...towards a better life for the people

N150VOL. 25: NO. 62327

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015**

MAIDUGURI ATTACK:President's team trapped

Mr & MrsContinues on Page 5

•Journalists, medical personnel, securitymen among team•53 terrorists, village head, 41 others killed•Brigade Commander injured in Monguno attack

KERRY—President Goodluck Jonathan (R) receiving U.S Secretary of State, John Kerry in Lagos, yesterday. Photo: NAN.

By KingsleyOmonobi, Ben

Agande & NdahiMarama

A BUJA—SOMEs e c u r i t y

personnel, journalistsand the medical team,who accompaniedPresident GoodluckJonathan on hiscampaign tour ofMaiduguri, Borno State,were still trapped inMaiduguri, yesterday,following attack on thecity by the Boko Haramsect.

The team which wasbilled to have left for thevenue of the President’scampaign, was still inthe state due to the 24hour-curfew imposed bythe Nigerian Army onMaiduguri, the statecapital.

One of those trappedtold Vanguard on

May 29 handover datesacrosanct — Jonathan 8 9

PRESIDENT'S RALLY:Yuguda blames FCT ministerfor Bauchi attack

Fashola, Soludo, Falana write for Vanguard todayPMS Pumppricereduction andthe economy:My takeaway— Fashola

Buhari vsJonathan:Beyond theelection— Soludo

How tostoppoliticalviolence— Falana

57-62

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POCKET CARTOONVanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015—5

Continues from Page 1

MAIDUGURI ATTACK: President's team trapped

TAKE HEARTBY ELLA RANDLE

Happiness and success in life is simply thegratifying combination of liking yourself, likingwhat you do, and liking who you do it with —TakeHeart Quote

There is a beautiful saying that there comes a timein life when you walk away from all the drama,and the people who create it. Surround yourself withpeople who make you laugh, forget the bad, andfocus on the good. Life is too short to be anythingbut happy. Falling down is part of life. Getting backup is living.

Focus on the activities and people that make youhappy, and filter out the avoidable opposites. Forin reality, we often make our lives complicated whenit’s really quite simple: Find what it is that makesyou happy and spend more time doing it. Findwho it is that makes you smile and spend more timewith them.

telephone: "We arehiding and there isserious fighting goingon between theinsurgents and securitypersonnel. Security menare battling to repel theinsurgents.

"The military said thattroops have repelled theattack but they will haveto comb the bushes to getrid of the insurgents andthey said they might notfinish today. Meaningthat we can not leavetoday (yesterday)."

According to thesource, the entire convoyof the President remainsa major target of theinsurgents who are benton attacking the team inorder to embarrass thepresidency.

A statement by theDefence Headquarterson its tweeter handleyesterday said: “Troopsare repelling asimultaneous attack onMonguno andMaiduguri by terrorists.

Coordinated air andland operations arebeing conducted now.”

Meanwhile, the curfewimposed on Maiduguriwould be reviewedtoday.

53 terror suspectsand 12 residentskilled

At the end of the battle,53 terror suspects and 12residents were killed.

The insurgentslaunched a dawn raid onMaronti and Njimtilovillages in the outskirtsof the Borno Statecapital, promptingsoldiers to respond withheavy weaponry and airstrikes while the entirecity was on lock-down.

During the operations,a Cobra ArmouredPersonel Carrier, APC,heavy artillery guns aswell as some machineguns and other weaponswere captured from thefleeing terrorists. Three

Golf cars loaded withexplosives were alsodestroyed.

A terse statementsigned by spokesman ofthe 7 Division, Col. SankUsman, in Maiduguriyesterday read: “The 7Division, Nigerian Armyhas officially announcedthe imposition of a 24-hour curfew inMaiduguri till furthernotice.”

Reports said that agroup of terrorists whoattempted to take overthe city was confrontedby troops as anothergroup of suspectedmembers of the grouplaunched an attack onMonguno LocalGovernment Area of thestate.

Monguno is about 100kilometres north ofMaiduguri and hadwitnessed series ofdeadly attacks in recentpast.

A source told Vanguardthat the terrorists whoattacked Monguno hadthe military barracks intown as their main target.

He said: “Manyresidents of Mongunoand some securityoperatives had to flee forsafety.”

Residents aroundMaimalari, which is theheadquarters of the 7Division in Maiduguri aswell as Shagari Low costarea in the metropolis,said they woke up in themorning only to discoverthat many fleeingresidents of Mongunowere passing throughtheir communitiesheading to Maidugurifor safety.

It was, however, notclear if there werecasualties from theMonguno attack at presstime.

The 24-hour curfew

imposed in the course ofthe operation is expectedto be lifted as soon asmop-up operation isconcluded. Citizens willbe allowed to go abouttheir lawful activitiesfrom 6 am today.

Meanwhile, at theMonguno end,coordinated aircampaign has takenover from ground forces,as troops had to retreatfrom the location after theBrigade Commanderand some of the troopswere wounded whilerepelling terrorists attack

on the town.Calm has been restored

to Maiduguri andKonduga as theoperation continues withpatrols and surveillance.

Village head, 29others killed

In a relateddevelopment, no fewerthan 30 people,including a village head(name withheld) werefeared killed, when somesuspected insurgentsattacked Kambari villageof Konduga LocalGovernment Area ofBorno State.

The attack, according tosources, came less than24 hours after PresidentGoodluck Jonathanlaunched his re-electioncampaign in Maiduguri.

“The terrorists attackedKambari village which isfew kilometres toMaiduguri around 5 am.

They killed 30 peopleincluding our villagehead and set the entirehamlet ablaze,” aresident, MallamAbubakar Usman whoescaped and fled toMaiduguri said.

“We suspected that theinsurgents after fruitlessefforts to enterMaiduguri throughKonduga, eventuallytook a different route andattacked Kambari,”Usman narrated inHausa.

Another woman fromthe village said “theterrorists also went awaywith some women theyconsidered goodlooking.”

The state Police PublicRelations Officer, DSPGideon Jubrin said: “Ihave not been to theoffice for the past twodays. I am not aware ofsuch, but I will makecontacts and get back toyou before press time."

Jonathan woos businessleaders in Lagos

By CliffordNdujihe

L A G O S —PRESIDENT

Goodluck Jonathan,yesterday, took hiscampaign for re-electionto the country’s businesscommunity in Lagos,promising morecollaboration with theprivate sector in theprovision ofinfrastructure.

Speaking after a host ofhis ministers enumeratedhis achievements in theagriculture, roadconstruction, jobcreation, power supplyand maritime sectors,President Jonathan saidhis administration hadtackled corruption morethan any otheradministration.

According to him, theEconomic and FinancialCrimes Commission,EFCC, has prosecutedand secured more

convictions in the last fiveyears than at any othertime. He said his style isto create systems andinstitutions that willmake it difficult forpeople to engage ingraft. The ministers thatspoke at the eventtagged: “The corporateforum: An interactiveforum with Mr.President”, were FinanceMinister Dr. NgoziO k o n j o - I w e a l a ;Petroleum Minister, Mrs.Deziani Alison-Madueke; AgricultureMinister, Dr. AkinwunmiAdeshina; PowerMinister, Prof ChineduNebo; Trade andInvestment Minister, DrOlusegun Aganga andWorks Minister, Arc.Mike Onolememen.

Speaking at the event,Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala saidthree years ago thepresident foresaw theprevailing slump incrude oil prices anddirected the ministers to

accelerate thediversification agendaand the move has nowyielded dividends.According to her, sectorsthat are contributing tothe national revenue areservice, agric, industries,telecoms and creativesectors like Nollywood.

Continuing, Okonjo-Iweala said thegovernment and NigeriaBureau of Statistics foundout that 1.8 million jobsare needed yearly to meetthe needs of Nigerians,adding that currently thegovernment is creating1.2 million jobs yearly andneeds the support ofNigerians to bridge thegap between the nextthree to four years.

Notable personalities atthe event includedGovernors Liyel Imoke ofCross River and GodswillAkpabio of Akwa IbomState, Alhaji AlikoDangote, Oba Otudeko,Jim Ovia, Peter Obi, Boni Haruna, Ifeanyi Uba,Atedo Peterside amongmany others.

JONATHAN IN MAIDUGURI—President Goodluck Jonathan waving to the crowd as he arrivedfor the Maiduguri rally on Saturday. State House photo.

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Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015 — 7

Three killed as APC supporters, policeclash in Wukari

NO fewer than twentypersons, including

women and children, havereportedly lost their lives,following outbreak ofcholera in the riverinecommunities of Sagbamaand Southern Ijaw localgovernment areas ofBayelsa State.

This came as Akwa IbomState government urged thecitizens and residents tobe vigilant over thecurrent cholera outbreakby observing improvedpersonal hygiene andenvironmental sanitation.

Among the dead, it waslearned, was a 60-year-oldwoman who gave up theghost at a Sagbamacommunity after excessivestooling and vomiting.

Deaths were also recodedat Osiama and Ekede, alsoin Sagbama localgovernment area.

Also affected were

JALINGO—THREEpersons were

reported killed by soldiersyesterday at the the venueof All ProgressivesCongress, APC,governorship campaign atWukari, Taraba State,following a shoot-outbetween soldiers andprotesting civilians.

Five other persons, whosustained injuries in theclash are currently receivingtreatment at Wukari GeneralHospital.

The incident occurredwhen the candidate of APCin Taraba State, Sen. AishaJumei Arhasan, visitedWukari to solicit for votes fornext month’s generalelection.

Vanguard reliablygathered that youthsnumbering over twohundred, protested to AtoshiRecreation Center Wukari,venue of the governorshiprally to show their dismayto the candidate.

Thomas Aduku, aresidence of Wukari, whowas at the venue of the rally,told Vanguard that theyouths were not allowedentrance into the venue bythe security agents whowere drafted to secure thevenue of the occasion.

“One of the protesters

By SamuelOyadongha &

Chioma Onuegbu

By John Mkom

AKURE—TWO younggirls have

reportedly been killed inthe farm by suspectedritualists at Iju in AkureNorth Local GovernmentArea of Ondo State.

The community hassubsequently been throwninto mourning, followingdeath of the two girls,identified as OyinkansolaOwoeye and FolasadeBello

Police sources toldVanguard in Akure that bothgirls, aged 12, reportedlywent to the farm to fetchfirewood but neverreturned.

A search party wasorganised by their parents

Suspected ritualists kill teen girlsin Ondo

By Dayo Johnson

Cholera epidemic claims 20lives in Bayelsa communities

Ikanbiri, Enewari, Opuamaand Epirigbene inSouthern Ijaw localgovernment area of thestate.

Some community healthworkers who spoke oncondition of anonymity,confirmed that the spreadof the epidemic hadassumed a worrisomedimension.

The disease, according tothe health workers, isknown as vibrio chloleraebacterium and causesvictims to vomit and stoolfrequently which could befatal.

The state Commissionerfor Health, Dr. AyibatonyeOwei, it was learned, hasvisited some of the affectedcommunities in the stateand approved thedistribution of drugs.

But in a text messageon the development, thecommissioner describedthe development as stale.

“The outbreak wasreported two weeks agoand our ministry

immediately swung intoaction to effectively curtailit. And it is not true that therecord of death is 20. Anofficial statement from theMinistry will soon be madeavailable,” he said.

It was, however,gathered that thedevelopment is causingfear in the riverine enclaveof the state where sanitarycondition is poor in most ofthe communities.

Meanwhile, Akwa IbomState government hasurged the citizens andresidents to be vigilant overthe current cholera outbreakby observing improvedpersonal hygiene andenvironmental sanitation.

The Commissioner forHealth Dr EmemabasiBassey, who gave thecharge during a chat withnewsmen yesterday inUyo, said the disease,which reportedly killed over20 people in theneighboring Andoni LocalGovernment Area of RiversState, called for caution.

stoned a soldier and theman fell down, promptingother military men there toopen fire on the protesters.I saw three persons killedby the soldiers,” theprotester said.

Another eye witness toldVanguard that thedisagreement between thesoldiers and the protestersstarted when the

governorship candidatestarted spraying money inthe air inside the venue ofthe rally.

“When she startedspraying money, those whocame out to protest, forcedthemselves to gain entranceinto the venue and theyclashed with the soldiersand that was how thesoldiers started shootingat the crowd,” thewitness told Vanguard.

and relatives after waitingendlessly for their return

Their lifeless bodies,inflicted with machetes cuts,were later found by the roadside on the way to the farm.

Sources added that besidethe machetes cuts all overtheir bodies, it was alsodiscovered that their bloodhad been allegedly drainedby their assailants suspectedto be ritualists.

Contacted, Police imagemaker, Wole Ogodo,confirmed their death, buthowever said they werekilled by unknownassailants in the town.

He said: “We receivedinformation that the twogirls, Oyinkansola andFolasade, went to the bushto fetch fire wood where theymet their untimely deathlast Saturday.

8—Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015

May 29 handover date sacrosanct—Jonathan Assures US of credible, free, fair polls

By Ben Agande

ABUJA — PRESIDENTGoodluck Jonathan,

yesterday, said that the May29 handover date to a newelected president in thecountry "is sacrosanct."

Jonathan made the pledge ata meeting with the UnitedStates of America, USA,Secretary of State, John Kerry.

Jonathan spoke against thebackdrop of controversytrailing the call by theNational Security Adviser,NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki, forthe Independent NationalElectoral Commission, INEC,to postpone the election forthree months to ensure thedistribution of outstanding 30million Permanent Voters’Cards, PVCs, to their ownersin several parts of the country.

In a statement signed byJonthan, the FederalGovernment also promised toprovide all the resourcesneeded for the elections toensure hitch free polls.

He further promised that"Nigeria is strongly committedto building the multinationaltask force to fight Boko Haramin partnership withCameroon, Chad, Niger andBenin Republic under theauspices of the Lake ChadBasin Commission."

Jonathan’s statement read:"It was a pleasure to welcomeSecretary John Kerry toNigeria. We had a candid andconstructive discussion abouta broad range of issues.

"Nigeria is a vibrantdemocracy and the largesttrading partner of the US inAfrica, with more than $18billion in bilateral trade. Ourcountries and peoples share amutual admiration for eachother and a deep commitmentto freedom, democracy andhuman rights.

"This is why we are togetherengaged in a struggle againsta common enemy thatpromotes terror, fear, division,and violates human rights,most especially of women andgirls, with complete impunity.

Boko Haram"Winning the fight against

Boko Haram in Nigeria andWest Africa is absolutelyessential to beat back the tideof religious extremism aroundthe world.

"Our security forces havebeen working tirelessly andcourageously to achieve thisgoal. I reaffirmed for SecretaryKerry that Nigeria is stronglycommitted to building themultinational task force to fightBoko Haram.

"Indeed, I called publicly forsuch a regional approach atthe African leaders summit inParis in May 2014 and morerecently in multilateralmeetings.

"We are pleased that theinternational community is

now strongly united behindthis initiative and agree thatits success is critical. It isequally important that themultinational force receivesthe significant support that isrequired to address the threatthrough our global partners.

"The US, more than anyother country in the world,has the most experiencefighting armed insurgencies.And having suffered thedevastating attacks of 9/11,its people also understandthe insecurity and fear thatis the reality for the vast

majority of peaceful, tolerantMuslims and Christians inNorth Eastern Nigeria.

"This is why I firmly believethat enhancing andexpanding various channelsof cooperation between ourtwo countries, in the contextof growing internationalcoordination, are of theutmost importance. Idiscussed a number of ideaswith Secretary Kerry to movesuch cooperation forward.

"We are grateful to the USfor standing with Nigeriaand its people in our fight

against Boko Haram. Ireaffirmed our strongcommitment to workingtogether with the UnitedStates to put an end to globalterrorism and particularlyBoko Haram. Nigeria willalso work to deepen andconsolidate our bilateralrelationship with the UnitedStates.

"I emphasized to SecretaryKerry that I am deeplycommitted to ensuring thatour forthcoming election isfree, fair, and credible. It isespecially critical that all

political parties abide by theAbuja Accord, which commitseach to non-violence before,during, and after the election.

"I made it absolutely clear thatthe May 29 handover date issacrosanct. In addition, thegovernment will provide allresources that are required bythe INEC to ensure that theelection goes smoothly.

"I also emphasized that INECis an independent body, whichmakes its own decisions withoutany interference from thegovernment."

Abuja peace accord: Eminent Nigerians move toenforce compliance

Raise National Peace C'ttee to monitor deal

CONFERMENT: The Vice Chancellor, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Prof. BenjaminOzumba; Deputy President of the Senate, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, and his wife, Dr. NwannekaEkweremadu during the conferment of Honorary Doctor of Laws on the Senator at the 44thConvocation of the UNN in Nsukka, weekend.

By Soni Daniel ,Regional Editor, North

ABUJA — IN a bid toprevent possible pre and

post-election violence,eminent Nigerians,yesterday, converged onAbuja to ensure theworkability of the January 14,2015 peace accord signed bypresidential candidates innext month's elections.

The meeting, which wasattended by top religious andpolitical leaders, wascoordinated by the KukahCentre and the Office of theSpecial Adviser to thePresident on Inter-PartyMatters.

The meeting, which tookplace at Sheraton Hotels,Abuja, was observed byrepresentatives of theSecretary General of theUnited Nations, Dr.Mohammed Ibn Chambasand Mr. Dauda Toure and thetwo major political parties inNigeria: the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP, andAll Progressives Congress,APC.

Prof. Wale Oladeporepresented the PDPNational Chairman, AdamuMuazu while Sen. LawanShuaibu represented theAPC National Chairman,Chief John Oyegun.

At the meeting werePresident of the ChristianAssociation of Nigeria, CAN,Bishop Ayo Oritsejafor;Catholic Archbishop, JohnCardinal Onaiyekan;Anglican Archbishop,Nicholas Okoh and BishopMatthew Kukah.

Others at the meting underthe aegis of the NationalPeace Committee, werePublisher of Vanguard

Newspapers, Mr. SamAmuka; former ForeignAffairs Minister, Prof. BolajiAkinyemi and formerPresident of Nigerian BarAssociation, NBA, DamePriscilla Kuye.

Others were Justice RoseUkeje, Prof Ameze Gaubadiaand Prof. Zaynab Alkali.

The meeting, which waschaired by Commodore EbituUkiwe, agreed that a formalcommittee be raised to ensurethe strict compliance by thepolitical parties with theAbuja Accord.

The office of the SpecialAdviser to the President onInter-Party Matters will act asinterface with IndependentNational Electoral

Commission, INEC, andother stakeholders inNigeria to ensure thesuccess of the committee.

The setting up of thepeace committee followedconcerns raised by most ofthe speakers at the event onwho would enforcecompliance with the accordsigned by the candidatesand how it would be carriedthrough.

It's a welcomedevelopment

National Secretary of thePDP, Prof. Wale Oladepoand the Deputy NationalChairman of the APC,Lawan Shuaibu, describedthe formation of the National

Peace Council as a welcomedevelopment, which every well-meaning Nigerian shouldapplaud.

Former Head of State, Gen.Abdulsalami Abubakar; PastorEnoch Adeboye; Prof IbrahimGambari and the Lamido ofAdamawa were named inabstentia as members of thecommittee.

Special Adviser to thePresident on Inter-Party Affairs,Sen. Ben Obi, said thecommittee was raised to tacklethe raging fear of electoralviolence and bring about peacein Nigeria.

The Kukah Centre is toprovide the neededadministrative back-up for therunning of the committee.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015 —9

INSPECTION: From left: Representative of RCC Limited, Lahwani Subhi; WorksMinister, Mike Onolememen and Director, South-South Zone, Federal Ministry of Works,Chukwuma Uzo, during the minister's inspection of ongoing works on Benin-Auchi-Lokojaroad, in Benin City, weekend.

Jonathan’s rally: FCT minister, not APCmasterminded Bauchi attack — Yuguda

Allegation fallacious, wicked, unfounded — MinisterWe've been vindicated —APC

By Soni Daniel, RegionalEditor, North

ABUJA — GOVERNOR IsaYuguda of Bauchi State

and Senator Bala Mohammed,the Minister of Federal CapitalTerritory, FCT, were weekend,locked in an exchange ofwords following thegovernor ’s claim that theminister hired the thugs thatstoned the president’s convoyin Bauchi last Thursday.

Following the stoning, thepresidency had flayed theactions just as a number ofPeoples Democratic Party, PDP,chieftains had accused theopposition All ProgressivesCongress, APC, of instigatingattacks on the president in thenorth.

Governor Yuguda, however,rebutted the claim as he toldVanguard, weekend, that thestoning of the president’sconvoy was instigated bySenator Mohammmed toembarrass him, Yuguda, as notbeing on ground in the state.

Both men, members of thePDP and associates of thepresident, were present at thePDP presidential campaignrally in Bauchi following whichthe president’s convoy waspelted with stones. Theminister was also peltedduring the rally.

The APC, last night, said itwas vindicated by thedevelopment as it thanked thegovernor for his revelation,recalling it had earlier claimedthe stoning incidents werefallouts from the governorshipprimaries in the PDP states.

Yuguda told Vanguard in aninterview that the FCTminister secretly imported thethugs to cause trouble at thevenue of the campaign rally inBuachi last Thursday to givethe president the erroneousimpression that he (Yuguda)was not on ground in the state.

He said: “The whole thingwas carefully planned andimplemented by the FCTMinister in collaboration withhis cohorts who wanted toembarrass me and prove toPresident Jonathan that theywere more politically relevantin Bauchi State than the sittinggovernor.

“The minister and his groupsponsored small boys of notmore than seven years of ageand gave them brooms to givethe impression that they werefrom the opposition partywhereas they were allwearing T-shirts branded withhis name and that of TAN.

“Before the arrival of theboys, the presidential rally wasgoing on smoothly. When theyentered the venue they startedsigning “Sai Jonathan”, “SaiJonathan” only for them tobegin to chant “ Sai Buhari”,“Sai Buhari” to thebewilderment of all present.

“I feel very bad over the sadincident caused by Bala andhis group to discredit me andall that I have been able to

accomplish in Bauchi. I must saythat I am very sad anddisappointed by the antics of theminister.”

Yuguda said it was apparentthat the minister was up to somemischief when he refused to jointhe central planning committeeheaded by him to plan thepresidential rally but wentahead to set up his owncommittee whose agenda wasnot known to anyone else.

The governor thus chargedthe minister to apologise toNigerians over theembarrassment he caused thepresident and his visitors toBauchi during his visit to thestate.

Allegation fallacious,wicked andunfounded— Minister

But the minister has deniedthe allegation levelled againsthim by the governor, saying thatit was nothing but concoction oflies to tarnish his image.

The minister in an emailresponse to Vanguard on theissue said that it wasinconceivable that he wouldcontemplate importing thugsinto the venue of an eventattended by his boss andPresident of the FederalRepublic of Nigeria, whom heholds in very high esteem.

In the statement signed by hisSpecial Assistant on Media,Mr. Nosike Ogbuenyi, theminister wondered why thethugs said to have beenimported by him into thestadium threw missiles andbooed him while he wasaccessing the rally.

Mohammed said: “It is totallyillogical, irreconcilable, wickedand fallacious for anybody toinsinuate that the Hon. Ministerof Federal Capital Territory,Senator Bala Mohammedimported thugs to stone andattack himself while addressingthe President GoodluckJonathan’s presidentialcampaign rally in his homestate, Bauchi.

“The question begging foranswer is ‘why wasn’t GovernorYuguda stoned by therampaging thugs when he wason the podium addressing thesame rally?’

“Every sincere person in thiscountry can attest to the fact thatthe loyalty of the FCT Ministerto President Goodluck Jonathanand his commitment to thesuccess of the PDP in allelections have never been indoubt.

“Those who are specialists inrunning with the hare andhunting with the houndsshould, please leave Senator

Bala Mohammed and the PDPalone to campaign peacefullyfor President GoodluckJonathan and other PDPcandidates across the country,Bauchi State inclusive,” theminister pleaded.

We've been vindicated—APC

Reacting to the

development, yesterday, theAPC said Governor Yuguda’sclaim had vindicated theparty’s stance that the spate ofstoning was a fallout from thefractious PDP primaries in theaffected states.

“Frankly speaking, we thankGovernor Yuguda forvindicating our stance,” APCnational publicity secretary,Alhaji Lai Mohammed, told

Vanguard last night.“We knew all along that this

violence was instigated byPDP which is all due to themanner they handled theirprimaries that is nowresponsible for the spate ofviolence all over the country.We thank God we have beenvindicated and now we knowwho is trying to scuttle ourdemocracy,” he added.

Multiple taxation: FG to amend Taxes andLevies Act

By Emeka Mamah

ABUJA — THE FederalGovernment is to amend

the Taxes and Levies(Approved List for Collectionof Taxes and Levies) Cap T2LTN, 2004 in a bid toharmonise taxes and abolishmultiple taxation of citizensacross the country.

It has also directed theInspector General of Police todismantle all road blocks"mounted on the highways forrevenue collection as they areillegal.”

The proposed amendmentfollowed the Governor IbrahimDankwambo of Gombe’sreport on complaints by theManufacturers Association ofNigeria, MAN, that moststates, especially Anambra,Lagos and Rivers over taxedtheir residents throughduplication of taxes or levieson the same item or services.

The report stated thatalthough only 20 forms oflevies or taxes were approvedby the Taxes and Levies Act,

there were multiple taxation ofcitizens in most of the statesacross the country with Rivers,Lagos and Anambra toppingthe 17 states and Abuja, whichwere listed.

Apart from the 20 approvedtaxes, manufacturers paid 44additional taxes or levies inLagos State, bringing thenumber of such taxes/levies inthe state to 64 just as 59additional taxes/levies werepaid in Anambra Sate,bringing the total of such taxesto 79.

MAN also said its memberspaid a total of 97 taxes or leviesin Rivers State.

However, in reviewing theissue across the country, theNational Economic Council,NEC, noted that taxes and leviescharged by some states were notbacked by appropriatelegislations, therefore, declaringthem illegal.

NEC also further stated that,“some taxes and levies wereduplicated especially motorvehicle emblems and stickers.”

The government further statedthat some taxes and levies that

were usually duplicated at stateand local government levelsincluded the business premisesfee and shops/kiosk rates.

According to NEC, “the modeof collection of taxes and leviesin some of the states were not inaccordance with the provision ofSection 2 of the Taxes and LeviesAct."

Roads blocksGiving such examples, the

government said that it wasillegal to use non revenueofficials to collect taxes and issuereceipts just as it was unlawfulto mount roads blocks on thehighways to collect levies ortaxes or ask police officers toaccompany unauthorisedpersons to collect taxes andlevies especially on thehighways.

The Federal Governmentfurther decried what it describedas the "harassment of citizens,which constitutes a threat topublic security as criminalssometimes hide under the guiseof collecting revenue to commitcrime against road users,”among others.

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10 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015

MEETING: From left; Wife of Imo State governor, Mrs Rochas Okorochas; DeputyGovernor of Lagos State, Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulore; wife of All ProgressivesCongress, APC, presidential candidate, Mrs Aisha Buhari and wife of vice presidentialcandidate, Mrs Oludolapo Osinbajo at the inaugural meeting of APC Women PresidentialCampaign Initiative in Abuja yesterday. Photo by Gbemiga Olamikan.

Jonathan at Winners Chapel, saysNigeria needs prayers

Agbaje urgeselectorate tovote credibleleaders

POLLS:Securityagenciestasked overjournalists’safety By Daud Olatunji

Senatorial polls: Shodipo-Clarkspeaks at debate

A B E O K U T A —PRESIDENT Goodluck

Jonathan yesterday worshippedat Bishop David Oyedepo’sLiving Faith Church, also knownas Winners Chapel, Ota, OgunState, urging Nigerians to prayfor the country.

Vanguard gathered that thesudden appearance of thepresident took most of theworshippers by surprise,because he was not scheduledto be at the church.

A source within the Church, whoclaimed to witness the service,which President Jonathanattended told Vanguard that thePresident only came to thank thechurch and its founder for theirprayers for him and the country.

The source added that he alsosaid he had come to thank God

for being considered by thePeoples Democratic Party to standfor re-election in the comingFebruary 14 presidential election.

The President was alsoquoted to have urged thechurch to continue to pray forhim and the nation.

The source said,”Yes, it is true,

President Goodluck Jonathanworshipped in one of ourservices today (Sunday).

“He did not say much. Hethanked the church for theirprayers for him and the countryas whole.

“He also thanked God for beingconsidered by his party to standfor re-election in the February 14presidential election. Then, heurged the church to continue topray for him and the nation.”

ADO EKITI—EKITI State government has described

as falsehood, claim by the All Pro-gressives Congress (APC) that asum of N2 billion was receivedfrom the Federal Government asecological fund in December, say-ing; “APC should rather defendthe N1.5 billion allegedly donat-ed by Dr Kayode Fayemi to thecampaign fund of the party’s pres-idential candidate, Major Gener-al Muhammadu Buhari.

Special Assistant to the StateGovernor on Public Communica-tions and New Media, LereOlayinka said the lie about receiptof ecological fund was just a ployto cover up the N1.5 billion thatFayemi donated to Buhari’s cam-paign.

He challenged the APC to ex-plain to Ekiti workers why Faye-mi refused to pay their August andSeptember salaries as well as threemonths cooperative societies de-ductions despite that he receivedallocation from Abuja till Sep-tember, 2014.

Olayinka said it was not true thatN2 billion was paid by the Feder-al government to Ekiti State inDecember, adding that “the lasttime a State like Bauchi that theAPC liars claimed to have alsoreceived the ecological fund

was August 2014.”He said further: “In this age of

infotech, all that is needed to bedone on issues like this is tosearch the Internet because Fed-eral government won’t releaseecological fund to five states with-

out the media reporting it.”On the alleged payment of

N22 billion to the state as re-fund on the contraction of Ado-Iworoko-Ifaki and Ado - Akureroads, Olayinka said; “Is Ado-Akure road under construction?The answer is no!''

LAGOS—THE PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP)

governorship candidate for La-gos State, Mr Jimi Agbaje, yes-terday urged the electorate tovote for only credible leaders inthe February 14 and February 28elections.

Agbaje made the remark at thePDP’s thanksgiving service atSt. Paul’s Anglican Church Ki-rikiri, Apapa, in Lagos. He saidwhen the right persons werevoted into office, there would bepositive changes in the country.

“God works in mysteriousways. In 2011, I was not allowedto pick the ticket, but in 2015, weare running and we have everyhope that our time has come.

“There will be peaceful co-ex-istence if we work together as in-digenes and non-indigenes ofthe state because united westand and divided we fall.

“My wish is that in Lagos State,children in public schools will dobetter than children in privateschools. ''It is the responsibili-ty of the government to provideadequate housing and a goodroad network for its citizens;that is what I will focus onwhen I am voted in,” he said.''

Ekiti denies receiving N2bn ecologicalfund, N22bn roads refund

LAGOS—SECURITY agencies in the

country have been urged toprovide the necessary pro-tection for the safety of jour-nalists during and after thecoming elections.

The executive secretary,Nigerian Press Council,Mr. Nnamdi Njemanze,made the call, yesterday, inLagos at a workshop onEffective Coverage andReportage of 2015 generalelections.

Speaking on the hazardjournalists face in coveringelections and carrying outtheir constitutional roles,Njemanze noted that therole of media is critical inmaking elections a success.

“As moderators of the po-litical discussion, it is theduty of the media to inter-rogate politicians and theirpolitical parties on how thevarious promises embed-ded in their manifestoswould be actualized if vot-ed into power.”

Njemanze called on themedia ''to lead the conver-sation on the state of oursocio-economic and politi-cal development if thedreams of good life for Ni-gerian people will be actu-alized.

“To achieve this, the me-dia will beam searchlight oncandidates and articulateissues that define the polit-ical debate as the partiesand their candidates can-vass for the people ‘s vote.”

“We will appeal to thesecurity agencies to makeuse of the initiative of thenewly-formed NationalMonitoring Network onSafety of Journalists to pro-vide the necessary coverand protection for the safe-ty of journalists during andafter the elections.” THE Peoples Democratic

Party, PDP, Senatorialcandidate for Ogun Central, Dr.Bisola Sodipo-Clark, haspromised to build on theachievements of his grandfatherwho was the first electedrepresentative of the Egbadivision in the colonialadministration of the 1950s.

She stated that she intends “topursue, if elected: a bill for an actto introduce care for our seniorcitizens. This will assist our elderlylead a comfortable and respectablelife as they age. As is done in othercountries, I intend to collaboratewith other senators to legalize, thesetting up of Homes for theElderly; payment of monthlystipends; free transportation forpersons above the age of 60;

exemption from taxation for elderlyNigerians”. She said this at a de-bate organised by the NigeriaUnion of Journalists (NUJ), OgunState chapter, for contestants bid-ding to represent Ogun CentralSenatorial District of Ogun State.

The debate, which comes up onFebruary 14, 2015, is to enableresidents of the district understandthe pedigree of those vying torepresent them.

The debate, which featuredthe three leading candidates inthe district, had Dr. Sodipo-Clark of the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP), Dr.Lanre Tejuoso of the AllProgressives Congress (APC)candidate and the incumbentsenator, Gbenga Obadara, of theSocial Democratic Party (SDP).

By Jimoh Babatunde

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2014 — 11

Bankole moves political structure to Ogun LP

By Daud Olatunji

CAMPAIGN: From left; Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Oyo State Leader; Alhaji Yekini Adeojo;Minister of State for FCT; Mrs Jumoke Akinjide; PDP governorship candidate, Sen. Teslim Folarinand Senator Hosea Ayoola during a campaign at Ona Ara Local Government. Photo by Dare Fasube.

ABEOKUTA—A strongindication has emerged

that, former Speaker of House ofRepresentatives, Dimeji Bankolehas moved his political structurefrom the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP, to the Labour Party, LP, inOgun State. The indicationemerged following a closed-doormeeting Bankole’s father, ChiefAlani Suarau Bankole held withthe leaders of the LP in the statelast week at his Onikolobo resi-dence, Abeokuta.

Present at the meeting were thestate Chairman of the party, Ola-bode Simeon, the stateSecretary, Sunday Oginni, thegovernorship candidate of theparty, Abolaji Sunmola, hiscampaign Director-General, Abay-omi Arabambi and other top lead-ers of the party in the state.

Vanguard reliably gathered that, the former Speaker who wasdenied the governorship ticket ofthe People’s Democratic Party hasresolved to join either the LabourParty or the Social Democratic Par-ty to protest his failure to get theticket.

A source at the meeting told Van-guard that the former Speaker’sfather threw his weight behind the

governorship candidate of theLabour Party and promised tocollapse his son’s political struc-ture into the LP structure aheadof the election.

It was further gathered that,Bankole’s father had orderedthe supporters of his son underthe auspices of Dimeji BankoleMovement across the state to

work for the Labour Party.Bankole’s father was quoted to

have given his blessings to theLabour Party governorship can-didate who he was reported tohave described as his son .

Confirming the meeting, thestate Secretary of theparty, Oginni, said the meetingwith Bankole’s father was part

of the consultation to notable leaders in the state.

Oginni said the endorsementof the LP's governorship candi-date was a boost to the party,saying, it would not disappointBankole’s supporters, as “La-bour Party is set to accommodateall interest groups across partydivides”.

INEC seeks support of religious leaders over next month's election

made the call weekend inOsogbo during an advoca-cy parley with religiousleaders in the state in prep-aration for the coming elec-tions.

The parley was part ofsensitization meetingsscheduled with stakehold-ers held at Olu-Osungbo-hun Hall of Nigeria Unionof Journalists (NUJ), Os-ogbo,

Ogunmola said that theparley was organized to

address all the irregulari-ties in the 2011, and to con-duct a credible election.

The INEC boss who re-called the success of thecommission in the August9, 2014 governorship elec-tion in the state, promisedthat “we are ready to con-duct elections that will bebetter than the past and beacceptable to the people.”

He asked the people ofthe state to go and collecttheir Permanent Voters’Card, PVCs, saying; “Wehave extended the distribu-tion time to 5.30pm andSaturdays included.”

He added that; “We ob-served that politicians dolisten to you Pastors andImams during service thatis why we are appealing toyou to help us crusade forpeace in your mosques andchurches.”

He also warned that reli-gious places should not beused to campaign for can-didate, advising that youthsshould be warned to shunviolence.

Responding, the Presi-dent, League of Imams andAlfas in Osun State, AlhajiMusa Animasahun, com-mended the commission forthe programme stressingthat Muslims leaders havebeen praying and warningtheir followers in the

...Osun APC charges INEC over Card Readers shortage

THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has re-

stated its readiness for theFebruary 14, 2015 generalelections saying with thesupport it enjoys from Ni-gerians, it will record asweeping victory at thepolls.

National Publicity Secre-tary of the party, OlisaMetuh in a statement yes-terday said that leaders andmembers of the party wereworking hard in all thenooks and crannies of thecountry adding that with itsrecord of achievements andarray of popular candidatesat all levels, it would winoverwhelmingly in at least25 states of the country.

“We wish to restate thatthe PDP is fully ready forthe general elections. Weremain the only party en-joying the support of ma-jority of Nigeria’s votingpopulation across board.Our very strong politicalstructures in all the states,a track-record of perform-ance and array of very pop-ular candidates at the na-tional and state levels whoNigerians are eager to votefor guarantee us a sweep-ing victory at the elections,Metuh stated.

Noting that PresidentGoodluck Jonathan, withhis unprecedented achieve-ments and commitment tothe national interest re-mains the man to beat in thePresidential poll.

The PDP also assured ofvictory at the governorship,national and state assemblyelections as its candidatesat those levels also enjoythe support of the majorityof the voters in their respec-tive constituencies.

The party therefore direct-ed its members and sup-porters to close ranks andcontinue to work hard toensure that it maintained itspre-eminent position in thepolity.

….says it will recordsweeping victory

PDP restatesreadiness forelections

OSOGBO—THE Resi-dent Electoral Commis-sioner, REC, for OsunState, Dr. Adekunle Ogun-mola has charged religiousleaders to actively pursuethe success of the forthcom-ing general elections bypreaching to their congre-gations to shun violencebefore, during and after thepolls.

The Osun State REC

By Gbenga Olarinoye

Fayose's adverts: Ekiti not against theNorth, says E-ELEVEN

mosques. Also, Osun State Presi-

dent of Christian Associa-tion of Nigeria, CAN, Rev-erend Elisah Ogundiya,urged politicians to desistfrom provocative utteranc-es, promising that Chris-tians would do all it could,to support the INEC andensure that the electionssucceed.

Meantime, the All Pro-gressives Congress, APC inOsun State has appealedto the Independent Na-tional Electoral Commis-

sion, INEC to en-sure that all pollingunits in the countryhave card readersplanned to screenall voters during theelections.

The party in a state-ment by its Directorof Publicity, Researchand Strategy, MrKunle Oyatomi inOsogbo weekend,said it will not tol-erate shortage of thecards in all the poll-ing units.

LAGOS — THE E-Eleven, a forum of

Ekiti stakeholders, yester-day distanced the people ofthe state from the state gov-ernor, Ayodele Fayose’s ad-vert, insinuating that thePresidential candidate ofthe All Progressives Con-gress, APC, General Mu-hammad Buhari, (rtd), willdie in office if elected onFebruary 14th.

The chairman of the fo-rum, Mr. Femi Ajiniran,said; “We (Ekiti people) arenot in any way against theNorth; nor are we againstany geopolitical zone in

Nigeria. We believe firmlyin the principle of equalityas espoused in the 1999Constitution,” adding thatthe view expressed in theadvert “is Fayose’s person-al opinion.”

E-Eleven in a statementissued by Ajiniran in Lagos,noted that the advert wasplaced by “Fayose as anindividual and as a chief-tain of the Peoples Demo-cratic Party (PDP), whoseinterest he sought to pro-tect.” Ajiniran affirmed thatthe governor’s advert “vi-olates the non-violenceclause of the Electoral Act,

2011. It, also, breaches thepeace agreement facilitat-ed by former Secretary-General of United Nations,Mr. Kofi Annan and formerSecretary-General of Com-monwealth, Sir Emeka An-yaoku last week.”

According to him, “Afterthe landmark peace agree-ment brokered to achievepeaceful conduct of the 2015general elections, Fayosesponsored this advert ofacrimony and discrimina-tion from the purse of EkitiState at about N50 millionin the two national dailies.We, therefore, dissociate thepeople of Ekiti State fromthis advert.”

CMYK

12—Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015

PRESIDENTIAL RALLY: We'll use AdokiyeAmiesimaka Stadium, PDP insists

By Jimitota Onoyume

I won'tdisappointyou, OgboruassuresItsekiri nation

By Godwin Oghre

Sylva lobbies former aides, others for Buhari

By Samuel Oyadongha

CMYK

Chevron connects Edo rural school tointernet with hybrid library

By Daniel Gumm

Urhoboyouths backJonathan,Okowa

PORT HARCOURT—RIVERS State chapter of

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,has insisted that it will use theAdokiye Amiesimaka Stadiumin Ikwerre Local GovernmentArea for its presidential rally onWednesday this week.

It will be recalled that the stategovernor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechihad said the stadium would notbe released to the party for therally because contractors hadresumed construction work inthe place. He rather offered theparty the Liberation Stadium inthe heart of Port Harcourt,capital of the state.

State Chairman of the PDP,Mr Felix Obuah, who spokethrough his media aideyesterday, Mr Jerry Needam,said the party had resolved touse the place, insisting that thereason the governor gave for itsrefusal to approve the use of thestadium for the rally was notcogent enough.

The party said that the stadiumwas a public property, addingthat it was a project started bythe governor when he was inthe PDP.

He said: “The Rivers StatePDP will not be drawn intofurther argument with the AllProgressives Congress, APC-led government of Amaechi forthe use of the Adokiye

Amiesimaka Stadium for itspresidential rally.

“Consequently, the PDPconfirms that it will hostPresident Goodluck Jonathanon January 28, for thepresidential campaign, at theAdokiye Amiesimaka Stadium.

"The flimsy excusesemanating from the APC tojustify its refusal to allow thePDP the use of the facility doesnot hold water as the stadium

is the property of Rivers peopleand not that of Amaechi orAPC.

"Besides the fact that APC hadused the stadium twice, they donot have any right far and abovethe PDP to deny us the use ofthe facility.

“It is pertinent to remindGovernor Amaechi and the APCthat the Adokiye AmiesimakaStadium was executed in 2009when Amaechi was still a

member of the PDP. Against thisbackground, the PDPchallenges Governor Amaechito show the Rivers people oneproject he had executed sincehis defection to the APC.”

The party called on Riverspeople to ignore APC's anticsand turn out enmasse to givePresident Jonathan a befittingwelcome on Wednesday at theAdokiye Amiesimaka Stadiumin Omagwa.

YENAGOA—THE formergovernor of Bayelsa State,

Chief Timipre Sylva, hasintensified lobbying of his formertop aides and leading membersof the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP, to support the election of thepresidential flag bearer of the AllProgressives Congress, APC,Gen. Mohammud Buhari, in thestate.

While Sylva has won overformer Nigeria’s Ambassador toVenezuela, Felix Oboro, one ofthe founding fathers of the PDPin Bayelsa State into the APC fold,he led a team of senior partyleaders on a call on his formerSpecial Adviser on Security,Chief Richard Kpodo.

Sylva, it was learned, led thestate APC Chairman, Chief TiweiOrunimingha and hundreds ofparty loyalists to a meeting withChief Kpodo at his hotel inYenagoa.

Sources at the meeting said theformer governor called on Kpodoto return to the fold of the APCand unite to ensure the electionof Gen.Buhari and the changeneeded for development incountry was actualised.

A state executive member of theAPC, who spoke on condition ofanonymity, said the visit was to

bring back Sylva's former aidesand build a support base for thevictory of APC in the state.

Kpodo, who served as a closeaide of Chief Sylva, was thechairman of the defunct New PDPand a grassroots mobilizer.

Contacted on the visit, ChiefKpodo said the visit by Sylva andthe APC loyalists was a privateone.

Meanwhile, the formerNigeria’s Ambassador toVenezuela, Felix Oboro, a

founding member of the PDP inBayelsa State, has defected to theAPC, saying the last national andstate Assembly selectionexercises had destroyed thecohesion of the party throughoutthe country.

A G E N E B O D E — AHYBRID library

equipped with 21 internet readycomputers, a state-of-the artsystem sever, a data base ofelectronic library books storedlocally on the server, backed upwith a 20KVA standby dieselplant plus an inverter backupamongst other facilities has beenbuilt and handed over to St.Peter ’s Grammar School,Agenebode in Etsako East LocalGovernment Area of Edo State byTexaco Nigeria Outer Shelf, aChevron-owned company.

Speaking at the commissioningof the project, weekend, theDirector, Deep Water and PSCs,Mr. Jeffery Ewing, explained thatthe company decided to constructthe hybrid library because it“believes that education unlocksthe potentials of the people and

galvanises them for progressivedevelopment,” adding that“educational development is oneof the major areas of the socialinvestment programmes” of thecompany.

Ewing, who was represented byMr. Tom Akagbosu, said thatChevron, a few years ago throughits Star Water Petroleum Limitedwith its Agbami partners providedan ultra-modern chest clinic to the

Auchi General Hospital as wellas the implementation of a RollBack Malaria Programme inAgenebode, among othereducational support programmes.

Group General Manager,NAPIMS, NNPC, Engr. JonathanOkehs in his address, noted thatmanpower development was acrucial aspect of the company’sinvestment, hence they were quitehappy to partner Texaco NigeriaOuter Shelf on the hybrid libraryproject.

Groups merge for Okowa’s victory

By Festus Ahon

ASABA—DETERMINEDto ensure the victory of the

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,governorship candidate in DeltaState, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, fivepolitical pressure groups in IsokoNorth Local Government Area ofthe state have agreed to worktogether to mobilize the people

of the area to vote Okowa.The groups; Isoko Grassroot

Development Initiative, IGDI,Isoko Conscience Group, ICG,Owhe Azagba Political Forum,OAPF, Isoko North PoliticalMovement, INPM, and D-PeaceOkowa in a statement after theirmeeting convened by theCoordinator, Mr. Bernard Idisi,vowed to work for Okowa’s victory.

K O K O — D E L T AState candidate of

the Labour Party in theforth cominggovernorship election,Chief Great Ogboru, hasassured the Itsekirination of adequateattention and massivei n f r a s t r u c t u r a ldevelopment if electedas governor of the statein next month’s polls.

Ogboru, who gave theassurance weekend, inKoko, headquarters ofWarri North LocalGovernment Area of thestate, told the chiefs,Elders-in-Council andpeople of KokoCommunity, led by theOlara-Aja (most seniorman) of KokoCommunity, Pa VictorNanna, to takeadvantage of the longtime peaceful relationexisting between theUrhobo and the Itsekiri tocast their vote for him atthe election, addin, “I willnot disappoint theItsekiri nation. I will notdisappoint you if youelect me as yourgovernor.”

URHOBO youths,under the aegis of

Urhobo Youth LeadersAssociation, have throwntheir weight behindPresident GoodluckJonathan and SenatorIfeanyi Okowa as presidentand governor of Delta Staterespectively, with promiseto campaign from door todoor to actualise theirdream.

The endorsement, at arally at PTI ConferenceCentre, Effuru, had Dr.Steve Oru, Minister ofNiger Delta AffairsMinistry, SenatorEmmanuel Aguariavwodo;Senator Nimi BarighaAmange; Evelyn Oboro,member House ofRepresentatives; Prof.Godini Darah; Mr.Kingsley Otuaro; ChiefIghoyota Amori; ChiefMike Adiotomre; Mrs.Judith Enamuotor, PDPBoard of Trustee member,Chief Tom Amioku, NDDCCommissioner and othersin attendance.

COMMISSIONING: From left: Mr. Ahmed Abdullahi; Tom Akagbosu; High Chief EthuakhorA.O; Edo State Commissioner for Environment and Public Utilities, Mr. Clem Agba andSecretary to Etsako East Local Government, Edo State, Princess Benedicta Attoh, during thecommissioning of Hybrid Library donated by Texaco Nigeria Outer Shelf, a company ownedby Chevron, to St. Peter’s Grammar School, Agenebode, Edo State.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015—13

$16BN EPZ PROJECT: Jonathan seeks new date for groundbreaking

By SimonEbegbulem

CMYK

RALLY: From left: Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State; Mr. Patrick Aisowieren,APC candidate for House of Repsresentatives, Uhunwode/Orhiomwon Federal Consttuency;Elizabeth Ativie, APC House of Assembly candidate and Mr. Samson Osagie, APC senatorialcandidate, Edo South, at a rally of the All Progressives Congress at Ehor, weekend.

By Festus Ahon

Move to postpone polls, exercisein futility —OSHIOMHOLE

B E N I N —G O V E R N O R

Adams Oshiomhole ofEdo State has said thatthe subterranean moveby the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP-led Federal Governmentto postpone the Februarygeneral elections was afutile attempt topostpone the evil day.

Speaking yesterday, atthe Palace of the Otaru ofIgarra, when hepresented the candidatesof the All ProgressivesCongress, APC, vying torepresent the party atboth the National andstate Assemblies,Oshiomhole, said: “Theissues are very clear.They have seen it andare now calling for thepostponement of theFebruary 14 elections.You cannot postpone theevil day. Nigeria mustgo for a peaceful electionand the election will bepeaceful. When God hasdecreed, no man can dootherwise, when yourtime is up you can’tpostpone it.

“What we need now isa leader with courage.The courage to stand for

Nigeria and that is whyafter trying PDP for 16years, we believe weneed Gen. MuhammaduBuhari to take over andsecure our country sothat we can live ourlives.

“When Gen. Buhariwas in power, the waragainst indiscipline wasfelt everywhere.Nigerians have to makea very bold decision; wemust make Nigeria work.When Gen Buhari was aCommanding Officer inthe military and someextremists rose uparound Kano, he led asquad and pursued themas far as Chad.

“That is the kind ofleader we need now, aleader that will confrontissues of securitysquarely, not to lament.Leaders don’t lament.You don’t change yourwife’s condition byjoining her to cry. Whenthe wife is crying, thehusband is crying andthe children are crying,who then will fix theissues? A man has tocome out, this election isabout our survival.”

Oshiomhole decriedthe security challengesthreatening theterritorial integrity of thecountry and accused thePDP government ofincompetence.

ASABA—PRESIDENTGoodluck Jonathan has

mandated GovernorEmmanuel Uduaghan of DeltaState, relevant authorities inthe Presidency and theMinistry of PetroleumResources to fix a new date forthe ground breaking ceremonyof the $16 billion ExportProcessing Zone, EPZ project.

Jonathan gave the directivewhen he paid a courtesy callon the Olu of Warri, OgiameAtuwatse II, in the companyof Dr. Uduaghan, during anunscheduled visit to DeltaState.

He pointed out that it wouldnot be possible to do theground breaking before theelections because theinvestors have to be aroundfor the ceremony, adding thatthe companies had been givenenough notice.

Jonathan mandated theDelta State governor to workclosely with the Ministry ofPetroleum Resources and thePresidency to get a suitabledate before May 29, for the

exercise.President Jonathan took the

opportunity of the visit toexplain the circumstancessurrounding the abortedground breaking for the ExportFree Zone, EPZ.

He told the Olu, in thepresence of his chiefs, that hehad to put off the groundbreaking to avert a possibleoutbreak of violence after theceremony which would havefrightened investors.

According to him, his actionin putting off the exercise wasnot borne out of fear thatanything was going to happento him, noting that as a son ofthe Niger Delta, he couldmove freely in the zonewithout molestation.

Jonathan, during the visit,also had a private audiencewith the President of theChristian Association ofNigeria, CAN, Pastor AyoOritsejafor.

Governor Uduaghan, on hispart, commended thePresident’s personal visit tothe Olu which, he said, hasafforded him the opportunityto explain to the monarch and

the Itsekiri people, the issuessurrounding the groundbreaking ceremony of theproject.

Uduaghan also expressed

appreciation to the Olu on hisunderstanding of thePresident’s explanation andcommitment to the project.

He appealed to groups and

individuals to desist frompoliticising the groundbreaking ceremony, adding,“We join Mr President in ourcommitment to the success ofthe project.”

14—Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015

Unite against electoral violence—EKWEREMADU

By JohnboscoAgbakwuru & Joseph

Erunke

PDP slams APC over attacks onJonathan’s convoy

By Henry Umoru

ABUJA—DEPUTY SenatePresident, Senator Ike

Ekweremadu, has called onNigerians to unite against allforms of electoral violence.

Senator Ekweremadu madethe call, weekend, during theconferment of an HonoraryDoctor of Laws (LL.D) degreeon him at the 44th ConvocationCeremony of the University ofNigeria, Nsukka, UNN.

The Deputy SenatePresident in a statement by hisSpecial Adviser, Media, UcheAnichukwu, also called on thenation’s citadel of learning torise to the task of restoring thedignity of man throughquality researches thataddress the nation’s securityand development challenges.

He harped on the need forrigorous advocacy to keep theyouth away from electoralviolence.

Senator Ekweremaducharged well-meaningNigerians to rise in defence ofthe national interest and in

condemnation of acts of electoralviolence, irrespective of political,ethnic, and religious leanings.

He said: “Election is not a do-or-die affair. We are worried aboutthe attacks on some political actorsby people in parts of the countryother than their own. Let us standtogether and call the political elitesto order.

“We must admit that elections willcome and go, but that this country

will remain. Therefore, we mustplay politics with every sense ofresponsibility, ensuring thateverybody is accorded his duerespect.

“We must also bear in mind thatevents and utterances that incubateelectoral violence start well aheadof elections. We must live with asense of history and remember thatthe same tree stump does not trip awise man twice.”

By Henry Umoru

Jonathan’s achievements verifiable —PDP

ABUJA—AHEAD of nextmonth’s presidential and

general elections, the nationalleadership of PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP, haschallenged the All ProgressivesCongress, APC and its leadersto carry out a survey and seethe achievements of PresidentGoodluck Jonathan.

The PDP, in a statement issuedyesterday by its NationalPublicity Secretary, Chief OlisaMetuh, described the APC aslacking in policy direction,boasting that all theachievements of the PDP-ledgovernment were verifiable.

Says APC has no policy direction

ABUJA—PRESIDENTIALCampaign Organisation of the

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,yesterday, took a swipe at the AllProgressives Congress, APC, over itsclaims that members of the party weremastermind of last week’s attacks onPresident Goodluck Jonathan’scampaign convoys in Katsina andBauchi states.

In a statement, yesterday, theDirector, Media and Publicity, ChiefFemi- Fani Kayode, said he wasshocked that the National Publicity

Secretary of APC, Alhaji LaiMohammed, could come up with suchallegation, describing the allegation asridiculous.

He added that the lies of the APC wereunbelievable.

He said the PDP PresidentialCampaign Organisation rejects LaiMohammed’s absurd allegation.

He warned APC Presidentialcandidate, General MuhammaduBuhari, and the opposition party to getprepared for grave and far-reachingconsequences, if anything untowardhappened to President Jonathan duringthe campaigns.

The party said its array ofcandidates for the Februaryelections were far better thanthose of the APC, adding thatsame was applicable to thepolicy direction of both parties.

The party noted that it was theonly truly pan-Nigerian partyfor which the unity, stability andprosperity of the nationremained paramount.

PDP said: “The foundingfathers of the PDP had theireyes set on specific goals, whichinclude ensuring theindivisibility of Nigeria,sustenance of democracy andproviding enablingenvironment for the prosperityand welfare of our people.

“These have guided ourgovernments and havecontinued to reflect in thequality of leadership by ourelected and appointed officersat all tiers in the last 16 years.

“These are also the values thathave resulted in theunparalleled milestonesrecorded in every sphere of ournational life especially underthe current administration.

“The quality of legislation andpolicies under its administrationhas continued to transform thenation into a destination forprogress with Nigeriansexcelling in every sphere of life

“The strict adherence to therule of law, the guarantee of

personal freedom for allNigerians, passage of theFreedom of Information Act,ensuring greater transparencyin governance, the electoralreforms, the policy of wealthtransfer, leading to theunprecedented thriving ofprivate enterprises, theagricultural and health reformsresulting in increased lifeexpectancy and reduction infood import.

“Others are the return of therailways and massiveinvestment in roadinfrastructure andcommunication as well asgrowing the economy tobecome the largest in Africa andthe third fasted growing in theworld, all point to the superiorityof the manifesto of the PDP andits ability to deliver goodgovernance despite dauntingchallenges."

Promoters of election violence ineligiblefor American visas —JOHN KERRY

By Vera Anyagafu

ANY Nigerian who promotesany form of election

violence during or after electionremains iineligible for US visas.

US Secretary of State, JohnKerry, who sounded the warningduring a visit to Nigeria said hiscountry is investing enormouslyto ensure credible elections inNigeria.

Kerry made this statement at anews conference in Lagos,shortly after meeting withPresident Goodluck Jonathan

and Major General MohammedBuhari.

He urged all Nigerians tohelp make the elections free, fairand credible.

According to the US Secretaryof State, the U.S. Government,would maintain its position thatany Nigerian involved inelection violence would nolonger be eligible for Americanvisas.

He also stressed the need tocontinue campaigning forprogressive democratic rule inNigeria, stressing that allpolitical office holders should

shun all levels and forms ofelection violence either before,during or after the polls.

He said: “The U.S. Governmentstrongly believe in Nigeria havingcredible, free and fair electionscome February 14.

“The US Government wants tosay that any Nigerian whopromotes any form of violenceduring the elections remainsineligible for U.S. visa." Kerryadded. He further stated that theinternational community and theU.S. are keenly interested in theconduct of Nigeria's up ccomingelection.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015—15

I'll create 1m jobs in S-East, exploitingcoal for power generation, export—Buhari

By Francis Igata

MORE MIXED reactionshave trailed suggestions

for the postponement of theFebruary polls. Thatnonetheless, administrationofficials are insisting that the callby the National SecurityAdviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki(ret) was an innocuous call toallow the election managementbody to prepare better for thecrucial polls.

Details of Dasuki’s call fullycame to light, weekend, assecurity sources sought toportray the call as an innocentcall based on the delay in thedistribution of the PermanentVoter Cards, PVCs.

Dasuki had in a question andanswer session during hislecture to the Chatham Housein London, made the callfollowing a question arisingfrom the complaint by SultanSiad Abubakar that he had notbeen able to collect his PVC.

According to the excerptsprovided by security sources,Dasuki had said:

“I raised the issue with theINEC chairman and he said that‘what happened in the case of theSultan, everybody in his pollingunit, their fingerprints were nottaken and they have to re-registerthem.’ Apparently, the Sultan isn’thappy that he hasn’t received hiscard, that as it, is taking too long.

“The law provides for electionsto be conducted not more than 90days before and not less than 30days to the end of anadministration. February 14 iscloser to the 90 days before theend of the tenure. We raised it withINEC, we said, 'look there is aproblem. If you had a year plusand all we have been able to dois distribute, I think, about 50 percent of the cards... We still haveabout 30 million cards to distributeaccording to them (INEC).

'Look at the possibility ofshifting this thing and doing itwhen everybody has a card,because it doesn’t cost youanything. It’s still within the lawand it is safer for all of us.' So thatis what we are encouraging.”

Among those who raised strongobjections to the call were Mr.Dele Alake, Director, StrategicCommunications of the AllProgressives Congress, APC, theConference of Nigerian PoliticalParties, CNPP, erstwhile LagosState commissioner for Police,Alhaji Abubakar Tsav. The callwas, however, strongly backed bythe Non-Governmental body,Love Your Country Initiative.

Tsav in an interview withVanguard affirmed that the callwas politically motivated andinsisted that APC candidate,General Muhammadu Buhariwould win even if postponed byone year.

He described the call as the signof panic in the camp of the PDP,saying the party was afraid oflosing the election.

“INEC has prepared itself andeven the electorate. Theunderstanding of the suggestionof the National Security Adviser,seems as if he was speaking themind of his master. Maybe theextension of the election by threemonths would enable them toconvince people to vote forJonathan or perfect their riggingmachinery. I don’t think it isadvisable to postpone theelection,” Tsav said.

Continuing, he said: “Let us dothe exercise and get over itbecause there is tension in thecountry already."

Questioning the rationale forthe call, Mr. Alake in a statementon behalf of the APC, said:

“In the first place, it is difficult

to understand when and how theNSA became the officialspokesman and adviser of INEC.This is particularly so as PresidentGoodluck Jonathan has alwaysclaimed as one of hisadministration’s achievementsthe autonomy granted INEC toconduct free, fair and crediblepolls without external interfe-rence. By his own admission,Colonel Dasuki said he hadmooted to INEC the desirabilityof postponing the elections.

“This action by Dasuki amountsto a crass interference with thefunctions of INEC, that is bothillegal and immoral. To the bestof our knowledge, INEC has notsaid that it is not ready to conductthe elections as scheduled."

In its own strong rejection, theConference of Nigerian PoliticalParties, CNPP, in a statementissued through its spokesman,

Anambra'sachieved71% PVCscollection,says REC

…APCdemandsremoval ofEnugu REC

AWKA — THEResident Electoral

Commissioner, REC, inAnambra State, Mr. EdwinNwatarali, has said thestate has achieved 71 percent level of PermanentVoters Cards, PVCs,collection.

Addressing reporters inAwka, Nwatarali saidfollowing the low levelcollection rate, heembarked on tour of INECoffices in the 21 localgovernment areas wherehe interacted with thestakeholders, noting thatwith improved publicenlightenment, the peoplehad seen the need to collecttheir cards.

“I can happily tell youthat the tour had startedyielding results and goingby the data available to me,the percentage of collectedPVCs in Anambra hasrisen to 71 per cent, asagainst 55 per cent when Iassumed office."

IN ANOTHERdevelopment, All Pro-

gressives Congress, APC,Enugu State chapter, yes-terday, called on theChairman of IndependentNational Electoral Comm-ission, INEC, ProfessorAttahiru Jega, to urgentlyredeploy the new ResidentElectoral Commissioner,REC, Professor Chukwue-meka Onukaogu, postedto the state.

While fielding questionsfrom newsmen during amedia forum organised bythe Correspondent Chap-el, the state Chairman ofAPC,Mr. Ben Nwoye, said:“The technology deployedby INEC for accreditationis a recipe for rigging. If thetechnology fails, the elec-tions will be postponed.

By Vincent Ujumadu& Fancis Igata

INSTALLATION: Colonel Victor Leslie (centre), his wife, Colonel Rose-Marie (left), and CommissionerWilliams Cochrane, International Secretary to the Chief of the Staff, Salvation Army Nigeria Territory,during the installation of Colonel Victor Leslie as the Territorial Commander, Salvation Army NigeriaTerritory, and Colonel Rose-Marie, Territorial President of Women's Ministries, Salvation Army NigeriaTerritory, respectively, by Commissioner Cochrane, in Lagos, yesterday.

ENUGU — PRESIDENTIALCandidate of All Pro-

gressives Congress, APC,General Muhammadu Buhari(ret), weekend, promised tocreate no fewer than one mil-lion jobs for youths in theSouth-East by revampinghuge coal deposits in Enugufor genera- tion of electricityand export.

Buhari made the promise atEnugu West APC zonal rally,in Orie, Awgu Market, AwguLocal Government Area of thestate. The presidential hope-ful, who was represented bythe state Chairman of APCPresidential Campaign Coun-cil, Mr. Osita Okechukwu,explained that the coal wouldbe revamped with the objec-tive of generating electricity toserve the entire South-East, to

boost the economy of the zone.Buhari assured that he would award the

contract immediately he was sworn-in,saying: “We are banking on huge coaldeposits located at Amasiodo, Inyi andLeje axis of Enugu Coal belt.

"We are going to award contract for min-ing and construction of coal-fired-pow-er-plant unlike Peoples Democratic Par-ty, PDP, that since 1999 promised to re-vamp the coal fields and 16 years after,nothing has been done. "We believe thatcoal is the most abundant fossil fuel inEnugu State and Enugu Coal is one ofthe most qualitative brands in the world,which means that while some are used togenerate electricity, some will be export-ed.” The former Head of State said hisobjective was to create one million jobsdirectly and indirectly, from the coalproject, as ancillary projects would fol-low. “My idea is to emulate the TaichungCoal-Fired-Power-Plant in Taiwan, thelargest coal power station in the world.Coal supplies 46 per cent electricity inthe United States and over 60 per cent

electricity in China.It is callous to aban-don such goldentreasure,” he said.

He lamented that,"for 16 years, everyelection Igbo voted forPDP and yet, the coalbelt remains un-tapped, hence thereis no commensuratereward.

Mixed reactions trail call for pollspostponement as FG clarifies Dasuki’s call

Charles Kumolu,Johnbosco Agbakwuru,Chris Ochayi and Caleb

Ayansina

Osita Okechukwu said it was anattempt to scuttle the momentumagainst the ruling PDP.

“The NSA should tell the worldwhat happened to the billionsbudgeted for defence in the pastthree years under his watch, sincehe has turned the Office ofNational Security Adviser,ONSA, into procurement agency,of the Ministry of Defence."

The Chairman of Love YourCountry Initiative, Eze MaxwellKanu, said the extension becamenecessary, because over 20 millionwere yet to get their PVCs.

“It is a common knowledge thatabout 25 per cent of Nigerians areyet to collect their PVCs. This initself would make the election notcredible as we want the result ofthe election to be accepted by allNigerians. We request that theelection be shifted to March2015,” he said.

16 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015—————1717171717

CMYK

OPINION

18 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015

By Johnnie Carson

OPINIONNigeria: Time for more international community attention and action

WITH less than a month to go beforeits national elections, Nigeria is

awash with serious problems which are notlikely to go away soon. Africa’s largest andmost important country is going throughan extraordinarily difficult and dangerousperiod that could over the next two monthssee the already high level of violence spikeeven further and spread to other parts ofthe country.

Nigeria is facing three major challenges:cascading insecurity in the northeast;contentious national elections in mid-February; and growing economic pressuresdue to the precipitous drop in global oilprices. These issues are generatingrenewed uncertainty about the country’slong term stability.

Given Nigeria’s regional political andeconomic importance, the internationalcommunity needs to a raise Nigeria on theglobal priority list and actively engage andassist the country in trying to navigate theturbulent period that lies ahead.

Insecurity on the Rise: Boko Haram, theIslamic religious sect that has terrorizednorthern Nigeria for the past five years, hasrecently stepped up its operations in thenorth eastern part of the country. In 2014,Boko Haram killed over 11,000 people,carried out a high profile kidnapping 276

school girls, assassinated dozens ofgovernment officials and attackednumerous military bases.

Several recent attacks demonstrate BokoHaram’s strength, capacity and changingtactics. On December 29, Boko Haramcaptured a Nigerian military base in thefar northeastern corner of the country,killing dozens of soldiers and civilians andcapturing more arms and munitions. Thebase was intended to garrison amultinational force with troops from Niger,Cameroon and Chad.

On January 3, 2015, militants stormedthe town of Baga, destroying homes, shopsand leaving over 500 people dead. Duringthis same period the group carried outseveral high profile suicide bombings,deploying for the first time young girls tocarry out the attacks.

Boko Haram is not going away any timesoon. Taking a tactic out of the playbook ofIraq’s Islamic State (ISIS), Boko Haram hasset up a caliphate in Borno state, where itcontrols an estimated forty percent of the

territory. The government’s efforts to turnback the onslaught have proven ineffective,and the level of violence has risen andspread further across the north every yearsince Mohammed Yusuf, Boko Haram’sfounder, was killed in 2009.

Nigeria’s once strong military hassustained repeated defeats at the hands ofBoko Haram and is suffering from lowmorale, a shortage of arms and poor seniorleadership. The current situation isunlikely to change and the level of violencewill almost certainly intensify as Nigeria’selections draw closer.

Presidential Elections Will IncreaseTensions: Nigeria is scheduled to holdpresidential and legislative elections onFebruary 14, 2015. The country’spresidential contest, between PresidentGoodluck Jonathan and opposition leaderMuhammadu Buhari, will increasepolitical tensions across Nigeria andcontribute to further unrest in the northeast.Although President Jonathan appeared tohave a strong edge at the start of thecampaign, the elections is now expectedto be very close and hotly contested.

President Jonathan, a southerner anddevout Christian, believes he can win re-election and appears determined to do so.The President has the power of incumbencyon his side as well as substantial financial

resources. His party, the People’sDemocratic Party, has the advantage ofhaving the only national political partyorganization in the country.

President Jonathan also stands to benefitfrom the unrest in the north. His critics saythe conflict in the northeast will reduce voterturnout for his opponent — MuhammaduBuhari, a northern Muslim politician.There are also concerns that Jonathan willuse the country’s security forces to helpturn the election in his favor. In lateNovember, Nigerian security forcesillegally prevented members of the nationalassembly from entering their chambers.

Buhari, who is running for the fourthtime, believes he has finally positionedhimself to win. Unlike recent previouspresidential contests, there are only twocandidates on the ballot, and a once dividedand fractious opposition has closed ranksbehind Buhari. Many of the leadingnorthern politicians are supporting him,including his two most prominent politicalrivals — Kanu Governor Rabiu Kwankwasoand former vice president Atiku Abubakar.

To the surprise of many, Buhari has alsogained some traction in the southern partof the country, where he has long beenviewed with great suspicion. His selectionof Yemi Osibajo, a widely respected lawyerfrom Lagos, as his vice presidential runningmate appears to have gone over well.

Boko Haram is notgoing away any timesoon

THERE are no easy answers to how thecoming elections would be free and fair.The experiments the Independent NationalElectoral Commission, INEC, has beenconducting since the 2011 elections arecontinuing. Issues are assumingcomplications that should not be roundmajor elections within weeks of theirconduct.Will voters get their permanent voters’

cards, PVCs, before the elections? Thequestion would be answered after the newdeadline for their collections. WouldINEC’s card readers, another majorinnovation in 2015, work? Would riggingbe impossible or just more difficult? Howwould INEC gain the public’s confidenceabout its impartiality?INEC maintains that “every vote would

count, every vote would be counted, andevery vote would be taken into account”,but what do these promises mean? INECintends to fulfil the promises with the useof the PVC and card reader. “No-PVC-and-card-reader no-voting”, INEC, says.With the system for maintaining the

credibility of the elections fire-proof, asINEC insists, why are PVCs still stolen?Why are politicians, the supposed

Rigging – PVC, CardRigging – PVC, CardRigging – PVC, CardRigging – PVC, CardRigging – PVC, CardRRRRReader Teader Teader Teader Teader To Ro Ro Ro Ro Rescue?escue?escue?escue?escue?

beneficiaries of the thefts, investing inunprofitable ventures? INEC should not becontent with its position that the electionscannot be rigged. It should pay attentionto the interest of politicians in acquiringPVCs meant for others.Mike Igini, INEC Resident Electoral

Commissioner in Edo State compares PVCswithout card readers to used rechargecards. Among the multi-level securitydetails of the card reader is that they areconfigured to specific polling booths, andcannot be used in another polling booth.The new system would be the game changerin the 2015 elections only if it works.Scepticism is high because the system has

not been used. INEC is notorious forattributing its lapses to endlessexperiments on improving the electoralprocesses? Will the 2015 elections beanother experiment? Who wouldunderstand INEC’s excuses?All parties in the elections should spend

next two weeks in ensuring that theelections are conducted with adequatecertainties about their fairness. INECshould know that the tone of the campaignsalready suggests that the contenders wouldnot accept INEC’s inadequacies. Theirpositions would be understandable. INEChas since 2011 been preaching about theinvestments it has made in ensuring freeand fair elections.The PVC and card reader are at the apogee

of the electronic architecture for free andfair elections. No matter how perfect theyare, human beings will operate them.Suppose the technology fails? What optionsare available to INEC? Has INEC discussedthe options and their implications with thecontenders?INEC should know that the elections are

too contentious to be mirred in INEC’sexcuses. The time for excuses has run out.Does INEC know?

To be concluded

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015—————1919191919

CMYK

By Bashir Hassan

•Mr. Olayinka, a cleric , wrote fromLagos.

ByBamidele Olayinka Fayose and Buhari's death wish

•Mr. Hassan , an economist,wrote from Abuja.

RECENTLY, the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose placed an advert on

the front page of the Punch newspapersuggesting that the presidential candidateof the All Progressives Congress, APC,Muhammadu Buhari, will die in office ifelected president.

The advert, which has the pictures of,Murtala Muhammed, Sani Abacha, andUmaru Yar’Adua – past Nigerian leaderswho died in office was accompanied byexcerpt from the Bible book of Deuteronomy30 verse 19.

“Nigerians be warned! Nigeria…I haveset before thee Life and death. Therefore,choose life that both thee, and thy seed maylive,” it said, suggesting that General Buharirepresents death, while his rival, PresidentGoodluck Jonathan represents life. Theadvert put a huge question mark over thepicture of General Buhari, which was placedbeside the pictures of the late leaders. Theadvert then asked its readers: “Will you allowhistory to repeat itself? Enough of Stateburials.”

With the advert, it is crystal clear thatFayose and his cohorts are not onlydesperate, they are playing God by equatingthemselves with God by professing death forsomebody on account of age and election.Fayose’ divisive action is enough ofplunging the country into political cumethnic crisis, especially at this critical periodthat 2015 polls are gathering momentum.If not, why was the advert placed on a daythat President Jonathan was in Sokoto Statefor campaign rally. It may not be out of placethat the move was part of the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP) strategy to see if the

forthcoming polls would be scuttled orpostponed as result of induced violence orprovocation on the North.

But the North and the APC’s reaction to ithave shown that they are more sagaciouspolitically than President Jonathan and hisPDP cohorts. Fayose and the PDP haveforgotten that there is no correlationbetween age and deathbecause sickness and deathknows no age or tribe. Even ifthe likes of Sani Abacha,Murtala Mohammed, andUmaru Yar Adua died in officeas presidents of the country atdifferent times, why wouldFayose single out deceasedformer presidents of thecountry from the North in theadvert? Have Fayose and thePDP forgotten that GeneralJTU Aguiyi Ironsi from AbiaState like MurtalaMuhammed was killed whilein office as Head of State? Asstated by the BuhariCampaign Organisation, is ittrue that PDP or its agents areplanning to kill Buhari if hewins the election?

Just like Fayose, everyNigerian has antecedents, andwe know ourselves well. It isoften said that leopard cannever change her colour andpig will ever remain dirty nomatter how many times youbath it. Claiming change ofcharacter in old age is a fuss,

because one cannot learn using left hand inold age.

In PDP and the Presidency are manycharacters like Fayose who believe theyknow better than Nigerians, butunfortunately for them Nigerians know themwell as accidental and opportunistic leaders.One of the presidential aides has recently

declared that it is better forthe country to disintegrate,instead of APC winning thepresidential election. Thosebehind the retinue ofadvertorials for PresidentJonathan’s re-election inprint and electronic mediaare greatest beneficiaries ofsubsidy, aviation and powersector scams. They have usedthe money to form differentsupport groups for PresidentJonathan re-election. Two ofthem that symbolized fraudand corruption beforeJonathan’s government werefrom Southeast zone. Theylack character and integrity,but these are the President’sfriends who are driving hiscampaign with the country’slooted fund. These are peoplebeing celebrated in thePresidency today wherecorruption, sycophancy andmediocrity are being adored,celebrated, and encouraged.

With this calibre of peoplehobnobbing with PresidentJonathan, Nigerians are notsurprise about Fayose’s

action. In the days ahead, many more ofsuch provocative, incisive and divisiveadverts, actions or comments will emanatefrom the president’s camp, because they haveno useful message to give Nigerians.Fayose’s advert has also shown that thosewho claimed to be working for PresidentJonathan’s re-election are indirectly workingagainst it, by doing more damage to hisimage.

Again by the advert content, Fayose hasagreed and concurred that Buhari will winthe election, but he will die in office likeAbacha, Muhammed and Yar Adua. What adaft and preposterous thinking by those whocall themselves leaders. It could be recalledthat some of the President’s cohorts havebeen comparing him with great worldleaders like late Dr. Nelson Mandela, USpresident Barack Obama and otherswithout showing how. It means that they donot know that psychologically personalityis unique.

That is why there is nothing like identicaltwins. So there is no obvious correlationbetween Jonathan’s personality and thesegreat world leaders. For people like Fayoseand other supporters of Jonathan’s re-election, the issue at stake now is not aboutage or death, it is about leadership,antecedents, performance and the future ofthe country. Besides, God is the creator andcontroller of the universe and not a meremortal. Politicians must draw a parallel linebetween God and politics of hatred, becauseof its consequences. According to 1 John 2:11“But anyone who hates a brother or sister isin the darkness and walks around in thedarkness. They do not know where they aregoing, because the darkness has blindedthem.”

Nigeria and the JP Morgan emerging Market IndexNigeria and the JP Morgan emerging Market IndexNigeria and the JP Morgan emerging Market IndexNigeria and the JP Morgan emerging Market IndexNigeria and the JP Morgan emerging Market Index

IT is a piece of good news thatthe Central Bank of Nigeria

(CBN) will engage withJPMorgan to ensure that Nigerianbonds remain on its EmergingMarkets bond index (GBI –EM)as a result of the recent negativewatch placed on them by the NewYork-based global financialservices firm.

The move will certainly boostinvestors’ confidence on theFederal Government bonds.Godwin Emefiele, Nigeria’sCentral Bank Governor, told thepress recently that the apex bankwill be engaging with JP Morganteam to provide them with thenumbers on FX liquidity, whichis the bone of contention in theplacing of the Nigeria bond onnegative watch list in the firstplace by the global investmentbank.

With the ongoing sliding of thevalue of naira against the dollardue to falling price of oil, Nigeria’smono-product economy needs tourgently diversify its bases for thefunding of its infrastructural andother economic developmentprojects. And one area that thecountry has turned to in recentyears is the international capitalmarket (ICM).

In 2014 Nigeria received theprestigious 2013 Best SovereignBond in Africa Award. It wasbestowed on Nigeria by theEmerging Market, Europe,Middle East and Africa (EMEA)wing of the Citigroup. The awardwas a recognition of the boldsteps taken by the DebtManagement Office (DMO) in

2013, when it offered twoEurobonds in tenors of 5 and 10years, each for USD500 million,which were four timesoversubscribed at the time -- apointer to the confidenceinvestors have on the Nigeria’seconomy.

Nigeria has come a long wayin the management of its debtportfolios through the DebtManagement Office (DMO).And one of the most innovativesteps was the listing of Nigeria’sbond, on the J.P. MorganEmerging Market index in 2013.Nigeria and South African are theonly two African countries on theindex.

Priceshocks

Recent price shocks at theglobal oil market have affectedFX liquidity in the country.Daily,trading volumes for thenaira have dropped just $20million to $30 million in January,compared with about $300 millionto $500 million six months ago.The Nigerian economy will be theworse for this trend, becauseimporting goods into Nigeriawould be expensive, whileexports would be cheap, therebycreating room for round trippingof the foreign exchange.

In an effort to stem unhealthyspeculation, in which banksresort to round tripping at theFX market, the CBN came upwith two fiscal policies announcedthrough two recent circularnotices, which were, for all intent

and purposes, aimed at protectingthe naira.

These are the ForeignExchange Trading Position ofBanks at the close of eachBusiness Day and the Utilizationof Funds Purchased From theinterbank Foreign ExchangeMarket.

As a result of these rules, theFX market temporarily stoppedtrading on a two-way quote basis,which led to an incoherent pricediscovery process, with theexchange rates hovering all overthe place and making it verydifficult for banks to fulfil largeclient orders.

Noting the negative effects ofthe two fiscal policies, CBNquickly modified them onJanuary 16th through anothercircular. The new circular revisedthe Daily Foreign CurrencyTrading positions from Zero

percent to 0.1 percent ofshareholders’ funds unimpairedby losses and increased thetimeline for utilization of funds to72 hours. The utilization deadlinewas moved from the date ofpurchase to the value date. Themodification effectively removesall barriers to trading Forwards,Swaps and other derivativeproducts.

Sounding reassuring, the CBNGovernor said: “We are committedto remaining on the index andknow the adverse impactexclusion from the index will haveon the country.”

Nigeria accounts for 1.8 percentof the $287 billion linked to theGBI – EM. The implication ofremoval of Nigeria from the indexis that it would force funds tradersto sell Nigerian bonds from theirportfolios, potentially resulting insignificant capital outflows. This,in turn, would raise borrowingcosts for country.

However, many analysts believeJP Morgan will not take such astep given the size of oureconomy and potential for futurecapital rising (?) in the debt andequity markets. Although themove by JP Morgan is to protectthe interests of internationalinvestors some financial analystssee it as a bit hasty if one considersthe fact that Nigeria took the recentFX measures in order to protectthe fledgling Naira.

Looking back at the distanceNigeria has travelled inmanaging the country’s debtprofile, all efforts by the FederalGovernment should be directedat ensuring the consolidation of

the achievements of the DMO. Itis public knowledge that, prior tothe establishment of the DMO in2000, public debt managementwas bedevilled by many issues,such as inadequate debt datarecording system and poorinformation flow across agencies;complicated and inefficient debtservice arrangements, which ledto penalties that added to the debtstock, and lack of consistent well-defined borrowing policies andpublic debt managementstrategies.

Today, the DMO has continuedwith market-based funding ofGovernment’s financing needswhich began in 2003, and hasmarked a turning point indomestic debt markettransformation. This has involvedinitiatives such as tenorelongation and establishment ofsovereign yield curves of 3months to 20 years, therebycreating a market for long-termfunds; streamlining andrestructuring of the different typesof outstanding debt instruments;and, regular issuances of Bonds,and development of activesecondary market for FGN Bonds.

The DMO also worked toestablish a viable competitivepresence in the ICM through itsdebut offer of USD500 million 10-year 6.75 percent SovereignEurobond issued in January,2011, which was closely followedby the successful issuance of aUSD 1 billion dual-tranche bondoffering, on July 2, 2013, of USD500 million 5-year Bond and USD500 million 10-year Bond atCoupons of 5.125% and 6.375%p.a., respectively.

For peoplelike Fayoseand othersupporters ofJonathan’sre-election,the issue atstake now isnot aboutage or death,it is aboutleadership,antecedents,performanceand thefuture of thecountry

And one of the mostinnovative steps wasthe listing ofNigeria’s bond, onthe J.P. MorganEmerging Marketindex in 2013.Nigeria and SouthAfrican are the onlytwo African countrieson the index

20—Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015

OPINIONBy Victor Ariole

*Dr. Ariole, is professor of French and FrancophoneAfrican Studies.

ELECTORAL violence has been anugly face of our political culture. It

comes before, during and after mostelections. The only election that wentwithout the slightest stirrings of electoralviolence was the annulled 1993presidential election won by the lateChief Moshood Abiola. That of 2011,which was highly acclaimed by local andinternational observers, would also havebeen violence-free but for the organisedkilling of many youth corps memberswho helped the Independent NationalElectoral Commission (INEC) to carryout the assignment in parts of the north.

Unfortunately, long before the currentcampaign season, many political actors,especially those in the camp of theopposition All Progressives Congress(APC) were stoking an atmosphere ofapprehension. When supporters ofGeneral Muhammadu Buhari, thecandidate of the Congress forProgressive Change (CPC) in the 2011presidential election, paid him a visit onMay 15th 2012, he wept openly andthreatened that if the 2015 election wasrigged, “dog and baboon will soak inblood”. Since the APC started itscampaigns, it has been threatening toset up a “parallel government” if the 2015elections are “ rigged”. Nigerianpoliticians never lose elections. They areusually “rigged” out.

The INEC decided to bind theleadership of the contending politicalparties by bringing their leaders andpresidential candidates together inAbuja on January 13th 2015 to sign apeace accord. It was conducted underthe chairmanship of formerCommonwealth Secretary General,Chief Emeka Anyaoku, with formerSecretary General of the United Nations,Dr. Kofi Annan, being among the augustinternational witnesses. The followingday, pictures of the two majorcontenders, President GoodluckJonathan and the presidential candidateof the APC, General MuhammaduBuhari, adorned the front pages ofnewspapers, embracing for the peacefulconduct of the elections.

It is very gratifying to note that the twoleaders have conducted themselves withgreat decorum. They have faced thesubstance of the electoral issues anddesisted from making any inflammatoryremarks beyond the usual, legitimatecampaign jabs and sound bites. But thesame cannot be said for the rank andfile and some of their supporters whohave lived up to the old habit ofdisrupting the peace. Both PDP and APChave been culpable almost in equalmeasure.

PDP governors of Kaduna, Katsina andEkiti states have made very virulent

AAAAAttacttacttacttacttacks on GEJ must stks on GEJ must stks on GEJ must stks on GEJ must stks on GEJ must stopopopopopanti-opposition speeches. GovernorRamalan Yero of Kaduna and ShehuShema of Katsina have been on recordthreatening fire and brimstone againstthe APC, whose supporters have beenalleged to be behind the campaign ofintimidation in the North against GEJ’ssupporters. Governor Ayo Fayosesponsored adverts in some nationaldailies making what has now come tobe seen as a “death wish” on GeneralBuhari.

APC campaign office has beenreportedly bombed in Rivers State, whiletheir supporters on the way to the Buhariflag-off campaign in Port Harcourt werealso allegedly shot at.

On the other hand, APC supportershave reportedly razed buses belongingto the President Jonathan campaigngroup in Jos while shouting: “we don’twant Jonathan”. The president has beenpersonally attacked while on campaignvisits to Katsina and Bauchi. In fact, apicture of the North being a no-go area

for the president over his alleged butunfounded “hatred” for the region hadlong been painted, with text messagesflying and threatening to kill keysupporters of the president in the north.The situation was so bad that fears wereentertained for the safety of those tryingto paste posters of the president or movearound in his branded campaignvehicles.

However, this orchestrated andartificially machinated atmosphere ofhatred for President Jonathan wascompletely doused when he started hisvisits to parts of the North. When he wasin Maiduguri recently to visit thesoldiers, especially the injured ones,and see the internally-displaced personsin their camps, he was happily andcheeringly received by the ordinaryNigerian people who have no businesswith the politically-engineeredcampaign of calumny against thepresident. Everywhere he has gone inthe north, nothing we saw on thetelevision screens confirmed the lies andpropaganda that the people of the Northsee him as their “enemy”. He has alsospent much time to explain hisstewardship in the past four years, whichsuggests that in terms of projects andappointments, the North has been thelion’s share beneficiary of the Jonathanadministration.

General Buhari, on the hand, has alsohad a very smooth and successfulcampaign tour of the southern parts ofthe country. From Port Harcourt to Uyo,from Calabar to Owerri, from Owerri toLagos and Abeokuta, Buhari and theAPC presidential campaign train havebeen well received. Many werepleasantly surprised to see a large turn-out of Bayelsa people when Buhariberthed there. In fact, in Aba, theheartland of Jonathan’s South Eastsupport base, Buhari was even conferredwith a chieftaincy title by the traditionalruler of Eziama Aba, Isaac Ikonne. Thatis as it should be.

Nigerians, let us bear in mind thatevery Nigerian has the constitutionalright to campaign in any part of thecountry. Any person who tries to stop orintimidate, harass or threaten anycandidate in any part of the country isan enemy of Nigeria’s unity. If you attacka presidential candidate in your part ofthe country, you are inviting revengeattack on your candidate in another partof the country where has his supporters.Jonathan has been attacked twice in theNorth, not by ordinary,peace-lovingnortherners but people sent to do so bydisgruntled politicians. It is disgruntledpolitical actors who at are behind everyact of violence which has occurred in thecountry’s history.

The shame of Nigeria is that whenthese enemies of the country carry outtheir unpatriotic acts, nobody is caughtand brought to book. We have noconfirmation that those who shot andbombed APC supporters and offices inRivers have been arrested. Same thinghas been the case in the North whereJonathan has been personally attackedand his campaign bus burnt. The law-enforcement agents sit on their palmsand embolden the perpetrators to domore. If nothing happens when thepresident is attacked, then, who is safe?

It is not in the interest of anybody toattack any politician campaigning forvotes. It is not even wise. Whether welike it or not, Nigerians are going to electeither President Goodluck Jonathan orGeneral Muhammadu Buhari onFebruary 14th 2015. Attacking any ofthem will not help anybody’s politicalquest. It may only create more sympathyfor the person and therefore more votes.On the other hand, it may triggerunpleasant consequences when the shoeis on the other foot.

If you attack a presidential candidateand he becomes president, you riskbeing put in the dog house for the nextfour years. Attacking a political candidateis a foolish and barbaric thing to do. Theonly sane, civilised, lawful and effectiveway of dealing with a political candidateyou do not like is to boycott his campaignrallies and cast your ballot against him.Those artificially-engineered attacks onPresident Jonathan must stop. On theother hand, the threat by Mujahid AsariDokubo to “retaliate” when next Buharivisits in the South-South must be totallydiscountenanced. It is not in thecharacter or culture of the people of theSouth to attack or kill their visitors.

We are not at war. We are looking forthe next person to lead us for four years.Let us abide by the Peace Accord, votefor a party and candidate of our choiceand accept the final verdict of theNigerian people.

Jonathan has been attackedtwice in the North, not byordinary, peace-lovingnortherners but people sentto do so by disgruntledpoliticians. It is disgruntledpolitical actors who at arebehind every act of violencewhich has occurred in thecountry’s history

Oil pricing and human sustainabilityOil pricing and human sustainabilityOil pricing and human sustainabilityOil pricing and human sustainabilityOil pricing and human sustainabilityA FREEZING cold makes oxygen hard for the nose to

inhale, and a scorching heat does not even allow thenose to inhale the available oxygen; in both ways humanbeings are at risk. They need oil, fuel, for both heating andcooling processes so as to survive. No nation can horde it toitself;even the Saudi Princes are coming to terms with that.Most of them in their public utterances, knowing very wellthat they have been leveraged by the West to createalternative balancing development or wealth acquisitionmatrix, say that oil price must never go high again andLagarde, IMF boss, confirms it: cheaper oil increasesconsumers’ purchasing power and private demand in oil-importing countries (…) it provides positive contributionto global growth.

The fact is that if there is no oxygen there will be no humanbeing; if there is no heating the waters or the oceans or eventhe photosynthesis process to make oxygen available, therewill be no human being. These are archetypic processesrevealed to man by nature. If you find yourself in a gaschamber devoid of oxygen or in a “dark room” wherenegatives are produced, you will understand why USA andits “any number of G—G5, G7, G8 or even 20”—acknowledge the fact that beyond the archetypic providence,any earthly leader—here, even Nigeria as the leader of anearthly region, West Africa, if not Africa—must factor intoits thinking and budgeting process a human sustainabilityvariable. Hence the need, henceforth, to understand thatoil pricing, OPEP or not, is not exclusively the right of agroup, and it tends ironically to be determined by world

powers in any number of “G” they decide to groupthemselves.

The swing, for now, is to help USA to rebuild and,thereafter, European Union before other fringes of the ‘Gs’like Japan and others, upon which the “damnés” of theearth could take some “fringes of oxygen”; French says:“bouffé d’oxygène”. Reasonability in our decision makingprocesses, both by the executive and legislature on oil pricingor benchmark pricing for determination of budgetingprocess, should observe some degree of abstraction. Tax

it does not complain whether low or high earning as thematrix of development in Canada favours privatecompanies when it is low and favours government when itis high. In, all, there is a sustainable balance.

Listen to some utterances that should create a re-think inthe Nigerian decision making process.

To produce about 90,000 trailer load of salt—stocked,awaiting for snow fall so as to tackle road clearance inMontreal alone—think of the fuel burnt to sustainproduction. For every human injury caused by the inabilityof the municipality to clear snow for smooth movement ofpeople, heavy amount is paid to the injured. Think of otherthings—value chain—created by the usage of fuel.

Jack Ewing et. al. state in International New York Times that:The Federal Reserve which had a balance sheet about the samesize as European Central Bank in 2012, has since increased itsholdings to $4 trillion from $3 trillion; that the plunge in worldoil prices will provide some stimulus for USA, being priced indollars, and will be partly offset by weaker euro; that lower oilprices act as stimulus to consumers, which is good becauseconsumer spending makes 70% of USA GDP.

Note, clearly, here, that shale drilling and fracking of oil andgas are mere strategic operations helping great banks andFederal Reserve to re-position and recover from the effects of2008 downturn. It is a lesson you learn when you attend MBAcorporate planning class of strategists like Z.W. Abiola.

benefits for multinationalproducers or investors in oilbusiness should be abolished.Nigeria’s fiscal policy shouldaim entirely on tax from thembased on any reasonableproduction level capacity ofsuch company. It is appallingto be hearing that ourbudgeting process is based onoil production. We must makeit an abstract assumption andgive a target for tax income, likethe customs are given target.

Apart from the Region ofAlberta that complains aboutlow oil income earning,Canada lives by oil earning but

We mustmake it anabstractassumptionand give atarget for taxincome, like thecustoms aregiven target

CMYK

CMYK

JANUARY 26, 2015

Duty waivers threatenlocal production

By FRANKLIN ALLI

OPERATORS in the rice andpalm oil sectors of theeconomy have cried out

that their investments and theTransformation Agenda of the FederalGovernment on palm revitalisationin the Agricultural sector are beingthreatened by imports allocation andduty waivers granted to somecompanies in the sectors.

Financial Vanguard learnt thatmillers in the rice sector are lamentingallocation of higher import dutyquotas to new investors whom theyalleged have neither paddy farms norfactories for milling.

In the same vein, companies underthe umbrella of National Palm ProduceAssociation of Nigeria (NPPAN);Vegetable and Edible Oil ProducersAssociation of Nigeria (VEOPAN),Vegetable & Edible Oil Sector ofManufacturers Association of Nigeria(MAN) and Plantation OwnersForum of Nigeria (POFON) are alsounhappy over the grant of 75 percent duty waiver to importers ofcrude palm oil especially operatorsat the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos.

Investigation revealed that the likesof PZ Wilmar, makers of Devon andMamador brands of vegetable oil,Presco Oil Palm Plc; Okomu Oil PalmPlc, etc., have invested billions ofnaira in the palm oil sector and arenow jittery over the fate of theirinvestments in the face of unfaircompetition from imported brands.

*RiceFacts obtained from stakeholders in

the rice sector showed that in a bidto promote self-sufficiency in localrice production and milling, theFederal Government initiated a newrice policy. President GoodluckJonathan approved the backwardintegration policy on rice in May lastyear and the implementation startedin December 2014.

The policy specifies preferentiallevy of 20 per cent and duty of 10per cent for existing millers and newinvestors in rice milling and a higherlevy of 60 per cent and a duty of 10per cent for other rice importers.

Consequently, an inter-ministerialcommittee was appointed to determinethe national supply gap and the

AWARD - From left: Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Speaker of the House of Representatives; Barr. (Dr.) TaiwoAfolabi, Honorary Consul-General of the Republic Of Djibouti in Nigeria; Director, Sifax Group, Chief Mrs FolashadeAfolabi and others, during The Sun's 12th annual award, held at Eko Hotel, Victoria Island Lagos.

appropriate volume of import quotasof the two categories needed to closethe gap.

Also, a methodology of allocatingquotas, which assigned weight to keycriteria of self-sufficiency in riceproduction and milling in Nigeria,was developed by the Ministry ofAgriculture in collaboration with therice stakeholders and rice experts assupply gap of import grade wasdetermined to be 1.5 million metrictonnes for 2014.

Subsequently, a letter was sent bythe Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment (the project coordinator)to existing rice millers and newinvestors, to submit their DomesticRice Production Plan (DRPP) andbased on their submissions, a totalof 1.3 million metric tonnes of riceimport quotas was issued to 28qualifying companies at thepreferential levy of 20 per cent and aduty of 10 per cent. The remainderof 0.2 million metric tonnes of riceimports will be at the higher levy of

60 per cent and duty of 10 per cent forother rice importers.

FV further gathered that to thedisappointment of the existing ricemillers, new investors were the oneswho got the highest quota allocationsto import, while millers did notreceive allocations and in someinstances, received very lowallocation.

Similarly, the list of beneficiariesof the preferential import quotas

Continues on page 22

CMYK

22 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015

Cover Story

Continues from page 21

Continues on page 23

showed that of the 28beneficiaries, only 16companies have mills,while the remaining 12have no mills and accountfor higher imports thanmillers.

Mr. Tunji Owoeye,President, Rice InvestorsGroup and also President ofRice Millers andDistributors Association ofNigeria, RiMIDAN,implored stakeholders whofeel displeased not to marthe policy with internalsquabbles since the policy isstill in its early stage.

He said: “Considered onthe surface, thegovernment could befaulted but on close review,it is certain governmentwants to recruit andexpand the investors’ baseand was not whimsical.

“To a large extent,government gaveallocations to encourage biginvestors who are puttingdown substantial amounts ofmoney. There is nowhere onearth that major investorsare not wooed and that iswhat the government hasdone but I can tell anyonewho cares to listen thatgovernment also tookadequate precautions incase of anyone defaulting.

“The critical thing isprotecting local investors tothe point they canreasonably stand on theirfeet."

According to him, "thegovernment developed thenew rice policy based on

Duty waivers threaten localproduction

what is produced presentlyagainst the shortfalls whichwere factored to furtherencourage local investorsagainst those whose coreinterest is importing andselling locally without themind of contributing to thenational dream of self-sufficiency. I believe themarket is big enough for allgenuine investors in the ricemarket so that there is nopoint dissipating energy onfrivolities and wildallegations.”

*Palm oilIn the sphere of palm oil, the

Governor of the Central Bankof Nigeria (CBN), Mr. GodwinEmefiele, had during a tour of

PZ Wilmer oil palmplantation, disclosed: "Thiscountry is losing N20 billionby the 75 per cent waivergiven to people who importpalm oil into Nigeria. We willwork very hard to stop thatbecause we need ourrevenue in our coffers.”

President of the NPPAN,Engr. Henry Olatujoye,alleged that since the LekkiFTZ has been established, nomeaningful exports havetaken place there. “What theydo mainly is to importthousands of tonnes ofCrude Palm Oil (CPO) into theZone en route to NigeriaCustoms Area which isagainst the policy

establishing theZone,” he said.

Olatujoye said thatthe industrial users ofCPO in Nigeria havecome to realise that itwas very important todevelop their ownplantation to sustaintheir demand for CPO.“That is why PZWillmar is developingabout 30,000Ha,Presco - 16,000Ha,Okomu - 12500Ha,Slabmark - 4000Ha.Ten thousandhectares represent 10km by 10 km in area.You can see thatoperators in theindustry in Nigeria arespending huge fund todevelop plantations.Therefore, any policythat will negate thisinvestment should be

The focus is on the roles of technology and vocationaleducation in enhancing entrepreneurial skills that will

equip students for entrepreneurship education in Informationand Communication Technology (ICT.) driven technologicalenvironment. The world has become globalized and the futureprosperity depends on comparative advantage. Thiscomparative advantage hinges on people and their technicalor technological sophistication. Towards this, some crucialentrepreneurial and technical skills needed by the students incolleges of education (technical), polytechnics and universitiesto meet the trends in a global economy is analyzed.

Technology education is to be considered as the key agent oftechnology development, either as a way of developing humancapacity, increasing the shield work force for modernization,industrialization, environmental development or as a matterof personnel freedom, developing capability andempowerment. Technology education is increasinglyrecognized to be central to both the origins of technologicaldevelopment and challenges and to the prospects forsuccessfully dealing with them (Alam, 2009). Decision makersat all levels, need timely, reliable access to knowledgegenerated by technology and technical education to introducerational policies that reflect a better global understanding ofcomplex technical, economic, social, cultural and article issuesconcerning the society, and our environment. Technical decisionmaking and priority setting is an integral part of overalldevelopment planning and formation of technologydevelopment strategies. Above all, technology education is ahuman right and, as such, should receive priority in theallocation of national resources. It has become very necessarynot to only keep technology education bound to the role ofmanufacturing skilled manpower but also to economicdevelopment and global economy. In Nigeria, technologyeducation was previously not seen as fundamental for nationaldevelopment, or for the economic development, but for theschool dropouts, and other social and political developmentwithin the nation and for individuals. Hallak (1990) arguesthat technology education is also linked to human resourcesdevelopment and that this has an impact on more than justeconomic growth, but also an impact on the wider developmentof individuals and societies. According to him, it contributesto:

(a). Individual creativity, improved participation in theeconomic, social and cultural roles in society.

(b). Improved understanding of an individual and heir respectfor others, thus promoting social cohesion and materialunderstanding

(c) Improvement in health and nutrition.(d). Improved chances of economic development.(e). Improved technological development.(f). Socio-cultural change.(g). Democracy and equality(h). Ecological development/quality of life (increasing

people’s awareness of their environments).From our analysis so far, it is clear that modernization and

economic development, depends on investment andappreciation of modern trends in technology education.According to Woodhall (1997) investment in technologicaleducation and training produces benefits for the individualand for society as whole.

The roles of technical and vocational education in enhancingentrepreneurial skills using information and communicationtechnology is very important in training for self-employment,self-reliance and skills acquisition now that government cannotemploy every graduate. This could be achieved through thedevelopment of entrepreneurial skills in technology andvocational education through information and communicationtechnology.

Technology and vocational education programme of ourtertiary institutions should be directed to focus on enhancingthe training for entrepreneurship in ICT so as to be functionalin today’s world of work and the global economy.

Vocation and Technical Education– A key to improving Nigeria’sdevelopment. Part 4

The criticalthing isprotecting localinvestors to thepoint they canreasonablystand on theirfeet

CEREMONY - From left: Mrs. Ipek Guler, Sales Director, Mia Organizasyon RestorasyonYayincitik Ltd., Mr. Joseph Ebata, CEO, Bervidson Group, Nigeria, and Mr. Suat Soysal, CEO,Mia Organizasyon Restorasyon Yayincitik Ltd at a global Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) signing ceremony of Bervidson International Limited with a leading Turkish trainingand consultancy company and convener of Retail days (Conference) in Turkey.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015 — 23

CoverContinues from page 22

THE FederalG o v e r n m e n tdirective last week

Monday to slash fuel prices isa sobre and welcomedevelopment which Nigeriansshould all applaud. Theprojected direct effect of thisdevelopment is immediatereduction in the cost of publictransport fares, transportationof goods and reducedproduction costs of goods andservices. This ultimatelyshould lead to reduction inprices of basic commodities,and increased buying powerfor the citizenry.

The Federal Governmentgave as reason for the actionthe falling oil price which hasseen crude oil price drop from$110 to around $47 last week.The government in taking theaction did not explain how itreached the N87 price mark.The drop in price is a form ofrelief. The drop will be a lossto fuel importers who onregular basis claim subsidy.There is, therefore, no moresubsidy on petrol price inNigeria today. If at the currentprice there is no subsidy, thisis a good opportunity for theFederal Government toderegulate the downstreamsector of the oil industry inNigeria completely.

Unfortunately, for the nextfew months, Nigeria’spolitical elite will be too tiedup with presidential, stateand local elections scheduledfor February 2015 to focus ongovernance. The campaignsahead of the elections are notaddressing broad issues suchas the state of the economy butit is on who will eventuallytake control of the country’spolitical economy. At the endof the 2015 election, if nothingis done to deregulate the oilsector, Nigerians will return tothe annual bickering of fuelsubsidy removal. Fuel price

Deregulate petrolprice now, or never

adjustment in Nigeria has along history that everygovernment had at one time orthe other increased thedomestic price of fuel.

Nigerians will recall thatPresident Ibrahim Babangidamoved the price of petrol from15 kobo to 70 kobo in his eightyears of governance. But by far,the greatest leap of oil price inNigeria was introduced byChief Ernest Shonekan, aninterim Head of State who tookthe price from 70kobo to N5.00within the 82 days of his rule.Late General Sani Abachamoved price of petrol from N5to N11 within his five years inoffice while GeneralAbdulsalami Abubakarincreased the price of petrolfrom N11 to N20 within the 10months he ruled Nigeria.President Olusegun Obasanjounder democratic regime raisedthe price of fuel from N20 toN70 within eight years he spentin office. However, late UmaruYar ’Adua reduced the pricefrom N70 to N65 as a result offalling oil prices and was in theprocess of deregulating thedownstream sector before hedied, but President Jonathan

increased the price from N65to N141 per litre.Negotiations between thePresidency and theOrganised Labour led to thebringing down of the pricefrom N141 to N97 per litreafter eight days of strike andstreet protests.

Under every democraticadministration, the uglyincidence of petrol scarcitysurfaces and priceadjustment has to be made.The question is: must Nigeriacontinue down this road? Whycan’t Nigerian leaders do theright thing for once? To thosewho believe that thegovernment should intervenein the everyday running ofthe economy, it is bad toderegulate, but to those whobelieve that the governmentshould just govern and let theeconomic resources ‘go towhere they are needed most’,it is very good.

In economic theory andpractice, the economy of anynation thrives when there isefficient allocation of scarceresources. In Nigeria,deregulation of the petroleumsector is a problem because alot of multinationalbusinessmen with vestedinterests in the oil and gasindustry are doing everythingthey can to stop the

deregulation. They want thegovernment to continue withits inefficient allocation ofresources to the subsidy ofpetroleum products.

It is in the best interest ofevery Nigerian, includinggenerations yet unborn, towelcome deregulation,otherwise Nigerians willnever understand whyprices fall in other places andit does not fall in the Nigerianmarket. Before thederegulation of thecommunication sector,there was only NITEL. Otherplayers were allowed into theindustry and the sectorbecame more organised.Nigerians should wonder whatwould have happened if therewas only Nigeria Airwaysoperating in the country.Based on the usual nature ofderegulation, the price of suchcommodity may be very highinitially; PMS may rise higherper litre in the short run butthere is nothing stopping itfrom dropping lower per litrein the long run when the sectorstrengthens and refineries arerestructured as players try toimprove market share throughcompetitive strategies.

Generally, under a freeenterprise national economicsystem of management, theforces of supply and demand

are allowed to determine thegeneral and specific prices ofgoods and services. In countrieswhere the allocation of nationaleconomic resources is centrallyplanned and directed,governments play a more activerole in the allocation of resourcesand the general determinationof the prices of certain goods andservices. Nowadays, manycountries are completely freeenterprise economies. Few, ifany, are 100 per cent plannedeconomies either. There is nodoubt that free market forcesgenerally allocate resourcesmore efficiently than in acentrally planned and directedsystem.

Ironically in theory, there ispreference for the freeenterprise system ofmanagement of the nationaleconomy in Nigeria. But inpractice, there is a lot ofmeddling in the allocation ofeconomic resources. There arelots of bureaucracies andregulations, including thoserelating to the subsidisation ofthe prices of petroleumproducts in the country. Policyimplementation is a bigproblem. Corruption is the banein general governance andadministration of socialservices. Nigeria shouldderegulate petrol price now thatthere is no subsidy or never.

To those whobelieve thatgovernmentshouldintervene in theeverydayrunning of theeconomy, it isbad toderegulate

seen as anti-Nigeria andshould be crushedimmediately. All sponsors ofthis act should be exposedand dealt with,” he said.

Also, the ManagingDirector, Okomu Oil Palm Plc,Dr. Graham Hefer, said thatthe 75 per cent waiver shouldbe withdrawn immediately asit is inimical to the futuredevelopment of the oil palmsector and open to abuse.

“As we see happening now,the 75 per cent waiver isdetrimental to thedevelopment of Nigeria as awhole since the governmentwill be losing revenueestimated at N20 billion.

For the Managing Directorof Araromi Ayesan Oil PalmPlc, Mr. Babatunde Kuku, thegranting of 75 per cent waiver

on duty payment to some companiesin the vegetable oil sector createsundulating playing ground formanufacturers in the industry whileindustries enjoying the waiver payonly 8.75 per cent while others pay35 per cent.

“This is unfair and capable ofdestroying the investments of thecompanies that are not favoured.Government should reverse thewaivers or in the alternative, bringduty down to 8.75 per cent,” Kukusaid.

According to Santosh Pillei,Managing Director, PZ-Wilmar, thecompany’s $650 million JointVenture project under a robustbackward integration programme,alone, would be saving Nigeria upto $300 million yearly in foreignexchange, and drastically reduce

the current huge crude palm oil(CPO) importation.

NACCIMA, LCCI reactBased on the foregoing, the

Nigerian Association ofChambers of Commerce,Industry, Mines and Agriculture(NACCIMA), called on thegovernment to check theECOWAS Common ExternalTariff, CET, document and revisethe tariff on finished palm oilproducts to be in line with otherproducts whose tariff are clearlystated.

Alhaji Mohammed BadaruAbubakar, National President ofNACCIMA, said: “Theimplication of not indicating theduty payable for this productimplies zero duty, consequently

if this omission is allowed tostand, it would lead to flooding ofthe market with these productsthrough our neighbouringcountries of Ivory Coast, Ghana,Cotonou and Togo where we areall aware they are mostlydumped, thereby killing themarket for locally produced palmoil products.”

Import duty waiverscreate unfair competition- LCCI

Earlier, Muda Yusuf,Director-General of LagosChamber of Commerce andIndustry, noted that one of themajor challenges faced in theNigerian economy is thearbitrariness and impunity that

Duty waivers threaten local productioncharacterizes the management ofeconomic policies. Import dutywaiver is one of such abuses. Hesaid that LCCI is of the view thatwaivers are detrimental to theeconomy in a number of ways:It creates a condition of unfaircompetition, giving oneeconomic player an edge overothers; it leads to huge revenueloss to government. Even theCustoms high command hasseverally lamented the adverseimpact of waivers on revenue.It results in the perpetuation ofa rent economy and it weakensthe moral authority of thepolitical leadership to curbcorruption since waivers is avariant of corruption.

CMYK

24 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015

CMYK

Business & Economy

BY GODWIN ORITSE

FG to begin piping of products toease Apapa traffic

Federal Governmenthas said that it willcommence piping of

petroleum products from theLagos port to major depotsacross the country as part ofefforts to decongest theperennial traffic situation inthe port city of Apapa inLagos.

Speaking to Vanguard ,Senior Special Assistant toPresident GoodluckJonathan on Maritimematters, Mr Leke Oyewolesaid that the piping ofproducts from Atlas Cove isa done deal, the governmenthas concluded and workingout the modalities.

Oyewole who was reactingto the unabated trafficsituation in and aroundApapa Port area, said that upto the Mile 2 end of theApapa-Oshodi Expressway, the damaged parts of thepipelines are presentlyundergoing repairs.

He explained that fromAtlas Cove, the pipelineslinking Ejigbo, Mosimi andIlorin depots belonging tothe Nigerian NationalPetroleum Corporation,(NNPC), will be restoredbefore the end of the currentadministration.

He further disclosed that theentire port industry is alsobeing integrated with a viewto reducing the number ofpeople that come to the portto take delivery of theircargoes.

“We are attacking the issueof Apapa traffic from variousends.

“Firstly, we are automatingthe processes and proceduresat the Nigerian PortsAuthority, we are integrating the entire port system.

“You can do all yourbusiness online withoutcoming to the port and wehave also connected rail linesto the port for easy evacuationof products out of the ports.

“We are also encouragingthe establishment of InlandContainer Depots across thecountry so that people cantransport their cargoes bywaters,” he added.

He also said that tanker train wagons were beingdeployed to the port to assistin the evacuation ofpetroleum products.

On why the road is takingso long to fix,Oywole said thatthe Federal Ministry ofWorks was actually in chargeof the road saying that “Icannot speak for the ministryor the contractor.”

He blamed the contractorfor not starting from theApapa Port end of the roadas against the Oshodi end ofthe road.

He said: “I am aware thatthe Ministry of Workscatalogued some demandsfor the construction of theroad; what I cannot say is ifthe demands have been met.

It will be recalled that boththe Lagos and Federalgovernments have tried tofind lasting solution to theproblem of Apapa road but allto no avail.

At a point, the CoordinatingMinister of the Economy andMinister of Finance, Dr. (Mrs)Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealapersonally visited the portand solicited the support of

both residents and operatorsto come up with solution thatcould resolve the trafficproblem in Apapa.

Besides, Prof. Sylvester

Monye, chairman of thePresidential MonitoringCommittee on the Portindustry has had severalmeetings with variousstakeholders on how best tosolve the Apapa trafficproblem.

At the last meeting Monye held with petroleum tankerdrivers, it was agreed thattankers will not come to theport area until they are calledto load products but the saidagreement has failed as thesetanker drivers spend days,sometimes weeks on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway waitingto load.

They have turned thegutters to their toilet, adevelopment that may lead toan epidemic outbreak if theexcesses of these drivers arenot checked.

It wasagreed thattankers willnot come tothe port areauntil theyare called toloadproducts

Two indigenous pre-paid metermanufacturers have

appealed to the FederalGovernment to prevail onElectricity DistributionCompanies (DISCOs) topromote locally manufacturedpre-paid meters. They madethe appeal in Lagos against thebackdrop of approval of fundsfor the procurement of onemillion electricity meters by theFederal Government.

Minister of Power, MrChinedu Nebo, announced theapproval of the procurement ofthe meters on January 15. MrKola Balogun, Chairman,MEMCOL MeterManufacturing Company,Lagos, said the meters shouldbe purchased locally in thespirit of the local contentinitiative. Balogun said thatthere was no need for

Electricity metre manufacturers urge DISCOsto source pre-paid metres locally

government or the distributioncompanies to engage inimportation of meters into thecountry. He added that locallyproduced meters were ofstandard for the Power sector.

“Government needs toencourage local metermanufacturers and stop theimportation of meters. There isno reason why government orthe companies will go outsidethe shores of the country to geta product that is readilyavailable locally,” Balogun said.

Mrs Mojisola Abdul,Chairman, MOJECInternational Ltd, Lagos,decried the poor patronage oflocally-made electricity metersby government agencies.

According to Abdul, therevolution intelecommunications can besustained in Nigeria through thepromotion of this sector.

“The story of poor patronageis still the same in metermanufacturing where foreignfirms are better patronised andrecognised by electricitycompanies. I can confidentlysay that we (the localmanufacturers of meters) canmeet the country’s supply needsif patronised,” she said. Abdulsaid that employmentopportunities would triple iflocal manufacturers get moresupport from governments at alllevels. She said the local contentpolicy of the government wouldnot succeed if home-madeinnovations were notadequately utilised.

She added that Nigeria’sPower sector reforms would bemeaningless if moreconsiderations were not givento local manufacturers ofelectricity equipment.

Uber empowerspartner drivers,creates 15,000more jobs

Uber, the innovative appthat connects riders

with drivers, has enabled theeconomic empowerment ofdrivers, passenger safety andservice of transport,transforming the way usersthink about theirtransportation options inSouth Africa. Uber hasalready created over 2,000jobs across the country sincelaunching in late 2013.

Uber ’s lead generationsoftware facilitates a powerfule n t r e p r e n e u r s h i popportunity. Every month,Uber empowers hundreds ofentrepreneurs to becomesmall business owners inSouth Africa. This contributessignificantly to the 50,000+global entrepreneurs who areempowered monthly on theUber platform.

Existing transport operatorsand drivers are alsopartnering with Uber as ameans of growing theirbusiness and bringing in theconsumer, partner andt r a n s p a r e n c y - r e l a t e dbenefits.Food processingsector canreplace Oil inNigeria

Chief Duro Kuteyi, ChiefExecutive Officer,

Spectra Foods Ltd said inLagos that the food processingbusiness can replace oil inNigeria. Kuteyi, who is also theSouth-West Chairman of theNigerian Association of SmallScale Industrialists (NASSI),said this in an interview withthe News Agency of Nigeria(NAN). He urged the FederalGovernment to monitor theactivities of the developmentbanks and the researchinstitutes, in order to appraisethe extent of the government’sefforts in supporting local foodprocessors. “Food processingin Nigeria is a viable businessbut there were too manychallenges plaguing the sub-sector from lack of funds,market share, and alsoelectricity supply.

“With adequate governmentsupport, we believe that thenumber of food processors inthe country would have beendoubled by the end of thisyear. The increase in thevolume of the middle-class iscausing the tastes and eatingstyles of Nigerians to changeinto a more convenient way ofeating and they are alsobecoming more health-conscious.

COMMISSIONING - From left: Marketing Communicator, Mantrac Nigeria Limited,Chinenye Okoli; Chairman, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Oyo State Unit,Hon. Yekeen Popoola; Acting General Manager, Construction Machines, Alex Nwoko and;Lead Sales Executive, Adetutu Mesele at the commissioning of 66 units of Mantracconstruction equipment supplied to Oyo State Government in conjunction with LugarthInternational in Ibadan.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015 — 25

Business & Economy

African DevelopmentBank (AfDB) andMasterCard have

announced a broadcollaboration that aims toexpand financial inclusionacross the African continent.The collaboration seeks todevelop solutions that driveinclusive growth in Africa bybroadening access and usageof digital financial services.

MasterCard brings provenexpertise to design and scaleinclusive financial servicessolutions and infrastructure.The AfDB actively promotessustainable economic growthand poverty reduction inAfrica. Together they will work

with African governments andlocal private sector companiesto develop and deliveraffordable services that meetthe needs of a wide consumerbase, especially thetraditionally unbanked.

Specifically, thecollaboration will seek to:

* Build cohesive Africanfinancial systems that driveinclusion at a country level

and enable service delivery totraditionally excludedpopulations;

* Invest in a curated set ofinnovative financial servicescompanies and solutionstargeted at addressing barriersthat hinder financial inclusion;and

* Share knowledge acrossacademic, policy andcommercial sectors to create

sustainable. One keycomponent of inclusivedevelopment is financialinclusion, an area in whichAfrica has been laggingbehind other continents.Broadening access to financialservices will mobilise greaterhousehold savings, marshalcapital for investment, expandthe class of entrepreneurs,and enable more people toinvest in themselves and theirfamilies.”

Ajay Banga, President andCEO at MasterCard, said:“Less than one adult out offour in Africa has access to anaccount at a formal financialinstitution. While many of our

AfDB, MasterCard broaden financialinclusion in Africa

thought leadership onfinancial inclusion andeconomic development.

Donald Kaberuka, Presidentof the AfDB, commented:“Despite the phenomenaleconomic growth in Africa, thishas not translated into sharedprosperity and betterlivelihoods for the majority.Growth has to be inclusive tobe socially and politically

Oil priceslump: Firmsmight lay offworkers—Expert

Director, Advisory,Oil and Gas, Price

Water House Ltd. MrRitch Wingo said oilcompanies may lay offworkers due to the dropin oil price in the globalmarket.

Wingo said this on thesidelines of the OffshoreWest Africa Conferencein Lagos that falling oilprice had adverselyaffected the sector.

“Right now, a lot ofcompanies are trying tolay off workers due tofalling oil price. It isgoing to be pretty roughin a couple of months tocome. The best thing todo now is to go back tothe banks to talk on howto restructure ourfinances so that peoplewill not default. If oilprice continues to fall,investors are not going toinvest again,” he said.

Wingo said the presentpump price of petroleum,though good, was notsufficient.

“If you look at theUnited States of America,a gallon of petroleum issold for just 4 dollars(N740) because there isa regulatory bodyregulating the price.

industry partners havebeen active in this space,we believe that throughour payments expertise,and the AfDB’s 50 yearsof experience infinancing Africa’seconomic transformation,we can achieve scaledimpact and lastingtransformation. This canonly be accomplishedwhen the public andprivate sectors combineresources and acttogether.”

26 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015

Banking & Finance

FirstBank has achievedthe recertification of the

Payment Card Industry DataSecurity Standard (PCI DSS)in 2014, having been one ofthe first top-tier banks inNigeria to obtain thecertification in 2013. Thecertification is renewableannually as demanded by thestandard and regulatorsfollowing a rigorous audit ofthe Bank’s payment cardsecurity processesenvironment.

The Payment Card IndustryData Security Standard (PCIDSS) is a set of requirementsdesigned to ensurecompanies that process, storeor transmit credit/debit cardinformation, maintain asecure environment therebyguaranteeing the protectionof cardholder data throughoutthe transaction process. Thestandard also facilitates thebroad adoption of consistentdata security measuresglobally.

The Bank met the sixdifferent security pillarsrequired to achieve the PCI-DSS compliance which led tothe award of a level 1 PCIcertificate and the subsequentre-award after extensive auditby a leading QualifiedSecurity Assessor (QSA),ControlCase, from the UnitedStates of America, inpartnership with its localpartners Digital Encode, aninformation securitymanagement firm. The level1 PCI certification is thehighest rank available fromthe major credit cardproviders (Visa, MasterCard,American Express, Discoverand JCB) and this is onlygiven to third-party providerswho meet the Council’sstringent - and audited –credit/debit card transactionsecurity protocols to protectcustomers’ personaltransaction data.

The award of this certificateis a strong indicator thatFirstBank consistently has itscustomers’ interest at the coreof its business operations, iscommitted to securingcustomer information as wellas maintaining a safe andsecure environment forcustomer transactions. TheBank would continue to driveinitiatives that stimulateinnovation in banking as partof its promise to always putcustomers at the heart of itsbusiness.

According to the GMD/CEO, First Bank of NigeriaLtd, Mr. Bisi Onasanya, theBank will strive to continuallymaintain leading best practiceand secure customers’information despite thechallenges posed by rapidchanges in technology andthe operating environment.

CBN introduces measures tocurtail international card frauds

Stories by BABAJIDEKOMOLAFE

The Central Bank ofNigeria (CBN) hasintroduced measures

to curb the rising incidenceof international overseascard fraud againstNigerians.

The measures wereannounced by Mr. DipoFatokun, Director, Bankingand Payments Department,CBN, in a circular titled,Nigerian issued cardpresent fraud in non-EMVenvironments.

EMV environments referto countries with electronicpayment cards based on themagnetic stripe (magstripe)technology. Non-EMVenvironments like Nigeriarefers to countries withelectronic payment cardbased on the chip and PINtechnology.

CBN stated that, “Theoccurrence of Card PresentFraud in Non-EMVenvironments is on theincrease, especially whenInternational hybrid cardsissued by Nigerian banksare used in non-EMVenvironments like the USA.It has therefore becomenecessary for the Bank toissue the followingdirectives: All DMBs shoulddo the following:

“Collate all their cardfrauds abroad and send toCBN not later than January30, 2015. Subsequently, alldata on card fraud occurringabroad should be renderedon the NIBSS fraud portal;Implement Anti-fraud

solution on their cardsmanagement system, not laterthan January 30, 2015.Ensure that from February 01,2015, only customers thatexpressly indicated theirintension of travelling to non-EMV jurisdictions wouldhave their cards default to the

magnetic stripe and for theperiod indicated by thecardholder only. To this end,banks should ensure thattheir customers areadequately educated. Carryout regular awarenesscampaign to cardholders ontips to avoid fraud in non-

EMV environment. Ensurestrict compliance on PCIDSSand their vendors/partnersinvolved in card processingactivities. . All the DMBs willbe liable to make refund onthe card fraud abroad except(items ii to v) are fullycomplied with.”

CEREMONY - From left: Mr. Lanre Adesanya, ED South, Sterling Bank and Mr EmmanuelEmefienim, Regional Business Executive, South-south 2, Sterling Bank welcoming His Excellency,Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State to the official opening ceremony of the new YenagoaIII branch at the weekend

The Boardhad reducedthe insurancepremium basisrate from theexisting 40 to35 basis pointseffective fromJanuary thisyear

NDIC grants further reduction in insurancepremium for banks

The Nigeria DepositInsurance Corporation

(NDIC) has further reducedthe deposit insurancepremium rate to all DepositMoney Banks (DMBs) inNigeria as part of effortstoward contributing tofinancial system stabilityand promoting publicconfidence in the bankingindustry.

This premium reductionwas initiated to consolidateon the gains achieved by theCorporation’s migrationfrom Flat Rate PremiumSystem (FRPS) to DifferentialPremium AssessmentSystem (DPAS). The DPASapproach takes intoconsideration the risk eachbank poses to the system andencourages banks to adoptsound risk managementpractices.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive, NDIC, Alh.Umaru Ibrahim disclosed

this during the last FinancialCorrespondents Associationof Nigeria (FICAN)Workshop held in December2014 in Katsina State. Alh.Ibrahim also said that theBoard of the Corporation had

granted further relief to theDMBs at its last meeting heldin September 2014; addingthat the Board had reducedthe insurance premium basisrate from the existing 40 to35 basis points and the newpremium rate would takeeffect from January this year.

According to him, theinsurance premium rebateswere part of the NDIC majorcontributions towardimproving theintermediation role andother banking relatedactivities of the DMBs.

The NDIC Chief Executivepointed out that Principle 11of the Core Principles forEffective Deposit InsuranceSystem requires DepositInsurance Agencies (DIAs)to set aside adequate fundsto ensure depositors’prompt reimbursement inthe event of any bank failure.He also opined that theCorporation would from

2015 set new coverage levelsfor the DMBs in view of theirrelatively large volumes ofdeposits.

It would be recalled thatthe Corporation began theinsurance premium rebatesince the commencement ofDPAS in 2008 but the importbegan in 2010 sequel to theBoard’s decision tocontribute to the FinancialStability Fund that wasspearheaded by the CentralBank of Nigeria (CBN). TheCorporation had supportedthe fund through thereduction of premium baserate from 50 to 40 basispoints to reduce thepremium burden on theDMBs.

By 2012, 2013 and 2014,the Corporation had granteda total rebate of N53 billion,N63.6 billion and N75.98billion respectively; thus acumulative rebate sum ofN192.6 billion to the DMBs.

PCI DSSrecertifiesFirstBank

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015 — 27

Banking & Finance

Banks’ capitalisation inadequate tofinance oil and gas industry

By EDIRI EJOH

The Director ofP e t r o l e u mResources (DPR),

Mr. George Osahon has saidthat the banking sector is notcapable of financingexploration in the oil and gasindustry.

According to him, the bankshave very low capital base tofinance exploration in thecountry.

Speaking at the 19th

Offshore West AfricaConference, held in Lagos,Osahon, who wasrepresented by the AssistantDirector, DPR, WoleAkinyosoye, stated that therecapitalisation scheme was abrilliant idea in the bankingindustry but still does notmatch the financing of theexploration and production,E&P project.

He said, “Recapitalisation isvery important but when youare talking aboutrecapitalisation of the banks,it can only apply to someextent breakthrough toproduction activities. Ourbanks have very low capitalbase to carry out explorationfinancing.

“In terms of financing E&P

activities, the country ’sbanking sector liquidity isvery low, especially when youare talking about exploration.There are three stages ofdevelopment after discoveryand the banks are not able tocarry industries along. Theydon’t have the muscle that isrequired for them to fill thegap in the industry.”

On local content, he notedthat, Indigenous companieshave advanced a little bitforward. “The IOCs aredivesting and most of thecompanies that are buyingthese blocs are Independentcompanies.

Specifically, he noted thatthe country has had somesuccess stories to tell in thedeveloping of oil and gasindustry.

In his words “Over theyears we have been able tocome up with crops ofcompetent and technical setof Nigerians to run the fieldswhich was not so before now.

“The recapitalisation of

banks has also contributedimmensely to ensuring thesesuccesses in the industry, aswell as helped reduced a lotof banks and provided moreconfidence and betterabilities for the bankingsector.

“Perhaps withoutrecapitalisation, local

companies would have foundit difficult to show the samezeal in acquisition of assetsrecently by some operatingcompanies.

“20 years ago, it wasdifficult for the banks topartner with the industrybecause they don’tunderstand the industry and

finance is very key to theactivities of independent andalso marginal fields,” he said.

He also said that theindigenous industries arecontributing immensely inthe production sector.

Remita: Systemspecs offers SMEs freeintegration to e-collection platform

By BABAJIDEKOMOLAFE

Systempec Limited hasoffered to integrate

SMEs with its Remita electronic collection (e-collections) platform at zerocharge. John Obaro,Managing Director,Systemspec Limited disclosedthis at a press conference onthe e-collection services on itsRemita electronic payment

platform.Obaro said that electronic

collections make it easy fororganisations and individualsto collect money for goodsand services from anyone. Hesaid, “Every organisation hasthe challenge of collection.People pay them for onereason or the other, whetherpayment for goods andservices or receivingdonations. The Remita e-collection platform makes it

easy for people to collectmoney from anyone”. Theplatform, he said, allowsusers to send electronicinvoice to anybody that wantsto pay them for services,adding that the invoicecontains a reference number,which the payee can use topay either through ATM,mobile payment, any of thebank branches across thecountry or through the Remitaplatform.

28 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015

Corporate Finance

By NKIRUKA NNOROM

Two weeks ago, theChief ExecutiveOfficer of the

Nigerian Stock Exchange,NSE, Oscar Onyema briefedjournalists on theachievement of theExchange in the out-goneyear and some of thestrategies the managementhas put in place to ensure arobust market in 2015.NKIRUKA NNOROM wasthere and captured it forVanguard.

How successful has themarket making programmebeen?

Market making programmerecorded modest result in2014. We will provide youwith detailed analysis on thatin terms of participation rateand the liquidity they wereable to inject into the market.We expect that there shouldbe able to do more, especiallyif we are able to getappropriate financingarrangement and securitieslending becomes fullyoperational.

What is the contribution ofother floors of the NigeriaStock Exchange, NSE, to thevolume of trading recorded?

The other floors outside ofLagos floor contributed onlytwo percent to the tradingvolume. Considering that wehave 14 floors, the amount oftrading that is occurring onthe other floors has not beenquite impressive and most ofthat two percent is actuallyfrom Abuja. So, we will makechanges to optimize the useof the other branches.

Having postponed thedeadline for compliance tothe minimum operatingstandard by stockbrokingfirms, can you give us thenew timeline set by theExchange?

Just to be very clear, we didnot postpone the deadline formeeting our minimumstandard; it was the SEC thatmoved the deadline forrecapitalization to September.We did not move ourminimum standard, so it stillremains the end of 2014.

What we released was animplementation timeline. So,as you know, we areexpecting that dealingmembers will begin to turn intheir financial statements andtheir reports to the Exchangeby the end of March. So, wecannot go on until we receivethose reports and then wewill then schedule aninspection visit. We will goand inspect them to be sure

Because of thestructure of theway pricinghappens in theNigerianmarket, NSEcannot just makeunilateraldecision on evenour own fees

In line with its mandateof giving back to thesociety, Fidelity Bank

Plc has renovated theperimeter fence of VictoriaIsland police station.

Speaking at thecommissioning, Mr. IKMbagwu, ED, Lagos & SouthWest, Fidelity Bank, whorepresented the ManagingDirector/CEO, Mr. NnamdiOkonkwo, said the project ispart of the bank’s effort toimprove the lives of peoplethat reside in communitieswhere it operates, adding thatone of its cardinal principlesis to involve itself in thecommunities where itoperates.

He pointed out that thatFidelity Bank had in the pastengaged in similar projects invarious other places, listingsome of them to include,renovation and equipment ofboys correction center inOregun, Lagos State,renovation of Daniel Akintadeschool in Abeokuta, OgunState, provision of motorizedborehole in Jos, Plateau State,renovation of the stateorphanage in Birnin Kebbi,provision of full eye surgeryequipment in Ondo State,and provision of reliefmaterials to inmates of Port-Harcourt prison in RiversState among others.

“As a bank, we believe thatbeing socially responsible isthe most effective way to bringabout change in any society.We take pride in all thesehumble accomplishments,especially in entrenching theculture of good andresponsible citizenship. Wewill like to take thisopportunity to ask people tojoin us in this type ofaccomplishment because inany society you live in, it isimportant you make acontribution,” he said.

In his response, theCommissioner of Police,Lagos State Command, Mr.C.K Aderanti, commended thebank for the kind gesture,saying that it is noteworthythat not all corporate citizensdemonstrate the same spiritof supporting others.

According to him, theproject being commissionedspeaks volume of whatFidelity Bank stands for,saying that it is ademonstration of the fact thatbanks are not just moneymaking agents.

CSR: FidelityBankrenovatesVictoria IslandPolice station

We have robust rules to protect retail investors— ONYEMA

that theyactually havewhat theyclaimed.

And then,when we’vecompleted ourinspections,that is whenwe will beginto talk aboutr e m e d i a lactions andenforcementand all of thatwill take ustill December2015. Thatdoes not meant h a t

we believe that we haverobust rules around theprotection of retail investorsaround listings and delistingand we intend to continue toenforce it. The items we puton the list are new initiativeswe are working on or we willstart working this year, but allof them are things we intendto deliver this year.

How much awarenessprogramme is the Exchangeconsidering to increaseparticipation of domesticretail investors consideringthe Road Shows it isembarking on to othercountries?

In my speech, I did say thatwe will focus on increasinglocal domestic investmentand outreach to localinvestors. We have fine tuneda plan and it is going to bevery targeted. So, you willnot see necessarily having

somebody that has not meetthe standard should thenrelax, the timeline remains.

Will the NSE claim that itprotects investors with thelevel of delisting going on.Also, post delisting, is thereis anything the NSE is doingto ensure that retailinvestors are protected.

In the life of any exchangearound the world, the realityis that you are going to havelistings and delistings onannual basis. Companies willlist for various reasons, butyou will also have delistingseither those that do not meetyour standard any more orthose that have committedregulatory breaches or thosethat voluntarily want to delistbecause it is not in theirbusiness interest anymore tocontinue to remain listed. Wedid not put it as somethingon our list of to dos because

big events in the name oftargeting domestic investors.It is going to be targeted andit is gong to be really focusedon having very significantimpact. Yes, we will behosting an event in Zurich,Switzerland on January 19th,and it is part of event weagreed with the Nigerianambassador in Switzerland tohost on our way to Davos forthe World Economic Forum.So, we will be talking toNigerians in diaspora -people that actuallyrequested that we talk tothem on opportunities thatexist in the Nigerian capitalmarket. So, we will go thereand make case for them toinvest some of their money inNigerian capital market. Asyou know, Nigerians indiaspora account for thebiggest inbound remittancesinto the country and there isno way we will not get aportion of that into the capitalmarket.

What does the Revised Feestructure you spoke aboutmean and does it entailreduction in fees?

It is not necessarily goingto be a reduction in fees. Ishould explained that one ofthe things we delivered in2014 was the transaction costanalysis, which we workedwith the Securities andExchange Commission, SEC,Central Securities ClearingSystem, CSCS, and brokerdealer community to provideusing an external consultant.The analysis showed certainthings; first one is that ourpricing is not competitivecompared to other similarmarkets, to markets inemerging markets or those ofdeveloped markets. For bothimplicit and explicit cost oftrading, we also looked at thelisting fees things like. Youshould know that because ofthe structure of the waypricing happens in theNigerian market, the NSEcannot just make unilateraldecision on even our own feesbecause our fees account forthe 10 percent of the cost ofdaily trade. So, if you wantto get impact, then you haveto engage everybody that isinvolved in daily trade, sothat we can first of alloptimize the fee structure toencourage liquidity in thesystem, to encourage peopleto put more money in themarket and to encouragetighter spreads in the bidaspect. So, those are the kindof changes we want to makein fee structure that willfacilitate a higher qualitymarket. If in the process ofdoing that we cut fees, thatis all well and good.

Oscar Onyema

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015 — 29

CMYK

Corporate Finance

As the NASD Over theC o u n t e r ,OTC Market

activity continues to rise,about 15 participatinginstitutions in the markethave accounted for 93.8 percent of the trade done in theyear 2014

Of the 86 participatinginstitutions, 37 had traded onthe NASD OTC market by theend of 2014. The top 5 tradersaccounted for 62.9 per cent oftotal market activity.

The market analysis showsthat Stanbic Ibtc StockbrokersLimited recorded N 956.50million, representing 19.9 percent of market activity,followed by NigerianInternational SecuritiesLimited with N783.50million, and representing16.3 per cent of marketactivity. It was followed byBGL Securities Limitedvalued at N471.10 million,representing 9.8 per cent ofmarket activity.

Others are MagnartisFinance & InvestmentLimited worth N 445.10million, representing 9.3 percent ; Valmon SecuritiesLimited N364.40 million,representing 7.6 per cent;Wstc Financial ServicesLimited N 250.90 million,representing 5.2 per cent;Resort Securities & TrustLimited N 232.40 million,representing 4.8%; CordrosCapital Limited N 177.00million , representing 3.7%;Arthur Steven AssetManagement LimitedN173.10 million,representing 3.6 per cent,Capital Bancorp Plc N164.60million, representing 3.4 percent ; Anchoria Investment &Securities Limited N 114.90million, representing 2.4 per

OTC MARKET:Stanbic IBTC, BGL, 14 othersaccount for 93.6% of trade

BY PETER EGWUATU

cent; Reward Investments &Services Limited N 105.90million, representing 2.2 percent ; Core Trust &Investment Limited N85.60, representing 1.8 per cent;Chapel Hill DenhamSecurities N 83.80 million,representing 1.7 per cent;and Trusthouse Investments

Limited N 83.50 million,representing 1.7 per cent.

The Chief Executive Officer,NASD Plc, Mr. Bola Ajomale,who briefed newsmen on themarket performance in 2014said “We understand thatsome of the Institutions arestill developing tradecompetence for the OTC

market.”Commenting on the value

added and achievements ofthe OTC market, he said “The market has grantedshareholders easy access totrading and depositorystatement; allowedshareholders the opportunityto use their Unlisted sharesas collateral for loans;provided access to pre-trading information via CSCSwebsite and fine tuned theelectronic account openingprocess .”

While commenting on wayforward in 2015, he said “ Weexpect the introduction ofnew product lines: We startedthe market with equity, weanticipate growth in theequities market and we alsoanticipate the introduction ofother asset classes for tradingon our platform. We alsoexpect increased interactivesessions with marketparticipants: We are going tobuild more relationship withall the participants in themarket, including theshareholders of all unlistedcompanies; this will increasethe level in the number oftrades as well asdemateralisation. We willpromote awareness andextend knowledge toshareholders to ease theirparticipation in the OTCmarket through their brokers.Also there are going to beroad shows across Nigeria:Our focus this year is toshowcase the opportunities ofthe NASD OTC market toshareholders, issuers andmarket operators in stateswithin Nigeria where certainattractions exist.”

By PETER EGWUATU

The Chartered Instituteof Stockbrokers, CIS

has charged government inthe various tiers to use theNigerian capital market to fixinfrastructural deficit in thecountry. The President ofCIS, Mr. Albert Okumagbasaid “All over the world, thecapital market drives theentire economy as it providesa platform for government atall tiers to access medium andlong term fund to executedevelopmental projects. In asimilar vein, companies alsoutilize the market to beef upcapital base and expandgenerally while individualstake advantage of the marketto do capital formation.”

Capital market operators task govt to fundinfrastructure via capital market

He stressed that theNigerian capital market isgrossly underutilizedrelative to its absorptivecapacity. According to him“The government,companies and individualsare not using the capitalmarket to meet long termfunding requirements whilethe back-seat approach of thecapital market operators hasnot helped matters. However,the time has come for totalreview of some of thegovernment’s policies thatare at variance with thedevelopment of the capitalmarket in order to promote anenhanced use of the marketto finance the hugeinfrastructural deficit whichhas become the bane of

Nigeria’s economicdevelopment. We believe thatthe effective and efficientutilization of the capitalmarket facilities would enablethe Federal Government tofinance the 2015 budgetdespite its frighteninginfrastructural deficit.”

Commenting on the interestregime in the country,Okumagba said “ The interestrate is a veritable tool innational development. Inaddition to aiding economicdevelopment as a whole, italso sends signals about theexpected dynamics of thecapital market. A highinterest rate discourages longterm investment and lowersdemand generally; whereas alow interest rate regimestimulates demand and helpswith capital formation forlong term investment.”

We understand thatsome of the Institutionsare still developing tradecompetence for the OTCmarket

Phillips Oduoza, GroupManaging Director/

CEO, United Bank for Africa(UBA) Plc has urgedinvestors in Nigeria not topanic over falling crude oilprices and exchange ratevolatility as the country hasenough reserves to supportthe local currency.

Oduoza said this whilespeaking to CNBC Africa onthe sidelines of the WorldEconomic Forum (WEF) lastweek in Davos, Switzerland.

“Investors do not have topanic. At $34 billion, Nigeriahas enough external reservesto support the Naira. I do notsee any significantdevaluation of the currencyhappening” said Oduoza.

He also explained thatNigeria faced similarchallenges in 2008/2009 andthe country learnt a lot fromthat experience, which willcome in handy in managingthe current currencychallenges.

“In my opinion, the CentralBank of Nigeria (CBN) ishandling the challenges verywell because they have comeout with tools and instrumentsto stabilize the exchange rateand we are beginning to seesome form of stability in themarket”

Oduoza explained that theforeign investor communitydo not need to panic since thecountry has no form ofcurrency or capital restriction.

He also dismissed anyfears that there will be a risein non-performing loans dueto exposure of the bankingindustry to companies in theoil and gas sector.

“The international oilcompanies are very versatileand have hedged theirpositions for a very long time.Most of them also haveforeign currency receivables.So, what you are likely to seeis an elongation of the tenureor restructuring of theseloans rather defaults. So, youare unlikely to see anysignificant increase in non-performing assets” explainedOduoza.

Also speaking on UBA’sexpansion plans acrossAfrica, Oduoza explainedthat Angola and South Africaare in the expansion plans ofthe bank in the near futureas the two countries are theonly two key strategicmarkets on the continent yetto enjoy the UBA uniquecustomer experience.

“Right now, we are involvedin the consolidation ofoperations in the 19 Africancountries where we have ourfootprints. Our expansion toSouth Africa and Angola, willcome much later.” Oduozasaid.

InvestorCommunityshould not panic,says Oduoza

CONVENTION - From left: Mr. Suleiman Mahmud, Development Research and ProjectCentre, Mr. Sule Rano, Jigawa State Ministry Education, Dr. Macjohn Nwaobiala PermanentSecretary, Federal Ministry of Education and Mrs. Kunbi Wuraola Junior Achievement Nigeria,at the maiden edition of PSIPSE Nigeria Convening

Homes & Housing

30 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015

NHF monthly collections up by250% to N2.4bn

Stories by YINKAKOLAWOLE, with agencyreport

The National HousingFund (NHF)collections from over

four million subscribersnationwide has increased byabout 250 percent to N2.4billion monthly from N700million.

Managing Director, FederalMortgage Bank of Nigeria(FMBN), Mr. Gimba YauKumo, who disclosed this,attributed the increase to theautomation of the bank’soperations and theintroduction of e-collectionplatform processes. He saidthis shortly after theinauguration of the newexecutive management tosteer the affairs of the bankfor the next four years.

The NHF scheme wasestablished to facilitate thecontinuous flow of low-costfunds for long-terminvestment in housing,through 2.5 per cent monthlydeductions from employeesearning a basic salary ofN3,000 or more annually, forthe benefit of contributors tothe fund. FMBN is statutorilycharged with the collectionand management of the fund.

Ya’u Kumo declared thateach of the four millioncontributors to the Fund cannow monitor theircontributions via theinformation technology (IT)platform to access and knowwhat they have with the bank.“What we have also done isthat once you achieve the 35years in service or you haveattained the age of 60, youcan collect all yourcontributions with interest,that is, if you don’t have anymortgage with the bank,” headded.

Contributorsto the Fundcan nowmonitortheircontributionsvia theinformationtechnologyplatform

According to him, the bankhad restructured itscorporate governance andrisk management guidelines inline with international best

practice. He noted that thishas led to its improvedlending for estatedevelopment and mortgagefinancing for affordable homeownership across the country.

In the quest to extendmortgage services tounbanked Nigerians, he saidFMBN had launched theInformal Sector HousingCooperative scheme to tapinto the market segmentcomprising more than 70percent of the country ’sworking population. “FMBNhas initiated a four millionhousing unit programmeunder a partnership struckwith the TUC, NLC andNECA aimed at deliveringaffordable housing forNigerian workersnationwide,” he noted.

The FMBN boss also saidthat the bank has concludedplans to start granting houserefurbishment loans to civilservants across the country.His words: “I’m happy to

announce that effectively,next week, we will start to rollout FMBN HouseRefurbishment Loan (HRL)for civil servants across thefederation. Federal civilservants working in otherparts of the country do notneed to come to Abuja toaccess the loan. You canapply if you are in Ondo inyour Ondo office, if you arein Gombe, you apply in yourGombe office, etc.

“We realise that quite anumber of civil servants thatare contributing to thehousing scheme have housesbut they need to change eitherfurniture or they need toupgrade the houses they areliving in. So that was why wecame up with this policy.” Hehinted that for the civilservants in Abuja, the FederalGovernment Housing LoansBoard will be given the projectas the FMBN is already inworking relationship with theboard.

New York, world’s top real estate marketNew York City regained

its top position amongglobal commercial real estatebuyers, unseating Londonand highlighting the appealof U.S. properties in general,according to a survey ofinternational investorsreleased last week.

More than 90 percent ofrespondents said theyplanned to maintain orincrease the size of their U.S.portfolio in 2015, according tothe survey conducted by theAssociation of ForeignInvestors in Real Estate(AFIRE). AFIRE membershave an estimated $2 trillionin real estate assets undermanagement. The U.S. wasvoted the most stable and

secure country for investment,outdoing both second-placeGermany and third-placeUnited Kingdom. Foreigninvestors also chose the U.S.as the best place for capitalappreciation, outperformingsecond-place Spain and third-place U.K.

“As it periodically has beenin the past, the United Statesis currently the target of muchof the foreign investment inreal estate globally,” saidThomas Arnold, Head ofAmericas-Real Estate AbuDhabi Investment Authorityand Chairman of AFIRE.“With a stable and transparentmarket and an economy thatappears to be steadily

improving without the fitsand starts experienced inother regions, the U.S. hasbecome the first stop forforeign real estate investors.”

London, San Francisco,Tokyo and Madrid make up

the top five cities globally.Last year Tokyo was infifteenth place and Madridranked thirteenth. Thesecities replaced Houston andLos Angeles.

UK’s housing shortage hits first-time buyers

Young people are findingit difficult to get on the

first rung of the housingmarket ladder in the UK dueto a shortage of homes.

A report by the Office forNational Statistics (ONS)shows how the total numberof houses built per year hasfallen from around 250,000 in

1980 to between 150,000 to200,000 in the 1990s, and lessthan 150,000 today. The fallin house building is due todecrease in both public andprivate house construction.“There has been growingdemand and relativelylimited supply growth.

OPIC budgetsN5.2bn onhousingdevelopment

Ogun State Propertyand Investment

Corporation (OPIC) hasproposed the sum of N5.637billion as its total expenditurefor housing development inthe state in 2015, with N5.2billion committed to capitalprojects.

Managing Director, OPIC,Jide Odusolu, said whiledefending the corporation’sbudget before the State Houseof Assembly Committee onFinance and Appropriation,that out of the proposed sum,N437million would beexpended on recurrentexpenditure while N5.2billion would be disbursed oncapital projects. He notedthat a sum of N217 millionwould be spent on personnel,and N220 million on overheadcosts while the revenue targetwas put at N14.127 billion forthe fiscal year.

Odusolu assured that theagency was poised toundertake the development,construction andmanagement of housing, bothresidential and industrialestates within the OPICestates.

REDAN set toelect newEXCO

Real EstateD e v e l o p m e n t

Association of Nigeria(REDAN) is set to holdelection on February 10, 2015to produce new executivecouncil to pilot the affairs ofthe association till 2018.

National President ofREDAN, Chief OlabodeAfolayan, who is steppingdown after two terms aspresident, said the electionwill be conducted into thevarious positions from thesix-geopolitical zones in thecountry. Sixteen vacantpositions will be contestedwith one Ex-officio and twoEx-members.

The other three membersinclude: Charles Mfe Nyor-Ajiva, Richard John Esin, andKola-Daisi Arinola Morenikewho were at the weekendinaugurated by Minister ofHousing and UrbanDevelopment, Mrs. AkonEyakenyi at the ministry’sheadquarters in Abuja.

The REDAN presidenthailed the reappointment ofGimba Ya’u Kumo asmanaging director of FederalMortgage Bank of Nigeria(FMBN).

A private residential housing estate

Commmodity Index Micro-Finance

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Jan 16 – Jan 22, 2015

Home Science Association Secondary Schoolhas called on the FederalGovernment to assist in achieving goal of

good road in Alakuko community.Home Science Association is a body comprising

of accomplished Women Home Economists who pullfunds together with a vision to provide qualityacademic foundation for generations of Nigerians.

Some of the plans mapped out for the celebrationinclude: Road show rally; Student variety day;Luncheon at the school hall to be attended byMinister of Communication Technology, Mrs.Omobola Johnson, Minister of Culture, Tourism andNational Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, DeputyGovernor Lagos State, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire and Commissioning of borehole in Sakacommunity.

The school established on January 29, 1990 with57 student now boast of 480 students, 40 percentday student, 60 percent borders, about 50 teachingstaff and 68 non teaching staff.

Stories byPROVIDENCE OBUH

High cost of doing businessworries SMEs

A research has shown that one of thechallenges facing Small and MediumEnterprises (SMEs) in the country is

hight cost of doing businessThe research conducted by the Association

of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME),states that high business costs amidmanpower crunch is a top concern for SMEs.

ASME revealed that 86.6 per cent ofrespondents in a survey, said manpower wasthe top contributing factor for higher businesscosts, while 57.1 per cent cited rental costsand 48.2 per cent cited the foreign workercharges.

In addition, 84.6 per cent of respondentsalso predicted that their operational costs willincrease in the next six months.

In its recommendation,ASME urged the governmentto develop a structuredframework or curriculum thatallows SMEs to work withhigher education learninginstitutes in providingcertification for students whohave been employed by thesecompanies for a certainduration.

“Schools and Institutionsshould recognise thesecertificates, giving credits tostudents should they chooseto further their studies.Students from universitiesand polytechnics should beencouraged to join theworkforce for work experienceand to advance their careerpath.”

TEP Centre holds convention,tackles girl child challenges

As part of effortsto improveinnovation and

practice in secondaryeducation inNigeria,The EducationPartnership Centre(TEP Centre) andResults forDevelopment Institute(R4D) held its firstconvening ofstakeholders in thesecondary educationspace under theauspices of thePartnership toStrengthen Innovationand Practice inSecondary Education(PSISPE), addressingthe challenges of thegirl child andmarginalised youths.

In her paper titled“Addressing thechallenges facingaccess to qualitysecondary educationfor girls andmarginalised youth”Keynote Speaker/TeamLeader, HumanDevelopment at DfIDNigeria, Ms. KemiWilliams, said that thesolution to removingbarriers requires ac o m p r e h e n s i v eunderstanding of howthese barriersinterrelate and aholistic approach toaddressing them.

The PermanentSecretary of theFederal Ministry ofEducation, Dr.MacJohn Nwaobiala,emphasized thateducation is ac o l l e c t i v er e s p o n s i b i l i t y .“Approaches whichs t r e n g t h e ngovernment andprivate sectorcollaboration can helpimprove the educationsystem system,” hesaid.

On her part, Dr.Modupe Adefeso-Olateju, Managing

Director of TEP Centre, added that well-designedand strategic public-private partnerships can addresschallenges which affect access, quality and equityin the Nigerian education.

However, PSIPSE is a funder collaborative thatseeks to increase secondary education access andimprove learning outcomes especially for girls andmarginalized populations and aims to accelerateinnovation in secondary education programming,research, and development in selected countries.

HSASS seeks govtintervention, marks 25thanniversary

PRESENTATION - From left:Group Head,Cowry Banking, Heritage Bank Limited, Mr.Davidson Regha, President, Old Girls of FederalGirls Government College, Benin City, (FGGC) 1984set, Mrs Abosede Ozah Osho and Group ManagingDirector/CEO, BGL Securities Limited, Mr. AlbertOkumagba, during the presentation of award toManaging Director, Heritage Bank Limited,Mr. IfieSekibo by FGGC in Lagos

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Tax Matters

Over the years,q u e s t i o n shave been

raised on issues regardingTax Clearance Certificates(TCC), due dates for filingreturns, accounting year,accounting period and othertax related issues. Thefollowing questions andanswers seek to shed somelight on these matters.

If someone lives in Kadunaand pays his tax there, canhe obtain his TCC in Abuja?

No, one can only obtain his/her TCC from the taxauthority where the person isregistered for tax purposesand has been paying his taxesin compliance with the rule ofresidence as contained in thetax law.

Why does it take more thantwo weeks to issue a TCCeven if the taxpayer pays taxin cash?

A TCC can only be issuedonly after all taxes payable bythe taxpayer for the past threepreceding years have beenpaid. The statutory standardof issuing a TCC within twoweeks is still in force.However, the two weeks startto count only after all taxeshave been paid and from theday the taxpayer files anapplication for a TCC with thetax office and not from thedate of payment of taxes tothe banks.

Why does FIRS still refuseto issue TCC after PAYE hasbeen deducted from the staffsalary?

FIRS does not denyissuance of TCC to anytaxpayer who has paid his taxliability in full. However, aTCC request is rejected wherethe taxpayer still has anoutstanding liability to pay.

On what basis will anapplication for TCC berejected after two weeks andstill be under processing?

TCC can be rejected onthe following grounds:

a. Where taxes havenot been paid.

ii Where penaltiesor interest is still outstanding.

iii. Where outstandingreturns have not been filed

iv. Where there areoutstanding issues arisingfrom tax queries, audit or investigation.

v. Where the case iswith the Tax Appeal Tribunalfor hearing and part of the taxhas not been paid as

Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC), DueDates for Filing Returns…

required.TCC application once

rejected cannot be said to bestill under processing, but itis kept on hold untiloutstanding issues have beenresolved or sorted out by thetaxpayer with the relevantoffice.

Is installment payment nolonger allowed for self-assessment filers?

The tax law still recognizesthe granting of installmentpayment to self-assessmentfilers. However, this can onlybe granted on application bythe taxpayer to the tax office.

If a taxpayer gives a cheque

the option to use it to off-setfuture tax.

What is tax avoidance andtax evasion?

Tax Avoidance: - This is away of identifying loopholesin the tax law and then takingadvantage of such loopholesto reduce the tax payable.

Tax Evasion: - This is adeliberate and illegal act bythe taxpayer not to pay thecorrect tax.

What is accounting yearand accounting period?

Accounting Year: - This is atwelve (12) month period overwhich an entity‘s financialaccounts are made-up.

to a banker in his officewithout going to thebank, how can thetaxpayer know whetherpayment has beenmade to FIRSaccount?

The taxpayer shouldinsist on the bankdelivering the e-ticket tohim which will indicatethe date and timepayment was capturedinto FIRS’ account bythe bank.

Is medical allowancetaxed?

Yes. If it is paid directlyto the hospital,Withholding Tax (WHT)should be deducted andif it is given to anemployee in the form ofallowance, it is taxedunder PAYE.

Can a taxpayer pay to

any collecting bankbranch?

Yes. There are nodesignated bankbranches for any taxoffices or tax types. Allapproved lead/collectingbanks can collect for alloffices and tax types.

What is the processinvolved in getting backtax paymenterroneously credited inthe name of thedepositor instead of thetaxpayer?

Any tax paid in errorcan be reversed by thecollecting bank within24 hours if the bank isput on notice within theperiod. However, if theerror was not detectedon time, refund can bemade by FIRS onrequest through e-payment platform with

Accounting Period: - Thissimply means the period withreference to which financialaccounts of an entity areprepared.

Is inclusion of TaxpayerIdentification Number (TIN)on a contractor’s quotationnecessary?

Yes it is mandatory.

What is the meaning of duedate?

Due date is the dateprescribed by law for filing oftax returns and making of taxpayments by taxpayers. Alltax types have their differentdue dates as provided by therelevant tax laws.

Due dates for other tax typesare as shown below:

TCCapplicationonce rejectedcannot besaid to be stillunderprocessing,but it is kepton hold untiloutstandingissues havebeenresolved

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E-Commerce

Online carm a r k e t p l a c e ,Carmudi.com has

said it is considering apartnership with the Federal

Carmudi mulls partnership withFRSC, others to combat online fraud....Unveils Android App

Stories by JONAHNWOKPOKU

Road Safety Commission,FRSC and security agenciesto prevent any form of fraudespecially as related to theauto marketplace in Nigeria.

Head of Marketing,Carmudi Nigeria, BiodunMakinde stated this at a

press briefing to unveil aredesigned Androidapplication for Carmudi.

Makinde said thepartnership has becomenecessary because of theconsumer to consumer movenecessitated by the

introduction of theapplication.

“In the case of going C2C,where consumers are beingempowered with the app toupload pictures themselvesand sell, we need to work ona strategy to curtail all formsof fraud. We are working on apartnership with the FederalRoad Safety Commission andultimately with the securityoutfits to further drive safetyof our platform and curtail anyform of fraud. We alsounderstand that this is anevolving market and as itevolves, we are encounteringproblems and we try to solvethem in the process. And wewill continue to adapt as themarket evolves,” he said.

Speaking about the app,Carmudi’s Chief ProductOfficer, Nalla Kurananithy

said it has been designed ina way that it works seamlesslyeven in locations whereinternet speed is relativelylow.

“Our intent is to bring thecar selling experience to awhole new level in emergingmarkets, by providing anextremely smooth and easy-to-use platform,” he said.

Also speaking, ManagingDirector Carmudi Nigeria,Christian Keller, said: “Withthe app, selling your car is nomore waiting for months to getthe right kind of buyer and nomore visiting a plethora of cardealers to get your resale’sworth. With millions ofNigerians using Smartphones, everyone will be ableto use Carmudi through theirmobile phones.”

Speaking further on thefeatures of the app, he said,“Sellers get promptnotifications/ alerts aboutpotential customers straight totheir Android devices. Thisway, you can get in touch withbuyers immediately and makean active sale.

“Also, the cars listed throughthe Android app and thewebsite is shared withCarmudi’s social mediafollowers to make the sellingprocess even more effective.”

The app which is alsoavailable in ten differentlanguages can bedownloaded from the GooglePlay store.

Our intentis to bringthe carsellingexperienceto a wholenew level inemergingmarkets

Economy

COMMISSIONING - Minister of ICT, Mrs Omobola Johnson representing President GoodluckJonathan (m) commissioning Secure Card Ltd in Lagos; she is flanked, from the left, byManaging Director\CEO Bank of Industry, Mr Rasheed Olaoluwa, Chairman Secure Card,Chief Dotun Sulaiman, the Managing Director/CEO Mrs Kofo Akinkugbe and Commissionerfor Technology Lagos State, Mr Biyi Mabadeje during the commissioning of Secure Cards Ltdin Lagos

At the ongoing WorldE c o n o m i cForum in Davos

youth unemployment tookcenter stage, here is a briefsreport of a panel discussionsin Davos

Global business and publicsector leaders were in DavosSwizerland engaged indebate about the growingyouth unemployment whichmany have said is growing inan uncomfortable proportion.The panel discussion wasmade up of Nik Gowing,Omar K. Alghanim, DominicBarton, Aliko Dangote,Fatima Muneer. Taking thelead in the discussion Mr.Dominic Barton, GlobalManaging Director,McKinsey & Company,United Kingdom said “Thereis a sense that youthunemployment is more of acocktail conversation rightnow but we need to start

Youth unemployment in Nigeria up to 50%—Mckinsey & co

By OMOH GABRIELwith Agency report

seeing this as a pandemic.”According to him around

the world, youthunemployment is growing inuncomfortable proportions. InIndia, which has one of thelargest populations of youngpeople in the world, 75million youth are

unemployed and more than 1million people are added tothe workforce each day. InSaudi Arabia, some 70 percent of the population isunder the age of 30 and theyare not finding jobs.

In Nigeria, youthunemployment is as high as

50%. FromAbuja to Seattle,the number ofjobless youth isa globalphenomenon.The issue mightnot bed o m i n a t i n gg l o b a lheadlines, butAliko Dangote,President andChief ExecutiveOfficer, DangoteGroup, Nigeria,

signalled that “our entiresociety is in danger ofdestruction” unless we payattention to this hugesegment of our young andjobless global population.

According to Panelist at theForum “This trend isoccurring at a time whentechnology is moving everfaster and transforming thelabour market. As robotics,automation and 3D printingplay a larger role in theeconomy; future jobs foryoung people will invariablytake a hit. Looking back to the1990s, the big three US motorvehicle companies –Chrysler, Ford and GeneralMotors – collectively hired 1.2million employees. Today, thebig three companies in SiliconValley – Google, Facebookand Apple – together employ

a total 134,000 people. Traditional ideas about

“work”’ are also being turnedupside down. It is perhapsmore fitting to consideremployment as participatingin the economy. Companiessuch as Uber, Airbnb orbudding entrepreneurs inIndia learning skills fromYouTube and monetizing thisknowledge at the local marketare examples of a new way tounderstand the participatoryeconomic model.

The McKinsey newproblems call for freshapproaches and at the core ofthe youth unemploymentproblem is a glaring skillsgap. Surveys by McKinseyshow that 75 per cent ofuniversity professors believethey are adequatelypreparing their students forthe workforce. Conversely,only 40 per cent of employerstake the same view.

This trend isoccurring at atime whentechnology ismoving everfaster andtransformingthe labourmarket

36 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015

Despite abundantnatural and humanresources, Nigeria

remains a basically poorcountry. Up to the end of the60s, the country was self-sufficient in food productionand even a net exporter ofagricultural produce [egvegetable oil]. Since the early70s as oil became a majorforeign exchange earner andcontributor to Gross DomesticProduct (GDP), the othersectors of the economy,especially agriculture andmanufacturing, wererelegated to thebackground.”

Interestingly, that statementwas in the first paragraph ofthe Background to theREPORT ON THE FIRSTNIGERIAN ECONOMICSUMMIT UNIT, 18-20February, 1993. That firstNES, which was convened byChief Ernest Shonekan,GCFR, as the Head ofGovernment, under PresidentBabangida, GCFR, hadsought to establish “A LastingLegacy”, title of Babangida’sAddress, for restructuringNigeria’s economy. In thedocument and on page one,we were reminded that theBabangida Administrationintroduced a StructuralAdjustment Programme,(SAP) in 1986 aimed at:

•restructuring anddiversifying the productivebase of the economy with aview to reducing dependenceon the oil sector and imports,

•achieving fiscal balance

Insurance

Diversification of economy: 22 years from NESG 1and ensuring balance ofpayments viability,

•laying the basis forsustainable and non-inflationary growth,

•reducing unproductiveinvestments in public sectoroperations, and,

•intensifying private sectorgrowth potential.

I attended the firstNigerian Economic SummitGroup, NESG, meeting as astaff of the Nigerian Instituteof Management, NIM, andeight others after beforegiving up on the annualritual. By the sixth Summit, itwas obvious to me that wewere wasting time, but Iattended two morerepresenting VANGUARDbefore revolting totally. Bythen the crash of crude oilprices from over $25 perbarrel to $9.9 per barrel whichgave rise to SAP was alreadybecoming a thing of the past.Crude oil prices were risingagain and governmentleaders and Nigerians hadforgotten about the recentpast. Diversification wasagain placed in thebackground as the Federaland State governors onceagain gathered in Abuja toshare oil money.

Like all born “pack rats”,I kept the document till nowfor two reasons. First, I knewthat Nigerians and theirleaders never seem to learnfrom the lessons of historyand good ideas are easilydiscarded once a crisis abates.Second, from lessons learntwhile taking courses in

Business and EconomicCycles, I knew that theescalating price of crude oil,which started in the mid-1990s till last year, with onlya small pause in 2008, willnot last for ever. And, when itfinally starts climbing down,my Fellow Countrymen willagain start the chorus aboutdiversifying the economy – asif they mean it. These dayswhen I read another article orlisten to another “expert”

temporary – so we can againreturn to sharing the booty.The President and hisopponents for office, as wellas state governors and theireager successors, are in forthe shock of their lives. Areversal is way off. Two,diversification, which hasnow become inevitable, willnot yield quick results.Agriculture provides a goodexample. Those arguing forreturn to farming, to ensure

painlessly, was something weshould have done when theprice of the commodity washigh and not when it isheading for the basement.One reason should besufficient to illustrate thepoint.

Foreign investors are mosteager to come into an economywhich is relatively buoyant;they start to go when it getsinto trouble. When thePUNCH, on January 16,2015, reported that “Foreigninvestors. Alarmed by theeconomic and political risks inthe country, pulled outN793.17bn from the NigerianStock Exchange betweenJanuary and November2014”, the only person notsurprised was this writer –who had predicted thatoutcome from December2013. More funds had sincebeen withdrawn from thecapital market in Decemberand January. Today, theNigerian capital market is theworst performing in the world.Given that situation, whichcompany will now issue IPOand expect a kobo? Whenin 1992 IBB, out offrustration, asked whyeconomic principles whichwork elsewhere don’t work inNigerian my answer wassimple. “Economic principlesassume that men arereasonable, Nigerians areanything but reasonable”. Westill are not. Those expectingquick economic recovery fromdiversification are self-deluded. It will be a longstruggle.

telling us that the way out isto diversify our economy, it isdifficult not to wonder if theperson actually believes he issaying something original.The truth is, 29 years afterSAP was introduced and 22years after NES 1, we are backto the point where we startedoff years ago.

Two facts render unfortunateour present predicament.One, many governmentofficials and Nigerians stillhope that the reversal incrude prices will be

food security overlook the factthat the additional farmershave not started work yet andnot many crops can beharvested in one year.Between now and when thebenefits of diversification willbecome apparent, there isgreat hardship ahead.Diversification of theeconomy, like buyingumbrellas, is not somethingwise people do, when thestorm is already beating downon them. Reducing ourdependence on crude oil,

Diversification wasagain placed in thebackground as theFederal and Stategovernors once againgathered in Abuja toshare oil money

The National InsuranceCommission, NAICOM,

has inaugurated fourteeninsurance companies tooperate the TechnicalManagement Board of theEnergy and Allied RisksInsurance Pool of Nigeria(EAIPN).

It is hoped that inaugurationof the EAIPN will help theinsurance industry retaincapacity in oil & gasunderwriting, curb capitalflight and grow the localmarket in energy and alliedrisks underwriting..

The companies include,Leadway AssuranceCompany limited, Custodian& Allied Insurance Plc, AiicoInsurance Plc, Lasaco

NAICOM inaugurates 14 firmsto run energy pool

The Nigerian InsurersAssociation, NIA, has

said that it is engagingstakeholders in Lagos Statewith a view to launching theNigerian Insurance Industrydatabase, NIID, monitoringdevice in the state.

Reacting to a story inVanguard which stated that

LASG not frustrating insurance monitoring – LASG not frustrating insurance monitoring – LASG not frustrating insurance monitoring – LASG not frustrating insurance monitoring – LASG not frustrating insurance monitoring – NIANIANIANIANIA

Stories byROSEMARY ONUOHA

Assurance Plc, RoyalExchange Insurance Co. Ltd,Consolidated HallmarkInsurance Plc, and SovereignTrust Insurance Plc.

Others are LinkageAssurance Plc, IndustrialAnd General Insurance Plc,Nigerian Agric InsuranceCorporation (NAIC), SterlingAssurance CompanyLimited, Prestige AssurancePlc, NEM Insurance Plc andNSIA Insurance.

Commissioner forInsurance, Mr. Fola Daniel,who inaugurated the body inAbuja, congratulated theChairman of the Nigerian

Insurers Association, Mr.Godwin Wiggle for bringingto fruition his desire for a poolthat will address some of thechallenges faced byinsurance companies in oil

and gas underwriting inNigeria.

Presenting the TechnicalBoard of the Pool to theCommissioner for Insurance,Chairman of the Board, Mr.

Wole Oshin, stated that thePool currently has 14subscribers, who havecontributed 40% of theirsubscribed lines amounting toUSD 4,000,000.00. Heexpressed optimism that otherinsurance companies thathave expressed their interestin the Pool will subscribe tothe Pool after the launchingof the EAIPN.

LASG is frustrating insurancemonitoring, the Associationnoted that senior officials ofLagos State governmenthave shown tremendoussupport for the project andare fully convinced that itremains a veritablemechanism for wiping outfake insurance certificates.

In a statement signed byHead, corporate affairs ofNIA, Mr. Davis Iyasere, theAssociation said that thestakeholders include theMotor Vehicle AdministrationAgency (MVAA), the VehicleInspection Office, VIO, andMinistry of Transport, thesupervisory ministry.

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Business & Economy

Email:lesleba@lesleba.com, lesleba@gmail.comBlog page:www.lesleba.com/blog2Website: www.lesleba.comTel:0805 220 1997

44— Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015

Omoh Gabriel - Group Business EditorBabajide Komolafe - Deputy Business EditorClara Nwachukwu - Energy EditorPeter Egwuatu - Asst. Business EditorYinka Kolawole - Snr Bus. CorrespondentFavour Nnabugwu - Insurance CorrespondentGodwin Oritse - Maritime CorrespondentGodfrey Bivbere - Maritime CorrespondentMichael Eboh - Energy ReporterFranklin Alli - Industry/Agric. ReporterIfeyinwa Obi - Maritime ReporterRosemary Onuoha - Insurance ReporterNkiruka Nnorom - Capital Market Reporter

CONTRIBUTORSPrincewill Ekwujuru - Media/MarketingJonah Nwokpoku - E-CommerceNaomi Uzor - IndustryProvidence Obuh - Micro FinanceLAYOUT - Graphics Department

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Naira hits N208 to dollar at BDCs,black market

The Naira on Fridaydepreciated againstthe dollar as it traded

at N208 from the N191.50 itsold for on Monday, Jan. 19.The new rate has made thenaira to lose N16.50 withinfive days. The CBN’swebsite, however, put theNaira against the dollar atN167.50, while the Poundsold for N253.20 and theEuro stood at N193.89S

The development hasresulted into speculation in

the market and caused rippleeffects on other currencies.Some Bureau De Change andBlack Market operators inLagos, said that they couldnot give rates to the PoundSterling and the Euro.

Dealers who preferredanonymity said that there wasscarcity of dollars incirculation.

They said that the CentralBank of Nigeria (CBN) hadstopped selling forex to theBureaux De Change, since

last year.The dealers added that the

recent review of tradingpositions for the forex tradingpositions of banks to 72 hours,also contributed tospeculation in the system.

The effect, they added, wasthat the naira coulddepreciate further by nextweek.

The CBN in November 2014devalued the Naira to N168to the dollar.

In the wake of the steadydecline in crude oilprices in recent

months, Nigeriansanticipated the good news ofa drop in pump price of petrol.Sadly, however, last week’sannouncement of a new priceof N87/litre quickly deflatedthe high public expectation fora price well below theexisting, previouslysubsidized N97/litre.

The recurrent concern wasthat since crude oil prices fellby over 50%, there shouldalso be a reduction of similarmagnitude in the local priceof petrol. Notwithstanding thepublic’s discontent,government has insisted thatthe new pump price stillincludes a subsidy of aboutN2.84/litre.

Farouk Ahmed, the PPPRAExecutive Secretary reportedthat “based on the landingcost of N74.35/litre of PMS, onFriday, January 16th, 2015,the addition of a distributionmargin of N15.4/litre wouldtranslate to a pump price ofN89.84/litre.” Thus, accordingto Ahmed, the Governmentwould still be subsidizing thenew petrol price by N2.84/litre.

Nevertheless, public’sperception is that it insensitiveto reduce the existing N60subsidy on petrol price to justN2.84/litre at once.

Thus, with the estimateddaily consumption of over 40million litres, the calculatedsubsidy of N2.84/litre willincrease treasury leakages byover N400bn, which is about9% of 2015 total budgetedrevenue projection.Nonetheless, the reduction insubsidy values may bringsome joy to those critics whofelt uncomfortable withsubsidy payments estimatedat over N1tn annually.

Notably, however, subsidywill be completely eliminatedif crude prices fall below thebenchmark of $42.65/barrelwhich predicated the newprice of N87/litre.

Thus, in a macabre twistof fortune, the erstwhilefiercely resisted abolition of

Is fuel price now deregulated?petrol subsidy may haveunexpectedly quietlysneaked in without awhimper of protest, becauseof lower crude prices which,ironically, have theoppressive impact of cruellyreducing Nigeria’s exportincome by over $20bn in oneyear. So, although subsidypayments may fall from overN1tn ($6bn) to about N400bn

($2bn), the process thatmakes this possible wouldalso regrettably reduce crudeexport income by over $20bni.e over 50% of annualrevenue budgets.

Worse still, totalelimination of subsidy wouldalso eliminate erstwhileSURE-P savings andinadvertently also jeopardizeany real possibility of rapidinfrastructural enhancementas the already meager capitalvote of about N690bn in the2015 Appropriation Billincludes a SURE-P provisionof about N290bn.Consequently, the net paltrycapital expenditure of aboutN400bn would barely exceed10% of the consolidated

budget income of aboutN4.5tn in 2015.

Sadly, therefore, over 90%of projected federallycollected revenue in 2015 willbe dedicated to plainconsumption, despite theclear need for constantdedication of over 50% of totalannual spending toinfrastructural enhancementand human capacity building.

Thus, the horrendousslide in crude prices hasnot only deprived us ofour ‘customary’ bountifulrevenue source but it hasregrettably also grosslydistorted our nationalexpenditure frameworkin a manner that willrestrain and stunt thepossibility of sustainedrapid growth.Nonetheless, critics of asubsidized prize regime,may argue that evenwhen liberal SURE-Pprovisions weresupplemented withmodest annual capitalallocations, Nigerianswere not better off;consequently, such criticsmay consider theabsence of SURE-Pprovisions and areduction of the capitalbudget as a welcomeopportunity which willreduce the perceivedwide leakages andimpunity usuallyassociated with theimplementation of mostcapital budgets.

Nevertheless, anyonewho believes that wehave seen the end of the“controversial” subsidyscheme must be living incuckoo land!

In the first place,while further reduction incrude prices mayactually eliminate fuelsubsidy, there is still apossibility that crudeprices may reboundmodestly and stabilize

above $50/barrel. Expectedly,however, any increase abovethe $43/barrel benchmarkwould drive landed cost wellabove N74.35/litre to propelfuel price well above thecurrent rate of N87/litre. Inthis event, the question wouldthen be whether or notNigerians would besympathetic enough to tamelyaccept fuel prices above theformer N97/litre?

Conversely, if crude pricesfall below $43/barrel, then, ofcourse, Nigerians must beready for more asphyxiatingbelt tightening as evensubsidy free fuel prices willnot make more funds availablefor the capital budget tosupport urgent infrastructuralenhancement; furthermore, the promise that subsidyelimination would encouragecompetitive prices and betterservices may not also becredible in the light of thesluggish response ofmarketers to appropriatelyreduce diesel price (which isalready deregulated) in linewith the sharp decline incrude prices. As at the time ofwriting, diesel continues tosell for between N130-N140/litre inspite of popularexpectation of a price belowN100/litre as being moreequitable.

Similarly, with the 50%drop in crude oil prices, theprice of kerosene should alsonot exceed N100/litre withoutsubsidy, nonethelessgovernment, inexplicablyinsists on maintaining agrossly subsidized price ofN50/litre even thoughkerosene is not available forless than N120/litre in mostparts of the country. One maybe excused for wonderingwho the beneficiaries ofkerosene subsidy really are;however, the advocates ofcomplete deregulation toforestall market distortionsmay therefore see the

retention of N2.84/litresubsidy on petrol as apolitical gimmick to win votesin next month’s generalelections. In the light ofdwindling revenue andsevere austerity, such criticswill also argue that a moreresponsible fiscal responsewould have been to retain theexisting price of N97/litre andsave over N7/litre instead ofspending N2.84/litre oncontroversial fuel subsidypayments in 2015. The simplefiscal discipline ofmaintaining fuel price at theexisting price of N97 couldyield well over $5bn from the40 million litres of fuelconsumed daily. Regrettably,the alternative source ofrevenue to fund the projected2015 fiscal deficit of over $6bnwould be a resort to increasedborrowing despite theoppressive cost of oursovereign debts.

Incidentally, the currentpetrol price of N87/litre isequivalent to about US$0.50and is consequently cheaperthan petrol prices in Ghana -US$0.92, South Africa –US$0.95, USA - US$0.62, andUK - US$1.64/litrerespectively; indeed it is notuncommon that oil producingnations such as the UK andthe US still recognize thebounteous revenue potentialof petrol tax in their fiscalstrategies, regrettably, this isa lesson that is provingdifficult for us to also adopt.

Instructively, however, astronger Naira exchange ratewill bring down fuel pricesmuch below the N87/litre sothat government can earnover US$12bn annually froma sales tax of about 20% onpetrol/price, but a weakerNaira below the current N180/$1 will inevitably increasefuel price and makederegulation unattainable.

Save the Naira, Save

Nigeria!!

Conversely,if crude pricesfall below $43/barrel, then, ofcourse,Nigeriansmust be readyfor moreasphyxiatingbelt tightening

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015 ————— 45 45 45 45 45

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Continues on page 49

ON the state of the nation The country is in what we

can call a high equilibrium trapas its government can hardlymeet its basic responsibility ofproviding security to its citizens.The essential socialinfrastructures are completely notavailable. There is unavailabilityof electricity and the educationalsystem is collapsed. Lives of agreat number of the populationare traumatic and dysfunctional.Every warning indicator in thecockpit of the nation is flashingred and urgent decision needsto be taken fast in order to savethe ship of the nation from

2015: Nigeria needschange —Latinwo

•Latinwo: Buhari is the man for us now

sinking.We must accept that the reason

we have government is mainlythe provision of security for livesand property, provision of socialinfrastructure and protection ofthe integrity of the party in pow-er. This is not the case today inour nation.

The landscape is full of dark-ness and uncertainty, there are anumber of conventional tale-tellsignals that are physicallypresent and apparent in the landtoday.

There are no roads, electricity,health care, water and education.There are increasing activities ofinsurgents and pipeline vandal-ization in the North and Southrespectively; social and econom-

ic problems mount in the face ofstate corruption and ineptitude.The masses are becoming moreand more alienated, angry andbitter while the contending elit-es manipulate ethnic and reli-gious cleavages in the strugglefor power and deadly conflictsescalate in number and scale.

Effectivelegislation

We need strong and effectivelegislation to hold all aspects ofour lives together. And important-ly is the enforcement of theselaws. Our failure as a nationstems largely from our inabilityto use laws to design institutionsthat can withstand good and badtimes. We cannot build institu-tions on the assumption that ourleaders will not be tempted toabuse their powers.

For the sake of our country’sfuture and our need to safeguardit from those who thought thattoday is more important than to-morrow, who said individualscould only succeed alone, whoerected grand theories whenwhat we require is simple andbasic understanding, we need

not abandon our freedom andautonomy.

We must begin to believe in thepower of shared decisions. Theway we shape our future mustbe more local for these shareddecisions to be more responsiveto communities' needs. We mustcreate a relationship between thepeople and their government,which is no longer one of clientand provider but of person andcommunity. For this to material-ize we need stability and we needsecurity which the governmentmust stand up firmly to provideand ensure.

You painted a sorry state ofNigeria especially in terms ofleadership. Are you saying fromIndependence, we have not hadgood leaders?

It depends on the kind of lead-ership you have at a particulartime. We got our independencein 1960, since then governmenthas been changed more than 15times but then you have a leaderwho comes and says this is wherewe are, I am leaving now but Ihave moved you two steps fur-ther. Then another one comes, hesays I am taking over from here,I will move you forward but un-fortunately, he moves you back.Then the other man picks it againand says I will do this and thatand is able to move you threesteps.

Nationalagenda

What we have had is goinground and round that is why Ithink we need to have a nationalagenda. When you have a na-tional agenda, if President Acomes, he is going to implementthe programme of the nation.

What is your take on the Feb-ruary 14 presidential polls?

I think the elections will be veryinteresting. We had primaries inboth parties but that of the APC,to my mind was fair, refined, ed-ucative, enlightened. In APC,they all came out and said this isour man and that to me aloneshould make Nigerians realizethat there must be something inthis man (Buhari) that too manypeople don’t know about andthese people have been able toassociate themselves with him.

Buhari won the APC presiden-tial primaries with a wide mar-gin. I said to myself that thesepeople have been able to see

what some people do not see inGeneral Buhari and this is a de-fining moment in this nation.

So we should take advantageof this and see whether we cancollectively get this change theyhave been talking about becausewe cannot continue to go on likethis. There are no values any-more and we are all aware ofthese problems of the North,South divide, ethno-religious cri-ses, insurgency, etc, that are notsettled. You cannot just pushthem aside and be dancingaround, they will still be thereand the greater the number, themore difficult it becomes.

I want to say that we as peopleare in a fragile situation and mydeliberate broad definition of afragile situation is one in whichthe boundaries and identity of oursociety, basic operations of thestate, essential public servicesand the day-to-day security ofcitizens cannot be taken for grant-ed.

Securitysystem

President Jonathan as an in-cumbent president is runningbased on his belief about whathe has done in the last six yearsor so of his administration andwe can all see physically and feelthe effects of his performance onour roads, hospitals, schools, thestandard of living of an averageNigerian, the security system inthe country, the performance ofthe Naira, corruption eliminationprocess, employments for theteeming youths in the nation, etc.His scorecards are available foreveryone to see and judge ac-cordingly.

We can feel the effects of hisclueless governance, deafeningcacophonies of missing billionsin the oil sector and the NNPCaccounts, pension funds looting,oil bunkering, pipeline vandali-zation and kidnapping. So thequestion is do we continue likethis or do we need change?

The candidacy of Buhari isabout his disposition, character,integrity and known credibility.How he performed as head ofstate and petroleum minister,state military governor andChairman of PTF under theAbacha regime. Undoubtedly, heis a firm and disciplined individ-ual with commitment to the causeof our country, very resolute andsteadfast. All these are the qual-ities that had carried him alongover the years.

His firm, honest and discipli-narian traits will allow him tobring about the changes that areso much urgently required in thebody polity of our nation – curb-ing corruption, insecurity andprovision of essential social in-frastructure and stabilizing theeconomy.

So, what kind of leaders do weneed now?

We need a new leadership,authentic leaders in the admin-

Buhari is a man Ibelieve verystrongly canaddress theseissues. On the issueof corruption, hehas done it before

•Says we can't continue to run in circles•In our time it's a taboo not to equip the military•Nigeria is trapped, full of darkness and must change•My regrets at 72

Group Captain Salaudeen Adebola Latinwo (retd), 72,former military governor of Kwara State (1984-85) is ameticulous and detailed person. The retired Air Forceofficer, who was part of the first set of people to be recruit-ed into the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) in 1963 is thorough-ly organised and acts with precision as we found outduring a one hour no holds barred interview, last weekwhen he spoke among others on the state of the nation,the kind of leader Nigeria needs now and why Nigeriansmust get it right at the polls. Excerpts:

By Clifford Ndujihe &Gbenga Oke

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015—49

Continues from page 48

Nigeria is trapped, full of darkness — Latinwo

istration of our great country.People of the highest integrity,

honour, who are committed tobuilding enduring organization,leaders who have the courage tobuild institutions and establish-ments to meet the needs of allstakeholders and who recognizethe importance of services to thesociety.

On why he thinks Buhari, whoappointed him as Kwara mili-tary administrator, is the leaderNigeria needs now.

The coup against Buhari regimeis frequently inserted into a nar-rative of regret and nostalgia andloss. The significant problemsthat we faced cannot be solvedwith the same level of thinkingthat created them. In his first com-ing as head of state, he intro-duced the War Against Indisci-pline programme, environmen-tal sanitation and various agri-cultural programme.

Time has come for some freshthinking and we must take ad-vantage of the moment and timefor change. We can have democ-racy in this country or have greatwealth concentrated in the handsof a few.

Reliable andcredible

We definitely cannot have both.What makes us believe in a manis ultimately his “character”. Canwe trust him? Is he reliable andcredible? Is he a man of integri-ty? These are real qualities youlook for in a man. And GeneralBuhari has all these qualities.

As far as General Buhari’scandidacy is concerned, a lot ofpeople believe his return is forrevenge. Secondly, many peo-ple in Lagos are not happy withthe way and manner he stoppedthe metro project that AlhajiJakande started. Also, Buhari isconsidered to be an old man, hehad made his mark; some feelthis is the time for younger mento try their hands. What is yourtake on these allegations?

When you have a problems anda very serious problem like theone we have in Nigeria right now,you need somebody who has in-tegrity to solve them. Looking atthe campaigns, what are the realissues? The issues are securityof the country, corruption, unem-ployment and non availability ofinfrastructure. These are the is-sues. The question is who canreally address those issuesamong the candidates that wehave?

Buhari is a man I believe verystrongly can address these is-sues. On the issue of corruption,he has done it before.

I think we must be able to sitdown together and ask ourselveswhat the real issues are. Do wewant to be sentimental? If we lookat it from that perception, frame-

work and within the limit of ouroperation, who can save us fromthese immediate problems?

Buhari is just 72 years and heis agile. I don’t think age shouldbe a barrier for somebody whowants to run for four or eightyears, at least there are countrieswe have Presidents that are 80or 90 years.

On allegation that he is goingto revenge, he has already saidit that he has forgiven all for thecountry to march forward.

What is he going to revenge?That somebody came andchanged you? That process start-ed in 1966, within that period,there has been seven or eightmilitary coups. So for one to belooking for revenge depends onthe way people go about it. Whenyou do something frequently, per-sonal commitment comes into it.Even though everybody says wewant to save the nation, you willrealise personal interest willcome into it but I can tell you thatmajority of them are just servingpersonal interests.

His take on the Boko-Haraminsurgency.

Unfortunately, through the sys-tem that we have going roundand round we found ourselvesalong the line with the BokoHaram. This thing started withpoliticians taking these boys aspersonal security and as timewent on, the boys began to seehow much power and how muchdependent these politicians wereon them.

So they began to feel 'I havepower and this politician cannotgo out without me.' So some ofthese boys saw power, influenceand authority in it and that is howthe whole thing came about. Bythat time, those people whobrought them had no more con-trol over them.

Insurgents or terrorists, seces-sionist group, criminal elementsor drug elements that the gov-ernment cannot properly or ef-fectively deal with are described

as non state fighters. The ap-pearance of non state actors onthe national and internationalscene has brought rapid growthor quasi-private armies and wild

We need a newleadership,authentic leaders inthe administrationof our greatcountry. People ofthe highestintegrity, honour,who are committedto buildingenduringorganization

•Latinwo: Can you say you are satisfied now?

card military for-mations who con-sider armed con-flict as legitimatebusiness.

On the claim bysome military menon CNN that gov-ernment does notcare about theirwelfare and theydon’t have weap-ons to fight BokoHaram

The level oftraining you haveand commitmentmatter in thesethings. And ofcourse morale, it isa very importantlanguage in themilitary, it meansyou believe inwhat you are do-ing, you are en-couraged to do itand if somethinghappens to you,government willlook after yourfamily.

We never hadthis kind of prob-lems and I am sur-prised when I readall these things inthe papers. I thinkit is an eye openerand I think this isjust telling us towake up becausethis has showedthat along the line,certain things arelacking and ex-cept you providethose things, noth-ing much can bedone.

A situation where a militaryman says he has not gotten uni-form is unbelievable. When I wasin the military, they were givingus at least six sets of uniform and

for combat vests, we were givenfour and you will have about 12shoes and you can go back tostores where you can change allthese things.

That was the system during ourtime and it really showed thatgovernment was really lookingafter us and wanted us to actual-ly do the job.

At 72 years, do you have anyregret on how you were retired?

Initially I had pains. Why I hadpains was because then, all I dois to dress in my uniform and getready to fly an aircraft and theway we worked in the military isjust like a family. We had an in-tegrated family structure and thatwas all I know and suddenly,somebody came and said you aretrying to bring down the govern-ment.

It was very painful and discom-forting at first but later, I forgotall about it. The real issue wasthat we had to relocate the kidsbecause it was affecting the mo-rale of the children; their mateswere calling them children of acoup plotter.

They came home everyday withtears in their eyes, it would taketheir mother about an hour tocalm them down. We saw a lot ofpotential in them, they were verybright, so we relocated to UnitedKingdom.

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Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015—55

BIS studentwins CambridgeGlobal Awards

A STUDENT OF THEBritish International

School, Lagos, MissEseosa Idemudia has wonthe prestigious ‘CambridgeTop in the World” awards.

Miss Idemudia won theawards from CambridgeInternational Examinationsin acknowledgement of heroutstanding performance inthe June 2014 CambridgeExamination series.

Cambridge Top in theWorld awards recognizethe success of learners whohave achieved the higheststandard mark in the worldfor a single subject.

Miss Idemudia hasreceived the awards in the2014 IGCSE BusinessStudies and Economics.

The Principal of the BritishInternational School, Mr.Peter Yates said that theawards recognized thetalent, dedication andcommitment of both learnersand staff of the school.

A CIVIL Society group,Army of Democracy

(AoD) has called onpoliticians and politicalparties to refrain frommaking utterances capableof heating up the polity.

Addressing a pressconference in Lagos,National Coordinator of thegroup, Mr. John Obi,kicked against an allegedplan to postpone theFebruary general electionsjust as he faulted the callfor an interim nationalgovernment.

Obi said “it is with painwe observe that Nigeria’spresent crop of politicians,with exception of few, are athreat to democracy. Theyare divorcees of delightfuldemocracy, which is aconvenient and purposefulcontract between the peopleand the leaders. The costof servicing democracy faroutweighs the values it hasadded to Nigeria andNigerians in 16 years.Most of the flagshipinfrastructure across thecountry, both at the statesand federal level as well asworkable policies are thevestiges of the military era.''

This includes the presentAll Progressives Congress(APC), Peoples DemocraticParty (PDP) and the AllProgressives GrandAlliance (APGA), controlledstates. We challenge themto a debate on this, withfacts to prove us wrong.

In addition, he said “wedetest any call for the post-postponement of thegeneral elections billed forFebruary as well as that ofan interim governmentarrangement as aforerunner to credibleelections.''

Civil rightsgroup cautionspoliticians

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Retrieval of bodies from the AirAsia crash has beencontinuing

AirAsia QZ8501: Fresh bid toraise fuselage fails

THE Indonesianadmiral in charge

of operations to recoverAirAsia flight QZ8501has told the BBC thefuselage may be toofragile to be lifted.

Rear AdmiralWidodo’s commentscame after a renewedattempt to raise thewreckage from seabedfailed when it keptbreaking into pieces.

Ropes around thefuselage snapped duringan initial failed effort toraise it on Saturday.

The plane crashed intothe Java Sea last monthkilling all 162 on board.It was flying fromSurabaya in Indonesia toSingapore.

Four bodies wererecovered on Saturday,taking the totalrecovered to 69, withmore thought to beinside.

A preliminary report onthe crash is expected tobe filed next week ,although the fullinvestigation will take

months.Meanwhile, rescuers

have been usinginflatable balloon bagscapable of lifting up to 10tonnes to raise the 13-metre long section ofwreckage from the seabed and onto a flat boat.

But on Saturday, withthe wreckage sevenmetres (22ft) from thesurface, strong currentsand the sharp edges ofthe aircraft’s emergencydoor cut the ropeconnecting a bag to thefuselage.

The sharp edges had tobe padded with rubbermaterial before anotherattempt could take place.

Divers entered themain section of thefuselage, which is at adepth of 30m, for the firsttime on Friday.

The wreckage includesparts of both of the wingsof the Airbus.It isbelieved the plane’scockpit may also be inthe same area.

Ukraine conflict: Poroshenko vows to‘calm’ Mariupol fighting

U K R A I N I A NPresident Petro

Poroshenko has vowed to“calm” fighting with pro-Russia rebels in eastUkraine after 30 peoplewere killed there at theweekend..

Speaking after anemergency meeting ofUkraine’s securitycouncil, Mr Poroshenkosaid that a peace dealsigned in September inMinsk was the onlysolution to the conflict.

Russia’s foreign

minister also urged“comprehensive politicaldialogue”.

Both sides blame eachother for the continuingfighting.

More than 5,000people have been killedin fighting since therebels seized a largeswathe of Donetsk andLuhansk regions lastApril, UN officials say.More than a millionpeople have beendisplaced.

Ukraine and the West

have accused Russia ofarming the rebels andsending its troops intoUkrainian territory.

Russia has denieddirectly arming theseparatists, and blamesUkraine for the upsurgein fighting.

Rocket attacksA series of rocket

attacks left 30 peopledead and many moreinjured in the city ofMariupol in east Ukraineon Saturday.

Iran’s minister to appear before parliamentover walk with Kerry

and the West.Media images of the

top diplomats from oldadversaries strollingtogether in a foreign land

IRANIAN ForeignM i n i s t e r

Mohammad Javad Zarifis to appear beforeparliament followingcontroversy over apromenade with hisAmerican counterpartduring intense nuclearnegotiations in Geneva,state media reportedyesterday.

Zarif, who leadsTehran’s talks with“P5+1” - the UnitedStates, Britain, France,Germany, Russia andChina - had a 15-minutewalk down Genevasidewalks with U.S.Secretary of State JohnKerry during discussionson Jan. 14 aimed atreaching a settlement ofthe 12-year nucleardispute between Iran

provoked an outcryamong Iranian hard-liners deeply wary ofrapprochement with the“Great Satan”.

IN a glow ofbonhomie, U.S.

President Barack Obamaand Indian PrimeMinister Narendra Modiunveiled plans to unlockbillions of dollars innuclear trade and todeepen defense ties,steps they hope willestablish an enduringstrategic partnership.

The two countriesreached anunderstanding on twoissues that, despite a

Obama visits India, revealsnuclear breakthrough

groundbreaking 2006agreement, had stoppedU.S. companies fromsetting up reactors inIndia and had becomeone of the major irritantsin bilateral relations.

“We are committed tomoving towards fullimplementation,” Obamatold a joint newsconference with Modi.“This is an important stepthat shows how we canwork together to elevateour relationship.”

South Africa shaken byanti-immigration laws

IN a separateincident, a truck

carrying livestockoverturned on ahighway in theJohannesburg area lastweek, and peoplecarrying knives andbuckets descended onthe injured cattle andslaughtered nearlythree-dozen for theirmeat, according toEyewitness News, aSouth African mediaoutlet. The driveralleged that people on abridge threw objects athis vehicle, causing it to

crash.Such episodes reflect

the predicament of SouthAfrica, a regional hubwith gleaminginfrastructure projectswhere many peoplenevertheless feelmarginalized by highunemployment, a lack ofopportunity and a gapbetween rich and poorthat is starkly visible inleafy, spacious suburbs,on the one hand, and theshacks and so-called“matchbox” homes of thetownships where blackswere confined under

apartheid.Soweto came under

the world’s gaze in 1976when it erupted instudent-led protests.Parts of it are relativelyaffluent today, as malls,gyms and new homesattest. But poverty is stillwidespread. Theviolence there startedJan. 19 in an area calledSnake Park when aSomali nationalallegedly shot and killeda 14-year-boy who wasamong a group of peopleattempting to break intohis shop.

Turkish president visits Somalia under tight security

TURKISH PresidentTayyip Erdogan

travelled to the Somalicapital Mogadishuunder heavy security onSunday, making hissecond visit in four yearsto promise furtherinvestment in thecountry as it struggles torebuild after twodecades of conflict.

Erdogan, who in 2011became the first non-African leader to go toSomalia in nearly 20years, visited variousprojects that havebenefited from Turkishinvestment, including anew airport terminal anda rehabilitated seaport.

Turkey was a majorcontributor to the

humanitarian aid effortat the height of the 2011famine and Ankara

Official: Central African RepublicMinister kidnapped in Bangui

CENTRAL AfricanR e p u b l i c ’ s

minister for youth andsport was kidnapped onSunday by gunmen inthe capital, Bangui, as hereturned from church, anofficial said.

The seizure of ArmelNingatoloum Sayofollows the briefkidnapping earlier thisweek of a U.N. staffmember and a French

charity worker,highlighting insecurityin the country despitethe presence of Frenchand U.N. peacekeepers.

Tatiana Yangeko,Sayo’s spokeswoman,said the minister wasdriving his wife and hisbrother back from churchwhen four unidentifiedgunmen in a taxistopped their vehicle inBangui’s 8th

arrondissement, in thenorth of the capital.

“They got out of thetaxi, shot in the air andforced the minister out ofhis car. They fled withhim towards Boy Rabe,’’Yangeko said, referringto a neighborhood thatis a stronghold of the‘anti-Balaka’ militia.

“We have told theprime minister,’’ sheadded.

Zambia swears in Lungu as new president

EDGAR Lungu hasbeen sworn in as

Zambia’s sixth president,following a closely foughtelection. Zambians votedTuesday for a successor toPresident Michael Satawho died in October oflast year. The new leaderwill take the helm of thecopper-rich country forthe remainder of Sata’sterm before the countryreturns to the polls inSeptember 2016.

Lungu, from the rulingPatriotic Front (PF) party,clinched the presidentialseat by a slender margin(48.3 percent to 46.7percent), beating hisclosest rival, Hakainde

Hichilema from theUnited Party for NationalDevelopment (UPND).

As he was inauguratedin Lusaka, PresidentLungu said Zambia will

maintain a new mineralroyalty tax despite fearsthat it could lead to mineclosures, reportedReuters.

continues to buildhospitals and dispatchaid across Somalia.

Spanish police arrest 4 suspectedmembers of a jihadi cell

SPANISH NationalPolice arrested four

suspected jihadis Saturdayin the country’s NorthAfrican enclave of Ceutawho allegedly had formeda terror cell and were readyto carry out an attack, theInterior Ministry said.

Interior Minister JorgeFernandez Diaz saidinvestigators, working withtheir Moroccancounterparts, were struck bythe similarities between thesuspected cell members

and the two Frenchbrothers who killed 12people in an attack uponthe Charlie Hebdonewspaper in Paris.

“These are two pairs ofvery radicalized brotherswho are highly trainedmilitarily, physically andmentally and areprepared to carry out anattack, and ready,according to the police,to blow themselves up inthe act,” Fernandez Diazsaid.

•Edgar Lungu, right, is sworn in as president at aninauguration ceremony in Lusaka, Zambia, Jan. 25,2015.

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015—57

IN the 1990s, the results ofcredible elections were

annulled in Nigeria, Algeria andsome other African countries bydictatorial regimes. The politicalviolence generated by suchcriminal annulment led to thedisruption of the democraticprocess in the continent. In 2008,the refusal of the electoral bodyin Kenya to announce the resultsof the presidential election led tothe brutal killing of over athousand people .

Owing to the weak criminaljustice system in that country,Mr. Kofi Anan, a formerSecretary-General of the UnitedNations was invited to conductan inquiry into the politicalviolence. The investigation reportformed the basis of the trial ofMessrs Uhuru Kenyatta andWilliam Ruto before theInternational Criminal Court(ICC). Notwithstanding theelection of both suspects asPresident and Vice President ofKenya while the case waspending the charges were notdiscontinued.

Instead of strengthening thedemocratic institutions in theirrespective countries Africanleaders have threatened towithdraw the ratification of the

How to stoppolitical violence

By Femi Falana, SAN part in the 2015 GeneralElection scheduled to hold inNigeria next month. At the wellcelebrated ceremony which heldin Abuja the candidates of the twoleading political partiesembraced each other. While themedia and several people wereexcited with the development Iexpressed the view that the socalled peace accord would notstem the tide of political violencein the country due to the violentnature of the electoral systemcoupled with official impunity.

In a number of decided cases,the courts have held thatcandidates sponsored bypolitical parties cannot be heldvicariously liable for politicallymotivated violence and electoralmalpractice carried out on theirbehalf unless they can be directlylinked with instigating ordirecting their supporters toengage in such criminality.

Condemnationof perpetrators

Indeed, political leadersusually dissociate themselvesfrom acts of violence bycondemning the perpetrators.However, if the suspects arecharged to court the leaders turnround to engage the services oflawyers to defend them. In many

governor attended a meetingwhere ex-militants threatened todeclare a war on the Republic ifthe President is “dethroned” inthe forthcoming general election.

It is hoped that those who arebeating the drum of war will becalled to order by PresidentJonathan. After all, they nevertook part in the streets protestsheld in Lagos and Abuja whichcompelled the NationalAssembly to recognise Dr.Jonathan as the Acting Presidentin May 2010. Neither did theyblackmail Nigerians from all partsof the country to vote for thePresident in 2011. With respectto the stoning of PresidentJonathan during a political rallyin Bauchi, last week, GovernorIsa Yaguda has pointed accusingfingers at some unnamedmembers of the ruling party. Thisis a serious allegation whichshould be investigated by thePolice with a view to bringing theculprits to book..

It is common knowledge thatthe bulk of the infractions of theLaw highlighted above tookplace after the signing of thepeace accord. The NationalHuman Rights Commission hassaid that “signing a peace pactis easy, the more difficult part isto ensure that the political officeseekers and their supporterswork within the rules ofengagement.” But office seekersand their supporters cannotoperate within ‘the rules ofengagement” if they are treatedlike sacred cows. It ought to be

pointed out that executiveimmunity does not cover electionpetitions and electoral offences!In Turaki v. Dalhaltu(2003) 38WRN 54 at 168 Oguntade JCA(as he then was) held that “If aGovernor were to be consideredimmuned from courtproceedings, that would createthe position where a sittingGovernor would be able to floutelection laws and regulations tothe detriment of other personscontesting with him. This willmake a nonsense of the electionprocess and be against the spiritof our national Constitutionwhich in its tenor provides for afree and fair election.”

Crisis ofimpunity

Since ours is a country whichclaims to operate under the Ruleof Law it is inexplicable that thesuspects involved in sabotagingthe electoral process have notbeen charged to any criminalcourt. The crisis of impunity inthe land has been compoundedby the partisan involvement ofthe authorities of the police, thearmed forces and other securityagencies in the political process.Although there are adequate andelaborate provisions in theElectoral Act, 2010 as amendedand the penal statutes to dealwith political violence andelectoral malfeasance themanagers of the neo-colonialstate lack the political will to bringelectoral offenders to book.

In 2007, President UmoruYaradua admitted that theelection which brought him topower was flawed. In a bid tosanitize the electoral system heset up the Mohammadu UwaisElectoral Committee . Amongother recommendations theCommittee called for theestablishment of an ElectoralOffences Tribunal.The YaraduaAdministration rejected therecommendation without anyjustification. However, followingthe political violence whichgreeted the announcement of theresults of the presidentialelection in some states in theNorth and Akwa Ibom in April2011, President GoodluckJonathan set up the AhmedLemu Panel to investigate thecrisis. From the detailed reportof the Panel, 943 people werekilled while 838 others were

Statute of Rome by their countriesif the trial of their Kenyancolleague was not terminated bythe Special Prosecutor of theICC. Although the case has beenstruck out for want of diligentprosecution the African Unionhas decided to empower theAfrican Court on Human Rightssitting in Arusha, Tanzania todeal with allegations of genocideand crimes against humanityinvolving African leaders. As nopolitical leader wanted to becharged before the ICC the 2013General Election in Kenya didnot witness the orgy of violencethat marred the previous election.

A fortnight ago, Mr. Kofi Ananand Chief Emeka Anyaoku, aformer secretary-general of theCommonwealth, jointly presidedover the signing of a Non-Violence Accord by thepresidential candidates of thepolitical parties that are taking

cases, attorneys-generalare directed to file nolleprosequi to stop theprosecution of suspectswho belong to the rulingparties. Hence, the casesof the hundreds ofsuspects charged to courtby the Police for electoraloffences committed duringthe 2003, 2007 and 2011general elections wereabruptly terminated in allthe states of the federation.

In the last few months,Nigerians have witnessed

a reign of terror by armed thugswho have engaged in thebombing or burning of partysecretariats, the destruction ofvehicles belonging to politicalparties, the harassment ofpolitical opponents , the wearingof masks by “security personnel”at campaign rallies, theextrajudicial killing and brutalattacks of innocent people atparty congresses and primaryelections, the unprovoked assaulton judges, the throwing of stonesat leaders etc.

In spite of the warning by theelectoral officials the illegal useof official vehicles by publicofficers for political campaignshas continued. Top politicalleaders have continued to makeinciting statements. A governorpublished a death wish advertwhich could have provokedethno-religious riots. Another

injured. While the FederalGovernment has paid over N10billion as reparation to thevictims of the riots, the 626suspects who were arrested inconnection with arson, culpablehomicide and other graveoffences perpetrated during thecivil disturbances have been leftoff the hook on account of officialimpunity that has become theorder of the day under thecurrent political dispensation.

Convinced that electoraloffenders ought to be prosecutedin order to stop electoral violencethe Panel equally made a strongcase for the setting up of “anautonomous and constitutionallyrecognized electoral OffencesTribunal, but which may be anad hoc body as it may not havemuch to do in between electionperiods.” In accepting therecommendation of the FederalGovernment undertook to take allnecessary actions to establish theTribunal.

Non violenceaccord

Although the recommendationwas adopted in August 2012, theTribunal is yet to be set up.Having signed the non-violenceaccord President GoodluckJonathan should now proceed toinstitute the Electoral OffencesTribunal. It is time an end wasput to the official endorsement ofpolitically motivated violence inthe country.

However, if the FederalGovernment is desirous tomaintain the status quo it ispertinent to note that section 150of the Electoral Act hasempowered the IndependentNational Electoral Commission(INEC) to deal with prosecuteelectoral offenders. But since theINEC lacks the capacity todischarge the onerous statutoryduty the Nigerian BarAssociation (NBA) should takeup the task of prosecutingelectoral offenders throughoutthe country. To ensure thesuccess of the proposal the NBAshould be prepared to collaboratewith the Body of Attorneys-General and the Nigeria PoliceForce. Unless electoral offendersare punished as envisaged by theElectoral Act and theConstitution the subversion ofthe democratic process willcontinue unabated.

FEMI FFEMI FFEMI FFEMI FFEMI FALANALANALANALANALANAAAAA

It is time an end wasput to the officialendorsement ofpolitically motivatedviolence in thecountry

CMYK

58—Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015

PMS Pump pricereduction and theeconomy – my take away

IT is no longer news that theFederal Government has

announced a reduction in thepump price of premium motorspirit (PMS), popularly calledpetrol.

While I have made my positionknown on my Twitter handle that‘a little over 10% reduction in costof the final (crude oil) product(PMS) in response to an over 50%drop in the cost of the rawmaterial is a good try and thatNigerians can get a better deal’,I am constrained to make thisfurther intervention for a fewreasons.

1.There is a sense in the publicspace that this reduction ispolitically motivated, given thereactions that have followed it.To the extent therefore that thereis a political nexus, it deservesfurther interrogation because itis an ECONOMIC issue andthis is a major issue in theelections as canvassed by bothparties, especially at thePresidential candidacy level.

General Buhari had seized themoment and the importance ofthe economic issue earlier thismonth. Through his campaigncouncil he said: “Stop stealing

By Raji Fashola, SAN

from Nigerians and allow themenjoy the relief that has come toconsumers of petroleumproducts globally.

“For the Nigerian consumers,unfortunately the collapse ofcrude oil price since October 2014has not translated into anychange in diesel, kerosene andPMS prices across the country.”

2. The second reason for myintervention is also economic,and it goes to interrogatePOLICY, particularly thisPRICING POLICY, and theconsistency of the party inGovernment Vis-a-Vis theircredibility before the Nigerianpublic.

THE ECONOMICS OF OILIt must be obvious to any

discerning mind that you cannothave a viable democracy withoutdebating the management of theeconomy.

This is because the real issuein elections is the way people’slives have fared during thetenure of the incumbent.

The question, sometimesspoken, sometimes not, butnever forgotten, is this: - Has mylife been better in the last fewyears or not?

This question always involvesan examination of the record ofservice of the incumbent andmany have lost their seats in abad economy.

So, the present governmentmust defend its record on theeconomy and this involves itsmanagement of prices andconsumer indices.

The cost of energy, fuel, gas,electricity for transport, cooking,heating and manufacturing is adirect determinant of the cost ofliving and how far people’swages can take them before thenext pay day.

It is not therefore surprisingthat in the last decade and a half,many western countries havegone to war “in order to makepeace”, especially in the MiddleEast, so that there is no scarcityof petroleum (crude oil) supply.

The reason is simple. Scarcecrude means high prices of crudeoil, translating to high fuel, gas

and production costs,leading to restivedomestic population,which can translate toelectoral defeat.

If one remembers Iraq,Libya and Egypt; in spiteof the democratic masksthat those militaryinterventions wore, it isdifficult to dismiss adomestic, political(electoral) self interest inthem.

In the aftermath of theseinterventions and investment inshale oil as an alternative,leading to the crash of crude oilprices, what have these westerncountries done at home for theirpeople in terms of oil pricemanagement?

Let us look at a few examples:i.U.KDrop in Price (dollar per litre):0.52Percentage of price drop: 23.75%ii. U.S.ADrop in Price (dollar per litre):0.39Percentage of price drop: 36.57%iii. SINGAPOREDrop in Price (dollar per litre):1.79Percentage of price drop: 21%v. NIGERIADrop in Price (dollar per litre):0.03. Percentage of price drop:10.3%

My take aways: a) It ispoor economic management toimport the final product of acommodity whose raw material(crude oil) we produce inabundance.

b) A refinery in Nigeria, suchas the 400,000 barrel refinery weare supporting by providing landfor the Dangote Group in theLekki Free Zone will keep jobsat home, (instead of in foreignrefineries), create income for theNigerian Government by way ofcompanies income tax, and giveus better control of pricing byeliminating subsidies anddemurrage charges by portdelays paid to ship owners indollars against a weak Naira;and it will eliminate many othercharges that are passed on toordinary Nigerians.

c) Clearly, an inefficient PortManagement that escalatesshipping costs, a devaluedcurrency, and an exorbitantinterest rate on borrowing, whichare economic failures of thecurrent Government, are part ofthe reasons why Nigeria cannotget a better deal from an over50% drop in Crude Oil price.

Interrogationof policy

In announcing the reduction offuel pump price, the HonourableMinister for PetroleumResources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, stated the reasons forthe Government’s decision in herown words as follows:

“As you may be aware, therehas been a lot of volatility in theprice of petroleum products,particularly crude oil, over the lastfew months. Invariably, this hasmeant that the price of theproduct in Nigeria has also beengreatly impacted.”

When addressing journalistsshe added: “After watching theprice per barrel drop over the lastfew months, we have finallyachieved parity… therefore thiswould be the best time to actuallyreduce the price. We have beenwatching very carefully over thelast two weeks to ensure that thevolatility did not destabilize thisreduction in price and we thinkit’s safe to implement it at thistime.”

Please note she used the words(1) “price per barrel drop” and(2) the “achieved parity” in theoil price regime to justify thereduction.

(i) Price Per Barrel DropAs I have pointed out, I doubt

that a 10% reduction is the bestthat we can get in response to a50% drop in oil price, and this issimple common sense.

If a product is manufactured atX price and the price of the rawmaterial drops by Y%, I think it issimple economics to reflect thatY% drop in the price of the finalproduct without doing anydamage to the cost of packagingor transporting the product. Andthis should happen vice versa ifthe price of the raw materialheads in the opposite direction.

But let me be quick toacknowledge that these pricechanges may not necessarily beeffected overnight in a period ofvolatility; and this is therelevance of the HonourableMinister’s point about “parity”,which I will come to later.

But the quick additional pointto make is that Diesel has notenjoyed any subsidy for a longtime and there is a loud silenceon this product, as far as pricingpolicy is concerned; and nothingis said about Kerosene.

So, if this was really meant to

bring relief to the people, I thinkDiesel, which impacts onproduction costs, power costs inhomes through generators, andKerosene, which ordinaryNigerians use to cook, wouldhave been the place forGovernment to demonstrate thatit understands the plight of thepeople.

This would have afforded somecushion against the austeritymeasures indicated by theHonourable Minister of Finance.

My takeaway

This price reduction is not farreaching enough. Itdemonstrates a knee-jerkreaction to a serious economicissue where the majority ofordinary Nigerians areconcerned.

When we factor the fact that themajority of Nigerians generatetheir own power at 4 (four) timesthe cost of public power, and theymostly use diesel, a reductionthere would have reduced thepressure on their disposableincome.

•Achieved Parity: Myunderstanding of the HonourableMinister’s use of these words isthat Government now believesthat oil prices will hover aroundthe current prices of $50 perbarrel, so that, according to her,“the entire country will benefitimmensely from this reduction.”

If this is correct, then who arewe to believe?

If we go back to the statementof the Honourable Minister ofFinance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,on December 17, 2014 when,while defending the oil budgetbenchmark of $65 for the 2015budget which some observersfelt was too ambitious, she said:

“This is what we have done byproposing a benchmark of $65pb.We recognise that prices mightstill fall further but we do notintend to revise the price furtherdown as price intelligenceindicates that prices mightaverage between $65 and $70pbin 2015.”

If the Finance Minister expectsoil prices to get to $70 and thePetroleum Minister says we have“achieved parity,” there seems tobe inherent contradictions withinthe same Government.

My Take Aways: a. A r eGovernment departments

Continues on page 59

RAJI FRAJI FRAJI FRAJI FRAJI FASHOLAASHOLAASHOLAASHOLAASHOLA

If the FinanceMinister expects oilprices to get to $70and the PetroleumMinister says wehave “achievedparity,” there seemsto be inherentcontradictions withinthe sameGovernment

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015—59

talking to themselves? b. Who is co-ordinating

the economy? c. Why was the Honourable

Minister for Finance not part ofthis major Pricing Policy briefing?

d. Was this price reductionprovided for in the 2015 budget?

P.S. As I concluded thisintervention, my attention wasbrought to a response byGovernor Peter Obi to acontribution I had made, inwhich he said in This DayNewspaper that: “The presidentshowed that the sound economicpolicies of his government havebrought about macro-economicstability. This has beenacknowledged by the renownedeconomist and former Chairmanof the Asset ManagementDivision of Goldman SachsGroup, Dr. Jim O’Neill, whocoined the term BRIC (Brazil,Russia, India and China) andMINT (Mexico, Indonesia,Nigeria and Turkey),recognising these countries asthe world’s fastest growingeconomies.”

Fastest growingeconomies

I have no issue with GovernorObi, because his role inGovernment and policy makingis still unclear to me. If he speaksas a party man, it is a measure ofcredit to him that he knows moreabout the programmes of a partyhe joined a few weeks ago, thanthose he met there.

But for the record, the same JimO’Neill, whom he quotes insupport of this Government’spolicy and the leadership ofPresident Jonathan, said:

“If he (Jonathan) doesn’t get re-elected, and it’s because ofNigerian people wantingsomething different andsomething better, I think themarkets would be happy withthat. Foreign investors are prettynegative about Nigeria, so I don’tdismiss the possibility that if helost, people actually might reactpositively.”

Those who seek the truthshould simply visit this link andverify the facts of what JimO’Neill actually said: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-08/o-neill-says-jonathan-vote-loss-may-be-seen-as-nigeria-positive.html

MY TAKE AWAYI think Jim is right. Nigerians

want “something different andsomething better.” They wantCHANGE.

•Babatunde Raji Fashola,SAN, is Governor of LagosState

PMS Pump pricereduction and theeconomy – mytake away

I NEED to preface this article with afew clarifications. I have taken a long

sabbatical leave from partisan politics,and it is real fun watching the drama fromthe balcony. Having had my own shareof public service (I do not need a job fromgovernment), I now devote my time andenergy in pursuit of other passions,especially abroad.

A few days ago, I read an article inThisday entitled “Where is CharlesSoludo?”, and my answer is that I amstill there, only that I have been too busywith extensive international travels toparticipate in or comment on our national

because I did not want to panic themarket with a strong statement. Sadly,on the eve of the next elections, literallyeverything we hinted at has happened. Part of my motivation for this article isthat five years after, the real debate isstill not happening.

The presidential election next monthwill be won by either Buhari or Jonathan.For either, it is likely to be a pyrrhicvictory. None of them will be able todeliver on the fantastic promises beingmade on the economy, and if oil pricesremain below $60, I see very difficultmonths ahead, with possible headycollisions with labour, civil society, andindeed the citizenry.

To be sure, the presidential election willnot be decided by the quality of ‘issues’or promises canvassed by the candidates.The debates won’t also change much(except if there is a major gaffe by either

of them has any credible agenda to dealwith the issues, especially within thecontext of the evolving global economyand Nigeria’s broken public finance. TheUK Conservative Party’s manifesto for thelast election proudly announced that allits programmes were fully costed andwere therefore implementable. NeitherAPC nor PDP can make a similar claim. A plan without the dollar or Naira signsto it is nothing but a wish-list. They arenot telling us how much each of theirpromises will cost and where they willget the money. None talks about thebroken or near bankrupt public financeand the strategy to fix it.

Managementof resources

In response to the question of wherethe money will come from, I heard one ofthe politicians say that the problem ofNigeria was not money but themanagement of resources. This is half-truth. The problem is both. No matter howefficient a father (with a monthly salaryof N50,000) is at managing the familyresources, I cannot see how he coulddeliver on a promise to buy a brand newPeugeot 406 for each of his three childrenin a year.

Even with all the loopholes and wasteclosed, with increased efficiency perdollar spent, there is still a binding budgetconstraint. To deliver an efficient nationaltransport infrastructure alone will still costtens of billions of dollars per annum evenby corruption-free, cost-effective means. Did I hear that APC promises a welfaresystem that will pay between N5,000 andN10,000 per month to the poorest 25million Nigerians?

Just this programme alone will costbetween N1.5 and N3 trillion per annum.Add to this the cost of free primaryeducation plus free meal (to be fundedby the federal budget or would it forcenon-APC state governments to implementthe same?), plus some millions of publichousing, etc. I have tried to cost some

Buhari vs Jonathan: Beyond theElection

By Chukwuma Charles Solu-do, CFR

candidate like Tofa did inthe debate with Abiola).My take is that more than95% of the likely votershave pretty much made uptheir minds based largelyon other considerations. Afew of us remainundecided. During mybrief visit to Nigeria, Iwatched some of thecampaign rallies ontelevision. The tragedy ofthe current electioneeringcampaigns is that bothparties are missing thegolden opportunity tosensitize the citizenry aboutthe enormous challengesahead and hence mobilizethem for the inevitablesacrifices they would becalled upon to make soon.Each is promising an El-Dorado.

Let me admit that the twomain parties talk aroundthe major developmentchallenges—corruption,insecurity, economy(unemployment/poverty,power, infrastructure, etc)health, education, etc.However, it is myconsidered view that none

must do is to engage in public debate.As the elections approach, I owe a dutyto share some of my concerns.

In September 2010, I wrote a pieceentitled “2011 Elections: Let the RealDebate Begin” and published by Thisday.I understand the Federal ExecutiveCouncil discussed it, and the Minister ofInformation rained personal attacks onme during the press briefing.

I noted more than six newspapereditorials in support of the issues weraised. Beside other issues we raised, ourmain thesis was that the macro economywas dangerously adrift, with little self-insurance mechanisms (and a predictionthat if oil prices fell below $40, many stategovernments would not be able to paysalaries). I gave a subtle hint at easymoney and exchange rate depreciations

politics andeconomy. ButI occasionallyfollow eventsat home.Since thesurvival andprosperity ofNigeria areat stake, theleast some ofus (albeit,n o n -p a r t i s a n )

Continues from page 58

CHUKWUMA SOLUDO

APC candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (l) and President Goodluck Jonathan, of the PDP

Did I hear that APCpromises a welfare systemthat will pay betweenN5,000 and N10,000 permonth to the poorest 25million Nigerians? Continues on page 62

CMYK

60—Vanguard,60—Vanguard,60—Vanguard,60—Vanguard,60—Vanguard, MONDAY, MONDAY, MONDAY, MONDAY, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, JANUARY 26, JANUARY 26, JANUARY 26, JANUARY 26, 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015

CONTRARY to reports that Nigeria will by certified

polio-free by 2015 ChairmanExpert Review Committee, ERC,Mr. Oyewale Tomori has saidNigeria can only be certified poliofree in 2018 if it does not recordany new case of polio this year.

Tomori who spoke at the 29thmeeting of the Expert ReviewCommittee on Polio and RoutineImmunisation in Abuja, saidaccording to the WHOregulation, to be totally free ofpolio will take three years.

“Polio transmission is just a stepin the way; polio eradication iswhat we are looking for to makesure that there is no new cases ofpolio for the next three years.

The wild polio virus which werecorded last year are issues weneed to pay attention to, to makesure that this country is totally freeof either of the two types ofviruses,” he said.

Aggressivesurveillance

Further, he added that “the jobis not finished; there is the needfor more funds, because it is evenmore difficult in the last stage. Torid this country of polio, fundingmust not only be sustained butimproved.”

Tomori said the activities doneso far this year on surveillance inmaking sure they get to all thechildren must be intensified.

Experts confident Nigeria will be certified polio-free by 2018

By Victoria Ojeme

• Bill Gates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with some beneficiaries of OPV vaccination in a rural community.

The job is notfinished; there is theneed for more funds,because it is evenmore difficult in thelast stage. To rid thiscountry of polio,funding must notonly be sustainedbut improved

HEALTH workers under the aegisof the Joint Health Sectors Union,

JOHESU, Lagos University TeachingHospital, LUTH branch, last weekstaged a peaceful protest over what theydescribed as government insensitivity totheir demands even as they expressedwillingness to call of the strike shouldthe Federal Government release themuch expected circular on theirdemands.

Addressing a large number of healthworkers bearing placards withinscriptions such as, ‘save the lives ofNigerian masses,’ ‘FG correct injusticein Nigeria health sector,’ at the premisesof the hospital, the Chairman, SeniorStaff Association of Universities,Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutesand Associated Institutions,SSAUTHRIAI, Kehinde Adegoke saidthe Union is ready to shift grounds butinsincerity on the part of thoserepresenting the Federal Government isthe major cause of the setback in thequick resolution of the crisis.

"Those that are negotiating on behalfof government are not sincere in the

arrangement. We have been on thisstruggle since 2nd November 2014 andthe last time we held meeting with theFederal Government which is on the22nd December, 2014 they promised thatin the next two weeks they will address

our issue, it is more than two weeks nowwe are yet to receive any circular.”

“We know that President Jonathan ishaving tough time clamouring for vote,but we are urging him to ascend to ourdemand so as to continue in the business

We are ready to call off strike if... JOHESUof saving the lives of Nigerians," headded.

Corroborating his views, Chairman,National Association of Nurse and Midwife, LUTH Branch, Mr. OluwagbengaAjala, however, warned that if labourdisputes, which has led to the breakdownof health services in about 50 federalhealth institutions in the country are notaddressed, the Federal Government maymeet a collapsed sector after the Februaryelections.

“We are asking that they promote ourmembers who have been stagnated for14 years on a level. We are asking thathealth workers wage structure bereviewed. We cannot be rubbished byany group in this sector because we formmore than 70 per cent of the work forcein the health sector.

“We are asking that the FederalGovernment address needless deaths inits hospitals and put an end to this strikebefore the elections.

Members of JOHESU embarked on anindefinite strike on October 16 to protestnon-implementation of collective bargainagreement and Memorandum ofUnderstanding it had with the FederalGovernment.

By Gabriel Olawale

• Cross section of the protesting workers

“This country took care of Ebolaby doing aggressive surveillancewith aggressive vaccination of our

children we can get rid of polioin Nigeria.”

In his remarks, the ExecutiveDirector/CEO of the NationalPrimary Health CareDevelopment Agency, NPHCDA,Dr. Ado Mohammed said: “Whenyou compare Nigeria to otherpolio endemic countries, Nigeriahas made significant progress.

As of the last count, Afghanistanreported 32 cases of polio virus,Pakistan reported 297 cases andNigeria reported six cases of poliovirus.

“The whole world is looking upto Nigeria to exit as a polioendemic nation. This is not justby chance but by the hardwork

put in by the Ministry of Health,and through the transformationagenda of president GoodluckJonathan. It is the same polioinfrastructure that is used toeradicate Ebola.

“The last case of polio virus inNigeria was reported in July 2014and making it six months withoutthe incidence of polio virus inNigeria. What it means is that nochild has been paralyse as a resultof polio virus in Nigeria in sixmonths”, he added.

He said the nation is countingdays for the interruption of poliovirus. “By July 24th, 2015 it willbe one year if there is no newcase, what it means is that Nigeria

will have interrupted virustransmission and two years laterwe will achieve certification.

He further stated that for polioand routine immunisation mustgo together if you make gains inpolio without success in routineimmunisation you cannot sustainthat gain.

For the very first time in thiscountry routine immunisation isworking well, we have been ableto move routine immunizationcoverage from 52 per cent twoyears ago to 91 per cent nationalaverage coverage by the end of2015.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015—————6161616161

CMYK

the promises by both the APCand the PDP, given alternativescenarios for public finance andthe numbers don’t add up. Nigerians would be glad toknow how both parties wouldfund their programmes. Dothey intend to accentuate thehuge public debt, or raise taxeson the soon to-be-beleagueredprivate businesses, or massivelydevalue the naira to rake inbaskets of naira from thedwindling oil revenue, orembark on huge fiscalretrenchment with the sack oflabour and abandonment ofprojects, and which areas ofwaste do they intend to closeand how much do they estimateto rake in from them, etc?

I remember that ChiefObafemi Awolowo was askedsimilar questions in 1978 and1979 about his promises of freeeducation and free medicalservices. Even as a teenager, Iwas impressed by how he reeledout figures about the amountshe would save from various‘waste’ including the tea/coffeeserved in government offices.The point is that at least he didhis homework and had hisnumbers and I give credit to histeam.

Knock outpunch

Some 36 years later, the qualityof political debate and discourseseems to border on thepedestrian. From the quality ofits team, I did not expect muchfrom the current government, butI must confess that I expectedAPC as a party aspiring to takeover from PDP to come up with aknock-out punch. Evidently,from what we have read from thevarious versions of its manifestoas well as the depth of promisesbeing made, it does not seem thatit has a better offer.

Let me digress a bit to refreshour memory on where we are,and thus provide the context inwhich to evaluate the promisesbeing made to us. Recall that thekey word of the 2015 budget is‘austerity’.

Austerity? This is just within afew months of the fall in oil prices.History repeats itself in a verycruel way, as this was exactlywhat happened under the ShehuShagari administration. Underthe Shagari government, oil pricereached its highest in 1980/81.During the same period, Nigeriaratcheted up its consumption andall tiers of government were incompetition as to which wouldout-borrow the other.

Huge public debt was theconsequence. When oil pricescrashed in early 1982, theNational Assembly then passedthe Economic Stabilization(Austerity Measures) Act in one

unacceptable proportions andour hospitals have becomemere consulting clinics’. General Muhammadu Buhari/Tunde Idiagbon regime madethe fight against corruption andrestoration of discipline thecardinal point of theiradministration which lasted for20 months. I am not sure theyhad a credible plan to get theeconomy out of the doldrums(although it must be admittedthat poverty incidence in Nigeriaas of 1985 when they left officewas a just46%— according to theFederal Office of Statistics).

We have come full circle. If theexperience under Shagari couldbe excused as an unexpected

shock, what Nigeria is goingthrough now is a consequenceof our deliberate wrongchoices. We have alwaysknown that the unprecedentedoil boom (in both price andquantity—despite oil theft) ofthe last six years is temporarybut the government chose totreat it as a permanent shock.The parallels with the Shagariregime are troubling. First, atthe time of oil boom, Nigeriaagain went on a consumptionspree such that the budgets ofthe last five years can best bedescribed as ‘consumptionbudgets’, with new borrowingby the federal governmentexceeding the actualexpenditure on criticalinfrastructure. Second, not onepenny was added to the stockof foreign reserves at a periodNigeria earned hundreds ofbillions from oil.

Monthlyoil price

For comparisons, PresidentObasanjo met about $5 billion inforeign reserves, and theaverage monthly oil price for the72 months he was in office was$38, and yet he left $43 billion inforeign reserves after paying $12billion to write-off Nigeria’sexternal debt. In the last fiveyears, the average monthly oilprice has been over $100, and thequantity also higher but ourforeign reserves have beendeclining and exchange ratedepreciating.

I note that when I assumedoffice as Governor of CBN, thestock of foreign reserves was $10billion. The average monthly oilprice during my 60 months inoffice was $59, but foreignreserve reached the all-time peakof $62 billion (and despitepaying $12 billion for externaldebt, and losing over $15 billion

during the unprecedentedglobal financial and economiccrisis) I left behind $45 billion. Recall also that our exchangerate continuously appreciatedduring this period and was atN117 to the dollar before theglobal crisis and we deliberatelyallowed it to depreciate in orderto preserve our reserves. Mycalculation is that if the economywas better managed, ourforeign reserves should havebeen between $102 —$118billion and exchange ratearound N112 before the fall inoil prices. As of now, the reservesshould be around $90 billion andexchange rate no higher thanN125 per dollar.

Third, the rate of public debtaccumulation at a time ofunprecedented boom had noparallel in the world. While theObasanjo administration boughtand enlarged the policy space forNigeria, the current governmenthas sold and constricted it. Whatdebt relief did for Nigeria was toliberate Nigerian policymakersfrom the intrusive conditionalitiesof the creditors and thereby trulyallowing Nigeria independencein its public policy. How have weused the independence?

Futurepolicymakers

Through our own choices, wehave yet again tied the hands offuture policymakers. This time,the debt is not necessarily toforeign creditor institutions/governments which areorganized under the Paris clubbut largely to private agentswhich is even more volatile. Wecall it domestic debt. But if onecarefully unpacks the bondportfolio, what percentage of it isheld by foreign private agents?And I understand theGovernment had removed thespeed bumps we kept to slow the

speed of capital flight, andsomeone is sweating to explainthe gyrations in foreign reserves.I am just smiling!

In sum, the mismanagementof our economy has brought usonce more to the brink.Government officials rely on theartificial construct of debt toGDP ratio to tell us we canborrow as much as we want. That is nonsense, especially foran economy with a mono buthighly volatile source of revenueand forex earnings. The chickenwill soon come home to roost. Today, the combined domesticand external debt of the FederalGovernment is in excess of $40billion. Add to this the fact thatabandoned capital projectslittered all over the countryamount to over $50 billion. Noword yet on other hugecontingent liabilities. If oilprices continue to fall, I bet thatNigeria will soon have a heavydebt burden even with low debtto GDP ratio. Furthermore,given the current and capitalaccount regime, it is evidentthat Nigeria does not haveenough foreign reserves toadequately cover for importsplus short term liabilities. Inessence, we are approachingthe classic of what the Shagarigovernment faced, and nowonder the hasty introductionof ‘austerity measures’ again.

Fourth, poverty incidence andunemployment are alsosimultaneously at all-time highlevels. According to the NBS,poverty incidence grew to 69% in 2010 and projected to be 71%in 2011, with unemployment at24%. This is the worst record inNigeria’s history, and theparadox is that this happenedduring the unprecedented oilboom.

Propagandamantra

One theme I picked uplistening to the campaign ralliesas well as to some of thepropagandists is the confusionabout measuring government“performance”. Most peopleseem to confuse ‘inputs’, or‘processes’ with output. Earlierthis month, I had a dinner with agroup of friends (14 of us) andwe were chit-chatting aboutNigeria. One of us, an associateof President Jonathan veered offto repeat a propaganda mantrathat Jonathan had outperformedhis predecessors. He alsoreminded us that Jonathan re-based the GDP and that Nigeriais now the biggest economy inAfrica; etc. It was fun listeningto the response by others. In sum,the group agreed that thePresident had ‘outperformed’ hispredecessors except that it is inreverse order.

First, my friend was educatedthat re-basing the GDP is noachievement: it is a routinestatistical exercise, anddepending on the base year thatyou choose, you get a differentGDP figure. Re-basing the GDPhas nothing to do withgovernment policy. Besides, as

Buhari vs Jonathan: Beyond the Election

To be concluded tomorrow

62—Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015

Continues from page 59day— goingthrough thefirst, second,and thirdreadings thesame day. T h ea u s t e r i t ym e a s u r e sincluded therationing of‘essent ia lcommodities’and moststates oweds a l a r ya r r e a r s .Corruptionwas said tobe pervasive,and as SaniAbacha saidin thatfamous coups p e e c h ,‘unemploymenthas reached

Re-basing the GDPhas nothing to dowith governmentpolicy. Besides, asnaira-dollarexchange ratecontinues todepreciate, the GDPin current dollars willalso shrinkconsiderably soon

Oil rig

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015—63

CMYK

Nigeria in Group E!

The so called super powers ofAfrican football are now justpaper tigers and elephants andlions…

THE last time we communicated on this page,two matches had been played in the ongoing

competition. As you are reading this, 16 matches havebeen played, including the last group matches in Batayesterday which has seen the elimination of two teamsfrom the competition.

Today, two other matches will be played in the Ebebiyingroup which will also see the elimination of two otherteams.

We will come back to that.I have repeated as often as I can, that Nigeria’s

participation in this Nation Cup is a foregone issue.That the sooner we put it behind us, the better for ouremotional well being.

That we have to try to live with the fact that Egypt alsocould not qualify.

Though CAF Secretary General Hicham El Amrani saysuntil a new champion is crowned on February 8, Nigeriaremains the defending champions, I had decided todethrone the Super Eagles the moment the competitionkicked off on January 17.

What about those who will not let us be? We have twoCameroonian friends here, Bakari Hamadou and AbdoulKadiri who seize every opportunity to remind me andChief Emeka Inyama about the absence of the Eagles.That Cameroun was not present in the Nations Cup inSouth Africa and Equatorial Guinea/Gabon does notbother them. What concerns them is not the past but thepresent. Bad students of history.

Add to this list the President of the South African FootballAssociation Mr Danny Jordan who in the presence of hisSports Minister wanted me to tell him why Nigeria wasnot at the Games………Anyway we have found a wayout of their harassment by insisting that together withEgypt, Morrocco, Uganda and Namibia…… Nigeria isin Group E of the competition. Don’t ask me where theyare based and when they will play!

Jokes apart, this Nations Cup has not ceased to amazeme, on the field of play. Some say it is a proof of thenarrowing gap between big boys and the “small boys”.That there are no minnows anymore and that the so calledsuper powers of African football are now just paper tigersand elephants and lions…...

Let us take a look at Group D based in Malabo. Pre-Nations Cup analysis gave the group to Cameroon andCote d’Ivoire without batting an eyelid yet these twoteams have so far escaped defeat by coming back fromthe dead against Guinea and Mali.

At the end of two matches played all the teams are ontwo points with equal number of goals scored andconceded. The last group matches on Wednesday will bemore than interesting.

Let us move to Group B in Ebibeyin where before thelast group matches that will be played today, no teamhas qualified to the quarter final as any one of Tunisia(4pts) R.D.Congo ( 2pts) Cape Verde (2pts) andZambia(1pt) could qualify for the next round. All that isneeded is victory to catapult any of the teams and a defeatto drop, of course.

Same story in Group C in Mongomo.Neither Senegal ( 4pts), Algeria (3pts), Ghana (3pts)

nor South Africa (1pt) has exited the competition as the

battle will stretch till final day of matches tomorrow,Tuesday.

When did we ever have eleven of the first 16 NationsCup matches end in a draw? Students of football historyshould help out.

Are we going to have the highest goalscorer in thiscompetition scoring just three goals? Pls don’t laugh.

Who will win the Nations Cup? I wish I knew.Let me however say that the likes of Zambia (against

Tunisia) South Africa ( versus Algeria and Senegal), CapeVerde (DR Congo), Mali (Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire,)Guinea (Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroun) etc may live to regretlost chances. The difference between them and a repeatperformance of Zambia in Gabon may just be those pointsthey let slip when they were seemingly in total control.

If you allow the Cameroons, Ivorians, Algerians andGhanaians of African football to escape defeat, then beset to tell the story of Nigeria in South Africa who got intothe quarter final and there was no holding them anymore.

Cameroun, Algeria, Cote Divoire, Ghana, Senegal haveso far shown character, coming out of the dead whenleast expected. As we enter the last group matches onemust just watch out for these teams and those star playerswho are yet to figure. Individual brilliance will be key.Quote me.

One cannot talk about the Nations Cup here withoutmentioning the enthusiasm and excitement of the fans.We had expected that because the host was based inBata that crowd concentration will be only at the Economiccapital. But no. In all the venues there has been a hugeeffort trying to persuade the fans to go home. In Bata itresulted in scuffle between the fans and security agencies.

On Friday in Mongomo, the gates had to be closedand the fans told to go home and watch on tv. A broadcastof the games with filled stands is so tv friendly andambiance positive that one wonders where all that fear oflack of spectators came from. One prays as the completiondraws to a close, fan interest will not wane, advantageAfrican football ambiance and interest.

When I come your way again, it will be quarter finalday. Can’t wait.

going Super Four GloPremier Leagueshowdown in Abuja.

Tunisia took the lead inthe first minute of thegame through JouiniSlim but Effiong Etimequalised for Nigeria twominutes later.

Femi Ajayi Junior putNigeria in the lead in the15th minute but theTunisians soon hit back aminute later to tie thegame at 2-2 in a

Dream TeamContinues from BP pulsating first fifteen

minutes of the game.Ghrab edged the

Tunisia U23s ahead butFemi Ajayi Junior was onhand to equalise againfor Nigeria in the 33rdminute as the first halfended that way.

The second half was allTunisia as goals from HajHassan and a Khaouipenalty put the DreamTeam to the sword andthey just couldn’t battleback as the Tunisians won5-3.

beauty of the FA Cup. Ithappens more in the FACup than any othercountry. By another sideI feel ashamed and I thinkthe players should feelexactly the same as Ifeel.”

It was the first timeChelsea have lost tolower-league oppositionat home for 20 years andends their hopes ofwinning the quadruplethis season.

Mourinho, though, did

MourinhoContinues from BP

pay tribute to PhilParkinson’s side, saying:“In this moment I feelhappy for them. I couldfind in my bad feelingwith the game and withthe result space to feelhappy for them. I’mhonest.

“I know in the historyof this competition ithappens to every teamnow and again. For meit’s the first time and Ithink it’s unacceptable tolose against a team froma lower league.”

SiasiaContinues from BP

“Most of them weretraveling outside thecountry for the first timeand you can’t wish thataway. The weather was acritical issue. However, inthe first match, myassistants and I noticed anumber of areas we needto improve on seriouslybefore we can say wehave a team.”

The Dream Team lost 3-5 to the Olympic Eaglesof Tunisia at the Stade elMenzah, with theNigerian goals from EtimEmmanuel and JuniorAjayi, who hit a brace.The team created a hatfulof chances in the secondhalf, after the first halfended 3-3, but wereundone by poor finishing.

“We thank the NFF fororganizing these matchesbecause they will reallyhelp us prepare for thequalifiers against Gabon,and other matches in therace to the All-Africa

Manu: Flying Eagles finishing must improve

National Team ofTunisia in a secondinternational friendlymatch in Tunis onWednesday.

“I don’t want to blamethe players too much forthe loss to the Tunisians

in the first match onSaturday. Withoutappearing to be makingexcuses for them, wearrived in Tunis on Fridayafternoon andimmediately went totraining but the weatherdid not help matters.

Games and the 2016Olympics. We will try anumber of other playersin the second match andsee how things work out,”Siasia said afterSunday ’s trainingsession at the StadeNovember 7 in Rades,outside Tunis.

to be in control of the tieat 2-0 up.

Mourinho caused a stirin the week by saying itwould be a disgrace ifthey lost to Bradford, andhe reaffirmed that beliefafter the match.

“I repeat the word thatI used yesterday in casewe lost - it’s a disgrace.A sporting disgrace, butit’s a disgrace,” he said.

“By one side this is thebeauty of football, the

A 10-man FlyingEagles defeated

Enyimba 2-0 in a Super 4match on Saturday in Abuja,but coach Manu Garba insisted

his team have to improve ontheir finishing after they threwaway many chances.

The Nigeria U-20 team tookthe lead through a penalty

converted by captain MusaMuhammed in the 62ndminute after Ifeanyi Anaemenafouled rampaging TaiwoAwoniyi inside the box.

Substitute Musa Yahayascored the second goal to sealthe victory for the Flying Eaglesin the 90th minute.

However, the Flying Eagles

were reduced to 10 men in the57th minute after PrinceAggreh was sent off after asecond booking.

Sweden-based striker TaiwoAwoniyi could long have killedthis game for the Flying Eaglesbut he missed severalchances.

“The game was a good testfor my team because weplayed against a veryexperienced side inEnyimba,” declared ManuGarba after the match.

“I have seen some of thelapses especially in goalscoring. We missed a lot of

scoring chances and that ispart of the corrections wewould be making for theteam.”

He added: “Like I saidbefore, this tournament is a plusto my team because we areusing it to fine tune our squad.

“You know we would begoing to Gambia forconditioning, it is by then thatwe would know what our teamwould be like but right now wedon’t have a team.”

Enyimba assistant coachFriday Christopher said FlyingEagles were a fitter team.

“The Flying Eagles are a veryfit side. And we are happy thatwe played against a team thatis fit because we know oursquad is still rusty,” he said.

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Website: www.vanguardngr.com (ISSN 0794-652X) Editor: MIDENO BAYAGBON. Phone: 01-7742861, All correspondence to P.M.B. 1007, Apapa Lagos.

How to Play Sudoku

Place a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line canhave two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (alsonine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within abold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1through 9. This means that no number can appear twicein any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, divisionor multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

FRIFRIFRIFRIFRIDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSTODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLE

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015

QUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORD

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

ResultCongo 2 B/Faso 1Gabon 0 E. Guinea 2

Today's matchesCape Verde vs Zambia 7pm Congo DR vs Tunisia 7pm

ACROSS: 1, Sprout 5, Battle 8, Flotilla 9,Lost 10, Axe 12, Angle 15, Sob 17, Ban 18,Low 19, Hub 20, Grave 21, Eel 22, Eke 23,Gel 24, Nod 26, Rusty 29, Law 33, Isle 34,Terminal 35, Stupor 36, Berate.

ACROSS1 Dirty (4)4 Epoch (3)6 Cut (4)9 Tune (3)10 Height (8)11 Close (4)14 Counter (3)16 Slumber (5)19 Vied (8)21 Principle (5)23 Held (8)24 Observe (5)27 Gained (3)31 Silent (4)33 Tester (8)34 Observe (3)35 Dread (4)36 Owing (3)37 Whirlpool (4)

DOWN2 Greasy (4)3 Den (4)4 Taught (8)5 Top (4)6 Waterway (5)7 Untruth (3)8 Angry (5)12 Twist (5)13 Sting (5)14 Wager (3)15 Renovate (5)17 Happening (5)18 Conceit (5)20 Explode (8)22 Brown (3)25 Entertain (5)26 Hearten (5)28 Repair (4)29 Blaze (4)30 Nurse (4)32 Beverage (3)

DOWN: 2, PHLox 3, Oath 4, Talon 5, Brawl6, Tale 7, Lasso 10, Ashen 11, Ebbed 12,Anger 13, Glass 14, Elergy 15, Swell 16,Below 25, Onset 27, Utter 28, Throb 30,Apart 31, Keep 32, Pier.

BLAZING GUNNERS: Arsenal’s Nacho Monreal (left) is challenged byBrighton and Hove Albion’s Chris O’Grady for an aerial ball. Arsenal won3-2

Tunisia beatDream Team VINATIONAL U-23

Team, DreamV1, who are in Tunisiafor a two-game friendlywith their Tunisiancounterpart, lost 5-3 inthe first game of theseries yesterday.

Coach Samson Siasiaflew to Tunisia with a19-man squad withCoach Fatai Amootaking charge of anotherbatch of players who willparticipate at the on-

Continues on Page 63

We mustshow morecharacter,says Siasia

•Siasia Continues on Page 63

Cup defeat shamesMourinho

•Mourinho

JOSE Mourinho saidhe was

‘ashamed’ by Chelsea’s‘unacceptable’ FA Cupfourth-round defeat toLeague One Bradford

City.The Premier League

leaders were stunned 4-2 by the League OneBantams at StamfordBridge after appearing

Continues on Page 63

HEAD CoachSamson Siasia

has charged his U-23National Team boys toshow character andresilience when theytake on the the U-23

CMYK