NigeriaMay notget to2015

COVER:Caretakers at L Gs:The politics, the issues >> Pages 9, 10 & 11

Constitution review:Senate has noown position—Ndoma-Egba>> Pages 13 & 14

How Nigerianchildren feedfrom refusedumps

>> Page 8

www.peoplesdaily-online.com

VOL. 1 NO. 94 SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012 RAJAB 5 - 6, 1433 AH N150

www.peoplesdaily-online.com

. . . putting the people first

Juju priestsplan rituals fornational unity

>> Pages 9, 10 & 11

>> Page 5

El-Rufai explodes:

Alleges illegal deductionsfrom Federation account

The signs are obvious

>> Pages 3 & 7

Buhari was right

Says:

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012PAGE 2

Robbers snatch Ogun Speaker’s official car

Speaker of Ogun state Houseof Assembly, Hon SurajAdekunbi, on Thursdayevening, got a bitter pill assuspected armed robberssnatched his car at gunpoint ina major street of Abeokuta, thestate capital, before theydropped him off at the outskirtsof the town.

Our reporter reliablygathered that, the lawmaker

From Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji, Abeokuta

Newswas behind the wheel in hisofficial Toyota Avensis car,alongside one of his securityaides when the armed robbersat about 7.00pm accosted himalong Abiola Way.

The robbers in a twinkleordered the Speaker todisembark and get into theback seat of the car with hisaide before driving them outfrom the town; theysubsequently released them atKobape village, which is about

20 minutes’ drive to the statecapital.

When contacted on phone,the special assistant to theSpeaker, Waheed Akinola,denied knowledge of therobbery incident, saying “Idon’t think that thinghappened.”

Similarly, the State PoliceCommand Public RelationsOfficer, Muyiwa Adejobi, whencontacted on phone, said thepolice was not aware of therobbery.

In another development, fire

incident midnight of yesterdaydestroyed the ground floorreception hall of theParamount Ruler of Egbaland,Oba Adedotun AremuGbadebo, located in Ake area ofAbeokuta.

The fire was said to havebeen caused by power surgebetween 1.30am and 2.00am,however, the quickintervention of residentswithin the palace according toan eyewitness, prevented thespread of the fire to otherapartments.

Pension administration in Nigeria is an abuse of public trust– Lamorde

The spectre of fraudulentactivities in pensionadministration in Nigeria

has been described as abuse ofpublic trust.

Chairman, Economic andFinancial Crimes Commission(EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Lamordedisclosed this while presenting

By Lambert Tyema paper at a workshop organisedby the Certified PensionInstitute of Nigeria, CIPN inAbuja.

In the paper entitled:“Sustaining the PublicConfidence in the Face ofFinancial Mismanagementand Corruption”, presented onhis behalf by Mr. WakiliMohammed, Director InternalAffairs, Lamorde bemoaned

the mind-boggling scam in theoffice of the Head of CivilService of the Federation.

According to him, “it wasnot so much the mind-boggling amount of moneythat was stolen as the brazenway the looting was carriedout and who was doing thestealing that shocked us at theEFCC.”

Lamenting the paradox

Malabu oilscam: Umarfaults SenateCommitteedecision onprobe

A former military governorof Kaduna state, Col.Abubakar Umar, has

faulted the decision of the SenateCommittee on Upstream OilSector to conduct itsinvestigation into thecontroversial Malabu oil deal incamera.

Describing the investigationas long overdue, Umar in a pressstatement in Kaduna yesterdaynoted that any confidentialconduct of the probe wouldfurther upset what he called analready dubious matter.

According to the statement,“thankfully, the Senate hasdecided to conduct a long-overdue investigation in order todetermine the truth behind theacquisition, transfers andpayments relating to CPL245(Oil Prospecting License),between the FederalGovernment and Malabu OilCompany on one hand and theFederal Government and Shellon the other hand.

“Though the decision itselfcomes only after public pressureand the diplomatic interests inthe matter refused to relent. It isnevertheless commendable thata public enquiry is ordered intoa transaction that stands alllogic on its head...”

From Agaju Madugba, Kaduna

5 Kano revenue board staff arrested for alleged fraud

From Bala Nasir, Kano

CNS canvasses support for maritime operations in national economy

The Chief of Naval Staff, ViceAdmiral Ola Sa’adIbrahim, has solicited

support to aid the operations ofNigerian Navy as a key factor toboosting the country’s economy.

The naval chief mentionedthis in Abuja on Thursday at theseminar on Economics ofMaritime Defence and NationalProsperity which was part of theprogrammes marking thecelebration of the Navy Week.

According to him, the major

role that is expected of the navyis to have major impact on thenation’s economy. He said:”Wemust not forget that Nigeriaderives 90 percent of her foreignexchanges from oil and gas inour maritime environment andthe overriding common goal ofall nations is self preservation.”

He therefore called for urgentsupport especially from thenational assembly to revitalisethe Nigerian Navy to enable itrise to the emerging threats andother challenges.

In his opening remarks, the

...as fire guts Alake’s palace

between the country’s hugenatural resource endowmentand widespread poverty, theEFCC boss blamed thecountry’s woes on corruption.

He said the only wayconfidence could be restored inthe conduct of public affairs inNigeria is through therestoration of family valuesand aggressive lawenforcement.

Senate President David Markwho was represented by SenatorAyogu Eze, said there is need toguarantee a safe maritimeenvironment for economicsurvival and prosperity.

Also at the event, theminister of state for defenceMrs. Olusola Obada whilerevealing a book published bythe Nigerian Navy, titled:Total Maritime SpectrumStrategy said, it is important

By A’isha Biola Raji to give financial support to themaritime policing of the navyso as to be able to protect thewaters.

The event was howeverfollowed by a special Juma’atService on Friday at the CentralMosque, MogadishuCantonment where the Chief ofNaval Staff was represented byRear Admiral Usman Jibrin,Chief of Logistics NavalHeadquarters.

Insecurity: JNI blamespoverty, ignoranceFrom Agaju Madugba, Kaduna

The Jama’atu Nasril Islamrose from a meeting of itsannual central council in

Kaduna on Thursday andidentified poverty and ignoranceas underlying factorsprecipitating disunity andinsecurity in the country.

In a communiqué at the end ofthe meeting, the JNI urgedtraditional and religious leaders inthe country to assume the specialresponsibility of counselingpolitical officeholders at all levelson the need for good governanceby ensuring that resources aregeared towards the betterment ofthe society.

According to the communiquésigned by the group’s SecretaryGeneral, Dr. Khalid AbubakarAliyu, peace and securitychallenges being witnessed in thecountry threaten the nation’ssurvival. The communiqué said,“JNI will sustain the proactive

initiatives such as dialogue andconsultations to ensure that peopleand groups with genuinegrievances are listened to byappropriate authorities in theoverall interest of harmony andpeaceful co-existence which arefundamental to national growthand development…

“Leaders at all levels areenjoined to avoid inflammatorystatements and exhibit high senseof maturity and restraint in theiractions and comments in theinterest of peace, security, unityand development.

“The meeting notes thatgovernment alone cannotshoulder the responsibility fordevelopment. It therefore calls onEmirate councils, religious andcivil society groups and thebusiness community tocollaborate with government inthe provision of good health-care,education, employment, securityas well as the ongoing anti-corruption drive.”

Five staff of the Kano stateBoard of Internal Revenuehave been arrested by the

police for an alleged fraudulentpractice aimed at enrichingthemselves to the detriment ofgovernment.

Speaking at a pressconference, chairman of theboard, Habu MuhammadFagge, stated that detectiveswere arranged to meet theculprits where they gavethem marked money andwrote an undertaking.

“The Board uncovered thesyndicate which has beengoing round collecting moneyfrom unsuspecting companyowners and so far we havemade five arrests.”

According to Fagge, thesuspects are now underdetention at the stateCriminal InvestigationDepartment (CID) for furtherinterrogation hoping forother members of their groupto be arrested.

He said that the suspects

were arrested last Thursdaywhen they visited a companythat was supposed to payabout N774, 000 tax butthey demanded N150, 000for themselves from the

company and N300, 000payment to be made to thestate’s revenue boardthereby waiving the sum ofN324, 000 to the companyarbi t rar i ly .

Kano State Governor, Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012 PAGE 3

Nigeria may not getNews

Former Minister of the FederalCapital Territory (FCT) Abuja,Malam Nasir el-Rufai has ex-

pressed concerns that the countrymay not get to 2015 under a demo-cratic regime “unless those in powerchange their strategy” and adhere todemocratic principles.

He also backed recent statementsby the Presidential candidate of theopposition Congress for ProgressiveChange (CPC), Gen. MuhammaduBuhari (rtd), who was recently re-ported to have said that there will beviolence if the 2015 election is rigged.

El-Rufai stated this in an interviewposted by an online media, PremiumTimes on its site yesterday. Theformer minister, who is now a chief-tain of CPC was reacting to questionson whether he would run for the Presi-dency in 2015.

Stating that he has no intention to

By Richard Ihediwa

Benue bloodbath: Sultan summonspeace meeting between Tiv, FulaniFrom Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

to 2015, says el-Rufairun for political office but to reposi-tion the CPC and use it to oust the rul-ing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),el-Rufai however, said he fears if thesystem could be sustained up to 2015.

According to him, “I cannot pre-dict with any degree of accuracy whatcan happen in politics within a fewyears from now. My priority right nowis to rebuild the CPC. To rebuild it intoa national party though mergers withexisting opposition parties and so onand my hope is that if I am able to leadthat and create a new national plat-form to challenge the PDP and get thePDP out of office, I will be a very happyman whether I am in government ornot.

“All this talk about 2015 in myopinion is a distraction; on at leastthree grouses. First the way the coun-try is going, I am not even sure wewill get to 2015 unless those in powerchange their strategy and makeprogress we would not get to 2015.

This is my honest feeling.”He accused the PDP of exhibiting

undemocratic tendencies with impu-nity adding that Nigerians are gradu-ally getting fed up with the system.

“I am 52 years old. I have seen thiscycle several times; bad elections,violence following elections, incom-petent government, it is usually fol-lowed by the fall of that government;it has happed two or three times inmy life time. The ruling party is to-tally undemocratic. There is nothingthey do that is democratic. They rigelections with impunity; the electoralbodies, the security agencies are allwith them; they have managed to evencompromise some of the judges; andwe pretend we are in a democracy, weare not. Once you get to that pointwhereby nobody believes that it is ademocracy, the government will col-lapse. It has happed three or fourtimes”. Asked why he feels the sys-tem might collapse, el-Rufai said the

recent political happenings mirrorthose that led to the collapse of someadministrations in the past andwarned that there could be a repeatunless the trend is checked.

“In 1964, there were bad electionsin the west, there were killings andtwo years later the government wasoverthrown. In 1983, there were badelections the west; in Ondo state, theNPN tried to steal the governorshipby hook or by crook, there were kill-ings, a few months later Shagari wasoverthrown. In 1993, there were badelections which were annulled,Babangida had to leave. There is apattern to this that people don’t wantto look at. That’s why I was surprisedwhen the government was trying toattack General Buhari because he saidif elections in 2015 are rigged therewill be violence. There is history. His-tory has said that”, he said.

See full interview on page 7

Nasarawa state governor, Alhaji TankoAlmakura has identi-

fied lack of proper boundarydemarcation as well as absenceof grazing routes as major prob-lems escalating the Tiv farmersand Fulani herdsmen feud.

Governor Almakura whowas in Makurdi yesterday toattend the commissioning of acentral mosque by the Sultanof Sokoto, spoke with journal-ists, noting that population ex-plosion and modernisationalso played a role in intercept-ing grazing routes as peoplebuilt settlements along them.

He opined that there is theneed for communities to define

The Sultan of Sokoto, Hiseminence Sa’adAbubakar has ex-

pressed the resolve to ad-dress the lingering crisis be-tween Tiv farmers andFulani herdsmen in Benuestate.

Toward this end, the Sul-tan is convening a meetingon Saturday between lead-ers of the two tribes to find alasting solution to the crisis.

The Sultan, who dis-closed this in Makurdi dur-ing a courtesy visit on Gov-ernor Gabriel Suswam,frowned at the continuedescalation of the crisis inspite of efforts made to end

it. He noted that his emiratehad set up a committeeheaded by the Emir of Gombeand the Tor Tiv Ochivirgh Dr.Alfred Akawe Torkula, tofashion out ways of resolvingthe crisis.

“The crisis is still therethough minimal but I amhere to convene a meetingwith leaders of the two tribesto resolve the crisis”, he said.

…As Almakura blames improperboundary demarcation

grazing areas for herdsmen.On effort made to curtail

the incessant crisis betweenTiv/Fulani in his domain, thegovernor said he has initiateda community basedprogramme where the peoplesit down and resolve their is-sues amicably, adding thatthere has been effective ex-change of security informationbetween him and GovernorSuswam of Benue state to nipthe crisis in the bud.

He also pledged that therecommendations of the JointCommittee set up by bothstates would be implementedas soon as they finish their as-signment.Sultan of Sokoto, His eminence Sa’ad Abubakar

Old boys of BarewaCollege (1962 set), hasdonated assorted

food items to orphanages aspart of activities to mark their50th anniversary or goldenjubilee of their admissioninto the prestigious college.

The class also set up afoundation to assistunfortunate members andtheir spouses in need with atakeoff amount of N5million under thechairmanship of GeneralAlwali Kazir with twomembers each from thethree geo-political zones inthe north to form the Boardof Trustees.

The orphanages visitedwere mostly those in thecollege neigbourhood.

As integral members ofthe BOBA, the classrenewed their commitmentto the ideals and objectivesof the association which hasDr. Umaru Mutallab asPresident and M.SAbdulrahman as SecretaryGeneral.

The class also paid acourtesy visit to the Emir ofZazzau and Chief of Wusasabefore rounding off theceremony.

Barewa Collegeold boys mark50th anniversary,donate tocharity, set upfoundation

PAGE 4 PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26— SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

Photo News

Mango's sellers out for business in Apo village, in Abuja

Pushing the way to earn a living, at Nyanya Abuja.Mini market at the back of Federal Ministry of Education, Federal Secretariat, onFriday, in Abuja

You can cheat nature: This commercial telephone operator sleeps on dutyyesterday at GSM village, in Abuja.

A massive struggle for kerosene, at NNPC mega station in Abuja, on Friday . Photos: Joe Oroye, Mahmud Isa and Justine Imo-owo

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012 PAGE 5

NewsJuju priests plan rituals for national unity

Group mournspioneer CPCboss’ death

‘Africa contributes one percent of manufactured goods in world market’

FG needs to weigh importance ofhealth insurance, says minister

The Abuja branch of theOpiatoha Ki’ Idoma, a Benuestate-based socio-cultural

group, has described the death ofthe pioneer Director General of theConsumer Protection Council(CPC), Chief Emmanuel Ogbe as aloss to the Idoma nation.

A cross section of members ofthe group who spoke to ourcorrespondent, said the death ofOgbe came to them as rude shock.According to retired Maj. Gen.Harrison Adoga, the late CPC bosswas an astute public servant,adding that his service to thenation traversed manyestablishments.

Adoga, explained that Ogbewas a philanthropist, who hadalways desired to empower allIdoma sons and daughters,pointing out that: “His death hascreated a vacuum that might notbe easily closed; our consolation,however, is that he has gone to bewith the Lord”.

Ogbe was born on April 19, 1942to a family of Mr. and Mrs. OmaleOgbe in Otukpo-Icho village, Otukpolocal government area of Benuestate.

The Minister of Trade andInvestment, OlusegunAganga has lamented

the fact Africa contributesonly one percent ofmanufactured goods in theworld market.

Aganga said this in Abujayesterday during a meetingwith Nigeria’s developmentpartners. The development

partners present at the forumare the United NationsIndustrial DevelopmentOrganisation (UNIDO), theWorld Bank, European Union(EU), and the Department forInternational Development(DFID).”Africa contributesless than one percent in termsof Amanufacturing valueadded because we exportmainly raw materials andjobs.”We need to change that;

Francoise of the World Bank,represented by Mr. MichaelWong said the bank plannedto create a data base for allthe SMEs in the country witha view to knowing where theyare and how to assist them.

On his part, Mr. MassimoLuca, EU Trade Counselor,pledged that the union wouldcollaborate with all relevantagencies to boost trade andinvestment in Nigeria.

The Association of AfricanTraditional ReligionPractitioners has declared

its readiness to make series ofsacrifices across Nigeria for thebetterment and unity of the

country which is beingthreatened by insurgence ofBoko Haram, corruption andinsecurity.The Association in a statementsigned by its Secretary General,Yemi Soladoye, noted thatmembers of the association have

been watching differentincidents in the country as theyunfold but are worried about theinstability."We need to pray traditionally,to our ancestors for forgiveness,to help us to stop all these badthings which are now

The Minister of Health, Prof.Onyebuchi Chukwu, hasrestated the significance ofhealth insurance nation to theFederal Government.

The minister stated this onFriday in Abuja at this year’snational flag-off ceremony ofMaternal Newborn and ChildHealth Week (MNCHW)organised by NationalPrimary Health CareDevelopment Agency

(NPHCDA), in collaborationwith FMoH WHO, UNICEF andother partners.

He said reasons why peopledo not use health facilities couldrange from ignorance, lack offacilities to financial inability.All these he said, call for theneed to look into the healthinsurance package of thecountry.

According to him, there isneed to integrate all the diseasesand have a packaged healthprogramme that will

Kwarapolystudents, villagersbarricade OldJebba road overblackout

About three villages’residents includingstudents of Kwara State

Polytechnic (Kwarapoly)barricaded the Old Jebba road onFriday, making it difficult for staff ofUniversity of Ilorin TeachingHospital (UITH) and otherpassengers to use the road.

Our correspondent gatheredthat the villagers started theirprotest at about 7 am with series ofbornfires.

It was learnt that the villagershad complained to the PowerHolding Company of Nigeria(PHCH) to give them a bigtransformer which could sustaintheir villages namely Elekoyangan,Apata Yakuba, Idi Ori and Oyunareas but to no avail which hascaused total darkness for some weeks.

At about 12 pm while ourcorrespondent was filing this story,a team of anti-riot policemen weredrafted to the area but were said tohave met with stiff resistance fromthe protesters.

happening in this country. Weare majorly concerned aboutthe incessant killing ofNigerians across the countryand pervading corruptionamong public and politicaloffice holders."In the past, our fathers

From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

By Sunday Ejike BenjmainBy A’isha Biola Raji holistically have effect on

health thereby reducingmaternal mortality rate.

He however commendedPresident Goodluck Jonathanfor his plan to reinvest part ofwhat is being generated fromsubsidy removal to aid healthaccessibility programme. “Inthis programme, mothers willbe paid certain amount ofmoney for attending ante-natal care,” he said.

He said the President hasapproved for Federal

From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin cherished integrity not moneyor power. It is a shame toembezzle peoples' money.Therefore, we the AfricanTraditional ReligionsPractitioners are fully ready torescue our dear country fromthese crises".

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

Government to spend moneyon family planning as part ofits plan to curb maternal andchild’s death.

The Executive Director ofNPHCDA, Dr. Ado Muhammadwho was represented byDirector of Planning, Researchand Statistics, Dr. EmmanuelOdu, said MNCHW is aplatform where mothers andtheir children are reached withnecessary drugs and materialsaimed at interceptingmaternal death rate.

hence, we launched ourNational IndustrialRevolution Plan which is basedon three main pillars.

One major pillar is theindustry; we want to play inindustries where we havecompetitive advantage, wehave competitive advantagein labour intensive sectorsbecause we want to createjobs,’’ the minister said.

Responding, Mrs. Marie

L-R: Director General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri and Director, Drug Demand Reduction Directorate ofNDLEA, Dr. Lawrence U. Opara in a parley at the technical session on how to enhance transformation at NOA CorporateHeadquarters in Abuja, on Thursday. Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012PAGE 6

News

No financial recklessnessin Appeal Court, says CRBy Sunday Ejike Benjamin have been taking place in the

appellate court since Adamu tookover in acting capacity from thesuspended president of the court,Justice Isa Ayo Salami in August2011 .

In dismissing the mediareport, the Chief Registrar saidthere was no iota of truth in thefraud allegation, just as there isnever any hint of query,investigation of any form orreprimand against the leadershipand or management of theappellate court from within oroutside the court, stressing that,“So far, up till now that amtalking to you, there has not beenany petition against me or theacting president, neither is thereany reprimand or query fromNJC or anybody”.

He denied that the salaries of

the justices of the court were notduly paid describing theallegation as the product of ill-informed traducers who did notcheck their facts well. He pointedout that the court only paidsalaries upon receipt of allocationfrom the National JudicialCouncil (NJC), in the same waythat government organisationspay their salary subject to thereceipt of allocation from theministry of finance.

“We paid January andFebruary salary at the end ofFebruary and that has been thesystem over years. It is notpeculiar to Court of Appeal or tothe judiciary. We paid Marchsalary at the last week of thatmonth and in the case of April,we got the allocation from theNJC on the April 30th, and we

The Chief Registrar of theCourt of Appeal,Barrister Aliyu Ibrahim

has said that there was no case ofcorrupt practices in the handlingof the finances of the court.

The registrar dismissed asbaseless and unfounded, mediareports alleging that there aresurreptitious moves to subjecthim and the Acting President ofthe Court, Justice DalhatuAdamu, to probe over allegedcorruptive acts and tendencies inthe handling of the court’sfinances in the last nine months.

A national daily had reportedthat there were moves from anunstated quarter to probe theaward of contract and allegedmisapplication of funds which

By Tobias Lengnan DapamOrientation Agency (NOA), Mr.Mike Omeri has charged themedia to embrace investigativereporting as a way of assistingsecurity agencies to unravelcrimes and suspected criminals.

Omeri, who gave this chargewhen the leadership of Nigerian

In the light of mediaspeculations that trailedthe recent arrest of a

suspected terrorist at RadioHouse, Abuja, the Director-General of the National

NOA boss tasks journalists on investigative reporting

paid salary on the 2nd May, threedays after we got the allocation.

“On the whole, if at all thereis any delay in the payment ofsalary, it is because of the delayof the release of funds from theNJC. So the court cannot pay anysalary if the NJC does not releasefunds for that. Aware of this fact,no justice or staff of the court hascomplained about delay in thepayment of salaries andallowances”, he added.

Commenting on the allegedpurchase of “frivolous” items forJustices of the court, he said it wasthe practice of the court to supplyjustices of the court with itemsthat they need, in line withprocurement processes of thecourt, noting that, “We do all ourpurchases based on the guidelinesand the Procurement Act”.

Immigrationboss tasksFG to boostintelligence

The out-going DeputyComptroller-General ofthe Nigerian

Immigration Service, Dr.Babajide Adebowale Brown, hastasked the Federal Governmentto further empower the Service,particularly in the areas ofeffective intelligence operationsand capacity building.

Dr. Brown made the call atLiberty Stadium, Ibadan on theoccasion of the formal pull-outceremony held in his honour onThursday to mark hisretirement, after 35 years ofservice to the nation.

While insisting that theNigerian Immigration Servicerequired a more effectiveintelligence unit to man thenation’s land borders, he hintedthat “the porousity of theborders could be responsible forthe insecurity problems in thecountry, most of which hadbeen traced to illegalimmigrants.”

From Inumidun Ojelade,Ibadan

Educate illiterate farmers on grants, Edo govt counsels Fadama chiefrequirements in accessing itsgrants, but were denied.

The declaration followedalleged bureaucracy involved inseeking Fadama III grant, whichappears to have hindered some‘illiterate farmers’ frombenefiting from the schemeyears after it was established bythe Federal Ministry of

Agriculture.Edo state Commissioner for

Agriculture and NaturalResources, Mr. Abdul Oroh,made the appeal when theLeaders of Fadama III made upof six South-south states paid hima courtesy call.

Mr. Oroh who expressedconcern sequel to petitions before

The Edo state governmenthas tasked stakeholders inthe Fadama III Project to

evolve a workable strategy tosensitise and capture all genuineilliterate farmers in the statewho met the minimum

Sacked Edo taskforce chief fights back, slams N1 billion suit on Oshiomholefor unlawful dismissal, illegalarrest, inhuman treatment anddetention by the government.

In the suit filed by his counsel,Brig-Gen. Don IdadaIkponmwen (rtd), at the FederalHigh Court in Benin, theapplicant is seeking the order ofthe court to enforce hisfundamental human rights,following his alleged illegalarrest and detention on May 11,

2010.Also joined in the suit are the

Edo state government,Governor Adams Oshiomhole,the State Attorney General andCommissioner for Justice, theCommissioner of Police and theInspector General of Police.

The applicant is seekingamong the reliefs a declarationthat his detention on the ordersof the 2nd respondent constitutes

Two years after thechairman, Edo statetaskforce on Demolition of

illegal Structures andPrevention of Street Trading,Col. Felix Igiebor (rtd) wasremoved, he instituted aN1billion suit against the Edostate government on Thursday

an infringement on hisfundamental human rights topersonal liberty contrary toSection 35(1) of the 1999Constitution as amended.

He is also asking the court todeclare that the act of the 2nd

Respondent amounts torecklessness and an abuse ofpower and office without justcause, unconstitutional,unlawful and actionable.

Association of WomenJournalists (NAWOJ), Zone ‘D’led by its vice president, Mrs.Veronica Ogbole, paid him avisit in his office, added that,“the more responsible the mediais, the more credible it would beas foreign media rely Bauchi Amirul

Hajj chargesHajj officialsto be honest

The Bauchi state AmirulHajj and Emir of Bauchi,Alhaji Rilwanu

Sulaimanu Adamu, hascharged this year’s hajj officialsin the country to be honest whiledischarging their duties

The monarch made the callwhen the forum of executivesecretaries of the MuslimPilgrims’ Board of Nigeria paidhim a condolence visit over thedeath of the former permanentsecretary, Bauchi state MuslimsPilgrims Welfare Board, AlhajiUsman Ibrahim Ningi in hispalace.

Alhaji Rilwanu Adamustated that although death isinevitable, the death of AlhajiUsman Ningi would always beremembered by many due to hisgood qualities and challengedhis successor to borrow a leaf inorder to consolidate thesuccesses made by the latepermanent secretary.

From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

considerably on local ones”.A statement issued by the

Chief Press Secretary of the NOA,Paul Odenyi, urged journaliststo verify all information beforebroadcasting or publishing asthe Freedom of Information Billprescribes.

From Osaigbovo Iguobaro,Benin

him including the one that waswritten by the District Head ofIlushi Community in Esan Westlocal government area of thestate, said: “My only problemwith Fadama isbureaucracy…I’m besieged hereevery day by genuinefarmers…I urge you to embarkon sensitisation.

From Osaigbovo Iguobaro,Benin

Education minister tasks children on patriotism, tolerancethe occasion, said that socialdevelopment can only takeplace in an atmosphere ofpeace and security.

He explained that in linewith fostering the spirit ofunity in diversity, theFederal Ministry of Educationhas embarked on the processof rehabilitating andrepositioning unity colleges totheir initial role of developingyoung and detribalisedNigerian leaders who will liveas one in a country of diversesocial backgrounds, and

regretted that the currentarmed conflict andkidnapping across the countryThe Minister of state for

Education, NyesomWike, has charged

school children to imbibe thevirtues in civic and socialstudies, by being patrioticand tolerating people ofdiverse social , rel igious,language and culturalbackgrounds.

Speaking yesterday at thepre-children's daycelebration, the minister ofstate, who was represented at

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi have negatively affected thesocio-economic developmentof Nigerian children.

NANS appoints FMC medical director as patron

The National Association ofNigerian Students(NANS) has appointed the

Medical Director, Federal MedicalCentre, Bida, Dr. Alaba George-Okuku as its new patron.

In his acceptance speechshortly after the appointment by

the senate president of NANS,Mr. Kolade Olaluwa, in Bida, Dr.George-Okuku thanked thestudents for the honour done tohim and urged Nigerian studentsto join hands in the on-goingefforts to rebuild the country'sdemocracy by shunning allnegative tendencies.

The Medical Director tasked

By Augustine Aminu NANS to imbibe the spirit ofstudents in the post independenceera who used their movementsas student activists to fight fordemocracy in Nigeria.

He advised students not toallow themselves to be used byaggrieved politicians who maywant to settle political scores.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012 PAGE 7

El-Rufai explodes:Says Nigeria May not get to 2015

Encounter

What is your view aboutthe state of the economy of thenation?

T hey are broke. They havenot released first quarterwarrant for capitals. No one

has been paid. They don’t havemoney. They cannot even paystates their federation accountallocation. They paid only 30percent in March and did thesecond installment, I think lastweek. They have not paid for April.So the country is broke. Ok. Sowithout money; without actualreleases for the second quarter,how can you achieve 80 percentimplementation? That is oneproblem. The second problem isthat the government is taken upso much money before discussingthe federation account in thename of fuel subsidy. This year,by the end march, N 519 billionhas been paid as arrears for 2011for fuel subsidy. Many people don’tknow this. The N2.7 trillion thatFarouk Lawan’s committeecalculated does not include thisN500 billion that was deducted thisyear.

So this money goes first beforethey come to the federationaccount. A lot of deductions aretaking place that are nottransparent. There is no money.They don’t have the money to evenachieve 50 percent of budgetimplementation. They will notachieve 50 percent. I am sure ofthat

Is Nigeria really practicingfederalism? What is yourview on the cal for a SovereignNational Conference?

I believe Nigeria is a federationonly in name because there is nofederation really. There is isn’t. Weare just a federal republic in namebecause a federation means thatyou have federating units whichare strong and independent of thecenter. Now, apart from Lagosstate, every state in Nigeriadepends on the center. They waitmonthly for handouts from thefederation account. That is not afederation. That’s one. We haveone police force for the wholecountry. That is not acharacteristic of a federation. In afederation, each state should beable to have its own police forcewhile you have federal police forparticular crimes. Thirdly, in afederation, each state should havegreater control of its resources. Ifyou look at the 1963 constitution,when we were in a real federation,you will see it. 50 percent ofrevenues that emanates from astate are retained by the state.

Do you support that we

Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja and now chieftain of the opposition Congressfor Progressive Change (CPC), Malan Nasir el-Rufai in this interview posted by Premium Times tookstock of the prevalent political situation and submitted that the nation may not get to 2015 unless leaderschange their style of governance.

should return to regionalgovernment

I don’t know whether that isthe best thing to do or not. I havenot thought about it but one thingthat I know is that some of the statesare not viable. We needgovernment that will look inwardsand try to develop the resources ofeach states and then the FederalGovernment can come in andassist those that are poor or not soendowed. That is how federationsrun. So, I don’t think we are afederation in fact. We are just afederation in name.

Would you run forPresidency in 2015?

The reasons I am in politics ismore defensive than offensive. I amnot in politics to contest for anyoffice. I was not in public office onaccount of politics. I was given allopportunities in public servicebecause of confidence in my abilityto do certain things. From advisingGeneral Abdusalami from 1998to 1999 to President Obasanjoasking me to head the BPE andthen promoting me to the cabinetas minister in charge of Abuja.They were all based on feeling thatI get things done. It is not because Icampaigned and joined anypolitical party. I was never a cardcarrying member of any partyuntil I was nominated as a memberof the cabinet and I was requiredto be a member of a political party.So I was given a PDP membershipcard overnight. But after I leftgovernment, it became very clearto me that unless you are in politics,you expose yourself to thevicissitude of politicians. UmaruYar’adua went after me, smearedmy reputation. He did everythingto destroy me because I have nopolitical base. If I had my ownpolitical base, he would not havethought about it becausepoliticians know when you haveyour political base and yourcapacity for mischief as wellbecause mischief is the firstprofession of politicians. So duringmy 23 months of exile , both Nuhu(Nuhun Ribadu) and I discussedthis and we said what washappening to us was because wechose to distance from partisanpolitics and next time we will notmake such mistake. This is amessage to all young people. Do notignore politics because at the endof the day politics jumpseverything. It can destroy whatyou have done or you try to do.And this is why we deiced to gointo politics, both Nuhu and I fromour exile but we had differentapproaches. He wanted to be intopolitics to contest election and I

wanted to be in politics as adefensive strategy and of coursewe have taken different paths; hehas contested for office. I am not inthe CPC to contest for any office. Iam frankly not interested inworking for government everagain. I think my calling insomewhere else not ingovernment.

What if your followersinsist that you should run in2015?

I do not believe that I am theonly one that can salvage thecountry. I have been in the publicservice and the private sector longenough to give you a list of namesof hundreds of people that I knowthat really want to make thiscountry better, they arecommitted to it but they neverhad the opportunity. I was able tohave the opportunity at a veryyoung age to do some of thesethings. That is why I am knownbut I know many that are like meor even better than me and I thinkthat we should open up our mindsto the possibility that others thathave not been tried could as welldo a good job like some of us.Having said that I cannot predictwith any degree of accuracy whatcan happen in politics within a fewyears from now. My priority rightnow is to rebuild the CPC. Torebuild it into a national partythough mergers with existingopposition parties and so on andmy hope is that if I am able to leadthat and create a new nationalplatform to challenge the PDP andget the PDP out of office, I will be avery happy man whether I am ingovernment or not.

All this talk about 2015, in myopinion is a distraction; on at leastthree grouses. First, the way thecountry is going, I am not evensure we will get to 2015 unlessthose in power change theirstrategy and make progress wewould not get to 2015. This is myhonest feeling. Secondly, if you aretalking of 2015, now when thecurrent elected officials have noteven spend complete one year, itis a complete distraction to startthinking of re-election when youhave not delivered on the currentone. Thirdly, for a party like theCPC that hopes to merge withmany other political parties andbe at the fore front of a broadcoalition against the PDP, it is tooearly to talk about 2015.

Why do you think Nigeriamight not get to 2015?

I am 52 years old. I have seenthis cycle several times; badelections, violence followingelections, incompetentgovernment, it is usually followedby the fall of that government; ithas happed two or three times inmy life time. The ruling party istotally undemocratic. There isnothing they do that isdemocratic. They rig electionswith impunity; the electoralbodies, the security agencies areall with them; they havemanaged to even compromisesome of the judges; and we pretendwe are in a democracy, we are not.Once you get to that point wherebynobody believes that it is ademocracy, the government willcollapse. It has happed three orfour times.

When where those times

government collapsed forsimilar factors?

In 1964, there were badelections in the west, there werekillings and two years later thegovernment was overthrown. In1983, there were bad elections thewest; in Ondo state, the NPN triedto steal the governorship by hookor by crook; there were killings, afew months later Shagari wasoverthrown. In 1993, therewere bad elections which wereannulled, Babangida had toleave. There is a pattern to thisthat people don’t want to lookat. That’s why I was surprisedwhen the government wastrying to attack GeneralBuhari because he said ifelections in 2015 are riggedthere will be violence. There ishistory. History has said thatso Buhari didn’t need to say itand it is the truth and the PDPshould understand that if theyrig the 2015, they will notsurvive the aftermath.

They will not live to enjoythe fruits of their rigging. Theyshould understand thateverybody is up to his necks inanger and frustration. Take itanywhere. They need tounderstand that is not Buharitalking; ask any man in thestreet, they will tell you thesame thing.

Nobody has the monopoly ofmischief or violence; it is justthat some of us has chosen to bereasonable but if the other sidecontinues to be unreasonableand act with impunity andboast about it we sill responsein..(inaudible)

Former Minister of FCT, Malam Nasir el-Rufai

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012PAGE 8

Focus

Tomorrow, children allover the country wouldbe celebrating World

Children’s Day. However, asmany young ones engage incelebrations laced withexciting activities, manyothers would be wallowing infilth and hard life even inmany wealthy countriesincluding Nigeria.

At a time their counterpartsin other climes are celebratingbetter education, better homes,better clothes and better livingstandards, thousands ofNigerian children are stillroaming the street, withouteducation and good homes withmany of them scavenging fora living at numerous refusedumps in various cities acrossthe country.

Apart from the children ofthe rich and the strugglingmiddle class, most children inthe country are daily subjectedto untold hardship as theirparents struggle to provide forthem in the face of scathingeconomic hardship in thecountry.

Due to the hardship that hasgripped many homes many ofthese children are involved inmany dehumanising and lifethreatening jobs, ranging fromvery tedious vocations toscavenging for a living.

Child scavenging is notrelatively new in Nigeria. Manyof them are now competing withadults as they dig throughrefuses in search of abandonedmaterials that could be sold forsome money which goes tosupport the family upkeep.

Statistics show that thenumber of children involved inscavenging is growing by theday as those already involvedbecome a recruiting point fortheir friends.

These children areconstantly running the risk ofserious health problems, socialdeviations and economicabuses.

A check by Peoples DailyWeekend shows that many ofthe children at refuse dumpsare victims of child abuseespecially child labour. Manyof them started by going to therefuse dumps to dispose refusefor the family.

During their runs, they willstay back to try to forage thefilthy dumps with the view toget some “valuables” that couldbe used for play or for sale.

Every morning, while theirpeers are heading to the schools,these youngsters are sent to thedumps with loads of refuse

Thousands of Nigerian children stillsearch refuse dumps for daily bread

generated by the family andneigbours. For the family, it ischore but for the neigbour itcould be followed by a fee whichgoes back to the family.

After series of visit to thedumps, the youngsters willbegin to form groups and delveinto scavenging for materialranging from householdproperty to used electronics andwears including shirts, shortsand shoes.

While some of the items arebrought to the family wherethey are washed or repaired andused, many others are sold todealers, who take them torecycling dumps (Panteka) forsale.

Speaking to Peoples DailyWeekend in Idu, a satellite townin Abuja, a kid scavenger inwho simply gave his name asTanko said his mother alwayssend him to the dump to disposerefuse and encouraged him tohelp neigbour with their refusefor a fee.

“I come to the refuse dump(boola) everyday to disposerefuse for my mother. I alsodispose refuse for neigbours andI give the money I collect fromthem to my mother”, said

Tanko, who said he was nineyears old.

Asked how he moved fromrefuse disposer to scavenger,Tanko said he met someyoungsters at the dump, whointroduced him to scavenging.

“People come here to seewhether they will getsomething from the rubbish.Some families have money andthey throw away things evenwhen they are still good. So welook for such things. Sometimesif they are very good items thatcan be used at home, we takethem home and the others wesell to some people who buythem to sell to somecompanies”, he said.

Items Tanko takes from thedump includes cutleries, plates,children shoes and electronicequipments. Sometimes, we getgood items such as shoes andsometimes we get electronicwhich we sell to electricians.Sometimes some of those thingswill be good”, he said.

Another kid scavenger, whogave his name as Bala has awheelbarrow, which he said washired for him by his mother.

Smeared with dirt and filth,Bala, who said he is 11 years has

already started doing wastedisposal with some adults.

“My mother hired thewheelbarrow for me and I joinother “mai boola” refusedisposers to pack refuse forpeople”. He said he makes fromN300 to N500 a day, which hegives to her mother.

One devastating issue is thatthese children are deniededucation and at the same timeexposed to serious health andsocial hazards.

While Bala said he was inschool but had to drop when hisparents could no longer affordhis education and that of hissiblings, Tanko said he has neverbeen to school. The two kids,whose case mirror the ordeal ofthousands of others in thecountry yearn earnestly foreducation as the hinted thereporter.

“I am always sad when I seeother children going to schoolevery morning” said Bala. “Iwish to go to school Tankobemoaned”

A look at the kids show signsthat they have been runningserious health risks as they arevery ill equipped for the job.

Asked if they are aware of the

risk they are running, the kidsgave different answers.However, on the whole, they didnot see any health hazard in thejob they do. “My mother did nottell me that I will have disease”,Tanko said though his bodyshowed signs of rashes.

Apart from health hazards,the kids are daily exposed toadults with deviant charactersand run very high risk ofimbibing habits such asdrinking, smoking and fightingamong others that could hamperhealthy psychology in them.

Many Nigerians andorganizations have been worriedover this and there have beenseveral moves to salvage thesituation.

One of the key approaches ispoverty alleviation. This can beachieved through rigorous fightagainst corruption in such asway that money being siphonedfrom the system could be directedto improve living standards inthe country.

All that is necessary must bedone to save the situation as thefuture of the nation is indeed indanger unless a drastic step istaken to rescue the future of theNigerian child.

By A’isha Biola Raji

Feeding from filth

Many Nigerian children labour in refuse dumps

PAGE 9PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

Caretakers at L Gs:

CoverAutocracy:

Earlier in the month, the House ofRepresentatives passed aresolution describing as illegal and

unconstitutional the constitution ofcaretaker committees by state governorsto govern local government areas in thecountry.

That resolution followed the adoptionof a motion to that effect by Rep. FridayItulah, who drew the attention of the Houseto the practice arguing that such is capableof throwing the nation into a state oflawlessness if not checked.

Despite its unconstitutionality,currently, 25 state governors haveextended their iron rules to local councilswith caretaker committees in clear breachof section 7 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (asamended) which states that “The systemof local government by democraticallyelected local government councils is underthis constitution guaranteed; andaccordingly, the government of everystate shall subject to section 8 of thisconstitution, ensure their existence undera law which provides for the establishment,structure, composition, finance andfunctions of such councils.”

Section 8 principally deals with issuesof creation of local councils and boundariesmatters among states and local

By Richard Ihediwa, Sam Egwu, Lokoja,Francis Iwuchukwu, Lagos, OsaigbovoIguobaro, Benin, Uche Nnorom, Makurdi.

governments. Though the constitutionplaces the power to provide the legalframework for the administration of localcouncils on states, it never conferred on thestate such powers as substituting“democratically elected” leaders at that tierof government with “appointed” ones.

While almost all the states have at onetime or the other used caretaker committee,states currently operating in this breachinclude Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom,Anambra, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Delta,Edo, Ekiti, Gombe, Imo, Kano, Kaduna,Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Nasarawa, Ogun,Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Yobe andZamfara.

States such as Benue and Abia have nothad elections into local governments sincethe last five years and the same applies tomany others in the list of autocratic 25 asmany of them have refused to conduct localgovernment elections since incumbentgovernors took over.

Reports have it that currently, only 126local government areas, out of the 774councils in Nigeria are run bydemocratically elected officials.

In effect, the state governors havedecided to jettison the same democraticsystem that brought them to office andturned the local councils, which is actuallya third tier of government into fiefdoms overwhich they exercise a sort of despotism byarrogating themselves extra-constitutionalpowers of appointing their stooges anderrand boys, most of who are grossly

unqualified as task masters and conduit pipemanagers to harness the resources meantfor that tier.

Currently elections into local councilsin most of the states of the federation are nolonger drawn from constitutional orderingor timing but at the discretion of thegovernors who exercise them in the breachof the law.

On the whole state governors have sincedeclared a state of emergency on localgovernments despite their muchorchestrated stand on democracy.

The governors have even called the bluffon court ruling declaring caretakercommittees illegal. Such court ruling includethat of the Ekpoma High Court presidedover by Justice T. Akomolafe- Wilson whichon May 16, 2012 declared LocalGovernment Councils CaretakerCommittees in the state illegal, describingthe practice as ‘executive rascality’.

The Court, in a suit filed by TonyOkonigene against Edo State Governmentand Attorney General of the state over thedissolution of local councils pronounced theaction as illegal and ordered the stategovernor to conduct council electionsimmediately.

A further look at the errant states showsthat all the political parties are guilty of thedemocratic malfeasance perpetrated by thegovernors as it cuts across states controlledby the ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) opposition Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN), All Progressive Grand Alliance

(APGA), Labour Party, Congress forProgressive Change (CPC) among others.

Pro- democracy groups worry that theleadership for of these political parties haverefused to persuade the governors torestore and uphold democratic order inthe councils even as the Presidency hasnot taken any serious threat to ensurestrict compliance to the provisions of theconstitution in the face of clear breachwhich when seen in the light of section 1of the constitution which bars control ofany part of the country throughundemocratic means.

Section 1 reads: (1).”This Constitutionis supreme and its provisions shall havebinding force on the authorities andpersons throughout the Federal Republicof Nigeria.(2) The Federal Republic ofNigeria shall not be governed, nor shallany persons or group of persons takecontrol of the Government of Nigeria orany part thereof, except in accordancewith the provisions of this Constitution.(3) If any other law is inconsistent withthe provisions of this Constitution, thisConstitution shall prevail, and that otherlaw shall, to the extent of the inconsistency,be void.”

Pro-democracy groups argue that useof caretaker committee violates not onlysection 7 but section 1, thereby byimplication could be seen to be near anoffence that could be considered astreasonable.

•As moves to grant autonomy to councils intensify.

Contd on pages 10 & 11

The politics, the issues

PAGE 10 PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

Caretakers at LGs: The politics, the issues

Cover

Contd from page 9

Contd on page 11

The resolution of the Housecollaborates the position of theMinister of Justice and AttorneyGeneral of the Federation ,Mohammed Bello Adoke who hadcondemned the system ofappointing caretaker committeesfor local government councils asbeing against the tenets and lettersof the constitution.

The minister, who made hisposition known during hisscreening as a ministerialnominee by the Senate last yearvilified governors of violatingsection 7 of the constitution bydissolving elected officials andappointing caretaker committeesto run the affairs of localgovernment council areas.

Adoke had said, “Let me alsostate clearly that the appointmentof caretaker committees is illegaland unknown to law, butregrettably, nobody haschallenged this constitutionallapses. We will look at it and try toredress the situation.”

Stakeholders are however nothappy that since the declarationby the Attorney General that theuse of caretaker committee wasillegal no drastic step has beentaken by his office to ensure respectand compliance to the dictates ofthe law.

Several reasons have beenadduced for the refusal of stategovernors to conduct elections fordemocratically elected localcouncils. These range from lust forperfect control of powermachinery in states to the questfor overall control of resourcesincluding those constitutionallybelonging to the local governmentareas.

State governments find thefunds allocated to localgovernments too attractive tooverlook. They device means toensure that they not only haveaccess to them but to control them.Local governments earn theirtenure to their obeisance to thestate governments. Some electedcouncil executives have beensacked or impeached at theinstance of governors especiallywhen they refuse to yield to thetotalitarian yoke of the state chiefexecutive especially when itcomes to issues of finance.

Consequently, localgovernments are stifled of fundsfor development as state governorsexert total control on the JointState and Local GovernmentAccount. The quest to havecomplete control of the resourcesin this account lead to theappointment of stooges ascaretakers who are removed basedon the whims and caprices of thegovernor.

It has however been discoveredthat state governors have nowperfected alliances with theirhouses of assembly to destroydemocratic structures in the localgovernment areas as many statelegislative houses have sinceapproved some form of legislationsto pave way for the appointment

of caretaker committees despitethe provisions of section 1 of theconstitution which provides thatany law that is not consistent withthe provisions of the constitutionremain null and void to the extentit is inconsistent to it.

Already some states such asEdo, Benue among others havebeen operating this law despite itsunconstitutionality.

Drawing from the listpresented in the House ofRepresentatives, one of the statesthat have failed to conduct localgovernment election in the lastfive years is Benue.

In the five years of hisadministration, Governor GabrielSuswam has failed to conduct localgovernment elections. Instead thegovernor has continuallyappointed caretaker committeesand re-appoints them after everysix months.

Only recently, caretakercommittees that have spent overa year in office were dissolvedamidst controversies whichresulted in bickering and squabblein the local government councils.

Most of the ousted caretakercommittee chairmen, whoperformed woefully, struggledhard to be retained but failed intheir bid to do so.

The bickering was worsened bythe alleged role played by theDeputy Governor, Steven Lawaniand the state PDP chairman,Emmanuel Agbo who wereaccused of influencing the re-appointment of the sackedcaretaker committee chairman ofOkpokwu Local Government, Mr.Robert Idoko, who has been in thatoffice for over a year, to the chagrinof certain elements in the state.

The squabble is coming on thebackdrop of the argument by the

aggrieved elements that the re-appointment of Idoko was inviolation of an Act passed by thestate state House of Assembly thatno chairman should be retainedafter six (6) months in office.

However, Governor Suswamhas pledged to conduct localgovernment elections inNovember this year, but this hasbeen received with seriousskepticism by some stakeholdersand interest groups in the state asthey argue that there is nostructure on the ground to showthat the government is serious tomatch words with action.

Reacting to the pledge by thegovernor, a top politician in thestate, Mr. Andrew Tyavkase saidthe governor must be queried fornot conducting the elections in thelast five years.

“Why has he failed all theseyears to conduct LG election? Is hesaying that his government isincapable of holding elections? Hequeried.

He further accused thegovernor of not having a clear cutagenda for the third tier ofgovernance in the State and so hasadamantly refused to conductlocal government elections.

Also reacting to the issues, amember of the House of Assembly,Hon. Patrick Iorember of theAction Congress of Nigeria (ACN)maintained that the stategovernment has failed to holdelection because the governorwants to continue having controlover the local councils.

“I can tell you why they haverefused to conduct localgovernment elections in the state.It is because the PDP governmentwants to continue to exert controlover the councils”, he said.

Iorember’s position is

particularly coming against thebackdrop of thinking by someelements in the state that the PDPwill not be able to win elections insome local government areas withthe current influence of oppositionparties especially the ACN.

Others, who commented on theissue, insist that it was not the bestfor the state. While an analyst,Cornelius Ode noted that thegovernor wants the ruling PDP tocontinue to hold swell in the localgovernment areas, anotherpolitical commentator, Mr.Everest Apine expresseddisappointment on the issue notingthat it is not healthy for thedevelopment of the third tier ofgovernment.

He said only an elected localgovernment will impactpositively on the lives of the ruralpeople as they would be made tobe accountable to them as againsthand-picked chairmen whosemandate is strictly to pay salaries,without embarking onmeaningful developmentalprojects.

The story is the same in Abia,state where the GovernorTheodore Orji led stateadministration has continued toshift the date for local councilelection since he assumed officeand presently there are no signsthat election would be conductedin the near future.

The same is the case in Plateaustate, though the stategovernment had since promisedto ensure that elections take placethis year.

In Edo state Governor AdamsOshiomhole had dissolved theelected 18 local councils and intheir stead appointed TransitionCommittee Chairmen otherwisecalled Caretaker Committees to

preside over the affairs of councilspending the conduct of Localgovernment election.

Things went awry when at theexpiration of approved tenure ofthe unconstitutional committees,the governor wrote to the House ofAssembly for extension of time.Eventually, the governor wasoffered ‘a blank cheque’ aslegislators simply mandated himto conduct local governmentelection when funds are available.

Tempers flared, especially inthe camp of helpless oppositionparties who described the decisionas a deliberate attempt to subvertthe wish of the governed andmuzzle the independence ofgrassroots local governments.

This is basically because it isonly the governor that determineswhen the state has “enoughmoney” to conduct the polls andhe can decide that the fund is notthere perpetually and could arguethat he has the backing of thehouse.

Those in support of the decisionof the legislature argue ironicallythat such will give all the partyand the state government time tofully prepare for the localgovernment elections wheneverthe governor fixes it.

Those kicking against suchinsist that the resolution of the Edohouse has no force of law and thatthe governor must immediatelyconduct the elections in line withthe ruling of the court.

As the controversies rage withthe state government yet tocomply to the court order evenwhen it has not yet appealed theruling, developmental projects inthe local government areas havecome to a halt as the caretakercommittees do not have the

Governor Rotimi Amechi, Chairman, Governor’s Forum

Hon. Nwabueze Okafor, National President, ALGON

Autocracy

PAGE 11PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

Cover

Caretakers at LGs: The politics, the issuesContd from page 10

required mandates to executecertain projects.

Currently, there is a growinganimosity in the grassroots on thepart of those initially nursingambition to be elected chairmenand councilors who are now towait indefinitely as if forgotten.

Opposition parties are of theview that government at thegrassroots level is been surchargedin terms of the revenue accruingto them against the backdrop ofthe fact that the life-span ofTransition Committee is one year.

However describing theposition of the state as “executiverascality” the court in declaringthe use of caretaker committeeafter the dissolution of councils asillegal, ordered that the stateshould immediately conduct theelections despite the resolution ofthe House.

However, while reacting tothe development, the stateCommissioner for Informationand Orientation, Louis Odion, whoconfirmed the court’s judgment,said that the state governmentwould appeal against it.

Former Esan North East LocalGovernment Chairman JohnYakubu in his opinion, describedcontinuous use of Care-takerCommittees by state governors,including Edo, an a celebratemove by governors to steal publicfunds meant to develop localcouncils thereby making themappendages of state governments.

The story is the same inAnambra where there have notbeen local government electionsince the exit of former GovernorChinwoke Mbadinuju in 2002 atthe expiration of the councilofficials elected in 1998. Theelection planned by Mbadinujucould not hold following somedisagreements among politicalstakeholders. Since then the stateis yet to conduct any election intothe local governments.

In Kogi state, the story is thesame though some key politiciansare now mounting pressure on thenew state government underGovernor Idris Wada not to threadthe path of other governors but toconduct election into councils.

A key political activist in thestate, Barrister MohammedShaibu described the use ofcaretaker committee as a sourceof huge concern to the nation.

He said the failure of the localgovernments to deliver on theirmandates could be traced to thefact that they felt not responsibleto the welfare and development ofthe grassroots as their loyalty doesnot lie with the electorate but thegovernor who appointed them.

In his own contribution, astalwart of opposition ACN, AlhajiHalidu Jibrin, said the use ofcaretaker committee haseffectively shut out the electoratesfrom the dividend of democracyat the grassroots as they have beendenied of a government structurethat they could call theirs.

As the arguments continue,

the Association of LocalGovernments of Nigeria (ALGON)has started closing ranks to battlethe governors on the issue.

ALGON is particularly nothappy that the state governorswere exerting absolute control oncouncils as well as hijacking theirfunds and powers.

National President of ALGON,Nwabueze Okafor, said that thesystem can only function wellwhen the three tiers ofgovernment as entrenched in theconstitution are allowed to exist,saying that running localgovernments with soleadministrators was one of theimpediments to growth ofdemocracy in Nigeria. He said thefailure of some states to conductlocal government elections hadcontinued to hinder localgovernments from performingtheir constitutional roles.

Okafor said: “We are veryconcerned, we are doingsomething and we have initiateda process where we canconstructively engage thegovernors who are very keen todevelop the local governmentsystem in Nigeria on this. We haveinitiated that process to appeal togovernors who have not hadelections to conduct election in thecouncils so as to have a functionallocal government system in thevarious states.”

Nwabueze said ALGON hadalso concluded plans to sendmemoranda for the autonomy oflocal governments to the NationalAssembly ConstitutionCommittee to ensure theirindependence. He said theassociation would consult the statelegislatures to seek their supportfor the total freedom of the localgovernments.

Interestingly, even the rulingPeoples Democratic Party (PDP),has also registered its rejection ofthe practice though it has failed intaking steps to end it.

However, it was gathered thatthe leadership of the party hasstarted working on convening ameeting with governors electedon its platform over the refusal ofsome of them to conduct localgovernment elections.

The party’s spokesman, ChiefOlisa Metuh, in an interview saidthe party was worried at therefusal of the governors to put inplace elected executives at thethird tier of government.

Meanwhile legal luminaries inthe country have joined incondemning the use of caretakercommittee while demandingurgent steps by government toend the practice.

Already the Nigeria BarAssociation (NBA) has condemnedthe practice saying it has resultedin the failure to guarantee theexistence of democratic structureat that tier.

Commenting NBA President,Joseph Daudu said, “We condemnthe attitude of some stategovernments, which haddeliberately refused to allow theconduct of elections into localgovernment councils and inbreach of the clear wordings of theConstitution set up an illegalentity known as caretakercommittees which hasconsequently resulted in thefailure to guarantee the existenceof democratically elected officialsat that tier of governance’’.

On his part, Lagos radicallawyer and rights crusader,Bamidele Aturu, posited thatrunning local governmentadministration with caretaker

committee is against the norm.He said: “It is nothing but an

illegality. Those governorspractising it know that they arepractising illegality, but theypersist because it is an avenue topacify and compensate theiracolytes.

“There is no other name to begiven to it but to declare it illegal.It is a practice that runs contraryto the principles and tenets ofSection 7 of the 1999constitution.”

Also commenting on the issue,former Commissioner of Justiceand Attorney General of AbiaState, Mr. Awa Kalu said there wasno argument to support the use ofcaretaker committee in ademocracy since such has not beenprovided for in any of the nation’slaw books.

He said, “Can we have aninterim governor, can we have aninterim President under the letterand spirit of the constitution? If wecannot have an interim Presidentor governor or interim VicePresident or interim DeputyGovernor, then it is the sameargument in respect of localgovernment councils. There is noprovision for interim localgovernment officers in theconstitution.

“Section 7(6) of theconstitution provided for thefunding of the local governmentcouncils from the federal and stategovernments purses, but stateshave continued to breach therelevant section of the constitutionwithout batting an eyelid to thedetriment of the local councils andthe retrogression of the ruraldwellers, to whom the localgovernment administration wasmeant to bring development to.”

Reacting to the issue, former

chairman of the NBA Ikejabranch, Mr. Adekunle Ojo said theuse of caretaker committee to runthe affairs of the local governmentcouncils is an aberration of thehighest order.

“The use of caretakercommittee is an aberration. It isnothing but a short cut to thereality. If by virtue of Section 7 ofthe 1999 constitution, the localgovernment is to be run bydemocratically elected officials,then whatever or whoever is inoffice at the local governmentlevel, in whatever capacity theymay be called, except by anelection, is occupying officeillegally”.

He explained further that theuse of caretaker committeescame into existence through thelocal government laws of eachstate, adding that such laws areinconsistent with theconstitution and that if theaffairs of the states are run by alaw, then it is totally wrong tocircumvent the running of theaffairs of the local councils byanother set of laws which,according to him, contravenesthe constitution.

On the whole, Nigeriansappear to have reached aconsensus against the governorson the use of caretakercommittees, which is a completesubversion to the dictates of theconstitution.

Pundits opine that the wayout is for the National Assemblyto take the bull by the horn andinitiate and further the processthat will guarantee fiscal andoperational independence to thelocal government as expected bythe spirit and letters of the lawwhich is in line with the wishesand aspirations of Nigerians.

AGF Mohammed Bello Adoke condemned caretaker committeesHon. Friday Itulah moved motion against caretaker committees

Autocracy

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012PAGE 12

Special ReportRepositioning the NYSCfor greater performance

Nigerians, who undertookthe national youths’service otherwise known

as NYSC, in its early stage, havea recollection of wonderfulexperience in the places wherethey served. It was a periodwhen most Nigerian graduates,fresh from the universitieslooked forward to serving theirfatherland as the case was. Theyhad the mindset to concretizethe aim of then Head of states,General Yakubu Gowon who,through the promulgation ofDecree No. 24 of 1972, set upthe scheme to reconstruct,reconcile and rebuild thecountry after the Nigerian Civilwar .

It is said, that theunfortunate antecedents in ournational history at the timegave impetus to theestablishment of the Schemeand as indicated by the Decree,“with a view to the properencouragement anddevelopment of common tiesamong the youths of Nigeriaand the promotion of nationalunity”. Many Nigeriangraduates therefore undertookthe national service with goodmemories to last a lifetimeafterwards.

Decades after, yours trulygot a call-up letter too aftergraduating from the universityto serve in the then Bendel state,where I was to be posted to acommunity called Umunede,close to Agboh, after thecamping phase of the scheme atAbraka, another community inthe state. I recalled earlier howmy senior brother prevailed onme to proceed to Bendel for theservice even though somemembers of my family agreedthat the place was far and thejourney would be too tedious fora young girl in her twenties atthe time. It was then agreed thata change be effected through theNYSC administrators. But myfather and my brother wereadamant. So to Bendel state Iwent after staying at home forover a month even though mycolleagues had long reported totheir places of assignment.

Another attempt to changemy posting while at the camp inAbraka failed as the request bymy parents was turned down bythe camp commandant who hadmy name penciled down andeven forwarded to the secretariatto thwart any further move“because that was not the aim ofthe scheme”. That was then,now the situation of nationalservice is entirely different.

However, some examples will

suffice to prove that the service,when I undertook it wasmemorable for all of us as wewere well treated by the hostcommunities. We had maize,yam, plantain, fresh fruits andpalm oil brought to the corpers’lodge free because we were“government pikin” sent to helpthe people. Water was fetchedfor us by the children in thecommunity school where wetaught, they would clean ourrooms and wash our clothes. Weenjoyed free ride fromcommercial drivers and boughtthings at a cheaper rate at theUmunede market and werehosted by the chief of the villageto a sumptuous meal once aweek. It didn’t matter to himwhether you ate their type offood or not. It was the first andthe last time I tasted Akpu, atraditional dish eaten by thepeople.

The headmaster of the schoolrecommended that some of usto be retained to work in theschool, a request which the chiefof the village sanctioned withthe explanation that thechildren enjoyed the way wetaught and they were bothgoing to inform the statesecretariat of the NYSC, andlocal government chairman tothat effect.

The situation is certainlydifferent now for corps membersserving in that state, nowknown as Delta state, and manyother states in the country,

making many to believe thatthe scheme has lost itsrelevance.

The almost four decades ofthe scheme has witnessedcontroversies especially withthe killing of corps membersduring the 2011 elections. Thisis aside many lives of corpsmembers lost in road mishapsor in ethnic clashes across thecountry and the hardship theyface generally in performingtheir roles. The developmentbrought to the fore the need toreview the NYSC Act at severaloccasions. In some quarters callswere even made for itsscrapping, a matter whichnearly dealt the scheme adeadly blow before it found itsfeet again when some voices roseto the occasion and doused thetension.

They posited that the killingsof the NYSC membersparticularly was occasioned bysecurity lapses and poorintelligence gathering on thepart of security operatives in thecountry. They pointed out thatthe incident did not in any wayvitiate the fact that corpsmembers viewed theassignment as service to thenation and thus accepted it withutmost interest and a sense ofresponsibility.

The development has sincecalled for urgent measures to betaken, forcing the managementof the NYSC to go back to thedrawing board in its quest to

reinvent the scheme and restoreconfidence of Nigerians,especially parents.

Concrete steps were thereforetaken to enhance security ofcorps members, improve theirwelfare and enhance theireconomic status throughentrepreneurial training.According to a fact sheet of theNYSC because security iscardinal in the optimalperformance of corps membersin whatever assignments, thescheme in the first quarter of thisyear concretized the concept ofestablishing a Distress CallCentre towards enhancingsecurity of corps members, It isindicated that if such initiativewas taken earlier it could havesafe guarded them in the firstplace.

According to the fact sheetthe centre, located at the NYSCnational headquarters is an“innovation to assist corpsmembers in getting rapidintervention in case of threat totheir lives”. Towards this end,the IT based Centre has data ofall corps members across thethree batches including theirtelephone numbers andnumbers of security agencies,traditional rulers andprominent personalities in allthe corps members locations.Any call put through the centreindicates the name andparticulars of the caller with theplace of service. Adding that inthe event of threat, the centrealerts the nearest securityagencies for rapid response.Expectedly, the initiative has inno mean way boasted the moraleof corps members in the countryto an extent.

But it is not only securityproblems that have bedeviledthe scheme. The NYSC havebeen faced with a myriad ofproblems ranging frominefficiency, poor funding andburgeoning population ofgraduates who, after theirnational service would continueto roam the streets hunting forjobs that are not available. Thereare also issues ofmismanagement and morerecently raping and kidnappingamongst others which have beensore points of the scheme.

However, a lot of efforts havebeen made to improve the imageof the scheme. Apart from theDistress Call Centre initiative,another interesting initiative isCombat management throughMartial Art training. It is an areathat has been neglected in mostspheres so in the case of theNYSC, the initiative is to helpcorps members to be combatready in case of sudden attack orassault. It is to assist in their

physical fitness and inequipping them with therequisite skills for self defence. Itwould be recalled that a femalecorps member, Grace Ushangfrom Cross River state was rapedand killed in 2011 when shereportedly went out to buy foodin the community where sheserved.

Other areas which the NYSCmanagement is said to betackling the problems of corpsmembers is the introduction ofskills acquisition andentrepreneurship programmesin the course content of the NYSCwith a view to raisingentrepreneurs to drive theeconomy of the nation. This aimsat reducing to a barestminimum, the situation ofunemployment in the countryas it is worrisome that youngNigerians after their studies andnational service go cap- in- handseeking jobs that haveapparently disappeared. In thesame bid, the number ofdepartments at the NYSC hasbeen increased from 7 to 11 toinstitutionalize the concept,though prior to the policy, thescheme had complementedfederal government efforts atreducing unemploymentthrough the NYSC/MDGs’ WarAgainst Poverty. (WAP) The factsheet showed that presently theNYSC has trained andempowered over 1,376 corpsmembers in Agro Alliedventures/businesses in the lastone year. An interest free loan oftwo hundred and twenty ninemillion, five hundred thousandnaira was released to corpsmember beneficiaries of thetraining as soft loans at zero percent interest rate, to kick starttheir businesses.

It would seem that themeasures taken by themanagement of the NYSC inrecent times is yielding fruits.The scheme is reported to havereviewed its activities in tandemwith the presenta d m i n i s t r a t i o n ’ stransformation agenda. Thepolicy commenced with thebatch ‘A’ corps members whowere posted to the four criticalsectors of the economy namelyeducation, healthcare delivery,agriculture andinfrastructural/public works.

It is expected that the schemewill continue to leverage andbuild on the gains so far recordedand in the long run boost thefederal government’s UniversalBasic Education, enhance foodsecurity, increase qualitativerural healthcare and improveinfrastructure, amongst othersfor the benefit of the country.

Director General of NYSC, Brig.-Gen Nnamdi Okorie-Affia

By Jamila Nuhu Musa

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012 PAGE 13

Constitution review: Senate hasno own position-Ndoma-Egba

How would rate theperformance of the SeventhSenate in the last one year?

It has been a remarkable andeventful one year. If youlook at the statistics, I think

since 1999, this is perhaps themost productive year in termsof number of bills and motionpassed. They were not justmotions but very topicalmotions, motions that touchedon the roots of fundamentalissues in our polity.

Also, if you look at thenumber of investigations andthe nature of thoseinvestigations, you will noticethat they go straight to theheart of accountability in thegovernance process. If you alsotake the historical role of theSenate in terms of stabilisng thesystem in times of crisis, youwill also recall that we started2012 on the note of the labourstrike on the issue of removal offuel subsidy. Again, it was theintervention of the Senate thatsaved the situation. So, if youlook at the legislations,advocacy and the historical roleof the Senate in stabilising thepolity, I think it has been a veryeventful and fruitful one year.

Some critics see theSenate as being too close tothe executive and they fearthat if it continues this way,the legislature will become arubber stamp of theexecutive. What is our takeon this?

I don’t know if theconstitution contemplatedanything otherwise in terms ofthe issue of closeness you raised.First of all, if you check ourconstitution, for you to contestin any election, you must besponsored by a political party.The executive is a product of thePDP, the majority of thelegislators are products of thePDP, so essentially, it is onegovernment. You cannot havea party being in opposition withitself. The fact that we are in thelegislature does not make us anopposition and the kind ofopposition that is contemplatedin the Presidential system istotally different from the kindof opposition that iscontemplated in aparliamentary system. Sounder the presidential system,the opposition that you seekmay not be from the parliamentbut from political parties.

What we have is aconstitutional role. The Senate,

like the executive and thejudiciary and all our publicinstitution are creations of theconstitution which prescribesthe powers of each arm ofgovernment or each institution.That same constitution alsodelineates those powers andprovides for the relationshipbetween one arm and the other.So our role is purelyconstitutional and we shouldnot be judged by ourantagonism to the executive orour closeness to the executive.We should rather be judgedwith whether or not we areplaying our roles as prescribedby the constitution. That iswhat we should be judged by.The perceived closenessnotwithstanding, has it stoppedthe Senate from its oversight?Has it stopped the Senate fromconducting investigations intoareas that we believeinvestigations should beconducted? It hasn’t. So it is ourability to carry out ourconstitutional responsibilitythat is the critical question andnot whether we enjoy socialfriendship with members of theother arm of government.

We are aware that theoverhead budget of the

National Assembly wasslashed in the 2012 budget.Did this in any way affectyour oversight function?

Of course it did but let mealso quickly make thisadditional point by saying thatas the National Assemblymatures, you find more efficientways of doing things. We arelearning. We have beenlearning since 1999 till now anddon’t forget that of the threearms, we are the youngest andthe most traumatised. Whereasthe other two arms have existedin one form or the other evenduring military regimes, in ourcase, we are abrogated eachtime there is a militaryintervention and then restoredwhen there is an episode ofdemocracy and abrogatedagain. So we have been mosttraumatised and our growthand development have not beenconsistent as the other arms ofgovernment but we are learningand as we learn, we find moreefficient ways of doing things. Ofcourse, if we had more money,probably we would have donemore. So we are building oncapacity and that capacity isgiving us greater efficiency.

The Senate is set to

commence another round ofconstitution amendment.How prepared is the Senatefor this exercise? People askthis question against thebackdrop of the fact that theissues tabled are very seriousones including fiscalfederalism, removal ofimmunity clause for whichthe governors are not happyand what have you.

Well let me make aclarification. There are twocomponents to the constitutionalamendment process. You havethe constitutional requirementand then the political process ofengagement to arrive at anational consensus on issues.The constitutional requirementprovides the mechanics forconstitutional amendment. Thepolitical process provides thedynamics for that process. Soyou must combine themechanics and the dynamicsfor you to achieve aconstitutional amendment.What do I mean by that? Theconstitutional provision saysyou start the process and it isapproved by two-third of thestate assemblies. What is theimplication of the approval bythe state houses of assembly? It

means that you must havearrived at some from of nationalconsensus before you can get thetwo-third. So while the processmay begin with us in theNational Assembly, you mustcreate a process of nationalengagement to make sure thatthose areas that you haveidentified have the nationaldiscussion; robust nationaldiscussions around those issuesto lead to a national consensus.That is when you can get thattwo-third that is required. So wehave tabled areas, in our view,require amendment. We haveinvited memoranda from thepublic. We are going to providea forum for robust engagementand debate for the Nigerianpeople but we cannot alonemidwife the political processthat will lead to that consensus.Civil society, state governors,state assemblies, and othershave to be involved for us tobuild a consensus.

It is not always that you takeconsensus for granted. I willgive you an example. In the lastexercise, we proposed autonomyfor the National Assembly andstate assemblies. When it wentto the states, they approvedautonomy for federallegislature but refused theirown autonomy. So when youask how ready we are, I will saythat you should judge us by ourantecedent. For the first time inthe political history of thisnation, not only did we succeedin amending the constitution,we did so not once not twice, butthree times. So that means thatthe jinx has been broken. I thinkthe only other time before nowthat the constitution wasamendment was in 1963 whenit was amended to create thethen eastern region. In that one,the process was reversed. Youhad the political consensus thatnow resulted in theconstitutional process ofamending the constitution butwhere we find ourselves today,we have to start from theconstitutional process to thepolitical process. So, I think thatfrom our antecedents, we havealways exhibited thewillingness, the courage and theability to push the constitutionalamendment through but indoing so we must not force ourviews on the Nigerian people,can only ventilate the views ofthe Nigerian people.

Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba

Senate Majority Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba in this interview with Richard Ihediwathrows more light on the position of the Senate on various burning national issues andsubmitted that only the Nigerian people have the right to decide what goes into the constitution

Contiuned on page 14

Politics

One of the key issuestabled for discussionis that of fiscal

federalism. However somepeople fear that if we do thatsome states especially thosein the north might find thingsvery difficult. Personally, doyou think it is ripe for Nigeriato practice fiscal federalism?

I think it is time for us topractice fiscal federalism. Youcannot practice federalismwithout fiscal federalism. Thefoundation of federalism is thefiscal element of that federalism.So, if you just talk of federalismwithout the fiscal component,then you are just practicingcosmetic federalism and not truefederalism. So the two must gotogether. That is the foundationof every federalism, includingour own. Now, when we talkabout states, you will recall thatwhen we debated the motion bySenator Adetunbi on the state ofour economy, I made mycontribution and I have beenvery consistent on my positionthat inasmuch as we haveprovision for the creation ofstates, we should also haveprovisions for the voluntarymerger of states.

Why do I say so? If you lookat our economic history, fromindependence, and look at thetrajectory, when we had thethree regions up to when we hadthe four regions, you could see,you could feel, you could toucheconomic growth in the realsense, not the statisticaleconomic growth that they willtell you inflation has reduced,growth rate is this and thatpercent but it is not translatingto employment out there. Youcould see real growth; you couldsee the competition among theregions. And you could see thatat some point, the economy ofthe then eastern region ofNigerian was the fasted growingeconomy in the world.

It was so because at thatpoint, the component units of ourfederation were viable entities.They could stand on their ownand that is why they weregenerating income andremitting to the center. If younow take that up the12 statestructure, you could see someviability but by the time you gotto the 19 states structure, youbegan to see question marksabout the viability of states.

So, as far as I am concernedthe viability of our federalcomponent was evident from thethree regional structure, to thefour regional structure andclearly to the 12 state structure.After the 12 state structure, theviability of states becamedoubtful. Where we are today,there is no doubt that ourstructure is not economically

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012PAGE 14

Senate has no own position-Ndoma-Egbaviable. It may be politicallyconvenient, but economicallyunviable. When we talk aboutviability of states, we went pastthat point a long time ago. So ourfederalism is no longer based onthe viability of states becausethe component units of ourfederalism have since the 19state structure been unviable.

That is why we have beenunable to see real development.This is because we now havecomponents that instead ofcontributing to the federal purseare absolutely dependent on thefederal purse for theirsustenance. So, in my view weneed to go back to a fundamentalpolitical restructuring of thepolity if the units have to beeconomically viable.

Another issue tabled fordiscussion is that of rotationof executive offices, that is,the position of the Presidentand state governors. How doyou see this, especiallyagainst the backdrop of callsto use merit as a criteria forsuch offices instead ofzoning?

Let me say that the role of theNational Assembly in theconstitutional amendmentprocess is both formal andinformal. Informal in the sensethat we can generate discussionson issues but that is the muchwe can do and then the formal isthat we eventually ratify. Whatwe are doing now is thatinformal process of generatingand guiding discussions. It doesnot mean that we have aposition. Our position at the endof the day will be determined bythe memoranda we get, thedebates from Nigerians and oursummary of those debates. Weare not approaching this issuewith any preconceived notionsor positions. So we don’t haveany position on that.

I have my own views on thequestion you asked and it is aview that is public. I have said itand I will say it again that theissue of federal character orrotation cannot be with usforever. It is only a stop gapmeasure that is designed toaddress some immediatechallenges. But with time,Nigerians are going care lesswhere people come from when

we begin to really deliver on theexpectations of Nigerians. Theway people feel hunger in thenorth is not different from theway people in the south feelhunger. It is because of theprimordial state of politics thatpeople care where their leaderscome from. We will get past thatpoint and when we get past thatpoint federal character androtation will be outdated.

Nigeria today is faced byvery serious securitychallenges. How, in youropinion can we achieve apermanent solution to theproblem?

You know the mistake wekeep making in Nigeria is tocreate a dichotomy betweenpeople and government. As longas we have that dichotomy, wecannot go anywhere especiallyin the area of security except we

want a complete police state, youknow the kind of big brother thatGeorge Orwell envisaged in hisnovel, 1984, where governmentwill be eavesdropping on everyconversation includingconversations between husbandand wife, among children and soon. If that is what we want, thenwe must be ready for theconsequences. Securityeverywhere in the world is acollaborative thing. The peoplemust be involved; governmentmust be involved; everybodymust be involved.

As child growing up, if yousee a stranger in the village, thefirst thing was to alert the chiefand the chief will investigateand if the stranger came to visitsomebody, that person he cameto visit will guarantee his stay.So everybody was involved. Aschildren, anything we did wasof interest to all the elders in thecommunity. But today, if yousee a strange man move into abuilding you stay, many peoplewill not report. People will keepquiet and hope thatgovernment will come and findout. Who is government?

Nigerians are worriedthat resolutions of theNational Assemblyespecially from its probes arenot implemented becausethey do not have the force oflaw. Is the NationalAssembly, thinking of

amending relevant sectionsof the constitution to makeits resolution have the forceof law?

It is a way out. People havetold me with a bit of cynicismwhen we embark on any probethat nothing will come out ofthem. Again, I go back to theconstitution that created us andgave us our powers. If you lookat section 88, it empowers us toexpose corruption, inefficiencyor waste with a view to makinglegislations to reduce such.Right now the powers we havestops at exposing corruption.The moment we have exposedit, we have fulfilled ourconstitutional mandate. All theagencies that you have toinvestigate and do other thingsare all under the executive. Theones that will try are in thejudiciary. So constitutionally,the moment we have exposedcorruption, we have fulfilledour mandate. You cannot giveyourself more powers than theconstitution has given you; thatwill be lawlessness. When wetalk about rule of law, it meansthat you will stay within theambits of the law. We cannotbegin to react to the popular ormob demands and then you gooutside the constitution. Youcannot.

Are we thinking ofamending that section to givemore powers to the NationalAssembly?

There is a bill to that effectpending in the NationalAssembly. I believe that like anyother legislative issue, there willbe argument for and argumentagainst. So it is difficult to say nowthat it will pass or it will not pass.But I know that there is a bill thatseeks to amend the provision ofthe constitution to makeresolution that have been passedin a particular manner and witha certain number of votesbinding on the executive

Recently former head ofstate, Muhammadu Buhariwas reported to have said thatthere will be more bloodshedif the 2015 election is rigged.How would you react to this?

I was not there when thestatement was made. I read it inthe newspapers but I think thelanguage of elders should alwaysinspire hope and reconciliation.

Next week, the nationwould be celebratingDemocracy Day. What isyour message to Nigerians?

In spite of our challenges andthe problems we have had,there is still no option todemocracy. Somebody saiddemocracy might be the worstform of government but thatthere is nothing better than itand I agree with him. We shouldkeep faith with our democracyand all of must join hands indeepening it.

Ndoma-Egba

Continued from page 13

“I think it is time for us to practicefiscal federalism. You cannot

practice federalism without fiscalfederalism. The foundation of

federalism is the fiscal element ofthat federalism

Politics

PAGE 15PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

Man In The News

Who is Baba afraid of after all?

Since he left office, formerPresident OlusegunObasanjo has never been

lacking in controversy.When he eased himself out

as Chairman of the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP) Boardof Trustee, many thought thatthe former President, who waswidely believed to have triedto elongate his tenure to a thirdterm, would go into theshadows for sometime, but thatwas not the case.

Obasanjo was in the newsagain this week and federallawmakers are calling for hishead over his recent commentdescribing them and somejudicial officers as criminalsand rogues. He said the samegoes to members of the statehouses of assembly and thepolice.

That was on Tuesday, at thefourth annual nationalconference of the Academy forEntrepreneurial Studies inLagos. The former Presidenttook a leave out of hisretirement and lambasted theNational Assembly sayingthere were criminals in the twochambers of the NationalAssembly and wondered whatmanner of laws they will bemaking for the nation.

Obasanjo had said;“Integrity is necessary forsystems and institutions to bestrong. Today, rogues, armedrobbers are in the state Housesof Assembly and the NationalAssembly. What sort of lawswill they make?

“The judiciary is alsocorrupt. During my tenure,many of the corrupt judgeswere removed. Some are stillthere. If the Judiciary becomescorrupt, where is the hope forthe nation? Justice, no doubt,will go to the highest bidder.Thejudiciary did not see anythingwrong with a former governorbut the same set of evidencewas used to sentence him in theUnited Kingdom.”

About the police Obasanjosaid; “The police are evenworse. Well, I will not lament. Iwill only say let us understandour problems and emphasisethe good ones. The problem isthat the diligence that wasbeing undertaken before peopleare appointed or elected is nomore today,”

Since then federallawmakers have been callingthe former President namesand challenged him to be boldenough to mention names withthe House of Representativesordering an inquest into theissue. On the other hand thejudiciary and the police hadremained almost mum.

However, the questionssome people ask are; issomething wrong with theformer President? Why shouldhe not just keep quiet insteadof always trying the fomenttrouble? Is his own handsclean?

On the other hand someother people ask; are thereindeed criminals and rogues inthe National Assembly? Arethere such elements in thejudiciary and the police? Arewe at home with the realities ifthere are such elements inthese critical institutions?

While the earlier batch ofquestions are representative ofquestions from politiciansincluding members of theNational Assembly, the laterrepresents to a large extent, thequestions ringing in the mindsof ordinary Nigerians who seethese institution in not so goodlights.

However, Obasanjo’sstatement is instructive as thenation is now in dire need oflegislations that will enableanti-corruption agencies workeffectively. This will not be thefirst time Obasanjo or aNigerian of very high reputewould accuse the NationalAssembly of being replete withpeople or questionablecharacter.

It would be recalled thatformer Chairman, Senate

Committee on NationalSecurity and Intelligence,Senator Nuhu Aliyu in 2008threw caution to the winds tosay that the NationalAssembly was replete withpeople of questionablecharacter including those hesaid he had arrested anddetained when he was in thepolice.

At the House ofRepresentatives, the Obasanjoaccusation was thrown up bythe Deputy Minority Leader,Suleiman Kawu, whosubmitted that “Obasanjolacked the moral authority tocall lawmakers rogues andarmed robbers.” AlthoughSpeaker Aminu Tambuwalinitially obliged him, hequickly stopped Kawu when hestarted raining abuses on

Obasanjo.Kawu accused Obasanjo of

being without a goodreputation and that such a manhad no “moral authority to calllawmakers armed robbers”.The House later resolved thatits Committee on Ethics shouldlook into the issue.

The Senate on its own partsaid it would not drag itself intoany exchange of words with theformer President but urgedhim to name the bad eggs.

Senate spokesman,Enyinnaya Abaribe,announced the Senate’sposition at a news conferenceon Wednesday.

According to Abaribe, “TheNational Assembly has greatrespect for the person of theformer president of Nigeria,Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and

the National Assembly cannever engage in any ‘talkback’to the president.

“We actually feel that theformer president would helpthe National Assembly andNigeria in the new spirit oftransparency and openness toassist the assembly by namingthose that he knows as eitherrogues or criminals,” he said.

Critics are already lookingat the issues critically even assome Nigerians insist that thematter must not be sweptunder the carpet. Some of thembelieve that Obasanjo, being aformer President who hadaccess to serious informationabout people and issues, couldnot have just spoken out ofempty air.

They believe that Obasanjohas some hard facts andcollaborate with the Senate inurging him to mention names.

On the other hand, someanalysts opine that the Houseof Representatives is simplygrandstanding instead of facingthe facts especially as somemembers are now in court overallegations of fraud.

Currently, formerChairman House Committee onthe Capital Market, HermanHembe and his deputy EmekaAzubuogu have been chargedto court over allegation by theDirector General of theSecurity and ExchangeCommission (SEC), ArunmaOteh, that he demanded forbribe of N44 million toinfluence the Capital Marketprobe as well as collecting hugesums of money for foreign tripshe never made.

On the flip side, one is quickto remember that the formerPresident has been havingvery high doses of accusationsof corruption and it might bebased on this that Kawuaverred that he had no moralstanding to accus thelegislature. However, thatObasanjo had been accused ofcorruption in the past does notnecessarily mean that hecannot point out rogues whenhe sees some.

Obasanjo is still to answer tothe allegations of under-handdeals in the privatisation ofgovernment owned firmslevelled against him bywitnesses at the Senateprivatisation investigation lastyear.

In any case, the formerPresident is reputed to befearless. Now there is achallenge for him to prove thatas the Senate is still waiting forhim the mention the names ofthe rogue legislators so that itcan take it up from there. Thetake of Nigerians is that thismatter must not be wept underthe carpet.

By Richard Ihediwa

Obasanjo was in the news again this weekand federal lawmakers are calling for hishead over his recent comment describing

them and some judicial officers ascriminals and rogues. He said the samegoes to members of the state houses of

assembly and the police

“

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo

Obasanjo again

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012PAGE 16

TourismAgbokim Falls: Fallingwater with seven facesEver seen the Agbokim

Falls? Agbokim Fall isone of the most scenic

of a l l fa l ls in the country.Other scenic falls in Nigeriainclude the Gurara Falls, theAssop Fall, the Azimili RiverFall among others but noneis as unique as the AgbokimFal ls . Already, tourists aredemanding that it should bel isted among the sevenwonders of nature in Nigeria.

Agbokim Fall is located inAgbokim in Cross Riverstate , a scenic town 17ki lometers from Ikom and315 ki lometers fromCalabar, the state capitaland not very far from theNigeria- Cameroon border.

What makes the AgbokimFall unique is that thisbeautiful and breathtakingwaterfal l consists of sevenstreams, each cascading overseven steep cl i f fs whichprovide seven-faced fal ls .From the hilly sides, the fallscut the picture of runningpil lars of water crystalscrashing on the base belowwith roars and white foams.

Agbokim waterfal l isactually on the Cross River,where it descends in terraces,through the tropicalrainforest. The fal l issurrounded by lush greenery,valleys and steep hills whichare enveloped in a rainbow-like aura. Its freshness iscaptivating and has analluring serenity.

Cross River (Oyono), fromwhich the state derived itsname is the main river in thestate. i t originates from

Cameroon where it takes thename of the Manyu River.

Over its last 80 km to thesea its flows through swampyrainforest with numerouscreeks and forms an inlanddelta near its confluence withthe Calabar River, about 20km wide and 50 km longbetween the cities of Oron onthe west bank and Calabar,on the east bank, more than30 km from the open sea. Thedelta empties into a broadestuary which it shares witha few smaller r ivers. At i tsmouth in the Atlantic Ocean

the estuary is 24 km wide.The eastern s ide of theestuary is in theneighbouring country ofCameroon.

The Cross River forms aboundary between twotropical moist forestecoregions, the Cross-Nigertransit ion forests which l iewest of the river, between theCross and Niger Rivers, andthe Cross-Sanaga-Biokocoastal forests, which lie tothe east between the CrossRiver and the Sanaga Riverof Cameroon.

However, the r iver 'spi l lars at Agbokim are aspectacular fal l ing sheet ofwater where i t descends interraces, through thetropical rainforest. When atthe fa l ls , you wi l l see lushgreenery vegetation all overthe val leys and steep hi l lswhich are enveloped in arainbow like aura.

The fall is one of the sightsthat give the journey to theObudu Cattle Ranch unique.There is no way you will betravelling to Obudu CattleResort without passing throughAgbokim Waterfalls. It is veryattractive and a good touristspots which is highlyrecommended for picnics.

In fact many tourists statethat they have not seen andfall as beautiful as Agbokim

By Richard Ihediwa withagency reports

Fall . Unlike some falls thatdry up or reduce in velocityand force in the dry season,the Agbokim Fall remain fulland in top form all yearround.

At the 2011 CalabarCarnival a cross section offoreign tourists who sharedtheir impressions about CrossRiver were full of admirationsfor the spectacular WaterFalls which they described asone of the best in the world.

One of the tourists, ItalianStefano Dannielli said he hasnever seen any Water Falls asbeautiful as Agbokimespecial ly relating to itsseven different sources off lowing waters and thebeautiful green lurch aroundthe water falls.

To get to the AgbokimFalls, one has to get to Calabarand then move to Ikom wherehe would connect theAgbokim town.

The area around the fal lprovides excellent spot forpicnics, landscape watching,bird watching andrelaxation.

Cross River state has manytourist attractions includingthe famous Obudu cattleranch, the Rain forests of Afi,from the Waterfalls of Kwa,the spiralling ox-bow CalabarRiver which provides sightsand images of the TinapaBusiness Resort, CalabarMarina, Calabar ResidencyMuseum and the Calabar SlavePark along its course. There isalways a thrilling adventureawaiting the eco-touristvisiting Cross River State.

Other tourist attractionsare the Ikom Monoliths (aseries of volcanic-stonemonoliths of unknown age),the Mary Slessor Tomb,Calabar Dril l MonkeySanctuary, Cross RiverNational Park, Afi Mountainwalkway canopy, Kwa fal ls ,Agbokim waterfalls, TinapaBusiness Resort and theannual Calabar Carnivalthat takes place during theChristmas period.

Agbokim waterfalls

Agbokim waterfalls at sunset Agbokim waterfalls in full rainy season

PAGE 17PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

I 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:

F

— Page 24

I’m a verytransparent

person— Angela

Okorie

Weekend Cocktail

PAGE 18 PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

Why I love other women’s menRelationship

Being a single girl in Joburg is not easy; this iswhy I love to use men who aren't mine

I arrived home to find my water outletpipe raging water into my gardenand as I waltzed into my garage to

get my hammer, I started to think backto when my brilliant brother taught mewhat to do when these types of thingshappen. He so kindly and patientlyassisted my mom and sisters throughmost of our home issues over so manyyears to make us into the veryindependent women we are today. I stillrefer to him as ‘my MacGyver’ andeveryone who comes into contact withhim concurs, he is amazing with someQ20, duct tape and a Swiss Army knife.

I got to thinking about a few yearsback when I was so adamant to buy abakkie. With the full knowledge that agirl walking into a dealership with thedreams of owning a double cab wouldnot be taken seriously, I dragged a goodguy mate with me. He was instrumentalin the car I bought as well as helpingwith the basics of diesel driving,information I still impart to new 4byand diesel drivers.

Fast forward to ten months ago, Idragged another man in my life to helpme buy my first mountain bike. Alongwith a very patient sales guy, theykitted me out with what is now one ofmy favourite toys. The trick to takingsomeone with specific knowledge is theyknow what you need, what makes itcomfortable and what makes you lookcool to the outside world.

When I started doing triathlons, Ithen needed a road bike, so off I draggeda triathlon specialist with me to samesales person. (Although at this stage hemust have thought I was a bit of aswinger.) My new friend assisted withadditional shoes, bike and accessories forthe new sport.

Arriving at my first triathlon, a 20year tri vet took one look at my bikeand insisted on removing all thestickers, puncture kit, gloves, socks andextra water bottles. I was horrified, butaccepted that he knew more than meand proceeded to do the race not lookinglike a complete newbie.

Today a work mate asked me if therewas a starter kit for newbies. It got methinking of all the other women’s men Icalled upon to help me on a daily basis.I consider myself so lucky to have acircle of experts that I can call on at anystage to off advice, set up my gear, andguide me on my paths of lifeexperiences.

On few occasions I have bribed themwith food. I do remember an eveningbefore the Half Iron Man race where Ineeded to learn how to change a tire onmy bike or like the time I won an Ipadand needed help with the setup. LuckilyI am a good cook.

The other people I do need to thankare the very understanding wives of allmy guy mates that very patientlyaccept that they share their guys with

me on occasion with no complaints orjealousy.

So my top list of places to find peopleI ask for assistance have to be:

1 . Work mates; they are aninvaluable source of information forsports gear, gift ideas and the occasionalman advice on relationships.

2 . The ‘expert’ in the store;contrary to many people’s beliefs, mostof these guys are genuinely there to helpyou and will offer a constructiveviewpoint.

3 . The IT Nerd @ the office; theycan also be the IT nerd of a close friend.Normally very happy to assist settingup new phones, gadgets and computers.I have on many occasions managed toget software upgrades, phone switchesand gadget advice in exchange for some

Diary of a single girl

Ferrero Rocher.4 . The sports expert; often their

enthusiasm overshadows yourimmediate needs, but if you are quitespecific on what you can afford, theywill tell you their own best optionsbefore settling down to the normalman’s vocabulary and imparting somevaluable insights. They can often befound at dinner parties. Sometimessingle.

At the end of the day it is importantto always have an opinion on what youare looking for or to get done. The lastthing you need is an iPad set up of metalmusic when you are a pop chick becauseyou said you did not care what musicwas loaded.

Always set a budget and becomfortable saying what you are andwhat you are not prepared to spend. Itdoes not leave a great taste in yourmouth when you walk out of a storehaving overspent your budget gettinggear you probably don’t need becauseyou were bullied or too intimidated tosay no.

So pick your team of experts and mento borrow. Treat them kindly. Younever know when you are going to begiving them a call again.

Source: Dreamskygirlsa

PAGE 19PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26— SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

Top 10 beauty health hazards

Beauty Tips

EyelinerEyeliner has been around for centuries

and is popular with many women as a wayto frame eyes and make them stand out.However, although in most cases eyelineris no cause for concern, applying anyproduct so close to your eyes can come withits risks. Not only are many eyeliners madeup of chemicals which can cause irritation,but applying the product too close to theinner corners of your eyes can lead toblocked tear ducts. To keep your eyeshealthy, use a natural kohl eyeliner, avoidapplying too close to the tear ducts, andreplace your eyeliner after three months.

Tight ponytailsYou may not think about your health

when considering how to wear your hair,but your hairdo not only affects how youlook, it can also affect how you feel. Wearingyour hair in a tight ponytail can strain theconnective tissue in the scalp, leading toheadaches as well as hair breakage and loss.Wearing your hair in a tight braid andwearing headbands can also have similareffects. If you feel a headache coming on,let your hair down to help ease thesymptoms.

Hair dyeWhile ditching your hair dye may seem

like a scary prospect, continuing to colouryour hair could have even morefrightening results. The chemical para-phenylenediamine (PPD) is thought to bebehind up to 80 per cent of allergic reactionsto hair dye. While most of these reactionsare relatively minor, including blisters andskin sores, PPD has been linked to moreserious conditions such as permanent hairloss and, in rare cases, even death - althoughthis link has yet to be confirmed. As allergiesto PPD can develop at any time, it isimportant to perform a patch test everytime you colour your hair. It may also beworth swapping to safer chemical-free orwash-out dyes.

Hair straightening products

Many women opt for salon straighteningtreatments to help keep curly or unrulyhair poker straight for months at a time.However, in 2011 the U.S. Department ofLabor's Occupational Safety and HealthAdministration (OSHA) issued a healthwarning over the risks of exposure to thecarcinogen formaldehyde found even instraightening products listed asformaldehyde-free. Whilst salon workerswho regularly use these products are at themost risk, it is still wise to avoid thedangerous chemical by manuallystraightening hair with blow-drying andstraightening irons instead.

MascaraMascara can harbour bacteria that is

transferred into the product after eachapplication and which can reproduce in the

dark, warm environment of the mascaratube, potentially leading to eye infections.To help reduce the health risks associatedwith your mascara, make sure you storeyour mascara in a cool place and replace itafter three months. Also, avoid applyingyour mascara in the car or on a journey asthe motion can cause scratches to the eyeduring application which can also lead toinfections.

Lipstick

Apparently the average woman eatsfour to nine pounds of lipstick in her lifetime.Given that a 2004 study revealed that upto 28% of lipsticks contain chemicals thatcan cause cancer, this is a pretty scarystatistic. A 2007 study by the Campaignfor Safe Cosmetics also found that morethan 50 per cent of lipstick brands testedcontained lead. Look after your health byswitching to natural, organic brands oflipstick, particularly if pregnant.

Fish pedicures

In the last few years, fish pedicures havesoared in popularity across the world, withpeople flocking to doctor fish spas for helpwith psoriasis, eczema or simple pedicuresin which the fish nibble away at dead skinto leave areas smooth and soft. However,just as quickly as popularity grew, healthreports were issued over the perceiveddangers of this treatment. Reports state thatfish pedicures could spread viruses such asHIV and hepatitis. While the risk isthought to be low, it is advised that thosewho carry a blood-borne virus, have anyopen cuts, or who have recently waxed orshaved their legs should avoid getting thistreatment.

Shared beauty productsIt can be tempting to borrow your

friend's lipstick when you've forgottenyour own or to lend your best pal yourmascara when she asks, however sharing

your makeup can also mean sharinginfections. It is impossible to tell by lookingat someone if they have an infection assome viruses can be contagious evenbefore they begin to show. Sharing lipstickcould lead to catching cold sores, whileeye makeup is the most risky and can leadto eye infections such as the extremelycontagious conjunctivitis. If you mustshare makeup, minimise risk by wipingoff the top layer before use.

Alpha and Beta Hydroxy AcidsYou may not have heard of Alpha and

Beta Hydroxy Acids (AHAs and BHAs) butthey are commonly used in many beautyproducts, including anti-wrinkle andacne creams. Both AHAs and BHAs act asskin exfoliants, sloughing off dead skincells. However, alongside potential sideeffects such as burning, swelling and skinirritation, the chemicals have a fairlydangerous side effect in that theydrastically increase the risk of UV skindamage, therefore increasing risk of skincancer. If you must use these products,make sure you use a high SPF daily tominimise risk of sun damage. However,exfoliating skin with natural skin scrubsmay offer a gentler solution to applyingacids.

False nailsWhile false nails applied properly

should pose little risk to your health, longterm use, or using cheap acrylic or poorlyfitted nails, can damage the nail bed, leadto fungal infections between the false andnatural nail and lead to natural nailscoming off. Furthermore, some nail barsuse acrylic nail products containing thechemical methyl methacrylate (MMA),which has been linked to respiratoryproblems and severe allergic reactions.Reports have also suggested that over-exposure to the ultra-violet lamps used tofix artificial nails can also increase risk ofskin cancer.

Yahoo! Lifestyle Network

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012PAGE 20

Peoples TechWhen your car refuses to start (I)

When one gets into his carand turns the ignitionkey, the expectation is

that the engine should respond bycranking and starting. However,many people do not always have itthat easy. They have to muttersome prayers before turning thekey, believing that by sheer luckand providence, the engine shouldstart.

Such people include those withbad batteries, kick starterproblems, injector or carburetorproblems among others.Sometimes, detecting whichsystem has the problem could be aherculean task especially for thosewho are not very technicallyinclined or those with very littleexperience on the workings of cars.

If your car refuses to start whenyou have an importantengagement to catch, it can bevery devastating. However, it ismore devastating when thishappens in the middle of heavytraffic.

Cars do not understand youremotions or your schedules, theypack up when components fail andwould not move unless theproblem is solved.

One of the major causes offailure of cars to start is bad battery.When your battery packs up, youcould get people to push your carto start if it is manual drive, but ifit is an automatic drive, you havemore problem and can only getgoing if you get another battery.

It is therefore good to ensurethat your battery is in goodcondition always. Under normalcircumstances car batteries last upto two year, though this depend ona number of factors including sizeof battery, extent of use and thecharging system in the car.

As a rule vehicle batteries donot just pack up without reasonand most times there are warningsigns which a lot of motorists ignore

There are a few but veryimportant steps you must take toensure you are not embarrassedby battery failure.

Ensure that you get a batterythat matches the size of yourengine and electrical load of yourvehicle. When you use a lowcapacity battery for higherengines and electrical load, thetendency that the battery willbuckle under stress after a fewmonths is very high.

At starting, all the energyrequired to turn the engine isderived from the battery. If theengine is heavier than the battery

power, it will wear it out fast.Cars which have electrical

features such as automaticwindows, central lock, high techmusic system, high capacity headlight, radiator fan among otherelectrical appliances should usebatteries with not less than 65 to70 amps. Using batteries below 65amps may result to stress on thecell and lead to damage.

No matter the size of thebattery, ensure that it is notoverused. Ensure that your lightsare off when the vehicle engine isoff. Leaving your headlights on forseveral minutes when the car is offcan bear stress on the battery anddamage the cells.

Also at start up, some vehicleradiator fans are wired in a way

that they start when the ignitionis turned on. The result if that thebattery is given the load of gettingthe engine to start as well askeeping the fan running.

Consider changing the order.You can connect the fan via thealternator so that it starts onlywhen the engine is on and thealternator has started working.

Also if the car has some othersystem problems such as injectoror carburetor problems, do not tryto use the battery to get themworking by over starting theengine. This will damage the cells.Take care of the problem.

Also, ensure that the battery isnot over loaded. Some people makeuse of a lot of equipments evenwhen the vehicle is off. Imagine adriver whose leg is on the brakepedal with the brake lights on andat the same time trying to shut hiselectronic windows while the stereois on. Such practices bear pressureon the battery.

Another problem that leads tobattery failure is that of faultycharging system. Cars are fitted

with alternators which restoreused battery energy. Alsoalternators are designed withswitches that disconnect thatbattery thereby allowingequipments to run on currentgenerated from the battery.

When the alternator is bad, itwill no longer supply power to theengine, the vehicle will be left torun on the battery and this willkill the cell in a matter of hours.Also if the charging system isfaulty, it will not replace usedbattery energy and this candamage the cells in a matter ofdays.

Also using a charging systemlower than that specified for yourcar can also damage your cell. Overcharging resulting from faultycut-out switch can also led to celldamage.

Some batteries may fail torecharge not because thealternator is bad but because thebattery terminals and the cablesheads may be dirty. This willcause partial contact between thebattery head and the cables andhinder free flow of electric currentfrom the alternator. Regularcleaning of the battery terminalswith soap and water will help.

Another problem that can beresponsible for battery failure isfaulty wiring system. This isusually when some majorequipment in the car refuse to gooff even after the ignition isswitched off.

Sometimes due to switchfailure, equipments such aselectronic window motor, seatadjustment motor, A/Ccompressor among others whichrunning might not be noticeablecould still be left working while thecar is off and after some hours, thelife in the battery is sapped.

If your new battery always godead in the morning and you havechecked your alternator thenfaulty switch could be the culprit.Get an electrician to trace theproblem. In the interim, considerremoving the ignition cable fromthe battery when you are readyfor a long pack.

By Richard Ihediwa

Choose battries that suit the energy need of your car Ensure your alternator is working well

Faulty cars can lead to serious disappointments

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012 PAGE 21

Healthy LivingHelping kids deal with computer stressMost kids often spend

hours at thecomputer. So it’s

important for parents to knowabout the causes of repetitivestress injuries and how toprevent them. Repetitive stressinjuries (RSIs) are conditionscaused by placing too muchstress on a joint, and they varyin type and severity. Most RSIsare linked to the stress ofrepetitive motions at thecomputer or overuse injuries insports. RSI in kids may occurfrom heavy computer or videogame use, texting, playingmusical instruments, or therepetitive motion of sports liketennis.

An RSI occurs when stress isplaced on a joint, pulling on thetendons and muscles aroundthe joint. When the stressoccurs repeatedly, the bodydoes not have time to recoverand becomes irritated. Thebody reacts to the irritation byincreasing the amount of fluidin that area to reduce the stressplaced on the tendon or muscle.

Conditions that result inRSIs include: Carpal tunnelsyndrome: swelling inside anarrow “tunnel” formed bybone and ligament in the wrist;the tunnel surrounds nervesthat conduct sensory and motorimpulses to and from the hand,leading to pain, tingling, andnumbness.

Cervical radiculopathy:disk compression in the neck,often caused by repetitivecradling of a phone on theshoulder.

Epicondylitis: elbowsoreness often called “tenniselbow”, Ganglion cyst:swelling or lump in the wristresulting from jelly-likesubstance that has leaked froma joint or tendon sheath.

Reflex sympatheticdystrophy: a conditioncharacterized by dry, swollenhands and loss of musclecontrol; consistently painful.

Tendonitis: tearing andinflammation of tendonsconnecting bones to muscles.

Fortunately, only a smallpercentage of kids have RSI.

You can help prevent RSI bytaking preventive measuresand redesigning your homecomputer environment.

PreventionPreventive measures can

help kids avoid RSIs altogether:They include. Always remindkids to sit up straight.Slouching or crouching overthe keyboard can place unduestress upon the neck, back, orspine and lead to an RSI. Tellkids to avoid tensing theirshoulders. Legs should bepositioned comfortably and feetshould be flat on the floor or on

a footrest with the legs and hipsperpendicular (between 90-100 degrees) relative to thespine.

Remind them thatpounding on the keyboard isunnecessary and can hurtthem and the keyboard itself!Using a light touch to type isbest. Also, be sure that theydon’t reach for the keys; if so,the keyboard should be movedcloser. Kids should maintain a90-degree angle between thewrists and elbows and the upperpart of the arms. Fingers andwrists should remain levelwhile typing.

Taking frequent breaks isalso important for preventingRSIs. Kids can lose track of timeand forget to take breaks, somake sure they rest their eyes,back, wrists, and neck everyhalf hour or so.

Stretching, getting a snackor a drink, or walking or takinga bike ride can help kids avoidfuture pain. Eye twitching;sore, tired, burning, itching, ordry eyes; blurred or doublevision; and increasedsensitivity to light are allsymptoms of eyestrain, so tellkids to look away from thecomputer and focus onsomething far away every oncein a while. Proper lighting ofthe workspace will also help toprevent eyestrain.

Many times, RSIs are causedby using the wrong tool for thejob. Because most computersystems are designed for thebody of a 25-year-old man, besure to get chairs, monitors,

input devices, and keyboardsthat are suitable for your kids’size

TreatmentRepetitive strain (also called

cumulative trauma)symptoms include tingling,numbness, and searing pain,which indicate the presence ofprogressive nerve and muscledamage. If your childcomplains of excessive fatigueor stiffness in the neck or backor any of these othersymptoms, a visit to the doctoris in order.

Treatments for RSI vary;your doctor may prescribe coldtreatments to reduce swellingand pain and rest to reduceirritation and speed up healing.Once the swelling and pain hasgone away, the doctor maysuggest a rehabilitationprogram to exercise themuscles slowly and prevent lossof movement in the joint.Another part of treatmentmight be anti-inflammatorymedication to reduce the pain.

It is unhealthy to expose atoddler to cumputer

Kids can be protected from RSIs

Men are taking a greaterinterest in personalgrooming and in body

hair removal. Once seen as atypically female effort, it hasslowly made its way to becominga socially acceptable male efforttoo. The number of malecustomers for body hair removalhas been steadily increasing andwith over 60% of women sayingthey prefer a man who isinterested in personal grooming,that number is sure to keep rising.When done correctly, hairremoval can leave you feelingmore hygienic and moreattractive to the opposite sex.However, not all methods are foreveryone, every skin type oreven every body part.

TrimmingTrimming body hair is an

easy way of looking after yourappearance without goingoverboard. Trimming the hair

Men are taking a greater interest in personalgrooming and in body hair removal, onceseen as a typically female affair.

Remove body hair and feel more attractive

obviously doesn’t remove it, butit certainly gets rid of the excessand it keeps things clean and tidywhich may make it ideal for ideasfor areas such as the brows,armpits and the pubic region.There are also no side-effects. Thedownside, however, is that theeffects of trimming are veryshort-term and regular attentionis required to keep things inorder.

ShavingThis is easily the most

common form of hair removalbecause it is cheap, quick andreasonably straightforward tocarry out, making it anattractive option for the modernman. However, despite itsconvenience, shaving has thedisadvantage of being one of themost temporary forms of hairremoval: depending on the areashaved, results only last for up to24 hours. Additionally, skin

irritation and ingrown hairs arealso a common side-effect ofshaving, especially for men withsensitive skin. When shaving,always shave in the direction inwhich your hair grows; to combatskin problems associated withshaving, invest in a quality razorand change the blade (or sharpenit) regularly. After shaving,moisturising the shaved area orapply after-shave balm.

TweezingUsing tweezers is ideal for

getting rid of the odd stray hairanywhere on the body or for

tidying up certain areas wherethere is not much body hair inthe first place. However,tweezing can be painful, and likemost forms of hair removal,ingrown hairs are a possibility.Additionally, because tweezingrequires you to remove one hairat a time, it is not a worthwhileform of hair removal for thosewishing to get rid of a large areaof hair. Before tweezing, it isworth having a hot shower orsplashing warm water over thedesired area in order to open thepores of the skin and thus facilitatehair removal and reduce pain.When tweezing a hair out, pullgently in the direction of hairgrowth so as to reduce the risk ofingrown hairs or skin irritation.

ThreadingThreading is actually one of

the oldest methods of body hairremoval and involves rollingtwisted threads over hairlines toremove unwanted hair. It is adifficult technique that takespractitioners many months toperfect, so you likely won’t bedoing this alone or at home. It isinexpensive, fast and slightly

uncomfortable but requires a veryskilled practitioner.Unfortunately, threading onlyworks on flat surfaces andremoves hair in straight lines,making it more suitable for theface and other small regions andunsuitable for larger or curvedregions.

WaxingThis form of hair removal

involves spreading heated waxover the desired area and thenusing a strip to remove the waxand the hair along with it. Thistechnique is effective and can lastfor up to four weeks. Additionally,waxing is cheap and waxing kitsare readily available, allowingyou to do it yourself in the comfortof your own home. Caution mustbe taken however, as the pain ofwaxing is an inescapable truth,especially for first-timers, andwhile it guarantees a hairlessbody, it can also lead to skinirritation and ingrown hairs. Tocombat ingrown hairs,thoroughly exfoliate the problemarea and generously moisturize toencourage the new hair to grownormally.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012 PAGE 23

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

SHORSHORSHORSHORSHORT STT STT STT STT STORORORORORYYYYY

Children's Day:Children's Day:Children's Day:Children's Day:Children's Day:Celebrating innocenceCelebrating innocenceCelebrating innocenceCelebrating innocenceCelebrating innocence

Sights and sounds

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

Cats and dogs

Childhood is perhaps thebest part of anyone’slife as during this time

we enjoy life to the fullest.Children do not know whatsorrow is, they do not knowthe harsh realities of timeand go about being happy intheir own merry world.Children’s day is a specialday that aims to celebratechildhood, the mostwonderful stage in the life ofa person. Universallychildren’s day is generallycelebrated on the 1st of Junebut not regularly. TheInternational Children’s dayhas its origin at the WorldConference held in Geneva,Switzerland for the well

being of children. In India,14th November, is celebratedas Children’s day, this daycommemorates the birthdayof Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,India’s first prime minister.Pt. Nehru liked children verymuch and he was oftenphotographed with them andit is perhaps very apt that hisbirthday is celebrated aschildren’s day.

Pt. Nehru is seen as aspecial child of India as he wasthe country’s first PrimeMinister which it achievedafter a long struggle forfreedom and independence.On this day, all the schoolorganizes different types offun activities for children.Communities and culturalclubs also organize differentactivities for children. Thereare also different types ofcompetitions held on this dayand prizes are distributed tothe winners. It is that one dayin the year when we not onlycelebrate childhood but alsoremember one of the mostprominent leaders in thehistory of India. Almost all

schools have some or the otherevents lined up on this dayand this is one day thatchildren look forward to. Andnow due to the huge inroadsmade by satellite television,you will invariably findchannels beaming outdifferent programs to attractthe children’s attention onthis day.

The earlier memoriesthat come to my mind aboutchildren’s day are theexcitement and anticipationthat I and my friends used tohave. It was a huge occasionfor all of us and we reallywanted to take part in all theactivities and win those prizesas well. In those days, all my

friends aimed for those prizeson children’s day as most ofthem were tickets to someride in an amusement park.Now, what better than thiscan be a gift to a child? Iremember taking part in aquiz competition with myfriend, and we won the firstprize there. The prize was abook on fairy tales and let metell you this is one of the mosttreasured possessions in mycollection of books.

Children’s day iscelebrated on different daysin different countries acrossthe world. In Nigeria, it iscelebrated on the 27th of May,in Japan, it is celebrated onthe 5th of May, and this dayis known as Kodomo no hi, inIsrael, it is celebrated on 9thOctober, in Hong Kong, on4th April. Children all overthe world look forward tothat day when children’s dayis celebrated in their countryas this is the one day whenthey can enjoy and celebratethe joy of childhood.Article Source:Denis Tyler

Around 1000 B.C. much ofAfrica was covered bysmall villages of peoples

who shared languages thatwere similar to one another.Among these people are theBantus. Basically, because thelanguages they shared wereknown as Bantu, these people

A man and his wife had agolden ring. They didn’tknow it was a lucky ring.

One day they sold the ring fora little bit of money but theythen became poorer and poorer.

The couple were so poor thatthey could no longer feed theircat and dog. The dog told thecat that they had to get thelucky ring back so they couldhave money and food again.The cat agreed and told the dogthat he knew where the ringwas kept.

The cat caught a mouse andthey all went to the housewhere the ring was kept in acasket. The mouse made a holein the casket and got the ringout. The cat took the ring in hismouth. The dog and the catrushed home to give the ringback to their masters.

The cat jumped fromtreetop to rooftop and got homemuch more quickly than thedog that could only run.Because the cat arrived first,the masters decided to treathim with lots of food and lots ofcare. Unfortunately, they werenot so kind to the dog that camehome later. The dog did notforgive the cat’s selfishness andsince then dogs and cats havenever been friends.

are referred to as the Bantupeople.

The Bantus lived in smallvillages that were governed bya chief, council, or by elders.These villages were typicallymade up of extended families,but marriage among people ofdifferent villages was common.

The locations of Bantuvillages were temporary.

They tended to remain inone location until the resourcesin that area were exhausted, aslife became more difficult, orthe ground less fertile, theywould move on to a newlocation.

The Bantus, in local costumes

Tortoise and the IgbakoAFRICAN AFRICAN AFRICAN AFRICAN AFRICAN TTTTTALESALESALESALESALES

PAGE 22 PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

Make your own loop paper Bonka

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

The Tortoise family nibbledat what little food therewas, but no one was

satisfied. Tortoise said, “WhenI had plenty of food, everyoneate of it. Now I have food thatdoes not satisfy, everyone mustshare in the dissatisfaction”. Sohe set off for the palace andasked the Oba to assemble allthe animals.

When all the animals weregathered, anticipating a hugefeast, Tortoise brought out histiny igbako and said, “Igbako,what is your duty?” The igbakoreplied,I make tiny lumps of iyan,I make tiny lumps of eba,such that the whole world eatsbut is never full.

The animals grumbled asthey struggled for the littlepieces of food that appeared.“Ask igbako to make more food!”they yelled. And Tortoise askedigbako to do its duty again andagain until the tiny igbakobroke. And there was still notenough food. The animals wereangry. “Go back and getanother one”, they yelled at thetortoise.

For the third time, Tortoiseflew with borrowed feathers tothe ocean over many rivers tosee the water goddess.

He cried out to her “Helpme, my family starves, igbakois broken again. Please give meanother one.”

The water goddess came outand asked him, “Did you breakyour promise and share theigbako with others?” “Oh no”,

replied Tortoise, “I would neverdo that. I kept my promise, yetigbako broke.”

“Well then, I’ll give yousomething else this time – a rodbuilt so strong, it shall notbreak” said the water goddess.She gave Tortoise a rod andreturned into the ocean.

“Rod, what is your duty?”asked Tortoise to which the rodreplied,I whip the disobedientI whip the greedytill their skin is white with pain.

And the rod began to whipTortoise.“I shared my big igbako, Ishared my small igbako, I shallnot keep this rod for myself”,Tortoise said to himself and hepicked the rod and his borrowedfeathers and flew back home.

When he got home, he gatheredhis family in the room andasked the rod, “Rod, what isyour duty?” The rod replied,I whip the disobedientI whip the greedytill their skin is white with pain.

The entire Tortoise familyreceived a good whipping. Afterthat, Tortoise took the rod to thepalace where all the animalswere waiting for him aftertheir disappointing feast.

“Rod, what is your duty”,Tortoise asked. Again the rodreplied,I whip the disobedientI whip the greedytill their skin is white with pain.

Every animal presentreceived a whipping as theyfled back into the forest The end

Step 2

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

Zainab Musa Adamu

Ask grown-up for helpWhat you need:•Long strip of black card•Glue or sticky tape•Black and pink card to makethe ears•Scissors•White card/paper to makethe eyes•Black felt tipStep 1

Take thestrip ofblackcard andstick thetwo endstogetherto make aloop.

Cut two ear shapes out ofblack card. Then cut twosmaller ear shapes out of pinkcard, and stick them on top ofthe larger black ear shapes.When you have done that,stick an ear on each side ofyour paper loop.

Ask anadultto helpyouwiththisnextpart.

Step 3

Next, cut out two small whitecircles to use for the eyes

(remember to ask a grown upto help you). Stick thembetween the two ears. Use afelt tip pen to draw a smalldot in the centre of each eye.

Step 4Stick some cotton wool ontothe top and bottom of yourloop paper Bonka to finish!

PAGE 24 PAGE 25PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26, — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

Kannywood NollywoodI don’t always do the love thing –DaBeatTiwa Savage writes song for

Grammy Award winner, Monica

Genevieve joins D'Banj asverified twitter account users

Justice Okafor a.k.a Dabeatproduction is a musician/producer.

He says; “The biggest songs I’veproduced are Oti yan yan by slimJoe and 1005 naira by MallamSpicey.” In this interview, hespeaks on his music and otherissues. Excerpts:Please tell our readers aboutyourself?My name is Justice Okafor a.k.aDabeat production. I’m a musicproducer, singer and song writer.What is the biggest song you’veproduced so far?Oti yan yan by slim Joe and 1005 nairaby Mallam Spicey, that’s beef betweenTerry G and Mallam Spicey.How many albums do you haveto your credit?I have 5 albums.When did it all start?I’ve been singing professionally andproducing since 2000.How did you debut into theentertainment world?I have loved music since I was a child,so I think my love for music got meinto music industry.Which song brought you to thelimelight?Oti yan yan, 1005 naira and chocolate!What inspires your songs?It is basically my current mood. If Imake lots of money I sing aboutmoney. If I’m in love, I sing love songs.Do you always fall in and out oflove?(Laughs) I don’t always do the lovething anyway.Are you married or seeingsomeone?Single and I’m not seeing anyone.What are you working on rightnow?Just did slim Joe’s new single, Konga’s

Popular Nollywood star,Genevieve Nnaji, whorecently turned 33 this

month, has landed anothermilestone in her life as a celebrityof repute.

This time, the celebratedactress got her twitter account,Genevievennaji1 verified bytwitter.

She now joins D’Banj, who gothis own twitter account verifiedlast month. It is still unconfirmedif Genevieve is the secondNigerian celebrity that alreadyhas a twitter account verified.

Her twitter handle nowcarries the prestigious ‘bluemark’ sign. Twitter only verifiesaccounts of its users when theyhave amassed a sizable number

Funke Akindele's wedding planto Oshodi Big Boy, Almaroof threatened

According to First WeeklyMagazine reports, thewedding plans of Sultry

Nollywood actress, Funke Akindele toOshodi, Lagos big boy and propertymerchant, Alhaji Kehinde OloyedeAlmaroof on May 26, 2012 appearsto be cluttered by controversies.

While the prominent actress is saidto be making elaborate plans for thewedding, sources have said that shehas lost her rating as a well-lovedNollywood actress with her proposedengagement to a man, alleged to beone of the boys in Oshodi, Lagos beforehitting it big in property business.

Moreover, Kenny Doo, asAlmaroof is fondly called in his base atOshodi, is said to be married to abeautiful lady called Detoun, who isbelieved to have a popular fabric shopin Oshodi and said to have fourchildren for him. A source revealedthat Al-Mahroof’s marriage to Detounhas never been without crises as thecouple are said to fight almost on adaily basis.

A source said that about two otherwomen have children for Al-Mahroof.

“What do you expect; he is a bigboy and ladies flock around him. Iknow that two other women havechildren for him apart from his wifethat bore him four children,” thesource said.

When asked if the couple are stillliving together, the source answeredin the affirmative, “yes, they are stillmarried but they fight every time.”

But one of Funke Akindele’s closefriends claims that Kenny Al-Mahroofis divorced.

“They started dating about a year

This must be a soaring timefor one of Nigeria’s topfemale singers, Tiwa

Savage as she has achievedanother milestone just days afterher Pepsi multi million nairadeal.

Tiwa just got a writing creditfor American R&B star, Monica.It is learnt that Tiwa Savagewrote the song, ‘Catch Me’ forMonica’s 2012 Deluxe ‘New Life’Album.

This is one of Tiwa Savage’sobligations at Sony’s ATV

Publishing unit as a singer andsongwriter.

Monica is a Grammy awardwinning singer. She broke intointernational fame with her duetwith Brandy with the hit single,The Boy Is Mine.

Tiwa Savage left her bankingjob in the UK to start a musiccareer in Nigeria. Her debutsingle, Kele Kele Love became aninstant hit in Nigeria.

She was recently signed byMavin Records owned by DonJazzy.

Genny

of followers.As at press time, Genevieve has

about 140171 followers.

ago and Funke did not meet anywoman in his home. He told Funkethat he was married before, but hasdivorced his wife.

“And, what is wrong in marryinga divorcee? As far as I’m concerned,Al-Mahroof is single because he isdivorced. What we should do is prayfor them and wish them the best,”

Funke’s friend said.Meanwhile, findings revealed that

Al-Mahroof is a rich young guy, whostarted making money for himselfwhen his mother was the Iyaloja(market leader) of Oshodi. Kenny’smum, Alhaja Al-Mahroof, accordingto sources, once reigned as the secondin command to Alhaja Abibat Mogaji,the Iyaloja General of Lagos andmother of ACN National Leader,Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Those in the know told First Weeklythat Funke, nicknamed Jenifa, basedon her role in her celebrated movie;‘Jenifa,’ was not aware of the fullmarital status of Kenny Doo before sheagreed to walk down the aisle withhim, and that even after the truthwas exposed, she has refused to changeher stand.

The source said a fight later ensuedbetween Alhaja Al-Mahroof andAlhaja Mogaji which made the formerdefect to the opposition, PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP) in LagosState.

It was learnt that Alhaja Al-Mahroof always sponsored her son,Kenny Al-Mahroof to contestelections in Oshodi under thebanner of the PDP. Kenny contestedthe 2007. House of Representativeselection to represent Oshodi-IsoloFederal Constituency under the PDPbut lost.

He also served as the PersonalAssistant to a former Minister ofWorks.

Kenny Doo, sources revealed,now shuttles between Nigeria andLondon for his property business andlives in a modest mansion in Magodoarea of Lagos.

It was gathered that anothersource of trouble for Funke is the factthat the Lagos State chapter of theAction Congress of Nigeria (ACN),whose government has beensupporting Funke Akindele’s moviesthrough advert patronage, andwhich uses her as a model for itsprogrammes through the StateInland Revenue Board, may beangry at her choice of Almaroof, aPDP member, as husband.

Meanwhile, some of the fans ofthe successful actress have comehard on her for planning to settledown with another woman’shusband, and for picking a semi-literate as hubby, when she has thechoice of getting a single man, whowould match her class.

The dark-skinned diva was saidto have bursted into tears, when shewas confronted by close associates,who condemned her for damningthe consequences of her marriage toAlmaroof, when she has severalchoices.

Her reason for weeping, as laterexplained, is because she felt thatshe has waited enough and that nowthat she met someone who wouldtake her as a wife and make herhappy, people do not seem to behappy, but rather have chosen tocondemn her.

Many of her critics wonderedwhy on earth she would agree to bea second wife, they also asked whywith the level of her exposure andeducation as a University of Lagoslaw graduate, she opted to settle fora man, who is barely educated andwho has four kids from anotherwoman already.

Ali Nuhu, Omotola Jalade star in upcomingCouture: Lookbook Movie, ‘Last Flight to Abuja’

Many top Nollywood stars willbe at the world premiere ofthe film, Last Flight to Abuja,

which will take place on June 8 atTroxy Cinema in London. Last Flightto Abuja is the eagerly anticipatedfilm from Obi Emenloye – director ofthe widely acclaimed 2011 movie,The Mirror Boy.

Ali Nuhu Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde

Some of the stars expected at thepremiere, are Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Jim Iyke, Ali Nuhu, JideKosoko, Olumide Bakare, Uru Eke,and Anthony Monjaro.

The premiere is shaping up to bethe biggest Nollywood premiere everheld in the UK, with 2000 guests ex-pected to be in attendance.

The premiere will feature a redcarpet reception, film screening, aswell as a Q & A session. There will alsobe an after party, where guests willbe able to mingle with the stars, andtake pictures with them.

The premiere will be anchored byNigerian comedian and compeers,Okey Bakassi.

nollywoodmindspace.com

DaBeat, 2Face and a friend

new single, and I’m presently workingwith two artists on two different labels:M21 records and MorganEntertainment.How is the music industry nowcompared to when you started?Wow! I’m very far from when I started.Thank God, I’m advancing every day.Back to personal life, what do youlook for in a woman?She has to be a very good andunderstanding woman.Will you marry from theentertainment industry?My wife must not be in the

entertainment. I can marry a womanof any form.So how far can you go with yourfemale fans?They remain my fans, no intimacyno matter what.What advice will you give anyonewho is aspiring to join theindustry?He or she has to be ready to faceanything that come his/her way andhave to be consistent, patient,hardworking and determined. Andfinally, he or she has to be prayerful.You recently celebrated your

birthday in a high profilemanner. Which of your guestssurprised you the most?(Laughs) 2Face Idibia.Why?Because he still came to show me lovedespite the fact that he just came backto Nigeria that night. I did not includehis name in the broadcast because Iknew he travelled.So you weren’t really expectinghim?Yes, because he wasn’t in town. Butwhen Faze told him he was going formy birthday, he said he will comewith them alongside Rock Steady too,so they drove in a convoy to the club,that’s big love he has for me.Which other stars were at theparty?Faze, Mr Raw, Konga, Slim Joe,Mallam Spicey, Rock Steady,Mezaya, Msix, Dj Roland of Eko Fm/choice Fm.What will you say to your fans?Wow. I address them as my bestfriends. I love them like the air,which means, I can’t do withoutthem.What is your happiestmoments.When I see people dancinghysterically to the song I produced,and they don’t know that theproducer of the song is among them,it makes me happy.Anything else you want to add?Yes, I want to say special thanks tomy family, Chief and Mrs. A.COkafor, my sound clinic crew, mymanager Mr Vartex, and to all thepeople that showed me love at thebirthday: A.G Rich, Loud Films,Morgan ent. M21 Records, M21Night club and M21 Gallery.

I’m a very transparent person -Angela OkorieCan you please introduce

yourself?My Name is Angela Okorie. I am

a Nollywood actress and was born andbrought up in Cotonou. I am from afamily of 5 and I’m number 3 in thefamily. I schooled at LASU andpresently reading theatre Arts at theUniversity of Lagos. I’m married witha son.

Tell us about your journey sofar?

I did my first film in December2009, and since then, I have shot over50 movies. I am enjoying every bit of it.It was after I shot the film called HolySerpent produced by CorumaInternational Production that Jobsstarted coming from here and there.

What are the challenges facedon the job?

Yes, a little bit with my colleagues,especially with the ones that were therebefore I came, so many but I thank Godfor today.

What is it about you that peopledon’t know?

Nothing, I’m a very transparentperson. I don’t know how to hide myself.

What are you working on rightnow?

I’m working on a movie in Asaba.

Tell us about themovie?

It’s about girls that aredesperate for the prince. Theywant him and his money.They are fighting to get to him,and I’m playing Mercy, she isa wayward girl who alsowants the prince.

Who are the otherartists in the film?

Mercy Johnson, MunaObiekwe, LawrenceLurrenz Onuzulike,Angela Okoli, MaryUranta, Diamond Okechi.The producer is UcheNancy and the director isAndy Nwakalor.

Do you encounter anydifficulty playing awayward girl?

No; not at all. It’s notdifficult at all, because I havea good director directing me.

What are your wordsto your fans?

I love them so much andthey should always watch mymovies. I will neverdisappoint them.Nigeriafilms.com

Funke and Almaroof

AngelaOkorie

PAGE 26 PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

Amitabh Bachchan steps into Hollywood

HHHHHollollollollollywywywywywoodoodoodoodood/////BBBBBollollollollollywywywywywoodoodoodoodoodJustin Bieber: I nearly quit music!

Snooki: Evicting herself from Jersey Shore House!

Kate Gosselin: I’ve made peace with Jon!

Bikini for Sonakshi, an absolute NO!

Amitabh Bachchanmakes his firstattempt in

Hollywood, sharingscreen with LeonardoDiCaprio and TobeyMaguire in director BazLuhrmann’s film TheGreat Gatsby.

In the film, Big B

Sonakshi Sinha saysshe is veryuncomfortable in

donning a bikini onscreen.

“It’s a complete no-noto bikini because I am notthat kind of a person. Ihave been brought up in acertain way. I have certainrestrictions that I followand I don’t see any reasonto change it because if theaudience has accepted mefully clothed, then whywould I resort to it?” saidSonakshi Sinha.

The 24-year-old willsoon be seen in herupcoming film RowdyRathore in her desiavatar. She is said to becontinuing the same desilook in the rest of thefilms too. The desi lookwill carry on in Joker,Once Upon a Time Again,Dabangg 2, Son of Sardarand Lootera.

“I am a normal Indian

plays Meyer Wolfsheim.The superstar is seendoing a small cameo.

“ I p l a y M e y e rWolfsheim for about afew seconds… yaa…bythe time you look downon your popcorn to pickanother morsel, I ’d beg o n e f r o m t h e f i l m ,

kind of short service,”Big B posted on his blogbigb .b igadda.com.

The Great Gatsby isa n a d a p t a t i o n o f FScott Fitzgerald’s booko f t h e s a m e n a m e .D i C a p r i o p l a y s t h et i t u l a r p r o t a g o n i s t i nthe f i lm.

Sanjay Kapoor marries again?

girl who wears jeans andT shirts normally. Bornand brought up in Mumbai,so I am used to wearingclothes like that,”Sonakshi Sinha added.

Sonakshi also revealedthat she will never do avery bold scene like the oneVidya Balan did in The

Dirty Pictures.“It was a great film and

Vidya’s performance wasfantastic. I respect her somuch as an actress after thatfilm, but it takes guts to dosomething like that. I don’tthink I will be able to pull itoff with the restrictions thatI have,” she said.

who is very close to PriyaSachdev, who is a modeland socialite, now plans totake the relationship to thenext level.

As a source is quoted assaying, “Sunjay and Priyaappear to be extremelyserious about each other.They want to keep their pastbehind and start anew.”

During the promotion ofher latest film DangerousIshq, Karishma avoided allquestions that revolvedaround her personal life.

Sunjay was earliermarried to fashion designerNandita Mahtani, fromwhom he got a divorce justa few days before he tied theknot with Karishma.

Karishma Kapoor’spersonal life is allrocky and not at all

going smooth. The actress issaid to be staying away fromher husband, in Mumbai.

Her husband lives in Delhi.The latest buzz is that theactress’s husband isplanning to marry again.The bride is apparently hisgood friend. Sunjay Kapoor

Of all the songs pennedfor his new album,Justin Bieber wrote

one for Mariah Yeater andone for Selena Gomez.

He also dedicated a singleto his fans.

It’s the title track on“Believe” and its lyricsinclude the line: You kept myheart from falling.

Why are these words someaningful? BecauseBieber nearly quit themusic business, he told TheHollywood ReporterSunday night at TheBillboard Music Awards,and his supporters kept theyoung singer going.

“I think it’s so importantto me because it’s about my

fans and how much they’vehelped me,” Bieber said ofthe song. “They really havekept my heart from fallingbecause they’ve alwaysbeen there and supported meand cheered me on.”

Bieber admitted “therewere so many times when Ijust wanted to say, ‘enoughis enough, I don’t want to dothis anymore.’

But, thank goodness, hepushed forward and wasrewarded for his efforts witha standing ovation at theaforementioned awardsceremony, where he wonTop Social Artist andperformed his latest single.

“Believe” comes out onJune 19.

Snooki is not quittingJersey Shore, butshe is evicting

herself, so to speak.She’ll no longer be

living in the same houseas the rest of the cast, asshe’s secured her ownprivate place nearby.

The expectant mom istaking her pregnancyseriously, choosing tolive near the JerseyShore house rather thanin it for obvious reasons.

Surrounding yourselfwith drunken, loudroommates whilepregnant? Not the bestmove. Surprisingly,Snooki realized this!

Due in early fall,filming this summer forSnooki will mean she’llbe in prime poppingposition. This is all themore reason for her tohave a place of her own.

Between this and asober Situation (who justgot out of rehab), it’sshaping up to be thelamest, and possibly last,season of the Shore.

Who wants to seeadults making maturedecisions?! That’s what

her new reality show isfor. Speaking of, watch

the Snooki & JWowwtrailer!

Are the years of publicfeuding between Jonand Kate Gosselin

finally a thing of the past?She certainly hinted asmuch on the Today, showrecently.

Kate, who’s still beingstalked by some freak, toldAnn Curry that she and herex have made peace and areworking together to raisetheir children.

“I can honestly say it’smore peaceful than it’s everbeen,” said the 37-year-old.“I feel that a really bigweight has been lifted off myshoulders.”

Despite all the bad blood- just last month, shehammered Jon for flakingon child support - Kate had

nothing but praise for himthis time around.

“He’s really been positiveand more available and it’sjust less stressful. I feel likehe’s been working with memore, and the kids notice,”

she said. “And that’s good.Because I’ve always justwanted that peace, not justfor me, but for them andwe’re finally to a pointwhere it’s happening.”

To think, all the timeand energy that Kate spentdragging Jon’s namethrough the mud on TV andTwitter can now be saved forher huge brood.

“I can take thatemotional energy that wasso wasted in that area andput it back towards the kidsand taking care of them,”she told Curry. This seemslike a novel concept butwhether it lasts more thana week, is question foranother day.www.thehollywoodgossip.com

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012 PAGE 27

Choose towel racks tomatch bathroom’s interior

Homes

Towel racks for bathroomscan be practical andattractive, adding to the

interior decor. While peoplecan hang towels on pegs orhooks, the towels do not dryproperly on them in mostclimates especially during therainy season when dampnessbecomes the order of the day.Additionally, the towel caneasily slip from the hook andform a moist heap on the floor.Actually, towel racks forbathrooms are one of the mostessentials of the bathroomfixtures.

Towel Racks TypesTowel racks come in

several shapes and sizes. In themore humid climates, aheated radiator or rail fortowels is a helpful fixture.These are usually powered byelectricity to add somewarmth and heat-dry thetowels hanging on them. Mostbathrooms have wall racksfrom which the towels canhang. These may be the widthof a towel or half the towelwith the intention that thetowel will be folded in halflength-wise before beinghung.

Then, the bars come inseveral other shapes and sizessuch as a stand-alone rackwith multiple rungs whereone or more towels can drape.Some racks come out from thewall and have four or morerungs for hanging more thanone towel in the same spacewith enough room between forsome air to circulate. Some aremade for hand towels and areusually placed near the sink.

The materials used inmanufacturing towel racksrange from metal to glass,resin to wood. Any imaginablematerial sturdy enough tohandle the weight of moisttowels is appropriate. Somematerials are selected mainly

for design style and others areonly serviceable for thefunction with basic design.

Selecting the RightTowel Racks

Most of the time, care istaken that the towel racksmatch the other hardwareinstalled in the bathroom andthe style enhances the decor.

Burnished or brushed brassmay be wonderful for roomswith provincial decor. Whitesolid or chrome may workwith white tiles or bathroomswith color and whitetrimmings. Most of the time,basic racks fit a variety ofdecor design styles.

Selecting towel racks alsomeans taking into account thespace where they will beinstalled, and how manyracks are desired. One rack ina room that services multiplepeople is definitelyinadequate. If space is limited,creative spacing and fixturesthat feature more than onerack in the unit may behelpful.

InstallationProfessionals can install

the racks for a minimal price.Many building supply storeshave experts willing to do thework or they haverecommended workers.Additionally, building supplystores will have employeesthat can guide home andbusiness owners through thesteps to install the towelracks.

Different types of walls willpose different challenges to

installation. Most newerhomes come with racksalready included in thefinished bathroom, butsometimes more racks areneeded or the home did notcome equipped with towelracks. Walls with tile requiredrilling through the tiles andusually require a professional.

For walls with drywall,finding the studs in thestructure of the wall behindthe drywall is important. Thetowel racks must be securedto the studs and not just boltedto the drywall that is notreliable to hold weight. Toolsneeded are generally a drillwith bits that fit the bolts anda screw driver that fits thebolts.

The Bathroom withRacks

While towel racks forbathrooms are not the eye-catching focal point of theroom, they are greatly missedwhen they are not installed.Finding a place to hang a wetor damp towel can become aproblem. Completing theroom, towel racks arenecessary fixtures for normalbathroom use.

towelracksforbathrooms.net

PAGE 28 PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

Extraordinary objects to ease your cookingUse the tools on hand to create the perfect meal. From bakingsoda, banana peels, baby oil, and beyond, you can makeworking in the kitchen a lot easier. For instance, there ismuch more to using a hair drier, it can also be used to dryyour salad. There's lot more.

Hair dryer as salad drierIf you have rinsed and spun your salad,but the leaves are still wet, set yourhair dryer on a cool setting and wave itgently over the leaves. Make sure thereisn't hair sticking from the drier.

A teaspoon as a ginger peelerWhen you find it impossible to peel ginger without losingsome of the flesh, try this. If you're right-handed, hold theginger in your left hand and, using a teaspoon; firmly scrapethe edge of the spoon along the knob with your right. Thepapery skin will peel straight off.

Dental floss as slicerBecause your brush is not enough to removeeverything from your mouth, a dental floss isrecommended. But held taut, fine floss can slicelayers of cake, soft breads, soft cheeses, butterand plenty of other soft foods more effectivelythan a sharp knife.

Plastic drink bottle as a funnelCut off the top third of the bottle and turn it upside down.Now you can easily funnel left - over sauces, gravies, kidneybeans or even grease into containers for storage or disposal.

Scissors as herb chopperUse clean household scissors to snipfresh herbs and spring onions intosalads or mixing bowls. Scissors arealso perfect for cutting steam ventsin the crust of a pie before it goes inthe oven.

Flowerpots askitchen toolStore serving spoons,whisks, tongs andother kitchen tools inflowerpots on thebench top. To makethe pots moredecorative, you couldpaint each one in adifferent pastel orbright colour

Wood rasp as lemon zesterA clean, fine metal rasp from a toolboxworks perfectly as a zester for lemons,limes, oranges and other citrus fruit.Its tiny raised nubs scrape the fruit'sskin to create perfect zest.

Shoehorn to remove cornkernelsA clean shoehorn has atleast two uses in the kitchen:scrape the wide end along acob to remove the kernelsand use the narrow end togently release baked goodssuch as cupcakes, small piesor muffins from their tin.

A coffee filter as a gravy strainerBeef and poultry drippings from a roast make the most delicious,flavoursome base for gravy, but are often packed with grease.Save the flavour and lose the fat by straining the cooking juicesthrough a paper coffee filter.

Pots & PansWith

Hajiya Ramatu Usman DorayiCuisine

PAGE 29PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26— SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

Surviving the newborn days: Aguide to bringing home your baby

Womanhood

You are finally cominghome with your baby!This is a wondrous and

memorable occasion, as youembark on a new chapter oflife: motherhood. However,coming home with a newbaby can also be a stressful,busy time, as Baby and youadjust. It certainly mayrequire taking some time tofigure everything out whenyou have brought home thatbundle of joy.

Here are some tips youneed to be abreast of whichare essential in surviving thenewborn days.

What to DoBeforehand

Clean the house:cleaning the house beforeyour due date is a great wayto survive the newborn days.Once you come home withBaby, you will be tired andtoo busy with Baby and thevolume of visitors throngingyour home to catch a glimpseof your baby to worry aboutdusting and vacuuming. Do itall ahead of time, and you willbe thankful when you returnto an already clean home.

Cook food and freezeit: This is a fabulous way tosurvive the newborn days!Cook up big servings of thingslike soups and stews anddivide it up and freeze it. Youwill have a good supply ofcooked meals on hand to relyon for the first few days.

Prepare Baby’snecessities: This might gowithout saying; but makesure you have set up Baby’scrib, bouncer seat andchanging area. Havingpowder, bottles, and openpacks of diapers waiting willhelp you survive thenewborn days.

What to Do Once YouAre Home

Accept any and allhelp: It is natural for a newmom to feel guilty aboutaccepting babysitting help.Put that guilt aside; acceptinghelp from family and friendswill help you rest, which willin turn help you take care ofBaby. To survive thenewborn days, rely on yourclose ones and don’t be afraidto designate tasks you reallyneed done - like the laundryor shopping to re-stock thekitchen. They are all dying tohelp, anyway, so it’s a win-

win situation.Don’t be afraid to send

them home: truly, family,friends and neighbors willcome trooping in at this time.Send the guests home whenyou are tired. They willunderstand that you andBaby need rest. If you don’ttell them to leave, some ofthem will surely overstaytheir welcome and that onlyleaves you tired and wornout. Survive the newborndays by politely telling themit is time to leave because itis “Baby’s naptime” or “timefor Baby to feed.”

Turn off the ringer:Turning off the phone ringerat times of rest will definitelyhelp you survive thenewborn days. This goes forcell phones and otherdevices, as well.

Prepare the nightfeedings: If you breastfeed,you might want to put babywithin reach to make nightfeedings easy. If you bottlefeed, measure formulapowder before bedtime, andfill bottles with the correctamount of water and setaside. Warm water is apreference; roomtemperature will do fine.Then when baby wakeshungry, you can quickly addpre-measured formula towater, shake, and voila!

Eat: Sounds simple, butthis is important. You willprobably find yourselfskipping meals here andthere while caring for Baby.To survive the newborn days,you will need to rememberthat feeding yourself is just asimportant as feeding the

Baby. Prepare quick snacksor small meals and storethem in the fridge. Things likevegetables, sandwich meats,salads and cut fruit are greatfor grab-and-gonourishment. Eating severalsmall meals is also easier thanthree large ones.

Sleep when babysleeps: Your grandmothermay probably have told youthis. She should know; sotake her advice! Forget theendless to-do list. Take napsday and night with baby andyou will feel much better.

Don’t tip-toe: Whenbaby is asleep, forget tip-toeing around. Carry onbusiness as usual to help yousurvive the newborn days.Not only will Baby sleepthrough the vacuum,television, and chatter (formany, it’s actually a sleepaid!); it will help Baby getused to the routines of dayand night.

Shower: Once you arehome with Baby, you will find

showering daily falls by thewayside. But you can stillshower to feel rejuvenated.To survive the newborn days,strap baby securely in carseat or bouncer, and placethem just inside thebathroom door. Keep thedoor open a bit to let steamout, then jump in and latherup. This way, you can peekaround the curtain anytimeyou get anxious - don’tworry; Baby will still be thereand probably sound asleep!

Get out and about: Itmight seem easier to hole upin the house with Baby,especially if you didn’tshower or just feel worn out.But if it is nice outside,getting out in the fresh air willdo wonders for you and Baby.Survive the newborn days bytaking Baby for a stroll, to themall, or just to the salon orsuper store. You will feel amillion times better by thetime you get home!

Voices.yahoo.com

PAGE 30

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

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

From the archives

Peugeot 404: One of Nigeria's most popular car in the 70s and 80s.The Nigeria Airways Crew that brought Boeing 727 to Nigeria for the first time in the70s lead by Capt Frank Osakwe. (2nd from Left)

POWER MIKE VS. THE LEOPARD: Nigerian wrestling legendPower Mike Okpara vanquishes Australian matman Mustad theLeopard in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. (1974)

LLLLLearearearearearningningningningningPAGE 31PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

Organize files for backup:

Organizing electronicfiles requires two things. i.e.You need to easily find whatyou need and for easy backup.

Here is the concept. Werecommend the bestpractice of sorting your filesinto two groups: for staticand dynamic files.Static files: Files that areno longer changing (Oldfiles), these are easier to backup.Dynamic files: Files thatstill are changing. Theseneed to be backed up morecarefully so that you haverecent data, and if you getcorrupted or virus-infectedfiles, you can go back asmany days as you need toget clean, usable files.Archiving static filesYour set of static data is thebig one, usually. This is thedata that often creates hugebackups that are hard to do.Since it is not changing, youcan drag and drop the datainto an external hard disk,keep it and your arecovered. You keep twocopies: the copy on theexternal drive kept in a safeplace, and the copy still onyour computer.Note about safe place tokeep your flash andexternal hard disk:You need moisture/heatand magnet free locket ordrawer to keep you externalstorage device, this systemworks. Additionally, astatic-free, temperaturecontrolled, fire proof, lowhumidity environmentmost also be considered. Youcan double bag the harddisk in airtight zip-lock bagsand you have made itwaterproof, too.Backing up active data

The best practice foractive and dynamic data isto back it up every day, butalso to get the data offsite each day as well.

Backup is for those crazyemergencies when thingsjust go wrong. Get it toanother location so that ifsomething happens wherethe computer is (fire, flood,burglary, your child’sexperiment, etc.), thebackup is not trashed at thesame time.

Far and away, theeasiest, most reliable andleast expensive way to dothis is with online backup.

·It goes off every day (aslong as the computer isrunning).

·The data is encrypted soit is secure.

How to organizeand backup filesand folders

ICT ESSENCEICT ESSENCEICT ESSENCEICT ESSENCEICT ESSENCE

Bello Abdul’Azeez

+234 805 113 0075abdulazeez@ictessence.com

www.ictessence.com

with

Backup is for thosecrazy emergencies when

things just go wrongs

“

Chemistry LessonChemistry Problems Compiled by Joy Baba

Last week welooked at how tosolve problems

with Pythagoreantheorem. This week, wewill consider how tosolve chemistryproblems. In this series,we will focus on steps onhow to: deal withpercents, organiseinformation, andalgebraically mixchemicals using anequation

Chemistry BasicsThere are numerous

careers that deal withthe mixing of chemicals.So, it is important toknow how tomathematically handlechemistry problems inorder to understandwhat they mean andhow to prepare specificquantities of chemicals.

For instance, if 5liters of 15% hydrogenperoxide (H

2O

2)

solution was in acontainer, we should be

the actual amount ofacid there is in thesolution. It turns out,only 15% of the solutionis acid; the rest is water.

To best handle thismathematically, using atable will help. The tablebelow will help usorganize information.

When dealing with 5liters of a 15% solution,the 5 liters is a volume.The 5 liters needs to beplaced in the volumecolumn.

The 15% representsthe strength of the acidsolution. The greaterthe percent, the

stronger the solution.When placing thepercent into the table,first convert it to adecimal. Since percentmeans “out of 100,” weneed to divide the 15 by100 to get 0.15. Thisnumber must be placedunder percent.

The neat part ofusing this table is that itcan be useful to get theactual amount of acid inthe solution. The tablehas been set up so thatthe acid can be found bymultiplying across,which meansmultiplying the 5 times

the 0.15.Since 5 times 0.15 is

equal to 0.75, we needto place the 0.75 intothe table under theamount of acid.

The table helped usto determine that 5liters of a 15% solutioncontains only 0.75liters of acid. This mustmean the rest of thesolution, or 4.25 liters,must be water.

As we will see in thefollowing section, thisprocess is important forsolving problems thatcombine chemicalsolutions.

able to determine

·You can easily get backdata from a particular day.That is a big help when youare testing files for whichbackup was the last onebefore the virus got in.·Your files go to a safelocation. (Just don’t useUncle Chinedu’s HomeGarage Offsite BackupService. Use an establishedand legitimate service.)Other options for dailybackup:

Manual backup is anunreliable option. It is anextra task that can beforgotten, and can becomeso time consuming andinconvenient that it getspostponed again and again.

Automated backupusing software to storebackups to hard disks/drives has problems as well.The wrong disc or harddrive connected, or just leftin place past its time in therotation, and the backupswill fail.Recommended systemto organize files andfoldersPART ONE: Create three folders to holdall your files.

Folder #1: (Perhaps callit “WIP” for “Work InProgress”.) Is for files thatare active and can stillchange, even if it may nothappen soon.

Folder #2: (Perhaps callit “Complete” or “CompletedWork”. Is for files that are nolonger active. Perhaps foryou this would be finishedwork files.

Folder #3: (Perhaps callit “Archived”) is for filesMOVED from folder #2AFTER you have copiedthem to another storageplace, like an external harddrive.

This way you alwaysknow what files havebecome static (Folder #2),and you can easily findthem and copy them to thebackup location. You don’tspend lots of time sorting

through files.The same folders can

exist in each master folder.After you copy the

contents of Folder #2 to thebackup location, you moveeverything in it into Folder#3, and Folder #2 becomesempty.

You end up with twocopies of your archive(static) data:

·One copy is in theArchived Work folder

·Another copy is on theexternal hard drivePART TWO:Daily online backup foractive files.

The active, dynamicfiles are all in the two folders“WIP” and “CompletedWork”. There is no old /static / archival data inthem, because you havedragged and dropped suchdata into the “ArchivedWork” folder.

Now set your onlinebackup service to backupand protect these two foldersonly, since your other datahas been archived to anexternal hard disk. Whenthe “Completed work”folder grows in size, connectthe external drive and copythe data to it, also movingthe entire contents of the“Completed Work” folderthen to the “Archived work”folder.

The online backupservice will give you a dailybackup of yourchanging data to a secureand safe location off-premises.

The external disk andthe computer each backeach other up with identicalcopies of the rest of the data.

You do not need to everadjust the folders that theonline backup is set toprotect, since the samefolders always hold thecorrect data.

When files are organizedlike this, you usually find itvery manageable and theamount of data which canbe easily handled by anonline backup account.

Online backup is far andaway the most reliable wayto do this, and if you figureout the amount of time youwill spend doing backupany other way, is a greatsavings at a reasonableprice.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012PAGE 32

Guide to custom- made suit

FCompiled by Jamila Nuhu Musa

A good custom-tailored suit is aninvestment and should beapproached as such. Knowing the

do’s and don’ts beforehand can save youtime and money when you’re at thetailors.Bespoke or Made-to-Measure?Know the Difference.

Bespoke is a word that gets thrownaround all too often in the custom-tailoring world, so much so that sometailors have called for regulation of theterm. Traditional bespoke tailoringconsists almost entirely of hand-workedfabric, and requires several fittingsthroughout the process. This is incontrast to made-to-measure, in whichthe measurements are takenbeforehand, and then the suit isconstructed according to thosespecifications, with very few or nofitting sessions.Be Honest About Your Body Type.

Whether you’re 6’5" or 5’6", have thebody of a professional athlete or that ofKing Henry VII, a well-tailored suit canonly make you look better. Be sure toknow the specifics of dressing for yourbody type, as different proportionsrequire different sartorial dimensionsto properly accentuate a frame. Largergentlemen often make the mistake ofbuying even larger suits, so as to hidetheir bulk under a pile of fabric. Extraand unnecessary fabric not only costsmore, but gives the appearance of asloppy dresser. Leave your insecuritiesat the door, and go for a fit that hugsyour body.Don’t Take Your OwnMeasurements.

Play safe. Get a tailor to take yourmeasurements for you (they usuallycharge some amount), and while you’rethere,Talk To Your Tailor!

When a tailor hands you a list of yourmeasurements, it won’t be theblueprints to build an anatomicallycorrect statue of yourself; it will be thespecifications for a garment of somesort. This is why it’s important to havea conversation with your tailor aboutwhat kind of fit you want the suit tohave. You may decide that showing thestandard half-inch of shirt cuff visuallylengthens your already considerablylong arms, and that maybe a quarter-inch would be more appropriate. Maybeyou’re going to stick to your New Year’sresolution and put an extra few incheson your biceps at the gym, and wantthe tailor to leave room for them in thearms of the jacket.

Good tailors will ask you the rightquestions about the fit of your suit, andthe most experienced ones won’t needto. In any case, make the effort to havea dialogue with your tailor when you’regetting measured, as the measurements

are the most important part of any suit-tailoring process.Get a Suit That You’ll ActuallyWear.

You’ve had your measurementstaken (by a tailor hopefully). You’vepicked a sensible style, and a classicfabric colour, but you’re worried thatyou may be missing an opportunity toget something truly special made. Thesalesman did say they could do

whatever you want, right? Maybe somevelvet trim, or some pronounced chalk-striping? You see everyone around youwearing two-button jackets, maybe youshould be different and go for three, oreven four?

This line of thinking is common whenguys get a suit tailored for the first time.They have a few suits that they’vebought off the rack already, and wantto do something different with their

custom-made experience. A good vendorwill have hundreds, if not thousands offabrics to choose from. Not to mention awide array of style choices to be maderegarding lapels, vents, buttons, etc.Take a minute to think about whatoccasions you’ll want to wear the suit inand make your sartorial decisionsaccordingly. Remember, it’s the near-perfect fit of custom-tailoring thatmakes you stand out, not the wool-trimon your lapels.

Don’t Forget the ExtrasSurgeon’s cuffs? Ticket pockets?

Natural Shoulders? It’s the little thingsthat make a custom-tailored suit trulyyours, so don’t miss the opportunity toeschew some of the traditional off-the-rack conventions that plague modernmenswear outlets. Surgeon’s cuffs allowthe buttons on the jacket sleeve to beundone.

The waist or “ticket” pocket (sonamed for the train tickets that thecentury English gentlemen would storein it) has come full circle, and is seen onmany modern designs. Naturalshoulders are a must for anyathletically built man — you don’t needshoulder pads doing the work of shapingyour suit when your own shoulders cando it for you.

Why not make it a 3-piece?It’s always a good idea to get a vest

made with your suit. It usually doesn’tcost much extra, and 3-piece suits arecoming back in a big way, although youcan easily ditch the vest and wear justthe jacket and pants.

Remember, buying a custom-tailored suit involves more than justwalking into a store and picking a fabric.Know your fit and the basic styles aheadof time, and you can’t go wrong.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012 PAGE 33

Huge investment in electricity is key for massive economic development

Business

BPE set for effectivedelivery, says Onagoruwa

NSE market indicatorsrecord marginal growth

The Director Generalof the Bureau ofPublic Enterprises

(BPE), Ms. BolanleOnagoruwa, has pledgedthe determination of theBureau to carry out thereform agenda of theNigerian government inorder to bring aboutefficiency and effectiveservice delivery.

This was made knownin a press statement signedby BPE Spokesman,Chukwuma Nwokoh afterreceiving a delegation of“Lawyers in the MediaForum (LIM)” led by itsChairman, Mr. Charles

Odenigbo, in her office inAbuja this week,Onagoruwa said that to fasttrack the reforms, theBureau is working inconcert with the relevantgovernment agencies topass the necessary Bills togive the reforms legalbacking.

The DG expresseddelight that the presentadministration is keen onthe early passage of thereform Bills and that giventhe enthusiasm it hadshowed “the Bills will soonbe presented to the NationalAssembly for passage”.

She scored the Bureauhigh in the discharge of itsmandate and noted that

though there were few badcases in the privatisationprogramme, these werelargely due to challengeswith sectoral policies andharsh operatingenvironment. She gaveseveral examples ofsuccessful privatisation andpledged hera d m i n i s t r a t i o n ’ scommitment to acontinuous process ofimprovement in areas thatwere found wanting.

While promising tocollaborate with theassociation in its mandate,especially in the area ofsensitisation, the BPE bossurged it to be a defender ofthe defenceless.

A total of 389.26 millionshares worth N2.95billion were traded in

3,435 deals on the NigerianStock Exchange on Friday.

This was against the486.96 million shares valuedat N2.86 traded in 3,711 dealson Thursday.

T r a n s a c t i o n s o nthe Exchange closed for theweek on a positive note asthe market indicatorsrecorded marginal growth of 0.1 per cent.

The marketcapitalization, which openedat N7.085 trillion, grew by N5billion to close at N7.090trillion.

Oando led the pricegainers’ table with a gain

of 76k to close at N15.96 pershare.

Dangote Flour gained29k to close at N6.09 pershare, while CCNN chalkedup 24k to close at N5.29 pershare.

FBN gained 21k to closeat N11.41 per share, whileUniversity Press appreciatedby 18k to close at N3.93 pershare.

On the other hand,NewGold led the losers chart,shedding N13 to close atN2,436 per unit.

Unilever trailed with aloss of 75k to close at N28.30per share, while UACNlost 50k to close at N35 pershare.

Access Bank depreciatedby 17k to close at N6.66 pershare, while Zenith lost 10kto close at N14.80 per share.

Onagoruwa noted thatoften times, topgovernment functionariesand those in top positionsin the society aredeliberately andmaliciously maligned anddefamed “but because theycannot speak out, they areassumed guilty to thedetriment of reputationsthat have beenpainstakingly nurturedover a career life-time”

The Chairman of LIM,Mr. Charles Odenigbo, saidthe members decided toembark on the visit to getfirst hand enlightenmenton the challenges buffetingthe privatisationprogramme in Nigeria.

TUC, ASSBIFI, hail CBN’s directive on credit flow to private sector

The Association ofSenior Staff of Banks,Insurance and

Financial Institutions(ASSBIFI) on Friday hailedthe Central Bank ofNigeria’s (CBN) directivefor enhanced flow of creditto the private sector.

The ASSBIFI President,Mr. Sunday Salako, told the

News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) in Lagos, that thedevelopment wouldimprove the activities of theprivate sector operators.

NAN reports that theCBN on Wednesdaydirected banks to put inplace appropriate measuresto enhance the flow of creditto the private sector.

The apex bank notedthat there was the need forbanks to facilitate the flowof credit on activities withthe potential to induceeconomic growth within ashort period.

Salako said that thedevelopment would boosteconomic growth andincrease Nigeria’s gross

domestic product.He urged the Federal

Government to guardagainst factors that wouldmilitate against theenhanced credit flow.

“You cannot givesomebody money to investin a business and expect apositive result if theenabling environment is not

there.“It will be difficult to

repay the loan,’’ theunionist said.

He urged thegovernment to provide goodroads, improved electricityand necessaryinfrastructure that wouldguarantee effectiveutilisation of loans.

By Augustine Aminu

By Augustine Aminuwith agency report

The General Secretary ofthe Trade Union Congressof Nigeria, Chief JohnKolawole, also hailed thedirective, and expressed thehope that it would boostbusiness activities.

He noted that fundsconstraint had been a majorhindrance to the operationsof the private sector.

Mr. Deji Fisho is the Director, Risk Asset Management Group, Treasury, Operations andCustomer Service in Fortis Microfinance Bank. In this interview with Augustine Aminu, hespoke on the challenges in the financial institutions in Nigeria and the way forward.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012PAGE 34

Business Interview

How would you assessthe health of theNigeria banking

industry especially themicro-finance sector?

We live in an inter-connectedworld. Nigeria is no island. Thereare a lot of issues in the globalcommunity which will naturallyimpact on our financial sector.However, we can say the Nigeriafinancial services sector isresilient. A lot is happening but webelieve that with whatgovernment is doing the playersand the industry will becomestronger.

What is your view oncashless economy?

We believe in cashlesseconomy. Here in Fortis, we havestarted to look at the issues andthat is what led us to theimplementation of what we nowcall Fortis mobile money. So, if wehave done all that investment inthat area, it means we believe init. It is the way to go; it is the wayof the future. We are not the onlycountry that is doing it. Countriesacross the world are doing it. Inthe West, in the Gulf region, otherAfrican countries like Bostwana,Angola, Ghana, South Africa aredoing it. It is the way to go. It’s gotobvious advantages for thecustomers. You don’t have to carrycash. You are not a potentialvictim of robbery. It makes travellight and easy. It brings down costfor operators in the financialservices. As we are going cashless,you don’t have to always set upbank branches, you sign-onagents, who can be super markets,filling stations, “mamaput”,hospitals, post offices and so on.So it will integrate the society. Itis expected that it will bring costdown. It is also expected that itwill open employment for allcategories of people, directly andindirectly. So it has clearadvantages. It is the most definiteway to go.

What does thegovernment need to put inplace, to ensure smoothcashless society especiallygiving illiteracy level?

Mobile money is not acomplicated process you don’thave to be educated to be able tooperate your simple phone. So, tothat extent, it will work.Government should strengtheninfrastructure especially in theareas of power, ICT and telecoms.All these will impact on the qualityof services that the customers ofmobile money will eventually get.We also need to embark on publicenlightenment and educationacross board. Government has tospend a bit more money inadvertising and publicising the

Nigeria financial servicessector is resilient – Fisho

program.The truth is that the early users

for mobile money will be thepeople in the lower income strataand also the people in the suburbs.City dwellers and the elites alreadyhave some kind of solution at themoment for their funds. They aregoing to be the later users. Itsongoing, the journey is not a fiveor 10 years journey, but what isneeded is commitment to what wehave already started

How would you assessthe ongoing bankingreform?

We expect that the reform willenable the players in the sector tobe able to intermediate more; tolend more; to provide moreservices for the customers at lowercost and accessibility. Those arethe sorts of things to expect fromthe reforms. Hopefully in the daysahead we will see more of theoutcome.

What have been thechallenges so far inachieving these reforms?

Whatever challenge we face asa people, as a nation, they are notunique to us. That is the truth.People have faced challenges;people have overcome. We havegot all kinds of example. We havegot countries like Malaysia,Indonesia, Thailand, china. Youeven now have the Gulf States thatare beginning to make impact inthe world. You have UAE, Kuwait,Bahrain, Oman. You also havecountries in the African continent.

You have Botswana, Kenya, andGhana. What that says to us is thatthe challenges can be overcome.And not only with money; yes, weneed some money, but we needthe will power. We needpurposeful leadership; we needcompatriots who will supportpositive government policies. Weneed a people who are determinedto pull themselves and theircountry from the challenges thatwe face. We are saying that theseproblems can be overcome. Otherpeople have overcome theirs. Sowe can overcome ours. Again thestatement of the problem is thateverybody understand Nigeriaproblem: you talk of power, youtalk of aviation you talk of health,and you speak of education. Butthe flip side is that all of thesechallenges also presentopportunities.

It means that anybody whowill look at education today, thereis opportunity. If you look athealth, finance, safety andsecurity, education, construction,there are opportunities. Instead offocusing on the problems, we havegot start to think of how we canturn the problem around intoopportunities. Nigeria is a bigmarket of a hundred and sixtymillion people; a lot of them youngand vibrant. We just need to get acouple of things right and thiscountry can easily as it has beenpredicted become one of the top20 economies by 2020

Since you came on board,how would you describe thelevel of acceptability of yourbank?

Micro finance is well suited tocommunities. There is no doubtthat there is a whole lot more work

to be done. Nigerians have beenreceptive. Micro finance formerlyis new but in an informal sectorit’s not new. Nigerians have beendoing micro credit such as esusuajo and those kind of things formany years.

What do you project forthe Fortis micro financebanks in Nigeria?

I project that the bank shouldcontinue to play in that sector; tocontinue to add value and make adifference with the women. Thisis something that I hold close tomy heart. This has to do with thedevelopment of vocation. Now, ifyou look at the figures, we have gotabout 70 per cent of thepopulation that are 30 years andbelow; that will give you about 99million Nigerians. That means wehave lot of young people in thecountry. If we cultivate thatpopulation well, that is potentialenergy for the country. Now thereare different ways to engage thatsegment of the society, however,two key areas come to mind.Agriculture and agro allied. Thatwill be way to engage the youths.We must grow the ago alliedsector. The agro allied sector is notlimited only to farming. There isa value chain. It has to do with awhole range of things includingpackaging, herbicide, equipment,logistics, seeds and so on. It is afairly long and deep value chain.Another area where we will engageour youth will be vocation. Weneed to be able to standardize thevocation such as plumbing,carpentry, tailoring, photography,electrical works. We muststandardise them and encourageyoung people to go into thesevocation whether they areeducated or not. In particularly,we want to give serious attentionto educated people so that youdon’t have graduates without jobs.

Are you working on anyproject at the moment toachieve this?

Fortis is not government. It isgoing to be government that willlead the framework. But Fortissupports cooperatives in theseareas. We support women in theseareas. We train women and youthin literacy, in micro finance, insimple book keeping amongothers. But if we are going to beable to make a difference, we gotto do a whole lot more because theissue is national. We are speakingof over 90 million youths. InFortis and in other areas where Iam involved, we will continue todo whatever it is we can do. Imentor youths. I teach free ofcharge in schools; just like we aregiving back to the society. We arepassionate about development inthe country

Deji Fisho

“We expect that the reform will enable theplayers in the sector to be able to

intermediate more; to lend more; toprovide more services for the customersat lower cost and accessibility. Those are

the sorts of things to expect from thereforms. Hopefully in the days ahead we

will see more of the outcome

Business NewsPEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012 PAGE 35

Equity Market dips by-0.66% in the week asbearish sentiments persists

Trading activities on theNigerian bourseremained bearish for the

third consecutive week due tounrelenting bargain huntingwitnessed in most trading days ofthe week while the Central Bankof Nigeria kept its monetary policyrate on hold at 12% for the fourthtime in a row citing the need tobalance inflationary concernswith slowing growth as the basisfor retention.

Furthermore, Equity Marketsustained downwards movementto open the first trading day of theweek pessimistic due to continuousspeculative trading as envisagedin our Sentiments Analysis Reportwith NSE Index sliding by -0.32%while the bulls re-surfaced on thebourse in the second session as thekey market indicator closednorthwards by +0.15% due torenewed and weak bargainactivities witnessed in some sectorson the main board.

Market resumed downtrend inthe third session after closing greenpreviously as sell pressureoutweighed bargain hunting torecord -0.12% loss while similaroutlook was recorded in the fourthsession as the key market indicatorslides further by -0.43%.

Conversely, trading activitieson Friday closed northwards

marginally as sentiments turnedpositive. Consequently, the keybenchmark indices inched up by+0.06% while market closed theweek with aggregate loss of -0.66%.

Further analysis on acquiringbanks since transaction dateshowed that the share price ofAccess Bank Plc has recorded34.55% gain, followed by FCMBwith 8.97% gain while Union BankPlc leads the chart with 69.86%gain. However, Sterling Bankrecorded -6.30% loss while ETI alsoclosed negative with -2.49% lossrecorded.

See the tracking table belowHowever, the All-Share Index

in the week under review moved

down by -0.66% to close at22,232.36 as against a decline by-1.07% recorded last week to closeat22,381.11.

In the same vein, the marketcapitalization in the weekdepreciated by N47.43 billion(US$316.25 million) to close atN7.09 trillion (US$47.25 billion)as against depreciation by N76.96billion (US$513.08 million)recorded last week to close at N7.13trillion (US$ 47.56billion).

The total volume traded in theweek closed at 1.73 billion unitsvalued at N15.10 billion(US$100.68 million) comparedwith 1.84 billion units valued atN13.86 billion (US$92.38 million)exchanged in 20,421 deals lastweek. The volume transaction inthe week when compared with theprevious week data moved downby -5.85% as against downwardsmovement by -17.63% recordedlast week. Weekly value went upby +8.98% as against negativeposition of -28.39% recorded last

week.The volume traded in the top

ten most traded stocks for the weekrepresented 78.33% of the entiremarket volume transactions andtheir total value accounted for58.84% 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 1.29 billionunits, valued at N8.88billion andexchanged in 11,342 dealscompared with 1.11 billion units,valued at N8.86billion andexchanged in 11,484 deals in thepreceding week. The volumetraded in the sector accounted for74.71% of the entire marketcompared with 60.57% of theratio recorded last week.

Goldlink Insurance Plc ledthe market volume for the weekto displace IHS Plc as top tradedstock on the transaction volumechart last week.

The sector’s volume

transaction was mainly boostedby trading in the shares of thecompanies in the top-tencategory.

Conglomerates sectorfollowed with 197.47 millionunits valued at N505.04 millionand exchanged in 767 dealscompared with 48.81 millionunits, valued at N97.05 millionand exchanged in 423 recordedin the sector last week.

INDEX MOVEMENTS NSE All-Share Index opened

the week on a negative note with-0.32% loss, bearish sentimentsdominated the week while ASIclosed negative on Friday by -0.06% with negative marketbreadth.

In the week under review, allNSE sectoral Indices closednegative as NSE Oil & Gasrecorded the highest loss by -2.41% while NSE 30 closed withthe lowest loss by -0.28%.

Top 10 Gainers & Losers ofthe week

The numbers of gainers in theweek closed at fifteen (15)compared with twenty-four (24)appreciations recorded last week.Transcorp Plc topped thegainers chart for the week with+23.29% appreciations. Othergainers in the top ten appreciationclass are outlined below.

Thirty-four (34) stocksrecorded price decline of differentmagnitude in the week underreview compared with thirty-nine (39) stocks declined in theprevious week. NASCON Plctopped the losers chart for the weekwith-22.38% depreciation.

analyst@proshareng.com

Gov. Kashim Shettima ofBorno on Friday inMaiduguri inaugurated

the newly constituted blamedAgriculture TransformationTeam of the state government.

Shettima said at theceremony that the constitutionof the committee was aimedat finding solutions to thenumeous

challenges in agriculturesector.

He noted that the long periodof neglect of the sector occasionedby the discovery of crude oilcreated the many challengesconfronting the country today,including the problem of foodinsecurity.

He said it was sad that Nigeriaspent more than N20 trillion onfood imports annually.

“Nigeria has become adumping ground for almostevery food item from any countrybecause of our inability to put touse our agricultural potential.”

The governor said thatmembers of the team were

Shettima inaugurates agrictransformation team

The National PovertyEradication Programme(NAPEP) has started the

disbursement of N1.5 billion to19,440 households under its‘Conditional Cash Transfer Scheme’.

This is contained in a statementissued on Friday in Abuja andsigned by Mr Danladi Kobi,NAPEP’s Chief Press Secretary.

The statement said NAPEP hadbeen carrying out the scheme toalleviate poverty, and that thecurrent disbursement of N1.5billion had the highest number ofhouseholds to be reached since thescheme started in 2007.

It said that the scheme was beingfinanced by the MDG office as a SocialSafety Net Programme designed to

arrest “intergenerational transfer ofpoverty’’.

“The poorest households areprovided with cash grants to enablethem send their children to schooland attend primary healthfacilities.

“Since February, more than500 staff of NAPEP have beentrained and sent out to target andcapture the biometric data of thecore poor in 27 states of thefederation,’’ the statement added.

It quoted Mr Shehu Jafiya, theExecutive Director of Ecobank, whosupervised the disbursement, assaying that the transparentmanner in which the scheme wasexecuted by NAPEP and Ecobankjustified the confidence NAPEP andgovernment reposed in the bank.

“He said that Ecobank onlydisbursed the money tobeneficiaries with valid identitycards,’’ the statement said.

“NAPEP is also fulfilling theaspirations of the administration ofPresident Goodluck Jonathanbecause it plays a unique andpivotal role in poverty alleviation.’’

Poverty Alleviation: NAPEPdisburses N1.5b to less privilege

selected on merit and urged themto live up to expectations.

The Chairman of the team,Alhaji Ibrahim Ali, pledged thecommitment of themembers toward revivingagriculture in

the state, to provideemployment for the teemingunemployed youths

Manager, Public Affairs,PHCN Kubwa BusinessUnit, Mr. Samuel Onu,

says the district is partnering withsecurity agencies to curb thevandalism of PHCN facilities in thearea.

Onu made this known in Abujaon Friday in an interview with theNews Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

“Yes, our cable networks are beingvandalised and the moment someportions are vandalised people alwaysthink that such areas are deliberately

PHCN partners security agencies to curb vandalismof its facilities – Manager

put in darkness; but of late we havenot recorded any such incident.

“However, we are working handin hand with the security agencies tocurb the vandalism of PHCN’sinfrastructure and they are quite upand doing.

On the distribution of free prepaidmeters to customers in the district,Onu appealed to them to be patient,adding that the management wasmaking efforts to ensure that themeters go round.

“Our customers are kings, and we

will do all that is possible within ourreach to make them comfortable.

“In this respect, we have startedwith this issue of free metering, and Iwant to use this medium to tell ouresteemed customers that they shouldbe patient that these meters will goround and everybody will have his orher premises installed or metered.’’

Onu decried the ill-treatment ofPHCN officials by some consumers inthe district and urged them to desistfrom the attacking the officials whilecarrying out their lawful duties. (NAN)

This week at the Exchange

PAGE 36 PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

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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

Agriculture, till date, remainsthe major occupation of morethan 75% of the population of

people occupying what is today knownas the Northern Nigeria. Also the tillingof the soil for the cultivation of the vastagricultural land in the North is on asubsistence basis, leading to theproduction of food for consumptionleaving little or nothing for export toenable the country earn foreignexchange.

However, with the recent signingof the pact between the Katsina StateGovernment and Songhai regionalcentre, and the commitment of thegovernor to the project, with the sum of#3.4b approved for the project, KatsinaState Agriculture is in for a new dawn.But Katsina, situated in the North-West,is one state where the rain-fedagriculture covers a land area of morethan 24,192 square kilometers of which67% (about 1.60 million hectares) aredevoted to cultivation over the season.With the other environmentalconditions, the state has been dividedinto three agro-ecological productionzones which offers advantage of growinga wide range of crops such as maize,sorghum, rice, sugar cane, beans,cotton, groundnut, cassava, potatoesetc.

There are several irrigation sitesdistributed all over the state and moreareas are being developed for dry seasonagriculture to compliment rainy seasonfarming. Some of the large water bodiesused for irrigation purposes annuallyinclude the Jibia dam where more than3,000 hectares are being cultivated aswell as the Sabke and Zobe dams. Notableamong the agricultural producecultivated during irrigation seasoninclude pepper, onions, lettuce,cabbage, carrot, pumpkin, sweet melon,wheat, mango, guava, Irish potato,banana and other assorted vegetables.Apart from rain-fed and irrigationfarming which the people undertakethey also engage in orcharddevelopment and livestock production.

In fact a wide variety of mango,

citrus, guava, pawpaw and Date-palm arepresently grown in small peasant holdingfor local consumption as fresh fruits. Onlivestock production, the state excels inruminant animal production with capitalasset of one million cattle, 3 million goatsand 2 million sheep. Tied to the livestock isthe production and conservation of foldercrops which constitutes significantcomponent and contributes to theaggregate commodities and agriculturalproductivity of the state.

Thus, in furtherance to its commitmentin boosting the agricultural sector inKatsina state, the present administrationof Governor Shema recently entered intoan agreement, popularly known as theKatsina – Songhai initiative throughwhich the administration intends to spendthe sum of N3.4 Bn to actualize the pact.Essentially, the agreement betweenSonghai farms and the Katsina stategovernment is for a period of three yearsbeginning this year 2012. As part of theagreement there would be theestablishment of a Technology Park forapplied research which includes theprovision of Soil improvement facilities,crop genetic improvement facilities, postharvest facilities, renewable energyfacilities and establishment of an industrialpark for primary production and agroforestry.

To demonstrate its commitment for thetimely take-off of the implementation of theagreement with the Songhai farms,Katsina state government has set asideMairuwa dam in Funtua Zone, Sabke damin Daura and Zobe dam in Katsina zoneswhere the pilot scheme is to start.Interestingly, in each of the three Senatorial

zones where the sites would be located,structural facilities such as hostels,accommodation for instructors/trainers,lecture halls, dormitory and studentscanteen and guest houses foraccommodation services would beprovided.

Other facilities to be provided are roads,drainage, electricity, water distributionsystems, administrative block with officeaccommodation, rural supermarket formarketing the products, restaurant, andwell equipped and furnished conferencecentre among others.

Indeed, to ensure sincerity in theimplementation of the Songhai – KatsinaInitiative agreement, it was resolved thatthe Songhai regional centre in BeninRepublic shall submit to Katsina Stategovernment a quarterly and detailedreport of all participants in the Songhai –Katsina Initiative and upon successfulcompletion issue them certificate ofparticipation and all other benefits inaccordance with the terms and conditionsof the agreement.

Similarly, the Katsina Stategovernment shall pay Songhai regionalcentre the agreed project sum, while at theconclusion of the agreement, the SonghaiRegional centre shall provide advisoryservices to the Songhai – Katsina Initiativeproject on a consultancy basis and the scopeas well as cost of such services shall be agreedupon by both parties. Added to that was thefact that the Songhai regional centre in Port-Novo Benin, shall engage theirrepresentatives in Nigeria and other Katsinastate indigenes to perform any aspect of theSKTI project it may deem fit, but shall notassign, transfer or sublet their obligations

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under the agreement in whole or partwithout prior written consent of KatsinaState government.

Such were the move initiated by thecurrent administration of GovernorIbrahim Shehu Shema to add value toagriculture through the SonghaiInitiative. Governor Shema in the lastfive years of his administration hasdemonstrated an uncommon passion foreradicating poverty in Katsina Statethrough policies and programmestailored towards human empowermentand development.

An assessment visit to the state willnot only confirm the unprecedented goodgovernance taking place under theadministration, but will also establish thefact that with purposeful leadership,there is hope for Nigeria.

There is the need therefore, for all thestakeholders in the Nigeria project tosupport Governor Shema’s initiative andcommitment towards food productionand agricultural development. Thepersistent hunger across the country isnot only deadly, but a forerunner toanarchy if urgent measures are not takento address the problem. There is no doubt,that lack of food security underminesnational economy.

The success in the drive to attain thegoals of food security and economicdevelopment is premise on goodagricultural policy and adequatefinancial backing as demonstrated byGovernor Ibrahim Shehu Shema ofKatsina State. And as a cleardemonstration of their support to thisinitiative, some prominent indigenes inthe likes of former civilian governors’Lawal Kaita, Sa’idu Barda, AmbassadorMagaji Mohammed, seasoned economistAbidu Yazid Rafindadi, Engineer AhmadD. Ahmad Galadiman Daura, seasonedfarmers Aliyu Saulawa, Sule KofarSauri, Surveyor Murtala Safana, allwitnessed the signing of the SKTIagreement. It is hoped that when fullyoperational the SKTI would be ofimmense benefit to the majority of theover six million populace in Katsina.

Hassan Bako wrote from NagogoRd, Katsina, Katsina state

Katsinawa and prospects ofKatsina – Songhai initiativeBy Hassan Bako

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012 PAGE 37

OpinionOf legislature, executive anddemocratic development in Kogi state

The shocking verdict of theSupreme Court nullifying thetenure extension earlier granted

to the Alhaji Ibrahim Idrisadministration, threw up a freshchallenge in Kogi state. Either byomission or commission, the reveredjustices of the Supreme Court did notexpressly state who should be sworn inas the new governor of the.

Indeed, opinion leaders, grass rootelders and top players from differentpolitical divide, made consciousattempts to leverage on this “judicialslip” to their respective advantage.Thereafter, what played out was acacophony of legal gymnastics,political rhythm and constitutionaldialectics. For twenty four hours, theotherwise laid-back and quietConfluence state, was in the news forall the bad reasons. The local andinternational media feasted on the post-Supreme Court crisis.

The constitutional flux gave birthto two groups. A school of thoughtargued that the winner of the SaturdayDecember 3, 2011 governorshipelection, should be sworn in as the newchief executive. Another groupdiffered, arguing that the Speaker ofthe state House of Assembly, was therightful person to assume office asacting governor. Proponents andopponents of these sharply-dividedgroups, had leaders and foot-soldiersfrom political parties and public servicewithin and outside the state.

Typical of every battle for politicalpower in Nigeria, the foot soldiersengaged in verbal and literaryfisticuffs. Human, psychological andfinancial resources were rolled out, tofurther their positions.

However, on Friday, 27th January,2012, Captain Idris Wada and Arc.Yomi Awoniyi were sworn in as thegovernor and deputy governorrespectively. The spontaneous but

simple ceremony had the necessarytrappings of officialdom and seal ofauthority.

Curiously, political happenings inthe state, do not suggest that thingswere in the right perspective. Theaction, inaction and body language ofsome stakeholders gave rise to doubtabout their acceptability of the newadministration. The ultra-rigid,sometimes selfish, posture of someindividuals and leaders, diffused anddeflated every attempt of having aharmonious, cordial and result-oriented relationship between the newadministration, legislature andpolitical elites in Kogi state and beyond.

Perhaps being an apostle of thepolitical school of thought, which positsthat conflicts are necessary impetusthat propels socio-economic growth andpolitical development, Captain IdrisWada remained undeterred by thesenegative occurrences. He set rolled outhis administration’s programme,while exploring vagaries of democraticmechanism to resolve the post-swearing-in crisis.

Demonstrating the qualities of atrue democrat, responsive professional-in-politics and altruistic

administrator, Wada released the olivebranch by extending hand of sincerefellowship to all aggrieved persons,groups and associations either in thestate, Abuja and wherever.

At every fora, he preaches peace,soliciting the support of all Kogitesirrespective of political differences.Realizing that a people or state inperpetual crisis, irrespective of its solidpolitical and economic programmes,can never experience meaningfulinstitutional and infrastructuraldevelopment, the governor exploredevery legitimate and reasonablemeasure to broker peace, unity andsmooth working relationship with alland sundry.

Quite unlike the usual Nigerianpolitician whose action is at variancewith their vocal effusion, Captain Wadais “working the talk”. Between Januaryand April 2012, the newadministration, through the Governorand his Deputy, made concerted effortsto preach peace and continuity toevery aggrieved stakeholder andgroup.

Somehow, the crisis has throwninto the fore, some sterling qualitiesof Wada hitherto unknown by his

political supporters, opponents andcritics. That the accomplished pilotturned governor, did not cave in topressure, restrained from verbal-warfare, but showed tremendousrespect and recognition for all hispolitical opponents demands applauseand encomium from all.

That Wada and his team have beenable to forge ahead with thedevelopment agenda of Kogi state, inspite of apparent distraction fromcertain quarters, is verycommendable. The newadministration has displayed inaction, deed and words, its totalcommitment to the re-awakening andre-ordering of development initiativein the state. The administration haswithin a short period, evolved solidprogrammes, which if pursuedvigorously, will uplift the socio-economic status of the state.

A careful analysis of the governor’stransformation agenda, whenjuxtaposed with the realities onground reveals appreciableachievement. Somehow, within ashort period, the new administrationhas made impact in education,environment, health, agriculture,road, commerce and industry, ruralelectrification, water, social welfare,security and civil service reform.

Though the administration ismoving at a pace never experiencedin Kogi, the collaborativeunderstanding and support of all andsundry is required, to fully realise thedevelopmental blueprint of the newadministration. Pragmatic strategiesand measures should be evolved tocontinually re-orientate indigenes andresidents about the multiplier effectof peace and tranquility. All criticalstakeholders should realise thatenduring peace and harmony isneeded for meaningful growth anddevelopment of Kogi state.

Yusuf Tanko writes fromMaitama District, Abuja

By Yahaya Tanko

One of the problems facing thecountry today isunemployment as the rate of

unemployed youths in Nigerian is veryhigh.

Farming is the oldest form ofoccupation, as mankind right from thebeginning has made subsistencefarming that entails the production ofcrops for family consumption as anoccupation.

In Nigerian, statistic shows thatabout 70 percent of its estimated 167million inhabitants are engaged insubsistence farming.

The three basic requirements forhuman survival today are food,clothing and shelter, of which food topsthe list for man.

Because of white collar jobssubsistence farming as an employmentopportunity has been neglected by

many youths. It is a great morning-spinning business that provides jobopportunities for millions ofunemployed Nigerian youths who arelonging for white-collar jobs across theglobe. It is a multi-functional farmingwhich plays a significance role in theeconomy and consumption of food forboth rural and urban dwellers.

To improve cultural practice onsubsistence practice in other to give thehighest yield possible for consumptionand sale of crops to generates income,good management practices such asplanting of crops at the right time, useof fertilizers as crop yields would beincreased, control of paste and diseasesby adequate doses of recommendedfungicides and insecticides, farmplanning and use of improve cropvarieties.

All the food and vegetable cropsproduced such as cassava, rice, beans,plantain, groundnut, mangoes,

pepper, and so on connotescarbohydrate, protein, mineral, fatand oil, vitamins and water constitutewhat the nutrition needs calledbalanced diet which are essential forthe nourishments of the body. Theysupply the bulk of the balanced diet forhealthy human growth and suchaforementioned crops and many othersare consumable and marketable forsale to generate income in order to beatunemployment.

Subsistence farming gives room forsome of these crops harvested to be keptin the barn for safety; some areconsumed while other products aremarketable for sale. It is an attractivearea of adequate employmentopportunity which should be embracedby youths in the country.

The sale of food items stored in thebarn during critical moments also goesalong way in cushioning the effects offood scarcity in certain periods.

Seeing subsistence farming as employment opportunitySubsistence farming is common in

all parts of Nigeria which serves as amajor business venture especially inthe northern part of the country andrequires less capital.

It will be recalled that PresidentGoodluck Ebele Jonathanadministration has resolved to initiatesome measures to put an end to thefarmer’s plight. The measuresparticularly aimed at strengtheningvarious value-change activities thatwill add value to the country’s farmproduce, while boosting the revenue ofsubsistence farmers.

In the light of this, the youths inthe country should see subsistencefarming as an employmentopportunity.

Ayodeji Peter OgundareDepartment of MassCommunicationUniversity of Maiduguri.

By Ayodeji Peter Ogundare

“That the accomplished pilot turnedgovernor, did not cave in to pressure,

restrained from verbal-warfare, butshowed tremendous respect and

recognition for all his politicalopponents demands applause and

encomium from all

Constructors of collapsedbuildings should be prosecuted

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26— SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012PAGE 38

summed up means we need tobuild capacity. When researchesare conducted, the finding needsto be applied. Every Researchand Development result comesup in a technical report format.Reports are sent to governmentand our parent ministry, thatis, the Ministry of Science andTechnology. We also send to verycognate ministries who haveseats on our board of governorslike Ministry of Works, Housingand Urban development,Federal Capital TerritoryAdministration and all stategovernments and theirdepartment of works. Weorganize conference andworkshops from time to time tolook at the issue I had earliermentioned and send out ourreports to relevant agencies.

Recently, your agencyorganised a workshop inAbuja on building collapse.What informed theconference?

There has been the issue ofincessant building collapse indifferent parts of the country inthe recent times. The frequencyof the tragedies has been ofconcern to the agency. Thisfrequency is not a normal eventwhen you compare Nigeria toother part of the world in thesense that building collapse. Inother climes, this is what isheard once in a while. We areworried because when it occurs,you have loss of lives, economyand materials. NBRRI decided itwas time to intervene and one ofthe avenues was to organize atechnical workshop to createawareness. We have doneresearches and travelled to otherparts of the world and discoveredbuildings don’t collapse in otherparts of the world like it happensin Nigeria. So something iswrong somewhere and webelieve that we can help bygetting people sensitised on theissues.

So what is responsible forincessant collapse of buildingin Nigeria? Has it to do withlack of regulations?

The use of poor material isresponsible primarily for thissituation. Also lack of adherenceto design specification can causea building to collapse. Those incharge of supervision also havetheir fair share of blame becauseof poor supervision which has ledto a lot of problems. Skilled manpower is most times notavailable and this is another bigproblem which must be

addressed.Does your supervision

include checking of quality ofmaterial or just followinglaid down rules onconstruction sites?

It has to do with the two. Theprocess of supervision entailsthat when materials arebrought to site, they should beinspected and somebody mustmake sure they are accordingto specification. Specification ofratio of water to cement mustbe adhered to no matter howsmall the quantity is. Every sitemust have a signboard statingthe name of project, the client,the designer, architect,engineers, the mechanicalelectrical engineers, quantitysurveyors and the supervisionteam. If you see this on any site,there is proper arrangement forsupervision. All these are notfound on most sites whichmeans there is no supervisionin a lot of sites.

Do you extend suchsupervision to residentialhouses?

We often insist onsupervision on every structureas long as human beings will bethere either business orresidential. This is also in theinterest of the owners. Theowners should do minimumconsultation before embarking

on building projects. This willhelp the laborers do their workmeticulously. Most privateentrepreneur don’t doconsultation before embarkingon building projects. That is why70 percent of buildings thatcollapse belong to privateentrepreneurs. The secondarycategories of buildings thatcollapse are those that belong togovernment. Many states andlocal governments don’tinstitute proper machinery forsupervision. Corporateorganisation like banks recordsthe least building collapse.Theirs is very minimal.

Are there punitivemeasures for owners ofcollapsed buildings to serveas warning to others?

In fact there should berandom check to make surethings are in place on sites. Roadcollapse claims more lives thanbuilding collapse. The law of theland should punish these peopleand not COREN. There is highdegree of insincerity in Nigeria.Some of these constructionengineers are taken to court andthe case last for a while. Thejudge is not a builder or anengineer, so he might not knowwhat wrong materials on sitesare or how things are put in placeon sites. What is obtainable inother countries is that they set

up technical committees withlawyers and engineers and theirdecisions are binding at the endof the day.

What measure isgovernment or NBRRI takingto make sure standards aremaintained?

We are doing a lot of things.That is one of the major reasonswe organize workshops like therecent one we held in Abuja. Ouraim is to create awarenessamong the people. This will helpthe appropriate regulatoryauthority to take note andpunish erring professional.There should be a nationalcommittee with membersdrawn from professional bodiesthat will go from city to city tocheck if the municipalauthorities are doing their work.If they are doing their work andany one is trying to frustratetheir work either politically orotherwise, then we take it upnationally.

After the workshop, weclassified our intervention intotwo categories, we have theshort term interventionmeasure; we have theintermediary interventionmeasures and then the long termintervention measure. The shortterm interventions includesensitization, creatingawareness through the mediaand so on. The workshops andconference we organize are alsopart of the short termintervention measure. Thereare intermediate measures thatcan be pursued like some of therecommendations to formcommittees to go round andevaluate the level of adherenceto supervision principles andmonitoring principles andregulatory issues. The long termmeasure we have identified iswhat will lead to thedevelopment of NBRRI academysince we lack skilled manpower.This development is not a oneday issue. A curriculum will bedeveloped and will be domiciledhere. Every stake holder will beinvolved in building acurriculum that has globaloutlook and would be effective,pragmatic for artisans andworkmen so that we won’t havecomplains about buildings.There will also be continuousprofessional development in theacademy for professionals in thefield who have stayed long in thefield and need to come back forrefresher course and new ideason building

What exactly is themandate of NBBRI?

Nigerian Building andRoad Research Institute(NBBRI) has a lot of

mandates. We address issuespertaining to local building andconstruction materials so as todetermine the most effective andmost economic method for theirutilization within ourenvironment. We also look atissues of architectural design tosuit the Nigerian climaticconditions particularly withrespect to lighting, ventilation,comfort and humidity. Thesehas to do with the design andperformance of functionalbuilding, local constructionfoundation.

We look into bridge building,especially in problem soils withinour environment as well asissues that have to do with roadsdesign and construction bestsuited to the Nigerianenvironment. Also the institutelooks at local construction andbuilding operation and methodsthat will increase theireffectiveness within our peculiarenvironment. This is in additionto road safety, economic andsocial aspect of roads andtransportations, structuraldesigns of bridges that will suitus and all classes of engineeringmaterials as well as ensuring thepromotion of research outputthrough consultancy servicesand special support services tomedium and small scaleenterprises in the areas oftraining among others.

So NBRRI has numerousmandates given to it, ourfunctions do not overlap. Theyare very peculiar. NBRRI ispurely a Research andDevelopment institute. We haveresearch officers; we have aNational Research laboratorycomplex in Otta, Ogun statewhere three researchdepartments are domiciled.These include the buildingresearch department, the roadresearch department and theengineering researchdepartment. We have pureresearch staffs. We also havelong term plan of getting atraining institute, that is, theNBRRI academy that will trainmanpower for continuousprofessional development

Do you send reports toGovernment to help enforcerules and regulations of localbuildings?

The primary mandate if

Prof. Danladi Matawal is the Director General of the Nigerian Building and Road ResearchInstitute (NBRRI). In this interview with Joy Baba, he gives an insight into the causes ofbuilding collapse in Nigeria as well as other burning housing issues in the country.

Prof. Danladi Matawal

Interview

International

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012 PAGE 39

Syrians protest after morning prayers, opposition activists say

Syrian protesters spilled outinto the streets aftermorning prayers Friday as

regime forces shelled variousopposition neighborhoods,activists said.

Planned protests were underway in various neighborhoodsincluding the capital Damascus

and the provinces of Homs,Hama, Aleppo and Deir Ezzor.

As the protesters gathered,regime forces shelled the Homsneighborhoods of Sultanieh andJobar, opposition activists said.

Security forces killed at leasteight people in Syria on Friday,including seven in Hama

province, according to the LocalCoordination Committees ofSyria.

One more person was killed inQusair town in Homs province,the group said.

The United Nations said thereis no fallback plan to deployingmonitors to some of the nation's

most embattled cities.U.N. monitors on the ground

in five cities are making "allpossible efforts to stop violence"and have had "some dampeningeffect," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told CNN's ChristianeAmanpour.

However, they have notmanaged to completely cease theviolence, he said.

Ban said the full cadre ofobservers -- 300 -- authorized bythe Security Council last monthwould be on site in the comingdays.

"They are patrolling everyday, whenever possible," he said."They try their best to cease thisviolence. It requires strongpolitical will at the level ofPresident Assad, and also itrequires full cooperation by theopposition forces."

As protests continue, a reportby the Independent InternationalCommission of Inquiry on Syrianoted the growing power of forcesopposed to President Bashar al-Assad.

"Whereas government forceshad previously been respondingprimarily to demonstrations,they now face armed and well-organized fighters -- bolstered bydefectors who joined them," thereport said.

French president visits Kabul, meetswith troops and Afghan leaderFrance's new president,

François Hollande,reaffirmed Friday during

a visit to Kabul that France willwithdraw 2,000 troops fromAfghanistan by the end of 2012.

He spoke after meeting withFrench troops stationed thereand holding talks with thecountry's president, HamidKarzai.

Giving a joint newsconference with Karzai,Hollande said he had come totell French troops that "theirtask has come to an end inAfghanistan." The Muslim Brotherhood said

yesterday its candidate inEgypt's first free presidential

vote would fight a run-off nextmonth with ex-air force chief AhmedShafiq, the last Prime Minister ofdeposed leader Hosni Mubarak.

This week's first-round vote haspolarised Egyptians between thosedetermined to avoid handing thepresidency back to a man fromMubarak's era and those fearing anIslamist monopoly of rulinginstitutions. The run-off will be heldon June 16 and 17.

The election marks a crucial stepin a messy and often bloodytransition to democracy, overseenby a military council that haspledged to hand power to a newpresident by July 1.

The second round threatensfurther turbulence. Opponents ofShafiq have vowed to take to thestreets if he is elected.

But to supporters, Shafiq'smilitary background offersreassurance that he can restoresecurity, a major demand of thepopulation 15 months afterMubarak's ouster.

A victory for the Brotherhood'sMohamed Mursi could worsentensions between resurgentIslamists and the powerful army,which sees itself as the guardian ofthe state.

Christians and secular liberalsanxious about their own freedomsand the fate of Egypt's vital touristindustry will fret about a promisedBrotherhood push for Islamic law.

Egypt to pickIslamist ormilitary manas president

Al Qaeda militants killed in Yemen clashes, officials say

Thirty-eight al Qaedamilitants were killed inclashes with Yemen's

military, local security officialssaid yesterday.

At least 15 troops also died inthe violence Thursday morningin the southern provinces ofAbyan and Lahjj, the officials said.

Dozens were also wounded in afierce battle involving severalarmy brigades and the air force,state-run news agency SABA said.Militant leaders and foreignelements were among those killed,the news agency said.

The Yemeni government thisweek blamed an affiliate of al

Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsulafor a massive suicide bombingMonday that killed more than100 soldiers.

Jihadist websites posted astatement purportedly from thegroup, Ansaar al-Sharia, claimingresponsibility for the attack. ButCNN could not independentlyverify the authenticity of thestatement.

The partially lawless MiddleEastern country has become acentral battleground in the fightagainst al Qaeda. The terrornetwork's leader recently calledfor an uprising against thenation's new president.

The Yemeni branch of thegroup calls itself al Qaeda in theArabian Peninsula; Ansaar al-Sharia is an affiliate of AQAP.

But he also stressed France'songoing cooperation withAfghanistan, saying he andKarzai had discussed details oftheir nations' strategicpartnership agreement.

"After 10 years of Europeanmilitary engagement inAfghanistan, now Afghansecurity forces are taking theresponsibility of their ownsecurity, and it is time for us toleave," Hollande said.

"But our cooperation andrelationship will not end. InJanuary this year, Afghanistanand France signed the strategic

partnership agreement, andbased on that, we will beincreasing our assistance inother fields.

"After the end of this year,our military trainers andmentors will remain to helpAfghan security forces. AsPresident Karzai emphasized,we will be focusing on the healthsector, education, civil services,agriculture sector, energy andwater and many more. We willalso be helping in the economicsector."

Karzai praised France as alongstanding ally of his country.

"France has been our friendfor a long time now -- we haverelations for the past at least 150years. They helped us beforejihad, during jihad and afterjihad," he said.

This visit follows Hollande'sannouncement at the NATOconference in Chicago thatFrench combat troops wouldwithdraw from Afghanistan bythe end of the year.

As part of the NATO-ledInternational SecurityAssistance Force, Frenchtrainers will remain in thecountry longer.

Hosni Mubarak

Syrian military officers inspect a damaged bus following a deadly explosion on Wednesday.

Florida prosecutors andGeorge Zimmerman'sdefense attorney want

certain evidence -- including e-mails, cell phone records and

Attorneys inZimmermancase wantevidence sealed

statements -- sealed until his trialin the death of Trayvon Martin.

Assistant State AttorneyBernie de la Rionda, in a motionfiled Thursday, requested a judgeseal statements Zimmerman madeto law enforcement officers, someof which he called "contradictory."

The prosecutor said some ofZimmerman's statements were"inconsistent with the physicalevidence and statements ofwitnesses."

He did not provide details of theevidence or statements.

The state, citing pretrialpublicity, said it wants names andaddresses of witnesses kept out ofthe public record. It asked the samething for crime scene and autopsyphotos, a 911 recording of theincident and cell phone records ofMartin, 17. It said those phonerecords would identify a witness.Florida prosecutors and George

Zimmerman's attorney

A Yemenisoldier sitsnext to thegrave of ac o m r a d ewho waskilled in as u i c i d eb o m b i n gearlier in theweek.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012PAGE 40

Wellness Zone15 simple rules for easy fat loss

Phyllis Ogo Ogahphyllisogoogah@gmail.com+234 80 58425746 (sms) only

Hello friends and sorry forlast weeks break intransmission. We are still

on the weight loss train so thisweekend we will be looking at howto help you achieve a leanhealthy body whileremembering to exercise daily.Like I said in one of my earliesteditions, there are no short cutsto weight loss, the mostimportant factor is discipline,and others are eating right andgetting your butt out of the couch.Dear friends, Follow these simpletips, for a lean and healthy body.

1 . Eat 4-6 small meals daya day instead of the usual 2-3large meals. Eating frequentlywill help regulate and boost yourmetabolism to burn morecalories.

2 . Consume whole foods

that are high in fibre and low insugar, such as lean proteinsources (lean beef, chicken, fish,and whey protein), fruits &vegetables (oranges, apples,strawberries, blueberries,broccoli, peppers, asparagus,carrots, nuts (almonds, cashews,pistachios & walnuts), and wholegrains.

3 . Eat low-glycemiccarbohydrates such asvegetables, whole-wheatproducts and oatmeal instead ofrefined processed carbohydrateswhich usually come in a box or abag.

4 . Consume 25-35 gramsof fibre per day. Fibre will helpsatisfy hunger pangs as well ascontrol insulin and blood sugarlevels which tend to promote fatstorage.

5 . Eat some type of leanprotein at each meal. Proteinhelps to satisfy hunger andprovide the necessary buildingblocks to maintain lean bodymass while losing body fat.

6 . Consume adequateamounts of healthy fat foods suchas olive oil, walnuts, almonds,Omega-3 fortified eggs, or otherOmega-3 products. Healthy fatsare great antioxidants as well ashelp with brain function andmany other essential processesthat take place in the body on adaily basis. Essential Fatty Acids,according to clinicalstudies, could also help preventcertain diseases. To guaranteeyou’re consuming enoughOmega-3 supplement your dietwith EFA Icon

7 . Eat 5-10 servings of fruitand vegetables a day to meetyour micronutrient needs. Vegetables also contain a goodamount of fibre and help tocontrol appetites and curbhunger.

8 . Consume Green Tea orWater instead of calorie-filleddrinks such as soft drinks. GreenTea has many health benefitsand you should be drinking 1mlof non-caffeinated fluid for everycalorie that you consume. Thisworks out between (8-12) 8ozglasses of Green Tea or Water aday.

9 . Balance your fat intakefor the day. One-third shouldcome from saturated fats, 1/3from monounsaturated fats, and1/3 from polyunsaturated fats.

HEALHEALHEALHEALHEALTH TH TH TH TH TIP TIP TIP TIP TIP FOR FOR FOR FOR FOR THE THE THE THE THE WEEKWEEKWEEKWEEKWEEKPositive thinking has been foundto boost the body’s immune systemto enable us to fight off infectionKeep moving!

Again, ensure you’re consumingantioxidant-rich Omega-3Essential Fatty Acids byincorporating EFA Icon into yournutritional plan.

10. Consistent fat lossrequires good habits. If you wantto create good habits, then youneed plan. Therefore, map outyour meals every day and followthem. If you follow your planeveryday for 2-3 weeks, you willform habits that become part ofyour daily routine and part ofyour life.

1 1 . I n c o r p o r a t e“superfoods” into your meal planon a daily basis. Some examplesare salmon, low-fat plain yogurt,tomatoes, spinach, mixed berries,whole oats, mixed nuts, olive oil,flax seeds(or flax meal), green tea,and various beans.

12 . Keep total fat intakeunder 30% for the day. This caneasily be accomplished byavoiding “extra” fats such asbutter, sour cream,mayonnaise… This doesn’t meanyou have to completely eliminatethese items, just use themsparingly and avoid adding themto foods whenever possible.

1 3 . EXERCISE! Yes, you canlose weight just by changing youreating habits. But very fewpeople succeed long-term - and ittakes much longer to lose fat -when they don’t exercise. Andsomething most people don’trealize is, just how criticalingesting the research-provenProtein to Carbohydrate ratio isto optimizing the results of yourworkout efforts. I hang on apedometer to keep track of mysteps when I don’t go jogging. TheWorld Health Organisationstandard for healthy adults is10,000 steps a day.

14 . Record what you eatand drink. You will be amazed bywhat you find. Keeping a foodjournal is critical to your successbecause you need it to evaluateand analyze your current eatingpatterns. If your fat loss efforts arestagnant, the answer can usuallybe found in your food journal.

15. Follow the 90% rule. Ifyou can follow your plan 90% ofthe time, you will soon seeunwanted fat melt off your body.However, if you find yourselfbreaking these rules more than90% of the time, your chances offailing increase significantly.

Cofeeberry

HW veggies cooking

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

WeekendPAGE 41

By Patrick Andrew

AFN Golden LeaAFN Golden LeaAFN Golden LeaAFN Golden LeaAFN Golden League 5thgue 5thgue 5thgue 5thgue 5thleleleleleg holds in PH todag holds in PH todag holds in PH todag holds in PH todag holds in PH todayyyyyThe tracks will burn today in Port Harcourt, the

Garden City and hosts of the 5th leg of theAthletics Federation of Nigeria/Niger Delta

Decvelopment Commission Golden League.There, athletes battling for reckoning will take on

their counterparts some of who are currently in campin preparation for the London Olympic Gamesscheduled for July 27 through August 12.

Already, 100m champion Ogho Oghene Egwero, oneof the more than a dozen Team Nigeria athletes campingin Atlanta, USA returned to participate in the race.

Also, expected to feature in the increasing excitingleague are the likes of Josephine Ehigie, Patience Okoro,Tosin Adeloye, Sirika Oluoma, among other upcomingathletes.

Besides the grassroots athletes, some of whom werein fine vein of form at the previous legs in Owerri andAbeokuta, as well as those that recently participated atthe Ibile Games in Lagos, will vie for honours.

Coordinator of the AFN/NDDC Golden League,Yusuf Alli, confirmed that the likes of Blessing Okagbare,Gloria Asunmu, Oludamola Osayomi and all othermembers of 26 athletes that have secured qualificationfor the Olympic Games are likely to feature in the racewhich is an innovative approach by the currentleadership of the AFN to up performance.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s London Olympics trainingcamp in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, will be wind-up onDemocracy Day, May 29.

The closure of the camp which was opened since March3, will enable the athletes to return to the country toparticipate in the final phase of trials in Calabar as well asthe African Senior Athletics Championships billed for PortoNovo, Benin Republic.

Tony Ohaeri, who confirmed this also disclosed thatDelta State has the highest number of athletes that willrepresent Nigeria in the 2012 London Olympic andParalympic Games.

Out of the total 78 athletes who have qualified torepresent Nigeria in the two games, Delta State has 12athletes who will participate in the Olympics.

The state is followed by Ogun and Ekiti States whohave five athletes each for the Olympics, while Imo State

has four , Edo, Cross, River and Bayelsa have 3 athleteseach. Abia, Anambra and Oyo have two each whileAdamawa, Benue, Ekiti, Kano, Kwara and Lagos Statehave one athlete each making a total of 47 athletes forthe Olympics.

For the Paralympics, out of 31 qualified athletes,Enugu State has the highest number of five athletes,followed by Oyo State with four, Anambra and Imo havethree each Abia, Delta, Edo, Ogun each followed withtwo while Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Bauchi, Kwara,Nasarawa, Ondo, Osun and Rivers States have oneathlete each in the Paralympic team.

On the whole 22 states have athletes in the TeamNigeria for the Olympic/Paralympic Games.

No few than five thousand civil servants areexpected to participate in this month’s FederalPublic Service Games, (FEPSGA) walking and

jogging exercise.The president of FEPSGA Mr. Victor Orji who

disclosed this said that the exercise would witnessunprecedented attendance following increased awarenessof the essence of physically and mentally fitness amongpublic service officials.

“Civil servants in federal ministries, agencies andparastatals have intensified their readiness to troop thenational stadium for the mandatory keep fit exercise.

“We are working in conjunction with the SportsWriters Association of Nigeria, (SWAN) FCT chapter andNational Orientation Agency, (NOA) for the first time inhistory of FEPSGA, “he said.

Among the top personnel expected in today’s exerciseare the Head of Service of the Federation, Alhaji IsahBello Sali, the Commandant General of the NigeriaSecurity and Civil defence Corps, (NSCDC), Dr AdeAbulorin, the Director General of the Nigeria TourismDevelopment Cooperation, (NTDC), Otuba OlusegunRunsewe as well as the Director General of NationalOrientation Agency (NOA) Mr. Mike Omeri.

Orji urged civil servants resident in Abuja to turn upfor the monthly exercise to improve their physical fitness.

5,000 civil servants for FEPSGA walking, jogging exerciseBy Albert Akota

Nigeria’s 4x100 relay gold winning team Blessing Okagbare (L), Damola Osayomi, Gloria Asumnu and Agnes Osazuwa at the last All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique.

PAGE 42 PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

Leagues: La Liga toughestof the lot, Mourinho claims

England, Italy and Spain, theReal Madrid manager said onWednesday.

Real wrapped up the title witha 3-0 win at Athletic Bilbao, thatmaintained their seven-point

lead over Barcelona with twogames left and ended their bitterrivals’ three-year stranglehold

on the Spanish leaguechampionship.

Mourinho became the firstcoach to win a domestic league infour different major countriesfollowing his two titles in Portugalwith Porto, two in England withChelsea, two in Italy with InterMilan and now one in Spain withReal.

“It was the most difficult,” the49-year-old said in a television

interview.“Bilbao put out their best

team, the stadium was full andthe team wanted to win andfight, which is the way it shouldbe.”

Getting the better of Barca,where he was an assistant underBobby Robson in the late 1990s,will be a particular source ofsatisfaction for Mourinho, whohas made a habit of needling hisformer employers during his twoyears in the Spanish capital.

“I think that they themselves,champions and a club with agreat tradition, know that wedeserve this league title.”

Mourinho, the ‘Special One’who plans to return to theEnglish premiership, the one

league he has described as themost glamourous andentertaining, has remained anenigma. He is fashionable,thoughtful and dynamic andwould hardly stomach anythingthat does not go down well withhim.

Though he says he desires areturn to the EPL and hassubsequently been linked withMan United and touted as the SirAlex Ferguson’s successor-in-waiting, the boisterousPortuguese has remained evasiveon which club he would likelypitch his tent with in England.

Besides, the flamboyantmanager known for his taste ofplayers: dynamic, exuberant,skillful, abundant in flair and

Jose Mourinho

equally aggressive in play andsomewhat controversial:Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe, Marcelo,Sergio Ramos. Pepe alone has hadmore red cards than any otherplayer in the la Liga.

Mourinho enjoys controversyas shown by comments on theUEFA Champions League beingmore important than the WorldCup and his often criticisms ofreferees especially when thingsare done according to his dictate.

But he’s also a crowd drawer,wants his team to adopt styles ofplay that dwells on talents,aggression, hunger and absolutedominance. He could behysterical when players orofficials act in a manner thatcontravenes his ethics.

Jose Mourinho believeswinning La Liga was thetoughest of the seven league

titles he has sealed in coachingstints in his native Portugal,

Why Real prevail in Spain’s titanic tussleLa Liga served up yetanother two-horse racethis season, as Real Madrid

ended three years of domination byBarcelona to win their 32nd title.Barça had the consolation of takingthe individual honours, with LionelMessi amassing a record 50 goals totop the scoring charts by four fromCristiano Ronaldo, and VictorValdes conceding fewer goals thanany other keeper in the league. Yetwhile Jose Mourinho remainsfirmly in command at theBernabeu, it is all change at theCamp Nou, with Josep Guardiolahaving called time on his tenure.

As the top two were breaking allrecords, another league was takingplace a whole 39 points behind thechampions.

Valencia once again made thirdplace theirs, earning them a placein the UEFA Champions League,while Manuel Pellegrini’s Malaga,whose galaxy of stars gelled to goodeffect, will go into the competition’spreliminary round. Newlycrowned UEFA Europa League

champions Atletico Madrid took oneof the other two remainingEuropean places alongside seasonrevelations Levante, who neverceased to amaze throughout onlytheir second season back in the topflight.

Interestingly, according to JoseMourinho, Real had to dethroneBarcelona because they were thebetter of the two, have players ofgreater character, focus and playbetter football: aggressive,purposeful and entertaining interms of goals scored and themanner of scoring such goals.

Star performersBilbao’s young lionsPicking a standout performer

among the young players thathave fired Marcelo Bielsa’s AthleticBilbao to the Europa League andCopa del Rey finals is no easy task.Oscar de Marcos, Iker Muniain andAnder Herrera have all made

significant contributions to a teamthat may have had its ups anddowns in the league but has a bigfuture ahead of it.

Thibaut Courtois (AtleticoMadrid)

The best keeper in the leagueafter Valdes and Iker Casillas. Theyoung Belgian had a hard act tofollow in replacing David de Gea butexceeded expectations.

Isco (Malaga)A habitual presence in Spain’s

national youth teams, themidfielder proved a key signing forMalaga and now has his sights seton London 2012.

The stat100: Despite sealing the title

with two games to spare, RealMadrid kept their foot on theaccelerator and ended the seasonwith 100 points - the highest tallyever recorded in the Spanishleague. Jose Mourinho’s side drew

four and lost just two of their 38matches.

Key moments21 April 2012: After trimming

Real Madrid’s lead from ten to fourpoints, Barcelona entertained theirold rivals at the Camp Nou withdesigns on cutting it to one andblowing the title race wide open withfour games remaining. As ithappened, however, Barça sufferedtheir only home loss of the season,leaving their championshipaspirations in tatters.

4 March 2012: Real Zaragozascored twice in the final six minutesto complete a dramatic comebackat home to fellow strugglersVillarreal and collect threeultimately crucial points.Occupying the relegation zone for27 matchdays and bottom of thetable for 17, Los Maños wereseemingly down and out inFebruary only to engineer an

amazing escape act, winning theirlast four games to avoid the drop onthe final day of the season.

13 May 2012: After being drawnin arguably the toughest group inthe UEFA Champions League andrubbing shoulders with the stars,Villarreal suffered relegation in thefinal seconds of the season. Out ofthe danger zone going into the finalgame of the season against AtleticoMadrid at El Madrigal and withtheir destiny in their own hands,the Yellow Submarine was sunk atthe last.

Radamel Falcao’s late headerput them on the precipice andwhen Raul Tamudo struck aninjury-time goal to give RayoVallecano victory over Granada,Villarreal toppled over. Six yearsafter almost making theChampions League final, they nowjoin Sporting Gijon and RacingSantander in the second tier.

CristianoRonaldo scored46 goals fourshort of LeonelMessi's 50

IkerCasillas

Messi

Real had to dethrone Barcelonabecause they were the better of the

two, have players of greater character,focus and play better football:

aggressive, purposeful and entertainingin terms of goals scored and themanner of scoring such goals

“

”

PAGE 43PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

FIFA U-20 WWCGermany remain teamto beat, says Meinert

As reigning champions, Germanywill be the team to beat when theFIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup

Japan 2012 kicks off in mid-August.The achievements of the country’syoungsters in securing the title in theirown back yard two years ago still livelong in the memory, with the teamfamously winning all six games, scoring20 goals and conceding just five alongthe way.

Germany are among the favouritesto win this time around too, not leastbecause they come into the competitionon the back of success at the UEFAWomen’s Under-19 Championship.

Just as importantly, though, is thefact that they will be coached in Japanby Maren Meinert, who guided them tovictory in 2010. The 38-year-old hasbeen in charge of the U-20 team since2005 and has led the side to no fewerthan three European triumphs and oneworld title in that period.

FIFA.com spoke exclusively to the92-time former Germanyinternational, who also won the FIFAWomen’s World Cup as a player in2003.

There are just over threemonths left until the FIFA U-20Women’s World Cup getsunderway. How much are youlooking forward to it?

Very much. The World Cup takesplace every two years and we stillremember the last one at home inGermany. It’s always a highlight for theplayers and the coach. We’re glad to begoing and are preparing ourselves forit.

How do you and your players feelabout Japan hosting the event?

I’m happy Japan were able to takeon the task of hosting, as it’s not easy toorganise a World Cup at short notice.I’m a big fan of the Japanese style ofplay and I know that women’s footballis very highly regarded there. It’salways nice to play a World Cup in acountry like that.

Germany 2010 is still quitefresh in people’s minds. Can it betopped?

The tournament in Germany wasunique, and it’ll be hard to beat that.

It’s clear that youth football is constantlyprogressing, so we hope that at least theattendance numbers and theatmosphere in Japan will come in justbehind Germany (laughs).

How do you analyse youropponents? It must be easier for thesenior team coach Silvia Neid to gethold of video material...

The first game is difficult, especiallyif you play against an African team you

Switzerland and the Netherlands. Weneed to improve defensively as weconceded a lot of goals through quickcounter-attacks, while at the other endwe lacked that cutting edge. On top ofthat, we need to work on our fitness inorder to cope with the demands ofplaying in Japan.

In 2010 you had players likeAlexandra Popp, who was awardedboth the adidas Golden Ball and theGolden Boot for best player and topscorer respectively. What’s thesituation this year?

A World Cup is inherently a good

stage for players to make their cases. InLuisa Wensing, Lena Lotzen andDzsenifer Marozsan, we had threeplayers from our age category playingfor the senior team at the Algarve Cup.It’s up to the girls to play themselvesinto the limelight. I think we haveseveral candidates who will be able tomake the step up in the medium-term.I don’t want to name names as I’ve cometo realise that players can often takehuge strides in both directions - positiveand negative - in a relatively shortamount of time. Each player has to beresponsible for her own success.

might never have seen before. Weexperienced that at Russia 2006 whenKorea DPR were our first opponents.They outplayed us, which wassomething we hadn’t reckoned with.

In general, teams’ fundamentalstyles of play don’t usually change. Forinstance, the Brazilian U-20s don’t playany differently to the senior team or theprevious U-20 team. You can prepareyourself in some way for that.

But principally we look at ourselves.Our aim is to train players, so we holdback on analysing our opponents. Butin the rest of the tournament we will beworking with a scout who will observethe other teams and help us prepare.

Who are favourites to win?We’re one of the favourites. As hosts,

Japan are up there, as well as Brazil andUSA, who have a very good U-20 teamthis year. In my opinion it’s one of thebest USA U-20 teams I’ve ever seen. Andwe also know there’ll be a surprisepackage. In Germany, Colombiareached the semi-finals. Who could havepredicted that?

Is it an advantage ordisadvantage to go into thetournament as defendingchampions?

It doesn’t matter, it’s not a burden.We’re happy to be world champions, butas a German team there is always acertain level of expectation, which isabsolutely fine.

Winning the EuropeanChampionship was obviously agreat success for Germany. Is therestill room for improvement?

To be honest, we didn’t play verywell at the European Championship,apart from the second half in the finalagainst Norway. We had a lot ofproblems. We were fortunate to beatSpain and had a hard time against

‘In general, teams’fundamental styles ofplay don’t usually change.For instance, the BrazilianU-20s don’t play anydifferently to the seniorteam or the previous U-20team. You can prepareyourself in someway for that’

‘We need to improvedefensively as weconceded a lot of goalsthrough quick counter-attacks, while at the otherend we lacked that cuttingedge. On top of that, weneed to work on our fitnessin order to cope with thedemands of playing inJapan’

Luisa Wensing Lena Lotzen

Dzsenifer Marozsan Maren Meinert

PAGE 44 PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

Hijab-wearing boxerdreams of Olympic goldAfghans, who competed at the

recent amateur worldchampions for women,

brought a new perspective to thesport. They were cheered by a smallcrowd of hijab-wearing women whowatched the tournament inQinhuangdao, China.

But one who drew attention in herbid to reach the London Olympicscould be denied because of fears overher safety – inside the ring.

Flyweight Sadaf Rahimi suffereda setback when her bout againstPoland’s world No 6 Sandra Drabikwas stopped after just a minute and26 seconds.

Now Rahimi, 18, is relying on awildcard from the organisers tocompete in London.

Officials say the safety of boxersis paramount. “It is the number oneconcern in women’s boxing,” saysInternational Amateur BoxingAssociation president Wu Chingkuo.

“We will make this clear to theInternational Olympic Committeetripartite commission when we meetin July to decide who shall benefitfrom the wildcards,” Wu said.

Rahimi has been seen as anautomatic choice for a wildcard aftermedia representatives seized upon

her quest to represent Afghanistan,where women’s sport was bannedunder the Taliban regime that wastoppled in late 2001.

But she now faces an anxious wait

“My bout was hard and myopponent very good. Of course, it ismy dream to go to the Olympics andfight for my country. But I will waitand see what the organisers decide,”

Ethiopian running legendHaile Gebrselassie willtoday attempts to qualify for

the 10 000m at the LondonOlympics, running in his preferreddistance in Hengelo, theNetherlands.

The race on Sunday is beingused by the African distancerunning powerhouse as a qualifierfor the Games and will seeGebrselassie – a double Olympicgold medallist at the distance in

1996 and 2000 – race against 12 ofhis countrymen.

They include Sileshi Sihine,Imane Merga and GebreGebremariam, who have all goneunder 27 minutes for the 10km.

Former marathon world recordholder Gebrselassie, who has notbeen picked for the Ethiopia teamover 26.2 miles (42.195km), istrying to make what would be hisfifth Olympics at the age of 39.

The four-times World 10 000m

Gebrselassie seeks 10 000m qualifiying time

Sadaf Rahimi

after the gulf in standards betweenboxers in her country and those in theAmericas, Europe and Asia wasexposed in Qinhuangdao.

said Rahimi, who had trained inBritain before the tournament.

“I will be sad if I don’t go but justcoming here has been a great

experience.”Her compatriots, Sumaiya Azizi,

18, and Shamila Husainzada, 17, werealso beaten in the first round.

“Of course there is a big differencebetween us and the other boxers. Butto come and see the tournament hasmotivated us to do well,” said Rahimi.

“Just being here, flying theAfghan flag for other Afghan women,is also positive.”

Her coach, HedayatullahMohmand, is the secretary general ofthe Afghanistan Boxing Federation.He said just appearing at thechampionships was a milestone forthe boxers.

“It is the first time Sumaiya Aziziand Samila Husainzada have seenand fought in a professionally riggedring. It’s been an importantexperience for them. Now we knowwhat the technical level is,” he said.

Wu said the Afghans and otherfemale boxers from emerging regions,such as Africa, would be offered moreintensive training sessions to bringthem up to the internationalstandard.

Ireland’s Katie Taylor and othertop female boxers have criticised thewildcard system, intended to favourfighters from developing countries.

They say the best athletes should bechosen for the Olympics.

“Hopefully the organisers willmake the right decisions whenhanding out those wildcards. Weneed to showcase women’s boxingwith the strongest field,” said Taylor,after winning her fourth straightworld lightweight title.

Safety was also on the mind ofanother fighter from Afghanistan,the naturalised Danishfeatherweight champion DianaNadim, who is fearful of returningto the country from where she fledas a child.

The former Under-19 European60kg champion escaped to Denmarkwith her mother and sister after herfather, a general in the Afghan army,was executed by the Taliban when shewas eight years old.

“I would love to go back toAfghanistan to help coach and inspirethe girls like Sadaf. But the situationis too dangerous,” said the 22-year-old, who was beaten 26-13 bySweden’s Mira Potkonen.

Nadim’s coach, Gunnar Berg,said she may be targeted by militantsif she returned to Afghanistanbecause Denmark has soldiers in thecountry, fighting the Taliban.

We are targeting Olympic gold, says NWF president

The Nigeria WeightliftingFederation (NWF) hasaffirmed its resolve to win at

least a medal at the forthcomingLondon 2012 Olympic Games slatedfor July 27 to August12.

The federation’s President,Chimdi Ejiogu, said yesterday whilespeaking the series of preparationsthat the weightlifters have beensubjected to as part of efforts to putthem on competitive mood for theGames.

“We are going there with a spiritto win,’’ he said stressing that it won’tbe a jamboree.

In spite of the bold declarationabout its intentions at the LondonGames, Ejiogu refused tocategorically state the number ofmedals the weightlifters would win,

but he was convinced that they wouldwin a medal.

“We will win at least one goldmedal, which to me is better than 200silver medals,’’ Ejiogu said.

He pointed out that the country’ssports would be the biggestbeneficiary, if the two athletes thatwould represent Nigeria could wingold medals at the global sportingfiesta.

Chimdi added that the federationwould ensure that only two of itsathletes were eventually selected torepresent the country.

“We will check our strategy, ourresponse and also the physiologicalcondition of each of the athletes andselect the best. Those who are in campright now are medal hopefuls and weare monitoring them to know the best

champion is on form, having wonthe 10km Great Manchester Run innorthwest England last week in27min 39secs.

“I thought I could have runfaster but I didn’t push it. I’m happywith my form. It’s good enough torun 26min on the track,” he said.

The men’s 10 000m is thehighlight of the weekend’s meetingalthough South Africa’s double-amputee Oscar Pistorius will be themain attraction in the 400m.

to represent us in each category,” hesaid

The weightlifting boss pointed outthat the last Commonwealth Gamesin India where Nigeria emerged as thebest in weightlifting, was a sign of anew dawn in the federation.

“Before I became the president ofNWF Nigeria had always beenbanned from attending internationalcompetitions because of drug-relatedoffences.

“When a Nigeria tested positivein India, Nigerians were expecting itwas in weightlifting, but we finishedtops in the sport.

It would be recalled that fourweightlifters, comprising two malesand two females are currently in campin Owerri, preparing for the LondonGames.

Gebrselassie

FixturesWikki vs KadunaSunshine vs 3SCRangers vs KwaraWolves vs R/StarsABS FC vs TornadoesAkwa Utd vs DolphinsJigawa vs OceanLobi vs SharksGombe vs EnyimbaHeartland vs Pillars

PAGE 45PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

Gymnastics: The sport, the passion

Gymnastics is one of the sportingactivities that have continued tohold spectators spell bound Athletes

engage in very daring moves that could havefatal consequences in the event of a miss.

Gymnastic involves the performance ofexercises requiring physical strength,flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance.It typically involves the women’s events ofuneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise,and vault. Men’s events are floor exercise,pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars,and high bar.

Gymnastics evolved from exercises usedby the ancient Greeks, that included skills formounting and dismounting a horse, and fromcircus performance skills.

Participants can include children asyoung as two years old doing kindergym andchildren’s gymnastics, recreational gymnastsof ages five and up, competitive gymnasts atvarying levels of

Exercises of the ancient Greeks beganwith athletic feats performed by eachindividual according to his own notion. Theyouth were encouraged to combineamusement with exercise. In time, this kindof exercise was incorporated into a systemthat figured prominently in the stateregulations for education. In fact, the periodfor exercise or gymnastics was equal to thetime spent on art and music combined.

The Federation of InternationalGymnastics (FIG) was founded in Liege in1881.By the end of the nineteenth century,men’s gymnastics competition was popularenough to be included in the first “modern”Olympic Games in 1896.

By 1954, Olympic Games apparatus andevents for both men and women had beenstandardized in modern format, and uniformgrading structures (including a point systemfrom 1 to 15) had been agreed upon.

Artistic gymnastics is usually divided intoMen’s and Women’s Gymnastics. Typically

men compete on six events: Floor Exercise,Pommel Horse, Still Rings, Vault, ParallelBars, and High Bar, while women competeon four: Vault, Uneven Bars, Balance Beam,and Floor Exercise. In some countries,women at one time competed on the rings,high bar, and parallel bars (for example, inthe 1950s in the USSR). Though routinesperformed on each event may be short, theyare physically exhausting and push thegymnast’s strength, flexibility, endurance andawareness to the limit.

VaultIn the vaulting events gymnasts sprint

down a 25 metres (82 ft) runway, jump ontoor perform a roundoff entry onto aspringboard (run/ take-off segment), landmomentarily, inverted on the hands on thevaulting horse or vaulting table (pre flightsegment), then spring off of this platform toa two footed landing (postflight segment).

Uneven BarsOn the uneven bars (also

known as asymmetric bars),the gymnast performs aroutine on two horizontalbars set at different heights.These bars are made offiberglass covered in woodlaminate, to prevent themfrom breaking. Gymnastsperform swinging, circling,transitional, and releasemoves, that may pass over,under, and between the twobars. Movements may passthrough the handstand.Gymnasts often mount theUneven Bars using aspringboard.

Balance BeamThe gymnast performs a choreographed

routine up to 90 seconds in length consistingof leaps, acrobatic skills, somersaults, turnsand dance elements on a padded beam. Thebeam is 125 centimetres (4 ft 1 in) from theground, 500 centimetres (16 ft 5 in) long, and10 centimetres (3.9 in) wide. The eventrequires, in particular, balance, flexibility,poise and strength.

FloorGymnasts perform a choreographed

routine up to 90 seconds in the Floor Exerciseevent. They must choose an accompanyingmusic piece. The routine should consist oftumbling lines, series of jumps, dance

elements, acrobatic skills, and turns, orpiviots, on one foot.

Pommel HorseA typical pommel horse exercise involves

both single leg and double leg work. Singleleg skills are generally found in the form ofscissors, an element often done on thepommels. Double leg work however, is themain staple of this event. The gymnast swingsboth legs in a circular motion (clockwise orcounterclockwise depending on preference)and performs such skills on all parts of theapparatus.

Still RingsThe rings are suspended on wire cable

from a point 5.75 meters from the floor, andadjusted in height so the gymnast has roomto hang freely and swing. He must perform aroutine demonstrating balance, strength,power, and dynamic motion while preventingthe rings themselves from swinging.

Parallel BarsMen perform on two bars slightly further

than a shoulder’s width apart and usually1.75m high while executing a series of swings,balances, and releases that require greatstrength and coordination.

High BarA 2.8 cm thick steel or fiberglass bar

raised 2.5m above the landing area is all thegymnast has to hold onto as he performsgiants (revolutions around the bar), releaseskills, twists, and changes of direction. Byusing all of the momentum from giants andthen releasing at the proper point, enoughheight can be achieved for spectaculardismounts, such as a triple-back salto.Leather grips are usually used to helpmaintain a grip on the bar.

Flying rings was an event similar to stillrings, but with the performer executing aseries of stunts while swinging. It was agymnastic event sanctioned by both theNCAA and the AAU until the early 1960s

Scoring: A gymnast’s score comes fromdeductions taken from their start value. The

start value of a routine is calculated based onthe difficulty of the elements the gymnastattempts and whether or not the gymnastmeets composition requirements.

The composition requirements aredifferent for each apparatus. This score iscalled the D score. Deductions in executionand artistry are taken from 10.0. This scoreis called the E score.[15] The final score iscalculated by taking deductions from the Escore, and adding the result to the D score.And since 2007, the scoring system haschanged by adding bonus plus the executionand then adding those two together to get thefinal score.

Source: Wikipedia

Complied by Richard Ihediwa withadditional reports from Wikipedia

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012PAGE 46

DDDDDigestigestigestigestigestHeartwarming story behind picture ofyoung boy feeling the President's hair...

Fists fly in Ukrainian parliament in clash over language law

Little Jason Philadelphia, centre, asked the president if their hair felt the same back in 2009; WhiteHouse photographer Pete Souza captured the moment

It is a surprising image of themost powerful man in theworld bowing down to a

young boy.Barack Obama is seen

bending over while a five-year-old in a white shirt and redstriped tie touches the top of hishead, with a curious,calculating look on his face.

The photograph from theOval Office of Mr Obamashowing his human side hasrecently become an internetsensation

And now, the story behindthe ‘touching’ picture has beenrevealed.

The image was taken byWhite House staff photographerPete Souza in 2009 – fivemonths after Mr Obama beganhis presidency.

The young boy is five-year-old Jacob Philadelphia whosefather Carlton, a formerMarine, was departing hisWhite House job after workingat the National SecurityCouncil.

It is customary fordeparting staffers to request a

family photograph with thepresident.

According to the New YorkTimes, once the pictures weretaken, the family prepared toleave, but not before Mr.

Philadelphia’s two sons askedthe president one questionapiece.

Jacob shyly asked thecommander-in-chief if his hairwas like the president’s, saying

in the softest of voices: ‘I wantto know if my hair is just likeyours.’ The president couldn’thear, and asked the five-year-old to repeat his question. Hethen replied: ‘Why don’t you

touch it and see for yourself?’It was at that moment that

the President folded himself atthe waist and offered the crownof his head for the little boy tofeel. He encouraged Jacob bysaying, ‘Touch it, dude!’

That’s when photographerMr Souza took the now-iconicpicture, which the Times sayshas slightly ‘awkwardcomposition.’ After he felt thePresident’s head, Jacob issuedhis verdict to the room: ‘Yes, itdoes feel the same.’ Since theFord administration, WhiteHouse staff photographers havepicked new pictures to displayon a weekly basis.

He told the Times that thepicture became an ‘instantfavourite’ with the staff, andsaid: ‘I think people are struckby the fact that the presidentof the United States was willingto bend down and let a little boyfeel his head.’

The photo still hangs in theWest Wing today - while a copyis also proudly hung in thePhiladelphia family’s livingroom.

Savage: Lawmakers from pro-presidential and opposition factions fight in the parliament session hall in Kiev, Ukraine.

Say what you like about theiradversarial style, but at leastthe great and good of British

politics keep the fisticuffs for theCommons bar.

In Ukraine, though, apolitician was left with bloodstreaming down his face last nightafter a brawl erupted in the mainchamber of the parliament.

Violence broke out over a billthat would allow the use of theRussian language in courts,hospitals and other institutions inthe Russian-speaking regions ofUkraine.

Members of the pro-Westernopposition, who want to takeUkraine out of Russia’s shadow,traded blows with lawmakers fromPresident Viktor Yanukovych’sparty, which bases its support inthe Russian-speaking east.

The wounded man, oppositionlegislator Mykola Petruk, wastaken to hospital after he suffered

an apparent blow to the head.Politicians have frequently

scuffled in the Ukrainianparliament. A fierce fight inDecember 2010, which sent atleast six lawmakers to the hospital,started when members ofYanukovych’s party threw chairsand punched opponents who hadbeen blocking legislative work allday.

During a fight in April 2010,the parliament speaker hid behindan umbrella as oppositionlawmakers threw eggs and smokebombs to protest a naval pact withRussia. Ukraine is deeply dividedinto the Russian-speaking east andsouth, which favors close ties withMoscow, and the Ukrainian-speaking west, which wantsUkraine to strengthen links withthe West.

The opposition demanded aninvestigation into yesterday’sscuffle.

Chaos: A politician reaches over the bench to slam a fist intoone of his rivals (left), while the grey-suited man seen crawlingover the furniture is seized by the leg as he falls.

Bloodied:OppositionpoliticianMykolaPetrukreceivesfirst aidafter thescuffle,whichbroke outover a billthat willallowRussian tobe spokenin officialbuildings

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012 PAGE 47

Living as a citizen of heavenIn this message, I want to share

with you how to live your life asa citizen of heaven rather than

an indigene of this earth, asstrangers and pilgrims on the earthand not a permanent resident.“These all died in faith, not havingreceived the promises, but havingseen them afar off were assured ofthem, embraced them andconfessed that they were strangersand pilgrims on the earth. For thosewho say such things declare plainlythat they seek a homeland. Andtruly if they had called to mind thatcountry from which they had comeout, they would have hadopportunity to return. But now theydesire a better, that is, a heavenlycountry. Therefore God is notashamed to be called their God, forHe has prepared a city for them.”(Heb 11:13-16 NKJV)

How to live your life?· Be born again. “Jesus

answered and said unto him, Verily,verily, I say unto thee, except a manbe born again, he cannot see thekingdom of God.” (John 3:3 KJV)You need to give your life to JesusChrist thereby becoming a newcreature. “Wherefore if any man isin Christ, (he is) a new creature: theold things are passed away; behold,they are become new.” (2 Cor 5:17ASV) Towards the end of thismessage, I will show you how to beborn again.

· Be renewed in your mind.This comes by the help of the Spiritof God as you continuously studyand meditate in the word of God.Eph 4:23-24 says, “Be renewed inthe spirit of your mind, and that youput on the new man which wascreated according to God, in truerighteousness and holiness.”(NKJV) You cannot put on the newman and live a life of righteousnessand holiness unless you daily renewyour mind in the word of God. “Andbe not conformed to this world: but

GREENGREENGREENGREENGREENPPPPPASTURESASTURESASTURESASTURESASTURESBy Pastor T.O. Banso

cedarministryintl@yahoo.comGSM: 08033113523

be ye transformed by the renewingof your mind, that ye may provewhat is that good, and acceptable,and perfect, will of God.” (Rom 12:2KJV) The key to life transformationis the renewal of mind via the wordof God. Such transformation helpsyou to view life from God’sperspective contained in the wordof God.

It takes a renewed mind to dowhat Eph 4:25-32 says and that’swhat God wants you to do.“Therefore, putting away lying, leteach one of you speak truth with hisneighbor, for we are members ofone another. Be angry, and do notsin: do not let the sun go down onyour wrath, nor give place to thedevil. Let him who stole steal nolonger, but rather let him labor,working with his hands what isgood, that he may have somethingto give him who has need. Let nocorrupt word proceed out of yourmouth, but what is good fornecessary edification, that it mayimpart grace to the hearers. And donot grieve the Holy Spirit of God,by whom you were sealed for theday of redemption. Let allbitterness, wrath, anger, clamor,and evil speaking be put away fromyou, with all malice. And be kind toone another, tenderhearted,forgiving one another, even as Godin Christ forgave you.” (NKJV)Doing what this scripture says is amark of a truly transformed life.May you experience this in Jesus’name.

· Make the most of your timehere on earth. Don’t live as if youwon’t die or you’ll live forever onearth as it is at present. Ps 90:12says, “Teach us to make the most ofour time, so that we may grow inwisdom.” (NLT) Grow in wisdom;don’t live as a fool. Be wise. (Eph5:15-20)

Those who live their lives asstrangers and pilgrims on the earth

no longer live the rest of their timein flesh to the lusts of men, but tothe will of God. (1 Peter 4:2)

·Lay up your treasures inheaven. Those who see themselvesas permanent residents of the earthdon’t lay their treasures in heaven.They heap up wealth, live forthemselves alone and deludethemselves that they can continueto enjoy forever like that rich fool.But death will put an end to thatwhen they least expect. The story ofthe rich fool is told in Luke 12:18-21. Jesus says, “Do not lay up foryourselves treasures on earth,where moth and rust destroy andwhere thieves break in and steal; butlay up for yourselves treasures inheaven, where neither moth norrust destroys and where thieves donot break in and steal. For whereyour treasure is, there your heartwill be also.” (Matt 6:19-21 NKJV)

How do you lay up yourtreasures in heaven? By beinggenerous to God and His causes onthe earth such as paying your tithes,giving offerings and contributingfinancially and materially to Godrelated projects and programmeslike gospel advancement, churchbuilding etc.

The other way of storing yourtreasures in heaven is by beinggenerous to fellow human beingsespecially the needy, orphans andwidows. “If you help the poor, youare lending to the LORD — and hewill repay you!” (Prov 19:17 NLT)James 1:27 says, “Pure and lastingreligion in the sight of God ourFather means that we must care fororphans and widows in theirtroubles, and refuse to let the worldcorrupt us.” (NLT)

Those who don’t store theirtreasures in heaven are not involvedin these types of giving. All theirtreasures are here on earth, andthough they are rich while alive arepoor after death for they have no

treasures stored ahead in heaven.· Don’t be attached to this

world. That means you don’t getcarried away by the activities of thisworld, your success, your progressand all that this world offers becauseyou know that it won’t last. “Thosein frequent contact with the thingsof the world should make good useof them without becoming attachedto them, for this world and all itcontains will pass away.” (1 Cor7:30-31 NLT) It’s not all that glittersthat is gold. What this world offersis deceptive, and you have to becareful that you’re not deceived.That’s why the Bible warns aboutthe deceitfulness of riches. (Matt13:22)

· Set your mind on the thingsthat are above. Carnal Christiansand unbelievers focus their mindson the things of this earth. They areconcerned about earthly things. “Ifthen you were raised with Christ,seek those things which are above,where Christ is, sitting at the righthand of God. Set your mind onthings above, not on things on theearth. For you died, and your life ishidden with Christ in God. WhenChrist who is our life appears, thenyou also will appear with Him inglory.” (Col 3:1-4 NKJV) SeriousChristians set their minds on thingsabove, and not on things on theearth. They know that they in thisworld but they are not of this worldjust as Jesus told the Jewish leaders,“You are from below; I am from

Take heed lest you fall

From the Pulpit

above. You are of this world; I amnot.” (John 8:23 NLT)

I pray that you will live as acitizen of heaven. May you live as astranger and pilgrim on this earth,and not live to pursue vanity, andlose your soul. “And how do youbenefit if you gain the whole worldbut lose your own soul in theprocess? Is anything worth morethan your soul?” (Mark 8:36-37NLT)

TAKE ACTION!If you are not born again, kindly

say this prayer now: “0 Lord God, Icome unto you today. I know I am asinner and I cannot save myself. Ibelieve that Jesus is the Son of Godwho died on the cross to save meand resurrected the third day. Iconfess Jesus as my Lord andSaviour and surrender my life tohim today. I invite Jesus into myheart today. By this prayer, I knowI am saved. Thank you Jesus forsaving me and making me a childof God”

I believe you have said thisprayer from your heart.Congratulations! You will need tojoin a Bible believing, Bible teachingchurch in your area where you willbe taught how to live your new lifein Christ Jesus. I pray that youflourish like the palm tree and growlike the cedar of Lebanon. May yougrow into Christ in all thingsbecoming all God wants you to be. Iwill be glad to hear from you. Maythe Lord be with you.

Many Christians today areno longer living as thosewho are aware of the de-

vices of their enemy, the devil. TheWord of God states that the devil isroaming about seeking for whom todevour and his greatest targets arechildren of God. Many people whodo not take heed will be deceived bythe devil, who has already un-leashed his devices against man-kind. His ultimate aim is to takemany off the covering of God andto lead them to hell where they willspend eternity in pain.

God, who knows that we mustbe wary of the schemes of the devilcontinue to remind us daily of therisk we run when we live our lifewithout checks. It is one of such re-minders that I bring to you today

by the leadership of the Holy Spirit.I do not know your spiritual level

now and the trials and temptationsthat have been defeating you, but Imust bring the caution from God toyou as He has instructed me. Godhas instructed me to tell you to read1 Corinthians 10. That is the mes-sage He has for many people todayincluding you.

The scripture reads here;“1 Moreover, brethren, I would

not that ye should be ignorant, howthat all our fathers were under thecloud, and all passed through thesea; 2 And were all baptized untoMoses in the cloud and in the sea; 3And did all eat the same spiritualmeat; 4 And did all drink the samespiritual drink: for they drank ofthat spiritual Rock that followed

them: and that Rock was Christ. 5But with many of them God was notwell pleased: for they were over-thrown in the wilderness.

6 Now these things were our ex-amples, to the intent we should notlust after evil things, as they alsolusted. 7 Neither be ye idolaters, aswere some of them; as it is written,The people sat down to eat anddrink, and rose up to play. 8 Nei-ther let us commit fornication, assome of them committed, and fellin one day three and twenty thou-sand. 9 Neither let us tempt Christ,as some of them also tempted, andwere destroyed of serpents. 10 Nei-ther murmur ye, as some of themalso murmured, and were destroyedof the destroyer. 11 Now all thesethings happened unto them forensamples: and they are written forour admonition, upon whom theends of the world are come. 12Wherefore let him that thinketh hestandeth take heed lest he fall. 13There hath no temptation taken youbut such as is common to man: butGod is faithful, who will not sufferyou to be tempted above that ye areable; but will with the temptationalso make a way to escape, that ye

may be able to bear it. 14 Where-fore, my dearly beloved, flee fromidolatry. 15 I speak as to wise men;judge ye what I say. 16 The cup ofblessing which we bless, is it not thecommunion of the blood of Christ?The bread which we break, is it notthe communion of the body ofChrist? 17 For we being many areone bread, and one body: for we areall partakers of that one bread. 18Behold Israel after the flesh: are notthey which eat of the sacrifices par-takers of the altar? 19 What say Ithen? that the idol is anything, orthat which is offered in sacrifice toidols is any thing? 20 But I say, thatthe things which the Gentiles sacri-fice, they sacrifice to devils, and notto God: and I would not that yeshould have fellowship with devils.21 Ye cannot drink the cup of theLord, and the cup of devils: ye can-not be partakers of the Lord's table,and of the table of devils. 22 Do weprovoke the Lord to jealousy? arewe stronger than he? 23 All thingsare lawful for me, but all things arenot expedient: all things are lawfulfor me, but all things edify not. 24Let no man seek his own, but everyman another's wealth. 25 Whatso-

ever is sold in the shambles, that eat,asking no question for consciencesake: 26 For the earth is the Lord's,and the fulness thereof. 27 If any ofthem that believe not bid you to afeast, and ye be disposed to go;whatsoever is set before you, eat,asking no question for consciencesake. 28 But if any man say untoyou, This is offered in sacrificeunto idols, eat not for his sakethat shewed it, and for consciencesake: for the earth is the Lord's,and the fullness thereof: 29 Con-science, I say, not thine own, butof the other: for why is my libertyjudged of another man's con-science? 30 For if I by grace be apartaker, why am I evil spoken offor that for which I give thanks?31 Whether therefore ye eat, ordrink, or whatsoever ye do, do allto the glory of God. 32 Give noneoffence, neither to the Jews, norto the Gentiles, nor to the churchof God: 33 Even as I please allmen in all things, not seekingmine own profit, but the profit ofmany, that they may be saved.(KJV)

Think about all these and prayGod to help you overcome. Amen.

LIBERALIBERALIBERALIBERALIBERATIONTIONTIONTIONTIONARENARENARENARENARENAAAAA

By Rev. Abel Duniya

Gospel Power LiberationMinistries, Abuja

GSM: 08033155167

Nigeria: The systematic reductionSATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012

BIG PUNCHBIG PUNCHBIG PUNCHBIG PUNCHBIG PUNCH

For the umpteenth timeSanusi Lamido Sanusi,Governor of Central Bank,

tells the Nigerian people thedifficulties that lie ahead. Theeconomy is at risk, and willcontinue to be at risk unless itsstructural weaknesses areaddressed. ‘The key concerns[are] slowdown in globaleconomic activities,particularly in the UnitedStates, Europe and China;slowdown in domestic output,especially sharp decline inagricultural output and oil andgas; possible softening of crudeoil prices in the internationalmarket with potential fiscalrevenue loses; and the likelypressure on foreign exchangemarket and exchange rate,’Sanusi told journalists on May22, 2012. ‘Others are theinflationary threat that hasresurfaced in the first quarterof 2012, after having moderatedin the fourth quarter of 2011;imminent increase in electricitytariff, which may lead toinflationary pressures; highinterest rates in the face ofdeclining GDP output andsecurity concerns in thecountry.” Sanusi furtherpointed out in 2011 aloneNigeria lost about $7 billion toOil Thieves.

Imagine what is likely tohappen in the event of a fall inoil prices: civil servants, fromlocal to federal level, will notearn salary; millions of familieswill not be able to feedthemselves; children will notcontinue their education;markets, from Lagos to Onishato Yenagoa to Kano to Maiduguriwill collapse, farmers willinstantly plunge into penury,ongoing projects everywherewhich could stimulate theeconomy will stop: overall, ageneral climate of misery willenvelop the nation, the miserycompounded further byimposition of more financialburdens on the people, throughhigher tariffs on electricity,water, health and otherservices. Life, for this otherwisegreat and vibrant nation, willcome to a halt. Remember thatlast month the Minister ofFinance warned that if thepresent trend continuesNigeria’s Gross DomesticProduct [GDP] could collapse.What will not stop, however, arethe usual business ofgovernance, rooted in profligacyof the highest order, plus, ofcourse, the Oil Theft. We aremoving towards a new andcritical phase in the gradual

“Obasanjo does not have credibility in Nigeria.Remember he was dragged to court by his ownson accusing him of sleeping with his wife.”Deputy Minority leader of the House ofRepresentatives, Suleiman Kawu, reacting toallegation by former President Obasanjo thatthere were rogues in the National Assembly

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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

Nigeria to South Africa withsevere debilitating effect on theexchange rate of the Naira andthe Nigerian economy as awhole. Its imposed, fraudulentInterconnection Agreement diddivert the huge revenues thatNITEL would have made on itstelecommunications highwaysto MTN and others.

‘In 2006, Albert Mashi, thethen Managing Director ofNigeria TelecommunicationsLimited did, at a pressconference reported by ThisDaynewspaper of 30th March,2006, cry out that MTN wasdamaging NITEL’s Optic FibreCables.

The estimated cost of thesystematic, nationwide damagedone to NITEL’s Fibre OpticNetwork by MTN was in theregion of Thirteen Billion Naira(N13bn). This fact of deliberatedestruction of NITEL’sinfrastructure was brought tothe attention of NCC with whosecollusion, MTN has, till date,failed/refused/neglected to paycompensation to NITEL. I wasdeeply involved in theinterconnection issues by virtueof my former position as GeneralManager (Operations) of NITEL.MTN and NCC have, for many

years, been working togetherjointly and have embarked on,and continue to engage in,activities radically inimical tothe Nigerian economy andNigerian interests and becauseof the dubious and anti-national-interests relationship that existsbetween them, any complaints,grievances, disputes oraccusations against MTNdirected, lodged, forwarded orsubmitted to NCC will not seethe light of day or be acted uponby NCC.’

‘To all intents and purposes,NCC has accorded MTN thestatus of a National Carrier,through the backdoor. To a largeextent, MTN is essentially orsubstantially operatingillegally in Nigeria and NCC hasfailed to exercise its statutoryand regulatory control overit. Despite the fact that MTN hasembarked on massivedestruction of NITEL’s plantsand equipment under the guiseof expanding its network, NCChas failed/refused/neglected toexercise its statutory andregulatory control and NCC wasso reckless in liquidating NITELthat it created the situationwhere NITEL has also beencompelled to settle invoices of

MTN and others running intoseveral billions of Naira whichNITEL cannot verify with itsown internal data because NCCprevented NITEL from doing so.The telecommunicationsindustry in Nigeria has a cabaland MTN and NCC areprominent members of thistelecommunications industrycabal.’

The truth or otherwise ofthese allegations is yet to bedetermined, but judging by thefacts about the Petroleum sector,it would surprise no one thatNigeria has no control over themassively lucrative telecomindustry, or that Nigeria didwatch helplessly as its nationalassets were being systematicallydestroyed by a foreign companyin broad day light, and for solong. What is more, we havewitnessed the absolute collapseof NITEL, the national carrier,and the phenomenal rise of theothers.

What we have been sayingin the last few weeks is that inthe last few years Nigeria hasbeen losing control over itsinstitutions, its strategicresources, its common wealthand, ultimately, its own affairs.Because of that systematic lossof control, things are happeningin Nigeria which can not happenanywhere else in the world. Isthere any other country whichderives its income solely frompetroleum but turns theindustry into a Free ThievingZone, where no law applies, noaccurate records exist, noconcern for the future, andwhere no thought for the wellbeing of the bona fide owners andprimary beneficiaries, Nigeriaand its people, is evercountenanced? To worsen thesituation even further, theNigerian people seem to havelost control over their politicaldestiny.

Democracy Thieves, thesupreme cabal, have stolen thelion share of Nigeria’sdemocracy. All the cabals andall the thieves in the oilindustry, in the telecomindustry, in the bankingindustry, in governanceindustry, and in all othersectors are very active in thepolitical sphere and have almostwrested democracy from theNigerian people. They handledemocracy in exactly the samemanner as they handle oil. Oilflows in their direction and intheir interest, so mustdemocracy. If the situation wereto persist, what would happeneventually?

reduction of Nigeria in wellbeing and in stature.

We are all accustomed to thefact Nigeria has no control overits oil, and the endemic theft ofthis strategic resource hasreached an unprecedented scale,and apparently there is nothingthat can be done about it. Butthere are other thieves, othercabals wrecking havoc on theeconomy.Take the case of what

Tribune [14/5/12] calls theTelecom Thieves. The paperrefers to an affidavit submittedto an Abuja high court on May9, 2012 by Mr SolomonOgundele, NITEL’s PrincipalLiaison Officer (PLO) to NCCbetween 1994 and 2000, andleader of the Nigerian team thatdrafted and prepared the firstInterconnection Agreementwith the PrivateTelecommunications Operators(PTOs) in Nigeria, includingMTN. The gist of Ogundele’sdeposition, as quoted by Tribune,is as follows:

‘At the inception ofderegulation in thetelecommunications industry inNigeria, NITEL would havemade more than One TrillionNaira for the Nigeriangovernment. It could not makethe aforementioned amountdue to the fact that NCC didcompromise its statutory andregulatory functions byfraudulently allowing MTN andothers to use thetelecommunications highwaywhich only NITEL possessed atthe inception of deregulation,free of charge. NCC has beencolluding with MTN to ensuremassive capital flight from