23082017 - Security chiefs get orders on B-Haram, IPOB, others

for 

AFE Vanguard 

Powers, achievements, 

and failings of the 

Nigeria Police: Poor 

remuneration -need for 

urgent attention(8) 

Aare Afe Babalola 

CON, SAN 

40 

RESTRUCTURING: 

What is it? 

SEE PAGES 

42-43 

MOSES SIASIA: 

From having 

no hope to 

providing 

hope 36 

VOL. 25: NO. 63361 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017 

<strong>Security</strong> <strong>chiefs</strong> <strong>get</strong> <strong>orders</strong> 

on B-Haram, IPOB, others 

•It's a wrong approach, says Afenifere 

•IPOB not a terrorist organisation — ECA, ILT 

SECURITY MEETING 

By Emeka Mamah, 

Dapo Akinrefon, 

Peter Okutu & 

Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

A 

B U J A — 

PRESIDENT 

Muhammadu Buhari, 

yesterday, directed 

service <strong>chiefs</strong> and heads 

of security operatives to 

arrest all security threats 

against the unity of the 

country. 

The marching order 

came after a closed-door 

meeting the service <strong>chiefs</strong> 

and other security 

agencies had with the 

President at the 

Presidential Villa, Abuja. 

Briefing State House 

correspondents after the 

meeting which lasted over 

Continues on Page 5 

SECURITY MEETING —President Muhammadu Buhari presides over security meeting with service <strong>chiefs</strong>. Sitting away from 

the President are Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General TY Buratai; Chief of Air Staff, 

Air Marshal Abubakar Sadique; National <strong>Security</strong> Adviser to the President, NSA, Major-General Babagana Monguno and Chief of 

Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari, during the meeting at the State House, Abuja, yesterday. STATE HOUSE PHOTO. 

APPOINTMENTS: Igbo leaders, ECA, senators 

kick, as Buhari pledges fair deal for Ndigbo 

•We want restructuring — ECA, S-East senators, others 3 

JAMB fixes Nigeria's monthly DIEZANI: Court <strong>orders</strong> 

varsities' cut-off import bill rises temprorary forfeiture of 

mark at 120; 4 by 95% to N2.611bn property 

3 

8 

polytechnics, 100 N588bn—CBN 

COLUMNISTS 

DEAR BUNMI 

41 

ROTIMI FASAN 

31 SEE 

INSIDE 

Naira gains 

as NAFEX 

records 

$100.29m 

Mr & Mrs 

5

2—VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017 

:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058 

Invest more in Nigeria, FG tasks 

ECOWAS Bank 

•Adeosun emerges Chairman of Board 

By Emma Ujah, 

Abuja Bureau Chief 

ABUJA— THE Federal 

Government has 

tasked ECOWAS Bank for 

Investment and 

Development, EBID, to 

invest more in Nigeria’s 

infrastructure sector. 

Declaring open the 15th 

session of the EBID in 

Abuja, yesterday, the Vice 

President, Prof. Yemi 

Osinbajo, said an 

investment by the bank in 

the Nigerian economy 

would be a smart one as it 

would easily yield great 

returns and positively 

impact the whole subregion. 

He said: “One of the 

crucial issues today which 

will decisively impact the 

future is how the EBID can 

make a difference in the 

lives of our young people. 

"Are there opportunities 

for strategic investments in 

relevant education, 

especially in the 

underserved disciplines 

such as Science, Education 

Engineering and Maths? 

“Perhaps also the rising 

scale of foreign investment 

inflows into business startups 

by our young people 

should be taken by our local 

financing institutions like 

the EBID as a challenge to 

be just as relevant and 

invested in the dreams and 

ambitions of local talents. 

“Here in Nigeria, we 

would like to see you 

become even more active in 

supporting our investment 

and infrastructure 

ambitions. 

"Our government is 

working hard to attract 

greater local and foreign 

investments, and we have 

put in place the needed 

reforms required to create 

an enabling environment 

for these investments. 

‘’With our robust 

Economic Recovery and 

Growth Plan, ERGP, and 

our ongoing business 

environment reforms, we 

are confident that investing 

in Nigeria is and will 

continue to be a smart 

business decision. 

“We do not approach this 

selfishly. There is no doubt 

that a successful Nigerian 

economy, with our 

population being– more 

than half of the size of the 

ECOWAS community, and 

now rated the largest 

economy by GDP in Africa, 

will positively impact the 

whole of our subregion. 

Nigeria’s economic 

buoyancy is in a real sense 

the buoyancy of our 

subregion.” 

Osinbajo described the 

decision of the sub-regional 

body to establish the EBID 

as one of the wisest since 

its inception. 

He said: “The bank has 

since its auspicious 

founding proved to be one 

of the wisest and most 

farsighted decisions taken 

by ECOWAS since its 

inception. A sub-regional 

financial institution whose 

primary mission is to 

contribute to the integration 

and economic 

development of the 15- 

member states of our 

community, by investing in 

and supporting both 

private and public sectors. 

This was clearly what the 

sub-region required then 

but perhaps more so now. 

“And the bank must be 

commended for its catalytic 

role in many game 

changing investments in 

energy, infrastructure, and 

even banking. In Energy: 

the Desert Connection to 

link Nigeria-Benin-Togo, 

which was co-financed 

with the ADB and BOAD. 

"In Infrastructure, the bank 

contributed to the funding 

of Tinapa, in Cross River 

State of Nigeria. Tinapa 

remains one of the most 

visionary projects designed 

to make Cross River state 

an international commercial 

and tourism hub. 

“The bank also supported 

a electricity project in 

Conakry in Guinea, a road 

link between Cote d’Ivoire 

and Ghana, and 

guaranteed a 10 billion CFA 

bond issue for the port of 

Dakar and the creation of 

an investment bank in 

Benin. The bank also 

demonstrated remarkable 

resourcefulness at the 

height of the many conflicts 

in our sub-region to 

establish a Conflict 

Resolution Fund.” 

In her remarks, Minister 

of Finance, Mrs. Kemi 

Adeosun, noted that the 

positive growth witnessed 

among member states has 

not been inclusive enough 

to spread shared 

prosperity. 

She, therefore, called all 

on both state and non-state 

actors in the ECOWAS to 

take concrete steps towards 

more inclusiveness in the 

benefits of economic 

growth. 

The minister also called 

for greater focus on 

industrialization and 

agriculture which she 

identified as critical sectors 

that would guarantee 

massive economic growth 

and job creation for the 

youth. 

She challenged EBID to 

actively participate in the 

Light- up-Africa power 

vision, as according to her, 

“our people yearn for 

prosperity and we must be 

determined to deliver it. 

Mrs. Adeosun emerged 

the Chairperson, Board of 

Governors of the EBID. 

She succeeds her 

counterpart from the 

Republic of Niger, 

Hassoumi Massoudou. 

MEETING: President, ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development 

(EBID), Mr Bashir Ifo (left), presenting a souvenir to the Vice President 

Yemi Osinbajo, at the 15th Annual General Meeting of the EBID Board of 

Governors in Abuja, yesterday. 

Attacks: Catholic Bishops want FG to compensate churches 

M INNA—THE 

Catholic Bishops of 

Kaduna Ecclesiastical 

Province have urged the 

Federal Government to 

compensate churches and 

other victims of attacks 

carried out by insurgents 

on places of worship. 

Bishop Matthew 

Ndagoso, their spokesman, 

made the plea at a briefing 

in Minna after a two-day 

Catholic Bishops of 

Kaduna Ecclesiastical 

Province plenary session, 

held at St. Michael 

Cathedral, Minna. 

He said: “In the past six 

years, insurgents have 

attacked Churches and 

other Christian places in the 

north, but the Federal 

Government is yet to 

compensate the victims. 

“We want to inform you 

that the Catholic Church 

has not received any 

support from the Federal 

Government for the 

Churches affected. In Niger, 

the first terrorist attack was 

on St. Theresa Catholic 

Church, Madalla, on Dec. 

25, 2011. 

“Last year, some youths 

attacked the St. Philips 

Catholic Church, Bakin 

Iku, near Suleja, destroying 

properties valued at several 

millions of Naira. No one 

has even sympathised with 

us.” 

The Bishop opined that 

the Federal Government 

was supposed to be 

responsible for giving 

assistance to the churches 

and the victims. 

Ndagoso explained that 

government ought to be 

responsible for giving 

assistance to the victims. 

The Bishop, who noted 

that he had personally 

suffered from such attacks, 

said: “When I was in 

Maiduguri, my house was 

destroyed and burnt in my 

absence. Nothing was 

taken out of that house. The 

Church was equally 

destroyed. Nobody has 

Again, PDP clarifies 

stand on restructuring 

•Says APC’s spokesman is 

clever by half 

By Dirisu Yakubu 

ABUJA—The Peoples 

Democratic Party, 

PDP, for the second time 

in a week, has reiterated 

its support for the 

restructuring of the 

country, saying it had 

always championed the 

devolution of powers 

among the federating 

units for yers. 

The party also berated 

the spokesperson of All 

Progressives Congress, 

APC, Bolaji Abdullahi, 

for the remark he 

reportedly made against 

the PDP. In a statement 

signed by the Head, 

Publicity Division, 

Chinwe Nnorom, the 

PDP stated that the APC 

was only warming up to 

the idea of restructuring 

to swell its support base 

ahead of the 2019 

general elections. 

The statement read: 

“Nigerians will recall 

that in our statement, we 

were categorical that the 

leaders of the APC had 

denied promising 

restructuring at 

different times but 

suddenly jumped at it as 

the latest in a series of 

deceitful ploys designed 

and being implemented 

by the party to 

hoodwink Nigerians 

ahead of the 2019 

general elections. 

“We wish to emphasize 

that the APC’s response 

was 

another 

misadventure and 

inglorious efforts to 

further misinform 

Nigerians especially by 

just quoting a part of 

the sections of the PDP 

Constitution that was 

included in our 

compensated me or the 

Church,” he said. 

Ndagoso appealed to 

state governments to 

issue Certificates of 

Occupancy (C of O) for 

lands meant for the 

building of Churches, and 

urged the Federal 

Government to encourage 

the governors to do so to 

enable the Church to assist 

development needs of the 

nation. 

The News Agency of 

Nigeria (NAN) reports that 

the plenary session focused 

on religious, socio-political 

and economic issues 

affecting the province. 

statement - Preamble 

2(b), which of course 

resonates with the 

PDP’s endeavour 

towards economic and 

socio-political growths; 

and he referred to it as 

our misunderstanding of 

the word - restructuring. 

‘’Let Mr. Bolaji recall 

that we also quoted 

other sections such as 

Preamble 2(e) which 

states, “to devolve 

powers equitably 

between the Federal, 

State and Local 

Governments in the 

spirit of federalism”; and 

7(2b) which states that, 

“The Party shall strive to 

promote federalism and 

an equitable revenue 

sharing formula” PDP 

Constitution (As 

Amended in 2012). 

“In the light of the 

above, we make bold to 

state that Mr. Bolaji is 

clever by half. It is, 

therefore, important at 

this point to state that 

personalities like Bolaji 

Abdullahi’s disrespect to 

organization’s norms 

and ideology contributed 

largely to the delayed 

restructuring of the 

country since 1999, when 

he and most of his APC 

leaders where at the 

driving seat of the then 

ruling PDP. 

‘’This character trait of 

lack of comprehension of 

ideas is equally being 

exhibited currently in 

the APC. After all, the 

party leaders bluntly 

denied promising 

Nigerians restructuring 

only to re-track when the 

Euphoria on 

restructuring refused to 

wane. 

"That stated, the party 

clarified its position, 

saying that for Nigeria to 

move forward, powers 

must devolve from the 

centre to the federating 

components for the 

common good of all. 

“For the umpteenth 

time, we wish to reiterate 

that the PDP is 

not only interested in 

functional devolution 

and equitable 

distribution of powers 

among the federal, states 

and local government 

levels in the country but 

we are equally working 

hard with all our elected 

representatives across 

the country to restructure 

Nigeria for our common 

good.’’

C 

M 

Y 

K 

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017—3 


Appointments: Igbo leaders, ECA, 

IWA, Senators kick 

•As Buhari pledges fair deal for Ndigbo 

By Emeka Mamah, 

Henry Umoru, 

Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru & 

Dennis Agbo 

A BUJA—PRESIDENT 

Muhammadu Buhari, 

yesterday, assured the 

Igbo that his 

administration would give 

them their dues in 

appointments and 

provision of infrastructure. 

The promise made when 

he received a coalition of 

South-East youth groups 

who mounted a vigil at the 

Presidential Villa gate to 

show solidarity with him 

was, however, dismissed 

as coming too little and too 

late in the life of his 

administration by several 

Igbo groups and 

personalities. 

Buhari, who was 

represented by his Special 

Adviser, Media and 

Publicity, Mr. Femi 

Adesina, vowed that the 

South-East would <strong>get</strong> its 

due in appointments and 

infrastructure. 

He said: “On behalf of 

President Muhammadu 

Okechukwu Buhari, I 

receive this letter, and I 

say thank you all. 

“The fact that a coalition 

from the South-East region 

has come to mount this 

solidarity rally for him is 

very significant because 

some mischief makers 

always say that the South- 

East region is not with the 

President; that is not true. 

“It was in the South-East 

region that he was given 

the name Okechukwu 

during the campaign; it 

was in the South-East in 

Abia precisely that Eze 

Ikonne gave him a 

traditional title. So we 

know that every part of this 

country approves the 

leadership of President 

M u h a m m a d u 

Okechukwu Buhari. 

“Last week, youths from 

the South-South region 

were here to also show 

their solidarity with him. 

This gives us confidence 

that no matter what 

anybody does, no matter 

the antics of people who 

plot mischief, Nigeria will 

remain one. 

“You must have heard 

our President yesterday 

(Monday) in his 

nationwide address when 

he said whatever it takes, 

Nigeria will be kept 

to<strong>get</strong>her. And I tell you, 

whatever it takes, this 

President will keep the 

country to<strong>get</strong>her. 

"Therefore, anybody 

who is planning 

something else should 

know that it’s just a mere 

waste of time. It is like 

beating a dead horse, 

which is sheer waste of 

energy. Nigeria will 

remain one. President 

Muhammadu Buhari will 

keep the country to<strong>get</strong>her." 

Speaking earlier, the 

convener of the coalition of 

Southeast youths for 

Buhari, Steve Anyata, said 

one of the reasons for 

coming was to inform the 

President that while he was 

away on medical vacation, 

some youths from the 

North issued a quit notice 

to the South-East to leave 

the northern zone before 

October 1. 

He also said their 

demonstration was to give 

a different narrative to the 

reports while he was away 

that some Nigerians 

demanded that he resumes 

or resigns. 

They also passed a vote 

of confidence in the 

president’s ability and 

capacity to lead the country. 

We want 

restructuring—Igbo 

groups 

While the President- 

General of Onanaeze 

Ndigbo, Chief Nnia 

Nwodo, drew back from 

commenting on the 

President’s promise, the 

Eastern Consultative 

Assembly, ECA, described 

the promises as laughable, 

saying Ndigbo were not 

ready to stay in Nigeria any 

longer unless the country 

was restructured. 

Secretary of ECA, 

Evangelist Elliot 

Ugochukwu-Uko, who 

reacted to the statement in 

a telephone interview, said 

after 47 years of oppression 

by the Nigerian 

government, the least 

Ndigbo would accept was 

restructuring of the country 

into six zones. 

Ugochukwu-Uko said: 

“The agenda of 47 years is 

what the Federal 

Government led by Buhari 

is rehashing. They believe 

that the agenda they set 47 

years ago can still be valid 

in today’s Nigeria but they 

are very wrong. 

“Our youths want a 

separate country from 

Nigeria. They want to leave 

the country, but we are 

saying that we can beg 

them to stay in Nigeria if the 

country is restructured into 

six zones. 

S-East Senate 

Caucus 

Chairman, South East 

Senate Caucus, Senator 

Enyinnaya Abaribe, on his 

part also, dismissed the 

promise, saying that what 

the South-East people want 

from the government at the 

moment, was serious 

restructuring of the country. 

Senator Abaribe said: 

“South-East do not want 

cosmetic platitudes, but 

restructuring of Nigeria.” 

IWA, NZU 

Also, National Chairman 

of Igbo Women Assembly, 

BRIEFING: 

Governor 

Abubakar Badaru 

of JIgawa State 

(left) and 

Govermor Atiku 

Bagudu of Kebbi 

State responding 

to questions from 

journalists after a 

meeting on 

Agricultural 

Development with 

Vice President 

Yemi Osinbajo at 

the State House, 

Abuja, yesterday. 

Photo: Abayomi 

Adeshida. 

IWA, Mrs Marie Okwor, 

said: “Ndigbo are not 

talking of more 

appointments. This shows 

that Buhari has no 

programme for the country. 

In its reaction, Chairman, 

Nsukka Zonal Union, 

NZU, Chief Joseph, said 

the only option available 

was for Buhari to set up a 

committee that would work 

for the restructuring of the 

country instead of the 

Federal Government 

deceiving itself that few 

individuals would continue 

to lord it over others as if 

Nigeria belongs to them, 

adding: “Enough is 

enough." 

United Progressives 

Party 

President Buhari’s 

promises to the Southeast 

was immediately dismissed 

by the United Progressives 

Party, UPP, which through 

its national chairman, Chief 

Chekwas Okorie, said 

what the region demanded 

was for the president’s 

party, the All Progressives 

Congress, APC to fulfil its 

promise of restructuring. 

He said: “These are no 

longer what Ndigbo need. 

We have seen 

appointments and Buhari 

cannot give us more 

appointments than 

Jonathan did. We want 

restructuring, a 

restructured Nigeria where 

the Igboman can have selfactualization 

and conduct 

his enterprise freely." 

Odozi Nwodozi who is 

Chairman of Ohanaeze in 

the Federal Capital 

Territory, FCT, Abuja, also 

flayed the administration, 

saying it had not shown 

faith in the Igbo. 

According to him,m the 

promises have come too late 

and too little, saying: “If 

they are promising that the 

South East will benefit in a 

government that has stayed 

over two years, somebody 

is economical with the 

truth." 

Nigeria’s monthly import 

bill rises by 95% to 

N588bn —CBN 

•Calls for import reducing policy 

By Babajide 

Komolafe 

LAGOS— 

THE 

Central Bank of 

Nigeria, CBN, yesterday 

said the country’s 

average monthly import 

bill rose by 95 per cent 

to N588 billion in 12 

years. 

CBN Governor, Mr. 

Godwin Emefiele, 

disclosed this in Lagos 

in a keynote lecture 

delivered at the 2017 

annual general 

conference of the 

Nigeria Bar Association, 

NBA, where he also 

advocated policies to 

reduce the nation’s 

monthly import bill. 

Emefiele noted that the 

sharp increase in 

monthly import bill 

aggravated the impact of 

the decline in the 

nation’s foreign 

exchange earnings on 

the economy. 

He said: " In terms of 

inflows, the bank’s forex 

earnings have fell from 

as high as US$3.2 

billion monthly 

sometime in 2013 to as 

low as $580 million per 

month at some point. 

Despite these outcomes, 

the demand for FX has 

risen significantly. 

“For example in 2005 

when we had oil prices 

at about $50 per barrel 

for an extended period of 

time, our monthly 

average import bill was 

$12.4 billion. In stark 

contrast, the average 

import bill in the first five 

months of 2017 is about 

$588.1 billion per month. 

Policy measures 

Speaking on “The 

Dilemma of Monetary 

Policy during a 

Recession: Potential 

Options for Nigeria,” he 

advocated three policy 

measures for 

engineering economic 

growth and curbing 

inflation. These include: 

Rebuilding the nation’s 

infrastructure; 

Jumpstarting agriculture 

and agribusiness; 

Pursuing non-oil 

exports; Formulation and 

implementation of 

import-reducing 

policies. 

He said: “Given the 

persisting drop in oil 

prices, we need to take 

bold and decisive actions 

at fundamentally 

changing the structure 

of our economy. 

Throughout this speech, 

I have talked about the 

damaging effects of 

Nigeria’s unsustainable 

propensity to import. 

"In line with Winston 

Churchill’s admonition 

to 'never let a good crisis 

go to waste,' the CBN 

believes that it is high 

time we started looking 

inwards and stopped 

supporting the 

importation of items that 

we can produce locally 

using Nigeria’s hardearned 

foreign 

exchange. 

“While such policies 

may seem controversial, 

its variants have proven 

to be highly effective in 

other climes and even 

here in Nigeria. 

"And here at home, 

variants of this policy 

were used to achieve 

significant sufficiency in 

cement, a product whose 

importation could have 

been costing us over 

$3.2 billion in forex 

reserves annually. In 

effect, therefore, this 

policy needs to be 

supported not just in 

response to the pressure 

on the naira but as an 

opportunity to change 

the economy’s structure, 

resuscitate local 

manufacturing, and 

expand job creation for 

our citizens. 

“Take rice imports, for 

example: why should we 

keep allocating scarce 

forex to rice importers 

when vast amounts of 

paddy rice of comparable 

quality produced by poor 

hardworking local 

farmers across the rice 

belts of Nigeria are 

wasted, and farmers are 

falling deeper into 

poverty while we export 

their jobs and income to 

rice producing countries 

abroad? 

"Few decades ago, 

Nigeria was one of the 

world’s largest 

producers of palm oil but 

today we import nearly 

600,000 metric tonnes 

while Indonesia and 

Malaysia combine to 

export over 90 percent of 

global demand. 

“Under these 

circumstances, I believe 

it is appropriate, and in 

fact, expected, that the 

CBN contributes to 

protecting the jobs and 

incomes of local farmers, 

using some of the same 

principles Western 

Economies use to justify 

the protection of their 

farmers through huge 

subsidies.”

Y 

K 



BRIEFING: From left, Director Research and Strategy, Young Entrepreneurs of Nigeria, YEN, Dr 

Jude Nwako; National Vice President of YEN, Mrs Nwado Mbalaso; Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi; 

National President of YEN, Mr Chris Kohol; Special Adviser to Ooni of Ife on Youth Development and 

Wealth Creation, Mr Olamide Awosunle; and National Director of YEN, North, Alhaji Salisu Danjuma- 

Gezewa, during the YEN first news conference in Ife on Monday. Photo: NAN. 

PDP to Osinbajo: Tell Nigerians how 

N1.3trn was spent 

•4 states have complied with 

convention’s resolution — Makarfi 

By Dirisu Yakubu & 

Vanessa Paul 

ABUJA—THE Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, 

has taken a swipe at Vice 

President Yemi Osinbajo, 

who, on Monday, said the 

current administration spent 

N1.3 trillion on the execution 

of capital projects in 2016 

alone. 

In series of tweets on its 

official Twitter handle 

@OfficialPDPNig, the party 

tasked the Vice President to 

explain to Nigerians how the 

said sum was spent and 

what projects were executed. 

“We are alarmed and 

highly bewildered to hear 

from the Vice President, 

Professor Yemi Osinbajo, that 

N1.3 trillion was spent on 

capital projects in 2016. 

"N1.3 trillion on capital 

projects and nothing to show 

for it is unacceptable,” wrote 

the PDP in one of the tweets, 

asking: “Should we assume 

the Vice President was 

misquoted?” 

The PDP further noted that 

since the assumption of office 

by Muhammadu Buhari as 

President, the APC has failed 

to deliver the dividends of 

democracy to the people. 

It said: “Apart from the 

infrastructure handed over to 

the APC-led government by 

the PDP, nothing has been 

done in the last two and a 

half years. 

“We believe the Vice 

President, Professor 

Osinbajo, will provide 

clarifications on how N1.3 

trillion was spent on capital 

projects in 2016,” it wrote in 

yet another tweet. 

4 states have complied 

with convention’s 

resolution 

— Makarfi 

Meanwhile four of the 

seven states that had their 

chapters of the PDP 

dissolved at the Special 

Non-elective convention 

held penultimate Saturday, 

have already complied with 

the resolutions reached at the 

convention. 

Chairman, National 

Caretaker Committee of the 

PDP, Senator Ahmed 

Makarfi, disclosed this, 

yesterday, while addressing 

newsmen at a meeting with 

JAMB fixes admission cut-off 

marks at 120 

•Polytechnics, COEs, monotechnics at 100, 110. 

By Joseph Erunke 

ABUJA—THE Joint 

Admissions and 

Matriculation Board, 

JAMB, has fixed 120 as 

minimum cut-off mark for 

admission into universities 

in the 2017 academic 

calendar. 

Similarly, the board 

pegged entry 

qualifications benchmark 

into polytechnics and 

colleges of education at 100, 

while that of innovative 

enterprising institutes 

otherwise, called 

monotechnics, was pegged 

at 110. 

The development came 

as the Federal Government 

officially gave its nod to 

universities to resume the 

conduct of their various 

entry examinations, known 

as Post-UTME. 

But candidates seeking 

degree admission into 

colleges of education must 

equally possess 120 like 

that of the universities. 

This was the fallout of the 

policy committee meeting 

the board had with 

stakeholders in education 

Kwara State chapter of the 

party in Abuja. 

Stating reasons for 

convening the meeting, 

Makarfi said Kwara could 

not afford to be left behind 

while other states were 

already putting their houses 

in order in the interest of the 

larger PDP family. 

“Kwara is the only state we 

are meeting like this. As I 

speak to you, we already have 

submissions from four states 

and they are ready to work 

to<strong>get</strong>her in the overall interest 

of the party. 

"This means that they have 

sector, in Abuja, yesterday. 

In spite of the cut-off 

marks,the board said 

universities were free to fix 

their individual cut off 

marks above its own but not 

lower than the ones it 

specified. 

JAMB also said 

admissions into public 

degree awarding 

institutions for the 2017 

UTME examination will 

end on January 15, 2018, 

while for private 

institutions, it ends on 

January 31, 2018. 

In similar circumstance, 

the board said decisions on 

first choice candidates by 

universities will end on 

October 15, and second 

choice candidates will end 

on December 15, after 

which the remaining 

students will be available in 

the market place for other 

institutions till the January 

closing dates. 

Speaking at the event 

attended by stakeholders in 

education sector, including 

vice chancellors,rectors and 

provosts of public 

universities, polytechnics 

and colleges of education, 

already complied with the 

position of the party,” he 

stated, describing Kwara 

State as a “highly politically 

mature and active to prevent 

this type of isolation,’’ 

Makarfi said. 

On the progress so far 

made in Lagos, Osun, 

Ogun, Kwara, Borno, Kebbi 

and Adamawa states, which 

had their Executive 

Committees’ dissolution 

ratified at the convention, 

Makarfi said states yet to 

find a common ground on 

the way forward had 

requested the NCC for 

more time. 

Registrar of JAMB, Ishaq 

Oloyede, disclosed that 

“17,160 students were 

admitted without JAMB 

across institutions in 

Nigeria” the previous year. 

To this end, he said a 

Central Admission 

Processing System, CAPS, 

will be used to streamline 

admission processes 

among institutions, saying 

such process addresses 

challenges detected in 

previous one. 

Oloyede, who said 

tertiary institutions could 

conduct dual mode 

system, which involves 

both manual and newly 

introduced CAPS, added 

that a dynamic educational 

policy relating to 

admissions should be 

adopted. 

Speaking at the 

event,Minister of 

Education, Adamu Adamu, 

said his ministry had 

formerly lifted earlier ban 

on the conduct of Post- 

UTME, saying the 

“cancellation of Post-UTME 

is a mistake.” 

Labour opposes FG’s 

bailout plan for electricity 

metering 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

A BUJA—ORGANISED 

labour, yesterday, 

expressed its rejection of 

Federal Government’s 

proposal to give fresh 

bailout for the metering of 

electricity consumers. 

National President of 

Nigeria Labour Congress, 

NLC, Mr Ayuba Wabba, 

expressed the opposition of 

labour to the proposed 

bailout for metering during 

the inauguration of the 

newly elected Executive of 

Labour Correspondent 

Association of Nigeria, 

LACAN, in Abuja. 

Wabba noted with dismay 

that N660 billion had so far 

been injected by President 

Muhammadu Buhari’s 

administration without 

commensurate result in 

terms of power generation. 

He said: “One issue that 

is affecting our country 

today is the issue of 

accountability and 

transparency because all 

other issues can either 

directly or indirectly be 

linked to the issue of good 

governance at all levels, be 

it at the local government 

level, the state government 

is even worse and that is 

the bane of our challenges. 

“For instance, in the 

power sector, I was really 

amazed yesterday 

(Monday), when I was 

going through some of the 

issues we need to 

campaign on and I realised 

that the present 

government has so far 

committed more than N660 

Gov Ahmed warns on hate 

speech, incitement 

I LORIN—GOVERNOR 

Abdulfatah Ahmed of 

Kwara State has warned 

religious and political 

leaders in the state against 

hate speech and 

incitements. 

Governor Ahmed, who 

handed down the warning 

during a stakeholders 

meeting with religious, 

political and labour leaders 

as well as members of 

security and executive 

councils at Government 

House, Ilorin, yesterday, 

cautioned opinion leaders 

and other members of the 

public against utterances 

which could overheat the 

polity. 

While emphasising the 

need for constructive 

criticism for improved 

governance, Governor 

Ahmed said criticism must 

be separated from 

incitements in order to move 

the state forward. 

billion in form of 

intervention to a sector that 

is already comatose without 

corresponding result. 

“They are also proposing 

to give bailout to the 

DISCOs. It's obvious that 

we are going the wrong 

direction, it has been made 

clear that it’s not about the 

resources. In the past 16 

years we have so far 

committed more than N11 

trillion to the power sector 

reforms and yet day-in 

day-out,what we have is 

renewal challenges of lack 

of power.” 

He further lamented the 

disconnection of street 

lights across Abuja 

metropolis, despite the 

payment of N500 million 

outstanding debt by the 

Federal Capital Territory 

Administration, FCTA,. 

Noting that reforms and 

privatisation had failed in 

some countries of the 

world, he urged President 

Buhari to review the entire 

reform in order to chart a 

new direction. 

Ayuba wondered why the 


should take tax payers 

money to fund the bailout 

for already privatised 

entities. 

He said if the new owners 

of the DISCOs lacked the 

capacity to manage the 

privatised assets, “then it is 

high time for government 

to review the process. 

Because up till now, we 

have not been able to attain 

10,000MW. We are still 

celebrating between 5,000 

and 6,500MW, while South 

Africa is looking beyond 

40,000MW.” 

On outstanding salaries at 

local government level, 

Ahmed challenged serving 

Transition Implementation 

Committees, TICs, and 

prospective local 

government chairmen to 

show capacity to raise 

revenues, noting that local 

government councils in the 

state had not done enough 

in revenue generation. 

Also speaking, the State 

Commissioner of Police, Mr. 

Lawan Ado, maintained 

that hate speech would be 

treated as terrorism in line 

with the directive of the Vice 

President, Prof. Yemi 

Osinbajo, at the recently 

held National Economic 

Council <strong>Security</strong> Summit in 

Abuja. 

Speakers at the meeting 

agreed that hate speech 

must be checked in order to 

ensure sustainable peace in 

the state and Nigeria as a 

whole. 

C

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017—5 

POCKET CARTOON 

SOLIDARITY—Special Adviser to the President on Media, Mr. Femi 

Adesina (r), receiving a letter from the Coordinators of Coalition of Igbo 

Groups for Buhari, Damian Igbokwe (l) and Nkem Anyata, while others watch, 

during a rally in support of President Buhari at the State House, Abuja, 

yesterday. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida. 

<strong>Security</strong> <strong>chiefs</strong> <strong>get</strong> <strong>orders</strong> 

on B-Haram, IPOB, others 

Continues from Page 1 

three hours, Chief of 

Defence Staff, CDS, 

General Gabriel 

Olonishakin, said the 

directive was to promote 

the unity of the country 

and protect lives and 

property of the citizenry. 

He said the security 

<strong>chiefs</strong> were told to 

enhance their operations 

and ensure that troops 

carried out their 

assignments effectively. 

He said: “We have been 

meeting with Mr. 

President for the last three 

hours. All we have done 

is to update him on all 

security issues around the 

country, within the 

country and outside the 

country where our troops 

are. 

“Of course, we have just 

updated him because he 

is aware of what’s been 

happening. He has been 

receiving regular 

briefings from the Acting 

President and he has also 

been going through the 

print and electronic media 

to follow the happenings 

within the country. 

“After the meeting, he 

gave directives on some 

areas we should look at so 

as to enhance our 

operations in the country. 

“In his address, he 

talked about the unity of 

the nation which is nonnegotiable 

and all the 

military have been fully 

instructed to ensure that 

that directive is carried 

out to the letter.” 

On whether there was a 

directive from President 

Buhari on alleged 

composition of secret 

service by the Indigenous 

People of Biafra, IPOB, he 

said: “The issues of 

security, every security 

IT'S UP TO YOU 

BY AYO ADIO - 08104802192 

Hope is essential,but to achieve anything 

worthwhile, you will need much more than hope. 

You will need a plan, a strategy, and a skill. It's up 

to you. 

TAKE HEART — Ella Randle 

Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile people 

live in a hostile world —Wayne Dyer 

OUR perception is mostly mirrored by what we 

feel inside. Life brings you to a point where 

nothing else matters but being true to your heart; 

always see the good in everyone, even when you 

are not accord same feelings. When you are good 

from the inside, it shows, there comes a time when 

that is just enough, because the truth is what it 

is...another loving being will feel and catch the 

wavelength of love you radiate. In a nutshell, you 

cannot give what you lack, so love yourself, love 

others and love God. 

SAYINGS OF OUR PEOPLE 

The size of a woman's buttocks, is not a 

measure of her strength. 

threat, all security threats 

were treated one after the 

other — ranging from 

terrorism to kidnapping, 

herdsmen/farmers clash, 

to the IPOB issue, all 

were treated. Comments 

were made as to what to 

do as regards those 

issues.” 

Asked whether the 

military was mobilizing 

forces to the South-East as 

a result of IPOB’s 

continuous agitation for 

self-determination of State 

of Biafra, Olonishakin 

said: “Every security 

(issue), like I said, has 

been treated and we are 

going to enhance our 

operations in all the areas 

we need to do that. 

“Like I said, he has 

given the necessary 

directives which will be 

carried out by the military 

and the security 

agencies.” 

On the assurance the 

service <strong>chiefs</strong> gave to the 

President on his directive, 

the Defence chief said: 

“The assurance is that he 

also directed that we must 

ensure that the lives and 

properties of the citizens 

are protected and we must 

make sure that we secure 

the whole nation and also 

that troops that are 

outside carry out their jobs 

effectively.” 

On the renewed 

onslaught of the Boko 

Haram in the North East, 

he said: “On the Boko 

Haram issue, you all 

know it is asymmetric 

warfare. It is not that the 

Boko Haram has stepped 

up their game, it is just 

the issue of suicide 

bombing that has been 

the problem. 

“Of course, we are also 

working with intelligence 

agencies to make sure that 

we address that menace.” 

It’s a wrong 

approach—Afenifere 

Reacting, pan-Yoruba 

socio-political 

organisation, Afenifere, 

said the President’s order 

was a wrong approach. 

Afenifere’s National 

Publicity Secretary, Mr 

Yinka Odumakin, who 

spoke for the group, said: 

“I do not think the 

President should deal 

with Boko Haram and 

IPOB in the same breath. 

Boko Haram and IPOB 

are not the same. 

“While Boko Haram is a 

terrorist organization that 

goes about bombing 

people and places, IPOB 

is an open organization. 

What IPOB has done is to 

call for a sit-at-home but 

Boko Haram is a terrorist 

group, except you want 

IPOB to go underground 

like Boko Haram. 

“It is a wrong approach. 

You cannot treat Boko 

Haram and an open 

organization like IPOB in 

the same manner.” 

We’re not 

surprised, but 

IPOB’s not a 

terrorist 

organisation 

—ECA, Igbo 

leaders 

In its reaction, Eastern 

Consultative Assembly, 

ECA, through its 

Secretary, Evangelist 

Elliot Ugochuchukwu- 

Uko, said: “We are not 

surprised; it is part of the 

hatred. He can lump 

IPOB to<strong>get</strong>her with ISIS. 

We even expect him to 

change the name of 

Enugu to Islamabad. 

“We are asking that 

Nigeria be restructured. 

Those killed before were 

not armed and did not 

commit any known 

offence. 

“What we are saying is 

that Nigeria must be 

restructured, nothing 

more and nothing less. It 

is part of Buhari’s hatred 

for Ndigbo but we are 

resolute that Nigeria must 

be restructured. IPOB is 

not a terrorist organization 

and we are not surprised 

with this horrifying 

decision. 

Also, the Igbo Leaders 

of Thought , ILT, said it 

would rather watch than 

comment on the explosive 

situation. 

The secretary, Professor 

Elochukwu Amucheazi, 

said: “We won’t talk now; 

let’s watch the 

development. 

Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 in 

Bible tells us that there is 

time for everything. It says 

that to everything, there 

is a season and a time to 

every purpose under the 

heaven…” 

What IPOB’s 

doing is legal 

—IPOB Ebonyi 

Also reacting, the 

leadership of the 

Indigenous People of 

Biafra, IPOB, in Ebonyi 

State, said the President’s 

order was divisive and 

did not address issues 

necessary for national 

unity and development. 

In a statement in 

Abakaliki, the Deputy 

Coordinator of IPOB in 

Ebonyi State, Mr. 

Ugochukwu Nweke, said: 

“What IPOB is doing is 

legal and we are not 

afraid. The President 

should address Boko 

Haram in the North-East, 

the unfortunate quit 

notice by the Arewa 

youths, how to boost the 

economy and the welfare 

of citizens in Nigeria. He 

doesn’t have the right to 

threaten IPOB or any 

group.” 

PSC approves promotion 

of 6,455 senior police 

officers 

By Kingsley 

Omonobi 

ABUJA—THE Police 

Service Commission, 

PSC, has approved the 

promotion of 6,455 senior 

police officers. 

The promotion was based 

on recommendations from 

the Inspector General of 

Police, Idris Ibrahim. 

The commission also 

returned to the IGP all 

recommendations 

pertaining to special 

promotions. 

This came as its Special 

Committee investigating 

the issues arising from it has 

since begun sitting. 

A statement signed by 

Ikechukwu Ani, 

spokesman of the 

Commission, said: 

"Mohimi D. Edgal and Aji 

Ali Janga, Deputy 

Commissioners of Police 

were appointed Acting 

Commissioners of Police. 

“The promotions and 

other decisions of the 

commission, signed by the 

Commission’s Chairman, 

Dr. Mike Mbama Okiro, 

will be conveyed to the 

Inspector General of Police 

for implementation.” 

A breakdown of the new 

promotions showed that 

CP. Hilda Ibifuro-Harrison, 

was promoted to the next 

rank of Assistant Inspector 

General of Police, AIG, 

while two Deputy 

Commissioners of Police, 

Ajani Olasupo Babatunde, 

and Olukola Taira Shina, 

were promoted to the rank 

of Commissioners of Police. 

47 Superintendents of 

Police were elevated to 

Chief Superintendents of 

Police, while 498 Deputy 

Superintendents of Police 

were promoted to the next 

rank of Superintendents of 

Police. 

Similarly, 5,907 

Inspectors were also 

promoted to the rank of 

Assistant Superintendents 

of Police, ASP. 

Naira Watch 

Naira gains as NAFEX 

records $100.29m 

By Babajide Komolafe 

THE Naira yesterday recorded marginal appre 

ciation in the Investors & Exporters (I&E) window 

as the volume of dollars traded declined to 

$100.29 million. 

Data from Financial Market Dealers Quote 

(FMDQ) showed that the indicative exchange rate 

for the I&E window, known as Nigeria Autonomous 

Foreign Exchange (NAFEX), dropped to N359.6 per 

dollar yesterday from N360 per dollar on Monday, 

indicating four kobo appreciation for the naira. 

However, the volume of dollars declined by 39 per 

cent to $100.29 million from $165.29 million on 

Monday. But the naira remained stable at N370 per 

dollar in the parallel market.

6—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017 

By Evelyn Usman 

LAGOS—TWO suspected 

members of a gang of pirates 

have been arrested by operatives 

of the Inspector-General of Police 

Intelligence Response Team and 

Tactical Intelligence Unit, TIU, at 

Iworo/Ajido community in 

Badagry area of Lagos State. 

One of the suspects, Mustapha 

Sunmola, 48, a herbalist, was 

alleged to be the gang’s amourer 

and also prepared charms for the 

gang. Three AK-47 rifles and live 

ammunition belonging to the 

gang, were recovered from his 


Pirates' three AK-47 rifles found in herbalist's shrine 

18-yr-old 

cleaner defiles 

3-year-old 

pupil 

A 

teenage boy, 

Emmanuel Gabriel, 

who allegedly defiled a 

three-year-old girl, is facing 

trial at an Ikeja chief 

magistrate’s court. 

Gabriel, 18, a cleaner, who 

resides at Shasha, a suburb 

of Lagos, was arraigned for 

child defilement. 

Inspector Clifford Ogu, 

the prosecutor, told the 

court that the offence was 

committed on July 25 at Air 

Force Primary School, 

Shasha, Lagos. 

Ogu said the accused, 

who is a cleaner in the 

school the minor attends, 

was caught by one of the 

teachers. 

He said: “He was caught 

fingering the minor, but ran 

away. Efforts by the Police 

to arrest him proved 

abortive until he was 

apprehended at his friend’s 

house.” 

The accused pleaded not 

guilty to the charge. 

Chief Magistrate Taiwo 

Akanni granted the 

accused N250,000 bail with 

two sureties in like sum and 

adjourned the case until 

September 20 for mention. 

shrine. 

Their arrest, according to 

Police sources, followed 

intelligence report on a transborder 

gang, which attacked 

boats along Benin Republic- 

Nigeria route. 

Suspect fingers 

Benin Republic bizman 

However, during 

interrogation, one of the 

suspects, Seth Akpot, 40, 

disclosed that the recovered 

weapons belong to a 

businessman in Benin 

Republic. 

By Kingsley Omonobi 

& Joseph Erunke 

ABUJA—ONE of the 26 

suspected kidnappers and 

robbers paraded at the Police 

Force Headquarters, yesterday, 

revealed that they work with 

relatives of tar<strong>get</strong>ed victims 

during operations. 

Some of the 26 suspects, 

according to Police authorities, 

have been terrorising motorists 

in Niger and Kogi States as 

well as the popular Abuja- 

Kaduna Highway. 

The kidnap suspects, 

according to the Police, usually 

rape the female victims in 

their custody. 

Parading the suspects 

yesterday at the Ibrahim 

Coomasie Divisional Police 

Station at Gawu Babangida, 

in Gurara Local Government 

Area of Niger State, Force 

Public Relations Officer, 

Jimoh Moshood, said the 

suspects were arrested at 

different locations. 

The suspects paraded 

include, Isa Umar, Nuhu 

Yahaya, Sanda Saleh, Ali Ali, 

Okechukwu Atama, 

Mohammed Aliyu, Haruna 

Adamu, Adamu Bello, 

Akpot, in his confessional 

statement, denied being a 

pirate. Rather, he claimed that 

the weapons were handed to 

him by the businessman 

whose identity he gave simply 

as Alphones. 

He said: “I am a fisherman, 

not a pirate. I met one man 

named Alphonse last year 

through Baba Ibeji, a customer 

that bought fish from me. 

When he (Baba Beji) 

relocated, I started selling fish 

to Alphonse. 

“He bought between 

N25,000 and N40,000 worth of 

fish, three times a month, 

from me. He is a rich man in 

Benin Republic. I know he is 

into oil bunkering because he 

used to send boats from 

Cotonou to Lagos to load 

products in jerry cans. 

“One day, he handed me a 

bag containing three guns, 

from his speed boat. He 

actually told me they were 

guns and begged me to help 

him keep them, with a 

promise to pay me. 

“But he did not mention 

how much he would pay me 

for keeping them; he only 

We collaborate with victims' 

relatives, says kidnap suspect 

said he wanted to help me, that 

I was a good person. I 

transferred the guns from his 

speed boat into my boat and took 

them to my maternal uncle’s 

(pointing to the herbalist) place 

because I didn’t know where 

else to keep them.” 

My sister’s son brought 

the guns—Herbalist 

On his part, the herbalist also 

denied preparing charms for the 

gang. He admitted to have 

collected the weapons from his 

nephew who he said promised 

to come for them later. 

The kidnapping and robbery suspects and items recovered from them, paraded by Force 

Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, at Divisional Headquarters, Gawu Babangida, Gurara 

Local Government Area, Niger State, yesterday. PHOTO: Gbemiga Olamikan. 

Abubakar Iliyasu, Safiyu 

Mohammed among others, 

adding that the suspects 

were arrested between 

August 16 and 22. 

Items recovered from them 

include four AK-47 rifles, 

cutlasses, cell phones, wrist 

watches, military camouflage 

and personal effects of their 

N3.170m devt fund splits Anambra community 

By Sunday Nwafor 

CONCERNED members of 

Egbeani Ezeawulu 

community in Nibo, Awka South 

Local Government Area of 

Anambra State have called on its 

embattled Chairman, Mr. 

Ignatius Okelekwe, to give 

account of his stewardship, 

alleging that N3.170 million 

belonging to the community 

could not be accounted for. 

One of the aggrieved members 

of the community, Mr. Onyeka 

Egbe, claimed that the alleged 

misconduct of Okelekwe resulted 

in the disapproval of his 

leadership by members of the 

community. 

Egbe, who spoke on behalf of 

the community, said: “Ubom has 

spent N3.170 million without the 

exclusive consent and approval 

of his executive members and 

the entire community. 

“We have been pestering him 

to conduct and preside over a 

meeting for us since January, 

but he refused because he 

knows we are going to grill him 

on accountability. 

“Our Constitution provides 

that we must hold meetings 

once in a month, particularly 

on Oye market day. Section 39 

Paragraph C, empowers the 

Chairman to conduct and 

preside over a meeting. 

“Also the same paragraph 

equally gave the constitutional 

right to seven executive 

members to preside over a 

meeting, which we had and 

resolved that Mr. Ignatius 

Okelekwe having seen his 

unproductive strengths, has 

stopped to be our Chairman. 

“He does the work of all the 

executive members, which 

unequivocally contradicts the 

provisions of our Constitution. 

The principle of Separation of 

Powers should be adhered to. 

Now that he has gone to sue 

over eight of us in Awka High 

Court, let us wait and see who 

will laugh last.” 

They’re afraid of me 

—Embattled chairman 

However, Okelekwe, who 

spoke to Vanguard, denied the 

allegation saying “they lied 

against me.” 

He said: “It is the work of my 

enemies who are antiprogressives. 

They hate 

progress and community 

victims. 

Moshood noted that some 

of the suspects also 

specialised in raping their 

victims, noting that the 

suspects had made 

confessional statements to 

the Police on the various 

roles each of them play in 

their operations. 

development. 

“Though they have seen 

my abilities and believe me, 

they are afraid of me. It is only 

a fool that will exchange 

words with them. 

“The cause of all these name 

calling and accusations is my 

stand that the over 40 plots of 

land they wanted to take 

through the back door was not 

included in the general survey 

of our Ani-Agu Ugbo. 

“I am not in possession of 

their chequebook. I did not 

divide my cabinet; they did 

and their actions warranted 

me to go to court. 

“The money they are talking 

about is the one I used to fix 

necessary things in the 

community— roads and 

boreholes.” 

He said the arrest followed 

clean-up operations by the 

Operation Absolute Sanity in 

Niger, Kaduna, Benue and 

Kogi states. 

“The operation is going to be 

sustained and the war against 

crime will be extended to every 

part of the country,” he said. 

Confession 

One of the suspects, 

Abubakar Mohammed, 20, 

from Bauchi State, said he has 

been in the crime for over two 

years, adding that the 

syndicate usually work with 

relatives of their victims before 

embarking on any operation. 

He said they collect ransom 

starting from N2 million from 

relatives of kidnapped victims 

and that he used his own share 

of the money to invest in 

trading. 

Also contributing, Village 

Head of Lambata, assured that 

members of his community will 

cooperate with the Police to 

fight crime in the area. 

He said: “Members of the 

community were ready to give 

Police all the necessary and 

useful information to ensure 

the provision of security of lives 

and properties.”



He said: “My sister’s son 

brought the guns. He said they 

used it to work in the ship and 

promised to come with his friend 

to collect them. 

“But to my surprise, three 

weeks later, he led policemen to 

my shrine where the guns were 

kept. I am not a member of any 

robbery gang; neither do I 

prepare charms for any gang. 

Yes, I am a herbalist; I prepare 

herbs to cure strange ailments 

as well as for those looking for 

the fruit of the womb.” 

Police sources hinted that the 

suspects will be charged to court 

soon, while effort was still on to 

arrest their alleged sponsor. 

Pregnant woman, 8 others die in Benin 

auto crash 

By Gabriel Enogholase 

BENIN—NINE persons 

were killed, yesterday, in a 

road accident involving a tipper 

lorry and a commercial bus 

along Upper Sakponba Road in 

Ikpoba-Okha Local Government 

Area of Edo State. 

The accident, according to an 

eyewitness, occurred at about 

6a.m. along Upper Sakponba 

Road near Oka Market, when a 

tipper lorry rammed into a 

commercial bus that was picking 

passengers by the roadside. 

All the passengers in the 

commercial bus, with number 

plates, BEN 435 ZN, died. 

Six of the passengers, 

including a pregnant woman, 

died on the spot, while others 

died at the hospital they were 

rushed to. 

The incident sparked protest 

from family members, friends 

and other commercial drivers 

plying the route. 

By Nwabueze Okonkwo 

HOMICIDE detectives 

attached to Anambra State 

Police Criminal Investigations 

Department, CID, are working 

round the clock to unmask 

culprits responsible for killing 

one Mr. Emmanuel Nwankwo, 

a father of six and a vigilante 

operative attached to Okpoko 

community in Ogbaru Local 

Government Area of the state. 

Nwankwo, a native of Ebonyi 

State, was hacked to death by a 

group of rampaging youths over 

leadership tussle in Okpoko 

community. 

The leadership tussle is 

between its President, Chief 

Edwin Emesinwa and Chairman 

of the caretaker committee, Mr. 

Linus Ezenwanma. 

Court judgment 

Emesinwa had approached an 

Onitsha High Court, presided 

over by Justice Chudi Nwankwo 

asking the court to reinstate him 

‘I don’t know how human skull, ribs came into my possession’ 

A 

30-year-old man, Shehu 

Gidado, yesterday, told an 

Iyaganku chief magistrate’s 

court, Ibadan, that he does not 

know how a human skull and 

ribs came into his possession. 

Gidado, who resides at Iba 

New Site, Okokomaiko, Lagos 

State, is facing a count charge 

of unlawful possession of 

human skull. 

The prosecutor, Inspector 

Sunday Fatola, told the court that 

Gidado on August 7, at about 

2:30p.m., along Ogbomoso- 

Ilorin Road, had in his 

possession a human skull. 

He alleged that the accused 

The mangled remains of the c ommercial bus (left) and the burnt tipper lorry (right), 

Tipper driver 

escapes lynching 

The protesters lit bonfires on 

the road, while commercial 

drivers suspended work. They 

also set the tipper lorry ablaze, 

but the driver was said to have 

escaped from the accident scene 

immediately it occurred. 

as President of Okpoko town 

union. 

The court, which ruled in his 

favour, directed Ezenwanma, a 

nominee of the state 

government, to step down as 

chairman, caretaker committee 

of the town union. 

Armed with the court 

judgement, Emesinwa and his 

executive used the court bailiff 

and some policemen to flush 

Ezenwanma and his committee 

members out of office and then 

took over the mantle of 

leadership of the community. 

Attack 

Barely 48 hours after Emesinwa 

and his supporters assumed 

office at the union’s secretariat, 

a group of armed men 

launched an attack against 

them at the secretariat. 

In the ensuing encounter, 

Nwankwo, the vigilante 

operative was hacked to death, 

while three of his colleagues, 

who accompanied him, 

was also in possession of two 

different human ribs without 

lawful authority. 

Arrested 

Fatola told the court that 

Police operatives at a 

checkpoint, stopped the 

commercial bus, and found on 

the accused the items 

wrapped in a black polythene 

bag. 

He said: “Materials 

suspected to be human parts 

were found in a polythene bag 

owned by Gidado and he was 

unable to give satisfactory 

explanation on how he got 

At the Central Hospital 

morgue, families were seen 

coming in to identify their 

relatives. Contacted, Edo 

Sector Commander of the 

Federal Road Safety Corps, 

FRSC, Samuel Odukoya, 

confirmed the incident and 

said nine persons died. 

escaped death by the 

whiskers. 

Police story 

Several attempts to reach 

the state Police Public 

Relations Officer, ASP 

Nkiruka Nwode, failed as 

she did not pick calls to her 

phone. 

However, confirming 

Nwankwo’s death, the 

Divisional Police Officer at 

Okpoko, Mr. Gabriel 

Elaigwu, who told newsmen 

that his (Nwankwo’s) corpse 

had been deposited at the 

nearby hospital mortuary, 

while he had sent a signal 

to the state CID for thorough 

investigations. 

Eliagwu, a Chief 

Superintendent of Police, 

noted that he could not dabble 

into the matter because before 

the incident, both Emesinwa 

and Ezenwanma had already 

been on each others’ throat, 

leading to Ezenwanma 

reporting the matter at Zone 

9 Police Headquarters, 

them.” 

The law 

Fatola said the offence 

contravened the provisions of 

Section 329 (1) of the 

Criminal Code Cap 38, Vol. 

II Laws of Oyo State, 2000. 

The accused pleaded not 

guilty to the charge. 

The Chief Magistrate, Mr. 

Abdulateef Adebisi, granted 

the accused bail in the sum of 

N200,000 with two sureties in 

like sum and adjourned the 

case until November 20 for 

hearing. 

He said the protesters 

prevented his men from 

<strong>get</strong>ting access to the scene. 

A bus driver, who gave his 

name as Osas, said they 

decided not to work to protest 

recklessness of tipper drivers 

in Benin, who have little or 

no regard for other road users. 

Man hacked to death, as leadership tussle turns bloody 

in Anambra community 

Umuahia, while Emesinwa 

headed to Inspector- 

General’s office in Abuja. 

He added that the matter 

was being investigated at that 

top level and as such now 

beyond his control. 

Accusation, 

counter-accusation 

When contacted, Emesinwa 

told Vanguard that he 

was in Umuahia, where he 

had gone to lodge complaint 

against Ezenwanma to the 

IGP’s squad at Zone 9 Umuahia. 

However, Ezenwanma said 

Emesinwa and his group 

should be thoroughly 

investigated about the 

murder, because they were 

the ones that came to take over 

the mantle of leadership in his 

absence and in a seat which, 

according to him, is not 

vacant by virtue of his 

appointment by the state 

government as Chairman of 

Okpoko town union caretaker 

committee. 

Banker, trader 

docked over 

$40,000 fraud 

By Onozure Dania 

LAGOS—A banker, 

Beatrice Nwanna, 33, 

and a trader at Oyingbo 

Market, Okwudili 

Onyetube, 41, who 

allegedly obtained 40,000 

Dollars from a man under 

the guise of exchanging it 

with the Naira equivalent, 

were, yesterday, charged 

before an Igbosere 

magistrate’s court, Lagos. 

Nwanna, who is attached 

to the Ladipo branch of a 

bank and Onyetube are 

standing trial on a fourcount 

charge bordering on 

conspiracy, fraud and 

stealing, preferred against 

them by the Police. 

The prosecutor, ASP 

Henry Obiazi, told the court 

that the defendants 

committed the alleged 

offence sometime in 

February 2015, at Okota 

area of Lagos. 

According to him, 

Nwanna conspired with 

Onyetube and one Daniel, 

who is at large, to defraud 

one Obinna Ezenwaka of 

the said amount, under 

false pretence that they 

were going to give him the 

Naira equivalent, which 

they failed to do. 

Obiazi said the first 

defendant had approached 

Ezenwaka and informed 

him that she could help him 

<strong>get</strong> the Dollar equivalent of 

N20.6 million, which is 

$100,000, which she failed 

to do. 

He said: “After the first 

defendant collected N20.6 

million from the 

complainant, she stopped 

picking his calls and also 

refused to return the Dollar 

equivalent. After several 

search for her, she later 

came to pay 50,000 

Dollars.” 

The duo, arraigned before 

Chief Magistrate Abimbola 

Komolafe, however, 

pleaded not guilty to the 

charge against them. 

Counsel to the defendants, 

Lanre Adaramimo, 

urged the court to grant 

them bail in liberal term, 

but the prosecutor objected 

to the bail. 

Magistrate Komolafe 

granted them bail in the 

sum of N3 million each 

with two sureties each in 

like sum. 

She said that the sureties 

must be gainfully 

employed and show 

affidavit of means, show 

proof of bank account, show 

evidence of three years tax 

payment to Lagos State 

government and have their 

addresses verified. 

The court adjourned the 

case till September 19.

C 

M 

Y 

K 

8 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017 


LAUTECH’ll soon resume, 

says governing council chair 

By Gbenga 

Olarinoye 

O SOGBO—THE 

Pro-Chancellor 

and Chairman of the 

Governing Council of 

Ladoke Akintola 

University of Technology, 

LAUTECH, Ogbomoso, 

Professor Oladapo 

Afolabi, has given 

assurance that the 

protracted strike action 

embarked upon by the 

university workers will 

end in days. 

He also said that the 

Council had embarked 

on inclement effort to set 

up lasting solution to the 

challenges confronting 

the university. 

Prof Oladapo made 

this known at a press 

conference held at 

Ladoke Akintola 

University of Technology, 

College of Health 

Ekiti Commission summons 

Fayemi, Coscharis Motors, others 

By Rotimi 

Ojomoyela 

A DO-EKITI—THE 

J u d i c i a l 

Commission of Inquiry 

set up by the Ekiti State 

government to 

investigate financial 

dealings during the 

administration of the 

Minister for Steel and 

Minerals Resources 

Development, Dr Kayode 

Fayemi will begin 

proceedings next week 

Monday at the State 

High Court premises in 

Ado Ekiti. 

The setting up of the 

enquiry was in strict 

compliance with section 

two of the Ekiti State Law 

on the establishment of 

Judicial Commission of 

Enquiry. The law under 

which the commission 

was set up was signed into 

Law in 2012 by Dr. Kayode 

Fayemi, which means it is 

an extant Law, a Law of the 

state and not intended to 

witch-hunt anybody. 

The Commission of 

Inquiry headed by 

retired Justice, Silas 

Oyewole, has summoned 

Dr Fayemi, who is a 

former governor of the 

State, former 

Commissioner for 

Finance; Mr Dapo 

Kolawole, Executive 

Secretary of the 

Universal Basic 

Education Commission, 

Ado Ekiti Branch 

Manager of Access Bank, 

Sciences, Osogbo, Osun 

State. 

His words “We had our 

inaugural meeting at the 

main campus in 

Ogbomoso, on August 

9,2017 and charted for 

ourselves a 90-day action 

plan which has started 

in earnest. We are 

determined to bring 

LAUTECH to Canaan. 

“We have set time-lines 

that are achievable for 

the activities of Council 

in handling the 

challenging task of 

resuscitating the 

University and 

redirecting its resources 

towards fulfilling the 

vision of the founding 

fathers,’’ he said. 

Prof. Oladapo also 

declared that the Council 

is not sleeping nor 

insensitive to the 

incessant strike by the 

staff community of the 

institution. 

Director General of the 

<strong>Security</strong>, Managing 

Director of Coscharis 

Motors Limited, Tianjin- 

Yuyang Construction 

Eng. Ltd, CASA Nig Ltd 

and Exchange 

Commission and 

Managing Director of 

SCOA Nigeria Limited. 

An Ado-Ekiti High 

Court had rejected an 

application filed by Dr 

Fayemi, seeking an 

interim order to restrain 

the judicial commission 

of inquiry from probe his 

administration. 

Justice Lekan 

Ogunmoye in a ruling 

held that Fayemi’s 

request for an interim 

order could not be 

granted because the 

defendants had filed a 

notice of preliminary 

injunction challenging 

the competence of the 

court to hear the 

substantive suit. 

The notice issued by 

Secretary to the 

Commission, Mr Gbenga 

Adaramola, read; 

“Consequent upon the 

inauguration of the 

Judicial Commission of 

Inquiry into the finances 

of Ekiti State between 

2010 and 2014 by the Ekiti 

State Government, the 

Commission will 

commence the public 

hearing and the following 

witnesses would be called, 

examined and/or crossexamined 

as indicated 

hereunder.” 

32 CROWNED OBAS IN IBADAN: It's a joke 

carried too far — OLUBADAN 

By Ola Ajayi 

I BADAN—THE 

Olubadan of 

Ibadanland, Oba Saliu 

Adetunji, has again raised 

objection to the review of 

1957 Olubadan chieftaincy 

declaration saying he will 

never support the move. 

In his reaction to the 

recommendation that 32 

beaded-crown wearing 

kings be recognised in his 

domain, he said the review 

being midwived by 

Governor Abiola Ajimobi 

was nothing but a “joke 

carried too far”. 

Speaking through his 

Director of Media, Mr 

Adeola Oloko, Olubadan 

expressed his displeasure 

at the comments by the 

Commissioner for Local 

Government and 

Chieftaincy Matters, Mr. 

Bimbo Kolade, on a private 

radio station. The Oba said 

his opposition to the 

chieftaincy review 

embarked upon by the State 

Government stands. 

According to the 

monarch, the erroneous 

impression in that interview 

was that Kabiyesi had at 

one time opposed the 

chieftaincy review then 

changed his mind to 

support it. This, he said, 

was far from the truth. 

Olubadan said; “For the 

avoidance of doubt, there 

was never a time that 

Olubadan supported the 

review. This was why the 

first class monarch did not 

submit any memorandum 

nor make any presentation 

to the panel. 

“When last week the 

panel submitted its report 

to the State Governor, the 

public would vividly 

ASUU STRIKE: UI terminates first semester 

By Monsuru 

Olowoopejo 

F OLLOWING 

ongoing Academic 

Staff Union of Universities, 

ASUU strike, the University 

of Ibadan, UI, has 

terminated the first 

semester, shifting activities 

left in the semester, 

especially examination, to 

second semester. 


University, whatever was 

left in first semester 

examination will hold in 

second semester, to bridge 

the time wasted. 

It was gathered that 

students mostly affected by 

the decision were those 

under the institution’s 

Open Distance Learning, 

ODL, centre. 

The centre in a statement 

CONFERENCE: From left; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Economic 

Planning & Bud<strong>get</strong>, Mr. Abayomi Kadiri; member, Nigerian Statistical 

Association (NSA), Mr. Oladejo Ajayi; Commissioner for Establishment, 

Training & Pensions, Dr. Akintola Benson; Vice President of NSA & Chairman, 

Local Organising Committee for 2017 NSA International Conference, Mr. Olubusoye 

Olusanya and Special Adviser to the Governor on Commerce, Industry & 

Cooperatives, Mr. Adeyemi Olabinjo during the courtesy visit of the NSA delegation 

to the Lagos State Government at the Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja yesterday. 

remember that Olubadan 

was not in the picture at all, 

because he was not invited. 

Both the young and old in 

Ibadan know that the 

Ibadan chieftaincy system 

is not a creation of the 

government. It is a creation 

of Ibadan people. No king, 

no governor, no elite, no 

High Chief has the right to 

tamper with the system 

without recourse to our 

people. How many town 

hall meetings has the state 

government convened 

before arriving at the 

conclusion that Ibadan 

deserves 32 crowns? 

“To show ignorance of 

our tradition, the panel 

lumped our highly 

respected High Chiefs with 

baales who are always 

nominated by the family 

Mogajis. Secondly, if the 

signed by its 

communication officer, 

Dayo Olajide, said that a 

separate time table would 

be designed for the 

outstanding papers. 

A KURE—LOCAL 

government 

workers under the aegis of 

the Nigerian Union of Local 

Government Employees 

NULGE, Ondo state 

chapter, yesterday in their 

thousands staged a rally in 

support of local 

government autonomy in 

the country. 

The National President of 

NULGE, Comrade Ibrahim 

Khaleel, said at the rally in 

traditional institution wants 

a review, it is not the duty 

of government to 

spearhead such. It is the 

duty of the Olubadan-in- 

Odu’a, ABUAD to invest N12bn 

to convert moribund textile firm 

By Rotimi 

Ojomoyela 

A DO-EKITI—A 

N12billion 

investment is being 

planned for the conversion 

of the moribund textile 

industry in Ado Ekiti to 

industrial park by the 

Odu’a group of Companies 

in partnership with Afe 

Babalola University, Ado 

Ekiti, ABUAD. 

The Investment which 

He said: “All outstanding 

2016/2017 first semester 

examinations would 

concluded a week before 

commencement of second 

semester examination. 

‘LG autonomy’ll checkmate 

corruption' 

Akure that granting 

autonomy will “checkmate 

corruption in the country 

while local government will 

be empowered politically 

and financially. 

They marched to the state 

House of Assembly to seek 

their endorsement of the 

bill. 

Khaleel, said the rally 

became imperative to keep 

the lawmakers abreast of the 

development before the bill 

is being transmitted to them 

for ratification. 

Council to sit down and 

look at what they want to 

recommend and register 

same to the State 

Government for approval.'' 

was also part of effort to 

salvage the assets of the 

deserted factory, would 

include the establishment of 

a vocational and skills 

centre as well as academic 

centre, where diploma in 

three engineering courses 

and Advanced level 

certificates would be 

awarded. 

Speaking at the formal 

presentation of the project 

design for effective 

utilisation of the old Odu’a 

textile mills, ABUAD’ 

founder, Chief Afe 

Babalola(SAN), who 

expressed regret at the level 

of retrogression in economic 

and technological 

development of the country, 

said the Nigeria was at par 

with Brazil and India in 

terms of industrial 

development in the 60s. 

Babalola said while the 

two other countries fought 

hard to sustain their 

industrial development 

strategies, Nigeria derailed 

which he said accounted for 

the moribund of some of the 

companies that thrived in 

the past. 

“The British said that 

Nigeria, India and Brazil 

would join the league of 

advanced countries in the 

60’s. But today, when the 

two other countries got it 

right and joined them, 

Nigeria didn’t . This is 

worrisome and disturbing,'' 

he said.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017 — 9 


CONFERENCE: From left; Anastasia Gbem, Chairman, Board of trustees, African 

Women Lawyers Association (AWLA); Mandy Demechi-Asagba, President, AWLA; 

Mrs Abiola Soladoye, Chief Registrar of Lagos State judiciary, representing Hon 

Justice Funmilayo Atilade; Mrs Bolanle Ambode, First Lady of Lagos State; Chief 

Folake Solanke, SAN; Nana Oye Lithur, AWLA Ghana, Guest Speaker; and Mr 

Rudolt Ezeani,Executive Director, African Bar Association at AWLA Nigeria 2017 

conference at NIIA, Kofo Abayomi St, VI, Lagos. Photos by Akeem Salau. 

BOAT MISHAP: LASG donates 

life jackets to communities 

By Olasunkanmi 

Akoni 

L 

A G O S — 

FOLLOWING 

recent boat mishap 

which occurred in 

Ilashe community, in 

Badagry area, Lagos 

State Government has 

concluded plans to 

distribute life jackets to 

residents of some rural 

communities in the state 

for safety purposes. 

In a joint statement, 

yesterday, by the 

Chairman of the State’s 

Ferry Services 

Corporation, Mr. Paul 

Kalejaye and the 

General Manager of the 

State Waterways 

Authority, LASWA, Ms 

Abisola Kamson, the 


THE Lagos Elders’ 

Council, chaired 

by Alhaji Musiliu 

Anibaba, has assured the 

entire indigenes of the 

state that the group will 

play its paternal role of 

protecting and 

preserving their 

interests. 

In a statement in Lagos 

by its Organising 

Secretary, Chief Sunbo 

Onitiri, and Publicity 

Secretary, Olumide 

Braithwaite at the end of 

a crucial meeting held 

yesterday, the council 

also promised to work 

with all other 

organisations of 

indigenes to move the 

state forward. 

The elders unanimously 

agreed that the council 

gesture is aimed at 

stemming loss of lives 

in boat mishaps along 

the waterways in the 

state. 

The Acting 


Transportation, Prince 

Anofiu Elegushi is 

expected to lead 

government delegation 

for the distribution. 

Kamson, however, 

added that the state had 

always given out life 

jackets, “The event is 

another in the series of 

life jacket distribution 

by the state government 

towards ensuring that 

safety measures, standards 

and precautions put in 

place and are complied 

with by those who use 

the service.” 

Lagos elders vow to protect 

indigenes' interests 

should hold a symposium 

sometime in October on 

topical issues affecting 

the indigenes of Lagos 

State. 

The council noted that 

the assurance became 

necessary following 

complaints from the 

youths who are 

indigenes, bothering on 

marginalization in 

e m p l o y m e n t 

opportunities in the State 

Civil Service, 

discrimination in political 

positions and irregularities 

in land allocation to the 

detriment of proper 

Lagosians from 1999 to 

date. 

The Elders Council also 

noted that the state 

government has lost 

touch with the real 

Lagosians, which they 

said was regrettable. 

By Innocent Anaba 

LAGOS—A Federal 

High Court sitting in 

Lagos, yesterday, ordered 

that four buildings and 

properties scattered in 

Lagos and River States, and 

Abuja, valued at N2. 

611billion, linked to the 

former Minister of 

Petroleum, Diezani Allison- 

Madueke and her 

associates be temporary 

forfeited to the Federal 

Government over allegedly 

being purchased from the 

proceeds of corruption. 

Trial judge, Justice 

AbdulAziz Anka, gave the 

order following an ex-parte 

application argued by 

counsel to Economic and 

Financial Crimes 

Commission, EFCC, Mr. 

Anselm Ozioko. 

Respondents in the suit 

are: Mrs. Alison-Madueke, 

Mr. Donald Amamgbo, 

Chapel Properties Limited, 

Blue Nile Estate Limited, 

Azinga Meadows Limited 

and Vistapoints Property 

Development Limited. 

The properties ordered to 

be temporary forfeited to 


LAGOS—THE Lagos 

State Government 

said it will resume the 

sale of Lake Rice at 

approved retail outlets 

across the state from 

tomorrow, ahead of the 

Eid-el-Kabir celebration. 

The 

state’s 


Agriculture, Mr 

Oluwatoyin Suarau, said 

this yesterday while 

reviewing the modalities 

for the distribution of the 

rice across the state. 

From left; Mrs Adepeju Quadri, Vice President, AWLA; Mrs Uwala Murphy- 

Akpieyi, Chairman, Lagos Island/Epe AWLA; Mandy Demechi-Asagba, President 

and Mrs Cordelia Eke, Coordinator, AWLA, Rivers State Branch 

DIEZANI: Court <strong>orders</strong> temporary forfeiture 

of N2.611bn property 

include: 21 mixed housing 

units of eight numbers of 

four bedrooms penthouse 

apartment, six numbers of 

three bedrooms 

apartments, two numbers 

of three bedrooms 

apartment and one 

numbers of four bedrooms 

apartment, all ensuit, 

located at 7, Thurnburn 

Street, and 5 Raymond 

Street, Yaba, Lagos, valued 

at N937 million. 

L 

A 

G O S — 

SECRETARY to 

Lagos State Government, 

SSG, Mr. Tunji Bello, has 

expressed confidence in 

Lagos becoming the African 

version of a Hong Kong in 

the next 50 years, saying, 

the greatest challenge 

against achieving the feat 

is the present federalist 

structure. 

Bello, who stated this at 

the Special Lagos State 

Showcase Session during 

Others are 16-four 

bedrooms terrace, located at 

Heritage Court Estate, 

Omerelu Street, Diobu 

GRA, Port-Harcourt, River 

State, valued at N928 

million, 13-three bedrooms 

with one room maid’s 

quarter, situated at 

Mabushi Gardens Estate, 

Plot 1205, Cadastral Zone 

B06, Mabushi, Abuja, 

valued at N650 million and 

six flats of three bedrooms 

and one boys quarter, 

located at Plot 808 (135) 

the on-going 2017 

Nigerian Bar Association 

Annual Conference, 

holding at Oniru Estates, 

stressed that with the 

capacity and potentials, 

Lagos has all it takes to be 

the next Hong Kong in 

nearest future. 

According to him, “Let 

me give you a clear poser. 

Would the Apapa Port and 

the Lagos International 

Airport remain so derelict 

and obsolete if they were 

allowed to be managed by 

proper private investors 

under the local authorities 

as it is in most advanced 

economies? 

“The promise of true 

federalism is to unbundle 

and exploit the untapped 

and hidden potentials of 

each state, create 

employment opportunities 

for our teeming working 

population, particularly for 

the large army of 

unemployed guarantee a 

better future for us all. It is 

time to move forward and 

truly practice what is just 

for a true federation”, he 

added. 

Bello therefore, called for 

a stoppage to the present 

practice of skewed 

federalism or ‘military 

Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, 

Lagos, valued at N805 

million. 

The EFCC in seeking the 

order had alleged that the 

properties were purchased 

by the former Petroleum 

Minister, Diezani and her 

cohort, Mr. Amamgbo, 

using four companies, 

namely; Chapel Properties 

Limited, Blue Nile Estate 

Limited, Azinga Meadows 

Nigeria Limited and 

Vistapoint Property 

Development Limited. 

...Says accurate data needed for inclusive growth 

By Olasunkanmi 

Akoni 

Lagos commences sales of 

LAKE rice ahead Eid-El-Kabir 

Lagos blames federalist structure for its slow devt 

Suarau said that the 

sales would be part of 

the state government’s 

commitment to making 

food available to 

residents at affordable 

prices. 

“As part of its 

commitment to boost food 

security in the state, the 

Lagos State Government 

is set to commence 

another batch of sales of 

Lake Rice in preparation 

for the forthcoming Eidel-Kabir 

celebration. 

federalism” being 

camouflaged as genuine 

federalism, stating that most 

states are currently 

hemorrhaging socioeconomically. 

He added that the nation 

is supposed to have a 

federation governed by 

federalist concepts and 

principles, but in reality, the 

government is being run as 

a nation on a unitary 

platform. 

In another development, 

the state government has 

stressed the importance of 

accurate data for adequate 

planning which is 

necessary to bring about 

inclusive development and 

growth in all sections and 

sectors. 


Establishment, Training and 

Pension, Dr. Akintola 

Benson said this on behalf 

of the state government, 

yesterday, while receiving 

a delegation from the 

Nigerian Statistical 

Association, NSA, on a 

courtesy visit, said adequate 

data remained critical to 

bringing about efficient 

planning and execution of 

policies and programmes 

that would help to enhance 

quality of life of the people.

10 — VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017 


FG plans audience measurement 

conference to catalyze broadcast 

industry growth 

THE 

Federal 

Government is to 

organize an Audience 

Measurement Conference 

to provide broadcast 

industry stakeholders the 

opportunity to contribute to 

efforts to establish a 

scientific Audience 

Measurement System for 

radio television 

broadcasting in the country. 

The Minister of 

Information and Culture, 

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, 

disclosed at the 

Broadcasting Organisation 

of Nigeria (BON) 3rd 

International Summit on 

Digital Broadcasting in 

Nigeria, in Lagos on 

yestaerday, saying the 

event will hold 3rd October 

2017. 

“It is imperative that we 

urgently put in place an 

industry framework that will 

ensure that Content 

Producers receive their just 

due for the value of the 

Content they create, as well 

as provide objective 

guarantees to the 

Advertising community on 

their Return-On- 

Investment on media 

placements. This will then 

have the overall effect of 

guaranteeing greater 

spending by the 

Advertisers, who are all 

seeking to grow their 

market share. 

“This industry framework 

can only happen if the 

Ministry of Information and 

Culture, which fortunately 

supervises both the 

Broadcasting and 

Advertising industries, 

serves as a catalyst for 

putting in place a robust 

Audience Measurement 

System that is in line with 

global standards and 

supports the realization of 

the immense potential that 

the Nigerian Creative and 

Entertainment industry 

holds,” he said. 

Alhaji Mohammed said for 

the Digital Switch Over from 

analogue to digital television 

to be sustainable for Signal 

Distributors, Channel 

owners, TV Content 

Producers and Advertisers, 

the scientific Audience 

Measurement System was 

critical to articulate the value 

of the content to Consumers, 

as well as the value of the 

audience to advertisers, 

particularly in the Television 

sector. 

He said lack of a scientific 

Audience Measurement 

System has resulted in 

under-investment in the 

sector, which was necessary 

to foster the growth of the 

industry, as the advertising 

community continues to rely 

on subjective factors when 

making decisions on the 

content they want, as 

opposed to how many 

viewers the Content truly 

attracts. 

The Minister said as a 

consequence, television 

platforms were subjected to 

renting out space on their 

channels to sustain their 

businesses, adding that 

content producers have 

become increasingly overreliant 

on sponsorship 

which, unfortunately, skews 

the authenticity of their 

creative output in favor of a 

few decision makers and not 

the millions of TV viewers. 

Nigeria loses $1bn annually to 

medical tourism — OMATSEYE 

By Prince Okafor 

P RESIDENT, 

Healthcare 

Federation of Nigeria, 

HFN, Mrs. Clare 

Omatseye, yesterday 

disclosed that a total of one 

billion dollars is lost 

annually to medical 

tourism in Nigeria even as 

she lamented inadequate 

investment in the nation’s 

healthcare system. 

Speaking during the 5th 

edition of ‘The August 

Event’ by the Moses 

Adekoyejo Majedunmi 

Foundation, MAMF, with 

the theme: “Health; A 

National Challenge: 

Restructuring and Driving 

Sustainable Growth”, in 

Lagos, Omatseye who 

traced the failure of the 

health system on medical 

tourism embarked upon by 

most prominent Nigerians 

said the country has suffered 

from severe brain drain 

along with patient drains. 

Her words: “In the last 

couple of decades, due to 

lack of investment in health 

care in our country, we have 

had a brain drain, where we 

have lost a lot of our good 

doctors. Currently, we are 

suffering from patients’ 

drain, where there is a lack 

of confidence in the sector, 

and people are now leaving 

for medical tourism, where 

we lose over one billion 

dollars annually. 

“There are about 37, 000 

Nigerian doctors in 

diaspora, with about 30, 000 

Nigerian doctors in the 

United States, and over 5, 

000 in the United Kingdom. 

We have almost equal 

number of doctors abroad 

that we have in country,'' 

she lamented,'' she said. 

Saudi officials apologise to Nigerian 

pilgrims maltreated at Madina Airport 

..‘No Nigerian was killed in Ghana over riot' 

By Victoria Ojeme 

THE 

Saudi 

government has 

apologised to two 

Nigerian pilgrims who 

were maltreated by 

security personnel at the 

Madina Airport. 

This is even as the 

Ministry of Foreign 

Affairs said yesterday 

that no Nigerian was 

killed in the protest that 

trailed alleged killing of 

a Ghanaian by a Nigerian 

in self-defence in 

Sowutoun Area of Ga 

Municipality of Greater 

Accra Region on August 

18, 2017. 

Deputy Governor of 

Madina region, Sheikh 

Mohammad Albijawi, 

who tendered the apology 

during a visit to the 

victims in their hotel, 

assured that the security 

officials would be 

sanctioned for the 

maltreatment. 

He further urged 

Nigerian pilgrims to be of 

good conduct and perform 

the annual spiritual 

pilgrimage based on 

religious guidelines and 

instructions. 

He further disclosed 

that the Saudi authorities 

had put facilities in place 

to ensure a hitch free Hajj 

THE Senior Special 

Assistant to Kogi 

State Governor on 

Entertainments, Arts and 

Culture, Mercy Johnson 

Okojie, who launched a 

talent hunt for the youths 

of Kogi state on 17th of 

August, has been 

described as a rare gem 

to the people of the state. 

The Obadofin of 

Oweland and the 

paramount ruler of the 

SUMMIT: From left; Chief Executive, BSP Media International, Benjamin 

Olusegun Pius; Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; 

Vice-Chairman, Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), Hajia Sa'a 

Ibrahim and Chief Executive, MultiChoice Nigeria, Mr. John Ugbe at the 3rd 

BON International Summit on Digital Broadcasting in Nigeria in Lagos yesterday. 

this year. 

The Nigerian 

Ambassador to Saudi 

Arabia, Umaru Salisu 

Zainabu, also commended 

the Saudi Arabia authorities 

for a swift response over the 

incident. 

Responding, the 

tortured pilgrims, Audu 

Damina Muhammad and 

Ibrahim Nani Godi, 

expressed gratitude to the 

Saudi authorities and the 

National Hajj 

Commission, NAHCON, 

FAAC disburses N652tr to FGN, others 

By Elizabeth 

Adegbesan 

THE 

Federation 

Account Allocation 

Committee, FAAC, has 

allocated a sum of N652 

billion to the three tiers of 

government last month from 

the revenue generated in the 

month of June this year. 

This was disclosed in a 

report by the National 

Bureau of Statistics, NBS, 

titled, “Federation Account 

Allocation Committee 

(FAAC) July 2017 

Disbursement.” 

According to the report, 

the N652 trillion disbursed 

to the three tiers of 

government comprised 

N570 billion from the 

country’s Statutory Account 

and N81billion from Value 

Added Tax, VAT. 

The beneficiaries of the 

N652 billion revenue 

distributed by FAAC were 


who received the sum of 

for responding to their 

plight promptly. 

The Chairman/CEO of 

NAHCON, Malam 

Abdullahi Mukhtar 

Muhammad, had recently 

announced that 79,000 

intending Pilgrims were 

going to perform this 

year’s Hajj. 

This, he revealed, 

comprised 60,000 under 

state government quota 

and 19,000 under private 

tour operators. 

Meanwhile, 

N286 billion; state 

government which also 

received a total of N178.62 

billion and the local 

government councils which 

got N134.93billion. 

Included in the allocation 

is the sum of N29.89billion 

which was shared among 

the oil producing states as 

13% derivation fund; N3.7 

THE economy is 

expected to receive 

a boost as Integrated 

Produce City Limited set 

up $135 million 

commodities exchange 

in Edo State. 

Chief Executive Officer 

of Integrated Produce 

City, Mr. Pat Utomi, 

disclosed this in Abuja. 

Utomi explained that 

billion for cost of collection 

fund of Nigerian Custom 

Service (NCS), N2 trillion 

for Federal Inland Revenue 

Service (FIRS) refund, 

N14.5 billion for cost of 

collections by the FIRS and 

N1.7 billion for cost of 

collections made by the 

Department of Petroleum 

Resources (DPR). 

Investor injects $135m to boost 

agric 

By Elizabeth 

Adegbesan 

the 

Ministry of Foreign 

Affairs has said no 

Nigerian was killed in 

the protest that followed 

alleged killing of a 

Ghanaian by a 

Nigerian. 

The ministry in a 

statement signed by the 

spokesman, Ms Jane 

Adams, explained that 

the Nigerian lodged a 

complaint at the police 

station about the deceased 

Ghanaian, regarding a 

theft at his residence. 

Kogi monarch hails Mercy Johnson’s youth programme 

Okun people, Oba 

Michael Yusuf, made the 

remark when he received 

the actress and her team 

in Kabba, Kogi state. 

The Mercy Johnson- 

Okojie led team was in 

the palace of the Oba, to 

inform him of the talent 

hunt being conducted 

across the state, and also 

to seek his blessings and 

support for the project. 

The monarch eulogized 

the human development 

project that the Mercy 

Johnson-led team has 

embarked on, describing 

it as a work of 

prosperity. 

“You are doing a work 

of prosperity by taking 

the youths out of the 

streets. This is a chance 

to right the wrongs. You will 

never regret coming to 

Kabba.” the monarch said. 

Still speaking, Oba 

Michael said, “I know you 

are going to discover 

talents, and I assure you 

that you are in safe hands.'' 

the exchange was the 

first agricultural 

commodities exchange 

accessible to nearby 

growers of cocoa, palm 

oil, rubber, cassava and 

local manufacturing 

companies. 

He said: “The concept of 

a wholesale-produce 

market is to enable the 

farmer to fully dispose his 

produce, instead of today 

where he loses 80 percent 

of his output that rots before 

it can reach the market.”



RALLY FOR PRESIDENT BUHARI: Governor Nasiru el-Rufai of Kaduna State and his 

Deputy, Mr. Barnabas Bantex, leading a rally to celebrate the return of President Muhammadu Buhari, 

along major streets of Kaduna, yesterday. PHOTOS: Olu Ajayi. 

83 children used as ‘human bombs’; 

450,000 risk malnutrition—UNICEF 

By Victoria Ojeme 

ABUJA— THE United 

Nations Children’s 

Fund, UNICEF, said 

yesterday that no fewer 

than 83 children, including 

55 girls, 27 boys and a baby 

strapped to the mother’s 

back, have been used as 

human bombs by Boko 

Haram in the North-East 

this year. 

By Chioma 

Obinna, Amarachi 

Adiele & Oluwaseyi 

Adeshina 

THE Minister of Health, 

Professor Isaac 

Adewole, has disclosed 

that about N4 billion has 

been spent by the Federal 

Government in the 

ongoing humanitarian 

crisis in the North-East. 

Disclosing this at the 2017 

World Humanitarian Day 

in Abuja, Adewole said N4 

billion was expended on 

relief materials, including 

drugs and medical 

consumables, hospital 

equipment, capacity 

building and deployment of 

volunteer health workers. 

He also explained that a 

two-pronged approach was 

adopted solely to provide 

basic medical services to the 

affected population as well 

as strengthen the pillars of 

the health system. 

The Minister further 

affirmed that his ministry 

had responded to the 

humanitarian situation in 

the country by 

strengthening the Special 

UNICEF’s Chief of 

Communication, Doune 

Porter, who disclosed this in 

a statement in Abuja, 

lamented that the number 

of children already used as 

bombs within the last seven 

months was four times 

higher than it was in the 

whole of last year. 

The statement read: “The 

use of children in 

insurgency attacks has 

Project Department and 

appointing a substantive 

director to coordinate 

health-related response to 

the ongoing humanitarian 

crisis in the country. 

He maintained that the 

crisis was unprecedented 

and protracted with Borno 

With 92,000 workforce, N5.1bn wage bill, verification 

necessary—Bauchi Gov 

By Bartholomew 

Madukwe 

G OVERNOR 

Mohammed 

Abubakar of Bauchi State 

said, yesterday, that with 

92,000 worforce and a 

monthly wage bill of N5.1 

billion, the state's ongoing 

verification exercise, which 

has entered the biometric 

stage, is necessary. 

The governor, who has 

come under pressure to 

abandon the exercise, 

disclosed this in an 

interaction with newsmen 

in Lagos, saying he had 

been under attacks from 

those benefiting from ghost 

workers’ syndrome in the 

created suspicion and fear 

of children who have been 

released, rescued or 

managed to have escaped 

from Boko Haram 

insurgents, giving rise to 

rejection and difficulty in 

reintegrating into the 

community. 

“UNICEF is extremely 

concerned about an 

appalling increase in the 

cruel and calculated use of 

... as minister says FG spent 4bn on 

humanitarian projects in North-East 

State as the epicentre, 

adding that a broad North- 

East Health Sector 

Humanitarian Crisis 

Response Strategic Plan, 

NEHSHRSP, was developed 

with a primary objective 

of repositioning the health 

system in the region. 

state. 

According to him, it is 

inconceivable for Bauchi to 

have such huge workforce 

when Kano State, with one 

of the largest population, 

has just 105,000 workers. 

Governor Abubakar said: 

“Our monthly wage bill for 

state and local government 

workers is N5.1 billion. I 

can count the number of 

times the state’s allocation 

was more than N5 billion 

monthly. 

“This is why we felt the 

need for verification.” 

He said previous efforts 

at taking the head count of 

the state’s workers, 

including deploying Bank 

Verification Numbers, 

children, especially girls, 

as ‘human bombs’ in the 

North-East. 

“Children have been 

used repeatedly since 

January 1; 83 children have 

been used as ‘human 

bombs’; 55 were girls, most 

often under 15 years old; 

27 were boys, and one was 

a baby strapped to a girl. 

“The sex of the baby used 

in the explosion was 

impossible to determine. 

The use of children in this 

way is an atrocity. Children 

used as ‘human bombs’ 

are, above all, victims, not 

perpetrators.” 

Porter disclosed further 

that due to the massive 

displacement and 

malnutrition crisis poised 

by insurgent attacks on the 

North Eastern part of the 

country, about 450,000 

children were currently at 

risk of severe malnutrition. 

BVN, had been frustrated 

by those ripping off the 

government. 

Abubakar, who was in 

Lagos to attend the ongoing 

Annual General Meeting 

of Nigerian Bar 

Association, NBA, also 

disclosed that his 

government expended the 

state’s bailout fund of N8.6 

billion on salaries, adding 

that it earned him accolades 

from Nigeria Labour 

Congress, NLC. 

He explained also that 

the state had never owed 

state workers more than a 

month salary and local 

government staff more than 

two months. 

Abubakar said further that 

the only loan of N4 billion 

he took in 2015 was to offset 

Govt'll crush any security 

threat—Gov Ishaku 

By John Mkom 

J ALINGO— 

GOVERNOR 

Darius Ishaku of Taraba 

State has vowed to crush 

anybody that stands 

against efforts put in 

place to bring lasting 

peace to the state. 

The governor stated 

this when he played host 

to traditional rulers at 

Government House, 

Jalingo, yesterday to 

condole with him on the 

death of the former 

governor, Danbaba 

Danfulani Suntai, who 

was buried on Saturday. 

Governor Ishaku called 

on the traditional rulers 

to expose those hiding in 

By Suzan Edeh 

BAUCHI—THE Chief 

Medical Director, 

Bauchi Specialist 

Hospital, Dr. Ya’a 

Sulaiman, has declared 

that patients of spinal cord 

and brain injuries in the 

North-East need not 

panic over their health 

status. 

According to him, the 

hospital has been 

equipped with 

sophisticated Magnetic 

Resonance Imaging, 

MRI, machine to 

facilitate management of 

their cases, and that the 

Experts seek full NHIS 

coverage for Sickle cell 

By Chioma 

Obinna 

EXPERTS have urged 

the Federal 

Government to provide 

facilitation of pilgrims to 

Hajj, pay salaries and 

procure 10,000 tonnes of 

fertilisers, having met on 

assumption of office an 

empty treasury and a debt 

burden of N125 billion. 

The governor, who noted 

that he refrained from 

taxing the people so as not 

to increase the burden 

imposed on them by the 

previous administration, 

said it, therefore, became 

difficult for him to shore up 

the state’s internally 

generated revenue, IGR. 

He, however, said his 

government was exploring 

the possibility of wooing 

investors into the 

agriculture, solid minerals 

and tourism sectors of the 

economy to improve IGR. 

their domains to perpetrate 

crimes. 

He noted that traditional 

rulers, being the fathers of 

the state, must be in the 

forefront of the fight to 

maintain peace and order 

in the state for 

development. 

Speaking, Chairman, 

Traditional Rulers Council 

and the Aku-Uka of 

Wukari, Chief Shakarau 

Angyu, said they came to 

condole with the governor 

and government of 

Taraba State over the 

demise of former 

Governor Suntai. 

He also thanked the 

governor for giving his 

predecessor a befitting 

burial last weekend. 

‘We can treat spinal 

cord injuries in N-East’ 

facility will function for 24 

hours daily. 

He assured people in 

the North-East that the 

machines had the capacity 

to render services to the 

region and beyond. 

Dr. Ya’u stressed that the 

hospital’s partnership with 

Jos Electricity Distribution 

Company has guaranteed 

22 hours power supply 

and transformed the 

operating system of the 

hospital. 

He said the hospital was 

servicing the entire North- 

East states of Taraba, 

Gombe, Adamawa, Borno 

and Yobe. 

full coverage of the 

management of sickle cell 

disorder under its National 

Health Insurance Scheme, 

NHIS, against the fact that 

over 100,000 infants die 

from the disease annually. 

Making the call at the 

Crimsonbow Sickle Cell 

Initiative, CSI, Project, 

Keep A Warrior Warm 

Phase 2, in Lagos, a 

general medical 

practitioner, Dr. Ameze 

Odia, said provision of a 

discounted treatment in 

NHIS will guarantee 

access to prompt and 

quality treatment, even to 

the poorest patient across 

the country. 

Speaking, the Founder 

and Chief Executive 

Officer of CSI, Timi Edwin, 

who is a person living with 

Sickle Cell, called for 

compulsory genotype 

testing before marriage. 

She said the Keep A 

Warrior Warm Phase 2 

was organised for over 500 

children in Alimosho area 

of Lagos State.


Delta Assembly resumes 

sitting after one month break 

...Receives nominees for 

appointment into DSIA board 

By Festus Ahon 

ASABA—THE Delta 

State House of 

Assembly, yesterday 

resumed sitting after four 

weeks break with a promise 

to remain committed to 

peace and good governance 

of the state. 

The House at the plenary 

presided over by 

the Speaker, Mr Sheriff 

Oborevwori received 

nominees for appointment 

into the Delta 

State Investment Agencies, 

DSIA board forwarded 

to it by Governor 

Ifeanyi Okowa. 

The names of the nominees 

as read by the 

Speaker, include, Mr 

Afam Obiago, Chairman, 

Mr Anthony Akpomiemie, 

Dr Godwin 

Adolor and Mr Godwin 

Ibe as members while 

PNDPC tasks FG on N-Delta 

peace, devt 

By Emem Idio 

Y ENAGOA—A 

Niger Delta 

advocacy group, Pan Niger 

Delta Peoples Congress, 

PNDPC, has urged the 

Federal Government to 

treat issues in the Niger 

Delta as top priority 

to ensure continued 

peace in the region. 

PNDPC, tasked the 

Federal Government to, 

as a matter of urgent national 

interest, begin a 

full implementation of 

its strategic plan for the 

region without delay. 

Coordinator of the 

group, Chief Mike Loyibo, 

in a statement, yesterday, 

urged the Federal 

Government to 

treat the funding of the 

Presidential Amnesty 

Programme as a security 

issue, while the 

Ministry of Finance 

should be directed to 

released amnesty funds 

promptly. 

Loyibo also demanded 

the upgrade of the Oron 

Maritime School in 

Akwa Ibom State, as 

well as commencement 

of academic activities at 

the Maritime University 

in Delta State. 

He urged the Federal 

Government to complete 

the East-West 

Road, a major expressway 

linking the South- 

South region to other 

parts of the country as 


Olorogun Lucky Omoru 

was named Director 

General of the agency. 

In the letter, Governor 

Okowa said that the 

nomination was in the 

exercise of the powers 

bestowed on him by 

section 5 (4) of the Delta 

State Investments 

Development Agency 

Law, 2016. 

He said that the purpose 

of the letter was to 

request the House to 

invoke its powers under 

the law to place the appointment 

of the nominees 

before members 

for consideration as requested. 

Okowa said it will be 

gratifying if early action 

was taken on the request, 

as he expressed 

his deepest appreciation 

to every member of 

the House for their kind 

understanding. 

well ensure massive 

creation of jobs in the region. 

He said: ‘’The Federal 

Government should 

properly coordinate the 

various intervention 

agencies in the region 

for viability and maximum 

gains, saying: 

‘President Muhammadu 

Buhari should not 

ignore the clamour for 

the restructuring of the 

nation.'' 

He should bring all 

Nigerians to<strong>get</strong>her to 

discuss the direction 

they want the country 

to go.” 

Attack on Bayelsa APC secretariat 

sponsored — Acting Chairman 

By Samuel 

Oyadongha 

Y ENAGOA—THE 

Bayelsa State 

chapter of the All 

Progressive Congress, 

APC, yesterday, said that 

Friday shooting at its 

secretariat in Yenagoa 

was sponsored. 

While condemning the 

attack, the party said 

that the intention was to 

disrupt the inauguration 

of new it’s structure in 

the state. 

Acting Chairman of the 

APC, Mr Joseph Fafi, 

stated this in a 

statement. 

He said, “Preliminary 

investigation showed 

that the intention of the 

sponsors and attackers 

of the secretariat was to 

distract the inauguration 

with shooting and to 

cause pandemonium but 

they were overpowered 

by security operatives 

and resilient party 

supporters. 

“Though, at the end, 

two party members lost 

their lives, it goes 

without saying that 

politics should be devoid 

of bitterness, rancour 

and acrimony. Those who 

sponsored these 

hoodlums to take lives and 

destroy properties are 

themselves equally 

culpable of these dastardly 

and nefarious acts. 

“Bayelsa indigenes at 

all levels are enjoined to 

be vigilant while 

security agents and law 

enforcement agencies 

are urged to equally step 

up their duties towards 

the arrest, prosecution of 

the hoodlum and the 

protection of lives and 

properties in the state. 

“The newly 

inaugurated acting 

Chairman and the Exco 

members are determined 

to give Bayelsa people 

and all those living and 

doing business in 

Bayelsa a new lease of 

life. This is a new dawn. 

It is no longer business 

as usual. 

“The old, corrupt and 

mundane order must 

give way because change 

has come to stay.” 

IGBIDE/OKPOLO-ENWHE CRISIS: Delta govt vows to 

deal with troublemakers 

By Festus Ahon & 

Ochuko Akuopha 

O 

L E H — 

GOVERNOR 

Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta 

State, yesterday, warned 

warring Igbide and 

Okpolo-Enwhe 

communities, Isoko 

South Local Government 

Area of the state to desist 

from further hostilities, 

saying that the state 

government will not 

hesitate to deal 

decisively with those 

fomenting trouble in the 

communities. 

This came as over 300 

soldiers and mobile 

policemen have been 

dispatched to the 

communities which has 

been embroiled in a 

protracted land dispute. 

Okowa, in a statement 

by his Chief Press 

Secretary, Mr. Charles 

Aniagwu, condemned 

the killings and wanton 

destruction of properties 

in the communities, 

expressing regret at the 

displacement of families 

and businesses from the 

areas. 

He urged the people of 

the communities to 

remain calm while 

investigation is in 

progress, reiterating that 

resorting to acts of 

violence as a means of 

seeking redress by any 

group of people would 

not be condoned by the 

state government. 

Speaking when he led 

security operatives to the 

communities in company 

of the President 

General of Isoko 

Development Union, 

IDU, Chief Iduh 

Amadhe, Chairman of 

Isoko South Local 

Government Area, Mr 

Ithiako Ikpokpo, blamed 

the crisis on leadership 

failure on the part of 

both communities. 

Saying that the soldiers 

and police officers were 

drafted to the 

communities on the 

...As 300 soldiers, policemen move 

into warring communities 

directives of Okowa, 

Ikpokpo said that the 

governor had instructed 

that security operatives 

remain in the 

communities for as long 

as it takes for normalcy 

to return to the areas. 

He said: “There will be 

continuous patrol and 

while we are discussing 

peace and the way 

forward, it is important 

that the people feel 

protected. 

“If a matter is going on 

and government has 

stepped 

in, 

recommendations have 

‘Okowa’s achievements 

Unprecedented' 

By Gab Ejuwa 

THE 

Executive 

Assistant to Delta 

State Governor on 

Marine Development, 

Ambassador Karo 

Ekewenu has said that 

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa 

achievements in the past 

two years of his 

administration are 

unprecedented in the 

history of the state. 

Ekewenu who spoke to 

newsmen at a forum, 

said that the governor 

had proven his love for 

the good people of the 

state by bringing 

transformation to the 

land through the 

SMART agenda of his 

government. 

Ekewenu, who 

applauded the 

competence of the 

governor and his 

prudent management of 

the scarce resources at 

his disposal despite the 

current recession in the 

nation which has 

affected the economy 

been made and both 

communities have 

agreed to sit down and 

continue dialogue which 

they have been doing in 

the last few months, then 

there is no justification 

for fresh attacks.” 

On his part, President 

General of IDU, Chief 

Amadhe, expressed 

sadness over the 

development, saying that 

the entire Isoko nation will 

take a decision on the 

matter and support 

government in taking steps 

to restore peace to the 

communities. 

and financial strength of 

the various levels of 

government, noted that 

Okowa was still able to 

undertake and 

completed over 40 

standard roads out of the 

over 90 roads currently 

embarked upon in the 

state. 

According to Ekewenu, 

“Ejinyere/Orodje street 

in Orerokpe, Jeddo 

Ughoton road and 

Access road to Eagles 

Height University 

(Phase 1 Jeddo/Omadino 

Bridge), Okpe LGA; 

Oteri Township Road in 

Ughelli North LGA; 

Okere-Urhobo 

Community Roads in 

Warri South LGA (Olomu 

link Road, 1st and 2nd 

Olomu Streets, Otor- 

Okere and Agba Roads); 

Kefas Road with a spur 

to Uzere junction, Oleh, 

Isoko South LGA; 

Uduophori road (Phase 

1), Patani LGA; Orikeze 

Street with a spur to Orikeze 

close, Agbor, Ika South LGA 

have all been completed 

while some others are 

ongoing.''

C 

M 

Y 

K 



Urhobo group faults militants’ demand 

to pay derivation to HOSTCOM 

By Emma Amaize 

UDU— URHOBO Youth 

Leaders Association, 

UYLA, in Delta State, has 

criticized the recent call by 

the Reformed Niger Delta 

Avengers, RNDA, and 

other militant groups on the 

Federal Government to pay 

13 per cent oil derivation 

directly to the host 

communities in Niger Delta 

region. 

The association in a 

statement by its National 

Secretary, Olorogun 

Vincent Oyibode, in Udu, 

Uvwie Local Government 

Area of the state, said: “The 

militants and their sponsors 

are only seeking cheap 

popularity. This call that the 


should stop the payment of 

the 13 per cent oil 

derivation funds to state 

governors of Niger Delta, 

but rather directly to 

HOSTCOM in line with 

the 1999 constitution as 

amended in Section 162, 

sub section 2, is laughable. 

“This is because in the 

section they quoted, there 

is no where revenue is 

allocated to any host 

community, not even the 

local governments. All 

revenues are allocated to 

the states and the states 

distribute accordingly. 

“The sponsors should 

study this section of the 

constitution before making 

a fool of themselves. They 

think that they can use that 

to deceive HOSTCOM, 

but the executives of 

HOSTCOM, as I know 

them, are well lettered and 

well informed. 

“We call on the Federal 

Government to urgently 

implement all promises 

made by the then Acting 

President Yemi Osinbajo, 

during his historic factfinding 

tour to the region 

and set up the presidential 

dialogue team to critically 

discuss and resolve issues 

contained in the 16-point 

demand, especially the 

issues of fiscal federalism, 

resource control, 

restructuring and the 

devolution of power to the 

states.“ 

Trouble brews between ministry, agency 

over revenue collection in A-Ibom 

By Chioma 

Onuegbu 

UYO —TROUBLE is 

brewing between 

Ministry of Transport and 

Petroleum Resources and 

the Internal Revenue 

Service, IRS, in Akwa Ibom 

State over collection of 

certain taxes for the state. 

Vanguard gathered that 

the different taxes were 

initially domiciled in the IRS 

but sometimes, some 

revenue heads are posted to 

other revenue generating 

ministries and agencies of 

government, including the 

Ministry of Transport and 

FG to revive ailing industries in 

N-Delta —Usani 

By Chris Ochayi 

ABUJA— MINISTER of 

Niger Delta Affairs, 

Pastor Usani Usani, has 

assured that the 

administration was 

determined to revive all 

ailing and moribund 

industries in the region in 

order to promote peace and 

stability in the region. 

Pastor Usani, who spoke 

against the backdrop of the 

forthcoming National 

Council on Niger Delta, 

slated for next month in 

Akure, Ondo State, said 

there were efforts to ensure 

that other programmes, such 

as empowerment for 

agriculture, artisans and 

entrepreneurs key into the 

Economic Recovery Growth 

Plan, ERGP. 

The National Council on 

Niger Delta, since the 

creation of the ministry about 

nine years ago, is supposed 

to be an annual event. 

Participants expected at the 

BIRTHDAY: From left, Mr Jimi Disu, Journalist; Mr Taiwo Obe, Founder/ 

Director, The Journalism Clinic; Mrs Osas Mason, wife of celebrant; Mr Dan 

Mason (celebrant), Trainer, Dan Mason Media Co. UK; and Mr Gani Kayode 

Balogun, during a reception to mark the 60th birthday of Mr Dan Mason, 

organised by trainees of Airtel Change Your Story Journalists, at The Hub, 

The Journalism Clinic, 2, Anifowose Close, off Adeniran Ogunsanya Street, 

Surulere. Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Shola Oyelese. 

event include private sector 

investors, development 

partners, top government 

functionaries from the federal 

and nine state governments 

that make up the region, 

traditional rulers, community 

leaders, International Oil 

Corporations, IOCs, as well 

as other interest groups. 

According to him, “I want 

to express my appreciation 

on the role the Ondo State 

Government is playing and 

the commitment they are 

showing in respect of the 

second Niger Delta Council, 

which they have accepted to 

host. 

“We have chosen Ondo 

State for strategic reasons 

because most of the time, it 

is presumed unconsciously 

that when we talk about 

Niger Delta, people refer to 

South-South states and we 

tend to for<strong>get</strong> that there are 

states outside the South- 

South that are part of the 

Niger Delta region. 

“Again, we understand 

the peculiarities of Ondo 

State in terms of the resource 

base, which we are 

determined to tap into and 

see how the society can 

benefit from it. The 

government of Ondo State 

has been proactive in respect 

of the programmes of the 

government, vis-a-vis having 

consistently rolled that 

programme with the 

Economic Recovery Growth 

Plan. 

“The Ondo State 

Government is the first state 

that has prepared an 

independent programme to 

match our initiative which is 

domiciled in the presidency 

to revive ailing industries or 

moribund ones as well as 

promote the agriculture chain 

to achieve exportation. 

“After about nine years of 

the establishment of this 

ministry, this is the second 

council gathering, even 

though it is supposed to be 

an annual event and we are 

not just going to talk and 

return, we are building from 

the outcome of the first 

council, linking it up with our 

current activities." 

Petroleum Resources. 

It was further gathered that 

trouble, however, started 

after the IRS was granted 

autonomy following the 

passage of the bill by the 

state House of Assembly in 

2016 and began to demand 

that all the revenue heads 

should be returned to the 

agency. 

Some angry IRS workers 

even said that the Ministry 

of Transport and Petroleum 

Resources was allegedly 

behind the arrest of some of 

their workers last week over 

issuance of fake receipts. 

But a reliable source in the 

agency, who admitted that 

some of their workers, 

including customers, were 

picked up last Friday by 

officers of the Department of 

State Service, DSS, for 

interrogation at about 3.20pm 

over the issue, however, 

refuted the speculations. 

Our source said: “We 

believe that it was a set up by 

those ministries fighting IRS. 

The entire staff of IRS decided 

to stay away from work on 

Monday to protest the undue 

molestation of our 

colleagues." 

Although the 

Commissioner for Transport 

and Petroleum Resources, 

Omar Esin could not be 

reached for comment as he 

was said to be outside the 

country on official duty, a 

senior staff, who said he 

was not authorised to speak 

to the media, however, 

denied any conflict with the 

IRS. 

PDP lauds Wike for receiving 

Buhari on arrival from UK 


THE leadership of the 

Rivers State chapter of 

the Peoples Democratic 

Party, PDP, has commended 

Governor Nyesom Wike of 

the state for being one of 

the senior Nigerian citizens 

that received President 

Muhammadu Buhari on 

arrival at Nnamdi Azikwe 

International Airport, Abuja 

on his return after a three 

month medical vacation 

abroad. 

State chairman of the 

party, Mr Felix Obuah, in 

a statement by his Special 

Adviser on Media and 

Publicity, Jerry Needam, 

described the exemplary 

gesture of Governor Wike 

as a display of spirit of 

sportsmanship that should 

be imbibed by all 

politicians. 

He said Governor Wike’s 

consistent goodwill and 

prayers for the quick 

recovery of the President 

while he was away, has 

never been in doubt and 

will continue to showcase 

his love for others and his 

nature as a detribalized 

leader. 

Obuah said by setting 

political differences apart 

and teaming up with all 

other concerned Nigerians 

to welcome Mr. President 

back home, Governor Wike 

has set another pace 

among his peers that 

leadership goes beyond 

party politics and political 

affiliations. 

Okowa urged to boost Navy’s 

operations with security boats 

By Tare Youdeowei 

THE Niger Delta 

Intelligence and 

Transparency Group, 

NDITG, has called on 

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa 

of Delta State to support the 

Nigerian Navy, Army with 

security boats to curb the 

menace of insecurity in the 

waterways and incessant 

attacks on pipeline and oil 

facilities in the creeks. 

The group, in a statement, 

yesterday, in Lagos, said: 

“The Navy in Delta State is 

ready to tackle insecurity in 

the waterways, but 

information available to us 

indicates that the Navy is 

lacking patrol and security 

boats and this is not good 

for a major oil producing 

state like Delta.“ 

The statement by its 

Coordinator, Mr. Friday 

Ewrujakpo, noted that 

Governor Okowa should 

emulate Governor Nyesom 

Wike of Rivers State, who 

made similar gesture to 

support the Navy with 

security and patrol boats, 

which has reduced the 

crime rate and insecurity in 

Rivers State. 

Ewrujakpo said Okowa 

should encourage and 

partner the Navy, by 

supporting them with 

security boats to boost their 

operations to effectively 

tackle the insecurity 

threatening lives and 

economic activities in the 

riverine areas of the state. 

Lawyers threaten to sue Edo 

APC over removal of party 

spokesman 

By Gabriel 

Enogholase 

BENIN— 

LEGAL 

practitioners drawn 

from the 12 wards in 

Orhionmwon Local 

Government Area of Edo 

State, have threatened to 

sue the state chapter of the 

All Progressives Congress, 

APC, over the removal of 

Mr Godwin Erhahon as 

the party’s spokesman in 

the state. 

The lawyers described the 

removal of Erhahon as 

unreasonable, coup-like, 

offensive, humiliating and 

in total contravention of the 

APC’s constitution. 

They said the removal of 

the party’s former 

spokesman was 

orchestrated by the State 

Executive Committee of the 

party after he had fulfilled 

all the conditions given to 

him to be reinstated after his 

three months suspension, 

which elapsed in March 

this year. 

In a statement in Benin 

City, yesterday, the lawyers 

urged the National 

Executive Committee of the 

APC to intervene by 

nullifying Erhahon’s 

removal or risk losing 

election in the locality in 

future elections. 

The statement said 

Erhahon was removed at 

one sitting of the State 

Executive Committee 

without setting up an 

investigation panel to hear 

allegations against him as 

stipulated under Article 21 

of the party’s constitution. 

They said, “Erhahon’s 

removal is tantamount to 

completely excluding the 

CPC legacy from the APC 

in Edo State. We and the 

majority of APC members 

in the council are confused 

as we do not really know 

why Erhahon was 

purportedly removed."



How to achieve SDGs initiative— Obi 

IBADAN—A FORMER 

governor of Anambra 

State, Mr. Peter Obi, said 

Nigeria must take the issue 

of leadership seriously if it 

hopes to achieve the United 

Nations’ Sustainable 

Development Goals’ 

initiatives by the year 2030. 

Obi spoke, yesterday, in 

Ibadan at the 8th Annual 

Sustainable Development 

Summit organised by Centre 

for Sustainable Development 

of the University of Ibadan 

in collaboration with African 

Sustainable Development 

Network. 

Speaking on the theme, 

“The Leadership and 

Governance Imperatives of 

Achieving the SDGs in 

Times of Economic Shocks 

and Uncertainties,” Obi, who 

started by reviewing the 

Millennium Development 

Goals, MDGs, that gave 

birth to the SDGs, said it was 

unfortunate that no African 

country achieved the MDGs 

due to what he called 

“leadership failure,” and the 

penchant of African leaders 

to pursue selfish and 

sectional rather than national 

interests. 

The China example 

Using data and statistics, 

Obi, who compared China 

and Africa within a given 

period, lamented that China 

had overtaken the entire 

countries of Africa put 

to<strong>get</strong>her in all indices of 

development due to their 

commitment to their country 

and people. 

Reviewing the secret of 

China’s MDGs success, Obi 

said: “Over 15 years (200- 

2015), in partnership with 

the United Nations' system 

office in China, China was 

fully committed to the MDGs 

integrating the goals into 

their development shortages 

from national to local 

government. 

"China ensured effective 

and coordinated planning 

and managing their 

economic growth. China’s 

successful integration of 

MDGs into its national 

development plan helped 

China achieve an 

unprecedented 

transformative result.” 

He observed that at the 

end of the MDGs, China 

was able to lift 439 million 

people out of poverty, 

achieved 100% literacy 

level , 98% enrollment 

among primary school age 

and tremendous 

improvement in health care 

delivery. 

On the contrary, he said 

within the same period in 

Africa, “Reports show 

clearly that the African 

continent was off-track. Sub 

Saharan Africa, for 

example, became the only 

region in the world where 

poverty rose from 290 

million in 1990 to 414 

million in 2010; where 

undernourished children 

rose from 27 million in 1990 

to 32 million in 2012; where 

children affected by 

stunting growth rose from 

44 million in 1990 to 58 

million in 2012.” 

Obi noted that China 

had started working 

towards achieving the 

SDGs by the year 2030 

by doing exactly what it did 

with the MDGs and called 

on Nigeria to do the same 

by mainstreaming the SDG 

into Nigeria development 

plans. 

In his words: “From the 

Chinese position on the 

SDGs, you can clearly see 

the leadership imperatives 

in achieving the SDGs. It is 

first about the leadership 

vision and commitment to 

the agenda. 

"Secondly, it is about 

integrating the agenda in 

Ofala festival <strong>get</strong>s Glo backing for 3 more years 

N ATIONAL 

telecommunications 

operator and leading 

corporate promoter of 

Nigerian arts and culture, 

Globacom, has announced 

its readiness to sponsor the 

prestigious Ofala festival of 

Onitsha, Anambra State, for 

another three years. 

This followed the signing, 

on Wednesday, of a new 

Memorandum of 

Understanding between 

Globacom and the palace of 

the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe 

Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe. 

The new deal will see the 

telecom firm sponsoring the 

festival from 2017 to 2020. 

Globacom’s support for 

Ofala began in 2011, when 

your planning and developmental 

strategies across 

all levels of government 

from national to the local 

governments. 

"Thirdly, it involves 

mobilizing all resources 

towards achieving the 

goals, ensuring that the 

goals are well publicized in 

order for the citizens to take 

ownership and ensure 

participation.” 

Member of Coalition of Igbo Groups during a rally in support of President 

Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Abayomi 

Adeshida. 

Buhari’s return, sign of God’s 

plan for Nigeria —Nweke 

Chinedu Adonu 

ENUGU— A chieftain 

of the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, in Enugu, 

Chief Gbazuagu Nweke 

Gbazuagau , yesterday, 

said that the recovery and 

return of President 

Muhammadu Buhari is for 

Nigerians to know that 

“God still has a good plan 

for them and for the 

President to continue his 

good leadership in the 

country.” 

Chief Nweke, who made 

this known during a 

solidarity rally for President 

Buhari in Enugu, said 80 

per cent of Nigerians are 

still doubtful of Buhari’s 

miraculous recovery. 

The party stalwart said life 

and leadership are in God’s 

hands and further warned 

Nigerians, who wished the 

President dead on social 

media, to desist from such 

act, as God is the sole 

determinant of who should 

live and who should not. 

“Today is a remarkable 

day in the history of this 

country as we celebrate the 

good health of our 

president and his return 

from London. The sickness 

and recovery of Mr 

President was just for him 

to appreciate that God still 

has a good plan for his 

governance in Nigeria." 

Also speaking at the rally, 

former APC governorship 

aspirant in Enugu State, 

Chief Okey Ezea, urged 

Ndigbo to be strategic in 

their actions and embrace 

the Federal Government to 

<strong>get</strong> a chance at the 2023 

presidency. 

He equally condemned 

the action of some people 

in the South East during 

the 2015 general election 

who campaigned against 

Buhari on the basis that he 

was going to Islamize the 

country once he became 

president. 

He said: “Those of us 

supporting Buhari were 

called Boko Haram. They 

said Buhari was coming to 

Islamize Nigeria. I did not 

agree with them because 

Nigeria is a secular country 

and since 2015, we have 

seen that there is no effort 

to do that.” 

Ezea said President 

Buhari will remain the 

President of Nigeria 

whether people like it or 

not, until the constitution 

demands him to step aside. 

it signed a three-year 

sponsorship deal with the 

Obi’s palace. When the 

contract expired in 2013, the 

company renewed it for 

another three years, which 

ended with the 2016 Ofala 

festival celebrations. 

The new MoU was 

signed on behalf of Onitsha 

Kingdom by the Ogene 

Onira of Onitsha, Chief 

Ngozi E. Okafor, while 

Globacom’s National Sales 

Coordinator, South-East, 

Mr. Mike Ehumadu, 

signed on behalf of the 

company. 

Igwe Achebe thanked 

Globacom for its support for 

Ofala in the last seven 

years, noting that the 

sponsorship had lifted the 

profile of the ceremony 

Anambra APC primaries: 4 

aspirants to withdraw for Uba 

By Enyim Enyim 

O NITSHA— 

INDICATIONS 

emerged, yesterday, that four 

governorship aspirants in 

the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, would step 

down for Senator Andy Uba 

before the primaries. 

This is coming barely four 

days to the APC 

governorship primaries 

fixed for Saturday, August 26. 

Some stakeholders of the 

party, who spoke to 

Vanguard from Abuja, 

confirmed the development, 

adding that there had been 

sustained meeting of 

stakeholders and some 

national leaders of the party 

and some aspirants to that 

effect in Abuja. 

Before now, one of the 

aspirants, Chief Ralph 

Okeke, who represented 

Anambra East and West 

federal constituency had 

announced his withdrawal 

tremendously. 

He expressed gratitude 

to the Chairman of 

Globacom, Dr. Mike 

Adenuga Jr., for his 

contributions to the 

promotion of indigenous 

arts and culture. 

On his part, Mr 

Ehumadu said: “Globacom 

has renewed the 

sponsorship of Ofala 

festival to demonstrate the 

company’s commitment to 

the promotion of the culture, 

customs and traditions of 

the Nigerian people.” 

He restated Globacom’s 

resolve to give international 

dimension to Ofala festival 

and help make it a global 

tourist attraction and most 

revered ceremony among 

black people. 

from the race and collapsed 

his campaign structure into 

Uba campaign organisation. 

Reacting to the 

development, the state 

chairman of the party, Mr 

Emeka Ibe, said he was not 

aware of any aspirant 

stepping down for anybody, 

adding that there are 

respective committees set up 

for the exercise and they are 

in a better position to know. 

Ibe further posited that in 

the event of the speculated 

withdrawals from the race, it 

would make the job a lot 

easier for the bodies 

conducting the primaries. 

He further dismissed a 

situation that the coming 

Saturday primary election 

would be marred by crisis, 

noting that the aspirants, 

delegates and stakeholders 

are law abiding, loyal party 

members. He blamed 

enemies of the party for 

peddling rumours and 

falsehood. 

Nollywood actor joins 

Anambra gov'ship race 

By Dirisu Yakubu 

NOLLYWOOD actor, Yul 

Edochie , yesterday, 

picked his expression of 

interest and nomination 

forms to vie for the November 

18, 2017 governorship 

election in Anambra State. 

Yul, son of veteran 

thespian, Chief Pete 

Edochie, stormed the 

national office of Democratic 

Peoples Congress, DPC, 

with his army of supporters 

in Abuja, at about 3:57pm 

where he picked up the 

forms. 

In a chat with newsmen, 

the baritone-voiced actor 

cum producer said he joined 

the race to harness the 

creative potentials of the 

youths and the resource 

endowment of Anambra to 

move the state to the next 

level of development. 

"Reduction of poverty rate 

in the state through wealth 

and job creation, provision 

of infrastructure and 

development of critical 

sectors in the state", he said, 

would occupy his 

governance model if elected 

to govern the state for the 

next four years. 

Confident of his chances, 

Edochie noted that he was 

neither scared nor 

intimidated by the crop of 

tested politicians in the race 

to govern Anambra State, 

stressing that he joined the 

race aware that politicians 

have failed and 

disappointed the people. 

“Politicians have failed us. 

So, I am in the race to touch 

the lives of Anambra people 

positively. The people are 

tired of stories,” he said. 

Transition 

PA 

Stephen 

Chukwuemeka Mba, 

82, is dead. Interment will 

take place at 8, Njiribeako 

Street, Umuofoatum, 

Umuororonjo, Owerri, 

after a funeral mass at St 

Paul’s Catholic Church, 

Douglas Road, Owerri, on 

August 25, 2017. 

He is survived by Mr. 

Emeka Mba, other 

children and grand 

children.

Y 

K 



ANAMBRA: 

PDP group 

vows to resist 

imposition of 

candidate 

By Vincent Ujumadu 

AWKA—A GROUP 

in the Peoples 

Democratic Party (PDP) in 

Anambra State, the Fresh 

Congress Group, FCG, has 

vowed to resist imposition of 

any governorship candidate 

on the people by anybody 

or group. 

In a statement signed by 

the state chairman of the 

group, Pastor Emma 

Obiorah and made 

available to reporters in 

Awka, the group advised 

the stakeholders and 

National Executive 

Committee (NEC) members 

of PDP to avoid anything 

that could lead the party 

losing the November 18 

election. 

According to the group, 

PDP had suffered for the 

past 11 years in the state 

because of imposition of 

unpopular candidates on 

the electorate and vowed to 

resist it this time around. 

It, however, commended 

the NEC of the party for 

choosing Prof ABC Nwosu 

as the new helmsman of 

PDP in the state, adding that 

what killed the party in the 

state in the past was the 

habit of extorting money 

from aspirants by some 

party leaders. 

Obiorah said: “It is on 

record that Anambra State 

remains a PDP state, but due 

to the activities of the former 

NEC of the party which 

tended to be taking 

decisions against the wishes 

of the party faithful and 

sympathizers and 

meddling with the choice of 

the people at the grass-root.'' 

You lied on Ojukwu, Biafra zionists chide Buhari 

•Insists Biafra is not negotiable 

By Dennis Agbo 

E NUGU—THE 

Biafra Zionists’ 

Federation, BZF, has 

described President 

Muhammadu Buhari’s 

claim that Ojukwu 

disowned Biafra in 2003 as 

a compendium of lies. 

The group challenged 

Buhari to produce 

evidence of his claim on 

Ojukwu if he was sure of 

what he said. 

Leader of BZF, Mr. 

Benjamin Onwuka, in an 

interview with newsmen 

stated that President 

Buhari’s nationwide 

broadcast was “a 

compendium and tissues of 

lies.” 

Onwuka, maintained that 

the late Biafra leader, Dim 

Chukwuemeka 

Odumegwu Ojukwu never 

disowned Biafra but fought 

Umahi lauds FG for approving 

$150m for construction of Ring 

Road across 8 LGAs 

By Peter Okutu 

A BAKALIKI— 

GOVERNOR 

David Umahi of Ebonyi 

State yesterday 

commended the federal 

government for 

approving $150million 

loan for the construction 

of the Ring Road that 

cuts across eight local 

government areas of the 

state. 

The 160km road project 

has intercessions with 

trans-saharan highway 

as the state government 

had taken efforts to 

secure financiers for the 

laudable project. 

The governor made the 

commendation when a 

team of African 

Development Bank, 

ADB and Islamic Bank, 

IB, paid him a courtesy 

call at the Government 

House, Abakaliki. 


governor, when the 

project is completed, the 

roads will boost the 

economy of the state 

even as he stated that 

the state government 

would in few days time 

approach the State 

House of Assembly for 

the approval of the loan. 

The representative of 

the financial institutions 

embarked on the 

assessment of social and 

economic viability of 

Ebonyi state ring road 

project estimated to cost 

$150 million. 

Leader of the team from 

ADB, Mr. Patrick Musa 

said that apart from the 

viability of the project, 

they were also in the 

state to access 

institutional 

arrangement and the 

capacity of security 

agencies geared towards 

the fulfilment of the 

project. 

A representative of the 

federal ministry of 

finance, Mr. Timothy 

Komolafe said what 

would have been a 

hurdle for the state 

government has been 

surmounted following 

the approval of the 

project by the National 

Assembly. 

for it till his death. 

Onwuka, who recently 

declared himself the 

President of a new Biafra, 

challenged President 

Buhari to provide an audio 

and transcript of the said 

meeting between him and 

Ojukwu in 2003. 

Onwuka said, “We are 

speaking today in response 

to the broadcast said to 

have been made by Buhari. 

We want to let the world 

know that Buhari is 

wasting his time; he has 

been defeated. 

“He didn’t start failing 

today; he supported 

Hillary Clinton during the 

US election, but they all 

failed; he knows it. 

“So, his broadcast is a 

waste of time; a 

compendium of lies; 

Biafrans challenge him, let 

him produce the transcript; 

we saw what they posted 

on his twitter handle and 

called it a video. This is very 

comic. When has a picture 

become a video. Where is 

the voice, where is the 

motion; where is the 

transcript? We are asking for 

a video evidence, with the 

audio, the transcript of that 

meeting. Let us see what 

they agreed on. 

“Above all, I don’t believe 

what he is saying. 

Odumegwu Ojukwu, I 

believe will never 

compromise on Biafra’s 

independence. He was the 

one that led us to war, 

except that he made 

mistake of not accepting 

offer from Russia. That’s 

what the Zionists have 

done by seeking support 

from US. 

“Ojukwu could never 

have compromised; let him 

provide the evidence of 

what Ojukwu said. Even if 

it is what Ojukwu said, 

Ojukwu is not speaking for 

Biafra; Biafrans are a 

PEOPLE SPEAK 

On clamour for restructuring of Nigeria 

nation; a nation is more 

important than one person. 

“So, Ojukwu can never 

betray Biafra. Why didn’t he 

say this when Ojukwu was 

alive? He should have told 

us then. When that meeting 

held, he should have given 

us an opportunity, where 

two of them would have 

come out and told us, we 

believe in one Nigeria. 

“Why now, because the 

man has died, you are now 

coming up with allegations 

against him, because 

the grave cannot speak? 

So, whatever he said 

Ojukwu told him, we 

don’t buy into it. 

By Jeremiah 

Urowayino 

THE president of 

N a t i o n a l 

Association of Itsekiri 

Graduates (NAIG), Mr 

Collins Oritsetimyin 

Edema has said that 

plans has been 

concluded to organise 

the maiden edition of 

Itsekiri Economic 

Summit with the theme: 

‘’Development of Iwere 

land and Sustainable 

Growth.'' 

Edema made this 

known to newsmen 

yesterday in Warri. 

Acoording to him, the 

summit is scheduled to 

hold on Thursday, August 

31, 2017 at the prestigious 

King George IV Hall, 

Warri. 

His words: ‘’The summit 

is borne out of our deep 

concern on the state of our 

homeland (towns and 

villages) vis-a-vis our oil 

production quantum and 

the fact that due to new 

“Biafra has come to stay 

with the backing of US. Our 

matter is right now at the 

desk of the US President. 

So, Buhari is wasting his 

time. 

“He is even calling us 

irresponsible and he is 

benefiting from our oil. 

Where in the world are 

people agitating for 

freedom called 

irresponsible people? 

“What will he call Boko 

Haram members? He is 

feeding from our oil, 

allocating oil blocks and all 

that. Without the oil, there 

will be no Nigeria. He can 

say whatever he likes.” 

NAIG set to organise first 

Iteskiri Economic summit 

technological innovations, 

developed nations are 

embracing alternative 

energy. This has led to the 

current drop in price of 

crude oil in the 

international market. 

‘’The Itsekiri Nation 

needs to critically examine 

how our “Royalty” earned 

from crude oil exploration 

in our land can be utilised 

to create jobs and 

alternative source of 

revenue generation 

through establishment of 

cottage industries, 

mechanised farms, and 

educational advancement 

that could translate to 

economic development and 

sustainable growth.’’ 

Resource persons 

expected at the summit are 

internationally renowned 

economist, Mr. Bismarck 

Rewane, Prof. Pat Utomi, 

proponent of the University 

of Warri, Prof. Nesin 

Omatseye, Delta foremost 

Speaker, Mr. Segun 

Manuel, and Mr. 

Omajuwa Akperi. 

By Bartholomew 

Madukwe (08051019450) 

nwamad@yahoo.com 

The Senate’s throwing 

away the issue of restructuring 

is exactly 

why Nnamdi Kanu is 

winning the ideological 

battle. He has apparently 

looked at the Nigerian 

situation and the 

characters running it. 

Mr Anyanwu Kevin, 

Worker 

It is easier for Nigeria 

to disintegrate than to 

be restructured. Nigeria 

has enough for all of us. 

People having many 

children, looters, corruption, 

agitators, criminals 

and Boko Haram 

are the problems. Miss 

Chinaza Uche, Broadcaster 

The opportunity to fix 

Nigeria by the Senate is 

gradually fizzling out. The 

hope of most Nigerians for 

a beautiful country is 

dashed by the senate. Callers 

for self determination 

will no doubt out number 

those who oppose restructuring. 

Mr Mentine Ezike, 

Businessman 

Out of 95 senators 48 

voted against restructuring 

of powers. The political 

equation of the nation 

is in favour of the North 

that the three southern 

zones even if they voted in 

unison cannot <strong>get</strong> a majority 

in either house. Mrs 

Assumpta Ebere, Businesswoman 

It is only people that do 

not have ambition, and 

don’t want good future for 

their children that will support 

One-Nigeria now. 

When you look at Malaysia, 

Singapore and other 

developing countries you 

realise that their is no hope 

for Nigeria. Mr Walter 

Osinachi, Student 

Restructure is the only 

solution and lawmakers 

should do the right 

thing. The time has come 

for every state to control 

its resources period. It is 

easier for Nigeria to disintegrate 

than to be restructured. 

Nigeria has enough 

for all of us. Mr Phillip 

Nelly, Entrepreneur


ADVOCACY FORUM IN SOKOTO: From left— Deputy 

Governor of Sokoto State, Ahmed Aliyu; Governor Aminu Tambuwal; Sultan 

Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar; UNICEF's Nigeria Deputy Country 

Representative, Parnille Ironside; UNICEF's Chief Field Officer for Sokoto, 

Muhammad Mouhiddeen, and Sokoto Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, 

Chairman, Reverend Ahmadu Mamman, at the launching of Advocacy and 

Community Engagement Forum, ACEF, in Sokoto, yesterday. 

BOI/OSUN STATE BIZ CLINIC: From left— Managing Director/ 

CEO, Bank of Industry, BoI, Mr. Olukayode Pitan; Deputy Governor of Osun 

State, Otunba Titilayo Laoye-Tomori; Managing Director/CEO, Samajod Global 

Concept Nigeria Ltd., Mr. Ajayi Odunayo, and Osun State Commissioner for 

Commerce, Industry & Cooperative, Mr. Jaiyeoba Alagbada, during the tour of 

the exhibition stands of made-in-Osun products at the BoI/Osun State Business 

Investment Clinic in Osogbo, Osun State, yesterday. 

INSTALLATION: From left— Wife of the President, Mrs. Geetika 

Tandon; her husband, Mr. Sanjeev Tandon; wife of District Governor, Mrs 

Funmilayo Ogunbadejo; her husband, Dr. Wale Ogunbadejo; wife of the 

Charter President, Mrs Anu Garg; her husband, Mr. Vinod Garg, and past 

Assistant Governor, Narayan Bhah Patel, all of Rotary Club of Lagos Island, 

at the installation of Mr. Tandon as the 2017/2018 President of the Club. 

GLO MEGA MUSIC: From left— Glo Brand Ambassador, Korede 

Bello (middle), flanked from left by Godswill Ejiga, Ifunanya Ugari, Ifunanya 

Oraka and Priscilla Doyi, all Glo network subscribers, at the Glo Mega Music 

Nationwide Tour in Kubwa, Abuja.

HOW far we are from those 

hopeful and joyful times 

which succeeded Muhammadu 

Buhari’s ascent to the Presidency. 

I believed with all my heart that 

justice was finally here, that 

every embarrassment and 

humiliation done to this country 

and its citizens would finally be 

repaid with just punishment. 

The fight continues. Never 

must those who love this country 

and believe that its riches belong 

to everyone and not just a corrupt 

few, join the cynics in their belief 

that this is it for Nigeria. As 

human beings, we are the sum 

of our beliefs which shape our 

actions: it is time now to show 

what we, individually and 

collectively are made of. Our 

mettle, our collective heart, is 

being tested by the ruthless forces 

who’ve held generations of 

Nigerians down, who’ve seen us 

suffer and plotted to no end so 

that our overall condition remains 

the same. 

The President might be ailing, 

but those who believed in change 

are not. We must tirelessly 

demand that the fight against 

corruption is seen to its logical 

conclusion: no longer must it be 

said that Nigerians for<strong>get</strong> or 

move on. 

We frequently <strong>get</strong> lost in political 

battles where the victors are 

only politicians. This isn’t simply 

about Buhari, partisanship, 

support for APC, PDP or any 

political appellation. It is about 

the survival of this country and 

the ability of its citizens to live 

happy and decent lives which is 

near impossible in today’s 

Nigeria, without the help of 

someone high up or willing to 

break the law to buy some wellbeing. 

Champion 

and liberator 

First, Nigerians must demand 

that the President frees himself 

of the supposed cabal whose 

allegedly treasonous plans to 

retain itself in power by all 

means, are a danger not only to 

the office of the President, but to 

all Nigerians. 

Rumours of coup-plotting and 

sinister plans for a time “after 

Buhari”, purportedly orchestrated 

by former leaders who’d rather 

die than see the Vice-President 

in office, apparently because of 

the “Jonathan betrayal” (who 

ended up running for office after 

allegedly agreeing to only one 

term) and worsened by Vice- 

President Osinbajo’s competence 

and popularity, are precisely why 

President Buhari must act swiftly 

and deal decisive blows. 

The President must never for<strong>get</strong> 

what he embodied in 2015, that 

is, how and why he won. He was 

perceived as the champion and 

liberator of the poor and middle 

classes, of all those who aren’t 

politically connected, who don’t 

have the option of destroying 

millions of people’s lives to secure 

money and endless comfort for 

themselves. 

Nobody wishes for illness. But 

it might be time now for some 

soul-searching and tough 

choices. Only the President can 

honestly answer the question of 

whether he is strong enough to 

continue the brutal fight needed 

•President Muhammadu Buhari 

What are heroes 

made of? 

to set this country back on track: 

the enemies of Nigeria won’t 

tread cautiously now that they 

smell weakness. Promisingly, the 

President has an able, competent 

It might be time 

now for some soulsearching 

and tough 

choices; only the 

President can honestly 

answer the 

question of whether 

he is strong enough 

to continue the brutal 

fight needed to 

set this country back 

on track 

deputy, someone modern, with 

the knowledge and technical 

know-how to implement specific 

policies, someone, moreover, who 

could really stand up to 

corruption, if given the chance. 

This isn’t the Yar’Adua scenario 

thrust upon us by some 

envious relics of Nigeria’s unfortunate 

past. Nobody knows 

God’s plans or can fully understand 

the twists of fate: has everything 

we have lived so far as a 

nation worked to bring us to this 

moment? 


historical moments, 

that spark, 

that catalyst who 

starts a national 

conversation and 

<strong>get</strong>s a movement 

going, is only the 

first phase of a 

relay race. 

What if that person’s 

true role is to 

set the stage for 

another sort of 

competence to 

shine? 

Nigerians have 

to believe that no 

redeemer, rescuer 

or knight in 

shining armour can do the job of 

righting the wrongs in this 

country alone: we make our own 

National Judicial Council 

LIKE the police, the NJC 

unsurprisingly denied 

the results of the recent 

National Bureau of Statistics 

survey which showed that the 

judiciary is the second most 

corrupt institution in the 

country. The NJC called the 

report “speculative”, language 

which in itself is contrary to the 

exactitude of statistics, science 

and mathematics more 

generally. 

The NJC’s unwillingness to 

acknowledge the problem 

hints at an inability to proffer 

solutions, a tragedy only surpassed 

by the actual content 

of its publicized statement: 

“How many Judges or Magistrates 

have been arrested 

and/or prosecuted and convicted 

of corruption till date to 

deduce such conclusion”. That 

itself is the issue. When government 

attempted to prosecute 

judges accused of corruption, 

not only were Nigerians 

fooled into believing it was a 

witch-hunt, the process was 

dogged by all sorts of issues 

and even more allegations of 

heroes. In fact, we are our own 

heroes. We empower them, give 

them possibility, just as they 

inspire us to believe that 

something different is possible. 

In Brazil, it was ongoing street 

protests which enabled the arrest 

and successful prosecution of 

high-ranking government 

officials. 

Sergio Moro, the Brazilian 

judge (fondly called the 

“exterminator of corruption”)who 

brought down Dilma Roussef, 

the former President and other 

corrupt, powerful figures, could 

only do his job because of popular 

support for the anti-corruption 

crusade. 

Anti-corruption 

crusade 

Similarly, in Guatemala, a UN 

supported, popular commission 

is assisting prosecution against 

former officials accused of embezzlement, 

one of which is Otto Pérez 

Molina, another former President. 

The only thing we have to fear 

is that our true selves are 

revealed: will we live up to the 

sacrifices of those who’ve come 

and died before us, died of generalised 

injustice or of fighting 

terrorists with derelict weapons? 

Will we excuse a man’s illness 

(and wish him all the best in his 

recovery) while asking that he 

not lose sight of the bigger 

picture, the fate of near 200 million 

individuals many of whom 

remain in abject poverty, or will 

we allow ourselves to be distracted 

by the same people who’ve 

robbed us? Choose and fight 

wisely Nigeria. There’s a little 

hero in all of us. 

corruption. 

That the NJC doesn’t recognise 

this is troubling, that it 

seeks to hide behind a lack of 

convictions of corrupt lawyers 

and judges to justify a lack of 

corruption is the summon of 

all irony and just another reason 

why the President and the 

chairman of the EFCC must 

urgently <strong>get</strong> UN backing and 

continued international assistance 

to successfully prosecute 

corruption and rid the system 

of those with the gall to pretend 

it doesn’t exist. 

Lawyers on the wrong side of the law (again) 

•Vice President Yemi Osinbajo 

The President must ask himself: 

what are heroes made of? The 

hero isn’t always the one who 

delivers the captives from the 

monsters. Sometimes, he might 

just be the one who even dares 

to claim there should be 

“deliverance” to begin with. By 

proving that it was possible to 

beat an incumbent 

without “federal 

might” on one’s 

side, Buhari made 

history. He made 

us dream of a Nigeria 

many people 

thought they’d 

never again see in 

their life time; he 

made us think the 

impossible. 

Sometimes 

heroes are simply 

men and women 

who remind us of 

our own potential. 

In fact, in key 

MANY 

comments 

accompanied the Vice 

President, Yemi Osinbajo’s labelling 

of hate speech as terrorism. 

Some lawyers promised 

to fight any legislation 

attempting to criminalise hate 

speech in a court of law. They 

claim it’s an attempt to “gag” 

Nigerians. 

These must be the same lawyers 

who defend obviously 

guilty politicians, all for a slice 

of their illegally obtained 

funds. They know that hate 

speech is the bread and butter 

of politics in Nigeria. 

They know that without hate 

speech their clients can’t operate, 

or <strong>get</strong> poor people to kill 

each other in the name of politics. 

Freedom of speech must be 

tempered by a strong belief in 

human rights: how can one 

believe in the rights of any 

individual and simultaneously 

defend the right for another 

person or group to threaten 

his existence publicly? Some 

people are too greedy and 

selfish to want peace and 

prosperity for all. 

It’s time Nigerians become 

wise to their tricks. 

Tabia Princewill is a 

strategic communications 

consultant and public policy 

analyst. She is also the cohost 

and executive producer 

of a talk show, WALK THE 

TALK which airs on 

Channels TV. 

C 

M 

Y


The month of February 2017 

was a most unusual one for 

the Nigerian Immigration 

Service (NIS), the National Emergency 

Management Agency 

(NEMA) and other statutory bodies 

charged with the responsibility of 

handling the intake and processing 

of Nigerians deported from 

countries in various parts of the 

world. While deportations, the act 

of forcibly removing and transporting 

foreign nationals to their countries 

of origin by host countries is 

a routine activity carried out by 

virtually all countries of the world, 

the frequency of its occurrence in 

February alone generated a 

worrisome growing trend. 

During this month, 43 Nigerian 

immigrants were deported 

from Germany, Belgium and Italy. 

The United Kingdom brought 

back two batches of deportees 

numbering 41 and 83 respectively, 

while South Africa, whose indigenes 

have been implicated in 

the xenophobic attacks on foreigners 

(especially Nigerians) 

Gale of deportations of Nigerians 

deported 97 of our nationals just 

before the month ended. Needless 

to say, the victims were alleged 

to have been involved in 

various alleged unlawful acts, 

like misdemeanour’s expired residency 

documentation issues, expired 

prison terms, and outright 

criminal acts such as human trafficking, 

drug offences and prostitution. 

Those deported are sometimes 

the lucky ones who came back with 

their lives intact, but usually deprived 

of their possessions. In 

more unfortunate cases, Nigerians 

in foreign lands (especially Asian 

countries) are often executed for 

involvement in drug-related offences. 

Nigeria bears one of the 

highest death burdens in the 

drowning of migrants in the Mediterranean 

Sea. Some die in the 

Sahara Desert, while many are 

summarily killed by local mobs 

and law-enforcement agencies in 

many countries. Apart from the 

few unsuspecting victims of human 

trafficking, most of the deportees 

voluntarily embarked on 

their adventures for (usually) the 

fabled “better life” in America, 

Europe and Asia and end up with 

regrets. We must begin now to 

tackle the root causes of illegal 

emigration from our country 

which God has blessed with everything 

it requires to be a great 

nation. Nigeria must be made a 

land of opportunity for all its citizens 

and even legal foreign migrants 

to live and thrive. Good 

governance devoid of corruption 

is essential. 

This will bring out the best in our 

people and help in converting our 

potentials to life more abundant for 

all Nigerians. We must do away 

with ethnicity, religious bigotry 

and sectional domination and give 

all Nigerians genuine freedom to 

live and thrive happily in any part 

of the country they choose. 

The amount of mutual hatred Nigerians 

harbour against one 

another must be addressed 

through good leadership. When 

Nigerians have to travel to other 

parts of the world, they must learn 

to be law-abiding and eschew 

unruliness. Unless we do this, 

Nigerians will continue to be easy 

tar<strong>get</strong>s for the xenophobic instincts 

of indigenes and law enforcers of 

countries around the world. 

On Mr. President’s health and allied 

matters 

By Sunny Ikhioya 

AS a people and nation, we like 

to make simple matters 

complicated. Sometimes deliberately 

to suit personal whims and purposes, 

and sometimes as a result of ignorance. 

For example, the unnecessary 

controversies surrounding the 

President's medical vacation, which 

surpassed the 100-day mark. Why 

should we fight and debate over his 

health and ability to remain in power 

when we already know his stand on 

matters like this? It is as if there had 

never been a precedent in this country 

and present actors made their positions 

known in the past. 

History is supposed to teach us and 

we’re supposed to learn from our past. 

But here, we pretend that as though 

the lessons from history is lost on us. 

Life has it's own way of resolving 

issues. Some call it 'karma', things just 

keep turning round and round. We all 

thought that President Mohammadu 

Buhari will be different, given his 

much touted integrity credentials and 

statements credited to him during 

Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s tenure as 

president. 

In year 2010, Buhari made the 

following statements concerning Yar’ 

Adua's health, to wit: "It is unpatriotic 

for a government leader to travel 

The question now is: 

What is Lai 

Mohammed doing as 

it concerns the daily 

briefings he should be 

giving on the 

President's health 

situation? 

abroad for so long in the name of 

medical vacation. If a leader can no 

longer function due to ill health, he 

should be called upon to resign. I 

don't think I have said anything wrong 

to have advised the President to 

resign. He should disclose his health 

OPINION 

status to Nigerians and resign if he 

can no longer cope. That is the proper 

thing to do..." 

On March 9, 2010, President Buhari 

was reported to have made a call for 

the impeachment of President Yar’ 

Adua who was ill and had not been 

seen in the public since November 

2009. The issue is not even about the 

Presidency but the health of our 

President. Anybody who sincerely 

loves him and values his continued 

stay on earth, should worry about his 

state of health rather than the position 

he occupies. 

It seems that all good men of 

conscience have suddenly vanished 

from this country. What is sauce for 

the goose should be sauce for the 

gander. We openly expressed our 

positions on lengthy medical vacations 

embarked upon by our president 

during the tenure of Yar ‘Adua. Such 

positions must remain constant and 

not to be subjected to manipulations. 

It is too serious an issue to be treated 

with levity. That is why the case of Lai 

Mohammed has beaten all records. 

In 2009, the Action Congress, AC 

party, through the Minister Lai, called 

on the Federal government to give 

Nigerians a daily update on the health 

of President Umaru Yar’Adua, to stem 

the growing rumours surrounding his 

state of health: "It is clear to discerning 

Nigerians that those pretending to 

speak authoritatively on the 

President’s health are deceiving the 

public, since they are neither well 

informed on the issue nor competent 

to speak on it...Therefore, a daily 

briefing by the minister of information, 

based on authentic details provided 

by the Presidential doctors, should 

start forthwith. As we have said many 

times, the health of the President, as 

a public figure can no longer be of 

interest only to his family and friends, 

Nigerians have the right to know...". 

The question now is: what is Lai 

Mohammed doing, as it concerns the 

daily briefings he should be giving on 

the President's health situation? Prince 

Omamoke Akiri asked the question in 

his Facebook page; "Can we say this 

is a case of do as I say, not as I do or, 

what is good for the goose is not good 

for the gander?". It is a really 

unfortunate situation and the people 

are becoming disillusioned with the 

shady and deceitful manner our 

country is been run. It is a pity that 

history is repeating itself and we have 

failed to apply its lessons. 

*Mr. Ikhioya, www.southsouthecho.com 

Twitter: @sunnyIkhioya

Nigeria’s forex inflow hits $1.79bn 

in Q2 ’17 — NBS 

•95% increase over Q1 

By Yinka Kolawole 

THE National Bureau of Sta 

tistics (NBS) has estimated 

total value of capital imported 

into Nigeria in the second 

quarter of 2017 at $1.79 billion. 

Capital importation denotes 

inflow of foreign currency 

into the country in cash or goods 

by investors or lenders. 

In a report released yesterday, 

NBS noted that foreign currency 

inflow in the second 

quarter was $884.1 million more 

than the figure recorded in Q1 

2017, representing a growth of 

95 percent. “This figure was 

$884.1 million more than the figure 

recorded in Q1 2017, a 

growth of 95.02 percent. Yearon-year, 

this was an increase of 

43.6 percent from the $1,042.2 

million recorded in Q2 of 2016,” 

it added. 

The report further revealed 

that the growth in Q2‘17 was 

largely driven by portfolio investments. 

Capital importation 

can be divided into three main 

investment types: Foreign Direct 

Investment (FDI), Portfolio 

Investment and Other Investments 

with each comprising 

various sub-categories. 

NBS further stated: “A month 

on month analysis of capital 

importation in the second quarter 

shows that the month of May 

recorded the highest of amount 

of capital importation ($616.5 

million), followed by June with 

$612.6 million and May with 

$563.3 million. The main driver 

of the quarterly growth in capital 

importation in the second 

quarter was Portfolio Investments, 

which increased by 

145.7 percent, followed by other 

Investments, which grew by 

$126. 20 -0.20 

$1,930.00 0.00 

$13.34 -0.18 

$14. 71 

$51. 42 -0.24 

$47. 23 -0.14 

CURRENCY BUYING SELLING 

US DOLLAR 304.7 305. 2 305.7 

POUNDS 392. 4536 393.0976 393. 7416 

EURO 358.571 359. 1594 359. 7478 

FRANC 315.2939 315.8113 316. 3286 

YEN 2.7941 2.7987 2.8033 

CFA 0.5247 0.5347 0.5447 

WAUA 427. 2724 427. 9736 428. 6747 

RENMINBI 45. 6635 45. 7388 45. 8142 

RIYAL 81. 2468 81. 3802 81.5135 

SDR 429. 3223 430. 0268 430. 7313 

RAND 23. 0833 23. 1212 23.1591 

CBN Exchange rate as at 22/08/2017 

From left: Mr. Oscar N. Onyema, Chief Executive Officer, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) 

presenting a gong to Dr. Balla Swamy, MD/CEO, Prestige Assurance Plc at the Closing Gong 

Ceremony in commemoration of 65th anniversary of Prestige Assurance Plc at the Exchange in 

Lagos 

95.02 percent, and then FDI, 

which increased by 29.8 percent 

over the previous quarter.” 

Portfolio Investment was the 

largest component of imported 

capital in the second quarter of 

2017, and accounted for $770.5 

million, or 43 percent of the total. 

This was closely followed by 

Other Investments, which accounted 

for $747.5 million or 

41.7 percent and then FDI, 

which accounted for $274.4 million 

or 15.3 percent during the 

quarter. “A year on year comparison 

of the three investment 

types indicates that portfolio investments 

increased by 128.4 

FIRS moves to combat tax evasion, signs 

multinational agreemeents 

EXECUTIVE Chairman of Federal Inland Rev 

enue Service, FIRS, Mr. Tunde Fowler, has 

signed two major multilateral instruments - Multilateral 

Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related 

Measures to prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, 

MLI, and the Common Reporting Standard 

Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (CRS 

MCAA). 

Fowler signed the agreements on behalf 

of Nigeria in Paris, with Mr. Ben Dickinson, 

Head of Global Relations and Development 

Division of the Organisation for Economic 

Cooperation and Development (OECD), in 

attendance. A statement issued by Pascal 

Saint-Amans, Director, OECD’s Centre for 

Tax Policy and Administration (CTPA), said 

the agreements has made Nigeria the 71st 


percent from the $337.3 million 

recorded in second quarter of 

2016. Other investments also 

increased by 43.6 percent from 

the $520.6 million reported in 

the same quarter of 2016, while 

FDI grew by 48.9 percent, from 

$184.3 million,” the report 

added. 

jurisdiction to sign the MLI and the 94th jurisdiction 

to join the CRS MCAA. 

According to him, the agreements would give 

Nigeria automatic exchange of tax and financial 

information among 101 tax jurisdictions and enhance 

the country’s ability and those of the other 

countries to contain tax avoidance and evasion as 

well as share financial data. 

The MLI is a legal instrument designed to prevent 

Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) by 

multinational enterprises. It allows jurisdictions 

to transpose results from the OECD/G20 BEPS 

Project, including minimum standards to implement 

in tax treaties to prevent treaty abuse and 

“treaty shopping”, into their existing networks of 

bilateral tax treaties in a quick and efficient manner. 

Expert advocates massive deployment of solar power 

By Gabriel Ewepu 

ASOLAR energy expert, Engr. Francis 

Oludemi, has advocated massive deployment 

of solar across the country for rapid diversification 

of the economy. 

Oludemi, who is also the chief executive officer 

of Solar Affairs Institute, said the Institute has 

trained over 7000 Nigerian youths to <strong>get</strong> jobs or 

become employers of labour. 

The Institute also unveiled 1,000 Watts ‘Solar 

Mobile Barbing’ kits, designed with the capacity 

to power a barbers shop with four clippers, two 

fans, a TV set, and lighting points. Unveiling the 

1,000 Watts Mobile Solar barbing kits and the 

abridged version of the MTN yellow box, 

Mrs. Chinyere Anuna, who represented the 

International Labour Organisation, ILO, 

urged the government to invest in training 

of youth in solar energy development skills 

as part of means of creating employment. 

Anuna also promised that her organisation 

will support government to reduce the burden 

of unemployment. In his remarks, the 

Director General, National Youth Service 

Corps, NYSC, represented by Mrs Afolayan 

Adeola, said the scheme has been leveraging 

on the capacity of Solar Affairs Institute 

to empower corps members in solar energy 

development. 

NIED moves to 

strengthen 

Nigeria’s trade 

mission 

NIGERIA Initiative for 

Economic Development, 

NIED, has commenced moves to 

strengthen Nigeria’s trade ties 

with other countries as well as woo 

more foreign investors into the 

country. 

Led by its coordinator, Dr. 

Queen Blessing Itua, on a trade 

mission to the country, NIED said 

the visit would enable it to explore 

investment potentials in the 

nation. 

NIED said in a statement, that 

it would also explore possible 

ways of attracting further foreign 

investment inflow into the country 

in order to create employment 

opportunities for the army of jobless 

Nigerian youths. 

Receiving the delegation at the 

State House, Abuja, the Vice- 

President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, 

who was accompanied by the 

Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Audu 

Ogbeh, and Minister of Health, 

Prof. Isaac Adewole, brought to 

fore the immense economic potentials 

in Nigeria especially, in 

agriculture. 

Dr. Itua, it would be recalled, is 

a serving international Chief 

Adviser for State of Georgia Senator, 

Donzella James. She is reckoned 

to have been inspiring 

people to personal transformation 

as the ‘Blessings of Africa Empowerment 

Foundation’ in Nigeria 

and Global Empowerment 

Movement (GEM) in USA, nonprofit 

organizations dedicated to 

humanitarian efforts geared towards 

addressing a common root 

of impoverished communities. 

ABCON laments 

unfair competition 

against BDCs 

By Babajide Komolafe 

ASSOCIATION of Bureaux 

De Change Operators of 

Nigeria (ABCON) has lamented 

the unfair competition against 

BDCs in the weekly dollar sale of 

the Central Bank of Nigeria 

(CBN). 

ABCON President, Alhaji 

Aminu Gwadabe, who made this 

known to journalists stated: “BDC 

business has been badly affected 

by uncompetitive rate as the CBN 

sells dollars to BDCs at higher 

rate compared to what the regulator 

sells to commercial banks, 

yet both tar<strong>get</strong> the same market 

segment and customers.” 

The BDCs, he said, buy dollar 

from the CBN at N360 per cent 

and sell to end users at N362 per 

dollar while it sells to commercial 

banks at N358 per dollar and the 

banks sell to end users at N360 

per dollar. 

Gwadabe described the buying 

rate for the BDCs as 

uncompetitive and a big disincentive 

for many forex users to patronize 

the operators. 

According to the ABCON boss, 

the banks enjoy large customer 

base with the customers able to 

carry out their transactions by 

having their accounts debited to 

cover the cost of purchase.

C 

M 

Y 

K 


Toilet Soaps: 

Manufacturers 

repositioning to meet 

changing consumer 

preferences 

•Unilever, PZ & Evans still leading 

By Princewill Ekwujuru & 

Chinenye Chianumba 

FACED with consumers’ 

increasing demand for 

value in the brands’ promises, 

toilet soap producers have 

intensified marketing strategies 

to win back consumers’ 

unstable loyalty to their various 

brands. This is at the backdrop 

of market perspectives that with 

a sustained population growth 

the demand for toilet soap is 

expected to continue to grow. 

With emphasis on cleanliness 

and hygiene in modern lifestyle 

the industry also expects further 

increase in demand for soap 

brands that satisfy these needs. 

Consequently, toilet soap 

producers are doing everything 

within their powers to remain 

relevant in their positions, 

deploying critical marketing 

measures such as repackaging, 

price and availability to drive 

sales. 

To further consolidate on their 

positions in the market, the 

manufacturers have developed 

new marketing approach, new 

designs, colours and fragrances 

to attract consumers. They also 

produce brand ranges for 

different skin-types while 

making the packs more 

attractive. 

The producers have also 

deployed kiosks, open market 

outlets, radio and television 

commercials in building brand 

GOTv adds three new 

free-to-air channels 

Stories by 

Princewill Ekwujuru 

GOTV has launched 

additional three Free-to- 

Air, FTA, channels on its 

platform. 

Speaking on the launch of the 

channels, Managing Director, 

MultiChoice Nigeria, John 

Ugbe, said: “We are very excited 

about our new channel offerings 

and the role of GO Tv in 

promoting local content and 

cultural values. It is a true 

testament of our vision to 

transform the pay-television 

landscape in the country and 

volumes and equity to shore up 

their market share. But some 

consumers say these measures 

have not impacted significantly 

on their fixed mind set. 

However, the industry is 

projected to grow continually 

over the next five years, a 

segment consumers are not 

likely to cut back on, as a result 

of healthy lifestyle despite their 

tight disposable income. 

Vanguard Companies and 

Markets (C&M) findings 

revealed that Nigerian toilet 

soap market is in four categories 

- the beauty soaps, the 

medicated toilet soaps, liquid 

bath soaps and the skin 

lightening bath soaps. All these 

segments have witnessed 

intense competition in the 

market, pitching local and 

foreign soap brands on one 

hand, and on the other hand 

the leading local brands such 

as Joy and Imperial leather, 

produced by PZ Cussons 

Plc, Lux from the stable of 

Unilever Nigeria Plc 

and Eva manufactured by 

Evans Industries Limited 

Reactions: A consumer who 

identified herself as Mrs. 

Obiefuna, a housewife, said her 

choice soap is Eva, because of 

its size, fragrance and foaming. 

Other respondents who 

preferred Eva said the price is 

right at its size. 

A consumer, Tony Nwagele- 

Obi, said, “for manufacturers to 

make digital television services 

a must-have for all Nigerians. 

"GO Tv forms part of our 

broad-based strategy to 

contribute to Nigeria’s digital 

migration via sensible 

infrastructure investment and 

competitive service delivery. 

With the debut of RStv, EBS and 

BCOS on GO Tv, our viewers 

in Rivers, Edo and Oyo States 

now have access to high-quality 

audio-visual channels to enjoy 

local news, entertainment and 

sport programmes. We are 

enabling, with great ease, the 

switch from analogue to digital 

TV to viewers across Nigeria”. 

consolidate on their positions in 

the market they have to follow 

the latest trend, as well as 

consumers' mind set. Every 

consumer wants to smell nice 

after bath, even without using 

The determinant 

of customers’ 

choice of a 

particular brand 

of product is a 

function of the 

perceived 

satisfaction of that 

brand over 

another 

perfume, every consumer wants 

to keep his or her skin glowing 

and they also want to buy at a 

pocket friendly price.” 

Another consumer, Solomon 

Igwebuike, said: “Nigerians in 

general see cleanliness of one’s 

environment and person as of 

utmost importance and nonadherence 

to the basic rules of 

hygiene causes illness, disease 

and body odour. The basic rules 

of hygiene include regular 

cleaning of the surroundings, 

regular bathing at least once a 

day and regular washing of 

clothes when dirty. These 

contribute to volume sale of 

beauty soaps.” 

Promasidor appoints new managing director 

PROMASIDOR Nigeria Limited, PNL, has 

appointed Mr. Anders Einarsson as 

Managing Director. He succeeds Mr. Olivier 

Thiry, who is now elevated to the Group as chief 

executive officer. 

Until his appointment, Einarsson served the 

organisation as chief operating officer. He 

joined PNL in 2013 as strategy director and 

was later promoted finance director. As finance 

director, he inspired a first class department, 

leaving a strong legacy for his passionate and 

committed team. 

Einarsson has extensive experience in 

Nigeria and other emerging markets, having 

worked across Africa and Russia for the last 15 

Abimbola Olaitan, a sales 

representative in one of the 

superstores in Lagos, said: 

“People go to shopping with a 

particular brand of toilet soap in 

mind, but would take an 

alternative if the usual brand is 

not available or too costly. At 

such times, they switch to the 

brand closest to their regular 

brands. Thus, availability and 

price are the major factors for 

consumer switching brands in 

this market.” 

According to a brands and 

marketing expert based in 

Lagos, Samuel Ufot, “The 

determinant of customers’ 

choice of a particular brand of 

product is a function of the 

perceived satisfaction of that 

brand over another. Customer 

satisfaction on the other hand 

is a judgment made by the 

customer. It is borne out of the 

comparison of pre-purchase 

expectations with postpurchase 

evaluation of the 

product. If the perceived 

performance of the brand 

purchased falls short of 

expectations, it leads to 

dissatisfaction. Satisfaction 

occurs when the perceived 

performance of the brand 

matches the expectations. If 

perceived performance exceeds 

expectations it results in 

delighting the customer. 

In addition, another 

marketing expert, Davidson 

Ofurum of Market Intelligence, 

said, “a company that is 

ignorant of consumer 

preferences cannot possibly 

fulfil its obligations in a 

meaningful and responsive 

manner. This makes it 

imperative for marketers to 

understand the factors that 

determine the customers’ choice 

of products. This is more 

important in toilet soap industry 

where consumers have 

abundant choice of brands to 

choose from and competition 

among companies also very 

high," stated Ofurum. 

Unilever comments 

Responding to C&M 

inquiries, a source at Unilever 

Nigeria Plc, said, “Lux has not 

been silent in the Nigerian 

market. Unilever has been 

actively driving the brand across 

mediums and channels and 

<strong>get</strong>ting stellar growth along 

with other Unilever brands. As 

one of Unilever’s flagship 

brands, we will continue to 

focus on building the brand 

while also ensuring that the 

product is available to our loyal 

consumers.” 

Contrary to consumer's 

statements, Unilever also stated, 

“the demand for the Lux brand 

is still very high and growing. 

We have recorded more growth 

in the past two years and we are 

confident that this will continue 

even as we focus on providing 

quality products that meet the 

needs of Nigerians.” 

years, in various corporate finance and 

investment related roles. Prior to his 

appointment by Promasidor Nigeria Limited, 

he was a partner at a Johannesburg-based 

private equity fund manager, being responsible 

for deal origination and execution in West and 

Central Africa. 

Announcing the appointment of the 

Managing Director, Thiry said, “He (Einarsson) 

will focus on moving Promasidor Nigeria 

business forward in these very exciting times.” 

Promasidor was founded in 1979 by Rose, who 

left the United Kingdom in 1957 for Zimbabwe 

to pursue his African dream. It has since grown 

with presence in 25 African countries.

C 

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Flour manufacturers intensify competition 

despite soaring demands 

•Golden Penny, Crown Flour and Honeywell battle for 

supremacy 


Chinenye Chianumba 

AMIDST rising sales 

profile, indigenous flour 

producers are grappling with 

the high demand for the 

product, alongside fierce 

competition, which has 

triggered a flurry of activities 

in the over $2billion flour 

market. 

Flour which is the major 

ingredient for production of 

various confectionaries such 

as biscuit, bread and other 

snacks, has witnessed growth 

following the ban on 

importation of flour products 

into the country, a step that 

has drastically reduced the 

influx of imported flour 

products. 

Flour imports have also been 

reduced by the cassava 

inclusion policy which 

mandated all flour millers to 

use between 10-20 percent of 

cassava flour in the production 

of bread. Local manufacturers 

control almost 85 percent of 

the flour market with the rest 

going to smuggled imports. 

The sector is also said to be 

growing as a result of 

increasing urbanisation, along 

with growing popularity of 

flour products as a food 

substitute. 

Leadership 

of the market 

Based on this, flour 

manufacturers are doing 

everything possible to control 

leadership of the market by 

deploying different marketing 

tools such as direct delivery to 

distributors’ stores, and sales 

incentive depending on the 

tar<strong>get</strong> given by the 

manufacturers, all these have 

helped to heighten 

competition in the market. 

The sector which is said to 

be driven by population 

growth estimated to be about 

180 million is further 

enhanced by ban on imported 

flour, according to industry 

watchers. Industry watchers 

have also projected a 

continued growth for the 

market over the next years, a 

segment consumers will 

continue to patronise despite 

the economic hardship. 

A look into the market shows 

that there are different types 

of flour for different purposes. 

They are the composite, a high 

quality 

cassava 

flour, confectionery, for 

confectionery, finer than allpurpose 

flour, multi-purpose, 

for bread and cake recipe 

adaptable to most uses, 

durum for pasta, noodles, 

pudding etc. 

Findings: Despite the 

attractiveness of the market, 

new investors, especially the 

multinationals, are seriously 

challenged in acquiring 

market shares, which control 

75 percent of the market with 

Inconsistency of 

some of the flour 

products has led 

some consumers 

to switch loyalty 

and has also 

affected some 

persons and has 

led to business 

closure in some 

cases 

strong brand lotalty. 

However, Vanguard 

Companies and Markets, 

(C&M) findings showed that 

preference in the market is 

marked by product thickness 

when mixed with water, ability 

of the product to rise well in 

water and richness when used 

to bake. 

Distributors spoken to said 

Golden Penny Flour, 

produced by Golden Penny 

Flour Plc sells more, followed 

by Mama Gold, manufactured 

by Crown flour Mills Nigeria 

Limited, a subsidiary of 

Olam International 

Limited and Honeywell Flour 

produced by Honeywell Flours 

Mills Plc coming a distant 

third place in the market, 

going by consumers 

preferences. 

Aside Dangote Flour, 

manufactured by Dangote 

Flour Mills Limited that plays 

in the national market others 

like Nigeria Eagle Flour 

Mills, of the Chagoury Group, 

based in Oyo State, Standard 

Flour Mills Limited, Lagos, 

Life Flour Mills Limited, 

Sapele, Valleumbra Flour 

Nigerian companies can make 500% profit 

from Logistics industry—Ozor, Kobo CEO 


Destiny Eseaga 

THE Founder and Chief 

Executive Officer of 

KOBO, a longistics firm, Mr. 

Obi Ozor, has said that 

Nigerian companies can 

make close to 500 percent 

profit if they invest in the 

estimated yearly $80billion 

logistic industry. 

He disclosed this at the 

2017 Logistics Professional 

Conference in Lagos tagged, 

“Leveraging technology to 

increase profits in logistics” 

organised by KOBO in 

partnership with 

Techpoint.ng, Zippy Logistics 

and other stakeholders in the 

logistics industry, where he 

said the sector is capable of 

generating employment 

opportunities for millions 

unemployed Nigerians 

Addressing participants 

Mills Limited, Enugu 

State and Mercury Mills 

Limited, Ogun State, play in 

the regional market. 

Consumers: A number of 

sampled consumers declared 

their preference for Golden 

Penny flour, followed by 

Crown flour, Honeywell flour 

and Dangote flour. A 

wholesaler at Oyingbo market, 

Mrs. Abdusalam Suraat, said 

most buyers and bakers alike 

prefer Golden Penny flour 

drawn from the haulage and 

logistics, while speaking on 

the topic, “What technology 

can do for African logistic,” 

Mr. Ozor stated that KOBO 

is proud to develop the 

KoboApp which would 

revolutionise the Africa 

logistics industry. 

Logistics 

industry 

He reiterated that KoboApp 

is developed with software 

that schedules haulage trips 

to include reverse logistics, 

thus reducing the price of a 

trip by 30 percent for both 

demand and supply. He said: 

“The Nigeria logistics market 

size is worth $80 billion 

annually and with KoboApp, 

Nigerians can invest in the 

sector and earn returns close 

to 500 percent without the 

stress of finding clients and 

than other brands. She 

commended Golden Penny 

thickness and said it consumes 

a lot of water which is a proof 

of a good quality flour. 

She also stated that Mama 

Gold is also doing well in the 

market, but pointed out that 

Dangote is not selling as 

expected, explaining that the 

product is light and mostly 

used for chin-chin and 

doughnut. 

A baker, Mrs. Florence 

Obielo, also gave her 

preference to Golden Penny 

flour because of its richness. 

She, however, commended 

Honeywell, saying, “it is 

soft and good for cake and 

puff-puff. She said that 

because of the inconsistency 

of some of the flour products 

has led some consumers to 

switch loyalty and has also 

affected some persons and has 

led to business closure in some 

cases. 

According to the product 

dealers price difference is not 

significant in determining 

patronage, though there has 

been significant increases in 

the prices of all the 

competitors. In January 2017, 

Golden Penny flour, Mama 

Gold and Dangote sold for 

N10,700, but they now sell 

for N11,200, while Mama 

Gold and Dangote sell for 

N11,000. 

According to an KPMG 

report in 2016 Golden Penny 

leads the market with 32 

percent, followed by Olam 24 

percent, Dangote 12 and 

Honeywell a distant fourth, 

others the 25 percent. 

However effort made to speak 

with the brand owners failed 

as they were not ready to 

speak with these reporters. 

scheduling trips.” 

“The technology-driven 

platform is about affordability, 

speed and safety and can 

connects service providers to 

customers or business owner 

to service provider,” he 

stated. 

Ozor who said that Nigeria 

has serious infrastructure 

challenges that affects 

logistics business which 

individual businesses cannot 

fix, added, “but we can drive 

efficiency using technology. 

“We see serious problems in 

logistics when it comes to 

pricing. There is no unified 

pricing. There is no place 

where you can have all the 

available capacity in logistics. 

There is no marketplace. 

There is no place where every 

demand is made and people 

will be able to <strong>get</strong> complete 

supply.”

C 

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22—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23 , 2017 

vicahiyoung@yahoo.com 

Pensioners threaten 

mass action over 

6 years unpaid benefits 

•as PenCom fumes over moves to exclude 

paramilitary from CPS 

By Victor Ahiuma-Young & 

Emmanuel Elebeke 

PENSIONERS of the 

Federal Ministry of 

Agriculture and Rural 

Development have threatened 

mass action over their unpaid 

pensions and other entitlements 

for the past six years. This is as 

the National Pension 

Commission, PenCom, is fuming 

over ongoing moves to exclude 

paramilitary organisations 

including the police from the 

Contributory Pension Scheme, 

CPS. 

A bill seeking to amend the 

Pension Reform Act, 2014 to 

exclude members of the Nigeria 

Police, the Nigerian <strong>Security</strong> and 

Civil Defence Corps and Nigeria 

Customs Service, NSCDC, from 

CPS had on May 16, 2017, passed 

the second reading on the floor 

of the House of Representatives. 

The bill, sponsored by Mr. 

Oluwole Oke, is also seeking to 

exempt the Nigerian Prison 

Service, NPS, Nigerian 

Immigration Service, NIS, and 

the Economic and Financial 

Crimes Commission, EFCC, from 

the scheme. 

Industrial 

protest 

Meanwhile, in a protest 

letter addressed to the permanent 

secretary in the ministry signed 

by the union chairman, Ihuoma 

C, the Pensioners are seeking 

audience with the heads of the 

ministry, warning that failure to 

accede to their request would 

force them to embark on an 

industrial action. 

In the letter, they appealed for 

payment of their benefits by 

Federal Ministry of Agriculture 

and Rural Development from 2012 

to date, lamenting that nothing 

had been done to effect the 

payment after several appeals. 

“We are alone in this 

predicament as we understand 

other ministries have paid their 

retirees the repatriation allowance 

and this has made life difficult for 

us. We also wish to inform you 

what happened to retired officials 

in other ministries like the Federal 

Capital Development Authority, 

Abuja who were given plots of 

land to develop as a form of 

compensation for serving the 

nation meritoriously. 

“We wish to suggest that the 

ministry can adopt its own welfare 

scheme for their retirees by 

offering starter packs as a 

Ministry of Agriculture for those 

who have gone into farming 

which we believe will enhance our 

income and improve our living 

standards in retirement’s ” the 

letter reads. 

They also demanded that 

middle cadre staff in the ministry 

be given opportunity to serve as 

consultants on retirement as was 

done to directors, deputy directors 

and assistant directors to boost 

their moral, adding that they 

would not hesitate to embark on 

protest should the minister and 

permanent secretary failed 

to heed to their request. 

On the moves to exclude 

The bill has dire 

consequences 

not only on the 

pension reform, 

but on the other 

reforms of 

governments 

paramilitary organisations 

including the police from CPS, the 

Acting Director-General of 

PenCom, Mrs. Aisha Dahir- 

Umar, said in Abeokuta that the 

exclusion of paramilitary 

organisations from CPS will not 

augur well for the officers and 

men of the outfits. 

Dahir-Umar who spoke at the 

2017 Annual Retreat organised by 

Pension Operators (PenOp) 

comprising 21 Pension Funds 

Administrators, PFAs, and four 

Pension Custodians contended 

that their exemption would impact 

negatively on the country’s 

economy. 

Speaking through the Head, 

Research and Corporate Strategy 

Department of PenCom, Dr. 

Farouk Aminu, the acting DG 

said: “The attention of the 

commission has been drawn to a 

bill currently before the House of 

Representatives seeking to 

amend the Pension Reform Act of 

2014 . Despite the position of the 

Federal Government that further 

exemption of its agencies from 

CPS should be stopped, the 

House continued. The bill have 

dire consequences not only on the 

pension reform, but on the other 

Verification exercise aimed at providing 

accurate database, others —PTAD 

PENSION 

Transitional 

Arrangement Directorate, 

PTAD, has explained that the 

ongoing biometric verification of 

Federal Civil Service pensioners is 

aimed at providing accurate 

database and eliminate ghost 

pensioners who may want to benefit 

from the payment of pension 

allowance. 

Executive Secretary of PTAD, 

Sharon Ikeazor, while speaking in 

Osogbo, Osun State, at the biometric 

verification of pensioners who retired 

from the federal civil service, under 

the Defined Benefit Scheme, DBS, in 

the southwest zone, disclosed that 

PTAD had already removed no fewer 

than 15,200 fictitious names from 

the federal government payroll in 

reforms of governments. 

“The Nigerian Pension Industry 

through PenOp and PenCom 

remains the model in African 

countries such as Malawi, 

Tanzania, Ghana and Uganda 

that still come to understudy us. 

The Federal government further 

issued a white paper saying it will 

be unable to sustain pension 

payments under defined benefits 

pension schemes and directed 

that only the military intelligence 

and the state security services 

may withdraw from the 

contributory scheme.” 

She argued that the Federal 

Government was already 

overburdened with payment of 

pensions as reflected in the 2016 

Appropriation Act. According to 

her, about N200 billion was 

appropriated in the Act as 

pensions and gratuities which is 

Kano owes pensioners N11.2bn unpaid benefits ------NLC 

By AbdulSalam Muhammad 

NIGERIAN 

Labour 

Congress, NLC, has 

pleaded with the Kano State 

government to pay pensioners 

the backlog of unpaid benefits, 

lamenting that the state 

government owed over N11.2 

billion of gratuities, death 

benefits and pension arrears. 

Kano NLC chairman, Kabir 

Ado Minjibir, disclosed this on 

a local radio station programme, 

while speaking on the recently 

released Paris Club refund by 

Federal Government to states. 

Minjibir said the huge 

outstanding to workers was 

“due to non-remittance of the 

contributory pension from 2006 

and charged the state 

government to dedicate high 

percentage of the Paris Club 

Fund to the payment of 

workers and pensioners’ 

benefits to alleviate their 

suffering." 

According to him, “the 

Ibrahim Shekarau 

administration did not pay the 

contributory pension of eight 

per cent from workers and 15 

per cent from the state 

government in line with Kano 

•How not to treat our retirees...Pensioners protesting over unpaid arears 

State pension and gratuity law 

of 2006 which amounted to 

N3.6 billion. The Rabiu Musa 

Kwankwaso administration did 

not remit N18.9 billion and 

while Abdullahi Umar Ganduje 

also owed N11.2 billion that 

later amounted to N33.7 though 

the present administration 

started liquidating it and now 

stands at N11.2billion. 

"Presently health workers in 

the 44 local government 

councils are owed more than 

N536 million and teachers at 

the Senior Secondary Schools 

with Corporate <strong>Security</strong> 

Personnel with another N500 

2016. 

Ikeazor who insisted that the 

exercise was designed to provide fool 

proof data for all federal pensioners 

after verification processes that 

terminates at the quality assurance 

stage, said PTDA would commence 

the payment of benefit to genuine 

pensioners three months after. 

Speaking to journalists, she noted 

that “the verification of pensioners 

throughout the country started in 

2015 at South-East and the North- 

West. The next phase we had in 2016 

was the Northeast and after that, we 

moved to the South-South. Now, we 

are in the South-West. 

She said,“After the completion of 

the verification exercise, we 

payrolled the retirees within three to 

still insufficient to fund pension 

liabilities of government. 

The acting PenCom DG said: 

“For instance, the 2016 Pension 

Transitional Arrangement 

Directorate’s, PTAD, total bud<strong>get</strong> 

proposal indicated a total annual 

pension liability of the sum of 

N388.3 billion. Out of the amount, 

the sum of N255.8 billion 

constituted unfunded liabilities 

which was inherited by PTAD 

mostly due to outstanding 

payments for 33 per cent arrears 

to pensioners under the Defined 

Benefits Scheme. PTAD had 

indicated that there had been no 

provision for unfunded liabilities 

in the past which now forms part 

of its core obligations.” 

Dahir-Umar, however, noted 

that the Nigeria Police pension 

scheme had recorded some 

progress. 

million.” 

Minjibir advised the state 

government to as a matter of 

urgency establish a 

stakeholders’ committee 

including labour union and 

pensioners on the judicious 

utilization of the fund. 

four months. We have to check all 

their documentations from the first 

letter of their appointment, 

promotion letters, computation and 

their retirement letters. Then, we take 

all these documents to Abuja for 

quality assurance and computation. 

After this stage, the federal auditors 

have to clear them before they start 

to <strong>get</strong> their allowances.” 

On the possibility of the 

verification process to discover ghost 

pensioners, Ikeazor said “we have 

already carried out that exercise 

under the civil service pension 

department. In December 2016, we 

removed 15,200 from our payroll 

with accounts numbers that have no 

BVN."

By Prince Osuagwu 

IT may not be so surprising if the 

next renewable energy experts to 

bail the country out of the epileptic 

power supply would be indigent 

Nigerian girls. This is because a 

sizeable number of them were among 

the 50 Nigerian teenage girls 

empowered by global energy 

management specialists, Schneider 

Electric to attend the 2017 Science, 

Technology, Engineering and 

Mathematics, STEM, summer camp 

training programme themed 

“Renewable Energy for a Brighter 

Future”. 

The one week event organised in 

collaboration with Visiola Foundation 

was aimed at encouraging young girls 

to develop interest in exploring how 

technology affects every aspect of life 

including provision of renewable 

energy, and possibly embrace 

technology in pursuing their future 

ambitions and careers. The event which 

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017— 23 

STEM tech: Why indigent girls may be next renewable energy engineers 

took place at Global International College in 

Abuja recently, had about fifty participants 

consisting of brilliant indigent teenage girls 

selected from over 1000 applicants to learn the 

science behind renewable energy. 

In a bid to solve problems that affect people in 

their communities using renewable energy 

solutions, participants were given daily 

challenges during the camp and the girls 

demonstrated their level of intelligence and 

understanding by building demo projects to 

generate electricity using solar, wind and hydro 

sources from the knowledge they had acquired 

in the course of the training sessions. 

Speaking on the program, Marketing 

Communications Manager, 

Anglophone Africa, Viviane Mike-Eze 

said “Schneider Electric believes in 

educating a woman to educate a nation. 

This explains our passion for initiatives 

that help empower women and young 

girls. It is absolutely incredible what 

these young girls are capable of; their 

display of sheer focus and commitment 

is clear evidence that the future is indeed 

Continues on page 25 

STATS: 

830 Million 

Number of young 

people online 

91 Million 4.3 Billion $1.9 trn 

Nigeria's mobile 

broadband subs 

Global broadband 

subs by year end 

Global telecom 

revenue 

Nigeria pushes global mobile 

broadband growth to 4.3bn 

•As youths dominate internet 

By Emmanuel Elebeke 

WITH 91 million broadband 

base, Nigeria leads Africa as 

the highest mobile broadband 

growing country. This also gives the 

global record a handsome push to the 

4.3 billion mobile broadband 

subscriptions window it attained 

recently. 

The country which added a 

whopping three million 

subscriptions, in the first quarter of the 

year, sits comfortably as fifth highest 

growing country, globally, since then. 

However, there are a few factors that 

fuelled this surge: 

Smartphones: The well over 152 

million telecom subscribers in the 

country are mainly on smartphones. This 

does not only drive Mobile internet usage 

but also gives significant boost to the 

growth of e-commerce in Nigeria. 

According to a recent study by Jumia 

on African mobile 

trends, about 71 

per cent of its users 

in Nigeria access 

the website 

through their mobile phones, compared to 53 

per cent of customers in the rest of Africa. Jumia 

said that Mobile customers, both those who use 

its app and those from mobile browsers, account 

for 63 per cent of all <strong>orders</strong> it receives in Nigeria. 

Low cost handsets: The greater penetration 

of low-cost smartphones is a major reason for 

the rise in mobile internet use. Mobile 

phone manufacturers in the last two to 

three years have engaged in consistent 

competition, trying to topedo one another 

in low entry smartphones that have all 

Continues on page 24


•ICT University 

Interview 

FG woos CISCO on adoption of ICT 

University 


The Federal Government 

has commenced a move to 

woo multinational technology 

firms to adopt the proposed 

ICT University before its 

commencement in September. 

The Minister of 

Communications, Barrister 

Adebayo Shittu, disclosed this 

when he hosted Cisco 

Networking Academy in 

Abuja. 

The minister charged Cisco 

Academy to adopt one of the 

campuses of the proposed ICT 

University which would be 

named after them, noting; 

“Early indication of the role 

you would play and the 

modus operandi in the 

structure of governance 

should be detailed and in a 

way help government know 

how to collaborate with you.” 

Shittu advised Cisco to 

formally represent their 

proposal to the Ministry for 

necessary action as he 

enumerated vital 

opportunities in the ICT 

Exhibition Park which Cisco 

system could key into, such 

as building good weather 

measurement devices, shops, 

database in workplaces to 

mention a few. 

The leader of the Cisco 

delegation, Toyin Olatayo, 

while responding said their 

visit to the ministry is to seek 

for areas Cisco can collaborate 

with the ministry, to make 

Nigeria’s Youths technology 

creators as opposed to being 

simply users of it. 

Olutayo further revealed 

that Cisco Networking 

Academy is an IT Skills and 

Career building program for 

learning institutions, 

individuals, communities and 

organizations. “We hope to 

achieve our mission by 

converging digital 

disruptions, building Internet 

of Things (IoT) ecosystem and 

education through IoT.” 

Barrister Shittu summarily 

said the establishment of the 

proposed university is in 

response to the call to bridge 

the technology gap in the 

country and create an 

enabling environment for man 

FINTECH: The Quickteller, Verve, 

Interswitch connection for payment 

convenience 

By Tare Youdeowei 

Dialling up emotions and 

interest by amplifying the 

story of the human spirit of freedom, 

resilience and strength, 

Interswitch, Verve and Quickteller 

have unveiled a campaign 

revealing their position and plans 

for Nigeria’s Fintech space. 

Speaking on the essence of the 

campaign, Marketing Manager, 

Interswitch, Olawale Akanbi, 

disclosed that Interswitch is 

constantly seeking answers to 

questions that will ensure 

customers enjoy safer, faster and 

smarter transactions. 

His words; “In response to the 

concern that majority of Nigerians 

are either under banked or 

unbanked, a division of Paypoint 

Agents were set up to drive 

inclusion through nationwide 

deployment. They carry out 

financial services in their 

neighbourhood on behalf of 

Interswitch. ” 

On Verve card’s card-less ATM 

withdrawal, Enyioma Anaba, 

Marketing Manager, Verve, said; 

“Verve was borne out of a need for 

cheaper technology, hence, the 

innovation of card-less withdrawal. 

To enjoy this, customers need to 

insist on Verve cards as opposed 

to taking whichever card they are 

given. Customers have the right 

to choose between cards and need 

to be abreast of the services cards 

offer, and this is the aim of this 

campaign. 

“We are working on international 

acceptance so Verve cards would 

be completely 

borderless. This 

we are achieving 

by signing an 

agreement with 

Discover 

Financial 

Services, the 

owners of Diner’s 

Club, which when 

implemented, will 

enable Verve card 

•Mitchell Elegbe 

power development and skill 

acquisition. 

be used across the DFS network 

in 185 countries." 

Stating that Quickteller is SME 

friendly in its bid to provide 

optimum payment ease, Adetayo 

Teluwo, Marketing Manager, 

Quickteller disclosed; “We seek to 

be close to the people and spice 

up their lives by meeting their 

varied payment needs which cut 

across buying airtime, paying bills 

across 5,000 merchants, 3,000 of 

which are SMEs, as well as 

transfer between banks. These are 

all possible as 17,000 automated 

teller machines and 150, 000 point 

of sale terminals are Quickteller 

enabled. Quickteller can also be 

accessed by downloading the 

mobile application, via text by 

dialling *322# and on BBM 

Discover. It is basically about one 

less thing to worry about.” 



Continued from page 23 

the features of high end phones. 

This has given the low income 

earners access to affordable 

smartphones which do not only 

serve their voice communication 

needs but also launch them into 

the internet world.. 

Data-efficient mobile 

browsers: In Nigeria, the Opera 

Mini browser is made lighter in 

terms of data usage than 

conventional browsers and has 

become very popular among new 

mobile internet users who have 

lower incomes and can’t afford 

costly internet data packages. 

The constant data bonuses given 

by several Nigerian telecom 

operators are also seeing people 

spend more time online. 

Contrary to the 

old custom of using 

mobile phones to 

only look up 

products and then 

purchase them on 

the desktops, 

Nigerian e- 

commerce 

customers are 

increasingly 

checking out and 

paying for <strong>orders</strong> 

directly from their mobile phones. 

No wonder, it is estimated that 

Nigeria would have up to 75.9 

million people online by 2020, 

which will also see to more 

growth of global mobile 

broadband subscriptions. 

The 2017 report released by 

the International 

Telecommunications 

Union, ITU, revealed that 830 

million young people are online, 

representing 80 percent of the 

youth population in 104 

countries. ITU’s study also 

showed a significant increase in 

broadband access and 

subscriptions with China leading 

the way. 

Internet adoption: The annual 

release which technology global 

players have long waited for, to 

be able to chart their future 

broadband businesses, reveals 

that youths, particularly those 

between the ages of15-24 year 

are at the forefront of internet 

adoption. In the least developed 

countries, up to 35 percent of 

individuals using the internet are 

aged 15-24, compared with 13 

percent in developed countries 

and 23 per cent globally. In China 

and India alone, up to 320 million 

young people use the internet. 

Commenting on the report, ITU 

Secretary-General, Houlin Zhao 

said; “Great strides are being 

made to expand internet access 

through the increased 

availability of broadband 

networks. Digital connectivity 

plays a critical role in bettering 

lives, as it opens the door to 

unprecedented knowledge, 

employment and 

financial 

opportunities for 

billions of people 

worldwide.” 

Broadband is 

increasingly 

mobile: Similarly, 

the study further 

revealed that 

mobile broadband 

subscription has 

been growing at 

more than 20 percent annually 

in the last five years and is 

expected to reach 4.3 billion 

globally by the end of 2017. 

Between 2012 and 2017, least 

developed countries saw the 

highest growth of mobile 

broadband subscriptions. 

Despite this, the number of 

mobile subscriptions per 100 

inhabitants in those countries is 

the lowest globally at 23 per cent. 

The number of fixed broadband 

subscription has increased by 

nine per cent annually in the last 

five years with up to 330 million 

subscriptions added. 

The report also indicated that 

there has been an increase in 

high speed fixed broadband 

subscriptions parallel to the 

growth in the number of fibre 

Local Content: VoguePay to deepen Nigeria’s 

$12bn software market with local apps 

By Prince Osuagwu 

Online payment gateway, 

VoguePay has declared its 

willingness to help Nigerian 

undergraduates develop local 

content applications that 

would support the $12 billion 

Nigeria software market 

currently dominated by 

foreign software vendors. 

VoguePay’s chief executive 

officer, Michael Simeon, made 

the disclosure at the just 

concluded national conference 

of the Nigerian Association of 

Computer Science Students 

Great strides are 

being made to 

expand internet 

access through 

the increased 

availability of 

broadband 

networks 

(NACOSS) in Uyo Cross River 

state. 

He noted that it is expensive 

to depend on foreign software to 

meet the country’s software 

needs, which means there was 

need to invest in new generation 

of software developers and 

businesses to build local content. 

He said that to support this 

move, was why his company 

sponsored the event which also 

was used as platform for software 

hackathon. Simeon described the 

hackathon as capable of 

producing the next generation of 

indigenous software giants. 

Before announcing the winners 


of the competition, the chief 

technology officer (CTO) of 

VoguePay, Leke Ojikutu said 

he was excited that all the 

75 applications received for 

the competition addressed 

real needs that can be turned 

to viable businesses. 

He challenged the 

students to learn the basics 

of software development as 

this will help them to grasp 

new technologies. He said it 

is time to give back to the 

community and raise new 

generation of software 

entrepreneurs. 

He added that unlike most


Nigeria’s quantum subscriber 

base, our major attraction - Ngozi 

Madueke-Dozie, Country Manager, iflix Nigeria 

By Tare Youdeowei & 

Ikechukwu Chukwuma 

Poised to transform the way 

Nigerians access content and 

avert piracy by providing 

affordable diverse content, iflix 

has berthed in Nigeria. 

The company’s country 

Manager, Ngozi Madueke-Dozie 

has been in the communication, 

entertainment and technology 

sectors for 12 years and has 

served as tech expert in various 

companies, including MTN, 

Iroko and Bicom of Mtv Base, 

before porting to iflix. In this 

interview, she reveals iflix’s 

blueprint for Nigeria’s teaming 

51 million smart phone users. 

Excerpts; 

Why is iflix in Nigeria? 

Nigeria would have up to 75.9 

million people online by 2020 

and we want to key into that. This 

nation is pertinent in iflix’s goal 

to transform the way one billion 

people view content. Nigeria has 

a population of 192 million; 135 

million of that number is around 

30 years of age. Mobile 

subscribers are at 151 million 

while, mobile broadband base is 

91million with 51million smart 

phone users. Mobile internet 

traffic is 76 percent; internet and 

smart phone penetration are 53 

and 30 percent respectively. This 

is the place to be. 

The potential that Nigeria has 

to offer is existential. Ultimately, 

Nigeria is existential in iflix’s 

existence, in terms of our goal in 

Africa. We are trying to reach a 

billion people but first of all we 

need to reach the most populous, 

hackathons which are designed to 

help the sponsor-company to fix 

challenges of their product, this 

event was not self-serving. 

The winning teams from 

University of Nnamdi Azikwe 

(Unizik), Ladoke Akintola 

University of Technology 

(LAUTECH) and University of 

Ibadan (UI) won cash prizes and 

business support from 

VoguePay.com and eStoreSMS.com 

while other competitors were 

awarded consolation prizes for their 

presentation. The national 

president of NACOSS, Emmanuel 

Gregory Essiet was full of gratitude 

as he highly commended VoguePay 

we will still <strong>get</strong> to the less 

populated countries, but in terms 

of relevance and importance, we 

cannot come to Africa without 

launching in Nigeria or without 

first being successful in Nigeria. 

Most importantly, we are here to 

feel the pulse of Nigerians, to build 

Nigerian based content and give 

the people only what they want. 

What is iflix? 

We are a leading Subscriber 

Video on Demand platform 

founded in Malaysia two years 

ago. We are now in Nigeria and in 

partnership with over 200 studios 

and distributors in the world. 

Simply put, iflix is an application 

where you can watch and 

download movies. With iflix you 

have access of thousands of content 

from Hollywood, Bollywood, 

Nollywood, sports, cartoons, series, 

you name, we have it. You can 

access iflix with N800 monthly 

with the first month being free. Iflix 

is how we intend to combat piracy 

by giving people quality, 

convenient and affordable options 

from an array of highly diverse 

content. 

How does iflix generate content? 

Our goal is to create our own 

content, which is not only unique 

to us but it is sought after and 

subscribers will be more than 

willing to pay for it. We have sports 

highlight on the application, we 

are however looking to <strong>get</strong> life 

feeds. 

There are movie houses that 

have movies exclusive to their 

viewing platform. The truth is that 

content is king and you will always 

and eStoreSMS noting that their 

sponsorship helped him to 

convene the best conference for 

the student body. 

Meanwhile, the company’s head 

of digital media and strategy, Wole 

Ogunlade, noted that the 

VoguePay/NACOSS competition 

is part of a strategic 5-year 

partnership that the company is 

pursuing to help raise awareness 

about local talents on software 

development among students of 

tertiary institutions. He 

challenged other corporate 

organizations to pursue similar 

initiatives as part of their corporate 

social responsibility. 

have to pay for content if you 

are not generating your own 

content. Eventually, there will 

be iflix exclusives. 

Nigerians can send content 

to us by mailing Ali Yakubu, the 

Content Aquisition Manager at 

ali@iflix.com or bring it to us 

on the 1st floor, Workstation, at 

7, Ibiyinka Olorunbe Close, 

Victoria Island, Lagos. 

How can iflix be accessed? 

First step is to download the 

application from your mobile 

store, like Playstoreb for 

instance. Next step is search 

and download. After the first 

month ubscription is N800 per 

month as opposed to other than 

charge N1,000 and pay TV 

which goes for N4,500. 

Invariably, the average 20 

minutes series will cost 25mb, 

so with 1GB data you can <strong>get</strong> a 

full season. We are basically 

cheaper and we bill in dollars. 

We have over five million 

members and five billion 

minutes of movies streamed 

since it was launched in 2015. 

What are your plans to 

censor content? 

We are talking with religious 

bodies to <strong>get</strong> religious content 

for interested subscribers. We 

are also following the 

Continues from page 24 

connections. “Most of the 

increase in high speed fixed 

broadband subscriptions in 

developing countries can be 

attributed to China, which 

accounts for 80 percent of all 

fixed broadband subscriptions 

at 10 Mbit/s or above in the 

developing world.” 

Affordability of mobile 

broadband: The ITU study also 

shows that mobile broadband 

prices, as a percentage of gross 

national income per capita, 

dropped by half between 2013 

and 2016. Hence, mobile 

broadband is more affordable 

than fixed broadband in most 

developing countries. 

Digital gender divide: While 

the internet user gender gap 

has narrowed in most regions 

since 2013, study revealed that 

the proportion of men using the 

internet remains slightly higher 

than the proportion of women 

using the internet in two-thirds 

of countries worldwide. In 

2017, the global internet 

penetration rate for men stands 

at 50.9 percent compared to 

44.9 percent for women. 

Meanwhile, in the Americas, 

the number of women using the 

internet is higher than that of 

•Ngozi Madueke-Dozie, Manager, iflix Nigeria 

guidelines of the Nigerian Film How does the presence of iflix 

and Video Censor Board, improve employment in 

NFVCB, to ensure that only Nigeria? 

content that fits their We think beyond our direct 

specifications, are on iflix employment; thousands of 

Nigeria. 

youths, as talent, movie 

Also, iflix has a parental control 

feature which gives parents going to <strong>get</strong> employed due to the 

producers and marketers are 

the ability to determine the kind existence of this service in 

of contents their children view. Nigeria. This is because we are 

There isthe support section offering a safe and far reaching 

where users can lay their complaints 

concerning the applica- 

suited for the Nigerian audience. 

portal that is piracy free and 

tion, in case of any. 



men. 

International bandwidth 

growth: The report equally 

showed that international 

internet bandwidth grew by 32 

percent between 2015 and 2016, 

with Africa registering an 

increase of 72 percent during this 

period, the highest of all regions. 

However, 

global 

telecommunication revenues 

declined by 4 percent from USD 

2.0 trillion in 2014 to USD 1.9 

trillion in 2015. Developing 

countries, which are home to 83 

percent of the global 

population, generate 39 percent 

of the world’s telecommunication 

revenues. 

Why indigent girls may be next 

renewable energy engineers 


bright. We see the difference 

clearly partnering The Visiola 

Foundation to make the event 

possible. We are glad to have 

been the headline sponsor of the 

2017 STEM summer camp for 

teenage girls. 

"Aside the financial support, we 

ensured that the girls had access 

to our top resource personnel on 

renewable energy and we hope 

to find ways to sustain this effort 

because we understand the 

impact good mentorship will 

have in the lives of these girls.” 

Viviane stated." 

In her remarks, president and 

co-founder, Visiola Foundation, 

Lade Araba stated that the goal 

of the foundation is to help 

improve the current quality of 

education such that youths move 

from a focus on low-skill, lowvalue, 

and low-wage jobs, to 

building technical skills and 

expertise so as to have access to 

globally significant, high-skill, 

high-value, and high-wage jobs. 

“It is exchanging the reactive, 

humanitarian approach with a 

proactive industrialization 

attitude that seeks to build a solid 

foundation of technically 

competent labour to design 

solutions to the myriad of 

problems in our countries.” Lade 

stated. 

In addition to the technical 

training, the girls were also 

taught the importance of team 

work, believing in themselves 

and speaking with confidence.


Damp and dark wardrobe, 

breeding ground for mildew 

HAVE you opened your 

wardrobe at one time or 

the other to find that the beautiful 

dress you had tar<strong>get</strong>ed to 

wear to a friend’s party, or the 

dress you had kept for your 

baby for a birthday party, had 

mildew grown on it? How disappointed 

it could be as you or 

your baby just couldn’t wear the 

dress to go to anywhere? 

A wardrobe solves a lot of 

storage problems, but if you 

have mould in or behind your 

wardrobe, you have a much 

bigger problem that requires 

immediate action. If not, before 

long, you find out that all your 

clothes are spoilt. Even if you 

decide to discard the clothes 

and fill your wardrobe with new 

clothes, it will still result to the 

same thing if you don’t <strong>get</strong> rid 

of the habit that causes mildew 

or find solution to the cause. 

Mould or mildew does not 

grow in wardrobe alone; it 

grows on shoes, bags, bed 

sheets, pillow, towel just to 

mention a few. 

Causes: Anywhere you keep 

your clothes and is damp and 

dark is ideal breeding ground 

for mould and mildew. Mould 

is even more likely to form if 

you have your wardrobe 

pushed up tightly against your 

walls. 

Preventing 

mildew 

•Mildew on a jacket 

If you don’t allow your wet 

clothes to dry very well before 

keeping them in the wardrobe 

or you decide to hang them 

thinking they will air dry in the 

wardrobe that is a big mistake. 

What you are doing is introducing 

moisture into an enclosed 

environment. On top of this, 

wardrobes tend to be very dark 

inside. 

This can be compounded if 

the base of the wardrobe is covered 

with a piece of carpet; the 

carpet provides the warmth, 

the damp clothes provide the 

humidity. Before you know it, 

you’ll have to empty it out and 

dry your clothes if mildew has 

not condemned all. 

How to prevent mildew? 

As homemakers, below are 

some of things you can do to 

prevent mildew in your wardrobe. 

Vinegar is 

an excellent 

mildew killer 

which also 

removes its 

smells from 

your clothing 

•Move your wardrobe out a 

few centimeters from the wall 

to prevent condensation from 

seeping into it. 

•Never hang damp clothing 

•Mildew on a pillow 

The baking soda & 

vinegar method 

•Add 1 tablespoon of baking 

soda to a spray bottle (about 

12 oz). 

•Fill the bottle with white vinegar. 

•Shake until dissolved. 

•Spray onto mildew spot 

•Use a brush, sponge, or 

wash cloth to gently massage 

the solution into the clothes. 

•Rinse the clothes out in the 

sink or tub. 

•Spray again. 

•Let dry. 

•Wash in the machine as you 

normally would or hand 

wash. 

in your wardrobe. Always ensure 

that it is completely dry 

before putting it away. 

•Don’t overfill your wardrobe. 

If clothes are tight up against 

each other, mould can grow 

from the fibres of one item to 

another, encouraging the 

spread of spores. 

How to remove mildew 

White distilled vinegar: Vinegar 

is an excellent mildew 

killer which also removes its 

smells from your clothing. 

Mix one cup of white vinegar 

in a bucket of hot water, and 

pre-soak the clothing for at least 

an hour before hand washing. 

If you are using washing machine, 

you can launder in your 

washing machine at the hottest 

temperature possible with your 

regular detergent. Alternatively, 

you can directly add 250 ml 

of vinegar to your washing machine 

per cycle and wash as 

normal. 

NOTE: It is advised not to mix 

vinegar with any product that 

contains bleach, as this can create 

a toxic gas. 

Borax 

This water-soluble mineral is 

also a natural mould-killer, 

which you can buy as a detergent 

or in powder form. If you 

<strong>get</strong> it as a powder, mix with 

water as per the instructions on 

the label. Then add the solution 

directly into the drum of 

your washing 

machine, 

and launder 

the clothes as 

normal. 

Bleach 

A very 

strong chemical, 

bleach 

can be very 

effective at 

killing mould 

and removing 

mildew 

stains. However, 

it will 

also fade any 

colours; so 

use bleach 

only on 

whites, or 

test your garment first on an inconspicuous 

part of your clothing 

(such as the inside hem) 

to make sure it’s colour fast. 

If your clothes are colour fast, 

you can pre-soak the mouldy 

clothing for a few hours in a 

solution of bleach and mixed 

according to the instructions on 

the label. 

Or use a toothbrush to gently 

apply bleach directly to the mildew 

spots. (Colour fast bleach 

if you are doing this on a coloured 

item! When you’re using 

bleach, obviously you 

should always test a small inconspicuous 

area on your item 

first. Bleach will totally take the 

color out of some things). You 

can very gently rub at the spots, 

or even rub the material to<strong>get</strong>her. 

You will be able to see 

the mildew disappearing. If 

you can’t see it disappearing, 

add more bleach. Hand wash 

the spot with laundry detergent 

and hot water. This is very important 

because the soap stops 

the action of the bleach. If you 

skip this and just rinse, the 

bleach will destroy your 

clothes. Rinse with more HOT 

water. 

Items 

CONSUMER WATCH A place that makes you plan ahead 

Prices 

Basket of Tomatoes N15,500 - N25,000 

A bag of Pepper (Rodo) N 10,000 - N18,000 

A bag of Long pepper N6, 500 – N7000 

A bag Onion (white) N18, 000 – N20, 000 

A bag of Onion (Red) N15, 000- N18, 000 

50kg of long grain Rice N15,800 

A derica of long grain Rice N280 

50kg of short grain Rice. N15,500 - N15,700 

A derica of short grain Rice N300 

A crate of egg N1,100 - 1,200 

A bag of Olotu beans N50,000 

A bag of Oloyin N51,000 

A bag of Yam Flour (Elubo) N45, 000- N65,000 

A bag of Gari (Yellow) N14,000 

A paint bucket N1,000 

Items 

Prices 

A bag of Ijebu Gari N12,000 

A paint bucket 

N700 

25 Litres of Ve<strong>get</strong>able Oil N30, 500 

10Litres N6, 500-N 7000 

25 Litres of Palm Oil N13,500 

5Litres of Palm Oil N2,200 

Salt 

N80-N150 

Noodles- 70g 

N1500- N1800 

Spaghetti (1packet) 

N190-N200 

Macaroni(1packet) 

N120 

Semovita (10kg) N2,800- N2,900 

Pampers (cartons of 8) N3, 400 

Seasonings 

N110 – N500 

Tomatoe paste (2,200g) N1200-N1500 

Tomatoe paste (Medium) N550-N700 

Items 

Prices 

Tomatoe paste(small) 

N150-N350 

Tomatoe sachet (a roll) N250 –N300 

Pack of toilet roll (48pieces) N1800-N2, 300 

A Satchet of milk 

N30-N50 

A Sachet of beverage 

N45-N50 

Toothpaste 

N250-N270 

5 Litres of Kerosine N1,200 

12.5kg. Cooking gas N4, 500 

Yam (1 tuber). 

N400- N800 

Ugwu Leaf (a bundle) N3, 500 – N4, 000 

A dozen of tied Ugwu Leaf N1,800, 

Moin-Moin Leaf (a dozen) N800, 1 pack- N100 

Carton Titus ice Fish N19,000 

1 Carton of Kote ice fish N16,200 

1 Carton of Sawa iced Fish N10, 000, 1Kg-N600 

C 

M 

Y


Finger snack: Gizzarddo 

FINGER snack like 

dodo and gizzard is 

a simple side dish that is 

often served with rice 

especially jollof rice. This 

snack is often prepared in 

a classic way for classic 

occasion. It is simple and 

easy to prepare if you 

follow the cooking rules. 

For those who do not 

know, dodo is rich in 

iron, magnesium, 

vitamins, potassium, 

fibre, fat, protein and 

carbohydrates as well as 

calories while gizzard is 

also rich in iron. 

And that is why I coined 

a name for this 

meal, gizzarddo. You 

can actually use ripe 

plantain to make this 

particular meal and for 

the gizzard, it can either 

be chicken or turkey 

gizzard. To prepare this 

meal, you need the 

following ingredients 

Ingredients 

Ripe plantain 

Chicken or Turkey 

Gizzard 

Sliced tomatoes 

Sliced pepper (scotch 

bonnet) 

Sliced onions 

Sliced green pepper 

Seasoning 

Salt to taste 

Ve<strong>get</strong>able oil (800ml) 

•Gizzarddo 

Note, frying the 

plantain and gizzard will 

give you the delicious 

gizzarddo at the end of 

the day. 

Directions: Start by 

peeling off the back of the 

plantain and chopping to 

smaller bits with a 

kitchen knife. Slice the 

tomatoes, peppers and 

Onions as seen here. 

Wash the gizzards with 

hot water and precook for 

20 minutes. Season the 

gizzard, and add half 

teaspoon of salt and half 

cup of sliced onions. 

Check to see that the 

gizzard is soft and chop 

to smaller bits. 

Fry the plantain with 

ve<strong>get</strong>able oil until it turns 

golden, scoop into a sieve 

and allow it to cool for a 

while. Reduce the oil and 

then fry the chopped 

gizzard. The gizzard 

would be somewhat darkbrown 

when it is properly 

fried. Remove and pour 

in the remaining half cup 

of onions, stir and add the 

tomatoes. Add the sliced 

pepper and allow to fry 

for 10-15 minutes. 

Remember to stir 

occasionally so it doesn’t 

<strong>get</strong> burnt. 

Once the tomato is 

properly fried, you are 

almost done with 

making gizzarddo. 

Add one cube of maggi to 

it and salt to taste. 

Transfer the fried 

gizzards, plantain and 

sliced green peppers. Stir 

all to<strong>get</strong>her, cover and 

allow to simmer for three 

minutes. That is just how 

to make gizzarddo. 

Gizzarddo can be 

served as a course meal 

or a side meal. Usually, it 

is served with jollof rice. 

Do not use the same towel for 

your bum to wipe your face 

DO you really want to 

be drying off your 

face with the same towel 

you just used to dry off your 

bum? Think about it. Using 

the same towel to dry both 

body and face, is 

something probably all of 

us have done at some 

point in our lives if it’s not 

something we still do every 

day. 

It is known that the skin 

on your face is far more 

delicate and softer than the 

skin elsewhere on your 

body. Towels specifically for 

the body will often be made 

from slightly rougher 

material than a face towel 

and that is because of the 

way in which oil and dirt 

have to be removed and 

what the skin is capable of 

withstanding. In other 

words, using a body towel 

on your face, and using a 

considerable amount of 

pressure, can ultimately 

lead to damaging your 

skin and this is something 

that should be avoided. 

If you want flawless, 

youthful skin, you have to 

have a ritual that works, day 

and night. There is the 

proper way to wash your 

face, the right 

order to apply 

nutrient-rich 

products and the 

essential way to 

dry off. The latter 

is often 

overlooked 

because we are in 

a hurry or have 

not unlearned 

years of bad •Face Towel 

behaviour. But it 

might be one of the most 

important steps of all. If you 

wipe or rub your face dry 

after washing, then you’re 

making a big mistake. 

When you wipe excess 

water away, you are 

tugging at the skin. The 

likelihood for wrinkles and 

wear and tear increases, 

and you’re removing all of 

the moisture your skin 

needs prior to product 

application. A best practice 

to <strong>get</strong> used to is to pat your 

face dry with a clean 

towel. Using a clean towel 

is key. Using the same 

towel as you use on your 

body can spread bacteria 

and lead to more break 

outs. 

Information available to 

Homemakers from a 

cosmetic dermatologist is 

that your facial skin is 

delicate and sensitive, and 

none of the oils from your 

body or your hair should 

ever be transferred to your 

face. The bacteria left on 

your skin, arms, legs, 

shoulders have some 

specificity to those areas of 

the body, and if you use a 

towel on your body and 

then your face, you can 

transfer that bacteria and 

viruses and fungi onto 

your complexion. 

You must remember that 

bacteria are very good at 

moving around or else we 

would not become ill. So, 

moving oil and grease 

components from other 

parts of the body to the face 

via a towel is certainly not 

a good idea.


In old Igbo societies, a man’s 

wealth was measured by the 

size and numbers of his yam 

barns which attracted 

respect, chieftaincy titles and 

many wives to a prominent 

yam farmer 

VOL. 2 NO 7 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017 

•Dr Anakwenze performing the traditional cutting of the yam ceremony, while the traditional ruler of Abagana, Igwe Patrick Okeke and others watch. 

New Yam 

this year’s Iri ji festival was 

very symbolic. It marked the 

By Vincent Ujumadu, 

commencement of the harvest 

Chidi Nkwopara, 

season, in the largely agrarian 

Nwabueze Okonkwo 

&Dennis Agbo 

community. 

One peculiar thing about new 

IGBO land is now agog with 

yam festival in Obinugwu is 

celebration of the age-long A phenomenal festival 

that the date, August 14, is fixed 

new yam (Iri ji) or Onwa Asaa 

and sacrosanct. This yearly 

(seventh month) festival. The 

ritual is also called “Obinugwu 

festival is, however, known by in Igboland 

Day”! 

several names including Iri ji, 

Iri ji ceremony can rightly be 

Onwa Asaa, Iwa Ji or •Abagana uses New Yam festival to end 30-year communal feud 

said to be the most prominent 

Orurueshi, among others, in 

traditional festival of the royal 

various communities across •Famine starts to disappear when we begin having new yam kingdom. People hold this 

Igbo land. 

ceremony so close to their 

Although little documentary 

hearts, especially as it signals 

evidence exists about the to the other. In some In such communities, the while the third day is reserved the beginning of harvest and 

origin of the festival, it has since agricultural communities, new three-day event starts with Igo for quaffing of palm consumption of “the chief crop” 

remained the people’s custom yam festivals are held to herald Nne (celebration of dead wine, consumption of leftover in Obinugwu. 

and tradition. The impressive the formal eating of new yams, mothers). The celebration rolls meat and other unfinished During the festival, cultural 

glamour attached to new yam hence it is called new yam 

items and rounded off with dancers adorn rich cultural 

ceremonies attracts indigenes festival. Some Igbo elders do 

meetings to resolve family costumes to the admiration of 

of various communities, not eat new yam except after In some Igbo 

disputes as well as departure the aclaim. The array of 

including those in the the formal yearly iri ji festivals. communities, 

of visitors and family friends to masquerade performances, 

Diaspora, their friends and Those who celebrate Onwa 

their various homes. 

create a strong feeling of awe 

well-wishers. 

Asaa do so to thank the god of yam is regarded 

among visitors, especially as 

There is no specific date for their forefathers for keeping as the queen or 

New yam symbolic 

masquerades in Igbo land are 

the celebration of this Igbo them alive to eat another new 

in Imo 

believed to have supernatural 

festival but most communities yam. 

chief crop, 

IMO—In Obinugwu powers! 

hold the festival at the In places like Enugu Ezike hence it is a 

autonomous community in Orlu South East Voice gathered 

beginning of each harvest and other parts of Nsukka in 

Local Council Area of Imo State, that it is a taboo for any 

season to thank the gods for Enugu State, gaily dressed 

taboo for 

which has become a household indigene of Obinugwu 

bountiful harvests, especially married daughters in various anyone to sit on name of sorts in the country and community to eat new yam 

yam. In some Igbo communities “return to their 

particularly the South East before the traditional “Iwa ji or 

it 

communities, yam is regarded roots,” with yams, goats, fowls 

geo-political zone because of Iri Ji” ceremony is performed 

as the queen or chief crop, or even cows to celebrate the 

the raging rift between the by the royal father. Big tubers 

hence it is a taboo for anyone event with their brothers and into the second day with Igo influential traditional ruler, Eze of roasted yam are brought to 

to sit on it. 

sisters who they had not seen Nna (celebration of dead Cletus Ilomuanya and public glare, before the 

The dates differ from one area over a period of time. 

fathers or great grandfathers), Governor Rochas Okorocha, Continues on page 29 

C 

M 

YK


New yam: A phenomenal 

festival in Igboland 


traditional ruler, along with a 

bowl of oil bean salad, known 

in local parlance as Ugba. The 

Ugba is generously garnished 

with palm oil, pepper and other 

delicious condiments that 

ultimately make the eating of 

the new yam pleasurable and 

memorable. 

It must also be said that the 

yams used for this festival, are 

planted and harvested from 

Obinugwu farms. For the 

people of this autonomous 

community, it is sacrilegious to 

use imported yams and those 

bought from the open market 

or other doubtful sources for 

this festival. 

After the presentation of the 

roasted yams, Eze Ilomuanya, 

accompanied by his wife, 

palace <strong>chiefs</strong>, Nze traditional 

title holders, visiting traditional 

rulers and other distinguished 

guests, walked majestically to 

where the roasted yams were 

placed. 

Prayers of 

thanksgiving 

The royal father then offered 

prayers of thanksgiving to God 

for a fruitful harvest, blessed the 

people and later cut a piece of 

the roasted yam, dipped it into 

the ugba delicacy and ate it. 

This royal act is 

spontaneously followed by the 

shouting of the traditional 

ruler’s traditional title by the 

crowd. Others thereafter, took 

their turns to savour the new 

yam even as a jubilant mood 

immediately enveloped the 

arena. 

The reason is that every other 

indigene can now proceed to 

harvest and consume new 

yams, either planted in the 

community or bought from the 

open market. 

One recurring issue, 

surrounding iri ji ceremonies 

in Igbo land is that some 

THE TEAM 

SUPERVISING EDITOR: 

Chioma Gabriel, Lagos 

(08052201257) 

EDITOR: 

Emeka Mamah, Enugu 

email: 

emekemamah@yahoo.com 

Anayo Okoli, Umuahia 

Vincent Ujumadu, Awka 

Chidi Nkwopara, Owerri 

Peter Okutu, Abakaliki 

Chimaobi Nwaiwu, 

Nnewi 

Nwabueze Okonkwo, 

Onitsha 

Ugochukwu Alaribe, Aba 

Enyim Enyim, Onitsha 

Chinoso Alozie, Owerri 

Chinenye Ozor, Nsukka 

Eric Ugbor, Aba 

•Eze Cletus Ilomuanya, performing the traditional cutting and eating of the new yam in Obinugwu. 

people rightly or wrongly, 

associate this yearly ritual with 

fetish connotations. 

Responding, Eze Ilomuanya 

said: “It is purely a tradition of 

Obinugwu people and has 

nothing to do with fetishes. As 

part of the events lined up for 

the 2017 festivities, we began 

with a concelebrated Pontifical 

mass at the Holy Trinity 

Catholic Church, Obinugwu.” 

According to Eze Ilomuanya, 

yam is the king of all the crops 

in any farmland across Igbo 

land. 

“This is because of its dynamic 

nature. It can be used for 

several purposes. The 

significance of new yam festival 

is that it ushers in orderliness 

in the community and sustains 

the beautiful bond between the 

people and their ancestors. It 

has nothing whatsoever to do 

with any devilish ritual or fetish 

conduct. 

“When culture is lost, every 

other thing is lost. Besides, we 

cannot perpetually tie 

ourselves to the apron strings 

of Western lifestyles. To do this 

will sadly amount to neocolonialism,” 

Ilomuanya said, 

while insisting that the festival 

was their way of life. He further 

stressed that culture is a symbol 

of identity of any people. 

In Igbo worldview, when a 

tradition survives a series of 

tests, misinterpretations and 

misrepresentations, like the 

new yam festival, it becomes a 

way of life. Abagana uses New 

Yam festival to end 30 –year 

communal feud in Anambra 

Anambra—Prominent son of 

Abagana, in Njikoka local 

government area of Anambra 

State, Dr. Nwachukwu 

Anakwenze, who was crowned 

the Onowu Abagana (the 

traditional prime minister) 

earlier this year, has used his 

first New Yam festival to 

reconcile the various sections 

of the community that had been 

at loggerheads for the past 30 

Those who 

celebrate Onwa 

Asaa do so to 

thank the god of 

their forefathers 

for keeping 

them alive to eat 

another new 

yam 

years. Dr. Anakwenze, an 

American-based physician and 

former president of Anambra 

State Association in the USA, 

ASA-USA, 

Indeed, it was during the 

New Yam festival that all the 

<strong>chiefs</strong> in the town, including 

the traditional ruler, Igwe 

Patrick Mbamalu Okeke, sat 

to<strong>get</strong>her for the first time in 30 

years and enjoyed the roasted 

yam from their farms.The 

outcome was, therefore, one of 

the significant roles yam plays 

in Igbo land. The New Yam 

festival is a period used in 

making peace in troubled 

communities. 

Anakwenze, who for many 

years, was leading Anambra 

professionals in the Diaspora 

on a free health care 

programme for several 

communities in the state, said 

though he left the country as a 

young man, he has always 

cherished the Igbo tradition. 

Cherished 

Igbo tradition 

He told South East Voice: “We 

are keeping with the tradition 

of our people. When our fore 

fathers planted yam, they 

celebrated the wake of 

harvesting. That is what we are 

replicating, concurently 

thanking God for giving us 

good harvest. New Yam festival 

is part of Igbo culture, which 

our ancestors were celebrating 

hundreds of years ago. 

“My grandfather was a chief 

and my uncles were also big 

<strong>chiefs</strong>. I watched them when I 

was young and I don’t want to 

for<strong>get</strong> those memories or allow 

that tradition to go into 

oblivion. We have to maintain 

our culture so that our ancestors 

won’t feel ashamed in their 

resting places. We will also pass 

it on to the younger ones so that 

the torch would not extinguish 

on my hands. I will make sure 

it continues to shine brighter in 

this community and in Igbo 

land in general.” 

Expressing delight at what he 

used the New Yam festival to 

achieve, Anakwenze added: 

“For the past 30 years, our 

people have been quarrelling 

and creating factions and 

enmity. But since they made 

me the traditional prime 

minister, I have succeeded in 

bringing all the parties 

to<strong>get</strong>her. So today in my house, 

all the feuding parties hugged 

each other and put behind the 

differences of over 30 years, 

thanks to yam, the king of crops. 

They have sheathed their 

swords and have accepted one 

traditional ruler in Abagana, 

who is Igwe Patrick Okeke. 

“I had to make my people 

understand that there would be 

only one Igwe at a time and he 

should be allowed to reign and 

after him, there would be 

elections for another Igwe in 

Abagana. 

Peaceful 

coexistence 

"I also made them 

understand that while they are 

busy fighting each other, our 

neighbours are busy stealing 

our land. I made them realize 

that there is no need fighting 

over nothing because the best 

thing that can happen to a 

community is peaceful 

coexistence." 

He said that even in America 

where he lives and regards as 

his second home, the culture 

and tradition of Igbos were 



A phenomenal 

festival in Igboland 


revered because Igbos were 

among the four groups that 

founded America and had 

made useful contributions 

towards the growth and 

development of that country. 

According to him, in Virginia 

State, the Igbos are honoured 

at a museum in Virginia 

because of their contributions 

towards the development of 

USA during the slave trade. 

Igwe Okeke, who was elated 

that Dr. Anakwenze had 

brought peace to Abagana, told 

the <strong>chiefs</strong> that it was due to his 

efforts at restoring peace that 

he was rewarded with the 

prestigious position of 

traditional prime minister of the 

town. “For a long time 

Abagana knew no peace and 

when this Onowu was 

identified, it united everybody 

and peace returned. In doing 

what my ancestors did, which 

is the celebration of New Yam; 

we need to sustain the peace 

because that is the only way to 

achieve our objectives. 

“To me, peace has returned... 

Let us for<strong>get</strong> what happened 

in the past and forgive each 

other. We will set up committees 

that will take decisions on 

issues concerning Abagana 

henceforth,” the monarch 

said. 

Elusive 

peace 

One after the other, the <strong>chiefs</strong> 

prayed for the long reign of the 

traditional prime minister, 

saying that, “Since you want 

peace in Abagana, peace will 

also reign in your home. 

Abagana was feared in the 

past, but things changed and 

our small neighbours took 

advantage of that to foment 

trouble in our community. They 

observed that though Dr. 

Anakwenze is not the richest 

in Abagana, he is so much 

interested in ensuring that 

peace returns in the community 

Also in Uke Community in 

Idemili Local Government of 

Anambra State, the elusive 

peace which had previously 

hindered development 

initiatives in the area, appeared 

to have returned with the 

ascension to the throne of His 

Royal Highness, HRH, Igwe 

Charles Chuma Agbala (Igwe 

Oranyelu III) who ascended 

the throne in 2016. This 

resulted in the peaceful and 

joyous celebration of this year’s 

Iwaji (new yam) annual 

cultural festival at Igwe 

Agbala’s palace, Uke. 

Earlier, the traditional 21 

canon gun shots were fired to 

herald the ceremony, followed 

by a Holy Mass and then the 

traditional breaking of kola nuts 

before the cutting of roasted 

new yams to symbolize the 

official declaration that the 

indigenous people of Uke can 

now eat new yams. 

In his goodwill message to 

the people, Igwe Agbala said 

the uniqueness of this year’s 

Iwaji ceremony was that peace 

and unification were being 

celebrated in the community 

many years after it was 

enmeshed in crisis which in 

turn, retarded progress and 

development in the area. 

“I am very happy that this is 

happening at a time I assumed 

the position of chief servant of 

the people,” he said. Igwe 

Agbala, a quantity surveyor 

said, attributing the return of 

peace in the area to the 

handiwork of God. 

“I am a peaceful man and 

peace returned during my 

reign, but I won’t give myself 

the credit for the return of peace, 

but rather to God who made it 

possible. Peace comes and 

flows from God and since I 

came on board, God has been 

on my side and people on the 

fence are joining us in droves 

with dancing and happiness,” 

he added. 

Yam, the king of crops: 

ENUGU- Though there are 

Orurueshi is the 

day that what we 

call Uyaa 

(famine) start to 

disappear because 

we start having new 

crops particularly 

new yams and other 

crops and we begin 

to feed very well 

because scarcity of 

food starts in our 

place when new 

cropping season or 

cultivation starts 

other food crops such as 

cassava, maize, beans and 

cocoyam among others, the 

Igbo give utmost reverence to 

yam, to the extent that anyone 

caught in the criminal act of 

stealing yam is visited with the 

extreme penalty of banishment 

New yam being celebrated 

or even death in the olden 

days. 

Even with the coming of the 

whiteman in Igbo land and its 

subsequent imposition of the 

western laws, harsh penalties 

for stealing of yams are still 

applied in some remote 

communities. In old Igbo 

societies, a man’s wealth was 

measured by the size and 

numbers of his yam barns as 

such attracted respect, 

chieftaincy titles and many 

wives to a prominent yam 

farmer. 

In some cases, yams are 

planted solely, without any 

other crop in the mount or ridge 

beside it. It is strictly a man’s 

farm but women weed the 

grasses and help convey sticks 

for the staking of the yams. The 

man made sure that his sons 

were tutored in the art of yam 

cultivation for generational 

successive cultivation. 

Traditional 

dances 

Ikem-Asokwa, a community 

in Isi-Uzo local government 

area of Enugu state celebrated 

its new yam (orurueshi) 

festival. It was a period of home 

coming for the sons and 

daughters of the community. 

Neighbouring communities, 

friends and well-wishers were 

also in attendance as usual. 

Significantly, Ikem’s brother 

community in diaspora, 

Asokwa-Nwosi, in Isiala Ngwa 

South Local Government Area 

of Abia State were also in 

attendance. They would come 

with traditional dances, 

masquerades and goodwill 

messages for their brothers and 

sisters. 

The celebration included, free 

medical outreach, Christian 

and traditional worships, 

visitations, merry-making, 

traditional wrestling 

competitions with 

neighbouring Eha-Amufu 

community and developmental 

meetings. 

Orurueshi or recovery from 

famine, the traditional ruler of 

Ikem-Asokwa community, 

HRH Igwe Francis Okwor, said 

the community usually take the 

lead in celebrating new yam 

festivals every July because the 

community is made of great 

yam farmers. 

According to Igwe 

Okwor, orurueshi marked the 

beginning of eating and 

harvesting of the first set of 

yams planted between 

December and January and 

harvested July. 

He said that iri ji festivals in 

Igboland because it was time 

of revival and rejuvenation of 

the people. “That is the time 

we begin to eat the new yams 

of the year. Once we eat the 

new yam, it signals the end of 

famine and food shortage each 

year as hunger reduces. So the 

New Yam festival is very 

significant in lgbo land. 

“The festival marks the 

beginning of the year in Igbo 

calendar. During the festival, 

we perform many rites like the 

Ufejioku rite, there is also 

wrestling by young men, we 

choose strong boys from 

different age groups for 

wrestling. .. It is also a 

celebration of food security.” 

On the origin of New Yam 

festivals, Igwe Okwo said “it 

started from time immemorial. 

Orurueshi is the day that what 

we call Uyaa (famine) starts to 

disappear because we started 

having new crops particularly 

new yams and other crops and 

we began to feed very well 

because scarcity of food starts 

in our place when the new 

cropping season or cultivation 

starts. 

New cropping 

season 

"Famine ends the day we 

celebrate the new yam festival, 

and begin to harvest the first 

yams that matured in the farms. 

Nobody harvests yams until 

New Yam festival is celebrated 

and if anyone does that a heavy 

penalty follows. 

“We regard it as the beginning 

of the year because as from that 

day we enter a new year. 

Anything that happened a day 

before the New yam festival, 

happened the previous year like 

December in western calendar. 

“It actually takes a whole three 

days. The yams are harvested 

on Eke market day, on Orie 

market day, we go to the market 

with the harvested yams to sell 

them and compete for the best 

yam farmer. Other produce like 

goats, fowls and others will 

equally be sold in the market 

with neighbouring communities 

in attendance but cassava will 

not be sold in Orie market that 

day, it will be taken outside the 

market. 

“On the second day, which is 

Afor market day, the traditional 

worshipers go to their shrines 

with the new yams; those called 

Ndi ji will go to Ufejioku deity 

and offer it with Okuko 

(chickens) and other items. On 

that day, the old men will also 

offer sacrifices to their dead 

fathers. 

“Then on Nkwo day, which is 

the third day, young men will 

compete in wrestling and that 

is the day that those who 

practice traditional religion will 

offer sacrifices to their dead 

mothers, called Igoonne. 

Traditional 

religion 

“The Eke day is actually the 

day that the yams are harvested, 

taken home, and brought to the 

market on the Orie day.” 

But the monarch lamented, 

saying there are no more young 

men in the villages to cultivate 

yams. “The cultivation of yam 

in Ikem land is dying because 

many young men who are 

potential farmers have left the 

community and are living in 

urban areas of Lagos, Abuja 

and Enugu. It is only the old 

men that are found in the 

villages of Igbo land and so you 

can’t even boast of a yam farm 

that can feed you and your 

family let alone the one for sale 

these days. 

“Though the ones in the 

village still plant yam with 

support from money being sent 

by those in the townships to 

help in yam cultivating, our 

people have a saying that 

money does not go on errands 

by itself and so you still require 

manpower even if money is 

provided. The remaining 

young men are now engaged 

in Okada (commercial 

motorcycle transportation). 

If it were in the olden days, 

as I am the elder, my family and 

extended family will first 

cultivate my own farm before 

they start their own but things 

are no longer the same,” he 

stated.

C 

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K 

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017 --- 31 

About Nigeria and her ‘bunch 

of unarmed robbers’ 

PRESIDENT 

Olusegun 

Obasanjo, himself not a 

saint, calls them a bunch of 

unarmed robbers. These are 

members of the National 

Assembly. Considering what many 

Nigerians think of Obasanjo’s 

own morality, it is remarkable that 

he has consistently questioned the 

moral credentials of members of 

Nigeria’s highest law making 

organ. Yet Obasanjo should 

know. He has not only been in 

and around government longer 

than any other practicing 

politician today, he knows better 

than most the workings of 

government. The governments he 

led, both as a soldier and a 

civilian, laid the foundations of 

some of our most important 

governmental policies and not a 

few of our national landmarks. It 

is also true that Obasanjo has had 

a long and tempestuous 

relationship with Nigeria’s law 

makers, beginning from his first 

term as president and what many 

considered his own contribution to 

the corruption in the National 

Assembly with his failed attempt 

to coax the law makers into 

supporting him for a third term as 

president. 

For this reason many tend to 

focus on Obasanjo the messenger 

in total disregard of his message. 

Yet Obasanjo knows a lot and has 

the experience to speak on many 

issues that our so-called legislators 

would rather mystify. What makes 

Obasanjo worth listening to is that 

he has the voice and clout to call 

out the thieves masquerading as 

policy makers and even when we 

very often disagree with him, we 

should be careful not to ignore the 

merit of the message he brings 

about those who govern in 

whatever capacity in our name. 

What the former president had to 

say about the country’s 

legislators, calling them a bunch 

of unarmed robbers, is definitely 

on point. There can be no other 

way to describe a body of law 

makers who have turned into an 

art the practice of using the law 

for personal gain and 

aggrandisement. In order to put a 

veneer of legality on manifestly 

corrupt conduct, these law makers 

subvert the very essence of law 

making. 

In this wise unethical conduct is 

provided the cover of legality. And 

so it is that the 360 members of the 

House of Representatives would 

Lagos State public service and 

sucession planning integration 

By Akintola Benson-Oke 

ROD DRURY, the Chief Executive 

Officer of Xero recently wrote an article 

in the Huffington Post recounting how the 

organisation recently dealt with a development 

that underlined the importance of succession 

planning. He started by writing that, 

“succession planning is critical to the ongoing 

health and longevity of a company.” 

He then proceeded to recount as follows: 

“This week, our succession plans were put to 

the test with the unexpected announcement that 

our Chairman, Chris Liddell, was leaving to 

take up a role in the White House. With little 

notice, we were able to quickly manage what 

could have been a significant hit to our 

governance structure, all without missing a 

beat. Successfully managing such an 

important and visible change demonstrated 

the importance of continuously looking to the 

future and scenario planning for unexpected 

changes, so we are prepared for sudden exits, 

accidents or to seize opportunities. 

“We were officially notified of Chris’s new 

role on Wednesday, when the announcement 

was made by the Office of the President-Elect. 

By Thursday, we had convened a board 

meeting, talked through our options, made a 

decision and announced to the stock exchange 

that Graham Smith, long-serving Xero Board 

member, would step into the Chairman 

position". 

He then proceeded to state what made such 

a swift and satisfactorily effective response 

possible. He wrote, “For us, we are constantly 

thinking about succession, even at the board 

level. In this situation, our plan was for 

Graham to step into Chris’s role when he 

eventually retired or should a situation arise 

prior. At these times, we assess the combination 

of expertise and experience of our Board of 

Directors and make appointments to 

complement the team as a whole.” 

During the process leading up to crafting 

the plan, he noted that “It was interesting to 

explicitly have the conversation with key people 

of ‘what happens if you can’t turn up to work 

tomorrow?’ Often it’s just not talked about but 

having that conversation was very healthy, and 

all of our team quickly embraced the concept 

of identifying successors.” Furthermore, he 

noted that, “we also insist our people take 

Companies that lack 

qualified succession 

candidates are 

forced to hire from 

the outside 

breaks. It’s a great test for the business if key 

people can be out of the office, and off email, 

for a few days or weeks and it continues to run 

smoothly. Even I do it. I often think, ‘who is the 

person I’d be most concerned about not being 

here?’ and ensuring that person takes some 

leave so we know they have the team to cover 

themselves.” 

Indeed, as the the Association of Professional 

Staffing Companies, APSCo has noted, 

Succession planning is vitally important for 

ensuring the continued success of any 

organisation, in identifying and developing the 

talent which will fill your critical roles in the 

future, or in times of crisis. “Organisations of 

all sizes are now focusing on succession 

planning to ensure the leaders of the future are 

in place. It would be very bad business to not 

succession plan for the future.” A strong 

succession plan can identify and put to<strong>get</strong>her 

an agenda to train and mentor the right people 

want Nigerians to see their 

appropriation of more than N6.1 

Billion for the acquisition of socalled 

utility vehicles, valued each 

at N17 Million, as some kind of 

favour to Nigerians. The National 

Assembly continues to abuse its 

privileged position to make laws, 

appropriating huge sums of 

money intended to cater to their 

greed rather than provide services 

to Nigerians. At a time the country 

is deep in the throes of recession, a 

To put a veneer of 

legality on 

manifestly corrupt 

conduct, these law 

makers subvert the 

very essence of 

law making 

responsible body that claims to be 

working for the good of Nigerians 

would not make the acquisition of 

state of the art cars its priority. 

When virtually all states in the 

country are owing workers many 

months of salaries and are 

struggling through loans to pay 

fractions of their debt; at a time 

pensioners are falling to their death 

standing on queues as they wait to 

be paid their entitlements, our 

legislators could think of nothing 

better than to take delivery of 

hundreds of brand new cars that 

they would sooner than later sell 

to themselves at give-away prices. 

Hear what Abdulrazak Namdas, 

Chairman of the House 

Committee on Media and Public 

Affairs, has to say in an interview 

with Sunday Punch’s John Ameh: 

‘There is need for us to educate our 

people very well. Every House is 

different from the last one. That is 

why we have first, second, third 

and now the eighth Assembly. The 

next House, the ninth House, will 

be an entirely new one. The 

National Assembly is dissolved 

every four years and reinaugurated. 

So, you cannot say 

because somebody was here last 

year, he should not use another car. 

What is important is that every 

House is a new House and all the 

members have to use utility 

vehicles.’ He goes on to challenge 

his interviewer to make his 

findings and he would discover 

that ‘Peugeot is one of the cheapest 

cars we can <strong>get</strong> in Nigeria. Outside 

this country, you will realise that 

what we have paid here is cheaper. 

Besides, our real aim was to 

patronise a car made in Nigeria, 

so that it would have some impact 

on the economy. It means that the 

manufacturer will employ more 

workers and produce more cars. 

Considering the economic 

recession that you talked about, it 

means that the money will 

circulate within the country (my 

emphasis).’ 

I have quoted Mr. Namdas at 

considerable length in order to 

give Nigerians a glimpse of the 

mind and quality of thought of our 

law makers. This man feels a car 

is mandatory for every lawmaker 

including those who had been 

beneficiaries of the facility in 

recent but different dispensations. 

This is the same thinking, for 

example, that makes former 

governors claim pension even 

when they equally lay claims to 

and take home all kinds of 

allowances as senators. Namdas 

admits that Nigeria is in recession 

but his own way of ameliorating 

the adverse effect of an economy 

in recession on the populace is to 

buy luxury cars from local 

manufacturers that will, in his 

to step into leadership positions. Typically, 

businesses would put to<strong>get</strong>her short, medium 

and long term succession plans. Succession 

plans should also form part of a structured 

Business Continuity Plan. 

The association also advised that, 

“increasingly, succession planning should be 

a consideration not just for high-level senior 

managerial roles, but also for technical roles 

requiring a great deal of expertise. If there’s 

just one person in an organisation-critical 

position with the breadth of knowledge to keep 

that business moving – for example, a high 

level scientist or technical position – then this 

needs to be looked at too. “Succession plans, 

in particular for small and medium sized 

businesses, don’t need to be complicated or 

even formal, but the interested parties do need 

to know that they are involved and a plan 

should be put to<strong>get</strong>her to ensure they are in the 

right position to take the helm should the worst 

happen.” 

In crafting a plan, the association notes that 

“every internal move need not be upwards – 

it’s often prudent to move promising people 

sideways to enable them to learn the breadth 

of the organisation rather than just their niche 

part. Not only will this give them the tools they 

will need to take over, but also provide more 

senior management with insights on how that 

person deals with working outside of their 

traditional role. Concluding, the association 

noted that, “succession planning . . . should sit 

right at the heart of the organisation’s 

objectives, and is particularly prudent in a time 

where experienced hands are reaching 

retirement age, taking with them years of 

knowledge and working relationships, which 

can and should be handed down before they 

enjoy their well-earned retirement.” 

Notwithstanding the above-enumerated 

importance of succession planning for 

organisations, Donald Delves notes that, “yet 

many companies fail to give the matter 

sufficient attention, even though the need for 

in-house candidates with essential skills to lead 

the organisation may be greater than ever.” 

opinion, employ Nigerians as a 

consequence of being able to sell 

vehicles to legislators. These are 

very considerate people who think 

it’s both cheap and in the national 

interest to acquire cars valued at 

N17 Million each among a people 

for whom second hand vehicles is 

a way of life. 

I didn’t know that Peugeot is now 

a made in Nigeria product. It’s 

only in the imagination of a 

Nigerian law maker that a French 

manufacturer of vehicles that are 

assembled in Nigeria becomes a 

locally-owned company. The man 

talks so boldly and freely you 

wonder from what source he 

derives the nerve to speak in the 

manner he does. There are words 

out there that these House 

members actually preferred 

Toyota Land Cruiser Prado SUVs 

to the Peugeot cars purchased for 

them, and they even mooted the 

idea of sacking their colleague, the 

Chair of the House Committee on 

Services, who had recommended 

Peugeot as utility vehicles as a costsaving 

measure. 

Whereas, it is well known that 

many of these Reps members often 

reserve the brand new vehicles 

purchased for them as utility 

vehicles for personal use, 

preferring to coerce the ministries 

over which they have oversight 

functions to provide them vehicles 

for their official duties, Namdas 

wants Nigerians to disbelieve such 

claims as the ministries don’t have 

enough vehicles in good shape for 

such duties. But rather than seeing 

this as a good reason why the 

House’s demand for brand new 

vehicles is a thoughtless and 

insensitive proposition, Namdas 

chooses to yap about Nigerians 

giving them a bad name in order 

to hang them. Nigeria’s 

federalism sure needs remaking. 

He then noted that as leadership turnover at 

many large organisations averages about once 

every three years, companies that lack 

qualified succession candidates are forced to 

hire from the outside. Thus, the posture of many 

organisations is to be reactive, not proactive. 

Boards at reactive organisations find 

themselves conducting searches for a CEO or 

C-suite executives – an undertaking that most 

directors find extremely challenging. Though 

executives in senior positions at other 

companies may be proven products, bringing 

them in does not guarantee successful 

leadership. 

Moreover, hiring from the outside can have 

negative consequences. Chief among these is 

spiraling executive compensation. Inadequate 

succession planning is probably the single most 

significant factor leading to outsized executive 

compensation. To attract executives from other 

companies, recruiting organisations must 

match or exceed their existing packages and 

compensate them for risks involved in leaving 

a known environment for one with unknown 

challenges. No matter how diligent candidates 

are in evaluating suitors, there are limits on 

how much they can know about the condition 

of a new company before accepting a position. 

Because of these risks, outsiders usually need 

a severance agreement carrying substantial 

contingent benefits. Citing these dynamics, 

proxy advisory services stress the importance 

of succession planning and criticise boards 

whose lack of preparation forces them to pay 

premiums for outsiders. Yet, if boards promote 

the wrong in-house candidates and 

performance lags, large institutional 

shareholders criticise them for not bringing in 

proven products. Organisations that make 

succession planning a perennial goal are better 

able to maintain performance while satisfying 

the demands of stakeholders. 

Continues Online @www.vanguardngr.com 

•Dr. Benson-Oke is Lagos State 

Commissioner for Establishment , Training 

and Pensions.


YOUR LUCK TODAY 

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139 

CANCER: Whatever anybody says or does, you will have both 

your say and way. Venus and Jupiter may tempt some of you to 

embrace illicit (or secret) romance within your base of operation. 

LEO: Venus and Jupiter at positive angles may tempt you to join 

some of your friends who are already onboard of merry making 

train. Watch your health. 

VIRGO: Good luck will smile at many and induce love of luxury 

merry making and romantic association. Genuine lovers will 

need to be on guard against deceit from new admirers. 

LIBRA: Both financial success and emotional satisfaction are 

closed to you than before. Those of you travelling because of maters-of-the-heart 

are in for an exciting romantic day Those ambitious 

career-wise will succeed after few struggles. 

SCORPIO: Many members of your opposite sex will go out of 

their ways to attract your romantic interest. This is the wrong time 

to engage on unnecessary argument. 

SAGITTARIUS: If you priority is love, much of it would come 

your way as desired. But here is a better day for more ambitious in 

the business world. Dont allow anybody to deceive you over money. 

CAPRICORN: Those of you with secret admirers within your 

working area will have the needed opportunities to make the 

needed moves. Resist the temptation to deceive others. 

AQUARIUS: Although matters-of-the-heart may give you cause 

to smile broadly, if care is not taken, you would cause friction that 

cant help you r case at work. This is the wrong time for unnecessary 

scheming within your working arena. 

PISCES: Those of your who are red-blooded for romance may 

have an exciting and satisfying day. Happenings within your social 

circles must be taken more seriously. 

ARIES: Confrontation may come your way in the circle but the 

heavens are working favourably for you. Some doses of romance 

is not too much for you on a day like this. 

L E I S U R E 

THOUGHT FOR TODAY 

“You’ve done it before and you can do it now. See the positive 

possibilities. Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration 

and turn it into positive, effective, unstoppable determination.” 

Ralph Marston 

“There is no such thing as a failed experiment, only experiments 

with unexpected outcomes.” 

Richard Buckminster Fuller 

TERROR MUDA in “Never say goodbye” 

By Kola Fayemi 

TAURUS: Provided you dont allow your innate ability to be as 

diplomatic as necessary desert you, things work favourably for 

you to the betterment of your finances. 

GEMINI: Many of you will be in sentimental mood and exhibit 

strong romantic desire openly. But then, if care is not taken, you 

may be carried away to the detriment of your finances. Serious 

minded lovers are in for happy day. 

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING 

Send your date and place of birth to the Astr 

trological 

Counselling, P.M.B 100 

007, Apapa, Lagos 

Are they compatible? 

Dear Joshua, 

Kindly analyse horoscopes of two young lovers willing 

to share the rest of thie lives to<strong>get</strong>her. I am concern because 

one of the is my own son. However I want you to 

leave out their birth dates. 

Damola, Lagos. 

KAPTAIN AFRIKA in “Pretty Lunatic’ By Andy Akman 

Dear Damola, 

COMPATIBILITY GUIDE 

What will follow here-under are analyses of their horoscopes, 

so that they will know each other very well vis-àvis 

strong and weak points of each other. By this you will 

decide if actually what you are looking for is in the relationship. 

THE HOROSCOPE DATA/PLANETARY PLACEMENT 

OF THE LADY 

SUN SIGN = AQUARIUS; SUN IN 13TH DEGREE OF 

AQUARIUS. 

MOON SIGN = CANCER ; MOON IN 3RD DEGREE 

OF CANCER 

MERCURY IN IST DEGREE OF AQUARIUS 

VENUS IN ZERO DEGREE OF ARIES 

MARS IN 29TH DEGREE OF PISCES 

JUPITER IN 29TH DEGREE OF CAPRICORN 

SATURN IN 27TH DEGREE OF SCORPIO. 

URANUS IN 16TH DEGREE OF SAGITTARIUS. 

NEPTUNE IN 2ND DEGREE OF CAPRICORN 

PLUTO IN 4TH DEGREE OF SCORPIO. 

NORTH NODE IN 23RD DEGREE OF TAURUS. 

SOUTH NODE IN 23RD DEGREE OF SCORPIO. 

ANALYSIS OF THE CHART 

SUMMARY 

Here is a gentle person who cares so much for both her 

extended family (especially her mother) and her personal 

family. She can be highly emotional, although highly intelligent 

too 

THE WEAK POINT 

She can unexpectedly burst into tears whenever she fails 

to control her husband. And if she does not result to weeping 

she can many times force this man to turn violent to 

the detriment of too many things. She in particular will 

many times become jealous for no reason and can be difficult 

to manage by this man. 

Although she loves freedom, she will want to be in firm 

control of the man=s freedom. Issues of control and freedom 

must be clearly defined before final marital rite, or 

else serious trouble would be the result. 

THE HOROSCOPE DATA/PLANETARY PLACEMENT 

OF THE MAN 

SUN SIGN = TAURUS 

MOON SIGN = ARIES; MOON IN 20TH DEGREE OF 

ARIES. 

VIRGINIA 

HOME & ABROAD 

dadadekola@yahoo.com 

By Lawrence Akapa

C 

M 

Y 

K 



POLIO-FREE: From left— Rivers State Deputy Governor, Dr. Ipalibo Harry-Banigo; Rotary 

District 9141 Governor-elect, Adeyemi Oladokun; Chairman, Rotary International PolioPlus 

Committee, Michael McGovern; Dr. Amadi Stanley; Chairman, Nigeria National PolioPlus 

Committee, Dr. Abdulrahman Funsho, and End Polio Now Zonal Co-ordinator for African, Ijeoma 

Pearl Okoro, during a visit by Rotary International PolioPlus Committee Chairman to mark a year 

without Polio in Nigeria in Port Harcourt, yesterday. PHOTO: Nwankpa Chijioke. 

Ex-militants war over PANDEF, Clark: 

PNDPC full of traitors; thrive on 

chaos— NDRC 

By Emma Amaize, 

Regional Editor, 

South-South 

Y ENAGOA— 

MILITANTS in the 

Niger Delta region 

maintained opposing 

stands, yesterday, on the 

purported overthrow of Pan 

Niger Delta Forum, 

PANDEF, the umbrella 

body of monarchs, leaders 

and stakeholders of the 

coastal states of the Niger 

Delta, led by Chief Edwin 

Clark, by a coalition of 

militants, who transferred 

the mandate to the Pan 

Niger Delta People 

Congress, PNDPC. 

This came as the Ijaw 

Peoples Development 

Initiative, IPDI, faulted the 

fresh mandate given 

PNDPC, headed by former 

National Chairman of the 

Traditional Rulers of Oil 

Producing Communities of 

Nigeria, TROMPCON, His 

Majesty Charles Ayemi- 

Botu, alias Lion of the 

Niger. 

Also, spokesperson of the 

Niger Delta Revolutionary 

Council, NDRC, W. O. I. 

Izon Ebi, in a statement, 

said: “PANDEF is neither 

an Ijaw affair nor extension 

of the fiefdom of Chief 

Clark. 

“We advise the few black 

legs that are bent on 

derailing the ongoing 

dialogue to remember that 

at the time the region was 

in turmoil, it was Pa Clark, 

at his age, and some 

eminent personalities that 

came to the creeks and 

persuaded us to ceasefire 

and give peace a chance for 

sincere dialogue. 

“We state unequivocally 

that we know those behind 

this act and are bent on 

derailing the peace process 

and restate our advice that 

those mentioned as 

members of a new group, 

PNDPC, should renounce 

the traitors because we also 

know that they profit from 

chaos and anarchy.” 

Clark contributed to 

N-Delta's woes—RNDA 

Reacting to NDRC 

position, Convener of the 

coalition of nine militant 

groups, which are opposed 

to PANDEF, self-styled 

“Major General” Johnmark 

Ezonbi, said: “We, the 

Reformed Niger Delta 

Avengers, RNDA, with 

other militant groups in the 

creeks, are saying that 

Chief Clark and PANDEF 

cannot negotiate and speak 

for the people of Niger 

Delta region because they 

contributed to the 

underdevelopment of the 

•NDRC inconsequential—RNDA 

region. 

“The so-called 16-point 

agenda that PANDEF 

submitted to the Presidency 

was drafted at Clark’s 

Abuja house and does not 

reflect the wishes of the 

people of the region 

because they never went 

round the various ethnic 

groups in the region or/and 

visited the creeks to meet 

with the people before it 

was drafted.” 

Ezonbi, who is the leader 

of RNDA, the same group 

that had been working 

against Clark and 

PANDEF since formation 

last year, said that NDRC, 

currently pandering to 

PANDEF and the elder 

statesman was 

inconsequential in the 

Niger Delta struggle. 

RNDA, others are paid 

media groups— IPDI 

However, Director of 

Programme, IPDI, Mr. 

Ezekiel Kagbala, in a 

statement, accusing “some 

disgruntled leaders” of 

sponsoring faceless militant 

groups to knock over Pa 

Clark’s leadership, said: 

“The purported convener of 

the militants’ coalition and 

leader of the Reformed 

Niger Delta Avengers, 

Johnmark Ezonbi, and 

others are paid media 

groups and do not have the 

backing of Niger Delta 

region to topple Pa Clark. 

“HM Loyibo, ex- 

Governor Timipre Sylva 

and others, under PNDPC, 

are desperate and 

meddlesome interlopers 

looking for self-glory and 

the faceless Convener of 

the militants’ coalition and 

RNDA leader, Johnmark 

Ezonbi, does not exist and 

has no mandate to 

nominate anybody to 

dialogue with the Federal 

Government on behalf of 

the region.” 

Give Buhari a chance, Etiebet begs Nigerians 

By Gbenga Oke 

FORMER Minister of 

Petroleum and All 

Progressives Congress, 

APC, chieftain, Chief Don 

Etiebet, yesterday, called on 

Nigerians to give President 

Muhammadu Buhari a 

chance, saying he means 

well for the nation. 

He also said Nigerians 

must be honest with 

themselves and shun the 

myopic thoughts of some 

power drunk politicians. 

Etiebet, who was reacting 

to the national broadcast by 

President Buhari, said he 

believes the President is 

working towards creating a 

prosperous Nigeria. 

His words: “He has 

sincerely gone very far to 

lay the ground work to 

achieve the much-needed 

Nigerian unity. He stated 

that our unity can only come 

if we create an equitable 

and just nation. 

“On restructuring the 

President said: ‘I want those 

at the forefront of the fight 

for restructuring Nigeria to 

bring me proposals and 

blueprints on how to make 

things better’. 

“He said he wants to see 

resources shared in such a 

way that those from the 

areas where these 

resources come from do not 

feel cheated by the rest. 

“Furthermore, the 

President said he wants to 

devolve power from the 

centre and he wants to 

free the regions to stand on 

their own as it is enshrined 

in our constitution. 

“He also went on to 

demand a master plan of 

what should be done on 

his desk in the next six 

months just as he looks for 

a holistic treatment of all 

that ails us. 

“What else do those 

condemning the President 

want? May be they neither 

read nor listened to his 

speech but had become 

fixated on their thoughts.” 

‘Reinstate Okonoboh 

as Speaker now’ 

By Dave Oso 

A socio-cultural 

organisation, Edo 

Okpa Unity Forum, 

which comprises Edo 

State sons and daughters 

worldwide, has called for 

the immediate reinstatement 

of the state 

House of Assembly’s 

former Speaker, Mr 

Justin Okonoboh. 

The body also 

condemned what it 

called the barbaric way 

the former speaker was 

removed, stressing that 

the method was a show 

of shame. 

A statement by the 

forum’s Board of 

Trustees’ Chairman, Don 

Ebhota, and others, said: 

‘’The supposed hallowed 

members exhibited an 

act of gangsterism that 

By Simon 

Ebegbulem 

BENIN—THE Benin 

Youth Council, BYC, 

has charged the new 

leadership of the state 

House of Assembly, led 

by the Speaker, Kabiru 

Adjoto, to avoid some of 

the mistakes allegedly 

made by the ex-Speaker, 

Justin Okonoboh, so as 

to have a successful 

tenure. 

The group, in a 

statement by its 

Coordinator General, Mr. 

Omoruyi Igbinedion, 

pointed out that one of 

the mistakes of the 

Okonoboh-led House 

was the failure to treat a 

private bill aimed at 

“amending a 

controversial part of the 

can only be seen at our 

motor parks. 

“We, hereby, insist that 

Edo is one and no single 

individual, group or 

political party should 

employ divide-and-rule 

tactics to tear the state apart 

for their selfish interests. 

“We demand immediate 

re-instatement of 

Okonoboh as Speaker for 

peace, justice, equity and 

the Rule of Law. 

“Edo State is made up 

of three senatorial zones. 

Equity demands that no 

one senatorial zone 

should take the political 

position of the other. 

Whoever wants to go to 

equity must go with clean 

hands. This is why we, 

Edo Okpa Unity Forum, 

will not accept this 

absurdity 

impeachment.” 

called 

... as Adjoto is cautioned against 

Okonoboh's ‘mistakes’ 

By Ochuko 

Akuopha 

O LEH—EX- 

MILITANTS, 

under the aegis of Justice 

Group, yesterday, 

commended the 

Coordinator of the 

Presidential Amnesty 

Programme, Brigadier- 

General Paul Boroh 

(retd.) on his moves to 

give pipeline 

surveillance jobs to 

10,000 youths of the 

Niger Delta region. 

The ex-militants, in a 

statement by their 

leaders, self-styled 

‘Generals’ David 

Owhegbe and Marshall 

Atake, said Boroh meant 

1978 Bendel State 

Chieftaincy Law.” 

According to BYC, “his 

poor leadership led to the 

appropriation of some 

property of the Assembly 

as personal belongings. 

Also, his insensitivity 

engendered the 

consideration of the 

obnoxious Grazing 

Reserve Bill, which 

recently fractured the 

cordial relationship 

between Christians and 

Muslims over the 

herdsmen palaver.” 

On the alleged 

marginalization cry by 

Esan people following the 

removal of Okonoboh, 

BYC said: “It is the 

business of the House to 

elect its leadership and not 

the duty of ethnic 

champions.” 

Ex-militants hail Boroh on 

pipeline surveillance jobs 

well for people of the Niger 

Delta, adding that the 

pipeline surveillance jobs, 

when fully implemented, 

will go a long way in 

giving gainful 

employment to youths of 

the region. 

They, however, appealed 

to Boroh to commence the 

process of their integration 

and documentation into 

the Presidential Amnesty 

Programme. 

The statement said: “We 

are among ex-militants 

that embraced the amnesty 

programme and were 

disarmed at 3 Battalion 

Barracks, Effurun, Delta 

State, in 2011. But since 

then we have not benefited 

from the programme.”


vanguardpolitics@gmail.com 

Plots, counter plots in PDP 

By Emmanuel Aziken, 

Political Editor 

CONTROVERSY was, 

yesterday, dogging the 

PDP contest following reports 

of a plot by some party 

chieftains from within and 

outside the state to sabotage 

the party for the benefit of the 

incumbent APGA regime. 

That plot may, however, have 

fallen apart following the 

Wednesday ward delegates 

election which saw those 

pushing the plot losing out. 

That, however, has not put the 

party on firm footing as it 

emerged that the ward 

delegates election which took 

place on Monday was itself 

characterised by many 

intrigues. One chieftain said 

that some party members were 

considering voting against the 

party should the scheme of 

those who rigged the ward 

delegates election sail through. 

At the centre of the plot, 

Vanguard learnt yesterday, was 

the last minute decision of one 

of the aspirants to enter the 

race to act as an encumbrance 

to one of the heavyweight 

aspirants from Anambra North 

By Chimaobi Nwaiwu 

TWO PDP aspirants, Dr. 

Alex Obiogbolu and 

Zeribe Ezeanuna, yesterday, 

expressed dissatisfaction with 

the conduct of the Ward 

Delegates’ election of Monday 

but expressed satisfaction that 

the process could still be 

improved upon. 

Dr. Obiogbolu stated that as 

a loyal party member, he still 

has confidence that at the end 

of the day the party will <strong>get</strong> it 

right and the best candidate 

accepted to all the contestants, 

will emerge. “I will not say that 

there is any particular issue in 

the ongoing primaries that is 

bothering me, my worry is also 

the worry of other contestants, 

but I believe we can <strong>get</strong> it right, 

they are things that we can 

amicably correct and at the end 

of the day have the best 

primaries one can think of and 

have our candidate emerge and 

accepted by all. 

“I am very confident that at 

the end of the day I will emerge 

as the candidate of the party, 

there is no doubt about it. The 

odds are all in my favour, and 

that is the reward for a loyal 

party man, I have been 

consistent in the party and had 

against all odds maintained my 

loyalty to the PDP as the 

greatest and the most popular 

party in Nigeria. 

“I am also satisfied with the 

calibre of people that were 

appointed by the party to 

supervise the primaries. These 

who some party chieftains say 

has the clout to match Governor 

Willie Obiano. At the centre of 

the plot are two senators from 

neighbouring states including 

one who served the immediate 

past Federal Government at a 

very, very high level. 

The revelation of the plot, 

Vanguard gathered, was one of 

the reasons Governors Ifeanyi 

Okowa, Ayo Fayose, and 

Nyesom Wike stormed the state 

to ensure a level playing 

ground to frustrate the plot. 

Besides, party chieftain, Chief 

Chris Uba, was also said to 

have been provoked by the 

reports and had taken a 

position against the aspirant 

that was drafted. 

Meanwhile, more 

controversies have continued to 

dog the ward delegates’ 

election which was supposed 

to have produced three 

delegates from each ward to 

participate in the governorship 

primaries due this weekend. 

However, several of the 

potential delegates who paid 

the N5,000 stipulated for the 

form were left helpless as they 

did not see the returning 

officers supposed to have 

conducted the primaries. 

“We just don’t know what 

happened to the returning 

officers, and as I speak to you, 

several of the potential 

delegates are muttering that 

they were deceived into 

partaking in the delegates 

election knowing well that a 

pre-selected list of candidates 

had been earmarked.” 

Sources say that a number of 

the returning officers 

earmarked for the ward 

congress in the 21 local 

government areas of the state 

were simply hijacked and 

taken away to secluded areas 

where it was feared that 

contrived lists of delegates 

favourable to some aspirants 

were being put to<strong>get</strong>her. 

“You can imagine we have 

been calling the returning 

officer in Onitsha and we have 

been unable to reach him,” one 

party chieftain said late on 

Monday. 

PDP aspirants Obiogbolu, Ezeanuna say PDP can still <strong>get</strong> it right 

•Obiogbolu 

are Governors Ayodele Fayose, 

and Chief Nyesom Wike and 

top members of the party that 

have gone through elections in 

the party, served the country in 

various capacities and had 

continued their loyalty to the 

party. They believe in PDP and 

THE Osita Chidoka 

Campaign office, 

yesterday, affirmed that it was 

set to win the election having 

crossed the first hurdle of the 

United Progressive Party (UPP) 

primary. 

The campaign in a statement 

appreciating the support of 

followers of its standard bearer 

said that the “unmatched 

support for Osita Chidoka 

indeed goes to show without 

equivocation that our people 

•Ezeanuna 

we believe like they have 

promised that they will give us 

the best election that will be 

free from rigging." 

Dr. Obiogbolu noted that the 

candidate PDP produces for the 

election would be the 

beginning of its victory at the 

governorship election proper 

and urged the party not to miss 

the opportunity of reclaiming 

some of the states it lost to 

other parties with the 

November 18, 2017, Anambra 

governorship election. 

Meanwhile, Zeribe 

Ezeanuna who is also 

contesting for the PDP ticket 

also said that he shares the 

view of Dr. Obiogbolu, adding 

that the Ward Delegate 

Election did not go as it was 

supposed to go. 

“I believe that we can make 

amendments now there is no 

cause for alarm but I will give 

you my final reaction once I 

<strong>get</strong> a clearer picture of what is 

happening, but it is on record 

that in my Ward I did not see 

anybody,” he said. 

We are working hard to win — Chidoka Campaign 

still identify, value and reward 

the undying Biafran spirit of 

hard work, resilience, and 

determination. 

“This campaign office 

appreciates the labour and 

sacrifices of our supporters and 

volunteers who accompanied 

our candidate as he 

campaigned vigorously, day 

and night, touring all the 326 

electoral wards and the 21 local 

governments in the state, 

reaching all delegates and 

members of the UPP across 

board ahead of the primary. 

Indeed, it is an 

incontrovertible fact that with 

our very extensive 

mobilization, even if the UPP 

had conducted a direct primary 

with every member of the party 

as delegate, Chief Osita 

Chidoka would have still won 

overwhelmingly, given his 

hard work and the backing of 

committed party members.” 

Hear us now, 

Oba Community, 

monarch warn 

Obiano 

By Chimaobi Nwaiwu 

THE Oba Community in 

Idemili South Local 

Government Area, Anambra State, 

has called on Governor Willie 

Obiano to address, without further 

delay, problems allegedly created 

by some officials of his 

government in the community, 

before November 18, 2017, 

governorship election in the state. 

The traditional ruler of the 

community His Royal Majesty, 

Igwe Peter Ezenwa and the 

president general of Oba Patriotic 

Union, OPU, Chief Ifeatu 

Uzowulu, in respective interviews 

with Vanguard said that “Oba 

community is aggrieved and bitter 

with the present government over 

certain treatments against their 

people." 

According to the traditional 

ruler, “we are not happy with the 

state government over its dealings 

with individuals on the 

abandoned Oba Airport land, 

acquired from us for overriding 

public interest, which has been 

turned into building of private 

estate by individuals, without 

considering the interest of Oba 

people who own the land." 

Igwe Ezennwa told Vanguard 

shortly after the New Yam festival 

in his palace that “the action of 

the government has thrown Oba 

community into turmoil, making 

us suspicious of ourselves and 

quarreling and fighting between 

ourselves, because of mind 

boggling level of dishonesty of the 

officials of the government 

ministries involved in the 

transaction at the abandoned 

Airport Land. 

“The Anambra State 

Government acquired the land 

from Oba people on overriding 

public interest, for the building of 

Oba Airport which was later 

cancelled, and the government 

promised that it would be used 

for building an Industrial Park, 

which is another public interest 

project, but today individuals are 

building private estates on the 

land claiming they acquired part 

of the land from government.” 

President General of the 

Community, Chief Uzowulu, on 

his part, appealed to Governor 

Willie Obiano “to look inward." He 

said the governor should look into 

Oba as there is a yawning gap 

between Oba community and 

Anambra State Government, 

particularly in his administration. 

“There is need for this 

government to pay a little 

attention to our community’s 

complain, things are not normal 

between Oba community and 

Anambra State Government, and 

the sour relationship has 

worsened under this 

administration." 

C 

M 

Y


Boska holds 

free medical 

outreach in 

Ibadan 

MAJOR Pain Killer 

Company, Dexa 

Medica makers of Boska 

will today hold its Pain Free 

Day initiative in 

Aleshinloye, Ibadan Oyo 

State. 

The Pain Free Day 

initiative was aimed at 

improving consumers' 

health and raising 

awareness of the risks 

associated with inadequate 

care of the body. 

Findings have shown that 

individuals need to be 

aware of how to take care 

of themselves and the need 

to take pain relievers such 

as Boska only when they 

are down with pains. 

Speaking on the 

programme, Brand 

Executive Dexa Medica, 

Kafayat Moradeyo said the 

Pain Free Day edition was 

specially designed to keep 

consumers fit as they go 

about their domestic and 

work activities. '' I am 

confident that Dexa 

Medica will continue to 

improve the delivery of 

quality health care for 

consumers in the months 

ahead." 

Moradeyo said the event 

would provide opportunity 

for consumers to see health 

experts who will provide 

full range of health services 

free of charge. Free eye 

glasses, drugs for eye, ear 

and nose defects will also 

be distributed. Besides 

rendering free health 

services, Boska team also 

leveraged the opportunity 

to educate consumers on 

how to live stress-free while 

at their various duties. 

Mother’s milk 

protects 

babies against 

infections 

MOTHER’S milk 

which consists of a 

complex and continually 

changing blend of proteins, 

fats and sugars, help protect 

babies against bacterial 

infections. 

An interdisciplinary 

team of chemists and 

doctors at Vanderbilt 

University have 

discovered that some of 

the carbohydrates in 

human milk not only 

possess antibacterial 

properties of their own but 

also enhance the 

effectiveness of the 

antibacterial proteins also 

present. 

Family planning gains prominence among Lagos couples 

By Gabriel Olawale 

DWELLERS of 

Bariga and Yaba 

areas of Lagos State are 

ecstatic over the 

transformation of the 

family planning clinic in 

Oloja and Alli-Daodu 

Primary Healthcare 

Centres, PHC. 

The development was 

complemented by a huge 

turnout of clients at the two 

Centres in search of family 

planning services. 

At the Alli-Daodu PHC 

in Abule Ijesha, Yaba Local 

Council Development 

Area, LCDA, Mrs. Aminat 

Adamu, 28, who 

accompanied her friend to 

access family planning 

services told whoever cared 

to listen how she has 

single-handedly 

introduced 12 of her friends 

to the centre in order to 

access the services. 

Aminat who hails from 

Kano and resides at Mile 

12, while operating her 

business activities in Yaba, 

told Good Health Weekly 

that she got married before 

she was 20 and currently 

has four children. 

"After my fourth child, I 

sat down and analysed my 

life because to care for my 

children, do house work 

and also carry out my 

business activities, I 

realised the need for family 

planning to stay alive. 

"Were it not for family 

planning perhaps I would 

not be alive today. I always 

take my time to explain to 

some of my friends that got 

married early with about 

four to six children now, 

about the need to take up 

family planning.” 

Aminat explained that 

just as she discussed with 

her husband before 

accessing the family 

planning service, she 

encourages other women 

to do same. 

"Some of the women I 

introduced to family 

planning have also 

introduced others. You 

know we can't tell our 

husbands not to have sex 

with us because we are 

afraid of <strong>get</strong>ting pregnant 

and having unplanned 

children, so the available 

option is prevention of 

unwanted pregnancy.” 

Next to THEYAmina was 

Shade Adesida, 35, who 

had embraced family 

planning too and has been 

placed on contraceptive 

injection. 

Shade has four children 

and her last child is five 

FAMILY PLANNING CENTRE: Couple receiving reproductive health counseling from a health care provider at 

a family planning clinic. 

years old. 

She told Good Health 

Weekly that she and her 

spouse utilised the 

withdrawal method before 

the social mobilisation 

sensitised them about 

different methods and 

benefits of family planning. 

"Since I have been using 

injection method about a 

year now, I have had no 

issues and my husband is 

happy with me because we 

don't plan to have children 

again and family planning 

is helping us to achieve 

such determination.” 

Shade who vowed that 

she would not stop using a 

reliable family planning 

method, said that she has 

successfully introduced 

four of her friends to the 

service. 

"I do tell my friends that 

most of the people that 

complain negatively about 

family planning are those 

that patronise quacks, and 

that rather they should visit 

the PHC where they can 

<strong>get</strong> the right information.” 

At Oloja PHC in Bariga 

Shomolu area of Lagos, 

where nursing mothers and 

youths were seen going 

into the family planning 

clinic en masse, It was 

gathered that the number 

of clients to be attended to 

was so much Good Health 

weekly waited about three 

hours before <strong>get</strong>ting a 

chance to speak to Senior 

Nursing Sister, Mrs 

Awodeyi Olubukola. 

Sekinat Abdulazeez, a 

breasfeeding mother of a 

three-month-old baby 

noted that she and her 

husband agreed to space 

their children. 

“I do not want a situation 

where my husband would 

be compelled to look 

outside for another wife , 

so I opted for family 

planning so that I can 

attend to his needs at all 

times,” she stated. 

In her response to the 

positive change in family 

planning uptake, the Chief 

Nursing Officer, at Alli- 

Daodu PHC, Mrs. Bioku 

Grace, attributed the 

attitudinal change to two 

I do not want 

my husband to 

look outside 

for another wife 

, so I opted for 

family planning 

so that I can 

attend to his 

needs at all 

times 

major reasons; one is 

ongoing sensitisation by 

the Lagos State 

government, and two, is the 

renovation exercise in the 

clinic that is being carried 

out by the Nigerian Urban 

Reproductive Health 

Initiative, NURHI. 

Grace said that the 

changes experienced in 

2017 can be regarded as first 

of its kind in many years, "I 

came here in May, 2016 

and the turnout was very 

low to the extent that we 

had like four clients in a 

month but now we do have 

like 30 clients in a month. 

“In the first seven months 

of this year, we attended to 

225 patients and we are 

expecting increase in the 

uptake before the end of the 

year.” 

Grace explained that 

some of her clients do have 

challenges after the uptake 

of family planning but it 

took her some time to listen 

and address their 

complaints. 

"I always give them my 

phone number to call 

anytime they have 

complaints," she said. 

"There is one of my clients 

that I did a family planning 

method for. She called me 

around 6:00am to complain 

of bleeding and said that 

she would like to remove 

it. “She came to my office, I 

counselled her and 

prescribed drugs for her, 

and since then she has 

been enjoying it. You will 

be surprised that the 

woman is still on that 

method. 

"I usually tell them that 

when they use family 

planning, it is either they 

see their menses or not, and 

because the method is 

strange in their body, it will 

either react positively or 

negatively and either way, 

they should come back and 

with time their body will 

adjust to it.” 

Grace said that majority 

of her clients are within the 

age of 25 to 35 years old of 

which if they don't have 

access they are likely to 

have unplanned children, 

"Implant is their favourite 

and beauty of it is that 

service are render free of 

charge. About six 

adolescent have come to the 

centre to access service this 

year. 

Mrs Awodeyi Olubukola 

who is a Senior Nursing 

Sister at Oloja PHC in 

Bariga Shomolu, Lagos 

where 24 hours services are 

being rendered said that 

the renovation of the centre 

send a good signal to client 

as some of them use to 

confess that the clinic is 

very neat. 

"Before, the turnout was 

like 25 per cent but since 

NURHI intervention it has 

increased to about 60 

percent. This year alone, we 

have attended to about 285 

clients. We are in August 

and before the end of this 

year we are expecting like 

1,000 clients and kudos to 

the community mobilisers, 

they are doing a fantastic 

job because the number of 

people that come with 

referral cards is massive.” 

Olubukola said majority 

of clients blame the present 

economic situation as the 

major reason for taking up 

family planning. 

"The preferred methods 

among other clients is the 

implant because some of 

them already have four or 

five children and they don't 

want any mistake. 

"Most of them complain 

of bleeding because they 

will bleed more than 

normal and once I give 

them pills the bleeding will 

stop and they will continue 

to enjoy their sexual life.” 

C 

M 

Y 

K


WITH CHARLES KUMOLU 

midweekpersonality@gmail.com 

08052140865 (sms only) 

MOSES SIASIA: 

From having no hope 

to providing hopes 

As a younger person, Moses Siasia knew quite early in life that the 

choice of becoming successful was solely his responsibility. Losing his 

father early challenged him the more to make something beyond the 

average out of life. Faced with the challenges inherent in surviving with just 

his mother as a benefactor in his formative years in a family of 11, Siasia 

carefully made the choices that qualified him as one of the leading youth 

leaders and entrepreneurs in Nigeria. From Mile 3 Motor Park, Port 

Harcourt where he sold Kerosene as a child, to his days at the Rivers State 

University of Science and Technology where he planted flowers for people 

to see himself through school, he remained committed to his goals. Also, 

with mentorship from some renowned personalities, locally and 

internationally, Siasia has become one of Nigeria’s golden youths. 

He symbolises the dynamism of an emerging generation of Nigerians. 

Siasia's commitment to youths as the key movers of Africa’s transformation, 

is demonstrated by his commitment to social works and entrepreneurship. 

Siasia heads a multibillion naira business empire, the Mosilo Group. He was 

listed among the top 200 young economic leaders of Africa by the Choiseul 

Institute for International Politics and Geo-economics, France in its 2014 

ranking. He ran for the govern orship of Bayelsa State in 2015. 

What was your background 

like? 

I 

am an 

enterprising 

man. Growing up was 

very difficult for me 

having come from a family of 

11 children. And we lost our 

father at a very young age. 

Things were very difficult for us 

and we were not sure about the 

future as young people at that 

time. But we had hopes about 

the future anyway. I had to fend 

for myself through school and 

I saw what is called poverty. 

Several years ago when I was 

very young in JSS2, I lost my 

father. 

I had no hopes but I believed 

that things were going to be 

good. What I did was to work 

very had to safeguard our 

future. My background was 

very humble. I sold oranges 

and Kerosene to survive at Mile 

3 Motor Park, Porthacourt. So, 

it was not just that one was 

born into affluence as it appears. 

I was so resilient at that 

time and I made a choice that 

I am going to be sure that I 

safeguard my future. 

I promised myself that I am 

going to be responsible and 

safeguard my family and my 

society. At the time I entered 

the university, I was planting 

flowers for people and I saw 

myself through school. So, it 

was not that it was all rosy. It 

was quite tough, I started from 

a very humble background and 

today, I have grown so big. 

Can you share some 

experiences that left you with 

memorable impressions? 

At a very young age, a youth 

event I attended at the United 

Nations was among the events 

that impacted my life positively. 

It was a youth programme at 

the UN level. Then I was 

residing in Porthacourt with my 

mother. My perception about 

life when I attended that event 

changed. I saw how young 

people were bringing change 

to their environment by 

contributing to economic 

growth and future 

advancement. That made me 

very inspired and motivated 

especially given the calibre of 

young people, who were 

contributing to the future of the 

society, who I met. I was very 

inspired. The knowledge that I 

actually derived at that event 

changed my perception about 

life. And I was no more thinking 

about my environment alone 

again, I was now thinking about 

the world. I was now thinking 

about how I can leave the Niger 

Delta region then and become 

more of a national figure. I was 

now thinking about how to 

make impact and do business to 

gain economic power. The 

lessons I learnt were very 

remarkable because they eventually 

broadened my horizon 

and shaped my thinking. 

Were there personalities that 

influenced you in remarkable 

ways to become who you are 

today? 

There are several people in 

Nigeria and internationally, 

who really influenced my 

personality and added value to 

me. The late Dr. Dapa Brieye 

was one of them. As a young 

man in school, I learnt a lot from 

him. I always went to him 

anytime I did not have lectures 

to learn history and how Nigeria 

can move forward. To me, I 

found it interesting finding a 

man, who is so full of passion, 

zeal and desire to bring the 

much-needed growth to his 

people. As a very young man, 

he actually exposed me to a lot 

of people. I started following 

him at that very young age to 

have meetings in the Northern 

part of Nigeria. When visitors 

came from different parts of the 

country, he would always invite 

me and introduce me to them. I 

became very active as a young 

man in the SouthSouth Peoples 

Conference which we actually 

founded several years ago. I 

learnt a lot from him. I met Dr. 

Goodluck Jonathan, who is one 

of those that actually shaped my 

thinking. I never had the habit 

of reading but Jonathan 

thought me how to read books. 

Today, I read a lot of books 

because a personality like him 

thought me how to read books. 

Prof E. J Alagwa of blessed 

memory was one of them. I 

became close to the late 

Admiral Mike Akhigbe at a 

point. I learned a lot about 

discipline, values in life, how to 

be very credible, how to stand 

out among my peers, the 

principle of credibility, 

integrity, and truth. He thought 

me how to live a modest life and 

a life of influence. I also learned 

a lot from other people. I had 

the opportunity of meeting with 

Nelson Mandela and Barack 

Obama. So, where I am coming 

from and the kind of people I 

have met, added positive value 

to my growth. 

Your name is also 

synonymous with the Mosilo 

Group, at what point did you 

take to business and how were 

you able to build your brand? 

I have always had a passion 

for business. I started this 

business when I was in 

Porthacourt 14 years ago. I 

started as Mosilo Global Services 

and today, it is now a group 

of companies. And going into 

the last governorship contest in 

Bayelsa was an opportunity to 

showcase my ability and to 

contribute to the process of 

growth. Mosilo Group which I 

head is a group of companies 

that have key investments in key 

sectors of the economy. We have 

interest in oil and Gas which we 

have been providing man power 

for specific projects in the sector. 

We have also been doing a lot of 

procurement in the sector. We 

are also doing a lot of capacity 

building programmes by 

training young people in the oil 

and gas sector on the oil spill 

and environmental degradation 

management. This is what my 

company has been doing over 

the years. Our major client 

which is the Nigerian content 

development board has actually 

complimented us by training 

young people on the oil spill 

and environmental degradation 

management. 

•Siasia 

As a company, we diversified 

into agriculture last year and 

we are doing big in that. We 

have a rice farm in Cross River 

where we also cultivate cassava. 

We are working on cultivating 

100 tonnes per day for local 

consumption and export. We 

are also looking at investing in 

agriculture in Bayelsa. So, 

Mosilo is a company that is 

doing quite well in raising the 

bar of business pursuit in 

Nigeria. To build this brand, we 

ensured that we don’t look at 

the amount of money we make. 

Of course, we are in business to 

make money but we look at the 

deliverables that bring clients’ 

satisfaction. And we try as much 

as possible to keep to global 

standards which are why our 

customers are satisfied with 

what we do. 

You are prominent in a 

country where the youths 

have not been given the space 

to achieve their potentialities, 

how was it possible for you to 

have come this far? 

While in school, I 

established the Niger Delta 

Centre for Adolescent 

Development. It was an NGO 

that takes care of adolescents 

in the Niger Delta region. At a 

point in school, we started the 

South South Youth Leaders 

Forum which was aimed at 

bringing youth leaders in the 

SouthSouth to<strong>get</strong>her to form a 

common front. We changed the 

perception of young people in 

the Niger Delta region and also 

built their capacity by helping 

them <strong>get</strong> access to information 

that will enable them to achieve 

Personality Ethics 

•I always strive to be the 

change I desire 

•Mentorship is key to 

being successful 

•I love social work and 

being selfless 

their dreams. I was the chairman 

for five years. I became the 

Coordinator of Niger Delta 

Peace Forum, which is one of 

the key organizations that gave 

birth to the Amnesty Programme. 

We worked very hard 

strategically to bring peace to 

the Niger Delta region during 

the peak period of militancy. 

The forum was initiated by the 

late National <strong>Security</strong> Adviser, 

Gen Owei Azazi during his 

reign as the Chief of Army Staff. 

We can beat our chest and say 

that we were one of those that 

engaged the Federal Government 

to ensure that peace returned 

to the Niger Delta region. 

I was also involved in the 

SouthSouth Peoples Assembly 

led by Chief Edwin Clark as a 

youth representative. These 

are the few key platforms we 

started with. At a point, I registered 

the Niger Delta Young 

Professionals which we used in 

doing a lot of human capacity 

building in the region. Having 

seen what we were able to 

achieve with that forum, people 

were asking why we did not 

nationalize it. At that point, we 

had to start the Nigerian Young 

Professionals Forum, NYPF 

which is a global organization 

today. I am very glad that I am 

part of that process that gives 

opportunities to young people. 

As a country, Nigeria has not 

been able to tap up to five percent 

of its youthful resources 

and that is why the country is 

like this today. We live in a 

technologically driven age and 

the movers and shakers of this 

age are less than 35 years. 

That is why I have so much 

passion for the growth of our 

youths. 

Your platform, the Nigeria 

Young Professionals 

Foundation, NYPF, is known 

for interventions for a better 

society, can you tell us the story 

of NYPF and the things you 

have achieved so far? 

The NYPF started from a very 

humble beginning. Today, we 

are in 15 countries in the world 

with regional heads. I have 

looked at all young 

organisations in the country 

and I have not seen any that can 

actually be on the same level 

with NYPF especially in terms 

of achievements. We have 

actually touched the lives of 

young people especially those 

in the rural areas. We started a 

programme called The Future 

Revolves Around Me for rural 

school children across the 

country. We actually gave 

scholarships to young people in 

primary schools. Educational 

materials were also provided 

for rural children to support 

them to go to school. We have 

reached about 17, 000 people 

in rural communities. 

Scholarships have also been 

awarded to those from 

disadvantaged backgrounds, 

who didn’t have the hope of 

going to school. The records are 

there to show things we have 

done. Health programmes 

have been carried out. Young 

people have also been given 

grants to support their 

businesses. 

We are looking at three key 

sectors, which are education, 

agriculture, and ICT. 

Read full interview on 

www.vanguardngr.com 

C 

M 

Y



S-South, S-East govs hail Buhari 

By Innocent Onoja 

U YO—GOVERNORS 

of the eleven states 

making up the South- 

South/South-East geopolitical 

zone have 

felicitated with the 

President of the Federal 

Republic of Nigeria, 

M u h a m m a d u 

Buhari,GCFR, on his 

return to the country 

after his medical 

vacation in the United 

Kingdom. 

The Interim Chairman 

of the South-South/ 

South-East Governors’ 

Forum and Governor of 

Akwa Ibom State, Mr. 

Udom Emmanuel, 

speaking on behalf of his 

colleagues, thanked the 

Almighty God for 

restoring the health of 

the President and his 

safe return to the 

country. 

He also appreciated 

Nigerians across 

political and religious 

divides who prayed for 

the recovery of the 

president, calling it a 

“sign of deep patriotism 

and an obedience to the 

scriptural injunction that 

we should pray for our 

leaders.” 

He restated the 

commitment of the 

Governors in the two 

zones to join hands with 

the administration of 

President Buhari in the 

task of delivering 

exemplary and focusdriven 

leadership to the 

people of Nigeria. 

He also called on all 

Nigerians irrespective of 

tongue, tribe or creed to 

be unrelenting in 

prayers for our country 

and our leaders while rededicating 

themselves to 

their responsibilities and 

service to the nation as 

our march to greatness 

requires all hands on 

deck for it to succeed. 

Hate speech: Northern youth coalition 

advocates peace, reconciliation confab 


ABUJA—THE Federal 

government has been 

charged to convoke a Peace 

and Reconciliation 

Conference that 

cuts across all ethnic 

divides in the country to 

douse the mounting 

tension generated by hate 

speeches and secessionist 

movements. 

The call was made by a 

coalition of Northern 

Youths from the 19 

Northern states at a peace 

meeting of major youth 

formations in the 19 

Northern states, NGOs and 

Oil and Solid Mineral 

Producing Areas Landlords' 

Association of Nigeria, 

OMPALAN Northern 

Youths held in Kaduna, 

weekend. 

The coalition noted with 

concern the spate of hate 

speeches and secessionists' 

rhetorics with the unsavory 

impacts on the national 

unity and called on the 

three arms of government 

to present a common front 

to help protect the 

sovereignty of Nigeria. 

The group maintained 

that the political class must 

reason with them on the 

need to save the country 

from impending doom by 

acting fast to salvage the 

already worsening 

situation. 

‘‘The political leadership 

of Nigeria should as a 

matter of urgency organize 

a peace and reconciliation 

conference cutting across 

Nigeria’s ethno-religious 

divide aimed at dousing 

mounting tension 

generated by hate 

speeches and secessionists 

rhetorics,’’ they said. 

In a communiqué issued at the 

end of the conference, delegates 

resolved as follows: that Nigerians 

should work collaboratively to 

move the country forward; that 

hate speeches should henceforth 

cease while tolerance and 

patriotism should be encouraged; 

that the call for President Buhari's 

resignation was made in bad faith 

especially since Mr. President has 

formally handed over power to his 

Vice to continue the machinery 

of government. 

INYC to 

commemorate 

World Youth 

Day 

By Jeremiah 

Urowayino 

WARRI—THE Itsekiri 

Nation Youth 

Council, INYC worldwide 

is set to commemorate the 

2017 International World 

Youth Day with a 3-day 

program commencing from 

Friday August 25 with a 

lecture on the legal fact 

about Itsekiri home land 

and presentation of Itsekiri 

development plan 

The P.R.O of comrade 

Weyinmi Agbateyiniro-led 

INYC, Mr Joseph Uwawah 

made this known in an 

interview with Journalists 

yesterday in Warri. 

According to Uwawah, 

the event is billed to take 

place at Chief Eyewoman 

Hall GRA, Warri. 

Events lined up for the 3- 

day programme include a 

lecture by three resource 

persons Professor Lucky 

Akaruese, Dr. Ireyefoju and 

Mr Weyinmi Orighoye, 

launching of Itsekiri state 

of the Art National Youth 

Council secretariat 

building, launching of 

Ukumate movie and Award 

/Gala night. 

''The presentation of 

Itsekiri development plans 

will unveil discussion on 

human capital 

development, higher 

institution of our own, 

enterpreneural by the 

Bank of industry, BoI, 

social media activism and 

the need for Itsekiri to have 

a micro finance Bank,'' said 

Uwawah


Schools Sports 

•Dalung 

By Jacob Ajom 

NIGERIA’S disastrous 

outing at the 2012 

Olympics in 

London sparked off a 

rash of reactions from 

Nigerians. The performance of 

Team Nigeria was so low that 

the number one citizen then, 

President Goodluck Jonathan 

initiated a one-day retreat on 

Sports. The retreat elicited a lot 

of interest from stakeholders 

that some even decried that one 

day was not enough to treat the 

numerous problems 

confronting Nigerian sports. 

Speaking before the historic 

event, the then Minister of 

Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi 

said, “It is the first time that a 

President of Nigeria is calling 

for a retreat to address problems 

in our sports and we all need to 

lend a hand because the 

President means well and he is 

leading the way.” 

The retreat held and it was 

hailed as one of the best legacies 

the Jonathan administration 

bequeathed to Nigeria before 

leaving office. As the retreat 

came so late into his 

administration, he could not 

execute the numerous 

recommendations made before 

leaving the seat of power. 

However, like every other 

thing Nigerian where every 

new government wants to chart 

a new course, the report on the 

retreat has not been 

implemented. Indeed, there are 

fears that the President 

Muhammadu Buhari 

government may have 

consigned the report to the trash 

can. 

This was eloquently 

demonstrated by the Minister of 

Sports, Solomon Dalung who, 

early in 2016, set up another 

Falling standards, result 

of leadership vacuum 

ministerial committee to reform 

the sports sector. Dalung’s 

interest had nothing to do with 

the voluminous report from the 

Presidential retreat and others 

before it, rather his focus was 

how to make the private sector 

<strong>get</strong> more involved in funding 

sports as, in his words, 

government could not do it 

alone. 

However, over the years, 

research has shown that though 

funding is central in the 

prosecution of programmes, 

poor funding is only a part of 

the problems inhibiting the 

growth of Nigerian sports. 

Most often, when funds are 

made available, officials siphon 

the money, leaving the athletes 

underfed, underpaid and under 

motivated. 

Chairman of the defunct 

Ministerial committee on sports 

reform, Godwin Kienka, 

speaking in an interview with 

the Daily Sun of 28 May, 2016 

said, “This committee’s task is a 

lot different from the previous 

ones and even some members 

that had served in some of the 

other committees and are also 

members here attest to that. 

We’ve gone through the various 

recommendations and I must 

confess there are plenty of 

postulations. 

“For instance, it is difficult for 

a struggling mother who has not 

been paid for upwards of six 

months to position her child 

towards sports,” Kienka said. 

Defining their terms of 

reference, the chairman of the 

Committee continued, “what 

we intend to do is to proffer 

solutions to our problems in 

Nigerian sports by hitting the 

nail on the head. The truth 

about the problem of our sports 

is that they are self-inflicted. 

From state sports councils to the 

sports ministry, everyone 

admitted that.” Till date, 

however, Nigerians are yet to 

know what job the Kienka 

Committee did as the Sports 

Ministry is yet to issue a white 

paper on it. 

Non-functional 

national sports policy 

slows down devt 

The Nigeria national sports 

policy is a richly crafted 

document which, if followed to 

the letter, could catapult the 

country into a sports giant. Some 

of the key aspects of the policy 

include the co-ordination of 

sports development 

programmes at all levels of 

government. For instance the 

federal government through the 

National Sports Commission is 

expected to initiate programmes 

aimed at identifying, nurturing 

and developing talents through 

a national elite development 

programme – like state sports 

festivals, the national sports 

festival, national youth games, 

etc. 

In the introductory part the 

document states that, “sport 

authorities at the National, State 

and Local Government levels 

shall undertake periodic 

assessment of sporting activities 

to check weaknesses, capacity 

gaps and adopt appropriate 

programme of action to correct 

them”. 

The present government 

seems to have frittered away 

whatever gains that had been 

made in the past, particularly, as 

it affects effective co-ordination 

of developmental sporting 

activities. For instance, the 19th 

National Sports Festival was 

awarded to Cross River State in 

2012. The festival tagged 

“Paradise Games 2014” would 

have held in December of that 

year. .Four years after the last 

festival hosted by Lagos, the 

Sports Festival, Nigeria’s local 

Olympiad has failed to hold. It 

does not need a fortune teller to 

tell us that Cross River State that 

was supposed to host the Games 

has failed. The National 

Council on Sports which is 

under the leadership of the 

Ministry of Sports and Youth 

Development has also failed in 

its role as a catalyst. The 

National Council on Sports under an 

effective leadership was supposed to 

have found an alternative host as 

replacement for CRS.

Even at the local government level, 

there are supposed to be in place 

periodic sports meets. The events 

could be sports specific – like an 

annual relay race or the jumps etc. In 

Nigeria, nothing like that takes place 

except in the books. Unless the 

National Sports Policy which has 

clearly identified growth from the 

grassroots as key to our sports 

development is activated and 

becomes functional, not much could 

be attained in that direction. 

Lack of active base in 

educational institutions and 

communities 

There is also this fundamental 

problem of lack of an active base 

in educational institutions and 

communities. In other climes, school 

sports forms the very foundation of 

sporting excellence in a nation. The 

Americans, the Jamaicans, the 

Europeans all have functional school 

sports systems that feed the sporting 

needs of their countries. Back in the 

days, Nigeria had a robust culture 

where one heard of the Academicals. 

Eko 2012 

Before now, the Principals 

Cup, State Academicals, 

Schools sports festivals were 

commonplace among the 

federating states. This has 

witnessed a slide in numerous 

states as only a few still organise 

the annual Principals Cup. 

Schools sports is near extinct in 

most states as some schools 

don’t even have play grounds. 

The nearest such schools come 

to sports is perhaps, during the 

annual inter-house sports 

competitions held once a year 

on hired grounds. Some schools 

look forward to the income such 

events bring to the school than 

the benefits they bring to the 

pupils and students. School 

competitions like the Principals 

Cup produced a lot of football 

stars that later developed into 

full time internationals. The 

Haruna Ilerikas, Segun 

Odegbamis, Adokiye 

Amiesimakas, among others, 

were some of the products of the 

Academicals. 

Okagbare 

Higher institutions in Nigeria 

sparingly hold inter-collegiate 

sports like the popular NUGA 

Games among universities, 

NIPOGA for the polytechnics 

and NACEGA for Colleges of 

Education. All these live in their 

past glories and that is why 

Nigerian sports have stagnated. 

Records set 20 years ago still 

stand as there are no longer 

athletes of serious 

consideration. 

Similarly, the communities 

that were the bedrock of talent 

hunt have vanished into thin air. 

One was told stories of clubs that 

sprang up from communities 

like the Lagos Boys clubs, 

community based football clubs 

like the defunct Ikpeazu 

Redoubtables in Onitsha, 

Calabar, the Zik Athletics Club, 

etc. In some of these clubs one 

had at least three or four sports 

disciplines. In Lagos, for 

instance, there existed 

numerous local Table Tennis 

clubs and recreational centres. 

That was then. All that was used 

to mop up local talents that may 

not have found their way to 

schools. It was always said, 

albeit ignorantly, that those who 

were good in sports were 

usually school dropouts. 

Fact is grassroots 

development in sports has since 

become a thing of the past as 

even in our athletics, Nigeria 

now use naturalised athletes 

from other countries to compete 

in international events. In 

football, which Nigeria parades 

one of the best records in youth 

football, the Super Eagles is now 

dominated by players who, 

though of Nigerian descent, 

were neither born nor brought 

up here. 

Writing in his column recently, 

former Nigeria international 

and national team captain, 

Chief Segun Odegbami said, 

“Gernot Rohr, the new German 

coach of Nigeria’s national 

football team, has been combing 

European leagues for players of 

Nigerian parentage, groomed 

on the rich technical diet of 

European football, to make up 

his emerging new Super Eagles 

en route Russia 2018. 

Apparently, he has not been 

satisfied with the number and 

quality of players coming 


Tosin Oke 

through the domestic Nigerian 

leagues, players in the mould of 

Finidi George, Jay Jay Okocha, 

Daniel ‘the Bull’ Amokachi, 

‘Papillo’ Nwankwo Kanu, Chief 

Justice Adokie Amiesimaka, 

Muda Lawal, Nathaniel 

Adewole, Stanley Okoronkwo, 

and so on, players with the true 

DNA of Nigerian football 

(strong, fast, unadulterated 

attacking and wing play 

mentality, never-giving-up 

spirit and love of the dribble art). 

With the way things are going 

under Rohr, it is not far fetched 

to think that one day, in the not 

too distant future, Nigeria’s 

Super Eagles will be dominated 

by a foreign legion of 

European-born, bred and 

honed football players, good but 

lacking the flair, showmanship, 

individual expressiveness and 

dribbling skills of the home bred. 

Check this present list and see 

for yourself: Carl Ikeme, William 

Troost Ekong, Leon Balogun, 

Kingsley Madu, Uche Henry 

Agbo, and Tyronne Ebuehi. 

There are more of them in coach 

Rohr’s radar.” 

How the structure and 

management of sports 

affects funding of sports 

and sports development 

in Nigeria 

It’s either that there is a 

deliberate conspiracy by 

the establishment to scuttle the 

dreams and development of 

millions of the Nigerian youth 

or that there is a lack of full 

understanding by all tiers of 

government of the place, roles, 

responsibilities, power and 

relevance of sports in a growing 

economy as Nigeria’s. 

In the annual national 

bud<strong>get</strong>, what is the percentage 

allocated to sports? In the same 

interview quoted above, Kienka 

said, “there’s insincerity of 

purpose, greed, lack of respect 

for the athletes and the failure 

of not seeing sports as the 

second largest employer of 

labour that would create wealth 

for the athletes, their families, 

their communities and the 

society at large.” 

Nigeria has become notorious 

in the international sporting 

arena where its contingent 

would indicate interest in 

participating in events and at 

the end they won’t show up. 

This year alone, the country has 

been absent from the 

Commonwealth Youth Games, 

World Junior Athletics 

Championships and the African 

Juniors which Nigeria was the 

defending champion. All 

because of “no money”. 

Ironically, the Sports Minister 

has attended all these 

programmes. For what use, no 

one has explained. 

Funding sports has been central 

in the manner the sector has been 

run over the years. The sports 

Ministry is also encumbered with 

the affairs of youth development. 

Some people have argued that 

sports be extricated from the 

ministry and in its place a 

National Sports Commission be 

formed. That was what obtained 

in the past. But the present 

administration under President 

Buhari did quite the opposite by 

scrapping the NSC. Now the 

minister is the beginning and the 

end to all things; like they say, the 

bulk stops on his table. He 

determines who <strong>get</strong>s what and 

who goes where. He approves 

funds for trips and stops those he 

does not fancy. He even disburses 

the funds himself, like it was 

reported at the recently 

concluded IAAF World Athletics 

Championships in London. Even 

when his background shows he 

knows nothing about sports, it is 

the minister who determines the 

direction the country’s sports is 

going. 

A National Sports Commission, 

headed by a technocrat will avoid 

lapses in planning and 

bud<strong>get</strong>ing and will act and 

advice the Presidency 

appropriately. There will be fewer, 

if any , policy somersaults in the 

administration of sports in the 

country. 

Government’s influence in the 

administration of sports has been 

a big inhibition. The last elections 

into boards of federations was a 

clear index that government does 

not necessarily know the sporting 

needs of a nation. Elections are 

supposed to be held by 

federations according to statutes. 

But in the last election, the 

ministry was involved from the 

word go, set up election 

guidelines and greatly 

influenced the election outcomes. 

Other myriad of problems 

inhibiting the growth and 

development of sports in Nigeria 

include lack of modern facilities 

and poor maintenance of existing 

facilities, the inability of the 

National Institute for Sports to 

fulfill its primary mandate. The 

NIS, which is supposed to be the 

engine room in the production of 

coaches for the country is a 

shadow of itself. Nigeria sports 

lack standards due to the 

leadership vacuum. 

Proffered solutions: 

It is worth mentioning that 

there should be a legislation 

to back up the existence of a 

National Sports Commission, 

establish structures, build 

facilities, increase funding, better 

training and reactivation of high 

performance centres for elite 

athletes. 

Sports science is also vital in the 

scheme of things, school sports 

should be taken seriously, 

scholarships to budding talents 

and other incentives should be 

initiated and awarded to 

deserving athletes.


“To say that night guards 

and drivers in private 

establishments earn far more 

than a police Sergeant in 

Nigeria should be a thing of 

serious concern to every sane 

Nigerian. Under the present 

discouraging atmosphere, 

there is no way Nigeria can 

have a fully committed and 

highly motivated police 

force.” 

IN modern society, the 

primary aim of working is 

to earn a living. This is 

measured in monetary terms 

either by way of wages, salary, 

proceeds of sale, remuneration 

etc. it is not really the 

nomenclature that matters but 

the substance – money. 

What our police officers earn 

in Nigeria as salaries are 

nothing short of stipends. The 

salaries and emoluments of 

policemen in Nigeria are 

embarrassingly poor. It is 

highly discouraging. This 

singular factor, if the truth must 

be told, has robbed Nigeria of 

finest brains who would have 

easily opted for policing had 

the salaries been made 

attractive. 

In sharp contrast to what 

obtains in Nigeria, policemen 

in Britain are well 

remunerated. This is aside the 

fact that graduates and welleducated 

people join the 

Force. 

Powers, achievements, and failings of the 

Nigeria Police: Poor remuneration- need for 

urgent attention (8) 

$66,780 (N24,708,600) 

respectively. 

To say that night guards and 

drivers in private 

establishments earn far more 

than a police Sergeant in 

Nigeria should be a thing of 

serious concern to every sane 

Nigerian. Under the present 

discouraging atmosphere, 

there is no way Nigeria can 

have a fully committed and 

highly motivated police force. 

What is more, virtually all 

these poorly paid policemen 

have wives, children, 

The sad aspect of it 

all is that our 

policemen work 

under a very 

dangerous, unconducive 

and 

thoroughly hostile 

environment as 

opposed to their 

foreign counterparts 

who have everything 

modern at their 

disposal and under a 

beautiful, 

encouraging 

atmosphere within 

which they operate – 

and with fantastic 

salary to show for it! 

Abysmal remuneration 

Perhaps the abysmal 

remuneration picture of the 

Nigerian Police is best painted 

in a paper presented by the 

former Inspector-General of 

Police, Mr. M.A.K. Smith titled 

“A Retreat”. He submitted, 

quite frighteningly thus:- “it is 

now a matter of common 

knowledge the need for an 

upward review of police 

salaries. Not minding the 

Ibrahim Idris, IGP 

recent general increase in 

salaries of public officers, it 

stands clear that the police 

salary still ranks low at the 

bottom of the national wage” 

The salary of an average 

constable is almost 

conterminous with the 

national wage. A situation 

which makes a police 

constable rank with cleaners 

and rewards in the ministries. 

What this means is that the 

qualifications and status of an 

average policeman are not 

adequately compensated by 

his pay. This is in 

contradistinction to 

developments all over the 

world, where Police pay is one 

of the highest in those 

countries. 

S/NO. RANK SALARY PER MONTH SALARY PER ANNUM 

N : K N :K 

1. IGP N711,450 N8,537,980 

2. DIG N546,572.80 N5,997,022.50 

3. AIG N499,751.87 5,997,022.44 

4. CP N302,970.47 N3,635,645.64 

5. DC N278,852.79 N3,346,233.48 

6 AC N212,938.16 N2,555,257.92 

7. CSP N199,723.96 N2,396,687.52 

8. SP N187,616.69 N2,251400.28 

9. DSP N170,399.69 N2,044,796.28 

10. ASP N156,318.39 N1,875,820.68 

11. INSPR. N87,135.70 N1,045,628.4 

12. SGT. N62,204.88 N746,458.56 

13. CPL N51,113.59 N613,365.08 

14. PC N43, 293.80 N519,525.6 

In the United States of 

America as at April 2017, a 

table of the 100 highest paying 

cities or localities showed that 

the average annual salary in 

the highest ranked city of San 

Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, 

California was $118,920,. In 

Napa, California, which was 

ranked second it was $112,840 

while in Nassau-Suffolk, New 

York it was $111,770. At the 

current exchange rates of 

N170 naira to the dollar this 

translates to N44,000,400, 

N41,750,800 and N41,354,900 

respectively. In the least 

ranked cities of Boston- 

Cambridge-Quincy, 

Massachusetts, Ithaca, New 

York and Hawaii-Maui-Kauai 

nonmetropolitan area, Hawaii, 

the average salaries were 

$67,230 (N24,875,100), 

$66,980 (N24,782,600) and 

dependants and aged parents, 

the feeding responsibility of 

which falls heavily on their 

shoulders. And some 

policemen even have the 

additional task of funding the 

education of their younger 

brothers and sisters! 

The sad aspect of it all is that 

our policemen work under a 

very dangerous, un-conducive 

and thoroughly hostile 

environment as opposed to 

their foreign counterparts who 

have everything modern at 

their disposal and under a 

beautiful, encouraging 

atmosphere within which they 

operate – also with fantastic 

salary to show for it! 

Again in the United States 

of America, apart from the 

general earnings of the police, 

the Federal law provides for 

special salary rates for the 

benefit of federal employees 

who serve in law enforcement. 

In addition, the Federal 

Special Agents and Inspectors 

receive what is known as “Law 

Enforcement Availability Pay, 

LEAP,” or “ Administratively 

Uncontrolled Overtime 

(AUO)” which is equal to 25% 

of the agent’s grade and step 

mainly awarded because of 

the large amount of overtime 

that these agents are expected 

to work. 

Compared with what 

operates in Nigeria, there is 

no doubting the fact that the 

above represents very 

tempting, mouthwatering 

financial incentives. 

To be continued.


Am I trying too hard to keep a 

man? 

Son caught sneaking into the maid's room 

DearBunmi, 

My eldest child is in his 

late teens and goes to school 

from home. We live in a 

block of flats and our flat has 

a one room boy’s quarter 

attached to it where the 

housemaid lives. 

Few weeks ago, one of the 

other neighbours’ servants 

came to tell me that my son 

was always coming to the 

maid’s room in the night 

when we were all asleep. 

That he sneaks in food and 

drinks and that they even 

smoke cigarettes to<strong>get</strong>her. 

I was really upset by this 

not because I thought my 

son couldn’t be having sex at 

his age but because I know 

the maid to be worldly wise. 

I don’t want my son to catch 

any dreadful disease and I’m 

against his smoking and 

drinking at his age. 

Should I tell his father to 

have a word with him or 

should I call the maid to 

order? 

Maria, bye-mail. 

Dear Maria, 

The less noise you make 

I have only one fallopian tube left 

Dear Bunmi, 

I got married a couple of 

years ago and we have been 

trying for a baby without 

positive result. Early last 

year, I felt this terrible pains 

in my lower abdomen and I 

was rushed to the hospital 

and the doctor said I had an 

ectopic pregnancy and that 

he had to operate right away 

to remove one of the 

fallopian tubes that was 

damaged. 

Could this be responsible 

for my infertility? And what 

are my chances of <strong>get</strong>ting 

pregnant with only one tube? 

Augusta, by e-mail. 

Dear Augusta, 

An ectopic pregnancy is 

one which occurs outside the 

womb. The womb is 

connected by means of two 

tubes with the ovaries. The 

female egg or ovum, passes 

down these tubes (called 

fallopian tubes) into the 

womb and when fertilization 

happens, that fertilized ovum 

lodges in the uterus. 

It occasionally happens 

that the fertilized ovum 

lodges in one of the tubes. 

When this happens, there is 

no room for the ovum to 

about this, the better. Why 

don’t you talk to your son 

yourself! 

Don’t give him the third 

degree, instead let him see 

how anxious you are for 

him not to <strong>get</strong> any STD 

(sexually transmitted 

disease) and how there is 

the possibility of his <strong>get</strong>ting 

the housemaid pregnant. 

So when you meet 

someone new, give 

yourself time to think. 

Set a schedule so you 

don’t rush into sex or 

commitment too soon. 

Don’t spend every 

minute to<strong>get</strong>her - take 

time out to think what’s 

actually happening 

grow, so that trouble soon 

develops. 

Often, there is pain in the 

lower part of the abdomen 

on one side and brown 

discharge or slight bleeding 

from the vagina. If the 

condition continues, the 

fallopian tube may burst. 

The symptoms often occur 

soon after a missed period 

before pregnancy is 

Encourage him to be more 

serious about his studies 

instead of boozing and 

smoking. You should have a 

word with the maid too. The 

fact that you know should 

put the fear of God in her. 

Don’t be too high-handed 

though, or they might find 

alternate avenues for their 

escapades. 

My dad's friend is a dirty old 

man 

Dear Bunmi, 

I believe I am being 

sexually abused. I am in my 

late teens and live at home. 

A friend of my dad’s, who 

visits fairly regularly, 

fondles my breasts 

whenever we are alone and 

wants me to meet him 

somewhere. I’ve threatened 

to tell my parents but he just 

laughed, saying they won’t 

believe me. 

How do I make him stop? 

Irene, by e-mail. 

confirmed. 

. So in the event of pain 

and brown discharge, a 

doctor should be contacted 

without delay even if you 

are not sure you are 

pregnant. 

The doctor then operates 

to remove the bursting 

tubes. After the operation, 

both ovaries and one 

healthy fallopian tube are 

left, so fertility is not greatly 

affected. 

Dear Irene, 

If you’re forced to do 

something you’re 

uncomfortable with, it is 

abuse, and you have to 

report this beast to someone. 

It could be your mum or an 

older relative. 

He may deny it because 

he knows what he’s doing is 

wrong, but stick to your 

story. 

In the meantime, try all 

you can not to be alone with 

him whenever he visits. 

DearBunmi, 

I am 26 years old and 

every time I meet a new 

man, I truly believe he’s 

‘the one’ for me. I <strong>get</strong> so 

carried away with the 

moment, but things always 

end in tears for me. I <strong>get</strong> 

horribly hurt, swear I’ll be 

more careful next time, and 

then it all happens all over 

again. When next I feel I 

want something so much, 

how can I make sure I take 

things more slowly? 

Monica, by e-mail. 

Dear Monica, 

Being “in’ love’ is all 

about how you feel. Making 

love work - choosing the 

right partner, forming a 

Be wary of your intake of local 

herbs 

DearBunmi, 

I believe strongly in 

alternate medicine and I’ve 

tried quite a few herbs in 

the recent past. 

I am now into local herb teas 

(agbo in Yoruba). But I’m 

told it could be damaging to 

the liver. Is this true, 

especially with all these 

‘bitters’ in the market? 

Maroun, by e-mail. 

good relationship, creating 

long-term possibilities - is 

down to a combination of 

feeling and thinking. So 

when you meet someone 

new, give yourself time to 

think. Set a schedule so you 

don’t rush into sex or 

commitment too soon. 

Don’t spend every minute 

to<strong>get</strong>her - take time out to 

think what’s actually 

happening. Ask yourself 

some soul-searching 

questions such as: Do I like 

this man as well as love 

him? And don’t force him 

into a commitment when 

he’s not ready. 

With time, you’ll recognize 

the type of man that’s really 

for you. 

Dear Moroun, 

It is not true that you can’t 

have too much of a good 

thing. Herbal teas, 

especially the ones made 

from fruits, can dissolve 

your teeth. Their high acid 

content means they can be 

as acidic as fizzy drinks like 

cola. So, despite their image 

as a natural healthy pickup, 

they are far from molarfriendly. 

According to a report in the 

Journal of Dentistry, a recent 

test compared the fate of 

extracted teeth in three 

different drinks: a black 

currant, ginseng and vanilla 

tea, ordinary Typhoo tea and 

water. 

After 114 days, equivalent to 

drinking three cups a day 

for 16 years, the teeth in the 

ordinary tea and water were 

virtually unaffected, but the 

herbal tea dissolved a layer 

of the enamel. So, if you’re a 

herbal tea devotee, it may 

be a good idea to keep your 

consumption down. Local 

herbs that are too 

concentrated are processed 

by the liver and they could 

be quite toxic. 

I am in my late teens and 

live at home. A friend of 

my dad’s, who visits fairly 

regularly, fondles my 

breasts whenever we are 

alone and wants me to meet 

him somewhere. I’ve 

threatened to tell my 

parents but he just laughed, 

saying they won’t believe 

me 

Share your problems and release your 

burden. Write now to Dear Bunmi, 

Vanguard Newspapers, P.M.B 1007, 

Apapa, Lagos, or bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk


RESTRUCTURING: What is it? 

Yesterday, the team of panelists at the Vanguard Conference 

Hall gave their perspectives on what is restructuring. The 

panel was generally agreed on the need to restructure the 

polity. Today the panel is addressing the contentious issue 

of what system of government the country is presently 

operating among other issues. 

Continued from yesterday 

Moderator: You say Nigeria 

cannot establish a refinery, but 

what do you say of what the 

authorities have described as 

illegal refineries and in the 

time of the civil war we also had 

Ogbinigwe bombs? 

Zakka 

When I was talking about our 

ability to refine or produce 

distillates from our crude oil; I 

will always give it to one of our 

legendary leaders, the late Dim 

Chukwuemeka Ojukwu. In the 

days of Biafra, there was 

creativity. He established 

refineries by the rivers of 

Uzoakali. Some of us knew 

about that. He used Nigerians 

and brains within Nigeria, so 

that is why I say something is 

fundamentally wrong. 

Remember, I didn’t say that we 

have not been growing, but now 

we have what we call stunted 

growth. 

What we have in the Niger 

Delta as we speak today are not 

refineries. They do not even 

qualify to be called illegal 

refineries. They are pollution 

plants. They are toxification 

and carcinogenic plants. I am 

saying this as an authority in 

the oil and gas industry and as 

somebody who has worked on 

land location and swam 

location, and deep offshore. 

What we have in the Niger 

Delta can best be described as 

toxification plants. 

What they do is this: they tap 

into the pipeline of products 

that somebody spent money to 

develop or drill. What has been 

happening is stealing. You 

steal somebody’s products and 

the next thing you go without 

aligning yourself or respecting 

the standard scientific methods, 

you burn that product, and you 

pick the only thing you require, 

and all the other products are 

dropped on the environment 

and what that does to the 

environment is that it 

percolates. Once it percolates, 

it destroys ground water and 

habitat; people cannot drink 

good water, people go to the 

farms. 

The next one that <strong>get</strong>s to the 

river destroys aquatic plants 

and animals. Even animals that 

come to prey on those rivers to 

take fishes suffer from 

temperature differentials which 

we call hyperthermia. Then, 

the ones that <strong>get</strong> burnt and <strong>get</strong> 

to the atmosphere pollute the 

environment; cause all kinds of 

bronchial problems and come 

back as carbonic acid or acid 

rain. I am an authority on that 

aspect and can talk about it. 

But there is nothing wrong in 

starting from an embryonic 

stage. You can’t walk if you can’t 

crawl, so you need to crawl, 

walk, run and probably be a 

sprinter. I am in support of that. 

Let’s do the right thing and if 

we want to do the right thing, 

Chukwuma Eze 

let us follow the necessary concept. 

Follow that trend, make 

sure you <strong>get</strong> the necessary license 

to establish, to reconstruct 

and operate. There is 

nothing wrong. I am for modular 

refineries. Let’s start and 

be building them in modules. 

What exists in the Niger Delta 

today can best be described as 

carcinogenic plants. In fact, 

carcinogenic materials because 

when something is a plant, you 

give some scientific qualifications. 

They are carcinogenic 

materials. 

Abioye Akiyode-Afolabi 

There is a lot of generalisation 

of who we think we are and who 

we think others are. When 

somebody speaks, who does the 

person speak for? Whether the 

person speaks for the North or 

the person speaks for the South, 

and I keep asking for the 

common man? 

We can’t be talking about 

restructuring if we do not have 

Kayode Salako 

As we speak, the 

structure that we 

are building as a 

country is built on 

what we call 

federal structure 

a constitutional engineering 

that is clear, or says who we are 

as a country? What structure do 

we have that can benefit a 

positive discussion that can 

come out for restructuring. In 

that regards, we need to go into 

our historical setting. Where did 

we start from? I know that a lot 

of discussion about 

restructuring is saying let’s go 

back to Ibadan. Let us go back 

Zakka 

Akiyode-Afolabi 

to 1963 when each region 

managed its resources. So, I 

asked myself who determines 

who owns the land and who 

determines who manages the 

refineries and others. These are 

issues that are quite 

constitutional which we need to 

determine by virtue of the kind 

of constitution that we have. 

As we speak, the structure 

that we are building as a 

country is built on what we call 

“federal structure.” There is 

something absolutely wrong 

with the structure that we are 

using as a country today, and 

as someone who has been 

involved in constitutional 

engineering planning, I know 

that there was a time when we 

asked for Sovereign National 

Conference. 

The essence of Sovereign 

National Conference was to 

bring something back to the 

Nigerian people. To be able to 

determine what kind of 

structure can work. If we look at 

it from 1963, particularly after 

the military took over till 1979 

when we began to define the 

kind of structure we want 

Nigeria to have. 

There is something missing. 

The fact that sovereignty does 

not rest in the people, and if you 

look at the charade that took 

place recently in the National 

Assembly. For them, their own 

definition is also that they are 

trying to restructure the country 

and so will vote for immunity 

clause suitable to them and 

which shows that there is a lot 

of confusion. We cannot 

restructure this country if we 

don’t have a definite 

constitution that defines our 

structure. 

The constitution must define 

the kind of structure that we 

want. The constitution must say 

what goes to the state. Recently, 

a governor said he was going 

to cancel the local government 

elections that took place in his 

state; so what kind of structure 

is that? 

So, I think that the 

Constitution has a role to play 

in terms of defining the kind of 

structure that we should have. 

And as we speak, the 1999 

Constitution (As Amended) has 

not been able to do that. The 

recent efforts by the National 

Assembly have not done much. 

The closest that we have had to 

it is in some of the proposals in 

the 2014 National Conference 

asking a lot of questions. 

What should be on the 

residual list? What should be in 

the concurrent list? What 

should be in the exclusive list? 

If we don’t determine some of 

these, we will not be able to 

determine who manages the 

refinery. 

There are a lot of other issues 

we need to define. Who is the 

citizen of Nigeria? If I live in the 


THE TEAM 

Emmanuel Aziken 

( Moderator) 

Dapo Akinrefon 

Charles Kumolu 

Gbenga Oke 

Josephine Agbonkhese 

Kenechukwu Iruoma

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017 — 43 

Continued from page 42 

North why would somebody 

ask me to leave the North? Is 

that part of the structure we 

should build? Because I 

invested so much in the North 

for so long, why should 

someone ask me to leave? 

Those are the things, to me, that 

are critical. We need to come to 

that stage, agree on a 

foundation before we can build 

any structure. 

Chukwuma Eze 

There is this form of analysis 

we call the “Mischief Rule.” 

What was the mischief that we 

have tried to cure with what we 

have now? We had a structure 

that ran on a tripod. At the all 

the constitutional conferences 

we had before independence, 

it was agreed that the country 

should run in regions. That is 

the foundation of our founding 

fathers, and we have been 

singing that their labour should 

not be in vain. Now, if we lay that 

foundation on a tripod, we will 

see that that is why Nigeria does 

not have a common hero. 

Ask many Nigerians, the heroes 

of Nigerian independent; 

they will mention three names. 

In Ghana, the one name that 

will be mentioned is Kwame 

Nkrumah. In Zambia, Kenneth 

Kaunda. But it was not only 

Kwame Nkrumah that fought 

for Ghana’s independence, but 

Danquah was also a major 

player. In Tanzania, it wasn’t 

only Julius Nyerere alone, but 

their countrymen decided that 

there should be a hero; like in 

a match, that there should be a 

captain. We started a 

foundation without a captain; 

we had three captains. The 

events of 1966/67 made us to 

pretend to live a lie that we can 

have one captain. All over, we 

have been trying to like a cloth, 

patch it. You patch it this way; 

you patch it that way for<strong>get</strong>ting 

where you are coming from. 

I sincerely believe, we must 

return to basics. Ahmadu Bello 

took time to groom his people 

to believe in the North; 

Michael Okpara took the time 

to groom his people to believe 

in the East; Awolowo took the 

time to groom his people to 

believe in the West. I’m aware 

that as at 1963 we had the 

Ocherome Nnanna 

Eze 

Midwest region – that was an 

interplay of politics. Now, with 

what we have, you caused 

people to believe in their 

regions, then, you want their 

offspring to believe in 

something else. That is why 

when things are being done in 

this country, people lower them 

to their regions, some tribes. 

One of the reasons things are 

not working is that we are living 

a lie. We are pretending we are 

united. What is the essence of 

federalism? It is unity in 

diversity. Anywhere federalism 

is practiced, people have 

understood their diversity. We 

have a common purpose; we 

have a common focus; those 

things that bind us to<strong>get</strong>her, let 

us put on the Exclusive 

Legislative List. 

We are not practicing 

federalism. Our fathers laid this 

country on the foundation of 

federalism. That is why they 

have 45 items in the Exclusive 

List. Now we have 68, you have 

added 23, and even in the other 

30 that amount to Concurrent 

List, you say that any legislation 

in that regard, that whatever 

the National Assembly decides, 

takes precedence. 

The implication is that the 

Akiode-Afolabi 

RESTRUCTURING: 

What is it? 

National Assembly may decide 

on the 30 and that means that 

the state will continually go to 

the national for everything and 

that is what is happening. Now 

when we talk of restructuring if 

you ask me, my understanding 

of restructuring is that we have 

a structure, but that structure 

has been distorted. We should 

restructure it back to when it 

was not distorted. 

Decisions in this country are 

not taken to enhance our 

economic well-being. They are 

taken to enhance the beliefs of 

some people that the country 

should be run in a particular 

way. Look at the devolution of 

power; some people just stood 

as a caucus and said no, we will 

not devolve powers, Land Use 

Act, no! 

I will describe 

the structure we 

have now as come 

chop structure - 

come and eatthat 

is what it is 

Kayode Salako 

As long as decisions are 

taken to spite some people 

based on perception rightly or 

wrongly, anything you discuss 

administration or finance - 

because those things rest on the 

substratum 

Now when some people 

discuss restructuring, they 

behave as if they do not know 

what we call economic 

restructuring, what we call 

administrative restructuring – 

because the substratum is this 

political restructuring. Once 

you <strong>get</strong> it right, the inner 

creativity in people will come 

out. 

There is a reason why nobody 

is ready to call those people 

who produced the Ogbinigwe 

to come out and help the 

country succeed. It is a political 

decision. There is a reason why 

they will not give international 

airport to a particular state. 

These are political decisions; 

they are not economic 

decisions. 

Ochereome Nnanna 

I will describe the structure we 

have now as “come chop” 

structure -”Come and eat.” That 

is what it is. From the moment 

General Aguiyi Ironsi 

promulgated decree No. 34 in 

1966 and centralised the 

structure of the federation 

under military rule, the 

situation has not changed. 

Rather, what happened is that 

when the military changed 

hands several times, some 

people discovered that what 

Ironsi started was to their 

advantage, so they now 

bounced on it, put it in the 1979 

Constitution and continued it 

in the 1999 Constitution. 

For me, the structure we have 

on the ground now which is 

centralized federalism is a 

military structure. It served 

during the military period, and 

when the military was about to 

end, they felt for their personal 

interest to continue to hold 

sway, they now put it in the 1999 

Constitution and imposed it on 

the civilian democratic order 

that was coming into place. 

For me, what we have had 

between 1999 and today is 

nothing but transitional 

democracy, a transition 

between the military and fullblown 

democracy and 

federalism that is yet to come 

and that cannot be acquired 

through the instrumentality of 

the 1999 Constitution. 

The 1999 Constitution 

remains and will always be a 

decree by the military. It has 

nothing to do with “we the 

Bala Zakka 

people.” 

For me, for us to have the 

structure we need, we have to 

do something about the 

Constitution, not by amending 

it, because there is nothing you 

can amend to <strong>get</strong> what you are 

looking for. You have to change 

it. 

The people of Nigeria 

should sit to<strong>get</strong>her and come up 

with a new constitution that will 

give them that structure of 

federation that will be able to 

move Nigeria forward. Not this 

one, because this particular 

centralised federalism has put 

everything in the hands of the 

federal government. It has put 

everything in the hands of the 

president, and because some 

people have that advantage, 

both deserved and undeserved 

advantages, which they had 

they split the country the way 

they wanted, gave to 

themselves the number of states 

they wanted, the number of 

local governments they wanted 

and the number of federal 

constituencies they wanted. 

They put the revenue 

formula in such a way so that 

all those numerous states and 

local governments which they 

created will just be “zapping” 

the federation to the 

disadvantage of others who 

were not in power with them. 

There were some groups of 

Nigerians who were not around 

the table when these decisions 

were taken, and they are 

suffering the disadvantage. 

So the “come and chop” 

structure we have is to the 

eternal disadvantages of some 

groups and the eternal 

advantage of some groups, and 

that is why we are having these 

agitations. 

These agitations will not end 

until we do something about 

the structure. What I am saying 

is that we are probably the 

only federation in the whole 

world that at the end of every 

month, the states, local governments, 

and the Federal Government 

will sit and collect free 

rents from oil and share. After 

sharing everybody goes home 

to go and eat. Before the war, 

the various regions were massive 

production centers. They 

produced wealth and paid 

some part to the federal 

government, and with what 

they realized, they were able to 

establish fantastic programmes 

and projects. I 



Italian Carabinieri police officer and a doctor carry a child after an earthquake hit the island of Ischia, 

off the coast of Naples. REUTERS 

Five days needed to ramp up uranium 

enrichment — Iran 

IRAN's atomic chief 

has warned that the 

Tehran needs only five 

days to ramp up its uranium 

enrichment to 20 percent, 

a level at which the 

material could be used for 

a nuclear weapon. 

The comments by Ali 

Akbar Salehi to Iranian 

state television on Tuesday 

followed repeated 

threats by US President 

Donald Trump to renegotiate 

or walk away from 

a historic 2015 nuclear 

deal. 

"If there is a plan for a 

reaction and a challenge, 

we will definitely surprise 

them," said Salehi, who 

also serves as one of Rouhani's 

vice presidents. 

"If we make the determination, 

we are able to resume 

20 percent-enrichment 

in at most five days." 

He added: "Definitely, 

we are not interested in 

such a thing happening. 

We have not achieved the 

deal easily to let it go so 

easily. We are committed 

to the deal and we are loyal 

to it." 

Iran gave up the majority 

of its stockpile of 20 

percent-enriched uranium 

as part of the nuclear 

deal it struck with world 

powers, co-signed by 

Trump's predecessor, 

President Barack Obama. 

The 2015 accord, which 

lifted sanctions on Iran, 

currently caps the country's 

uranium enrichment 

at five percent. 

Al Jazeera's Rosiland 

Jordan, reporting from 

the UN headquarters in 

New York, said there is 

"ongoing concern" that 

further US actions to hold 

Iran accountable for "unrelated 

but still very serious 

violations" of international 

laws and <strong>Security</strong> 

Council resolutions "could 

end up ruining" the entire 

deal. 

In recent weeks, Trump 

had already signed new 

sanctions imposing mandatory 

penalties on people 

involved in Iran's ballistic 

missile programme 

and anyone who does 

business with them. 

The US legislation also 

applies "terrorism" sanctions 

to Iran's Revolutionary 

Guard and enforces an 

existing arms embargo. 

Afghanistan hails US decision to send 

more troops 

THE Afghan Presi 

dent has hailed 

Donald Trump's decision 

to commit US troops to 

the country to fight 

against the resurgent Taliban. 

Ashraf Ghani thanked 

the US for supporting "the 

joint struggle against the 

threat of terrorism". 

Donald Trump has committed 

the US Army to the 

open-ended conflict, despite 

previously advocating 

its withdrawal. 

The Taliban responded 

by saying it would make 

Afghanistan a "graveyard" 

for US forces. 

Mr Trump offered few 

details on the plan, but 

singled out Pakistan for 

criticism for offering "safe 

havens" to extremists. 

Pakistani officials reject 

claims the country uses 

some militants as a tool of 

state policy. 

But he refused to <strong>get</strong> 

drawn on how many extra 

troops, if any, would 

be deployed and gave no 

timeline for ending the 

US presence in the country. 

Washington is expected 

to send up to 

4,000 additional troops, 

but Mr Trump did not 

comment on this. In 

June, he told the Department 

of Defense to 

decide on troop levels. 

Visiting Baghdad on 

Tuesday, Defence Secretary 

Jim Mattis said he 

would wait for a plan 

from the chairman of the 

Joint Chiefs of Staff 

based on the president's 

South Asia strategy before 

deciding. 

"It may or may not be 

the number that is bandied 

about," he told reporters. 

Mr Trump also, for the 

first time, left the door 

open for an eventual 

peace deal with the Taliban, 

saying: "Someday, 

after an effective military 

effort, perhaps it will be 

possible to have a political 

settlement that includes 

elements of the 

Taliban in Afghanistan." 

Barcelona cell planned to attacking sites 

THE cell behind the 

Barcelona van attack 

had planned to use 

explosives against monuments 

including the 

city's famous Sagrada 

Familia church, a suspect 

has told a Madrid 

court. 

Mohamed Houli 

Chemlal is one of four 

surviving suspects who 

gave evidence. 

The group's plans were 

scaled back when a 

house packed with 

bomb-making equipment 

blew up the day before. 

Houli Chemlal was injured 

in the accidental 

blast that reduced the 

house to rubble in the 

town of Alcanar. 

The Alcanar explosion 

came the day before 

Thursday's Barcelona attack 

in which a van was 

driven at speed down the 

main Las Ramblas boulevard, 

killing 13 and injuring 

more than 100. 

Judicial sources quoted 

Houli Chemlal as telling 

the court a much bigger 

series of attacks had 

been planned. 

Assailants killed a total 

of 15 people in the van 

attack, the stabbing of a 

driver whose car was 

commandeered shortly 

afterwards, and a car attack 

in the resort of Cambrils 

hours later. 

Eight members of the 

cell are dead - two were 

killed in the Alcanar explosion, 

and six were later 

shot by police, including 

five after the Cambrils 

attack. 

The last suspect to be 

killed was Moroccanborn 

Younes 

Abouyaaqoub, 22, believed 

to be the driver of 

the Las Ramblas van. 

China relaunches world's 

fastest train 

CHINA's fleet of high-speed trains is set once 

again to become the world's fastest. 

The top speed of the Fuxing or "rejuvenation" bullet 

trains was capped at 300km/h (186mph) in 2011 

following two crashes that killed 40 people. 

From next week, some of the trains will once again 

be allowed to run at a higher speed of about 350 

km/h. 

The higher maximum speed should cut about an 

hour off the journey time between Beijing and 

Shanghai. 

By 21 September, seven of China's bullet trains 

will be permitted to travel at the increased maximum 

speed. 

To mark the return of the higher-speed service, 

the trains have been named "Fuxing" - Chinese for 

rejuvenation - in line with a national government 

slogan and development plan. 

‘DNA shows man facing 

execution is innocent’ 

MISSOURI plans to put a 48-year-old man to 

death Tuesday, even as his lawyers say new 

DNA evidence proves his innocence. 

The execution of Marcellus Williams is scheduled 

for 7 p.m. ET, but lawyers for the death row inmate 

have asked the US Supreme Court to stop the execution 

and examine the new evidence. 

A brief filed Monday night with Associate Justice 

Neil Gorsuch said the appeal is not based on witness 

recantation. 

"In this case, there is conclusive scientific evidence 

that another man committed the crime," the brief 

written by defense lawyer Kent Gipson said. 

But the Missouri Attorney General's Office argues 

the execution should be carried out because the DNA 

evidence doesn't overcome non-DNA evidence that 

connects Williams to the crime. 

Saudi crown prince discusses 

Mideast peace with US officials 

SAUDI Arabia's crown prince met senior U.S. 

officials including presidential adviser Jared 

Kushner in Jeddah on Tuesday and discussed efforts 

to bring about peace between the Israelis and 

Palestinians, Saudi state news agency SPA said. 

Mohammed bin Salman also discussed ways to 

combat terrorist financing with Kushner, U.S. President 

Donald Trump's son-in-law, as well as U.S. negotiator 

Jason Greenblatt and deputy national security 

adviser Dina Powell, SPA said. 

The two sides talked about seeking ways to reach 

"a real and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians" 

and ensuring stability in the wider Middle 

East and beyond, SPA said. 

The White House announced the trip earlier this 

month, saying it was part of a regional tour including 

meetings with leaders from the United Arab 

Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian 

Authority. 

Men in South Africa court on 

cannibalism charges 

FOUR men have appeared in a South African 

court facing charges of cannibalism after one 

allegedly walked into a police station declaring he 

was "tired" of eating human flesh. 

When questioned further, the man produced part 

of a human leg and hand. 

Police then accompanied the man back to a house 

in KwaZulu-Natal where more body parts were 

found. 

Four men, two of them traditional healers, were 

arrested and charged with murder and conspiracy 

to murder. 

They appeared in Estcourt Magistrate's Court, about 

175km (110 miles) north-west of Durban, on Monday. 

Kenyan opposition to tell court that 

technology enabled election fraud 

KENYA's opposition will argue before the Su 

preme Court that technology enabled rather 

than curbed election fraud, as it seeks to overturn a 

vote this month won by President Uhuru Kenyatta. 

Opposition leader Raila Odinga's National Super 

Alliance (NASA) said in a petition filed on Friday 

that results from more than a third of polling stations 

were "fatally flawed", in some cases because of 

irregularities in electronic transmission of paper results 

forms.


Majek Fashek set to 

celebrate 30 years 

on stage 

•drops new album 

By Juliet Ebirim 

LEGENDARY Nigerian 

reggae star, Majek 

Fashek, has announced plans 

to celebrate his 30 years on 

stage with a concert and an 

album release. 

The event which is scheduled 

to hold on September 10, 2017 

at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria 

Island, Lagos will have top 

Nigerian music stars in 

attendance. 

The ‘rainmaker’ who 

disclosed this at a press parley, 

said, “Since my tribulation, I’ve 

been back in the studio making 

music and by September this 

year, I’ll drop a new album to 

celebrate my 30 th year on 

stage.” The new album titled 

‘Weep Not Children’ is an 

eight-track album which 

features 2face Idibia and it will 

be released under his new 

management company, Miracle 

Day Music. 

Speaking on the album, 

Majek said, ‘The situation in 

the country is bad. The 

recession is biting harder. 

Olamide reacts 

•Olamide 

Children are 

everywhere on the 

streets begging and 

no one is doing 

anything about it. We don’t 

respect the children and 

that’s why Europeans and 

Americans are greater than 

us. We must learn to 

respect and treat our 

children well because they 

are the future.” 

According to his manager, 

Omenka Uzoma Day, the 

music legend is also gearing 

up for a national tour. 

Uzoma called for support 

from government, corporate 

bodies and well-meaning 

individuals towards the 

success of the concert. 

“We’re appealing to the 

Lagos State government, 

Edo State government, well 

meaning individuals and 

corporate bodies to contribute 

towards the concert. Let us 

celebrate this living legend, he 

said. 

Majek Fashek hit the music 

scene in Nigeria in the late 80s 

with the release of his debut 

•as NBC bans ‘Wo’ song 

•‘I have no intention of promoting 

tobacco consumption’ 

By Benjamin Njoku 

NIGERIA Indigenous rapper, Olamide 

Adedeji popularly called Olamide 

Baddo has reacted to the airplay ban placed 

on his song, ‘Wo’ by the National 

Broadcasting Commission,NBC, saying the 

song is intended to promote tobacco 

consumption. 

Olamide’s reaction came few hours, after 

the regulatory body banned five Nigerian 

songs having tagged them as “Not to be 

Broadcast,” yesterday. The banned songs 

are Olamide‘s “Wo” and “Wavy 

Level,” Davido‘s “Fall” and “If 

(Remix)”; and 9ice’s “Living 

Things.”The comission 

released the list yesterday, 

saying it has banned the 

•Majek 

single, ‘Send 

Down The 

Rain’ which 

was a massive 

hit. 

Jide Kosoko, Amaechi Muonagor, 

others reunite in new Superstory 

season 

By Benjamin Njoku 

FROM all indications, a brand new season of 

Superstory would be hitting the TV screens across the 

country soon as Wale Adenuga Productions has recently 

wrapped up the filming of a new story, entitled ‘Life is 

a Teacher.’ 

Going by the pictures and short videos available on 

@waptvchannel instagram page, the soon-to-bepremiered 

season of Superstory features notable 

Nollywood actors including Odunlade Adekola, Rachael 

Oniga, Dan Imoudu, Woli Arole, Yinka Ademo (Nnenna), 

Livinus Nnochiri, Ronke Oshodi Oke, Toyin Oshinaike. 

Others are Amaechi Muonagor, Chinyere Wilfred, Jide 

Kosoko, Lanre Hassan (Iya Awero), Ayo Adesanya, Khing 

Bassey, Madam Kofo, Obodo Emilie, Tunde Adeyemo, Rotimi 

Salami, Eric Obinna, Hadiza Abubakar, Ene Ochu and 

others. 

When contacted, the producer, Wale Adenuga Jnr. 

said, “We just concluded the recording of a new 

story, titled ‘Life is a Teacher’. As with every 

season of Superstory, we always ensure that 

all our stories have something tangible in 

them because it’s not enough to just watch a 

programme for entertainment; if you haven’t 

learned anything new, then what have you 

really achieved? 

“This particular story, which is based on real 

life events, reveals a lot about human nature 

and has a wide range of lessons for 

every member of the family. Viewers 

are set to be entertained as well 

because the cast is a fusion of 

industry legends and trending 

young stars. We implore you to 

watch ‘Life is a Teacher’ so your 

life can change forever; as the 

slogan says: The More We Live, 

The More We Learn. The 

premiere date would be 

announced very soon.” 

Superstory is aired every week 

•Wale Adenuga Jnr. 

on NTA Network, AIT, wapTV 

on DStv 262, StarTimes 116, 

GOtv 102, StarSat 189 and 

MyTV. 

five songs from being aired across the 

Nigerian airwaves. Using his Twitter handle 

to react on the ban yesterday, Olamide 

tweeted, “ No intentions of promoting tobacco 

to <strong>get</strong> people killed, I love my people, I love 

my country, one love, one Nigeria 

#ClearTheAir #ya Wo !”Also, reacting on his 

Instagram page, Davido wrote, “No 

complaints...we are grateful.” Recall that the 

Federal Ministry of Health had in a tweet on 

Friday said that the video to Olamide’s “Wo” 

violated the Tobacco Control Act 2015. 

The 28-year-old rapper, who is signed to 

his own record label, YBNL, had returned to 

Ladi Lak in Bariga where he was raised to 

shoot the video of his latest single. The video 

features ghetto scenes in which youths are 

seen smoking, encourages second-hand 

smoking. According to the Federal Ministry 

of Health, “This is our position: video 

contravenes the 

A scene 

from the 

video 

act. Innocently or 

otherwise Tobacco 

Promotion 

Advertising 

Sponsorship is 

banned in all 

forms.” 

It could not 

immediately ascertain why the songs of the 

two other musicians were banned. In June 

this year, the federal government, through 

the Ministry of Health, had launched a 

campaign to ban smoking in public places 

including motor parks, shopping malls and 

health care centres. The Health Ministry, in 

a communiqué, said according to Section 9 

of the Nigeria Tobacco Control Act 2015, once 

convicted, offenders are liable to a fine of at 

least N50, 000 and/or six months’ 

imprisonment. Tweeting the information via 

its official Twitter page, the Ministry of Health 

claimed that the video, which features ghetto 

scenes in which youth are seen smoking, 

encourages second-hand smoking. 

This is not the first time that an Olamide 

song will be banned by the Nigerian 

regulatory body. In 2016, just a few months 

after the ban of one of his songs ‘Shakiti 

Bobo’, NBC also banned, ‘Don’t Stop’ which 

is a track off Olamide’s fifth studio album, 

Eyan Mayweather, for its vulgar lyrics. 

Defending the decision at the time, the NBC 

said the song was banned from being played 

on the airwaves for its ‘obscenity, being 

indecent, vulgar languages, lewd and 

profane expressions like ‘wa gba ponron’, ‘I 

just want to hit you now’, ‘je kin wo be…” 

C 

M 

Y 

K


Obaseki sets up NWPL 

Super 4 C’ttee 

Edo state government, 

hosts of the 2017 

Nigeria Women Premier 

League (NWPL) Super 

Four, has set up a high 

powered committee to 

oversee the successfully 

hosting of the prime 

championship. 

To further demonstrate 

their wholesome 

commitment to the success of 

the annual championship 

the state governor, Godwin 

Obaseki 

has 

commandeered the Nigeria 

Women Football League 

(NWFL) to move the 

secretariat to the ancient city 

of Benin to ensure proper 

coordination 

administrative 

and 

finesse 

Under the auspices of 

Olympic Solidarity 

program, the Nigeria 

Olympic Committee will 

organize a Strategic 

Planning Facilitators’ 

Course from 24th – 30th 

August, 2017. The course 

will take place in Serob 

Legacy Hotel, Wuye, Abuja. 

The above program is a 

continuation of a similar 

program held in 2016 

where Secretaries of 

National Sport Federations 

and Federal Ministry for 

Youth and Sports were 

trained on the basic 

knowledge of Strategic 

Planning. Olympic 

Solidarity has appointed 

Robert Matsauki, as 

International Expert to 

conduct the course. 

The objective of the program 

is to train strategic planning 

officers that will in turn train 

Secretaries of National Sport 

Federations in the next edition 

of the program. 

A total number of 15 

towards a hitch free women 

league primary football fiesta. 

An elated NWFL 

chairperson, Aisha Falode 

said this is the first time in 

the annual of the women 

championship that a state 

will deploy its human and 

material resources to 

promote and showcase the 

women football to the 

highest height. 

“We cannot say thank you 

enough to the amiable 

executive governor of Edo 

state, Jackson Obaseki and 

his deputy, Rt. Hon. Philip 

Shaibu for their uncommon 

commitment and support 

for the upcoming NWPL 

Super Four being hosted in 

the state capital, Benin City. 

“The governor is not even 

NOC organises strategic planning 

course for sports federations 

Champions Bayern 

Munich are bracing 

themselves up for a fierce 

Bundesliga test this 

Saturday when they travel 

to face Werder Bremen at 

the Weserstadion. 

In the 1980s and early 

1990s Werder Bremen 

were seen as Bayern’s 

main rivals 

But in the last decade, 

Bayern have left their 

once famous rivals 

behind, winning back to 

back Bundesliga titles 

Recent matches between 

the two have 

predominantly gone the 

way of Bayern. The last time 

Bremen beat Bayern was in 

September 2008, when 

they won 5-2 in Munich. 

Since then, they have lost 

14 times in the Bundesliga, 

with three drawn matches. 

Astonishingly, Bremen 

have lost their last 13 

Bundesliga games against 

Bayern. 

The game is the star 

game and African fans 

Habu Gumel, NOC 

President 

persons are expected to 

take part in the course. The 

participants are the 

Federal Ministry for Youth 

and Sports, National 

Institute for Sports, 

Association of National 

Olympic Committees of 

Africa and Nigeria 

Olympic Committee. 

The Strategic Planning 

Facilitator’s course is a 

follow up to similar seminar 

that was organized for the 

Secretaries of National 

Sport Federations and 

other stakeholders in 2016. 

Bayern brace up for Bremen test 

can watch it live on 

StarTimes. 

The Media Division 

Sports Director of 

StarTimes, Cole He Xin 

said that the opening 

matches of the Bundesliga 

again showed why the 

league is so popular 

throughout the world. 

“The stadiums are 

packed, you have exciting 

matches and brilliant 

players, many of whom 

play for Bayern Munich. 

The game on Saturday 

will see a sold-out 

Weserstadion and a home 

side that is determined to 

end their run of defeats 

against Bayern.” 

He added that the game 

between the two erstwhile 

rivals is not the only great 

match fans can see. “You have 

Dortmund against Hertha 

Berlin and Leverkusen 

against Hoffenheim as well 

as several other top matches. 

I am sure I am not the only 

one who wants to watch all 

the games!” 

contented being the host 

but is pushing all the 

buttons to ensure the 

championship records 

100% success. 

“Or how else could one 

explain his uncommon 

disposition and 

wholeheartedness towards 

the women’s game and 

Super Four in particular 

than his prompt decision to 

appoint the planning 

committee for the 


“The committee is 

charged with the 

responsibility to put the 

structures and logistics for 

the game in place so that 

the championship will go 

on seamlessly at the 

scheduled date. 

“Besides, his excellency 

has equally asked the 

NWFL board to quickly 

shift their secretariat to 

Benin City to ease 

communication and 

workings for the 


“We have never had it this 

good in the history of the 

women game as things are 

simply falling into the right 

places at the moment. 

“We will remain eternally 

grateful the executive 

governor, deputy and the 

entire good people of Edo 

state.' 

Monaco, 

Marseille 

battle Atletico 

for Costa 

Monaco 

and 

Marseille have 

expressed an interest in 

signing Chelsea's rebel 

striker Diego Costa. 

Chelsea want to sell the 

forward, who has been 

AWOL in Brazil for the past 

five weeks, but have yet to 

agree a fee with Atletico 

Madrid. 

Costa has stressed on a 

number of occasions that 

he only wants to return to 

former club Atletico, but 

admitted on Friday for the 

first time that he might have 

to look elsewhere if a deal 

isn't finalised soon. 

That has alerted the two 

Ligue 1 clubs, with Monaco 

having to look for a new 

forward if Kylian Mbappe 

joins Paris St Germain 

They will be able to afford 

Chelsea's £50m asking 

price given they have 

already made over £130m 

from the sales of Tiemoue 

Bakayoko, Benjamin 

Mendy and Bernardo Silva 

this summer. 

It has been suggested 

they could be prepared to 

sell Mbappe and 

midfielder to Fabinho PSG 

too, which will raise another 

£200m. 

Meanwhile, Marseille 

president Jacques-Henri 

Eyraudormer has admitted 

he is a huge admirer of 

Costa and thinks a move 

can be done.


9 DAYS TO WORLD CUP CRACKER 

Rohr names Mikel, 

22 others 

*Sticks with ‘Keeper Akpeyi 

Team captain Mikel John Obi 

and forward Odion Ighalo 

are back, and Israel –based 

marksman Anthony Nwakaeme <strong>get</strong>s 

a first call as Super Eagles’ 

Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr, 

yesterday released his list of players 

for the 2018 FIFA World Cup 

qualifying duels with Cameroon’s 

Indomitable Lions. 

Germany –based defender Leon 

Balogun returns after missing the 

World Cup qualifier against Algeria 

and the Africa Nations Cup qualifier 

against South Africa, while Chelsea 

of England’s wing back Victor 

Moses is also back after sitting out 

the duel with the Bafana Bafana in 

June due to injury. 

Rohr has largely kept faith with his 

regular army, including goalkeepers 

Daniel Akpeyi, Ikechukwu Ezenwa 

and Dele Alampasu, defenders 

William Ekong, Elderson Echiejile 

and Abdullahi Shehu, midfielders 

Ogenyi Onazi, John Ogu, Wilfred 

Akpeyi 

Akpeyi loses No. 1 spot at 

Chippa Utd 

Super Eagles goalkeeper, Daniel 

Akpeyi is no longer the 

first choice goalkeeper of Premier 

South Africa League (PSL) side 

Chippa United. 

Akpeyi has not featured in any of 

their games this season and 

there’s no report of the goalkeeper 

nursing any form of injury either 

from the player or the club. 

The goalkeeper failed to make the 

matchday squad for their first 

league game of the season against 

Orlando Pirates, a game they lost 

0-1. 

Brighton Mhlongo kept goal in the 

FIFA U-20 WWC: Danjuma 

calls 30 players to camp 

Nigeria Under-20 women coach, Chris Danjuma 

has invited 30 players to camp ahead of 

the FIFA U-20 Women World Cup qualification 

match against Tanzania next month. 

Nigeria, finalists twice in the tournament, will host 

the Tanzanians September 16 in Abuja, while the 

return leg will be decided September 30 in Dar es 

Salaam. 

Midfield stalwarts Joy Bokiri and Cynthia Aku, 

and star forward Rasheedat Ajibade are among 

the players who have been instructed to report at 

the Serob Legacy Hotel, Wuye, Abuja on 

Wednesday, August 23 2017 with their training 

kits, original birth certificates and international 

passports. 

Nigeria’s women’s senior basketball team, the 

D’Tigress yesterday continued their rampage at 

the ongoing FIBA Women’s Afrobasket in Mali with a 

106-33 points mauling of Guinea in their fourth game 

of the competition ahead of today’s final group game 

against defending champions Senegal to determine 

who tops the group. 

Both Nigeria and Senegal have won four games apiece, 

amassing maximum points 8 each but with Nigeria 

topping the group on goals difference of +155 to 

Ndidi and 

Oghenekaro Etebo, 

and forwards Ahmed 

Musa, Moses Simon, 

Alex Iwobi and Kelechi 

Iheanacho. 

Nigeria welcome the reigning 

African champions to the 

Godswill Akpabio 

International Stadium, Uyo 

on Friday, September 1, 

before flying to Yaounde for 

a quickfire return session on 

Monday, September 4. 

The Super Eagles are top of 

Africa’s 2018 FIFA World Cup 

qualifying Group B with six points, 

after wins over Zambia and Algeria 

in their first two matches, while the 

Lions lie second with only two points 

following 1-1 draws with Algeria and 

Zambia. 

Seven other players have been 

placed on standby, but any of them 

would be contacted to move to camp 

only in the case there is any issue 

with any player on the list of 23. 

Odion- 

Ighalo 

game while Zama 

Happy Dlamini was 

on the bench for the 

club, the second time 

the duo have been 

preferred ahead of the 

Nigerian. 

However the 31 year old is 

still in the plans of the senior 

national team coach of Nigeria 

Gernot Rohr who has the player 

on the list of players invited for 

the back to back World Cup 2018 

Qualifiers against Cameroon on 

the 1st and 4th of September. 

Ex Rangers man, Madu passes on 

Rangers International Football Club, Enugu have 

lost one of its greats and ex-international, 

Christian Madu. 

Madu who was nicknamed Gabul in his playing days 

for both Green Eagles and Rangers International 

in the 70’s alongside Chairman Christian Chukwu 

and Emmanuel Okala as well as other notable stars 

in the country died Saturday morning at his home 

in Enugu after a protracted illness that has kept 

him bedridden for years. 

A native of Mbano in Imo State, the late 

Madu(Gabul) was lured from Ghana’ Great 

Olympics to the Coal City Flying Antelopes, where 

he was then making waves in the Ghanaian Soccer 

Scene, to come back and help Rangers FC. 

Madu will be remembered for his football artistry 

and exceptional penalty kicks. 

Afrobasket: Nigeria, Senegal in battle of supremacy 

Senegal’s +114. If the Nigerian girls beat Senegal and 

top the group, they will play the fourth team in group 

A which is likely to be Cameroon 

However, a loss to Senegal will take the D’Tigress back 

to the second in group B and a pitch them against the 

third team in group A while Senegal will play play 

Cameroon. 

New WNBA draft, Evelyn Akhator continued to lead 

the performers in the Nigerian team with 24 points 

and seven rebounds against the Guineans. 

Hackers leak claims Tevez, 

Heinze, Kuyt were given drug 

exemptions at 2010 World 

Cup 

C ARLOS 

TEVEZ, Dirk 

Kuyt and 

Gabriel 

Heinze were 

allegedly 

given Fifa 

clearance to 

use banned 

substances, 

according to 

h a c k e d 

documents 

published 

today. 

The Fancy 

B e a r s 

hackers – who 

have gained 

notoriety for 

sharing medical 

records of world 

renowned sports stars 

– have released lists 

they claim show how 

rife doping is in 

football. 

Along with a 150-long 

list of what they claim 

are failed tests in 2015, 

the group thought to be 

linked to Russia also 

say they have a Fifa 

document showing 

which players at the 

2010 World Cup were 

using banned 

substances. 

It alleges there were 25 

Barcelona to sue 

Neymar for £8m 

players in South Africa 

that summer who used 

banned substances 

under medical grounds 

– with Tevez, Heinze 

and Kuyt among those 

named. 

Tevez, at the time a 

Manchester City 

player, is named as one 

of five Argentina 

players allegedly using 

Betamethasone – a 

steroid usually found in 

cream to treat skin 

conditions. 

Tevez 

Barcelona have announced they are taking legal 

action against Neymar after alleging the 

Brazilian failed to fulfill his contract. 

Earlier this month, the Catalan giants saw 

Neymar depart for Paris Saint-Germain, who 

met the •222million release clause in the 

player’s contract, smashing the world 

transfer record in the process. 

Neymar has made a stunning start to his time 

in Ligue 1, scoring three times in his first two 

games, but on Tuesday Barca released a 

statement confirming they were suing the forward 

for at least •8.5m. 

Barca’s complaint relates to Neymar having signed 

a fresh deal until 2021 in October last year, with the 

club hoping to recoup his “renewal premium” as 

well as •8.5m in damages and a further 10 per cent 

in arrears. 

The club went on to say that if Neymar is unable to 

pay, PSG will be expected to cover the costs. 

McGregor: I’ll stop 

Mayweather in two rounds 

Conor McGregor insists he will “flatten” Floyd 

Mayweather inside two rounds when the pair 

meet in their eagerly-anticipated showdown on 

Sunday morning. 

The 29-year old, who is a two-weight UFC 

champion, is confident he’ll defeat Mayweather at 

the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, but hopes the 

undefeated pound-for-pound star proceeds with 

claims he will meet the Irishman in the centre of 

the ring. 

“Respect for me is earned through battle,” 

McGregor told Sky Sports News 

“If he stands in there and speaks his word of what 

he’s been saying, if he can <strong>get</strong> in there and 

implement these and come forward and give the 

fight he’s been talking about, he will have my 

respect.” 

McGregor was buoyed by the news last Wednesday 

that the Nevada State Athletic Commission had 

granted requests by the fighters to wear 8oz 

gloves instead of the standard 10oz for the 154lbs 

division.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017 

Sudoku 

QUICK CROSSWORD 

TODAY’S PUZZLE 

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER 

TODAY’S CROSSWORD 

YESTERDAY’SOLUTION 

How to Play Sudoku 

Place a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can 

have two of the same number). 

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, 

(also nine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block 

within a bold block (nine blocks) contains number 

from 1 through 9. This means that no number can 

appear twice in any block, column or row. 

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, 

division or multiplication, just plain logic and your 

imagination. 

ACROSS 

1 Suffering from ill health 

(4) 

3 Knitted jacket (8) 

9 Apparel (7) 

10 Latin-American dance (5) 

11 Leader of a Jewish 

congregation (5) 

12 Tight-fitting 

undergarment (6) 

14 Hunting expedition (6) 

16 Symbol (6) 

19 Capital of Turkey (6) 

21‘Less common (5) 

24 Astound (5) 

25 Heartless (7) 

26 Sneak (8) 

27 Continent (4) 

DOWN 

1 Startle (8) 

2 Ascend (5) 

4 Assault (6) 

5 Discourage (5) 

6 Polite, refined (7) 

7 Corner (4) 

8 Elder (6) 

13 Food of the gods (8) 

15 Type of pigeon (7) 

17 Wall paintings (6) 

18 Call off (6) 

20 One acting on bebalf of 

another (5) 

22 Public disturbances (5) 

23 Sodium chloride (4) 

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Website: www.vanguardngr.com (ISSN 0794-652X) Editor: EZE ANABA. Phone: 01—4548355, All correspondence to P.M.B. 1007, Apapa Lagos.

23082017 - Security chiefs get orders on B-Haram, IPOB, others

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