12042018 - HERDSMEN/FARMERS’ CLASHES: Blame Gaddafi, irresponsible politicians — BUHARI

10 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 2018
Falana urges ECOWAS to
reject Morocco’s application
:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
By Abdulwahab
Abdulah
L AGOS—HUMAN
rights lawyer, Femi
Falana SAN has called on
the Economic Community
of West African States
(ECOWAS) member
states to reject the
application by Morocco to
join the regional body,
saying, it cannot gain any
economic development and
regional integration.
In a statement in Lagos,
Falana noted that ECOWAS
should not be deceived and
misled to admit Morocco as
a member state of the West
African body.
The lawyer said: “Despite
the so-called Morocco’s
strong ties with ECOWAS
member states, trade
between them remains low
as it is less than USD 1
billion a year. This is
insignificant as West Africa
has a GDP of $345 billion.
Even then, the volume of
trade is expected to reduce
as some of the trade
agreements between
Morocco and ECOWAS
member states are illegal to
the extent that they relate to
the mineral resources in
Western Sahara.”
In a presentation he made
at the multi-stakeholders
consultative meeting on
Strengthening the
ECOWAS Court of Justice
By Precious Nicholas
S TANDARDS
Organisation of
Nigeria, SON has vowed to
step up its enforcement
activities to rid the country
of unsafe products, insisting
that it will not stop until
Nigeria becomes a safe
haven for quality goods.
Director General, SON,
Osita Aboloma, explained
that with its reinvigorated
SON Act 2015, the
standards body had the
mandate to police the
whole country to ensure that
substandard goods would
not find their way into the
hands of the unsuspecting
and enhancing Access to
Justice in the West African
sub region with the title,
“Deploying the ECOWAS
legal architecture for
addressing impunity in
West African sub region”,
Falana said that, “Both the
European Court of Human
and a High Court in South
Africa have ruled that
Morocco lacks the legal
capacity to mine the mineral
resources in the territory of
Western Sahara.”
The paper read in part:
“Having been frustrated in
its bid to re-colonize the
ECOWAS sub-region, the
European Union decided to
encourage Morocco to
apply to join the ECOWAS.
It is my humble view that if
Morocco is admitted to
ECOWAS the European
Union would have achieved
its objective as it has signed
an Association Agreement
with Morocco which is
similar to the EU-ECOWAS
Partnership Agreement in
every material particular.”
“In other words, if the
request is granted, Morocco
will take advantage of the
ECOWAS Protocol on Free
Movement of people and
goods to serve as a
gateway for EU goods
entering into West Africa
and thereby destroy the
infantile industries in the
sub region.”
“The principal aim of the
SON talks tough on unsafe
products
Nigerian consumers.
Aboloma, who was
represented by the Director
Enforcement and
Compliance, Bede Obayi,
at an enforcement exercise
to different warehouses in
Lagos, urged importers to
always consult SON for
quality control guidelines
before importing goods into
the country.
Aboloma said: ''We want
to ensure that as people
consume these products, it
will be the same as those
sending the products to us.
We want to have a
certificate of free sale that
once we are consuming
these products, we are sure
the quality is same as to
where the products are
coming from.''
TEK EXPERT: From left — Corporate Vice President, Customer Service and Support, Microsoft, Aileen Allkins;
Commissioner for Science and Technology, Lagos State, Mr. Hakeem Fahm; General Manager, Microsoft Nigeria,
Akin Banuso; Founder, Tek Expert, Yaniv Natan, and Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic and Research, University
of Lagos, Professor Oluwole Familoni, at the launch of the Tek Expert Company in Lagos.
Customs Unit remits N1.6bn to
federation account in three weeks
...Impounds Indian hemp, 64 exotic cars, 10 trailers of rice, others
By Godfrey Bivbere
LAGOS—THE Federal
Operations Unit,
FOU zone A of the
Nigeria Customs
Service, NCS yesterday
said it generated N1.6
billion into the federation
account in three weeks.
According to the
Customs Area Controller,
CAC of the Unit, Garba Uba
Mohammed, the Unit also
impounded 570 parcels
and 98 sacks of Indian
Hemp (Cannabis Sativa)
weighing 1,550 kilograms,
6003 bags of rice which is
equivalent of 10 trailers of
imported rice, 64 exotic
cars, 963 cartons of frozen
poultry products, 431 jerry
cans of vegetable oil,
second hand cloths and
other items.
He equally informed that
10 suspects had been
arrested in connection with
the seizures.
Speaking with journalists
in Lagos, Mohammed said
the Unit between 19th of
March and 9th of April
intercepted various
contraband goods with
Duty Paid Value, DPV, of
over N1.461 billion.
Why we're hosting tourism
summit — AYORINDE
By Jimoh Babatunde
LAGOS
State
Government has said
the forthcoming tourism
summit to be hosted by the
state is designed to provide
resourceful content for the
proposed state tourism
master plan for the tourism
industry.
Commissioner for
Tourism, Arts and Culture,
Mr. Steve Ayorinde,
speaking ahead of the
summit informed that the
summit was crucial to
intimate and integrate key
players in the tourism
industry to achieve a
He noted that the Unit
recovered N116.207 million
as duty payments and
Demand Notices, DN on
general goods from
seaports, airports and
border stations through
wrong classification,
transfer of value and short
change in duty payments
meant for the coffers of the
federal government.
According to the Customs
boss, “Among the 13
detained vehicles are one
Toyota Land cruiser (2018),
one Escalade Cardillac
(2017), one Range Rover
(2014), three Toyota Camry
(2009, 2010 and 2017
models), one Toyota Rav 4,
one Toyota Highlander
2019 ELECTION: Students protest in Lagos,
demand Ambode declare intention
By Monsuru
Olowoopejo
LAGOS—BARELY two
days after President
Muhammadu Buhari
declared his intention to
contest 2019 election,
students of Lagos State in
prosperous initiative as the
state journey into the
tourism world to compete
with developed cities.
He said: ‘’The summit will
list out in specific terms the
interventions that are
needed in producing a
master plan that assist in
shaping the tourism sector
in Lagos State in the next
15 to 20 years. It has been a
deliberate plan derived from
a visionary study of the
population trend and
analysis of what sector will
better absorb the teeming
youth population, reduce
poverty and crime as well
as create jobs with multiplier
effects on other sectors.”
(2014), one Honda CRV,
one Honda Accord, one
BMW Salon car, one Toyota
Sienna, one Hyundai,
among others.
“The vehicles are still
under detention pending
the grace period allowed
for the owners to bring
relevant Customs
document. The interception
was done while on
information patrol at
various locations within our
areas of jurisdiction. These
13 detained exotic vehicles
alone have a DPV of over
N258 million.
“It will interest you to
know that among the
detained vehicles in our
previous briefing, 64 of
tertiary institutions across
the country yesterday
demanded that Governor
Akinwunmi Ambode
publicly declare his
intention for a second term.
The students, who staged
solidarity walk to the State
House, Alausa, under the
auspices of the National
Union of Lagos State
Students, NULASS, threw
their weight behind his
second term in office.
According to the
students, the decision to
publicly identify with and
support the governor for reelection
in 2019 was on
account of the various
laudable initiatives of the
governor to reposition and
scale up education sector in
the state, as well as massive
infrastructural projects
across the State.
Speaking on behalf of the
students, NULASS
President, Qudus Adeniyi
said the positive impact of
the strides of Ambode
since assumption of office
had been felt across all
sectors and sections of
the state.
them have been converted
to seizure after all
necessary legal procedures
were followed within the
week under review,
awaiting Court
condemnation.
“Additionally, four
containers 3 x 40 feet
and I x 20 feet were
seized for different
Customs breaches in the
importation process. The
I x 20 feet container no:
CSNU 106087/4 carried
2,260 cartoons of Gonca
Spagetti made in turkey and
530 package of Rifle Energy
drinks made in Europe as
against baking powder
declared in the Single
Goods Declaration, SGD.''
“We are here to applaud
and appreciate the good
works of our governor and
daddy. From the first day in
office, he has been doing
good works in every facet of
our dear state.
“If you talk of
infrastructure, the governor
is doing well; talk of good
road network, the governor
is there; talk of laudable
initiatives for education
system in the state, h is
there. These and many
more are the reasons behind
our resolve to endorse the
Governor for another term
in office,” Adeniyi added.
Responding, Lagos State
Commissioner for Special
Duties and Intergovernmental
Relations,
Seye Oladejo, stressed that
their action served as a
feedback to the government.
He said: “I want to say
quickly that when a
government is on track and
well-focused on its promises
and projects and is being
appreciated by an arm that
is very important, we can
only give the glory to God
and the people of the state.''