Thursday, april 2, 2015 new

Vol. 3 N0. 657 Thursday, July 4, 2013 N150 Vol. 5 N0. 1082 Thursday, April 2, 2015 N150

P.7

…set agenda for President-elect

I’ll never take Nigerians for granted –Buhari

P.47CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>Bello

Bayelsa declares N2.8bn surplus for Jan 2015

CBN issues new guidelines on Mobile Money Services

P.2

P.50

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net

9

Thursday, April 2, 2015

INSIDE

Again, Again, re re guts guts Balogun market shops Balogun market shops >10

>47

Easter: Traders Easter: Traders lament low saleslament low sales>48

121-year-old 121-year-old Shitta-Bey mosque Shitta-Bey mosque

Tafewa Balewa Square, Lagos

Election: Businesses resume on

Lagos Island

Dickson

P.12

Celebrations claim lives in Niger, Gombe

Gets certifi cate of returnObama, world leaders congratulate Nigeria

PAUL ARHEWE, OMEIZA AJAYI AND ROTIMI FADEYI

President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Bu-hari, yesterday re-

ceived his Certificate of Re-turn, pledging never to take the aspirations of Nigerians for granted.

L-R: Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega; wife of the President-elect, Hajia Aisha Buhari (3rd left); Vice President-elect, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, displaying their certificates of return at the National Conference Centre, Abuja, yesterday.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2>>

P.50

P.38

Public Service: FG moves to eradicate age falsification

INSIGHT

Fire causes panic at Lagos airport

OPS, bankers predict bright economic prospectOUR CORRESPONDENTS Lagos Chamber of

Commerce and In-dustry, LCCI, yester-

day described the election

of Gen. Muhammed Buhari as desirable for the nation’s economic growth in the

Police parade Ondo robbery suspect, ring leader


National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net2 Thursday, April 2, 2015News


CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

President Goodluck Jonathan (middle); Chief Observer, EU Election Observer Mission, Mr. Santiago Fisas (3rd left); Minister of State For Foreign Affairs I, Nicholas Ada (3rd right) and other members of the delegation after submitting their preliminary report to President Jonathan at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: STATE HOUSE

OLUSEGUN KOIKI

For the second time in five months, a major fire outbreak has oc-

curred at the Murtala Mo-hammed International Air-port, MMIA, Lagos causing massive panic to air travel-lers.

The fire incident, which started at few minutes to 2.00p.m yesterday, our cor-respondent learnt emanated from the ceiling of the Na-tional Drug Law Enforce-ment Agency, NDLEA, situ-ated within the terminal.

But, the spokesman for NDLEA, Mr. Mitchell Ofoye-ju, who confirmed the inci-dent said that the inferno, which enveloped the major parts of the terminal did not emanate from its office.

Also, the General Manag-er, Corporate Communica-tions, Federal Airports Au-thority of Nigeria, FAAN,

Mr. Yakubu Dati, in a press statement, described the fire incident as minor.

A source close to FAAN, told our correspondent that the fire outbreak was alleg-edly caused by one of the cables inside the ceiling of the NDLEA. It started from the E-Wing of the terminal.

No fewer than five fire service trucks from the La-gos State Government and FAAN were on hand to put out the fire.

Our correspondent, who was at the terminal ob-served that all the staff of of-fices located in all the floors from the ground arrival hall, the departure hall and the first to third floors scam-pered for safety and moved outside their offices, while some were seen outside.

Besides, due to the close-ness of the NDLEA office to the airside, the firemen could not put off the inferno through the frontage of the

terminal and had to drive straight to the airside to combat the raging fire.

Another source attrib-

uted the incident to recent wielding activities that took place within the terminal during the time of Princess

Stella Oduah as the Minis-ter of Aviation without the supervision of FAAN tech-nical staff.

The source told our cor-respondent that the fire outbreak started mildly, but

The certificate was pre-sented to him at exactly 2:36p.m by Chief Electoral Commissioner and Return-ing Officer for the Presiden-tial Election, Prof. Attahiru Jega.

The president-elect saun-tered into the hall at ex-actly 2.13p.m, sandwiched between Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and the Chairman of All Progres-sives Congress, APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.

He said although mis-takes would be made; they would not be deliberate ones.

“Mistakes will be made but we shall never take you for granted. Our errors shall be one of compassion and not to punish you,” he pledged.

The law requires that the winner of an election be is-sued a certificate of return attesting that such person has been duly elected to the particular office.

At the brief ceremony, which lasted barely 34 min-utes, Buhari said he felt tru-ly honoured and humbled that Nigerians have entrust-ed him with the office.

“Change has finally come. Your votes have changed our national des-tiny for the good of all Nige-rians,” he added.

On the issue of terror-ism, the president-elect con-ceded that though defeating terrorism was by no means a simple issue, he however sent a clear message to the Boko Haram insurgents to stop testing the will of the Nigerian people.

“Boko Haram will soon know the strength of our collective will. We shall spare no effort until we de-feat terrorism,” he said.

He said Nigerians can soon go to bed knowing that they are in safe hands.

“You are all my people and I shall treat everyone as my own. I shall work for those who voted for me, those who voted against me and even for those who did not vote at all,” Buhari added.

He promised that his government will wage war against corruption, urging Nigerians to support him to succeed.

He also paid glowing trib-utes to those who lost their lives or got injured during the whole period of election-eering up till yesterday.

He appealed to his sup-porters not to engage in wild jubilation but to celebrate his victory with prayers and sober reflection.

The president-elect also promised to ensure that de-mocracy and the rule of law

is established in the land.While he lauded Presi-

dent Goodluck Jonathan for his exemplary display of statesmanship, Buhari said despite the rancour of the elections, he has extended a hand of friendship and rec-onciliation to the president and his team, saying, he harbours no ill-will towards anyone.

He described Jonathan as a great Nigerian, who deserves the support of Ni-gerians and as well as their eternal respect.

According to him, and his members would soon be meeting with the presi-dent to discuss how the two teams can ensure a smooth transition.

He also thanked all for-mer leaders of the country for their contributions to na-tional development.

“Let us put the past, espe-cially the recent past behind us. We must forget our past grievances and forge ahead. I assure you that our govern-ment is one that will listen and embrace all,” he said.

While promising that everyone will be protected by the law, he was however quick to add that no one is above the law.

“There shall no longer be a ruling party again. APC shall be your governing par-ty. We shall never rule over

the people as if they were subservient to government. Our long night has passed and the daylight of new democratic governance has broken over the land. This is not a victory for me. It is a victory for all Nigerians,” he said.

Earlier, Prof. Jega had lauded Nigerians for their support for the electoral pro-cess.

He however called for more reform and improve-ment of the electoral pro-cess.

“It is important to do this to enhance good governance and deepen democracy in our country,” he stated.

Meanwhile, world lead-ers have been praising the country on the peaceful out-come of the election.

United States President, Barack Obama sent his warmth greetings to Nige-rians and their leaders over the peaceful conduct of the polls.

The US leader gave ac-colades to the matured and statesmanlike manner in which President Jonathan has accepted defeat.

Obama also congratu-lated the president-elect, assuring that the US would work with the new govern-ment after inauguration on May 29.

Obama said: “The last

few days have shown the world the strength of Nige-ria’s commitment to demo-cratic principles. By turn-ing out in large numbers and sometimes waiting all day to cast their votes, Ni-gerians came together to decide the future of their country peacefully.

“I commend President Goodluck Jonathan and President-elect Muhamma-du Buhari for their public commitments to non-vio-lence throughout the cam-paign.

“President Jonathan has placed his country’s inter-ests first by conceding the election and congratulating President-Elect Buhari on his victory.

“I look forward to work-ing with President Jonathan throughout the remainder of his term, and I thank him for his many years of service and his statesman-like conduct at this critical juncture.

“I urge President-Elect Buhari and President Jona-than to repeat their calls to their supporters to continue to respect the election out-comes, focus on unifying the country, and together lead Nigeria through a peaceful transition.”

Obama also appreciated the effectiveness and fair-ness of INEC and its Chair-

man, Attahiru Jega. He said Jega and the

commission “deserve spe-cial recognition for what independent international observers have deemed a largely peaceful and orderly vote.

French President, Mr. François Hollande also joined Obama in congratu-lating Gen. Buhari on his election as Nigeria’s next president.

Hollande, in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by the French embassy in Nigeria, welcomed the com-mitment of Nigerians and the professionalism exhib-ited by INEC in the conduct of the polls.

According to the state-ment, the French President will speak with Buhari to-day as France intends to continue its cordial relation-ship with Nigeria.

“France continues to stand with Nigeria to up-hold democratic values, fight against terrorism and promote economic partner-ship between the two coun-tries,’’ it said.

The European Union, EU, has also congratulated Gen. Buhari.

The EU High Represen-tative/Vice-President, Fed-erica Mogherini was quoted



National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Thursday, April 2, 2015 3

L-R: National Secretary, APC, Mr. Fidelis Tumza; National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun; a party stalwart, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu; Rivers State Governor Chibuike Amaechi; his Borno counterpart, Kashim Shettima; former Ekiti State Governor, Niyi Adebayo; President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and National Publicity Secretary of APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, during Buhari’s post-election speech in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

L-R: Hon. Demola Kasumu; All Progressives Congress Woman Leader, South West, Chief Mrs. Kemi Nelson; Princess Bola Kazeem; Director of Buhari/Osinbajo Campaign for Lagos, Hon. Biodun Faleke and former Chairman of Mushin Local Government, Mr. Babatunde Adepitan, during a ‘thank-you Nigerians’ celebration in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: SAMUEL ADETIMEHIN

L-R: Governors Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) and Sen. Bukola Saraki, during presentation of certificate of return to the president-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, by INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

APC supporters celebrating the victory of presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, in Ado-Ekiti, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

Vice president-elect, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (left) and President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, deliver-ing his acceptance speech, after receiving certificate of return from INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

APC supporters celebrating victory of the president-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, in Bauchi, yes-terday. PHOTO: NAN

APC supporters celebrating after the presentation of certificate of return to president-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, by INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, yesterday.

APC supporters celebrating the victory of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, In Lafia, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net4 Thursday, April 2, 2015Photo News



OPS, Bankers predict bright economic prospect CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1



The airside of the burnt Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos, yesterday.

years ahead.However, President of

the Chamber, Alhaji Remi Bello, in a statement yester-day noted that as salutary as the success of the elec-tions appeared, the incom-ing government would have to brace up for major chal-lenges in order to urgently reposition the economy on the path of growth.

According to the Cham-ber, some of the problems requiring urgent attention include, the tumbling oil price, high cost of doing business, erratic power supply, fiscal leakages and wastes in government, inse-curity, and unfavourable tax regime among others.

Bello specifically noted that the plummeting oil price and the impact on the fiscal outlook presented a significant challenge to the incoming administration, adding that there is an ur-gent need to address the fun-damentals of the high cost of doing business and low productivity, which could be ascribed to macroeconomic factors, institutional chal-

lenges and structural issues.He stated: “It is therefore

critical to manage expec-tations at this time. The outlook for many macro-economic indicators is not bright with foreign reserves dropping below $30bn and persistent pressure on the naira exchange rate.

“Meanwhile, the success of the presidential election will definitely mitigate the anxiety and uncertainty that characterised the busi-ness environment before the elections.

In his reaction, a sea-soned banker and former President of Chartered In-stitute of Banker of Nige-ria, CIBN, Mazi Okechukwu Unegbu, described the elec-tion as a boost to Nigeria’s global image, adding that the immediate fallout of the elections portended great prospects for improved in-vestments in the nation’s economy.

Unegbu said: “Today is a great day. Indeed Goodluck Jonathan has shown that he is a great Nigerian. Nigeria will begin to see real invest-ment now that the election

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 5Thursday, April 2, 2015 News

has been conducted peace-fully. I have even started get-ting calls from foreign inves-tors since they heard that Jonathan has congratulated Muhammadu Buhari.

While also lauding the outcome of the election, the Director General, Textile Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, TMAN, Mr. Jai-yeola Olanrewaju, charged the new government to be more proactive in restruc-turing the nation’s economy.

The National President of Oil and Gas Service Pro-viders Association of Nige-ria, Mr. Colman Obasi, said he was sure the President-elect would deliver on his promises during his cam-paign that he would stabi-lise operations of the petro carbon resources industry.

“Buhari is not new in the industry as he has been deeply involved in the past.

He is very familiar with the workings of the industry and institutions, including the Nigerian National Petro-leum Corporation, NNPC, and Department of Petro-leum Resources, DPR.

“I believe the stabi-lisation he talked about may mean the reorganisation of NNPC, DPR and other establishments. It may also mean the passage of the Pe-troleum Industry Bill, PIB, which could not be passed after so many years,” he said.

Obasi maintained that Buhari may also initiate some positive reforms in the maintenance of the refiner-ies as well as importation of petroleum products, add-ing that he believes that the new president would be able to fix these and other chal-lenges in the industry.

A Port Harcourt-based

energy analyst, Mr. Bala Zaka, said Buhari would likely succeed as he has contacts with technocrats in Nigeria and overseas to as-sist in the realisation of his vision.

Group Chairman, Pro-gramos Software Limited, Emmanuel Amos, expressed optimism of a positive trend at the stock market follow-ing the results of the elec-tions.

Amos, a software devel-oper, said that the value of the Naira, which is just one of the many casualties of the economy, will also expe-rience a positive outlook as the capital market reopens.

According to him, posi-tive economic outlook will definitely bring about fa-vourable changes in foreign exchange market and oth-ers with the implications for broadening the base of

the growth in the economy. Reacting to the outcome

of the election, Maritime stakeholders called for a massive infrastructure up-grade.

President of National Council of Managing Di-rectors of Licensed Cus-toms Agents, NCMDLCA, Mr. Lucky Amiwero, in his reaction, said that nothing short of massive upgrade of road infrastructure would be good for the indus-try.

He also called for a re-view of Nigeria’s cargo pro-cessing method, arguing that the current practice where the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, focuses on revenue generation instead of security and trade fa-cilitation does not conform to international best prac-tices.

later increased at an alarm-ing rate when it could not be contained early.

The source said: “You can see that we have been having series of fire incidents at the terminal in recent time. I can tell you authoritatively that these fire incidents occurred because of some jobs carried out at the terminal by some contractors given some re-modeling to carry out with-out the supervision of FAAN technical staff and anyone of them that tried to ask ques-tions then were threatened with sack or redeployment.

“The fire incident primar-ily affected most floors of the terminal and it started from the ceiling of NDLEA office at the terminal.”

Ofoyeju in a telephone in-terview with our correspon-dent denied the fact that the fire incident emanated from its office at the terminal.

He however confirmed that the inferno affected parts of its office within the terminal, but said none of its documents or other work-ing materials was destroyed.

He said: “The fire did not originate from our office, but it is just that it affected

a part of our office. We don’t have any major thing in that office; it is just a working of-fice where we take people to for examination and others.

“There are no drugs or files in that office and I can confirm to you that none of our items is affected. I learnt the fire started as a result of cables from the ceilings.”

Dati in his statement con-firmed that the fire started at the “E” arrival wing at about 1.13p.m.

Dati stated that the smoke was quickly traced to some offices at the E wing on the ground floor by a combined team of FAAN’s electrical engineers and fire officers.

“Investigations have com-menced to ascertain the cause of the fire. The authority wishes to assure the traveling public and other airport users that there was no immediate danger to anyone as a result of the incident, neither did it affect flight operations at the terminal,” he added

It would be recalled that about five months ago, a similar fire incident erupt-ed from the terminal and caused serious disruption to work and activities at the airport.

in a statement by Mr. Modes-tus Chukwulaka, its Public Affairs Officer as saying by holding successful elections, Nigerian had shown how de-mocracy could work.

Mogherini said that the tribute of the election went to all Nigerians who partici-pated in the elections.

Also, the EU Election Ob-server Mission yesterday described President Jona-than as a good example to the world for accepting the result of the presidential election.

Head of the EU Observer Mission, Santiago Fisas spoke when he led a delega-tion to the Presidential Villa

to present an interim report on the March 28 election to the president.

He said: “The elections are so important for the peo-ple of Nigeria, but it is an Af-rican example for all Africa and countries in the world.

“You know many people didn’t expect that the elec-tions will be peaceful, they expected a lot of violence after the elections but it turned out not to be true.

“Also, I congratulate Pres-ident Jonathan but I would like to congratulate Nige-rian people because they showed a lot of commitment to that election.

Former Prime Minister and UK envoy to the Middle

East, Tony Blair, applauded Nigerians for the peaceful poll.

He also praised both Bu-hari and Jonathan for con-tributing to the democratic process in the country.

Also, African business-man and founder Mo Ibra-him Foundation, Mr. Mo Ibrahim lauded the peace-ful presidential election.

He words: “The news from Nigeria today is won-derful. Africa’s largest country has concluded a peaceful election process. “Furthermore, the incum-bent has already gracefully conceded and congratulat-ed his successor – a first for Nigeria and a benchmark

for other African countries to follow.

“Today, we Africans are all proud of Nigeria and President Jonathan.

“Thank you Mr. Presi-dent. If you are seeking a legacy, you have definitely achieved it.”

Meanwhile, First Lady, Patience Jonathan, has congratulated Hajia Aisha, wife of Gen. Buhari.

In a statement issued yesterday by her Media As-sistant, Ayo Adewuyi, the First Lady appealed to Ni-gerian women to work with Hajia Aisha Buhari and give her the maximum sup-port to make her succeed in her new assignment.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net6

Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, consecrating the Holy Eucharist during the Catholic Chrism Mass in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

OBIORA IFOH ABUJA

Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organ-

isation has said its candi-date, President Goodluck Jonathan, fought a good fight even as it insists that the campaign never abused anyone.

In its first official response since the declaration of All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate, Muhammadu Bu-hari, as winner of the poll, the campaign organisation re-echoed the president’s show of sportsmanship when he congratulated the president-elect by calling him on phone.

Speaking at a press confer-ence on Wednesday in Abuja, Director, Media and Public-ity of the organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, congratulated Buhari on his victory at the poll.

He asked Nigerians to support the incoming admin-istration as well as support democratic process and agi-tate for a better Nigeria.

The organisation, he stressed, is very proud of the achievements of the presi-dent.

He said: “We ask them to

co-operate with the in-coming government and to remember that we are first and foremost Nigerians before anything else.”

On whether PDP would seek legal redress, he declined comment, saying while he would not speak on behalf of the party, it has every right to go to court if it deems it fit.

“Having lost, it does not mean that is the end to the world, it just means we need to re-group, re-organise our-selves and begin the process all over again, because an-other election will come in a few years time. And that is where we are today. We have conceded that we have lost. We acknowledge the fact that we fought a good fight.

“We do not have any fears about the future. We did the right thing during the cam-paign. We have no regrets about our candidate or the way in which we conducted our campaign and we will live to fight another day.

“I had nothing personal against anybody. I was simply doing my job for which I have no regrets and I wish them well, and I sincerely hope they will take Nigeria to a level that we can all be proud of,” he said.

We’ve fought a good fight -Fani-Kayode

ROTIMI FADEYI ABUJA

Governors on the platform of the Peoples Demo-

cratic Party, PDP, have commended President Goodluck Jonathan for his statesmanship and sacrificial decision to accept the result of the March 28 presidential election.

Speaking with State House Correspondents

Poll result: PDP govs commend Jonathanafter the governors met with Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, said the PDP remains the par-ty that has maintained peace and refrained from violence in spite of anomalies witnessed dur-ing the election.

According to Akpabio, the PDP remains un-daunted, the party would record victory in the gubernatorial election

scheduled for April 11.Akpabio said: “As gov-

ernors, we came to show solidarity with our presi-dent and to commend him for being a statesman.

“He (Jonathan) has done something no Af-rican leader has done in such a flawed exercise, with under-aged voters everywhere, and dispar-ity between states.

“Some using card read-ers, some failed card

readers, some using man-ual and some states not using manual and some just taking ballot papers to government houses, particularly in certain parts of the country.

“It was a very flawed exercise; yet he looked at it and said in spite of it all I want to ensure peace, unity and stability of the country, let me give opportunity to the APC presidential candidate to come in and then give his own to the country”

“That kind of sacrifi-

Thursday, April 2, 2015 NEWS

cial stand by a president can only come from a PDP president and that is why we are very proud of what has happened,” Akpabio said.

The meeting with the governors came shortly after former Head of State, General Muham-madu Buhari, received his Certificate of Re-turn from the Indepen-dent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as winner of the March 28 presidential election.

Jonathan, who was defeated by Buhari in the election, had con-gratulated the former Head of State on his vic-tory at the poll.

The PDP governors who met with Jonathan yesterday at the Presi-dential Villa included Akpabio (Akwa Ibom); Theodore Orji (Abia); Seriake Dickson (Bay-elsa) and Liyel Imoke (Cross River).

Also at the meeting

were Idris Wada (Kogi); Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta); Martin Elechi (Ebonyi); Ibrahim Dank-wambo (Gombe); Murk-tar Yero (Kaduna); Jonah Jang (Plateau); Sullivan Chime (Enugu).

Some ministers, who also met with the Presi-dent were Dr. Akinwumi Adesina (Agriculture); Ibrahim Shekarau (Edu-cation); Musiliu Oban-ikoro (State, Foreign Af-fairs II); Professor Viola Onwuliri (State, Educa-tion); Mohammed Adoke (Attorney General); Abba Moro (Interior); Aminu Wali (Foreign Affairs) and Suleiman Abubakar (National Planning).

A group of female min-isters were also at the Presidential Villa, they included Zainab Maina (Women Affairs); Omobo-la Johnson (Communica-tion Technology); Sarah Ochekpe (Water Resourc-es); Laraba Mallam (En-vironment); Akon Eyak-enyi (Land and Housing).

…assure of victory in April 11 poll

PRISCILLA DENNISMINNA

Former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi

Babangida, has described the victory of the presi-dent- elect, General Mu-hammadu Buhari in Saturday’s presidential election as a triumph for doggedness, perseverance and triumph for democ-racy.

Babangida, who stat-ed this in Minna, while speaking with journalists said Buhari contested for the position thrice and lost, yet he did not give up.

“He contested this elec-tion three, four times, he never give up. He con-tinued to have faith and continued to believe that

he has something to offer this country and God in His infinite wisdom has made that belief to hap-pen. So, I think it is a cred-it for democracy.”

He hailed the states-manship spirit displayed by the outgoing president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, for not only conceding defeat, but personally con-gratulated General Bu-hari, saying with such singular act, he had writ-ten his name in gold as the first African leader to con-cede defeat outright.

He said: “I say he must be a posture of a good leader that I know for call-ing his opponent to con-gratulate him even before the actual announcement of the final result.”

The former military

leader also expressed con-fidence in the ability of the new president-elect in taking the country to greater heights with a lot of experience, having once served in similar ca-pacity

Speaking on the high expectation of Nigerians on the president-elect, he said: “I agree that the gen-eral public have a lot of expectations and I think this is as a result of the fact that the people have been with a particular government or a particu-lar party for a very long time. Naturally, Nigerians are human beings and hu-man beings have the ten-dency to want a change, so if anybody comes up to offer change, you should expect that there will be

a lot of expectations from the public.

“The expectations no doubt are high and he has a lot of experience and I know he will give his best with good people around him and they will be able to meet some of the expec-tations of the people.

“Fortunately, we have established a culture in Nigeria for a long time and that seems to be working because when the president requires a broader view, he calls for a Council of State meet-ing and when he requires a narrower view, all of us are available and he could call any one of us who has a particular experience on a particular matter. We are always willing to offer ourselves,” he said.

Buhari’s victory, triumph for doggedness, perseverance –IBB

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 7Thursday, April 2 , 2015

This is Nigeria’s finest moment, says Tinubu

News

Easter: FAAN advises air travellers to use passengers’ portalThe Federal Airports

Authority of Nige-ria, FAAN yester-

day advised intending air passengers to take advan-tage of the Passengers Service Portal, PSP, before embarking on their trips for Easter holidays.

The authority’s General Manager, Corporate Com-munication, Mr Yakubu Dati, said this in an inter-view with aviation corre-spondents at the Murtala

Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

He said this would en-sure seamless trip to their various destinations.

According to him, in-tending passengers could get necessary information such as airline delays, on-time departures and flight cancellations at www.avia-tionportal.com.ng.

Dati said the authority had put in place measures to ensure hitch-free pas-

A Nutritionist with Garki General Hos-pital, Abuja, Mrs

Yemisi Olowookere, said nutrition intervention was very crucial in the manage-ment and better quality life of HIV/AIDS patients.

Olowookere said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN yesterday in Abuja.

She said good nutrition would help improve the im-mune function, response to treatment and help infected persons live a more produc-tive life.

“An estimated 35 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide and occur-ring mainly in sub-Saharan African countries.

“However, adequate nu-trition is needed as a mea-sure for one to stay healthy, prevent disease and speed up recovery from illness,’’ she said.

According to the nutri-tionist, the most common symptoms of HIV reported in 95 per cent of all patients with advanced disease in-clude loss of muscle tissue and body fat.

Others are vitamin and mineral deficiencies, re-duced immune function and competence, and in-creased susceptibility to secondary infections.

She said reduced food in-take and increased loss of nutritional food could lead to rapid HIV progression.

The expert said the ob-jective of nutritional man-agement was to maintain body weight and prevent loss of muscle mass.

She said that in main-taining a maximum func-tioning of the immune sys-tem, patients could improve eating habits and build essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, important antioxidant nu-trient.

Olowookere stressed that nutritional deficiency could lead to sores in the mouth and throat, constipa-tion, weight loss, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, among others.

The nutritionist recom-mended consumption of good mixed diet that comprises ad-equate amount of all basic food nutrients for a healthy life.

Nutrition crucial in managing HIV/AIDS –Nutritionist

New pension scheme: Retirees to register with NUP

Nigerian Union of Pensioners, NUP, has called on pen-

sioners who retired un-der the new Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, to register with the associa-tion and show interest in union matters.

National President of the association, Dr Abel Afolayan, made the call while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Abuja on Wednes-day.

Afolayan said it was im-portant for retirees under the new contributory pen-sion scheme to identify with the association, giv-en the challenges encoun-

tered by pensioners in the country.

He said that the inabili-ty of many pensioners un-der the new scheme to join the association would im-pede the smooth presenta-tion of their grievances to the relevant authorities.

He said the association was a veritable platform for pensioners in the country to present and champion issues that per-tained to their welfare.

“Actually the contribu-tory pensioners have not been fully unionised with us. So, what we are doing is to completely get them to join us.

“They should identify

with us as a union and mother body, to fight their cause,’’ he added.

The NUP president said the association had com-municated in writing to all the state branches in the country to ensure that all pensioners were inte-grated as members of the association.

He said although some of the retirees were meet-ing on different platforms, there was need for them to formally join a recognised union in the country.

He said the full iden-tification of the retirees would give the association a legal footing to pursue their demands.

senger movement ahead of the Easter celebration.

He also cautioned pas-sengers not to carry on board prohibited items such as liquids and in-flammable items.

The general manager stressed that such items must be checked in, add-ing that failure to do so would attract seizure at check-in points.

Dati further advised travellers embarking on

international trips to ap-proach the screening points as soon as they checked in, to avoid delays.

He advised them to se-cure their luggage, adding that security agents would destroy any luggage left unattended.

Dati said that FAAN, in line with the minister’s directive, had concluded plans to eliminate tout-ing at airports across the country.

VACANCIESA fast growing media organisation with

headquarters in Lagos urgently requires the services of suitable candidates as

• Sales/Marketing Officers.

•Minimum of OND in relevant field.

Ideal applicants should be computer lit-erate and possess adequate knowledge of Lagos business environment.

Interested candidates should send their CV with current telephone number to:

Qualification and Requirement

[email protected] or call 07066178740.

Chief Bola Tinubu, National Leader of the All Progressives

Congress, APC, has de-scribed the victory of the party’s presidential candi-date, Muhammadu Buhari, as Nigeria’s finest moment in its political history.

“It is a moment when hope is re-born, faith is re-

kindled and a fresh fire of patriotism is released for the task ahead,’’ Tinubu said in a statement by his media office on Wednesday in Lagos.

He congratulated Bu-hari, Nigeria’s President-elect, on his “hard won vic-tory.”

“I salute our gallant par-

ty leaders and members for running the long distance to victory.

“To millions of Nige-rians, I say this; the APC seeks not power for its sake, but for the purpose of bringing a better life to our people and re-building our country.

“This is also democra-

cy’s finest moment.”He said that Nigerians

alive today, had witnessed the beginning of an era of change.

“They made this to hap-pen and they are the true celebrants, and they are deserving.

“Together, we share this victory. Side by side we will work together to bring our country back,” the APC leader said.

CBN issues new guidelines on Mobile Money ServicesTOLA AKINMUTIMI

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, yes-terday approved new

guidelines for Mobile Mon-ey Services in the country.

The apex bank in a circu-lar stated specifically that the guidelines were issued to address business rules governing the operation of mobile money services, and specifies basic functional-ities expected of any mobile

payment service and solu-tion in the country.

The guidelines also identi-fied the participants and de-fined their expected roles and responsibilities in providing mobile money services in the system as well as set the basis for the regulation of services offered at different levels and by the participants.

The CBN listed the ob-jectives of the regulatory guidelines as including, ensuring a structured and orderly development of mo-

bile money services in the country, with clear defini-tion of various participants and their expected roles and responsibilities.

Similarly, the guidelines specifies the minimum technical and business re-quirements for the various participants recognised for the mobile money services industry and promotion of safety and effectiveness of mobile money services and thereby enhance user confi-dence in the services.

Ekiti Assembly shut as APC lawmakers resurface

Scene of a fire incident, which affected some lock-up shops at Balogun market in Lagos, yesterday.

Oyo REC directs aggrieved parties to election tribunal

ty, PDP, lawmakers, which elected Dele Olugbemi in his place, spoke on behalf of members after the session.

He said the APC lawmak-ers were in the Assembly to begin their legislative duty, describing Olugbemi as an impostor.

Omirin said: “Why are you surprised that we are here? I don’t expect you to be surprised that we are in our offices because we are duly elected as members of the House of Assembly.

“This is my office and I shouldn’t be asked why I am here. Though, we have instituted a case against the seven lawmakers for the fake impeachment against me, but that would not prevent us from doing what we are supposed to do.”

He, however, said their return to the Assembly was not prompted by the victory

of Gen. Muhammadu Bu-hari, adding, “it is a mere coincidence. Although I have not been here since No-vember, that does not mean I have not been performing my duties.

“So, whether Buhari is declared winner or not, we have to do our work. I have been attending Speakers’ meetings in Abuja and at-tending to my people at my constituency, so we haven’t abdicated our duty,” the speaker said.

However, Police Commis-sioner, Mr. Taiwo Lakanu, who led a detachment of security agents to the As-sembly to save the situation from degenerating, ordered closure of the complex.

Consequently, stern-look-ing policemen and soldiers took over the complex.

However, the factional Speaker, Olugbemi, criti-

cised the police commission-er for shutting the Assembly.

“I don’t think it was right to have closed the Assembly. We have the capacity to con-tain the APC lawmakers. We are ready to meet them fire for fire,” he said.

But Lakanu said he took the action to prevent vio-lence in the state, saying the police must be proactive to prevent the state from being plunged into crisis.

It will be recalled that Omirin and the remain-ing 18 APC lawmakers had stayed away from the As-sembly grounds since No-vember 17 last year when the seven lawmakers loyal to Governor Ayodele Fayose took over.

Subsequently, Omirin was impeached by the seven lawmakers on November 20, 2014 and Olugbemi was elected the new Speaker.

Kemi OlaitanIBADAN

Resident Electoral Commissioner in Oyo State, Am-

bassador Rufus Akeju, yesterday called on ag-grieved political parties in the state that protested against results of last Sat-urday’s Presidential and National Assembly elec-tions to seek redress at the tribunals.

The REC, while briefing journalists at the commis-sion’s office in Ibadan, said

he has not received any complaint or letter from any party, stating that he was shocked when he saw reports of protests against the election results in the media.

It would be recalled that some political parties, in-cluding the Peoples Demo-cratic Party, PDP, Social Democratic Party, SDP, Ac-cord Party and Labour Par-ty, LP, on Monday protested against the results after they were announced.

Akeju, who was accom-panied by electoral officers

from the 33 local govern-ment areas of the state, said the commission was ready to maintain the tempo in giving Nigerians free, ac-ceptable and credible elec-tions.

He also assured Nigeri-ans that INEC and security agencies will not hesitate to deal with anyone who fo-ments trouble in the state, adding that the commission would continue to prove prophets of doom wrong by maintaining its integrity through various innovative methods as displayed last

Saturday. He maintained that the

condemnation of the results by the political parties was an insult to the commended efforts of the commission in giving Nigerians free and fair elections, noting that political parties and other stakeholders must be careful not to discourage the com-mission.

The REC also assured all political parties of a level-playing ground, stating that the commission would con-tinue to remain neutral and unbiased.

Ambode urges Lagosians to vote continuity

Don’t abandon confab report, Fasoranti urges Buhari

All Progressives Con-gress, APC, guber-natorial candidate

in Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, has thanked peo-ple of the state for voting out the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Saturday’s presidential election.

He was particularly grateful that the people, against all odds, heeded his plea to vote out PDP for non-performance and clueless-ness displayed in managing affairs of the nation for the past 16 years, which he said grew worse in the last six years.

He explained that the concept of change was mid-wifed in Lagos and birthed in the nation with the unprecedented success of APC in the presiden-tial election, the first of its kind in Nigeria, where an incumbent was peace-fully displaced from power through the ballot.

He said APC deserves to continue in Lagos to con-solidate on her excellent performance despite the hostile federal might in the past 16 years.

He also mulled what the party would achieve at the centre, saying the sky would be the limit.

He said, “This rare feat achieved by the people of Nigeria is a fulfillment of the prediction of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo

OjO OyewamideAKURE

Leader of pan-Yor-uba socio-cultural group, Afenifere,

Chief Reuben Fasoranti, has urged the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, not to jettison the report of last year’s National Confer-ence.

Fasoranti, while advis-ing Buhari to make the peo-ple’s interest paramount in his government, also harped on the need for him to eschew politics of bitter-ness and hatred.

He said the recommen-dations of the conference reflected the wishes of peo-ple of the country, which the incoming government should not tamper with.

The octogenarian de-scribed the conduct of last Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elec-

that a day would come when the best of the progressives and conservatives would come together to provide an excellent future for Nigeria.

“This has been made pos-sible by the resilience of the people of Nigeria and our dear Lagos.”

He urged Lagosians not to relent but to come out en masse on April 11 to vote for APC in Lagos in order to complete the cycle of excel-lence in governance. “Lagos must be the first partaker of the massive support of the APC-led Federal Govern-ment that PDP has denied her,” Ambode said.

“The people of Lagos would recall how the PDP Federal Government ‘pun-ished’ Lagos for creating 37 Local Council Development Areas by withholding allo-cation due to the state.

“It was the ingenuity of the crack team of experts, of which I was a privileged member, set up by the then governor, Bola Tinubu, that led to the development of the template on which La-gos not only survived but expanded the Internally Generated Revenue.. The IGR has since grown from a paltry N4 million to over N20 billion today.”

He added that the task of governance is not for wish-ful thinkers and verbose speakers but for thinkers, strategist and tacticians.

tions as unprecedented in the history of Nigeria’s politics.

According to him, the elections were transparent, free and fair in all 36 states of the federation despite minor hitches, with usage of the Card Reader ma-chines.

The elder statesman, who spoke with reporters yesterday in Akure, lauded the use of card readers, but said the technology should be improved on in future elections.

Fasoranti said the card readers’ shortcomings were not enough to call for the cancellation of results of the polls.

He said: “It is clear from what we could see that the election was clear, free and fair. No problem, no rigging. I hope we shall be able to follow this path in future.”

abiOdun nejOAdo Ekiti

In a dramatic turn of event, the 19 All Progres-sives Congress, APC,

members in the 26-man Eki-ti State House of Assembly surfaced at the House of As-sembly complex yesterday after being locked out since November 17 last year.

The Dr Adewale Omirin-led lawmakers, who held a session that lasted about 10 minutes, arrived in the complex in a convoy of 14 vehicles about 11:30am and entered plenary.

However, to safeguard lives, apprehensive staff of the Assembly picked up their belongings and rushed out of the complex.

Omirin, the speaker be-fore his purported impeach-ment by seven members of the Peoples Democratic Par-

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netSouth West Thursday, April 2, 20158

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 9Thursday, April 2, 2015

INSIDE

Again, Again, fi refi re guts guts Balogun market shops Balogun market shops >10>47

Easter: Traders Easter: Traders lament low saleslament low sales>48

121-year-old 121-year-old Shitta-Bey mosque Shitta-Bey mosque

Tafewa Balewa Square, Lagos

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net10 Broad Street Diary Thursday, April 2, 2015

Traders at Balogun market, off Broad Street, Marina, Lagos, wore a mournful

look yesterday, after a fire inci-dent, which started around 12.30 in the morning, razed about four fabric shops. The affected shops contained heaps of lace materi-als, wrappers and George fabrics worth millions of naira.

One of the victims, Madam Jo-val, owner of Joval Fabrics, told BSD that all her goods were burnt.

“I came around the time the fire started, but there was nothing I could do to put it off, it was very fierce. The area boys also tried to help, but they could not do much. By the time the fire fighters ar-rived, the fire had already gutted everything,” she said.

This is the second fire incident that occurred on Broad Street this year. At the time BSD visited, the traders were still in shock and ex-

pressed dismay at the incessant fire incidents on Broad Street. One of the traders, who identi-fied herself simply as Mrs. Asuan, said the traders are all scared of witnessing yet another occur-rence. “We are all scared now, all of us having shops around here are all scared because we don’t know the next person that would be a victim. You know that early this year, we witnessed a fire in-cident, now another one has oc-

curred,” she said.While some of the traders

wondered if it was simply sabo-tage, considering the political scenario in the country at the time the incident occurred, Mad-am Asuan, however, attributed the incident to electrical fault and fluctuation of power. “It is because electric light is always fluctuating. If we have constant electricity, I don’t think this will happen,” she said.

Another trader, Madam Louis, who owns a shop at 46 Balogun Street, also expressed worry over cases of fire incidents at the market and advised government to have fire fighters stationed at the market for quick interven-tion. She also warned traders, who use generators, to beware of how they use it near fabric shops.Franka Osakwe

Again, fi re guts Balogun market shops

BY THE TIME THE FIRE FIGHTERS

ARRIVED, THE FIRE HAD

ALREADY GUTTED EVERYTHING

BY THE TIME THE FIRE FIGHTERS

ARRIVED, THE FIRE HAD

ALREADY GUTTED EVERYTHING

Be magnanimous in victory, CSOs tell APC, Buhari

Ubong UkpongABUJA

A coalition of Civil Society Organisa-tions, CSOs, have

urged the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, to be magnanimous in vic-tory at the just concluded presidential election.

The coalition of over 400 CSOs under the aus-pices of the Transition Monitoring Group, TMG, also urged those who did not win to accept results as announced by the In-dependent National Elec-toral Commission, INEC, saying it was a true reflec-tion of the wishes of the people.

At a press conference

yesterday in Abuja to ver-ify the results as released by the INEC, Chairman of TMG, Ibrahim Zikirul-lahi, said the results filed by the TMG citizen observ-ers across the polling units in the country through the Quick Count technology, tallied with what was re-leased by the INEC that led to the declaration of APC and Buhari as winners of

the presidential election.Zikirullahi said:

“TMG’s Quick Count esti-mates and INEC’s official results clearly show that Muhammadu Buhari of the APC received the most votes and Goodluck Jona-than of PDP received the second highest votes, with all other candidates only receiving a very small number of votes.”

APC supporters jubilating over the victory of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari at Nelson Mandela Freedom Park in Osogbo. INSET: Osun State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori; former Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; South West Coordinator, Buhari/Osinbajo Presidential Campaign, Governor Rauf Aregbesola and his wife, Sherifat, on Tuesday night.

CAN congratulates Buhari, says Jonathan a true democratolUfemi AdeosUnABUJA

Christian Associa-tion of Nigeria, CAN, and National

Christian Elders Forum, NCEF, yesterday congrat-ulated the presidential candidate of All Progres-sives Congress, APC, Gen-eral Muhammadu Buhari, on his electoral victory.

In separate congratulato-ry messages made available to journalists electronically in Abuja, CAN and the el-der’s group also commend-ed President Goodluck Jonathan for the spirit of sportsmanship in conced-ing defeat to his opponent.

CAN President and Founder of Warri-based Word of Life Bible Church, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, in his message to Buhari also saluted Nigerians for a peaceful election and called for “harmony between Christians and Muslims in the quest for a prosperous Nigeria.”

While praying for a pros-

NLC, TUC urge commitment to nation building, democracy

perous future for Nigeria, Oritsejafor also praised President Jonathan for ex-hibiting sportsmanship in conceding defeat to Buhari.

Secretary of NCEF, Pas-tor Bosun Emmanuel, in his congratulatory message said, “Despite the enormous tension and apprehension that preceded the election, Nigerians have demonstrat-ed political maturity that elections can be won and lost without recourse to vio-lence or acrimony.”

While congratulating Buhari for his victory at the elections, NCEF wished him a successful tenure in office and “joined all Nige-rians and indeed the entire world to commend his act of statesmanship, quality Christian and democratic character by his peaceful concession of defeat.”

The organisation also en-couraged all politicians in the country to play politics according to the admonition of Jonathan that “nobody’s ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian.”

olUfemi AdeosUnABUJA

Nigeria Labour Con-gress, NLC, has con-gratulated General

Muhammadu Buhari on his victory in the just concluded presidential election, urging him to justify the huge ex-pectations of the people.

The NLC in a statement signed by its president, Comrade Aliyu Wabba, also described Buhari’s victory after three failed attempts as a lesson in perseverance and commitment to a cause.

According to Wabba, hav-ing been elected to the ex-alted position through the popular will of the people, Buhari could not afford to let them down.

He said, “We, at the Nige-ria Labour Congress, find it necessary to congratulate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari whose victory is a lesson in perseverance and commit-ment to a cause.

“As he joins the league of Presidents given a second chance, there are unusually great expectations from his country men and women, which he can ill-afford not to

meet.“We look forward to work-

ing with and engaging the incoming government. We stand ready to work with the President-elect in defining a new agenda for our nation.”

While expressing the belief that the election of Buhari had undoubtedly opened a new and important chapter in the socio-political development of the nation, the umbrella body of Nige-ria workers also saluted the courage of President Good-luck Jonathan for not only

organising a free and fair polls, but in also conceding defeat.

Wabba also commended the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Chairman, Prof. At-tahiru Jega, and his team for organising a peaceful election despite pockets of irregularities in some places.

Meanwhile, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUCN, in a statement signed by its President, Comrade Bob-boi Kaigama, and Secretary

General, Comrade Musa Lawal, applauded the pres-ident-elect for his dogged-ness and refusal to quit de-spite having suffered defeat in three earlier attempts.

While maintaining that President Jonathan was magnanimous in defeat, TUC said it regarded Bu-hari’s resolve to contest the 2015 general elections as a mark of his belief in project Nigeria, and his unflinching desire to con-tribute his quota in nation building.

Polls: Rights group lauds Nigerians

Victory, a popular decision —Kwankwaso

frAncis sUberU

Committee for the Protection of Peoples Mandate,

CPPM, has commended Nigerians for their peace-ful conduct at the 2015 presidential elections, urging them to continue to remain calm until the entire process is complet-ed.

In a statement signed by the group’s executive chairman, Nelson Eku-jumi, CPPM congratulated the people of Nigeria for their courage and unity of purpose, saying their or-derly conduct has further strengthened the country’s democracy.

According to the state-ment, “we once again con-gratulate Nigerians for their sacrifices and endur-ance, which was a key factor that ensured the elections held peacefully and orderly in most parts of the coun-try despite evil plots by en-emies of democracy, peace, progress and national unity to truncate the process through incitements, post-ponement of the general elections, plotting the instal-lation of interim govern-ment, military putsch as

AbdUlgAfAr olAdimejiKANO

Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has felicitated with

Nigeria’s President-elect, General Muhammadu Bu-hari, over his victory in last Saturday’s presidential poll.

The governor said the victory of the All Progres-sives Congress, APC, candi-date as president-elect was a popular decision.

Addressing journalists in Kano yesterday, Deputy

Governor, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, who spoke in ver-nacular on behalf of Kano people, extended a congrat-ulatory message to Nige-ria’s president-elect.

Ganduje said, “On be-half of the executive gov-ernor of Kano State, Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso, myself, the APC governorship can-didate and the State Execu-tive Council, we congratu-late our President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, and his deputy, Prof Osinbajo.”

He, however, cautioned the jubilant Kano crowd to

celebrate the APC presiden-tial candidate’s victory in a manner that would not con-stitute threat to lives and property.

Ganduje further urged the electorate to ensure they cast their votes for APC at the governorship elections on April 11.

He applauded the emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and members of the Kano emirate council for the fatherly role they played towards the conduct of a peaceful presidential election in the state.

well as the attempt to abort declaration of results at the national collation centre in Abuja yesterday.

“We condemn in total-ity the desperate and despi-cable show of shame and national embarrassment exhibited by a chieftain of a political party which ex-tended its anti-democratic plots against the people of Nigeria to the national col-lation centre having failed severally in their evil bid to ensure the elections did not hold.

“We commend the politi-cal parties and candidates which took part in the elec-tions and enjoin them to see their participation as contribution to strengthen-ing democracy and unity of Nigeria. We must commend the media for an excellent coverage which contributed in no small measure to the success of the elections. We are not surprised because the media has always been alive to its constitutional and social responsibility of nation-building despite the odds.”

Meanwhile, wild jubi-lations have continued in many parts of Lagos to cel-ebrate Gen. Muhammadu’s victory in the just concluded presidential election.

• JubilationscontinueinLagos

...sayresultsreflectthepeople’swish

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Thursday, April 2, 2015 REACTIONS 11

Saturday poll, a watershed in Nigeria’s history —TambuwalWole oladimeji ABUJA

Speaker of the House of Representa-tives, Aminu Wa-

ziri Tambuwal, yesterday congratulated President Goodluck Jonathan and President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, over the successful con-duct and outcome of the 2015 presidential election.

Tambuwal, while ad-dressing his colleagues im-mediately they resumed sitting yesterday, described the election as a watershed in the history of Nigeria.

He said the will of the majority of the people, as expressed in the results of the election, should be re-spected.

Tambuwal said by con-ceding defeat, President Jonathan has written his

name in gold and will be remembered for playing a critical role to douse ten-sion in the aftermath of the election.

He, however, urged the president to ensure a smooth and successful transition.

The Speaker equally tasked the president-elect to carry all Nigerians along in the new dispensation.

“As I have always main-

tained, there is time for politics and time for gover-nance. Politicking is over and we must accept that fact,” he stated.

According to him, “I must not forget to, once again, highly commend the people of

Nigeria for the mature conduct exhibited through the period of the first phase of these elections.”

“The process has so far

Mascots at the presentation of certificate of return to president-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, by INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, in Abuja, yesterday.

Hoodlums invade Ekiti APC secretariat, vandalise vehiclesabiodun nejo ADO EKITI

Political thugs yes-terday invaded Eki-ti State secretariat

of the All Progressives Congress, APC, on Ajilo-sun Road, Ado Ekiti.

Five vehicles were van-dalised by the hoodlums, who allegedly shot spo-radically into the office.

APC state Publicity Secretary, Mr Taiwo Ola-tunbosun, alleged that the attack was perpetrated by a killer squad owned by Governor Ayodele Fayose.

Olatunbosun said the invasion occurred shortly after members of the par-ty held a procession round the town to celebrate the victory of General Mu-hammadu Buhari.

The APC spokesman, who said the attackers came in three Hilux vans belonging to the state gov-ernment, said policemen were in the vehicles.

According to him, the

Buhari’s victory: 3 celebrants die in Gombe, Niger

party got hint of the at-tack and effort to get po-licemen from Ologede Di-vision to nip it in the bud was futile as the attack was supervised by secu-rity agents.

But, Governor Fayose said the allegation that he sent some people in a Hi-lux vehicle to attack APC members should be disre-garded by every reason-able human being.

The governor also de-nied having any killer squad, alleging that it was the killer squad of the for-mer APC administration that resurfaced to tor-ment the state.

Fayose, however, called on the police to be on the trail of members of the killer squad.

Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Id-owu Adelusi, said in a statement yesterday that the governor did not send anybody and had never done such a thing in the past.

danjuma Williams and Priscilla dennis

No fewer than three persons in Gombe State died on Tues-

day and Wednesday while

celebrating the declaration of General Muhammadu Buhari as winner of Satur-day’s presidential election.

Eyewitness from Billiri town, said two people died in a ghastly auto crash that oc-curred among celebrants in

Northern Christians task president-elect on moribund textilesaza msue KADUNA

A p a n - n o r t h e r n Christians group under the aus-

pices of New Life For All, NLFA, yesterday called on President-elect, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, to urgently revive the mori-bund textile industries across the country and tackle corruption.

Addressing a news con-ference in Kaduna, chair-man of the group, Reverend Yusuf Biniyat, while con-gratulating Buhari on his victory, said the president- elect with military back-ground should end the in-security ravaging Nigeria, especially in the north.

The group also hailed President Goodluck Jona-than for accepting defeat and allowing himself to be used by God to ensure that free, fair and credible elec-tions are conducted in the

country, which clears Nige-ria’s image before the world.

Yusuf said:”As we con-gratulate him, we equally wish to draw his attention to the fears that some Chris-tians in some quarters still fear that he will Islamise Nigeria if he became presi-dent.

“Even though some of us do not think in this direc-tion and we see impossibil-ity in this myopic ideology bearing in mind that Nige-ria is a secular state, but we do also appreciate their fear.

“Therefore, we wish to request the president-elect to work toward clearing this fear as well as develop-ing the required trust of his personality and integrity among all citizens of Nige-ria irrespective of their re-ligions.”

“We want to see a fast-growing economy where Nigeria will rub shoulders with other developed na-tions of the world.

been largely violence-free and it is important that we eschew violence in the post-election dispensation. Violence has never solved problems in any society and it will do us no good.”

Tambuwal added that

special mention must be made of Professor Attahiru Jega and his colleagues at the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC for their doggedness in the face of mounting pressures.

Billiri, headquarters of Bil-liri Local Government.

Billiri is a stronghold of the Peoples Democratic Par-ty, PDP, where votes showed that President Goodluck Jonathan beat General Bu-hari by a wide margin.

The other victim died yes-terday morning in Gombe, the state capital, when cel-ebrating youths clashed in the heart of the town.

The incident in the Gombe metropolis did not come as a surprise, as it is predominantly a stronghold of the All Progressives Con-gress, APC.

The town was beginning to come back to live yester-day, having been shutdown since election day due to fear of the unknown, when the wild celebration further forced people back to their homes, especially business concerns.

Confirming the incident, spokesman for Gombe State Police Command, Fwaje Ata-jiri, said they had succeeded in dispersing a crowd of celebrants as their activities were beginning to assume dangerous dimension.

He said they had also warned that the police would

not spare anyone who takes the law into his hands.

The PPRO, who said he was not aware of any death, as he had not been fully briefed on the situation, said police investigation was in progress at the time of filing this report.

He told members of the public to go on with their lawful activities without fear as the command was on top of the situation, calling on them to be vigilant and report anything that could compromise the peace of the state.

In the same vein, Niger State Governor, Muazu Ba-bangida Aliyu, said jubila-tion by supporters following the of Geneneral Buhari claimed some lives in the state.

Aliyu, who made the disclosure to journalists in Minna, said the deaths were recorded not as a result of violence, but an expression of joy at the outcome of the result of the presidential election in favour of Buhari.

“Politics is not war. This election has shown that we can compete and get along after the elections and still live like neighbours.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netREACTIONS Thursday, April 2, 201512

VACANCI E SA fast growing media organisation with

headquarters in Lagos urgently requires the services of suitable candidates as

• Subscription Officers.

•Minimum of OND in relevant field.

Ideal applicants should be computer lit-erate and possess adequate knowledge of Lagos business environment.

Interested candidates should send their CV with current telephone number to:

Qualification and Requirement

[email protected] or call 08033147378.


Politics

Buhari

President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari became the fourth time lucky early yesterday morning, when he

was declared the winner of the March 28 presidential election by Independent Na-tional Electoral Commission, INEC, having polled 15,426,921 votes to defeat incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, who polled 12,853162 votes.

The retired General, who contested the 2015 presidential election on the platform of opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, was making a fourth attempt at the Presi-dency, having contested the 2003 presiden-tial election on the platform of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP and ran against then incumbent President Oluse-gun Obasanjo of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

With a 69.1 per cent voter turnout of 42,018,735 voters out of the 60,823,022 reg-istered voters, Buhari garnered 12,710,022 votes, representing 32.19 per cent of 39,480,489 votes, but lost to former President Obasanjo who polled almost double Bu-hari’s ballots, 24,456,140 votes, representing 61.94 per cent.

Undeterred, General Buhari again threw his hat into the ring of the 2007 presidential election, contested under the same ANPP platform and ran against his kinsman, late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, the PDP candidate. Again, he lost to Yar’Adua.

In the 2007 election, of 35,397,517 valid votes cast, Buhari polled a paltry 6,605,299 votes, representing 18.66 per cent against Yar’Adua’s 24,638,063 votes, which repre-sented 69.60 per cent.

Treading where angels fear to tread, Bu-hari, for the third time running, jumped into the fray once again in 2011, but this time flying the banner of a new party, which he founded himself, the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, CPC.

Yet again, the former military Head of State lost to incumbent President Jonathan, who polled a massive 22,495,187 votes which represented 58.89 per cent of the 38,209,978 valid votes cast against Buhari’s 12,214853 votes, which represented 31.89 per cent.

Ordinarily, one would have expected the retired General to retire from active politics after his third loss to the PDP. In fact, on the eve of the 2011 elections, Buhari told Nigeri-ans that if he failed to win the presidential election, he would no longer contest again.

But according to General Buhari, his love for Nigeria spurred him on again and when the whistle was blown for the race for the 2015 presidential election, he was found among the front runners.

BUHARI’S INDOMITABLE SPIRIT

AND DOGGEDNESS HAS FINALLY PAID OFF

THIS TIME AROUND, WITH HIS ‘CHANGE’

MANTRA

Buhari, his ‘can-do’ spirit and doggedness

OLAJIDE OMOJOLOMOJU examines the doggedness of the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, who finally was elected President in the March 28 presidential election at the fourth attempt.

When Buhari declared his intention to contest for the Presidency for the fourth time in October or thereabout, at close to 72 years of age, not few Nigerians, both politi-cians and other stakeholders from within his party and the ruling PDP raised eye-brows.

Many wondered why Buhari, at 72, when he should have groomed successors to take over from him and also give the younger generation a chance to prove their mettle, was still looking for, especially against the background that he was a former Head of State of the military stock.

But unfazed by all the criticisms trailing his declaration for the race, Buhari trudged on, fought a titanic battle to clinch the ticket of his party, the APC, which came into existence through the first merger arrangement in the history of Nigeria’s politics, of the defunct Ac-tion Congress of Nigeria, CAN, ANPP, CPC and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance in 2013, against all odds.

The former Head of State grabbed 3,430 votes to beat former Vice President Abuba-kar Atiku, Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha and Sam Nda-Isaiah, publisher of Leadership newspapers to secure the bid. Kwankwaso garnered 954 votes to beat for-mer Vice President Atiku, who polled 954,

to the second place. Okorocha came fourth with 674 votes while Ndah-Isaiah took the rear with 10 votes.

After scaling that hurdle came different difficulties put in his way by the ruling PDP. First was issue of his West African School Certificate, WASC, which the retired Gen-eral claimed was with the Nigerian Army Board, but which was flatly denied by the Army.

This generated a lot of controversy, with the opposition party whipping up senti-ments against the General, but he trudged on doggedly, refusing to be distracted by the barrage of attacks and name-calling that trailed his educational qualification.

And when his school, the Provincial Col-lege, Katsina, which had metamorphosed into Government Secondary School, re-leased a statement of Buhari’s WASC, it elicited another round of barrage. In all of these, Buhari remained focused, traversing the length and breadth of the country can-vassing for votes.

His age even became an issue, with his antagonists and supporters turning the so-cial media, especially Facebook, to battle ground, attacking and counter-attacking one another. The courts were even involved with many stakeholders going to court in what many analysts believed was sponsored by the ruling PDP, all in an attempt to frus-trate Buhari’s presidential ambition and if possible, get him disqualified from the race.

Again, like a general that he is, Buhari re-mained undaunted and focused on running the race and pursuing his ambition with sin-gularity of purpose. Even when it was per-ceived that he was coasting to victory had the election been held on the scheduled February 14 date initially fixed by INEC and the com-mission was arm-twisted to shift the poll by six weeks, Buhari remained undistracted.

Ordinarily, any other politician would have given up, after trying unsuccessfully

three times, to assume the nation’s Presi-dency through the ballot, but not General Buhari.

His doggedness eventually paid off in his fourth attempt at the Presidency, when he was declared winner of the March 28 election and was declared President-elect by INEC, after polling 15,426,921 votes to give President Jonathan a dose of what he gave Buhari in 2011, having polled 12,853,162 votes. Buhari defeated Jonathan with over 2.5 million votes, with his best performance in all his attempts at becoming Nigeria’s President.

Predicting victory for Buhari earlier in the year, former military Head of state and former President Obasanjo said General Buhari will be the next Nigerian President, explaining that that was why those who are afraid of him are creating so many obstacles on his way

Obasanjo said: “I see Buhari as the next President and Jonathan is aware of that, and that is the reason they are hitting him everywhere to put confusion in his camp. But a General is always a General…” The former President added that “some hawks with Jonathan do not want him to contest because they believed that he will win and come for them.”

Obasanjo, while reacting to the contro-versies surrounding Buhari’s certificage saga, said: “The truth of the matter is that Jonathan is aware that Buhari is qualified to contest for President.

“The issue came up in 2007, and we inves-tigated and found out that his WASSCE is with the military and that was why he was allowed to contest in 2007.

“Buhari cannot listen to anyone about his certificates because as a General of the Nigerian Army, he will speak when he chooses, not by Femi Fani-Kayode and Doy-in Okupe asking him.

“Fayose and other corrupt People includ-ing Kashamu do not want Buhari because of his anti-corruption slogan. Even Jona-than did not finish his PhD course but when it was presented we stated that, it does not matter, but many people do not know be-cause it was PDP thing.”

Buhari’s indomitable spirit and dogged-ness has finally paid off this time around, with his ‘Change’ mantra, which majority of Nigerians actually bought into and help propagated. His ‘never-give-up’ and can-do attitude, perhaps is one of the attributes Nigerians saw and needed at this point in time of the nation’s development that made majority of Nigerians to vote massively for Buhari as the next President of the Federal republic of Nigeria.

14 Politics National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, April 2, 2015

The die is castAcceptance speech by General Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, President-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, yesterday after collecting his Certificate of Return from the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

I am immensely grateful to God for this day and for this hour. I feel truly honoured and humbled that the Nige-rian people have so clearly chosen me to lead them.

The official announcement from the Independent Na-tional Electoral Commission, INEC, was the moment the vast majority of Nigerians had hoped and been waiting for. Today, history has been made, and change has finally come.

Your votes have changed our national destiny for the good of all Nigerians. INEC has announced that I, Muham-madu Buhari, shall be your next president. My team and I shall faithfully serve you. There shall no longer be a ruling party again: APC will be your governing party. We shall faithfully serve you. We shall never rule over the people as if they were subservient to government.

Our long night has passed and the daylight of new dem-ocratic governance has broken across the land. This there-fore is not a victory for one man or even one party. It is a victory for Nigeria and for all Nigerians.

Millions of you have worked for this day. So many have risked lives and livelihood; and others have died that we may witness this moment.

And it is with a very heavy heart that I report many deaths and injuries amidst the jubilations yesterday. We send our sincere condolences to the families and friends of those who lost their lives; and wish speedy recovery to those who suffered injuries. I appeal to all our supporters to celebrate this victory with prayers and reflection instead of wild jubilation.

May the souls of those who died rest in peace. Let us take a moment of silence to honour all of those whose sacrifices have brought us to this fine and historic hour.

As the results of the election have shown, their labour has not been and will never be in vain. Democracy and the rule of law will be re-established in the land.

Let us put the past, especially the recent past, behind us. We must forget our old battles and past grievances; and learn to forge ahead. I assure you that our government is one that will listen to and embrace all.

I pledge myself and our in-coming administration to just and principled governance. There shall be no bias against or favouritism for any Nigerian based on ethnic-ity, religion, region, gender or social status. I pledge myself and the government to the rule of law, in which none shall be so above the law that they are not subject to its dictates, and none shall be so below it that they are not availed of its protection.

You shall be able to go to bed knowing that you are safe and that your constitutional rights remain in safe hands. You shall be able to voice your opinion without fear of re-prisal or victimisation. My love and concern for this nation and what I desire for it extends to all, even to those who do not like us or our politics. You are all my people and I shall treat everyone of you as my own. I shall work for those who voted for me as well as those who voted against me and even for those who did not vote at all. We all live under one name as one nation: we are all Nigerians.

Some unfortunate issues about my eligibility have been raised during the campaign. I wish to state that through devotion to this nation, everything I have learned and done has been to enable me to make the best possible contribu-tion to public life. If I had judged myself incapable of gov-erning I would never have sought to impose myself on it. I have served in various capacities and have always put in my best.

But despite the rancour of the elections, I extend a hand of friendship and conciliation to President Goodluck Jona-than and his team. I hereby wish to state that I harbour no ill will against anyone.

Let me state clearly that President Jonathan has nothing to fear from me. Although we may not agree on the meth-ods of governing the nation, he is a great Nigerian and still our president. He deserves our support and permanent re-spect by virtue of the office he has held.

This is how an honourable nation treats its servants and conducts its affairs; and this is how Nigeria should be looking forward to meeting with President Jonathan in the days to come to discuss how our teams can make the transi-tion of administrations as efficient as possible.

Here, I want to thank my party for selecting me as its candidate. I thank our party leaders and members for the steadfast contributions they made to bring our dream to fruition. I thank the Independent National Electoral Com-mission, INEC, the police and all other government agen-cies for performing their tasks in a proper manner and for refusing to be induced to undermine the election and the democratic process.

I also wish to thank religious leaders, traditional lead-ers, the media, labour unions, civil society organisations, organised private sector, youths and students for their roles in this election.

I give special thanks to President Barack Obama and his timely intervention and support for peaceful and credible elections in Nigeria and for sending Secretary John Kerry and other United States officials. The European Union, es-pecially the United Kingdom, France, Germany and other nations that were actively involved in ensuring the success of this election are equally appreciated. My sincere thanks to the United Nations’ Secretary General, Mr Ban-Ki Moon. The Commonwealth, China, India and other Asian and Gulf states are also hereby appreciated.

Finally our brothers in the African Union and ECOWAS have truly and clearly shown and demonstrate their com-mitment to our democratisation process. Former Presi-dents John Kuffour, Amos Sawyer, Bakili Muluzi and his

team are well appreciated. I must also add my appreciation for the role played by civil societies, national and interna-tional observers and other world leaders in ensuring that Nigeria holds free and fair elections.

I assure all foreign governments that Nigeria will be-come a more forceful and constructive player in the global fight against terrorism and in other matters of collective concern, such as the fight against drugs, climate change, financial fraud, communicable diseases and other issues requiring global response. I want to assure our fellow Af-rican nations that Nigeria will now stand as a more con-structive partner in advancing the matters of concern to our continent, particularly with regard to economic devel-opment and eradication of poverty.

Former Heads of State and Presidents, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, General Yakubu Gowon, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, General Ibrahim Babangida, Chief Ernest Shonekan and General Abdulsalami Abubakar deserve commendations for their statesmanship and words of caution and counsel for peace during the tense moments of this electoral period.

Most of all, I thank the people of Nigeria for reposing their confidence in me at this trying moment. Our nation wrestles many challenges including insecurity, corruption and economic decline. I pledge to give you my best in tack-ling these problems.

The good people of Nigeria, your obligation does not end with casting your ballot. I seek your voice and input as we tackle these problems. This will not be a government democratic only in form. It will be a government democrat-ic in substance and in how it interacts with its own people.

No doubt, this nation has suffered greatly in the recent past, and its staying power has been tested to its limits by crises, chief among which is insurgency of the Boko Ha-ram. There is no doubt that in tackling the insurgency we have a tough and urgent job to do. But I assure you that Boko Haram will soon know the strength of our collective will and commitment to rid this nation of terror, and bring back peace and normalcy to all the affected areas. We shall spare no effort until we defeat terrorism.

Furthermore, we shall strongly battle another form of evil that is even worse than terrorism—the evil of corrup-tion. Corruption attacks and seeks to destroy our national institutions and character. By misdirecting into selfish hands funds intended for the public purpose, corruption distorts the economy and worsens income inequality. It creates a class of unjustly-enriched people.

Such an illegal yet powerful force soon comes to under-mine democracy because its conspirators have amassed so much money that they believe they can buy government. We shall end this threat to our economic development and demo-cratic survival. I repeat that corruption will not be tolerated by this administration; and it shall no longer be allowed to stand as if it is a respected monument in this nation.

I ask you to join me in resolving these and the other chal-lenges we face. Along the way, there will be victories but there may also be setbacks. Mistakes will be made. But we shall never take you for granted; so, be rest assured that our errors will be those of compassion and commitment not of willful neglect and indifference.

We shall correct that which does not work and improve that which does. We shall not stop, stand or idle. We shall, if necessary crawl, walk and run to do the job you have elected us to do.

I realise that the expectation of our people today is as high as their commitment to change has been strong and their belief in us unshaken. While we pledge to begin do-ing our best without delay, we would like to appeal to them to appreciate the gravity of our situation, so that we be-come more realistic in our expectations.

We will govern for you and in your interests. Your vote was not wasted. This is not the first time Nigerians have cast their votes for us, and this is not the first time they have been counted; but this is the first time that the votes have been allowed to count. With the help of God, we pledge to do our utmost to bring forth the Nigeria you seek.

Thank you for your patience and attention.

I PLEDGE MYSELF AND OUR IN-COMING ADMINISTRATION

TO JUST AND PRINCIPLED GOVERNANCE. THERE

SHALL BE NO BIAS AGAINST OR FAVOURITISM FOR ANY

NIGERIAN BASED ON ETHNICITY, RELIGION, REGION,

GENDER OR SOCIAL STATUS

Buhari

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 15PoliticsThursday, April 2, 2015

Federal House of Representative-elect for Ajeromi/Ifelodun, Hon. Odichinma Orji (middle) during a press briefing on her victory in Lagos, on Monday.

OPC, Yoruba Council of Youths congratulate Buhari

Poll results: Victory for democracy, win-win for Buhari, Jonathan –Bamidele

EBERE NDUKWU

A member of the House of Repre-sentatives and gu-

bernatorial candidate of Labour Party, LP, in the June 21, 2014 election in Ekiti State, Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele, has congratu-lated the All Progressives Congress, APC, presiden-tial candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, de-scribing the outcome of the last Saturday’s elec-tion as victory for democ-racy, brilliant outing by Nigerians and win-win for Buhari and President Goodluck Jonathan.

Opeyemi, who stated this in a press statement made available to Nation-al Mirror, while felicitat-ing with General Buhari on his victory, said: “I must not fail to quickly add that the real victory belongs to the Nigerian people whose determi-nation to liberate them-selves from the untold

AYO ESAN

Pan-Yoruba group, Oodua Peoples Con-gress, OPC, and the

Yoruba Council of Youths, YCY, have congratulated the President-elect, Gen-eral Muhammadu Bu-hari, on his success in the March 28 presidential poll.

In separate news re-leases OPC and YCY maintained that by the resounding success in the election across the country, General Buhari has proved that he is the choice of the people.

The OPC release, which was signed by its national coordina-tor, Otunba Gani Adams, commended Buhari’s re-silience and tenacity over the years which have seen him equal the record of great leaders like Abra-ham Lincon of the USA.

Adams said: “His vic-tory is a lesson to all of us that we can be what we want to be if we are pa-tient and persistent in our legitimate pursuits in life.

“His speeches before, during and after the elec-tion are also commend-able because they went a long way in dousing the tension in the country and this actually shows that the ‘Peoples General’ as he is fondly called is in-deed a statesman.”

He however admon-ished the President-elect to begin to see himself as the President-elect of all Nigerians and not just that of the All Progres-sives Congress, APC, add-ing: “For him, it is time to mend whatever differenc-es that may have arisen as a result of the election.

“It is time for all Ni-gerians, irrespective of

hardship and sheer mis-rule that characterised the 16 years of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, hegemony in Nigeria is worthy of celebration.”

Calling on Buhari to take his victory as a God-given opportunity to pro-vide a most unique and transformative leadership to the nation for the efforts of all lovers of democracy at home and within the international community not to be in vain, Bamidele advised that he should up-hold his promises to en-sure zero level tolerance for corruption as well as total commitment to the security and welfare of Nigerians on assumption of office.

He said the President-elect should not be dis-tracted nor dissipate so much energy in probing past leaders and admin-istrations, but rather,

political affiliation, to come together to contin-ue to build our nation in a positive way, which of course, should be the fo-cus of the President-elect and every other political leader across the various political parties in the country.”

OPC also congratu-lates President Goodluck Jonathan for creating a level playing ground for all the parties that con-tested the elections and the high spirit of sports-manship he displayed when he called Buhari to congratulate him even before all the results were released.

In a release issued by the YCY and signed by its National President, Bar-rister Oladotun Hassan, it described Buhari’s vic-tory as well deserved and the will of God.

YCY also commended President Jonathan for conceding defeat even be-fore the official announce-ment of the result by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as well as congrat-ulating General Buhari, describing the action as that of a good sportsman and statesman.

It said: “By that singu-lar action of President Jonathan, he has doused the tension in the coun-try and has laid a good legacy which must be em-ulated by other political leaders in the country.”

Calling on Nigerians, especially, the Yoruba, to maintain the peace as we go for the gubernatorial election on April 11, YCY said that Yoruba youths are eagerly awaiting the realisation of Buhari’s electoral promises and positive change in Nige-ria.

should encourage those who have looted public treasury to re-invest such money in the local econo-my, with a view to generat-ing more opportunities for massive employment and financial stability.

He said: “His most ur-gent assignment must be to concentrate on the critical need to assemble a highly professional and resourceful economic team that has the capac-ity to rescue the nation’s economy from the dol-drums within a reason-able space of time, as the poverty condition among the people of this country is no more tolerable and requires an urgent inter-vention.”

Congratulating Presi-dent Goodluck Jonathan on the unique opportunity he has had to lead Nige-ria and for not being a bad loser, he said: “He has

demonstrated that he has the spirit of good sports-man and has acted in the interest of peace, progress and unity of our dear na-tion. “The issue at stake is beyond Buhari and Jona-than, as it is essentially about the sustainability of our democracy as a na-tion and the need for us to demonstrate to the rest of the world that Nigeria has come of age and has set her foot on the right path in terms of commitment to global best democratic practice.

“I call on President Jonathan to not only em-brace the Buhari victory, which is victory for our democracy, but to sin-cerely ensure a peaceful and smooth transition be-tween him and the Pres-ident-elect as we move towards the inauguration of a new administration come May 29.”

Presidential poll: Majekodunmi congratulates Buhari, lauds Nigerians

KEMI OLAITANIBADAN

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC,

in Ogun State, Dr. Femi Majekodunmi, has de-scribed General Muham-madu Buhari ‘s victory in the presidential elec-tions as worth celebrat-ing by all Nigerians ir-respective of political party affiliation.

The close associate of former President Oluse-gun Obasanjo, in a release he personally signed and

made available to journal-ists yesterday, congratu-lated the APC presidential candidate for his victory in the keenly contested poll, saying it was due to his perseverance and dog-gedness.

Majekodunmi said the outcome of the elections was a true reflection of the collective wish and

aspirations of Nigerians and must be respected, maintaining that the peo-ple of the country have opted for change by dump-ing the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP .

The Baagbile of Egba-land, who congratulated Nigerians for making an informed decision to en-trench a purposeful lead-

ership and good gover-nance in the country, also described the victory as a positive change and revo-lution against corruption and injustice.

He said: “To me, Bu-hari’s victory is quite ex-citing and I am very happy for this positive change. What it means is that the people showed that truly

power belonged to them.“The result of the

presidential election is a victory for democracy, good governance and the good people of Nigeria. It is also important that we must also congratu-late Prof. Attahiru Jega for a job well done, it is all about good leadership which he has proved to the

entire world.”He stated further that

great kudos must go to Chief Obasanjo and APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, for cham-pioning and believing in a change that will put an end to poor governance, injustice, unemployment, poverty and insecurity in the country.

Politics National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, April 2, 201516

S’East congratulates BuhariEBERE NDUKWU

The people of South East geo political zone has congratu-

lated General Muhamma-du Buhari on his victory at last Saturday’s presiden-tial election, even as they applauded Nigerians for making the right choice.

A press statement made available to newsmen by All Progressives Congress, APC, South East coordinator, APC Presidential Campaign Committee, Senator Chris

Ngige, said the 2015 presi-dential election in Nigeria would certainly go down in the annals of the country’s political history, as one that showcased a sharp depar-ture from the past.

Ngige said the fact that the most desired change has been realised by the massive support of Nigerians, who were desirous of change, voting Buhari as President-elect, has further strength-ened the faith and belief of Nigerians in the country’s

democratic process.He said: “Against this

back drop, we the people of the South East geo-politi-cal zone wish to applaud Nigerians and expressed our undiluted loyalty and support to success of the Buhari administration”.

Ngige further stated that the recent development has gone to vindicate the Igbos in APC before “our kin and kiths in the South East on the need for us not to put our eggs in one basket.”

UPU, Emerhor hail Buhari on victoryTHEOPHILUS ONOJEGHENWARRI

Apex socio-cultural umbrella of Urho-bo nation, Urhobo

Progress Union, UPU, and the gubernatorial candi-date of All Progressives Congress, APC in Delta State, Olorogun O’Tega Emerhor, have congratulat-ed the President-elect, Gen-eral Muhammadu Buhari for his victory in last Satur-day’s presidential election.

Their congratulatory messages were contained in two separate statements by the UPU and Emerhor and made available to Na-tional Mirror yesterday in Warri, Delta State.

The factional President-General of UPU, Chief Tuesday Onoge, while

hailing Buhari and Nige-rians for democratically making the victory pos-sible, reaffirmed Urhobo nation’s belief in Buhari’s ability to turn the misfor-tune the country around.

Onoge, added that Urho-bo nation with over one million votes cannot be in opposition in the present democratic arrangements, strategically designed to end the era of corruption and bad governance.

Urging Delta people to join hands with APC and the Urhobo nation to vote Olorogun Emerhor as gov-ernor on April 11, Onoge said: “God has provided the ample opportunity for the next governor of Delta State to come from the Urhobo extraction. All hands must be on deck to

ensure that this opportuni-ty does not elude UPU and the entire Urhobo nation.”

Emerhor on his part said Buhari/Osibanjo vic-tory was assuring that the new government would bring positive change to the socio-economic for-tunes of Nigerians.

He asserted that Buhari and Prof Yemi Osibanjo are a super combination that will turn around the economic fortunes of Ni-geria for the benefit of Nigerians and the entire black continent.

The APC candidate said the wishes and aspirations of the Nigerian people to elect responsible and pru-dent political leaders at this critical time of our na-tion’s quest for economic remodeling have been ex-

pressed through the power of the ballots, pointing out that the “great light” has finally sparkled on our country and now ready to take the center stage in progressive world affairs.

BOLADALE BAMIGBOLAOSOGBO

Osun state All Pro-gressives Congress, APC, yesterday said

the emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari, as President-elect raises hope for greater development of the country.

The party, in a congratula-tory message to Nigerians, also disclosed that Buhari’s emergence promises a bet-ter, more reliable funding for Osun which it said shares same political philosophy with the President-elect.

In a statement issued by the party’s Director of Pub-licity, Barr Kunle Oyatomi, made available to newsmen in Osogbo, it said: “With Bu-hari’s victory, change has been ushered into the Ni-gerian political space, and hopefully will permeate all spectra of our national life.

“By the outcome of this presidential election, Nige-ria has set in motion a truly democratic system which will place premium on the people as the traditional custodians of power.

“The election has left Nigerians with a series of fundamental lessons, para-

mount amongst which are that it takes courage, persis-tence, and strength of char-acter to succeed politically in effecting change in a system that had gone rotten like Nigeria over a period of 16 years of misrule by the Peo-ples Democratic Party, PDP”.

Reminding Osun people how the PDP-led Federal Government allegedly al-most strangulated the APC Rauf Aregbesola-led gov-ernment after the gover-norship victory of August 9, 2014, Oyatomi said that since then, “it has been a back-breaking struggle; but with Buhari’s victory at the presidential election, change, real change of for-tune is on the way for the state.”

Similarly, an APC chief-tain in Osun state, Senator Felix Ogunwale, described Buhari’s victory as well-de-served, not only for the par-ty but for the entire nation.

In a statement signed by Ogunwale and made available to newsmen, the former federal lawmaker congratulated Nigerians for their undying spirit in “enthroning a disciplinar-ian who will ensure overall

The letter reads: “I has-ten to congratulate you on your success and victory in the presidential elec-tion of March 28. Your success and victory after three previous unsuccess-ful attempts must be great object lessons for you and for all politicians, particu-larly in Nigeria.

“For me, the totality of the 2015 election holds many lessons for our de-mocracy and democrati-sation process which are both maturing. On this occasion, the system has been unnecessarily over-heated before and par-

OLAJIDE OMOJOLOMOJU

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday wrote a

personal letter to Nige-ria’s President-elect, Gen-eral Muhammadu Buhari in what analysts have termed “a possible sign that he is prepared to help the country’s leader-in-waiting.”

In a public letter to Bu-hari shortly after he was declared the winner of Saturday’s presidential election, Obasanjo said: “I am also sure that there are men and women of good-will, character and virtue across the board that you can mobilise to join hands with you in the reform, re-pairs and redirection that will be imperative to put Nigeria back on the fast

lane of good governance, unity, cohesiveness, devel-opment and progress.

Both Obasanjo, 78, and Buhari, 72, are both former military Heads of State of Africa’s most populous nation, who have had the rare privilege of becoming elected civilian president.

Former President Obasanjo, Head of State between 1976 and 1979 and civilian president from 1999 to 2007, fell out with the defeated incum-bent President Goodluck Jonathan, on who he has launched series of public attacks in the past.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar (left) congratulating the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, yesterday.

Buhari’s victory, better funding for Osun –APC

Obasanjo to Buhari, assemble men of goodwill, character, virtue

ticularly during the cam-paign, when emphasis was more in trivialities and hate, divisive, undig-nifying and disrespectful statements and comments rather than on pressing is-sues requiring attention.

“I know that in vic-tory, you will be magnani-mous to start binding the wounds and bitterness oc-casioned by the campaign and the evil disciples.

“With so much harm already done to many na-tional institutions, includ-ing the military which proudly nurtured you and me, you will have a lot to

•Warns Urhobo nation against politics of opposition

do on institution reform, education, healthcare, economy, infrastructure, power, youth employment, agribusiness, oil and gas, external affairs, cohesive-ness of our nation and ridding our land of cor-ruption. Your varied and wide experience will un-doubtedly stand you in good stead.

“Once again, I felicitate with you and wish you well.”

The public letter to Bu-hari so soon after his be-ing declared winner of the presidential poll may how-ever be interpreted by po-litical analysts as “a pitch for a job’, after he openly de-clared support for Buhari’s candidacy and aspiration.

Nigeria and religious people without morality CHIEDU UCHE OKOYE

Among the dominant religious prac-tices in the world today are Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity,

African traditional religions, etc. One’s re-ligion may be determined by factors of geography and circumstances of birth. However, some people get converted from one religion to another at some points in their lives.

Religion can be seen simply as the ways by which people try to reach their gods or God. No religion teaches violence acts, but evil-minded people twist the teachings of their religions to achieve their selfish and materialistic goals. The religious instruc-tions and teachings we receive have the potentialities of modifying and reforming our bad characters. The world will become an abode of peace if Christians abide by the Decalogue contained in the Holy Bible. Likewise, religious insurgency will cease in our world if Muslims adhere strictly to the unadulterated and true teachings of Prophet Mohammed.

But are all religious people morally up-right? Not all intensely religious people have moral uprightness. From America to Britain, from Australia to Germany, we do hear sordid bawdy tales about Catholic priests who indulge in pederasty and pedo-philic acts. And we cannot gainsay the fact that some revered pastors of Pentecostal churches commercialize and bastardize Christianity for pecuniary gains. They do

OUR LACK OF POSITIVE MORALITY IS THE REASON WHY WE

INDULGE IN CORRUPT DEEDS

Tomorrow is Good Friday, the begin-ning of this year’s Easter period. It also marks 1982th year anniversary

of the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ, one of the greatest religious icons that had ever trodden on this planet. The entire world would be thrown into celebration during the three-day period, which will end on Monday (Easter Monday). It is a period historically representing the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who died, according to Christian chronology, 1982 years ago. That is in contemplation of Gregorian numerology which starts count-ing from the year of His birth and thus has the year of death as 33 A.D.

The Christ followers all over the world believe that this singular event is the pin-nacle of divine intervention to salvage mankind- the denouement in the primordi-al plot featuring mankind saga and stretch-ing all the eons from the blissful era of plenitude and grace in the Garden of Eden, through the tragic time when humanity fell in the same locale, to the period of unmer-

Lessons and precepts of EasterWHAT AMOUNT OF LOVE INHERES IN A

HEART THAT DIVERTS FUNDS MEANT FOR

DEVELOPMENT INTO A PRIVATE ACCOUNT?

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

ited redemption.The Easter is seen as the ultimate sym-

bolism of agape love; the divine love of God for mankind conveying the message of everlasting hope. No human is absolute-ly indifferent to the historical figure called Jesus of Nazareth. The Christians believe that Christ is the son of God, who came to world for the singular purpose of saving the fallen man from the eternal damnation.

The Muslims see Jesus as one of the principal prophets of God, who came to the world with Allah’s message to human beings, who preached a sublime message of love for mankind and performed count-less number of miracles, both to alleviate the suffering of the people and to under-score his mission as an emissary of the Al-mighty. Even the atheists regard Jesus as one of the greatest teachers of mankind, whose messages are laden with great fe-licities, charity and hope - requisite ingre-dients for harmonious co-existence among humans.

In all these varied religious/philosophi-cal world views, the phenomenon called love and its esteemed, inherent value in human affairs is ever constant. Thus, all the world religions, including even athe-istic liberalism and scientific humanism, convey the underlying message that we should love one another and shun self-ishness in all its ramifications. If we can imbibe the essence of Easter and allow its message of genuine and selfless affec-tions to percolate our spirits, most of our problems will disappear. Neither the Holy Bible nor the Al-Quran Kareem enjoins us

to embrace the culture of hatred and violence; neither says we should maim and kill one another on accounts of our reconcilable or irreconcilable dif-ferences, rather, the two scriptures are replete with passages urging love and forbearance.

The politicians who exploit their public offices to pursue egotistic agenda; who loot the treasury with abandon, acquiring properties all over the world while the majority of their compatriots are languishing in poverty, have no love in their perverse hearts. What amount of love inheres in a heart that diverts funds meant for development into a private account or a leader who denies the people their fundamental human rights, or fraudu-lently steals the mandate of his oppo-nents in an electoral contest?

A religious zealot, who burns down places of worship of other people, is an inconsiderate, loveless, terrorist. The same thing holds true for those who kill other innocent people on the ground of ethnicity. The true lesson of Easter transcends mere festivities

and fanfare; it transcends mere atten-dance of places of worship in flamboy-ant dresses and listening perfunctorily to sermons. In countless number of churches around the world in the next few days, homiletic injunctions would be reeled out with exegetical precision and godly passion. But what is really important is the number of people who turns new leaves in obedience to the messages; and how many hearts would allow the real gospel of love to take roots and blossom?

How many people are doing unto others as they would like to be treated? Many people know the customs and tra-dition behind Easter, but very few both-er themselves about the significance of Christ crucifixion and resurrection. For a great number of people, Easter period, like other festive periods, is just an op-portunity to engage in reckless binge-ing, drinking, debauchery and lascivi-ousness.

The practices exhibiting lack of love percolates every facet of the society. It would do us a lot of good if we strive to forget all our differences and unite as common sojourners in this earthly realm in which we are bound with a common destiny. To really move for-ward, we must cultivate the sublime vir-tue of love, evinced through positive at-tributes like magnanimity, forbearance, amity, charity and altruism.

Happy Easter!Ketefe may be followed on twitter @

Ketesco

exploit the naivety and ignorance of their members to fleece them of their money. Now miracles are hawked by men of God. Teaching people the importance of spiri-tual values and holiness is subordinated to the propagation of prosperity messages and the performance of miracles.

In Nigeria, people believe that those who condemn the moral rot in the church will come under eternal condemnation and damnation as their action is believed to be akin to committing sin against the Holy Spirit. Our having this mindset in-duces into us permissiveness. So, we ac-quiesce to their wrong doings in the mis-taken belief that they are the ambassadors of God on earth.

It is not only religious leaders that have moral vacuity; devotees of many differ-ent religions in Nigeria do run foul of the teachings and injunctions contained in their holy books. Our political leaders, who are either Christians or Muslims, would engage in treasury looting after swearing an oath with either the Bible or Koran to be of good behavior. The blood-thirsty Muslims justify their murderous deeds by twisting and misinterpreting por-tions of the Koran.

So our practice of religions has failed abysmally in effecting moral re-generation among us. A country whose religious leaders cannot hold aloft the moral compass and torch for their com-patriots will come adrift. Not surpris-ingly, and consequently, too, there is an erosion of moral and family values among us. Here, good is deemed bad; and bad, good. Nothing shocks and of-fends us, anymore. Moral vices have be-come normative in Nigeria.

But people without positive morality tend to engage in corrupt acts. So, de-vout Anglicans and Aatholics buy WAS-SCE and Post-UME results for their chil-dren. Those deeply religious people who are rich collude with NECO, WASSCE, and UTME examiners and invigilators to compromise the integrity of those ex-aminations. That is why the grades that appear on some people’s certificates are not a true reflection of their mental abil-ities. Do you still wonder why Nigeria is mired in underdevelopment?

A morally upright person will not di-vert public money entrusted in his care into his private bank account, and a morally upright person is aware of what constitutes good and bad. But Nigeria teems with people who have moral vacu-ity and spiritual aridity. They indulge in deeds that destroy our country. Human beings mobilize and galvanize human and natural resources, and capital to ef-fect national development. And if they place their selfish interests above other

considerations owing to their moral vacuity, then Nigeria will remain an underdevel-oped country.

Our lack of positive morality is the rea-son why we indulge in corrupt deeds. And while perpetrating evil deeds, we do not have prick of conscience and qualms. So, it is imperative for our religious leaders to ef-fect moral regeneration among us.

It is sad to note that Nigerians are putting their religions to bad uses. Some Islamic clerics brainwash and indoctrinate young Muslims with teachings that are not con-tained in the Koran. They misinterpret and twist them to suit their purposes. That is why the Boko Haram-induced insurgency in the North-East is still festering. And many Christian clergy subordinate biblical teach-ings that border on spirituality, holiness and love to the performance of miracles and propagation of prosperity messages.

Our adherence to religious injunctions, no doubt, will activate our consciences and imbue us with positive morality. Then, we will start to desist from engaging in acts that can destroy our country.

Okoye wrote from Uruowulu-Obosi, Anambra State.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 17Thursday, April 2, 2015 Views

KAYODEKETEFE

[email protected] 08032147720 (SMS only)

CRITICAL STROKES

18 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Imperative for Development Bank of Nigeria

A mass shooting at Oikos University at Oakland, California, United States, left seven people dead and three others injured. The incident when a gunman shot at people inside Oikos University, a Korean Christian college. Within a few hours, the number of reported fatalities reached seven. The suspect, 43-year-old One L. Goh, a former student at the school, was taken into custody for the shootings.

April 2, 2012 April 2, 1982

Falklands War: Argentina invaded the Falkland Is-lands. The Falklands War, also known as the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was a 1982 war between Argentina and the United Kingdom. The conflict re-sulted from the long-standing dispute over the sover-eignty of the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, which lie in the South Atlan-tic, east of Argentina.

Israeli forces surrounded the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem into which armed Palestinians had re-treated. The Church of the Nativity is a basilica located in Bethlehem, a Palestinian territory; and is consid-ered to be the oldest continuously operating Christian church in the world. It is still traditionally considered to be located over the cave that marks the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth.

ON THIS DAY

Recently, President Goodluck Jonathan established the De-velopment Bank of Nigeria

(DBN) to address funds challenges faced by small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs). With a capital base of N320 billion and liberal-ized loan regime, the development would seem a most auspicious initiative given the hassles the nation’s SMEs contend with in their efforts to access funds from existing banks. Hitherto, the Bank of Industry (BOI) and the Bank of Agriculture (BOA), two special-ized banks owned by the Federal Government, have the responsi-bility to address such challenges. It was also the realization of the neglect of the financial needs of this critical sector that the defunct Peoples’ Bank of Nigeria (PBN) was created in the past. It was also the reason why the government re-vitalized and reformed the nation’s micro-finance banking sector, even as the conventional deposit banks are expected to operate SME financing schemes.

President Goodluck Jonathan, while launching the bank in Abu-ja, had said the DBN would pro-vide medium to long term lending to micro, small and medium scale enterprises of up to 10 years tenor and a moratorium period of up to 18 months. The DBN mandate, nonetheless, offers an opportunity for the interrogation of the perfor-mance of similar institutions on

ground were established to facili-tate economic growth and devel-opment in the country through nurturing small and medium scale business endeavours in the coun-try. There is no gainsaying the fact that SMEs serve as the engine for driving any economy, Nigeria’s inclusive.

They are critical to the develop-ment of any economy because they possess great potential for employment generation, improve-ment of local technology, product output diversification, develop-ment of indigenous entrepreneur-ship, as well as foreword integra-tion with large-scale industries. As far back as 2010, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), for example, had provided a N500 billion debenture stock and N200 billion Small and Medium Enterprises Credit Guar-antee Scheme (SMECG). The apex bank, in acknowledging the gross underperformance of SMEs in Nigeria, which undermined their contributions to economic growth and development, identified four critical issues as being responsible.

These include the unfriendly business environment in which they operate, poor funding, low management skills and lack of access to modern technology. In CBN’s reckoning, shortage of funds occupies a central posi-tion. In Nigeria’s special case, we cannot agree less with the CBN, as commercial banks have been

repeatedly indicted of serious reluctance in providing the needed succour to SMEs, purportedly because of inherent high risks and uncertainties.

Despite the promises of commit-ment by many of the banks to as-sist SMEs, the latter often encoun-ter monumental and discouraging hurdles in their bid to source funds from banks. Instead of advancing loans to SMEs, most bank prefer granting loan to importers of fast-selling products and other crooks who engage in round-tripping with the loans. The genuine entrepre-neurs in desperate need of loans to expand the real sector of the econ-omy are left in the lurch as a result. Perhaps more worrisome are the outrageously high interest rates, short and harsh repayment terms attached to the loans when banks decide to be ‘generous’ with giving them, apart from corrupt exploits by bank officials in the process of securing the facility. Indeed, the collapse of many banks in the 1990s is traceable mainly to indiscrimi-nate advancement of credit to bank chiefs and their fronts.

So, what difference is the DBN

going to make? The Minister of Fi-nance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says it promises to prove “not just access (to loanable funds), but access in a manner that does not stifle them, but instead, grows them; access that gives them space to afford a decent life; while nurs-ing their businesses; access that will not take substantial portions of their profits away from them; access to the sort of finance that empowers them and their commu-nities”.

However, what guarantees that the FG would superintend the realization of these lofty ideals? We assume the FG factored in the failures and limitations of existing banks, especially their predilec-tions for sharp practices, insinceri-ty and exploitation in the founding of DBN. We make bold to say that bailing out SMEs is not a function of the number of banks estab-lished for the purpose, but that of the resolve of appropriate finan-cial monitoring and regulatory agencies to firmly commit banks to the performance of roles that facilitate economic development. Hopefully, the involvement of the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, World Bank, African Development Bank and Agence France Develop-ment in the facilitation of the DBN would ensure it meets national expectations.

BAILING OUT SMES IS NOT A FUNCTION OF

THE NUMBER OF BANKS ESTABLISHED FOR THE

PURPOSE, BUT…

April 2, 2002

Thursday April 2, 2015Editorial

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

BARRISTER JIMOH IBRAHIM, CFR PUBLISHER

SUNDAY OLAJIDE MANAGING DIRECTOR/CEO

SEYI FASUGBA DAILY EDITOR

GBEMI OLUJOBI SATURDAY EDITOR

AYO OLESIN SUNDAY EDITOR

BEN MEMULETIWON GENERAL EDITOR

DOZIE OKEBALAMA COORDINATOR, EDITORIAL BOARD

CALLISTUS OKE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

ISE-OLUWA IGE ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF

AUGUSTUS IMEKAN ACTING HEAD, GRAPHICS

Tunbosun ogundare

It was yet another embarrass-ing moment for Nigeria as the West African Examinations

Council (WAEC) announced the overall best three candidates in its 2014 May\June West African Senior School Certificate Exami-nation (WASSCE) at regional level last week with no candidate from Nigeria.

Surprisingly, the country pre-sented over 80 per cent of the total 2,016,497 candidates who sat for the edition alongside their coun-terparts from four other member countries, namely: Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia and Liberia.

However, Ghana, which pre-sented only 397, 275 candidates, representing just 16.21 per cent pro-duced all the best three candidates in the exam. Amazingly, the edi-tion made it the fifth consecutive time Ghana would record similar achievement. The exception was in 2011 when a female candidate from Nigeria, Christiana Adeloye, came third.

The Registrar to the council, Dr. Iyi Uwadiae made this announce-ment in Lagos during the just con-cluded 63rd Annual Meeting of the council with delegates from all member-countries in attendance.

Also present were the three bril-liant candidates -Masters Hassan Mickail, Kenyah Blaykyi and Ar-chibald Enninful Henry- who did Ghana proud.

It has become a tradition for WAEC since 30 years ago to hon-our the best three outstanding can-didates in its May\June exams at the regional level on yearly basis.

“We use the occasion of the council annual meeting which holds among member countries on rotational basis to honour these outstanding candidates with the WAEC Excellence Award,” Uwa-diae said.

So far, Nigeria has produced the

1998 and 2010. The award is meant for all can-

didates of the examination body notwithstanding whether they are from the public or private schools.

first prize winner of the award 11th times, Ghana 10th times, Sierra Le-one thrice, Gambia once and Libe-ria none while no winner was de-clared for four editions- 1996, 1997,

But surprisingly, most of the win-ners of the awards just like this year’s recipients are usually from the government-owned schools.

The first prize winner, Hassan, 18, did not only attend Ghana Sec-ondary Technical School, Takora-di, he is also from financially poor background such that he gained admission into a university this academic session but could not go for lack of fund.

It is now that a bank in Ghana has come to his rescue giving him scholarship to university to study his dream course.

His first and second runners-up, Kenyah, 19, and Archibald, 18, were also studied at St. Augustine’s College, and Mfantsipim School,

both public schools in Cape Coast.To win the award, the candidates

must fulfill all the requirements set by the exam body. Uwadiae explained that part of the require-ments was that candidates must secured high Grade ‘A’ distinctions all round in at least eight registered science-related subjects.

“WEAC also subjected them to further screening that comes in stages to ascertain genuineness of their results,” the registrar noted. “And when no candidate meets up the standard, the council will not declare any winner for that year and this had happened many times in the past.”

Interestingly, the trio sat for

The firsT prize winner, hassan, 18, did noT only aTTend Ghana secondary Technical school,

Takoradi, he is also from financially poor backGround such

ThaT he Gained admission inTo a universiTy This academic session

buT could noT Go for lack of fund.

PRIZE WINNERS: L-R: Masters Hassan Mickail, Kenyah Blaykyi and Archibald Enninful Henry at the event.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 19

Education TodayThursday, April 2, 2015

AFE BABALOLA UNIVERSITY,ADO-EKITI (ABUAD)

AFE BABALOLA UNIVERSITY,ADO-EKITI (ABUAD)

“The setting of this University is ‘Superlative’ and ‘Impressive’, with nothing of its kind that I have seen so far in the country or anywhere else” (Gen. Dr. Yakubu Gowon, GCFR,)

Again, Ghana rules W/Africa in WASSCE results Sweeps laurels for 5th consecutive time Registrar worries

‘Only youths can make Nigeria better’

10 years after, UNILAG students elect leaders

LASU election recess illegal —ASUU

2123 25

Mathematics, English language, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Integrated Science, Further Maths and Social Studies. They all scored A1 all through with narrow margin in their cumulative average scores. While Hassan scored a total of 682.093, Kenyah and Archibald scored 680. 429 and 676.935, respectively out of the possible 800 points.

“So, the recipients of WAEC Excel-lence Award must be truly distinguished themselves from the crowd,” Prof. Pius Obanya, the immediate past chairman of the council, said in his remark. “Hence, their winning the award was the byprod-ucts of thorough training by their parents, teachers and schools as well as the society which inculcates the culture of excellence in its youths.

However, the young promising boys were all happy for the achievement, which they attributed to God, their parents and teach-ers. They said they were the agents who laid the foundation upon which they built and still building on. They had all won one award or the other in the past for their schools. However, the spokesman for the group at the event, Kenyah, promised that they would continue to pursue excellence as they move up the ladder. Hassan’s aspi-ration is to become a petroleum engineer while Kenyah and Archibald want to be a lawyer and medical doctor, respectively.

Reacting on the inability of Nigerian candidate to make the list of top three, Uwadiae expressed disappointment, saying it called for serious concern that required holistic approach from all stakeholders in the sector.

“The problem is not only that of the government which is not doing enough for education sector,” he pointed out. “The par-ents, teachers, schools, the society as well as the students themselves must have to wake up for their sleep and do their respec-tive part to move the sector forward. Edu-cation is the bedrock of development in any society. We must encourage the spirit of hardwork, diligence commitment and excellence in whatever we lay our hands on.”

Recalling those old good days like be-tween 1997 and 2007 when Nigerians used to dominate the stage, the registrar said WAEC would not only sustain the standard it has been known for over the years, but would continue to conduct credible and globally acceptable exams for member na-tions.


EKiti offers automatic employment to best graduating student

Boko Haram: Children in a class at the internally displaced persons camp, in Abuja

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net20 Thursday, April 2, 2015Education Today

EzEkiEl TiTusBAUCHI

The College of Education, Azare, Bauchi State has cautioned its newly admitted students to behave

in a manner acceptable to the school and the society at large.

The Provost of the college, Dr. Abdullahi Mohammed Isyaku gave the advice in his message to the new students during their matriculation ceremony recently. They are 2,799 students in all including those who are physically challenged.

The provost in a statement by the college’s spokesman, Mr. Suleiman Shehu congratu-lated the new students, saying they should count themselves lucky to have been offered admission by the college.

He noted the college witnessed upsurge in the numbers of applicants this year which he traced to increasing demand for higher education in the state and lack of space in other tertiary institutions in and outside the state.

He however called on the students to study the college handbook very well for them to understand the behavior expected from them as well as keeping to the oath of alle-giance they had sworn to.

He also advised them to put in their best by committed to their studies so as to gradu-ate from the college on record time and with good grades.

He declared that that the college would offer the less privileged and physically chal-lenged among them scholarship and provide free buses to ease their movement in and out of the college.

He however promised that the college would provide all the basic needs that would studentship a worthwhile experience.

Be well-behaved, Bauchi college tells new students

ACCA educates undergraduates on leadership

Tawose

warding outcome of years of toil and perse-verance while felicitating with their parents and guardians who had laboured to see them through the rigours and demands of univer-sity education.

The governor, who charged the graduat-ing students to allow the academic and mor-

Abiodun nEjoADO EKITI

It was all smiles for the best graduat-ing student of Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado-Ekiti for the 2012/2013 ses-

sion, Mr. Olamide Tawose, last week as the Ekiti State Government announced an of-fer of appointment for him.

Tawose, who studied Mathematical Sciences with Computer Science option, had a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.87 from the possible 5.0 points to emerge the best graduating student for the session.

He led the pack of 19 fresh graduates who bagged First Class during the 20th con-vocation ceremonies of the institution.

Tawose is to resume work as a Graduate Assistant Lecturer in his department in the university on completion of the compulso-ry National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

The gesture to the young scholar, ac-cording to the governor and Visitor to the university, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, is to reward his academic diligence and also encourage others to strive for excellence.

Fayose, who was represented by his deputy, Dr. Kolapo Olusola, congratulated the fresh graduates on their success and re-

al values they have acquired in the univer-sity bear positively on their day-to-day life, assured them of government’s continuous efforts to reduce unemployment among the graduate populace.

He praised the Vice- Chancellor, Prof. Oladipo Aina and his team members for the prudent management of the limited re-sources at their disposal, assuring that his government would be relentless at finding ways of meeting the needs of the university community as the state finances improves.

While congratulating the university on the recent accreditation given to its Col-lege of Medicine by the National Univer-sities Commission (NUC), the governor expressed optimism that the report of the Medical and Dental Council being awaited would be favourable.

Earlier in his address, the Vice- Chan-cellor, Prof. Oladipo Aina, said that the ceremony formalised the graduation of 2, 973 full time students, 1,411 part time, 485 sandwich, 1,731 affiliate colleges and 307 postgraduate students.

He charged them to be good ambassa-dors of the citadel of learning wherever they found themselves and to live by the creed of their convocation which is to be found worthy in learning and character.

ojo oyEwAmidEAKURE

The Association of Chartered Certi-fied Accountants, ACCA, last week in Akure, Ondo State capital or-

ganised one-day leadership seminal for university students studying manage-ment courses, especially finance in the southwest region of the country.

The seminal tagged: “Inspiring Future Leaders in Finance” according to the asso-ciation was designed to develop the students’ skills and knowledge in finance.

Eight institutions were in attendance in-cluding Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin; Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti; Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Ikeji; Redeemers Uni-versity and Ekiti State University amongst others.

Part of the programme, which featured presentations by ACCA team was an inter-university debate.

Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Ikeji, won the debate with Elizade University coming second while Afe Babalola University came third.

There was also an employability session facilitated by the ACCA Country Head in Ni-geria, Toyin Adegbola.

A member of the association, Seyi Olanre-waju, shared his experiences on his journey to ACCA membership and spoke to the stu-dents about positioning themselves to be suc-cessful in their careers in finance.

Again, Ghana rules W/Africa in WASSCE results

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 21Education TodayThursday, April 2, 2015

Group educates visually, earring impaired students on saving habitTunbosun ogundare

A non-for profit mak-ing body, Financial Literacy for All

(FLA) has organised a fi-nancial training session for the visually and earring impaired students in Lagos State , educating them on how to cultivate the habit in line with global best prac-tices while in school.

The group organised the training as part of activities to mark this year’s Global Money Week.

The seminar took place at the Wesley School for the Deaf and Pacelli School for the Blind and Partially Sighted Children, both in

Machines (ATM) easier for them to use by embossing them with Braille.

Speaking shortly after the talk and presentation of books to participants, the group’s Project Direc-tor, Laja Shoniran said what reduces capability and effectiveness of a stu-dent was not his inability to see or hear but lack of appropriate knowledge.

He said to be visually impaired doesn’t make one not to be part of the society thus the reason for them to acquire right knowledge that will help them do right things as they journey in life.

He advised them as well as their visually impaired

L-R: Registrar, West African Examinations Council, Dr. Iyi Uwadiae; Minister of Education, Liberia, Etmonia Tapeh; new Chairman, WAEC, Dr. Evelyne Kandaki; Vice-chairman, Hon. Hawa Goll-Kortchi and guest speaker and Minster of Foreign Affairs, Liberia, Hon. Augustine Ngafuan during 63rd WAEC’s annual meeting in Lagos, last week. PHOTO: TUNBOSUN OGUNDARE

saidaT alausa

An associate dean for Research and Faculty Development, School of Engineering, Santa

Clara University, USA, Prof. Tokunbo Ogunfunmi has said that for Nigeria to catch up with the developed and indus-trialised world in the training of next generation of engineers, it must be in

pace with technological innovation. He made the observation while deliv-

ering the 41st public lecture of Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State titled: “Tech-nology convergence and the promise of internet of things: Prospects for devel-oping economies.”

The lecturer said this approach would help the country in the attain-ment of Vision 20:2020 initiative which is just five years away.

According to him, “There is need to educate our students to take the advan-tage of new technologies of education delivery and tailor the curricula in a way that will produce sound profession-als.”

He said the country needs to em-brace the idea where people activities irrespective of sectors of the economy are carried out on the internet.

Noting that the country has im-proved in computer technologies espe-cially through smart phones, he said broadband connectivity in all towns and villages nationwide would boost the system the more.

Prof. Ogunfunmi who proposed for installation of free and functional inter-net facilities in all tertiary and second-ary schools in the country, said by doing so would expose the students more to ICT.

He disclosed that Covenant Univer-sity had planned to run Internet of Things as a degree programme.

He said the programme would help in the production of next generation of engineers that would build intent devic-es necessary to develop the sector.

Nigeria needs to improve technology education —Expert

Lagos last week.At the programme, vi-

sually impaired partici-pants after equipping with knowledge of how to save and spent money wisely took a swap on government condemning the frequent change of Naira notes.

They said it was always difficult for them to master a new note whenever it is being introduced into the circulation.

While calling on the Fed-eral Government not to be changing money frequent-ly, they equally called on the Central Bank as a regu-latory finical institution in the country to compel the commercial banks to make their Automated Teller

counterparts to cultivate the habit of saving from the little pocket money they are being given and grow with the habit to adulthood for purpose of investment.

“That is one of the ways to beat poverty after school,” he stressed. “We have taken the same mes-sage to your counterparts in regular schools.”

Shoniran however commended all the Com-mon Wealth Secretarial, London, CBN and Credit Awareness Nigeria for supporting the project technically and materi-ally.

While receiving the books on behalf of Pacelli School, the school Princi-pal, Sister Jane Onyemeri thanked the organiser, saying it would greatly help her students now and in future.

z

L-R: Registrar, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Dr. Olumuyiwa Oludayo; Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Charles Ayo; lecturer, Prof. Tokunbo Ogunfunmi; Education Secretary, Living Faith Church; Prof. Bridget Sokan; Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Taiwo Abioye and a lecturer during the institution’s 41st public lecture held on campus last week.

Be law abiding, ADO Poly rector charges new students abiodun nejoADO EKITI

The Federal Polytech-nic, Ado Ekiti has matriculated a total

of 2,517 fresh students made up of 2,360 National Diplo-ma and 157 Higher National Diploma for the 2014/15 academic session of the Con-tinuing Education Centre in Ado Ekiti.

The Rector of the insti-tution, Dr. Taiwo Akande, charged the students to be law abiding and of good con-duct.

He also urged them to take advantage of the en-trepreneurship programme introduced by the school to learn some skills, as they could not rely on white collar jobs alone after graduation.

The rector promised fur-ther provision of amenities and facilities to make the stay of the new students in the school rewarding and

saidaT alausa

The Dean of Student Affairs, Federal University of Ag-

riculture, Abeokuta (FU-NAAB), Professor Yemi Akegbejo-Samsons, has disclosed that the coun-try cannot attain enviable heights among the comity of nations without the ac-tive contributions of the youths to its development.

He made this known during the students’ pro-gramme, which featured the inter-collegiate oratory com-petition, launching of the motivational book; “A better Nigeria without me” and the unveiling of the proposed ultra-modern relaxation centre.

The dean advised Ni-gerian youths not to allow themselves to be used as vandals or political thugs. Rather, they should stand up for themselves today and for their future because a better Nigeria without them was impossible.

He charged the students not to disappoint their coun-try even if others fail, saying “other Nigerians might have failed themselves but I will not fail my country,”

The book reviewer, Dr. Sarah Iyasere, urged Nigeri-ans to take their destiny into their own hands because the

unity of the country was not negotiable, as the people have roles to play in the de-velopment of the country, saying there is no Nigeria without people.

Earlier, the Students’ Union President, Olajumoke Olawale, said the proposed ultra-modern relaxation centre would set the pace for other institutions across the country.

While promising timely completion of the project, Olajumoke assured FU-NAAB students of quality leadership and good repre-sentation, adding that the centre was to help students relax and unwind after rig-orous lectures and academic exercises.

The inter-collegiate ora-tory debate competition featured students from the various colleges speaking on the topic, “The Role of Stu-dents-Youths in Building: A Progressive Nation.”

Speakers saw the need for youths to see themselves as nation builders for the coun-try to make progress.

The students, who noted that education remained the potent weapon for ensuring smooth and sustainable re-lationship and development, advised their colleagues to awaken the sleeping giants in them because they have a lot to offer the country for her to achieve greatness.

Only youths can make Nigeria better, says don

less stressful.She said: “The Academic

Board has also put in place mechanism to ensure that you have access to quality books to enhance your learn-ing. The era of student’s extortion under one guise or the other is over as man-agement has put necessary machinery in motion to de-tect and deal ruthlessly with anybody involved directly or through proxy or agents.”

The occasion was yet an-other opportunity for the school management to rec-ognise some outstanding students in their examina-tions last session at both ND and HND levels at the centre.

Akande, who also seised the opportunity to assure of lasting solution to the re-cently resolved industrial crisis in the institution, said that most of the issues that led to the strike were as a re-sult of the poor state of the economy.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net22 Education Today Thursday, April 2, 2015

UNILORIN expands academic programmesSaidat alauSa

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN),

Kwara State, Prof. Abdul-Ganiyu Ambali has said that the university intro-duced some new academic programmes as a way of increasing the access of Nigerian youths to quality education.

He made this known re-cently while receiving the members of a National Universities Commission

have already applied to study in the university for the 2015/2016 academic session.

Prof. Ambali, however, lamented that because of the limitation placed on it by the admission quota al-location by NUC, the uni-versity would be able to admit only about 12,000 of the applicants.

The vice-chancellor commended the NUC for its good work and the Re-source Verification Team

The 18 classroom block at Ayedere Ajibola Senior High School, Ketu, Lagos, built by the Lagos State Government and inaugurated by the Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, recently. INSET: L-R: Special Adviser on Education to Lagos State Governor, Mr. Fatai Olukoga; Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba; Governor Babatunde Fashola,; Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye; her Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs counterpart, Mr. Ademorin Kuye, and that of Works and Infrastructure Mr. Ganiyu Jonhson at the event.

JameS danJumaKATSINA

The Federal Government has spent over N27 billion from 2011 to date in the provision of free in-

structional materials to primary school pupils and junior secondary students.

President Goodluck Jonathan stated this in Katsina State during the official opening ceremony of the distribution of instructional materials for public basic education schools nationwide last week.

He said with the provision, every pu-pil in the public primary schools now has access to textbooks in targeted sub-ject areas.

He identified the core subjects to in-clude English Language, Mathematics, Basic Science and Technology as well as Social Studies.

He also said with the development, reading culture in the “junior second-ary school is being reactivated through adequate stocking of the school librar-ies.”

The president, represented by Min-ister of Education and former Kano State Governor, Malam Ibrahim Shek-arau, however said there were chal-lenges despite huge resources in provi-sion of these materials.

He said major among the challenge which was undermining government’s achievement was the “appearance of these not for sale textbooks in a few markets in this country.

“There have been media reports of

the diversion of the textbooks from the schools to the markets.

“In order to curtail this, we have en-gaged the services of consultants to monitor the delivery and distribution of these books.

“In addition, the security agencies are also monitoring the delivery and distri-bution of these books.”

The president called on stakeholders in the sector to ensure monitoring, deliv-ery and utilisation of the instructional materials, as such was a collective re-sponsibility.

On his part, Executive Secretary, Uni-versal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, Dr. Dikko Suleiman said the fed-eral government had distributed over 126.5 million textbooks in core subjects to public primary schools nationwide.

Suleiman also said that over 4.9 mil-lion textbooks in core subjects were pro-cured and distributed to junior second-ary schools across the country.

He said 13.8 million library resource materials, and 2,375 science equipment were also distributed under the Jona-than-led administration since 2011 to date.

He said the effort and “positive col-laborative responses of state govern-ment had made us achieved 100 percent 1:1 pupil-textbook ratio in all public pri-mary schools in the federation.”

He said under the president’s Edu-cation Transformation Agenda, more than one million teachers and educa-tion managers have been trained and re-trained “to keep them abreast of emerg-ing pedagogical trends.”

Jonathan laments sales of govt textbooks in open market

(NUC) Resource Verifica-tion Team to the proposed Departments of Food Engi-neering and Computer Sci-ence Education.

According to him, it is very important to ensure that Nigerian youths are adequately educated.

Pointing out that the university has been the most sought after by ad-mission seekers in the last couple of years, the vice-chancellor explained that over 107,000 candidates

for a job well-done. He assured the commis-

sion of the university com-mitment to its Benchmark for Academic Standards (BMAS).

Earlier in her address, the Coordinator of the NUC Verification Team, Dr. Adeniran said that the team was in the university in response to its applica-tion to commence the Food Engineering and Comput-er Science Education pro-grammes.

z

Vice-Chancellor, FUTA, Professor Adebiyi Daramola(right) presenting a plague to the guest lecturer, Prof. Jacob Olupona shortly after delivering the 2015 Foundation Day lecture of the university, recently.

Monarch donates books to UNN

The Obi of Onitsha, Prof. Alfred Achebe, recently donated 10

complementary copies of different books he authored to the University of Nige-ria, Nssuka, Enugu State.

Presenting the books to the university, he explained that the books cantered on the history of Onitsha, its contribution to Nigerian development, especially in the field of education and how the city successfully combined modernity with culture to achieve economic growth.

He said the donation of the book marks the begin-ning of the donations to all the universities in the South East.

A foremost education-ist and administra-tor, Chief James

Adeleke Lakisokun, is dead. He is the father of Prin-cipal, ObafemiAwolowo University International School, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Mrs. AderonkeLakisokun-Adeniyi.

Pa Lakisokun, who died at 92, was Apesin of Odeomu in Osun State. He worked in various schools in the South West between January 1942 and December 1983. He started as a class-room teacher and rose to become a principal. Among the schools he had worked

No fewer than 50,000 junior and senior secondary students

sat for the first stage exami-nation of this year’s Cowbell National Secondary School Mathematics Competition (NASSMAC) nationwide last Saturday. The competi-tion is being organized and sponsored by Promasidor Nigeria Limited, makers of Cowbell Milk and other con-fectionaries,

The Category Manager of the company disclosed this in an interview at Im-maculate Heart Secondary School, Maryland, Lagos, one of the 184 examination centres of the exam in Nige-ria this year.

According to him, 600 students sat for the examina-tion at the Immaculate Heart Secondary School alone with many other students allocated to the 18 other cen-tres located in different parts of the state.

Ayodeji expressed con-

Foremost educationist, Pa Lakisokun dies at 92

50,000 for Cowbell maths laurels

The monarch said the books would help boost research and historical findings about Onitsha kingdom, its cultures and justice system.

He congratulated the management of the uni-versity for the ongoing transformations in differ-ent aspects of the universi-ty, stating that the institu-tion was better compared to the last time he visited.

Receiving the books on behalf of the univer-sity, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Benjamin Ozumba thanked the monarch for his interest in the institu-tion and his warm associa-tion with his administra-tion.

include Baptist High School, Iwo; Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo; Baptist Grammar School, Ilora; Iwo Grammar School; Ife-Olu-wa Grammar School, Osog-bo and Gbongan/Odeomu Anglican Grammar School, Gbongan.

Chief Lakisokun, a historian was a National President, History Teach-ers’ Association of Nigeria (HISTAN) 1981 – 1987, Chief Examiner in History for the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and Chair-man, WAEC International panel for Syllabus Review 1978 – 1990.

cerns about the mass failure the nation usually records in the West African Exami-nations Council’s (WAEC’s) mathematics examinations. He said the urge to develop the students’ interest in the subject formed the basis upon which Promasidor initiated the concept of NASSMAC 16 years ago. He was impressed that the annual competition has increasingly spurred the interest of secondary school students in the subject in Ni-geria as Promasidor records yearly increase in the number of participating students in the competition.

The Category Manager said the company’s determi-nation to rekindle the interest of students in the competi-tion informed the improved cash prizes provided this year. The overall best student in the junior and senior categories will win N750, 000; while the first and second runners-up will smile home with N500, 000 and N250, 000 respectively.

The NaTioNal Teacher’s iNsTiTuTe, KaduNa which

was esTablished siNce 1976 does NoT appear To have

sigNificaNTly impacTed oN The qualiTy of Teachers iN The

basic educaTioN secTor.

Secondary school students on a tour of a waste water treatment plant at Nigerian Bottling Compa-ny in Owerri, Imo State as part of the activities to mark the 2015 World Water Day, last week.

LASU election recess illegal —ASUU

Firm introduces water conservation clubs in schools

Tunbosun ogundare

The Academic Staff Union of Universi-ties (ASUU), Lagos

State University (LASU), Ojo chapter has described the indefinite closure of the institution by the management as illegal.

The union made the ob-servation in a press release jointly signed by its chair-man and secretary, Dr. Ad-ekunle Idris and Dr. Wale Adeyemi-Suenu, saying there was nothing that war-ranted the indefinite closure of the university especially when the Federal Govern-ment had earlier directed all schools to remain open dur-ing the elections.

The university manage-ment had on Monday, 23rd March, shut down the insti-tution and asked both stu-dents and workers to vacate the campus using the ongo-ing general elections as a reason.

But the union said such election recess was not only illegal and uncalled for but

saidaT alausa

To further drive its water stewardship programme in the

country, the Nigerian Bot-tling Company Limited (NBC) has established Wa-ter Conservation Clubs in some secondary schools nationwide.

Head, Public Affairs and Communications of the company, Mr. Uzo Odenigbo made this revelation in his message to participants at the company’s events in Owerri and Kaduna to mark this year’s edition of the World Water Day observed worldwide.

NBC organised an aware-ness programme for over 200 students from 10 public secondary schools held in its production facilities in Owerri and Kaduna to com-memorate the event under the theme, “Water for Sus-tainable Development.”

In addition, the students embarked on a guided tour of the Company’s water treatment and Effluent Treatment Plants to under-study water conservation initiatives of NBC with a

also disruptive to the aca-demic calendar capable of prolonging students stay un-necessarily on campus.

The lecturers who said the Vice- Chancellor, Prof. John Obafunwa had no pow-er within the laws to shut down the institution main-tained that he was using the tactics to buy more time be-fore his exit.

By law according to them, only the Senate of the uni-versity has the right to ad-just the academic calendar and declare a recess while the Visitor to the university has the power to shut down the institution for purpose of elections.

“That is why we condemn this Obafunwa’s aberra-tion in strong terms,” the union said. “We are not on strike and there is also no breakdown of law and or-der on campus to justify the closure. Even none of other state owned higher institu-tions including the polytech-nic and the two colleges of education are closed down because of elections. So, why should LASU own be differ-ent?”

Restructure training programme for UBE teachersFor the last six years, the standard of education in

Nigeria has been falling. Even when the standard appears to stabilise, it often turns out to be a fluke

or an artifact of the very prevalent examination mal-practice. One does not need to search far to find ample evidence of the fallen standard.

In the regional scene, Ghana has consistently topped the West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC) compe-tition for the international excellence award, ahead of Nigeria on each occasion since 2008. In fact, Ghanaians have literarily swept the top three positions for this award back to back for the past five years to the total exclusion of Nigerian contestants who are always in the majority.

Evidence from the local scene is even more glaring. The other day, I was greeted by the chanting of I-T, “it”; I-S, “is”; T-O, “to”; S-O, “so” when passing by a school. It would have been a very welcome music to the ears, an evidence of excellent academic activity, if the music ema-nated from KG III or primary I pupils trying to string to-gether the alphabet to produce their first English words. Rather, the chanting was coming from a secondary school; the Queen Primer has obviously made an unexpected re-turn! Some concerned teachers were trying to teach JSS 1-3 students the basic two letter words in a bold attempt to ensure that their students can read and write. Why have they not learnt to spell, read or write before now? What did they learn in six years of primary school; little or nothing, and the situation is very widespread.

It appears that the primary education segment of the Universal Basic Education Programme has completely collapsed. The teaching and learning process appear to have completely collapsed and there is no independent, controlled, examination process to assess the learning outcome as they progress from one class to another. They now migrate to the junior secondary school according to the new scheme to complete the last three years of the ba-sic education programme, with absolutely no assurance of the quality of the candidates in the transition. Here lies the problem. The teachers in the Junior Secondary

School System are left to discover to their chagrin that the majority of the students entrusted to them cannot read or write. Not surprising then the interjection of the Queen Primer by the frustrated junior secondary school teach-ers in an attempt to ameliorate the situation.

The persistence of decay despite the significant im-provements in infrastructure suggests the persistence of a more fundamental problem. It is our opinion, which is widely acclaimed also, that the quality and dedication of teachers remain the most basic problem confronting the Universal Basic Education Scheme in Nigeria. The Na-tional Teacher’s Institute, Kaduna which was established since 1976 does not appear to have significantly impacted on the quality of teachers in the basic education sector. It is my belief that there is a need to completely restructure the programme of teachers training specifically those that are involved in teaching at the basic education levels in order to improve on their quality, and the quality of

their output.The first step in restructuring the training programme

is to improve the quality of candidates admitted into the teachers training colleges. This can become a reality only when the conditions of service of teachers are sig-nificantly improved. A thirty percent improvement on the emolument of UBE teachers over their counter parts in the civil service will attract qualified candidates to take up teaching as a profession. The current practice whereby the cut-off point for candidates seeking admis-sion into the colleges of education is reduced to 160 by the JAMB would become unnecessary.

The second step would be to restructure the curricu-lum for training teachers in the teachers training insti-tutes, colleges and faculties of education in the univer-sity system. The current curriculum of our teachers training colleges has been skewed too much in favour of methodology to the disadvantage of course content. A ratio of three to one in favour of course content would greatly improve the knowledge base of our teachers and deliver us from the curse of illiterate teachers.

A third step would be to create an effective and proac-tive teachers certification and registration councils re-spectively that will act as quality control bodies to ensure the highest standards of teachers in the Universal Basic Education Programme. These would monitor and assess the quality of the products of the teachers training col-leges through independent processes which will culmi-nate in certification and registration of the teachers.

The random and uncoordinated efforts by various players in the past have not yielded tangible results. A coordinated national effort with achievable milestones is most likely to yield dividends more quickly. The various governments in Nigeria must cooperate to train qualified teachers which will help mould our youngsters in charac-ter and learning at the basic education level. This would provide the solid educational foundation for the industri-alization which would lunch us into an era of prosperity.

view to replicating same in their schools and communi-ties.

According to Mr. Odenig-bo, the annual World Water Day presents a platform for NBC to enlist water ambas-sadors in its communities who will partner with the Company in propagating the message of safe water prac-tices.

He said NBC was fully committed to sustainable partnerships and integrated

approaches to solving water problems in its communities under its water stewardship programme, adding that the task of conserving finite nat-ural resources such as water is everybody’s responsibility.

“This year, we have gone a step further to ensure the sustainability of our aware-ness campaign on safe water practices with the students, by encouraging and sup-porting them to start Water Conservation Clubs in their

schools”, he added.Similarly, Mr. Ben Lan-

gat, Managing Director of NBC while speaking on the company’s activities to mark this year’s event, said “The Water Conservation Clubs will further provide volunteering opportunities for our colleagues to donate their time and expertise to aid knowledge transfer on safe water practices among students in a sustainable way.”

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Education Today 23Thursday, April 2, 2015

z

Edited by: Saidat [email protected] 08027633686

Eddy UwoghirEn 300L MED. AND SURGERY UNIBEN

No fewer than 25 persons have been recruited into the ‘Man O War’ Club of the Univer-

sity of Benin (UNIBEN), Edo State.The recruitment exercise which

was held for two days at the hill be-hind the senior staff club popularly called Mount Kilimanjaro was co-ordinated by the commandant of the club, Emeka Nwaede, a 400 level medical physiology.

The programme was for six hours with the new recruit under-going pushups, rolling, high jumps, frog jump, endurance trek, sprint race and mounting climbing.

It was gathered that the recruit-ment was held in two phases—phys-ical and oral.

The recruitment started with the oral interview where the applicants were assessed based on their intelli-gence and academic records

The commandant said, “The oral interview was basically to test the students on their academic perfor-mance, thinking capacity because we would not recruit students with poor academic records.

Noting that no casualty was re-corded during the exercise, Emeka revealed that some of the new re-cruits developed sickness but they immediately acclimatised to the problem.”

The recruits later jogged from Mount Kilimanjaro to the hall car park where the do’s and don’ts of the club were read out to them.

“Having gone through this rigor-ous screening exercise, I officially welcome you to the club. You must be disciplined. Do not see the club as a means of intimidating anybody. Be good ambassadors both within and outside campus. Anyone of you that default will be penalized,” Emeka said.

A new recruit, Chinedu Ejechi, 200 level philosophy and religion, ex-pressed delight in successfully going through the exercise.

He stated that he would use the experience gotten from the club to help develop himself and be a wor-thy ambassador of the club.

UNIBEN Man ‘O’ War recruits new members

Students of the university with their food during the celebration.

Osayuki Cross section of students of National Open University of Nigeria, Apapa Study Centre, Lagos during their matriculation ceremony, recently.

Excitement as OAU students celebrate ‘Aro’ Day

COOU students charged on good conductEmEka ChUkwUEmEkaULI

The Vice-Chancellor, Chuk-wuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University

(COOU) Uli, Anambra State, Prof. Fidelis Okafor has charged new students of the university to be of good conduct and eschew any act capable of causing their rustication from the university.

He said this last week, during the university’s 15th matricula-tion ceremony for Regular un-dergraduate and Post-Graduate Programme for the 2014/2015 academic session.

Prof. Okafor, while urging the students to study very hard and shun all forms of distractions, implored them to bear in mind that the university’s academic regulations does not allow stu-dents to extend their their ex-pected year of graduation.

He disclosed that a power-ful and dynamic security net-work exists in the university

afEEs Lasisi 200L POL SCIENCE, OAU, ILE-IFE

It has become a tradition for residents of Awolowo Hall at Obafemi Awolowo University

(OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State to cel-ebrate Aro Day.

‘Aro’ is a name of a community in Abeokuta, Ogun State hosting a psychiatric hospital. The word is coined after the community as a symbol to demonstrate some extraordinary behaviour of the residents of the hall, regarded as the political headquarters of the students union of the institution.

As usual, the residents woke up

to monitor and apprehend cult members. “So say no to cultism today.”

He stressed that penalty for cultism was expulsion and pun-ishment in accordance to the constitution of the Federal Re-

public of Nigeria. While commending Anam-

bra State Government for com-mitting huge sums of money for capital development of COOU, Prof. Okafor, said that university is having linkage

programmes with overseas uni-versities in Africa, Europe and United States whereby the stu-dents will be opportune to spend a semester or more in these for-eign universities in a form of exchange programme.

very early in the morning to joint-ly cook their favourite meal for the occasion which is beans. But this year, rice was added following the demand of some residents.

At exactly 2pm, the food was ready and students lined-up with their plates, buckets, bowls, and trays, among others to collect their portions.

After the food was served, stu-dents trooped to the venue of cel-ebrations, Awo Cafe to dance, sing and laugh to the most hilarious club on campus, kegite Club.

Female students were not left out as they joined their male counterparts in the ceremony.

Narrating his experience, a part one student, Bayo Owolabi said he was aware of the day even before he got admission into the university, “I’m happy to be part of it.”

For Ola Adeola, he said it was a day the students displayed real madness. “It is a day we abuse any-one and crack jokes with nobody taking offence in such jokes.”

Sogo Ayoade, a 200-level student of Public Administration said the day had become a tradition for not just residents of the hall, but all the students of OAU in general.”

“We are celebrating the real madness on campus today,” he

maintained. One of the female students,

Sade Bajo, who was caught danc-ing to the beat of Kegite Club, said she left her hall to be part of the event because “I always love any activities Awo Hall organ-ises on campus.

She also said the day was the funniest day she has ever wit-nessed, especially on the display of maturity of students.

Tayo Adewale on his part con-sidered the occasion important, saying it is a day students gather to eat, drink and dance and crack jokes together like one big fam-ily.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net24 Thursday, April 2, 2015

NSUK mass comm students sensitised on department relocation

Provost enlightens student leaders on best practices

UNIBEN student fellowship welcomes freshers

AhmAd muhAmmAd AuwAl 400L, MASS COMM. NSUK

To explain reasons for the recent relocation of the Department of Mass Communications at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK),

from the Faculty of Arts to the Faculty of Social Sci-ences, a Mass Communication Assembly was held last week at the 100-seater auditorium of the univer-sity.

The university’s senate formally approved the transfer of the department recently after it had spent 10 years under the Faculty of Arts.

The immediate past Head of Department, Malam Muhammad Rabiu, under whose tenure the reposi-tioning was done, sent a proposal to the Vice-Chan-cellor and Chairman of Senate, Prof. Muhammad Mainoma, seeking the movement based on the reason that the research methods used in mass communica-tion were adopted from the social sciences and the National Universities Commission (NUC) has listed mass communication under the social sciences.

He explained that to be in step with the time, mass communication must operate from the Faculty of So-cial Sciences because by origin and orientation, the discipline was created from Sociology.

He further revealed that the department was due for accreditation by NUC anytime from now and the accreditation team arrives, it has to see and certify what the department is doing, especially in the area of location and must be up to the required standard before it receives clearance and recognition.

Welcoming staff and students of mass communi-cation to his faculty, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Professor, Andrew Zamani explained that the faculty currently comprises five departments, namely Sociology, Political Science, Psychology, Eco-nomics and Geography and with the addition it be-comes the sixth department in my faculty.”

In his own remark, the current Head of Mass Com-munication, Dr. Tonnie Iredia who succeeded Malam Rabiu urged the students to embrace the relocation of the department while assuring them that the movement was done in their own best interest.

The National Fellowship of the Christian Phar-macy Students, NFCPS, University of Benin, Edo State has welcome the new students into the

department.Addressing the new students, Dr. Henri Okeri urged

them to be up and doing as the faculty was in no way ready to retain students who were not ready to burn the mid night candle.

He said: “It is what you sow that you will reap. You do not expect to reap academic success after spending your time in frivolities and night parties.”

He also warned the students to shun cultism as pharma-cy students were always known for their cool headedness and humility.

“You should not think of becoming a cultist. In fact, it is only the coward who thinks that a secret society can protect him or her. So, be a man, stand to face your challenges, read your books and serve the Lord and then all your ways in this university will be smooth.”

Other activities at the events were drama presentation, choir ministration and bible recitation.

The association also organised an academic seminar tagged: “Ten times better.”

Lecturers from various departments of the faculty were present to address the academic needs of the students of faculty.

Students waiting for election results

miftAudeen RAji, 100L, MASS COMM.UNILAG, AKOKA

After almost a decade of ban of students’ unionism at the University of Lagos

(UNILAG), Akoka, the students’ union of the institution has inaugu-rated a set of leaders.

They were voted in last Thursday at the university’s sports centre used as the venue of the election. And they will administer the affairs of the stu-dents for the 2014/2015 academic ses-sion. The new leaders are 12 in all out of 19 who vied for the various posts.

A total 599 votes gave the Presi-dent-elect, Abiodun Abdul-Rafiu of Science and Technology Education a landslide victory over his opponent, Hassan Abiodun of Micro Biology Department, who polled 330 votes. Olushola Oshin of Faculty of Law trailed the duo from behind with 305 votes.

While four of the candidates emerged with varying total votes re-ceived, eight others were elected un-opposed.

Martins have been declared the winner of the election by the Chair-man of the 30-member- electoral com-

mittee, Dr. Alabi Soneye, an Associ-ate Professor of Geography.

Soneye, who addressed newsmen after announcing the results, noted that the election was free and fair.

He expressed satisfaction over the conduct of the election as he said the results were highly competitive, adding that UNILAG is back to what

he described as a peaceful union-ism.

In his own inaugural message, the President-elect said thanked the students in general for giving him the mandate to serve them, saying he would not let them down.

Edited by: Saidat [email protected] 08027633686

emekA ChukwuemekAULI

The Provost, Federal College of Education (Technical), Umunze, Anambra State, Prof.

Josephat Ogbuagu has charged the newly elected executive members of the Students’ Union Government (SUG) of the college to be committed to their studies and as well work as a team for the best interest of the stu-dents and the college at large.

He congratulated the new SUG caretaker committee on their ap-pointment which he said was based on their track record of discipline, diligence and academic excellence and assured them that the college administration would provide an en-abling environment for them to func-tion.

However, he cautioned them not to lose sight of their primary goal of ac-quiring sound education and gradu-ating with good results.

Prof. Ogbuagu urged them to up-

hold the legacy of their immediate past predecessors, whom he said were never disrupted the academic calendar of the institution.

“Do not compromise standards. Abide by the college’s rules and regu-lations and avoid corrupt tendencies. The ball is now in your court, do it well.”

While urging them to show good example to other students by shun-ning cultism, examination miscon-duct, he enjoined the new student leaders to use dialogue to resolve issues among themselves and dis-charge duties with high sense of de-corum.

Also speaking, the Dean, Students’ Affairs of the college, Mrs. Okafor urged them to follow the union’s con-stitution in the discharge of their du-ties.

She charged them to maintain and sustain the peace and tranquility currently existing in the college.

In his speech, the out-going SUG President, Mr. Charles Anya, thanked Ogbuagu

10 years after, UNILAG students elect leaders

the college management for their pas-sion in developing the institution and urged them to accord their successors such support given to them while in office.

Responding, on behalf of the new executive, the President, Raphael Ezeonyedika, pledged their loyalty to the college administration and as-sured that the student’s welfare would be their utmost priority.


Officials, not officers

Don tasks students on entrepreneurship educationSaidat alauSa

A renowned geologist, Prof. Oluwafeyisola Adegoke has said that

students of higher institutions should take interest in entre-preneurship to the extent that after graduation they would become employers of labour instead of seeking for govern-ment jobs that are not avail-able.

He said entrepreneurship education seeks to provide students with the knowledge, skills and motivation to em-brace entrepreneurial chal-lenge in variety of settings.

He gave the advice while delivering the 20th Ekiti State University convocation lec-ture, titled: “The Entrepre-neurship Education Initiative: Implication for Higher Educa-tion Administration in Nige-ria.”

He also advocated that en-trepreneurial studies should be introduced in primary and

secondary schools. Citing examples of the

world-class universities with successful entrepreneurship achievements, Prof. Adegoke urged Nigeria students and youths to look inward and set up small manufacturing businesses to counter the present situation where Ni-gerians are importing foods, drinks and junk gifts and using up scarce foreign ex-change in the process.

The geologist mentioned several areas where youths could start small scale busi-nesses such as in local foods and drinks, flowers, artisan equipment, hair attach-ments, farming tools and tai-loring, among others.

In his view, “the national goal should be that not less than 25-30% of our youths who attend the universities and other higher educa-tional institutions should cultivate the entrepreneurial spirit while in school.”

He was of the belief that

Lawmaker donates N25m ICT centre to schoolKemi OlaitanIBADAN

A member of the House of Represen-tatives, Hon. Abio-

dun Awoleye, has called on youths in the country to prepare themselves to take charge as leaders in the fu-ture.

He gave the admonition in Ibadan, the Oyo State cap-ital during the inauguration

these entrepreneurs through creation of start-ups would later provide employment for a significant number of other less entrepreneurial colleagues.

Using his life-experience as a guide in the 32-page lec-ture, the astute scholar urged universities to set up consul-tancy services which would generate funds stressing that governments might not be able to provide all funds to universities.

Professor Adegoke who bemoaned the situation whereby many industries be-came moribund and turned to event centres challenged the youths to wake-up and revive such industries particularly in Lagos.

He commended the man-agement of Ekiti State Uni-versity for making bold steps to make the institution a world class university, noting that the structures in Ekiti State University today were amazing and functional.

L-R: Convocation lecturer and Director General, Standard Organisation of Nigeria, Dr. Joseph Odumodu; Pro- Chancellor, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Dr. Chilo Offiah; Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo; Chancellor, Dr. Hassan Adamu; Vice- Chancellor, Prof. Cyprian Onyeji during the university 16th convocation, recently.

of some of the educational projects he facilitated for the use of the people of his con-stituency.

According to him, his desire to make the students of the area competefavour-ably with their counterparts across the world was the ratio-nale behind the official open-ing of a N25 million worth ICT centre at Anglican Com-mercial Grammar School, To-tal Garden, Ibadan.

He urged the students and other beneficiaries of the projects to make wise use of them, urging the youths to en-gage in activities that would promote them rather than in acts thatwould put them in bad light.

“Nigerians most especially youths should shun violence, thuggery and any other acts of social vices that may tar-nish their image and that of their families,” he said.

“TOTAL and Conoil petrol stations, op-posite the Nigerian National Petro-leum Corporation, though selling,

was (were) besieged by motorists….” This ex-tract from VANGUARD of March 20 welcomes us this week for the first time this year.

Other improprieties from the above stable follow: “NLC splits in (into) two, as another fac-tion emerges”

“Reacting to the election of a parallel officers (officials) to run the NLC….” Delete ‘a’

“Today, the Ajaero led (Ajaero-led) NLC ap-pears to be more formidable judging by the number of the affiliates controlled by the fac-tions.

“Long queues was seen….” I discontinue!“I love the pain and excitement that comes

(come) with fashion” (SATURDAY INDEPEN-DENT Headline, March 14)

The next headline solecism comes from the front page of THISDAY, March 14: “Military discovers bomb making (bomb-making) factory in Yobe” It is not the bomb that is making the factory!

THE NATION ON SUNDAY Front Page of March 15 goofed: “Don’t yield to campaign of division, Tinubu tells Igbos (Igbo or Ndigbo)”

From the COMMENT of the above medium comes the following infraction: “His appoint-ment was meant to allay fears that the govern-ment frustrated Dr. Kolade out with a view to derailing the programme.” You allay fear/con-cern/suspicion/public anxiety etc.—no plural-ism.

“Efforts by the Presidency and the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to resolve the lingering crisis in the par-ty’s Sokoto State chapter without success ap-pears (appear) to have put the party’s chances in next month’s election in serious jeopardy….”

“The day I attained the position of the secretary general, I felt like I should call it quit (quits).”

One of the readers of this column called me last Thursday and sought to know which is correct: ‘send forth’ or ‘send-off’? Accord-ing to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Diction-ary, International Student’s Edition, New 8th Edition),’send forth’ (old-fashiond or lit-erary): to send somebody away from you to another place. In other words, a valediction. What amazes me most is the fadishness of the word among amajoriity of Nigerians. It also reminds me of the growing usage of ‘invite’, a very informal word, instead of ‘in-vitation’ that is formal.

‘Send-off’: noun (countable) informal—a party or other occasion where people meet to say goodbye to someone who is leaving. Example: When he leaves the department, we’re going to give him a send-off he won’t forget. (Source: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English) From the forego-ing, the good, old ‘send-off’ still holds the ace for me!

“We have no genuine reconciliation in Nigeria even though the Oputa panel did its very best.” ‘Best’ is an absolute and, as such, does not admit qualification of any sort (very).

“As the governor of Akwa Ibom, he has not reneged on both promises to his party and his electioneering campaign promises to the people of the state.” Either election-eering or campaign…both cannot co-exist.

“…before the advent of the Europeans in Nigeria, most societies or kingdoms have

thriving and stable political system….” This way: kingdoms had (not have) a (a vital com-ponent) thriving and stable political system.

“Somebody who can formulate policies and see to its execution to the minute (minut-est) detail.” An eye for detail: policies and their (not its) execution.

“As such (a comma) the little time that have been given to the politicians.…” Time that has….

“…Guinea finally elects a president in an election that witnessed series of crises and postponements.” The long road to democra-cy: a series of crises and postponements.

“In one breathe, there are those who are still….” Take a fresh breath before we con-tinue.

“…it was a soothing balm.” What else do balms do apart from soothing?

“It is however a consensus opinion that the home, that is parents, should bear the prime responsibility of introducing the sub-ject.” For grammatical sanity, jettison ‘opin-ion’ from the extract.

“The occasion was held in Victoria Is-land.” Get it right: on Victoria Island.

“The accused policeman was said to have actually demanded for N10,000 before he was….” Simply yank off ‘for’ from the ex-cerpt.

“Mark advocates for more states” ‘Advo-cacy’ in the verbal context does not take ‘for’.

“…she opens up on how she gained entry into the world of make-belief….” Grammar is not make-believe.

“…the food situation in the continent….” Classical writing: on the continent.

On radio: “There is six DStv channels on….” (An ad line by Multichoice) Who wrote this copy?

FEEDBACKThe only feedback this week is from ‘Uncle’

Kola Danisa (07068074257), a ‘Fellow’ of the News Agency of Nigeria and soon of the Nige-rian Guild of Editors.

IDIOMS are fixed expressions which Nige-rians distort at will. One such

idiom, “at the helm” (to be in control) was changed to “at the helm of affairs” by The Na-tion in its Comment, March 15, Page 15. Let’s delete “of affairs”.

Besides, in what context does the word “elite” (collective noun) take

an “s”? I believe it was wrongly used in “Sambo, Northern govs shun

ACF lecture: Mark, Yero blame ‘elites’ for region’s woes” in The

Nation, March 15, Page 68. It should have read “elite” or “the elite”,

denoting a group and not individuals. In contrast, in an

advertorial placed in the Sunday Vanguard, March 8, Page 16 by some 20 enterprises invit-ing guests to the presentation of a book enti-tled “Modern & Traditional Elites in the Poli-tics of Lagos State”, the

author rightly uses “elites” because two distinct sets or groups of

elite (modern and traditional) are involved. In “Battling Boko Haram”, The Nation,

March 15, Page 13, “ammunitions” was used. The word is non-count but “munitions” is plu-ral.

26 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, April 2, 2015

L-R: Supply Chain Director, Guinness Nigeria, Cephas Afebuameh; Chief Executive Officer, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Oscar Onyema; Managing Director/CEO, Guinness Nigeria, John O’Keeffe, and Executive Director, Nigerian Stock Exchange , Ade Bajomo , at the Guinness Nigeria Plc. Close of business Bell Ringing Ceremony, recently.

27

TOLA AKINMUTIMI

The Director General of the Bureau of Public En-terprises, BPE, Mr. Ben-

jamin Dikki, has said that man-aging the various stakeholders remained one of the challenges to the reform and privatization programme of the country.

Dikki, who identified the stakeholders as labour unions, players in the sector, prospective investors, consultants/advisors and those he called ideologues, maintained that skillful manage-ment of the various stakeholders was critical to having a credible and successful transactions.

The BPE boss in a radio pro-gramme said that the manage-ment of labour issues in the power sector was more challeng-ing but that the Federal Gov-ernment’s directive that every worker of the over 47,913 staff of Power Holding Company of Ni-geria (PHCN) must receive every kobo of his or her entitlements, helped in achieving success in the power sector exercise.

He noted that the power sec-tor reform and privatization was globally acclaimed to be the best because of the high degree of transparency which stakehold-ers observed; and that explained

SYLVA EMEKA-OKEREKE

Following the rising de-mands for food products, the African Organisation

for Standardization, ARSO, has advocated effective use of stan-dards to improve the perfor-mance of the global agricultural sector.

ARSO in a statement, signed by its official in Nigeria, Dr Jo-seph Odumodu, noted that adopt-ing good standardisation and conformity assessment regimes would create new cost-efficient technologies in post-harvest pro-

cessing and storage that adds value to agricultural products as well as improving product safety.

Odumodu, who is also the Director General, Standards Or-ganisation of Nigeria, SON, also said the step would lead to more efficient and fair market chains that improve product marketabil-ity by reducing losses through transportation while addressing demands for quality and safety at-tributes.

According to the organisation, adoption of standards will equal-ly help to develop robust agricul-tural value chains for diversified commodities that would reduce

vulnerability while mitigating the effects of fluctuating com-modity prices.

Maintaining such standards and conformity assessment pro-cedures, it said would ensure pri-vate and commercial consumer protection against inaccurate results of measurements in agri-cultural trade while safeguarding fair competition, especially for small and medium-sized agricul-tural enterprises.

“A formal legal metrology sys-tem which is in accordance with internationally accepted require-ments promotes confidence and clarity of measurement. This re-

duces barriers to trade.“It is also interesting to note

that some African countries have access to most available sub sur-face water for irrigation, in the world, but is not utilized. It is esti-mated that more than 75 per cent of the African local cereal pro-duction is provided by small scale farmers. Only a fraction of these farmers are trained and educated in quality management of their crops”, ARSO stated.

Recent study by the Food and Agricultural Organisation, FAO, revealed that crop failures are increasing, global population and increase hunger.

Managing stakeholders challenge to privatisation, reform –BPE

Standardisation ‘ll stimulate agric sector’s boom -ARSO

29 35

NiRA: Building national identity through .ng

domain name

Wrong aircraft crippling aviation industry –Ex-NAMA boss

Battle for supremacy in detergents’ market segment heightens

BusinessNational Mirror

www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, April 2, 2015

31

the absence of any controversy about the outcomes.

“As a result, all the proceeds from the sale of unbundled com-panies of the defunct state mo-nopoly were expended in the set-tlement of workers’ entitlements across the country”, he added.

Dikki also pointed out that reforms in the various sectors of the economy had gener-ated employment, with most of the privatized entities such as WAPCO, Oando and the banking sector through local and inter-national expansion creating mil-

lions of jobs.He said in the last 16 years, the

defunct PHCN could not employ engineers but that the succes-sor distribution and generation companies had employed 2,022 engineers in the past year alone.

The DG added that the trans-formation agenda had started to yield results as five to six au-tomobile companies, including Nissan and Volkswagen, Hyun-dai had returned to the country as a result of the investment-friendly industrial revolution policy.

He said that the cardinal objec-tive of the government should be to provide an enabling environ-ment for the private sector inves-tors to invest in such areas like roads and railways as it is the practice in developed economies while focusing on the provision of education, health and social welfare services to the citizenry.

According to him, there is no alternative to reforms which al-low the private sector to come in and do a better job than govern-ment would have done to trans-form the economy.

Dana Air

AIRLINES’ FLIGHTSCHEDULES

Abuja-Lagos 9am, 1pm, 5.28pm dailyLagos-Abuja 7am, 11am, 1.23pm,3.30pm daily Lagos-PH: 7.20AM, Ph-Abuja9.54am, Abuja-ph: 3.30pm and Ph-Lagos: 5.28pm dai-ly Lagos-Uyo: 9.20am, Uyo-Abu-ja: 11.07am, Abuja-Uyo 1.05pm, Uyo-Lagos: 3pm dailyWeekendsLagos-Abuja: 7.02am, 9am, 3.30pmAbuja-Lagos: 9am, 2.20pm and 5.28pm Lagos -Phc: 11.07amPhc-Lagos: 1.05pm Phc-Abuja: 12.51pm Abuja-Phc: 10.50am Lagos-Uyo: 9.18am Uyo-LOS -3.03pm Uyo-Abuja: 11.07amAbuja-Uyo: 1.05pm

Lagos- Abuja (Mon-Fri): 07.00, 08.50, 12.00, 16.30. Abuja- Lagos (Mon-Fri): 09.00, 14.00, 15.00, 18.30. Lagos-Yola (Mon-Fri): 8.50am. Yola-Lagos (Mon-Fri): 13.00. Lagos- PHC (Mon-Fri): 17.00. PHC-Lagos: 19.00. Abu-ja-Yola: 11.00. Yola-Abuja: 13.00. Lagos-Abuja (Sat): 08.00, 08.50.Abuja-Lagos (Sat): 10.00, 15.00. Lagos-PHC (Sat): 17.00. PHC-La-gos (Sat): 19.00. Lagos-Yola (Sat): 08.50. Yola-Lagos (Sat): 13.00

Lag-Abj: 06.50, 13.30, 16.30, 19.45 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun), 12.30 (Sun) 16.45 (Sat) Abj-Los: 07.30, 13.00, 19.00 (Mon-Fri/Sat, 10.30, 14.30, 19.30 (Sun, 18.30 Sat) Lag-Benin: 07.45, 11.00, 15.30 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun) 12.30 (Sun 15.30 (Sat)Ben-Lag: 09.15, 12.30, 17.00 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun) 17.00 (Sat) 14.00 (Sun)Lag-Owe: 7.45am, 2pm daily

Med-View Airline

Aero Contractors

Maritime truckers count losses as import volume dipsFRANCIS EZEM

Strong indications emerged that truck owners in Ni-geria’s shipping industry

might be groaning under the neg-ative effects of the sharp decline in the volume of goods imported into the country, occasioned by the declining value of the naira, economic and political uncertain-ties that characterise the elec-tioneering processes and the con-sequent decision of importers to postpone most import transac-tions till after the elections.

The decline in the price of crude oil, which is Nigeria’s eco-nomic mainstay from over $100

per barrel to about $54 per bar-rel following the reduction in demand especially by the United States, had brought about lots of pressure on the naira, which led to massive devaluation of the currency to sustain the nation’s non-oil exports.

Transporters under the ae-gis of Association of Maritime Truck Owners AMATO, umbrel-la body of all truckers operating in the country, say the dwindling volume of imports is currently taking its toll on the operations of members of the association, most of which have been pushed out of business.

Chairman of AMATO, Chief Remi Ogungbemi, who spoke in a telephone interview, disclosed

that the drastic decline in the volume of imports since the be-ginning of the year, is currently taking its toll on members of the association, most of who are out of business.

According to him, majority of the trucks belonging to members have been idle due to the low vol-ume of shipping activities at the ports, a development that has led to high cost of maintaining the vehicles since they are not in use.

“You know that truckers are better off when the volume of imports is high and vice versa. Many of our members have been compelled to keep their trucks idle and you know what that means in terms of maintaining them since they are not making

money”, he saidHe argued that the completion

of the port reform programme, which abolished truck holding bays at the ports, thus making them park on the roads, the in-creased volume of cargo through-put due to the enthronement of a level of efficiency in port op-eration led to the worsening grid-locks on ports access roads.

He also attributed the almost disappearance of the traffic gridlock that has characterised Apapa and the seaport environs in the last five years to the drastic reduction in the volume of activi-ties at the ports.

“I will give you a simple anal-ogy. When you pour out sugar, the ants would go out in serch of the

and when there is no sugar, there will not be any ants anywhere. The sugar represents the con-signments while the trucks rep-resent the ants. Because there are no containers to lift anywhere, naturally the trucks would not be found on the roads looking for business”, he stated.

He blamed the declining cargo imports on the depreciating val-ue of the naira due to the volatil-ity in the global crude oil market, the uncertainties that have char-acterised the nation’s economic and political terrain due to the anticipation of possible violence after the just concluded presiden-tial election, among several other factors.

Conflicting opinions are being expressed over a proposed sharp in-

crease in the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC), a fee paid by us-ers of US airports, which would significantly raise the cost of air travel for passengers.

PFC fees of up to USD4.50 are presently collected for every boarded passenger at commer-cial airports controlled by pub-lic agencies. According to the Federal Aviation Administra-tion (FAA), US airports mainly use these fees to fund projects “that enhance safety, security, or capacity; reduce noise; or in-crease air carrier competition.”

However, many airports are now advocating for an almost 90 percent increase in the PFC to USD8.50. Such a hike in the fee, which is applied on both pas-sengers leaving and arriving at airports, could be approved when the US Congress consid-ers the reauthorization of FAA funds in September this year.

In support of the fee increase, the US Travel Association re-leased survey results on March 25 that show that, “although travelers remain frustrated by ticket add-ons from which they derive little benefit, such as bag and change fees, … 58 percent

of travelers would be willing to pay up to USD4 more per ticket to fund airport improvements projects that would enable air-ports to accommodate more airlines, modernize facilities or reduce delays in and around the airport.”

US Travel Association Presi-dent and CEO Roger Dow said: “Air passengers aren’t thrilled about ancillary fees, which disappear into the airlines’ pockets, or federal taxes, which disappear into Washington’s pockets. But if you show them a local user fee that is tightly structured to invest in our out-dated and overburdened infra-structure, they understand the difference and strongly support it.”

“The trouble is,” Dow added, that the PFC “hasn’t been in-dexed for inflation in a decade and a half, while our air travel infrastructure falls further be-hind the rest of the world.”

However, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) President Grover Norquist sent a letter on March 26 to members of Congress urg-ing against an increase in the PFC that would “represent an unnecessary and unfair burden to airline passengers.”

Proposed US airport passenger tax hike causes concern

GBENGA ODOGUN

The long queues at filling stations across Lagos have been linked to the suspen-

sion of products loading at vari-ous depots at Apapa.

National Mirror investiga-tions revealed that there had not been any loading activity at any of the depots in Apapa since last Thursdaydue to what industry sources attributed to the tension arising from the conduct and sub-sequent announcement of the presidential and the national as-sembly elections.

It was gathered that security managers in all oil marketing companies had been instructed not to allow any loading activity in any of their depots until ten-sions subsides.

A visit to Apapa on Wednesday revealed long queues of empty trucks queuing on both sides of the roads leading to the depots.

An industry source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were under instruction not to allow any loading activity for now for fear of being attacked as the presidential election results were being announced.

“No one would like to take any

risk loading in the midst of tense atmosphere like this” ,the source said, adding that all depots as well as offices have been closing at 1pm since last Friday.

When our correspondent vis-ited various depots such as Oan-do, Conoil, Ascon, Obat, Nipco as well as MRS, no loading activity was noticed.

As at Monday, three vessels were sighted at Tin can port waiting to discharge petroleum products but were said to be un-der instruction from men of the Nigerian Navy not to discharge until situation improves.

MESHACK IDEHEN

The Construction and Civil Engineering Senior Staff Association (CCESSA)

has called on the National As-semblyto take necessary steps to fast tract the deliberations on the Local Content Bill in order to en-sure its enactment into law.

The association said that the call had become necessary to en-sure that the policy is established as a Local Content Act in the con-struction industry

National President of the la-bour union, Dr Augustine Etafo, made the demand on Tuesday, saying there lay great dangers in the government’s refusal to in-tervene in the challenges facing

the construction workers in the country

“We call on the NASS to take all the necessary steps to fast tract the deliberations on the Lo-cal Content Bill to ensure that the policy is established as a Local Content Act in the construction industry to save the industry from collapse.

“We also call on the Federal,

state and local governments to start as a matter of urgency, to address the unemployment needs of the youths,” Etafo said.

“Our Association has specifi-cally looked at youth’s unemploy-ment, high level of corruption that creates a wide gap between the rich and the poor, the poor infrastructural facilities as some of the key challenges which the

government must pay attention to for us to address these security challenges in the country,” he said

According to him, the NASS needed to take all the necessary steps and fast tract the delibera-tions on the Local Content Bill to ensure that the policy is estab-lished as a Local Content Act in the Construction Industry.

Political uncertainties halt loading of petroleum products

Pass Local Content Bill, CCESSA urges NASS

L-R: Head, Product Management, West Africa, Transactional Products and Services, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Nnenna Okoro; Chief Legal Officer, Oando, Ngozi Okonkwo, and Head, Transactional Products and Services, Financial Institution Sales, West Africa, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Abimbola Akerele; at the 6th annual West Africa Trade and Export Finance Conference in Lagos, recently.

28 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, April 2, 2015Business News

Business News

L-R: Former Commissioner for Information, Ogun State, Dr. Fash Yusuf; Managing Director, Daily Independent Newspapers, Mr. Ted Iwere; Guest Speaker and Chairman/CEO, Channels Television Limited, Mr. John Momoh; and President, UNILAG Mass Communication Alumni Association (UMCAA), Chief. Lawson Omokhodion, during the 1st Distinguished Lecture Series of UNILAG Mass Communication Alumni Association (UMCAA), theme: The mass Media setting the Nigerian Agenda, held at UNILAG Lagos, recently.

OLUSEGUN KOIKI

The acquisition of wrong air-craft for flight operations has been identified as one

of the major reasons why most Nigerian airlines shut operations earlier than their counterparts in other countries of the world.

An industry expert also de-scribed the liquidation of the former national carrier, Nigeria Airways, as a wrong step taken by the Federal Government.

The former Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Man-agement Agency, NAMA, and the Chief Executive Director of Top-brass Aviation, Mr. Roland Iyayi ,said this earlier in the week in an interview with our correspondent at the Murtala Mohammed Air-port, MMA, Lagos.

Iyayi explained that most Nige-rian airline operators acquire air-planes that are cheaper and would not last them for up to three years, thereby leading to a huge finan-cial loss on their parts.

He also noted that the nation’s carriers are at the moment in a war of attrition as virtually all of them operate to Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt at the same time, saying that no fewer than 80.2 per cent traffic move between the three airports.

Wrong aircraft crippling aviation industry –Ex-NAMA boss

In order to promote new Afri-can music talents, StarAfrica.com - Orange’s entertainment

portal in Africa – is launching the fourth edition of the StarAfrica Sounds music contest. The 2014 edition was a great success with 88 candidates and more than 50,000 votes.

For this 4th edition, Marema, winner of the 2014 StarAfrica jury’s prize and of the 2014 “Prix Découvertes RFI”, will be the offi-cial sponsor of this edition.

A digital and participative competition:

From 31 March 2015 to 26 May

2015, the candidates (singers, groups, artists, musicians…) can register on StarAfrica.com, pro-posing an original song, represen-tative of their musical style.

From 26 May 2015 to 7 July 2015, the public will be invited to vote for their favorite candidates on StarAfrica.com.

A jury composed of music pro-fessionals will designate the Jury Prize from all the candidates. The Jury Prize winner will be an-nounced on StarAfrica.com on 10 July 2015.

The music title of the 10 win-ners of the competition will be

part of the StarAfrica Sounds 2015 compilation. This year a re-mix contest, in partnership with Soonvibes, will be organized us-ing the Public Prize and the Jury Prize winners’ songs. The winner will be rewarded as follows:

The winner of the Public Prize will be given coverage on Sta-rAfrica.com and Deezer Africa and North Africa, an interview on Africa N°1, a Deezer 4 Artists certified account, six months free access to Deezer Premium+ and free distribution of 3 albums on Zimbalam.

JOHNSON OKANLAWON

UBA Africa has an-nounced 34 per cent prof-it for the financial year

ended December 31, 2014 despite challenging macroeconomic en-vironment in most of the Sub-Saharan African markets.

UBA Africa, comprising the bank’s operations in 18 African countries outside Nigeria, has continued to increase its contri-bution to the group.

A statement from the bank

said the subsidiary also contrib-uted N290 billion earnings in 2014 compared to the preceding year, reflecting the increasing penetration of the UBA brand across African markets.

The statement quoted Group Deputy Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of UBA Africa, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, as saying that the subsidiary is gaining critical mass across its target markets and it continues to leverage her innovative prod-ucts to increase the share of customers’ wallet in the African

banking space.He explained that UBA Af-

rica’s earnings is receiving a boost from enhanced service channels, product offerings and customer service with a num-ber of UBA subsidiaries in Afri-ca becoming stand out perform-ers in their respective countries.

He said that UBA Senegal has been ranked the best bank in the country for three years in a row, just as UBA Cameroon is ranked the Best Bank in its host country for four consecutive years.

“We are pleased with the cur-

rent year performance, which reflects our commitment to de-liver value to all stakeholders. We are optimistic on the years ahead and will profitably grow our African subsidiaries by focusing on the viable yet safe sectors of the respective coun-tries,” he added.

He also noted that the re-markable outlook of UBA Africa reinforces the revenue and risk diversification benefit that the UBA Group offers its sharehold-ers.

The industries and markets that led the rally in Euro-pean shares this quarter

were responsible for their decline on Tuesday.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 0.6 percent to 397.3 at the close of trading in London, trimming its best first-quarter rally since 1998. Carmakers and chemicals companies fell the most among 19 industry groups. Benchmark national gauges of Germany and Portugal, up more than 22 per-cent this year, dropped at least 0.8 percent.

The benchmark gauge for Eu-ropean equities pared its quar-terly advance to 16 percent. It reversed gains of as much as 0.5 percent earlier on Tuesday after a report showed the annual rate of inflation for the euro area fell for a fourth month. It then trimmed losses of as much as 1 percent as U.S. consumer confidence in-creased more than forecast.

“Equity markets are losing a bit of steam today,” said Guill-ermo Hernandez Sampere, who helps manage about 180 million euros ($193 million) at MPPM EK in Eppstein, Germany. “It will take more time to see the QE ef-fect and consumers have to open their wallets as well. In the sec-

ond half of the year, it should be more visible what the purchase program does to bring inflation more to the 2 percent level.”

The start of the European Central Bank’s quantitative- eas-ing program and economic data beating forecasts by the most in two years helped the Stoxx 600 reach its highest level since 2000 on March 20. The gauge closed 2 percent away from a record on Tuesday.

Investors have poured money in European equities this quarter, with a U.S. exchange-traded fund tracking the stocks gathering almost $1.3 billion in 10 straight weeks of inflows, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Another ETF following the shares while hedging against currency swings has received more than $10 bil-lion.

“Europe has seen a huge wave of money,” said George Godber, who helps manage about $5 bil-lion at Miton Group in London. “We had the QE announcement and if you look at some of the numbers, it’s incredible how U.S. investors have piled into Europe. Most of the improvement is in a very nascent stage. It’s ben-efited exporting nations like Ger-many.”

European equities winners suffer losses as Q1 ends

UBA’s subsidiaries post 345% profi t

StarAfrica supports young talents

The industry chieftain de-clared that with the “triangle routes,” it would be difficult for the carriers to operate profitably even if they are carrying all the passengers.

He said: “Those three airports accounts for 80.2 per cent of trav-elling public in Nigeria. In my research I refer to those three airports as business triangle of Nigeria. Everybody is gravitating towards these three destinations. People who are into oil and gas are into Port Harcourt. Those go-ing to Lagos go there because of the sea ports and commercial na-

ture of the city while Abuja as the political capital of Nigeria.

“Those three cities remain key and vital. Because the airlines recognise that this is the case, they have thrown so much of their capacities into this market. If you have that situation, there is already deep ticket competition in those markets.

“Nigerian airlines will go and acquire airplanes that will not last two or three years before they are out of operations and it would run on forever. If quality at that time had been looked after, am sure we would have had Nigeria

Airways.”Iyayi insisted that as at the

time of the liquidation of the for-mer national carrier, the airline had about $500 million assets, which should have been used to offset its debts and acquire more aircraft to enhance its operations.

The Topbrass Aviation chief explained that the restructuring committee, which he belonged, had advised the Government to release $127.5 million to resusci-tate and acquire additional air-craft to make a total of 15 aircraft comprising five short haul, five medium haul and five long hauls

for the airline, but surprisingly, the Government to the part of liq-uidation for the carrier.

He emphasized that unlike Ni-geria Airways that had solid foun-dation in finance, the privately owned carriers do not have such financial prowess, a situation, which he said had made making Lagos and Abuja International and regional hubs unrealistic.

“What we do is to say, let them run an airline. Do they start with any particular model in mind? If you don’t have, you will come and go. We have this boom and burst cycle”, Iyayi added.


MESHACK IDEHEN

The Institute of Credit Ad-ministration (ICA) has called for improved access

to credit in monetary and trade terms, to boost Nigeria’s export goods and grow the economy.

This is just as the institute described the poor attitude to credit, especially to public loans provided by government’s De-velopment Finance Institutions (DFIs) and lack of robust regula-tory regime for the DFI sector to operate as serious threats to the credit system in the country.

President and Chairman ICA, Mr Tunji Oyebanji, who disclosed this at the inauguration of the new Governing Council of ICA, said the institute was created to foster development of credit man-agement in Nigeria and Africa, and to ensure that standards are set based on best practices in pro-fessional and ethical conducts.

This is in addition to provision of services geared towards en-hancing skills and capacity build-ing of those involved in credit functions.

Oyebanji urged the govern-ment to be committed to enhanc-ing the regulatory regime as well as credit regulations by provid-ing more protection for DFIs.

He also stressed the need for Nigeria to engage in free market economy to achieve remarkable overall resilience in economic activities, employment and fiscal performance.

“In today’s globalised economy, the need to advance credit to busi-nesses and individuals and man-aging credit risk has taken on a much bigger dimension. In spite of this, the business community still lacks proper commitment towards the culture of honouring credit obligations.

“In an environment of heavy and persistent national deficits and borrowings, inflationary

pressures are bound to surface and negatively impact the avail-able money supply which other-wise be deployed for productive investment and consumption,” he added.

He explained that the shortage of cash in the system has ampli-fied the demand on banks to cre-ate more money through loans and advances.

Oyebanji noted that as demand for credit had long increased, businesses were expected to par-ticipate in the credit creation mechanism through deferred payments and credit terms grant-ed to their customers.

He pointed out that under these economic and financial realities, competition has also driven busi-nesses to improve and compete not only on quality and price, but more significantly so on the cred-it terms they provide. Businesses today are using generous credit terms as an effective tool to gain a competitive advantage.

CA seeks improved credit opportunities for Nigerians

International Business Ma-chines, IBM will invest $3 bil-lion over the next four years

in a new Internet of things unit, aiming to sell its expertise in gathering and making sense of the surge in real-time data.

The New York-based technol-ogy company said its services will be based remotely in the cloud, and offer companies ways to make use of the new and mul-tiplying sources of data such as building sensors, smartphones and home appliances to enhance their own products.

For its first major partnership, IBM said a unit of the Weather Co will move its weather data services onto IBM’s cloud, so cus-

tomers can use the data in tan-dem with IBM’s analytics tools.

As a result, IBM is hoping companies will be able to com-bine live weather forecasting with a range of business data, so companies can quickly adapt to customer buying patterns or sup-ply chain issues connected to the weather.

For example, insurance com-panies could send messages to policy-holders in certain areas when hailstorms are approach-ing and tell them of safe places to park, saving money all rounds.

Retailers could compare weather forecasts with past data to predict drops or surges in customer buying due to extreme

weather, and to adjust staffing and supply chain logistics ac-cordingly.

IBM said it was already work-ing with some large companies, such as German tyre-maker Con-tinental and jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney to help them im-plement data in their processes.

Focusing on the cloud is part of IBM’s gradual shift away from its traditional hardware and con-sulting business. The company is targeting $40 billion in annual revenue from the cloud, big data, security and other growth areas by 2018, which should be about 45 per cent of its total revenue at that time, based on analysts’ growth estimates.

IBM to invest $3bn in Internet units

UDO ONYEKA

Fidelity Bank has won the Green Era Award in recog-nition of its Green initiati

ves. Announcing the award at a

gala night during the 2015 Green Economy Forum in Germany, Association OtherWays Manage-ment & Consulting, organisers of the event said that Fidelity Bank was adjudged the winner of the award having come tops in all the parameters set for the award.

Specifically, they said that the Bank’s drive for long term eco-nomic development; contribu-tion to reduction in greenhouse emissions and ability to manage environmental risks in custom-ers’ businesses among others won the award for the Bank.

Receiving the award, the

bank’s Managing Director, Nnamdi Okonkwo thanked the organisers of the event for hon-ouring the Bank.

Okonkwo, who was represent-ed by the Head, Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, Chris Nna-kwe said the award was a testa-ment to the hard work and com-mitment the bank made in its corporate social responsibility, CSR and sustainability practice towards a sustainable environ-ment.

He explained that Fidelity, as a “Green Bank” had consistently explored ways of making a dif-ference towards a sustainable future.

“Through our tripod CSR phi-losophy -Environment, Educa-tion and Health/social welfare, we are creating a sustainable so-ciety; one that will balance eco-nomic and social needs as well as environmental realities”.

Fidelity Bank wins 2014Green Era Award

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has

confirmed that it will support the Commonwealth Cybersecurity Forum 2015 as a platinum sponsor.

Organised under the theme “Securing Cyberspace for Social and Economic Development”, the event will take place on 22 - 24 April 2015 in London, United Kingdom.

Cyberspace can be a major con-tributor to socio-economic devel-opment, provided it is safe, secure and resilient.

This makes strengthening cyber security a priority for all countries, and with the increase

in frequency and complexity of cyber threats, more importance is given to the safety and security of the domain name system which underpins cyberspace.

“We are delighted to partner with the CTO again for this im-portant annual event on cyber security. The security, stability and resilience of the Internet is clearly a critical issue for all In-ternet users, with the Common-wealth ideally placed to play an important role in fostering multi-stakeholder solutions. We look forward to contributing to the upcoming forum this April”, said John Crain, Chief Security, Sta-bility & Resiliency Office, ICANN.

UDO ONYEKA

Access Bank Plc has com-mended all teams that competed in the first

ever Beach Polo Tournament, held Lagos with Lagos Polo emerging winner.

Executive Director, Commer-cial Banking Access Bank Plc, Rooselvet Ogbonna, who lauded the players for their sportsman-ship, thumps up the winners, the runners up and all the play-ers for their awesome display of skills and robust competitions throughout the prestigious event which is the first of its kind in the whole African con-tinent.

“It was a great tournament

with a fantastic show of sports-manship from all the teams. There just had to be one winner and clearly the better team won. I applaud the skills displayed by the players, it justifies the months of hard work and dedi-cation they put into their train-ing sessions. As a business, we are proud of them” Ogbonna who led the Access Bank delega-tion to the grand finale.

“Apart from being a major stake holder in the promotion of polo for over eight years now, we also decided to partner with the organisers of the event from the inaugural edition of this prestigious event as part of our sports development initiatives,” he added.

ICANN to support Commonwealth Cybersecurity Forum

Access Bank lauds Eko Atlantic Beach Polo winners

L-R: The Zonal Head, Edo/Benin of First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited, Mr. Chinedu Ogosi; the Financial Secretary, New Benin Market Traders Association in Edo state, Mrs. Doris Eboigbe; Chairman of the Association, Mr Samson Ojo and Chairlady of the Association, Mrs. Felicia Osarhuorhuomwan, at the unveiling of FCMB Personal Business Account with N1million free insurance cover for business owners and traders. The event took place at the market in Benin, Edo state on March 23, 2015.

30 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, April 2, 2015Business News

Globally, the task of national iden-tity on the internet has never been taken lightly but pursuit vigorously

so much that citizens of other nations now parade the identity of other nations online.

While many countries in the developed economy have had long years of national identity on the internet, Nigeria has just gone into a national identity representation in the cyber space.

Investigations reveal that the long ab-sence of the presence of Nigeria in the cy-ber space was in itself shrouded in several controversies notable among them was the right to manage the nation’s presence on the cyber space.

The move to resolve that gave birth to the Nigeria Internet Registration Association, NiRA, but that was without some opposi-tion from other stakeholders in the indus-try.

An enthusiast of the internet in Nigeria, Adeola Akinbo, traced the genesis of the crisis that resulted to the birth of NiRA in March 23, 2005 as stakeholder-led organisa-tion, charged with the management of the Nigeria’s country code Top Level Domain name, ccTLD, dot ng.

Akinbo, who is the Treasurer of the as-sociation, said the re-delegation of the .ng ccTLD came nearly 12 years after the coun-try code was hosted first in Italy, and later by Randy Bush, an American.

While Bush was the technical contact for the ccTLD, Mrs. Ibukun Odusote, served as the administrative contact.However, it was learnt that that did not put NiRA on a sound footing as a fresh controversy trailing the hosting right made former President Oluse-gun Obasanjo to step in on January 16, 2004 and directed that the management of the .ng ccTLD be transferred from Odusote to National Information Technology Develop-ment Agency, NITDA, temporarily.

While most part of the developed econo-my started having their own ccTLD as far as back the early 90s, internet awareness was

NiRA: Building national identity through .ng domain nameEstablished in 2005, the Nigeria Internet Registration Association, NiRA, the managers of the nation’s identity on the internet, has so far been able to register 60,000 domain names, ISAIAH ERHIAWARIEN examines the association’s journey so far in creating a credible national identity for Nigeria on the global communications highway, the Internet.

THE ASSOCIATION WILL CONTINUE TO FIGHT

AGAINST REGISTERING WITH FOREIGN DOMAIN

NAMES LIKE .ZA OF SOUTH AFRICA, .CA

OF CANADA, .CO.UK OF UNITED KINGDOM AND

.US OF AMERICA

Uduma, who expressed the associa-tion’s desire to populate the internet with Nigeria’s domain name and to retain in-ternet traffic that are generated within Nigeria,said about 60,000 domain names had been registered in the .ng registry till date.

She encouraged Nigerians who were yet to register their business with .ng domain name, to do so without further delay.

Vice President, NIRA, Sunday Afolayan described the domain name represent the address of an individual or corporate body on the internet saying that there are rules and conventions that govern the choice and registration of domain names.

According to him, the naming conven-tions have been carefully created to avoid confusion, and make it easy for users to navigate on the Internet stressing that “NiRA as much as possible abides with global best practices, in the implementa-tion of domain names.”

He said that domain names are intend-ed to be human-memorable addresses that direct to online information or services noting that the use of dot ng by more Ni-gerians and Nigerian companies or organ-isation give more exposure to the country on the internet.

While calling for more adoption of the dot ng, he said that NIRA currently does not operate Internationalised domain names, which allows domain names in the natural languages of the users.

Afolayan explained that said domain name was made up of several levels, such as the first level domain name, which is premium, the second level domain name, the third level domain name, the fourth and fifth levels domain name, with each level separated by dots.

According to him, each level comes with its own specialties and pricing, advising Nigerians to register any level of domain name, except for the first level that is re-served.

He, however noted that NiRA NIRA reserves the right to maintain the list of domains that shall not be available for reg-istration, or can be withdrawn if already registered saying that they include offen-sive names such as words determined by NiRA to be offensive to the Nigerians, re-stricted names, which may give the wrong impression if used and premium names with generic words only, commanding pre-mium value.

The industry leader explained that the NiRA Domain Name Policy Version 1.0, which operated since May 5, 2008 describes the NiRA rules for the registration and use of domain names within the .ng domain and its sub-domains saying that registra-tion was only possible in the third and fourth level and that the Policy was modi-fied in April 2013, to allow direct registra-tion in the second level.

increased public interest, greater aware-ness drive and some outlined outreach pro-grammes, Nigeria is positioned for growth in this business this year.

Statistics obtained from NiRA indicated that there had been an improvement in the numbers of registered domain name dot .ng. It was gathered that in January 2015, 1,542 domain name of dot .ng were regis-tered while 1,070 were renewed and 14 oth-ers were transferred from one owner to another.

Similarly, in February 2015, 1,512 domain name of dot .ng were registered while 1,048 were renewed and 45 others were trans-ferred from one owner to another.

Uduma attributed the increase to the campaign and awareness programme of NiRA on the domain name dot ng to the support of the media.

While expressing hope that the num-bers will increase drastically this year, she said that there are big names on the inter-net that goes with the domain name dot ng.

She said that the association will contin-ue to fight against registering with foreign domain names like .za of South Africa, .ca of Canada, .co.uk of United Kingdom and .us of America, amongst others.

just about evolving in Nigeria such even as at today, most Nigerians and indeed, corpo-rate bodies still have email address with the ccTLD of dot Uk dot Ca for yahoo account.

President of NiRA, Mary Uduma, told National Mirror that the association had created a national identity that portrayed Nigeria on the cyber space, adding that that is why it views internet as a global vehicle to drive e-governance.

According to her, the developed econo-mies are what they are today due to the attention that they gave the use of the in-ternet in governance stating that Nigeria needs more presence in the internet.

She urged that more Nigerian compa-nies and organisations both in the public and private sector must be on the internet with the domain name dot ng saying that NiRA has been in the vanguard of cham-pioning e-governance embrace by gover-nance.

Uduma hinted that the registration of .ng domain names is progressing such that there were fewer registrations in February 2015 than in January 2015 noting that with

Uduma

Odusote

Folayan

31National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, April 2, 2015

Info Tech

32 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, April 2, 2015

Tech Box

Few technology products can be as annoying as printers, but Samsung

Electronics is hoping to change that by convincing developers to create applications for its multifunction printers.

The apps can be created using the new Smart UX SDK and will run on Samsung’s MultiXpress and ProXpress line of multi-function printers for offices, which are controlled using an integrated Android tablet with a 10.1-inch screen.

The company hopes enter-prise in-house developers, ISVs, system integrators and resellers will build Android applications for the printers. So far, Korean company Hancom is the only company outside Samsung to do so.

With Hancom’s Office app, us-ers can view and edit documents directly at the printer. The sup-posed advantage is that they

don’t have to go back to their computer to correct errors on printouts.

Samsung has also created apps of its own, including Mo-bile Print, which offers integra-tion with online storage services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft’s OneDrive and Box.

Using the kit, developers can access printing, scanning and copying features as well as cloud-based applications. To help them get started Samsung has posted a programming guide.

It makes sense for Samsung to try to take advantage of its po-sition in the Android ecosystem to sell more professional print-ers, but convincing developers will still likely be a struggle as it has had little luck getting de-velopers to customise apps for its mobile devices, a market in which it is far more dominant than in printing.

LG’s first standalone smartwatch and the first watch based on WebOS—

is not going to come cheap.The LG Watch Urbane LTE

launched in South Korea recent-ly, with price tag of roughly $590, Android Central reports. That’s before tacking on a $9 per month wireless plan for voice, text and, data.

The price puts LG’s latest smartwatch on par with the mid-range Apple Watch, which starts at $549 for the 38mm model and $599 for the 42mm model.

LG is hoping the Watch Ur-bane will stand out through its built-in SIM card and 4G LTE connection, as the Apple Watch and most other smartwatches require a paired phone to get on-line. The LG Watch Urbane also boasts a more stylish design than most smartwatches.

Unlike LG’s other smart-watches, which run Android Wear, the Watch Urbane LTE uses a custom version of WebOS. This includes some built-in apps for things like email, fitness, and voice commands, and allows for

Banks, customers can guarantee against bank frauds –E-PPAN

The volume of shipment for wearable device across all market in the world is

expected to hit a high mark of 45.7 million units in 2015, a 133.4 per cent increase from the 19.6 million units shipped in 2014.

The increase is the result of a combination of new vendors, new devices, and greater end-user awareness in the worldwide wear-able market in 2015.

According to the most recent forecast data from the Interna-tional Data Corporation, IDC, Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker, vendors will ship a total of 45.7 million units in 2015, up a strong 133.4 per cent from the 19.6 million units shipped in 2014.

By 2019, total shipment vol-umes are forecast to reach 126.1 million units, resulting in a five-year compound annual growth rate, CAGR of 45.1 per cent.

Propelling the market higher in 2015 is an increased focus on smart wearables, or those devices capable of running third-party applications.

The IDC report said these include devices like the Apple Watch, Motorola’s Moto 360, and Samsung’s Gear watches adding that the total volume of smart wearables will reach 25.7 million units in 2015, up a whopping 510.9 per cent from the 4.2 million units shipped in 2014.

Also the report said basic wear-

ables, or those devices that do not run third party applications, will grow from 15.4 million units in 2014 to 20.0 million units in 2015, resulting in 30.0 per cent yearly.

Research Manager with IDC’s Wearables team, Ramon Lla-mas said the smart wearables are about to take a major step forward with the launch of the Apple Watch this year saying that “The Apple Watch raises the pro-file of wearables in general and there are many vendors and de-vices that are eager to share the spotlight. In fact, we anticipate continued growth here as many segments of the market seek out simple, single-use wearable de-vices.”

Samsung printer that needs Android apps

LG’s LTE stand alone watch

STORIES: ISAIAH ERHIAWARIEN

As the Easter period coin-cides with the ongoing 2015 elections in Nigeria,

the Electronic Payments Pro-viders Association of Nigeria, E-PPAN has said that banks and their customers could achieve about 80 per cent safety for their deposits and other assets if they prevent online security breaches on their banking procedures.

The E-PPAN, which offers the advice also offered banking customers tips to achieving up to 80 per cent financial security against the antics of cyber crimi-nals.

According to Executive Secre-tary and Chief Executive Officer of E-PPAN, Mrs. Regha Onajite, urged that if personal details are protected, there are chances of fraud being reduced by 50 per cent and even by 80 per cent say-ing that “what we should do as individuals is to protect ourselves and our personal details.”

She stated that the other 20 per

cent security measures would then be left to the banks to handle adding that electronic payments come with a lot of convenience and with lot of speed.

Onajite who gave the advice ahead of the Easter celebration warned that current develop-ments in the country, which in-clude the election, should not give room for security lapses in electronic banking stressing that the elections obsession be carried away from taking proper protec-tion of their personal sensitive data connected to their financial activities.

“This is the period of election and there is a lot of anxiety. We are trying to change to a new ad-ministration or retain the exist-ing one and because we are anx-ious about our political future, a lot of people may let down their guards in their financial securi-ty”, she explained.

She disclosed that financial fraudsters are always focused and as such the banking public should always be focused and on the alert because fraud migrates to a state

of less security during a period of anxiety noting that people can fall victims of frauds in this period.

Onajite explained that if some-body is able to get your details or cards and access your channels of payment, the person will also be able to conveniently and speedily steal your money.

She called on bank customers to be couscous of the increasing wave of phishing, warning bank customers to beware not open un-solicited emails, respond to them, and feel information online as this may be phishing, which makes it easy access personal fi-nancial details of victims.

Onajite said with electronic payments, a lot of banking cus-tomers have gotten increased fi-nancial security since they carry less cash and rely more on elec-tronic platforms for their transac-tions.

She said: “So many of us went home during the election with-out having cash on us but relied solely on electronic channels to access fund and carry out other transactions.

L-R: Senior Manager, Data & Portals, Airtel Nigeria, David Umoh,Chief Commercial Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Maurice Newa, Vice President, Data Products & Services Nitin Anand at the Airtel Smart Network media launch in Lagos.

Shipment for wearable device to hit 45.7m in 2015

wrist-based payments with NFC.The details on those NFC pay-

ments are still murky, however, and LG hasn’t talked about third-party apps. The watch will also require an Android phone for notifications, even though it isn’t using Google’s software this time around

While most smartwatch mak-ers started with cheap, plastic-clad timepieces, they’ve quickly followed Apple’s lead into luxury land. But with Apple dominat-ing the high-end of the market, it should have an easier time sell-ing expensive smartwatches to its existing clientele.

Info Tech

STORIES: ISAIAH ERHIAWARIEN

Airtel Nigeria as part of its corporate social re-sponsibility is deploying

technology to assist a youth cur-rently facing some challenges.

Akinwale Adesina who de-spite his own limitations has been rendering a selfless service to train hapless youths in the community for free.

The telecommunications com-pany has decided to empower Adesina and his computer insti-tute by donating 4 computers; a generator; UPS; Internet modem; A Black/White & Colour Printer; 2 external drives; 2 card readers; scanner and laminating machine and a one year shop rent.

Adesina was born and bred in Ogbomosho, Osun State. He went to primary and secondary school at Ogbomosho. Unfortunately, Akinwale was unable to finish his secondary education due to family problems and financial is-sues but was encouraged by his mother who took him to a church where he assisted in organising computer centre named Glori-ous Computer Institute. He said he is always happy to teach chil-dren about computers. Adesina

is always motivated when he when he sees children or youth who are willing to make good their lives.

According to Mr. Akanbi Ola-wale who nominated Adesina, whom he had known for four years, he nominated him be-cause he is gentle; kind; willing to learn, and hardworking.

One of Adesina’s students Taofeck Akanji, stated that he joined the Winner Computer In-stitute in order to become a suc-cessful person in life and also be able to help his friends and family. Another beneficiary of the institute, Alabi Grace said she went to the institute to study computer because she had been challenged that what a man can do a woman can do better.

His joy knew no bounds when Airtel rolled out these tools. He thanked the people’s network for empowering him to achieve his dream of helping himself and as-sisting the less privileged youths around him.

The second story is that Mama Mercy who is a barren and has suffered most of her life as a re-sult of rejection by her family and her community.

Life has been unbearable for Mercy Wbiabia from Nonwa, a

L-R: Beneficiary of MTNF Science and Technology Scholarship for the Blind, Lawal Tolulope;, Regional Trade Marketing Manager, South-West, MTN, Akinolu Oludiran; Dean, Student Affairs, Federal College of Education, Special, Oyo, Mr. Ogunjide Adebayo, and, another beneficiary, Oluwwatoyosi Lawal at the 16th convocation ceremony of FCE, Special, Oyo town, recently.

Airtel deploys technology to empower youths

Microsoft seeks data security for Nigerian youths

OLX Nigeria has acquired another online sales platform known as Trad-

estable as part its expansion plan in the free classified ad site busi-ness.

A statement from OLX Nige-ria reveals that, combining both platforms will make it faster and easier for users to trade and turn their items into cash adding that the acquisition would give con-sumers access to more variety in products and services.

Commenting on the acquisi-tion, the Country Manager, OLX Nigeria, Lola Masha stated that with the acquisition, users would be able to choose from a wider se-

lection of items and be more suc-cessful in selling their own items to a larger audience of buyers.

She said that OLX Nigeria is committed to developing a high quality, online market place for consumers wanting to buy and sell across multiple categories in-cluding vehicles, mobile phones and electronics.

“OLX is excited about the op-portunity to provide an improved classified platform with a broad-er product selection for buyers and sellers. We have a long-term commitment to our Nigerian users and we warmly welcome Tradestable users to OLX”, she said.

Masha assured buyers and sellers who had been transact-ing business on the Tradestable platform that, the acquisition would not only provide a wider and larger audience of buyers and sellers, but would allow them to benefit from product and cus-tomer service improvements on OLX.

She noted that in less than three years of its launch in Nige-ria, OLX has become a household name for consumer-to-consumer trade, where people can discover buying and selling opportunities that can help them achieve suc-cess, earn a little extra cash and get a good bargain.

OLX acquires new ad site

rural community located out-side Port Harcourt city, she is a considerable farmer who does not have a farm of her own. She lives in a mud house where part of the house has collapsed. She is struggling to look after her-self and her sister son, Sunday Nomubari who is like a son that was left with her.

According to James Wbiloyii who nominated Mercy, he said whenever he travels home to

meet his Aunt, she always tells him how she has been humiliat-ed; intimidated; sometimes beat-en and also robbed of her food. He said he nominated her in or-der for her to get help from Air-tel Touching Lives programme.

Nomubari was unable to com-plete his school because of mon-ey. He is helping her because he was born out of wed lock and was left with her, he promised never to neglect her. Both of

them were excited and very hap-py when Airtel Nigeria decided to support her and touch her life by giving and making her com-fortable.

Airtel has promised to build a one bedroom bungalow for her and she was given sixty plastic chairs; ten plastic tables and two canopies. She emotionally thanked Airtel and said she nev-er imagine such great change can ever happen to her.

Info TechNational Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 33Thursday, April 2, 2015

Government Technology

Financial Technology

Microsoft Nigeria is seek-ing data protection for all Nigerian students

describing them as a vulnerable group whose data should only be used to provide and enable them access educational and learning materials.

That formed the reason for the signing of the Student Privacy

Pledge developed by the Future of Privacy Forum and the global Software and Information Indus-try Association in 2014.

According to the Chief Tech-nology Officer, Microsoft Nigeria, Olayinka Oni, Microsoft became one of the first major companies to establish standardised prin-ciples to protect the privacy of

student information saying that Microsoft believes that students are a vulnerable group and that their data should only be used for educational purposes.

“This is our privacy creed. We signed on to the Student Privacy Pledge and other providers fol-lowed suit. Locally, we have spon-sored inputs into the Cybercrime

Bill, we are driving conversation with different regulators to en-sure that services are secure from end-to-end,” Oni said.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has be-come the first major cloud pro-vider to adopt the world’s first international standard for cloud privacy, ISO/IEC 27018 in its re-lentless effort to assure custom-ers and the public of the privacy and security of their data in Mi-crosoft’s cloud.

Director Corporate Affairs, Microsoft Nigeria, Ijeoma Abazie told journalist in Lagos that Mi-crosoft cloud will empower cus-tomers of all sizes to do more, be more, achieve more in their digi-tal work and life and still be fully in control of their data and how they are used at all times.

She said Microsoft’s ISO 27018 Certification and adherence to the standard is important, given all the benefits to customers in guaranteeing the privacy and se-curity of their data which gives them peace of mind and enables customers focus on their busi-nesses.

According to her, given recent government surveillance practic-

es and following the U.S National Security Adviser, NSA, Snowden leakages, there have been grow-ing concerns regarding the se-curity of data stored online and in the cloud noting that for over 10 years Microsoft has remained committed to providing strong privacy and security protections for its customers’ data.

Abazie said that undertaking the audit culminating in receipt of the ISO 27018 certification af-firms its unrelenting and long-standing commitment to the pri-vacy and security of customers’ data in the cloud.

She said Microsoft fully iden-tifies with enterprise customers who increasingly express con-cerns about other cloud service providers using their data for advertising purposes without consent and assures them and the public that it does not capture, maintain, scan, index, or mine enterprise customer data or use its customers’ data for advertis-ing, marketing or other hidden purpose but accesses customer data only to provide services and support.

Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies says profits jumped a third last year, boost-

ed by strong performances in all its businesses.

The world’s second biggest tele-coms equipment maker said its net profit was 27.9bn yuan ($4.5bn; £3bn), up from 21bn yuan in 2013.

That matched the company’s fore-casts announced in January.

The firm, which is also a major smartphone maker, saw revenues rise by 21 per cent over the year.

“Our cash flow, revenue, and prof-it all grew over the previous year,” said chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in a statement on Tuesday. “Moreover, our debt and financing structures have continuously im-proved.”

Foreign exchange gains also had a big impact on the company’s earn-ings, because it generates more than 60% of its revenue abroad.

Huawei’s growth comes despite it facing challenges in several major economies. In the US, it was branded a national security threat by legisla-

Chinese tech giant Huawei’s net profit jumps 33%

tors, because of its alleged close ties with the Chinese government.

Meanwhile, it has been banned from being involved in broadband projects in Australia over espionage fears.

However, the company said it was well positioned to capture busi-ness opportunities with heavy in-vestment in innovative areas such as cloud computing and fifth genera-tion (5G) mobile technology.

U.S. stock fell on Tuesday in a modest retreat from the previous session’s

sharp rally, though major index-es remained on track for a posi-tive first quarter and the S&P500 was set for its ninth straight quarterly rise.

Energy shares will be in focus as crude oil CLc1 fell 1.4 per cent to $48 per barrel, sending the S&P Energy index .SPNY down one per cent and Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) down 1.1 per cent to $84.73. Oil is set for its third straight daily decline, losing about seven per cent over that period.

Oil was pressured as Iran and six world powers entered a final day of talks on a nuclear deal that could see the energy-rich country increase oil exports. The talks come at a time when oversupply is already a major concern for energy investors, hav-ing contributed to crude falling more than 50 per cent from a high in June.

Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd (ENH.N) agreed to buy reinsurer Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd (MRH.N) for about $1.83 billion, while Char-ter Communications Inc (CHTR.O) agreed to acquire Bright House Net-works in a roughly $10 billion deal.

The news follows a number of big

Brent crude oil dropped to-wards $55 a barrel on Tues-day as Iran and six world

powers entered a final day of talks over a nuclear deal that could see the energy-rich country increase oil ex-ports to world markets.

With a self-imposed deadline set for the end of the day, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China ramped up the pace of negotiations with Iran in Switzerland over an outline deal on Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Disagreements on enrichment research and the pace of lifting sanc-tions remained as hurdles that could scupper a deal to end a 12-year stand-off between Iran and the West.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow he believed the talks had a good chance of success.

“The chances are high. They are probably not 100 percent but you can

deals announced on Monday, all of which contributed to the market’s broad advance and the Dow’s biggest one-day rise in more than a month. Charter rose 8.3 per cent to $198.66 while Montpelier rose three per cent to $39.31. Endurance fell 2 percent to $63.02.

“Today’s move is largely in reac-tion to yesterday, a back-to-normal session, but our view on the market is still constructive. As we see con-tinued acquisition deals, that will be supportive for the backdrop,” said James Dunigan, chief investment officer at PNC Wealth Management in Philadelphia.

Trading may be volatile ahead of the March payroll report, due on Fri-day, when the stock market is closed for the Good Friday holiday. If the re-port is strong, investors could view the U.S. Federal Reserve as more likely to raise rates earlier than cur-rently expected.

Tuesday marks the end of the first quarter. Over the period, the Dow rose 0.5 per cent, the S&P 500 rose 0.9 per cent and the Nasdaq rose 4 percent. This is the ninth straight quarterly advance for the S&P and Nasdaq, the longest such streak for the S&P since 1998 and the longest

for the Nasdaq in its history.The Dow Jones industrial aver-

age .DJI fell 74.74 points, or 0.42 per-cent, to 17,901.57, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 8.68 points, or 0.42 per cent, to 2,077.56 and the Nasdaq Composite.IXIC dropped 18.60 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 4,928.84.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 2,028 to 628, for a 3.23-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, 1,628 issues fell and 540 ad-vanced, for a 3.01-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.

The S&P 500 was posting 6 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 15 new highs and 10 new lows.

never be 100 percent certain of any-thing,” Lavrov said.

Western diplomats however played down expectations for the talks in the Swiss city of Lausanne.

Brent LCOc1 was $1.14 lower at $55.15 a barrel by 1335 GMT and was heading for a monthly drop of around 12 percent. U.S. crude CLc1 was down 67 cents at $48.01 a barrel.

Both benchmark contracts were heading for a third consecutive quar-ter of declines.

Oil prices extended two days of falls as investors said a deal in Lau-sanne could lead to an increase in Iranian crude supply to a market al-ready oversupplied due to U.S. shale production.

“If the flood gates to Iranian crude open, (prices) will probably test this year’s lows again,” Daniel Ang, ana-lyst at Singapore-based brokerage Phillip Futures, told Reuters Global Oil Forum.

Iran could increase oil production by around 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) within six months if sanctions are removed, and by an additional 700,000 bpd within another year, ac-cording to estimates by Facts Global Energy.

Western sanctions have limited Iranian crude oil exports to around 1 million bpd, and shipping sources say Iran is storing at least 30 million bar-rels of oil on a supertankers.

BNP Paribas nevertheless did not expect a large increase in Iranian oil exports.

“Whether or not there is a deal, we do not expect a flood of oil on the mar-ket as consequence. Which sanctions will be lifted and the uncertainty in the timing of lifting suggest that Iran will not be in position to significantly add to the current oversupply in the market,” BNP chief oil and commod-ities strategist Harry Tchilinguirian told Reuters Global Oil Forum.

Oil prices came under further pressure after a Reuters survey showed OPEC oil supply had jumped in March to its highest since October as Iraq’s exports rebounded after bad weather and Saudi Arabia pumped at close to record rates, a sign key mem-bers are sticking to their effort to re-gain market share.

U.S. commercial crude oil stocks are likely to have risen by 4.2 million barrels last week to a record high for a 12th week, a Reuters poll showed ahead of weekly data by the Ameri-can Petroleum Institute.

Obama

Wall Street dips after rally; indexes set for quarterly gain

Oil drops to $55 as Iran nuclear talks intensify

34 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, April 2, 2015Global News

Despite the recent volatil-ity in its Asian business, the chief executive of

the world’s largest spirits mak-er, Diageo, says 50% of its prod-ucts’ sales growth will come from the region.

The fundamentals in the region were still very strong, Chief Executive Ivan Menezes told the BBC.

Factors such as 60 million people in the region turning the legal drinking age every year will drive that growth.

A crackdown on extravagant spending in China dented Dia-geo’s sales last year.

The British firm reported lower-than-expected sales for the second half of 2014 in Janu-ary at £5.9bn ($8.7bn), while its per cent to £1.7bn.

In China, the company said sales of Scotch whisky were

Asia will drive growth, says spirits maker Diageo

down 22 per cent as a result of the government’s austerity drive.

Mr. Menezes said Asia ac-counted for 20 per cent of Dia-geo’s current business. He sees that growing to 25 per cent with good growth prospects in China, India and South East Asia.

“Our focus in China is to build a consumer-led business, to get our brands resonating with the consumers,” he said.

“It’s a very attractive market as the emerging middle class is yet to come through strongly.”

Diageo makes Johnnie Walk-er whisky, Smirnoff vodka and Guinness, as well as a number of malts.

With low growth in developed markets of the US and Europe, Diageo is turning to emerging markets to drive growth in the next decade.

Oil rig China President, Xi Jinping

Johnnie Walker whisky

Trends in Nigeria’s detergent market show that it is an intensely competitive market, where no brand can comfortably claim the leader. Major manufacturers

are now engaged in various marketing activities to maintain their brands’ visibility and try to capture more consumers.

Investigation has shown that most re-branding activity now around claims of added ingredients or an increased number of varied pack sizes. For instance, when Unilever new variant of Omo Multi Active was introduced the com-pany claimed that it contained ‘Max Clean’ particles, which makes it an improved stain remover and whitening quality.

At that same time, Procter & Gamble Nigeria was also advertising its brand as the most effective stain remover. An-other major player, PZ Industries, extended its Canoe brand from bar to detergent with similar claim, to increase compe-tition in the detergent category, whilst So Klin, acclaimed to be the volume leader, focused on a consumer promotion, in its aim to remain the brand with the most mass appeal.

Market analyst have come to agree that the volume of detergents in the market is overwhelming, but at the same time, they also believe it is a right business response to the population as well as the new desire to embrace quality home and fabric care.

Currently the market is dominated by the following brand in no particular order: Bimbo, Good Mama, Zip, Sunlight , Ariel, Omo, So Klin, Canoe, Goodnews, Breeze, Surf, Bonux, Sunlight among others

Research from Euromonitor indicate that increasing ur-ban lifestyles and the growing sophistication of consumers account for the increasing demand for home care products in recent years, and invariably leads to a better market per-formance in the last ten years period.

The research indicate that rising income and the increas-ing number of people with white collar jobs in urban areas has resulted in consumers moving away from known tradi-tional methods of home care to more modern methods in the Nigerian context. This result in the higher growth rate recorded in the home care market.

In Nigerian market today there are over two dozen brands of home care detergents competing for the attention of the Nigerian consumers.

In a competitive laundry care market, Unilever Nigeria Plc is perceived to be the leading company according to a 2013 report, with a 29 per cent share of retail value sales. Unile-ver’s leadership is attributed to long-standing ownership of the well-known and strongly advertised Omo brand.

However, in recent years, the company had to make im-provements to its brand line, and has had to battle hard to maintain its leading position, with tough competition com-ing from Procter & Gamble’s Ariel and So Klin brand. So Klin is described as an economy brand. However, in volume terms, So Klin, which is cheaper than Omo and Ariel, and focuses on selling smaller pack sizes, is the leading brand, particularly among the low end consumers.

Analyst believe Omo has succeeded by virtue of its po-sitioning in the mid-to-premium-priced segment, as well as constant innovations to packaging and products by Unilever Nigeria Plc. Unilever also manufactures the Sunlight brand, which offers laundry detergent and bar soap variants.

According to a consumer analysts and Managing Director of Careline Consult, Godwin Obiora, the Nigerian detergent market today is witnessing a robust competition, and the rea-

Battle for supremacy in detergents’ market heightens

I CAN TELL YOU THAT MOST OF THE TIMES WE MAKE OUR MONEY FROM THE BRANDS

THAT YOU THINK ARE NEW AND NOT KNOWN OR YOU DO NOT SEE BEING ADVERTISED ON

TELEVISION

The battle for market supremacy amongst detergent brands in Nigeria’s market has continued to raise the bars for improved products’ value for manufacturers for decades. While these brands are dominated by known big names, investigations have however shown that consumer patronage is now no longer dependent on brand name but value derivatives from products and affordability. DAVID AUDU reports.

Thursday, April 2, 2015National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 35

Brands & Marketing

sons for this are not far-fetched. He attributed it to the large population, which the Asians and Far East businessmen have identified and have moved in with detergent brands that are not only good in quality but also affordable to the average Ni-gerian consumers.

Obiora explained further that the monopoly of the deter-gent market by the big brands from the multinational com-panies have been so fragmented such that many of them are now battling for survival to retain a profitable market share.

“The responses to such competition are the frequent re-branding of popular brands and introduction of new brand, and sometimes multiple brands from the same company to saturate the market. The detergent market Nigerian is un-arguably saturated, but the beauty of completion is that the good ones stand out. And one brand that has exemplified this is the So Klin detergent.Nobody gave it a chance to survive against the stiff competition and advertising power of some of the popular brands.

“So Klin introduction into the Nigerian market seem to follow the pattern of Promasidor’s introduction of Cowbell Milk into the milk market some years ago. Then, milk to some extent was for the privileged few, but when Cowbell came in with small sachets of N10 and N20, it instantly cap-tured the Nigerian milk market, especially among the low income earners who ironically constitutesover 85 per cent of the Nigerian consumers.”

Investigation by National Mirror in selected markets and retail outlets in some parts of the country revealed that while some big brand no doubt controlled sizable share of the market,but other brands are also very visible.

Bimbo Olaleye owns a fully stocked detergent storeof various brandsin the busy Balogun market on Lagos Island. Speaking on the detergent trends and consumer patronage, she said while the big brands are patronised, the relatively unknown brand are very much in competition.

“I can tell you that most of the times we make our money from the brands that you think are new and not known or you do not see being advertised on television. The people that use them tell us that they are very good. What do you want from detergent, is it not to wash your clothes? We know that big names and big money do not mean they are better ones”.

Another detergent trader in Ojuwoye market in Mushin, Lagos, also believes that while some customers have brands they are loyal to, others buy on the basis of performance.

Asked to name which of the brands gets such patronage? She declined, saying she sells different brands and those who come to buy know what they want no matter how you called them and how attractive the label may be.

“What is good is good and people always find a way to identify with what is good. We know in those days when we have no choice but one or two, but now it is different. If you claim your detergent has stain removing ingredient and whitening quality, the consumers will know. With the bad economy people want to budget low and still derive maxi-mum benefits. So, consumers go for quality products at af-fordable prices”.

The same trend was reported in Kano, where investiga-tion show that old known brands capitalising on the compa-ny widely established distributions networks have been able to penetrate most markets across the country, brands such as So Klin, Bimbo and others have shown demonstrable pres-ence in markets in Kano, Port Harcourt, and other parts of the country.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net36

DAVID AUDU

Group Managing Director, UAC Nigeria Plc, Mr. Larry Ettah revealed that the Du-

lux Colour of theYear initiative signifies the confluence of a great brand and an impactfulidea about one of the central themes of life - co-lour.

Chemical and Allied Products (CAP)Plc, makers of Dulux brand of paint, a subsidiary of UACN Plc group recently named ‘Copper Or-ange’ as the 2015 Colour of the Year.

‘Copper Orange’ was unveiled as the 2015 Colour of the Year in line with the AkzoNobel global tradition and the Dulux brand thought leader-shippositioning in the paint sector at a special event held in Lagos on last week.

Delivering his keynote address at the event, Ettah revealed that one of the outcomesof the Colour of the Year initiative is the elevation of the art of colourbeyond the mundane and prescribed usage and applica-

tion of colour includingthe various icons and manifestations.

He stated that the theme for the 2015 Dulux Colour of the Year, “Ex-plore”, was strategically chosen to depict the mood for the colour which encourageseveryone to explore ev-eryday opportunities.

Ettah added that Copper Orange totally captures the everyday mood and thefive trends that support it which are adventure, unseen spaces, him and herlayering and friendly barter in tandem with the prediction of colourexperts, based on research, that a warmer spectrum of reds and oranges isemerging, one that reflects a more positive global outlook.

“The intriguing side to the 2015 Colour of the Year is that it has shiftedattention to the basic and or-dinary things around us. After all, nature inits natural state tends to weave an array of colour in a way that blends,pleases and soothes our daily lives.

“I, therefore, urge you to enjoy an-ddiscover the value and true worth

L-R: Nigerian Idol 5 Top 30 Contestants-Iheanacho Nancy-23, Efuetanu Tobore-30, Orah John-25, Ekeoma Victor Chibuzor-23 and Aisosa Edeh-Nosa-18 during the Group Stage performance in Lagos at the weekend.

Why colour depicts production attitude – UAC GMD

Should agencies strike over pitching practices?It may sound unethical but that

is exactly what the Marketing Agencies Association has called

for a among agencies working for Anheuser-Busch InBev due to what it called “despicable pitch practic-es”.

The MAA claims that a recent AB InBev e-auction questioned agencies on how low they would go on their rate card, how many hours’ work they would offer for free and how much longer they would extend its current 120-day payment term.

They were also asked how much over the minimum five per cent they would consider giving in a rebate as part of AB InBev’s corporate social responsibility programme, Better World.

Scott Knox, the MAA’s managing director, said: “What would make this a ‘better world’ would be for AB InBev to stop screwing agencies over payment terms and approach any negotiation on price in a re-spectful way.”

The MAA is calling for the strike on 7 April. Brands owned by AB In-Bev include Stella Artois and Bud-weiser.

A spokeswoman for AB InBev UK said: “Payment terms are always set as part of a broader commercial ne-gotiation. As part of the process, we ask all potential partners to provide details on many dimensions of their service so we can evaluate in a fair and objective manner the proposals we receive.”

Etisalat Cliqfest motivates students at LAUTECHEtisalat Nigeria took its

youth-centric education and entertainment ini-

tiative, Cliqfest to Ladoke Akin-tola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomosho in Oyo State this week, with no fewer than 6,000 students of the University benefiting from the initiative.

The two-day programme was held recently at the University’s premises, featured series of activi-ties, including an inspirational ses-sion, a five-a-side novelty football match, raffle draw as well as an ex-citing concert featuring Nigerian hip hop stars such as Jaywon, Rem-inise and Skales.

Speaking at the event, Head, Youth Segment, Etisalat Nigeria, El-vis Daniel, reiterated the company’s commitment to empower the youth and position them for successful ca-reers in future.

“Cliqfest is an initiative designed

Reuters - Ketchup maker H.J. Heinz Co, owned by 3G Capital and Warren Buf-

fett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc, is acquiring a majority stake in Kraft Foods Group Inc to create the third-largest North American food company, executives said on Wednesday.

Shares of Kraft were up more than 38 percent near $85 in morn-ing trading.

The deal would provide Heinz with access to Kraft brands, which it says are in 98 percent of North American households and in-clude well-known names like Os-car Mayer and Jell-O. Heinz’s in-ternational presence provides an opportunity to sell those brands overseas.

Kraft stockholders would get one share in the combined com-pany, to be called the Kraft Heinz Co, and a special cash dividend of

$16.50 for every share held.Heinz shareholders will own 51

percent of the combined company and Kraft shareholders the rest.

Packaged-food makers such as Kraft are battling sluggish de-mand as consumers shift to prod-ucts perceived to be healthier.

Kraft has overhauled its senior management over the past few months and has said it will de-velop products to meet changing consumer preferences.

However, “the board saw the 3G opportunity as more compel-ling,” Kraft Chief Executive Offi-cer John Cahill, who will be vice chairman of the combined com-pany, said on a conference call.

The combined publicly traded company is expected to save about $1.5 billion in annual costs by the end of 2017. It will have eight brands worth over $1 billion each, the companies said.

Kraft to partner Heinz in 3G, Buffett-led deal

to encourage young Nigerians to pursue their dreams. The essence is also to help them identify their pas-sions, have fun and also experience Etisalat’s youth product-Easycliq.’’

While flagging off activities for the two-day event with an inspira-tional session tagged, “Seizing Op-portunities,” motivational speaker, Niyi Adesanya dwelt extensively on talents development. Adesanya provided insights on sectors where opportunities abound in the country, urging the students to explore their talents and choose careers that suit their skills.

The peak of the event was the raffle draw for the ultimate prize of a brand new Hyundai car, which was won by a 400- Level Civil Engineer-ing student, Olaniyi Oluwaseyi.

Etisalat Cliqfest has been to over 54 tertiary institutions in Nigeria, in-spiring thousands of students with its unique combination of education and entertainment activities.

Thursday, April 2, 2015Brands & Marketing

DAVID AUDU

Animated characters have become a staple in the world of marketing communica-

tions, as brands explore more cre-ative ways to connect with their target audience and project brand essence over extraneous noise from competing products. Brand charac-ters appeal to organisations, because they can be leveraged to create char-acters that match the characteristics of their brands.

The use of brand characters to personify brands and engage cus-tomers became popular in the 1950s after global cereals brand, Kellogg’s introduced cartoon mascot “Tony

the Tiger” for its frosted flakes breakfast cereal. Decades after his birth, “Tony the Tiger” transcends his role as a mascot for Kelloggs’ Frosties and is now an embodiment of the brand’s identity. So integral to the Frosties image is Tony, his ab-sence on packaging raises questions of authenticity.

Beverage giant, Coca-Cola, is also pioneering a new wave of cool characters reflecting brand persona, with the unveiling of a colourful dig-ital world of animated youngsters for Fanta. Eight unique individuals, diverse in personality and interests but bound by their passion for play, make up the Fanta crew present in all of Fanta’s recent messaging,

which is heavy on the brand’s asso-ciation with youthfulness, play and vibrant colour.

Leader of the pack, Gigi, strikes a chord with all young people. Adven-turous, brave, fiercely loyal, intelli-gent and strong, Gigi loves parties, sending texts and traveling, but she sings out a warning…don’t be late, don’t argue when there’s no point and don’t be a coward.

Cool-dude, Tristan, is the style king of the Fanta pack. Dapper and suave, Tristan is self-confident, proud of his talents and cannot imagine a world without music, preferably blaring through his over-sized headphones or flying off his DJ turntables at parties.

Fanta: Deploying animated characters for brand association

of the normal things of life! Let us allembrace the current colour tone and mood for the year as we strive forall-round excellence and success!

Also speaking at the occasion, the Managing Director, CAP Plc, Mrs. OmolaraElemide, stated that the Dulux Colour of Year is a global initiative ofAkzoNobel where a trend setting colour that sparks dis-cussions in the designand architec-tural sector, is chosen to represent and set the mood for aparticular year.

“The event marks the 10th an-niversary of the Dulux Colour of the Year inour country. The colour of the year is chosen based on the constantmonitoring of emerging social, economy and design trends happening aroundthe world and a panel of independent design ex-perts. The colour of the yearis one of the ways the brand ensures it keeps its brand promise of “touch-ingpeople’s everyday livesevery day”, she added.

Tel: 08023117969/08031100462

with Michael Umogun

BRAND talk

Email: [email protected]

It’s a sign of the times: Do everything better, faster and cheaper. Marketers

confront this challenge daily as their own discipline be-comes more difficult. Not only are their financial resources limited, but the consumer attention they seek is scat-tered and fragmented across a myriad of media. So it’s un-derstandable that advertisers are eager to explore options that might help them reach consumers with maximum effectiveness and minimal ex-pense.

With advances in technol-ogy, neuroscience allows for a better understanding of the impact advertising has on consumers. For example, this knowledge enables the most effective scenes within a TV spot to be identified and ed-ited into a shorter and often more neurologically impact-ful version.

This certainly sounds great, the possibility that ads could be shorter (and there-fore cheaper) and “more im-pactful” (according to brain activity recorded on an EEG). The problem though, is that making ads shorter and “more impactful” does not necessar-ily make them more effective. The goal of advertising is to build brands. Advertising is effective when it creates or reinforces positive brand associations in consumers’ minds,and that can happen

only when the attention gen-erated by an ad is linked to a brand. So it’s not enough to just light up the brain; an ef-fective ad must cast some light on the brand too.

Millward Brown has been helping clients optimise their creative for more than four decades. Our work is based on our understanding of how advertising works, developed through years of in-market observation, testing, and vali-dation. In conjunction with traditional research that asks direct questions to elicit conscious and introspective reactions from respondents, neuroscience allows us a bet-ter understanding of how the brain works.

We now incorporate a vari-ety of indirect measurement techniques, including some with roots in neuroscience such as Implicit Association, Eye Tracking and Facial Cod-ing, to add depth and nuance to our assessment. But when-ever wehave advised clients on optimising any aspect of their communications, including ad length, our recommenda-tions have always been based on a holistic understanding of how an ad is intended to work against its specific objectives.

We will continue the dis-cussion next week. Share your thoughts with me at:Michael.Umo [email protected]

Optimising Ads

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 37Thursday, April 2, 2015 Brands & Marketing

L-R: Chief Marketing Officer MTN, Bayo Adekanmbi; beneficiaries of the 2015 Resolution Promo Yetunde Jack and Otoide Quincy, at the presentation of winners in Lagos, recently.

Ranti Michael: Our exceptional customer service officer

DAVID AUDU

It joy for many distributors of La-farge Africa Plc as the company doled out valuable prizes includ-

ing cars, cash and electronic gadgets at the 2014 Partners Award held on Wednesdayat the prestigious Inter-continental Hotel, Lagos.

Alhaji Olasunkanmi Buraimoh Olaoshun of Temitope Enterprises emerged First National Winner and went home with a brand new Sport Utility Vehicle, while Engr. Basiru Atinsola, CEO, Oyinbashy Enter-prises came second and smiled home with a Hyundai Sonata Execu-tive Car.

Others who went home with brand new cars include Alhaji Ra-sheed Ishola, CEO, Rasheed Ishola Ventures Limited who was present-ed a KIA Cerato Car as third nation-al winner and Mr. Innocent Okafor Obi, CEO, Rosent Investment Lim-ited, based in the Eastern Part of the country, who got a Hyundai ix35 jeep for winning the special recognition

My Public Relations firm, SHORTLIST Ltd opened a Current Account with

Skye Bank, Ikeja Plaza some years back.

I had often wondered how our Customer Service Officer was only calling me on phone. The rationale for the calls was mainly to confirm some payments. I had to inform the then Manager, Mr. Williams, that my Customer Service Officer had not met me personally and he took it up.

The Customer Service Officer in question is Mrs. Ranti Michaels. I had a stereotype perception of her when I met her but all that vanished when we developed a relationship.

Ranti Michael is dead now! I write this as my own way of appre-ciating her high level of courtesy,

respect and positive disposition.I can recollect severally how she

had personally intervened to help us out at critical moments.

A very good instance was when a client was unveiling its new of-fice and we had mobilized resourc-es. Our company had uncleared cheque and we had to source for money. I approached Ranti and she provided the cash personally, she did this for us in some other occa-sions. Even when she could not of-fer any assistance, you could feel her emotions and the glaring open-ness in her.

Ranti Michael exemplified the values of the Skye brand. She was a friend who was ever prepared to say YES to all your needs like the Skye Brand. She always exhibited a posi-tive spirit at all times. I have always

Tel: 08023448199 E-mail: [email protected]

Brand X-Ray

with Ayodeji Ayopo

Lafarge rewards distributors with cash, other gifts

award for outstanding performance. Aside the cars, other distributors,

corporate partners and outstanding sales staff of the company also won various electronic gadgets and vol-ume of cement products.

Speaking at the event, Chairman, Lafarge Africa Plc, Chief Olusegun Osunkeyedescribed the event as a rewarding scheme to impact and empowers their trade partners who have contributedto the continued growth and overall well-beingof the organisation.

“Today, we are witnessing the 10th edition of this open demonstra-tion of our company’s appreciation of your role as a key stakeholder and partner in our business.

While reassuring the trade part-ners of the company’s determina-tion to continue giving support to trade partners to boost their perfor-mance, the Chairman pointed out that the recently released 2014 full year financial results indicated that thecompany was yet able to put up a good performance even in such a volatile market as an affirmation

of the strength of the new company and the group’s commitment to achieving excellence.

Also speaking at the event, the Managing Director, WAPCO Op-erations, Lafarge Africa Plc, Mrs. Adepeju Adebayo, said as an or-ganization, Lafarge is passionate about providing world class building solutions to individual home build-ers in Nigeria, through value add-ing partnerships with its esteemed trade partners. She pointed out that the strong equity and rich heritage of the company’s flagship brand –El-ephant Cement, which has been sus-tained for over 50 years, has made it possible for the company to contrib-ute visible landmark in the area ce-ment manufacturing in Nigeria.

To further improve on the ser-vice of Lafarge to its customers, the Managing Director disclosed that the company had appointed Field Sales Managers to individual Key Distributors, who are expected to provide support and traction needed to win in the highly competitive mar-ket place.

focused on relationship building as an integral part of Customer Ser-vice. We had a beneficial relation-ship and her personal attributes endeared her not only to us but also several other customers.

Ranti is a good listener and she embodies the Customer Service Charter of Skye Bank even before the Charter was launched.

She treats customers with re-spect and a high level of courtesy,

she was always willing to apologise for any perceived error on her part. How I wish she is alive to read this! Ranti breathed life into Customer Service and she was very meticu-lous in all her dealings.

The most important thing is for every customer to demand qualita-tive service delivery. Ranti was al-ways at her very best in terms of de-livery. Ranti was always at her peak to see the positive light in horizon

to enhance customer satisfaction. I state this with all sense of responsi-bility because I may be tempted to complain or measure any service rendered to us alongside the Ranti Michael standard of exemplary Customer Service.

It is to her credit that she person-ified the values of the Skye Brand and was an exceptional Customer Service Officer till death.

I do not know whether any Customer Service personnel can attain her lofty standards but her colleagues in Skye Bank, Ikeja Plaza should ensure they raise the bar of qualitative service delivery. It is a moment of grief and I com-miserate with her family and her wonderful colleagues in Ikeja Plaza Branch of Skye Bank on this irre-placeable loss.

In the three tiers of government in Nigeria, grey-haired and old public officers are still in service, claiming not to have reached the retirement age. But OMEIZA AJAYI reports that the cancer of age falsification will soon be a thing of the past with introduction of the Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

As at the end of last year, the gov-ernment, through the Federal Ministry of Finance had deleted

no fewer than 46,861 names from its pay-roll, thanks to its newly introduced cen-tralised database - the Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

In Edo State, over 3,000 workers in the State Public Service lost their jobs after a verification conducted by the Informa-tion Communication Technology (ICT) department in the governor’s office.

According to the state government, the new technology revealed that the dis-missed civil servants had falsified their ages and educational qualifications among other offences. The state was also reported to have sacked some 962 primary school teachers, found to have falsified their ages too.

Even a chief judge in Abia State was not spared. He got the boot from the Na-tional Judicial Council (NJC) last year for not declaring his true age.

The battle is now raging everywhere in Nigeria across all tiers of government against a major canker and national em-barrassment. Nigeria is waging a quiet but fierce onslaught against a common societal ill – age falsification.

Until recent years, age falsification was not really a big deal in the country. Although more rampant in the civil ser-vice, it is a common practice in virtually every sphere of life in the country either as a means of extending the individual’s service years in government, gaining employment opportunities or winning laurels in sports.

As revealed by National Mirror in-vestigations, the average government worker or civil servant, for instance, has two age profiles: one, a sworn af-fidavit declaring a younger age and the other, the real age known only to him and his immediate family. In a country where birth and death registrations and general record keeping are not really a standard practice, age falsification is not seen by most people as a serious crime or anomaly. Yet, it has continued to rob the nation of huge revenues, not to talk of integrity as a nation.

For instance, over N139billion was re-ported to have been saved by the Federal Government through the single massive sack of age falsifiers, who constituted a majority of the ghost workers detected in the Federal Civil Service (FCS) pay-roll last year.

A senior Civil Servant in the Ministry of Establishment, the organ responsible for recruitments into the Federal Civil Service who pleaded anonymity told National Mirror that the practice has thrived over the years mainly because of Nigeria’s very low literacy level.

“Believe me, a large percentage of Nigerian adults do not know their real ages. We have not always taken the issue of birth and death registrations serious, so people depend on sworn affidavits for employment and other issues requiring age declaration. Of course, the process has been subjected to serious abuse as people use such declaration as it suits them. Many would backdate their ages to prolong their retirement from govern-ment service. For some people, age dec-laration helps them to get jobs meant for younger people,” the source said.

falsification, than in sports, especially football. A lot of reasons have been ad-vanced in some quarters especially in Africa why players choose to falsify their birth certificates to be included in a giv-en team.

For a long time now, football has been discovered in the continent by many as a money spinning business. And it has become a ready source for European scouts or agents to recruit talent. The players know that there is a lesser chance of being signed on if they are over 23 years old as there would be less time for clubs to develop them. This has led to overage players being wrong-ly registered in various youth competi-tions.

And the countries and players of these poor nations often benefit from an unfair advantage due to their greater physical maturity compared to players with real age. Nigeria got a sour taste of FIFA’s statute on age cheat when her ju-

Pensioners undergoing verification to authenticate their records

Fortune Chukwudi was involved in age controversy during the 2009 U-17 World Cup hosted by Nigeria

Indeed, that was the discovery made by a young lady who joined the FCS two years ago. Ms Ada was advised by a se-nior staff of the recruiting ministry as she tried to submit her papers for docu-mentation to submit a sworn affidavit instead of her original birth certificate and reduce her age of 37 by at least 10 years to extend her date of retirement.

“I was told this is a normal practice which will help me in future as retire-ment life in Nigeria is often not palat-able for most civil servants. The gentle man cited cases of civil servants dying while processing their pension and gra-tuities while others live in abject poverty as a result of government neglect. Hon-estly, the man made a lot of sense. I had to quickly arrange for a sworn affidavit which is very easy to get and was able to backdate my age a bit,” she said.

In no other sector has Nigeria drawn so much global embarrassment and op-probrium to itself, as a result of age

nior teams were banned. In 1989, Nige-ria’s youth national teams were banned by FIFA for fielding over-age players in FIFA-organised youth tournaments.

The birth dates of three players at the 1988 Olympics were different from the ones used by those players at pre-vious tournaments. The resulting ban lasted for two years and Nigeria was also stripped of its right to host the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship.

Public Service: FG moves

IN A COUNTRY WHERE BIRTH AND DEATH REGISTRATIONS AND GENERAL RECORD KEEPING ARE NOT REALLY A STANDARD

PRACTICE, AGE FALSIFICATION IS NOT SEEN BY MOST PEOPLE AS A SERIOUS

CRIME OR ANOMALY

38 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, April 2, 2015 Insight

Retirees sorting their credentials

Head of Service of the Federation, Mr. Danladi Kifasi

In 2009, Barrister Adokiye Amiesi-maka accused the Nigeria Football Fed-eration (NFF) of being complicit with age-cheats because it gave the nation a competitive advantage. He had what he considered as proof that some players were overage but the NFF was not inter-ested in taking his complaint seriously.

Not too long ago, The British Mail on-line reported how the President of Pa-tizan Belgrade, a professional football club based in Belgrade, Serbia, Zarko Zercevic, accused Nigeria’s soccer star and former Derby County, Plymouth and Inter Milan defender, Taribo West, of lying about his age.

“He joined us saying he was 28. We only later found out he was 40, but he was still playing well so I don’t regret having him on the team,” Zecevic said.

His claim was corroborated by a Croatian club, Rijeka. According to the club, Taribo claimed to be 32 when he was already 44 years old.

It was only after an examination that the doctors raised suspicion with the club because his knees suggested he was older.

Taribo was reportedly not signed on by the club, but later joined Plym-outh and then Iranian side, Paykan FC, where he ended his career at the age of 46 in 2008.

However in his reaction in the Soc-cer Star, he dismissed the allegations as “absolute nonsense.” “I don’t really know what they are talking about and that’s why I don’t really know what more to say. But it is curious that they are raising such matter about 10 years after I left that place. Why not raise it when I was there,” he quipped and many Nigerians agree with him on this.

Apart from in sports, several other Nigerians have been found wanting in different spheres where they have been asked to declare their age.

But National Mirror can now reveal that the tide is turning fast against age cheats. Virtually every government, from the local government to the feder-al level is devising a means of checking the menace of age falsification. In fact, with the introduction of the IPPIS, the Federal Government is optimistic that the era of age falsification in the FCS is now over.

Many of the ghost workers detected through the introduction of IPPIS were those who had retired from service or those who were due for retirement but had clung on to their jobs, swearing af-fidavits to declare new age.

A document obtained by our cor-respondent listed some MDAs as re-cording a higher number of ghost workers. They are National Planning Commission (74.90%), Federal Minis-try of Finance (68.35%), Budget Office of the Federation (77.33%), Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (74.68%), Ministry of Niger Delta (64.87%). Others are Public Ser-vice Institute (66.67%), Federal Min-istry of Information (57.15%) and the Federal Ministry of Works (51.67%).

National Mirror findings revealed

to eradicate age falsifi cationthat with the IPPIS, particulars of civil servants are automatically up-dated by the system and hence the al-teration of dates of birth is no longer feasible.

The IPPIS is designed to ensure that the records of all employees of government are brought under a cen-tral data base.

Director of Communications in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Alhaji Ha-runa Rasheed Imrana, told our cor-respondent that IPPIS is designed in such a way that the incidences of age-cheat are eliminated.

He disclosed that all civil servants that are enrolled in the system now know their expected date of leaving the service and that when such time comes, the system automatically blocks their salaries.

“The IPPIS is a platform that has the data of all civil servants. It has infor-mation on their dates of appointment as well as when they will leave the ser-vice. So, there is no issue of age falsifi-cation because once your details of first appointment is entered into the system, you cannot go and alter it by bringing sworn-affidavits or declaration of age. On the date of retirement, the system will automatically block such staff from being paid,” he explained.

Age falsification, according to the Civil Service Rule carries a punish-ment of summary dismissal.

Government had before now ex-pressed worries about the high person-nel costs of its workforce, as the system in place was unwieldy, making it diffi-cult to plan, manage and make effective budgeting.

“Through this medium, wastages are cut down, as well as promote effective planning and decision-making. It has also facilitated automation and storage of personnel records, to support moni-toring of staff emolument payment against budget,” a document from the Office of the Head of Service stated.

Financed by the World-Bank, the IP-PIS was introduced in 2006 with seven pilot MDAs and now has over 292 MDAs on its platform. There are currently about 530 MDAs.

Nigeria’s public sector is made up of the civil service and the public bureau-cracy.

Often referred to as the core service, the former is composed of line minis-tries and extra-ministerial agencies, while the latter is composed of the en-larged public service, including the Services of the State and National As-sembly, the Judiciary, Armed Forces, the Police and other security agencies, paramilitary services, educational and research institutions among others. All these are expected to join the war against age falsification.

With other tiers of government be-ing fully involved in the crusade, who knows, the cankerworm that age falsi-fication represents in our national life may well be on its way out of the Nige-rian system.

In the 1998 FIFA U-17 World Cham-pionship Nigeria beat Japan 9-0. Follow-ing the game, Japan’s French manager, Philippe Troussier, quipped that he saw one of Nigeria’s U-17 players enter a taxi “with his wife and two children,” implying that Nigeria had fielded over-age players.

Anthony Kojo Williams in late 1999 was elected as the chairman of the Ni-geria Football Association (NFA). He lasted less than three months on the job and was dismissed because in NFF board member, Sani Zaria’s words, “He has failed to carry the other board members along.” In the 2010 BBC World service documentary “Africa Kicks,”

Williams stated that the Nigerian Gov-ernment was “afraid of change.” He went on to say, “I don’t see Nigerian football getting out of the quagmire, it is in today because it (corruption) is getting deeper and deeper and deeper. From time to time we get flashes where we do well in some competition with overage players and we celebrate. That was one of the issues I looked at; we can’t keep using overage players. We use over-age players for junior champi-onships, I know that. Why not say it? It’s the truth. We always cheat. It’s a fact. When you cheat, you deprive the young stars that are supposed to play in these competitions their rights.”

THE IPPIS IS DESIGNED TO ENSURE THAT THE RECORDS OF ALL EMPLOYEES OF GOVERNMENT ARE BROUGHT UNDER

A CENTRAL DATA BASE

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 39Thursday, April 2, 2015 Insight

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net40 Thursday, April 2, 2015Cocktail

The car driven into the mall

A woman was report-edly killed Monday in the southern re-

gion of Nepal after she was gored by a wild rhinoceros, which wreaked havoc on the town of Hetauda.

The town, about 50 miles away from the Nepalese capi-tal of Kathmandu, was liter-ally run over by the massive animal. News reports said the rhino even entered build-ings, such as a hospital, bus station and a local market. The animal also appeared

to chase motorcycles in the street.

Many people took photos and videos of the animal’s run through town and posted them to social media chan-nels.

Experts say rhinos are not aggressive animals to-ward humans, but can be unpredictable when fright-ened. Officials said there are about 500 one-horned rhinos in Nepal, and the animal is classified as an endangered species.

Oddities

Cars drive through malls during burglaries

Wild rhino kills woman, chases people in street

‘New onions’ engineered to avoid tears, bad breath

A Japanese firm an-nounced it has de-veloped tear-free

onions that are low in the enzymes responsible for causing watery eyes in on-ion-cutting cooks.

House Foods Group -- which won the tongue-in cheek Ig Nobel Prize in 2013 for identifying the process that causes eyes to water when onions are sliced -- announced it has

developed onions that are extremely low in the en-zymes that cause tears.

The company said its “new onions” differ fur-ther from the onions of yesteryear by leaving a person’s hands and breath stench-free after handling and eating the vegetables.

“It not only reduces the tears, but should put more smiles” on the faces of con-sumers, the company said.

Australian police have released a pair of vid-eos showing thieves

crashing cars into shopping malls and driving around in-side to break into jewellery stores.

The first video, shot early Monday at the Kippax Fair shopping centre in Canberra, shows a white Subaru Liberty, which police said was previ-ously reported stolen, crash through the glass doors of the mall and drive around inside before ramming the facade of a jewellery store to gain access.

Two suspects can be seen in the video getting out of the vehicle and smashing display cases to steal handfuls of jew-ellery.

Police said the incident is believed to be linked to a similar theft Tuesday morn-ing at the Gungahlin Village mall. Video from the Tuesday heist shows a stolen silver Subaru Impreza crash into the shopping centre and drive to the Diamond King Designs

jewellery store, where the ve-hicle was again used to break through the facade.

“The vehicle has been driven into the arcade com-plex, driven into the front of a jewellery shop inside the centre, and items stolen from the premises,” police said in a statement. “After forcing en-

try to the jewellery store, the driver then drove out of the complex through a second set of doors on Gungahlin Place.”

The second incident was witnessed by mall workers preparing to open their busi-nesses.

Colin Pick, who works at a bakery in the shopping centre,

told The Canberra Times said he heard “an incredible noise.”

“It all happened in a bit over a minute, there was the huge screech of tires and I looked up and saw the car coming towards me,” Pick said. “I thought I was going to get killed.”

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 41Thursday, April 2, 2015 Capital Market

South African stocks ticked up slightly yesterday buoyed

by telecoms operator MTN Group, spurred on by peaceful presidential election in Nigeria, where it is a market leader.

Financial markets in the country, which is also MTN’s most important market in terms of rev-enue and subscribers, rallied after an unprece-dented win by opposition politician Muhammadu Buhari.

MTN shares ended nearly six per cent high-er, pushing Johannes-burg’s Top-40 index up 0.2 per cent to 46,128 points.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange has an-nounced the review

of the Lotus Islamic Index to coincide with the end of the first quarter 2015.

A statement from the Exchange said the review became expedient follow-ing the expected merger of Lafarge Cement Plc and Ashaka Cement Plc later in the year.

The recomposition of these indices after the re-view became effective yes-terday.

The Exchange in part-nership with Lotus Capi-tal Limited began pub-lishing certified Shari’ah compliant Index known as the “NSE Lotus Islamic Index” or NSE LII in July 2012.

The index consists of companies in conformity with the principles of

Shari’ah and was the first index created to track the performance of Shari’ah compliant equities on the floor of the exchange. In-vestment instruments like Exchange Traded Funds were built on the Index which ethically minded investors, both in Nigeria and overseas can invested in.

The Nigerian bourse began publishing the NSE 30 Index in February 2009 with index values avail-able from January 1, 2007.

On July 1, 2008, the NSE developed four sectoral in-dices with a base value of 1,000 points, designed to provide investable bench-marks to capture the per-formance of specific sec-tors.

The sectoral indices comprised the top 15 most capitalised and liquid com-

panies in the Insurance and Consumer Goods sec-tors, top 10 most capital-ised and liquid companies in the Banking and Indus-trial Goods sector and the top seven most capitalised and liquid companies in the Oil & Gas sector.

In July 2012, the Nige-rian bourse launched the Lotus Islamic index (NSE LII) which consisted of companies whose busi-ness practices were in conformity with the prin-ciples of Shari’ah with the aim of increasing the breadth of the market and creating an important benchmark for invest-ments as the alternative non-interest investment space widened.

All the companies that appeared on the Islamic Index had been thorough-ly screened by Lotus Capi-

tal Halal Investment, in accordance with a meth-odology approved by an in-ternationally recognised Shari’ah Advisory Board, comprise of renowned Is-lamic scholars.

The price indices, which were developed us-ing the market capitalisa-tion methodology, were rebalanced on a biannual basis -on the first busi-ness day in January and in July.

The compiler of the in-dices, the Exchange, noted the right to modify the circulated selection above in connection with any mergers, takeovers, sus-pension or resumption of trading or any other com-pany structure changes during the period before the effective date of the annual review.

Why Lotus Islamic index is reviewed – NSE

South Africa’s shares creep higher on Nigeria’s poll result

JOHNSON OKANLAWON

Trading in equities recorded a strong performance on the

Nigerian Stock Exchange yesterday, as some inves-tors reacted positively on investments after the presidential election.

The All Share Index ap-preciated 8.30 per cent or 2,635.31 points to close at 34,388.46 points, bringing year-to-dated return to 0.78 per cent.

Similarly, market capi-talisation rose N906.3 bil-lion with a substantial improvement in market breadth, while the sectoral indices closed higher, with the Industrial Index gain-

Election boosts equities’ value by N906bn

Stock Updates

GAINERSCOMPANY OPENING CLOSING CHANGE % CHANGE

DANGCEM 160.00 176.40 16.40 10.25

WAPCO 84.00 92.61 8.61 10.25

UACN 32.40 35.72 3.32 10.25

FO 215.00 195.22 18.14 10.24

STANBIC 28.68 31.61 2.93 10.22

OANDO 14.50 15.98 1.48 10.21

GUARANTY 26.25 28.93 2.68 10.21

INTBREW 18.90 20.83 1.93 10.21

ZENITHBANK 20.98 23.12 2.14 10.20

NB 143.70 158.34 14.64 10.19

LOSERSCOMPANY OPENING CLOSING CHANGE % CHANGE

FIDSON 3.76 3.58 -0.18 -4.79

INTENEGINS 0.54 0.53 -0.01 -1.85

OKOMUOIL 29.84 29.75 -0.09 -0.30

- - - - -

- - - - -

- - - - -

- - - - -

- - - - -

- - - - -

- - - - -

Market indicatorsAll-Share Index 34,380.14 points

Market capitalisation 11.62trn

Source: NSE

The All-share index add-ed 0.2 per cent to 52,281 points.

“MTN was on the back of the Nigerian election. A lot of people thought the elections wouldn’t go through smoothly,” said Chad Bushnell, a trader at Anglorand Asset Man-agers.

Capitec Bank Holdings hit a life high of 537.65 rand per share as inves-tors lapped up the stock anticipating it would be included in the blue chip Top-40 index, on the back of its rising market capitalisation, which has gained 57 per cent so far this year.

Gold producers listed in Johannesburg fell as job figures from US pri-vate employers showed the smallest growth in more than a year, support-ing views that the Federal Reserve will hold off any rate hike until next year.

Gold is particularly sensitive to shifts in US interest rates, which also move the dollar, in which the metal is priced.

The gold index was down 2.3 per cent as An-gloGold Ashanti shed 2.7 per cent and Gold Fields lost 3 per cent.

Activity was fairly brisk with more than 198 million shares changing hands, comparison to a

Description Price Yield Price Yield

13.05 16-AUG-2016 1.38 98.93 13.90 99.08 13.77

15.10 27-APR-2017 2.07 102.12 13.87 102.27 13.79

16.00 29-JUN-2019 4.24 105.83 14.11 106.13 14.01

16.39 27-JAN-2022 6.83 111.72 13.68 112.02 13.62

14.20 14-MAR-2024 8.95 101.95 13.81 102.25 13.75

10.00 23-JUL-2030 15.31 66.00 16.00 66.30 15.93

Tenor Rate (%)

O/N 13.6683

1M 15.5486

3M 16.6926

6M 17.5973

Maturity Date Bid Offer

02-Jul-15 13.90 14.40

01-Oct-15 14.02 15.08

24-Mar-16 13.62 15.72

Treasury Bills

NIBOR

FGN BondsBid Offer

Closing Market Prices of April 1, 2015

The Fixings of April 1, 2015

ing 9.76 per cent, taking the lead.

The last time the in-dex recorded such a day-on-day performance was May 30, 2014, with a 1,188 points gain.

Analysts at DLM Se-curities Limited, an in-vestment firm said, “We believe the key driver of the positive market reac-tion is a direct result of the successful conduct of Nigeria’s 2015 presiden-tial election and the resul-tant calm political atmo-sphere.”

The firm noted that in spite of the rally, valua-tions remain at signifi-cant discounts to other emerging markets, based on forward earnings.

“Hence, we see ample capacity for significant return on capital to inves-tors via dividends and cap-ital appreciation.

“The conclusion of the 2015 general election and earnings will increasingly be the key driver at this stage of the market cycle. Markets will of course continue to face some risk of correction due to profit taking and portfolio rebal-ancing,” the firm added.

Dangote Cement Plc led the gainers’ table with N16.40 or 10.25 per cent to close at N176.40 per share, followed by Wapco Plc with N8.61 or 10.25 per cent to close at N92.61 per share.

UACN Plc added N3.32

or 10.25 per cent to close at N35.72 per share, while Forte Oil Plc appreciated N18.14 or 10.24 per cent to close at N195.22 per share.

Stanbic IBTC Plc was up N2.93 or 10.22 per cent to close at N31.61 per share.

Conversely, Fidson Healthcare Plc lost 18 kobo or 4.79 per cent to close at N3.58 per share, while Integrated Insur-ance Plc shed one kobo or 1.85 per cent to close at 53 kobo per share.

Okomu Oil Plc fell nine kobo or 0.30 per cent to close at N29.75 per share.

A total of 881.6 million shares valued at N10.9 million were traded in 4,611 deals.

Inter-Bank RateNaira US DollarN197.00 $1

Exchange Rates (N)

WAUA 270

USD 197

EURO 214

CFA 0.32

YEN 1.64

SWISS FRANC

202

POUNDS STERLING

293

SDR 273

Rate (%)

Inflation 8.2

MPR 13

Crude oil price $58.96

daily average of 183 mil-lion shares last year.

1st Tier Securities1st Tier SecuritiesSector Company name No Of Deals Quotation(N) Quantity Traded Value of Shares(N)

Stock exchange daily equities summaryEquities as at April 1, 2015

Sector Company name No Of Deals Quotation(N) Quantity Traded Value of Shares(N)

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, April 2, 2015 Capital Market42

Paediatrician, Dr. Kunle Otuneye, has advised parents who are diabetic

to be mindful of the type of diet they give their children as the disease could be hereditary.

Otuneye, a staff of the Na-tional Hospital, Abuja, said in Abuja that diabetes among children was often caused by bad diet from a young age.

He said that diabetes is a disease that affects the body’s ability to produce or use insu-lin, stressing “If there is fami-ly history of diabetes, the child or children have the tendency of being diabetic.

“Some of the symptoms of the disease in children are ex-treme thirst, unusual weight loss, frequent urination and

when the child is eating well and not growing properly.

“Parents should be careful in the way they give their chil-dren junk food. They should encourage their children to live active lifestyle and exer-cise regularly.’’

The paediatrician explained that type one diabetes is a con-dition when the pancreas does not produce insulin.

He said that type two diabe-tes occur when the body does not produce enough insulin or when the cells are unable to use insulin properly.

“Toddlers and preschool children should be encouraged to be physically active through-out the day. They should have outdoor playtime, access to

Diabetic parents advised on good diet for children

StorieS: Leonard okachie

In a bid to encourage active participation as well as en-sure violent free general elec-

tions, thousands of youths were gathered recently at the #RSVP Abuja Peace Concert organised by the advocacy group, Enough Is Enough Nigeria (EiE Nigeria).

The well attended event, which held at the Ladi Kwali Conference Centre, Sheraton, Abuja, brought together popular Nigerian enter-tainers MI, Sound Sultan, Julius Agwu as well as up and coming performers such as DNA Twins, LK Kuddy, Krump Dance Studi-ous, Ceaser, Debby Veren, Oth-manbee, Spell, Distrikt Matters, Spotlight and many others..

Speaking at the event which was open to everyone with free entrance to anyone with a Per-manent Voter Card (PVC), the Ni-geria Director of Osiwa, funders of the RSVP Concerts, Jude Ilo, explained how pertinent it is for every citizen of voting age to join the decision process as that’s the only voice we have to decide who leads the country to the better place we crave.

“No one should allow them-selves be used by politicians to shed blood or vandalize proper-ties. That speaks very low of the leaders of tomorrow we are pre-paring ourselves to be. Besides if you give your soul because of any Politician, when you are gone, their life continues like nothing happened. Please beware Nige-rians… Let’s Vote Not Fight, be-cause no politician is worth shed-ding your blood for”, he adds.

Other highlights of the events were mobile phones and laptop giveaways among others.

Up and coming artiste, Spot-light, winner of the laptop give-away, was overwhelmed as it came to him as a total surprise “ I had no idea they will be giving out laptops or mobile phones. I only came here to do what I do best and amazingly, everyone fell in love with my performance and started screaming they should give me the laptop. This is the Nigeria we really need where we appreciate a fellow’s efforts and not tear down. Very grateful to the organizers for this”, he said.

The RSVP Concert tour, which already held in various cities across the nation - Lagos, Jos, Kaduna, Owerri & Port-Harcourt - is a voter education and youth mobilization initiative of EiE Nigeria, a non-partisan coali-tion of individuals and organisa-tions committed to instituting a culture of good governance and public accountability in Nigeria.

MI, one of EiE’s RSVP ambas-sadors and a headliner in three of the six cities said, “It is impor-

EiE Nigeria sensitises youths on peaceful elections

tant to engage as many young people as possible in the gover-nance process and whenever I can lend my voice and my time, I’m glad to support EiE’s work.”

EiE believes that if Nigerians engage actively around the mes-sage of the RSVP, the quality of governance in Nigeria will im-prove.

In a related development, the Special Assistant to the Presi-dent on Youths and Student Mat-ters, Comrade Jude Imagwe has assured youth across the coun-try of adequate security protec-tion during the elections,

This is even as president’s aides cautioned Nigerians youth against engaging in electoral vio-lence.

He gave the warning during a workshop on youth against-

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net 43Thursday, April 2, 2015 Young & Next Generation

Some participants at the Abuja peace concert.

violence and crime in Nigeria towards 2015 General elections organized by Duchess Royale Foundation in Abuja.

Imagwe urged them to avoid being used by politicians as po-litical thugs who are against the cry for peaceful, credible, free and fair elections.

According to him, the gov-ernment will provide adequate security to protect voters while urging the youth without vot-ers card to avoid polling units as they have no business there.

He added “I urge you all to shun violence and not to allow yourselves be used by politi-cians to destroy investment that took your parents years to in-vest on the country. After March 28th Nigeria will continue to be United so don’t be used to kill or

playground or open grass and adequate indoor play environ-ment at child-care centres,’’ he said.

Otuneye said denial of food, physical activity and watching television should not be used to punish children, adding that there are other ways to dis-courage bad behaviour.

He advised adults to set good example of healthy nutri-tion and encourage children to eat fruits, vegetables, protein, whole grains and low- or non-fat dairy.

Otuneye said high blood sugar levels could lead to kid-ney disease, heart disease and blindness.

“Excess sugar in the blood-stream can damage the tiny

blood vessels in the eyes and kidneys and can harden or narrow the arteries,’’ he said.

He said that routine exami-nation by ophthalmologist would reveal if one is diabetic or not.

“Diabetes also affects blood circulation to the feet and the tiny blood vessels in the eyes. If the ophthalmologist or po-diatrist (foot doctor) suspects you have diabetes, they will recommend that you see your regular physician for blood sugar level test,’’ he said.

Otuneye said the most com-mon test for diabetes was fast-ing blood glucose test, taken after not eating for at least eight hours, usually overnight through blood sample.

destroy properties. “We must think about tomor-

row and not allow anyone to use the instrument of religion to use us to caused violence.

Nigeria is not limited to two parties and we must therefore not give in to the enticement of anyone to make engaged in violence. 2011 is still fresh in our mind, this time we must not our action today to affect our future.”

On her remarks the Direc-

tor, Duchess Royale Foundation,

Mrs. Duchess Obat, called on the

youth, to shun politicians who

may want to use them to foment trouble during the election.

“Nigeria belongs to you, don’t allow yourselves to destroy it, shun religious, ethnicity consid-eration and don’t sell your con-science,” She urged.

Nigerian Idol top 30, group 1 contestants with show host, Illrhymz (middle).

Why do babies suck thumb ?

HOT to empower 5,000 youths as beauty entrepreneurs

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net

44 Young & Next Generation Thursday, April 2, 2015

Science for Kids

StorieS: Leonard okachie

Mild drama ensued at the week-end when two of the celebrity judges on the Nigerian Idol Sea-

son 5 TV reality show catnapped on stage during a drab performance by one of the contestants, Iheanacho Nancy who goes by the stage name ‘Nana’.

The two judges, afrobeat maestro, Dede Mabiaku and R ‘n’ B crooner, Darey ‘Art’ Alade could not face the disappoint-ing performance by the contestant, and to express this, they decided to lay down their heads on the table.

After some insipid showing earlier by some of the contestants who made the first batch of 10 from the pool of 30 con-testants, the judges had expected Nana to put up a re-assuring performance in keeping with her potentials and past ex-periences on the show having featured consecutively in the past three editions. But as it turned, the 23 years old Nana who performed the song ‘Bin, Bing, Bang’ by Katy Tiz failed to measure up.

“You sang like you were singing to yourself. You have a lot to offer, not this. Even your auditions were better than this,” Yinka Davies jibes at her.

In a related development, 18 year-old Edo born Aisy (Aisosa Edeh-Nosa), also a contestant on the show, failed to hold back tears on stage after being told by the judges that she had a ‘flat and off ’ performance.

Aisy’s group stage performance was a rather uninspiring and disappointing one as she struggled to maintain a bal-ance between the song’s lyrics and her audience.

“You did not own the song,” began Dede. “The character the song needed was not there. The introduction had promises, but on the whole you did not catch the audience,” he concluded.

Speaking shortly after the show, an unperturbed Nana blamed her poor de-livery of the song on the difficulty in combining the mastering of the lyrics

House of Tara (HOT) to train and empower 5,000 beauty representa-tives on how to start an empire

House of Tara International, in part-nership with FCMB, is gearing up to train 5,000 beauty representatives on its ongoing Beauty Business-On-The-Go (BBOTG) initiative.

BBOTG aims to alleviate unemploy-ment by empowering 5,000 young Ni-gerians to be beauty entrepreneurs by providing make-up starter kits, financial training and marketing tactics, which they will need to start their own beauty business.

The initiative will also teach par-ticipants on how to be effective entre-

and delivery on stage, a task she claimed was made more difficult by her lack of previous knowledge of the song.

Meanwhile, eight other contestants also performed in the first batch of the group stage phase. These include Ogun-moyero Modolowamu (Dolu), Iwuchuk-wu Franca (Franchesca), Oyinkepreye Deborah Toun (Preye), Edema Paradise Weyinmi (Paradise), Okukusie Precious Ajiri (Play P), Ekeoma Victor Chibuzor

Thumb-sucking is normal in ba-bies and young children. Most babies and toddlers suck their

thumbs. They may also suck on their fingers, hands, or items such as pacifi-ers. Little by little, most children stop on their own at age 3 to 6 years.

Babies have a natural urge to suck. This urge usually decreases after the

age of 6 months. But many babies con-tinue to suck their thumbs to soothe themselves. Thumb-sucking can become a habit in babies and young children who use it to comfort themselves when they feel hungry, afraid, restless, quiet, sleepy, or bored.

In rare cases, thumb-sucking after age 5 is in response to an emotional problem or other disorder, such as anxiety.

Thumb-sucking in children younger than 4 is usually not a problem. Chil-dren who suck their thumbs often or with great intensity around age 4 or 5, or those who are still sucking their thumbs at age 6, are at risk for dental or speech problems.

Prolonged thumb-sucking may cause the teeth to become improperly aligned (malocclusion) or push the teeth out-ward. This usually corrects itself when

TV reality show judges doze off on stage

Thumb-sucking baby

(Prime), Efuetanu Tobore Ezekiel (To-bore) and Orah Ojochenemi John (Blue C).

From this lot, three contestants with the highest number of votes from the viewing public will automatically quali-fy for the top 12 round. This process will be repeated when the second and third batches’ contestants take the stage in the coming weeks. A total of nine contes-tants will emerge through this process

the child stops thumb-sucking. But the longer thumb-sucking continues, the more likely it is that orthodontic treat-ment will be needed.

Speech problems caused by thumb-sucking can include not being able to say Ts and Ds, lisping, and thrusting out the tongue when talking.

At home, treatment includes parents setting rules and providing distractions. It may help to limit the times and places that your child is allowed to suck his or her thumb and to put away blankets or other items your child associates with thumb-sucking. Putting gloves on your child’s hands or wrapping the thumb with an adhesive bandage or a cloth may help remind your child not to suck the thumb.

Offering praise, positive attention, and rewards for not thumb-sucking may

also help your child break the habit. For example, put stickers on a calendar each day that your child doesn’t suck his or her thumb. After an agreed-upon num-ber of days, have a celebration for your child.

Don’t shame or punish your child for thumb-sucking. This will only lower your child’s self-esteem.

If home treatment doesn’t work and you are concerned or feel frustrated about your child’s thumb-sucking, talk with your child’s doctor. There may be other treatment options, such as be-havioral therapy, thumb devices, or de-vices for the mouth. But remember that thumb-sucking usually isn’t a problem in children at preschool age or younger. Most children will stop on their own if you give them time.

Source: WebMD

while the last three slots will be filled from among un-successful ones on the back of the Judges’ wild cards.

The broadcast of the Nigerian Idol season 5 on both terrestrial and satellite stations continues weekend of April 4 and 5 across the country. It promises to offer real time fun and quality entertain-ment to the millions of viewers and fans of the family-oriented talent-hunt show

Nigerian Idol is in its fifth season after a successful debut in 2010 won by Yeka Onka. In the following years which saw the emergence of Mercy Chinwo, Moses Adigwe and Zebili Evelyn (Evelle), it has grown in popularity and followership on the basis of the unique platforms it of-fers to young Nigerians with exceptional music talent. It is the only music TV real-ity show in Nigeria with a global appeal that currently cuts across 46 countries.

Nigerian Idol focuses on discovering Nigerian youths with talent in music and giving them a unique platform to take shots at stardom. The eventual win-ner goes home with N7.5 million cash re-ward, a brand new car, a recording deal worth N7.5 million with Universal Mu-sic label, South Africa and some high-end devices.

preneurs while trying to run a successful business in today’s economic climate.

The weekly seminars are scheduled to hold every Saturday at 11am at any HOT makeup stu-dio across Nigeria, particularly in the following cities- Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kaduna, Kano, Asaba, Benin, Enugu, Ilo-rin, Uyo and Ibadan.

Set up in 1998, House of Tara is a pioneer in the beauty and makeup industry in Nigeria and Africa as a whole and a trailblazer in the areas of retail, distribution channel management and education.

Known also as an industry enabler, the brand; being the first to set up a beauty school in Nigeria has over 3,000 reps spread across the country and 20 stores to its name.

House of Tara representatives

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 45MediaThursday, April 2, 2015

StorieS : Leonard okachie

Prospective media entrepreneurs have been urged to adopt creative ways of dealing with the challeng-

es posed by New Media.Publisher of TW Magazine, a lifestyle

magazine for today’s woman Mrs. Ade-suwa Onyenokwe, who gave the advice in a statement in Lagos said that digi-tal media had forced traditional print media proprietors to adopt technologi-cal innovations in the dissemination of news.

It said, “Globally, increased compe-tition with digital media has seen the print media forced to supplement their platforms with websites as technologi-cal innovations threaten to silence hard-copy newspapers completely.

“Prospective media entrepreneurs should adopt creative ways to deal with the challenges that come their way.”

According to the statement, online news media is witnessing accelerated in-crease in patronage as many people use their internet enabled mobile phones to access news from all parts of the globe.

She continued: “But as more Nigeri-ans get access to the web, new media is increasingly gaining ground with citi-zen journalism on social media and mo-bile applications.

“Blogs and websites continue to gain traction and amass a significant size of advertising budgets.

``Newspapers and magazines are seemingly stuck on the wrong side of the McLuhan’s famous Theory of Tech-nological Determinism which predicts more emphasis on digital media as the world advances.”

While quoting from the 2013 “The State of the News Media Report’’, the publisher said that the total traffic to the top 25 news sites increased to 7.2 per cent in 2012.

According to Pew Research data, 39 per cent of respondents got news online or from a mobile device “yesterday” up from 34 per cent in 2010 when the survey was last conducted.

That indicates patterns of audience growth on digital platforms, the state-ment said.

It, however, expressed optimism in the ability of the Nigerian publishing in-dustry to leverage on the opportunities offered by digital technology to supple-ment print media with digital platforms.

In order for her magazine to remain relevant in the digital age, it quoted Onyenokwe as saying that TW Magazine launched a website and an app to supple-ment its print version.

New Media challenge: Entrepreneurs tasked on creativity

IPC decries attack on journalists on election duty

The International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos-Nigeria has con-demned the various incidents of

attacks on journalists by security op-eratives and political thugs during last weekend’s presidential and national as-sembly elections.

IPC said its monitoring of media cov-erage of the elections revealed that the following violation of journalists’ rights and press freedom occurred between Saturday and Sunday.

Funsho Arogundade of PM News/TheNews was arrested and released by mobile policemen in Ipaja on Saturday 28 March for attempting to take pho-tographs during the election exercise. Similarly, Perez Brisibe of Vanguard newspapers and some other journalists were assaulted by suspected political thugs at the Ughelli office of the Inde-pendent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Delta State while being barred from monitoring the collation of results.

Imani Joe-Adeniyi, Channels TV Correspondent; Saviour Etim Asuquo, Channels TV Cameraman; Tina Todo, The Guardian newspaper reporter and others were reportedly stopped and mo-lested by men of the Nigeria Police in Calabar, Cross River State on their way to the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to obtain updates on the collation of election results.

A private radio station, Unity FM and some of the journalists were attacked by

some youths from Anguwan Rogo and Zi-naria in Jos North LGA of Plateau State over an alleged offensive live programme.

Director of IPC, Lanre Arogundade said the attacks were unbecoming and certainly not acceptable more so as the journalists were carrying out legitimate professional duty during the elections.

“The fundamental rights of the con-cerned journalists and media institu-tions were violently violated and we hereby call on them to immediately seek appropriate legal redress,” Arogundade said.

He called on the police authorities, other law enforcement agencies and the leadership of the political parties to en-

lighten their men and members on the important role of the media during elec-tions which requires that the freedom of journalists should not be tampered with.

“In particular we are again appealing to the police authorities to consider the guarantee of the safety of journalists as one their scared duties during elec-tions,” Arogundade said.

IPC also called for the immediate release of two Al-Jazeera journalists, Ahmed Idris and Mustafa Ali, who ac-cording to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have been confined to Sutus Hotel, Maiduguri by Nigerian mil-itary authorities since Tuesday March 24, 2015.

Stakehoders at a Town Hall meeting organised by Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria, NPAN.

“Thus aligning with the proliferation of digital devices in peoples’ lives,” the statement said.

The publisher said that the biggest problem of publishing in Nigeria was

distribution which, according to the statement, explained the littering of the streets of Lagos with vendors.

It believes that the key to transforming the fortunes of the print media business-

es in Nigeria perhaps lay with changing the sector’s distribution mechanism.

This, the statement noted, was still largely characterised by road-side hawking and the ubiquitous free read-ers association

L-R:Director, IPC, Mr. Lanre Arogundade and Dean, School of Communication, LASU, Prof. Lai Oso.

Mum uses Facebook to apologise for rude daughters

Malaysia arrests 3 editors over sedition

When Kyesha Smith Wood heard that her teen daughters were rude to another patron who

asked them to be quiet at a local movie theater, she was furious.

The Birmingham, Alabama, mom made them write an apology note, but she didn’t know who should get it.

That’s why Wood posted a plea on her local community’s closed Face-book page on Saturday to track down the woman, according to CNN affiliate WMBA.

The Jefferson County’s Sheriff ’s Of-fice reposted her note the same night, and the post has been liked more than 250,000 times.

“My son later told me, much to my humiliation and embarrassment, that my girls were rude and obnoxious dur-ing the movie. The woman I’m looking for addressed them and asked them to be quiet and they were disrespectful,” Wood wrote on her Facebook post.

“After the movie she approached my girls and told them that her husband had been laid off and this was the last movie she would be able to take her daughter to for a while and my girls

Malaysian police have arrested three editors from a news portal on suspicion of sedition, their

lawyers and authorities have said, over a news report on discussions about punish-ments meted out under Islamic law.

Police and officials from the Malaysian communications and multimedia commis-sion (MCMC) raided the offices of the Ma-laysian Insider late on Monday.

The managing editor Lionel Morais, features editor Zulkifli Sulong and Malay news editor Amin Iskandar were taken into custody and computers and other

items were confiscated.Authorities in the socially conservative

country have conducted a series of arrests for sedition since last August, detaining op-position politicians, activists and academ-ics. Nurul Izzah Anwar, the daughter of the jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, was arrested this month after she made a speech in parliament.

The latest arrests were over an article that said the Confederation of Rulers – Ma-laysia’s monarchy – had rejected a proposal to amend a federal law that could allow the use of the Islamic punishment, hudud, in

Malaysia. The Islamist opposition party is calling for the strict enforcement of sharia, or Islamic law, for Muslims.

“This started out as the cops wanting to question the editors and take statements,” said Syahredzan Johan, a lawyer repre-senting the company. “We only knew they wanted to make arrests after they came to the office“.

Police and officials from the MCMC are investigating Morais, Sulong and Iskandar for sedition and improper use of network service that is “obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive in character”, Johan said.

ruined that for her,” wrote Wood, who asked the woman to contact her. “This rude, disrespectful, and awful behavior is unacceptable and they owe you an apology.”

Wood promised that her daughters would pay for another movie for the family out of their allowance.

The woman Wood was trying to reach is Rebecca Boyd, who saw the sheriff ’s department post and contacted her.

“The note from their mom brought me to tears and shows there is still good people in the world,” Boyd wrote on the sheriff ’s department Facebook page. “I have no hard feelings towards them and I am proud of their parents. The girls are not not bad...they are children. Glad they are learning a lesson. I hope if my teenagers are out and they act up...I hope someone says something to them.”

Wood called Boyd the real hero of the story. “She took it upon herself to cor-rect my girls and nobody else did.”

“She’s the most gracious and kind and forgiving woman. I am so humbled by that.”

The two mums are now Facebook friends.

Media Abroad

code breach: NBC names defaulters StorieS: Leonard okachie

The National Broadcasting Com-mission (NBC) has released the list of broadcasting stations that

contravened the provisions of the Nige-ria Broadcasting code from the begin-ning of electioneering campaign to date.

A statement signed by the commis-sion’s Director/Head, Public Affairs, Alhaji Awwalu Salihu, in Abuja, said the contraventions included breaches of the rules on the broadcast of sponsored campaign materials.

Other breaches were the airing of campaign materials or programmes that promoted political parties or candidates within the 24-hour prohibited period, as well as unauthorised networking by a group of stations.

The statement said that NTA breached the sensibilities rules while AIT and

NTA both breached the rules on airing sponsored materials.

According to the statement, Rima Ra-dio, Sokoto and BSES, Ekiti defaulted on denial of access.

The further said that 15 stations na-tionwide breached the code for advertis-ing and promoting a political party after campaigns had stopped 24 hours to elec-tion time.

The stations included Liberty TV, Lib-erty FM, Karama FM, Alheri FM, NTA, AIT, Rima Radio, STV Lagos, TVC La-gos, NTV, PRTV, Jos, NTA Makurdi, Vi-sion FM and Nigeria Info,

Others were BECOS TV, NTA Jos, Gombe Media Corporation Radio FM, OSBC TV and Freedom TV Ilesha.

According to the statement, all the stations involved had been either que-ried or outrightly sanctioned, according to the provisions of the Nigerian Broad-casting code.

Broadcast studio

Cool FM’s On-Air Personality Man-nie has been named Favourite On-Air Personality Nigeria at the 28th

Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, which held recently at The Forum in Inglewood, California, USA.

The host of the popular ‘Mannie and the Angels’ radio show won the award ahead of fellow nominees, Gbemi Olateru-Olag-begi, Tosyn Bucknor and Big Tyme after winning the most votes from Nigerian kids. Voting for the 2015 KCAs took place at 19 localised voting sites across six conti-nents in addition to twitter hashtag voting.

The international awards had a host of superstar nominees across different award categories such as Troy Sivan (Fa-vourite Internet Sensation), Iggy Azalea (Favourite Australia/New Zealand Music Act), Alexis Sanchez, Wayne Rooney, Di-ego Costa, Raheem Sterling (Favourite UK Football Player) and Ed Sheeran, Little Mix, Jessie J and One Direction (Favourite UK Music Act).

Mannie joins last year’s winner, Freeze as the second Nigerian OAP to be recog-nized at the Kids Choice Awards since in-ception.

“I cannot believe I won Best OAP in Ni-geria at the KCAs 2015... i’m too excited! I am so grateful to everyone that voted for me and i know that this is just the begin-

Cool FM’s Mannie shines at Nickelodeon awards

Mannie

ning of greater things to come.”In addition to the awards and several

thrilling stunts, the 2015 Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards also featured 5-star perfor-mances from 5 Seconds of Summer, Iggy Azalea among many other performers.

Angelina Jolie Pitt, Liam Hemsworth, Emma Stone, Jennifer Lawrence, One Direction, Selena Gomez, SpongeBob SquarePants were among this year’s fan favourites, winning orange blimps at Nick-elodeon’s 28th Annual Kids’ Choice Awards (KCA), at the weekend.

Hosted by recording artist/actor Nick Jonas, the awards took place at Los Ange-les’ legendary “Fabulous” Forum, where kids celebrated their favourites from the worlds of film, music, television and more. Kids from around the world cast more than 500 million votes, a record-breaking tally.

The Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards premieres on Nickelodeon (DStv channel 305) on Wednesday 1 April at 4:00PM (en-core performances on Friday April 3 at 5:00PM, Saturday April 4 at 08:55AM and Sunday April 5 at 1:10PM.

Multi-talented host Jonas opened the show with a stunning performance of his Billboard Top 10 smash, “Chains” and number-one radio hit, “Jealous”.

This year’s Kids’ Choice Awards proved to be as messy as ever, from Jennifer Lo-pez presenting Jonas with his award and a surprise sliming; to the Favourite Family TV Show stars of Modern Family getting doused in goo; Jonas chugging a mug of slime in a “Dare or Dare” slime challenge; and a backstage pie fight between Chris Pratt and the cast of Henry Danger.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net46 Thursday, April 2, 2015

Easter: Traders lament low salesNational Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Broad Street Diary 47Thursday, April 2, 2015

Balogun market

Easter shopper in Lagos. PHOTO: ADEMOLA AKINLABI

Unlike last week when major streets on La-gos Island were busy

in readiness for the Easter celebration, a visit on Tues-day revealed that traders are experiencing low patronage as shoppers have not been coming to the market to buy goods in preparation for the celebration.

BSD discovered that activ-ities in shops are low despite traders’ new deliveries.

Mrs. Nimotalai Akande is a trader in Balogun market, she told BSD that patronage has been extremely low since last week.

Akande who deals in Fab-rics told BSD that despite the increase in exchange rate she still makes sure she got new materials so that cus-tomers can get variety when they come to her shop.

“We thought maybe be-cause of the elections that was why people didn’t come

… As shoppers turn out in trickles

BS marketers mourn colleague’s death

General election: Businesses resume on Lagos Island

BSD

Shoppers’ Guide

to buy fabrics but from the look of things it seems peo-ple are not really ready to shop for Easter,”

Corroborating Akande, Mr. Nkem Odia who trade in lace and George materi-als also in Balogun told BSD that customers visit to his shop has been very low com-pared to last year’s Easter.

He said people from the eastern part of the country usually travel home during Easter for one engagement or the other and that means more sales for them at this period but the case was dif-ferent this year as patronage has been very low.

Mr. Ogbonnaya Okoro, dealer in Wrist watches, Sun glasses, Wallets, jewelries told BSD that patronage this year was very low compared to last year where shoppers were everywhere shopping in preparation for the cel-ebration.

“Though patronage dur-

ing Easter was not always like Christmas and New Year but at least people still come around to buy gifts

Since the start of 2015 General Election on Sat-urday, most marketers

at Lagos Island have closed shop due majorly to the fair of election violence, known to be always identified with the Nigerian system.

However, activities re-sumed fully yesterday fol-lowing the declaration of the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commis-sion without any rancor or violence from the opposition party.

While bearing their minds to BSD on the just concluded general election, which produced General Muhammed Buhari as the next President of Nigeria,

the traders on Broad Street, Lagos showed satisfaction with the way the elections were conducted. Unlike previous elections, they de-scribed the just concluded one as the most peaceful, during and after which the marketers had lost nothing to the political hoodlums.

The marketers, who sa-luted the courage of Presi-dent Goodluck Jonathan for being the first incumbent President to accept the result of the election in good man-ner, congratulated the Pres-ident-elect as they set target for him on major issues that mostly affect them and busi-ness activities in the country.

In their quest, they

On the Saturday when election commenced, she

went to her polling unit to cast her vote for her farourite candidate. Af-ter exercising her civic right, she played with her

colleagues as she enter-tained people with foods and drinks out of her generousity. Mrs Mu-likat Giwa, a 44-year restaurant operator at Shop 200, Broad Street, Lagos Island, described

as a hardworking, jovial and openhanded trader by her colleagues, slept on Sunday, March 29, 2015 but never woke up to the land of the liv-ing. All other shops had been closed in mourn-

ing her death since Sun-day till yesterday when the business activities resumed around the vi-cinity. Mrs. Giwa is sur-vived by husband and three children.Abolaji Adebayo

items for their loved ones.”However a visit to the

popular Mandilas revealed a different thing as shoppers

were buying shirts, trousers, ties, hats, suits and belts.

One of the shoppers, Mr. Temilade Alade told BSD that Easter celebration is more of English wears that was why he came to get shirts, trouser and a belt in preparation for Easter Sun-day.

“When I got here, I re-alised the price is on the high side but everyone knows that the exchange rate is high so it is not the fault of the traders that the

price went up,” he said.Unlike Alade, Miss Tolu-

lope Oluranti who was also shopping at Mandilas when BSD visited lamented the high cost of goods in the market.

She said she had wanted to buy more than what she had at the moment but be-cause of the price, she had to reduce the quantity.

“A shirt I bought for N3, 000 before now, costs 4,500 same with the trousers, everything is on the high side,”

Also at Dress Up on Broad Street, the shop at-tendant who does not want her name in print told BSD that customers have been coming in their trickles to buy dress and tops unlike before now that people es-pecially workers come in to shop.

She attributed the low patronage to the elections, “You can see that people are not many on the streets because of the fear of what might happen after declara-tion of the winner of the presidential election but we hope things will pick up by Thursday when the tension might have gone down.”-Saidat Alausa

clamoured for changes at all levels in terms of gover-nance and policy just as they wanted reformation in all sectors of the economy. The major issue, which has been hindering the business activ-ities, is the high rate at which dollar exchanged with naira.

Prior to the election date, some marketers had associat-ed the unfavourable commer-cial situation to the persistent naira devaluation, which has led to the increment in prices of major goods, while others attributed the situation to the gloomy political situation heralded by imminent elec-tions in the country, whereby everybody is afraid of what becomes post-election period.

With the hitch-free elec-tion, leader of the wine deal-ers at Apogbon markets, Mrs. Biola Bello, charged the in-coming President to address the issue of naira devalua-tion as a matter of urgency. She believed that once that is thoroughly addressed, busi-ness activities in the markets across the country would be back to normal.

According to her, market-ers, traders, and consum-ers alike are not afraid of election any longer, naira exchange factor remains the bane of commercial and business activities in the country.

She said despite the full resumption of business activities, there were still no sign of improvement in their sales, noting that the buying and selling activi-ties remained as it were due to high rate of dollar-naira exchange.

To some other dealers engaged by BSD, especially those who deal in agricul-tural products, the main sector they wanted the Bu-hari led-government to fo-cus is agriculture. Accord-ing to them, if the sector is duly reformed and the agri-cultural value chain is im-proved, the country would not need to import most of its needed products, thereby reducing the costs and im-proving the economy of the country.Abolaji Adebayo

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net48 Broad Street Diary Thursday, April 2, 2015

Shitta-Bey mosque, Martins street, Lagos, is the oldest mosque on Broad Street, it about 121 years old.

Its construction started in 1892 and was completed and opened on July 4th, 1894.

According to the Chief Imam of the mosque, Alhaji Habeebullah Tawfeeq Muazu, who assumed the duty of Chief Imam of Shit-ta-Bey mosque on May 3, 2012, the mosque was solely financed by Mohammed Shitta-Bey, the first Seriki Musulumi of Lagos, Nigeria, after whom it was named.

“I learnt that he built the mosque with (£ 5, 000).”

Being the first of its kind on Broad Street, Alhaji Muazu narrated with enthusiasm the opening of the mosque. Although he was not born then, but said he learnt from history how the whole thing went and had since allowed the image of the opening ceremony to remain in his mind till date.

He said, “I learnt it was a great day. The opening ceremony was an important social and religious event in Lagos. It was witnessed by sheiks, kings, chiefs and Imams from all the Muslim communities in the west coast, some parts of Western Sudan as well as Muslims, Christians and other well wishers within and outside Yoruba land.”

He continued; “Thousands of Muslims on horsebacks, in carriages and on foot lined the Marina Front from one end to the other. The torrential rain which greeted the day was not a hindrance, as many jubilant men, women and children were parading the streets sing-ing various songs.”

On whether there was any account of for-eigners who witnessed the opening ceremony of the mosque, Muazu said representative of

Abdul Hamid, the Sultan of Turkey (Mr Quil-liam) was to arrive for the opening ceremony, but he was unable to make it and his failure to arrive that day kept the crowd waiting till the next day.

He added that since then, Imams of Shitta-Bey mosque have since been chosen from his lineage. “Long before my turn was my father, who reigned as imam for twenty years. Af-ter his demise was my uncle’s turn who also reigned for eighteen years, then my turn to reign. ‘’Like I said, it is close to three years now that i became the imam of this mosque.

A foreigner cannot be made imam. It is also the tradition that a new imam can only be chosen after the demise of a reigning imam,” he said.

Shedding more light on why the Friday Prayer is not said in Shitta-Bey mosque, Mua-zu said: “Shitta-Bey mosque being the old-est mosque here used to conduct the Friday congregational prayer long before the new Central Mosque was built. But since the new Central Mosque was built, we have moved there for the Friday prayers. It is bigger and can accommodate more people. The normal daily Salat still hold here, we only go to LCM for Jumu’ah prayers.

Also, Muazu revealed that Shitta-Bey had been named a National Museum. “On De-cember 10th, 2013, the Director General of the National Commission for Museums and monuments notified the family that Shitta-Bey mosque is one of the nine national monu-ments. The remaining being Kings College, Lagos Island, Christ Church Cathedral (CMS), Marina, Independence Building, Lagos Island, First storey building in Nigeria, Badagry, Bra-zilian Slave Baracoon Museum, Badagry, Iddo railway terminal building, Lagos mainland,

National theatre, Iganmu, Nigeria first flag raising memorial, TBS, Lagos Island,” he ex-plained.

Reminiscing on how he was born and brought up on the Lagos Island, he simply de-scribed it as very sweet. Muazu said his fam-ily house, which used to be 25, Oluwole Street, was demolished and a shopping mall was built on the land. “ I attended Lagos Second-ary Commercial Academy before I later went to an Islamic school in Ilorin and al-Azhar uni-versity, Cairo, Egypt.”

“There was enough space to play, we would play and eat in other houses. We were taught good things. We would go out in the afternoon, plucking fruits and mangoes at Ma-rina. Everywhere was safe, there was peace. Our parents had time for us, unlike most of today’s parents who do not have enough time to nurture their children”

He added that they would gather at the mosque early in the morning to learn, go to school from there and go to Madrasah (Quranic school) in the evening.

Speaking about the general belief that the Lagos Island is not a safe place to live, Muazu said: “It is still secure, there is no fight or stealing, Oluwole especially. We all sit and play together; we don’t fight or en-gage in violence because we all have names to protect.”

Reacting to issue of scarce

Shitta-Bey Mosque is one of Nigeria’s historical monu-ments on Broad Street. This

building, solely financed by Mo-hammed Shitta-Bey, the 1st Seriki Musulumi of Lagos, Nigeria, after whom it was named, is the oldest mosque on Broad Street. Construc-tion of the mosque started in 1892 and was completed and opened on July 4th, 1894.

The opening ceremony was an important, magnificent, social and religious event in Lagos. It was witnessed by sheiks, kings, chiefs and imams from all the Muslim communities on the west coast and some parts of Western Sudan as well as Muslims, Chris-tians and other well wishers with-in and outside Yoruba land. The opening ceremony was greeted by thousands of Muslims faithful on horsebacks, in carriages and on foot lined the Marina Front from one end to the other. The torren-tial rain which greeted the day was not a hindrance, as many ju-bilant men, women and children were parading the streets singing various songs.

Today the mosque has been named one of the nine national monuments in Lagos State and also stands in the rich history of Nigeria and Broad Street in particular.Aisha Titilayo

hitt B M ti t t L Abd l H id th S lt f T k (M Q il N ti l th t I Ni i fi t fl

121-year-old Shitta-Bey mosque 121-year-old Shitta-Bey mosque

CHIFEM’SCOLLECTIONS

Shop 13 Wilberforce Plaza 182/183 Broad Street opp. Ecobank Apongbon Lagos.

Tel: 08033017130, 08023953220

Come for high quality Turkey and

London wears@

Shitta-Bey MosqueShitta-Bey Mosque

and expensive accommodation on the Island, he said it is the same everywhere. “A room can go for five thousand in Surulere whereas you can get it for three thousand here on the Island. Only new buildings are somehow ex-pensive because they used to be old buildings that are demolished and rebuilt; that accounts for their high cost.”

Speaking about the rich cultures on the is-land, especially those passed down by the Portu-guese and Brazilians, Muazu said some of them still remain as people on the Island still celebrate carnivals in remembrance of those old days.Aisha Titilayo

Guber poll: Ebonyi opposition plan merger to unseat PDP

L-R; Barrister Chike Maduekwe; former Governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, and Chairman, Grand Towers Plc. Nze Chidi Duru, during a press conference of Igbo Conversational Group (ICG) in Abuja, yesterday.

Abba

Okom, others reject election result in Anambra

Police disperse protesting PDC members

16 Ebonyi LP members defect to PDP

Francis EkponEONITSHA

In spite of the declara-tion of Muhammadu Buhari of the All

Progressives Congress, APC, as winner of last Saturday’s presidential election by the Indepen-dent National Electoral commission, INEC, APC House of Representatives candidate in Orumba North/South Federal constituency of Anambra State, Okonkwo Okom, yesterday rejected the outcome of the election, describing it as a sham.

Okonkwo, while brief-ing newsmen in Awka, said the outcome of the election did not reflect the wishes of the people, accusing INEC and the Peoples Democratic Par-ty, PDP, of mastermind-ing the manipulation of votes in the area.

He, however, congratu-lated Buhari for his un-common victory at the poll, noting that APC will bring the long-awaited change to Nigeria.

The INEC had declared Ben Nwankwo of PDP

DEnnis agboENUGU

Combined teams of the military and po-lice yesterday shot

teargas canisters to disperse members of the Peoples for Democratic Change, PDC, who were protesting alleged rigging of Enugu East Sena-torial election.

The PDC is the politi-cal party of former Enugu State Governor, Dr. Chima-roke Nnamani, who contest-ed for Enugu East senatorial seat but lost to the candidate of Peoples Democratic Par-ty, PDP.

Members of PDC had yesterday protested in ma-jor streets of Enugu metrop-olis, carrying placards that portrayed their misgivings about the election.

The protesters were, how-

aliuna goDwinABAKALIKI

Ebonyi State Gover-nor, Martin Elechi, yesterday led a del-

egation to opposition po-litical parties in the state ahead of the April 11 gu-bernatorial election to ne-gotiate an alliance.

A source at the secret meeting of Elechi with the opposition parties, who pleaded anonymity, told Na-tional Mirror that the gov-ernor convened the meeting to enable him negotiate alli-ance of among the Labour

aliuna goDwinABAKALIKI

No fewer than 16 members of the Labour Party,

LP, executive in Ebonyi State have defected to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, ahead of next Satur-day’s gubernatorial elec-tion, due to crisis rocking the party in the state.

Addressing journalists in Abakaliki on behalf of other defectors, the party’s financial secretary, Prince Augustine Nwankwo, said the programmes and poli-cies of the LP were hijacked by some forces in the state government. He explained that they defected because some people embezzled over N10 million belonging to the party.

According to him, “on behalf of myself and other state executive members of LP, Ebonyi State chapter, we hereby formally defect to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, with effect from today.

“The reasons we are defecting are many. They

winner of last Satur-day’s election in Orumba North/South Federal con-stituency, but APC candi-date, Okom, rejected the election result, threaten-ing to petition INEC if the poll result was not cancelled. “As the can-didate of my party, APC, I want to make it known to Ndi Anambra, and the world that INEC and PDP murdered sleep in Orum-ba North and South.

“I have documented evidence and am still documenting the atroci-ties committed by PDP conniving with INEC of-ficials and these agents to deny our people their God-given right to ex-ercise their democratic franchise.

“I have evidence of cas-es of ballot box stuffing, non-collation of votes, improper accreditation, allocation of figures, and even a denial of some vic-tories for me. I will soon petition INEC, as well as prepare to go to the tribu-nal,” he said even as he urged his people and sup-porters to remain calm and trust in God.

ever, dispersed with teargas, while some were arrested by the police.

Similar situation oc-curred on Monday when the protesters tried to occupy the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, office in Enugu.

Leader of PDC and Enugu East senatorial can-didate, Nnamani, declared himself and other candi-dates of PDC as winners of the National Assembly elec-tions conducted in Enugu east senatorial zone.

He accused the state Resident Electoral Commis-sioner, REC, Chukwuemeka Onukaogu, of trying to extort money from him be-fore the election, which he refused.

Nnamani said: “The ruling PDP has again sub-verted the will of our people

Party, LP, All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and All Progressives Congress, APC, against the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state.

The source said the al-liance was to prevent Eb-onyi South senatorial zone from producing the next governor of the state, add-ing that the governor plans to collapse LP and APGA into APC to form a merger against PDP in the April 11 gubernatorial election.

The merger, which might likely fail because of ideo-logical differences of the

include the internal crisis rocking the state’s chapter of LP executive, which re-sults from the unmitigated fraud and embezzlement of over N10 million belonging to the party by some people.

“Also, it is due to the high-handedness exhibited by the state LP chairman in alliance with his hired (men). We wish to contrib-ute our quota in electing Engr. Dave Umahi in the April 11 gubernatorial poll as next governor of the state.”

Nwankwo lamented that LP was founded on fraudu-lent foundation and called on people of the state to ignore the purported senti-ment that LP will bring de-velopment, adding that the hired leaders in the party have no credibility to effect change in the state.

Receiving the defectors, the state Acting PDP Chair-man, Joseph Onwe, direct-ed all ward chairmen to issue membership cards to the defectors, stressing that the party is ready to accept more members of the oppo-sition.

parties, has been described as the last attempt by Elechi to frustrate the ambition of PDP governorship candi-date, Engr. Dave Umahi.

In a swift reaction, Chair-man of Media and Pub-licity for Divine Mandate Campaign Organisation of the PDP governorship can-didate, Senator Emmanuel Onwe, however, described the alliance as one that is bound to fail as PDP had already consolidated fol-lowing results of the last presidential and National Assembly elections in the state.

“They will gather to con-spire, but will scatter in hopelessness. This agenda is nothing but that of los-ers; the desperation of po-litical merchants and the foolishness of crass oppor-tunists.

“The PDP will remain resolute, confident and focused as we march into the second half of a game in which we have already scored nine goals (3 Senate seats and 6 House of Reps seats) and anticipating to score 25 more (24 House of Assembly seats and the gov-ernorship seat),” he added.

by brazen inducement of INEC officials and security agencies, outright rigging, open vote buying at polling stations, intimidation and violence.

“The PDP and rigging have always been Siamese twins. But never before has this scale of electoral chica-nery been visited so callous-ly on a people so desirous of effecting change through the ballot.

“It is remarkable that the Resident Electoral Commis-sioner in Enugu State, Prof. Onukaogu, notorious for his ignoble role in the last controversial governorship election in Anambra State, is also true to habit, at the centre of this election scam.

“Some consistent pat-terns were observed in ev-ery local government area on the blatant manipulation

of the exercise. “Almost everywhere, par-

tisan INEC officials refused to show the original result sheets to our party polling agents before commence-ment of voting as required by law, while in many places our agents were kept at bay to prevent them from do-ing their legitimate duty of monitoring the voting pro-cess.”

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Thursday, April 2, 2015 49South East

Delta PRP carpets PDP over legal action against AC, LP, APC

L-R: PDP Governors, Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Sulivan Chime (Enugu) and Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), during their solidarity visit to President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

Bayelsa declares N2.8bn surplus for January 2015OsahOn JuliusYENAGOA

Bayelsa State gov-ernment has de-clared N2.8bn as

funds available at the end of February 2015, just as it announced N758m as Internally Generated Rev-enue, IGR, for the month of January.

Governor Seriake Dick-son, represented by his deputy, Mr. Gboribiogha John Jonah, announced this at the monthly trans-parency briefing in Yena-goa, the state capital.

Dickson, who an-nounced a gross inflow of N10.9bn from the Federa-tion Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC, com-

amOur udemudeASABA

Delta State chapter of the Peoples Re-demption Party,

PRP, has carpeted the leadership of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state for seeking le-gal disqualification of all nominated candidates of Accord Party, AP, Labour Party, LP, and the All Pro-gressives Congress, APC, ahead of the general elec-tions on April 11.

Leadership of the state’s PDP, in suit No. FHC/ASB/CS/28,29,30/2015) is seek-ing disqualification of all candidates of the three political parties from

contesting the general elections on grounds that they did not comply with the provision of Section 85(1) of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended.

The section provides that political parties give the Independent National Electoral Com-mission, INEC, at least 21 days notice before the date sets for primaries to nominate candidates for general elections to be conducted by the com-mission.

In a statement issued yesterday in Asaba by the state Chairman of PRP, Comrade Igbini Odafe Emmanuel and Publicity Secretary, Comfort Obi, which was made available

to our correspondent, the party noted that the sec-tion is often not complied with by almost all regis-tered political parties in the country and as such, is not a necessary and sufficient ground for jus-tifiable disqualification of candidates nominated by parties.

The statement said: “Worse of all, it is not a ground for non-bonafide member of a political party to seek legal action against the nomination of a member of a differ-ent political party.

“The big questions to ask are: how is the nomi-nation of candidates of another political party of special concern and

effect on another politi-cal party to warrant the court to grant locus stan-di in such suit?

“How is the nomina-tion of these candidates of the three political par-ties (respondents) of any negative effect or disad-vantage to PDP and its candidates in these elec-tions?

While warning against any form of legal actions that would cause another series of distractions for duly and rightly elected candidates in elections in the state, PRP advised PDP to immediately and unconditional withdraw the suit and concentrate on her campaigns for the remaining elections.

MEND, INC hail Buhari, Jonathan over poll outcome

Edo police parade Ondo robbery suspect, ring leader

dennis nakuPORT HARCOURT

Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta,

MEND, and Ijaw National Congress, INC, have congrat-ulated Gen. Muhammadu Buhari over his victory in Saturday’s presidential elec-tion.

The two groups also laud-ed President Goodluck Jona-than for conceding defeat and for congratulating the President-elect.

The groups lauded Jona-than for setting a precedent as the first president in Ni-geria to concede defeat and congratulate his opponent.

MEND in an electronic mail issued yesterday and signed by its spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, said Buhari’s message of hope, freedom and opportunity resonates with the group.

The statement reads: “The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, extends our heartfelt congratulations to President-elect Gen Muham-madu Buhari on his victory in the 2015 presidential elec-tions.

“The Nigerian people have spoken and elected Gen. Buhari to be the next Presi-

sebastine ebhuOmhanBENIN

Edo State Police Command yes-terday paraded a

suspected ring leader of the bank robbery in Owo, Ondo State, in which 20 persons were killed.

The suspect and alleged ring leader, 35-year-old Etopa Sadiq, was paraded in Benin City yesterday alongside 28 other suspects.

According to the police, the robbery suspects num-bering about 40, attacked four commercial banks and a police station in the town, leaving about 20 people dead.

The robbers, who were alleged to have operated unchallenged with about 10 vehicles, carted away undis-closed huge sums of cash, arms and ammunition be-fore fleeing to neighbouring Edo State.

Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Samuel Ade-mola Adegbuyi, who parad-ed Sadiq at the Command Headquarters, said the sus-

dent of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In doing so, we have not only made the right choice of a new leadership, we have also reaffirmed the strength of our democracy.

“President-elect General Muhammadu Buhari’s mes-sage of hope, freedom and opportunity resonates with our group, as it does with the Nigerian people. In these difficult times, with the eco-nomic crisis and security challenges, we are confident that under your leadership, Nigeria will once again re-gain its Peace and Unity.

“MEND also wishes to commend President Good-luck Jonathan for his out-standing show of Statesman-ship in conceding defeat and setting precedence as the first ever incumbent Nige-rian President to be defeated and concede defeat, without any interference.

“May the Lord grant Pres-ident-elect General Moham-madu Buhari and all those who will serve with you wis-dom, strength and compas-sion in the coming years.”

INC on its part said Presi-dent Jonathan made all Ni-gerians proud by his show of sportsmanship in conced-ing defeat and putting a call across to Buhari to congratu-late him.

pect was arrested after a gun battle at Ibilo in Akoko Edo Local Government, where the suspects fled after the killing and robbery.

During the gun battle, the suspects, many of who are still at large, reportedly abandoned some assault rifles and other ammunition at the scene.

Adegbuyi said, “After

the robbery, the hoodlums headed towards Ibilo in Edo State, where operatives of the command intercepted them in a gun battle, which made some of them to flee, while one suspect, by the name Etopa Sadiq, ‘m’, was arrested.

“Efforts are in top gear to arrest the fleeing suspects.”

Other items the police command recovered from the scene included seven AK-47 rifles; three riot guns; two sub-machine guns; two Lar rifles; four TO6 rifles; one Scorpion rifle; one Ber-retta rifle; one chief revolver pistol; two pump action guns and one Tasser rifle.

prising Statutory Alloca-tion of N2.3bn, Deriva-tion N7.6bn, Value Added Tax, VAT, N572m, Excess Crude, N257m and NNPC refund of N156m.

He explained that de-ductions on bond obtained by the state government stood at N1.2bn, servic-ing foreign loans, N12.9m, commercial agricultural credit scheme (2), N66.7m, fertiliser for 2013 farming season, the 4th out of six installments, amounted to N2.9m, while refund of arrears of derivation rev-enue to Akwa Ibom State on the Iro Ekanga Oil field was N132m, totaling N1.5b.

The deductions, accord-ing to Governor Dickson, brought the net inflow

tion.For January, the gov-

ernor declared N10.7bn as net inflow from FAAC, N809m as IGR receipts for December 2014, funds from other sources was N1bn and Bond refunds to the state N1.5bn, bringing total funds available for spending to N13.987bn.

On expenditure, the governor said N4.968bn went for loan repayments; salaries of civil servants gulped N4.015bn, politi-cal appointees got N394m, monthly overhead pay-ments stood at N921m, monthly standing approv-als was N241m, while there was no payment for the 18 per cent minimum wage arrears.

from FAAC to N9.5bn, while funds from other sources amounted to N500m, in addition to spe-cial refunds of N751m.

On expenditure, the governor said bank loan repayments stood at N5.2bn, salaries of civil servants, including pension payments was N4.035bn, while that of political appointees came up to N404m. He noted that there was no monthly overhead and 18 per cent minimum arrears pay-ments.

Total payments gulped N1.4bn, comprising recur-rent of N983m and capital payment of N1.1bn, leav-ing a balance of N2.8bn, including SURE –P alloca-

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, April 2, 2015South South50

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 51Thursday, April 2, 2015 North

Abuja banks resume regular operations, witness low patronage

Aliyu concedes defeat to APC opponent

L-R: Newly elected APC senators from Adamawa: Mrs. Binta Garba, Alhaji Abdul-Azeez Nyako, and Alhaji Ahmad Abubakar, dur-ing a thank you visit at the party’s state secretariat in Yola, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

We’ll replicate Buhari’s victory in Plateau guber poll, says APC

FCT outlines new measures to tackle emergencies

JAMES ABRAHAM JOS

Governorship can-didate of All Pro-gressives Con-

gress, APC, in Plateau State, Mr. Simon Lalong, yesterday said last Satur-day’s presidential election won by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari will galvanise the party to victory on April 11 in the state.

Lalong, who addressed a press conference in Jos after the election, how-ever, pointed out that even though the hopes and as-pirations of APC were dashed by the ruling party, they would do everything possible to reclaim their “stolen” mandate.

The former Speaker of the House of Assem-bly urged the people to brace up to the chal-

lenge by being “part of the process of entrench-ing this final lapse of change blowing across the country.”

Expressing gratitude to the people for voting for Buhari, Lalong said it was only when an APC government is enthroned in the state under his leadership that the peo-ple can benefit from the mainstream of Nigerian

politics.He assured that he

would pursue the party’s desire of alleviating the sufferings of the people when voted into power, including provision of free education, functional health facilities, benefi-cial agricultural policy, commerce and industry, youth employment, peace and security, among oth-ers

HENRY IYORKASE MAKURDI

A senior lecturer with the Univer-sity of Agricul-

ture, Makurdi, Dr. Smart Chor, who was return-ing officer for Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections in Benue State, yesterday narrated how he escaped death.

Chor was the return-

ing officer for Konshisha Local Government Area of the state.

The lecturer said he was kidnapped by thugs, who tied his hands be-hind his back and left him in the bush.

Dr. Chor further nar-rated that he was in the bush for several hours and was brutalised, while his clothes were torn.

He said: “I was ap-pointed as returning of-

ficer and in the course of performing my duties, some unidentified men accosted and forcefully whisked me away along with some ad hoc staff to unknown destination where we were tortured.

“It was miraculous that our lives were spared. We were to be killed but, suddenly, something mi-raculous happened and our captors jettisoned the idea and left us.”

He appealed to politi-cians to desist from acts of thuggery, which he said was now old fash-ioned.

According to him, de-spite some minor hic-cups, the introduction of card reader has greatly improved and brought legitimacy to the elec-toral process, even as he charged stakeholders to discard any thought of electoral manipulations.

Federal Capital Ter-ritory, FCT, Emer-gency Management

Department, FEMD, said yesterday it had adopted measures to promptly respond to emergencies and disasters when they occur.

Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Abuja, Director of FEMD, Alhaji Abbas Idris, said the measures were adopted to reduce emergencies and di-sasters in the FCT.

“Some of the measures the department is adopt-ing to reduce emergencies include implementation of Hazard Mapping of the ter-ritory.

“This involves a delinea-tion and special focus on parts of the territory that can be prone to unavoidable natural disasters.

“We are also focusing on reducing our response time to such emergencies and di-sasters.

“The measures will en-able prompt responses to such occurrences to pre-vent avoidable casualties,” he said.

The director said the de-partment had also created a toll-free telephone line that residents could call to report emergencies, urging them to improve coopera-tion with the department.

“We also have a toll-free telephone line ---122 --- which residents can call to

report emergencies.“The telephone line is

open to all networks and will assist us to respond promptly when the need arises, but we need resi-dents’ total cooperation for these measures to be effec-tive.

“We also plan to em-bark on sensitisation and town hall meetings with residents as a way of pro-viding them with basic in-formation on how to tackle various emergencies,” he added.

Idris said that the depart-ment saved 435 lives and property worth N3.71bn in 2014 through prompt re-sponse to emergency calls, adding that it would strive to improve in 2015.

“The issue of fire out-break was particularly prevalent during the festive period when some people travelled out of their homes without switching off their appliances.

“We appeal to residents to avoid bush fire because this usually becomes un-controllable and results to loss of lives and property,” he said.

The director said that the department would also continue to ameliorate the pains of residents affected by other disasters such as flood, communal clashes and windstorms, through the donation of relief ma-terials.

PRISCILLA DENNIS MINNA

Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu has conceded de-

feat to Niger-East Senator-elect, Mr. David Umaru, who defeated him in last Saturday’s National As-sembly election.

He also said the March 28 presidential and Na-tional Assembly elections have added value to the en-trenchment of democracy

in the country.Speaking shortly after

the State Executive Council meeting in Minna, Aliyu confirmed that he called the senator-elect seven times and sent a text mes-sage that reads: “Chief Servant calls” in order to congratulate him, but there was no response.

“I have already conceded defeat to Barrister David Umaru. I have called Uma-ru’s number after he was de-clared winner about seven

times, but he did not pick. I sent a text saying ‘this is the Chief Servant calling, please pick’ and I have not received a reply by now.

“I have no qualms about the defeat. I did not see my defeat as an insult to my person, but as God’s will,” he said.

Commending the In-dependent National Elec-toral Commission, INEC, for its effort, particularly the attention to details, he stated that the electoral

body should appreciate the shortcomings noted in the election and work towards correcting them.

He also hailed President Goodluck Jonathan’s cour-age in conceding defeat, noting that his gentlemanly approach of congratulating the President-elect, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, has gone a long way to douse tension in the country.

He urged Jonathan to work together with Buhari to ensure a smooth transition.

Political thugs manhandle returning offi cer in Benue

Commercial banks in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, re-

sumed regular operations yesterday after rendering skeletal services prior to announcement of the win-ner of March 28 presiden-tial election.

News Agency of Nige-ria, NAN, reports that most banks in the FCT closed op-erations at 2pm on March 30 and 31 following alleged security challenges occa-sioned by the general elec-tions.

Some of the banks vis-ited by a NAN correspon-dent included Zenith Bank, Guarantee Trust Bank, GTB, Ecobank, Unity Bank, Fidelity Bank, Diamond Bank and First Bank of Ni-geria.

At a branch of Zenith Bank in Central Area, cus-tomers were seen at 2pm at various units transacting

business.A customer, Mrs Kate

Eneh, said she was hap-py to transact business in the bank in a peace-ful atmosphere and without fear of being attacked.

At GTB, Diamond Bank, and Unity Bank in Area 3, customers were also seen doing various transactions.

Also at the First Bank in Central Area, a customer, Mr. Jacob Asua, said he was happy that Nigerians ac-cepted the result of the elec-tions in peace.

Some officials at the various banks, who did not want their names men-tioned, told NAN that the banks would not close ear-lier than usual.

They attributed the early closure of the banks on March 30 and 31 to the fear of alleged insecurity in the capital city.

World NewsNational Mirror

www.nationalmirroronline.net52 Thursday, April 2, 2015

Houthi fighters and their army allies advanced in a column of tanks yesterday into a central district of the southern city of Aden, the main foothold of loyalists of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, witnesses said.

The Houthis’ military push into the Khor Maksar district happened de-spite a week of Saudi-led air strikes as well as bombardment from naval vessels off the coast of Aden aimed at reversing relentless Houthi gains on the battlefield.

The Shi’ite Muslim fighters and their ally, former president Ali Abdul-lah Saleh, emerged as the dominant force in Yemen after they took over the capital six months ago.

Aden residents saw large groups of fighters carrying rocket propelled grenades accompanied by tanks and trucks mounted with machine guns in Khor Maksar, which lies on narrow neck of land linking central Aden with the mainland.

Yemeni rebel fighters in tanks reach central Aden

‘Attackers launch shells at UN base in north Mali’

Iraq declares victory over ISIS group

Unknown attackers fired shells at a United Nations base on the outskirts of a town in northern Mali early on Wednesday, residents told Reuters.

Mali’s desert north suffers frequent militant attacks despite a French-led operation to drive out Islamic fighters following a Tuareg uprising there in 2012.

“We are worried by shells being fired in the direction of the military base,” said a resident in the town, Ansongo. He said helicopters were flying over the town, which is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Gao.

The MINUSMA peacekeeping force did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Iraq declared a “magnificent vic-tory” Wednesday over the Islamic State group in Tikrit, a key step in driving the militants out of their big-gest strongholds.

Iraqi Defence Minister Khalid al-Obeidi made the pronounce-ment, saying security forces have “accomplished their mission” in the month long offensive to rid Sad-dam Hussein’s hometown and the broader Salahuddin province of the militant group.

“We have the pleasure, with all our pride, to announce the good news of a magnificent victory,” Obeidi said in a video statement.

WORLD BULLETIN

Terrorists neither require passports nor recognise nationalities

Afghan President, Ashraf Ghani

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein

West African migrants sitting exhausted after a night of heavy rain and hail that destroyed their tents near Gradsko, Macedonia.

The Council condemned “the heinous terrorist activities of Boko Haram”, including the ab-duction of more than 200 girls from a school in Chibok, north-east Nigeria, a year ago, and called for “drying up all possible sources of financing” for the group.

It called for those who have committed crimes on behalf of Boko Haram to be brought before competent courts of the affected states and held accountable.

Zeid said that appalling atroci-ties committed by the group had created a critical human rights situation not only in Nigeria, but in the whole Lake Chad region.

Both children and adults have been abducted by the group on a massive scale, he said.

Women and girls have been enslaved and subjected to sexual violence, forced labour and com-pulsory conversion, he said, cit-ing reports from witnesses and survivors.

Retreating Boko Haram mili-tants have murdered their so-called “wives” - women and girls they held as slaves - and other captives as military offensives by Nigeria and its neighbours ad-vanced, Zeid said.

He said he had received infor-mation suggesting that the secu-rity forces of Nigeria and other nations combating the insurgen-cy had also committed human rights violations, and called for a thorough and transparent inves-tigation.

Boko Haram Islamist mili-tants in northern Nigeria are using children as hu-

man bombs and targeting women and girls for particularly horrific abuse, including sexual slavery, the United Nations human rights chief said yesterday.

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein told a special session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva that his office had received reports of Boko Haram using children as its first line of attack, as “expend-able cannon fodder”.

“Bodies of children around 12 years old have been found strewn across such battlefields,” Zeid said. Boko Haram has been attacking towns and villages in northern Nigeria and border regions of neighbouring Camer-oon, Chad and Niger.

“The group has also repeat-edly used young children as hu-man bombs, including a case of a 14-year-old girl carrying a baby on her back who detonated a bomb in a marketplace,” Zeid said.

Boko Haram has killed thou-sands and displaced some 1.5 mil-lion people during a six-year cam-paign to carve out an Islamic state in northern Nigeria.

A joint offensive by Nigeria and its neighbours has succeeded in driving the group from most of the positions they controlled ear-lier this year, reversing militants’ gains that forced Nigeria to delay its February presidential elec-tion.

Boko Haram uses children as human bombs, commits heinous crimes –UN

African envoy expresses concern over EU migrant centre plansAfrica’s envoy to the Eu-

ropean Union warned yesterday that EU plans

to process migrants in the coun-tries they leave or transit on their way to Europe are “a dan-gerous approach.”

The EU is trying to persuade Niger, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Turkey to pre-screen mi-grants and has launched a pilot project to send immigration of-ficers abroad to help assess asy-lum demands.

African Union Ambassador Ajay Kumar Bramdeo told EU lawmakers that by outsourc-ing migrant management, the EU would be “shirking its own responsibility in receiving refu-gees and migrants, also in foot-ing the bill for managing and controlling migration.”

More than 280,000 people en-tered the EU illegally last year, according to figures released Tuesday by the EU’s border agency Frontex.

Thousands have taken to rick-ety boats from conflict-torn Lib-ya and Europe’s coast guards are unable to cope.

Frustrated by its inability to handle the migration wave, the EU has sought to tackle the problem at its source, mainly in Africa.

The head of the International Organization for Migration’s EU office, Eugenio Ambrosi, cau-tioned against any rush to set up processing centres.

“The priority has to be about protecting people and not pro-tecting borders,” he said.

Ambrosi noted that some EU nations have been unwilling to share the costs and responsibil-ity of housing asylum seekers with partners like Greece, Italy and Malta, which are bearing the brunt of the migration wave.

Germany and Sweden are also hosting many refugees from Iraq and Syria.

“It’s a little bizarre that we ask other countries outside Eu-rope to show solidarity toward Europe in sharing the burden when within Europe we still haven’t got there,” he said.

Thursday September 4, 2014 53National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Sport54

The 11th All Africa Games (AAG) final qualifying round, return leg match between Nigeria’s Super Fal-cons and the Senior Women’s Team of Mali will now

be played at the National Stadium, Abuja on Friday, April 10.

General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, told thenff.com that a letter to this effect had been sent to the Mali Football Federation for its information and necessary action.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF), organisers of the Men and Women Football Tournaments of the 11th All Af-rica Games, has already permitted the NFF to host the match within the period of Friday, April 10 – Sunday, April 12.

Already, a full house has been recorded in the Falcons’ camp in Abuja as the African champions prepare for the crucial re-turn leg, which guarantees the winner a place at the Women’s Football Tournament of the 11th All Africa Games that is scheduled for Congo-Brazzaville, from September 3-18 this year.

AAG: NFF moves Falcons, Mali clash backward

Kano pillars players

–New Super Eagles Team Coordinator, Pascal Patrick

I hope to use my expertise to improve the lot of players in the senior national team as we move

forward

ABDULGAFAR OLADIMEJIKANO

Ahead of Saturday’s African Champions League clash between

Kano Pillars and Moghreib Athletico of Morocco, man-agement of the Kano side has slashed ticket prices to as low as N100 in a bid to attract fans to the stadium.

Vice Chairman of the

club’s Continental Commit-tee, Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima, told National Mirror yesterday that the decision was informed by economic factors coupled with the efforts to encourage Kano fans to turn out en mass to watch the game at the Sani Abacha stadium.

Galadima said fans have a crucial role to play to spur the team to cancel a first leg 0-4 deficit and win.

“We need their large at-tendance to play their usual motivational role. Before tick-ets were sold for N200, N500, N1000, but for Saturday’s match the tickets will now sale for N100, N200 and N500,” Galadima disclosed.

The former NFA helmsman disclosed that Saturday ACL match between Pillars and their Moroccan foes will now kick-off at 2pm.

Warri Wolves attacking midfielder, Ikechukwu Ibeneg-bu, has said his side will not defend their 2-0 first leg ad-vantage at Ethiopian giants, Dedebit FC.

The Seasiders will be guests of the Horn of Afri-can side in the second round reverse fixture of the CAF Confederation Cup clash in

Addis Ababa on Sunday. Ibenegbu said his side

has prepared adequately for the crucial clash only wait-ing for match day to unleash their full weight on the hosts, Dedebit FC.

“Of course, we won’t lean on the first leg advantage in Addis Ababa but will go all out to achieve good result.

“We’ve prepared ad-equately for the clash and now wait for match day to unleash our venom on Dedebit FC.

“The spirit among my teammates is quite high as each of us is looking for-ward to good outing in Ad-dis Ababa,” Ibenegbu said.

Essien nears Milan summer exit

...match kicks-off 2pm

...‘Wolves won’t disappoint in Ethiopia’

ACL: Fans to watch Pillars, Moghreib for N100

Azizat Oshoala of super Falcons

54 Sports National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, April 2, 2015

Reports yesterday said Bayern Mu-nich defender, Da-

vid Alaba, has been ruled out for seven weeks with a medial ligament tear.

The Austrian sustained the knee injury in his country’s 1-1 draw with

Alaba blow for Bayern

Bosnia on Tuesday.Should Alaba’s recov-

ery go to plan he will re-turn for Bayern’s final two League matches of the season, and the Cham-pions League and DFB Pokal finals provided his team advances accord-

ingly.Alaba has been a key

figure for the Bundesliga leader this season, scor-ing five goals in 28 appear-ances in all competitions.

The Bavarians face Borussia Dortmund away this weekend.

Alaba

Essiennears Milan summer exit

Drogba mentors Blues’ kids Arsenal striker,

Olivier Giroud, said he hopes

to outscore Alexis San-chez for the betterment of the team.

Both forwards have contributed 13 Premier League goals to the club’s push for a top-four finish.

“We push each other, we’re on 13 goals, and I would like to score some more to help the team achieve its objec-tives,” the France strik-

er said yesterday.Meanwhile, Gir-

oud says he has no de-mands at international level after controver-sially calling on France boss Didier Deschamps to hand him a starting role at last year’s World Cup.

“It’s not me who picks the team. What’s important for me is to be called up and to contribute as soon as I can,” Giroud submit-ted.

eyes more goals

Giroud

AC midfielder, Mi-chael Essien, yes-terday said his

future at the club remains uncertain with recent re-ports that the manager and the fans are not hap-py with his performances.

The 32- year old former Ghanaian midfielder, who has featured for Chelsea and Real Madrid, might find himself without a club if the Italian reports hold true and if the fans persist on putting pressure on him.

F e l l o w G h a n a i a n and team mate, Sulley Muntari, is also said to face s i m i -lar challenge, although he

is still a fans’ favourite.But the reports said

both players should left the club in June follow-ing massive supporter distrust towards them.

The fans would like Milan to bring in quality new players to o v e r t u r n t h e i r down-

w a r d spiral.

It is also un-certain if Coach

Filipo Inzaghi will re-main after this summer, al-though the club’s directors have yet to come out with a verdict on the gaffer.

rrrssrrsr eennalal strrikikerr, OOOOlOlO iivvieier r GiGiroud, sssssssasassssss idid hhe e hopes

to outscscccscscscsccoorore e AlA exis SSan-chez fffffffffooooororooorooo ttthehe bbbetettet rment of theeeeeee tteaeaamm.

Booooootthth ffoorwawaarrdrds s hahah veve contrrririr bubuuteteddd 1313 PPreemimierer Leaggggueuueuee gggggggggggoaaoaaoaoaoaoaoaoaaoao lslslslsslss tttttttttttooooooooooo o ththththhththththeeeeeeee eee lclcl bubub’ssssss’ssssssss push for a top-

ffour ffffffffffffffffinish.“WWW“Weeeee push each other,

we’’re oooono 13 goals, and I would like to score sosomeme more to helelpp ththe eteteamam achievee its objecc-tit ves,” ththee FrFrance strtrikik-

erere saiaid d yeyeststerererdadaMeananwhwhwhili e,,

oud saysys he haassmam nds at interernlelevel after connsisisissss allyy ccalling onnbobossss DDididier DeDesctotoo hhhanana dd hihim m a sroroororooorororolllelelelelellelele aaaaaaaaaaaattttttttt ttt laalalalallalalalaalalaasststststs yyyyeae r’r’Cup.

“It’s not mpicks the team. important for to be caalllleded uup cocontribuutete aas ssII cacan,n ” Giroudteted.d.

C midfielder, Mi-chael Essien, yes-terday said his

future at the club remains uncertain with recent re-ports that the manager and the fans are not hap-py with his performances.

The 32- year old former Ghanaian midfielder, who has featured for Chelsea and Real Madrid, might find himself without a club if the Italian reports hold true and if the fans persist on putting pressure on him.

F e l l o w G h a n a i a n and team mate, Sulley Muntari, is also said to face s i m i -ar challenge, although he

is still a fans’ favourite.But the reports said

both players should left the club in June follow-ing massive supporter distrust towards them.

The fans would like Milan to bring in quality new players to o v e r t u r n t h e i r down-

w a r d spiral.

It is also un-certain if Coach

Filipo Inzaghi will re-main after this summer, al-though the club’s directors have yet to come out with a verdict on the gaffer.

Chelsea legend, Didier Drogba, is doing his part to help shape the

club’s future by mentoring the promising youngsters trying to follow in his foot-steps at the Blues.

The 37-year-old explained that he is there to lend a helping hand, but insists it’s up to the young guns to take the lead and make sure the

club continues to prosper.“They’re going to be

there, we won’t be any more so it is up to us to give them all they need and pass it on to the younger players as well,” Drogba said.

“It’s important for us, the older players, to be there to support them, but at the same time it’s even more im-portant for them to take the

lead now, to feel there is no restriction from us.

“They can play, they can talk, we can debate and ex-change because all we’re do-ing now is for the team-to be better next year, in two years and five.”

Drogba, who scored over 150 goals in his first spell at the club, has scored six goals in all competitions this season.

Giroud

Essien

Drogba

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 55SportsThursday, April 2, 2015

AAG:

Flying Eagles captain, Musa Muhammed, yes-terday became the first of

the five invited players from the U-20 team to join the U-23 train-ing camp in Abuja ahead of the return leg of the All Africa Games qualifier against Zambia in Lusaka on April 11.

Muhammed said his team mates would also arrive today

as the Dream Team intensifies training ahead of the crucial tie after the Zambia fought to a goalless draw in the first leg in Abuja last month.

“Mustapha Abdullahi, Zahra-deen Bello, Taiwo Awoniyi and Dele Alampasu have also told me they will join the tomorrow (today),” the captain said.

The U-23 Coach, Samson Sia-

sia, had turned to the Flying Eagles’ quintet for rescue after his charges failed to beat the Zambians in Abuja to render the second leg a no-contest.

“There is need to beef up the team so that we can guarantee the AAG ticket and the Flying Eagles come handy having just played in the AYC in Senegal re-cently,” Siasia said last week

Muhammed boosts U-23 team

Zambia coach laments neglect

Grant ‘pleased with team’s displays’

…Mabo warns Falcons over Mali

Ghana Coach, Avram Grant, has expressed sat-isfaction with his team’s

outputs in the two friendly games played against Senegal and Mali last week.

The Black Stars were beaten 2-1 by the Teranga Lions last Sunday in Le Havre and shared the honours with the Eagles of Mali in a 1-1 draw.

It meant Ghana is without a win since finishing second at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.

But Grant says there is no need to panic and states he achieved his targets.

“I think we reached our tar-gets in the last seven days,” the Israeli coach said.

“Of course, the results are important but in friendly games, results are less impor-tant than in tournaments,” he added, stressing, “We had the team for a short time which was about a week in a few months so we used the situation to try a new system.”

MERCY JACOB

Former Super Falcons coach, Ismaila Mabo, has warned the team

against complacency when they face their Malian coun-terparts in the second leg of All Africa Games (AAG) qual-ifying match scheduled for April 10 in Abuja.

Nigeria was held to a 1-1 draw in the first leg played in Bamako last month, a result that surprised many observers and which gave the Malians hope of sealing a ticket to AAG billed for Congo Brazzaville in September.

“Mali can give any opponent a run for their money any time and I expect the Nigerians coaches to be wary of this re-ality, Mabo cautioned.

“The attack should be cease-

Musa Muhammed

Grant

Outgoing Zambia Coach, Honour Janza, is still undecided about taking

up the offer to lead Chipolopolo in the upcoming 2015 COSAFA CUP in May.

This comes after the Football Association of Zambia President, Kalusha Bwalya, said last week that the coach would not be given a permanent contract.

The situation has since an-gered Janza, who reportedly snubbed Bwalya at half time dur-ing their friendly against Rwanda as he felt betrayed that his con-

tractual issues could be discussed in public before he was engaged.

However, FAZ quickly rescind-ed the decision to sack Janza, say-ing the gaffer was still in charge of the team.

“I am not happy with the way I have been treated and I don’t think I can trust anyone and I am saying this from deep down my heart,” Janza lamented yesterday.

“There’s been a lot of hide and seek and that’s not nice in the game of football and when man-aging other human beings,” he added.

less from the blast of the whis-tle if Nigeria must win well next week,” he added.

“I have confidence that Ni-geria will qualify because the pains of missing out in the

last edition of the AAG is still haunting the Falcons.

“Let the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) support the girls to propel them to go for victory”.

Okon

Vol. 05 No. 1082 Thursday, April 2, 2015 N150

WORLD RECORD

The heaviest balls rotated on the back of the hand weigh 4.19 kg (9.24 lbs) and was achieved by Xie Jiajun (China) on the set of

CCTV.

Heaviest balls rotated on the back of the hand

DicksonAgbonifo

Di kGuest Columnist

Printed and Published by Global Media Mirror Ltd: Head Offi ce: Mirror House, 155/161 Broad Street, Lagos Tel: 07027107407, Abuja Offi ce: NICON Insurance House, Second Floor, Central Business District Area, Abuja Tel: 08070428249, Advert hotline: 01-8446073, Port-Harcourt Offi ce: Suite 115, NICON Hotel, 6, Benjamin Opara Street, Off Olusegun Obasanjo Rd, GRA Phaze 3, Phone: 07032323254 Email: [email protected].

Editor: SEYI FASUGBA. All correspondence to PMB 10001, Marina, Lagos. Printed simultaneously in Lagos, Abuja and Akure. ISSN 0794-232X.

A pattern of our political behav-ior had been established from the results of last Saturday’s

Presidential election preponderance of ethno-religious calculations in voters’ preference. While ultimate power in a polity resides with the people, who are the sovereign, I doubt the voters know they can use their votes to change a bad leader or re-endorse a good one. It is a universal maxim that human beings are not always rational in their choices, even economic ones.

One distinctive feature of our na-tional politics since the colonial era is that Nigerians tend to see things through the prisms of religion and ethnicity. We always sacrifice merit at the altar of our ethno-religious preju-dices. We are blinded by the rage of ethnicity, religious intolerance and

selfish interests when deciding who our leaders should be. Sadly, the west-ern education we acquired, even up to the university level, has not succeeded in disabusing our minds of ethnic big-otry. Our national underdevelopment, which is traceable to our bumbling po-litical leadership, is a consequence of our inability to rise above selfish inter-ests, primordial sentiments and ethnic particularisms, when choosing our na-tional leader.

The presidential election conducted last Saturday was a toss-up between in-cumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari, his APC challenger. During the build up to the election, it was obvious to discern-ing minds that the contest had been re-duced to a geopolitical one between the North and Niger Delta. Throughout the electioneering the northern leaders left nobody in doubt of their determination to get the trophy, while the Niger Deltan said they would go to war if their son was denied a second term.

The results have confirmed the war mindsets of the voters. The overwhelm-ing endorsement of Buhari in his tradi-tional North West region, where Kano, Kaduna and Katsina posted over one million votes each in his favour, and heavy support in the North East, shows that the only consideration in the choice made is “our son” factor. Even Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State was help-less as his PDP supporters opted for Buhari. Ditto for Jonathan in the South East, where a massive Igbo support is

evident. If Hausa-Fulani denied Jona-than common 25 percent of the votes in each of the declared North West states, the Igbo revenged this ‘hatred’ in the same measure in the South East. Not even the Owelle Rochas Okorocha fac-tor could prevent Buhari humiliation in Imo State. Though Jonathan may not be a South easterner, his is considered an adopted son of the region. After all Jonathan’s middle names are Azikiwe and Ebele. In his South South region, all the six states in the region also spite Buhari by denying him the minimum 25 percent support.

Outside the killer regions, where the son-of-the-soil factor is the predominant consideration for who to cast the votes, honours were shared. But it is also easy to see that the preferred choice is a function of the political weight of the associates of the two main presidential candidates. This explains why the Bola Tinubu factor swayed support for Bu-

Sport Extra

Pound for pound boxer, Floyd Mayweather Jnr, says his long-awaited bout with Manny

Pacquiao in Las Vegas on May 2 is more about leaving a legacy than it is about money.

The 38-year-old, unbeaten in his 47 fights and a five-division world cham-pion, heads into a clash with eight-

division title holder Pacquiao that is expected to set financial records but insists his reputation and the educa-tion of his children remain more im-portant to him.

“When you’re young, you look at everything like you want nice cars, you want jewellery and you want a big

house,” Mayweather said yesterday.“But once you’ve been living like that

for so long, it’s not really about that any-more. It’s about my children, the legacy and them getting the best education.

“That’s what’s mainly important to me. I don’t worry about the fight because I know what I can do and I

Boxing:Boxing: I fi ght for legacy, not money I fi ght for legacy, not money –Mayweather–Mayweather

Mayweather

Presidential poll and ethno-religious calculations

OUTSIDE THE KILLER REGIONS, WHERE THE SON-OF-THE-

SOIL FACTOR IS THE PREDOMINANT

CONSIDERATION FOR WHO TO CAST THE VOTES, HONOURS

WERE SHARED

know what I bring to the table, espe-cially when the chips are down.”

“Things just happen and you come up with different ways to gain strength, with the new era. But I had to go back to where it all started from. I like it a lot more. I like it. I ap-preciate it.”

hari in the South West. The Yoruba PDP chieftains were no push over as they snatched respect for their candidate by giving him more than the mandatory 25 percent of the votes cast in each of the declared states.

If Buhari eventually wins the plum presidential trophy, I consider it the pay back for the North, who made the victory of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo possible in 1999, even when his South West people rejected him at the polls. I also consider the prospect a strong rebuke to myopic politicians in the country, who, blind-ed by extreme ethno-religious bigotry, never consider it politically imperative to shake hands across the geopolitical bridges in the country to broaden their acceptability bases.

It should have dawned on General Buhari now that he circumscribed his dream to lead Nigeria by his narrow pu-ritan politics before now. His strategy in 2011 fell short of what would give him victory because he never broadened his appeal beyond his northern enclave. His success in 2015, if he eventually emerges victorious, is because he became a born again politician by embracing ‘one Nige-ria politics’.

President Jonathan would become the biggest victim of his own brand of poli-tics should he fail to carry the day. First, he is a poor reader of men. It is obvious that many of his northern PDP gover-nors did little to bolster his political mo-mentum in the North. He also emerged a poor strategic thinker. Of what use is a deputy who brings little or no political capital to the table. Vice President Nama-di Sambo in two presidential elections was unable to market the PDP brand in his Kaduna State.

However, one troubling revelation from the presidential election is that a broad-based national leader would be a tall order in a country still steeped in atavistic cravings. God bless Nigeria.

Comrade Agbonifo wrote from Igue-ben, Edo State.

Documents

Thursday, april 2, 2015 new