September 06, 2015

Newspaper of the Year

Chibok Girls: FG may reject Boko Haram talks Troops intensify hunt for abducted schoolgirls Page 4

KIDNAPPERS ABDUCT EX-DSS DG Page 6

EKPEYONG'S BROTHER

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Vol.09, No. 3330

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SUNDAY

N200.00

SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

BUHARI CABINET

Govs, Senators, Reps lose power to pick nominees Intrigues, cash crunch delay cabinets in 24 states Pgs 5, 9 & 10

EUROPE IMMIGRANT CRISIS LATEST •Desperate refugees looking for every way to get to Austria and Germany. Yesterday the two countries opened their borders to the allow them in.

Pages 12 & 67

Anxiety over Olu of Warri’s health Page 5

Suicide bomber Ajimobi: kills 30 traders Bail-out can’t in Borno market bail us out Page 8

Page 6

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

PAGE 2 New York millionaire bequeaths $100,000 to 32 cockatiels

CAPTURED

A

New York City millionaire who died this summer has bequeathed a $100,000 trust fund to care for her 32 pet cockatiels.

The New York Post reported yesterday that Leslie Ann Mandel's will asks that the small parrots continue living in an aviary at her $4 million East Hampton home.

The will names each bird, from Margie and Nicki to Zara and Zack 12.

With Mandel's stepson as trustee, the fund also will care for a cat named Kiki and a rescue dog named Frosty.

Mandel ran a fundraising firm and amassed a $5.3 million fortune. She died in June at age 69.

Other wills also have provided for pets. Hotel magnate Leona Helmsley left $12 million to her dog, Trouble. A judge trimmed the bequest to $2 million.

• A refugee lies on the track with a baby after being detained. Hungarian police and refugees were involved in a standoff at Bicske station following a misjudged attempt by authorities to move on some of the thousands gathered in Budapest's main railway station. Photo: AP •Parrot

BAROMETER sunday@thenationonlineng.net

Finally, axe falls on Marilyn Ogar

Jonathan's letter writers

By ADEKUNLE ADE-ADELEYE

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

The Buhari administration: Prospects and problems I T is said that thunder hardly strikes twice at the same spot. If the now civilianized former military ruler from Daura is remembered for little else, he will be memorialized as the man under whose watch thunder struck the Nigerian political firmament twice. It is no mean achievement. Let us now elaborate on this political conceit.

In March 1984 and after the first hundred days of his first coming, it was clear that the lean ramrod straight infantry general meant exacting business. Now thirty one years apart, and after another hundred days of the new civilian regime headed by the selfsame but now retired general, Buhari has again shaken Nigeria to its political foundation. A brief historical detour is in order.

At the close of the month of December 1983, a group of senior military officers led by Major General Mohamadu Buhari , as at then the General Officer commanding the Third Division of the Nigerian Army based in Jos, overthrew the civilian regime headed by Alhaji Shehu Aliyu Shagari.

There was widespread jubilation and applause across the length and breadth of the nation. The joyous mood of the nation was captured in the enraptured refrain: “Happy new year, and happy new regime!!”

It is interesting to note that when Buhari was toppled twenty months later in a palace coup spearheaded by the then Chief of Army Staff, Major General Ibrahim Babangida, the applause, if any at all, was muted.

There was no general jubilation except among disaffected factions of the political class. As far as the general populace was concerned, it was a play of giants among military juggernauts in which Nigerians were nothing but spectral spectators.

But as fate and divine destiny would have it, thirty years after his ouster by his colleagues, Buhari has been returned to power as a civilian after another major ruling class implosion and this time on the cusp of a pan-Nigerian revolt against corrupt and inept civilian rule. This was after three storied attempts in 2003, 2007 and 2011 which ended in tears and much gnashing of teeth.

This time around, nothing could have stopped the Buhari momentum as it swept the cobwebs of elite mischief and ancient feuds before it. Never in Nigeria’s history has the national multitude rooted and rallied valiantly for one individual.

Since no one can argue with a political volcano, the utterly remiss and renegade Nigerian ruling class quietly slunk away after one last ditch attempt to torpedo the entire process.

It should be noted that the old military coalition which swept Buhari to power was an inchoate, contrary and contradictory amalgam comprising of careerists, rightwing power venders, professional coupists and a sprinkling of genuine nationalists officers. Very soon, the stress and strains began to manifest and it was clear to the discerning that a military showdown was all but inevitable.

It was said that Alhaji Shehu Shagari, the ousted and absconding former civilian president, aborted his precipitate flight around Lafia upon learning of the headship and composition of the new military junta.

It was not a revolution, so to say. It was an orderly revolt among military orderlies of the oligarchy.

Demonstrating astonishing political virginity, General Buhari himself did not help matters. A devout traditionalist obviously insulated from the then prevalent national mood and temperament, he addressed a press conference denouncing those who were insinuating that Alhaji Shagari

•President Buhari

was brought down to Lagos in chains.

This was at a time when Shagari’s deputy, Alex Ekwueme, had been hauled into detention where he developed a beard that would make Nebuchadinazeer wince in fearful admiration.

By the time Buhari was ousted, what was perceived as the less than evenhanded handling of the cases of corrupt self-enrichment and other sensitive national matters had cost the administration considerable elite sympathy particularly among the Southern factions. The powerful ASUU gave up after dismissing the junta as the military wing of the NPN. Wole Soyinka, soon to be ennobled—or ennobeled—was on fearsome rampage tearing the administration to pieces at every available forum. Two respected civil war stalwarts from the west tore into the administration. In a coup de grace, the inevitable General Obasanjo gave a lecture at UI in which he warned that Nigeria was not the exclusive property of a section and must not be so ruled. It was the beginning of the end.

In retrospect, it can now be seen that just as the military amalgam that originally brought Buhari to power was inchoate and irredeemably conflictual, the civilian coalition that has brought him to power almost thirty two years after is even more inchoate, contradictory and roiling with mutually exclusive political tendencies. It has already occasioned much stress and tension in the polity.

The senate is lost to a desperate counter-revolutionary group who do not care a hoot about Buhari’s messianic mission.

It is only a mere hundred days into Buhari’s civilian administration and writs are already flying all over the place. Investigative organs are being legally defanged or disabled on a daily basis. The masses who are still solidly behind Buhari do not own either newspapers or electronic organs of counter-revolutionary dissemination of virulent nationtearing propaganda and they can only watch in fearful dismay. It is obvious that if thunder can strike twice, so can retrogressive reaction.

What remains is at this point is to take a prospective analysis of the balance of forces, the problems that may fatally entrap Buhari this time around as a result of certain persistent political peccadilloes and the political formations that will shape up in opposition to the retired general in all their structural, systemic, ideological and institutional dimensions. This should serve as a political primer and mnemonic device for the retired general as well as a handy manual for

a chronically conflicted nation.

In a brilliant, profoundly ironic comparison of the two Bonapartes, Karl Marx once observed that history often repeats itself, the first time as a tragedy and the second time as a farce. In an interesting gloss on this passage, Terry Eagleton, the notable Anglo-Irish Marxist literary theorist, has noted that it was not just that Louis Bonaparte was a pathetic parody of his more illustrious uncle but that that was the way Napoleon Bonaparte himself would have appeared had he shown up around that time: A regressive caricature of his former self. In other words, time changes everything and change also must time itself.

It is important to save General Buhari from becoming a selfparodying caricature of his former self.

The first time he ruled Nigeria, it was as an absolute military autocrat with all the power, the symbolic aura and paraphernalia of military despotism.

This time around as a civilian ruler, he can no longer tap into or avail himself of such wide, untrammeled powers.

Military rule is passé and the international community abjures autocratic civilian rule.

But besides all this, and much more importantly, the National Question, in the intervening decades, has been critically exacerbated and Nigeria has become a roiling cage of contrary nationalities clawing at each other to death. The Nigerian postcolonial state is completely demystified and desacralized. Nothing is sacred or sacrosanct anymore.

President Buhari should therefore not be surprised or miffed if every step he takes to bring succour

S

COLUMN

3

nooping around With

Tatalo Alamu and solace to Nigerians irrespective of tribe, creed or region is subject to stringent scrutiny and every appointment is viewed from ethnic, religious and regional prism. Many will cock a snook at him just for the fun of it. Others will try to derail him out of bitter primordial malice, and he cannot resort to extra-constitutional measures in a just bid to sanitize the nation without calling into question the fragile national fabric. The Nigeria political elites have never been this bitterly polarized.

Yet it is a scary and precarious situation when a seeming revolution cannot employ revolutionary methods to deal with a historic mess.

The former general just has to get on with the job within the circumscribed and constricting ambit of law and order. Unlike the first time around when he was able to slam a tense somnolence on the nation by sheer military muscle, many more writs will erupt this time around as his sense of justice, evenhandedness and fair play is called into question by ethnic barons and ideological charlatans who have suddenly found their voice after keeping quiet when Jonathan’s misrule appeared to favour their section.

However, one thing Buhari has going for him which his military regime did not enjoy is massive international support and global approval. Having helped to bleed Nigeria senseless through its tacit support for executive pickpockets, the west is now showing some remorse about the fate and tragedy of the greatest conglomeration of Black souls in the world. Buhari should be able to leverage this global opprobrium for looters of our national patrimony irrespective of their status as the internal battle against corrupt enrichment gets underway.

But character is fate as the ancient Greek sages noted. What may eventually derail President Buhari are certain character traits which may be admirable when viewed in isolation but which when viewed holistically may represent a classic instance of how personal virtues may become political handicaps in the ethnic hotbed and political bedlam of fractious nations.

For example, Buhari’s contempt for the Nigerian political class is legendary .This contempt is welldeserved and shared by many patriotic Nigerians. But such was this contempt that the first time around, it didn’t allow him to even contemplate a Transition Programme for a return of

the country to civil rule. The enemies who would eventually oust him pounced on this.

This time around, the same contempt is driving Buhari to throw the baby away with the birth water by stiffly ignoring the call for another look at the structural misalignment that has hobbled the nation’s march to authentic nationhood. The president sees it as mere political irritation but it may eventually be discovered that without this drastic structural surgery, good governance and probity may simply not be enough.

An opportunistic but expired faction of the political elite has already latched on to this as causus belli, knowing how it resonates with wide sections of the nation.

The other problem is Buhari’s seeming inability to transcend a confining cultural and religious milieu. Nobody can grudge a man for his fidelity to the spiritual and cultural conditioning of his political habitus.

This is in the nature of human acculturation. But to rule a fractious multi-national nation like Nigeria requires far more cosmopolitan gamesmanship and metropolitan expansiveness than the president has shown. No one is asking him to admit contrary elements into his inner spiritual chambers, but he needs to widen and broaden his political associations in order to avail himself of the political, economic and spiritual intelligence that he will need in the struggle to redeem Nigeria.

If he has not been told, then he must be told that he could not have come to power without this .That critical political intelligence, economic surveillance, cultural patrolling and intellectual trouble shooting will be quite decisive as the battle to redeem Nigeria shapes up in the months ahead.

The first time around, General Buhari did most things right, but left his military flanks exposed which proved fatal.

This time around, President Buhari has been doing most things right while leaving his political flanks exposed which may prove equally lethal. The senate fiasco ought to have taught him a lesson. Even as the benefits of his nationalist reforms are beginning to kick in, he will still need a countervailing patriotic political cadre to shield him from political hyenas and to serve as the conduit pipe and transmission belt of a new national consciousness. It is morning yet after a mere hundred days and whatever the elite carping about posts and postings, Mohamadu Buhari is doing very well.

Akin Ambode, a nice chap finishes first

S

NOOPER has been watching and following the intriguesoaked, fiendishly quicksilver political milieu of Lagos with quiet animation. In the Fourth Republic, Lagos has gradually replaced Ibadan as the epicentre of progressive politics. It is the nerve centre and engine room of the transformational politics that has taken the old west and now the rest of Nigeria by storm. Have political brains and will travel. As the column never tires of positing, the artillery of knowledge is superior to knowledge of artillery.

But all over the world and particularly in post-colonial societies, progressive clans are a fractious troublous lot, quarrelling openly and quietly making up behind the scene even as the machine constantly purges itself of unworthy accretions. It is in the nature of radical organizations seeking

changes to be riddled with even more violent contradictions than the status quo they seek to supplant.

Early in life, snooper developed a mantra which often sees him through political turbulence. It is that no matter what happens, the party is supreme. You may quarrel viciously and violently before decisions are taken, but once they are taken you have to abide by them. This mantra was taken from an old western political warhorse whose one-liner retort to internal protest was: (Wo, parti o gbodo fo!) Look, the party must not break up, no matter what!

This is why it is meet to congratulate the Lagos state governor Akin Ambode over his sweet victory at the electoral tribunal. Now that the electoral hurdle has been scaled, it is time for the calm and methodical fellow to unfurl his bag of surprises for Lagosians. Humane, polished, cultured, sincerely solicitous

of other people’s wellbeing, and impeccably well-mannered , Ambode is quite a revelation in the coliseum of political roughnecks.

In the course of the last electioneering campaign, snooper sat down alone to drill the then gubernatorial aspirant and found his logical and intellectual grasp of issues, political, economic and even cultural, a tad short of prodigious. His answers were extensively well-researched and deeply thought out, shorn of pomp and pomposity. His quiet unassuming mien belies a ruthless streak which does not take hostages when sufficiently roused.

Well-educated, well-travelled and very cosmopolitan in outlook, Ambode should take Lagos state to the next level after the labours of earlier avatars.

Here is wishing the governor a successful tenure. Good guys also finish first.

I

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

NEWS

N spite of offer of dialogue, the federal government is yet to make up its mind on whether or not to go into fresh dialogue with Boko Haram.

Some representatives of the sect were said to be on standby for new talks with plans to release two or three of the 219 missing Chibok girls.

Also, intelligence report indicated that pressure from troops in the North-East, Cameroon and Chad has displaced the sect from their strongholds.

It was gathered that as troops gained more grounds, they have been given a mandate to locate the whereabouts of the Chibok girls.

Investigation by our correspondent revealed that although some representatives of Boko Haram had sneaked in and out of the country for preliminary talks with the federal government, the administration of President

Chibok girls: FG yet to accept Boko Haram's dialogue offer •Pressure from troops, Cameroon, Chad displaces sect •Troops launch manhunt for location of Chibok girls FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation Muhammadu Buhari is being cautious.

Findings confirmed that the government has left only the facilitators of the new dialogue to discuss with the representatives of the sect while a profiling of the offer is being done by the government.

A top source said: "The government of President Buhari is yet to accept the new offer of dialogue from Boko Haram in order to avoid

the pitfalls of the past.

"At the official level, no one has met with the representatives of the sect.

This administration is not opposed to dialogue but it has to be cautious in its approach.

Much money was wasted on the failed peace talks.

"At the end of the day, the sect and the facilitators benefited more from the failed project. So, it is not an issue government will rush into.

"While the President is not opposed to dialogue, security

agencies are still conducting the profiling of those behind the latest talks, their ranking in Boko Haram hierarchy and the probability of the new deal. They only promised to release two or three of the girls."

Another source, however, said the government believes the continuous attacks of soft targets by Boko Haram made the Buhari administration to be skeptical.

A security source said: "Members of the sect are not

behaving as if they are ready for dialogue. In one breath they talk of dialogue but they continue to maim and kill many.

"I think the pressure from our troops, Cameroon and Chad has displaced the sect from their bases and camps.

The sect is no doubt feeling the heat of the increased tempo of counter-insurgency.

"During the week, Boko Haram members engaged in reprisals in Northern Cameroon because they know the game is up."

As at press time, it was learnt that troops have been given the mandate to "locate the whereabouts of the Chibok girls."

"We believe Boko Haram leaders are using the girls as shield as they engage in make-shift life. But troops are now more determined because of far-reaching back up and new equipment. We are hopeful that we will locate the girls."

The Executive Secretary of Centre for Crisis Communication, Air Commodore Yusuf Anas, whose organisation is playing a facilitation role for

the latest dialogue, said all options were still open.

He said: "On the possibility of negotiation as we intimated in the last briefing, the Centre wishes to state that nothing has changed so far and all options are still open.

"In any case, negotiation or not, we urge the military to continue in their operations until the mission is achieved."

He also asked Nigerians to remain security conscious at all times.

He added: "The Centre has noted the resort to soft targets for bombing by some elements of the terrorist group using hapless young women and children.

"Seldom is direct confrontation between the insurgents and the troops are reported these days. What this means therefore is that the time now calls for more intelligence gathering and sharing by all and sundry.

"Citizens must remain security conscious and vigilant, especially in public places like markets, schools and worship centers and be able report any lead to the nearest security forces."

DSS raid: Emmanuel summons security chiefs OVERNOR Udom Emmanuel has expressed serious reservations on the raid of Akwa Ibom Government House by officials of the Department of State Service (DSS).

He stated this at the weekend during a meeting with all security chiefs in the state on the development.

The meeting presided over

by Emmanuel, it was learnt, lasted for two hours.

A Government House source, who preferred anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the development, said the governor expressed sadness over the con-

G • Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (left) with the couple, Oyindamola & Temitope, father of the bride and former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola (right) at the wedding of Prince Oyinlola's daughter, at Our Saviours Anglican Church, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos Island ... yesterday

Unemployed youths sue Anyim over Centenary City project T

HE Nigerian Unemployed Youth Vanguard (NUYV) yesterday disclosed that it has completed plans to sue the immediate-past Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, over alleged fraud in the Centenary City project.

Though the current administration endorsed the $18.5 billion project flagged off by former President Goodluck Jonathan after much outcry, the youth group insisted that the land acquisition process was fraudulently acquired as it was against the legal provision of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA).

In a statement in Abuja, the group urged President Muhammadu Buhari to tenaciously investigate the project and determine if it was truly set up to create jobs and boost the nation's economy.

The group added that the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) of the centenary project should be in possession of the federal government rather than the private investors as

From: Olugbenga Adanikin, Abuja

being practised in other developed nations.

The statement signed by NUYV National Coordinator, Comrade Solomon Adodo, and National Secretary, Comrade Suleiman Musa, stated that based on the outcome of their investigations, the city project "is a grand plot to further enrich a few fiendish elements in society."

It reads: "Rising from our factual findings after our inquest on the thickets of controversies surrounding the Centenary City project, the Nigerian unemployed youth vanguard has resolved to sue the erstwhile SGF, Anyim Pius Anyim, and his accomplice soldiers of fortune over the convoluted fraud embedded in the centenary city project.

"Our prime disenchantment is anchored on the fact that Anyim Pius Anyim in his privileged position as the SGF at the time misled the then President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the Nigerian government and the good people of Nigeria to believe that this contraption will create jobs for

the unemployed youth whereas it was a grand plot for the further enrichment of a few fiendish elements in society."

It stated further that "the entire landmass on which the Centenary City rests was wrongfully acquired and under false pretence, the free trade zone status issued to the Centenary City clearly contravenes the sacrosanct provisions of the NEPZA Act, the Nigerian government was hoodwinked into parting with billions of Naira used in acquiring the land for the Centenary City project, and that contrary to the global practice which stipulates that the Certificate of Occupancy of a free trade zone be in possession of the government, the promoters of the Centenary City have surreptitiously hidden the C of O of the said Centenary City since it has been marked as a free trade zone."

The group which expressed hope that Buhari would ensure a balanced judgment on the allegation urged him to revoke the project.

"The Centenary City is a

perfectly matching definition of corruption, fraud, exceedingly avaricious greed and all antithetical factors which our dear President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to tenaciously fight to a grinding halt. We have already written our letter to Mr. President chronicling the excessive fraud shrouded in the Centenary City project.

"We also attached weighty evidences to buttress same. It remains our fervid belief that Mr. President will stand up to his salient promises in this moment of truth and ensure the Centenary City project is revoked from the heinous elements bent on wrecking our nation's economy and frustrating President Muhammadu Buhari's drive at generating employment for the Nigerian Youth," it said.

NUYV, which distanced itself from a group using its name to endorse the project, also vowed to drag the perpetrators of the act to court.

The project which is 100 per cent private sector driven has generated a lot of controversy.

From: Kazeem Ibrahym, Uyo duct of the security operatives during the raid.

According to him, "The governor was not happy with the development. He told the head of the DSS in the state that there was no way such invasion would have taken place without his knowledge."

Media reports alleged that men of the DSS uncovered arms and ammunition as well as stockpiles of dollars from the Akwa Ibom State Government House in Uyo. The DSS officials were said to have acted based on security reports.

NESREA cautions against desertification

T

he National Environmental Standards Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has warned against illegal felling of trees and desertification in the northeast.

Its coordinator in the zone, Abdullahi Bindawa, gave the warning in his office in Gombe in a chat with our correspondent.

He said: "Indiscriminate cutting down of trees and destruction of vegetative cover in the area will create unnecessary havoc."

Bindawa explained that cutting down trees without replacement will encourage and give impetus to desertification in the area.

He said the rate of destruc-

By Vincent Ohonbamu, Gombe tion of trees was higher than that of planting in the zone.

Planting of trees, according to NESREA chief, will provide food and energy for human needs as well as the needed cover for the land, which he lamented has become susceptible to water gully erosion, wind erosion and desert encroachment.

He called on government and relevant agencies not to hesitate in bringing to book anyone found in the act of illegal cutting of trees.

Bindawa further advised residents to always keep their environments clean to avoid flooding, unnecessary ailments and outbreak of diseases.

Senator lauds Buhari

T

HE Osun State Coordinator of the Buhari Osinbajo Campaign Organisation, Senator Mudasiru Husain, has said that judging by the first hundred days of President Muhhamadu Buhari, a new lease of life has taken over the political atmosphere in the country.

The former lawmaker who represented Osun West in the 7th Senate stated this at a meeting with members of his political family at his country home. According to him, "The president is clearheaded in his policy direction; anti corruption drive, functional economy and tackling the security challenges."

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

C

ONTRARY to what obtained in the last 16 years, state governors appeared to have lost influence to make input into the appointment of ministers.

The governors, especially those elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have found it difficult to penetrate President Muhammadu Buhari to pick their nominees as ministers.

Also, some Senators, who are godfathers in their states, might be unable to install their stooges as ministers.

In deference to the principle of Separation of Powers, there were indications that Buhari may not accept imposition of nominees on him by some leaders of the National Assembly.

But the jostle for ministerial ticket is assuming a hot race in

NEWS

Buhari cabinet: Govs Senators, Reps, lose power to pick nominees • Buhari may reject governors' list FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

Kwara, Sokoto, Gombe, Enugu, Lagos, Ondo, Ekiti, Katsina, Kaduna, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, and Bauchi, Investigation by our correspondent showed that apart from deference to party supremacy, President Buhari has largely been his own man in appointing members of his cabinet.

It was learnt that although some governors had attempted to recommend some nominees, the president is insisting on merit.

The same dilemma is confronting some influential Senators and leaders of the House of Representatives.

According to findings, Buhari is sticking to the principle of separation of powers instead of throwing the ministerial nomination open.

The discipline being employed by the president in choosing his cabinet members accounted for the delay in appointing commissioners in some states.

It was gathered that the governors prefer to

compensate their loyalists, who may be schemed out of ministerial slots, as commissioners.

A reliable source said: "Unlike in the past, most governors are stranded this because the president will not ask them to nominate ministers. Some of them attempted to make recommendations but did not succeed.

"In fact, the same game is playing out with influential Senators who have found it difficult to lobby for their candidates as ministerial nominees.

"Buhari is trying to be his own man as far as the choice of ministers is concerned.

The only thing he reckons

with is party supremacy. He also wants to adhere to constitutional provision on the appointment of ministers.

"The governors could not have their way because Buhari has refused to ask for any office slot or favour from any governor, including his own governor, Aminu Masari of Katsina State."

As at press time, investigation confirmed that the jostle for ministerial slot is keen in Kwara, Sokoto, Gombe, Enugu, Lagos, Ondo, Ekiti, Katsina, Kaduna, Zamfara, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Niger, Delta, Edo, Kogi, and Adamawa.

Some godfathers in the affected states were said to be panicking because of recent political developments in the country, especially in the National Assembly.

Another source said: "Those who have no respect for party supremacy cannot recommend or nominate ministers. Respect begets respect.

"This is why the president is looking for credible hands whom they cannot disqualify under a flimsy excuse or the other."

THE NATION had exclusively reported that the

5

president is on the final lap of consultations with some leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

It was learnt that the president has met with some leaders of the party on the shape of his cabinet, those who may be on board and what he intends to do.

But he is yet to unveil his list of cabinet members to the leadership of the party.

It was unclear if the President will reduce the size of the cabinet from 42 to 36 or a lower figure.

Section 147(1-3) directs the President to appoint at least 36 ministers unless the constitution is amended.

The section reads: "There shall be such offices of Ministers of the Government of the Federation as may be established by the President.

"Any appointment to the office of Minister of the Government of the Federation shall, if the nomination of any person to such office is confirmed by the Senate, be made by the President.

"Any appointment under subsection (2) of this section by the President shall be in conformity with the provisions of section 14(3) of this Constitution: "Provided that in giving effect to the Provisions aforesaid the President shall appoint at least one Minister from each state, who shall be an indigene of such state."

LAUTECH hospital to introduce e-system

T • Borno pilgrims on a queue to be airlifted from Maiduguri Airport at the weekend.

Suspicion, anger in Bayelsa over death of ex-PDP chair

T

HERE is suspicion and anger over the sudden death of former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Bayelsa State chapter 19 days after defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Inokoba led over 1,000 members of the party he chaired for over three years to APC in a mega defection rally in Yenagoa, the state capital, following his travails in the PDP. Inokoba, who also obtained the nomination and expression of interest forms to contest the primary election of the APC, died in Lagos last Wednesday while visiting his family.

It was gathered that the remains of the former PDP chairman was flown from the Ikeja Military Cantonment Hospital Lagos to the morgue of the Military Hospital, Port Harcourt, Rivers State the following day.

Inokoba's death has generated controversies in the state with the APC suspecting a foul play and demanding the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, to investigate the circumstances that led to his

From: Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

demise.

His loyalists under the aegis of the Bayelsa Great House (BGH) also expressed anger were yesterday over a comment credited to the Governor Seriake Dickson on the state of the deceased's health.

The BGH, in a statement by its Chairman, Ebinimi Owei and Secretary, Victor Woyinkuro, said the governor's claim that he gave the late Inokoba money for his medical trip abroad was an unfortunate propaganda.

The group said: "We use this medium to react to Governor Dickson's claims that he gave late Inokoba N10million and in another occasion he said the money he gave was N5million but that our late leader used the money for politics.

"We call on Bayelsans to disregard such statement and political lies for it show immaturity, lack of conscience, hatred and cheap political propaganda even at his death.

"The inconsistencies in his

claims made it figment of his imagination, lies and political propaganda against a dead man.

"Who could imagine that a prudent restoration government released and gave his greatest political enemy money?

"It is a pity that such statement was made by Governor Dickson at this point of sober reflection, mourning and lost of a great son, uncle, father, grandfather and mentor.

"We thank the family for the early release of the official statement about the death of Inokoba which never happened in the history of Nigeria and Bayelsa in particular.

"It portrays the family as civilised. Perhaps it was done early to prevent being used for politics and by politicians."

The APC, in a letter to the IG signed by its Publicity Secretary, Panebi Fortune, said the sudden death of Inokoba was suspicious.

The party said: "The PDP had since the defection of Inokoba to the APC two weeks ago made open statements that Col. Inokoba would not last.

"Looking at the weighty

statement side by side with his sudden death in Lagos, the Inokoba death needs explanation from the PDP. "We wish to call on security operatives to step up investigation and conduct autopsy to ascertain the cause of death of the late governorship aspirant of our party."

HE Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Osogbo is in the process of converting its c o n v e n t i o n a l administrative and medical activities to an electronic and online system.

The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Professor Femi Fadiora, told medical consultants in Lagos yesterday that the teaching hospital in a few weeks to come will begin to operate a full e-health system with a fully integrated e-payment module.

According to him, the payment for drugs, all medical tests and every other activity that has to do with money would be done electronically, adding that results of medical tests and patients files would also be saved and accessed electronically.

Fadiora said, "Payment will be done electronically for drugs, medical test, charges and others. Patient files, medical test results and other documents would be saved electronically for proper documentation. This is just the beginning of a new development."

Anxiety over Olu of Warri's health

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HERE was anxiety last night over the health of the paramount ruler of Warri Kingdom, the Olu of Warri, His Royal Majesty Ogiame Atuwase II. Unconfirmed reports said he had passed on in a Lagos hospital. However, there was no confirmation from the palace.

Movements around the palace on Ajamimogha Road, Warri, yesterday might, however, suggest that something was wrong.

The Nation on Sunday gathered that the Olu of Warri, who has been living with partial stroke for a while now, passed on in a hospital in Lagos, where he had been taken for medical care.

The last public appearance of the respected monarch was about two weeks ago when he

By Bolaji Ogundele saw the Delta State governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, who paid him a visit, off to the entrance of his palace.

Although there were no official sources to confirm the rumoured passage of the Ogiame last night, it was learnt that even if the report was true, no Itsekiri son would confirm it until the palace does its traditional duty of announcing the Olu's passage.

When reached for confirmation last night, one of those believed to be closest to the monarch, Chief Brown Mene, simply said "I cannot confirm that to you right now."

The second son of Olu Erejuwa II, he was the only son of his father that was made a member of the Warri

• Olu of Warri Traditional Council since 1983 and was also a member of Warri Local Government Council, where he served in several capacities.

He was a lawyer by profession and the second university graduate to ascend the great throne of Warri Kingdom on May 2, 1987.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

NEWS

JTF raids militant camp in Delta, seizes arms, ammunition, explosives

Elder brother to former DSS DG abducted in Cross River From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

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HIEF Asuquo Ekpenyong Ekpe, the elder brother of the immediate past Director General of the Department of State Security, Ekpenyong Ita, was yesterday morning whisked away by unknown gunmen in his Creek Town home in Odukpani local government area of Cross River State.

The gunmen whose number could not be ascertained, a source in the area said, gained access to the area in a boat through the Creek.

"Several armed men just burst into his house on Friday night and whisked him away through the narrow canal, which is only navigable at high tide, through the main access Creek into the main beach and into the Calabar River from where they disappeared. Soldiers have been sent to the area as we speak," the source said.

Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Hogan Bassey, confirmed the incident.

Bassey said they were on top of the situation and would ensure his release.

He said the police were unaware of any demand for ransom.

In October 2013, the father of the former Deputy Governor of the state, Efiok Cobham, was abducted in the same vicinity and manner.

He was eventually released amid rumours that ransom was paid.

Boko Haram kills 30 traders in Borno From Duku JOEL, Maiduguri

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O fewer than 30 innocent traders have been reported killed after bomb explosions rocked a local market in Borno State, according to local and vigilante sources.

A resident of Askira Uba who escaped from the market during the attack narrated that a suicide bomber suspected to be a Boko Haram terrorist disguised as a wheel barrow pusher at the peak of Linmakara weekly village market in Gwoza local government area. The terrorist detonated explosives at the centre of the market killing not fewer than 30 traders with several others left with critical injuries.

A local vigilante who does not want his name disclosed that '' a middle age man who disguised to be pushing kuus-kuus (local wheelbarrow) detonated it at the centre of the market at noon when people were busy buying and selling.

"More than 30 traders were dead and several others injured at Limakara village on Friday," he informed.

He also disclosed it was difficult connecting with the people from the area due to network problem.

Limakara is a remote village in the southern part of Borno State and 65 kilometres to Askira-Uba.

From Shola O'Neil, Warri

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•Cross River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, flanked by his deputy, Prof. Ivara Esu, (right), Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas and FOC Eastern Naval Command, Rear Admiral H.A Babalola on board NNS Centenary during a tour of naval formation in Cross River, Calabar, at the weekend.

Rivers tribunal: APC, Peterside allege threat to witnesses P

ETITIONERS at the Rivers State governorship election petition tribunal - the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate in the last governorship election, Dakuku Peterside - have complained of persistent threats to the safety of their witnesses.

The petitioners, who have indicated their intention to call 200 witnesses, told the tribunal yesterday in Abuja that their witnesses were receiving threat messages on their telephones from yet-to-be identified persons.

Lawyers to the petitioners, Akin Olujinmi (SAN), who made the compliant, said "those who have appeared before the tribunal to testify are warned not to return to Port-Harcourt.

"Some of those we brought today have received calls on phone, threatening to deal with them. A situation where lawyers and witnesses are being threatened will threaten justice.

We want the court to be firm on this," Olujinmi said.

Responding, lawyers to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the election, Nyesom Wike, Chris Uche (SAN) and Emmanuel Ukala (SAN), denied knowledge of such development.

Ukala said it was expected that Olujinmi informed them about such development before

•Tribunal directs investigation by security agencies •Ex-Wike's deputy, others say election didn't hold

By Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

bringing it to the knowledge of the tribunal, while Uche said it was mere allegation and urged the tribunal not to take it serious.

Tribunal Chairman, Justice Mohammed Ambrosa, said, "we are not comfortable where those who appear in court are not free."

He advised that those who receive such threat messages should report to security agencies, who must investigate and take other necessary action. "They should act. It is their responsibility," Justice Ambrosa said.

The petitioners have called 22 witnesses as at when the tribunal rose yesterday. One of the four witnesses called yesterday, Dr Lawrence Chukwu, who served as Deputy Chairman when Wike was Chairman of Obia-Akpor Local Government, was emphatic when he insisted that election never held on April 11 in Rivers State.

Chukwu, who said he served as APC's Collation Officer for Wards 1 - 8 in the Local Government, said although he saw some few election materials in his polling unit, "there were no election materials in majority of the polling units in the area I covered.75 per cent of the polling units in my area did not get ballot papers. There are 17 Wards in

my LG." When asked by Wike's lawyer whether he was not impeached as Deputy Chairman and that his decision to testify against PDP was because he has not forgiven Wike, Chukwu said he was wrongly impeached, went to court and was reinstated.

He said his decision to testify was informed by his quest for the truth and belief that the right thing must be done.

Another witness from AsariToru LG, Chief Opuda Fred Hosfall said there was no election because election materials were burnt and that intending voters were prevented from voting by thugs and militants loyal to the PDP, who engaged in shooting.

"There was no election.

Election did not take place on 11 April, 2015 in Rivers State.

Materials for the election were burnt.

Whether those responsible were charged or not; I may not know.

"The shooting by thugs, loyal to the PDP did not allow us to vote and to carry out their responsibilities. No election took place in Asari LG of Rivers State. The materials were burnt with the vehicles hired to carry the materials. Those claiming there was election are in a dream land," he said.

Another witness from Andoni LG, Steve Gad, when cross-examined by lawyer to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), said election did not hold.

"There was no accreditation in my area. Materials were snatched just immediately after the INEC officials set up their materials before they were snatched by thugs and militants loyal to PDP, there was no election at all."

Gad, who said he served as APC polling agent for Unit 012, Ward 9, insisted that PDP thugs and militants disrupted proceedings.

When asked by Wike's lawyer whether he reported the incident to the police, Gad said "There was no need to make written reports to the police because two of their men witnessed what happened."

On whether he was aware that INEC announced results for the election, Gad, who said he is a lawyer, said: "No election held.

And accordingly, there was no result. The purported results announced were cooked up."

Prince Nzidee, who was called as the petitioners' fourth witness, equally insisted that reports declared for all the units he monitored, as agent of the APC, were allocated figures because no election took place in all the 11 wards in his Local Government.

ECURITY operatives of the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta, 'Operation Pulo Shield,' in the early hours of yesterday sacked and seized a militant camp in Beniboye, Burutu local government area of Delta State.

Although details of the operation were still sketchy at press time, it was gathered that a huge cache of arms, ammunition and explosives were recovered from the fighters.

Residents of nearby Odimodi community said the military encountered stiff resistance from the militant group identified as Red Beret, who were reportedly mobilising with fighters from nearby Rivers and Bayelsa states to attack the community.

"There were sporadic shooting and heavy explosions during the operation that lasted well over four hours," one source told our reporter.

Armed gang from the camp had recently overrun Odimodi community.

There were also concerns that the activities of the gang were threatening the peace and security of communities in the area and the operations of Shell Petroleum Development Company's Forcados crude export terminal.

JTF's Joint Media Campaign Coordinator, Lt Colonel Isa Ado, who was contacted by our reporter, would neither confirm nor deny the report.

While saying he wasn't aware of the details of the operation, Lt Col Ado promised to give details, if there was indeed any operation in the area.

However, a usually reliable source who is conversant with the operation, said it started at about 2am yesterday and lasted till around 6am when the recalcitrant gang members were over powered.

The interim chairman of Odimodi Community, Chief Elex Pukon, whose house was among several ravaged in an attack on the community on Monday, confirmed the report.

He fingered some disgruntled members of the community as sponsors of the gang alleged led by one Sanomon.

Ayade faults Bakassi's ceding, says it's unconstitutional ROSS River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, has faulted the ceding of the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula by the federal government to the Republic of Cameroon as unconstitutional and ungodly.

Speaking when he received the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Ibok Ette Ibas, at the Government House, Calabar, Ayade said, "We have a very big challenge. The ceding of Bakassi was the most unconstitutional and most ungodly act. Given the way and manner it was done the state it still hurts."

Describing it as a social injustice "that has left us with a scar," he said "the people of Bakassi are living with an emotional and psychological scar as a result of the loss of their ancestral home.

The ceding was done without a

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plebiscite, without a referendum which the people feel was a moral injustice. It has created a security tension; it has also created a crisis situation which rests on your shoulders to ensure that you put them under control in keeping with the presidential mandate of sanitizing the waterways.

"I urge you to explore possible social and military actions that need to be taken in order to restore peace in the Akpabuyo, Bakassi and Odukpani axis of the maritime domain."

On the issue of the disputed 76 oil wells that were transferred to Akwa Ibom State, Ayade said: "It is a very sad news to report to you that the principle of the doctrine of changing circumstance which is a maritime principle in delineation of

maritime boundary was grossly abused in the way and manner that the boundary between Cross River, Cameroun and Akwa Ibom was done. It was done in such a way that the maritime boundary is on a moving structure which is on top of water.

Within the International Maritime Law, it is totally unacceptable.

"So given the way and manner that the map is constructed, it puts us as a landlocked state. Unfortunately, in jurisprudence, there is no way you can claim that the state is landlocked when the inhabitants can go from Creek Town in Odukpani in their boat and end up in the high sea, where the oil activities within the wells that have been excluded from the state have accumulated impact by oil migration to these areas affecting

the aquaculture, farming life of our people."

Querying the decision further, he said: "How can it (Cross River) not be a littoral state if I could sit in the office of the governor and I can see a large waterfront in front of me?"

Earlier, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ette Ibas, said he was on inspection of units and departments under his command following directives from President Muhammadu Buhari that maritime security and sanity be returned within the eastern waterways of the country.

He explained that the presence of a new naval ship, NNS Centenary in Calabar and another in Port Harcourt were to take on that responsibility.

Ibas disclosed that Calabar is the second largest host of the navy after Lagos, noting that it

has adequate infrastructure and personnel to deliver on the president's mandate.

The Naval Chief said Cross River State government has always supported the Navy since its inception, disclosing that they intend to commission a five-star naval hospital in Calabar.

The governor had earlier in the day played host to the Brigade Commander, 13 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Brigadier General Sanni Mohammed and the State Commandant, Nigerian Security Civil Defence Corps, Mr. Clement Adesuyi Dayo, where he restated the need to reinforce security in the state following the influx of miscreants from other states as their activities within the Odukpani, Akpabuyo, Bakassi have negative impact on the peaceful nature of the state.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

10-year- old wows judges at audition

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0-YEAR OLD Sophia put up a standout performance that earned a resounding ‘yes’ from the judges to proceed to the next level of the Benin audition of Glo-sponsored Reality TV show “Dance with Peter”.

Sophia, who was one of the 500 that turned up for the audition, displayed stunning performances that amazed the judges.

“I am happy that I made it to the next stage. I will give everybody here a wow performance when next I come on stage and all of you will say wow, this girl is wonderful,” the primary five pupil of Cherish Montessori Academy, Warri, Delta State, said.

She vowed to win the final contest in Lagos, saying “I will do my best to win the prize and use the proceeds to further my education and dancing career.”

Another group, The Dance Overflow, led by Eggisohe Akpes, promised “a mind blowing performance to appreciate Globacom for providing this huge platform for us as a group to demonstrate our talents”.

Six dancers from the auditions in Abuja and Ghana will join other finalists from Benin, Port Harcourt and Lagos to contest for the star prize of N3m, a brand new Rav4 SUV and a lifetime opportunity to feature in the next video of P Square.

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NEWS

Navy denies killing MASSOB members

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HE Central Naval Command (CNC) of the Nigerian Navy yesterday denied the allegation that its operatives killed members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) in Anambra State.

The CNC with headquarters in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, has Anambra, Kogi, Edo, Delta and Bayelsa states as its Areas of Responsibility (AoR).

The Flag Officer Com-

From: Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

manding (FOC), CNC, Rear Admiral Stanley Ogoigbe, told reporters at the command’s headquarters in Yenagoa, that the alleged killing was false.

Ogoigbe spoke against the background of conflicting reports that a clash between members of a pro-Biafra group, Indigenous Peoples of Biafra and Navy personnel in Onitsha, Anambra State, left

some members of the group dead.

Some reports claimed that 10 persons were shot dead during the said clash while other sources said between three and five persons were murdered.

But the FOC said naval operatives only shot into the air to scare a large number of MASSOB members on a protest march towards the Onitsha head bridge.

He said the protesting youths already overran the

police officials on duty at the bridge when the naval personnel shot into the air to disperse them. He said nobody was injure, let alone, killed in the incident.

According to Ogoigbe: “No such act was ever committed.

The MASOB group was on a protest march. They overran the policemen that were on duty and were coming towards the Navy personnel.

“As they approached, the Navy fired warning shots into

•Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, with the Country Mission Director of the French Government's Investment Agency AFD, Mr. Olivier Dellefosse, at a Business Opportunity Forum organised by Sokoto State Government in Abuja... yesterday

the air to scare them away and they all dashed away. There was never any body that died in the process.

“To our surprise, MASSOB started claiming that Navy has killed two of their men. I don’t know what they wish to achieve with this propaganda, fabricating stories against the Navy.

He added: “We just want all well meaning Nigerians to know that no MASSOB member was killed in that area of Anambra State where the Navy was keeping peace and carrying out their legitimate duties.

“It was not only Navy that was there, the police and other security agencies were also there.

“And they all confirmed that nobody was killed. I don’t know where MASSOB manufactured their story.”

Corroborating the FOC’s position, Commanding Officer, Naval Outpost, Onitsha where the incident happened, Navy Capt. Dika Kwabe, said there was no proof in the claim

by MASSOB that its members were killed.

Kwabe said the Commissioner of Police in charge of Anambra State Police Command had addressed the press to debunk the report.

He also called on the Ohaneze Ndigbo, which he described as a respectful body, to detach itself from being used by baseless rumours being peddled by the MASSOB group to create disaffection between security men and the people.

‘How Sokoto can attract foreign investment’

HE US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) have assured of their readiness to partner with Sokoto government for development of key sectors.

The leading development agencies promised to provide technical assistance and expertise where necessary.

They stated that transparency and good governance will always attract foreign in-

vestors.

This was the highpoint of a two-day business opportunity forum organised by the Sokoto State government which ended yesterday.

The agencies and investment experts also pointed out that favourable legislation and commitment to transparency will boost investments across the federation.

They urged states like Sokoto to actively engage in data mapping because success of public institutions depend

not only on the possession of resources but on efficient application of sound management principles based on accurate data utilisation.

Speaking at the opening of the summit, Governor Aminu Tambuwal said the dwindling resources in the country has made it imperative for states to look forward to private investment to survive.

He said Sokoto cannot afford to allow its incomes determined by hydro-carbon prices, which he said from

forecasts, will likely remain low for the foreseeable future.

While disclosing that Sokoto was open to foreign investment because all necessary incentives were being put in place, Tambuwal said the state has comparative advantage in sectors like agriculture, tourism, mining and power generation.

Mission Director of the French investment agency AFD, Olivier Dellefosse, said the agency was ready to provide loans to the proposed mi-

Dickson, ex-Jonathan aide renew rivalry over guber poll

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X- DOMESTIC aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Waripanmowei Dudafa, yesterday insisted that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will fail woefully if it fields Governor Seriake Dickson for the December 5 governorship election in Bayelsa State.

Dudafa dissociated himself from an alleged directive by the former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, that all her loyalists, including him, should support the second term bid of Dickson.

Speaking through the former state Secretary of the defunct Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), Gesiye Isowo, Dudafa said there was no time the former First Lady directed him and many others to support the comeback bid of the governor.

Dudafa was expelled from the PDP by a faction of the party loyal to Dickson over alleged anti-party activities.

He was said to have sponsored the electoral victory of Abiye Tarabina on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) dur-

From: Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa ing the State House of Assembly election in the state.

Loyalists of Dudafa also accused the government of instigating the invasion and looting of his Yenagoa home by some unidentified armed men.

They were also said to be angry with the state government for leading media attacks against Dudafa.

Dudafa said: “Our attention has been drawn to a story making the rounds concerning a decision said to have been taken by Her Excellency, the former first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, to support the second term bid of Dickson. It was also reported that Dudafa was consequently directed to work for Dickson too.

“It would ordinarily not have been necessary to react to this story but for the fact that silence could easily be interpreted as lending credence to the story, which in the end may impinge on Dr. Dudafa’s integrity.

“Firstly, there is no truth in the claim that Her Excel-

lency, the former First Lady directed Dr. Dudafa to work for the re-election of Governor Dickson.

“His opposition to the return of Dickson for a second tenure as governor of Bayelsa was not directed by anybody, therefore the issue of his been directed to act otherwise cannot arise.

“It is public knowledge that Dr. Dudafa made a widely circulated press statement on the 27th of May, 2015, in which he stated clearly that if the PDP fields Dickson as their candidate for the Bayelsa governorship election of December this year, the party will lose woefully at polls.

“His position on this has not changed because Dickson’s administration has continued to fail the people of the State in all facets of development and has in the process elicited total rejection from the people of the state.

“Consequently, it cannot be the case that Dudafa will be directed or accept to be directed to work for Dickson’s reelection. This is purely a matter of principle and nothing else.”

“Dudafa, therefore, calls on his teeming supporters, friends and colleagues to disregard the purported media reports and urge them to remain steadfast in the task to unseat Dickson”.

But the PDP described Dudafa’s decision to work against the reelection bid of Dickson as empty.

Chairman of PDP in the state, Chief Serena DokuboSpiff, said that Dudafa was a non-issue in the politics of his Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area and the state.

Dokubo- Spiff said: “Dudafa cannot determine the victory of PDP. All the critical stakeholders in Bayelsa State politics are with Governor Henry Seriake Dickson. They have also endorsed the governor for a second term.

“The governor does not need Dudafa’s endorsement or support to win his re-election as he has never supported the governor’s political ambition.

“The governor derives his strength from the people and not like Dudafa who thrives on propaganda and black-

cro-finance banks which Sokoto government is about to set up.

The main areas for AFD, according to the Director, were power generation, transmission and distribution, urban development, support for SMEs and agriculture.

He said the agency will explore areas of cooperation with the Sokoto government for the mutual benefit of the two entities.

The CEO of Aso Savings and Loans Ltd, Malam Hassan Usman, said the firm was willing to build 4,000 housing units in Sokoto in the next four years if the government provides land and guarantee buyers.

The Managing Director of Nigeria’s Sovereign Investment Authority, Uche Orji, said Sokoto must leverage on the peace it currently enjoys to sell its credentials to the outside world.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

NEWS

‘Anti-graft war not politicised’ From: Damisi Ojo,Akure LAWMAKER representing Akure North/South Federal Constituency, Hon Afe Olowookere, has faulted claims by the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) that the anti-corruption crusade of President Muhammadu administration was targeted at its members.

He attributed the endemic nature of corruption to obsolete laws, which allow corrupt people take advantage of these laws to escape justice.

Olowookere spoke at the flag-off of construction of the Community Town Hall at Emiloro in Akure South local government area of Ondo State.

He assured that the eighth National Assembly would do everything within its power to get rid of these laws to fortify the fight against the menace.

His words “So far, I’ve not seen how this anti-graft war has been politicised.

PDP members are protesting that the probe is targeted at them.

“But my question is since 1999, which party had been ruling us at the centre?

“If the federal government is probing activities at the centre, which party will be affected? Is it not the PDP? “The probe has not been extended to the states where other parties are involved in governance at that level.”

Olowookere emphasised that the crusade was not targeted at any particular party.

Group lauds Buhari on 100 days

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Implement National Health Act, Oyo urged From: Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

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GROUP, Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria (HERFON), has called on Oyo State to fully implement the National Health Act. The Secretary of the group in Oyo State, Seun Onifade, spoke yesterday at a sensitisation and town hall meeting on National Health Act and Primary Healthcare at NMA House, Ibadan.

He described the act as a rallying framework toward achieving universal health coverage in the state. ‘’If this act is well implemented without corruption, it will reshape the Nigerian health landscape to the extent that all Nigerians, without any exception, would be entitled to basic minimum package to health services. ‘’Healthcare will be accessible and affordable to all for a common man.

“Perfecting the strategies of implementing the health act is the only way to achieve universal health coverage in the state,’’ he said.

Onifade said the implementation of the health act will allow health workers to realise that health of the citizens is not business as usual.

GROUP, BuhariOsinbajo Diaspora Organisation Think Tank Group (BTTG), has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his achievements in the first 100 days of the current administration.

The group based in the United Kingdom said the achievements of Buhari were indications of better days to come for the nation.

Its co-chairman, Dr Dapo Williams, in a statement, stressed that the president didn’t promise anything specifically to achieve within the first 100 days.

Williams noted that the president has set Nigeria on the path of restoration with the administration’s various policies, which it said has impacted positively on the different sectors of the nation’s economy.

He listed some of the achievements of Buhari as the introduction of a Single Treasury Account (STA), stoppage of direct unbudgeted deductions, sponsorship of pilgrimages, stabilisation of the power sector, re-invigoration of the war against corruption and insurgency in the North East, commencement of the clean-up of Ogoni and increase in foreign reserves despite the drop in the price of oil in the international market.

The group said all these were pointers that the president is determined to put the country on an irreversible motion of development.

The group called on the president not to be distracted by attempts by the opposition to re-writing history.

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•Guest Speaker Babatunde Fashola, SAN (left) with the celebrator and Presiding Bishop, The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM), Dr Mike Okonkwo (middle); his wife, Bishop Peace Okonkwo (2nd left), Chairman of the event, Prof George A. Obiozor (right) and the Chief Examiner of Essay Competition organised by the Mike Okonkwo Educational and Youth Initiative (MOEYI), Prof. (Mrs) Akachi Ezeigbo (right) during the 16th Mike Okonkwo annual lecture as part of activities to mark Okonkwo's 70th birthday in Lagos... last Thursday

Ajimobi: Bail-out can’t bail us out O

YO State Governor Abiola Ajimobi has blamed extreme dependence on oil for the nation’s dwindling economy.

Speaking on a radio programme monitored in Ibadan, Ajimobi warned that if proper measures were not put in place to redirect the economy, Nigerians may suffer for the current dip.

Aside from falling oil prices, the governor said the entry of other oil- producing countries into the business has further worsened the economy.

Ajimobi said: “Today, the federal allocation has plummeted. We were taking N5 billion when we came in 2011 but now it has been reduced to N3 billion.

“With this shortfall, our average monthly wage bill stands at about N5.2 billion.

Even without political office holders, salary stands at N5.2

From Tayo Johnson and Sikiru Akinola, Ibadan

billion. We cannot do any tangible projects again because of the workers’ salary.

“What this means is that monthly when we get the federal allocation and add our internally generated revenue to it, it can only be used to pay wage bill. What this means is that we will continue to owe workers.

“Hopefully, we should access the bail-out next week. We owe four months’ salaries, which is N21.3 billion .

“As soon as we finish paying the outstanding salaries, we will start owing again as we still have to scramble for more money.”

Though the governor said talks were ongoing with labour unions on the needs to cut salaries, he allayed the fear of workers on possible sack.

According to him: “We

will not sack anybody but we will restructure them to productive areas, though we know we have an overbloated workforce.”

On the ways out for Oyo State, he said: “We want to set a template like Lagos on our IGR and I promise that by September 2016, we should be able to increase our revenue from N1.2 billion to N2.3 billion. We will also block leakages .

“The bail-out is like a long term bond which will be serviced with 9 per cent. It is illegal to do otherwise and not pay workers’ salaries with the bail-out.”

On the introduction of development levy in public secondary schools, he reiterated: “I would not call that fees. We pay N54, 000 on each student.

“Before we arrived at this, we have convened a stakeholders’ meeting where it was recommended that each

student should be made to pay N10, 000 annually but I said no; that it should not be more than N1000 per term, making N3000 per session.

“However, we will consider the poor but indigent students as the scholarship board will be strengthened to cater for them.”

He said the stoppage of sponsorship of pilgrimage was temporary, adding, as the last pillar of Islam, hajj is for those who could afford it.

“Oyo was the highest sponsor of pilgrimage in the last four years. Though we would have loved to continue but the dwindling economy would not allow us. So, they should bear with us pending the time the economy will improve.”

He said he has not appointed political office holders because he was taking his time to get the best to man the 13 ministries.

Traders, hoodlums attack NAFDAC officials

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RADERS and touts in Lagos and Ogun states yesterday attacked officials of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

The hoodlums also attacked mobile policemen attached to the enforcement directorate of the agency.

The enforcement teams were on nationwide raid for fake, unregistered, counterfeit and suspected contaminated vegetable oil in major markets and distribution channels in

By Sunday Oguntola

the states when the traders and touts swooped on them.

The traders seized some of the products already evacuated by the teams and beat up one of the agency’s staff, Miss Evelyn Chiemeke.

The officials narrowly escaped a mob attack at Ikorodu market where four shops and two traders arrested.

After seizing 438 gallons of fake vegetable oil valued at N6, 576,000, some of the traders at-

tacked the officials with weapons for a free- for- all at the instigation of a market leader who later admitted to have imported the unregistered vegetable oil from Benin Republic.

At Sango market in Ogun State, members of the market union assaulted the officials after six shops were sealed.

At Alabarago market in Ojo, the team forcefully opened a warehouse stock with fake products after the owners absconded on sight-

ing the officials.

A mobile policeman attached to the team was attacked and almost lost his gun to the mob in the process.

Briefing reporters after the raids, NAFDAC’s Chief Regulatory Officer, Enforcement Operations, Joseph Folorunsho-Idowu, regretted the exercise was marred by pockets of violence.

He explained that the exercise was a continuation of its nationwide regulatory exercise.

Anti-corruption war not selective, says APC chieftain

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N All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in Ekiti State, Dr. Bayo Orire, has called on Nigerians to support the anticorruption crusade of President Muhammadu Buhari to recover stolen wealth and enhance the standard of living.

Orire, who spoke in a chat with The Nation, faulted claims in some quarters that Buhari’s anti-graft drive is targeted mainly at opposition politicians.

According to him, the battle against corruption is tar-

By Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado Ekiti

geted towards the good of all to restore integrity to governance and secure confidence of the international community.

The former Chairman of Ekiti State Hospitals Management Board said the accusation of opposition leaders that Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade is selective could not hold water because some APC leading lights are also being prosecuted in court for corruption.

He mentioned former

Adamawa State Governor Murtala Nyako, former Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva and wife of Senate President, Mrs. Toyin Saraki, as APC chieftains under probe.

The medical doctorturned politician also expressed support for the establishment of a special court to try corruption-related cases to ensure that they are disposed of as quick as possible.

He said: “This anti-corruption battle being waged by the president can never be

selective because it is targeted towards the good of the country and it is across board because Buhari is not a kind of person that will be selective in the anti-corruption crusade.

“We are in total support of the establishment of a special anti-corruption court that will look into corruption, fraud and other economic crimes within a short time frame having its own special laws approved by the legislature.”

Ambode for media games

L

AGOS State governor Akinwumi Ambode will tomorrow declare the 2015 NUJ/Med-View media games open.

Also expected to grace the opening ceremony, which holds at the National Stadium Surulere, is the CEO of MedView Airline, Alhaji Muneer Alade Bankole Med-View Airline is the major sponsor of the 10th edition of the Media Games.

The opening event, a football match (11 a-side), will be between defending champions Vanguard newspaper and Complete Sports newspaper.

Scheduled for 12noon at the Legacy Pitch, the match will formally kick-start the weeklong sports fiesta for practicing journalists of the Lagos State Chapter of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ).

Other sports at the games include Athletics (100m, 200m, and 4x100m), Marathon, Ayo, Scrabble, Chess, Draught, Table Tennis, Tennis and Tug of War. According to Deji Elumoye, chairman of NUJ, Lagos State Chapter, the games is an avenue to de-stress and encourage oneness through sportsmanship.

While football matches will be played daily from 9am, other sports will be played on selected days.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

•Ambode

•Wike

•Okorocha

•Shettima

•Abubakar

•Ajimobi

•Ayade

•Lalong

•Ahmed

•Badaru

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LTHOUGH there may be no section in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, which states categorically that a governor must appoint commissioners or form his cabinet within 100 days of assumption of office, some Nigerians, who spoke to The Nation at the weekend, are worried that most of the currently elected governors have run their states without commissioners in the first 100 days of their administration.

Out of the 29 states where new chief executives were sworn-in on May 29, 2015, only about five, an insignificant percentage, have formed cabinets as at Friday. The five states where the new governors have appointed all or significant number of commissioners and special advisers include: Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Enugu, Kano and Kaduna.

There are few others that appointed only a small number of commissioners. Governor Ifeanyi Okowa for example had to submit list of his commissioners to the Delta State House of Assembly in two batches. In June, he submitted a list of twelve commissioner nominees to the lawmakers for screening. It took almost a month before he forwarded another list of eight commissioner nominees. In Rivers State, Governor Nyesom Wike has only appointed few commissioners thereby heightening the pressure on him to name the remaining members of the cabinet.

As at yesterday, the states where the new governors are yet to name their commissioners include, Lagos, Oyo and Ogun in the South-West; Imo, Ebonyi and Abia in the South-East; CrossRiver, Delta and Rivers in the South-South; Kwara, Plateau, Niger and Nassarawa in the NorthCentral; Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kebbi and Jigawa in the North-West; and Borno, Bauchi, Taraba, Gombe and Yobe in North-East.

Even before the inauguration of the new governors in question, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State in the South-West has been running the affairs of his state without commissioners since last year when he was re-elected in office. Since then, he has been making use of permanent secretaries and heads of departments to run the government, explaining that the tactics is a reaction to the challenging economic realities of the time.

Nigerians who spoke to The Nation over the matter said it is necessary for a governor to appoint members of his team as quickly as possible "since two heads are better than one." As some of them reasoned, a governor that has his team is likely to provide better governance to his people than a sole administrator, who is prone to act like a dictator.

But spokesmen of most of the governors have defended that the law did not make it mandatory for their bosses to constitute a cabinet within their first 100 days in office. Their position seems to be drawn from the provisions of the Constitution in Section 193 sub 1, which says amongst others that

100 DAYS

Intrigues, cash crunch delay cabinet in 24 states For more than 100 days now since they were sworn-in, most of the state governors are yet to appoint commissioners. In this report, Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu with Austine Tsenzughul in Bauchi, Bisi Olaniyi in Port Harcourt, Yusufu Aminu Idegu in Jos, Okodili Ndidi in Owerri, Okungbowa Aiwerie in Asaba and Sunny Nwankwo in Aba, uncovers some of the reasons behind the delay in the constitution of cabinets in most of the states the governor of a state "may, in his discretion, assign to the Deputy Governor of the state, or any commissioner of the government any business of the state, including the administration of any department of the government."

Wide consultations, cause of delay in Bauchi In Bauchi State, where Governor Mohammed Abubakar, a lawyer-turned politician, is presiding over the affairs of the state, some people expressed concern that 100 days after the inauguration of the current state government, the governor is yet to announce his commissioners.

Our checks during the week show that there is no hint that a cabinet will be in place in the next few days.

Faulting the argument that the governor was not obliged under any law to appoint commissioners within 100 days after assumption of office, critics of the development in Bauchi said "for purposes of honesty, accountability and transparency, leading to good governance, there are certain provisions in our law that require Executive Council's resolutions, especially, on

issues of bilateral agreement or issues that concern fiscal responsibilities." This being the case, it is pertinent, they reasoned, for a democratically elected governor to appoint his cabinet as quickly as possible.

Leading the critics of Abubakar over this matter are members of the opposition party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). They have alleged that the delay in the constitution of the cabinet in the state was because "the governor wants to get back the funds he expended on his election campaign". Since the publication of N8.60 billion bailout for the state, the critics have not ceased to express concern over the possibility of Abubakar's just utilization of the resources without a state executive council.

But Governor Abubakar's Director of Press, Alhaji Ibrahim Sani, said such criticisms have no substance and that the governor is only being meticulous in approaching issues in governance.

His words, "the absence of commissioners is not strange to Bauchi State. The delay is to put square pegs in square holes, besides, many states

•Tambuwal

•Shema and the federal government are yet to appoint commissioners or ministers. But Bauchi's case is based on wide consultations."

"It is also, meant to form a cabinet that will stand the test of time, have commissioners or advisers that would assist the governor to fast tract deliverance of the contents of the people's mandate.

"In order to make a well informed decision, there has been ministerial, departmental and government agencies' briefings to the governor.

This is being done so that Gov. Abubakar will understand the operations of government, its challenges and formulate right policies and peopleoriented programmes with the correct people to ensure their adequate implementation".

Abubakar's spokesman also stated that "the act of governance is not as easy as people see it from afar. Abubakar was a senior civil servant in the state civil service and knows what the government is and has to work policies in compliance with the change mantra.

Therefore for now, it is a game of 'wait and see' or, as they would say, it's "sit down look" kind of situation in Bauchi.

In Rivers, Wike awaits tribunal judgment The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, is one of the governors yet to constitute a full cabinet.

His critics have attributed the delay to the fear of losing his position at the tribunal.

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the April 11 election in Rivers State, Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside, who described the poll as a sham, dragged Wike to the tribunal, sitting in Abuja Wike, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is insisting that he won the election and he is admonishing Rivers people to support his government.

Besides appointing ex-Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Kenneth Kobani, as Secretary to the Rivers State Government (SSG) and two-term Chairman of Emohua Local Government Council of Rivers State, Emeka Woke, as the Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, the state governor has so far appointed four commissioners: Dr. Fred Kpakol (Finance), Emma Okah (Housing), Onimim Briggs (Agriculture) and Emmanuel Aguma, SAN (Justice and Attorney-General).

The Rivers chapter of the APC then noted that "Wike's 100 days celebration kicked off with so much self adulation, distorted facts and misrepresentations in the media."

Rivers APC, through its Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, in Port Harcourt, declared that Wike was not ready to deliver good governance to the peace-loving people of the state.

It reiterated that President Muhammadu Buhari, as someone who is focused and with a clear plan for governance, shortly after his May 29, 2015 inauguration, announced that he would appoint ministers in September.

•Contd. on page 10

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

NEWS REVIEW

Cash crunch, intrigues delay appointment of commissioners •Contd. from page 9 The party stated that the same could not be said of Wike, a former Minister of State for Education.

The Party therefore called on Wike to constitute the state's cabinet by appointing commissioners and make other statutory appointments, irrespective of the fact that his stay as governor was highly likely to be truncated by the tribunal, since government is a continuum.

The party declared that the excuse Wike offered that he would wait till the tribunal in Abuja gives judgment before constituting his cabinet was only a facade to pull his grand scam on the good people of Rivers state and deceive even members of his PDP. Mixed reactions in Abia In a recent chat the Chief Press Secretary of the Abia State Government, Godwin Adindu had with members of the Aba Federated Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), he promised that the state government would soon appoint commissioners for various ministries.

However, the inability of Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu's administration to appoint the commissioners after 100 days in office has been causing a lot of concerns among Abians.

While many respondents condemned it, others believe that appointing commissioners to head ministries is a waste of the state economic resources.

They advocated for the use of permanent secretaries or good hands in various ministries in order to save cost and limit people with no or less experience from heading the activities of various government parastatals in the state.

According to Mr. Chukwuma Ngama, "I am not a politician, but I believe that even if the governor fails to appoint commissioners and the state functions well under the leadership of permanent secretaries, that will save us (the State) a lot of wastages. The truth is that some of these commissioners may not really know much about the ministries they are appointed to head. Imagine when they appoint a bio-chemist to head say ministry of works. I am of the opinion that government should scrap both ministerial and commissioners' positions. Let them use permanent secretaries. That will save us the dangers of putting square pegs in round holes".

Mr. Nwogu, who do not agree with Ngama's position, opined that the importance of commissioners and ministers cannot be over emphasized as he noted that both governors and the president need to have commissioners and ministers respectively to oversee some of the ministries to avoid "gap in governance".

"Those who are against the appointment of ministers and commissioners by the President and governors should ask God why he went about spreading the gospel during his own time with His disciples. That shows that the importance of ministers and commissioners for every government cannot be over-emphasized.

Governor's Chief Press Secretary, Godwin Adindu, in an interview said, "It is not only Abia State that has not appointed commissioners. If you look around, many states have not appointed commissioners and even the federal government has not appointed ministers. So that should not be an issue for anybody. At the right time, the governor will appoint his commissioners.

On the insinuation that the government might be doing it to cut cost of governance, Adindu said, "I don't think that is the case. It is just that the governor is taking his time; he is doing things according to his own time table.

So, at the right time, when he must have identified the right people to work with him, the appointments would be made".

On the vacuum lack of commissioners is creating in governance, he added, "the absence of commissioners is not causing any hindrance or having any negative effect on governance.

Abia governance is going on smoothly; our projects have been going on smoothly. The governor has mapped out the things he wants to achieve. The permanent secretaries are there working with the governor to achieve those things. The governor is acting as the overall supervisor and director of all his projects. He equally has a body of aides, special advisers and inspection officers, the SSG, the Chief of Staff and other aides. They are all busy working. He is following his own timetable; there is a template which he is following. So, at the right time the appointments would be made," Adindu said.

Ayade's meetings with interest groups, cause of delay

AFFECTED STATES • LAGOS • OSUN • OYO • OGUN • IMO • EBONYI • ABIA • CROSS RIVERS • DELTA • RIVERS • KWARA • NIGER In Cross River State, where Governor Ben Ayade is yet to constitute his cabinet, we gathered that the delay is primarily because of wide consultations. A source close to the Government House, informed that the governor had just concluded the consultation exercise with important stakeholders and as a result, expectations are high in Calabar that Ayade will likely name his commissioners anytime from this September.

Our source said "because of the hard fought elections, the governor thought it wise to consult widely in order to carry everyone along. He consulted with wards and local government caucuses. The local government caucuses were asked to nominate two candidates each for consideration."

Lalong may first reduce ministries to manageable size Plateau State governor, Simon Lalong, has been unable to constitute his executive council members within his first 100 days in office.

Though Lalong never promised he will appoint commissioners for the government before the expiration of his first 100 days as governor, it has been the expectation of citizens of the state who cannot wait to see a full APC government in place in the state having used their PVC to effect a change from PDP to APC. This has given most citizens a lot of concern and most of them are already expressing some measure of disappointment in the Lalong-led administration. The PDP-led opposition has decried the absence of commissioners and has therefore described Plateau as a state without a functional government.

But it seems Lalong is not bordered by such criticisms over his inability to constitute his cabinet within the first 100 days in office.

Among the earliest appointments made by Lalong so far are Secretary to the State Government, Hon. Rufus Bature, Chief of Staff, Government House, Mr. John Dafan, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Lalong, Samuel Nanle, DirectorGeneral, Research and Documentation, Prof John Wade.

Apart from these appointments, Lalong has appointed new leadership for the 17 local governments of the state and also reinstated the Vice Chancellor of the state university, Prof Danjuma Dognaan Sheni, even as he reconstituted the governing council of the state university under the Chairmanship of Professor Attahiru Jega.

According to Mr. Samuel Nanle, the Director of Press and Public Affairs to Lalong, there are three major reasons for the delay in the composition of the state executive council; first, the state governor set up a transition committee to ascertain the true position of the state, it has taken the committee over two months to complete the assignment and submit its report. That report was needed for the smooth take off of the administration.

Secondly, government thought of restructuring the entire state; we need time to study all government ministries, agencies and parastatals, there could be need to merge some of them, there is the need to scrap some of them to a manageable size. And until that is done carefully, government cannot just appoint commissioners without knowing its numbers of ministries.

Thirdly, the issue of availability of funds, the government inherited empty treasury and the first thing to do is to raise the revenue profile of government because that will determine how

• PLATEAU • NASSARAWA • SOKOTO • ZAMFARA • KATSINA • KEBBI • JIGAWA • BORNO • BAUCHI • TARABA • GOMBE • YOBE many commissioners you can pay. They require official vehicles, furnishing of office and other logistics. The poor state of government's purse as at the time we took over, made it difficult to think of appointing commissioners. Government also had to give priority to the seven month salary arrears it inherited so as to boost the morale of the state civil servants who were on strike before May 29 when we took over. Government had to source for funds from wherever to pay that liability before talking of appointing commissioners, the commissioner cannot resume office when civil servants are on strike.

The fourth and most important reason is the need for wide consultations on who to appoint as commissioner. Such appointment should be community-based, this government resolved to allow the people to do the selection; this government will not want to impose any commissioner on any local government. And so government asked the people to do wider consultations among themselves and select for government. That is the standard in a democracy like ours.

Cash crunch, reason for delay in Kwara In Kwara State, where the governor is also yet to name commissioners, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed said publicly that with the financial crisis in the country and with the current difficulty in the payment of salaries of civil servants, it would be out of place for him to appoint commissioners and other office holders who would become another financial burden to him.

He explained that the current financial situation "called for proper planning on how to prudently run the government." As a result, since he assumed office,he had made only five appointments.

Speaking during his monthly media chat broadcast live on the state radio stations, the governor said "Ordinarily as a second term governor under a smooth running system, where you don't have financial constraint, I would have appointed commissioners the next day I was sworn-in. But you see, no matter how much plans you have in running government, resources must be available.

It is interesting to note that as a result of this position, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State has threatened to drag Ahmed to court over his delay in appointing commissioners and other political appointees.

Iyiola Oyedepo, Chairman of the party in the state, said the governor, being a second timer, has no excuse not to have appointed commissioners, alleging that the action of the governor can breed autocracy and fraudulent practices as the work to be done by many is being done by one.

Okorocha still consulting stakeholders in Imo The non appointment of Commissioners by the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, one hundred days after he was sworn in for his second term in office, may not be unconnected to the cash crunch that have hit most of the states.

According to a reliable source close to the state government, who preferred anonymity, "there is no portion of the constitution that mandates the governor to appoint commissioners within a particular time and moreover with the current state of the economy, the appointment of commissioners is not the

immediate priority of the state government".

The source continued that, "the state government is more interested in delivering the dividends of democracy to the people than appointing a new set of commissioners, when it is still grappling with the payment of workers' salary".

The delay may also not be unconnected with the plan by the state government to reduce the number of ministries by merging some together to reduce the cost of governance.

However, the governor, in a recent media chat with journalists in the state, promised to announce the list of commissioners as soon as possible, but noted that the number may not be the same as in the past.

The Nation also gathered that the challenge of carrying all interest groups along, especially members of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) who supported the governor against their party's candidate, may be responsible for the delay as the governor may be making wider consultations.

Okowa's example Although Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, now has commissioners to work with, the way he formed the cabinet explained, to a very large extent, why many state governors are yet to name the commissioners and advisers they would be working with. Reports from Imo, Plateau and many other states have shown that most of the governors, faced with the current economic realities are consulting widely and may have resolved to restructure and reduce the ministries and departments with the view of reducing cost of governance.

That is why, in spite of the fact that Delta is one of the oil-rich states in the country, sources confirmed that cash crunch informed Okowa's resolve to appoint his commissioners in a way an analyst described as 'piecemeal.'

While some state governors, who are facing severe cash crunch, are still unable to appoint their commissioners since assumption of office on May 29th, Okowa assembled his cabinet in a novel manner.

He resorted to appoint the commissioners in two batches. He also reduced the number of commissioners from 32, as was the case during Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan's administration, to 20.

It would be recalled that in June, Okowa submitted a list of twelve commissioner nominees to the Delta State House of Assembly. He forwarded another list of eight commissioner nominees two months later.

A source confirmed that the main reason behind Okowa's 'piecemeal' appointments of commissioners "may not be unconnected with the economic situation," adding that had Okowa appointed all the commissioners in one fell swoop, he would have had to provide accommodation, vehicles and pay their salaries and other emoluments.

To further compound the dire financial situation, is the fact that residences allocated to commissioners was stripped bare by their past occupants.

Aside from financial worries, pressure from political stakeholders also conspired to slow down the process of appointing commissioners as many interest groups are jostling for key positions.

In a bid to appease stakeholders, it was learnt, that Okowa is taking his time in fully constituting his team.

Another source informed that the delay in appointing more commissioners may be plans by the present administration to downsize the number of ministries from the unwieldy 32 to 22 in a bid to reduce duplication of duties by ministries and save cost.

This seems to be the same picture in most of the states in the country, especially the states where the governors are foot-dragging before appointing the commissioners and other members of the state executive council.

Our investigation shows that most of the affected governors resorted to this style of governance primarily to save some funds following the economic downturn that has affected their states.

The reasons given for the delay in appointing commissioners and other members of cabinet notwithstanding, most Nigerians are worried that the current situation may lead to a form of quasidictatorship. As a result, they are calling on the governors who are yet to name their commissioners to wake up to the aspirations of their people and constitute their cabinet as quickly as possible.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

NEWS REVIEW

Europe’s immigrant crisis: Time for new ideas

•Immigrants being rescued after their boat sank in the Mediterranean sea

A

NOTHER migrant boat has capsized off the Libyan coast with just about hundred persons rescued of a passenger manifest of over seven hundred.

There is deep anxiety that hundreds may indeed be becoming victims of what is now turning out to be the consequence of the failure of policies - internal and international policies - across the developing and developed worlds.

In the last one week, the British and French have been engrossed in finding working solutions to the aggravated immigrant crisis on their doorsteps, and which is unsettling their nations, or more appropriately unsettling Great Britain. Europe in general and Britain in particular, remain the preferred destination for the unending and ever increasing immigrants.

Why is the immigrant crisis becoming an insoluble nightmare for all participants? It is unhelpful talking of the weakest chain in the participation loop. The immigrants are said to be escaping from wartorn and or poverty-ridden countries. This is the story of helpless, fearful humans, driven by forces beyond his control.

One newscaster remarked on the morning of the latest tragedy that these are persons who believe that the scary future they face seeking asylum in a completely unknown location, can only be better than the one from which they are escaping.

True? Would we ever know what percentage of the total number that attempted to cross into Europe the tragic two thousand that had perished in the Mediterranean Sea constitute?

Just a day before, only 360 persons were rescued of the six hundred alleged to have set out from the Libyan port hours before. It is not as if the journey commenced from a Libyan city. Perhaps it began years before in the capital city of a West African country.

An asylum seeker from a wartorn Arab country stated that it took him five years to travel on foot from his native country of Afghanistan to Iran. From there he crossed into Turkey, Greece, Italy, Belgium, France and finally England. The West African who successfully crossed the Mediterranean Sea would, like his Afghan aspirant, also have had to traverse the territory from Italy to England.

Back to the participation loop and the traffickers: they have managed to establish the most efficient and

By Olawale Oshun

brutal bureaucracy that continues to defy all the legal authorities across every kilometer of journey that is traversed by the asylum seeker.

How much success has our Nigerian government recorded in stifling the activities of her share of human traffickers? There is always a bent to the human trafficking that originates from Nigeria. Whether the trafficking has as its ultimate aim, prostitution or slavery, the victims almost always go through the trafficking route earlier laid out.

It is understood that along with this type of trafficking is the other associated with those that can pay their way and choose their destinations.

European countries who are the ultimate recipient of the human cargo that transverse the desert and troublesome oceans are unable to abridge the activities of the wellrewarded traffickers at source.

The traffickers, especially those responsible for the Mediterranean lap of the journey into Italy or elsewhere, are as efficient and daring as their Nigerian counterparts. It is just that their trips are death trips. This year alone has recorded over two thousand deaths compared to the nearly twenty four thousand immigrants that set sail during the same time.

What difficulties could European countries who are the receptacle for the death cargoes be having stifling the activities of these traffickers? If effective control cannot be applied at the ports of another country, can the same be said of the disembarkation ports which are European? Can we even argue that these European countries are that powerless to frustrate the activities of traffickers even at the embarkation ports, or in the mid-sea?

This failure is, however, not only that of the European countries. But the internal bickering going on in these countries over the issue is amazing.

While on the surface there are often assurances of mutual cooperation, you cannot but notice the strong exchanges within officialdom.

British Prime Minister David Cameron spoke recently of the ‘swarm of immigrants’ and the French must be grinning from ear to ear over the attacks his comments drew from British opposition politicians. The grinning was probably down to the fact that it drew attention away from the criticisms the French would have faced for apparently mishandling the Calais immigrants who are being emboldened daily to push their way into the Great Britain.

The Mayor of Calais would not accept that the French mishandled the immigrant crisis, noting that Calais, a French city had done what was required of it. The issue, however, is that of every ten immigrants in Calais, seven ultimately end up in Great Britain.

It may be necessary to take another look at the issue of migration from these poor countries to the developed ones.

If the issue is that those who take the death risk believe that whatever difficulty lay ahead in the unknown country would be better than where they are coming from, then there is a critical need to note the ever-widening gap between rich and poor countries, developed and Third World countries, and the role of developed nations in widening that gap.

I have refrained from referring to the only other leg in the participation loop, the politically unstable and povertyridden countries spewing out these immigrants on a sustainable basis. Are these countries so helpless as not to be able to generate some positive growth and stifle this unwholesome exodus?

Unfortunately, these countries are what they are, inherently unstable, with leaders and followers bonded in greed and base instincts, that they are in their subconscious almost wishfully hoping they can be saved from themselves.

This is where developed countries, particularly Great Britain and France, miss the point. They were great colonisers and bequeathed to their various colonies at independence unworkable constitutions. Not only this, they rigged for favoured nationalities, and enabled internal recolonisation that till today troubles most of these former colonies.

This alone does not tell the whole story. They made sure none of their former colonies would break the economic barrier by ensuring that emerging leaders would only be capable of keeping their subjects below poverty line.

What with all their enforced International Monetary Fund (IMF) prescriptions? They get the unwary of these bad leaders to continue to devalue their currencies such that their primary products remain ever cheap while the secondary products which the poor countries require are ever beyond their reach.

To crown the abuse, leaders from poor countries steal their subjects blue and stock their criminal proceeds in rich countries. Not until a portion of these stolen funds started finding their way into terrorist accounts did our great colonisers realise that stolen

funds from developing countries could also be harmful to their people and interests.

And this is the crux. This type of crazed immigration by asylum and job seekers may not be controllable for now and in the immediate future. Its control is certainly beyond the reach of developed countries that can be accessed in a contiguous manner the way most European countries can, and are bounded by troubled spots which they themselves created.

Developed countries need to go back to the drawing table. Even the United States, relatively isolated from the European mainland still has to worry over the daily influx of illegal immigrants into its territory through its southern border with Mexico. This is despite the fact that she’s not deliberately impoverishing her neighbor.

Luckily for the United States she is shielded from much of the instability. This is the reason European countries must be worried that the most vulnerable states are only separated from them by the Mediterranean Sea. Most of the troubles of these states are largely due to subversion carried out by the United States with the support of some developed countries in Europe.

Now the trouble is at their doorsteps!

Great Britain and France, great colonisers of their time need now to reform their foreign policy particularly as they affect much of Africa and the Arab world. African countries must be encouraged to restructure even where boundaries are involved. There are too many nationalities living together under coercion, creating nation states that are continuously on edge.

If a country like the United Kingdom with a history spanning hundreds of years can be engaged in serious dialogue centered on devolution of powers amongst the constituent states, it must be confusing why developed nation states watch nationalities in their former colonies tear one another apart for reasons of forced cohabitation and unbalanced resource management.

These great colonisers must understand that political instability of necessity breeds economic instability. Both instabilities are bound to produce asylum seekers and economic migrants in varied proportions. The time to rethink international policies is now.

•Oshun is Chairman, Afenifere Renewal Group and a former Chief Whip, House of Representatives

Ropo Sekoni

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Femi Orebe Page 16

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

Misguided letter tunjade@yahoo.co.uk 08054503906 (sms only)

Jonathan's ministers' self-assessment is in bad taste otufodunrin@thenationonlineng.net

08050498530(SMS only)

W

HEN a lizard falls from a wall and no one around seems to appreciate what it has done, the lizard nods in self-appreciation of the feat it has performed. That was what struck me when, last Sunday, the Minister of National Planning in the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, Dr. Abubakar Suleiman, issued a statement asking President Muhammadu Buhari to give his principal his "due respect". Suleiman said he was speaking for himself and other ministers who served in that discredited administration.

Little wonder the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, described the former ministers as "members of the country's latest trade union formation, the Association of Ex-Jonathan Ministers".

Shehu ought to have qualified the pack as 'association of sad or disgruntled exJonathan's ministers, to make it complete, because that is what they are. And we should understand where they are coming from and what it is that has made them sad or disgruntled, or both.

According to Suleiman, the efforts of the Buhari government have been to portray all members of the Jonathan administration "as corrupt and irresponsible, in an orchestrated and vicious trial by the media," which he said had created "a lynch mentality that discredits our honest contributions to the growth and development of our beloved nation."

Suleiman speaks further: "We, the ministers who served under the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, have watched with increasing alarm and concern the concerted effort by the Buhari administration and members of the APC to condemn, ridicule and undermine the efforts of that administration, in addition to impugning the integrity of its individual members. While we concede that every administration has the right to chart its own path as it deems fit, we nevertheless consider the vilification of the Jonathan administration, to be ill-intentioned, unduly partisan, and in bad faith".

He added, for effect: "We are proud to have served Nigeria and we boldly affirm that we did so diligently and to the best of our abilities. The improvements that have been noticed today in the power sector, in national security and in social services and other sectors did not occur overnight. They are products of solid foundations laid by the same Jonathan administration."

We congratulate Dr Suleiman and Co.

I never said so, says Itse Sagay

M

R Adegboyega, I never said at any time that the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) was finding it difficult to get judges of integrity. It is a newspaper (not THE NATION) source that is supposed to have said so. So, the very premise of your presentation is wrong. - Prof Sagay.

Fayose: How not to deal with civil servants

L

•Suleiman

for these wonderful achievements. But it would appear they conveniently forgot in the course of their assessment of their betterforgotten administration that President Jonathan spent more than five years in power as president, having inherited about a year of his predecessor's tenure when the latter died, whereas the usual tenure is four years at a go, unless a president is reelected. So, if the former president spent five years preparing the grounds for what Dr Suleiman and his fellow ex-ministers want us to see as stellar performance that the Buhari administration is getting the glory for, and if I may add, undeservedly, when would he (former president) have begun to actualise same? Definitely, something is not adding up here; that one government could have started all these wonderful things without being able to bring any into fruition.

We should give it to Dr Suleiman though, that he was charitable to admit that there have been "improvements that have been noticed today in the power sector, in national security and in social services and other sectors". The other leg of the story that he failed to add is that these have been possible because of the public perception of President Buhari as a no-nonsense president. At least one of those heading the power sector confessed that much in a media chat, that, for them as with many others, zero tolerance for corruption is the beginning of wisdom now.

The truth is that President Buhari might not have added a single megawatt of electricity to what he met on ground; this fear is what has made many people to sit right. The same applies to the refineries that had witnessed several turn-around in the past without any benefit; some of them are now working. Again, Buhari might not have done anything to add to what he inherited on May 29, the fear of jail is doing the magic. Perhaps it is only in the area of national security, particularly the terror war, that the Buhari government might have added some arms

“Perhaps Dr Suleiman's letter might have made sense to some people if he had spoken for himself alone, but he messed it all up by trying to tell us the opposite of what we know about their government. If that government was not corrupt, or those who served in it are yet to admit this much, then we can see where the former president himself got the idea of making a distinction between stealing and corruption. He and most of his ministers were all gone; far gone�

and ammunition to what they met on ground, the war is better prosecuted now not necessarily because of what the former president did but more because of the support the country has been able to get from the outside world which now sees the country as being in the hands of a better manager; and one they can conveniently do business with.

While one concedes the right to the ministers to give themselves distinction during their tenure, and even see their principal's government as the best thing to happen to Nigeria, the ministers should know that it is only facts that are sacred; comments are free. The fact that the former president conceded defeat even before the conclusion of the announcement of the results officially showed that he was aware that Nigerians had spoken and had said a loud "no' to his reelection bid.

Maybe Dr Suleiman was away from the country when Nigerians gave their verdict. Because if he had been around, he would not have been romanticizing their failed and corrupt government they way he did in the letter to the president.

Without doubt, some of the former ministers might have done fairly well, but overall, the team was a monumental disaster. Indeed, the perception out there is that good men could hardly have lasted in that regime, especially with the unceremonious exit of the Minister of Power then, Prof Barth Nnaji. In other words, one must be comfy with the ungodly things being done in the Jonathan years to stay long in that government.

Perhaps Dr Suleiman's letter might have made sense to some people if he had spoken for himself alone, but he messed it all up by trying to tell us the opposite of what we know about their government.

If that government was not corrupt, or those who served in it are yet to admit this much, then we can see where the former president himself got the idea of making a distinction between stealing and corruption. He and most of his ministers were all gone; far gone. Apart from the fact that their so-called best was not good enough, their government would have a pride of place when we talk about corruption in this country and even beyond.

CHIBOK GIRLS: STILL ON MY MIND

AST Tuesday, Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, paid an early morning surprise visit to the state secretariat during which he locked out civil servants who arrived late for work.

As usual, the governor's media aides eagerly circulated pictures of the latecomers either kneeling or prostrating, pleading with their principal.

Though he earlier threatened to punish the erring civil servants, the governor has mercifully forgiven them but warned that he will continue to pay surprise visits to government offices and schools to catch late comers who will not be spared henceforth.

Generally, civil servants nationwide have been known to be lackadaisical about their work.

It is either many of them report late for duties or close before the official closing time.

Even when they report for work, not much is done due to the structure of the system that allows for workers to work at their pace, and the bureaucracy involved in penalising offenders.

Unlike in the private sectors where productivity is the basis for payment of monthly salaries, many civil servants get paid for doing little or nothing. Since government pays the bill, the salaries of the civil servant do not depend on income generated by ministries, department and agencies.

I remember being a holiday staff in a government agency years ago and being told to slow down on assignments given to me. Left to me, the assignment could have been completed in a week, but I had the latitude to stretch it for a month which was the prevailing culture among the permanent staff.

It is against this background that Governor Fayose has good reasons to be angry with the attitude of the civil servants who reported late for work when he called at the state secretariat.

With the dwindling funds available to states which make it impossible for some to pay workers, it is necessary to ensure that civil servants take their work more seriously and justify their pay.

But for the fear of backlash from workers unions, governments at all levels will not mind trimming the bloated civil service.

Over the years, employment into the civil service has not always been on merit alone.

Many got employed on the basis of who they knew in government even when there was no vacancy to fill.

However, enforcing discipline in the civil service has to be done within the limits of the law and civility.

But for the carryover of the military mentality which makes civilian governors want to behave like military governors, there is no need for Governor Fayose to turn himself into a school principal who needs to catch late comers.

There are penalties for various offences within the civil service, however mild, which can still be enforced by superiors of the erring staff. All the governor need do is to make his position clear on compliance with the civil service regulations and not continue to reinforce the impression that he likes to play to the gallery.

While he might not have forced the latecomers to prostrate or kneel down for him as shown in the pictures of his visit, the negative impression of the treatment the workers were supposedly subjected to is not in the interest of the governor.

His media aides obviously wanted to score cheap publicity by circulating the pictures, but they now know better - the public is not as gullible as they think.

14

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

COMMENT

Governors' security details and police 'mai guards' for big men

T

HE police has recently announced its decision to cut security details for governors from 150 to 62. The decision was sequel to calls by President Buhari for liberation of hundreds of police men and women meant to protect the community from serving as Mai Guards in the homes and cars of powerful men and women in the society. The question that is likely to still remain on the minds of most citizens is why governors elected by citizens in a free and fair election would need 62 security details, sixteen years after the exit of military dictatorship. Citizens are also worried about thousands of police officers attached to retired ministers, commissioners, and even local government chairmen in a country where the only time citizens see police men or women is on highways and street corners where police ask motorists for their driving and vehicle permits, preparatory to extorting them.

In a way, the recent reduction of governor's security details from 150 to 62 smacks of some commitment on the part of the IGP to the ethic of change. In the past sixteen years, governors and their wives, and often, children have experienced the generosity (or prodigality?) of the state. There was a time in the recent past when governors' wives travelled with 40 security details and aides on the same day their gubernatorial husbands were on another assignment that required at least 60 state protectors. Should children of such governors also need to be somewhere else at the same time, they too were entitled to police men to secure them on their way to clubs, bars, or friends. It is still a common sight to see governors alight from their cars in the midst of 50 or more security details, even now that change is in the air.

A few years ago, the governor of Dubai was featured on CBS 60-minute Sunday documentary, riding a horse and stopping to talk to citizens and driving his own car and stopping to chat with citizens. It was a moving scene of love and admiration between the ruler and the ruled. When asked why the governor

The question that is likely to still remain on the minds of most citizens is why governors elected by citizens in a free and fair election would need 62 security details, sixteen years after the exit of military dictatorship. would risk a foolhardy mingling with citizens without heavy police protection, he said that there was no reason for him to fear those whose interest he was working to protect and promote. In the governance style that we have in Nigeria, it certainly will be suicidal for most of our governors to see their guests off from their sitting rooms without tens of security details suffocating them and their guests. Such behaviour is typical in most post-colonial African states from Cairo to Cape Town and from Dakar to Dodoma. Our rulers in postcolonial Africa still see themselves as successors to the colonial governor and district officer who needed to be protected from the wrath and jealousy of blood-thirsty primitive natives God had brought them to Africa to civilise.

The mention of jealousy of colonialists by the colonised is not to imply that there is no jealousy or even envy between those who rule and those who are ruled in Africa in the postcolonial moment. In countries under military rule, the rulers need protection against the electorate whose elected governments they displace by violence, more so when such military dictators repeat the political and economic sabotage of the state for which they dismiss elected civilians. Given the bellicose nature of multiparty politics in Nigeria, especially the hostility between ruling and opposition parties in a system that is characterised by an electoral culture in which the ruling party sees remaining in power as a life-and-death matter, post-election politics often requires that winners be given adequate protection. The need for special protection for governors and other holders of political appointments may not necessarily have anything to do with the behaviour or policies of governors. Even in a properly constituted democratic government, it may be foolhardy for governors with people-friendly policies and programmes not to take precaution, as the thugs of political parties that lost elections are still around to cause mayhem.

It is thus understandable that governors be given adequate protection, but 62 security details are still too many in a country with less than 400,000 police to protect 180 million citizens, not to talk of state and personal property that requires round-the-clock protection by security personnel. I have heard those who said that 62 security details should not be considered too outrageous, if we truly recognise that our governors, regardless of the quality of their governance require protection against evil doers. Reducing governor's security staff by 88 per governor leaves the country with additional 3,168 to return to the general pool to protect citizens. This is also a good time to seek more rationalisation in the allocation of state security personnel to nongubernatorial big men and women as personal security guards.

The IGP ought to know (and if not, needs to be reminded) that there are thousands of citizens perceived by the government as valueadded super men and women who have police protection in their homes, cars, as well as in the cars of their spouses. In many cases, such police men are seen carrying the bags of their oga's wives to and from the market, standing behind them in party halls, and standing at the doors of beauty parlours each time such wives of extraordinarily value-added men choose to paint their nails. Under the category of men and women of political power, the culture is that those who had served as ministers, commissioners, speakers, and in other 'highwattage' political offices have police attached to them for life. The list includes surviving ministers from governments overthrown by military dictators since the sudden end of Balewa's government for unacceptable level of corruption. Even individuals who served under military governments in what is considered in the country's political culture as larger-than-life capacity between 1966 and now are also being protected at the expense of the state. Even three months into the government

of change, members of the previous executive and legislature are still being protected by police men in cars that have no tags and those that carry NASS plate numbers.

There must be a better strategy for protecting citizens who had held political appointments before than just reducing the number of security staff attached to them. While governors and current ministers may have some reason to fear for their lives, there is no reason why the state should be spending taxpayers' money on special protection for individuals who ordinarily should not be in harm's (or 'arms'?) way months and years after leaving office. In an ethos of equality before the law and equal opportunity for all citizens, there is a need for the new National Security Adviser to think anew about how to make former political office holders feel at ease after leaving office.

There is also no logical reason to be renting government security staff to economic giants or billionaires who also feel unsafe, to the extent of requiring special police to watch over them in their living rooms and bedrooms. In the universities twenty-five years ago, vice chancellors did not have policemen running around them and their wives. But today, a vice chancellor without a police orderly is a rarity.

Even some vice chancellors of state and private universities are now seen in public with police orderlies sitting beside their drivers on highways while it is impossible for any citizen to get police to respond to stress calls.

There is so much advantage that advances in technology can provide to support governments' efforts to protect the life and property of current and past political office holders, more so that electricity supply is improving by the day. Electronic surveillance, home alarm systems, security presence in communities rather than in the homes of individuals with political or economic power are some of such devices to release thousands of police men working as Mai guards for politicians to protect communities.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

COMMENT

15

Presidential appointments: Matters arising President Buhari must be guided by the criticisms when making subsequent appointments

RESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari's latest round of appointments to federal office has drawn a great deal of criticism, especially across the southern half of Nigeria. The immediate cause of the disenchantment is the ethnic origins of the officials he named to the positions at issue.

Of the six, only Ita Solomon Enang, Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (Senate) comes from the South. The other five, Babachir David Lawal (Secretary to the Government of the Federation), Abba Kyari, (Chief of Staff to the President), Colonel Hammed Ibrahim Ali (Comptroller-General, the Nigerian Customs Service), Kure Martin Abeshi (Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service), and Suleiman A. Kawu, Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), come from the North.

Their qualifications are not in dispute.

But in the news media and public discourse, the appointments have been described as "lopsided", as reflecting insensitivity to the plurality of the Nigerian state, and as having stirred up "outrage across Nigeria." Some have even gone to the incendiary length to characterising Buhari as "President of Northern Nigeria."

The Chief of Staff reports directly to the President. His appointment belongs entirely in the President's discretion. That is how it should be. The Presidency will function much better when President and the Chief of Staff share outlook and vision and have matching chemistry.

P

B

EFORE I add my voice to this epidemic of sexual harassment in universities, perhaps we should consider chapter four of the Nigerian constitution which highlights the protection of fundamental rights of citizens flowing from the Africa Charter on Human and People's Rights, and the UN Declaration on People's Rights.

Several international legal instruments prohibit sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination against women.

Till date the United Nations has organised four world conferences on women. These took place in Mexico City in 1975, Copenhagen in 1980, Nairobi in 1985 and Beijing in 1995. The last was followed by a series of fiveyear reviews. The Beijing Declaration and platform for Action, unanimously adopted

S

ERVICE to humanity is arguably one of the most respected, and celebrated act. No matter the size of its sphere of contact - be it at the global, national, or community level - the effects improve the lives of the average beneficiaries, while giving the benefactor a sense of satisfaction and fulfilment. All these are feasible only when it is inspired by the right motives - the passion to serve!

It's evident that Nigeria is in need of a rightly-initiated and far-sighted policy that will address her ever-bubbling ethnic tension largely

The office of Secretary to the Federal Government has a larger purview and answers to a much larger audience. But here also, Nigerian presidents, going back to the Second Republic, have traditionally exercised discretionary power in selecting those whose devotion and loyalty they can more or less take for granted. The same goes for the President's liaison officers with the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Of the six posts at issue, then, only two - the comptrollers-general for the Customs and Immigration services-- fall outside the realm of presidential discretion. Appointment to these posts is subject to confirmation by the Senate.

It is here that the case can perhaps be made that the President should have cast his net much wider in search of suitable appointees, of whom there is no shortage. Surely, it has been asked, if a worthy appointee could not have been found within its own ranks to lead the Customs, instead of recalling a military officer from retirement to lead the agency?

Over the decades, the Customs service has been notorious for setting ridiculously low

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

•Editor Festus Eriye

•Managing Director/ Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh

•Deputy Editor Olayinka Oyegbile

•Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye

•Associate Editor Sam Egburonu

•General Editor Adekunle Ade-Adeleye

revenue targets, and then congratulating itself on meeting and exceeding them. Desperate for enhanced revenues to cushion shrinking receipts from oil exports, the government seems to have decided, according to informed sources, that an outsider is better placed to lead the agency to answer to the new challenge.

But it does not follow that the person should come from the North.

Even so, and taking into account the President's previous appointments, it is too early to write Buhari off as President of only one section of Nigeria. Cumulatively, the appointments constitute only a tiny fraction of those he will be making in due course.

Besides, those judging the appointments in terms of ethnic arithmetic will stand on firmer ground if they weighed them in the overall context of senior public service positions, not piecemeal. The piecemeal approach rests on an unrepresentative sample, and is to that extent flawed. Also, how much power and influence derive from it should be the measure of the office, not crude numbers.

Still, the concerns that have been expressed cannot be ignored. The President has been put on notice that his appointees will be closely scrutinised, and that he will be pressed to ensure that they fully and faithfully reflect the pluralistic makeup of the Nigerian State, especially in terms of ethnicity, religion and gender.

It is healthy that the President has acknowledged the legitimacy of the concerns and promised that they will inform future appointments.

LETTERS

Sexual harassment in varsities by 189 countries is an agenda for women empowerment. It was considered a key global policy document on gender equality.

Violence against women, human rights of women and the girl child were among the 12 critical areas of concern.

Over the years, several laws have been made, bills have been passed and different punishments have been put forward against sexual harassment in Nigeria. There have also been so many cases of sexual harassment reported in the media with so much pomp and ceremony.

Some perpetrators have even been

taken to court. Yet the orgy of sexual harassment keeps raging on.

It seems to me that there is so much sex harassment hype and publicity in the media without the requisite action to fight it. That is why sexual harassment, a by-product of corruption has continued to thrive in our society and especially in the universities. It is no longer news to hear students discussing one form of sexual harassment from lecturers in their various campuses. In some universities in Nigeria, grades are now measured by the two unlikely bed fellowships of

academic non-performance and sexual gratification. Many have had the courage to say no to negative sexual advances while some give in after strong pressure. There is the possibility that even the small percentage of people who refuse to be intimidated or cowed face offers of material gifts and huge sum of money for sex while others continue to have carryovers and spillovers as their punishment for refusing sexual advances.

The implication of this situation is that students often times are awarded grades they do not merit and others who refuse to succumb deprived of

Reconsidering the NYSC scheme noticeable in the socio-political terrain; a system which will in its wholeness capture the earnest participation of the target class and correct the prevalent ills in our society. And who else to turn to for the outright re-calibration of our 'service and unity values' than the youthful and informed generation, and in what better way than a wilful service to the fatherland.

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has been the government's response to a

perceived lack of national integration, and potential answer to a dysfunctional civic setup three years after the civil war which ended in January 1970. The civil war opened up an ethnic and regional mess that is yet to be cleaned up, and while NYSC was a timely and astute initiative in those days, recent developments suggest that it urgently requires a total reformation of scope and focus.

The expected impacts of the scheme in its current fix is clearly lacking, and its

sustenance without re-defining the initial intents in the face of apparent dissatisfaction from various quarters, amounts to a desperate and face-saving act, which will undermine the efforts of the youths in nationbuilding, and consequently, a fruitless use of the service year.

The vast arrays of criticism aimed against the scheme by past and present corps members calls for immediate re-branding of the scheme to serve its creed - the development of common ties and promotion of national

grades they ordinarily deserve.

However, there are quite a number of students who have suffered sexual abuses in the universities and many more who will continue to suffer sexual violence because there are no structures in place or the existing structures are not strong enough to absorb or withstand the influence of the calibre of personalities involved.

There are indications that the percentage of unreported cases of sexual harassment in these universities is more than reported cases. Go to the internet and you will find many of such cases. Most of the victims do not unity - which is obviously not being achieved, as well as serve as a tool for positioning the participants for success in their career paths. It is dampening that most of the graduates look back at the service year with disdain, as a result of the impression it leaves on them. It is literally not a part of their success story. It should be noted that as much as the citizens owe a responsibility to the nation, the nation also owes a responsibility to the citizens.

The haughtiness towards the scheme, due to its ineffectual performance, is also being echoed by the public. So,

speak out because of fear of victimisation leading to extra years in the school, social stigma and weak institutional structures in the university and in the society.

Relevant institutions need to be strengthened to fight against the immunity that encourages impunity of some lecturers with regards to sexual harassment in the universities and others in the society at large.

It is time for civil societies to go beyond creating awareness on the ills of sexual harassment to build and strengthen institutions to fight against the immunity that some sexaddicted lecturers enjoy. And this would likely discourage some unserious students from implicating some lecturers in universities.

• By Sandra Eguagie Benin, Edo State. the question is where does the government stand?

Some commendable changes in the scheme, one of which is the introduction of online registration has lessen the ordeal associated with the mobilisation of corps members, while the Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme has continued to make corps members optimistic.

By Jayeola Adedotun (NYSC), The Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro.

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16

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

COMMENT

Dr Vincent J. Palathingal: Honour so truly deserved I must thank His Royal Highness for this honour done a worthy Dr Palathingal, not for monetary considerations, as is mostly the norm among the Nigerian royalty, but for services rendered to the very poor in society.

I

T was a magnificent outing at the palace of His Royal Majesty, Oba Alamu Oloyede Onikosi, Ketu, Lagos on Saturday, 5 September, 2015 as his highness honoured the genial, almost self-effacing medical doctor with the chieftaincy title of Are Basegun and his wife, Elizabeth, Yeye Are Basegun, of Ikosi/Kosofe Land, Lagos. I met Dr Palathingal not too long ago at the upscale Michel Dental Clinic located within the Alausa Shopping mall along Obafemi Awolowo Way, Ikeja.

Notwithstanding the huge number of patients waiting to be attended to that day, Dr Funso Afelumo, the Medical Director, did not just introduce us but went all the way into the massive humanitarian services Dr Palathingal has rendered in several parts of Nigeria since he arrived the country some 40 years ago. His current work, he said, is the free surgical operations for cataract for those who cannot personally afford the cost. Listening to both Funso, and the doctor reel out all he has done, and continues to do in Nigeria, I was not surprised that I took to him like fish to water. Neither was I surprised when, a few weeks later, he invited me to grace his installation as the Basegun of Ikosi/Kosofe Land, by His Royal Highness, the Onikosi. I daresay Dr Palathingal and his wife of over four decades -they got married in 1972 - are eminently worthy of this honour.

I must thank His Royal Highness for this honour done a worthy Dr Palathingal, not for monetary

considerations, as is mostly the norm among the Nigerian royalty, but for services rendered to the very poor in society. To qualify for the surgery, Dr Palathingal's only condition is inability to personally fund it. Except in some Catholic eye centres where they are hugely subsidised, these surgeries ordinarily cost between N300 - 400, 000. He has facilitated more than 50 of these and plans for the next batch are already under way.

Dr Vincent, from Kattoor Kerala, India, was born in 1943 and, according to him, it was obvious from early in life that he was destined to live a life of assisting the needy. It was in the full knowledge of this that he headed to Africa in 1974, just two years after completing his specialist training in medicine. He had graduated from the well regarded Medical College of Allepey, Kerala, India, in 1972 and completed his internship a year later.

While working at the Holy Cross Hospital in Kerala, he met Elizabeth, to whom he got married in '72.

They arrived Nigeria in 1974 with Adazi Nnku, some twenty five kilometres from Onitsha in the then East Central State, as their first point of call. His employer was the Catholic Church under the headship of Cardinal Francis Arinze of the Catholic Arch Diocese. Adazi Nnku community in those days was nothing but a sprawling population of people heavily in need of medical help given the rudimentary nature of medical services in Nigeria in the '70's. Apart from attending to that

horde of medically in need, Dr Palathingal did a lot to promote health education and in organising preventive medical programmes throughout a cluster of villages in very remote areas of the East Central State. For 15 years, he remained in the East and relocated to Lagos only after their two children have grown up and needed to go to higher school.

Both have since returned to India for their university education. Dr Palathingal also worked at Ihiala, Ozubulu, Idemili, Onitsha and Uga. I am sure many of those reading this would remember the kind-hearted, easy-going Indian doctor who came like a God-send angel to help them out of their medical challenges.

Those who remember him are, right now, most probably saying some well deserved silent prayers for Dr Palathingal and his family. They absolutely deserve such prayers from a grateful people.

In Lagos, he worked in several hospitals, one of them being the Jajo Hospital, Ikeja. To date, Dr Vincent has been in medical practice in Nigeria for 40 years. Although this is enough to earn him our utmost appreciation, he has additionally been involved in several philanthropic activities. I specifically asked him to list out these for me.

They include, but are not limited to, the following: • Village adoption: In his words, most Nigerian villages do not have access to hospitals or medical care.

He, and his team under the banner of what he calls WMC, Nigeria

Province, decided to adopt Akure village near Agbara estate in Ogun State, to which they make periodic medical visits complete with medications and injections for treatment and they also undertake routine medical tests. This is done in collaboration with the community whose leaders assemble persons in need of medical treatment ahead of their arrival. These treatments are free of any charges.

• During his tenure as chairman of WMC, he facilitated the provision of potable drinking water to the Akure community in Ogun State.

• He regularly provides assistance to the medical camp and consultations conducted by the Rotary Club of Palm grove Estate, Lagos.

• Dr Vincent and his team provide fashion training apprenticeship for young, under privileged girls in remote villages, and, on completion of training, gives them sewing machines at no cost to them • Under the KCA free eye cataract surgery programme, he organises, with the assistance of a certain Dr Erikotolae, free cataract surgeries. At the last count, 51 persons have benefitted from the programme and plans are under way to conduct the next exercise for a batch of not less than 50 persons in the Ikosi/Kosofe area of Lagos State.

• In association with the Kano Heart Foundation, and working through the KCA, Dr Vincent arranges for some children of poor

For want of N1,500, this widow got raped to death over a long night Just think of the horrors this woman endured for an entire night in the hands of this excuse of a man because of this amount. It makes me so ashamed that the litany of failures of my country led to and enabled this kind of behaviour.

L

ET me paint the scenario for you once again, dear reader.

Recently, there was a story in the newspapers that a widow was allegedly raped to death over the night by a man somewhere in Ebonyi State. If this story is true, it means, dear reader, Mrs. Ogodo Egede, 34, of Egwudunagu village in Amachi community literally spent her most horrendous, longest and last night in the hands of a senseless, low-level, hideous and heartless male assailant who brutalised her mercilessly throughout the night. What was her offence? She owed him 1,500 Naira and could not pay.

Since the story broke, unfortunately, not many Nigerians have been able to keep their level of indignation high enough. Rather, all of the nation's indignation has gone into upbraiding Buhari for appointing mostly northerners to fill national offices. Only the police have been left to sigh, heave up and haul the brutish philistine to join his kith and ilk in custody.

I cannot get over the shock though.

I cannot get over the shock that something, anything that pretends to go in the shape of a human being can take another something, anything that goes in the same name and subject it/ him/her to such a long and horrendous violation. Worse, I cannot get over the shock that Nigerians are not screaming blue murder and demanding the swiftest judgment over that reprobate.

I am in shock that we all who go by the name Nigerians have failed this soul and are going about our normal business castigating the president as usual.

Oh yes, we all failed her. To start with, while this woman was going through this atrocious and horrific experience in the hands of her appalling assaulter, most of us were.... asleep, while some were... making money... yeah well, making something anyway. So we've got her on our collective conscience as a nation and as individuals, though some more than others. The question we should be asking ourselves is what could have brought a widow to the point that she could not offset a debt of N1,500 and had to pay with her life? This is more pathetic when you consider that this is a country where leaders use champagne to brush their teeth and wash down yesterday's beer and then sniff all kinds of costly things with the money that could have kept this woman alive.

We could start with the fact that she is a widow which means that her husband failed her by dying. That can't be helped; as they say, when you gotta go, you gotta go. In saner climes, that fact alone normally invites sympathy and offers of help, but not to our assailant. In place of sympathy, he offered brutality. The woman's own father was also said not to have helped much. As the story

went, the woman's daughter fled to her grandfather that night and told him what was going on in their house but the man did not raise hell or rouse the village to help his daughter. He has his reasons, but let's move on.

What about her councilman and LGA chairman? Oh yes, they also failed her. Can you imagine the colossal amount of money that have been released into each LGA in this country but which have not been used to make life a little more comfortable for the people? Perhaps, if those monies had been judiciously used, factories could by now be dotting the landscapes of Nigeria, rural and all, and Mrs. Egede could by now be holding down a job of a sort that would at least pay enough to keep her out of the claws of heartless monsters.

Now, add to that list her State Assemblyman, Federal Representative and Senator, all of who have been too busy fighting to be put on one juicy committee or the other to know what is going on in their constituencies. True, they cannot be expected to know all those who 'voted' them in. They can at least know and intervene in the plights of vulnerable groups such as widows or children or battered wives or unemployed youths, etc., in their jurisdictions. It is their job and duty so to do.

Our assemblymen should

not just limit their sights on the high and mighty offices they are aspiring to. After all, we grant that they are humans still seeking the maturity that will enable them know that all pursuits in this life still end in grand futility, making all our stabbings at life one big grandstanding. Camus said it; Becket said it, to mention a few. For now, let us pretend our assemblymen have not heard it said.

Until then, they are entitled to their pursuits. However, they should occasionally lower their sights on the lesser mortals whose problems they are expected to help solve.

The list is not ended, reader. The governors of her state, past and present, and the presidents of the country, past and present, have failed this woman. In their various failures to address the developmental problems of their areas, they assist in throwing the delicate and vulnerable into the waiting hands of the roughnecks and philistines in our midst. When there are no jobs and people have to eke out their living literally with their fingers from a reluctant earth, more vulnerability creeps in and human dignity flies out the window.

Women and children are the most vulnerable groups in any society; but as of now, very few laws have been put in place to protect them. Regularly, widows are battered by kith, kin and others of brutish ilk, and few come to their

Nigerian parents to have heart surgeries in India.

• According to him, discussions are ongoing with some Indian hospitals to send specialist cardiac teams to Nigeria to conduct heart surgeries for persons who cannot afford the cost.

As a mark of appreciation for Dr Palathingal's services to Nigeria and Nigerians, the Nigerian-Indian community, including a representation from the Indian High Commission, was fully involved in the celebration of one of their own.

At the reception which held at the Cardinal Anthony Okogie Hall, St. Agnes Catholic Church, Maryland, Lagos, a very interesting cultural performance was staged by a group of young Indian children. At the event, a member of his family, the Revd Father Palathingal, who came for the event all the way from India, proposed his brother's toast. All these were intended to show appreciation for how well Dr Vincent has represented, not just the Palathingal family of Kattoor, Kerala India, but the entire good people of India.

It is kudos and congratulations to His Royal Highness, the Onikosi, who, in this era of change in our country, has demonstrated a paradigm shift in how it is much preferable to appreciate and honour services to the community over and above transient financial considerations.

May your kind increase in Nigeria, Kabiyesi, and may this worthy example translate into the new template for bestowing chieftaincy titles on worthy individuals by your brother Obas.

I sincerely congratulate the new Basegun, Dr Vincent J.Palathingal, and his adorable wife, the Yeye Basegun, on the occasion of this welldeserved honour. I wish them God's continuing uplift as I hope and pray that they will continue to extend their philanthropic services to the needy in Nigeria. rescue. But for the gallant youths of this Amachi village who arose as one man and fished out this callous monster for the police, he would have continued to gad gaily about in his father's compound where he was captured, all on account of state failure.

Please don't get me wrong. All over the world, people's wrong choices and bad turns of luck unwittingly place them in the hands of loan sharks, money lenders, blackmailers, pimps, etc., but it is not often that people get this kind of attack for owing N1,500, an amount that is less than $10. So yes, people are being killed daily in the world even for owing less. Yet, just think of the horrors this woman endured for an entire night in the hands of this excuse of a man because of this amount. It makes me so ashamed that the litany of failures of my country led to and enabled this kind of behaviour. These state failures must be addressed because they are killing the citizens.

There are too many examples in Nigerian leadership that are telling the citizens that it is all right Jack; you can take the law into your hands. Just look at your political office holders. It is generally believed that many of them rigged their ways into office and are still using the same mago-mago and wayo-wayo ways to get fixed up into juicy positions. These behaviour patterns kind of tell the general citizens that the means justifies the end and any behaviour that produces desired results is aye o.k.

With that mindset, the country clearly is endangered. We are not preaching morality here. We are rooting for good governance where leaders should know that they are directly and indirectly responsible for the long-term actions of their citizens because they provide the examples to follow. When they fail in their duties, the state fails and the people fall. Mrs. Egede fell because of the failure of her leaders; May her soul rest in peace.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

COMMENT

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(132) F

IRST, from Accra, Ghana, Femi Osofisan forwarded the news to me, asking me if I thought it was true. Incidentally, the very week before in Berlin, Germany, he and I had been talking about him, about the eternally youthful "Ade Blow". Then Olu Ademulegun sent me the same inquiry, this time more anxious, more desperate: is it true that "Ade Blow" is gone? And then finally, from John Ohiorhenuan in New York: "BJ, do you know what took him away?"

I start this tribute to my departed friend in this manner in order to underscore one point: almost to the last person, everyone of our circle of friends, acquaintances and members of our generational cohort who knew Adebola Ibidapo Adefuye somehow did not in the least expect that he would go before any of us. Nearly all the way from primary school through high school to the University of Ibadan as an undergraduate, he was nearly always the youngest in the class, quite apart from also nearly always being one of the brightest. But more than this was what appeared to be his perpetual youthfulness: he looked much, much younger than his 68 years and had consistently looked younger than his age at any time in the last two decades since we, members of his generational cohort, entered our middle-age years. Yes, we have all been joking in the last decade or so that we were all now in the departure lounge of life, but the last person amongst us that we thought would take that "flight" was "Ade Blow". And indeed, such is the tragic irony of life, of Being itself.

In my sorrow, my heart goes out to his family: his widow, Sola and his three children, Bunmi, Tolu and Baba.

I have many friends who are very devoted family men; Adefuye was quite easily one of the most devoted of such husbands and fathers. It may seem that in saying this, I am merely repeating a comforting clichĂŠ that is normative in tributes to departed friends, but in this case, it happens to be far more than a customary expression of condolence to the family; it is an incandescent truth. To all who met him, he was the essence of kindness, considerateness and generosity: I think these virtues in his life and work had their roots in the sort of life he shared with his family, with his wife and children. How they will cope with his loss seems unimaginable to me. All I can say, all I wish to express to members of his family and all who knew and admired him as a friend, acquaintance and colleague, is that he left a rich legacy that should be a source of comfort and solace for his loss.

The standard obituary notices and editorials have given the bare bones of his achievements; I repeat them here and will then considerably add finer details of texture and nuance to these achievements. At the University of Ibadan, he graduated from the History Department on top of his class with an Upper Second Class Honors degree. By the way, at the time, I and others speculated that the only reason Adefuye wasn't given a First Class Honors degree was because up to that point in time in 1969, the History Department at U.I. was "famous" - or "notorious" - in never giving anyone First Class, period. All the same, Adefuye went on to complete all work for his Ph D within four years, then and now something of an amazing achievement. From this he rose steadily from Lecturer 1 to Senior Lecturer, Professor and Head of Department of History, all at the University of Lagos. I think it is on

Scholar-Diplomat Extraordinaire: Adebola Adefuye (Aka "Ade Blow") (1947-2015)

•Late Professor Adefuye

record that when he became Head of Department, he was one of the youngest ever to have acceded to that position in Nigeria. Here, it is pertinent to observe that this was a period when meritocracy was still strong in our universities and the post of H.O.D. was not yet the mostly administrative and highly politicized position that it is today in our universities. To be an H.O.D. at that time was to be a solid source of professional and intellectual leadership within the given department itself and in the wider circles of the profession. Perhaps one way in which I might give an apt illustration of these observations on the academic achievements of Adefuye would be to give an account of what I discovered about him as a distinguished historian in our country's diplomatic service when I visited him and his family when he was our High Commissioner in the English-speaking Caribbean based in Kingston, Jamaica.

His invitation to me came when, through a phone conversation, he learnt of my interest in, and ties with the Caribbean. I was then at Cornell University and had developed strong political and ideological connections with the workers' movements in that region of the world, especially Trinidad and Jamaica where I had many friends and comrades. I am not sure of this now, but I think in fact that Adefuye's invitation to me came as a result of his having met some of my friends in Jamaica who had spoken very warmly about me to him and he had told them that he and I were friends and cohorts at U.I. At any rate, about a week after my arrival in Kingston, I finally made contact with these Jamaican friends. Dear reader, imagine my great amazement and pleasure when these friends recounted

to me, with an awe bordering on heroworship, the "revolution" that Adefuye had carried out in the Jamaican educational system through his introduction of African history into the curriculum of all primary and secondary schools in the country.

Adefuye had not kept this information completely hidden from me; he had only in his characteristic humility hinted to me that apart from his diplomatic duties, he had been doing some unpaid work teaching African history in Jamaican schools.

But what the Jamaicans themselves told me was something of epic proportions: Adefuye had had systematic discussions with teachers and educational administrators about how to make African history part of the curriculum of Jamaican schooling; he had brought in relevant texts, courtesy of the Nigerian government; he had travelled the length and breadth of the island nation giving lectures and talks; and his activities had begun to redound to some of the other island nations in the region.

This story, this narrative which at the time seemed to come from a deeply redemptive response to the long, worldwide ignorance of African history, would be incomplete if I don't link it with the effect that it had on Adefuye's standing among all the other diplomats without exception in Jamaica when he was our man in that country, that region of the world.

Simply stated, Adefuye was the most highly admired and respected diplomat of any country in the Caribbean at the time. The other Ambassadors and High Commissioner saw the great esteem in which the Jamaicans and the other countries of the Caribbean held Adefuye; they more or less had to "fall in line" with the situation. Two days before I left Jamaica on that visit, I

went with Adefuye to a dinner at the home of one of these ambassadors at which virtually all the others were present. The high regard for Adefuye was more than palpable; it was electrifying. Everyone was duly impressed when Adefuye introduced me as Professor of English at Cornell; but they all quickly turned away from me to my friend, each one regaling me with his or her particular story about Adefuye's enormous popularity in Jamaica and the Caribbean. Adefuye was clearly the unelected doyen of the diplomatic corps in Jamaica. About two years later when Emeka Anyaoku became the first and so far only African Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, it was largely thanks to the fact that through Adefuye's work in the Caribbean, all the votes in that region went to Nigeria's Anyaoku.

In bringing this tribute to my friend to a close, I would like to end by exploring deeper ramifications of the link between history as a discipline and the place of diplomacy in the modern world with specific regard to jokes and conversations that I had with Adefuye over several decades concerning politics in general and socialism in particular. This needs to be told delicately and with becoming circumspection.

Now, Adefuye belonged to one the two well known Nigerian schools or formations of historians and historiography, these being the Ibadan-Nsukka school and the Ahmadu Bello University school.

Frankly speaking, the Ibadan-Nsukka school to which Adefuye belonged is much better known worldwide. Its three main driving ideas are, one, that Africa, like any other region of the world, has a history; two, this history of Africa did not begin with the

coming of the Europeans and of writing to Africa; three, this history of Africa is part of the history of the world without which world history would be incomplete, truncated. You could say that the ABU school of history also accepts all these ideas of the Ibadan-Nsukka school, but it goes one step further by raising fundamental questions about how history in general and world and local histories in particular are written in order to advance the interests of dominant groups.

Adefuye knew that though both of us are products of U.I., I was more inclined toward the ABU school of historians. And from this arose his good-natured but merciless teasing of me on account of a pre-recorded message that I had left on my phone answering machine when I arrived at Cornell in 1988. The message said: "I greet you in the name of socialism; please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible". Every single time that he either saw me or spoke with me on the phone, "Ade Blow" would start the conversation sarcastically by repeating that recorded message. As a retort, I would say, I wish I could greet you in the name of the capitalism or the bourgeoisie whom you serve as a diplomat, but you know that I don't think the future lies with either capitalism or the bourgeoisie.

Well, everyone reading this tribute would recognize immediately that my retort was too long, too clunky. And at any rate, it is not something attributable to Adefuye himself. He was not the subservient tool of any government, any abstract ideology. He treated all with whom he came into contact with a deep respect of their innate dignity, whether or not they were rich or poor, the powerful or the powerless. I can report with great pride about my friend that more than any other ambassador we have ever had in Washington Adefuye made the embassy in D.C. the most welcoming place for all Nigerians from every part of the country and of all social and economic groups. The tremendous respect that he enjoyed as a diplomat was reflected in the kind of place the embassy in DC was under his ambassadorship; both in turn, derived from his sense of the place of the history of Africa in world history.

How many of our diplomats and political leaders have that sort of rich intellectual background?

In his play, Julius Caesar, Shakespeare famously wrote the following lines to be delivered by Mark Anthony, the dead Caesar's friend: "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones. So let it be with Caesar".

To that I say: No, not with Adefuye.

The good that he did will be remembered, with gratitude and with solace in the recognition that when he was here, he made a big difference.

My condolences, Sola, Bunmi, Tolu and Baba. May you and other members of the extended family be comforted by fond memories of who and what he was.

Biodun Jeyifo bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

COMMENT

T

HE concept of democracy has received varying definitions and interpretations from scholars and political observers depending on the ideological leaning or interest of the contending scholars. Being a political ideology that firmly has its root in the United States of America, certain American political traditions and tendencies have understandably crept into other democracies of the world. One of such is the concept of a first 100 days in office which is an offshoot of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency in the United States of America. Popularly referred to as FDR, Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States had the unenviable task of piloting the affairs of his country during the Great Depression when nearly a quarter of the nation's banks had failed and unemployment rate was at 25 percent.

The 100 days expression was first invented in a July 24, 1933, radio broadcast by President Roosevelt. Even though he was actually talking about the 100 day session of the 73rd United States Congress that was held between March 9 and June 17, rather than the first 100 days of his administration, Roosevelt had inadvertently given rise to what is to become a global political tradition that would outlive him and his government. Over time, across most democratic climes, presidents, governors and other elected public officials have been judged against that useful, if somewhat illogical, standard. Today, it is a tradition that is applied to practically all levels of governance as it is being used by the public, the media and scholars to

What is it about 100 days in office?

By Tayo Ogunbiyi

measure success or failure.

While famous American writer and author, Kenneth T. Walsh, believes that 100 days should not be the ideal yardstick to establish the success or otherwise of a leader or government, he still regards it as a functional device for measuring effectiveness.

Kenneth Walsh opines that democratically elected public officials could be quite efficient when they newly assume office. This is because their leadership style seems to be new and the air of victory is still charging. Thus, their impact on the public is usually at its height during this period. But as soon as a leader or government settles down to face the stark reality of the complexities of public governance, the initial aura gradually mettles down to give way to a more realistic and pragmatic approach to governance.

Consequently, Walsh submits that there should be nothing magical or unusually significant about 100 days.

In spite of Kenneth Walsh's stand on the subject, the first 100 days of any elected public official could represent a significant milestone. This is because it is the foundational period when solid sociopolitical and economic framework upon which the future destiny of the people hanged is put in place. What happens during this period is akin to what a builder does preparatory to the construction of a structure. Any

slip at this stage could spell doom for the building. Therefore, for any visionary leader who wants leave an indelible mark in the sands of time, the first 100 days in office are not only significant, but could be quite epochal The first 100 days certainly sets the tone and course for any new government.

Every journey starts with a single step, and every presidency begins with the first 100 days. It offers every new leader a unique moment and, perhaps, most excellent opportunity to redefine governance according to his own agenda and vision.

It should however, been stressed that success in the first 100 days does not really translate into an enduring success afterward. In same vein, initial difficulties do not, in any way, signify that a presidency or government is doomed to failure. It is neither here nor there, depending on the dynamics of the times and the personality of the man in charge. In the political annals of Nigeria, examples clearly abound to reinforce this perspective. The military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida, which came into office in August 1985, clearly stands out as one that enjoyed early momentum but couldn't actually translate it into a lasting phenomenon. Within its first 100 days in office, the administration came out with well defined political and economic blueprints that were well applauded by a cross section of Nigerians.

Ironically, by the time the administration was stampeded out of office in 1993, it has become deficit in integrity and popularity. Today, many are still of the view, correctly or erroneously, that the foundation for the social, economic and political ills of the contemporary Nigerian nation was laid by the IBB administration. The national economy was almost in shambles as General Babangida himself confessed that it was a miracle that the economy had not totally collapsed by the time he was leaving office. On the political front, the well crafted and initially applauded political programme of the administration did not fare any better. Rather than providing light for the country, the Babangida political programme effectively threw the nation into gloomy darkness.

On the contrary, upon return to civil rule in May1999, the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration was roundly attacked for being allegedly slow in tending to critical issues of governance. Lagos roads were reportedly filled with loads of waste that made them nearly impassable. Security situation was almost at low ebb with men of the Oduduwa Peoples' Congress, OPC, armed robbers and various transport unions constituting themselves into huge security threats. However, by the time the administration eventually got its act together, it became a reference point of governance in contemporary Lagos. Agencies such

Corruption: a Daniel has come to judgement

I

T is said that only fools rush in where angels will normally be afraid to tread.

Trampling and unusual haste actually is the forte of fools; the unserious minded and those who do not have the grit and the needed deep understanding of the situation to engage it successfully.

The dynamics of corruption in Nigeria is such that it has exhibited very complex and multifaceted dimensions. It has become the established order and thus occupies the driving seat in our governing processes and institutions. Currently, it is the master of our national life and our nuances and body language unfortunately revolve around its dictates and precepts as its traditions have taken almost 45 years of our nearly 55 years of existence as an independent nation.

Anyone therefore seriously thinking about engaging it talk less of blunting its sharp edges must first of all sit down and understudy its peculiar dynamics and specificities, then, it must craft a general strategy that must be holistic, wide and inclusive and finally assemble the needed resources especially the human resources that are very crucial to executing the designed and accepted strategy. This will definitely take time.

As we already know, it is estimated that since 1999, corruption alone has rubbished the nearly $1trillion only Oil and Gas revenue that accrued to this nation. This sum excludes revenue from other equally huge sources including internally generated revenue both at the federal and at the state levels.

The overall picture of the rev-

By Olumuyiwa Jimoh

enue profile is huge but when viewed against the backdrop of yearly appropriation and the budget effectiveness, the gap noticed is mind boggling. This gap manifesting as the various manifestations of underdevelopmentdiseases, poverty, deprivation, poor infrastructure etc bears the monument of the pervasiveness of the corruption in the nation.

When one then considers the depth of this monster, it becomes immediately understandable that for any serious government that is desirous of denting this evil and stopping this monster in its tracks, it must do a thorough internal job first before ever declaring a battle with it. This is the only way it can win and this is the only sign that the leadership is indeed serious about dealing with corruption. That is why we are sure that the federal government is taken the right step and is serious in its quests to wrest the nation from the stranglehold of corruption. If we are in the shoes of those thriving in corruption, we would see this calmness as a dangerous signal.

We should not forget the fabled calm before the storm. It would be a serious warning that something is about to explode. Mario Puzo in the Godfather is of the opinion that the best way to deal with your enemy is to bring him closer to you. Corruption and those driving it are the enemies of this nation so the President has strategically drawn some of its drivers closer allowing them to be lulled into sleep so that when the blow descends, it will be most effective.

We have decided to comment

on this issue because some Nigerians are rather in a haste to get the anti-corruption war going visibly in the glare of the public. This is understandable given the fact that the victory of the present APC-led government at the centre under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari was the clear expression of the total distaste and disgust with which Nigerians have come to view corruption and has seen it as being at the core of the numerous manifestations of underdevelopment in the country.

That historical victory is therefore an urgent cry by Nigerians for something to be done about corruption before it destroys the nation.

Our belief is that it is the understanding of this demand and the unquestioning and unwavering commitment to this battle that has forced the President to carefully take his time to embark on all needful processes that will ensure that his government succeeds on this singular mission.

This is what some people have misinterpreted as being too slow. Our dear President is simply being cautious and dotting all the Is and crossing the Ts. Nigerians should therefore see this as a good omen and a sign that this battle against corruption will be rigorously pursued and determinedly overcome. We understand the haste having all experienced all these years the excruciating difficulties and deprivation which were corruption induced but if we do not have patience now, we shall be like the proverbial tortoise that had spent years in a toilet pit but when help finally came and they were about to bring him out that day, he became impa-

tient and shouted that his rescuers should do quick and bring him out that the stench from the pit had become unbearable.

A Daniel has come to judgment and all that is needed is for all of us to exercise patience and be vigilant so that the political jobbers whose interest it is to scuttle this effort will not succeed. It is important that we be reminded that most of the work being done now ought not to be in the public domain and should not be trumpeted to avoid compromising it and making it less effective when they are rolled out. This is the gestation period and the work is hidden and internal and should be understood as such.

Knowing the criticality of this period, we have to encourage the federal government to take its time and do a very good work. Adequate planning ensures greater chances of success than when we are in a hurry to execute a project. Failure to plan they say is planning to fail. We must take it one steady and sure step at a time as they also say "slow and steady wins the race" The time of planting is always a difficult time but when the harvest comes, joy comes. Let us wait patiently for the harvest.

The only way we can destroy corruption in Nigeria is to weigh and sift all our strategies before attacking it headlong before we miss it. Nigerians should protect the mandate which they have given to the President from the hands of those who wants the anti-corruption drive to fail.

Buhari's mandate is not just the Presidency but the promise of delivering Nigerians from the evil clutches of corruption. We must therefore not allow those

as Lagos State Advertising Agency, LASAA, Lagos State Traffic Management Agency, LASTMA, Lagbus Asset Management, LAGBUS, Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Agency, LAMATA, Kick Against Indiscipline, KAI, Office of Public Defender, among others, are some of the enduring legacies of the administration. It was the administration that began the systematic fixing of the state's infrastructure.

Roads were rehabilitated and expanded, drainages and carnal were cleared. Perhaps, more importantly, the Tinubu administration put the state on the trail of economic independence as it shoved up the monthly revenue base of the state from a meager N600 million to over N10 billion.

The on-going controversy over President Muhammadu Buhari's 100 days in office is, therefore, a needless one. The President was voted into office to direct the affairs of the country for four years.

What he did or did not do in 100 days could not be effectively used to situate his government. It is only after his four -year contract with Nigerians has expired that his score card could be efficiently scrutinized. Then, his political destiny, as well as that of his political party, would be determined on the basis of his performance through the same process that ushered him in. •Ogunbiyi is of the Features Unit, Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja. trying to stampede the president into taking hasty steps which will guarantee a distortion and weakening of the battle to succeed.

Our duty is to remain vigilant and remove every psychological impediments and propaganda being waged by this most corrupt segment of the Nigerian society and their hirelings who have resorted to waging media wars against the presidency. The falsehood behind the statement that the President is too slow can then be easily seen as a cover for these persons to thwart our collective and genuine drive to rid this nation of corruption. The authorship of the "go slow" allegation can only but easily be attributed to those driven by evil and the unholy desire to see corruption not stamped out of our body polity.

The setting up of the Itse Sagay Committee is therefore one of those signs that the Presidency is almost concluding its plans and template for the execution of this battle and deliver on this promise to the citizenry.

We commend the president and assure him that he has shown serious leadership thus far in this battle against corruption and should not allow anything to distract him from this onerous responsibility.

This President is committed to this battle and Nigerians should support him and interrogate those who are shouting that he is "Going slowly". What we want is victory against corruption and not unnecessary hurry that would help the corrupt cover up their tracks. Layer by layer, grid by grid, stealth by stealth shall we win against corruption! •Olumuyiwa Wahab Jimoh is the Deputy Majority Leader of the Lagos state House of Assembly.

LIFE

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SUNDAY

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

Following the recent spate of cases of Nigerians setting their adversaries and enemies ablaze over domestic brawls, Gboyega Alaka beams a search light on the crime, highlighting recent cases and sampling out experts’ opinion on what could be responsible for the rise of such heinous crime.

•Continued on Page 20

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

20 SUNDAY LIFE • Continued from Page 19

Fire as a weapon

• Okwor

“

It is about the dissipating issue of our value orientation. Using psychological terminology, there is what we call desensitisation. People are becoming desensitised to values we normally hold with sanctity, such as the human life

”

• Elegbeleye

• Continued on Page 21

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

SUNDAY LIFE 21

of domestic violence

• The late Asuquo (right) before the attack

•Omole

Photos: Mayokun Akpoterabor

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

22 SUNDAY LIFE

TEJU PHILLIPS ON LATE DAD DEINDE FERNANDEZ

I

Her father's daughter

• Chief Dehinde Fernandez and daughter, Teju Phillips

‘My father loved and fought for me’ How does it feel to be the daughter of a billionaire with high wire international connections? Mrs. Teju Phillips, daughter of the late billionaire, Chief Dehinde Fernandez, talks to Assistant Editor, Seun Akioye on who her father really was.

•Fernandez

‘

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

SUNDAY LIFE

23

‘I paid salaries in war front’

Bishop (Dr) Zacheaus A. Adebayo is a retired major in the Army and a doctorate degree holder in Theology. He is also the head and patron of African Church, and heads the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN),Ogun State Chapter, comprising over 400 communities and two CDAs. In this interview with Taiwo Abiodun, he discusses his career in the Nigerian Army, the Ogboni Fraternity and the state of the nation.

• Bishop Adebayo

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

24 SUNDAY LIFE

After four years without a king, the people of Item recently elected a new traditional ruler, the Okpi of Item, in the person of HRM, Eze Silas Okeofia Igwe, reports Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke in Umuahia.

•Newly elected Okpi of Item in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, HRM, Eze Silas Okeofia Igwe, emerging from Ndi Okorocha Compound, Apuanu Item, after his traditional election with some chiefs, elders and members of the royal family to be presented to the leaders of the nine towns of Item under his domain. Frontthrow are Chief Eme Abiayi (Ikeoha Item, Second Right); the new Okpi, HRM Igwe; Prof. Mba th Okoronkwo (4 Right); Chief Osogho Ogwo (5 from the Left) and others

By Daniel Adeleye

•L-R; Chairperson Lagos NAWOJ Dupe Olaoye-Oshikolu, GM Radio Lagos/Eko FM

OUT & ABOUT 29

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

Former Ekiti SSG’s son weds

Former Secretary to the Ekiti State Government, Dr. Ganiyu Owolabi's son, Ibitomilola, recently wedded Mr. Emmanuel Umoh's daughter, Itoro. The union was consummated at the Federal Marriage Registry Ikoyi, Lagos and guests were later entertained at The Event Centre, Alausa, Lagos. Among dignitaries at the superlative wedding were Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Oluranti Adebule; Managing Director, Sachol Aviation Company, Alh. Ropo Owolabi; HRH, Apeju of Ilupeju Ekiti, Oba Olaleye Oniyelu; former Commissioner for Information, Ekiti State, Funminiyi Afuye; former Commissioner for Culture, Arts, and Tourism, Ekiti State, Chief Ronke Okunsanya and host of others

L-R: Groom's mother, Mrs. Modupe Owolabi; bride's father, Mr. Emmanuel Umoh; the couple, Ibitomilola and Itoro; groom's father, Dr. Ganiyu Owolabi; and Mrs. Grace Taiwo.

L-R: Olori Ayodele Oniyelu; Apeju of Ilupeju Ekiti, Oba Olaleye Oniyelu; couple, Ibitomilola and Itoro and Lagos State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Oluranti Adebule

Former Miss Nancy Osuwah and Dennis Ogbe during their wedding at St. Paul's Anglican Church, Omilani Ijeshatedo, Lagos last week.

At Doris Amana and Paul Green's traditional marriage It was a day of joy for the families of Chief Edet Amana of Oron, Akwa Ibom State and Green, a Briton from Whitehaven, Cumbria, United Kingdom, when their children, Doris Enobong Amana and Paul Andrew Green, had their traditional marriage on Saturday August 22, 2015 at the expansive hall of E-3 Events Centre, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State

The couple: Paul Green and wife, Doris Amana

The parents: L-R: Mr. Paul Green and his wife, Maureen with Chief Edet Amana and wife, Lady Hilda.

Emmanuel Adeola Sanya and wife, former Miss Beatrice Olowofoyeku after their wedding at St. Peters Anglican Church Imagbon, Ogun State.

R-L: Engr. Femi Ajibola; Representative of Lagos State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Yetunde Odejayi; Oba Lamidi Adeyemi's Oloris, Ayaba Omo and Ayaba Folashade Adeyemi, and CEO Ashmart Super Stores, Hon Tony Ashamu and others at the inauguration of Ashmart Super Stores, Ogunusi Road, Ogba, Lagos.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

ETCETERA

SUNNY SIDE

Cartoons

By Olubanwo Fagbemi

POLITICKLE

deewalebf@yahoo.com 08060343214 (SMS only)

Deliberate absurdity

CHEEK BY JOWL

OH, LIFE!

THE GReggs

Contradictory views and statements sometimes motivate. For amusement, the reader may decipher classic examples of intentional incongruity here articulated.

I AM nobody, and nobody is perfect; therefore, I am perfect. But I’m still not sure if I understand ambiguity. I do have my doubts about disbelief. What, by the way, is the probability that something will happen based on the odds?

Now then, if anyone says you are superficial, never mind, it’s just on the surface. Does it really matter that someone acquires one authentic replica after the other when access to original masterpieces by famous artists is almost impossible? If there’s one thing some can’t stand, it’s intolerance. After all, the world is full of apathy, and some don’t care.

Knowledge is power, but the more you find out the less you know. Ask university science and social science freshmen persecuted by Elementary Calculus, or mothers searching for a formula to keep for one day a clean boy.

Sympathise: boys will be boys.

But one should never generalise. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement. A word of caution though: don’t be redundant by repeating yourself. If you do not succeed, you see, you run the risk of failure.

Out of sight out of mind, but absence makes the heart grow fonder. When you can’t help the situation you turn a blind eye, but that is only possible with an eye that sees. And the puzzle confronting the thirsty, for knowledge and otherwise: Is the glass half full, half empty, or fully empty?

Want to improve your writing? Then avoid alliteration, always. Avoid clichés like the plague and never fail to remember that prepositions are not words to end sentences with. And as any other writer, you’ll do well with constructive criticism.

For the classic oxymoron effect, consider the American English complimentary expression, ‘awfully nice’, or the universal English expression, ‘bitter sweet’. The latter is an experience that the United Kingdom is quite capable of inducing via the Home Office, where official power to render the illegal alien homeless resides.

How about the paradox of black gold, the invaluable resource Nigeria appears to waste abundantly? Or baggy tights, the clothing item recently influenced by fashion changes?

To lead, it is better to walk behind the people, the wise say. Some leaders invariably lead their people to war, and with war comes misery, yet others argue that there is a just war.

Fools rush in where angles fear to tread. To the novice or the nervous is the counsel offered: act naturally. But try telling that to a desperate pilot who has to battle the elements for a successful crash landing. If flying is so safe, in any case, why do they call the airport the terminal?

There is strength in numbers yet one can find himself alone in a crowd; not so lovers who always seem to be alone together regardless of company. Now, where else can one find more anonymous colleagues than the National Assembly where, for unaccountable pay, ‘selected’ members struggle to make meaningful contribution throughout their tenure? Still, the layabout can claim to be engaged – doing nothing.

Think about it: common sense is conspicuously absent when dire situations call; which is probably why the insurance agent talks in terms of calculated risk. But the idea of a civil servant in the purest sense is a modern farce in a corrupt country, just as customer satisfaction is a recent fable.

Dark star is utter scientific jargon to the layman; born dead, a dreadful biological paradox and defensive strike a direct reverse tactic by sports and military personnel. Yet someone coined the term, easy labour. Really? Another came up with “quitters never win and winners never quit” when it is generally assumed that you “quit while you’re ahead”. You could otherwise be compelled to quit, or ‘stand down’ in military parlance.

But please let no one, not even in a loud whisper, mention friendly fire, the excuse for indiscriminate shooting on the allied side at conflict zones. Nor should any speak of survivors from a fatal accident, on account of the miraculous print of misinforming journals.

QUOTES It is a mistake to suppose that people succeed through success; they often succeed through failures.

—Author Unknown

Jokes Humour The Loophole AN aspiring young lawyer was sitting in her office late one night, when the devil appeared before her.

He said to the lawyer, “I have a proposition for you. You can win every case you try for the rest of your life. Your clients will adore you, your colleagues will stand in awe of you, and you will make embarrassing sums of money.

“All I want in exchange is your husband’s soul, your children’s souls, the souls of your parents, grandparents, and the souls of all your friends and law partners.”

The lawyer ponders this for a moment, then finally asks, “So, what’s the catch?”

Wife or Mistress AN architect, an artist and a scientist were discussing whether it was better to spend time with the wife or a mistress.

The architect said he enjoyed time with his wife, building a solid foundation for an enduring relationship.

The artist said he enjoyed time with his

mistress, because of the passion and mystery he got thus.

The scientist said, “I like both.”

“Both?”

“Yeah. If you have a wife and a mistress, they will each assume you are spending time with the other woman, and you can go to the lab and get some work done.

Higher Stakes A SHY fellow brought his date a bouquet of flowers on Valentine’s Day. She threw her arms around him and kissed him long and hard. After the kiss, he turned and bolted for the door.

Shocked, she said, “Oh! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“You didn’t!” he said as he ran out. “I’m going to buy you some jewelry!”

Crazy Doctor A FAMOUS surgeon went on a safari in Africa.

When he came back, his colleagues asked him how it had been.

“Oh, it was very disappointing,” he said. “I didn’t kill a thing. I’d have been better off staying here in the hospital.”

•Adapted from the Internet

Writer ’s Fountain EALING with the pain of writing: Everyone suffers from of a tragic childhood by being kind and depression at some point in life. It’s natural nurturing and, even more unreasonably, not and healthy. As writers and many involved in dying when he was very young? Suppose that the creative arts may find, the loss of a loved alcohol and other mind-altering substances held no great attraction to him? What chance would one can inspire an enduring piece of work.

But suppose a writer, by a cruel twist of fate, he have then of becoming a successful writer?

Perhaps a very good chance. Because, we is not genetically predisposed to clinical depression or some other cool mental illness may think, the actual act of writing provides all (there seems to be a new one to choose from the trauma that a writer needs.

Combine erratic hours or social isolation every day).

Suppose his parents had blown his chances with lack of exercise and natural sunlight, selfdoubt, financial worries and the feeling that Human ways: success is in someone else’s hands and the typical •Most dust particles in your house are made stress facing writers are enough to turn even from dead skin. the most cheerful wordsmith into a miserable •Intelligent people have more zinc and one. copper in their hair.

So does the enormity of writing a book •Midgets and dwarfs almost always have sometimes threaten the writer’s sanity? How normal-sized children, even if both parents does the writer push through to the other side, are midgets or dwarfs. to where literary light and refurbished •Most caucasian babies are born with dark enthusiasm await? Or how does he cope with blue eyes which normally change colour those dark moments of self-doubt or the after birth. occasional sense of futility? How does he deal •Most people hear better out of their right with the umpteenth rejection slip? ear.

The ambitious writer would take a number •Latin Americans have two last names or steps to clear the clutter in his mind and recharge surnames. his batteries.

D

PAGE 31

SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

• Buhari

100 DAYS AFTER:

Has Buhari made any difference?

Pages 36 & 37

It's Audu versus Wada in Kogi Pages 32-33

Past leaders have done great damage to our country Pages 34

It's too early to appraise Buhari -Oyovbaire Pages 38

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

POLITICS

Come November 21, voters in Kogi State will choose their governor. Sunday Oguntola looks at the factors for and against the candidates of the two leading parties-the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

I

N sporting circles, it will be appropriately dubbed a grudge match. Four years ago, Governor Idris Wada and Prince Audu Abubakar squared off. The big prize at stake was the governorship seat of Kogi State.

Backed by the then incumbent, Ibrahim Idris, Wada rose to power under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Abubakar, who ran under the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), lost the bid to govern the state he presided over in 1991-1992 and from 1999-2003.

Four years after, voters in Kogi State are confronted with the two familiar faces again. The opponents know themselves very well. They are both from Kogi East, which boasts of 54 percent of the state's population. While Wada is from Dekina, Audu originates from Ogbonicha-Alloma in Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State.

Their gladiators and field marshals are also familiar foes.

But unlike the 2011 elections, so much has changed in the nation and state's political environment. The PDP is no longer the ruling party at the federal level. Its 16 years rule was interrupted by a hurricane that swept across the federation on March 28.

The clamour for change brought in the All Progressives Congress (APC) and consigned the PDP to the unfamiliar terrain of opposition politics. Though the PDP is still in charge of the Government House in Kogi State, observers are predicting this might change when the governorship election holds on November 21.

Changing political climate Four years ago, the election would have been a walkover for Wada. He had everything going for him. The PDP was not only in power at the centre but also controlled Kogi State political scene.

The party won 20 of the 25 House of Assembly seats comfortably. It captured seven out of the nine House of Representatives seats. The three senatorial seats were also in its kitty.

The governor, seeking for second term, had a godfather in his predecessor, Ibrahim Idris, who mobilised state resources and organisations for his election. The federal government complimented with control of security and electoral bodies.

But things have since changed drastically. Wada is suddenly like an orphan with no one to look after him. His predecessor is now an exgovernor, who only can muster private resources for him. His party is also writhing in pain at the federal level with crisis of manifold dimensions.

At the March 28 presidential election, the then APC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) polled 264,851 votes to

defeat PDP's Goodluck Jonathan who got 149,987 votes.

The APC also won all the three Senatorial seats and six out of the nine House of Representatives slots. Of the 25 House of Assembly seats, the PDP is in control of 14 while the APC has 11.

Clearly, power seems to have changed hands in Kogi State with the PDP only left with the governorship seat. That major shift, many observers say, might be an indication of the way the voters want to go in the state.

Can Wada be reelected?

On the surface, Audu looks destined for the prime post. But politics is never an easy game. So much have taken place since the general elections in April. Wada, realising his disadvantageous position, has embarked on vigorous campaigns to underscore why he deserves a second term. He says he has done so much than the opposition is willing to admit.

He told our correspondent some weeks ago: "We are building an 11storey Kogi House in Abuja, which is to showcase our pride as a state and generate incomes. We have a land at a prime place in the Federal Capital City and we are at the fifth floor now.

"We believe it will be a good source of income for the state. We have completed a stadium in Lokoja, which is a FIFA-standard facility. We have the Greater Lokoja Water Project, which is there. We are working on a strong embankment that will protect us from flood.

"We have built 272 housing units for those affected by flood. We are also building another 500 housing units in Lokoja. We are building a dual carriageway bye-pass across Lokoja to provide new development centres across the capital city.

"We are overhauling the main Lokoja township road. We are working on over 58 other roads. They are either completed or at advanced stages of completion.

"We are building a very modern mega transport terminal, the first of its kind in northern Nigeria for vehicles passing through the state. In about two or three months, it should be ready for commissioning.

Four years after, voters in Kogi State are confronted with the two familiar faces again. The opponents know themselves very well. They are both from Kogi East, which boasts of 54 percent of the state's population.

While Wada is from Dekina, Audu originates from Ogbonicha-Alloma in Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State

It's Audu v Wada in K

•Wada

"We have built an ultra-modern vocational training centre in Lokoja, which we commissioned some weeks back in partnership with Korea Development Agency. It is the most modern vocational training centre in Nigeria.

"We now have the capacity to train people, especially the youth in ICT, Motor engineering, agriculture, metal fabrication and others. We are looking at educated but unemployable youths so that they can fend for themselves.

We have built so many schools and renovated so many. We are funding the Universities, Colleges of Education and Polytechnics.

"We have succeeded in reorientation of our youths. Till date, over 10,000 youth have been trained and empowered in our novel youth programme, tagged YAD 4 KOGI.

"There is also the 250 bed teaching hospital that is ongoing at Ayingba.

The ultramodern diagnostic center at Lokoja is almost completed.

"Over 300 rural communities have been supplied electricity; they have access to pipe borne water and trunk roads across the state. These are projects that have direct bearings with our people."

But this is a stark contrast to the perception within and outside the state. The governor is considered laid back and non-performing, an allegation he dismissed as untrue.

According to him, he simply believes in working without making noise.

"I am coming from a private sector background where I believe your work should speak for you. I have immersed myself with working without publicising our achievements with the

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

u versus n Kogi

•Audu

belief that people will see our works and support us.

"The fact that I'm governor will not change my person and work belief. But clearly, I'm finding out that is not always the case," the former Pilot explained.

Regardless of what he says, many believe he has underperformed and moved Kogi State backward in four years. His opponents point at the issue of unpaid salaries of public primary school teachers. The State Chairman of Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT),

Though he has lost out four times in its bid to wrestle power from the PDP, Audu seems to have hit a goldmine in his party structure.

The APC is the darling bride of the electorates with its change mantra. Most states in the Federation have since switched to the change option offered by the party

POLITICS Suleiman Abdullahi, said the total bill owed teachers stands at N32billion.

Of this, he said N23 billion was the outstanding arrears of the new minimum wage while N8.7 billion was unpaid leave grants for four years.

This outstanding salary, Abdullahi said, was demoralising his colleagues.

According to him: "There cannot be commitment from a teacher who is sick and hungry. There cannot be commitment from a teacher who is not sure of what he will be paid and when he will be paid."

Charles Ige, a Lokoja-based political commentator also pointed at the dwindling infrastructural fortunes of Kogi State under Wada as minus for his reelection bid. "The roads are failing and the masses cannot point to one thing they are enjoying. Clearly, the governor has failed them and they might want a change at the slightest opportunity," he said.

The PDP is also depleted in the state with a gale of defections since President Muhammadu Buhari took over. The ad-hoc delegate ward congress and state party congress created acrimonies that forced some forces out of the party last July. Though Wada's loyalist, Engineer Sam Ohuetu, emerged the party's state chairman, many were against his choice and so they left the PDP for the APC. In Audu, APC trusts But Wada's greatest headache will be APC's governorship candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu, an old war horse. Abubakar, a former banker, is well tested and acquainted with the state's political climate. In 1992, he became the first civilian governor of the state under the platform of the defunct Nigerian Republican Convention (NRC).

He literally transformed the infrastructural landscape of Kogi State to the amazement of all. In 22 months, Audu's magic wand traversed critical sectors such as housing, health, road construction, health and industry.

Under his watch, the state established three different housing schemes for public officers, consisting of over 1,500 housing units in Lokoja.

There was also the transformation of Lokoja Township with asphalt road, street lights, aesthetic roundabouts, the construction of inter-township and rural roads, over 75 electrification schemes and 50 water projects.

He also founded Kogi State Polytechnic, a television station, radio station, both AM and FM, a state newspaper and transformed the colonial residence of Lord Lugard into an ultra modern Government House Complex.

He also embarked on construction of office blocks for ministries as the new state had no office accommodation, the construction of shopping arcade complex to enhance commercial activities among others.

From 1999-2003, the former governor also spearheaded landmark projects such as construction of a specialist hospital; the five star confluence Beach Hotel, 250 units Housing Estate, a Sport Complex and 25 other medical Institutions.

He also created a Special Government Girls Secondary School on Student exchange programme, 350 borehole schemes, 300 kilometers of township roads, the procurement of 100 transit buses and completion of 40 rural electrification projects.

33

"No one has come close to his achievements in office," Mohammed Attah, a public commentator stated.

"It was under him that the people witnessed real physical projects. We were all amazed that a man could do so much. He was commissioning projects almost on weekly basis.

"The State became a construction site and life was good for many Kogi indigenes and residents. We were all proud to come from the state. In all fairness, the man did so much and people still talk about him today with nostalgia."

Audu has also said he is on a rescue mission from a state he left in 2003 vibrant. He explained he will reverse the 12-year misfortunes foisted on the state by the PDP. Many believe he has the Midas touch to lift Kogi again. That perception and his track record of performance are working well for him.

Though he has lost out four times in its bid to wrestle power from the PDP, Audu seems to have hit a goldmine in his party structure. The APC is the darling bride of the electorates with its change mantra.

Most states in the Federation have since switched to the change option offered by the party. The tsunami effect on Kogi will surely work in favour of Audu.

He is also seen as a grass mobiliser with heavy war chest to prosecute political battles. With the APC's influence spreading across the state, observers say Audu might just be on his way back to power.

But Wada says the PDP is prepared to counter the sweeping effect of change in the state. He said the victory of the APC at the presidential poll in the state was just a fluke that will never take place again.

According to him "We will come up with appropriate strategies to beat the APC because we are on grounds. PDP is the only party in Kogi State across the nooks and crannies.

"We are in all wards and I have things to show people that we have done within their communities. The victory of the APC in the presidential was a one-off. We defeated the APC in the House of Assembly elections that came after the presidential elections and we are determined to repeat that victory come November."

The Publicity Secretary of the PDP in Kogi State, Prince Bode Ogunmola, said APC's choice of Audu as its governorship candidate was a blessing in disguise.

He said the November 21 election was already a done deal for the PDP, saying it would defeat Audu at the poll.

Ogunmola pointed out that the PDP has been beating Audu since 2003, assuring that the forthcoming election will not be an exception.

He described the choice of the ex-governor as the biggest blunder of all times, insisting the PDP has been the acceptable choice of the Kogi people.

Audu, on his part, is confident Kogi voters will key into the change sweeping across the nation. He said Wada and the PDP have destroyed the state, which he said is in need on urgent rescue.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

POLITICS

Past leaders have done great damage to our country Patrick Amadasun, a professor of finance and management and a member of the Phi Kappa Phi in the USA, in this interview with Yetunde Oladeinde, speaks on the state of the nation

•Amadasun

HAT is your take on the sociopolitical situation in the country?

Nigeria is a blessed country. The state of the nation is good and promising, even though it does need revitalisation.

Nigerians are brilliant and resourceful people. The nation's problem is due to dissonance and systemic failure brought on by bad leadership. I give great kudos to President Jonathan for having the courage and wisdom to accept defeat with humility. It shows that our people are maturing and being more civil on how we handle our affairs. Most of our past leaders have done great damage to our country through ignorance and some through greed. These leaders have consistently demonstrated their lack of syllogistic logic in their decision processes which should have included feedbacks from Nigerians through deliberative processes. However, former Head of States like Gowon and Abdusalam Abubakar are great statesmen who had the interest of the nation at hearts when they governed the country. If we have future leaders like them, then the state of the nation will become a wonder to the world. In addition, President Jonathan's acceptance of his defeat without fuss could have elevated him to a true statesman if not for the accusation that his government was very corrupt.

What is your view about the role former President Olusegun Obasanjo has played so far in the new dispensation?

I like President Olusegun Obasanjo. He was given two opportunities to become one of the best leaders of Nigeria, but he cannot be seen as a statesman because he was more focused on perpetuating himself in power. His behavior is that of complete relativism instead of encouraging discourse that is based on cooperative inquiry. His public utterances in criticizing Jonathan was classless and in bad taste.

Former presidents should not openly criticize sitting presidents. He should learn from Gowon and Abdulsalam. Besides, he was also part of the problem. He dealt Nigerians a bad hand in his succession plan. He should have chosen leaders that had the capacity to effectively govern the country. He cannot assume that his fixed traditional paradigm of what reality is, according to his own dogmatic view, should be the accepted mantra for all Nigerians. I remember submitting a proposal to him through our mutual friend, Otunba Fashawe, on how our nation can generate about $150 to $200 billion annually into the economy that is not oil based. But, he did not act on it because he lacked foresight. I wrote about this on June 12 during Abiola's problem with Babangida and Abacha.

You wrote then that oil should not be the main focus of our economy as the naira was being devalued to about N30 to the US dollar. Do you still maintain that view?

Yes. Like I said then, oil will continue to lose its global influence within the next

people in our country in various spheres of life and give projections for the future. For example, if we look at the agriculture sector and we see that we have 180 million Nigerians and every Nigerian eat 4 yams a month, then we need to put agricultural policy in place for yam to produce 9 billion tubers of yam annually. If we are training our boys and girl in sports, we need to look at the world records and use that as the bar for our sports people to meet or excel to be the best in the world. If we have 3,000 streets in Lagos, there is a need to plan that about 600 of those streets must be tarred and constructed every year until the whole 3,000 streets are tarred. If our energy consumption is 10,000 megawatts capacity, then we need to put 20,000 megawatts in place to ensure unlimited supply of power. If we have 1 million graduates coming out of the university annually, then, we need to put in places employment policies that will accommodate them. In essence, every department or ministry must have a numerical goal with specific strategies in attaining this goal. We cannot sustain the nation the way it is being run now without definitive objective and plan that are based on sound arithmetic or statistics. There is a need to have an economic plan that is generally subsumed into a master financial schemata that is associative, differentiative, preservative, and perspectival.

President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to fight corruption. Is this possible?

Yes. I like what the president said when he iterated that going forward he will stop corruption. But, he faces a lot of challenges and problems too. Most of the people surrounding him are people who amassed wealth by their association with government.

How do you deal with this divide? A corruptive act is a social legacy that is initiated by a rhetor and builds on ideas that become pervasive and ubiquitous in institutions, bureaucracies, and government. These types of acts can be nipped in the bud by the president. He needs to make a magnanimous offer to all Nigerians who amassed wealth through their associations with federal, state, and local governments from the Second Republic till present, including those in his party that: They should willingly bring back all funds taken from corporate Nigeria and you will not be prosecuted. A Memorandum of Forgiveness (MOF) will be given and signed as guarantee that they will not be prosecuted. If they refuse to bring the funds back within sixty days, then, they should be prosecuted. If this is done, we may be able to recover over $300 billion for the government.

This will be the first step in fighting corruption and will lay a foundation in his fight against corruption.

What are the other steps?

The next steps involve constitutional amendments that will help reduce corruption. It is difficult to completely wipe out corruption. The second step involves making the heads of EFCC, public corruption commission and other similar bodies elective. This way, they are not

W

10 years. The use of electric cars and other non-fossilized energy will reduce the influence of global oil and will create a fall in oil prices. Countries with economies that solely depend on oil will suffer.

You once advocated that one US dollar can exchange for 15 Naira. How valid is the submission?

Yes. There are all sorts of ways that the naira can be revalued. But, it will not be expedient now to revalue our naira to that rate since this will encourage capital flight.

Besides, our main export is oil and we do not have enough foreign reserve to sustain a strong naira. However, the Naira could have exchanged for N100 to one US dollar if our economy was not mismanaged as suggested

by Charles Soludo, the former Central Bank Governor.

You seem to agree with Charles Soludo that Mrs. Ngozi Okonji-Iweala and President Goodluck Jonathan mismanaged the economy?

President Jonathan appears to be a good man, but apparently clueless on how to run a good government. As a leader, you must have the capacity to choose the right people of moral character and expertise that have a clear vision on how to articulate the right programmes for corporate Nigeria. The president was dealt a bad hand by Obasanjo and the people appointed to work with him.

Jonathan did not have a grand design that was specifically tailored to the welfare of Nigerians. In the creation of a sustainable economy, there is need to create prefabricated plans and schemata which require improvisation to our economic health that is devoid of corruption, or constant attempt by some elements to "game the system." Reports reveal that the country was selling two million barrels of crude oil daily at an average price of $100 per barrel. That is approximately $70 billion dollars annually!

Is this figure accurate? If this is true, then we have a problem in Nigeria. What this means is that in the past six years we generated close to $420 billion in oil revenue plus $70 billion in debt and a reduction in foreign reserve of $30 billion for a total expenditure of over $520 billion. This is scary and alarming. With such funds, we should have had a foreign reserve of about $200 billion, the naira should be trading for N100 to the US Dollar, and we should have a hell of good and solid infrastructures to show to Nigerians. So, Soludo might be right that the economy was grossly mismanaged.

You are saying that besides oil, Nigeria can generate $150 to $200 billion from other sources. How is it possible and from where?

It is very possible. How and where are strategies designed and specifically tailored to each nation. Such strategies will not be discussed or given in public for now. It is reserved for those who genuinely have the interest and welfare of the Nigerian people at heart.

What is the other major problem you think that is facing the nation?

That must be our inability to plan with numbers. We need to plan for the number of

under the executive branch, but independent of other branches of government. However, for checks and balances purpose, the heads of these bodies could be impeached by the National Assembly if they are corrupt or abuse power in their offices.

Another constitutional amendment involve the changing of our governmental architecture from three tier government to two - tier government.

You see, there are too much money floating in the system and the governors and officials are not adequately monitored, checked or controlled. For corrupt people, the boundary for them between their views on idealism and materialism is very fluid that they purposefully ignore the major premise of civic education: introspection and self examination as to what is an a priori truth for civilized behaviour. Besides, too many Nigerians want to be governors or ministers to acquire wealth and not to serve. To stop these grand ideologues, we need to make these positions less attractive in the gathering of illegal and uncontrolled wealth that belongs to the people. The two - tier system of government should consist of federal and states only. The current 36 states should be scrapped and replaced with over 774 new states. In other words, all former local governments should be elevated to states and each should have a governor and ten House of Assembly people. No need for state senators.

But it takes money to run an election campaign in Nigeria. How will the aspirants get funds?

True aspirants should raise funds through donations. And once they emerged as front runners in the primary, then, it should be in the constitution that INEC should provide some funding as to a fixed amount for each aspirant or contestant based on the level or area of government they are canvassing for.

On the federal level, should there be an audit also?

Of course. The federal level should have the same public audit of each department by citizens randomly selected from a federal data bank of all citizens.

Sensitive departments like the military and scientific research may not face public scrutiny so that we don't expose our national secrets to the whole world. Such transparency will tremendously reduce corruption and the President will be able to smile and show Nigerians that he kept his promise.

You have great ideas. Don't you see a need to show active interest in how the nation is administered as your contribution?

Not in that manner. I am not a politician. Besides, I told you that I am a very private and busy individual.

However, if asked on advices for policy issues, then like any Nigerian, I will be willing to add my pound's worth.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

POLITICS

Following the entrance of Timi Alaibe into the race for the governorship ticket of All Progressives Congress (APC), Tony Akowe in Abuja reports on the chances of the former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to win the forthcoming Bayelsa election

T

HE entering into the governorship race in Bayelsa State by the former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has set the stage for an epic battle for the APC governorship ticket in the state. Until his entrance to the race, there had been wild rumour that the race for the APC ticket will be between former governor Timiprieye Silva and other aspirants.

But as at the time of the report on Friday, Silva was yet to pick the nomination form, even though his supporters have been putting pressure on him to do so. But the big question is whether Alaibe, who just came into the APC is the right candidate for the party or whether he will get the nod of the party to fly its flag in the December 5 governorship election?

However, the chances of Alaibe became brighter when some leaders of thought and political big wigs in the state stormed the APC national secretariat to pick the nomination form for him to contest the election.

They insisted that he was the best man for the job. Their spokesman and former lawmaker from the state, Senator John Brambaifa, said they have searched the state and found none other suitable for the job of leading the state out of the wood.

Brambaifa accused Governor Henry Seriake Dickson of failing the people of the state, adding that he has nothing to show for the huge allocation collected by the state from the federation account.

The former lawmaker said Dickson was no match for Alaibe, saying "we have decided to buy the form for him and present him to our people as the most favoured candidate because he will be the best to take the mantle of leadership in Bayelsa." He said the group decided to come together and purchase the form for the former NDDC boss after reviewing his achievements and coming to the conclusion that he was the best man for the job, pointing out that there is no doubt that Bayelsa needs a person of his quality at this point in time. He expressed confidence that the APC governorship primary in the state will be rancor-free; saying the party already has a record of transparency in the organisation and conduct of its primaries as exemplified by its presidential primary and the recently concluded governorship primary in Kogi State.

•Alaibe

Bayelsa 2015: Will Alaibe get APC ticket?

Alaibe, who said he has accepted the challenge by the call of the elders of the state to contest the election, said he was bringing into the race a great wealth of experience unmatched by any of the aspirants, including the current governor of the state. He argued that Bayelsans were tired of having accidental leaders who came to power without adequately preparing for governance. He said past leaders in the state have nothing to offer the state, but to line their pockets with money from the state. He lamented the lack of development in the state which he said is one of the major oil producing states in the country, pointing out that only leaders who are not prepared to deliver democracy dividends to the people use the difficult terrain as an excuse for their failure.

The former NDDC boss, who supported the present governor to defeat former governor Silva four years ago, said his support, four years ago, was never for Dickson, but for the party, saying "I am a party man and that is what I have always been. I even have course to step down for people by following party directives those days; so I am a party man but in spite of how we try to support them, the leopard and his skin refused to

change; you cannot give what you do not have."

Alaibe refused to concede to the fact that the difficult terrain in Bayelsa State might contribute to the slow spate of development in the state, saying the terrain does not stop the clearing of refuse and the drainage system in Yenogoa, the state capital.

While saying he was coming with a lot of experience on the development of the Niger-Delta, he argued that the difficult terrain did not stop him from constructing roads and building schools in Bayelsa while in the NDDC, saying "there is no terrain challenge that cannot be resolved."It is like talking about Netherlands, city of water, and you can see infrastructures development. If you know what to do, let us not use the excuse of terrain, that is deceit; that is not the problem.

"How does the excuse of terrain make you not to resolve the drainage problem in Yenagoa town? How does the excuse of terrain make you not to clear the refuse? It is leadership we are talking about, leadership with vision, leadership that gives direction, leadership that know critical issue of infrastructural development and empowerment, leadership that connect with the people, that is what is absent and that is what we want to fix".

35

While exuding confidence about his chances in the race, he said "You were here when the elders and leaders of Bayelsa State came to purchase the form, asking me to contest for the governorship of the state. In answer to that call and following my acceptance, I have come here to submit the expression of interest and nomination form.

We, as Bayelsan people, are tired of accidental leadership. We are tired of visionlessness and you know that I come with a lot of experience, goodwill, integrity and reputation.

As one of the major oil producing states in this country, Bayelsa has not been able to see structured development in terms of infrastructural development and even in terms of environmental development as consequence of oil production. There are also social political issues and value orientation.

We want to ensure that Bayelsa becomes that ultimate destination that our people want to get to. It looks simple and all former leadership has been challenged with it and it is still not resolved. So, the credible people you see here are angling for that change and the people at the grassroots are calling for that change and want to see change in their lives. The welfare of our people is critical, our educational system has collapsed and we want to make that change happen".

Senator Brambaifa also exuded confidence over the chances of Alaibe who joined the party recently when he said "the APC guidelines do not stop anybody who is a member of the party from contesting an election. Even if you joined yesterday, you have the same right to contest the election as somebody who joined two years ago. Don't forget that Alaibe has a track record of achievements when he was in NDDC. At that time, he managed nine states. I don't think one state will be a problem for him. So, we are confident that he stands the best chance to pick the APC ticket and win the election scheduled for December 5".

The non entrance into the race of former Governor Silva as at Friday afternoon is already swinging the pendulum in favour of Alaibe who had to step down from the race for Governor Dickson four years ago and even campaigned for him to become governor. As Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Alaibe had to preside over nine oil producing states, building roads, schools, hospitals among others and managing the resources of the Commission.

Many have argued that his rein in the helm of affairs of the commission has been about the best years of the NDDC. But what are the chances of Alaibe and the APC in a state where the former President, Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Patience holds sway? Some of Alaibe's supporters dismiss the influence of former President Jonathan in the electoral process in the state. Jonathan, they said, has no influence over what goes on in the state and does not have the capacity to influence the votes against the APC. It remains to be seen how APC will fare in the race against PDP in the state.

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POLITICS

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

100 days after,

Yesterday, Saturday, September 5, 2015, was 100 days since May 29, 2015 when President Muhammadu Buhari and most of the state governors took over the helm of affairs of the country.

Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, takes a brief look at Buhari's scorecard so far, wondering if he has made any difference

A

S President Muhammadu Buhari and the state governors sworn into office on May 29, 2015, marked their first 100 days in office yesterday, there are mixed reactions over the tempo of their governments and their overall performance so far.

While their admirers said their footsteps in these first 100 days are signs of the good things to come within their four year tenure, their critics express doubts if the people's expectations would ever be fulfilled by the current leaders. Some of the critics hinge their denigration on the fact that both Buhari and most of the state governors did not appoint ministers and commissioners respectively in the first 100 days in office, a development they described as ominous and a pointer to the fact that the current leaders may have been overwhelmed by the realities they found on ground and were therefore ether confused or unable to move forward.

As a result of this feeling, some critics of the Buhari-led federal government have not only expressed disappointment but have also dismissed him as rather too slow.

But unlike some of the state governors who, until this week, have not come out to explain the reasons that delayed them from appointing members of their cabinet or even informing concerned citizens when they would likely name their commissioners, President Buhari has formerly given this month, September, as the time he would name his ministers. His officials have also explained that the seeming delay in naming the cabinet has to do with the decision of the

•Buhari

W

HEN he took over the mantle of leadership in Cross River State, on May 29 this year, Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State made plenty ambitious pledges.

From day one, he left no one in doubt of the fact that he knew the direction he wanted to go which was the massive industrialisation of the state and to provide jobs. He promised to create a thousand jobs in his first 100 days. Despite the state's financial situation, he promised he would always ensure salaries are paid on the 25th of every month. He made a pronouncement that his administration would pursue two major signature projects, which are a new deep seaport and 240km superhighway to run from the southern to northern senatorial districts of the state in his first term, among many others.

Ayade kicked off his administration on a businesslike note. First, he has changed the psyche of civil servants and their attitude to work. On his first day in office as governor, workers who came late were locked out on his orders with a warning of strict consequences for subsequent defaulters.

In a bid to create employment, he also unveiled plans to establish a garment industry, cocoa processing plant, rice mill and a modular refinery in the state.

Other investments also to be established by him, he said, included the Banana Farm to create value chain, tank farm city, marine transport service, dairy farm, poultry farm, pharmaceutical company, maize farm, quarries and cement factory.

Today, a hundred days after, there appears to be a blossoming optimism in the hearts of Cross Riverians. Although much still remains to be done, many feel some moves are already made and some promises already being kept are signs that at the end of Ayade's administration, there would be plenty to be grateful for. For instance, so far, the promise that salaries would be paid on the 25th of every month had been kept. Also in terms of job creation, the Green Police, which the

Cross River: Admirers, critics assess Ayade's first 100 days While some observers have expressed optimism following Governor Ben Ayade's efforts in his first 100 days in office, others say he made promises that would be too difficult to fulfill, reports Nicholas Kalu in Calabar

•Ayade governor set up to enforce environmental sustainability laws and regulations, implement the Green Carnival and Ball, monitor and control environmental activities, refuse management and noise control and ensure cleanliness of the city centres, among others, had begun its recruitment process for over 6, 000 applicants.

Similarly, the garment factory located along the Goodluck Jonathan bypass in Calabar, of which construction work has started, seeks to recruit 1000 jobs, the bulk of

which would be women, particularly widows. Recruitment of workers for the factory had also begun and feelings of hope have gotten stronger with news of the arrival of the ship conveying equipment for the Calabar Garment Factory at the Lagos Port.

A statement by the Special Assistant Media/ Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ayade, Mr. Christian Ita, said the equipment is currently at the Apapa Port, Lagos, undergoing routine checks before arriving the site.

It was gathered that the governor has secured the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari to flag off the commencement of the construction of the superhighway later this month. The governor had in the first couple of weeks of his administration, signed a quality control deal for the superhighway in Germany.

Already, work has commenced with clearing and the earthwork at the take-off of point of the superhighway along the Calabar-Oban Road, with the governor ordering that the road should be opened up to 21 kilometres before President Buhari visits.

The governor's efforts to bring in investors also seem to be paying off as a consortium known as the Broad Spectrum Industrial Services, has raised 500million Euros for the financing of the proposed Calabar Deep Seaport in the state.

The Managing Director/CEO of the Consortium, Michael Havre, said the move is a demonstration of the commitment of the

president to study carefully the realities on ground before putting together his team.

Information available to The Nation however shows that notwithstanding the criticisms against his pace, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has witnessed some radical actions that are poised to make far reaching changes in the country's polity and economic development.

For example, in the area of security, it would be recalled that as soon as he assumed office, Buhari ordered the relocation of military command to Maiduguri. Most analysts agreed that this courageous and visionary decision took the war against terrorism right to the door steps of Boko Haram, recording amazing results of conquest against insurgency, release of captured villages, freeing of largely women and children and restoration of hope of an end to terrorism.

The President also championed the creation of the Multinational Joint Task Force, which is designed to "create a ring around terrorists with the cooperation of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Benin." It is on record that the Lake Chad Basin Commission military deployment has already attracted donations, military platforms and more shared intelligence.

To further give a bite to the Multinational Joint Task Force, Buhari has ordered the release of $21m to facilitate the establishment of the headquarters of the force in N'Djamena. group to the signature projects of the state government under Ayade.

Other signature projects, which attracted the interest of the Consortium, include the dual carriage super highway, modular refinery, cement factory and agriculture.

Ayade has also been working to improve electricity supply in the state, as he said the state has concluded plans to set up a hydro-power plant that will generate about 90 megawatt (Mw) of electricity.

The governor, who received some investors from China in his office in Calabar, hinted that the Kwa Falls was projected to generate 30Mw, Agbokim Waterfalls, 30Mw while the canalisation and channelisation from either Ikom, Calabar and Itigidi Rivers will generate 30Mw, bringing the total output to 90Mw. On housing, the governor had led a trade delegation to the Republic of Ireland and property developers from that country had arrived the state to concretize a partnership deal to build about 5000 modular homes.

In view of the fact that the reputation the state has gathered over the years has been mostly due to its peaceful nature, the governor has also worked to ensure the state becomes uncomfortable for criminals.

He had sought the death sentence for kidnappers by sending an executive bill to the House of Assembly seeking same, as well as set up a security outfit codenamed "Operation Skolombo" to rid the state of criminals.

In spite of the strides the governor has taken so far, a fair share of the populace still remain unconvinced that his programmes are achievable in the time frame he has promised. There is the general feeling that not only is the governor trying to handle so many things at the same time, some of the projects he promised, like the superhighway and the seaport are too farfetched.

In response to this, last Sunday at a thanksgiving Mass at the St Theresa The Little Flower Parish, in his hometown in Obudu Local Government Area he vowed to shock Nigerians by achieving the goals, which many believe are unattainable.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

POLITICS

37

has Buhari made any difference?

Other major developments that have been recorded in the area of security within the first 100 days of Buhari government include the United States' pledge to dole out $5 million to the fight against Boko Haram, in addition to other material support.

Still on Boko Haram, informed Nigerians said Buhari "altered the strategy against Boko Haram by changing the service chiefs, and ensuring that the entire operation gets daily monitoring with the military heads now based in Maiduguri," adding that the President's visit to Germany, where he attended a meeting on the invitation of the G-7, world leaders "opened a new leave of diplomatic relationship with Nigeria, promising technical and material support to quell Boko Haram, and rebuild the Nigerian economy."

Although he has not named his ministers, another action he has taken, which many agreed will make some significant impact on the security situation of the country is his approval of the recruitment of 10, 000 into the Nigerian Police. Given the obvious shortage of personnel in the internal policing of the country, even Buhari's critics are not forceful in their criticisms of this initiative.

Economy Besides security, observers said the government, even without the appointment of the relevant ministers, has taken some radical steps that are poised to affect the economic fortunes of the country.

As soon as he assumed office, Buhari did not waste time before he approved an intervention to pay public servants owed salaries across the states due to fall in revenue sharing. The President's intervention was principally to alleviate the suffering of many Nigerians and reduce the level of poverty. Before that action, there was tension in the land as many civil servants were owed salaries.

Apart from that intervention, reports from relevant bodies suggest that the

R

ecently Governor Nasir El-Rufai's policies, particularly his resolve to demolish and recover government properties that have been occupied by some individuals, created a lot of tension in Kaduna State. As a Political Adviser to the governor, what is the true situation now?

I think the issue of recovering some lands that belong to schools and hospitals in the state is a very straight forward one. You will recall that during the campaign, Malam Nasiru ElRufa'i promised he was going to make six things his priority; namely education, health, agriculture, infrastructure, security, youth and women empowerment. These sectors are the most important issues for this government. That is the reason why, when he assumed office we believed education, which is the bed rock of any society, should be given full attention. So, he decided to first of all create an enabling environment for our secondary school students in the state. To get a full picture of the situation, we went round all the secondary schools and even some primary schools too. You see, government's effort was to ensure that our children have the best education this time around. We realised that the first thing we needed to do was to give them a very conducive environment.

Though the government has started making positive impact in many other areas, nobody is talking about them.

What are some of these things you are talking about?

As I speak to you now, nobody is talking about the move by the government of Nasiru El-Rufai to provide all the junior and senior secondary school children in the state free and customized tablets (computers). The tablets will have all schools' syllabus, WAEC past questions and answers, text books ranging from English, Mathematics, and Sciences to Social Studies and so on. Again, nobody is also talking about free uniforms. They are not talking about the free education that this government has introduced from primary to Junior Secondary School. They are not talking about the free feeding for primary school that we are about to start. We realised that the state also needs quality teachers; so after providing them with these things, they need to have quality teachers and in doing that, the government has decided to send the teachers for training and increase their salaries, which will be one of the best in the country.

monthly Federation Accounts Allocation Committee witnessed a substantial jump in the month of July, 2015, "largely due to the plugging of leakages." The jump was in spite of fall in oil revenue.

Although his critics insist he did not do anything new on the sector before the improvement, it is generally agreed that within his first 100 days in office, electricity supply has also improved significantly. The 4,600 megawatts has ensured longer hours of light and lesser light cuts.

We gathered from top government officials that within this period "Foreign Reserve has improved to $31.5 USD in spite of the falling global prices of commodities.

From an initial $29.2 USD the Foreign Reserve grew to $31.5, further securing the economy against global and domestic shocks."

The source also said, "The change in the leadership of the NNPC was a major stride in the restructuring of the organisation. The appointment of a new Group Managing Director and the slice of Executive Directors from eight to four by the President had repositioned the organisation."

Nigerians seem to agree with this claim as some refineries in the country had started operations. Warri and Port Harcourt refineries for example started operation at 60 percent capacity, hoping to close-up after a Turn Around Maintenance (TAM).

As a result, fuel queues have gradually faded around the country, especially in Abuja and Lagos where the queues lasted for a while after the inauguration.

Buhari also scored another high when he ordered a fast-track of Ogoni clean-up, acting on a United Nations Environmental Project Report that had been long delayed by previous administrations.

He also directed the CBN to clear all the outstanding allowances of former militants studying in various institutions across the world. The delay in payment of allowances had left the entire Amnesty Programme hanging on a cliff.

Commenting on this, a top government official said at the weekend that "Buhari also salvaged the Amnesty Programme from near collapse by changing the leadership, and giving it a new vision of catering for the weak, the poor and the vulnerable, instead of enriching a few; a move that was well received by the people in the Niger-Delta.

The source added that Buhari also showed courage and determination when he ruled out the appointment of a government delegation for this year's pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, pointing out that through this decision, the government saved about one million U.S dollars and N30m in local expenses.

Corruption More than all these, both his critics, supporters and associates agree that Buhari's major concern since he assumed office is his glaring determination to battle corruption.

Although his critics alleged that his war against corruption is lopsided or targeted at PDP chieftains, his aides and APC chieftains had countered that the allegation was unfounded as some APC chieftains and top officials are also under probe. In all however, no one has come out in the open to condemn the need for Buhari to fight corruption. That being the case, the President has given the fight serious attention. First, he ordered the closure of all multiple accounts in MDAs and a reduction to the use of Single Treasury Account to promote transparency and accountability. This, The Nation gathered is poised to serve as the long awaited masterstroke in the fight against corruption in high places in Nigeria.

Although the benefits of his three days visit to the United States is yet to be comprehensively documented, it seems while there Buhari was able to harmonise the relationship with the United States, which reportedly "faltered greatly under the previous administration."

As a result of this, the United States has promised more support for Nigeria in terms of technical, military and intelligence support to nail insurgency in the North-East.

El-Rufai saved N1.2 billion in two months -Sani In this interview, Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai's Special Adviser on Political Matters, Malam Uba Sani, spoke on the achievements so far recorded by El-Rufai's administration in the last 100 days.

Abdulgafar Alabelewe was there. Excerpt:

•Sani The public is somehow confused that those opposing your government policies are members of your party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

What would you say is responsible for this?

I think anybody, whether in APC or any other party, who decides to attack the government's intention in implementing this programme that is purely aimed at helping the children of the lessprivileged to have good education, may be basically because his children are not even schooling in this country talk-less of being in the public schools. All these people making noise, I can bet that their children are not in public schools.

Their children are in private schools; some are even abroad, so they don't care about what happens to the children of the poor. They are only talking because they want to score cheap political points

but I am sure that the general public understood their agenda and nobody will believe their stories because they have nothing to lose; but we have, we are in government and we have responsibility to help the poor and the less-privileged and we know what our people want and the government of Nasir El-Rufai is ready to provide those services to the people.

A prominent member of the APC in the state once accused Governor El-Rufai of implementing programmes that are anti-masses in the state; that the governor stopped Ramadan feeding, sharing of essential commodities during festivities; cancelled government sponsorship of Muslims' and Christians' pilgrims to holy lands in Mecca and Jerusalem respectively. What is your take on this?

Whoever is saying that is just being mischievous. Let me tell you something. Yes, we were voted in by the masses of this state, precisely the beggars, hawkers, the physically-challenged and the general public but it is not the intention of Nasir El-Rufai to leave them in the situation we met them.

What about the cancellation of Ramadan feeding?

Well, the issue of the Ramadan fasting is clear; the governor and I are Muslims, but we did nothing wrong. We have reached out to all the Islamic scholars and the Muslim Umma in the state and they are happy with our decisions; and so, we did not just take this decision on our own.

We had a town hall meeting, which was organised by my office. In that meeting, we sat with all the stakeholders and the governor told them that in every festivity, the government spent over N400m distributing food items to very few people in the state and those people are the wealthy people in the society, going by the records. That was what has been happening in the past administration.

And what about the Hajj seats?

Insider sources revealed that the United States has also released evidence of massive looting and links of monies wired out of the country to the President. As a result, said the source, "the President has directed prosecution."

It has already been reported that the meeting in the United States also attracted N2.7 trillion investments into the country.

Still on the anti-corruption war, our source said "if for nothing else, you will agree that the impression of the President as incorruptible and the fear of prosecution have pushed many to return some stolen public funds, with reports saying key actors in the previous government have returned huge sums of money.

"Also, he cancelled oil swap deals that had cost the country billions of dollars; resulted in fuel queues due to differences in figures and muddled the country's reputation due to multiple interpretations and reported high level corruption."

Summarising the impact so far made at the economic front in the last 100 days, our source, an insider said: "The total monetary value of all finished goods and services produced in Nigeria in the second quarter of 2015 recorded a 2.57 percent growth, according to the data on Quarterly Gross Domestic Product estimates of the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics.

"In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 90.20 percent to the nation's overall GDP, marginally higher than both the 89.55 percent share recorded in the first quarter of 2015, and 89.24 percent recorded in the corresponding period of 2014."

"Viewed holistically, one can say that President Buhari's leadership has been religiously focused on cutting down the cost of governance while channeling scarce resources to the areas of priority, thus, government's official travels have been reviewed so that public officers no longer embark on frivolous foreign trips," the source said.

As the President prepares to name his ministers even as he steps beyond the first hundred days, expectations are high across the country.

Talking about Hajj operations, we sat down and x-rayed the activities and we discovered that a greater percentage of the pilgrims are being sponsored by the government. We discovered that over N300m was being drained every year in that exercise. We also looked at those who go to Jerusalem and found out the same thing, although the figure is not as much as that of the Hajj. But even at that, only five per cent of Jerusalem Pilgrims pay from their private pockets, the rest were being sponsored by Kaduna State Government. When we looked at all these things we concluded that it would be of immense benefit to stop government sponsoring people to both Hajj and Jerusalem because those who benefit are capable of sponsoring themselves. I think people should commend the governor for taking this bold step to save the state.

The anti-corruption war is taking the center stage at the national level, are we expecting a replica of that in the state soon?

Governor Nasir El-Rufai has not come to Kaduna to fight anybody or witch-hunt anybody. His primary goal of coming here is to move the state forward. Look, when we came in we discovered that Kaduna has been taken backwards many, many years back. I can tell you that this state has not witnessed any development over a decade now. Things are more or less stagnant in the state. This can be confirmed by comparing the newly-created states that have overtaken Kaduna in terms of development..

When we came in to pay salaries and overhead costs we discovered from the records we met that there was always a deficit of N100million every month. That is minus capital projects. That means if the state wants to initiate anything, she has to borrow money to do that, because there is no money. Therefore, when we came in we discovered that a lot of money was being wasted unnecessarily. The governor swung into action to block all the unnecessary wastages and today, we have saved N1.2 Billion in two months. The governor started from himself and the deputy governor by cutting their salaries to 50 per cent and that was extended to all other overhead costs around the governor and government agencies in the state. Today, those wastages have been addressed. We don't pay salaries with deficit in Kaduna State any more.

POLITICS

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

Prof. Sam Oyovbaire, who is a chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Delta State, was Minister of Information and Culture during Gen. Ibrahim B. Babangida's regime. In this interview, Oyovbaire spoke on variety of issues affecting the Nigeria nation.

Polycarp Orosevwotu was there.

Excerpt:

under and all the new ones have emerged and disappeared and only two years ago, good people in their own right managed to patch together the ACN, ANPP, CPC and one third of APGA and this is just a conglomeration of people but the PDP find itself in power without actually putting itself in order.

I was there at the formation stage of PDP and we really look forward to the growth of the party and after the elections in 1999, PDP had a very good symposium or conference at the ECOWAS headquarters before Obasanjo was sworn in as President of Nigeria and I remembered that the most important dignitaries from outside the country as at that time was late Julius Nyerere and I think that was his last international outing before he passed on.

Out of that symposium, we were able to fashion out the need to create an intellectual wing of the PDP to what became known later as Peoples Democratic Institute (PDI) and we had a young man, Dr. Dabby, as a pioneer Director-General who succeeded Senator Lamid from Bauchi. We had envisaged that this intellectual wing of the party will continue to provide ideas and intellectualism to guide the practice of what we were doing and with two people in America, Britain and Germany to learn from them.

We had thought that the party will be nursed by this PDI but what we experienced all through was a very big gap between ideas and practice and for me, it is one of the major crises of PDP and I just hope that as the opposition party, PDP will reorganise itself and begin to know that you need political parties for the survival of democracy and for you to succeed, you need basic renewal of your ideas from time to time.

PDP will bounce back.

For the past 16 years of PDP government, nothing to remember the party for in terms of development despite having a lot of intellects in the party with good policies, what is your perception?

Like I said, there was gap between ideas and practice. I can give examples of the things that PDP got to do without proper input and study from an institute like the one we had. Let's reflect back a moment, this country clap hands only at failure or difficulty, we seem to have forgotten that the PDP took over from the military under Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar at a time this country was very low internationally and in everything.

You may blame Obasanjo for anything but you cannot fault him, and it was the PDP under him that this country began to win back the international status. It did not amount to food and drinks for people but this country got back into its proper role in the international system under the PDP. A number of things were done, I am not good at counting items like schools, hospitals as things benefited but the entire Nigerian state were put together by the PDP. People should not forget too soon that this was a country in 1998-1999, the end of Abacha and the beginning of Abdulsalami and if you take that as a bench mark in accessing whatever you may ascribe to the achievement of the PDP, you must appreciate that it was the party that held this country together for so long and as I said, it has tasted the bitter end of not managing itself properly. The party is not gone; somehow, people are ready to put it back to work.

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S

INCE President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office, there has been high encomium from all parts of the country over his fight against corruption; what is your take on this? l give commendation when it is necessary and I do hold back when it is not. Now, there is a drum-up of what PDP have not done well and which has occupied President Muhammadu Buhari and the spokesman of the APC, and they can go on blaming PDP as there is good ground for them to blame.

But you could have imagined if it were PDP that have been in power in the past one month, two months and now three months and had not put itself together, certainly, APC chieftains would have been capitalizing on it and rubbishing PDP but rather PDP is silent and watching their drama.

The APC made a very large promise that was most laughable, making one dollar to a naira and I don't know where the magic will come from in simple economics. It will be interesting to see but let's give them till September, of course there will be no excuse again to say they need another six months, the end of one regime is the beginning of another regime.

As I said, I have not seen anything done yet to counter the short falls of the PDP so far. But what APC will do is still being awaited, no cabinet, no programmes, security has not been implemented but as at the time Jonathan left, there were evidence to show that the security situation was being contained. In the past two months or so, we are actually seeing escalation of the insecurity problem, hopefully, we will overcome it with the external force from America and Europe who have promised to help and our neighbours like Cameroon, Chad but what does that amount to the common man's life in Yobe, Borno, Adamawa where life is becoming even much difficult.

A lot of people see Buhari's anticorruption crusade as being targeted on PDP instead of all political parties; what is your comment?

Let me give him the benefit of doubt, arguably, the most corrupt Nigerians are PDP members but this is not true, people have forgotten the antecedent of Buhari when he was in power. We knew how he drove the system when Shagari regime collapsed, where you go only for those in power, an assumption that those who were not in power were not corrupt.

SAM OYOVBAIRE:

It’s too early to appraise Buhari We will not be pointing fingers now, as some people are now saying were did APC get its money to conduct elections, mostly, when elections have become very costly in this country. It is obvious that nobody had known Buhari with wealth, he wasn't a wealthy man, he had been a very straight forward fellow but people rolled him into power and if he want to spend some time in investigating those who rolled him to power, he will find out that the resources, funds and revenue did not come from legitimates sources.

But let us leave that out but the point is that those who have just left office are obviously easy targets, but sooner or later, we would fine that the NNPC did not deal with only PDP alone either the aviation, maritime or the insurance sector. We are running the capitalist system and there are leakages no doubt and because the PDP had just left power, they could easily be targeted. But one would have been more comfortable if he had taken a comprehensive view of the system.

When he was here as a military Head of State in 1984-85, he established "War Against Indiscipline" and now "War Against Corruption," so let us see how much of these will be unearthed. I don't want to dabble into APC and his National Assembly politics but there you can see a huge problem, you can see the house that is highly divided but we hoped they will come together. This is not the first time Buhari is engaging in this kind of fight but let's wait and see how he goes but l know it is too early to appraise him and am very confident that PDP will bounce back.

What do you think of PDP in the nearest future?

In fact, the party never really got itself organised before it got into power. The beginning of the Fourth Republic was the beginning of PDP; you will find that not one of the original political parties in the formation of the Fourth Republic still exist other than the PDP. The AD, APP had gone

But you could have imagined if it were PDP that have been in power in the past one month, two months and now three months and had not put itself together, certainly, APC chieftains would have been capitalizing on it and rubbishing PDP but rather PDP is silent and watching their drama

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

POLITICS

39

Ambode's steady and pragmatic leadership style

I

am happy to report that after more than three months of Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode as the Governor of Lagos, Nigeria's foremost state, the conspicuous point that has served as the identity of the government is compassion for the masses of the deprived citizens. He has peeped into history and discovered that a government is bereft of an abiding relationship with reality and posterity if it does not go the extra mile to empathise with the needy.

He made this clear on Day One of his coming.

After he had acknowledged the sacrifices of the generality of the residents of Lagos, including the political class and the elite in ensuring his election, Ambode made a solemn statement to announce his commitment to what has since entered the record book as his philosophy, as it were. He spoke of an unbreakable bond with the common man. It was the landfall of what has thereafter been known as compassionate governance.

Ambode declared: "The challenges you face today as a state, are good enough ingredients to bring out the best of all of us…we shall implement creative ideas and concepts… I therefore invite you all to join hands with me, to offer new ideas that will pull more resources to cater for the poor and needy among us. This will be a compassionate government."

I have seen this at work both in the most abstract aspects of administration and in the most ordinary areas of government under Ambode.

Observers have taken note of the display of a sympathetic tone in the governor's move to bring investors to Lagos. He has done it with panache by first setting up an Office of Overseas Affairs and Investment (Lagos Global) domiciled in his office.

He kick-started the mission on the second day in office by meeting the President of Namibia, Dr Hage Geingoband. He unveiled the opportunities that abound in the State of Excellence. Since then, the governor has met several local and foreign investors, including the richest African, President of Dangote Group of Companies, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, and businessmen from Dubai, United States of America, Europe and Middle-East countries.

It is a demonstration of affinity with the governed when a governor thinks outside the box to personally supervise a mission that would bring business to the state so that there would be plenty of jobs for the citizens.

A practical show of compassion for the governed translates into evolving a government with human face. In only 100 days, Ambode's administration has revealed many times over that his is indeed flowing with a milk of human kindness.

Let me take you on a journey of a few but memorable and outstanding ones.

Ambode wasn't in Lagos when there were fatal petrol tanker blasts in parts of the state. But if there is a crisis and you are a man of your word, and a sincere feeling for the masses is your watchword, you'd abandon what you are doing wherever you are to share in the grief of your people when there is a crisis. And so Ambode, a man of steely integrity, took the next flight from Abuja to Lagos and rushed to the scenes of inferno at Iyana Ipaja inside the rain. The other incident took place at Idimu, where he expressed deep sympathies with the victims and promised generous donations to comfort them and help them get back on their feet.

That wasn't all. The Lagos State Chief Executive set up a meeting with petrol marketers and tank farm owners and instituted a fact-finding committee to look into cases of fuel infernos with a view to putting a stop to them.

In some of these cases, we have seen Ambode intervening on occasions of fatalities. But he has also done it to stop death. Consider the case of Mrs. Ruth Uche, a mother of three sets of twins. Ambode stepped in to avert death which would have come through neglect and lack.

Before Mrs. Uche's plight, Ambode had on his second working day in office intervened to save the life of the 2015 baby of the year, Miss.

Oluwajomiloju Goodness Ogundimu who was diagnosed with a heart defect that required surgery. Today, baby Ogundimu is hale and hearty after a successful surgery in India.

I am not through with this governor who has a burden of compassion to bear. Once, Ambode was coming from Ikoyi heading for his office when he sighted an accident scene. Rescue work was going on to save the life of a woman whose car had overturned. Not for Ambode the routine excuse that state duties in the office demanded priority attention over a dying citizen. He stopped his convoy and promptly joined in the operation to help one of the residents whose sacred vote and tax are sustaining him and his government in power. Talk of a compassionate leader!

States and the begging bowl

T • Ambode

By Habib Aruna

A most touching demarche of Governor Ambode has been the N11 billion to settle what the state had been owing elderly retirees. This large sum was approved at a most critical period when most of these superannuated citizens felt used, abandoned and neglected after meritoriously serving their fatherland.

His government has also addressed a critical area of the population, namely the youth, who are the embryo of tomorrow. Realizing that it portends danger to have the society's youth roaming the streets when they should be in school or productive enterprise, the governor last week issued a policy declaration that his administration will work out strategies to take away youngsters from the street.

He intends to put them into productive use. In his words, he will unleash them to develop their potentials in all areas of human endeavors. Why should a nation's strength as represented by the youth waste?

I believe that when an administrator is this passionate about the foremost roles of the youth; he is only a few steps away from bringing down the crime level in the society. He is also on the verge of meeting the food security objective of the society because these virile young men and women are the foot soldiers for the agrarian and economic revolution of their fatherland.

Looking at the future has not taken the governor away from today's security challenges these past months. His sincere mien as a trustworthy governor has made corporate bodies and individuals to raise more than N1billion to support government's war on crime. An on its own, the government has acquired 100 new power bikes, 10 armored tanks and, wait for this, helicopters to police Lagos from the air!

Ambode desires a compassionate watch on Lagos and so he has made provision for 100 new squad cars for the Special Operation Service (SOS) which will be unveiled soon.

Linked to this is Ambode's push for congestionfree Oshodi-Apapa Expressway. After receiving hundreds of calls and text messages on the pains experienced by motorists and commuters as a result of the activities of the petrol tanker drivers on that route, Ambode moved to the scene by road. He painstakingly tasted the trauma of the citizens, staying long hours in the gridlock. It has paid off as the palliative measures he came up with have eased the congestion to some extent.

Having studied Governor Akinwunmi Ambode at close range in the past three months of his administration, I can safely submit that he believes he can't achieve his lofty goals without erecting compassion as the substructure of whatever he hopes to erect as the superstructural architecture of performance. Government without compassion is barren rule!

For a governor that has consistently shown through his actions that he was elected to serve the people in the way he moves around traffic- no siren and there is no tainted vehicle in his convoy- and the security aides have been told from day one not to harass the citizens, it is only logical to say that the state is on a sound footing for growth and development.

–Aruna is the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ambode

HE succour that came the way of insolvent states last week could have given them a breather, but it is also a cause for concern. Obviously, it is the only temporary solution to the malady. For months, many states had been unable to pay their bills. Workers had been groaning under the yoke of nonpayment of their entitlement. As such, especially in cases where the couples work for the government, the family suffered grievously. Bills went unpaid; landlords and foodstuff sellers shared the grief and some even lost loved ones to illnesses that could have been arrested.

Thus, it could be said that the bailout was the only short-term relief that could have saved the situation. However, it must be asked what happens after the backlog has been cleared. Since the seventies, economists had been pointing out the danger in running a monocultural economy, thus pointing out the urgent need for diversification.

The warning went unheeded for decades by military and civilian administration. They were too engrossed in reveling in frittering away the scarce resources available to care about the future. They felt comfortable spending the petrodollars that turned the country to a consumer, rather than a producer nation. Agriculture lost its pride of place and attraction; as farmers abandoned the field and the young ones fled the farms in quest of non-existent white collar jobs.

Solid minerals that had been the mainstay of the economies of other countries were ignored and reserved for the federal government to explore, exploit and market. States that have many natural tourist sites saw no need to pay them attention. It was therefore no surprise that, when the storm arose on the international oil market, the economy founded on sinking sand began to give signs that it was about to collapse. The selfcenteredness of the successive governments has been exposed by the plunge in the price of crude oil that provides more than 80 per cent of the national revenue, Over the years, the debate has raged on the inevitability of the exhaustion of our oil reserve and the growing quest for alternative energy sources. Yet, our leaders did nothing to prepare for the proverbial rainy day It is now raining and we have no cover; Nigerians are left in the cold.

Now that we are at this juncture, we have to revisit the viability of the states. That appetite led to the ballooning of the federating units from three at independence to the 36 we have today. Everyone who manages to sit on the throne or walk along the corridor thought the best way to compensate his

people is get them the creation of a state. Subjective factors such as the need for a separate identity, the ekiti quest to occupy a bureaucratic or political position or the elite scramble for state resources led to the undue atomization of the political space. The states are structurally weak and defective and have narrow revenue base.

Yet, there is still clamour for.

The Idoma people want David Mark to perform the miracle of getting Apa State approved by the National Assembly and twothirds of the state assemblies. So are my people, the Ijesa of Osun State expectant of Oduduwa State. The Igbo are aggrieved that they have only five states, whereas other geo-political zones have a minimum of six each. On account of inequitable distribution of resources arising there from and having the least political influence in the country as a result of fewer local government areas and federal legislators, the Igbo believe they have an iron-clad argument for the creation of at least another state. In this, they have not taught it more of a categorical imperative to de-emphasise the sharing of federally collected revenue. The agitators for creation of states do not think it more important to reduce the power concentrated at the centre by restoring federalism in its true state.

Nigeria is about the only federal state where state chief executives are treated more like prefects, The states are therefore reduced to mere appendages off the federal government. Tax laws are made at the centre and almost all taxes go into the federal purse.

Even basic consumption taxes such as the Value Asses Tax go to the federation pool to be shared.

It is not surprising therefore that there is no creativity at all levels of governance: As the centre, too waits for crude oil to be exported and paid for. In recent times, the theft of the crude, vandalisation and piracy have teamed up with international oil politics to deny us revenue that has become the source of sustenance. It is time to think out of the box. It is time to become radical in addressing these issues. Giving thought to collapsing states is not a sin and reducing the items on the exclusive legislative list is now an imperative.

President Buhari must gird his loins now and think of political and economic restructuring of the country. The 25-0state structure is untenable and cannot allow for effective administration. The begging bowl economy must be dropped for a more sustainable system.

Next time, there will be no bailout as the centre itself will be too weak, also requiring the feeding bottle. The catastrophe is better left to imagination.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

POLITICS

'My removal from National Assembly, sacrifice for progressive politics' Ifedayo Abegunde (Abena) served as twoterm member, House of Representatives for Akure North/South Federal Constituency.

He vacated the office few weeks to the expiration of the seventh Assembly via Supreme Court Judgment for defecting from Labour Party (LP) to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). In this interview, he tells Damisi Ojo about the intricacies of Ondo politics and other related issues. Excerpts:

H

OW has it been with you since the Supreme Court ordered you to vacate your seat at the National Assembly for defecting from LP to ACN? I thank God I was elected twice into the National Assembly (2003-2007 and 2011-2015. In 2007). I contested, I was rigged out by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the lower tribunal nullified the election. However, the Court of Appeal sitting in Benin City upheld the election for PDP because the lawyers filed my case late.

The opportunity however came for me to return to the National Assembly in 2011 and I was voted again by my people. I don't have any regret at all, and I want to say that I feel proud for many reasons.

You said you feel proud despite the fact that the Supreme Court ordered you to vacate your seat. Please explain?

Honestly, I feel proud and honoured. I left LP on principle and as a result of lingering crises within the party. Not only that, the governor seemed confused about his policy.

Attempts to talk and advise him proved abortive as he had made up his mind to rule and govern the state as a sole administrator. After I left, and wanted to use Akure Town Hall for my declaration, I applied and paid for the use of the community hall but the governor used the instrument of office to ensure that I did not use the hall. As a peace loving person, I looked for alternative and left the party for ACN. I joined the progressives family in 2012.

I promised my people that I would not go back to LP once I bid the party goodbye. The governor made overture to me to return to the party through eminent citizens of the state, including the late Deji of Akureland, Oba Adebiyi Adesida.

The governor resorted to persecution and intimidation of my

• Abegunde

party loyalists in his government. He sacked some, while few resigned to join me in ACN. At a point, my life was in danger as I narrowly escaped an assassination attempt along Akure/Owo express road on my way to Abuja.

Consequently, I wrote letters to the Inspector- General of Police (IGP) and eminent personalities in this country, including Dr. Mimiko himself to save my life. During this period under review, I saw hell but I am happy that people have now seen what I saw in Governor Mimiko in 2012 which prompted me to leave the then ruling party in the state.

Some politicians that left LP for ACN at that period also quit the party shortly?

That is correct but some of us also remained. I left LP for ACN on principle.

I left because I wanted to be part of the progressives family. Some of my colleagues that came from LP left when they could not secure the ticket of the party during the governorship primary election. I contested too, but as a democrat once the leadership of the party had spoken, I moved on to congratulate the candidate and returned to the field to work for the party. I did not protest or challenge the decision of the leaders because we had agreed to abide by the decision of the leaders to pick one of us.

As such, I embraced the candidate and worked with him but unfortunately our party lost the election due to antics of the incumbent governor and former President Goodluck Jonathan.

You are a leader in APC and the party seems not on ground in Ondo State. Can you please shed more light on this?

I disagree with you totally that the party is not on ground. When APC was formed, we went for party congress to select party executives. We took the campaigns to the people at the grassroots.

I ensured that party meetings were going on regularly in the 23 wards of Akure North/South by giving out N5,000 (Five Thousand Naira) per ward since we lost

election 2012 to the time we went for party congress around April, 2014. We mobilized our people and we took the registration exercise to unit level. Our acceptance was confirmed during the presidential and National Assembly Election when our party won the election for the President, two senate seats and five houses of representatives seats. I am duty-bound to ensure that party meetings hold regularly in my constituency as elected member in the party.

However, we lost the House of Assembly due to our negligence and the "see and buy" attitude of Governor Mimiko, backed by the security agencies.

The governor capitalized on the poverty level of our people and he had his way.

However, we won five seats and others are now being contested at the election tribunal. The party is on ground. We are putting our house in order for next year's election. In recent times, more people had defected to APC from PDP, notable people such as Chief Olusola Oke,the PDP governorship candidate in 2012 election, Mr. Femi Agagu, Hon. Victor Olabimtan, Senator Gbanga Ogunniya, Alhaji Ali Olanusi, and the immediate past Deputy Governor to Dr. Mimiko. Also, House of Representatives members who were my colleagues later joined the party and many others.

You lost the keenly contested senatorial ticket in a controversial manner despite your popularity and financial contributions to the party. What actually caused that?

It is a matter of the past and the whole scenario is behind me. I accepted the result but history will judge that I lost the election in a controversial manner. The votes were recounted at the APC National Secretariat, Abuja and I learnt I lost by seven votes, I wished the winner good luck. I hosted him and our party members in my house during the campaign tour of Akure South Local Government. During the election, the local government

recorded, 52,000 votes, the highest votes in Ondo State for APC as against the less than 20,000 votes recorded by PDP. I am glad that I have moved on. I am hoping the party will recognise my contributions.

What are you doing presently?

I am back home in Akure to put the party together not minding my initial contributions and the lost of the senatorial ticket. I see this as a challenge to strengthen the party along with other stakeholders. I met with the state chairman of the party, Isaac Kekemeke, and other leaders so as to unite the party ahead of 2016 governorship election.

Are you contesting the election?

No, politics is not about contesting all the time. All I want to do is to ensure that APC wins the next election to make my dream a reality. I am happy my party won the presidential election. I feel proud but that is not enough. The goal is to ensure that APC produce the next governor/government in Ondo State. It is going to be a total change.

How was the legal battle to retain your seat at the House of Representatives from High Court to Supreme Court?

It was a struggle to go through this legal tussle from 2012 to 2015, from lower court to supreme court. When Mimiko threatened my seat with a recall and wanted to use the party apparatus against me, I approached the court to protect my seat with the interpretation of section 68 of Nigeria Constitution.

There were crises in LP which had two factional chairmen at the state level and in Akure North Local Government, my constituency. Dr Mimiko used the judiciary against me as I witnessed and experienced many funny things in our judicial system. The incumbent Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, was my lead counsel.

However, I lost the case and lost my seat and this became a legal precedent in Nigeria judiciary. I took the Supreme Court judgment in good faith coming few days after I lost my bid to secure the senatorial ticket of our party.

I told my supporters that we did not lose anything but rather to work hard for the victory of our party. Today, I am happy that my party won the presidential election and as such my sacrifices were not in vain.

How can you rate the government of President Mohamamdu Buhari?

The president is moving the country forward better than he met it.You can see that things are getting better now. Soon, our country shall be a pride to all of us.

It seems the National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is not happy with some members of APC who ignored the directive of the party during the National Assembly election, what is your take on this?

The party is supreme and party members who did not abide by the decision of the party are on their own.

As far as I am concerned, the President and the national leadership of the party had spoken and it is on that note I stand as a loyal party man.

You were the Chairman, House Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness during the seventh National Assembly. What are the functions of this committee?

Its role is principally to oversee NEMA. In doing this we ensured that more money was appropriated to it during budgeting process so that it could perform efficiently. Visitations were made to IDP and disaster centres to ensure that NEMA does all that are expected of it. I was privileged to have attended several seminars and trainings in Geneva on the structure, operation and management of emergency and disaster preparedness in Nigeria and worldwide

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

POLITICS

P

DP in Anambra state has suffered so much crises and some people feel it is high time you slow down and allow others to run the party. Don't you think such a time has come, so that peace that has eluded the party may return?

First of all, I wonder who can bring that peace if not somebody who has passion for the party, who is ready to sacrifice everything for the interest and success of the party in the state. Again, it will amount to one saying that experience has become a crime because at this moment, the situation the party has found itself now requires someone with in-depth knowledge of the political terrain of the state and one who knows party politics in and out and who understands what PDP stands for, to drive the ship in the state. Being a party that is now in opposition at both the state and federal levels, the party requires someone with vast experience, someone with strong character and enormous goodwill amongst members of the party at grassroots level.

Someone the members of the party will have confidence in and trust. So, it is not a beginner's job this time around, this is not a time for learners, this is a time for masters to take over the driving seat that is why I am here.

This kind of opposition you are facing since after the congresses that were held, were you expecting that such opposition would come?

First, is that there is no opposition, I am sorry to say that, there is no opposition against our congress. What you have is, if I may take you down the memory lane, do not forget that during the congress, the defeated candidate of PDP in the Anambra East Federal Constituency in the last election, Comrade Tony Nwoye, in a press conference, told you that they were boycotting the congress, that they were not part of it and they went ahead to issue threat that should PDP continue with the congress they have alternative, that they are going to leave the party. So, in that case, what happened was that Tony Nwoye and those with him did not participate in the congress by choice, by their own volition, so, they did not participate. And by the constitution of the party, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party appointed Congress Committee and Congress Appeal Committee simultaneously in line with provisions of our constitution. The essence of this is that at every stage of the congress, Congress Appeal Committee will be there to take petitions and complaints arising from each congress if any. And from the report submitted to the NWC, there was no single petition recorded against the ward, local government and state congresses and as I speak to you, there is no single petition recorded against our congress, not by Tony Nwoye, not by anybody and they have never petitioned either the party or anywhere against the conduct of the congress and in that case you can see that there is no opposition against the congress.

What we have is, there are some people in this state who do not belong to any party except a party in power. There are people who are afraid of being in opposition, who cannot be in opposition party, so the moment PDP lost election at the federal level, they tried to make their way into APC and in getting into APC, our big brother in APC by his nature and knowing them very well gave them a very hard condition. He said to them, you are the same character that frustrated me out of PDP, I left PDP for you, now we are in APC you have come here, what happens to that place you are coming from?

Okay, go and destroy it first, if you claim to be the ones that made it what it is, go and destroy it and come back, I will absorb you.

So now, that is the assignment they are here to do.

So their interest is not in PDP. They were in PDP singing and talking PDP when Jonathan was President, when PDP was in control of federal government; now with APC at the centre, APGA is here in the state, they cannot stay without government in power, they cannot move without police escort, so they need government protection and to them, the easiest way of getting protection and being shielded from "Buhari's hammer," will be to become members of APC. Now, if they were those politicians that make things happen in Anambra PDP or make any party win election, why didn't they win in the last election? Tony Nwoye himself contested.

But some of you worked against PDP interest in that election?

• Emeakayi

Anambra PDP is separating wheat from the chaff -Emeakayi The congresses held by the Peoples Democratic Party in Anambra State recently, had generated so much heat among the members in the state with the battle line drawn between the big wigs in the state. This has led to threats of defection by some of the aggrieved members to the All Progressive Congress (APC), while the party now battles with three persons claiming the chairmanship position in the state. In this interview, with Nwanosike Onu, one of the newly elected chairmen, Prince Ken Emeakayi, went down memory lane to clear some of the hanging issues in the party, declaring that PDP is still intact and ready to face every other hurdle in the state.

Good, you have come to the issue now. We will start here now and we will now know those who worked against PDP. In the governorship election where Tony Nwoye was the candidate, Tony Nwoye never believed in the party even though he emerged as the candidate of the party; it is on record, go and check it. He never for one day, as the governorship candidate, stepped into the PDP party office, he never for once met with the state exco, he didn't meet with us, we had no input in his campaign organisation and everything. Even in my ward, he selected his agent himself, I left them and went home to organise my place. I did not touch a dime of his campaign fund. Now, who worked against the party; he gave his friends in APGA, because, before that governorship election do not forget that Tony Nwoye has been working for APGA, you remember that initially, we had 30 members of State Assembly being PDP members; Tony Nwoye and Chuma Nzeribe then split them and gave Peter Obi's group 10 in the first place. Those people in APGA he relied on them and in Ihiala Local Government, I, Kenneth Emeakayi, with my own money and the people I worked with, delivered Okija's five wards to PDP in Tony Nwoye's governorship election and Tony Nwoye lost in his own place; so who worked against PDP? Is it me that delivered him in my ward, in my five community wards or him that lost his own ward? In the House of Representatives where he was a candidate, PDP won in my ward and won in my federal constituency, at Abuja now Emeka Anohu is a PDP person. Even in the election petition tribunal, as APGA is contesting the election everywhere, they are not contesting the result of Okija Ward 2 which is my ward, so APGA as a party and the others have conceded defeat in my own ward. So, who is a better PDP now, who is working against PDP, is it me that has always delivered my

wards to my party or the same man that has lost his ward, his community, his family to another party?

So I agree with you that the problem of the party before now, which is still the problem, is that, there are some people who claim to be our members but they are not our members and that is what we are trying to do now, that is what we are trying to achieve, to separate the weed from the chaff.

Is it now you have three chairmen that you are doing the separation?

No, we do not have three different chairmen in the party in Anambra; political party is not run by somebody that wakes up in the morning or after drinking ogogoro in one beer parlour, declares himself chairman. That is why in this country we have a constitution, every registered political party is a product of 1999 constitution, each political party has its own constitution which is the guide and in that constitution, it states clearly how an executive of each organ of the party will emerge. Now in this case, the National Working Committee of the party in whose powers the constitution has vested the right to conduct congresses for the election of its officers, appointed a committee, conducted a congress that produced the executive under my Chairmanship and the National Working Committee has considered the report and has approved it and recognised the executive as produced. So, who is the chairman of the party? Is it the man that said I will not participate in the congress and after sometime now has been given condition by APC to go and scatter PDP and come back to say I have come to inaugurate myself. The man never told you he was elected, the man never told you he was appointed, because if so, by who? Then he said I have come to inaugurate myself, as what? Now, if the NWC does not have right or powers now to conduct or to take decisions about Anambra, how come when this

41

same NWC approved the governorship primaries that produced Tony Nwoye as governorship candidate against Ukachukwu, against the other big wigs in the state, the NWC was right, its members were good people? When the NWC approved the purported congress by Senator Mantu here even when all the aspirants, 80 percent of the aspirants that were contesting in that election were not allowed into Finotel to even have a meeting with that committee, when the result came and the NWC approved it, because it favoured Tony Nwoye against his own twin brother who bought nomination form before him, who has been supporting him all his life and who sought and got his consent and blessing before he went and bought form, he turned back and shortchanged his brother and when the NWC took decision in line with the interest of Tony Nwoye , they were good working committee, it was a good national decision. Now in this congress some months after, the decision is now against Tony Nwoye, and come to think of it, I have asked before, is Tony Nwoye an aspirant to any party office? He has not told us because you do not agitate over position you are not contesting? Did he buy form? Is he contesting for any party position? Because should there be any conflict or disagreement over a process of an election, it should be among contestants, so who are the contestants here, Is he one? I am using this opportunity to call on Tony Nwoye, if he wants to run for state chairman, I will volunteer to resign and meet him in the field and still beat him again.

But the so-called congress was masterminded by Chief Olisa Metuh without the knowledge of others who had interest as being alleged by Nwoye and others.

First of all, there is no faction in PDP, our constitution is against faction. We have no faction in the party, we have PDP, we have one body, and we have one voice. If you are talking of dissident members of PDP or now former members of PDP because Tony Nwoye we are talking about is a suspended member of PDP. So, if you are talking of those ones I'll tell you. I will answer that question with question, why are they crying more than the bereaved? Chief Olisa Metuh is the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, a serving member of the National Working Committee and the image maker, the spokesman of the party in whose office it is his constitutional duty to make public the decisions of the National Working Committee which he has been doing. Now from the allegation that it was Olisa Metuh that organised the congress in Anambra, that was what they said. Assuming but without conceding that it was Olisa Metuh that was organising the congress in Anambra using the name of the National Working Committee without the knowledge and consent of the NWC and the publication read that the NWC has approved, meaning he is now quoting them, is it Tony Nwoye or Basil Ejidike or Kenneth Arinze that will sit in a beer parlour in Mgbakwu and be speaking for the NWC; are they members of the NWC? But there is no doubt that PDP is into crisis in Anambra‌ No, we are not into crisis.

And from what is going on, the battle for 2017 has already started, with what is going on in PDP, do you think PDP will have what it takes to battle the incumbent government here, APGA and the party that is now at the centre, APC in this state with the looming defections?

Who is defecting? Defecting from where?

All we are doing in PDP now is we're like overhauling; we are trying like I said earlier, to separate the chaff from the wheat. Rather than allow some people who are moles amongst us to remain with us, now distracting our members, deceiving our members, letting other political parties into us, and using PDP to defeat PDP in elections, we are saying, we need members quite alright, but if you are not ready to be a committed member of PDP, if you want to be APGA, go and join APGA. We will go there and meet you in the field, we will present our candidate, we will campaign and let the people of the state decide who they want. If you want to be APC, go and be APC member, we do not want to have APGAPDP, we do not want to have again PDPAPC, what we want to have now is PDPPDP, if you are PDP you are PDP, if you are APGA go and be APGA. So we are more than ever stronger and we are waxing stronger by the day and in the near future we will roll out our programmes, we will move into the field and reach out to our core members in all the 326 wards. Our assignment is to rebuild this party.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

POLITICS

Obiano at war with Obi's loyalists?

S

OME loyalists of ex-Governor Peter Obi in the Anambra State Executive Council are said to be feeling the heat of their former boss' rift with his successor, Willie Obiano, sources have disclosed. The incumbent governor, they alleged, has told some commissioners in his cabinet to distance themselves from Obi or risk being fired. Feelers also indicate that the governor pray not be on good terms with the former National Chairman of his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Umeh, on issues not unconnected to the running of the party since Obiano was inaugurated as governor and leader of the party last year.

• Dankwambo

Disquiet over Dankwambo's alleged defection plan HE rumoured plan by Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo, to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) is causing some discomfort within the leadership of the party in the state. The governor is serving his second term on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), where some national leaders are also reportedly jittery over the defection rumour. A few days ago, acting Chairman of APC in Gombe State, Ishaya Karu, was unsparing in his condemnation of the governor's alleged plan, warning that he is not welcome in the party. Dankwambo is, however, keeping his plans close to his chest, with reports claiming he is far gone in discussions with the national leaders of APC to fine-tune his "planned" defection.

T • Shema

Shema mulls PDP chairmanship seat F

ORMER Katsina State Governor, Ibrahim Shema, is considering contesting the chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), sources close to him disclosed. Shema served as governor from 2007 to 2015 and was one of the PDP governors initially touted as possible running mate to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan in the run-up to the 2015 general elections.

Ondo 2016: Boroffice, Oke join race

T • Obiano

• Obi

Wike v Amaechi: What's in it for Rivers?

R

• Wike

• Amaechi

IVERS State is abuzz as chieftains of All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) exchange hot words over the barrage of attacks on the former governor, Rotimi Amaechi, by the PDP-led government in the state.

The APC leaders are accusing PDP-led government of Nyesom Wike of heaping allegations on Amaechi to frustrate the former governor's chances of getting federal appointment as a minister in President Muhammadu Buhari's cabinet.

The Nation learnt that some elders in the state, especially traditional rulers are angry that Wike and the PDP leaders would magnify their personal political differences with Amaechi to the extent of denying the state of the opportunity of producing an important minister in the present dispensation.

Ripples however learnt that some of the traditional rulers in the state, who are murmuring at the back over the bickering, are afraid to confront the governor one-on-one over the matter.

As a result of the delicate situation arising from Wike and Amaechi's political quarrel, concerned observers are asking, what is in it for Rivers?

HE race to the Government House, Akure, the Ondo State capital, promises to be interesting if the caliber of those jostling to succeed Governor Olusegun Mimiko are anything to go by.

Senator representing Ondo North in the National Assembly, Prof. Ajayi Boroffice, has joined the growing list of interested aspirants, which also include a new defector from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olusola Oke. The APC Chairman in the state, Isaac Kekemeke, sources say, is also allegedly warming up to contest for the party's governorship ticket. In the ruling PDP, Mimiko's "body language" on his succession plan is yet to be properly decoded, but strong indications have emerged that Adetokunbo Modupe, a PR consultant and businessman who, arguably, is his most trusted lieutenant, may be his favoured candidate.

• Boroffice

• Oke

IN VOGUE

By Kehinde Oluleye

Tel: 08023689894 (sms) E-mail: kehinde.oluleye@thenationonlineng.net

PILLOWTALK Raising a voice for the Nigerian girl With Temilolu Okeowo temilolu@girlsclub.org.ng 07086620576 (sms only) Please visit my blog www.temiloluokeowo.wordpress.com for more inspiring articles. Twitter@temiloluokeowo

YETUNDE OLADEINDE molaralife@yahoo.com

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

‘ANA needs re-engineering’ Mallam Baba Muhammad Dzukogi is the Director-General of the Niger State Book and Research Development Agency.

He is also a former Secretary-General of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). He is one of the two contestants for the position of the President of ANA come November when the general elections will be held. In this encounter with Edozie Udeze, he talks about his plans and programmes for ANA if elected.

•Dzukogi

Y

OU want to be the next President of the Association of Nigerian Authors.

Which new ideas do you intend to bring into the running of the association if elected?

As I stated in many of my interviews, I have a bundle of active programmes which I would be exporting from ANA Niger to the national. I did it before as the General-Secretary where programmes like the introduction of ANA Magazine, Nigerian Writers Series, and National Teen Authorship Scheme were inaugurated at the national. As president, we shall push them further by bringing in more sponsors and also requesting our known art patrons to hold on to what they started.

Meanwhile, some of the new ones I am bringing in are the African Writers Summit, an annual calendar of events called Nigerian Literary Circuit where we shall articulate prominent literary events at state chapters and those of the private patrons of the art as one national cross-country literary race. We shall, by God's grace create platforms for publishing young writers in Nigeria. This is my area of passion and specialisation. Everything about my arts administration is about discovery, mentoring and the promotion of young writers in the country. The results are there for everyone to see. They know it.

Even my post graduate dissertation is currently on Mentoring as an effective strategy for excellent creative writing. It is a case study on the art centre I founded in 2004. We have an aggressive approach to administering the association and the philosophy is regeneration - focus on the young writer or new writers.

Having been an executive member of ANA in the past, what do you think has been the greatest setback for ANA as a national body?

It is always lack of fund to operate it.

There is also the dimming of the potency

associated with the organisation in the past. May be it is due to the attitude of writers of today towards national debate.

The tendency is that writers should concentrate wholly on art production and paying less attention on participation in the reordering of society. Whatever they have to say should be done in their works.

This is the position of many of them. But, this is not my kind of way. I am always an active participant in the evolution of society. In today's sophisticated, delicate, simple yet difficult world, I have no patience for the long term maturation of books to reorder society. Literature is no longer about entertainment alone; it is everything good about societal reorientation and appropriation. Once writers show immediate concern on the field about what directly affects them, you gain prominence, credibility and prestige in their eyes. In fact, you get more chances of your works getting more attention. This will positively rob-off on the association.

How can you be the conscience and light only in your novels and poetry alone when

there is evident darkness out there in your neighbourhood.? You got to stand up and move. This is going to be our way as the new Exco of ANA. Most state branches of ANA do not exist or where they do at all, do not live up to expectation, what do you think can be done to make ANA more vibrant?

This is not true. We have many branches in more than thirty states of the federation. Some are very active, Abuja, Lagos, Niger, Rivers, Bayelsa, Enugu, Imo, Kano, Sokoto, Jigawa, Zamfara, Ogun, Kaduna, Kebbi, Kwara, Oyo, Benue, Taraba, Nasarawa, Edo, Anambra, Borno, Yobe, Abia, Osun, Ondo, Kogi, Katsina, Delta, Ebonyi, Akwa Ibom, we are everywhere. It is just that many do not publicise their activities. It is the reason why the ANA Magazine where chapters publish their annual activities would be resuscitated. Also, the national literary circuit will help in promoting our activities at the national scene.

ANA is always going cap- in-hand especially when it is time for conventions.

Can't ANA be made financially buoyant or self-reliant in any way? What are your plans in this regard?

Well, art everywhere enjoys solidarity of the community, government and individuals. That's not entirely bad.

Elsewhere, corporate sponsorship of the art makes it flourish. People should voluntarily contribute towards the promotion of the art. It is not bad. Art is not like bread or biscuit where you bake and sale, this one is about extraordinariness of creation. We should not be going cap-in-hand; citizens should recognise that value inherent in the art and come forward to give it the sponsorship it deserves. However, we are able to get governments to make policy moves like establishing book development agency in each state will facilitate works of writers thereby reducing begging. So, we shall be strategic in sneaking into the heart of the nation.

Your background as one of the backbones behind the running of the Niger State ANA has been impressive. How did you come this far?

Unwavering commitment to what we

“People should voluntarily contribute towards the promotion of the art. It is not bad. Art is not like bread or biscuit where you bake and sell, this one is about extraordinariness of creation. We should not be going cap-in-hand; citizens should recognise that value inherent in the art and come forward to give it the sponsorship it deserves.”

set out to do. While doing it, you remove self from what is corporate to all. When you dedicate your life to servicing the young ones as a teacher and mentor in the art, you get nothing but perpetual goodwill.

In Niger, that's what some of us do standing by the young writers to grow. It is evident. When you do this sincerely, you last forever. That's my way. In this journey, parents, government and institutions have come to realise that they can rely on one without qualms. This consciousness is always in me, I go about with it. When you say you will do, do, and more for others. This is the strength. Members know this.

The Abuja ANA land has been a subject of suspicion and controversy. What is the real situation of that piece of land?

Not much I can say now. It's been running to two years since I stopped being the national secretary. However, we have an existing engagement with a developer.

If we get elected, we will be in a position to know exactly how to move forward. We need that land to come alive.

The reading culture in Nigeria is fast dwindling. What programmes do you have in place to improve the situation if elected?

How do you make literature appealing to the youths?

In my last Manifesto while contesting for the position of the General-Secretary, I had this idea of advocating for the introduction of nieghbourhood libraries by youths in streets, wards, communities and settlements or emergency areas like the IDPs but there was no sponsorship.

As the president of ANA, committees would be set up to drive the programme.

Similarly in that manifesto, I had a programme called BookHawker which was intended to use tricycles to hawk books in our neighbourhoods. For the two years I spent as the General Secretary, I couldn't initiate that. However, I established it at the Niger State Book Development Agency. Now, the strategy for these programmes was to operate through state chapters to make it functional. This is why most of the programmes would have to be driven by the state chapters. The problem of reading stems from none availability and non affordability of books by children.

As an educational psychologist, I am aware that children love colours, stories and entertainment, so, once they can access books, they will read. Already, most chapters have free book distribution programmes that we will intensify. Getting schools to create Art Centres in their premises will be another strategy we will encourage chapters to advocate at state levels. I have an art centre in my former place of work; a secondary school in Minna with a library where people like Odia Ofeimun, Camilus Uka and Mal Dalhatu of FUT, Minna have come to donate many books. These are some of the things we will promote.

What is your take one the standard of literature in the land at the moment?

Highly flourishing! This is as a result of writers who go on with their lives as artists without waiting for anyone.

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HE African artists in recent times have produced works that are competing with the works of their comtemporaries in the international art stage. A large number of these artists are Nigerians. Their works have graced international art galleries and museums, but very little, or nothing is heard about the shows.

Perhaps, this is so because "we failed to celebrate our own and we failed to recognise our own," so said a contemporary Nigerian artist, George Edozie. He said it is appalling and discourage considering the imparts and the waves Nigerian artists are making outside the shores of the country. He said improper documentation is affecting African art. "Before now as an artist I had tried to document the African artists because I found out that the Nigerian art was not being documented,".

He said artists and African art would continue to suffer if the issue of documentation is not addressed now and that the mindset of the international community will not change about the African art.

"I was shocked about the kind of questions they were asking me, question such as how I was able to produce my works with the power outage and the Boko Haram insurgency in the country. I was shocked about their mindset on Africa. Their mindset has more to do with the way and manner African art is being documented. It got to a point they said African art is good but the quality‌" Edozie didn't mince words while speaking about his displeasure over the poor recognition Nigerian artists get when they portray good images of Nigeria with their artworks internationally, at

Title: Letters To The Emir - A Vision For A Heterogeneous Kwara State Author: Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo Publishers: Integrity Publications, Lagos Year of Publication: 2015 No of pages: 256 Reviewer: Yemi Adurotoye

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY,

ARTS

N the book, devoted for mails addressed to the Emir of Ilorin, Iyiola Oyedepo explicitly and graphically detailed his thoughts on how public affairs and governance should be handled in Kwara State Passion for growth is a key factor that spurs development in a community, state or the country. Man must become so obsessed with positive attitude to bring about sustainable progress. When Obafemi Awolowo, the late sage and first premier of the Western region, sat down and crafted 'The Path To Nigeria Freedom' and various other books that showed his concern for Nigeria as well as pointing the direction he believed the nation should sail, not many of his contemporaries took him serious. Later years, when things had gone awry as Nigeria nation was held down by forces of underdevelopment, the late sage was to be described by the Emeka Ojukwu, Ikemba Nnewi, as 'the best president Nigeria never had'. How unfortunate it was for the country!

To win a soccer competition, there is need for planning; there is need for master-stroke strategies. To start with, both the coach and the technical adviser must agree on the best eleven to field

SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

Edozie remembers shifting the paradigm After months of being the first African artist to exhibit at an Art Basel organised by the prestigious Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami (MOCA), United States of America, George Edozie shares his experience and why he is talking about the show now with Udemma Chukwuma.

•Edozie press conference recently in Lagos. He continued: "When you go to see shows abroad you find out that Nigerians are participating in the shows and no one is saying anything about it, especially the so called our scholars in Diaspora who claim that they write about art in Africa and Nigeria. We have to celebrate our own, that is what I am trying to say. Art critics, scholars and art writers should write about these shows." He went further to say that writers should look for how to reach out, not just to focus on the domestic shows. "I was reluctant to talk about the show I had in USA. I just felt maybe we (artists) are on our own in this country. Maybe we shouldn't bother about people celebrating us because they don't care or they are not interested in what we do. I was treated like a king in the USA but nobody recognised me here," he said.

Exporting African art to the international community through their writing; African

•Obinka fabric metal sculpture by Edozie

artists striving to get into art Basel and international shows he said are some of the ways to expose the artists and their works to the international community. "It is not just sitting in one enclave and waiting for the searchlight to come and beam on them in their studios. They should look for ways to partake in international shows."

Edozie's exhibition was listed among the four best

exhibits at the Art Basel and became the best exhibit of 2014 MOCA Art Basel, according to the mail he received from the exhibition curator, Prof Nkiru Nzegwu of Africana Studies, Binghamton University, New York.

Certificate of participation was also awarded to Edozie by MOCA. The show, Shifting the Paradigm, according to him was designed to tear down

aging but still prevalent concepts surrounding the creation, consumption and interpretation of contemporary African art.

"Africa is the next art market.

A large number of artists are coming up with new creativity, exploring new medium and techniques.

Apparently we already know that art has failed in Europe and America, it has dropped.

The next place art is booming

is Africa. Instead of changing the phase of art again in Europe and America, we decided to shift the paradigm through an African artist and move the art centre from Europe and America down to Africa."

Edozie presented massive fiber-metal sculptures and mixed media paintings. The works focused on creativity and the rich cultural heritage of the Onitsha people of Anambra State. Some titles of the works he exhibited were: Nne Nkis (golden fish has no hiding place), Ogolo and Emengini, Thougts of Obiangeli, Asanma, etc. The show, he confessed has opened windows of opportunities for him and currently he has a gallery representing and managing him in USA. Kelechi Amadi Obi who was the official photographer covered the exhibition from the preparation stage in Nigeria till the opening and closing reception of the show.

Among the series of events that took place during the show was a lecture theme; The Role of Art in Community Transformation, presented by his Royal Majesty Nnaemeka Ugochukwu Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha, who was a special guest of honour at the Art Basel. The show was curated in Nigeria by Chinwe Uwatse. The exhibition opened on December 2, 2014 and ended on February 2, 2015.

Setting agenda for genuine development for the match. The match commissioner and the referees must be impartial. These are some of the needed rules and conditions to get the best result from a match that would be free of protest or rejection of result.

The same principle, and even much more, applies to managing the affairs of a state.

In the book, Letters To The Emir, Oyedepo speaks the truth to power, presenting long and different epistles to the Emir of Ilorin. He was frank and straight-forward. His choice of the revered monarch was not born out of unnecessary boldness, but great concern for the development of Kwara State. He regards the Emir as the father figure for all people in Kwara, and more so, his position endures. Perhaps, his stance could spur the Emir to sit the political class and notable stakeholders in the state to discuss how best the state should be run for the benefit of all and sundry.

The author, a political scientist, lawyer, farmer and politician, in the 256-page book, set agenda for genuine development of his home state, Kwara. The book comprises 27 lengthy mails addressed to the Emir of Ilorin and each one makes a chapter. One needs not bore readers with chapter-bychapter account of the book, but to let them have the kernel of the message conveyed with copious references to some expressions of the author. It is a must-read, particularly for all stakeholders in the Kwara project, and generally for students of politics, politicians, traditional leaders, community leaders and those interested in developing capacity for visionary leadership.

Oyedepo, a past cabinet member and lawmaker in the state, does not lose sight of the heterogeneity of the state, but described it as an experiment in political engineering. It is pertinent to ask: Why would a state remain an experiment after 48 years of statehood? The author's explanation suffices: "Kwara is made up of people with different cultural and historical identities, but united by force of arms, superior Islamic learning, intimidation, political oppression and threat of violence." To him, interactions across ethnic lines are characterized by distrust and suspicions of one another; these informed his call for 'a new thinking, a new vision'.

The new vision he talks about is that of an egalitarian society where everybody will

have equal opportunity. He canvassed fairness and justice because he knows that injustice breeds agitation, violence, chaos, destruction and separation. He believes war of conquest is, today, of history; but it is time to build an enduring relationship among the various ethnic and interest groups in the state. True to his fear, the Kwara state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, raised the scepter of hostility to fight marginalization of Christians in the state last year even as Igbomina people agitated for the creation of Igbomina State, while the Ekiti in Kwara are working out ways to have boundary adjustment to realign with their kith and kin in Ekiti state.

The corporate existence of

Kwara as a state is thus being threatened. And the sources of the threat are many. Ethnic ratrace to overtake and dominate others has manifested in nepotism, prebendalism, favoritism, tribalism and redtapism. To drive home this point, Oyedepo analyzed the administrative officers in the state civil service who are within levels 8 - 17, senatorial district-by-senatorial district, and found out that Kwara central has 131, which is more than the number that both Kwara south and Kwara north had, which are 55 and 66 respectively. Pitiably, Oke-Ero local council area did not have more than two of this cadre of civil servants out of a total figure of 252, meanwhile Ilorin west can boast of 54 of these o f f i c e r s .

The above trend is replicated in appointments, promotions and citing of government projects across the state.

Oyedepo, who is also the chairman of People's Democratic Party, PDP, in the state, enjoins the royal father not to take quietude of people for existence of harmony. His reason for this is not far to seek, "in a society that parades multiethnic groups and diverse culture, unequal opportunity and favouritism are potential threat to good relationship. No side should be made to eat the crumbs from the master's table."

In the eighth mail, he acknowledges that Kwara North senatorial district is one in dire need of developmental projects, urging the people not to sit on the fence, but be articulate and defend their district to attract to them what they are really entitled to.

Writing on resource control in the tenth letter, Akogun, who is fondly called, enjoins the Emir to develop passionate interest in the greater Kwara project and convince the people, particularly the other ethnic groups - Igbomina, Ibolo, Ekiti, Nupe and Baruba about it because unity is a prerequisite for development; only leaders that believe in divide-and-rule that will not encourage it.

Akogun decries the unwholesome exploitation of women's weakness for political advantage and the use of money to establish "democratic dictatorship", describing the situation as monstrous. "How can one person dictate for the governor, his deputy, all National Assembly members, 24member state House of Assembly, 16 council chairmen and the state commissioners?" the Isanlu-Isin born politician seems to be at loss over the undemocratic scenario. As he reiterates that "Kwara has remained more or less stagnant since 1975", he put the three civilian governors who had been opportune to be in charge of governance since 1999 to responsiveness tests and scored them abysmally low.

It was Frantz Fanon, AfroCaribbean psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary writer, who wrote the popular "The Wretched of The Earth" that says: "The measure of all intellectual works is the liberation of the people." If "Letter To The Emir" achieves the goal of reviving fairness in the business of governance and unity among Kwara people, which Oyedepo intends, the project would be a worthwhile venture after all.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

Tough times ahead for banks Page 58 •Osinbajo

•Emefiele

‘Nigeria’s-- Page 53 food potential is huge’

Oil dependence: Osinbajo meets stakeholders in Lagos Page 59

Page 60

•Jaiyeola

Firm unveils technology awards

By Medinat Kanabe ECHNOLOGY Avenue, an information and communication technology firm, has announced plans to hold the maiden edition of the Nigeria Technology Awards.

Speaking at a press conference, the event coordinator and Chief Executive Officer, Technology Avenue, Mr Felix Nnuji said voting will commence on 21st September and end on 21st October. Prospective participants are expected to visit www.nigeriatechnologyawards.com/2015-voting to cast their votes.

Pressed further, Nnuji said the main award ceremony will hold on 21st November at Ace- Olivia Hall, City Mall where over 250 corporate organisations, individuals and government agencies have been shortlisted for the awards.

“The objective is to promote and commend the excellent achievements to which organisations, technology professionals and government agencies in Nigeria who have done excellently well in deploying cutting-edge technology that enhances customer experience as well as promoting the use of technology to build a sustainable economy in Nigeria. It is an opportunity to recognise and reward technology entrepreneurs, innovators, inventors, academicians, and policy makers in Nigeria,” he added.

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From left: Deputy Head of Mission, Irish Embassy in Nigeria, Mr. Eoghan McSwiney; Chief Executive Officer, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Mr. Peter Ndegwa; Irish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Sean Hoy and Mr. Sesan Sobowale, Corporate Relations Director, Guinness Nigeria Plc, during a working visit to Guinness Nigeria by the Irish Ambassador recently.

World Bank seeks $135b lifeline to fund IDAs

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HE World Bank is in dire financial straits and seeking lifelines from wait for this: Africans, to be able to meet its obligations to the International Development Association (IDA).

The World Bank VicePresident for Development Finance Joachim Von Amsberg, who gave this hint, said the Bank needs to mobilise some US$135 thousand

Stories by Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf million in Official Development Assistance (ODA).

This amount will attract and leverage new public and private investments.

“We have a large portfolio, a series of projects in preparation that will drive private investment. These are projects for which there is great demand and we are seeking to

mobilise possible resources.

There is the Ebola problem, floods in Malawi and the earthquake in Nepal as well, which is why the response budget for three years was already exhausted in the first year,” explained the World Bank VP in his presentation on the topic “Funding Options for ODA.” The record ODA replenishment of US$52.1 thousand million aims to maximise impact on development by leveraging

public and private resources, in addition to knowledge, with solid results and efficiency at a low cost.

The demand for regional projects in Africa remains large, and most resources are committed to regional infrastructure projects.

“The strong replenishment of ODA and financial innovations are crucial to fulfilling the agenda for transformation in Africa,” he concluded.

$50b lost annually to illicit cash flows in Africa —Mbeki

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FRICAN continent loses over $50billion annually as a result of the illicit flow of funds, former president of South Africa Thabo Mbeki told the meeting of the Group of African Governors affiliated with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, known as the African Caucus.

“Africa faces the great challenge of large volumes of capital leaving the continent illicitly – money that our continent needs to address the challenges of development. We, as Africans, have an absolute obligation to act on this to ensure that the rest of the world (the destination of these illicit movements of funds), by acting together, will help stop this drain of resources which belong to the continent that needs them so badly,” said Mbeki.

Mbeki is now head of the High-Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows From Africa created by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Union, which did exem-

plary work and analysed the magnitude of the problem on the continent, producing a report now known as the “Mbeki Report.”

The former President of South Africa maintains that it is possible to put an end to these issues with proper monitoring of the transactions of large commercial companies.

Moreover, he points out that in order to combat this phenomenon interventions are needed from institutions such as tax authorities, customs,

central banks, financial intelligence units for combating money laundering, audit and anti-corruption authorities and the police.

According to Mbeki, there is need for appropriate legislation to give these institutions the mandate they need to cooperate in the fight against illicit capital outflows and so that countries can also cooperate at the regional level, given that some of these outflows move across shared borders.

“Our governments lose large amounts of revenue owed to the state due to the unlawful outflow of significant capital that we need for development,” he pointed out.

Mbeki says that it is imperative to build the global architecture required for a focused offensive to put an end to these illicit outflows, within the framework of UN processes, in order to avoid a piecemeal approach to the problem and to enable supervision by an appropriate UN body.

Nigeria loses billions annually to foreign HE nation is said to lose the don urged the establishsatellites billions in revenue to ment of a legal and regulatory

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foreign satellites and technology firms.

Making this disclosure recently was Prof. Seidu Onailo Mohammed, Director- General/Chief Executive, National Air Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA).

The NASRDA boss, who was a guest speaker at a forum organised by the Institute of Credit Administration (ICA) in Lagos, said it was disheartening to note that the country loses a lot of revenue to capital

flight as Africa, including Nigeria patronise mostly foreign satellite communications companies.

“Unfortunately Nigeria has only one satellite firm, which is the NigComSat-1R. It must interest you to note that huge revenues are being generated from Africa to other part of the world, because many organisations and ministries and departmental agencies are using foreign satellites.”

To address this inadequacy,

framework for satellite operators in Nigeria with a view to drive patronage for the Nigerian-made satellite.

Speaking earlier, the Registrar/Chief Executive, ICA, Prof. Chris Onalo said the Institute remains committed towards the growth and development of the various economic sectors; hence, it has continued to contribute to the dialectics of nation-building through engaging different stakeholder groups.

African women entrepreneurs forum holds in Lagos

By Ambrose Nnaji

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HE Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF) is slated to hold in Lagos later his month.

Among those expected at the forum are women enterprise and industry leaders from Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Togo, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea and other African countries. The event is being organised by ICO Conferences & Events Limited in partnership with the International Women’s Society (IWS) Lagos, LEAP Africa and Business School Netherlands (BSN).

In a statement made available to The Nation, the Founder/ Managing Director, ICO Conferences & Events Ltd, Irene Ochem, said the forum would address women’s critical role in economic leadership and development and discuss opportunities to unleash their full potential to unlock Africa’s sustainable growth.

ITF boss decries low level of industrial growth From Franca Ochigbo, Abuja

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HE Director General, Industrial Training Fund (ITF) Juliet Chukkas Oneako has decried the low level of industrial growth in the country, saying the few industries available can hardly accommodate the growing level of skilled manpower in the system.

The ITF boss, who made this observation in Abuja, said though the Fund has since embarked on vigorous training on different skills it was worrisome to note that those trained may not be able to get steady employment at the end.

Oneako, who received the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission NIPC, Mrs. Uju Aisha Hassan Baba, on was on a courtesy visit, said: “With the huge labour market in the country, there is need to export skills because very soon the industries will not be enough even to employ the youths, even if the government wants to support financially how much can the government make available, so there is need to look outward by exporting these skills.”

Institute tasks FRCN on corporate governance HE Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) has urged the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) to adhere to the codes of good corporate governance. The Institute spoke through its President and Chairman of Council, Dr. Nat Ofo in Lagos, during a press briefing to herald its 2015 Annual Conference and Dinner Awards, tagged: ‘Disclosure and Transparency: A paradigm Shift in Corporate Nigeria.’

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

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•Emefiele

•CBN headquarters, Abuja

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Tough times ahead for banks

HE nation’s banking landscape is in dire straits, no thanks to the lull in the economy, which has naturally rubbed off on the sector.

For a sector that thrives on growth, only visible in numbers, the numbers, in a manner of speaking, sadly so, are no longer adding up these days.

Expectedly, many players in the banking sector are worried that things may even get out of hand unless as the year progresses.

One of those who have raised his voice above the din over the parlous state of the banking sector is Nnamdi Okonkwo, Managing Director/Chief Executive, Fidelity Bank Plc. Okonkwo who spoke to these fears on Thursday in Lagos, at a forum to mark Fidelity Bank’s 27 years anniversary, said the first half of 2015 was very tough for the banking industry as a result of the global headwinds as well as regulatory pressure.

Like Okonkwo, many bankers are equally worried that it is no longer at ease with their sector, what with the dwindling fortunes being recorded by many thus far.

Genesis of crisis It may be recalled that the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN) made some policy pronouncements late last year including the review of capital adequacy ratio 15 per cent.

The withdrawal of public funds from the money deposit banks among others.

The apex bank also devalued the naira amid growing domestic and international concerns about the tough outlook facing the Nigerian economy after the collapse of oil prices last year.

Justifying the need for these policies, the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele in an interview said that given the major hit to state revenues for the continent’s top oil producer, there was no way to avoid “bad times” for now.

But he insisted his policies, and not the naira devaluation traders and analysts call for, would curb inflation and bolster depleted foreign reserves.

“We have begun to get people to refocus . . . the challenges of the dwindling reserves [are] making people change their paradigms because we are telling people our story and they are beginning to look inwards,” he said.

Emefiele also dispelled fears that the central bank was overreaching itself and getting involved in industrial policies, stating that beyond the mandate of the CBN to provide price and monetary stability and forex management, it was also the responsibility of the central bank to take ac-

Regulatory headwinds among other factors may have brought the nation’s hitherto thriving banking sector to its knees as most deposit money banks have been recording a lull in activities since the beginning of the year, reports Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf

tions that would achieve macroeconomic stability.

“In an attempt to achieve macroeconomic stability, you must take actions that impact positively on the lives of your people. And any monetary or fiscal authority will do that. In the United States, everything is (about) ‘jobs, jobs, jobs’.

“The Federal Reserve talks about jobs.

Every month, Janet Yellen comes and talks about employment. So if you are saying that it is not within the mandate of the central bank governor to put in place policies that will increase job creation, reduce unemployment, increase economic growth and development then you are not right.

“So what we are doing is taking actions and decisions that will improve the lives of the people and that will make our people look inwards. And those things we are importing right now, we are taking action to say produce them locally, and in the process you create jobs for our people and in the process you are growing the economy.”

On the current volatility in the parallel forex market, the CBN governor maintained that informal market was shallow and should not serve as a benchmark for determining the real value of the naira.

Emefiele also insisted the restriction placed on importers of the 41 items had not added depth to the parallel market, stating: “It’s not the policy we introduced in June that is causing it. It is because of the speculative activities, the round-tripping and rentseeking activities of certain people in the economy that is creating this.

Besides, the apex bank capped it all with other new policy regime in recent times, including the single treasury accounts, restriction on forex among other policies, may have

had adverse effect on banking operations, which rely on cash flows from various economic sectors.

Global verdict Indications that Nigerian banks may be heading into storms as the year progresses is becoming clear if the observation of Financial Institutions is anything to go by.

In its latest report released by the Director, Financial Institutions, Mahin Dissanayake, Fitch Ratings insisted that Nigerian banks are highly exposed to the domestic market and that the economic slowdown would affect their performance.

Subsequently, the Fitch has warned that Nigerian banks are heading into financial and operational storms in view of what it called the increasingly difficult conditions under which they are operating.

It made it clear that the difficult times are likely to result in a sharp deterioration in profitability, asset quality, liquidity and capital ratios.

“We said the sector outlook was negative in December. GDP figures for 2Q15, released yesterday, show weaker year-on-year growth of 2.4 per cent, down from four per cent in the previous quarter, the slowest quarterly growth rate for over 10 years.

“The volatile operating environment is highly important in determining ratings for all Fitch-rated Nigerian banks, keeping their Viability Ratings low, in the highly speculative ‘b’ category.

“Nigeria’s oil sector growth slowed in 2Q15 and non-oil growth was just 3.5 per cent, down from 5.6 per cent in 1Q15. Part of this slowdown was caused by temporary fuel shortages, which caused industrial production and manufacturing output to contract. Lower oil prices, reduced government

spending and restrictions on foreign exchange availability are also taking their toll on performance across the economy. Positively, agricultural output, construction, telecommunication services, internal trade and financial services continued to grow.

“Nigerian banks have had to contend in recent months with the increased vulnerability of the oil and gas sector, pressure on the naira, the slower economy and tightening bank liquidity. These are all credit negative for the sector. Since the beginning of August, public sector deposits, which represent around eight per cent of total system deposits, have exited the commercial banks and must be held at a single treasury account at the central bank.

This adds pressure to liquidity. No significant changes in economic policy have materialised following the change of government at end-March 2015, but until a new cabinet is formed and a clear policy framework is announced, uncertainty will weigh on the outlook.

“Loan growth contracted in 1H15, which is likely to translate to weaker bank financial metrics for the year. We believe sector non-performing loans will rise above the central bank informal cap of five per cent but below 10 per cent of total sector loans by end-2015. Regulatory capital adequacy ratios are likely to fall further due to lower earnings, weaker asset quality and a limited ability to raise capital.

Tier 1 capital ratios could fall below 15 per cent for many banks, which is low by historical standards for Nigeria.

“In our opinion, key financial metrics reported by Nigeria’s banks are likely to continue to decline in the closing months of 2015. A prolonged economic downturn

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2015 would likely put pressure on bank ratings.”

CBN may throw in the towel Apparently discomfited with the refusal of banks to carry out their core mandate, which includes lending support to drive economic sectors, the CBN said hinted that bailout from the apex bank may no longer be feasible.

Giving this hint in Abuja, the Assistant Director Development Finance Department of the CBN Mr. Jonathan Tobin at a workshop for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) funding organised by the Bankers’ Committee, lamented that intervention will not be forever.

“A day will come when we will close the tap and you will be compelled to lend from your balance sheets. We want to encourage banks to lend.”

Many banks, the CBN regretted, are not participating because CBN said they should lend from their balance sheets.

They don’t want anything to tamper with their balance sheets but immediately it is an intervention fund from the CBN, all banks will jump at it.”

Tobin lamented that the Nigerian “economy is virtually dying but the banks are declaring billions as profit. But they forget that if the economy collapses everybody will be the worse for it. We have to take some risks.”

Clear and present dangers In the view of financial analysts, the banks are not in the clear as far as their health is concern.

Sola Alabi, Zonal Manager, Wema Bank Plc, while attempting a prognosis of the imminent crisis in the nation's financial service sector said the overexposure to risk by some of the banks may have been responsible for the poor showing of banks in recent times.

According to him, "most of the banks are weak there is no doubt about that. You find that majority of them in their craze for deposits drive finance some projects, especially in the oil and gas sector, where price volatility is now a major problem so, naturally, many recorded losses.

The size of their balance sheet is lean."

Corroborating Alabi, a staff in one of the old generation banks, who asked not to be named, confided in The Nation that the outlook of the banks leaves nothing to cheer about.

"Majority of our banks have had to contend in recent months with the increased vulnerability of the oil and gas sector, pressure on the naira, the slower economy and tightening bank liquidity," he said.

All this pose negative effect for the sector, he maintained.

"It is very disheartening to note that since the first quarter of this year, public sector deposits, which represent around eight per cent of total system deposits, have left the commercial banks and must be held at a single treasury account at the central bank. This adds pressure to liquidity."

A lot of people, the source said, looked forward to some economic policy changes with the change of government but so far, no significant change has happened, fueling fears that things make progress negatively for the sector.

However, the question on the lips of many is whether the banks are still safe havens.

Time will tell.

BUSINESS

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‘LBS products doing exploits worldwide’

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RODUCTS of the Lagos Business School, arguably Nigeria’s flagship business school have continued to hold their own wherever they find themselves, whether in the organised private sector or public institutions as the case may be.

According to Francis Jakpor, the Communications Officer, Lagos Business School, the rigorous training and high level expertise displayed by resource persons and experienced faculty members easily attests to this.

Participants in LBS’ programmes, Jakpor said in a statement, always stand out, thanks to the School’s focus on providing sound knowledge that equips them to succeed in Africa and beyond. To achieve this, LBS employs the services of world-class local and international faculty to facilitate its MBA and Executive Education programmes. These academics are oftentimes expert sources for financial/business intelligence and thought leaders whose research works are published in international journals of repute.

The School’s full-time MBA programme, he stressed, is designed

to prepare managers to succeed in the increasingly complex global business environment. Small wonder, then, that participants in the programmeare highly regarded both locally and internationally for the aptitude they display in their respective circles.

He recalled that last year, former MBA student, Adebayo Alonge, emerged one of the finalists in the maiden Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.

The Fellowship is the flagship programme of President Barack Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), which takes 500 young leaders to the US for academic coursework and leadership training.

In the same year, Onyanta Adama, another MBA student, made the shortlist for the FT MBA Challenge with UK charity World Child Cancer. She joined five other students from Lagos and abroad to draft a plan on how Ghana could treat childhood cancer in a self-sustainable manner.

Another thing working for LBS, Jakpor said, is its vibrant alumni.

After the programme, they join a

solid network of over 5000 alumni whose expertise they can leverage in their quest to take their careers or businesses to the next level. Such launch pads have never been in short supply from the pool of participants in LBS’ executive programmes.

Earlier this year, Paul Orajiaka (AMP 20) revamped a rundown school in Ikorodu, Lagos. He assured that the project was the first in a long line of CSR initiatives that would cut across the six geopolitical zones of the country in months to come.

This was preceded by his interview with Forbes magazine for starting his doll manufacturing company, Auldon Limited, with a paltry $30, and making it a success story in the industry.

Other positive change agents associated with LBS include Dr Christopher Kolade, Professor Pat Utomi, Pascal Dozie and governors, top executives/managers of multinationals and medium-to-large scale businesses too numerous to count.

Every institution worthy of the name stands for something, and LBS is no exception. LBS stands for

Lawmakers fault NDDC over abandoned projects

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HE Deputy Chief Whip of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Otuekong Nse Udofot Essien, has decried the spate of abandoned projects in Akwa Ibom State by Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Consequently he has reported the Commission to the State House of Assembly.

Essien, a member representing the Onna State Constituency in the 26member Assembly, bemoaned what he described as lack of commitment by the Federal Government agency towards the development agenda of

From Uyoatta Eshiet, Uyo

the region.

The lawmaker who spoke to our correspondent in Uyo, the State capital, noted that “if such development agencies live up to their expectations, the multiplier effects of such action would have properly felt by the local residents.”

According to him, NDDC contractors were in the habits of abandoning projects after collecting mobilisation fees, saying such attitude was detrimental to the development plans of the state government.

More worrisome to the lawmaker is the pathetic state of rural roads in Onna, especially the Ikot AkpatekIkwe-Odio Road, a strategic access road traversing the oil bearing communities of Onna and Eket, Essien said.

The Deputy Whip, who has taken the matter before the House for deliberation, also impressed on the leadership of the Assembly to grant his prayers that an inventory of projects abandoned by the NDDC in Akwa Ibom state be taken with a view to drawing the Federal Government’s attention for quick intervention.

Nigerian appointed first African member World Association for Medical Law

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NIGERIAN medical lawyer, Laolu Osanyin, has been appointed as the first African Member of the Board of Governors of the World Association for Medical Law (WAML).

Osanyin was decorated at the 21st Annual World Congress of the Association which took place at Coimbra, Portugal, recently.

The WAML is the international regulatory association of scholars, researchers and practitioners in the areas of medical and health laws.

The aim of the WAML is to promote the study of the consequences in jurisprudence, legislation and ethics of developments in medicine,

health care and related sciences with membership from more than 100 countries. The Association also serves as the Medicolegal Advisory Council to the WHO and International Criminal Court.

At the recently concluded World Congress on Medical Law, Osanyin presented a paper titled: ‘The Ebola Patient Migration: The Nigerian Medicolegal Perspective.’

The paper highlighted the behind the scene diplomatic, public health and medicolegal issues surrounding the arrival of the Ebola patient, Mr. Patrick Sawyer into Nigeria culminating in the heroic ex-

ploits of the Nigerian physicians lead by late Dr. Amayo Adedevo in preventing the spread of the disease by ultimately sacrificing their own lives to save millions of lives from contacting the deadly virus.

As the first African member of the Board of Governors, Osanyin is expected to drive the growth of medical law in Africa by encouraging and facilitating discussions, protocols and legislations on rights and duties of the medical profession in the field of medical ethics, the advancement of health related technology and also issues of malpractice and medical negligence claims.

From left: Bill Hinnant, Secretary of American College of Legal Medicine, Laolu Osanyin, President Resource Centre for Medical Law Research and Development,Professor Thomas Noguchi, President of World Association of Medical Law and Oren Asman, Vice President of World Association for Medical Law at the 21st Annual World Congress in Coimbra Portugal.

sound knowledge, the right attitude and a solid network. With a mix of these characteristics, it empowers managers to succeed in the fast-paced 21st century business environment defined by cut-throat competition. LBS is recognised worldwide. Currently, the school is pursuing accreditation of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).

Town planners urge Udom to domesticate urban, regional planning law From Uyoatta Eshiet, Uyo EGISTERED Town Planners, Akwa Ibom state chapter have urged the Governor Udom Emmanuel, to domesticate the Urban and Regional Planning law of 1992 as amended in 1999.

The professional body also urged the governor to establish Urban and Regional Planning Board and Local Planning Authorities in the State, these according to them will assist the state to develop legally.

The new Chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, Akwa Ibom State Chapter, Raymond Nde made this appeal during the 10th inauguration of the Executive Committee Members of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners Akwa Ibom State Chapter.

The Town Planners also appealed to the authorities of the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State University, Ikot Akpaden and Obio Akpa, the Federal Polytechnic, UKana, the State Polytechnic, Ikot Osura, College of Education, Afaha Nsit and the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, to establish functional Physical Planning units in the various institutions.

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Oil dependence: Osinbajo meets stakeholders in Lagos

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HE Federal Government is taking its campaign to reduce dependence on oil and diversify the nation’s economy further, by planning to meet directors of quoted and non-quoted companies in Lagos.

In a statement signed by the Institute of Directors of Nigeria (1oDs), Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo is expected to unfold the government’s economic programmes during the investiture of Mr. Samuel Samuel Akeju, as the President/Chairman, Governing Council of the Institute of Directors of Nigeria (IoDs) in Lagos.

The statement said Osinbajo has agreed to attend the event in order to rub minds with players in the nation’s corporate cycle on how to move the country’s economy forward.

It would be recall that President Muhammadu Buhari, penultimate week, met the Board of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria(ICAN) at the Villa in Abuja, where he urged accountants to demonstrate a reasonable level integrity and further use their expertise to grow the economy, which he said, depends largely on oil for sustenance.

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BUSINESS

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OURNEY so far The last financial year has been very challenging obviously because the entire nation has been facing challenges including the crash in crude oil prices in the international market coupled with the devaluation of the of the naira.

Thus with other operational and infrastructural challenges it was difficult for the company to achieve its budget for last financial year.

But having said that, I can say without any fear of contradiction that Honeywell has come a long way indeed. Honeywell started the commercial, production and sales business about 19-200metric tons per day, today we are mill operating a factory with product capacity of 2610 metric tonsthat’s quite a lot of improvement in capacity if you look at it. We have future expansion programme. As I speak, we are embarking on yet another expansion of 500 per tons flour mill, we are also expanding our noodles and pasta capacity at various locations.

Update on the Shagamu expansion factory At the end of the day it will become our food complex. By that I mean it is going to be one location where virtually all the food business of the Honeywell group will be concentrated. We are presently embarking on expansion project which would increase our production capacity from the current 210 metric tons per day to about 1000 metric tons per day.

Development plan for Honeywell Our development plan is primarily to become the national food provider. We do

‘Nigeria’s food potential is huge’ Lanre Jaiyeola, Group Managing Director, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc, in this interview with Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf, speaks on the giant strides recorded by the company thus far among other development. Excerpts: not only want to play in the space of producing food for human but also producing for the animals. The Shagamu land which is 68 hectare land will offer us that opportunity. We intend to have the entire food business concentration in that location.

Besides, during the first quarter of the year, we will be running Pasta and Noodles promotions. While the pasta promotion is targeted at retailers, the noodles promotion on the other hand is targeted at consumers.

For the pasta trade promotion, we have included 1 free pack of Spaghetti in every carton of Honeywell Macaroni and Honeywell Spaghetti while for Noodles promotion, we are giving 15 percent extra noodles free in every pack of Honeywell Noodles.

Our promotions are clearly communicated on the cartons and packaging films where feasible because we believe strongly in ethical practices and transparency in all we do. There is no raffle draw or lucky dip involved in these promotions. Whatever we have promised is either in the cartons already or inside each pack of Honeywell Pasta and Honeywell Noodles. It is a new dawn in our Marketing and Trade Marketing activities as we have restrategised to serve you better.

Our Commercial team (Sales and Marketing) will be closer to you now more than ever. Our Management Team will be coming around to see how we can serve you better and help your business grow. Our growth is tied to your growth and your

growth is tied to our growth.

We are in it to succeed together.

Level of compliance with government directive on cassava flour I will say hundred percent because when the policy came into force, Honeywell embraced it whole heartedly, we demonstrated it by investing massively in various equipment, we must have invested close to a N1billion in various equipment in our existing mills in Apapa just to be able to include high quality cassava flour in a regular with the flour that we produce.

Today, government has said we should include between three-five percent by the end of this financial year we are complying. Today, we are doing about between three-four percent and we hope to take this up

to five percent by December this year. Not only that, Honeywell has also taken the opportunity that the government has provided to invest in high quality cassava milling equipment in the western part of the country.

Impact of insecurity/insurgency and the Apapa traffic gridlock The Apapa gridlock affected tremendously not only us but every other company located in and around Apapa, I must say. But we are hopeful that with the stage of work on the new trailer park, we are all the trucks along the OshodiApapa express road will soon be relocated into the park and that will free off the road. Thereafter we expect the government to move in and do some construction work on the road so that

there can be free movement of vehicles. So, we are hopeful that this year will offer us another opportunity to be able to get our products out of the factory to our numerous customers across the nation Proposed ban on importation of flour The federal government did not plan to ban the importation of flour. All the federal government expects is for people to comply by patronising local produce like cassava flour, sorghum flour. As we speak, we’re not only working extensively on cassava but we have commenced a research and development initiative on sorghum flour. Some of our colleagues from Switzerland are already working on various ample of sorghum flour just to show that we can explore the possibility not only high quality cassava flour but also of high quality sorghum flour.

Assessment of food processing in country We are not doing too badly of course there is always room for improvement and Honeywell put premium on quality control assurance the peak of food processing is to ensure that every food we produce from the factory meets international standards, that way it follows therefore that we must have in place a high level quality assurance team and I can confirm that we have this at the Honeywell flour company limited.

Procurement of raw materials for instance is very poor we have to ensure that our raw materials are wellguided so that we can be sure of the raw materials we are putting into our food.

Non-oil exports and Nexim Bank alliances T

HE Nigerian ExportImport Bank has over the years championed the development of non-oil sectors of the nation’s economy. These efforts have resulted in the diversification of Nigeria’s economy.

Nexim Bank’s initiatives under Mr Roberts Orya as the MD|CEO have led to the development of non-oil sectors such as agriculture, entertainment, solid minerals and export promotion to mention a few.

It is against this backdrop that recent alliances which the bank plans to enter into with some countries and trade bodies aimed at promoting non-oil sectors of the nation’s economy is quite commendable and need to be vigorously pursued because of the multiplier effects therein.

One of such is the recent partnership plan between the bank and Greece. It would be recalled that the Greek ambassador to Nigeria, Mr AlekosIkonomopoulos, recently during a visit to the headquarters of the bank in Abuja indicated interests to partner with Nexim Bank in his country’s quest to develop non-oil exports with Nigeria. Such collaborations should be encouraged because they

•Orya

By Uche Nwoko

will provide export opportunities for Nigerian goods, which will in turn positively improve upon the gross domestic products of the country.

During the discussion with the management of the bank, the ambassador had affirmed that his country would seek ways to collaborate with Nigeria in ensuring the success of the part-

nership. In his words, “We shall create the enabling environment for Greek investors to collaborate with Nigeria in the areas of technology, maritime and agriculture.”

Nexim Bank’s boss had thanked Mr AlekosIkonomopoulos for the initiative, and added that the prospect of the synergy was bright because of the Sealink Project which

would provide a good platform for the non-oil sector exportation. According to him, the Sealink is a private sector-driven project, and that NEXIM Bank is only facilitating its establishment in line with its mandate, as the Trade Policy Bank of Nigeria, to promote and deepen non-oil export trade.

He said the Sealink Project would promote intra and inter-African trade, thereby fostering regional integration, economic growth and development in the West and Central African sub-regions.

In a similar vein, Nexim Bank has also concluded plans to collaborate with the World Trade Organisation, WTO. Mr Orya stated this when the deputy director general of the WTO, Mr Yonov Fred Agah, paid him a visit in Abuja. He said such collaboration would remove bottlenecks usually associated with international trade.

Just like the Greek deal, that of the WTO would be enhanced by various platforms already initiated by the bank. Some of them are the ECOWAS Trade Support Facility (ETSF), Interstate Road Transport Scheme (ISRT), and the Nigerian Creative and Enter-

tainment facility.

The determination of the bank to collaborate with the WTO will no doubt deepen Nigeria’s relationship with relevant government agencies which will in turn determine the mechanism to drive Nigeria’s export market. Mr Agah had during their discussion revealed that trade finance was the core area of encouraging regional integration and a key factor in eradicating poverty.

He said, “The WTO provides the framework for negotiating trade agreements and dispute resolution processes to enforce participants’ adherence to WTO terms. Trade finance is the core area of encouraging regional integration and a key factor in eradicating poverty. The WTO aims to create awareness and proffer solutions to peculiar experiences in different countries with regards to trade.”

He believes that although empirical trade policy analysis was lacking, the WTO was working on developing a global value chain for better trade regimes, and promised to work with the Nexim Bank to achieve its goals.

Following the fall in the oil prices globally, and the quest by Nigeria to diversify

her economy by developing other sectors, such alliances are coming at the right time.

The world, it is said, is a global village and the only way for Nigeria to holistically develop is by collaborate with relevant bodies that will promote her export opportunities.

The Nigerian Export-Import Bank was established

by Act 38 of 1991 as an Export Credit Agency with the broad mandate to promoting the diversification of the Nigerian economy and deepening the external sector, particularly the non-oil through the provision of credit facilities in both local and foreign currencies; riskbearing facilities through export credit guarantee and export credit insurance; business development and financial advisory services.

In pursuit of its mandate of promoting export diversification and deepening the non-oil sectors, the bank’s current strategic initiatives are targeted towards boosting employment creation and foreign exchange earnings in the manufacturing, agro-processing, solid minerals and services (tourism, transportation and entertainment) industries.

Nwoko is a banker from Abuja

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

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NEWS Why I’m seeking reelection in Bayelsa, by Dickson 62

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AYELSA State Governor, Seriake Dickson has said he is seeking re-election to consolidate on the gains recorded by his administration in the last three and half years.

Governor Dickson, who is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in Bayelsa State ahead of the December 5 governorship polls, is optimistic that his party will be victorious at the polls.

The governor spoke at the weekend at the national secretariat of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja after submitting his governorship nomination/ expression of intent form to the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Abubakar Mustapha.

“You can only win election if you are in charge of the grass roots.

The PDP produced all members of the National Assemble, 22 out of the 24 members of the state House of Assembly, 105 out of 105 councilors, the entire eight council chairmen and several government appointees who cut across all units, wards and local governments of the state. Will these people fold their hands and watch the opposition write results, certainly no,’’ he said.

Governor Dickson spoke at the weekend at the national secretariat of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja after submitting his governorship nomination/ expression of intent form to the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Abubakar Mustapha.

Dickson was accompanied to Wadata House by the Director General of the Restoration Campaign Organisation, Hon Fred Agbedi, the first executive governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamiesiegha, all current members of both Bayelsa State House of Assembly and National Assembly, former Speaker and Deputy Governor of the state, Chief Peremobowei Ebebi, former speaker of the State House of Assembly, Boyelayefa Debekeme.

Others on his entourage were PDP chieftain, Chief George Fente, political strategist, Chief Bekis Etifa, former senator representing Bayelsa East, Chief Barigha Amange, youth group led by the REYNET DG, Mr. Alfred Kemepado, select former commissioners and house members, women groups, some friends of Bayelsa and a host of others.

Upbeat, Dickson the PDP is the party to beat on December 5 and called on Nigerians to discard the ‘‘ranting’’ of those who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) with a wave of the hand.

The governor described the APC in Bayelsa as a congress of propagandists and perennial governorship aspirants who have never won election and do not have the structure and goodwill to win on December 5.

He declared: “Without sounding immodest, there are no candidates in APC to pose any threat to my re-election. The APC in Bayelsa has no members; all of them are governorship aspirants who want power to put the state in reverse gear. The PDP members who have defected to APC are traitors and crass opportunists who had benefitted so much from PDP and jumped to APC after its victory to take advantage of PDP’s suddenly loss of power at the centre. If APC loses tomorrow, they will return to PDP! They have all had opportunists in the past to develop Bayelsa and the Niger Delta and they all failed. They are not on ground. Electoral victory is not conjured, it is delivered by the people and the party structure which we have and the APC

doesn’t have and that is why they plan to take over Bayelsa by force, by getting INEC and police to write result.

“But I’m confident that federal might will fail them because it has never worked in Bayelsa. The APC does not stand a chance in Bayelsa because the people trust me and they believe in my capacity to deliver as I have done in the last three and half years. The restoration government that I head has verifiable achievements on ground to speak for my re-election.’’

The governor who will formally announce his re-election bid in Yenagoa on Tuesday expressed optimism that, with the assurances of his party’s National Working Committee, the PDP governorship primary will be free and fair and expressed his readiness to subject himself to the process in line with the laws of the land.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

• Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson (2ndleft sitting) 1 st Civilian Governor of the State, Chief. Diepreye Alamieyeseigha (left) and a cross section of Senators and PDP faithful from the State during the Governor’s submission of expression of interest and nomination forms at the Wadata House in Abuja. Photo by Lucky Francis

63

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

INTERVIEW

W

HAT are the defining beliefs of the church?

We want people to know that we believe in God the eternal father and his son Jesus Christ and then the Holy Ghost. We want people to know that we believe the bible to be the word of God the Old Testament and the New Testament are words of God that can lead people to Christ.

We also believe that baptism is for the remission of sin, through immersion into water. We want people to know that it is good to be good to all men. We want people to know that through the atonement of Jesus Christ, all mankind might be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.

We want people to know that men are punished for their old sins and loved for Adams transgression. We want people to know that the precepts of the gospel first are the truth in the lord Jesus Christ and repentance.

We want people to know that we believe in living prophets, pastors, bishops and the organisation that existed in

'Why we believe in living prophets' The Public Affairs Director of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LTDS) in West Africa, Adeshina Olukanni, spoke to NNEKA NWANERI on some of the misconceptions and beliefs of the church. the primitive church. We people to know that we believe in revelation, we believe in speaking in tongues, and all those things.

Even with all these beliefs, there is still decadence across the country, what could be responsible for that?

LTDS teaches men correct principles that govern the society.

However men govern themselves; the church cannot force anybody to be obedient and you know that there is a personal view about the church and the people.

On a general note and

in most cases, churches believe in the Bible and Jesus Christ and we cannot go contrary to the bible of Jesus Christ and the teachings to be good.

In all these teachings, we can say the church is not a perfect code of conduct. For example, the Ten Commandments are there to be obeyed means the church is not a monastery for the already righteous people but a hospital for the spiritually sick people and people are not responding to the inoculation of the gospel.

While some are doing very well, others are not responding at all. But in all,

this world is not yet the kingdom of God. This is a world of testing, to see if men will obey.

All men are students, we are spiritual because of our souls as well as we are temporal because of the body.

Anyone who becomes spiritual, kind and effective to the things of God, we will become a blessing to mankind.

With a lot of churches springing up, what sets the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints apart?

What sets us apart is our belief in living prophets to have same authority as Peter, Moses John, Ezekiel and others. They have the

•Adesina power as the mouth pieces of God and if you look at their words and their writings you cannot but consider it pure.

Secondly, we are different because we

believe the book of Mormon to be the word of God. Another thing is that the Church is run by Lay Ministries-men who don't get paid for their services.

NEWS

O

NLY change birthed by inner transformation will lead Nigeria to the Promised Land, the General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Ministries, Pastor William Kumuyi, has declared.

Kumuyi stated that the clamour for change was a welcome development but said it might be a mirage

N

O fewer than 300 Lagosians have benefited from the free medical outreach of the Kingdom Light Ministries (KLM) last weekend at its premises in Ikotun.

The beneficiaries came from the church's host community of Ikotun, Idimu, Iyana Ipaja and

How to experience real change, by Kumuyi

By Adeola Ogunlade except it is complimented on inner transformation.

He spoke to reporters ahead of a state-wide crusade in conjunction with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and

Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) in Lagos State.

The holiness preacher, who was represented by the Deeper Life Bible Church Moderator Lagos, Pastor Joseph Fasanmi, said the crusade which commences on Tuesday will hold for the next

two months.

He said: "The crusade will hold at Ikeja, Ketu, Gbagada, Festac, Isolo, Agege, Alimosho, Oshodi, Orile, Ajegunle, Surulere, Apapa, Lagos Island and Shomolu."

He assured the crusade will usher in an era of real

spiritual, moral, physical, material, political and economic transformation.

According to him: "The crusade will also bring down the power of God with a view to ameliorating the rather punishing challenges many contend with."

Church lifts community with free medicals

By Joseph Eshanokpe faraway Ikorodu, among others, according to the Secretary of the church's Kingdom Care group, Tunde Kolawole.

Beneficiaries received free medical counselling,

screening, treatment, pairs of glasses and drugs.

Kolawole said the medicare programme was in its seventh edition.

Founder/Senior Pastor of the church, Pastor Samson Makinde, was

excited that the programme was well attended.

Justifying its importance, he said the church embarked on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) to satisfy the yearnings of those whose faith could not enable

Kumuyi added: "Our conviction is that as we pray and hold the crusades, real and enduring change will come.

"We have the firm assurance of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ that Lagos State will soon experience an atmosphere of calmness, true freedom and liberty as God confirms His word with signs and wonders."

them enjoy divine healing.

Makinwa said: "This is the last free medicare for the year. The next one comes up early next year. But at the end of the year, we will give out free end of the year gifts.''

He listed other areas the

church's Kingdom Care made impressive performances in the past as sponsorship of 10 pupils in primary and secondary schools, sinking of boreholes in its host community, provision of street lights, grading of roads and cleaning of markets.

church has additions to the faith of people. They worship man, images and allow syncretism silently to creep in.

Rituals, extra-biblical practices, teachings and prophetic acts are allowed.

• Salvation by Works: A dead church preaches salvation by good deeds and works. You are saved by how much you can give, work and do good deeds. Salvation by faith in Jesus and genuine repentance towards God is not emphasized.

• Demonic High Places: Demons and devilish agents build up

their high places inside diseased and dead churches. They operate freely to kill, maim, ruin and destroy, right inside the church. Nightmares and calamities follow their activities.

• Leadership Abuses: Of course, diseased and dead churches have abusive leaders over them.

• A k i n - J o h n (akingrow@yahoo.com; www.churchgrowthafrica.org; allroundgrowth.com; 08023000714) is President of International Church Growth Ministries.

CHURCH CLINIC

A

DEAD church is a religious order, a sect, formal, lifeless and deeply religious people but spiritually blind and dead to the things of the Lord.

A dead church has 80 percent unsaved members, 10 percent inactive members and only 10 percent saved members.

What are the characteristics of diseased and dead churches?

• Nominal Leaders: Diseased and dead churches have leaders who are only Christians by name, not by heart. They see the ministry

Diseased and dead church

By Dr Francis Bola Akin-John

much more as a career than calling by God. They don't know the Lord or His word.

• Nominal People: Nominal Christians are found mainly in spiritually dead but highly religious churches. Large numbers of such people are spiritually deaf, blind and of closed heart to the things of eternal life.

• Biblical Illiteracy: A dead church has high level of ignorance of the word of God.

Biblical illiteracy is very high and the devil rubs his hands with glee on their faces.

• Pamper Sins: Sin is tolerated, celebrated and left untouched in a dead church.

In fact, that is why they are dead - in sins and wickedness against the Lord and others. The priests and people are chronic sinners and nobody dare talk about repentance from dead works.

• Religious Spirit: Rituals and dogmatic beliefs are rife but people are not

saved from sin and evil. There is so much singing, dancing, praying, offerings and ceremonies, but devoid of the true worship of God in spirit and truth.

• Social Gathering: A dead church is a place that people come to show off their latest cars, fashion, hair-do and material blessings. It's a social gathering devoid of the life and power of God to transform and change people for better.

• Syncretism: A dead

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

WORSHIP

64

CAN restates support for Lagos govt T HE Lagos chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has told its coordinators at the local government level to concentrate on developmental issues in their domains and leave issues relating to the church to the state executives to handle.

This, it said, will strengthen Christian unity and avoid discordant tunes on matters affecting the body of Christ in the state.

The General Secretary of the body, Elder (Dr) Israel Akinadewo, stated this in a memo addressed to local government coordinators last week.

The memo was sequel to recent media reports credited to a local coordinator with regards to noise pollution and closure of some churches by

By Olusegun Rapheal

the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA).

Akinadewo said: "Lagos State CAN is absolutely against noise pollution and we have been sensitising our members on the need to obey the law of the land.

"As the umbrella body of all Christians in Lagos, we expect LASEPA and other government agencies to always communicate to the foremost Christian bodies on actions to be taken, affecting the church.

"In view of this, we hereby inform all that matters affecting the church in Lagos State should be left to the State executives to

address.

"Our grassroots leaders should try as much as possible to restrict themselves to matters that concern their territories and not to delve into State matters, having known that State will not take up matters at the zonal and national level, without reporting to the appropriate authorities."

"Meanwhile, all matters that affect our individual local governments should be referred to the State Executives for guidance through the Chairman and the Secretariat.

This will also strengthen the body of Christ Jesus in speaking in one voice," Dr. Israel stated.

The Christian body reiterated its commitment to supporting government policies aimed at alleviating poverty and improving the well-being of Lagosians.

Church ordains new ministers

T

HE general overseer of El-Shaddai Bible Church Bishop Olanrewaju Obembe has urged Christians to do their best and leave the rest to God. He spoke at the ordination service for new ministers of the Omole Phase 11 Parish of the church.

He urged the ministers to be living examples of righteousness and integrity.

By Opeyemi Samuel

Obembe urged them to pursue God with all their hearts to succeed in the various assignments God has committed into their hands.

Addressing the ministers, he said: ''Pursue God with all your heart and don't lose courage because when you lose courage, you have lost everything. Don't

lose it, no matter what.''

The Parish Pastor, Emmanuel Godfrey, urged the newly ordained not to evaluate themselves based on what they possess but concentrate on God's grace upon their lives.

One of the newly ordained pastors, Mrs. Sarah Emmanuel- Godfrey, promised to discharge her duties as directed by the Holy Spirit.

•Obembe(middle) with the newly ordained ministers atter the service

Atilade to Buhari: No sacred cow in anti-graft war

T

HE South West Chairman of the C h r i s t i a n Association of Nigeria (CAN) Archbishop Magnus Atilade has charged President Muhammadu Buhari to remain resolute and not be distracted in his fight against corruption.

He lamented that the rots in public and private sector were extremely high and require urgent surgical cleaning for actualisation of the nation's muchanticipated development.

He spoke in an interview with our correspondent.

He told Buhari to be encouraged by the massive support of Nigerians for the current fight against sleaze.

Urging him to go after anybody found culpable of corruption, Atilade

By Adeola Ogunlade

appealed that the President should have no sacred cow in the anticorruption war.

He tasked that no corrupt official under the guise of party members, friends or kinsmen should be left out of the anti-graft fight.

The President of Gospel Baptist Conference of Nigeria and Overseas (GBCN&O) said any attempt to be selective in the fight against corruption will only make nonsense the effort to rid our country of corruption.

"Nigerians are watching the President and would want him to continue and never be deterred or distracted in the anticorruption campaign.

"This campaign is good

and would take Nigeria to the next level of greatness."

On if the anti-graft war is not an attempt to project the last administration in a bad light, Atilade said the revelations "on the rot in the system is heart rendering and anyone found guilty should be punished so that others would learn."

He however said the current administration should forgive repentant looters willing to return their ill-gotten wealth.

COLUMN

Living Faith

By Dr. David Oyedepo

Provoking Heaven's Order of Financial Fortune!

W

ELCOME to the "ember" part of the year. However, the next four months shall be months in which God shall remember us for outstanding miracles in the precious Name of Jesus.

Unfortunately, many erroneously believe that the last four months of every year are earmarked for tragedies, mishaps, perils, etc. It is important for us to know that we are largely victims of our beliefs. What we believe sets the pace for what we experience in life, whether positive or negative. Therefore, we must align our thoughts with what God's Word says about us and not what world has come to believe (Luke 1:45; 2 timothy 2:16).

In this new month, we shall begin with the understanding that heaven is the home of unfathomable wealth and splendour. This is because everything in heaven is made of gold. As it is written: And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass (Revelation 21:18).

Again, the Bible referring to the structures in heaven says: And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass (Revelation 21:21).

Also from scriptures, we saw the replica of this heaven's order of wealth in Solomon's life. Remember, everything Solomon had was made of gold; there was nothing made of silver that was counted, because heaven was the source of his wealth. However, when Jesus came to earth, He said of Himself, "Behold a greater than Solomon is here," and Jesus dwells in us (1 Kings 10:14-23; 2 Chronicles 9:1224; Matthew 12:42; Colossians 1:27). That means, every redeemed child of God has a greater-thanSolomon potential and as such, we can access a greater dimension of his financial fortune.

But, what is this heaven's

order of Financial Fortune?

In this context, financial fortune implies: • Having all sufficiency in all things: And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8).

• Being enriched in all things to all bountifulness: This means a level of no lack or management of anything; we are simply enriched in all things to all levels of abundance (2 Corinthians 9:11).

• Having all our needs met according to His riches in glory: In this realm, we live outside every form of limitation. As it is written: But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

• Blessed enough to lend unto nations: For the Lord thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee (Deuteronomy 15:6; see also Deuteronomy 28:10-13).

• Having all things that others are dying to get, added to us like Solomon: It is a realm where we are not sweating or struggling; yet, things are added to us from heavenly supplies (1 Kings 3:3-13; Matthew 6:19-24; Matthew 6:25-33).

Unfortunately, many are running after financial fortune on the earth today, while others are scheming to acquire wealth.

It is important to know that every form of financial game disqualifies us from partaking of heaven's order of financial fortune. For instance, anyone who plays smart on his/her business partners and clients is disconnected from the flow of financial fortune. Also, we understand from scriptures that running after wealth makes a fool of such individuals. That is why the Bible admonishes: Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven (Proverbs 23:4-5).

Just as no one runs on the ground to catch a thing that is flying, chasing after wealth is an endless race because it has wings and easily flies away. That is

why those who chase after it always end up with nothing to show for it.

How, then, can we access this realm of financial fortune?

First, we must understand that the Law Of Love is the anchor law in the school of financial fortune. Before now, we understood that giving is the cardinal law in accessing realms of financial fortune.

However, we must understand that giving is an instruction that follows the greatest commandment in the law, which is love (Job 22:2125; Matthew 22:36-40).

We understand from the story of Solomon that his love for God was the launching pad to realms of financial fortune.

Also, Job was financially great and his love for God was as strong as death. He said, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him" (Job 13:15; see also 1 Kings 3:3, 13).

It is our genuine love for God and His Kingdom that empowers our giving life, and that in turn guarantees our access to heaven's order of financial fortune. Thus, the hotter our love for God, the more delighted we are in giving. This is what makes love the anchor law that launches us into realms of financial fortune (1 Corinthians 13:3; 2 Corinthians 8:1-5).

Friend, it is important for us to understand that heaven's order of financial fortune is only available to God's children, that is, only those who are born again. Are you born again? Is Jesus Christ your Saviour and Lord? If you haven't, you can do so by say this prayer: "Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner.

Forgive me of my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. Deliver me from sin and satan to serve the Living God. Today, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Thank You Jesus for saving me! Now I know I am born again!"

For further reading, please get my books: Breaking Financial Hardship, Understanding Financial Prosperity, Financial Prosperity, Covenant Wealth and The Hidden Covenant of Blessings. I will conclude this teaching next week.

I invite you to come and fellowship with us at the Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, the covenant home of Winners. We have five services on Sundays, holding at 6:00 a.m., 7:35 a.m., 9:10 a.m., 10:45 a.m. and 12:20 p.m. respectively.

I know this teaching has blessed you. Write and share your testimony with me through: Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, P.M.B. 21688, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria; or call 7747546-8; or E-mail: feedback@lfcww.org

NEWS

Success Stories conference in Lagos

T

HE fifth edition of Success Stories Africa holds on September 12 at Foursquare G o s p e l Church, 7/9 Akintoye Street, Crossing Alagbado, Lagos.

Founder, Success Stories Africa, Isaac Oladipupo, said: "Contrary to widespread believe,

greatness is actually replicable and just anyone can make a difference if they care to know and do what it takes "We are converging young people in neglected areas to be empowered with previously unknown stories of seasoned achievers who will reveal

breakthrough ideas, habits and principles that have shaped their lives alongside acquisition of skills. This is not a motivational conference; it's a destiny-shaping gathering."

Speakers include: Chude Jideonwo (CEO, Red Media Africa); Ayeni Adekunle (CEO, BHM Group); Detoun Ogwo (CEO, SkillsDevt);

Monalisa Chinda (Awardwinning Actress); Japheth Omojuwa (Founder, Omojuwa.com) and Segun Odubela (Ogun State Commissioner for Education).

Others are: Yemi Akamo (Curator, TEDxGbagada); GaiseBaba (Afro-fusion artist) and Sisi Yemmie (Vlogger) among others.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY,

65

SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE CHANGE OF OF NAME NAME

KOLEJO Formerly addressed as Kolejo Afusat Adetutu, now wish to be known and addressed as Anibaba Afusat Adetetu. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OKECHUKWU Formerly addressed as Lawrence Chidera Okechukwu, now wish to be addressed as Stephen Chidera Ubah. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OYERINDE Formerly addressed as Miss Oyerinde, Rachael Adedoja, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adeniyi, Rachael Adedoja. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OGUNSAKIN Formerly addressed as Mr. Ogunsakin, Samuel Modupe, now wish to be addressed as Mr. Oluwasakin, Samuel Modupe.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

ONANEYE Formerly addressed as Onaneye, Jamiu John, now wish to be addressed as Oluneye, John Olamide. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

DADA Formerly addressed as Bisiriyu Alaba Dada, now wish to be addressed as Ajayi Alaba Dada.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

AKANDE Formerly addressed as Precious Akande, now wish to be addressed as Precious Akande-Ikhidero. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

TIJANI Formerly addressed as Miss Tijani Titilayo Adunni, now wish to be addressed as Oladesu Titilayo Adunni. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

FAMAKINWA Formerly addressed as Famakinwa, Oluwayemisi Esther, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adebayo Oluwayemisi Esther. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

TAIWO Formerly addressed as Miss Taiwo Olamide Stella, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adeleye, Williams Stella. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OLUGBADE Formerly addressed as Mrs. Olugbade, Olayinka Eunice Akinyemi, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Eye Olayinka Eunice. Former documents remain valid. Ikere Local govt. Service Commission and general public take note.

BAMGBOYE Formerly addressed as Miss Bamgboye, Yeyejide Oyefunke, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ayeni, Yeyejide Oyefunke. Former documents remain valid. Ikere Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti and general public take note.

NWOSU Formerly addressed as Mrs. Josephine Nwosu, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Josephine Ajuonu. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ABOLARIN Formerly addressed as Miss Abolarin, Lateefat Abiola, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Taiwo, Abolarin Lateefat Abiola. Former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public take note.

IGBAFEN Formerly addressed as Miss Igbafen, Abigail Osen, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Asunda, Abigail Osen Mlumun. Former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public take note.

OMOTOSHO

OGIEMUDIA Formerly addressed as Miss Oghogho Ogiemudia, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Oghogho Osaikhuwuomwan.

Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ADEGUN Formerly addressed as Miss Adegun Adejoke Elizabeth, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adebomi Adegun Adejoke. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ODUBIYI Formerly addressed as Odubiyi, Ibiwunmi Bilikis, now wish to be addressed as Daniel Ibiwunmi Bilikis. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OGUNLADE Formerly addressed as Caroline Olufunke Ogunlade, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Caroline Olufunke Okuneye. Former documents remain valid. Lagos State govt. and general public take note.

ADELEKE Formerly addressed as Miss Adeleke, Oluwatoyin Ruth, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Oluwatoyin Israel-Agboola.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

MEREGINI Formerly addressed as Miss Meregini Sylvia, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Tuotamuno Jaja Sylvia. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

AKPAN Formerly addressed as Miss Esther Emmanuel Akpan, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Esther Imoh Oritsebinone. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

MODEBEI Formerly addressed as Miss Modebei, Berenice Chinyem, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Enikanoselu Berenice Chinyem.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

AGBOOLA Formerly addressed as Miss Agboola, Abosede Adeola, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Lowo, Abosede Adeola.

Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ADENIJI Formerly addressed as Miss Adeniji, Sherifat Adeola, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Lewis, Sherifat Adeola. Former documents remain valid. Ogun SUBEB and general public take note.

OYERINDE Formerly addressed as Miss Oyerinde, Rachael Adedoja, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adeniyi, Rachael Adedoja. Former documents remain valid. Boripe LGA, Iragbiji and general public take note.

AWE Formerly addressed as Awe, Dolapo Elizabeth, now wish to be addressed as Ogunbiyi, Dolapo Elizabeth. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

JAMES Formerly addressed as Miss Temidayo Felicia James, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Kalejaiye, Temidayo Felicia. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OGUEJIOFOR Formerly addressed as Miss Zinachukwudinma Zita Oguejiofor, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Zinachukwudinma Zita Otutu.

Former documents remain valid.

Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria and general public take note.

MUSA Formerly addressed as Oyiza Rukayat Musa, now wish to be addressed as Oyiza Rukayat Shobanjo. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

AHMED Formerly addressed as Miss Esther Amhed, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Esther Avosuahi William.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OWANGA Formerly addressed as Miss Tamunoibi Owanga, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Tamunoibi Dein Kio-Lawson. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ODIFE Formerly addressed as Ifenna Daniel Odife, now wish to be addressed as Ifenna Daniel Daniel.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OLUWAFEMI Formerly addressed as Miss Oluwafemi, Bosede Christianah, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ogunmodede, Bosede Christianah.

Former documents remain valid.

College of Education, Ikere-Ekiti and general public take note.

FADAKA Formerly addressed as Miss Fadaka, Olanike Folashade, now wish to be addressed as Dr. (Mrs.) Bodunde, Olanike Folashade.

Former documents remain valid.

Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria and general public take note.

Formerly addressed as Omotosho Olugbenga Daniel, now wish to be addressed as Akao Olugbenga Daniel.

Former documents remain valid.

LAUTECH, Ogbomoso/Osogbo, M.H.C., Lagos, FGC, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Toakland Private School, Lagos and general public take note.

EPHRAIM Formerly addressed as Miss NitaNkese Ephraim, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Nita-Nkese Adekusibe Odunfa Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

LAYODE Formerly addressed as Miss Morenike Ayisat Layode, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Morenike Ayisat Samuel. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OGUNBIYI Formerly addressed as Miss Omobolanle Adeyoola Ogunbiyi, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Omobolanle Adeyoola Adelekun.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

MBAUKWU Formerly addressed as Miss Esther Amarachi Mbaukwu, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Esther Anete.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

ODUESO Formerly addressed as Miss Idowu Helen Abiola Odueso, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Idowu Helen Abiola Lawal. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

ODIFE Formerly addressed as Chidiogo David Odife, now wish to be addressed as Chukwudiogo David Daniel. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ODIFE Formerly addressed as Onyekachi Emmanuel Odife, now wish to be addressed as Onyekachukwu Emmanuel Daniel. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

JOHN Formerly addressed as Miss Olubisi Deborah John, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Olubisi Deborah Balogun. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OLADIPUPO Formerly addressed as Miss Oladipupo, Abidemi Fadhilat, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ashiru Abidemi Fadhilat. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

FATERU Formerly addressed as Fateru Olalekan Akanni, now wish to be addressed as Fateru Opeyemi Sunday. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

DANIEL Formerly addressed as Miss Daniel, Rasheedat Oluwakemi, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adeshina Rasheedat Oluwakemi.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

AKINBO Formerly addressed as Miss Akinbo, Oluwayemisi Esther, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Falola, Oluwayemisi Esther.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

IYOHA Formerly addressed as Miss Iyoha Dora Osareimen, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Owenaze Dora Osareimen. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

FAJOBI Formerly addressed as Olaoluwa Fajobi, now wish to be addressed as Adeleke Adebanjo Fajobi or Adebanjo Fajobi.

Former documents remain valid. Nigeria Immigration Service and general public take note.

ADEDEJI Formerly addressed as Miss Adedeji, Folashade Risqot, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Aremu, Folashade Risqot. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OGFBONNA Formerly addressed as Miss Ogbonna, Joy Nwawuba, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Joy Nwawuba Wilson Aguwamba.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

FATOLA Formerly addressed as Miss Monsurat Ayoola Fatola, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Monsurat Ayoola Yusuf Lawal. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ACHA Formerly addressed as Miss Nkechinyere Esther Acha, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Nkechinyere Esther Okechukwu Friday. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ODUMADE Formerly addressed as Odumade Abosede Victoria, now wish to be addressed as Olumoroti Abosede Victoria. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ADEDUN Formerly addressed as Adedun Omowumi Abimbola, now wish to be addressed as Adeduro Omowumi Abimbola. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OLADUNJOYE Formerly addressed as Miss Oladunjoye Titilayo Mary, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Folarin, Titilayo Mary. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OLUKOYA Formerly addressed as Olukoya Azeez Mathew, now wish to be addressed as Olukoya Temidara Mathew. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ODUNSI Formerly addressed as Miss Odunsi, Adebusola Anne, now wish to be addressed as Aladesanmi, Adebusola Mojisola.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OLUDOTUN Formerly addressed as Mrs. Oludotun, Olusola Kuku, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Oludotun, Olusola Ademola. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

UGWU Formerly addressed as MISS CHINYERE PERPETUA UGWU, now wish to be addressed as MRS. CHINYERE PERPETUA ODENIGBO. Former documents remain valid. DIFF Hospital and General public take note.

BALOGUN Formerly addressed as MISS BALOGUN OMOSHALEWA IYABODE, now wish to be addressed as MRS. AYOADE, OMOSHALEWA IYABODE. Former documents remain valid.

DIFF Hospital and general public take note.

ADEFISAYO Formerly addressed as MISS ADEFISAYO, OMOLARA TEMITOPE, now wish to be addressed as MRS. AZEEZ OMOLARA TEMITOPE. Former documents remain valid. DIFF Hospital and general public take note.

OKONKWO Formerly addressed as MISS OKONKWO, EBELE PHILIPA, now wish to be addressed as MRS. OSELOKA, EBELE PHILIPA. Former documents remain valid.

National Orientation Agency, NOA and General public take note.

OYEWO Formerly addressed as MISS OYEWO ADEBISI IBUKUN, now wish to be addressed as MRS. BANKOLE ADEBISI IBUKUN. Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OLAYIDE Formerly addressed as Miss Olayide Kafilat Abiodun, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Balogun Kafilat Abolanle. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

MARTINA Formerly addressed as Miss Anike Lebechi Martina, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Okolo Martina Jennifer. Former documents remain valid. Institute of Management and Technology Enugu, NYSC and general public take note.

OPARAH Formerly addressed as Miss Modesta Chinyere Oparah, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Modesta Chinyere Onyegbule.

Former documents remain valid.

Lagos State Local government Service Commission, Primary Health Board and general public take note.

ABDULLAH Formerly addressed as Miss Abdullah, Modinat Omoshalewa, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Owonikoko, Modinat Omoshalewa. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

MARK Formerly addressed as Miss Blessing Ekaette Mark, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Blessing Ekaette Obakachi. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

NWOSA Formerly addressed as Miss Nwosa, Anna Uche, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Oghena, Anna Uche. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OSENI Formerly addressed as Miss Oseni, Adenike Shakirat, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Alebiosu, Adenike Shakirat. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

AJIBADE Formerly addressed as Miss Ajibade, Blessing, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Onasanya, Blessing . Former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public take note.

EGUAGIE Formerly addressed as Miss BRIDGET OMOLOLA EGUAGIE, now wish to be addressed as MRS. BRIDGET OMOLOLA OHIANI. Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

BASHIRU Formerly addressed as BASHIRU OLUBUNMI OMOBOLA, now wish to be addressed as DAYOAYENI OLUBUNMI OMOBOLA. Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

AHIH Formerly addressed as MISS AHIH PAULINA MARY, now wish to be addressed as MRS. OKOYE PAULINE UZOAMAKA. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OLABULO Formerly addressed as Miss Olabulo, Olawumi Feyikemi, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ojewumi, Olawumi Feyikemi.

Former documents remain valid.

Lagos State University, Whytecleon Ltd and general public take note.

ABODUNWA Formerly addressed as Miss Abodunwa, Abigael Oluwajuedalo, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Olumofe, Abigael Oluwajuedalo. Former documents remain valid. GTB, Private Organization and general public take note.

ONWUDIWE Formerly addressed as Miss Onwudiwe, Love Juliet, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Wekono Love Juliet.. Former documents remain valid. GTB, Private Organization and general public take note.

AJETUNMOBI Formerly addressed as Miss Ajetunmobi Olajumoke Simisola, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ogunmakin Olajumoke Simisola.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

AKINBORO Formerly addressed as Miss Akinboro, Oyindamola Olamiposi, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Gbadeyan, Oyindamola Olamiposi. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

AYIN OLUWA Formerly addressed asAYINOLUWA OLUWAYEMISI, now wish to be addressed as OLUWAYEMISI PETER TIAMIYU. Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

BAKRE Formerly addressed as BAKRE OLABISI MARY, now wish to be addressed as PHILLIPS OLABISI MARY. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

BASSEY Formerly addressed as MISS PEACE PAUL BASSEY, now wish to be addressed as MRS. PEACE PIUS ETIM. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ABOABA Formerly addressed as Mrs. Aboaba, Christianah Oluwatoyin, now wish to be addressed as Miss Arogundade, Toyin Olukemi.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

AFOLABI Formerly addressed as Miss Afolabi, Elizabeth Taiwo, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Abimbola, Elizabeth Taiwo.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OKOH Formerly addressed as Miss Okoh Imuetinyan Deborah, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Abiloro, Deborah Imuetinyan. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OZIOKO Formerly addressed as MISS OZIOKO UGOCHI LILIAN, now wish to be known addressed as MRS. ASOGWA UGOCHI LILIAN. Former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

UGWUOKE Formerly addressed as MISS. UGWOKE BLESSING CHIDIMMA, now wish to be addressed as MRS OMEKE BLESSING CHIDIMMA. Former documents remain valid.

NYSC and general public should please take note.

DANIEL Formerly addressed as DANIEL KELECHI DESTINY, now wish to be addressed as ONOVO DESTINY KELECHI. Former documents remain valid. NYSC, and general public should please take note.

OZONNAIKE Formerly addressed as MISS OZONNAIKE EBERE BECKY, now wish to be addressed as MRS ONOVO EBERE BECKY. ormer documents remain valid. NYSC, and general public should please take note.

OPERA Formerly addressed as Miss Onyinechi Perpetua Opera, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Onyinyechi Macs-Nsirim . Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

DOMA Formerly addressed as Miss Godiya Nwada Doma, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Godiya Mwada Benson. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

NUTAYI Formerly addressed as Miss Nutayi, Adefunlola Olufunke, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Otegbeye Adefunlola Olufunke.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

SADIQ Formerly addressed as Sadiq, Fatimo Ololade, now wish to be addressed as Ayo-Adebero, Fatimo Ololade. Former documents remain valid. Faculty of Education, University of Lagos and general public take note.

ASHIRU-IBRAHIM Formerly addressed as Miss Ashiru-Ibrahim, Mariam Adenike, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Abdulsalam, Mariam Ashiru.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

SULAIMON Formerly addressed as Iyabo Sulaimon Musili Akinsola, now wish to be addressed as Sanni Iyabo Islamiat. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

KEHINDE Formerly addressed as Miss Kehinde Olajumoke Kehinde, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Boluwajoko Olajumoke Kehinde.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

FATUBERU Formerly addressed as Adeshola Daniels Fatuberu, now wish to be addressed as Enitan Aduraleke Adeshola Daniel St. Joseph. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, Doris Soroibe, Doris Arigbonu is the same person as Uchechi Doris Soroibe Arigbonu. Former documents bearing the above names remain valid. General public take note.

OMONIYI Formerly addressed as Bankole Joseph Omoniyi, now wish to be addressed as Fele Omoniyi Isaac.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OLAJIDE Formerly addressed as Olajide Iseoluwa Bamidele, now wish to be addressed as Olajide Iseoluwa.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

SALAU Formerly addressed as Miss Simisola Monisola Salau, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Simisola Monisola Tytler. Former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public take note.

ADEWOLA Formerly addressed as Miss Adewola, Folakemi Adeyinka, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Omokanye, Folakemi Adeyinka.

Former documents remain valid.

NYSC and general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

OGUNDELE Formerly addressed as Miss Ogundele, Temitope Christian, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Dakoru, Temitope Christian.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

AMANWO Formerly addressed as Miss Amanwo Victoria Nwoburuoma, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adele, Victoria Nwoburuoma.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

AMINU Formerly addressed as Aminu Sidi, now wish to be addressed as Faruku Ibrahim. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ADENIRAN Formerly addressed as Miss Adeniran, Oyebola Abake, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Akinkunmi, Oyebola Abake.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

SHOBITAN Formerly addressed as Miss Shobitan Titilayo Bolanle, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Idehen Titilayo Bolanle. Former documents remain valid. Lagos State Local government Service Commission, Primary Health Board and general public take note.

MAKANJU Formerly addressed as Miss Makanju, Rianat, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Peleowo, Rianat Mojisola. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

SALAMI Formerly addressed as Miss Salami, Titilope Afusat, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Okedina, Titilope Adebukola. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

MRS OKAFOR EBELE CECILIA NEE ONYEAZOR and MRS IGWEMEKA EBELE OKAFOR CECILIA refers to one and the same person, but now wish to be known and addressed as MRS IGWEMEKA EBELE CECILIA. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CLEMENT Formerly addressed as Miss DORATHY JOSEPH CLEMENT now wish to be known as Mrs. DORATHY DANIEL UFOT. Former documents remain valid, general public take note.

MKPONG Formerly known and addressed as Miss IDARA OKON MKPONG, now wish to be known as Mrs. IDARA MFON UTUK. Former documents remain valid general public take note.

OKHUELEIGBE Formerly addressed as Miss OKHUELEIGBE, AUGUSTA ADESUA now wish to be known as Mrs. ORJI-OKHUELEIGBE, ADESUA AUGUSTA. Former documents remain valid, general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME ALI BASSEY SARKI and OLUWAFEMI AKINSOLA BASSEY AKINDELE refers to one and the same person now wish to be known as OLUWAFEMI AKINSOLA BASSEY AKINDELE. Former documents bearing the above names remain valid, general public take note.

ODUNLAMI Formerly addressed as Miss ODUNLAMI, Modupe Olukemi, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. IBIDUNNI, Modupe Olukemi.

Former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

UWEMEDIMO Formerly addressed as Miss GRACE JOHN UWEMEDIMO, now wish to be known as Mrs. GRACE NSISONG BASIL.Former documents remain valid, general public take note.

ADVERT: Simply produce your marriage certificate or sworn affidavit for a change of name publication, with just N4,500. The payment can be made through - FIRST BANK of Nigeria Plc. Account number - 2017220392 Account Name - VINTAGE PRESS LIMITED Scan the details of your advert and teller to - gbengaodejide@yahoo.com or thenation_advert@yahoo.com. For enquiry please contact: Gbenga on 08052720421, 08161675390, Emailgbengaodejide@yahoo.com or our offices nationwide.

Note this! Change of name is now published every Sundays, all materials should reach us two days before publication.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

66

EBERE WABARA

WORDSWORTH 08055001948

ewabara@yahoo.com

'Looting' uncountable

T

HE PUNCH Editorial of September 2, 2015, committed a faux pas: "With crime gangs fast acquiring notoriety for maiming and killings in our major cities and campuses (on campuses), the need for action is pressing."

From the Back Page of the above editioncomes this inaccuracy: "And he should know that Nigeria will cross the bridge when it gets to recovery of stolen loots stashed in foreign banks." 'Loot' does not admit plural inflection. "…said the newspaper company is (was) determined to change the face of sports journalism with the birth of…."

"Nigeria must not miss polio free (poliofree) certification in 2017, Buhari warns", "APC exposes fresh lootings" Voice of the nation: 'looting', just like 'loot', is uncountable.

"We won't allow you rubbish Igbos (Igbo), PDP tells Buhari" "Swazi girls dance and sing Friday on a farm in (on) the outskirts of Luve, Swaziland…." " D a n g o t e c o m m i s s i o n s (inaugurates) $250m cement factory in Cameroun" "Parents must not interfare (interfere) in their children's education" "And so to have the equipments there…."

'Equipment' is non-count.

"Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and late (the late) Yar'Adua ensured fair balance in the distribution of public offices in the country."

THE NATION ON SUNDAY Front Page Banner of August 30 goofed: "N2.4b pay off (pay-off) for ex-Senators, Reps" THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER, of August 2 disseminated just three blunders: "An example within our contemporary socio-political milieu, ( u n n e c e s s a r y punctuation) is an article in defence of…."

"After all, he who pays the piper dictates (calls) the tune."

"If the troubles of Abia State are as popular and relevant as envisioned by Wabara in his imaginary world, how come Orji Uzor Kalu has…." Get it right: why is it that Orji Uzor Kalu has….

"The basic education

sector: the very foundation of the educational sector has been in shambles (a shambles) for too long."

"Google, MTN, Jumia brings (bring) Android One to Nigeria" "Judgment debts: Why luxury cars rot in (on) court premises" "Bangladesh arrests 3 over (for) secular bloggers" Finally from the NATIONAL MIRROR Back Page of the edition under review: "Many u n d o c u m e n t e d Nigerians roam the streets of Deira-Dubai with majority (a majority) of them engaging in ignoble acts."

"Corruption probe: Learn from Ghana, Reps (Reps') caucus tells Buhari" "The arousing (rousing) ovation and prayers among the officers and men of…."

"Just before National Assembly milk (milks) us dry" "NDLEA nab (nabs) 2 for drug trafficking in Lagos" "NCAA task information managers on accidents, incidents" "Mercy Johnson signsoff (signs off) until next year" "Igbinedion mourns Ooni's death" Is it the man or his death that is being mourned?

Wrong: largess; right: largesse From THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER, of August 22 comes this fault: "Poilce approves (approve) gunshot treatment" "Again, Airtel raises hope for the lessprivilege (lessprivileged) with Touching Lives" "Buhari goes after Jonathan's aides over government (government's) assets" "Ondo reads riot (the riot) act to land owners" FEEDBACK MR. G.O. Komolafe's two-part reaction (The Nation, August 23 and August 30) to his undeserved description as "Baba Sala Jnr (jester) and a quasi-intellectual was quite understandable and well delivered. But it exhumed the remains of a man academically "buried" in an unimaginable dimension through his recall of a past Wordsworth episode. All the same, I commend Mr Wabara for throwing open his column (some others do not welcome divergent views) to people who

make robust contributions to appropriate English usage. Soon, we shall be introduced to Chinese English as the preferred choice. The pope talks excathedra, some others pontificate. So, if it took time to accept that the word "witch-hunt" is not a verb but a noun and that Bill (William) Clinton was impeached (by the U.S. House of Reps), where then lies the infallibility? Me, I no sabi book! Brother Ebere, keep the flag hoisted.

(KOLA DANISA/ 07068074257) Who or Whom?

"Who" and "Whom" cause problems. "Who" is the subject of a verb, e.g.

Who told you? It was you who told him and The girls who took part in the play had travelled abroad.

"Whom" is the object of a verb or preposition, e.g. Whom did he tell? To whom did you speak? To whom it may concern!

And The people from whom he stole had reported him to the police.

However, in modern usage "whom" is falling into disuse, especially in questions, except in formal contexts. "Who" is used even though it is ungrammatical, e.g. Who did you speak to?

"Whom" should be retained when it is a relative pronoun, e.g.

The man whom you saw is my friend. The person to whom he spoke was our old teacher and The girl to whom she gave the book had returned it.

I repeat, "whom" is falling into disuse - in truth, it has been declared obsolescent, i.e. going gradually out of the language, except in the Dative or Ablative case, e.g. to whom/with whom/on whom/by whom/through whom/ of whom, e.t.c. Hence the Revisers of the Holy Bible corrected the "whom" in Matthew 16:15, But "whom" (who) say ye that I am? And in Luke 9:18, "Whom" (who) do the people say I am?

"Who" (also in Luke 9:20) is in conformity with modern usage. These are sacred sentences.

Ebere, lest we forget, the "conspirators" (I have known them for donkey's years), like Don Quixote in Cervantes' novel, are tilting at windmills. They can never ever win. Ride on, no one can rile you. ( B A Y O OGUNTUNASE/ 08056180046)

67

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

Finnish PM's offer to migrants: Take my spare house

A

MID Europe's migrant crisis, Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila is hoping to set an example for his countrymen by opening his own spare house to refugees.

Sipila said yesterday that after some discussions and consultation with local authorities, he and his wife decided to make their house in Kempele, a town of about 17,000 in central Finland, available as of Jan. 1. The Sipilas have not used the house since moving to Helsinki.

"We all should think what we can do ourselves," he told Finnish television channel MTV. In recent weeks, the Nordic country has seen an increase in the number of asylum seekers - people fleeing poverty and conflict in eastern European countries and the Middle East - coming to Finland via Sweden. Officials expect their number could reach 30,000 by the end of the year, compared to the 3,600 people who sought asylum in Finland in 2014.

"It is easy to outsource everything to the society. Still, society has limited possibilities. The more citizen activity we can find to this matter, the better," he said. An asylum seeker "deserves a human treatment and genuine welcome greeting from us Finns."

Europe immigration crisis: Austria, Germany finally welcome refugees

A

USTRIA and Germany threw open their borders to thousands of exhausted refugees yesterday, bussed to the Hungarian border by a rightwing government that had tried to stop them but was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers reaching Europe's frontiers.

Left to walk the last yards into Austria, rain-soaked travellers, many of them refugees from Syria's civil war, were whisked by train and shuttle

bus to Vienna, where authorities promptly arranged for thousands to head straight on to Germany.

German police said the first 1,000 of up to 10,000 people expected yesterday had arrived on special trains in Munich. Austrian police said more than 6,000 had entered the country by afternoon.

Munich police said Arabicspeaking interpreters helped refugees with procedures at emergency registration centres.

•A migrant stranded with child

The seemingly efficient Austrian and German reception contrasted with the disorder prevalent in Hungary.

"It was just such a horrible situation in Hungary," said Omar, arriving in Vienna with his family.

In Budapest, almost emptied of refugees the night before, the main railway station was again filling up with new arrivals, but trains to western Europe remained cancelled. So hundreds set off by foot, saying

they would walk to the Austrian border, 110 miles away, like others had tried on Friday. After days of confrontation and chaos, Hungary's government deployed over 100 buses overnight to take thousands to the Austrian frontier. Austria said it had agreed with Germany to allow them access, waiving asylum rules that require them to register in the first EU state they reach.

Wrapped in blankets and sleeping bags against the rain,

long lines of weary people, many carrying small, sleeping children, got off buses on the Hungarian side of the boundary and walked into Austria, receiving fruit and water from aid workers. Waiting Austrians held signs that read "Refugees welcome".

"We're happy. We'll go to Germany," said a Syrian man who gave his name as Mohammed - Europe's biggest and most affluent economy is the favoured destination of many refugees. Another, who declined to be named, said: "Hungary should be fired from the European Union. Such bad treatment."

Hungary insisted the bus rides were a one-off, even as hundreds more people gathered in Budapest, part of a seemingly unrelenting human surge northwards through the Balkan peninsula from Turkey and Greece.

By contrast, the Austrian state railway company, OeBB, said it had added 4,600 seats by extending trains and laying on special, non-scheduled services.

Hungary, the main entry point for refugees into Europe's borderless Schengen zone, has taken a hard line, vowing to seal its southern frontier with a new, high fence by 15 September.

Hungarian officials have portrayed the crisis as a defence of Europe's prosperity, identity and "Christian values" against an influx of mainly Muslim refugees.

Prime minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday Hungary would deploy police forces along its border with Serbia after 15 September, and the army too, if parliament approves a government proposal.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

68

Buhari and August 27, 1985 (thirty years after) H ISTORY is always neutral. Whenever distortions creep in, it is historians who are to be blamed. Effortlessly, but most significantly history like an ever rolling mill has crept up on us. According to the clock and calendar, thirty years now separate us from the day when Major AbdulmuminuAminu, Major John Madaki and Major LawanGwadabe the Nigerian Army [Infantry] swept into Dodan Barracks, Ikoyi, Lagos and arrested the Military Head of State and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, Major-General MuhammaduBuhari. It was a dawn attack and the coup d’etat was swiftly accomplished.

There was no resistance; hence there was no bloodshed. It brought to an end the Buhari / Idiagbon regime which had been in power since 31st December 1983 – a brief twenty months of stern military rule which by its own mantra was determined to rid Nigeria of corruption and indiscipline. The efficacy or otherwise of the security reports which should have alerted the Head of State that a coup d’etat by his own colleagues was imminent is a subject for another day.

For now, it would suffice to confine ourselves to the neutrality of history which has with complete detachment and neutrality recorded that Major-General TundeIdiagbon who was Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters and the number two man / right hand man of Buhari was away to Mecca on pilgrimage allegedly on the invitation of the King of Saudi Arabia. It was a decoy disguised as a ruse which effectively fooled Idiagbon the strongman. He even took along his teenage son. He had been sold a dummy !!Unknown to the rest of the nation, Idiagbon would have (on his return from Mecca) announced the retirement of the Chief of Army Staff, MajorGeneral Ibrahim BadamosiBabangida [IBB] from the army. This was regardless of the pivotal role Major-General Babangida had played in the 1983 coup d’etat that toppled the civilian government of President AlhajiShehuShagari. Rather than take over the mantle of leadership himself, Babaginda had ceded it to Major-General Buhari who was then in far away Jos, in Plateau State as General Officer Commanding [GOC] of the Second Division of the Army. Major-General TundeIdiagbon was the Secretary of the Army Council.

Initially, the rulership had been anchored on the troika of Buhari, Idiagbon and Babangida. Then the cracks began to show as both Buhari and Idiagbon were of the same stern and spartan disposition while Babangida’s orientation and body language were in sharp contrast (to the duo of Buhari and Idiagbon). It was of little consequence that all three of them were Northerners and Moslems. Increasingly, Babangida was according to his own subsequent version of events sidelined and isolated. The Supreme Military Council consisting of the military hierarchy and intelligence / security officers was split down the line (as well as various factions headed by Major-General MamamVasta and MajorGeneral Magoro). There was also the unresolved nuanced dilemma over whether the Head of State was the “Supreme Commander” (Emperor) or “Commander-InChief” (first among equals).

It is also on record that following the 1983 coup d’etat, two memorable declarations were given wide publicity by BBC Overseas Service: (i) “These are our boys” - General OlusegunObasanjo (former Military Head of State 1976-1979). (ii) “If only we had known that the Nigerian economy was in such a shambles (and the treasury was empty) we would not have bothered to take over the government” Major-General MuhammaduBuhari (Military Head of State of Nigeria).

Somehow till today, the bond between General Buhari and General Obasanjo remains solid. Ironically, the bond between General Babangida and General Obasanjo is just as robust (and enduring). As for the Buhari / Babangida nexus, that is a different and complex equation. Right in the vortex of the quadratic equation is Lt-General T.Y. Danjuma (Rtd) and his undulating relationship with General Obasanjo, (late) Major-General ShehuYar’Adua and General Babangida.

For now it is sufficient to record that within a few months of the Buhari / Idiagbon government, the cracks began to show particularly as Idiagbon who had no direct control of the troops became increasingly domineering and overbearing – at the expense

• Buhari

• Babangida

By J.K. Randle

of Babangida, the Chief of Army Staff. From being a full member of the troika, Major-General Babangida was somehow degraded to a junior partner in the government he had installed. A whole chapter should be devoted to the dummy sold to Lt-General Mohammed InuwaWushishi(Chief of Staff 1981 to 1983) who like Babangida is from Niger State and may have been led to believe that he would be invited to become the Head of State.

Anyway, what brought matters to a head was the retirement of Brigadier AliyuGusau by Buhari / Idiagbon regardless of the protestation of Babangida. According to the grapevine the allegation against Gusau had something to do with import licence. Brigadier Gusau pleaded innocence but he was nevertheless served with a letter of retirement by the new secretary to the Army Council, Brigadier Ele Peters.

Major-General Babangida, Chief of Army Staff did not need any one to prompt him that the writing was on the wall. If the junta of Buhari and Idiagbon could retire his trusted ally and bosom pal Brigadier AliyuGusau, he [IBB] was next in the firing line. He went for the pre-emptive strike. It was a masterstroke but the timing was awkward.

The coup d’etat was on the eve of sacred Sallah but the security agencies were generally relaxed.

Besides, Major-General Idiagbon who would have launched a counter coup was away in Mecca. Here is the thrust of Babangida’s maiden address according to BBC History series: Most of all, the August coup appears to mark the decisive rejection of authoritarianism in Nigeria. This was forcefully signaled in President Babangida’s maiden address to the nation, an extraordinary statement for a military ruler. In it, Babangida recognized that even a military government “needs the consent of the people” to govern effectively. Promising to uphold human rights, he announced an immediate review of the status of political detainees. Most significant, he announced the repeal of Decree Number 4 and vowed, “We do not intend to lead a country where individuals are under the fear of expressing themselves.” Words are easily offered to an angry nation; the test will be in the way President Babangida governs. But having figured so centrally in the last four coups, he is acutely aware that Nigerian leaders ultimately cannot escape accountability for their actions. His initial actions indicate that—whether through real commitment to liberal government or simply shrewd political instinct—Nigeria’s new president means to govern liberally.

Among his government’s first actions was the release of all journalists in detention. Dozens of politicians who had been in prison up to 20 months without charge or trial were also released, many to heroes’ welcomes. In addition, public exposure of the NSO’s (National Security Organisation) violations of human rights was encouraged. The top leadership of the NSO was dismissed, and a thorough probe and restructuring were undertaken. Amnesty International praised Babangida for these steps. Another augury of a more consensual and accountable style of rule is the new government’s structure and composition, which is both more open to criticism and internal debate and more representative of the country’s many ethnic and interest groups. To disperse power at the top of government, the functions of the domineering former chief of staff, Idiagbon, were split between two positions.

Political administration was assigned to the

chief of general staff, Naval Commodore OkoEbituUkiwe—the first Igbo military officer to hold such high government office since the 196770 civil war. Military administration was assigned to a newly created Joint Chiefs of Staff, chaired by the powerful Defense Minister Domkat Y. Bali.

All but five members of the former Supreme Military Council were appointed to the new and enlarged Armed Forces Ruling Council. The five who were dropped were those primarily responsible for the previous regime’s abuses: Buhari, Idiagbon, the internal affairs minister, the NSO director and the attorney- general.

The ethnic balance of the council’s membership was also altered, with the center of gravity shifting from the far north to the ethnic minority states of the middle north. And at the state level, Babangida replaced 13 of the 19 military governors, a shrewd move that gave younger officers—including several populists and an avowed socialist—a share in the running of the country. The cabinet appointments are even more striking, both for those who were retained (only six of the previous 18 ministers) and those who were newly selected.

Signaling that open dissent will not be unwelcome, the new president retained Petroleum Minister Tam David-West, an independent academician who had condemned the policy of negotiating massive countertrade or barter deals exchanging Nigerian oil for foreign goods.

It was rumored at the time of the coup that David-West would be fired for his candour. Instead, he is joined in the cabinet by other forceful and capable figures who were not afraid to speak out in opposition to the Buhari regime. These include Akinrinade (Agriculture), Professor BolajiAkinyemi (Foreign Affairs), who condemned the Buhari government’s expulsion of illegal immigrants, and Dr.KaluIdikaKalu (Finance), who argued, in opposition to the former regime, that Nigeria should take an IMF loan.

Babangida named the president of the previously banned Nigerian Bar Association, Bola Ajibola, attorney-general. Given the explicit pledges, personal inclinations, appointments and early actions of President Babangida, his government seems unlikely to sink into the kind of narrow dictatorship that preceded it. Nevertheless, symbols and good intentions lack the force of law and the stability of institutions.

Verbal commitments can wither in the heat of crisis and opposition, which are sure to greet the difficult economic decisions that will have to be made in future months. If there is a lesson in the misrule of the Buhari regime, it is so basic as to seem banal: unlimited power corrupts its holders and perverts its original ends. The Buhari-Idiagbon regime had promised to bring its predecessors to account, but put itself beyond public scrutiny or criticism. The current government likewise has pledged retribution for offenders. For example, in proclaiming the recent coup, the Babangida regime denounced the “glaring fraud” in the Buhari government, and then appointed a committee to investigate corruption in the negotiation of oil countertrade agreements. But, again, this is to establish accountability for past actions of other officials; it remains to be seen how those now in power will conduct themselves. How can accountability be advanced from the past to the present, so that it is not merely retroactive but also preventive? In my analysis of the December 1983 coup, I suggested that stable and accountable government in Nigeria might be achieved through a “diarchy” of shared civilian and military rule, in which civilian democratic rule was further checked

• Idiagbon

and balanced by military control of certain crucial regulatory functions.

This reflected the active search then under way in Nigeria for a constitutional formula to overcome the abuses of power that spoiled the country’s two attempts at democratic government. Before the Buhari regime banned all discussion of the country’s political future, this public debate accelerated, and numerous variations of diarchy were advanced and debated. Now that the Buhari regime, like the military government in the post-civil war era, has soured public confidence in the military as rulers, there may be an even more compelling case for diarchy as a way out of what one observer called “Nigeria’s ruinous political cycles.” Diarchy is typically conceived as civilian government making some permanent institutional place for the military in the constitutional system. It could, however, be implemented in reverse; the military could create and gradually enlarge institutional roles for civilians. Indeed, if the Babangida government is serious about allowing itself to be held accountable, and about building a consensus for a long-term attack on Nigeria’s economic problems, power-sharing may be indispensable to its success.

To some extent, it has already shared power by appointing prominent civilians to the federal and state cabinets. But there is nothing institutional about this participation. Similarly, it has recognized that the free press is a cornerstone of accountable government. But with the constitution in suspension, this freedom exists only at the pleasure of those in power.

There is no reason why a military government cannot draw up a constitution or bill of rights to which it can be held accountable in the courts.

Such a document would be a first step back to democracy in that it would recognize the supremacy of the judiciary in interpreting and protecting fundamental liberties. There is also no reason why a military government cannot subject itself to a code of conduct for public officers, to be enforced by an independent bureau and tribunal. While the military remains dominant in government, the appointment and supervision of this framework could be entrusted to the Supreme Court, or the bar association, or a council of traditional rulers, or some other independent, civilian body commanding general respect. No government can ever be fully trusted to watch itself; nor can it root out corruption if it does not set up independent structures for doing so.

These structural innovations would provide established means for ensuring accountability and thus enhancing public confidence in military government. Moreover, such changes would not threaten the military’s basic control of the government. Yet it is difficult to imagine any government, including this government— for all its apparent democratic intentions— limiting its power in the absence of explicit, sustained pressure from opinion-makers and organized interest groups. The military government could also be strengthened, as an editorial in the journal West Africa suggested, “by announcing early a programme for a return to a more representative form of government no matter how far in the future.” President Babangida has signaled his intention to present a programme of political transition, with initial emphasis on revitalizing local government.

•To be continued next Sunday

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

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QUOTABLE “When I saw the list of his assets, I had to clean my eyes to be sure that I was seeing the right thing. After all the positions he has held in the country, it was amazing that all he had was a paltry sum of N30 million. This means that an ordinary councillor is richer than he is.”

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2015 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 9, NO. 3330

—Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Niyi Akintola, on the asset declaration of President Muhammadu Buhari

I

N its response to accusations of sectionalism and even nepotism in determining federal appointments so far, the Buhari presidency has confidently indicated that balance would soon be restored, itself an admission of existing disequilibrium.

Presidential aides went on further to reassure the country that President Muhammadu Buhari, a changed and firm leader and democrat, harboured no sectional agenda, whether hidden or open. They also added that all the appointments made so far were done on merit, without explaining why merit can’t seem to be widespread, or why it seems to the government expediently localised. There is no statistical proof of how many people are persuaded by the president’s response, but there is at least evidence that most Nigerians, assured by the government’s overwhelming response to the anti-graft war and other laudable steps taken so far, are prepared to give the president the benefit of the doubt.

Why the president did not deem the controversy weighty enough to merit his direct intervention and explanation is hard to fathom.

Last week, given the intensity of the migration crisis inundating Europe, not to say the evocative and iconic images of distressed, dying or dead migrants, some of them infants, the British prime minister, David Cameron, felt compelled to urgently and directly respond to accusations of British lukewarmness on the plight of refugees. Germany foresaw the scale of the disaster early enough and indicated preparedness to accommodate more than its fair share of refugees. Britain reacted a little late, but at least Mr Cameron finally stirred himself. A leader cannot react to everything, but he must have the judgement or at least the intuition to know matters weighty enough to require his direct intervention.

President Buhari’s governing machine may just be revving up, as he and his aides have generously asserted. But he has an urgent responsibility to define that machine and open the understanding of the public to its fundamental attributes. Other than his travels to assemble a coalition against Boko Haram, and a few words now and again on his anticorruption war, he has not made either concrete or symbolic trips to the geopolitical zones of the South to deliver a few great messages about himself, his government, and his country. There is nothing on the ethos of the country, those ennobling characteristics of the nation that manifest in the cumulation of national attitudes and goals. Nor is there anything yet on his governing paradigm, that indispensable fulcrum of policies. But perhaps he is still in deep contemplation.

One hundred days in the life of a government may be an arbitrary figure advertised by unreflective and populist military governments. But it is not so short a period for the public to begin to have a feel of the fundamental direction of the Buhari government in terms of a political manifesto, social charter and economic philosophy. These charters go far deeper than the anti-corruption war he appears besotted to, than his platitudes on the rule of law and other liberties, and than his promises of the good life for everyone, especially the poor. What, in short, these times call for is the enunciation of a new ethos and paradigm for Nigeria. These are the two fundamentals required to drive his vision in the next four years. These are the fundamentals that will define him as a leader and sculpt an image of him in the public mind. These are the fundamentals that will shape and refine the country, and give it a personality in the world, in the same way an individual is defined and shaped by intrinsic ideas and inscrutable personal responses to experiences.

Recruiting advisers and presidential aides, and making other key appointments into his cabinet, are not an end in themselves. They are just a part of the building block. What should engage the president is the kind of building he wants to construct and the use it would be put to. When critics assailed him over the 30 or so appointments he had made so far, accusing him of insensitivity and insularity, it was not because they already dismissed his government. The enlightened among the critics were only alarmed that the appointments did not give an indication of the change and future

Buhari needs new ethos and paradigm

•Shagari...Ethical revolution Nigerians want to see, or that President Buhari possessed the depth and innovation needed to remake the society on a scale that rivals great countries in other parts of the world.

This column advocated this point a few weeks ago. Who are we? What do we stand for? How costly is the life of a Nigerian? What is the leitmotif of our existence? Do we have a leader who embodies the ambition and worldview of Nigeria? This column’s engagement with these issues, especially the recent presidential appointments, is anchored on historical facts. As far back as 6th - 5th century BC, Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon, recognised the importance of widening his empire’s leadership recruitment base by casting his net far and wide to include promising captives of his many wars. The empire boasted of a template to sieve and assess talents from far and wide, a function he obviously placed great emphasis on. It was in that process that Daniel the Jewish captive was discovered. He would later become Prime Minister of Babylon.

President Buhari must possess an acute sense of history, particularly Nigerian history, in order to function above the common mediocrity and selfcreated restraints that past leaders had entangled themselves with. World history is important to him to the extent that the lives and achievements of great world leaders and countries can ennoble his own actions and inspire him with great and incomparable examples. But to him, Nigerian history must be indispensable to the extent that in one sweeping and wholesome breath he would personify the life and ambitions of Nigeria.

Once a Nigerian leader reaches that esoteric level, he becomes inured to the giant obstacles and barricades — some of them ethnic, and others religious — that create artificial divides between the people. He will then aspire to produce a definition of Nigeria within which he can situate a definition of himself, making the two inextricable, the one personifying the other. He will go on to synthesise the concepts of citizenship and individual rights without which Nigeria can never be great, not even if everyone achieved sainthood in a corruption-free country.

Nigeria’s past leaders struggled with depth, unable to do more than enunciate a code of superficial and artificial behaviours for the country, and at various times devote either a department or a ministry to

•Jonathan...National orientation champion what they described as a reorientation movement. But their ethical revolution and national reorientation were nothing but sentimental and wasteful drivel.

A cursory study of Roman history would have shown these leaders how to develop a new ethos, and nurture it. Roman Empire citizenship was so valuable that it was not even lawful for anyone, no matter how highly placed, to strike a Roman without a trial. (A Roman citizen could not be tortured or whipped, nor could he receive the death penalty, unless he was found guilty of treason. If accused of treason, a Roman citizen had the right to be tried in Rome, and even if sentenced to death, no Roman citizen could be sentenced to die on the cross). Paul the Christian missionary had reasons to remonstrate this point with Roman officials during his illustrious proselytising career. But more than two centuries later, Nigerian leaders have been unable to formulate an inspiring, practicable and disciplined concept of Nigerian citizenship, and have consistently sought to hide their incompetence and mediocrity behind the mask of bureaucratic and political skullduggery.

Nigerian leaders and their security forces, nearly all of which cannot draw a line between private security interest and national security interest, possess probably one of the worst and most contemptible views of citizenship. Without a revolutionary conception and enforcement of the rights of the Nigerian, it is impossible to harness the country’s energies for national redefinition, growth and greatness, let alone to mobilise the people behind the government for country and glory. Two centuries ago, it meant a whole lot to be a Roman citizen. Today, it means virtually nothing to be a Nigerian.

President Buhari was elected against the wishes of millions of sceptics who never really believed he had changed for the better or was capable of changing. He will be president for the next four years. So, it may be imprudent to give up on him until he gives up on himself. He will of course be criticised, counseled, admonished and reproved until he becomes a much better man and leader, even at 72. If he wants to mobilise the people behind himself, he will need to do more than just fighting

corruption, remoulding the economy and instilling discipline. He must fundamentally rethink many national concepts, using a study of historical examples as a stepping stone. He must take contributions from his brilliant aides or his own private readings on how the concept of the German, American, British, French, Russian, and Chinese persons, among others, evolved and were nurtured over the centuries.

He can learn from them if he wishes to leave the country a changed nation, far better than he met it.

In a Sunday Times of London extract from his new revelatory and shocking book, The Outsider, due for release this week, the author Frederick Forsyth disclosed how he spied for Britain during the Nigerian civil war. His spying was not much different from the pushy but guileful manner many Western countries’ diplomats ferret information out of top Nigerian business, cultural and political leaders.

The disturbing fact is that nearly all Nigerian leaders dissolve into molecules in the presence of white leaders, especially of the industrialised democracies. Though he has not started well, given his hasty visit to the United States even before he had time to recognise his own soul, President Buhari must begin to find ways of hardening his resolve against foreign interferences, and carving out a brave and independent idea of his country and unleashing and propelling the sublime geniuses of its peoples, whether they are writers, artists or musicians. That a leader does not grovel at the feet of white leaders does not mean that, like late Gen Murtala Ramat Mohammed, he is rebellious or defiant. His independent posture can also be interpreted as confident and selfreliant. If Nelson Mandela could do it, other African leaders can also do it, even if not on the same scale.

Eight years of Olusegun Obasanjo was a gross national waste and misadventure. He had the opportunity to lay a solid foundation for Nigerian democracy, albeit a minor component of the needed national ethos. If that was all he was capable of, the country would today be grateful for that modest contribution. But he lacked the intellect and the discipline to fulfill that great and noble mission. Umaru Yar’Adua was a painful, emasculative hiatus. And six years of Goodluck Jonathan proved more than enough to purge Nigerians of any great hope for the future and infuse them with the most enervating pessimism ever. Between the three former leaders, not counting the about 40 years before them, Nigeria has managed to waste 16 whole years.

If the next four years will not be another needless waste, President Buhari must take counsel far beyond his inner, and sometimes limited, reaches. He and his party enthuse about how well he has started. It is not clear what kind of measures they are using. But he needs to conceive and implement fundamental policies that will touch every nerve and organ and hidden crevices in the body politic. He has neither conceived nor implemented anything substantially evocative of the ethos and paradigm his government and this country sorely need. Even the anti-graft battle he is waging has not taken cognisance of the political economy of corruption, let alone devising formulae to ensure a lasting impact on the society, economy and polity.

It is time Nigeria stopped frolicking with the peripherals of politics and government.

President Buhari must dig deeper, with the help of his aides and advisers, into the purpose of government to bring out the ethos and paradigm Nigeria needs to fulfill its manifest destiny. Much of the little good Chief Obasanjo did in his eight years in office were quickly reversed because they were neither substantial nor impactful of the lives of the people in an unchangeable, unalterable way. President Buhari will undoubtedly do some good, but whatever things he does seem fated to become meretricious rather than consequential and ramifying — an obsession with provision of milk and bread, etc. rather than life- and destinychanging ideas and policies in a way no one can dismantle for hundreds of years, not even with a succession of incompetent rulers, such as the Ottoman Empire endured after Suleiman, and Rome fitfully experienced after Julius and Augustus Caesar.

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Website: www.thenationonlineng.net ISSN: 115-5302 E-mail: sunday@thenationonlineng.net Editor: FESTUS ERIYE