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The Federal
College of Education, Obudu, Cross River State will hold its first
convocation ceremony this weekend at its main campus, with over 10,000
students expected to wear the graduation gown in an elaborate combined
ceremony.

Provost of the
28-year-old institution, Joseph Effiom Ntibi blamed the inability of
the management of the school to organise convocation ceremonies in the
last seven years on paucity of funds. He said the October 30
convocation programme will also be funded from overhead costs.

The convocation
will be preceded by a lecture, and a gala night on Friday while on
Saturday, certificates will be presented to the graduates.

Seven Nigerians
who have contributed to the development of education and society will
be honoured with the fellowship of the college. They include Second
Republic Senate president, Joseph Wayas; wife of Cross River State
governor, Obioma Imoke; Paul Adah; Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswam
and the pioneer chairman of the governing council, Elizabeth Ivaase.

“We hope to use
the days preceding the convocation to inaugurate a number of projects
executed by my administration,” Mr Ntibi said. “These include language
complex, ICT centre, computer laboratory all equipped with computer
units, administrative block and over 20 other projects”.

The outgoing
provost said standards have fallen in the country’s educational
institutions, but observed that in this age of ICT, so much is being
brought into learning on daily basis.

Degree awarding

On the issue of
examination malpractices, the provost revealed that under him, some
lecturers and non-academic staff were dismissed for aiding cheating in
examinations. Some were caught with answer scripts outside their houses
in company of desperate students.

“After
successfully tackling the problem of examination malpractices,” he
said, “we proceeded to stop the sale of handouts and textbooks by
lecturers. What we have now is an organized central point for selling
textbooks to students at official price only.” Mr Ntibi said though the
college has executed over 20 projects under his leadership, management
has not stopped lobbying for funds. He said national assembly members
from Cross River North senatorial district have channelled N500m of
their constituency development funds to the college.

With a staff
strength of 1,040 and a recent recruitment of junior staff, Mr Ntibi
said everything was working towards making the college become a degree
awarding institution.

“We are on it,” he said. “The National Commission for Colleges of
Education is helping out as it’s a national policy for some colleges of
education to become degree awarding. We have contacted authorities of
the University of Calabar on this and got their support.”

Goodluck Jonathan yesterday in Kano reiterated his
pledge that power supply in the country will be stabilised by October
2011. He made the pledge after his visit to the Emir of Kano, Ado
Bayero, was interrupted by a power outage.

Mr Jonathan, who was on a one-day working visit to
Kano, said he was embarrassed when electricity in the Emir’s palace
went off as soon as he entered.

“As we stepped into this palace, I think what
happened is another way of telling me that I’m still up with a serious
business because immediately I stepped in, the light went off and I
remember that your royal highness wrote to me complaining about
epileptic supply of electricity in Kano,” he said.

“Today, the good news could begin. I’m here because
of two very important projects that are dear to us. One has to do with
power sub-station that we are commissioning and another is the Aminu
KanoTeaching Hospital projects, we are have upgraded some facilities
there that are ready to be commissioned for our use.

“What happened here today, by the grace of God, will
not happen again by this time next year. I am not saying that we will
satisfy all our power needs, but at least this epileptic power failure
will not continue. We will be able to stabilize it to a reasonable
level.” Mr Jonathan cautioned that his promise should not be
misunderstood for the generation of a particular number of megawatts or
that the power problem will be completely over next year.

“We are not making promises that by this time, we are
going to generate this or that. But all what we are telling his royal
highness is that we are gradually moving up forward. We are not going
backward again. We are stabilising it and by this time next year, we
will be a little bit more stable than what we are observing now and if
the government continues in that direction for another five years,
Nigerians will begin to talk to about another thing, because we are
totally committed to the power sector,” he said.

Bayero is expectant

Mr Bayero said he was happy to welcome the president
and that he was glad to hear that Mr Jonathan received the letter of
complaint on unstable supply of electricity that he sent to him.

“We are glad to receive you in Kano for the
commissioning of these health and power projects,” he said. “Steady
power supply is crucial for our economic development and prosperity. We
are glad to hear that Mr President received our formal complaint about
the power problem in Kano. We have been lodging complains to all the
previous government about this. We hope and pray that the government
will pay attention to this as promised by Mr President. This problem is
affecting us because Kano is the center of commerce.” Mr Bayero tasked
Mr Jonathan to, as a matter of urgency, tackle the insecurity problem
in the country, stressing that security of the people is important.

“We are equally drawing the attention of the
President on the issue of insecurity that requires urgent attention to
ensure peaceful coexistence and development in the country. It is a
known fact that peace is the most important thing the people need,
without peace nothing will work,” he said.

The president, while in Kano, commissioned the health
facilities in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital and the Reinforcement
Kumbotso 330/132/33KV transmission sub-station.

Key members of the
House of Representatives yesterday held secret talks with the Minister
of Finance, Olusegun Aganga, after planning to hear the minister’s
testimony at a plenary on why funds for federal projects were withheld.

Accused of blocking
money meant for the implementation of capital projects in the 2010
budget, Mr Aganga was strangely directed last week to meet with all
members during a plenary session on Tuesday, after the initial summons
last week was shifted.

But after stating
the procedure to admit the minister into the chamber yesterday, the
Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, announced that Mr Aganga would meet only with
a select committee of the House, away from the media, fuelling
complaints by opposition members that he is being shielded by the House
leadership.

“It is the normal style of PDP; they don’t want to expose themselves,” a member said.

Ita Enang, the
Chairman House committee on Business and Rules confirmed that the
meeting held but declined to give details. “We are meeting with him
now,” he told NEXT when asked on phone.

‘Playing politics’

Other members
attended the meeting, though the sponsor of the summons last week,
Mohammed Ndume, said he does not believe that the meeting that lasted
several hours held.

According to him if
such meeting was truly held, “they are just playing politics with it.
The Speaker has no right to do what he did. The case is not over yet
because the house resolution still stands.” Mr Ndume’s motion, widely
supported by many members last week, detailed how figures from
government offices show that funds released by the Finance Ministry
averaged barely 30 per cent about two months to year ending. Money
spent by the government on the recurrent budget was over 70 per cent,
the lawmakers said.

“By the time our
people ask which projects were attracted to our areas, what are we
going to say? These projects are not there, and if they are there, they
have been stopped and yet our salaries are not stopped. The salaries of
the presidency have not been stopped,” Mr. Ndume, the minority leader,
lamented.

The minister has also been asked by the House committee on Defence
to explain funds that accrued during United Nations peacekeeping
operations which Nigeria participated in. The summons was moved last
week Thursday after the minister said he was yet to be informed.

The presidential candidate of the
Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) is expected to emerge at its
national convention scheduled to hold in Abuja on December 29, the
national chairman of the party, Rufa’I Hanga, has said.

Also, all aspirants on the platform of
the party may be compelled to sign an undertaking that they will not
contest the results of its forthcoming primaries.

Mr Hanga, who announced this during a
meeting between the leadership and the governorship aspirants under the
banner of the party, said that though the presidential candidate will
be elected at a congress on December 22, he will, however be ratified
alongside other successful aspirants on December 29.

He added that the congress to pick the
party’s candidates for the Senate and the House of Representatives will
hold on December 18; ward congress, November 24; local government
congress (December 1) while registration of members nationwide will
hold between October 30 and November 6.

Mr Hanga, a former senator, stated that
the party’s leader, Muhammadu Buhari, may not be the only presidential
aspirant, adding that more aspirants may emerge before the December 22
congress.

Earlier, in his remarks, Mr Buhari said
that there will be a clause in the party’s nomination form for all
prospective candidates to reflect on and appreciate the fact that
elections can go one way or the other.

This, he added will ensure that both
winners and losers feel they have been fairly treated in the process.
“The CPC is committed to addressing the challenge we have in
institutionalising democratic process in our country,” he said. “We are
deliberately seeking to evolve a precise method for achieving democracy
so that winners and losers, all alike, may get the sense that they have
been treated with fundamental fairness, having the confidence that
nobody had been cheated in the process.” “Note that in the party
nomination form, there is a concession clause that compels a
prospective candidate to reflect on, and appreciate the fact elections
can go one way or the other when it is truly free and fair. This
provision would permit the party to manage the aftermath of primary
elections more graciously. It is only the do-or-die elections that can
produce a pre-determined result.”

Internal democracy

The former military head of state
stated that the party takes the issue of internal democracy seriously,
adding that it is mindful not to create grievance among its members.

According to him, democracy cannot be
achieved through random acts of political bravado and wizardry of few
individuals, stressing “neither can arbitrary manoeuvring even by few
well-meaning people bring us the democracy we desire. Unfortunately, we
have seen it all before – we have noticed all their undemocratic and
fraudulent manipulations.” Mr Buhari said that the proper registration
of members will uniquely permit the party to conduct the most
transparent party congress even known in Sub-Sahara Africa and by
extension in Nigeria.

He added that the exercise is a
fundamental stepping stone to positioning the CPC for victory in all
tiers of government in the upcoming 2011 electoral competition.

“Considering that we are conducting
this exercise before any other political party in the country, we take
delight as a truly world-class democratic party, to set the standard
for other democratic forces in the country to follow,” he said.

Mr Buhari also urged party faithful to
participate in the membership registration so that they can assert
their membership in the party congresses, as part of the bid to jointly
defend its votes during the general elections.

The Federal High
Court sitting in Benin City, Edo State, has reserved November 3 for
ruling on whether to send the Inspector General of Police, the chairman
of the Police Service Commission, the Delta State commissioner of
police and two others to jail for contempt, for failing to appear in
court, as well as failing to carry out an earlier court order.

The ruling is over
hearing in the case of one Kayode Martins, who was dismissed by the
police force in 2000 but was reinstated by the court after a lengthy
court battle. But the police is yet to pay him a kobo or integrate him
into the force.

Mr Martins said his
ordeal started on December 6, 2000, when he was arrested and
subsequently dismissed on March 16, 2001, on charges which the court
later described as unlawful, irregular and wrongful, contrary to
natural justice, unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect
whatsoever.

This judgment was
upon a suit filed on the June 19, 2003 by S.O Orugbon on behalf of the
plaintiff. Judgment was subsequently given on the April 12, 2005 after
the defendants, which include the Inspector General of Police, the
Police Service Commission, the Commissioner of Police, the Provost
Marshall and the Attorney General of the Federation all failed to
attend the court proceeding.

The court also
ordered that the arrest, detention and subsequent dismissal by the
police force of the father of 11 children, for what they called the
heinous crime of conspiracy and economy sabotage, was unconstitutional
and of no effect.

Still an officer

The judgement also
stated that “the plaintiff is still a police officer in the Nigeria
Police Force till date, meaning that his services are unbroken and
continuous until the year 2014 when he is due to retire normally from
the force, all things being equal.

“That the plaintiff
is hereby reinstated into the Nigeria Police Force and should be
promptly accorded all the rights, privileges, salaries, wages,
emolument, promotions and all other entitlements and prerequisites of
office, with effect from the 4th of April 2001 till date”.

When the management
of the force refused to act on the judgment, Mr Martins sought another
court order at the Federal High Court in Benin City, presided over by
C.V.U Nwokorie, who authorized the issuance of a hearing notice of
consequence of disobedience to court order (form 48 and 49) to the IGP,
AGF, the chairman of the Police Service Commissions and two others.

Mr Martins, a sergeant before he was dismissed, said his life in the
past 10 years has lost meaning, as he has been made to feed his family
through goodwill from friends and the merger savings from his wife’s
make-shift shop at the Ekpan, a suburb of Warri, Delta State.

The valedictory
service in honour of the outgoing Chief Judge of Ondo State, Gladys
Olateru Olagbegi, took place yesterday amid protest from members of the
Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), Ondo State branch, who all
shunned their duty posts.

The union’s
leadership, headed by Femi Ogunode had, on Monday, instructed his
colleagues to embark on a one-day strike against what he labelled as
seven years of harsh leadership of the former chief justice.

In compliance with
the directive, the judiciary staffers were nowhere to be found near
their duty post as all the doors to the various offices were under lock
and key.

A strange object,
which was said to be a ritual, was placed at the entrance of the Akure
High Court as early as 6.30am by unknown persons.

Aside from this, the wall of the high court entrance gate was decorated with palm tree leaves and some charms.

For those who came to swear to affidavit, it was a disappointing moment as there was nobody to attend to them.

However, mobile
policemen decided to force the gate of the High Court opened to ensure
that the parade that was slated to hold in honour of the Chief Judge
took place.

The Spokesperson of
the State Command, Adeniran Aremu justified the police action, saying
policemen had no option than to break the padlock of the gate to gain
entry to the premises of the court.

Mr Aremu pointed out that the parade in honour of the out-going Chief Judge was already slated.

“We must enter the
court premises because policemen have been instructed to be at the
court for the valedictory service in honour of Mrs Gladys Olateru
Olagbegi,” he said.

The action of the
policemen was, however, loudly condemned by JUSUN leadership which
described the action as illegal and unnecessary.

Mr Ogunode said they declared a compulsory one day industrial action in order to protest against the tenure of the former CJ.

“The tenure of the
ougoing CJ does not worth praising. We have to register to our
displeasure against his tenure which was not favourable to judicial
workers,” he said. ‘Such a leader does not deserve our participation in
the send-forth ceremony organised for her. If we had never deserved her
honour, she too does not now deserve our honour”.

The JUSUN Chairman
lamented that promotions were not effected as at when due, adding that
many of the judiciary staffers suffered moral and financial losses for
24 months.

Supported by colleagues

They also accused
the former Chief Judge of unilaterally stopping payment of disturbance
allowance and deliberately jettisoning the report submitted in respect
of send- forth for members of the union who retired voluntarily.

“After the governor
approved five new Toyota Corolla Cars for Heads of Departments in the
year 2010 budget, His lordship refused to access the fund to procure
the cars as a result of hatred she has for our members who are heads of
department,” he said.

However, despite the protest, the valedictory ceremony still took place at the court premises.

The outgoing Chief Judge was joined by colleagues from Osun and Oyo to participate in the valedictory service.

Mrs
Olateru-Olagbegi, who had earlier attended a church service in her
honour, later inspected the guard of hounour mounted by men of the
state police command who dressed in red and black uniform. She oversaw
the Ondo State Judiciary as Chief Judge between 2003-2010.

The Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko has nominated Olasehinde Kumuyi as the Chief Judge
of Ondo State and his nomination has been sent to the State House of
Assembly for confirmation.

The minister of
labour and productivity, Emeka Wogu, has urged Nigerians not lose sleep
over the contentious issue of zoning of the presidency, saying it would
not in any way affect national unity after the 2011 elections.

He made the
assertion in Umuahia yesterday while delivering a lecture, entitled
“2011 Elections and Nigeria’s Unity, as part of activities lined up for
the 201 Press Week of the Abia State Council of the Nigeria Union of
Journalists (NUJ).

The minister said
the controversy arising from the issue “is undoubtedly borne out of the
deliberately fanned tension located among a few individuals. It is
highly regrettable that after 50 years of independence, that a sitting
President that is just over 50 years of age could be the target of a
self-serving interests masked by zoning of political office.” Mr Wogu
said it was the same politicians who have lost bearing with current
global political trends that are fanning fears of disunity.

“It is indeed
remarkable to note that a sizeable proportion of those who have stoked
the embers of disunity on the issue of zoning cannot show proof that
their own geopolitical zones fared better in terms of overall
development at the time they were at the helm of political affairs,”
the minister said.

Elect credible people

He therefore
enjoined the media “to drum it into the ears of all Nigerians” that
even though ethnic nationalism was part of Nigeria’s political history,
the current mood in the nation as “expressly canvassed by well meaning
Nigerians, is that national interest would be served better by
institutionalizing a multi- and credible political process.” The deputy
governor of Abia State, Acho Nwakanma, said Nigeria has been passing
through trying times over the issue of zoning, even “to the point of
mediocrity where some people have failed to see that we currently have
in the person of President Goodluck Jonathan is what is best for us.”
He said that the actions of journalists, both singly and collectively,
both before and after the 2011 elections, would critically affect the
nation’s unity.

“As opinion moulders, your reportage and interpretation of events must be done with the greatest sense of patriotism,” he said.

The Abia NUJ
chairman, Hyacinth Okoli, said Nigerians should concern themselves more
with electing credible people into positions of trust for positive
transformation of the polity.

“Nigerians must resist the temptation of allowing an exercise they
should ordinarily perform with enthusiasm to throw the nation into
turmoil or, in the extreme case, break up the county,” he said.

The federal
government announced on Tuesday that it will release N3.8 billion in
relief funds to the five states affected by the flood in recent times.

Ibukun Odusote,
permanent secretary of the Ecological Funds Office, told journalists in
Abuja that Goodluck Jonathan had acted in response to a preliminary
report presented by the office. She said the impact of the flood has
been most devastating in Jigawa, Kebbi, Lagos, Ogun and Sokoto States.
But she said that efforts were being made to control and forestall
future occurrences.

“It got the president’s attention because the devastation is beyond the state and local government,” she said.

Mrs Odusote said
that all the processes involved in the release of funds, were nearly
complete and the funds will be lodged in the bank accounts of the
states concerned before the end of this week.

“The federal
government has done its part and it has been sent to the accountant
general’s office from where it will be disbursed to the states’
accounts,” she said. “So we expect that Sokoto and Kebbi would have
been handled and we are left with Jigawa, Lagos and Ogun.”

Finding solutions

Although the
federal government is still studying effective solutions to the
floodings, preliminary assessments indicate that the problem was
compounded by man-made activities such as blocking of drainages,
obstruction of water ways and the building of residential and
commercial property on flood plains without expert advice.

Mrs Odusote also
said that the office will be embarking on sensitisation campaign to
create awareness on the impact of climate change problems such as
desertification, deforestation, flood, erosion and shoreline which make
flooding worse.

“Although
increasing awareness is occurring on the issue of climate change and
its impact in the country, the time has come for all hands to be on
deck to rev up this awareness for the benefit of our people,” she said.

“Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and can no longer
wait to harness science-based knowledge from appropriate research
institutes.”

Nigeria has fallen
four steps on the global ranking of countries listed on the Corruption
Perception Index (CPI), released yesterday by Transparency
International.

The list, announced
by the Berlin based anti-corruption watchdog, showed that Nigeria is
now ranked 134, dropping from its 130 position in 2009 and 121 in 2008.

The 2010 CPI, drawn
on a scale from 10 (highly clean) to 0 (highly corrupt), showed that
Nigeria scored 2.4 and is ranked 134 amongst the 178 countries surveyed.

On the regional
scale, Nigeria is ranked 28, ahead of Sierra Leone, Togo, Zimbabwe,
Mauritania and Cameroun. Botswana, Mauritius, Cape Verde, Seychelles
and South Africa were ranked the top five countries on the continent,
with Botswana having an above average index score of 5.8.

Transparency
International claims that corruption remains an obstacle to achieving
much needed progress, even as governments commit huge sums to tackle
the world’s most pressing problems, from the instability of financial
markets to climate change and poverty. Denmark, New Zealand and
Singapore tie for first place in the 2010 CPI, with scores of 9.3,
whilst unstable governments, battling with a myriad of conflicts,
dominated the bottom rungs of the index. Afghanistan and Myanmar share
second to last place, with a score of 1.4, while Somalia ranked last
with a score of 1.1.

The Senate, on
Tuesday, received the report of its committees on the protracted
Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), signalling the beginning of the
finalities on the bill. The bill was submitted by Lee Maeba (PDP River
State), committee chairman of Senate committee on upstream who chaired
the three committees that worked on the bill.

The submission of the report is coming just days after interested parties in the bill offered to withdraw and rewrite the bill.

At a session on oil
and gas policy dialogue during the 16th Nigerian Economic Summit
(NES16) in Abuja on last week, various participants agreed on the need
for all parties to work out a common position on the issues in
contention.

Country Chair,
Shell Nigeria, Mutiu Sunmonu, who presided over the session,
acknowledged the challenges the industry is facing as a result of the
delay in the passage of the bill, saying there is need for dialogue to
resolve the issues and salvage the industry.

The managing
director of Platform Petroleum Limited, Austin Avuru, argued that
though the PIB was initiated to bring about a tighter and deeper fiscal
regime, as well as a more flexible lease administration and solution to
the cash call, “the problem might worsen if the proposed law is passed
in its present form.” He described the controversy trailing the passage
of the PIB as a “genuine stalemate”, and called for the immediate
withdrawal of the draft currently pending before the National Assembly,
to allow all parties dialogue and come up with a piece legislation that
would be acceptable to all within six months.

“If we don’t agree
to dialogue, I do not think we will have a PIB that would be acceptable
to the industry. Otherwise, we will end up having a law that would have
to go through litigation or amendment before we start implementing
anything,” he said.

Lingering controversy

The PIB has long been controversial.

First, there was
the allegation that members of the petroleum committees of the National
Assembly benefitted from a sponsored trip to Ghana by some unnamed Oil
Producers Trade Section (OPTS) of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce, with
the motive of hatching a plot to derail the smooth passage of the Bill
by the lawmakers.

Shortly thereafter,
there were reports that two parallel versions of the new bill were in
circulation. These include the original version presented by President
Umaru Yar’Adua in the form of an Executive Bill to the Senate, and the
corrupted version said to have been masterminded by the NNPC hierarchy.

The delay in the
passage of the PIB had been attributed to the disagreements between the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other industry
operators over the contents of the bill.

Deliberation on the final contents of the bill is expected to commence before the end of the year.