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The National
Universities Commission (NUC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) with the Institute for Lasers, Photonics, and Biophotonics
(ILPB), United States of America for the development of an
international joint research centre for nanomedicine in some Nigerian
universities. According to details of the MOU, the first phase of the
initiative is to implement the program at NUC-selected universities
while the second phase will bring Nigerian researchers to train at ILPB
and equipment distributed to Nigerian universities. The MOU postulates
that by this time, there should be “global impact of research with
widespread implementation of quantum dots and other nanoparticles in
the fields of medical diagnosis and treatment.” The third stage, meant
to take place five to 10 years from now, will be defined by major
research focuses, sufficient funding, and effective personnel training
and the centre is expected to become a first-class research center not
only in Nigeria, but in the world.

The NUC appointed
Paras Prasad, a professor of chemistry and medicine with the University
of Buffalo (UB) and the executive director of the ILPB, as the head of
the joint research center.

“The two major
application areas are alternate energy and health care. We are applying
this merge of photonics, of light wave energy, for application in the
area of medicine called nanomedicine. The other, alternative energy
focuses primarily on solar energy harvesting,” he said.

Beneficial science

Folarin Erogbogbo,
leader of the Nigerian group and research assistant professor in cancer
nanotechnology, explained that the primary focus in Nigeria will be on
nanomedicine, which could be applied to disease diagnosis, treatment,
and delivery.

“Over here [at UB],
we’ve done some work that could be beneficial for the early detection
of cancer. However nanomedicine doesn’t end there,” Mr. Erogbogbo said.
“It could be used in other areas like malaria and AIDS research and so
on; obesity issues, as well.” Mr. Erogbogbo, one of the primary
promoters of this collaboration, identified Prasad’s propensity to work
with international researchers and noticed that UB did not have a
strong academic presence in Africa. “The joint research institution
would incite a lot of change in Nigeria… we’re bringing cutting edge
technology to Nigeria,” Mr. Erogbogbo boasted.

Abike Dabiri-Erewa,
the chairperson of the House of Representatives Committee on the
Diaspora, was present to witness the signing of the MOU.

“We look forward to partnering with a world leader like UB that can
help us develop our scientific infrastructure. This is a bold step that
will go a long way toward the NUC’s vision for creating opportunities
in frontier areas of research and technology,” she said.

Ahead of the 2012
gubernatorial election in Edo State, a faction of the Labour Party (LP)
has entered into a coalition with the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP)
and other political parties in order to challenge the Action Congress
of Nigeria (ACN)-led government at the polls.

A national leader
of the PPP, Solomon Edebiri, who disclosed this in Benin City over the
weekend shortly after a meeting with leaders of Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC), ANPP and a faction of Labour Party in the
state, described both the ACN-led government and the PDP in the state
as “birds of the same feather.” “Our people have seen that while the
PDP ruined this state for over ten years which our people are still
suffering, the ACN government has become a military regime where only
one person dictates to all,” he said. “We are working on aligning with
all political parties to ensure that PDP and ACN do not come back to
power in Edo State. That is the idea. We want to be sure that the
people have a true progressive party.

He further
described PDP and ACN as ‘the same kind of wine in different bottles’,
saying politicians in both parties are the same. “You know they have
been decamping from PDP to ACN and from ACN to PDP. So, certainly our
people cannot take them very serious,” he said.

Not strong enough

Mr Edebiri said
opposition parties in the state have come to realise that none of them
can singly take on the ruling party because the resources cannot be
enough.

“So, we are therefore putting together a team of political groups to
form a very strong coalition to ensure that these people do not come
back in 2012,” he said. “We have to start it now by ensuring that we
have enough candidates from other political parties in the House of
Assembly in Edo State. And that is the essence of the various alliances
that we are putting together.” Mr Edebiri explained

The Resident
Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ekiti State, Isyaku Maigoro, has
identified intimidation of opponents by political office holders as
being responsible for the violence experienced during elections. The
electoral officer, who is retiring from the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) today after the expiration of his tenure,
said Nigeria will continue to witness a flawed election as long as the
doctrine of win at all cost remains. Speaking in Ado Ekiti on Saturday,
Mr Maigoro called for attitudinal change among all those involved in
the electoral system for Nigeria to join the league of advanced
democracies in the world. “A situation whereby a governor or any other
political office holder goes to the polling unit with thugs to cast
their votes always resorted to intimidation of opponents and had always
been causing serious problems among politicians,” he said. “But a
situation whereby a politician goes to cast his vote solely without
anybody escorting him will enhance peaceful conduct of election and I
am convinced that Nigeria will start to get it right the day this habit
is embraced.”

Afraid of losing

He said politicians
always create situations to either mar the electoral process or ignite
crisis when they realise that they are losing. Mr Maigoro expressed
confidence in the ability of the leadership of the electoral Commission
to conduct a free, fair and credible election in 2011.

The REC also warned against taking politics as a business by
Nigerian politicians, saying this is the only anti-dote to winning at
all costs attitude of politicians.

Electoral reforms,
the consolidation of the Amnesty programme, increase in power supply
are some of the achievements of the administration of Goodluck Jonathan
and his deputy, Namadi Sambo in the few months they have been in charge
of affairs in Aso Rock. The National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples
Democratic Party, (PDP), Rufa’i Alkali said this at the weekend in
Benin. Mr Alkali, who addressed journalists during a brief stopover of
the presidential trail in Benin City on a campaign trip to Delta State,
said this makes it obvious why Nigerians must return Messrs Jonathan
and Sambo back to office through their votes come April 2011. He said:
“What we are saying is that if we know that we have won the elections,
we would have gone home and stop campaigning, why should we waste time
resources and energy and carry our president around the country at high
risk to campaign? No, we believe we can win but we cannot win without
reaching the people. That is why you must reach them, talk to them and
also promise them things they will understand. So, we are prepared to
go extra mile to reach the people, and that is what we are doing, that
is why we are not sleeping.”

Promoting peace

Mr Alkali said one
area of interest to the government is to ensure that the nation
continues to live in peace and harmony, as against insinuations that
the PDP-led government has failed in tackling the incessant security
breaches across the federation.

“This party, this government initiated and then encouraged and
supported the movement of the electoral reforms that today Nigerians
are celebrating, so the issue of security is also being looked at very
seriously,” he said. “The issue of security of lives and property is
the fundamental requirement of the government. Government is busy
tackling these issues of security breaches as we observed in Jos,
Bauchi. But remember that most of these issues were inherited by this
government. Most of what this party has been doing is to address these
problems.”

President Goodluck
Jonathan has urged Nigerians to place national building above personal
interest. Mr. Jonathan, who is the presidential flagbearer for the
People’s Democratic Party (PDP), also urged all political parties and
candidates to elective offices to steer clear of false, malicious,
spiteful, malevolent and wicked campaigns against their opponents. He
spoke in reference to a publication in a national daily, which reported
that the PDP voted N2.9billion to capture the southwest. The PDP had
lost some states in the zone to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)
which now controls three states to PDP’s two, while the labour party
controls one. The presidential spokesman, Ima Niboro, said the
president “noted with regret and sadness the totally false, malicious
and repugnant lead report.

“The entire report
has no factual basis and its contents are a product of the
mischief-driven imagination of its authors,” he said. “President
Goodluck Jonathan who has been busy touring all the states of the
federation, including the southwest, in an all-out effort to win the
hearts and minds of Nigerians in the traditional and
politically-correct manner, has absolutely no need to resort to any
underhand tactics to win the coming presidential elections.” He also
stated that the president and his supporters across the country are
working extremely hard to achieve success in the elections in an
indisputable and transparent manner.

Rule of law

Mr. Niboro said the
tumultuous crowds that have attended the Jonathan/Sambo Campaign
rallies across the country and the increasing endorsements of the
ticket by other political parties, royal fathers and interest groups
clearly point to the success of the president’s untiring campaign to
convince Nigerians to give him a fresh mandate for four years.

“As he continues to
show by word and action, President Jonathan remains fully committed to
free, fair and credible elections in April. His being a candidate in
the elections has not affected this commitment in any way,” he said.

The statement also
explained that Mr. Jonathan is also a firm believer in the doctrine of
separation of powers and the rule of law.

“He is fully committed to upholding the independence of the
judiciary at all times and will never be part of any conspiracy to
misuse security agencies for partisan political purposes or impugn the
integrity of the judiciary for private ends,” Mr. Niboro said.

A Federal High Court in Abuja at the weekend warned
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to stop delaying
the prosecution of Bayelsa State government officials facing charges of
money laundering and diversion of public funds.

The commission had, on March 23, charged four top
officials of the state government, namely: Francis Okoruko, Abbot
Clinton, Ikhobo Anthony Howells, and Sylva Opuala – Charles. But since
their arraignment, trial until now was yet to commence.

Presiding Judge, Donatus Okorowo told the EFCC that
the several adjournments made in the trial have been at their instance
and warned that it will not fail to strike out the charge against the
accused persons if the prosecution fails to come up with its witness on
March 11, 2011, the adjourned date to conclude his evidence .

Mr Okorowo issued this warning following a request
for adjournment made by Ugochukwu Ezekiel on behalf of EFCC’s
prosecutor, Festus Keyamo, who was not in court. Mr Ezekiel requested
for the adjournment on the ground that the prosecution witness is
absent.

But counsels to the accused persons, Chris Uche and
Sunday Ibrahim Ameh, called on the judge to take note of the lack of
diligence on the part of the prosecution. They further argued that the
absence of Mr Keyamo at the trial underscored the lack of commitment
and diligence to dispose off the matter, noting that Mr Keyamo was in
error to direct another lawyer to represent him.

The lawyers said their clients were eager to conclude
trial so as to get the criminal charge hanging on their necks
discharged as they were sure of their innocence.

The judge agreed with the defence counsel that the
prosecution was responsible for the series of adjournments and was not
happy with Mr Keyamo for sending another counsel.

Not so speedy

At the last hearing, both defence counsels, on the
basis of wanting a speedy trial, had withdrawn their objection to the
admissibility of a document sought to be tendered in evidence by Mr
Keyamo.

Mr Keyamo had sought to tender the statement made to
the EFCC by the 2nd accused person, Clinton Abbot, through his
prosecution witness 1, Adebayo Adeniyi Oluwasegun, but Messrs. Uche and
Ameh objected to the procedure on the premise that it would offend
Section 36 [a] of the Evidence Act since he (Oluwasegun) was not
incidental to the statement being made. After a spell of arguments, the
Judge was to adjourn the matter to enable him rule. But Counsel to the
accused persons, eager to make progress with the trial, agreed to
withdraw the objection after Mr Keyamo had entered an undertaking that
he will not rely on any other Investigating Police Officer (IPO) to
tender any further evidence.

Consequently, the statement sought to be tendered was
later admitted in evidence after which the police officer recounted
steps he took in the course of investigating the case.

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he Nigerian Civil
Aviation Authority (NCAA) has mandated airlines, agencies, and the
various parastatals in the sector to train their employees in the
efficient delivery of customer services to travelers.

The directive, a
fallout of the incessant complaints from both domestic and
international air travelers, is aimed at eliminating the occasional
fighting encountered at the various airport terminals between ticketing
and reservation officers of airlines and air passengers.

The civil aviation
regulatory agency said the training will enable airlines and industry
stakeholders to know their rights as well as intimate them on the
rights of travelers.

“We strongly
recommend that your organisations embrace the training programme being
offered by the consultant in order to raise customer service delivery
standards in the industry through nominating members of your staff to
participate in the programme,” said Adamu Abdullahi, director, consumer
protection unit, NCAA, in a message to airlines.

Mr. Abdullahi said
the mandatory training will uphold the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) standards and recommend practices that apply
globally in the industry, adding that the authority has given the
consulting firm the power to make sure that the key players in the
sector abide by the training.

Passengers’ rights

Daniel Young,
managing director of Karamba Consulting Limited, the company expected
to conduct the exercise, disclosed that the training, which commences
from next month, will also focus on the rights of passengers, noting
that travelers will be made to know what is expected of them and how
they are to go about their grievances when disappointed by an airline.

“We are going to
mount posters at strategic locations belonging to airlines and various
agencies, notifying them of their rights and those things expected of
them whenever they are on a journey and at the airport,” he said.

Mr. Young disclosed
that at the end of the training, employees of various airlines and
agencies in the sector will be able to “satisfactorily relate” with
their customers, and the issue of disagreements and fighting at the
airports will be reduced to the barest minimum.

“The training will
enable us cut down on check-in time and procedures, decongest the
airport should there be need, help airlines make more money, help
revenue agencies generate adequate funds, and make passengers
appreciate travelling experience when at our airports,” he said.

There have been series of reports of passengers battling with
ticketing and reservation officers at terminals over issues ranging
from unexplainable flight delays, cancellations, and rescheduling, a
situation viewed by experts as poor customer delivery services on the
side of airlines and other service providers at the airport.</