Vol. 5 N0. 1074 Monday, March 23, 2015 N150

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>Jega

...accuse Governor of plotting personal agenda in S'West

...over 1,000 others pending before lawmakers

P.2

12.4m PVCs uncollected as INEC ends distribution

GEORGE OJI AND WOLE OLADIMEJI

Twenty one bills al-ready passed by the National Assembly

are awaiting the assent of President Goodluck Jona-than before such bills can become laws.

About 517 other bills in the Senate and 668 in the

OMEIZA AJAYI The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC,

yesterday ended the dis-tribution of Permanent

Voter Cards, PVCs, with about 12.4m cards yet to be collected.

The commission had

State Reg. voters No distributed Percentage

Abia 1,396,162 1,183,127 84.74

Adamawa 1,559,012 1,381,571 88.62

Akwa-Ibom 1,680,759 1,587,566 94.46%

Anambra 1,963,173 1,658,967 84.50

Bauchi 2,054,125 1,967,081 95.76

Bayelsa 610,373 548,585 89.88

Benue 2,015,452 1,607,800 79.77

Borno 1,934,079 1,407,777 72.79

Cross River 1,175,623 983,968 83.70

Delta 2,275,264 1,939,952 85.26

Ebonyi 1,074,273 848,392 78.97

Edo 1,779,738 1,230,566 68.81

Ekiti 732,021 522,107 71.32

Enugu 1,429,221 1,223,606 85.61

FCT 881,472 569,109 64.56

Gombe 1,120,023 1,070,725 95.60

Imo 1,803,030 1,707,449 94.70

Jigawa 1,831,276 1,757,658 95.98

Kaduna 3,407,222 3,174,519 93.17

Kano 4,975,701 4,112,039 82.64

State Reg. voters No distributed Percentage

Katsina 2,827,943 2,620,096 92.65

Kebbi 1,470,648 1,372,630 93.34

Kogi 1,350,883 926,013 68.55

Kwara 1,142,267 889,067 77.83

Lagos 5,822,207 3,799,274 65.25

Nasarawa 1,242,667 1,048,053 84.34

Niger 2,014,317 1,682,058 83.51

Ogun 1,829,534 1,125,657 61.53

Ondo 1,524,655 1,118,479 73.36

Osun 1,407,107 1,033,229 73.43

Oyo 2,415,566 1,639,967 67.89

Plateau 2,001,825 1,508,585 75.36

Rivers 2,537,590 2,127,837 83.85

Sokoto 1,611,929 1,527,004 94.73

Taraba 1,340,652 1,270,889 94.80

Yobe 1,099,970 824,401 74.95

Zamfara 1,495,717 1,435,452 95.97

Total 68,833,476 56,431,255 81.98

INEC'S FINAL PVC DISTRIBUTIONRivers deputy gov, Ikuru, dumps APC

EXCLUSIVE

P.11

Global spotlight fi xed on Nigeria’s elections –US, UK

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2>>

N'Assembly: 21 bills waiting for assent

Yoruba leaders reject Mimiko’s direction

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House of Representatives, are still pending and at various stages of legislative work in both chambers.

All the bills in reference originated from June 2011, when the current seventh National Assembly came into existence.

Section 58(3) of the 1999 Constitution as amended requires that the President shall assent to all the bills passed by the National As-sembly within 30 days for such bills to become law.

The said section of the constitution provides that: “Where a bill has been passed by the House in which it originated, it shall be sent to the other House, and it shall be presented to the President for his assent when it has been passed by that other House and agree-ment has been reached be-tween the two Houses on any amendment made on it.”

However, section 58(5) of the constitution empow-ers the parliament to apply veto powers to override the President if he fails to sign the bill after the mandatory 30 days.

A study of the status of the bills carried out by National Mirror shows that the, “1999 Constitu-tion Fourth Alteration Bill, 2014”, and the, “Discrimina-tion Against Persons with Disabilities (prohibition) Bill 2012, passed by both chambers top the list of un-assented bills.

The other bills still await-ing presidential assent are; “Occupational Safety and Health Bill, 2011”, passed in September 2012; “Institute of Registered Safety Profes-sionals (Est. Etc.) Bill 2011”, passed in April 2012; “FCT College of Education Bill 2011”, passed in July 2013; “Prisons Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill 2011”, passed November 2012; “Acts Authentication Act (Amend-ment) Bill 2011”, passed in January 2012 and “HYPER-DEC Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill 2011”, passed in Febru-ary 2012.

Others are; “Federal High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2012”, passed in May 2012; “Nigerian Customs Service Bill 2012”, passed in June 2013; “Companies and Al-lied Matters Act Cap LFN (Amendment) Bill 2012”, passed in April 2014; “Nige-rian with Disabilities Bill, 2012”, passed in March 2014; “State of the Nation Address

Act, 2012”, passed in March 2013; “National Assembly Service Commission Act 2000 (Repeal and Re-enact-ment) Bill 2013”, passed in March 2014; “HIV and AIDS Anti-Discrimination Bill 2013”, passed in April 2014 and “Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Act 2003 (Re-peal and Re-enactment) Bill 2013”, passed in March 2014.

The rest are; “Pension Re-form Act (Repeal and Re-en-actment) Bill 2013,” passed in April 2014; “Motor Vehi-cle (Prohibition) of Tinted Glass Act CAP N21 LFN (Amendment) Bill 2013”, passed November 2013; “Electoral Act 2010 (Amend-ment) Bill 2013”, passed July 2014 and “Cybercrime Bill 2014”, passed October 2014.

Some of the bills passed by the seventh National As-sembly and already signed

into law by the President are “Same Sex Marriage (Prohi-bition) Bill 2011”, sponsored by Senator Domingo Oben-de; “National Automotive Design and Development Council Bill 2012”; “Trans-fer of Convicted Offenders (Enactment and Enforce-ment) Bill 2011”; “Court of Appeal (Amendment) Bill 2012”; “Retirement Age of Staff of Polytechnics and Colleges of Education, 2011” and “Federal Universities of Dutsin-ma, Kashere, Lafia, Lokoja, Dufu-Alike, Ikwo, Otuoke, Oye-Ekiti, Dutse, Wukari, and Uyo Bills 2012.”

The others are “Uni-versities (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2011”; “Appropriation Bill 2012”; “FCT Appropria-tion Bill 2012”; “Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2011 Bill, 2012”;" “Money Laundry

(Prohibition) Act 2011 (Amendment) Bill 2012”; “2013 Appropriation Bill 2012”; “Supplementary Ap-propriation Bill 2012”; “2013 FCT Appropriation Bill 2013”; “Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (Est., etc) Bill 2013”; “2013 Appropria-tion Act (Amendment) Bill 2013”; “2014 Appropriation Bill” and “Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Appropria-tion Bill 2014.”

If the lawmakers fail to exercise their veto powers on the bills awaiting as-sents, such bills will auto-matically become nullity by June this year when the life of the current seventh National Assembly would cease to exist.

The implication is that the affected bills will have to go through fresh legislative processes before they could

be revived by the in-coming eighth National Assembly.

This is because section 64 of the Constitution provides that the Senate and the House of Representatives shall each stand dissolved at the expiration of four years, commencing from the date of their first sitting.

This means also that all the pending activities of the parliament would become nullity at the dissolution of the Houses.

Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, while commenting on this devel-opment had explained that in other developed demo-cratic jurisdictions, bills stay as long as decades be-fore they could be signed by the President.

He noted that why Nige-ria’s case is different is be-cause of the constitutional

provisions, which pre-scribes limited tenure for the parliament.

He said: “In the United States Congress for instance, you have bills that have been pending for a hundred years and they are still pending. It is so because they don’t have the equivalent provision in their constitution that says the congress stands dissolved; the United States Congress is never dissolved because you have elections that are staggered.”

When contacted, Chair-man Senate Committee on Business and Rules, Senator Eta Inang would not want to comment on any issue that has to do with the bills for now.

He simply told our cor-respondent that, “We are working on the election now. Please help me my brother;

Yoruba leaders reject Mimiko’s direction

N'Assembly: 21 bills waiting for assent CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

OBIORA IFOH

The expectation of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presiden-

tial campaign to sweep sup-ports for President Good-luck Jonathan from the South West after Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State hosted Yoruba leaders to a “post-national confer-ence summit" has suffered a set back as the zone has continued to remain defiant to the governor's quest for the leadership of the South West.

The summit, with the theme “The National Con-ference, 2015 Elections and the Yoruba Nation”, ostensi-

bly aimed at raising aware-ness among the Yoruba about the outcome of the 2014 National conference was boycotted by numerous major political figures from the Southwest region

However, National Mir-ror's investigation revealed that the Yoruba Leaders who have vowed to support President Jonathan at this weekend presidential elec-tion became circumspect at the plot by the governor to draft them into politics for his selfish interest hence their decision to stay out of the campaigns.

According a top Afenifere leader who does not want his name in print, "Before, the Summit, President Jona-

than was clearly the candi-date to beat, but weeks after the meetings, the Yoruba elite and leaders appear to retreat. Mimiko's political agenda is rubbishing the gains of Mr. President in the South West.

“His approach has prac-tically pushed aside most of the respected Yoruba po-litical leaders away from the campaign train of Mr. Presi-dent. You can hardly see the likes of Bode George or Eb-enezer Babatope. The South West is quite disappointed."

Governor Mimiko, the convener of the summit, said the mission of the event was to gather Yoruba lead-ers from the southwest to de-liberate on the importance

of the National Conference by endorsing President Jon-athan for the second term for the conference’s quick implementation.

But in a statement on Sunday, the All Progressives Congress Presidential Cam-paign Organization (AP-CPCO) counselled Yoruba leaders against giving any endorsement to President Jonathan on the predication of his promise to implement the Confab report, warning that Akure Summit was a disservice to the South West.

Mallam Garba Shehu, Director of Media and Pub-licity of APCPCO said that it is particularly enthused with the recent newspaper report in which General

Alani Akinrinade; the for-mer Chief of Defence Staff expressed strong aversion to the endorsement of Dr. Jonathan by the Afenifere leaders.

The respected Yoruba el-der-statesman was quoted to have said that “the Yoruba agenda brought before the National Conference failed.”

General Akinrinade also faulted the pro-Jonathan Yoruba leaders who said that the implementation of the report would benefit the people.

He had noted that the recommendations of the confab were below Yoruba’s target and wondered why the leaders would base their

L-R: Presidential candidates, Prof. Oluremi Sonaiya (KOWA), Chief Martin Onovo (NCP), President Goodluck Jonathan (PDP) and Mr. Godson Okoye (UDP) during the Presidential Debate in Abuja, yesterday.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net2 Monday, March 23, 2015News

DID YOU KNOW?Chlorine use in sewage treatment could promote antibiotic resistanceVitamin D may keep low-grade prostate

cancer from becoming aggressive

SOME PEOPLE GET SKIN INFECTIONS,

CAUSED BY A LOT OF SCALE BUILD UP OR ECZEMA FROM THE BACTERIA IN THEIR

BEARD

FRANKA OSAKWE

Latest discovery by scientists may not be palatable for men who love to keep beards. This priced posses-

sion for several men has been found to be a haven for germs, which can easily be spread to other people around.

A study published in the journal of Anaesthesia, looked at whether surgical masks caught bacteria falling from sur-geons faces, and whether having a beard affected how many bacteria fell.

“What they found was that men with beards do harbour a significant number of bacteria, more than non-bearded men and women,” said Professor Anthony Hilton, head of biological and biomedi-cal sciences at Aston University.

“And bearded surgeons wearing masks did shed more organisms from the beard outwards when they wiggled”, he said, also adding that other research has con-firmed beards can spread bacteria.

Dr. Hilton also concludes that bearded workers and chefs in the food industry should wear snood, a face cover that stops hair from falling into food that is being prepared.

He however added that there is a big debate about how long an in-growth beard has to be before a worker in the food industry wears a snood.

Also, Carol Walker, a consultant tri-chologist from the Birmingham Trichol-ogy Centre, says that a bearded person, who is affectionate with someone, can easily pass on bacteria to the person through kissing.

‘Beards harbour more germs because

Chlorine, a disinfectant commonly used in most wastewater treatment plants, may be failing to completely

eliminate pharmaceuticals from wastes. As a result, trace levels of these substances get discharged from the plants to the nation’s waterways. And now, scientists are reporting preliminary studies that show chlorine treat-ment may encourage the formation of new, unknown antibiotics that could also enter the environment, potentially contributing to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance.

The research, which will be presented today at the 249th National Meeting & Ex-position of the American Chemical Society (ACS), suggests that a re-evaluation of waste-water treatment and disinfection practices is needed.

“Pharmaceuticals that get out into the environment can harm aquatic life, making

Taking vitamin D supple-ments could slow or even reverse the progression of less aggressive, or

low-grade, prostate tumours without the need for surgery or radiation, a scien-tist has reported at

the recent 249th National

Monday, March 23, 2015 National Mirror

www.nationalmirroronline.net

Good Health

PAGE3

them react slowly in the wild and disrupt-ing their hormone systems,” notes Olya Keen, Ph.D. She adds that increased anti-biotic exposure, even at low levels in the environment, can lead to development of antibiotic-resistant microbes and a gen-eral weakening of antibiotics’ abilities to fight bacterial infections in humans.

“Treated wastewater is one of the ma-jor sources of pharmaceuticals and anti-biotics in the environment,” says Keen. “Wastewater treatment facilities were not designed to remove these drugs. The molecules are typically very stable and do not easily get biodegraded. Instead, most just pass through the treatment fa-cility and into the aquatic environment.”

facial hair is courser than other hair, so traps dirt and germs more easily’, she explains

She said having facial hair can lead to more frequent skin infection.

‘Hair around nostrils and mouth is well-placed to harbour bacteria.

It’s courser. It tends to have more bends and kinks which trap dirt.

‘The cuticles on the hair which are like layers of tiles on a roof trap the germs and grease’, she said.

According to her, people have a habit of over-handling their beards, causing them to spread bacteria to their mouths.

She adds that ‘If their hands are dirty, they transfer dirt from their hands on to their face and mouths’.

Again, she said if someone is eating

dairy products, it can get stuck in their beard, become a bit rancid and attract germs.

‘There can be lots of Stepholococci, a group of bacteria that causes illness, if someone has a cold.

‘Also, I have noticed people developing skin conditions due to their facial hair.

Some people get skin infections, caused by a lot of scale build up or ec-zema from the bacteria in their beard.

‘If someone has a cold, a runny nose it can trickle down and be trapped in the beards. Food and drinks can dribble down too’, she added.

Mrs. Walker further explained that when the skin is sweaty, the beards can trap dirts and bacteria.

‘There is also the possibility that a bearded person will pass the bacteria living on their beard to other people’ she argued.

And according to one microbiologist, she is right.

Scientific evidence shows that beards can spread infections, says Dr Ron Cut-ler, of Queen Mary, University of Lon-don.

That’s why it’s important for fuzzy-faced men to wash and groom their fa-cial hair regularly and ensure the area under the hair hasn’t become sore from

ingrown hairs, he said.Meanwhile research carried out by

Manuel Barbeito, a microbiologist in the U.S. Army, did in fact show that fa-cial hair can spread bacteria.

Manuel said he was conscious of germs spreading from his lab to his coats and shoes, and wanted to know if beards were the culprit.

Theorizing that beards are an ideal breeding ground for bugs, he wanted to see if more bacteria and viruses were being spread by lab workers with facial hair.

He asked his employees to grow thick, burly beards and then sprayed them with non-infectious bacteria.

He found that the bacteria did in fact cling to the beards, and washing the hair did not make it bacteria-free.

‘Though cleaning reduced the amounts of germs on the beard, enough bugs remained to produce disease if put into contact with a suitable host’, he said.

However, some other experts have ar-gued otherwise.

Professor Hugh Pennington, an emer-itus professor of bacteriology at the Uni-versity of Aberdeen, said it is the same bacteria on the skin that is on the beard so it is not a health risk.

Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

If a tumor is present in a prostate bi-opsy, a pathologist grades its aggressive-ness on a scale known as the Gleason Grading System. Tumors with Gleason scores of 7 and above are considered ag-gressive and likely to spread, requiring surgical removal of the prostate gland (prostatectomy) or radiation therapy. In contrast, prostate tumors with Gleason scores of 6 and below are less aggres-

sive, and in some cases may cause no symptoms or health problems for the duration of the man’s life.

Latest scientific discoveryBeards harbour germs!

of less aggressive, orlow-grade, prostate

tumours without theneed for surgery orradiation, a scien-tist has reported at

the recent 249thNational

opsy, aness oGradinscoresgressivsurgica(prostacontrascores

sivesymdur

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net4 Monday, March 23 , 2015Photo News

Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigeria Commu-

nication Commission, NCC, Dr Eugene Juwah, has said that Nigeria has achieved a tele-den-sity of 100 per cent as at January this year.

Juwah, who was rep-resented by NCC’s Di-rector of Public Rela-tions, Mr Tony Ojobo, announced this in Enu-gu yesterday at a forum on the ongoing 26th Enugu International Trade Fair.

According to him, tele-density is calculat-ed by the International T e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n Union, ITU, to mean ac-tive line distribution of one telephone to a hun-dred of a population.

“This is a remarkable achievement compared to when we started from 0.4 per cent in 2001.

“The Nigeria network offers everything that is available in any other part of the world.

Nigeria has achieved 100 per cent tele-density —NCC

L-R: President, Nigeria Basketball Federation, Tijani Umar; Public Relations Manager, MultiChoice Nigeria, Caroline Oghuma and Marketing Manager, DStv, Chioma Afe, during opening ceremony of the 2015 DStv Basketball season in Lagos at the weekend.

L-R: Director, Laboratory Services, National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mrs. Stella Denloye; Director-General, Dr. Paul Orhii and Director, Administration and Human Resource, Mrs. Yetunde Oni, during the commissioning of NAFDAC’s Ultra Modern Warehouse in Lagos.

L-R: Managing Director, Salt & Einstein Ltd and aggregator for the National Mobile Health Insur-ance Programme, Mr. Lai Labode; National Sales Co-Ordinator, Globacom, Mr. Sam Edoho and General Manager, National Health Insurance Scheme, Dr. Femi Akingbade, during the formal launch of National Mobile Health Insurance Programme in Abuja, recently.

L-R: Head, Product Management, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Oladipo Omotoso; Chief Executive Officer, Chapel Hill Denham Securities Ltd, Mr. Akeem Shadare; Executive Director, Business Development, NSE, Mr. Haruna Jalo-Waziri and Compliance Officer, Chapel Hill Denham Securities Ltd, Ms. Ewere Mgbeke, during presentation of appointment letter as a Primary Market Maker at the NSE, recently.

National News

“Some people do not even know that this network is what is en-abling other services like internet banking, ATM services and Point of Sales, POS, that are used in hotels and oth-er locations across the country.

“Online hotel reser-vations, flight bookings and flight management that we now enjoy from our homes and offices

are delivered by tele-communication.

“We should remem-ber that all these are made possible in a very harsh environment for the provision of tele-communication servic-es,” he said.

The vice chairman listed challenges facing the commission to in-clude poor power sup-ply.

He said: “We all know

how difficult it is to en-joy uninterrupted pow-er supply since telecom operation is a 24-hour service.

“Service providers cannot afford to lose any minute as a result of power supply.”

Other challenges, Ju-wah said, were multiple taxation, multiple regu-lations that hamper de-ployment of services across the country, as

well as vandalism of telecom infrastructure.

He appealed to all subscribers to assist in protecting telecom fa-cilities in their various communities.

Juwah said the com-mission had introduced some services like mo-bile number portability, which enables subscrib-ers to alternate between service providers.

Earlier in his remarks

at the forum, Dr Ifeanyi Okoye, President of the Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, ECCIMA, urged the NCC to do more in pro-tecting vulnerable cus-tomers.

Okoye, however, com-mended the commission over its achievements in spite of numerous challenges being experi-enced in the country.

Seven killed, 23 injured in Lagos-Ibadan auto crashFemi OyewesOABEOKUTA

At least, seven people were confirmed dead, while 23 others were criti-

cally injured in an accident, which occurred at the Lagos - Ibadan Expressway yester-day.

The accident, which hap-pened near Danco petroleum filling station, involved a 40-foot container truck marked (Lagos) AGL 632 XH and lad-

en with timber logs.Head of Ogun State Traf-

fic Compliant and Enforce-ment Agency, TRACE, Com-mander Kabir Ojerinde, who confirmed the accident, said the dead were four males and three females.

Ojerinde explained that one of the front tyres of the Lagos-bound truck burst, which made the driver to lose control and rammed into the road divider right in front of Julius Berger Construction

Company, handling re-con-struction of the expressway.

The truck fell on a Toyota Camry car marked KEY 857 DN and two other passenger buses marked XB 367 LAF and XC 909 FFA.

The Toyota Camry car and the two buses, filled with pas-sengers, were on their way to Ibadan, Oyo State capital, be-fore the tragic incident.

The seven victims died on the spot, while the injured were rushed to hospital.

When contacted, Sagamu Unit Commander of the Fed-eral Road Safety Commis-sion, FRSC, Abdulahi Mo-hammed Lawal, declined to comment on the number of the dead.

Lawal, however, empha-sised that the victims were taken to the hospital, while normalcy was later restored to the ever busy road, which experienced serious traffic hold-up as a result of the ac-cident.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 5Monday, March 23, 2015 News

let us talk about that after the elections.”

Senator Clever Ikisikpo commenting on the delay in the passage of the bills remarked said: “I know that I have presented about three good bills, two have passed through second reading, so it takes time and it also takes time for debates and take time for consideration and take time for public hearing and clause to clause mapping within the com-mittee level.”

He observed that the 7th National Assembly has just few months to act on the bills not assented to before all of its activities stands dissolved.

“If this happens then all

the bills gathering dust on the President’s table may have to restart the process of lawmaking,” he said.

On how the bills can be revived by the in-coming National Assembly, Senator Ikisikpo said: “It depends on the leadership, the lead-ership can say this bill has gone through to this level, so let’s start from here, that means it would not go through the way it suppose to go through, then it can be acceler-ated.”

Other senators like the Deputy Senate Leader and Senator James Man-ager contacted on the phone would neither pick their calls, nor respond to text messages on the matter.

severally extended the deadline for the distribu-tion of the cards with a view to allowing as many Nigerians as possible the opportunity to get their cards ahead of the re-scheduled general elec-tions.

In the table of distribu-tion released yesterday by the commission in Abuja, about 56, 431, 255 million cards representing 81.98

percent had been collected. The total registered voters is 68, 833, 476 million.

For Abia state, out of the total registered voters of 1,396,162 about 1,183,127, representing 84.74 per cent were collected.

For Adamawa, out of 1,559,012, about 1,381,571, representing 88.62 per cent were collected.

Meanwhile, the United States and the United Kingdom said yesterday

that the “global spotlight is firmly fixed” on the March 28 Presidential and National Assembly Elec-tions.

This is contained in a joint statement by U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry and UK Foreign Sec-retary, Philip Hammond, issued in Abuja by Sean McIntosh, spokesman, U.S. Embassy.

Kerry and Hammond, in an op-ed titled: “Global

Spotlight is Firmly Fixed on Nigerian Elections”, said there were good rea-sons why the international spotlight was firmly fixed on Nigeria.

The duo noted that about 70 million Nigerian voters would be going to the polls to choose their leaders for the next four years.

“Whether the victor is incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan or op-

position challenger Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) is entirely for Nigerians to decide.

“Around the globe, Nige-ria’s friends will be united in hoping that the vote will be peaceful, transparent, and fair and that-win or lose-all sides will respect the outcome.

“There are good rea-sons why the internation-al spotlight is firmly fixed on Nigeria during this critical period and why we have come together to sup-port an open and credible electoral process.

“Nigeria is Africa’s largest democracy and what happens there will have an impact well be-yond its borders.

“A successful election, free from violence and with wide participation, accurate vote counting, and responsible leader-ship from the candidates would inspire the region and spur future progress and prosperity,” they said.

The duo said the elec-tions “would also be a his-toric show of support by Nigerians for democratic values.”

They added that the polls would be “an equally firm rejection of the bru-tal terrorist group, Boko Haram, and others who advocate or perpetrate vio-lence.”

The envoys regretted that in 2011, more than 800 people died in post-election clashes, adding that a recent survey shows

that half of Nigerians are concerned about politi-cal intimidation this time around.

“The good news is that President Jonathan and General Buhari have re-peatedly and publicly stressed their commit-ment to non-violence be-fore, during, and after Election Day.

“Both candidates have affirmed their intent to act solely through legal channels in pursuing any concerns that might arise regarding the fairness of the vote.

“It is imperative that they, and their backers, live up to this pledge. Elec-tions should be decided at the ballot box and, if nec-essary, in the courts; not through efforts to coerce others,” they added.

They stressed the need for respect for the consti-tutional process and the independence of the Inde-pendent National Election Commission, INEC.

According to them, respect for the consti-tutional process is the only way that offers a sustainable way to ad-dress Nigeria’s many challenges.

They said: “The coun-tries we represent, the United States and the United Kingdom, strong-ly support the pledges articulated by the Nige-rian candidates.

“The elections must be decided in accordance with the rule of law.”

Yoruba leaders reject Mimiko’s direction

N'Assembly: 21 Bills waiting for assent

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

12.4m PVCs uncollected as INEC ends distribution

L-R: Managing Director\CEO, Bank of Industry, Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa; Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe and Chairman, Board of Trustee, Stephen Oluwole Awokoya Foundation for Science Education, Sen. Olabiyi Durojaiye, during the 20th anniversary, award of honour and post graduate scholarship award of the Foundation in Lagos at the weekend.

endorsement on that.Shehu quotes General

Akinrinade verbatim to em-phasise the position of the APC Campaign on the mat-ter: “When the Yoruba sent their delegates, the cardinal points that can make a fed-eration were practically not given to us (the delegates). I can assure you, we missed all the targets. It will be preposterous of us now to expect that by the time that report is executed, we will end up with true federalism.

“We want to set the re-cord straight that there are major things that have to be done before we can have a true federalism. It cannot be done by one President alone. Unless you change the rule now, you will need all the na-tional and state assemblies to agree with you.”

General Akinrinade had reminded that Governor Mimiko, who has been hold-ing several post-confab con-ferences, was only pushing the agenda of the Peoples

Democratic Party.The APC Campaign

agrees with General Alani Akinrinade on his incisive and highly cerebral opin-ion, which undoubtedly vin-dicates our position on that infamous endorsement of Jonathan by Afenifere.

“We state unequivocally, without the APC Presiden-tial Campaign calls on Nige-rians, especially our people in the South-West to imbibe the fresh perspectives of General Akinrinade as they delete the highly acidic im-petus of the ..."

The chairman of the summit and an Afenifere leader, Ayo Adebanjo, had also observed that the gath-ering was almost exclu-sively of PDP members and leaders.

Mr. Adebanjo noted that the summit, if truly con-vened for its stated aim, should have attracted promi-nent personalities and voices from the southwest. He ex-pressed sadness that no key traditional ruler or religious

leader attended the summit. He said that the event lacked significance, being mostly at-tended by PDP members and their allies.

“My observation here is that the summit seems to be dominated by the members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),” Adebanjo stat-ed, remarking the presence of the party’s candidates for elective offices.

“The summit should be more important than Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) affairs. If you are convening something like this in future give the im-pression that we are doing it on non-partisan basis and in a fair manner cut across board,” he said.

Also speaking, the chair-man of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Fredrick Fa-seun, said his party adopted the PDP presidential can-didate, Mr. Goodluck Jona-than, because of the UPN’s belief that the incumbent president would implement the recommendations of the

National Conference. He de-scribed Mr. Jonathan as the only “good” thing in Nigeria.

“I am not in President Jonathan’s party but I chose to adopt him for my own po-litical platform because I feel he’s the only good thing available to Nigeria now,” Mr. Faseun said.

The coordinator of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC), Gani Adams, echoed Mr. Adebanjo’s sentiment that the summit should have included Yoruba political figures from opposition par-ties if the event was truly meant to discuss the way forward for the southwest.

“We need a platform to sensitize Nigerians about who will implement the out-come of the National Con-ference,” he said, adding that the meeting should not be a gathering of the PDP."

The presidential election holds this weekend but it expected that though Presi-dent Jonathan will win in the zone; the margin may be insignificant.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net6 Monday, March 23, 2015 News

Members of the Lagos Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on a solidarity walk in support of all party candidates in Lagos, yesterday.

Why Nigerians’ll re-elect me as president –Jonathan

B’Haram: DHQ deplores Multi-national taskforce’s comments

ROTIMI FADEYI ABUJA

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday said Nigerians would

vote for him in the March 28 Presidential elections because of the achieve-ments his administration had recorded in various sectors of the economy in the last four years.

He said another four years in office would enable his government consoli-date on the achievements already recorded in order to move the nation forward.

The Presidential candi-date used the opportunity to assure that the elections would hold as scheduled.

Jonathan is among 12 presidential candidates, who participated in the

presidential debate organ-ised by the Nigeria Elec-tion Debate Group, NEDG, at the International Confer-ence Centre, Abuja.

However, the candidate of the major opposition party, All Progressives Congress, APC, Muhammadu Buhari, was absent at the debate.

At the event, Jonathan said his administration would tackle corruption through preventive mea-sures where people would not have access to cash.

He also explained that his administration had re-corded success in the agri-cultural sector by eliminat-ing corrupt practices in the distribution of fertilisers to farmers.

The President also add-ed that his administration had recorded success in

JOHNSON OKANLAWON

Indications have emerged that equities performance on the

Nigerian Stock Exchange may close this quarter negative considering the sell-offs in the market from the beginning of the year.

The shocks of the in-ternational oil market on the Nigerian economy, the recent devaluation of the Naira by the monetary authorities and the politi-cal climate have been at-

tributed to the massive de-preciation of the market’s capitalisation so fat.

As at Friday, March 20, 2015, the benchmark index of equities on the Exchange has dropped 13.6 per cent to close at 29,334.23 points, from 33,943.29 points at which it opened the year on Janu-ary 5, 2015.

Market capitalisation shed N1.45trn to close at N9.788trn, from N11.24trn it commenced on the first trading day in January.

Further analysis

showed that all sectorial indices closed negative, as the NSE 30-Index lost 13.6 per cent to close at 1,327.57 points, while the Banking Index dropped 8.54 per cent to close at 317.27 points.

The Insurance Index was down 4.48 per cent to close at 142.07 points, while the Consumer Goods Index depreciated 16.4 per cent to close at 746.80 points.

The Oil and Gas Index fell 9.31 per cent to close at 346.21 per cent, while the Lotus Islamic Index dipped 8.83 per cent to

UBONG UKPONGABUJA

Defence Headquar-ters, DHQ, has expressed its dis-

pleasure over unsavoury comments credited by for-eign sources to officials of the Multinational Joint Task Force, MNJTF part-ners in the ongoing war against Boko Haram ter-rorists in the North East, describing them as base-less and distracting.

The DHQ, however, said it would not dignify them with responses to the base-less speculation and false-hood aimed at making Ni-geria shift focus from the battle it was already win-ning.

In a tweet yesterday in response to another of such remark, the DHQ said, “There are lots of false information and irre-sponsible comments being attributed to some foreign sources, which we want to avoid responding to, purely because we don’t believe such is coming from any serious and responsible of-ficer of government.

“Responding to such claims could cause un-necessary distraction in-tended to jeopardise our counterterrorist campaign or operations. We will not respond for now.”

Some unsavoury com-ments have been attrib-uted to unnamed officials of neighbouring Franco-phone countries involved in the MNJTF, apparently to disparage the image of Nigeria and bring its armed forces to ridicule.

Investigations revealed that DHQ was particularly piqued at comments that

Equities shed N1.4trn in Q1, may end quarter bearish

some of the cooperating countries had been entering Nigerian territory without Federal Government authori-sation or that DHQ refused to respond to calls by MNJTF partners to send troops to lib-erated communities.

A source said due to cer-tain experiences in the past, the DHQ had instructed troops never to leave any territory where they are stationed even in response to distress calls about terror-ist invasion from unreliable and unverifiable sources.

“In the past, our troops had been lured away from liberated communities by unpatriotic elements to respond to distress calls only for them to either be ambushed on their way or for terrorists to re-occupy those communities.

“We have then warned them to maintain their positions and hold every community that they liber-ate pending further official instructions and we expect MNJTF partners to also keep their part of the bar-gain in line with the memo-randum of understand-ing that we all signed,” it stated.

An unnamed source from one of the countries was recently quoted to have accused Nigerian troops of disallowing some MNJTF troops from entering a Ni-gerian community to battle terrorists. But a top mili-tary source disclosed that it was obviously a falsehood because that particular country’s troops have en-gaged terrorists inside Ni-gerian territory previously without any diplomatic fa-ceoff because it was within the pact signed.

many other sectors, includ-ing road, rail, health, power and youth empowerment.

Jonathan also prom-ised that he would ensure proper management of the petroleum sector and strengthen education by making funds available to conduct research in tertia-ry institutions.

On specific plans for the rehabilitation of victims of insurgency, Jonathan said his government had already commenced action with the Presidential Initiative for North East to ensure reha-bilitation of schools in the affected areas.

He said his administra-tion would continue to move the country forward and im-prove on the gains already re-corded in the last four years.

Eleven other candidates

in the Presidential election also participated in the de-bate.

They include Rafiu Salau, Alliance for Democracy, AD; Tunde Anifowose-Kelani, African Alliance, AA; Nani Ibrahim Ahmad, African Democratic Congress, ADC; Adebayo Musa Ayeni, Afri-can People’s Alliance, APA; Sam Eke, Citizen Popular Party, CPP; Ganiyu Galad-ima, Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, ACPN.

Others were Ambrose Albert Owuru, Hope Demo-cratic Party, HDP; Martins Onovo of the National Con-science Party, NCP, Chief Okoye of United Demo-cratic Party, UDP; Oluremi Sonaiya of KOWA party, and Chekwas Okorie of United Progressives Party, UPP.

close at 1,991.52 points. The Industrial Index

and the Alternative Secu-rities Market declined 10.4 per cent and 0.03 per cent to close at 1,862.70 points and 1,212.94 points respectively.

Speaking on the decline in the value of equities in-vestment, the Chief Execu-tive Officer, RTC Advisory Services Limited, Mr. Opey-emi Agbaje said that the falling prices of crude oil in the international market has placed Nigeria in a situ-ation where policy makers must restructure the econ-omy.

Agbaje said, “This is the type of restructur-ing whereby you don’t have any choice, but to it. Analysts and columnists have over the years been advising on most of these things, but now we don’t need to advise anybody.

“Whether government likes it or not, we will have to deal with the issue of the Nigerian economy. We would have to diversify the economy, reduce the size of government and in-crease investment in alter-native sectors whether we like it or not. The oil price

is still falling and we don’t know where the exchange rate is heading to.”

According to him, the reality is that whoever wins the election by Feb-ruary 14, 2015; and who-ever comes into office by May, will have to deal with serious economic is-sues.

He explained that the implication of higher exchange rate, higher interest rate, lower GDP growth, is lower con-sumption and lower pur-chases of goods and ser-vices.

Monday, March 23, 2015National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 7

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net8 Monday, March 23, 2015News

Dangote increases petrol refi nery capacity to 650,000bpd

Jang, opposition in fresh row over N23bn bond

Dangote Group has announced an increase in the

refining capacity of the conglomerate’s refinery currently under construc-tion to 650,000 barrels per day.

The increase from an initial 450,000 would make the refinery the single larg-est stream in the world.

The group’s President, Aliko Dangote, said the decision to have a bigger plant was because Nigeria, as a leading producer of crude oil, should also be credited with local refining capacity.

Describing the present

situation where Nigeria produces crude, but goes abroad to buy refined prod-ucts as unacceptable, Dan-gote, who spoke through his Group Executive Di-rector, Devakumar Edwin, said the Dangote refinery was ready to reverse the trend just as it has success-fully done in other sectors like sugar and cement.

His clarification came even as the company’s Ex-ecutive Director in Charge of Stakeholders Manage-ment and Corporate Corpo-ration, Mr. Manure Ahmed, told stakeholders in South Africa that the refinery would run full swing from

2017.Edwin, who spoke while

receiving on behalf of Dan-gote, a group of oil and gas stakeholders who paid him a visit in Lagos at the week-end, also disclosed that the petrochemicals, which is being developed alongside the refinery, had its capac-ity increased from 750,000 to 3.6 million.

He dismissed fears that change in government policy could affect the busi-ness.

“We have witnessed so many political upheavals and never had any negative impacts on our business as such because our business

is not dependent on any government contracts or any linkage to the govern-ment.

“Fortunately, for the businesses we are in and the way we carry out risk analysis, we go through a rigorous analysis before we carry out any invest-ment. One of the reasons why we carry out this very rigorous risk analysis is because most of the invest-ments comes from presi-dent’s pocket and because he makes massive invest-ment and obviously, he will not want his investments to be wiped out because of one mistake,” he said.

JAMES ABRAHAM JOS

Plateau State Gover-nor, Jonah Jang, has described President

Goodluck Jonathan as a friend of Plateau people, urging them to vote mas-sively for his re-election in next Saturday’s election.

In a statement signed by his Executive Assistant,

Comrade Clinton Garuba, Jang lauded Jonathan for facilitating the signing of the bond application for his state, describing it as an indication that the president loves the people of the state and wishes the present economic crunch facing states is not only Plateau’s experience.

As a mark of goodwill and appreciation, Plateau

people therefore, need to vote massively for the president, while ignoring the call by a few individu-als, who will want to drag them backward.

Jang was responding to a campaign by a group, Plateau Integrity Group, PIG, who had criticised the bond as another waste.

The group had in a statement said it was un-

imaginable that a gover-nor, who is at the end of his second tenure, would be allowed to plunder the state before leaving office by directing the Security and Exchange Commis-sion, SEC, to process all loans and bonds request to PDP states because they threatened that his re-elec-tion depends on the bonds approval.

L-R: Wife of Vice President, Hajia Amina Sambo; First Lady, Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Islamic Affairs/State House Mosque, Alhaji Tahir Umar at National Muslim Women Town Hall Meeting with First Lady in Abuja, yesterday.

Prostitution: Nigerians under 40 barred from travelling to DubaiOLUSEGUN KOIKI

Nigeria Immigra-tion Service, NIS, has banned single

and unmarried Nigerians less than 40 years old from visiting Dubai in the Unit-ed Arab Emirates, UAE, allegedly for engaging in prostitution in Dubai.

National Mirror ob-served at the weekend at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos, that Nigerians; men or women younger than 40 years old and unaccompanied by someone that is 40 years old and above, and who bear the same surname with the travellers are

restricted from travelling out of the country.

An immigration source at the airport confided in our correspondent that the new rule, which com-menced Friday last week was as a result of a direc-tive from its headquar-ters in Abuja.

The source said the essence of the new rule

was to prevent Nigerians, especially females who travel to Dubai for pros-titution, adding that such categories of travellers were stopped to prevent embarrassment when they get to Dubai.

The source further added that the travel re-striction was in compli-ance with the rules set by

Dubai authorities in Feb-ruary this year.

It would be recalled that Dubai had on Feb-ruary 9, 2015, introduced new visa rules to Nigeri-ans and some few coun-tries.

The visa rules for Ni-gerians wishing to en-ter Dubai indicated that single ladies and men travelling alone should be 40 years old and above, married women travel-ling with children should be above 40 years old and ladies and men who are less than 40 years old would only be allowed to travel if accompanied by someone who is above 40 and bears the same sur-name with them.

All visa applications are subject to approval; once applied, full charges are applicable and in or-der to clear a file from the system, a cancellation charge of AED 110 would be applicable should a request be rejected by the immigration depart-ment.

For Moroccans, Al-

gerians, Libyans, Mau-ritanians and Tunisian nationalities, minimum age requirement is 40 to apply for a visa, while for other nationalities, the minimum age require-ment for a visa is 21 for men and 23 for women.

However, Service Pub-lic Relations Officer, Mr. Chukwu Obua, in a telephone conversation with our correspondent denied any knowledge of the new directive from its headquarters, but said the service takes several proactive steps to prevent those who don’t have any tangible things to do outside the shores of the country from trav-elling out.

Obua noted that the im-age of the country was at stake as a result of some unscrupulous elements in the society who per-petuates criminal activi-ties within and outside the country, adding that Nigeria could not operate in isolation of fundamen-talists who have taken centre stage in the world.

Stranded Arik passengers protest at Magaret Ekpo AirportRICHARD NDOMA CALABAR

Passengers, who boarded Arik Air-line travelling

from Calabar to Lagos on Sunday launched a pro-test, following cancella-tion of flight, which left passengers stranded as operators of the airline

CHANGE OF NAME OKPALA: Formerly known as Miss Okpala Stella Chinelo, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS OGUEJIOFOR STELLA CHINELO. All former documents remain valid public note.

EMEREUWAGINI: This is to confirm that this family names:- Emereuwagini Ozioma Ihunanyachukwu, Emereuwagini Rejoice Chinaecherem, Emereuwagini Precious Nzubechukwu, Emereuwagini Wisdom chimankpam, Emereuwagini Miracle Chizurum, now wish to be known and addressed as MADUWUBA OZIOMA IHUNANYACHUKWU, MADUWUBA REJOICE CHINAECHEREM, MADUWUBA PRECIOUS NZUBECHUKWU, MADUWUBA WISDOM CHIMANKPAM, MADUWUBA MIRACLE CHIZURUM. All former documents remain valid. General public, take note.

CHANGE OF NAME FAMILY SURNAME

refused to fly them to Lagos.

Spokesperson for the protesters, Mr. Ayo Idowu, said they were aggrieved because op-erators of the airline showed rudeness to the passengers.

The protesters said they were also ag-grieved because this had become part and parcel of Arik, adding that the airline had on several occasions showed high level in-competence.

Franka Osakwe

Eight days into the strike by Lagos doctors, under the

aegis of Medical Guild, doctors in the state have threatened total with-drawal from emergency services, while accusing the state government of unfair treatment and dis-respect for the medical

profession.In a statement signed

by president of the as-sociation, Dr. Biyi Kufo, the association said the current administration chose to ignore the emer-gency services provided by doctors and has even threatened to again, ap-ply the ‘no work, no pay’ policy.

“The administration

L-R: Speaker, Ogun House of Assembly, Hon. Suraj Ishola Adekunbi; Ogun State gubernatorial running mate, Mrs. Yetunde Onanuga; Governor Ibikunle Amosun and Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Mrs. Yewande Amusan, during an interactive session with enter-tainment professionals at the June 12 Cultural Centre in Kuto, Abeokuta, at the weekend.

Lagos doctors threaten to withdraw emergency services

Dare akOgun

As part of effort in the war against fake products,

the National Agency for Food, Drugs and Admin-istration Control, NAF-DAC, has completed an ultra modern warehouse to store seized regulated products in the country.

Commissioning the new warehouse situated within the agency’s labo-ratory at Oshodi, Lagos, NAFDAC Director Gener-al, Dr. Paul Orhii, stated that the new warehouse will provide the agency with the much needed ad-ditional storage facilities for seized products.

Recalling the fire in-cident that razed the old warehouse in 2012, where various seized NAFDAC regulated items were de-stroyed, he noted that the agency refused to be dis-tracted from its resolve of zero tolerance for counterfeit products.

Orhii noted that infra-structural development had been one of the ma-jor achievements of NAF-DAC under his watch to ensure the agency main-

NAFDAC commissions warehouse for seized products

PVCs deadline: Ogun PDP candidate to sue INEC

Diabetic association meets in Ibadan

Femi OyewesO

ABEOKUTA

As deadline by the Independent Na-tional Electoral

Commission, INEC, for the collection of the Per-manent Voter Cards, PVCs, lapsed yesterday, governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ogun State, Gboyega Nasir Isiaka, has called on the commission to further extend the col-lection date in the state in order not to disenfran-chise many electorates.

In a statement issued yesterday in Abeokuta, the state capital, Isiaka appealed to INEC to con-sider usage of the Tempo-rary Voter Cards, TVCs, at the coming general elec-tions or risk court action, which may jeopardise conduct of the elections.

The PDP governorship

candidate said the step be-comes necessary in view of the fact that many eli-gible voters, particularly in Ogun could still not get their PVCs till INEC’s deadline expired.

The PDP candidate also said that INEC should drop the proposed plan to use the smart card read-ers in order to forestall chaos, stressing that it constitutes “potential di-saster for a smooth gen-eral election”.

Isiaka also explained that he had been inundat-ed with several calls and complaints from many electorates in various lo-cal governments across the state, particularly in Yewa North, Ijebu East, Imeko-Afon, Ipokia, Abeo-kuta North and Obafemi Owode, who could not get their PVCs despite turn-ing in their TVCs.

Reacting to the state-

Association of Dia-betic Patients in the country will

hold a meeting on Wednes-day, March 25, 2015, at Bella Memorial Hospital, Akobo, General Gas Area, Ibadan, Oyo State.

According to a release signed by Chief Executive Officer of the hospital, Dr Andew Femi Bella, the meeting would discuss

how to improve the health condition of members and sufferers of the ailment in the country. He explained that the association was formed to enable diabetic patients cope with the challenges as they con-tinue to receive medical attention and care to en-able them overcome the debilitating condition and live a healthy life.

tains its position as one of the top 20 regulated agency in the world.

According to him, “the need for the ware-house became evident in order to make more al-lowance for counterfeit product being intercepted through our enforcement activities, as they wait to be tendered as exhibit in court during prosecution.

“NAFAC in recent times has made giant strides in areas of infra-structural development in all its formations, ranging from upgrade and renovation of offices, procurement and mainte-nance of equipment and building of new struc-tures,” he added.

The newly commis-sioned warehouse is a modern and well equipped facility where detailed attention has been paid on the secu-rity, safety arrangement storage and retrieval of products to avoid redistri-bution.

The building was also fitted with a water reser-voir connected to a hose automatically triggered on if there is any fire in-cidence at the facilities.

intends to provoke doc-tors into embarking on a total withdrawal of services without caring about the effects on the public, whom we serve.

“The administration also said that ‘doctors al-ways abandoned their pa-tients’, but has decided to ignore the fact that servic-es are being provided for emergencies and the criti-cally ill during strikes, adding that it was not in-terested in the provision of emergencies, imply-ing that, to it, that is not work,” the doctors stated.

The group further ac-cused Governor Fashola of lack of respect for the medical profession fol-lowing his refusal to see the National President of the Nigerian Medical Association, Dr Kayode Obembe, who reportedly came to Lagos last week Friday, the 13th of March, 2015, with the intention to intervene and avert the strike.

“These positions illus-trate clearly that the ad-ministration is discrimi-natory, segregationist and pursues an open policy of apartheid in its rela-tionship with the Medi-cal Guild and the medical profession.

“These blatant double standards are further displayed by the gover-nor’s recent grand open-ing of the cardio-renal centre where specialists will work. The centre’s

staffers are believed to be mainly expatriates, while the administration is cur-rently crashing the train-ing programme (residen-cy) for local specialists in the Lagos State Univer-sity Teaching Hospital (LASUTH),” it said.

It would be recalled that the Lagos State doc-tors on March 16, 2015, embarked on indefinite strike to protest the al-leged engagement of doc-tors as casual workers and withholding of doc-tors’ salaries for May 2012 and August to September 2014, over their involve-ment in industrial action.

Meanwhile, the state government has de-scribed the current strike as illegal, just like the for-mer.

In a press statement signed by Commissioner for Information and Strat-egy, Lateef Ibirogba, gov-ernment said it was a fact that those health workers who did not work during the stated period were not paid.

This, Mr Ibirogba said, was in line with the “no work, no pay rule” policy of the government, which is in accordance with in-ternational employment practices and the Trade Disputes Act.

He therefore, advised the doctors to resume at their respective duty po-sitions, while discussions with the government con-tinue.

South WestNational Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 9Monday, March 23, 2015

ment, however, Public Relations Officer of the commission in the state, Ronald Dansu, said the commission may grant an extension date for the new set of cards being expect-ed in the state, but not for old ones.

Dansu, who empha-

sised that deadline for col-lection of the PVCs lapsed yesterday, Sunday, further told National Mirror that the commission’s office in Ogun State could not tell whether there would be an extension for all cate-gories of PVC collections or not.

Deeper Life church sued over disputed land

OjO OyewamideAKURE

Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, King-

sley Kuku, has predicted that President Goodluck Jonathan will win at least 21 states in Saturday’s presidential elections.

He also said it would be difficult for the All Pro-gressives Congress, APC, candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, to secure the re-quired 25 percent of the to-tal votes cast in Ondo State.

The presidential aide spoke over the weekend in Owo, Ondo State, at a Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, stakeholders’ meet-ing to pacify aggrieved members of the party from the Northern Senatorial District of the state.

Stressing that APC lacks formidable structure in Ondo to defeat PDP, Kuku maintained that the oppo-sition party constitutes no

Lagos State Coor-dinator of the Buhari/Osinbajo

campaign organisation, Abiodun Faleke, has warned Nigerians against being tricked into another round of slavery by Presi-dent Goodluck Jonathan’s last minute move to curry their favour.

He said the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the past 16 years has dem-onstrated it was bereft of ideas on how to take the country to the Promised Land.

Sounding the note of

warning at Ikeja cam-paign office of the organ-isation, Faleke, who is seeking re-election into the House of Representa-tives from Ikeja Federal Constituency, urged the electorate to critically weigh the promises by the president, especially few days to the elections.

Faleke noted that it would amount to expect-ing too much from a presi-dent, whose party has not been able to tackle Nige-ria’s socio-economic prob-lems for 16 years.

He said: “The PDP has

been controlling the Fed-eral Government since 1999. The party has been applying the same solu-tion to the problems and it has been getting the same results. In fact, the PDP pills have been worse than the ailments they are meant to treat.

“It is obvious the party has lost its compass and therefore, the promises be-ing made by Mr. President cannot help PDP. Besides, the promises are utopian.”

According to him, the President has been deceiv-ing Nigerians with prom-

ises to implement the rec-ommendation of the 2014 National Conference and to create additional states.

“It will amount to impu-nity for the Presidency to implement such policies without the consideration and passage by the states and federal lawmakers,” he said.

Faleke wondered how a democratically elected president can implement the recommendations of a report that has not been forwarded to the National Assembly for consider-ation.

Kuku predicts victory for Jonathan in 21 states

wale igbintade

Incorporated Trustees of the Deeper Chris-tian Life Ministry, aka

Deeper Life Bible Church, has been dragged to court over an expanse of land measuring 41.44 hectares.

The Baale (village head) of Agbodi Village, Obafemi Owode Local Government Area in Ogun State, Chief Taiwo Ogunkoayode and his chiefs instituted the suit No AB/246/14, claim-ing N1 million as damages against the church for tres-passing on their land.

The claimants, who in-clude Oluhunmi Esuruoso, Ezekiel Afolabi Sobowale, Olanrewaju Okanmolu, Chief Taiwo Ogunkayode, Alani Idowu and Prince Muraina Bamjoko are seeking the Ogun High Court sitting in Abeokuta to restrain the church, her agents, servants or privies from further trespassing or dealing with the said parcel of land.

They claimed that the

land in dispute forms part of the village land, which is possessed by various families in the village.

The claimants said in 2008 they noticed that the defendant (church) en-tered the disputed land, attempted to fence it and erected signboards with inscription that the land was the site of her pro-posed university.

They said they imme-diately challenged the church and vehemently opposed the act of the de-fendant, which eventually led to series of meetings convened by the church in which she gave various contradicted, uncoordi-nated and unsubstantiated story of how she acquired the land.

The claimants further claimed that instead of the church meeting their de-mand, the church reported the matter to various insti-tutions, which meetings she also boycotted when asked to produce her right to or title deed of the land.

abiOdun nejOADO EKITI

Junior Chambers In-ternational, JCI, has condemned the spate

of terrorism and electoral violence in Africa, which it said has resulted in political instability and loss of lives.

JCI International Vice President (Africa and Mid-dle East), Mr. Itai Manyere, however, harped on the need for Africans as broth-ers to cultivate the habit of tolerance and love to eradi-cate unnecessary loss of lives.

Manyere, a Zimbabwe-an national, spoke during the closing ceremony of a three-day conference of JCI members at Ikogosi, Ekiti State, yesterday, charging the youths to be alive to the responsibility of creating the greater good wherever they are and impacting on society.

According to him, Nige-ria, as the giant of Africa, must lead by example by combating Boko Haram terrorist acts and ensuring that the 2015 general elec-tions are peaceful, credible and acceptable globally.

The JCI leader said the elections must be credible and peaceful for Africa to be respected by the interna-tional community and also set a pace for African politi-cal advancement.

JCI National President, Mr Seun Osikalu, who can-vassed more representation for the youths in nation-building, said they were ade-quately equipped for the task.

He said the essence of the conference was to challenge the youths on how to explore the opportunities across the globe and up the ante in im-pacting on society.

Osikalu appealed to members and youths gener-ally not to allow politicians to use them as agents of destabilisation in the elec-tions, saying: “Your vote is your right and your voice. It is wrong for the political class to risk the lives of the people because they want to get into power or stay in power.”

According to him, it is part of JCI ideology to prof-fer solutions to communal problems, particularly the vicious circle level of pov-erty bedeviling African na-tions.

JCI seeks peaceful polls in Nigeria

PDP can’t take Nigerians to Promised Land –Rep

Ondo’ll vote out president –APC

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net10 Monday, March 23, 2015South West

L-R: National Woman Leader, APC South-West, Chief (Mrs.) Kemi Nelson; Iyalode of Lagos, Alhaja Bintu Fatima Tinubu; Iyaloja-General of Lagos, Chief (Mrs.) Folashade Tinubu-Ojo; Lagos State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire; APC stalwart, Chief (Mrs.) Modupeola Awodogan; Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, and member, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Lola Akande, during annual prayer in com-memoration of the 63rd birthday of APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in Lagos, at the weekend.

threat to the ruling party in the general elections.

The special adviser stat-ed that he and the state’s APC Chairman, Isaac Kekemeke, were from the same ward, boasting that he would defeat the APC leader in the ward to show the weakness of the party in the state.

On President Jona-than’s chances in the polls, Kuku said: “PDP will win five states in Southeast. The six South-South states will be taken over by PDP. In South West, Ondo, Ekiti, Oyo belong to us, while we will have a large number of votes from Ogun. We will take over Lagos.”

He added that Jonathan would win a minimum of three states in each of the North Central and North East, expressing hope of getting 25 per cent from states in the North West.

However, APC in Ondo State said people of the state would vent their an-ger on President Jonathan in Saturday’s election by voting against his re-elec-tion.

The party said Gover-nor Olusegun Mimiko’s claim that people of the state preferred Jonathan to Gen. Muhammadu Buhari was the peak of self-deceit.

It challenged Mimiko to point to a single federal

project or intervention exe-cuted by the Jonathan gov-ernment in Ondo to show the president’s commit-ment to people of the state.

A statement by chair-man of APC Public-ity Committee, Kunle Adebayo, yesterday said instead of good life and progress, Ondo people has suffered failed promises, poverty and gloom like other Nigerians under the PDP government.

Adebayo said the failure of the PDP government to fundamentally touch their lives accounted for why Ondo people turned to APC and Buhari to seek redemption.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 11Monday, March 23, 2015

South East

Okorocha diverted N175bn LG fund —Iheanacho

Chris NjokuOWERRI

Rights crusader, Citizens Centre for Integrated Devel-

opment and Social Rights, CCIDESOR, has carpeted politicians seeking elec-tive positions for failing to inform the people during campaigns on how they would transparently man-age public resources with-in provisions of the law to ensure sustainable devel-opment in the country.

Addressing newsmen in Owerri, Imo State capi-tal, over the weekend, Executive Director of the organisation, Emeka On-onamadu, noted that since lifting of the ban on politi-cal campaign these simple tasks had remained unat-tended to, adding that this has remained the trend since the return of democ-racy in Nigeria in 1999.

He said since then till today, management of public resources of vari-ous states, including Imo had been shrouded in se-crecy.

“Citizens are left to spec-ulate, rumour-mongering, suspicion and anxiety as to whether their resources are being properly man-aged or wasted, abused or even stolen. Because elected representatives have fenced off citizens from core information about public finance man-agement, it has become very difficult to know how rich or poor the state is. We don’t know how much money the state gets from federal allocation, inter-nally generated revenue,

Rights group carpets guber candidates over campaigns

Bishop warns against electoral violence, killing

or even from loans and different forms of credit facilities,” he said.

He noted that the hide-and-seek attitude “is grow-ing into a governance cul-ture in states, particularly in Imo. This is dangerous for our growth and de-mocracy and should be addressed as we get set to elect new government.”

He regretted that any-body or organisation that talks about accountabil-ity is either labeled enemy of government in power or agents of opposition instead of using such en-ergies to provide infor-mation for the citizens who yearn for good gover-nance.

According to him, none of those seeking the peo-ple’s mandate talk about good governance and ac-countability and ways of ensuring citizens par-ticipate and receive true positions of their annual state budget, access annu-al financial report, audit report, transparent finan-cial decisions like con-tract awards, bill of quan-tities, establishment of accountability platforms and information on how much money state gets from federation account and internally generated revenue.

While calling on the media to assist in promot-ing accountability, he stat-ed that if practical efforts are not made to eradicate corruption in public sec-tor with the global oil price decline, many states including Imo would have economic crises on their hands.

Chris NjokuOWERRI

All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, gubernato-

rial candidate, Capt Em-manuel Iheanacho, has promised not to divert funds meant for develop-ment of local government areas to other sectors of the economy that have no direct impact on infrastructural development of rural areas.

He said contrary to cur-rent practice in the state

whereby over N175 billion that accrued to the councils from the federation account were diverted by the Rochas Okorocha administration to other sectors of the econ-omy with no direct impact on rural development, he would not apply such lead-ership style when he be-comes governor of the state on April 11.

Ihenacho said this at the weekend during a public debate organised by the Nigeria Union of Journal-ists, NUJ, in Owerri for gu-

in office to complete the ongoing industrialisation of the state and to provide jobs and employment for the teeming unemployed youths. “It will now be job, job, job, industry, industry, industry, employment, em-ployment, employment,” he said.

Also unfolding his manifesto to the people, governorship candidate of Citizens Progressive Party, Engr. Victor Chikwendu, said he joined the race for Douglas House because the previous and incumbent administrations have failed woefully to lift the people of the state out of the morass of poverty and want.

Only six political parties, including ACPN, KOWA, PPA, APC, APGA and CPN attended the debate. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate, Hon. Eme-ka Ihedioha, was conspicu-ously absent.

Reacting, however, the PDP state chairman, Nnamdi Anyaehie, in a me-dia statement made avail-able to National Mirror, said due to disruption of the March 11 governorship debate organised by the Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri, by the Imo govern-ment, the party decided to bar its candidates from at-tending any further public debate in the state.

L-R: Convocation Lecturer, Dr. Joseph Odumodu; Pro-Chancellor, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Dr. Chilo Offia; Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo; Chancellor, Amb. Hassan Adamu and Vice Chancellor, Prof. Cyprian Onyeji, during ESUT 26th Convocation Lecture in Enugu on Saturday. PHOTO: NAN

bernatorial candidates of political parties contesting the April 11 governorship election in the state.

The contestant noted that as a consequence of the illegal diversion of coun-cil funds by the incumbent government, the local gov-ernment administration, which is closest to the poor people of the state, is now comatose as rural dwellers have been further impover-ished.

He said his primary aim of contesting the election was to get Imo State to work again. According to him, “it (Imo State) has not worked for over 20 years if we must tell ourselves the truth; and

AliuNA GodwiNABAKALIKI

Ahead of Saturday’s presidential/Na-tional Assembly

elections in the country, a Rev. Godfrey Agupusi has warned politicians to desist from instigating po-litical violence and killing innocent citizens of the country.

Agupusi, who is Bish-op of Methodist Church of Nigeria, Diocese of Abakaliki, disclosed this over the weekend dur-ing the 21st annual synod of the church at Effium circuit in Ohaukwu Lo-cal Government Area of Ebonyi State. Agupusi in a press statement issued and made available to

journalists said the com-ing elections should not be a do-or-die affair, but the interest of the nation should be paramount.

The cleric totally con-demned the attitude of a group feeling that it alone should rule the country even if it takes killing all Nigerians, stressing that people should not forget that power comes from God.

“All those who believe in decent living in Nige-ria have seen the exercise as political insurgency, which has taken many lives both morally and physically. One of the causes of political insur-gency is political fanati-cism. Political fanaticism is the irrational pursuit of

political or rulership am-bition.

“A situation where a group claims its people are born to rule and they ei-ther rule or there would be fire and brimstone is un-healthy. An individual can make such claim and insti-gate followers into action. It could also be a group or individual insisting that it was either their/his candi-date or nobody else.

“Such people pursue political ambitions by all means and at all cost in-cluding human lives. That process of pursuing politi-cal ambition or belief is political insurgency. Poli-tics is not supposed to be a do-or-die affair, either me or nobody else. This is irrational and must be

described in the strictest terms of condemnation.”

The bishop noted that there is need for serious confessions, restitution and genuine repentance by politicians towards God and cleansing from sin af-ter the elections, adding that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

He lamented the high level of terror and unfore-seen aggression and other constant challenges facing the country and called for immediate scrapping of National Youth Service Corps, NYSC programme and replacing it with training of graduates in the military as a way of inculcating security con-sciousness in people.

... Funds were judiciously used —Govwe need a governor that knows what to do in creating real value for the people, not the current window dress-ing we have all been witness-ing.”

Reacting, Governor Okorocha maintained that council funds were used for the uplift of rural dwellers through provision of access roads, free education, con-struction of hospitals and youth empowerment, pro-vision of financial grants to rural dwellers as capital for small and medium scale businesses, and creation of Community Government Council, CGC.

The APC candidate said he was seeking second term

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, March 23, 201512

PoliticsNational Mirror

www.nationalmirroronline.net 13Monday, March 23, 2015

L-R: Former Minister of Youth and Social development, Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi; All Progressives Congress, APC, chieftain, Alhaji Shehu Malami; representative of the APC presidential candidate, Hon. Faruk Adamu Aliyu and the keynote speaker, Barr. Festus Keyamo, during the National Youth Summit of the Presidential Campaign Council in Abuja, on Saturday.

AbdulgAfAr OlAdimejiKANO

A political correlate of former Vice Presi-dent Atiku Abubakar,

Alhaji Mohammed Abdulla-hi Sugar, has maintained that the former vice president is still a force to reckon with ir-respective of the misguided attitude being shown to him

TheOphilus OnOjeghenWARRI

Ahead April 11 House of Assemblies elec-tions, the All Pro-

gressive Congress, APC, candidate for Isoko South constituency II in Delta State, Mr. Ferguson Onwo, has said he is into the race to attract investment in oil

AyO esAn

A non-governmental organisation, Val-ue and Integrity

Group, said over the week-end that it has unravel rea-sons why the presidential candidate of All Progres-sives Congress, APC, Gen-eral Muhammadu Buhari, did not attend the public de-bate packaged for presiden-tial candidates including President Goodluck Jona-than, saying that the group organising the debate, the Nigeria Election Debate Group, NEDG, is being run as a one-man show.

Speaking at a press conference jointly ad-dressed by its coordina-tor, Sina Odugbemi and

from certain quarters.In a chat with selected

journalists in Kano yester-day, Sugar said Atiku had spear headed the struggle to unseat the ruling Peoples Democratic party, PDP, add-ing that the former vice president had invested heavily towards the success of the opposition, All Pro-gressives Congress, APC.

sector and general develop-ment to the people of his constituency.

Onwo said although he is running for lawmaking arm of government, when elect-ed he will initiate laws that would help drive foreign and local investors to the area to uplift the living standard of his constituents.

The APC candidate, who

the secretary, Comrade Popoola Ajayi, the group said the NEDG platform has been compromised. Odugbemi noted that Bu-hari refused to honour the invitation to engage in political debate with President Jonathan be-cause the NEDG platform had been hijacked by the founder of DAAR Commu-nications, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, against the spirit for which it was set up.

He said, “Contrary to public held belief that the NEDG was a neutral, inde-pendent and non- partisan organisation, it has been discovered that it has be-come a one- man show op-erated on a partisan basis by Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, owner of AIT.”

Dismissing the rumors that Atiku was romancing the PDP, he said the APC presidential aspirant, has the clout to turn the fortunes of Nigeria’s politics, noting that this was attested to by the role Atiku played in scuttling the attempt at tenure elongation.

Reacting on the defection from APC to the ruling PDP by Atiku support group, he

was one time council chair-man of Isoko South, stated this weekend while address-ing newsmen saying that the people of his area were lag-ging behind in terms of em-powerment and infrastruc-tural development in the state, promising to draw attention of government to bring de-sired empowerment and im-prove the standard of living of

labeled the group as faceless and superfluous.

“We don’t know them. As far as I know, Atiku doesn’t even know them. They could be sponsored by the PDP to claim that they were defecting from the Ati-ku’s camp. What they are doing was born out of their penchant for relevance and recognition” he said.

the common people in Isoko.He said, “I will attract in-

vestments from the oil sector to my area because Isoko is an area that is blessed with oil, but the revenue that comes from that oil, what we get is the lowest. It is a govern-ment of laws so, I will ensure that appropriate and what is commensurate to what we produce comes to the area”.

Atiku is a pillar in APC –Aide

Assembly candidate outlines plans for constituents

NEDG platform compromised, says NGO

Amaechi to PDP, you have broken Rivers peace accord

Voters’ presence at polling centres can’t affect election outcome –GroupObiOrA ifOhABUJA

The Justice Mandate Group, JMG, has asked the electorate

to heed the advice of the police to leave the polling booths after casting votes as their presence cannot affect the outcome of the elections in anyway.

Inspector General of the Police, IGP, Sule Abba had earlier made the call citing security reasons,

but the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Jega, dis-agreed with the position insisting that electoral law did not forbid voters from leaving the voting centres.

Speaking to report-ers weekend, General Yakubu Usman, a director with the group said “IGP knows why he said so, when people gather wait-ing for results, the tension

could push supporters into circumstances that can result to strife.”

He said that all par-ties have their agents at the polling centres. “So, why will people loiter at the venue? From the se-curity point of view, it is better for voters to leave, after all they have their party agents, so their presence will not change anything.”

One of the directors, Dr. Linus Ijomah, also

said that though it is too late to thinker with the use of card reader for the election, he however wondered how the com-mission can handle poll-ing booths with about a thousand accredited vot-ers.

He said, “The card reader takes up to three minutes to accredit a vot-er and a maximum of 120 voters in six hours. With such China technology, with the danger of break-

5 DAYS TO GO

ing down, how can it at-tend to a booth with voting population of over 1000?

Earlier, the leader of the group, Noah Gallaji said that President Good-luck Jonathan deserves another term in office considering the enormous

achievements he has post-ed in the last four years in spite of the challenges fac-ing his administration. He called on the electorates to vote massively for him to continue with his trans-formation agenda.

dennis nAkuPORT HARCOURT

Worried by the wave of politically mo-tivated violence

in Rivers State, Governor Rotimi Amaechi, yesterday accused the People Demo-cratic Party, PDP, of violat-ing the peace accord initi-ated by the Nigeria Police, ahead of the 2015 general election.

Amaechi, who was react-ing to the attack on an APC ward-to-ward rally in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, where some persons sustained injuries, said the PDP had made nonsense of the peace agreement.

National Mirror recalls that the Assistant Inspec-

tor General of Police, AIG, Zone 6, Calabar, Mr. Tunde Ogunsakin, had in Febru-ary 2015, organised a peace meeting with major politi-cal parties in the state, with the PDP and APC privy to the agreement.

But addressing about 15 members of his party, who were injured by suspected thugs allegedly working for the PDP, Amaechi said the attacks on APC members were one too many.

The governor, who spoke through the Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Chief Tony Oko-cha, described the peace ac-cord as a ruse, adding that the police was not investi-gating the attack against APC members in the state.

Politics National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net14 Monday, March 23, 2015

Presidential election: Bakare sad over division among Yoruba

AdeolA TukuruABUJA

Ahead this Saturday presidential elec-tion, the United

Progressive Party, UPP, has assured all Nigerians, that its supporters and mem-bers nationwide are very much in support of Chek-was Okorie in the race for the 2015 presidential elec-tion in Nigeria on the plat-form of the party with the head of tiger as its symbol.

The Director General, Chekwas Okorie Presiden-tial Campaign Organisa-tion, COPCO, Dr Ugorji O. Ugorji, in a press statement in Abuja yesterday, urged the public to disregard any insinuation that their great party has capitulated at this hour, its greatest ex-pectation in the successful outcome of the presiden-tial election.

He said, “UPP in its inaugural National Ex-ecutive Committee, NEC, meeting of November 13, 2012 published in our com-muniqué that the party has zoned its presidential slot to the South East geopoliti-

We still support Chekwas as Nigeria’s president –UPP members

NURTW leader cautions Afenifere over Tinubu

Stop harassing voters, PDP tells Fashola

Group says Obiano undermining PDP’s partnership with APGA

5 DAYS TO GO

Ayo esAn

The convener, Save Nigeria Group, SNG and Pastor, Latter

Rain Assembly, Tunde Ba-kare, has expressed disap-pointment at the way the South West geo political zone is divided over the two major presidential candi-dates in the next Saturday’s presidential election, Gen-eral Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, APC and Presi-dent Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

This is just as he said that he has lifted the em-bargo he placed on the 2015 general election in January

The Lagos State chap-ter of the Peoples Democratic Party,

PDP, says it has uncovered plans by Governor Ba-batunde Fashola to meet with all Lagos monarchs on Wednesday March 25 at presently undecided venue.

The meeting which is said to be instigated by Bola Tinubu, is to induce the monarchs, especially

AdeolA TukuruABUJA

Anambra PDP Man-date Group, APDP-MG, has expressed

concern over the attitude of the Anambra State Gov-ernor Willy Obiano to the partnership between the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA.

The group in a state-

this year.Speaking on a topic: “The

snare is broken and the embargo is lifted” during church service yesterday in Lagos, Bakare noted that the falsehood peddled by some of the Yoruba leaders shows their level of desperation.

He condemned the feel-ing of some Yoruba leaders that they will not forgive Buhari for what he did as former Head of State, say-ing it shows that they were not acting as true leader who should have spirit of forgiveness.

“When I hear such senti-ments as “I will never for-give General Muhammadu Buhari for what he did as a former Head of State, my heart sinks because I know

the undecided, to vote APC, with plans to victimise and deposed any monarch who rejects the offer.

This is just as the PDP has also accused Fashola of releasing initial N6billon state funds to compromise the youth corps members and other INEC electoral officers on the days of elec-tions.

The state publicity sec-retary of the party, Taofik

ment by Chief Emeka Oke-chukwu and Mazi Bene-dict Nnamdi, president general and secretary general respectively, says it appears the governor is doing all in his power to undermine and truncate that partnership between the two parties.

The statement read, “Shockingly, governor has

that is a prescription for closed heavens, especially among those professing Christianity, except those who hold such a view are merely playing to the gal-lery. The simple reason is that both the man who is not forgiven and the one who refuses to forgive, will end up in torment”, he said.

Bakare said rather than the Yoruba to come together and pursue a common agen-da, they were divided to the extent that they held two par-allel meetings the same day on the issue of who to sup-port during the presidential election “rather than choos-ing constructive cooperation and finding a way out of our political logjam, men who are extremely wise in their

Gani, who stated this in a release made available to National Mirror, claimed that Governor Fashola has been meeting various groups and institutions under the government con-trol, like market leaders, transporters, investors, civ-il servants among others, to either induce or coerce them to vote APC.

He said, “We have been reliably informed by our

ojo oyewAmideAKURE

A leader of the Na-tional Union of Road Transport

Workers, NURTW, Alhaji Amuda Bello, has urged leaders of Afenifere to settle their rift with for-mer Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, in the interest of the Yo-ruba race.

Bello cautioned the lead-ers to desist from condemn-ing Tinubu, saying the All Progressives Congress, APC, national leader meant well for the Yoruba race.

The NURTW leader, who spoke with reporters yes-terday in Akure, the Ondo

embarked on a systematic campaign of intimida-tion, coercion, terror and oppression against PDP members and the party’s supporters in the state. This is notwithstanding the fact that, President Jonathan is also the APGA candidate for the forthcom-ing presidential elections.”

Insisting that the atti-

own eyes have displayed their level of comfort with mendacity”.

“They have flagrantly distorted the truth and in-dulged in a bold and extrav-agant illusion as if the rest of us were seized by collec-tive amnesia.

“ The situation has so deteriorated that the erst-while glaring divisions in the land along ethnic and religious fault lines have now advanced into a terri-ble ethnic implosion as two camps within the Yoruba fixed their meetings on the same day but at different lo-cations, Lagos and Ibadan, both within the South West enclave, with each airing the proceedings on televi-sion for all to see.”

source that the state gov-ernor has scheduled to meet monarchs in the state to induce or coerce them adopt APC. He has also de-ducted N6billion from lo-cal government and state government accounts to compromise about 5,000 corps members and INEC officers on the day of elec-tions at outlined voting and collation centres.”

State capital said Yoruba people should be grateful to Tinubu for not allowing them to be second class citi-zens in the country.

He said Tnubu shares the same political ideology with the late Yoruba leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Adding, “No amount of campaign of destruction against Ahmed Bola Tinu-bu can stand a test of time. He has promoted a lot of people who are now leaders of their respective states.

“Tinubu’s leadership has been endorsed by God. He is a leader we can be proud off. So, the Afenifere lead-ers should stop destroying this man. He is a prominent leader of the Yoruba race.”

tude threatens the objec-tive and political calcula-tions that necessitated having a single presiden-tial candidate for both parties in next week’s gen-eral elections, the group alleged that Obiano now arrogates to himself pow-ers to dictate to the people of Anambra, especially those employed by the

Members of the Supreme Council for Non-Indigenes, Bayelsa State, showing their PVCs, during an interactive forum at the Government House in Yenagoa on Saturday.

cal zone of Nigeria.“This policy statement

was actualised on Decem-ber 11, 2014 at the party’s national convention held at Aba where Chief (Dr) Chekwas Okorie and Al-haji (Barrister) Bello Umar, emerged as presidential and vice presidential can-didates respectively. Our party commenced cam-paign for the coveted of-fice of president thereafter with as much commitment and diligence as it could muster.

“We have nothing against any group or party wishing to support any of the foremost political par-ties including supporting the UPP, but it is smacks of political misconduct and criminality to drag the name of a foremost po-litical party like the UPP into a conspiracy we know nothing about.

state government where their political allegiance should lie.

“Yet whereas, his party, APGA fully supports the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan in the forthcoming elections, Governor Obiano’s actions and behavior are in actual fact, working against the position of his party.

“One can understand the fear of Governor Obia-no who, since the defection of Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha to All Progressives Con-gress, APC, has become the only APGA governor in the South East and the entire country. But Obiano seems to be taking things too far.”

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net

The coming into being of a nation, its continued existence and peace-ful co-existence of its constituents,

are predicated on a number of mutually agreeing factors. Those factors are both physical and emotional. But in most in-stances, the emotional factors play the stabilizing roles, so that in resolving cases of disagreements, values that ap-peal to the emotions of the conflicting constituents are easily called to play.

In bringing into being the Nigerian na-tion, it is lamentable that the British co-lonialists gave scant consideration to the emotional values that ought to bind the diverse people together. This is where they made a mistake, which rather than being corrected by us, is being further aggra-vated. The people who are forced to come together in the Nigerian nation therefore, have to agree on who best represents the national aspirations despite our diversity.

And this throws up some questions. Has Nigeria been able to produce a national leader in the true sense? Has the country been able to erect a platform on which a na-

tional leader can stand? Does the country possess a superstructure which can hold such a platform? Has Nigeria been able to evolve a set of national ethos, codes and values that will produce an enduring su-perstructure? What should constitute these national ethos, codes and values?

It is in answering these salient ques-tions that we may be able to attend to the National Question and thus begin the pro-cess of national reconstruction, if we agree that Nigeria has since the amalgamation of Northern and Southern protectorates with the Colony of Lagos, being a failed project. The current national conference should therefore, be regarded as a corrective ini-tiative.

Another question begging for answer is on how to produce a nationally acceptable leader. Since independence in 1960, this is exactly the challenge Nigeria has been un-able to surmount. All the past attempts to produce a national leader have not been without controversies. For instance, the emergence of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa as prime minister in 1960 and the positioning Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe as a cer-emonial president in the First republic, and the relationship that existed between them on one hand and the leader of opposi-tion, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, conditioned the perception of Nigerians of these indi-viduals so that while they are deemed to be playing national roles, their acceptability varies according to the ethnic groups they represent.

Even in 1979 after 13 years of military in-terregnum, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, who won the 1979 presidential election, suffered from the crisis of acceptability, as all the leaders of the political parties who contested for national leadership were not weaned from the complexes of the First Republic. It was therefore, not surprising that just like in the First Republic, his administration was terminated by the military. They stayed in power for another nine years (1984-1993), made another attempt to secure a national leader, an attempt that was aborted with the annulment of the June 12 presidential election, and the eventual incarceration of its publicly acknowledged winner, Basho-run MKO Abiola. He died in the process. In spite of having the credentials that qual-ify him to lead, the geopolitical problem largely arose to prevent his assumption of office.

The next attempt at having a national

SANDRA AKUOMA

For this piece, the focus will be on the causes of love addiction. First is childhood abandonment related

issues. One primary theme in love ad-diction is the fear of abandonment. The feeling of loss that accompanies the end of a significant relationship is painful for most people. However, healthy adults are able to recognize that loss is a normal part of life. They move forward through the initial pain with the confidence that they can handle it, or that things will get better. Their self-esteem is strong enough to sustain them during the times they are alone.

Love addicts, on the other hand, are terrified of abandonment. They rely on others to fulfil them and make them feel happy and whole. Without their love object, they feel worthless and incomplete. This is often due to a lack of love and nurturing from their primary caregivers while growing up. The abandonment they experienced may have been emotional (parents were physically present but emotionally detached), or physical, that is one or both of their parents left, died, ill, or absent much of the time. Regardless of the type of abandonment, victims grow up believing they are somehow deficient or unlovable. This belief can lead to an excessive need for reassurance from others.

Second is low self esteem: For people

in this category, they look to their love interest to provide them with a sense of self-worth. Often when someone has been let down in their lives by a person they loved and depended on, they develop an intense desire to hold onto something, anything. The new love interest becomes that thing, and the love addict looks to this person as a source of what he/she is missing, which could be unconditional love, attention or simply caring. No matter what the underlying reason, the expectation of finding what they’re missing in their new love remains a constant theme in a love addict.

The third cause is culture: In some cultures domestic violence is the norm. Women stay on in the relationship despite the abuse because outsiders do not see it as a problem. I have witnessed a case where a woman was being beaten up by her husband while the neighbours and friends looked on and eventually asked the wife to beg and apologise to her husband. How you can change the status quo when you are faced with all these cultural issues remains a big

question.We have the martyr’s complex: These

love addicts feel superior when they suffer in the name of love. They wear abuse like a badge of courage. In a twisted sort of way this actually elevates their self-esteem. Christians especially fall into this trap. They think that because Christ died on the cross for the sins of mankind that they should die on the cross for the sins of their partners. They should not. They are not Christ. Some Christians read in the Bible that “love bears all things” and they think that this includes abuse. I don’t think it does. Non-Christians fall into this trap also. They listen to the song “Stand by your man,” and they think it is romantic to stick with a relationship no matter what.

Fifth is inferiority complex: Most people who have limited or no love relationship usually attribute it to their inferiority complexes or their attractive level; and the funniest thing is that most of them hold this belief very strong in their minds that gradually develops into love addiction in many other forms. Let’s assume that later on they got partners or married, what’s going to be the main deal? Love addiction. Why? In the past they were faced with difficulties getting partners and now they have one, they don’t want to lose him/her. With this in mind they will cling on to the relationship. This is one of the reasons why such people usually take months if not years getting over breakups.

Another is desperation and fear of the future: Do you know that as a result of desperation or fear of the future you might become a love addict? Let’s say you have been busy all through life and only decide to settle down, biological clock is ticking, all your mates are married or in a committed relationships etc. It is so easy to become desperate reminding yourself that time is no more on your side; you are not getting any younger. You are more likely to cling to a partner even if it is not working or exhibiting bad behavior, because you are so scared you will never get this opportunity again. You become addicted just to secure the relationship.

Food for thoughtOne of the red flags of love addiction

is experiencing a rush of intoxicating feelings or emotional and sexual attachment for someone who we barely know. Can love addiction be cured? Look out next week for answer to the poser.

Akuoma wrote from Lagos via sanlifepointers@hotmail.com and can be reached through 08165583876 (sms only)

THESE LOVE ADDICTS FEEL SUPERIOR WHEN THEY SUFFER IN THE

NAME OF LOVE. THEY WEAR ABUSE LIKE A BADGE OF COURAGE

ONE CRITICAL NATIONAL ISSUE THAT

MANY EXPECTED THE LAST NATIONAL

CONFERENCE TO ADDRESS IS THE LEADERSHIP

RECRUITMENT PROCESS IN NIGERIA

Our national leadership recruitment challenge

Still on are you a love or relationship addict?

korewarith@yahoo.com, 08090585723 (SMS only)

ABDUL-WAREES SOLANKE

A

Mirror of the moment

15Monday, March 23, 2015 Views

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

leader was in 1999. The effort threw up Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. But his crisis of acceptability initially did not even emanate from the ethnic constituencies outside Yor-ubaland. So, his acceptance at home now is an afterthought, an opportunistic claim by his own culture area. We can therefore, see his problem as arising from his appropria-tion by his Yoruba kith and kin at a time when the constituencies who afforded him the opportunity of leadership felt he would dance more to their tunes.

The tragedy of the nation therefore, lies in not being able to achieve a consen-sus, first and foremost, on who best repre-sents the national aspiration. In any case, the real problem as stated earlier is “what should constitute the national ethos, codes and values?” Since we have not been able to have a common ground in this area, it may be difficult to find the leader who rep-resents it. Therefore, one critical national issue that many expected the last national conference to address is the leadership re-cruitment process in Nigeria.

While we must have respect for national diversity, we must also ensure that the best of Nigeria is what is presented taking cog-nizance of their public service pedigree. We must put in place mechanisms that can track the growth and development of the nation’s human resources, their leader-ship orientation and training. There must always be a means of injecting test of in-tegrity in the process of leadership recruit-ment in Nigeria.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

THE FOOTBALL GOVERNING BODY

MAY BE TAKING TIME TO READ THE BODY LANGUAGE OF THE PRESIDENT BEFORE

SETTLING FOR A DECISIVE ACTION ON

KESHI

16 Monday, March 23, 2015 EditorialEditorial

Lingering rumble in Nigeria’s Football HouseNotwithstanding last

October’s Super Eagles’ 3-1 home win against

Sudan in the 2015 CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifying tournament, the executive committee of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) headed by Amaju Pinnick had given the national team’s head coach, Mr. Stephen Oke-chukwu Keshi, the boot. In the statement announcing Keshi’s sack, Pinnick was credited as saying: “We did that because we saw a lot of things that had happened in the past. There were issues that bordered on security…” He said Keshi was booed from the beginning of the match; and that the NFF took the decision to save him.

We recall that Super Eagles were stuck in the bottom of Group A in the qualifying series of the competition, having gained a miserable one point from three open-ing matches, before beating Sudan 3-1. Indeed, Keshi was widely criticised for the poor performance of the Super Ea-gles in the qualifying games for the 2015 African Cup of Nations which Equatorial Guinea hosted, without Nige-ria, the defending champions.

Pinnick indicated that the NFF administration had signed on Amodu Shuaibu as the Technical Director of the football federation, in line

with the tradition of appoint-ing the head of the technical department to take temporary charge of the team, just to manage the remaining two matches. But Coach Shuaibu hardly settled down for the task when Keshi was asked to return to his job through presidential fiat. Some criti-cal commentators that took exception to the presidential interference had questioned why the Presidency wanted Keshi back or begged him to remain in the job; as well as the technical rigours inherent in the appointment of a coach for the national team, vis-a-vis Mr. President’s shallow knowledge and understanding of the processes involved. But the authorities stuck to their guns.

Keshi was contracted for three years in 2011 on a month-ly salary of N5 million as replacement for Samson Sia-sia. To his credit, he qualified Nigeria for the next edition of CAF’s Africa Cup of Nations, which she won in 2013. He went on to qualify the country for the 2014 World Cup hosted by Brazil, though the Super Eagles were knocked out in the second round by France. Le-gally, his contract expired after the Brazil World Cup; and has not been renewed as yet. The situation in the Football House is that no one can be rightly

held accountable for the affairs of the Super Eagles. There is no substantive head coach, while the NFF and Keshi have been enmeshed in a cat and mouse game over contract terms.

The same NFF which sacked Keshi last October was said to be contemplating bringing him back, despite public outrage against the plan. Chairman of the technical committee of the NFF, Chief Felix Anyansi Agwu, was quoted as saying that his committee had passed its recommendations on the reappointment of Keshi to the executive committee of the fed-eration. Reports said a meeting the NFF technical committee held with Keshi penultimate weekend to fine-tune the lat-ter’s contract terms ended in a stalemate; and that Anyansi Agwu declined comments on the true outcome of the meet-

ing. The suggestion was also made that a follow-up meeting was scheduled for last Tues-day. But in a swift reaction to the purported Tuesday meet-ing, the NFF said its technical committee had no such date with Keshi and his representa-tives. Anyansi Agwu said he was saddened by the report and implored Nigerians to “wait until the contract is signed or not signed”.

Quite obvious, however, is the fact that with the undis-guised interest the Presidency has betrayed in the retention of Keshi as Super Eagles head coach; and, perhaps, NFF’s decision not to hurt presiden-tial preferences, the football governing body may be taking time to read the body language of the President before set-tling for a decisive action on Keshi. In the process, how-ever, all the football events involving the Super Eagles are suffering, especially prepara-tions for 2017 Africa Cup of Nations scheduled to be hosted by Libya, and the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Keshi, without doubt, is Nigeria’s best coach in terms of his recent achieve-ments. But using the contract impasse between the NFF and him to erase Nigeria’s gains in the field of football is unac-ceptable. It is high time the NFF finished with this sicken-ing case.

Letters to the EditorLetters to the EditorLetters to the Editor

x

The Revolutionary United Front, with support from the special forces of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia, invaded Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow Joseph Saidu Momoh, sparking a gruesome 11-year Sierra Leone Civil War. The re-sulting civil war left over 50,000 dead. During the first year of the war, the RUF took control of large swathes of territory in eastern and southern Sierra Leone.

March 23, 1991 March 23, 2005

Texas City Refinery explosion: Waste fumes ignited and exploded, killing 15 workers. The explosion occurred when a hydrocarbon vapour cloud exploded at the ISOM isomerization process unit at BP’s Texas City refinery. BP’s own accident investigation report stated that the direct cause of the accident was “… heavier–than-air hy-drocarbon vapours combusting after coming into contact with an ignition source…”

March 23, 1999

Gunmen assassinated Paraguay’s Vice President Luis María Argaña. Argaña (October 3, 1932 – March 23, 1999) was a prominent Paraguayan politician and Supreme Court judge. He was an influential member of the Colorado Party and rose to become the Vice-Presidency in 1998, but was assassinated in March 1999 at a time when it appeared likely that he would inherit the presidency from Raúl Cubas, who was on the verge of being impeached.

ON THIS DAY

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

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National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, March 23, 2015A2 18 Business CourageCourage

Cover

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BUSINESS COURAGEudonyeka@gmail.com

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Telecoms industry’s outlook key to economic diversifi cation – ExpertsIn spite of the recent headwinds in the global oil market and the negative impact on Nigeria’s revenue profile, analysts have projected that the telecoms sector would remain crucial to the nation’s strive for growth in the medium and long terms. Udo Onyeka and Isaiah Erhiawarien report

Amidst the multi-di-mensional challenges facing the country oc-casioned largely by

the recent but worrisome earn-ings from crude oil exports to the international oil market, some development experts have identifi ed the nation’s telecom-munications sector as one key industry that could be explored for improved contribution to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, growth rate and also serve as a focal thrust of the current eco-nomic diversifi cation agenda of government.

Analysts believe that the growing demand for mobile data services among Nigerians, espe-cially the youth population, in-dicates the promising long-term outlook of the country’s tele-communications industry.

For instance, available re-search-based studies showed that service revenues are ex-pected to rise from about $9.2bn in 2013 by about 19 per cent, to an estimated $10.9bn in 2019.

According to Pyramid Re-search, in a recent industry study, the nation’s telecommu-nications market will grow at

a Compound Annual Growth Rate, CAGR, of two per cent over the next fi ve years, with mobile data increasing at 16 per cent up until 2019.

Industry analysts have pre-dicted that enhanced broad-band penetration had the po-tential of creating wealth and unlocking opportunities for Ni-gerians.

This is just as the World Bank estimated that every 10 per cent increase in broadband internet penetration would ac-celerate economic growth by 1.38 per cent.

Market analysts however are optimistic that growth of around 6.8 per cent per year for the period between 2014 and 2019 is attainable, mainly sup-ported by an increase in mobile user base.

Based on the Nigerian Com-munications Commission’s, NCC’s, quarterly report which puts the active lines as at No-vember 2014 at about 134 mil-lion active lines, mobile sub-scriber base has been projected to rise to 182 million in the next fi ve years.

Investigations show that

other African countries are also leveraging the telecoms poten-tials

According to Ovum, a tech-nology consulting fi rm, mobile subscriptions in Africa will sur-pass the one billion mark in 2016, up from 851 million in Q2 2014, and reach 1.23 billion in 2019.

“The number of mobile broadband connections in Af-rica is expected to increase from 96 million in 2013 to 950 million in 2019 or equivalent to 77.3 per cent of total mobile subscriptions

“The growth driver will be the roll-out of mobile broad-band networks and the increas-ing affordability of data devices such as smart phones. Fixed broadband household penetra-tion in Africa was 5.2 per cent in Q2 2014, the lowest rate among major world regions.

Ovum’s Broadband Develop-ment Index for 2014 also put Africa ahead of Central and Southern Asia but a long way behind the leading regions, which are North America and Western Europe.

“Within sub-Saharan Afri-

can countries with a popula-tion of more than three million, South Africa, Kenya, Zimba-bwe, Uganda and Nigeria have the most advanced broadband markets”, the report said.

According to the Minister in her 2014 report of the industry revealed that the ICT industry is the fastest growing at a rate of 24 per cent and currently contributes 7.8 per cent to the country’s GDP coming after oil and gas, agriculture, wholesale and retail trade.

ICT contributions to the na-tional development as identifi ed by the Minister are mainly in the area of governance, infra-structure, job creation, human and social capital development.

In 2011, Johnson said the sector ‘s GDP contribution was approximately 5.46 per cent, but in the third quarter of 2014, the industry contributed 9.58 per cent to the GDP , while For-eign Direct Investment ,FDI, in the sector was put at $6bn be-tween 2011 and 2013.

Business Courage gathered that there has been improve-ment in operating environment as assured by President Good-

luck Jonathan in his transfor-mation agenda and this has led to the springing up of local companies.

One of such areas is the e-Commerce. The e- Commerce sub sector in less than fi ve years has made great impact on the economy. Some of the e- Com-merce fi rms include; Wakanom, Jumia, Paga, Konga and iRoko Tv among others.

A Terragon Group study in 2014 showed that 63 per cent of Nigerian internet users had bought at least one item on-line. 60 percent of these buyers claimed to have used their mo-bile phones for these purchas-es, 86 percent of the respon-dents to the Terragon Group study claimed to have carried out research about an item be-fore making a purchase, and 80 per cent pointed at mobile as their major platform for re-search.

Johnson

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, March 23, 2015 A3 19Business CourageCourage

BC

The study indicated that mo-bile is the fi rst and major point of access for all internet activi-ties adding that the country is the largest mobile market in Af-rica and the 10th largest in the world whereby 71 million Nige-rians are said to have accessed the Internet via mobile phones.

According the NCC the country is number eight among the top 10 internet user coun-tries in the world.

The NCC attributed the cur-rent growth in the industry to the federal government set target of a fi ve-fold increase in broadband penetration by 2018.

The Minister said e-com-merce market has a potential worth of $10bn with about 300,000 online orders currently being made on daily basis not-withstanding the lack of basic infrastructure, power supply, expensive broadband internet and poor road networks.

The e-Commerce growth has further resulted in several partnerships between web mar-ket companies and the Mobile network operators.

For instance FirstBank of Nigeria Limited went into part-nership with PayPal, an inter-national e-commerce payment and money transfer platform.

The partnership is said to be a worthwhile partnership for the industry as PayPal has over 148 million accounts in 26 cur-rencies spread over 203 mar-kets around the world.

Even more, fi rms such as

Jumia, Konga, DealDey, OLX and many more can key into this development get unprece-dented boost, with the arrival of a trusted platform like PayPal.

Terragon Group Research released for the second quar-ter of 2014 reveals growth in internet usage, social media participation and e-commerce, and the opportunities the trend presents for marketers.

The report indicated growth patterns from 2013 to 2014, with focus on mobile phone and internet usage, broadband pen-etration, Mobile Number Porta-bility, MNP and Mobile money.

On the worth of the indus-try, a recent study by Pyramid Research indicates that service revenue which was $9.8bn in 2014, a 6.8 per cent increase over 2013, would be slightly re-duced in 2015, as the market recovers from the large num-ber of fi xed-line disconnections, long-term growth of the tele-communications sector would not be affected.

But it however stated that the number of mobile subscrib-ers is expected to reach 182 million by the end of 2019, up from around 140 million active connections in November 2014, according to fi gures from the Nigeria Communications Com-mission, NCC.

Pyramid said that with rev-enue of $7.3bn, the mobile voice segment was the larg-est contributor towards overall telecoms revenue in 2014, an increase of $219m from 2013.

President of the Association of License Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, ATCON, Engr Lanre Ajayi told the Busi-ness Courage that the sector is a huge gain to the economy say-ing that what has been achieved in the country as result of the ICT boom is tremendous.

He described the industry as the toast of the government be-cause of the landmark growth it has brought to the economy saying that there is no sector that is providing jobs rapidly like the ICT industry.

He lauded the progress on the implementation of the Broadband Plan in the last 18 months, especially the in-creased capacity rolled out by telecom companies and other infrastructure providers which had resulted to well over 100

per cent increase tele-density.He noted that the increased

broadband penetration in 2014, the successfully auctioning of the 2.3GHz spectrum and li-censed the fi rst two Infracos for metro fi bre rollout attest to the growth and impact of the in-dustry on the economy.

Chief Executive Offi cer, CEO, E-payment Providers As-sociation of Nigeria, EPPAN, On-ajite Regha said that the impact of the ICT industry is refl ected on the growth of electronic pay-ment system in the country of which EPPAN is proud cham-pion of its sustainability.

She said that e-payment as an emerging alternative pay-ment channels within the fi -nancial services industry is positioned to revolutionise the way businesses are carried out

in West Africa regardless of citizens living within the differ-ent member states in different countries.

Analyst at Pyramid Re-search, Severin Luebke, said that other countries in Africa are likely to follow Nigeria when it comes to mobile technology developments.

He noted that the increas-ing demand for mobile data will offer service providers, as well as new entrants to the market, ample opportunity to test and grow their service offerings in Nigeria.

Director-General , National Information Technology Devel-opment Agency ,NITDA, Dr. Pe-ter Jack, said, “ICT contributes over 8 per cent to the Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product ,GDP, and is now growing at 7 per cent annually. Our target is to grow the ICT industry to a point where it contributes up to 15 per cent to the GDP within the next three to fi ve years.”

The Director-General ex-plained that NITDA had devel-oped a national Information and Communication Technol-ogy, ICT, Strategic Plan with a timeline of 2010-2015. Accord-ing to him, the implementation of the Plan is ongoing.

“Specifi cally, we have em-barked on some smart initia-tives which include the national e-government Master Plan and Strategy. The others are the Tinapa Knowledge City, with a full-fl edged IT Park and Soft-ware Development Centre and plan to site a Reverse Engineer-ing Centre in the facility.

The Lekki Smart City Initia-tive, Lagos Innovation City and the Lekki Software Development Academy, which is planned to house a software incubator and accelerator, are among the ini-tiatives.

There is the iDEA Hub, which is our pilot programme in soft-ware incubation and innovation and Software Development and Testing Centre,” he said.

The Director-General ex-plained that the Abuja Technol-ogy Village was already housing the ‘Inspire technology incuba-tion hub’, and will also house part of NITDA’s innovation fa-cility in Abuja.

The growth in the industry resulted to the introduction for the fi rst time, the Technology Innovation Fund, which statis-tics from the Ministry currently stood at $16. 2m with a target aim of $50m.

According to the Minister in her 2014 report, the fund is meant to grow the still very nascent venture capital indus-try in Nigeria and to fi ll the gap that exists where risk capital is needed by entrepreneur.

The fund is expected to tar-get disruptive and innovative technology start-ups in the country and will create an esti-mated 35,000 jobs.

Eugene Juwah, NCC Boss

Onajite

Jack

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, March 23, 2015A4 20 Business CourageCourage

Economic Outlook

Let us play a little on Libyan and Nigerian factors before we get se-rious here.

The Bible appears to have started this write up and at the same time concluded it. In the book of Prov-erbs 21:20, it says:

“Precious treasure and oil in a wise man’s dwelling, but the foolish man de¬vours it”

The question on the lips of every-one today is: Will the price of oil price ever return to the famous and gener-ous $120 per barrel, so that prodigal sons will con¬tinue to enjoy and waste resources of many nations on celebra-tions of wealth, with licence from the IMF that they should spend more in dif-fi cult times?

Otherwise, how will one explain the golden gun in the hands of the former Libya president in his last days? What was the cost and of what signifi cance was it to the territorial security of the poor people of Libya? How many of such golden guns were bought as gifts for oth¬er prodigal presidents when they were visiting?

A short report from the Financial Times of South Africa shows that a whopping sum of 100 billion dollars in cash was stolen by the former president of Libya, out of which one billion dollars was held in two banks in South Africa.

Reporting how the oil economy of Lib¬ya was managed, Professor Shaul Gab¬bay presents a little summary. “There was of course no transparency and he and his family were dealing with the na¬tion’s wealth as if it was their own.”

No one knows, easily, what a presi¬dent stole until he leaves offi ce either voluntarily or he dies there. And in this regard, there are endless cases. If a president will steal one hundred billion dollars from oil money alone, as was the case with Libya, what type of price sta¬bility is anyone expecting?

Let us look at some not too diffi cult cases.

Until death took him away from of¬fi ce in June 1998, General Sani Aba-cha, who was born on 20th September 1943, was famous to the extent that he became Head of State of the Federal Re-public of Nigeria. His record of stolen oil money is unequalled. The highlights include, for instance, the return of the sum of $700 million by the Swiss Gov-ernment from the Abacha loot.

This is in addition to the confi s-cated, yet to be released to the federal govern¬ment, the sum of $640 million dollars in a single Swiss bank. Oth-ers include the $480million dollars returned by the US government to the Federal Government, There is also the return by the Jersey of the sum $316 million. The Supreme Court of Liech-tenstein, by the priceless effort of Minister of Justice Adoke, recently re-

Will oil ever return to $120 turned 175 million Euro in addition to the $1 billion dollars returned in 2002. Prelimi¬nary data shows that the total sum of 3.2 trillion naira receipted by the Central Bank has been received so far.

That amount is about 75% equiva-lent of the cash backing of the Fed-eral Gov¬ernment budget for the year 2015 without projection. I am too sure that Abacha did not transfer the mon-ey by himself. It is left for me to give compliments to those who assisted in the money transfers. They must be fi -nancial experts. We may not write be-yond these introductions on Muammar Gadaffi and Mr. Sani Abacha out of re-spect for the dead. More impor¬tantly, after death, there is judgement.

One may ask again why we need the oil price to return to $120 dollars per barrel. Is it for good governance or for a great opportunity to steal more money from the oil wealth? The brief introduc-tion below better explains the return time to $120 per barrel. It will return when the righteous are in government across the world, for when the unrigh-teous are in power, there will be pains in the land.

Let us get to business now! Against the background of the

world economy in 2015, the OECD has main¬tained a forecast of 1.8% in 2014 and a projected growth of 2.1% in 2015. China maintained 7.4% and 7.2% in 2014 and 2015 respectively, with no major change in Indian growth of 5.5% and5.8% in both the year 2014 and 2015 respectively.

The demand for oil is estimated to grow at 0.93mb/d to average around 91.13mb/d. A decline of 0.12mb/d is no¬ticed for the year 2015. This is as a result of lower -than-expected con-sumption in the OECD countries for 2015. World oil demand is expected to grow by around 1.2mb/d, some 70mb/d lower than the estimated in the last report of OPEC. World oil de-mand is expected to reach 92’26mb/d in 2015.

There are many factors that account for low oil prices and we also have key indicators to know in reasonable time that the prices of oil will go up. These are key drivers of the fortune of oil prices in the international market. Be-sides the power play of the major power block in the form of pressure groups like OPEC, certain counties are almost too certain of the capacity of their oil to feed them, notwithstanding the price indicators in the market. The coordina-tion at this present time requires in-novation in the strategic road map for OPEC. For in¬stance, nations continue to count their blessings and challenges in the retainer-ship of the membership of OPEC. So also negotiations are on to ensure that certain countries play alone and disengage their member-

ship of OPEC. These are clearly hard times for OPEC members and how far they are able to manage these will de¬termine their future. I don’t want to say it is hard to succeed for any organi-sation in which the United States is not playing a major role at that level of in-ternational politics.

The movements of the price of crude oil, as reported by OPEC, signifi es that the reference basket fi nished down $9.40 at $75.57 in November of 2014, and with increasing supply and slug-gish global growth, ICE Brent fell at $8.42 to $79.63/b, while Nymet Witi lost to stand at$75.81/b.

America is expected to drive oil sup-ply growth in the world in 2015 next to Latin America. Non OPEC oil supply is expect¬ed to increase by 1.3mb/d to average of 57.31mb/d.

A drop of 30.5mb/d is already no-ticed in the output supply of OPEC in Novem¬ber of 2014, which is expected to con¬tinue. We all know as a fact that output cut remains a common strategy used by OPEC in regulating the market. The vol¬ume of increase of 57.31mb/d in the out-put supply of non OPEC members, par¬ticularly America and Latin America, is a threat to the oil volume expected from OPEC

A drop of 30.5mb/d was already noticed in the output of OPEC in November of 2014, which is expected to continue. We all know for a fact that output cut remains a common strategy used by OPEC in regulating the market

‘

‘

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, March 23, 2015 A5 21Business CourageCourage

Continued on pg A6

per barrel? – Jimoh Ibrahim

$8.42 to $79.63/b, while Nymet Witi lost to stand at $75.81/b.

America is expected to drive oil sup-ply growth in the world in 2015, next to Latin America. Non OPEC oil supply is expected to increase by 1.3mb/d to an average of 57.31mb/d.

A drop of 30.5mb/d was already noticed in the output of OPEC in No-vember of 2014, which is expected to continue. We all know for a fact that output cut remains a common strategy used by OPEC in regulating the market.

The volume increase of 57.31mb/d in the output supply of non OPEC mem-bers, particularly America and Latin America, is a threat to the oil volume expected from OPEC in a saturated market. The implication is a continu-ous drop in price, which can only be ar-rested by natural consequences. There is nothing suggesting that the increase in the volume of oil recorded by non OPEC members will not continue in the immediate future. Available data in re-lation to the increase in supply volume of OPEC is not encouraging. For in-stance, in 2014 the estimated increase recorded in volume of supply stood at 29.4mb/d, while in 2015, the required OPEC crude is forecast at 28.9mb/d.

It was in January 1970 that the price of oil constituted a signifi cant concern in the world market. Even then, it was not until 1973/1974 that a movement of $5 to $10 per barrel was recorded. The increase in price as at that time was determined majorly by the signifi -cant role played by the Arab embargo of that time. A major and sharp drop in supply was critical to the rising prices. And for as long as Saudi Arabia aban-doned the swing producer role, the cor-respondent adjustment in the price of oil was of arithmetical progression.

What could be a major factor deter-mining a rise in oil price was the conse-

quential effect of the Iranian war, which was felt in rising oil prices between 1979 and the peak of the Iran and Iraq war in 1981, when the price of oil reached $38 dollars per barrel? This time in his-tory was when Nigeria recorded her oil boom, specifi cally in 1973. During the Arab oil embargos, Nigeria took major advantage of the oil embargo and the economy recorded a major shift from agriculture as the major source of rev-enue of the federal government.

Nigeria became the young billionaire in the comity of nations, joining the Par-ish Club. And like a young billionaire, a very fi rst termer in the club, money was not indeed Nigeria’s problem, but how to spend it.

For good ten years, Nigeria enjoyed relative stability in oil prices and the boom appeared to be celebrated. The sanction of abandoning Saudi Arabian oil continued for such a long time to the advantage of many countries that continued to celebrate or build wealth around the happenings of that time. Between 1978 and 90, and just before the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, the price of oil was as low as $15 dollars or as high as $20 dollars per barrel.

One major signifi cant event that moved the price of oil forward was the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, when the price of oil went as high as $37 dollars per barrel. This lasted until 1991. And that was why the military could secure suffi cient money to carry out major projects, including the construction of the Federal Capital Territory and the Third Mainland Bridge under the Ba-bangida administration. The Buhari ad-ministration then was also able to con-struct, within a short time, the Lagos/ Epe Express way. Between 1992 and 1999, there was no signifi cant change in the price of oil. And in those years, there were major preparations for the

great recession in the Asian economy. The price went as low as $18 dollars in 1999.

There appears to have been a pro-gressive management of oil prices after the end of the great Asian economic recession of 1999, as OPEC reacted to low prices of petroleum products. The strategic road map adopted was to cut production to accelerate a rise in the price of oil. And this strategy worked so well, except for September 11 (2001) when the price came down to a little below $20 dollars.

The price of oil, after the interven-tion of OPEC in 1999, was on the rise. For instance, it went as high as $25 dollars before September 11. And spe-cifi cally between 2002 and 2006, there was stable arithmetical progression in the price of oil across the world, going as high as $45 dollars per barrel at a point. OPEC’s output cut and quota system appeared to work very well in maintaining reasonable stability at the international market.

The problem with Nigeria at this time was meeting quota allocation from OPEC. This was largely because of the crises in the Niger Delta areas, the hub of oil production. The oil pro-ducing communities were at that time involved in an insurgency to drive their demands for basic social welfare and fair play.

The Nigerian government adopted very many strategies for the manage-ment of the insurgency, which in-cluded, among others, participatory approach, community service develop-ment among oil producing companies and some form of direct intervention projects. There was no major victory recorded until President Yar’adua in-troduced amnesty for guns programme and created the Ministry of Niger Delta to account for direct impact of inter-vention in relation to development pro-grammes in the affected areas.

The economy was signifi cantly man-aged before these interventions and the gun exchange deals. Government was more focused on innovation strategies and quality spending. There were inno-vations in the banking and telecommu-nication sectors, strategic development of new entrepreneurs and privatisation of government assets that were of sig-nifi cant liability in the hands of govern-ment.

Apart from strategic savings, Nige-ria for the period of eight years was not insolvent and exchange rate stability was achieved via disciplined fi scal poli-cies of the Federal Government. Direct foreign investment was on the increase and a whopping sum of over 12 bil-lion dollars was paid as debt, thereby increasing the Nigeria’s rating to B+ B+ AND B. Certain delegated accounts were set up and a bench mark was put

in a saturated market. The implication is a continuous

drop in price, which can only be arrest-ed by natural consequences. There is nothing suggesting that the increase in the vol¬ume of oil recorded by the non OPEC members will not continue in the imme¬diate future. Available data in relation to the supply increase volume of OPEC is not encouraging. For in-stance, in 2014, the estimated increase recorded in vol¬ume of supply stood at 29.4mb/d, while in 2015, the required OPEC crude is fore¬cast at 28.9mb/d.

These are clearly hard times for OPEC members and how far they are able to manage these hard times will determine their future. I don’t want to say it’s hard for any organisation in which the United States is not playing a major role at that level of international politics to succeed.

The movement of the price of crude oil, as reported by OPEC, signifi es that the reference basket fi nished down $9.40 at $75.57 in November of 2014. And with increasing supply and slug-gish global growth, ICE Brent fell at

‘

‘ The volume increase of 57.31mb/d in the output supply of non OPEC members, particularly America and Latin America, is a threat to the oil volume expected from OPEC in a saturated market. The implication is a continuous drop in price, which can only be arrested by natural consequences. There is nothing suggesting that the increase in the volume of oil recorded by non OPEC members will not continue in the immediate future. Available data in relation to the increase in supply volume of OPEC is not encouraging. For instance, in 2014 the estimated increase recorded in volume of supply stood at 29.4mb/d, while in 2015, the required OPEC crude is forecast at 28.9mb/d

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, March 23, 2015A6 22 Business CourageCourage

Economic Outlook

in place for rainy days. The strategic road map was to reduce corruption, create an enabling environment and develop indigenous presence in busi-ness in the middle terms.

While saving was a continuous pro-cess of wealth creation, government strategic partnership of building infra-structures was a major achievement that was yielding results.

African integration was not left be-hind. One major achievement of that government was the reforms in the public sector. There was need to reduce the public service to a reasonable level of quality people. All areas of wastage were not spared by the government, such that benefi ts were monetised to-wards containment of wasteful expen-diture. The level of wastage was there-fore drastically reduced.

Many events contributed to the in-crease in oil prices that characterised 2006 to 2009, and those events oc-curred in quick succession. The events include the PDVSA workers’ strike in Venezuela and the anticipation of war in Iran in 2006, which alone increased the price of oil to a little above $60 per barrel. The bad weather created by the movement of Hurricane Ivan in the Gulf of Mexico also drove the price close to$65 per barrel. These increases in the price of oil were as a result of cuts in output, arising from intervening events of natural consequences. The invento-ry adjustment brought the price down again to$55 per barrel. Further adjust-ment in price was again accelerated by market forces, which was encouraged by Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina and Rita in the Gulf of Mexico. By this time, the price of oil had moved to well over $82 per barrel. So in 2008, Nigeria was making more money from the increase in the price of oil.

Even though the season of hurri-canes did not last for more than one year, the effect on the price of oil was signifi cant, as it moved from$80 dol-lars per barrel to over $100 dollars per barrel. This was more than the cumu-lative gain in price increase in the last fi ve years!

In 2007 and 2008, Nigeria experi-enced challenges in meeting the alloca-tion of supply to the international mar-ket. This cut in output signifi cantly led again to further increase in the price of oil. It moved to a little above $120. Again, rising demand in spite of the cut in the output of Nigerian oil, low spare capacity and weak international cur-rency (arising from the bailout policy of the American Government in the man-agement of the economy during the 2009 recession) made the price of oil to reach the peak of over $120.

In 2009, the economic recession manifested to such an extent that the signals created in 2008 become real-ity. The reality was that the recession would stay longer than necessary. The price of oil began to drop with geomet-ric progression as a result of no cut in output combined with weak currency.

The US dollar fell against all other currencies. The Pound lost consider-

able value against all other currencies. Interest rate came down to l% in the US and 0.5% in England. Economic policies introduced in both countries were very competitive. For instance, in America, there were major job losses and government was interested in the protection of jobs. The introduction of the bailout policy became handy and there were potential demands in the hands of the government from major companies that required urgent atten-tion. The Federal Reserve Bank had to make major decisions in creating more money by printing.

Ford Motors, for instance, needed about one trillion dollars or face liqui-

Will oil ever return to $120 per barrel? – Jimoh Ibrahim

dation, while A & G Insurance needed about half a trillion dollars in a mat-ter of days. The American government resorted to printing more money, and about two to three trillion was printed as additional money to arrest the situ-ation.

The fact that the home equity line of credit became due was also a critical challenge to economic recovery. Several trillions of dollars were trapped with the home equity line of credit. And with the value of property coming down in addition to the loss of jobs and the near collapse of the capital market, the vari-ous Central Banks had a huge task at hand in working a way out of the crises.

The cumulative effect was the sharp drop in oil prices in the international market, which cumulated into almost thirty years loss of already gained pric-es. For instance, what was already over $120 per barrel fell to $40 dollars in less than fi ve years. That was the price of oil in 1984!

In England, the situation was not better than what was happening in America, as the interest rate came down to 0.5% and the government had to introduce qualitative easing as a way of managing the economy. More money was printed and deposited in banks to prevent systemic failure arising from li-quidity crises in the banks. The policy was majorly to protect the banks from failure. Again, a whooping sum run-ning into several billions of pounds was spent on buying toxic assets of the banks by the Bank of England. Gener-ally the price of oil in the international market dropped.

Positive movement in the price of oil was noticed again in 2010 after the downward movement of 2009. Prices started moving from $40 per barrel geometrically to as much as $62 per barrel in 2010. The acceleration in prices during this period was a func-tion of the Arab spring. Weather con-dition also played a signifi cant role in price increase. Most countries, includ-ing Nigeria, had improved on output, thereby benefi ting from the accelerated price increase. The situation was fur-ther improved with price adjustment by the Iran sanction, which created heavy demand for a rather scarce product.

Between 2011 and 2012, the price of oil moved upward to close to $100 per barrel. With strategic thinking and innovation, countries like Nigeria could have laid a good foundation for bet-ter days ahead. The movement in the price of oil was not sudden, such that there was no suffi cient time for plan-ning. It was not enough to look into distribution of surplus income without connecting the future. For instance, only a few days ago, the Saudi Arabian government in anticipation of further depletion in oil prices released a whop-ping sum of 780 billion dollars from the reserve to support fl uctuating oil prices.

Only natural consequences or in-effi ciency of production can prevent America from leading the supply of oil in 2015. It appears that OPEC is hop-ing America will lack the effi ciency of supply necessary to push the price of oil down. OPEC is hopeful that techni-cal problems arising from the supply of the required number of rigs to push adequate production will constitute a setback for America in maintaining the required volume of supply needed to create a signifi cant drop in oil price.

The ambition of America to lead oil production over a long term and de-termine the international price of oil requires more global strategy. For in-stance, before the launching of the attack on oil prices, all technical mat-ters relating to production should have been resolved.

The dangerous signal that calls for Nigeria’s attention is the fact that if the output of OECD and the US continue to increase as we have certainly noticed (and as they apparently will), Nigeria’s oil could easily go for as low as, or even less than $30per barrel. The only thing that can make this impossible is if natural factors arrest the increased output of OECD and America. Another factor that could make this impossible is ineffi ciency of supply by OECD. And we will be standing on a dangerous fi nancial lane to bank on any of these factors. The temporary increase in the price of oil is as temporary as the weather or the ineffi ciency of production of OECD. The gathering storm is dangerous. Nigeria’s government must take notice of and react to this trend

‘

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National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, March 23, 2015 A7 23Business CourageCourage

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Will oil ever return to $120 per barrel? – Jimoh Ibrahim America must not forget that there

are great advantages in the effi ciency of supply gained by OPEC arising from the commulative technical support of member countries. A huge amount of money and time is required for acqui-sition of technology and knowledge, as well as for development if America is to achieve her long term goal. American strategies in this regard also require massive innovation. America’s strategy of selective market, evident in the ap-proach of purchasing oil from certain countries and abandoning Nigeria’s oil is a precooked strategy, which, in my opinion, may not produce tangible re-sults at this time. Instead, America could assure Nigeria of massive pur-chase of her oil, guarantee her increase in supply at reduce price, in addition to other forms of assistance that could talk Nigeria out of OPEC.

Three major factors may constitute a setback in the desire of America to bring down the price of oil in addition to the usually unknown natural conse-quences. Those three factors are tech-nical effi ciency, lack of global strategy, and improved demand capable of ar-resting the surplus.

OECD supply continues to be on the increase, with supply increase of about 23.26 mb/d in the last quar-ter. Increase of total output of OECD in November alone stood at 80tb/d. The trend shows that barring techni-cal ineffi ciency, the increase in output will continue in 2015. The implication is that America OECD is the driver of oil supply in the international market. The threat in this is that if OECD sup-ply is maintained, international prices of oil will begin to decline, as we have noticed in the early months of 2015. And it does not matter if OPEC com-petes with supply volume. It can only maintain, at best, price stability. Even then, the price of oil will be forced to come down the moment OECD increas-es output further.

What we have noticed is that the threat of OECD to the market is mani-festing and is capable of further dan-gerous manifestation. We have already noticed that there may be initial set back in the effi ciency of supply on the part of OECD. It is, however, estab-lished beyond doubt, that such mani-fested problems will be resolved in not too long a time. The need for OPEC to fund a fundamental strategic response to the new development is key, other-wise it will sadly have to maintain the price of oil at ridiculously low ebb when OECD stabilises on the technical effi -ciency needed to drive supply.

The year 2014 was signifi cant for the economy of the United States, as the country witnessed the highest vol-ume of increase in oil production. That year alone, and in the US alone, an in-crease of 1.45mb/b was recorded to be the largest growth among non OPEC countries. That alone is almost ten per-cent of the total volume increase in the oil supply of OECD, including Canada. Total supply volume increase of OECD was put at 19.82% that year alone. The

immediate advantage of the increase in supply for the US was to gain revenue by withdrawing from the purchase or reduce supply from some OPEC coun-tries including Nigeria and providing assistance to other OPEC countries like Mexico by the takeover of some supply needs of those countries.

The dangerous signal that calls for Nigeria’s attention is the fact that if the output of OECD and the US continue to increase as we have certainly noticed (and as they apparently will), Nigeria’s oil could easily go for as low as, or even less than $30per barrel. The only thing that can make this impossible is if nat-ural factors arrest the increased output

of OECD and America. Another factor that could make this impossible is inef-fi ciency of supply by OECD. And we will be standing on a dangerous fi nancial lane to bank on any of these factors. The temporary increase in the price of oil is as temporary as the weather or the ineffi ciency of production of OECD. The gathering storm is dangerous. Ni-geria’s government must take notice of and react to this trend.

The immediate effect of all these is already with us. The fi rst casualty is the Naira losing 25% value in less than two weeks. What can the Central Bank do? The volume of Dollars available to support the Naira when oil was selling for $120 per barrel was much. Now that it is selling for $60 Dollars per barrel, the volume of Dollars available to sup-port the Naira has naturally dropped. So what will defend or support the Naira? If we do not have suffi cient Dol-lars to support the Naira, what do you think will drive value of investment in the stock market? .........

If the price of oil moves up and we have more Dollars as a result of the proceeds accruing from the sales of oil at higher prices (not a likely scenario!) the Naira will immediately appreciate and the Central Bank will resume her majestic declarations. If that does not happen, we can only look on. You cer-tainly cannot regulate what you do not control!

It is interesting to hear all the talk about Agriculture. Everyone is saying ‘let’s diversify the economy and plant more cocoa etc.’ Very welcome devel-opment! But if we plant cocoa today, how long will it take to harvest, prepare the produce for the international com-

modity market and make the volume of Dollars that will support the Naira. That may sound like a good long term measure, but it must be said that we also need global strategy to compete ef-fectively if we are to be a big player in that respect.

Presently, we need innovative strat-egy that can bail us out to arrest a free fall. If this was the corporate world, what we would do is stand at competi-tive advantage by using our capabilities to confront the challenges and build in-novative strategy. This would be to go to a dollar based economy and set up our companies or regional branches to increase our dollar earning directly.

The simple question in manage-ment meetings would be, ‘how can we earn more dollars?’ And the simple an-swer would be, ‘invest directly in dollar economy and earn dollar directly.’ The force to be confronted in doing this is the big pocket. There is no barrier to entry.

How can government handle this?

What sort of question can be asked at cabinet meetings? The President simply asks, ‘how can we react to the decline in major revenue? Where are the alter-natives to get more foreign exchange?’ The Minister of Finance and the Coor-dinator of the Economy will likely re-spond. That answer must be coming from the resolutions of the ‘meetings before meeting’ of the Finance Minister with the Central Bank Governor and the Economic Management Team.

I have very high esteem and respect for the knowledge and achievements of the Minister of Finance and her ca-pacity to give very useful responses to such questions at cabinet meetings. I am too certain that the response will be close to what anyone would do at the international level. A doctorate de-gree from Harvard is not a joke! It is a knowledge privilege. We are lucky that she brought scholarship to bear. When things are like this, local degree hold-ers who become professors without in-ternational publications will also say what they know from their anti clock-wise thinking. What does one expect from a dog in fashion or a dog backing without teeth? We expect some sort of boohoo cry here! (I will, on a later date, react to the debate between Soludo and Okonjo-Iweala)

We continue to notice major decline in the value of Ice Bent, which was re-corded to have lost 39% value. So also Nymax. WTI in November 2014 lost 10.1% value in the international mar-ket. The reason for the loss in value is largely associated with heavy supply of the products from North America. The cumulative effect of which is in the fact that the economy is not gathering suf-fi cient momentum and is somewhat decelerating. The decision of the OECD to maintain supply level at30mb/b led to the drop in the price of oil products in the last quarter of last year. And should this trend continue, it goes to justify our earlier position of the diffi -culties of OPEC in reacting to supply problems.

As long as America takes charge of oil production, the dollar will remain very strong against other currencies and this will deliver a very strong econ-omy to America. Regrettably, the Euro has not proven to be an alternative to the dollar even when it was intended.

The chances that oil price will return to the famous $120 per barrel too soon is the tallest dream of the century. For the fi rst time, OPEC will be confronted with the challenges of this time and the need to roll out more unknown strategy is important to recovery. It is left for me to say that both the OECD and OPEC can be fused (almost impossible) to be one world body that will take charge of oil matters in the world. The fusion will help to confront the challenges. What we can say for now is that the division between the two will, sooner than later, drop the price of oil to about or less than $30 dollars per barrel. God forbid!

By Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, CFRGMD, Energy Group

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, March 23, 2015A8 24 Business CourageCourage

News

Federal High Court upholds earlier ruling on port chargesStories by Francis Ezem

Fresh moves by the Seaports Terminal Operators As-

sociation of Nigeria STOAN, to convince a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos to reverse itself on an earlier judgment failed, as the court has again dis-missed an application by the association to grant its stay of execution of the said earlier judgment.

The court had on Decem-ber. 17 last year while deliver-ing judgment in a suit brought before it by STOAN upheld the powers of the Nigerian Shippers Council to regulate charges and other fee regime at the nation’s seaports and also upheld the directive by the NSC to the concessionaires to revert to the pre 2009 port charge structure.

But the terminal operators had in addition to fi ling for the stay of execution of the judg-ment, also appealed to the Court of Appeal to challenge the judgment.

Justice Ibrahim Buba the presiding judge while deliver-ing the ruling on the matter at the weekend dismissed the ap-plication for stay of execution application fi led by the asso-ciation and also held that

members of the association have no right to increase port charges.

This current ruling of the court is also sequel to an ap-plication by the council pray-ing the court to compel the terminal operators to comply with the earlier judgment, as they had continued with the outlawed charges.

The terminal operators had argued that having fi led an application for stay of execu-tion in addition to appealing the same judgment, they have the right to continue with the disputed charges pending the determination of both the ap-peal and application for stay of execution.

Meanwhile, it is expected that this current position of the court on the continued col-lection of the disputed charges puts paid to the controversies and disagreement between the counsel to the parties in the matter.

Counsel to the terminal operators, Mr. Femi Atoyebi SAN had while insisting that the disputed charges must be collected by the terminal operators, believes that the fees must go on pending the determination of appeal and application for stay of execu-tion of the judgment.

Bur counsel to the NSC, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba while faulting the position of counsel to the terminal operators, insisted

that this would mean that ap-peal and application for stay of execution invalidate the judgment of the Federal High Court.

“What Mr. Atoyebi SAN claimed is that the terminal operators have the licence to continue the collection of the illegal charges because there is a pending application for stay of execution of the judgment and an appeal. In essence, they are saying that the pending application stays execution and that the appeal has arrested the effect of the judgment”.

“We disagree with this posi-tion. The mere fact that there is a pending application for stay and an appeal does not remove the effect of the judg-ment”, he insisted.

To support this argument, he cited a Supreme Court decision in Okafor v. Nnaife in 1987 where the apex court held that it will be unfair to al-low a losing defendant to con-tinue ‘cutting down and selling economic trees on the land’ adjudged by the trial court not to belong to them simply because of a pending applica-tion for stay of execution and an appeal.

Another senior maritime lawyer and legal adviser to the STOAN, Mr. Chidi Ilogu SAN, who also spoke on the matter, had foreclosed the possibil-ity of the NSC achieving the execution of the judgment

delivered in its favour.According to him, this be-

cause the judgment in ques-tion is subject of an appeal on the grounds that the council cannot perform economic regu-latory functions at the ports in Nigeria on the basis of a

presidential directive, which he argued is inconsistent with the extant laws of the land in-cluding the council’s enabling law, which is the Nigerian Shippers Council Act.

Customs steps up anti-smuggling campaign

The Headquarters Monitor-ing Team Idiroko axis of

the Nigeria Customs, at the weekend said it has intercept-ed large quantity of prohibited goods comprising used tyres

along the Lagos/Shagamu expressway.

This follows the renewed commitment of the service to frontally confront the smug-glers to checkmate their il-licit trade, which constitutes a major threat to the nation’s economy.

The seized goods com-prise 626 pieces of used tyres valued at N4.7m, 152 cartons of ceramic tiles, 11 pieces of plastic bowls and 266 pieces of fl ower pots, which values have yet to be determined at press time.

The Duty Paid Value of the seized items are estimated at N4.7m, Controller in charge of Federal Operations Unit Zone ‘A’ Ikeja, Deputy Comptroller Turaki Adamu, who spoke at the weekend, disclosed that the team was led by one Mr. Yahaya Biri, an Assistant Comptroller of the service.

According to him, the crack team compromising other of-fi cers and men, acting on a tip off, intercepted a Man Diesel truck with registration no AGB 106 ZD along the Lagos/Shagamu expressway.

It was gathered that in line with the tradition of the service to perform a100 per cent physical examination on the suspected vehicle,the truck was taken to the headquarters of the FOU in Ikeja where the examination was conducted and the above items discov-ered.

“These goods are in clear contravention of sections 46 and 47 of the Customs and Excise Management Act Cap C45 LFN 2004 as amended”, the acting controller declared.

It was however gathered that full scale investigation is ongoing to unravel those behind the illegal importation with a view to ensuring that all their illicit supply chains are blocked.

The Controller however commended the Headquarters Teams of Idiroko and Seme axis respectively for their consistent operational exploits and determination to collabo-rate with the FOU in fi ghting smuggling.

While fi elding questions from newsmen on the recent incessant attacks on Customs operatives by hoodlums and street urchins in some of the volatile areas, the Controller assured that the principle of Customs Community Coop-eration CCC would be resus-citated and given top priority attention.

This, according to him is in view of its tendency to create a platform for sensitisation and education of the various publics on the consequences of obstructing Customs opera-tions. He also admitted that

the synergy with critical stakeholders is panacea for mutual understanding and healthy relationship between

the service and border commu-nity dwellers, which sometimes tend to be ignorant of the

socio-economic conse-quences of smuggling.

He promised to leave no stone unturned in his quest to completely eradicate smuggling in his area of coverage.

He called for the support of all Nigerians through genuine information/intelligence for the actualisation of this statu-tory mandate.

The team had also last month seized a large consign-ment of prohibited frozen poultry, which is in line with the renewed fi ght against smuggling and other related economic sabotage.

Arik Air raises N5m for sickle cell disorderBy Oseyiza Oogbodo

Arik Air has raised over fi ve million naira for the Sickle

Cell Foundation of Nigeria, SCFN, to continue with its sickle cell disorder interven-tion. The sum was raised in just fi ve months beginning October 2014.

Speaking with Business Courage, Arik Air’s Senior Vice President – Commercial, Siva Ramachandran, said they decided to help SCFN raise money through donations by their passengers when they found out that sickle cell disorder is a huge burden on Nigeria.

“When we had the fi rst meeting with SCFN, we didn’t know much about sickle cell disorder. But after they ex-plained all about it to us, and how many children are born yearly with it, we realised it needs urgent attention as it affects generations so we must fi nd a way to control it. And as a responsible airline, we must support it so we decided on a constant rather than one-time support,” he said.

Also speaking, SCFN’s founder, Professor Olu Akin-yanju, commended Arik Air for their support, saying it would go a long way to help SCFN in tackling sickle cell disorder through its mediation services which include diagnostics and research, among others.

Nigeria records growth of non-oil sector –Global rating fi rmsBy Udo Onyeka

Fitch and Moody’s ratings has retained the nigeria’s

BB- with stable outlook, as Standard and Poor’s down-grades rating by one notch over oil price fall, but recognised growth in non oil economy.

According to a statement by the Ministry of Finance and signed by Special Adviser to the Minister of Finance, Paul C Nwabuikwu the last assess-ment of Nigeria by two interna-tional rating agencies, Moody’s and Fitch remains unchanged, while a third agency - Standard & Poor’s – has downgraded the country’s rating by a notch mainly because of the fall in international crude prices.

It will be recalled that Fitch Ratings had published a rating of BB- with a stable outlook for Nigeria on December 7, 2014.

Moody’s Investors Service also published a similarly posi-tive Ba3 rating, same as BB- for Nigeria on March 10, 2015.

The statement said Stan-dard & Poor’s, which released its latest assessment of Nige-ria’s credit rating on Friday has downgraded the country’s rating from BB- to B+ on the grounds that “the decline in oil prices in the last seven months has signifi cantly affected Ni-geria’s external position and external vulnerability.”

“The agency described the Federal Government’s fi scal programme in response to the crisis in the global oil market positively as ‘proactive and am-bitious’. S&P however identifi ed the coming general elections and the ‘potential underper-formance on oil production’ as possible negative factors.

“Nigeria is one of many oil producing countries downgrad-ed by S&P due to the impact of the steep drop in global oil prices on their economies”, it said.

It said that the rating agen-cy has downgraded virtually all oil dependent economies including Russia, Bahrain, Congo, Brazzaville, Kazakh-stan, Oman, Venezuela, Angola

Adamu

Ramachandran

Okonjo-Iweala

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and Gabon. S&P also assigned a Negative Outlook to Azerbai-jan and Saudi Arabia.

S&P said it also based its decision on Nigeria on “signifi -cant” political risk arising from the coming elections as well as the impact of insurgency in the North East.

On the positive side, S&P puts annual real GDP growth at 5 per cent “in spite of the troubles in the northeast and the fall in oil prices”. This is slightly higher than the 4.8 per cent projected by the IMF and is quite robust by current global standards.

Even more signifi cant, S&P also noted that GDP growth is being driven by the non-oil sectors of the economy. This confi rms recent statements by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala that the country is entering a post-oil phase in its economic development. The rise in tax collection by the Federal Inland Revenue Service last year by N110b over and above the normal target is one example of this.

AfDB defends lending for coal power

The African Development Bank’s president is defend-

ing his decision to continue fi nancing power plants that use coal, despite pressure from environmental groups and United Nations offi cials to shift more funds toward cleaner energy.

Donald Kaberuka, who is due to step down in May as head of the lender, said the re-gion doesn’t “have the luxury” of ruling out polluting fuels in favour of more costly renew-ables such as wind and solar.

“It is hypocritical for west-ern governments who have funded their industrialization using fossil fuels, providing their citizens with enough pow-er, to say to African countries, ‘You cannot develop dams, you cannot develop coal, just rely on these very expensive renewables,’” Kaberuka told journalists in London. “African countries will not listen.”

Lobbying groups have been pushing development banks to

scale back on fi nance for the most polluting forms of energy as greenhouse-gas emissions reach record levels and scien-tists warn the world is headed for dangerous climate change. Public fi nance institutions provided at least $55.7bn for coal projects from 2007 to 2013, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, a New York-based environmental group.

Kaberuka said the bank plans to balance its energy lending between fossil fuels and renewable sources, so funds for projects using natu-ral gas would be matched with a renewable development. The AfDB, based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, is supporting wind pow-er in Kenya, geothermal power in east Africa and a major solar project in Morocco.

The AfDB last year mo-bilised lending of $1.8bn for energy related infrastructure, including $350m for renew-ables.

Excluding a $1 billion loan in May 2014 to revitalise An-gola’s energy industry, about 45 percent of the lending was for renewables last year.

Pressure to scrap coal lending built in October 2013, when Angel Gurria, the secre-tary general of the Organisa-tion for Economic Cooperation & Development, asked govern-ments around the world to question their support for the fuel. Environmental groups Greenpeace, Oxfam and WWF joined some 33 organisations in May asking for export credit agencies to end their coal investments, part of a broader campaign to prod investors to sell off fossil fuel.

Other development banks responded. The World Bank and European Investment Bank both have put limits on their lending for coal, as have the governments of the U.K., Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

The European Bank for Reconstruction & Develop-ment ended its support for coal except under special circum-stances in December 2013. That month, President Barack Obama placed similar limits on the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

Kaberuka is unapologetic about his institution’s own backing for coal, noting that Africa produces only 3 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions blamed for global warming.

CBN rounds-off Global Money Week Activities

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has concluded ac-

tivities it lined up to mark this year’s Global Money Week with the Financial Literacy Day/School Mentoring and Reach-out Programme held at two public schools in the Federal

Capital Territory ,FCT.Delivering a lecture entitled:

“Growing Your Money”, at the Junior Secondary School, Wuse, the Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Mr. Ade-bayo Adelabu, encouraged the students to imbibe the culture of saving in order to be able to grow their money and guaran-tee a secure fi nancial future.

Mr. Adelabu, who represent-ed the Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefi ele, stressed the impor-tance of saving, investments and insurance, noting that these were key instruments to attaining self-suffi ciency as individuals and a country.

He therefore charged the students to cultivate the habit of saving and investment in order to entrench robust per-sonal fi nancial independence in future.

Similarly, the Deputy Gov-ernor in charge of the Financial System Stability Directorate, Dr. Okwu Joseph Nnanna, who represented the Gover-nor at Government Secondary School, Garki, Abuja, urged the students to keep their money in banks to reduce the risks of theft and unnecessary spend-ing and also allow the money to grow.

He urged the students to take full advantage of the lec-ture by embracing the oppor-tunities offered by the fi nancial system in the country at a young age.

Fielding questions from the students, the Deputy Gover-nors used the opportunity of the sessions to expatiate on the Bank’s cash-less policy and fi -nancial inclusion, emphasising that the CBN and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation were determined to ensure that the money saved in the banks are secured.

Speaking at the occasion, which was organised by the Consumer Protection Depart-ment of the Bank and Junior Achievement Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation, the principals of the respec-tive schools, who represented the Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission ,UBEC, in the FCT, expressed appreciation to the Bank, urg-ing it to contribute more to the development of education in the country.

Nigeria’s economy still attractive for foreign investment, says expert

An investment expert, Mr Kalu Abosi, on Friday as-

sessed the Nigerian economic climate saying it was still at-tractive for foreign investments.

Abosi, who is the Head of Corporate Finance and Capi-tal Markets, SPA Ajibade and

Company, made the assess-ment in a lecture entitled ``Nigeria-macro Economic Environment and Implications for Foreign Investment”.

The lecture was organised by the Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce in La-gos.

He said that Nigeria’s economic climate was still at-tractive for foreign investment despite its present challenges.

The expert remarked that Nigeria, as the largest economy in Africa, with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 549.6 bil-lion dollars, was still attracting foreign investments, especially from private equity funds.

``Amidst the challenging economy, Nigeria’s foreign direct investment still remains the third highest in Africa.

``Better understanding of the vagaries of doing business in Nigeria creates savvier inves-tors.

``Monthly Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) transaction at the Nigeria Stock Exchange, which was N125 billion at the end of 2014, decreased to N99 billion at the beginning of 2015, down by 20.39 per cent from December, 2014.

``Domestic investors gave up approximately 4.48 per cent of trading to foreign investors, reducing from 51.76 per cent to 47.76 per cent while FPI trans-action rose from 48.24 per cent to 52.24 per cent,’’ he said.

Abosi added that the pres-ent economic challenges faced by Nigeria were not insur-mountable as things were not as bad as people made them to appear.

He said that irrespective of the outcome of upcoming general elections, Nigeria would continue to grow economically.

FG releases N1.13bn to reposition agric insuranceBy Gbenga Odogun

The Federal Government on Thursday in Lagos released

N1.I3bn to the Nigerian Agri-cultural Insurance Company, NAIC, to reposition agricultural

insurance in the country. The Minister of Agriculture

and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, disclosed this at the inauguration of the NAIC, Lagos Head Offi ce Annex.

The minister said that the gesture was also to ensure that the administration delivered fl awless and effi cient risk man-agement services to participants in the nation’s agriculture sec-tor.

Adesina, who was repre-sented by the Director, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Devel-opment, South-West Zone, Mr Olalekan Quadri, urged NAIC to swing into action immediately.

“I have given directives to NAIC to totally reform and repo-sition agricultural insurance in the country.

“I have directed the release of N1.13bn to NAIC, to sup-port its institutional reforms, strengthen its operations and roll out more agricultural insur-ance products.

“I have also directed NAIC to work with global reinsurance companies to make agricultural insurance in Nigeria of global standard,” the minister said.

According to him, the FG now sees agriculture as the life-line of the national economy,

He said that this was why it had embarked on the trans-formation of the agricultural sector to diversify the economy, create jobs and revive the rural economy.

“We are rapidly modernising the agriculture sector to posi-tion Nigeria as a global power-house in food and agriculture,” he stressed.

Adesina said the ministry launched “the Growth Enhance-ment Scheme” to provide sub-sidised farm inputs to farmers through electronic coupons on their mobile phones, e-wallets.

He added that within the past three years, over 14.5 mil-lion farmers have received their farm inputs directly through the e-wallet scheme.

According to him, this in-cludes over 2.5 million women farmers, many of whom re-ceived subsidised farm inputs for the fi rst time.

He explained that national food production expanded by an additional 21 million met-ric tons within the past three years.

Kaberuka

Folusho Phillips, President, Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce

Adesina

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, March 23, 2015A10 26 Business CourageCourage

Companies & Markets

Union Bank of Nigeria Plc has been offi cially certi-fi ed to the internation-

ally recognised ISO27001:2013 standard for Information Secu-rity.

The bank was awarded the certifi cate following a rigorous audit process conducted by the British Standards Institute, BSI, in partnership with Infor-mation Value Chain consulting fi rm, Digital Jewels.

ISO 27001:2013 is an in-formation security standard published by the International Organization for Standardi-sation ,ISO and International Electro technical Commission ,IEC, under the joint ISO and IEC subcommittee. The stan-dard specifi es the requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and improving in-

formation security management across systems, people and pro-cesses. It also includes require-ments for the assessment and treatment of information secu-rity risks specifi cally tailored to the needs of an organisation.

Stories by Udo Onyeka

Managing Director and Chief Executive Offi cer of Sterling Bank Plc, Mr.

Yemi Adeola was at the weekend conferred with Outstanding CEO Award, for his sustained efforts aimed at positioning the Bank as a reference fi nancial institution and a major player in the Nige-rian Stock Exchange, NSE.

The Award was instituted by BuisnessDay Media Limited last year to identify, reward and cel-ebrate chief executives behind the success stories recorded by their institutions in the Nigerian economy.

Other chief executives of companies quoted on the NSE were also conferred with the Award at an elaborate event held at the Wheat Baker Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The organiser in a statement signed by its chief executive, Mr.

Frank Aigbogun, explained that despite the lull in the economy especially in the 2014 fi nan-cial year, the Chief Executives of the companies being recog-nised, added over N333bn to shareholders funds and realised N107.1bn as profi t after tax as at the end 2014 compared with N66.8bn realised in the corre-sponding period of 2013.

“It is to this effect that we celebrate these men and women who have contributed to the suc-cesses recorded by their compa-nies and the Nigerian economy in general in 2014”, the compa-ny noted in the statement.

In his vote of thanks after receiving the Award, the Ster-ling Bank boss commended the organizers for instituting the Award and commended them for taking the pains to analyze the fi nancials of the compa-nies assessed and for coming up with the list of winners who

have indeed contributed to the growth of their institutions and the economy by extension

Adeola who was represent-ed at the Award ceremony by the Bank’s Executive Director, Commercial & Institutional Banking, Mr. Lanre Adesanya assured that Sterling Bank will continue to sustain its growth pattern through the adoption of the right strategy and leverage on its highly skilled workforce to continue to deliver quality products and services to its in-creasing customer base.

The Sterling Bank story is

Sterling Bank boss bags top CEO awardone that is characterised by in-stitutional resilience and bold steps. From its emergence as the pre-eminent investment bank in the country in 1960, through the 2006 banking in-dustry consolidation exercise and the acquisition of the busi-ness interest of the defunct Eq-uitorial Trust Bank in 2011, the Bank has consistently demon-strated its capacities to with-stand regulatory and macro-economic headwinds. The Bank continues to deliver double digit growth (above industry average) along key fi nancial metrics. AdeolaBC

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Union Bank achieves ISO certifi cationGroup Managing Director

and Chief Executive of Union Bank, Mr. Emeka Emuwa said “Since we began implementing our transformation initiatives in 2014, we have continued to improve our systems and pro-cesses to deliver optimal service levels to our customers. This certifi cation reinforces our com-mitment to embracing global best practices in ensuring the integrity of our customer data and a secure operating environ-ment”.

Last year, Union Bank be-came the fi rst Nigerian fi nancial institution to be awarded the latest Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, PCI DSS - Version 3.0, which offers customers added protection from card fraud and other secu-rity vulnerabilities.Emuwa

Heritage Bank has re-affi rmed its business principle to empower

more Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs.

This was made known re-cently by the Group Managing Director, Heritage Bank, Mr. Ifi e Sekibo at the Round Table Discussion and MSME suc-cess stories, themed: ‘The Eco-nomic Outlook-What Future for MSMEs in Nigeria?, where other experts brain-stormed along with him to fashion ways for-ward for the Nigerian SMEs.

As part of the bank’s com-mitment to empower the SMEs, Sekibo said led to launching of SMEs Clinic that will help small businesses address challenges associated with setting up busi-nesses while mitigating the ef-fect of certain decisions that may be taken.

Represented by Mary Ak-pobome who spoke extempore during a panel discussion noted that the clinic was established as a result of the gap left by fi nancial service providers in failing to provide fresh ideas, solution based strategies and specialized service packages to small businesses.

He said although small and medium scale enterprises ,SMEs, have proved to be the crucial engines of industrial growth in developing econo-mies like Nigeria, it is necessary to create strategies that can withstand the dynamics of the changing business environment rather than focusing on funds generation.

He said since the SMEs Clin-ic was established, many small businesses have sprung up and

successfully on operation due to, not only the funding, but business advisory it freely of-fered, adding that fi nancing is not the only problem SMEs face, but other necessary inputs.

He enumerated business built on enduring business platform, and business model among others stand the chance to get loan from the bank.

“Heritage Bank was estab-lished as part of the effort to fi ll the gap left by fi nancial ser-vice providers in failing to pro-vide fresh ideas, solution based strategies and specialized ser-vice packages to small busi-nesses. We pay a lot of attention to SMEs

“Financing is not the prob-lem, but the other business in-puts. Heritage bank has raised a lot of small businesses with SME Clinic. With it, we have built a lot of enduring organisations; we have done more that advisory than money. For us to extend loan to you to fi nance your busi-ness, you must have good busi-ness model”, he said.

Heritage Bank committed to empower more MSMEs

Sekibo

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Access Bank has reiter-ated its commitment to encouraging fi nan-

cial literacy amongst Nigerian youths. Speaking at a session which held at the Greensprings School, Anthony Campus, La-gos in commemoration of the 2015 Global Money week, Exec-utive Director, Personal Bank-ing Division, Mr. Victor Etu-okwu, said Access Bank has pioneered a number of industry defi ning fi nancial literacy initia-tives aimed at promoting aware-ness for fi nancial inclusion and literacy amongst women, small and medium scale entrepre-neurs ,SMEs, and children.

During the session with the theme “Save Today, Safe To-morrow”, Etuokwu said, “Sev-eral years ago we launched Ni-geria’s fi rst fun-fi lled interactive fi nancial literacy campaign for kids, parents and educators with the Access Early Savers campaign. This shows that we

have always been involved in empowering young ones”.

The program on fi nancial literacy, he stressed, demon-strates the Bank’s commitment to the activation of its fi nancial inclusion strategy which seeks to cater for the unbanked in the society, and followed the suc-cessful introduction of several innovative banking products for this age range.

He also spoke to the stu-dents about the importance of money, cultivating a savings culture and the need to invest money in different ways for the future. The session was very interactive and educative, with the students asking questions and participating fully.

Also the Bank organised a mentoring session for students at the Army Children School, Bonny Camp, Lagos.

Head, Products and Seg-ments, Personal Banking Di-vision, Adeola Kusemiju, en-

couraged the students to be accountable, fi nancially aware and empowered to save and make monetary decisions.

She also expounded on the signifi cance of fi nancial literacy to fi scal independence and eco-nomic sustainability of Nigeria

Access Bank reiterates commitment to fi nancial literacy

Etuokwu

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Companies & Markets

By Abolaji Adebayo

The E-Payment Providers Association of Nigeria ,E-PPAN, has entered into

partnership with the Finan-cial System Strategy 2020 ,FSS 2020, to host Africa’s biggest e-Government Summit in July.

The partnership was neces-sitated to foster collaboration amongst stakeholders and join efforts to further push the im-plementation of e-payment and e-services to the public sector.

E-PPAN and the FSS 2020 secretariat is set to make this year’s event the biggest E-gov-ernment summit in Africa. The partnership will allow the sum-mit enjoy a robust and rich pro-gram schedule which will cover a variety of issues attracting high level of participations from the private sector, government and

international audience. The summit will run concur-

rent sector specifi c workshop sessions. These sessions will ad-dress issues such as how MSME can be used for employment generation using ICT platforms; the use of electronic channels to compliment the growth enhance-ment scheme in the Agricultural sector; the payment system in respect of the cashless Nigeria initiative and the PSV 2020.

Other sectors to be covered by the summit include pension, insurance and mortgage. The interconnection of these sectors with ICT will drive a generation of e-services in the public sector. In addition, the E-government summit will provide the platform to create awareness on various achievements of the FSS 2020 and celebrate other big strides in the private and public sector in

the area of ICT. The conference will allow ex-

hibitions from participating or-ganizations to showcase arrays of products and services which will drive citizen-centric e-servic-es that is centred on improving effi ciency in government service delivery, and foster greater col-laboration between the private and public sector for sustain-able development and economic growth.

The Financial System Strat-egy, FSS 2020, is an initiative of the Federal Government of Ni-geria aimed at developing a co-herent and internally consistent blueprint to develop Nigeria’s fi nancial system to help achieve its vision to become a major in-ternational fi nancial centre and one of the top 20 largest econo-mies in the world by the year 2020.

E-PPAN partners FSS 2020 to host e-Government summit

By Udo Onyeka

Adapting to emerging changes in any operating environment to deliver

better products or services is a key differentiator in today’s fast-paced banking industry.

Innovation is a catalyst for growth and success because it enables business adapt and grow in the market place, and it helps to further satisfy the needs and expectations of cus-tomers.

A leading bank which may seem to have taken the above concept to heart and is keen on making it a way of life is Fidel-ity Bank.

Our constant interrogation of customer service initiatives in the nation’s banking land-scape revealed that the Bank has revamped its Automated Teller Machines, ATM, plat-form, which has amply simpli-

fi ed transaction processes for their customers.

This innovative ATM up-grade, the fi rst of its kind in Nigeria, which analysts believe could revolutionise branchless banking, creates a customer interface that is delightful, eas-ier to use by customers of all classes and ages. The Fidelity Bank’s ATMs have legible char-acters, attractive icons, and give the same experience as us-ing a smart phone because they are easy to navigate, delightful to the eyes, and give the cus-tomer great experience at every interaction.

It will be recalled that Fidel-ity Bank not long ago partnered with PayPal, a global player in the e-commerce industry, to offer its customers faster and effective means of conducting transactions over the inter-net. This relationship affords cardholders the fl exibility and

convenience to shop from the world’s major international retailers. While the surge in e-commerce has given rise to concerns about online security, the bank allayed the fears of its customers by confi rming that its cards are protected with top-notch security tools.

Fidelity Bank revamps ATM platforms

Nnamdi Okonkwo, MD Fidelity Bank

By Adejuwon Osunniyi

As part of its continued ef-fort in making sure that its

Christian subscribers are con-nected to their faith on daily basis, especially during the Lenten period, telecommunica-tions giant, MTN, has rolled out various life-enriching and spir-it-fi lled Christian Value Added Services, VAS, offerings.

These offerings according to MTN will enable Christian faith-ful have easy access to daily devotionals, Bible quotes, chil-dren prayers, sermons, songs,

prayers, prayer points, hymns, callertunez and other spiritu-ally uplifting content, that will keep them connected to their faith on a daily basis.

In a statement issued by MTN, the Chief Marketing Of-fi cer, Mr. Olubayo Adekanmbi, explained that the strategic crux for the initiative is aimed at uplifting and encouraging subscribers to get closer to God through the company’s bold new digital Christian VAS. “We are committed to the total well-being of our customers as we

strive to make their lives bet-ter through our propositions, products and value-added ser-vices.

“The MTN Christian Service provides subscribers with life-changing prayers and prayer points from anointed men of God; prayers for children, in-spirational messages from spir-itual leaders, daily bible vers-es, praise and worship songs, hymns, Christian Callertunez and other spiritual-enriching contents to keep us in-tune with God every day. Subscrib-

ers can access these offerings by dialing 797 on their mobile phones and follow the voice prompt”, he enthuses.

On the importance of the MTN Christian Service during the Lenten season, Adekanmbi states “this is a way of show-ing our commitment to our es-teemed customers of Christian faith, by connecting them at this period of spiritual refl ection and appreciation for the sacri-fi ce Jesus Christ made on the cross of Calvary (laying down his life for mankind).

He went further to state that the company will continue to go the extra mile in providing excit-ing innovative initiatives geared at enhancing its customers’ whole new digital experience, while encouraging them to be better in their various fi elds of human endeavour.

MTN Nigeria, last year spon-sored 20 of its Christian sub-scribers across the country to Jerusalem for pilgrimage. This is as a result of their subscrip-tion to various MTN Christian services.

MTN boosts Christian subscribers’ faith with new offer

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As part of its continued drive to boost fi nancial literacy and empower en-

trepreneurs in the private sec-tor, First Bank of Nigeria Limited has partnered the National As-sociation of Proprietors of Pri-vate Schools (NAPPS) to provide fi nancial management education for proprietors of private schools at the recently concluded NAPPS retreat.

The 3-day retreat tagged “Ef-fective Empowerment of Schools through Collaborative Building Capacity and Leadership” fo-cused on collaborative building of organisations, a shared respon-sibility of all schools and how to translate it into building of indi-vidual school for growth and de-velopment.

According to FirstBank’s Spokesperson, Mrs. Folake Ani-Mumuney, at FirstBank, we believe that entrepreneurs are at the heart of national develop-ment, contributing greatly to the gross domestic product of our country. It is on this premise that we have partnered NAPPS to drive the development and acquisition of entrepreneurial skills by pri-vate school proprietors, budding entrepreneurs in the educational sector as well as reskilling of es-tablished entrepreneurs. “We put our customers at the heart of our business as part of our ‘You First’ ideals to drive sustainable

fi nance, empower the citizenry and grow the economy”, she as-serted.

Also Speaking, the Head of Consumer Banking Products, First Bank, Mrs. Adebimpe Ihek-una stated that as Nigeria’s lead-ing fi nancial institution, First-Bank is focused on empowering entrepreneurs towards capacity building and development to con-tribute to the growth of our econ-omy in providing employment to people, adding to our GDP and repositioning the national econo-my for sustained growth. “This is why we have delivered a pre-sentation on Book Keeping, Ac-counting & Cash fl ow Manage-ment at the retreat aimed at up skilling private school proprietors to effectively manage the admin-istrative issues attendant to their businesses”, she added.

First Bank partners NAPSS to boost fi nancial literacy

Ani-Mumuney

The Guaranty Trust Bank Training Academy for pre-entry level staff was

accredited by the Governing Council of the Chartered In-stitute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) as a School of Bank-ing Excellence in recognition of the quality of the entry level programme which takes fresh graduates through an intensive Four-month pre-career course.

The criteria for endorsing the GTBank’s Academy for Ba-sic Banking by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nige-ria (CIBN) focused on evaluat-ing the level of alignment of its curriculum with the profes-sional papers of CIBN and the

Competency Framework of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). CIBN, the sole accreditation agency for the Banking and Fi-nance industry in Nigeria, set up a panel of eminent Schol-ars and seasoned Bankers in September 2014 to assess the curriculum and learning facili-ties of the academy. At the end of the evaluation, the panel ap-plauded the high learning stan-dards of the academy as well as the foresightedness of the Bank to set up a credible institution that prepare participants for a professional banking experi-ence whilst recommending the academy as a School of Bank-ing Excellence.

GTBank’s training academy gets CIBN accreditation

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Global News

IMF says inclusion of China’s yuan in SDR basket question of when

China’s yuan at some point would be incorporated in

the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Right (SDR) currency basket, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Friday.

“It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when,” she said during a question and answer session following a speech at Fudan University.

“There’s a still a lot of work to be done and everyone knows that,” she added.

Her comments follow specu-lation that the IMF may decide to include the yuan in the SDR basket - currently made up of dollars, yen, pounds and euros - during a fi ve-year review due to be conducted this year.

A U.S. Treasury spokes-woman said it was too early to comment on the review of the SDR currency basket.

The yuan’s inclusion could be seen as diminishing the dol-lar’s standing internationally.

The fi rst step in the review of the basket for the SDR, an international reserve asset, is an informal board meeting in May, followed by a formal review in the autumn. Any changes would come into effect in January 2016, but would require a 70 or 85 percent majority on the IMF council.

Though Beijing keeps a tight rein on the yuan’s movements and maintains strong capital controls, it is pushing for the increased use of the yuan for trade and investment as part of a long-term strategic goal to re-duce dependence on the dollar.

In her speech, Lagarde also said China’s biggest cur-rent challenge is escaping the “middle-income trap” - a term which refers to the large num-ber of developing economies that experienced heady periods of investment and export-driven growth based on cheap labour only to see their economies fl at-ten out as their cost advantages shrink.

Only a few countries like

Taiwan and South Korea are considered to have successfully made the transition in recent decades.

Turkey offers $50 million loan to Ukraine, urges protection of Crimean Tatars

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan offered a $50 mil-

lion (33.40 million pounds) loan to Ukraine and called for the rights of Crimean Tatars to be protected during a trip to Kiev on Friday, but avoided outright criticism of trade partner Rus-sia.

In a joint press confer-ence with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Erdogan said Turkey was also offering $10 million in humanitarian assis-tance on top of the loan, which is meant to help Ukraine cover its budget defi cit.

“We have expressed our sup-port for the territorial integrity, political union and sovereignty of Ukraine, including Crimea, in every platform,” Erdogan said, voicing support for the Minsk ceasefi re brokered by Germany and France in February.

“We also wish for the con-tinuation of Ukraine’s stance of protecting the rights of all ethnic and religious minorities, especially Crimean Tatar Turks, who have proved their loyalty to their country during this crisis,” he said.

Turks have close kinship bonds with the Muslim, Turkic-speaking Tatar minority in Crimea, the Black Sea pen-insula Moscow annexed from Ukraine a year ago. Erdogan has repeatedly warned that the instability could have regional repercussions.

But Turkey has deepening trade ties with Russia and has been reluctant to openly criticize Moscow’s actions in Ukraine. Erdogan spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Pu-tin this week, discussing energy deals and the Ukraine crisis.

Russian gas exporter Gaz-prom said in January it planned to build an undersea gas

pipeline via the Turkish-Greek border -- a project informally known as “Turkish Stream” -- as it seeks to supply Europe while by-passing Ukraine.

Ukrainian offi cials had been expected to seek assurances from Erdogan and Energy Min-ister Taner Yildiz during their trip that those ties will not harm Ukrainian interests.

Asked at the press confer-ence about the Turkish Stream project, Erdogan gave no new details, saying simply that Tur-key found the Russian proposal “reasonable” and that Russia remained its biggest natural gas supplier.

Merkel sets strict terms for Greek aid, Juncker fl ags EU cash

European Union leaders wel-comed a pledge on Friday

from Greece to meet creditors’ demands for a broad package of economic reform proposals within days to unlock the cash Athens needs to avoid stumbling out of the euro zone.

After overnight crisis talks on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels, new Greek Prime Min-ister Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the bloc’s main paymaster, offered somewhat divergent under-standings of how much Athens must do and how quickly. But EU offi cials insisted there was a broad agreement to act now on an accord struck a month ago.

Merkel said Greece, which faces a cash crunch within weeks, would receive fresh funds only once its creditors approve the comprehensive list of reforms Tsipras promised to present soon.

But she signalled some fl ex-ibility on what reforms Tsipras would have to make -- crucially giving his leftist-led coalition the chance to offer alternative sav-ings strategies that will help it persuade its voters it is breaking with what Tsipras calls the failed austerity policies of his defeated predecessor.

And European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker offered Tsipras a sweetener by saying 2 billion euros from the European Union’s modest col-

lective budget were available to ease the humanitarian impact of fi ve years of spending cuts.

Tsipras said he would fully respect a deal struck with euro zone fi nance ministers on Feb. 20 that extended an EU bailout deal until June. But he insisted that a condition in that pact requiring Athens to pass a fi nal review of its efforts to bring its debts under control before re-ceiving funds did not apply.

After two months of mount-ing frustration on both sides, marked by public squabbling, Tsipras held three hours of talks with the leaders of Germany, France and the main EU institu-tions to try to break an impasse that risks depriving Athens of the euros it needs to function fully within the currency area.

A joint statement by the EU institutions spoke of a “spirit of mutual trust”. But it remained uncertain Tsipras and Merkel were talking about the same reforms, and how far Greece would have to start implement-ing them before it receives any new cash.

DIVERGENT TAKESThe risk of a continued

standoff, exactly a month after Greece secured a last-gasp four-month extension of an EU/IMF bailout, was highlighted by com-ments from Merkel and Tsipras.

“The agreement of Feb. 20 is still valid in its entirety. Every paragraph of the agreement counts,” Merkel told German journalists who questioned whether she was now offering cash for promises that many of her supporters have stopped believing in.

Tsipras appeared to differ. “It is clear that Greece is not obliged to implement recession-ary measures,” he said. “Greece will submit its own structural reforms which it will imple-ment.”

Merkel insisted only the completion of approved mea-sures -- in a fi nal review by creditor institutions -- would satisfy lenders including the Euro Group of euro zone fi nance ministers.

“The Greek government has the possibility of replacing individual reforms outstanding from Dec. 10 with other reforms, if these ... have the same ef-fect. The institutions and then the Euro Group must decide whether they do have the same effect,” she said, noting Ireland had made such changes with EU backing.

Tsipras, however, insisted that while his government would fully respect a deal struck with the euro zone on Feb. 20 it would not have to complete a fi -nal bailout review process begun by the last government to secure more aid: “We all have the same reading of the Feb. 20 accord... There is no such thing as a fi fth review,” he told a news confer-ence after the summit.

EU offi cials, keen to play up the prospects the talks had

raised of preventing “Grexit”, or an inadvertent “Grexident” that pushed Greece out of the euro, said differences were merely ones of emphasis for audiences in their respective countries.

Wall Street rises on Nike, lower dollar; set to snap three weeks of losses

U.S. stocks rose on Friday, putting the S&P 500 on

track to snap a three-week streak of losses, following up-beat results from Nike, further gains in biotechs and a pullback in the dollar.

Recent sharp gains in the U.S. dollar had increased wor-ries about the currency’s impact on the earnings of U.S. multi-nationals. S&P 500 earnings projections for the quarter and for 2015 have fallen sharply since Jan. 1.

Among early reporters, Nike (NKE.N) jumped 4.8 percent to $103.02 as the biggest boost to the Dow after it posted a quarterly profi t that beat market estimates. The world’s largest sportswear maker sold more higher margin shoes and apparel, but warned that the stronger dollar would take a toll on its current quarter.

Biotechs were on track for their eighth straight advance, powered by a 7.1 percent climb in Biogen Idec (BIIB.O) to $464.26.

The company said its ex-perimental drug became the fi rst Alzheimer’s treatment to signifi cantly slow cognitive decline and reduce brain plaque in patients with early and mild forms of the disease, according to a small study. The Nasdaq biotech .NBI index has gained 7.3 percent since March 10.

The Nasdaq was well above the 5,000 level and about 11 points from its record closing high.

Wall Street’s fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index .VIX, was down 9 percent, and remains below the 13 level. That sug-gests “the smart money is not really concerned about a down-turn right now,” said Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.

At 1:38 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 229.38 points, or 1.28 percent, to 18,188.41, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 23.89 points, or 1.14 percent, to 2,113.16 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 47.73 points, or 0.96 percent, to 5,040.11.

The S&P 500 is up 2.8 percent for the week and is on track for its fi rst weekly gain in four. The Dow is up 2.3 percent while the Nasdaq is up 3.4 per-cent for the week.

Lagarde

Erdogan

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Brand Watch

L-R: Mrs. Mukaila Lilian Bisi being presented an Award for having served Promasidor Nigeria Limited for 10 years by Mr Andrew Enahoro, Head, Legal and Public Relations; at the Long Service Award ceremony held at the company’s premises in Isolo, Lagos

By David Audu

Employees of Promasidor Nigeria Limited, makers of Cowbell, Onga, Toptea

and Loya Milk who have served the company for a minimum of 10 years were on recently hon-oured by the company.

The employees, who have worked for 10, 15, and 20 years were honoured for their hard work and meritorious service to the company.

Speaking at the Long Service Award event held at the fi rm’s Headquarters in Isolo, Lagos, Managing Director, Promasidor Nigeria, Olivier Thiry, com-mended them for their commit-

ment to service. He said their commitment over the years cannot be underestimated as it lubricates the strategic direction of the management.

Thiry stated that the reward to the affected employees was just a token from the manage-ment to dedicated and com-mitted employees who strive to place Promasidor ahead of competition in the market.

His words: “This is just a gesture to reciprocate your support for Promasidor over the years. Without your invalu-able commitment, there would not be Promasidor. The man-agement considers today as a memorable day in the life of all

the affected employees and in our corporate life”.

The event was fi lled with fun, laughter and glamour as the af-fected employees were rewarded with gifts ranging from refrigera-tors, to electricity generators, and plasma TV sets.

Other activities included a raffl e draw which saw guests carting away gifts such as mini-ovens, pressing irons, rice boil-ers, sandwich makers and other cooking appliances.

Satisfi ed with the honour given to them, the recipients of the awards expressed apprecia-tion and love for the company, reiterating that if given another chance to choose a company

to work for, they would again choose Promasidor.

One of the recipients, Lovejoy Oluchukwu, an employee who joined Promasidor as a young girl and was rewarded for hav-ing served for ten years thanked the company for celebrating her.

In her words “I have always been in love with Promasidor. This is the fi rst and only place I have ever worked (I joined in January 2004) and I started here when I was in my early twenties. They treat and respect all their staff well and are very safety conscious. Working here, I have undergone a lot of trainings from health, to stress management, and facility man-

agement training...they have a lot of facilities that help ensure that the staff work effectively. I never believed I could stay this long in a company but with all I have experienced, I tell my friends that I can work for this company without getting paid.”

Lovejoy, who started off working in the production de-partment, has served the com-pany in various capacities rang-ing from volunteering to working in the Sales Department to working as a Receptionist, act-ing as the PA to the GM, and Offi ce Assistant to the Managing Director, and currently func-tions as an offi cer in the Human Resources Department.

Promasidor rewards employees for commitment

By Isaiah Erhiawarien

Samsung Electronics has introduced a new cam-paign that will run across

all Africa countries, where it currently operates.

The launch of the new brand campaign called ‘What If I Can’ is aimed at shifting the mind-sets of normal people to believ-ing they can contribute towards the greater good because they have the power in their every-day routine to change people’s lives and circumstances.

A statement from the com-pany observed that ‘What If I Can’ is all about the power of a human step, which displays a strong message, saying that Samsung collaborated with a UK-based company called Pa-vegen by laying a 68-tile walk-way, situated in Sandton City Johannesburg.

These tiles have the ability to collect kinetic motion and store this as energy. In addi-tion, the walkway consists of an interactive data screen display-ing a leader board of real-time footfall data and providing an immediate visual payback.

Sandton City’s main pas-sage receives a monthly footfall rate of over two million foot-steps. The energy stored from shopper footfall will contribute towards benefi ting underprivi-leged communities in Africa, aiming to prove that even the smallest action of movement can make a huge difference to standards of living across the world. To extend participation beyond the Sandton City walk-way, Samsung has created a simple step-counting mobile application allowing thousands of ordinary citizens across Afri-ca to power solutions that ben-efi t the less fortunate by simply walking. This application can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and is available on all android devices.

The Campaign runs from March until the end of May.

Samsung Electronics unveils new Africa campaignParticipants across Africa will compete against each other to take the most steps and Sam-sung will match every contribu-tion with a further 1000 steps. The country generating the most steps at the end of the fi rst part of the campaign will earn a Samsung Solar Powered Inter-net School for a deserving com-munity in that country.

Director of Public Affairs and Corporate Citizenship at Sam-sung Electronics Africa Ntu-tule Tshenye said it is the face of this brave new approach by the brand to take on very real problems such as connectivity to power the internet for under-served areas across Africa.

“Education relevance and in-ternet connectivity are impera-tives to contribute towards fu-ture socio-economic growth in Africa,” says Ntutule. “We feel that a consumer facing cam-paign such as ‘What If I Can’ is both complementary and even gives credit to our innovate so-lutions such as Solar Powered Internet Schools and Solar Pow-ered Digital Villages that work to empower people by deliver-ing revolutionary solutions de-signed to overcome local chal-lenges and take communities into the future,” he said.

During the fi rst 20 days of the campaign, the steps taken by participants will be accumu-lated to reach at least 400 mil-lion steps. This will contribute to the installation of a Samsung Solar Power Generator at the re-cently launched Revolutionary Britehouse Got-Game Digital Hub at the Sunrise Secondary School in Diepsloot.

“Britehouse Got Game is a place of unlimited possibilities, dictated by communities’ own requirements”, said Britehouse CEO, Scott Gibson. “There is no limit to Britehouse GOT-GAME’s potential or what it can bring to the community. Because it is replicable, it reduces the cost, time, and effort needed to make an immediate difference.”

The ‘What If I Can’ campaign is less of a campaign and more of a brand endorsed movement. Samsung is on a mission to raise awareness and use inno-

vation and technology to over-come region-specifi c problems. This time, we are not only em-powering communities to be-come healthier, better educated

and effectively connected, we are also empowering ordinary people to make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate around them.

By David Audu

It was a dream comes true for the family of Yinka and Fun-mi Davids last week, when

the management of multina-tional, PZ Cussons, presented the prize of the Cussons Baby Moments 2 to the parents and their daughter, Morireoluwa.

At a presentation ceremony held at the company’s premises in Ilupeju, offi cials of the com-pany stressed the need to actu-alise plans that can bring about the best in children.

According to Cussons’ Brand Manager, Oluwaseun

Ayeni, the competition gives parents the opportunity to showcase amazing things their babies are made of.

“It made parents take amaz-ing pictures of their babies. Children do interesting things when where are there and when we are not.”

The manager added that the prize entailed supply of Cus-sons products to the family and an all-expense-paid trip abroad.

Besides, Morireoluwa will be the face of the products in the next one year.

Mr. Davids thanked PZ for giving the family the opportu-

nity. He recalled that he and his wife registered for the competi-tion last December, when they bought the products at the Ikeja Shopping Mall in Lagos.

Also commending Cussons Baby, Morireoluwa’s mother said, “Whatever our daughter becomes in life, she will always remember that when she was a year old, she won this award. This is a great platform to start from.”On the impact of the com-petition on the brand, Oluwa-seun said it had improved on people’s awareness about Cus-sons as many want to associate with caring for children

Cussons Baby presents prize to competition winner

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, March 23, 2015A14 30 Business CourageCourage

BC

OIL TradeCommodity Exch Currency Expire Last Date/Time Net Chg Open High LowOILLIGHT CRUDE CON1 NYM USD 02/20 49.27 02/27 15:56 +1.10 48.97 49.94 48.46Feb15 NO 2 HT OIL CON1 NYM USD 02/27 2.19 02/27 14:29 +0.16 2.17 2.35 2.16Feb15 BRENT CRUDE IEU USD 03/16 62.06 02/27 15:57 +2.01 60.75 62.83 60.51Mar15 GAS OIL APR1 IEU USD 03/12 596.50 02/27 15:53 +10.75 582.75 601.75 581.25Mar15 GASOLINE JAN1 TCE JPY 02/25 61,000 02/28 12:56 +700 60,600 61,000 60,500Feb15KEROSENE JAN1 TCE JPY 02/25 57,600 02/28 03:48 +180 57,600 57,600 57,600Feb15

NATURAL GASNATURAL GAS CON1 NYM USD 02/25 2.71 02/27 15:57 +0.02 2.71 2.74 2.68Feb15

ELECTRICITYPJM ELECTRICITY NYMEX USYF USD 10/30 39.40 10/08 20:00 +0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00Oct12

BASE METALSHG COPPER CON1 CMX USD 02/25 2.61 02/20 13:08 -0.03 2.63 2.63 2.60Feb15SHME COPPER CON1 SHF CNY 03/16 42,240.00 02/17 01:59 +270.00 42,160.00 42,330.00 42,020.00Mar15SHME ALUMIN CON1 SHF CNY 03/16 13,005.00 02/17 01:58 +5.00 12,990.00 13,030.00 12,945.00Mar15

PRECIOUS METALS100 OZ GOLD MAR4 CMX USD 02/25 1,199.10 02/20 14:56 -8.00 1,206.50 1,213.10 1,199.10Feb15GOLD CON1 TCE JPY 02/24 4,604 02/21 09:53 -12 4,612 4,614 4,585Feb15SILVER CON1 TCE JPY 02/24 63 02/19 09:17 -2 63 63 63Feb15PLATINUM CON1 TCE JPY 02/24 4,426 02/21 07:52 -35 4,403 4,427 4,399Feb15PALLADIUM CON1 TCE JPY 02/24 3,056 02/18 19:11 -44 3,056 3,056 3,056Feb15

CORN/MAIZECORN CON1 CBT USC 03/13 385.25 02/20 14:30 -4.5 389.0 389.5 383.5Mar15MAIZE EUR NOV MAT EUR 01/05 155.75 12/05 12:27 1.25 154.5 155.75 154.0Jan15

WHEATWHEAT CON1 CBT USC 03/13 510.0 02/20 14:22 -17.5 526.5 531.5 509.5Mar15WHEAT CON1 CBT USC 03/13 532.5 02/20 14:14 -11.25 543.25 547.25 532.0Mar15MATIF MILLING WH MAT EUR 01/12 188.25 12/05 12:29 2.0 186.25 188.75 185.25Jan15

RICEROUGH RICE CON1 CBT USD 03/13 10.79 02/20 14:14 -0.01 10.80 10.86 10.70Mar15

SOYBEANSSOYBEANS CON1 CBT USC 03/13 1000.0 02/20 14:29 -8.0 1006.75 1009.75 998.75Mar15SOYBEAN OIL CON1 CBT USC 03/13 31.48 02/20 14:29 -0.35 31.8 31.84 31.26Mar15SOY MEAL CON1 CBT USD 03/13 347.10 02/20 14:14 -0.40 347.50 350.00 346.10Mar15

RAPSEEDRAPESEED DEM CON MAT EUR 01/30 340.25 12/05 12:29 3.5 336.25 340.5 335.0Jan15CANOLA CON1 ICA CAD 03/13 470.1 02/20 14:14 -3.4 474.1 474.1 469.0Mar15

PALM OIL MDX MYR 02/13 2264.0 01/23 04:59 -8.0 2255.0 2270.0 2251.0Feb15

SUGARSUGAR 11 CON1 IUS USC 02/27 14.41 02/20 12:59 -0.27 14.7 14.72 14.32Feb15SUGAR 16 CON1 IUS USC 04/08 24.75 02/20 12:59 0.25 24.75 24.75 24.75Apr15SUGAR NO5 OCT9 IEU USD 02/13 382.80 02/13 12:34 -0.60 382.20 383.80 378.40Feb15RAW SUGAR CON1 TCE JPY 01/30 29,800 12/25 20:35 +0 29,800 29,800 29,800Jan15

COFFEECOFFEE C CON1 IUS USC 03/19 148.5 02/20 13:24 -0.7 150.2 151.35 147.0Mar15ARABICA COFFEE C TGE JPY 02/08 17,000 02/03 19:00 -170 16,170 17,000 16,170Feb13I COFFEE MAR0 BMF USD 03/23 185.55 02/20 14:59 +0.05 185.50 185.65 184.05Mar15

COCOACOCOA CON1 IUS USD 03/16 3,100.00 02/27 11:46 +49.00 3,077.00 3,100.00 3,077.00Mar15

RUBBERRUBBER CON1 TCE JPY 02/23 222 02/27 04:11 +0 222 223 222Feb15

CITRUSFROZEN OJ CON1 IUS USC 03/11 121.0 02/27 13:38 -0.4 122.0 124.05 121.0Mar15

COTTONCOTTON NO 2 CON1 IUS USC 03/09 64.11 02/27 11:27 -1.06 65.1 65.35 64.0Mar15

Global Commodities

BC

Data as of Friday February 27, 2015

Gold futures surged on Friday afternoon to near a two-week

high, as relatively dovish comments from Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen earlier in the week contin-ued to weigh on a weaken-ing dollar.

While the Fed removed its stance of remaining patient on its timing of a potential interest rate hike, Yellen appeared to strike a dovish tone with lower forecasts on infl ation and GDP growth. The U.S. central bank also forecasted that interest rates would rise at a slower pace than had previously been expected.

Gold struggles to compete with high-yield assets in periods of raising interest rates.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery rose 15.70 or 1.34 per cent to 1,184.70 a troy ounce. It marked the third straight day that prices for futures increased by more than $15 an ounce.

Gold futures likely earned support at 1,148.20 the low from March 17 and resistance at 1,196.20 the high from March 5.

The euro on Friday continued to rebound against the dollar, as German chancellor Angela Merkel took a hard stance against Greece in negotiations regarding the euro zone’s bailout pack-age to Athens. Merkel set strict terms on the critical stimulus package Greece could receive from its euro zone creditors,

Gold futures soar to a near two-week high, amid weaker dollar

reiterating that it will only be approved if the euro zone approves a list of economic reform measures Athens intends to pro-pose shortly.

The euro rose nearly two per cent against the dollar in U.S. afternoon trading to 1.0867. EUR/USD has rallied strongly from its level on March 13, when it reached an 11-year low at 1.05.

Dollar-denominated commodities such as gold become more expensive for foreign buyers when the dollar appreci-ates.

In India, gold futures fell by Rs 60 to Rs 26,315 per 10 grams amid lower demand from jewelers and retailers. The modest decline came one day after gold soared by Rs 293 or 1.14 per cent on the Multi Commodity Exchange. India is the world’s largest purchaser of the precious metal.

Elsewhere, silver futures for May delivery soared 4.68 per cent or 0.754 to 16.86.

Copper delivery for the month of May also rose 3.67 per cent or 0.098 to 2.773.

The iron ore market is turning ever more ugly. The price of ore for imme-diate delivery to China’s Tianjin port

is currently assessed by The Steel Index (TSI) at $54.50 a ton.

That’s a record low or at least the low-est since TSI started tracking the spot price back in October 2008.

Such a cataclysmic collapse was never in the script.

Sure, price weakness was expected. How could it not be when the world’s big-gest producers were collectively bringing so much new capacity on stream? But no one expected this sort of carnage.

The two central tenets of the iron ore producer faith are crumbling before their eyes.

The fi rst was that Chinese steel produc-tion, and therefore Chinese iron ore buy-ing, had years of steady growth ahead of it.

“Peak steel” was pencilled in for the next decade, an assessment that looks ever more questionable as China’s steel producers reel from a toxic mix of slow-ing demand from the property sector, an environmental clamp down and relentless margin pressure.

The second was that new, lower-cost supply would neatly displace higher-cost producers, bringing the market back into balance.

This “cost-curve” argument has been used by all the “big three” majors, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Vale, to justify to

shareholders why they are bringing on more production at the time when Chinese demand for their product is looking decid-edly shaky.

It too, though, is now starting to look highly problematic.

The tricky thing with cost curves, as analysts at Liberum Capital point out, is that they “are at best estimates, are highly fl uid and have been terrible predictors of commodity prices.” (“The Miner Details”, March 17, 2015)

Only eight months ago, when the iron ore price had just fallen through the $100-per ton level, analysts at Macquarie Bank put out a research note with the re-assuring title: “Orderly iron ore displace-ment increases confi dence in the cost curve”. (“Commodities Comment”, July 22, 2014)

This week’s research note, accompany-ing another price downgrade, carried a far more ominous title: “Iron ore: a nasty end to market effi ciency”. (Commodities Com-ment, March 17, 2015)

The problem is that in the space of the intervening eight months the iron ore cost curve has fl attened to the point that it’s less of a curve, more of a gently rising slope.

In part this is due to the “effi cient” clo-sure of supply sitting at the top end of the curve, particularly that part coming from the small independent production sector in China itself.

Iron ore, an ugly market about to turn uglier still

Gold

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, March 23, 2015 A15 31Business CourageCourage

ThebuddingEntrepreneurs

Motivational Business Quotes

BCBC

The only way around is through. – Rob-ert Frost

You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don’t do too many things wrong. – Warren Buffett

The noblest search is the search for excel-lence – Lyndon B. Johnson

The man who does not work for the love of work but only for money is not likely to neither make money nor fi nd much fun in life. – Charles M. Schwab

You must remain focused on your journey to greatness. – Les Brown

Far and away the best prize that life offers

is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. – Theodore Roosevelt

Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier. – Charles F. Kettering

Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right! – Henry Ford

You must either modify your dreams or magnify your skills. – Jim Rohn

Who likes not his business, his business likes not him. – William Hazlitt

The new source of power is not money in the hands of a few, but information in the hands of many. – John Naisbitt

B U S I N E S SMamora is a system thinker and advisor whose belief and activator leadership strengths are directed towards improving workers perspective for city and enterprise development. e-mail: olusegunmamora@gmail.com

K L I N I CWith Mamora Victor

‘

‘Guaranteed laws for team improvementReading the book title “Team

of rivals” by Doris Kearns with emphasis on Abra-

ham Lincoln. A story of his victory is an interesting lesson when the news that he had defeated Seward (Lincoln strong rival) came as a shock to much of the country.

On the Capital Hill, word of Lincoln’s nomination was received with general incredibility by many people who rivaled him...Lincoln was viewed as a merely the ac-cidental candidate of the consoli-dated anti-Seward forces. Still an obscure fi gure, he was referred to by half the journals representing his own party as “Abram” rather than “Abraham.” Pointing out that when Lincoln had visited the His-torical Library at Hatford he signed the visitors book as “Abraham Lin-coln.” The Democratic New York Herald caustically noted that “ it is but fair that a man know his own name.”

In Lincoln acceptance speech, he laid the controversy to rest and he wrote, “It seems as if the question whether my fi rst name is ‘Abraham’ or ‘Abram’ will never be settled. It is ‘Abraham’.

Dear entrepreneur, the moral of this story is that winning team usually is a composition of people whose identity is clear irrespective the perception of other peoples view. There cannot be a good per-formance from a team member whose identity is formed by exter-nal force or infl uence. The more you have a collection of people who knows who they are, the ca-pability they posses as individual, and private assurance of winning the better is the team.

Every team that wins consis-tently is composed of individuals with convincing personal identity who rarely need social endorse-ment to motivate in pursuit of both corporate and private goals. People with strong personal iden-tity are not threaten by the suc-cess of other people on the team. They are not easily discourage by the criticism of team members and are clear about their strength and weakness. Rather than strug-gle with their weaknesses, they deploy their energy to their area of best performances. We need people who have sense of personal security on our team and it is pos-sible. I will quickly mention few qualities of such people.

Discipline: This means mastery of self. A quality team member gains control over her thoughts and emotion. Discipline helps one do what has to be done even if one does not feel like doing it.

Perseverance: A team member with good self-image is not eas-ily discourage while on a mission. She is resolute in the face of op-position. Her opinion is strong to-wards fulfi lling business objective.

Faith: team member whose

belief is shaped by stories and personal conviction are often opti-mistic and always expect the best. Such a person is often an incur-able optimist.

Selfl essness: A team member with secure personal identity fo-cuses on giving and not getting. Such person is infl uential on her team because she gives time, en-ergy, and idea to people on the team without expecting a reward.

Although individual with these qualities listed above such as self-discipline, perseverance, faith, selfl essness, and who have good understanding of personal identity are important to success of busi-ness team. The fact is that team is a system of people with differ-ent identity but relates effectively to use the organisation resources effi ciently in achieving a common goal. In business, that common

goal is to create values that trans-late to wealth.

Teams that succeed are de-velops on the foundation of prin-ciples and the improvement of the team performance is achievable by constant alignment of decision with proven principle and laws of team formation. This is because law is usually stable and pre-dictable irrespective of change in economic policy, political arrange-ment, and shift in social demogra-phy and location. Law or principle remains the same from genera-tion to generation and producing the same effect.

These laws stated below guar-antee you team improvement.

First: The law of synergyThis law state that the greater

the goal, the greater the need for a team. It is the law of co-operation. Improving on team members’ collaboration attitude to achieve common business objective is key to winning in business.

Second: The Law of big pictureThis law says that the goal of

the team is more important than the individual roles. Winning teams have discovered that corpo-rate effort pays above individual interests. Improve on every team member’s ability to develop the big picture mentality.

Third: The law of catalystThe law says that a team

member that wins have people who makes thing happen and speeding up the rate of action and reaction in the pursuit of business mission. Improve on your team members’ ability to act and react to business challenges and oppor-tunities.

Fourth: The law of nicheThis law says that each team

player has a place where each can add the greatest value. Help your team members carve out a niche for themselves and constantly improve in that area. Football or soccer game is typical example of team that operates this law very well. Usually a team that wins a game is the one that have best 11 players that are performing very well in their niche areas either as forward sticker, defensive mid fi elder or as full back defender and wing fl anks players.

Lastly, I believe that you are ready to win this week again. Reading this column informs me that you are ready to win because winners are learners. As you step out today to improve on your team I believe you will win and experi-ence a new level of fulfi llment on that business. Cheer up, be cou-rageous and improve. Join me next week Monday on business Klinic as I discuss on Im-provement.

Every team that wins consistently is composed of individuals with convincing personal identity who rarely need social endorsement to motivate in pursuit of both corporate and private goals

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, March 23, 2015A16 32 Business CourageCourage

ThebuddingEntrepreneurs

Management Principles

Middle-market businesses pitfalls and how to avoid them (2)Step 3Adopt a new growth strategy

Many companies fail to adapt their product-and-service mix and business model to meet the challenge of producing growth. Often they have a product that is selling well but they fail to innovate and fi nd that a new competitor has taken over the mar-

ket. New growth strategies are needed, including:*Core Strategy – A basic strategy to expand your core product offering either geographi-

cally or to new customers and markets. *Adjacency Strategy – Are there “adjacent” areas around the company’s core products or

services that are natural extensions of the core? Extension Strategy – Strategies that reach beyond natural adjacencies to variations

or extensions of the company’s products or services that might position the company for growth.

New Market Strategy – Consider entering new markets through new models like alliances, channels, partnerships, mergers or acquisitions, or even franchising your product or service.

Step 4Consider new ways to fi nance your business

Public companies have alternatives for fi nancing growth through big banks and Wall Street. For private middle-market companies, the main traditional sources of growth capital

As at the time he got start-ed, the idea really was not to be an entrepreneur, he

wanted to be able to take decision and make those decisions hap-pen. As a teenager, the idea of entrepreneurship was somehow alien to him. “Well, I wouldn’t say I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur, but I’ve always wanted to be able to make deci-sions; not only on what should happen but how I should make it happen. At that time, I didn’t understand what entrepreneur-ship meant” confessed Gospel Ukanwoke, the US based Nige-rian social entrepreneur who at just 24, has attained signifi cant milestone in the area of social entrepreneurship.

Gossy, as he is fondly called, had founded the Student Circle Network (SCN), in North Cyprus in June 2010, as a personal proj-ect, built as a collaboration tool for students at his university campus. SCN is a member of the OpenCourseWare consortium of member universities across the globe offering free educational services to students in Business, Computing, Engineering, Sci-ences and Humanities.

The network became popu-lar in more campuses within the North Cyprus and became open for students in West Africa after it was featured on Venture Capital for Africa and African In-novators. It also became open in Brazil after it was featured in - Hoje Em Dia of Brazil and other European news sites on how the network is creating a learning environment for students. By December 2010, just six months after take-off, it became open to all students across the globe.

Currently indexing over 10,431 academic courses from over 200 OpenCourseWare member universities across the globe free to students, Students Circle has grown to become a world known social network and has been featured on several news media worldwide and has been referred to as “Africa’s Top Tech Entrepreneur” by ITNews Africa in 2011.

SCN started off as a social network providing educational help for students on the same campus with Gossy, but when requests from other schools

The Social EntrepreneurHe is just 24 and currently receiving rare reviews across the globe, he’s dubbed “Nigeria’s budding Mark Zuckerberg” by Forbes. His first endeavour was the Student Circle Network, an educational social network for college and high school students which he founded in 2010 is now, Beni American University (BAU), a 21st Century online University with strong emphasis on technology, web 2.0 and entrepreneurship. He is Nigeria’s US-based Gospel Ukanwoke

By Semiu Salami

started coming in and people started getting interested be-cause users were talking about the website to their friends, Stu-dents Circle had to change its focus to a global one.

Today, Students Circle is an academic network for students, teachers and institutions. First, it provides a space for students to be able to interact and have access to resources that can help for independent study or group-study. It is a place where students can ask questions and fi nd solutions to their academic diffi culties. Secondly, SCN is a platform where teachers can do two things: get access to re-sources they can use to add to their own academic contents and interact with their students. Finally, the platform creates av-enue for institutions where they are able to connect directly with their students through groups.

However, bolstered by the feat achieved by SCN within a short period and the urge to help address the issue of inad-equate openings for African, particularly Nigerian students seeking admission to her insti-tutions, Gossy established the Beni American University (BAU), a web-based university with the vision of ensuring that educa-tion is made available without boundaries to students of all

the issue. I decided to bring all these people together to form a group of young Africans who are working towards this change. This movement birthed Beni American University,” he said in a recent interview.

As the Founder and Presi-dent of the institution, Gossy is overseeing all affairs of the institution, from academics and international initiatives / collaborations, to admissions and student life, and is respon-sible for setting future goals and pathways for the university. His vision is to transform how edu-cation is provided and make it readily available for people who otherwise might not have access or the resources for an educa-tion.

BAU is a hybrid university that uniquely combines the ad-vantages of the online platforms and the stringent qualities of the on-campus learning. As part of the online training, stu-dents are required to take their classes, quizzes, tests and proj-ects online, while as part of the on-campus learning, students are required to take their exami-nations, facilitation, internship,

backgrounds, ethnicity, age, sex, religion and income.

The idea, according to Gossy, was conceived through a thought process of fi nding a way to use

technology to solve the problem of education in Nigeria. “It be-came even more interesting to fi nd out that I am not the only one who was concerned about

Ukanwoke

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, March 23, 2015 A17 33Business CourageCourage

BCBC

ThebuddingEntrepreneursPersonal Finance

have been internal capital generation from profi ts and bank lines of credit.

Private companies need to mimic public companies by ex-panding their sources of capital and creating a backup plan in case current sources become unavailable.

Many capital sources are available to private companies. Examples include Asset-Based Lending, SBA loans, receivables fi nancing, sale/leaseback, lines of credit, fi xed-term debt, and emerging crowd-sourcing fi nancing. All have different costs, restrictions and availability. Some may require personal guar-antees though the terms of these vary widely. Smart CEOs and CFOs need to be familiar with all of them.

Step 5Identify and manage your risks

According to a 2011 RIMS survey, 54 per cent of companies have partially or fully implemented a formal Enterprise Risk Man-agement (ERM) programme. That means that 46 per cent have not.

Many smaller companies believe that ERM is a bureaucratic exercise that does not promote sales or growth and can lead to “analysis paralysis.” As a result, many private companies incur risks they did not anticipate and they fall victim to those risks.

Identify your key business risks, attach probabilities to each risk, and mitigate and track these risks. If you see risk in hav-ing too much of your business concentrated in a few customers, make it a priority to reduce this concentration, even if you have to cut your margins temporarily.

By adopting some key business strategies, you can position your business to reach the next level of growth and have a shot at generating real wealth for yourself and your investors.

and study offl ine at its designated centres.

Currently, the university runs degree programmes in Business Management, International Busi-ness and Management Information Systems and plans to expand its disciplines to include programmes in International Relations, Political Science, Psychology and other Hu-manities.

The Beni American University is structured along three levels. The leadership is made up of a team of eight individuals that handle the day-to-day running of the institu-tion, as well as its growth and qual-ity management. It has an Advisory Council, comprised of highly expe-rienced professionals in Business, Technology, Policy and Education, who guide the leadership of the in-stitution in all aspects of running the institution. The Academic Team has over 30 people led by the Rector

and the Vice Rector for Academics which handle all aspects of teach-ing, learning and management of the academic facet of the institu-tion. “We are all motivated in dif-ferent ways, yet we are united by the single vision and goal of edu-cating the under-served members of the community, most especially those in Africa. It is very encour-aging to see different individuals from different backgrounds work with determination towards this goal,” he said.

Gossy heads the Business and Technology developments of the university. The Rector, Prof. Payne has headed faculties in Europe, United Kingdom and the United States in over 40 years while the Vice Rector, Prof. Tan-seloglu is also believed to have headed academic faculties over a 15-year span.

However, like most start-ups,

Gossy’s SCN and BAU have not been completely insulated with the initial challenges that have in most cases, cut short some highly inspiring dreams.

In terms of funding, most ven-ture capitalists that he had spoken to about the idea are a bit sceptical and not willing to stake their funds in a start-up they are not sure of what the future holds for it. “I have shared these ideas with venture capitalists and angels when this was at its infant stage and at the point they felt it was early. The VCs were not focused on early stage start-ups at the time,” he said.

On the infrastructural side, particularly getting the Africans, which are the centre point of his project key into his vision, Gossy admitted that his team had an understanding that there is an emerging problem. “We have con-sidered these problems and have picked out a few ways to deal with them. Firstly, we are working with internationally trained tutors, who are young and understand the dy-namics of teaching and learning in the modern environment. They are 80 per cent Nigerians by origin as well. This will allow our students learn from people who understand them, people who have quality backgrounds in their respective fi elds.”

Secondly, Gossy says he is working with a few international Centres for Entrepreneurship as well as Entrepreneurial Hubs to take the students through a rig-orous business development boot camp; which will allow them form teams that it will fund. “Then, they can launch a product in the mar-ket upon their graduation from our institution. Finally, we are also partnering with international in-stitutions that are ready to absorb some of our students when they graduate and allow them complete their degrees and graduate-level learning at their institutions.”

The major challenge here is se-curing partnership which he ad-mitted is often delayed when the international institutions realize that the project is going to be Af-rican based and most interestingly Nigeria. “We are working hard at this to ensure we continue working with our African partners whilst building the international collabo-rations that will give our students the edge over others,” he assured.

Gossy has presented at inter-national conferences on Education and Application of Technology in Education and has been a guest speaker at the Girne American University PhD series seminars as well as seminars focusing on Social Networking application in Educa-tion.

He has also written a series of guest articles for leading internet media sites on how education is being changed with technology as well as guest columns on entre-preneurship for emerging markets. Gossy is pursuing a Bachelors of Science Degree in Management Information Systems from Girne American University.

Ukanwoke

Steps towards achieving your business goals

When you spend so much time trying to survive day to day, it can be easy to forget why you started your small

business in the fi rst place.Though it is important for for small business

owners to set goals, most of them however have a lot of diffi culty setting and reaching goals.

Business owners are responsible for every-thing; day to day issues just keep getting in the way. Remember the old saying: “When you’re up to your neck in alligators, its easy to forget that the initial objective was to drain the swamp!” This is what business owners are facing all the time. They spend so much energy each day just trying to survive; they forget why they started the business in the fi rst place.

So, assuming you decides to set at least one major goal for the business to achieve in 2013, how can you make sure you will achieve the goal by the end of the year?

Here are three simple steps to help you reach the goals you set.

*Make sure the goal is realistic and can be broken down into small parts. Having a goal to increase sales in 2013 is not a good goal. Stat-ing that you want to increase sales by 20 per cent in 2013 is much better because it is spe-cifi c and measurable. This goal can be broken down to measurable units by time (each month, each week, and each day), and what needs to happen in each time period.

* Make sure the goal is in front of you each day, and make sure you say the goal aloud each day. How long does it take to do this, 30 sec-onds, one minute? Each day is the key. Goals must become habits and this is the fi rst impor-tant habit of goal setting. Ask yourself: What do I need to accomplish today, to meet my goal for 2013?

*Break down the larger goal into measur-able units that include both action items and a timeline. In the goal above, one way of breaking it down would be to set smaller monthly goals. For example, the small goal might be to increase January 2013 sales by 20 per cent over last year. The actions you need to accomplish this might be to spend two hours each Thursday going door to door to prospect for new business. Or the action might be to call 30 new prospects each week, or if you are an introvert, you might decide to identify 30 new prospects and e-mail them information on what you do.

These three simple steps make all the differ-ence in the world when it comes to goals. One thing that also should be added to your goal is your reward for reaching your goal! Adding a reward to the goal in step 1 adds a big incen-tive for you to focus on the goal each day. Make these three steps a habit, and by the end of 2013, you might fi nd that for once, you really were able to “drain the swamp!” BC

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, March 23, 2015A18 34 Business CourageCourage

Behind d WheelsThis page is open to sponsorship

2015 Ford Edge Titanium: You have no idea about the great change By Adejuwon Osunnuyi (megacrown1@yahoo.com)

While it is noted that some new models ar-rive to great fanfare,

as they instantly make their predecessors go obsolete thus shifting customer perception of the brand, surprisingly, the 2015 Ford Edge is not in this category.

The new Ford Edge quietly takes its place in dealer show-rooms this month, smack in the middle of the model year, the redesign mostly concerned with putting the model back on par with the rest of the contemporary Ford lineup.

The Escape infl uence shows in the Edge’s sculpt-ed sides and straked hood, while the grille looks bor-rowed from a Taurus. The in-strument panel and switch-gear were taken directly from the corporate larder, and the door inserts could have been poached from a Mus-tang. Underhood, the Edge’s new top-of-the-line engine is donated by the F-150, while the Fusion’s CD4 platform provides underpinnings. The old Edge is even represented, its cake-pan-like silhouette having been retained in the redesign.

Higher-quality ingredients abound, most noticeably in the interior fi nishes, yet the recipe is happily consistent with what’s been served be-fore. The Edge continues as a fi ve-seater, offered at the same $28,995 base price as last year, while Ford’s market-ing team still directs third-row seekers to the Explorer and the Flex. Three choices again appear on the engine menu in the form of a turbo four and two V-6s, with front- or four-wheel drive available.

New EnginesLast year’s base engine, the

naturally aspirated 3.5-liter

V-6, is now a $425 option. A new it-eration of Ford’s Eco-Boost 2.0-liter four, a $995 upcharge last year, is stan-dard. And for the fi rst time, the four-cylinder is available with four-wheel drive and an optional tow package.

The 2.0-liter has been sub-stantially overhauled and its turbocharger is now of the twin-scroll variety, which helps produce 245 horse-power, fi ve more than in last year’s 2.0-liter EcoBoost. It’s worth noting that, although Ford says its EcoBoost pow-erplants do not require pre-mium fuel, power ratings for these engines are calculated while using 93-octane gaso-line; customers who pump regular will be making do with less horsepower. So, too, will buyers of the optional 3.5-li-ter, as this V-6 takes a fi ve-horsepower hit from last year. It now makes 280 horses due to differences in packaging and tuning.

The Edge Sport continues into this generation, losing a liter of displacement and gaining two turbos. It is now fi tted with the fi rst transverse

a p p l i -cation of the EcoBoost 2.7-liter V-6, rated at 315 horsepower and 350 lb-ft of torque. It’s exclusive to this trim. Sport models also get monotube rear shocks, stiffer springs and anti-roll bars, and a distinct front fas-cia. The Edge Sport starts at $38,995 and can push past $45,000 if you load it up with equipment.

New GadgetsFord offers nearly every fea-

ture and technology at its dis-posal here. All Edges employ a six-speed automatic updated with steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters and a Sport mode. Optional advanced safety equipment includes blind-spot monitoring, cross-traffi c alert, adaptive cruise control with lane-keeping as-sist, infl atable rear seatbelts, and a 180-degree front-view camera. An advanced version of Ford’s parking-assist tech-nology will not only parallel park your Edge for you, but also pull you out of the space

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National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, March 23, 2015 A19 35Business CourageCourage

Autocare

BCBC

Behind d WheelsThis page is open to sponsorship

Signs of transmission trouble (3)Check engine light:

The check engine light can be a great early indicator that something is starting to go wrong with your transmis-sion. The check engine light can come on for any num-

ber of reasons not related to your transmission as well, but don’t overlook this clear warning sign.

In newer cars there are sensors throughout the engine that pick up irregularities in the engine and notify the computer that there’s something wrong in a particular area.

In the case of transmissions, these sensors can pick up vibrations and early problems that you may not even be able to feel or see. If you want to know if your check engine light is telling you about a transmission problem, you can purchase a diagnostic scan tool that you plug into your car underneath the driver’s side of the instrument panel.

The scan tool will display a code that corresponds to the area of the vehicle causing the fault. If the code tells you there’s a transmission problem, well, that’s a good time to see your mechanic.

But even if your check engine light isn’t on, you can still be on the lookout for transmission problems. On the next page, see what type of movements your car can make when the transmission requires service.

Grinding or shaking: Depending on whether you have a manual or automatic transmission, your car may respond differently when your transmission isn’t working correctly. As noted in a previous section, with a manual transmission, a common sign of trouble is a grinding sound or feeling when you shift into a new gear. If you fully engage the clutch, shift and then hear a grinding sound, you may have a worn clutch or you may just need to have it adjusted [source: AAMCO]. Or perhaps one or more of your transmission’s gear synchroniz-ers, or synchros, is worn out or damaged. Grinding gears can be caused by a number of different factors.

For automatic transmissions problems, you’ll most likely feel the car shimmy into each gear rather than the typical almost unnoticeable shifts, or the transmission will make a jarring transition into the next gear. Both are signs that your transmission needs attention. If you notice anything other than a smooth transition between gears, then you might need to have your automatic transmission looked at for adjust-ments or repair.

But feeling transmission problems aren’t the only way to use your senses. Go on to the next page to see what sounds you should be listening for as well.

Whining, clunking and humming: It’s diffi cult to nail down exactly how your car may sound if there’s transmission trouble, but one thing’s pretty certain, you’ll probably get a that-doesn’t-sound-right feeling when you hear it. Every car is built differently, so the sounds they produce can vary greatly, but if you have an automatic transmission, there’s a good chance you may hear a whining, humming or even a slight buzzing sound.

With manual transmissions, the sounds will usually come across as a bit more abrupt and mechanical sounding. If you shift gears and hear a clunking sound, then you defi nitely need to have it checked out by a professional [source: AAM-CO]. But a clunking sound from underneath your vehicle may not always point to a transmission problem. Your constant velocity joints (CV joints), or even your differential may be the culprit.

The sounds you hear may happen from time to time at fi rst, but if you neglect the noises, they’ll occur more frequent-ly as time goes on.

Lack of response: Transmissions are designed to go into the correct gear every time, so when they hesitate or refuse to go, it’s a sure sign there’s something wrong. With manual transmission problems, you may notice after shifting into a gear that the car’s engine will rev up, but the car won’t be moving as quickly as the engine is running. In this case, a worn-out clutch or more serious transmission problem may be occurring.

Automatic transmissions have the same lack-of-response problem, but will usually manifest the issue while engaging the “Park” or “Drive” selection. The car should shift quickly into either of these modes, but if your transmission hesitates to go into either one, then it’s likely there’s an issue with the transmission.

or back your vehicle into a perpendic-ular spot.

MyFord Touch also lingers on the option list, and, as in other new Fords, its capaci-tive touch controls have been jettisoned in favor of two neat rows of little round buttons. Edge shoppers who want Ford’s promised-to-be-im-proved Sync 3 system might well wait and see if it appears in the 2016 model arriving this fall. As it requires new hardware, it will be incompat-

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your vehicle into a perpendicible with what’s cur-

rently offered, meaning there will be no ability to upgrade a 2015 Edge. Ford says it will start rolling out the new in-fotainment system later this year.

New-ish PersonalityThe Edge drives much

like the Fusion with which it shares its front strut and rear multilink suspension design. Its steering is light and quick, creating the impression of a smaller vehicle, at least until

c o r -n e r -

ing forces build. Wheelbase has grown by an inch to 112.2, matching the Fusion’s, while an additional 3.9 inches of length over last year give the new Edge boosts in both passenger and cargo volume. Aluminum lower con-trol arms and increased use of high-strength steel help drop stated curb weights on most models, although all but the most basic Edge will still top two tons. But that weight is well controlled, and the Edge delivers a plush ride.

The twin-turbo 2.7-liter is a worthy replacement for the old naturally aspirated 3.7-li-ter. It even sounds the part, the only one of the three en-gines whose exhaust and in-take notes do much to pen-etrate the quiet cabin. At the other end of the spectrum, acceleration from the four-cylinder remains adequate but unimpressive. While it does boast a 3-mpg improve-ment in EPA combined fuel economy compared with ei-ther of the V-6 engines, our experience shows that turbo-charged, small-displacement engines often fall short of those estimates in the real world. The 3.5-liter V-6 offers better throttle response and a more linear power delivery, and so it seems like $425 well spent, especially compared with the much higher cost of the Sport.

The Edge is one of Ford’s stalwart products, a model that has historically topped 10,000 sales per month. This modernized version may not break new ground, but it does offer incremental improve-ments in nearly every area. It looks and feels more refi ned, and the equipment upgrades alone should keep buyers in-terested.

BC

By Gbenga Odogun

The Securities and Ex-change Commission, SEC, has proposed new

set of rules aimed, to boost the capital market and increase in-vestors’ confi dence.

The proposed rules in addi-tion to the existing regulation already in place specifi cally directed funds and portfolio managers to ensure that the execution of clients orders are effected at the best available terms at every point in time.

SEC also, said fund manag-ers shall be required to put in place written Board approved guidelines in its operations manual outlining all identifi able areas of confl ict of interest and stipulating actions to be taken to prevent occurrences thereof arising when allocating and ex-ecuting transactions.

The Fund Managers are ex-pected to guarantee securities for clients portfolio and take care of other issues including fi rms propriety trade, benefi cial transactions for fi rms directors and employees.

The Rule also prohibits short sales of a clients portfolio or un-authorised borrowing of securi-ties from clients’ portfolio.

SEC also said fund and

portfolio managers should en-sure the existence of a formal written agreement, CSA, with each client or group of clients before the provision of any ser-vice, adding that there should be clearly stating of terms and condition on fees payable by the clients and scope of services to be provided with regards to investment management ser-vices.

Others items to spelt out in-clude; investment policy from which the management terms is derived, investment objec-tives of the clients, performance benchmark, risk profi le of the client limitations ,restrictions and so on among others.

SEC proposes new rules to boost stock market

Mounir Gwarzo, DG SEC

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, March 23, 2015A20 36 Business CourageCourage

BC

REGULATORS

BC

By Adejuwon Osunnuyi

The Central Bank of Nigeria has again reiterated the strategic importance of the

Micro, Small and Medium En-terprise, MSME, to the growth of the nation’s economy.

This was made known at the thee-day workshop on the N220bn Micro, Small & Me-dium Enterprise Development Fund organised by the Bankers’ Committee’s sub-committee on Economic Development, Sus-tainability and Gender in collab-oration with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

According to the apex bank, MSMEs are the engine room for economic growth, vehicle for job creation, tools for poverty allevi-ation and wealth creation for any country’s economy.

In his presentation, the CBN’s Director, Development Finance Department, Dr. Mu-dashiru Olaitan represented by the Assistant Director, MSME Development Fund, Mr. Tobin Jonathan, said the workshop was organized to cross-fertilize ideas and bridge the knowledge about the MSME sector by the lending institution and to also correct the wrong perception of the risky nature of the sector.

According to him, “The rejec-tion rate of MSME application by commercial banks is very high. We are aware this is neces-sitated by the banks’ aversion to risk due to lack of entrepreneur-ial skills and poor governance structures of most MSMEs, hence the need for the workshop to enlighten the bankers and en-

courage them more on the need to partner with us on the need to grow the sector.”

In his presentation titled “Collateral Registry and MSME Financing,” the Project Manager of the International Finance Cor-poration, IFC, Ubong Awah said, IFC was collaborating with CBN to establish a National Collat-eral Registry to stabilise MSME fi nancing and also boost the confi dence of Nigerian banks in playing active roles in fi nancing the sector. According to him, the MSME sector is an important catalyst for economic growth and fi nancing the sector needs seri-ous attention.

“As an organization, IFC is bringing the experience we have garnered over the years across geographies to bridge the knowl-edge gaps and to lay emphasis on the fact that globally, collateral for MSME is moving away from fi xed assets to movable assets, hence the need to establish a col-lateral registry for the fi nancial

industry. We are excited to part-ner with Central Bank on this initiative,” Awah said.

On the essence of the work shop, the Assistant Director, De-velopment Finance department of the apex bank, Mrs. Amina Umar said since the N220bn MSME intervention fund was launched in 2014 the uptake by the Deposit Money Banks had not been encouraging.

“There is then the need to in-teract with SME offi cers of banks to understand the banks’ chal-lenges in MSME fi nancing,” she said.

According to her, it is the hope of the Central Bank, that with this workshop more than fi fty percent of the fund would have been accessed by the end of 2015 in compliance with the target set by the Bankers’ Com-mittee and driven by the Eco-nomic Development, Sustain-ability and Gender chaired by Mrs. Bola Adesola ,Managing Director, Standard Chartered Bank.

Mrs. Umar was of the opinion that at the end of the workshop, banks would increase awareness about the intervention fund, build capacity within the sec-tor, develop innovative MSME fi nancing products and also take advantage of the over 17 million MSMEs within the sector.

Other Speakers included, Mr. Peter Bamkole, Director, Enter-prise Development Centre, Pan Atlantic University, Dr. Kamak-hya Singh, CFO, Lapo Micro-Finance and Ms. Olabisi Talabi, Entrepreneur and CEO, Centre of Hospitality Studies.

CBN reiterates role of MSME in nation’s economic growth

Godwin Emefi ele, CBN Boss

By Isaiah Erhiawarien

Nigerian Communica-tions Commission NCC, last week released new

Information Memorandum,IM heralding the resumption of the proposed 2.6 gigahertz ,GHz, spectrum band auction.

While announcing the re-sumption of the spectrum auc-tion rounds, Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr. Eu-gene Juwah, urged interested bidders to be guided by the In-formation Memorandum, IM on the Commission’s website.

The IM defi nes the process that the Commission has de-cided to adopt for the licens-ing of 2x70 Megahertz, MHz, paired spectrum available in the 2.6GHz band.

The IM also provides infor-mation on the Nigerian telecom-munications market, details of the spectrum to be made avail-able, pre-qualifi cation process, the auction process and indica-tive timetable among others.

Also, throwing more light on the imminent auction during a presentation in Lagos, Director, Spectrum Administration, DSA at NCC, Mr Austin Nwaulune, said that the 2.6GHz Spectrum had been infl uenced by the

need to open up the space for the delivery of present and fu-ture generations of broadband services to subscribers in con-sonance with the Nigerian Na-tional Broadband Plan, NBP of 2013-2018.

The NBP, approved by the Federal Government in 2013, is a policy direction targeted at increasing broadband penetra-tion to 30 per cent in the next four years.

According to the new IM, it is planned that the auction will take place during the week com-mencing May 4, but effectively hold from May 5-8, 2015, while the auction will be an Ascend-ing Clock Auction. In addition, the fi nal result of the winners of the spectrum auctions shall be announced on June 2, 2015.

NCC noted that the spec-trum band is key for both new entrants and incumbent opera-tors, adding that the Commis-sion arrived at this after wide consultations with relevant in-dustry stakeholders to deter-mine the best way to issue the spectrum.

“Based on these and obser-vations of developments in the international licensing trends, the Commission has decided to license the available 2x70 MHz

slot in slots of 5MHz to be ag-gregated by applicants through the spectrum auction process,” he said.

The spectrum, it was learnt, will be offered on technology neutral basis but for rollout ba-sis, the Commission will follow the International Telecommuni-cations Union, ITU, recommen-dation, setting aside Spectrum in the 2.6GHz band for the

provision of Advanced Wireless Broadband Services.

According to the IM, while the reserved price has been pegged at $16 million for a lot of 2x5 megahertz, MHz, at the end of the auction, each winning li-censee will be issued a National Spectrum Licence for 10 years and will also qualify for a Uni-fi ed Access Service Licence, UASL.

“On completion of the Auc-tion Process, the Commission will issue each winner a ten year National Spectrum licence on a state by state basis and the Federal Capital Territory. Each winner who does not cur-rently hold a Unifi ed Access Service License UASL, which is the operational licence, will be issued one at an additional fee of N374.6 million,” the IM clear-ly states.

According to the IM, to pre-qualify, an applicant does not necessarily have to hold any telecoms operational licence but must “must be independent from all other applicants under

this allocation process; trans-fer an intention to Bid Deposit ,IBD being ten percent of the re-served bid price; while licensed operators participating in the process must fulfi l all existing obligations to the Commission including payments of Annual Operating Levy ,AOL, Spectrum and National Numbering Plan fees prior to pre-qualifi cation.”

Meanwhile, explaining why the Commission opted for the auction exercise for most of its spectrum sales, Nwaulune said that auction exercise is an effi -cient way to assign scarce spec-trum resources.

“Using auction provides bet-ter approach to manage com-petition; a fair and transparent allocation process while it also allows the regulator to allocate to those most likely to deploy resources valuably and to meet the market circumstances, among others,” he said, adding that the NCC was determined to put in place measures to im-prove broadband penetration in the country.

NCC tasks stakeholders on 2.6Ghz spectrum auction

Juwah

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, March 23, 2015 A21 37

Stock Updates

GAINERS

COMPANY OPENING PRICE CLOSING PRICE CHANGE

HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC 2.78 3.00 7.91

GLAXO SMITHKLINE NIG. PLC 40.00 42.00 5.00

COSTAIN (WEST AFRICA) PLC 0.61 0.64 4.92

AIICO INSURANCE PLC 0.87 0.90 3.45

WEMA BANK PLC 0.93 0.96 3.23

CHAMPION BREWERIES PLC 5.00 5.16 3.20

ASSOCIATED BUS CO PLC 0.52 0.53 1.92

7-UP BOTTLING CO PLC 154.00 156.01 1.31

NESTLE FOODS NIGERIA PLC 820.00 829.50 1.16

NAHCO PLC 4.96 4.99 0.60

LOSERS

COMPANY OPENING PRICE CLOSING PRICE CHANGE

AFRICA PRUD REG PLC 3.10 2.40 -22.58

ZENITH INTL BANK PLC 20.60 16.49 -19.95

DANGOTE FLOUR MILLS PLC 3.53 2.90 -17.85

DIAMOND BANK PLC 4.25 3.62 -14.82

FIDELITY BANK PLC 1.51 1.29 -14.57

UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC 4.13 3.53 -14.53

MAY & BAKER NIGERIA PLC 1.79 1.55 -13.41

TRANSCORP PLC 3.00 2.67 -11.00

R. T. BRISCOE (NIG.) PLC 0.75 0.67 -10.67

UNION BANK PLC 10.00 9.01 -9.90

Treasury Bills

Maturity date Bid Offer

25-Jun-15 13.63 14.14

24-Sep-15 14.87 16.11

03-Mar-16 14.67 17.07

Primary Market Auction

TENOR AMOUNT (N’mn) RATE (%) DATE

91-Day 21538.34 9.95 7-Mar-15

182-Day 33783.25 10.1 14-Mar-15

364-Day 59081.14 10.35 14-Mar-15

Market Indicators for Week Ended 20-03-15All-Share Index 29,243.91 Basis PointsMarket Capitalization N9,797,326,026,170.50

Business CourageCourage

BC

BC

EQUITIES

A turnover of 1.382 billion shares worth N12.053 billion in 16,877 deals

were traded last week by in-vestors on the fl oor of the Ex-change in contrast to a total of 3.596 billion shares valued at N24.564 billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 24,288 deals.

The Financial Services In-dustry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.229 billion shares valued at N7.181 billion traded in 10,743 deals; thus contributing 88.91 per cent and 59.58 per cent to the total equity turnover vol-ume and value respectively. The Conglomerates Industry followed with a turnover of 61.568 million shares worth N187.598 million in 814 deals. The third place was occupied by the Consumer Goods Indus-try with 49.197 million shares

worth N3.199 billion in 2,450 deals.

Trading in the Top Three Equities namely- Diamond Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc and First City Monument Bank Plc (measured by volume) account-ed for 550.741 million shares worth N2.419 billion in 1,500 deals, contributing 39.84 per cent and 20.07 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

ETPsAlso traded during the week

were a total of 105,162 units of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) valued at N1.504 million executed in 20 deals compared with a total of 366,178 units valued at N6.500 million trans-acted last week in 27 deals.

RETAIL BONDSThere was no trade recorded

on bonds this week. However, a

total of 100 units of FGN Bonds valued at N104,391.66 was transacted last week in 1 deal.

INDEX MOVEMENTThe NSE All-Share Index

and Market Capitalization de-preciated by 4.51% respectively to close on Friday at 29,334.23 and N9.789 trillion.

Similarly, all Indices fi nished lower during the week with ex-ception of the NSE ASeM Index that closed fl at.

SUMMARY OF PRICE CHANGES

Eleven equities appreciated in price during the week, lower than 33 equities of the preced-ing week. Fifty-three equities depreciated in price, higher than 36 equities of the preced-ing week, while 132 equities remained unchanged, higher than 127 equities recorded in the preceding week.

Stock market last week

The Lagos State Commis-sioner for Housing, Mr Bo-sun Jeje, on Friday called

on private investors to join the ministry’s Public Private Partner-ship (PPP) initiative.

He said at the commemora-tion of the ̀ `handing over of Chief Anthony Enahoro Housing Es-tate, Shogunro in Ogba Lagos that the PPP was aimed at deliv-ering affordable houses to people.

According to him, this will ensure that affordable houses are delivered through the La-gos Mortgage Home Ownership Scheme (HOMS).

``Since the kick off of a new phase of housing for Lagos resi-dence started in 2013, more than 1000 houses have been built and delivered on mortgage.

``This latest addition, 20 resi-dential blocks of 240 housing units of one-bedroom, two-bed-room and three-bedroom fl ats,

will ensure that Lagos middle class live in a decent environ-ment.

``It is also a wake-up call on the private investors to join the PPP programme of the ministry to build houses for the people,’’ he said.

Jeje said that the estate would further reduce the huge housing defi cits in the state.

Mr Adam Adedimeji, the

Chairman of the Estate’s Resi-dents Association, said that the Lagos HOMS had put a smile on the faces of the benefi ciaries of the housing units.

He pointed out that houses had also removed problems in-volved in building personal hous-es in the state.

Adedimeji, however, request-ed state government to fulfi ll its promise of providing alternative power supply to the estate.

He also appealed to the gov-ernment to facilitate the receipt of the residents’ copies of their Ex-ecuted Deed of Mortgage.

He further requested that gov-ernment should help in providing security in the Estate.

Mr Micheal Enahoro, the im-mediate younger brother of Late Chief Anthony Enahoro, thanked the state government for honour-ing his late brother by naming the estate after him.

Lagos Govt. woos private investors on housing devt.

Babatude Fashola, Lagos State Governor

Forte Oil: Profi t drops on naira devaluation, borrowing costs

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, March 23, 2015A22 38 Business CourageCourage

BC

By Johnson Okanlawon

Nigerian downstream oil and gas fi rm has full year 2014 profi t damp-

ened by huge borrowing costs and the recent devaluation of currency, as it is exposed to for-eign liabilities and settlements.

Though the industry is high-ly geared, a substantial fraction of the industry’s total borrow-ings are denominated in the domestic currency. The com-pany’s borrowings are denomi-nated in currencies that match the cash fl ows generated by the underlying operations of the group, primarily Naira, Ghana Cedis, and US Dollars. This pro-vides a hedge even without the use of derivatives. In the com-pany’s latest result, loss from foreign currency translation declined 27 per cent despite the substantial pressure on the do-mestic currency during the year under review.

For the fi nancial year ended December 31, 2014, the energy group posted a decline in its annual profi t. It posted an eight per cent decline in annual pre-tax profi t for last year to N6bn despite an increase recorded in the company’s revenue.

Consequently, the share-holders will receive a dividend per share of N2.50 compared to N4.00 dividend paid out in the same period of 2013, though it offers shareholders a bonus of one share for every fi ve or-dinary shares currently held. The share bonus is expected to compensate for the decline in

dividend yield as we observed share price at more than double at the end of 2014.

Profi tabilityThe audited report and ac-

counts of the company for the year ended December 31, 2014 showed impressive growth in the top-line but huge fi nance cost negated its bottom-line. The company’s revenue rose 32.9 per cent, while gross profi t and operating profi t increased 50.6 per cent and 29.8 per cent respectively. However, fi nance cost was up 938 per cent, which depressed pre and post tax profi ts by 7.94 per cent and 10.95 per cent respectively.

Operating profi t also grew by 29.7 per cent but was largely reduced by a sharp decrease in other income (-78.12 per cent). The company managed its dis-tribution and administrative expenses well enough as both line items declined compared to what was recorded in the corre-sponding period of 2013. Profi t after tax declined 10.9 per cent because of a huge portion of loans and borrowings that at-tracted fi nance charges growth of 937.1 per cent compared to 2013 fi nancial year.

The turnover rose from N128.0bn in 2013 fi nancial year to N170.1bn in the review peri-od, while gross profi t increased from N12.3bn to N18.5bn. Op-erating profi t grew to N8.14bn in 2014 as against N6.27bn in 2013. However, as against net fi nance income of N254.49m in 2013, fi nance cost rose to

N2.13bn in 2014. With these, profi t before tax

dropped from N6.52bn in 2013 to N6.01bn in 2014. After tax-es, net profi t also slipped from N5bn in 2013 to N4.46bn.

LiquidityIn the 2014 fi nancial year,

the company total assets ap-preciated 33.02 per cent to N139.2bn, from N104.7bn re-corded in the same period of 2013. This is attributed to the company increase in its cur-rent assets, which rose 67.3 per cent in the review period to N82.4bn, from N49.3bn re-corded in the corresponding pe-riod of 2013. Inventories, stood at N12.2bn, from N10.6bn in 2013, while other assets, trade and other receivables, cash and bank balances were up 34.3 per cent, 70.2 per and 136.6 per cent to N572m, N53.6bn and N16.06bn respectively.

The company non-current assets marginally appreciated 2.54 per cent in the review pe-riod due to decline in its invest-ment in property and intangible assets. But the pension of its staff was increased, standing at N16.4bn in the year, while deferred tax assets dropped to N120m, down 86.9 per cent from N920m recorded in the same period of 2013. On the whole, total non-current assets stood at N56.8bn in 2014, from N55.4bn in 2013.

Howover, the company loan and borrowings jumped over 146 per cent to N12.3bn in 2014 fi nancial year, from N4.98bn in

2013, while bank overdraft rose 236 per cent to N16.5bn, from N4.91bn in the same period of 2013. Current tax liabilities and total liabilities increased to N845m, N52.5bn, from N570m and N36bn recorded in 2013 respectively. Total current li-abilities now stood at N82.1bn, from N46.7bn in 2013. Total non-current liabilities dropped to N12.8bn, down 18.6 per cent from N15.7bn recorded in the 2013 fi nancial year.

Business strategyForte Oil operates over 500

retail outlets in the downstream sector of Nigeria’s Oil and Gas industry, offering a wide range of petroleum products; Premi-um Motor Spirits (PMS), diesel, aviation fuel, kerosene, as well as a range of quality lubricants for various automobiles and machines. Its petroleum and lubricant products are distrib-uted mostly to the automobile, industrial, aviation and marine markets, whilst the company is in alliance with leading brands to provide unparalleled shop-ping experience at its retail out-lets to its various customers.

It diversifi ed its downstream operations into related energy businesses that include a sub-sidiary which specializes in the supply of Well Production Chemicals and Drilling/Com-pletion Fluids to the upstream petroleum sector.

In consonance with the di-versifi cation strategy, the com-pany established Amperion Power Distribution Company

Limited - with the State Grid Corporation of China as techni-cal partners, the world’s larg-est power company - to herald its foray into the power sector. Amperion Power successfully acquired the 414MW Geregu Power Plant, located in Nigeria’s Kogi State under the recent fed-eral government-led privatiza-tion programme in the power sector. As at December 31, 2013, it has 60 per cent stake in Amperion Power Distribution Company Limited, while it di-vested three per cent to Shang-hai Municipal Electric Power Company, a technical partner for the acquisition of Geregu Power Plc. Forte Oil is poised to carve a niche in the power gen-eration sub-sector by using this as leverage for future opportu-nities as part of its commitment to bridge the current power def-icit in Nigeria.

Company’s Background Forte Oil is an energy group

with interests in downstream petroleum operations, power generation and upstream petro-leum services. It is headquar-tered in Lagos, Nigeria, with extended operations in Ghana. The company aims to become the foremost Integrated Energy Solutions Provider in Nigeria, built on the pillars of solid cor-porate governance, sound busi-ness ethics and compliance, enhanced Safety, Health and Environment Practices; driven by technology, world-class busi-ness process and highly skilled and motivated workforce.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, March 23, 2015 A23 39

STOCKWATCH

AGRICULTURE/AGRO-ALLIED Crop Production FTN COCOA PROCESSORS PLC 0.50 9,140 0.64 0.50 2,200,000,000 0.10 N/A 0.50OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. 28.50 261,540 107.81 20.92 476,955,000 2.29 -5.00 30.00PRESCO PLC 27.78 107,996 41.14 8.24 1,000,000,000 7.55 -4.99 29.24Fishing/Hunting/Trapping ELLAH LAKES PLC. 4.26 70 4.26 4.26 60,000,000 0.00 N/A 4.26Livestock/Animal Specialties LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC. 2.02 1,249,104 7.18 0.68 1,199,549,736 0.07 -3.81 2.10CONGLOMERATES Diversifi ed Industries A.G. LEVENTIS NIGERIA PLC. 1.24 100,150 2.08 0.71 2,191,895,983 0.11 0.00 1.24CHELLARAMS PLC. 3.95 300 6.43 4.15 963,900,300 0.16 N/A 3.95JOHN HOLT PLC. 0.96 17,558 5.89 1.07 389,151,408 1.09 N/A 0.96SCOA NIG PLC 4.44 512 4.44TRANSNATIONAL CORP. OF NIG.PLC 2.67 6,693,406 5.89 0.50 821,666,666 0.09 N/A 3.00U A C N PLC. 36.00 2,658,148 71.10 28.00 1,600,720,323 4.38 N/A 36.00CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Building Construction ARBICO PLC. 5.30 375 26.00 5.05 148,500,000 0.33 N/A 5.30CAPPA & D’ALBERTO PLC. NT 3 95.49 95.49 196,876,000 4.50 N/A NTBuilding Structure/Completion/Other COSTAIN (W A) PLC. 0.64 807,550 2.66 0.72 920,573,765 0.00 N/A 0.61G CAPPA PLC 14.46 217 14.46 14.46 125,000,000 0.00 N/A 14.46Non--Building/Heavy Construction JULIUS BERGER NIG. PLC. 41.81 27,437 83.75 19.86 1,200,000,000 6.74 -4.98 44.00ROADS NIG PLC. 6.29 1,832 10.60 6.61 20,000,000 1.69 N/A 6.29Real Estate Development PINNACLE POINT GROUP PLC NT NT 7.28 7.28 0.00 N/A NTUACN PROPERTY DEV 9.15 324,368 20.90 8.82 1,375,000,000 2.20 -2.14 9.35Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) SKYE SHELTER FUND PLC 100.00 93 100.00 100.00 20,000,000 5.82 N/A 100.00UNION HOMES REAL ESTATE INV 45.22 100 50.00 50.00 250,019,781 0.19 N/A 45.22UPDC REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST 10.00 6,350 10.50 0.00 10.00CONSUMER GOODS Automobiles/Auto Parts DN TYRE & RUBBER PLC 0.50 5,016 0.50 0.50 4,772,528,415 0.00 N/A 0.50Beverages--Brewers/Distillers CHAMPION BREW. PLC. 5.16 54,992 19.48 3.13 900,000,000 0.00 N/A 5.00GOLDEN GUINEA BREW. PLC. 0.89 8,132 0.68 0.68 272,160,000 0.00 N/A 0.89GUINNESS NIG PLC 126.00 28,374 297.41 209.10 1,474,925,519 8.66 -0.02 126.03INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES PLC. 17.20 172,515 30.00 5.34 2,112,914,681 0.63 N/A 17.80JOS INT. BREWERIES PLC. 2.02 50,000 9.09 0.81 562,000,000 0.00 N/A 2.02NIGERIAN BREW. PLC. 131.50 1,808,302 179.40 91.10 7,562,562,340 5.03 -5.40 139.00PREMIER BREWERIES PLC 3.61 513,550 0.97 0.93 126,000,000 0.00 N/A 3.61Beverages--Non-Alcoholic 7-UP BOTTLING COMP. PLC. 156.01 24,150 75.90 38.12 640,590,362 4.46 N/A 154.00Food Products BIG TREAT PLC NT NT 0.50 0.50 2,000,000,000 0.00 N/A NTDANGOTE FLOUR MILLS PLC 2.90 224,970 10.68 3.85 5,000,000,000 0.00 -17.85 3.53DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC 6.10 1,588,435 12.85 3.26 12,000,000,000 0.81 -3.17 6.30FLOUR MILLS NIG. PLC. 32.67 187,271 109.24 50.00 1,879,210,666 3.38 -3.94 34.01HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC 3.00 952,850 4.11 1.83 7,930,197,658 0.34 7.91 2.78MULTI-TREX INTEGRATED FOODS PLC 0.50 53,816 1.21 0.50 3,722,493,620 0.00 N/A 0.50N NIG. FLOUR MILLS PLC. 18.05 159,011 29.70 17.51 178,200,000 0.00 N/A 18.05NATIONAL SALT CO. NIG. PLC 6.52 2,835,920 14.00 3.65 1.05 0.31 6.50P S MANDRIDES & CO PLC. 5.35 2.08 124,000 5.94 5.35 40,000,000 0.08 N/A 5.35U T C NIG. PLC. 0.50 50 0.93 0.50 1,233,375,004 1.13 0.00 0.50UNION DICON SALT PLC. 12.46 100 13.31 4.22 360,000,000 0.00 N/A 12.46Food Products--Diversifi ed CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. 41.28 5,725 64.53 8.33 3,129,188,160 1.57 0.00 41.28NESTLE NIGERIA PLC. 829.50 390,319 1250.00 400.00 792,656,250 28.34 1.16 820.00Household Durables BETA GLASS CO PLC. NT 25,333 15.58 10.03 3.90 N/A NTNIGERIAN ENAMELWARE PLC. 31.82 100 36.19 32.27 63,360,000 13.92 N/A 31.82VITAFOAM NIG PLC. 3.55 187,845 5.54 2.91 819,000,000 0.71 -2.47 3.64VONO PRODUCTS PLC. 0.93 15,000 2.88 0.57 300,000,001 0.00 N/A 0.93Personal/Household Products P Z CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC. 24.43 156,973 56.00 21.02 3,176,381,636 1.34 -9.52 27.00UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC. 33.99 119,119 76.00 27.60 3,783,296,250 1.42 -2.89 35.00Textiles/Apparel UNITED NIG. TEXTILES PLC. NT NT 0.97 0.57 843,284,027 0.00 N/A NTFINANCIAL SERVICES Banking ACCESS BANK PLC. 5.87 20,610,779 12.39 4.70 17,888,251,479 1.61 -3.77 6.10DIAMOND BANK PLC 3.62 1,358,484 7.85 1.92 14,475,243,105 1.71 -14.82 4.25ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INC. 17.30 5,746,153 17.51 9.90 9,873,614,567 3.67 -8.90 18.99FIDELITY BANK PLC 1.29 4,669,271 3.47 1.13 28,974,797,023 0.68 -14.57 1.51FIRST CITY MONUMENT BANK PLC. NT NT 8.30 3.04 16,271,192,202 0.60 #VALUE! NTGUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. 22.90 11,491,149 29.99 13.02 29,146,482,209 3.08 -8.40 25.00INTERCONTINENTAL BANK 13.50 13.50SKYE BANK PLC 2.30 5,074,965 7.05 2.65 13,219,334,676 0.97 0.00 2.30STERLING BANK PLC. 2.29 2,601,379 3.05 0.80 12,563,091,545 0.63 -4.58 2.40U B A PLC 3.53 11,173,106 9.60 1.64 32,334,693,693 1.70 -14.53 4.13UNION BANK NIG.PLC. 9.01 1,469,943 15.30 2.34 13,509,726,273 0.44 -9.90 10.00UNITY BANK PLC 0.50 359,359 1.16 0.50 33,675,576,085 0.18 0.00 0.50WEMA BANK PLC. 0.96 1,128,531 1.88 0.50 12,821,249,880 0.00 3.23 0.93ZENITH BANK PLC 16.49 9,778,427 27.40 11.96 31,396,493,790 3.30 -19.95 20.60Insurance Carriers, Brokers & Services AFRICAN ALLIANCE INS. COY. PLC 0.50 200 0.50 0.50 20,585,000,000 0.00 N/A 0.50AIICO INSURANCE PLC. 0.90 1,627,718 1.42 0.50 7,809,391,256 0.19 0.00 0.87CONFIDENCE INSURANCE PLC NT NT 0.64 0.61 211,626,000 0.00 N/A NTCONSOLIDATED HALLMARK INS. PLC 0.50 9,140 0.52 0.50 6,000,000,000 0.05 N/A 0.50CONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC 0.86 1,882,960 1.45 0.58 10,372,624,157 0.15 0.00 0.86CORNERSTONE INS. COY. PLC. 0.50 62,000 0.72 0.50 8,820,010,363 0.02 0.00 0.50CUSTODIAN AND ALLIED INS. PLC NT 9,054,578 2.44 1.08 5,100,846,808 0.24 0.00 NTEQUITY ASSURANCE PLC. 0.50 4,754 0.50 0.50 8,847,298,420 0.01 N/A 0.50GOLDLINK INSURANCE PLC 0.53 NT 0.69 0.50 4,549,947,000 0.00 N/A 0.53GREAT NIGERIAN INSURANCE PLC 0.50 42,003 0.60 0.50 3,827,485,380 0.03 N/A 0.50GUINEA INSURANCE PLC. 0.50 165,731 0.50 0.50 720,000,000 0.01 N/A 0.50INTERCONTINENTAL WAPIC INS. PLC NT NT 2.50 0.50 5,061,804,000 0.00 N/A NTINTERNATIONAL ENERGY INS. PLC 0.50 698,304 2.50 0.50 6,420,427,449 0.00 0.00 0.54INVESTMENT AND ALLIED ARN. 0.5 NT 0.50 0.50 28,000,000,000 0.02 N/A 0.5LASACO ASSURANCE PLC. 0.50 14,710 0.50 0.50 7,323,313,227 0.00 N/A 0.50LAW UNION AND ROCK INS. PLC. 0.50 100 0.61 0.50 3,437,330,500 0.00 N/A 0.50LINKAGE ASSURANCE PLC 0.50 220 0.50 0.50 4,083,713,569 0.02 0.00 0.50MANSARD INSURANCE PLC 3.00 23,600 2.87 1.06 10,000,000,000 0.25 0.00 3.00MUTUAL BENEFITS ASSURANCE PLC. 0.50 1,319,465 0.63 0.50 7,998,705,336 0.00 N/A 0.50N.E.M INSURANCE CO (NIG) PLC. 0.59 10,579,013 1.01 0.50 5,332,830,881 0.37 -6.35 0.63NIGER INSURANCE CO. PLC. 0.50 52,100 1.11 0.50 5,649,693,923 0.02 N/A 0.50OASIS INSURANCE PLC NT 1,654,611 0.50 0.50 5,003,506,791 0.04 N/A NTPRESTIGE ASSURANCE CO. PLC. 0.50 27,973 1.24 0.50 2,508,315,436 0.06 0.00 0.50REGENCY ALLIANCE INS. COY PLC 0.50 5,028 0.53 0.50 6,668,750,000 0.04 N/A 0.50SOVEREIGN TRUST INSURANCE PLC 0.50 100 0.59 0.50 5,203,757,266 0.09 0.00 0.50STANDARD TRUSTASSURANCE PLC 0.50 1,650 0.50STANDARD ALLIANCE INS. PLC. 0.50 161,547,689 0.50 0.50 8,493,173,450 0.00 N/A 0.50UNIC INSURANCE PLC. 0.50 25,000 0.50 0.50 2,581,733,505 0.00 N/A 0.50UNITY KAPITAL ASSURANCE PLC 0.50 200 0.50 0.50 13,000,000,000 0.02 N/A 0.50UNIVERSAL INS. COMPANY PLC 0.50 518,140 0.50 0.50 16,000,000,000 0.00 N/A 0.50WAPIC INSURANCE PLC 0.50 1,368,084 1.55 0.50 0.07 0.50Micro Finance Banks FORTIS MICROFINANCE BANK PLC 5.42 10,000,000 6.60 0.00 1.18 5.42NPF MICROFINANCE BANK PLC 0.95 584,766 1.22 0.72 0.19 0.98Mortgage Carriers, Brokers &Services ABBEY MORTGAGE BANK PLC 1.30 500 1.65 1.37 4,200,000,000 0.03 N/A 1.30ASO SAVINGS AND LOANS PLC 0.50 500 0.50 0.50 8,679,148,676 0.02 N/A 0.50INFINITY TRUST MORTGAGE BANK PLC 1.45 500 1.45RESORT SAVINGS & LOANS PLC 0.50 220,000 0.50 0.50 13,175,732,404 0.30 N/A 0.50UNION HOMES SAVINGS&LOANS PLC 0.5 4,570 0.99 0.50 7,812,500,000 0.00 N/A 0.5Other Financial Institutions AFRICA PRUDENTIAL REGISTRARS 2.4 313,164 2.1 0.5 0.63 3.1CUSTODIAN AND ALLIED INS. PLC 3.75 369,250 3.90CRUSADER ( NIG) PLC. NT 500 0.61 0.50 3,778,005,975 0.00 N/A NTDEAP CAPITAL MGT & TRUST PLC 0.67 5,000 2.02 2.02 1,333,333,333 0.15 N/A 0.67FBN HOLDINGS PLC 7.70 8,812,914 21.50 8.57 32,632,084,358 2.45 -9.41 8.50FCMB GROUP PLC 2.57 27045923 5.70 2.90 1.23 2.59ROYAL EXCHANGE PLC. 0.50 1,050,953 1.33 0.50 3,608,657,661 0.13 N/A 0.50STANBIC IBTC HOLDINGS PLC 26.00 3,807,836 20.72 10.64 18,750,000,000 1.53 0.00 26.00SIM CAPITAL ALLIANCE VALUE FUND 103.24 465 103.24 98.33 103.24NIGERIA ENERGY SECTOR FUND 552.20 100 552.20UBA CAPITAL PLC 1.65 1,926,013 1.70 0.00 0.29 1.70HEALTHCARE Healthcare Providers EKOCORP PLC. 3.72 170 5.05 4.32 498,600,908 0.13 N/A 3.72UNION DIAGNOSTIC &CLINICAL PLC 0.50 40,000 0.50 0.50 3,553,138,528 0.00 N/A 0.50Medical Supplies MORISON INDUSTRIES PLC. 1.82 100 10.54 7.39 152,178,750 0.00 N/A 1.82Pharmaceuticals

NOTE NT=Not Traded on 20-03-15 N/A=Not Avialable

EVANS MEDICAL PLC. 2.05 74,488 4.80 0.50 486,473,856 0.58 -4.65 2.15FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC 3.00 1,444,640 2.50 0.61 1,500,000,000 0.24 0.00 3.00GLAXO SMITHKLINE CONSUMER PLC 42.00 66,411 69.00 18.97 956,701,192 3.07 5.00 40.00MAY & BAKER NIGERIA PLC. 1.55 163,454 3.38 1.23 980,000,000 0.09 -13.41 1.79NEIMETH INT PHARM PLC 0.64 251,300 1.76 0.58 1,925,717,268 0.00 -8.57 0.70NIGERIA-GERMAN CHEMICALS PLC 6.32 100 8.59 7.36 153,786,012 0.00 N/A 6.32PHARMA-DEKO PLC. 2.24 572,185 3.50 1.83 100,000,000 0.00 N/A 2.24ICT Computer Based Systems COURTEVILLE BUSINESS SLN PLC 0.50 37,000 0.96 0.50 2,960,000,000 0.11 0.00 0.50Computers and Peripherals OMATEK VENTURES PLC 0.50 100 0.50 0.50 2,941,789,472 0.00 N/A 0.50Electronic Communications Services MTECH COMMUNICATIONS PLC 0.91 NT 0.91 0.91 4,966,666,668 0.00 N/A 0.91IT Services COMPUTER WAREHOUSE GROUP PLC 4 400 4NCR (NIGERIA) PLC. 12.19 100 18.70 13.12 108,000,000 0.00 N/A 12.19TRIPPLE GEE AND COMPANY PLC. 1.77 5,460 2.94 2.07 492,825,600 0.03 N/A 1.77Processing Systems CHAMS PLC 0.50 27,420 0.50 0.50 4,620,600,000 0.04 N/A 0.50E-TRANZACT INTERNATIONAL PLC 3.39 1,080 4.97 3.13 4,200,000,000 0.04 N/A 3.39Telecommunications Services IHS 3.8 3.8HIS NIGERIA PLC 2 2.25 2.25HIS NIGERIA PLC 1 3.08 3.08MTI PLC 0.5 100 0.50 0.50 4,893,594,400 0.00 N/A 0.5INDUSTRIAL GOODS Building Materials AFRICAN PAINTS (NIGERIA) PLC. 2.72 2,000 2.86 2.86 260,000,000 0.07 N/A 2.72ASHAKA CEM PLC 18.33 1,557,197 29.98 8.01 2,239,453,125 0.80 -2.45 18.79BERGER PAINTS PLC 8.06 40,673 12.20 6.82 217,367,585 0.91 -4.95 8.48CAP PLC 36.29 20,474 67.50 13.78 560,000,000 1.66 0.00 36.29CEMENT CO. OF NORTH.NIG. PLC 11.80 1,514,719 12.99 4.00 1,241,548,285 1.12 0.00 11.80DANGOTE CEMENT PLC 152.00 1,167,463 210.01 102.00 15,494,019,668 5.77 -0.66 153.01DN MEYER PLC. 0.83 40,890 3.54 0.50 242,908,200 0.06 N/A 0.87FIRST ALUMINIUM NIGERIA PLC 0.50 600 0.75 0.50 2,109,928,275 0.00 N/A 0.50IPWA PLC 0.50 6,000 1.34 0.50 513,696,000 0.00 N/A 0.50PREMIER PAINTS 10.93 60 10.93LAFARGE WAPCO PLC. 80.40 109,667 110.00 39.80 3,001,600,004 6.83 -4.91 84.55PAINTS & COATINGS MANFACT.PLC 1.42 50,000 2.41 0.50 792,914,256 0.36 N/A 1.42PORTLAND PAINTS & PRDT NIG. PLC 3.30 72,650 7.22 2.27 400,000,000 0.43 N/A 3.63Electronic and Electrical Products AUSTIN LAZ & COMPANY PLC 2.09 100 2.00 2.00 0.05 N/A 2.09CUTIX PLC. 1.52 220,132 2.39 1.20 510,396,608 0.19 0.00 1.52NIGERIAN WIRE AND CABLE PLC. 0.50 100 0.73 0.50 2,220,000,000 0.00 N/A 0.50Packaging/Containers ABPLAST PRODUCTS PLC. NT NT 3.98 3.98 25,000,000 0.00 N/A NTAVON CROWNCAPS & CONTAINERS 1.59 561 5.94 1.71 683,974,528 0.00 N/A 1.59BETA GLASS CO PLC. 22.57 1,361 13.18 9.04 3.23 23.75GREIF NIGERIA PLC 12.08 100 13.28 12.68 42,640,000 0.90 N/A 12.08NIG. BAGS MANFACT. COY PLC NT NT 3.60 1.60 6,215,000,000 0.24 #VALUE! NTPOLY PRODUCTS (NIG) PLC. NT NT 1.86 1.05 240,000,000 0.22 N/A NTW A GLASS IND. PLC. 0.63 NT 0.63 0.63 199,066,550 0.00 N/A 0.63Tools and Machinery NIGERIAN ROPES PLC 7.46 100 8.69 8.26 265,409,280 0.00 N/A 7.46NIG SEW MACH. MAN. CO PLC. 0.15 200 0.15STOKVIS NIG PLC. 0.14 NT 0.14 0.14 2,918,000 0.00 N/A 0.14NATURAL RESOURCES Chemicals B.O.C. GASES PLC. 5.21 10,000 9.35 5.68 393,120,000 0.76 0.00 5.21Metals ALUMACO PLC 7.75 320 7.75 7.75 75,600,000 0.00 N/A 7.75ALUMINIUM EXTRUSION IND. PLC. 10.43 100 12.39 10.55 100,000,000 0.24 N/A 10.43MINING SERVICES MULTIVERSE PLC 0.50 100 0.50 0.50 4,058,989,226 0.01 N/A 0.50Paper/Forest Products HALLMARK PAPER PRODUCTS PLC. NT NT 3.22 3.22 50,000,000 0.04 N/A NTTHOMAS WYATT NIG. PLC. 0.73 4,050 1.38 0.67 220,000,000 0.00 N/A 0.73OIL AND GAS Energy Equipment and Services JAPAUL OIL & MARITIME SER. PLC 0.50 1,408,720 1.02 0.50 6,262,701,716 0.00 0.00 0.50Integrated Oil and Gas Services OANDO PLC 13.40 4,924,248 24.80 9.32 2,262,711,568 1.24 -4.29 14.00Petroleum &Petroleum Products Distributors BECO PETROLEUM PRODUCT PLC 0.5 10000 0.5CONOIL PLC 32.30 2,577,516 76.00 16.96 693,952,117 2.69 -5.00 34.00ETERNA PLC. 2.65 2,541,040 4.87 1.32 1,249,162,828 0.61 -1.85 2.70FORTE OIL PLC. 190.05 412,758 115.64 7.73 1,080,280,628 1.43 -1.02 192.00MOBIL OIL NIG PLC. 145.00 22,164 146.00 106.00 300,496,051 9.93 -3.33 150.00MRS OIL NIGERIA PLC. 50.54 167,074 59.00 16.20 253,988,672 1.04 N/A 50.54TOTAL NIGERIA PLC. 140.00 43,476 190.01 118.75 339,521,837 12.91 -3.11 144.50Exploration and Production SEPLAT PETROLEUM DEVT. CO, LTD. 388.08 306,355 28,677,671 430.00SERVICES Advertising AFROMEDIA PLC 0.50 200 0.72 0.50 4,035,497,307 0.00 N/A 0.50Apparel Retailers LENNARDS (NIG) PLC. 3.15 100 3.48 3.48 0 N/A 3.15Automobile/Auto Part Retailers R T BRISCOE PLC. 0.67 209,933 2.45 1.00 980,294,400 0.00 -10.67 0.75Courier/Freight/Delivery RED STAR EXPRESS PLC 3.94 2,572,000 5.10 2.19 589,496,310 0.52 0.00 3.94TRANS-NATIONWIDE EXPRESS PLC. 0.97 3,000 3.45 0.73 198,819,763 0.00 N/A 0.97Employment Solutions C & I LEASING PLC. 0.50 4,059,547 1.64 0.85 865,808,912 0.00 N/A 0.50Hospitality TANTALIZERS PLC 0.50 1,500 0.75 0.50 3,211,627,907 0.00 N/A 0.50Hotels/Lodging CAPITAL HOTEL 4.28 100 4.28IKEJA HOTEL PLC 4.50 599,750 1.72 0.64 2,078,796,396 0.00 0.00 4.50TOURIST COY NIG PLC 3.51 1,000 3.88 3.51 3.51TRANSCORP HOTELS PLC 10.00 2,800 10.00 10.00 10.00Media/Entertainment DAAR COMMUNICATIONS PLC 0.50 1,000 0.51 0.50 8,000,000,000 0.43 N/A 0.50Printing/Publishing ACADEMY PRESS 1.06 16500 1.06LEARN AFRICA PLC 1.12 224,498 3.09 1.39 771,450,000 0.00 N/A 1.15STUDIO PRESS (NIG) PLC. 2.30 20 2.78 2.52 0.00 N/A 2.30UNIVERSITY PRESS PLC. 4.63 20,800 5.77 3.00 425,641,111 0.61 0.00 4.63Road Transportation ABC TRANSPORT PLCPLC 0.53 955,140 1.29 0.50 1,507,000,000 0.21 N/A 0.52Specialty INTERLINKED TECHNOLOGIES PLC 4.66 6 5.15 4.90 236,699,511 0.00 N/A 4.66SECURE ELECTRONIC TECH.PLC 0.5 40,000,700 1.88 0.80 5,631,539,736 0.00 N/A 0.5Transport-Related Services AIRLINE SERVICES AND LOGISTICS PLC 1.72 111,000 5.90 1.27 634,000,000 0.50 N/A 1.81NIG. AVIATION HANDLING COY PLC 4.99 246,274 8.81 5.08 1,230,468,750 0.43 0.60 4.96SUPPORT AND LOGISTICS CAVERTON OFFSHORE GROUP PLC 2.98 189044 2.98ASeM CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Property Management SMART PRODUCTS NIGERIA PLC NT 60 1.43 1.04 45,000,000 0.12 N/A NTCONSUMER GOODS Food Products MCNICHOLS PLC NT 100 2.26 1.02 201,885,335 0.00 N/A NTOIL AND GAS CAPITAL OIL PLC NT 100000 NTNAVITUS ENERGY PLC NT 1000 NTPersonal/Household Products ROKANA INDUSTRIES PLC. NT NT 0.60 0.60 30,000,000 0.00 N/A NTHEALTHCARE Pharmaceuticals AFRIK PHARMACEUTICALS PLC. NT NT 0.50 0.50 24,898,850 0.00 N/A NTINDUSTRIAL GOODS Electronic and Electrical Products NT NT NTADSWITCH PLC. NT NT 1.88 1.63 125,005,250 0.00 N/A NTNATURAL RESOURCES Metals W.A. ALUM. PRODUCTS PLC. NT NT 0.50 0.50 6,650,000 0.00 N/A NTFood/Drug Retailers and Wholesalers NT NT NTJULI PLC. NT 1,000 3.05 2.76 194,700,000 0.00 N/A NTETF’s Sector ETF LOTUS HALAL EQUITY ETF NT NTNEWGOLD EXCHANGE TRADED FUND NT 41 2,706 2,003 #VALUE! NTVETIVA GRIFFIN 30 ETF NT 10 49467 NT

PRICE 52 WK 52 WK SHARES MOV.SECURITY (=N=) QUANTITY HIGH LOW OUTSTANDING EPS (%) Previous

PRICE 52 WK 52 WK SHARES MOV.SECURITY (=N=) QUANTITY HIGH LOW OUTSTANDING EPS (%) Previous

Stock Exchange weekly equities summary as at Friday, March 20, 2015

Business CourageCourage

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, March 23, 2015A24 40 Business CourageCourage

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nationalmirrorlaw@yahoo.com

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41National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net

Monday, March 23, 2015

It should always be remembered that justice prefers to keep the company of the vigilant while leaving the indolent unattended to his lethargic position

—Justice Niki Tobi, retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Law & Justice

Myanmar court finds three men guilty of insulting religion

Why Gani dragged Bar disciplinary panel to court

45

42

Many senior lawyers don’t help junior ones —Fagbohun

ICC building at The Hague

The International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, Netherlands is poised to ensure that those who commit genocide and other crimes against humanity face justice. Today, scores of perpetrators of war crimes are being prosecuted just as the office of the ICC prosecutor warned Nigerian politicians against violence during the forthcoming elections, writes FRANCIS FAMOROTI, Head, Judiciary.

AT A TIME WHEN ABHORRENT LEVELS OF VIOLENCE ALREADY PLAGUE PARTS OF THE COUNTRY, I RECALL THAT THE ICC HAS JURISDICTION OVER ROME

STATUTE CRIMES COMMITTED ON THE TERRITORY OF NIGERIA.

2015 Elections: ICC prosecutor warns politicians, supporters against violence

CONTINUED ON PAGE 44

The Chief Prosecutor of the International Crimi-nal Court, (ICC) Ms. Fa-

tou Bensouda, has reiterated her call to candidates seeking elective offices in the forthcom-ing elections in the country to refrain from violence.

Bensouda, in a fresh statement obtained from The Hague Justice portal ahead of the election in the country said; “I reiterate my call to refrain from violence”.

According to the prosecutor, ‘’Following my statement of the 2nd of February 2015, and my Of-fice’s subsequent visit to Nigeria from the 3rd to the 5th of Febru-ary, I reiterate my previous mes-sage.

‘’At a time when abhorrent levels of violence already plague parts of the country, I recall that the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over Rome Stat-ute crimes committed on the ter-ritory of Nigeria. Any person who incites or engages in acts of violence in the context of the upcoming elections or otherwise

– including by ordering, inciting, encouraging or contributing to the commission of crimes that fall within ICC’s jurisdiction – is liable to prosecution; either by Ni-gerian Courts or by the ICC.

No one should doubt my office’s resolve to prosecute individuals responsible for the commission of ICC crimes, whenever necessary.” the Gambian- born prosecutor warned.

Bensouda said ‘’violence is not a solution. The conduct and outcome of elections in Nigeria, free from violence, will not only prevent further instability in the country, but will also send a clear message that electoral competi-tion does not have to result in vio-lence and crimes that shock the

conscience of humanity. ‘’The Office of the Prosecutor

of the ICC conducts independent and impartial investigations and prosecution of the crimes of genocide, crimes against human-ity and war crimes. The Office of the Prosecutor has opened inves-tigations in: Uganda; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Darfur, Sudan; Central African Republic; Kenya; Libya; Côte d’Ivoire and Mali. The Office is also conduct-ing preliminary examinations re-lating to the situations in Afghani-stan, Colombia, Georgia, Guinea, Honduras, Iraq, Nigeria, Ukraine and Palestine.’’ she added.

Meanwhile, eight Africans, including former Ivorian Presi-dent, Laurent Gbagbo, listed as

top suspects are presently in the custody of the ICC at The Hague, for crimes against humanity and war- related offences.

Gbagbo, 7 others listed top suspects in ICC custody

Besides Gbagbo, others in ICC custody are, the founder of Union Congolese Patriots (UPC) and former Commander-in-Chief of the Patriotic Force for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC), Thomas Lubanga Dyilo; Ger-main Katanga; Bosco Ntaganda, all from Democratic Republic of Congo (DCR), Jean-Piere Bemba Gombo; and Jean-Jacques Man-genda Kabongo both from the Central African Republic (CAR).

Others were; Charles Ble Goude being charged along with the Ivorian ex-leader, Gbagbo; and Dominic Ongwen of Uganda.

According to a statement ob-tained last March 11 on the web-site of the ICC titled: ‘The Court Today’, Gbagbo was alleged to have committed crimes against humanity in the context of post-electoral violence in Cote d’Ivorie between December 16, 2010 and April 12, 2011.

Gbagbo and Goude are being charged jointly and the charges were confirmed against them on June 12, 2014 and December 11, 2014 respectively and the trial as-

42 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, March 23, 2015Law & Justice

Many senior lawyers don’t help

How do you see the future of legal profes-sion in Nigeria?

I see the future of legal profession as very bright provided we do things right, provided we work towards restructuring the system. Again, each and every one of us particularly the seniors must ask our-selves; what positive role am I playing in this profession? What negative roles am I playing in this profession? So, whatever negative role I am playing in the legal pro-fession I must desist. Whatever positive role I am playing in the profession I must heighten it. It is only then we would be able to achieve that bright future for the legal profession.

There is one other area that people are not talking about now, they are looking at using the World Trade Organisation, WTO to open up the legal market such that for-eigners would come and be practising in Nigeria. If we do that at this stage of our legal development, so many law firms will disappear and it would be a question of time. It will be only mega law firms that will be able to partner and even when they partner with foreign firms, they will be able to pick only crumbs. They won’t be able to get the big briefs as they are getting now be-cause many of the multi-national compa-nies that are in Nigeria will never entrust their briefs to Nigerians. Why is it that other jurisdictions have not opened their doors for anybody to just come and work in there? So, we have to be very careful, if you know you want to practice in Nigeria, come and sit for the Bar examinations and go through the rudiments and be called to Bar in Nigeria.

As the Director of Research of NIALS, what role is the Institute playing to shape legal knowledge in Nigeria?

The Nigerian Institute of Advanced Le-gal Studies has always been at the forefront of quite a number of activities. We have quite a number of roundtables where we focus on contemporary legal issues. And when we have contemporary legal issues we bring in experts from wherever they are to give comparative perspectives and x-ray the issues for us to be able to come up with things we can use to advise critical stake-holders; be it government or private sector. Whatever comes out of such roundtables we are able to use it to advise the system.

Asides, we have public lectures that go on from time to time. Many of these

public lectures are in honour of eminent Nigerian personalities like late the Prof. Jadesola Akande, late Chike Chigbue, late Prof Akinola Aguda and Prof. Ayo Ajomo who is a living legend. These are some of the personalities that we honour from time to time with public lectures. The way our public lectures are structured is that, we bring in eminent personality in a particu-lar area to address issues in that area and there will be discussions at the end of the day. We also have our regular courses that we run. If you go to our website you will see the various courses that we run from time to time. We have regular courses that we run to deepen competences and to develop capacities in different areas be it in Crimi-nal Law, Legal Drafting and other areas.

We also have our regular programmes which are post- graduate diploma in legis-lative drafting, masters in law in legislative drafting and the PhD programme in legisla-tive drafting. They are part of the things we are legally entitled to run under the law. If you look at the enabling law setting up the institute, you will see that all these pro-grammes that I have talked about are pro-grammes that we are legitimately able to run. As at today, the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies has a complement of not less than fourteen professors in dif-ferent fields. We also have PhD holders in different areas, so it is a system that has the competence.

How does this benefit undergraduate students?

We must not forget that that the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies is not an institution set-up to run undergraduate

programmes. But the kind of trickledown effect that you can see is when for instance where lecturers in faculties come for some of our courses in relation to academic su-pervision. We run courses in relation to project writing; we run causes in relation to legal writing where we bring to bear the current state of knowledge in these areas. So, if a university had sent in one or two of their lecturers to attend our programmes, these lecturers can go back and train other lecturers and it forms part of what they will use for their students.

Again, students who have already grad-uated and feel that they still want to deepen their competence can come for short cours-es. You can also find a situation where a law firm decides to send lawyers for some of our short courses. So, the Institute is not only focused on academic work alone in terms of teaching but also do a lot of re-search. This is because, we believe that it is what comes out of fieldwork that we can use to guide the government in taking deci-sions. Currently, we are running a research work for Microsoft. They are looking at de-ploring clouds services, they want to under-stand how effective is the legal framework, how adequate is the legal framework, what kind of technology should we be looking at and we are doing a full-fledged independent study for them, It is an independent study covering all the geographical zones in Ni-geria. Such that, what is the position of things in the different geographical zones, what are the gaps and disconnect in the law, what are things that need to be done to im-prove on the legal framework that we have at the moment.

We also go to universities and get field of-

ficers to participate in such research. You can be sure that a student who has partici-pated in life field research, when it comes to doing his project; he would not run away on working on data because he has been a part of it and knows how it works.

As an expert in the field of environmental law, what are the policies in the area of environmental law that Federal Government has put in place but that it is yet to imple-ment?

You see, there are different policies for different sectors. But, what is the major thing in environmental law in Nigeria? I think it is a question of education and sen-sitization. If people don’t key into your pol-icy frame work, if people don’t key into you ideology, it will not be part of their culture and they will not drive it with you. So, you end up having to run after them all of the time. One major problem I see is that there is still a major gap in the way we carry out sensitization and education when it comes

Fagbohun

ONE MAJOR PROBLEM I SEE IS THAT THERE

IS STILL A MAJOR GAP IN THE WAY WE CARRY

OUT SENSITIZATION AND EDUCATION

WHEN IT COMES TO ENVIRONMENT

Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun, Director of Research, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) and former Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Lagos State University (LASU) in this interview with WALE IGBINTADE, speaks on the challenges of enforcing environmental law in Nigeria and the future of the legal profession among others. Excerpts.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 43Monday, March 23, 2015 Law & Justice

junior ones —Fagbohun to environment. We assume that because there is so much rhetoric about environ-mental protection, we assume is the same thing as sensitization. We assume that it is the same thing as educating the people about environmental issues, it is not. An-other problem that we have is how well we have deepened the competencies of people who are involved in environmental protec-tion. Why I will not say generally that, that has not happened, I will say to a large ex-tent and in quite a number of places both private and public sectors, they still see environmental issues as a cosmetic thing. They still have not internalized that there is something real in environmental pro-tection. Many people still don’t believe in deepening the competencies of their desk officers and officers who are involved in these activities by allowing them to go for effective training.

Some people felt that it is only when they go outside Nigeria that they can get those who will train them. Such ones are forget-ting the fact that the money used to send five persons outside Nigeria; you could use the same amount effectively in Nigeria to train about 20 to 30 people using local ma-terials that are very much available. But, Nigerians have this mentality that if the colour is not white, we don’t believe that they can impact knowledge. What do these people do? They go outside the country to retain a foreign firm or consultant. The for-eign consultant will come and meet people like myself, people like Prof. (Mrs.) M. T. Okorodudu-Fubara, people like Prof. David Okadi, they will come and meet people like Prof Ladipo. These are the local experts that they will put together to run these courses and they will have one or two per-sons to work together with them.

That is why to a very large extent, a State like Lagos must be given kudos because to a very large extent Lagos State is using lo-cal resources. They believe the expertise is here and they are utilizing them. Quite a number of other states, don’t do it, it is

because they see it as an avenue to siphon money. Recently, at the last IBA confer-ence in Japan, there was a book that was presented on Human Rights and Climate Change. We had about 19 experts, I am one of the experts. If they had not seen the work I have done, they will not call me into that team to work with them. I am one of the ex-perts who worked on the book for two years before it was published by the IBA. There are seasoned environmental experts that we have in Nigeria that can deliver without us having to run helter-shelter. Even if we want to do something that we feel we don’t have the total capacity in Nigeria, let us bring the experts we have in Nigeria first, and let us bring one or two persons to work with them from the outside. When that is done, our local experts will be a able to gain and will train others.

How do you see enforcement of environ-mental law in Nigeria?

The enforcement of environmental law in this part of the world is almost zero. If

WE DON’T HAVE UP TO 200, 000

LAWYERS. IF THE POPULATION OF

NIGERIA IS ABOUT 170 MILLION, AND WE ARE TALKING

OF 200,000 LEGAL PRACTITIONERS, THAT IS STILL NOT ENOUGH

FOR THE SYSTEM.

you have law and you don’t enforce them, you should forget it. It will be trampled upon with impunity. We need to get out acts together as regards compliance and enforcement, it is very important. En-forcement is still the major problem and there are strategies for enforcement.

The population of Nigerian lawyers at IBA conferences has been on the yearly increase. Some senior lawyers have said Nigerian lawyers are not benefiting from such large turnouts. Do you share that opinion?

I do not share such idea that Nigerian lawyers are not benefiting from IBA Con-ferences. If you watch the structure of the IBA, there are different sections. For instance, if you are going for the IBA con-ference and you make up your mind that you want to develop your competence in the area of taxation and when you get there you try to audit as many sections on taxation as possible, you will not come back the same way. If you look at the pop-ulation of Nigeria, having a large contin-gent to the IBA should not be a surprise to us. We claim to have the largest market in sub-Saharan Africa.

If you have international businesses coming into the country, if you don’t know the current practises, if you don’t know the current strategies, you may not be able to sit with them. You will not be able to compete with them and whatever they say will be foreign to you. It is only when you have gone outside and inter-act with others you will benefit. Nigeria cannot operate outside the comity of na-tions. Nigeria must operate within the comity of nations. So, the IBA is meant to deepen knowledge, create opportuni-ties for you to network with other profes-sionals.

Do you subscribe to a suggestion that law should be a second degree course?

I do know that in some jurisdictions, law is a second degree course. I think at the level we are now, we don’t need to clap and say law should be a second degree course. How many lawyers do we have in the sys-tem at the moment? We don’t have up to 200, 000 lawyers. If the population of Nigeria is about 170 million, and we are talking of 200,000 legal practitioners, that is still not enough for the system. When we talk of ac-cess to justice, 200, 000 lawyers cannot give access to justice to 170 million population. But, the major problem we have is that our system needs to be restructured. Why are eminent personalities worried? It is be-cause the maturity is not there on behalf of some of the younger people that are coming out. They are also looking at it that a num-ber of people are being churned out, and at the end of the day, they don’t have opportu-nity to work. If we restructure the system, we can meet the issue of immaturity and unemployment.

For instance, if we have a system that says when you come out of Law School be-fore you can establish a firm of your own; you must undergo tutelage under a senior for certain number of years. There is no way a junior will go under a senior like Chief Akinjide or Chief Olanipekun or any of the other respected seniors and at the end of the day, will not come out sea-soned and with a culture of the profession. But, before you can put that in place the se-niors also must be ready to take in juniors. Many of our seniors now are interested in watching their bank accounts rising. They are not interested in how to help the system. When you take in a junior and you are pay-ing the junior N30, 000 or N50, 000, will that help the junior? Will that take the junior out of the doldrums ?

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net44 Monday, March 23, 2015Law & Justice

Bensouda Gbagbo

ANY PERSON WHO INCITES OR ENGAGES IN ACTS OF VIOLENCE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS OR OTHERWISE

CONTRIBUTING TO THE COMMISSION OF CRIMES THAT FALL WITHIN ICC’S JURISDICTION – IS LIABLE TO PROSECUTION;

EITHER BY NIGERIAN COURTS OR BY THE ICC.

‘Court has jurisdiction over perpetrators of grave crimes’signed to Trial Chamber 1. Last March 11, the Trial Chamber 1 joined the two cases in order to ensure efficacy and expeditious-ness of the proceedings. The Chamber will set trial date in due course even as Gbag-bo’s wife, Simone had been jailed.

Dyilo of the DCR was found guilty on March 14, 2012 by Trial Chamber, as co-perpetrator of committing war crimes of enlistment and conscription of children under the age of 15 into the FPLC. He is also being charged with using them to par-ticipate actively in hostilities between Sep-tember 2002 and August 2003. The trial in his case, The Prosecutor v. Thomas Luban-ga Dyilo, had started on January 26, 2009. On July 10, 2012, he was sentenced to a total period of 14 years of imprisonment. The time he spent in the ICC’s custody will be deducted from this total sentence. On De-cember 1, 2014, the Appeals Chamber con-firmed, by majority, the verdict declaring Lubanga guilty and the decision sentenc-ing him to 14 years of imprisonment.

Katanga, a DCR national, has also been found guilty as an accessory of one count of crime against humanity and four counts of war crime committed on February 24, 2003 during the attack on the village of Borogo, in the Ituri district of DCR.

Ntaganda, former alleged Deputy Chief of General Staff of FPLC was accused of 13- count of war crimes allegedly commit-ted for trial in Trial Chamber and his trial is scheduled to hold on June 2, 2015 before Trial Chamber V1.

Gombo from CAR who was the President and Commander-in –Chief of the Move-ment for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) is facing two counts of crime against hu-manity and three counts of war crimes. Kabongo, Gombo and three others were also accused of offences against the admin-istration of justice allegedly committed in connection with the case; The Prosecutor –v- Jean Gombo, consisting of corruptly in-fluencing witness before the ICC.

A Ugandan, Ongwen described as the alleged Brigade Commander of the Sinia Brigade of the LRA, is standing trial for crimes against humanity and war crimes. The opening of charges against him is fixed for January 21, 2016.

The ICC Today also revealed that 12 sus-pects wanted in connection with crimes against humanity and war crimes are at large.

The ICC is the first permanent inter-national judicial body capable of trying individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes when national courts are unable or unwilling to do so.

The Rome Statute of the ICC entered into force on July 1, 2002. The ICC repre-sents one of the most significant oppor-tunities the world has had to prevent or drastically reduce the deaths and devasta-tion caused by conflict. Since 2002, much progress has been achieved in the estab-lishment of the Court which is located in

The Hague, the Netherlands. With all of the senior officials of the Court in place, the receipt of one Security Council and three State referrals, and the formal launch of investigations, the Court is now a fully-functional judicial institution.

In Cambodia in the 1970s, an estimat-ed two million people were killed by the Khmer Rouge. In armed conflicts in Mo-zambique, Liberia, El Salvador and other countries, there has been tremendous loss of civilian life, including horrifying num-bers of unarmed women and children. Massacres of civilians continue in Algeria and the Great Lakes region of Africa.

Most perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity throughout his-tory have gone unpunished. In spite of the military tribunals following the Second World War and the two recent ad -hoc inter-national criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda, the same holds true for the 20th century. That being said,

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 41 it is reasonable to conclude that most per-petrators of such atrocities believed that their crimes would go unpunished. Effec-tive deterrence is a primary objective of those working to establish the ICC. Once it is clear that the international community will no longer tolerate such monstrous acts without assigning responsibility and met-ing out appropriate punishment -- to heads of State and commanding officers as well as to the lowliest soldiers in the field or militia recruits, it is hoped that those who would incite a genocide; embark on a campaign of ethnic cleansing; murder, rape and brutal-ize civilians caught in an armed conflict; or use children for barbarous medical experi-ments will no longer find willing helpers.

Jurisdiction and Admissibility The Court may exercise jurisdiction

over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. These crimes are defined in detail in the Rome Statute. In addition, a supplementary text of the “Elements of Crimes” provides a breakdown of the ele-ments of each crime.

The Court has jurisdiction over individ-uals accused of these crimes. This includes those directly responsible for committing the crimes as well as others who may be li-able for the crimes, for example by aiding, abetting or otherwise assisting in the com-mission of a crime. The latter group also includes military commanders or other superiors whose responsibility is defined in the Statute.

The Court does not have universal juris-diction. The Court may only exercise juris-diction if:

•The accused is a national of a State Par-ty or a State otherwise accepting the juris-diction of the Court;

•The crime took place on the territory of a State Party or a State otherwise accepting the jurisdiction of the Court; or

•The United Nations Security Council has referred the situation to the Prosecutor, irrespective of the nationality of the ac-cused or the location of the crime.

LEGAL TIPS

BarBarJokesJokes

millions from his employer went to a lawyer seeking defence. He didn’t want to go to jail. But his lawyer told him, “Don’t worry. You’ll never have to go to jail with all that money.” And the lawyer was right. When the man was sent to prison, he didn’t have a dime.

Lawyer BrainsA doctor notices a sidewalk stand that says ‘brains for sale.’ He goes over to investigate and sees a sign that says ‘Doctor brains $8.00 a pound’ and another sign that says ‘Paramedic brains $12.00 a pound, Nurses brains $30.00 a pound, truck driver $40.00 a pound and lawyers brains $90.00 a pound.’ So he asks the man behind the cash register, “how come his brains are only worth 8.00 and a lawyer’s worth 90.00?” The man replies, “do you know how many lawyers it takes to make a pound of brains?”

A Lawyer and an honest man A woman and her little girl were visiting the grave of the little girl’s grandmother. On their way through the cemetery back to the car, the little girl asked, “Mummy, do they ever bury two people in the same grave?” “Of course not, dear,” replied the mother, “Why would you think that?”“The tombstone back there said... ‘Here lies a lawyer and an honest man.”

Culled from Funny Lawyers Jokes.com

Lawyer’s son The lawyer’s son wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps, so he went to law school and graduated with honours. Then he went home to join his father’s firm.At the end of his first day at work, he rushed into his father’s office and said, “Father, father! In one day I broke the Smith case that you’ve been working on for so long!”His father yelled, “You idiot! We’ve been living on the funding of that case for 10 years!”

Too young to die A lawyer dies and goes to Heaven. “There must be a mistake,” the lawyer argues. “I’m too young to die. I’m only 55.” “Fifty-five?” says Saint Peter. “No, according to out calculations, you’re 82.” “How’d you get that?” the lawyer asks. Answers St. Peter, “We added up your time sheets.”

You won’t go to jailA man who had been caught embezzling

Contempt of Court in legal parlance is the will-ful disregard of or disre-spect for the authority of a court of law or legisla-tive body.

*Contemptuous act is punishable by the court and its purpose is the need to protect the dig-nity of the court to the person of the judge and to prevent undue interfer-ence with the administra-tion of justice.

*It is not to show or bolster up the power and dignity of the judge as an individual.

Conduct or acts that amount to Contempt

*Using language or ex-

hibiting behaviour which is outrageous or which is deliberately insulting to the court;

*Comments whether oral or written scandalis-ing the court is contemp-tuous;

*Publication in a News-paper or article contain-ing scurrilous personal abuse of a judge with ref-erence to his conduct as a judge in any judicial pro-ceedings.

Forms of Contempt Contempt may be in-

facie curiae that is, in the face of the court or ex-facie curiae, i.e. outside the court.

Punishment *Contempt is commit-

ted under S. 133 of the Criminal Code (CC) car-ries a maximum of three months imprisonment.

*The court will pardon a contemnor whose con-duct is unintentional and who purges his contempt by a sincere apology to the court.

*A contemnor can be ordered to be kept in pris-on until he purges him-self of contempt.

Written by Francis Famoroti, Head, Judicia-ry. We welcome feedback and reactions from read-ers via our e-mail: nation-almirrorlaw@yahoo.com.

Contempt of Court

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 45Monday, March 23, 2015 Law & Justice

Fawehinmi Chief Akinjide

Lagos lawyer and human rights crusader, late Chief Gani Fawehinmi in one of his numerous legal battles crossed path with the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) of the Bar in 1981. FRANCIS FAMOROTI, Head, Judiciary writes.

Thirty four years ago, a publica-tion titled: Nigerian Constitu-tional Law Reports 1981 Volume

One edited by Chief Gani Fawehinmi, ‘’the famous reputable and controversial Nigerian lawyer’’ appeared in a weekly news magazine, ‘’West Africa’’ edition of March 23, 1981. This publication became an albatross for Fawehinmi as the Bar to which he belonged said it amounted to a professional misconduct.

The office of the Attorney- General of the Federation by a letter dated December 1, 1981, wrote the radical lawyer and asked him to defend himself of the alleged mis-conduct.

One Mrs. O.O Fatunde of the Federal Ministry of Justice who signed the letter said the conduct offended against Rule 33 and 34 of the Rules of Professional Conduct in the legal profession published as Gov-ernment Notice No. 69, No 5 of Vol. 67 in the Official Gazette of January 18, 1980 which prohibits adverting, touting and publicity.

The office therefore directed Fawehinmi ‘’to show cause by way of written explana-tion within 14 days thereof why the matter should not be referred to the Legal Practi-tioners’ Disciplinary Committee for appro-priate action.’’

Before the expiration of the 14 days no-tice, the LPDC on December 3, 1981 filed charges against the lawyer citing him for professional misconduct.

In the charges, the Federal Ministry of Justice, alleged that Fawehinmi engaged himself in ‘’adverting, touting and public-ity’’ in a publication in the weekly news magazine, the ‘’West Africa’’ in its edition of March 23, 1981.

Specifically, the LPDC alleged that Fawe-hinmi committed the misconduct when he described himself in the ‘’West Africa’’ news magazine as the ‘’famous, reputable and controversial Nigerian lawyer.’’.

The LPDC filed two charges under sec-tion 10 (1) (a) of the Legal Practitioners’ Act, 1975 against Fawehinmi and asked him to appear before the committee to de-fend himself of the allegations.

Sensing that the committee might be biased against him, the lawyer pre-empted the proceedings and filed an ex-parte mo-tion, seeking an order of a Lagos High Court to stop the LPDC, as constituted, from proceeding with the hearing of the matter.

Fawehinmi’s application was granted at the high court by Justice Candide Ademola Johnson on January 27, 1982.The next day, the lawyer, by a motion on notice of that date, put the LPDC on notice.

By an affidavit sworn to on February 4, 1982 by the then President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Adetunji Fa-dayiro, he said the NBA National Executive Committee (NEC) at its meeting in Calabar on April 24, 1981 resolved among others, to

refer Fawehinmi’s conduct to the Bar disci-plinary committee.

The matter was subsequently referred to the committee by the NEC secretariat which reported back to the NEC at its meeting in Maiduguri on July 3, 1981.

The obvious implication of this was that the LPDC was maintaining that the then Attorney -General of the Federation, Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN) was not re-sponsible for sending the matter to the dis-ciplinary committee and, therefore, could not be said, as claimed by Fawehinmi, that he was in desperate hurry to nail him.

The embattled lawyer denied Faday-iro’s affidavit and at the hearing of the matter at the high court, Dr. Olu Onagoru-wa, was the lead attorney for Fawehinmi while Chief F.R.A Williams (SAN) led the team appearing for LPDC.

The grounds of Fawehinmi’s action was that the active involvement of the office of the Attorney General of the Federation as the complainant, and the prosecutor in the complaint and charges against him before the disciplinary com-mittee in which the AGF is the chairman contravened or was likely to contravene his fundamental right under section 33 of the 1979 Constitution.

The lawyer and human rights activ-ist contended that the constitution of the LPCD vis-à-vis the complaint and charges against him did not secure the indepen-

dence and impartiality of the committee.Besides, Fawehinmi said the chairman

of the LPDC was the Federal Attorney General and Justice Minister and he was also the complaint and prosecutor.

He argued that this being so, the pro-ceedings of the committee by the way it was constituted in this particular instance would be contrary to the principle of natu-ral justice.

Fawehinmi said as a result of the part played by Akinjide, the then AGF, in bring-ing the complaint and charges to the LPDC, there was the real likelihood of bias on his part as the chairman of the committee in the consideration and determination of the said complaint and charges.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Jus-tice Johnson, who was then the state Chief Judge, decided the case in Fawehinmi’s fa-vour and it accordingly stopped the com-mittee from adjudicating on the charges framed against the activist.

Dissatisfied with the verdict, the LPDC lodged a notice of appeal at the Federal Court of Appeal. The Appellate Court in a unanimous and considered judgment of five justices dismissed the appeal.

In the lead judgment of the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Mamman Na-sir, to which the other justices concurred, he said ‘’the crux of the matter is to give the person accused a fair hearing.’’

The appeal court prohibited Akinjide

IN THE CHARGES, IT WAS ALLEGED THAT

FAWEHINMI ENGAGED HIMSELF IN ‘’ADVERTING, TOUTING AND PUBLICITY’’ IN A PUBLICATION IN THE WEEKLY NEWS MAGAZINE, THE ‘’WEST AFRICA’’ IN

ITS EDITION OF MARCH 23, 1981

and three other members of the disciplin-ary committee against whom the com-plaint had been made from taking part in any future proceedings as members of the committee for the frame against the re-spondent. The three other members were, Fadayiro, Messrs. D.C.O Njemanze and Id-owu Sofola.

Aggrieved further, the LPDC went on appeal to the Supreme Court where Chief Williams argued that the work of the com-mittee was, at that stage of the proceed-ings merely administrative against Fawe-hinmi.

The appellant had also argued that the direction of the LPDC on the issue would not be conclusive since appeals lie to the Appeal Committee of the Body of Bench-ers and finally the Supreme Court ‘’whose decision is final ‘’.

The lawyer-activist however submitted that the committee was a quasi-judicial tribunal whose decision could affect the rights of others particularly their means of livelihood and therefore ought to be made to observe the principles of natural justice of fair hearing.

Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Anthony Aniagolu said if the LPDC pro-ceedings had not been arrested by an order nisi of the high court made on January 27, 1982, the Attorney- General of the Federa-tion would have been the accuser and the judge at the same time in this matter.

According to the court, ‘’I would be re-called that the respondent was not given the chance by the Attorney- General to an-swer the letter, Exhibit C, which brought the complaint about the respondent’s con-duct to his notice.

‘’Up to this date, Gani has not stated whether or not he inserted the advertise-ment complained of in the ‘’West Africa magazine. ‘’

The apex court said in the instant case, ‘’Chief Richard Akinjide, by reason of the way he handled the respondent’s matter, his behaviour seemed to portray him as having arrived at a conclusion on the guilt of the respondent, Gani, thus rendering him unfit to sit again, in judgment over the case, in the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplin-ary Committee.’’

Justice Aniagolu upheld the decision of the appellate court that the prohibition should be restricted to Akinjide and three others named on the committee.

‘’To hold that the disciplinary commit-tee, qua, committee, is barred from sitting over Gani’s matter, is, in effect to make it impossible for the disciplinary committee to exercise any disciplinary authority over him in this matter.’’

The apex court said ‘’in the result, this appeal by the LPD C must fail and hereby fails. The judgment of the Court of Appeal is hereby affirmed and the order it made hereby confirmed.

Why Gani dragged Bar disciplinary panel to court

FAMOUS CASES

46 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Saudi woman sentenced to 70 lashes for assault

Saudi Arabia King, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud

Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott

A court in Saudi Ara-bia has sentenced a woman to 70 lashes

and a fine of 20,000 Saudi Riyals (SR) for insulting a man on instant-messaging application WhatsApp.

According to ABC re-port, the court announced the verdict after it emerged that the 32-year-old woman was guilty of tarnishing the reputation of the plaintiff on WhatsApp.

The complainant filed the suit after an argument with the woman but the nature of the disagreement between the two was not dis-closed.

However, the defendant admitted she had insulted

Thai ex-PM Shinawatra to stand trial for negligence

Magistrate refuses suspected Mafi a boss bail

the man but reportedly re-jected the court ruling.

Article Three of the Saudi Anti-Cyber Crime Law states that whoever defames or inflicts damage upon others through vari-ous information technol-ogy devices “shall be sub-ject to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year and a fine not exceed-ing SR500, 000 or to either punishment’’.

It would be recalled that in a similar incident in July 2014, two women in Jeddah were sentenced to 20 lashes and 10 days in jail for insulting each oth-er on WhatsApp.

RIYADH

AUSTRALIA

THAILANDThailand’s attorney

general then filed criminal charges against Yingluck in February, accusing her of dereliction of duty.

“The panel (of judges) has decided that this case falls within our authority. We accept this case,” said Judge Veeraphol Tangsu-wan at the Supreme Court in Bangkok. The first hear-ing will be held on 19 May.

The scheme paid rice farmers in the rural areas

- the Shinawatra support base - twice the market rate for their crops, in a pro-gramme that cost the gov-ernment billions of dollars.

Yingluck says she was not involved in the scheme’s day-to-day operations, and has defended it as an at-tempt to support the rural poor.

The rice scheme was a factor in the street protests that led to the ousting of Ms Yingluck’s government and the subsequent military coup.

It was the latest turn in the political turbulence that began when Yingluck’s brother Thaksin Shinawa-tra was removed by a previ-ous coup in 2006.

He now lives in self-im-posed exile. But the influ-ence of the family persists, with parties allied to the Shinawatras winning every election since 2001.

They are loved in the ru-ral north for their populist policies, but hated by the country’s elite who accuse them of corruption.

A Melbourne magis-trate has refused to grant bail to a

suspected organised crime boss, with underworld links, Rocco Arico.

According to BBC, Arico was charged with a string of offences, including extor-tion, assault and blackmail after a Purana Taskforce in-vestigation.

Prosecutors accused him of threatening a man, known only as Witness A, over an alleged drug debt and organising for his home to be firebombed.

Alleged intimidatory at-tacks on Witness A’s home included the back fence be-ing set alight and a pot plant and rock thrown through the property’s front win-dows where Witness A’s children were sleeping.

The court heard Witness

A’s parents’ home was also targeted and their car set alight after he failed to pay off the drug debt or kill a suspected drug thief who stole a kilogram of cocaine, worth hundreds of thou-sands of dollars, under Wit-ness A’s watch.

The court heard Arico was also accused of forcing the man to sell his home to cover the debt and punched him in the head at his prop-

erty.Detective Senior Con-

stable Liam O’Connor told the Melbourne Magistrate’s Court he had “extreme” concern for the safety of Witness A and his family.

The court heard they had moved to a remote location and were in fear for their lives.

Detective O’Connor de-scribed the case as a “mas-sive investigation” that was

ongoing and had moved from “covert” to “overt”.

Thailand’s Supreme Court has ordered the former Prime

Minister to stand trial for negligence over a con-troversial rice subsidy scheme.

Yingluck Shinawatra is facing a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.

It is the latest blow to the dominance of the Shinawa-

tra family in Thai politics, after Ms Yingluck was banned from politics for five years.

Her government was ousted before the military took control in a coup in May last year, after months of protests.

In January, Ms Yin-gluck was retroactively im-peached for her role in the rice subsidy scheme by a military-appointed legisla-ture.

Monday, March 23, 2015Law & Justice

My first solo ap-pearance was before Justice-

Lateef Lawal-Akapo of the commercial division of the High court of La-gos state. I was instructed by my principal to move a motion for withdrawal. Prior to this day, our cli-ent had stopped contact-ing us and apparently we have to withdraw from

the matter.When the matter was

mentioned in the court, I entered my appearance while the other party also entered his appearance. I told the court I have a mo-tion to move while subse-quently the other counsel also informed the court he has another motion to argue.

Hitherto, I was given

the opportunity to move my motion first and throughout my presenta-tion I was quite calm be-cause I had done series of rehearsals before the pro-ceedings.

However, the Judge noticed I was a new wig and was also friendly. The court granted my applica-tion. It was indeed a mem-orable experience.

It was a memorable experience —Nwodo

Myanmar court finds three men guilty of insulting religion

BURMA

Myanmar President, Thein Sein

Fochi Nwodo

A New Zealander and two Burmese men have been

found guilty of insult-ing religion in Myanmar over a poster promoting a drinks event depicting Buddha with headphones.

A report by BBC says that Philip Blackwood, who managed the VGas-tro Bar in Yangon, was ar-rested in December along with bar owner Tun Thu-rein and colleague Htut Ko Ko Lwin.

They have each been sentenced to two and a

half years in jail as Bur-mese law makes it illegal to insult or damage any religion.

The poster, which was posted on Facebook to advertise a cheap drinks night, showed Buddha surrounded by psyche-delic colours. It sparked an angry response online.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has seen grow-ing Buddhist nationalism in recent years.

All three men had de-nied insulting religion during their trial. Tun Thurein told the court that Blackwood alone was responsible for the post-

ing. Blackwood had said sorry online and repeat-ed his apology in court.

About 90% of Myan-mar’s population is Bud-dhist and perceived in-sults to the religion are taken seriously

But the judge, Ye Lwin, said that though Black-wood apologised, he had “intentionally plotted to insult religious belief ” when he uploaded the poster on Facebook, re-ported AFP news agency.

Blackwood, 32, said he planned to appeal against the sentence.

Speaking after sen-tencing outside the court before being bundled into a car, he said that he was “pretty disappointed” with his punishment, which was “more than the maximum sentence”.

“I have said that I was sorry so many times,” he said. “It was nothing to do with me.”

Before sentencing he said that he had removed the image and posted an apology when he realised it was being shared on-line and provoking out-rage.

The New Zealander’s family say they hope the government will inter-vene to deport him.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 47Monday, March 23, 2015

Morsi

Reviewer, Mr. Dele Adesina, SAN (left) and a Director, Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions, Mrs. Idowu Alakija

L-R: Prof. Peter Fogam and Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, (UNILAG), Prof. Akin Ibidapo-Obe.

Former Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Afolabi Adeyinka (left), and Justice Oludotun Adefope-Okorie.

Mr. Aina Salami and Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN) .

L-R: Bayelsa State former Attorney-General, Mr. George Ikoli, SAN; APC Vice-Presidential candidate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, and the author, Mustapha Ogunsakin at a book presentation in Lagos recently.

L-R:-Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu; Presiding Justice of Appeal Court in Lagos Division, Justice Amina Augie; Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye, Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola and Justice Kazeem Alogba, during the public presentation of the book titled; ‘ Nigerian Tax Law and Administration’ by Ipaye in Lagos, recently.

EVENTS

Law & Justice

Egyptian court sentences 23 alleged Brotherhood members to lifeAn Egyptian court yes-

terday sentenced 23 al-leged members of the

banned Muslim Brotherhood group to life in jail on charges of rioting, using violence, stag-ing unauthorised protests and offending the police and army, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

The case dates back to the

violent events that followed the forceful disbanding of two sit-ins of supporters for the ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

The breakup of the protest camps in Rabaa El-Adawiya and El-Nahda squares, which saw hundreds killed in Cairo, unleashed days of violence and bloody confrontations between pro-Morsi protesters and secu-

rity forces.The defendants were arrested

during defiant protests against Morsi’s ouster in the Nile Delta city of Gharbiya.

Since July 2013 ouster of Morsi, thousands of members and loyalists to the Brotherhood have been arrested and tried on a variety of charges, where hun-dreds received death sentences.

Community MirrorThe training of election observer is the

responsibility of the organisations that deploy

INEC Chairman –Prof Attahiru Jega

NEMA, Red Cross, NYSC and youth volunteers distributing relief materials to internally displaced people in Borno State, at the weekend.

A 35 year old pregnant woman, identified as Iyabo Ojulari-Abideen,

who has been parading herself as a police officer has been remanded in prison custody by an Abeokuta Chief Magis-trate’s Court, in Isabo for al-legedly stealing a Honda Ac-cord worth N4.5 million.

While testifying before the court, the police prosecutor, Inspector Sunday Eigbejiale, said the suspect had on Oc-tober 20, 2014 committed the offence around Opic Round-about, Oke-Ilewo, in Abeokuta.

The police prosecutor fur-ther disclosed that Ojulari-Abideen stole an unregistered Honda Accord Crosstour 2011 model car worth N4.5m belong-ing to one Gbemisola Saburi.

Eigbejiale said, “Ojulari-Abideen approached Saburi, a car dealer at Oke-Ile, dressed in police uniform with the

AYO ESAN

The Pan–Yoruba Group, Oodua People’s Congress, OPC has said that those

parading themselves as OPC National Coordinating Coun-cil are consisted of members expelled from the organisation since 2007 and,

therefore, should not be tak-en seriously on the allegation that they were betrayed by the National Coordinator of OPC, Otunba Gani Adams.

The OPC, while describ-ing the group led by one Shina Akinpelu as faceless, described the allegation made as laugh-able by a drowning man trying to cling to everything in sight to stay afloat.

ABIODUN NEJOADO EKITI

The police in Ekiti State have arrested a 25-year-old man, Wale Ede, for allegedly ma-

cheting to death 50-year-old Mr. Joshua Olaseinde Fagbola.

Fagbola, a father of seven was said to have gone to attend a wake keep on Friday evening at Iro

Quarters, Iyin Ekiti where the sad event occurred.

Sources in the community said the deceased was attacked with machete on the head by the sus-pect at the point of his departure from the wake keep at about 8pm.

According to them, the de-ceased was about to start his mo-torbike engine to leave the venue when Ede suddenly brought out a

Pregnant woman remanded for theftrank of Assistant Superinten-dent of Police and introduced herself as a policewoman with the intention to purchase a car.

“The accused told the dealer

arrest on disputed land issues.The Oba claimed that he had

engaged the service of Rilwan Olayinka Dawodu Esq. (The 7th defendant) to commence and rep-resent him and his family in Suit No. ID/2118/2000 to protect and as-sert the Oloto Royal Family’s rights and interest in and over a large parcel of land situated at Oke Alo, Gbagada in Kosofe Local Govern-ment Area of Lagos.

He said at some point in the

that she was sent by the Com-missioner of Police and that a cheque will be forwarded to the dealer. “Ojulari-Abideen absconded with the car to

Ibadan and then later to Port Harcourt, where she was ar-rested by the Police. “In the course of investigation, Police gathered that the accused had

course of the matter, negotiations were initiated by the 4th, 5th and 6th defendants (Lagos State Gov-ernment, Lagos state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Lagos State Commissioner for Housing) in a bid to amicably re-solve the matter out-of-court.

“The claimant and the Oloto Royal Family were informed by the 7th defendant that in settlement of the dispute that led to the institu-tion of Suit No. ID/2118/2000 that

the Lagos State Government had agreed to excise an area of land measuring 5.708 hectares and cov-ered by survey Plan No. LS/D/LKJ 187 in favour of the claimant’s fam-ily. This was initially being object-ed by the claimant family but after being deliberated upon in a series of meetings it was later approved by the entire Oloto Royal Family to accept the said 5.708 hectares excised on to the claimant”, he claimed.

OPC disowns splinter group

Youth kills man with machetes in Ekiti

Monarch appeals to Fashola to stop harassment

been convicted twice on the same charge in Kaduna and Osogbo.”

The offence according to the prosecutor contravened Sections 516, 383 (2) (a), 390 (9) and 109 (a) (b) of the Criminal Laws of Ogun, 2006.

Ojulari-Abideen, who has been parading herself as a po-lice officer was arraigned on a two count charge bordering on stealing and impersonation.

The suspect’s plea of inno-cence was turned down by the court.

Consequently the accused was ordered by the Chief Mag-istrate, Mr. Anthony Araba to be remanded in prison custody. The Chief Magistrate further ordered that Ojulari-Abideen be allowed to have accessto medical facilities due to the fact that she is pregnant. The matter was however adjourned till March 24.

The monarch claimed that problem however ensure when it was clear the lawyer (7th defen-dant) had connived with the gov-ernment to deceive him and his family as he refused to bring the term of settlement for him to sign.

The claimant said it was shock-ing to later note after thorough investigation that the purported terms of settlement which his law-yer, Dawodu had refused to bring for him to signing has been signed by the 4th, 5th and 6th defendants and consent judgment already en-tered on June 2005.

The OPC said this in a state-ment made available to journal-ists by its Publicity Secretary,

Hakeen Ologunro, while re-acting to the statement credit-ed to the group purportedly led by Akinpelu.

According to him “the group, claiming to be mem-bers of an organization they were expelled from more than three years now, is nothing but a drowning man trying to cling to everything in sight to stay

afloat. “We are not unaware that

the action of the group is the hand of Peter and voice of Paul. They are only being used by some politicians to attack the OPC.”

WALE IGBINTADE

The Oloto of Otto, HRM Oba Ganiyu Okeyide Odesanya has appealed to the Lagos

State Government to stop harass-ing his family members on a dis-puted land, which is still pending in court.

The monarch alleged that the state government has been using its Environment Task Force to ha-rass arrest and detain his subject over said disputed land belonging to the Oloto family.

Odesanya made this appeal after the hearing of a suit he instituted against the Lagos State Govern-ment, Lagos state Attorney Gen-eral and Commissioner for Justice, Lagos State Commissioner for Housing.

Other defendants in the suit in-stituted before a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja are Mukaila Olajide Oseni (on behalf Adams/Esu Fam-ily, Chief Lasisi Arubo (on behalf of Alashe Chieftaincy Family of Lagos), Diya, Fatimilehin & Co and Rilwan Olayinka Dawodu Esq.

According to the monarch, some officers of the Lagos State Govern-ment have now turned the Envi-ronmental Task Force, which was set up by the state to enforce envi-ronmental laws into agency for the

sharp cutlass from the umbrella he was holding and attacked Fag-bola, who died in hospital later.

The sources spoke of the like-lihood of misunderstanding be-tween the deceased and the sus-pect earlier.

Ekiti State Command Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Al-berto Adeyemi, who confirmed the incident, said that the suspect was being held at the Criminal Investi-gation Department in Ado-Ekiti.

48 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Monday, March 23, 2015

Koroma

A woman, right, being injected by a health care worker as she takes part in a Ebola virus vaccine trial at the Redemption hospital in Monrovia, Liberia, recently.

Liberian volunteers for Ebola vaccine trial increase

Sierra Leonean opposition plans to impeach president A third attacker in the deadly

assault on the Bardo museum is on the run, Tunisia’s president said Sunday, declaring his country at war with the extremists who killed 21 people at one of North Africa’s most revered cultural institutions.

President Beji Caid Essebsi said the attack involved “three aggres-sors” and the third man escaped. He was speaking live with French network iTele from inside the mu-seum, its elaborate tilework visible behind him.

Tunisia’s Interior Ministry released security camera footage of Wednes-day’s attack showing two gunmen walking through the museum, car-rying assault rifles and bags. At one point they encounter a third man with a backpack walking down a flight of stairs. They briefly acknowl-edge each other before walking in opposite directions.

Police responding to the attack shot and killed the two gunmen. They were identified as Tunisians in their 20s who had trained in Libya.

Tunisia hunts for third museum attacker

‘Morocco dismantles cell planning attacks’

Seven siblings killed in fire to be buried in Israel

Moroccan authorities have an-nounced the dismantling of a militant network linked to the Islamic State group across nine cities that had been planning attacks.

The statement by the Interior Ministry Sunday didn’t specify how many were arrested, but said the network was present in several cities, including Agadir, Tangiers, Taroudant and Marrakech.

In the southern coastal city of Aga-dir, police seized firearms and a large quantity of ammunition that was to be used in attacks against military and political figures, it said.

There has been increased con-cern over the presence of groups linked to Syria-based IS in North Africa after it claimed an attack on a Tunisian museum last week that killed 21 people.

The remains of the seven siblings who died in a New York City blaze will be flown to Israel for burial.

Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind says the children’s remains will be placed aboard an El Al flight to Tel Aviv after funeral services Sunday afternoon.

The children ages 5 to 16 died early Saturday when flames engulfed the Sassoon family home in the Midwood neighbourhood of Brooklyn.

Investigators believe a hot plate left on a kitchen counter set off the fire that trapped the children and badly injured their mother and another sibling.

WORLD BULLETIN

World NewsNational Mirror

www.nationalmirroronline.net 49Monday, March 23, 2015

The president (Obama) should get over it. Get over your temper

tantrum, Mr. President.– UNITED STATES SENATOR, JOHN MCCAIN

PAUL ARHEWEWITH AGENCY REPORTS

Sierra Leone’s opposi-tion party is considering launching impeachment

proceedings against the presi-dent and will refuse all coop-eration with the government because of the way the vice pres-ident was fired.

The Sierra Leone People’s Party said it will also ask the Supreme Court to review Vice President Samuel Sam-Suma-na’s removal from office, the party said after an emergency meeting Saturday.

President Ernest Bai Ko-roma fired Sam-Sumana last week, saying such a move was necessary because the vice president had been expelled from the ruling political party. Several groups have called the move unconstitutional, and Sam-Sumana is challenging it

in court. Koroma has named a new vice president.

Sam-Sumana’s removal has raised tensions in Sierra Leone, which is fighting Ebola and only recently recovered from years of civil war. The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists has warned that police are stifling dissent, using emergency mea-sures meant to help contain Ebola.

The opposition party resolved that “SLPP members of parlia-ment walk out from all functions and proceedings where Presi-dent Koroma or the purported Vice-President is in attendance or presiding.”

That raises the stakes of Ko-roma’s move and is likely to disrupt government operations since the party has a significant number of seats in parliament and controls local councils as well.

Liberians are overcoming their fears of Ebola to vol-unteer for a vaccine trial.

The gruesome toll of West Africa’s Ebola outbreak, which has killed more than 4,200 Li-berians of the more than 10,000 who have succumbed to the dis-ease, has intensified efforts to find a vaccine for a disease that previously infected relatively few people in remote areas.

One year after the World

people to volunteer for the vac-cine trial, getting his injection in front of the media. Similarly, in Guinea, authorities started the study by injecting a series of prominent officials, including the head of the country’s Ebola response.

The outreach worked in Libe-ria, where more than 700 people have volunteered, well beyond the 600 required, according to Kennedy.

In a sign of the U.N.’s con-cern, Special Representative Mohamed Ibn Chambas, who heads the U.N. office in West Africa, met Kormoa on Satur-day to discuss the situation,

Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak, vaccine tri-als are under way in Liberia and Guinea. Sierra Leone will start a trial later this month.

In Liberia, scientists have fanned out across the country to explain the studies and reduce the fear and confusion that have stymied efforts to contain Ebola.

Dr. Stephen Kennedy, the Liberian lead investigator for the study, was among the first

“All of the reservations I have were explained, my doubts were cleared,” B. Emmanuel Lansa-na, a physician’s assistant who was the first person to partici-pate in the study, said after he received his injection.

Enrolment will close soon for Liberia’s Phase 2 trial, which is testing two vaccine candidates for safety and for whether they produce an immune response.

“We’ve had no trouble with enrolment,” said Dr. Clifford Lane, the clinical director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Dis-eases, which is helping to run the study. “This study has been pulled off in an extraordinarily professional, competent and ef-ficient way.”

Liberia had not seen an Eb-ola case in weeks before one was confirmed Friday. The low level of the disease means that the trial’s next phase may be moved to Sierra Leone or Guin-ea where the disease is more prevalent, Lane said. Phase 3 tests whether the vaccines ac-tually prevent Ebola, so it must be done in a place with active transmission.

the U.N. said Sunday. Cham-bas urged Koroma to keep the country’s focus on eradicating Ebola and reminded him that all political decisions should follow the constitution.

National Mirror www.nationalmir-50 Monday, March 23, 2015South South

L-R: Bayelsa State Deputy Governor, Gboribiogha John Jonah; Governor Seriake Dickson and National President, New Nigeria Initia-tive, Chief Dikivie Ikiogha, during a peace rally in Yenagoa on Saturday.

Amaechi

Delta SSG kicks against card readers

—Amaechi

ObiOra ifOh and dennis naku

Barely six days to the 2015 general elec-tions, Rivers State

Deputy Governor, Mr. Tele Ikuru, has defected from the All Progressives Con-gress, APC, to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

News of Ikuru’s defection filtered into Port Harcourt, the state capital, and other areas yesterday.

Ikuru, who was deputy to former Governor Celestine Omehia, was inherited by Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi since 2007.

There are indications that Ikuru would likely be received officially by Presi-dent Goodluck Jonathan at a PDP stakeholders’ meet-ing in Port Harcourt today.

Speculations of the dep-uty governor’s defection to the PDP became widespread on Sunday when a Govern-ment House source con-firmed his departure from the APC.

Our reporter gathered that Amaechi had called Ik-uru on Saturday to ascertain the location of his deputy governor, who was said to be in his hometown in Andoni Local Government Area of the state.

The source, who pleaded anonymity, further said Ikuru had travelled to his country home to finalise his movement from the APC to PDP, even as the latter was said to be rattled over the de-velopment.

Asked what could have been responsible for the deputy governor’s defection, a Government House source said, “My brother, I don’t know. What I know is that he (Ikuru) had no problem with the governor.

The source added that the political influence of Depu-ty National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, could not be ruled out as the major reason Ikuru left the APC.

“For now, I can confirm to you that the deputy gov-ernor has moved to PDP and that President Jonathan will receive him tomorrow (to-day). The deputy governor was in Andoni to conclude his plan to move to the PDP.

“When the governor called him on Saturday, he (Ikuru) told Governor Amaechi that he would see him when he returns. But he

Ikuru, Rivers deputy gov, dumps APC

to the First Lady to curry favour and political sup-port from the Presidency.

The governor also ac-cused the state’s PDP gu-bernatorial candidate of sponsoring the killing of APC member, who was shot dead recently in his (Wike’s) home town, even as he accused the police of bias due to its inability to arrest the hoodlums behind the killing.

He said: “Do you know that the PDP gubernato-rial candidate, Nyesom Wike, has been giving one million dollars monthly to the wife of the presi-dent, Mrs Patience Jona-than?”

“He has been doing this to gain political fa-vour in the Presidency and to retain favour. Con-tinuing, the governor

came back to Port Harcourt on the same day, and failed to see the governor.

“You are aware that Uche Secondus is the political mentor of the deputy gover-nor and he (Secondus) is re-sponsible for most of the po-litical appointments Ikuru had received in the past, in-cluding his current position.

The state government in its reaction to Ikuru’s resig-nation said Governor Amae-chi was yet to be notified of-ficially.

A statement by Commis-sioner for Information and Communications, Ibim Se-menitari, however, wished the deputy governor well in his future political endeav-ours.

The statement reads: “The Rivers State Governor, Rt. Honourable Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has only this evening (yesterday) re-ceived news of the resigna-tion of his Deputy Governor, Engr Tele Ikuru, from the APC.

“Whilst the news remains unofficial at this time, as the Deputy Governor is yet to notify His Excellency of this move, Governor Amaechi, however, wishes Ikuru the best in his future political endeavours.

“He, however, wishes to note that the reasons ad-duced by Ikuru are shocking as Deputy Governor lkuru has consistently been the one driving political activi-ties in his local government area of Andoni and has been the second in command driving politics and gover-nance in Rivers State.

“On a personal note, Gov-ernor Amaechi has accord-ed Ikuru all the privileges and respect due the office of the Deputy Governor and has treated him with love as a friend and brother.

“Though the governor had hoped that the numer-ous rumours of Ikuru’s dou-ble-faced membership of the APC and open romance with the PDP were not true, he however, appreciates the fact that every individual has a right to pursue his political dreams, as he deems most appropriate

“It is however, regrettable that Ikuru has chosen the dishonourable path of bare faced lies retracing his steps to and name calling rather than the more honourable path of simply retracing his steps to where he has always been.’’

said, “For eight years our Okrika brother (Sena-tor George Sekibo) has been occupying the Sen-ate (Rivers East) seat and now it is the turn of an Ikwerre son, but, Nyesom Wike has gone ahead to accept another four years for George Thompson Sekibo.

“This is not accept-able, Chief Andrew Uchendu will take over this time, one man called Nyesom Wike cannot sell Ikwerre birth right,” Amaechi said, pointing out that Rivers people and Nigerians in general will experience massive development in all sec-tors when General Mu-hammadu Buhari wins as President on March 28.

But in a swift reaction to the governor’s allega-tion, Special Assistant,

Media, to PDP governor-ship candidate, Simeon Nwakaudu, describe it as total falsehood.

Nwakaudu wondered where his principal (Wike) would get that kind of money from, even as he challenged the gov-ernor to come out with facts to prove his allega-tions.

Party, PDP, which has solid structures on ground, the opposition has none to win elections in the country.

Macaulay, who stated this at the weekend in Asa-ba during an interactive session with the media, condemned in its entirety the plan to use card read-ers by the commission, saying should the com-mission go ahead with its plan, it might cause seri-ous damage to the nation, having been rejected by majority of Nigerians.

According to the SSG,

the card readers have not been tested, used and prov-en to be successful any-where in the world, adding that no matter how scien-tific and reliable they may be, it is like an instrument that has not been tested in the theatre and for the first time it’s being used to op-erate a human heart.

“It’s not done anywhere in the world. Jega is a pro-fessor and he knows the importance of research. The card reader has never been used before. “As ci-vilised as America is, as

scientific as Israel is, they have not used this method and it has not been proven in the world to be suc-cessful before,” Macaulay stated.

On the presidential election, Macaulay said the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, General Muhammadu Buhari, lacks the pedigree to win elections in Nigeria and as such cannot defeat President Goodluck Jona-than, who has an edge over him.

dennis naku PORT HARCOURT

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, gover-norship candidate

in Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, has been accused of giving one million dollars monthly to wife of the President, Dame Patience Jonathan.

Rivers State Governor and Director-General of the All Progressives Con-gress, APC, Presidential Campaign, Governor Chibuike Amaechi, made the disclosure during a praise and worship ses-sion organised by Ikw-erre Youth Movement, IYM, and Ikwerre Women Forum, IWF, at Isiokpo, headquarters of Ikwerre Local Government Area.

Amaechi said Wike has been giving the amount

amOur udemude ASABA

Ahead of the March 28 presidential and National Assem-

bly elections, Secretary to Delta State Government, SSG, Ovuozorie Macaulay, has kicked against the use of card readers in the gen-eral elections.

Macaulay, who also pre-dicted mass failure for the opposition parties in the forthcoming general elec-tions, said that apart from the Peoples Democratic

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 51NorthMonday, March 23, 2015

Adamawa State PDP gubernatorial candidate, Malam Nuhu Ribadu addressing supporters at a rally in Mayo-Belwa Local Government Area, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

Independent Nation-al Electoral Com-mission, INEC, in

Zamfara State, has lost one card reader during training of ad-hoc staff in Anka Local Govern-ment Area, an official has confirmed.

INEC Head of Voter Education and Public-

ity in the state, Garba Galadima, who con-firmed the incident on Sunday in Gusau, said security agents were investigating the mat-ter.

Reacting on the issue, Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Sunusi Ami-ru, said the police had al-

ready arrested some sus-pects in connection with the stolen machine.

He said investigation had also commenced to unravel circumstances behind the missing ma-chine.

Amiru expressed the command’s readiness to ensure peaceful elec-

tion in the state, saying, “We will not tolerate any threat to disrupt the elec-tion process and we have to ensure full protection of INEC materials.”

He called on members of the public to cooper-ate with security agents and INEC to ensure suc-cessful elections.

INEC card reader stolen in ZamfaraKeep corps members safe, Sultan tells security agencies

Don’t vote manipulators of religion –Oyegun

Plateau non-natives endorse Pwajok

Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has

charged security agen-cies to provide adequate protection for members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, and other personnel that would be involved in con-ducting the forthcoming general elections.

He gave the charge when NYSC Director-Gen-eral, Brigadier General Johnson Olawumi, paid a pre-election advocacy visit to his palace.

The sultan also called on members of the public, especially politicians, to ensure the safety of the corps members.

The traditional ruler told the NYSC chief about a standing directive from the Sultanate Council to all District Heads in the state, asking them to take charge of the safety of corps members serving in their domains, and went on to advocate the replica-tion of same arrangement in other parts of the coun-try.

He enjoined corps members not to be de-terred by upheavals of the past, but to consider their engagement in the conduct of elections as a national duty they should be proud of.

He further urged the corps members to go into the electoral assignment with high sense of patrio-tism and to avoid identi-fying with any political party.

Turning to politicians,

he reminded them that winners of elections had already been pre-destined by God and wondered why some of them viewed elec-tions as a do-or-die affair.

He said while they struggled for electoral success, they should also consider the well-being of the country after the elec-tions.

The Sultan used the oc-casion to call for recogni-tion and compensation to be given to persons who suffered incapacitation in the course of service to the nation.

Earlier, the NYSC Di-rector-General, Olawumi had told the Sultan that the security of corps members was paramount, and appealed to the mon-arch to help in sensitising members of the public, especially politicians, to ensure the safety of corps members before, during and after the election.

Olawumi said the corps members had been trained on their expected roles and sensitised on the need to be neutral, adding that the NYSC had internal mechanism for dealing with anyone who flouts the rules.

Olawumi therefore ap-pealed to members of the public to report miscon-duct by any corps mem-bers to the management of the scheme instead of taking the law into their hands.

He thanked the sultan for his role in making corps members comfort-able in the state.

town hall meeting in Southern Kaduna chal-lenged Nigerians to work hard for social justice.

Oyegun explained that Nigerians should look out for responsible leadership and vote only credible candidates in the elections.

He said: “The APC stands for social justice and nothing more. We are here to reaffirm this fact that APC stands for jus-tice, truth and develop-ment of Nigeria.

“It is in this regard that we are here in South-

ern Kaduna; the APC-led government will end your quagmire and bring realistic development to the country.

“We are serious-mind-ed people and you can check that with all the candidates we are parad-ing.

“In Kaduna State for example, we are parading credible governorship candidate and also capa-ble senatorial, House of Representatives and As-sembly candidates.”

Warning Nigerians to resist being manipulated

for political gain using religion, Oyegun cau-tioned: “People that are talking about religion are only manipulating gull-ible Nigerians to grab power, what have they done for the benefit of the common man?”

But APC state party chairman and governor-ship running mate of APC, Arc. Bala Barnabas Bantex, said the game is up for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, adding that it is now time for action not time for de-ceit.

JAMES ABRAHAM JOS

Non-natives resi-dent in Plateau State from the

six geo-political zones of Nigeria at the weekend endorsed Peoples Demo-cratic Party, PDP, gover-norship candidate, Sena-tor Gyang Nyam Pwajok,

as next governor of the state.

The non-natives, com-prising traditional rulers and stakeholders, made the endorsement on Sat-urday at Chief Solomon Amusement Park, Jos.

Leaders of the non-natives, who spoke one after the other, said their decision was borne out

AZA MSUE KADUNA

National Chairman of All Progres-sives Congress,

APC, John Odigie-Oye-gun, has urged people of Southern Kaduna to shun politicians using religion to seek votes ahead of this year’s polls.

Spokesperson for Ka-duna State APC Cam-paign, Samuel Aruwan, who disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists in Kaduna, said Oyegun during APC

watched goings-on, had come to the conclusion that Pwajok as the next governor of the state is well positioned to take the state and its people to the next level.

Zungdet also urged voters, especially the natives and non-natives alike, to begin mobilising the electorate towards delivering the state to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP during the Presidential, National Assembly, Governorship and House of Assembly elections this March and April.

Director, Non-natives, Senator Pwajok cam-paign organisation, Am-bassador Daniel Kabu-ruk in his address, said the choice of Pwajok to succeed Governor Jang is the best decision PDP stakeholders have taken in the interest of a great-er Plateau.

He therefore asked people of the state to cast their votes for the PDP governorship candidate.

of the fact that Pwajok, having served as senator of the Federal Republic for the last two years and then as Chief of staff to Governor Jonah Jang for two years, used those opportunities to touch the lives of people of the state.

One of the leaders, Edmund Zungdet, in an interview with newsmen at the event, said the emergence of Pwajok as PDP governorship can-didate marks a turning point in the politics of the state.

According to him, as Pwajok’s election as lawmaker from Plateau North senatorial district in the last two years has greatly helped unite peo-ple of the zone, his being elected Plateau gover-nor come April 11 would bring lasting peace to the state, as he knows how to reach out to all groups in the state.

He said the non-na-tives having lived for decades in the state and

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net52 Monday, March 23, 2015

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This is to inform the general public that the above named Ministry has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Abuja for registration under Part “C” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act of 1990.

The Trustees are:1) Evang. (Mrs.) Ezue Catherine Chinazo —General Overseer2) Pastor Ezue Rufus Okey — Secretary3) Pastor Wisdom Osita Ekaruni — Member

The Aims & Objectives are: 1) Evangelism and soul winning2) To contribute to spiritual healing and growth of members3) Mark 16: 15 – and He said unto them, go ye into the world and preach the gospel to every creature

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar – General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Wuse, Zone 5,Abuja within 28 days of this publications

SIGNED :EVANG. MRS. EZUE CATHERINE CHINAZO (G.O)

This is to inform the general public that the above named Ministry has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Abuja for registration under Part “C” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act of 1990.

The Trustees:1. Pastor Emmanuel Dikeocha General Overseer2. Brother David Otutubuike Nwazue Secretary3 Sister Cicilia David4 Brother Eric Alison5 Sister Faith Onuchukwu6 Sister Justina Emmanuel

The Aims & Objectives are: 1. To preach the word of God all over the world starting with Nigeria.2. To nurture Christian growth through preaching teaching, teaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and Fellowship3. To bring people closer to God by teaching them to believe in the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the Bible.4. To proclaim the good works of our Lord Jesus Christ and to promote peace and love among individuals.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar – General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Wuse, Zone 5,Abuja within 28 days of this publications

Signed :TRUSTEES

This is to notify the general public that the above named Club has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja for registration under Part ‘C’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act of 1990.

The Trustees are:1. Emerald Bassey Andy2. Nene Eberemateme3. Victor Omoruyi Ogiemwonyi4. Olugbenga Olus Odujunirin5. Olusesan Oke Ayeni

Aims & Objectives: a. To do humanitarian worksb. To create a forum for social interaction among members

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Regis-trar – General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Wuse, Zone 5,Abuja within 28 days of this publications

Signed :OSAHON OHUOBA, ESQ.

This is to inform the general public that the above named church has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for Registration under the part ‘’C’’ of the Company and Allied Matters Act, 1990.

The Trustees are:1. Pastor Hephzibah Askia Chairman2. Job, Blessing Asuquo 3. Ubong Aniefiok Ekanem Secretary4. Udorie David Udom 5. Mrs. Obot Askia

Aims & Objectives: 1. To preach the gospel of Jesus Christ2. To hold Christian Worship services, Conference, Camp meetings etc on regular basis

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Regis-trar – General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Wuse, Zone 5,Abuja within 28 days of this publications

Signed : Pastor Hephzibah AskiaChairman

This is to inform the general public that the above named CHURCH has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Abuja for registration under Part “C” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act of 1990.

Board of Trustees:1. Prophet Akuboghayefa Alaowei Nelson — General Overseer 2. Pastor Akoukiri .T. Godsgift —Secretary 3. Pastor Okosikeme Godspower —Assist secretary 4. Pastor Alaowei Imotongha Grace —Fin. Secretary 5. Sister George Victoria —Treasurer 6. Elder Ekperi Joel —Auditor

Aims & Objectives: 1. To preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. 2. To motivate people to serve God and humanity 3. To plant mission churches through crusades and solving local humanitarian needs.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar – General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Wuse, Zone 5,Abuja within 28 days of this publications

SIGNED:Prophet Akuboghayefa Alaowei Nelson (General Overseer)

This is to inform the general public that the above Educational foundation has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja for registration under part “ C “ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990.

The Trustees are:

1. Rev Charles N. Ezeude.2. Peter U. Udeoba.3. Hon Victor Dan Jumbo

Aims & Objectives: 1. To provide University Education for the future leaders of our country in an environment that will make them conversant with moral and ethical component of human existence.2. To encourage and promote teaching and research for achievement of excellence particularly in the knowledge of science and Technology, theol-ogy and Art.3. To provide opportunity for increased awareness of their socio-cultural heritage.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar – General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Wuse, Zone 5,Abuja within 28 days of this publications

Signed: BARR IHIM JAMES .C.

GOD’S DIVINE MANDATE AND GLORIOUS MINISTRY THE GOD’S GREAT COVENANT SANCTUARY

LAGOS SHANGHAI CLUBRICH GOD MINISTRY

JESUS HEART CHURCH OF ALL NATIONS

PALLOTTI EDUCATION FOUNDATION

PUBLIC NOTICE PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICEPUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

–FORMER SOUTH AFRICA INTERNATIONAL, AARON MOKOENA

I think the coming friendly with Nigeria will further push the unfolding rivalry between

both teams

SportNational Mirror

www.nationalmirroronline.net 53Monday, March 23, 2015

54

Mata wrecks Reds at Anfi eld

West Bromwich Albion striker Brown Ideye’s return to international

football has been stalled by a ‘mi-nor injury’ that has forced him out of the Nigeria squad for two friendly matches this week.

Ideye has not played for the Super Eagles since November 2013 and he also missed out on the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

But he was named in a 28-man squad for Nigeria’s fixtures against the Cranes of Uganda in Uyo on Wednesday and in South Africa on March 29 respectively.

But the 26-year-old did not play in his club’s 3-0 loss at Manchester City last Saturday, with West Brom medical staff telling Ideye he would be out of action for a week.

As a result, he was forced to withdraw from the Nigerian squad yesterday, according to Su-per Eagles officials.

“A minor injury has forced Brown Ideye to pull out of the Super Eagles friendlies against Uganda and South Africa,” nation-al team spokesman, Toyin Ibitoye, told BBC Sport.

“It’s only a minor setback for him. We all know it would have been a good return to the interna-tional fold after a long absence.

“But his health is more impor-tant. We wish him a speedy recov-ery and hope to see Ideye when the Nations Cup quali-fiers start in June.”

I d -eye has s c o r e d five goals in 24 ap p e a r- ances for Nigeria.

In 2013, he helped his coun- try clinch their third Africa Cup of Nations title, scoring in the 4-1 semi-final victory over Mali.

A member of their 2010 World Cup squad in South Africa, Ideye was omitted from the Nigeria squad that reached the second round at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Ideye

Injury

misses Cranes, Bafana clashes

JOEL AJAYI ABUJA

Newly ap-p o i n t e d G e n e r a l

Secretary of the Ni-geria Football Fed-

eration (NFF), Dr. Mohammed Sanusi,

has promised to revive investigation into the cause of the fire that gutted a part of the Glass House secretariat of the Federation last year.

A mysterious fire last Sep-tember razed the offices of the General Secretary and Chief Accountant during the height of the leadership tussle in the Football House.

Speaking in a well-at-tended Press Conference 24 hours after his appointment as the NFF secretary, Sanusi, while fielding questions from newsmen in Abuja, said that

he needs time to settle in his new position before

launching an inquest into the embarrassing

incident which oc-curred last year.

Top officials of the NFF including the then President Aminu Maigari were fingered in the circumstanc-es that caused the inferno, an allegation Maigari de-

nied swiftly. As it stands,

n o r e -p o r t

o n t h e

fire i n -c i -d e n t has been

made known

to the public even as secu-rity officials including Fire Service Men have refused to make official pronounce-ments.

Nevertheless, Sanusi who was then Director of Compe-titions said cautiously, “Cer-tainly, we will get to the root of the matter. But we need some time to allow for proper investigation.

“I have never worked in fire service and the matter was reported to fire service department people who have the responsibility of find-ing out what happened. And of course, I am going to go through the fire incident re-port, all the correspondences and where there is need to re-visit, we will re-visit and if there is issue that I think we need to comment we will comment, all the issues that need to be taken up with the federation, I will do that,” he assured.

Also, the new GS called on the media not to stop the sup-port NFF is enjoying through their various reportage. “In the management of football not only in Nigeria, but all over the world football is a me-dia event. If it’s not publicised nobody will hear it, if it’s not televised nobody will see it.

“That is why members of the media are very important stakeholders in the promo-tion of football all over the world and that is why the Ni-geria Football Federation all the time see the media as part-ners in progress and we have enjoyed your support; that is

why we are calling on you to please con-

tinue to give us your sup-port. United we stand, di-

vided we fall.”

ONAL, AARON MOKOENA

y with Nigeria will ng rivalry between

both teams54

Mata wrecks Reds at Anfi eld

“It’s only a minor setback for him. We all know it would have been a good return to the interna-tional fold after a long absence.

“But his health is more impor-tant. We wish him a speedy recov-ery and hope to see Ideye when the Nations Cup quali-fiers start in June.”

I d -eye has s c o r e d five goals in 24 ap p e a r- ances for Nigeria.

In 2013, he helped his coun- try clinch their third Africa Cup of Nations title, scoring in the 4-1 semi-final victory over Mali.

A member of their 2010 World Cup squad in South Africa, Ideye was omitted from the Nigeria squad that reached the second round at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

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ttooot the puubbliic crriririty officiaialsls iiSSeService MeMenn tto make offificiiments.

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““IIII hhahahaveeveve nnneveevevfire sserervice aanwas repoorrtedd tdedepartmeentn peethhe respono sibing g ouout t whwhat hoffofof cccououoursrsrsrseee,e, III aaammmththrororougugugh hh thhtthee fififirpopo ttrtrt, alllll thththe e cocoanandd whwhw erereee thththeere-vvviisisi itittt, wewewe wwiif there iiis s isississususuuwe need to comcomment,t, aall tneneeded tto o be ttakefeffedederatitiono , I wiiasssured.

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New NFF secretary to New NFF secretary to reopen Glass House reopen Glass House fi re probefi re probe

IdeyeIdeye

Toure,AFCON heroes face Angola

Cote d’Ivoire Coach, Herve Re-nard, announced a 28-player squad ahead of the next FIFA

window that will see the Elephants host Angola on March 26 and Equa-torial Guinea three days later in Abi-djan.

The Frenchman made a point of calling up the 23 heroes of Bata, who secured Cote d’Ivoire its second conti-nental trophy at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

Both two friendly games will be the opportunity for Yaya Toure and his teammates to extend the celebra-tions of the nation’s AFCON triumph with its fans at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium.

However, five players have been added to the list as several African

champions are nursing a serious in-jury and will only make the trip to join the party, including goalkeeper Sylvain Gbohouo, defenders Serge Aurier and Wilfried Kanon, mid-fielder Ismael Diomande and striker Lacina Traore.

Sporting Gagnoa keeper Cisse Ab-doul Karim, TP Mazembe midfielder Christian Koffi Kouame and SC Bas-tia forward Giovanni Sio are making their return to the team, while ASEC Mimosas keeper Namory Diomande and Slavia Prague defender Simon Deli could be making their interna-tional debut.

Veterans Copa Barry and Kolo Toure will also be present after an-nouncing their retirement from in-ternational duty.

Anfi eld

EPL: Liverpool 1 2 Man Utd

Hull City 2 3 Chelsea

QPR 1 2 Everton

EPL resultsMataMatawrecks Reds at Anfi eld

Senegal Coach Aliou Cisse has omitted West Ham striker, Diafra

Sakho, in a 28-player squad ahead of the country’s friendly clash with Ghana this week.

Cisse renewed his trust in most of the 2015 AFCON campaigners, but welcomed omitted Besiktas’ striker Demba Ba.

Sakho infuriated the Sen-egalese football association for appearing in a FA Cup encounter for the Hammers after withdrawing from Sen-egal’s AFCON squad for an alleged back injury.

Meanwhile, four newcom-ers could make their interna-tional debut with the Lions against the Black Stars.

They are French Ligue

2 outfit Le Havre’s 22-year-old keeper Abdoulaye Di-allo, Barcelona B 20-year-old centre-back Diawandou Diagne, Fiorentina’s 22-year-old striker Babacar Khouma and US Créteil’s 28-year-old midfielder Cheikh Ndoye.

Senegal will face Ghana on March 28 and Havre AC on March 31 at the Stade Océ-ane, Le Havre, France.

SakhoSakhoaxed by Teranga Lions

Frie

ndly:

Fr

iend

ly:

AFCON fallout:

Juan Mata scoring one of his two goals that wrecked Liverpool at Anfiled yesterday

Toure

Sahko

54 Sports National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, March 23, 2015

AFOLABI GAMBARI

Former technical director of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA), Dr. Ka-

simawo Laloko, was at the week-end in Abeokuta, Ogun State conferred with a high chief-taincy title of Olori Parakoyi of Egbaland by the Alake of Egbal-and, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo.

The impressive ceremony held at the Alake’s Palace was witnessed by dignitaries that included traditional rulers, community leaders, market

men and women as well educa-tion and sports administrators across the country.

Laloko, who is also Direc-tor of Pepsi Football Academy (PFA) and Founder/Director of The Football Director, Orile-Imo, Ogun State had celebrated his 70th birthday in the ancient city on March 17.

“To have clocked 70th is a milestone and I am so elated to witness this momentous event in sound health,” Laloko told National Mirror at a ceremony to round off the chieftaincy installation at the OGTV Hall,

‘Ref ruined ‘Ref ruined Nigeria’s Nigeria’s chances’chances’

Laloko bags title, commits to humanity

Brand Manager, Seven-up Bottling Company Limited, Segun Ogunleye; Director, Pepsi Football Academy, Dr. Kasimawo Laloko and Head of Marketing, Seven-up Bottling Company Limited, Norden Thurston, in Abeokuta, Ogun State at the weekend

Abeokuta on Saturday. “However, it has posed even

more challenge on me to contin-ue to render quality service to humanity,” the former Gambia national team coach, who also tinkered several clubs in Nige-ria that include Enyimba, Wikki Tourists, Stationery Story, First Bank and Concord, added.

“It’s really pleasing to be welcomed to the platform of elder statesmen and I hope to continue to impact on national development as I have always done, especially in youth devel-opment,” Laloko further said.

The Nigeria Olympic Olympic Committee (NOC) has appointed

President of Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Dr. Daniel Igali, as Chairman of its Technical and Development Commission as Team Nigeria prepares for the All Africa Games in Congo Braz-zaville in September.

President of NOC, Engineer Habu Gumel, announced the ap-pointment with the approval of the Board and Exco members of the NOC during their meeting in Lagos at the weekend.

“Igali is highly intelligent and a go-getter and we want him to use his wealth of experience to improve our fortune in Con-

Governor Babatude Fashola has fulfilled his promise of scholarship

awards to athletes who won lau-rels for of Lagos State at the 18th National Sports Festival (NSF) in 2012.

Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Social Development, Mr. Wahid Enitan Oshodi, said the athletes who comprise four secondary school students, 16 polytechnics/technical schools students and 14 university stu-dents, had since collected their

The ongoing 2nd Ethnic Unity Cup Championship entered the quarter final

stage at the weekend with teams fighting for semi final tickets at the Navy playground, Ajegunle, Apapa.

Team Badagry will meet Team Ukwuani in one of the quarter final games billed for to-day while Team Epe will square Team lsale Eko immediately af-ter.

Principal Coordinator of the championship, Matthias Enebe-li, said two quarter finals were decided yesterday, adding that the semi final matches will be played on Tuesday at the same venue.

“The organising committee

go,” Gumel said.The NWF president, who ex-

pressed shock at his appoint-ment, said: “I promise that Nige-ria will do better than it did at the last All Africa Games.”

Other Commissions an-nounced by Gumel include Mar-keting Commission with Chief Fatai Williams as Chairman; Amuwo Odofin Project Develop-ment Committee (Chief Solomon Ogba); Athletes Commission (En-efiok Udo-Obong); Sports for All Commission (Henry Amike) and Women and Sports Commission (Mary Onyali).

The commissions and com-mittees would be inaugurated after Nigeria’s general elections.

cheques from the state’s Schol-arship Board.

“Governor Fashola promised the athletes scholarships at the cocktail dinner organised in honour after the festival and I am happy it has been fulfilled,” Oshodi remarked.

“I want to enjoin the benefi-ciaries to be good ambassadors of the state,” the commissioner added, stressing, “They should endeavour to imbibe qualities that would qualify them for leadership positions in future.”

commends all the teams par-ticipating in the competition for their spirit of sportsman-ship,” Enebeli said, adding that the final would hold at the naval ground on Thursday.

“We are expecting Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola and the gubernatorial candidate of All Progressive Congress, Mr. Akin-wunmi Ambode, as our special guests of honour with other im-portant dignitaries,” Chairman of the Organising Committee, Anthony Ekhator, said yester-day.

Teams in the competition are drawn from various ethnic groups in Lagos to foster cordial relationship among the multi-ethnic residents in the state.

Igali gets NOC job

Eko 2012 medalists get scholarships

Ethnic Unity Cup enters q-fi nals

ACL fallout:ACL fallout:

Kano Pillars defender, Isaac Loute, yesterday said the referee caused his team’s 4-0 loss to Morocco’s Mohgreb

Athletic Tetouan in a re-arranged CAF Cham-pions League tie on Saturday.

Loute alleged that said the arbiter’s unfair officiating cost the Nigerian representatives.

“Mohgreb’s first goal was a clear offside, and the ref allowed it,” the defender contend-ed.

“We then had a clear penalty appeal when the game was 3-0 but he turned it down. Had

it been awarded and we scored, it could have changed the course of the game.”

A hat-trick from former Raja Casablanca forward, Mouhcine Iajour, helped to put Pil-lars’ progression in the Champions League in jeopardy.

Pillars now need to win by at least 5-0 in re-turn leg at home to advance to the next round of the competition.

The Kano-based team started the game, well initiating attacks but could not find the cutting edge.

Pillars defender Isaac Loute

Igali

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 55SportsMonday, March 23, 2015

Vol. 05 No. 1074 Monday, March 23, 2015

w

Somali-born Mo Far-ah yesterday became the first British ath-

lete to run the half-mar-athon in under an hour with an impressive win in the Lisbon half-marathon.

Farah crossed the line in a new European record time of 59 minutes 32 seconds, sprinting clear of Kenyan rival and runner-up Micah Kogo and taking 20 seconds off the course record set by

Spain’s Fabian Roncero 14 years ago.

Farah, who celebrates his 32nd birthday today, has now set a world record and a European record in his two races so far this year and

will aim to retain his 5, 000 and 10, 000 metres titles at the World Championships in Beijing in August.

“It feels amazing, espe-cially as I got massive sup-port from the crowd,” Farah

said after the race.“It wasn’t easy, the race

organisers put in a great field. To win here was hard, but it’s my birthday tomor-row (today) so it’s a good birthday present.”

Athletics: Farah breaks British marathon race recordSport Extra

Fastest mile fi reman’s carry

N150

Printed and Published by Global Media Mirror Ltd: Head Offi ce: Mirror House, 155/161 Broad Street, Lagos Tel: 07027107407, Abuja Offi ce: NICON Insurance House, Second Floor, Central Business District Area, Abuja Tel: 08070428249, Advert hotline: 01-8446073, Port-Harcourt Offi ce: Suite 115, NICON Hotel, 6, Benjamin Opara Street, Off Olusegun Obasanjo Rd, GRA Phaze 3, Phone: 07032323254 Email: mail@nationalmirroronline.net.

Editor: SEYI FASUGBA. All correspondence to PMB 10001, Marina, Lagos. Printed simultaneously in Lagos, Abuja and Akure. ISSN 0794-232X.

WORLD RECORD

Farah

Most ropes skipped

The most ropes skipped is 110 and was achieved by Wang Zhuoxin and the students of Da Sun Ge Zhuang Central Primary

School in China, on 20 August 2011.

anthonykila@mail.com

HeartBeatCallistus Oke

Callistusoke@nationalmirroronline.net 08054103275 (SMS ONLY)

OF WHAT USE IS DEMOCRACY IF

THE VOTES OF THE ELECTORATE DO NOT

COUNT?

Saturday polls: Which way Nigerians? March 28 is next Saturday; a day

slated by INEC for the presi-dential and National Assem-

bly elections. For this reason, therefore, the day will definitely define Nigeria’s future, either in a more edifying way or in a most horrific manner than ever witnessed, the two painted scenarios de-pending on the integrity of the electoral process deployed.

For obvious reasons, the presidential election that day is the big issue, for Nigerians and international community; and it is a straight fight between in-cumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari of the APC. For the first time in 16 years, nobody really can say with certitude who will be the next tenant of Aso Rock. A tough call, I dare say, which makes the stakes very high.

For this reason, therefore, will Ni-gerians go to sleep with their two eyes closed on the eve of the presidential election? What about the stress level of the gladiators? I know for sure none of them would be sedated; but many of their supporters will keep vigil if only to constantly make supplications to God to swing victory to their man.

You can now understand why Nige-rians say election years are generally traumatic. They may be alluding to the animated high tension, restiveness of all and sundry, and great expectations that accompany both the exercise and the outcome, especially winning. Of course, the nation’s political temperature has remained permanently on the boiling point due to politicians’ foreclosure of defeat in their calculations. This is the reason for the orchestrated violence before, during and after elections.

This very reality was why the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (May Almighty Allah bless his soul) on Janu-ary 16, 2008 convoked a consultative meeting on electoral process with major political stakeholders and made this revelation: “No matter the legislations, no matter the efforts we put at electoral reforms, unless we the political leaders change our attitude towards elections, we will continue to have problems”.

It is a most poignant point, if ever there is one. This problem of this wrong political attitude, which has been the

bane of competitive politics in Nigeria, has once again come to the fore in the build up to the upcoming general elec-tions, when party leaders, candidates and their supporters got entangled in all things banal, including violent conducts and calumnious campaigns, to make the 2015 electioneering one of the nation’s most heated and tendentious in her political history.

In the maniacal race for victory, ev-erything in the land has become politi-cized. Expectedly, voices of moderation have come from within and outside the country. It appears our politicians are daily being begged by the West to behave or else… I chuckle at their follies, at their misconception of their political relevance and at their bloated egos. They always position themselves as lords of the people when it should be the other way round.

I do not know if anyone has ever told them that Nigeria is not their private estate and that ultimate power resides with the people, who are the sovereign. Even when told they will not listen. The only people they listen to are the

soldiers, the government waiting in the wing. But Nigerians are tired of mili-tary con messiahs, who do not do what they preach and have proved to be worse than the errant politicians, which is why many churches have assembled interces-sory teams on the 2015 general elections with the mission to constantly ‘disturb’ God with the single request that His and only His will be done in the affairs of Nigeria during the upcoming elections. In addition, at various prayer meetings across the nation, the 2015 general elec-tions is one of the key prayer points. May their efforts never be in vain.

I know my Marxist friends, who on reading this piece, would express disappointment that some Nigerians have reduced a serious issue like this to a metaphysical thing and come up with mechanistic solutions. My reaction to these friends is no one can deny the people the fruit of their faith.

The 70.4 million strong Nigerian vot-ers (less those without PVCs) ought to naturally decide the fate of their country on that day to end the boisterousness of Jonathan’s and Buhari’s real or imagi-nary political capital. This ought to be the sublime power inherent in the ballot box. Of what use is democracy if the votes of the electorate do not count?

That our votes should count was why the late President Yar’Adua on January 16, 2008 at the consultative meeting he called confronted the political stakehold-ers with this brutal fact: “If we will be honest with ourselves, we all know how we rig elections in this country. We com-promise the security agencies; we pay the electoral officials and party agents, while on the eve of the election we merely dis-tribute the logistics all designed to buy the votes…”

Will this chicanery be repeated on March 28 and April 11? Will our politi-cians abide by the rule of the game or will the court be expected to intervene like in previous cases? Whither Nigeria?