VOL. 1 NO. 91 SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012 JIMADAL AKHIR 14 - 15, 1433 AH N150

2015: Workersplan mega party

Pages 9, 10 & 11·

Planned protest:Why Nigerians are angry

www.peoplesdaily-online.com

Feargrips rulingparties

PDP keepsmum

ANPP incrucialmeeting

CPC notperturbed

>> Page 3

Cover: >> Pages 9, 10 & 11

Presidency:NASS to decideJonathan’s fate Considers power rotationin new Constitution >> Page 3

Tragedy:Gunmen killOshiomhole’saide

>> Page 2

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012PAGE 2

Gunmen kill Oshiomhole’s secretary

T h e Principal PersonalSecretary to Edo stategovernor, Mr. Oyerinde

Olaitan was on yesterday, shotdead by unknown gunmen at hisprivate residence at Ugbor Road,near Benson Idahosa University,Benin City, Edo state capital

The death of the 44-year-oldfather of three came barely a weekafter Edo state Commissioner ofInformation, Louis Odion, raised analarm that security reportsindicated that government officialsand those of Action Congress ofNigeria (ACN), were beingthreatened with assassination andkidnappings ahead of July 14th2012 election in the state.

Four armed men were said tohave scaled through the fence of thebungalow at about 2 a.m. aboutone hour after the deceased returnedfrom undisclosed venue.

The gate keeper, Mr. Ali Alhajitold newsmen that he was tied upwhile three of the assailants enteredthe building.

According to him, the killersforced themselves in through themain entrance after which theysmashed the window of the house toget at their victim who they shotseverally at close range.

It was learnt that the hoodlumsleft with the keys of the three cars atthe compound, four handsets, andlaptops belonging to the deceased.

Late Olaitan was said to haveindicated the desire to leaveOshiomhole’s cabinet on

From Osaigbovo Iguobaro,Benin

News

secondment to vie for the secretarygeneral of the Nigeria LabourCongress (NLC) but he was prevailedupon to wait till August 2012 afterthe governorship election.

Meanwhile, armed policemenhave taken over the residence of thedeceased. The Police Commissioner,Mr. Olayinka Balogun said thepolice are already on the field with aview to apprehending theperpetrators of the act.

Also, protesters in Beninmetropolis on Friday afternoonparaded a mock coffin bearingPeoples Democratic Party, PDP flagto protest what they termed asunacceptable killings in the state.

Meanwhile a disheveledGovernor Adams Oshiomhole hasblamed chieftains of the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP) for thekilling and threatened to bar the PDPleader, Chief Tony Anenih and PDPgovernorship candidate, Major Gen.Charles Airhiavbere (Rtd), as wellas the state PPD Chairman, ChiefDan Orbih from the state, if theviolence in the area continues.

Oshiomhole who made thedeclaration after leading 6 kilometresprotest match across major streets inBenin City, however, handed down14-days notice to the Police to unmaskthose responsible for the unabatedshooting spree in some parts of thestate.

Stating that he will not hesitateto stop the PDP chieftains fromcoming to Edo state, Oshiomholesaid the blood of those felled bypolitically motivated assassinationswill spur him to ensure that justiceis done.

‘I want to serve them notice Ihave the capacity and the men ifthey do not behave, we can stopthem from coming to Edo State. Letme say I have not come to cry todaythe blood of those young men willwhet my appetite for justice becausetheir plan is to postpone again forthe second time our campaign.

‘I will convert the leadership ofmy people to find solution to security.They must not fight like coward.They should stand. Last night likecoward, they shot Olaitan in the

chest, head and belly to make surehe never survives. Why will a manin his eighties seat over the death ofyoung children? Why will an oldman who has children and grandchildren supervise the killings ofyoung people? Why will Airhiavberewho wishes to rule Edo state instigatetribalism?

“Last week, they succeed inkilling three Journalists travelingwith me. Last night, they killedOlaitan. Let me be clear they cannotkill my fighting spirit,” he said.

Edo guber:

Meanwhile the Benin monarch,Omo ‘N’ Oba‘N’ Edo UkuAkpolokpolo, Oba Erediuwa, the Obaof Benin has expressed discontentover recent killings ahead of Edo stategovernorship election in July.

The monarch expressed hisfeeling yesterday when he grantedaudience to Governor AdamsOshiomhole at his palace in BeninCity. The Oba said he was shockedby the news and urged politician toeschew bitterness in pursuit of theirambitions.

Ajimobi, Keyamo, Lagos ACN commiseratewith Oshiomhole over killing of aide

Stampede in Abuja overfear of bomb

Governor AbiolaAjimobi of Oyostate has

commiserated with his Edostate counterpart,Comrade AdamsOshiomhole, over thekilling of his PrincipalPrivate Secretary, Mr.Olaitan Oyerinde, by yet-to-be-identified gunmenon Friday in his Beninresidence.

The governor, in amessage issued on Fridayin Ibadan by his SpecialAdviser on Media, Dr.Festus Adedayo, describedthe killing as heinous,wicked and barbaric.

Gov. Ajimobi alsorecalled the recent fatal

accident involvingOshiomhole’s convoyduring which threejournalists attached to theGovernor’s office werekilled.

According to him, “themasterminds are nothingsort of agents of darkness,who are hell bent onvisiting Edo state with areign of terror, all in a bidto take over the statethrough the backdoor andset it on the path ofretrogression again”.

He called on securityagents to do all withintheir powers to fish outthose behind the killing, soas to assure the people ofthe state that there was nohiding place for criminals.

Also Lagos lawyer,Festus Keyamu hascondemned the killingsaying it was a clear case

of political assassinationsince nothing was stolenfrom the house. Keyamo ina statement said

Olaitan’s death mustnot be swept under thecarpet adding that thosewho perpetrated thisheinous act must bebrought to justice.

Also the Lagos statechapter of the ActionCongress of Nigeria (ACN),has commiserated withOshiomhole on the murder.

In a release signed by theLagos State PublicitySecretary of the ACN, JoeIgbokwe, the party says themurder of Oyerinde hasevery imprint of the risingculture of desperatepoliticking that has seizedthe opposition in Edo statesince the invincibility of thecandidacy of GovernorOshiomhole became obvious.

From Inumidun Ojelade,Ibadan, OsaigbovoIguobaro, Benin, OjebolaMatthew, Lagos There was stampede

in the Wuse IIdistrict of the

Federal Capital Territory(FCT), Abuja followingrumours that a bomb hadbeen planted in a plaza inthe area.

However, the policewas on hand to calm thesituation when it foundout that the informationthat a car which was saidhave been primed withexplosives and abandonedin the areas was false.

The police stated thatmen of its anti-bomb squadhad immediately takenover the area, screened thevehicle and certified it“clean”. Spokesman of thecommand, JimohMoshood said however,

that the owner of thevehicle had been pickedand was facing a team ofpolice interrogators.

According to him,“there was no bomb scareanywhere in Abuja today.A vehicle abandoned inthe early hours of todayaround AP Plaza in Wuse 2District was screened byPolice Anti Bomb Squadand Police ArmamentUnit; no bomb or explosivewas found.

“The location isrendered safe. The vehicleand the owner are nowwith police investigators.Security in the area and allother locations in the FCThas been beefed up.

“Members of the publicshould go about theirduties and businesseswithout fear or

apprehension but reportany suspicious movementin their environments tothe nearest police station”,spokesman of thecommand”, he said.

Gunmen storm prison,kill guards, police in Borno

Unknown gunmenyesterday stormed aprison in Maiduguri,Borno state, killing twoguards and freeing theinmates, police said.

A police spokesman forBorno state, in thenortheast of Africa’s top oilproducer, said 23 suspectshad since been arrested.

“The gunmen firstattacked the Banki policestation but they wererepelled. They then went toKumshe, a nearby town,and attacked the prisonlockup killing two officialsbefore setting all the inmatesfree,” the police source toldReuters last night.

By Lambert Tyem

The room where Mr. Oyerinde Olaitan was killed. (Inset, the deceased)

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012 PAGE 3

Workers plan mega party

News

T h e tussle for politicalpower in the country hasstarted assuming a new

twist ahead of 2015 generalelections as the Nigeriansworkforce have startedstrategising to secure politicalpower.

President General of the TradeUnion Congress (TUC), ComradePeter Esele let the cat out of thebag in Abuja on Monday when hemulled that the time has come forthe labour fronts to rally togetherto form a party or take over anexisting one and use its numberto secure political power insteadof always going on strikes ormounting protests overunfavorable government policies.

Esele, who spoke at asymposium at the Labour Housein Abuja on Monday, said it wastime labour fronts become moreproactive in acquiring politicalpower as such approach willensure that they can effectivelydeliver good governance to thepeople.

Already, palpable fear hasgripped major parties includingthe ruling Peoples Democratic

2015:

Fear grips ruling parties, ANPP in crucial meeting,PDP keeps mum, CPC unperturbed

By Richard Ihediwa, LawrenceOlaoye and IkechukwuOkaforadi, Umar Mohammed

Party (PDP) and other statecontrolling parties such as ActionCongress of Nigeria (ACN), andthe All Nigeria Peoples Party(ANPP) as well as the Congressfor Progressive Change (CPC),though some of their chieftainshas described the position of thelabour chief as politicallyinconsequential.

This is because harmless as itmay look, Esele’s suggestion maymark the beginning of the end ofcontrol of executive and legislativepowers by some parties at thenational and state levels.

Esele said the workers mightconsider taking over the LabourParty (LP) and rewrite itsmanifesto to suit that of thelabour fronts or take over anyother party of similar ideologicalbase.

A check by Peoples DailyWeekend shows that thedevelopment has caused a stiramong some of the major partieswith some of them going intocrucial meetings on the issue.

It was gathered that some

smaller parties are also interestedin the development and there arespeculations that many of themcould fuse into the party thatmight be floated by the Labourfront.

It is not known if the variousorganisations under the TUC andthe Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC) has started meeting on theissue as many of their chieftainscontacted last night refused tomake comments on the matter.

However, the ruling PDPyesterday refrained fromreacting to the development assome officials at the Wadata PlazaNational Secretariat of the partyin Abuja told our reporter thatthey were studying thesituation.

When asked if his party wasthreatened by the development,the PDP National PublicitySecretary, Chief Olisah Metuhalso declined comment. Hemerely told our correspondentthat he had no comments.

However, when contacted,the National Publicity Secretary

of the All Nigeria Peoples Party(ANPP), Emma Eneukwu saidthe party would have to studythe development beforeresponding but another official atthe party National Secretariatdescribed the move as a welcomedevelopment and challenged thelabour fronts to ensure that theytook the bulls by the horn and seekfor political powers.

“It is a welcome development.This is a democracy. The labourpeople should come in and try. Iencourage them to do so”, theofficial, who pleaded anonymitysaid.

However, reacting to thedevelopment, the NationalPublicity Secretary of theCongress for Progressive Change(CPC), Rotimi Fashaki said theCPC is not in any way perturbedby the move adding that theparty would want other majorand progressive players to join inthe political development of thecountry.

He however said that the CPCis currently enjoying the

confidence of the people which theorganised labour might not beable to attract to itself if it formsa political party. He accusedlabour of truncating the Januarysubsidy removal protest but saidthat the CPC will continue to beon the side of the people.

According to him, “CPC is aparty of progressive people thattruly believe in the redemptionof the Nigerian state. It is doubtfulif organised labour currentlyenjoys the people’s confidence asthe bulwark of their struggleagainst the exploitativetendencies of theirunconscionable leaders.

“The way and manner thecollective hope of the people wastruncated by organised labour inthe January fuel subsidyprotests, without a lastingresolution in their favour, cannotbe said to be savoury. CPC shallcontinue to identify with theNigerian people in their quest foremancipation and redemptionfrom the neo-colonialist leaders,”he said.

M o v e s to entrenchrotation of executiveoffices in the country

is gathering steam as it has madethe list of one of the major items tobe considered in the next round ofconstitution amendment by theNational Assembly.

Other major issues that madethe list, made public by the SenateCommittee on ConstitutionReview yesterday includerecognition of the six geo-politicalzones of the country, zeroimmunity for governors, statecreation, devolution of powers, rolefor traditional rulers, fiscalfederalism, residency and indigeneprovisions, mayoral status for theFederal Capital Territory, (FCT),Abuja among others.

There are speculations thatmove to recognise the geo-politicalzones is to pave way for therotation of the position of thePresident on the basis of zones toensure balance of power andpolitical stability in the country.

Federal lawmakers and theircounterparts in states may haveto decide which zone gets thePresidency in 2015 if the proposalsails through. The newconstitution is expected to be readyby July 2013.

Lawmakers will have to decide

on the modalities that would beadopted to determine the zonefrom where the rotation wouldstart and if such would affect theexisting status quo at thePresidency especially comingagainst the backdrop of insistenceby some South South elementsthat President Goodluck Joanthanshould be allowed to run for asecond tenure.

Though Jonathan had notexpressed his desire to run for asecond time, he had in a recentcourt affidavit affirmed that hewas doing his first term in officecontrary to the position of somequarters that he was in his secondterm.

Jonathan had told an AbujaHigh Court that he is currentlyserving out his first term of fouryears from the constitutionallyprovided two terms, according toan affidavit filed by his lawyersin a case challenging his eligibilityfor a second tenure in 2015.

The case was instituted by aPDP presidential aspirant, Mr.Cyriacus Njoku, who is asking thecourt to determine if Jonathancould seek re-election in 2015,having taken the presidentialoath of office twice so far—first inMay 2010 after Yar’Adua’s death

NASS to decide Jonathan’s fate in 2015By Richard Ihediwa

Constitution:

As moves to entrench rotation of presidency intensify

and then in May last year afterthe 2011 elections.

In a counter affidavit to themotion brought by Mr. Njoku,Jonathan said through his counselthat he was in his first term, notsecond, as “the constitution ofNigeria only makes provisions fora president to contest for not morethan two terms of four years each.”

The reply, filed by thechambers of Mr Ade Okeaya-Inneh (SAN) on behalf of thePresident, also said Jonathan has

never indicated or announcedanywhere that he would bestanding in the Presidentialelections in 2015.

“The 1st defendant (Jonathan)is currently doing his first term offour years in office as the presidentof Nigeria as provided by the 1999constitution as amended. The firstdefendant’s status and position isformidably backed by the 1999constitution.

“The constitution of Nigeriaonly makes provisions for a

president to contest for not morethan two terms of four years each.The constitution recognises theExecutive President’s tenure ofoffice to be four years.

He said Jonathan was on May6, 2010 he was sworn in as thepresident after the demise of thelate Yar’Adua thereby completingYar’Adua’s 12 months of the fouryears tenure.

Meanwhile, there areindications that the move to stripgovernors of their immunitymay receive overwhelmingsupport following insistence bymany Nigerian groups that thestate authorities are swimmingin corruption and should bechecked.

Chairman of the reviewcommittee and Deputy SenatePresident Ike Ekweremadu instatement yesterday however,invited Nigerians to make inputin the proposed areas ofamendments.

Senator Ekweremadu inthe statement also invited thegeneral public to forward theirinput on state creation. Thecommittee had earlierreceived over 54 proposed newstates from the various groupacross the country.

President Goodluck Jonathan

PAGE 4 PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

Photo News

Refuse overflowing to main road after the early morning rain, in Mararaba,Friday.

Local farmers at work at Karmo Abuja.

Earning a living: A wheelbarrow boy pushes his way, while the conductor of a bus looks out for passengers at Nyanya, on Friday, in Abuja.

Boiled corn business along Mabushi Abuja. Photos: Mahmud Isa

Helping hand is needed here, as a Civil Defence Corps staff bus broke down atJabi, Abuja.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012 PAGE 5

News

Tambuwal vows to get culprits nailed

Savannah, SocieteGenerale banks notliquidated, says NDIC

‘FOI Act will help fight corruption’

Electricity consumers call on Jonathan to halt new electricity tariff

Niger state releases N822m forward development projects

T h e Nigeria DepositInsurance Corporation(NDIC) has said that

customers of Savannah Bankand Societe Generale Bankshould hold these banksresponsible for their deposits.

According to the NDICDirector of Internal Audit, AlhajiIbrahim Tafida, contrary toinsinuations that the two banksare not under liquidation as theNDIC takes care of onlycustomers of banks that wereliquidated.

Tafida spoke on the occasionof the NDIC special day at the on-going 33rd edition of the KadunaInternational Trade Fair.

According to him, “theCentral Bank of Nigeria (CBN),withdrew the license ofSavannah Bank in 2002 andthe management went to courtand the court gave the licenseback to the bank.

“So, as far as the NDIC isconcerned, the bank is still inexistence. The management ofthe bank should be heldresponsible for the depositors’money until such a time theirlicense is withdrawn and they

are put under liquidation.“Right now, they are not

under liquidation and the NDIChas not taken over the bank. It isthe same thing with the SocieteGenerale Bank which the NDICattempted to close but theshareholders went to the courtand the court gave them theright to continue to managetheir bank and bring it back tolife. We liquidated 35 banksbefore2005 but as at today, thereare 45 banks under liquidationand we have set aside funds topay all their insured depositors.

“The total is aboutN5.21billion and people havecollected N3.303 billion and weare now looking for those otherpeople to come and collect theirmoney…”

corruption in the countryAlhaji Hassan made this

declaration while delivering alecture to commemorate this year’sWorld Press Freedom Day, held atthe NUJ secretariat, Bauchi.

He however stated thatjournalists should understandthe relationship between the FOIAct and other laws to enable

them harness it for effectiveperformance of their work,saying that the Act can consumejournalists if not properly used.

He commended the statecouncil of the NUJ for organisingsuch lecture adding that thereis need for more forums to allowjournalists understand their roleon press freedom.

In his remark, Bauchi stateCommissioner for Information,Engr. Mohammad Daminarepresented by his PermanentSecretary, Mr. John Maina, said theday was set aside by the UnitedNations to enable people reflect on oneof the fundamental human rightswhich the press exists to defend.

P resident GoodluckJonathan has beencalled upon by

electricity consumers in Awka,Anambra state to compel theNigerian ElectricityRegulatory Commission(NERC) to halt its planned newhike in electricity tariff.

The appeal was made by theconsumers in separate

interviews with the NewsAgency of Nigeria (NAN) inAwka. According to them, theincrease was “ill timed”.According to a NAN report, Dr.Sam Amadi, NERC Chairman,had on March 27 announcedthat the commission wouldintroduce new electricity tariffon June 1.

A tricycle operator, Mr.

Fabian Okeke said manyNigerians were stillstruggling to cope with theeffects of the new price regimeof N97 per liter of fuel: “Sincethe price of fuel was increasedfrom N65 to N141 and laterreduced to N97 per liter, lifehas been very miserable forordinary people in thecountry”. (NAN)

S p e a k e r of the House ofRepresentatives, AlhajiAminu Tambuwal, on

Thursday, said the House wouldfollow up on therecommendations of the ad hoccommittee on the probe of fuelsubsidy.

Tambuwal made the promisewhen the organised labour paidhim a courtesy visit in Abuja,saying that the House wouldcontinue to make laws for thegood of the country.

“The House will continue todo things that meet theyearnings and aspirations ofNigerians, we will remainfocused.

“The National Assemblywill not make any attempt totake away the freedom ofNigerians but rather, willmake laws to strengthen ourdemocracy”.

Tambuwal maintainedthat the House wouldcontinue to partner with civilsociety organisations (CSOs)as they are crit ical to the

A b o u t N822 million hasbeen released by Nigerstate government to the

274 wards for the execution ofWard Development Projects inthe 25 local government areasof the state.

Governor MuazuBabangida Aliyu disclosed thegesture while speaking in aninteractive session with WardDevelopment Committees inMinna, the state capital,saying, “each ward is to getN3million”.

He said, the stategovernment has reservedaboutN2.8billion for the ward

development project while overN3billion has been expended tothe successful execution of morethan 4,000 projects since heassumed office in 2007.

According to him, the stategovernment does not interfereon the nature of project to beexecuted by the warddevelopment committees, aseach committee meets anddetermines the project to beexecuted, pointing out thatunder the present arrangementa monitoring committee wouldbe setup comprising of civilcommissioners and specialadvisers who would go round thewards to assess the execution ofprojects.

FG to create sustainablejobs for youths over next3 years –Okonjo-Iweala

T h e Federal Governmenthas said it will create80,000 to 110,000

sustainable jobs for youths in thecountry over the next three years.

This was disclosed by the FinanceMinister, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealaduring the ministerial briefing onThursday, at the National PressCentre, Radio House, Abuja.

The programme is to becoordinated by the FinanceMinistry in alliance with otherministries through a programmetagged Public/Community Works

Programme.According to the minister, the

programme which was launched byPresident Jonathan in February isin alliance with other ministries andhas 14 states as beneficiaries.

Already, she said, 1,200 winnershave emerged out of the 6000youths selected for the programmeand so far, seven out of the 14 stateshave already got programmesdesigned for the unskilled andtargeted at key areas such as theNorth-east zone and it is concernedwith exploring the potentials of theyouths and the disabled.

By Lawrence Olaoye &Mohammed Umar Puma

Subsidy probe:

legislature.Earlier, Mr. Abduwaheed

Omar, the President of NigeriaLabour Congress (NLC), said thatorganised labour was in supportof the House in the fuel subsidyprobe.

“We want to assure you thatthe organised labour will bebehind you. We want the reportto be taken to its logical

conclusion; all those culpritsmust be brought to book.

“The path you are treadingis the right path; whoever risesup to do the right thing must beallowed to continue”.

Omar said the NationalAssembly members were thetrue representatives of theNigerian people and must beallowed to do their work.

By Muhammad Sada

From Agaju Madugba, Kaduna

T h e Head of DepartmentMass Communication,Federal Polytechnic

Bauchi, Alhaji Hassan Hassan,has observed that the Freedomof Information Act passed intolaw by the National Assemblywill help journalists in fighting

From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

From Iliya Garba, Minna He revealed that the lawgiving legal backing to thescheme has been furtherreinforced to ensure continuityand insulate it from politics.Governor Aliyu advised each ofthe ward committees to draw upa three-year development planwhich they will follow for theexecution of projects during theperiod.

The Commissioner for LocalGovernments, Alhaji YusufGarba Tagwai in his addresschallenged the committees tobe responsive to the peoplebecause the programme isaimed at reducing theinfrastructure deficit in therural areas.

Protesters bar Lagos Speaker over doctors strike

T h o u s a n d s of Lagosiansyesterday barricadedthe main road leading

into the Lagos State House ofAssembly blocking the Speakerof the Assembly, AdeyemiIkuforiji, from entering into thecomplex until he alighted fromhis convoy to address them.

Their grouse was that thecontinued strike embarkedupon by medical doctors in thestate had taken a toll on theresidents of the state.

They carried placards withvarious inscriptions calling onthe doctors to immediatelyreturn to work or face thewrath of the people.

One of the protesters, SesanSobande, who spoke on behalf of

the others, told the lawmakerspresent that the people could nolonger bear the difficulties theyhave faced since the strike began.

Speaker Ikuforiji, whilereacting, promised that theHouse would spend the weekendresolving the crisis. “We wouldinvite both parties and anyonethat refuses to come would bedeclared persona non grata inthe state”, he said.

From Ayodele Samuel &Ojebola Matthew, Lagos

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012PAGE 6

NewsJonathan wants African leadersto unite in tackling challengesBy Abdulrahman Abdulraheem Community, at the State House

Abuja yesterday.The Special Envoys are Mr.

Rui Jorge Carneiro Mangueira,Secretary of State of ExternalRelations Ministry, Angola, Hon.Utoni Nujoma, Minister ofForeign Affairs, Namibia, andDr. Siyabonga Cwele, Minister ofState Security, South Africa.

The President said Africanleaders must look at the collectiveinterests of the entire people of

the continent, especiallyconsidering the huge challengesof hunger, unemployment,terrorism, political and economicstability and development.

President Jonathan said Nigeriawould continue to sustain hertradition of robustly supporting thegrowth and development of thecontinent, like she did during theliberation struggle of SouthernAfrican nations.

He said issues of leadership

P r e s i d e n t GoodluckJonathan has saidAfrican leaders should

work together to confront thehuge developmental challengesfacing the continent.

President Jonathan wasspeaking to Special Envoys ofPresident Jose Eduardo DosSantos, Chairman of theSouthern African Development

By Lawrence Olaoye passed through all judicialprocesses as required by laweven as it advised members tobe guided by the constitutionalprovisions in this respect.

“The Peoples DemocraticParty will continue to uphold therule of law and shall at all timesrespect reliefs granted itsmembers by competent courts.However, we wish to make itabundantly clear to all ourmembers that such reliefs musthave the backings of themandatory levels of the nation’sjudicial process as required bylaw and the Party shall exerciseits right of appeal to the highestcourt in the land.”

The NWC meeting whichreviewed the progress of the Partysince the inception of its newleadership in March also urgedPDP members to explore theParty’s internal conflictresolution mechanism so as toengender progress in the Party.

T h e Peoples DemocraticParty (PDP) has vowed toobey all competent court

orders provided they passedthrough the required judicialprocesses.

The party in a statementmade available to newsmen byits National Publicity Secretary,Chief Olisa Metuh, this was partof its cardinal objectives as a lawabiding political party.

It however warned itsmembers against frivolous courtactions capable of retarding theprogress of the Party.

Arising from its NationalWorking Committee meeting,the Party said it has taken noteof the various legal actionsinstituted by some of itsmembers against the outcomeof the last congresses in somestates and geopolitical zones andwarned it would onlyimplement decisions that have

PDP spells conditions foradherence to court orders

By Richard Ihediwa meet the demands of recentsecurity challenges facing thenation, adding however, thatNigerians should assist thesecurity operatives by makinginformation available to them.

“What we are experiencingpresently is very strange to us,strange to our culture and ourway of lives. We must brace up tocombat this monster. Oursecurity operatives must doubletheir efforts and quickly containthe activities of these dreadfulindividuals in our midst.”SenatorMark urged.

He assured of the continuouscommitment of the Senate totackle the issue of insecurityacross board, stressing that, “wein the National Assembly arealways concerned about thesafety of lives and property of allNigerians and we shall continueto partner with everyorganisation, agency andindividuals that can guaranteeabsolute security in our nation.”

S e n a t e President DavidMark yesterdaycondemned the

retaliatory attack on thePotiskum cattle market, Yobestate, where dozens of marketerslost their lives and property onThursday just as he taskedsecurity operatives to bring theperpetrators of the dastard act tobook.

Reacting to the spate of terrorunleashed on innocent Nigeriansrecently, Senator Mark said thisPotiskum attack was callous,heinous and shameful.

“The attack was a declarationof war against harmless citizens.It was callous, heinous andshameful,” he said in a statementsigned by his Special Adviser,Media & Publicity, KolaOlogbondiyan

Mark challenged securityoperatives to further strengthenthe nation’s security apparatus to

Potiskum Massacre: Markberates action, calls for justice

positions in the African Unionshould not divide the continent,but urged concerted efforts andfocus on finding solutions to themajor challenges affecting thelivelihoods of people.

Earlier, the Special Envoys hadbriefed President Jonathan on theSouthern African DevelopmentCommunity’s desire for aresolution of the stalemate in thechoice of a substantive chairmanfor the African Union Commission.

Politicsshould beinstrumentof devt –Ajimobi

G o v e r n o r AbiolaAjimobi of Oyo state hascharged other political

parties in the state to collaboratewith the Action Congress ofNigeria-led administration in itsresolve towards ensuring rapiddevelopment.

The governor gave thecharge on Friday whilereceiving the national officersof the Conference of NigeriaPolitical Parties (CNPP) led bythe Secretary-General, ChiefWhilly Ezugwu, who were on acourtesy visit to him in hisoffice.

A c c o r d i n g t o h i m ,politics should not be a do-or-die, but rather should beu s e d a s a n i n s t r u m e n t o fdevelopment, stressing thatthis should be a col lect iveresponsibility.

“For me, politics is aboutservice delivery; it is not aboutbrigandage; not about thuggery;not about lying against thepeople; not about propaganda. Itis about providing services forthe people for their development.In doing this, all of us must joinhands together.

“We must bring everybodytogether so that we can worktowards the development of notonly Oyo state but the entirecountry”, he said.

The governor reiterated hisadministration’s belief in policiesand programmes that would bechanneled towards thedevelopment of human capitaland social services.

The CNPP Secretary-Generalhad earlier in his remarkscommended the Ajimobiadministration for its variousachievements in the areas ofsecurity, socio-economic andinfrastructural development inthe state.

He said contrary toinsinuations in some quarters,CNPP was not an opposition partybut an umbrella for all politicalgroups in the country.

From Inumidun Ojelade,Ibadan

Nigerian emerges vice president of West African engineersKwasi Kwakwa, as president ofWAFOE to run its affairs for thenext two years.

Mr. Ikenna Okpani, the Headof Media of the Nigerian Societyof Engineers, conveyed this instatement released in Abuja onFriday.

“Engineers from 16 WestAfrican countries converged onthe Ghanaian capital to formWAFOE.

“Representatives ofengineering bodies in membercountries ratified theconstitution of the body and heldits first elective generalmeeting”.

The statement said the newexecutive would attend theGeneral Assembly of theFederation of AfricanOrganisations of Engineers(FAOE) in Nairobi, Kenya on

T h e President of theNigerian Society ofEngineers, Mr. Mustafa

Shehu, has been elected VicePresident of the newly formedWest African Federation ofAfrican Organisations ofEngineers (WAFOE).

The election, which took placein Accra, also saw the emergenceof former president of the GhanaInstitution of Engineers, Mr.

May 8.It explained that the

objectives of the FAOE includedthe promotion and advancementof engineering science of memberorganisations.

Nigeria holds the position ofthe Secretary General of thecontinental body and hosts itssecretariat at the NationalEngineering Centre in Abuja.(NAN)

Benue PDP scribe denies doctoring delegates’ listSam Kargbo, counsel to Kakih,who alleged that the list ofdelegates was doctored, Dzohodenied that he was part of theteam that screened delegates atthe ward level, adding that assecretary of the party, he neversaw the list of the 828 delegatesfrom the 276 wards of the State.

He described as ‘false’ claims byKakih that the list of delegates wasconcocted maintaining that the

party constituted a monitoringcommittee that conducted thewards congresses, report whichwas only given to him.

Hon. Dzoho also noted thatthe proper procedure wasfollowed in the conduct of thegovernorship primaries even ashe said the State chapter of theparty did not screen theGovernor.

Earlier, counsel to Kakih

B e n u e State Secretary ofthe Peoples’ DemocraticParty (PDP), Bem Dzoho

yesterday testified in thecertificate forgery caseinvolving Hon. Terver Kakihand Governor Gabriel Suswamat the Federal High Court,Makurdi.

Under cross examination by

Barr. Kargbo objected to theadmissibility of documentswhich include; result of wardprimaries election held on 3rdJanuary, 2011, report ofgubernatorial primaries held on5th January 2011 as well asresult sheet of the gubernatorialprimaries which was signed byagents of the 2 aspirants,maintaining that they do nothave origin, neither were they

pleaded.However, Suswam’s counsel

Jubrin Okutepa, SAN arguedthat the facts were in thedocuments were duly pleaded.Justice Marcel Awokulekeinruled in favor of Suswam statingthat document was relevant,pleaded and marked them asexhibits. The court adjourned toJune 15th 2012 for adoption ofwritten addresses.

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012PAGE 8

FocusTokunbo Wears: The good, the bad, the ugly

S o m e call them “Tokunbo”,others call them “second hand”.When it comes to clothing they

are called “Okrika” or “OK” for short.Despite attendant hazards, second

hand items have since tighten grip onNigerians as purchasing power of thecitizens continue to decline, making itmore and more difficult for people tobuy brand new materials. Across thecountry, there are huge markets forsecond hand materials ranging fromcars, to office equipments to householditems including clothing, shoes, bedclothes, cuisine wares, cutleries andendless array of other consumercommodities.

Most Nigerians use second handmaterials. This is especially as theyinsist that the market offers them highquality materials atvery low price evenwhen they have been used before. Infact, in the motor parts markets, manyprefer the second hand genuine part tothe new ones, as many of the latterhave been discovered to be fake.

However, there is a boomingmarket of second had cloths popularlyknown as Okrika in all parts of thecountry. While some are hung onmake shift stalls, okrika is usuallydisplayed on heaps along the roadscalled “bend down boutique” withassorted cloths ranging from trousersto miniskirts to under wears, includinginner pants, bras, leggie among othersfor customers to select and pay.

Apart from the “bend downboutique”, there are first grade okrikacloths especially suits and packet shirtsthat find their ways to the shops forprices higher than those in the openmarket but far more lower than newones.

In fact, unless one is told, thedifference between the first grade okrikaand the new originals are not easilynoticed and many in the elite classpatronise this grade and have thempass as new ones.

Second hand clothing found in theNigerian markets are wears used bypeople in mostly Western and Asiancountries and brought into the countrythrough certain illegal routesconnected to neighbouring Africancountries.

They come in bails which are sortedto have series of grades beginning fromthe best to the very bad. Dealers confessmaking brisk fortune as the marketcontinue to flourish with dwindlingeconomy with youths, lower class andhouse wives who buy for childrenranking highest in the line of patronage.

On the whole, second handclothings come with many health andspiritual hazards. While health expertwarn that they play major roles in thecirculation of diseases, spiritual leadersalso warn that they come with transferof spiritual contamination from theoriginal owners.

However, despite the inherenthazards, checks by Peoples DailyWeekend show that the business is onthe increase. A visit to Karimo Tuesdaymarket in Abuja shows that dealersare in a well organised businesssyndicate.

Dealers go as far as Togo and BeninRepublic to get their goods throughLagos route. Some traders who spoke toour correspondent said they get theirclothes from either Cotounou, in BeninRepublic or Lagos. Others go to Togo,Kano or Kaduna.

According to a dealer, UkachukwuIgwilo, the cloths come in four gradeswith the lowest known as “Kwashi”

which are mostly worn out and weakwears sold at very cheap rates to thevery poor in the society.

Some of the buyer accosted byPeoples Daily Weekend insist that someof the cloths are better than locally madenew ones and some cloths sold atboutiques at very high prices. Some ofthem argue that the boutique ownerseven source their materials from thesecond hand market, a claim that wascollaborated by some dealers.

Miss Queen Alfred, a student of Imostate Polytechnic said she loves wearingdifferent attire every day and as astudent she cannot affords to buy fromboutiques she get most of her wearsfrom the second hand market.

She said she could buy a shirt thatyou get for N3,500 in the boutique foras low as N600 or less in the secondhand market. Asked if she would stopbuying second hand clothes when shestarts working and make more moneyshe said she would still buy here and alittle of boutique wears because of theuniqueness of the clothes she finds inthis market as she hardly sees otherpeople wearing her kind of clothes.

A middle aged woman, who simplycalled herself Mama Ebuka said shecomes to Karimo market most Tuesdayand Fridays to get clothes for herchildren. She buys more clothes withlittle money for her four kids. She hasno regret coming to this market. What

By Joy Baba

she simply does is wash and irons themand her kids can wear them. She alsobuys for herself and her husband.

As the market continue to boom,many Nigerians appear to be obliviousof the health and spiritual hazardsassociated with it. Medical professionalwarn that wearers of second hand clothscan contact certain dangerous diseasesof the skin and the private parts. This isespecially when they are used withoutproper washing and ironing, whichmany low class Nigerians do not do.

Many people in the rural areasseldom iron their cloths. Some buyerssaid they don’t wash these clothes beforewearing as they already look neat. Thisis a bad practice, especially in the faceof allegations that some sellers even usethe cloths that are on sale.

There are also spiritual hazards.Though there are no scientific proofs,some religious leaders insist that usingsecond hand cloths can lead to thetransference of spiritual deposits fromthe first owner to the new.

Speaking on the issue, Rev. AbelDunia of Abuja based Gospel PowerLiberation Ministries, notes that afterwashing and ironing, people shouldpray before using second hand clothsor any cloth transferred from unknownpersons or persons suspected to beinvolved in diabolic activities.

Drawing examples from the Bible,Duniya said peoples spiritual powersare deposited on their cloths and othermaterials they used and this can affectothers who use such either negativelyor positively, depending on the type ofspiritual powers possessed by such.

He cited the case of Jesus, whosecloth healed the woman with the issueof blood and the use of Paul’s cloth toheal the sick in addition to the use ofElijah’s mantle to part the river. In thesame vein, Duniya said if one is unluckyto use a cloth used by person involvedin diabolic practices, such person couldbe affected by the spirits connected tothe diabolic person which could haveserious consequences. He said the sameapplies to bed clothes, curtains, cars andother second hand materials.

On the whole, second had clothsappear to have come to stay but cautionmust be applied as cheap materialscould cause serious problems tounsuspecting users.

Second hand cloth market in Karmo, Abuja

Second hand cloth is big business across the country

PAGE 9PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

Contd on Pages 10,11

Why Nigeriansare angry

CoverPlanned mass protest:

O n Monday, the Save Nigeria Group(SNG) and other pro-democracybodies gave the Federal

Government a two weeks ultimatum toarrest and prosecute all those indicted in thefuel subsidy probe or face a mass action akinto the January nationwide protest.

This came barely a week after anothergroup, the United Action for Democracy(UAD), which played major role in rallyingNigerians for the January protest, declaredits intention to take to the street on May Dayover the same matter.

The ultimatum came despite assurancesby the Presidency that all those foundculpable will not be spared giving off theimpression that the group may have sincedrawn their battle lines following theirinsinuations that government have not beencommitted to the anti-corruption crusade.

By Richard IhediwaMatters were worsened with the

statement credited to the Attorney Generaland Minister of Justice Mohammed BelloAdoke yesterday that the probe by the Houseof Representatives was a fact findingexercise and that the government shouldnot be stampeded to take hasty decisionciting the rule of law as basis.

With this position, the stage appears tohave started preparing itself for a fresh clashbetween the government and the people.

This is because the groups have alreadymade it clear that unless those indicted inthe fuel subsidy probe are rounded up andmade to face the wrath of the law in nexteight days, they will re-enact the fuelsubsidy removal protest, which for a weekparalysed economic and social activities andalso led to the death of many innocentNigerians.

Basically, the groups are insisting thatgovernment was not winning the war

against corruption going by the startlingrevelations of massive corruption andcolossal fraud involving top governmentofficials and their cronies in the privatesector who had continued to fleece the nationof trillions of naira unhindered, over the pastfew years.

The groups are however quick toremember that some other probes in the pastwhich reports revealing massiveunderhand dealings have been swept underthe carpet. Such include the House ofRepresentatives power probe investigationwhich showed massive looting of billions ofnaira meant for rural electrification project;the Senate privatisation probe, whichshowed colossal abuses and smelly dealsamounting to trillions of naira in theprivatisation of government ownedcompanies; the Senate pensions probe withmind boggling looting of pensioners funds ofover N150 billion among others.

Fuel subsidy probeThe last straw that is breaking the back

of the camel is the current probe into thealleged mismanagement of the fuel subsidyscheme with revelations that amountsrunning into trillions of naira were divertedto private pockets while the nation wallowin hardship.

Nigerians became deeply involvedwhen President Goodluck Jonathan inJanuary removed the subsidy on fuel citingabuses by cartel as reasons. Nigerians hadgone to the streets demanding that thegovernment should have rather dealt withthe cartel instead of removing the subsidywhich saw pump prices shooting from N65to N141 before it was reduced to N97 due tothe protests.

Insisting that the gains of the protestsmust be consolidated, protesters led by theSNG, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and

8 days to go

PAGE 10 PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

Why Nigerians are angry

Cover

Planned mass protest:

Contd from page 9

Contd on page 11

the Trade Union Congress(TUC) demanded for a probe intothe handling of the subsidy schemeand punitive measures against thecabal cited by the President.

Following the findings andrecommendations of the FaroukLawan led House ofRepresentatives committee whichinvestigated the handling of thescheme, the groups are now callingfor the head of all those indicteddemanding that they must bedelivered in the next eight days.

The groups are demanding forthe immediate sack andprosecution of Petroleum Minister,Diezani Alison Madueke, who wasindicted by the committee as wellas the prosecution of formerNational Chairman of the rulingPeoples Democratic Party (PDP),Ahmadu Ali who was Chairmanof the Petroleum Product PricingRegulatory Agency (PPPRA) aswell as the management of theNigerian National PetroleumCorporation (NNPC) and someother oil companies.

They also want the immediateand full implementation of the fuelsubsidy, power sector, pensionprobe reports and steps taken todetermine actual dailyconsumption rate for petrol, actualdaily production capacity forpetrol by domestic refineries; andNigeria’s actual daily importrequirement for petrol.

Proponents of the demands arenot happy that since the Presidentcited the cabal and since a list ofthe companies that benefited fromthe subsidy bazaar was publishedby the Senate, no concrete stephave been taken to bring them tobook, even as there areinsinuations of moves bygovernment to scuttle the Houseprobe report.

During the public hearings bythe Senate, top governmentofficials including the Minister ofFinance, that of PetroleumResources and top officials of NNPCcould not give account of how theresources of the nation from thesector were being handled. Theofficials could not give account ofwho authorised the overshootingof subsidy and the extra-budgetaryspending running into trillion ofnaira by the NNPC which have notbeen accounted for nor capturedin the records of government.

However, from its independentsearch, the Senator Magnus AbeSenate Committee on Petroleum(Upstream) investigating themanagement of the subsidy listedbeneficiaries and the allegedunderhand deals includingcompanies owned highlyinfluential persons in the country.

They include; Oando NigeriaPlc, owned by Mr. Wale Tinubu(N228.506 bn); MRS, owned bySayyu Dantata (N224.818 bn);Enak Oil and Gas (N19.684 bn);Conoil, owned by Dr. MikeAdenuga (Jnr), (N37.960 bn);Bovas and Co. Nigeria Limited

,(N5.685 bn); Obat Oil, owned bythe Olugbo of Ugboland, Ondostate, Oba Eniti ObateruAkinruntan (N85 bn).

Others are Integrated Oil andGas Ltd, owned by former Ministerof Interior, retired Capt.Emmanuel Iheanacho (N30.777bn); IPMAN (IndependentPetroleum Marketers Association)Investment Limited, (N10.9 bn),A.A. Rano (N1.14 bn); A-ZPetroleum (N18.61 bn); A.S.B(N3.16 bn); Arcon Plc (N24.116bn); African Petroleum, (N104.58bn); Forte Oil, owned by FemiOtedola (N8.582 bn); AminuResources, (N2.3 bn); Capital Oil,(N22.4 bn); Avante Guard,(N1.14 bn); Avido (N3.64 bn);Boffas and Company, (N3.67 bn);Brilla Energy (N960.3 million) DeJones Petroleum (N14.86 bn); andDownStream Energy, (N789.648million).

Also named by the committeeinclude, Dosil Oil and Gas, (N3.375bn). Inco Ray, (N1.988 bn);Eternal, (N5.574 bn); FolawiyoEnergy, (N113.32 bn); FradoInternational, (N2.63 bn); FirstDeepwater Oil, (N257.396million); Heden Petrol, (N693million); Honeywell Petrol,(N12.2 bn); Integrated oil,(N30.777bn); AMP (N11.417 bn);Ascon, (N5.271 bn) and ChannelOil, (N1.308 bn).

This revelation by the Senateopened the floodgates of others bythe House of Representatives as thecommittee unearthed othersmelly deals for which it indictedthe top government officials.

The committee discovered acolossal fraud amounting to N1.6trillion and recommended that thepetroleum minister, themanagement of the NNPC andPPPRA and some oil companiesshould face the music.

Currently, the protestinggroups are asking questions on whythere has not been any executiveinquest into the revelations and

why nobody is facing the jury sincefor the issue.

Their anger was heightened bythe positions of the Special Adviserto the President on Political Affairs,Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, and theAttorney General for allegedlytrying to policies the issue. This isin addition to the statements bythe Minister of Information,Labaran Maku, who saidresolutions of the NationalAssembly were merely advisoryand not binding on government toimplement.

Gulak had on Wednesdaydeclared the report of the House asshallow and selective pointing outthat the President was even yet toreceive it. Gulak argued that thereport should have included pastpetroleum ministers includingRilwanu Lukman and formerGroup General Managers of theNigeria National PetroleumCorporation (NNPC) especially,Mohammed Barkindo, both of whohe noted served during the periodunder probe.

The following day Adoke tookup the issue in a statement anddeclared that the House probe wasmainly a fact-finding mission andthat government should not bestampeded to take action againstthose indicted. He warned that theultimatum was needless andwould only compound theproblem.

Adoke’s statement reads; “Theattention of the office of theAttorney-General of theFederation and Minister of Justicehas been drawn to recent calls bysome groups and well-meaningNigerians for the prosecution ofthose allegedly indicted in theReport of the House ofRepresentatives Ad hoc Committeeon Fuel Subsidy Regime.

“It is pertinent to reiterategovernment’s position as aptlycaptured by Mr. President’s initialreaction to the report of the fuelsubsidy probe to the effect that any

person found wanting will beprosecuted, irrespective of theperson’s standing in the society.

“Nigerians must, however,appreciate that in discharging thisonerous responsibility,government must be guided by thedictates of the rule of law and dueprocess as required of anydemocratically elected andresponsible government.

“In this regard, the need toensure that thoroughinvestigations are carried out byrelevant law enforcement agenciescannot be over-emphasised. This ismore so, as the exercise carried outby the House of Representatives ismainly fact-finding.

“I also wish to point out thatthe report of the ad hoc committeeand the resolutions adopted by theHouse of Representatives have yetto be transmitted to the executivearm of government.”

“Experience has shown thatwhenever our law enforcementagencies are stampeded to arraignsuspects, the end result is usuallythe discharge of such suspects bythe courts ostensibly for want ofevidence. Nigerians must,therefore, allow our lawenforcement agencies to conductpainstaking investigations thatwill ultimately satisfy thestandard of proof required incriminal cases,” he said.

The Privatisation probeAnother issue that is vexing the

minds of those behind the plannedprotest has been the inability of theauthorities to nail those indictedin the Senate privatisation probelast year.

The Senator Ahmed Lawanled committee threw up shockerswith witnesses after witnessesopening cans of worms ofunderhand deals and smellytransactions involving topgovernment officials and theircronies in the private sector.

The decision of the Senate toundertake the probe followed the

adoption of a motion by SenatorAhmed Lawan, who drew itsattention to findings that 80percent of the privatisedcompanies have collapsed whilethe core investors engaged inlooting spree of the assets of thecompanies in series of bazaars thatstashed away billions of naira fromthe nation’s coffers.

Most of those who testified atthe Senate hearing alleged undueinterference in the privatisationprocess by former PresidentOlusegun Obasanjo, who wasaccused of forcing the Bureau ofPublic Enterprises (BPE) to sellgovernment companies to firmsbelonging to his cronies atgiveaway prices even when theydid not qualify or participate in thebidding process.

Witnesses supplied evidences toshow that unqualified firms,operating under the protection ofthe powers that be engaged in thelooting of the assets of the privatisedcompanies and made away withbillions of naira belonging to theNigerians people.

Such deals include those on thesale and handling of companiessuch as NICON Insurance,Nigerian Reinsurance, AjaokutaSteel Complex, Kogi state, DeltaSteel Complex Aladja, Delta stateAluminum Smelting Company ofNigeria (ALSCON) Ikot Abasi,Akwa Ibom state, Lagos Trade FairComplex, Daily Times of Nigeria(DTN) among others.

The protesting groups are nothappy that those indicted by thecommittee have not been made toface any kind of punishment sincethen and no effort has been madeto recover companies and assetslooted in the deals.

Those indicted in the probeinclude current BPE DG, BolanleOnagoruwa, who wasrecommended to be sacked foralleged fraudulent sale of the 5

Prof. Wole Soyinka Pastor Tunde Bakare

PAGE 11PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

Cover

Planned mass protest:

Why Nigerians are angryContd from page 10

percent government share in theEleme Petrol Chemical Company.

Also indicted were past BPEDGs, who served during theObasanjo regime including formerMinister of Federal CapitalTerritory (FCT Abuja) MallamNasir el-Rufai and Mrs. IreneChigbue who were recommend forreprimand over alleged abuses aswell as Dr. Julius Bala, who wasrecommended to be prosecuted byanti graft agencies.

Many Nigerians were also nothappy that Obasanjo, who wasseverally accused by witnesses atthe hearings of abusing the processin favour of his supposed cronies,was not recommended forsanctions by the committee. Theyare also not happy none of thoseindicted by the committee hasbeen prosecuted.

Pension probeNigerians were startled by the

revelations from the Senatepension probe during which theAloysius Etok led Joint Committeeunearthed series of smelly dealsand massive looting of pensionersfund by top government officialsto the tune of over N150 billion.

During the hearing, Chairmanof the Pension Reform Task Team,Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, toldstunned Nigerians how a pensionfraud cartel was swindling thenation of about N3.3billionmonthly, and that N151billionfraud has been uncovered in thepension offices across Nigeria. Healso revealed that houses worthabout N15billion have been seizedfrom corrupt officials in the PensionOffice of the Office of the Head ofthe Civil Service of the Federationand about 71,133 fake pensionershave been detected.

Maina, as he is popularly called,opened so many stinking cans ofworms. He told the committee that32 staff of the Office of the formerHead of the Civil Service of theFederation, Mr. Steve Oronsanye,have defrauded the country to thetune of N18 billion.

He also averred that officials ofthe police pension office usedfalsified documents to withdrawN24 billion from the Budget officefor the payment of pension thatrequired only N3.5 billion.

Abdulrasheed told thecommittee that the teamdiscovered two major accounts inLagos where pension fund for thepolice was lodged, revealing thatone account had N21 billion, whilethe other had N24 billion.

However, the table laterturned against Maina when ChiefAccounting Officer of the PolicePension Fund, Mr. Toyin Ishola,revealed that within three monthsof taking over the police pensionoffice, the PRTT chairman “hasexpended over 3.6 billion nairawithout any entry of such inaccount books.”

The police also accused the taskteam chairman of inflatingcontracts and opening secret bank

accounts, one of which was beingrun by his own brother.

Among the frivolous andextravagant expenditure in whichthe PRTT boss was accused ofengaging in the alleged spending ofN440 million to conduct biometricdata capture exercise for the retireesout of which a whooping sum ofN240 million was spent to captureless than 20 retirees abroad whileN220 million was used for the localbio-data capture.

Ishola noted that the task team“compelled the police pension officeto drop the previous signatories tothe pension account and replacedthem with members of the taskteam,”

Those indicted includedAbubakar Kigo, a permanentsecretary in the Ministry of NigerDelta; Esias Dangabar; a formerdirector of the Police Pension Office(PPO), deputy commissioner ofPolice Okafor; Ahmed Wada, aformer deputy director of the PPOnow a director in the FederalMinistry of Sports; and AbdullahiUmar, now deputy director in theMinistry of Works.

Others are accountant JohnYusuf and cashier Vicky, both ofthe pension office.

During investigations, securityagents raided the offices and housesof the accused, recoveringdocuments and huge sums ofmoney. It was reliably gatheredthat over N2.5 billion (cash) wasfound at the house of one of theaccused. Currently, Nigerians arewatching to see the outcome of thecases especially as they have beencharged to court on the issue.

The protesting groups wantdecisive action by governmentespecially as there are alreadyallegations and counter allegationof bribe between the committeeand those being investigated justas in the case of the botched HouseCapital Market probe where theDirector General of Security andExchange Commission (SEC)

Arunma Oteh alleged that theChairman of the committeeHermen Hembe had demandedbribe from the agency.

Power ProbeLabour fronts are also not

happy that nothing has been doneon the issues of smelly dealsrevealed in the power probe by theHouse of Representatives since thereport was presented in 2009.

The Trade Union Congress ofNigeria (TUC) last month called onthe House of Representatives torevisit the report and act on it. Theunion said the call was hinged on thesuccess the House recorded on the fuelsubsidy probe which indicted keygovernment institutions and oilmarketers in the country.

Its President-General,Comrade Peter Esele, said in Lagosat the weekend that: “We thereforeurge the House of Representativesto summon the same courage thathas propelled this panel and itsfindings into existence toresurrecting the report and actionon the Ndudi Elumelu power sectorprobe and all other inquiries of thisnature that are still lying buriedsomewhere by politicalcorruption.”

On the whole, the groups arenot happy that those indicted inprobes still walk the street withshoulders high and seek to use themass action to get them to thehangman.

This is especially as the NationalAssembly laments that it ishandicapped by the Constitution,which, while empowering it toconduct investigations, limits suchonly for the purposes of lawmakingand exposing corruption withoutspelling out exactly what sanctions orfurther steps that should be taken inthe case that any persons is indicted.

However, handing down itsultimatum, UAD said “theordinary masses, the poor, toilingpeople cannot continue to bear thebrunt of corruption. Let the trillionnaira thieves pay for their crimes

to serve as deterrent to others, whodefinitely, the people’s justice willcatch up with.

“Nigerians must consolidateon the gains of the Januaryuprising for it not to be in vain bymaking sure that all ‘cans ofworms’ opened up by the House ofRepresentative Probe Panel on FuelSubsidy are not swept under thecarpet. The revelations are part ofthe fruits of the people’s Uprisingin January 2012 amongst others.

“We need more than PresidentJonathan’s promise to prosecutethose indicted because he is part ofthe system. We must struggle tofree ourselves from the tenaciousgrip of the corrupt, extremelywealthy and inept ruling class. Ourgoal must be for system change, anoverhaul of this decadent order”,the UAD said in a statement jointlysigned by three of its officialsincluding its convener, JayeGaskia last Thursday.

On its own part, the SNG saidNigerians now have lowconfidence in the anti-graft driveof government and will march thestreet if those indicted are not takenup in the next eight days. Theyalso demanded for a privateprosecutor to deal with the fuelsubsidy issue.

In handing down theultimatum, SNG Convener, TundeBakare said; “Now is the time toact to save our country from thegrip of corruption. To this end, weare giving two weeks to seeconcrete steps in the direction ofprosecuting the indicted officials,failing which, we shall be callingour people out on protest.

“Our message to our countrymen and women is that they mustbe strong hearted and determinedto take back our country. If ourpeople realise what N3 trillion cando in the life of a nation, it wouldnot be difficult to understand whywe must kill corruption lest it killsus all as it is systematically doingalready.

“We have nothing to lose butour chains as we embark on thispatriotic and just resistanceagainst the destroyers of ournation. All we must be ready to dois to assert our collective dignityand let our leaders know that weare better than their animals.”

Also speaking, Nobel laureate,Prof. Wole Soyinka, urgedNigerians to be ready for anotherprotest aimed at terminatingcorruption in the country followingthe fuel subsidy scam.

“The populace should be readyfor another determined march oncorruption. Nigerians must beprepared to march and come outenmasse and demand atermination to this insolenceagainst the ordinary people. Wehave got to a point that one can nolonger use words such as contemptand disdain, we are being treatednot even like second class or thirdclass citizens, we are dehumanised.It goes beyond insult of arrogance.Just as we cannot recover from thepension scheme scam and nowcomes this humongous, materialassault of the resources of theordinary people”, he said.

Supporting the call for massaction, President, Women Arise,Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, said theentire subsidy issue wasentrenched in endemic corruption.According to her; “We cannotcondone it any more. It is time towield the big stick. We demand theprosecution of those indicted andthere should be no sacred cows. Weurge the government to have thepolitical will to do so. We call oncitizens not to agonies but toorganise to march againstcorruption. This official corruptionshould not be allowed to continue.”

Be it as it may, governmentneeds to do something drasticespecially as President Jonathanhimself had since declared thatthe handling of the subsidyscheme have been fraught withabuses and fraud.

President Goodluck Jonathan Diezani Alison Madueke

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012PAGE 12

Community Watch16 years after, Gudu still groans in poverty

B e f o r e the creation ofGudu Local GovernmentArea in the present Sokoto

state by the General Sani Abacharegime in 1996, the area used to bea sort of small `Siberia` due to itsremoteness and lack of access road.

Situated on the desert fringeswith arid vegetation with littleagricultural potentialities, Guduwas like an abandoned area left tocater for itself before it was elevatedto local government status. Itsproximity to Niger Republic hadmade it easy for the people of thearea to relate more with people ofNiger than their brothers andsisters in Nigeria.

At a time, sick people from thearea had to cross the border to seekfor medical attention which wasnot forth coming in their territory.All their economic activities weretied to the neighbouring villages inNiger as they were almost cut offwith their people in Nigeria.However, when the area was givena local government status, therewas a little sigh of relief partlybrought about by the access roadconstructed to connect them withother parts of the state.

Recently, the currentChairman of the Council, Yusuf IsaKurdula took some journalists on aguarded tour of the area. Duringthis tour, it was observed that therewas perennial water scarcity inmost of the villages visited as peopleand animals were seen strugglingfor water to drink from deep wells.

In some places, it becomes adaily routine for women andchildren as well as men too, whocarry jerry cans on oxen drivencarts going to all directions in searchof water.

In Yaka village, residentsinterviewed said water is one oftheir major problems. Due to thedeep water table, residents do nothave enough water for domesticpurposes while agriculturalactivities have been grounded.

In the area, normal social lifeshave been shrinked and dried.Illiteracy and unemployment formpart of the major problem as thereare no secondary schools and no skillacquisition centers to boostknowledge.

Also there is the problem ofabsence of basic infrastructure thatwould have helped boost economicand social productivity in the area.

Some of the youth encounteredsaid the situation has led to untoldhardship resulting to a rise in rural-urban migration as the young andold abandon the area in search ofgreener pastures outside with somenatives even venturing intoneigbouring Niger.

The story is the same in othercommunities such as Karfen China,Karfen Sarki and Bangi villages;and even in Balle, the headquartersof the council. During the tour, itwas discovered that economicactivities have almost beenparalysed. Apart from apart fromthe seasonal farming which has alsobeen badly hit by inadequaterainfall which has furtherworsened the peasantry life of thepeople. Here the poverty rate hascontinued to worsen as the villagerscontinue to wait for help thatappears to have refused to come.

Also in Bachaka, which is thesecond largest village in the localgovernment still remaininaccessible as all access roads arein very bad shape. The roads can

Sixteen years after the creation Gudu Local Government in Sokoto state, not much has been done to upliftthe living standard of the people of the area in virtually all sectors of development. Our reporter, SadeeqAliyu, was among the team of journalists who went on tour of the area to assess the performance of currentCouncil Chairman and reports.

only be plied by heavy dutyvehicles, four wheel drive offroaders and trucks.

Currently, the people of the areanow have their social and economiclives fused into if not totallyabsorbed by the powerful drawinginfluence from people of NigerRepublic who appear to show moreconcern for the boardercommunities than authorities inNigeria especially in the areas ofhealth care and commerce.

However, despite the odds, andlow indices of development, thecouncil Chairman, Yusuf IsaKurdula is very optimistic thatthings would not continue that wayunder his regime.

Outlining his plans to turnaround the fortune of the people of

the area Isa said focus has beenchanneled towards the areas ofprovision of basic infrastructurethat will support and boosteconomic activities as well as theimprove on the welfare of thepeople.

However, reeling out hisachievements in the last one yearof his tenure, the council chairmansaid he had executed about 120developmental projects at the costof N224 million. These, he saidinclude 30 mosques, sevencemeteries, 36 open dug wells andtwo blocks of offices.

Unfortunately, the dire need forgood drinking water still persistwhile supply of electricity remainsa mirage.

Some of the residents who spoketo Peoples Daily Weekend lamentedthat most elected representativesfrom the area at the state and federallevels have not been supportiveenough in the effort to improve theliving standard of the haplesspopulation in the fringes and this hasbeen one of the major source of painfor the people, who during electionsgive them their votes and mandateafter promises of better things tocome.

Some residents lamented thatimmediately after elections, someof those, who came to solicit theirsupport will abandon them to theirfate as they continue to languish inabject poverty and lack, forgottenby the very system which they arepart owners.

It is critical to point out that allthe efforts should not be left on theshoulder of the Local Government.State and Federal governmentsshould rise to the occasion and takea drastic step to bring a new lease oflife to these suffering Nigerians.

Gudu LG Chairman, Yusuf IsaKurdula

A household in Gudu

Cattle at water point in Gudu

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012 PAGE 13

Special ReportPain and anguish: The inside storyof suffering in Kaduna Hajj camp

M y name is AwwalIdris Matsirga. I amfrom Matsirga

community in Zagon-Kataf LocalGovernment Area of Kaduna state.I was born there. My father wasborn there and my grandfatherwas born there too. I am a sugarcane farmer. I have eight hectaresof land and sometimes, I give outparts of my farm land to otherpeople and they pay me. Where doyou want me to go? I cannot go backto my place because my familyhouse was destroyed during theApril 2011 post Presidentialelection riots.

“The people claiming to be theowners of the land came after us. Ican count several people who cameinto that community after I wasborn and they are now claimingownership of the place. It is goinginto the second year and I have notbeen able to farm anything there.I made an attempt to go there butif you are not careful, some youththere will pursue you. If you gothere, you continue to hide andthat tells you that the people whofought us are still ready to continueto fight and kill us”...

The violent riots that trailed theApril 2011 Presidential electionsmay have come and gone but forAwwal and several other victims,the memories may indeed last foras long as they live. Again, forAwwal and about 1,250 others, lifehas turned nightmarish at theHajj transit camp, at Mando, inthe outskirts of Kaduna metropoliswhich has been their “residence”for the past one year. Theymanaged to escape to the camp at

the height of the riots whichaffected communities in thesouthern part of Kaduna state andparts of Kaduna metropolis andZaria. Those who could not fleewere slaughtered, men, womenand children. In some cases, entirefamilies were reportedly wiped out.

Now those who survived havebecome refugees in their owncountry as they wait endlessly forthe authorities to intervene.

“It never occurred to me thatwe would stay here for this period,”Awwal told our correspondent atthe camp, noting that,“government has failed to do theright thing.”

Some people refer to them asrefugees while government usesthe euphemism, InternallyDisplaced Persons (IDPs); but theyare no better than destitutes,scrounging to feed daily at thecamp and relying on charity forsurvival.

About 421 of them are childrenbelow 15 years along with about411 women; the males are about418, according to Alhaji AbdullahiHassan Mohammed, Chairman ofa voluntary committee managingthe displaced persons. Members ofthe committee are also survivors.From Kafanchan, Mohammed hadescaped but his house was notspared, along with some of hisrelations who were killed.

“We are doing this onvoluntary basis otherwise, wewere also victims but the degreewas lower because I have a househere in Kaduna and I am a retiredcivil servant,” Mohammed said.

A number of the women arewidows who lost their husbands tothe crisis. Some of the men are

there with their children, havinglost their mothers. Some otherchildren who were orphaned werebrought there by fleeingsympathetic neighbours. For overone year, the children andadolescent have not had theopportunity of continuing theireducation.

Some of the youths amongthem have since resorted to goingto the nearby permanent site of theNigerian Defence Academy (NDA)to do menial jobs for thecontractors. Some of the youngerones hit the streets, in search ofalms, but somehow, they limit

their outings to the immediateenvironment. Their effortscomplement whatever comes in asdonations from some organizationsincluding ALmanar, Alhidayahand the Federation of MuslimWomen Association of Nigeria(FOMWAN), among other groups.According to Mohammed, someChristian groups also contribute tothe survival of the displacedpersons. He cited the case of aChristian woman, Gladys Ari,from Barnawa who walked intothe camp and donated four bags ofassorted clothing and other reliefmaterials.

Records at the camp show thatthe Emir of Katsina had onDecember 4, 2011 donated atrailer load of relief items. From aninitial population of about 4,700displaced persons at the camp,FOMWAN evacuated some ofthem, especially some of thewidows, children and the aged andcurrently catering for them atundisclosed locations. The“Dangote assistance” had alsohelped in decongesting the camp.Business mogul, Alhaji AlikoDangote, had also intervened with

From Agaju Madugba

Contd on Page 14

“

Children and women are worst hit

Feeding is a problem at the camp Children at the camp are denied education and proper care

a N100,000 cash donation eachfor some of the displaced persons atthe camp, to enable beneficiariesvacate the camp and seekalternative accommodationelsewhere. But only a few of themgot that opportunity.

For the remaining womenincluding widows, life at the campmay even be more devastatingwith record of new births withinthe period, against all odds.Mohammed put the figure at 189babies. There are no healthfacilities and in fact, one of thetoilets at the seminar hall of thecamp has since been converted toan accommodation facility. TheKaduna state governmentwithdrew the ambulance vanthere, a month after the displacedpersons arrived the camp. Thegovernment also stopped any otherforms of assistance to the displacedpersons and formally announcedofficial closure of the camp.

“We take some cases of sickpersons to the FOMWAN Hospitaland Jinniya Hospital where theyare treated free and for some othercases, we go the Baurau DikkoHospital where we payaccordingly,” Mohammed said.

According to him, “when thesepeople came into the camp,government intervened at theinitial stage, through NEMA,SEMA, the Red Cross and someother groups that came to help thedisplaced persons. Some of themhad their relations killed.Government catered for them forabout a month and then withdrewand the Kaduna state governmentbrought some money for them tocushion their hardship.Government brought N15,000with a maximum N25,000maximum for each of the displacedpersons, depending on the size ofthe family, to look foraccommodation, to enable themleave the camp. But they refusedto collect the money on the groundsthat it was paltry and could not

Special ReportPEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012PAGE 14

The inside story of suffering in Kaduna Hajj camp

possibly enable them secureaccommodation.

“When governmentwithdrew, some Muslimorganizations came in, Coalitionof Muslim Victims, Alhidaya,FOMWAN, ALmanar. Initially, itwas the women Muslim groupsthat rushed here. But the situationwas beyond their capabilities.They were more focused on thewidows whose husbands werekilled and children. So, we startedmobilizing for assistance, foodstuffand medication. We reached outto other Muslim groups andphilanthropic organizations andgood-spirited Nigerians. Theycame to our aid, bringingfoodstuff. At the FOMWANHospital they receive freetreatment. But the Barau DikkoHospital we pay accordingly. AtJinniya Hospital, they are alsotreated free of charge. This is howwe have been able to sustain thisplace. Nobody wants to stay hereindefinitely.”

The Kaduna state governmenthad claimed last February that itspent a total of N200 million toprovide relief and succour to theaffected displaced persons living incamps across the state then.However, a year on, the displacedpersons are still at the Hajj camp,apparently waiting for God’sintervention. According to Awwal,“with the support of some NGOsand individuals some people gotenough capital and started goingout for businesses. If God continuesto open the way like that, I believein the next ten years, if you comehere, we would have all left. Icannot go back because all ourhouses were destroyed. My familyhouse was burnt. Governmentought to rebuild our villages beforewe can think of going back there.Then, there is the problem ofinsecurity. Even in January, wehad a problem over there. Some ofthe houses were not burnt duringthe April 2011 problem but thisJanuary, some youth went thereand destroyed the remaining

houses. So, no one can go back therenow.”

However, explaining furtheron the prolonged stay,Mohammed lamented, that“nobody wants to stay hereindefinitely. They had houseswhich have been destroyed; theyhad business places which werealso destroyed. There are thosewith their families, wives andtheir children. They are notcomfortable here. There are somany things they cannot do here.This is an open place, no secretplace. There is nothing they cando for now until their problem issolved. Some of these people werewell-to-do before the incident andthey found themselves in thiscondition. They thought theywould not stay more than amonth here but it is now over ayear. The youth among them gothe NDA to do menial jobs for thecontractors there. Theircomplaint is that their parents

who were killed were responsiblefor them. Government hasabandoned them.”

However, responding to theissues raised the Special Adviser toGovernor Patrick Ibrahim onReligious Affairs (Islamic Matters),Sheikh Haliru Maraya, believesotherwise as he insists thatgovernment has already found asolution to the problem of thedisplaced persons saying theywould be settled in the next fewweeks.

According to him, “I do notwant to preempt whatgovernment is about to do but as Italk to you now, in the next fewweeks, the internally displacedpersons will no longer be therebecause of the packagegovernment has prepared forthem. Definitely they are going tosmile and they will be happy.

“As you know, when the crisiserupted, in the aftermath of thePresidential election, the

Governor, Sir Patrick IbrahimYakowa assumed the mantle ofleadership during a very difficultperiod, financially, economically,socially. Things have started toimprove, so, the internallydisplaced persons will laugh soon.You can only give assistancewithin the limits of yourcapabilities. They should bear withgovernment. The Governor hasnot forgotten them for even oneminute. They are going to seesomething tangible in few weeksto come. There was a time Dangotecame and gave them N100,000each. They are not supposed to bethere.”

For the displaced person,words without correspondingaction by the authorities to endtheir miseries hurt like freshwounds. As the waiting lasts thepeople continue to languish inmisery and untold hardship. Thequestion is, when will succorcome?

Contd from Page 13

Normal social life is disrupted No privacy for displaced families

Families suffer in the IDP camp

PAGE 15PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

Peoples PageNothing will stop me fromattending ABU says keke rider

Riding in his tricyclepopularly known as KekeNapep, Munkalia Wakil

can pass as part of the crowd ofyoung men and women in thecountry that have already givingup on their lofty dreams and haveresigned to fate as it comes.

However, this young, resilientand serious minded in his earlytwenties cut the figure of "neversay die" as he has resolved to fightagainst all odds to make himselfand ensure that he realizes hisdreams no matter how long it took.

Despite the adverse social andeconomic realities as a tricycleoperator, Munkaila has held fastto his determination to get goodeducation no matter howfrustrating the process has been forhim.

Sharing his ordeal anddetermination with Peoples DailyWeekend, Munkaila lamented thatfate and the system have continuedto deal him bitter blows as he hasbeen denied admission into theuniversity several times despitepassing the UniversityMatriculation Examination(UME) on several occasions with

By A’isha Biola Raji scores above the cut off markrequired by the institutions.

Since 2004, Munkaila hadwritten and passed theexamination yet he has not beengiven admission into theuniversity.

"It has not been easy for me.Since I finished my SeniorSecondary CertificateExamination in year 2004, I'vewritten several Jamb exams buthave been denied admission despitemy high cut-off marks. I don't knowwhy this is so," he lamented.

He said that after severalattempts, he was forced to take updriving which saw him attendinga driving school in Gwarimpa,Abuja.

"After several attemptswithout securing admission evenwith my high scores I decided totake up driving. I started learninghow to drive at Olabisi ProfessionalDriving School in Gwarinpa whereI obtained a certificate," he said.

That however, did not bringsuccor to Munkaila as he could notget a vehicle to drive forcommercial purpose to generateincome to keep body and soultogether "I could not get moneybecause there was no vehicle for

me to drive, the effort was in vain",he lamented to Peoples DailyWeekend.

It was at this point thatMunkaila decided to become atricycle operator. According tohim, a friend taught me to use thetricycle and he has since realisedthat it is a money spinner.

"I have a friend here in Abuja. Itold him what I have been passingthrough and he decided to teachme how to ride Keke Napep. I leantand started riding. It is a lucrativebusiness so I gave it my fullconcentration," he narrated.

Munkaila said his boss, a manhe had worked for in the past as agateman helped out by buying atricycle for him at hire purchaserate of N550, 000 on the

arrangement that he would beremitting N2,000 daily.

On the average, Munkaila saidafter remitting the N2,000, he getsas much as N1,500 for himselfevery day.

"My Oga helped me, he boughtkeke for me and asked me to pay ifoff with little amount of gain forhimself. I had worked as hisgatekeeper before and we had goodrelationship," Munkaila explained.

However, the earning from thetricycle did not take Munkailamind off his determination to geteducation. The resilient youngman strived to get admission intothe Nasarawa State PolytechnicLafia where he is currentlystudying Business Administration.

"I bought a part-time form to

State Poly Lafia in February thisyear and I have been studyingthere," he said with smiles.

On how he manages hisbusiness with school, he said he hadto organise his schedule in a waythat he can give the twoendeavours quality attention.According to him

"I handle my keke businessfrom Mondays to Wednesdayswhile I attend lectures fromThursdays to Saturdays", he said.

On the days Munkaila wouldgo to school, a friend, Hamisu,would handle the Keke so as toensure that he remitted the dailyN2,000 to the boss. With the littlehe makes, he pays his school feesand buys book

Munkaila has remainedfocused to his dream and he is veryconfident that he will make it tothe top. Hear him,"I have to befocus and confident if I mustachieve my goal of propereducation. I still intend to get adirect entry form into the AhmaduBello University Zaria to study thesame course when I finish frompolytechnic. That is why Imaintain the keke so it can sustainme for a long period of time," hesaid.

Munkaila Wakil

Munkaila has remainedfocused to his dream and he is

very confident that he willmake it to the top.

“

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012PAGE 16

Tourism

Close-up onLong Juju ofArochukwuEver heard of the Long Juju

of ArochukwuArochukwu? Perhaps not!

When one hears this name whatreadily comes to mind is that, ithas to do with shrine and spirits.Of course you are right. Thishistorical tourist site inArochukwu in Abia state is notablebecause of the shrine or oracle calledIbinu Ukpabi, otherwise known asthe Long Juju.

Arochukwu, which is the thirdlargest town in Abia state, afterAba and Umuahia prides as one ofthe few surviving kingdoms in thecountry as it still practice themonarchical system ofgovernment.

It is also home to an array ofcultural activities and values aswell as the roots of many notableNigerians including footballsensation, Nwankwo Kanu.

Arochukwu is key to thehistory of the Igbos especiallybecause of the Long Juju which wasfeared across the region. Whatmakes the Long Juju stand outamong the other historical sites inthe region is the role it played inthe slave trade era and thus theimpact it made in Nigeria’shistory.

The shrine is about a kilometerlong and existed from the 17thcentury. The shrine was

By Richard Ihediwa, with touristreports

Where are the gods?

administered by a group of“priests”, who were led by a chiefpriest. They ran an economic andsocio-political ring that effectivelycontrolled the region east of theNiger River, and as such had aneffect on many people even beforethe arrival of colonialism.

At the advent of the Britishcolonial incursion on kingdomsaround the River Niger, the shrinebecame a rallying point forcommunities as it becamesomething of an apex court forpeople living east of the Niger. Ineffect, it became the mostprominent and most powerful ofall the deities and shrines in thesoutheast in the colonial era.

Due to the great influence of theLong Juju, shrine stewards andlower members of the Juju cultmigrated to clans south of the Nigerand settled. In their new abodes,they served as emissaries andinformants to the Long Juju.

They relayed information ondisputes to the shrine and equallyarranged trips to the latter andthus a Long Juju network wasestablished in the region.

With the Long Juju networkalready established, trading postsand slave quarters together withsatellite shrines were set up indifferent villages all over theregion where small litigationscould be handled. Those foundguilty were almost always sent tothe cave temple of “Chukwu” (not

the equivalent of the Igbotranslation of Almighty God) assacrifices to appease the Greatdeity, “Chukwu” (whom theshrine symbolised).

As the slave era peaked, the LongJuju deviously used its influence inthe area to profit from thetransatlantic slave trade. Thosecondemned by the oracles were soldas slaves. Thousands met their fatein this manner.

In those days, the Igbos believedin oracles. These oracles werebelieved to be impartial. Peoplemade appeals and offerings to theoracles for rain, to avoid drought inany particular year and also toavoid bad harvest and famine.Igbos equally believed that theseoracles could bring good fortunesand luck in their barren business.

With the influence of the Juju,the Aros that is, the natives ofArochukwu started wielding verystrong influence over other tribesin the area with their influenceextending even to the Niger Delta,as they exert control of trade andcommercial activities across thearea.

The Long Juju is said to haveinhabited a cave in the heart ofArochukwu from where a longmetal pipe is said to be the portal inwhich the gods use to speak to thepeople. It was given an exotic namein order to infuse fear into theminds of non-members of thesecret society by those who

worshipped it.The Chief Priest of the Long

Juju comes from the three kindredthat make up the town. The threekindreds are Ibom-isi, Oke nnachiand Eze agwu. The Chief Priestcomes from Ibom-Isi, whichaccording to history, foundedArochukwu. Arochukwu was thecapital of Aro tribe, the home of theLong Juju, sited not too far fromCross River town, Itu. BetweenDecember 25, 1901 and January13,1902, the British forces wereengaged in fighting in the Aro

neighbourhood.Eventually, the war spread

beyond the immediate vicinity ofthe Aro districts across Cross Riverand the Ibo districts south of Aro.Inspite of better equipment, theBritish command did not find theAro forces inferior in tactics andstrategy. At the end of the heavyfight, all the 14 Aro towns werecompletely destroyed including theLong Juju and those leaders of Arowho were arrested and tried in themilitary tribunal set up by theBritish government.

One of the entrances into the cave shrine

One of the shrines

Worshippers at one of the cave entrancesWorshippers of Long Juju

PAGE 17PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

FI N S I D E:I N S I D E:I N S I D E:I N S I D E:I N S I D E:

Weekend Cocktail

Women’scolours,

feminineand classy

— Page 32

PAGE 18 PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

Five reasons men cheatRelationship

T r u s t and devotion arethe hallmarks of truelove. Trust brings an

innocent acceptance anddevotion brings a stability thatcan only exist in the presence of apure heart. The purity of this loveis what all of us seem to crave forbut few of us find.

Men cheat in theirrelationship when there is a lackof devotion towards theirpartner. Devotion is not a“weakness” as thoughts wouldsuggest, there is a depth andpurity to it that cannot beunderstood by the thinking mind.True love and devotion go handin hand. A man who is devoted tohis wife or girlfriend wouldrefrain from cheating on her.

There are several reasonswhy a man falls out of devotiontowards his woman and hencechooses to cheat on her. Listedbelow are four common reasonswhy men cheat.

Lack of Physical IntimacyLack of action in bed indoors

can drive some men to lookoutside their relationship. Somecheat because they want to trynew things in bed that theirpartner is not willing to try.

Resentment towardstheir partner

Maintaining a relationshiptakes devotion. After marriage,or once a relationship becomesstable, there is a tendency for thepartners to take things forgranted. This is when “distance”starts setting in. A man starts tofeel that his wife or girlfriend isnot respecting him or being asloving as she was before. Thishurts his male ego quite terribly.

Having an extra-maritalaffair turns into a channelthrough which the frustration ofan unhappy marriage is released.

A man internally starts derivinga sadistic pleasure out of cheatingon his wife who he thinks is beingcold towards him. A hurt maleego can easily take solace in sexoutside the relationship.

Gets Their AdrenalineRacing

The excitement thataccompanies an extra maritalaffair can get the male brain tosecrete immense pleasurehormones that they get addicted

which induce a complete turn off.So what are the things that canturn off your man?

The Silent TreatmentMost women have a tendency

to use “silent” treatment whenthey are hurt or angry about acertain behavior in their man.They put on a cold front andrefuse to reply in a normalmanner. The usual reply to allthe queries that a guy putsthrough would be a pert“nothing”. It is but obvious thatthis can be highly irritating. Aman would be much happier ifhis woman is willing to talk outthe issues instead of starting a cold

W o m e n are called the“fairer” sex for areason, they are

inherently capable of being moredainty and pleasing that the“grosser” sex, the men. As thesaying goes, girls are made ofsugar and spice and everythingnice, which is why they areperfectly complementary tomen.

Men get turned on at the dropof a hat, and most women knowthat it does not take much forthem have a man jumping thehoops. But as humans, men arejust as prone to being repulsed bycertain tendencies in women

war.Being Overly PossessiveMen are usually the

“chasers” and they like to staythat way. If a guy finds out a girlis “chasing” him he is bound tolose his interest in her. To keepthe guy interested the girl mustremain to be a challenge. If shegets overly possessive about himit would just turn him off.

A Nagging AttitudeThere is something about

men that gets women to nagthem especially as therelationship ages. Most mencomplain about the hard timethey have contending with the

continuous complaints and scornsthat their wife dishes out in thename of self improvement.Women on the other hand haveno clue what the fuss is all about,after all they are only trying to“improve” their man.

Female ChauvinismI t is quite obvious that a man

needs a woman to complete himand vice versa. In spite of this thereare certain people, in each sex,that end up becomingchauvinistic. A feministicattitude, or a bossy nature, in awoman is what men findextremely irritating, and it’s a bigturn off. Many feminists would

like men to conform to certainunnatural standards that arecompletely contrary to a manlynature, a woman who depictssuch an attitude would soon findher man running away from her.

So these are some things thatturn off most men. Women cancome up with an infinite list ofthings about men that turnsthem off, because men quiteeasily but the fact remains thatmen and women complementeach other and its beauty is mostevident in an intimate, andhealthy, relationship.Source: What Do Men ReallyWant.com

A few things that can turn your man off

to.Power and success gets

into a man’s headMost men who become

famous, rich or powerful changecompletely from what they werebefore they attained success. Thelethal drug called “euphoria” ofsuccess can get into the heads ofthe best of men. They startfeeling invincible and they startdemanding more in an effort tosatiate their “greed” which has

started taking control of theirlife. More money, more fame,more success and definitely moresex.

There are men who staygrounded in spite of their success,but this requires a lot of characterand integrity which is often sadlylacking. It’s easier to give in tothe “greed” inducing mind thatcan’t get enough of the pleasuresthat success brings, not realizingthat the more they get the more

they need – so effectively theyare not happier than before.

To Feel Young AgainSome older men have affairs

with women half their age just toreassure themselves that theystill have it in them. So in anutshell, the four reasons whymen cheat are – lack ofintimacy, need to feel young,resentment and power. In somecases it will be a mix of two or allof these factors.

PAGE 19PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

3 ways to fight the effectson your appearance

Beauty TipsLife stresses can influence your outer beauty:

We all experience stressfrom time to time, butwhen stress occurs

frequently (chronic stress) and isleft uncontrolled it can cause bothhealth concerns and a hazard toyour appearance. Stress is anatural response to emotional orphysical threats. This can be fromwork, a daily commute or familylife.

Why Stress Affects OurOuter Beauty

Stress causes a state of alarm,which produces adrenaline andincreases levels of cortisol. Cortisolis a hormone that can effect oilproduction in the skin and createshigher levels of visceral fat(abdominal fat). Increased oilproduction can lead to skincondition flair ups such as eczema,rosacea, psoriasis, hives and acne.Stress also makes the body moresusceptible to infection and causesthe skin to repair itself more slowly.

1. Fix the Skin Effects ofStress

Stress affects beauty throughskin condition worries such asblemishes as well as the loss ofmoisture, which occurs morerapidly when under stress.Dryness of the skin can create morefine line/wrinkles appearance andcauses the skin to look dull andaged. Creating a skin care regimencan help fight stressed skin worries.It is important to wash and cleansethe skin with a mild cleanser thatis appropriate for ones skin type(oily, dry or normal). Apply a dailymoisturizer with sunscreen in themorning and a heavier cream orfacial lotion at night. There are anumber of products now thatcontain antioxidants that cancombat stress effects by protectingthe skin from free radicals.Dermatologists suggest not onlyusing a skin care regimen for theoutside of the skin but a healthydiet to nourish from within.

2. Counteract BeautyStresses with a Healthy Diet

A healthy diet rich in omega 3fatty acids can help keep skin, hairand nails conditioned from theinside out. Foods such as fish, oliveoil and nuts provide healthysources of this essential healthy fat.Stress not only affects the skin butthe hair and nails as well. Both canbecome dry and brittle from excessstress. Eating plenty of fresh fruitsand vegetables will keep your bodyin proper function to counteract

the affects of stress. As part of ahealthy diet drinking plenty ofwater will keep the skin hydratedand youthful.

3. Basic RelaxationTechniques to Fight Stress

With this in mind those who arefeeling stressed should add one moretool to fight stress, which arerelaxation techniques. Thesetechniques help ease stress in orderto provide a healthier life style. Thereare five relaxation techniques thathave proven to relieve tension andrelax both the mind and body.

1. Meditation- You don’t haveto get a guru for this relaxation tool.Simply close your eyes and breathe.Let your mind go blank and focuson the sound of your breath as youinhale and exhale slowly. It willrelax you and refresh you.

2. Aromatherapy- Scentscan create a soothing affect. Tryusing scented oils, potpourris orcandles in scents such aschamomile, lavender, rose or

vanilla.3. Tai Chi- This form of

exercise is performed through slowfocused movements combinedwith breathing. It allows you toleave behind stressors and focus onthe movement, which slows theheart rate creating a peacefulsensation.

4. Yoga - Much like Tai Chi,Yoga is a fitness method that focuseson slow, gentle postures with acombination of breathing thatrelaxes both the mind and thebody.

5. Massage - It never hurts totreat yourself to a professionalmassage but if this isn’t in yourbudget a loved one is certain to helpmelt the stress away from yourneck and shoulders where stresscan hide causing headaches andirritation. Stress can cause healthconcerns and beauty woes but byincorporating the tips and toolsmentioned above you can protectyour health and your beauty.

Eat plenty of fresh food and vegetables Meditation can help relax your nerves

Try getting some massage

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012PAGE 20

Peoples TechTaking care of Freezers and Refrigerators

By Richard Ihediwa with onlinereports

The Refrigerator is probablyone of the most importantappliances in your home.

In Nigeria and other tropicalcountries, fridges and freezers arevery useful as they help in gettingmuch desired cold water duringhot days in addition to foodstorage.

Storing food in therefrigerator or freezers help savea lot of money for the householdas it enable the family procurefood items in bulk and storelarger cooked food. Buying andstoring food items such as meat,fish among others in bulk helpsave money that would havebeen used in the case of retailbuying as well cost oftransportation to the market.

Many families also save timeand energy used in cookingwhen various foods are cooked atthe same time and stored.

However, for maximumresult and long life span, it is goodthat the refrigerator is takengood care of. Poor maintenanceof the refrigerator and freezerresults in malfunctioning andwhen your refrigerator fails, itcan mess your whole day up.

Below are a few things youcan do to extend the life of yourRefrigerator and keep it running

efficiently1 Keep your condenser

coils clean.This is probably one of the

more important things tomaintain on your Refrigerator.If the coils get covered in pet hairor dust, this will cut down on theEnergy Efficiency. This willcause the compressor to runhotter than it normally wouldwith clean condenser coils. Theextra stain on the compressorwill dramatically reduce it's lifeand cause you a huge headachedown the road. The CondenserCoils are usually located underthe Refrigerator or on the Backof the Refrigerator. See thearticle on the right for moredetails on the locations of theCondenser Coils.

2 Ensure propertemperature setting

If the Refrigerator'stemperature is set too low, it willhave to run more to cool to alower temperature. That means,not only is it going to cost youmore to keep your groceries cold,but now you are adding extrarun time on the compressor thatreally doesn't need to be there.Place a thermometer inside therefrigerator compartment. Youwant the temperature to bearound 37 degrees.

3. Check your doorgaskets

It's important to keep your

door gaskets clean. If they aren'tkept clean they can stick to theRefrigerator and cause cracksand tears. If the gaskets arecracked or torn, cold air willescape. This just adds to the runtime and can cause otherproblems.

4. Keep your freezer fullThe more food you have in

your Freezer the better yourmachine will maintain theproper temperature. There willbe less air inside that warms upwhen you open the doors.Therefore you Refrigeratordoesn't have to run as long to coolback down to the settemperature.

5. Don't stand there withthe door open!!

Every time you open the doorsto the refrigerator, warm air getsin and the cold air comes out.That's a fact. Nothing you can doabout it. But, you can control howlong you stand there and let thishappen. Go over to yourrefrigerator and open the door andstand there, what happens? Itkicks on and has to cool down thewarm air you left in.

6. Replace the light bulbsIf you can't see in your

refrigerator, you are just goingto stand there with the door openlonger.

7. Hot food in the fridgeWhenever possible, allow

leftovers to cool to room

temperature before placingthem in the Refrigerator. Thiswill cut down on the amount ofwarm air inside the refrigeratorand save some run time on thecompressor.

8. Replace your oldrefrigerator

If your Refrigerator is 20years old, it's time for a new one.Older models can use up to 3times more electricity thennewer ones. This could mean thedifference of a few hundreddollars a year in savings.

There are however, somemore technical tips to ensurethat your refrigerator andfreezers work well. These includemonthly and yearly and semiyearly maintenance

Monthly: Every month,you should:

Sort through your freezerand remove any food that maybe past its expiry date or thatlooks freezer burnt.

Over the month, chances areyour neatly organized freezerhas become a bit of a mess. Takesome time every month toreorganize your food so that youknow what you have and whereit is.

Semi-annuallyIf you have a manual defrost

freezer, defrost your unit every6 months if it doesn't need itbefore then. If the frost build-upis thicker than 1/2 inch, it's timeto defrost your freezer. Unplugor turn off your freezer and letthe frost melt on its own. Drainout the water that remains inthe bottom and clean out the unitwith a strong cleaner anddeodorizer (if needed). Turn yourfreezer on again, and wait untilthe freezer returns to itstemperature of 0 degreesFahrenheit or below beforerestocking it with food.

YearlyCheck that your freezer is

cooling properly by testing thetemperature. Do this by puttinga thermometer in your freezerfor 15 minutes to see what theinside temperature is. If yourthermometer shows a reading of0 degrees Fahrenheit or below,you have nothing to worryabout. If your thermometer isabove 0 degrees Fahrenheit,adjust your temperaturecontrol, and retest to see if thatlowers your interiortemperature. If that doesn'twork, there are a number ofthings that may be affecting thefreezer's efficiency. If you have aself-defrosting freezer, theevaporator coils may have frostbuild-up. You will be able to tellif this is the problem if you havefrost build-up on the inside ofyour freezer.

Clean the outside of yourfreezer and any components thatyou have easy access to.Remember to turn off the powerto the unit before you startcleaning!

Some organization tipsIf you're lucky enough to

have the space for both anupright and a chest freezer, it's agood idea to segregate yourfrozen foods. Your upright hasmany shelves and partitions,making it best for boxed items.Your chest freezer is better forlarge and irregular-shapedfrozen goods.

Your freezer will work moreefficiently when it's full. If yourfreezer isn't full of food, pack itwith empty plastic containers.

Pull older items to the frontor top of your freezer and placenewer items behind it. Thatway, you will (hopefully) eat theolder items first and not wastethem.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012 PAGE 21

Healthy LivingPregnantwomen's questionsand answers (4)

What you need to know about Electronic Health Record (EHR) (2)I s Patient Privacy

Protected?Yes. A federal law called the

Health Insurance Portability andAccountability Act (HIPAA)identifies who's allowed access tomedical records. Specifically,HIPAA protects:

any information that yourdoctors, nurses, or other healthcare providers put in the medicalrecord conversations betweendoctors and others about yourfamily's care or treatmentinformation about your family inthe health insurance carrier'scomputer system billinginformation

So you shouldn't worry if, forexample, your nosy neighborhappens to work in the same

hospital where your childreceives treatment. HIPAA barsanyone from snooping intopatient records. And any attemptto access classified informationwould likely trip an alarm withinthe institution's computer'ssystem and can be traced.

Also, hospital employees onlyhave access to the parts of the EHRrequired to do their job. This helpskeep the rest of the record secureand private. And after a user'ssession has been inactive for a fewminutes, the systemautomatically logs off to protectothers from viewing theinformation.

In addition, a provision of thelaw, called the Security Rule,specifically addresses the

security of EHRs by establishingnational standards for protectingcertain health information thatis stored or transferred inelectronic form. Any providerwho transmits healthinformation electronically isrequired by law, for example, tohave safeguards (hardware,software, etc.) in place to limitaccess to that information tothose permitted to see it.

Can I Access My Child's Files?Yes. Just like with old-

fashioned paper charts, you havethe right to view your child'smedical information. BecauseEHR technology is still in itsinfancy, not all health carefacilities provide ways forpatients and their families to log

into the system, but some do.If your health care provider

offers this service, ask what'srequired of you. You'll probablyneed to register into the systemand provide a username andpassword. Things like yourchild's medical history, familyhistory, allergies, andprescription medications will beviewable, but any physiciannotes, test results that haven'tbeen reviewed, and mostpsychiatric evaluations will behidden. Additionally, if yourchild is a teenager, it's likely thatmore areas will be hidden toprotect your child's privacy.

If your health care facilitydoes not yet offer access to EHRs,you still can request a paper or

digital (CD-ROM) copy of thefile. Digital copies can be storedon software known as a PersonalHealth Record (PHR), either onyour home computer or online.Some online PHRs are free,while others have initial setupfees and monthly maintenancecosts.

With these accounts, you'll beresponsible for keeping yourrecords up to date. While thismay take some work, it's a goodway to make sure that all of yourchild's medical information is inone place. Patient-owned recordsare especially useful formanaging the care of kids withchronic conditions and those whoreceive care at multipleinstitutions.

Soya milk 'protectsliver' from fat build-up

I can't functionwithout mymorning wake-me-

up coffee. But now thatI'm pregnant, can I stillhave my cup of coffeeevery morning?

Check with your doctorabout caffeine intakeduring your pregnancy.One cup of coffee is usuallyOK, but it's best to not havemore than that. It's hard toknow exactly how muchcaffeine is in a cup of coffee,since it changes based onfactors like the brand ofcoffee and the size of the cup.

Studies indicate thatcaffeine consumption of morethan 150-200 milligrams aday (about 1-2 cups of coffee)can put a pregnancy athigher risk. High caffeineconsumption has been linkedto an increased risk of havinga low birth-weight baby ormiscarriage.

If you're having a hardtime cutting back on coffeecold turkey, here's how youcan start:

Cut your consumptiondown to one or two cups aday.

Gradually reduce theamount by combiningdecaffeinated coffee withregular coffee.

Eventually cut out theregular coffee altogether.

(Concluded)Kids health

S o y protein appearsto help repair apathway in the liver

involved in breaking downfat

Soya milk is not justgood for those who arelactose intolerant -researchers have found it'sgood for the liver as well.

A team from theUniversity of Illinois foundsoy protein, which is alsofound in tofu, may reducethe build-up of harmful fatin the liver.

Scientists in the UScompared the livers of leanand obese rats fed a dietcontaining either milk orsoy protein.

No differences were seenin lean animals. But obeserats fed soy showed a 20 percent reduction in overalllevels of fat accumulationin the liver.

Triglycerides, a type offat known to be harmful tothe heart, were reduced bythe same level.

This means soya couldprotect against 'fatty liverdisease', a condition linkedto obesity that can lead toliver failure.

Study leader Dr HongChen, from the Universityof Illinois, said: 'Almost athird of American adultshave fatty liver disease,many of them withoutsymptoms. Obesity is a keyrisk factor for this condition,which can lead to liverfailure.

'When fat accumulatesin an organ that's notsupposed to store fat, like theliver, that organ's vital

function can bedangerously compromised.'

The findings werepresented at the annualmeeting of the AmericanSociety for Biochemistryand Molecular Biology inSan Diego, California.

Soy protein appears tohelp repair a key signalingpathway in the liverinvolved in fat metabolism,said the scientists. Thismade it harder for the liverto become a 'dumpingground' for excess fat.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012 PAGE 23

With Aunty A'isha rajia39ishabiola@yahoo.com 08082071393.

SHORSHORSHORSHORSHORT STT STT STT STT STORORORORORYYYYY

AvalanchesAvalanchesAvalanchesAvalanchesAvalanchesWWWWWhahahahahat is an t is an t is an t is an t is an AAAAAvvvvvalancalancalancalancalanche?he?he?he?he?

Sights and sounds

DO DO DO DO DO YYYYYOU KNOOU KNOOU KNOOU KNOOU KNOW W W W W THATHATHATHATHATTTTT...?...?...?...?...?

Tom the dogThere once lived a dog

named Tom. Tom wasadopted as a pet in a

wealthy caring household. Allday, Tom lived in a kennelwithin the compound of thehouse guarding the home of hismistress. Whenever a thief ora burglar came within thevicinity, Tom would bark asloudly as he could to scare thecriminal.

The neighbourhood dogswere not so lucky and they werejealous of Tom’s fortune. Nowand then, they would barkfrom outside the gates of Tom’shouse and utter curses at him.All this disturbed Tom a little,but he would only say,

“Poor fellows, they have tostruggle so much for their foodwhile I am so lucky. I must notshout at them and add to theirmisery.”

One day, as he was taking awalk with his mistress, Tomfound that some young boyswere throwing stones at thosesame dogs who insulted him.The dogs were cornered andthey had nowhere to go. Manyof them were bleeding andbarking feebly in protest. Butthe boys did not let go of them.

Tom could not hold himselfback. He was of a strong buildand had a very deep voice. Heknew that he could scare theboys. He ran towards the boys,the boys were startled at theterrible barking that Tomdirected at them. Their bloodfroze at the sight of the hugeTom baring his fangs andrunning towards them. Theydropped their rocks and ran

In theory, an avalanche is any amount of snow sliding downa mountainside. It can be compared to a landslide, onlywith snow instead of earth. Another common term for

avalanche is ‘snow slide.’ As an avalanche becomes nearer tothe bottom of the slope, it gains speed and power, this can causeeven the smallest of snow slides to be a major disaster.

There are two common types of avalanches, a SurfaceAvalanche that occurs when a layer of snow with differentproperties slides over another layer of snow, for example whena layer of dry loosely packed snow slides over a dense layer ofwet snow. The other common avalanche is known as a Full-Depth Avalanche which, as its name would lead you tobelieve, occurs when an entire snow cover, from the earth tothe surface, slides over the ground.

An avalanche can be composed of many different kinds ofsnow depending on the region, temperature and weather. It

could be compiled ofloosely packed lightfluffy snow, whichcan still be verydangerous eventhough it may nota p p e a rthreatening. Itcould also consist ofa thick ‘slab’ whichis an area of tightlypacked togethersnow that separatesitself from the surroundings.

What causes avalanches to happen?The snow packed down on the surface cannot support itself

with all the weight. When another factor is introduced, suchas a person’s step, this helps to loosen the snow and an avalancheoccurs. Major temperature changes, rapid wind speed andman-made influences are the main causes of avalanches.

Most avalanches begin within weak layers of snow, whichevolve within the snowpack or form on top of the snow andbecome buried. Eventually these weak layers can no longerhold up the weight on the overlying snow, and will give waycausing the snow above them to break free and slide downhill.

away as fast as their legs couldcarry them.

“Go home” Tom said to theother dogs “no one will disturbyou anymore.”

He ran back to his mistresswho had seen all that Tom did.She patted Tom and praisedhim for his courage.

That night, Tom’s mistresssaw a strange sight. The dogswhom Tom had saved in themorning had gathered nearthe gates of her house. Itseemed to her as if they weretelling something to her pet.

“Maybe they are thankingTom for his brave gesture.” shethought.

And right she was! Fromthat day, Tom and the otherdogs who were his abusers hadbecome friends. Tom’s kindnesshad won over his abusers’hatred and he had earned theirlove, respect and admirationthat nothing on earth couldbuy .

Moral: Be good to all,even if they happen to beyour enemies.

Pyramid of Giza

When people around theworld think of Egypt,they think of pyramids.

While other peoples of theancient world built theseinteresting structures, thecountryside of Egypt is bestknown for them. These ancientstructures stretch up from thesandy desert ground toward theskies, timeless reminders of thepower of the kingdoms of thishistoric country.

Most pyramids are three orfour sided structures, meeting atthe top in a triangular, pointedtip. The solid base and small topmade for a solid building design.The largest pyramid, the GreatPyramid of Khufu, covers anamazing 13 acres and originallystood 488 feet (149m) high. Dueto wear and theft of the beautifullimestone used as the outerwalls, the structure now stands

Egyptians burytheir Kings inPyramids

only 455 feet (138m) high.Around 1,300,000 bricks wereused, but not bricks like we thinkof today.

The ‘little’ cut limestonepieces weigh 5,500 pounds eachand the larger ones weigh33,000 pounds!

Pyramid building becamemore and more efficient, withearly pyramids, such as the steppyramid tomb of PharaohDjoser, in ruins. Built on a poor

foundation, the pyramidarchitect did not carve thestones so that they leanedslightly inward, making theweight of the stones lock thepyramid into place. Laterstructures, such as the threeGreat Pyramids of Giza, were puttogether much better and havestood the test of time with littledamage.

NB: Tomb means gravewhere people are buried

Party for horned animals only (II)AFRICAN AFRICAN AFRICAN AFRICAN AFRICAN TTTTTALESALESALESALESALES

PAGE 22 PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

Make yourown chalk

With Aunty A'isha rajia39ishabiola@yahoo.com 08082071393.

ACTIVITIESACTIVITIESACTIVITIESACTIVITIESACTIVITIES

Name and paint the above picture withbeautiful colour, show your work to yourteacher for correction. Cheers!

CREACREACREACREACREATIVITYTIVITYTIVITYTIVITYTIVITY

Look, friends, at thedespicable little hare,the uninvited guest,

with the beeswax melted by thesun and his horns lying at hisside. We’ve been tricked by thisimpostor who came to our partyunder false horns. He must bepunished and punishedseverely for mocking all ushorn animals.”

“Hear! Hear!” thefrightened hare heard the otheranimals saying, and he openedhis left eye ever so slightly. Hewas surrounded by a half-circleof horned animals and his mindwas working swiftly.

He noticed that rhinoceroswas not very steady on his legs,and he thought to himself thatthe rhino would not be able tomove quickly in that condition.

So, before the animals quiteknew what had happened, thehare jumped to his feet andscooted through the rhino’slegs. The startled animal triedto turn, fell with a crash, andsome of the other animalsstumbled over his massivebody, giving the hare a chanceto escape.

But he didn’t get very far,for even a hare is not as swift asa buck, and as he realized thathe would be caught, he scurriedinto a tiny cave in the hills. Itwas just big enough to containhis body, and he thought hewas safe until he felt somebodypulling his tail.

But his quick mind did notlet him down, even though the

pain was unbearable.“Ha! Ha!” he laughed, “You

think you’ve got hold of mytail, don’t you, but what youare pulling is a root. You’refooling yourself, whoever youare” for his nose was stuck in acorner of the tiny cave and hecouldn’t see behind him.

Whoever was holding himlet go, and at that moment heheard the elephanttrumpeting, “There’s his tail!Pull him out! Pull him out, thehornless rascal!”

After great effort hemanaged to turn around so thathe could look out, and he wasdelighted to see the elephant

pulling a root that was growingjust outside the mouth of thetiny cave.

His eyes twinkled withmerriment. “Ouch!” he cried.“Oh, don’t be so cruel, O hornedcreatures. You’re pulling mytail and the pain is unbearable.Oh! Oh!”

Spurred on by his cries, theelephant pulled even harder,the rhino pulled the elephant,the warthog pulled the rhino,the small antelope pulled thewarthog, and so on, until a longchain of animals was strainingto pull out the root theythought was the hare’s tail.

And the hare pretended tobe crying in agony.

Suddenly, the root cameout of the ground in a rush, andthe animals tumbledbackwards, falling upon oneanother in great confusion, thedrunken rhino lying on hisback with his legs wavingfeebly in the air.

The hare jumped out of hiscave, leaped upon the belly ofthe helpless rhino, danced abrisk tattoo upon him,screamed with laughter andwas gone before a single animalcould rise to its feet.

“I’m a brilliant fellow,” hethought as the sand spurted byunder his speeding feet. “I’vefoxed all the horned animals,and now, with that experiencebehind me, I can surely fool myold enemy the tortoise,” haregladly said.

- Concluded

MODEL OF THE WEEKMODEL OF THE WEEKMODEL OF THE WEEKMODEL OF THE WEEKMODEL OF THE WEEK

Nayeba Din Shinyo

“

Learn how to make chalk withthis recipe.

What you will need:A shape/mold (an empty toilet

paper roll, a candy shape or acookie cutter.)

food coloringPlaster ParisA large plastic bowlA stick or spoon to stir itWatermasking tapeScissorsTips: You can make your

chalk glow in the dark by usingglow in the dark paint. You canlight up your chalk by addingglitter.

How to make your chalk:Mix 1 cup of plaster Paris and

4 tablespoons of water together.Stir until the lumps are gone. Thenadd 2 tablespoons of paint or 6-10drops of food colouring. (The moredrops of food colouring that youadd, the darker your chalk colourwill be.)

The more you stir theingredients the more solid your

chalk colour will be. If you like, youcan leave swirls by not mixing asmuch. Pour your mixture intoyour molds quickly because it setsup fast. You want to fill your moldwhen your mixture is a liquid notclumps.

If you use a toilet paper roll,cover one end with masking tapeor duck tape. Then pour yourmixture into the top. If you use acookie cutter, lay the cookie cutterflat on a piece of cardboard. Fill itup with your chalk mixture. If youuse a candy mold, just pour your

mixture in.If you want thinner chalk, take

your toilet paper roll and cut thetube length wise. Bring the cutends together to make a thinnertube. Tape it shut.

Once you have poured thechalk mixture into the mold ofyour choice, let it set for two ormore hours. After at least twohours, remove the chalk from themold. Then let the chalk air outfor 24 hours before you use it. Thisis GREAT chalk! Have fun usingnew homemade chalk.

PAGE 24 PAGE 25PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5, — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

Kannywood NollywoodFirst Nollywood MoviesAwards (NMAs) 2012

Mercy Johnson, Genevieve, Omotola,others in hot contest over NMA Award

Stephanie Okereke speakson N100m Paris wedding,says “I’ve always dreamtof a fairy tale wedding”

The battle line appears tohave been drawn for topNollywood actresses,

Omotola Ekeinde Jalade, MercyJohnson, Genevieve Nnaji, UcheJombo and Omoni Oboli as theyall get set to slug it out in winningthe maiden edition of NollywoodMovies Awards (NMA) in bestActress category.

Nominees for NMA wereunveiled at a press conference inLagos last week Friday.

Van Vicker would have to beatRamsey Nuoah, JosephBenjamin, Charles Okafor andTrybson Dudukoko to win theBest Actor prize.

The nomination party willtake place at the Oriental Hotel,Lagos this Saturday May 5 whilethe main awards ceremony holdson Saturday June 2, 2012 at theCivic Centre in Lagos.

Stella Damasus,Shan George,EmekaRollas made UNRepresentatives

Stella Damasus, ShanGeorge, Emeka Rollashave joined the growing

list of Nollywood actors thathave been made UnitedNations (UN) ambassadors.

The trio were confirmedrepresentatives of the worldgoverning body few days agoin Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.

They have joined the likesof Ini Edo, Chika Ike and otherswho are already UNambassadors.

Shan George

The much talked about weddingof Stephanie Okereke-Linus hascome and gone. The talented

thespian finally married her long-time sweetheart, Idahosa on April21,2012 in Paris, France. About 400close colleagues and friends of theactress from all over the worldattended.

It was the sort of dream weddingthe actress had always fantasizedabout, and the aura of Paris and acastle further helps to deepen thatromantic and enchanting feeling asshe enters into matrimony.

It would be recalled that theiraffair, was made public in2010.Shortly after, Linus took a boldstep and proposed to the actress on adinner date at a posh location in Ikoyi,Lagos, after which there have beenspeculations on their wedding onseveral occasions, which never held.

The last wedding date of Stephanieand Linus that circulated wasFebruary this year, but in aninterview she had, the actressdebunked the wedding rumours.

After many of her fans had waitedendlessly for the wedding, she took theindustry by surprise when they bothchose an Exclusive Castle in Paris fortheir wedding, which according to theactress is Nigerian Wedding of theYear. It was learnt that to wed at thecastle costed £100,000.

The wedding between Stephanieand Idahosa Linus is estimated atalmost N100 million!

Nollywood’s newest and hottest

bride, Mrs. Stephanie Idahosa, in achat with newsmen said words cannotexpress her feelings on the hugesuccess recorded at the wedding.

“We thank God and our familiesfor standing by us throughout theperiod of this wedding. We are alsograteful to all of you that came fromfar and wide to honour us with yourpresence.”

On why they settled for Paris,France, as venue for the veryexpensive nuptials that was reekingin opulence, the cerebral screengoddess had this to say:

“I’ve always dreamt of a fairytalewedding, especially as a child growingup. I’ve always imagined a fairytalewedding with my prince charmingin a castle on an Island. And thankGod that my husband finally madethat possible inside this 16th centurycastle in Cernay, Paris, France. It wasa fairytale dream come true.

It’s the ambience fairy-tale like. Itis reminiscent of culture, of peace andlove; something away from the chaoswe get used, something fresh, new anddifferent

It’s a beautiful feeling to be in loveand be with the one person you wishto spend the rest of your life with. Shegushed with smiles.

Stephanie concluded by tellingwhat women really want in marriage“Love, peace, security. A man to shareyour dreams with. One who trulyrespects you and sees beyond just yourbeauty but your true essence. A realman with real values”

‘How I met and fell in love with my wife’ - Chidi MokemeHow did you meet your

wife?

I met my wife in America in2008. I had gone for theinauguration of President

Obama. There was one of the townhall balls that was organised in hishonour by the ‘Africa BusinessRound Table’ in Maryland. I wasthere too. It was there I ran intomy wife.What was the attraction?

First, she’s a pretty woman.She’s imposing, and stands out. Assoon as you see her, you will noticeher. I think everything else musthave grown with time. You beginto discover who she is. And thenthe more I discovered, the more Iwas sure we were going to end upin marriage.

NuellaNjubuigbo

When, how and where didyou propose?

I proposed to her in the Stateslast year. It was a surprise. Shecame back from work one day, sheopened the door and I was there.Candles were all lighted up; I wasthere inside her house on bendedknees asking her ‘Would youmarry me?’

Why did you go for a US-based lady when there arethousands of home-bredladies in Nigeria?

I don’t think that is a problem.It doesn’t matter where a personin based. You don’t marry awoman because of where she isbased. What matters is herpersonality. And thengeographical location absolutely

means nothing because that arrangement can bechanged by one conversation. It doesn’t takeanything to relocate. If she would be relocating toNigeria, we would make our family in Nigeria.

Will Jean agree to relocate to Nigeria ,leaving her thriving practice?

She is in a business that is requiredeverywhere in the world. There is nowhere in theworld you don’t require the services of medicalpractitioners. She’s not only a doctor; she’s adoctor’s doctor.

That means she has a doctorate degree in aspecialized area of medicine.

She has a doctorate degree in pharmacy. Youknow she can never be out of work.

Is she your dream woman?We said ‘I do’ (laughs)- Nigeriafilms.com

Ramsey Nouah, RitaDominic, Chidi Mokeme,others in Ibadan for Lions of 76

Nollywood stars RamseyNouah, Rita Dominic,Chidi Mokeme, and many

others are somewhere in Ibadanshooting a movie titled Lions of 76.

The flick, which is beingproduced and directed by Izu

Ojukwu, is centered on the1976 coup and

assassination of onetime Nigerian

military rulerG e n e r a lM u r t a l aMohammed.

It waslearnt thatalmost everypart of themovie isbeing shot int h em i l i t a r yb a r r a c k s ,and thatthe story isb a s i c a l l yabout hows o l d i e r stried top r o v e

t h e i ri n n o c e n c e

after thecoup, because

if found guiltythey’d be killed.

Dakore and herhusband, Olumide Akande

Movie StarFamily

Nollywood Movies Awards will celebrate both English speakingand Indigenous talents with a Nominees’ party set to take placeon Saturday 5th May 2012 at the Oriental hotel in Lagos, Nige-

ria with the Main Awards Ceremony on Saturday 2nd June 2012 atthe Civic Centre also in Lagos, Nigeria.

The Main Awards Ceremony will be hosted by: Julius D Genius Agwuand Kate Henshaw

The primary aim of the Nollywood Movies Awards (NMAs) is tohonour and recognise excellence in the Industry.

The Awards will also focus on the highest achievements of filmsproduced for the industry each year in order to motivate and encour-age those who make them and inspire new entrants into the industry.

The Press Conference was held on Friday, 27th April, 2012 at theLagos, Ikeja Hotel (Best Western) where the full list of categories andnominees were revealed. The highlights of the ceremony will bescreened later on Nollywood Movies (SKY Channel 329) and on othernotable platforms NMA Press Conference 2 - (Kola Munis, Ifueko Gbinigie, Alfred Soroh, Chelsea Eze)

Mokeme

After countless attempts in themotion picture industry,fast-rising actress, Maureen

Okpoko has finally found her feetdoing what she loves best- acting.The delectable fair complexionedgraduate of English and LiteraryStudies from the University of PortHarcourt said although it wasn’teasy at the beginning, now, thereis no week that you would not seeher on screen.

With three beautiful children,Okpoko who loves wearing low cutspoke about her fledgling career,how she nearly relocated toEngland after a heartbreak, anaccident that threatened hercareer, and lots more.

Speaking on her entrance intothe industry, she said: “I havealways had the flair for acting butI never really got that push tomove on. I did a couple ofcommercials in the late 90s. At apoint, I got involved in some sortof getting together with a group,the lady in charge was supposed toshoot a soap. Clarion Chukwurah,

had travelled out of Lagos or that Iwas not in. Even when I cameback, I still really didn’t bother”.

Then one day in 2000, I used towork with a bank, PremierCommercial bank. I also workedwith a telecommunicationorganisation in Ikoyi, Lagos. Idisengaged from the job in 2004and started buying and selling. Ieven had a canteen at aconstruction site. After sometime,I got tired. In 2007, there was thislady, Chinyere Uba who called foran audition in her place at theAirforce Mess, Kofo Abayomi and Ihad a family I used to visit there,my friend Imaculata. She studiedMass Communication and is alsointerested in acting. We went forthe auditioning in one of theapartments there. Leo Slabus waspart of it too. Then they came tothe National Theatre for anotherbig audition. The audition was heldand I left, but everything came tonaught at the end of the day.

“In 2008, I decided to go into itfully. I had an accident that actually

made me draw back for a while.Later I decided to try my luck again.One day, in a bus, I met a guy andwe got talking. He told me he had afriend, Omoh Weeks and hisgirlfriend, Ijeoma Imo, that hewould introduce me to them. Wecame to Winnis and he introducedthem to me. We sat down and wegot talking. Ijeoma was trying to behelpful but since she couldn’t get meinto the system within as I wanted,she told me to go to PEFTI at Oshodibut I didn’t go. I left again, wentback home in 2009. I travelled andcame back. ByNovember, Idecided to goagain”.

-Nollywood

gossips.net

Paul Obazele, Sola Sobowale and LizBenson were all there. All of asudden she said she was travellingto America to get sponsors. I can’tremember her name now. I gaveup on it but I had this friend ofmine who was working with MediaInternational, Collins Onomo whowas trying to push me to doing onething or the other like acting ormodelling. I didn’t take it seriouslyeach time he came; it was either I

Maureen Okpoko

Maureen finds her feet

PAGE 26 PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

Khloe Kardashian anglingfor own Reality Show

HHHHHollollollollollywywywywywoodoodoodoodood/////BBBBBollollollollollywywywywywoodoodoodoodoodKatrina Kaif enjoysworking with Salman KhanK a t r i n a Kaif is not

new to the industryrumors and link-up

with male co-stars. She now,has made a place for herselfin the industry and knows tocarry herself very well.

Recent rumors had it thatKatrina Kaif is back toSalman Khan. The actressrubbished them saying,

“When we start workingfor a movie we go in asprofessionals. I am here to domy job and if people want tohighlight baseless storiesthen it’s up to them. I don’tthink that these stories willhave any effect on my workand the film,” Katrina Kaif isquoted as saying by a newsagency.

The actress is so used tobeing linked up with hermale co-stars that suchrumors doesn’t bother heranymore.

“I am never botheredabout such stories. Whyshould I? I think it’s whatevery actor goes through.When you start working inthe industry, people talkingabout you becomes a part ofyour life. Why analyze it somuch?” Katrina Kaif said.

The rumors of Kat andSallu’s rekindling

K h l o e Kardashiandoesn’t need a manin order to anchor a

reality show! On the heels ofLamar & Khloe concludingafter this season, multiplesources confirm that thissister remains in talks withE! for her very own series.

“Khloe wants to developa new reality show for E! assoon as Lamar gets picked upby a team and Kris Jenner ishelping,” a Kardashianinsider tells Hollywood Life,adding that Odom is finewith that arrangement aslong as he can get back intobasketball shape withoutcameras around.

The source says there’spressure on Jenner tocontinue spinning off herchildren in order to fulfill thefamily’s new $40 millioncontract.

TMZ confirms thechatter, meanwhile,quoting an E! mole whoadmits the network is in the“Khloe Kardashian business”and would be interested in ashow featuring this sibling.But what might it be titled?

Jessica Simpson welcomes baby girl

J e s s i c a Simpsonfinally gave birth toher baby girl today.

Maxwell Drew Johnson,weighing 9 lbs., 13 oz. wasborn in L.A. It’s the first childfor the star and her fiancé,former NFL player EricJohnson.

Madhuri to play thelead role of gangsterA c t r e s s Madhuri

Dixit is on a roll.After signing

Vishal Bharadwaj’s ‘DedhIshqiya’, the Bollywooddiva has now been roped to

play the lead role of agangster in AnubhavSinha’s home production‘Gulab Gang’.

“We have signedMadhuri for ‘Gulab Gang’.

Little Maxwell is namedfor Eric’s middle name, andwill go by Maxi. Her middlename is a tribute to hergrandma, Tina Simpson,whose maiden name is Drew.

After six months ofdating, Simpson, 31, andJohnson, 32, got engaged in

November 2010, and thenallegedly pushed off theirwedding when she gotpregnant.

The Texas native, now31, was famously andpreviously married to NickLachey from 2002 untiltheir separation in 2005, butthe couple had no children.

She first shared her ownhappy pregnancy news withthe world on Halloween, andthe deluge of TMI JessicaSimpson quotes hascontinued unabated since.

As her due dateapproached, the uninhibitedsinger has spoken candidlyabout all things pregnancy,from cravings to sex tomommy brain and evenswamp ass.

“I feel like I have a bowlingball sitting on my head,” shesaid. “Apparently I have a lotof amniotic fluid, so when mywater breaks, it will be like afire hydrant!”

With Maxi weighing in atsuch a healthy size, this wasprobably true. Anyway,congrats guys!

I t ’s a great time to be afan of CarrieUnderwood.

The season fourAmerican Idol championreleased her fourthstudio album today,while also announcing a

Carrie Underwood Announces TourDates, Looks Absurdly Hot in Glamour

number of upcomingtour dates and lookingridiculously hot in thepages of the latestGlamour. To wit:

Once you eventuallyremove your eyes fromthose pictures, and the

drool from your keyboard,read on to find out whenCarrie will be coming to acity near you, and checkout her performance of“Good Girl” on The LateShow with DavidLetterman.

romance started duringthe shoot of Yash Raj filmEk Tha Tiger.

“I am excited about thefilm, it’s shaping up good.Salman is working with YashRaj for the first time and it’smy second film with them.

It’s always fun working withSalman, he makeseverything verycomfortable on the sets,” shesaid.

Katrina Kaif is presentlyalso working with ShahrukhKhan.

She would be playing thelead role of Gulab. Sheheads the gang of women,”Sinha, told PTI.

It was director SoumikSen who narrated the storyand I really liked it. It washis idea of having Madhuriin the film. He met her andshe was also extremelyexcited about it,” he said.

‘Gulab Gang’ is a storyof a gang of women fightingagainst social injustice. “Itis not a biopic. It is not basedon anyone. It is in a wayinspired by something thathappened in UP. It is afiction,” Sinha said.

The producer said therewill be about six femalecharacters in the film. “Wehave just finalised Madhuri.Soumik had mentioned thathe wants to cast Mahie Gill,Shilpa Shukla for other roles.But I don’t know if he hasmet them and things havebeen finalised or not. Also, weare looking for a femaleantagonist,” he said.

Produced underBenaras Media Worksbanner, ‘Gulab Gang’would go on floors postmonsoon and would releasenext year on Women’s Day,March 8.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012 PAGE 27

How to choose diningtables for small spaces

Homes

Whenever we think of the term- "dining tables", a picture of abig dining table with huge

chairs flashes immediately in front ofour eyes. However, this was the scenarioa couple of years back, things havechanged drastically now.

If you have a small dining space, thenyou need not deprive yourself ofenjoying a meal on the dining table asthere are several types of dining tables,specifically available for small spaces.Let's begin by knowing the differenttypes of dining tables you can choose forsmall spaces -

Wall mounted dining tablesWall mounted dining tables are an

excellent selection for small spaces asthey do not occupy floor space at all. Thesedining tables are mounted against thewall, and they can be folded "in" or "out"as required. As surrounding space andelements are not disturbed, these tablesare ideal for loft rooms, studioapartments, and dorm rooms.

Folding dining tables: Folding dining

tables are simple dining tables that canbe easily folded and stored elsewherewhen not in use. These tables aregenerally available for two to fourpersons, and they are ideal for homesthat do not feature separate diningspace.

Drop leaf tablesDrop leaf tables are similar to the

folding tables, but they cannot be foldedflat and stowed away. These tables areideal for dining rooms with limitedspace, as commonly found in one to twobedroom flats.

Gataleg tablesGataleg tables feature two drop

leaves on each side of the table, and thelegs open out like a gate in order tosupport the leaves. The most beneficialfeature of these tables is that they canbe used for displaying things when thetable is not being used for diningpurpose.

As you now know the various typesyou can select for small spaces, you shouldnow consider other relevant factors.

Firstly, measure the available space forthe dining table. Consider the probabletraffic around the table that might becreated and the provision of leg space.

It’s always recommended to settle forsquare tables in case of small spaces sothat intimate cozy settings are createdand there is no waste of space. Prefix abudget before you set out to buy thedining tables so that your specific needis catered, and you do not land upspending beyond your budget.{pic 1from newtableconcept.com, 2 fromfurnitureinfashion.net}

ce-Saving Design: CollapsibleCoffee & Dinner Tables

Most of us enjoy being able to exercisecontrol over our surroundings, down tothe built environments we occupy andhomes we call our own. Thesetransforming table designs might seemboring and conventional – or they maybe a welcome simple and space-savingrelief from the recent influx of complexconvertible creations.

There is one trick to these, one which

is both simple to see and easy to use: flatrectangular surfaces slot into place forcompact storage when not in use, andpull out to whatever length is requiredfor a given task. No flip-up, fold-down,spin-around secrets, just simple slidingmotions to increase or decrease availabledining, work or side-table space.

These tables from Sculptures-Jeuxcome in a vast variety of types, heights,colours and layers that slide in and out of acore rectilinear table frame. Some aredesigned to serve as small nightstands orsimple coffee tables while othersaccommodate seating for a family of six atdinner or work as a sizable home office desk.

Aesthetically, they are tied togetherthrough a common theme: accented edgesstand out from the surface areas toemphasize the structural independence ofeach moving part within the whole. Someare colourful while others have toned-down gray-and-black palettes, but invirtually ever example you canimmediately see from the contrast how tooperate these dynamic furniture designs.

Drop leaf tables Gataleg tables

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012PAGE 28

Pots & PansWith

Hajiya Ramatu Usman DorayiCuisine

Homemade fresh ripe mango juice

10 Simple kitchen tips

1. Use tongs to cookpretty mucheverything

Spatulas are awesomefor anything that needsto be flipped or scraped,like eggs and pancakes.For everything else,tongs are the way to go.They're much morenimble and less awkwardto use, and you'll find farfewer things jumpingfrom your pan onto thefloor.

2. Store everythingin tupperware

As much as you'd liketo be the kind of personwho trims their herbs,puts them in a vase thenwrap them in a damppaper towel so they last aweek, if you are too lazyfor that. The good newsthough is thattupperware keeps almosteverything fresh formuch longer than yourcrisper, includingberries, salad greens andproduce that havealready been cut. Becauseit is reusable, it is alsomore ecofriendly.

3. If you own aknife, don't use a

garlic pressPeeling and pressing

garlic is a huge waste oftime. To use a clove ofgarlic, set it on a cuttingboard and smash it withthe flat side of a big knife(any chef's knife will do).The papery skin will comeright off, and you canmince it real quick rightthere in about 10 seconds.Done.

4. Keep a separatecutting board forthings you don't wantflavoured with garlicand onion

Assuming you followany recipe ever, you'llprobably be using yourcutting board forcutting onions or garlic.If so, it is recommendedthat you get a separateboard to keep aside forcutting fruits, cheesesand other things thatyou'd prefer didn'tabsorb the odors ofprevious meals.

5. Herbs that aresupposed to be greenshould be purchasedfresh, not dry

With the possibleexception of dried

oregano, herbs arealways better fresh.They're also cheap andavailable almostanywhere. In particular,always buy fresh parsley,basil, cilantro, thyme,tarragon or chives if youcan help it (a few shouldbe in your fridge at alltimes). The dried versionsare too delicate and thejar will be bad before youuse it twice.

6. Don't bother withpre-filled spice racks

If you want spices toserve their purpose(making food tastebetter), you shouldn'town a pre-filled spicerack, spices go off quickly,and when their colourstarts to dull they've losta lot of their flavour.There are several driedspices that are invaluablein the kitchen(cinnamon, cloves, currypowder, cumin,coriander, chili pepper,etc.), but you shouldpurchase them as youneed them, and in smallquantities unless you usethem frequently.

7. Overcooking is

T h i s is the seasonwhen one can relishfresh homemade

ripe mango juice and youcan make the best use ofmangoes for your cookingor for your fruit salad.There is a variety of sweetmango which is best suitedto prepare mango juice. Itspulp blends well to yield asmooth creamy juice.

The next time you headfor that bottled mangojuice, do yourself a favourby blending a glass of freshmango juice to relish thereal taste of mango with allits nutrients.

Peel and chop ripemango into pieces, place inblender with crushed ice,water and sugar or honey,or date syrup as required.Blend to a smoothconsistency and runthrough a sieve. Discardthe left over pulp in thesieve. Pour into tall glassesand serve.

the biggest singlekitchen mistake

O v e r c o o k e dvegetables are mushyand flavourless,

overcooked meat is toughand chalky, overcookedgrains are soggy and fallapart. Overcooked food isbad food. Learn the art oftaking food off the heatjust before it is done, andlet it finish cooking withits internaltemperature. You canalways cook it more, butyou can never cook itless.

8. If it tastes OK butnot great, it probablyneeds salt-and maybesome vinegar orgroundnut oil

The media loves tobash salt, but I'm notconvinced that it (ratherthan processed food) isthe real problem. Also,the small amount youuse when cooking athome won't compare towhat you'd get at arestaurant or in apackaged meal. Thoughover-salted foodcertainly tastes bad,under-salted food is blandand boring and anotherdash can often save adish.

If you think you'veadded enough salt butsomething is still off, trya splash of vinegar or

lemon (any acid) tobrighten the flavour. Ifthe food is dry or sticky,try adding a touch ofgroundnut oil. These 3things can fix almost anylackluster meal.

9. Don't buyregular big onions, useshallots or leeks

For most everydaycooking, milder onionswill enhance your dishand give it morenuances. Big, strongonions certainly havetheir place in cooking(soups, roasts, etc.), butmost kitchen experimentswill be improved by moresubtle onion flavour.

10. Fruit (otherthan berries)shouldn't be stored inthe fridge

Refrigerators dull thetastes of most produce, soif you bought somethingthat doesn't need to go inthere, leave it out. Mostfruits including apples,oranges, pears andbananas don't belong inthe refrigerator unlessyou're not planning oneating them soon. mostpeople don't refrigeratetomatoes, avocados orpeppers either.

PAGE 29 PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

Aisha Jummai Alhassan:Redefining the cause of women

Womanhood

By Miriam Humbe, Abuja andAyodele Samuel, Jalingo

Making life meaningfulfor the womenfolkthrough advocacy

and the introduction of petprojects is one of the core valuesupon which the philosophy ofSenator Aisha Jumai Alhassanis based. A Lawyer and formerTaraba State Attorney Generaland Commissioner for Justice,she was also appointed the ChiefRegistrar of the High Court of theFederal Capital Territory, Abujaon 17 December 2003 where sheserved until her retirement to gointo business.

The Amazon is widelyreputed as being veryuncompromising, especiallywhen it comes to issues ofinjustice and gender equality.Senator Alhassan has analluring personality; alwayswearing a smile which attractspeople to her like bees to honey.For good measure, no doubt she'sgenuinely amiable.

Little known in herconstituency of Taraba NorthSenatorial zone before 2010 as apolitical icon, Mama Aisha, asher admirers prefer to call her,exploded on the political stagelike a shooting star and shockedthe immediate past governor ofthe state, Rev. Jolly T. Nyameto pick the PDP senatorialnomination ticket. Sheproceeded to win the racesquarely against all heropponents.

Regarded as an underdog inthe race, she had served andretired as a judicial officer withthe Federal Capital Territory,Abuja, where her famed wealthadded to her political capital. Itwas from Abuja that she cameforward to pursue her politicalambition.

However, when she expressedher desire to run the senatorialrace, cynics doubted theambition. Many questioned ifshe was sufficiently armed toride roughshod on the slipperypolitical turf, most especially asmany thought her highambition was also running awaywith her. But all that is nowhistory. At the seventh NationalAssembly, Senator Alhassan isrigorously championing theaffairs of women with all herstrength and redefining theircause.

She passionately believes on

the need to position thewomenfolk to be relevant in thescheme of things for thebetterment of the society and isreputed for advocating forNigerian women on the floor ofthe Senate, this she attributedto the disadvantaged position ofwomen in the nation's life andpolitics and their overwhelmingsupport during the election.

"We are certainly not satisfiedwith the 35 percent slotsallocated to us, however, let'sstart somewhere and from therewe can push for more things.Personally, I will not sit here andwatch women being pushed tothe wall in the allocation ofpositions and other dividends of

democracy, she said".Senator Aisha is of the

opinion that service tohumanity could be harnessedeven with fewer resources wherethere is an understanding

between the governed and thegovernance.

Since her election into thehallow chamber Senator Aishahas intensified efforts in thewelfare of her constituents with

the provision of scholarship,sinking of boreholes, medicalservices and the rehabilitationof schools among other projects.

In doing these things, shegives special attention to the lessprivileged groups especially thewomenfolk and has unveiledplans to sponsor the treatmentof VVF and cancer cases amongrural women in her state.

In order to get the young onesfinancially equipped, she is alsoengaging youthful minds inTaraba state in the area of sports.Only recently, she donated twotrophies which are to becompeted for annually to theTaraba State FootballAssociation. One of the trophiesis christened Senator AishaAlhassan State Unity Cup whilethe second is Senator AishaAlhassan Zonal Unity Cup. Thezonal unity cup is to be competedfor by youths in her zone(Taraba north) while the stateunity cup is to be competed forby all the three senatorial zonesin the state.

Other sporting items shedonated include 50 pieces offootball; 10 sets of goal post net;1368 sets of complete jerseyscomprising shirts, shorts,football boots, Socks and wristband. Senator Alhassan alsodoled out 76 complete sets of goalkeeper outfit, 190 sets ofuniforms for officials and 190storage bags.

"In our contemporary worldtoday, we know that sports is averitable foreign exchangeearner for many countries,therefore we can develop oursporting activities to a levelthat sports will be revenueearning tool for our dear state,"she said.

Aisha Jummai Alhassan is awoman worthy of emulation asshe tops the list of seven femaleSenators who are playingcritical roles in the affairs of theSeventh National Assembly, inspite of women's topsy-turvymarch in the apex legislativehouse; she remains a woman ofsubstance in the politics ofTaraba state.

Senator Aisha JummaiAlhassan has a very impressivepersonality and leadershipqualities which left no iota ofdoubt in the minds of the peopleof Taraba state as to hercapabilities when they gave hertheir mandate to represent themat the National Assembly at the2011 polls.

Senator Aisha Alhassan

Senator Aisha is of the opinion thatservice to humanity could be harnessedeven with fewer resources where there

is an understanding between thegoverned and the governance.

“

PAGE 30

Do you have old pictures for memories?Send them to julius2001_a@yahoo.com

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

From the archives

123

1

2

4

53

Captions:1. Wole Soyinkaas a ten-year-old choir boy in1946.

2. Wole Soyinka,age 18, acollegefreshman.

3. Wole Soyinkawith hisdaughterMoremi in 1963.

4. WoleSoyinka'smother, "WildChristian," onher 70th Birth-day with herchildren in1978. Clockwisefrom left: Wole,Yeside, Femi,Kayode, Foladoand Tinu.

5. Wole Soyinkatoday.

From Soyinka’s Album

LLLLLearearearearearningningningningningPAGE 31PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

M o s t of us run awebsite to makem o n e y .

Whatever your website is, ablog or a portfolio website, thewebsite performance isessential to our success. Howto improve your websiteperformance to generateincome on its own? Here I'dlike to suggest some solutions.

Improve web hostingperformance

Web hostingperformance, play animportant role. No one wantsto stay on a product websiteon a frequently interruptedwebsite. A 100% uptimehosting is unpractical. But becareful when you arechoosing web hosting for yourwebsite. Make sure its uptimeguaranteed and respond anddeliver page quickly.

Use a well designedand efficient websitedesign

I would never believe in augly designed website or blog.This is also true to many otherpeople, even if they are not awebsite designer as me. A welldesigned website tends to bemore trustful. How could webelieve that a web site withbad design can deliver goodquality products or services?

Please note that, a welldesigned website is notequivalent to a beautifuldesign. Sometimes, a simpletext page even get moreconversion (web sales). Makesure you advertise yourproducts not only yourwebsite. Certainly, a designcorporation should display abeautiful website to theirusers.

Make value addedcontents

The contents are the mostimportant section to makeyour website success. Don't

How to improvewebsite performanceand generate income

Grace Ozioma Onotu inher book, ‘Finding Meaning indifficult Times’ addresses thefrustration of man in tryingto chart for himself outsideGod. It also helps every readerto find rest in a restless worldand to face the challenges of amodern age. With aconclusion that the secret toliving an exceptional life for alarger than life experience isin having a personalrelationship with God andallowing His word have finalauthority over ourcircumstances.

The author is the thirdchild of a family of seven. Shegrew up to meet a comfortablelife where her parents met herneeds and that of her siblings.Suddenly, events turnedaround and her parents lostall they had in a mysteriousway. She and her siblings hadto hawk food items to earn aliving as their parents couldno longer pay their bills. It gotso bad that they had to skipgoing to school in turn to helptheir mother sell in the market.

They had to move out of theirhouse and started living in acement shop owned by theirdad’s friend. Through all thischallenges, Grace neverallowed the mental picture ofbeing a medical doctor she hadcarried in her mind to fade.Through thick and thin shenever gave up her desire oneday. Today, she is a proudmedical doctor.

The book uses the firstperson narrative as to allowOlotu give account of hergrowing up and all thechallenges she faced as a child,a student up to her presentstage in life. One thing shelearnt over the years was toadhere to the virtues ofexceptional living. Lifebecomes a lot easier if we learnto accept people the way theyare without beingjudgmental. Olotu said shelearnt to believe in herself andcarried a mental picture ofwhat she wanted to be nomatter the circumstance andchallenges she refused to allowthe mental picture of her

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Business transactionimprovement

Many of us webmastersare trying to get more traffic.We believe more readers willbring more profits. But this isbased on the think that thetransaction remains thesame. Some website withsmall traffic will win moreconsumers because they gethighly targeted readers andshow their adverts in a properpattern. A webmaster shoulddo studies to improve theirtransaction instead of devoteall your energy to increasewebsite traffic.

Social Network AdsSocial network website

gathered large traffic. This isthe best place forentrepreneurs who want toget free but profitable traffic.Most social network websiteallows anyone to register freeaccount. If you can postinteresting content, you willget many fans. People will likeuseful contents.

You can put yourtrustworthy product detailsin your profile. And many of

known how to uses these toolsto get free traffic.

Surely, you need alsobuild social network accountsfor you website or product toget a positive reputation.

Email MarketingServices

The traditional emailmarketing services areproved to be effective as beforeeven the Web 2.0 era providesrich choices for people to gaininformation. Most people stillopen the email inbox morethan once a day. This maybecause they need to verifytheir register information orso. However, no matter whypeople read their email, we getthe chance to display yourcontent to them.

Emails keep readers fromtoo much information on onepage. The Gmail, forexample, will only displayrelevant ads on the right andthe bottom. This makes thereader more concentrate onyour well written points. Andthey are more likely to clickthrough to your product afterreading your email.

Google AdwordsGoogle Adwords is the best

ads unit I have ever used. It

Book Review

future to fade.The book advises that

people should refuse to acceptnegative circumstance theyare surrounded with andbelieve they can rise abovewhatever challenges lifethrows at them. Hear her “Ihad a mental picture (and stillhave) of how I wanted my lifeto be and clung to it. Alsoperseverance is anotherfactor. Almost every singleday I had to cope with varyingdegree of pain but I never gaveup”

The author also used someother people’s life experienceand how they managed toovercome life challengesagainst all odds. Livingexceptional life she saidrequires patience ineverything we do. We mustbe patient with ourselves whenwe are not meeting our ownexpectations and be patientwith others when they fallshort of our expectations.

Every one of us she said ona final note can be a worldplayer irrespective of ourbackground. It is all about ourindividual guts andwillingness to takeresponsibility for a future thatis so dear.

Peoples Classroom

Book Title: Finding Meaning in Difficult TimesAuthor: Grace Ozioma OnotuPublisher: Bethel Creations, April, 2012ISBN: 13-978-978-50996-1-4

just put junk information onyour website just to keep itupdated. Though frequentupdates have benefits to SEO,bad contents will hurt yourreaders. Make sure you are

your fans will click throughthese links. So make sure youhave build social media siteslike Twitter, Facebook,LinkedIn accounts for youronline business and have

By Joy Baba

will only display your ads onmost relevant websites. Thisguarantee you get the mostRelevant Traffic. And thesetraffic will brings the biggestprofit to you.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012PAGE 32

Women’s colours,feminine and classy

FCompiled by Miriam Humbe

Right from cradle, it is possibleto tell if the new born is a girlby merely seeing the color of

the baby’s blanket. Its commonknowledge that pink is for girls andblue is for boys. It however appearsto be a cultural phenomenon. Pink is

woman’s color, it is feminine andclassy. It is both a day and night colorand comes in both bright and coolshades. Top Nollywood actress, KateHenshaw-Nuttal personifies thefeminine slate as she steps outstylishly in different shades of pinkdresses with matching accessories tograce her beautiful curves.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012 PAGE 33

Massive investment in agriculture is panacea to Nigeria economic problem.

Business

AGRA earmarks $4m forsmall-holder farmers

FG sets new price forrice importation

T h e Alliance forGreen Revolution inAfrica (AGRA),

headed by Ghana’sInternational Diplomat andStatesman, Busumuru KofiAnnan, has earmarked aninitial $4 million to supportsmall-holding farmergroups in four Africancountries, out of whichGhana would get $900,000.

In line with the support,AGRA would this weeklaunch the maiden FarmerOrganiSation SupportCentre (FOSCA) in Ghana toset the tone for small-holding farmers who belongto recognizable and thrivingfarmer groups to benefitfrom AGRA grants and

technical support under theFOSCA initiative.

FOSCA LeadCoordinator, Fadel Ndiamesaid in an exclusiveinterview the FOSCAinitiative would also belaunched in three otherAGRA-member countries;Mali, Tanzania andMozambique, but Ghanawas chosen for the maidenone because the conditionsin Ghana were moreconducive and promising, solessons could be leant fromGhana to benefit the othercountries.

He said AGRA hadidentified 80% of farmers inGhana, for instance, weresmall-holding farmers, mostof whom stood alone, lackedaccess to

credit, got low farm

yields due to poor practices,lacked easy access to readymarkets, and were not ableto meet market demands.Mr. Ndiame said FOSCA wastherefore designed to assistthe small-holder farmers tohave access to opportunitiesto improve their produce andincome, adding that FOSCAwould therefore seek, amongother things, to link small-holder farmer groups withsources of finance, technicalsupport, technology and bestpractices to improve yieldand eventually meet marketdemand, and improve theirstandard of living.

The farmers would alsobenefit from one of AGRA’smain focuses; advocacy forgovernment policies thatwould create the enablingenvironment for the entire

T h e FederalG o v e r n m e n tyesterday announced

new benchmark price for alltypes and origins of importedrice for the second quarter ofthe year 2012.

All consignment ofimported rice is now chargedat USD 639 with a freightcharge of USD 60 amountingto a total of USD 699 permetric ton.

A statement issuedyesterday by the PublicRelations Officer of theNigeria Customs Service,Wale Adeniyi cited a astatement issued by theCoordinating Minister for theEconomy and HonourableMinister of Finance, Dr.Ngozi Okonjo Iweala whichwas sent to the NigeriaCustoms Service as directingthat the benchmark price for

all consignments of riceduring this period be fixed atUSD 639 with a freightcharge of USD 60 amountingto a total of USD 699 permetric ton.

According to her, the policywas a fall-out of the decision ofan Inter-MinisterialCommittee comprisingPresidential Committee onTrade Malpractices (PCTM),Federal Ministry of Agriculture(FMA), Nigeria CustomsService (NCS), FederalMinistry of Trade andInvestment (FMTI), BudgetOffice of the Federation andRice Millers, Importers andDistributors Association ofNigeria (RIMIDAN).

She tasked all thestakeholders to enforce thenew benchmark prices andensure that strict adherenceis maintained throughout thesecond quarter of the year.

agricultural sector toimprove. They would alsobenefit from AGRA’s ValueChain Driven Intervention,where AGRA ensured thatfrom the seed to theconsumer, the farmer gotthe best support to optimizehis or her benefits. Mr.Ndiame explained thatunder the FOSCA scheme,farmers would be suppliedwith improved seeds andfertilizers, regulartechnical support andother inputs to improve onthe quality and quantity oftheir produce at the lowestcost possible, but thatwould be done throughidentifiable farmer groupsto ensure accountability.

He said the reason for

Mohammed Kandi withagency report

By Abdulwahab Isa

Contd on Page 34

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012PAGE 34

Business News

T h e Minister of Finance,Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,said on Thursday that

N14.2 billion has been saved onpersonnel cost through theIntegrated Payroll and PersonalInformation System (IPPIS).

She made this known in Abujaat the ministerial platform tocommemorate the 2012Democracy Day and the one-yearanniversary of PresidentGoodluck Jonathanadministration.

She listed the savings as a keyachievement of the administrationrecorded at the end of the firstquarter of 2012.

She said as at April this year,94,299 public workers have beencaptured on IPPIS in 75 Ministries,

FG saves N14bn in 4months through IntegratedPayroll —Okonjo-Iweala

AGRA earmarks $4m for small-holder farmers

Departments and Agencies(MDAs)

The system was conceptualisedas a central payment process for allpublic servants whose emolumentis drawn from the ConsolidatedRevenue Fund.

The minister said thatgovernment had made remarkableprogress in the implementation ofGovernment Integrated FinancialManagement Information System(GIFMIS).

She said that 108 MDAs hadbeen integrated on GIFMIS, while421 officers had been trained onthe scheme.

On 2012 budgetimplementation, Okonjo-Iweala,who is also the CoordinatingMinister for the Economy, said

that each farmer group is incompetition to grow itsmembership by between 25% and50% by close of the programme tojustify advancement of moresupport from FOSCA,” he said.

Mr. Ndiame said AGRA hadalready advanced grants to someNGO’s to build the capacities of thefarmer groups in best practicesthat financial institutions requiredbefore providing farmers withcredit.

“It is important to note that weare not here to meet needs but tosupport success stories of small-holder farmers and to leverage onthat to help those farmers who

were net buyers of food eventhough they produce food,” hesaid. He gave an assurance thatsustainable funding for the FOSCAprogramme was not a problem forAGRA, provided the farmergroups applied the availableresources judiciously and showedresults.

“There is lots of fundinglooking for opportunities like thisto support and they are waiting tocome onboard provided thefarmers would make this initiativework – AGRA is willing to providethe necessary support but thefarmer groups must ensure thattheir members adopt the best

practices to improve,” he said.FOSCA would be launched inAccra on Wednesday, May 2, 2012and would be preceded by aworkshop for the farmer groups,where a farmer group fromEthiopia, which has its own bagmanufacturing factory, would beavailable to share its experienceswith Ghanaian small-holdingfarmer groups.

Mr. Ndiame expressed thehope that the FOSCA initiativewould make agriculture attractiveto the youth, because it wouldportray agriculture as a lucrativebusiness rather than just a way oflife.

N151billion was released to MDAsin the first quarter.

She said that the ministry hadencouraged transparency andaccountability through a monthlypublication of the revenueallocations of each level ofgovernment.

In his remarks, the Minister ofState for Finance, Dr YerimaNgama, said the ministry achieveda record reduction on disputesrelated to the Federal AccountsAllocation Committee (FAAC).

Ngama praised the FederalInland Revenue Service (FIRS) andthe Nigeria Customs Service (NCS)for surpassing their revenuetargets last year.

According to him, the fourthquarter revenue of FIRS, from

NAFDAC DGwarns waterproducersagainstabnormalpractices

T h e Director GeneralNational Agency for Foodand Drug Administration

Control (NAFDAC), Dr Paul Orhihas warned water producers againstabnormal practices in theproduction process of pure wateracross the country.

Orhii, who made this warningat the workshop organised for waterproducers in the North Central zoneheld in Ilorin on Thursday said theagency would continue to imposemaximum sanction on those foundto be producing low quality waterfor drink in the country.

Orhii, who was represented byDeputy Director, North-Centralzone, Mr. Norbert Maduekedisclosed that the agency havediscovered that producers ofsachets water are involving inabnormal practices in recent timesin the course of its inspectionranging from improper use of watertreatment chemical like chlorineand domestic water filters.

In order to avoid runningagainst the full wrath of the agency,the NAFDAC DG urged theproducers to guide against the useof high density polyethylene asprimary packaging materials orinappropriate labelling of theirproducts.

The DG said that there are over8,679 water producing factories inthe country and that many more areyet to come forward to be registeredsaid the agency has put in placemany measures to ensure quality ofpackaged water through the processof inspection, laboratory analysisand registration of products.

The state Chairman of TableWater Producers of Nigeria(ATWAP) in Kwara state, Mr. LekeAdewunmi thanked the agency fororganizing the sensitizationprogramme stressing that theworkshop would go a long way toassist the water producers toimprove on their productionquality.

Contd from Page 33

choosing to work with farmergroups was to ensure that thefarmers could leverage examplesof best practices within the group,make it easy for them to haveaccess to finance because bankswere more comfortable workingwith groups, and also to ensurethat AGRA was able to measurethe success rate of the FOSCAinitiative.

“We have targeted that by theclose of the programme we wouldhave supported 220,000 small-holder farmers across the fourAfrica countries and because of

T h e German airline,Lufthansa, yesterday, becamethe first airline in the world to

take delivery of a Boeing 747-8 at theirFrankfurt hanger.

According to a NAN correspondentwho covered the launch, the new planedescribed as the Queen of the sky” wasshowcased at the airline’s hanger inFrankfurt, Germany to the admirationof the public, journalists and aviationstakeholders.

While speaking at the launch, TheChief Executive Officer of LufthansaAirlines Carsten Sphor said the“Jumbo” plane was characterized bylower noise emissions and fuelconsumption when compared to theprevious Boeing 747-400 Jumbo Jetand also added that, “The aircraft boastsof significantly improved aerodynamicsand newly developed wing tips, and alsoprovides tangible improvements interms of Eco- efficiency”. He also addedthat Lufthansa will take delivery of 20planes from the new Boeing series by2015, adding that the aircraft would bedeployed to its Washington, New Delhi,Bangalore, Chicago and Los Angelesroutes.

Also speaking, Mrs. Elizabeth Lund,Vice President of Boeing 747Commercial Aircraft, said Lufthansapassengers would experience a new levelof comfort with the launch of the “Queenof the sky” and added that Lufthansa andBoeing partnership dated back to the1960s, stressing that they wouldcontinue to cooperate in bringinginnovation to the aviation industry.

The New Boeing 747-8 is 76.3meters long, 5.6 meters longer than itspredecessor the 747-400 and canaccommodate 362 passengers, eight infirst class, 92 in business class and 262in economy class.

LufthansaAir launchesnew aircraft

L-R: Administration and Finance Officer, African Development Bank (ADB), Mrs. Comfort LawalCountry Programme Officer of ADB, Mr. Peter Sturmheet and Country Representative of ADB, Dr.Ousmane Dore, during the Press Briefing on African Development Bank Annual General Meeting,

From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

By Muhammad Sada, withagency report

October to December 2011 stood atN1.2 trillion, which is 39.71 percent higher than the FederalGovernment’s quarterly targetrevenue.

For the NCS, he said totalrevenue collected in 2011 wasN741.83 billion, out of which,federation account was N430.68billion and non-federation accountwas N311.14 billion.

He said that increased anti-smuggling activities resulted inseizure of 5,748 goods, includingtextiles, poultry, usedcompressors, furniture andgeneral goods.

The minister put the value ofthe seizures made from Januaryto December 2011 at N8.4billion.

Sealink initiative, bridge to achieve freemovement in ECOWAS sub-region, NEXIM

Business

The managing director ofNEXIM bank, RobertsOrya, recently paid a two-

day visit to Benin Republic andTogo aimed at solidifying theSealink initiative of the bankaimed at economic developmentof the ECOWAS sub-region.

In Lome, the NEXIM teamexplained the initiative and theintervention of the bank whichis in tune with NEXIM’s mandateto deepen trade within the WestAfrican sub-region.

Mr. Orya presented theinitiative to the West AfricanDevelopment Bank [BOAD]and the ECOWAS bank forInvestment and Development(EBID). He said the Sealinkinitiative was the missingingredient towards achievingthe intendment of the protocolon free movement of persons,goods and services which wassigned by the ECOWAS Heads ofState and Government in Lome,Togo since July 5th, 1985.

The officials of EBIDwelcomed the initiative. Theysaid it was in line with thedevelopmental role of the bankand also stressed the position ofthe bank to support initiatives

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012 PAGE 35

By Chinedu Madugba avenues for more transactionalrelationships. Mr. Orya called toconsolidate the alreadymutually beneficial partnershipbetween the two organisationsand introduce the SEALINKProject to get GARI Fund toprovide financing for theacquisition of sea-going vesselsfor the initiative.

Mr. Jacques said thestrategic focus of GARI was togrow its interventions inNigeria, which informed theenhancement of countryfunding limit for Nigeria fromUS$15million to US$20 million.He said GARI’s policies are stillflexible and could be adapted andwaivers granted on transaction-specific basis to increaseNigeria’s transactions on GARI’sportfolio.

Mr. Orya reiterated thecommitment of NEXIM to thesustenance of the goodrelationship with the FUND andto ensuring the prevalence of thefavourable policy environmentto enable the fund to expand thescope of its intervention inNigeria. He promised thatNEXIM would forward somepipeline transactions within thenext three months to GARI FUNDfor consideration.

that will promote regional trade.Mr. Ousmane Bocoum,

director of EBID’s private sectoroperations, the bank hopes toinvest in the equity and debtaspects of the initiative whenthey review the feasibility studyreport for a better appreciationof the project.

Raising concerns about therelationship between the Sealinkand ECOMARINE, which was setup to provide similar maritimelogistics services, the NEXIMMD said the SEALINK project isprivate-sector driven byparticipants drawn from Westand Central Africa.

The EBID officials heard theSEALINK project had learntvaluable lessons from the failureof ECOMARINE and the successof ECOBANK Transnational,which business model it hasadopted, resulting in the settingup of a promotional company,the SPV, prior to theestablishment of the RegionalMaritime Shipping Company.

Meeting with theGuarantee Fund for PrivateInvestments in West Africa(GARI Fund), Mr. Orya told theacting Managing Director/CEO,Mr. Nignon Jacques, the need forthe two institutions to explore

Managing Director,NEXIM Bank,Roberts Orya

All-Share Index inches up by +2.52% inthe week; sentiments remain unchangedNigerian Stock Market

sustained uptrend for thethird week in a row just as

profitable transactions continuedto permeate the Nigerian bourseamid unrelenting bargainactivities while the Exchangenotified all quoted companies thatthe 1st Quarter FinancialStatements for 2012 is expectedto be IFRS Compliant asStatements that do not meet withstatutory requirement will not berecognized as appropriately filedand will not be presented to themarket.

Furthermore, the keybenchmark indices maintaineddowntrend by -0.29% to open thefirst trading day of the weeknegative as sell pressureoutweighed bargain hunting insome sectors across the main boardwhile market retraced in thesecond session to close in thepositive territory by +1.39% asmarket breadth closed veryimpressive.

The bulls continue to dominatemarket activities as bargainhunting continued to outweighsell pressure in the third sessionjust as NSE ASI firms up by+0.84% to maintain northwardsmovement as market YTDperformance stands at +8.72%.

Conversely, trading activitieson Friday closed northwards assentiments remained positive.Consequently, the key benchmarkindices inches up by +0.57% whilemarket closed the week with

aggregate gain of +2.52%.Further analysis on acquiring

banks since transaction dateshowed that the share price ofAccess Bank Plc has recorded36.97% gain, followed by FCMBwith 43.08% gain while UnionBank Plc leads the chart with108.61% gain. However, SterlingBank recorded -2.36% loss whileETI closed positive with +0.26%gain recorded. See the trackingtable below

However, the All-Share Indexin the week under review movedup by +2.52% to close at22,665.99 as against an upbeatby +1.62% recorded last week toclose at 22,109.44.

In the same vein, the marketcapitalization in the weekappreciated by N177.49 billion

(US$1.18 billion) to close at N7.22trillion (US$48.17billion) asagainst appreciation by N112.55billion (US$750.37 million)recorded last week to close at N7.05trillion (US$ 46.99billion).

The total volume traded in theweek closed at 2.44 billion unitsvalued at N20.74billion

(US$138.23 million) comparedwith 1.96 billion units valued atN17.23 billion (US$114.87million) exchanged in 23,547deals last week. The volumetransaction in the week whencompared with the previous weekdata moved up by +24.79% asagainst downwards movement by

-4.24% recorded last week. Weeklyvalue also went up by +20.33%as against positive position of+9.54% recorded last week.

The volume traded in the topten most traded stocks for the weekrepresented 73.80% of the entiremarket volume transactions andtheir total value accounted for68.16% of the market value.

Financial Services sectoremerged the most traded sector inthe week in terms of volume. Thevolume traded in the sector thisweek alone closed at 2.02 billionunits, valued at N14.70billionand exchanged in 9,644 dealscompared with 1.70 billion units,valued at N12.58billion andexchanged in 14,914 deals in thepreceding week.

The volume traded in the sectoraccounted for 82.61% of the entiremarket compared with 86.63% ofthe ratio recorded last week.

FCMB Plc led the marketvolume for the week to displaceUBA Plc as top traded stock on thetransaction volume chart lastweek.

The sector’s volumetransaction was mainly boostedby trading in the shares of thecompanies in the top-tencategory.

Services sector followed with144.55 million units valued atN135.47 million and exchangedin 792 deals compared with 21.17million units, valued at N48.98million and exchanged in 535recorded in the sector last week.

PAGE 36 PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

Re: Sovereign wealth fund

Peoples Daily Weekend welcomes your letters, opinion articles, text messagesand ‘pictures of yesteryears.’ All written contributions should be concise. Wordlimits: Letters - 150 words, Articles - 750 words. Please include your name and

a valid location. Letters to the Editor should be addressed to:The Editor,

Peoples Daily, 1st Floor Peace Plaza,35 Ajose Adeogun Street, Utako, Abuja.Email: letters@peoplesdaily-online.com

WRITE TO US

May Day: Working class and challengesof social transformation in NigeriaT h i s article is in memory of

Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, formergovernor of Old Kano State, the

first to declare May day celebration inNigeria in the 1980s

The Nigerian Workers celebrated2012 May Day, amidst new socialcontradictions; of corruption, un-employment, insecurity, and de-industrialisation of the economy.Beyond the rhetoric of the impact ofneo-liberal globalisation and therestructuring of social relations ofproduction globally, the role of theNigeria's elite towards developmentand democratisation is dismal.

Historically the working class inNigeria was in alliances with theprogressive forces in challenging theexcess of colonial exploitation. Thistradition of Social movement unionismwhich pertains to a link between tradeunions, communities and civil societiesis crucial in mitigating the exploitationand kleptomaniac attitude of theNigeria ruling class under the PeopleDemocratic Party (PDP)

The current social contradictionfacing Nigeria testifies the fact thatNigeria's ruling elite are incapable ofaddressing the socio-economicproblems facing Nigeria; worst still istheir lackadaisical attitude inaddressing corruption. The revelationsof the House committee on petroleumsubsidy is a case in point, it indicts bigmen and corporations who formed anunholy alliance to bastardise Nigeria'seconomy.

Nigeria typifies Evans notion of"predatory state" and Joseph's"prebendal politics" both predatory andprebendal politics entails the extent towhich the elites capture state powerand arrogate to themselves theprerogative of sharing the proceeds ofnational economies throughpatronages. Clientalism defines socialrelations, in which the ruling elites inconcert with the business elitesquander national resources.

The working classes in Nigeriawhich is an embodiment of all the

oppressed were expected to use the 2012May Day celebration to ponder on thecritical social contradictions that is aboutto cripple the nation. The working classshould also strengthen alliances betweentrade unions, civil societies andcommunities to evolve an alternativeplatform of political unionism to rival thecurrent bourgeoisie politics of selfenrichment. To do this, we need a strongsolidarity that will tame with the obviouschallenges of social fragmentations amongthe alliance partners.

Nigerian needs a mass-based platformwith which to canvass for political powerfor social transformation. It is pertinentfor the Nigeria progressives to eschew anypiece meal reform initiated by the currentfailed ruling elites through theiraccomodatory strategy of appeasing thecivil societies, what we need is realtransformation. However not the type oftransformation canvassed by theJonathan government, because histransformation is an attempt to capturethe working class vocabulary for socialdeception.

Is it part of transformation that Nigeriahas become ungovernable? Is it also atransformation that corruption is theprime priority of this administration? Toavoid confusion, the only transformationNigeria needs lies with the Nigeria peoplewhom have demonstrated their abilityduring the fuel subsidy mass-protest acrossthe country. Unparallel in the Nigeria'sHistory, the 2012 mass-protest has unifiedNigerians despite their religious or ethnicinclinations.

The Nigerian people should not bedeceived by the recent patriotic deceptionof some ethno-cultural groups like ACF inthe north, those guys were accusing thestates and the nation because they are nolonger in power, imagine! Some of themmet at a farm in far away Niger state toproffer solutions of the problem they havecreated for two decades through theirabuse of power.

The Nigeria project is a project to beled by the Nigeria people against theNigeria elites of whatever colouration. Itis not a project against PDP or Jonathan,rather, it is a project of the oppressor Vsthe oppressed. In this project, the Nigeriaworking class should endeavour to de-emphasise identity politics in the wake ofthe current social contradiction that isabout to consume all of us.

The working class in Nigeria shouldgo back to the balance sheet of the January,

OUR MISSIONOUR MISSIONOUR MISSIONOUR MISSIONOUR MISSION OUR PEOPLEOUR PEOPLEOUR PEOPLEOUR PEOPLEOUR PEOPLECHAIRMAN

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GM PUBLICATIONS

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“To be the marketplace of ideas and theleading player in the

industry by putting thepeople first, upholdingthe truth, maintaining

the highestprofessional andethical standards

while delivering valueto our stakeholders”

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innovative andtechnologically

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DIRECTOR/ EDITOR-IN-CHIEFRUFA’I IBRAHIM

2012 Mass-protest, to review the gainsand shortfalls with a view to sustainthe Nigerian spirit of socialtransformation that permeatesgender, class, ethnicity, religion andother social strata. So that solidarityshould be our watch word, a wordwhich the ruling class fears most.

This year Nigeria marked thecentenary of Trade unionism, since theformation of Nigeria's Civil ServiceUnion in 1912. With the currentproblems facing the wage labour as aresult of flexible labour regime rangingfrom outsourcing, sub-contactingespecially in the private sector andvarious reform of downsizing in thepublic sector, trade unions need to bemore bold to checkmate the labourrationalisation in the post-fordistlabour regime.

Finally, I hold the believe that,beyond the rhetoric of neo-liberalismas the basis of Nigeria's socialcontradictions, the role of the Nigeria'selite is critical, they hold the state toransom at the expense of public goods.Therefore, Nigeria's working class haveto re-awaken and champion thestruggle of genuine transformationthat the political elites in power sung,which to me is a castle in the sky.Muttaqa Yushau Abdulra'uf, wrotefrom University of Witwatersrand,Johannesburg.myushau@gmail.com

Nigeria typifies Evans notion of "predatorystate" and Joseph's "prebendal politics" bothpredatory and prebendal politics entails the

extent to which the elites capture state powerand arrogate to themselves the prerogative

of sharing the proceeds of nationaleconomies through patronages.

“

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012 PAGE 37

Public opinion and subsidy reversal

Opinion

On Nigerian farmers E-wallet ideaG e n e r a l l y , human

beings by their intricatenature are inquisitive

souls, who always seek for ways toexplore new things in order toenhance the conditional setting oftheir living, which is concretelycrystallized when a single idea isformed, that seeks to tackle aparticular situational challengeor an evident societal deficiency,such an idea later germinates andblossoms into a realized dream.Fundamentally and from the longhistorical journeys of humangrowth and development, thathas been the basis for the progressattained by the pioneergeneration of the past millennia,which has excelled in greatdiscoveries, unique inventionsand monumental attainments.Our great forbearers have strivedto stage revolutions in violent andpeaceful formats, with theindustrial and agricultural typeshappening without the usualdisruptive dislocations, while thepolitical revolutions came withthe vicious vile of the shiningarmors and destructive effect of agun powder. Yet, all of them areproducts of a determined effort toconcretize and achieve an idea.

Anybody that is ever to havehad the opportunity of being in myvillage, would have been left withan indelible impression thatindeed, Nigeria is in big trouble,not because of the fact that myhamlet is unique in the socio-economic setting it exist upon,

rather, because of the reality thatmy place of origination, representsan identical caricature of nearlyall the villages in Nigeria. An areavastly populated with the old, thenot so smart and those that arebereft of choice in matters ofhabitation, for the smarter ones,the many that had thewherewithal of movement andmost especially the younger ones,have already left for the big citiesin search of greener pastures ormore appropriately to furtherexacerbate the rural-urbanmigration drift, and as aconfirmation of the globallyacclaimed congestion scenariosevident in our cities. Thus, the onlyones left to carry the burden ofagricultural production do sowithout any choice in the vocationfate and destiny had placed on theirplate.

Unfortunately, it is upon sucha communal setting that theNigerian Economic Team mootedan idea or more appropriatelyconceptualised a new agriculturalpolicy called the Nigerian Incentivebased Risk Sharing for AgriculturalLending (NIRSAL), which isprimarily a new governmentalinitiative that seeks to circumventthe perennial bureaucraticbottlenecks of the Nigerian civilservice, when it comes to theallocation of necessary subsidy tothe required farm inputs in theagricultural area of the economy,by shifting the organization and

disbursement of governmentalagricultural support to the moreaccountable private sector . Thenew policy was unveiled nearly twoweeks ago as an Electronic Walletinitiative, which would subsidize forup to 50% of prices of necessary farminputs of fertilizer and seeds, withthe subsidy cost shared between thethree tiers of government. For whilethe federal government incurs halfthe amount of the agriculturalsubsidy support, the participatingstates and local government sharethe remainder cost of the 50%subsidy.

A descriptive pictorial of thenew concept is based on the grandassumption of over 75% of Nigerianshaving a mobile set, with the devicebeing the exclusive working andconnecting tool between a farmerand the agricultural supportservice (MDA's), as already thefederal ministry of agriculturalhad already generated a data fornearly 3.5 million farmers, withthe initial subvention of over 27billion naira set aside for the pilotventure. When a farmer wishes toparticipate in the new initiative, heor she is required to act upon analert sent to the each and everyprospective farmer, with the alertusually containing information onthe availability of fertilizers andseeds and their likely cost in theVillage Agricultural Store, usual asmall branch of a private enterpriseparticipating in the newagricultural initiative, pending

Youth Empowerment: Shema's strategies in Katsina

A l t h o u g h the trumpetmay not have been blown,the pace and trend of

development in Katsina statecannot be ignored. Within the firstquarter of this year, 2012, GovIbrahim Shema launched someprogrammes in all the 34 localcouncils of the state, that are nowgenerating employmentopportunities for over 30,000youths across the state.

Recently, the Governor at aceremony attended by the Speakerof the House of Representatives, HonAminu Tambuwal in Katsina,distributed 340 trucks to all the 34local governments in the state. Thebreakdown of the vehiclesdistributed shows that each localgovernment in the state received atotal number of 10 trucks, madeup of three refuse collection vans,three water tankers, one road roller,one road grader, one fire fightingvehicle and one 10 tyre tipper.

Apart from the fact that thevehicles distributed providedemployment instantly to over1000 people across the state, thetrucks have also been assistinggreatly in facilitating thedevelopment of the rural areas. Forinstance, Shema, through theministry for local government

By Lawal Rimi affairs specifically directed througha memo to the caretakercommittee chairmen of the state 34local councils, to ensure that thethree water tankers purchased foreach local government were usedto supply water daily to the ruralcommunities that are yet to haveaccess to clean water. This is tocomplement the stategovernment's effort in providingbore holes in rural areas of the state.

From all indications, this isthe first time in the history of thestate that a Governor will deem itfit to provide an alternativearrangement for water provisionto the villages and hamlets in thestate. Investigations revealed thatsince the commencement of watersupply to the rural communitiesthrough the newly purchasedwater tankers, the excitement andthe joy of the rural dwellers thatgreeted the exercise has no bound.While the rural communities ineach local government area areyearning for more water tankervehicles, they have also beenshowering encomium on GovernorShema for his commitmenttowards alleviating the plight ofrural dwellers.

The idea of providing refusecollection trucks for all the localgovernment in the state is unique.It is total departure from the trend

in other states in Nigeria. Thecommon practice in the country isfor the government to concentratesanitation effort on only the majorcities, while the rural areas arebeing neglected. The refusecollection vans distributed acrossthe 34 council areas are meant toserve the people of the stateirrespective of their geographical

It is also interesting to note thatthe 34 fire fighting vehiclesdistributed to the localgovernments have generatedemployment opportunity for over700 people across the state. Theanalysis shows that each firefighting vehicle will have 21 staffrunning three shifts. There will beseven officials per shift comprisingone driver and six personnel.Already the state government hasorganized a 9 months training forthe newly recruited fire fightingstaff. This training according to thestate ministry for local governmentaffairs will be conducted in threebatches for all the staff recruited inthe 34 council areas.

Other vehicles like roller andgrader purchased are to assist thelocal councils in construction andrehabilitation of rural feeder roads.In addition to this, the equipmentsare also to be used in construction ofearth dams. Since inception of hisadministration, the Governor has

which the farmer goes to theagriculture store with thecorrespondence notification andinquires on the prices of needed farminputs, before paying for only halfthe price on a voucher that theprivate agricultural enterpriselater presents for reimbursementto the appropriate governmentalagency, evidently, a novel conceptthat effectively shields the corruptcivil servant from the process ofagricultural subsidy operation,because no monetary allocation andcontractual undertaking passesthrough the hands of those parasiticgovernment officials.

Historically, periods before thebeginning of the rainy season havealways been a time of monumentalvanishing acts, as hundreds of lorryconvoys make a disappearing actthat could easily put the bestmagician to shame whilecontractors, have the uniqueNigerian gift of making massivetones of fertilizers to vanish from ourhighways in broad day light,without the usual mystery oforganized stage supporting service.Thus, when a new concept thatseeks to exclude such a counter-productive bunch of individualswas mooted, a lot of Nigerians hailedthe idea as a great relief to the muchabused and neglected agriculturalindustry, because the initiativewould allow the farmers to get theirdue in governmental support,without the disruptive influence ofarmchair profiteers.

not minced words in declaring thatgood access road for both urban andrural dwellers are part of his toppriorities projects. According toGovernor Shema, easy movementis part of the inalienable right of thecitizens which must be provided bythe government for the society toprogress. The massive constructionof both urban and rural roads hasalso provided job opportunities forthousands of people across the state.

Similarly in the month of April,Governor Shema launched theyouths empowerment scheme forpetty traders and artisans across thestate, aimed to make over 200youths in each local governmenthave access to interest free loan onmonthly basis for the next threemonths. Within the three monthsperiod, over 25000 youths includingmen and women would have accessloan to support their trades and crafts.

The government is expected tospend over#300 million for thisthree months scheme. From theapproach to governance in Katsinastate and commitment of the stategovernor towards the welfare of hispeople, there is a need for otherstakeholders in propagating goodgovernance in Nigeria to take acursory look at the developmentgoing on in Katsina state, and urgeother public office holders to emulatethe Katsina state Governor in his

By Nasiru Suwaid

While the initiative could begreat in its conceptualization, it ison the area of its practicalapplication that problems arelikely to arise, especially when thefamous Nigerian factor is insertedinto the cataclysmic mix. Becauseof the fact that the policy is premisedupon so many assumptions; afarmer owning and operating ahandset and being able to write oraccess texting service, the ability ofagricultural inputs company to bepresent in proximate localities, thesubsidy payment voucher being asacred instrument that is not easilysusceptible to manipulations forcorrupt purposes. The simple truthis that while the initiative could beof noble intention, as it is said to beapplicable in other countries similarto Nigeria and far outweighing usin progress on agriculturalproduction, the concept is highlyprone to abuse as it is still withinthe purview of influence of themuch vilified civil servants, moreso as the private sector in Nigeriaalways driven by unethical profitmotive, have a documented historyof collusion for corruption purposeswith government agencies. Whilethe ordinary Nigerian citizen talkless of the farmer does not have agreat history with automatedfinancial instruments, as all suchmodern initiatives gets abusedthrough the infamous acts offraudulence.Nasiru Suwaidnasirusuwaid@gmail.com

quest to transform the state.Nigerians can no longer affordcontinuation of paying lip service togood governance. There is a need fortotal commitment and dedicationfrom people holding public trust fortotal emancipation of the people.

Also in the month of April, thestate youths craft village establishedby Governor Shema graduated over500 youths that are well trained indifferent crafts. Apart fromproviding the training and feedingfree during the period of training atthe village, Governor Shema alsoapproved the release of fund to serveas operating capital for thegraduates. Another thing that isworth of note in Katsina state is thatGovernor Shema is using multi facetapproach in tackling the menace ofyouth unemployment.

From his approach togovernance in Katsina state and hiscommitment towards the welfareof his people, there is the need forother stakeholders in propagatinggood governance in Nigeria, to takea cursory look at what is happeningin Katsina, and urge other publicoffice holders to emulate Shema'sstrategies for purposeful leadership,for our country to get out of thewoods. Lawal Rimi, wrote from Rimilocal government, Katsinastate.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012PAGE 38

InterviewNigerian youths are part of theproblem —Tarok Youth Leader

Lets meet you sir,My names are Pirtim Andrew Bali. I am

the Leader of Ngwang Ishi Otarok(NIO)Facebook, a youth group movement onthe internet. I also work with Diamond Bankin Abuja.

Sir, you were quoted somewhere,saying that the Nigerian youth is lostand blinded by material things. Inessence what do you mean?

Certain realities in our context speak forthemselves. It is no news that the Nigerianyouth prefer to be a beggar. He is contentedwith begging as a profession and does not wantto work for himself. In present Nigeria, theyouths, instead of working hard to be theleaders that they ought to be or should bepreparing to be, prefer to be instrument ofdestructions. They are used by politicians toanchor their grievances whenever they arein disfavour with certain policies. The wavesof violence in the country is fuelled by thepolitical class but executed by the youths,making the society to see the youths asgullible object of manipulation in the hand offew who control the economy of this country.The future of the youth is bleak, owing totheir acceptance of the role that the politiciansbestowed on them.

What category of youths you arereferring to? We have those who havegone to school and are working hard toearn a living.

Let me tell you the truth, those who havegone to school are worst than the illiterates.These two categories of youths play differentroles to the same people. Those you calledliterates, owing to their knowledge of thewestern education are cajoled with money,to be script writers, speech writers, secretariesand personal assistants on various affairswhile those who were not privileged to attainwestern education help as political thugs tofuel violence and snatch ballot boxes duringelections when the votes are not in favour oftheir lords.

In this analogy, you would see that theyouths are used in various forms to achievevictory for their lords who just sit in onecomfort zone and use his money to direct theseclasses of people to perform certain roles forhim and execute it the way it pleases him.

Economic empowerment seems to bethe reason for these whole problems.Should we attribute it to poverty?

One thing with Nigerians is that theyhave a perfect way of attributing their failuresto something; someone must always take theblame. Poverty is an issue everywhere notonly in Nigeria. But it is just that here somuch emphasis is being laid on money. Thatis why you see people eschewing virtue formoney. One other thing is that we are notpatient, we don't want things to happengradually, and we all want quick change.We want to make money at all cost so as tobelong and join the class of other people. It isonly in such environments that you see a lotof violence simply because we don't want towork and wait for the right time, where wecan reap what we sow. It is also a known factthat these leaders know our short coming asyouth in Nigeria. In other climes, the youths

are drivers for change. We have seen it inEgypt and other neighbouring countrieswhere the youths want the whole system tochange for the entire people and not for thefew privileged. Until we are able to putselfishness and greed aside we will not goanywhere.

Lets talk about your immediatecommunity, as a youth leader, howhave you been able to change theserealities in to something better for theyouths?

In my immediate community, we havedevice a platform to bring the people together,through a social network like face book, tweeterand other forms to communicate to them andset an agenda for discussion, which will connectall the youths in the community so as to be selfreliant, to work for themselves and create othermeans of business instead of the unnecessaryrural urban migration which will not benefita lot of them. I discovered that people can makemeaningful business in the village instead ofmigrating to cities for white collar jobs. Wehave a lot of economic trees in the village whichcan fetch them money. Recently, research hasshown that the oil and seed produced fromMoringa tree can cure over 250 ailments.There is a group that uses it on facebook andwhen you click like on it, you will get money

that is to show you that people are makingmoney from this business.

We have these trees in the village andour parents use it to fence their houses,imagine if we can exploit the economicimportance of this tree and begin to engagethese youths to hold on to themselves so as tobe productive. We are already hatching aplan to buy the machine that will extractthis oil. We have also been able to connectthose in the rural areas with those in the cities,through a community programme thattakes everyone home during festivity tocommunicate to them in the language, mostespecially some of our girls who feel they aremore western than Americans. There is everyneed for cultural renaissance so as to inculcatethe values in the people to first know wherethey are coming from and how they can helpthe society and bring about change. Toengage everyone in this project, duringEaster we organised a mountain climbingprogram and all the youths climbed themountain. It was tiring, at some point youwant to give up but someone said you arealmost there, giving you the encouragementthat you are almost there, you strive to catchup with the next person. I was tired myselfbut I can't let them down so I continued.

On the mountain, we invited

Pirtim Andrew Bali, a banker and a unionist, is also the leader of theTarok Youth Association. In this interviewwith Tobias Lengman Dapam,he blamed Nigerian youths for the current societal problems and gavereasons for his feelings.

motivational speakers to talk to us andencourage us to be self reliant so as not tokeep depending on someone but yourself. Wehave also outlined some projects to be carriedout in December. We are going to plant5000 Moringa trees in Langtang North andSouth. We are also organising music showand competitions where talented youthsinto music will show case their Talents andthe winners go home with prices. We havealso planned to organised extra moral lessonsfor students in secondary schools. The NIOyouths in different areas of specialisation willgo to classrooms and teach. These and manymore we want to do for ourselves. We wantto contribute to the building of our society.We can make ourselves and not waiting forgovernment or godfather somewhere.

Somebody said the youths in yourarea are proud because they feel theyhave prominent people from the area.

That is part of the idea of this movement.I told them to begin to look inward and see thepotentials that they are made up of instead ofcalling names of prominent people likeJeremiah Useni, John Shagaya, Domkat Baliand others who have made names forthemselves. We communicate to them thevalues of individualism and how they can beproductive to themselves and thecommunity. Most of them are realising this,that is why in my community there ismassive awareness of the youths and I amhappy to say there is a wind of transformationbasking in the air; it is just a matter of timefor the youths to reclaim their rightful place.That is how the wind of change began in otherparts of the world and the history has alwaysbeen the same. No one can do it for us if wedon't do it for ourselves. I use to tell them thatyou can be a Shagaya or Useni of tomorrow.They also started from somewhere; so yourdestiny is in your hands to begin to work hardso you don't just constitute nuisance wherethe society will be tired of you but where thesociety will keep looking for you.

What would you like to tell Nigerianyouths, most of whom have resort toviolence as the only means ofregistering their grievances?

I will tell Nigerian youths to use the socialnetwork as an agent of transforming theignorant ones, so that the youths will speakwith one voice and elect leaders who woulddo the wish of the people and not those whosteal election and turn their back on the peoplewhen it matter most. We should viewourselves as agents of change and we shouldnot allow ourselves to be used as instrumentsof destruction, though one of Nigeria’sproblems is that the weak are working whilethe energetic youths are in the street. Let'srealise our problems and turn our energiesinto something better so that we will be agentsof change and not nuisance.

Pirtim Andrew Bali

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012PAGE 40

Wellness ZoneA starters guide to walking

Phyllis Ogo Ogahphyllisogoogah@gmail.com+234 80 58425746 (sms) only

Hello friends andwelcome backfrom the May Day

break. I hope you all had anice time out relaxing, andof course taking part in theMay Day rallies. Its showtime and I hope yourtrainers and workout gearare ready? This weekendwe'll be looking at astarters guide to walkingwhich you can adjust tosuit your various fitnesslevels and a post workingstretching routine.Remember not to takefluids caffeinated fluids orheavy food 30 minutesbefore hitting the roadexcept where it ismedically advised. Grabyour pedometer, heartrate monitor and waterbottle and let's getcracking.

Warm Up ActivityCool DownTot

Week 1Session AWalk slowly for 5 min.

Walk briskly for 5 min.Walk slowly for5 min. Totaltime, 15 min.

Session B-Repeat abovepattern.

Session C-Repeat abovepattern.

Continue with at leastthree exercise sessionsduring each week of theprogram.

Week 2Walk slowly for 5 min.

Walk briskly for 7 min.Walk slowly for 5 min. Totaltime, 17 min.

Week 3Walk slowly for5 min.

Walk briskly for9 min. Walkslowly for5 min. Total

time,19 min.Week 4Walk slowly for 5 min.

Walk briskly for11 min.Walk slowly for 5 min. Totaltime, 21 min.

Week 5Walk slowly for 5 min.

Walk briskly for13 min.Walk slowly for 5 min. Totaltime, 23 min.

Week 6Walk slowly for 5 min.

Walk briskly for 15 min.Walk slowly for 5 min. Totaltime, 25 min.

Week 7Walk slowly for 5 min.

Walk briskly for18 min.Walk slowly for5 min. Totaltime, 28 min.

Week 8Walk slowly for 5 min.

Walk briskly for 20 min.Walk slowly for 5 min. Totaltime, 30 min.

Week 9Walk slowly for 5 min.

Walk briskly for 23 min.Walk slowly for 5 min. Totaltime, 33 min.

Week 10Walk slowly for 5 min.

Walk briskly for 26 min.Walk slowly for 5 min. Totaltime, 36 min.

Week 11Walk slowly for 5 min.

Walk briskly for 28 min.Walk slowly for5 min. Totaltime, 38 min.

Week 12Walk slowly for 5 min.

Walk briskly for 30 min.Walk slowly for 5 min. Totaltime, 40 min.

Post work outstretches

Flexibility training is animportant ingredient ofoverall fitness. It is

HEALHEALHEALHEALHEALTH COTH COTH COTH COTH COAAAAACH CH CH CH CH TIP OF TIP OF TIP OF TIP OF TIP OF THE THE THE THE THE WEEKWEEKWEEKWEEKWEEKThe lymphatic system cleans all the tissuesof the body. Avoid wearing tight clothingwhen unnecessary, which will obstruct theflow of lymph in your body.Keep moving.

beneficial to have astructured stretchingprogram, such as a weeklyyoga class. However, takinga few minutes to stretchafter each workout helpsprevent muscle sorenessand injury, so that you cankeep moving forwardtoward your fitness goals.

Below are six stretchesthat cover most majormuscle groups. You mayneed to add a few more,depending on the specific

movements of yourcardiovascular andstrength training.

Your range of motion foreach stretch should be at apoint of comfortable,moderate tension in themuscle. Hold each stretch forminimum 15 to 30 secondsand up to 60 seconds if timepermits. Repeat unilateralstretches on each side of thebody. Keep a steadyinhalation and exhalation asyou hold each stretch.

Walking is a form of activity that can be enjoyed bypeople of all ages and gender.

Begin seated with legs extended out. Bend one knee,crossing the foot over the straight leg. Wrapopposite arm over bend leg and rotate torso.

Place hands/forearms on either side of an openDoor way. Gently lean forward through the doorway.

Place hands against the wall or on a table? Heightplatform. Step back, align hips over ankles, and droptorso between your arms.

QuadricepsQuadricepsQuadricepsQuadricepsQuadriceps

Bend one knee, pulling your heel toyour bottom. Use the same hand asheel. Keep your knees alignedtogether and tuck your pelvisunder and forward.

HamstringsHamstringsHamstringsHamstringsHamstrings

Place one heel on a raisedsurface, kneel softly, push yourtorso forward fromthe hips.

CalvCalvCalvCalvCalveseseseses

Stand on a raised platform withsoft knees. Drop one heel down.

ChestChestChestChestChest

GlutealsGlutealsGlutealsGlutealsGluteals& IT& IT& IT& IT& ITBandBandBandBandBand

ShoulderShoulderShoulderShoulderShouldersssss& Back& Back& Back& Back& Back

Clashes as thousands protest Egypt’s military

InternationalPEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012 PAGE 39

At least 11 people were killed on Wednesday after unidentified group attacked protesters in Cairo [AFP]

Rival Sudansagree to AU

roadmapEgyptian armed forces andprotesters have clashed in Cairo,as troops used water cannon androcks to disperse demonstratorstrying to reach the DefenseMinistry.

Hundreds of troops guardingthe ministry surged forward onFriday when protesters begancutting through barbed wire usedto seal off the ministry building inCairo’s central Abbasiyaneighbourhood.

“We understand that just a fewminutes ago, the protesters triedto remove the barrier with barbedwire between themselves and thedefense ministry,” said AlJazeera’s Steve Chao, reportingfrom Cairo.

“Security forces respondedwith water canons. Protestersresponded with rocks.” He also saidthat the military forces say theiractions are in “self defense”.

Friday’s mass protests cameamid heightened tension after 11people were killed in clashes thatbroke out on Wednesdaywhen unidentified assailants firedat protesters staging a sit-in outsidethe ministry of defence in Cairo.

Protesters plastered Cairo’sTahrir square with bannersreading, “Down with militaryrule”.

“I’m telling the militarycouncil… enough bloodshed,enough fabricated crisis, enoughunleashing of thugs on the public,enough destruction… we wantthem to transfer power to anindependent transitionalauthority tomorrow,” AkramiDarwish, a protester, said onFriday.

Ukraine rejects Russian refuge for Tymoshenko

The protests, to “protect therevolution and haltthe bloodshed”, are expected todraw people from all majorpolitical formations in Egypt,namely the Muslim Brotherhood,a section of the Salafist movementand the liberal activistmovements.

Several pro-democracymovements, including April 6, aswell as the powerful MuslimBrotherhood said they would bejoining the protests in Cairo andthe Mediterranean city ofAlexandria.

The ultra-conservative Salafimovement, which has becomeincreasingly popular recently, isalso participating in the rallies. Itscandidate, Hazem Abu Ismail, wasdisqualified because his motherhad dual Egyptian-USnationality.

In Cairo they plan todemonstrate in Tahrir Square - theepicentre of protests that toppledpresident Hosni Mubarak lastyear - but some have said they planto gather outside the defenceministry, prompting the army toissue a warning.

“If anyone approaches its(installations), they should holdthemselves responsible,” GeneralMokhtar al-Mulla, a member ofthe ruling military council, saidon Thursday.

Al Jazeera’s Rawya Rageh,reporting from Cairo, said: “It hasreally boiled down to an issue oftrust. Whatever the rulingmilitary council promises, peoplesimple don’t trust them, at leastthe protesters.”

“It is definitely turning into abattle of the wills between the twosides,” she said.

Yulia Tymoshenko has been on hunger strike since April 20,protesting what she calls mistreatment in prison [Reuters]

Ukraine has rejected an offerby Russia for YuliaTymoshenko, the jailed

former prime minister, to receivemedical treatment in Moscow.

Russian President-electVladimir Putin had on Thursdayoffered to host the opposition leaderin Russia for treatment afterclaims of abuse in detention.

“It was president electVladimir Putin who made thisoffer to the Ukrainian authoritieson Thursday saying it would beour pleasure for YuliaTymoshenko to come to Russia formedical treatment,” Al Jazeera’sSue Turton reported from Moscowon Friday.

“But it was swiftly followed bya rebuttal from the Ukrainianprosecution office saying theywould not allow this to happen -for a prisoner to leave the countryfor medical treatment under

Ukrainian law.”Tymoshenko, 51, has been on

a hunger strike since April 20 to

protest her alleged beating bywardens in a prison where she isserving a controversial seven-

year term for abuse of office -charges some say were politicallymotivated.

Putin made the offer in a bid todefuse the crisis that is puttingpressure on the Ukraine ahead ofit co-hosting next month’s Euro2012 football tournament withPoland.

But Putin has also rallied to hisneighbour’s defence by saying hedisagreed with EU states’ attemptsto mix politics with sport.

Turton said the reaction toPutin was the same response theUkrainian authorities gave toGermany after it also offeredTymoshenko medical attentionthere.

German Chancellor AngelaMerkel urged Ukrainian leaders onThursday to give Tymoshenko“proper treatment” for herailments.

Israel releases accomplicein Rabin murderThe unrepentant brother of

the man who killedIsraeli Prime Minister

Yitzhak Rabin was released fromprison after serving 16 1/2 yearsfor complicity in a murder thatstunned Israel, and accordingto some destroyed an opportunityfor peace. Hagai Amir, 43, is notknown to have expressed remorse

for his role in the death, and uponhis release on Friday, he told IsraelRadio, “I am proud of what I did.”

Amir helped plan the 1995killing. His brother Yigal Amir,an ultra-nationalist Jewish

extremist, is serving a life sentencefor killing the prime minister aftera Tel Aviv peace rally.

Channel 2 TV showed severaldozen peace activists outside theprison ahead of Amir’s release

holding signs reading, “We won’tforgive, we won’t forget.”

As Amir exited the prison andwas whisked away in a white van,they chanted “disgrace.”

Amir was greeted by hismother and was expected to betaken to a relative’s house in aJewish West Bank settlement forhis first night of freedom.

Sudan has endorsed theAfrican Union’s (AU)roadmap to avert an all-

out war with South Sudan,though it insisted onretaining the right to self-defence.

Earlier on Thursday,South Sudan said it hadaccepted the AU’s seven-point roadmap that called fora cessation of hostilities.

Based on the seven-pointroadmap, the two countrieshave until next Tuesday torestart stalled negotiationsand three months to reachan agreement.

The AU is trying to getthe two sides to againnegotiate the countries’shared border, citizenshipmatters and oil revenuesharing.

The UN Security Councilon Wednesday unanimouslypassed a resolutionthreatening Khartoum andJuba with sanctions if theyfailed to silence the guns andresume talks within twoweeks, endorsing the AU’sdeadline of May 8.

The Sudanese ForeignMinistry issued a statementon Thursday accepting theAU plan as well as the UNresolution.

Army commanders in Malisay that they haveregained control of the

capital following three days ofskirmishes.

Bamako has been tense sincesoldiers loyal to ousted presidentAmadou Toumani Toureattempted to stage a countercoup on Monday.

Hospital officials said at least22 people were killed in fightingbetween Toure’s loyalists andsoldiers behind the earlier coup.

The leader of the March coupblamed the counter-coup on“foreign elements backed by darkforces from inside the country”.

West Africa’s regional bloc,who met in Mali for negotiations,said it soon will deploy forces toMali, a plan already rejected bythe country’s ruling junta.

Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, thepresident of the commission ofthe Economic Community ofWest African States, orECOWAS, said the groupintended to send forcesimmediately but still needed toconsult with its partnersabout financing thedeployment.

The announcement camelate Thursday after hours ofmeetings in the Senegalesecapital that were aimed atresolving the political impassesin Mali and Guinea-Bissaufollowing recent coup d’etats.

Mali armycommanders sayBamako undercontrol

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

WeekendPAGE 41

Page 42

Arsenal toplay match in Nigeria

FA Cup:LIverpoolor Chelsea,whose cup?

Page 44

Miguel Cotto (L) Avs Manny Pacquiao, Manny fights for the WBA title with Floyd Mayweather today

TTTTTrrrrraaaaappedppedppedppedppedSunshineSunshineSunshineSunshineSunshineStarStarStarStarStarsssssrrrrreturetureturetureturn,n,n,n,n,aaaaat lastt lastt lastt lastt last

After five days of confinement inBamako, Mali, members of theSunshine Stars returned home

yesterday amidst concern over theirsafety.

Sunshine Stars, who were inBamako to honour a CAF ChampionsLeague date with Djoliba FC ofBamako, could return as expected onTuesday because of renewed fightingbetween rebel groups for the controlof Mali’s capital city.

The insurgence led to the closureof the airport as well as major streetsin Bamako. This meant that 10persons including Super EaglesAssistant coach, six players, twojournalists and an official of the teamcould not return on Tuesday after thefirst batch of the contingent left onMonday were unable to do so thefollowing day.

The team left the BamakoInternational Airport at about noonfollowing Mali’s governmentassurances that airport would beopened for them to fly out to Cotonou,Benin Republic from where theywould connect a flight to Lagos andthen hit Akure by road.

An official of the team, who spokeshortly before their departure praisedthe Mali FA for taking good care ofthem even as he said the experiencewas traumatic and would need time

before they overcome the aftermathof their experience.

It would be recalled that onWednesday, Malian authorities hadsaid the earliest Sunshine could departwas next week Monday, but followingdiplomatic pressure they changed itsinitial stance that made it possible forthe team to leave.

Also, on Thursday, heavily armedsoldiers ransacked a room of one of

the players stranded in Bamako withthe Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)expressing “deep concerns” for thesafety of the team in Mali.

A military aircraft Thursdayairlifted trapped Al Ahly of Egypt fromBamako, while the Nigeriangovernment was still grappling withthe decision of sending a NigerianAirforce jet to ferry the team home ornot.

Nigeria’s U-20 female host their Congo DR counterparts todayin the first leg of the FIFA U-20 World Cup ticket.

The Nigerians had whitewashed their Zimbabwean colleagues6-0 aggregate while the visitors oveercame Malian women to earn a

Falconts tackle CongoDR for Japan ticket

clash against theFalconets.

However, theFalconets know thattoday’s clash won’t bea walk in the parkbecause the visitorswill parade ninesenior team’s playerstwo more than theirhosts who wouldhave the benefit ofseven Super Falcons’players.

Coach Edwin Okon shouldthrow in the likes of EstherSunday, Desire Oparanozie andEbere Orji among others tocomplement the fresh blood in thesquad to fight for the maximumpoints.

Of course, they have thesupport of Abeokuta soccer fanswho have always stood behind

them as had the NFF which havemade all necessary arrangementsto boost their comfort. Accordingto the Acting scribe of the footballfederation, Musa Amadu, allincentives have been placed at thedisposal of the team to ensure thatthe players concentrate and thejob of dismissing their opponentswith relative ease.

Coach Edwin Okon

GbengaOgunbote,coach ofSunshine

Stars

Floyd Mayweather

Robin Van Persie

PAGE 42 PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

Niger Tornadoes reelover N100m debt

The Management of the AbubakarBukola Saraki (ABS) FC, Ilorin,has paid the three months salary

arrears and outstanding bonuses to theplayers and officials, to return them towinning ways.

The Team Manager, Mr AlloyChukwuemeka, who confirmed thepayment in a statement signed by theclub’s Media Officer, Jimoh Bashir,yesterday, attributed the team’s declinein performance in the league to unpaidsalaries and hopes that the situationwould change for better now that the

Niger State Commissioner forSports Development, AlhajiHassan Abdulahi, yesterday

said that Niger Tornadoes FC are owingplayers and individuals about N100million, a debt he said had accumulatedsince the 2009 season till the presentone.

Hassan made the disclosure when hehanded over the club’s papers and otherdocuments to the club’s newlyconstituted management team inMinna, the capital of Niger State.

“Tornadoes owe over N100 millionin liabilities. These include sign-on fees,match bonuses, salaries and paymentsto individuals that rendered variousservices to the team.

“We carry out verification on theissue before we commence payment. Westarted with the players and technicalteam by telling them to forwardinformation on the amount owed themto the new management.’’

Hassan said the ministry and

management committee would look atthe documents available and ascertainthe actual amount owed by the club andapproach the state government tocommence payment.

The commissioner advised the

management committee againstborrowing money to manage the clubas was done in the past, saying that aby-law would be released to enable themanagement know the limit of itspowers.

He urged the committee to work as ateam and carry the players along so as toimprove on their performances, in order forthem to move out of the current relegationzone.

“We want you to turn Niger Tornadoesaround. It is not a task beyond yourcapability. For us, we are going to give youthe necessary support to make sure that yousucceed.

“Very soon, the state governor will meetwith you to iron out a few things that willassist you to move the team forward.’’

Responding, Alhaji Abdulahi Paiko, thechairman of the new managementcommittee, re-assured government that thecommittee would ensure that the club didnot go on relegation in spite of the threatbefore them.

ABS settles players’ salary arrearsbacklog of debts has been cleared.

The club, which occupied the fifthposition at the end of first round,playing nine matches unbeaten, nowslumped to 14th position, due to thebacklog of salaries and allowances.

The ABS management, in astatement, described Wednesday’s 1-3home defeat to the visiting Sharks of PortHarcourt as the worst result so far inthe history of the club.

It described the defeat as‘unfortunate and a big set-back to theclub’s aspiration to finish amongst the

top four teams at the end of the season.’The management also blamed the

loss to lack of fitness and psychologicalimbalance on the part of the players.

“We hereby assure the teeming fansand supporters of the only privately-owned club of our readiness to makeappreciable impact in the league, aswell as the Federation cup.”

The management had also signed aMemorandum of Understanding (MoU)with the Technical Director of the KwaraFootball Academy, Paul Ashworth, asan observer coach.

Local fabrics‘Adire’ forFalconetsPlayers and officials of the

Falconets, currently inAbeokuta for today’s 2012 FIFA U-20

Women’s World Cup qualifier, wereyesterday presented with “tie-and-dye”fabrics, popularly known as ‘adire’

The national U-20 team would playagainst their Congo DR counterparts at theMKO Abiola Stadium, Abeokuta. Adire is apopular fabric produced in Abeokuta, a cityknown for its rich culture.

The gift, donated by the Iyalode ofYorubaland, Chief (Mrs) Alaba Lawson, waspresented on her behalf by a journalist, MrKunle Oluwusi. A statement by Ejiro Femi-Babafemi, Media Officer of the National U-20 Women Team, described Lawson as apatroness of the Nigeria Football SupportersClub. The statement stated that the donationwas part of Lawson’s contribution to theteam’s success. Two members of the NigeriaFootball Federation (NFF) Technical Sub-committee, Paul Bassey, and the GeneralCoordinator of the women national teams,Aisha Falode, were on hand to give pep talksto the players.

Falode, a member of the CAF mediacommittee, urged the girls to maintain astrong character against their opponents.

“This is the biggest of all matches sincethe qualifiers started. You are playingagainst an opposition that eliminatedCameroon and Mali, two of the biggest teamson the continent,” she said.

Bassey said: “Congo is not Zimbabwe.There are nine players in the senior nationalteam that are in this present side that youwill be facing tomorrow (Saturday). Youhave to score at least four goals to make thereturn leg much easier’’.

The match is the final round and the firstleg of the Africa qualifying series which willbe concluded in a fortnight.

The winners of the two-legged encounterwill represent Africa at the FIFA U-20 WorldCup in Japan.

Arsenal to play match in Nigeria

Arsenal will play a top Africannational team in Nigeria thissummer as part of the English

Premier League side’s global preseasontour that also includes visits to Chinaand Malaysia.

Arsenal’s first match ever onNigerian soil will be at the 60,000-seater Abuja National Stadium onAugust 5 against opposition yet to be

confirmed.It will be the London club’s first visit

to Africa since a tour to South Africa in1993. The match in Abuja willconclude a preseason tour that starts inKuala Lumpur when the team plays aMalaysia XI on July 24. Arsenal playsManchester City in Beijing three dayslater and Kitchee FC in Hong Kong onJuly 29.

Robin van Persie, Arsenals skipper

France eyes 41 medalsat London OlympicsFrance aims to win 41 medals,

14 of them gold at the LondonOlympic Games, said French

Sports Minister David Douillet hassaid.

“The French Olympic teamshould comprise some 340sportsmen and women, and theFrench Paralympics team, some175 sportsmen and women andguides,” the minister said in astatement.

“France has set target of 41medals, 14 of them gold at theLondon Olympic Games, and atarget of 52 medals, 16 of themgold, at the London ParalympicsGames.

“The government has played anactive role in preparing for thegames.

“The elite athletes’ training andpreparation programme wasoverhauled at the start of thecurrent Olympiad to make it more

personally tailored to their needs,”the minister noted.

The minister, according to thestatement, also confirmed that afinancial investment was made inrevamping facilities at theestablishments involved inpreparing high-level sportsmenand women.

He also added that the humanresources allocated by thegovernment have beenmaintained.

The summer Olympic andParalympic Games will take placein London from July 27 to Aug. 12,2012 and from Aug. 29 to Sept. 9,2012 respectively.

Some 10,500 athletesrepresenting some 205 nationsand regions will participate in theOlympic Games and 4,200athletes representing some 150nations and regions will take partin the Paralympics Games.

Gov. Babangida Aliyu

PAGE 43PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

Blake battles Bolt inKingston showdown today

South Korea, last September, Bolt has not confronted histraining partner officially and would relish theopportunity to do so today.

Blake went to win the race and only three weeks agoran a world leading 9.90 seconds in rainy conditions atthe UTech Classic and expectations are that Bolt shouldlower that time before moving on to the Europeancircuit.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Beijing Olympic Games silvermedalist Richard Thompson, Antiguan Daniel Bailey,IAAF World Indoors 60m silver medalist Nesta Carter,relay gold medalist Michael Frater and CommonwealthGames gold medalist Lerone Clarke are also slated totake part in the event.

But one person may be conspicuously missing: AsafaPowell, who had hoped to challenge Blake, the secondfastest man over the 200m distance ever with 19.26seconds done last year.

Powell, who ran the anchor leg on his MVP team’s4x100m Relay that finished second to an Usain Bolt-ledRacers team three weeks ago, had complaint of groininjury and uptil late last night was yet to confirm arethink on his non-participation.

In the absence of Powell, Blake’s competition shouldcome from Norway’s Jaysuma Saidy Ndure andJamaica’s World University games champion RasheedDwyer and Nickel Ashmeade who won the event lastyear.

World 200m leader American Carmelita Jeter willseek to defend her 100m title form last year and willhave Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce,Bianca Knight, Kelly Ann Baptiste, Debbie FergusonMcKenzie as well as Olympic silver medallists KerronStewart and Sherone Simpson in what is expected to beone of the top races of the evening.

World female 400m season leader Sanya RichardsRoss who is seeking her first Olympic individual goldmedal, returns to the country of her birth and will seekto atone for a disappointing fifth place last year.

The Jamaica trio of Novlene Williams-Mills,Rosemarie Whyte and Kaliese Spencer who took thepodium places last year are also expected to take part.

Canada’s Pricilla Lopes-Schllep who was second inGuadeloupe on Tuesday (1 May) in her first race backafter giving birth will face former World championBrigitte Foster-Hylton, Vonette Dixon and last year’s

By Patrick Andrew with agency report

Two of the world’s 100m rave of the moment, Worldand Olympic champions and current world leadersled by double World record holder Usain Bolt and

the youngest IAAF men’s World 100m champion YohanBlake will compete against each other this evening atthe Jamaica Invitational Tournament, an IAAF WorldChallenge meeting.

Since making a sensational false start in Daegu,

Usain Bolt

Yohan Blake wins WorldChampionship in Daegu Au-gust last year.

Xiang, Kipruto, Felix,Montsho go to thewire in Kawasaki

side of the programme.Montsho, who showed class and form in Fukuroi on

Wednesday by improving her personal best at 200m to22.89 in the Shizuoka International, should dominate the400m in Kawasaki, as Joanne Cuddihy and Mary Winebergare unlikely to pose serious challenge.

Felix will be running the 100m, rather than herspecialty of 200m, and thus may have competition fromIvet Lalova, who was only eighth at 60 metres at the 2012

World Indoor Championships. Japanese fans will be lookingfor a national record from Chisato Fukushima. Fukushimarecorded a 60m national indoor record in Istanbul, butFukushima has yet to run a satisfactory outdoor race thisyear (11.34 at 100m and 23.12 at 200m).

The men’s 100m is shaping up well. Kim Collins, 2003World Champion, and Mike Rodgers, 2010 World Indoorsilver medallist are the top international names but thereis significant local interest too in the guise of RyotaYamagata. The 19-year-old improved his 100m personalbest from the 10.23 recorded last year to 10.08 in the OdaMemorial in Hiroshima on 29 April. He was fourth at 100min the 2009 World Youth Championships, and perhapswill be able to further improve his 100m personal best inKawasaki.

Another Japanese runner to look out for is TakayukiKishimoto. He improved his personal best at 400m Hurdlesfrom 49.27 from 2011 to 48.88 in the ShizuokaInternational in Fukuroi on 3 May coming from behind todefeat Johnny Dutch, the 2008 World JuniorChampionships silver medallist. Kishimoto, the 2011 WorldUniversity Games silver medallist, also competed in the2011 World Championships but failed to advance out of thesemis.

After setting his personal best in Shizuoka, Kishimotosaid, “Not only I am determined to go to the Olympics, butI consider the Olympics to be the race of redemption afterwhat happened in Daegu last year.” He races against Dutchagain on Sunday.

The Seiko Golden Grand Prix in Kawasaki, Japan, takesplace tomorrow afternoon with featuring elevenmen’s events and seven women’s events featuring.

Four events will be the standout shows.Liu Xiang, 2004 Olympic and 2007 World 110m

Hurdles champion, is back into top form this season havingalready taken silver at the World Indoor Championshipsin March, and set an Area indoor record for the 60mHurdles earlier in the indoor season. The Kawasaki meetingwill be his 2012 outdoor opener.

Birmin Kipruto, the 2008 Olympic and 2007 World3000m Steeplechase champion, will face stiff competitionfrom his main challenger, Jonathan Ndiku, 2008 and2010 World Junior champion.

Ndiku, improved his personal best by 10 seconds lastyear and may be ready to improve it by a large marginagain this season. Roba Gari who was fifth at 2011 WorldChampionships should also be competing for the top spoton the podium.

Allyson Felix, three-time World 200m champion(2005-2009), and Amantle Montsho, 2011 World 400mchampion are the headline attractions from the women’s

surprise winner Tiki James in the 100m Hurdles.Reese has been one of the best female long jumpers in

the world over the past two years and is coming off a winin the World Indoors and will come into the meet with a7.12m world best. Americans Brianna Glenn and JanayDeloach as well as Jamaicans Jovanee Jarrett will alsocompete in the Long Jump.

Hoffa who has a world season leading 21.73mdistance to his credit will be the class of the field in theShot Put.

Amantle Montsho andAllyson Felix in stiff battlefor at the Daegu Worlds

PAGE 44 PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

FA Cup: LIverpool or Chelsea, whose cup?

By Patrick Andrew

Liverpool and Chelsea have had horrid season.Ironically, Liverpool won the Carling Cup at least tohave a trophy in its cabinet. However, few clubs, especially

the top four, hardly make that competition a priority.Chelsea started the season on the high: Andre Villas-Boas

was brought in to take charge of the hugely rich club. Then, thingsfell apart. The floundered in the league, dropped points withreckless abandon and were at the verge of exiting the UEFA

FACTS BOX* Liverpool have won the FA Cup seven times, Chelsea have won it six times, but neither club won it for the first 94 years

of the competition’s existence until Liverpool’s 1965 win over Leeds United.* Chelsea’s first win was not until 1970 - also against Leeds United - 99 years after the competition started in the 1871-

72 season.* Chelsea beat Liverpool 3-2 in the 2005 League Cup final butThis will be the first time they have faced each other in the FA Cup final. Their last FA Cup meeting was in April 2006

when Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-1 in the semifinal.* This will be their 31st meeting against each other since October 2004 - a total that includes 10 meetings in the

Champions League.* This will be Chelsea’s 11th appearance in an FA Cup final having won six times in 1970, 1997, 2000, 2007, 2009 and

2010. They were runners-up in 1915, 1967, 1994 and 2002.* Chelsea’s interim manager Roberto Di Matteo won two FA Cups with the club as a player - in 1997 he scored the

fastest goal at the old Wembley stadium, after just 43 seconds in their 2-0 win over Middlesbrough and in 2000 he nettedthe last-ever Cup final goal at the old Wembley in their 1-0 win over Aston Villa.

* The last two managers to win the FA Cup have been Italian - Roberto Mancini with Manchester City in their 1-0 winover Stoke City last year and Carlo Ancelotti for Chelsea in their 1-0 win over Portsmouth in 2010.

* He can also become the fourth Italian, and the third for the club, to win the FA Cup after Ancelotti and Gianluca Vialliin 2000.

* Ashley Cole has won the FA Cup six times (three with Chelsea, three with Arsenal), more than any other player.* Didier Drogba has scored seven goals in seven Wembley appearances and has scored three goals in FA Cup finals.* Liverpool’s Ian Rush holds the record with five goals in the Cup final scoring twice in 1986, twice in 1989 and once in

1992.* Liverpool are taking part in their 14th FA Cup final having won it in 1965, 1974, 1986, 1989, 1992, 2001 and 2006.

Their six defeats were in 1914, 1950, 1971, 1977, 1988 and 1996.* In Kenny Dalglish’s last FA Cup final as manager, his Newcastle United side lost 2-0 to Arsenal in 1998.* Dalglish has previously won two FA Cups with the club - in 1986 (as player/manager) and in 1989 (as manager).* Like Drogba, Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard has scored in a previous final, netting twice in 2006 when Liverpool beat

West Ham United on penalties after the match ended in a 3-3 draw.

is today’s hurdle: Liverpool.Twice in the league the Reds defeated the Blues, but that’s

totally different from the task on hand: it’s an important gameFA Cup Final. A trophy is at stake and Chelsea’s something intheir trophy cabinet.

Besides, they need the positive frame of mind ahead of theepic Champions League final and having the complement of depthin surplus, the Blues are unlikely to spare a thought for theafflictions which have been the lot of Liverpool. Yes, Anfield havelost its reputation as the fortress of Liverpool. This season, theReds have surrendered 30 points to visiting teams and have onlyfive games. Well, Wimbledon is today’s venue and Liverpool arelikely to crave for the luck that they had against Cardiff in theCarling Cup final.

That would depend on if Chelsea, as usual, under the influenceof John Terry would that be.

Terry, who led Chelsea to FA Cup glory in 2007, 2009 and2010, will hope to become the first captain to win the FA Cupfour times with one club.

Arthur Kinnaird lifted the trophy four times in the early daysof the competition, twice with the Wanderers in the 1870s andfor the Old Etonians in 1879 and 1882.

The Champions League finalists are bidding to win the FACup for the fourth time in six years and have all their playersavailable for the trip to Wembley apart from injured centraldefenders David Luiz and Gary Cahill, who have hamstringproblems.

In form Fernado Torres, is vengeful, Solomon Kalou, one whohas always had his way against Liverpool, and deadly DidierDrogba who is likely to pair upfront with Torres, Frank Lampard,John Mikel Obi, Branislav Ivanovic and their ever dependablesafehands Petr Cech could be uncompromising. They did it againstSpurs trouncing them 5-1 and went to whitewash Norwich 6-1 ina game Torres had his first Chelsea hat-trick.

However, Liverpool, like Tottenham could cause the upsetwhen least expected and some are wont to say that this mightjust be it. Steven Gerarrd, Luis Suarez, Andy Carroll, GlenJohnson, Jose Enrique, Jay Spearing, Pepe Reina, StewardDowning and Jordan Henderson, Martin Skrtel and Daniel Aggerare the men to lead the charge against Chelsea. And they havealways beaten the odds to decision Chelsea.

Champions League when Roman Abramovich quite in tune tocharacter showed AVB the exit door.

In came Roberto Di Matteo, an ex-Chelsea who conjuredmagic first by upturning Napoli’s 3-1 advantage and incrediblystopped defending champions and World Clubs championsBarcelona in a dramatic fashion to secure a berth in the final ofUEFA Champions League, something that was unimaginable inJanuary.

But like Liverpool, Chelsea have fared poorly in the Barclaysleague. Though they have had vast improvement since Di Matteotook over, next season’s Champions League campaign is almostan unattainable dream because of the fierce competition for topfour placement.

The Blues are four points adrift of Tottenham and Newcastle,the latter humbled them at the Stamford Bridge only lastWednesday, after Liverpool crashed before Fulham at Anfieldthe previous day. The Reds though rested nine regular playersevidently to demonstrate their focus on today’s cup match.

Chelsea at first did the same but later poured in all their bigboys but failed to stop Demba Papa Cisse from hammering in theseason’s best goal to secure a brace and effectively handedNewcastle their much needed succour in the race for ChampionsLeague slot.

Now, Chelsea must beat Bayern Munich on May 19 toguarantee participation in Europe’s elite clubs fiesta. But first there

PAGE 45PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

Polo: The game, the passionCompiled By Richard Ihediwa with online reports

Sometimes called, “The Sport of Kings”, it was highlypopularised by the British. Players score by driving asmall white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing

team’s goal using a long-handled mallet. The traditionalsport of polo is played at speed on a large grass field up to300 yards long by 160 yards wide, and each polo teamconsists of four riders and their mounts. Field polo is playedwith a solid plastic ball, which has replaced the woodenball in much of the sport. In arena polo, only three playersare required per team and the game usually involves moremaneuvering and shorter plays at lower speeds due to spacelimitations of the arena.

Arena polo is played with a small air-filled ball, similarto a small soccer ball. The modern game lasts roughly twohours and is divided into periods called chukkers. Polo isplayed professionally in 16 countries. It was formerly, butis not currently, an Olympic sport.

The origin of Polo goes back to Persia. The game firstplayed in Persia at dates given from the 5th century BC ormuch earlier. Polo was at first a training game for cavalryunits, usually the king’s guard or other elite troops. To thewarlike tribesmen, who played it with as many as 100 to aside, it was a miniature battle.

In time polo became an Iranian national sport playednormally by the nobility. Women as well as men playedthe game, as indicated by references to the queen and herladies engaging King Khosrow II Parviz and his courtiersin the 6th century AD.

From Persia, in medieval times polo spread to theByzantines and after the Muslim conquests to the Ayyubidand Mameluke dynasties of Egypt and the Levant, whoseelites favoured it above all other sports.

Later on Polo was passed from Persia to other parts ofAsia including the Indian subcontinent and China, whereit was very popular during the Tang Dynasty and frequentlydepicted in paintings and statues. Valuable for trainingcavalry, the game was played from Constantinople to Japanby the Middle Ages. Known in the East as the Game of KingsThe name polo is said to have been derived from theTibetan word “pulu”, meaning ball.

The modern game of polo, though formalised andpopularised by the British, is derived from Manipur (nowa state in India) where the game was known as ‘SagolKangjei’, ‘Kanjai-bazee’, or ‘Pulu’. It was the anglicised formof the last, referring to the wooden ball which was used,that was adopted by the sport in its slow spread to the west.The first polo club was established in the town of Silcharin Assam, India, in 1834.

Polo later spread to Europe and Americas in the mid1800s. In 1862 the first polo club, Calcutta Polo Club, wasestablished by two British soldiers, Captain Robert Stewartand Major General Joe Shearer. Later they spread the gameto their peers in England. The British are credited withspreading polo worldwide in the late 19th century and theearly 20th century. Military officers imported the game toBritain in the 1860s.

The rules of polo are written and used to provide forthe safety of both players and horses. The rules are enforcedin the game by the umpires who blow whistles when apenalty occurs.

Each team consists of four mounted players, which canbe mixed teams of both men and women.

Each position assigned to a player has certainresponsibilities:

Number One is the most offence-oriented position onthe field. The Number One position generally covers theopposing team’s Number Four.

Number Two has an important role in offence, eitherrunning through and scoring themselves, or passing to theNumber One and getting in behind them. Defensively, theywill cover the opposing team’s Number Three, generallythe other team’s best player. Given the difficulty of thisposition, it is not uncommon for the best player on the teamto play Number Two so long as another strong player isavailable to play Three.

Number Three is the tactical leader and must be along powerful hitter to feed balls to Number Two andNumber One as well as maintaining a solid defence. Thebest player on the team is usually the Number Three player,usually wielding the highest handicap.

Number Four is the primary defence player. They canmove anywhere on the field, but they usually try to prevent

offensive plays,since they knowthat they will becovered if theylose the ball.

Polo must beplayed right-h a n d e d .Strategic plays inpolo are based onthe “line of theball”, animaginary linecreated by theball as it travelsdown the field.This line tracesthe ball’s pathand extends past

the ball along that trajectory. The line of the ball definesrules for players to approach the ball safely. These rulesare created and enforced to ensure the welfare of playersand their horses. The “line of the ball” changes each timethe ball changes direction.

The player who hit the ball generally has the right ofway, and other players cannot cross the line of the ball infront of that player. As players approach the ball, they rideon either side of the line of the ball giving each access tothe ball. A player can cross the line of the ball when it doesnot create a dangerous situation. Most fouls and penaltyshots are related to players improperly crossing the line ofthe ball or the right of way. When a player has the line ofthe ball on his right, he has the right of way. A “ride-off” iswhen a player moves another player off the line of the ballby making shoulder-to-shoulder contact with the otherplayers’ horses.

The defending player has a variety of opportunities forhis or her team to gain possession of the ball. He or shecan push the opponent off the line or steal the ball fromthe opponent. Another common defensive play is called“hooking.” While a player is taking a swing at the ball, hisor her opponent can block the swing by using his or hermallet to hook the mallet of the player swinging at the ball.A player may not purposely touch another player, his orher tack or pony with his or her mallet. Unsafe hooking isa foul that will result in a penalty shot being awarded. It isa foul for a player to reach over an opponent’s mount in anattempt to hook.

scoring. The emphasis on defenceby the Number Four allows theNumber Three to attempt more

Occupy NigeriaSeason II

PAGE 46 PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

Democracy Watch

THRILLERTHRILLERTHRILLERTHRILLERTHRILLERFROMFROMFROMFROMFROMTHETHETHETHETHEVILLAVILLAVILLAVILLAVILLABy AbdulrahmanAbdulraheemkingatoldtrafford@gmail.com08098639161

From the VillaFrom theNationalAssembly

S ince the House ofR e p r e s e n t a t i v e sadopted the report of

the Farouk Lawancommittee which probedthe allegedmismanagement of thesubsidy scheme andindicted some topgovernment officials andsome oil companies,Nigerians have beenwaiting to see if thelegislature can take thenext bold step to get its wella p p l a u d e dr e c o m m e n d a t i o n simplemented by theexecutive, which memberswere found wanting.

The committeepresented a damningreport in which is indictedMinister of PetroleumResources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, former NationalChairman of the rulingPeoples Democratic Party(PDP), Ahmadu Ali whowas Chairman of thePetroleum Product PricingRegulatory Agency(PPPRA), Gombe stategovernor IbrahimDankwambo, who wasAccountant General of theFederal as well as themanagement of theNigerian NationalPetroleum Corporation(NNPC) and some other oilcompanies.

Though the House atplenary clearedDankwambo of blames,lawmakers tighten thenoose on Alison-Madueke,Ahmadu Ali, NNPC andthe other oil companiesand recommended that thePresidency should kick thefootstool.

Subsidy probe: House,cabal and the rest of us

However, since theadoption of the report bythe committee, Nigerianshave been waiting for thenext move, which theyexpect should be thecommencement ofpunitive measures againstthose indicted.

Already some groups,including pro-democracyorganizations have beencalling for the sack andprosecution of indictedgovernment officials withsome of them giving theFederal Government twoweeks to act or face massaction by the people.

This is coming againstthe backdrop of insistenceby the National Assemblythat its powers as vested bythe Constitution ends atexposing corruption fromwhere the executive shouldtake over and bring theculprits to book.

Nigerians are quick toremember that this positionof the National Assemblysaw to the sweeping underthe carpet of the issues raisedin the power probe by theHouse of Representatives,the privatisation probe bythe Senate among others.There are fears that thesame will happen to thesubsidy probe and thepensions probe unless drasticmeasures were taken to getthe recommendationsimplemented.

The position washowever worsened by theWednesday outburst bythe Presidency that thereport was shallow andselective. This came on theheels of recent statementsby some members of theexecutive, includingInformation Minister,

Labaran Maku thatresolutions of the NationalAssembly were merelyadvisory and not bindingon government toimplement.

On Wednesday, theSpecial Adviser to thePresident on PoliticalAffairs, Alhaji AhmedGulak in condemning thereport as shallow pointingout that the President waseven yet to receive it.Gulak argued that thereport should haveincluded past petroleumministers includingRilwanu Lukman andformer Group GeneralManagers of the NigeriaNational PetroleumCorporation (NNPC)especially, MohammedBarkindo, both of whom henoted served during theperiod under probe.

This raised somequestion as the SpecialAdviser on the President onNational Assembly, SenatorJoy Emodi had last weekassured Nigerians that thePresident was on the samepage with the House ofRepresentatives on theissue.

Emodi had said thatPresident Jonathanwelcome the probe by theHouse of Representativesand added that he was poisedto sanitise the oil sector andto ensure transparency andprobity in the industry bynot sparing anyone foundculpable on the issues.

Stating that the probeby the House ofRepresentatives was in linewith Federal Governmentanti-graft war in thepetroleum industry,Emodi said it was wrong forsome quarters to claim thatthere was uneasiness in theadministration over therecommendations of theFarouk Lawan committee.

However, Nigeriansappear not to be at homewith the seemingpoliticisation of the issuesand may have decided totake the horse to the waterand force it to drink water.The issues may only havestarted unfolding

By Richard Ihediwa

When on January1 2012, theF e d e r a l

Government decided tomurder sleep and jerked upthe pump price of fuel fromN65 to N141 as part of itsderegulation policy,Nigerians from all walks lifetook to the streets in protest,telling government to go tohell that they had hadenough.

In announcing thepolicy, governmentappeared to have underestimated the potentialreaction of people. The samegovernment that has failedto provide stable power afterall the billions was nowasking people to pay more forfuel which they use for theirvehicles and powergenerators. From GaniFawehinmi Park in Lagos toIlorin, to Abuja and to Kano,the rejection was total as therest is now history.

And now that the FaroukLawan-led House ofRepresentatives committeehas unearthed more mindboggling atrocities about thesubsidy regime than theExecutive ever thought of, itis expected that the peoplewho stole trillions of nairaand subject poor Nigerians toavoidable hardship will bebrought to book. But what dowe have, Presidency huffingand puffing aboutimplementing the report,ministers singing discordanttunes, top governmentofficials raising argumentsagainst the report and allthat.

To cut the long storyshort, the January protestwould have come to noughtif the civil society, labour,media and the generality ofNigerians don't rise again inthe case government fails toact on the report.

Listen to PresidentJonathan's Political Adviser,Ahmed Gulak who spoke tosome State Housecorrespondents during theweek on the issue :“it looks likethe probe is targeted at someindividuals: “Why did theynot invite Rilwanu Lukman?He was the minister ofpetroleum resources duringthe period of the probe? Whereis Mohammed Barkindo whowas the Group ManagingDirector (GMD), NigeriaNational PetroleumCorporation (NNPC) at thetime? Where are the other

key actors who where at thevanguard of the subsidyregime? The House ofRepresentatives must probethese individuals before wecan truly say they are doingthe right thing otherwise thereport will lack credibility.What is worth doing at all isworth doing well.”

Good talk. But Gulakappears to be looking for theslightest excuse to get thereport burried.

Talking about somepeople that were notquestioned which he claimedaffected the credibility of thereport, that reminds me ofthe Nuhu Ribadu days at thehelm of affairs of the EFCC. Iwas always defending himanytime this issue ofselectivity arose becauseculprists will just use part oftheir stolen wealth and runto the media to whip upsentiments anytime Ribadusought to investigative theircorrupt deals or arrest themas the case may be. If you sayyou should not be arrestedbecause some persons hadcommitted similar crimeswithout being touched, doesthat justify your own crime?Does that mean those yet tobe touched will notquestioned someday? A thiefis a thief. The question is didyou steal?

Some of them even wentto the ridiculous extent ofobtaining cash and carry

court injunctions to stopEFCC from eitherinvestigating or arrestingthem. It was that bad.

This column believesfirmly that if there are 100thieves in a society and thesystem arrests and punishonly 20 even if 'selectively,'the society only becomesbetter for it. After all, its not aguarantee that theremaining 80 will remainuntouchable forever.

If we allow people likeGulak to have their way, theoil subsidy report will neverbe implemented.

But we will appeal to MrPresident because we know hewill listen to us. We are notasking for too much. Peoplelost their children in theJanuary protest and thePresident told the world thathe was ready to combatcorruption in the subsidyregime. So, the time is now.Go ahead and prosecute themand recover EVERY kobostolen by the crooks. We arenot talking about pleabargaining or the kind of casesthat will remain in courts tilleternity, we mean somethingmore serious please.

After the people indictedby the present report areduly dealt with, we can nowlisten to Gulak on the need tohear from Rilwan Lukmanand others. We know he isonly trying to act as a brakeon the wheel of progress.

However, since the adoptionof the report by the

committee, Nigerians havebeen waiting for the nextmove, which they expect

should be the commencementof punitive measures against

those indicted.

“And now that the Farouk Lawan-led House of Representativescommittee has unearthed moremind boggling atrocities aboutthe subsidy regime than the

Executive ever thought of, it isexpected that the people who

stole trillions of naira andsubject poor Nigerians toavoidable hardship will be

brought to book.

“

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012 PAGE 47

Lord save me!Immediately Jesus made

His disciples get into theboat and go before Him to

the other side, while He sent themultitudes away. And when Hehad sent the multitudes away,He went up on the mountain byHimself to pray. Now whenevening came, He was alonethere. But the boat was now inthe middle of the sea, tossed bythe waves, for the wind wascontrary. Now in the fourthwatch of the night Jesus went tothem, walking on the sea. Andwhen the disciples saw Himwalking on the sea, they weretroubled, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’And they cried out for fear. Butimmediately Jesus spoke tothem, saying, ‘Be of good cheer!It is I; do not be afraid.’ AndPeter answered Him and said,‘Lord, if it is You, command meto come to You on the water.’ SoHe said, ‘Come.’ And when Peterhad come down out of the boat,he walked on the water to go toJesus. But when he saw that thewind was boisterous, he wasafraid; and beginning to sink hecried out, saying, ‘Lord, saveme!’ And immediately Jesusstretched out His hand andcaught him, and said to him, ‘Oyou of little faith, why did youdoubt?’ And when they got intothe boat, the wind ceased. Thenthose who were in the boat cameand worshiped Him, saying,‘Truly You are the Son of God.’”(Matt 14:22 –33 NKJV)

In verse 27 of the passage above,Jesus told the disciples “Be of goodcheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”Initially, Peter wasn’t afraid as hebegan to walk upon water but verse30 says when he saw that the wind wasboisterous, he was afraid and beganto sink. It is easier to criticize Peter thanto step out of the boat like he did. Peter

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cedarministryintl@yahoo.comGSM: 08033113523

might have been afraid and sinking,his next step was correct. As he wassinking he cried, “Lord save me!” Jesusdid just that – he saved him.

If Peter had not cried out forJesus to save him, he would havedrowned. So while many people focuson the fact that Peter was afraid andbegan to sink and criticized him forthis, they fail to see that he did the rightthing by calling upon Jesus to savehim. That is a lesson for you and me.We may have erred by doing somethings wrong but we should know thenext right thing to do. Don’tconcentrate on your efforts alone. Yourbest effort will, many times, not beenough without the help of God. Learnto look unto Jesus the author and thefinisher of your faith (Heb 12:2).That three-word prayer “Lord saveme” is probably one of the mostpowerful prayers you can ever pray.Learn to cry to the Lord to save you. Itis not a show of weakness. It isrecognition of your limitation, and ashow of your faith in the Lord.

Don’t perish There is another story in Matt

8:23-27 where that prayer “Lord saveme!” comes to the fore again. “Nowwhen He got into a boat, Hisdisciples followed Him. Andsuddenly a great tempest aroseon the sea, so that the boat wascovered with the waves. But Hewas asleep. Then His disciplescame to Him and awoke Him,saying, ‘Lord, save us! We areperishing!’ But He said to them,‘Why are you fearful, O you oflittle faith?’ Then He arose andrebuked the winds and the sea,and there was a great calm. Sothe men marveled, saying, ‘Whocan this be, that even the windsand the sea obey Him?’” (NKJV)

From that passage, you can seethat the disciples were in a similarsituation like Peter was. Jesus was inthe boat with them, and Jesus was

sleeping while the tempest on the seawas beating against the boat. Thedisciples woke him up and cried, “Lordsave us!” Jesus rebuked them for theirlittle faith and rebuked the winds andthe sea. Great calm was restored. Youmay blame the disciples for their lackof faith but they could also have keptquiet and perished. But they did theright thing. They knew where to getwhat they lacked. They knew who tocall upon who was very much in thesame boat with them. They didn’t diefor their inaction.

What do you do when you facea similar situation like the one Peterand the other disciples were in? Youdon’t have to perish because of yourfailure. Call upon the Lord to save you.Paul, quoting from Joel 2:32 says,“For whoever calls on the nameof the LORD shall be saved” (Rm10:13 NKJV). Peter also speaking inActs 2:21 referred to this samescripture. There is no other conditiongiven other than to call upon Hisname. “Lord save me!”

No matter how precarious yourcondition is, learn to call upon hisname; the Lord will save you no matterthe danger. Cry “Lord save me!” It’s ashort prayer but very powerful, veryeffectual. “Lord save me!” is an alarmto Heaven for divine intervention – it’san SOS. “When you go to war inyour land against the enemywho oppresses you, then youshall sound an alarm with thetrumpets, and you will beremembered before the LORDyour God, and you will be savedfrom your enemies.” (Num 10:9NKJV) Did you see that? “Lord saveme!” is an alarm, and God will alwaysrespond to that alarm. The latter partof that scripture assures, “and youwill be remembered before theLORD your God, and you will besaved from your enemies.”

Cry to the Lord When you cry “Lord save me!”

what you’re saying to Heaven is thatyou are helpless but you put your trustin Heaven. Salvation belongs unto theLord and he will save you. He savedPeter when he was sinking and heldhis hand and the two of them walkedback into the boat. That means Peterstill walked on water. You can still walkon the same water where you’resinking. In the same area where you’vefailed, you can still succeed if you willcry to the Lord to save you. He will savethat marriage, that business, that childetc. – all you need to do is not to beself-sufficient, self–confident, and cryto him to save you. You will experiencea great calm if you cry to the Lord tosave you in the midst of the ragingstorm in your life, home, career, healthetc.

Just as God saved Peter and thedisciples, he saved David when he wasin trouble fleeing from Absalom andhe cried to the Lord to save him. Davidlamented his trouble and helplessnessbut didn’t fail to cry to the Lord to savehim. (Ps 3:7-8)

Pride will not let some peopleseek help from someone else until theirtrouble destroys them. But a man maytry to justify not asking help fromfellow humans but what justificationwill someone have for refusing to askGod to help him out of his trouble?What wisdom is there in thatfoolishness? Who are you trying toimpress? You want to give credit toyourself, your intelligence, yourefforts? You don’t want to give theglory to God?

The test of conviction and faithfulness (2) Daniel 3:1-182. THE CALL AND

COERCION TO WORSHIPAN IDOL

L i k e most men, idolatrousand occultic men,Nebuchadnezzar was not

content to worship his idol alone,he must have others worship withhim and share in hiscondemnation. If they would notfall down and worship the goldenimage voluntarily, he mustcoerce, threaten and compelthem to sin! Nebuchadnezzar'spunishment for not worshippinghis idol was severe but God'sjudgment for worshipping idols iseternally and infinitely moresevere. His threatenedpunishment for refusal toworship his idol is temporarysuffering. "And whoso falleth notdown and worshippeth shall thesame hour be cast into the midstof a burning fiery furnace"(Daniel 3:6). God's judgment forworshipping idols is infinitelygreater. "But the fearful, andunbelieving, and theABOMINABLE, and murderers,and whoremongers, andsorcerers, and IDOLATERS, and

all liars, shall have their part inthe LAKE WHICH BURNETHWITH FIRE AND BRIMSTONE"."AND SHALL BE TORMENTEDDAY AND NIGHT FOR EVERAND EVER " (Revelation 21:8;19:20; 20:10; 14:9-11).

"And whoso falleth not downand worshippeth shall the samehour be cast into the midst of aburning fiery furnace" (Daniel3:6). This was not an emptythreat but a very seriousrealizable threat. Idolworshippers did not put muchvalue on human life. They couldeven throw their own childreninto the fire to sacrifice to theirgods. "They have committedadultery, and blood is in theirhands, and with THEIR IDOLShave they committed adultery,and HAVE CAUSED THEIRSONS, whom they bare unto Me,to PASS FOR THEM THROUGHTHE FIRE, TO DEVOUR THEM" (Ezekiel 23:37; see also 2 Kings16:3; 17:17; 2 Chronicles 33:6).Those who did not feel anyrestraint or pain in throwing theirown children into the fire wouldnot find it difficult casting those

From the Pulpit

who refuse their idolatry into theburning fiery furnace. MoreoverNebuchadnezzar was well knownfor his cruelty and brutality indealing with rebels. Even today,there are idolaters, occultists andfalse, fanatical religionists whowould rather have someone diethan see them live notworshipping their false gods withthem.

The threat was to force andcompel everyone to sin against

David is considered a greatwarrior but not without God’s help; henever failed to ask for God’s helpwhenever he was at his wits end. Davidprayed a similar prayer in Ps 7:1-2,116:1–14, 118:25. “Lord, saveme.” Be wise!

If you cry to the Lord to saveyou, you can rest assured that yourtrouble will not consume you becauseGod’s presence is with you (Is 43:2,Jer 30:11, Isa 41:10). Lord save me!

TAKE ACTION!If you are not born again, kindly

say this prayer now: “0 Lord God, Icome unto you today. I know Iam a sinner and I cannot savemyself. I believe that Jesus is theSon of God who died on thecross to save me andresurrected the third day. Iconfess Jesus as my Lord andSaviour and surrender my lifeto him today. I invite Jesus intomy heart today. By this prayer,I know I am saved. Thank youJesus for saving me andmaking me a child of God”

I believe you have said this prayerfrom your heart. Congratulations! Youwill need to join a Bible believing, Bibleteaching church in your area whereyou will be taught how to live your newlife in Christ Jesus. I pray that youflourish like the palm tree and growlike the cedar of Lebanon. May yougrow into Christ in all things becomingall God wants you to be. I will be gladto hear from you. May the Lord be withyou.

By

Pastor W. F. Kumuyi

God through idol worship. Threebelievers, Shadrach, Meshachand Abednego remaineduncompromising. Some cowardlyconspirators reported them to theking. The king was furious and inhis rage he repeated and re-emphasized his threat, but thesethree committed believers stoodtheir ground. The greater the rageof the king, the greater the resolveof these godly men.

3. THE COURAGE OFCONVICTION AGAINSTIDOLATRY

The situation was intimidating;the king was in a rage, angry andfurious; the Chaldeans wereindignant, the accusers werebitter, other Jews already hadbowed and worshipped, themultitudes were watching, yetthese three uncompromisingnon-conformists wereunshakable in their conviction.Without inner strength andinternal principle, externalpressure can crush our will.Those who have lost real christianconviction and an internalprinciple of righteousness are

easily intimidated. They bow topressure in order to avoidburning in the furnace. For thesethree conquerors, great was theiraffirmation of faith in God. Theywere absolutely committed to thepure worship of the true andliving God. They accepted God'swill even if it meant death. Theywere resolved, if need be, to diefor God's holy cause. They haddecided to worship God and toworship no other god; they hadknown the truth and made uptheir minds to live for the truthand to die for the truth. Neitherthe promise nor the punishmentof the king was going to changetheir mind. The pressure wasgreat but their purpose of heartwas greater. The demand wasirreversible and their decisionwas irrevocable. They conqueredthe unrighteous demand withtheir unhesitating determination.They were resolved to sufferrather than sin and leave theoutcome in God's hands. Thecourage of conviction will alwaysresult in God's glory and berewarded by God.

“

A path to the future?SATURDAY 5 — SUNDAY 6, MAY, 2012

BIG PUNCHBIG PUNCHBIG PUNCHBIG PUNCHBIG PUNCH

T here is no doubt that ournation is sick, but how tocure its ailment has become

the issue of the moment. The Northis so far at best reticent, but perhapsalso unsure and hesitant. But themost outspoken on the matter arethe proponents of NationalSovereign Conference. Their singleproposition is that the 'NationalSovereign Conference' is the one andonly solution to what can be calledthe 'National Question.' Prof. WoleSoyinka, one of the country'sforemost intellectual is their mostoutstanding spokesperson. In alecture at the just concluded SouthSouth economic summit, heoutlines the position most forcefullyand eloquently. In thecontinuation of the discourse on theNorthern Elders we presentSoyinka's arguments presently.

According to Prof. WoleSoyinka, Nigeria is 'tied up',metaphorically and literally, evento the extent of immobility. In hiswords: 'Traffic is tied up. Security istied up. Productive motion is tiedup. Commerce is tied up.Governance is tied up. Individual,corporate, even leisure schedules aretied up - all to pander to bristlinghead-ties tied up in a floating paradeof gorgeous fabric, sterile,provocative and contemptuous ofthe rights of others to their owndesperate mission, the mission ofgenerating the life-sustainingmorsel for family and self.'Continuing, Soyinka says: 'A vanityparade born perhaps of boredom ora feeling of neglect, this banalextravaganza has transferred to oursupposedly democraticenvironment under variouspretexts, guzzling funds andguzzling the productive time ofothers. Productive motion is held toa standstill and citizen rights aretrampled upon. This disrespectfulmisappropriation of public spacethat exists primarily for themovement of goods and humanity,especially by the unelected, by mereappendages to constitutional power,has become a culture of spousalaggression and can only beget aresponse of disrespect and ridiculefrom those it most affects.' ThoughSoyinka was in fact referring to aparticular event that happenedrecently in Lagos, the point he seeksto make is that it has become thehabit of a tiny minority in Nigeriawho hold the reigns of power andprivilege - who, for example, wouldlet the health sector to collapsebecause they could always, atpublic expense, 'fly to New York to

“We have nothing to lose but our chains aswe embark on this patriotic and justresistance against the destroyers of ournation”.—Pastor Tunde Bakare on theplanned protest for trial of fuelsubsidy cabal

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Published by Peoples Media Limited, 35, Ajose Adeogun Street, 1st Floor Peace Park Plaza,Utako, Abuja. Lagos Office: No.8 Oliyide Street, off Unity Road, Ikeja, Lagos,Tel: +234-09-8734478. Cell: +234 803 606 3308. e-mail: contact@peoplesdaily-online.comISSN: 2141– 6141

WEEKENDWEEKENDWEEKENDWEEKENDWEEKENDwith

Ibraheem Sulaiman

sa427420@gmail.com

society, eradication of diseases,uninterrupted electric power,potable water and other indices ofenhanced civic life, as proof of theclaim that they have "arrived", andcan confidently assess themselvesas nations, beyond the merenaming. They refuse to recognizethat some at least - not necessarilyall but some part - of a suppressedsocial malaise or politicalfractiousness can be traced to thebasic issue of the unfinished aspectof their self-constitutive process.'Pointing a finger at Nigeria, heconcludes: 'This includes those who,long after any self-respecting nationshould have been weaned, continueto insist that their endemic negativesymptoms are merely "teethingproblems." Such nations are clearlyon a self-destruct trajectory.'Soyinka then recalls an incidentinvolving a bus from a girls' school.'That bus was waylaid, its occupantsrobbed, assaulted and raped - that isthe level of depravity to which thenation has been brought. On thatroad of the pupils' martyrdom wasre-enacted the continuum of the

history of this nation: Violation.Rape.' Indeed, many would readilyagree with Soyinka that so much ofNigeria is a victim of rape andviolation on a phenomenal scale,foremost being the treasury, but alsoeven democracy itself.

What is the future? Prof. WoleSoyinka future Nigeria is bleak,abysmal, miserable. 'First, what dowe see when we do turn to thatfuture? We shall let our presentinterrogate that future, and whatdoes it spell? Peril. An imperiledfuture, and that means - animperiled generation of a nation'shumanity,' he says. 'In practicaldetails, what the present projectsobjectively as its offspring, is a vistaof brain wastage, thanks to unstabletumors that peek and vanish,undetected, and when detected, areleft uncorrected.' Still we insist, whatis the future? And finally Prof.Soyinka opens up. The future lies ina 'Sovereign Conference' or perhapsa 'National Dialogue'. It will enableNigerians to seize the future by thethroat, to demand of themselveswhat they can make of that futureand to try and finish the longabandoned business of achieving'nation becoming', that is, thebusiness of growing Nigeria intomaturity. But who will convene sucha conference, and how; and equallyimportant, what happens the dayafter? Prof Soyinka appears to havegiven up the original idea of theconference, conceding that, playingthe devil's advocate, it has become amythology. But he, however,remains undeterred. Here now, inthe next two paragraphs, is Prof. WoleSoyinka's new thesis:

'Central to these gatherings [ofregional groupings] will be the veryantithesis of that word 'central' -decentralization. Engaging inpolicies and strategies ofdevelopment that progressivelyrenders the centre reduced in itsability to impede - for this is whathas been the norm - impede the paceand quality of development of theconstituent parts of the nation. Theconstitutional envelope thatcurrently holds the parts together

should be pushed as far provespossible without it actuallybursting, leading to a vibrantcompetition - and collaboration -among its constituent parts. It isthen left to the courts of arbitrationto interpret those areas where itmight appear that the envelope hasbeen pushed too far. Each regionalgrouping should, by its policies,declare an uncompromisingdevelopmental autonomy - I repeat,Autonomy - leaving the centre onlywith its competence provenance -foreign policy, national security andinter-state affairs - including peacesubversive, Peace Advocacy - butminus its propensity for inflictingheart seizure on productive humanconcourse.

'Let each regional grouping withcompatible ideas of the ultimatemission - the future of the humanityfor which they are responsible - beginto call the shots, and relegate thecentre to its rightful dimensions inany functioning federateddemocracy. Let each state call its ownconference of peoples to articulate injust what direction they wish to directtheir leaders and relate to the centreand other states. Let each regionalgrouping and its member statessingle-mindedly project and pursuetheir strategies for the enhancementof the quality of life and the dignity oftheir peoples, quarry into theirresources to extract the materialrequired for their very existence,material that they can exchangeamong one another based on theirspatial developmental advantages -in short share among themselvesareas of specialization, substitutingstrength for the weakness of theirpartners, expertise for deficiencies inone member or the other. Suchcollaborating states need not even becontiguous, what matters is acommunity of interests, no matterhow physically distanced from oneanother. Nigeria has proved too largeand inefficient for the centralizedidentification and management ofsuch human skills and materialresources, the centre having becomeself-aggrandizing, bloated, parasiticand alienated. Now is the time toput into practice that ancient saying:Small is beautiful. We must returnto the earlier days of creative rivalrythat pronounces that vanishing pastan interrupted project of promise,creativity and productivity. Then,it may be possible for your [theyoung] generation to saycontentedly, even while the harvestis still distant but the soil is cleanlyprepared, the seeds implanted andgerminating: Mission?Accomplished!'

cure a toothache' - to engage in asystematic dismantling of the fabricof the nation and its institutions if itsuits their personal interests.

So, where is Nigeria now? Tosum up the Soyinka's thesis: Nigerialanguishes in an infantile state ofbeing, still refusing to grow, stillrefusing to be weaned, and so stillan unfinished business, incapableof self assessment, incapable of

Prof. Wole Soyinka

forward movement, not yet anation. And since it is the nationthat defines its citizen, the citizen ofNigeria, which is yet to become anation, remains unfinished, acreature in the limbo of identity,leading an improvised, unsecuredand uncertain existence, until sucha time when the nation itself canboast of a recognizable andfunctional identity. 'Some nationsare wise enough to acknowledgetheir state of incompletion, and takesteps - even while the business ofgovernance remains uninterrupted- to tackle this essential business headon, addressing the very history thatbrought them into being andexamining the factors - both positiveand negative - that have shapedtheir existence since they began torecognize, and conduct themselvesas nations', Soyinka asserts. 'Othersmuddle on, immured in animpenetrable carapace ofcomplacency. They list theirachievements, both internal andexternal - economic buoyancy, aprestigious foreign policy, low levelof unemployment, a highly literate