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COUNTDOWN TO

ONDO GUBER POLL

DAYS TO GO26

October 20, 2012

EZEKIEL TITUS, TORDUE SALEM AND AZA MSUE

It was a bloody Sunday yesterday as a suicide bomber struck at the

gate of St. John’s Catholic Church, Bauchi, killing himself, three worshippers and injuring 46 others.

The attacker, it was gath-ered, beat the usual tight security provided at the church before hitting the gate to detonate the bomb.

The blast took place at

Vol. 2 N0. 454 Monday, September 24, 2012 N150

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Impeachment: Okupe warns lawmakers against unguarded comments

Bloody Sunday in Bauchi:

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OBIORA IFOH AND TORDUE SALEM

The Presidency yes-terday warned the National Assembly

against threatening Pres-ident Goodluck Jonathan with impeachment over routine disagreements at the slightest opportunity.

It said that the interest of the nation should be par-

amount in the minds of the members.

Speaking at a media chat in Abuja, the Senior Spe-cial Assistant to the Presi-dent on Public Affairs, Dr.

Suicide bomber hits Catholic church again

Injured victims of the bomb blast at St.John’s Catholic Church, Bauchi, yesterday. More pictures on page 2 PHOTO: NAN

Arik returns, records low turnout of passengers

P.6

P.6

CAN calls for state of emergency...kills three worshippers, injures 46

Jonathan

Fuel scarcity persists as marketers increase price per litre

P.13

Mimiko has nothing to show for huge allocation, says AkeredoluPDP berates gov over plan to probe Agagu

Blasts Soyinka, Bakare, CPC

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Suicide bomber hits Catholic church again CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Impeachment: Okupe warns lawmakers against unguarded comments A baby victim of the blast being treated at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi yesterday. PHOTOS: NAN

Wreckage of the suicide bomber’s car.

about 8:55a.m. when the first batch of worshippers was leaving the church and the second batch was com-ing in.

Narrating the incident to journalists, the Chair-man of the Christian As-sociation of Nigeria, CAN,

Bauchi State chapter, Rev. Lawi Pokti, said: “It oc-curred around 8.55a.m. when the first set of wor-shippers was coming out of the church and the sec-ond session was about to start.

“The suicide bomber came in an Opel saloon car

but could not get through to the church premises. So, he hit the barricade at the gate and detonated his ex-plosive device.

“He and three worship-ers died while over 46 oth-ers were injured. Some of those injured are battling between life and death.”

National Mirror learnt that some of the injured were rushed to Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, by officials of Nigerian Se-curity and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, who ar-rived at the scene before other security agencies.

One of the security men at the church, Mr. Marcel-lius Udia, told one of our correspondents that he quickly shut the gate be-fore the suicide bomber could enter and stopped worshippers from coming out of the church when he noticed the unusual ap-proach of the car.

Udia explained that he saw the bomber coming in through the wrong way and was driving in a suspi-cious way.

A worshipper, Mr. Os-ondu Chukwu, said that but for the barricade, the casualties would have been more.

“The sound was massive and you can imagine if he had succeeded in getting to the hall where service was taking place,” he said.

The Secretary of the Ni-geria Red Cross in Bauchi State, Mr. Adamu Abuba-kar, also confirmed that three persons died along with the bomber.

“Three persons died and 46 others were injured. The injured are now being treated at the Abubakar

Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital, Bauchi,” he said.

The state police com-mand also said that the explosion killed three per-sons, including the suicide bomber.

The police spokesper-son, Mr. Hassan Auyo, told newsmen that 46 other worshippers in the church were injured.

He, however, said that no arrest had been made, although investigation had begun into the incident.

But the umbrella body of CAN in the 19 northern states and Abuja yesterday called on the Federal Gov-ernment to urgently de-clare a state of emergency in Bauchi State if the ongo-ing genocide continued.

Northern CAN’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Sun-day Oibe, said this while reacting to yesterday’s at-tack.

He said that the emer-gency rule was necessary due to the inability of Gov-ernor Isa Yuguda to curb the incessant massacres.

“If the governor cannot curtail what is happening in the state, then the Fed-eral Government should as a matter of urgency de-clare a state of emergency in Bauchi State.

“What offence did Chris-tians commit? We can’t accept government’s in-ability to end killings of Christians in Bauchi State.

“The governor should not wait until when people die and he will send money for mass burial. This is un-acceptable to us.

“Don’t Christians have the right to live again in this country?

“We condole with the families of the victims and pray that God would con-sole their hearts. We are also calling on Christians not to lose hope but to con-tinue praying,” he said.

The National Emergen-cy Management Agency, NEMA, however, con-firmed three deaths and 25 others injured in the incident.

NEMA, in a statement by its Head, Public Re-lations, Alhaji Yushau Shuaib, “confirmed that three people died from an explosion that occurred close to a worshipping centre in Bauchi town.”

“Apart from the sus-pected suicide bomber who was killed by the explosion, a woman and a child also lost their lives after the incident. Twenty-two other in-jured victims are cur-rently receiving medical treatment in hospital in Bauchi,” NEMA said.

Suicide bombers had on December 25, 2011 attacked St. Theresa Catholic Church in Ma-dalla, Niger State, which

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1Doyin Okupe, also advised Nigerians to give due re-spect to the office of the President, irrespective of the occupant and political affiliation.

Okupe noted that Presi-dent Jonathan halted fur-ther action on the new N5,000 note being proposed by the Central Bank of Ni-geria, CBN, based on public reactions against the policy.

On the constant conflicts between the legislative and the executive arms of government, Okupe said that it was normal under a presidential system of gov-ernment “as it will allow for checks and balances for good governance.”

He, however, said that the present National As-sembly remained the best the nation ever had since the return of civil rule over 13 years ago. Okupe said that the intention of both the legislative and the ex-

ecutive was to ensure good governance for the nation, but stressed that in pursing this agenda; there would be conflict and disagreements.

He said: “There are bound to be conflicts and disagreements but mod-eration must be the order of the day. Even in the face of conflicts and disagree-ment, the interest of the over 150 million Nigerians must be paramount.

‘’The legislative arm of government has the consti-tutional right to impeach the President but that should be the last option, not that anytime there is one form of disagreement or the other, the legislature will be threatening the President with impeach-ment,

“No, there is always a room for dialogue. Our de-mocracy is new, we have to build it and allow it to grow.

“The legislature will be passing good laws while the

executive will be executing the good laws for the devel-opment of the country,” he said.

On the stoppage of fur-ther action on the N5,000 note, he said that President Jonathan took the action as a listening leader based on the stiff opposition from the various interest groups in the country.

He explained that the intervention of the Presi-dent would allow the CBN the opportunity to educate the public on why it was introducing the new policy before a final decision on it would be taken.

The presidential aide, who also spoke on the re-cent comments credited to some individuals and po-litical parties over the reac-tion of President Jonathan on the fuel subsidy protest in Lagos and some parts of the country early this year, warned that such com-ments would no longer be

ignored by his office with-out appropriate responses.

Okupe specifically made references to the statements credited to Prof. Wole Soyinka, Pas-tor Tunde Bakare, the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, and the All Nigeria Peoples Party of Nigeria, ANPP.

He said: “The office of Mr. President deserves due respect. We are not talking about the present occupant or the politi-cal party, it is President Jonathan today, it may be Pastor Bakare tomorrow

“To say that President Jonathan’s comment on the fuel subsidy matter was due to bad conscience or that he had been alien-ated from the public was uncalled for.”

He said that the Presi-dency disagreed with Prof. Soyinka that Presi-dent Jonathan was suffer-ing from bad conscience,

saying, “If the President was, he would not have stopped the printing of the N5,000 notes.”

Meanwhile, a mem-ber of the House of Rep-resentatives, Hon. Fort Dike, has expressed dis-appointment over the continuing disregard of resolutions passed by the National Assembly by the Presidency.

The lawmaker in an interview with National Mirror yesterday also supported the move by the Senate to strengthen the parliament’s resolu-tions or motions as inter-vening items to address the country’s problems.

Dike, who chairs the House Committee on Inter/Intra Party Rela-tions, however, regretted that though President Jonathan assumed office through a resolution, he always ignored resolu-tions passed by the legis-

lature. “Resolutions are sup-

posed to express deep feel-ings of the National As-sembly. Resolutions are not laws; they express the deep feelings of the legislature. Resolutions are immedi-ate to address events, so, as much as possible, they must be respected.

“The President must remember that it was through a resolution that he became the Acting Pres-ident at a difficult time in the history of this country, so he must respect resolu-tions passed by the Nation-al Assembly,” he said.

He explained that though conventions were not laws, “they are well re-spected in Britain, where they don’t have a written constitution.” “Everything must not be done by laws”, he said.

He, however, warned that the idea of signature

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net2 Monday, September 24, 2012News

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 3Monday, September 24, 2012

National News

L-R: Actresses Stephanie Okereke, Geneveive Nnaji and Managing Director, M-net Africa, Mrs. Biola Alabi, during the announcement of Africamagic Viewers’ Choice Awards in Lagos, at the weekend.

Chairman, Copyright Society of Nigeria, Chief Tony Okoroji presenting a copyright licence to the Director General, Yar’adua Centre, Mrs. Jacqueline Farris in Abuja, at the weekend.

L-R: Deputy Director, Entrepreneur Development Centre (EDC), Ms. Nneka Okekeani; Founder, The Tony Elumelu Foundation and Guest Speaker, Mr. Tony Elumelu and Director, EDC, Mr. Peter Bankole, during EDC’s Annual SME Convention in Lagos, at the weekend.

L-R: General Manager, NTA, Uyo, Mr. Chidi Uluka; Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Aniekan Umanah and Director General, Akwa Ibom Broadcasting Service, Mr. Praise Okon, during a conference marking the 25th anniversary of the state creation, at the weekend.

Three die in Nasarawa governor’s convoy crash

Electricity: BPE postpones opening bid for distribution fi rmsThe Bureau of Public

Enterprises (BPE) has postponed the

opening of financial bid for the sale of electricity distri-bution companies.

The opening of the bid was earlier scheduled for October 10 to October 16.

A statement issued by the BPE in Abuja said the postponement was to give bidders the required 15 working days to procure and submit their post-qual-ification security.

The agency said the shift in date was necessitated by the time lost from the post-ponement of the last meet-ing of the National Coun-cil on Privatisation (NCP) from September 13 to Sep-tember 18.

It assured stakehold-ers that all other dates in the timeline for the priva-tisation of the successor companies of Power Hold-ing Company of Nigeria (PHCN) remained un-changed.

The agency reiterated that the opening of the fi-nancial bids of investors

for the five generation com-panies, whose technical proposals met the require-ment would take place as scheduled on Tuesday. .

The statement named the three bidders shortlist-ed for Ughelli Power as Fe-niks Electricity, Transcorp and Wood Rock/Symbion Power/Medea/PSL/Thom-asen and Amperion Power Distribution Limited.

For Sapele Power Plc, CMEC/EURAFRIC Energy and JBN-Nestoil Power Services were shortlisted, while Amperion Power Dis-tribution Ltd emerged for Geregu Power Plc.

Also Mainstream Ener-gy Solutions was shortlist-ed for the Kainji Power Plc, while North-South Power was listed for Shiroro Pow-er Plc.

On Afam Power Plc, the sixth generation company put up for sale, the privati-sation agency said no bid-der was technically quali-fied for the company.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that on September18, the NCP

approved a list of prospec-tive investors qualified to bid for 10 electricity distri-bution companies in the country.

The electricity distribu-tion firms proposed for sale are located in Ibadan, Ikeja, Abuja, Enugu, Jos, Eko, Port Harcourt, Yola, Kano, Benin and Kaduna.

The NCP said Ikeja Distribution Company re-ceived the highest number of qualified bids with eight firms.They are: Oando Con-sortium, Amperion Power Distribution Company Ltd, Honeywell Energy Re-sources Limited and Inte-grated Energy Distribution and Marketing Company.

Others are Vigeo Hold-ings, Gumco, African Cor-poration AFC and CESC, Kepco/NEDC Consortium, West Power and Gas; and Rockson Engineering.

The Eko Distribution Company received the sec-ond highest number of bids with six firms showing in-terest.

The bidders are Oando Consortium, Integrated En-

ergy Distribution and Mar-keting Company, Sepco-Pa-cific Energy Consortium, Kepco/NEDC Consortium, Honeywell Energy Resourc-es, Limited West Power and Gas as well as Rockson En-gineering.

Three bidders shortlist-ed for Ibadan Distribution Company are Western Con-sortium, Integrated Energy Distribution and Market-ing Company and Kepco/NEDC Consortium.

For the Abuja Distri-bution Firm, the NCP ap-proved two bids, namely, Kam Consortium Util-ity Company Ltd and Inter-state Electrics Ltd.

Also, four firms emerged for the Enugu company, namely Rensmart Power Ltd, Proglobal Power Inter-national consortium, Inter-state Electrics and Eastern Electric Nigeria Ltd.

Aura Energy Limited was the only bidder for the Jos Distribution company, while Integrated Energy Distribution and Market-ing Company emerged for Yola and Sahelian Power

SPV Ltd was named for Kano.

Furthermore two bid-ders were shortlisted for the Port Harcourt Distri-bution Company, namely, 4Power Consortium and Rockson Engineering.

For the Benin Distribu-tion company four firms emerged, namely, Southern Electric Distribution Com-pany, Rensmart Power Ltd, Vigeo Power Consortium and Rockson Engineering.

The prospective bidders listed by the NCP were for 10 distribution companies, excluding the Kaduna Dis-tribution Company.

The council said the two bids received for Kaduna were not “technically quali-fied’’ and added that fresh bids would be invited from all the pre-qualified bidders in respect of the company.

This implies that all the 54 companies that previ-ously submitted technical and financial bids to ac-quire majority stakes in the 11 distribution companies would be eligible for the fresh bid.

IGBAWASE UKUMBALAFIA

Three persons died yesterday evening in the convoy of

Nasarawa State Gover-nor, Tanko Al-makura.

The accident oc-curred when the gover-nor was returning from Umaisha after donating relief materials to flood victims at Umaisha in Toto Local Government Area of the state.

The Hilux van on the governor’s convoy was said to have rammed into a truck that was coming from the oppo-site side.

The victims were the governor’s Personal Assistant, Mohammed Zaki Gambo, a police-man attached to the governor’s son and the driver of the Hilux van.

The governor’s son, who escaped death, was rushed to the medical center, Keffi.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, September 24, 20124 Photo News

NEXIM Bank disburses N700m from entertainment fund

Suicide bomber hits Catholic church againImpeachment: Okupe warns lawmakers against unguarded comments

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 5 Monday, September 24, 2012 News

Long queue at a fuel station along Iju Road, Lagos, as scarcity persisted yesterday. PHOTO:ADEMOLA AKINLABI

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

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PDP controls 30 out of 63 political parties –LP chairman

collection by members of the National Assembly may not solve the prob-lem, but advised that a Bill be passed by both Chambers to make motions and resolu-tions law.

“Signatures don’t give resolutions the force of law. If our resolutions and Bills are consistently ignored, then we should pass a Bill to

give them the force of law,” he added.

Several motions and resolutions passed last week by the National As-sembly were ignored, with some eliciting negative reactions from the Presi-dency, except the one on the suspended CBN’s pro-posal to restructure lower currencies and introduce a N5,000 note.

OBIORA IFOHABUJA

Out of the 63 politi-cal parties in the country today, 30

“are owned and sponsored by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, according to

the National Chairman of the Labour Party, LP, Chief Dan Nwanyawu.

He also said that only nine political parties had functional offices in Abuja as stipulated by the elec-toral laws.

Delivering a lecture titled “Transformation of

Nigeria politics: The La-bour Party perspective” at the Institute of the Secu-rity Studies at the weekend in Abuja, Nwanyawu called on the National Assembly to make a law that would make it punishable for pub-lic officers who misadvised the government.

He also called for prom-ulgation of laws that would make electoral fraud im-practicable.

Nwanyawu noted that the country’s electoral system that “encourages multi-party system is a dis-service to the nation.”

The party chairman ex-

plained that under such ar-rangement, electoral fraud could never be checked.

He said: “Out of the existing 62 political par-ties in Nigeria, 30 of them are owned by the PDP out of which just nine have functional offices in Abuja while the rest of the parties have their offices in their briefcases.

“The best political sys-tem for Nigeria is a two-party system. Such ar-rangement will make it difficult for rigging. There will be no need for anybody to carry ballot boxes be-cause there won’t be such opportunity.

“Touts will not have jobs and the electoral tribunal will be useless because a clear winner will emerge as was the case in 1993 general election between the Social Democratic Party, SDP, and the National Republican Convention, NRC.

“The issue of merger or alliance will not arise be-cause it is just two of them and they have different ide-ologies.”

Nwanyawu also called for the removal of immu-nity clause on criminal matters and other crimes against the state for gov-ernors and others in posi-tions of authority to that they came be made to face the law when found want-ing.

He noted that the prob-lems in the Nigerian judi-cial system were, “a reflec-tion of the deep rot in the nation’s political system.” “Understaffed, under-motivated and underpaid, Nigerian justices and the institutional structure they service are very open to po-litical contamination.

“They are morally and ethically compromised and dispense justice in a man-ner that services the rich and harms the poor, the powerless and the voice-

less,” he added.Nwanyawu asked for

what had happened to the 32 case files concerning some former governors, which the ex-Chairman of the Economic and Finan-cial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Rib-adu, said was pending for prosecution.

“Some of these gover-nors are now in the Senate; some are major stakehold-ers when in actual sense they should be in the pris-ons,” he said.

The Director of the insti-tute, Mr. Olalekan Odugbe-mi, decried the inability of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to adopt the electron-ic voting system.

He said that the adoption would minimise electoral fraud as was practicable in some developing nations like India.

According to him, “I went to India recently and I saw the electronic machine in use. I am surprised that electoral law stated that no form of electronic machine should be used in elections in Nigeria.

“It is not surprising that it is only the politicians who see the reasons why electronic voting should not be used for obvious rea-sons.”

He also noted that it was lack of ideology among the political class that made them to jump from one par-ty to another.

“I can’t imagine Bill Clinton moving from Dem-ocratic Party to Republican Party for any reason,” the chairman said.

Nwanyawu commended the courage of President Goodluck Jonathan for put-ting on hold, the proposal by the Central Bank of Ni-geria Governor, Mr. Lami-do Sanusi, to introduce the N5,000 note against the wishes of Nigerians.

TOLA AKINMUTIMIABUJA

The Nigerian Export Import Bank has disbursed about

N700m to qualified play-ers in the nation’s enter-tainment industry even as it debunked insinuation that the process of access-ing the $200m Entertain-ment Fund was slow.

The bank management said that the inability of the practitioners to meet the stipulated minimum requirements for accessing the loans remained the chal-lenge.

It added that the loans were available for industry operators that met the stipu-lated conditions.

The Managing Director, Mr. Robert Orya, disclosed

this at a media briefing on the operations of the bank since 2010 at the weekend in Abuja.

He said that one of the rea-sons for delayed disbursement of credit to practitioners was the erroneous impression the operators had that the money was a grant by government to assist the growth of the sector and not a loan.

Orya added: “The fund disbursement is not fast be-cause with due apologies, most of the practitioners believe that it is a grant that was given by Mr. President. But it is not a grant.

“We appreciate the fact that these people have the talents, they don’t have the collateral.

“Now, the collateral is im-portant because the banking laws in Nigeria here prohibit

you or it becomes a crime if I lend money to you to a cer-tain amount without secu-rity, I am a candidate for jail and it becomes criminal.

“This money is not a grant. The challenge these people have been having is the challenge to comply with the requirements for them to access this fund.

“That was why when we drafted the operational guidelines, we discussed with them that you are the people that are going to use this. We are using different guidelines for the entertain-ment industry.”

He explained that NEXIM Bank had been repositioned to fulfil its mandate as re-flected in its balance sheets and its intervention in key projects aimed at boosting Nigeria’s and other West Af-

rican countries’ shares in the global maritime export trade.

Orya said the manage-ment’s ongoing corporate transformation programme initiated about 16 months ago had helped in reposition-ing the bank to play its roles as leading export-import trade financing.

Specifically, the NEXIM Bank boss stated that from a very poor operational ped-estal characterised by mas-sive depletion of sharehold-ers’ fund, worsening assets quality, non-adherence to corporate governance tenets which the new management met the bank, the ugly trend has been reversed with about N23.33bn and issued guaran-tees of $27.3m committed to non-oil exports financing be-tween 2009 and August this year.

claimed at least 49 peo-ple.

Several churches had been attacked in Bauchi by suicide bombers, kill-ing several people. The last attack was on June 3, 2012 when Boko Haram suicide bombers struck at Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel) and

Harvest Field Church in Yelwa Tudu, Bauchi State, killing six people including a pregnant woman.

Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House of Represen-tatives, Hon. Aminu Tam-buwal, has described yes-terday’s attack as ignoble, wicked and horrendous.

In a statement issued

by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Mallam Imam Imam, the Speaker “urged the secu-rity agencies to ensure that the perpetrators of the violent act are brought to justice.”

He said that the gains recorded by security agen-cies in their battle against terrorists in the country

in recent weeks should be built upon in order to protect the citizens at all times.

Condoling with the fam-ilies of the victims, Tam-buwal asked Nigerians to be more prayerful and to provide useful informa-tion that would lead to the arrest of the perpetrators and their sponsors.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net6 Monday, September 24, 2012News

OLUSEGUN KOIKI

After the grounding of its flight opera-tions by the aviation

unions and the subsequent intervention from the Fed-eral Government, Arik Air yesterday resumed opera-tions as promised on Satur-day, but without the usual high level of patronage by passengers.

The airline, with 23 air-craft in its fleet commenced the flight operations of the day at the General Avia-tion Terminal (GAT) of the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA), Lagos with departures to Abuja.

The resumption of the airline reduced the pressure on of Aero and IRS airlines, which operate flight servic-es from the Murtala Moham-med Airport Two (MMA2), Lagos as passengers of the airline who had hitherto besieged both airlines’ flight desk moved to GAT to catch flights on learning that Arik was back.

However, many of Arik’s flights departed without the usual full complements of passengers and some of the flights were operated al-most empty.

The airline management

led by its Managing Direc-tor, Mr. Chris Ndulue had on Saturday informed that the airline would recom-mence opeartiosn after the intervention from the Sec-retary to the Federation, Senator Pius Anyim Pius.

The image maker of the airline, Mr. Ola Banji, con-firmed the return of the airline to flight operations to our correspondent, say-ing that there was no new development.

He also said that the air-line did not increase its air-fares to its different destina-tions in the country.

He said, “As we promised yesterday (Saturday) to re-commence operations to-day (Sunday), we have fully recommence. There is no need for us to increase our airfares. For the fact that we suspended flight opera-tions for some days does not mean we will increase the air fares.”

Already, an hour flight now cost between N35,000 and N45,000 depending on the route, booking time and the airline one is flying with.

At present, there are only three major airlines in the Nigerian aviation industry. The airlines are Arik Air, Aero and IRS Airlines.

Airk Air records low passenger turnout as fl ights resume

Fuel scarcity persists, price rises

L-R: Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Mrs. Ibukun Odusote; Director, Planning Research and Documentation, Mr. Chidi Nwandu and Director of Tourism, Mr. Johnson Odekinah, at a press briefing to mark the International Peace Day celebration in Abuja, at the weekend. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

CHIDI UGWUABUJA

Illegal refining activities remain the greatest dan-ger facing the people of

the Niger Delta region in particular and the country in general.

The Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, made the ob-servation at the weekend during the ongoing Good Governance Media Tour at the headquarters of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.

The minister advised the peo-ple engaged in these unwhole-some activities to stop, adding that the destruction of Nigeria’s pipelines as well as pollution of the environment posed great

danger to the country.He said: “If these communi-

ties do not stop illegal refineries, if they do not stop the destruc-tion of pipelines and the pol-lution of the environment, the greatest danger to the people of Niger Delta and indeed our na-tion, because they are our peo-ple, is going to come from those illegal activities.

“We cannot solve the problem of refining by illegal refineries; government has a robust policy to refine our oil. So it is a positive infrastructure that Mr. President is trying to put in place, and I be-lieve once that is done, we are go-ing to have that problem solved.

“So it is in the interest of those communities and our na-tion that we never look at illegal refineries as a solution to the downstream sector of the econ-

omy.”Maku, who spoke while react-

ing to issues of the illegal refin-eries in the Niger Delta region, noted that the tour was meant to seek best practices among the people in positions of authority and use them as examples to oth-ers.

He described the Command-er General of the NSCDC, Dr. John Ade Abolurin, as a focused and honest leader who has shown exemplary prudence in management of resources.

The NSCDC boss guided the media team through the com-plex, showcasing a number of projects executed within the last two years, including the block for Counter Terrorism and Insur-gency, Civil Defence Academy Block, fish ponds, dog kennel, explosives detectors dogs, In-

formation and Technology, ICT, Department, sports arena, and auditorium, among others.

He said the construction of all the projects took place be-tween 2005 and 2010 and that all the projects put together did not cost more than N1.5bn.

Abolurin, who called on FCT Administration to allocate more land to the agency for further expansion, noted that a special unit had been set up to fight ter-rorism, saboteurs, pipeline van-dals and other forms of criminal activities.

He said: “This special unit is trained to serve in the air, sea and land. They (members of the unit) have received training in Is-rael, America and other parts of the world. This is part of the bud-getary allocation and we have to showcase them.”

Illegal refi neries, threat to Nigeria –Maku

N5,000: PDP praises Jonathan for halting CBN

UDEME AKPAN

The nation’s fuel scar-city has worsened as many filling sta-

tions whose operators com-plained of lack of petrol and other products shut their outlets to motorists in Lagos and its environs.

A survey of the situ-ation at the weekend showed that many stations did not have the products in places such as Ikorodu, Yaba, Agege, Mushin, La-gos Island and Ikeja.

There were, however, long queues at the out-lets that have commercial stocks of the products.

The survey showed that both major and indepen-dent marketers who had the products sold at exor-bitant prices, ranging be-tween N100 and N150 per litre, to buyers who had no option than to pay the high prices.

Some of the major mar-keters were, however, sell-ing at normal rates as at yesterday.

In all the areas visited, our correspondent did not witness the presence of government agencies, es-pecially the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, expected to monitor

and enforce compliance of operators.

The situation was said to be worsened by the ac-tivities of tank farmers who embarked on strike last week, calling on the government to withdraw soldiers from the premises of Integrated Oil & Gas whose Chairman, Captain Emmanuel Iheanacho, was accused of involvement in allaged oil theft.

In a telephone interview, the Executive Secretary of the Jetty and Farm Tanks Owners Association of Ni-geria, JEPTFON, Mr. E. B. Kanawa, said that although negotiations had started with related government agencies, the strike would continue until the soldiers were withdrawn from the premises of the company.

He said: “We are still on strike, even though nego-tiations have started. We will continue till the issues are resolved.”

He added that it was un-fair for the government to forcefully occupy the prem-ises of the oil company al-leged to have been involved in crude oil theft.

Kanawa said: “It is sad that this forceful occupa-tion is taking place under a democratic government that should have respect for the rule of law.”

OBIORA IFOHABUJA

The Peoples Demo-cratic Party, PDP, has commended Presi-

dent Goodluck Jonathan for reversing the planned intro-duction of N5,000 banknote by the Central Bank of Nige-ria, CBN.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, who gave the commendation in a state-ment, described the action as another clear indication of the responsiveness of the Jonathan administration to

the wishes of the people. He said the Federal Gov-

ernment had a listening ear and that the President had ,once more, demonstrated that the party’s slogan: “Power to the people,” was inviolable and that under the PDP, power really be-longed to the people.

Metuh said PDP would continue to anchor its poli-cies and programmes on the needs of the people and would not relent in uphold-ing national interest.

He said: “The primary concern of the PDP is to ensure the welfare of the

generality of Nigerians. We know full well that the opinion of the people in ev-ery government policy and action matters a lot if we must achieve this cardinal premise of our manifesto. This is the essence of this decision by the President to reverse the introduction of the N5,000.”

Metuh also commended members of the National Assembly for being the true representatives of the peo-ple, adding that the synergy between it and the executive was a sure way to achieve unimpeded success of the

transformation programme.He said: “The critical role

of the National Assembly as the representatives of the people is tangentially commendable at this junc-ture. We pay a deserving tribute to the maturity of the leadership of the Na-tional Assembly, the Senate President, Sen. David Mark GCON and the Speaker of the House of Represen-tatives, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal CFR in meeting with the President and in working together with him to guarantee the best for the nation.”

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 7Monday, September 24, 2012

Alh. M.K. Ahmed, OON Amb. Ajuji Waziri, CON

OUR ERROR

Airlift of Oyo State pilgrims to Saudi Arabia in Lagos, yesterday

Crisis rocks Oyo TUC, members want property retrieved

Ajimobi pledges support for non-indigenes

2012 Hajj: 500 pilgrims depart from LagosOLUSEGUN KOIKI

The 2012 Hajj exercise commenced at the weekend after the

initial hitch it suffered on Friday due to an incident that happened to one of the aircraft designated for the exercise.

At least 500 pilgrims de-parted from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport to observe this year’s Hajj exercise in Sau-di Arabia. The pilgrims, who wore the same attire, were from Oyo State.

Speaking to journalists at the Hajj Camp of the Lagos Airport, the Man-aging Director, Med-View Air carrier, Alhaji Muneer Bankole, said the airline,

which is designated to air-lift 6, 500 pilgrims from dif-ferent departure points for this year’s exercise, would operate as scheduled.

Bankole said the car-rier would airlift pilgrims from 16 states of the federa-tion including Ogun, 1, 573; Oyo, 1, 565; Edo, 350; Armed Forces, 505; Ondo, Osun, Ekiti and all South-South states of the federation.

He assured that the air carrier would not fail to airlift pilgrims to and from the holy land promptly, adding that there are about 18 flights from Lagos zone alone.

According to him, the carrier would airlift pil-grims from Lagos, Ilorin, Maiduguri and Port Har-court with a B747 aircraft

configured to accommo-date 517 passengers and B767.

His words: “The stage has been set and we are ready for the exercise and we pray to Allah to grant us a safe journey to and from Saudi Arabia. We are using B747 with the configura-tion for 517 people and in all the zones that we are operating; we will be using two aircraft, which have been on ground for some time now.

“We have about 18 flights out of Lagos zone alone and we hope to finish on schedule.” Speaking on a hitch-free exercise, he said the 2010 and 2011 exercises were still ‘very fresh in the memories of our passen-gers and the officials’.

MURITALA AYINLA

At least 40 touts of the National Union of Road Transport

Workers (NURTW) were ar-rested across the state by the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Enforce-ment unit at the weekend.

The miscreants, who were found extorting money from commercial vehicles opera-tors on the highways, were arrested from different lo-cations including: Ojota, Oshodi, Yaba and Ojueleg-ba.

The state government had, in its new traffic law, banned touting on the high-ways by members of the transport unions.

Speaking with journal-ists, the Chairman of the task force, Bayo Sulaiman, said the touts, aged between 18 and 40, were arrested fol-

lowing several complaints from members of the public about their activities.

Sulaiman said: “All those arrested were picked along major bus stops and not in motor parks.

All road union workers have been banned from col-lecting tolls from bus tops, rather their operation should be limited to their motor parks.

“Anyone found operating from the bus stops will be arrested and prosecuted ac-cordingly.

Meanwhile, goods seized from illegal street traders and hawkers in the state have been auctioned by the task force.

Sulaiman said all goods seized from street traders in the state will not be released to them, but will be auctioned publicly after obtaining the necessary orders from the special offences court.

Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, has pledged his ad-

ministration’s support for all non-indigenes resident in the state in order to pro-mote peaceful co-existence.

The governor gave the pledge while receiving the executive members of Ndi Eze Ndigbo led by its National President, Eze Hyacinth Nwabueze, at the Governor’s Office, Ibadan at the week-end.

He said all tribes in the state would be properly

Again, Lagos arrests 40 NURTW touts

KEMI OLAITANIBADAN

A fresh crisis is rock-ing the Oyo State chapter of the

Trade Union Congress (TUC), as members of the union have urged the state police commissioner to help it retrieve the proper-ty of the union in the cus-tody of its former Chair-man, Bayo Ajayi.

The decision to retrieve the property followed the former chairman’s refusal to hand them over after the dissolution of his ex-ecutive three months ago.

The Chairman and Sec-retary of the Caretaker Committee of the union,

Comrades Moshood Aki-nade and Mathew Uan-zekin respectively, in a letter addressed to the state police commissioner, dated September 17, 2012, entitled, “Request for as-sistance to retrieve Trade Union Congress’ property from Comrade Bayo Ajayi and his cohorts,” said the National Administrative Council of the union had on June 22, 2012 dissolved the state council and a three-man caretaker com-mittee to steer the affairs of the union put in place.

The letter said having duly notified the state gov-ernment, the police and the State Security Service

(SSS) on the development, with the former chair-man still holding on to the union’s property, the assistance of the police commissioner was thus sought.

The union said all ef-forts made through per-sonal contacts by Akinade to Ajayi to hand over the property had proved abor-tive, as rather than doing so, the state radio corpora-tion (BCOS) had for several days been carying the news that “Comrade Bayo Ajayi has handed over the affairs of the Oyo State Council of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria to Comrade Mrs. Bolanle Olabode, who

is a staff in the Oyo State Ministry of Economic Planning.”

It said sequel to the broadcast, the union in-vited Olabode for a meet-ing on Monday, Septem-ber 17, 2012, but that “she failed to show up.”

It noted that the union was a registered one and not a personal property of Ajayi, stat-ing that apart from the dissolution of the coun-cil, “Bayo Ajayi has also ceased to be an employee of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria under whose platform he was elected as chairman.”

In our publication on Friday, we erroneously referred to Alhaji M. K. Ahmed(OON)

as Amb. Ajuyi Waziri (CON) and vice versa. We regret

any embarrassment this may have caused the eminent

Nigerians and the government of Gombe State.

accommodated and that their well-being would be ensured through the provi-sion of adequate security for their lives and property.

Governor Ajimobi as-sured the visitors that his administration would promote the interest of Igbo residents in the state, whom he described as hardworking and enter-prising.

He added that the provi-sion of infrastructure and a clean environment have also been given priority by his administration in order to raise the living standard of the people of the state and ensure their well-being.

The governor solicited for the support of all Ndig-bo in the state for his ad-ministration, pledging that a conducive atmosphere would be provided for their business to thrive.

In his response, the Na-tional Secretary of the association, Eze Pampas Wahiwe, commended the Ajimobi administration for the massive infrastruc-tural development, road rehabilitation and the maintenance of clean en-vironment in the state.

He also lauded the gov-ernment for the tremen-dous improvement it had made in the areas of edu-cation and healthcare de-livery.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net8 Monday, September 24, 2012South West

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 9Monday, September 24, 2012 South West

FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA

A lawmaker repre-senting Remo Fed-eral Constituency

of Ogun State in the House of Representatives, Hon. Bukunola Buraimo, has de-scribed the Minister of Fi-nance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iwea-la and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sa-nusi, as economists that are not good for Nigeria’s situ-ation.

Buraimo, who addressed journalists at the weekend during the empowerment programme for the people of his constituency, faulted Sanusi’s plan to introduce N5, 000 banknote to the Ni-gerian economy.

He said Sanusi’s planned currency restructuring was anti-thesis of his cash-less economic policy.

The lawmaker, however, hinted that the National Assembly would no longer tolerate the “excesses of Sanusi.”

Buriamo said: I always say that the likes of Sanusi and Okonjo Iweala; it’s not about where you have been schooling or that you have been at the World Bank, Nigeria is a differ-ent society; we need people that know what is wrong with their own people be-fore they can be managed.

“Okonjo Iweala could be Executive Director at the World Bank be-fore, but I tell you, she doesn’t know what is wrong with Nigeria”.

How to achieve robust internal security –Dep Gov

Iweala, Sanusi’s economic orientation not fi t for Nigeria –Rep

OLUSEGUN KOIKI

The management of the Nigerian Rail-way Corporation

(NRC) has announced the commencement of the third Lagos-Ilorin-Lagos express passenger train services, which brings the frequency of the ser-

Railway corporation begins Lagos-Ilorin servicesvices to six weekly.

The train services in-creased to six last Saturday. The NRC said that the in-crease in the frequency of Lagos-Ilorin-Lagos express passenger train service be-came necessary as the Cor-poration records gradual increase in passenger vol-ume on the route.

The management fur-

ther explained that the increase in frequency ex-emplified the corporation’s quest and commitments to bringing value-added rail transport service to Nige-rian commuters.

An online statement signed at the weekend by the Corporation’s Public Relations Manager, Mr. Se-gun Esan stated that the

first Ilorin-bound passen-ger train for the week will leave Iddo, Lagos tomor-row at exactly 9:00am and would return to Lagos on Wednesday.

Esan said that the sec-ond express passenger train for the week leaves Iddo by 9:00am for Ilorin on Friday and returns to La-gos the following day, while the third train for the week leaves Lagos for Ilorin on Saturday by 9:00 am.

The third train, he said, would depart Lagos to Ilo-rin on Saturday, crossing the second train at Bodija as the second train makes its return journey to Lagos from Ilorin. The third train returns to Lagos from Ilo-rin on Sunday.

Esan said: “As the Cor-poration finalises arrange-ments to commence Lagos-Kano-Lagos passenger train service in no distant time, it urges travellers and tourists to take advantage of the rail transport ser-vice to the fullest as the rail transport mode remains the safest, most afford-able, convenient means of mobility.”

Premier Med-icaid Interna-tional, a leading

Health Maintenance Organisation in Nige-ria under the Nation-al Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), has received internation-al recognition for its commitment to excel-lence and quality ser-vice delivery.

It is one of the lead-ing companies around the world to be for-mally presented with the World Quality Commitment (WQC) Award in the Gold category at the 26th International World Quality Commitment Convention scheduled to hold at the Con-corde La Fayette Hotel and the Paris “Palais des Congres” Conven-tion Hall near the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees in Paris, France on the 29th October, 2012.

The annual awards are organised by Busi-ness Initiative Direc-tions (BID),an inter-national organisation which monitors cor-porations around the world for commitment to international qual-ity standards and best practices in various sectors.

In the letter of award by BID signed by its President and CEO, Jose E Prieto, the organisation said: “The award is for cor-porate achievement to recognise leadership, ,quality, innovation, excellence, technol-ogy, customerservice and prestige,” add-ing: “It is presented in recognition and en-couragement of those companies and orga-nizations in different countries of the world that further their rep-utation by implement-ing and promoting quality culture, con-tinuous improvement and customer satisfac-tion as well as improv-ing relations with em-ployees, suppliers and all those associated with the company.”

Premier medicaid bags Paris award

Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Mrs. Funmi Olayinka,

has observed that only good governance and ad-herence to separation of powers can facilitate effec-tive internal security in Nigeria.

According to her, provi-sion of good governance to the people and prac-ticing the principle of separation of power will rescue the nation from its self-inflicted woes.

Mrs. Olayinka, in a goodwill message entitled: “Good Governance and Separation of Powers: A panacea to effective secu-rity in Nigeria,” present-

ed at the 2012 International congress of the Ireland branch of the Action Con-gress of Nigeria (ACN), which held in Dullek, Ire-land, said good governance is neither literary nor aca-demic.

She said: “It is, in plain language, the necessity for those on the corridor of power to provide for the greatest number of people, those things that would make them live a worthy life of satisfaction. It is to give to them an enabling

environment where they maximise their God-given potentials to achieve their life purposes without let or hindrance. Government itself is a product of the so-ciety and must always con-nect with the society that produces it”.

Explaining that the gov-ernment is the people and the people are the govern-ment, the deputy governor said there must be a flow of interaction and unbroken cord of relationship that makes the government and

its gladiators feel the bur-den when the people’s ex-pectations appear not to be met by their policy thrust.

Mrs. Olayinka said: “Government cannot act above the legitimate inter-est of the people, as any alienation or disorienta-tion would definitely spark a string of discord and ruf-fle the collective feathers.

“Considering this as the minimum responsibilities of government, the govern-ment is structured to pre-vent the monopoly of pow-

er by one single individual or institutions, after-all, ab-solute power corrupts absolutely. This as you all know makes the concept of separation of power ir-resistible in modern struc-ture of government.

“The tenet of separa-tion of powers becomes assaulted when the people for whatever reason loses confidence in the system and resort to self-help in an attempt to provide an alternative that will guar-antee their self-esteem”.

ABIODUN NEJO ADO EKITI

Former Afenifere spokesman, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, at the

weekend began moves to emerge the flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2014 governorship election in Ekiti State, telling the party members and people that he had come to rescue them from hardship.

Director General of Prince Adedayo Adeyeye Movement (PAAM), Hon Bisi Kolawole, who decried “the setback that has faced the state under the present administration,” said the

PDP aspirant was the Mes-siah needed to right the wrongs.

Kolawole, who spoke in his acceptance speech as boss of the campaign body in Ado Ekiti, said Adeyeye contributed to the adminis-trative strategy adopted by administration of former Governor Segun Oni.

He said some of the aspi-rant’s creative measures in ensuring conducive learn-ing environment in public schools in the state when he was the State Universal Basic Education chairman had been adopted by some states in the federation, es-pecially the new designed desks and chairs.

According to him, Ad-eyeye is popular among members of PDP and Ekiti people.

Kolawole said Adeyeye introduced storey build-ings in public primary and junior secondary schools (JSS), the new designed desks and chairs, among other innovations in the education sector.

The director general said his major focus was to work assiduously to en-sure Adeyeye’s emergence as the flagbearer of PDP at the party primaries as well as winning the gover-norship election with the support of party members and the people.

Ekiti 2014: Ex-Afenifere spokesman plans to get PDP ticket

L-R: Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi; Chairman, State Pension Commission, Mr. Oluwole Ojo and a beneficiary, Mrs. Eunice Komolafe, during the distribution of cheques to pensioners by the governor in Ado-Ekiti, at the weekend.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net10 South East Monday, September 24, 2012

DENNIS AGBOENUGU

The people of Igga community in Uzo-Uwani Local Govern-

ment Area of Enugu State have protested the recent declaration of Anambra State as the 10th oil produc-ing state in the country by President Goodluck Jona-

than.The community called

on Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State to stop lay-ing claims to the oil well they said was located on Igga land in Enugu State.

In statement made avail-able yesterday by the Presi-dent of Igga Town Union, Mr. Rapheal Amuche and Secretary, Mr Joseph Enean-

ya, the community frowned at a publication credited to Obi who expressed shock at the claims by some groups and states to the oil well he said was discovered in Anambra State.

The statement reads in part: “We challenge Gover-nor Obi to produce docu-mentary evidence that makes the present location

where oil is being produced by Orient Petroleum Re-sources to be in Anambra State.”

The union said the oil well was located in three communities of Igga, Asaba and Ojjo, all in Uzo-Uwani Local Government.

The people wondered where Obi derived his au-thority to usurp their land.

They noted that the Na-tional Boundary Commis-sion was yet to come out with documentary evidence which would establish in clear terms the border lines of the communities conta-gious with Anambra, and called on the Federal Gov-ernment to withdraw its declaration of Anambra as an oil producing state.

Anambra has no oil well, says Enugu community

The Obi of Onitsha, Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe CFR, has

promised that this year’s edition of the Ofala Festival would be bigger and more colourful.

He said this while receiv-ing the cheque for the spon-sorship of the 2012 Ofala Festival from Globacom of-ficials led by the company’s Divisional Director, South-East, Mr. Michael Ehuma-du.

The Obi also described the National Award of Grand Commander of the Niger, GCON, conferred on the Chairman of Glo-bacom, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jnr., as a well-deserved hon-our.

He said Adenuga had done a lot for the country

and deserved to be hon-oured.

Commending Globacom for taking the ancient Ofala Festival to the next level through its sponsorship last year, the traditional ruler noted that the giant telecommunication outfit would be remembered for its role in the transforma-tion of Onitsha and its en-virons.

He said: “I want to for-mally congratulate Dr. Mike Adenuga on the National Award of GCON conferred on him by the President. Adenuga has done quite a lot for this country and the honour is well deserved. It is good that the private sector is being recognised and hon-oured by the nation.”

The monarch added

that the 2012 Ofala Festival would be bigger as it would mark his 10th coronation anniversary as the Obi of Onitsha, pointing out that Globacom had done a lot to make the festival witness great transformation.

He said; “We are happy that Globacom is partner-ing with us. Our intention is to anchor Onitsha on the map of culture in Nigeria. Onitsha is transforming and Globacom is part of that transformation.”

Presenting the cheque, Ehumadu said the com-pany would make the 2012 edition of the festival “more colourful and exceptional to celebrate the Obi on the 10th year on the throne of his forefathers and to appreci-ate the Obi and the people

of Onitsha for their support and faith in Globacom.”

He promised that Globa-com would introduce some innovations in this year’s festival.

The 2012 Ofala Festival, which kicked off with the Iwaji, New Yam Festival, yesterday, would be round-ed off on October 8 with the commissioning by Gover-nor Peter Obi of the block of classrooms built by Glo-bacom at the Metropolitan Secondary School, Onitsha.

Other activities lined up for the festival include youth rally, seminars, health awareness cam-paigns, novelty football match and a royal banquet in honour of the Obi by the telecommunication com-pany.

‘This year’s Ofala Festival will be more colourful’

GEORGE OPARAABIA

Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State has said the cre-

ation of an additional state in the South-East was too important to be negotiated.

Orji said in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Ugochukwu Em-ezue, that the call for new states already endorsed by South-East Governors’ Fo-rum was not negotiable as it would help in bringing the region at par with oth-ers.

The governor said though he was in the fore-front of the creation of Aba State, the new state could be created from any of the five eastern states.

According to him, those championing the creation of new states in the region, especially the deputy Sen-ate President, Ike Ekwere-madu, must be commended for their commitment, sac-rifice and efforts in giving Ndigbo a pride of place in the country.

Orji said this was one course all Ndigbo were committed to and would not rest until their dream was achieved.

Additional state for South-East not negotiable –Orji

Orji

The Federal Govern-ment has been ad-vised to immediate-

ly release money from the Ecological Fund to states affected by flood and other natural disasters to check further loss of lives and property.

The Secretary to the Anambra State Govern-ment, SSG, Mr. Oseloka Obaze, who made the call in an interview with journal-ists in Awka at the weekend, said the money would enable the affected states to support the victims as well as repair

damaged infrastructure.He said the damage done

by the disasters was too se-vere for the states to man-age alone.

The SSG said there was need to construct embank-ment along the banks of the River Niger to avert re-

currence of flooding in the state.

“We are doing our best in Anambra State to man-age the ecological situation by relocating the victims and providing relief mate-rials but it is not enough.

“The challenges are

enormous; they are beyond the resources of the state. There is also need to build embankment along the bank of the Niger River.

“And the ecological funds of the Federal Gov-ernment are meant for such purposes,” he said.

ISE-OLUWA IGEABUJA

Two groups have ap-plied to a Federal High Court sitting

in Ikeja for a mandamus order compelling the Federal Government to disclose and make avail-able up-to-date informa-tion on government/pub-lic spending relating to maternal death preven-tion in the last five years.

The two Non-Govern-mental Organisations, NGOs, are the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, and the Women Advocates and Research and Documentation Cen-tre, WARDC.

The groups named the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Muhammed Adoke and the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, as defendants in the case.

The suit followed the refusal to release informa-tion on the subject-matter despite a request by the groups dated August 13 and signed by SERAP’s Executive Director, Ad-etokunbo Mumuni.

The motion exparte with suit number FHC/IKJ/CS/223/12 was brought pursuant to Sec-tion 20 of the Freedom of Information Act, and Or-der 34 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2009, and signed on behalf of the groups by SERAP’s Staff Attorney, Chinyere Nwafor.

The organisations ar-gued that under the FOI Act, they had “the right to request for or gain access to information which is in the custody or posses-sion of any public official, agency or institution”.

According to the groups, “the defendants/respondents have a bind-ing legal obligation to provide the applicants with the information re-quested for. The informa-tion requested for relates to the details of spending on prevention of mater-nal deaths for the past five years; and this informa-tion does not come within the purview of the types of information exempted from disclosure by the pro-visions of the FOI Act.

FOI: Groups take govt to court over maternal death rate

‘FG must release ecological funds to states now’

L-R: Managing Director, Accolade Media, Mrs. Ginika Tor; Enugu State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Vita Abba; representative of Governor Sullivan Chime/Chief of Staff, Government House, Mrs. Ifeoma Nwobodo and Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Ozo Joe Mmamel, at the unveiling of Enugu State Cultural and Tourism Fiesta 2012 Secretariat, at the weekend.

11National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, September 24, 2012 South-South

AMOUR UDEMUDEASABA

There are strong in-dications that crisis is brewing in the 15

communities playing host to Shell Petroleum Devel-opment Company’s (SPDC) operated Oil Mineral Li-cense (OML) 34, in Delta State over an alleged at-tempted move by the com-pany to sell the oil bloc in their land.

According to the com-munities, Shell didn’t con-sult them before asking buyers to bid for the asset in their backyard even as they insisted that the transaction by Shell totally negates the provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas

Industry Content Develop-ment Act of 2010, which gave the local communities the right to have a say on oil facilities in their land.

The communities under the auspices of the Associ-ation of Federated OML 34 Host Communities, Ughel-li South Local Govern-ment Area of Delta State, warned that it is an aber-ration for a facility in their domain to be handed over to a new owner without their consent and vowed to resist any attempt to divert the oil bloc.

In a communiqué signed by the President-General of Umolo-Olomu, Benja-min Ebite, Joseph Avwun-ugharogo of Eruemuko-hwarien, Chief Owofio of

Effurun-Otor, Moses Am-refere of Erhiephihor and other president-generals of the host communities, specifically resolved that any attempt to force the new operator on them without resolving the con-tentious issues on ground shall be resisted by all law-ful means.

They insisted that there are a lot of issues to be addressed by Shell before any diversion, including whose responsibility it is for environmental deg-radation suffered by the host communities for the past 50 years of oil explo-ration by Shell as well the lingering problem of un-

acquired, but already be-ing occupied assets, the ex-pired leases and rents that have been pending, some of which are now under litigations.

The people queried why Shell has to inform them only after the divestment process stressing that “What made SPDC and by

extension NNPC (their JV partner) believe that the landlord has no interest or capacity to acquire the di-vested asset that they were not given any opportunity to bid adding that the OML 34 is critical to improved power supply as being pur-sued by President Good-luck Jonathan.

AMOUR UDEMUDEASABA

The Executive Chairman of the Delta State Board

of Internal Revenue (DBIR), Mr. Joel Thomas Onowakpo, has raised the alarm over what he called the possible failure of the team handling the Federal Government Tax Identity Number (TIN) Project, for which billions of Tax Payers Money has been invested.

Onowakpo, who ex-pressed his fears yester-day in an e-mail he sent to members of the Joint Tax Board (JTB) following the removal of a critical mem-ber of the team and a copy obtained from an impec-cable source in JTB by our correspondent, quickly called on President Good-luck Jonathan to put all other things on hold and allow the acting chairman

and the project team to de-liver the project before be-ing disbanded otherwise, the country will risk los-ing billions of taxpayers’ money already invested.

According to the mail which read in part: “I have read all your comments on the movement of Chin-edu, but I have not seen any comment relating to the impact this will have on the TIN Project.

“Let me give a quick recap, few months ago, the Chairman of JTB left the scene, today Chinedu is out. When the chair-man left, we had an act-ing chairman who under-stands the dreams and aspiration of the out gone chairman as it relates to the TIN project.

“As you are aware, there are advertorials already for the recruit-ment of a new chairman, my fear is that, assuming the recruitment did not favour the acting chair-man, be rest assured, we will run into a manage-rial succession crisis which can be avoided by giving the acting chair-man time to complete the reforms and clear the table for the incoming chairman.

“Please think and let us act to save the billions of tax payers’ money so far expended by act-ing against unnecessary movements.”

EMMA GBEMUDUYENAGOA

Aggrieved Foutorog-bene communities in Ekeremor Local

Government Area of Bay-elsa State have threatened to invade the facilities of the Shell Petroleum Devel-opment Company (SPDC) in the area to disrupt its operations due to an oil spill that claimed the lives of five children in May this year.

To this end, the three Foutorogbene communi-ties yesterday handed a seven-day ultimatum to the Anglo-Dutch giant to resolve the issue or be pre-pared for a show down.

They regretted that the spill was abandoned by the firm to the detriment of the communities, not-ing that officials of SPDC allegedly visited the area on September 6, to clean up the spill and conduct a Joint Investigation Report (JIV) on the said spill.

Speaking on behalf of the three communities, Youth Chairman of Fouto-rogbene 1, Mr. Preye War-ri, who spoke in an inter-view with National Mirror yesterday in Yenagoa, said the dead children were be-tween three months and three years old.

According to Warri, the children were identified as Arekedoumene Pigha, Blessing Adiboere,Tabode Owei, Debowei Timiebi and Debowei Pereotu.

His words: “The Chil-dren died due to the delay by the SPDC to clean up of the spill.

“SPDC officials, after months of delay that re-sulted in death and destruc-tion of economic activities in the communities, made a controversial appearance in the communities for JIV inspection on the 6th of September, 2012.

“We view the visit of SPDC officials to our com-munities as worthless, bar-baric, full of insensitivity and an embarrassment to the communities and fami-lies of the deceased kids as they were carelessly left to die.”

“The incident happened over five months ago. What were they waiting for? They waited until the flooding from the recent rains have ravaged our communities and washed the oil in the water surface and cover the weeds, grass-es and the entire land.

“What do they expect to see? After, all the water is not stagnant and the ac-tion of the SPDC is a com-plete mockery of the com-

munities.”“It is more insulting that

the SPDC officials came with heavy military squad to intimidate the commu-nities and refused to carry out a proper survey on how the communities were af-fected by the spill. SPDC’s

argument was a blind and worthless one.

Warri alleged that SPDC antics were a show of its contempt for the affected communities, describing it as a conspiracy and tac-tics applied to evade its re-sponsibilities.”

Crisis looms over Shell’s attempt to sell oil bloc

Tax Identity Project: Delta revenue boss warns of failure

Bayelsa communities threaten to invade SPDC facilities

Vice-President inaugurates multi-billion naira projects

Gov Uduaghan

Members of the Coalition of Swamp/Coastal Communities of Bayelsa and Delta States protesting against the Niger Delta Devel-opment Commission at Egbemo-Angalabiri in Bayelsa State, at the weekend.

Vice President Na-madi Sambo, at the weekend, inaugu-

rated development projects worth billions of naira in Akwa Ibom State.

The projects are the new accountant-general’s office, the third ring road and a fourth flyover in Uyo, the second pipe jacking under-ground drainage in Abak and Ikot Ekpene city centre plaza.

At the Accountant-Gen-eral’s Office, Uyo, Governor Godswill Akpabio said by 2015, Akwa Ibom would be-come New Akwa Ibom while Uyo will become New Uyo due to the radical transfor-mation going on in the state.

The governor pointed out that the commissioning of office of the accountant-general serves as a point of contact to other sub-treasur-ies in the various local gov-ernment areas of the state,

saying workers would work with ease in the new offices.

He applauded the state civil service for collaborat-ing with the government in the implementation of its policies and programmes, calling for more support.

Akpabio appealed to the vice president to assist in ensuring that the Federal Government refund money used in saving Abak-Uyo Road from collapse, remark-ing that the inauguration shows there was hope for Akwa Ibom.

The state Accountant-General, Udo H. Isobara, thanked the governor for his approval of a new office for the accountant-general and for the provision of 400 com-puter sets for the office.

Isobara said the N250 mil-lion project comprised of five open apartments and 16 other offices with internet facility.

WOLE ADEDEJIILORIN

Governor Abdul-fatah Ahmed of Kwara State has

warned students to be con-scious of the severe law of the state against cultism.

Speaking during a meet-ing with the National As-sociation of Nigerian Stu-dents (NANS) in Ilorin, Governor Ahmed said his administration would im-plement the state edict on the menace of cultism.

He said apart from risk going to jail, any student caught in cultism would be expelled from school.

The governor assured the students of his deter-mination to invest in educa-tion through the provision of adequate infrastructure and necessary incentives.

Stressing that the state government’s anti-cultism crusade remains resolute, Ahmed said: “The law on cultism will take its full course as we cannot fold our arms and allow cultism in our schools because it ru-ins lives”.

The governor advised the students not to be overwhelmed by youthful exuberance, saying: “This is the time to define your future, identify your role model and burn as many candles as possible to get your goals. The more seri-ous you are in school the better you come out and start life easily”.

Responding, the stu-dents’ leader Mr. Sakir Akorede, promised the sup-port of his colleagues to the realisation of the govern-ment’s policies.

JAMES DANJUMAKATSINA

Protesters yesterday in Katsina State burnt the effigy of

United States President Barack Obama over re-cent anti-Islam movie and cartoon that were released in the United States and France respectively.

The protesters, mostly of the Muslim Shiite sect, stormed the streets on the platform of the Islamic on platform of the Islam-ic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) and tore US, French and Israeli flags.

Many of the protesters, including women, clothed in black veils, elderly men, youths and children, car-ried placards inscribed with abusive words.

The protest, which be-gan at the Katsina Central Mosque, moved into the heart of the metropolis

before returning to where it first began.

Before the protest, secu-rity was beefed up in some parts of the metropolis, particularly streets where the protesters were bound to pass as way of prevent-ing breakdown of law and order.

Our correspondent not-ed that several security men, including those in mufti, were seen follow-ing the protesters from a respectful distance, while others were stationed at strategic street corners.

The protest is com-ing about 24 hours after similar one took place in neighboring Kano State, where many Muslims condemned the film and cartoon that had allegedly denigrated Islam.

Speaking shortly after the protest, the Katsina State leader of the Shi-ite group, Sheik Yakubu

Yahaya, said the cartoon and movie were aimed at making a “mockery of the tenets and beliefs of Islam,” and that same was a move to “institutionalise September 11 (2001) event as an annual ritual to por-tray Islam as a religion of terrorists.”

Sheik Yahaya said: “Our beloved Prophet Muhammed (SAWA) is a Prophet for all Muslim nations, irrespective of ethnicity, race and geo-graphical boundaries. It is therefore incumbent for all Muslims and right thinking people to express their anger without vio-lence to life and property.”

He called on the pro-testers not to take law into their own hands as the demonstration was direct-ed at the West and those behind the anti-Islam car-toon and movie.

Sheik Yahaya said: “Is-

lam is a religion of peace, but that members of the faith will continue to make their grievances known to the world as long as some people continue to publish sacrilegious content in the media about Islam and its founder.”

He, however, said Chris-tians should not see the protest as a threat against them but against what he described as “tyranny from the Western world.”

Ahmed warns students against cultism

Protest in Katsina over anti-Islam fi lm, cartoon

2015: Bafarawa holds talks with Buhari •Canvasses North’s unityAZA MSUEKADUNA

Former Sokoto State Governor, Attahiru Bafarawa at the

weekend in Kaduna held talks with the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) presidential can-didate in the last general elections, Gen. Muham-madu Buhari, saying the North should unite ahead of the 2015 poll.

Bafarawa said he was worried over division

among Northerners, say-ing he came to visit Gen. Buhari to chart a new path for the region ahead of the 2015 general elections.

Bafarawa, who was Sokoto State governor be-tween 1999 and 2007 on the All Peoples Party (APP) platform, said: “I didn’t come as a member of the ANPP to visit Gen. Bu-hari, and I did not come to see him on the ground of his own party, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), I came to him to dis-

cuss in order to chart the way forward on how we can unite ourselves in the North because the North is in disarray, therefore, we need to unite since we are masters of all trade when you talk of political activities in the North.

“All the political par-ties in the country can be found in the North. So, we have to concentrate and put our house in order. That is why I have come to see my brother, Gen. Bu-hari on how we can unite ourselves before we even talk of political parties. I

came to see Gen. Buhari as an elder brother and partner in progress in or-der to move the Northern region forward.

“I think there is solu-tion to our disunity in the North because before now, discussions towards achieving unity have been based on political par-ties, but I came to visit Gen. Buhari on personal ground to discuss the way forward for our people.

“I think everybody is going to drop his political ambition for now until the time comes because what

Protesters with the effigy of the United States President, Barack Obama over the anti-Islam film in Katsina State, yesterday.

The Nigeria Red Cross Society said yesterday that it

had deployed three boats to Ibaji Local Government Area of Kogi State to res-cue trapped flood victims taking refuge on tree tops.

Chairman of the state branch of the Society, Mr. Mustafa Allah-Dey, told the News Agency of Nige-ria (NAN) in Lokoja that the National Inland Wa-terways Authority (NIWA) released the boats for the rescue operations.

Nustafa said that men of the Nigerian Navy and officials of NEMA, SEMA and the state Ministry of Environment were also involved in the operations, adding that many of the victims were said to be in life threatening situations.

He said the people should be blamed for their present predicament be-cause they failed to heed several warnings to quit their houses to avoid being trapped.

The chairman said he did not have the figure of

exact number of people trapped and that no report of casualties had been re-ceived as at the time of this report.

He described the situ-ation in Ibaji as “very ter-rible.”

Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said it planned to shut the Lokoja-Abuja highway as a result of the flood that has rav-aged the road.

Deputy Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, in a text message last night said the step became inevitable as the road has almost become impassable.

Kazeem advised motor-ists to avoid the road com-pletely and ply alternative routes for their safety.

The traffic gridlock on Lokoja-Abuja Road has be-come more chaotic with ve-hicles forming long queues on both sides of the road.

The queue at the Lokoja end of the road has ex-tended to Obajana village, about 15 kilometers drive to the Lokoja city centre.

is most important now is our unity. The people will decide the next political direction when the time comes.

“Our strategy is that we will take our time, plan things and see how we can come out. And like I said, I have come to see him, so

I will not tell you the fur-ther strategy we will take, but this visit is a step for-ward. What we are look-ing out for now is unity; we are not talking of CPC, ANPP or any other politi-cal party. All we are after is to see that the North is united.”

Flooding: FRSC plans to shut Lokoja-Abuja Highway•Red Cross deploys three boats to rescue flood victims

Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, September 24, 201212 North

HAKEEM GBADAMOSIAKURE.

The Peoples Demo-cratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State has

berated Governor Mimiko over his plan to institute a probe panel against former Olusegun Agagu adminis-tration ahead of the Octo-ber 20 governorship poll.

The party in a statement issued by its Director of Publicity, Ayo Fadaka, said the probe was coming on the heel of Agagu’s support for PDP in the forthcoming election.

The party described the probe as a belated one.

Fadaka said Agagu’s administration as one of

the best in the state, point-ing to many life-changing projects initiated by the ad-ministration of the former governor.

He said: “Agagu is widely respected across the state because of the many lega-cies that his administra-tion bequeathed to the state while he was in power and it is of essence to say that they were all projects that were of direct relevance to the lives of the people.

“The party is proud of him. It is equally important to declare that our cam-paigns have been greatly ac-centuated by these achieve-ments while the Mimiko campaigns have only given excuses for its inability to

FELIX NWANERI

The Benue Youths in Diaspora Associa-tion has said that it

had concluded plans to host the governor of the state, Gabriel Suswam to a civic reception to celebrate his numerous achievements and most recently, the National Honour of Com-mander of the Order of Niger (CON) conferred on him by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The group in a statement signed by its president-general, Comrade Philip Agbese, said the reception has become necessary as the governor has remained committed to the ideals of governance in the state and should be encouraged to do more for the people of the state.

Agbese maintained that the National Honour on the governor is a further testimony to the excellent leadership and visibility of

the Suswam-led adminis-tration in Benue State.

He said: “I want to au-thoritatively confirm to you that the celebration of the award on our governor cannot end in good number of years to come because it is a true reward for visible achievements and quality leadership which Gover-nor Suswam has provided in the overall interest of Benue State.

“The President should be commended for doing a thorough research as the father of this nation to fish out golden fishes like Governor Suswam for this year’s National Hon-our as a way of showcas-ing rare patriots who have achieved for nation and humanity.”

He added that the idea of hosting the governor will afford members of the Benue community outside the state to laud one of their own and officially congrat-ulate him and his family on his indelible footprints.

AYODELE OJO

Ahead of the October 20 governorship poll in Ondo State,

the Action Congress of Ni-geria (ACN) candidate, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, has said that Governor Olusegun Mimiko will lose the all-important election because

the people of the state de-serve a new government that would show greater concern for their plight.

“The rural areas in Ondo have been neglected totally for too long, my govern-ment will open up all the rural areas in Ondo,” he pledged.

The former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Presi-dent noted that Mimiko has not been able to complete a single road since he came into office. “He has started one or two roads, but has not been able to complete any. I know he will not com-plete them; I shall complete the roads when by the grace of God, I have been elect-ed,” he said.

Speaking on the un-employment situation in Ondo, Akeredolu stated that the situation is becom-ing worrisome due to poor

leadership the Mimiko government is offering the state.

On the crowd at Mimiko’s rallies, Akeredolu dis-missed the trend, which he said is not the reflection of his acceptance. His words: “We are not perturbed by this because civil servants are forced to attend. Some are induced but people will still vote according to their conscience. You will see the result of the election from Owo.”

On allegation that he was handipicked as the candi-date of the ACN, Akeredolu said: “I was not handpicked by anybody. The process that produced my candida-ture cannot be faulted.”

He also debunked alle-gations that the ACN was planning to rig the poll, insisting that it had no ma-chinery with which to do so.

he has nothing to show de-spite hundreds of billions of naira that have accrued to his government.

Speaking with journal-ists in Lagos at the weekend in company of his running mate, Dr. Paul Akintelure, Akeredolu, urged the La-bour Party (LP) candidate, Mimiko, to start packing out of the Government House because of his immi-nent loss at the poll.

Akeredolu, who said he is optimistic that he would win the election, said: “He (Mimiko) has lost the elec-tion. He can never win be-cause he has nothing, ab-solutely nothing, to show to the people as achievement in the past three years.

“Mimiko is out of the minds of the Ondo State people who are only wait-ing for the Election Day to see him off. Mimiko has

no project to open except markets which he has been building inside the bush. This is purely the respon-sibility of the local govern-ment. Nobody goes there in most of the places. He builds town halls, with no impact to the people.”

Akeredolu also hinged his optimism of win-ning the election on “the clamour of the people for positive change,” saying

perform in office.”He stated that the party

will not be intimidated by any probe, saying Agagu remains confident as he did not soil his hands while in office and will not be scared by any attempt to smear his reputation.

“The people of this state have since appreciated the fact that the Agagu admin-istration managed our re-sources so effectively that he even left N38 billion in the central account of the state and another N20 billion in the accounts of ministries, parastatals and agencies of government, a sum the Mimiko adminis-tration has not been able to account for till date.

“Since the inauguration of this administration, it has made over N570 billion and in spite of that, Mimiko has plunged the state into debt, thereby making non-sense of the solvency status he inherited.

“It is a known fact that functionaries of the Mimiko administration have at various times been summoned by the EFCC for questioning on issues of corruption; the issue of the OSOPADEC Chair-man, Debo Ajimuda is still in court while all the local government chairmen have at various times answered questions on how the fi-nances of their councils are being managed,” he said.

Mimiko has nothing to show for huge allocation, says Akeredolu

Kano State governor, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso and Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, during a meeting in Abuja, yesterday.

Benue group plans to celebrate Suswam

Ondo: PDP berates gov over plan to probe Agagu

• ‘Gov has lost October 20 poll’

COUNTDOWN TO

ONDO GUBER POLL

DAYS TO GO26

October 20, 2012

PoliticsNational Mirror

www.nationalmirroronline.net 13Monday, September 24, 2012

Budget: Reps’ bark without bite

14

The House of Representatives will this week begin oversight of min-istries, departments and agencies

of government to “ascertain the level of their implementation of the 2012 Budget”.

The House had in July, before its annual recess that lapsed on September 18, threat-ened to sanction the Presidency as one of its resolutions, if the budget was not implemented to a satisfying percentage on their resumption.

A few days to their return, the House issued a memo directing its committees to go to ministries, see what was imple-mented of the budget and lay their reports before the House for debate and necessary action at the plenary.

The House Deputy Leader, Hon. Leo Ogor, on behalf of the Speaker, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, in a statement, di-rected the 90 committees of the House to order ministries, departments and agen-cies, to within 14 days, submit precise per-centages of their respective budgets. The reports of the committees were expected to be turned in at the plenary to allow the House to decide on its threat to oust Presi-dent Goodluck Jonathan.

The letter read in part: “The Honour-able Speaker hereby requests all commit-tees of the House to conduct a thorough appraisal of the status of implementation of the 2012 appropriation act before re-sumption of the House recess on Septem-ber 18.

“In this regard, you are to request all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that you oversight to submit the status of all releases of funds, how much has been accessed, contracts awarded and general implementation status of the 2012 Appropriation Act.”

The leadership of the House added: “The above requested information should, after collation, be submitted to the office of the House Leader on or before Sep-tember 18, 2012. You are to ensure strict compliance, as the information collated will form the basis of the decisions of the House on resumption.”

But as a sign that the ever-receding chamber would swallow its words, nothing of such was listed on the Order Paper as business of the day when it resumed ple-nary. The House would instead go through another round of threats and tough talk-ing, as lawmaker after lawmaker decried the attitude of the Presidency to budgets.

The resolution was that the executive needed to put a hold on its 2013 budget proposal until the oversight exercise was

gross violation of sections 30 and 33 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

Opposition leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabi-amila, besides dismissing the document for violating the Fiscal Responsibility Act, faulted the budgeting process by the presi-dent. He decried that over the years, the executive arm of government has contin-ued to violate section 162 of the constitu-tion, which stresses that all revenues must go to the Federation Account.

His words: “The executive arm of gov-ernment has continued to short-change Nigerians by creating different accounts in which parts of what accrues from crude sale goes to. And this is in gross violation of section 162 of the 1999 Constitution.”

Hon. Emmanuel Jime said that the only solution to the poor budgeting system by the president would be for the National Assembly to assert itself and take charge of the appropriation process.

His words: “This is an opportunity for the House to assert itself and take over the budget writing responsibility. We are con-stitutionally empowered to do so. We must send a message to the executive arm that the process where they sit there and make faulty, unrealistic and deficient budgets is over.”

Earlier, the Speaker, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, had declared that the House would suspend its sittings for one week to mandate its 90 standing committees to investigate the percentage of implemen-tation of the 2012 Budget by every agency and ministry. The Speaker reiterated the House’s dissatisfaction with the non-im-plementation of budgets by the executive, saying: “In the course of the week, a day will be set aside to deliberate in plenary session, the level of budget implementa-tion as collated by the various committees.

“Budget in Nigeria has become a yearly ritual. The Appropriation Act is observed more in breach than execution. It is time to remind us all that the Appropriation Act is a law passed by the National As-sembly and assented to by the President. It is not a document of convenience to be executed as officials deem necessary.

According to Tambuwal, “it is a sol-emn legal commitment of government to

intervene in various areas of need of our people. It is the instrument of infrastruc-tural and economic development. The budget allocates resources and guides gov-ernmental activities in a given year. When this House insists on budget implementa-tion by the executive, it is never meant to witch-hunt anybody.”

The Speaker said the House was push-ing for the implementation of Appropria-tion Act, because “budget implementation is the only way Nigerians can feel the di-rect impact of government in their daily lives. Our people have given us a clear mandate to represent them and advance their interest. We are resolved to fulfil the terms of that contract, and to do so with integrity and honour.

“We cannot continue to pay lip service to the idea of a better Nigeria, rid of twin evils of poverty and disease. However, what do we show our people at the end of our tenure as our achievements? In what specific ways can we show our people that we have contributed to their economic, so-cial and political well-being?

“Can we in good conscience go back to our people after four years to ask for yet another mandate, if we are unable to show what we have done? This is the challenge facing us as elected representatives.”

He said the decision of the Presidency to monitor performance of ministries, de-partments and agencies was in tune with a long-held conviction of the House, add-ing: “May I also acknowledge the perfor-mance contract initiated by Mr. President to regulate the conduct of ministers. This performance contract is a vindication of our position and resolution on budget im-plementation. With specific reference to the 2012 budget, we have asked all commit-tees of the House to collate information on the level of funding and implementation by various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAS).”

The decision of the House is hardly new though. The House, under the former Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, did the same thing. Bankole had in August 2008, di-rected all committees to go on a thorough assessment of the implementation of bud-get by MDAs. He even warned them not to embark on the mission using the vehicles supplied by the ministries, departments and agencies.

The outcome of that inquisition was dismal, but irate members were gagged and nobody lifted a finger of impeach-ment. Bankole would repeat the ritual in 2010, with the same results and the same reaction.

Despite several and spirited efforts by Speaker after Speaker and House after House, the same results of poor imple-mentation of budgets would continue to dog the country and its long-suffering people, until the House and the entire Na-tional Assembly picks up the gauntlet and match words with action.

Political analysts wonder why the Na-tional Assembly continues in a ritual that have over the years been motion without movement, believing that the present at-tempt at bringing the executive to order over budget implementation is nothing but an exercise in futility, like the past ex-periences.

concluded.The House passed the resolution last

Thursday after it dismissed the Mid-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) pre-sented to both chambers of the National Assembly by the executive two weeks ago. The decision in plenary followed a brief-ing where the spokesman of the House, Hon. Zakari Muhammed, stressed that un-til the issues on the contentious 2012 Bud-get were sorted out, the House won’t touch the budget.

He said: “Until we are through with all the issues (on the 2012 Budget), the 2013 budget will not be an issue for now.”

The House also began officially its oversight on all ministries, departments and agencies of government to ascertain the level of implementation of the 2012 Budget. Some of the committees, notably committees on Finance and Appropria-tion had begun their work immediately. Other committees like the National Plan-ning and Legislative Budget were also in closed-door meetings with agencies of government.

But before it took its decision to stop the presidency from bringing its 2013 Budget proposals, the House tore to pieces the executive’s MTEF before it. Principal of-ficers and chairmen of strategic commit-tees took turns to criticise the MTEF and dismissed it as unimplementable and in

Budget: Reps’ bark without bite

TambuwalJonathan

Since 2000, the Houses of Representatives have threat-ened to impeach successive presidents over their poor im-plementation of budgets. And for all it takes, the executive arm of government has contin-ued to ignore the lawmakers and forge on with ‘business as usual’.TORDUE SALEM writes on the development.

POOR IMPLEMENTATION

OF BUDGETS WOULD CONTINUE TO DOG

THE COUNTRY... UNTIL THE HOUSE AND THE

ENTIRE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY PICKS UP THE GAUNTLET AND MATCH WORDS WITH

ACTION

14 Politics National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, September 24, 2012

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 15ViewsMonday, September 24, 2012

SONI EHIASUELIMEN

soniasuelimen@yahoo.com, 08023459055 (SMS ONLY)

Roadmap

The return of Lagos bad boys

CALLISTUSOKE

Callistusoke@nationalmirroronline.net 08054103275 (SMS ONLY)

HeartBeat

serious attention to it as a discreet variable in any research.

Do I hear you say hogwash? There may not be scientific proof of this assertion, yet many Lagosians find as uncanny the coin-cidental surge in armed banditry at a time the new traffic law came into force. I have sounded out sociologists, criminologists and even police officers on the issue. One common strand in their arguments is that there is a likely positive correlation between the upsurge in crime rate in Lagos and the coming into force of the new traffic law!

Intellectualizing the new crime trend, my sociologist friend posited that people are naturally bound to society and support its morality, when in their estimation, they feel they have everything to gain from such support. He further argued that countries where social safety nets exist to reasonably cater for the needs of the people, especially the most vulnerable, and take a further step to put in place social mechanisms for their self actualization, then the people will ap-preciate this gesture by refraining from criminalities.

However, it is the natural order of things that evil and good coexist in the same way that law and lawlessness con-test for the will of the people. The progress man has attained so far since prehistoric era to now become a more responsible so-cial being is made possible by his demon-strable will power to overcome his bestial instincts and the submission to the impo-sition of the preference of the society on

him through socialization process. But this super progress has not detracted from the fact that inherent in all men is still a residue of some of the bestial instincts.

Before you shout rubbish, let me ask you this question. Why do you submit to anger in spite of your humane predilec-tions? Why do you look back with remorse for all negative tendencies exhibited by you from time to time? And why would any normal person surrender to the impulse to murder a fellow person?

Now you can guess why I feel Lagos bad boys resorted to the deployment of their bestial instincts, which had been kept in check before now because the society of-fered them access to means of sustenance in the form of agbero job. All these rising cases of violent robberies, bag snatchings, stick ups etc could be their way to hit back

at the society, which in their imagination, no longer cares for them.

In past articles I warned on the dangers of the socio-political alienation of Nigeri-ans, especially the most vulnerable. Spe-cifically, I have drawn attention to the con-sequences of using the instrumentality of state institutions to exacerbate the miseri-sation of poor Lagosians in the drive for mega city status.

Law making process is more complex than we imagine. In the same manner it has become imperative to carry out an en-vironmental impact assessment (EIA) on a proposed project to reasonably appreciate the possible positive or negative impact the project might have on the physical and social environments, a proposed law should also follow the same procedure.

Studies have shown that two sets of so-cietal characteristics influence the level of crime in any society. The first is the degree of relative deprivation, and the second the degree of cohesiveness in social relations among citizens. The breakdown of tradition-al family ties has meant that people have had to live only from the sweat of their labour. For the agbero now out of job, the raw courage they had deployed to make money from com-muter drivers, they might have now turned on the people.

The anti-poor laws that our various govern-ments have been recently rolled out will push many more people into the nation’s criminal-ity industry. Since we have sown the wind, we should be ready to reap the whirlwind.

We now witness a disturbing trend of sharp upward spin in the rate of crimes and criminalities in

Lagos State, particularly the mainland. After the horrendous Sunday Septem-ber 9 Rambo-like serial armed robberies that underlined the new pattern, several armed bandit strikes across the mainland have cast a menacing pall of fears over the state. In Ketu, for example, people no longer sleep with their two eyes closed. Only the gallantry of men and officers of Alapere Police Station have reasonably checked the excesses of these bad boys. Ketu Police Station has not shown enough will power to confront these bad boys.

The new wave of crimes has coin-cided with the ban of agbero, that is Na-tional Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) uniformed ‘commission collec-tors’, who operate in motor parks and on the major highways to collect ‘commis-sions’ from commuter vehicles by the new state traffic law. The coincidence might amount to nothing, but social science pays

HOWEVER, IT IS THE NATURAL ORDER OF THINGS THAT EVIL AND GOOD COEXIST IN THE

SAME WAY THAT LAW AND LAWLESSNESS CONTEST FOR THE

WILL OF THE PEOPLE

I wonder if Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has caught the slum-berbug, the sleeping-on-duty sickness

that afflicts political office holders. Me-thinks the development of decaying San-go-Ota, the commercial industrial nerve centre of the state, should be the yardstick to judge an active governor. Ogun elector-ate voted in Amosun’s ACN, believing that the progress report in neighbouring ACN Lagos would be replicated in their state. Ota LGA with the neighbouring Ifo LGA, constitutes the largest population in Ogun State; surprisingly it has no evidence of Amosun’s media wonder development re-ports. Going by President Goodluck Jona-than’s counsel a few days ago to vote out incompetent and non-performing politi-cians and parties, including apparently the purposeless PDP, Ota electorate should be ready to use their population advantage henceforth to make decisive changes in the governance of the state.

When within two weeks of assuming power 16 months ago, Governor Amosun trekked from Sango Toll Gate through desolate Ilo Awela road to Ota LGA secre-tariat, the people rejoiced that a masses’ governor has arrived at last. The subse-quent reduction of the refuse mountain on Sango Expressway was seen as signal of the good times. Commuters sighed with relief that the agony of bad roads was end-ing, and daily death toll on Toll Gate-Ilo Awela intercession would also end soon. Motorists, whose vehicles had been dam-aged beyond repairs by bad roads in Iyesi, Ilogbo and Sango, etc., started savings to put their vehicles back on the road. Why?

The potholes and canyons on Ilo Awela dualised link road from Toll-Gate gateway to the state and to international border of Republic of Benin had been under perpet-ual repair for six years by OGROMA, the state’s road maintenance agency set up by Gbenga Daniel administration. Daniel said he neglected Ota LGA because most resi-dents work in and pay their tax to Lagos only for Abeokuta royal father to cry out over derelict roads and infrastructure defi-cit in the state capital. But for Pastor David Oyedepo’s Winners’ Church that spent mil-lions to repair Ilo Awela and many other roads leading out of Iyesi, it would have been tons of regrets for property owners that escaped the harsh Tinubu-Fashola es-tate investment clime in Lagos.

Amosun’s showmanship one-kilometer road trek in June last year is yet to yield desired result. It was learnt that about 200 houses standing on the right of way might have to give way for the dualization of the road for easy access to Lagos. It was also speculated that the same Ota idols that stopped Daniel would stop Amosun. Pri-mary and secondary education is still in shambles while government shows more interest in sharing free text books and exer-cise books instead of building more schools and refurbishing dilapidated ones. My visit to Iyesi High School years ago revealed a piteous spectacle. I saw a high school with no classroom windows and no doors, even for the headmaster and teachers. My trip to the school was completed on foot after the car got terrified of mud and pothole and the commercial motorcyclist winked and hissed on impassable floods.

All the alternative six link roads to La-gos from Ota LGA are in shambles, caus-ing heavy traffic jam at pothole-filled Toll Gate. Iyesi road links Lagos direct through Ile Epo, Kolington, Ipaja and Abule Egba through impassable roads. Sango road links Ogba, Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Ikorodu road, etc., if the derelict near-San-go link bridge is upgraded to redirect traf-fic and free Abule Egba congestion. Lagos State has completed its own portion of an-other road linking Ile-Epo and Kolington, and waiting for sleepy Ogun State govern-ment to complete its own portion. Derelict Atan-Agbara road in Ogun links industrial Agbara Estate, which links Mile-2, Okoko-maiko, and Badagry and Seme border with the Republic of Benin. Daniel made inroad to expand property development, which Amosun should consolidate to make Ogun a property investment haven.

Amosun’s neglect industrial town of Ota is amazing. All roads in Ota industrial

estate, housing big industrial giants are impassable. Yet Ogun government expects them to pay tax willingly. Amosun should take tutorials from Lagos Governor Babs Fashola on how to make money from in-dustries by providing infrastructure. Amo-sun’s owambe cap gives impression, right-ly or wrongly, of lackadaisical governance.

The other day, census officials were in Iyesi for possible tenement rate assess-ment, as in Lagos, but were told to expect battle because Ogun government has not provided roads, culverts, drains, electric-ity transformers, markets, sound public schools, roads, not to mention pipe borne water, police station or health institution. All the transformers, electricity poles and cables in Iyesi town were provided by land-lords, the roads and drains constructed by private landlord efforts.

Amosun, ACN and the decay of Ota

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

AMOSUN SHOULD TAKE TUTORIALS

FROM LAGOS GOVERNOR BABS FASHOLA ON HOW TO MAKE MONEY FROM INDUSTRIES

BY PROVIDING INFRASTRUCTURE

16 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netEditorial Monday, September 24, 2012

ON THIS DAY

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

BARRISTER JIMOH IBRAHIM, OFR PUBLISHER

STEVE AYORINDE MD/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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DOZIE OKEBALAMA COORDINATOR, EDITORIAL BOARD

ADESOYE ADEKOYA CONTROLLER, PRODUCTION

CALLISTUS OKE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

ISE-OLUWA IGE ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF

KAYODE BALOGUN JNR SM, STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT

FRANK OBOH HEAD, GRAPHICS

ON THIS DAY

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BARRISTER JIMOH IBRAHIM, OFR PUBLISHER

STEVE AYORINDE MD/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

YELE AKINROLABU ED OPERATIONS

SEYI FASUGBA DAILY EDITOR

BOLAJI TUNJI SUNDAY EDITOR

GBEMI OLUJOBI SATURDAY EDITOR

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DOZIE OKEBALAMA COORDINATOR, EDITORIAL BOARD

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CALLISTUS OKE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

ISE-OLUWA IGE ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF

KAYODE BALOGUN JNR SM, STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT

FRANK OBOH HEAD, GRAPHICS

ON THIS DAY

GOVERNORS DO NOT NEED THE RMAFC CHAIRMAN TO TELL

THEM THAT SUCH FUNDS ARE NOT MEANT FOR INFRASTRUCTURE

PROVISIONING IN STATE CAPITALS AND OTHER

URBAN AREAS

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

BARRISTER JIMOH IBRAHIM, OFR PUBLISHER

STEVE AYORINDE MD/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

YELE AKINROLABU ED OPERATIONS

SEYI FASUGBA DAILY EDITOR

BOLAJI TUNJI SUNDAY EDITOR

GBEMI OLUJOBI SATURDAY EDITOR

LANRE OYETADE GENERAL EDITOR

DOZIE OKEBALAMA COORDINATOR, EDITORIAL BOARD

ADESOYE ADEKOYA CONTROLLER, PRODUCTION

CALLISTUS OKE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

ISE-OLUWA IGE ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF

KAYODE BALOGUN JNR SM, STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT

FRANK OBOH HEAD, GRAPHICS

The 13 Per Cent Derivation Fund is unarguably the most profound concession

given by the Federal Government to oil bearing states in the coun-try since 1966. One of the long drawn grouses of oil endowed communities and people of the Niger Delta region is the long government negligence of the challenges of life-threatening ecological hazards and the de-terioration of health and social fabrics they grapple with as a result of oil exploration activi-ties. The concomitant result had been socio-political tension which culminated in violent communal crises, youth restiveness, and brutal state repression, especially under military rule.

The 13 per cent derivation prin-ciple, it may be said, represents part of FG’s political efforts to redress the age-long negligence. The intended objective had been that the fund would be used to ameliorate the distressing condi-tions of the people and the envi-ronment in the host communities, to help address their grudges, bit-terness negative perception and restiveness. In reality, however, what seems to be on ground is a perversion of the principle, going by reports that the fund was being misapplied by most governors of the benefitting states. There are eight oil producing states in the country namely: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Imo,

Ondo and Rivers. A couple of days ago, chairman of the Rev-enue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Mr. Elias Mbam, while playing host to traditional rulers from the oil region, stated that governors to a great extent, neglected core oil producing communities in the ap-plication of the fund.

Perhaps, the traditional rulers’ visit to Mbam was the last resort after all other approaches of theirs to call the errant governors to order failed. It is instructive to note that the Ilaje Democratic Forum (IDF) of the riparian Ilaje speaking area of Ondo State had once threatened to mobilize forces to confront the Governor Oluse-gun Mimiko-led administration in the state for failing to use the derivation fund to add value to the lives of the people of the area. The IDF had claimed that the N26

billion budget of the state’s Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC) in 2010, for example, was only on paper; and that no single project was executed in the oil producing areas of Ondo State that financial year.

Recently, too, an Itsekiri socio-cultural group – the Itsekiri Nationality (Delta State Chap-ter), last July 25, wrote President Goodluck Jonathan to protest alleged Delta State Government’s autocratic determination of how the derivation fund should be spent. The group urged the Presi-dent to compel the state governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, to deploy 50 per cent of the fund to oil bearing communities. Similarly, the Movement for the Emancipa-tion of the Niger Delta (MEND) once threatened the Rivers and Bayelsa state governments to set up commissions to manage the 13 Per Cent Derivation Fund coming to the two states or face attacks by the militant group. These scenarios are replicated in almost all the oil producing states. The various protestations had been largely unheeded because the oil communities, their lead-ers and other stakeholders lack the powers to hold the governors accountable. The FG’s interven-tion is therefore, necessary to reverse the embarrassing trend, considering the implications of the development to the nation’s

peace, security and stability. Presi-dent Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly should show keen interest in the aberration and possibly investigate and take appropriate actions to ensure that the oil fund serves its intended purpose. The oil producing state status which gives the eight states access to the derivation fund does not exist in a vacuum. Oil produc-ing communities give concrete meaning to the status; and so the 13 Per Cent Derivation Fund must be largely deployed to ameliorate the problems of the core host oil communities. The governors do not need the RMAFC chairman to tell them that such funds are not meant for infrastructure provi-sioning in state capitals and other urban areas.

Again, one way to rein in the governors is to amend the Consti-tution and separate the State/Lo-cal Government Joint Account to enable Local Government Councils have full fiscal autonomy. Arrange-ments can then be made by the relevant authorities to pay deriva-tion funds directly to oil producing council areas. The major apprehen-sion, however, is that corrupt coun-cil chairmen could use their new found powers and fiscal autonomy for self aggrandizement if neces-sary control mechanisms are not put in place. Still, council chairmen can perform better, resist and call the bluff of their governors if they have the law on their side.

Questionable derivation funds utilization

The Honda Motor Company was founded. Honda Mo-tor Company Limited is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of au-tomobiles and motorcycles. Honda has been the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world’s largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than 14 million internal combustion engines each year.

September 24, 1948September 24, 2009

The G20 summit began in Pittsburgh with 30 global leaders in attendance. The event marked the first use of LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device) in United States history. The 2009 G-20 Pittsburgh Summit was the third meeting of the G-20 heads of state where discussions on financial markets and the world economy were held. The G-20 is the premier forum for discussing, planning and monitoring international economic cooperation.

September 24, 1996

Representatives of 71 nations signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty at the United Nations. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) bans all nuclear explosions in all environments, for military or civilian purposes. It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on September 10, 1996 but did not enter into force as of May 2012.

A Publication of GLOBAL MEDIA MIRROR LTDBARRISTER JIMOH IBRAHIM, OFR PUBLISHER

SEMIU SALAMI EDITORBAMIDELE OBAFEMI ASSOCIATE EDITORADEJUWON OSUNNUYI STAFF WRITERFESTUS OKOROMADU STAFF WRITERTAYO ADELEKE SENIOR REPORTER

OLATOYE RAPHAEL HEAD, PRODUCTIONSEYI OKUMODI SENIOR GRAPHIC ARTIST

BusinessCourage

Cover

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, September 24, 2012 A2 18 Business CourageCourage

The Nigeria’s aviation in-dustry is in dire straits and the situation does not show strong rea-

sons that the shambolic situa-tion which the sector has been regrettably plunged would abate any moment soon.

Last Thursday, about 10 days after the national fl ag car-rier, Air Nigeria suspended all its operations for 12 months, citing inclement operating envi-ronment, Arik Air, Nigeria’s big-gest airline also had its domes-tic operations grounded. The suspension of the two frontline airlines, according to aviation experts signaled the virtual col-lapse of the commercial passen-ger segment of the nation’s avi-ation industry, as the industry only have three airlines, Aero, IRS and Overland left on the do-mestic routes.

However, the circumstances surrounding Arik Air’s sudden stoppage of operation at the time it did last Thursday have at-tracted serious concern among aviation experts and other con-cerned stakeholders. Though Arik claimed that the suspen-sion was voluntary, Business Courage reliably learnt the air-line’s action was forced by the actions of the industry’s unions, the Air Transport Senior Staff

A subdued skylineBogged down by huge and rising debts, high cost of fuel, inadequate and sub-standard airport infrastructure, lack of in-country maintenance facilities, arbitrary and suspect regulatory activities, exploitative tariff regime and the indiscriminate allocation of landing rights and frequencies to foreign carriers, the Nigeria’s aviation sector appears to be at the end of its tethers. Who will rescue the situation?

By Salami Semiu Services of Nigeria, (ATSSSAN) and the National Union of Air Transport Employees, (NUATE), allegedly on the account of the huge debt it owed the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN.

The President of ATSSSAN, Benjamin Okewu, told journal-ists that the unions decided to ground the operations of the airline over the huge debts owed various agencies like FAAN, Ni-gerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA, and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, for services rendered to the air-

line over the years. Okewu had alleged that Arik is indebted to FAAN to the tune of N7.2 bil-lion; NAMA, N5 billion and owed NCAA about $300 million.

Arik Air management, though admitted owing FAAN, said that the airline’s indebt-edness to the agency was N1.6 billion as aginst the N7 billion claimed by the union. The Man-aging Director of Arik Air, Chris Ndulue, accused the Ministry of Aviation of persistent hostil-ity towards the airline, based on “personal interest as against national interest, which over-

rides every other interest.”“Due to persistent hostility of

the Ministry of Aviation and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, which has culminated in the use of FAAN staff to stop Arik Air operations and lock in checked-in passengers in Lagos this morning, Arik Air has no option than to suspend all do-mestic operations until further notice.

“This issue bears on person-al interests and not payment of bills; since FAAN has been col-lecting its charges in advance since 18 months now. Arik Air regrets the inconveniences this disruption by FAAN would cause our guests.

“Before now, there have been several attempts and threats to disrupt our operations and sell the usual impression that Arik Air owes the agencies. Af-ter these attempts failed, today, they resorted to using some FAAN staff.”

“We are aware that some knowledgeable staff refused

to join this illegal and unwar-ranted action. They locked the boarding gate and prevented passengers from getting to the aircraft and were making false announcement of unimaginable sums of money they claimed Arik owed. Obviously, from their records no other airline owes anything.”

It added, “This is only a cal-culated attempt to punish the airline and tarnish its image. They are witnesses to the repu-tation of Arik Air as a young and upwardly mobile airline. They saw it in their road shows and many visits to airlines and air-craft manufacturers. Ordinar-ily, they should be happy, but they are not.”

“For the records, Arik Air does not owe FAAN as is being alleged by the agency. We want to state that FAAN has been col-lecting its charges over the last 18 months when it introduced the pay-as-you-go regime. In this year alone, we have paid over N2 billion to FAAN. Thirty

George Uriesi, MD Federal Airports Authority

Cover

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, September 24, 2012 A3 19Business CourageCourage

fi ve per cent of total airline rev-enues in Nigeria are paid back to government agencies.”

The airline described as fi c-titious and baseless several fi gures allegedly being bandied about by FAAN as Arik Air’s in-debtedness to the agency.

Incidentally, however, most industry players who spoke with Business Courage on the issue last week stressed that notwith-standing what triggered Arik’s suspension, the current reali-ties only go to confi rm the age long concern that the business environment under which local carriers operate is patently hos-tile. For several years now, most airline owners have been strug-gling to survive amid huge and rising debts, high fuel costs, in-adequate and substandard air-port infrastructure, lack of in-country maintenance facilities and suspect regulatory activi-ties. They also cited exploitative tariff regime and the indiscrimi-nate allocation of landing rights and frequencies to foreign carri-ers as a major albatross of local airline operators.

In fact, a top industry player who spoke under anonymity last week insisted that a more complex challenge the airlines have had to contend with over the years is the pervasive in-trigues and politicking in the aviation sector, citing frequent underground wars being fought between government offi cials for infl uence over contract awards and benefi ts.

According to industry ex-perts, such seemingly intrac-table problems have sent many

airlines like Okada Air, ADC, Bellview, Sosoliso, Chanchangi and the defunct national carri-er, Nigeria Airways; that was liq-uidated in 2003 out of business. And with the current logjam, the severe shortage of airline seats arising from three key operators temporary exit will constitute a serious drag on routine busi-ness and forced innocent Nigeri-ans to pay as much as N40,000 for an hour’s fl ight.

An indication to the perva-sive intrigues and politicking that have taken over the avia-tion industry of late emerged last week with an allegation that

the Minister of Aviation, Stella Ogiewonyi had demanded to be allocated a fi ve per cent equity shareholding in Arik airline. Al-though the allegation could not be independently verifi ed as at press time at the weekend, an industry source said that a lot of under hand dealings were go-ing on in the sector. The source made reference to part of the Senate Committee on Aviation’s report which recommended the prohibition of the Minister of Aviation and any public of-fi ce holders from negotiating Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) with the foreign airlines to buttress his argument.

The committee Chairman, Senator Hope Uzodinma had while deliberating on the re-port of investigation into allega-tions of air fare disparities and sharp practices by British Air-ways and Virgin Airways Nigeria recommended the prohibition of the Minister of Aviation and any public offi ce holders from negotiating Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) with the for-eign airlines.

In fact, issues bothering on an indiscriminate allocation of frequencies to big international carriers, such as the British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Luf-thansa, KLM-Alitalia, Emirates, Etihad, South African Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and Turk-ish Airlines among others un-der what a source tagged “ill-conceived Bilateral Air Services Agreements with their respec-tive home governments” have seen foreign carriers operating direct fl ights out of Lagos, Abu-ja, Port Harcourt and Kano with little or no reciprocity from their Nigerian counterparts.

What is particularly worri-some to aviation experts and investors is the failure of the government to match its pos-turing and pronouncements about government’s commit-ment to developing the nation’s

aviation sector with the re-quired support, which carriers in other nations get from their home governments. Though the source admitted that many car-riers benefi tted from the bailout package offered airline owners by the Federal Government, such funds, the source insisted, were mostly used to offset ac-cumulated debt rather than ex-pand their operations.

Besides, another aviator, an engineer in one of the domestic airlines, noted that, while not all of Nigeria’s airline problems are environmental, airline own-ers and operators interactions with the government have been less than robust, tilting more towards activism, as owners of airlines are excluded from the leadership and running of the Airline Operators of Nigeria. Per-haps, this explains why the FG’s recent actions seem to be facing stiff opposition.

In fact, some aviation ex-perts are of the opinion that the recent travails of Air Nigeria and Arik Air may have been or-chestrated in furtherance of the merger agenda being promoted

by the aviation ministry. Busi-ness Courage reliably learnt that the Federal Government recently made subtle moves to force the merger of Arik Air, Air Nigeria and Aero Contractors to form a new national carrier, the action which was said to have faced stiff resistance particu-larly from Arik and Air Nigeria.

Last week, a day after Arik suspended domestic operation and threw the local aviation business into turmoil, the Fed-eral Government took over Aero through the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON). The Central Bank of Nigeria had announced last Friday that all credits to Aero should be halted because of its $200 million loan. “We can confi rm that Aero’s debt has been taken over by AMCON. Currently Aero is going through a restructuring exercise under AMCON, pending fi nal approval by AMCON board which is ex-pected very soon,” said Omoke Enyi, the airline’s Chief Finan-cial Offi cer, adding that the air-line is allowed limited access to funds by the banks through AMCON for its working capital.

Curiously, however, while the issues surrounding the grounding of Arik’s domestic operation remained unresolved, a group of law makers in the senate began moves to confer the status of a national carrier on the troubled airline.

The Senator Uzodinma-led Committee had expressed its desire to encourage the Minis-try of Aviation in the quest for a national carrier, suggesting that Arik with 23 new genera-tion aircraft should be consid-ered for the status of a national fl ag bearer with attendant privi-leges, responsibilities and adap-tations.

However, industry stake-holders who spoke on the issue kicked against the proposal, describing it as another way of short-changing the nation. They reasoned that before the national carrier status could be conferred on the airline as being proposed in some quarters, all the debts owed various organi-Ndulue Oduah

Harold Demuren, NCAA boss

dubious people in the indus-try that use the industry to si-phon billions of money collected from banks and owe everybody. They should come out and tell Nigerians the truth. Govern-ment should be very careful with whatever steps it is taking in the industry. Whatever step they take now, they will use it against them in the future. They should form a new airline entirely. They are manipulating our people,” he said.

into agricultural business after graduating from the university and urged other young Nigerians to learn from her experiences which, she said, have given her sense of fulfi lment as a self-employed young Nigeria.

According to her, she now employs scores of Nigerians in her farm and have also acquired another 15 acres of land to boost the agribusiness since there is a huge market for agricultural produce and processed products locally and at the global markets.

FG to support Indian firms’ investment drives in ICT industry

Determined to enhance the employment and

revenue generation potentials of software development in the country, the Federal Government has assured a team of Indian software development and services now in the country of its readiness to provide the enabling investment policy frameworks and incentives in support of their current investment drive in the country.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, September 24, 2012 A4 20 Business CourageCourage

News

FG targets one million young agric business entrepreneurs by 2015Stories By Tola Akinmutimi (Abuja)

The Federal Government has said that it was committed

to getting at least one million young Nigerians engaged in agricultural business ventures between now

Adesina

sations, aviation agencies and banks must be settled by the management.

The President, Aviation Round Table, ART, Capt. Dele Ore, in a telephone interview said that the pronouncement of the Senate committee was wrong, adding that the idea of a national carrier was no longer in vogue anywhere in the world.

While he queried the man-agement structure of the airline, its audited accounts over the years and its debt profi le to vari-ous organisations in the country he stressed that until the issues are resolved by the organisation and its agents, whatever status accorded the airline would be an exercise in futility. “What has Arik done with the status con-ferred on it as the fl ag carrier of this great nation? The truth of the matter is that the concept of national carrier is already archaic and old fashioned. The recommendation to accord Arik Air a national carrier status will be an exercise in futility with-out considering the factors that presently affect the fl ag carrier,” Ore said.

According to him, those “factors will be haunting the organisation notwithstanding the name you call it to boost its status as a national carrier. In conclusion, therefore, the ques-tions we should ask ourselves are: Is the management of the airline in control of Nigeria? Is Nigerianisation policy well ar-

ticulated and put in place? Is Arik Air paying taxes as it oper-ates? What is the status of Ni-gerian pilots and engineers in the airline? Are they accorded the needed respect? Will the Nigerian government support it or buy shares from the airline when it is accorded that status? There are more questions than answers,” he said.

Also, the Assistant Secretary of Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON, Mohammed Tukur, pre-

Cover

dicted that the proposal would never scale through, alleging that the attempt to make the airline a national carrier was fraudulent as he queried the reason for the proposal.

He insisted that rather than making the airline a national carrier, government should set up another airline from the scratch, stressing that the at-tempt to make the airline a na-tional carrier was to eradicate its massive debts to various or-

ganisations. “Rather than mak-ing the airline a national carrier, they should set up an airline from the scratch and let people buy into it. They killed other airlines and at the end of the day, they are saying let us make Arik Air a national carrier. Will Arik pay its outstanding debts? Before talking about making it a national carrier, all its debts to FAAN, NCAA, NAMA, staff, fuel marketers and others must be cleared. There are so many BC

Capt. Ore Sen. Uzodinma

and 2015 through various capacity building and credit access supports as part of the medium term plan of the current agricultural transformation agenda.

Setting the target at the formal take-off of the new Young Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP) in Abuja, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, said the programme was designed to create a new generation of commercial farmers that will help transform the agricultural sector.

While lamenting the huge fi nancial outlay being committed yearly to import food items in the country despite its abundant natural and human resource endowments, the minister said government would do everything possible to ensure the sustainability of the ongoing agricultural transformation agenda through the creation of appropriate policy and institutional frameworks that would change agriculture as

a development programme to business.

He explained that the sector offers Nigeria’s the strongest platform in the current drive to rapidly transform the economy in view of its yet-to-be fully explored food, employment, health and revenue generation potentials, amongst other socio-economic benefi ts.

He explained: “I am pleased we are here today to design a new initiative to create a new generation of young commercial farmers that will help transform the agricultural sector- and feed Nigeria today and well into the future. They will be called ‘Nanopreneurs’. Our goal is to create one million young agricultural entrepreneurs in our country by 2015.

“There is no doubt that the current generation of farmers is ageing rapidly. To be competitive in today’s global agricultural markets, with changing technologies, demands for quality and standards, there is need to change the labour composition of our agricultural sector.

“The agricultural sector requires new skills, younger and more entrepreneurial farmers, who will be able to

compete at the global scale. They must be well versed in business, to be able to run sound agribusiness that will make Nigeria’s agriculture modern, commercial and profi table”, Adesina added.

Describing the initiative as a major part of the government’s agricultural recovery and growth programme for the country, the minister disclosed that in order to ensure it succeeds, the Federal Government will be partnering the state governments and local governments to ease land access and other grassroots support facilities within their domains.

On the challenge of high interest rate on bank credit, he explained that already, arrangements were being made in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Ministry of Finance and other relevant fi nancial institutions or agencies to enable the young farmers access loans at single digit even as the NIRSAL would provide a cover in risk-sharing in the entire agribusiness value chains.

In her remarks at the forum, an award-winning young farmer, Mosunmola Umuro, spoke about her foray

organised in collaborationwith the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the RBS training is based on a supervisory framework that is adopted by both the NDIC and the CBN. It also involves critical areas, such as overview of risk management, understanding the framework for risk-based supervision and risk mitigation techniques.

A statement by the Head of the Public Affairs and Information Unit of the Commission, Hadi Bichi, noted that the Commission had recently concluded the third leg of the RBS which was held last month for 54 participants, out of which fi ve were from the CBN and 49 from Bank Examination Department (BED), Special Insured Institutions Department (SIID) and Zonal Offi ces of the Corporation. The fourth leg of the RBS training programme is to be held early next year in Abuja for the CBN and NDIC examiners.

It would be recalled that the fi rst run of the training programme was organized by the Corporation in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, for 54 participants out of which 44 were NDIC examiners and 10 from the CBN while the second was held in the same venue about two years ago for 64 participants, all who were NDIC examiners.

In a recent development, the Managing Director/Chief Executive, NDIC, Umaru Ibrahim underscored the rationale behind the RBS for banks while declaring open the 12th annual national conference of Risk Managers Association of Nigeria in Lagos with the theme: “Financial Sector Stability and Macro-Prudential Risk Regulation: Way Forward for Emerging and Developing Economies”. Alhaji Ibrahim said that the NDIC was collaborating with the CBN in implementing risk based supervision (RBS) of banks, to enable them effectively evaluate risks inherent in activities and risk management functions of banks.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, September 24, 2012 A5 21Business CourageCourage

NewsGiving the assurance at

the interactive session with leaders of National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), a not-for-profi t Indian consortium created to promote the development of the country’s IT (information technology) and business process outsourcing industries in Abuja, Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Professor Cleopas Angaye, explained that investing in the nation’s ICT industry, particularly the software development sub-sector, promised huge returns for investors given the huge youth population and a growing market for software solutions and services.

According to him, current statistics on internet, telecommunications and computing usage globally showed clearly that Nigeria had become one of the countries with fastest growing consumers, pointing out that “in view of this growing population of consumers of ICT products and services, I can assure you that your desire to explore the Nigerian market for software development and services is not misplaced at all”.

While recounting the tremendous growth the nation’s ICT industry has witnessed in the past few years, the NITDA boss told the delegation that with about 90 million active telephone subscribers and over 100 radio and television stations and surging growth in Internet Services Providers and Cybercafes in the country, Nigeria’s telecoms and broadcast markets remain the fastest growing in the African continent today.

He therefore urged the visiting team to consider the Nigerian market the preferred destination in their efforts to invest in emerging markets and assured them of government’s willingness to partner them in collective efforts targeted at exploring the industry’s marketing, employment and profi tability potentials to the fullest in line with Federal Government’s vision of making the ICT industry a major contributor to the nation’s GDP in the years ahead.

“The Government has demonstrated strong commitment towards the development of the industry through various policies and initiatives and also prepared to benefi t from outsourcing industry market which presently stands at $500 billion with future projections estimate of $1.65-1.80 trillion by 2020.

“Nigeria therefore welcomes partnership from experienced

organisations across the globe such as NASSCOM to further develop the ICT sector in the country.

“Though the ICT industry is still developing in Nigeria, the potentials are enormous, not only within the country but for the sub-region and even the continent. Nigeria can become a net exporter of ICT, a destination for and a major hub for investments in outsourcing. This can only be achieved through collaboration and partnership”, Professor Angaye said.

NASSCOM initiatives revolve round fi ve major pillars, Domestic Market Initiative, the Innovation Initiative, the Education Initiative, the Women in Leadership-IT Initiative and the Security Initiative.

NDIC plans Risk-Based Supervision training for bank examiners

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation

(NDIC) is organizing risk-based supervision (RBS) training programme for its examiners, to enable them understand and examine the risk profi le of banks and the various risk management models being deployed by the banks.

The capacity building training which is being

The NDIC boss who was represented at the Conference by the Director, Asset Management Department of the Corporation, Adedapo Adeleke, also told the risk managers that the various Boards of insured institutions were expected to establish an enterprise risk management (ERM) system with clearly defi ned risk decisions that would be consistent with the established thresholds.

He charged the insured institutions to complement their risk management strategies by consistently assessing whether they were deploying their capital relative to their risk exposures and matching their assets with liabilities to avert liquidity crisis, stressing that the banks should always enthrone self regulation by remaining ethical in their business dealings and stress-testing their capital positions to complement statutory regulations.

Ijaws demand direct payment of 13 per cent derivation revenue

A silent but potentially dangerous crisis that

may reverse the recent achievements of the Amnesty programme and interventions of the Niger Delta Development Commission appears to be brewing in the region as host

communities of the core Ijaw oil producing areas of Egbema, Gbaramatu and Ogulagha kingdoms in Delta State have demanded that their share of 27 percent of the 13 per cent derivation fund accruing to Delta state be paid directly to them.

The communities, in a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan signed by 28 chiefs and members, each representing a community in the three kingdoms, demanded the urgent intervention of the President in order to avoid crisis that may lead to the closure of the fl ow stations in their kingdoms.

The communities said their request was predicated on the fact that they no longer have faith in the Delta State Oil Producing Development Commission, DESOPADEC, who they claim, have been hijacked by politicians.

The group under the aegis of Ijaw Host Communities emphasised that Section 162(2) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria states that 13 per cent derivation fund is the fi rst charge of the Federation Account.

“13 per cent derivation fund is not part of any consolidated revenue of state government; it is not part of any state allocation. 13 per cent derivation fund is a benchmark for revenue allocation for host communities in Nigeria. It is therefore illegal to allocate 13 per cent derivation fund through a third party to the host communities.

“However in Delta, Edo, Ondo, Imo and Abia states, oil commissions have been created through which a percentage of the 13 per cent derivation fund is paid to the host communities by the state governments as a third party. This procedure and process has allowed the state governors to take over full control of the resources of these oil communities to the exclusion of the host communities. In Delta state the situation has been so embarrassing and has come to a boiling point where the host communities have been driven to the wall” the group said.

While lamenting the failure of government to pay the monthly allocation of 50 per cent of the state derivation fund to DESOPADEC as at when due, a situation which they claimed had led to delays in implementation of projects in the communities, they expressed their joy over the recent dissolution of the DESOPADEC board, which they noted had become a political tool for oppression, marginalization and victimization.

“In the last three years, jobs

Ibrahim

L- R Wasiu Oladimeji, Oyo State Commissioner for Environment; Ahmed Kuru, Managing Director/Chief Executive Offi cer, Enterprise Bank Limited; Engineer Kayode. Ajisafe, Managing Director, Kadis Nigeria Limited; O. Salami, Accountant-General of Oyo State; Oyadeji Oludele, Director of Treasury, Oyo State and his deputy, Olawoye Sina, in a group photograph when Enterprise Bank held its Customer Forum at the Civic Centre, Ibadan… recently

Angaye

means consumers buy and open a bottle of Star and while enjoying the premium quality, look under the crown cork, and their passport to shine is staring them in the face.There will also be draw corks containing special numeric codes with prizes won weekly.

“Holders of the crown corks can redeem their prizes in two ways: By sending name, age, sex, location, and the special code to 30383 by SMS or by going to any of the 1,200 redemption centres and registering their codes and personal details. Instant prizes will be redeemed from any of the 1,200 redemption centres nationwide. The basic idea is to ensure that as many Star loyalists as possible get rewarded” he added.

The draws for the Star Time To Shine promo will be held weekly in different bars around Nigeria from October 12, 2012 and broadcast on major network televisions, including Newsline every Sunday from October 21, 2012.

Oil marketers deny receiving N976.6m subsidy payment

Two oil marketers -- Oluwaseun Ogunbambo

and Habila Theck last Friday denied that the Federal Government paid their company, Fargo Petroleum and Gas Ltd., N976.6 million as Petroleum Support Fund (PSF).

The marketers made the denial through their counsel, Adebayo Adenipekun (SAN), at the commencement of their substantive trial before Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo of an Ikeja High Court.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the defendants are among the 17 oil marketers being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, September 24, 2012 A6 22 Business CourageCourage

Lamorde

(L-R): Obabiyi Fagade, Brand Manager, Star; Tony Agenmonmen, Marketing Manager, Lager; Edem Vindah, Media & Public Affairs Manager and Sampson Oloche, Senior Brand Manager, Star, all of Nigerian Breweries PLC at the Star Time To Shine Promo Press Conference held recently at the Lagos Brewery Bar, Iganmu.

completed and commissioned by the governor have not been fully paid for in the last three years. Contractors who borrowed money from banks are already having issues with the banks as the banks have seized the collaterals for the loans.

“When the part payments are made, the banks seized all such payments to settle accrued interest for the loan for the past three years, so that the contractors have nothing to take home for their efforts, as a result, many have died from hypertension and frustration” the group said.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Engr. Elias Mbam, gave some clarifi cations recently that the 13 per cent Derivation from monthly allocation extended to oil-producing states ought to be exclusively spent on oil-producing communities who suffer most from the impact of environmental degradation occasioned by oil exploration in their domain.

He said the clarifi cation became necessary in view of the fact that a larger percentage of the 13 percent Derivation Fund meant for the development of host communities is unjustifi ably spent in the development of state capitals and other urban centres thus negating the principle behind derivation which serves as reparation to the host communities which land and water resources are devastated by oil exploration activities.

The RMAFC Boss who made this clarifi cation when he received a delegation of traditional rulers from Delta state on a courtesy call however lamented that the law establishing States and Local Governments Joint Account is an encumbrance on the successful operations of the 13 per cent derivation principle since the Law confers absolute control of the Fund on governors rather than Local Council Chairmen who govern the host communities. He therefore sought for an amendment to the States and Local Governments Joint Account Law to allow Local Government Councils take direct control and administration of all funds meant for them adding that

the on-going review of the Revenue allocation Formula will also address some of the grievances of benefi ciaries of the federation Account in a just, fair and equitable way.

Subsidy claim: FG pays additional N56.7bn to marketers

The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and

Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said that the Federal Government had paid additional N56.75 billion to oil marketers out of the 2012 subsidy claims.

While briefi ng newsmen in Abuja last Friday, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, said that the payments were made to 14 companies after being screened by the committee on oil subsidy

claims.She said that the

companies were Bovas and Company Ltd., Folawiyo Energy Ltd., Forte Oil Plc, Ibafon Oil Ltd. and Integrated Oil and Gas Ltd.

Others include M.R.S Oil Nigeria Ltd., Nipco Plc, Oando Plc, Northwest Petroleum and Gas Ltd, Rainoil Ltd., Shorelink Ltd., Swift Oil Ltd., Tecno Oil Ltd. and Total Nigeria Ltd.

``The ministry of fi nance has been making payments and screening the activities of the marketers,’’ she said.

The minister said that the sum of N56.755 billion was paid this week to the marketers that had been screened successfully.

According to her, the ministry has been on a mission to carefully screen and verify the oil marketers.

``We are preparing to continue this new system where we carefully screen marketers of petroleum products. We will carry out the screening before and after any payment is made,” she said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Federal

Government said it had paid N78.9 billion to 43 oil marketers for 2012 subsidy claims as at August 24.

8.5m consumers to benefit in “Star Time To Shine” Promo

Star lager beer has announced a range of

prizes up for graps in its biggest ever consumer reward schemes tagged Star Time To Shine Promo. The prizes include 16 brand new Toyota Corolla cars, 160 32-inch LCD TV sets, N20 million cash, 6.3 million free drinks, pens, base ball caps, t-shirts and umbrellas.

Marketing Director, of Nigeria Breweries Plc, brewers of Star Lager, Walter Drenth, said that Star Lager beer, which was recently repackaged for better satisfaction, is constantly looking for ways to put smiles on the faces of its loyal consumers.

Drenth, who was represented by the Media and Public Affairs Manager, Edem Vindah, said the Star Time To Shine Promo was designed to appreciate and reward the loyalty shown the brand by consumers over the years. He said the main objective of the promotion was to give consumers a chance to win prizes. “This is the time to reward and say ‘thank you’ to the millions of our consumers in every part of Nigeria. It is with pride that I introduce the Star Time To Shine promo – a national consumer promotion designed to reward our loyal consumers all the country with various fantastic prizes.”

Speaking on the promo’s modalities, Drenth said the promotion is crown-cork based and in two categories; instant prize corks and draw crown corks. “The instant crown cork

Crimes Commission over PSF (fuel subsidy) theft.

Adenipekun while cross-examining Wale Adamolekun, the General Manager (Operations), Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), said that the company did not receive any subsidy payment. “I put it to you that Fargo has not received the N976.6 million subsidy payments from the Federal Government as being alleged by the EFCC,” he said.

The defence counsel said his clients had to submit about 45 documents to the PPPRA for verifi cation before they could access the PSF.

He noted that six agencies would have verifi ed the Shore Tank Certifi cate of the transaction before it would get to the PPPRA.

Adenipekun said: “Without the Sovereign Debt Statement (SDS) issued by the PPPRA, the Ministry of Finance and its auditors will not entertain any request from an oil marketer. So it is the duty of the PPPRA to truthfully and diligently verify these documents,” he said.

Earlier in his evidence- in- chief, Adamolekun, the fi rst prosecution witness, said that Fargo was one of the companies given permission

Okonjo-Iweala

Mbam

News

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, September 24, 2012 A7 23

News

Business CourageCourage

to participate in the scheme but said he was not aware whether the company received the N976.7 million subsidy payment or not.

NAN reports that the EFCC had on July 30, arraigned the defendants on a six-count charge of conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretence, forgery and use of false documents. They, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge, and were granted bail.

EFCC counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), alleged that the defendants had on Feb. 10, fraudulently obtained the money from the Federal Government.

He said that the defendants falsely claimed that the money represented subsidy accrued to them from the importation of 13,627,084 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol).

The prosecutor said that the PMS was purportedly purchased from one Seatac Petroleum Ltd. and imported into Nigeria through a ship -- MT Diplomat Ex MT Milleura.

He further claimed that the defendants on Oct. 14 in Lagos forged a document entitled Certifi cate of Origin, Port of Loading Antwerp, Belgium, so as to facilitate their obtaining the aforesaid amount.

Jacobs added that the defendants falsely claimed that the document was issued by Seatac Petroleum Ltd.

Shareholders approve FCMB, FinBank merger scheme

Shareholders of First City Monument Bank

(FCMB) and FinBank have unanimously approved the proposed merger of the two banks. The shareholders gave their approval last Friday at both banks’ Court Ordered Meeting held in Lagos.

The shareholders also authorised the banks’ directors to consent to any modifi cation on the merger scheme by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Ladi Balogun, the Group Managing Director of FCMB, said that the merger would

provide considerable benefi ts and opportunities to the shareholders. He said that customers, staff and other stakeholders of the banks would be better off after the merger.

Balogun said that the merger would enhance the market reach and customer convenience through an expanded 270 branch networks for shareholders.

According to him, the merger would strengthen the commercial banking business they would engage in. ``This merger will deepen our capabilities. It will merge FCMB’s strength in investment banking and FinBank’s competitive advantage in commercial, retail and mobile banking, `` he said.

Balogun also assured the shareholders of increased returns on their investment in the years ahead.

``The merger of the two banks will ensure a more robust platform for retail growth,`` he said.

FCMB had in February this year completed the acquisition of the entire paid-up capital of FinBank and had proposed the merger in line with the Transaction Implementation Agreement of July 14, 2011.

Access Bank grows half-year profit by 225 per cent

Access Bank Plc has announced an audited

Profi t Before Tax (PBT) of N30.07 billion for its half-year ended June 30, 2012. The result shows a quantum leap in key profi tability indices as Profi t After Tax (PAT) grew by 225 per cent to N26.13 billion compared with the N8.08 billion recorded in the corresponding period in 2011.

Similarly, the bank’s Profi t Before Tax (PBT) rose from N12.37billion recorded for half-year in 2011 to N30.07 billion, a 143 per cent growth over last year’s performance. The impressive performance is also evident in the bank’s earnings for the period as gross earnings rose by 103 per cent to N108.7 billion in relation to last year’s fi gure of N53.65 billion.

Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, the bank’s Group Managing Director said that with the robust performance and the completion of its post merger integration, Access Bank is now fi rmly established as a top tier Nigerian Bank. “Leveraging on our sustainability driven business philosophy, robust capital position and the quality of our workforce, I am confi dent that we will continue to deliver strong returns for our investors in 2012,” he said.

Ladi Balogun

Aig-Imoukhuede

BC

Analysts have described the bank’s performance as a valid testament to its fi nancial strength and capacity for sustainable growth. Analysis of the result has shown that Access Bank is already extracting value from its acquisition of Intercontinental Bank by leveraging scale and access to large retail deposit base evidenced by the bank’s low cost of fund.

Access Bank’s acquisition of Intercontinental Bank signifi cantly altered the ranking of the top fi ve banks in Nigeria, putting it fi rmly in the league of Nigeria’s four largest banks by all metrics. This posture is validated by its customer base of over 5.7 million, network of 310 branches and over 1700 ATM. The bank recently revised its corporate philosophy to highlight its vision of becoming “Africa’s Most Respected Bank”. This vision is underpinned by its adoption and entrenchment of the principle of Sustainability at the core of its operations.

50,000 farmers to get Vitamin A fortified cassava stems

HarvestPlus, an international agricultural

organisation, will soon distribute vitamin A fortifi ed cassava stems to 50, 000 farmers in the country.

Paul Ilona, the country manager of the organisation told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Friday that the bio-fortifi ed crop would be distributed to farming families.

He said the organisation had been collaborating with local and international stakeholders to improve the health of the rural poor through bio-fortifi cation of crops.

Ilona, spoke on the side line of the annual crop meeting in Ibadan organised by the group for its international donors and local stakeholders.

According to him, the aim is to make micro-nutrients

cheaply available to the poor in their staple foods.

He said apart from the major focus on cassava, HarvestPlus had also released Vitamin A fortifi ed maize seeds to farmers in the country. ``We are looking forward to bio-fortifying beans, sorghum and millets in iron because we know the importance of iron in the blood system.’’

Ilona recalled that in 2011, three vitamin A fortifi ed cassava varieties were offi cially released to farmers and said the current effort was to ensure that the varieties got to farmers directly.

He said the organisation had been multiplying the stems, adding that, “the challenge we have is that come 2013, we are in a position to roll out this new varieties to an estimated 50, 000 households.’’

On the stakeholders meeting, Ilona said it was to appraise information on challenges that might affect the distribution of the cassava stems.

He added that the participants, drawn from research institutes, federal and state ministries and non-governmental organisations, would also set targets for future projects.

Senate summons petroleum minister, oil chiefs over fuel scarcity

The Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream)

has invited top petroleum offi cials to a consultative meeting over the perennial scarcity of petroleum products across the country.

In a statement on Friday in Abuja, Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Magnus Abe said the summon was in respect of the ``unacceptable’’ long queues at fi lling stations in Abuja and other parts of the country.

Those invited include the Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke and Andrew Yakubu, the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

The Committee also invited Reginald Stanley, the Executive Secretary, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and other stakeholders in the petroleum downstream sector.

The meeting is scheduled to hold at the National Assembly Complex on Sept. 27.

``We thought that the era of Nigerians queuing at fi lling stations for indeterminate hours to procure PMS and other petroleum products, was indeed gone forever. It

is, indeed, an embarrassment that precious man-hours are wasted in the quest to fulfi l a basic need. What was initially perceived as a glitch in the distribution chain has now ballooned into queues in what now seems to be a gradual return to that inglorious era,” Abe said.

He said the committee would engage those in charge to ascertain the course and chart workable solutions to the challenges in the downstream sector.

A/Ibom executes 6,000 rural projects in five years

Akwa Ibom government has executed 6,000 rural

projects across the 329 wards of the state since 2007.

The state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Aniekan Umanah, made this known on Friday in Uyo. He spoke to newsmen on the activities lined up for the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the state’s creation.

Umanah said Gov. Godswill Akpabio had initiated a radical transformation that had brought about urban renewal and integrated rural development. The commissioner said that since 2007, the state had witnessed tremendous development in healthcare, electricity supply, education, road network and water supply.

“Chief Akpabio’s zeal for the rapid development of the state has resulted in the most comprehensive transformation witnessed in our era. The present administration has constructed not less than 295 roads, including Federal roads covering a distance of 1,110km.”

Umanah said the free and compulsory education policy of the state government, started in 2008, had tripled primary schools enrolment from 350,000 to 0ne million in 2012.

He said that secondary schools enrolment had equally increased from 400, 000 to 900,000 in 2012.

The commissioner noted the government had provided infrastructure in the areas of power, aviation, tourism and agriculture.

Umanah said that the state had achieved a lot as it marks its silver jubilee on Sept. 23 with an Inter-Denominational Thanksgiving service and a state banquet.

Other activities lined up were the installation of the new chairman, Akwa Ibom Traditional Rulers Council, inauguration of projects at Abak and Ikot Ekpene local government areas.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, September 24, 2012 A8 24 Business CourageCourage

Global News

BC

Senegal’s growth to rise to 4.3 per cent in 2013- IMF

Senegal’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected

to tick up to 4.3 per cent in 2013 from a forecast 3.7 per cent this year on the back of infrastructure projects and a recovery in its agricultural sector, the IMF said last week.

The International Monetary Fund said infl ation, which stood at 1.5 per cent in the fi rst half of 2012, was expected to remain well below two per cent in the coming months.

Completion of projects in the electricity and road sectors, recovery in the agricultural sector and mining projects will contribute to boosting growth.

“Despite the gloomy international context, GDP growth is expected to increase slightly to 4.3 per cent in 2013, sustained primarily by major projects,” the IMF said in a statement after a mission to the West African state from September 6 to 19.

“The current account defi cit should decline, but would remain high in light of imports associated with investments in the energy and mining sectors. The overall balance of payments is expected to post a slight defi cit.”

IMF urged the new Senegalese government to maintain its budget defi cit target in order to ensure fi scal sustainability. Senegal’s budget defi cit is expected to be reduced to less than fi ve per cent of GDP in 2013.

Between 2000 and 2010, Senegal’s budget defi cit grew to 6.7 per cent of GDP or 455 billion CFA francs and was projected to hit 8.2 per cent if nothing was done.

President Macky Sall, who defeated incumbent Abdoulaye Wade in a tense election earlier this year, has promised to rein in government spending.

Parliament voted last Thursday to abolish the upper house of the national assembly, the 100-seat senate, to save about $15 million annually.

The government has said it would use the funds for social infrastructure projects including combating annual fl oods.

Senegal is one of the few

countries in Africa that has tapped international fi nancial markets with a $500 million eurobond. The bond is currently yielding 6.78 per cent.

China resumes oil imports from Sudan

China in August made its fi rst crude oil purchase

from Sudan since April, importing about 140,000 tonnes, customs data showed, and traders said purchases may increase once Sudan and rival South Sudan fi nalise a border deal.

China did not import any crude from South Sudan in August, the data showed, as oil output there remained shut.

South Sudan, which inherited about 75 per cent of Sudan’s oil output when it declared independence in July 2011, halted oil fl ows in January during a dispute with Khartoum over how much it should pay to export crude through pipelines in Sudanese territories to a Red Sea port.

Traders said China’s August imports from Sudan could be from storage tanks held by state-run China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the largest investor in the oil business in both Sudan and South Sudan. CNPC in July sold a one-million barrel cargo of Nile Blend crude for July-August loadings to Chinese trader Unipec.

Sudan was China’s seventh largest crude oil supplier in 2011, but imports from both Sudan and South Sudan for the fi rst eight months of this year were only a quarter of the average daily rate for 2011.

China’s total imports from Sudan so far this year were about 1.5 million tonnes, or 45,000 bpd, while imports from South Sudan averaged 20,000 bpd, the customs data showed.

Tanzania coffee prices fall as season peaks

Tanzania’s coffee prices fell at auction this week,

taking their cue from markets in London and New York, as supplies of the commodity rose at the peak of the season, the Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) said on Friday.

State-run regulator TCB said 29,878 of the 60-kg bags were offered at the latest sale, of which 25,335 bags were purchased. At the previous sale 21,999 bags had been offered and 21,303 bags sold.

“Coffee prices fell at auction this week compared to last week because prices at the terminal market were also a bit low,” Primus Kimaryo, director of quality and promotion at the coffee board, told Reuters.

“We are now at the peak of the season ... the coffee quality is good and demand has been somewhat static.”

Tanzania, Africa’s fourth-largest coffee producer after Ethiopia, Uganda and Ivory Coast, produces mainly arabica and some robusta coffee.

Prices of its arabica normally track the New York market while those of robusta take their cue from London.

“Overall average prices at the Moshi exchange were down by $2.77 per 50 kg for mild arabica and robusta was down by $4.31 per 50 kg compared to the last auction,” TCB said in its weekly report.

“Average prices were above the terminal market by $0.83 per 50 kg and $24.29 per 50 kg for mild arabica and robusta respectively,” it added.

Benchmark grade AA sold at $178.20-$221.0 per bag, compared with $186.80-$220.0 per bag previously. The average price was $188.40 per bag, down from $191.42.

Grade A fetched $179.20-

$196.00 per bag, compared with $185.00-$203.40 per bag at the previous sale. The average price fell to $184.43 from $188.46 previously.

East African coffee is normally packed in 60-kg bags but the prices are quoted for quantities of 50 kg.

The TCB says it expects the 2012/13 (June/April) crop to rise to 55,000 tonnes from around 32,000 tonnes in the previous season.

UK public sector borrowing hits record high

UK public sector net borrowing was £14.4

billion in August, the Offi ce for National Statistics (ONS) has said, the biggest defi cit for the month since records began. The fi gure was marginally higher than for the same month last year.

Corporation tax receipts fell by 2.1 per cent and benefi ts payments rose 4.9 per cent.

The fi gures make it more likely that the government will fail to achieve its aim of wiping out the structural budget defi cit by 2015.

The borrowing fi gures differ depending on whether the temporary effects of one-off fi nancial transactions are included or excluded.

The April 2012 net borrowing fi gures included two one-off transactions to the government - £28 billion from the transfer of the Royal Mail Pension Plan and £2.3 billion following the closure of the Special Liquidity Scheme.

The ONS says that for the period April to August 2012, public sector net borrowing, excluding fi nancial interventions such as bail-outs to the banks, was £31 billion; £17.4 billion lower than in the same period last year.

But if the effect of this Royal Mail and other transactions are stripped out, then public sector net borrowing for April to August 2012 actually increased 22 per cent to £61.3 billion,

£12.9 billion higher than in the same period last year.

The ONS also reported that public sector net borrowing for the fi scal year 2011/2012 was £119.3 billion, £6.7 billion lower than the Offi ce for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast of £126 billion.

David Gauke, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said that the fi gures show the government borrowed almost £7 billion less last year than previously estimated. “This is further evidence that we are dealing with our debts and getting the defi cit down.”

Spain gears up for bank bailout

Up to 60 billion euros (£48bn; $78bn) will be

needed to bail out Spain’s banks, according to the country’s second biggest lender, BBVA. The results of independent stress tests of the Spanish banking sector will be published on 28 September. But previews are already being sent to the country’s fi nancial institutions.

The Spanish government is believed to have already put in place economic reform plans that would allow it to apply for a bailout immediately.

Spain’s conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has in the past insisted Madrid would not become the fourth European capital in recent years to apply for such a bailout, but sources indicate such a programme is now likely.

Spain’s banking sector needs recapitalising, and much of the money would come from 100 billion euros in European Union funds already pledged by eurozone fi nance ministers in June.

“We’ll get a fi gure of around 70, 75 or 80 billion euros,” BBVA’s Chairman Francisco Gonzalez said.

That fi gure includes around 20 billion euros already allocated to troubled banks, which means 50-60 billion euros is still required.

The bigger question however for investors is how the Spanish government begins to balance its books.

Many in Brussels and beyond now assume it is only

a matter of time before Spain becomes the fourth eurozone country to take a bailout.

A source in Brussels said the preference is that Madrid applies for the money sooner rather than later, before market conditions change.

That is important because of the different manner in which this bailout is being put together. A European Commission spokesman said it would be wrong to see this as a “kind of proto-bailout” - but to many it does look like a bailout-by-stealth.

Over the last few months Spanish offi cials have held numerous meetings with their European counterparts, working out what Madrid would have to do to fulfi l the criteria of any bailout deal.

IMF cuts South Korea growth forecast

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cut its

growth forecast for South Korea, citing risks from further intensifi cation of the eurozone crisis.

The fund said it expects a growth of three per cent for this year, down from its projection of 3.25 per cent in June.

The eurozone crisis has dented demand in the region and hurt South Korea’s exports, which account for nearly half of its economic output.

The IMF said that South Korea was well placed to handle any further risks.

“In the event of a signifi cant downside scenario, the economy has suffi cient policy space to respond, especially on the fi scal side,” the IMF said in a report on the Asian economy.

According to data released earlier this month, South Korea’s economy grew less-than-forecast in the April to June quarter, hurt by a slowdown in exports and investment.

That prompted policymakers to announce two separate stimulus measures targeted at boosting domestic demand.

The fi rst one was a stimulus package worth $5.2 billion (£3.2bn) that included tax breaks on personal incomes and purchases of homes and cars.

Then the central bank, the Bank of Korea, said it would inject 1.5 trillion won ($1.3bn; £825m) into banks, which will use it to provide low-interest rate loans to small businesses.

The IMF said that South Korea’s central bank had room to cut interest rates in bid to further boost demand, if global issues continue to hurt growth.

However, it said that economy was likely to “bottom out during the course of 2012, regaining momentum towards the end of the year, in line with the global recovery”.

The fund forecast that the South Korean economy would grow by around four in 2013.

Macky Sall David Gauke

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, September 24, 2012 A9 25Business CourageCourage

Continue on pg A8

Dr. Christopher Kolade, Commander of the Order of Niger (CON), is a man of great reputation who has distinguished himself in service both in the public and private sectors of the Nigerian economy.

Born in 1932 in Erin-Oke, a predominantly agrarian and commerce town, located at the Oriade Local Government Area of Osun State, decidedly broke away from norms when he gained admission to study for his secondary school cer-tifi cate at Government College, Ibadan. His determination not to earn a living from farming drove him to seek further education outside the shores of Nigeria as he later proceeded to Fourah Bay College, Freetown, Sierra Leone for higher educational qualifi cations.

Kolade, a veteran broadcaster, began his career in jour-nalism and rose to become the Director- General of the Nige-rian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). As a broadcaster with the Radio Nigeria network and Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), he was a signifi cant voice that helped the broadcast-ing stations achieve the powerful stature they have acquired today. As the head of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corpora-tion, Dr. Christopher Kolade built the institution along the path of integrity and honour, making it one of the few true voices of the community even when it was clear that its pro-prietorial hold was tightly governmental.

With a successful stint at NBC, Dr. Kolade, at the age of 45, pulled out from the civil service to take on fresh chal-lenges in the private sector, pitching his tent with Cadbury Nigeria Plc as Administration Director in 1978. At Cadbury Nigeria Plc, the outstanding communicator quickly distin-

A quintessential business person

Dr. Christopher Kolade, former broadcaster and one time Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, is a communicator per excellence, a quintessential information disseminator whose business skills and integrity are well acknowledged both locally and internationally. He was first black Chief Executive and Chairman of confectionery giant, Cadbury Plc. Though he is long retired from active service, Kolade, 80, still holds sway in the business world.

By Bamidele Obafemi

Kolade

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guished himself through hard work and honesty, two major at-tributes that drew the attention of his expatriate bosses to him. His exemplar character paved the way for his emergence as the fi rst black Managing Direc-tor of the confectionary compa-ny. Dr. Kolade’s stellar perfor-mance as Managing Director at the multinational confectionary company qualifi ed him for an-other record breaking appoint-ment as he again was chosen as the fi rst black Chairman of the company.

Kolade excelled at Cadbury Nigeria Plc as a result of his unique leadership style of mak-ing sure he did what he request-ed his subordinates to do. He simply led by example. Reveal-ing the secret behind his great achievements at Cadbury, he said, “In managing any group of human beings, you can talk to them, you can show them specifi c things that you want them to see. They are watch-ing you. For instance, if you say that work starts at 8 o’clock and l expect everybody to be punctual......guess what? They are waiting for you to arrive,” he said. “That is why when I teach classes, I ask them: ‘In your organisation, who is the last person to arrive?’ Usually, it’s the boss. That’s not the way to live. Until the boss gets here, the rest of us are doing what we like. But when the boss is here, we know that he or she is there. So, your own conduct and com-portment are to show a good example”.

Apart from leading by ex-ample, the practice of good cor-porate governance is another factor that contributed to Dr. Kolade’s success as chief ex-ecutive of Cadbury Plc. For in-stance, he discouraged staff of

Cadbury from taking kickback from contractors who worked for the company during his time.

A particular instance which Dr. Kolade recalls with great profundity, was the experience he had with a senior staff of Cadbury at that time. At one point, Dr. Kolade recalled that he told one of his senior market-ing people that he was told that when the staff give contracts to some of the advert agencies, be-tween 10 to 15 per cent (kick-back/commission) were always demanded. “I said ‘that’s what I’ve been told. But, you know, I don’t believe it. But if that is what you do, go and stop it be-cause believe me, one day, I’ll catch you,” he recalled. Accord-ing to him, he told the particu-lar staff that he may “get away with it for a long while because you are also a child of God and God will give you a long rope. But one day, one day, if you don’t desist, I will catch you; and when I do, there will be no argument.’

“I don’t know whether he believed me and I just kept on. I wasn’t in any hurry to catch him. One day, I got a letter from Ibadan saying this person did this and that. He is giving all your POS to his girlfriends in Ibadan. So, I called his direc-tor and showed him the letter. I asked him (the director) to go to Ibadan to fi nd out whether this was so. He went and found out that all was so. I called the man and I reminded him of what I told him before about percent-age cuts from agencies; and that now, there is a letter saying that he takes our T-shirts and sells them from his girlfriend’s shop in Ibadan. I asked him whether it was true or false. Of course, he started perspiring in my heavily air-conditioned offi ce. So, I said, You see, I warned you. And because God is a God of justice but also a loving God, He will let you get away with a lot of things, hoping that you will desist. But if you don’t, be-cause God loves me too, He will make me to catch you.’ I said,

‘I’m not going to dismiss you now but go and write me a let-ter, telling me what you want me to do for you now.’ I told him if he didn’t quickly reach me, I was going to write him a letter. Of course, the man wrote me immediately and said he was resigning; and that we should just pay him his benefi ts and let him go,” he said.

Dr. Kolade believes that “if you don’t push too hard, people will be cynical at the beginning but when they discover that you are consistent in dealing with those things that you do, then, they will begin to say at least, that’s what he does.”

Another example which he readily gives to buttress his sound management style while with Cadbury run thus: “At one meeting, I told all the staff that ‘I don’t want bribery, corruption and all sorts. Now, everybody here, if you know of anything that I am doing that is contrary to what I am telling you, don’t tell me, tell the world. Tell the world that I am not practis-ing what I am preaching. But if I catch you, I’m going to deal with you.’ “One person came to me and said, ‘Oga, the problem with you is that your standards are too high.’ I said I don’t be-lieve it. My standards are or-dinary–do good, don’t lie, don’t steal and all that. Children are taught that. So, why should anybody think that is too high for him as an adult? So, make the effort, be consistent and those who are cynical about you will see that at least you are consistent with your madness,” he recalled.

Unfortunately, however, the standards which Cadbury was

reputed for during Kolade’s ten-ure did not last for so long after his exit from the company. This attributes and standard were callously rubbished by his suc-cessor, and for Dr. Kolade, only death can take away the pain he feels for such dishonesty. “It was painful but there is one lesson I learnt long ago. If you look at the things I have done in my career, you would see that I have occupied one position or another. And the Lord said to me earlier that when you are doing something, give it all your attention and effort. But when I move you to the next phase, turn your back to that one and face a new thing because the new thing still requires the whole of your effort, intelligence and so on. So, much as it pains me to see what has happened to Cadbury Nigeria, I have taken comfort in the fact that one day, I’m going to leave the world and whatever is happening in the world after will not be my con-cern any longer. Same thing, when I leave a position, if they come to me for advice, I can give them. But my responsibil-ity in Cadbury was to prepare my successor the best way that I could. Not only to give him the teaching that he needed, but also to show him, by my own personal example, how I felt one should run such a place. At the end of the day, you cannot do it for the man. The day you vacate that place, you have to say to him, it is now your responsibil-ity; you can no longer share it with him. And that is my phi-losophy. It was painful but I got over the pain” he recalled.

As a diplomat, Kolade left a legacy that will long be remem-

Kolade in his days as Nigerian High Commissioner to the UK

One person came to me and said, ‘Oga, the problem with you is that your standards are too high.’ I said I don’t believe it. My standards are ordinary–do good, don’t lie, don’t steal and all that

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, September 24, 2012 A11 27Business CourageCourage

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bered in the annals of Nigerian diplomatic missions. As a mat-ter of fact, his name was almost dropped from the list of rec-ommended diplomats in 1999 just because he was deemed too truthful to be a diplomat, but he proved his critics wrong simply by demonstrating that diplomacy is not about chang-ing the truth but addressing is-sues objectively. “I don’t think there is any human being that is forced to tell a lie. If you make up your mind not to tell a lie, believe me, there is no reason in the world for you to tell a lie in the cause of anything. Also, God has helped us, if I had been High Commissioner 50 years ago, before Internet, Twitter, Facebook, then, I could say to people that this is what is hap-pening in Nigeria that it is not because they have no other way they could fi nd out. These days, many things that are happen-ing in Nigeria, I found out via the Internet. So, you can’t hide these things any more. They asked me this question before I left, knowing that I am an hon-est person. And I said, ‘Watch me.”

One of his fi rst tests as a dip-lomat was when the University of Oxford had a dinner and he asked to give the after-dinner speech on corruption, obvious-ly because since he came from what they considered to be the height of corruption must know a thing or two. “I said to them, we in Nigeria have our own fair share of criminals. There are people whose lives are dedicat-ed to committing crime, just as you have here. So, all countries suffer from the same thing. So, it is no longer news and we should not concentrate on the fact that there are criminals everywhere. What we should concentrate on is: what are the people doing about these crimi-nals?

I said, for instance, this thing we have been discussing at this conference is the advanced fee fraud, 419. And you have pin-pointed Nigeria as the place that this 419 is coming from. I said there is something funny about the 419 practitioners; they have no market in Nigeria. Anybody who sets out to do 419 in Nige-ria and tells me he is the grand-son of Uthman Dan Fodio, cer-tainly knows that I’m going to laugh because he cannot reign over me with that kind of thing. The market for 419ners is in the West. So, if that market were to disappear, do you know those people will be out of business? Therefore, my advice to this conference is that we take this thing as a joint problem. Let’s all make the best of it. You try to educate your people so that they don’t fall for these people.

At home, we have set up EFCC and ICPC to deal with this people. So, we are trying. You make your own effort and let’s see how it goes. At the end of it, an Inspector of Police came to me and said he never thought of it in that light before. I said yes, but the reality is that no 419 practitioner succeeds in Nigeria without an overseas market. So, if people overseas will do something about their market, we will soon get out of trouble”.

Successive administrations at the federal level in Nigeria continue to fi nd Dr. Kolade trustworthy for big national assignments. In 1991, during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, before Dr. Kolade was picked to represent Nigeria as a diplomat in the United Kingdom, he served as Chairman of the Committee set up to review contract awards by past governments, particularly the regime of the late General Sanni Abacha and General Ab-dulsalami Abubakar. Expect-

edly, Dr. Kolade did an excep-tional job of the assignment, turning out mind bogging re-ports of how national resources were squandered.

In January this year, Presi-dent Goodluck Jonathan also appointed Dr. Kolade as Chair-man of the Subsidy Reinvest-ment and Empowerment Pro-gramme (SURE-P), saddled with the responsibility to manage huge sums of money accruing from petrol subsidy for the bet-terment of Nigerians. Though Kolade was criticised in some quarters for taking the appoint-ment, he believes he has taken the right decision for the Nige-rian masses.

In spite of the stand of his critics about his acceptance of the offer to serve as Chairman of SURE-P, a good number of Nigerians believe Kolade had taken the right step to serve his people once again. Opeyemi Agbaje of Resources and Trust Company Limited says Dr. Ko-lade is an excellent choice to

head SURE-P and expressed the hope that he would execute the mandate successfully. Bayo Olugbemi, Managing Director, First Registrars Limited likewise supported the views of Agbaje as he said Dr. Kolade is one of very few Nigerians that can be called men of integrity who will not allow his fi nger to be soiled. “I am sure he is a man that cannot be easily bought or compromised”. He stressed that if subsidy removal is what the government of the day feels she needs to grow the economy and block leakages, and then the appointment of Dr. Kolade to chair the SURE-P Fund is not a bad idea.

An economist, Tunde Oye-diran also eulogised the choice of Dr. Kolade as Chairman of SURE-P, saying, he is seen to be upright and with high level of integrity. He has impacted positively and in a tremendous way to adding values to orga-nizations and institutions he headed at different times over

the years.Rendering an account of the

stewardship of the Committee of SURE-P recently, Dr. Kolade revealed that a sum of N105 billion has so far been released to be spent on various develop-mental projects in the country in seven months. “If you are careful to look at the media publications by the Federal Ministry of Finance, you can see that N15 billion is being ap-proved monthly by the Federal Government and if you do the calculation it amounts to N105 in seven months, excluding Au-gust but in the spending, the payments will not be approved until projects have been veri-fi ed”, he said.

The SURE-P Chairman also revealed that progress are being made at various ongoing works being handled by the six sub-committees of SURE-P, includ-ing maternal and child health, community service, women and youth employment, infra-structural development, public works and vocational training.

Dr. Kolade however noted that while they are poised to ensure that the promises of the Federal Government are achieved for the benefi t of the public, which he said is visible in the number of projects they have been able to commence, payment he said will not be made until they are satisfi ed with the work being done.

Besides SURE-P, the inde-fatigable octogenarian is in-volved in a number of activities which makes him as engaged as ever. He is the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Pan-African Univer-sity where he also teaches Cor-porate Governance and Human Resources Management. His experience as a former media practitioner is handy to lec-ture on Leadership and Con-fl ict Management at the School of Media and Communication (SMC) owned by Pan-African University.

Dr. Kolade also has served in many national and internation-al bodies being one time Presi-dent of the Nigerian Institute of Management between 1985 and 1988, The Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (1988-93). He was the President of the International Institute for Com-munications for two years and for seven years, President of the World Association for Christian Communication.

At the corporate level, Dr. Kolade is the Chairman, Board of Directors of SystemSpecs and PSC Industries Limited, a Solar Electricity and Renewable energy total Solutions Provider. He is also the founding patron and a director of the Nigeria Leadership Initiative.

Dr. Kolade has promoted business integrity in Nigeria through his chairmanship of organisations such as Integrity Organisation and The Conven-tion on Business Integrity.

Kolade (right) at the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme meeting

As a diplomat, Kolade left a legacy that will long be remembered in the annals of Nigerian diplomatic missions. As a matter of fact, his name was almost dropped from the list of recommended diplomats in 1999 just because he was deemed too truthful to be a diplomat

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, September 24, 2012 A12 28 Business CourageCourage

Management Principles

ThebuddingEntrepreneurs

Time management skills are especially important for business people, particularly small business persons who often fi nd themselves performing many different jobs during the course of a single day. These time manage-

ment tips will help you increase your productivity and stay cool and collected. Realize that time management is a myth.No matter how organized we are, there are always only 24 hours in a day. Time doesn’t change. All

we can actually manage is ourselves and what we do with the time that we have. Find out where you’re wasting time.Many of us are prey to time-wasters that steal time we could be using much more productively. What

are your time-bandits? Do you spend too much time ‘Net surfi ng, reading email, or making personal calls? Tracking Daily Activities explains how to track your activities so you can form a accurate picture of what you actually do, the fi rst step to effective time management.

Create time management goalsRemember, the focus of time management is actually changing your behaviours, not changing time.

A good place to start is by eliminating your personal time-wasters. For one week, for example, set a goal that you’re not going to take personal phone calls while you’re working and for a fun, look at behaviours that can interfere with successful time management.

Implement time management plan.This is as an extension of the third tip. The objective is to

change your behaviours over time to achieve whatever general goal you’ve set for yourself, such as increasing your productivity or decreasing your stress. So you need to not only set your specifi c goals, but track them over time to see whether or not you’re ac-complishing them

Use time management toolsWhether it’s a Day-Timer or a software program, the fi rst step to

physically manage your time is to know where it’s going now and planning how you’re going to spend your time in the future. A soft-

i kill i ll i f

Time Management Tips

By Salami Semiu

Mosunmola Dosumu, 41, a trained pharmacist obviously knew what

she wanted when she stuck to pharmacy as a course of study in the university. And when a course that normally runs for fi ve years stretched into 12 year, rather than get discouraged, Mosun remained focused and determined to see it through.

Upon qualifying as a trained pharmacist, Mosun did her In-ternship programme at Swipha, a pharmaceutical company in Lagos where she was fortunate to work with a boss who chal-lenged and inspired her to aim high. As an Intern, her allow-ance was a meagre N5, 000 per month and had to work for an-other retail pharmacy from 5pm to 9pm, for an extra N3, 000 per month as a way of augmenting her monthly income.

Not deterred by her meagre income, Mosun remained fo-cused and exude tremendous passion for her chosen career. However, her inspiration for en-trepreneurship came after she read “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki. Fortunately for her, Mosun’s husband, a medical doctor, also have a fl air for business. After reading the book, she felt the compelling need to go into business, but she convinced herself that the business must run along her professional line.

However, what really gave Mosun the needed spark to give it a shot was the N115, 000 the family received as gifts at the

Running with her dreamShe spent 12 years for a normal five-year course in Pharmacy, but rather than get discouraged, she trudged on. Today, she is not only one of the best known pharmacist in Nigeria, her business initiative, Health on Wheels, has also thrown her into global applause, emerging as one of the winners of the prestigious Goldman Sachs 10000 women scholarship programme. Her name is Mosunmola Dosunmu.

naming ceremony of their fi rst son. After considering a number of options, Mosun and her hus-band decided to use it as start-up capital for a pharmaceutical store.

The entire “seed money” as she calls it, was used to pur-chase drugs. To pay the rent, they borrowed N250, 000 from her husband’s client, and had to embark on an aggressive sav-ings from their salaries for six months for enough money to put the shop in order.

Mosun effectively used her previous contacts and relation-ships to get other drugs on cred-it from some pharmaceutical companies and that essentially led to the birth of HealthServe Pharmacy, her fi rst business endeavour.

The pharmacy was offi cial-ly opened on a Sunday and at the close of business that day, HealthServe made a total sales of N7,000. Today, however, HealthServe Pharmacy operates from about four locations in Lagos and has close to 20 em-ployees. As an add on to Health-Serve, Mosun also runs Health On Wheels, does training and gives inspirational speeches and health talks.

Incidentally, the idea of Health on Wheels, a service she runs by visiting companies, gov-ernment agencies, rural areas, taxi parks, religious gatherings, etc to give health talks, was an idea that developed from her running of HealthServe Pharma-cy. Health on Wheels provides mobile health tests to screen for serious health problems such as

high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels and diabetes. The objective of the programme, according to Mosun is to pro-mote healthy living by reduc-ing morbidity and mortality rate amongst Nigerians giving rise to a healthy nation.

The idea for Health on Wheels grew out of a study she conducted at her Health Serve pharmacies that found four out

of 10 people evaluated were either hypertensive, had high cholesterol or were diabetic.

Incidentally, the story of Health on Wheels equally has its root in another opportunity that came Mosun’s way when she got enlisted for the Goldman Sachs Entrepreneurship De-velopment Service programme which is run in partnership with the Lagos Business School.

While a student in the Goldman Sachs program, she and her classmates were asked to sug-gest new ideas for businesses and when she discussed the survey and put forth her Health on Wheels idea, she got strong encouragement from her profes-sor. “I felt it was not such a good idea,” says Mosun, “but now I’m running with it.”

Her emergence as a Gold-man Sachs scholarship ben-efi ciary did not come easy, just like her pursuit of her course as a pharmacist. After two at-tempts, she fi nally secured the EDS; Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Scholarship to attend a Certifi cate Course in Entrepre-neurship Management, the pro-gramme that she admits com-pletely changed her business orientation and acumen.

It was at the EDS pro-gramme, which offered her tremendous network of small business people and friends, that she met Florence Ohale, who ultimately became one of Mosun’s greatest benefactors. It was Florence that convinced her to apply for the Group Study Exchange Programme of Rotary Club International.

Barely 12 hours after she submitted her application on-line, Mosun received an invita-tion to come to Abuja for a 7pm interview the next day. On the appointment day, Mosun did not inform her husband about the trip to Abuja, as she feared

Dosunmu

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, September 24, 2012 A13 29Business CourageCourage

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Personal Finance

ThebuddingEntrepreneurs

BC

Entrepreneurs major shortfalls

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ware program such as Outlook, for instance, lets you sched-ule events easily and can be set to remind you of events in advance, making your time management easier.

Prioritize ruthlessly. You should start each day with a time management ses-

sion prioritizing the tasks for that day and setting your per-formance benchmark. If you have 20 tasks for a given day, how many of them do you truly need to accomplish?

Learn to delegate and/or outsource.No matter how small your business is, there’s no need

for you to be a one-person show. For effective time management, you need to let other people carry some of the load.

Establish routines and stick to them as much as possible. While crises will arise, you’ll be much more productive if you can

follow routines most of the time. Set time limits for tasks. For instance, reading and answering email can consume your

whole day if you let it. Instead, set a limit of one hour a day for this task and stick to it.

Organise your systemsAre you wasting a lot of time looking for fi les on your computer?

Take the time to organize a fi le management system. Is your fi ling system slowing you down? Redo it, so it’s organized to the point that you can quickly lay your hands on what you need.

Don’t waste time waiting.From client meetings to dentist appointments, it’s impossible

to avoid waiting for someone or something. But you don’t need to just sit there and twiddle your thumbs. Always take something to do with you, such as a report you need to read or just a blank pad of paper that you can use to plan your next marketing campaign. Technology makes it easy to work wherever you are; your PDA and/or cell phone will help you stay connected.

You can be in control and accomplish what you want to accom-plish - once you’ve come to grips with the time management myth and taken control of your time. BC

You have an idea for a new business and the wheels are in motion. You are certain that this is the business idea that will change your life and you are ready to take the next step.

As an entrepreneur, you are aware of all the risks but are also en-couraged by the potential fi nancial reward and success. There is no offi cial entrepreneurial handbook to follow to ensure your idea will take off, but there are several big mistakes you can avoid when getting your business off the ground.

Not having a business planA business cannot survive without a detailed assessment of all

of its requirements. Before launching your business, write up a business plan complete with long- and short-term goals, fi nancial objectives and projected overhead costs. Ask and answer all of the questions you may have, such as: •What obstacles will you face? •How will you raise capital? •Where do you see your company in the future?

A business plan is the best way to fl esh out all of the details be-fore taking all of the risks. Potential investors will also want to see your business plan before making any decisions to support your endeavours. A detailed business plan will not give you a glimpse into the future, but it will help you determine if your business will have legs.

Focusing too much on your productYou love your idea. You may care for it as if it was your own

child, but you need to consider sales, marketing and promotion ideas once you are ready to move forward. Ask yourself: Who will buy your idea? Is there a large enough audience interested? How will you reach them? Do you need to tweak your idea at all to give it more mass appeal?

As an entrepreneur, you need to consider all aspects of your business and not just the idea itself. Take a step away and try to look at the business objectively. Find your niche, fi nd your audi-ence, and get your message out there.

Making it all about the moneyYou may have received a generous amount of funding from in-

vestors, or there may be an initial burst of interest that sparks new found cash fl ow. Still, you must remember to stay within your means and think before you spend. Pay your employees, cover your costs, pay yourself (enough to live and eat), and then reassess. Re-assessing your business means you should consider: Hiring more employees or scaling back, looking at your overhead and see if it needs any adjustments, upgrading your technology and increase your advertising budget.

If you are experiencing good fortune, reinvest into your busi-ness so it will thrive. The new car, new house, over-the-top adver-tising campaigns, extravagant client parties, and lavish vacations can wait. Take care of the business so it will take care of you.

Hiring the wrong peopleYour good friends provide you with support, camaraderie, ad-

vice, and even good business partners. Conversely, your friends may not always be the best employees. Your best friend may know the best jokes, but does he know anything about marketing? Can he handle the fi nances or the advertising? The best businesses hire the best-qualifi ed employees, so take careful consideration in how you staff your company. Starting your own business is not a game. You should be able to enjoy the process, but not at the expense of losing everything by making poor employee choices. Hire friends with the strongest qualifi cations, employ the right applicants for other positions, and keep your other friends on hand for moral support.

Ignoring the legal aspectsEarly on in your venture, you may unwittingly make legal er-

rors. As your business progresses, these issues can snowball and create even larger, insurmountable problems that will deter suc-cess. Hire a qualifi ed attorney at the onset and let him/her address all of your legal concerns. Your attorney will be there to answer your questions, deal with the legal problems, and navigate your business through any choppy waters.

You will inevitably have missteps along the way, but learn from the mistakes and use them to improve your business. Know that you have done the research, made the best-informed decisions, prepared yourself suffi ciently, and once in a while allow yourself to let the chips fall where they may and then react accordingly.

he might discourage her from this “shadow chasing” tour to America. “I was going to tell him after I had arrived Abuja,” she recalled.

Unfortunately for her, she missed the 12 noon fl ight to Abuja and had to pay an addi-tional charge to be on the 3:30 pm fl ight, which was delayed for another two hours. She fi nally landed in Abuja at 7pm (the ex-act time for the interview), only to discover that her luggage was missing and in the process of scrambling all over for it, she sprained her ankle.

Frustrated and upset, she called Florence from the airport to say she was heading back to Lagos but again, Florence per-suaded her to go for the inter-view and by the time she fi nally got to the interview venue at 8:45pm, the panel had already fi nished for the day and was having dinner.

Luckily, she was still inter-viewed after narrating her or-deal and out of 35 candidates that applied for the sponsor-ship, Mosun was one of the four that passed, to go on to the next stage, the following day.

The second stage of the in-terview was on March 10, 2010 and she had to prove to the pan-ellist that she was involved with a project that had the potential to impact on the country posi-tively. “It was a project I started but had to abandon for lack of confi dence. I discussed this

project on our second day at the EDS Goldman Sachs Class and received a rousing ovation. Very quickly, my classmates em-braced Health On Wheels, with volunteers for its re-branding and re-launching. I was chosen to represent my Zone and to proceed to the last stage,” she recalled.

This fi nal stage involved writ-ten test and presentation skills. She scored 56 in the written test while the cut off mark was 60. “I asked to see my answer sheet and spotted a mistake in the marking. This made them add an additional 3 marks, giv-ing me 59,” yet, she still did not meet the cut off mark.

However, at that stage, Mo-

sun said she was happy with her performance and proudly car-ried her luggage and proceeded to board a taxi to Abuja airport, back to Lagos. “I was pleased as I had discovered something more about myself from the ex-perience. It also reinforced what I learnt in class - an entrepre-neur cannot fail,” she recalled.

Just then, she was called back and advised to complete the whole interview. At the last stage, she was asked to make an on-the-spot presentation on Nigeria, which she did to a very loud ovation from the panel and was qualifi ed as one of the fi rst four candidates to represent Nigeria in the fi nal scholarship slot.

But that wasn’t the end of the story. Of the six successful awardees, only the fi rst four to successfully obtain visas were to travel to the state of Illinois, United States of America. Again, Mosun encountered serious challenges trying to register on-line for the US visa, at both Abu-ja and Lagos. This continued for over a week. Unfortunately, out of the six, four others were given visa leaving her and one other lady .Despite all the discourage-ment; she still went ahead for her visa appointment.

Finally, another lady showed up along with Mosun at the embassy for the fi nal slot but fortunately this time, it was Mosun who was successful but then, she had another hurdle to cross. Four people were to pro-ceed on the trip but fi ve of them had visas but alas, one of the candidates had to step down for me to proceed for my journey to Illinois.

It was after her return to Ni-geria that the Health on Wheel fully developed into a serious business idea.

Mosun Dosunmu’s busi-ness is marked by characteris-tics that can help make it suc-cessful, including innovation, education, training, focus and determination and doggedness. However, Health on Wheels still faces challenges such as the cost of the service, weak promo-tion and a lack of infrastructure and security in the country.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, September 24, 2012 A14 30 Business CourageCourage

In recent time, while the world has continued to grow into a global village, the Internet,

through which this is made possible, has equally remained ubiquitous, affordable and mostly accessible. In Nigeria, just like the rest of the world, the growing number of people with internet access, especially through the mobile phones has been amazing. With over 60 mil-lion Internet users and 96 mil-lion mobile phone subscribers, Nigeria remains Africa’s largest mobile and Internet market.

Among most Nigerians, the use of the Internet varies. While many use the internet to visit social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc, other use the internet for other serious business activities. The fi nan-cial institutions have equally stepped up efforts to integrate electronic payment system to enable Nigerians transact busi-ness online, a step that is ex-pected to accelerate the nation’s e-commerce growth.

But despite the many advan-tages that come along with the use of the Internet, the negative impact of cybercrime on busi-nesses has continued to create fears in the mind of users and potential online users. This is moreso as it has been discov-ered that with the web, fraud now come from anywhere on the planet as fraudsters take advantage of the speed and easy accessibility of the Inter-net. Now, distance is no longer a barrier as it is cheaper to use fraudulent, deceptive “spam-ming” e-mails and web pages to dupe unsuspecting victims. Interestingly, the Internet also makes it easier for con artists to cover their tracks.

While on daily basis, cases of cybercrime have been on

Scammers still on the prowlInternet scammers are getting more sophisticated, deploying various strategies to defraud their victims and creating an atmosphere of fear and insecurity in Nigeria’s emerging e-commerce sub-sectorBy Adejuwon Osuunuyi

the increase, a number of in-stitutions, particularly internet banking and other online trans-actions, have become targets of cyber criminals, with varying degrees of sophistication and success.

Investigations by Business Courage revealed that dubious persons send scam email mes-sages to victims requesting in-formation like login accounts and passwords amongst others in order to defraud the unsus-pecting preys. As the case may-be, theft of identity, spamming, unauthorised access, cyber bul-lying, cyber stalking, amongst others, are becoming the order of the day.

Examples of such schemes are: Auction and Retail Online, Business Opportunity/”Work-at-Home”, Online Identity Theft, Fraud Market Manipulation, In-vestment, Online charity, cred-it-card, lottery/prize-promo-tion, advance-fee and spammed E-mails (unsolicited E-mails).

For many, the most famil-iar scam which many fall vic-tims of in recent time is the e-mail spam. The e-mail spam, as it is called, is fl ooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an at-tempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it. Most spam is commercial advertising, often for dubious products, get-rich-quick schemes, or quasi-legal services. Spam costs the sender very little to send as most of the costs are paid for by the recipi-ent or the carriers rather than by the sender.

To some extent, it is obvi-ous that spam has grown to be a major concern for Internet users and policy makers not only for congesting networks and disseminating viruses and

fraudulent messages, but also for undermining trust in the In-ternet and the digital economy. One particularly nasty variant of email spam is sending spam to mailing lists (public or pri-vate email discussion forums.) Because many mailing lists limit activity to their subscrib-ers, spammers will use auto-mated tools to subscribe to as many mailing lists as possible, so that they can grab the lists of addresses, or use the mailing list as a direct target for their at-tacks.

Although a lot of people are becoming bolder and wiser when it comes to using the internet, checks revealed that, a lot of people are still unaware of the internet-related crimes as they continue to fall victims. Many of those that fall into this cat-egory are those that respond to series of the internet fraud alert allegedly sent by banks asking them to update their data. Com-ing with the exact logos of the banks on cloned websites, to a potential customer, the mes-sages look harmless and help-ful. But where the harm has al-ways been is the area where the customer is asked to enter his password. Through this, checks revealed that once the password is supplied, the scammers get unrestricted access into the vic-tims’ account and carry out the harm.

Anthony Emeana, an inter-net user, recalled the agonising experienced he had that wiped off his entire account worth millions of naira. Emeana said that responding to a message he thought had come from his bank had been his albatross. According to him, the mes-sage, “Dear Valued Customer, It is mandatory that you update your internet banking profi le.

This is a new procedure to pre-vent Phishing attacks. We shall disable your internet banking if not updated immediately as we are not going to be responsible for any loss as a result of disre-garding this message. HOW TO UPDATE: Simply Download At-tached Form Fill and Submit,” was all the scammers needed to hack into his account. This is because according to him, he later learnt from the bank that his password which a section of the form he fi lled had asked him to submit had made the scammers get access into his account.

Aside Emeana, there are many other Nigerians who are daily falling victims of the bank account update scam. Though the banks have continued to warn their customers not to di-vulge their password or Person-al Identifi cation Number (PIN), Biola Ameso, another internet user, who said she has become

very sceptical, and would rather have nothing to do with the in-ternet and other internet-relat-ed activities noted that it takes common sense to keep out of trouble and avoid becoming a victim of cybercrime. “The way the messages come is always very convincing and original. But you must use your common sense.” According to her, some crimes could easily be prevent-ed with better implementation of technology. “Ignoring emails requesting passwords, and up-dating anti-virus, can help de-ter some risk of identity theft, spamming, among others,” she counselled.

Aside the bank update scam, the scammers seem to have moved to the social media espe-cially the dating sites. How does the romance scams work? Ro-mance scammers normally tar-get social websites especially re-ligious sites where they suspect they can fi nd honest victims. In most cases, they create a profi le with nice looking fake picture to make their victims get attracted to them.

On facebook, twitter, netlog and other sites, to get hook to their victims, they send spam messages such as “My name is Vivian Fugar, after reading your short profi le here I took interest in you, and I really have vital in-formation relating to my life and future that I want to disclose to you, so please reply me with my email address here (fugar-vivian2012 @yahoo.com)where I will be able to write to you to tell you more about me and also send to you my attached photo.”

While they try to create good sounding relationship with un-suspecting victim, most of them regularly contact the victim through various ways includ-ing phone calls until they gain Isiavwe

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, September 24, 2012 A15 31Business CourageCourage

TechnotipsTechnotips

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Wi t h t h e r e -

cent reported cases of mis-use of social network sites, pa r t i cu la r l y with more kids making use of smartphones, many parents are increas-ingly becoming uncomfortable with the nega-tive exposures which children are daily in-undated with. The good news, however, is that, parents and guardians can now have rest of mind as the Blackerry phone now has Parental Controls app. The BlackBerry Parental Controls is now available in the BlackBerry App World storefront for customers with a BlackBerry 6 or BlackBerry 7 OS smartphone while those using BlackBerry Device Software 5, a compatible version of Parental Controls is expected to be made available in the near future. Parental Controls is an integrated feature that provides parents and guardians simple options to help them protect their children by re-stricting access to specifi c functions, features and applica-tions. You might not think it’s obvious, but one segment of customers that can benefi t from BlackBerry security are teens – they may even be children – with phones provided by their parents or guardian.

If you provide a BlackBerry smartphone to a teen or child, you can have a peace of mind as you set limits on what features or services your child can have access to.

To activate this app, provided you are using a Black-Berry 6 or BlackBerry 7 OS smartphone, open BlackBerry App World on your smartphone and search for Paren-tal Controls, or use the “Scan A Barcode” feature (Menu >“Scan a Barcode”)

A couple examples of the restrictions you can set by going to Options -> Security -> Parental Controls are:

Camera – A control to disable use of the camera for both still pic-tures and video. Upon attempting to launch the Camera applica-tion, the user would be provided with the mes-sage “Camera has been blocked.”

Phone – Limit the phone to receive calls only from phone num-bers that exist in the contacts application.

This feature will block incoming phone calls from

unknown callers.Other features where you can also restrict include text

messages, Bluetooth fi le transfer, location services, Brows-er, Application installation, Email account setup, Face-book, Twitter, Messenger and BlackBerry Messenger.

How to use BlackBerry Parental Controls

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the trust of the victim. The scammer exchanges photographs that are not real and in some cases, send gift to the victim. After the scammer has established the illusion but meaningful relation-ship, he or she begins to ask the victim for money. In doing so, they tell their unsuspecting “lovers” pa-thetic stories that some-thing terrible had hap-pened to them or their family and desperately in need of money or may ask an airfare in order to meet the victim. Once they are able to achieve their aim, they cut off all communi-cations or in some cases ask for more money.

However, in some cas-es, the scammer will ask the victim to cash a fake money order or cheque for them and wire the mon-ey. While banks might not be able to verify the validity of the money order right away and go ahead to cash the money order, later, the victim founds out that he is being responsible for the cashed fake money order plus any penalties and legal prosecu-tions.

Michael Wellington, a com-puter analyst, blaming most Nigerians who fall victims of cybercrime as being gullible, maintains that “(Nigerians) are just great at social engineering. They keep fi nding new victims.

According to him, there are plenty of variations on the cy-ber scam as the scammers ap-parently keep up with the news. “In 2001, instead of a Nigerian barrister, the missing money be-longed to an Iraqi national, per-secuted under Saddam Hussein. The year before, it was family of victims of the Concorde plane crash. Earlier this year, it was a tsunami victim; then, a US soldier killed in Iraq during the war on terror. Anything to get an edge, or to catch victims with their guard down.” Stakehold-ers in the information and com-munications technology (ICT) industry have insisted that the passage of an enabling legisla-ture on Nigerians cyber space remains the best choice to tame the problem.

Recent studies, they stated, have shown that people are more likely to engage in offensive or il-legal behaviour online because of the perception of anonymity, thus cybercriminals exploit the rights and privileges of a free so-ciety, including anonymity.

According to a publication on “Understanding Cybercrime” on the International Telecommuni-cations Union (ITU) website: “The adoption by all countries of ap-propriate legislation against the misuse of Information and Com-munication Technology (ICT), for criminal or other purposes, in-cluding activities intended to af-fect the integrity of national criti-cal information infrastructures,

is central to achieving global cy-ber security.

The publication further stat-ed that since threats could origi-nate anywhere around the globe, the challenges are inherently international in scope and thus requires international coopera-tion, investigative assistance, and common substantive and procedural provisions.

David Isiavwe, one of mem-bers of the Nigerian Cybercrime Working Group (NCWG) consti-tuted to draft the fi rst bill on Ni-gerian Cybercrime Act, in 2004, lamented the non-existent of a cyber-law eight years after. It would be recalled that former President Olusegun Obasanjo had inaugurated the Nigerian Cyber-crime Working Group (NCWG), on March 10, 2004. Before then, he had formed a 15-member committee consist-ing of representatives from the government and private sector with the task of designing solu-tions for Nigerian internet-based fraud and cybercrime. While the committee then had formed the Nigerian Cybercrime Work-ing Group (NCWG), after several months of hard work and deter-mination, the NCWG presented a ‘Draft Nigerian Cybercrime Act’ to the President. “Everyone, in-cluding the students, employers of labour as well as employees in public and private sectors, fi nancial institutions, telecoms operators and other organisa-tions in the country must know that cybercrime is real, and seek to be protected.” he said.

Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative, Gbenga Sesan, noted that the absence of an enabling law left vacuums and chaos in any given society and much to be desired. According to him, “The fact that there is no cy-bercrime legislation existing in Nigeria means that cybercrime is not exactly considered as a crime in this country.” To him, “Except the prosecutor is able to use an amalgamation of laws to prove that a crime has been committed, there is no crime.

For a country that has an unfair reputation in relation to cyber-crime, the fact that the National Assembly has not been able to pass any of the cybercrime bills since 2004 makes Nigeria look unserious.

Lanre Ajayi, President, Asso-ciations of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, (ATCON) , said in a recent forum in Lagos that that the growing wave of cy-bercrimes in the country without much effort from the government to pass into law, pending bills aimed at criminalising the acts, remains a major drawback to the development of e-commerce in Nigeria.

Ajayi, who described the de-lay being faced by some cyber-crime-related bills in the Na-tional Assembly as uncalled-for, said it was important that cy-bercrimes be put under control if e-Commerce and other online transactions must thrive in the country.

He noted that facilitating electronic payment transactions as being driven by the Central Bank of Nigeria in collaboration with the banks as well as boost-ing the overall e-commerce in the country would require the government to enact appropri-ate laws to criminalise some bad online behaviour while embark-ing on massive campaign on how to use the Internet as tool for job and wealth creation as alternative to online scam and cybercrime, and maintained that increasing shift of commerce to the Internet had been the trend in many part of the world.

However, to get protected from being scammed, an inter-net user is advised to always be able to recognize a scam. “If you plan to use the Internet at all for your business, personal or social needs, save yourself a lot of time and energy by knowing the different types of scams out there so you can bypass them altogether.”

While an internet user is not expected to never reply anyone running such a scheme, it is also advisable to use your In-ternet e-mail service to block junk or ‘spam’ e-mails. Check your online service for ways to reduce unsolicited commercial e-mail. Also, it is essential never to download an e-mail attach-ment from an unknown sender as it could be a virus. Most of the times, these type of email that contains virus might come from a know sender, but once it asks you to open an application, be sure it is a virus.

As an internet user, don’t re-spond to any mail that asks for money upfront as even If such an offer is too good to be true, don’t believe it.

While you should under-stand that nobody is on the Internet with the sole purpose of making you rich, investigate Internet-related business op-portunities just as you would investigate any business oppor-tunity.

Ajayi

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, September 24, 2012 A16 32 Business CourageCourage

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DStv mulls local assembly of decodersStories by Kunle Azeez

MultiChoice, Nigeria’s leading pay-TV provider,

said it was considering local assembly of the decoders and other devices used to provide satellite broadcasting services and for other value-added services to its subscribers in the country.

The company, however, said it could not make any categorical statement on the plan for now until fi rm agree-ment has been signed for such initiatives, which it assured will boost local content devel-opment policy of the Federal Government and also provide jobs for the citizens.

Managing Director, Mul-tichoice Nigeria, John Ugbe disclosed this at the launch of the iDrifta and Walka, a new range of devices, building on its range of pioneering devices in market such as the Drifta, Drifta USB and Walka. “We are already looking at the issue of local assembly of our record-ers and other devices. Though I’m apprehensive to make any categorical statement as regards that for now, I want to assure you that once we have a fi rm agreement in place; such an initiative will be a fi ne idea,” he said.

He said that the company is already looking at the issue because “we believe in lo-cal contents and this can be attested to by the number of channels we currently have on Dstv platform to showcase Nigerian and African cultures. African Magic channels are examples and others.”

Speaking on the newly-launched devices, General Manager of DStv Mobile Ni-geria, Mayo Okunola , said the iDrifta is a plug and play mobile DVB-H receiver specifi -cally designed for Apple mobile devices.

He said the device was portable and lightweight, and will allow users with Apple devices to enjoy all of the great entertainment they have come to expect from DStv Mobile. “Compatible with the iPod 4th generation, iPhone 4/4S and iPad 1/2/3, the iDrifta

is simple and intuitive to use. After plugging it into your iOS device, the iDrifta device redi-rects the user directly to the DStv Mobile application on the apple store and the user only needs to download it for free to start watching their favou-rite programmes. This means that viewers with Apple mobile devices can now access our full range of channels anywhere, anytime – from Sound City all the way through to SuperSport 3N,” he said.

Ericsson backs SingTel with 4G/LTE network deployment

End-to-end telecommunica-tions solutions provider, Er-

icsson, has offi cially announced its support for SingTel to launch Singapore’s fi rst commercial 4G/LTE.

SingTel’s 3G networks have been upgraded to offer 42Mbps peak speeds using dual carrier technology (DC-HSPA) to sup-port superior mobile broadband experience.

Ericsson’s end-to-end IP so-lution includes multi-standard radio-access network with RBS 6000,

Evolved Packet Core and Evolved Packet Gateway on SSR

8000 Smart Services Routers in a full turnkey project SingTel was the fi rst operator to launch commercial 4G/LTE services in

Singapore. Ericsson is a partner for this advanced net-work deployment.

Ericsson’s long term rela-tionship with SingTel began with the delivery of the opera-tor’s existing 2G networks.

Ericsson played an impor-tant role in transforming Sing-Tel’s current 2G/3G network into a multi-standard network with 4G/LTE capability through a full turnkey project that includes installation, commis-sioning and radio optimization services.

The SingTel 4G/LTE net-works is deployed on both the 1.8GHz and 2.6GHz frequency bands with 80 percent cover-age by the end of this year and full island wide coverage by early 2013. SingTel will also deploy heterogeneous network solutions, including small cells designed to cater to high-traffi c areas.

To provide a better mobile data experience across net-works, the 3G network has been upgraded to peak rates of 42Mbps, using Dual Carrier technology (DC-HSPA). This also gives SingTel the edge to sup-port its range of new 4G/LTE phones now in the market.

Airtel wins three telecoms awards

Nigeria’s third largest tele-coms network in subscriber

base, Airtel Nigeria has clinched three industry awards at the eighth edition of the prestigious Nigerian Telecoms Awards.

The telecoms operator beat other competitors to emerge the Industry’s Most Innovative Telecom Company of the Year, Telecom Brand of the year and Customer Friendly Operator of the year.

According to Awards’ cita-tions, Airtel emerged overall best in the three categories following its enviable strides in charting new paths in meeting the demands and needs of its esteemed stakeholders through superior brand experience, a rich portfolio of innovative products and services ranging from exciting voice solutions to inventive data packages and mobile broadband.

On the Customer Friendly Operator Award, the organiz-ers said, “this is the third time Airtel Nigeria is coming tops in the Customer Service category in the history of the Nigerian Telecoms Awards, and this clearly demonstrates the com-mitment of the management to treat their customers as more than just a connection.”

Also emphasising the rea-sons why Airtel emerged the Telecoms Brand of the Year and the Most Innovative Network, the citation said: “Right from when the Airtel brand was launched in Nigeria in Novem-ber, 2010, the company has maintained a singular focus of exciting and delighting telecom-munications consumers across the country with relevant solu-tions to enable them fulfi ll their dreams and realize their full potentials.

Etisalat extends broadband services to AkureStories by Adejuwon Osunnuyi

In its efforts to offer quality internet service to its cus-

tomers, Etisalat Nigeria, has formally launched its 3.75G easyblaze broadband service in Akure, Ondo State.

The service promises to sig-nifi cantly improve how Etisalat subscribers in the city experi-ence and use the internet on a wide variety of devices while enabling more businesses meet

their communication needs through super fast connectiv-ity.

Speaking at the Deji of Akure’s palace, Chief Com-mercial Offi cer, Etisalat Ni-geria, Wael Ammar, said that with the launch of the 3.75G HSPA+Easyblaze broadband Service in the city, Etisalat customers can now buy data bundles on mobile phones, smartphones, MiFi and WiFi devices, as well as on USB modems. “The launch of the 3G platform promises changes that will enhance multimedia functionality, high speed mobile broadband and internet access; allowing users to make video calls, watch live videos, send and receive emails and down-load music from their devices.”

According to him, the 3.75G service will offer Etisalat Nigeria subscribers, mobile internet at unrivalled speed. “We all know small and big businesses rely on the internet for communi-cations. With the extension of our easyblaze service to Akure, businesses can access the web much faster and at affordable costs whether through their laptops, mobile phones, smart-phones or tablets,” Ammar said.

The Deji of Akure, Oba Adebiyi Adegboye Adesida, applauded Etisalat for raising the bar of telecommunication services in the state.

Etisalat eazyblaze is a broadband service built with the High Speed Packet Access+ (Dual Carrier) technology, giving customers, fast, high quality and effi cient Internet service. The broadband service is avail-able on both Etisalat postpaid and prepaid packages.

Etisalat 3G services is cur-rently available in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Kano, Kaduna, Zaria, Warri, Enugu, Aba, Awka, Nnewi, Onitsha, Akure, Ilorin, Uyo, Jos and Benin amongst other cities and continues to extend coverage to more locations across Nigeria.

MasterCard, WFP partner to deliver “digital food”

MasterCard and the World Food Programme (WFP)

have announced a global part-nership that will use digital in-novation to help people around the world to break the cycle of hunger and poverty.

The game-changing partner-ship will combine MasterCard’s expertise in electronic payments systems with WFP’s global reach among the world’s hun-griest populations to meet the nutritional needs of the most vulnerable.

“Our partnership with MasterCard is a great example of how transformative private sector partnerships innovate against hunger,” said Nancy Roman, WFP Director of Com-

munications, Public Policy and Private Partnerships.

Roman added that “by drawing on MasterCard’s tech-nical know-how and interna-tional reach, WFP will further develop both its electronic voucher programme that en-ables hungry families around the globe to buy nutritious food in local markets as well as its online donation mecha-nism that engages individuals and brands in a global com-munity working together to solve hunger.”

Where markets are stable, WFP often distributes vouch-ers that are redeemable in local shops for food and other staple items. These vouchers help boost local economies while allowing poor communi-ties to receive food assistance with dignity. Through the “Digital Food Project,” Master-Card’s payment and technol-ogy expertise will help WFP to refi ne and improve its systems that deliver food vouchers via mobile phones or banking cards to people without regu-lar access to banks or fi nan-cial services.

Ann Cairns, President of International Markets, Mas-terCard said: “MasterCard’s vision of a world beyond cash is the perfect partner for WFP’s vision of a world beyond hun-ger. Today we have committed to delivering a ground break-ing partnership, which will en-sure our Digital Food initiative will go on to meet the require-ments of those who need it most around the world.”

Alongside the “Digital Food” project, MasterCard will help WFP to create an enhanced online donation mechanism that will enable more people to donate through a wider variety of online payment methods.

This enhanced online dona-tion mechanism is part of an “Integrated Giving” platform that will allow brands to integrate donation mecha-nisms onto their products. Retailers can offer donations at checkout so customers can donate to WFP without having to leave the site. In addition, mobile applications or game developers will be able to offer options to support WFP right from within their applications or game. All donations will be tracked and credited to both the brand and the consumer, offering new opportunities for consumers and brands to work together and have a meaningful, measurable impact on the fi ght against hunger.

Moreover, MasterCard has committed to use its market-ing and brand capacity to help raise awareness and funds for WFP in several key mar-kets. MasterCard has already carried out two fundraising campaigns for WFP, in Poland and in the Netherlands, rais-ing tens of thousands of Euros for WFP’s operations around the world.

Ugbe

Moon

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, September 24, 2012 A17 33Business CourageCourage

BELIEVABILITY INDEX

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Nigeria’s premium stout producer, Guinness Nigeria Plc, on Monday, September 17, 2012 released its

audited accounts for the year ended June 30, 2012, earning it accolade for what the Nigerian Stock Exchange described as a good corporate governance standards by taking appropriate steps to ensure that its fi nancial statements were fi led ahead of time”.

The Guinness result provides a clear understanding of the growth potentials in the brewing industry in Nigeria as the company recorded growth in turnover.

However, Guinness Plc recorded a decline in profi t and earnings, owing to the increasing effect of competiton in the market. For instance while the company grew its turnover by 13 per cent year on year in 2011, it managed to grow same by 2.12 per cent in 2012. However, profi t before tax and profi t after tax which grew by 31 per cent each in 2011 declined by 19.49 and 18.16 per cent respectively in 2012.

Earnings indices are not left out of the depreciative performance during the period under review. In 2011, dividend pay-out to investors increased by 21 per cent, while the proposed 2012 dividend already shows a decline of 20 per cent compared to previous year. Similarly, Earnings Per Share (EPS), part of which dividend is paid to shareholders declined by 22.21 per cent in 2012 as against 31 per cent growth recorded in 2011.

Details of the 2012 fi nancial account shows that the company generated N126.3 billion as turnover compared with

N123.7 billion, representing 2.12 per cent. Cost of sale rose by 2.14 per cent to N70.1 billion up from N68.62 billion in 2011. Consequently, gross profi t stood at N56.2 billion as against N55.04 billion in 2011 or 2.1 per cent increase. But the impact of other cost ingredients such as advert and promotion expenses rose by 14.22 per cent to N11.2 billion in 2012 up from N9.8 billion in 2011; distribution expenses inched up by 18.51 per cent to N13.42 billion from N11.3 billion, and administrative expenses which grew by 16.17 per cent to N9.5 billion from N8.2 billion.

The implication of the increasing cost which is assumed to have been driven by competition is the decline in operating profi t which nosedived to N22.9 billion from N26.5 billion in 2011 representing 13.86 per cent. The operating profi t was further depleted by soaring interest expenses which hit an all time high of N2.1 billion compared with N564.9 million in 2011, representing 270.44 per cent.

Although, the business environment can be very unpredictable, listening to Babatunde Savage, Chairman of Board of Directors speak on the situation in Guinness Nigeria in the last Annual General Meeting would give the impression that nothing can go wrong with the brewers. This was how optimistic he saw the nation’s economy and the impact it is expected on Guinness then. “The gradual recovery of the Nigerian economy following the global economic crisis has set the stage for economic growth. The surge of economic activities that followed the global

economic recovery has made great impact on the Nigerian economy, our industry and in effect, our company”. The onus now lies on the chairman of the board to tell investors and the general public how much positive impact the economic recovery has actually made on his company during the year under review.

Savage had assured shareholders the company will continue to convert such to positive impact. “Our understanding and insight of the business landscape and brilliant execution of our key initiatives has kept us at the forefront of the industry. Our new investment in capacity expansion projects has positively impacted our business”. But with a not too impressive sales growth, an ever increasing cost and a huge debt portfolio that is demanding regular servicing couple with the infl ow of other global competitors into the Nigerian market, can Guinness Nigeria continue to be in the forefront of the industry?

As the market awaits the full details of the 2012 fi nancial accounts, it is almost certain the company has failed to meet its own expectations, which Savage alluded to while addressing shareholders during the 2011 AGM.“In spite of the current economic conditions, our faith in the Nigerian economy remains unshaken. We hope that the end of calendar year 2011 will mark the turning point in the recovery of the global economy. We expect the Nigerian economy to grow and we are focused on ensuring that our company benefi ts from that development,” Savage had said.

Though, Savage laid emphasis on

the fact that the company has in recent times continued to invest signifi cantly in the long-term success and growth of its business, he equally submitted that stakeholders expect them to deliver value. According to him, they are aware of the trust reposed on them.“While it is pleasing that we are making progress on the issues that are fundamental to our long term success, I would like to stress that the board of directors understand quite clearly that we cannot afford to be complacent. Our challenge is to ensure that we continue to earn the trust of our esteemed shareholders, our employees, consumers of our products and our communities”. Balancing this equation of satisfying stakeholders is enormous especially in an economy like ours, but Savage and his team must try to achieve just that.

Despite, the continuous appreciation of the equity’s share price in recent time, some market analysts believe that the management of Guinness Nigeria Plc must take urgent and drastic steps to reduce cost. This is more so because some analysts have in the past expressed the views that the equity is over priced.

Analysts in FSDH had said that the market value of the stock which was selling for N220 then, should not have been more than N165.98 per share. While urging investors to sell the equity at the market price then, the investment analysts said, they considered factors such as “Capacity expansion and innovation efforts of the company; growing demand for both non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks in Nigeria, investment in the development of high quality products, economies of scale enjoyed by the company and growing unemployment, as well as falling disposable income of consumers”.

Guinness, your costs are escalating By Festus Okoromadu

Refl ections with Semiu Salami07043280449 sms only

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The story of the Nigerian aviation industry is a paradox. Just few months ago, Stella Oduah, Presi-

dent Goodluck Jonathan’s aviation min-ister and a retinue of aides, heads of para-statals under the ministry, the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (FAAN), the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and a few other hangers on went on a jamboree overseas, the one they chose to call “In-vestment Road Show”.

The trip, which drew the ire of many, including members of the national as-sembly ( who threatened to sanction the minister but ended up, characteristically, doing nothing), was said to be part of the ministry’s investment drives, to seek for-eign investments, particularly in the area of infrastructural development to the sec-tor. The jamboree, as many would want to describe it, we were told, yielded some dividends as some Chinese investors made commitment to assist in the area of infrastructural development of the sector.

Though there were divergent views as to the desirability or otherwise of the road show, particularly at the time when the country is faced with serious security challenges, strong enough to scare away any foreign investor, the minister and her paid agents strongly defended the action as part of the proactive transformation agenda which Oduah has being imple-menting in the sector.

Curiously, however, few weeks after the foreign fi esta, the cookies have started to crumble at the homestead. The sector which Oduah claims to be fi xing through her transformation projects is showing serious sign of asphyxiation. Few weeks ago, a major player in the aviation busi-ness, Air Nigeria suspended operations on domestic, regional and international routes, citing inclement operating envi-ronment. The temporary exit of Air Nigeria was such a serious dent on the reputation of Nigeria’s aviation business, especially on the international route which the air-line has completely redefi ned with the best global standard and service delivery.

However, if the Air Nigeria’s tempo-rary exit left a sour taste in the mouth, the grounding of Arik Air’s domestic op-erations last Thursday has further cre-ated serious crisis in the sector. As at the moment, only three airlines, IRS, Over-land and Aero Contractors run domestic routes, creating chaos of unimaginable proportion in the industry.

The case of Arik’s operational suspen-sion is even quite intriguing. The airline is accused of owing several billions of naira to NCAA, FAAN and other agencies as well as the banks, but curiously, none of these institutions has the courage to wield the big stick. It took the two major trade as-sociations in the aviation sector’s inter-vention to force the airline to suspend its

operation. Surprisingly though, the regu-latory agencies were quick to denounce the actions of the unions and distanced themselves from the disruption of the op-erations of the airline, when in actual fact, the forces behind the workers actions are clearly visible. Isn’t it curious? At what point does an industry regulator relin-quish its responsibility of enforcement to labour unions?

Quite sadly though, the Arik fi asco is beginning to open what may turn out to be a Pandora box, a revelation of the seri-ous decay and offi cial malfeasance which for long have undermined the growth of this very critical sector of the economy. Arik alleges that Stella Oduah, the self acclaimed aviation industry reformist is behind its current ordeal because of its failure to accede to her request for a fi ve per cent equity stake in the airline.

Though the minister is denying the al-legation and even threatening to sue the airline for what it termed malicious alle-gation, the unfolding drama has further exposed the series of atrocious conducts and coercive tendencies with which most government offi cials carry out their regu-latory functions.

Recently, there were feelers that the Federal Government, through the same aviation ministry made subtle threat to three major airlines, Air Nigeria, Arik and Aero to fuse together to form a national

carrier. In fact, there are those who be-lieve that the current travails of both Arik and Air Nigeria may not be completely di-vorced from their refusal to toe the offi cial line.

But more curious is the moves by the Senate Committee on Aviation to encour-age the ministry to designate Arik as the national carrier. Such pronouncement coming the same day the airline was forced to suspend domestic operation on allega-tion of massive debts is rather confound-ing. Besides the fact that the concept of a national carrier is no longer fashionable, pushing for an airline with such a serious burden to be so designated appears to me like a sign of desperation pushed by few elements that are completely out of tune with global best practices in the aviation business.

For the allegations and counter allega-tions, I think it is only natural that the minister should do everything possible not only to clear her name but also ensure that the integrity of the sector is uphold and sustained. Whether guilty or not, it behoves on Stella Oduah to adopt the Barth Nnaji’s option. She needs to step aside from the ministry for independent and unfettered investigations to be con-ducted on the allegation and many more that looks certain to evolve as the drama unfolds.

Unless and until this is done, the avia-tion sector, presently reeling in chaos and fi lth would not get the desired reprieve.

Aviation and the messy stories

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, September 24, 2012 A18 34 Business CourageCourage

BC

TheNews MakerTheTheNews MakerNews Maker

A perfect captain in charge

By Salami Semiu

August 1, 2012 makes it exactly two years that Godwin Emefi ele became Managing Di-

rector/Chief Executive Offi cer of Zenith Bank Plc, succeeding the founder and pioneer chief executive, Jim Ovia, who bowed out gracefully after over two de-cades of piloting the affairs of the bank.

Emefi ele, himself a pioneer staff of Zenith Bank, has been instrumental in developing the bank into a world-class institu-tion. An alumnus of Stanford University, Harvard and Whar-ton Graduate Schools of Busi-ness, Emefi ele lectured Finance, Bank Management, and Insur-ance at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and University of Port Harcourt before joining Zenith Bank at inception and rose to the position of Deputy Managing Director in 2001. Given his piv-otal role, the bank has benefi ted from his in-depth knowledge of fi nance and banking.

Like his predecessor, Eme-fi ele has continued to anchor Ze-nith Bank along the strong focus on corporate governance and global best practices through the collaborative approach that has built Zenith Bank into Ni-geria’s second largest bank by market capitalization.

Indeed, the seamless transi-tion that produced Emefi ele as Ovia’s natural successor in 2010 and his strong and profoundly focused leadership skills has en-sured that the Zenith brand re-mains a strong force not only in the Nigerian banking sector, but

Two years after assuming the leadership of Zenith Bank Plc, Godwin Emefiele has not only sustained the culture of excellence of the top rated financial supermarket, he has consistently improved on its bottom-line across all indices, winning local and international awards that marks it apart from its peers

also across sub regions where it operates.

Incorporated in 1990 as a limited liability company, Ze-nith Bank transformed into a Public Liability Company in 2004, after a hugely successful Initial Public Offering (IPO), the best and highest in the history of the Nigerian capital market. Today, the bank is one of the largest and most highly capi-talized companies on the Nige-ria Stock Exchange (NSE), with over 700,000 shareholders and total assets of N2.47 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2012.

Over the years, Zenith Bank has redefi ned customer ser-vice standards and created di-verse service delivery channels through a strategic deployment of its people, Information Com-munication Technology (ICT) and world-class service. The group’s main delivery channel is its over 357 local and foreign subsidiar-ies and business offi ces.

The impressive growth pat-tern and performance over the years have earned the bank ex-cellent ratings and recognition from local and international agencies. From a 2012 sur-vey conducted by The Banker, a publication of the Financial Times of London, Zenith was adjudged the largest bank in Nigeria and the seventh largest in Africa on the basis of Tier-1 capital. Also, in July 2012, Forbes ranked Zenith the larg-est listed bank in Nigeria and the third largest listed company in West Africa. Forbes employed market capitalization, turnover, net profi t and assets criteria to

arrive at its ranking.In 2011, Standard & Poor’s

reaffi rmed Zenith Bank’s rat-ing at B+/stable/B – the high-est rating awarded to any Nige-rian bank and in line with the country’s risk rating. In 2012, World Finance voted the bank as Best Nigerian Bank in Cor-porate Governance. In the end, Zenith’s value and competitive edge come down to a winning combination of people, talent, propriety, knowledge, equity, leadership, integrity and excel-lent relationship management.

In line with the long-term strategy of building Zenith Bank into an international fi nancial franchise, the bank took con-crete steps towards establishing presence in major West African States and is currently expand-ing into other African Regions as well as the European and Asian

markets, while consolidating its position as a leading fi nancial services provider in Nigeria. As at today, Zenith Bank has a full fl edge subsidiaries in Ghana, U.K, Sierra Leone, Gambia and a representative offi ces in South Africa and China.

From inception, Zenith Bank had clearly set out to distin-guish itself in the banking in-dustry through superior service quality, unique customer expe-rience and sound fi nancial indi-ces. Today, the bank is associat-ed with a fi rst-in-class customer experience and satisfaction; in-novation; good fi nancial perfor-mance; stable and dedicated management team; leadership in the use of Information and Communication Technology; strategic distribution channels and good asset quality.

Zenith Bank laid the founda-

tion of its structures and pro-cesses on cutting-edge Infor-mation and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure. This ensures that every transac-tion is carried out via a medium that makes for speed, fl exibility, accuracy and convenience for the customer. As a leading in-stitution in ICT-enabled bank-ing in Nigeria, Zenith Bank has leveraged on its deep under-standing of the local business environment and global fi nan-cial market to develop unique e-solutions to meet varied and specifi c customer needs.

In January 2012, Zenith Bank was recognized as one of the 30 outstanding global brands that are making sus-tainable impact on their operat-ing environments in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility. The recognition was a prelude to the United Nations Devel-opment Programme’s (UNDP) Conference on Sustainable De-velopment (‘Road to Rio’), held in Brazil in May 2012. Zenith Bank was honoured along with 30 other global brands which included Airbus, France; Cono-coPhillips, USA; Credit Suisse, Switzerland; KLM, Netherlands; Kia Motors, South Korea; Olam International, Singapore; Uni-lever, Netherlands; Verizon, USA; Kia Motors, South Korea; among others.

Similarly, Capital Finance International (CFI) awarded Zenith Bank as the Best Com-mercial Bank Africa. While pre-senting the award, CFI award judges said that under Jim Ovia leadership, Zenith cre-ated strong foundations with a broad shareholder base, high levels of capitalization and very strong corporate governance. It also noted that Godwin Emefi ele and his team have continued to build on these foundations. “It is the bank’s commitment to all of its stakeholders that shines through, enabling the bank to provide the highest level of services. There has been sub-stantial investment in staff de-velopment creating a team that we feel will continue to work to the very highest standards and bring ever increasing standards of banking to clients and results to investors, while through the banks CSR policy Zenith Bank ensures it also playing its part in society as whole.” CFI stated.

Since it went public in 2004, Zenith Bank has consistently posted impressive performance in all of its parameters. Total assets grew from $1.25 billion in 2004 to $15.48 billion in the second quarter of 2012, repre-senting a growth of 1,138.4 per cent. Within the same period, total deposits went up by 1,174 per cent from $845 million to $10.77 billion as at June 2012.

In April 2007, Zenith Bank became the fi rst Nigerian bank in 25 years to be licensed by the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA), giving rise to Zenith Bank (UK) Limited.

Emefi ele

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, September 24, 2012 A19 35Business CourageCourage

Behind d Wheels

AutocareThis page is open to sponsorship

BCBC

As the 21st century un-folds, international sup-ply chains will come

under increasing pressure to limit the amount of fossil fuel they consume in order to limit their carbon footprint and con-sequent environmental impact. Fuel-effi ciency will also play a vital role in determining fl eet sustainability in the face of rap-idly rising fuel prices.

With almost three kilo-grammes of carbondioxide emitted for every litre of diesel consumed, deploying commer-cial vehicles that optimise fuel consumption allows fl eet op-erators to simultaneously limit their environmental impact and reduce their fuel costs.

A 3L/100km savingDriven by its ‘Consistently

Effi cient’ global programme to reduce Total Cost of Ownership (of which diesel constitutes the greatest running cost compo-nent), MAN conducted its fi rst Effi cientLine Tour in Europe in 2011 where the MAN TGX Ef-fi cientLine recorded a remark-able fuel saving of almost three litres per 100km.

In 2012, MAN Truck and Bus South Africa will launch its new fl agship truck-tractor, the MAN TGS Effi cientLine, based on the same design principles as its European counterpart.

By optimising specifi c areas of the vehicle to reduce aerody-namic drag, rolling resistance, auxiliary power consumption and overall tare mass, the new MAN TGS Effi cientLine delivers class-leading fuel consumption performance, effectively reduc-ing Total Cost of Ownership while limiting harmful exhaust

This MAN backs you up

emissions.The new on-highway long

haul range is fully compatible with locally-produced diesel and includes two 6x4 models (480hp & 440hp) and a 4x2 de-rivative (440hp).

Effi cientLine Road ShowDuring May and June 2012,

the MAN TGS Effi cientLine Tour visited Centurion, Bloem-fontein, Cape Town, Port Eliza-beth, Pinetown and Nelspruit to give truck operators fi rst-hand experience of how the MAN TGS Effi cientLine boosts profi tability while conserving our planet.

MAN TGS WW - consistent-

ly effi cient Vehicles of the TGS WW

range represent the consistent, ongoing development of the TGS Worldwide range famous for their toughness and reli-ability. They are designed espe-cially for the toughest of opera-tions as a semi-trailer tractor, chassis and tipper in the Africa, Russia and the Middle and Far East markets. Premium trucks of the proven Trucknology® Generation provide the basis for economic and safe transporta-tion with a gross weight from 18 up to 41 tons.

• Consistently effi cient drive

Effi cient and economical C o m m o n Rail engines from the D20 and D26 ranges in the exhaust-gas c lass i f i ca -tions Euro 2 and Euro 3 deliver ample power in the power ranges from 360 up to 480 HP. All engines from

A combination of economy and ecology to achieve sustainable trucking for a long haul solution

this range are ideally fi tted for operating in extreme climatic zones: particularly in high air temperatures the TGS WW is impressive with its large radia-tor concealed behind the newly designed cab front.

• Durable, heavy-duty and rugged

The tough heavy-duty sus-pension and frame components on the TGS WW, proven for its predecessor the TGA World-wide, fulfi l the hardest require-ments. Whatever the transport task in short and long-haul transport or cross-country, the TGS WW has just the right ver-sion with two, three or four ax-les.

• Ergonomic and stur-dy cabs for daily use

MAN offers three differ-ent sized cabs for the TGS WW range. The short M cab for tasks on building sites or in short-haul and distribution transport, the 400-millimetre longer L cab for spending the occasional night or resting in the truck, and the spacious LX cab fi tted with two beds for lon-ger tours.

The ergonomically sophisti-cated arrangement of controls in the cabs makes driving safe and stress-free. Last but not least, the cabs’ new design and improved aerodynamics reduce fuel consumption and sink CO2 emissions.

• Safety for drivers and business operators

The modern electronics structure of the TGS WW makes it possible to introduce innova-tive driver assistance and safety systems. Shorter downtimes and less damage give operators the opportunity to complete their transport contracts effi -ciently and reliably.

The TGS WW will be launched this year as a world premiere. Not all vehicle types are available yet.

Five must-have car accessories

The best car accessories combine effi ciency with style, and can make the daily commute and longer drive much more enjoyable. Options range from integrating a num-

ber of different accessories through a dock, to more elaborate remote start technology, and including pressure washers, se-curity and air conditioning accessories. When choosing these kinds of accessories, it is important to focus on ones that ac-tually make a car more practical, and that have long lasting uses beyond novelty value. Car dice and any purely stylistic alterations have consequently been excluded, albeit with the admission that they can be a great way to add personality to a vehicle. In terms of essential value though, these accessories should be considered:

All in One DockIt is much easier to combine a range of different entertain-

ment and communication features into a single dock, rather than trying to integrate different ports and sensors. An enter-tainment dock that is either directly attached to a car stereo, or connected to wheel controls, can be used to coordinate Blue-tooth devices like GPS, and enhance satellite radio. An all in one dock can similarly be used to act as a mount for a smart phone, which can run many of these features through its own operating system. More advanced docks can also be used to wirelessly connect to satellite television and rear seat DVD players, while also helping with general driving performance.

Remote StartButtons that allow you to start up a car while still at a dis-

tance can be valuable if you need to heat up the engine before approaching the car. A remote start button can also activate a dock system, and can ensure that the car is ready to go when you get into it. While the device ultimately means that you only save a few minutes of time, this can be a luxury that means you spend less time fi ddling around with controls before each journey. A remote start function can also be installed through an iPhone.

Improved SecurityAdding more advanced security features through accesso-

ries is always going to add value to your car, while providing you with peace of mind. Again, Bluetooth enabled technology can allow you to run a number of different security features through a single dock. Key security options to consider include mobile identifi cation, as well as tracking sensors and dead-locks. Other security systems can monitor for changes in tyre pressure and car weight.

Pressure WasherA hand held pressure washer represents an excellent acces-

sory if you want to skip a visit to the car wash for a full clean, and want a quicker wash than a bucket and pad. A high quality pressure washer can be used to quickly scrub down and spray your car, and uses a range of detergents and buffers to make sure that you get a high quality wash.

Air Conditioner FeaturesAir conditioning is regularly ranked as the most important

accessory that every car should have. Versatile and able to ad-just to changes in temperature and pressure, a good air condi-tioning system can either be included as standard with a car, or can be added. Cutting edge air conditioners can deal with changes in heat and pressure in more precise ways than older models, and can also help to evaporate moisture and control humidity.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, September 24, 2012 A20 36 Business CourageCourage

BC

Nigerian Bag Manufacturing Company Plc has announced a profi t of N773.7 million, being

unaudited report for three months of the fi nancial year ending March 2013. The fi gure represents 32 per cent increase over N585.94 million posted in the same period in 2011. The growth came despite decline in turnover to the tune of 8.5 per cent.

Analysts have attributed the improvement to the company’s cost of sales and admin expenses which dropped by 18 per cent and fi ve per cent respectively during the review period.

A statement attributable to the management of Bagco claimed that the improvement in performance was largely driven by enhanced operational effi ciency and rigorous cost and fi nancial discipline.

Turnover for the period slumped to N5.46 billion from N5.97 billion in 2011 while cost of sales dropped to N3.604 billion from N4.37 billion.

The company, a subsidiary of Flour Mills Nigeria Plc, reported a net profi t of N587.8 million in the fi rst three months of its operation in the ongoing fi nancial year as against N393.9 million in 2011, representing 49.22 percent increase.

Meanwhile, the Iganmu-based company showcased a balance sheet with mixed performance during the period. This is because fi xed assets dropped by N0.14 billion, from N10.79 billion to N10.65 billion in 2011 as short term borrowings increased from N3.87 billion in 2011 to N4.96 billion. But

total assets grew by N1.84 billion even as inventories closed at N10.65 billion compared to N9.450 billion in 2011.

It will be recalled that the board of directors of Nigerian Bag Manufacturing Company (BAGCO) Plc paid dividend of 14 kobo per share to shareholders as a reward for their investment in shares of the company during the fi nancial year ended March 31, 2012.

The company has a capacity of 30 million sacks per month. The company’s products are in high demand as they are used to package powder and granular Industrial products like cement, fertilizer, fl our, sugar, salt, and detergent among others.

It seems ABC Transport would end the ongoing fi nancial year profi tably, if its recently released fi nancial

fi gures are anything to rely on. The company’s unaudited six months report for the fi nancial year ending December 30, 2012, shows a net profi t of N38.04 million compared with a loss after tax of N68.2 million recorded during the last audited fi nancial year ended December 2011.

As a result of the loss posted in the last audited report, the company could not pay dividend to shareholders. It was the fi rst time the Board of Directors of the transport company was unable to pay dividend since its shares were listed on the fl oor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Going by the result made public by the NSE, last Friday, ABC Transport Company Plc posted a turnover of N1.603 billion in six months, which represents 14.43 per cent growth when compared with N1.40 billion achieved in 2011.

The appreciation recorded in turnover was however overwhelmed by the cost of operation, administration and interest charges incurred during the period. Operating expenses increased by 7.59 per cent to N1.134 billion from N1.054 billion in 2011. Similarly, admin/distribution expenses rose by N117 million to N298.6 million

as against N286.8 million in 2011. Based on the performance,

management of ABC Transport has released its forecast fi gure for fourth quarters (Q4) ending December 2012. The projection shows a turnover of N1.73 billion out which N813.1 million is expected to be spent as operation expenses. General Admin expenses are expected to hit N411.7 million while interest on borrowed funds is expected to close at N68.88 million.

The management of the transport company is also targeting a pre-tax profi t of N168.26 million and profi t after tax of N100.96 million. Cash from operating activities will be N606.35 million while cash fl ow from fi nancing activities is expected to stand at N80.46 million.

Bagco grows earnings Stories By Tayo Adeleke

ABC Transport returns to profitability

Sikiru Oluwo, MD, Bagco Plc

Frank Nneji, MD, ABC Transport

BC

BC

The Central Bank of Nigeria un-der Lamido Sanusi’s watch, again demonstrated its capacity to

shock and awe with last Friday’s release of a blacklist of 113 companies and 419 individuals that have been barred from accessing further credit facilities from banks on account of huge outstanding debts.

The decision was apparently reached by both the CBN and the Asset Man-agement Company of Nigeria, AMCOM, which had purchased the debts from the erstwhile creditor banks as part of the steps taken to resolve the banking sec-tor crisis.

The blacklist reads like who’s who in corporate Nigeria and the debt fi g-ures, mind boggling. For example, Ze-non Petroleum and Gas, owned by Mr. Femi Otedola, a member of the Eco-nomic Management Team and close friend of President Goodluck Jonathan, owes about N192bn; MRS Petroleum controlled by the Dantata and Dangote owes N119bn and a stock broking fi rm, Falcon Securities Limited previously fi ngered as a major actor in the stock market manipulation scam which has N162bn against it name.

Most of the debts had built up dur-ing the heady days, when banks, awash with post-consolidation cash, lost their senses and doled out huge sums to even customers that did not need credit. In-stead of channeling funds into produc-tive activity, the banks, fi xated on huge and instant profi ts pumped money to fuel importers and stock market specu-lators and eventually got their fi ngers burnt.

Of course, we all recall that black Friday in August 2008 when Sanusi fi red eight bank chiefs to signal the commencement of the cleanup of the banking sector, injected some N620bn into distressed banks and the eventual creation of AMCON two years later to take off the non-performing loans off the books of both health and intervened banks.

The idea was to end a general sys-temic crisis by giving the banks breath-ing space while the government, through AMCON, can take time to recover the debts.

Now it seems that AMCON has run out of patience and is tightening the screws on the debtors. Indeed the CBN has said it would direct any bank that loans any more money to these debtor companies and individual directors to make a 100 per cent provision for such loans in its books apart from any other sanction it deems fi t. Such conditions will remain in force until the debtors re-pay the outstanding loans.

The move has come as a shocker for these businesspeople, some of whom, we are told, had tried to use their con-nections in the corridors of power to get Presidency to approve a forbearance on the grounds that the huge debt racked up by some of them, especially oil mar-keters, was largely due to sudden adjust-ment of the exchange rate in late 2008 that resulted in huge losses on ongoing

petroleum products import transactions.While it is apparent that the govern-

ment is not buying that line, the implica-tions of the directive for the said compa-nies could be dire.

Indeed, cutting off credit lines could mean that some of these fi rms will simply go under. When companies are unable to pay their debts, the options are few and could include its being sold, wound up or liquidated.

The strategic nature of some of the companies involved could mean that their going down would lead to signifi -cant job losses and all the rest, so while I believe that the CBN is serious and that a debtor must pay up, a situation where 113 big companies will die at once must be avoided. The sensible thing is to keep the companies running while ensuring that the debts are paid down under more liberal terms if need be.

A situation AMCON resorts to closing down debtor companies runs contrary to the principles under which it was set up ab initio and it has grave implications for the stock market. Caution is the word here.

Nonetheless, one will have to turn again to the banks in the emerging dra-ma. The question that will recur natural-ly is: Have they learnt any lessons? Ap-parently, banks still concentrate on trade fi nance with little or no attention given to the productive sector including manufac-turing and agriculture.

Granted that the CBN has tried to in-tervene in critical sectors through special funds disbursed through the banks, the banks themselves have shown scant in-terest in building the small and medium enterprises sector on which the future of this country depends. They have retained a mercenary attitude, building deposits on which they pay virtually no interest and trade government securities, yet ef-fective lending rate are anything between 25 per cent and 30 per cent.

One wonders how just one individu-al could accumulate nearly N200bn in debts. Distributed at the rate of N10m each, that amount of money would have easily served 20,000 small businesses.

It again brings to the fore the igno-ble role of government in crowding out SMEs and other real sector entities out of the credit market with its rising level of borrowing from the domestic market. Some have wondered what the rationale could be for government to lend money to banks at 12 per cent and go back to borrow at 15 per cent all in the name of controlling system liquidity, a situation where most of the money in the system is sent back and forth between government and the banks creates a disincentive for banks to lend to the private sector.

Leaders of the Organised Private Sec-tor have been harping on this absurd state for affairs warning that the econo-my cannot grow and create jobs with cra-zy interest rates they are forced to pay.

Rather than just blowing hot and shutting down credit lines to companies, the CBN and banks need to address rea-sons why cost of credit is so high as to create an immediate risk of default.

CBN’s credit ban: In whose interest?

BC

Stock Updates

GAINERS

COMPANY OPENING PRICE CLOSING PRICE CHANGE

STERLNBANK 1.40 1.54 0.14

FIDSON 1.41 1.55 0.14

DIAMONDBNK 3.31 3.59 0.28

REDSTAREX 2.77 3.00 0.23

CCNN 4.60 4.83 3.22

LOSERS

COMPANY OPENING PRICE CLOSING PRICE CHANGE

INTBREW 15.03 13.91 -1.12

BETAGLAS 10.03 9.53 -0.50

TRANSCORP 1.06 1.01 -0.05

PREMBREW 0.93 0.89 -0.04

NESTLE 604.00 580.00 -24.00

Inter-Bank Rates

TENOR RATE%(PREV) 13-Sept-2012 RATE%(CURR) 20-Sept-2012

OBB 13.4500 – 16.5000 11.5000 – 15.2500

CALL 14.0000 – 16.5000 12.7500 – 16.0000

Primary Market Auction

TENOR AMOUNT (N’mn) RATE (%) DATE

91-Days 37,490 12.00 19-Sep-12

182-Days 63,731 12.60 19-Sep-12

91-Days 32971 13.64 05-Sep-12

Open Market Operation

TENOR AMOUNT (N’mn) RATE (%) DATE

69-Days 30,000 14.50 07-Sep-12

83-Days 52046 14.60 07-Sep-12

70-Days 50,000 14.50 06-Sep-12

Wholesale Dutch Auction System AMOUNT OFFERED MARKET DEMAND AMOUNT SOLD DATE

$180m $179m $179m 19-Sep-12

$180m $130m $130m 17-Sep-12

Market Indicators for Week Ended 21-09-12All-Share Index 25,873.71 pointsMarket Capitalisation N8,238,364,251,295.22

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, September 24, 2012 A21 37Business CourageCourage

The bullish run on the Nige-rian equities market con-tinued last Friday, with the

NSE All- share index (ASI) record-ing its 18th daily gain in the last twenty sessions. The ASI reached its highest value since 6th June 2011 as it appreciated by 2.12 per cent to close at 25,873.71 up from 25,337.18 points recorded the previous week.

According to some market ana-lysts, two out of every three stocks advanced in the general market as the non-fi nancials anchored the weekend’s rally. Nigerian Brewer-ies, Cadbury and Ashaka Cement advanced strongly to lift the broad market index. The NSE Food and beverage index rallied 2.87 per cent on gains by Honey fl our, Dan-gote Flour, UTC and Cadbury.

A total of 546.83 million shares worth N1.82 billion were traded in 4,681 deals on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Thursday.

Although, the volume of trad-ing dropped compared with Wednesday’s 904.16 million shares valued at N5.5 billion trad-ed in 5,340 deals, the All-Share Index grew by 232.04 points or 0.91 per cent to close at 25,874.43 from 25,642.39.

Similarly, market capitalisa-tion, which opened at N8.162 tril-lion, appreciated by N76 billion ($470million) or 0.93 per cent to close at N8.238 trillion ($51.49 billion).

Nigerian Breweries led the gainers’ chart with N8.50 to close at N145 per share, while New Gold followed with N3 to close at

N2, 703 per unit as Okomu Oil added N1.50 to close at N36.50 per share.

Cadbury appreciated by N1.02 to close at N21.56 per share, while UACN grew by 75k to close at N42.75 per unit.

On the other hand, Interna-tional Breweries led the losers’ table with a loss of N1.66 to close at N15.03 per share.

Arbico trailed with a loss of 51k to close at N9.88 per share, while Zenith Bank lost 29k to close at N16 per share.

Diamond Bank depreciated by 22k to close at N3.31 per share, while Skye Bank dropped 14k to close at N3.14.

The NSE banking index moved southwards as a result of the losses recorded by the banking stocks.

Nigerian Breweries Plc soars in bullish trading

The Nigerian equities market drifted downward as investors cashed in

on gains recorded in previous trading sessions. At the close of trading last Friday, the twin equities performance measuring indicators declined marginally by a single basis point. Food/beverage stocks were hit by profi t taking activities as the NSE Food/Beverage Index retreated by 1.56 per cent. Also, the NSE Oil/Gas Index fell by 0.08 per cent. However, the fi nancial stocks trackers, the Banking Index and NSE Insurance Index was up by 0.72 per cent and 3.12 per cent respectively.

A turnover of 2.695 billion shares worth N15.701 billion in 24,717 deals were recorded last week in contrast to a total of 2.224 billion shares valued at N14.252 billion exchanged hands previous week in 24,108 deals. The Financial Services sector was the most active during the week contributing 84.15 per cent to the total turnover volume with 2.268 billion shares valued at N11.689 billion exchanged by investors in 14,366 deals.

Volume in the sector was largely driven by Banking and Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services subsectors led by shares of First City Monument Bank Plc, Unic Insurance Plc, and Zenith Bank Plc. Trading in the shares of the three companies accounted for 928.311 million shares, representing 40.94 per cent and 34.45 per cent of the volume recorded by the sector and total turnover for the week, respectively.

Leading fl our miller and pasta maker, Flour Mills of Nigeria, rallied by N3.22 to close at N67.92 a share just as industry rival, Dangote Flour, rose by N0.36 to close at N7.71 a share. Shares of

NSE sheds N1.45 bn in one weekBy Tayo Adeleke

building materials manufacturer, Lafarge Cement WAPCO, fi rmed by N2.39 to close at N54.99; Cadbury Nigeria, extended its gains by N1.07 to close at N22.63 a share; while commercial banking institutions, Zenith Bank and Union Bank Nigeria, added N0.50 and N0.43 to close at N16.50 and N9.13

respectively. However, Nestle Nigeria, a

blue chip food company, plunged by N24.00 to close at N580.00 a share. Shares of brewers of alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks, Nigerian Breweries and International Breweries, shrank by N5.00 and N1.12 to close at N140.00 and N13.91 respectively. Also, deposit money banks, Guaranty Trust Bank and Access Bank, slid N0.20 and N0.09 to close at N19.20 and N9.46 respectively while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria, a conglomerate company, shed by 4.72 per cent to N1.01 a share.

Some fi nancial experts have commended the Federal Government for submitting the 2013-

2015 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to the Senate in record time.

The experts, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Friday, however, called on the Senate to do proper scrutiny of the expenditure plan.

The expenditure plan was submitted to the Senate on Sept. 19. Eddie Osarenkhoe, a former President of Finance Houses Association of Nigeria (FHAN), said that the MTEF was a step in the right direction.

``The MTEF will make the people to know how far government will go in restructuring our economy,`` Osarenkhoe said.

He said that the Senate should ensure that fi nancial leakages were blocked so that there could be improvement in the economy. Osarenkhoe said that the projected 75 dollar per barrel crude oil price was okay, but that the best way to grow the economy was to revamp the local refi neries.

Kunle Owolabi, Risk Manager, Cash craft Assets Management Ltd., said that the MTEF was as a good idea that would impact positively on the economy. He said that there was the need to reduce government’s recurrent expenditure and vote more fund to develop the infrastructure.

``The MTEF should be reviewed annually so that the Senate can make necessary corrections, `` he said.

Dr Olumide Owoade, a

senior lecturer, Department of Economics, Lagos State University, advised government to take reduction of recurrent expenses seriously. ``Reduction of government’s overhead cost will translate to infrastructural development, `` Owoade said.

He said that the Senate should work to ensure that there was increase in capital allocations during the life of the MTEF. Deji Okeowo, General Manager, Regency Assets Management Ltd., said that there was no way to bring down infl ation without reducing the recurrent expenditure. ``Government needs to increase its capital vote by 10 per cent margin yearly. ``The increase must also take into cognisance of the people’s expectations at any time, `` he said.

Experts commend FG on medium-term expenditure plan

BC

BC

BC

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, September 24, 2012 A22 38 Business CourageCourage

BC

The recent management strategy adopted by Linkage Assurance

Plc in terms of creating a robust public awareness and fi nancial improvement is paying off tremendously on the company. At least, for now, it can be safely concluded that Linkage Assurance has found its way out of the troubled water after three consecutive years of losses.

The underwriting company posted a profi t after tax of N171 million for its 2011 fi nancial year, compared with a loss after tax of N150.9 million reported in the previous year. Linkage Assurance just concluded a merger with Central Insurance Company Limited as the management believed it needed a strong comeback after 10 years in business.

However, the data available has clearly shown that the company has failed to meet its self imposed target of being among the top fi ve insurance companies by 2012. Its Managing Director, Gus Wiggle, however, blamed this failure to public perception about insurance company. “We had an ambition to be one of the top fi ve insurance companies in 2012. Unfortunately, this same issue of perception again played on us and we have not been able to achieve that goal. But we are not tired; we are still working towards it,” he said.

Linkage Assurance Plc was incorporated on March 26, 1991 and was licensed on October 7, 1993 to carry on non-life insurance business. The company was among the insurance companies that were approved to continue as an insurer by NAICOM, having satisfi ed all relevant requirements of the 2007 recapitalization and consolidation reforms in the insurance sub-sector. It has N4 billion authorized share capital and shareholders fund in excess of N3.2 billion as at December 31, 2011.

PerformanceIt seems the rebranding

exercise recently embarked upon by the management of Linkage Assurance is beginning to yield positive results. The company posted profi t in the last fi nancial year ended December 2011 after three successive years of posting losses. Linkage Assurance has sustained its performance on Gross Premium Income (GPI) with a 7.13 per cent growth from N2.14 billion in 2010 to N2.29

billion in 2011, suggesting that the core business of the company is still profi table.

Underwriting profi t, which is the profi t derived from providing insurance coverage, exclusive of income derived from investment activities dipped to N437.7 million against N573.74 million the previous year. Earned premium closed at N2.24 billion against N2.31 billion in 2010. The additional income earned from investment, managed funds and other sources was enough to boost earnings during the review period. The company achieved net profi t of N171.01 million in 2011 against N150.9 million losses in 2010. Profi t before taxation for the period stood at N265.2 million.

Profi tabilityLinkage charged its after

tax profi t margin to a positive fi gure at the end of 2011 fi nancial year. It rose from -7.07 per cent in 2010 to 7.47 per cent despite a drop in pre-tax margin, which stood at 11.59 per cent against 13.11 per cent in 2010. The company recorded a Return on Total Assets (ROTA) of 3.32 per cent and a Return on Equity (ROE) of 5.37 per cent in the 2011 fi nancial year. These are signifi cant improvement over -3.14 per cent and -5.01 per cent recorded in the preceding fi nancial year respectively. As seen above, a trend analysis of the growth in the company’s ROTA and ROE is similar to that of profi t after

tax. What this implies is that, the company is not making optimum use of its assets as refl ected by the ratios. This is a key area that the management needs to improve on in years ahead.

Effi ciencyLinkage Assurance effi cient

performance cannot be alienated from its improved

cost ratios. An important cost ratio; underwriting expenses ratio revealed an effi cient cost management strategy, dropping from 59.5 per cent in 2011 to 61.05 per cent in 2010, with the same ratio for management expenses declining from 21.69 per cent in 2010 to 21.25 per cent in 2011. The expense ratio should examine the extent of an insurance company’s underwriting expenses and net claims paid in relation to the size of the net premium earned. Thus, a declining index indicates increasing effi ciency in risk management as well as cost management and control and vice-versa.

LiquidityDuring the year ended

31 December 2011, Linkage Assurance’s cash fl ow from operating cash fl ow improves over the previous year. Current ratio grew to 1.70:1 from 1.66:1 in 2010. In the review year, the company also had the wherewithal to meet its current liabilities but failed to meet the universally acceptable standard current ratio of 2 to 1. As a result, current ratio grew to 1.70:1 from 1.66:1 in 2010. However, as at December 31, 2011, the company’s quick ratios met the acceptable standard ratio of 1.5:1, having moved from 1.52:1 to 1.55:1 in 2011. Total assets moved to N5.15 billion

Linkage Assurance: Slowly moving out of troubled waters By Tayo Adeleke

from N4.8 billion while total liabilities as well increased to N3.18 billion in 2011. Insurance funds rose to N1.96 billion from N1.79 billion 2010 even as managed funds closed at N516.94 million.

InvestmentThe company’s total

investment portfolio was N2.36 billion, comprising treasury bills and investment in trading securities. The proportion of short term investments to insurance funds amounted to about 139.96 per cent, down from 183.9 per cent achieved in 2010. This implies that the investing strategy of the company did not yield as much as expected in 2011. Based on this, the fi gure provides adequate comfort to the insured that the insurance fund is adequately aided by viable investments.

Capital Adequacy The shareholders’ fund

of the company increased marginally as it hits N3.185 billion in 2011 as against N3.013 billion recorded in 2010. This translates to an increase of 5.67 per cent most of which can be attributed to the company’s merger with Central Insurance Company Limited. The extent by which total assets is fi nanced by equity measured by equity to total asset fell from 62.76 per cent in 2010 to 61.81 per cent in 2011. Similar trend was revealed by another metric, the proportion of permanent asset fi nanced by Equity (Equity to Permanent Assets). It rose to 467.6 per cent from 426 per cent in 2010.

By and large, it is believed that the recently rebranding exercise in Linkage Assurance Plc will go a long way in improving its capital position in years ahead.

FutureThe management of

Linkage Assurance is of the opinion that with the new drive both from the regulator, National Insurance Commission, especially on the six compulsory insurance and the educational body and Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria to create awareness, insurance companies will begin to experience improved investment from the general public in no time. However, fi nancial analysts stress the need for the company to step up on how to design products that will be more attractive to the public in order to gain more share of the insurance sector.

Linkage Ass. Plc Data 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 =N=(‘Nm) =N=(‘Nm) =N=(‘Nm) =N=(‘Nm) =N=(‘Nm)Profi t After Taxation 171,011 -150,930 -259,289 -156,380 273,988

Net Premium 102,363 -215,009 -331,754 -231,142 219181

Underwriting Profi ts 437,691 573,735 829,437 905,684 496,679

Shareholders fund 3,184,544 3,013,533 3,075,968 3,247,575 4,518,492

Total Assets 5,144,951 4,801,797 4,992,792 5,265,651 7,290,092

Trade Debtors 852,891 608,643 712,438 1,056,917 1,898,094

Trade Creditors 431,307 422,090 222,799 497,869 240,042

Total Liabilities 1,960,407 1,788,264 1,916,824 2,018,076 2,771,600

Short-term Investment 1,310,077 1,253,448 1,367,637 1,047,638 2,252,794

Earnings per Share(kobo) 3.4 -3 -5.1 -3.1 5.4

Wiggle

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, September 24, 2012 A23 39

STOCKWATCH

AGRICULTURE/AGRO-ALLIED Crop Production FTN COCOA PROCESSORS PLC NT NT 0.64 0.50 2 200 000 000 0.00 N/A 0.50OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. 38.80 321 562 33.00 14.53 476 955 000 8.23 10.86 35.00PRESCO PLC 15.45 353 190 16.15 6.40 1 000 000 000 1.69 3.69 14.90Fishing/Hunting/Trapping ELLAH LAKES PLC. NT NT 4.26 4.26 60 000 000 0.00 N/A NTLivestock/Animal Specialties LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC. 1.41 432 033 1.49 0.48 1 199 549 736 0.04 5.22 1.34CONGLOMERATES Diversifi ed Industries A.G. LEVENTIS NIGERIA PLC. 1.30 112 050 2.54 0.74 2 191 895 983 0.21 -3.70 1.35CHELLARAMS PLC. NT NT 7.60 5.81 963 900 300 0.30 N/A NTJOHN HOLT PLC. 5.32 1 800 8.82 5.32 389 151 408 0.00 N/A NTS C O A NIG. PLC. NT NT 8.28 5.52 821 666 666 0.35 N/A NTU A C N PLC. 43.24 307 095 42.50 28.70 1 600 720 323 7.03 N/A 36.07CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Building Construction ARBICO PLC. 9.88 51 000 26.00 14.09 148 500 000 0.00 N/A 10.93CAPPA & D’ALBERTO PLC. NT NT 95.49 95.49 196 876 000 4.50 N/A NTBuilding Structure/Completion/Other COSTAIN (W A) PLC. NT NT 7.97 2.46 920 573 765 0.00 N/A NTG CAPPA PLC NT NT 14.46 14.46 125 000 000 0.00 N/A NTNon--Building/Heavy Construction JULIUS BERGER NIG. PLC. 28.80 150 146 62.26 21.55 1 200 000 000 4.11 0.88 28.55ROADS NIG PLC. 10.22 2 470 8.69 3.01 20 000 000 3.66 N/A NTReal Estate Development PINNACLE POINT GROUP PLC NT NT 7.28 7.28 0.00 N/A NTUACN PROPERTY DEV 12.12 1 788 821 20.15 8.82 1 375 000 000 1.66 21.20 10.00Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) SKYE SHELTER FUND PLC 100.00 50 100.00 97.00 20 000 000 11.75 N/A 100.00UNION HOMES REAL ESTATE INV NT NT 50.00 50.00 250 019 781 0.75 N/A NTCONSUMER GOODS Automobiles/Auto Parts DN TYRE & RUBBER PLC 0.50 170 882 0.50 0.50 4 772 528 415 0.00 N/A 0.50Beverages--Brewers/Distillers CHAMPION BREW. PLC. NT NT 4.63 2.23 900 000 000 0.00 N/A NTGOLDEN GUINEA BREW. PLC. NT NT 0.68 0.68 272 160 000 0.03 N/A NTGUINNESS NIG PLC 260.00 103 187 255.00 186.00 1 474 925 519 12.04 3.17 252.00INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES PLC. 13.91 10 059 926 7.28 5.23 2 112 914 681 0.07 N/A 10.68JOS INT. BREWERIES PLC. NT NT 3.20 1.61 562 000 000 0.00 N/A NTNIGERIAN BREW. PLC. 140.00 789 076 122.30 72.50 7 562 562 340 5.21 9.80 127.50PREMIER BREWERIES PLC 0.89 100 000 0.97 0.93 126 000 000 0.00 N/A NTBeverages--Non-Alcoholic 7-UP BOTTLING COMP. PLC. 39.00 23 279 48.91 38.31 640 590 362 3.15 N/A 40.00Food Products BIG TREAT PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 2 000 000 000 0.00 N/A NTDANGOTE FLOUR MILLS PLC 7.71 2 258 823 19.90 4.15 5 000 000 000 0.00 18.43 6.51DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC 4.90 4 163 119 16.20 3.64 12 000 000 000 0.59 -1.80 4.99FLOUR MILLS NIG. PLC. 67.92 204 680 95.00 52.50 1 879 210 666 3.60 9.74 61.89HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC 2.12 4 836 345 6.60 1.91 7 930 197 658 0.36 6.00 2.00MULTI-TREX INTEGRATED FOODS PLC NT NT 2.70 1.21 3 722 493 620 0.00 N/A NTN NIG. FLOUR MILLS PLC. 21.48 300 43.96 21.48 178 200 000 1.20 N/A NTNATIONAL SALT CO. NIG. PLC 6.10 5 025 461 6.70 3.86 0.81 22.49 4.98P S MANDRIDES & CO PLC. NT NT 5.66 5.66 40 000 000 0.16 N/A NTU T C NIG. PLC. 0.67 85 351 0.88 0.50 1 233 375 004 1.13 11.67 0.60UNION DICON SALT PLC. 4.22 368 391 4.22 4.22 360 000 000 0.00 N/A NTFood Products--Diversifi ed CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. 22.63 1 894 884 29.20 9.15 3 129 188 160 1.24 2.86 22.00NESTLE NIGERIA PLC. 580.00 148 924 500.00 367.83 792 656 250 21.21 5.45 550.00Household Durables BETA GLASS CO PLC. NT NT 15.58 10.03 3.90 N/A NTNIGERIAN ENAMELWARE PLC. 34.39 250 42.66 36.19 63 360 000 1.61 N/A NTVITAFOAM NIG PLC. 3.09 456 446 6.75 3.01 819 000 000 0.54 -0.32 3.10VONO PRODUCTS PLC. NT NT 3.67 2.66 300 000 001 0.00 N/A 2.88Personal/Household Products P Z CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC. 24.89 353 797 43.50 22.07 3 176 381 636 0.51 4.14 23.90UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC. 38.51 821 793 36.45 22.56 3 783 296 250 1.32 2.89 37.43Textiles/Apparel UNITED NIG. TEXTILES PLC. NT NT 0.97 0.57 843 284 027 0.00 N/A NTFINANCIAL SERVICES Banking ACCESS BANK PLC. 9.46 22 367 806 11.10 4.76 17 888 251 479 0.63 11.69 8.47DIAMOND BANK PLC 3.59 18 123 540 9.27 2.01 14 475 243 105 0.00 20.47 2.98ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INC. 11.45 4 237 460 17.05 9.97 9 873 614 567 2.61 4.19 10.99FIDELITY BANK PLC 1.77 23 827 147 3.20 1.14 28 974 797 023 0.19 14.19 1.55FIRST BANK OF NIG. PLC 14.50 9 636 587 16.12 8.50 32 632 084 358 1.37 1.33 14.31FIRST CITY MONUMENT BANK PLC. 3.18 18 032 538 8.30 3.04 16 271 192 202 0.60 4.95 3.03GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. 19.20 8 526 400 17.81 11.64 29 146 482 209 0.59 -0.21 19.24SKYE BANK PLC 3.17 5 076 412 10.17 2.73 13 219 334 676 0.39 7.82 2.94STANBIC IBTC BANK PLC 7.14 1 714 488 11.38 6.40 18 750 000 000 0.54 2.00 7.00STERLING BANK PLC. 1.54 31 337 843 2.91 0.97 12 563 091 545 0.43 37.50 1.12U B A PLC 4.60 19 137 641 4.40 1.64 32 334 693 693 0.01 -1.08 4.65UNION BANK NIG.PLC. 9.13 2 703 916 10.07 1.96 13 509 726 273 2.20 40.90 6.48UNITY BANK PLC 0.50 52 302 1.92 0.50 33 675 576 085 0.00 0.00 0.50WEMA BANK PLC. 0.50 97 769 1.75 0.50 12 821 249 880 1.34 0.00 0.50ZENITH BANK PLC 16.50 64 235 669 16.70 11.70 31 396 493 790 1.41 -1.20 16.70Insurance Carriers, Brokers & Services AFRICAN ALLIANCE INS. COY. PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 20 585 000 000 0.00 N/A NTAIICO INSURANCE PLC. 0.60 3 022 118 1.01 0.50 7 809 391 256 0.09 0.00 0.50CONFIDENCE INSURANCE PLC NT NT 0.64 0.61 211 626 000 0.00 N/A NTCONSOLIDATED HALLMARK INS. PLC 0.50 2 500 0.50 0.50 6 000 000 000 0.06 N/A 0.50CONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC 0.70 6 705 579 1.20 0.61 10 372 624 157 0.10 0.00 0.61CORNERSTONE INS. COY. PLC. NT NT 0.50 0.50 8 820 010 363 0.01 0.00 NTCUSTODIAN AND ALLIED INS. PLC 1.31 4 610 500 3.51 1.31 5 100 846 808 0.27 0.00 1.17EQUITY ASSURANCE PLC. 0.50 2 000 0.50 0.50 8 847 298 420 0.00 N/A NTGOLDLINK INSURANCE PLC 0.50 6 500 0.69 0.50 4 549 947 000 0.00 N/A NTGREAT NIGERIAN INSURANCE PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 3 827 485 380 0.00 N/A NTGUINEA INSURANCE PLC. NT NT 0.50 0.50 720 000 000 0.00 N/A NTINTERCONTINENTAL WAPIC INS. PLC 0.61 59 600 0.80 0.50 5 061 804 000 0.06 N/A 0.66INTERNATIONAL ENERGY INS. PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 6 420 427 449 0.00 0.00 NTINVESTMENT AND ALLIED ARN. NT NT 0.50 0.50 28 000 000 000 0.02 N/A NTLASACO ASSURANCE PLC. 0.50 1 500 0.50 0.50 7 323 313 227 0.02 N/A 0.50LAW UNION AND ROCK INS. PLC. NT NT 0.61 0.50 3 437 330 500 0.10 N/A NTLINKAGE ASSURANCE PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 4 083 713 569 0.00 0.00 0.50MANSARD INSURANCE PLC 1.78 1 313 398 1.93 0.95 10 000 000 000 0.08 5.95 1.68MUTUAL BENEFITS ASSURANCE PLC. 0.50 200 000 0.50 0.50 7 998 705 336 0.10 N/A NTN.E.M INSURANCE CO (NIG) PLC. 0.52 30 474 871 0.66 0.50 5 332 830 881 0.25 4.00 0.50NIGER INSURANCE CO. PLC. 0.52 761 798 1.11 0.50 5 649 693 923 0.01 N/A 0.50OASIS INSURANCE PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 5 003 506 791 0.02 N/A NTPRESTIGE ASSURANCE CO. PLC. 0.50 5 400 2.35 0.50 2 508 315 436 0.11 0.00 0.50REGENCY ALLIANCE INS. COY PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 6 668 750 000 0.03 N/A NTSOVEREIGN TRUST INSURANCE PLC NT NT 0.52 0.50 5 203 757 266 0.10 0.00 NTSTACO INSURANCE PLC 0.50 50 200 0.50 0.50 6 141 087 609 0.00 N/A 0.50STANDARD ALLIANCE INS. PLC. NT NT 0.50 0.50 8 493 173 450 0.00 N/A NTUNIC INSURANCE PLC. NT NT 0.50 0.50 2 581 733 505 0.00 N/A 0.50UNITY KAPITAL ASSURANCE PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 13 000 000 000 0.01 N/A 0.50UNIVERSAL INS. COMPANY PLC 0.50 14 000 0.50 0.50 16 000 000 000 0.00 N/A 0.50Micro Finance Banks FORTIS MICROFINANCE BANK PLC NT NT NTNPF MICROFINANCE BANK PLC 1.15 1 945 530 1.10Mortgage Carriers, Brokers &Services ABBEY BUILDING SOCIETY PLC NT NT 1.51 1.33 4 200 000 000 0.03 N/A NTASO SAVINGS AND LOANS PLC 0.50 2 000 0.50 0.50 8 679 148 676 0.10 N/A 0.50RESORT SAVINGS & LOANS PLC 0.50 2 000 000 0.50 0.50 13 175 732 404 0.00 N/A 0.50UNION HOMES SAVINGS&LOANS PLC NT NT 0.99 0.50 7 812 500 000 0.00 N/A NTOther Financial Institutions CRUSADER ( NIG) PLC. 0.50 60 000 0.61 0.50 3 778 005 975 0.00 N/A 0.50DEAP CAPITAL MGT & TRUST PLC NT NT 2.02 2.02 1 333 333 333 0.00 N/A NTNIG SEW. MACH. MAN. CO. PLC. NT NT 0.15 0.15 5 880 000 0.00 N/A NTNIGERIA ENERYGY SECTOR FUND NT NT 552.20 555.20 2 500 000 12.68 N/A NTROYAL EXCHANGE PLC. 0.63 65 766 0.66 0.50 3 608 657 661 0.05 N/A 0.52HEALTHCARE Healthcare Providers EKOCORP PLC. 5.05 1 000 5.31 5.05 498 600 908 0.12 N/A 5.05Medical Equipment UNION DIAGNOSTIC &CLINICAL PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 3 553 138 528 0.00 N/A NTMedical Supplies MORISON INDUSTRIES PLC. 5.46 22 196 10.54 7.39 152 178 750 0.00 N/A 6.04Pharmaceuticals EVANS MEDICAL PLC. 1.15 85 155 1.45 0.50 486 473 856 0.19 9.52 1.05FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC 1.55 2 244 820 3.20 0.76 1 500 000 000 0.27 74.16 0.89GLAXO SMITHKLINE CONSUMER PLC 36.00 137 359 29.65 19.30 956 701 192 2.41 11.80 32.20MAY & BAKER NIGERIA PLC. 1.64 847 665 5.61 1.62 980 000 000 0.21 -1.20 1.66

NOTE NT=Not Traded on 21-09-12 N/A=Not Avialable

NEIMETH INT PHARM PLC 0.92 935 654 1.96 0.76 1 925 717 268 0.09 8.24 0.85NIGERIA-GERMAN CHEMICALS PLC. NT NT 12.91 8.59 153 786 012 0.00 N/A NTPHARMA-DEKO PLC. 3.02 100 4.28 3.50 100 000 000 0.00 N/A NTICT Computer Based Systems COURTEVILLE BUSINESS SLN PLC 0.50 30 000 0.52 0.50 2 960 000 000 0.08 0.00 0.50Computers and Peripherals OMATEK VENTURES PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 2 941 789 472 0.04 N/A NTElectronic Communications Services MTECH COMMUNICATIONS PLC NT NT 0.91 0.91 4 966 666 668 0.00 N/A NTIT Services NCR (NIGERIA) PLC. 13.77 29 142 18.28 13.12 108 000 000 1.82 N/A 13.12TRIPPLE GEE AND COMPANY PLC. 2.41 1 000 3.59 2.41 492 825 600 0.00 N/A NTProcessing Systems CHAMS PLC 0.50 1 870 0.50 0.50 4 620 600 000 0.00 N/A 0.50E-TRANZACT INTERNATIONAL PLC NT NT 4.97 4.04 4 200 000 000 0.00 N/A NTTelecommunications Carriers STARCOMMS PLC NT NT 1.47 0.50 6 878 478 096 0.00 N/A NTTelecommunications Services IHS NIGERIA PLC PREF SHARES NT NT 2.25 0.00 0.00 N/A NTIHS PLC 2.34 203 465 3.50 2.46 4 400 000 000 0.00 N/A NTMTI PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 4 893 594 400 0.00 N/A NTINDUSTRIAL GOODS Building Materials AFRICAN PAINTS (NIGERIA) PLC. NT NT 3.32 2.86 260 000 000 0.00 N/A NTASHAKA CEM PLC 13.78 166 449 30.00 9.10 2 239 453 125 1.60 17.28 11.75BERGER PAINTS PLC 8.01 6 491 12.57 7.27 217 367 585 0.15 4.98 7.63CAP PLC 28.90 23 020 43.98 14.50 560 000 000 1.76 -0.86 29.15CEMENT CO. OF NORTH.NIG. PLC 4.83 842 508 15.49 4.20 1 241 548 285 1.83 1.68 4.75DANGOTE CEMENT PLC 116.26 139 753 132.51 95.00 15 494 019 668 8.01 -0.62 116.98DN MEYER PLC. 0.81 25 000 3.51 0.93 242 908 200 0.00 N/A 0.74FIRST ALUMINIUM NIGERIA PLC NT NT 0.75 0.50 2 109 928 275 0.00 N/A NTIPWA PLC NT NT 0.99 0.91 513 696 000 0.00 N/A NTLAFARGE WAPCO PLC. 54.99 129 000 48.05 37.00 3 001 600 004 1.74 20.72 45.55PAINTS & COATINGS MANFACT.PLC 1.81 15 000 3.36 0.52 792 914 256 0.16 N/A 1.90PORTLAND PAINTS & PRDT NIG. PLC 3.15 439 200 5.28 2.27 400 000 000 0.39 N/A 3.31PREMIER PAINTS PLC. NT NT 13.40 10.93 75 000 000 0.00 N/A NTElectronic and Electrical Products AUSTIN LAZ & COMPANY PLC 2.00 1 000 2.00 2.00 0.03 N/A 2.00CUTIX PLC. 1.90 65 986 2.50 1.33 510 396 608 0.11 37.68 1.38NIGERIAN WIRE AND CABLE PLC. NT NT 0.73 0.50 2 220 000 000 0.00 N/A NTNIGERIAN WIRE IND. PLC NT NT 2.58 2.58 15 000 000 0.00 N/A NTPackaging/Containers ABPLAST PRODUCTS PLC. NT NT 3.98 3.98 25 000 000 0.00 N/A NTAVON CROWNCAPS & CONTAINERS NT NT 6.91 2.19 683 974 528 0.15 N/A NTGREIF NIGERIA PLC NT NT 15.03 13.28 42 640 000 0.90 N/A NTNIG. BAGS MANFACT. COY PLC 1.93 5 259 777 3.60 1.60 6 215 000 000 0.22 7.22 1.80POLY PRODUCTS (NIG) PLC. 1.05 200 1.86 1.05 240 000 000 0.30 N/A NTW A GLASS IND. PLC. NT NT 0.63 0.63 199 066 550 0.00 N/A NTTools and Machinery NIGERIAN ROPES PLC NT NT 8.69 8.26 265 409 280 0.00 N/A NTSTOKVIS NIG PLC. NT NT 0.14 0.14 2 918 000 0.00 N/A NTNATURAL RESOURCES Chemicals B.O.C. GASES PLC. 5.98 100 9.20 5.70 393 120 000 0.93 0.00 5.98Metals ALUMACO PLC NT NT 7.75 7.75 75 600 000 0.00 N/A NTALUMINIUM EXTRUSION IND. PLC. 10.55 1 167 12.39 10.55 100 000 000 0.13 N/A NTNon-Metallic Mineral Mining MULTIVERSE PLC 0.50 10 000 0.50 0.50 4 058 989 226 0.00 N/A 0.50Paper/Forest Products HALLMARK PAPER PRODUCTS PLC. NT NT 3.22 3.22 50 000 000 0.04 N/A NTTHOMAS WYATT NIG. PLC. NT NT 1.38 1.38 220 000 000 0.00 N/A NTOIL AND GAS Energy Equipment and Services JAPAUL OIL & MARITIME SER. PLC 0.63 5 485 920 1.87 0.54 6 262 701 716 0.16 5.00 0.60Integrated Oil and Gas Services OANDO PLC 13.76 5 704 856 78.97 13.95 2 262 711 568 7.47 -1.71 14.00Petroleum &Petroleum Products Distributors AFROIL PLC NT NT 20.71 20.71 125 487 475 0.00 N/A NTBECO PETROLEUM PRODUCT PLC NT NT 0.70 0.50 3 716 976 579 0.00 N/A NTCONOIL PLC 20.68 167 973 41.89 19.61 693 952 117 5.98 4.71 19.75ETERNA PLC. 2.38 385 100 5.59 2.12 1 249 162 828 0.88 0.85 2.36FORTE OIL PLC. 11.00 201 294 28.69 9.12 1 080 280 628 0.00 -3.51 11.40MOBIL OIL NIG PLC. 115.00 78 232 163.50 111.51 300 496 051 13.06 0.44 114.50MRS OIL NIGERIA PLC. 32.29 470 72.00 32.29 253 988 672 4.08 N/A 32.29TOTAL NIGERIA PLC. 130.00 31 269 240.00 125.00 339 521 837 11.22 1.55 128.01SERVICES Advertising AFROMEDIA PLC NT NT 0.72 0.50 4 035 497 307 0.00 N/A NTApparel Retailers LENNARDS (NIG) PLC. 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NT NT 3.68 1.64 403 200 000 0.14 N/A 1.64LEARN AFRICA PLC 2.11 101 959 8.00 1.94 771 450 000 0.29 N/A 2.12STUDIO PRESS (NIG) PLC. NT NT 2.92 2.78 0.01 N/A NTUNIVERSITY PRESS PLC. 4.55 37 000 6.82 3.09 425 641 111 0.50 #VALUE! NTRoad Transportation ABC TRANSPORT PLCPLC 0.50 500 000 0.80 0.50 1 507 000 000 0.00 N/A 0.50Specialty INTERLINKED TECHNOLOGIES PLC NT NT 5.15 4.90 236 699 511 0.00 N/A NTSECURE ELECTRONIC TECH.PLC NT NT 1.88 0.80 5 631 539 736 0.03 N/A NTTransport-Related Services AIRLINE SERVICES AND LOGISTICS PLC 2.08 1 000 2.78 1.54 634 000 000 0.38 N/A NTNIG. AVIATION HANDLING COY PLC 5.92 469 407 11.75 5.15 1 230 468 750 0.81 -1.33 6.00ASeM CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Property Management SMART PRODUCTS NIGERIA PLC NT NT 1.43 1.04 45 000 000 0.12 N/A NTCONSUMER GOODS Food Products MCNICHOLS PLC NT NT 1.02 1.02 201 885 335 0.00 N/A NTPersonal/Household Products ROKANA INDUSTRIES PLC. NT NT 0.60 0.60 30 000 000 0.00 N/A NTHEALTHCARE Pharmaceuticals AFRIK PHARMACEUTICALS PLC. NT NT 0.50 0.50 24 898 850 0.00 N/A NTINDUSTRIAL GOODS Electronic and Electrical Products NT NT NTADSWITCH PLC. 1.63 500 1.88 1.63 125 005 250 0.00 N/A 1.63NATURAL RESOURCES Metals W.A. ALUM. PRODUCTS PLC. NT NT 0.50 0.50 6 650 000 0.00 N/A NTOIL AND GAS Petroleum & Petroleum Products Distributors ANINO INTERNATIONAL PLC. NT NT 0.21 0.21 24 200 000 0.00 N/A NTCAPITAL OIL PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 5 857 500 000 0.00 N/A NTRAK UNITY PET. COMP. PLC. NT NT 0.31 0.31 15 000 000 0.00 N/A NTUNION VENTURES & PET. PLC NT NT 0.63 0.63 98 600 000 0.00 N/A NTSERVICES Apparel Retailers UDEOFSON GARMENT FACT. NIG PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 20 000 000 0.00 N/A NTFood/Drug Retailers and Wholesalers NT NT NTJULI PLC. 2.76 16 000 3.05 2.76 194 700 000 0.00 N/A 2.76ETF’s Sector ETF NEWGOLD EXCHANGE TRADED FUND 2 638.00 100 2 706 2 422 0.00 2 638.00

PRICE 52 WK 52 WK SHARES MOV.SECURITY (=N=) QUANTITY HIGH LOW OUTSTANDING EPS (%) Previous

PRICE 52 WK 52 WK SHARES MOV.SECURITY (=N=) QUANTITY HIGH LOW OUTSTANDING EPS (%) Previous

Stock Exchange weekly equities summary as at Friday, Sept 21, 2012

Business CourageCourage

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, September 24, 2012 A24 40 Business CourageCourage

By the provision of Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution, a person shall be entitled to fair hearing in the determination of his civil rights and obligations. FRANCIS FAMOROTI and WALE IGBINTADE report that the existence of the special offences court in Lagos State negates this maxim.

Worried by the inherent abuses of constitutional rights of the citi-zens, some lawyers in Lagos State

have condemned the inauguration of spe-cial offences court to try and convict sus-pected offenders summarily in the state.

The lawyers who spoke in separate inter-views with National Mirror, faulted the tri-al and conviction procedure of the special offences court on the ground that such step was a negation of the enabling provisions of the 1999 Constitution.

The lawyers who bared their minds in-cluded Messrs. Ebun Adegboruwa, Nnae-meka Amaechina, Ajayi Fatoki and Charles Nmarkwe.

Speaking against the backdrop of the re-lease of 233 inmates of the Kirikiri prison by the state Chief Judge, Justice Ayotunde Phillips, last Wednesday, the lawyers said the special offences court did not provide for the requirements of fair hearing as en-shrined in the constitution. The state gov-ernment had, on August 17, 2012 inaugurat-ed the special offences court for the purpose of bringing violators of state environmen-tal law to prosecution.

While commissioning the court, the state Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, had said the essence of the court was to restore sanity in the state.

So far, the court, sitting at Alausa, Ikeja, had a few weeks ago sentenced 32 commer-cial sex workers to four months imprison-ment. The ladies were among the 52 sex workers arrested by the Lagos State Task-force on Environmental and Special Offenc-es (Enforcement) Unit on Toyin and Isaac

John streets, Ikeja.Beside the commercial sex workers, oth-

ers who have fallen victims of the court in recent times are road side traders, pedes-trians who crossed major highways instead of making use of the foot bridges and those who indulge in indiscriminate urinary hab-its on the roads.

Reacting to the issue, Adegboruwa said “I feel that the Lagos State Government is acting ultra-vires by setting up special of-fences mobile courts where people are ar-rested, charged, sentenced immediately and taken to the prison.

“The reason is because under the Consti-tution once you arrest anybody upon any criminal offence whether miscellaneous offence, environmental sanitation offence or any offence whatsoever that may affect the liberty of that person, you must give ad-equate opportunity for a defence.

“In most cases, these people are illiterates who don’t know their rights. If you arrest a street trader on Ozumba Mbadiwe Road, Victoria Island and he has no access to his family, he cannot call a lawyer and then you take him to Alausa. Within an hour, you have arraigned him, draw up charges and forced him to plead guilty and then you sen-tenced him. It is unconstitutional.’’

Law & Justice“Legal locus standi may not be the same to a believer as it is

to a lawyer”JUSTICE KAYODE ESO, RETIRED JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 41Monday, September 24, 2012

nationalmirrorlaw@yahoo.com

44

47

46 CONTINUED ON PAGE 42

Trial, conviction of Godwin Daboh

New legal year begins

Special offences court negates fair hearing –Lawyers

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN)

THE LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT IS ACTING

ULTRA-VIRES BY SETTING UP SPECIAL OFFENCES

COURTS

Anti-corruption agencies need to monitor assets of judges –Keyamo

Lagos State Attorney General, Mr. Ade Ipaye

FRANCIS FAMOROTI

An Industrial engineer, Mr. Ab-dulrahman Haruna Ajayi, has dragged a manufacturing compa-

ny, British American Tobacco (Nigeria) Limited (BATCO) before a Lagos High Court for alleged libel.

In the writ of summons filed on his behalf by the Bamidele Aturu law firm, Ajayi is asking the court to award N150m compensatory damages in his favour against BATCO for casting aspersion on his reputation since he left its services about nine months ago.

Besides, he is praying the court to restrain the company from circulating the alleged libellous statements regard-ing the contract of employment between him and BATCO before he left its em-ployment on January 24, this year.

Specifically, Ajayi is seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining the company, its agents and servants from further publishing, printing or circulat-ing the libellous statements as they con-cern him.

The suit is supported by a 25-para-groah statement of claim in which the claimant stated that his ordeal with BATCO arose from January 24, 2012 when he voluntarily resigned from the

cigarette manufacturing company after a period of about 10 years.

He said shortly after he left BATCO, he joined another cigarette manufactur-ing firm, Habanera Nigeria Limited.

Ajayi said surprisingly, he received a letter dated March 26, 2012 and titled ‘’Notice of Breach of Contract- Letter of Desist’’ from BATCO asking him to dis-engage his services with the new com-pany.

The claimant said by the terms and conditions of employment, he had with BATCO, he had no continuing obligation to the tobacco company after the cessa-tion of his employment with the com-pany.

The engineer said he did not at any time sign a contract with BATCO with the effect of being restricted from taking up employment with a competition with-in 12 months of the cessation of employ-ment with the Ibadan-based company.

He said since the publication of the alleged libellous letter against him, he had faced a lot of hardships at his new workplace as he was being regarded as an untrustworthy and disloyal person.

Ajayi claimed that he was at the point of losing his current employment with Habanera Nigeria Limited. He is also demanding a letter of apology from BATCO, adding that same letter should be sent to his current employer and the International Tobacco Company.

In its statement of defence dated July 23, 2012, BATCO denied each and every allegation of facts made against it by the claimant.

The company also said it would, as a preliminary point, challenge the juris-diction of the court to entertain, hear and determine the suit.

BATCO, therefore, urged the court to strike out and dismiss the suit on the ground that the claimant’s claim was frivolous, vexatious, gold-digging, specu-lative and an abuse of court process.

The suit is yet to be assigned a hear-ing date.

The lawyer stated further: ‘’that is not a society that we anticipate under the Constitution. The Constitution says clearly in Section 36 that every person charged with criminal offence must be given reasonable time and that reason-able time means he must be given oppor-tunity to get a lawyer to be advised prop-erly before he writes his statement. You cannot try somebody within one hour and send him to prison and say because it is environmental sanitation.’’

According to Adegboruwa, ‘’I do not expect from a government that is led by a lawyer, least of all a Senior Advocate, that they pick people like snails on the streets and draw charges against them and within an hour, they are impris-oned.’’

He added: “this is unconstitutional. So, I am advising the governor because I am encouraged by some of the things he is doing Lagos State. I can see his pas-sion, but it is better for 99 offenders to run away than for one innocent man to be sent to jail. It is totally a society that is brutish. Again, this is what is congest-ing the prisons. Majority of the inmates at Kirikiri and Ikoyi are prostitutes and people who are arrested on the road for hawking. The governor should examine the legality of these actions.’’

In his view, Mr. Fatoki said ‘’I am not particularly pleased with the way things are being done; I think there is room for improvement, things should be done pro-cedurally. I have not appeared before the court, but I have been there and what I saw on that particular occasion was not pleasing to me. The issue of fair hearing which is an all encompassing doctrine in

the constitution is not being followed.“The constitution says that all Nige-

rians are entitled to fair hearing in any court of law. Therefore, every organisa-tion vested with the right to try people should observe at least a peripheral as-pect of fair hearing. More importantly, since those sitting in these courts are magistrates and trained lawyers. So, there is need for them to improve on the modus operandi by which the alleged offenders are being treated. The Lagos State government is trying and has done a lot to improve the physical environ-ment of the state, but some of its policies should be given human face.

For Nmarkwe, ‘’Originally, the ob-jective of the special offences courts in Lagos State is to see how justice can be brought to the grassroots and cases disposed of expeditiously. But, unfortu-

nately from what we see, we tend to have a system that one can approximate to kangaroo justice. We have cases where people are arrested; goods are seized and even destroyed without due trial or pro-cess having been observed. We have cas-es where persons are detained for undue length of time and, most often, money is extorted from them.

‘’We also have a situation where the prosecutor is also the judge, a situation that offends the basic pillar of natural justice, where you as a prosecutor can-

not be a judge in your own court. So, the same people who arrest, investigate, prosecute also deliver the judgment. In as much as we believe the mobile courts are relevant and have a purpose to serve, we also think that some of these abus-es should be curtailed and the system should be fine-tuned such that peoples’ rights are not unnecessarily trampled upon. The Constitution provides proce-dure for the prosecution of offenders, most especially in criminal trial and we find out most of these mobile courts don’t observe these procedures.

Amaechina endorsed the views of the other lawyers in the following words: “The arrangement does not meet the standard and it has not been challenged because no prominent person has been affected. You just don’t try somebody without giving him opportunity to de-fend himself and an opportunity to in-struct his lawyer to act on his behalf. I do not know the type of trial they do in this Special Offences courts but people are complaining bitterly. There are so many complaints which the government must address. I do not support breach of the law, but when peoples’ properties are confiscated, they must be given fair hearing.’’

A trader, Mrs. Tanwa Idowu , was dis-turbed that each time the KAI officials swopped on traders, they usually sustain losses when their goods are impounded even as most of them lacked the resourc-es to let lock up stalls in the markets in the state.

She urged the state government to grant the traders the indulgence to re-main on the roadside provided they did not obstruct free flow of traffic on major highways in the state.

42 Monday, September 24, 2012 Law & Justice National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 41

‘Citizens should challenge legality of mobile court’

Bello

Engineer fi les N150m suit against BATCO

WE TEND TO HAVE A SYSTEM THAT ONE

CAN APPROXIMATE TO KANGAROO JUSTICE

Adegboruwa

The Lagos State Chief Judge, Jus-tice Ayotunde Phillips, has been urged to ensure the creation of

Alimosho Judicial Division of the state judiciary during her tenure. This call is part of the resolutions reached at the meeting of the Alimosho Lawyers’ Fo-rum in Lagos during the weekend.

Against this backdrop, the forum ap-pealed to the CJ and the state govern-ment to create additional magistrate courts and a High Court in Alimosho Local Government Area. Specifically, the state CJ was called upon to decen-tralise the state High Court so as to pave way for the creation of the new division.

The forum is a rallying body for lawyers whose firms or residence are located in Alimosho area and most its members are at present members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Ikeja branch.

The forum noted that Ikeja High Court is currently serving about 18 LGAs in Lagos State, hence it is necessary to cre-ate a new division. This step, the forum observed, would hasten the speedy reso-lution of disputes in Alimosho LGA.

The forum condemned extra-judicial killings in the society and all forms of criminalities, adding that it would fos-ter the campaign against criminal acts in the society.

Create Alimosho Judicial Division, Lawyers urged CJ

Lagos CJ, Justice Ayotunde Phillips

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 43Monday, September 24, 2012 Law & Justice

Godwin Daboh came into promi-nence in 1974 when he accused Joseph Tarka, the then Federal

Commissioner of Transport and later Communications of corruption. The alle-gation snowballed into high-scale contro-versy with Tarka, then serving in the Gen. Yakubu Gowon administration.

Tarka, at the time Daboh took on him, was a revered elder statesman regarded almost like a political deity in Tiv land.

The rage of the controversy got to a head, forcing Tarka to resign his appoint-ment from the government. That was the era when most Nigerian national newspa-pers ran the headlines and cartoons, ‘’ If You Tarka me, I’ll Daboh You”. This be-came a nationwide political joke.

Many had argued at the time that the audacity of Daboh was propelled by poli-ticians who were afraid of Tarka’s rising profile. But sooner, Daboh failed to live up to the ideal of an anti-corruption crusade.

As facts revealed in a decided Supreme Court case about 35 years ago, Daboh and a bank manager with the Bank of the North Limited, one Joseph Mordi were convicted for conspiracy and fraudulent practices relating to the registration of an insurance company and the delivery of a certificate of insurer.

Specifically, Daboh and Mordi had been charged and tried at a Lagos High Court on two counts, that they both conspired to-gether on 14th July, 1970 in Lagos to com-mit a felony, to induce by false pretences the Registrar of Insurance in the Federal Ministry of Trade, to deliver the Certifi-cate of Registration as an Insurer to the Nigerian States Assurance Corporation Limited. The prosecution said by so doing, the duo committed an offence contrary to Section 516 of the Criminal Code.

Secondly, that the men with the intent to defraud, induced the Registrar of Insur-ance, Insurance division, Federal Ministry of Trade, Lagos, to deliver the Certificate of Registration as an Insurer to the Nigerian States Assurance Corporation Limited by falsely pretending that the Nigerian States Assurance Corporation Limited aforesaid had a credit balance of N50, 000 in its ac-count with the Bank of the North Limited. The offence was said to be contrary to Sec-tion 419 of the Criminal Code. Daboh and Mordi were eventually found guilty and convicted.

On conviction, they were each sentenced to two years imprisonment on the first count, and 18 months imprisonment on the second count; and sentences were ordered to run concurrently. They, however, both appealed against their conviction.

At the hearing of his notice of appeal before the Supreme Court of Nigeria, elder statesman, Chief Obafemi Awolowo was Daboh’s lead counsel. Those who appeared along with Awolowo, were Messrs. Olani-wun Ajayi, Banjo Solaru, Dele Awoniyi, Tunji Omisore and Mrs. Ayo Soyode.

Mr. George Uweuche appeared for Mordi while Mr. A.O Ejiwunmi, later Justice, was the acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) that represented the State.

The case of the prosecution in support of the charges against the men was that on 31st January, 1969, by a formal applica-tion duly completed and signed by Daboh, as Executive Director, Nigerian States As-surance Corporation Limited, he applied to the Registrar of Insurance, Federal Ministry of Trade, to be and was duly reg-istered as an Insurer after other requisite forms had also been duly completed and submitted. The Nigerian States Assurance Corporation Limited was then called upon to deposit the sum of N50, 000 with a bank, and, after having done so, to communicate that fact to the Registrar of Insurance, Fed-eral Ministry of Trade to enable the latter to grant and deliver to the Compan, a cer-tificate of registration as an insurer. It was eventually established by the prosecution that Daboh and Mordi engaged in fraudu-lent practices regarding the delivery of cer-tificate of insurer.

Awolowo, who argued Daboh’s appeal had said that the learned trial Judge ought to have discharged and acquitted the first

appellant on the whole of the case because there was no iota of evidence of any agree-ment between him and Mordi to commit any offence, let alone, a felony; that there was no evidence that the first appellant did anything to induce the Registrar of Insur-ance, Federal Ministry of Trade to deliver the Certificate of Registration to the Nige-rian States Assurance Corporation Lim-ited.

Delivering the lead judgment of the apex court on May 27, 1977, Justice Udo Udoma dismissed the appeal lodged by the men.

Justice Udoma said that “in the circum-stances, we hold that the ground of appeal alleging that the learned trial Judge erred in law in having ruled that the first appel-lant had a case to answer fails. The court accordingly rejected it”.

Besides, the court said: ‘’ we are satis-fied and hold that the High Court of Lagos State had full jurisdiction and was com-petent to have tried the appellants of the offences with which they were charged, tried and convicted.

In all the circumstances of this case, and after having given careful consid-eration to the submissions addressed to us on behalf of the appellants, we have reached the inflexible conclusion that the appeal of the first and second appellants must fail. It is accordingly dismissed.’’

While dismissing the appeal, the court affirmed their conviction and sentences. Other justices on the panel were, Moham-med Bello and Andrew Obaseki.

However, the succeeding military gov-ernment later granted Daboh state par-don.

But even after his prison experience, Daboh did not become less controversial.

Generally believed to be a government contractor, Daboh had gone into publish-ing in the late 1980s, when he published the Broom Newspaper, which dwelt large-

ly on Benue politics with a breezy over-view on national issues. The paper soon went extinct as it got dogged in rounds of controversies and mounting litigation.

Daboh, made his first foray into poli-tics in 1957 when he became a member of the United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) and later a chieftain of the National Par-ty of Nigeria (NPN). He said his greatest achievement in politics was being part of those who contributed to the emergence of President Goodluck Jonathan in the April 16, 2010 presidential election.

It was gathered that before the demise of the Second Republic and particularly Tarka’s death while serving as a Sena-tor representing Benue Plateau in the national Assembly, the defunct NPN stal-warts brokered peace between Daboh and Tarka.

It was leant that in 2007, Daboh was on the “Ibrahim Babangida for President” bandwagon, when he swore that only God could stop IBB from becoming President. He was reported to have said IBB had paid for his criminal annulment of the 1992 election by facilitating the election of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

However, in 2010 when Babangida showed up as a presidential candidate, Daboh was nowhere in sight, having joined the Goodluck Jonathan for Presi-dent bandwagon. He famously advised IBB to disappear from the race or be dis-graced.

In March this year, the final chapter of Daboh’s profile was closed with his death, at the age of 70 after a running battle with diabetes.

Before his death, he was quoted to have spoken about his difference with Tarka, “Looking back, I would say the in-cident between me and Senator J. S Tarka was a misunderstanding between broth-ers which was blown out of proportion.”

Trial, conviction of Godwin DabohGodwin Daboh was a controversial personality in his lifetime. His initial anti-corruption crusade in 1974 pitched him against his kinsman and the icon of Middle-Belt politics, Joseph Sa-ruwan Tarka. Later, however, Daboh himself was enmeshed in fraudulent practices that led him to jail. FRANCIS FAMOROTI, Ag. Head, Judiciary writes.

Daboh

HOWEVER, THE SUCCEEDING MILITARY GOVERNMENT LATER

GRANTED DABOH STATE PARDON

FAMOUS CASES

Festus Keyamo is a famous activist and lawyer. After being called to the Nigerian Bar on December 15, 1993, he served his pupil-age in the Gani Fawehinmi chambers be-fore setting up his law firm. In this interview with WALE IGBINTADE, he speaks on the prosecution of Chief Olabode George and the alleged $15 million bribery to the EFCC among others.

You led a team of lawyers that prosecuted the suit filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against Chief Olabode George. What are the challenges that you faced during the prosecution?

It is not a case of total doom for the judiciary, when we talk about corruption in the judiciary it is not all the judges that are involved. There are judges of exceptional courage and Justice Joseph Oyewole is one of those judges. Judges of exceptional personality, judges of exceptional integrity, Justice Oyewole is one of such judges. If you lose a case be-fore him, like I have done on some occasions, you will know that you have lost on the basis of the law and the fact of the case and not because of other extraneous considerations. And, if you win a case before him, you will know that you have won on the basis of the law.

During the prosecution of Bode George, the pressure on me was almost unbearable. Apart from threats, there were also subtle pleas by friends. We are all living in a society; we are not from heaven or Benin Republic. We are Nige-rians and we have classmates and mutual friends of some these people that we prosecute who will come and plead with you. But, that is where your sense of integrity, your sense of purpose and your sense of victory must come to bear. Don’t forget that it is the same people who come to you that will go behind and say, “don’t mind him, he can easily be compromised’’. Somebody may feel bitter that you are not helping in that particular situation, but ultimately the person will retain a lot of respect for you because you did what was right.

Recently, it was reported that you called for the arrest of the former Chairman of EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu in order to unravel the $15 million dollars bribe allegedly given by the convicted former governor of Delta State, James Ibori to the EFCC. Is that correct?

That is the unfortunate thing with some of the reports, because the report was not carried in detail. So, many people lost the sense of the point I was making in the pa-per. Let me explain the purpose of my press statement, I clearly said that the event that led to this $15 million bribe was that Nuhu Ribadu alleged that Ibori gave him money through some sources. They went to collect the money and then took it to the CBN. Now, the first thing you do in such a circumstance is to arrest the people who brought the money because they are conspirators in giving bribe. And when arrested, they must make statements as to where the money is coming from, who gave them the money and for what purpose. It is at this point you will decide whether to use them as accused persons or to use them as witnesses to prove your case.

This was not done, they just collected the money and took it to CBN, but they did not arrest the person they col-lected the money from. However, Ibori said he did not send anybody, and five years or four years have passed and no-body has been arrested.

The matter first came to public knowledge when Ibori was charged to court in 2007 by the EFCC for various of-fences. One of the counts in the charge was in relation to offering that money as bribe to Ribadu. But in an affida-vit in support of his application for bail, Ibori denied any knowledge of the money. However, according to the EFCC, after taking custody of the money through Ibrahim Lam-orde, who was then the Director of Operations of the Com-mission, the money was taken to the Central Bank of Nige-

ria and kept there.I further said that in the 170-count charge against Ibori,

which included a count of giving the $15 million bribe, which was struck out by the Federal High Court sitting in Asaba. The EFCC appealed against that decision and vari-ous parts of that appeal are presently before the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

In the meantime, James Ibori, has been extradited to the United Kingdom, tried and convicted of some other offences, which do not include giving the $15million bribe or laundering that sum. In other words, if the appeal of the EFCC against Ibori succeeds at the Supreme Court, Ibori can still be tried in Nigeria for laundering the sum of $15million and giving it as bribe, since he was never tried for those offences in United Kingdom.

Then I raised a question ‘’why were the duo of Andy Uba and Chibuike Achigbu not arrested at that time since they enjoyed no immunity like James Ibori and charged to court for conspiracy and bribery? Why have they not been arrested up till this minute and charged to court? Or is the Federal Government telling Nigerians that Nuhu Ribadu was lying about the bribe money?

Now if you are not arresting them and you just want to collect the $15 million dollars as the federal government is saying that means the federal government is saying that no crime was committed. Now, if no crime was committed and then somebody came and said a crime was committed I was given $15million dollar bribe, I now said well in the al-ternative if you are not arresting Andy Uba and Achigbu, then you must arrest Nuhu Ribadu for lying on oath, you must arrest one person in order to unravel it because the matter cannot be left to go like that.

You must arrest Andy Uba and Achigbu and use Nuhu Ribadu as a witness or arrest Nuhu Ribadu and use Achig-bu as witness against him. It has to be one but then to just go to court to say give me the $15Million dollars is very ir-responsible of the FG without dealing with the culprits.

Where was this money coming from? Do you know wheth-er the source where the money came from is the same source by which they are now sponsoring Boko Haram, are they not interested in knowing where free funds come from? How do you find free funds within the system with-out coming from banking institution, without tracing the source of those funds?

How do you see the conduct of the Federal Government in this matter?

Is that not irresponsible of the FG to allow free funds to move all around without tracing their origin, that is what they call money laundering and that is what aids terror-ism because terrorism is funded basically with free funds. Therefore, that was the concept in which I made that par-ticular call and I still stand by what I am said. The FG has a duty to punish does who committed this offence on either money laundering or on the second hand if it is not money laundering then somebody is lying and Nuhu Ribadu was lying, that is what must be done in this case.

One of the charges against Ibori was that he bribe Nuhu Ribadu with 15million dollars, the charge was struck out, but EFCC appealed and the appeal is still pending. Now, suppose the Supreme Court says they should go back for retrial and that he was wrongly discharged, what evidence will you use to prosecute that case, where is the money. Now FG wants to take the money and destroy evidence. Just supposing the trial comes back because if Ibori leaves the jail in London, he will come back and face that trial here. So where is the evidence you want to use to prosecute him, if you take that evidence away now?

What is your take on the allegation of corruption in the judiciary?

Nobody can be comfortable with those allegations, be-cause that is my primary constituency. That is the platform on which I eat my daily bread, that is also the sector that is the third arm of government and it is the key to the sur-vival of democracy. So, apart from the selfish reason that I earn my daily bread from there , the hope of the nation, the aspiration of the nation as a whole and especially the hope of the common man is hinged on the success , integrity of judiciary. That is why any right thinking Nigeria any alle-gation that concerns the integrity of the judiciary should

44 Monday, September 24, 2012 Law & Justice National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net

Anti-corruption agencies need to

Keyamo

DURING THE PROSECUTION OF BODE GEORGE, THE

PRESSURE ON ME WAS ALMOST UNBEARABLE

45Monday, September 24, 2012 Law & JusticeNational Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.neta

monitor assets of judges –Keyamo indeed be very worrisome.

What is the way out?Well, people have proffered various solutions but the

first solution lies in the hands of practitioners themselves. Because, most of these corrupt practices would not be pos-sible if lawyers don’t aid the process. So, we need a lot of work and a lot of integrity from the lawyers themselves. There is no lawyer; I repeat there is no lawyer in this coun-try that has not been approached by his client to say that he wants to see a judge behind. He wants to go and ‘’settle with a judge’’ and I want any lawyer to come out and say he had never been told my one of his clients like that.

So, how do you react to the request of the client as a law-yer? Many lawyers will say I will facilitate the process. For me, the first think I will tell you is ‘’don’t involve me in any such thing’’ do not involve me at all, I want to practice the law the way I know I should practice it. I will warn you as my client never to go in and see a judge behind. Why, be-cause it may amount to an exercise in futility. A corrupt judge will take money from both sides and in most cases will deliver judgment to the highest bidder. The case of bribe giving and bribe taking is one of the most silent of crimes. It is silent in the sense that it is difficult for giver or taker of bribe to come and admit that he gave or took bribe. So, it is one of those crimes that both sides die in silence.

Therefore, lawyer must learn not to aid the process. The second one is for the anti-corruption agencies to do their work because the judiciary is not exempted from anti-cor-ruption crusade. They should check regularly the assets of the judges and their bank accounts and trace any money that is discovered to be with them and the source of those monies. Most of the corruption we are talking about hap-pen at election tribunals and I have advocated in the past that before they take their oath of office as tribunal mem-bers they should also declare their assets, aside from the assets they will declare as judges. After they finished their sittings they must go back and check how much assets they have within the period of six months or one year that they sit as tribunal members. If within that period, any money or assets is traced to them that are far beyond their means, they must account for them. So, the point I am making is that the alertness of the public, the alertness of the law enforcement agencies and of course the alertness of mem-bers of the Bar.

Basically, the challenge of poor infrastructure, poor facility in our court, most government have not paid at-tention to the judiciary and how to equip the judiciary to make it function properly. The prospect is that we should continue to beam our search light on the judiciary that is the only way you can make it function properly. The op-tions are zero because the only option is to take our cut-lasses to settle our differences.

A presidential panel has recommended the scrapping of the EFCC and the ICPC. Do you agree with this recom-mendation?

I have no take on it except that, somebody suggested, along with the scraping of EFCC and ICPC how to fund a special arm of the police, which they called the Special Fraud Unit. That was actually the unit that metamorpho-sis to EFCC, so nobody can call for the scrapping EFCC and ICPC without telling us at the same time, how he wants to strengthen the Special Fraud Unit of the Police. EFCC in most cases is supported and run by international do-nations People who want to see that government is com-mitted to the fight against corruption. It also one of the international requirements that you must have a special-ized agency to fight corruption, if not America and other countries will blacklist you.

Talking about the Nigerian police as it is, nobody wants to touch it and nobody wants to help the police. This is be-cause; the Nigerian Police is seen as a completely useless organisation. So, if for its international image the govern-ment must maintain the EFCC and fund it correctly and al-low inter-independence and it should be run professionally. The problem why people are calling for the scrapping of EFCC is that they see a lot of political interference.

People calling for it have a point but they are also not thinking about the consequences because the EFCC as you see it now is a one-eyed man in the land of the blind, it is not fully fit to govern but they say the one-eyed man in the land of the blind is the king that is why EFCC is the king now because it is now a one-eyed man in the land of the blind.

Some of your colleagues have said the EFCC case against the former Speaker of the House of Representa-tives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole was bound to fail. They com-plained over the use of the Clerk of the House to serve as a witness against his boss?

If you don’t use the clerk who would you use? That is what is called a rhetorical question. If you don’t use the clerk who has all the documents in the National Assem-bly, who will you use? Will you call the truck driver on the road? Who can only be the witness against the principal officer of the house?

But, do you expect somebody like him to say the truth?Who else will be the witness? Who else can get the doc-

uments? Who is the custodian of the documents by law? Some people are ignorant when they make comments. Peo-ple are ignorant because they do not know the enormity of what we face as prosecutors. We are fighting against cor-ruption, we are fighting against big men with money, and we are fighting against everything as a prosecutor; that is why they said I should be disqualified from prosecuting the case. They don’t want to see me because they could not pen-etrate me. It is a clear indication of how they perceive me and how I do my cases.

If the accused person says I don’t want to see the prose-cutor that should tell the whole story as to who the prosecu-tor is but if you see the accused person winking at the pros-ecutor in court then you know there is a problem. Almost everybody have filed applications that I should be disquali-fied, once they say Keyamo they say ‘’go and get somebody else o” they have not done that to other prosecutors in this

country but only me. The tenacity with which I pursue my cases scares them,

that is how prosecutors should behave and that is how to prosecute cases in court.

The NBA at the end of its Annual General Conference recently urged the Federal Government to revisit ICJ judgment on Bakassi. Do you think it is necessary?

I have not read the judgment so I cannot give personal opinion on it. The NBA’s position may be they have looked at the judgment thoroughly, the circumstances and the facts of the case. Between you and me I have not looked at the judgment carefully and I have not read the facts of the case and as a lawyer I will not be drawn into giving an opin-ion without reading the fact.

Is Nigeria truly a federation?My take on it is a marriage on various opinions’ we have

read, ideally it is what you have in a federal system that means every other indices are in place, you have a respon-sible electoral system, you have a truly independent elec-toral body, so that when elections come around the corner, what you vote is what you get. You have a perfect electoral system; you also have a police that is totally insulated from politics an independent police, but, without doing all of these, all these indices we start putting them in place then our situation is not ideal yet.

What is your take on state police?Let me give you an example, without oil a car cannot run

so ideally you must put engine oil in a car for the car to function properly but then what is the point in putting oil in the car when there are no tyres for the car to move. If you pour the oil which is the ideal thing with all things not in place how will that oil make the car function? You are calling for state police when we know that the state govern-ment with powers in their hands, no opposition can near the states where they govern.

Look at what is happening in the local government elec-tions; there is no case with a State governor that does not sweep all the local government election. That shows the powers put in their hands, look at what is happening. They don’t even concede one local government to the opposition. In most cases opposition parties often boycott the election because they will see the friend of the governor as the head of electoral body. Everybody will know he is a known friend of the governor.

THE ANTI-CORRUPTION AGENCIES SHOULD CHECK REGULARLY THE

ASSETS OF THE JUDGES AND THEIR BANK ACCOUNTS

Personalities at the monthly meeting of Alimosho Lawyers’ Forum in Lagos recently.

L-R: Mr. Anthony Ojei, Mr. Omobolaji Adejumo and Mr. Samuel Awoniyi

L-R -Former Second Vice-Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (Ikeja branch) Mrs. Gloria Nweze, the current second Vice-Chairman, Mrs. Carolyn Ibeh and the chairman, Alimosho Lawyers’ Forum, Mrs. Aderinola Kappo.

The judges, Senior Advocates of Nigeria and other personalities at the activities marking the new Legal Year of the Lagos State Judiciary last Wednesday.

A48 year old man, Amos Mbedzi, has been sentenced to 85 years impris-onment by Swaziland High Court

on a four- count charge of murder, unlaw-

ful possession of explosives, sedition and illegal entry into Swaziland.

According to AFP news agency, the sen-tences will run concurrently and he will serve 25 years of this time, backdated to the time of his arrest on 20 September 2008.

Judge Bheki Maphalala spared him the death penalty because it was estab-lished he had not intended to kill his two

companions with a bomb.Maphalala, in his judgement, said the

Swazi constitution allowed for the death penalty in cases of murder, but the court had discretion on whether to impose it.

He said, ‘Taking into account all the cir-cumstances of this case, I am persuaded that this is not a proper case in which I should impose a death penalty. In particu-lar, the evidence proves that the direct in-tention of the accused was not to kill the deceased, but to bomb the bridge.’

In sentencing, the Judge refused to ac-cept Mbedzi’s mitigation that he is mar-ried with three minor children to support and that his children stand to suffer for any punishment imposed by the court.

Instead, he accepted the prosecution’s

case that the crimes were very serious. He said, ‘their seriousness outweighs the per-sonal circumstances of the accused’.

Mbedzi was described as a part of the Umbane People’s Liberation Army, ‘a se-cret militant group linked to the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), which sought to undermine elections that year [2008] until Swaziland allowed a multi-party vote’.

He had been convicted of attempting to bomb a bridge near the Lozitha royal resi-dence in September 2008.

Meanwhile, the verdict has caused out-rage among pro-democracy groups, who see Mbedzi as a victim of King Mswati, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Af-rica’s last absolute monarchy.

Swaziland court sentences man to 85 years for murder

L-R: Lagos State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, Most Rev. Adebola Ademowo and the State Chief Judge, Justice Ayotunde Phillips

Lagos CJ, Justice Phillips (middle) inspecting the guard of honour at the Lagos High Court A cross-section of female Judges

A cross-section of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, Lagos

PHOTOS: OLUFEMI AJASA

PHOTOS: FRANCIS FAMOROTI

Monday, September 24, 2012Law & Justice46 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

ForeignSwaziland

Events

Community MirrorNational Mirror

www.nationalmirroronline.net 47Monday, September 24, 2012

FRANCIS SUBERU

The police in Lagos have ar-raigned two men for alleg-edly stealing 300 bags of

cement valued at N438, 000.The accused, Abiodun Ilori, 34

and Wasiu Yusuf, 25, are facing a

two-count charge of conspiracy and stealing at an Apapa Chief Magistrate’s Court.

The prosecutor, Inspector Clara Olagbayi, told the court that the accused with others still at large, committed the offences on May 4 at Shop 12, Suru Alaba Market, Ajegunle

in Apapa.She said the accused and oth-

ers broke into a shop belonging to one Mr Shimiyu Oseni and stole 300 bags of cement.

“Ilori and Yusuf were caught by some people in the market while stealing the cement. The people alerted the police who

arrested the men, while others escaped,’’ Olagbayi said.

The offences, according to her, contravene Sections 285 and 409 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos State.The ac-cused, whose addresses were unknown, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In her ruling, the Chief Mag-istrate, Mrs Oluyemisi Adelaja, granted them bail in the sum of N100, 000 each with one surety each in like sum.

She said the sureties should show evidence of tax payment in Lagos State.Further hearing has been fixed for Sept. 21.

“Muslims and Christians believe that authority comes from God. So, any attack that takes place is against the authority of God.”

VICE –PRESIDENT, NAMADI SAMBO

Two docked for alleged theft of cement

Workmen mending a collapsed section of the Agege Motor Road at Oshodi, Lagos. PHOTO: OLUWASEGUN IJABIKEN

WALE IGBINTADE

A senior Magistrate’s Court, sitting at Apapa in Lagos State, has sum-

moned a surveyor, Adeyemi and two land speculators to appear in court over alleged harassment and threat to life of one Prince Dele Ajiboye.

Others ordered to appear are two land speculators, Niyi Akere and Olumide Abiola (respon-dents) all of Plot 17, Block 2, Sand-fill Estate, Satellite Town, Lagos.

Senior Magistrate F. J Ad-efioye, gave the order following a summon issued to the respon-dents brought pursuant to Sec-tion 34(1) and 42 of the Adminis-tration of Criminal Justice Law

of Lagos State, 2007.Magistrate Adefioye, had in a

ruling of September 9, 2012, re-strained the respondents from harassing, molesting, embarrass-ing or attempt to kill or maim the applicant (prince Adefioye), his family or any member of his staff.

The court had also ordered the respondents to show why they should not be compelled to enter into recognizance to keep peace and be of good behaviour.

An affidavit deposed to by the applicant and argued by his law-yer, Rasaq Abudu, stated that the applicant’s life and members of his family are threatened over his landed property at Ijegun Egba.

The defence lawyer stated that the spate of killings in the

country requires the respon-dents to enter into recognizance so as to protect the applicant and his family.

He further submitted that the respondents who claimed to have purchased their own land from the same source with the applicant (Alagbo Agbojojoye family), did not deem it fit to go to court but allegedly preferred a resort to violence.

He stated that the respondents on August 15, 2012 went to the applicant’s land, allegedly de-stroyed his property and waylaid him but he narrowly escaped.

Ruling on the application, Se-nior Magistrate Adefioye, held that after a thorough examina-tion of the processes ‘’I am of the view that this is one of the excep-

tional cases that should be enter-tained so as to prevent imminent violence , loss of life and a breach of peace.

Citing Section 34(1) of the Ad-ministration of Criminal Justice Law 2011, the court held that ‘’whenever a Magistrate is in-formed on oath that any person is likely to commit a breach or dis-turb public peace, the Magistrate should order the person to show why he should not enter into re-cognizance’’.

The court further held ‘’ my careful perusal of the entire affi-davits as well as the information on Oath, clearly revealed that the case of the applicant deserves a sympathetic consideration.

The matter has been adjourned till September 26 for hearing.

Court summons surveyor, others for harassment

MURITALA AYINLA

The Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Health, has commended

the Ejigbo Local Council Devel-opment Area for rejuvenating the primary health care pro-gramme in the area.

Chairman of the committee, Avoseh Hudewu Suru, stated this when he led other members on a tour of the council’s six health centres.

Speaking on state of the health centres, Avoseh explained that the committee is impressed with the facilities put in place by the council boss, Kehinde Bamig-betan.

The committee chairman dis-closed that the attitude of medical personnel attached to the health centres is commendable, just as he lauded the council for provid-ing all essential tools which, ac-cording to him, is responsible for the high patronage recorded by the health clinics.

The committee members who said they were happy to be in-formed that two of the health clinics,at Iyana-Ejigbo and Jakan-de are running a 24hour service, stated the rationale for the tour is to enable them perform their oversight functions.

Avoseh said:”This tour will en-able us to know how the health centres in our local governments are being run, to meet the de-mands of our people at the grass-root. Moreover, their efficiency which is our primary concern will reduce pressure on the gen-eral hospitals,” he said.

Hon. Avoseh urged the council chairman to continue to mobilise residents to patronise the health centres, particularly now that there are qualified doctors and nurses.

Lawmakers praise Ejigbo council

Oddities

Hawk fl ies into car, lands on driver’s lap

Tiger mauls man at New York’s zoo

A red-tailed hawk that flew into a car trav-elling on a highway

in Connecticut—landing on the driver’s lap—has been released back into the wild.

Dan Caitlin was driving along the Merritt Parkway in Trumbull, Conn., last week when the hawk flew into the windshield of his car, bounced off the side window and fell into his lap,

animal control officials told the Fairfield Citizen.

Caitlin drove for a short distance with the stunned hawk in his lap, before pulling over and putting the raptor into the passenger seat. When he got home, he called the animal control staff, which picked up the injured hawk and kept it overnight before bringing it to a local veterinarian.

A Siberian tiger criti-cally injured a man who jumped into the

big cat’s den at New York’s Bronx Zoo on Friday, retreat-ing only after emergency workers scared it off with a fire extinguisher.

The man, 25, was riding the zoo’s elevated monorail in the afternoon and leapt from a car, clearing a fence around the tiger enclosure, according to a statement from the zoo.

He was taken to a local hospital in critical condition. His condition was later upgraded to stable, a spokeswoman for the Jacobi Medical Center said.

Zoo and fire officials said the man received bites or puncture wounds on his arms, legs and shoulder during the roughly 10 minutes he was alone with the tiger.

“One leg was severely injured,” said Frank Dwyer, a fire department spokesman, although he could not confirm early reports the man lost a foot in the incident.

In rescuing the man, the

zoo’s emergency workers used a fire extinguisher to repel the tiger, then ordered the man to roll under an electrified perimeter wire to safety. The staff had been prepared to use deadly force if necessary, zoo director Jim Breheny told a televised news conference.

“If not for the quick response by our staff and their ability to perform well in emergency situations,

the outcome would have been very different,” the zoo said.

The tiger involved is an 11-year-old, 400-pound (180-kg) male named Bachuta, Breheny said. The director said the zoo would review the incident but would not put the tiger down or take it out of the exhibit.

Breheny said the incident was “just an extraordinary event

that happened because somebody was trying to endanger themselves.”

“The tiger did nothing wrong in this case at all,” he said.

In July, tigers at a zoo in Copenhagen killed a man who scaled a fence and crossed a moat to get into their den, and wolves at Sweden’s largest zoo killed a zookeeper in their enclosure in June.

WITH DR. DEJI FOLUTILE

Today's Tonic (8)The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the

strong.** Mahatma Gandhi * * *Be Addicted To Forgiveness!These days I look at people who declare that they won’t forgive

their supposedly offenders with horror! You won’t forgive? Ha, that is a careless and a dangerous decision to take against yourself. Whenever we choose not to forgive, we are setting ourselves up for more and bigger troubles.

A wise man once wrote, “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” Each time we forgive our fel-low being, we are displaying rare wisdom. The only authentic road to inner peace in any relationship is forgiveness.

I keep saying it that more than half of the people on admission in different hospitals today might be healed and set free today, if they choose to forgive one person or the other. The truth is this: only the wise forgives. The foolish keeps holding grudges and wal-lowing in bitterness to the detriment of his soul and progress.

Let’s Forgive And Let Go!

TEL 08104942999E-MAIL deji.folutile@gmail.comFollow me @TwitterOWOTIDE

FOR YOUR SUCCESS

Fish eyes. PHOTO: CREATIVENERDS.CO.UK

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net48 Monday, September 24, 2012Cocktail

World NewsNational Mirror

www.nationalmirroronline.net 49Monday, September 24, 2012

Islamist rebels said they shot dead a Somali lawmaker in Mogadi-shu on Saturday and threatened to kill every legislator in the country.

Gunmen shot dead Mustaf Haji Mohamed outside his home after evening prayers, the latest in a wave of attacks since Somalia’s new as-sembly elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud earlier this month.

“How many times had we warned Somalis against joining the infidel government?” Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, spokesman for military operations for the Islamist militant group al Shabaab, told Reuters late on Saturday.

“Let it be a good lesson for the rest.”

Mohamud’s election was hailed by his supporters and Western powers as a vote for change after more than two decades of violence. The militants were swift to brand the political newcomer a “traitor” who headed a government serving only Western interests.

Somali rebels threaten more assassinations, claim MP’s killing

Cameroun’s ex-minister jailed 25 years in corruption case

UN urges security accord at Sudan summit

A court in Cameroun has sentenced ex-minister Marafa Hamidou Yaya to 25 years in jail on corruption charges.

He has been found guilty of embezzling millions of dollars intended as a down payment on a presidential plane.

Three co-defendants, includ-ing a former head of now defunct national airline Camair, received the same sentence.

Another senior politician, former PM Ephraim Inoni, is also facing charges in connection with the fraudulent deal to purchase a presidential jet in 2004.

International bodies including the United Nations and the African Union have urged Sudan and South Sudan to reach a compre-hensive agreement at a summit of its leaders being held in Ethiopia.

The two countries have taken a step towards a border security agreement that will allow oil exports to resume, officials said on Satur-day, paving the way for their leaders to sign a deal to end hostilities.

Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir and his southern counterpart Salva Kiir are expected to work out the border agreement during the summit in Addis Ababa yesterday, in an effort to meet the deadline set by the UN Security Council.

Sea ports. But Sudan has insisted on first reaching a security accord - something which both parties have been unable to agree during two weeks of talks.

WORLD BULLETIN

Libya orders illegitimate militias to disband

PAUL ARHEWEWITH AGENCY REPORTS

On the eve of his first visit to the United States as Egypt’s president, Is-

lamist Mohammed Morsi said he will demonstrate more indepen-dence from the U.S. in decision-making than his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak and told Wash-ington not to expect Egypt to live by its rules.

Morsi sent that message in an interview with the New York Times after a wave of violence erupted across the Muslim world over an amateur film produced in the U.S. that was deemed of-fensive to Islam and its prophet Muhammed. The film raised new tensions between Washington and Egypt.

Morsi criticized U.S. dealings with the Arab world, saying it is not possible to judge Egyptian behaviour and decision-making by American cultural standards. He said Washington earned ill will in the region in the past by backing dictators and taking “a very clear” biased approach against the Palestinians and for Israel.

“Successive American admin-istrations essentially purchased with American taxpayer money the dislike, if not the hatred, of the peoples of the region,” he told the paper in the interview published late Saturday, draw-ing a clear distinction between the American government and

the American people. Those ad-ministrations “have taken a very clear biased approach against something that (has) very strong emotional ties to the people of the region that is the issue of Pales-tine.”

He stressed that unlike his predecessor, Mubarak, he will be-have “according to the Egyptian people’s choice and will, nothing else.”

Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama has thanked the Egyptian president for securing the U.S. Embassy during protests against a film made in the United

States that mocked Prophet Mo-hammad and sparked worldwide demonstrations and violence.

Obama’s rival in the U.S. presi-dential race, Mitt Romney, called for a tougher line with Egypt after protesters scaled the com-pound wall and tore down the U.S. flag on September 11.

Police clashed with demon-strators for four days after that incident and barriers were erect-ed to stop them getting near the compound.

In a letter, Obama repeated Washington’s condemnation of the film and said he looked for-

ward to working with President Morsi to build on the “strategic partnership”, Morsi’s official Facebook page said yesterday.

Morsi, who was sworn in on June 30 after the first democratic elections in Egypt’s modern his-tory, has been cautious not to sharply depart from Mubarak’s foreign policy path, particularly the longstanding alliance with the United States.

But with an Islamist presi-dent at the helm of the Arab world’s most populous country, there are already differences and changes of focus. Morsi has been expected to distance himself from what many Egyptians saw as Mubarak’s compliance with Washington’s agenda in the Mid-dle East, especially because his Muslim Brotherhood group has been a vocal critic of U.S. policy in the region and in the Muslim world.

In the interview, Morsi dis-missed criticism that he respond-ed too slowly when protesters managed to scale the walls of the heavily fortified U.S. Embassy in Cairo on Sept. 11. The demonstra-tors replaced the American flag with a banner carrying the Islam-ic declaration of faith.

Morsi said he needed to deal with the situation “wisely” and took time to avoid a backlash from an angry but small crowd of protesters.

Libya’s president ordered all of the country’s militias to come under government

authority or disband, a move that appeared aimed at harnessing popular anger against the power-ful armed groups following the attack that killed the U.S. ambas-sador.

The assault on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, which killed Ambas-sador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, has sparked an angry backlash among many Lib-yans against the myriad armed factions that continue to run ram-pant across the nation nearly a year after the end of the country’s

civil war. On Friday, Benghazi residents staged a mass demon-stration against the militias, and stormed the compounds of sever-al armed groups in the city in an unprecedented protest to demand the militias dissolve.

Late Saturday, President Mo-hammed el-Megaref told report-ers that the militias, which the weak central government has re-lied upon for providing security in neighbourhoods and at state facilities since Gaddafi’s ouster, must fall under the authority of the national government or be disbanded.

He said a joint operations room

in Benghazi will coordinate be-tween the various authorized armed brigades and the army. Armed groups operating outside the “legitimacy of the state” will be disbanded, and the military and police will take control over those militias’ barracks, he said.

In a statement published by the official LANA news agency, the military asked all armed groups using the army’s camps and out-posts and barracks in Tripoli and other cities to hand them over. It warned that it will resort to force if the groups refuse.

President Morsi

Soldiers from the Libyan National Army getting ready to enter Rafal-lah al-sahati Islamic Militia Brigades compound in Benghazi, Libya , on Saturday. Photo: AP

“Any scheme which uses pensions as a guarantee must ensure that it does not inadvertently make the saver worse

off when they retire.”- BRITISH DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, NICK CLEGG

Egypt wants more independence from US• Obama thanks Morsi for securing American embassy

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net50 Monday, September 24, 2012 World News

A senior commander in Iran’s power-ful Revolutionary

Guard warned that Iran will target U.S. bases in the region in the event of war with Israel, raising the prospect of a broader conflict that would force other countries to get in-volved, Iranian state tele-vision reported yesterday.

The comments by Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who heads the Guard’s aero-space division, came amid tension over Iran’s nucle-ar program and Israel’s suggestion that it might unilaterally strike Iranian

Iran threatens to attack US bases if Israel strikes

nuclear facilities to scut-tle what the United States and its allies believe are efforts to build a bomb. Tehran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Hajizadeh said no Is-raeli attack can happen without the support of its most important ally, the United States, making all U.S. military bases a le-gitimate target.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 51Monday, September 24, 2012 North

2015: CPC will defeat PDP in Kaduna –Chieftain

PRISCILLA DENNISMINNA

About 17,550 out of the 57,510 students who registered for

internal examinations or-ganised by the in Niger State Ministry of Education failed the examinations.

The Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Su-san Gana, who disclosed this at a press briefing in Minna, said 39,959 passed the promotion examina-tions held in the state and would be eligible to sit for the West African Exami-nation Council, WAEC, and the National Exami-nation Council, NECO.

She said the administra-tor of Governor Babangida Aliyu had spent N440.7m on the WAEC and NECO examinations, while par-ents paid N191.6m.

Under the arrange-ment, the commissioner explained that while the government paid for one of the two examinations, parents paid for the other.

Gana said that before now, the state was paying the examination fees of the two examinations for each candidate.

She denied the allega-tion that non-payment of examination fees had made it difficult for stu-dents to access their ex-amination results on the internet.

WOLE ADEDEJIILORIN

About four million babies die every year, about seven

per minute, the world over in the first four weeks of life and 99 per cent of them occur in low and middle in-come countries, including Nigeria.

Professor Olugbenga Muokolu of the Depart-ment Paediatrics and Child Health in the Faculty of Clinical Sciences of the University of Ilorin made the submission at the 114 Inaugural Lecture of the in-stitution he delivered at the weekend.

The figure, according to him, represents seven new-born deaths per minute and

10,000 deaths a day.He, however, said three

million of the four million could be prevented if there was access to improved low-cost and low-tech interven-tions.

Muokolu said neona-tal deaths were generally caused by preterm deliv-eries with their attendant complications in the babies, prenatal asphyxia, infec-tions, respiratory problems, neonatal jaundice and con-genital malformations.

According to him, that a child escapes the deadly dangers of the first four weeks of life does not ex-clude him from other un-solicited encounters as he grows up to adulthood.

He said malaria was the most of such encounters which guaranteed 100 per cent mortality rate among children.

Muokolu, also said in Ni-geria in particular, one out every five women, had ma-laria parasite in her which was responsible for the growing maternal mortal-ity rate.

However, the professor recommended, among oth-ers, that government in Ni-geria and other developing world should encourage low-cost and appropriate technologies and care strat-egies as panacea for reduc-ing neonatal deaths.

17,550 students fail promotion examinations in Niger

75m children out of school in Nigeria –Report

10,000 babies die daily globally, says expert

AliyuAliyu

ABIODUN NEJO AND ADEMU IDAKWO

Frontline lawyer and founder of Afe Ba-balola University,

Ado-Ekiti, Chief Afe Ba-balola, has called on the government to adhere to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, recommenda-tion of at least 26 per cent of budgetary allocation to education.

Babalola said the edu-cation sector would con-tinue to suffer decline if adequate funding of the sector and nurturing of

quality teachers were not given priority attention.

The lawyer, who spoke at Kogi State University, Anyigba at the weekend while being conferred with Doctor of Letters (D. Litt) Honoris Causa, said: “Allocating ridiculous sums to the sector cannot move us forward in this country. Quality educa-tion is the key to success in life.

“The sector is suffering from inadequate funding. UNESCO recommended that 26 per cent of the budget be allocated to the sector, but that is not done here. We need to do that to move the sector forward.

“Some state universi-ties are operating from borrowed houses and when you look at a situ-ation where a state gov-ernor approves N50m for capital project in a uni-versity a year, what can that do?”

Babalola, who said his university would collabo-rate with Kogi State Uni-versity to provide quality education for the people, advised the graduating students not to allow any-thing to hinder them from attaining higher heights.

Speaking at the event, Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State, who described Babalola as an example in

determination and focus, said the legal luminary had touched many lives with his kindness.

The institution’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Has-san Isah, said the fourth convocation ceremony of the institution was the first time the university produced graduates who bagged higher degrees.

A former Peoples Dem-ocratic Party, PDP, Nation-al Chairman, Dr. Ahmadu Ali, was also honoured with a Doctor of Science degree.

A total of 4,274 students bagged first degrees from six faculties in the univer-sity.

AZA MSUEKADUNA

A chieftain of the Congress for Progressive

Change, CPC, Mr. Danladi Ephraim, has promised that his party would wrest power from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Kaduna State in the 2015 governorship poll.

Ephraim told jour-nalists in Kaduna at the weekend that the incum-bent PDP Governor Pat-rick Ibrahim Yakowa should prepare to vacate the Government House in 2015.

The CPC chieftain ad-mitted that although his party made mistakes in the 2011 general elections, it was prepared to defeat

the PDP because the latter had failed to deliver divi-dends of democracy to the electorate.

Ephraim, who was the running mate to the CPC governorship candidate in the 2011 poll, said bad governance was respon-sible for the current inse-curity facing the country, even as he accused the PDP-led government of hiding poor performance under insecurity.

He blamed the CPC failure to clinch power in 2011 on corruption in the electoral system, while promising that opposition parties would restore the country’s lost glory.

“We made some mis-takes in the past; we are set to correct them in or-der to confront PDP in

2015 elections. PDP gov-ernment in the state and at the federal level should prepare to vacate in 2015 because the government has failed Nigerians,” he said.

Ephraim, however, al-leged that the recently conducted state House of Assembly by-election in Zaria constituency won by the PDP was massively rigged.

Education suffering from inadequate funding – Babalola

L-R: Mallam Yusuf Olaolu Ali (SAN); Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed; Chief Medical Director, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Prof. Abdulwaheed Olatinwo and representative of the Minister of Health and Deputy Director, Health Emergency Preparedness and Response, Mr. John Kehinde, at the commissioning of UITH Trauma Centre donated by Mallam Ali in Kwara State, at the weekend.

ADEMU IDAKWOLOKOJA

An international agency, ActionAid, has said that about

75m children of school age had no access to education in the rural areas of Nige-ria.

The agency in part-nership with Kogi State community-based organ-isation, Participation Ini-tiative for Behavioural Change In Development,

PIBCID, said in its report on mapping of “In/Out of School Children in Prima-ry Schools” in Igalamela/Odolu Local Government Area of the state, that 150m children currently enrolled would drop out of school without completing primary education in the country.

ActionAid called on the Kogi State Government to involve various communi-ties in the budgetary plan-ning for infrastructure for

the primary schools.It said that the dearth

of conducive environment had contributed to the de-cline in children enrolment in the state.

According to the report, 58 per cent of the out of school children are female while 32 per cent are male.

This, according to the report, has given the im-pression that girls may be forced out of school by their parents for early mar-riage.

The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) says it is re-

strategising its operations to address the increasing cases of road crashes in the country.

The Corps Marshal, Mr. Osita Chidoka, said this at a retreat of the Zone RS2HQ, Lagos, in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, yesterday.

The theme of the retreat was “Zero Tolerance for Road Traffic Crashes.”

Chidoka also said that the commission would soon take delivery of patrol vehi-cles and motor bikes from the World Bank to enhance its operations during the ember months.

He added that the com-mission would be supplied with ambulances and heavy duty recovery vehicles.

“Under the safe corridor project, the World Bank is making available 16 pa-trol vehicles installed with mounted cameras, radar guns and communication equipment.

“The commission would also be taking delivery of 22 patrol bikes; three am-bulances and three heavy duty recovery vehicles for phase one for specific corri-dors across the country.

“By next week, we are taking delivery of the pa-trol vehicles and before the end of the year, we shall

OLAJIDE OMOJOLOMOJU

Osun State chap-ter of the Peoples Democratic Par-

ty (PDP) has raised the alarm and accused the Rauf Aregbesola-led Ac-tion Congress of Nigeria (ACN) government of commencing the process of selling the state’s solid minerals mining licence to some leaders of the ACN based in Lagos.

In a statement issued by its Director of Media and

Strategy, Diran Odeyemi, the PDP said: “We are not surprised at the latest move by Aregbesola to sell our asset, because as at the last time, he sold several hect-ares of land in Osun State to Lagos State government, people said PDP was crying wolf, but we will not be de-terred in exposing this gov-ernment as an expansion of Tinubu’s assets.”

Going down memory lane, the PDP said the state, under the former governor; Olagunsoye Oyinlola, ap-plied for and was granted

a mining licence, which conferred on the state the right to mine solid miner-als in any part of the coun-try by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) which conducted the bidding ses-sions.

It added that this gave birth to the Livingspring Mineral Promotion Com-pany (LMPC), as a limited liability company and that LMPC had, prior to Oyin-lola’s exit from govern-ment, acquired 11 mining sites across the country and “had also worked dili-

gently with prospective in-vestors in mining destina-tions including Australia, United States, Canada and South Africa to commence mining operations in an at-tempt to widen the revenue base of the state.”

The PDP alluded to a widely publicised state-ment credited to Aregbeso-la, when a team of mining experts from the Geological Surveys of Nigeria Agency, led by Prof. Siyan Malomo, visited the state about four months ago when he open-ly admitted that Oyinlola

achieved so much in the mining sub-sector, saying that it “never knew Areg-besola was laying the prem-ises to sell off those gains to his political god-fathers and sponsors,” with the state-ment.

While vowing to fight the Aregbesola administra-tion with all legal means to thwart the move by the ACN to rob Osun State of its patrimony, “which Aregbe-sola himself some months ago described as an endur-ing legacy of the Oyinlola administration, the PDP

appealed to concerned Fed-eral Government agencies and the media to remain alert and assist the people of the state in aborting what it described as “day-light robbery.”

In a related development, the Lagos State chapter of the PDP has criticised the Lagos State government for organising a “waste to food” holiday programme, which it said encouraged teenagers and school chil-dren to scavenge for plastic bottles in return for “food.”

The PDP said such pro-gramme at this time is barbaric, exploitative and extortionate.

ABIODUN NEJO ADO EKITI

Ekiti State Gover-nor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, yesterday

replied critics of his ad-ministration, saying his foreign trips were not on the bill of the state gov-ernment.

He said that despite fi-nancing the trips from his personal coffers since he assumed office, they were targeted at attracting for-eign investors to the state with the aim of stimulat-ing development.

The governor told journalists in Ado Ekiti,

the state capital, yester-day that the effects of the foreign trips and the achievements of his ad-ministration in office in line with his electioneer-ing promises, culminated in the Governor of the Year Award that he re-ceived from a newspaper company last week.

It will be recalled that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state recently criticised the governor for his frequent trips abroad, describing it as ‘capital flight’ and his refusal to allow the depu-ty governor act in his ab-sence.

PDP raises alarm over Osun mining licence

Ministers commend NSCDC for judicious use of funds

Ekiti funds not spent on foreign trips –Fayemi

Labour leader asks FG to focus on rail, energy sectors

World Bank to boost FRSC operations with patrol vehicles, others

The Vice-President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr.

Issa Aremu, has called on the Federal Government to ensure a functional rail and energy sectors in order to boost the nation’s economy.

Aremu, who made the call in Ilorin while speak-ing with journalists yester-

day, expressed concern that Nigeria’s dream of being among the leading 20 econo-mies by the year 2020 might become a mirage except the rail and energy sectors were made to be functional.

He said there could not be meaningful economic devel-opment or industrialisation in the country without sta-

ble power supply and a good transportation system.

He urged the Federal Government to focus on fix-ing the energy sector and protecting the market.

“The Federal Govern-ment should put in place a policy making it manda-tory that Nigerians should not consume what they are

not producing and that they should produce only what they consume.

“This was exactly the technique China used to develop its economy. They consumed only what they produced and Nigeria can learn from that in order for our country to grow and flourish,” Aremu said.

OMEIZA AJAYI

Three federal cabi-net ministers have commended the Ni-

geria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for what they described as the ‘judicious use of funds’ by the leadership of the corps even as they urged other heads of agen-cies and parastatals to emulate the corps in funds management.

Federal Capital Terri-tory (FCT) Minister, Sena-tor Bala Mohammed and his counterparts in Infor-

mation and National Plan-ning, Labaran Maku and Dr Shamsudeen Usman respectively, spoke yester-day at the inspection of projects at the Civil De-fence Academy in Sauka, Abuja, as part of the on-going Good Governance Tour by the Federal Gov-ernment.

They expressed delight at the conscientious use of about N1.5bn at the acade-my, saying “there are tan-gible evidences on ground to justify the funds.”

Minister of Informa-tion, Labaran Maku, de-scribed the Commandant-

President Goodluck Jonathan (left)greeting top government officials on his way to New York for the 67th session of the UN General Assembly in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

take delivery of the am-bulances, bikes and heavy duty recovery vehicles which will be used for the end of the year patrol op-erations.”

The corps marshal said the corridors to be given the equipment to include Bida, Suleja, Abuja, Ka-duna, Kano, Enugu, Abaka-liki, Ufon, Cameroun junc-tion, Owo, Ilesha, Mokwa and Benin Toll Gate.

He said the equipment would enhance operations at these corridors and the commission in general.

The FRSC boss said the retreat was in line with the collective efforts to de-mystify the ember months period.

“Nigerians have become apathetic to the wanton de-struction of lives and prop-erty characterised by this period of the year when human and vehicular traf-fic heighten due to the asso-ciated festivities of Sallah, Christmas and New Year.

“This apathy is, how-ever, sustained by the false belief held by people that road traffic crashes are acts of God or evil spirits of which we have no con-trol.

“But nothing could be farther from the truth, as the causes of road traffic crashes are known and they are preventable.”

General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps, Dr Ade Abolurin, as an honest public ser-vant, who according to him has been able to jus-tify the meagre resources at his disposal by way of embarking on meaningful projects for the corps.

According to him, the transformative efforts of President Goodluck Jona-than can be seen physi-cally at the civil defence corps, saying the corps has come to stay forever in the country contrary to speculations about its status.

52 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, September 24, 2012News

GEORGE OPARAUMUAHIA

Former players of Enugu Rangers have appealed to the governors of the five

South East states to assist of the families former players whose relatives live in penury.

The former players, who met in Umuahia at the weekend under the aegis of Ex-Rangers Memorial Project, lamented the condition of the families, some of who they alleged were ejected from their homes while their offspring could no longer afford school fees.

The group’s chairman, Mr. Stanley Okoronkwo, also called for the immortalization of the founding fathers of the club to enable the future generations to recall their exploits for the legend-ary Enugu club.

“We commend the Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, for his efforts at paying some sti-pends to some ex-Rangers players, and we urge other governors in the zone to emulate his gesture,” Okoronkwo said.

Okoronkwo who was flanked at the briefing by Dominic Nwobodo and Nwabueze

“We also want the governors to immortalize the founding fathers of the club that include Chief Jerry Enyeazu, Dan Anyiam, Tony Nzeribe, Clifford Eneli and Eto Amaechina, among others,” Okoronkwo, who was supported at the meeting by former players Nwabueze Nwankwo and Domi-nic Nwobodo, added.

AFOLABI GAMBARI

Organisers of the 18th National Sports Festi-val tagged “Eko 2012”

said yesterday that President Goodluck Jonathan will flag off Games Torch Tour at a cer-emony in Abuja tomorrow, sig-nifying countdown to the festi-val scheduled for November 27 to December 9.

National Mirror learnt that President Jonathan would be joined at the event by Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, his deputy and chair-person of the Local Organising Committee, Mrs. Adejoke Ore-lope-Adefulire and Rivers State Govenor, Chibuike Amaechi.

According to the Secretary General of the LOC, Kweku Tandoh, logistics for the event has been finalised to make it

hitch-free.“The Festival Torch is ex-

pected to go round the 35 states of the federation, commencing from the Federal Capital, Abuja during a 60-day period before ar-riving in Lagos,” Tandoh said.

“The Torch of Unity symbol-ises the unity and friendship that is engendered by the spirit of the National Sport Festival in building friendship, unity and bonding amongst the vari-

ous federating units of the na-tion,” the LOC chief explained.

Lagos State has over the past months intensified prepara-tion for the games which inter-estingly was first hosted in the city in 1973, after it was con-ceived by then military Head of State Gen. Yakubu Gown as one of the measures to recreate national unity after the nation overcame a 30-month-old civil war that ended in 1970.

European champion Ger-many began its FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup

with a hard-fought victory over Ghana yesterday.

The African side began the brighter, with Fatima Al-Has-san forced Merle Frohms into her first notable save of the day, tipping her header round the post after ten minutes.

However, just three minutes later the Africans were behind. Great work by captain Sara Daebritz down the left saw her pick out Venus El-Kassam. Her header was saved but Victoria Adyei could do nothing about Vivien Beil’s follow-up.

It was two before 20 min-utes had been played, Pauline Bremer taking the ball down on

her thigh at the edge of the box before prodding it past Adyei.

With a two-goal cushion Germany solidified and looked more composed, eliminating the spaces Ghana exploited

early on. Ghana came out fighting

after the break and broke through as Issaka collected the loose ball on the left wing to square Ayieyam who slotted in.

Super Eagles striker, Oba-femi Martins, yesterday scored the winner on his

debut for Levante against Real Sociedad in La Liga.

The former Rubin Kazan for-ward came in as a 46th minute substitute for Iborra and scored the match winner for Levante in the 87th minute to seal a 2-1 win for his side after he collected a pass from Ballesteros.

The former Inter Milan play-er, however, had his 64th minute effort disallowed for offside.

“I couldn’t ask for a better debut than this,” Martins told journalists minutes after the game.

Martins’ strength proved too much for opposing defenders to deal with as Levante trailed

1-0, before the club came back and secured the maximum three points.

The out of favour Nigeria in-ternational, who recently moved to the Spanish La Liga as a free agent after he cancelled his con-tract at Russian club Rubin Ka-zan, has signed a two-year deal.

Ex-Rangers launch SOS

Azerbaijan 2012: Germany rides Ghana Martins lifts Levante

SportNational Mirror

www.nationalmirroronline.net 53Monday, September 24, 2012

54

My relationship with Lance Armstrong is zero. I have never admired him and never will

–Spanish cycling star, Alberto Contador

Mikel gets Di Matteo’s applause

Eko 2012: Jonathan to fl ag off Unity TorchVice President Namadi Sambo (l), President Goodluck Jonathan, Rivers State Governor Chibuike Amaechi and his deputy, Tele Ikuru during the flagging off of the Rivers 2011 National Sports Festival

Action during the Ghana versus Germany group game in the ongoing FIFA U-17 competition in Azerbaijan yesterday

Martins

54 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netSport Monday, September 24, 2012

Nsofor nets for Lokomotiv

Debut delights Ambrose

Musa drives CSKA machine

Under pressure John Obi Mikel

Musa

Ambrose

Lokomotiv Moscow’s striker, Obin-na Nsofor, came off bench to score his second goal of the season away

at Terek Grzny over the weekend as the visitors won 3-0.

Nsofor, who replaced Giushakov in the 57th minute, found the back of the net in the 83rd minute to dash Grzny’s hope of recovery by giving his team a 2-0 lead.

“It was a great game and I am excited that I contributed to the victory with a goal,” Nsofor, who has been overlooked by Nigeria as he fights to regain full fit-ness after a knee problem, said yester-day.

“We have been doing well and I hope we will continue this way and even get better so that our goals will be achieved.”

Lokomotiv now occupies second spot with 19 points from nine games behind leader CSKA Moscow, who parades Nige-ria flying winger Ahmed Musa.

Super Eagles winger, Ahmed Musa, was the hero for CSKA Moscow as he scored the winner in a 3-2 home

victory over Volga Nyzhyi at the week-end.

Musa fired the winner in the 87th minute after he received a pass from Japan international Keisuke Honda to complete a great comeback by his Rus-sian team.

The former JUTH FC and Kano pil-lars goal getter said it was great to stage a big fight back.

“It was not an easy game, they came to win and they took the lead. We put in our best and I am happy that we won,” Musa stressed.

“The goal was a special one for me be-cause it gave us the victory after coming from 2-0 down. It was a team collective effort that gave us the win.”

Musa now has three goals in the league this season.

Chelsea midfielder, Mikel Obi, deserves praise and not abuse for the dirty job he does for the Stamford Bridge side,

according to Manager Roberto Di Matteo. “I had a good conversation with John, and

he seems to handle the racial abuse on Twit-ter well,” Di Matteo said yesterday.

“I have a lot of faith in him. I think he’s done extremely well for us in that position. It’s a bit of a dirty job there to try and break up the opposition’s play and it doesn’t always get recognised with the right credit.”

Di Matteo has also condemned in totality the abuse rained on Mikel after the Champi-ons League game against Juventus at Stam-ford Bridge last week.

Meanwhile, reports yesterday said Chel-sea will ban any fans found to have sent rac-ist tweets to the Nigeria international.

The midfielder had already closed down his Twitter account on Thursday morning by the time the club were made aware of two highly offensive comments directed at him on the social media website.

It is not yet known whether the tweets came from Blues fans angry with the mis-take Mikel made on Wednesday night which led to the late Juventus equaliser at Stam-ford Bridge.

“We haven’t seen any evidence to suggest that those directing racist abuse were Chel-sea supporters,” club spokesman Steve At-kins said.

“But we’ve made our position consistently clear over the years on any discriminatory behaviour within our support,” Atkins said.

Super Eagles defender, Efe Am-brose, has expressed delight at his debut for new club Glasgow Celtic

at the weekend. Ambrose, who got his work permit in

time to make the bench for his side on Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League tie against Benfica, played his first game for Celtic in a 2-0 win over Dundee Unit-ed when he was throw into the fray in the 86th minute as substitute for Scott Brown.

“I am happy with my debut and look forward to playing more games and achieving a lot with a great team like Celtic,” the Nigeria international said, even as his compatriot, Rabiu Ibrahim, sat out the match.

The central defender had to settle for only a place on the bench in the Cham-pions League group tie at home against Benfica on Wednesday because he was late in rejoining the team as he pursued his work permit in Israel.

“I wanted to play the game but I joined the team a bit late,” Ambrose explained.

Mikel gets Mikel gets Di Matteo’s Di Matteo’s applauseapplause

Dempsey

Kompany

Villas-Boas

Tottenham forward Clint Dempsey has voiced his respect for manager Mark Hughes as he prepares to go up against his former boss when QPR visit White Hart Lane on Sunday.

Dempsey has fond memories of working under the manager at for-mer club Fulham before they went their separate ways. And the Ameri-can says the 48-year-old showed glimpses of the talent that made him a star with Manchester United in training with the Cottagers.

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany has made it clear he has no intention of leaving the club for Spanish giants Real Madrid or Barcelona.

The influential centre-back, who has been at City since 2008 when he arrived from Hamburg, played a key role in their Premier League title-winning campaign last season.

But the 26-year-old says he has no desire to follow in the footsteps of other Premier League greats and make the move to Spain with Real or Barca.

Andre Villas-Boas would have no complaints if the continued evolution at Tot-tenham Hotspur included the ap-pointment of a technical director.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is determined to overhaul the man-agement structure at White Hart Lane this season after sacking Harry Redknapp in the summer.

Redknapp was against the idea of having a technical director above him but Villas-Boas is fa-miliar with the concept and would be happy to feed off the advice of a more experienced person from the world of football.

Tit Bits

Obinna Nsofor

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 55SportMonday, September 24, 2012

A late penalty goal by Man-chester United talisman, Robin van Persie, yester-

day gave the Red Devils victory over Liverpool on a poignant af-ternoon at Anfield.

On an occasion when the Hill-sborough victims and families were remembered in moving scenes before kick-off, these two great rivals produced a typically competitive and contentious en-counter.

Liverpool were reduced to 10 men when Jonjo Shelvey was sent off for a first-half foul on United defender Jonny Evans,

but it did not stop captain Ste-ven Gerrard volleying the Reds ahead seconds after the interval.

United responded with a spectacular equaliser from Ra-fael Da Silva before Van Persie confirmed a fourth straight Pre-mier League win nine minutes from time after Glen Johnson fouled Antonio Valencia.

It left Liverpool and new man-ager Brendan Rodgers without a league win in five attempts this season and in the Premier League’s bottom three, once again rueing their lack of cut-ting edge.

Elsewhere, Laurent Koscielny scored an equaliser as Arsenal came from behind to snatch a well-earned point from a breath-less encounter with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, the Frenchman finding the net nine minutes from time after thump-ing in from close range off a failed clearance by the hosts.

City had taken a scarcely deserved first-half lead when Joleon Lescott headed in David Silva’s corner shortly before half-time.

But Arsenal kept coming to salvage a point from a match

that maintains both club’s un-beaten starts to the season and leaves the Emirates side locked together with eight points from five matches.

But this was an accomplished performance, made all the more satisfying by the contributions of Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey.

YEMI OLUS

The confusion surrounding the al-leged non-payment of the N2.5 million promised by President

Goodluck Jonathan to Team Nigeria’s Paralympics officials took another di-mension over the weekend as the Secre-tary General of the Nigeria Paralympic Committee, Dr. Frank Thorpe, claimed ignorance of the government’s pledge.

Jonathan announced N5m, N3m, N2.5m and N5000, 000 for gold, silver, bronze medallists and athletes who did not win medals respectively at a recep-tion for the team in Abuja a fortnight ago as well as N2.5m for all the accompanied officials, coaches, secretaries and medical team.

National Mirror, however, learnt yes-terday some officials alleged being short-

changed in the largesse, claiming they were paid N1m while others received N500, 000. But Thorpe said he was yet to get to the root of the matter.

“I read about it in the papers but the truth is that I have not verified from any-one, neither have I checked my account balance because my bank does not usu-ally send me alerts. I will need to confirm from the National Sports Commission be-cause I wouldn’t make assumptions,” the paralympic official said.

“We all heard that the president prom-ised N2.5m to each official, not the total sum for all the officials because if that were to be the case, nothing will be left by the time the money is shared among almost 20 people,” he explained, adding, “After all, the Falconets officials collected their N1.2 million each immediately but if what I’m hearing is true, I will have to write to the NSC concerning the matter.”

A paralympic silver medallist who spoke to National Mirror yesterday under condition of anonymity, however, con-firmed her receipt of the N3m pledged by the president.

According to Thorpe, other bodies are interested in bestowing honour on the athletes who made the country proud in London having won six gold, five silver and two bronze medals.

“Shell has also contacted me as regards organizing an award ceremony soon and I will meet the company’s official during the week,” he disclosed.

“Hopefully that will enable us to ear-nestly commence preparation for the Commonwealth Games and the Rio Games.

“We will be busy scouting talents dur-ing the Eko 2012 National Sports Festival because of the need to replace some of our ageing stars.”

Governor’s Cup: Agugbom eyes ‘good run’

Presidential largesse sparks controversy

YEMI OLUS

As tennis players get set for the 12th Governor’s Cup Tennis Champi-

onship, former CBN women’s champion, Christy Agugbom, is expecting to undergo a suc-cessful event this year.

Agugbom lost out of the competition in the opening rounds of last year’s edition but says she is rediscovering her form following intensive training for the tournament scheduled for October 13 to 27.

“I didn’t go far last year as I was sent packing in the early rounds of the first and second legs but I pray for a good run this year. I have al-ready resumed training and I believe I can make an impact this time,” she said.

Players from over 40 coun-tries are expected at the event which is the only Inter-national Tennis Federation Pro Circuit in Nigeria. How-ever, Nigerian players have always been at the receiving end after finding their oppo-nents tough to contend with.

On her poor performanc-es over the years, Agugbom said: “We do not have the facilities so it is no surprise that our counterparts from the west or even other Af-rican countries fare better. They have everything they need.

“They also start from a very young age unlike what is obtainable over here. The difference is very clear. Per-sonally I started the game when I had almost attained the age of 20 so there is no basis for comparison.”

RVP ruins Reds Anfi eld’s party

Bolaji Abdullahi

Robin van Persie (20) scoring the penalty to seal win for Manchester United at Anfield yesterday

EPL Results

Liverpool 1-2 Man Utd

Man City 1-1 Arsenal

Newcastle 1-0 Norwich

Tottenham 2-1 QRP

Vol. 02 No. 454 Monday, September 24, 2012 N150

WORLD RECORD

Largest display of lanterns

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Printed simultaneously in Lagos, Abuja and Ondo State. ISSN 0794-232X.

NFF President, Aminu Maigari

Former Warriors of Zimbabwe captain, Benjani Mwaruwari, says he will leave South Afri-

ca for England by mid-October prior to making a decision on his future.

Amidst speculation that Mwaru-wari, 34, was on the verge of signing for South Africa top side SuperS-port United, the striker said yester-day that he had only trained with

the club to keep fit.“The arrangement was made by

former national team mate Kaitano Tembo, who is an assistant coach at SuperSport,” Mwaruwari ex-plained.

“I’m in a position in life where I

don’t have to force things. My target is really to find a Premier League club here, and if that fails I will re-turn to England to evaluate the situ-ation,” the former Manchester City and Portsmouth striker added.

“I think presently I am leaning

towards retirement. But you never know.”

Mwaruwari, who previously played in Switzerland and France, signed for Portsmouth in a £4,1m deal in 2006 before joining Manches-ter City in 2008.

Sport Extra

Mwaruwari seeks fresh playing options

Printed and Published by Global Media Mirror Ltd: Head Offi ce: Mirror House, 155/161 Broad Street, Lagos Tel: 07027107407, Abuja Offi ce: NICON Insurance House, Second Floor, Central Business District Area, Abuja Tel: 08070428249, Advert hotline: 01-8446073, Email: mail@nationalmirroronline.net. Editor: SEYI FASUGBA. All correspondence to PMB 10001, Marina, Lagos.

Printed simultaneously in Lagos, Abuja and Ondo State. ISSN 0794-232X.

Ignorance of faithless believers and their devoteesThe largest display of lanterns in a single venue was 47,759 and was achieved by

Tainan County Government at Solar City in the ‘Prayer for Peace’ area of Tainan Science Park in Tainan, Taiwan, on 24 February 2008.

Which subtler way to put the recent display of violence demonstra-tions in parts of Egypt, Libya,

Tunisia, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan and now northern Nigeria, which was characterised by burning of flags and pictures, and even leading to the killing of people in some cases, over a stupid obnox-ious video clip? For me, it is a stark exhi-bition of dangerous ignorance of the way the world works plus a clear proof of lack of faith in an omnipotent God by the mas-terminds of the so called protests we were forced to endure. It is time we tell these un-civilised thugs without mincing words that their senseless actions have no place in a modern world where normal ordinary peo-ple, regardless of their race, faith, gender or ethnicity, just want peace and prosperity

for themselves and their loved ones. As I write these notes, I am also star-

ing at the footages of the mob that went out in Kano to protest and burn flags and pictures over the weekend; please have a look at those pictures if you can. Without much analysis, two things immediately come to mind. One is that the crowd we see is an organised and coordinated team, not a spontaneous group of angry protesters. The second is that I doubt that those people in the images we saw in the streets of Kano have actually seen the video clip they claim to be protesting about. This ill famed stupid tasteless video is not available in public do-main anymore. I had to make a special re-quest and prove I needed it for my studies for me to see it.

Let us not fool ourselves, a clear and rea-sonable implication of such observations is that there is someone or some people with re-sources sustaining these actions and guiding these crowds. In the Nigeria of Boko Haram, a person or people with enough resources to inform, convince, mobilise and coordinate others to go to the streets to burn flags and picture in the name of religion and actually doing so should be identified and kept under close scrutiny by those charged with protect-ing our lives and properties. If anymore rea-son was needed, this is a golden opportunity for our secret service and they should seize it in order to prevent future calamities.

With their actions, those orchestrating these uprisings and the devotees executing

on their behest and influence are clearly showing that their understanding of how things work in countries like the USA is shockingly modest and dangerously wrong. In their ignorance, they are equating the ac-tion of a faceless individual to that of a gov-ernment or even a whole country. From their shallow point of view, they seem incapable of understanding that from all available analyses and polls we have today, the people of America and their government have no desire to go to war with more countries or movements. These ignorant flag and pic-ture arson orchestrators that claim to be causing mayhem in the name of a God in which they seem not have complete faith are clearly showing themselves as incapa-ble of understanding that the crux of pres-ent American administration’s foreign pol-icy is to put emphasis on negotiation and

collaboration rather than confrontation and unilateralism.

If there was a bit more depth to their thoughts they would probably realise that with their actions they are giving validity to those foreign policy hawks who claim there is no point in trying to reason with non-Christians as they are just haters that needed to be isolated, dominated and quashed. If they could think just a little bit more, they might easily realise that if the American people reasoned like them then they would see the people in Kano burn-ing the American flags and in retaliation consider Nigeria an enemy country. Could it be that these people actually want that? Could it be that they want war? Looking at the images of Kano and elsewhere with all those children and woman amongst that mob one cannot but wonder and ask what value do these people place on the lives of their dependents. What kind of injudicious and selfish cynicism are we dealing with here?

A lot is amiss; for the purpose of un-derstanding these irritating and criminal acts, even if we were to grant just for the sake of argument that the orchestrators are mere reckless injurious cynics and that their devotees are fuelled by the be-lief that they are doing something godly, one must still ask a few questions on how these people conceive their God. Do they really see their God as omniscient, om-nipotent and merciful? It is legitimate to doubt these arsonists and especially those supporting and guiding them real-ly have enough faith to believe that their God that sees and knows all, has enough power to deal with someone that insults his commandments and Prophet.

They seem to believe that God and his Prophet need their help to protect them-selves from an ugly video clip. They are the faithless ones. Their act is a display of ignorance of faithless believers who want to play God. They should beg for forgiveness of their sins.

THEIR ACT IS A DISPLAY OF

IGNORANCE OF FAITHLESS BELIEVERS

WHO WANT TO PLAY GOD. THEY SHOULD

BEG FOR FORGIVENESS OF THEIR SINS

NOTES FROM CAMBRIDGEAnthony A. Kilaanthonykila@mail.com

Benjani Mwaruwari