjury he was told by doc-tors that the injury hesustained in the friendlyagainst Mexico lastWednesday in Atlanta,Georgia, United States isnot as serious as previous-ly envisaged hence therewill be no need for surgery.“They told me that the twobones broken are in thebase of my foot, which willheal on their own and willnot require me to undergoany surgical operation. Iwas also told that within sixweeks I should be in goodcondition and another twoor four weeks for

BalogunContinued from BP

club.The Nigeria midfielder

has not enjoyed as muchgame-time as he did lastseason and reports havelinked him with a moveto Inter Milan in the sum-mer.

But Mikel has toldMTNFootball.com thereis no truth in such reportsas he has a contract till2 0 1 7 .Mikel also spoke on hisdream to win a secondEPL championship atStamford Bridge.

He equally said thatEagles will shine at Bra-zil 2014 by stopping a los-ing run against Argenti-na at the World Cup tobegin with.

EaglesContinued from BP On how this season been

for you and Chelsea,Mikel said “so far, it hasbeen good. We are top ofthe table in EPL and stillin contention for theChampions League. It’sbeen great”.

Asked on the likelihoodof Chelsea winning bothtitles, Mikel said ‘we arecapable of winning bothtrophies, but we have notwon anything yet. Theleague, we are leadingand need to remain fo-cused and get good re-sults in the remaininggames, same for Cham-pions League. We willcontinue to give our bestin the remaining games,we will take them as theycome”.

EzekielContinued from BP

Saturday night.The newly-capped Ni-

geria international cameoff the bench on the hour-mark, in place of YoniBuyens, with his team yetto find a way past the op-position’s resilientdefence.

Micky Batshuayi how-ever opened scoring forthe hosts with a 72ndminute strike, courtesy ofan assist from Moroccanmidfielder MehdiCarcela. Before Ezekielstruck in the 84th minute

to seal the win for Stand-ard.

The 20-year-old has nowscored ten league goals in29 appearances for Stand-ard Liege who hold a six-point lead at the top of theJupiler Pro League tablewith 66 points from 29games.

In other games, MichaelUchebo saw full minutes ofaction for Cercle Brugge asthey succumbed to a 4-1home defeat at the handsof KAA Gent. GabrielReuben was not listed forWaasland-Beveren as theyheld Lokeren to a goallesdraw.

WolvesContinued from BP

after they eliminatedCameroon’s UnionDouala. On Sunday,Wolves drew 1-1 withUnion Douala at home toadvance to the next roundof the competition 4-3 onaggregate after they wonthe first leg 3-2 in Cam-eroon.

Musa Najare, whoscored in Cameroon,tucked away the matchwinner from the penaltyspot on 55 minutes afterEtebo Oghenekaro wasbrought down inside thebox.

Visiting Union Doualadrew level in the 90thminute also through apenalty converted by DjanTchan Christian.The first half at the WarriCity Stadium was evenlybalanced as both sideswent at each other.

Nigeria’s other repre-sentatives in the competi-tion, Bayelsa United, willface How Mine ofZimbabwe in the secondround. The ConfederationCup second matches willbe played at the weekendof March 21-23.

Nigeria endSopotadventuremedallessFOR the third

consecutive edi-tion Team Nigeria has failedto make it to the podium asthe curtains were drawn onthe biennial 15th IAAFWorld Indoor Champion-ships in Sopot,Poland yes-terday. Sprinter,GloriaAsumunu crashed Nige-ria’s final hope of a podiumappearance when she fin-ished seventh in the 60mfinal,one step lower than hersixth place finish two yearsago in Istanbul,Turkey at the14th edition of the champi-onships.

The reigning African200m queen had raisedhopes of a possible upsetwhen she ran 7.11 sec-onds to place second be-hind Cote D’Ivoire’s Mu-riel Ahoure (7.06).Shewas however blown awayby the strong field whichincluded double sprintschampions at the IAAFWorld outdoor champion-ships in Moscow, Russialast year, Shelly-Ann Fras-er-Pyrce who won the titlein 6.98 seconds andAhoure who came second.

Earlier in the day thewomen’s 4x400m relayteam failed to replicate inthe final the 3:29.67 Afri-can Indoor Record theyran in the semi-final asthey finished last. Quarter-miler, Regina George hadraised Nigeria’s biggesthope for a medal when sheran 51.60 seconds, the fast-est time in the first roundto qualify for the semi-fi-nals.

rehabilitation. Overall Ishould be back kicking theball by the time the nationalteam returns to camp”, hedeclared.Already, treatment for the25 year defence ace hasalready began in Germanand the Nigerian medicsare also keeping a close tabon his treatment. “Yes, Ihave been in touch with DrIbrahim Gyaran, teamadministrator, Dayo EnebiAchor and I must say I am

totally overwhelmed by theshow of love by Nigeriansand fans across the world.I remain committed to over-come this initial setbackand return quickly for theWorld Cup preparations”,he said.He said he will keep fitwhile recuperating byvisiting the gym regularly.“I just hope I don’t look toomuscular when I resumetraining, but I will keep fitwhile I try to get myselfready for futurechallenges”, he saidlaughing.

PMS: Tanker drivers shut downOshodi-Apapa expressway again•We need federal assistance- Lagos•We have no where to pack our tankers to load fuel -n NUPENG•Navy promises to help clear mess

BY KINGSLEY ADEGBOYE, VICTORAHIUMA-YOUNG, OLASUNKANMIAKONI, SEBASTNE OBASI & KUNLE

KALEJAYE

APAPA /OSHODI expressway has literally been shutdown since Friday

with yesterday being the most agonizingfor motorists. The shutdown was causedby tankers and trailers that seized themajor economic artery of the country. Alllaw enforcement agencies pleaded help-lessness yesterday with the policemen dis-appearing from the roads completely leav-ing trapped motorists at the mercy ofthieves.

The situation was compounded by theongoing slow paced construction work onthe road by Julius Berger. The mayhemwas justified by the Nigeria Union of Pe-troleum and Natural Gas Workers, NU-PENG, yesterday. A source told Vanguardthat the blockade was caused partly by adirective from the Minister of PetroleumResources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke,who reportedly gave a 48-hour deadlineto Pipelines and Products MarketingCompany, PPMC, and oil marketers toclear the long queues at filling stationsand end the lingering fuel shortages.

To meet the deadline, PPMC, said it willinject additional 110 million litres of petrolinto the market this week.

Lagos State government, in its reactionto the development, urged motorists andresidents of the area to be patient, admit-ting it lacked the wherewithal to enforcethe law to the letter on the axis withoutfederal agencies’ support. This came asNUPENG blamed the development on thefact that tanker drivers from all parts ofthe country converged on Apapa to takedelivery of the product, as that was theonly place in the country fuel was avail-able.

Naval authoritiesgive assurance

Although the naval authorities assuredlast night that its personnel were on theirway to clear the tankers off the road, thesituation at press time, remained the samewith no respite for motorists and other roadusers. The expressway was completelyshut down, Friday, as movement wasbrought to a halt. The tanker drivers aban-doned their vehicles on the road as lateas 1.00am. The situation grew worse yes-terday.

When contacted, the Lagos State Com-missioner for Transportation, Kayode Ope-ifa, lamented the situation, saying the fed-eral agencies had to do the needful to helptraffic situation at Apapa.

Opeifa said, “We have called severalstakeholders meetings on how to keepApapa moving even during scarcity butthe oil unions have not kept to their ownside of the bargain. The problem withApapa has to do with the influx of articu-lated vehicles, both tankers and contain-ers, heading for the port to load goods.

“We were made to understand that Apa-pa ports were the only ports dischargingPMS in the country, hence, the high in-flux to the area. And not until the situa-tion improves, we will continue to havethe same problem recurring. I think weneed the collaboration of the Nigeria Po-

lice and the Navy to help sanitize the areawhich the only federal government cando. But we are doing our best despite theinadequate manpower, to keep the trafficgoing in the area and we will continue tomobilize our men to manage traffic situa-tion.”

It will be recalled that, disturbed by thetraffic gridlock experienced by motoristsas a result of the indiscriminate parkingof tankers and other articulated vehicleson the Apapa-Oshodi expressway, espe-cially around the Lagos sea ports and TankFarm locations, the state government sum-moned the leadership of the various trans-port operators working in the corridor tofashion out strategies to resolve thepresent gridlock and put smiles back onthe faces of Lagos commuters and motor-ists.

The meeting, chaired by the commis-sioner and representatives of NationalUnion for Petroleum and Natural Gas,NUPENG, and Association of MaritimeTransport Owners, AMATO, agreed to calltheir members to order by moving out ofthe road and staying within the designat-ed areas assigned to them.

According to one of the tanker drivers,Alhaji Ahmed Mustapha, “I have no op-tion now, the road to Apapa is blockedand I have to load my tanker. I came fromKogi State for the past three days. I havenot got supply and there is no parkingspace for us.”

NUPENGregrets hardship

Meanwhile, NUPENG, while regrettingthe pain and hardship caused Nigerians,promised that it would do all within itspowers to ensure that members, especial-ly tanker drivers, respect the right of oth-er road users.

Lagos Zonal Chairman of NUPENG,Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, who overseesNUPENG in South-West States and Ilor-in, Kwara State, attributed the chaotic sit-uation on the road to tanker drivers’ rushto load product and reduce the scarcity offuel that Nigerians had been goingthrough for about three weeks.

He lamented that it was only tank farmsin the Apapa axis that had fuel, prompt-ing tanker drivers from all parts of the coun-try to load fuel. Korodo said tank farmowners asked tanker drivers to come andload on Sunday to ensure Nigerians gotpetrol from today.

Korodo said, “It is only in the Apapa axisthat we have fuel and tanker drivers camefrom all parts of the country to Lagos toload. Tank owners called the tanker driv-ers to come and load on Sunday to ensurethat from Monday (today) and lessen thehardship and suffering Nigerians havebeen going through for nearly three weeknow. We will immediately move in to en-sure that our members respect the right ofother road users.”

Explaining why tanker drivers park onthe highway, Korodo in an earlier inter-view, had said: “When the tanker driversare told to come and load and there is nofree passage, there will be traffic on theroad. One of the major reasons for thischaos is lack of parking space. We havein Orile, known as Asiwaju Bola AhmedTinubu Truck Terminal.


,

Thanks Bolaji....farewell Nwako....Sad sad Enyimba

,

I was not supposed to be shocked by the ousterof Sport Minister Bolaji Abdullahi. Given the

political atmosphere, we saw it coming. Some onlyprayed for a miracle of sorts.....no wonder it madeheadlines.

By circumstance the ex Sports Minister found him-self supervising the sports ministry and did so wellthat he was retained. True to tradition we the “ stake-holders” cried foul when he was appointed. Wewondered why one of “ our own “ could not be foundto man the ministry. The young man came in at avery difficult time in the life of our football, oursports, waded and weathered through the storm .Restored peace in our warring house of football.

With the arrival of Hon Gbenga Elegbeleye, theformer vice Chairman of the House Committee onSports as his DG, sports blossomed to no end.

He was pragmatic while he lasted. A positivedreamer, intelligent and full of ideas. Young andoptimistic. Am I painting the picture of an angel?Far from it. He had his own foibles, the human thathe is, but his positives were exemplary.

A few will suffice even as chronicled by his office. “After a hiatus of 19 years, Nigeria won the pres-

tigious Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in SouthAfrica in February 2013. The last time the countrywon the tournament was in Tunisia in 1994. Nige-ria’s senior national team, the Super Eagles havealso qualified for the World Cup in Brazil 2014. Inthe final play-off, the Super Eagles beat theWaylasof Ethiopia home and away, and will fly Nigeria’sflag for the fifth time at the World Cup.

“Similarly, our Under 17 side, the Golden Ea-glets won the FIFA Under 17 World Cup in the Unit-ed Arab Emirate. It was the fifth time Nigeria wouldwin the tournament.

“Under the Minister’s leadership, there was arepositioning of the domestic football league in linewith global best practices. The new League Man-agement Company (LMC) has restored credibilityand transparency to the management of the Nigeri-an Premier League. For the first time in three years,the LMC has been able to secure a title sponsor forthe premier league, and attracted broadcast spon-sorship to the tune of $34million (for a 4-year deal).Clubs, for the first time in recent years, were alsopaid for participating in the league. The reform toensure that Nigeria has one of the best leagues inthe world is on going.

“In athletics, just like in football and weightlift-ing, Nigeria has become the number one nation inAfrica. Never in the history of African athletics hasone nation been the winner of the Senior, Juniorand Youth Championships at the same time. Nige-ria has won the whole three in the last two years.First we won the Senior Athletics Championship inPort Novo (June 27–July1, 2012), followed by theinaugural Youth Championship in Warri, Delta State(March 2013) and lastly, we won the Junior Cham-pionship in Mauritius (August- September 2013).

“After a 14 years’ absence on the medals table ofthe IAAF World Championships, Blessing Okagbarewon two medals for Nigeria in the last IAAF WorldChampionship, which took place in Russia in Au-gust 2013. She won a silver medal in long jumpand a bronze medal in the 200meter race. The lasttime Nigeria won any medal was at the Seville’99IAAF World Championship in Seville, Spain, whereGloria Alozie and Francis Obikwelu won a silvermedal in the 100m hurdles and a bronze medal inthe 200m respectively.

“To ensure early identification and discovery of

athletes, the first ever National Youth Games, forathletes between the ages of 13 and 17, took placein December 2013 with over 300 special talents dis-covered. The Games will be held yearly.

“The National Sports Commission (NSC) has re-vitalised the National Academic Sports Committee(NASCOM), which is tasked with developing grass-roots sports. Mr President launched NASCOM’sflagship programme for grassroots sports develop-ment, Rhythm and Play in June 2013. NASCOM’smandate through the RnP approach is to get 2mil-lion additional children to participate in sports.NASCOM is already registering schools, gamemasters and children to achieve this goal.

“As part of its RnP programme, NASCOMhas start-ed distributing sports equipment to schools. For theNorth central Zone, the distribution of sports equip-ment to the schools was done in Lafia, Nassarawastate in November 2013.

“Nigeria is in the process of establishing the firstHigh Performance System in the whole of West Af-rica. The HPS is a science –based support systemfor elite athletes. The National High PerformanceDirector has been appointed and would see to thedevelopment of the HPS in selected sports. Also thefirst High Performance Centre in West Africa is be-ing built in Abuja and was due for completion inFebruary 2014. Already, the NSC has procured allthe equipment required for it.

“After the failure of Team Nigeria to win a medalat the London 2012 Olympics, the Presidency withactive participation of the NSC organised the firstever Presidential Retreat on Sports. ConsultantsMcKenzie were tasked with putting the retreat to-gether. It held in November 2011, with major stake-holders in Nigerian sports attending. The outcomeof the retreat is the blueprint, which provided aholistic framework for sports development in Nige-ria. The key recommendations were on funding,private sector participation, management and ad-ministration, and developing grassroots sports.

“Nigeria developed new election guidelines andcode of governance for the administration of sports

federations. The code focused on entrenching theprinciples of transparency, efficiency and account-ability across the Federations while providing aframework that maintains an ethical culture througha committed self-regulatory approach. We imple-mented the new guidelines for the last elections intothe boards of sports federations and many analystssay the elections were the best in recent times

“Also, working with the office of the CME andthe GTBank, Nigeria is developing a framework forsustainable private-sector-driven Sports Develop-ment Fund that explores opportunities in lottery andadditional tax on some luxury goods such as tobac-co and alcohol.”

We have certainly not seen the last of this jour-nalist colleague of mine. Thanks Sir as you moveon in life, even as I welcome your successor on towhat is believed to be a “ hot seat “

Farewell Festus Nwako

CHIEF Jonathan Ogufere, President, Association of Sports Veterans, Nigeria, former Pres-

ident of WAFU and founder of Vasco Dagama Foot-ball Club of Enugu, mourns today “ a man who puthis private Medical Centre at the disposal of VascoDa Gama so much that the boys became very closeto him, appreciated and loved him.

“Boys” here include Patrick Ekeji, Obed Ariri,Nwadioha, Okey Emordi, Alphonsus Dike, JamesUdemba, Innocent Nwankwo and all those whomade Vasco tick in those days.

Chief Ogufere recalls that in those days, Dr Nwa-ko, a native of Abagana in Anambra State was oneof the foremost supporters and promoters of theClub. “ highly versatile, he went on to become thefirst Vice Chancellor of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Uni-versity in Awka.

“We lost touch only for me to stumble on an obitu-ary in one of the papers last week. This is a greatloss and on behalf of Management, Staff and play-ers of the old P and T Vasco Dagama, I pay him ahigh tribute and bid his soul sweet repose” ChiefOgufere concluded.

So Enyimba is out?

THIS, calls for a National Conference on Sports.This is no joke. When Pillars were ousted, I

believed the NFF should be worried and ask why.Now that Enyimba is out, we should be more wor-ried. Last year our four clubs could not go pass thefirst round.

I salute Bayelsa United who on Saturday pro-gressed at the expense of Konzo F.C of Congo. Ibelieve Warri Wolves that did not play at the time Ifiled in my column will also go through. But whatlesson do they have to learn from the crash of the “big boys?”

It is so sad that when the Champions League startsat the so called lucrative level, Nigeria will not berepresented.

I must confess that given the pedigree of Enyim-ba and the experience of her Chairman I was veryoptimistic that Enyimba could still sail through andtold Chief Anyansi so. His response was heart warm-ing, vowing to fight to the end. When they wentone goal up in Mali, I thought this was it, untilthey went down fighting in victory, too little too late.

So so sad.....See you next week.

The young man came in at avery difficult time in the life ofour football, our sports, wadedand weathered through thestorm

DOLPHINS FCmanager, Stanley

Eguma believes the fail-ure of the Nigeria Profes-sional Football League(NPFL) season to com-mence on schedule is pri-marily responsible for theexit of two-time Africanchampions, Enyimbafrom the 2014 Caf Cham-pions League.

Enyimba faltered in thefirst round of the compe-

tition losing on the awaygoal rule to Malian club,AS Real de Bamako af-ter a 2-2 draw over twolegs.

Eguma reckons theMalians “would havebeen easily beaten” byEnyimba if the People’sElephant were involvedin competitive gamesbefore they faced RealBamako.

“I said it even before

Enyimba crashed outthat things would behard because they hadnot been involved incompetitive matches.

“I saw the first leggame between Enyimbaand Real Bamako and Ican say it anywhere thatan Enyimba side thatwas involved in compet-itive matches would haveeasily beaten that Malianside,” Eguma said.

Why Enyimba crashed, by Eguma

•Anyansi Agwu

THERE are strongindications that Ju-

won Oshaniwa’s timewith MS Ashdod willcome to an end this sum-mer, according to reportsin Israel.

The 23 - year - old wasthrown out of the squadfor the league match withHapoel Tel Aviv on Sat-urday, having arrived Is-rael only on Friday nightfrom the United States

where Nigeria took onMexico in a friendly.

According to the reli-able Sports Walla, JuwonOshaniwa has confidedin one of his teammatesthat he plans to leaveAshdod this summer ashe has proposals fromother teams. It should benoted that the left back isnot talking himself intotrouble as the higher upsat Ashdod plan to doaway with his services.

Oshaniwa thrown out by Israeli club

CMYK

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Website: www.vanguardngr.com (ISSN 0794-652X) Editor: MIDENO BAYAGBON. Phone: 01-7742861, All correspondence to P.M.B. 1007, Apapa Lagos.

How to Play Sudoku

Place a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line canhave two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (alsonine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within abold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1through 9. This means that no number can appear twicein any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, divisionor multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

YESTERYESTERYESTERYESTERYESTERDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSTODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLE

Sudoku

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

VANGUARD,VANGUARD,VANGUARD,VANGUARD,VANGUARD, MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014 MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014 MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014 MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014 MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014

QUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORD

ACROSS: 1, Fracas 2, Pillar 8, Business 9,Unit 10, Shy 12, Anger 15, Out 17, Inn 18,Elf 19, Ape 20, Gruff 21, For 22, Lie 23,Eke 24, End 26, Layer 29, Row 33, Idea34, Deranged 35, Pester 36, Letter.

ACROSS1 Go by (4)4 Beaker (3)6 Wisdom (4)9 Wonder (3)10 Novice (8)11 Breed (4)14 Sever (3)16 Trivial (5)19 Dead (8)21 Renovate (5)23 Gift (8)24 Tendency (5)27 Wand (3)31 Dingy (4)33 Unusual (8)34 Each (3)35 Mirth (4)36 Colour (3)37 Cultivate (4)

DOWN2 Elderly (4)3 Uttered (4)4 Baffled (8)5 Divide (4)6 Huge (5)7 Be indebted (3)8 Respond (5)12 Confess (5)13 Twenty (5)14 Vehicle (3)15 Singer (5)17 Shy (5)18 Youthful (5)20 Condemn (8)22 Lump (3)25 Rustic (5)26 Peer (5)28 Impetuous (4)29 Courage (4)30 Bucket (4)32 Beer (3)

DOWN: 2, Rough 3, Crib 4, Stern 5, Paste 6,Lout 7, Adieu 10, Scare 11, Yield 12, Angel13, Gaudy 14, Refer 15, Offer 16, Throw 25,Nudge 27, Adder 28, Enrol 30, Obese 31,Cant 32, Knot.

RESULTS

FA CupSheffield Utd 2 Charlton 0Hull City 3 Sunderland 0

SERIE AJuventus 1 Piorentina 0Bologna 0 Sassuolo 0Chievo 2 Genoa 1Inter 1 Torino 0Lazio 0 Atalanta 1Parma 2 Verona 0Sampdoria 4 Livorno 2

R-E-L-I-E-F!

No more surgeryfor Balogun•German medics to the rescue•Player excited at medics verdict

•Balogun

FORTUNA Dusseldorf and new Su-

per Eagles right back,

Continues on Page 55

Mikel: Eagles willshine in BrazilMIKEL Obi has

dismissed asrumours reports hecould soon be on his wayout of Chelsea, insistinghe is focused on doingwell with his London

Continues on Page 54 •Mikel

Ezekiel seals winfor Standard

•Ezekiel

IMOH Ezekiel scoredlate to seal a com-

fortable 2-0 win forStandard Liege over vis-iting KV Mechelen on

RVP fishing for Arsenalreturn — Pg54

Continues on Page 55

Wolves crushUnion Douala,face CA Bizertin

WARRI Wolveswill face CA Biz-

ertin of Tunisia in thesecond round of theCAF Confederation CupContinues on Page 54 •Van Persie

boko haram: change tactics, pdp govs tell gej

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