The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Tower

  • Crimson Tower

    Crimson Tower

    • Has the ‘Ivory’ left our higher institutions of learning for blood?

    Two deaths in two universities, though unrelated, gives cause for concern and we urge relevant authorities to take necessary steps to stem any reoccurrence. The first is the murder of Modupe Deborah Atanda, a 200-Level Nursing student of Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE). According to reports, Modupe went to the school’s library to read and never returned to the hostel. An alarm was raised and a search yielded her body, buried in a shallow grave behind the library. Some reports said her organs were missing.

    Sensing there could be rioting by the students, FUOYE authorities hurriedly shut down the school, asking students to vacate the campus. While that may have tamped down tempers, it has not resolved the fear of murderers lurking around in the university community unless the killers are found and punished. Otherwise, the community would live in continual fear that there are killers either embedded in the school or who have easy access to the premises. Going forward, the university authorities should provide adequate security and ensure that only authorized persons get access to the school premises, and with fair oversight on those within.

    We hope the promise by the police to find the killers will be fulfilled. The report that some persons have been arrested in connection with the murder gives some comfort, but there must a thorough investigation and punishment of those found culpable. It is also important to find out whether the late Modupe was in the library, and at what point she was killed. If she did not go to the library, where did she go and who are those who saw or had interaction with her for the last time?

    Read Also: Modupe Atanda: Murder so cruel

    The second death was of a newborn gruesomely murdered at the Gombe State University, apparently by the mother suspected to be a student. Reports indicated that the infant was thrown down from a two-storey hostel. We condemn the inhumanity exhibited by the culprit, and demand that she should be apprehended, handed over to the police and treated as a murder suspect. We wonder what type of mother would be so callous as to gruesomely murder an innocent child, just so to save herself from public shame or what?

    The mental health of the killer should also be examined. It will be worthwhile to know what drove her to such a dastardly act. According to some reports, the student hid her pregnancy throughout her term with her hijab. We wonder how a pregnancy can be hidden for nine months, with all the symptoms associated with it. Obviously, either those around the student-murderer were not observant or they cared less about what was happening to those around them. Either way, the decay in social cohesion of the society gives cause for worry.

    Part of the challenge with unwanted pregnancy is that the male participant never suffers the consequences as the female who bears the resulting pregnancy – with the stigma associated with pregnancy out of wedlock. While we do not encourage sex out of wedlock, the society should not condemn female victims to social ostracism. It is strange that a girl in the university does not know how to prevent unwanted pregnancy, and where it occurs to be so emotionally encumbered as to murder the unwanted child.

    For us, both cases of murder in the universities are crimes. The case of a student who went to the library and got killed along the line must be solved to restore confidence to the university community in Oye-Ekiti. The police and the school authorities have no excuses but to find and punish the murderers. Same for the innocent infant murdered in Gombe university. Universities must remain citadels of learning and not grounds for mystery murders.

  • From Prison to Ivory Tower: Dada battles stigmatisation

    From Prison to Ivory Tower: Dada battles stigmatisation

    His road to the Ivory Tower was strewn with thorns. A young robber condemned to death, Olukayode Dada obtained mercy through amnesty, and decided to live right. But that was when the real battle started. He faces stigmatisation and rejection everywhere, even among family members and friends. He stayed almost a decade before he could get a job, lecturing at one of the nation’s foremost private universities. Government could make the prison more reformatory. Maybe his story can jumpstart that process, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE.

    oday, he stands on the threshold of history. With few months to the defence of his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) thesis in Physiology, Kayode Dada is self-made. He has not only burnt the proverbial midnight candle at both ends to get to this stage.

    He carries a yoke the society is not making any lighter. His frail frame tells a sea of sad stories. Dada, despite his towering academic accomplishments, battle stigmatisation everywhere he turns. In spite of the glitz of his academic prowess, Dada, in the eye of the society, remains an ex-convict.

    That tag remained sewn to his name. Tired of fighting it any further, he had resigned to fate. Even as he shared the testimony of his life’s journey, he couldn’t hold back the tears–mixture of agony, pain and joy.

    At a service organised by Bishop Kayode Williams, also an ex-convict, to celebrate God’s saving grace and miraculous healing from a demonic attack wrought on him during a crusade at New Gbagi Market in Ibadan, at the Oba Tejuoso Assembly of the Christ Vessel of Grace Church International, Old Oko-Oba, Lagos, Dada gave a graphic illustration of a life sprouting from the nadir.

    Dada started out in life as a straight young man. “I have a very decent upbringing, and my parents are deeply religious of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) stock, I am also a dedicated chorister,” he said.

    Yet, when he slipped, due to peer pressure, it was fatal. “I joined a bad gang, and I was lured into a robbery operation, around Agbado, a border town in Ogun State. I was the only one caught by the police and I was convicted and sentenced to death. At the prison, I rededicate myself, having known that I am just waiting for the hangman.

    He embraced the evangelism brought by the Prison Rehabilitation and Evangelical Ministry International (PREMI), a prison organisation founded by an ex-convict Pastor, now Bishop Kayode Williams.

    “My changed way of life must have attracted the prison authorities and after four years on the condemned cell, I was granted freedom. That was in 2003.”

    In 2002, Dada sat for JAMB from prison, and passed. Then the first post-prison battle started. Authorities of the University of Lagos would have nothing to do with an ex-convict. But the then Pro-Chancellor, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), would have none of it. More so as he was on PREMI’s Board. He got his admission, though not in Medicine his first choice, but Physiology.

    Throughout the four years, Dada recalled the school authorities, unknown to him, policed him. Shorn of friends as no one wanted to have anything to do with him, he found solace in his books and the lab was his favourite reading spot.

    Few weeks to his final year, one of those policing him approached him and confessed that he had been tried and tested and he was given a clean bill of health. He graduated with a very strong second-class Upper Division.

    The stigmatisation followed him to the camp of the National Youths Service Corps, which, again, he would have lost but for Bishop Williams’ and Babalola’s intervention. He recalled how he was denied a teaching job at a crèche after his service, due to his status, and even when he volunteered as a laboratory hand he found his movements were usually monitored.

    The frustration resulted in his enrolling for a Master’s of Science (M.Sc) degree in Physiology, which he completed in 2012. A feat that might have been a mirage without the financial support of philanthropists such as Mrs Nosa Igiebor, wife of publisher of TELL Magazine, Oba Tejuoso and Bishop Williams, among others.

    “One day, I was in the laboratory at UNILAG when I received a phone call to come for an interview at Babcock University. I never applied to that university. I was jittery. I told Oba Adedapo Tejuosho and Bishop Williams both of who told me to attend the interview.

    “I was happy when no reference was made in the forms we all filled. However, during the second leg of the interview, when another form was shared and we were asked to state if we had been convicted before, I lost all hope. Moreso, when Bishop Williams asked me not to lie about my state.

    “Interestingly, the form was brushed aside and I eventually got the job. Last year, I became not only a Senior Lecturer, but also the overall best lecturer in the entire Babcock University, an unexpected award of excellence most celebrated by the school authority,” Dada said.

    He said the university has made his burden a little lighter. Students now freely come to him for counselling and the school now rely on him on disciplinary matters.

    “The journey to this path has been tortuous but the reward has been worth all the sowing,” he said.

    On what could be done for things to be better for ex-convicts, Dada said: “The society should stop demonising any convict. The prison is a reformatory home and society should stop seeing it as a condemnatory one. Anyone who goes into prison either becomes broken-hearted or hardened and the society could make it better if we all show some understanding.

    “The society has already concluded and foreclosed the future for ex-convicts. They cannot get love. Everywhere they turn, they see hatred. They are condemned for their sins, even where they might have been innocently convicted.

    “They can never get a decent home or clothes. They cannot walk freely in the community, get a job, marry or raise a family. They are condemned to a life of solitude. They are ostracised by the society that ought to look forward to their full rehabilitation. Without the right support, ex-convicts become hardened and commit another crime in order to return to prison, where he could find love and solace.”

    He said he was becoming a good story because he had benevolent giants willing to offer him their shoulders. I may not have turned out to be this if not for God and these people who have taken it upon themselves to break the stereotypes and rise above stigma.

    He recalled he usually fancied Pastor Williams (as he then was) preach at crusades around Agbado, where he grew up, never knowing that their path would “interwove beyond the ordinary.”

    “Once during service in our church, I had prayed that I wanted to be like this man (Williams). And looking back right now, I nearly did, though I became a robber, killed, arrested and condemned to death before I was rescued and given another life. I became the Elisha while Bishop Williams is the Elijah,” he said.

  • Shareholders approve merger of PZ Cussons, Tower and Power

    Shareholders approve merger of PZ Cussons, Tower and Power

    The shareholders of PZ Cussons, PZ Tower and PZ Power, on Monday approved merger of the firms in line with the Investment and Securities Act 2007 regulations.

    The merger was approved at an Extra-ordinary General Meeting (EGM) at the Green Legacy Resorts in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

    PZ Tower, PZ Power are wholly owned entities of PZ Cussons and upon the conclusion of the merger, both companies would be fused with the parent parent entity – PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc.

    The subsumed companies in the new arrangement – PZ Tower and PZ Company Ltd were incorporated in 2005 and 2009 repectively for the manufacture and sale of detergent to PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc and for energy generation and distribution to PZ and its related companies.

    In his remarks at the EGM, the Chairman, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc, Chief Kola Jamodu(CFR), lauded the shareholders for their “support and trust,” assuring that the Board would continue to manage business changes positively in line with current realities.

    Also, the Corporate Affairs and Administrative Director, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc, Mrs Oluwayomi Ifaturoti, in a release shortly after the meeting, stated the merger was geared towards improved operating efficiencies and cost savings.

    Ifaturoti added that the purpose is to also drive enlarged managerial efficiencies and reduce transfer pricing complexity.

    According to her, the purpose would be achieved through simplification of the corporate structure, streamlining their operations and reducing administrative costs and in the end, harness the benefits of synergy maximally.

  • Tower of Babel

    •Jonathan’s govt blames everyone else but itself for last week’s avoidable fuel scarcity

    Last week, the economy was again thrown into another cycle of avoidable spasm occasioned by fuel shortages. If it seems a terrible reminder of the criminal mismanagement that has been the lot of the nation’s downstream petroleum sector, it would also be occasion for the blundering Jonathan administration to seek to pin its incompetence on third parties.

    This time around, the rationalisations were as many as they were varied – a scene right from the Biblical Tower of Babel. They range from the hare-brained to the utterly ridiculous. From the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the official line was “panic buying”. The ruling party – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would echo: it was the handiwork of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to humiliate the government before national elections. Finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala would deny that the shortages had anything to do with “payment issues” but rather “disruption of pipelines and logistical issues”, although she would admit that there was an outstanding N185billion unpaid, and that the marketers and the Federal Government have issues over differentials caused by the devaluation of the naira.

    The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) on its part says that the fuel marketers’ claim about backlog in subsidy payment was real. Its executive secretary, Farouk Ahmed, actually confirmed to members of the Senate Committee on Petroleum that his agency was indebted to the marketers; nonetheless, he would blame the scarcity on the devaluation of the naira and the resultant impact on products delivery cost. Nowhere did the Federal Government or its agencies accept culpability in the mess.

    Not even against the background of the initial alert by the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) of an impending crisis as a result of the failure by PPPRA to release the approval for the first quarter fuel importation.

    It is noteworthy that this would not be the first time top functionaries of the Jonathan administration would seek shelter in cheap drivel to excuse a failure to perform a basic public duty. Yet again, we are forced to ask if indeed anyone is actually in charge. If we may observe, the same pattern, replicated across the board is precisely why nothing works in the country. In the power sector, we are told that a country with one of the largest proven reserves in natural gas in the world cannot avail its thermal plants sufficient dry gas; the same way that a country with a supposedly robust Navy and the Army is said to be unable to protect its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEC), the result of which an estimated 400,000 barrels of crude is lost to theft and production shut-ins.

    Couldn’t the situation that gave rise to the scarcity have been foreseen? In other words, couldn’t the crisis have been averted? The answer would seem obvious. Yes, it may well be that devaluation supplied the catalyst, the issue is that the devaluation could not have been a shot from the blues. If we may ask: shouldn’t the administration have thought through the multi-layered dimensions of the measure given the import-dependent nature of the economy? If the answer is no as it appears to have been the case, could there have been a better advertisement of the Jonathan administration’s incompetence than its failure all this while to evolve appropriate sequencing of the activities in the oil trade to forestall cyclic disruptions to the fuel supply and distribution chain?

    We have said it over and over again; the current crisis in the fuel trade is merely a symptom of a fundamental problem. At the heart of the crisis is the terrible choice foisted on the nation by successive administrations which, for reasons hard to fathom, failed to answer the question of why OPEC’s sixth largest exporter would rely on imported refined petroleum products for its domestic needs. In this wise, the Jonathan administration, which once promised three Greenfield Refineries, far from being less complicit, has merely elected to play to type.

  • Oranmiyan Tower that secures lives, property

    Oranmiyan Tower that secures lives, property

    Since the construction and commissioning of the Oranmiyan Security Tower in the commercial district of  Ile-Ife, Osun State on December 9, last year, there has been no incident of bank robbery in the ancient town which incessantly plagued the financial institutions in the area and its environs in the past.

    The visionary initiative of the executive secretary of Ife Central Local Government, Dr. Taiwo Olaiya, no doubt, has enhanced the security of lives and property in the entire Ile-Ife town.

    Also, constructed behind the Security Tower is a modern Shopping Complex to support business in the area. The facility has offices and a canteen. Specifically, the canteen is to serve traditional dishes for the tourists likely to visit the place.

    A visibly elated Olaiya, no doubt, was impressed with the facility. He betrayed his joy at the commissioning when he revealed that the construction took after a similar facility in Washington DC in the United States of America.

    According to him, the edifice, which is about 140 feet high and occupying 15 feet square meters, is fortified with modern electronic multimedia equ-ipment, the best that could be found anywhere in Nigeria.

    With security officers, including regular and mobile police, men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, operating on different floors of the six-story tower, it is easy to monitor the heinous activities of the armed bandits. The security men are at their duty post on a 24-hour basis operating four shifts of six hours each.

    One of the floors is equipped with CCTV and communication gadgets that receive data from and monitor the infra-red four, three, two and uni-dimensional cameras placed on the rooftops and other strategic areas of the town like Ori-Olokun Roundabout, Ooni’s Palace Square, Sabo Junction, Fajuyi/More Junction, Ilesa Road, Obafemi Awolowo University frontage, Ibadan Road Axis, and Parakin Obalufe Scheme.

    Three giant LED TV screens are installed on the tower’s frontal three walls for promotions of the rich Ife/Yoruba cultural heritage and advertisements.

    The state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who was proud of the project at the commissioning, reiterated his adminis-tration’s commitment to effective security. He maintained that any good government must be committed to protection of the life of its people and property.

    Aregbesola said the project was another testimony of the unprecedented governance his administration has been superintending in Osun in the last three years. He said: “This is one of the greatest innovations by the local government to protect the lives and properties of our people in the source that is why it is irritating when they are comparing our government with Peoples Democratic Party’s government. They cannot match us in all ramifications. They were there for seven and half years and nothing to show for their stay in government. Some people are even insinuating that we cannot come to Ife comfortably they cannot match our popularity in Ife at all. They can never be popular than us because Ife as the source of Yoruba race is the source of the virtuous and every other good things therefore a killer, political bandit can never come from great Ife.”

    Just like many people have believed the Oranmiyan Security Tower and the Shopping Complex too will have direct, positive impact on the lives of the people of this city, the governor said that it would greatly enhance security of life and property, the shopping complex will further facilitate the flourishing of trade and business.

     

  • Bayelsa’s Tower Hotel of controversies

    Bayelsa’s Tower Hotel of controversies

    The 18-storey five-star Tower Hotel project has remained a subject of controversy in Bayelsa State. Little was known about the project till President Goodluck Jonathan stirred the hornets’ nest in a build-up to the February 2012 governorship election that produced Governor Seriake Dickson.

    During the grand finale of the Peoples Democratic Party’s rally at the Samson Siasia’s Sports Complex, Yenagoa, the President revealed that issues surrounding the then abandoned facility fuelled the bad blood between him and Timipre Sylva, his successor as governor.

    He insisted that Sylva’s abandonment of the project was part of the reason he frustrated Sylva’s second term bid.

    He said: “Everybody knows that in our society, we need development. I was second in command to Alamieyeseigha. One thing I remember is the Tower Hotel. It was not my dream but it was conceptualised under the Alamieyeseigha administration.

    “He discussed with the contractors. It was supposed to be a five-star hotel and it would attract people from all over the world. But now, it is a monument of disgrace.”

    But, Sylvia fired back that he built the hotel to the 18th floor, where it has remained. He also took a swipe at Jonathan, who, he said, was benefiting from a building project financed by Gitto Construction Ltd. Jonathan, as Bayelsa governor, awarded the project to Gitto. It later turned out that the Italian firm built and donated the controversial church building to the president in his home town.

    The structure was designed to be the tallest building in the state and a hotel of aesthetic beauty and excellence that would promote the state’s tourism potential.

    It was conceived to be a facility of choice for international conferences and high-profile visitors. Jonathan in his ephemeral reign as the governor of the state began the construction of the edifice..

    Niger Delta Report gathered that the facility was initially designed as a 14-storey building with 120 rooms and 2,500 capacity auditorium.

    But Jonathan reportedly left the project on a second floor after he became the Vice-President for his successor, Sylva who redesigned it and made it 18 storeys. The former governor continued with the project until it got to the expected level. Surprisingly, the project was forsaken at the 18th floor.

    For over four years, contractors withdrew from the site. The gigantic structure centrally located between the Bayelsa Palm Road and the Melford Okilo Expressway became an eyesore. Vegetation took over the site. The abandoned building became a home for gangsters, a haven for notorious criminals, the marijuana smokers and a refuge for destitute.

    While some referred to it as a wasting asset, others said it was a white elephant project. There was no end in sight to the completion date. There was, however, an allegation that the project became a pipe to siphon public funds.

    For instance, Niger Delta Report found that it was one of the projects used by Sylva to secure a N50 billion loan from the capital market in December 2009. The report of the Financial Management Review Committee, which indicted Sylva for financial rascality, showed that the cost of the project was N13.9 billion.

    The report of the committee, which was chaired by the former Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Timi Alaibe, also showed that the project was rated 26 per cent completion when the bond was obtained. The report further said part of the bond (N3.6 billion) was earmarked to be used for the completion of the project in June 2011.

    But in June 2011, the project remained in its abandoned state. The committee in its report observed: “It is pertinent to state that most of the projects highlighted were long abandoned projects and they remain abandoned even after the refinancing.

    However, Sylva in one of his tirades with the President gave a reason why the project was abandoned. He blamed it on the contractors.

    A statement by his Media Adviser, Doifie Ola said: “Sylva wishes to clarify that the hotel was at the second floor when he took over from Dr. Jonathan as governor. It is now at its 18th floor, as the whole world can see.

    “Sylva agrees that the job has been delayed, but explains that the reason it has been delayed is because the contractor, whom Dr. Jonathan himself chose and awarded the contract to, asked for a variation of N5 billion.”

    But, it seems that the dust raised by the construction of the hotel has not settled. Critics have observed that one year after Dickson took over the administration of the state, the project remained the way he inherited it. Some have also started using the condition of the project to create disaffection between Dickson and Jonathan.

    Dickson has, however, insisted that he was committed to the project. In March 2013, the governor presented a cheque of N4 billion to a contracting firm, Sedogi Nigeria Limited to complete the hotel.

    The contract agreement indicated that the project would be completed within 18 months.

    The governor told the firm: “The N4 billion is to enable you re-mobilise to site. We have engaged world class consultants from South Africa, who have the experience and expertise in the development of tourism facilities.

    “They will work with you and with the support of the government, we believe that by the grace of God, the project will be successfully executed.”

    Also, the Managing Director, Bayelsa State Hotels and Tourism Development Company Ltd. Dr. Kelvin Bribena, said the delay in completing the project was to ensure best practice.

    He explained that the consultants engaged by the government were yet to arrive and hold meetings with the contractor.

    He added that the government was also shopping for a known hotel operator that would manage the facility after its completion. According to him, the consultant and the contractor must meet to agree on sensitive areas for sustainability of the project benefits.

    “There is no form of politics in the delay of the tower hotel. Government wants to make hotels in Bayelsa another main attraction to tourist so that we can project our potential to people outside the state.

    “The government’s focus is on wealth creation through the tourism sub-sector. We need to have a proper consultant and a known household hotel operator in Nigeria that will manage the facility.”