The Nation Newspaper

Tag: baker

  • Baker gets five years for burglary

    A 33-year-old baker, Samson Sanjo, who broke into his former employer’s shop to steal, is to spend the next five  years in jail, a Lagos court has ruled.

    An Ogudu Magistrates’ Court sentenced Sanjo after he pleaded guilty to a two-count charge of housebreaking and entering to steal.

    The Magistrate, Mrs. O. Sule-Amzat, who gave the verdict, said the convict should serve the sentence without an option of fine.

    She said the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

    “The prosecution established that the convict, a baker, had worked in the shop and was prosecuted about two years ago for stealing N75, 000 from the same shop.”

    Police prosecutor Lucky Ihiehie had told the court that the accused committed the offences on October 20 at 510, Ikorodu Road, Lagos.

    He said the complainant, Mrs. Islamiat Owoyelu, a trader, reported the incident at Alapere Police Post, Ketu, Lagos.

    “The complainant received a phone call from one of her neighbours that the accused, who had once worked for her, used iron cutter to cut the padlock of her shop.

    “She said the accused was caught and beaten up by people before she arrived.”

    Ihiehie said the complainant also told the police that her shop was burgled twice early this month and N37, 000 was stolen.

    The offences contravene Section 310 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.

  • May & Baker rewards customers

    The management of May & Baker Nigeria Plc has assured its customers that it will continue to value their input and feedback in the decision-making process of the company.

    Managing Director, May & Baker Nigeria Plc, Mr. Nnamdi Okafor, gave this assurance at the company’s Customers’ Forum.

    According to him, the company revived the yearly National Customers’ Forum not only to reward outstanding performance but to engender better intimacy with and obtain feedback from its customers.

    He, therefore, enjoined the customers to share their experiences in dealing with the company with a view to getting grey areas resolved.

    At the event the company distributed various forms of largesse to distributors and wholesalers who showed outstanding loyalty through their patronage of her products in 2014.

    Apart from the gifts, the customers were taken on a facility tour of the World Health Organisation (WHO) GMP-certified pharmaceutical plant at Ota where the customers were taken through the production process at the world class  edifice.

    The company also used the occasion to interact closely with customers and exchange thoughts on service improvement and plans for  the year. A special business management workshop was conducted to enable the customers learn new techniques that would help them to manage their businesses better.

    The occasion also presented a platform for the unveiling of seven of the company’s new products’ packs that were launched to the market.

    The activities of the day strengthened the customers’ commitments to its target agreements.

     

  • May & Baker assures shareholders of brighter years ahead

    THE management of May & Baker of Nigeria Plc has promised existing shareholders and investors of increased growth in the coming years.

    Addressing journalists at the company’s corporate headquarters in Lagos on its 70th anniversary yesterday, the chief executive officer of May & Baker, Nnamdi Okafor said judging by the company’s growth projections and expansion, such would translate to better yields and income for the company in the long run.

    According to him, the company began an expansion and diversification programme in 2005 which gave rise to the creation of new businesses and subsidiaries, while in 2005, Biovacciness, a local vaccine production subsidiary was set up in partnership with the federal government of Nigeria.

    Explaining further, he said “In 2006, we constructed a multi-billion naira food processing factory, while in 2008, we commenced construction of a world health organisation standard pharmaceutical production facility which was completed and commissioned on June 27, last year.

    “We saw the need for global best practice and competitiveness, commencing the process of international certification of our manufacturing plant for good manufacturing practice (GMP) of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States Food and Drugs Administration (USFDA),” he said.

    He added that the company is in line to obtaining the WHO GMP certification for this facility and pre-qualification for its products and hopefully with these, the gate into global pharmaceutical market will open for the company.

    “Following these huge capital investments on capacity acquisition and expansion, our company has in the past four years been undergoing some restructuring and repositioning to effectively contain the expected short term negative impact of these investments on the business while waiting to begin to derive expected big returns on the investments,” Okafor said.

    He pointed out that the federal government through the federal ministry of health and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has made some efforts towards supporting local pharmaceutical manufacturers.

    The company was founded on September 4, 1944 as Nigeria’s first pharmaceutical company and began local manufacture of medicines in 1976. In 2002, the company became 100 per cent owned by Nigerians following the divestment of its foreign partners.

  • Between a baker and a ruler

    Between a baker and a ruler

    Has anyone tried to find out the correlation between bread and ruling a society? It is a good point to say that just the way a baker makes bread, so do rulers fashion rule for their citizens to follow. I did not set out to confuse anybody with this piece, but my readers only need to be patient to understand my analogy.

    A ruler emerges from among the people and by virtue of his position, he must mirror the society in values and character. The stool on which a ruler sits is seen as the symbol of the society. The ruler must also be the character the society wants be.

    In essence, a ruler is one of the people, a representative of their culture and heritage. It is said that a people get the type of ruler that befits them. After all, a ruler is the product of the society from which he emerges. Government, the saying goes, is ourselves and not an alien power over us.

    The analogy brings to mind, the conclusion of Imam Ibn Qayyim when he explained why people suffer under the government. Imam Qayyim’s explanation was simple and clear: people make bread. So, they eat the quality of bread they bake at a point in time.

    The Imam explained that people of authority are reflection of the citizens. It is as if the deeds of the ruled appear in the behaviour their rulers put up. He said: “If the ruled are upright, then their rulers will be upright. If the ruled incline away from uprightness, then their rulers will do the same to them.

    “If the ruled transgress and oppress, then their rulers will do the same to them. If there appears deceptive, then it will be the same from their rulers.

    “If the ruled take away the rights of the people and become miser as to the rights of others, then their rulers will do the same to them and deprive them of their rights. If the ruled take away from the weak among them that which they deserve not, then their rulers will do that towards their wealth and take what they deserve not, and impose on them taxes and assignments.”

    And whenever the ruled take from the oppressed and weak unjustly, then their rulers will do the same to them and take it by force. The actions of the ruled appear in the actions of the rulers. And it is not in the divine wisdom that God gives authority to the wicked and evils ones, except to rule over the people who are of their own kind.

    Righteousness, however, is that a people should know the truth and allows it to set them free. We may be on the path of peace in contemporary Nigeria if we adorn the garment of truth. When the language of truth is spoken, song of truth is sung and danced to; and there is justice to every man irrespective of their social status, that is when there would be round pegs to rightfully fit into a round hole.

    Then, we would be sending signal to admission fraudsters, who do not have required subjects to study in the university. Then I would be able to politely tell my uncle that it is morally right to help my neighbours in all circumstances. It is then we would know that our individual rights and entitlements are sacred and should be respected.

    Then one day, when the need arises for us to decide whom would be saddled with the responsibility of looking after our affairs as a people, it is certain that leader or ruler would not come from another world but from among us. If people who are bakers are conscious of baking a fine bread, our ruler’s actions would, no doubt, represent our bread.

    2015 is crucial as far as Nigeria is concerned. Good characters should our watchword. We should be prepared to see this character in our leaders. A word, they say, is enough for the wise. It will be right thus to conclude this piece with an immortal word of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who said: “Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a president and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.”

    Nigerians must be that fine baker. Let us make fine bread to change our society. We have had enough from bad bakers. Change is all we need to turn our society around.

    •Segun, 300-Level Public Administration, LASU

  • Baker convicted for assaulting NAFDAC officials

    A Federal High Court in Osogbo, capital of Osun State, has convicted a baker, Nurudeen Afolabi, for assaulting officials of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

    The presiding judge, Justice Babs Kuewumi, sentenced the baker to one year imprisonment with option of N4, 000.

    Afolabi, whose bakery is located at the Asubiaro area of Osogbo, was arraigned before the court on 12th of May, 2011.

    According to the charge sheet, Afolabi committed the offence under Section 25(1) of the NAFDAC Act, Cap 1, Law of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 and punishable under section 25 (1) of same Act.

    The charge sheet further said on 15th of March, 2010 at Isale Agbara Street, Asubiaro in Osogbo, the convict attacked an Assistant Director of NAFDAC, Mrs. Yedunni

    Adenuga, and other officials of the agency when they found prohibited potassium bromate in his bakery.

    Afolabi started crying immediately he was pronounced guilty before conviction.

    The defence counsel, Mr. Aliu Adesina, urged the judge to be lenient with his client since he has shown remorse.

    He assured that Afolabi will turn a new leaf.