The Nation Newspaper

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  • Fuel subsidy scam: Fed Govt steps up efforts, more arrests likely

    Fuel subsidy scam: Fed Govt steps up efforts, more arrests likely

    The presidency has stepped up its war against corruption by giving anti-graft agencies free hands to operate and bring those behind the fuel subsidy scandal to book.

    There were indications yesterday that more bigwigs might soon be arrested by some of the anti-graft agencies to prove a point that the government is not shielding any suspect.

    It was also learnt that the government decided not to intervene in the arrest of the Chairman of Capital Oil and Gas Limited, Mr. Ifeanyi Uba, in spite of his closeness to the seat of power, as part of its drive against corruption.

    Uba and seven others have been remanded in police custody for 14 days following the order of a Lagos Magistrate’s Court over their alleged involvement in the fuel subsidy scam.

    The eight suspects are still being investigated by the Special Fraud Unit of the Police over their involvement in the fuel subsidy scam.

    A source in government said: “President Goodluck Jonathan is determined to bring those behind fuel subsidy scam to book. In fact, anti-graft agencies and the police have been directed to probe and prosecute any suspect in connection with subsidy scam, no matter how highly-placed,

    “The government is not shielding any fraudulent big players involved in the scam as being insinuated. As a matter of fact, the President has not intervened on behalf of any suspect since the investigation of the fuel subsidy scandal started.

    “Those who think we are going after lowly elements can now see how serious we are. The arrest of Uba is a game changer and I can tell you that this administration will do more in term of fishing out those fraudulent elements.”

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday said more suspects would soon be arraigned over the fuel subsidy scam.

    Head of Media and Publicity of the commission, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, who spoke in confidence with our correspondent, said: “We are investigating more suspects and we will arraign more in court very soon.”

  • Balarabe warns North against secession

    Balarabe warns North against secession

    Former Kaduna State Governor Balarabe Musa yesterday rejected the call for the North to secede from Nigeria, saying it will not be in its interest.

    He described secession agitators as desperate people who should be ignored to avoid tension.

    Also, indications confirmed last night that some of the North-East governors.

    At a summit in Bauchi, the convener, Alhaji Bello Kirfi, raised volatile issues like secession. Governors of Northeast states shunned the summit.

    Musa, who spoke exclusively with our correspondent, said if any region is seeking disintegration, it should not be the North.

    He faulted the convener of the North-East Forum for Unity and Development (NEFUD), Alhaji Bello Kirfi, for seeking secession of the North from Nigeria.

    He said: “No to secession. I think he (Kirfi) is just desperate. He is a good person, he cares about Nigeria but the insecurity in the country, particularly in the Northeast where he comes from, is frightening him.

    “But his position is a wrong one. It is wrong for any section of Nigeria to seek secession now or never because of the negative state of the nation.

    “People in the North seeking disintegration are merely desperate because of the state of the nation but they should think deeper.

    “So, seeking disintegration should come from somewhere else, but not the North. I appeal to the masses in the North to ignore the call because it is against their fundamental rights.

    “No section of Nigeria can go it alone. This is more so even in the case of the North. What I mean is that no section of Nigeria will benefit from disintegration but the North will suffer more.

    “You cannot keep Nigeria united without the North, the East, the West and the South. Our leaders in the past, like Sir Ahmadu Bello, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, Chief Mike Opara, Malam Aminu Kano and others, fought very deeply for Nigeria to remain united and they contributed to the dignity of human and the progress of the country more than the present leaders. We should not destroy their legacies through disintegration or secession.”

    He explained why secession would not be to the benefit of the North.

    He said secession would worsen the 40-year educational gap between the North and the South.

  • Bankers top police ‘most wanted’ list

    Bankers top police ‘most wanted’ list

    Fresh graduates did everything to secure employment as bankers. It was a metter of pride being addressed as a banker. But all that seems to be becoming history. According to the police, bankers are now on top of the list of wanted persons for fraud and other criminal acts.

    The police say the once revered sector has been infested by “hardened criminals” whose stock in trade is to employ scientific methods of defrauding their employers and fleecing billions of naira from customers’ accounts.

    The sharp practices, the police say, has been heightened by the recent cut in salaries and rationalisation, the after-effect of the restructuring in the industry.

    The reorganisation of banks brought about the merger of weaker banks with financially stronger ones.

    The police attributed the hi-tech stealing in the industry to greedy drive to sustain a lifestyle of extravagant spending synonymous with some employees before the recession and mass retrenchment.

    Relying on the report of investigations, the police alleged that bankers perfect criminal acts over time as many of those involved in sharp practices do not use their correct home addresses while applying for jobs.

    Their employers, the police claim, do not take the pains to verify the details contained in the application forms.

    According to the statistics obtained by The Nation from the Police Special Fraud Unit (SFU), Milliverton Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, there are more bankers on the list of the most wanted criminals.

    Sources at the SFU told The Nation that no fewer than 50 bank officials have been declared wanted by the police this year for various fraudulent dealings.

    The report clearly shows that the wanted bankers worked with established fraud syndicates outside their industry, who they assist in stealing depositors’ funds.

    In a particular case in Okene, Kogi State, seven officials of a branch of a second generation bank were declared wanted by the SFU for allegedly collaborating to defraud the bank of over N100 million.

    SFU spokesperson Mrs. Ngozi Isintume, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), traced the successes recorded in bank frauds to the failure of bank chiefs to apply stringent measures while screening applicants.

    She also pointed at lack of proper documentation of employees and the inability of the affected institutions to cross-check information provided by their employers before absolving them.

    Akinwumi Omoniyi was declared wanted by the SFU for alleged fraudulent conversion of over N23 million, belonging to customers of the bank where he worked.

    He allegedly stole the money as the bank’s relationship officer.

    Investigations reveal that the deposits made through him were not reflected in the statement of account and that he was also involved in fraudulent booking of overdraft facilities in two different accounts and fraudulent withdrawals from another.

    The police gave his last known address as 115, Opebi Road, Lagos and 16, Paul Ikediashi Street, Asaba, Delta State.

    According to the report, the 33-year-old wanted banker is from Ilesa, Osun State.

    Another suspect, Simon Tyoor Nyikyaa, a Tiv, from Benue State, is wanted by the police for alleged fraud-related offences and stealing from Edgwaters Hotel and Resort, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    The 39-year-old, who was the managing director of the hospitality outfit between 2000 and 2012, was accused of fraudulently opening an account to which he directed hotel customers to pay.

    He was also accused of forging documents with which he diverted over N4 million to his personal account.

    Nyikyaa’s last known addresses are: Beside Union Bank, Gboko Road, Aliade Town, Magic Entertainment Cinema and LGEA Primary School, Markurdi Road, Aliade, Benue.

    Sixty-year-old Alhaji Mohammed Rotimi Lawal is wanted for allegedly obtaining by false pretence and issuance of a dud cheque in Lagos on June 7, 2011.

    It was learnt that Lawal, a former executive chairman of HAS Resources Ltd, obtained 66,000 litres of diesel, valued at N10, 528,000 by fraudulent pretence and issuance of a dud cheque.

    He went underground after committing the offence and all efforts by the police to apprehend him have not yielded result.

    Lawal has relocated from his last known address which he gave as KM 19, Lekki/Epe Expressway, Lekki Peninsula, Lagos.

    Innocent Ketevi, a steward and a Togolese has also been declared wanted by the police for alleged stealing of N2 million from his employer.

    When security operatives visited his last known address at No 12, Orege Str, Ajegunle, Lagos, Ketevi was said to have relocated to his home country.

    Patrick Ohekaro, a telecom dealer from Isoko, Delta State has also been declared wanted for alleged conspiracy and obtaining money by false pretence and forgery.

    It was gathered that the suspect took an overdraft facility of N50 million from a first generation bank in August last year.

    There was an agreement that the facility which had a 365-day tenor would be refunded in tranches every 30 days.

    The suspect allegedly secured the facility with cloned and forged documents.

    He has refused to pay the overdue facility and when the case was reported, Ohekaro spurned police invitation for interrogation before he was declared wanted.

    Police operatives stormed his last known residence at Isoko North Local Government Area, Delta State but nobody identified him as their kinsman.

    A sport consultant and the President of National Association of Nigerian Footballers (NANF), Harrison Jalla, is one of those on the police most wanted list.

    Jalla, an Urhobo from Delta State, is wanted for obtaining money under false pretence, issuance of dud cheques and stealing in Lagos sometime in 2008.

    He was alleged to have fraudulently obtained N3 million from the complainants under the pretence of using the money to facilitate their trip to Europe for trials and also to secure foreign football clubs for 15 local footballers.

    When he was arrested and detained at the SFU early in the year, The Nation reported it and he threatened to sue the reporter for libel. His name is on the wanted list.

    He failed to honour police invitation after he was granted bail.

    The police have been on his trail. When detectives visited his No 1, Azamor Street, Ijanikin home, on Lagos-Badagry Expressway and his last known residential address at No 66, Campbell Street, Lagos Island, Lagos, he couldn’t be tracked down as he is believed to have gone into hiding.

    Adebayo Joseph Olafusi, an accountant, is wanted for forgery, fraudulent conversion and stealing at Gbagada, Lagos since November last year.

    The suspect allegedly forged the signature of his employer on the company’s cancelled cheques leaflets of Union Bank of Nig Plc. and Zenith Bank Plc to the tune of N20, 225,000.

    Efforts to get him arrested have failed. Operatives could not find him in his last known address at No 1, Adebayo Joseph Close, Obadore, Igando, Lagos.

    Chibuzor Onowu, 33, and Kingsley Okudili, 29, were declared wanted by the Lagos State Police Command for their alleged involvement in the abduction and killing of a businessman, Odidi Nweze on September 4, two days after his return from a business trip to the United States (U.S.). The suspects, who have recolated outside the country after the incident and arrest of their gang members, were declared wanted on October 2, 2012 by the Lagos Command Commissiner of Police Umar Manko.

    Mrs. Isintume, who confirmed that more bankers have been arrested for fraud-related offences, blamed the trend on the failure of their employers to have proper documentation of employees; a development, she said, has made it difficult to track the suspects.

    She said: “Most of the people we declare wanted are bankers and they plan the operation over a long period of time.

    “Within the period, they would have relocated their families from the residential addresses they supplied the banks when they were employed.

    “Most of them, who already have mindset to defraud the bank even before they are employed, gave the banks fake home addresses.

    “Somebody, who is from Ekiti, would say he/she is from Ondo State. So, it is always difficult to find them. The moment a matter is reported and investigation commences, we send invitations to the suspects.

    “After two months, if we do not see them, we send a reminder, after which the person would be declared wanted if he/she refuses to show up.

    “It is with the address that the person gave to the complainant which in most times are the banks that we will go to and most times when investigators get there, they discover that the address is non-exixtent.

    “We declare anybody who is reported to have committed fraud and refuse to come and answer for it wanted. There is no time lapse. If the person is seen 10 years after he/she was declared wanted, he/she would be arrested.”

    The SFU spokesperson said it has not been easy tracking the bank officials declared wanted for defrauding their employer because the banks never went the extra mile to cross-check the addresses supplied by the suspects.

    She advised employers, especially banks, to take the pains of scrutinising their employees.

    Mrs. Isintume suggested that a verification team should be raised to visit then home addresses as claimed in the application forms.

  • Okonjo-Iweala to House: $80 benchmark won’t work

    Okonjo-Iweala to House: $80 benchmark won’t work

    Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has told the House of Representatives to perish the thought of an $80 oil benchmark for Budget 2013 .

    Backing her is Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who also announced the apex bank’s intention to halt dollar sales to bureau de change operators.

    The officials spoke in Tokyo, capital of Japan on the sideline of the World Bank/International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings.

    Oil benchmark in next year’s budget is pegged at $75 per. But the House, after examining the 20013 – 2015 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), said should be $80.

    Speaker Aminu Tambuwal told President Goodluck Jonathan who presented the budget plans last Wednesday that $80 would reduce the deficit and domestic by 66 per cent.

    But yesterday, the Finance Minster said: “If we go the unhelpful way of $80/barrel, the credit ratings will go the wrong directions.”

    Her stand is that $80/barrel will make borrowing more expensive, and slow down foreign direct investment as both local and international investors will become more cautious.

    In her view, the $80 benchmark will impact on macro-economic stability and instead of gaining $5 per barrel, the nation, in fact, will lose $20. She insisted that “benchmark prices are not things you just sit down in a room and concoct”.

    “They are based on some fundamental economic analysis, and we actually have a model which we have been using to try and project Nigeria’s benchmark price over the past few years.

    “It is not as if we just sit in a room and put forward a price (benchmark). So it has an approach, because if you do it in an arbitrary manner, that means at any point in time, you don’t have a basis to defend why it is this number and not that.”

    The Minister said, although the legislators hinge the increase on the need to reduce deficit, and want to spend more, enough room has been provided for, since the benchmark was initially planned to be $72 per barrel.

    “To allow this, we have allowed that little bit of a buffer and to accommodate their concerns. By adding another $5 will be taking the economy in the wrong direction,” Mrs Okonjo-Iweala added.

    Sanusi noted that increasing the oil benchmark does not necessarily translate to increased government revenue, but the amount that the government will spend.

    Rather than seek to raise the oil benchmark, the CBN Governor said the National Assembly should work towards making the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) perform its role at an optimal level, check bunkering and renegotiate the joint venture agreements, among others.

    In his view, there is no need raising the benchmark. The Government, Sanusi said, only needs to plug loopholes in the economy, as raising the benchmark will only reduce the amount available for savings.

    Sanusi warned against raising the oil benchmark because of price volatility, recalling when crude prices fell from $147 to less than $40/barrel. He said the situation could still repeat itself since oil is a commodity, hence the need for fiscal prudence.

    The Minister and the governor said raising the benchmark does not translate automatically to more revenue for Abuja because the cash is shared with the states, whose portion, according to them, ends up bloating liquidity in the system.

    They also lamented the inability of the government to access the concessionary 40-year, $1.2 billion loan approved by the World Bank at zero interest rate and a moratorium of 10 years to fix Nigeria’s infrastructure, such as power, water, education and agriculture, among others.

    The World Bank, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala said, plans to withdraw the facility to give to other needy nations such as India and some African countries. The government may be forced to borrow from the domestic market at up to 15 per cent, should this happen.

    Sanusi also lamented that about 70 per cent of foreign exchange sales to bureau de change (BDCs) operators, used for domestic transactions.

    He said the apex bank would stop selling forex directly to BDCs and that all travellers going overseas must now buy chase their Travelers’ Cheques (TCs), use cards, or do fund transfers.

    The need to check the dollarisation of the economy, Sanusi explained, was part of the reasons for the planned introduction of the N5,000, which has been suspended by the President.

    Commenting on the outcome of the World Bank/IMF meetings, the Minister said the global economic weakness, the problems in the Euro zone and rising unemployment figures in the United States and the need for America to take measures to check the fiscal challenges were reasons for the consensus on the need for African countries to build a buffer to cushion the effects of the crisis.

    “What does this tell us and what are they telling us to do? What the bank and the Fund did in their presentation was that they took groups of countries and said this is how you should act if you are in this or that group. And what they said for African countries and other countries that are growing fairly well now is that we should use this period to build buffers; that is those things we must put in place, those things that would protect us, in case the downturn continues. One, build buffers, two, continue the good policies that you put in place and focus on creating jobs. There is a big message here about jobs.

    “On the fiscal side, we believe and we have seen analysis that the budget that the President just presented indeed provides the fiscal basis for stability, going forward. That means the benchmark price of oil that we have proposed gives us enough room to spend without going to borrow, that the focus of concentrating infrastructure on the budget, on agriculture, on security on opening up those bottlenecks that constrain the economy. I think for macro stability, we must not do anything that will distort the fiscal measure that we are trying to put in place. That is the message we are getting, that we are right and we should continue,” she said.

    The Coordinating Minister for the Economy, said Nigeria’s Excess Crude Account would be built up to $10 billion by early next year.

    Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala was briefing reporters on the Nigerian economy at the Annual Meeting of the World Bank and the IMF.

    She said: “I strongly feel and I have shared with the governors, with Mr. President and the vice-president who fully supports that the Excess Crude Account must be built up to $10 billion.

    “We should strive to do that in the next few months and we keep that as buffer.’’

    According to her, if the account is built up to $10 billion and it is not touched for a while, it will serve as buffer.”

    She noted that there was the need to increase the nation’s external reserve, considering the population of the country.

    “Our reserves are not huge; we are just building back-up; it’s not my place, it is the monetary policy that manages it, but I have discussed with the CBN governor that we need to build up our reserve to $50 billion, if we can.

    “That will be the desires of the fiscal authorities. So, I don’t consider us with the size of the economy and population we have.

    “Look at Algeria, their reserve is nearly $200 billion, for a country much smaller than Nigeria,’’ she said.

  • CPC petitions Jega over voters’ register

    CPC petitions Jega over voters’ register

    THE Ondo State Chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Mr. Olalekan Obolo, at the weekend petitioned the National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, over increase in the number of registered electorate in the voters’ register.

    The chairman, who said he has rejected the supplementary register, added that it was a way of manipulating this Saturday’s governorship election.

    Obolo noted that the recent voters’ register presented to the political parties by INEC ahead of the October 20 poll indicated that 17,955 names have been added to the 1,636,250 names, which were in the original register.

    The petition reads: “I write in respect of a curious anomaly observed in the Ondo State voters’ register wherein a supplementary register now puts the total number of registered voters at 1,654,205 as against 1,636,250, which was reflected in the original register.

    “This indicates an increase of 17,955 and reflects a deliberate attempt to change the rules of the game in the middle of the match and thus, manipulate the electoral process.

    “We recall that at various interactive sessions, you have reiterated your commitment and that of INEC to free and fair elections through transparent and credible processes.

    The case of the supplementary voters’ register appearing all of a sudden clearly undermines this commitment and is bound to cast a dark cloud on the election process in Ondo State.

    “We reject this supplementary register and the additional figures therein. We call on you to intervene and ensure that this curious, indefensible and seemingly suspicious addition be expunged in order to preserve your integrity and that of your commission, which some officials are about to undermine.”

  • Okunnu: Achebe’s wrong

    A former Federal Commissioner of Works and Housing, Femi Okunnu(SAN), has said the new book, There was a country, by Prof Chinua Achebe is replete with inaccurate facts and claims.

    Okunnu, who served from 1967 to 1974, denied claims by the author that the Federal Government starved the Igbo.

    He also denied that the government committed genocide in its execution of the country’s civil war.

    The senior advocate, who said he led the Federal Government’s delegation to some peace talks outside the country between the government and Biafran representatives, said it was the late Emeka Ojukwu, who used starvation and other inhuman means as war weapon.

    The former commissioner, in an interview with The Nation, said as a member of the cabinet during the war and a key participant in the peace talks, he could state that the Federal Government never had a policy of subjecting the Igbo to any inhuman treatment.

    He said although he was not against Achebe writing a book on the civil war,such book must be based on facts.

    Okunnu said although he has not read the book most of the information contained in the excerpts do not reflect the truth about what happened.

    The former commissioner said Achebe’s posture portrays him as an individual who does not susbscribe to the idea of a Nigerian nation

    “Well, I have read only the newspaper reports and excerpts from the book and I am amazed at the extent of intellectual dishonesty displayed by Prof Achebe in alleging that the Federal Government under Gen Yakubu Gowon had a policy of denying our fellow Nigerians, who were trapped in Biafra, relief materials.

    “There is no policy whatsoever by the government, in which I was a member.

    “Right from the outset, the declaration of war on May 27, 1967 until the cessation of hostilities in January 1970, to the best of my knowledge, whatever Chief Obafemi Awolowo might have said or said to have said, as reported by Prof Achebe, was not the Federal Government’s position. It was not the government’s policy at all.

    Okunnu described as immaterial the issue of Obafemi Awolowo’s ambition, but disagreed with the author that he (Awolowo) wanted to capture political power for his Yoruba people, as claimed in the book.

    “Well, as an ambitious politician, he was. As a man who wanted power, of course he did seek power and he acquired power in the Western Region.

    “He was a powerful politician. That he was seeking power for his Yoruba people, we’ll leave that. I think that is rather cheap. Because at the end of the day, Chief Awolowo sought support from the minority groups in the North, notably in the Middle Belt and in Borno area.

    “Awolowo built his power not only from the West, but also in the Rivers and Calabar part of Nigeria and the Middle Belt and Borno.

    “So to say he wanted power for his own people alone is neither here nor there.

    Reacting to the author’s claim Nigerian leaders have not learnt from the civil war experience, Okunnu said Achebe was among those who have learnt nothing from the war.

    “He himself has not learnt. If he has learnt, he should be a Nigerian not an Igbo man. He has not learnt. And many people have not learnt.

    “That is why I am advocating the spirit of oneness. That irrespective of ethnic background, we should see ourselves as one.

    “One country, one people. He (Achebe) is still an Igbo man. I am not a Yoruba man, I am a Nigerian. He should be a Nigerian. It is only by that identity, of being a Nigerian that Nigeria will grow in prosperity,” he said

  • Govt targets 25% production in local food consumption

    TWENTY-FIVE per cent of the food items consumed by Lagosians are to be produced locally, the state government said at the weekend.

    The Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperative, Prince Gbolahan Lawal, made the disclosure at a press conference held to commemorate the Year 2012 World Food Day. He restated government’s commitment to reduce food importation and encourage the youths to engage in farming.

    According to him, the government has a plan to establish a co-operative college where farmers can sharpen their skills and provide necessary supports that would help them achieve their collective objective.

    “Soon, Lagos would produce 25 per cent of the food consumed by over 20 million residents in the state. We have engaged 120 youths in rice production and additional 250 people would be engaged in the various agricultural programmes to boost food production in the state,” he said.

    The commissioner added that to ensure food security in the state, more people would be engaged in capacity building, adding that plans are afoot to make full utilisation of lands recently acquired by the state for farming in neighbouring states.

    Gbolahan said irrigation equipment have been provided for cultivation of the land acquired in Osogbo, Osun State, where he said the government will focus on the cultivation of vegetables.

    The commissioner listed some of the challenges facing the farmers to include lack of adequate skills, poor transportation system and erratic power supply. He blamed the low food production in the country on these challenges.

    He listed the provision of a 20,000 ton per annum rice mill at Imota, 10,000 broiler house and 2,000 birds per day processing centre, establishment of modern farm service centre and inauguration of Eko refrigerated meat vans amongst others, as some of the government intervention in agriculture.

     

  • Court jails destitute for stealing lab coat, phone

    Twenty-four-year-old Inni Udesi, a self acclaimed destitute, is to spend the next three months as an inmate at the Ikoyi Prisons, Lagos.

    He was jailed after pleading guilty to charges of stealing and impersonation brought against him by police prosecutor, Inspector Ezekiel Ayorinde, before an Itire Magistrate’s Court, Lagos.

    Presiding Magistrate D.T. Olatokun sentenced him to three-month imprisonment with hard labour for each count. The sentences are to run concurrently.

    Udessi admitted he stole a laboratory coat and stethoscope forgotten by a female student, who hurriedly left a restaurant on September 7 within the premises of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

    Three days after he stole the coat, Udessi, at about 7:50am, resurfaced in Ward E1 of the hospital in the stolen lab coat and was conducting ward rounds on patients.

    Ayorinde told the court that the accused collected the phone of a patient, Peter Oshingbogun, who complained about the treatment he was getting. He left the ward under the guise of calling the relevant doctor.

    Ayorinde said: ‘‘He pretended to be calling the doctor and walked towards the door and escaped before the patient raised an alarm, Udesis was apprehended and taken to the hospital’s security post.

    ‘‘In the course of interrogation, he initially claimed he was a doctor at the hospital and when he was asked to provide his identity card, he could not.

    ‘‘The police was invited to arrest him and at the station, he confessed to stealing the laboratory coat from a female student.”

    Udessi, who was charged under Sections 285(a)(b) and 78(b), told the court he stole the coat and stethoscope because he wanted to feel like a doctor and the phone to survive.

    He said: “There is nothing I have not tried to do but none worked out. I have worked as a bus conductor for two months, I could not continue because the drivers always said I do not know how to do the job.

    ‘‘I usually sleep at the UNILAG recreation centre and in the morning, I go about looking for what to eat.’’

    Olatokun said: ‘‘Having pleaded guilty to the three counts, the accused is hereby convicted as charged and sentenced to three months in prison for each of the three counts.

    ‘‘The sentence is to run concurrently and should start counting from the date of arraignment,’’ she said.

  • Teachers, a hurdle to educational progress, says Fayemi

    Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi yesterday said teachers are the only hurdle to educational advancement in the state.

    He said no amount of computers or renovation of schools can cause the desired change, except teachers are “worked upon”.

    Fayemi spoke at St. Patrick’s Catholic Cathedral, Ado-Ekiti, during a thanksgiving service marking his second anniversary in office.

    Displaying a sketch of the result of the last West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE), in which only 16 per cent of candidates from the state had five credits, the governor said: “If a teacher taught 50 students and they all failed, it is a question on the competence of the teacher.

    “We have six government schools, which are the only exceptions, going by the last result. Last year, when 99 per cent passed in Holy Child School, just 20 per cent passed in Christ School. This year, 99.99 percent passed in Holy Child School, only six per cent passed in Christ School while Christ Girls School had 0 per cent.

    “The teachers who teach in government schools are the same as those at the other schools. The only difference is that those who teach in government schools are civil servants posted from the ministries.

    “No amount of computers or renovation of schools would do the work. If we do not address the aspect of teachers, we are going nowhere. We appeal to our elders to consider this situation with us. The teachers should exhibit some self restraint and respect.”

    The governor’s speech was a response to an earlier appeal by the Bishop Emeritus of Ekiti Catholic Diocese, Most Rev. Olatunji Fagun.

    The bishop had urged the government to train teachers before testing them as an alternative to the Teachers Development Needs Assessment (TDNA) test.

    He hailed Fayemi for repairing/building roads and schools across the state and the social security scheme for the elderly.

  • NTA launches Star TV network in Enugu

    The Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) at the weekend launched its Star TV Network in Enugu.

    The occasion brought to 14 the number of states the cable network has been extended to.

    The Enugu Zonal Director of NTA, Dame Nneonyeodiri Ukoha said the strategic position of Enugu in the politics of Nigeria informed the launch.

    She said: “Enugu remains one of the very important cities in the history of Nigeria and is deserving of the attention it is today receiving with respect to the nationwide roll-out of the NTA – Star TV Network.”

    The NTA chief explained that the NTA–Star TV Network is a strategic partnership between the NTA and the Startimes Beijing Group of China.

    The partnership, she said, began in 2010 but matured in July, this year.