Vol. 3 N0. 657 Thursday, July 4, 2013 N150

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Vol. 4 N0. 822 Thursday, April 3, 2014 N150

FG to announce rebased GDP fi gures, says Maku

WHO alerts on outbreak of new diseases

TOLA AKINMUTIMI AND ROTIMI FADEYI The Federal Govern-ment yesterday said that the nations new

Gross Domestic Product, GDP, figures would be re-

leased officially on Sunday, which will give a true pic-ture of the size of the econ-omy.

...says travellers, tourists at risk P.2

...Nigeria ahead of SAfrica, growth rate may drop

Northern minorities want separate geo-political zone

National Conference:

OMEIZA AJAYI AND WOLE OLADIMEJI

Some delegates at the ongoing national conference yester-day advocated death by hanging for corrupt of-ficials to tackle the grow-ing incidence of graft and large scale theft of public funds in the country.

A retired general in the

Power: GENCOs, DISCOs give Nigerians litany of excuses P.38

Delegates advocate death penalty for corrupt offi cials

Managing Director/CEO, NICON Insurance Plc, Mr. Emmanuel Jegede (left) and Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, during a visit to the CDS in Abuja, yesterday.

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P.6

Help identify sponsors of terrorists, Jonathan tells African, EU leaders

P.15

8

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National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net2 Thursday, April 3, 2014News

Delegates advocate death penalty for corrupt offi cials

WHO alerts on outbreak of new diseases

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

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Nigerian Army, Geoffery Ejiga, lamented that the country was deteriorating and urged his colleagues to rise up and salvage the situ-ation.

He said that at the 2005 National Political Reform Conference, he had suggest-ed capital punishment for corrupt officials or politi-cians but his views were un-popular as he was said to be speaking as a military man.

Ejiga said China had continued to make more progress because it viewed the menace of corruption seriously.

If they can hang cor-rupt people in China, then we must hang them here too. I can testify that things are fast deteriorating in this country. We must discuss those issues so that we can pull back our country from the brink of collapse, he

said.A youth leader, Ben Dun-

toye, lamented that while corrupt officials continue to steal with impunity, the so-ciety was conferring chief-taincy titles on them.

He called for a redistri-bution of wealth, saying the money stolen by some government officials was enough to empower the youths.

A man steals N20bn and he keeps walking the streets freely. Think of what that money would do for our youth if we were to empow-er some of them.

Capital punishment is key to fighting corruption in Nigeria. If a man steals N20bn, what else do you need to do? Such people should be hanged! Govern-ment must also cut down on wastes and its excesses, he said.

The youth leader also

condemned the Federal Government for making provision for only 18 youths out of the 492 delegates to the conference.

He said although the ex-ercise was about the youth and the future of the coun-try, many of the delegates could not be regarded as youths.

Former governor of Eb-onyi State, Dr. Sam Egwu, also blamed the elite for be-ing responsible for the prob-lems confronting the nation.

He wondered why politi-cal appointees should earn more than people in the academia, saying the elite always make laws to serve their selfish cravings.

The problem of Nigeria is mostly caused by the elite who make laws to suit their whims. This is a conspiracy of the elite. We are not yet sincere with ourselves, he said.

Meanwhile, minority tribes in the North have ad-vocated the creation of a separate geo-political zone for them, saying they have become victims of constant suppression and discrimi-nation by the North as pres-ently constituted.

A delegate representing minorities in the North-East, Dr. Sale Dauda, said this while commenting on President Goodluck Jona-thans inaugural speech at the conference.

He said the whole of the North-East was in turmoil, stressing that rather than heaping the blame on the President, leaders of the zone should look inwards and challenge their con-sciences.

This failure of gover-nance is not at the federal level. Sometimes, people get the impression that the situation is due to the fail-

ure of Mr. President. It is not true. Now, over a mil-lion people have been dis-placed, he said.

Dauda suggested a Mar-shall plan to tackle the grow-ing wave of violence in the region.

He said part of the solu-tion to the crisis was to cre-ate a separate geo-political zone for all minorities in the North.

The delegate called for the creation of a state for South-ern Borno natives to free them from the northern part which is now plagued by self-inflicted crisis.

Dauda also told the con-ference that the North had become increasingly intol-erant of Christians, saying it was literally easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than to get a land to build a church.

As a Christian in north-ern Nigeria, we are dis-

criminated against. In many states, you cannot have a place to build a church. Many Christians in the re-gion now go underground to be able to worship.

We are discriminated against even in the area of employment and those who are responsible for these are people who are well aware of the heterogeneity of the area and the country as a whole, he said.

The delegate also faulted the relocation of local gov-ernment headquarters in Christian dominated coun-cils to areas where he said there were few Muslims. Pointing at Tafawa Balewa Local Government Council in Bauchi State as an ex-ample, Dauda also lamented the imposition of emirs on Christian chiefdoms, say-ing the development had heightened ethno-religious tension in the zone.

President Goodluck Jonathan (third row) with other world leaders at the EU- African Summit in Brussels, yesterday. PHOTO: STATE HOUSE

FRANCIS SUBERU AND MARCUS FATUNMOLE

The world is continu-ously at the risk of outbreak of new diseases resulting from emergence of new disease vectors, the World Health Organisation, WHO, has said.

The organisation made this known yesterday in a release to mark this years World Health Day, with the theme: Preventing vector-borne diseases small bite, big threat.

WHO said more than half the worlds population was at risk from diseases, including malaria, dengue, leishmaniasis, Lyme dis-ease, schistosomiasis and yellow fever.

It explained that these diseases were being carried by mosquitoes, flies, ticks, water snails and other vec-tors.

WHO stated that every year, over one billion people were infected and more than one million died from vector-borne diseases.

It noted that within the past two decades, many im-portant vector-borne diseas-es had re-emerged or spread to new parts of the world.

Environmental chang-es, a massive increase in international travel and trade, changes in agricul-

tural practices and rapid unplanned urbanisation are causing an increase in the number and spread of many vectors worldwide and making new groups of people, notably tourists and business travellers, vulner-able, the global health body said.

WHO added: Mosquito-borne dengue, for example, is now found in 100 coun-tries, putting more than 2.5 billion people - over 40 per cent of the worlds popula-tion - at risk.

Dengue has recently been

reported in China, Portugal and Florida, in the United States of America.

Reports from Greece say that malaria has returned there for the first time in 40 years. This highlights the continual threat of re-introduction and the need for continued vigilance to ensure that any malaria resurgence can be rapidly contained.

Vector control remains the most important tool in preventing outbreaks of vector-borne diseases, says Dr Lorenzo Savioli, Director

of WHOs Department of Control of Neglected Tropi-cal Diseases.

Increased funds and political commitment are needed to sustain existing vector-control tools as well as medicines and diagnostic tools and to conduct ur-gently needed research, the organisation urged.

The release quoted WHO Director-General, Dr. Mar-garet Chan, as saying that : A global health agenda that gives higher priority to vec-tor control could save many lives and avert much suffer-

ing. Simple, cost-effective in-terventions like insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor spraying have already saved millions of lives.

No one in the 21st cen-tury should die from the bite of a mosquito, a sandfly, a blackfly or a tick.

Vector-borne diseases affect the poorest popula-tions, particularly where there is a lack of access to adequate housing, safe drinking water and sanita-tion. Malnourished people and those with weakened immunity are especially

susceptible.Schistosomiasis, trans-

mitted by water snails, is the most widespread of all vector-borne diseases, af-fecting almost 240 million people worldwide.

Children living and playing near infested water are particularly vulnerable to this disease which causes anaemia and a reduced ability to learn. Schisto-somiasis can be controlled through regular mass treat-ment of at-risk groups with a safe, effective medicine as

3Thursday, April 3, 2014National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net4 Thursday, April 3, 2014Photo News

GEORGE OJI ABUJA

Senators on Wednes-day opposed a new c o n s t i t u t i o n a l amendment which seeks to allow the president initiate the process for a new constitution for the country.

Worried about the unclear outcome of the on-going National Con-ference, the lawmakers argued that the new con-stitutional provision, if allowed to sail through will amount to the usur-pation of the constitu-tional responsibility of the National Assembly.

The new proposal which was recommended as additional constitu-tion amendment by the Senate Committee on Constitution Review seeks to amend section 3b of clause 2 of the fourth alteration bill, which deals with how a new constitution can be processed and aims to

make provision for the president in addition to the National Assembly to initiate the process of a new constitution.

Altogether, there are six additional issues be-ing proposed by the com-mittee for amendment.

These include, the al-teration of section 68 and 109 to mandate the Clerk of the National As-sembly and the Clerks of the State House of Assemblies to notify the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in writing with-in seven days of the existence of a vacancy arising from death, res-ignation or vacation of seat of a member of the National Assembly or State House of Assembly respectively.

It also include the al-teration of section 134 and 179, which aims to extend the time for con-ducting presidential and governorship re-run elections from seven

days to 21 days, as well as the conferment of ex-clusive jurisdiction on the Federal High Court for trial of offences aris-ing from, pertaining to or connected with viola-tion of the provisions of the Electoral Act and any other election related to the act of the National Assembly.

In addition, there is the proposal for the em-powerment of INEC to de-register political par-ties, which failed to win presidential, governor-ship, chairmanship of a local government/area council or a seat in the National or State Assem-bly elections.

There is also the pro-posal for the alteration of the Third Schedule in clause 8, to include former Senate Presi-dents and Speakers of the House of Representa-tives in the membership of the Council of State.

While opposing the proposal to allow the

president initiate a new constitution, Senator Ahmed Lawan, Yobe North said, We must not dilute the functions of the executive or that of the legislature. I can con-cede that any president can send request and that is provided in the constitution, but when we say initiate it is now taking some functions of the National Assem-bly and because of that I oppose this proposal that we maintain the sanctity, the purity of the func-tions of the executive and that of the legisla-ture in such a way that there is no lacuna and no confusion; so that in the nearest future we dont run into a constitutional crisis where the consti-tution amendment pro-cess will become neither here nor there.

Senator Kabiru Mara-fa in his contribution simply cautioned the senate to be very careful, in the way and manner it

L-R: CEO, JSP Communications, Dr. Phil Osagie; Global Head of Thomson Reuters Foreign Exchange, Mr. Phil Weisberg; Africa Head of Financial and Risks, Ms. Sneha Shah and Head of Sales, Thomson Reuters FXT, Mr. Malcolm Collins during a media briefing in Lagos recently.

Chairman, Edo Teachers Assessment Committee, Prof. Dennis Agbonlahor (left) presenting the report of the committee to Governor Adams Oshiomhole, at the Government House in Benin City, yesterday.

L- R: Chairman, Africa Prudential Registrars Plc, Chief Mrs Eniola Fadayomi; Executive Director, Business Development, Nigerian Stock Exchange, Mr. Haruna Jalo-Waziri; Managing Director/CEO, Africa Prudential Registrars Plc, Mr. Peter Ashade and General Manager/Head, Listings Sales and Retention, NSE, Mrs. Taba Peterside at the APRs Facts Behind the Figures presentation in Lagos, yesterday.

Director-General, National Film and Video Censors Board, Ms. Patricia Bala (left) and Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, during a courtesy visit to the police boss in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

National News

Senators oppose new role for President on new constitution set to empower INEC on de-registration of parties repeals and re-enact laws because sometimes the

parliament makes laws that ridicules it.

Citing the case of the CBN, the lawmaker said, There are laws we made; a case is the law on CBN, where we made a law and we ceded our powers to the Board of the CBN and when the time come for us to look at their budget the suspended Governor of the CBN simply told us that he was not bringing his budget to the National Assembly. When we asked him why he said we have already ceded our powers to the board of CBN. So that is what I seek to point out.

Senators Adamu Gum-ba, Magnus Ugbesia and Victor Lar in their vari-ous contributions also rejected the proposal that the president be allowed to initiate a brand new constitution.

The Senate President, David Mark in his con-cluding remarks said: May be, I should remind us about the procedure.

All the comments you have made here is for yourself and to convince your colleagues that your position is the correct one.

None of this is going to go through without the required two-third. We are going to vote on Wednes-day on all the clauses.

But the question I want to ask: Is the consti-tution new in nomencla-ture or in content? Is it new just because the word new has been added to it or the content is going to be completely discarded and then a new content is brought that has nothing to do with this?

Because if you bring a constitution that has only one section carried forward from here, then have you written a new constitution or have you amended the old one? So truly the argument is not to impress anybody, but to convince many people.

Meanwhile, the senate will vote on the six pro-posed amendments on Wednesday.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

WHO alerts on outbreak of new diseases

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

FG to announce rebased GDP fi gures, says Maku

L-R: Deputy Chairman, National Conference, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, with the Chairman, Justice Idris Kutigi, during the National Confer-ence in Abuja yesterday. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

Information Minister, Mr. Labaran Maku, disclosed this after the Federal Ex-ecutive Council, FEC, meet-ing presided over by Vice-President Namadi Sambo since President Goodluck Jonathan is on official visit to Belgium.

Maku explained that the council received briefing from the Coordinating Minis-ter for the Economy and Min-ister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala, that after nearly 23 years, Nigeria was now ready to rebase its GDP.

Maku said that the Min-istry of Finance worked in collaboration with the Na-tional Planning Commis-sion, the supervising agen-cy for the National Bureau of Statistics, which handled the exercise and interna-tional agencies including the International Monetary Fund, the African Develop-ment Bank and the World Bank to produce the new GDP figures.

He said: You will recall that the last time that Nige-ria issued new statistics and GDP figures was 15 years and this is not supposed to be as we are supposed to be doing this every five years.

Every country cali-brates its own GDP data to show the progress made or challenges in their economy.

The Federal Execu-tive Council was briefed today that on Sunday at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel by 2pm, Nigeria will formally release its GDP figures for the country, which have just been worked by institutions in collaboration with inter-national agencies, whose duties it is to work out GDP figures for countries.

According to him, the new GDP numbers will provide the opportunity to know the contributions of every sector to the economy including the sectors that recorded the most progress and which ones that are lag-ging behind.

The Statistician-General of the Federation, Dr. Yemi Kale, had, during the inau-guration of the exercise a few months ago said that the NBS was embarking on the rebasing year from 1990 because the data sources and use of proxies were set in the base year on the need to make the base year struc-ture more representative of the economy since con-sumption and production

patterns change over time.He also explained that the

project became imperative due to the need to properly capture the changes in pat-terns and classification of key sectors, sub-sectors and their regrouping due to the adoption of the latest Sys-tem of National Accounts, SNA, of the United Nations.

On the importance of the project to national develop-ment, Kale said: Nigeria can become a developed na-tion only if everyone con-tributes to the best of his or her ability and capacity.

The job of government is to set a strategic vision for the nation and design poli-cies, plans and programmes to drive the vision. Govern-ment must then invite the nation to respond to that vi-sion and to give that vision flesh and bones and to ad-vance the ideas to translate a vision into reality.

To do this, however, we have a great responsibil-ity in providing the reliable data in a timely fashion, re-quired to make this a reality.

As a nation, I believe we face two overall choices: We can either drift into the future or we can plan for our future by providing the up-to-date statistics that en-ables us to design policies, plans and programmes for development.

Analysts have reacted to the conduct of the exercise with mixed feelings, with most of them saying that it will not necessarily impact on the socio-economic well-being of the poor, at least in the short run.

The Chief Executive Of-ficer, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, a Lagos-based leading economic think-tank and financial consulting outfit, Bismarck Rewane, had noted that even though the exercise had sig-nificant implications for the structure of the economy, there was the need to iden-tify where the Nigerian economy was coming from before the impact of the project could be predicted for its future.

He noted that Nigeria remained a low income but richly endowed country in terms of resources with a five-year average annual growth rate of seven per cent and a per capital an-nual income of $1,624.

Rewane added that in a just published report by his outfit, rebasing could

cause a major decline in the nations GDP growth rate, down from the present rate to about five per cent.

The FDC report stated: Just like a child attempts to wear high heels to appear taller, the same way Nigeria will appear larger with a re-based GDP.

According to some es-timates, Nigeria may re-cord an approximate 40 per cent leap in nominal GDP to about $400bn, putting it

ahead of South Africa (with a nominal GDP of $384bn).

However, the real rate of growth may decline to an av-erage of five per cent from seven per cent.

Since GDP is the most frequently used index of comparison to other factors, other indicators will appear smaller with a larger nomi-nal GDP.

For instance, Nigeria has a total debt portfolio of $53.42bn (N8.3trn) as at Sep-

tember 30, according to the Debt Management Office, DMO. The total debt to GDP ratio is estimated at 19.3 per cent, according to the EIU, and is projected to decrease to 13-14 per cent with a re-based GDP.

The threshold for fis-cal deficit as a percentage of GDP is three per cent; with a rebased GDP, the threshold widens, portray-ing an illusion that Nigeria can increase its borrowing

(three per cent of $400bn is higher than three per cent of $283bn), the report added. The Head of Africa Research at Standard Char-tered Bank, Razia Khan, who admitted the desirabil-ity of the exercise, however, pointed out that for a devel-oping country, the emphasis should not be so much on the size of current GDP, but instead, the potential of the economy to continue to grow was what should matter.

well as improving access to safe drinking water and sanitation, the organisa-tion said.

In a related development, the Lagos State government yesterday advised the pub-lic to observe and maintain high standard of personal and environmental hygiene at all times as part of the precautionary measures to prevent the outbreak of Eb-ola disease in the state.

The advice came in the wake of reported cases of Ebola virus disease outbreak in some of the neighboring West African countries like Guinea and Liberia.

Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, who said this in a statement, also advised health workers to be at alert, wear personal pro-tective equipment, observe universal basic precautions when attending to suspected or confirmed cases, and re-port same to their local gov-ernment area or Ministry of Health immediately.

Idris explained that Ebola

disease is caused by a virus, which natural reservoir of vi-rus is not completely known, stressing that fruit bats have been considered to be the nat-ural host of the virus.

He said: Ebola virus can be spread through close contact with the blood, body fluids, organs and tissues of infected animals; direct contact with blood, organ or body secretions of an infect-ed person. The transmission of the virus by other animals like monkey and chimpan-zee cannot be ruled out.

The commissioner noted that those at the highest risk of the disease include health-workers and families or friends of an infected per-son who could be infected in the course of feeding, hold-ing and caring for them.

He stressed that Ebola virus disease should be sus-pected in persons who devel-oped bleeding from the body openings like the mouth, nose, rectum and ear; a close contact of a person who is infected; or health worker who had treated either sus-pected or confirmed infect-

ed person.Idris explained that ear-

ly symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, chills, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, sore throat, back-ache and joint pains.

Later symptoms include bleeding from the eyes, ears and nose, bleeding from the mouth and rectum, eye swelling, swelling of the genitals and rashes all over the body that often contain blood. It could progress to coma, shock and death.

The Lagos State Govern-ment, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health is putting measures in place to prevent its entry and spread in the country.

These measures include sensitisation of health workers, active search for cases of the disease and con-tinuous sensitisation of the public.

Meanwhile, Information Minister, Mr. Labaran Maku said that that there was no record of any outbreak of the Ebola fever in the coun-try.

Maku, who spoke in Abu-

ja after the weekly Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting, said that compre-hensive checks by the Min-istry of Health revealed that there was nowhere in the country where the dreaded fever was reported.

He stressed that the coun-try had put everything in place to tackle any outbreak of the fever.

Maku said: Nigeria is prepared right now to curtail any outbreak, particularly given reports that few coun-tries on the West Coast like Liberia, Sierra-Leone and Guinea have reported cases of Ebola fever and given our proximity to these countries, Nigeria is ready, the minis-try has every precaution, including getting vaccines and medicines to ensure that should there be any inci-dence in Nigeria, everything would be dealt with.

The minister said the council was reassured that every step had been taken to tackle the fever if affected persons came into the coun-try from neighboring coun-tries that had been affected.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 5Thursday, April 3, 2014 News

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday April 3, 2014 6 News6

CHIDI UGWUABUJA

The inability of the Federal Gov-ernment and the contractor handling the three major power plants under the National In-tegrated Power Project (NIPP) to fast track the

growth of electricity in Nigeria has rubbed off on the gains that govern-ment would have further consolidated in the na-tions power sector by an additional 1,000 mega-watts, the chairman, Presidential Task Force on Power, Dagogo-Jack, has said.

Help identify sponsors of terror groups, Jonathan tells African, EU leaders

APCON fl ays Samsung, Multichoice, others over illegal practice

Govt sued over same sex marriage

Nigeria loses 1,000mw from NIPP plants FG

L-R: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Olisa Metuh; Resident Country Director, International Republican Institute, Nigeria, Ms. Robina Namusa; Ms. Christine Quinn Burtt of CQB and Associates and Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson during a visit to the governor in Yenagoa, yesterday.

ROTIMI FADEYI ABUJA

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday in Brussels, Belgium urged the world to join the battle against terrorists by identifying sponsors and supporters of terror groups.

Jonathan, who spoke at the opening of the ongoing Fourth European Union-Africa Summit with focus

on Peace and Security, said sponsors of Boko Haram and other terrorist groups must be exposed.

The summit was attend-ed by Heads of State and Government of the EU and Africa.

The weapons of choice of these terror groups are the Small Arms and Light Weapons, SALW.

Of recent, they have ac-quired the rapid propelled grenades and even surface-

to-air missiles. Where do they get these sophisticated weapons? The total value of what these terrorists possess as individuals, in terms of what they wear, where they live cannot buy an assault rifle.

We all have the collec-tive responsibility to un-earth their sponsors and supporters who are deter-mined to destabilise Af-rica. We should hold them responsible and account-

able for their actions, he said.

Jonathan noted that since 2000, the African Union had shown the de-sire for the development of collective security arrangement among its member states.

He explained that the Union had developed many organs to evolve strategies, which would strengthen peace and se-curity in the continent.

DAVID AUDU

The Advertising Practitioners Coun-cil of Nigeria (AP-CON) has flayed advertis-ing agencies for violating code of practice by engag-ing unqualified persons.

A statement by the ad-vertising regulatory body and signed by the Head, Planning, Research, Cor-porate Affairs and Strat-egy, Mr. Ralph Anyasor, noted that after several sensitisation visits to ad-vertising establishments and warning notices to illegal persons in adver-tising practice, the body has commenced the ar-rest and prosecution of offenders.

It said the crackdown on illegal practice which resumed last week took the enforcement team of APCON to advertis-ing agencies and media organizations identified as employing unlicensed persons.

Some of the illegal advertising persons ar-rested and being quizzed by the police include: Mr. Manomahan Chandroth, Product Manager, Sam-sung, Mr. Kayode Adun-madeyin, Marketing Manager, Radio Lagos, Omololu Omigbule, Com-mercial Manager, Top Radio and Yemi Egbebiyi,

Head of Client Services, Blue Seal Communica-tion.

Others include Fi-femayo Aiyesimaju, Strategy and Business Executive of DDB Lagos, Akinola Salu, Marketing Manager of Multi-Choice Nigeria and Kholeka Ma-ringa, Head, DSTV Media Sales.

The statement noted that Police investigation would be the first step in the process of prosecution of illegal advertising per-sons, stressing that the of-fenders have been invited for questioning by the po-lice.

Act 55 of 1988, empow-ers APCON to arrest and prosecute persons not reg-istered by it to practice ad-vertising in Nigeria.

In December 2010, Chairman of APCON, Mr. Lolu Akinwunmi, in-augurated a committee to protect the integrity of advertising practice. He said then that there was the need for stricter professionalism within the advertising industry, stressing that no doctor, lawyer, engineer, banker and pharmacist is allowed to practice in Nigeria and in other parts of the civi-lized world without being registered and certified by the relevant official pro-fessional body.

ISE-OLUWA IGE ABUJA

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has given the Federal Government till April 28, 2014 to react to a suit challenging the recent law which crimi-nalised same sex marriage in Nigeria.

Justice Abdu Kafarati, who had already assumed jurisdiction in the matter, said on Wednesday that he

would commence hearing in the case.

One Teriah Joseph Ebah had mandated his counsel, Mike Enahoro Ebah, to sue the govern-ment over the issue.

He is claiming that the Act of the National As-sembly as endorsed by President Jonthan Good-luck violates the provi-sions of the 1999 consti-tution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.

The United Nations had recently made similar comment on the issue.

Ebah is therefore urg-ing the court to stop the Federal Government from implementing the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act.

In his originating sum-mons, he is praying the court for a declaration that the provisions of Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act, 2013 particularly sec-tions 1(1) (a) & (b), (2), 2(1)

&(2) and 3 violate and con-travene Nigeria Citizens Fundamental Rights as enshrined and protected in Section 42 (1)(a) & (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and Articles 2,3 (1) and (2), 19 and 29 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right (Ratifica-tion and Enforcement) Act, Cap A9, Laws of the Feder-ation of Nigeria, 2004, and is accordingly unconstitu-tional, null and void.

As a result, Rockson Engineering Limited, the contractor handling the three major power plants, including Alaoji Generation Company Limited, Omoku Genera-tion Company Limited and Gbarain Generation Company Limited has been given two weeks to come out with clear work plans for each of the projects.

The contractor should come back to us in a time space of two weeks with a clear work plan for each of the proj-ects, if they are commit-ted, and that work plan is something that the whole country would hold them accountable for. In that work plan, there will be conditions that must be delivered by other people in time, the chairman said.

Dagogo-Jack, who dropped the hint in Abuja, after a technical meeting with Rockson, explained that several factors were responsible for the slip that had seen the country lose 1,000mw of electricity.

He, however, revealed that the gas issue of Alao-ji, one of the four major power plants (including Omoku, Gbarain and Eg-bema power plants), has been resolved.

Because these proj-ects have slipped, and they slipped as a result

of several factors some are internal to the con-tractors, others are ex-ternal to him, some are dependent on the client making decisions on time... In project man-agement, so many forces are in play.

Because it is not hap-pening when it should happen, the country is losing in the order of 1,000 megawatts, if all of them happened earlier than they are happen-ing now. If we had had them today, if they had happened now, we should have had 1,000 mega-watts.

It means that when that 1,000 megawatts are ready to go, we can have a situation in transmis-sion that takes away some of that. Suddenly, we can have gas showing up. Some of them already have gas sitting there, and theyve started play-ing with it.

Today, weve re-solved the Alaoji gas is-sue. Sooner or later, we should see them com-missioning some of the (plants) because the gas constraints have been deconstrained, Dagogo-Jack said.

Speaking on the criti-cal issues surrounding the projects, he explained that some of the external constraints include the clients, communities, ports and custom issues.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Thursday April 3, 2014 7News

UDEME AKPAN

Lagos State, the na-tions commercial capital, is set to start commercial offshore crude oil production in 2015.

The crude oil will be produced by an indig-

enous firm, Yinka Fo-lawiyo, which is pres-ently working to install production facilities in its Aje field.

Afren Plc that has over 16 per cent interest in the business stated in its latest report made available to National

MirrorIt said that three of

the four wells (Aje-1, Aje-2 and Aje-4) drilled on the field, had encoun-tered oil and gas in vari-ous intervals, while two (Aje-1 and Aje-2), have great potential to pro-duce oil at commercial

rates.The company stated:

The Joint Venture part-ners estimate the mean contingent resources to be 167 mmboe, princi-pally related to the Aje field, with an additional 205 mmboe of mean pro-spective resources on

FRANKA OSAKWE

Delay in accessing emergency care services, negative attitude of health care pro-viders and lack of vital life-saving facilities such as blood in banks, have been identified by experts as causes of death among women during pregnancy and childbirth in the coun-try.

This was the major highlight at a workshop on maternal health organ-ised in Lagos recently by

a media and development-based Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, Devel-opment Communication (DEVCOM), where experts urged the government to show more commitment in reducing such avoidable deaths in the country.

In his presentation, an obstetrics and gynaeco-logist with Randle General Hospital, Dr. Adeleke Ad-esola Kaka, disclosed that most womens death could be avoided and prevented if delays in accessing emer-gency care at hospitals

were addressed.According to him,

health workers often delay in transferring patient to the Emergency Room, ER when there was need for it for trivial reasons such as inability of the patients to pay their bill or pure in-competence of the health workers.

While lamenting this lackadaisical attitude of health workers, he called on health facilities pay more attention to saving the lives of women first before considering things such as

hospital bills and other eti-quettes.

Some health facility do not have adequate blood in their bank, some might have and decide to hoard the one they have, insist-ing the patients should get their spouse for mandatory blood donation. While this might have its benefit, it can also result in delay in emergency care or prevent the woman from accessing the medical care, thereby resulting in complication and consequently death, he further noted.

Experts list causes of maternal deaths

Active phone lines hit 127.9m, says NCC

Defections: I didnt appeal court order Ihedioha

Lagos to start oil production in 2015 report

L-R: Ministers, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke (Petroleum), Mr. Mike Onolememen (Works), Alhaji Tanimu Turaki (Special Duties), Senator. Idris Umar (Transport) and Prof. Chinedu Nebo (Power), during the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

KUNLE AZEEZ

Nigerias active tele-phone lines have further increased by additional 300,000 in January to reach 127.9 mil-lion at the end of the first month of 2014, according to the latest industry data released by the Nigerian Communications Com-mission, NCC.

Telecom operators, in-cluding the Global System for Mobile Communica-tions, GSM operators, Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA and the

fixed wired/wireless op-erators ended 2013 with a combined active telephone subscriptions of 127.6 mil-lion.

Of the 127.9 million active subscriptions cur-rently on the networks, the GSM operators, including MTN, Airtel, Glo and Eti-salat, control 125.1 million; CDMA, 2.42 million, while fixed line operators have a paltry 365,433.

In December 2013, the figures stood at 124.8 mil-lion active lines; 2.40 mil-lion lines and 360,537 lines for GSM, CDMA and fixed

line operators respectively.However, the total

connected telephone lines, from which 127.9 million are now active, currently stand at 172.6 million, up from 169.6 million at the end of De-cember, 2013.

According to the NCCs latest data, of the 172.6 million total con-nected telephone lines, GSM operators have 162.7 million; CDMA networks control 7.6 mil-lion, while the fixed line networks have just 2.2 million.

These figures stood at 159.7 million; 7.6 million and 2.2 million for GSM, CDMA and fixed line operators at the end De-cember, 2013.

The latest indus-try data released by the Commission also showed that the coun-trys telephone penetra-tion, technically called teledensity, has further increased to reach 91.4 per cent, according to the latest industry data released by the Nigerian Communications Com-mission.

the block.The firm stated that

the Field Development Plan, FDP, for the Aje field had already been approved by the Depart-ment of Petroleum Re-sources, DPR.

The FDP was ap-proved in March 2014 and is primarily focused on the development of the oil reservoir. The first phase of develop-ment includes two sub-sea production wells, tied back to a leased FPSO.

These wells will most likely comprise the re-completion of the exist-ing Aje-4 well, and a new well drilled to the Aje-2 subsurface location. The FDP envisages first oil commencing in late 2015 with mid-case reserves of 32.4 mmbbls, a Final Investment Decision, FID, is expected to be taken by the JV Partners shortly, it said.

Afren stated that it has commenced an ex-tensive 2,716 km 3D seismic across the two licence areas to better define prospectivity in both licences, and in particular the full extent of the structure encoun-tered at the Ogo discov-ery.

The seismic pro-gramme will also assist in the future develop-ment of OML 113. The

Aje field by topography is situated along the pla-teau which has the ca-pacity of production be-tween 50,000 and 80,000 barrels per day, while the water depth level is in the local and region of 3,000 feet, the release said further.

The OML 113 was allo-cated to Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum in 1991 as part of the Federal Govern-ments quest to increase indigenous participa-tion and local content in the petroleum industry.

The position of La-gos would be greatly en-hanced by the expected production of OPL 310 which Afren also has 40 per cent interest.

The OPL, which has Optimum Petroleum De-velopment Limited and Lekoil Limited as opera-tor and partner respec-tively, is expected to pro-duce commercial oil.

Afren stated in its report that OPL 310 ex-tends from the shallow water continental shelf to deep water in an un-der-explored basin with a proven working hydro-carbon system.

It stated that on 14 May 2013, Afren an-nounced the completion of a farm-out agreement with Lekoil Limited, subject to Nigerian Min-isterial Consent, in the OPL 310 licence.

KUNLE AZEEZ

Nigerias active tele-phone lines have further increased by additional 300, 000 in January to reach 127.9 mil-lion at the end of the first month of 2014, according to the latest industry data released by the Nigerian Communications Commis-sion, NCC.

Telecom operators, in-cluding the Global System for Mobile Communica-tions, GSM operators, Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA and the fixed wired/wireless operators ended 2013 with a combined active telephone subscriptions of 127.6 million.

Of the 127.9 million active subscriptions cur-rently on the networks, the GSM operators, including

MTN, Airtel, Glo and Eti-salat, control 125.1 million; CDMA, 2.42 million, while fixed line operators have a paltry 365,433.

In December 2013, the fig-ures stood at 124.8 million active lines; 2.40 million lines and 360,537 lines for GSM, CDMA and fixed line operators respectively.

However, the total con-nected telephone lines, from which 127.9 million are now active, currently stand at 172.6 million, up from 169.6 million at the end of December, 2013.

According to the NCCs latest data, of the 172.6 mil-lion total connected tele-phone lines, GSM operators have 162.7 million; CDMA networks control 7.6 mil-lion, while the fixed line networks have just 2.2 mil-lion.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, April 3, 20148

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC in line with its mandate of facilitating access to and promoting competition in the telecommunications services industry in the country, is inviting applications from prospective companies interested in providing special numbering services.

Special numbering services involve the provision of Toll free, Vanity numbering services, Follow Me, One Number dial, Conference Call Bridge, Intenerated Voice Messaging, Voice Activated Dialing, Unifi ed Messaging, Automated Call Distribution, Agent-At-Home, and any other services as may be approved by the commission.

Interested companies are hereby invited to obtain the individual license application form from any of the Commissions zonal offi ces or download the form from the Commissions web site: www.ncc.gov.ng.

Completed application forms should be spiral bound in triplicate with the following attachments:

1. Certifi ed True Copy of Memorandum and Articles of Association of you company. 2. Certifi cate of Incorporation 3. Current Tax Clearance 4. Three Passport Photographs of the Authorized Representative of your Company. 5. A Comprehensive Feasibility Report of amongst others of the Proposed Service.

as outlined in section 6 of the application form.

For further information, please contact the Legal and Regulatory Services Department of the Commission or any of the Commissions Zonal Offi ces.

Signed:

Tony OjoboDirector, Public Affairs

Nigerian Communications Commission

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 9Thursday, April 3, 2014 South West

L-R: Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Prof. Modupe Adelabu; wife of Ekiti State Governor, Mrs. Bisi Fayemi; Governor Kayode Fayemi and State Interim Chairman, All Progressives Congress, during the JKF re-election campaign rally at Isan-Ekiti in Oye Local Government Area, yesterday.

Ritualists den uncovered in Ogun

World Bank to rescue Oyo from fl ood disaster with $200m

FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA

An underground cell suspected to be ritu-alists base has been uncovered at Iyana Egbado village in Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun State.

Consequently, a middle aged man who identified himself simply as Gbenga and was in possession of severed human parts was also arrested by the police in connection with the sus-pected ritualists base.

National Mirror gath-ered from the scene of the incident, which is located under the bridge just about 250 meters away from the main gate of a popular ce-ment company along the Abeokuta-Lagos Express-way, that the suspect had attempted to kill a woman before she was rescued by a passer-by.

The passer-by, who res-cued the woman, became suspicious of the cello-phane bag the suspect was

holding and therefore force-fully tore it only to discover that the contents were sev-ered human parts already sliced into pieces.

The passer-by imme-diately raised the alarm which attracted crowd from the nearby cement factory as well as Egbado village.

Having discovered that the mob was going to kill him, the suspect, who was known to be lunatic and had lived in the area for the past nine months, however, pleaded with the crowd not to kill him and promised to confess.

An eyewitness, who identified himself as Sam-uel Oladele, told National Mirror that the suspect, Gbenga thereafter, brought out a mobile phone to make calls to some people.

Oladele added that the suspect told the mob that he belonged to a five-man syndicate among them a woman who operated in the Ewekoro area.

Police team from the Itori arrived at the scene of

the incident and thereafter whisked the suspect away.

The sight of the ritual-ists base was, however, gory when National Mirror visited the site.

Our correspondent ob-served that items, includ-ing human parts sliced into pieces, plastic containers filled with human blood, ladies pants, braziers, la-dies and men shoes, blood stained dresses were dis-covered from the site.

Other items included knives, many non-function-ing electronics parts, soft drinks suggesting that the suspect and his accomplic-es were indeed living under the bridge.

National Mirror also gathered that the suspect, who claimed to have hailed from Ado-Ekiti in Ekiti-State, had been whisked away by the police to Ifo Divisional Headquarters to prevent him from being lynched by the mob.

Attempts to speak with the suspect by journalists were prevented by the po-

lice.The police, however, re-

ferred journalists to the commands headquarters at Eleweran in Abeokuta, the state capital.

The Police Public Rela-tions Officer (PPRO), Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, confirmed the incident, adding that the suspect was already in th custody of the Department of State Criminal Investiga-tion Department (SCID).

Adejobi stressed that the police from Itori and Ifo res-cued the suspect when he was about to be lynched by mob.

The police spokesman said the command would conduct a thorough inves-tigation into the matter to ascertain whether items recovered from the suspect were actually human or animal intestine.

While urging members of the public not to jump into hasty conclusion, Ad-ejobi said that there are many areas which the po-lice would look into before arriving at final conclusion.

FRANCIS SUBERU

No fewer than 118 sus-pected hoodlums were on Wednes-day arrested at Oshodi area of Lagos by officials of the Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences Unit.

The officials raided the area around 1.0am.

Those arrested include 106 male and 12 female.

Over 160 were initially arrested but after screen-ing at the taskforce office at Alausa, Ikeja, 118 were found wanting.

Taskforce Chairman, Bayo Sulaiman, a Chief Superintendent of Police, said the raid at Oshodi be-gan around 1.00 am and that the exercise lasted for one hour.

He said the suspected hoodlums were arrested in various dark spots in the area, including under the bridge, abandoned and property, among others.

According to him, the taskforce decided to raid Oshodi after a long time due to series of complaints about upsurge in petty

criminal activities in the area.

Sulaiman said: We have been receiving text messag-es and people calling us that they are being harassed by hoodlums at Oshodi. We realised that we have to go after them again.

He claimed that due to incessant raid of hoodlums in Oshodi in the past, activ-ities of hoodlums abated.

Sulaiman said: We got information of where they are staying to smoke Indian hemp and we swooped on them and arrested them.

He stated that the under age children among the hoodlums would be taken to the Lagos State Correc-tional Centre for rehabilita-tion.

According to Sulaiman, the men and women among the hoodlums would be ar-raigned at the Special Of-fences Court and punished according to the laws of the state.

He disclosed that one of the women among them was pregnant, warning that the taskforce would not fold its arm and allow hoodlums to take over Os-hodi.

The World Bank has indicated its readi-ness in addressing the challenges associated with the flood disaster that occurred in Oyo State in 2011 which claimed sev-eral lives and property.

A total of $200 million is to be committed to the project, while the state government will add its own counterpart funding of $20 million.

Besides, Oyo has also been selected as the first state to be equipped with an early flood warning system by the bank as a way of addressing the perennial flood in the state.

The Leader of the World Bank team on Ibadan Urban Flood Man-agement, Dr. Sateh Chafic El-Arnaout made the dis-closure while briefing newsmen shortly after the submission of the report of the team to the state governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi in his of-fice on Wednesday.

Dr. El-Arnaout said

that after the team had thoroughly under-stud-ied the 2011 flood disas-ter in Ibadan, the World Bank would be ready to partner with the state government in prevent-ing a reoccurrence of the incident.

He explained further that the project would be executed with $200 mil-lion from the World Bank and $20 million counter-part funding from the state government.

The team leader added that as the project pro-gressed, an independent monitoring group would be instituted to access it in terms of quality and cost effectiveness, stressing that without completely addressing flood risk in Ibadan, the economic in-terest of the state might be jeopardized.

The Coordinator of the project, Dr. Dayo Ayorinde said that for the success of the project, Ibadan City master plan, drainage mas-ter plan and solid waste plan would be provided.

Taskforce raids Oshodi, arrests 118 hoodlums

One lunatic held with human parts

FGs cruel policies infl icting pains on Nigerians FasholaFRANCIS SUBERU

Lagos State Gov-ernor Babatunde Fashola on Wednes-day flayed the Federal Government for inflict-ing pains on Nigerians through cruel policies and bad governance.

Fashola spoke while giving reports of his stewardship in the last 100 days of the year at the

Lagos Television (LTV) premises at Agidingbi, Ikeja.

The event marked the 25th 100 days reports the governor would be giving since elected in 2007.

Fashola, who listed numerous achievements of his administration in various public sec-tors, flayed his critics for taunting that the achievements were elite-centric.

He said his critics were disconnected from the re-alities in the state.

Fashola said: From my reports to you today, you can see the poli-tics of lies and delib-erate falsehoods upon which their comments are based. It shows how disconnected our oppo-nents are to the realities of our society. How they cannot see that their amateurish governance

at the national level is inflicting pains on ev-erybody.

The governor, who decried the Federal Governments margin-alisation of Lagos State in political appoint-ments, said the Peoples Democratic Party-led government at the cen-tral had failed to jus-tify the over 1.2 million votes Lagos residents gave to it.

GEORGE OPARA ABIA

The Abia State Po-lice Command has discovered another baby factory at Umuabuwa village in Osisioma Local Government Area of the state and consequently ar-rested its operator.

The police also arrested a 19-year-old girl for allegedly kidnapping two pupils.

The baby factory popu-larly known as Osu Abu-wa was allegedly run by one Mrs. Comfort Osu Abu.

Mrs. Abu, said to be using her home to harbor preg-nant teenagers and women whom she sell their babies on delivery to prospective buyers without following

CHARLES OKEKE AWKA

The prospect of early completion of the federal secretariat in Awka, the Anambra State capital, appears dim as the chief executive of-ficer of the company han-dling the project, Hon. Cosmas Agagbo, has com-plained that the project is under-valued and is being threatened by paucity of fund.

Agagbo, the Managing Director of Cosco Invest-ment Nigeria Limited, said that the project may suffer a major setback due to poor funding and under-valua-tion.

Addressing journalists on Wednesday in Awka, Agagbo said that the three wings secretariat com-plex awarded by President Goodluck Jonathans ad-ministration through the Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban De-velopment in October 2012 with a completion period of 52 weeks may not be com-pleted as stipulated if it was not adequately funded.

Agagbo, who disclosed that the project was ini-tially awarded for N2.56 bil-lion, took another financial dimension when it was dis-covered that the project was under evaluated due to lack

of some essential designs such as the basement.

He said that the design and approval of the base-ment took over six months to secure thereby elongat-ing the projected comple-tion period and complicat-ed the financial cost already approved by the Federal Government.

Agagbo said: You see the cost implication of the basement became yet another crucible to pass and this is making the completion of the project to prolong more than nec-essary.

He claimed that while the federal secretariat for Anambra was awarded alongside others in the six geopolitical for over N2 billion, that of Enugu State was awarded for N13 billion.

Agagbo said: Let me tell you that this project was awarded with oth-ers in the six geopolitical zones of this country and while the one for Anam-bra State is awarded for over N2 billion, that of Enugu State was awarded for N13 billion and the one in Anambra is bigger than that of Enugu State.

He, however, assured that despite the financial constraint, the project would be delivered accord-ing to specification.

GEORGE OPARAABIA

Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State has restated his re-solve to endorse an Ukwa-Ngwa man to succeed him next year.

Orji, who spoke when a group of Ukwa-Ngwa pro-fessionals on Wednesday paid him a solidarity visit at the Government House in Umuahia, the state capi-tal, said the decision to have an Ukwa-Ngwa man suc-ceed him was underpinned by his belief in fairness and equity.

Addressing the governor, Chief Sunny Aku, a promi-nent businessman and lead-er of the delegation, said the visit was to thank the governor for his statement of promise to the Ukwa-Ng-wa people.

Ukwa-Ngwa nation con-trols nine of the 17 local

ALIUNA GODWIN EBONYI

Operatives of the Ni-geria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) have arrested two persons for alleged distri-bution of fake petroleum products.

The suspects were ar-rested beside a block indus-try at Ohatekwe in Ebonyi State.

Addressing journalists in Abakaliki, the state capi-tal, NSCDC Commandant, Mrs. Ego Echendu, said that the suspects, Chukwueme-ka Oge and Peter Udukwe, were arrested with a Ford bus marked XA 364 EBJ

the due process of child adoption as stipulated by law, was said to have been in the illegal child trafficking business for many years.

The police also arrested a couple, Mr. and Mrs. Sam-uel Blessing Iheanacho, for allegedly conspiring to har-bor a pregnant lady, Chidin-ma Okeke, at the home with the intent of adopting her baby on delivery.

The couple, said to have been childless after 18 years of marriage, were reported to have contracted Chidin-ma to be pregnant and kept her at Comforts home hop-ing to adopt her baby when she put to bed before police swoop on the baby factory and arrested them.

While it was equally gath-

ered that a pregnant girl, Miss Ozuchi Chinasa, who was also harboured at the home, was rescued during the raid, reports claimed that Chidinma had been de-livered of a baby boy in an undisclosed hospital in Aba

Meanwhile, a 19-year-old girl simply identified as Adetonye Olutonye was ar-rested by the police in Aba for allegedly kidnapping two pupils.

Olutonye of No.12 Brass Street, Aba, was alleged to have at about 2.30pm on Friday last week kidnapped two pupils, Chiamaka Chi-jioke, 7, and Praise Ononog-bu, 4, both pupils of Santa Jessle Nursery/Primary School located within the Eziama area of Aba.

It was learnt that the sus-pect abducted the two girls who were said to reside at 22, Boundary and 48, Egbule streets, Aba respectively while they were returning from school.

Following a tip-off, the Aba Area Commander of the Police, Mr. Tunde Mo-bayo, mobilised men of the anti-robbery squad to arrest Olutonye on Faulks Road, near the palace of the traditional ruler of Eziama autonomous com-munity, Eze Isaac Ikonne, while attempting to board a cab with the two vic-tims.

She was immediately taken into custody while the pupils had been hand-ed over to their parents.

carrying about 3,000 litres of petroleum products to their customers.

Echendu said investiga-tion revealed that the sus-pects had no authority to engage in such transaction.

She said: The activities of this category of individ-uals have over time ham-pered the availability of petroleum products to ordi-nary consumers in society.

After a tip-off on March 30, 2014, our anti-vandal unit went out and fortu-nately rounded up two sus-pects in connection with il-legal peddling of petroleum product. The two suspects were in a vehicle carrying DPK of about 3,000 litres.

We asked for their pa-pers and found out that they did not have any and at that point we had to bring them to the command for further investigation.

Investigation revealed that they did not have any document to allow them to legitimately transact such business and even if they do, the law only al-lows an individual to have in his possession a certain amount of litres of kero-sene.

The suspects were ar-rested at KM 7 along Abaka-liki-Enugu Expressway beside a block industry at Ohatekwe in Ishieke in Eb-onyi State. We have in our

custody one Chukwuemeka Oge and Peter Udukwe.

Echendu, however, ad-vised individuals interested in the business to possess necessary documents so as to avoid being arrested. She said: People involved in this kind of deal should get the necessary documents that will permit them to engage in it. They should not just look at the business and engage in it without finding out the rules gov-erning it.

The rules are meant to safeguard the individuals involved in the business; we have our officers at stra-tegic points and informant who give us information at

government areas of the state and parades the larg-est number of profession-als like lawyers, doctors, businessmen, engineers and architects.

Orji, however, thanked the people for the visit and said: For fairness and eq-uity, it will be good for an Ukwa-Ngwa person to be the next governor in 2015. You did not lobby me. No person lobbied me. I did not discuss this with any per-son because this is what I feel I should do and I should say.

Orji

Police discover another baby factory in Abia

Early completion of Fed Secretariat in Anambra not likely

Ukwa-Ngwa manll succeed me next year Orji

NSCDC arrests two for distributing fake petroleum products

Arrest girl, 19, for kidnapping two pupils

L-R: Executive Director, Enugu State University Trust Fund, Prof. Martin Anikwe; Vice-President, Membership Development, Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Dr. Emeka Nwakpa and representative of Director-General, Raw Materi-als Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Mr. Ken Anikwe, ruring RMRDC Day at the ongoing 25th Enugu International Trade Fair, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, April 3, 2014South East10

NBA bars gov from events

Agumagu remains Rivers CJ -Commissioner insistsDENNIS NAKUPORT HARCOURT

The Rivers State Government on Wedneday rejected the suspension of Justice Peter Agumagu as the State Chief Judge by the National Judicial Council, NJC, insisting that it still recognised Agumagu in office.

The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Jus-tice, Mr. Worgu Boms, who disclosed this while speak-ing to newsmen in Port Harcourt, said Agumagu s suspension was illegal and unconstitutional.

Boms recalled that Jus-tice Agumagu was suspend-ed as a judicial officer by the NJC and was given four days to show cause why he should not be removed, pointing out that the NJC was wielding the big stick against an innocent judge and giving a misleading im-pression to members of the public.

He added: The position of NJC, which is very un-fortunate, gives equally un-fortunate and misleading impression to the public that the appointment of the Hon. Justice PNC Aguma-gu as Chief Judge of Rivers State occurred in nibubus

(ie from the skies) and with no contribution of the NJC to it or that there is no his-tory behind it.

The Hon. Justice PNC Agumagu, the NJC wants the world to believe, just woke up, walked to the State House and got ap-pointed and sworn in as the Chief Judge. This im-pression is misleading, self-serving and diversion-ary.

It is important to state from the outset that the NJC has always preferred the doctrine of the Most Senior Judge of the High Court, in the appointment of the Chief Judge of Riv-

ers State and in particular, the Hon Justice D.W. Oko-cha, as its candidate for the position.

The commissioner stressed: We restate here that what is happening in Rivers State with re-spect to filling the vacancy in the position of chief judge of the state, is not peculiar to Rivers State as other states have passed and some are still passing through the process, and in none of these did the NJC, as it is doing now in Rivers State, write to their judges to intimidate them on the matter and to fetter their conscience.

Edo teachers assessment: Absentee teachers to face sanction

SEBASTINE EBHUOMHANBENIN

Teachers in public primary and second-ary schools in Edo State who failed to submit for the assessment exercise organised by the state gov-ernment may have their names deleted from the payroll, Governor Adams Oshiomhole has said.

Speaking on Wednes-day while receiving the re-port of the exercise from the Teachers Assessment Committee led by Prof.

L-R: Zonal Chairman, National Association of Plant Operators, Bonny, Mr. Harold Benstowe; Assistant Secretary 1, Trade Union Congress, TUC, Rivers State, Mr. Raymond Benson and Vice Chairman, Mr. Clement Onyesoru, during a news conference in Port Harcourt, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

Dennis Agbonlahor, former Vice Chancellor, Ambrose Alli University, Oshiom-hole said for any teacher to consider himself as being in employment, he must be seen to do the needful.

He said: I can readily tell you that no teacher will re-main on the payroll of Edo State Government if we have not assessed him and convinced that he is indeed a fit and proper person to be entrusted with the class-room or the particular sub-ject which our pupils are asked to learn.

Bayelsa Assembly uncovers N25.5bn excess deductions by banks EMMA GBEMUDUYENAGOA

The Bayelsa State House of Assem-bly on Wednesday said it had unraveled over N25.5 billion which it de-scribed as excess charges and deductions from the state governments ac-counts by 10 commercial banks operating in the state.

Describing the act as a heinous crime, the As-sembly said the excess deductions and charges covered between a period of 2007 and 2012.

The House resolved that the affected banks should refund the excess deductions within a pe-riod of 30 days.

Chairman of the House Committee on Public Ac-counts, Tonye Isina, in a motion, came up with the revelation as he urged the

State Ministry of Finance and Justice and the Ac-countant General of the state for proper records on the recovery.

Isina said it was impor-tant to recover the excess charges and deductions from the banks.

The lawmakers re-solved that a special audit should be conducted in all the ministries to ensure that sanity was main-tained in the system.

Earlier, the Speaker of the House, Konbowei Ben-son, lauded the Commit-tee on Public Accounts for discovering the excess deductions, adding that the Assembly would get to the root of the matter to ensure that justice pre-vailed.

The affected banks identified in the exces-sive deductions in govern-ment account have been silent on the allegations.

Police nab oil thieves, impound fuel in RiversDENNIS NAKUPORT HARCOURT

Barely 48-hours af-ter it vowed to end pipeline vandal-ism in Rivers State, the State Police Command on Wednesday arrested three suspected crude oil thieves at Elelenwo, Rivers State.

The police said the sus-pects who specialised in pipeline vandalisation were arrested along with three specially designed trucks, two of which were fully loaded with 55,000 li-tres of crude oil each.

Commissioner of Police, Mr. Tunde Ogunsakin, who paraded the suspects before newsmen in Port Harcourt, said two of the trucks were fully loaded with contents suspected to be crude oil

amounting to 110,000 litres.Ogunsakin explained

that the suspects had van-dalised a facility belong-ing to the Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, before siphoning the product in Elelenwon, Obio/Akpo Local Govern-ment Area.

He gave the names of the suspects as Jonathan Okon, 49, Bernard Kings-ley, 28 and Sunny Onuoha, 26.

The commissioner fur-ther said they were ar-rested on Friday, March 28, by the Police Monitoring Team, attached to his office along the Elelenwo/Akpajo express way leading to Port Harcourt, while trying to load the product into the third truck, following a tip off.

tCHANGE OF NAMEEKEOPARA: Formerly known and addressed Miss Ekeopara Chioma Cynthia, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Obiawuotu Chioma Cynthia. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public take note

tCHANGE OF NAMEFormerly known and addressed as Badmus Nofi sah Adenike, now wish to be known and addressed as Badmus-Adewunmi Nofi sah Adenike. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

tCHANGE OF NAMEOLAOYE: Formerly known and addressed as Miss Olaoye Olajumoke Omolara, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Sodeinde Olajumoke Omolara. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

tCHANGE OF NAMESALAMI: Formerly known and addressed as Alhaja Atinuke Ramota Salami, now wish to be known and addressed as Alhaja Atinuke Ramota Azeez. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

PUBLIC NOTICEYOUNG SHALL GROW CLUB OF ABAKALIKI

THE TRUSTEES ARE:

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:

Notice is hereby given to the general public that the above named Club has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja for registration under Part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990

1. Nwalo Chinweuba Andrew - Chairman2. Agu Micheal Olube Emmanuel - Secretary 3. Jobe Sunday - Member4. Prince Okpebe Joseph - Member5. Nkwuda Alexander - Member

1. To foster unity amongst ourselves.2. To assist the needy in the society.3. To contribute to the well being of our community.

Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420 Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street,

Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.SIGNED:

BARR. A. S. NWOKEOCHA54 CHIME, NEW HAVEN,ENUGU

This for us is not poli-tics; it is to stress the es-sence of governance and prepare our kids for the fu-ture for the inevitable role they have to play.

Flipping through the report, it is clear that you did a thorough job, pains-takingly analysing all the issues like elder statesmen and good educationists, in spite of the harassment and subtle threats and you remained focused on the assignment and in the end, you have come out with a report that, I believe, will help us to have greater in-

sight into the challenge of managing an efficient and reliable primary and sec-ondary education.

The governor added: Even more importantly, you have ideas of what we have to do with the outcome and you gave a set of op-tions. I believe the innocent children whose future is an issue and their parents and guardians, their spirit, their wishes to prepare their children for the fu-ture, our God will reward you for helping to advise on how best we can help to pro-tect their future.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Thursday, April 3, 2014 11South South

OMEIZA AJAYI AND HENRY IYORKASE

The United Nations (UN) has been called upon by a Benue State-based group, Benue Coalition for Peace and Security, to investigate the use of chemical weapons by suspected Fulani mi-litia to kill unarmed and innocent citizens in recent times in the state.

The groups chairman, Mr. Justine Gbagir, told journalists on Wednesday in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, that the allegation was weighty to be ignored.

Gbagir said that relevant stakeholders must have ver-ified the claim before con-cluding that harmful chemi-cals were used on innocent people by the Fulani militia.

He said the use of such banned weapons posed a serious threat to humanity, adding that many residents were killed in Benue com-munities of Guma, Gwer East with the alleged use of the chemical weapons.

The groups chairman, however, called for thorough investigation into the allega-tion and the offenders pun-ished.

Gbagir said samples of the chemical weapons, with the specimen from those who died from the alleged attack, had been taken to a laboratory in South Africa for analysis.

He urged the Federal Government to tighten its security at the nations bor-ders to prevent influx of small and light arms into the country.

Gbagir, therefore, called on the authorities to invite UN officials to visit the plac-es where the alleged weap-ons were used for killing many unarmed farmers.

He said at the onset, the Benue Government was slow in taking proactive measures to curtail the widespread of the violence to other parts of the state when it first broke out in 2009 in Guma Local Govern-ment Area.

Meanwhile, a United States -based group, the

Mutual Union of the Tiv in America (MUTA), has con-demned what it described as the orchestrated attacks and killings of its people in parts of Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba states by suspected Fulani herdsmen and mer-cenaries.

The group said it is dis-turbing that what started as a local dispute along the Benue-Nasarawa axis a few years ago had now developed to a well-orchestrated agen-da to overrun Tiv people.

This is evident both from the expanded scope of the attacks and the sophisti-cation with which they are executed, the group said in a statement signed by its leaders, Joseph Unongo and David Agum.

The statement reads: The most recent, well-coordinated attacks and devastation of Tiv communities in Makur-di, Guma, Gwer, Gwer-West, Kwande, Logo, and Katsina-Ala local government coun-cils of Benue State are sug-gestive of a deeper plan to annihilate the race.

Indeed, as Tiv sons and daughters in the Diaspora, we cannot fold our arms and remain mute as our commu-nities at home are being rav-aged and our people being killed maimed and rendered homeless by the Fulani and their cohorts.

Enough is enough! The attacks and killings of in-nocent Tiv people and other Nigerians must stop. MUTA calls on the Federal Govern-ment of Nigeria to live up to its responsibility of protect-ing innocent citizens from rampaging mercenaries. It is simply unacceptable that our people should become refugees in their own land.

The Tiv nation may, however, be forced to take up arms in self-defence since the Federal Govern-ment continues to prove incapable of protecting the people.

A delegate at the ongo-ing national conference, Dr. Magdeline Duraa from Benue State, also lamented the plight of Tivs in Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Cross River and Taraba states.

Violence: Group wants alleged use of chemical weapons probed

AZA MSUEKADUNA

The Kaduna State Government on Wednesday im-posed a 24-hour curfew on Jemaa Local Government Area of the state after an-gry mob protested alleged killing of two youths by the Army.

It was learnt that the

slain youths were among the crowd that insisted that jungle justice be met-ed out to 32 Fulani men ar-rested by the Army with weapons in Kafanchan.

Meanwhile, the tension in Southern Kaduna has led to the cancellation of the planned visit of the leader of the All Progres-sive Congress (APC), Gen. Mohammadu Buhari

(rtd), to Bondong District, near Manchok in Kaura Local Government Area where some Fulani herds-men allegedly killed no fewer than 119 residents on March14, 2014.

The purpose of Bu-haris visit was to sym-pathise with the survivors of the attack and offer them some relieve materi-als, according to a Kaduna

State chieftain of APC, Mr. Francis Kozah.

APC youth leader in Kafanchan, Mr. Yashim Bonnat, condemned the killing of the two youths.

Kaduna State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Aminu Lawan, said the police had nothing to do with the killing and that in-quiry should be directed to the army.

JAMES DANJUMA KATSINA

The Katsina State Government has been advised to have a military barracks con-structed in the southern part of the state to check killings and destruction of property.

The advice was given by a committee that was set up to look into the immediate and remote cause of the recent armed attack in Faskari Lo-cal Government Area and

its environs in which over 100 people were killed.

Speaking while submit-ting its report to the state government, chairman of the committee and former National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) boss, Brig-Gen. Maharazu Tsiga, said the establishment of a military barracks in the area would go long way in addressing the crises being faced in the zone.

The committee also rec-ommended that security agencies in the state should

be adequately equipped to enable them face chal-lenges posed by militia and other related groups.

The further recom-mended demarcation of cattle routes and provision of support to vigilance groups, especially in the southern part of the state.

According to Tsiga, the committee recommended dialogue between Fulani herdsmen and farmers to address their differences.

Tsiga, who commended state government for as-

sisting the injured vic-tims of the attack, said the recommendation, if diligently followed, would help to avoid recurrence.

Governor Ibrahim Sh-ema, in his response to the committees submission, as-sured that its recommenda-tions would be looked into and applied where necessary.

Shema said more assis-tance would be provided to the victims and that vigilance groups would be coordinated to help protect lives and prop-erty in the affected areas.

ADEOLA TUKURUABUJA

Minister of Women Affairs and So-cial Development, Hajiya Zainab Maina, has assured that her ministry would monitor the execution of the N2.1 billion project aimed at promoting wom-ens engagement in peace

and security in Northern states.

The minister stated this on Wednesday when the Eu-ropean Union Ambassador to Nigeria, Michel Arrion, led a delegation on a visit to her in Abuja.

Maina said the project was timely as several wom-en and children in Northern Nigeria, particularly the

North-East were helpless.She said: Many of them

are suffering from trauma as a result of losing their homes, husbands and chil-dren and they needed to be rehabilitated.

While thanking the EU for its support for the devel-opment of Nigeria, the min-ister suggested buying air time on radio to publicise

the project, saying 99 percent of people in northern states rely on radio for news.

On women political em-powerment, Maina called on the European Union to sup-port the efforts of the minis-try in the areas of capacity-building, mobilisation and empowerment of women politicians wishing to con-test for elective offices.

Killing: Kaduna imposes 24-hour curfew on Jemaa LG

How to prevent crisis in Southern Katsina Committee

Ministry promises monitoring of N2.1bn project Illegal solid minerals processing factory visited by Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda in Toro Local Government Area, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

Chairman of Jemaa Local Government Area, Mr. Daniel Amos, with the permission of the

state government, im-posed the 24-hour curfew over the area following the protest.

Buharis planned visit to Kaura cancelled

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netThursday, April 3, 2014North12

Project execution at dusk of fi rst tenure: A re-occurring deception

Before inception of office by most elected officials, there are high hopes in the minds of the electorate who eagerly anticipate the delivery of the various promises that the politicians used to woo or cajole them into voting for them during electioneering campaigns. However, after taking office, these promises are quickly jettisoned, only to resurface at the twilight of the administration. OBIORA IFOH and EMMANUEL EGHAGHE take a look at this recurring deception in government circles and its implication in the emerging democracy.

NyakoJonathan

Research shows that in the first quarter of assumption of office of most administrations, there seem to be this enthusiasm to work; proving to the people that the government means business, but in no time, the buzz fizzles out.

One of the most recent of such devel-opment is the ground breaking of the sec-ond Niger Bridge by President Goodluck Jonathan, after long years of waiting and promises by several Heads of State and presidents alike.

The second Niger Bridge has been ap-plauded in many quarters as a good de-velopment and it certainly calls for cel-ebration, however, the question agitating many minds has been what if this was implemented in the early or even mid hours of the administration instead of waiting till the twilight of this adminis-tration?

Although the president has not made public his intention to run for a second term, his recent activities, particularly the beehives of activities within the gov-ernment circles give a clear signal that the President will attempt a second ten-ure.

In the last few months, the Federal government has intensified actions in the area of power generation with sev-eral Indepepndent Power Projects, IPPs, including Calabar (630MW), Egbema (378MW), Ihovbor (504MW), Gbarian (252MW), Sapele (504MW), Omokunu (252MW), Laoji (1076 MW), Olorunsogo (750MW), Omotosho (500MW) and Ge-regu (434 MW), all receiving attention.

Though, all efforts by the President to achieve an 18-hour per day power supply seems a mirage, the irony of it is that power generation has dropped from 4000 to 3000 megawatts, even with over $1bil-lion injected into the security of pipe line.

Last Tuesday, the Presidential Assis-tant on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State that some haters of Jonathan were executing a plot to make the President derail in his prom-ise so that Nigerians would not return him in 2015 through deliberate sabotag-ing of power policy.

He said: When the President started to commission these NIPPs and they were all coming on stream, what did we experience? Pipeline vandalism all over the country; a major sabotage.

THERE SEEM TO BE THIS TRICK OF

STARTING ELEPHANT PROJECTS AT

ASSUMPTION OF OFFICE, REDUCTION

OF THE PACE MID WAY AND TOTAL

ABANDONMENT AT A POINT

equal, President Jonathan would deliver on his promise on power and believing that once that is achievable, Nigerians would have no other choice than to re-turn him in 2015 if he decides to contest; because of that people took a very ter-rible decision to sabotage government efforts.

In the road sector, the Minister of Works, Arc. Mike Onolememen, has been busy in the last few months with many abandoned roads receiving attentions and a few others awarded.

Apart from the President, most gov-ernors and public office holders at the verge of tenure expiration are also guilty of this. For instance, Adamawa State government at the twilight of its tenure in 2007 took a loan to construct some fed-eral roads. Also, as the government is winding down, even though the governor is on his last lap, he has also sought for a loan of $7.5 million, which is expected to be paid back in forty years with mora-torium of ten years and at an interest of 0.75 per cent. These fresh loans are ex-pected to push for aggressive infrastruc-

In a particular place, gas pipeline that was buried six metres below the surface of the earth was blown. We continue to play very dangerous game in the country, politicising virtually everything.

It is very clear to us that some people knowing full well that all things being

ture development in the state.This has made Nigerians see this move

as a way of lobbying their way in for a second tenure, which in most cases, usu-ally are successful arrangements. There seem to be this trick of starting elephant projects at assumption of office, reduc-tion of the pace mid way and total aban-donment at a point. Several reasons are adduced as factors responsible for these actions.

If the project cant be completed, why start it at all? This is the view of social analyst and commentator, Olisa Agbakoba, who describes the situation as alarming and exploitative in all rami-fications. He blamed the high rate of over populated illiterates and those who are not resilient enough; giving room for buyout by politicians who capitalise on the peoples weak points especially on poverty ground.

According to him the second Niger Bridge is long overdue and at a point, I decided that talking will not solve the matter and I went to court and I referred

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 13Thursday, April 3, 2014

Politics

CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

APC adopts zoning to elect offi cials in Ebonyi

Controversy trails Marwas defection to PDPLIVINUS MENEDIYOLA

Controversy has trailed the defection of General Buba Marwa to the Peoples Dem-ocratic Party, PDP as Gov-ernor Murtala Nyako and Marwas political camps have continued to engage in claims and counter claims over the real mo-tives for the defection.

While Nyako alleged that Marwa left over pre-conceived assurances by the Presidency over 2015 elections in the state, Mar-wa said he had nine rea-sons why he was leaving the APC.

Nyakos director of press, Ahmad Sajoh, said that Marwas real inten-

tion for dumping the APC was driven more by what he could get, noting that Marwa and his group did not believe in the power of the electorate to effect polit-ical change in a democracy, rather they believe more in the possible manipulative tendencies of the Federal Government.

He said: Its not what Marwa said that provided the real insight into their defection; rather it was the things said by one of his lieutenants that gave an idea of the real reason for their defection.

We believe their defec-tion to the PDP was per-haps as a result of assur-ances from their patrons

in Abuja that they will par-take in the largesse suppos-edly being distributed by the Presidency.

But Marwas spokes-man, Hon. Musa Bubakari Kamale, said that the real reason for the defection did not hold water with the Nyako-led government since it was used to im-punity, injustice, lack of internal democracy and undemocratic culture. It made a lot of sense to the thousands of people who attended the meeting.

He added that the reason behind Marwas defection include: non dissolution and continued operation of the so called illegal task force team; non-involve-

ment of caretaker officials in the organisation of mega rally; operating care-taker committee as a one man show among many other reasons.

But just as Nyako and Marwas political camp were

ALIUNA GODWINEBONYI

Ebonyi State chapter of the All Progres-sive Congress, APC, yesterday reiterated its readiness to adopt zoning and harmonisation for-mula to elect candidates into various positions in the April 5 ward congress across the state.

enmeshed in the claims and counter claims, a political bloc under the APC made up of members drawn from the defunct Congress for Pro-gressive Change, CPC, the party under which Marwa ran for governor in 2012, has

come out to say that the APC will lose no sleep over Mar-was defection.

Te bloc said: We all have decided to remain in the APC, convinced that theres no better party to be than the APC.

Addressing journal-ist in Abakaliki, the in-terim party secretary, Mr. Chaka Nweze, said that the system would ensure active involvement of all stakeholders and prevent violence.

He said: The arrange-ments would be effected on the zonal, constituency, state, local government and even community levels.

Noting that if the ar-rangement fails, full con-gress would be employed to elect the officials, Nweze said: Aspirants into the positions were not yet known as the forms were not available yet but would be available from Thursday and the aspirants expected to contest for 22 positions in the 171 wards, would be known.

Onolememen Ohakim

INDISCRIMINATE AWARD OF CONTRACTS PARTICULARLY AT THE CLOSE OF TENURE

OF GOVERNMENTS MUST BE DISCOURAGED

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

Project executions at dusk of fi rst tenure: A re-occurring deceptionto the failure to do the second Niger Bridge as one of the ways the South-East has been neglected and I am not clapping or jubilating because you have done what you are supposed to do.

He added: One lamentable situation is that not all Nigerians are on the same page or see things from the same point of view.

He further stressed that we celebrate for the wrong reasons owing to the fact that there is no work ethic in our mentality, saying: It is funny to see a politician be-ing applauded for doing what is expected of him. That is the case we see today in our various quarters.

On whether its a political gimmick, he tended not to look at opinions. He said: One, it might look like that, the other argument is that eventually they start in their first tenures, why were they not doing these things all along? Its obviously wrong even though they are doing.

Also, another commentator, Barr. Ezinwa Ukonu, blames the system as a whole and points to pover