Troops ambush, kill two terrorists

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ROTIMI FADEYIABUJA

President Muhamma-du Buhari has called on all Nigerians to work in unity so as to bring about the desired change the country needs.

The President said this in his nationwide broad-cast on the occasion of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2>>

INUSA NDAHI AND UBONG UKPONG Boko Haram terror-

ists, in their desper-ate move to win the

six-year lingering crisis,

have resorted to poisoning water sources including wells and streams in most

NIGERIA @ 55

2019: PDP zones presidency to north

Assets declaration: Judge withdraws from Saraki’s case

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Nigerians must work to bring change –Buhari

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NIS to name unauthorised diplomatic passport holders

Vol. 5 N0. 1212 Thursday, October 1, 2015 N150National Mirror Online @NationalMirror

IGP orders aerial surveillance nationwideSends ministerial list to Senate

‘Fake Igbo group plans attack on Abuja’APC, PDP felicitate with Nigerians

L-R: Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Sen. Ita Enang; Senate President Bukola Saraki and Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, during the presentation of ministerial list in Abuja, yesterday.

Boko Haram poisons water sources in Borno

Tribunal sacks PDP senator in Taraba

Buratai Abeshi

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Boko Haram poisons water sources in Borno

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Nigerians must work to bring change –Buhari

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L-R: Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase; Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and President Muhammadu Buhari on arrival from the 70th UN General Assembly in New York, at Abuja, yesterday.

the country’s 55th Indepen-dence Day anniversary.

Stressing the agenda of his government for change, Buhari who noted that change does not just happen, said that all Nige-rians had a part to play to bring about change.

“Change does not just happen. You and I and all of us must appreciate that we all have our part to play if we want to bring change. We must change our law-less habits, our attitude to public office and public trust.

“We must change our unruly behaviour in schools, hospitals, market places, motor parks, on the roads, in homes and offices. To bring about change, we must change ourselves by being law-abiding citi-zens,” the President said.

He reinstated his posi-tion during his inaugural speech on May 29 that he had no axe to grind with anyone on past events, stressing that nobody should entertain any fear.

“As I said in my inau-gural speech, I bear no ill will against anyone on past events. Nobody should fear anything from me. We are not after anyone. People should only fear the con-sequences of their actions. I hereby invite everyone, whatever his or her politi-cal view to join me in work-ing for the nation”, Buhari said.

He explained that just like every new govern-ment, his administration also inherited problems, saying that what was im-portant was to find the best solution to solve the prob-lems.

The President said, “My country men and women, every new government in-herits problems. Ours was not different. But what Nigerians want are solu-tions, quick solutions not a recitation of problems inherited.

“Accordingly, after con-sultations with the Vice President, senior party leaders and other senior stakeholders, I quickly got down to work on the im-

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of the areas they were dis-lodged by troops in Kangal-lam, and other communities in Abadam and Marte Local Government Areas of Bor-no State.

This was disclosed yes-terday by Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Tukur Gusau, in a press statement.

“Information reaching the Theater Command, Op-eration Lafiya Dole, indi-cates that Boko Haram ter-rorists have now resorted to poisoning water sources like wells and streams in areas they were dislodged by gallant troops or areas threatened by offensive op-erations.

“Credible information available to the Theater Command indicates that though no human life was lost as a result of the barbar-ic act of the terrorists, some cattles were killed after drinking water from some poisoned sources.

“The latest being the poi-soning of the cattle water ponds in Kangallam Village

along MARTE and Abadam axis in Borno State where a large number of cattles died after drinking water from the ponds,” the statement said.

The action of the terror-ists, according to Gusau, is aimed at taking their own pound of flesh on the inno-cent citizens and livestock as a result of the unbearable offensive operations through the combined efforts of the Nigerian Army and the Ni-gerian Air Force to route them out completely from their enclaves and hide-outs all over the North East.

In view of this develop-ment therefore, the state-ment urged citizens to avoid as much as possible drink-ing water from unverified sources, especially in loca-tions that troops routed out Boko Haram terrorists.

In another development, troops of the Nigerian mili-tary on Tuesday, ambushed and killed two fleeing Boko Haram terrorists.

An operational update by the Director of Army Public Relations, DAPR, Col. Sani Usman, yesterday, said that

several weapons and sup-plies were also captured.

“The troops who laid the ambush at the Boko Haram crossing point into Sambisa Forest at Iza, engaged the terrorists who succumbed to the superior firepower of troops and fled.

“At the end of the en-counter two of the terror-ists were killed, some aban-doned their supplies and fled, one general purpose machine gun and one AK47 rifle were captured.

“Other items abandoned by the terrorists were three bicycles, provisions including Magi seasoning, potash, pea-nut and onions,” Usman said.

Meanwhile, Federal Gov-ernment, FG, yesterday, an-nounced the plans to resettle all repentant Boko Haram terrorists in the country, even as the Defence Head-quarters, DHQ, has already inaugurated the committee for the insurgents’ safe gate-way into the society.

A statement issued by the Directorate of Defence Information, DDI, signed by Group Captain WAP Maigi-

da, said that the exercises were in accordance with a presidential directive.

DHQ said that the national committee was to oversee the creation of safe passageway into the mainstream Nige-rian society for members of the Boko Haram terrorists.

It said that Boko Haram members pencilled in for reintegration were those forcefully conscripted into the group and those who had already surrendered and given up their member-ship of the sect and those willing to renounce their membership.

“Members of the com-mittee comprise relevant federal government agen-cies involved in the coun-ter-insurgency operation and representatives of states in the North East and Jigawa.

“The Committee’s terms of reference in-clude: to identify imple-mentation partners and establish their respon-sibilities; to establish a framework for coordina-tion of implementation

agencies, to determine funding requirements and sources, to identify techni-cal assistance needs and possible sources, to outline broad information strate-gies in collaboration with implementation agencies, to determine location of assembly areas, encamp-ment sites, IDP Camps as well as safe corridors and routes, and, finally, to determine the overall se-curity requirements and concerns in the counter-insurgency operation.

“The Committee which has one month for its as-signment will also tackle the creation of mobile of-fices, access roads, feeding and medical treatment for the IDP, skill and voca-tional training for the IDP, joint media centres and the establishment of nec-essary structures and re-ceptive centres to resettle repentant terrorist mem-bers,” the DHQ added.

Governors of states of Jigawa and Adamawa were said to be represented at the inauguration ceremony.

mediate, medium-term and long-term

problems which we must solve if we are to

maintain the confidence which Nigerians so gen-

erously bestowed on us in the March elections.”

Buhari explained that in order to find solutions to some of the problems confronting the country,

he toured the neighbouring countries, marshal a coali-tion of armed forces of the five nations to confront and defeat Boko Haram.

The President said that he also met the G7 leaders and other friendly Presi-dents in an effort to build an international coalition against Boko Haram.

He noted that the armed

forces under new leader-ship had taken the battle to the insurgents, and severe-ly weakened their logistical and infrastructural capa-bilities.

According to him, Boko Haram are being scattered and are on the run, saying that their shameless at-tacks on soft targets such as Internally Displaced

Persons camps was indica-tive of their cowardice and desperation.

The President added that he had instructed se-curity and local authorities to increase vigilance in vul-nerable places.

Ministerial ListFour months after his in-

auguration on May 29 and long wait by many Nigeri-

tepro

musmaint

which erously the Marc

Buhar

ans, President Muhamma-du Buhari yesterday said that he had sent the first set of names for ministe-rial nominees to the Senate for confirmation.

In his nationwide broad-cast on the occasion of the nation’s 55th independence anniversary, Buhari stated that subsequent list would

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 3Thursday, October 1, 2015

…Reps ask Dogara to meet Buhari

L-R: MD/CEO, FMDQ OTC Plc, Mr. Bola Onadele Koko; MD/CEO NMRC Plc, Prof. Charles Inyangete; Vice Chairman, Board of Directors, FMDQ OTC Plc, Mr. Jibril Aku and MD, Dunn Loren Merrifield Advisory Partners Ltd, Mr. Chinua Azubike, during the NMRC bond listing ceremony in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: YINKA ADEPARUSI

L-R: Former Big Brother Africa winner, Uti Nwachukwu; Public Relations and Talent Lead, AfricaMagic, Efosa Aiyevbomwan; rapper, Jude Abaga (MI); General Manager, Mobile Apps, Tecno Mobile, Oye Akindeinde, and Deputy Marketing Manager, Tecno Mobile, Attai Oguche, during a press conference on Tecno Own The Stage Karaoke Contest in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: YINKA ADEPARUSI

Ubong Ukpong and doosUUr Iwambe

Justice Ahmed R. Mo-hammed of the Fed-eral High Court in

Abuja yesterday ordered that the case filed by Sen-ate President, Bukola Saraki, be returned to the Chief Judge, Justice Ibra-him Auta, for re-assign-ment.

At the resumed hearing yesterday, Justice Moham-med attributed his deci-sion to what he described as “negative reports” on the case.

He expressed displea-sure over reports pub-lished by some national dailies that he ordered the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, and the Code of Con-duct Tribunal, CCT, to stop the prosecution of Saraki.

He said the reports had already created a negative opinion in the mind of many Nigerians.

Assets declaration: Judge hands-off Saraki’s case, returns file to CJ

L-R: MD/CE NDIC, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim; Executive Director Operations, Prince Aghatise Erediauwa and MD/CE, Jaiz Bank Plc, Mr. Muhammad Nurul Islam, during a courtesy visit of Jaiz Bank management team to the corporation.

L-R: Director, Marketing and Corporate Relations, UBA Africa, Mrs Bola Atta; MD/CEO, UBA Foundation, Ms Ijeoma Aso; and Deputy CEO, UBA Africa, Mr. Emeke Iweriebor, during the launch of 2015 edition of National Essay Competition for Senior Secondary School Students in Nigeria, organised by UBA Foundation, at UBA House in Lagos, yesterday.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net4 Thursday, October 1, 2015 Photo NEWS

National News

It would be recalled that Justice Mohammed had summoned CCB and CCT over the planned arraignment of Senator Saraki.

The trial judge, while granting the motion ex parte that was argued before him directed the Bureau and the Tribunal to appear before the court on September 21, 2015, and show cause why the interim injunction be-ing sought by the Senate President should not be granted.

Justice Mohammed also directed that all the plaintiff ’s should be served with the motion ex parte and the accom-panied affidavit, and that hearing notice should be served on the respon-dents.

Saraki in the ex parte motion had prayed the court for an order of in-junction, restraining the

respondents, their offices, servants, agents and/or privies from taking any further step culminat-ing in arraignment and or preferring a charge against him, pending the hearing and determina-tion of the substantive suit.

He also sought the court for a declaration that in light of S24(1) of the Code of Conduct Bu-reau and Tribunal Act CAP C15 LFN 2010, the 1st defendant has not com-plied with the provisions of the third schedule to the Act before proffering a charge against him.

Meanwhile, House of Representatives, at its ple-nary yesterday, moved to save the embattled Presi-dent of the Senate, as the lawmakers urged the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari with a view to resolving

all outstanding issues re-lating to the National As-sembly in the interest of Nigerians.

The House also called for protection of principal officers of the National Assembly against external attacks.

Minority leader of the House, Leo Ogor, in an amendment to an earlier motion on Independence Day Celebration, moved by Hon. Raphael Nnanna Igbokwe, proposed that the Speaker embarks on a fact-finding mission to ascertain what led to the travails of the Senate Pres-ident.

He urged the Speaker to report back to the House after which a formal posi-tion will be taken by mem-bers.

While arguing further, Ogor said in a civilian dis-pensation, the legislature is the foundation of de-mocracy.

He urged members to protect the legislative arm

and fence off any external influence.

He said the onus was on them to protect the legis-lature in order to make it truly independent.

In a related develop-ment, the House has scored itself high, arguing that the parliament has achieved a lot since the country got her indepen-dence in 1960.

It said the parliament has succeeded in stabilis-ing the polity, while mak-ing relevant laws that have helped in moving the coun-try forward.

Hon. Igbokwe repre-senting Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Mbaise federal constitu-ency of Imo State, who moved the amended mo-tion, urged the House to seize the opportunity of the Independence celebra-tion to reflect on where the country has been in the last 55 years, where it is now and what the next four decades hold for the nation.

In her remarks, Hon. Nnenna Ukeji from Abia State, hailed the Armed Forces, saying their sacri-fices have helped in keep-ing the nation one, against the predictions of dooms-day prophets. She equally reminded her colleagues the challenges the coun-try had faced in the last 55 years and how it has re-mained indivisible.

Sani Zorro from Jigawa state in his remarks, re-minded his colleagues of some of the negatives that have dominated the politi-cal space since indepen-dence.

He said the pervasive corruption, kidnapping and insurgency in the north call for sober reflec-tion.

‘Fake Igbo group plans to attack Abuja’

Nigerians must work to bring change –Buhari

IGP orders aerial surveillance nationwide

Lagos State Governor Akinwumi Ambode (3rd left); Managing Director, Unilever Nigeria Plc, Mr. Yaw Nsarkoh (2nd left); Corporate Affairs Director, Mrs. Soromidayo George (2nd right), and others, during a visit of Unilever management team to Goveror Ambode in Lagos, yesterday.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 5Thursday, October 1, 2015 News

OMEIZA AJAYIABUJA

Inspector-General of Police, IGP Solomon Arase, has ordered a

strategic aerial surveil-lance of most parts of the country as Nigeria cel-ebrates her 55th anniver-sary of independence.

Assuring Nigerians of a peaceful and secure

anniversary celebration, Arase said officers and men of the Force had been charged to ensure round the clock security mea-sures, including effective aerial and vehicular pa-trol of all nooks and cran-nies of the country, to en-able Nigerians mark yet another Independence Anniversary.

“The IGP has specifi-

EMMANUEL EZEHENUGU

The youth wing of the Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze

Ndigbo, yesterday alerted security agencies of an al-leged plan by a fake Igbo group to wreak havoc on Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

This is also as the Ohanaeze Youth Council disowned the protest by a group priding itself as Ohanaeze Youth Move-ment at the National As-sembly, describing it as an attempt to create tension in the nation’s polity.

Ohanaeze said a cer-tain fake Ohanaeze Youth Movement was prepared to wreck havoc in Abuja dur-ing the celebration of Ni-geria’s 55th independence anniversary.

According to a statement signed by Ohanaeze Youth Council’s Deputy National Secretary, and the National Publicity Secretary, Com-rade Stanley Nwanka and Hon. Obinna Adibe, re-spectively, it called on the Inspector General of Police and the Director-General of the Department of State Services, DSS, to monitor the activities of the said group.

The statement reads: “The Ohanaeze Youth Council Worldwide is pained and deeply worried by the well orchestrated plan by some elements to drag its name to the cur-rent happenings at the Na-tional Assembly for selfish reasons.

“We want to state cat-egorically that at no time did the Ohanaeze Youth Council sit to discuss the current happenings at the National Assembly, neither did it sponsor or take part in any protest under what-ever guise.

“Therefore, we were

indeed shocked and em-barrassed over media re-ports that Ohanaeze Youth Movement staged protest at the National Assembly. It is for this purpose that we alert the general public that there is nothing like Ohanaeze Youth Move-ment. The Youth wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo is clearly identified as Ohanaeze Youth Council.

“What happened at the National Assembly was a gathering of some criminal elements, who were trans-ported to Abuja for some sinister motives. It beats our imagination why they chose to hide under the Ohanaeze Youth Council to satisfy their pay-masters.

“No true Igbo man or woman could have gone to Abuja to engage in such a jamboree on the 29th of September, a day set aside as National Igbo-day cele-bration. As such, these peo-ple are not from Igbo land, neither are they members of the Ohanaeze youths”.

The statement called on security agencies to tighten their noose around leaders of the group with a view to nipping in the bud their plan to cause mayhem in Abuja.

“We are aware that be-fore that organised and po-litically sponsored protest, one of them, who claims to be a lawyer went from one television station to the other where he tried to sell his dummy to unsuspect-ing members of the public.

“Having succeeded in deceiving the public for the first time, using the name of Ohanaeze Youths, their next plan is to launch a violent attack in Abuja in order to put Ndigbo in dis-repute. We urge security operatives to go after them before they strike a second time,” the group further stated.

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cally direct-ed all Zonal A s s i s t a n t Inspectors-G e n e r a l of Police and Com-m a n d C o m -mission-ers of Police t o ensure ad- e -quate and effective de-ployment of all operation-al tools and manpower within their Commands, in order to guarantee the safety and well-being of the citizenry,” said Olabisi Kolawole, the Force Public Relations Officer.

Arase equally enjoins

all well-mean-i n g p e r -

sons and g r o u p s

to cooper-ate with the

Force by pro-viding useful

information, especially with regards to the on-going fight against terror-ism and other forms of crimes and criminalities, for the mutual benefit and collective interest of the citizenry.

In another develop-ment, the IGP has warned unit commanders of the Police Mobile Force, PMF,

to avoid deployment of of-ficers and men for illegal duties.

Arase gave the charge at the official passing out ceremony of the Po-lice Mobile Force Unit Commanders conversion course held at PMF Train-ing College, Ila Oragun, Osun State.

He tasked the newly passed out PMF Unit Com-manders to make supervi-sion and total control of their policemen very seri-ous with a view to avoid-ing vicarious liability.

Kolawole who con-firmed this in a statement yesterday added that the IGP specifically “man-

dated them to do away with illegal deployment of their men to unauthor-ised persons or beats, reit-erating the need to be civil to members of the public in the course of carrying out their duties and en-suring zero tolerance for corruption.”

She said 196 police of-ficers underwent the in-tensive training in com-bat operations, ethics, personnel management, musketry, human rights, fire arms laws and reg-ulations among other things aimed at equip-ping them to become ef-fective and efficient Unit Commanders.

ct-al t

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Force viding

iinformation, es

be forwarded in due course.While recognising the

fact that Nigerians had been so anxious over the delay in the appointment of ministers, the President stressed that impatience was not a virtue adding that order was more vital than speed.

He noted that careful and deliberate decisions after consultations get far better results, saying bet-ter results for Nigeria was what the All Progressives Congress (APC) govern-ment’s call for change was all about.

Buhari said: “There have been a lot of anxiety and impatience over the ap-parent delay in announce-ment of ministers. There is no cause to be anxious. Our government set out to

do things methodically and properly.”

While explaining rea-sons for the delay, the President stated that, “we received the handing over notes from the outgoing government only four days before taking over. Conse-quently, the Joda Transi-tion Committee submitted its Report on the reorgan-isation of Federal Govern-ment structure after study-ing the hand over notes. It would have been haphaz-ard to announce ministers when the government had not finalised the number of ministries to optimally carry the burden of gover-nance”.

Power and EnergyOn power, Buhari said

government officials had held a series of long ses-sions over several weeks

about the best way to im-prove the nation’s power supply in the safest and most cost effective way.

He noted that improve-ment in the power supply was moderately encourag-ing while by the same to-ken, supply of petrol and kerosene to the public had improved throughout the country.

Buhari pointed out that all the early signs were that within months the whole country would begin to feel a change for the better.

The President also said preliminary steps had been taken to sanitise the Nige-rian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and improve its operations so that inefficiency and cor-ruption could be reduced to a minimum.

He stated that refineries

which could be serviced and brought back into partial production would be enabled to resume op-erations so that the whole sordid business of export-ing crude and importing finished products in dubi-ous transactions could be stopped.

The President further said, “in addition to NNPC, I have ordered for a com-plete audit of our other rev-enue generating agencies mainly CBN, FIRS, Cus-toms, NCC, for better ser-vice delivery to the nation.

The President said God had blessed that country with many gifts as the ninth most populated coun-try on the planet, stressing that the nation was also rich in arable land, water, forests oil and gas, coast-line and Solid minerals.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net6 Thursday, October 1, 2015News

NIS to name, shame unauthorised diplomatic passport holdersOmeiza ajayi

Nigeria Immigra-tion Service, NIS, has threatened to

publish names of former government officials still holding on to their diplo-matic passports and other such travel documents.

Comptroller General of the Service, Martin Kure Abeshi, who stated this yesterday after a brief ceremony to unveil his agenda to officers and men of the NIS, however, stated that the service has received well over 200 of such passports from for-mer government officials.

While saying that many of them had complied with the presidential directive ordering withdrawal of such official documents, Abeshi said he was giving others a period of grace, after which he would en-gage in a name-and-shame

ObiOra ifOhABUJA

Barely four months into President Mu-hammadu Buhari’s

government, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has said its presidential candi-date would be picked from the North.

Acting national chair-man of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, who spoke yesterday while receiv-ing report of the party’s Post-Election Review Com-mittee, said the National Working Committee, NWC, has accepted recommenda-tion of the committee to choose the party’s presi-dential candidate in 2019 from the North.

Prince Secondus de-scribed the report as a turning point in the affairs of the party, noting that the PDP was now a well-organised political party in Nigeria, which is ready to play the role of opposi-tion politics.

The acting chairman as-sured that the committee’s report would be presented before other organs of the party for adoption and rati-fication.

L-R: Director of Relief and Rehabilitation, NEMA, Mr. Udemezue Eze; Director-General, National Centre for Women Development, Lady Onyeka Onwenu; Adamawa State Deputy Governor, Mr. Martins Babale, and representative of the United Nations High Com-mission for Refugee to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mrs. Angele Dikongue Atangana, during a courtesy visit to the deputy governor towards solidarity and support for internally displaced persons at Damare in Yola, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

exercise.“The response has been

very tremendous. We have collected about 200. It is al-most on a daily basis. I am also advising those who have not returned theirs to bring them because very soon I will publish the names of those who collected diplomatic and other such documents. I will continue to respect them for now, because some of them are states-men in their own right, but if they refuse to com-ply within the period of grace, I will have no op-tion than to publish their names,” he said.

Abeshi, who said the service recently lost three officers to insurgency in the North East, also stated that two men have been ar-rested in connection with the botched visit of Chief Imam of the Islamic State in Syria, ISIS, Ahmed Al-Assir, in August.

Prince Secondus also said the inability of Presi-dent Buhari to keep to his word by making public his ministerial team before the end of September is an af-firmation of the long held view by the opposition par-ty that the former military officer plans to rule Nige-ria as a sole administra-tor, a development he said would breed autocracy.

Chairman of the PDP Post-Election Review, Sena-tor Ike Ekweremadu who is also the deputy president of the Senate, had while presenting the report, ad-vised the party to “strictly apply the zoning principle at all levels.”

According to Ekwer-emadu, “since the last president of PDP came from the southern part of Nigeria, it is recommended that PDP’s presidential candidate in the 2019 gen-eral elections should come from the northern part of the country in accordance with the popular views ex-pressed in the submissions to the committee. This will also assuage any ill feel-ings in the North over any perceived breach of the party’s zoning principle.”

The duo was picked up in Kano State by intelli-gence officers of the NIS after it was established that al-Assir was to visit Nigeria at their behest.

“When through our in-telligence gathering, we were told that the man was heading to Nigeria, we identified the people who were to host him. Immediately, my officers went to Kano and arrested two of them and handed them over to relevant au-

thorities,” he explained.On the nation’s porous

borders, Abeshi revealed that the service is already putting together a docu-ment that would be pre-sented to the government, detailing proposals on how to secure them.

He said the technologi-cal advancement being witnessed all over the world has shown that the current method of man-aging Nigeria’s borders is archaic.

Speaking on the issue of passport racketeering, Abeshi said: “The NIS now has a new Immigra-tion Act 2015. The Act pro-vides for penalties to be meted out to officers who abuse the passport pro-cess. If you do it, you will be charged to court and if found guilty, imprisoned.”

He suggested that in border areas that are vola-tile, physical demarcation could be done while in less volatile areas, some elec-

tronic devices that could pick human signals within a distance of five kilome-tres could be established while officers and patrol vehicles are stationed at strategic points along the border for prompt action.

While he conceded that it is not feasible to fence the nation’s vast border areas, the CG however opined that there are ar-eas where the best way to secure them is to erect physical demarcations.

2019: PDP zones presidency to North

APC, PDP felicitate with NigeriansObiOra ifOh and eb-ere ndukwu

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has felicitated with Ni-

gerians on the occasion of the country’s 55th in-dependence anniversary, saying that it provides an opportunity to remember all the nation’s past heroes as well as the sacrifices they made to keep the na-tion united and strong, and to rededicate Nigeri-ans to the ideals for which they lived.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Wednesday by APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mo-hammed, the party said in order to ensure that the labour of those heroes past were not in vain, it was necessary for all Ni-gerians, in line with the wordings of the country’s

national anthem, to re-com-mit themselves to serving their fatherland with love, strength and faith.

Mohammed said: ‘’We have no doubt that today’s generation of Nigerians have also made, and are in-deed still making, great sac-rifices for the peace, unity and stability of Nigeria. We however appeal to all our compatriots to continue to put the nation first, and to downplay everything that divides us and embrace that which unites us.”

He said that since de-mocracy is one of the most precious gifts of the na-tion’s post-independence era, it was imperative for all to continue to embrace the known best form of government and never to do anything that would un-dermine it.

Also, Peoples Democrat-ic Party, PDP, urged Nigeri-ans to use the nations 55th independence anniversary

to recommit to respecting their leaders at the local government, state and na-tional levels, while paying adequate reverence to na-tional symbols and institu-tions.

The party also pleaded with Nigerians to use the occasion of the anniver-sary to rekindle the spirit of patriotism, while exhib-iting actions that promote democratic ideals and peaceful co-existence at all levels in the country.

The PDP, in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, on Wednes-day said, “In this regard, the PDP urges all citizens to have full respect for the office and person of the symbol of the leadership of our great country, the Pres-ident. The President can be constructively criticized, but under no circumstance should he be abused or in-sulted in any way and un-

der any guise whatsoever.”“On this note therefore,

we expect those around our dear President to be cautious and desist from actions and utterances that tend to set him up for public ridicule,” the party stressed.

The party said the occa-sion reminds of Nigeria’s common root and destiny as well as her resilience and determination to suc-ceed in all spheres of life as a strong, united and pros-perous nation, irrespective of her challenges.

It congratulated the citi-zens for keeping faith in the Nigerian project and working together in build-ing a strong nation and one of the fastest growing econ-omies in the world.

The party congratulated the nation for giants strides achieved since indepen-dence, especially within the 16 years under the PDP led-administration.

We need unity of purpose for success –BuhariOctober 1st is a day for joy and

celebrations for us Nigerians whatever the circumstances

we find ourselves in because it is the day, 55 years ago; we liberated our-selves from the shackles of colonial-ism and began our long march to na-tionhood and to greatness.

No temporary problems or pass-ing challenges should stop us from honoring this day. Let us remind our-selves of the gifts God has given us. Our Creator has bequeathed to us Numbers – Nigeria is the ninth most populated country on the planet. We have in addition:

•Arable land•Water•Forests •Oil and gas•Coastline •Solid mineralsWe have all the attributes of a great

nation. We are not there yet because the one commodity we have been un-able to exploit to the fullest is unity of purpose. This would have enabled us to achieve not only more orderly po-litical evolution and integration but also continuity and economic prog-ress.

Countries far less endowed have made greater economic progress by greater coherence and unity of pur-pose.

Nonetheless, that we have re-mained together is an achievement we should all appreciate and try to consolidate. We have witnessed this year a sea change in our democratic development. The fact that an oppo-sition party replaced an entrenched government in a free and fair elec-tion is indicative of the deeper roots of our democratic system. Whatev-er one’s views are, Nigerians must thank former President Jonathan for not digging-in in the face of defeat and thereby saving the country un-told consequences.

As I said in my inaugural speech, I bear no ill will against anyone on past events. Nobody should fear any-thing from me. We are not after any-one. People should only fear the con-sequences of their actions. I hereby invite everyone, whatever his or her political view to join me in working for the nation.

My countrymen and women, every new government inherits problems. Ours was no different. But what Ni-gerians want are solutions, quick so-lutions not a recitation of problems inherited. Accordingly, after consul-tations with the Vice President, se-nior party leaders and other senior stakeholders, I quickly got down to work on the immediate, medium-term and long-term problems which we must solve if we are to maintain the confidence which Nigerians so

generously bestowed on us in the March elections and since then.

As you know, I toured the neigh-boring countries, marshal a coali-tion of armed forces of the five na-tions to confront and defeat Boko Haram. I met also the G7 leaders and other friendly presidents in an effort to build an international coalition against Boko Haram. Our gallant armed forces under new leadership have taken the battle to the insur-gents, and severely weakened their logistical and infrastructural capa-bilities. Boko Haram are being scat-tered and are on the run. That they are resorting to shameless attacks on soft targets such as I.D.P. camps is indicative of their cowardice and desperation. I have instructed secu-rity and local authorities to tighten vigilance in vulnerable places.

On power, government officials have held a series of long sessions

over several weeks about the best way to improve the nation’s power supply in the safest and most cost effective way. In the meantime, improvement in the power supply is moderately en-couraging. By the same token, supply of petrol and kerosene to the public has improved throughout the coun-try. All the early signs are that within months the whole country would be-gin to feel a change for the better.

Preliminary steps have been taken to sanitize NNPC and improve its operations so that the inefficiency and corruption could be reduced to a minimum. Those of our refineries which can be serviced and brought back into partial production would be enabled to resume operations so that the whole sordid business of ex-porting crude and importing finished products in dubious transactions could be stopped.

In addition to NNPC, I have ordered

for a complete audit of our other rev-enue generating agencies mainly CBN, FIRS, Customs, NCC, for better service delivery to the nation. Pru-dent housekeeping is needed now more than ever in view of the sharp decline in world market oil prices. It is a challenge we have to face square-ly. But what counts is not so much what accrues but how we manage our resources that is important.

We have seen in the last few years how huge resources were misman-aged, squandered and wasted. The new APC government is embarking on a clean up, introducing prudence and probity in public financing.

At an early stage, the federal gov-ernment addressed the issue of sala-ry arrears in many states, a situation capable of degenerating into social unrest. The APC government stepped in to provide short-term support to the owing states and enabled them to pay off the backlog and restore the livelihood of millions of Nigerians.

Fellow Nigerians, there have been a lot of anxiety and impatience over the apparent delay in announcement of ministers. There is no cause to be anxious. Our government set out to do things methodically and properly. We received the handing over notes from the outgoing government only four days before taking over. Conse-quently, the Joda Transition Commit-tee submitted its Report on the reor-ganization of Federal Government structure after studying the hand over notes. It would have been hap-hazard to announce ministers when the government had not finalized the number of ministries to optimally carry the burden of governance.

Anyway, the wait is over. The first set of names for ministerial nomi-nees for confirmation has been sent to the senate. Subsequent lists will be forwarded in due course. Impatience is not a virtue. Order is more vital than speed. Careful and deliberate decisions after consultations get far better results. And better results for our country is what the APC govern-ment for CHANGE is all about.

I would like to end my address this morning on our agenda for CHANGE. Change does not just happen. You and I and all of us must appreciate that we all have our part to play if we want to bring CHANGE about. We must change our lawless habits, our attitude to public office and pub-lic trust. We must change our unruly behavior in schools, hospitals, mar-ket places, motor parks, on the roads, in homes and offices. To bring about change, we must change ourselves by being law-abiding citizens.

Happy Independence Celebrations. Long live the Federal Republic of Ni-geria.

We have all the attributes of a great nation. We are not there yet because

the one commodity We have been unable to exploit to the fullest is unity of

purpose. this Would have enabled us to achieve not only more orderly political

evolution and integration but also continuity and economic progress.

President Muhammadu Buhari

Buhari’s message to the nation:

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 7NewsThursday, October 1, 2015

Former Union Bank Managing Director, Mr. Jacob Ajekigbe, signing the condolence register during his visit to the family of the late Gamaliel Onosode, in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: SAMUEL ADETIMEHIN

…To probe air worthiness of domestic aircraftUbong UkpongAbujA

House of Representa-tives yesterday in its plenary resolved

to screen domestic aircraft operating in the country’s airspace to ensure their re-liability.

This was the outcome of a motion on the mat-ter brought by Henry Ar-chibong (Akwa Ibom), where he complained bit-terly about insanity in the operation of domestic flights especially the poor state of aircraft.

The lawmaker said his

try, some of which he said, were over 20 years old and have been written off in countries from where they were purchased.

He further pointed out that “most plane crashes that have been recorded in the country resulted from the use of outdated air-craft, poor maintenance of same and lack of supervi-sion from relevant authori-ties.”

The lawmaker ex-pressed worry that de-spite all the air disasters that have occurred, no of-ficial reports have been produced with regards to

Reps to probe Mambilla hydroelectric contract inflation Ubong UkpongAbujA

House of Repre-sentatives has resolved to probe

alleged contract inflation for Mambilla multi-pur-pose dam and hydroelec-tric power project.

This followed a motion brought under order of the day to the plenary yesterday, by Austin Chukwukere.

The lawmaker had noted that in order to promote economic growth through power generation, the Fed-eral Government initiated various reforms in the pow-er sector, which included privatisation of the Power Holding Company of Nige-ria, PHCN, creation of the Mambilla Multi-Purpose

that the sum may have been inflated.

The lawmaker expressed concern that the reforms in the power sector so far have not yielded the required ca-pacity for the sustenance of stable power generation, distribution and transmis-sion.

He there urged the House to set up an ad-hoc commit-tee to investigate the con-ception and award of the Mambilla Multi-purpose Dam and Hydroelectric Power Project in the light of the allegation that due pro-cess and transparency were not observed in the award of the project and as well, identify any infringements of existing law and recom-mend amendments, if any to forestall re-occurrence.

Dam, the Hydroelectric Power Project and manage-ment of Donga River to generate 3,050 megawatts of electricity to the national grid.

He said the sum of $6,109,729, 609 (six billion, one hundred and nine mil-lion, seven hundred and twenty-nine thousand, six hundred and nine dollars), was estimated for the power project out of which the Fed-eral Government would pro-vide 15 per cent, while the remaining sum would be provided by the contractor.

The project, he said, was to be executed in two phases, while the first phase was strictly for engineering design, the second phase would include construction that would last a period of

60 months.Chukwukere expressed

worry that while the first phase of the project was duly awarded and completed by the companies contracted for the job; contract for the second phase was alleged to have been awarded by the then Minister of Power without recourse to due pro-cess - the Procurement Act, Fiscal Responsibility Act and other extant laws for award of contracts.

He was also worried that the alleged contract was awarded at the cost of USD6 billion, apparently without recourse to competitive bid-ding, which was the hall-mark of diligence, transpar-ency and accountability in the award of such huge con-tracts, thus giving a feeling

motion was informed by the need to do everything humanly possible to avoid incidents of air crashes as witnessed previously in the country.

He noted that an airplane in perfect working condi-tion, along with availability of aviation fuel, safe-weath-er conditions, proficiency of the pilots and cabin crew, and good airport facilities, were essential for a safe flight experience.

He expressed concern about the worn-out state of most aircraft that conveyed passengers on daily basis to different parts of the coun-

the actual causes of those crashes.

He sought the House to mandate its Committee on Aviation (when constitut-ed) to investigate activities of the airline operators, also sought the Commit-tee on Legislative Compli-ance (when constituted), to monitor the level of com-pliance.

Consequently, the mo-tion was carried by the House presided over by Speaker Yakubu Dogara, and was referred to the Committee on Aviation (when constituted) for fur-ther legislative actions.

Rivers guber: Wike’s witnesses complain of poor vision at tribunal

Pay your workers, lawyer advises governorsojo oyewamide Akure

A human rights law-yer, Morakinyo Ogele, has urged

governors to pay their workers since they have received the N413billion bailout fund from the Fed-eral Government.

Ogele said nobody should blame workers in the states that benefited from the fund if they move against their governors for refusing to pay their salaries.

A statement by the activ-ist accused the governors of fixing the fund in bank rather than using it for its purpose.

Ogele commended Presi-dent Muhammadu Buhari for approving the money for payment of workers’ sala-ries.

The statement read: “The information from some states that their governors are unwilling to pay their salary arrears despite the

bailout from the Federal Government is not only un-fortunate. It is wicked. It is an act of impunity.

“On September 22, work-ers of Ondo State came out en mass and protested against the government, saying the bailout has been lodged in a bank in order to yield interest for the gov-ernment. There is a similar complaint across the coun-try. It is not only wicked. It will worsen the condition of workers.

“I must commend the President Buhari-led Fed-eral Government for its sym-pathy, compassion and the decision to bail out the states owing their workers. This is intended to assuage the poor condition of the workers.

“I have been saying it repeatedly, that some state governors are out to punish the indigenes of their states. The dividend of democracy has been turned to punish-ment of democracy.”

doosUUr iwambeAbujA

Some of the seven wit-nesses called by the River’s State Governor,

Nyesom Wike, told the Riv-ers State Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abuja yesterday that they could not read some documents before the tribunal due to poor vi-sion.

Governor Wike opened his defence yesterday after the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, closed its case on Tuesday in the petition brought before the tribu-nal by the All Progressives Congress, APC, and its gov-ernorship candidate in the April 11, 2015, governorship election, Dr. Dakuku Pe-terside, challenging Wike’s election as Rivers State gov-ernor on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

At the resumed hearing yesterday, the witnesses, most of whom were retired civil servants drawn mainly from Khana, Tai and An-doni local government ar-eas, complained of vision impairment to the three-man panel when they were asked to read some vital documents already admitted as evidence.

Some of the witnesses at the tribunal yesterday included Monday Burabari Nkpoba, Elder Gbrone Gib-son and Amos Apa. Others are Barisua Peter, Chief Adagbo Samson, Godwin Gbarapi and Agahigiwune Isaiah.

Many of those in court yesterday were amused when the witnesses com-plained of poor vision.

Amos Apah, a retired civil servant from Tai Local Government Area, a 67-year- old man said, his old age is responsible for his poor vi-sion while Chief Adagbo Samson, a civil servant from Khana said he could not read because he forgot to bring his reading glasses along with him to court.

The petitioners, (APC) and its governorship candi-date have closed their case after they called a total of 58 witnesses that testified that the election was marred by violence and widespread ir-regularities.

APC and its governorship candidate, Dakuku Peter-side are challenging Wike’s election as Rivers State Gov-ernor in the April 11, 2015 governorship election con-ducted by INEC.

Further hearing of the petition continues today be-fore the tribunal.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, October 1, 20158 News

PDP faction threatens to sue EKSIEC over council poll

Lagos judiciary’ll remain a model in Africa –CJ •NBAcallsformodalitiesinjusticeadministration

Former Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (right) and British Deputy High Commissioner in Lagos, Mr. Ray Kyles, during his familiarisation visit to Mr. Fashola at his Surulere residence, yesterday.

Ambode constitutes Christian pilgrims welfare board

Osun Assembly summons deputy gov over education policies

Abiodun nejoAdo Ekiti

Olatunde Olatunde-led faction of the Peoples Demo-

cratic Party, PDP, in Ekiti State has threatened to drag the State Indepen-dent Electoral Commis-sion, EKSIEC, to court if it recognised candidates pre-sented by state Chairman of the party, Chief Idowu Faleye, for the December 19 council poll.

The faction, in a petition to EKSIEC Chairman, Jus-tice Kayode Bamisile (rtd), cautioned that Faleye and other caretaker committee members were impostors and the commission should stop relating with them in matters concerning elector-al issues.

In the petition entitled “2015 Local Government Election Time Table”, dated September 21, 2015, and signed by Oluwatobi Fatoki of Lekan Olatawura Cham-bers in Ado Ekiti, Olatunde cautioned the commission against recognising candi-dates of the PDP presented through Faleye, failing which it would take legal ac-tion against the commission.

The petition reads in part: “Our clients came about the Notice of Election to wit: the Ekiti State 2015 Local Gov-ernment Election as sched-uled in your time table pub-lished in the national daily on September 10, 2015.

“Our clients hereby wish to lodge their reservations to the extent that their rights as State Executive Commit-tee is for a four-year tenure, which will lapse March, 2016 as they were duly elected into their respective offices

in March 2012.“In respect of our cli-

ents’ rights, a faction of the executive committee of the PDP, spearheaded by Mr. Idowu Faleye sprang up as the factional acting chair-man. As a matter of fact, the said division in the party affecting our clients’ vested rights is already a subject of litigation before Ekiti State High Court via suit number HAD/15/ 2015.

“Our clients were the SWC before the matter was lodged in court of justice and they still remain in that position till 2016. We hereby advise that you maintain the status quo and do not reckon with any other faction ex-cept that of our clients as the court has not decided other-wise.

“Most obliged as you fol-low the paths of law and justice as our clients shall not hesitate to file an action against your office, if you go contrary to maintaining the status quo before suit num-ber: HAD/15/2015.”

The party had been em-broiled in factional crisis, with Olatunde, former vice chairman (North Senatorial District) elevated into acting chairmanship position, fol-lowing purported resigna-tion of Faleye.

The embattled party sec-retary, Dr Tope Aluko, said Faleye, who was acting state chairman purportedly re-signed his position due to irreconcilable differences with SWC members.

But Faleye, who said his appointment had been confirmed by the PDP SEC, refuted the allegation of his resignation, insisting that he remained the authentic chairman.

The board has Bishop Sola Ore as chairman with Ms. Jibike Babatunde, Mrs. Arin Ajose and Pas-tor Laja Diele as members.

Other members include Mr. Tunde Temionu and Mr. Thomas Adefolusho

Speaking on behalf all the four branches of the NBA in the state, the chair-man, Ikeja branch, Mr. Yin-ka Farounbi expressed the determination of the Bar to always cooperate and con-tinue to partner with the ju-diciary in ensuring that an ideal, efficient, effective and a corrupt free judicial sys-tem is achieved in the state.

He also called on the judi-ciary to put in place modali-ties to address challenges confronting the administra-

tion of justice in the state.Farounbi said delay in de-

livering judgment and rul-ings, late sitting of courts, attitudes of judges to law-yers, stringent bail condi-tions as well as dilapidated court rooms among others are some of the challenges mitigating against adminis-tration of justice in the state.

He said lawyers should be treated with respect by judges while bail conditions should be relaxed and courts repaired.

WAle igbintAde And MAttheW irinoye

Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Olu-funmilayo Atilade,

yesterday promised to make the administration of Criminal Justice Law in the state a model in Af-rica.

Speaking at the Bar and Bench Forum, organised as part of activities to mark the 2015/2016 Legal Year, Justice Atilade said activities of the

state’s judiciary would be im-proved to meet the best prac-tice in the world.

She urged Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to give full support to the judiciary in its bid to attain set objec-tive of ensuring quick dis-pensation of justice.

Justice Atilade also called on the Nigerian Bar Asso-ciation, NBA, to cooperate with the judiciary so as to aid speedy dispensation of justice in the state.

She further explained that the Bail Information

bolAdAle bAMigbolAosogbo

Osun State House of Assembly has summoned Deputy

Governor Titilayo Laoye-Tomori in her capacity as Commissioner for Educa-tion regarding implemen-tation of some policies introduced by the present administration in the edu-cation sector.

Speaker Najeem Salaam said Mrs. Tomori, who was summoned alongside other top officials of the Educa-tion Ministry, will appear to review implementation of some of the polices.

Giving the directive

when lawmakers met the Permanent Secretary, Min-istry of Education, Tu-tors-General in the three education districts and principals of some second-ary schools in the state, Sa-laam also regretted “poor implementation of some of the lofty policies of gov-ernment on education”, saying “there is need for us to review our activities”.

He noted that despite the huge investment of govern-ment in the sector, students still record poor results in external examination, es-

Lagos State Gover-nor Akinwunmi Ambode yesterday

constituted the Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board with a charge to discharge its duties without fear or favour.

In a statement signed by Secretary to the State Gov-ernment, Mr. Tunji Bello, the six-man membership board is expected to coor-dinate intending pilgrims from Lagos to this year’s pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

pecially in the West Africa Students Certificate Exam-inations, WASCE.

“There is need to review and evaluate our educa-tion system in Osun to make it work properly the way we expect and it requires the contribution of the formulator and the implementer of the poli-cies. Perpetual failure of students under a particu-lar system calls for con-cern.

“Also, those in the ser-vice must advise us frank-ly. Policies are made for

men not men for policies. If the policies of govern-ment are the cause of this failure, you need to tell us, perhaps, the government can stop some of them.

“Though, the govern-ment has its challenge by not being able pay work-ers’ salaries and grant to schools for sometimes now, but that does not mean teachers should not do their jobs. If they are eventually paid, how would the students re-cover what they have lost?

Adekoya.Governor Ambode in

the statement also urged the board to ensure a hitch-free exercise and adequate welfare for the state’s pilgrims in the Holy Land.

Management System, BIMS, newly introduced into the state’s judicial sys-tem would capture full doc-umentation of defendants and their sureties, including their biometrics.

The CJ maintained that BIMS was designed to ad-dress some of the unique challenges bedevilling crim-inal justice system and to also see to the reduction of abuses by those she termed unscrupulous lawyers and professional sureties.

Delivering a lecture on the topic: “The role of the Bar in attaining effective and efficient justice deliv-ery”, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Funke Ad-ekoya expressed sadness over situations where judg-es unnecessarily indulge lawyers in their various courts.

Adekoya expressed the need for judges to ensure that cases placed before them are attended to speed-ily.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 9Thursday, October 1, 2015 South West

EEDC launches anti-kidnap measures in S’East

Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (left) receiving a plaque from Acting Director-General of NIMASA, Mr. Haruna Baba Jauro, during a courtesy visit of NIMASA delegation to the Naval Headquarters, Abuja, recently.

Umahi recovers N150m stolen funds

RAMP begins inspection of rural roads in Abia

AliunA GodwinAbAkAliki

Governor Dave Uma-hi of Ebonyi State has within four

months of his administra-tion recovered N150 mil-lion stolen fund.

The recovery of the stolen fund was made pos-sible through the recently-concluded staff verifica-tion exercise that took place at the state’s Uni-versal Basic Education Board, UBEB, as directed by the governor.

Umahi made this known in Abakaliki dur-ing a media chat with jour-nalists at Akanu Ibiam International Conference Centre on this year’s Inde-pendence anniversary of Nigeria at 55 and Ebonyi State at 19.

He noted that result of the verification exercise would soon be released to reveal the number of ghost workers discovered during the exercise.

He commended the lo-cal government auditor-general, Chief George Ukpai, for his wisdom in handling the exercise, which he noted, achieved the desired result. He re-stated his readiness to tackle corruption holisti-cally.

Umahi, however, regret-ted that a solid foundation was laid for the state by the first civilian adminis-tration but was not built upon by subsequent ad-

ministrations, stressing that each local government in the state must have at least one asphalted road in the next two years.

The governor main-tained that by first week of November this year, work would commence on Nka-lagu-Ehamufu road, which links Ogbolafor, Enugu with Benue State, and Ok-posi-Amasiri-Uburu road - very important federal roads in the state, which had been abandoned since the last 50 years.

He added that the state government would also reconstruct the Amaudo-Abaomege-Afikpo federal highway, now impassable, adding that he has writ-ten to President Muham-madu Buhari, seeking his approval to enable him construct the roads which he said are very important to the people. He directed the state’s Commissioner for Works, Engr. Fidelis Nweze, to advertise them for bids this week.

Umahi also announced that the government would construct the 23km Agbaja-Nwofe road in Izzi Local Government Area which is now impassable.

The governor equally promised to construct a popular market in the state capital - Kpirikpir market, adding that his govern-ment would construct one market each in the 13 local government areas of the state to boost economic ac-tivities.

EmmAnuEl EzEhEnugu

Enugu Electricity Distribution Com-pany, EEDC, has

kicked off its integrated network improvement programme aimed at sta-bilising power within its area of operation.

The company has equally commenced the metering of all maximum demand cus-tomers, even as it awarded multi-billion naira contracts for the supply of thousands of transformers and electric poles, cables and other dis-tribution materials.

Principal Communica-tion Manager of EEDC, Mr. Eugene Aniowo, who disclosed this to journal-

ists yesterday in Enugu, de-scribed the programme as the most ambitious by any Disco since the privatisation exercise.

He stated that the pro-gramme would commence this week with the most so-phisticated GIS programme ever to be embarked on in Sub-Sahara Africa.

Aniowo said: “The GIS programme, which will map every inch of the five South Eastern states of Enugu, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo and Abia, will herald the equally elaborate enumeration of all the assets and customers within the EEDC network, while a comprehensive me-tering of the enumerated customers will follow suit.

“The GIS programme

Ebonyi to sue EEDC over pre-paid metersOfficials of the Rural Access and Mobil-ity Project, RAMP,

a World Bank project, have begun inspection of rural roads in Abia State ahead of their planned construc-tion and rehabilitation.

RAMP National Coor-dinator, Mr. Ubandoma Ularamu, said during in-spection of Ndiolumbe-Amaede road in Isiala Ngwa South Local Gov-ernment Area that RAMP was set up to construct and maintain rural roads for their economic benefits to the people.

“We are here to get first hand information about the rural roads selected for construction.

“We are also to let you know that RAMP encour-ages poverty alleviation as it has also created avenues for rural women to receive

either bicycles, motorcy-cles or tricycles,” he said.

The acting state coordi-nator of RAMP, Mr. Okezie Nwoke, said 131 earth roads have been earmarked for construction.

“We made sure we picked only roads in bad state and used by at least six villages to access their farms, markets, schools as well as hospitals,” Nwoke said.

Also speaking, the tradi-tional ruler of Ndiolumbe Nvosi autonomous commu-nity, Eze Goddy Ogbonna, said the people are delight-ed at the consideration of Ndiolumbe-Amaede road for construction.

Ogbonna appealed to RAMP officials to expedite action to ensure that con-struction of the roads com-mence in earnest to end the suffering of the people.

the seriousness we attach to infrastructure development in the state.

“We might not have 100 per cent of the funds before commencement, but we have 100 per cent ideas of how to successfully complete the projects.

“Any contractor who fails to complete his project with-in the stipulated period will pay the government dam-ages,” he said.

Mrs. Veronica Osim, chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, in the state thanked the gov-ernor for the interaction.

Osim said journalists would always report govern-ment activities objectively.

“We would always dis-

charge our duties to the so-ciety without fear, and solicit the assistance of various governmental agencies to make our duty easier,” she said.

Public relations officer of EEDC, Mr. Lazarus On-yearugbulem, told the News Agency of Nigeria that he had reported the issues raised to the management.

“We felt that we should be consulted to ascertain our side of the matter, but we assured the Ebonyi State government and its people of fulfilling our obligations to them.

“We have commenced the installation of pre-paid me-ters for corporate organisa-tions in the state and would

will provide a digital map of the entire South East Ni-geria.

“Other spin-offs from the project include providing identification for every road, street and properties in the region, which will be used to develop a comprehensive addressing system with post code, as obtains in developed countries. It could also be used for vehicle tracking system.”

While noting that the project would facilitate secu-rity of lives and properties in the zone, he said: “The impact of all these on secu-rity in the region can only be imagined as it becomes easier to track kidnappers, fleeing armed robbers, help police identify with preci-

sion any point of distress call, ditto fire service and hospital ambulance ser-vice. The state governments could avail themselves of the use of the digital map of the states for physical plan-ning.

“This is in line with the vision of the investors in EEDC - to use the platform of power distribution net-work to engender and drive transformative develop-ment across the South East geopolitical zone.

“It is expected that in the next couple of months the impact of the network improvement programme shall be felt by its custom-ers who shall start enjoying more reliable service,” he added.

meters are provided and we will do a check on what the meters read monthly.

“This would enable us conduct a backlog check and make claims on our past payments to ensure that all anomalies connected with estimated billings are cor-rected,” he said.

The governor added that government would institute legal action against the com-pany if it fails on its billing.

He said government would soon construct three over-head bridges in Abaka-liki to ease traffic in the town and enhance its aesthetic na-ture.

“We will complete all projects we initiate within one year as this will prove

Ebonyi State govern-ment said it would seek legal action against the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, EEDC, if it fails to provide pre-paid metres in the state.

Governor Dave Umahi, who said this yesterday in Abakaliki during a chat with newsmen, explained that government would no longer pay estimated elec-tricity bills.

“We are not quarrelling with the company, but the government told the firm’s manager in Ebonyi that we would not pay the bills they presented to us or they should disconnect our lines.

“We stressed that we will only pay when the pre-paid

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netSouth East Thursday, October 1, 201510

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 11Thursday, October 1, 2015

Politics

Nigeria at 55: Hope abounds despite slow pace

Drums yet again have begun to roll as Nigeria celebrates its 55th inde-pendence anniversary. Trumpet-

ing, parade, dancing, recitation, and many other activities are done yearly to mark the eventful day. But as this historic day is being remembered and celebrated annual-ly, many questions often agitate the minds of Nigerians, which sometimes when deeply reflected upon, provokes tears in the eyes of many, or at least a remorseful emotions which is predicated on the pre-dicaments of the country.

Commemorating Nigeria’s 55th in-dependence anniversary is good but the present state of the nation, when keenly reflected upon bleeds the heart. This obviously is premised on the myr-iad of challenges bedeviling the coun-try, which according to some analysts stalls the growth of the nation.

Nigeria when rated with countries who had earlier beckoned on her for support like Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, South Africa amongst others, is now far back away

This description mirrors the de-velopment of a child suffering from imbecility. At 55, the nation has been described by many as a toddler. The reason for this is not far fetch; many are of the opinions, drawn from social and biological analogy, that an indi-vidual at 55 years must have achieved some worthwhile maturity, being very mature to logically manage issues to a logical conclusion, but if such a per-son falls steeply short of such expecta-tions, he would be branded a failure. But failure may sometimes have its ba-sis, which may exonerate the personal-ity in question.

Nigeria literarily falls on the ill-side of the narrative following its state in quagmire. But just as failure might be attributed to some factors, the story of the most populous black nation on the globe is against the backdrop of some fundamentals.

Military pitfall

Shortly after Nigeria had its inde-pendence in 1960, it did not enjoy de-mocracy, which has been described as the best form of government for too long before the military took over the reins of government in 1965.The mili-tary was led by Aguiyi - Ironsi. Prior to

Buhari Jonathan

this time, Nigeria practised parliamen-tary system of government, where Ta-fawa Balewa was the Prime Minister and Nnamdi Azikiwe was ceremonial president. From 1965 to 1979, the mili-tary was in charge. This according to political scientists was the beginning of the country’s retardation. Coupled with this also, was the three-year civil war of 1967-1970, which badly affected the country.

In 1979 however, Nigeria witnessed its second Republic when Alhaji She-hu Shagari became the first elected president. This era appeared to brew a new atmosphere but it was sooner cut short by yet another military interven-tion in 1983 which saw the emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari as a military head of state in his first stint at the helm of affairs.

This military era further birthed more dictatorial governments till 1999 when the present democratic dispensa-tion began.

The military regimes in the coun-try cannot be condemned as totally bad because the regimes were also noted to have recorded successes in provision of infrastructure especially roads but its dictatorial tendencies had made it a leper that people don’t want to be associated with .

According to pundits, the genesis of corruption in the country is attributed to the military administrations. Some

argued that while General Muhammed Buhari government caused the depre-ciation of naira following massive im-portations, Generals Ibrahim Babangi-da and Sani Abacha grossly looted the country’s treasury.

Apart from their corruption allega-tions, they also masterminded many killings, which threw the polity into sev-eral upheavals. The Babangida annul-ment of June 12, 1993 presidential elec-tion, which was widely adjudged as the freest and fairest election in the history of Nigeria and the incarceration of the presumed winner of the election, Chief Moshood Abiola and his subsequent death in detention were two historic events in the country that attested to the insensitivity of military administra-

tions to the plight of citizens. The fear of the military also made

foreign investors to shun the country and this constituted low development as many of the expatriates believe that any successful coup might negate their investments.

New democratic era

At the take -off of the present demo-cratic dispensation in 1999, many re-demption songs were sung as the long awaited democracy returned to the country. Many expressed optimisms that the nation was about to witness a change which would bring about the succour being expected. But as times passed, hopes of a better Nigeria be-gan to dwindle while depression and frustration stared Nigerians’ faces.

Yes, corruption began to fester as though a canker worm had just been opened. The then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo established insti-tutions to fight corruption, which did well at their births but later went on holidays and became shadows of them-selves especially during the tenure of the immediate past government.

Corruption blame

When the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and the In-dependent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission, ICPC, were inaugurated, they lived up to their expectations as many feats were record-ed. But their activities were questioned when they began to fail in responsibili-ties as some notable ‘big wigs’ who were thought to be allies of the ‘powers that be’ were alleged of corruption and little or nothing was done to prosecute and bring them to book.

However these commissions on the other hand raged at any individual who might have offended these ‘powers that be’ to ensure that such accused is prosecuted and made to face the weight of the law. Thus the anti-graft agencies were used as dogs to attack the per-ceived enemies by those in power.

Consequently this act of fear and

As the country marks her 55th independence anniversary today, EBERE NDUKWU and ROBERT AWOKUSE, take a flashback on successive governments, saying that, despite the problems of the past, there is hope for the country.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

The miliTary regimes in The

counTry cannoT be condemned as ToTally bad

because The regimes were also noTed To have recorded

successes

Politics National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, October 1, 201512

I can’t quit politics yet –FasehunStorieS by Ayo eSAn

National Chairman of the Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN

Dr. Frederick Fasehun, has reaffirmed his leadership of the political group and denied reports he had quit politics.

Fasehun made this clarification when anxious members and officers of UPN stormed his Century Hotel office in Lagos, fol-lowing reports by a sec-tion of the media that their National Chairman an-nounced he had ended ac-tive politicking.

In a statement yester-day, Fasehun described as wrong and misleading insinuations that he an-nounced his resignation from politics and UPN during a speech he made lastSaturday at an event marking his 80th birthday in Lagos.

“I am a Democrat to the core. And I cannot just on my own say ‘bye-bye’ to politics. No! It will be a collective decision by my party and my associates,” Dr. Fasehun said in a state-ment made available to journalists yesterday.

“Although I turned 80 last week, I have been espe-cially blessed with a virile constitution, great health and sound mind. And it would be a disservice to God, humanity and the na-tion for me to be quitting active politics at this time.”

“What I actually said was that with the good age and health that God has blessed me with, I am counted as one of Nige-ria’s elder statesmen and I would be available hence-forth to provide non-par-tisan and cross-partisan direction for the benefit of nation-building,” he reiter-

ated.According to Fasehun,

who is also Founder/Presi-dent of the Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Oodua People’s Congress, OPC, some reporters pres-ent at the event apparently misinterpreted his speech.

Fasehun said: “Of course, I have no intention of heading UPN for life. In time, we shall work out a succession plan, but it will be in consonance with the authentic leaders of UPN.

“I count it an honour to walk in the footsteps of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and lead this legacy party. But I will not leave the party in crisis. We shall resolve all issues and settle the party into its historical role within the Nigerian political milieu. Thereaf-ter, the bonafide leaders and stakeholders in UPN will work out a succession plan. The particular time

and place no one can say for now.

“What I said on Satur-day is what I have always said. I only reiterated the fact that at my age, Nigeria owes me no public office. I can neither accept nor serve in any public ap-pointment.”

UPN’s National Deputy Publicity Secretary, Hon-ourable Adeoye Jolaosho, said: “Everyone knows that the Nigerian Consti-tution stipulates an entry point for bonafide citizens to participate in politics, but the writers of the Con-stitution in their wisdom made no provision for an exit age.”

Moreover, Adeoye said, Fasehun at 80 years old was neither physically nor mentally infirm (a constitutional barrier for exempting a citizen from politics) to warrant him leaving the political stage.

Delta Speaker tasks Seplat on employment, roads, othersMichAel ogbonnA

The Speaker, Delta State House of As-sembly, Mr. Monday

Igbuya, has urged man-agement of Seplat Com-pany to work towards the development of communi-ties in Sapele Local Gov-ernment.

The Speaker, made this statement when he was addressing a delega-tion of Seplat to the Delta State House of Assembly Asaba.

He observed that the

attitude of some compa-nies had posed a cog in the wheel of progress of the local government.

He told the manage-ment to have a change of attitude in dealing with matters that relate to roads, employment of Okpe indigenes and job se-curity in the locality.

Igbuya, who is not hap-py about the level of un-employment of youths in the local government, said he was baffled and felt sad at the news of the dismiss-al of Okpe people and em-ployment of foreigners by

the organisation.Apparently showing his

annoyance, Igbuya urged local and foreign organisa-tions to join government in the rural modernisa-tion package by repairing bad roads in areas where they operate.

He said: “Let the people feel the impact of modern facilities. Let the people enjoy basic amenities such as good roads. Let lo-cal roads be rehabilitated and new ones construct-ed.”

He called on the man-agement of the organisa-

tion to stay away from politics and think more of their businesses and those things that could develop the host commu-nities, adding, “Sapele is a peaceful area. Be fair to the communities, employ our people directly which will boost cordial relation-ship.”

Leader of the delega-tion and base manager, Sapele, Chukwuma Igeley-an, who led the delegation, had earlier appealed to the Speaker and the good people of Sapele for their cooperation.

Stop frivolous assertion on secession –Adams tells Amosun

Retrial of ADC petition against Dankwambo commences

The National coordi-nator of the pan-Yo-ruba group, Oodua

Peoples ‘Congress ,OPC, Otunba Gani Adams has cautioned the Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibu-kunle Amosun from mak-ing frivolous allegation against ethnic militias in Nigeria .

In a release made avail-able to the media, Adams described the statement credited to Governor Amo-sun alleging OPC and oth-ers militias of secessionists tendencies as “hopelessly unfortunate , frivolous in intention and act which is very undignified of the personality of a South – West Governor “

Adams pointed out that “I would have ignored the comment as the ranting of an ant but coming out from the mouth of a Yoruba per-sonality and a Governor of a state in Yoruba land who is supposed to know the im-port and magnitude of se-cession to the sovereignty and unity of Nigeria, then I have to make our stand clear and clean “

He pointed out that “To show that the statement is not only shameful and unexpect-ed ,but a brazen act of black-mail, which is totally false in concept and malicious is the fact that for the past 12 years , OPC has not done anything or embark on any act that is secessionist in nature . “

Adams said “We have nether through act or deed, nor through spoken word or press releases made mention of secession or break up of this country. It thus surpris-ing where the Executive

Governor of Ogun State came about his so called “secessionist ’tendencies of OPC “

He revealed that “Gover-nor Amosun must be hallu-cinating or coming from a bad dream, for I don’t know where he came about his allegation of secession or felony and OPC “

He pointed out that “It is a libel for Governor Amosun to label OPC as a secessionist group. We are a socio – cultural group, de-termined to protect the ter-ritorial- cultural integrity of Yoruba people within the confine of a truly Fed-eral Republic of Nigeria. This is why I participated in the National Confab which resolved for region-alism and not breaking up of the country “

Adams revealed that “It is sad that people like Governor Amosun who were hiding their heads and carousing under the comfort of their families during the Abacha tenure of terror when we were fighting for the reestab-lishment of democracy in Nigeria are the one reaping where they did not sow “

“We don’t even begrudge them for this, but they are now assaulting our integ-rity with aggressive and in-timidating verbal cholera to project us who were in the trenches as felonists and se-cessionists.”

“I hereby called on Gov-ernor Amosun to look for a more better and presentable onions to sell and position himself for a national recog-nition and respect instead of telling brazen lies and out-right falsehood against OPC.

WilliAMS AttAhGOMBE

The Governorship Elec-tion Petition Tribunal sitting in Gombe State

yesterday commenced the retrial of the petition filed by the African Democratic Congress, ADC Governor-ship candidate, Alhaji Ja’afar Abubakar against the elec-tion of Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo.

The tribunal under Jus-tice Mohammed Ibrahim Sirajo had quashed the pe-tition on technical grounds but after appealing the judg-ment at the Court of Appeal in Yola, the earlier judgment

was set aside for a retrial. So far, the new panel of

Judges under Justice AA Nwodo, in its first sitting, re-ceived about 600 documents presented by Alhaji Ja’afar Abubakar, and assured that it will receive all documents within five days of its sit-ting considering the limited time- frame of the tribunal.

The documents are INEC forms used in the conduct of the governorship election in Akko, Billiri, Balanga, Duk-ku and Gombe Local Gov-ernment Areas and which failed to feature him and his party in the election. There are eleven Local Govern-ment Areas in Gombe State.

L-R: Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi; South Africa Consul General, Amb. Mokgethi Sam Monaisa and his wife Mrs. Mokgadi, during their courtesy visit to the governor in Ibadan, yesterday.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Politics 13Thursday, October 1, 2015

Nigerians must chart way forward –CD

We must celebrate unity of our country –Lagos NOA

StorieS by Ayo eSAn

Campaign for Democ-racy, CD has urged Nigerians to use the

occasion of the 55th in-dependence anniversary as an avenue to reflect on where they are as a nation, so as to collectively chart a way forward for them-selves as a people.

In its independence message titled “Nigeria at 55: Still long walk to free-dom’ which was signed by its president, Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, CD said: There is no doubt that in the last 55 years of our Indepen-

As Nigerians cel-ebrate the 55th in-dependence anni-

versary of the country, the Lagos State Directorate of the National Orientation Agency, NOA has called on Nigerians to also use the occasion to celebrate the unity of the country.

Speaking during the flag - off of the agency’s sensitization programme on national unity and se-curity awareness towards the independence day celebration in Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Area of Lagos , the State Director of NOA, Alhaji Waheed Ishola said Ni-gerians must always be security conscious.

He said Nigeria is in-deed a great nation and commended the present administration for its ef-fort to ensure that the country retain its giant status in Africa.

He called on Nigerians

to take ownership of the independence celebration by show love to Nigerian colour of green, white, green.

He condemned a situ-ation where Nigerians will be wearing Tee-shirts with inscription of United States of America and Britain urging them to wear the colour of Nige-ria and be proud of it.

Ishola who said Nigeria is indeed a great nation blessed with abundance and human resources said the best way to show one’s love for the country is to respect its national sym-bols and therefore called on Nigerians that as the country celebrate its in-dependence, they should respect the national sym-bols which include the na-tional flags, national cur-rency, coat of arms, pledge , among others .

He said now that Nige-ria has crop of good lead-

ers, Nigerians should be proud of the country.

“We must speak Nige-ria , we must dream Nige-ria , we must wear Nigeria , we must demonstrate Nigeria .The green white green is a colour that is very lovely. I hereby ap-peal to everybody that from today we must begin to wear the colour of Nige-ria , we must fly the flag in our offices , homes and everywhere, we are, we must celebrate our unity in diversity and be proud of the country”, he said.

He also urged Nige-rians to be security con-scious saying they must be vigilant and report any suscipicious movement in and around their vicinity saying security is not only the business of govern-ment but that everybody must be involved.

He said the present ad-ministration is doing a lot to ensure that peace reign

in the country saying the military has routed the insurgents but urged ev-erybody to be involved in protecting their environ-ment saying, ‘you have to be your brother’s keeper’.

Also speaking while flagging off the sensitiza-tion programme on na-tional unity and security awareness towards the independence day celebra-tion, the Executive Secre-tary of Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Council of Lagos State, Hon. Olajobi Adeola urged all Nigeri-ans to think of the coun-try first before any other consideration.

“I will like to see more Nigerians than seeing more Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo . We should put the country first and when we wake up in the morning we should always say God bless Nigeria. Our coun-try is a great country”, he said.

lence against women in Nigeria .

“We can only hope that the dreams of our found-ing fathers come into real-ization and that is the only guarantee that Nigerians will have real reason, to be free from social economic slavery that they have con-tinued to live in, despite the 55 years of our Na-tion’s freedom”, CD said.

development.While harping on na-

tion building, the Bakassi political leader added that Nigerians still need to im-prove the way they relate to one another and urged the people to begin to see themselves first as Nigeri-ans, rather than one eth-nic group or the other.

Ita Giwa concluded that the future of Nigeria lies in its ability to achieve unity and peace and that those in leadership posi-tions should be exemplary to their followers, admit-ting that, unity and peace would be much easier to attain, if leaders at all lev-els allow justice and fair play to govern their ac-tions.

The statement reads in parts: “I congratulate Nige-rians as they celebrate 55 years of our independence from colonialism.

“This occasion calls for renewed dedication and commitments to the ser-vice of our fatherland and this will be much easier if we allow love, truth and steadfastness to guide all our endeavours.

“I also urge you all to pray for President Muham-madu Buhari to enable him succeed and deliver on all his campaign promises for the betterment of our Nation.

“Let us all face the fu-ture with courage and de-termination because the future of Nigeria is bright and not bleak at all. Once again, I congratulates you all”

dence, our country has sunk in pandemic corrup-tion, social crises and economic dilapidation all of which have made the living standard of our people to be on the decline year in, year out.

“Our much respected values of patriotism and uncompromising empha-sis on integrity and hon-esty have been thrown to the winds by the corrupt elements that have at one time or the other been saddled with the respon-sibilities of leadership at various levels in our coun-try. Education is in practi-cal ruins, just like criti-

cal infrastructures are in shambles with healthcare almost in peril.

“Security of lives and property is no longer guaranteed. as the image of lawlessness is seen ev-erywhere, even among our law enforcement agents. Nigerians live in frustra-tion, agony hopelessness, misery, pain and suffer-ing. Almost 80 per cent of Nigerians today live in abject poverty while a few clique are super rich at the detriment of the downtrodden.

“Nigerian youths are continuously faced with an uncertain future be-

cause of the greediness of a very few, that are privi-lege to be leaders”, it said.

CD however called on Nigerians to brave up and face the challenges facing the nation saying, ‘Ni-geria is our country and there is no other place to call our home other than Nigeria.

It said that the time has now come for Nigerians to re-build the country because every problem no matter how difficult has a life span.

“We call on govern-ment at all levels to make the welfare of Nigerians a top priority and earnestly

begin a process of rebuild-ing hope that is nearly lost in the minds of Nigerians. We also demand that the government must do all within its power to en-sure the safe rescue of the abducted Chibok school girls just like every other women and children in captivity of terrorists in the North East zone of the country.

CD also said that the time of independence celebration is an auspi-cious occasion to demand an end to all forms of vio-

Former Presidential Adviser on National Assembly Matters,

Senator Florence Ita-Giwa has congratulated Nigeri-ans as it clocks 55 .

In a statement she issued and signed on Wednesday, she urges Nigerians to embrace love and be united in de-fending the hard earned democracy which has ushered in dividends of democracy and the rule of law.

Ita Giwa advised Nige-rians to work harder and be determined to create more local and global im-pact among the comity of nations, noting that, Ni-geria needs dynamic and dedicated leadership to sustain her growth and

Former Minister of State for Defence and Foreign Affairs, Sen-

ator Musiliu Obanikoro has felicitated with Nige-rians as they celebrate 55 years of independence.

In a statement on Wednesday, the former Minister urges Nigerians to be steadfast and face the future with hope noting that, only love, sincerity of purpose and purposeful leadership will put Nigeria on a vantage position and make her enviable among the comity of nations.

Obanikoro added that, nation building is a contin-uum and urged Nigerians to pray for President Mu-hammadu Buhari so that he can deliver on his cam-paign promises by improv-ing the living conditions of the ordinary Nigerian.

Ita Giwa felicitates with Nigerians, preaches love, unity

Be steadfast, Obanikoro urges Nigerians

L-R: Deputy Speaker, House of Representative, Hon. Lasun Yusuf; representative of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Yusuf and Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Gu Xiaojie, during the celebration of 66th anniversary of China Day in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

14 Politics National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, October 1, 2015

Nigeria at 55: Hope abounds despite slow pacefavour by the commissions triggered lack of credibility and trust for them.

Nigeria gradually began to nose dive in development and economic growth following the alarming rate of corrupt practices. This sorry develop-ment left the nation branded by inter-national community as a nation with epidemic corruption. The immediate past administration was an affirma-tion to this pitiful appellation.

Many sectors which ought to have witnessed geometric developments have been left in the doldrums. Today the power sector which continues to receive huge allocations is yet to stabi-lise. The many translations and phas-es of the sector as initiated by both Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan have proved abortive in their expectancy to generate more power supply to trans-late the economy from its deplorable condition. It is believed that if power is fixed, all other things will fall in their right places. But Nigeria has failed in this regard, and this has caused the economy a grave setback.

Also many analysts have decried the much attention on oil as its excessive reliance has adversely affected other sectors. Its absolute dependant contrib-uted to the poor economy, and not only that, the corruption enmeshed in the sector impoverished the country.

While some analysts however argued that it is not the excessive dependant on oil that has informed the economy down-turn but corruption, others opined that both corruption and lack of diversifica-tion of the economy have accounted for the poor state. Whichever way this argu-ment may tilt, there seems however to be a leadership problem.

Insurgency

The present challenge facing the country to a very large extent is the Boko Haram insurgency and this has been the bane of the country’s develop-ment in recent time.

Terrorism was first noted in Nige-ria in 2002, when American govern-ment advised Nigeria to be weary of impending terror attacks, which came in the wake of September 11, 2001 at-tack on the United States of America.

Resurgence of hope

Until the coming of Muhammadu Buhari as the President of Nigeria on May 29, having won the presiden-tial election of Mach 11, defeating the then incumbent President ,Goodluck Jonathan, the general feeling across the length and breadth of Nigeria were that of fear, uncertainty, frustration, misery and confusion.

For those in the Northern part of the country especially the North East, a day survived was a miracle because the dreaded insurgent group, Boko Haram, could throw bomb anywhere,

anytime, anyhow, at any place and persons unin-hibited.

While it was Boko Ha-ram in the North, the Southern part of the country had kid-nappers, robbers and other menaces to contend with. The situation all over the country was really saturated with fear of the unknown.

For many, it was the incapability of the leadership of the country that brought the unfortunate situation and the yearning for a change of leader-ship resulted in good numbers of the citizenry dumping Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who they perceived to be weak and queued behind Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, APC, a party that came with change mantra, the very change the whole country was yearning for.

The incorruptible personality of Bu-hari, a former military Head of State, was all he needed to win the votes of many Nigerians and not even the ac-cusation of his being autocratic, none respecter of rule of law, tribalistic, religious fanatic among others, was enough to rubbish his corruption- free life and deny him the seat of presiden-cy at his fourth trial.

Since Buhari became President there is a perceived sitting up among many public office holders as his body movement shows a President deter-mined to fight corruption. No week has passed since he took over without vows of fighting corruption and insurgency.

Already, the information in the North East indicates that soon, there will be some respite in the North East terrorised by Boko Haram as Nigerian Army, with the December mandate of bringing the insurgent group on their kneels has continued to record suc-cesses in the fight against insurgence.

Regardless of all these, at 55, there are still deep fears seated in the hearts of many, they fear whether this gov-ernment will actually lift the country from its level of crawling 55 years after independence.

Going slow at 55The reason

for these fears is rooted in the

slow pace the Buhari -led adminis-tration is going, a pace that has even earned the 72-year old President Baba Go Slow. The result of this is the reces-sion in the country’s economy, which could get worse except something dras-tic is done.

That Nigeria at 55 rather than flying is still crawling, is to so many, very unfortu-nate of a country with a population of 170 million people. And that the government of the day has chosen to grow snail shells and crawl rather than hit the ground run-ning is equally more worrisome.

ReactionsAccording to founder, Odua People’s

Congress, OPC, Fredrick Fasehun, it is very worrisome that at 55 Nigeria has continued battling against illiteracy, diseases, hunger, collapse of various infrastructures and hopelessness.

For the inability of the APC- led gov-ernment at the centre to hit the ground running, the OPC leaders said: “That’s what we have done for many years, we have been fooling around. This is not the type of government we had expect-ed. This is not the type of government Gani Fawehinmi, Ransome Kuti, Olisa Agbakoba, Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ahmadu Bello fought for.

“Leaders will always be leaders. You may call crooks leaders but the people know their leaders. We have no icons now, we had in those days.”

In his reaction on the progress of the country, Guy Ikoku, a lawyer and a second Republic politician, bemoan the country’s lack of progress at 55, arguing that if a fool at 40, who is a fool forever..

He said: “One has to speak the truth, we are not progressing. And I will say that the problem which is confronting Nigeria at the age of 55 is such that is not all that complex and can be re-solved provided that we have the will and fortitude to tackle it. If we have the will to tackle it, then it can be resolved.

Each time we have an anniversary we hear the same chant, this person will speak and another person will speak the same thing about Nigeria, aren’t we old enough to make up our mind?

“There is a saying that, ‘a fool at 40 is a fool forever.’ At 55 years we are still talking of what we should have done be-fore we were 40 years, when we have had leaders in this country who didn’t even get to the age of 40 to rule this country. We believe that that adage cannot be al-lowed to continue, that it can be resolved. But how can it be resolved?

Even the Vice President of the coun-try, Yemi Osinbajo, speaking on the 55th anniversary, said Nigeria should pay less attention to things which “divide us and lay more emphasis on things which unite us as a people, so that together we can move forward”, adding that “we should not pay too much attention on tribe, ethnicity, religion, which are little things that divide us.”

Unfortunately, all that the Vice Presi-dent said the country should pay less at-tention to is what the incumbent Presi-dent has been accused of, as demonstrated in his recent appointments. Though, the President made it clear that his appoint-ments contrary to criticism was based on those he trusts and believes will help him give the best to the country.

Hope of survivalDespite the economic situation,

many analysts believe that the Bu-hari- led government is taking its time both in appointments of ministers and other business of governance in or-der not to make the same mistakes his predecessors who failed the country made. They are very certain that at 55, Buhari is the best thing to happen to the country and will not disappoint in restructuring Nigeria.

One thing many Nigerians at least, will celebrate at 55, is the fact that for the first time since the return of de-mocracy in 1999, there is seeming seri-ousness in the fight against corruption. Already, the fear of Buhari appears to be nailing the culture of criminal opu-lence and display of stolen wealth.

There is hope now that the usual sys-tem where famous paupers get elected or appointed to serve and suddenly be-come rich men and women overnight will be a thing of the past.

But this hope as lively as it looks may become a stillborn except the President will turn the toga of snail-movement” into something positive and rewarding.

Whether the country will get it right now or not, only time has an answer to that, but one thing many Nigerians will celebrate as the country marks its 55th independent anniversary is the hope that the Buhari- led Federal Gov-ernment, will restructure the country and ensure its rightful place in the co-mity of nations.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

Obasanjo Babangida

Bitter reflections, bright future outlook

Tola akinmuTimi

(addiTional reporTs by isaiah erhiawarien , olusegun koiki, Chidi ugwu, udeme akpan, FranCis ezem, david audu, and abolaji adebayo)

Analysing Nigeria’s economic perfor-mance 55 years of

her nationhood could be lik-ened to asking an ailing, ter-ribly emaciated and vigour-

sapped patient dressed in a flowing ‘Babaringa’ to stand before a mirror and tell how he feels in such a flamboyant toga that looks merely big but hiding the fundamental problems confronting him.

Yes, analysts and eco-nomic development experts have over the decades spo-ken eloquently and with con-vincing socio-economic in-dices to justify their claims that Nigeria has all that it

required to be great.What, with seemingly

inexhaustible natural re-source endowments span-ning the whole spectrum of her geopolitical landscape and massive manpower ca-pabilities that compare fa-vourably with those in the best economies globally, Ni-geria should be great indeed.

Nigeria’s GDP was re-cently rebased from about $270 billion to $510 billion

for 2013, representing an in-crease of about 90 per cent. The growth trajectory was linked to contributions of new sectors of the economy such as telecommunica-tions, movies, and retail which were previously not captured or underreported in past exercises.

With the rebasing, Nige-ria became the largest coun-try in Africa and 26 largest globally.

Manufacturers Associa-tion of Nigeria (MAN) have decried the increas-

ing under-performance of the real sector over the past years and its negative implications for the nation’s job creation and socio-economic well-being of the citi-zenry, investors and the economy.

The apex manufacturing body in Nigeria noted that despite the fact that the country was richly endowed with natural and human resources, , the country is still far behind her peers in terms of real sector contributions to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, foreign exchange earnings, and wealth creation amongst other key per-formance assessment parameters.

MAN had in a memorandum submitted to the Presidential Transition Committee in Abuja recently, urged President Muham-madu Buhari to consider the is-sues raised in the document in order to reposition the Nigerian economy and the Nigerian manu-facturing sector in particular on the path of sustainable growth.

MAN noted: “The manufactur-

ing sector which performed fairly well in the 70’s, has dwindled and fallen below expectation as a re-sult of a number of challenges namely, inadequate and unstable power supply, poor road network, inadequate rail services, poor and expensive port services, high interest rate on borrowed funds, dearth of long term loans, multi-plicity of taxes, high cost of self generated energy, hand high cost of local inputs.

“Other challenges are incon-sistent government policies, in-creased trade malpractices such as smuggling, dumping, and fak-ing of made-in Nigeria products, overlapping functions of regula-tory agencies leading to duplica-tion of functions and high cost as well as insecurity which include insurgency, militancy, kidnap-ping, Area Boys, and most of all the dearth of skilled manpower.”, MAN lamented

The group pointed out that “to become one of the leading 20 economies globally , the contribu-tion of manufacturing to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and em-

ployment would have to increase substantially.

Providing a comparative statis-tical data to support its claim, the group stated that “the contribu-tion of the manufacturing sector to GDP over the last decade stood at a yearly average of 4 % (4.32% in 1999, 3.68% in 2004, 3.91% in 2006, 4.03% in 2007, 4.14% in 2008, 4.19% in 2009, 4.2% by third quarter of 2013), and leapfrogged to 9.83% in third quarter of 2014 as a result of the re-basing of the economy.

“This is however, in contrast with emerging economies which contribute and average of 46 %. Notwithstanding it’s huge poten-tial to create wealth and generate employment, the manufacturing sector has not met it’s target of 23.36% (NV20:2020) contribution to GDP in the last decade.

It stated further that for Nigeria to catch up with its peers in the world in terms of economic ad-vancement, the new administra-tion needed to frontally tackle the challenges impeding the growth of manufacturing sector through appropriate policy measures.

Real Sector

,,,,

Buhari Emefiele Dunoma

But then, the story of the Nigeria’s socio-economic history leaves so much to be desired as 55 years of mis-management of her abun-dant resources have left millions of Nigeria worse off that many are no longer proud to be identified with this country where nothing seems to work, except cor-ruption.

In the first quarter of this year, the nation’s economy when measured by the Real Gross Domestic Product, GDP, on an aggregate basis grew by 3.86 per cent (year-on-year) in the first quarter of this year.

The growth however represented a decline of 2.25 percentage points from the growth recorded in the fourth quarter of last year (Q4) and 1.98 per cent lower than the growth recorded in the corresponding quarter of last year.

According to the GDP report by the National Bu-reau of Statistics, NBS, the nominal GDP at basic prices for the quarter was estimat-ed at N21.04 trillion, up by 4.32 per cent from the about N21.17 trillion estimated for the corresponding quarter of 2014.

According to the just published ‘The Global Competitiveness Report 2015-2016’, Nigeria ranked 120th position among the 140 countries covered while South Africa, Morocco, Kenya, Cote D’Ivorie and Cameroon ranked 49th, 72nd, 99th, 91st and 114th respectively. Indeed, Nigeria

ranked last among the Afri-can countries covered by the report.

The report stated: “Nigeria improves by three places to 124th. Last year’s revision of GDP is reflected in an increase in market size (up by eight places to 25th), lower govern-ment deficit and debt, and de-creased national savings.

“Improvements in prop-erty rights, the efficiency of the legal framework to settle and challenge disputes, and the accountability of the private sector lift the coun-try’s institutions up by five places, albeit remaining low overall (124th).

“The picture is mixed on efficiency of the goods market (100th), where a less competitive domestic environment outweighs improvements to encour-age foreign competition; the financial market (79th), where banks are rated as relatively sound but access to finance remains problem-atic; and the labor market, which is one of the region’s most flexible (18th) but is dragged down by an ineffi-cient use of talent (68th) and a comparatively low female participation rate (87th).

“Priorities include in-vestment in infrastructure (ranking 133rd and singled out as the most problematic factor for doing business) and human capital, where poor health in the workforce (134th) and inefficient high-er education (128th) holds the country back from fulfill-ing its potential” the report concluded.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Business & FinanceThursday, October 1, 2015 15

F ifty five years after Nigeria attained in-dependence, stake-

holders and professionals in the country’s aviation industry said the sector is still underdeveloped and its domestic airlines struggle to remain in the air while its infrastructure are de-veloping at snail speed.

The General Secretary Nigerian Aviation Profes-sionals Association, NAPA, Comrade Abdurasak Saidu observed that years after independence the sector had not grown to expecta-tion.

Saidu specifically iden-tified absence of runway lights at some airports in the country as a major chal-lenge, stressing that most of the airports in the country apart from Lagos and Abuja only operate visual flights.

Also, President, National Association of Aircraft Pi-lots and Engineers, NAAPE, Engr. David Balami, said that it is worrisome that 55 years after political inde-pendent from the colonial masters, Nigerian aviation still lacked a simulator that could help the country save billions of capital flight.

Aviation Sector

Nigeria has since indepen-dence been battling with challenge of energy gen-

eration, distribution and utilisa-tion.

The quantity of electric power generated and supplied to con-sumers over time has been inad-equate and could not cater for the huge demand of energy to power the industrial, commercial and household uses in the country.

As Nigeria marks it’s 55th in-dependence, the last few months have witnessed some improve-ment in electricity generation and supply following a massive injection of funds in the sector by the Federal Government.

But then, when measured against the billions of naira that had been committed to the sec-tor over the past decade, includ-ing the $16 billion estimated be-fore 2007 which was subjected to investigations by the National Assembly and later threw up massive frauds, the current elec-tricity generation capacity of about 4,600MW in the country,

there is nothing to celebrate in the sector.

With Nigeria’s electricity de-mand projected to grow from 15,730 mega watts (MW) in 2014 to 41,133 MW and 88,282MW by year ends 2015 and 2020 respectively, the current level of 4,000MW of power generation is grossly ad-equate.

As at last year and based on a report by Agusto & Co., Nigeria’s electricity consumption per capi-tal was adjudged to be the lowest in Africa measured by the World Bank at 149 KWH, is low due to self generation by most of the citizenry which is often not cap-tured.

Then, electricity supply from the national grid stood at 4,306MW, far below the estimated demand of 12,800MW.

However, recent investments by private investors in the sector give hope that if supported by enabling policy regime, Nigerians and the economy may gradually be on the tract of uninterrupted electricity supply in the years ahead.

Ibrahim

In the last ten years of the tele-coms revolution in the country, there had indeed been remark-

able progress that has had positive impact on the economy and indeed the economy.

The first was the enviable posi-tion, which telecoms have placed Nigeria in the international arena such that it is often referred to at global forum as the fastest grow-ing telecoms market in Africa.

For instance, commenting on the state of the industry, President, Association of Telecoms Compa-nies of Nigeria (ATCON), Engr. Lanre Ajayi revealed that there are more of government business-

es online and most ministries, de-partment and agencies have their websites and doing businesses online.

He however, said that afford-able and fast broadband internet access has continued to elude the nation adding that electricity pow-er supply.

and the interference of the smooth operation of base station by miscreants resident in commu-nities where such base stations are sited still pose great challenge to future growth of the sector.

President, Association of Li-censed Telecoms Operators of Ni-geria, ALTON, Engr. Gbenga Ade-

bayo noted that the revolution has brought into the huge off-shore fund by way of foreign direct in-vestment.

He said that the sector has beyond increasing the GDP has help to create more jobs than any sector of the economy with job opportunities spreading across the formal and informal sector.

He is saddened that the tele-coms sector has added signifi-cant increase to government revenue yet the sector, five years after suffers multiple taxations saying that members of ALTON are unhappy with the develop-ment.

Bitter reflections, bright future outlook

Telecoms Sector

Gwarzo

Power Sector Financial Services SectorThat the nation’s financial ser-

vices sector has remained constrained over the years

by the structural defects in the economy can hardly be over-em-phasised.

The banking sector, which is the bedrock upon which financial re-engineering roles of all the other sub-sectors depend largely, has been unable to cope with the enormity of funding requirements of major sec-tors, despite efforts by the monetary authorities to do so over the years.

A cursory appraisal of the sec-tor before now showed a responsive player whose capacities to grow the other sectors through appropriate funding, capacity building inter-ventions, and other relevant policy initiatives had been hampered by incongruent fiscal policy regimes that in most cases, undermined benefits of well-thought out mon-etary measures.

For the banks, insurance com-panies, development finance insti-tutions as well as the Microfinance banks and Non-bank financial in-

Agric sectorThe National President

of the Nigerian Asso-ciation of Chambers

of Commerce, Mine and Ag-riculture, NACCIMA, Chief Bassey Edem, said that there the country is able to produce enough rice to sustain its con-sumption demand, but lack the equipment to mill the rice.

He noted that while the government does not provide infrastructure, the foreign as well as the local investors are retreating from investing in such equipment, a situation that has led to illegal importa-tion of rice which still contin-ues till present moment.

To the Chairman, Agric group, Lagos Chamber of Com-merce and Industry, Prince Wale Oyekola, the problem of

the sector lies in the policy in-consistence.

According to him, farmers were closing up their farms because of government’s in-consistent policies, policy summersault, lack of funds, high cost of feed materials, bad infrastructure, and the rest.

He believed that the foreign investors would come auto-matically if the environment is made more conducive for investment to thrive.

He said: “Nigerian govern-ment has over the years for-mulated good agricultural financial policies meant to en-courage food production but such policies have been found inefficient.

stitutions, the efforts to offer credit to key sectors never really achieved much due to the environment they are operating, particularly the risks associated with credit to borrowers.

However, the past few years have been eventful in terms of the interventions of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC, na-tional Insurance Commission, NA-ICOM; the Deposit Money Banks, DMBs, MFBs, Non-bank Microfi-nance institutions and many other players to critical sectors of power, agriculture, transport, manufac-turing and trade.

These achievements have been largely spurred by the monetary policy measures of the CBN as well as increasing efforts of the banks to mitigate risks and target appropriate sectors for loans. For instance, the recent approach of the CBN and operators to focus on

Micro, Small and Medium Enter-prises, MSMEs, for low credit inter-est rate as well as on infrastructure financing is expected to push the economy on a steady pedestal for sustainable growth.

The efforts by the CBN to ensure macroeconomic stability through a combination of monetary policy instruments, including the man-agement of the foreign exchange market in recent months, are seen by most analysts as desirable for economic growth and financial system stability.

At the capital market sector, the Securities and Exchange Commis-sion, SEC, and the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, have over the years been committed to deepening the capital market through various measures and stabilizing it in or-der to enable serve as a veritable source of long-term funding for the economy.

Balami explained that the country has have over 100 air-craft engineers and pilots from the Nigerian College of Avia-tion Technology, NCAT, Zaria, but were not type-rated on air-craft, stressing that the coun-try was the only place where pilots from overseas with 200 or 300 hours flight experience take command of an aircraft while their Nigerian counter-parts with more experience are unemployed.

Balami said that sensitive

Business & Finance National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net16 Thursday, October 1, 2015

Of Buhari, prayer budget and independence anniversary LEO IGWE

Whereas many Nigerians are excited to read about the reduction by the Federal Government of the budget

for this year’s Independence Anniversary celebrations, they are likely to overlook the fact that the ‘prudent’ allocations do not re-flect the needs and priorities of Nigeria at the moment. Indeed, the anniversary pro-gramme is low in terms of budget but lack-ing in terms of relevant ideas and insights. It follows the same ‘old’ pattern, which does not resonate with what should be our nation-al aspirations at this time in human history.

According to the Secretary to the Gov-ernment of the Federation (SGF), President Muhammadu Buhari has approved N70 mil-lion for the organisation of the anniversary events. And what are these events? Jummat prayers to be held at the Abuja National Mosque on September 25, an inter-denomi-national Thanksgiving Service to be held at the Abuja National Christian Worship Cen-tre on September 27, a ceremonial Change of Guards and children’s party slated for Octo-ber 1 and 3 respectively. The SGF further not-ed that four sub-committees have been estab-lished to ensure the success of these events. But he did not elaborate on what these com-mittees would be doing or what made it nec-essary to constitute them.

Anyway, if the Buhari government has been thoughtful and prudent enough to re-duce the budget, it should have gone further to ensure that the anniversary events have sub-

THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD USE THE ANNIVERSARY TO

SHOW THE WORLD THAT NIGERIA IS A THINKING, NOT

JUST A PRAYING NATION

The shocking news of the recent kid-nap of Chief Olu Falae, a former Secretary to the Government of the

Federation, former Minister of Finance, former presidential candidate of the All People’s Party (APP) and a chieftain of the Afenifere on the very day he should be celebrating his 77th birthday has once again brought to the fore the perplexing problem of kidnapping in Nigeria. Falae was held for four days until Thursday, Sep-tember 24, 2015 when he was released. The authorities claimed no ransom was paid even though his abductors had initially de-manded N100 million as ransom fee!

Kidnapping for ransom, which began as form of protest by militants in the Niger Delta region of the country against the callous environmental damage unleashed by oil exploration/exploitation cum in-frastructural neglect by the past federal governments, has since blossomed into a criminal, big time multibillion naira business, nurtured with the same entre-preneurial passion as with a legitimate

Arresting the nation’s kidnapping nightmareIT NEVER CEASES TO

BEAT ME WHY OUR SECURITY AGENTS

OFTEN NEGLECT, FAIL OR PROVE INCAPABLE OF

EMPLOYING TECHNOLOGY FORENSICALLY

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.

enterprise.Kidnapping is now essentially a com-

mercial project for all comers who could lay hand on guns and who are crazy enough to trade other people’s lives for filthy lucre. Every lazy bone now sees ab-duction as a shortcut to instant wealth; it has become magical money spinners for the ne’er do well.

The menace has spread into virtually all parts of the country with varying de-gree of intensity as some areas are partic-ularly reputed as hotspots. To reel out the names of prominent figures who had been kidnapped for ransoms in the past would occupy the rest of the space in this piece and would require continuation in part two! Unfortunately the Nigerian Security system, in all its ramifications, has more often than not, played the second best to the kidnappers. Goaded on by impunity, the kidnappers had been having a field day, ravaging the land recklessly, claiming victims among the lowly and the mighty, and picking up easy dough almost for the asking.

Numerous amounts of foreign direct investments have found their ways into alternative but more stable climes as a re-sult of the scourge. This is not to talk of direct impact of decline in quality of life we now lead as a result of insecurity. Fur-thermore, many skilled and resourceful Nigerians in the Diaspora who can con-tribute to the nation’s growth are afraid to come home.

A number of approaches may be offered as counter-measures to check the ram-

pancy if not eradicate the problem of kidnapping. The first one is “no pay-ment method”. This is a strategy of cultivating the practice of calling the bluff of the marauders by refusing to oblige them with ransom payments.

One is not oblivious of practical difficulty of inculcating this mental-ity in Nigerians. A number of people would readily offer money to procure the freedoms of their loved ones. But the paradox is that the more ransom is paid, the more kidnapping becomes prevalent. If this culture of “no pay-ment” is entrenched, at least, com-mercial kidnapping would stop.

Let us face it, kidnappers don’t drink blood! What they want is mon-ey, and if it is fairly certain no ransom would be forthcoming, they would not find the crime lucrative.

Those who think this is not realis-tic should ponder on situations where ransoms are collected and still the kidnapers kill the victim. Could that be worse than calling the bluff of the kidnapers? But this approach calls

for highly efficient security system to crush the kidnappers.

The second approach is the tech-nological one. A number of crimes in developed countries have been solved through deployment of appropriate technology. For example, kidnapping for ransom invariably involves mak-ing phone calls, at least to inform the relatives of the victims of the incident and to demand ransom. We know that whenever a call is made, the signal nev-er go to recipient directly but through a central processing facility. Thus, the service provider acts as the interface between the caller and receiver and can easily trace the call in real time.

It never ceases to beat me why our se-curity agents often neglect, fail or prove incapable of employing technology fo-rensically. There are so many crimes that would have been solved through simple activity of tracing the GSM calls or the internet-based messages. The advantage of technological approach is that it can even be employed as pre-emptive measure.

The third approach is the legal one. No case of kidnapping should be closed until perpetrators are found and brought to book. As things are, the mo-ment the victim is rescued or released with or without ransom, the law enforc-ers forget about the matter. This impu-nity breeds brazen courage of recur-rence of the problem.

Ketefe, a Chartered Secretary, may be followed on twitter @Ketesco

stance and symbolically reflect the needs and priorities of Nigerians at the moment. Now if we take a critical look at the budget, half of the money (approximately N35 million) would go into organizing Jummat and Christian servic-es. Really? This is in spite of the explanation by the SGF that they decided to slash the cost because of the current state of the economy. But my question is: Given the state of the econ-omy, why should the government bother at all allocating money and creating committees to oversee the conduct of Jummat and Christian thanksgiving services?

The budget for Christian and Islamic prayers to mark this anniversary is a waste of national resources. First of all what actu-ally is this money meant for? Are they meant to pay the attendees to the events or to remu-nerate the imams and pastors, who would preside over the Jummat and Christian thanksgiving services? Given that Jumaat services are conducted and attended by gov-ernment officials every Friday and church services are held on Sundays, does the gov-ernment need a budget to get our Christians and Muslims to organize services marking the Independence? Why not leave it open to all religious and non-religious groups to

organize events in a way they deem fit to mark the independence anniversary? Again, why budget to stage Christian and Islamic services only? Is Nigeria a Chris-tian and Islamic nation? Why discrimi-nate against Nigerians who are neither Christians nor Muslims?

Personally, I find this prayer initiative very surprising because this is a govern-ment that promised not to subsidize re-ligious pilgrimages, but is now devoting millions of naira to organizing Christian and Islamic religious services as part of the anniversary celebrations. Is it not sad and unfortunate? Particularly when one thinks that similar events are also going to be held in the different states of the federation. Wow.

Independence anniversary celebra-tions are very important events, which sometimes presidents, heads of state and diplomats from other countries attend. They present opportunities for countries holding such events to showcase their progress and achievements over the years and outline their dreams and visions for the future. Now what is the Buhari led government going to show the world at these prayer sessions?

Is the government going to demon-strate to the world how prayerful Nigeri-ans have become since independence or what? Now think about this, these prayer programmes lack the symbolism of in-dependence because they are religious services based on colonial religions of Christianity and Islam, not the traditional or indigenous religious formations. Based on this observation, don’t you think the

prayer events are symbolically a disservice to the very idea of independence anniversary?

Now what if this prayer budget had gone into organizing events that showcase the rich-ness and diversity of the Nigerian culture, art and literature beside and beyond praying in Christian and Islamic ways? Won’t that be money well spent? Why can’t the government stage events to celebrate national excellence, particularly what the country has achieved in different sectors – education, tourism, science and technology?

The idea behind independence is the ex-ercise of self rule and that people are better off governing themselves. So at the anniver-sary celebration, Nigeria should hold events that resonate with this very ideal. If we do not organize programmes that celebrate Ni-geria looking to the past, we can organize programmes that celebrate Nigeria looking to the future. The government should use the anniversary to show the world that Nigeria is thinking, not just a praying nation, and to display ways in which gaining independence has helped unleash the talents and resource-fulness of Nigerians.

Igwe, is a PhD candidate at the Bayreuth International School of African Studies, University of Bayreuth, Germany

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KAYODEKETEFE

kketefe@nationalmirroronline.net 08032147720 (SMS only)

CRITICAL STROKES

18 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Nigeria at 55 and still hoping

The United States’ federal government shut down non-essential services after it was unable to pass a bud-get measure. From October 1 through 16, 2013, the US en-tered a shutdown and curtailed most routine operations after her Congress failed to enact legislation appropriat-ing funds for the fiscal year 2014, or a continuing resolu-tion for the interim authorization of appropriations for the fiscal year 2014; until October 17.

October 1, 2013October 1, 1960

Nigeria gained independence from the United King-dom, its colonial master. Nigeria is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Ter-ritory (FCT), Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean.

Sony Corporation, a world electronics giant with head-quarters in Konan Minato, Tokyo, Japan, launched the first consumer compact disc player (model CDP-101). The device is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and play back sound record-ings only, but the format was later adapted for storage of data (CD-ROM), write-once audio and data storage (CD-R), rewritable media (CD-RW), et cetera.

ON THIS DAY

As Nigeria’s leadership and largely distressed citizens file out today to mark the 55th

independence anniversary of the nation’s freedom from British colo-nial rule, their joy in the Nigerian project would largely be sustained by the glimmer of hope provided by the coming of a new administra-tion – the government of President Muhammadu Buhari – which was inaugurated last May 29 after a keen-ly contested presidential election that swept former President Goodluck Jonathan out of power. Otherwise, the country’s socio-political and de-velopmental history since it attained nationhood in October 1, 1960 has been a metaphor of one step forward, 10 or more backward.

This burden has not ceased to raise such questions as: What is the nation’s rating on all internationally accepted indicators of development? Have the political class lived up to public expectation? Has the country registered progress and meaningful breakthroughs in its political culture and institutions? How about infra-structural, technological, scientific, industrial and economic advance-ment? What has been the lot of the average Nigerian in terms of general living conditions and the good life? Where is the nation headed?

We recall that at a lecture held in Abuja four years ago to mark the country’s 51st Independence Anniversary in 2011; ex-President Jonathan blamed the nation’s glaring

retrogression since independence on the elite and weak public institutions. A guest speaker on that occasion, Richard Dowden, the Director of Af-rican Royal Society (ARS), London, at the time, did say the discovery of crude oil in Nigeria had been a curse rather than a blessing to the country. Oil wealth, according to Dowden, led to the lack of initiative by succes-sive governments. With Jonathan, members of his cabinet and some of the then leaders of the National As-sembly seated before him, Dowden declared that the discovery of oil had yielded widespread corruption and looting of public resources by cor-rupt government officials; and that major players in the private sector contributed to the country’s woeful economic performance through sundry frauds and sharp practices. For Nigeria to return to the post-independence era, when the country recorded trade surplus, the guest speaker said investments must be made with a view to exporting cash crops.

Dowden also tongue-lashed the National Assembly for earning the highest pay in the world as legisla-tors; and warned that the country could not continue with the kind of socio-economic disparity existing between the Nigerian rich and the poor. He stated without any ambigu-ity that Nigeria’s main problem had been its politics, emphasising that the country and much of Africa had followed the wrong economic

policies for political reasons, a situ-ation he said had accounted for the over 100 million Nigerians living in poverty.

It is past four years now, but the Dowden truth is yet to be disputed. From current revelations about the imprudent and corrupt management of the country’s resources in recent years, it would seem the country was on the highway to retrogression and self-destruct before the ascension of Buhari to power, and the major culprits were the same people – the ruling elite – whom Dowden despised for holding the country down and ravaging its resources like locusts. Under the immediate past Jonathan administration, government was most generous with mouthing ap-preciable growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP); whereas the real in-come per capita of the populace was not better than spittle. Life expectan-cy plummeted, while health, hous-ing, potable water, urban sanitation,

public transportation, electricity and public infrastructure were generally in huge deficit.

Nigeria has remained a federalist hypocrite that sustains the over-cen-tralization of power at the centre, which in turn encourages do-or-die politics. Centrifugal forces driven by ethnic bigotry, religious intoler-ance and other curious interests are pulling and pushing even more viciously. Corruption has been the first name and the surname of the nation’s public sector; and justice, fairness, peace, and security elude the nation. Widespread unemploy-ment, deprivation and want occa-sioning mass discontent and frustra-tion are still rife.

In truth, it does seem the country’s leadership laid the foundation of the whirl wind that gave birth to Boko Haram insurgency, restiveness in oil-bearing communities, increasing wave of kidnapping, robbery and other violent crimes against individ-uals and the state. Therefore, public expectation is that beyond the usual ritual of celebrating the nation’s independence anniversary this year, the nation’s leaders should spare time and thought on the decades of waste and retrogression occasioned by crooks who fooled the nation in the past as leaders; and resolve to reverse the trends and pretences holding down the nation, to guaran-tee a better and brighter future for Nigeria as a nation, her citizens and upcoming generations.

THE NATION’S LEADERS SHOULD SPARE TIME

AND THOUGHT ON THE DECADES OF WASTE

AND RETROGRESSION OCCASIONED BY

CROOKS WHO FOOLED THE NATION IN THE

PAST AS LEADERS

October 1, 1982

Thursday October 1, 2015Editorial

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

BARRISTER JIMOH IBRAHIM, CFR PUBLISHER

SUNDAY OLAJIDE MANAGING DIRECTOR/CEO

BEN MEMULETIWON ACTING DAILY EDITOR

GBEMI OLUJOBI SATURDAY EDITOR

AYO OLESIN SUNDAY EDITOR

DOZIE OKEBALAMA COORDINATOR, EDITORIAL BOARD

CALLISTUS OKE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

OBIORA IFOH ACTING ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF

AUGUSTUS IMEKAN ACTING HEAD, GRAPHICS

The nation’s education sec-tor has undergone many changes since the attain-

ment of independence 55 years ago. The period shortly after independence marked the glo-rious years in the sector. The prevalent indices then, pointed to a bright future for the coun-try as it produced well-rounded manpower for socio-economic and technological advancement.

The period witnessed a strong public school system, adequate funding of a few secondary and post-secondary schools, friendly work environment for teachers, well equipped science laboratories and libraries, students’ discipline, among others. The system enjoyed non interruption in the academic calendar across tiers and higher in-stitutions like University of Ibadan and University of Nigeria, Nsukka also enjoyed some level of academ-ic freedom and robust students’ unionism.

The decade that followed the first intervention of military rule signaled the beginning of the fall-ing of the sector. This period also marked one of the deciding factors that led to the destruction of the legacies of the independence years which spelt the dealt knell for our educational system at all levels.

The military incursion in gov-ernance and its accompanying political instability facilitated the beginning of rot witnessing in the nation’s socio-economic fabrics with education sector as one of the victims till today.

The policy inconsistency and complete disregard for intellectu-alism by the successive military regimes led largely to ills such as brain drain, decaying infrastruc-tures, bastardisation of the teach-ing profession, destruction of the public school system, incessant workers’ strikes, frequent closures of schools, students’ laziness, cult-ism, among others in the sector.

The situation remained so for more years until the new demo-

cratic government took charge of governance in 1999. Even at that, most of the inherited problems are still living with the system even till now.

For instance, few days after being sworn-in recently, the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo at a public function in Lagos, described the state of the sector, especially at the secondary education level, as appalling. The situation, he said, Nigerians were seriously worried about.

Even at that, the vice-president who is a Professor of Law said it was not as if the sector had not re-corded any progress but very low.

He promised that the present administration would do all things possible to move the sector for-ward.

Also, the Head of Nigeria’s Of-fice of the West African Examina-tions Council (WAEC), Mr. Charles Eguridu appraised the sector and said there was a better future for

the sector.The marginal improvements

recorded in this year’s public ex-aminations results of the final year secondary school students was his yardstick. “But a lot still needs to be done through the collective efforts of all stakeholders,” he said, while identifying teaching and learning, as well as elimination of examina-tion malpractice in schools, among others, to be the most areas of focus that can lead to a credible, effective, qualitative and highly competitive education system in the country.

This is the comment of a chief examiner of all important WAEC about the country’s education sys-tem at 55 years of its political free-dom.

On his part, the South-West Chairman of Parent-Teacher Asso-ciation of Nigeria, Deacon Olusoji Adams, said the sector so far had been a variegated story of success and failure.

“While noteworthy gains are

recorded in quantity, quality at all levels of the system remains largely depressed. When viewed with a global lens, Nigeria does not pres-ent the worst case scenario in the quality of the education delivery system. However, the response rate to improvement by government is pitifully low. It is one of the lowest in Africa,” he said.

The President of Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Mr. Michael Olukoga is equally not satisfied dur-ing an interview with National Mir-ror on Tuesday with the state of the sector, saying all he wanted the gov-ernment to do as the country clocks 55 is to declare a state of emergency in the sector.

Education is a fundamental right for every child, not only in Nigeria, but globally. Both the federal and state governments also enshrined it as part of their laws but implemen-tation has remained a big problem due to many factors, which include lack of political will on the part of

government, poverty and igno-rance on the part of parents.

Another problem is the qual-ity of teachers in our schools. The quality of teachers determines the quality of students they produce. A good teacher must be able to simpli-fy every aspect of the language for his students to perform excellently, but this is lacking in most schools.

The immediate past President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan publicly, at a function while in office disclosed that more than half of all the lectur-ers in both the public and private universities nationwide were not qualified to be there.

According to him, a university lecturer should be a doctoral degree holder, but many of them are with lower degrees and this reflects in the quality of graduates produced year-in and out.

This situation is similar at lower levels and remains so till now. Some primary and secondary school

CONTINUE ON PAGE 23

A 21st Century classroom PHOTO DEMOLA AKINLABI

Education TodayGovt should declare a state of emergency in education —NUT boss

Nigeria at 55: Sector still at crossroads

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 19Thursday, October 1, 2015

21

It’s no more like Independence anniversary of our time’

Post-UTME: 167 impersonators nabbed at UNIZIK

TSA will curb corruption in tertiary schools

232522

LAFROSA 1983 set meets

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net20 Thursday, October 1, 2015Education Today

Parents waiting to register their children at the Federal Government College, Ijanikin, Lagos State, on Monday

Ondo students decry non-payment of bursary

EzEkiEl TiTusBauchi

North-East Empow-erment Advocates for Inclusive De-

velopment Forum has ap-plauded the giant strides make by the Tertiary Edu-cation Trust Fund (TET-FUND) in the last one year under the leadership of Professor Suleiman Elias Bogoro.

This was just it roots for improved education under the current democratic dis-pensation of President Mu-hammadu Buhari whose blueprints is to rejuvenate the decay in education sec-tor.

The President of the group, Alhaji Sale Hussaini and Secretary, Abdullahi Lame gave the commenda-tion separately while brief-ing newsmen in Bauchi over the activities of the group, saying TETFUND in one year has remain fo-cus towards actualising its mandate for improved edu-cation.

The forum had described as a good omen the appoint-ment of Bogoro to head the agency, saying his leader-ship style demonstrates

him as a good technocrat.According to them, the

agency had sponsored no fewer than 9,537 academic staff from universities, polytechnics and colleges of education to local and international training programmes within just a year.

“There have also been various testimonies from students of tertiary schools about the various develop-mental projects executed by their schools through TETFUND months across the six geo-political zones within the same period,” they stressed.

The National Association of Ondo State Students (NAOSS) has ex-pressed displeasure to the inabil-

ity of the Ondo State government to complete the payment of the 2014 bur-sary to students of tertiary institutions who are indigenes of the state.

The student body said the govern-ment paid the bursary to only stu-dents studying at Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba Akoko(AAUA), Federal University of Technol-ogy, Akure(FUTA),Federal College of Agriculture(FECA),leaving that of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo and Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo,

among others to their fate. In a statement released and signed by

the National President of the associa-tion, Iwakun Adeolu, said in fulfillment with the section 18 of the 1999 Constitu-tion that declares as responsibility of the government to ensure her citizens are educated, urged Governor Oluse-gun Mimiko to as a matter of urgency complete the payment arrears to the students.

The association said they had writ-ten letters and memo to the government through its agency, the scholarship board but nothing has been done about the issue.

FCT strengthens position in Cowbellpedia contest

Ogun model schools workers’ recruitment is on merit —Govt

TETFUND commended for devt schools

JusTina kingslEy

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has strengthened its posi-

tion ahead of the states of the federation in the ongoing maiden edition of the week-ly Cowbellpedia TV Quiz as two more of its students par-ticipating in the mathemat-ics competition have secured the semi-finalist tickets.

Ayomide Fadipe, a 13-year old student of Loyola Jesuit College won a slot for the FCT in the junior category; while the 15-year old Ibrahim Sulaiman of the School for the Gifted coasted home the second ticket in the senior category.

Before now, two of its stu-dents participating in the ju-nior category of the competi-tion have scaled the hurdle to the semi final and one in the senior category. Munachi Earnest-Eze of Loyola Jesuit College; and Abdulmeez Yu-suf of Nigerian Turkish In-ternational College; have al-ready secured the semi-final tickets. Meanwhile, Loyola Jesuit has also produced a student, Kamaldeen Raji, for the next round in the senior category.

In total, the FCT now boasts of five tickets in the mathematics competition sponsored by Cowbell, pro-duced by Promasidor Nige-ria Limited.

Meanwhile, Akwa Ibom State has joined the league of

OluwasEun BOlaJi

In furtherance to the Ogun State Government deter-mination to create more

employment opportunities for its citizens, the state Civil Service Commission has conducted a written exami-nation for 3,435 candidates shortlisted for employment in the model colleges spread across the state.

The Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Susan Fo-larin stated this at the Bap-tist Girls College and Lisabi Grammar School in Abeoku-ta, venue of the examination conducted to ensure that the best candidates were select-ed for interview.

“The examination is not only for teachers but other professionals like nurses, bursars and accountants,

the states that already have representatives at the next round of the competition, as two of its students featur-ing in the Cowbellpedia have qualified for semi final.

The state has not won any ticket in the junior category, but two of its students partic-ipating in the senior catego-ry, Inibehe Otoho (Topfaith International Secondary School); and Olusola Olagun-ju (Pegasus High School) are already qualified for the next stage of the competition.

Ondo State still remains visible on the semi-finalist table of the weekly Cowbell-pedia TV Quiz showing on 14 stations across Nigeria. Three of its students have scaled the huddle to the next stage.

While Rivers State has added another ticket to the first it had in Episode two; Abia and Ekiti have also secured a slot each in the next round. For Abia, Em-manuel Okpalanwolisa (Marist Brothers Juniorate) emerged from the junior cat-egory; while for Ekiti, Teslim Ogundele (Federal Science and Technical College) won in the senior category.

The TV stations show-ing the Cowbellpedia Quiz are: AIT Network, TVC La-gos, NTA Channel 10 Lagos, MITV, Ondo Television, NTA Ibadan, NTA Port Harcourt, ABS Onitsha, NTA Enugu, ITV Benin, NTA Kaduna, STB Jos, ITV Abuja, and Ni-ger TV Minna.

He said: “Since our assumption in office, we have taken steps and written so many letters to the state scholarship board and we believed the bursary should have been paid before now.”

The student body however, said they were aware of the current economic situation in the state and even the coun-try, but students’ bursary should also be given priority by the government even within the little resources at its disposal.

They, however advised the students to be patient and hopeful, as they be-lieve the government would attend and continue with the payment.

among others.The aim of the exam is to

determine the best, so it is when we have marked the papers that the best of these categories would be called for the next stage which is the oral interview,” Folarin said.

The chairman assured that the model schools would meet up with 2015/2016 aca-demic session as machinery had been put in place to en-sure this, adding that im-mediately the model schools were declared open, academ-ic activities would resume.

One of the participants at the Lisabi Grammar School, Mr. Olatunbosun Ogundare said the exercise was chal-lenging and equally event-ful, adding that there was no doubting the capability of the state government at ensuring selection based on merit.

L-R: Registrar, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Pastor Olamide Olusegun (2nd left); Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Charles Ayo; the lecturer, Prof. Sanjay Misra; representative of the Chancellor, Pastor Yemi Nathaniel; Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Taiwo Abioye and other members of the university’s Senate during the institution’s 43rd Public Lecture held last week.

Bogoro

The 1983 set of La-gos African Church Grammar School, If-

ako, Agege, Lagos, will hold its quarterly meeting today at AB 10 Specialist Hospital, behind the school facility. The meeting is to commence by 12 noon.

The executive members of the set,– Dr. Olukunle Akinoso, the Governor, Mr. Wande Majekodunmi, Mrs. Kemi Ojomo-Bamidele, Mrs. Olanike Oladipupo, among others jointly made this known at their last meeting held in May, 2015.

They said issues con-cerning the development of the school and welfare of members of the set would be deliberated during the meet-ing, asking all members to attend.

Inusa ndahIMaiduguri

Gov Kashim Shettima of Borno has said his government was pas-

sionate about girl-child edu-cation and would not allow any human challenge stops it from educating children of the under-privileged in the state.

“This government is pas-sionate about girl-child edu-cation because if you edu-cate a girl, you have educated a nation. We won’t allow these lunatics called Boko Haram to derail this vision of educating our young ones especially our girl-child,” Shettima said yesterday in Maiduguri while sending 50 school-girls orphaned by Boko Haram to secondary school in Zaria, Kaduna State.

He said Islam does not forbid educating girls, de-scribing critics of girl-child education as ignorant of Islamic precepts. “Whoever claims Islam forbids girl-child education or female

dare akogun

Rector of the Kwara State Poly-technic, Ilorin, Alhaji Mas’ud Elelu has ascribed the seemingly

unconstitutional dichotomy created be-tween university and polytechnic gradu-ates to absence of industries caused by some people in Nigeria for their own self-ish interest.

Just as he pointed out that this act has also led to the death of technical educa-tion which is causing the country more harm than good economically. Elelu in an exclusive chat with National Mirror pointed out that the dichotomy became visible when manufacturing companies that hitherto looked out to employ poly-technic graduates started folding up.

He noted that there shouldn’t be an is-

their parents through Boko Haram attacks.

He said the school in Zaria was chosen for its dis-cipline posture. He assured of plan to visit the students as soon as they settle down even as he gave each of them N20, 000 as his personal gift and N100, 000 to each of the officials that will accompany the students to Zaria. This is in addition to the earlier pocket money of N20, 000 provided by the government for each of the 50 students.

Chairman State Uni-

is an ignoramus. The truth is that Islam encourages education for our girls and female one even the younger wife of Prophet Mohammad used to teach women,” he said.

The governor urged the students not to allow their condition; as orphans, to dis-suade them from achieving their educational pursuit. He advised them to study hard so that they can excel and have good story to tell in future despite the psy-chological trauma of losing

versal Primary Education Board (SUPEB), Dr Shettima Kulima disclosed that simple but effective examination was conducted at various IDPs camps in Maiduguri to choose the orphans. He said they also underwent oral and written interview, adding that the 50 girls that succeed-ed were first considered for the schooling. He said it costs the government N38.2 mil-lion to train the 50 students including their school fees, other essential for the girls and allowances.

sue on the discrepancies because each certificate should carve a niche for itself based on the difference in the method of acquiring knowledge.

“The kind of knowledge been impact-ed in the polytechnics is purely practical oriented which enables the students to have hands on experience on what they are being taught in the classrooms, while the university knowledge is largely theo-retical.

“We should not be talking about dis-parities because each based on how the curriculum is designed should carve a niche for itself in the economy. If the economy of the country is buoyant enough as it used to be in the 70’s, no polytechnic graduates will be looking for job in the public sector.

“In the 70’s polytechnic graduates

does not compete with University grad-uates in the public sectors rather they were being sought after by the private sectors i.e Lever brothers, Nigerian Breweries Dunlop and what have you and were earning more than the Uni-versity graduates,” he pointed.

He argued that the absence of in-dustries to accommodate the technical graduates being churned out by differ-ent institutions has resulted for them to be looking for jobs elsewhere to make ends meet.

“The cry for parity now is because many of the polytechnic graduates have found themselves also in the pub-lic sector and are also saying, if they spend same number of years studying as University graduates they should be earning the same thing.

kemI BusarICorps MeMber, Kaduna

A corps member serv-ing in Lafia Local Government area of

Nasarawa State, Mr. Lateef Babatunde has extended his hand of humanity to the pu-pils of Mararaba Primary School, Lafia by renovat-ing the entire block of two classrooms in the school and equipped them with 40 desks for use by students.

Babatunde studied Politi-cal Science at Obafemi Awolo-wo University (OAU), Ile-Ife.

National Mirror gathered that the facility was with no roof, windows, doors, chairs nor desks and because of that abandoned for over six years causing untold hardship for pupils of the only functional primary school in the three communities of Mararaba, Gandu and Akunza in the area.

The project which has been inaugurated for use last two weeks gulped up to 352,000 ac-cording to Babatunde.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Deputy Governor of the state, Mr. Silas Agara rep-resented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of the En-vironment, Mrs. phoede onje gywado said the corps mem-ber had done well to serve the country despite many chal-lenges.

“We really appreciate your kind gesture towards the community. This will serve as a landmark achievement and a testimony that you have done well in serving your fa-therland,” he said.

Recalling the inability of his office to render financial assistance to the corps mem-ber while the project was on, the deputy governor appreci-

Corps member lifts Nassarawa School

Govt should declare a state of emergency in education —NUT boss

Borno sends 50 Boko Haram orphaned girls to schoolsated him for his doggedness and resilience in carrying out the project.

Also speaking, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lafia where Lateef is ob-serving his primary assign-ment, Prof Ekanel Braide, represented by Dr. Chris Echeta said that every corps member and youth in the country should learn from Babatunde.

He said “If there were to be 1,000 corps members like Babatunde in the country, Ni-geria would have been better than this. Babatunde is not from this part of the coun-try but used his energy and initiative to develop another man’s community. I think he should be well rewarded for this gesture.”

The Zonal Inspector of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) at the local govern-ment, Mr. Felix Tomori in his commendation said he was glad that Babatunde executed the project despite daunting financial challenges in the land.

He charged the people of the community, especially their leaders to always render assistance to corps members so as to be able to carry out many developmental projects in their communities.

Expressing his apprecia-tion to God for making the project a reality, the donor said he was more particular-ly happy for God to have used him to solve the six-year-old accommodation problem permanently.

He recalled that apart from paucity of funds, it was also difficult somehow to combine the supervision of the project with his work at the place of his primary as-signment.

Sokoto SUBEB trains 950 teachers

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 21Education TodayThursday, October 1, 2015

Director, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Lagos State, Mrs Ronke Soyombo (middle) with the students and teachers of Central Primary School, Ikeja shortly after reading a book together to mark this year’s World Literacy Day last week.

Rector blames Bsc /HND dichotomy on absence of industries TunBosun ogundare

Governments at all levels in the country have been advised to

declare a state of emergency in the education sector as the country marks its 55 years of political freedom today.

The President of Nige-rian Union of Teachers, Mr. Michael Olukoya gave the advice in an exclusive inter-view with National Mirror, saying the sector currently is sick and therefore would need total overhauling.

But the sickness accord-ing to him can only be cure when the government de-

clares a state of emergency in the sector and other stake-holders join hands in tack-ling the problem.

Olukoya, who also asked governments to be more proactive and responsive in its responsibilities to the sec-tor said it was only quality and quantitative education that can make the country attains socioeconomic pros-perity.

“What I am saying is that the future of Nigeria to be great in all aspects like those of the developed countries lies on sound education, which the government and all other stakeholders would need to come in,” he said.

The Sokoto State Universal Education Board (SUBEB) says it is training 950 primary school teachers to obtain

the National Certificate in Education (NCE) through outreach programmes.

The acting Chairman of the board, Alhaji Ibrahim Dingyadi, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria in Sokoto on Tuesday.

`̀ These outreach programs were con-ceived by the board to help those existing teachers who are aged and located in the hard-to-reach local governments of the state,’’ he added.

According to him, the programmes are be-

ing implemented with the active partnership of the board, the National Teachers’ Institute (NTI), Kaduna, and the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto.

He said that the training for the teachers in the hard-to-reach areas currently had no fewer than 250 teachers, with the centre at Goronyo, headquarters of Goronyo local gov-ernment area of the state.

`̀ Many teachers from the various local governments in the eastern part of the state that are far away from the state capital are currently undergoing it,’’ the chairman ex-plained.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

Okebukola

Bamgbose

To many, Professor Peter Okebukola needs no introduction. He is an educa-tionist of international repute. Apart from being a former Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission (NUC), he serves as Consultant to many international organisations including UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank and the UNDP. He is also acknowledged as the first African to win the prestigious UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the Communication of Science. A former Acting Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Ojo, he bares his mind in this inter-view with TUNBOSUN OGUNDARE on the nation’s education sector in the last 55 years and how to make it better. EXCERPTS:

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net22 Education Today Thursday, October 1, 2015

How Nigeria can achieve education prosperity —Okebukola

Sir, how do you assess brief-ly the nation’s education sec-tor since independence?

The underlying tone of the Prime Minister, Sir Tafawa Bale-wa speech’s title at independence 55 years ago that ‘Nigeria Stands Upon Firm Foundations’ drew on the power of education to ca-talyse development of the newly-independent nation.

So to say, one of the most vis-ible areas of decay in the Nige-rian social services so far is the education sector. Three phases of growth in the sector are discern-ible as we walk along the road from 1960. Between 1960 and 1979, the sector witnessed fairly im-pressive growth. The huge rev-enue from oil in the 70s went in part, to the service of the sector. School plant and equipment were improved and maintained. Im-proved welfare scheme for public servants including teachers in the early 70s hiked morale and productivity. Towards the end of the decade, the Nigerian edu-cation system sustained the pro-duction of graduates that were highly rated within and outside Africa. Equally well rated were primary and secondary school leavers. However, by the mid-80s, a combination of economic de-pression, military misrule and corruption choked the system and sent it on a downward slide. The Structural Adjustment Pro-gramme (SAP) induced decay in school infrastructure at all lev-els and triggered massive brain drain. It was at a low point in this regression state that the demo-cratically-elected civil adminis-tration of President Obasanjo assumed the reins of governance in May 1999. One of the cardinal goals of the administration was to effect a quick turnaround of the system. Since 1999, the sys-tem has started witnessing a turnaround. Sadly, the pace of re-covery is too slow to wipe out the loss in quality. As if to add salt to injury, new debilitating factors are rearing their heads to reverse gains in some areas. Corruption and insurgency top the list.

From less than 3,000 primary schools in 1960 enrolling about 1.3 million pupils, there are now over 94,000 public and private primary

Justina kingsley

“I am Mrs. Funmilayo Bamgbose. I am 65-year-old. I was 10 years old when Nigeria gained political

independence. I was in Standard Four at Community Primary School, Eredo, Yewa area of Ogun State. The independence an-niversary to us then as school children was with ecstasy and fun. We all assem-bled in Ilaro as a political headquarters of Yewa with politicians and government officials in attendance. We would have rehearsed march past and cultural dance and songs for many weeks before the D-day when we would display what we had rehearsed.

I must say again that it used to be fun and enthusiasm for students to witness such a celebration. Every student in the area would ensure they made it to the venue of the event as early as 7.00am. You don’t allow anything to hinder you. You met with students from other schools. That was the situation till I left second-ary school. But it is sad that the situation has changed for bad today. Most students don’t even understand what indepen-dence meant let alone celebrating it. They rather stay indoors to watch movies or at best go to beach to have fun and relax.

Another thing is that students then were industrious. They respected their teachers and elders. They were more pa-triotic than children of nowadays. There was also discipline and every student or if I may say majority would not do any other thing than to face their studies. It wasn’t only about academic. The students were also taught moral etiquette. But most stu-dents nowadays attend school just to pass exams and get certified. The love for mon-ey is now the order of the day to many of them. They want to get rich quickly even without work. But something can still be done to get back to the right track. It would require re-orientation. Govern-ments at all levels, schools as well as par-ents have a lot to do in this respect.

There must be punishment meted out to students who err. Students’ admission to schools must base on merit and not any other considerations. Award of marks must also be strictly on merit.

All these may likely make the country to witness a return to situation whereby school children would mark indepen-dence anniversary like we did during our times.”

It’s no more like independence anniversary of our time —Septuagenarian

schools with enrolment in excess of 32 million. Secondary school number and enrolment went from 1,227 and 24,640 respectively in 1960 to over 15,000 public and private secondary schools in 2015 with 12.4 million students. At the ter-tiary level there has been similar growth. From one University Col-lege in 1960, there are now141 uni-versities with aggregate student population of over 1.5 million (full-time and part-time). Since popula-tion growth rate outpaced the edu-cation sectoral growth rate, such quantitative expansions failed to significantly reduce literacy rates. The education sector report card saw a leap in many of the quanti-tative indicators between 1960 and 2015.

Continuing with gross mor-phological comparisons of the sector in 1960 and 2015 now with our lens on quality, stark differ-ences pop up. The graph takes a downward plunge. In 1960, the Standard 6 product had good skills for the workplace. In 2015, the typi-cal university graduate can hardly be touched with a 10-metre pole by serious-minded employers. Adult literacy rate in 2015 is still a shame-ful 67%, 55 years after indepen-dence and we are unable to attain

most of the Education for All and Millennium Development Goals relating to education in spite of the huge resources of the coun-try to make sure we do not rub shoulders with countries on the ignoble list of poor performers in education. Now we have the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to contend with. Nigeria is too endowed to have about 12% of its basic education kids sit-ting on the floor or under trees to learn in 2015. Less than 20% of the public primary schools in the country are sufficiently re-sourced to deliver quality basic education, yet officials of Local and State Governments to which this level of education is assigned are feeding fat through “jumbo” salaries, big cars, huge personal mansions and are known for os-tentatious living. In Kwara and Edo States, competency tests for teachers showed dismal perfor-mance. If conducted nationwide, the results will be alarming, yet for political gains, state gover-nors are scared to take corrective action, jeopardising the future of the country.

From 2000 to date, the system eased slowly, very slowly, into a re-covery mode. Success stories are

chalked up for it in a number of fronts. Within the last eight years, funding especially to federal uni-versities has taken a huge leap. In 2013, an unprecedented N200 bil-lion was approved for the system. The Education Trust Fund, now Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) injected more money into the public university system than it had done in the past. The Science and Technology Educa-tion Post-Basic (STEP-B) fund-ing went some way to improve facilities and build human and institutional capacities. More admission spaces were provided with more universities licensed to operate thus easing, albeit in a little way, the problem of access. The National Open University of Nigeria added an open and dis-tance learning perspective to enhancing access. Further, staff salaries took an upward swing as a spin-off of the 2009 strike action by university staff unions.

Within the last three years, there have been impressive ef-forts to improve the education de-livery system. The establishment of Almajiri schools in many States in the northern parts of Nigeria is praiseworthy. The Ni-gerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) has been active in curriculum renewal. NUC has been very vig-orous in its quality assurance op-erations. About two months ago, the nation celebrated the 52% “pass” rate in the June/July 2014 NECO senior school certificate. In spite of these silver linings, the dark clouds of poor quality in-put, process and output still rage. The pace of the recovery process needs to quicken.

In sum, what are the 2015 key issues and challenges? En-rolment rates at all levels of education are low. Not only are numbers in school low, but the quality of learning outcomes is poor. The curriculum is not ap-propriate for the needs of a mod-ern society which seeks to create a competitive and efficient econo-my. Secondary and tertiary edu-cation are failing to prepare stu-dents for the world of work and failing to contribute to national regeneration. The technical and vocational skills programmes that are oriented towards teach-ing traditional skills are not nec-essarily linked to market needs and do not place the graduates at a competitive advantage with their university counterparts. Inadequate attention is paid to the learning needs of adults and youth in the non-formal setting. The education sector both suffers from and helps to create socio-cultural problems.

What do you consider as a way forward?

Lots can be done even within a year just like it happened in Singapore, Finland, China and

teachers, especially in schools owned by individuals, employ people that have never trained as teachers.

The sector is also known for poor funding. Over the years, govern-ment’s investment on education is below the one that can drive the system to appreciable heights. While the Federal Government’s yearly allocation is below 18 per cent of the total budget against the interna-tional standard, which requires more percentage, it is lower for many state governments; the situation that has been pitching the various school workers’ unions against governments.

Even nowadays, tertiary institutions rely on monies from the Ter-tiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), a Federal Government agen-cy, set up to give complementary financial assistance than from the governments.

The Executive Secretary of the agency, Professor Suleiman Bogoro as well as immediate past Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Ru-fai, affirmed this at various public functions including taxpayers’ fo-rum organised by the agency.

Another serious challenge confronting the sector at all levels is the poor infrastructural facilities in terms of physical structure and in-structional materials. There are situations where students, especially in the north, still have their lessons under trees just because of the in-adequacy of classrooms. Where there are classrooms, they are over-crowded and stuffy and this prevents free movement of teachers and students when the need arises.

The UNESCO’s standard on the ratio of a teacher to students for effective teaching is 1: 40 maximum. But there are many schools even in Lagos, which prides itself a model for others, including the Federal Government colleges that have more than 80 students in a classroom.

The problems in the sector are not limited to these. Nevertheless, something can be done to revamp the system. This has to take holis-tic approach. It will also involve sincerity and commitment of people concerned.

The first and major step is to appoint competent person as the Min-ister for the ministry and also improve on the budgetary allocation to the sector. This, to a large extent, according to commentators will ar-rest the decaying infrastructures at all levels.

TSA will curb corruption in tertiary schools

The proprieTors do noT seem To be inTeresTed in deTails

eiTher. Funds, Though oFTen grossly inadequaTe

are released only For special occasions such as

accrediTaTion exercises only.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19

Ekiti Health College gets accreditationAbiodun nejoAdo Ekiti

The President of Fabotas College of Health Sciences

and Technology, Ado Ekiti, Chief Boboye Olanipekun, said yesterday that the in-stitution’s compliance with terms and conditions for accreditation stipulated by necessary professional bodies had paid off.

Olanipekun said the professional health boards and councils saddled with the regulatory power over

courses being offered in health colleges had granted accreditation to the private health institution in six dif-ferent courses.

He told journalists in Ado-Ekiti that the accredit-ed courses are Community Health Extension Workers; Junior Community Health Extension Workers; Dental Technician; Health

Information Technician; Environmental Health Technology; and

Environmental Health Assistant.

According to him, the

courses were accredited by the Environmental Health Officers Registra-tion Council of Nigeria; Health Records Officers Registration Board of Ni-geria; Dental Therapist Registration Board of Nigeria; and Community Health Practitioners.

He assured that all courses in the three-year-old monotechnic which had graduated about 200 students would be accred-ited soon.

Olanipekun said the institution could boast of

state-of-the-earth labora-tories, a model clinic and other practical –oriented structures to be able to im-pact proper knowledge in the students.

He disclosed that the private institution was es-tablished to serve as veri-table platform for training of higher and middle cadre health experts in the state.

He said: “What we are trying to do is to contribute to manpower development of this country and that we are achieving gradually. We have many health ex-perts in Nigeria who don’t have the requisite technical know-how to handle com-plex situations. This lack is what we are trying to ad-dress.”

The president took pride in the practical and theo-retical abilities students and graduates of the insti-tution which put them at vantage position to com-pete favourably with their counterparts from the pub-lic schools at any time.

“Our students are ma-jorly exposed to practical areas because that is what they would be tasked to do after graduation.”

‘Nigeria at 55’

The deadline for compliance with the directive that all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the federal government pay all rev-

enues accruing to them into the Treasury Single Ac-count (TSA) expired on September 15, 2015. Reports in the various news media indicate that most of the MDAs have complied or are in the process of complying. How-ever, there have been reports that the Office of the Ac-countant General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has granted exemption to thirteen MDAS in order to facilitate their day to day operations but this has been denied by the Governor of the Central Bank.

Notwithstanding, there is a growing call by certain indi-viduals and organisations that the tertiary educational in-stitutions, be exempted from the TSA on the grounds that they are not revenue generating. They went on further to suggest that the full implementation of the TSA may crip-ple the activities of tertiary institutions as it will affect the smooth running of such institutions. In the vanguard of those clamouring for such exemption are the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), the Council of Heads of Poly-technic and Colleges of Technology in Nigeria, the Commit-tee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities and certain individuals including Jim Unah, a professor of philosophy of the University of Lagos.

Arguments in support of a waiver for tertiary institutions include the urgent day-to-day needs of students, lecturers, patients, and laboratory consumables in such tertiary insti-tutions which cannot endure the trammels which the TSA is expected to constitute. Another argument was predicated on the need to maintain a peaceful and harmonious condi-tion on campuses in the face of a restive, volatile and mostly aggressive population of youths who may unleash mayhem at every conceivable opportunity. Fortunately my experience does not permit me to subscribe to such doomsday scenario as an escape route from the war against corruption and mis-management of resources in the tertiary institutions.

Though the public tertiary institutions are mainly service

providers and net consumers of resources, they nevertheless generate a considerable amount of revenue which can sub-stantially make up for the shortfall in the subvention from their proprietors. Such revenues which often run into billions of Naira on an annual basis are generally referred to as inter-nally generated revenues (IGR). The collection and disburse-ment of such revenues are often subject to so much abuse that the day to day needs of the institutions for which they are meant is never met!

The entire process of collection of the IGR is often en-shrouded in absurdities. The number of students in many institutions is often unknown and the number of those who actually pay fees is even more difficult to establish. As would be expected, the total revenue expected or actually received is unknown. A lot of money is potentially lost to incompetence, carelessness and corruption. Hence in spite of the often huge amount of IGR realisable, the laboratories remain in darkness,

empty, and dry; and classrooms are inadequately furnished.There is no accountability or transparency in the dis-

bursement of the accruing revenue. Budgeting is rudi-mentary or nonexistent. Chief executives of institutions are often oblivious of the actual revenue accruing to their institutions. The proprietors do not seem to be interested in details either. Funds, though often grossly inadequate are released only for special occasions such as accreditation exercises only. The bulk of proceeds are expended on un-budgeted goods and services that have little or no bearing on teaching and research, while the rest disappear into the gaping pockets of corrupt officials.

The various staff and students unions and associations often appear uninterested in the high level corruption and incompetence that is so glaringly displayed by the adminis-tration either because of their complicity in the sordid acts or simply too timid to respond. Should the TSA handlers publicise the amount of funds so far garnered, members of the tertiary education community would be dumbfounded by the huge amount some institutions have been hoarding in the mist of the all permeating dilapidations; and one won-ders to what end? Intervention by the Nigerian Universities Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission have failed to make a sig-nificant impact on the level of mismanagement and misap-propriations in the tertiary institution.

A budgeting process that will return the focus of ter-tiary institutions to the academic programmes, beginning with the departments, laboratories and libraries will be the first step to restoring probity in the tertiary education sys-tem. Adequate margins for incidentals could be built into the budget to provide cover for expenses that may not be adequately captured in the specifics. We see the implemen-tation of the Treasury Single Account as a golden opportu-nity to salvage what is left of the tertiary education system and set it on the path of full restoration. An exemption from the TSA would only amount to a tacit approval of the status quo!

L-R: Director/Principal, Federal Science and Technical College, Yaba, Lagos Rev. Chris Ugorji and Vice-Chairman, Parent-Teacher Association of the college, Mr. Francis Omotosho during the school’s press conference last week .

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Education Today 23Thursday, October 1, 2015

EmEka ChukwuEmEka and Franklin OnwubikO

No fewer than 167 imperson-ators were apprehended at the just concluded post-

Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) organized by Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, authorities of the institu-tion have revealed.

According to the management, the apprehended impersonators who have been handed over to se-

Edited by: Saidat Alausasaidat_alausa@yahoo.com 08027633686

FUNNAB VC emphasises importance of laboratory workers

…as ex-student bags international award

NUC assures Plateau Varsity of accreditation

Students under the Tourism Students Initiative Network at the United Nations World Tourism Day Seminar, tagged, One Billion Tourists, One Billion Opportunities in Lagos, recently. PHOTO: SAMUEL ADETIMEHIN

Post-UTME: 167 impersonators nabbed at UNIZIK curity agencies will be prosecuted.

In a press release by the Direc-tor of Information and Public Relations of the university, Dr. Emmanuel Ojukwu out of 30,477 candidates who enrolled on the university’s portal for the post UTM screening, only 28,233 candi-dates turned up for the one week exercise.

He disclosed that the remaining 2,244 candidates might not turn up for the test when they learnt about the stringent measures which the university had put in place to fore-

aided their children to cheat. “Some of those who we caught

revealed that their parents actually looked for their impersonators and paid for the service,” he stressed.

Ojukwu however noted that candidates who chose affiliated in-stitutions such as Federal College of Education (Technical) Umunze, Enugu State College of Education (Technical), Auchi Polytechnic, and Pope John Paul II Major Seminary Okpuno were not part of the exam as they would be screened separate-ly at a later date.

stall malpractice, especially imper-sonation.

According to him, the universi-ty has just acquired biometric data capturing machines and made it compulsory for every candidate for the exam to pass through the fingerprint capturing process to confirm their authenticity as re-corded during registration.

While disclosing that the results of the exercise had since been up-loaded on the school’s website for candidates to check, he decried situation whereby some parents

CalEb adEbayO400L, LAW, OAU

A recently graduated student of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Mr. Bimbo Amusan has put smile on faces of chil-

dren of Rock of Ages Orphanage at Ajebamidele in Ife North Local government area of Osun state.

Amusan who studied Law at the university was at the orphanage to celebrate his birthday anniversary with the children of the home as a way of giving back to the society. The event took place on Sunday last week as part of activities to mark his birthday, which he termed “Weekend of impact.”

Amusan, who said the gesture was to contrib-ute meaningfully to lives of the less privileged or-phans donated some food items and other gifts to the people of the home and promised to do better in future.

All started two days earlier with a carrier talk organized for students of Glorious Hope College,

EX-OAU student fetes less privileged orphans

A fresh graduate from the Fed-eral University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB)’s Depart-ment of Agricultural and Biore-sources Engineering, Mr. Lateef Omonayajo, has bagged the 2015 edition of the Tatarillo Interna-tional Thesis Award.

Omonayajo’s thesis titled, “De-velopment of Low Cost Emitter for Drip Irrigation”, was selected as one of the winning theses, because it was well-structured and showed a rigorous approach to the study of the topic, having been adjudged the best out of the 259 entries received from 57 countries of the world.

According to Dr. Adeyinka Sobowale, who is of the same De-partment and Mr. Omonayajo’s su-pervisor, the Tattarillo jury chose the best three theses by evaluat-ing among others, the scientific value, respect for local traditions, and local people’s inclusion in the decision processes, the multi-disci-plinary approach and the sustain-ability of the proposed solutions in the research.

The Plateau State University, Bokkos, will soon have all its 17 courses accredited, the

National Universities Commission (NUC) has assured.

The Executive Secretary of the commission, Prof. Julius Okojie, who gave the assurance in an inter-view with the News Agency of Ni-geria when he visited the university on Monday, blamed the lingering ac-creditation problem on `̀ the failure of past Plateau governments to do the needful.’

NAN reports that the university which was established 10 years ago and currently has over 2,000 stu-dents in 17 departments in four faculties, had existed without any accreditation from the NUC.

Okojie blamed the lingering problem of accreditation on the past governments that ̀ j̀ust refused to do the right thing’’.

The NUC boss said that the issue

Saidat alauSa

The Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta

(FUNAAB), Professor Olusola Oyewole, has reiterated the impor-tance of Laboratory and Technical Assistants in the university, as the vital bridge between the students and lecturers in the process of teaching and learning. Professor Oyewole stated this while declar-ing open, a one-day training work-shop on “Laboratory e-Techniques and Sample Handling”, for labora-tory and workshop technical sup-port staff, in the University.

Represented by the Director, Centre for Innovation and Strat-egy in Learning and Teaching (CISLT), Dr. Olusegun Folorunso, the Vice-Chancellor emphasised that staff development was para-mount to the university manage-ment, noting that the training was aimed at updating the knowledge of technical support staff.

He lauded the technical staff for contributing positively to academ-ic work in the university.

Professor Oyewole, however, charged the participants to contin-ue to take more advantage of infor-mation technology while carrying out their duties.

a private secondary school in Modakeke, Osun State where Amusa grew up.

The talk centered on leadership and career enlightenment with trio of Caleb Adebayo, Dare Eluyemi and Bimbo Amusan served as resource persons.

Adebayo, a law graduating student from the same university with the celebrator spoke on “The ABC of leadership,” while Dare Eluyemi, a consultant on youth and children development as well as Bimbo Amusan spoke on “Education and Career” and “Career choice and the power of the mind,” respectively.

Bimbo shared the story of how the fire of en-trepreneurship spirit ignited in him even when he was just nine years old back in the secondary school, describing as entrepreneur as somebody who sees problems and able to provide solutions.

He also told his audience success stories of few Nigerians who grew up in rural communities like theirs and able to make it to top of their career lad-der.

“That is why I would want you to believe in yourselves and follow your passion,” he stressed.

In her remark, the principal of host institu-tion, Mrs. Olabode appreciated the birthday boy for putting up such an enlightenment pro-gramme, saying it would go a long in academic and other endeavours of the students.

Bimbo also organised what he called a tweet conference with many youth entrepreneurs in attendance. They include the Chief Executive Officers of OYA Magazine, a magazine which started at OUA and now spread to five others campuses; Ajayi Adebiyi, a public speaker; Ademola Adeyeye; Emmanuel Olabode and Dare Eluyemi.

The conference was centered on “Entrepre-neurship and academics, politics and youth” with participants shared their entrepreneur-ship experiences even when they were stu-dents without one affecting the other nega-tively.

would soon be a thing of the past, since the current Plateau adminis-tration was doing all it could to en-sure things were put a right.

`̀ We seriously sympathize with our students for all the pains and trauma they have gone through as a result of the lack of accreditation

of the university.`̀ We told the former administra-

tions the right things to do, but they never heeded.

`̀ Be that as it may, I want to as-sure you that the turning point of this university is by the corner; I have the pen and the paper, very

soon, most of your courses will get accredited,’’ he said.

Okojie commended the universi-ty for the `̀ slow but steady progress it was making’’, and called on the Plateau government to sustain the support to make for optimal produc-tivity.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net24 Thursday, October 1, 2015

…as varsity warns admission seekers against fraudsters

2 UNIBEN students launch books

EKSU VC bags NANS award

Ondo varsity gets new VC

Saidat alauSa

“The good works of a man speak for him every-where he goes and like a golden fish, a good leader has no hiding place as history will

preserve his place and achievements for generations un-born to emulate.”

These above were the words of the Chairman, NANS Zone D while presenting the award of the Best Vice-Chancellor in Southwest Nigeria to the Vice-Chancellor of Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Prof. Patrick Ola-dipo Aina at a ceremony held at the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, recently.

The NANS Zone D comprises tertiary institutions in Lagos, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo, Osun and Kwara States.

The students of these institutions thronged the ven-ue in their thousands to witness the coronation of out-standing individuals and groups who have contributed to the growth of tertiary education as well as business in the region in the last year.

It was a colourful ceremony which attracted captains of industries, top dignitaries in the Banking Sector, Hos-pitality industry, as well as construction magnates.

The award according to the students was to appre-ciate the selfless efforts of the recipients and to cel-ebrate them as ICONS of the Southwest Society.

The EKSU Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Patrick Oladipo Aina who drew a huge round of applause as his pro-file was being read was awarded the best VC in West Africa.

The award was in recognition of his leadership qualities and for changing the fortunes of Ekiti State

University to a 21st Centu-ry World Class Institution.

He was commended for his unrivaled achievement in infrastructure growth, academic excellence, staff welfare, students’ perfor-mance and the improved ranking of EKSU among the community of African Universities.

Yomi aYeleSoAAU, AkUngbA Akoko

The Ondo State government has confirmed the appoint-ment of Prof. Adegoke Adegbite as the acting Vice- Chancellor of Ondo State university of Science and

Technology, OSUSTECH, Okitipupa.He replaced the pioneer Vice Chancellor, Prof Tolu Odug-

bemi who has completed his five years tenure.Adegbite, a Professor of Botany, aged 56, obtained his

first degree from the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun State. He had his Masters of Science and Doctorate Degrees from the same university.

Until his appointment, Prof. Adegbite was the Head of Department of Biological Sciences at OSUSTECH. He was before then Managing Director, OSUSTECH Consult; and Director, OSUSTECH Centre for Entrepreneurship and Lead-ership Training.

He is a member of Botanical Society of Nigeria, Nigerian Field Society, and Genetics Soci-ety of Nigeria.

It would be recalled that the institution which ought to have churned out its first set of grad-uate in July this year has been shut by the state government since June over unresolved cri-ses.

ezekiel efeobhokhan400L, PhArmAcy, UnIbEn

Even as they had their final year examina-tions to battle with

alongside other important activities on campus, the duo of Edwin Madu and Promise Agho have sepa-rately launched their books.

While the former wrote on “Journey through Phar-macy School,” the latter’s book is titled “The future without Tears.”

They both launched the books at the Lecture Theater 4 of the Faculty of Phar-macy of the university with top cadre academics and stu-dents in attendance.

Unveiling his book, Madu pointed out that he was prompted to write the book

emeka Chukwuemeka and frank-lin onwubikoUnIZIk

The Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe Uni-versity, Awka has presented 87

graduands who were found qualified to practice to the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria for induction into the profes-sion.

In his address, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Joseph Ahaneku charged the graduands to be driven by the sound training in character and learning they had received from their lecturers.

He stated that the Faculty of Phar-maceutical Sciences was already con-tributing to the realisation of the goal of raising the national and interna-tional visibility of the university. He gave the successful hosting of the 2015 Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Orienta-

tion Programme under the auspices of the Pharmacists’ Council as a reference case.

While congratulating the graduands for the successfully completion of their programmes in the university, he de-scribed their proposed induction into the professional body of their discipline as a milestone in their lives. He urged them to uphold the university’s core values of discipline, self reliance and excellence while he reiterated his ad-ministration’s commitment to take the university to enviable heights.

Earlier, while presenting them for the 5th Oath-taking/induction ceremony of the faculty, the Acting Dean of the fac-ulty, Dr. Ikemefuna Uzochukwu urged them to carry the banner of the univer-sity to wherever they find themselves.

He also implored them not to waste time in identifying with a preferred area of specialisation within the profes-sion, saying the faculty had come a long

Edited by: Saidat Alausasaidat_alausa@yahoo.com 08027633686

University of Lagos Students waiting for Campus shuttle under rain. PHOTO: SAMUEL ADETIMEHIN

Madu Agho

UNIZIK Pharmacy gradaunds charged on ethics, 87 inducted into council

win’s first published work.Similarly, Promise Agho

during his own book launch said he wrote “The future without tears” based on his vision and inspiration he re-ceived from God.

He noted that the book would be more useful to those who aspire for big things irrespective of their economic backgrounds.

Agho like Edwin said he was able to combine studies with publishing because he sees writing as a hobby.

“But even at that, I write only when I am relaxing,” he stressed. “And this book is my second published work having launched “Believers anointing” when l was in 200 level.

way since inception in 2006/2007 to pro-duce no fewer than 253 pharmacists so far.

He reminded them to equally make good use of all the six core competen-cies and skills which include pharma-ceutical care, drug discovery & devel-opment, pharmaceutical formulation, pharmaceutical quality assurance, public health and management they had learnt.

Administering the oath, the Regis-trar of the Pharmacists’ Council of Nigeria, Elijah Mohammed urged the inductees to abide by the pharmacist ethics.

The best graduating student of the set, Ukamaka Maduagwu in her speech attributed her success to hardwork and grace of God, urging junior students to be industrious and prayerful.

The renowned industrialist, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa gave the keynote ad-dress at the event.

to allay fear in the minds of students who believe that pharmacy is difficult as a dis-cipline to study.

According to him, so many students had been sent out of pharmacy school when they could not cope due to their ignorance. I know what I am talking about being a student

of Pharmacy. So, in view of this, I found it important to put in writing my experi-ence and those of many oth-ers to serve as useful guide to those studying the course and those with intension of doing so now and in future.

The “Journey through Pharmacy School,” is Ed-

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 25Thursday, October 1, 2015

Adegbite

Aina

Buhari’s marching ordersMedia gaffes:The PUNCH editorial headline of September 22

leads the way today: “Need for forensic and inves-tigation audit on (in) power sector”

“Falae: Buhari reads riot acts to IGP, others” Voice of The Nation of September 24: the riot act (not acts!)

“Falae: Buhari gives Police, security agencies marching order (orders)

“Military Intelligence Chief assures of December dead-line” Who did he assure?

“Experts say family planning reduces the risk of unwant-ed pregnancy among women living with HIV, resulting to (in) fewer infected babies….”

“US naked loggers charged for (with) leaving child on beach”

“ICPC partner (partners) NYSC to fight corrupttion in MDAs”

“Basic education, being the foundation and the chief de-terminant of the quality of the entire educational system of Nigeria require (requires) greater attention.”

“The Parents/Teachers Association of the Federal Gov-ernment College….” Get it right: Parent-Teacher Association

Finally, from the back page of NATIONAL MIRROR under review: “The governor’s action has surely birthed a new in-formation day in Adamawa with Sajoh on (in) the saddle.”

THISDAY front and inside pages of Seeptembr 12 take over from National Mirror: “…would soon be made available to all interested parties and the general public.” ‘Interested parties’ are members of the public.” What is the function of ‘general’ here?

“The bombs ‘at about’—not ‘at around’“I don’t know any country in the world (where else?) that

has attained development with the aide (aid) of the ‘body lan-guage’ of its leader.”

“From dip dyed (dip-dyed) hair, to colour fade (colour-fade) dresses, the current vogue for….” From the interiority of my library, ‘vogue’ implies currency. Therefore, ‘current vogue’—instead of just ‘vogue’—smacks of half-literacy.

“The reason is because I do not want the Egyptians to re-tain it again.” A rewrite: The reason is I do not want the Egyp-tians to retain it.

“Group urge (urges) SMEs to seek micro finance (micro-finance) support”

“Nigeria (Nigerian) Stock Exchange—A case for share buy back for Nigerian banks”

Still from THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER: “…between 300 to (and) 400 by the year 2025, from the present figure of 149.”

“Echocho on mission to wreck PDP’s chances, says (say) Kogi Elders”, but says Kogi Elders’ Council

“Frequent crisis (crises) in Africa, embarrassing—Bu-hari”

“Cameroon vigilante (Cameroonian vigilance) groups halt Boko Haram attacks”

“Buhari flags off (inaugurates) highway project in Cross River…condoles (condoles with or consoles) Mecca crane crash victims’ families”

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER, of September 19 fumbled copiously: “Good songs, to me, needs (need) no publicity….”

“So I hooked-up (hooked up) with her in my church.”“It is the dream of every Igbo man to have an (a) heir.”“…asks if Iheanacho can really take his chance in the star

studded (star-studded) City side.”“Bank manager arrested over (for) foiled bank robbery”FEEDBACKEBERE, it is time you stopped any form of derision on

your page. It is nauseating reading the closing remarks of Mr. Bayo Oguntunase. The joy of life is love sharing. Yes, we can get into frenzy when perspectives differ, but respect is the key. Thanks. Do have a beautiful week. (CHARLES IYO-HA/09099879033)

“ME, I no sabi book!” You obviously shouted wow, Holy Moses on reading that Black English or Broken English. Yes, you think it is classical Gringory (alias 4.30) speaking. No! this

time round, it is essential Kola Danisa, a pseudo-grammarian, a conservative intellectual, who sadly added, Ebere, “keep the flag hoisted”, which is unidiomatic instead of “keep the flag flying”, which is idiomatic English.

Danisa’s intellectual vacuity, active ignorance and linguis-tic rascality show clearly when he cannot distinguish between “to keep the flag flying” and “to hoist the white flag”. It is pro-vocative, nauseating and insulting.

I believe in rigorous intellectual discourse and brain storm-ing. Kola Danisa and his cousin, G.O. Komolafe, are depraved, yes, even diminished. They are neither bilingual nor trilin-gual. They are just monolingual, local champions! Pidgin is not allowed in a formal forum or context. That is immutable.

The current intellectual altercations and friendly rivalries between us are healthy, educative and well informed, although their shenanigans are aimed at bringing me down. They have failed successfully. I was not born yesterday. They are tilting, really at windmills.

Ebere, I say, keep up the good work. All is well. (BAYO OGUNTUNASE/08056180046/soloade12@gmail.com)

THE NATION, September 6, Page 9, stated that “The FIVE states where the new governors have appointed all or signifi-cant (a significant) number of commissioners and special advisers INCLUDE Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Kano and Kaduna.” The word “include” (meaning “as part of a whole”) should have read “the five states are/consist of/or comprise...since all the five states were listed. Second, in “Wanted: incor-ruptible judges”, (THE NATION, August 30, Page 13), “a squir-rel with a hunchback” ought to have read “a squirrel with a hunch (noun)” or “with a hunched (adjective) back”. A man or an animal that carries a hunch (a curved back) is a hunchback himself or itself, but definitely not carrying a hunchback as some Nigerians often say.

For Prince Audu Abubakar to “wrest” power from Gov. Id-ris Wada of Kogi State is “to take something away from him, especially after a violent struggle”, but to “wrestle” is to en-gage in a fight to throw an

How Nigeria can achieve education prosperity —OkebukolaCONTINUED FROM PAGE 22

26 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, October 1, 2015

Rwanda. Data for 2012 from UNESCO Insti-tute for Statistics show that these countries at-tained a transformational change in education and gained at least 2% within a year or two on many education indicators.

So, the overarching strategy is to improve access and quality of education and make it more relevant to productive activities, value re-orientation, employment generation and wealth creation. The number of children ex-pected to enter the basic and senior secondary system will increase significantly in the next five years and beyond.

In 2016, the UBE Commission should un-lock the huge funds in its keep and work more actively with state and local governments to upgrade/rehabilitate existing facilities as well as the construction of new classrooms, labo-ratories, libraries and provision of basic in-frastructure and instructional materials. The Treasury Single Account (TSA) should help to check wild spending. The textbook and other instructional materials procurement and dis-tribution mode should be steered away from the “man-know-man” track. We should have befitting, learner-friendly schools, rather than the present poorly-resourced institutions. We should keep class sizes small and curriculum delivery should feature modern methods of instruction. Compulsory acquisition of ICT skills by teachers and students should be en-couraged.

Technical and vocational education has taken a back seat for too long and should be given greater visibility in 2016. We need to urgently (a) provide trained personnel in the applied sciences, technology and business particularly at craft, advanced craft and tech-nical levels; (b) provide the technical knowl-edge and vocational skills necessary for agricultural, commercial and economic de-velopment; and (c) give training and impart the necessary skills to individuals who shall be self-reliant economically. States should be encouraged through the instrumentation of the National Council on Education, to estab-lish at least two top-quality technical colleges in each Senatorial District or upgrade exist-ing ones. It is important to include vocational subjects in general education curricula to facilitate the youth obtaining generic tech-nological knowledge and key pre-vocational skills - making “TVE for all” an integral part of universal basic education. A more effec-tive method of mentoring/apprenticeship involving the use of neighbourhood work-shops or garages should be worked out and implemented.

In 2016, efforts should be stepped up to en-hance access and improve quality of univer-sity education. NUC recorded giant strides in monitoring universities for compliance with minimum academic standards in 2015.

However, decayed infrastructure and poorly resourced facilities still pervade our higher education teaching-learning environment. NUC, NBTE and NCCE should step up their regime of quality assurance in order to im-prove quality of delivery of higher education in 2016. The restoration grants to all public universities to cover provision of new build-ings, rehabilitation and equipment of build-ings including libraries, laboratories, class-rooms and offices should be used judiciously.

On adult and non-formal education, with the relatively low national growth rate in en-rolment for adult literacy education, the prob-ability of eradicating illiteracy will remain remote if a number of measures including increased advocacy, mobilisation and aware-ness campaigns aimed particularly at previ-ously underserved groups are not instituted. The major thrust of the policy on adult and non-formal education is the promotion of lifelong learning with emphasis on function-alism for non-literates and the functionally illiterate. Focus in 2016 should be on mobilis-ing the adult community to enrol in literacy programmes; resuscitate old and construct new learning centres; establish specific pur-pose adult learning TV channels and radio stations; provide vocational training empha-sising acquisition of practical and basic skills of relevance to the community; and build

partnerships between providers to create an enabling environment, including capacity building and provision of financial support grants.

On education of girls and women, access, participation and retention of girls in schools have been a subject of great concern. The Chibok girls issue and the insurgency in the north-east remain key challenges for the edu-cation of girls. On September 29, 2015, Presi-dent Muhammadu Buhari signed Nigeria up for a coalition against ISIL and Boko Haram at the UN Special Session in New York giving bright hope for tackling the insurgency and freeing the Chibok girls. This should comple-ment the negotiations between the federal government and Boko Haram. Government should enforce the legal provision of penal-ties for withdrawal of girls from school for early marriage.

The value system in the Nigerian society has been severely compromised. The educa-tional system is looked up to as a tool for val-ues re-orientation. Consequently, all schools should be part of the crusade to inculcate the right values in Nigerian youth and adults. Values such as honesty, diligence, love for country, respect for elders, hard work, ethnic and religious tolerance should be inculcated through appropriate curricular and co-cur-ricular delivery systems.

L-R: National President, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture(NACCIMA), Chief Bassey Edem; Director-General, Barr. Emmanuel Cobham; National Vice President, Arc. Thomas Awagu and Life Vice Presi-dent, Dr. (Mrs). Onikepo Akande, during the association’s media briefing on the state of the nation’s economy in Lagos on Tuesday. PHOTO: SAMUEL ADETIMEHIN

27

ABOLAJI ADEBAYO

The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agri-

culture, NACCIMA, has bemoaned the current lull in the nation’s economy, describing it as undesir-able for the socio-economic well be-ing of the people and the country generally. The Association’s Pres-ident, Chief Bassey Edem, said the association was not happy about the situation which is already tak-ing huge toll on real sector invest-ments nationwide.

Edem, who presented the As-sociation’s review of the Nigerian economy at a media briefing in Lagos, noted that the state of the economy as at September showed that the economic growth had not performed as well as expected. He said: “Realistically, contrary to wide spread expectations, the economy has been sluggish and this is due to the fact that the major policy thrusts of the government which are expected to drive the economy are yet to be put in place to meet the utmost expectations of the business community/private sector operators. “One major fac-tor that has also accounted for the sluggishness of the economy could be attributed to the electioneer-ing activities that took the better part of the first half of the year and the settling down into office and pursuing of the business of governance by the new adminis-tration. This is in addition to the dwindling oil resources which has prevented government at all levels from fulfilling their basic capital and recurrent expenditure obli-gations.” While appreciating the enormity of the task inherited by the new administration and its ef-forts to strengthen the economy through policy and other mea-sures, Edem said that it was impor-tant that what an average Nigerian desires at the moment is for the ‘Change’ they voted for to be trans-lated into a significant positive impact on the real sector and the economy in general. According to him, the indices of the economy so far has not shown that it is reced-ing in growth, noting that Nige-

NACCIMA bemoans economic lull, tasks govt on palliatives

31 28

Port congestion looms as workers threaten strike action

BusinessNational Mirror

www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, October 1, 2015

30

ria’s GDP is still on positive status. He said the stakeholders were only agitating for measures to prevent economic recession. He also said that the Administration of Presi-dent Mohammadu Buhari needed to bring fresh perspective and im-petus to ensure rapid expansion of the power sector, so that the energy being generated can conveniently meet the needs of the manufactur-

ing sector while reducing their reliance on alternative sources of energy at exorbitant cost. He added that the Apex Bank needed to review its foreign exchange poli-cy for imported goods vis-à-vis the commitment that had been made before the commencement of the CBN policy on the 41 prohibited items, saying that the implemen-tation of this policy has led to sev-

eral manufacturing outfits losing their credibility as deferred L/C payments obligation were not met or fulfilled, thereby creating lack of trust and further credit exten-sion. On interest rate, Edem said that the effort by government to stimulate the real sector of the economy may be in futility if the current trend in lending rate con-tinues.

AIRLINES’ FLIGHTSCHEDULES

Lagos- Abuja (Mon-Fri): 07.00, 08.50, 12.00, 16.30. Abuja- Lagos (Mon-Fri): 09.00, 14.00, 15.00, 18.30. Lagos-Yola (Mon-Fri): 8.50am. Yola-Lagos (Mon-Fri): 13.00. Lagos- PHC (Mon-Fri): 17.00. PHC-Lagos: 19.00. Abu-ja-Yola: 11.00. Yola-Abuja: 13.00. Lagos-Abuja (Sat): 08.00, 08.50.Abuja-Lagos (Sat): 10.00, 15.00. Lagos-PHC (Sat): 17.00. PHC-La-gos (Sat): 19.00. Lagos-Yola (Sat): 08.50. Yola-Lagos (Sat): 13.00

Med-View Airline

Dana AirAbuja-Lagos 9am, 1pm, 5.28pm dailyLagos-Abuja 7am, 11am, 1.23pm,3.30pm daily Lagos-PH: 7.20AM, Ph-Abuja9.54am, Abuja-ph: 3.30pm and Ph-Lagos: 5.28pm dai-ly Lagos-Uyo: 9.20am, Uyo-Abu-ja: 11.07am, Abuja-Uyo 1.05pm, Uyo-Lagos: 3pm dailyWeekendsLagos-Abuja: 7.02am, 9am, 3.30pmAbuja-Lagos: 9am, 2.20pm and 5.28pm Lagos -Phc: 11.07amPhc-Lagos: 1.05pm Phc-Abuja: 12.51pm Abuja-Phc: 10.50am Lagos-Uyo: 9.18am Uyo-LOS -3.03pm Uyo-Abuja: 11.07amAbuja-Uyo: 1.05pm

Lag-Abj: 06.50, 13.30, 16.30, 19.45 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun), 12.30 (Sun) 16.45 (Sat) Abj-Los: 07.30, 13.00, 19.00 (Mon-Fri/Sat, 10.30, 14.30, 19.30 (Sun, 18.30 Sat) Lag-Benin: 07.45, 11.00, 15.30 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun) 12.30 (Sun 15.30 (Sat)Ben-Lag: 09.15, 12.30, 17.00 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun) 17.00 (Sat) 14.00 (Sun)Lag-Owe: 7.45am, 2pm daily

Aero Contractors

Contractors’ lapses responsible for National ID delay–NIMC boss

MDGs have impacted on Africa’s devt –Report

Nigeria’s steel sector faces tough times

SYLVA EMEKA-OKEREKE

The latest report on the as-sessment of the impact of Millennium Development

Goals, MDGs, in African countries indicated that he programmes have impacted positively on the socio-economic lives on Africans thereby necessitating the need for their continuity in the various countries.

The report confirmed that lead-ership, innovation and targeted investments in a number of social sectors had led to transformative interventions and by extension, revolutionized people’s lives.

According to an annual report produced jointly by the Economic Commission for Africa, ECA, the African Union, AU, the African Development Bank, AfDB, and the

United Nations Development Pro-gramme, UNDP, tagged “Assess-ing Progress in Africa toward the Millennium Development Goals”, Africa has seen acceleration in economic growths.

This is in addition to the estab-lishment of ambitious social safe-ty nets and designed policies for boosting education while tackling HIV and other related diseases.

It has also introduced women’s quota in parliament, leading the way on gender equality and in-creased gender parity in primary schools.

Although, the overall poverty rates are still hovering around 48 percent, according to the most recent estimates, most countries have made progress on at least one goal.

For instance, the Gambia re-duced poverty by 32 percent be-

tween 1990 and 2010, while Ethio-pia decreased its poverty rate by one third, focusing on agriculture and rural livelihoods.

Some policies and initiatives have been groundbreaking. For instance, Niger’s School for Hus-bands has been successful in transforming men into allies in promoting women’s reproductive health, family planning and be-havioural change towards gender equality.

Cape Verde has increased its forest cover by more than 6 per-centage with millions of trees planted in recent years.

Much more work lies ahead to ensure living standards improve for all African women and men.

While economic growth has been relatively strong, it has not been rapid or inclusive enough to create jobs.

African leaders to parley on agric sector transformation

African leaders are organ-ising a high level confer-ence to transform the

continent’s agricultural sector. President of the Republic of

Senegal, Macky Sall said that the conference would bring together Ministers of Finance and Econo-my, Ministers of Agriculture and Rural Development as well as Ministers of Trade and Industry.

Others include, the Governors of Central Banks, business lead-ers, the private sector, academia and civil society and technical experts across the continent and beyond.

Billed for October 21-23 at the King Fahd Palace Conference Centre in Dakar, the Conference is expected to result in strong commitments from governments

to undertake necessary reforms to prioritize agriculture renew private-sector engagement as well as engage in innovative agricul-ture financing mechanisms for Africa.

A roadmap would outline key actions required to deliver a strat-egy for transformation of African agriculture.

The conference would be or-ganized through high-level panel discussions and parallel working sessions, co-hosted by organiza-tions and institutions with a rec-ognized leadership.

Ministers of Finance, Agricul-ture, Trade and Investment, Cen-tral Bank Governors, private sec-tor and academic leaders would be invited to discuss and endorse the roadmap.

South Africa’s recoverable gas reserves from onshore shale and offshore gas

fields have been put at 19.5tcf, a senior energy official has said.

Country’s Deputy Director General for Energy Policy, Ompi Aphane said it would take a de-cade to significantly develop the gas resources with exploration to determine South Africa’s true gas potential.

“It requires significant evalu-ation activity, significant drilling to be able to quantify gas more definitively and also assess the economic case for the recovery of this gas,” Aphane told a gas conference in Cape Town.

Allowing for different esti-mates, Aphane said South Af-rica’s recoverable gas resources were seen at around 9 tcf off-shore through conventional drilling, 9 tcf in shale in Karoo, a vast semi-desert wilderness stretching across the heart of South Africa, out of a potential

120 tcf resource and around 1.5 tcf from coal bed methane.

South Africa is aiming to pro-cure 3,126 megawatts of power from gas between 2019 and 2025 as it plans to diversify its energy mix away from an over-reliance on coal-fired power plants, pro-viding around 90 percent of the country’s electricity needs.

Aphane also said government is focusing on a liquefied natural gas, LNG, to power tender with a number of projects anticipated, providing the opportunity for more than one location.

“We want to use gas to con-tribute to our near-term power needs which are significant,” Aphane said.

Africa’s most developed econ-omy is battling electricity short-ages that has curbed economic growth and plunged millions of houses into regular darkness as power utility Eskom manages the power grid by blacking out certain sectors.

South Africa to recover 19.5tcf gas resources

FRANCIS EZEM

Cargo congestion may be-come a common feature of Nigeria’s major sea-

ports, especially the Lagos Ports Complex and Tin Can Island Ports Complex both in Apapa Lagos over planned closure of the ports by the Maritime Work-ers Union of Nigeria MWUN, to protest non -payment of their emoluments and other benefits.

The union had a few months ago issued a similar threat to close the ports over the refusal of the management of the Ni-gerian Ports Authority NPA to pay workers the arrears of their salaries and allowances, which gave rise to negotiations between the leadership of the union and the management of the authority, where it was agreed that the threat be with-drawn.

President-General of the union, Mr. Tony Nted, who spoke with newsmen in Lagos, disclosed that members of the union would embark on a na-tionwide strike that is expected to shut all port facilities across the nation with effect from Fri-day to protest non-payment of outstanding six- month salaries and allowances of junior staff, especially tally clerks and secu-rity men.

According to him, the leader-ship of the union is left with the only option of shutting the ports to compel the management of

OluSEguN KOIKI

The Nigerian Airspace Man-agement Agency, NAMA, said it is embarking on the

training of 15 Air Traffic Control-lers, ATC, on a combined Termi-nal Approach Surveillance Ra-dar/Area Airways Surveillance Radar course at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, NCAT, Zaria

The agency in a statement by its Acting General Manager, Pub-lic Affairs, Mrs. Olajumoke Ad-etona said that the training was part of efforts to boost capacity of existing manpower in Air Traffic Management, ATM, for the imple-mentation of Performance Based Navigation, PBN.

She hinted that the combined course was making its debut in Nigeria, had already commenced for the ATC this Monday and was expected to last for 10 weeks. She added that before now, the two courses were taken separately by the college while ATC were trained abroad at heavy cost to the agency for the combined courses.

The Managing Director of the agency, Engr. Ibrahim Abdul-salam was quoted as saying that the combined radar course was another milestone in Nigerian aviation and added that it became possible as fallout of the Memo-randum of Understanding, MoU, signed recently with NCAT.

He said: “The programme is

Port congestion looms as workers threaten strike

NAMA trains 15 ATCs on radar course

L-R: Gender and Food Security Officer, National Association of Professional Environments, Uganda, Mrs. Shillar Kyomugisha; Regonal Director, Coalition of African Women in the Extractive Industry Secretariat, South Africa, Samantha Hargreaves; Head of Media, Kebetkache Nigeria, Constance Mgin; Coordinator, Gender Action, USA, Elaine Zuckerman and Coordinator, South Africa Green Revolutionary Council, Limpopo South Africa, Francinah Nkosi, during a regional exchange meeting on fossil fuel and climate change in Port Harcourt, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

NPA to pay up the outstanding salaries and allowances..

It was gathered that sequel to the agreements reached be-tween the management of the authority and leadership of the union that the outstanding sala-ries and allowances, which were not kept by the NPA, the work-ers had attacked the MWUN zonal office over allegations that the leadership of the union has been compromised and hence their inability to compel the NPA management to redeem its promise to pay up.

.”This proposed action is in the interest of the workers, who have been owed arrears of salaries even after the manage-ment of NPA had promised to pay up long before now. It was In frustration, that the workers attacked the zonal office of the union, saying the union had not pursued their payments vigor-ously”, the president said.

The MWUN-boss also warned: “We just thank God that people were not injured in the course of the strikeare just lucky that people were not in-jured in the course of the pro-test but all the same, they have made their grievances known both to us and the management of NPA and I assure you that we will shut the seaports if by to-morrow the management fails to pay because this has been long overdue” .

Meanwhile, General Man-ager in charge of Public Affairs

of NPA, Captain Iheanacho Ebubeogu, who reacted to the threat by the workers, said the authority would henceforth deal with stevedoring compa-nies directly on such matters.

According to him, when the authority addresses its obliga-tions to the stevedoring contrac-

tors, they will in turn meet the needs of their workers, a devel-opment that will reduce cases of lockouts to the barest minimum.

However stakeholders are ap-prehensive that there might be massive congestion at the ports if the workers make good their threat to shut the ports.

The stakeholders argued that the ports, especially those in La-gos are just recovering from the backlog of cargo arising from the 10-day strike embarked by truck owners over the move-ment restriction policy imposed on them by the Lagos State Gov-ernment.

in keeping with the Federal Gov-ernment policy on training. This innovation therefore is targeted at reducing cost to the agency as well as shortening the time lag between both trainings as On-the-Job-Training, OJT, for the two courses would be done sequential-ly as against when they used to be run separately.”

Abdulsalam declared further that additional 40 ATCs were un-dergoing the Basic Air Traffic Control Course at NCAT Zaria in two batches to last till 2016.

He also posited that arrange-ments had been concluded for an-

other set of 15 ATCs to proceed for the combined Approach/Enroute Surveillance Radar Course after the present batch graduates, add-ing that some experienced field of-ficers are also being sent to NCAT to help in monitoring the progress of training in the college.

He also charged participants to justify the huge investment NAMA was making in human capital development by showing commitment and dedication to their studies with the aim of “sup-porting management in building a more robust and seamless ATM system in Nigeria.”

28 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, October 1, 2015Business News

Business News

Johnson okanlawon

The Securities and Ex-change Commission has directed all registrars

to commence the use of the e-Dividend Mandate Manage-ment System Portal, which it launched in July this year.

The Commission, in a circu-lar to the Registrars posted at its website on Tuesday stated the system was ready for use by all banks and registrars in the country following the training of the staff of the registrars, adding that banks would soon be asked to stop the verification of paper mandates.

The commission had said earlier this month that inves-tors could now enroll for e-div-idend payments at banks and registrar branches nationwide through the online platform.

According to the commis-sion, the development follows the release of a circular on the implementation of the e-div-idend mandate management system portal by the Central Bank of Nigeria to all Deposit Money Banks on Monday.

The commission had ex-plained that the e-dividend scheme had been a priority initiative for the entire capi-tal market in a bid to curb the growth of unclaimed dividends and improve the overall ef-ficiency of Nigeria’s equities markets.

It said, “The e-DMMS por-tal utilises NIBSS’ (Nigerian

Inter-Bank Settlement System) robust document management system to which e-dividend mandate forms filled by the investor can be uploaded,” it explained, adding that the e-dividend form could be ob-tained and properly filled at bank branches or in the office of a registrar.

“It is therefore mandatory for every registrar to imme-diately commence the use of the e-Dividend Mandate Man-agement System Portal as di-rectives will soon be issued to banks to discontinue the verifi-cation of paper mandates pre-sented to bank branches.”

According to the commis-sion, all registrars’ offices/ac-credited outlets shall be points of upload of completed e-divi-dend mandate forms by inves-tors who may alternatively ap-proach their banker to process their completed e-dividend mandate forms.

It also said, “Every registrar shall validate investor’s share-holder account number, name, signature and clearing house number.”

This, according to it, shall be followed with the upload of scanned copy of completed e-dividend mandate forms on to the portal for immediate access by the investor’s nominated bank for the verification of his/her bank account details.

In processing the forms, it urged the registrars to be cau-tious, saying, “Registrars shall exercise caution when validat-

SEC directs Registrars on use of e-dividend portaling names generated by the system for the clearing house number, shareholder account number and bank account number against the physical form to ensure there is a rea-sonable level of congruence be-

fore the document is accepted and saved on the portal.”

Among other things, the commission said investors should be educated to complete separate forms for each share-holder’s account number, as

upload of e-dividend mandate forms should be on the basis of individual shareholder num-ber and company of invest-ment indicated by the inves-tor on the physical e-dividend mandate form.

Africa investor capital market award winners emerge

Queues for the purchase of kerosine at official pump price at a filling station on Agege Motor Road in Lagos, yesterday.

IsaIah ErhIawarIEn

Africa investor (Ai), an in-ternational investment and communications

group, has honoured African and international business lead-ers at the Africa investor (Ai) Institutional Investment and Capital Market Awards, held in New York.

Launched in 2007, and linked to the Africa investor (Ai) In-dex Series, the Ai Institutional Investment and Capital Market Awards are based around the Ai Index Series and are the only pan-African Awards designed to recognise Africa’s best per-forming stock exchanges, listed companies, investment banks, research teams, regulators, socially responsible compa-nies and sovereign wealth and pension fund investors. It is a uniquely African capital mar-kets event.

Commenting on the Awards winners, Hubert Danso, Chief

Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of Africa investor, said, “Africa investor has long seen the need for a respected platform to provide recognition to Africa’s best and most inno-vative capital market leaders and institutional investors. We are delighted to be able to say that this year’s winners are our most exciting yet, and are testa-ment to the ever-improving in-vestment climate in Africa.”

Most Innovative African Stock Exchange was awarded to the Stock Exchange of Mau-ritius, while FBN Capital was recognised as Best African In-vestment Bank. Standard Bank nabbed the Award for Best Af-rica Research Team. The Capi-tal Markets Authority of Kenya took Most Innovative Capital Markets Regulator.

The Best Performing Broker in Africa went to Ecobank Se-curities and Asset Management while Prudential was awarded Best Africa Fund Manager. Samba Foods was recognised as

olusEgun koIkI

In a bid to assist in addressing the dearth of manpower in the country’s aviation industry,

a group of women professionals

Group urges girls to take interest in aviation studies, careers

in the sector under the umbrella of Women in Aviation, WIA, has brought together over 80 girls to mentor them to take up different careers in the industry.

The event tagged; ‘Girls in Avi-ation Day,’ which held at the Port Harcourt and Owerri airports was tailored at positively impart-ing in the lives of the girls by ex-posing them to the unparalleled careers available in the industry.

The girls were drawn from dif-ferent schools in the Lagos me-tropolis.

The President of group, Mrs. Rejoice Ndudinachi, said the es-sence of the programme was not only to attract girls to the careers potential in the aviation industry and to catch them young, but also to correct the impression that the sector was mainly for men. She disclosed that presently, 28 states in the United States had pro-claimed September 26, every year as the ‘Girls in Aviation Day.’ The WiA boss declared that one of the objectives of the body was to en-courage the young ones to build up their future in aviation.

While recalling that the idea of the ‘Girls in Aviation Day’ went back to what was then known as ‘Daughters Day’ and later became Girls in Aviation at the body’s an-nual conference, she explained that anybody that had been fol-lowing events over the years would agree that it had impacted in communities thereby justify-

ing the celebration of the ‘Girls in Aviation Day’ worldwide.

Ndudinachi said: “Women in Aviation Nigeria chapter just want to see girls interacting with positive role models and consid-ering aviation as they make their college plans .Today ,we intro-duced girls to role models ,train them and place them in support-ive atmosphere to encourage them to take up career in avia-tion.”

She further affirmed that the body would continue to support and ensure that the young ones take up careers in the various aviation professions in the sec-tor, adding that one of the ways to catch them young was by cel-ebrating the day in the country.

In his remarks at the event, the Chairman of Air Peace, Bar-rister Allen Onyema, whose air-craft was used to teach over 80 young girls, who were present, noted that it was delightful for the airline to be chosen for the historical event, adding that the airline will continue to support WAI in its quests towards en-couraging young girls to be one of the aviation professionals in the industry.

He advised the girls that there were a lot of potential in the sector ranging from pilot, Air Traffic Service, aeronautical en-gineers, cabin crew, dispatchers and meteorologists among oth-ers.

Best African Listing.In the Ai Index company cat-

egories, Best Performing Ai100 Company was awarded to Zam-bia National Commercial Bank; Best Performing Ai40 Company went to Equity Bank; Most Inno-vative Ai SRI 50 Company was awarded to Dangote Cement, and Most Innovative Ai SRI 30 Company went to GTBank for a second year in a row.

Chief Executive Officer of the Year went to Stephen Olabi-si Onasanya of First Bank Nige-ria while Ai SRI 30 CEO of the Year was awarded to Phillips Oduoza of UBA Bank, also for a second year in a row.

In the pensions and sover-eign wealth funds categories, International Sovereign Wealth Fund Initiative of the Year was awarded to Investment Corpora-tion of Dubai. Senegal’s Strate-gic Investment Fund (FONSIS) was recognised as African Sov-ereign Wealth Fund Initiative of the Year.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 29Thursday, October 1, 2015

30

Nigeria’s steel sector faces tough timesCHIDI UGWU (WItH aGenCy reports)

A key stakeholder in the Nigerian steel industry has sounded a warn-ing over imminent collapse of the

sector which had attracted over N100 billion investments in recent years.

The CEO, Steel Business, African In-dustries Group, Mr. Sanjay Kumar, at a recent forum warned that the steel in-dustry was at the verge of total collapse just like what happened to the textile Industry.

He said government must urgently come to the rescue of the sector as it would need about N60 billion interven-tion funds like government did in other sectors of the economy.

“Today there is over 30 private steel plants producing various steel products in Nigeria. This sector has invested over N100 billion into the Nigeria economy since inception. Our group (Africa In-dustries) alone has invested well over N20 billion in Nigeria,” he said.

“Already, about four steel plants have already completely shut down and more will follow soon because many are cur-rently operating below 30% of produc-tion capacity. Most of these steel plants are now operating two weeks a month and are closed for the remaining two weeks of the month due to lack of de-mand.” He noted that steel consump-tion was largely driven by government initiative on infrastructure projects and for the government to rescue the sector it will have to make a definite policy on the need to patronize made in Nigeria steel products. On his company’s con-tribution to the economic growth of Ni-geria, Mr Sanjay Kumar explained that, “With the investment of over N20 bil-lion in steel plants, African Industries Group has generated employment well over 7,000 people and is supporting live-lihoods over 100,000 Nigerians. It has helped conserved precious foreign ex-change by way of import substitution. It has contributed significantly to gov-ernment revenue through various tax-es. We are actively involved in various corporate social responsibilities an also engaged in increase of skill acquisition and training of Nigeria youths.

“African Foundries (AFL), the Flag-ship Company of African Industries Group is the only steel plant in Nige-ria that is ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OH-SAS18001 complied. Also, it is one of the few steel companies in Nigeria pro-ducing iron rods meeting British stan-dard (BS 4449-2005 Grade B500B). It has capacity to produce 0.5 million tons of BS 4449-2005 Grade B500B Iron rods. AFL has international standard testing laboratory equipped to mechanical and chemical properties of iron rods and automatically test its geometry done in European steel plants.”

The Group Executive Director, Afri-can Industries, Mr Uche Iwuamadi also highlighted areas that needed inter-vention by the government to include; create a local content policy of using made in Nigeria iron rods in all small and big government projects; prevent dumping of steel products; construc-tion of road linking manufacturing sites; Create a special power tariff for the steel industry; make available an intervention fund at lower interest cost to prevent the immediate collapse of this private steel industry where many are operating below 30% capacity and overburdened with high interest costs; while waivers/ concession may not stop completely for certain infrastruc-tural development, the portion of Iron rod importation in any waiver should be expunged; curtail multiple taxation imposed by the Federal, State and Local Government agencies; review the high cost of Gas considering that Nigeria has huge gas reserves- The cost of Gas in Nigeria is US$7.31/mmbtu as against US$4.2/mmbtu in USA.”

Also speaking at the forum, Director General, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Mr Remi Ogunmenfun, com-mended the African Industries Group for bringing the stakeholders together, noting that the industry had critical problems and we must continue to talk about it to get the attention of the gov-ernment.

“Nigeria products are of good qual-ity and it can stand anywhere in the world; for every product that is brought into Nigeria we are exporting Nigeria jobs,” he said.

He condemned the complete neglect of the involvement of the players in the steel sector in the formulation of the Nigeria industry policy, saying “Gov-ernment should create policies that will encourage diversification. “All over the world, due to the importance of steel in the development of the economy, the

views and opinions of the key players from steel Industry are usually sought and obtained by the government in the formulation of economic policies as be-ing done for the Oil or Financial Sectors, unfortunately in Nigeria, the steel sec-tor has been left out all these years,” he stated.

On his part, Director Inspectorate and Compliance, Standard Organisa-tion of Nigeria (SON), Mr Bede Obayi, commended African Industries. saying, “Steel produce by the company in Nige-ria can compete at international stan-dard because they comply with SON pre-

Mining site Dubai assures support for African miners

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, October 1, 2015

scribed standard.” He noted that the key issue in the industry was that of proper identification and quality, adding that the steel specification majorly produced in Nigeria is the reinforcement bar.

Obayi also encouraged the manu-facturers on the need to diversify into the other specifications. On the issue of dumping, he noted that Nigeria as a member of the World Trade Organisa-tion (WTO), other products can come into the country if they meet the re-quired standard. He however agreed on the need to look into the local content policies for the reinforcement steel bar.

Steel & Mining Industry

Dubai assures support for African miners With the support of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce

and Industry, a UAE government entity, and alongside Ghana’s Minerals Commission and Precious Metals Mar-

keting Company (PMMC) was held on Monday in the West African country.

The ADPMF, which witnessed Ministers and industry experts present and debate key subject matters such as the provision of transaction financing, formalisation of public/private alliances and responsible sourcing of gold in accordance with globally rec-ognised best practices, aims at bringing the entire West African precious metals sector – miners, refiners and traders – under one setting.

“This is the first such event and is part of our ongoing efforts to build capacity and grow trade with West Africa. The ADPMF’s ob-jective is to strengthen the trade links and highlight the importance of Dubai’s pivotal role as a key access point to the international pre-cious metals market. The event will also focus on initiatives such as financing and accreditation and building new partnerships for the

future,” said Gautam Sashittal, CEO of DMCC.“Dubai has a long history of strong economic relations with Af-

rica and we have taken steps to build this relationship further by opening our second international office in Accra, Ghana. When it comes to precious metals, both countries have strengths which should be tapped upon for promoting trade and investment.

“Therefore organising the Africa Dubai Precious Metals Fo-rum for the first time, is a very crucial and well-timed step to provide an ideal platform for Dubai government organisations as well as the private sector to interact with African companies and identify synergies for promoting bilateral trade and investment,” said Wissam Omar, Head of the Dubai Chamber International Of-fice in Ghana.

Ghana is the largest producer of gold in West Africa. Its annual output is approximately 90 tonnes (in 2014). Ghana has been one of the progressive governments in encouraging mining in precious metals in both the organised sector as well as the small and arti-sanal sector.

What is the assurance that the MDAs will be committed to the harmonisation?

What exactly is the harmonisation of biometric databases by the Minis-tries, Departments and Agencies that is believed to be currently responsible for delay in the issuing of the national electronic identity card by your Com-mission?

First, let me acknowledge the fact that the President’s directive is timely and in our own opinion, the kind of support we need to make the harmonisation a reality. The Na-tional Identity Management Commission had provided for the harmonisation of bio-metric databases in government agencies and there have been conscious efforts on the part of the management to make this hap-pen.

The data harmonisation is in three levels, and the first level involves the phasing out things that presently done by several MDAs but requires service of one institution.

The second level tries to addresses the need for inter-operability platform that can be created between legacy databases by these MDAs using a national universal identification infrastructure to create that connecting link.

And then lastly, government felt that it needs to centralise the process of ascertain-ing the identity of every Nigerian within a national frame work.

And to answer your question, the answer is yes. In fact, the national identity manage-ment system has been designed as such. And that is because, there is a data gather-ing process that is based on international standards, and requires that a minimum level of quality of data captured is empha-sised across board.

Contractors’ lapses responsible for National Identity card delay –NIMC bossMillions of Nigeria by now should have been issued their electronic National Identity Cards if the prom-ises by National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, were fulfilled. In this interview with IsaiahErhiawarien, the Director General of the Commis-sion, Mr. Chris Onyeme-nam, speaks on various constraints to timely issu-ance of the cards and ef-forts by his agency to still deliver on the multi-billion naira project.

While these other government agencies are talking about your identity in

relation to their database, Which is a function specific or service based

database, the national identity management commission is talking of a database Where Who you are is first and foremost established and given a label

The label we give is the National Iden-tification Number, NIN. Therefore, in the coming month, that isJanuary 9, 2016, it is expected that all agencies should request for the NIN as required by Law, before any transaction can be carried out.

Commitment we had before now from other agencies to harmonise data was not quite total. However, the agencies are much more committed because of the new presi-dential directive. So I am indeed grateful to the President for the directive because it is currently making things happen and very soon, in a period of one month to two months, or three months maximum this harmonisation will be done for most of the existing MDAs with legacy databases, and we will announce the first success story.

For the MDAs who have not gone to the field, and do not have biometric databases yet, what we are doing now is to give them technical specifications that they must ad-here to for the purpose of ensuring that they comply with the integration that is required in the long run.

There are also those who do not need to bother about procuring data capture devic-es or having database infrastructure. These ones will simply access our system and be-cause we have given them the permission to

Does this shift imply that Nigeri-ans should be hopeful about the work-ability and potentials of the National Identification Number, NIN, even as the commencement date has been moved to January 2016?

Once an individual has been issued a National Identification Number, NIN, this number becomes that particular item in the database of every other agency that cre-ates that common denominator by which if you want to confirm the identity of Chris Onyemenam, even if what you are using is Federal Road Safety Commission’s (FRSCs) data, in terms of his driver’s license, you are likely to reach the same conclusion as someone who is trying to confirm the data using the Independent National Electoral Commission(INECs) database, because there is the use of the universal identifica-tion infrastructure.

This means that while these other gov-ernment agencies are talking about your identity in relation to their database, which is a function specific or service based data-base, the National Identity Management Commission is talking of a database where who you are is first and foremost established and given a label.

Onyemenam

download, they will be in position to down-load and verify the identities they want to work with and that will be it.

For instance, the National Health Insur-ance Scheme, data capture devices comply with the specification that we have given them. So data from them, they are going to just flow readily, and such we are not doing much data conversion.

As for the CBN the two parties now have to do what we call data conversion and data migration because of some form of data mapping such as date of birth.

The CBN, INEC, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Road Safety Corps have reached advance stage.

So you are saying that its goodbye to cases of numerous identity cards in Ni-geria?

My expectation is that in about five to ten years from now, Nigerians will begin to hold just one or fewer cards. There will be fewer cards in the banking sector because the National Identity Card is also a payment card and in no distant time, we will be the largest payment card in circulation from a single source and this will help break many barriers, extend financial inclusion and services beyond the current frontiers and give a more robust meaning and relevance to this whole concept of cashless economy. Also, because of the multiple functions in the card, people are likely to begin to see the relevance in the value and nexus between who you know and the payment solution.

What is the attitude of the state gov-ernments to this initiative?

We have enjoyed collaboration from state governments. We have signed an agree-ment with Ekiti State Government and the idea is to enable them partner NIMC.

Kaduna State government has directed the civil servants to obtain their National Identification Number. It is one of the States that would be covered in this first phase of farmers’ database build-up.

How is the NIN going to address eco-nomic and other social crimes?

Sure. A unique identification will surely reduce to the barest minimum, with a reli-able database the cases of crime. If we do not know who is who people will always take advantage of it to commit crime.

How many Nigerians have registered so far?

Right now in the database, we have about seven million which is quite poor because NIMC through third parties tried to fast track it but they have not been able to deliv-er in four years resulting to the termination of their contracts in February.

We now have a database infrastructure that cost us billions of naira to put in place but the expected data is not there yet.

31National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Info Tech

StorieS by iSaiah erhiawarien

Due to the poor economic situations in Africa, cheap servers from Huawei and

Lenovo have began to flood the continent as well as the Middle East and Africa, MEA, server mar-ket.

According International Data Corporation, IDC vendors like Huawei and Lenovo are offering servers that are almost 40 per cent cheaper than the prices offered by the market’s A-ranking vendors.

IDC also said that the server market, which comprise x86 and non-x86 servers contracted 10 per cent yearly in the second quarter to total 65,000 units.

The report the decline can pri-marily be attributed to the poor political and socioeconomic condi-tions that have hampered a num-ber of countries in the region; this was particularly notable in the x 86 server markets where a number of significant projects within the

government sector were delayed.In revenue terms, the market

remained flat as there was a slight increase in the number of higher-end servers sold during the quar-ter.

“Saudi Arabia and the UAE ex-perienced very slow quarters, both in terms of x86 server units and revenue, primarily due to delayed budget rollouts, the traditional slowdown over Ramadan, and continuing uncertainty around falling oil prices,” said Research Analyst for Systems and Infra-structure Solutions at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey. Victoria Mendes.

“Combined, these two countries suffered declines of 28% in vol-ume and 21 per cent in value year on year in Q2 2015. But despite the slowdown, the UAE did see a few deals take place in the government and financial sectors, while Saudi Arabia saw a big deal in the oil and gas industry”, she said.

The South Africa server market expanded 24 per cent year on year

in revenue terms as a result of some non-x86 deals in the banking and telecommunications sectors. The declining average price of x86 servers has resulted in an increase in the number of units being pur-chased.

Revenue in Turkey was up by around 20 per cent year on year de-spite the market suffering a 10 per cent decline in shipments. This anomaly can be attributed to the fact that several large-scale deals took place during the quarter. The market is also seeing improved uptake of virtualization technolo-gies, which consume lesser server units than is the case in tradition-al data centers.

HP retained top spot in the MEA server market with 42 per cent share, followed by Dell with 27 per cent. Lenovo saw its share shrink, but managed to hold onto third place. Cisco’s shipments slowed a little year on year, but its revenue was up 31 per cent over the same period thanks to the strong perfor-mance of its blade form factor.

32 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, October 1, 2015

Cheap servers flood Nigeria’s devices’ market

StorieS by iSaiah erhiawarien

Mobile phone maker, Tecno Mobile, and DSTV entertainment

channel, African Magic has gone into a partnership to reward best Karaoke singers in Africa with $50,000 cash prize in a Karaoke competition tagged: Tecno-Own-the-stage.

According to the duo, over the next three months, 15 contestants drawn from Nigeria, Kenyan and Tanzania, will contest through a number themed challenges with one person ultimately emerging as Africa’s best karaoke cham-pion.

Addressing the media in Lagos, on the initiative which

sponsored by Tecno Mobile but will run on the African Magic channel across the continenet, the Speaking on the launch, the General Manager, Mobile Apps, Tecno Mobile, Mr. Oye Akideinde said that the initiative is part move towards greatness in Af-rica.

He noted that Tecno products and growth across Africa are a testament to its drive for perfec-tion, success and harnessing the best in the markets that it oper-ates.

Akideinde explained that the Tecno-Own-the-Stage competi-tion is simply in furtherance of this fact saying that Africa is brimming with love and undeni-able talent for music, and as such

there are a lot of people who, giv-en an opportunity, will showcase to the rest of the continent and indeed the world just what they are capable of.

He added that the competition gives them the opportunity and the platform to do just that say-ing that to enter the competition, a prospective contestant has to visit the competition’s website and select a track from the track list.

The contestant thereafter re-cords a karaoke rendition and uploads the track via the submis-sion form on the website. The up-loaded track is then subjected to a review by the judges who select the top entries with successful entrants notified directly.

Tecno, African Magic to reward best Karaoke singer

At last, Alcatel’s OneTouch Idol 3 arrives easily as Alca-tel’s best phone; the Idol 3 confidently produces mid-tier levels of photography, screen resolution and internal

hardware performance for the price of many lesser handsets. It also keeps current with Android 5.0, pumps out sound through dual JBL speakers, and surprises with two convenient OS set-tings.

The 1,080p resolution is absolutely fine for a budget phone of this caliber, though images certainly aren’t as detailed as they would be with a 1440p display. It’s also nice and bright, even with brightness set midway. Budget phones usually look bold or sassy or blocky, or all of the above. The Idol 3 here has an air of elegance, with rounded corners framing a slim plastic body, a dark grey brushed finish, and silvery accents throughout. An embedded battery helps keep it thin but solid, and a slim bezel makes the screen seem even more expansive than its already-generous phablet proportions.

A pair of JBL speakers extends from the top and bottom edg-es of the screen, which adds to the visual appeal (but also col-lects particles). It also makes a huge impact on the Idol 3’s audio quality. Music played back loudly and clearly from these mini speakers; loud enough to fill a fairly quiet room.

The sliver of a volume rocker can be feel on the Idol 3’s right edge.. Just below, a SIM card tool pushes out the combined mi-cro-SIM and microSD card tray (there’s a dual-SIM variant as well).

You’ll find the 13-megapixel camera on the upper left cor-ner, with an LED flash positioned just below. On the front, the 8-megapixel lens sits just to the right of center. You’ll charge up through a Micro-USB port on the phone’s bottom right edge, and plug your headset into the jack up top.

Android 5.0 is recognizable beneath Alcatel’s custom skin, though the company has added a few enhancements.

A first for phones, Alcatel has made its interface “reversible”, which means that the screen orients right-side-up even when you turn the phone upside-down, with the front-facing camera lens at the bottom. The dominant speakers and microphone also adjust to whichever side is “up,” a must for making calls.

Turn on reversible mode from either the settings or from its quick-access toggle on the notifications shade.

L-R: Chief Executive Officer, Growing Business Foundation, Dr Ndidi Edozien; Business Development Director, Sub- Sa-hara Africa, Intel Corporation, Stanley Muoneke; Head Strategy and Performance Monitoring, Universal Service Provi-sion Fund (USPF), Kelechi Nwankwo and Members of Grand Prize Winning Team, Datamart at the USPF Hackathon 2015 recently.

Amazing deal of Alcatel’s OneTouch Idol 3

Info Tech

StorieS by iSaiah erhiawarien

A new partnership that will result to the MTN Group across Africa,

providing a solution that will enable its customers to moni-tor their data cost and usage has been signed with global vendor company, Ericsson.

The Business Support Sys-tem will enable the MTN Group to optimise service delivery, and enhance customer experience of its products and services in all the markets of its operation.

As part of the agreement, Ericsson will be responsible for the replacement of all legacy infrastructures with its new Charging System, Ericsson Multi Activation and Ericsson Multi Mediation across all MTN operations, enabling customers to activate new services more efficiently and to better monitor their data cost and usage.

It will also enable MTN to respond more efficiently to cus-tomer related complaints.

The two telecoms company said in a press statement thtat Ericsson will support, oper-ate and manage this suite of products to ensure the benefits

are realised across all MTN op-erations saying that Ericsson’s managed services will allow for an agile launch of services, thus increasing MTN’s capacity for innovation and speed that are essential for a sustainable and successful business differentia-tion.

Group Chief Technical Infor-mation Officer, MTN, Jyoti De-sai, said that the new Ericsson Charging System will enable a host of new services like cata-logue orchestrated charging, flexible refill and community charging, among several other different voice and data offer-ings for MTN’s over 220 million prepaid customers.

According to him, multi medi-ation supports the retrieval and processing of user data from all network nodes, so that such data can be made available to the rel-evant IT back-end systems and billed in real time noting that multi activation provides MTN with fully automated real-time fulfilment capabilities.

Vice President and Head of Global Accounts, MTN, Seckin Arikan disclosed that operators need to be fast, flexible and in control to deliver great experi-ences to their customers, oper-

L-R: Assistant Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr Jonas Agwu; Director, Communications and Liaison Department FIRS, Mr .Emmanuel Obeta; Chairman, Phillips Consulting Ltd Mr Foluso Phillips and Head , Information Technology, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Mr Abdullahi Adamu, during the Phillips Consulting Inaugural Annual Website Jurist Award in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

Ericsson, MTN seal pact on data cost, usage monitoring

Info TechNational Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 33Thursday, October 1, 2015

Government Technology

Financial Technology

The International Telecom-munications Union, ITU has expressed worry over

the inability of the commission to meet its target of internet con-nection for household in develop-ing countries.

The ITU said that while the proportion of households in the developing world with Internet access has increased from 31.5 per cent to over 34.1 per cent, it remains well short of the Com-mission’s target of 40 per cent, by 2015.

The Commission’s annual State of Broadband report, re-leased earlier this week, revealed that household Internet access in developed countries is close to saturation, with more than 81.3 per cent of households con-nected.

Household connectivity fig-ures also mask strong dispari-ties; in the 48 UN Least Devel-oped Countries fewer than 7 per cent of households have Internet access, while in sub-Saharan Af-rica only 1 in 9 households is con-nected.

Speaking at the UN Broad-band Commission for Digital

ate efficiently and deliver inno-vative new offerings to stand out in today’s marketplace.

“Our end-to-end solutions help operators meet these chal-lenges by helping them quickly develop new products, new packaging as well as pricing models that target specific user preferences, reducing time-to-

market. This agreement not only reinforces our partner-ship with MTN but places them in prime position to fulfil their strategic ambitions. Together, we will continue to develop in-novative offerings suitable for all MTN operations”, he said.

Ericsson has been a long-term partner for MTN, and has

provided the operator with real-time charging capabilities since 1996. MTN was one of the first customers to introduce Ericsson Pre-Paid Systems in all Africa and Middle East Operations. Today Ericsson’s charging and billing solutions support more than 2 billion subscribers worldwide.

Development, in New York, ITU Secretary-General, Houlin Zhao said that the UN Sustainable De-velopment Goals will stimulate action over the next fifteen years in areas of critical importance for humanity and the planet noting that all three pillars of sustainable develop-ment which are economic de-velopment, social inclusion and environmental protection need ICTs as key catalysts.

He said that that was why the Commission believes that ICTs, and particularly broadband, will be absolutely crucial for achiev-ing the SDGs.

The UN believes in the power of broadband to leapfrog devel-opment roadblocks and bring access to education, healthcare and employment opportunities should put high-speed informa-tion and communication tech-nology (ICT) network roll-out at the top of every country’s SDG strategy.

This week’s adoption of the 17 SDGs sees the Commission enter a new phase, with 22 new members drawn from a range of sectors including the global tech-

nology industry, government ministers, leaders in education and healthcare, and two addi-tional UN bodies who join exist-ing Commissioners from ITU, UNDP, UNESCO, UN-ORHLLS,

WIPO and the UN Foundation.Established in 2010, as a top-

level advocacy body promoting broadband as an accelerator of global development, the group is chaired by President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Mexi-co’s Carlos Slim Helú, with ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao and UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova as co-Vice Chairs.

UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova said at the meeting that to succeed, the new Agenda will draw on all accelerators of inclusion, all multipliers of poverty eradication and sus-tainability, and our message is that broadband, and new tech-nologies, are a transformational force, to build inclusive knowl-edge societies.

According to her, this goes beyond mere advocacy for net-works and services. This is about opening new paths to create

and share knowledge, about en-hancing freedom of expression, about widening learning oppor-tunities, especially for girls and women, about developing con-tent that is relevant, local and

multilingual.Speaking at the opening of

the Commission session earlier, President Paul Kagame stressed the importance of putting tech-nology at the heart of develop-ment.

Kagame said: “Four billion people still have no Internet ac-cess. There is an urgent need to reverse this trend. Fewer than seven per cent of households in the Least Developed Countries are connected. This is a problem, of course, but it is also means there is a lot of room for growth. In Africa, we are determined to seize this opportunity. An ex-ample is the Smart Africa initia-tive, which encourages nations to invest more in infrastructure, innovation, and entrepreneur-ship.”

He invited Commissioners to attend the Transform Africa Summit taking place in Kigali on 19-21 October, adding that the

summit will be a time to forge the way forward towards further implementation of smart and sustainable ways to harness ICT for Africa’s development.

This 12th meeting of the Com-mission also welcomed a number of special guests, including H.E. Luis Guillermo Solís, President of Costa Rica; distinguished British filmmaker and activist Baroness Beeban Kidron; and Klaus Schwab, Executive Chair-man of the World Economic Fo-rum.

“The proposed set of 17 SDGs provide a clear and solid frame-work for human development,” said Broadband Commissioner Dr Carlos M. Jarque, who also represented Co-Chair Carlos Slim at the meeting. “Broadband represents a powerful way to ac-celerate progress towards their attainment. We need to look at innovative cross-sectoral strate-gies that can leverage the power of high-speed networks to im-prove education, healthcare and the delivery of basic social ser-vices to everyone, and especially the poorest in the world who need them most.”

ITU expresses concern over internet for home connection

U.S. home price growth steady in July: S&P/Case-Shiller

As cars increasingly resemble digital devices, a group of technology firms that can

send wireless software updates to cars are in hot demand by carmakers scrambling to catch up to Tesla Mo-tors (TSLA.O) in the arena of over-the-air updates, or OTAs.

Interest in the technology, through which certain car functions can be upgraded much the same way as an iPhone, comes as Tesla is set to deliv-er an OTA for hands-free cruise con-trol this month, allowing its electric Model S sedans to drive themselves on freeways.

“Tesla has made great strides in raising the profile of OTA, making it appear somewhat sexy by showing how features could be added,” said Strategy Analytics consultant Roger Lanctot. “They’re almost poking the traditional carmakers in the eye by making it look so easy.”

That has spurred the big auto-makers to get more serious about OTAs, although they are hampered by the challenge of making software compatible with internal combus-tion engines, dealers worried about losing service revenue and security concerns.

“There’s a whole mindset change” as automakers embrace the need for the technology, said Honda spokes-man Matt Sloustcher.

Oren Betzaleli, product strategy head for Israeli OTA firm Redbend, said four years ago it was hard to get in the door.

“Today, OTA is so important to car makers that we can get in right away to see the VPs of manufacturing,” he said.

Betzaleli said between six and 10

Japan Tobacco Inc has agreed to pay 600 billion yen ($5 billion) in cash for

Reynolds American Inc’s Natu-ral American Spirit tobacco business outside the United States, the two companies said in separate statements on Tuesday.

The deal, to be concluded by early 2016 pending regula-tory approval, includes related trademarks and subsidiaries

auto companies are “engaged” with Redbend’s technology for cars but declined to name them. There are about 70 different computers in ev-ery modern car, each with software that has to be managed, Betzaleli said.

Michelle Avary, VP of auto prod-ucts and strategy at wireless carrier Aeris, said she had “yet to speak to a single OEM (original equipment manufacturer) who is not active in this space right now.”

The technology has set off a wave of partnerships, investments and acquisitions. Audio products maker Harman International Industries (HAR.N) paid $170 million to acquire Redbend and another $780 million to buy Silicon Valley-based Symphony Teleca, another OTA firm. Both deals were in January.

Some big carmakers, including GM, BMW and Mercedes, are al-ready using OTA updates, but most-ly for their entertainment systems.

Mahbubul Alam, chief technol-ogy officer of Michigan-based global OTA firm Movimento, predicted

that in three years nearly all car makers will have some kind of OTA capability.

Tesla has already introduced over 75 features via OTA, from raising the ground clearance of cars to boosting acceleration.

The recent hacking of a Jeep Cherokee through its telematics system has highlighted security vul-nerabilities as cars add more digital technology, and auto experts say OTAs are the best way to minimize breaches because weak links can be quickly repaired.

Besides the practical advantages for consumers, who won’t need to waste time at dealerships for new fixes, the technology may save money for automakers because up to half of warranty repair issues and recalls can be corrected through OTAs.

The cost of fixing an issue through a safety recall, in which dealers are compensated for repairs, versus an OTA is higher by a factor of 20 to 30, said Alam, without saying how he arrived at that estimate.

primarily in Japan and Europe, where operations will continue unchanged, Japan Tobacco said.

The former state monopoly, still 33.4 percent owned by the Japanese government, has been expanding since privatization in 1994. It bought the non-U.S. to-bacco business of RJR Nabisco Inc for around $7.8 billion in 1999 and British peer Gallaher Plc for about $18.8 billion in 2007.

Its latest deal will help in its pursuit of Philip Morris Inter-national Inc and British Ameri-can Tobacco Plc to become the world’s biggest cigarette maker.

The company said Japan ac-counts for the majority of Natu-ral American Spirit’s sales vol-ume outside the United States, with smokers mainly in their 20s and 30s. Buying the premium brand would extend Japan To-bacco’s product line-up, Presi-dent and Chief Executive Officer Mitsuomi Koizumi said.

Koizumi’s counterpart at Reynolds American, Susan M. Cameron, said Natural Ameri-can Spirit would benefit from a sale to a global company such as Japan Tobacco, rather than Reynolds American investing to support the brand internation-ally.

Cameron also said the sale will allow Reynolds American to focus on the United States, as all international rights to its ciga-rette trademarks will be owned by international tobacco com-panies. Its Camel and Winston brands are also owned abroad by Japan Tobacco.

Reynolds American hired JP Morgan Securities and Lazard as financial advisors, and Jones Day as legal advisor. A spokes-man at Japan Tobacco, which did not elaborate on financial de-tails, said the company will use cash on hand and bank loans.

BMW car

Big Auto look to tech firms to fix cars over the air

Japan Tobacco agrees to buy brand rights from Reynolds American for $5bn

34 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, October 1, 2015Global News

U.S. single-family home prices rose in July, matching the pace of

price gains in June but falling just short of expectations, a closely watched survey said on Tuesday.

The S&P/Case Shiller com-posite index of 20 metropolitan areas in July gained 5 percent year over year. Economists polled by Reuters had project-ed a 5.1 percent gain.

Prices in the 20 cities also rose by 5 percent on the year in June.

The strongest price gains in July were in the western half of the United States.

San Francisco, Denver and

India cuts interest rates by more than expected

Dallas experienced the highest year-over-year home apprecia-tion among the 20 cities with price increases of 10.4 per cent, 10.3 per cent and 8.7 per cent, respectively.

“Prices of existing homes and housing overall are seeing strong growth and contribut-ing to recent solid growth for the economy,” David Blitzer, chairman of the index com-mittee at S&P Dow Jones Indi-ces, said in a statement.

“An interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve, now expected in December by many analysts, is not likely to derail the strong housing per-formance,” Blitzer said.

Koizumi Housing Estate in U.S.

Rajan

India’s central bank has cut its key interest rate for the fourth time this year, and

by more than expected.The Reserve Bank of India

(RBI) reduced its repo rate to 6.75 per cent from 7.25 per cent, with economists having forecast it would trim rates to seven per cent.

The repo rate is the level at which the central bank lends to commercial banks.

The bank has been under pressure to boost growth af-ter inflation hit a record low of 3.6 per cent in August due to falling commodity prices.

The latest cut takes inter-est rates in the country to the lowest level in four and a half years.

The RBI had already cut the policy rate by a total of 75 basis points this year, follow-ing rate reductions in Janu-ary, February and June, on the back of low inflation.

“In India, a tentative eco-nomic recovery is underway, but is still far from robust,” RBI governor Raghuram Ra-jan said in a statement.

“Investment is likely to respond more strongly (and boost domestic demand) if there is more certainty about the extent of monetary stim-ulus in the pipeline.”

This size of the rate cut is a bit of surprise - so was it pres-sure or pragmatism that led to the 50 basis point cut?

I’d argue that central bank governor Raghuram Rajan de-cided this was the best window to lower rates this year.

If this year’s lower-than-average rainfall leads to poor harvests and higher inflation - then making a rate cut later would have been be tough.

Also, Mr Rajan surely has one eye on US Federal Reserve.

If, as many expect, the Fed moves to raise interest rates by the end of the year - money is expected to start flowing out of emerging economies like In-dia.

And that will definitely make it tough for the RBI to cut rates further.

Brands and reputation manage-ment experts have always be-lieved that perception is reality.

This is based on the facts that whatever perceptions an entity attracts to itself, if it persists for a long time, there is ten-dency for it to become a reality.

In Nigeria for a very long time the in-ternational community have seen Nige-ria as a corrupt nation where every busi-ness person is perceived as a conman. Also for a very long time every Nigerian travelling abroad is perceived aa a drug traffickers.

At a period in time, many of our coun-try men and women were subjected to degrading and inhuman treatment at entry ports of virtually every country in Europe and America.

The treatment given to Africa’s first Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka when he travelled to America some years back as he was thoroughly searched for drug for sometimes had a damaging in-fluence in Nigerian’s image.

Until recently also, the perceptions of Nigeria as insecure nation has become synonymous with us, and this was as a result of not confronting the menace of the Islamic sect Boko Haram for a long time.

On the economic front, Nigeria’s econ-omy have been in shamble, a situation as-cribed to the activities of corrupt politi-cal leaders whose agents are appointed to manage departments and agencies of governments and are used to siphon Ni-gerian money into private coffers.

It has not been surprising therefore that the country have consistently ranked low in international transparency rank-ings. A 2014 report on global corruption by Transparency International, Nigeria ranked 137th as most corrupt country and 3rd in West Africa.

Aa one analyst puts it, massive distor-

55th Independence Anniversary: Experts present scorecard on Nigeria’s image

NIGERIA IS A DIFFICULT PLACE TO DO BUSINESS, ON ACCOUNT OF MASSIVE

LEAKAGES, CORRUPTION IN OFFICIAL CORRIDORS, AND LACK OF INFRASTRUCTURE.

WHAT WOULD CONSTITUTE A REPUTATION CHALLENGE IN OTHER COUNTRIES IS EASILY

EXCUSED AWAY ON THE GROUNDS OF THE INCHOATENESS OF THE NIGERIAN INDUSTRIAL

ENVIRONMENT

As Nigeria celebrates 55 years of nationhood today, experts ex-ray Nigeria using context of reputational parameters and also set expectations of the nation’s future brand outlook. DAVID AUDU reports.

Thursday, October 1, 2015National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 35

Brands & Marketing

tions within the Nigerian economy and disturbing patterns of policy flip flops has produced massive de-industrializa-tion and low capacity utilization such that the scope of competition in many sectors of the Nigerian economy is se-verely limited, the consumers’ choice is also invariably limited.

The analyst noted further that many businesses explain away their failures on the grounds that “Nigeria is a diffi-cult place to do business, on account of massive leakages, corruption in official corridors, and lack of infrastructure. What would constitute a reputation chal-lenge in other countries is easily excused away on the grounds of the inchoateness of the Nigerian industrial environment.

Corruption is of course a major is-sue. A British Broadcasting Corpora-tion, BBC, global survey sometime ago indicated that “corruption is the most talked about issue in Nigeria for it cir-cumscribes both corporate and govern-mental life, and in many ways is taken for granted. Not enough effort is being made to tackle the scourge of corrup-tion, particularly corporate Nigeria cor-ruption given its implications for sover-eign reputation. Nigeria instructively is one of the poorest countries in the world for doing business.”

These and many indices have com-bined to tarnish Nigeria image. Some past administration concerned that if nothing is done the images and reputa-tion slide will continue with its atten-dant consequences for foreign direct in-vestment.

History will not forget in a hurry the efforts of late Professor Dora Akunyili who as the then minister of information embarked on the rebranding of Nigeria with the slogan “Good People Great Na-tion”.

Her efforts did set the country on rep-utational rejuvenation, which according to a member of the rebranding team, former chairman of Advertising Practi-tioners Council of Nigeria, APCON, Mr. Lolu Akinwunmi, the rebranding efforts would have been a huge success but for lack of adequate funding.

Corruption under the administration of former president Good luck Jona-than as we all know was just stealing. The repercussion was plummeting of the economy, as the Nigerian currency, the naira fell drastically against major international currencies.

Today, there is a new government in place with the mantra to restore lost glory economically and reputation wise.

As the country is celebrating her

56th independent anniversary how has she fared in her image and reputation perception? Brands and management expert are cautious in assessing Nige-rias image at the moment given that the government of president Mohammadu Buhari is still wooing international com-munities to keep faith Nigeria.

Assessing Nigeria from the stand point of the new government, president of the Advertising Agencies Association of Nigeria, AAAN, Mr. Kelechi Nwosu, observed that with the current drive of the present government there is poten-tial for improvement in Nigeria image and reputation. He however advised that it is not yet uhuru for Nigerians to relax in working on the image of the country.

The Managing Director of TBWA Con-cepts noted that the government must still work hard in the area of reorienta-tion of our values to attract foreigners.

Though he said it is too early to judge the present government, saying Nigeria image problem precede this adminis-tration, he was however optimistic that with hard work the country will definite-ly receive favourable perception, adding the international community is waiting to see the emergence of Nigeria to take its rightful place.

Also commenting on Nigeria Image 55 years after independence, a communica-tions expert and secretary of the Public relations consultants association of Ni-geria, PRCAN, Mr. Myuwa Akintunde said there is no doubt that Nigeria’s im-age has improved in recent times, saying that the new government has succeeded in telling the world that Nigeria remains the largest black nation that is open to doing business with anybody.

“We know that Nigeria’s image and reputation has improved compared to previous years where every Nigerian is viewed with suspicion. Nigeria may be having internal problem with some ele-ments, but that’s not withstanding we still have our unique selling points. It is left for government to tap into such ar-eas to attract foreigners.”

He said tourism remains a largely un-tapped potential for any government in Nigeria to exploit, while urging the new government to set priority in that area.

Analysts in the communications in-dustry are also optimistic that if the present government continue in its anti corruption drive, soon international confidence in Nigeria will soar and that mean investors will be more confident to invest in the rich potentials that abounds in every sector of the economy.

Nwosu Akinwunmi

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net36

DAVID AUDU

President of Advertisers As-sociation of Nigeria, ADVAN, Mr. David Okeme has said that

clients are desperately looking for that PRagency that can change perception and societal behaviour with just one image.

Okeme, who is also the Brand Building Director at Unilever Nige-ria, made the statement while shar-ing business insights on the topic ‘What Do Clients Really Want?’ at the September 2015 edition of the Public Relations Consultants Association of Nigeria Breakfast Meeting held in Lagos,recently.

He explained that at the heart of client’s expectation from any cam-paign was PR that connects with the people and also delivers values that enhances growth.

He explained that Unilever be-came one of the competitive compa-ny in the world because it had devel-oped three pillars strategy in creating brands, namely, putting people first, building brand love and unlocking the magic.

According to him: “In putting peo-ple first, Unilever sees people as the reason for its existence and therefore creates brands that offer real value and provides solutions to everyday lives. Secondly, in terms of building brand love, we create a purpose that becomes a high level anchor that con-sumers buy into and thus enhance business growth. Thirdly, to unlock the magic, the consumer must find the logic to believe in the superiority of the brand.”

Stressing further on how the com-pany puts those three pillars into use, Okeme shared video case studies of campaigns that were purposefully created to offer real value to the soci-ety, including one that led to the provi-sion of safe water for a community.

Since brand align ideas that both affect societal change and drive busi-ness simultaneously, Okeme said the challenge was for PR to create a point of convergence that connects with the society in order to remain relevant.

In his words: “ PR needs to get the point of convergence right in a way that is creative and strategic to elevate PR from being a transactional activity

– which is how we have handled PR for quite some time – to a creative and strategic partner that brings about change in the society and growth in the business.”

He advised PR professionals to ex-plore the potentials of using word-of-mouth to achieve consumer conver-sion in brand usage. He added that in some parts of the world, powerful PR tool yields positive results because it is more believable.

To emphasise the importance of memorability, Okeme quoted Maya Angelou as saying “people will for-get what you said and what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel”, as he challenged his audience to adapt a creative and stra-tegic story telling approach that peo-ple could connect with and remember for a long time to a point of becoming the brand ambassadors themselves.

He added that how you make a consumer feel was critical to the deliv-ery of memorability, conversion and for unlocking growth. According to him, memorability is crucial because growth is driven by light users – peo-ple who buy very infrequently.

Clients root for creative PR agencies to ensure value for money Payment card brand, Verve

International, has an-nounced the return of its

onsumer reward program, Shop Small Win Big.

To reaffirm commitment to its loyal consumers, it has part-nered with some retailers in Nigeria to reward every card-holders with some money back on every purchase made with a Verve card.

All cardholders get five per cent money back on all pur-chases with their Verve cards at some designated outlets in Lagos, parts of Abuja and Port Harcourt.

Marketing Manager, Verve International, EnyiomaAnaba said, “With Shop Small Win Big, we have had the opportunity to reward our customers with exciting instant prizes in addi-tion to some money back on all purchases at any of our partner

retailers. We are using the part-nership with the retailers to further reward customers who shop with their Verve cards”.

Shop Small Win Big debuted last year and rewarded thou-sands of customers across La-gos and Port Harcourt.

“This is one of the many ways we ensure that our customers are appreciated, and as the re-tail market in Nigeria continues to grow, it demonstrates the sig-nificant value our services can create through the chain start-ing from Verve cardholders to our partner retailers”Enyioma added.

The uniqueness of this re-ward system has not gone un-noticed as Verve was recently awarded the; most innovative partner of the year by Cool-World in recognition of the im-pact made by the reward loyalty scheme on its business.

Happenings Magazine unveils paper editionsDAVID AUDU

Fashion, lifestyle and entertain-ment magazine, Happenings, at the weekend unveiled its

offering to readers in an elaborate event in Lagos, tagged “Style, Urban, Life” where the publisher and mem-bers of staff were there to shed light on the visions and expectations from readers.

The magazine which had been publishing online for close to two years now decided to publish paper editions in what the publisher, Mr. Ediri Abamwa, described as

Giving credibility to the online ad-venture.

Happenings Magazine launched in glossy print publication, offers a rich blend of fashion, lifestyle and entertainment.

The event brought together a host of fashion enthusiasts, clients and guests.

It was an afternoon of fun and excitement as guest experienced the

Citibank has handed its global media business to Publicis Worldwide.

PublicisWorldwide, already handles the creative work for Citibank through its division -PublicisOneCitiGlobal.

The division was set up last year to provide Citi with a ful-ly integrated service includ-ing strategy, creative, digital, tech and production.

It will now take on respon-sibility for Citi’s global media planning and buying.

The bank previously worked with several differ-ent media agencies across the globe including MEC in the US and PublicisWorldwide’s sister agency StarcomMedia-

vest Group in some interna-tional markets, but kicked off a search nine months ago to consolidate all its media work into one agency.

A Citi spokeswoman said: “Over the past nine months, Citi has engaged in a rigorous process to move from several media agencies around the world, to identify one media agency solution globally. In particular to maximise though leadership, planning effective-ness, buying and staffing effi-ciencies.

“Citi has chosen, and looks forward to working with, Pub-licisGroupe as our single glob-al media agency partner.

Citibank hands global media business to Publicis Worldwide

magazine come alive through en-lightening engaging discussions centred on fashion and lifestyle.

The major highlights of the event were the raffle draws which saw excited guests walking away with fantastic prizes courtesy spon-sors: Exquisite Sapphire, TT DALK, Udoka makeup, COCO’S catering and dessert, Nasco, Whispers.ng, Winston and David and Adibba.com.

Guests also enjoyed live music by Aduke as well as sumptuous fin-ger foods and drinks.

The magazine style is elegant and contemporary with top notch visual and editorial quality that cre-ates an inviting world with some-thing for every upwardly mobile man and woman.

www.happenings.com.ng started as an online magazine and because of the need to satisfy and reach a wider range of our ardent readers launched the Happenings Magazine print publication.

Thursday, October 1, 2015Brands & Marketing

DAVID AUDU

Guinness Nigeria has do-nated relief materials to ActionAid Nigeria to sup-

port the organisation’s ongoing interventions at various camps for Internally Displaced Persons, IDP.

Corporate Relations Di-rector, Guinness Nigeria, Mr.SesanSobowale said the gesture was in furtherance of the compa-ny’s resolve to improve the quality of life in Nigerian communities.

“We are delighted that we have an opportunity to contribute in our own small way to ameliorate the conditions of our fellow citi-zens who are in IDP camps at the moment. We acknowledge that though this gesture may seem like a drop in the ocean, the value of

what we are doing is in the hope that it encourages other corporate bodies to contribute to this noble cause, and also create awareness about the fact that there are many Nigerians today who as a result of the unfortunate circumstances are holed up in camps and make-shift shelters,”Sobowale said.

Speaking on the partnership with ActionAid, Sobowale stated, “At Guinness Nigeria, we are al-ways looking to build strategic part-nerships that can drive our vari-ous interventions. As such, we are happy that we have partnered with ActionAid in making life meaning-ful for these Nigerians living in IDP camps. ActionAid has very exten-sive experience in providing emer-gency response to conflict-affected persons and communities, we are

confident that they would help pro-mote the general wellbeing of the IDPs”.

Receiving the relief materials,Director, Finance and Op-erations, ActionAid Nigeria, Olu-woleElegbede thanked Guinness Nigeria for its thoughtfulness and demonstration of goodwill towards the poor and excluded members of society. He said the gesture would go a long way in improving the liv-ing conditions of people in some of the displaced persons camps in the country.

“At ActionAid, people are at the centre of what we do. We constantly strive to empower the poor and ex-cluded, which is why we are very pleased with the gesture extended to the IDPs by Guinness Nigeria,” he said.

Guinness, ActionAid to support IDPL-R: Globacom’s National Sales Coordinator, South South, Augustine Mamuro with Ugandan comedian, Salvador (middle) and loyal Glo Subscriber, Ogbams Ojima during the Glo Laffta Fest in Port Harcourt on Sunday.

Verve partners retailers on consumer promo

Brand X-Ray

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 37Thursday, October 1, 2015 Brands & Marketing

DAVID AUDU

Nutrition Society of Nigeria, NSN, has endorsed Maltina, from the stable of Nigerian

Breweries Plc, for its nutritional val-ue sustained over the years.

The association endorsed the brand during its 45th Annual Gener-al Meeting and Scientific Conference held in Lagos recently.

Vice-President of the Society, Dr. Bartholomew Brai commended Mal-tina for the nutrient-rich product.

Brai who doubles as the Chair-man of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the Society, said that “Nigerian Breweries approached us because they were confident of the quality of the products they offer, we

Nutrition Society endorses Maltina for nutritional quality

then subjected them to examinations and laboratory analysis to ascertain the product claims. At the end of the process, we were convinced that what Maltina claims are the same with our results.

“As committee of the NSN, I can say boldly that, aside its numerous nutritional benefits, Maltina is rich in calcium and vitamin A. These are key strong points of the product.”

He pointed out that the society is proud to be associated with the Mal-tina brand due to its richness and vi-tality for healthy living.

Receiving the endorsement cer-tificateon on behalf of the company, Senior Brand Manager, Maltina, Mr. Adewole Adedeji, said the endorse-ment was important to the brand be-cause remained an attestation to the

claim of complete richness. In addition, he said that the en-

dorsement was a further validation that the product claims are based on verifiable proofs and testament to the highly beneficial constituents of the Maltina brand which is also the only malt drink in Nigeria that is calcium-enriched, a key nutrient needed for the development of healthy bones and teeth, normal blood clotting, and peak performance of the nervous system.

He noted that the endorsement did not come on a platter of gold, add-ing that the drink was subjected to series of laboratory tests, physical in-spection of the brewery to ascertain the hygiene conditions of the brew-ing process to ensure that global best practices are carefully observed.

David Audu

The 12th edition of the Public Relations Masterclass series, organised by the Public Rela-

tions Consultants Association of Ni-geria (PRCAN), will be enriched by hands-on professionals in their areas of interest.

With ‘Writing for PR’ as the theme, the faculty will feature the provost of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Mr. Gbemiga Ogunleye.

The workshop scheduled for this weekend in Lagos, will also have as resource persons ChidoNwakanma, AyeniAdekunle, Sola Fijabi and Gan-iKayode-Balogun Jr., all experienced public relations consultants and me-dia professionals.

Ogunleye, appointed early in the year to head Nigeriajournal-ism school, is a well-tested journal-ist whose experience cuts across the print and broadcast media. Formerly,Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Punch newspapers, he was also a for-mer director of News and Current Affairs at the Television Continental, Lagos and pioneer Head of Corpo-rate Communications at Arik Air.

Nwakanma, the immediate past PRCAN president, is a communica-tion and marketing consultant, and scholar with vast cross cutting expe-rience that includes media practice. He earned the M.Sc in Media and Communication of the prestigious Pan African University and is the CEO of BlueFlower Limited, a com-munication consultancy agency.

Adekunle is apublic speaker, communication trainer, consultant and entrepreneur as well as Group President of Black House Media. He is the founder of the digital agency, ID

Africa.Fijabi, a Chartered Marketer,

CIM UK,, is the Principal Partner at Brooks and Blake, a perception man-agement and consulting firm in La-gos. An alumnus of Leeds University Business School, United Kingdom, he has over a decade experience in marketing communication and was in the team that helped in establish-ing Nigeria as the fastest growing market for Guinness in the world.

Kayode-Balogun Jr. is the CEO of GKB News Digest. With rich experience in print and broadcast journalism, he was Deputy Director at National Mirror, Head of Business Development for the Tribune news-papers and the Punch newspapers.

The PRCAN capacity develop-ment initiative, known as the PR-CAN Public Relations Masterclass, commenced in 2008 but began to run on a more regular basis in February 2011.

According to PRCAN President, Mr. John Ehiguese, the PRCAN Mas-terclass Series is the association’s own contribution to capacity build-ing in the communications sector.

PRCAN Public Relations Master-class has now transformed into the foremost executive short-run man-power developmental programme in public relations and communication management.

PRCAN’s primary objective is to promote professional reputation management in Nigeria within the public and private sectors. It is also committed to maintaining profes-sional standards and discipline among members and providing fa-cilities/professional capacity for the public and private sectors to meet their PR consultancy needs.

NIJ Provost to feature in PRCAN Masterclass series

L -R: Regional Sales Manager, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc, Michael Efereyan; friend of the winner, Zarah Mohammad; and 1million Naira Winner of the Peak Reach for Millions Promo, Ishaq Mohammad at the Peak Reach for Millions Promo Prize Presentation in Kaduna on Monday.

DAVID AUDU

The winner of the Gulder Ulti-mate Chase held in Enugu re-cently, Chinedu Odimgbewa-

sexpecting to win just a Galaxy Tab, but won the ultimate prize of a brand new car.He said at the beginning of the race, he lagged behind a lot of the contestants, but soon picked up pace and outran many of the contestants and eventually won the grand prize of a brand new Hyundai Elantra car.

The 23 year old graduate of Civil Engineering however confessed that he started training when he heard that Gulder was organising a Nation-al Consumer Promotion which had Ultimate Chase and Raffle Draw cat-egories. He said: “When I saw the ad-vert about the Ultimate Chase which had the information about the venue and the date, I started training hard because I was determined to make a success out of this consumer promo-tion. I was jogging every morning and doing other forms of exercises

like “sitting in the air”, planking and others, just to stay fit.”

The Ultimate Chase is the ex-periential aspect of the National Consumer Promotion which gave consumers and participants the op-portunity of imbibing the brand’s core values. This stage of the compe-tition was designed for the strong, the intuitive and the mentally alert.

Odimgb explained further that eeven though Gulder communicated that prospective participants should arrive at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Sta-dium venue of the Enugu leg of the Ultimate Chase by 7am, people had started arriving as early as 6 am,Chinedu confessed that when he saw the crowd that had built up, he became nervous, wondering if he could make any meaningful head-way.

He however stated that he re-gained confidence when the race commenced. “When we started the race, I saw people dropping out, but I was determined never to give up. As people slowed down, I started pac-

ing up and I then I was among the top 40. Then when we got to Okpara Square, I was the fifth person. Then I searched for the clue according to the instructions of Michael Nwa-chukwu. After I solved the riddle I approached the Gatekeeper. Then I saw about two or three guys running ahead of me to the Gatekeeper. I fol-lowed them. After the Gatekeeper saw our riddles, he told me to take a map. I took the map. Meanwhile, two guys were ahead of me and they had already started searching. But I had to relax and I studied the map carefully. I saw where a box was that was marked near a tree, and I knew immediately that the box would be located near a tree. I had to locate the tree and knew immediately that the key to the brand new car would be there. Luckily, I got to the tree first, I saw a box there, I opened it and I saw the key.”

“I didn’t hope I could win.Actually, I was hoping to get the Galaxy Tab. I told myself, if I get this Galaxy Tab, then I am okay. But when I got to Ok-

How Gulder Ultimate Chase winner emerged para Square, I saw that I was among the first 50 people. So there was no need, so I had to push further until I won the brand new car.”

Asides the brand new car, Gulder consumers also had a feast as there were 200 consolatory prizes includ-ing generators, TV sets, Galaxy Tabs, rechargeable fans, smart phones and so on.

Ozoalor Chidiebere, a 24 year old graduate and farmer won a gen-erator and according to him, it came when he needed it the most. Express-ing his appreciation to Gulder, he said: “I feel so good. The generator came when I needed it. My brother and I just moved into a new apart-ment and we are having electricity challenges where we stay. We didn’t have a generator, we were planning on how to buy a generator. Now here is the generator.”

Odoh Emmanuel Chukwuma, a 400 Level student of the University of Nigeria also said he won a Galaxy Tab when he desired to buy a phone having grown tired of the phone he was using previously who partici-pated in the Chase, had his dreams of getting a brand new phone answered

by Gulder. He said: “In my own case, I was using a very low grade phone, but now I won this high end phone. This is a transformation. This is a good thing and I am very glad.”

Godwin Daniel who also won a Galaxy Tab said he only got to know of the competition that morning when he got to the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium to play basketball, a usual exercise regimen.

He said: “I jogged from my house to the stadium. When I got here, I saw a crowd at the gate and I was told I can’t gain entrance if I don’t have six crown corks marked Ultimate Chase. I asked what was going on and I was told Gulder was organis-ing a promo. Then I saw someone who said he had 12 crown corks of Gulder and he gave me six. I went in-side the stadium and went through the registration process. And at the end of the competition, here I am with my Samsung Galaxy Tab 3. I’ve been planning to buy a big phone like this, but I didn’t have the funds. But God has done it. And I also want to thank Gulder for the gifts that they have given every one of us that par-ticipated in this Chase.”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net38 Thursday, October 1, 2015Insight

The more the government reforms its operations by insisting that revenue-generating agencies upgrade to online collection of fees to ease payments for services rendered, avoid touting and extortions, the more officials of the agencies device new means to undermine the processes. PATIENCE OGBO reports that immigration officers at passport offices and road safety corp marshals continue to ensure with their privies that Nigerians pay higher for travelling documents and driver’s license.

While online electronic or e-payments have been adopted by these agencies to ease the hassles involved in going to government parastatals,

investigations however show that majority of Nigeri-ans are not using the online platforms, but are rather patronising unofficial channels to ease payments for obtaining international passport and drivers license.

In July 2014, former President Goodluck Jonathan launched the 64 page e-passport at the Presidential Vil-la Abuja. The passport is to take care of frequent trav-ellers and will cost N20,000, while the normal 32 page passport is also valid and costs N15,000.

The e-passport for those below 18 years will cost N8,750, those aged 60 years and above will pay N8,750 for the passport, while those from 18-60 years will pay N15,000 for the e-passport.

Change of data or of loss of passport will attract N20,000. Change of name as a result of marriage, di-vorce and deceased spouse will cost N8,750, while change of data on request will attract a processing fee of N30,000.

Bearing this in mind and barely one year after its launch, National Mirror visited some passport offices in Lagos and aside from their bursting environment one will notice the desperate faces of Nigerians wait-ing eagerly to be attended to.

Some of these Nigerians said they had been on the queues for months to get their international passport, adding that they would rather spend the time and en-ergy to go through the official channels rather than pay extra fees to get their documents out faster.

While these set of Nigerians are willing to wait for their turn to be served officially, others and majority according to our investigations, are resorting to back channels to get their travelling documents, which how-ever, comes at a heavy cost.

According to the official website of the Nigeria Im-migration Services (NIS), one can apply online for the e passport, however, unlike the United States of America and other European countries’ websites where fees are displayed, the NIS fees are not displayed.

National Mirror investigation reveals that when a person seeking to renew a passport goes to the NIS passport office, immigration officers usually direct one to private outfits usually situated in make-shift shops within and outside the premises to help with filling the online forms and payment of fees. It is these private agents that determine what fee one pays.

Some Nigerians who spoke with our correspondent claimed they paid varied fees for their international passport and added that the fees one paid determined how one was treated and how long the passport would be ready for collection.

Miss Lucy Okagbare who spoke with our correspon-dent said she paid N22,000 to renew her international passport.

“My passport expired in April and I went to the pass-port office at Alagbon in Lagos to renew it. The immi-gration officer I met informed me that he did not know how much I would need to renew my passport and he directed me to a make shift kiosk where some people were helping to fill online form for others. The man I met there told me to pay N22,000 to renew my passport. I asked him what the official fees was, but he told me to go and ask the immigration officers.

“I tried to get the official amount I needed to pay but after visiting the website, I found out that the fees were not displayed. I had to go back to the private guy and I paid him the money and the next day I went for capturing. In less than one week, I got my 32 page pass-port which I later found out should cost about N15, 000. I

When I asked how much they were charged, they gave me varied rates from N24,000 to N34,000.

“I don’t want to wait for months to get the passports because we are due to travel soonest, so I am going to pay the fees the private guy is asking. I don’t want to go through the online process because the requirements are tedious and we had to take an interview that will take me longer time to get the passports, but they in-formed me that once I go through the private guys I will get captured that day and in less than three days, our passports will be ready. I don’t seem to have a choice. I will pay for it,” Mrs. Oni said.

Information obtained from the NIS website shows that after filling the form online and paying the fees, applicants would be required to come for an interview.

The general documents required for interview for a Standard Passport include Local Government Letter of Identification, Birth Certificate/ Age Declaration, two recent colour passport photographs, Guarantor’s Form sworn to before a Commissioner of Oaths/Magistrate/High Court Judge, Parents’ Letter of Consent for mi-nors under 16 years and Marriage Certificate where ap-plicable, Police report in case of lost passport

A civil engineer, Ezekiel Bob Manuel, said he paid N26,000 to get a new 32-page e-passport.

“Last year, I was asked to pay N18,000. I found out that the Immigration officer was a fraud and I got my money back. I decided to go back in 2015 and the Immi-gration officers I met asked me if I had filled my forms online. I told them no. One of them directed me to a make shift kiosk situated in a bus outside the passport office at Alagbon. The computer operators collected my data after I had given him N26, 000. He told me to go back to the Immigration officer that directed me to him. I went back and the officer took me for capturing and he told me to go home and come back in three days time. I went back and my e-passport was ready.

A student, Seyi Bagundu, blames the NIS officers for conniving with the private firms to defraud Nigeri-ans seeking to get e-passport .

He said, “There is no way that the NIS officers are not getting their cut from the exorbitant fees these pri-vate agents demand. They are the ones that direct you to these private guys and I am sure they get something

NIS CG, Martin Abeshi FRSC Corps Marshal, Boboye Oyeyemi

The PassPorT office frusTraTes ProsPecTive aPPlicanTs. iT can Take more Than one monTh if one follows The normal

Process, buT wiTh n20, 000 or more you geT iT fasTer

went to challenge him and he told me that if I had gone through the official process, I would have paid less but would have gone through stress to attend interview and it would take months for me to get the passport. In a way, I am happy that my passport is ready,” Okagbare said.

A mother of three, Jessica Oni said she would rath-er pay a higher fee for her passport to be ready than go through the tedious official process.

She said, “My family and I, that is my husband and three children are planning to travel abroad for holidays. My husband went to the passport office at Ikoyi and they informed him to pay N28, 000 for one passport, They gave him a flat rate meaning that the children too will get their passport done for N28,000. I went to the passport office at Alagbon and they in-formed me to pay N24,000 for one including that of the children, aged 11 months to four years. This is very confusing because I feel that it should be an of-ficial rate for documents like this. I went to the web-site to browse and they did not it display the fees to be paid. I was directed to a private firm within the passport office to assist me fill the forms online. I met a lot of people waiting to get their forms filled.

Extortion: What passport officers, FRSC agents and VIOs have in common

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 39Thursday, October 1, 2015 Insight

month time to get my capturing done. What that means this that I can be arrested for driv-ing without a licence or I had to just stop using my car. I decided to risk it but one day, VIO officers arrested me. I went back to their office for the li-cence. The officer I met told me to bring N12,000 to renew my licence on time. I felt this was not right and I travelled to Benin and paid N7,000. I was captured that day and I got the temporary licence,” Dayo said.

Job Adam said he paid N24,000 for a new driver’s licence but still got a fake one.

“I paid N24,000 but still got fake licence. It was after I was arrested that I knew that the li-cence I paid heavily for was fake. The FRSC of-ficers destroyed it in my presence and directed me to their office to get

another one. I went to their office at Berger but the pro-cess to get a driver licence was long and tedious. I went there more than three times and still could not get cap-tured, I was fed up and abandoned the process. I had to get a friend’s brother that works there involved and in less than two days, I got my temporarily licence. I gave him some N5,000 to ease the process though.”

Commenting on the discrepancies in the fees, the Sector Commander of the FRSC in Lagos, Mr. Hyginus Omeje, said, “We have said it over and over that nobody should patronise touts or pay money to any officers to get their licences. The process of obtaining the driver’s licence is very easy through our website. The fees to pay are on the website and the banks to pay are also on the website. You do not need to wait until your licence expires before rushing to get another one. Any driver’s license you get without you being physically available to be captured is fake. You can monitor the process your driver’s licence is undergoing. People use touts because they are impatient. On our part, we do not spare any officer caught extorting. We investigate and if they are found wanting, they are shown the way out.”

The Director of Human Rights Education Centre (HUREC), Barrister Ene Sarah Unboe, said Nigerians are exposed to corrupt practices due to the moral deca-dence in the society.

“Government established the online platforms so that officials would not be corrupt and to ease pay-ments, but sadly, Nigerians are not educated on how to use these platforms. We need to create awareness on customer’s rights to quality services. Government agen-cies are representing the government and any form of corruption or loopholes that will create rooms for cor-rupt practices should be checked. Government should be committed to stamping out corruption among offi-cials and that brings us to the issue of morals. It is not about how much one earns, it is about instilling disci-pline to the point that even if one is poor and hungry, one will not succumb to corruption. This also brings us paying our workers well, giving them conductive work-ing environment and boosting their morale on the job. That is the spirit and moral discipline government and our society should be preaching. There is also the need to reward honesty, hard work and the same time pun-ish corrupt persons to serve as deterrent,” Sarah Unboe concluded.

My friend that went to the official channel is still waiting after two Months; he is yet to get his driver’s licence. he

hardly drives his car for fear of being arrested

Extortion: What passport officers, FRSC agents and VIOs have in common

in return. The fee is N8,750 for children and the elder-ly while the 32 page cost N15,000 and the 64 page costs N20,000. However, from my experience, the Passport Of-fice frustrates prospective applicants. It can take more than one month if one follows the normal process but with N20, 000 or more you get it faster. It took me nine weeks before I got my passport and that is after I got assistance from a top government officer. Government should not only launch new e-passport but they should check the corruption in the system by curtailing the ex-cesses of Immigration officers who connive with these private agents to rip prospective applicants off.”

When contacted over the extortion at the passport of-fices in Lagos, the spokesperson, Nigeria Immigration Services, Lagos State Command, Mr. Muyiwa, said he could not comment on the issue.

The story is not different from the Federal Road Safe-ty Corp (FRSC) as our correspondent learnt that sharp practices are involved in getting drivers license.

A friend, John, filled the form online himself and he is still waiting to take the interview. I guess the long process is why one pays more to get the job done on time.

Our correspondent also went undercover and found out that Nigerians pay higher fees to FRSC officials for the drivers licence than what is officially prescribed.

According to the FRSC website, the process for get-ting a driver’s license is as simply as “ABC” but this is not what applicants experience.

National Mirror gathered that one needs N7,000 of-ficial fee to renew an expired driver’s licence after one has filled the form online. Also, a fee of N11,000 is charged for a new license, but officials demand higher fees to help applicants cut corners and the fees can be as high as N24,000 for a renewed licence and N30,000 for a new one.

An alleged victim, who identified himself as George Kola said, “When I went to the FRSC office at Anthony village, Lagos, I met one of the FRSC officers and he told me to bring N18,000 for him to help me renew my driver’s licence. He told me to pay N7,000 to the bank and bring the rest. I asked him why and he said he would need to settle VIO (Vehicle Inspection Office) since I did not attend government approved driving school. He said I would not waste time to get my captur-ing done and the licence would be out on time. I paid the

money and in less than one week, I got my temporary li-cence. I went back after two months and my permanent drivers licence was ready,” Kola said.

Some other Nigerians, however, stated that due to the delay experienced in getting driver’s licence, they resorted to driving without one as they prayed that they would not be arrested. Others stated that they hardly drove their cars around because of fear of arrest.

A clerk, Jude Bornfree, said, “I went to the FRSC of-fice at Ojota and I was told to bring N20,000 for renewal of drivers licence. I challenged the man why he was ask-ing for that much and he told me that I can go through the official process, but I will wait for months before I can get my licence. I told him I would rather go through the normal process but after waiting for months to get my licence, I decided that it was not worth the hassle, so I paid what he asked me. That same day, I was captured in their system and a temporary license was issued to me. My friend that went to the official channel is still waiting after two months; he is yet to get his driver’s licence. He hardly drives his car for fear of being ar-rested.”

A civil servant, Miss Kemi Dayo, blames government for allowing corruption in the system.

“Nigerians know how to cut corners and despite the online registration they still have a way to make you part with more than is required. My driver’s licence expired last year and I went to the FRSC office at Ala-kara, Surulere to renew it. I was told to come in one

Nigerian Passports processed at the Immigration office

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net40 Thursday, October 1, 2015Cocktail

x

The 26-pound bag of marijuana that fell out of the sky, destroying a dog house in Nogales, Arizona

An emu famous for running wild through New

Hampshire for more than a week has been reunited with its owner and re-turned home safely to Vermont in the back of a Toyota Prius.

The Concord Moni-tor reports (http://bit.ly/1LX460C ) Kermit Blackwood figured it was a long shot that the emu loose in New Hampshire was his bird, Beatrice. It wasn’t until the Townsh-end, Vermont, resident traveled roughly 80 miles to the Henniker-based non-profit Wings of the Dawn

when he knew for sure.Maria Colby, manager

of the wildlife rehabilita-tion center, said she knew the emu was Blackwood’s as soon as they were rein-troduced Sunday.

The emu moved closer to Blackwood and rolled its neck toward him, pos-sibly recognizing him by the jacket he was wearing, Colby said.

Blackwood says Taft Hill Farm had lost two other emus about a month ago. One died after be-ing attacked by another animal and the other was found in a neighboring town.

Oddities

Marijuana bundle drops from sky, slams into family’s carport

Loose emu recognizes owner, returns home in back of a Prius

Police: Man throws fi t at McDonald’s over botched order

A McDonald’s cus-tomer in New Mex-ico was not loving it

when employees mistakenly put pickles on his order.

Police in Carlsbad say officers had to squash a public disturbance at the fast-food restaurant after the customer began harass-ing employees over the mis-

take.Workers told police the

man raised his voice and started throwing things off the restaurant’s counter.

Police say officers issued the man a verbal warning Wednesday. His name was withheld because he wasn’t arrested or cited.

No one was injured.

Maya Donnelly awoke to what sounded like thun-

der in the early morning hours, but dismissed it as a typical monsoon storm and went back to sleep.

Later that morning, she looked in the carport at her home in Nogales, near the U.S.-Mexico border, and saw pieces of wood on the ground. She found a bulky bundle wrapped in black plastic.

Inside was roughly 26 pounds of marijuana — a pack-age that authorities say was worth $10,000 and likely was dropped there accidentally by a drug smuggler’s aircraft.

“It’s all right on top of our dog’s house,” Donnelly said of the Sept. 8 incident, which was first reported by the Nogales International newspaper. “It just made a perfectly round hole through our carport.”

Living near the border, Donnelly said she assumed the object was drugs. She immediately called her hus-

band, Bill, who told her to call 911.

The couple said officers who responded told them an ultralight aircraft smuggling marijuana from Mexico had probably let part of its load go early by accident before drop-ping the rest farther north, the newspaper reported.

Nogales Police Chief Der-ek Arnson said it’s the first time in his three-year tenure that he’s ever seen a load of drugs hit a building.

“Someone definitely made

a mistake, and who knows what the outcome of that mistake might be for them,” Arnson said.

Police are trying to deter-mine whether the bundle was transported by an aircraft or a pilotless drone. Such runs usually occur at night.

Maya Donnelly said she thinks it’s unlikely someone will come looking for the drugs, which are now in po-lice custody. Arnson agreed but said police have boosted patrols in the Donnellys

neighborhood for now.The family will have to

pay the estimated $500 in repairs, as well as pay for a new home for their Ger-man Shepherd, Hulk. But the scenario could have been much worse for the couple and their three teen-age daughters.

“Where it landed was clear on the other side of the house from the bed-rooms,” Maya Donnelly said. “We were lucky in that sense.”

For investors around the world, 2015 is turn-ing into a year to for-

get. Stocks, commodities and currency funds are all in the red, and even the mea-sly gains in bonds are being wiped out by what little in-flation there is in the global economy.

Rounding out its steep-est quarterly descent in four years, the MSCI All Coun-try World Index of shares is down 6.9 percent in 2015 including dividends. The Bloomberg Commodity In-dex has slumped 16 percent, while a Parker Global Strate-gies LLC index of currency funds dropped 1.8 percent. Fixed income has failed to of-fer much of a haven: Bank of America Corp.’s global debt index gained just 1 percent, less than the 2.5 percent in-crease in world consumer prices shown in an Interna-tional Monetary Fund index.

After three years in a vir-tuous cycle of rising share prices and unprecedented monetary easing, markets

University Press Lim-ited Plc added 27 kobo or 4.95 per cent to close at N5.73 per share, while UAC-Properties Plc gained 38 kobo or 4.88 per cent to close at N8.17 per share.

NPF Microfinance Bank Plc rose five kobo or 4,85 per cent to close at N1.08 per share.

On the flip side, Red Star Express Plc dropped 22 kobo or five per cent to close at N4.18 per share, while Port-land Paints Plc shed 21 kobo or 4.87 per cent to close at

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 41Thursday, October 1, 2015 Capital Market

Johnson okanlawon

Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, has described the late Ga-

maliel Onosode as a quintes-sential professional, helping to establish and lead some of Nigeria’s most prestigious professional organizations.

Onosode, who died on September 29, 2015, was a foremost capital market experts and served as the inaugural President of the Chartered Institute of Stock-brokers, CIS, from 1995 to 2001.

Astatement from the com-mission yesterday said he es-tablished an enviable repu-

tation as a boardroom guru serving as Board Chairman of numerous corporations including Dunlop Nigeria Plc, Cadbury Nigeria Plc and Zain Nigeria Limited.

During an illustri-ous career spanning both the private and public sectors,according to the SEC, Onosode was a chief propo-nent for reforms famously, chairing the Presidential Commission on Parastatals in 1981.

The commission said that he was also an Adviser to President Shehu Shagari on budget affairs, helping to inspire discipline in pub-lic finance, adding that his

SEC pays tribute to Gamaliel Onosode

Analysts rate 2015 low on investment returns

Johnson okanlawon

Trading in equities ex-tended their gains to the fifth consecutive

trading session driven by significant buying pressure across selected companies, which kept key indices in the green zone.

The All Share Index ap-preciated 1.27 per cent to close at 31,217.77 points, compared to the increase of 0.20 per cent

Market capitalisation up N135bn, as index gains 1.27%

Stock Updates

GAINERSCOMPANY OPENING CLOSING CHANGE % CHANGE

HONYFLOUR 2.44 2.68 0.24 9.84

VONO 0.89 0.95 0.06 6.74

UPL 5.46 5.73 0.27 4.95

UAC-PROP 7.79 8.17 0.38 4.88

NPFMCRFBK 1.03 1.08 0.05 4.85

DANGCEM 171.99 179.99 8.00 4.65

LEARNAFRCA 0.91 0.95 0.04 4.40

ETRANZACT 2.88 3.00 0.12 4.17

ACCESS 5.06 5.19 0.13 2.57

SKYEBANK 2.30 2.35 0.05 2.17

LOSERSCOMPANY OPENING CLOSING CHANGE % CHANGE

REDSTAREX 4.40 4.18 -0.22 -5.00

PORTPAINT 4.31 4.10 -0.21 -4.87

TRANSEXPR 1.27 1.21 -0.06 -4.72

PAINTCOM 1.30 1.24 -0.06 -4.62

UNITYBNK 1.34 1.28 -0.06 -4.48

EVANSMED 0.73 0.70 -0.03 -4.11

CHAMPION 4.54 4.36 -0.18 -3.96

LIVESTOCK 1.87 1.80 -0.07 -3.74

COSTAIN 0.60 0.58 -0.02 -3.33

UBCAP 1.48 1.44 -0.04 -2.70

Market indicatorsAll-Share Index 31,217.77 points

Market capitalisation 10.72trn

Source: NSE

are now sinking as emerg-ing economies from China to Brazil weaken and corpo-rate profits slump. Analysts have cut their global growth estimates for 2015 to 3 percent from 3.5 percent at the start of the year, and the turmoil has added pressure on cen-tral banks to prolong their stimulus programs, with traders scaling back forecasts for a Federal Reserve interest-rate increase by year-end.

“There was an element of people believing they had found some sort of holy grail to investing, then this break-down occurs and it breaks down in a way that’s remark-able,” said Tobias Levkovich, Citigroup Inc.’s chief U.S. eq-uity strategist. “What seemed to trigger this all was China. It sent us on a wave of down-ward fears.”

Investors suffered the brunt of this year’s losses in the third quarter.

MSCI’s global equity index sank about 10 percent in the period, while the Bloomberg commodity index lost 14 per-

cent in its biggest slump since the global financial crisis sev-en years ago. The average lev-el of Bank of America’s Mar-ket Risk index, a measure of price swings in equities, rates, currencies and raw materials, was the most this quarter since the end of 2011. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, a gauge of turbulence known as the VIX, reached the high-est since 2011 in August.

China has been the big-gest source of anxiety for investors, after turmoil in the nation’s financial mar-kets fueled concern that the country’s worst economic slowdown since 1990 was deepening. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 29 per-cent in the third quarter, the most worldwide, and the yuan weakened 2.4 percent after authorities devalued the currency in August.

The worst quarter in seven years for the Bloom-berg JP Morgan Asia Dol-lar Index, which tracks the region’s 10 most-active cur-

Description Price Yield Price Yield

15.10 27-APR-2017 1.57 100.25 14.89 100.40 14.78

16.00 29-JUN-2019 3.75 102.68 15.01 102.98 14.91

15.54 13-FEB-2020 4.37 101.48 15.05 101.78 14.95

16.39 27-JAN-2022 6.33 105.26 15.05 105.56 14.98

14.20 14-MAR-2024 8.45 95.67 15.12 95.97 15.05

10.00 23-JUL-2030 14.81 68.00 15.59 68.30 15.51

Tenor Rate (%)

O/N 5.8333

1M 14.1909

3M 15.5455

6M 16.6173

Maturity Date Bid Offer

24-Dec-15 10.54 10.81

31-Mar-16 12.71 13.57

01-Sep-16 12.55 14.19

Treasury Bills

NIBOR

FGN BondsBid Offer

Closing Market Prices of September 30, 2015

The Fixings of September 30, 2015

recorded the preceding day to close at 30,825.00 points.

Market capitalisation gained N135 billion to close at N10.72 trillion, compared to the rise of N21 billion record-ed the preceding day to close at N10.59 billion.

Honeywell Flour Mills Plc led the gainers’ table with 24 kobo or 9.84 per cent to close at N2.68 per share, followed by Vono Products Plc with six kobo or 6.74 per cent to close at 95 kobo per share.

N4.10 per share. Transnational Express

Plc was six kobo or 4.72 per cent to close at N1.21 per share, while Paint Manufac-turing Company Plc declined six kobo or 4.62 per cent to close at N1.24 per share.

Unity Bank Plc dipped six kobo or 4.48 per cent to close at 1.28 per share.

A total of 416 million shares valued at N5.24 bil-lion were exchanged in 3,603 deals.

Inter-Bank RateNaira US DollarN197 $1

Exchange Rates (N)

WAUA 270

USD 197

EURO 214

CFA 0.32

YEN 1.64

SWISS FRANC

202

POUNDS STERLING

293

SDR 273

Rate (%)

Inflation 8.2

MPR 13

Crude oil price $58.96

important work during the Second Republic earned him the respect and admiration of successive administrations since then.

“Dr. Onosode was a quint-essential professional helping to establish and lead some of Nigeria’s most prestigious professional organizations like the Association of Pen-sion Funds in Nigeria and the Nigerian Institute of Manage-ment. He was also a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers,” the commission added.

Born in Sapele, late Onos-ode studied at the University of Ibadan. He was a notable disciplinarian and embodied

corporate governance prin-ciples. He was nicknamed “Mr. Integrity”. He was passionate about environ-mental issues as a founding leader of the Niger Delta Environmental Survey. He was a devout Christian and philanthropist.

He left behind a legacy of building strong and last-ing institutions capable of leading Nigeria’s economic development. The SEC and the capital market commu-nity are implementing Ni-geria’s 10-year capital mar-ket master plan which will make Onosode’s dream of a modern Nigerian capital market a reality.

rencies outside of Japan, has pushed it down 5.1 percent this year to the lowest levels since 2009. A similar measure for Latin American curren-cies tumbled to a record.

Even those investors specu-lating on dollar strength have found trades upended by the yen’s 2.3 percent rally in the third quarter and a revitalized euro. (Source – Bloomberg)

Sylva wins APC rescheduled governorship primary

L-R: PDP Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh; Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson and PDP Acting National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, during the presentation of certificate of return to the governor in Yenagoa, yesterday.

Okowa warns new boards against corruption

Oil theft: Operatives nab 19 suspects, seize vessel

Amour udemudeAsAbA

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has warned members of the new

Delta State Board of Internal Revenue, DBIR, and the Civil Service Commission, CSC, against any form of corrup-tion, especially embezzle-ment of public funds.

Giving the warning yester-day while swearing in chair-men and members of the boards in Asaba, Governor Okowa stressed that anyone

Operation Pulo Shield, the joint military outfit

in Niger Delta, has an-nounced the arrest of 19 suspected oil thieves.

A statement signed by Lt.-Col. Isa Ado, its spokes-man, said the suspects were arrested during a multiple raid in the last 10 days.

Ado said the outfit also seized a vessel and a barge laden with 1,000 tonnes of suspected stolen automotive gas oil, commonly known as diesel.

“The outfit arrested eight suspects on board the barge. Both the barge and the sus-pects are in the custody of Operation Pulo Shield.

“The troops also arrested an ocean-going vessel along Forcados Estuary in Warri South West Local Govern-ment Area in Delta State.

“The vessel, christened MT ASKJA, is currently secured at Yokri in Warri South West Local Govern-ment Area for preliminary investigation.

“The troops arrested two suspected crude oil thieves in Burutu, also in Delta State, with drums of stolen crude,” Ado said, adding

leadership.Okowa frowned at what

he called a situation where there is less than 20 per cent compliance level in revenue generation from the infor-mal sector, saying that cur-rently, over 80 per cent of the state’s internally generated revenue comes from the for-mal sector, which translates into less than 20 per cent compliance level because the informal sector, which

that the troops arrested four suspects with an illegal bun-kering tanker marked Lagos XZ 843 AAA, a pumping machine and a hose in Oro-gun community in Ughelli North, Delta State.

The suspects, according to him, are in the custody of OPPS for preliminary inves-tigations.

He further said the troops nabbed five suspected cult-ists in Aseomuku in Ndok-wa East, Delta State, operat-ing with locally-made guns, cutlasses, axes and 10 live cartridges of 7.62 mm cali-bre.

Ado said all the cases are being investigated.

PDP begs NLC to shelve planned strike

party, Ntufam John Okon, stated that the proposed strike, if embarked on, would hamper development.

Okon made the appeal while answering questions from journalists on the eve of the country’s Indepen-dence anniversary, stressing that workers must come to terms with reality and facts on the ground.

The PDP chairman said if workers embark on the planned strike, the lofty pro-grammes of the governor may be affected, arguing that workers should be mag-nanimous at this time of the country’s independence an-niversary.

While pledging the party’s loyalty to the gov-ernor for “sustaining the socio-economic and political momentum that has been stimulated since assum-ing office,” Okon urged the union leaders to enter into dialogue with government instead of taking a hard-line posture.

richArd NdomACAlAbAr

Cross River State chapter of the Peo-ples Democratic

Party, PDP, yesterday pleaded with the state’s branch of the Nigeria La-bour Congress, NLC, to be patriotic by shelving its plan to call out workers on an indefinite strike.

This was sequel to ru-mours in the state that leadership of the NLC was threatening to embark on an indefinite strike from Fri-day on grounds that the state government was insensitive to the plight and welfare of workers.

The PDP said it was un-wise to embark on a strike at this time “when the gov-ernor is doing everything within his power to create employment for the army of unemployed youths in the state as countless windows of opportunities would be opened to reduce poverty in the state.

State chairman of the

Diekivie Okiogha and Pas-tor (Mrs.) Tonye Afreala, who stormed the venue around 12 noon, claimed they were not informed about the venue.

A visibly angry Ikiogha and fuming Tonye almost brought the process to a standstill, but were pre-vailed upon by General Dan-Ali, who insisted that every-body was informed.

Ikiogha, who spoke with newsmen, said it was his agent that informed him of what was going on at the par-ty’s secretariat after some of them had waited at the sta-dium for INEC and the elec-tion committee from Abuja.

Speaking on his victory, Sylva noted that it has been a long walk to victory, but was happy to accept the victory given to him.

While dedicating the vic-tory to his family, his sup-porters and to the almighty God, Sylva said: “I will like to say that this is only the

beginning; today, I have seen that we politicians have a lot to learn from the mili-tary. What a great and serv-ing governor from a great state of this country was incapable of doing just a few days ago has been achieved by a retired general and his team.

“There has been a pre-ponderance of uncompleted projects and failed promises and lies. A government that lies to its own people, claim-ing projects they never had a hand in. For example, the Nembe road, which the gov-ernment has continued to showcase as its project, was in fact a project carried out between NDDC and Shell.

“The APC has a lot to do as government when we come in on February 14, 2016. I have gone round this state and I know the people are yearning for change, and I want to assure you that we will work well together; vic-tory will surely come.”

withdrew from the primary, stating that his decision was in the interest of the party, state and collateral conse-quences.

Accreditation of del-egates began a day earlier and lasted through the night to yesterday morning, while final accreditation by the In-dependent National Elector-al Commission, INEC, and the APC electoral commit-tee led by Brig. Gen. Mansur Dan-Ali (rtd) was followed simultaneously by actual voting at 8:30am.

Sylva voted at 8:33am followed by other national, state officials of the party and local government del-egates, who had defied mos-quitoes in the night and the early morning shower to cast their votes.

However, there was a mild drama midway into the process as about four of the aspirants led by for-mer Chief of Staff, Bayelsa State Government House,

osAhoN JuliusYenAgoA

Former governor of Bayela State, Chief Timipre Sylva, yester-

day, in Yenagoa won the re-scheduled All Progressives Congress, APC, Bayelsa State governorship primary with a landslide as he polled 981 votes of the accredited delegates’ 1,147 votes to beat other contestants.

Though, the rescheduled primary, which generated much tension in the state lost its fervour due to the late withdrawal last night of one of the strongest contestants, Timi Alaibe, yesterday’s primary was not without its drama and intrigues as aspirants and delegates kept vigil at the party’s secretari-at - venue of the exercise.

The former managing director of Niger Delta De-velopment Commission, NDDC, had in a statement in the early hours of yesterday,

constitutes over 80 per cent of the economy, has not been effectively captured in the tax net.

Okowa, however, decried a situation where individu-als, especially businessmen pay taxes that are not com-mensurate with their in-comes and assets.

For the state civil service, Governor Okowa noted that the service as the vehicle for implementation of govern-

ment programmes, policies and projects, must function to change the fortunes of Deltans.

Responding on behalf of the appointees, chairman of the state civil service, Mrs. Nkem Okwuofu, thanked Governor Okowa for the appointment, assuring that they would carry out their functions without fear or favour but with the fear of God.

…others kick

found wanting shall be sanc-tioned no matter his or her social standing.

According to the gover-nor, his administration took time to constitute the boards because the two agencies are critical to the success of his administration, adding that they would play critical role in building a new Delta State predicated on the principles of problem-solving, resource optimisation and purposeful

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netSouth South Thursday, October 1, 201542

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 43Thursday, October 1, 2015 North

James DanJuma KATSINA

Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State has

expressed concern over frequent use of casual workers as personnel in health institutions in the state.

The governor was speaking during the com-missioning of a new sec-retariat belonging to the state’s chapter of the As-sociation of Nurses and

Thanksgiving service for Madam Adebara

L-R: Senior Special Adviser to Plateau State Governor, Mr. Abdukadir Kurawa; representative of the Governor, Mr. Rufus Bature, and Director of Press Affairs to the Governor, Mr. Emmanuel Nanley, during the inauguration of TV stations digital switchover roadshow sensitisation campaign in Jos, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

Court orders Zamfara to pay Ecobank N3.1bn debt

NGO drags VC, varsity before ICPC

Wale IgbIntaDe

A Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday ordered Zamfara

State government to pay a judgment sum of N3,159, 017,940.71 to Ecobank Ni-geria Limited, being the state’s outstanding indebt-edness to the bank.

Justice Okon Abang gave the order while deliv-ering judgment in a suit filed by Ecobank Nigeria Limited against Zamfara State government.

Other defendants in the suit are Zamfara State’s Attorney-General, its Min-istry of Finance, Accoun-tant-General of the Fed-eration; Attorney-General of the Federation and the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Ecobank Plc, in a suit listed ‘undefended’, and marked FHC/L/CS/872/2015, had dragged

Zamfara State government before the court over a loan of N1.5 billion obtained from Oceanic Internation-al Bank in May 2009.

The bank, in an affidavit in support of the suit de-posed to by Oluwafunmi-lola Salami, a lawyer in the law firm of Kunle Ogunba & Associates, averred that Zamfara State government through the Ministry of Fi-nance, had in May 2009, re-ceived an extended facility of N1.5 billion from Oce-anic International Bank Limited, now consolidated with Ecobank Nigeria Limited.

The deponent averred that the major security for the disbursement of the loan facility was a condi-tional Irrevocable Stand-ing Payment Order, ISPO, from the state government Valued Added Tax, VAT, domiciled with First Bank Plc.

James DanJuma KATSINA

Vice Chancel-lor of the Fed-eral University,

Dutsinma, Katsina State, Prof. James Aya-tse, has been dragged before the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC, over alleged financial misappropriation.

Ayatse was dragged before the commission by a non-governmental organisation, NGO, Concerned Youth of Katsina, for alleged misappropriation of more than N106 million funds belonging to the institution.

In a three-page peti-tion addressed to ICPC, copy of which was made available to Na-tional Mirror, the NGO accused Ayatse of not following due process in spending funds be-longing to the univer-sity.

The petition titled, ‘Petition of Finan-cial Misappropriation, Bribery and Adminis-trative Irregularities,’ which was copied the Economic and Finan-cial Crimes Commis-

She added that the facil-ity, however, suffered set-back when First Bank Plc stopped warehousing the state’s Federation Account Allocation Committee, FACC, and consequently declined further remit-tance of the indebtedness that arose from the subject facility.

The deponent also averred that due to the above an agreement was reached to restructure the debt in November 2010, af-ter which Zamfara State government honoured rentals for few months.

She added that Zamfara State government, till date, has not paid the rentals de-spite the fact that they have fallen due.

The deponent further averred that upon restruc-ture, all relevant council and House resolutions were obtained by the bank alongside another ISPO on the main FACC account

domiciled with the then Intercontinental Bank Plc, now Access Bank Plc.

And that despite the restructure and the docu-mentations as security between the bank and Zamfara State government in respect of the loan, the state government has failed and neglected to liq-uidate the indebtedness, leaving a huge sum of out-standing.

Consequently, Eco-bank through its lawyer, Mr. Kunle Ogunba, ap-proached the court for the following claims: judg-ment against the Zamfara State government, the state’s Attorney-General and Ministry of Finance, jointly and severally in the sum of N3,159,017,940.71, being the outstanding in-debtedness on the facility extended to the Zamfara State government by the legacy Oceanic Interna-tional Bank Plc.

Masari decries casual workers as health personnel

sion, EFCC, called for proper investigation of “the shady, outrageous and unreasonable fi-nancial scandal” at the university.

The petition cited instances of financial misappropriation as the diversion of more than N30 million from the institution’s salary ac-count into an unknown private account.

It alleged that the VC used university funds to build a private school in Makurdi, Benue State, worth N150 mil-lion, and approved the procurement of a chair worth over N2 million for his personal use.

It said the VC auc-tioned his official vehi-cle at a give-away price to himself, as well as ap-proved the procurement of another vehicle at a cost of N20 million.

The organisation also accused him of deduct-ing 7.5 per cent pension contribution from the salary of each worker but refused to remit same to the National Pensions Commission.

The petition also al-leged favouritism in the institution’s employ-ment process, which was tilted in favour of candidates from the professor’s tribe.

They therefore, called on the commis-sion to dispatch its of-ficials to the university to investigate all the al-legations.

Midwifery yesterday.Masari said about 60

per cent or 14,400 of the 24,000 health workers in the state are casual work-ers, and that they were employed by the previous state administration.

He also lamented the shortage of health per-sonnel in the state’s 22 General Hospitals as well as primary health centres in local government ar-eas.

He, however, said his administration has come

up with measures to ad-dress the problem by em-ploying additional health personnel to augment the current capacity.

He also said plans were underway to provide fa-cilities and drugs in hos-pitals, even as he warned against negligence and malpractices in the dis-charge of duties.

National president of the Association of Nurs-es and Midwifery, Com-rade Adbulrafi’u Adeniji, had earlier called on the

state government to pro-vide facilities in hospitals as well as employ the re-quired number of health personnel.

Chairman of the as-sociation in the state, Rabe Mamman, said the new secretariat was built through financial contri-bution of members.

Mamman, however, commended the state government for taking measures to address problems facing the health sector.

The final outing/thanksgiving ser-vice for the late

Madam Olatundun Ajike Adebara comes up today 1st October, 2015, at First ECWA Church Shao in Moro Local Government Area of Kwara State. It will commence at 10am prompt.

According to a release issued and signed by Reverend and Mrs R.A. Adebara, Madam Ajike Adebara, who died at the Age of 102 years at her residence in Oloro Com-pound, Isale Oja Shao in Moro Local Government

Area of Kwara State, was a devoted Christian dur-ing her life time.

The release further stated that the deceased is survived by children, grand children and great grand children, among who are Alhaji Akanbi Adebara, Mr Adeniran Adebara, Mrs Adedoyin nee Adebara, Rev. & Mrs R.A. Adebara and Mr Sun-day Oladimeji Adebara.

Entertainment of guests will follow imme-diately after the service at the open field of LGEA Primary School, Isale Oja Shao, Kwara State.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net44 North Thursday, October 1, 2015

BPE pays ex-PHCN staff N373bn severance allowance

Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, said N373.38bn

had been spent so far to settle former workers of the defunct Power Hold-ing Company of Nigeria, PHCN.

Head, Public Commu-nications of BPE, Mr. Alex Okoh, announced this yesterday in Abuja.

He said of 47,913 for-mer staff, 47,029 had been settled, making it 98 per cent of the af-fected number that was settled.

Okoh said the retirees and next of kin of de-ceased retirees had been paid N16.41bn.

He said the outstand-ing payments were for 395 ex-active staff, 975 re-

Adamawa State Commissioner for Education, Dr. Kaleptawa Farauta (right), and Head of UNICEF Bauchi Zonal Office, Dr Abdullahi Kaikai, addressing a news conference on the Government/UNICEF Pupils Enrollment Drive in areas affected by insurgency in the state.

Tribunal sacks PDP senator in Taraba

Four killed as Fulani herdsmen launch reprisal attack in Niger

JUSTIN TYOPUUSU JALINGO

National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting

in Jalingo, Taraba State capital, yesterday sacked Senator Bashir Marafa Abba of the Peoples Dem-ocratic Party, PDP.

The senator repre-sents Taraba Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly.

He was dragged to the tribunal by the All Progressives Congress, APC, senatorial candi-date, Yusuf Abubakar Yusuf.

The three-man panel of Justices, in a two and a half hours ruling held that the 1st respondent, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, 2nd respondent, PDP, and 3rd respondent, Senator Abba, failed to prove the case against them beyond reasonable doubt.

Justice I.A. Yusuf, who read the judgement,

held that the tribunal was convinced by the evidence that there was swapping of votes of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, by Bali Local Gov-ernment collation offi-cer in favour of the PDP candidate.

He also held that the cancelation of the re-sults of 16 out of 17 poll-ing units in Kaigama ward within the same local government by the 1st respondent after the results were announced at the polling units by presiding officers was an afterthought and against provisions of the Elec-toral Act.

The tribunal faulted the cancelation of the entire result of Kai-gama ward and ordered the deduction of 2, 999 votes of SDP, which were swapped with the 512 votes for PDP, giv-ing APC candidate 66,097 against the PDP candi-date’s 64,356 and SDP’s 33,489.

“Having resolved is-

PRISCILLA DENNIS MINNA

At least, four per-sons were alleg-edly killed in a

reprisal attack by Fu-lani herdsmen in Kwan-an Mariga, Rafin Local Government Area of Niger State, last week-end.

Confirming the in-cident, state Police Public Relations Offi-cer, Bala Elkana, said the reprisal attack was ignited by the killing of a herder by three youths suspecting him to be part of those that killed three vigilantes from the area about two

sue number one in fa-vour of the petitioner that votes were swapped and that the respondents failed to proof otherwise, it is the ruling of this tri-bunal that the petitioner scored the highest num-ber of votes cast and not the 3rd respondent as de-clared by the 1st respon-dent, INEC.

“The first respondent, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, should therefore, issue certificate of re-turn to the petitioner as the duly elected senator for Taraba central sena-torial district.”

Reacting to the judg-ment, lead counsel to Senator Abba, Yusufu Nya Akirikwen said he will contact his client for advice on the next line of action.

On his part, lead coun-sel to the petitioner, Fes-tus Idepefo hailed the judgment, saying it was victory for the rule of law.

“The justices have

demonstrated that out-side influence can no longer determine what happen in the court room,” he said.

The petitioner, Mr. Abubakar Yusuf in a chat with journalists dedicated his victory to the electorates, who he said defied all hard-ships and cast their votes for him on March 28.

He thanked the party executives and party supporters for keeping faith, assur-ing that he will carry everybody along in his mandate and pledged to fulfill his campaign promises to his con-stituents.

State APC chairman, Mr. Ardo Jika had ear-lier commended the tri-bunal for the judgment, saying “justice delayed is not justice denied,” even as he called on the party supporters not to over celebrate to the point of causing secu-rity breach.

WAEC still owed N2bn 2015 WASSCE fees –Offi cial

West African E x a m i n a -tions Council,

WAEC, said the coun-cil was still being owed N2bn registration fees by state governments for their candidates who sat for the 2015 May/June WASSCE.

WAEC’s Head of Na-tional Office, HNO, Dr Charles Eguridu, gave the figure in Lagos yes-terday.

It would be recalled that the examination

body withheld the re-sults of candidates from some states, who had failed to settle reg-istration fees of their students amounting to N4bn.

However, the council rescinded its decision after intervention of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF.

According to him, there is need for the indebted state govern-ments to pay up, add-ing that the debt was

hindering its opera-tions.

“I want to state that about N2bn of the over N4bn owed the council by some state govern-ments was still out-standing.

“No fewer than 14 states so far have re-sponded to this; but I think the response should be better. This is seriously affecting our operations.

“We had entered into

months ago.The three youths were

said to have attacked the herder in front of a shop during the Sallah festi-val.

Elkana stated that some of the herdsmen that witnessed the de-velopment quickly rushed back to their set-tlement and mobilised for a reprisal attack that led to the killing of four people.

“Four people sus-tained injuries in the at-tack, even though, wit-nesses said seven were injured and receiving treatment at the Kagara General Hospital,” he said.

Three youths who killed the herder are currently the police net, he said, adding that men of the command are on the trail of the fleeing herdsmen.

tirees and next of kin as well as 489 unidentified ex-active staff.

“These outstanding ones are due to incom-plete documentation as at last verification.

“They are those still undergoing verification by the technical sub-committee of the Imple-mentation Committee on Severance Payment and Payment Processing,” he said.

It would be recalled that the former staff of the defunct power com-pany had in May staged a protest at the BPE, demanding payment of their severance package.

The protest then was led by the President of the National Union of Electricity Employ-ees, NUEE, Mr. Mansur Musa, claiming they had not been paid any money since they left service in 2013.

Okoh said payment to the defunct NITEL/MTEL workers had not commenced due to unre-solved legal issues.

“As for NITEL/MTEL, you will recall that those who had outstanding claims had gone to in-dustrial court.

“Until the issues are resolved, there is noth-ing anyone can possibly do,” he said.

a gentleman’s Memo-randum of Understand-ing with the concerned state governments be-cause we found they are equally trying to give education to Nigerian children.

“And if they ap-proach us, based on that, there is need for us to oblige them,” he said.

Eguridu said so far the ongoing Nov/Dec diet of its GCE for pri-

vate candidates had been hitch-free with no major incident record-ed.

“The only little chal-lenge we had was the co-inciding of some of our examination schedule with the time of prayer of our Muslim candi-dates, and this has been immediately taken care of.

“And so, for now, ev-erything is moving on fine,” he assured.

45National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Thursday, October 1, 2015

125-year-old Jama’Atul Central Mosque

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net46 Broad Street Diary Thursday, October 1, 2015

Aftermath of Sallah: Ram sellers slash prices

Ram sellers waiting for buyers PHOTO: SAMUEL ADETIMEHIN

Few days after this year’s Eid-el-Kabir festival, traders who

deal in the sales of rams, the traditional sacrificial animal for the festival have slashed the market prices for their unsold rams.

It would be noted that prior to the festival last week, most parts of La-gos Island was dotted with emergency ram markets with sellers complaining of low sales.

However, immediately after Sallah festival, ram traders have to evacuates their unsold animals to ‘’kara’’ the officially des-ignated market for animal trade.

A broad view of ram sellers in the different mar-kets on Lagos Island who spoke with Broad Street Diary, BSD, described this year ram business as not impressive.

A trader who simply identify himself as Isiaka, a Ram seller at Idumota market, told BSD that the business of selling ram this year is ‘’totally bad.’’

He said the money bor-rowed to do the business this year, would run many traders into debt due to their inability to recoup the cost of what they have invested in the business.

Isiaka said despite the fact that some traders were selling at very low prices in many cases just to ensure

that many of their rams are disposed off before the end of the Sallah, many traders could not sell half of their animals.

‘’We reduced the price of the rams in order to improve sales, a ram which was sold for around N60,000 last year, was sold

for N50,000, during this year festival, yet this could not lure many customers to buy.

‘’Now we are now sell-ing the remaining animals at rock-bottom prices to ‘’Buka’’ or restaurants’ owners and those who want to slaughter them just

for eating,’’ Isiaka said.He added that an av-

erage ram that sells for about N70,000 prior to Eid-el-kabir festival, now sells for between N35,000 and N45,000 ,depending on the customer when they come. ‘’And for now we have move all our animals to

‘’kara’’ waiting for the few customers to come.’’

Isiaka attributed the cause of the low sales this year to several factors which he said includes; re-sumption of school close to the sallah period.

‘’Most parent prefers to spend their money on

school fees, uniform and books, rather than slaugh-tering rams.’’

He further attributed the low sales to the harsh economic situation in the country which has affected many families’ income.

Another trader who simply identifies himself as Rasaq, who also trade in ram, said: ‘’We give glory to God last year on this business, but this year, it is another thing all together, despite the fact that we buy the rams at high pric-es from the northern part of the country, we have to reduce the prices in order to attract buyers, yet we couldn’t sell most of our rams.”

Rasak said that by this time of last year, all his rams has been sold off and it was sold at higher prices, “but this year, my rams as you can see, are still many, even after the Sallah and you know that after the fes-tival, the price would drop drastically even below the purchase price.”

Another ram seller, Mrs. Adejoke Bolaji who described the market as extraordinary low said; ‘’we sat down with our ram without buyers to come and price it.”

–James Egbeyemi

Traders lament low sales days after Eid-el-KabirA week after the Mus-

lims Eid- el- kabir festival, traders in

the various market on the Lagos Business District who see the period as op-portunity to make more money due to the huge sales always experience during the festive period have continued lamented low sales.

A visit to some of the markets on Lagos Island showed the irony of what was obtainable at this pe-riod in the past compared with the situation now, as the market was devoid of usual hustling and bustling by shoppers.

A survey on the markets by Broad Street Diary, BSD, showed that many people who traveled to their vari-ous towns and villages to celebrate Sallah are yet to come back.

Broad Street Diary also met with some traders in the market, who bared their minds on the develop-ment.

A trader at the Balogun market, Mr. Tunde Adejobi,

who deals in textile materi-als, told BSD that things got worse even after Sallah.

‘’ There is no market af-ter the Sallah festival, but our belief is that thing will improve,’’ said Adejobi

Another trader, Mr. Ab-dulahi Kao, a trader also at the Balogun market said it is obvious that after the cel-ebration of sallah, business will slow down, so we need to prepare for the worst and pray for improvement”

Abdulih urged traders to prepare for the worst and pray for the present admin-istration in the country to be successful in its bid to revive the economy

Miss Omolola Atanda, a trader in the market said, sales were generally very poor during and even after the festival, this she attrib-uted to the preference by parents to attend to their children education rather than celebration.

‘’ We have not sold any-thing since morning. Busi-ness is yet to pick after the festival, the only set of traders that are busy for

now are the book sellers as schools have just resumed in the state.

I believe it is so this year, because of parents’ obses-sion to pay for their chil-dren’s school fees and other needs”.

Another trader in the market, Mrs. Fatimo Ibra-him, stated that business activities were not rosy at all even after the Sallah.

“Business activity is not rosy at all because; ‘’Ileya festival” (Eid el-Kabir) co-incides with primary and secondary schools resump-tion, so people are only buy-ing books and other school items for their wards going back to school.

Please help us beg gov-ernment to bring out mon-ey for people to spend”.

Another trader, who simply identifies herself as Mrs Chukurat, buttressed the position. she said, apart from the issue of school fees, there was no free -flow of cash in circulation.

‘’ Apart from the fact that school children have just resumed from the holiday

which has led to parents re-luctance to buy ostentation items, there is no money in circulation and prices of items in are equally high.

“For instance, I am sup-posed to travel this festive season as my usual prac-tice, but I cannot, because there is little money in my pocket to spend.’’

She, however, seized the opportunity to plead with the officials of the Lagos State Kick Against Indis-cipline popularly known as KAI; an agency of gov-ernment saddled with the responsibility of enforc-ing sanitation, discipline and decency in the state to soft-pedal on the constant harassment of street trad-ers who cannot afford the payment of a huge sum to own shops on Lagos Island.

“Please help us beg these KAI officials to take it easy with us, we are already de-veloping hypertensions be-cause of their harassment.

They harass people hawking pure water, gala, biscuits, etc. It is not our wish to hawk under the

scorching sun, if not for the skyrocketing cost of own-ing a shop on Lagos Island.

“Government should please build shops that will be affordable for people like us who cannot afford to pay N11 million for three years as been demanded by prop-erty owners here.

Look at that Oluwole Urban Shopping Mall built by the Lagos State Govern-ment; it costs N5 million to rent a shop there per year. Is that for people like us? She queried.

Also speaking to Miss Modupe who deals in textile materials such as Ankara, Lace, Guinea Brocades among others at Balogun market in Lagos, she lamented low sales for some weeks now.

Modupe said that since the Eid el-Kabir festival, sales has not been mov-ing as expected, adding that people are not really patronising as usual. An-other trader at the same Balogun market, Mrs To-lani Ayorinde, who is into wholesale and retail of all

kinds of woman hair ac-cessories, said; ‘’As you can see, no customer at this hour of the day, nowadays the business is not mov-ing at all, people are not even coming, things are very dry, there is no money, there is no sales, I thought market will move that’s why I went to stock my shop with various items, during the festival, but even after the festival busi-ness is still very dull.

Another trader, Mrs Kel-echi Ugochukwu, who sells foodstuff at Balogun mar-ket, seems to sing a differ-ent tune from others.

Ugochukwu, though, ad-mitted that business is not all that rosy. She, however, admitted that she did meet her expectation. In her word; ‘’we thank God, but not as I expected, because I ought to have gone to the market again for another sets of goods.

Last year sale is far bet-ter than this year that is what I observed.

–Darasimi Ayeni and James Egbeyemi

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Broad Street Diary 47Thursday, October 1, 2015

125-year-old Jama’Atul Central Mosque still commanding attention

The Jama’Atul Central Mosque famously re-

ferred to as the Lagos Central Mosque is a sight to behold and no doubt commands atten-tion among places of worship among Islamic faithful in the whole of Lagos and particularly central area of Lagos Island.

The mosque situat-ed amidst the various vibrant markets and bustling trade of Lagos Island’s Business Dis-trict, is situates near to the famous Balogun Market.

The Baroque style old Central Mosque was built in 1890, with two rear bell towers by Joao Baptista da Costa/and Sanusi Aka which was demolished in 1984 and replaced by the present four minaret 14th century Ottoman style model in 1988.

This architectural edifice used to be the National Mosque until the movement of Nige-ria’s capital city from Lagos to Abuja in 1991 by the then govern-ment of General Ibra-him Badamosi Baban-gida.

Simply put, the im-portance of this na-tional monument in the nation’s history partic-ularly among Muslims cannot be over empha-sised.

In the wake of this year Eid el- Kabir fes-tival last week, Broad Street Diary, BSD, vis-ited the Mosque and met with the Acting General Secretary in the person of Alhaji Yahya Abimbola, who in no mean measure oc-cupies a strategic posi-tion in the administra-tion of the mosque.

In a chat with Broad Street Diary, he spoke on the history of the mosque, its signifi-cance to Muslim faith-ful, not only in the La-gos Island, but also in Lagos State as a whole.

Abimbola told BSD that the Jama’Atul Cen-tral Mosque, famously referred to as the Lagos Central Mosque has being in existence for

Lagos Central Mosque

over 125 years.‘’It used to be the

Nigerian National Mosque until the cre-ation of the present national capital and the eventual movement of the nation’s federal capital from Lagos to Abuja in 1991.’’

According to Abim-bola, the mosque had gone through a process of reconstruction and refurbishment over the years before it became what it is now.

“It used to be a small mosque, but as time goes on, more lands were acquired through the assistance of the Lagos State Govern-ment to expand the structure in order to accommodate more worshipers”.

The first Chief Imam of the mosque was Alfa Salu who served in that office for 12 years.

On those who are eli-gible to assume the of-fice of the Chief Imam

of the mosque, he said;“There are only two

eligible and recognised houses from where the Chief Imam of the mosque could emerge from.

They are; the Nola House and the Ibrahim House. So there is no controversy regarding succession arrange-ment for the next Imam any time the need aris-es in the future.

Speaking on last week Eid el-Kabir (Il-

eya festival), he said it was low key going by the mood of the nation.

“Eid el-Kabir festival this year is low key due to the mood of the na-tion and because of the recent change in gov-ernment as business institutions and inves-tors generally are not sure of where the pen-dulum of the economic activities will swing, hence, caution is be-ing taken by potential investors not to stake

their capital in an un-predictable investment terrain particularly now that the present government has not of-ficially inaugurates its cabinet.

He advised Muslim faithful in the country to adapt to the current situation by cutting their coat according to the available clothing material because the current situation is the will of Allah.

–Omoju Busayo

Fowler: Challenges of increasing tax revenue

Fowler

Kasim adegoKe

as such consultants would be engaged but their duties would be exclusive of tax assessment and collection.

His words: “You can imagine a staff roster that can audit the books of well over 400, 000 corporate organisations. It won’t work. Therefore to increase the level of transparency and account-ability, we would engage consultants. But these consultants will only gather data. The law does not allow them to undertake assessment. The law does not allow them to collect revenue on behalf of government.

“Consequently, they will collect data; they are to assist our staff. We will do the assessment and issue the Demand Notice for the tax to be paid”.

Compliance level

On his view of the level of tax pay-ers compliance, the chairman regrets that slightly over 30 per cent compa-nies and other businesses pay tax in the country. A situation he said must change.

According to him, “there are about 450, 000 corporate organisations with only one out of every three paying tax. Based on our objectives, we want to have at least 99.9 percentage success level of compliance. This means that every individual at the state level and every corporate organisation at the federal level are in the tax net and pay the appropriate type of tax.

“We have exchanged information with all States’ Internal Revenue Boards. We have all the information on the database. We have given them out already and in case they need further information that they currently don’t have on their database, we will always collaborate with them. With this de-

velopment, we should have a growth in tax payers both at the states and fed-eral levels within one week.”

Fowler warned that organisations that evade taxes would be made to face the law in a civil suit in order to col-lect outstanding arrears and Chief Ex-ecutive Officers of such organisations could face criminal charges.

The meeting, according to Fowler, was to enable the JTB fashion out a roadmap to provide a workable tool for both the FIRS and the Internal Rev-enue Boards of the states with a view to raising the level of tax revenue in the country.

Experts in the sector have been quick to align with the Acting chair-man on this note positing that there are many stones left unturned as far as the country’s current tax administra-tion processes are concerned.

For example, they argue that it is common knowledge that the adminis-tration of the Value Added Tax, VAT, is greatly hindered by many factors, ranging from inadequate coverage of ‘VATable’ persons to no-remittances of VAT deductions. Tax revenue loss in this aspect can only be imagined.

Fowler has so far, been quick to re-spond to this obvious gap in revenue generation when he stated at a forum recently too saying; “I have also iden-tified the fact that there is deficiency on our part as tax administrators in terms of collaboration and coopera-tion in the areas of exchange of infor-mation for tax purposes.”

He said that the FIRS and the state boards would have to work with great-er synergy in the areas of conduct-ing joint audit exercises by FIRS and SBIRs; carrying out joint tax enlight-

enment and enforcement exercises; sharing and exchange of information concerning unremitted taxes identi-fied by either side; embark on joint training programmes and workshop; review and amendments of tax laws and legislations from time to time.

FIRS-Kogi state collaborationThe Acting FIRS chairman has no

doubt sold his vision across the board for urgent implementation. Days ago he caused a representative to spread the message of his war against tax eva-sion to Kogi state.

At that event, the FIRS called for a unique collaboration with the state’s Inland Revenue Service against cur-rent and potential tax evaders. Disclos-ing that a new technology designed to checkmate such tax dodgers as being currently employed in the aviation and power sectors would be deployed to oth-er sectors very soon, the FIRS under Fowler gave the five areas of envisaged collaboration with the states as follow:•Joint tax auditing•Information gathering and sharing•Joint training•Education and sensitisation, and•Tax law review

Fowler was the Chief Executive Of-ficer/Executive Chairman of the Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue from 2005 to 2014.

He had his higher education in the United States where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin and a Mas-ter of Business Administration degree from the California State University.

Before joining the service of the Lagos State Government, Dr. Fowler worked in the banking sector for about 20 years with long stints at Credit Ly-onnais Nigeria Limited and Chartered Bank.

Under his leadership, the Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue reportedly achieved a sharp increase in internal-ly generated revenue from an average of N3.6. billion per month in January 2006, to an average of about N20.5 bil-lion per month in 2013.

Fowler, who holds an Honorary Doc-torate Degree of the Irish International University, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria and the Business Management Association of the United Kingdom.

With his coming to the FIRS, expecta-tions are high that Fowler who got the tax revenue generation right in Lagos would in no time replicate his success in his current beat. Opinions too, sug-gest that the Senate would in all wis-dom confirm his appointment to enable him deliver with every authority of his office. Of note is the fact that the FIRS has not had a substantive chairman since the departure of Ifueko Omogui-Okauru in 2012.

Barely one month ago when his appointment as acting Execu-tive Chairman of the Federal

Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) was announced, not a few Nigerians who should know applauded the appoint-ment. He had a rich background and antecedents in government revenue matters to flaunt. Mr. Babatunde Fowl-er, the legendary chairman of Lagos Inland Revenue Service, LIRS thus, as-sumed leadership of the FIRS almost immediately pledging to work with state revenue agencies and relevant stakeholders to shore-up tax revenue and improve on the country’s tax ad-ministration.

While taking over the mantle of office from his predecessor, Sunday Ogungbesan on August 21, Fowler told staff of the Service that the FIRS should be able to take the lead in tax revenue collection as well as share in-formation and ideas with the States Board of Internal Revenue to improve tax administration in the country. True to his character, he did not mince words when he assured of a new era at FIRS which would be predicated on the resolve of the presidency to ensure maximum increase in tax revenue to end the country’s absolute dependen-cy on oil proceeds.

Hear him: “My vision and mission is neither to alter the existing manage-ment organogram structure in FIRS nor lay-off management staff from their duty posts, but to take FIRS as well as the nation’s tax system to an en-viable height. This we cannot achieve all alone without a robust partnership and collaboration of all stakeholders within and outside the system. We must build a synergy for a healthy ex-change of information between FIRS and SBIR.

“This synergy will produce the best form of revenue generation in the FIRS and the states in general as well as ensuring that over dependency on oil revenue becomes a thing of the past.”

Use of consultants for tax collectionAgainst the backdrop of unending

insinuation that the acting chairman would introduce consultants to help him in tax assessment and collec-tion in the FIRS, Fowler debunked it all. The use of tax consultants to col-lect taxes, a practice that is prevalent among state governments have been criticised as illegal and open to cor-ruption between the consultants and state governors.

At a meeting of the Joint Tax Board, JTB, in Abuja recently, Fowler said that the staff strength of the FIRS was not enough to undertake all that would be required in tax administration and

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net48 Thursday, October 1, 2015Features

New Lagos Times

No foreigner will fix Nigeria for Nigerians –NIPR president

KIZA opens new office in DIFC

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 49MediaThursday, october 1, 2015

Leonard okachie

New Lagos Times Education news-paper has called for nominations for its inaugural edition of the

Prestige Education Awards tagged “To-morrow Starts Now!”

Addressing journalists recently, the Managing Director and Editor- in – Chief of New Lagos Times Educa-tion, Mr. Adebowale Olowu said the award is open to individuals, organi-zations, institutions and brands that have through diligence, commitment and hard work achieved a feat wor-thy of reward and/or has contribut-ed to the development of Education in Nigeria.

Oluwu disclosed that the award which is in 21 categories is scheduled to hold on November 21 at Golden Gate Paradise Ikoyi, Lagos.

The categories include: Best Stu-dent in the Federation (University, Polytechnic), Best Student in WAEC and NECO examination, Education-al Brand of the Year, Educational TV Station of the Year, Educational Ra-dio Station of the Year, Educational Newspaper of the Year, Best School in Lagos & Ogun state (Secondary and Primary), Best University and

Polytechnic in Nigeria, Educational Governor of the Year and Educa-tional State of the Year.

Others include: Best CSR in Edu-cation for 2015, Vice Chancellor of the Year, Rector of the Year, Provost of the Year, Educational Bank of the Year, Educational Personality of the Year, Educational Song of the Year, Educational Movie of the Year, Edu-cational TV Programme of the Year, Educational Radio Programme of the Year and Human Capacity Devel-opment Platform of the Year.

Nomination closes on October 1 while voting commences on October 7 and closes on November 12. Other activities lined- up with the awards include

Other activities lined- up with the awards include: Walk for Education tagged “Save Nigeria Education”, pre-awards cocktail, Battle of Brains competition and a symposium tagged “Tomorrow is Past”.

Oluwu stated that the inaugural theme “Tomorrow starts Now!” was chosen to highlight the latent but pressing need to reinforce educa-tion beyond the four walls, igniting creativity and innovations towards global relevance.

He said: “The educational system

is the bedrock of our economy and a salient industry servic-ing every sec-tor. The pres-tige awards is a call for us to treasure, bestow honour and recogni-tion to bring about vibrancy, advancement and a spirit of competition to our educational system by recogniz-ing and rewarding those doing well in and for this sector.

“This will make them happy, content and mo-tivated and also encourage oth-ers. When people are recognized for their efforts, they will also continue in their desire to excel and do more.”

New Lagos Times initiates awards on education

Leonard okachie

President and Chairman of Govern-ing Council, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, NIPR, Dr. Rotimi

Oladele, has charged the Public Relations practitioners as well as citizens to brace up in the challenge of rebuilding the country, adding that no foreigner will fix Nigeria for Nigerians.

He stated this recently in Lagos while addressing participants at the induction ceremony cum reception in honour of Mrs. Toyin Nwosu, wife of the Manag-ing Director of the Sun newspapers, Mr. Steve Nwosu, who was abducted recently

by gunmen at her residence in Lagos.Five members of the 75 participants

were inducted on the completion of their three-day Master Class session.

Congratulating the new inductees, as well as welcoming them into the profes-sion, Oladele reminded them of the high expectation from them as PR practitio-ners.

Oladele stated that with the new breed of PR practitioners, the ground has been shifted from products and services to brand and reputation management, urg-ing them to brace up for the new chal-lenges that can bring good results in re-positioning the country.

In his address, the President, Public

Leonard okachie

Nigerian owned African restau-rant and lounge, KIZA has moved into its new sumptuous home

in DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre), as it continues to build on its success, inviting Africans and the world to experience how Africa truly is; to en-joy and engage with the spirit and cul-ture of its people.

Commenting on the opening, KIZA founder, Lukman Akanbi said: “KIZA is more than a restaurant; it’s an expe-rience promoting and celebrating the best of and the best in Africa. Dubai is one of the most prominent cities in the world, with a vibrant cosmopolitan busi-ness and multicultural society with a fine dining culture, which we would be honoured to enhance by adding a KIZA

experience”.Renowned for its authentic high qual-

ity cuisine made with the finest ingredi-ents from all regions of Africa, signature cocktails with an African twist, and the best and latest Afrobeat-infused music mixes bar none, the new luxury venue brings premium African hospitality, unique stylish elegance, African art and cultural passion to compliment and add to the variety of DIFC’s fine dining establishments.

KIZA Managing Partner, Joe Osawaye said: “We want our guests to experience Africa in a genuine, inclu-sive and vibrant manner through a carefully crafted selection and variety of the best that Africa offers - in a pre-mium and comfortable setting that en-gages and delights all the senses. We invite you to immerse in our culture and its journey to tomorrow.” L-R: Ag. Deputy Registrar, NIPR, Pastor Yemi Adeniran; President, PRCAN, Mr. John Ehiguese; Chairman, NIPR

Education Advisory Board, Prof. Emmanuel Danduara; President, NIPR, Dr. Rotimi Oladele and Deputy Managing Director, Sun Newspapers, Mr. Steve Nwosu; during the reception for Mrs. Nwosu.

Relations Consultant Assosiation of Ni-gerian, PRCAN, Mr. John Ehigwese said that in line with the statutory mandate of practitioners, it is also necessary that practitioners take up their responsibil-ity of reputation management and ser-vices oriented demand.

Meanwhile, Mr. Nwosu commended

the efforts of the members of NIPR dur-ing the period of his family’s grief, in-cluding the love shown.

He narrated the pains and mental tor-ture the family passed through during the incidence, but thanked God for being able to stand tall among his colleagues to celebrate the safe return of his wife.

No matter what your business is into, marketing is without any doubt a key function that determines the

success or failure of your business. The death of many small businesses is one way or the other linked to marketing. Market-ing is how you get the attention of those you need to inform about the extraordinary things your business have in stock for them.

No matter how extraordinary your products/services are, no one will come looking for them until you make known to them the existence of such extraor-dinary products/services through mar-keting. Despite the obviousness of this statement, many small businesses still struggle to get the attention of their tar-get market.

This is hugely because marketing in the traditional sense of it is expensive. Marketing costs money and money as you rightly know is one of the few things small businesses have in abundance.

Over the years, many small businesses have been in the dark fighting their way with limited financial resources to get the word out about the extraordinary things they have for their target market. This has somewhat made the marketing play-ing field available to the big businesses who always have abundant financial re-sources set aside for marketing purposes.

For long, small businesses couldn’t dare to compete with their big counter-parts because they didn’t have the market-ing funds to also capture the attention of target customers as the big competitions do. For long, marketing seemed to be the luxury of the businesses with big purse.

But thanks to the advent of the inter-net, such days are long gone. The market-ing playing field has been leveled and the primary resource needed to compete in this new playing field is not just money as before, but now creativity. The quest to win the attention of the target market is no longer the exclusive privilege of a cer-tain few businesses that have the finan-cial power to do mass-marketing.

How do I mean?In the past, there existed only three ma-

jor marketing channels available for busi-nesses to send out marketing messages to their target audience. Collectively they were called mass media. What were they?

1. Print -newspapers, magazines, bill-boards, handbills or flyers etc. , 2. Radio,3. Television

With these three major weapons of marketing, the age of mass marketing was born. Businesses simply had to create campaigns and just spread them through these mass mediums. The war of winning the market was won by the business with the biggest purse who could spread their message or marketing campaigns through all three mass media.

The more of these three channels they could spread their messages through, the more of their target audience they reached. This was how the marketing term advertising came to be very popular. The way it worked was very simple, hire some group of creative minds who called themselves advertising agencies to craft a marketing message or campaign for your business and simply spread them through

any or all of the three major mass media depending on your budget.

Marketing then was all about the mon-ey; only those who could pay for expo-sure on these mass media channels had a higher market share. This made more and more small businesses to be left in the dark and contributed to their limited growth. Again, this is no longer the case. The game has changed because there has been an addition to the three major mar-keting channels available.

This new addition is not one-way com-munication or broadcasting as the pre-vious three (print, radio, and TV) where only the marketer was allowed to spread their message to their target audience. This new addition is a two-way communi-cation between you the marketer and they the target customers.

This new addition is not mass media, it is called social media and it is powered by the internet. The internet is the fourth marketing channel available to business-es to get their messages out to their target audience.

So today, we have the following market-ing channels;1. Print – newspapers, maga-zines, billboards, handbills or flyers etc., 2. Radio, 3. Television and 4. Internet.

The playing field of marketing changed forever with the invention of the internet. Why? Because it didn’t cost as much to be on the internet as it cost to be on the three previous marketing channels. Unlike oth-er three marketing channels that existed before the internet which were privately owned and controlled by media compa-nies, the internet is a public domain.

Meaning that no one person, company, country or government owned or con-trolled the internet. This simple differ-ence made all the difference in the world of marketing. Because no one determined who uses the internet, it made it com-pletely affordable for any one and indeed everyone to go online.

All it takes is a having website, which serves as your office online or your mar-keting platform. Because no one con-trolled the price or cost of being online, small businesses now have a chance to make their mark in the world of business. Now small businesses are giving the big marketing spenders a run for their mon-ey. How does that make you feel as a small business owner?

Don’t know about you, but I personally believe that this is the best time to be in business. The playing field has been lev-eled. Anyone with a product/service can find, attract, convert and retain their tar-get market into profitable customers us-ing the internet as a marketing channel.

Today, small, medium and big busi-nesses now compete for the attention of the customer through the same channel –the internet. Today, with some little funds backed with a lot of will power and cre-ativity, a small business can out-market the big competition leveraging on the power of the internet.

Tito Philips, Jnr., is the founder of www.DifferentiateOnline.net – a complete integrated digital marketing solution for Nigerian businesses.

Why every business needs digital marketing strategy

Media National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net50 Thursday, october 1, 2015

Sri Lankan Catholic newspaper celebrates 150 years

Egypt has pardoned and released two Al-Jazeera journalists who had been jailed for disseminating “false news” in a trial

widely criticised as a political charade by hu-man rights groups and international observ-ers.

Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian national Baher Mohamed were par-doned by the president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, along with about 100 other prisoners, includ-ing activists and a poet.

Egyptian presidents have traditionally freed prisoners for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which is celebrated this week. But the latest releases also come on the eve of a trip to New York by Sisi, who will attend the UN general assembly where he would likely have faced questions about the controversial case.

Fahmy, who was released outside his old high school in Cairo after being driven there, said he was preparing to celebrate freedom. His lawyer, Amal Clooney, welcomed the de-cision to correct “a long-standing injustice” but said her client had endured a protracted ordeal.

A friend, journalist Samer al-Atrush, post-ed pictures of Fahmy, his wife and Mohamed shortly after the men were released, and while they were still wearing prison clothes.

It was not clear if Sisi also pardoned a third journalist, Australian Peter Greste, who had been on trial with his colleagues and spent 400 days in an Egyptian jail before being deported in February under a law allowing prisoners to serve out detentions in their home countries.

The state-run Mena news agency said a third person from the Al-Jazeera case had been pardoned, but there were several other foreign defendants beside Greste who avoided

Media Abroad

For Sunny Francis Fernando, walk-ing miles to deliver the Sinhala-language Catholic weekly was as

important as attending Sunday Mass.This was because it was the only way

elderly laity, school children and young readers, mostly Catholics but a few Bud-dhists too, could find out the views of the Catholic Church and about social issues, he said.

Forty-five years ago when he began this service, there were fewer parishes and not many communication tools, so the paper, priced then at less than 20 cents, was very important in keeping Catholics informed, he said.

Now aged 64, Fernando lives in a world with more parishes, the Internet, and mobile phones. He even uses a motorbike

to distribute the Gnanartha Pradeepa-ya (“Lamp of Wisdom”) weekly in and around Moratuwa town.

But the newspaper’s popularity and significance hasn’t waned, says Fernan-do, who still takes pride in delivering the newspaper, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary in Sri Lanka.

The paper was founded by John Fer-nando and started out as a four-page broadsheet of church news and papal speeches. It was produced by a team of eight laypeople and a priest. In 1886, more than two decades after it started, Colom-bo Archdiocese became the weekly’s offi-cial owner.

Today, Gnanartha Pradeepaya is dis-tributed nationally and has 24 pages, with its front and back pages in full color. The paper also has evolved from report-ing just church news to covering politi-cal, economic and social issues but with a Catholic perspective.

Fernando, a university staffer, said the newspaper is useful in keeping peo-ple informed and has been fostering and nurturing the Catholic community, a reli-gious minority in this Buddhist-majority island nation.

Subscribers also use the paper to find suitable life partners from their commu-nity or submit death notices of a loved one.

Egypt pardons, releases jailed Al-Jazeera journalists

jail because they were outside Egypt when po-lice arrested the three men.

“Reminder that as well as Baher and Fah-my, there are seven other [Al-Jazeera journal-ists] convicted in absentia whose lives have been affected,” the network’s spokesman Osa-ma Saeed said on Twitter.

The case had drawn condemnation from around the world, including from the US secre-tary of state, John Kerry, and Australia’s new prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, who had promised Greste he would push for a pardon.

A spokeswoman for Canada’s foreign af-fairs department, Rachna Mishra, reportedly said Canada was pleased with the pardon and would help facilitate Fahmy’s departure. “We look forward to Mr Fahmy reuniting with his family and loved ones, and his return to Cana-da,” she told AP.

Fahmy gave up his Egyptian nationality during the trial in hope of being deported to Canada.

Protesters calling for relsease of Al Jazeera journalists.

Sunny Fernando with a copy of Gnanartha Pradeepaya.

‘Star Radler unleashes innate creativity of Nigerian youths’

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net 51Thursday, october 1, 2015 Young & Next Generation

Leonard okachie

As new facts have shown that the rise in road traffic deaths may be

linked to the physiological sta-tus of new drivers, Carmudi has cautioned parents to be concerned about allowing their teenagers drive as they are of-ten involved in fatal crashes.

Carmudi, the vehicle mar-ketplace for buyers and sellers of cars online, examined ac-cident data and the neurosci-ence behind teen brain devel-opment to answer the question of whether teens should be al-lowed to drive in Nigeria.

According to Carmudi, speed induced road traffic crashes accounted for 50.8% of reported road traffic crashes.

The reports says: “In fact, the rate of fatal crashes for less than18- year- olds per mile nearly doubles when compared to drivers aged 18 and19, and

Carmudi cautions against teens’ driving in new study

Leonard okachie

Recently, Star Radler, the exciting beer and citrus fruit drink from Nigeria’s number one brewer, Nigerian Breweries, demon-

strated its passion about empowering the cre-ative and entertainment industry, with the spon-sorship of pop star 2Face Idibia’s 40th birthday celebration tagged #Fortyfied.

Throwing light on Star Radler’s support for the Nigerian Creative Industry, Corporate Me-dia & Brand PR Manager, Nigerian Breweries Plc Edem Vindah explained that Star Radler as a brand is deeply invested in promoting the Nigerian entertainment industry because the brand is about unleashing the innate creativ-ity of youthful Nigerians.

He said, “Creativity is central to the identity of Star Radler because it appeals to people who are young and expressive. Our support for the creative industry in Nigeria stems from our de-sire to promote the interests of these talents and inspire them to get even better.

“In this case, we are here to celebrate one of Nigeria’s most successful musicians ever, and our hope is that there are more 2Face Idibia’s out there whom we are inspiring to engage and improve their craft.”

On his part, the man at the centre of For-tyfied, 2face Idibia praised Star Radler for the show of support on his 40th birthday. In his words, “It really means a lot to me that on the occasion of my 40th birthday, Star Radler is here to celebrate with me. They say life begins at 40. If that is so, then I have started life with Star Radler and I look forward to living life for many more years.”

Some of those in attendance at the event

33 for AKBC talent hunt grand finaleAkwa Ibom Broadcasting Corpo-

ration (AKBC) sponsored talent hunt project has selected a total

of 33 youths for grand finale billed for tomoorrro in Uyo.

The talent hunt project tagged: ‘Promise Hunt 2015’ is part of AKBC contribution to the 28th Anniversary of the creation of Akwa Ibom.

Speaking with newsmen in Uyo on Tuesday, the Director General of the Corporation, Mr. Anietie Ukpe, said that the project was aimed at discover-ing hidden talents among the youths.

He said that the project, which was

its maiden edition, was the corpora-tion’s way of identifying with the state government youths empower-ment initiatives.

Ukpe said that the project started a month ago with the selection pro-cess from the three senatorial dis-tricts of the state.

He said that 60 talented youths se-lected from Akwa Ibom North East, 51 from Akwa Ibom South and 60 from Akwa Ibom North West.

He said that the 33 talented youths for the grand finale would contest

for honour in music, ballad, dance, comedy, creative arts and craft on Oct. 2 in Uyo.

“The government of Mr. Udom Emmanuel is all geared toward em-powerment of youths in the state, as a corporation we have to key into this empowerment drive of the gov-ernor.

“The motive of this ‘Promise Hunt’ is to develop the talent in our young ones. We pick raw talent and groom them to become stars tomorrow,” he said.

Members of Jakins Junior Cliub during teen’s class session in Lagos.

Wizkid, Dbanj, 2face at 2face’s 40 th birthday celebration in Lagos.

that held at Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos included D’Banj, Burna Boy, Don Jazzy, Seyi Shay, Senator Florence Ita Giwa, Annie Macaulay, Klint D Drunk, Yaw, Bovi, KSB and Basket Mouth.

Also in attendance were AY, Keke Ogung-be, Tee A, Ebuka, Ini Edo, Funke Akindele, Korede Bello, Reekado Banks, DJ Spinall, 9ice, Dayo Adeneye, Banky W, Wande Coal, Wizkid, Darey Art Alade, Timi Dakolo, Tania Omotayo.

Others included DJ Jimmy Jatt, Destiny Amaka, Kayode Peters, Funny Bone, Alibaba and Gbenga Adeyinka, all of who took turns enjoying the taste of Star Radler, a drink made of Star lager beer, orange juice and lemon juice.

is three times higher than the rate for drivers over 20.

“With these insights par-ents should be concerned and ultimately ask the question:

should we really trust our chil-dren to drive?

“When it comes to reckless driving and teenagers, it isn’t a case of not knowing any bet-ter. Research by the National Institute of Health (NIH) found that the part of the hu-man brain that weighs risks and controls impulsive be-haviour isn’t fully developed until about age 25.

“The nucleus accumbens, which registers pleasure, grows from childhood, reach-ing the maximum extent in the teenage brain, and then begins

to shrink. This, combined with a surge of dopamine recep-tors, which are responsible for signaling enjoyment, makes teenagers rewards seem much greater. To the teenage brain, the reward is greater than the risk.”

The report also indicated that in addition to brain chem-istry, teen driving behaviour contributes to auto accidents as teens are more likely to en-gage in high-risk behaviour.

This includes checking their cell phones, as they become more comfortable with driv-

ing. After sixteen months of driving, teens are involved in distracting behaviour twice as often as adults. Texting or making calls increases the risk of crashing threefold.

Another contributing factor to the fatality rate according to the study is the age of ve-hicles driven by teens nearly half of drivers’ in their teens who died in car crashes from 2008 to 2012 had cars that were at least 11 years old.

However, the study noted that the positive news is that automakers are increasingly building safer cars. Today, vehicles boast all sorts of safety features.

Reacting to the report, Amy Muoneke said, “Not handing the car keys over is not the answer to teen road fatalities. Parents play the biggest role in keeping their teens safe behind the wheel. Aside from safer vehicles for teens and education on the awareness of cellphone and seatbelt usage, parents also have to be aware of their own driving habits.

Teens pick up small driv-ing habits on how their par-ents drive. Does Dad wear his seatbelt? Is Mom talking on her cellphone? These small habits can actually have a ma-jor impact.”

Sharing picture books with children can make them smarter –Study

Group empowers youngsters on ICT in Ajegunle

Have you tried to wash oily hands in just water and discovered that your hands stayed oily? Or think

of crude oil that spills from a tanker in the ocean and floats on top of the water.

There are two main reasons why

Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) hosted a town hall meeting for its pilot ICT and Entrepreneurship

training programme called the L.I.F.E. (Life Skills, ICTs, Financial Readiness And Entrepreneurship) programme which held in Ajegunle.

In the presence of parents, stake-holders, volunteers, partners, com-munity leaders and alumni of the pro-gramme, certificates were presented to 10 alumni of #AjegunleLIFE who were deemed to have fulfilled all re-quirements for the completion of the programme.

L.I.F.E. training is a capacity build-ing initiative that aims to transform underserved communities in Nigeria as a model intervention for other un-derserved communities. It provided students with practical trainings on ICT and entrepreneurship, with the aim of preparing the participants to be self-sufficient.

PIN’s Chief Operating Officer, Tope Ogundipe in her welcome remarks said “L.I.F.E. since inception in 2007 has expanded to other locations in Aba (#AbaLIFE), Abia state and more re-cently Kano. Our aim is to reach more youths living in under-served commu-nities in Nigeria.”

In a speech issued by the Executive Director of PIN–‘Gbenga Sesan, he said, “it is very important for each of our alumni to go forth and train others in order to foster a truly empowered community. A candle loses nothing by lighting up others.”

The programme ended brilliantly with a musical performance by #Aje-gunleLIFE 2015c students. It featured melodious singing, and powerful raps.

Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) is a social enterprise that connects Nige-rian youth with ICT-enabled opportu-nities.

Having worked with government, civil society, private institutions and international organizations, PIN’s projects build on years of combined experience and focus on socio-econom-ic development.

Why don’t oil and water mix?

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net

52 Young & Next Generation Thursday, october 1, 2015

Leonard okachie

World Literacy Foundation study estimated that illiteracy costs the global economy more than

$1 trillion a year through lost job oppor-tunities but a new study has suggested that there is one simple way to equip your children for a life of literacy from their infancy: share picture books with them.

The research by Lynne Murray, Stel-lenbosch University, Mark Tomlinson, University of Reading and Peter Cooper, indicated that already a compelling body of evidence from high income countries which shows that children’s language development and literacy skills are fa-cilitated by book sharing with a carer, beginning in infancy.

The study suggests that there seems to be something special about the process of book sharing, stressing that the evi-dence shows that sharing picture books with infants delivers the largest benefit in terms of their cognitive development. Carers name objects for the infant and acknowledge, extend and elaborate on the focus of the infant’s interests.

Recent research has shown that when carers are provided with training in sen-sitive book sharing (so-called dialogic reading), there are substantial improve-ments in infant sustained attention. This improvement is directly related to the carers’ increased sensitivity, warmth and responsiveness. Importantly, it has been found that early infant sustained attention is a reliable predictor of later child IQ.

The researchers said: “We have devel-

Science for Kids

oped a book sharing training programme and used it in Khayelitsha, a township outside Cape Town, South Africa.

“Caregivers and their infants met weekly in groups of three to five with a trainer over two months. During these sessions the trainer conveyed informa-tion about the process of sensitive book sharing, modelled key skills and facili-tated and encouraged caretakers in good practice.

“Each session began with a 30 minute presentation with illustrative video clips. This was followed by a 10 to 15 minute session of individual attention. Typically, during these individual sessions, the train-er would share the book with the infant herself, modelling behaviours.”

The training programme includes the following basic components of dia-

logic reading: Active child participation, pointing and naming active and active linking of book content to the infant’s real world.

The study, published in the Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology, found that trained carers were not only much better at book sharing: when they played with their infants without books, they were also more sensitive and responsive. The children, too, showed dramatic im-provement.

Their vocabulary increased and their comprehension improved; and their sus-tained attention showed a marked in-crease. Indeed, this increase was equiva-lent to increasing their intelligence by 16 IQ points. In addition, the children be-came more sociable and displayed more empathy.

Children doing thier painting in a class

don’t oil and water mix even if they are put in the same container. Both these reasons consider these two sub-stances on a very small scale.

Everything around us is made up of tiny particles known as molecules. The way in which two substances in-teract depends on the molecules that make up the substances.

The first reason that water and oil don’t mix is because their molecules are packed differently. The molecules of water are packed very densely. (Would be good to show water mol-ecules packed densely) In one glass of water, there are more molecules than the number of known stars in the uni-verse!

This means if we take equal parts of water and oil, there will be more molecules of water than oil. This also means that it will always sink under-neath the oil.

There is one more reason why they cannot mix with each other. Polarity. Polarity means a molecule is positive-ly charged at one end and negatively

charged at the other. Water is a polar molecule. Water molecules are made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom each.

Since only opposites attract, the water molecules stick to each other.

Polar molecules only dissolve in polar solvents. Similarly, non-polar molecules only dissolve in non- polar solvents. Oil is made up of non-polar molecules. It has a shell of negative charges, or electrons, surrounding the molecule.

The oil molecules will ultimately stick to each other. Therefore, even if you stir a container with oil and wa-ter, they will eventually separate into two distinct layers.

Detergents and soaps help us to re-move oil and dirt from utensils and our bodies. Oily feathers and coats help animals who live in seas and riv-ers to stay warm, as the oil keeps the cold water away from their skin.

Source: mocomi.com

Performance by AjegunleLIFe 2015 students.oil and water mix

Thursday September 4, 2014 53National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friday, October 1, 2015

54 –Monaco winger, Stephan El Shaarawy

I am enjoying a completely new lease of life in here and I can only look forward to greater days ahead

Wenger under fire over Euro “big mistake”

Sport

Nigeria’s opponents in the 2016 Afri-can Nations Championship quali-fier Burkina Faso will face Rwanda

on October 9 ahead of their game against the home-based Super Eagles.

The friendly between Burkina Faso and CHAN 2016 hosts, Rwanda, will be held in Morocco.

The 2016 CHAN will hold between Janu-ary 16 to February 7.

The Super Eagles head coach Sunday Oliseh, Tuesday, named a 19-man squad for the qualifier.

Nigeria will host the first leg of the qual-ifier on October 18 in Port Harcourt while the return leg holds in Ouagadougou on Sunday, 25th October.

The home-based Eagles will start camp-ing ahead of the game on Monday, October 5 in Port Harcourt.

Nigerian women referees will take charge of a 2016 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup qualifying

match between Burkina Faso and Ethio-pia, this weekend in Ouagadougou . The match was earlier set to be played last weekend.

The rescheduling, it was learnt, was as a result of the coup in Burkina Faso.

CAF’s confirmation of this weekend for the match in Ouagadougou also means that the 2016 African Nations

Championship final qualifier between Nigeria and Burkina Faso, set for Oua-gadougou on October 25, remains unaf-fected.

According to CAF, Uloma Nwogu will be the referee for this weekend’s clash in Burkina Faso, with Hulda Nwokocha as first assistant and Mimisen Iyorhe as second assistant. Another Nigerian, Folusho Ajayi will be the reserve ref-eree.

The match is the third round, first

leg of the race to the 2016 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Papua New Guinea.

The winner of the fixture between Burkina Faso and Ethiopia will clash with the winner between Equatorial Guinea and Ghana, while the winner between Nigeria and Democratic Re-public of Congo will confront the win-ner between Zambia and South Africa, for Africa’s two slots at the finals in Papua New Guinea.

B/Faso play Rwanda ahead Eagles clash

CHAN qualifier

Nigerian women referees for World Cup

Bukina Faso players

Pinnick

Man Utd 2 1 Wolfsburg

Malmo FF 0 2 Real Madrid

CSKA 3 2 PSV

FC Astana 2 2 G’tasaray

Atl. Madrid 1 2 Benfica

Borussia M. 1 2 Man City

Juventus 2 0 Sevilla

Shakhtar 0 3 PSG

Results

54 Sports National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netFriday, October 1, 2015

Liverpool drop

for Europa tieSturridgeSturridge

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger found himself attacked from all sides

yesterday after his selection decisions backfired to leave his team facing an embarrassing group-stage exit in the Champi-ons League.

Wenger elected to pick David

Wenger under fire over Euro “big mistake”

Congolese starlet joins Crystal PalaceCrystal Palace can confirm

the signing of Belgian youngster Jason Lokilo from

Anderlecht, following the receipt of the player’s international clear-ance,” the Premier League outfit stated on their official website yes-terday.

The 17-year-old attacking mid-fielder had been training with the club’s development squads since landing in South East London this summer, and will now be looking to secure some decent playing time with the U-18 or U-21 sides.

“I’m very happy to have signed with Crystal Palace,” Lokilo com-mented.

“It’s a good club making prog-ress. They bought Cabaye, who is a very good player. And I like Bolas-ie, Zaha, Puncheon; it’s a very good place for wingers!

“I’ve trained very well and I’m looking to continue that.”

“I’m a right winger, but I can play anywhere,” the youngster added.

“I like to pass the ball and get as-sists. I’m left-footed, so I like to cut inside to create chances to score.”

The Belgian-born player of Con-golese descent has received an in-ternational call-up with DR Congo U-20 to face England in a friendly.

Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge, who scored his first

goals of the season last weekend, will be left out of today’s Europa League tie against FC Sion, manager Brendan Rodgers said yes-terday.

The aim is to hold him back for Sunday’s Mersey-side derby at Everton, who are four places above their neighbours. But Rodgers will be happy with Eng-land naming him today for their final Euro 2016 quali-fying matches in a week’s time.

“He won’t be involved in the (Sion) game,” Rodg-

ers told a pre-match news conference. “We’ll keep him fresh for the weekend. He’s still building his way towards fitness.”

The England striker missed six months of last season in all with calf and thigh injuries and then the first five league matches of the new campaign.

In his second game back last weekend he scored twice against Aston Villa, delighting Rodgers with the way he combined with new signing Danny Ings.

“If we can keep him fit, there’s a real good combi-nation there. It was a real threat,” the manager said.

“Our approach to this game will be how it’s been in the competition so far. It’s an opportunity for players on the fringes,” Rodgers added, confirm-ing that 18-year-old mid-fielder Jordan Rossiter will feature.

He made his debut in a 1-1 draw with Bordeaux in the opening Group B game. On the same day Sion beat Rubin Kazan 2-1 to top the table.

“It’s a game where we’re going to need to be pa-tient,” Rodgers said. “Sion sit deep and then play a counter-attacking game.”

Ospina instead of first-choice goalkeeper Petr Cech at home to Olympiakos on Tuesday, but the Colombian committed a first-half howler, palming a corner into his own net, as Arsenal lost 3-2 to register a second consecu-tive Group F defeat.

Wenger claimed afterwards

that Cech had been left on the bench due to a “slight (fitness) alert” prior to Saturday’s 5-2 win at Leicester City, but Ar-senal great Ian Wright said the Frenchman had made a “big mistake”.

“For somebody who’s not playing often -- and this is a

must-win game -- how can you put Ospina in goal? You’ve got to question the manager there,” Wright, Arsenal’s sec-ond-highest all-time goal-scor-er, said on BT Sport.

“I think that’s a big mistake. Why not start with Petr Cech, simply because of the experi-ence he’s got? Because we have to win this game. Arsenal have to win this game.”

Paradoxically, Arsenal fared better in the Champions League when Wenger’s ability to invest in new players was hindered by the cost of the Emirates Stadium.

Now free to splurge money on global stars like Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal curiously look more vulner-able than ever.

Their next group fixtures are a double-header against Pep Guardiola’s formidable Bayern Munich, in-form Rob-ert Lewandowski and all, who eliminated Arsenal in the last 16 in both 2013 and 2014.

Should Arsenal fail to win at least one of those games, they will face elimination at the group stage for the first time since 1998.

Jason Lokilo

Wenger

Sturridge

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 55SportsFriday, October 1, 2015

Al-Ahly, Zamalek to play behind closed doorsCAF Confed cup semi-finals

Orlando Pirates will reportedly play their CAF Confederation Cup semi-final decider with Al-

Ahly behind closed doors in Egypt on Sunday night.

According to reports, the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) said it was advised to make the announcement by

the country’s interior ministry due to se-curity concerns.

Zamalek are also set to entertain Etoile du Sahel without home support in their last-four tie a day earlier.

Pirates beat Ahly 1-0 in the first leg in Soweto last weekend, while Zamalek were thumped 5-1 by Etoile in Tunisia.

“Both Al-Ahly and Zamalek [Confeder-ation Cup matches] will be without fans according to the recommendation from the Ministry of Interior. We sent them a request and they assured that Al Ahly will play their match against Orlando Pirates in Suez City while Zamalek will play in Petro Sport in New Cairo City,”

EFA executive director Tharwat Swailem is quoted as saying by SuperSport.com.

“We wrote to the Ministry of Interior and assured them that we are not respon-sible for the attendance of the fans in this couple of matches,” he added.

However, Ahly and Zamalek have indi-cated they will challenge the decision.

Players of title-chas-ing Warri Wolves, yesterday, stormed

the Delta State Govern-ment House in Asaba to protest over their unpaid wages and bonuses run-ning into several months.

Wolves are third on the league table with 52 points from 31 matches, six points adrift of leaders Enyimba.

Wolves, who have previ-

ously embarked on a pay strike, have not received salaries for the past six months (that is not to in-clude September) as well as other benefits.

These outstanding pay-ments include a backlog of sign-on fees totaling 115 percent as well as match bonuses for both local and international matches.

The players said they

had no choice but to stage a peaceful protest march to the Government House to demand for the payment of their monies.

They carried placards with various inscriptions like “Your Excellency, please pay us our sign-on fees, bonuses and salary,” and “We don’t have retire-ment benefits, please pay us o.”

IfeanyI eduzor

All is now set for the maiden edition of VCN independence

beach marathon slated for the Elegushi Beach, Lagos.

Sponsor of the tourna-ment, Chief Vincent Nwa-ribeaku told National Mir-ror that the race which will hold today is part of his ef-forts to encourage youth’s participation in sports as well as celebrate the coun-

try’s 55 years existence as a sovereign nation even as he announced that the sum of .2million naira will be at stake at the championship.

Nwaribeaku whose sports kits distribution company is also planning for the finals of the VCN U-15 football champion-ship at the Legacy Pitch of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos on Octo-ber, 19, noted that winners in both male and female categories will win N100,

000 each with trophies and medals while the 1st run-ners-up will go home with N 50,000 just as the 2nd run-ners- up in both categories will be N25, 000 richer.

“I feel honoured to ex-tend my sports develop-ment effort from football to beach marathon. Win-ners of the VCN beach marathon in both men and women categories will take home the sum of two hun-dred thousand naira be-sides medals and trophies.

VIctor udoh

Guinness is once again demonstrat-ing its commitment

to football. In fulfillment of its promise to provide more exciting times to football fans, Guinness Nigeria Plc., has launched an exciting marketing cam-paign tagged ‘Every Minute Made Of Black’.

Activated across Nige-ria, Every Minute Made of Black football consumer promotion has been con-

ceived to reward loyal foot-ball fans and give them an intense experience that rep-resents the bold, iconic beer.

Speaking at the media launch, Brand Guinness Se-nior Brand Manager, Guin-ness Nigeria Plc.

Kunle Faloye said, “We have a great property with our broadcast sponsorship of the Barclays Premier League on DSTV and we want to leverage the op-portunity to engage fans at home, bars and viewing centers, giving them a stake in the game and the chance

to win great prizes.This is truly an inno-

vative promotion, and we hope that our consumers will find it to be fun and an interesting way to watch the BPL games.”

“The first 2,500 entries will win N250 airtime just for participating. There is also the big cash reward, every entry automatically qualifies for the weekend grand draw, where 20 people will share N2, 000,000 cash reward; that is N100, 000 cash per person, but you have to participateto win”, said Faloye.

Wolves protest upaid salaries again

VCN Independence beach marathon holds today

Guinness excites football fans as BPL gets underway

Ex- Super Eagles player,. Mutiu Adepoju; Marketing Direc-tor, Guinness Nigeria Plc., Gavin Pike; Ex- Super Falcons goalkeeper, Ann Chiejine and Legal Director, Guinness Nigeria Plc., Rotimi Odusola at the launch event of Every Minute Made Of Black

Al-Ahly against Pirates during their first leg match in South Africa

Vol. 05 No. 1212 Thursday, October 1, 2015 N150

WORLD RECORD

The largest smoothie contained 2,300 litres (607.6 US gal) and was prepared by Dry July (Australia) at Circular Quay in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on 30

June 2014.

Largest smoothie

SolaOjewusi

S lGuest Columnist

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.

Acting Editor: BEN MEMULETIWON. All correspondence to PMB 10001, Marina, Lagos. Printed simultaneously in Lagos, Abuja and Akure. ISSN 0794-232X.

My friends all, universally, the age of 55 is considered an age of maturity; having come this far,

Nigeria ordinarily should be appraised as mature and truly there. But then, consid-ering the myriad of vagaries bedevilling our national existence, considering the infantile statesmanship of those entrust-ed with our commonwealth over the years and the dire consequences of their fail-ings, can we really beat our chests with the confidence of a truly mature nation? Can we boldly face the rest of the world and affirm our true position in the comity of nations? Are we not still retarded, held back by unbelievably self inflicted ail-ments? Today as we celebrate our 55th years of nationhood, is there really any-thing worth rolling out the drums for?

There are specific indices of a truly independent nation. When we rub shoul-ders with other nations considered truly

developed, do we really measure up to the standards that made and still make these nations great, and indeed prosperous? In a season of change, when the national leadership revolution ushered in a new crop of leaders, do we really feel free to boldly affirm that this is the change we really craved for?

When the Americans rode on the crest of change to usher in the Obama revolu-tion in 2008, the whole world knew that this was change indeed. In our realm, what are the very things that we can point to as evidence of true change in the new dispensation?

President Muhammadu Buhari has come up with the strong signals of a leader determined to begin the crusade of change by giving strong teeth to the hitherto comical anti-corruption battle. Good. But are we the governed ready to go with him in this battle? The signs are really not encouraging. Or how else do we describe the current circus that the ordi-narily routine arraignment of the Senate President for alleged false asset declara-tion has disheartening become? In a na-tion where the citizenry is serious about change, isn’t it appalling to still see peo-ple demonstrating against what is nor-mally a routine anti-corruption exercise? Even if the intention of the government in prosecuting Saraki is shrouded in the vindictive garb, doesn’t the law permit the CCB’s action in the first place? We cannot hope to enjoy true change when even the citizenry cannot draw a line between what is legally permissible and crudely emotional attachment to suspects

of corruption. Then come to think of NEPOTISM. In

a truly mature nation, should we still be bothered about the ethnicity of a public officer in matters of appointment? To-day, even the recent appointments made by the symbol of change, our President, continue to be assailed by the nepotistic hoopla. In 2015, close to three score years of national existence, we are still talking of the provenance of appointees regard-less of the competence of such for the specific post! While I will always be an apostle of balance in national appoint-ments, given the federal nature of our commonwealth, I will never subscribe to nepotism as the yardstick for such ap-pointments. We cannot claim to be a ma-ture nation if we are still bogged down in such anti-progress inexactitudes.

And what about the Corruption co-nundrum? How independent are we when those entrusted with our national and state coffers are still at liberty to personalize them with impunity? Many a trusted public official still acts like ac-cursed buffoons, dipping hands in the national till without qualms about rec-ompense. And rather than rise with one voice against such officers regardless of

Sport Extra

Britain’s Johanna Konta, yesterday beat Romanian world number two Simona

Halep 6-3 3-6 7-5 in the Wuhan Open third round.

Konta staged a superb fightback to beat Halep 6-3 3-6 7-5 and reach the quarter-finals of the Wuhan Open.

The 24-year-old will next play former world number one Venus Williams for a place in the last four.

After winning the first set, Kon-ta looked set for defeat as Halep won the second and was 5-1 up in the decisive third.

However, Halep had no answer

as Konta stunned the Romanian to progress.

Konta, who will replace Heather Watson as British number one, has been in superb form this year, win-ning 21 of her previous 22 matches.

She began the year ranked 150th but will pass her compatriot in

Wuhan Open:Wuhan Open: Konta stuns world number two Halep, meets Venus Konta stuns world number two Halep, meets Venus

Johanna Konta

At 55, have we really come of age?

OUR DESTINY IS ASSURED IF WE

ONLY GET OUT OF THE SHACKLES OF

IGNORANCE

next week’s rankings. Watson is currently ranked 60th in the world.

Konta came through two rounds of qualifying in Wuhan, joining 19 of the world’s top 20 in the main draw, and reached the last 16 after her opponent Victoria Azarenka retired with a leg injury.

our emotional attachment to them, are we not guilty of pampering such scoundrels and even hailing them as heroes?

At 55, how mature are our democratic norms? While one must admit that we are gradually coming of age, with the recent Jonathan concession of defeat as an exam-ple, it is still disheartening that the politi-cal minds of 90 percent of our politicians are still dregs of selfishness, lack of vision and crude avarice. Our politicians still see elective posts not in terms of altruism and pro bono service but rather as avenues for self enrichment and aggrandizement.

At 55, we still treat our economy like a toddler’s business in most quarters. Ev-ery day, we are assaulted by policy som-ersaults at the slightest provocation. Re-gardless of the long term fiscal harm, we are still witnessing arbitrary clampdowns on monetary policies without recourse to their comeuppance.

And what of the village square men-tality of our leaders in most situations requiring intercontinental treatments? Genuine infrastructural uplift of the na-tion has been relegated to the backyard in our leaders’ mentality. Shockingly enough these same leaders travel daily to other nations, see and relish the infrastructural advancement there but when they return, their ability to replicate such wonders here, despite our capacities remain re-tarded! So with such warped leadership, how independent are we? Not to mention the mind-boggling facts that a secular na-tion is still bogged down by religious na-iveties and fanaticism!

But really I must admit that we still have something to cheer. One is our resil-ience and against-all-odds spirit of sur-vival. Nigerians have thought the world a lesson in the never-say-die spirit. You un-derestimate our spirit at your own peril or shame. Our potentials are immense. Our destiny is assured if we only get out of the shackles of ignorance.

May God bless our dear nation, Nigeria.Ojewusi wrote via solaojewusi@ya-

hoo.com