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The Senate on Wednesday approved the 10-member board for the
newly established Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), including
two women, four men, and four statutory members who would be non-executive
directors by virtue of their office.

The board members include Aliyu Belgore, the chairman, and
Mustapha Chike Obi, the managing director /CEO. Hewet Benson, Abbas Jega, and
Dosunmu Benedicta are the three executive directors, and Eniye Ambakaderemur,
is a non-executive director.

The permanent secretary, federal ministry of finance, and the
deputy governor, financial system stability, of the Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN), are also non-executive members of the board. The other statutory
non-executive members of the board are the director general of Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC), and the managing director of Nigeria Deposit
Insurance Corporation (NDIC).

During his screening, Mr. Chike Obi, the managing director/CEO
of the corporation, promised to stick to the three cardinal objectives of the
company. He said the three objectives are to acquire the toxic loans, manage
them, and dispose the acquired assets at a profit. He pledged that under his
management, AMCON will not stray into other challenging areas in the banking
system.

“Any other problem in the banks should be the Central Bank of
Nigeria and Ministry of Finance,” Mr. Chike Obi said.

Mr. Chike Obi is a former Goldman Sachs investment banker and
son of renowned Nigerian mathematician, Chike Edozien Umuezei Obi.

Federal character

The confirmation, however, did not pass without the usual
clamour for geopolitical zoning and complaints of imbalance in the ethnicity of
the board members. The northern senators complained that there were two board
members from the south west while the north east had no representation.

The Senate president, David Mark, however, advised the
complaining senators not to sacrifice quality and merit on the altar of zoning.
He added that if the Senate committee that screened the board members and the
executive found them competent, there was no need stressing the federal
character issue, so long as it is the only zone that was not represented.

The corporation is a brainchild of the current governor of the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Lamido Sanusi, and its head office will be
located in Lagos. The corporation has a capital of N20 billion, a 100% increase
in the initial capital base intended by the promoters of the corporation.

The capital is shared in equity by the CBN and the Ministry
Finance Incorporated (MOFI). It is expected that after AMCON take over the bad
loans, the banks which made provisions for more than $16 billion dollars in
loan losses at the end of the third quarter of last year, will be able to
resume lending again.

A governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
in Ogun State, Tunji Idowu Olurin, has denied speculations that Iyabo
Obasanjo-Bello, daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has been
pencilled down as his running mate.

Mr Olurin, a retired soldier, made the explanation yesterday in
Ilaro when he was presented to the Regency Council of the ancient town.

Speaking at the palace of Olu Ilaro, the candidate further
pledged that if elected the next governor of the state, he will make “anybody
that has anything to do with our state happy.”

The former Sole Administrator of Ekiti State pledged to
“reconstruct, re-unite and rebuild the state if and when elected governor,”
while insisting that unity of purpose is needed to achieve the feat.

He told the gathering that the state’s governor, Gbenga Daniel,
is not against his aspiration.

The leader of the Elders Forum of Ogun West, Ishola Olatunji,
who presented Mr Olurin to the Regency Council, said the choice of Mr Olurin
was arrived at after two years of brainstorming on who the indigenes of the
state can trust.

Support from chiefs

He said the candidate has also received support of the paramount
ruler of Ijebuland, Sikiru Kayode Adetona; his counterpart in Remoland, Michael
Adeniyi Sonariwo and the Alake of Egbaland, Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo.

Mr Olatunji, who led 14 other elders from across the five local
governments in Ogun West, also said the father of the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Alani Bankole, has agreed to work for the emergence of Mr
Olurin as the next governor of the state.

Mr Olurin, who was accompanied by the former Military
Administrator of Lagos and Ogun States, Raji Rasaki, said Nigerians should
realise how the military background of the Senate President, David Mark, has
helped in stabilizing not only the Senate but the National Assembly.

Mr Rasaki said the record of performance of the aspirant, when he was “my
state governor in Oyo strengthens my belief in him to deliver on good
governance.”

“Oppression is expensive” is one of the quotes I was compelled
to note down during Jesse Jackson’s address at the recent Kuramo Conference on
Law and Development in Lagos.

I used to consider oppression as what I experienced living under
the Abacha regime in 1993 to 1998. Since 1999, we have been a country under
democratic governance and the overt political oppression has been replaced with
a subtle and perhaps more disruptive one.

This oppression denies us opportunity, development, prosperity,
and growth and it presents us with an almost unbeatable mortal challenge. This
oppression is All-Pervasive Corruption (APC).

I would love to know if corrupt officials of both public and
private organisations are enjoying their lives in the society they have either
created or which their actions perpetuate.

Do they enjoy living in those parts of the country where hills
of rubbish and refuse decorate the locale and threaten to render paths and
roadsides impassable because the funds for the vehicles and workers to clear
the waste have been diverted into their pockets?

Do they happily spend increasing amounts of money on basic food
items because our agricultural system’s udder is milked of its bounty long before
it gets to either the producers or the market?

Are they nonchalant about the hours spent travelling because the
funds or access to funding made available to provide transport infrastructure
on land, rail, water, and air fail to reach the appropriate parties on time or
in adequate amounts?

When they promote or appoint incompetent individuals to be the
custodians of our welfare, are they unaware that even their own welfare will be
affected by the non availability of essential social amenities? Or do they believe
that life will never surprise them and they can survive without effective
systems of governance and recourse to justice when things go wrong?

Corruption is expensive

The condition of our state schools is so poor that even domestic
staff enroll their children in privately-owned schools that are not much
better, in terms of the quality of education, than their public counterparts.

The standard of our hospitals and availability of genuine
medications is so erratic that our officials are forced to pay top dollar for
their health care at the few acknowledged hospitals and laboratories at home.
Or else they pay for medical attention abroad. Their ill-gotten gains are
wholly used up by this enormous expense and they are forced to start
accumulating anew.

Yes, I can understand how we got to where we are. After even
cursory study of our history over the past 100 years, with self-rule for 50 of
them, the birth and the logic behind the corrupt practices that have smoothed
the way for personal development and personal enrichment at the expense of
communal and national development jumps out at us.

We had no concept of national belonging, no vision that
encapsulated a desired future for our many parts, and no control or influence
over the bodies set above us as caretakers. It has been every wo/man for
him/herself.

No honour among thieves

Oppression does not discriminate amongst its children and its
victims. We find ourselves in a place where you, a cheater, will be cheated
even by your ‘countryman’.

While you are able to squeeze gratification from those whom you
have been employed to serve, you in turn are forced to tip or pay over gazetted
rate for services or goods you need.

You, the raiders of our national treasury, have not created
special lanes for yourselves like the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) ones in the
US or the public transport lanes in the UK. You are forced to drive your N20m
vehicles along with the rest of us over the tortuous pot-holed and gully-ridden
roads that even jeeps find themselves nose-deep in. You are forced to equally
venture into the unknown depths of the still dark, impenetrable pools of water
that suddenly confront you in the middle passage.

Ironically, just like us, you also raise your hands, heads, and
hearts up to the sky praying to God to assist you in successfully fleecing the
already cash-strapped and struggling public. You struggle not to go on leave so
that you can stay on top of the various schemes and scams you are
orchestrating.

So, we are all in it together. Your bullet-proofed jeep and my
car both suffer knocks and bumps. The poor man struggles to save money. You
struggle to find somewhere to save your loot without exposing you to
money-laundering or being cheated by your friends, family ,and associates whom
you entrust it to.

So, who is happier? The person in honest struggle, or the person
perpetually alert against detection and shame? Just as crime does not pay – not
in the end; corruption and the oppression that perpetuate it also do not pay.
It simply costs us more in quality of life.

Oppression is expensive and yet, it is the poor and developing
nations who choose it most often. It is a choice that we make to pay the extra
cost, rather than bear the pain.

House on Sand

Mr. Jackson also quoted from the Bible, advising us not to
“build a house on sand.” Let us be like the wise man who built his house on
rock. Let us economise, spend less, and become a wealthy nation.

Your role is to stop accepting less than the fair price for personal
gratification. Stop demanding for more than you should get. Stop giving more
than you should pay. Let’s start.

The case of five governors seeking to extend
their tenures beyond 2011, was yesterday stalled at the Federal High Court in
Abuja after an Adamawa governorship aspirant filed an application seeking to be
joined as a party in the suit.

Micheal Zira asked to be included in the lawsuit
filed by Adamawa governor, Murtala Nyako saying that the outcome of the case
will affect his ambition.

The five incumbent governors, specifically,
Ibrahim Idris of Kogi, Aliyu Wamako of Sokoto, Timiprieye Sylva of Bayelsa,
Murtala Nyako of Adamawa and Liyel Imoke of Cross-River, challenged the decision
of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct governorship
polls in their states next year while, according to them, their tenure is still
running. They also asked the court to stop the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
from conducting any primaries for the governorship elections in their states.

The court, presided by Adamu Bello, will decide
on November 9 whether to join Mr. Zira, who is running under the National
Transformation Party (NTP), in the suit.

Without merit

Both the counsel to the governors, Olusola Oke,
and the counsel to INEC, Kanu Godwin Agabi, asked the court not to grant Mr.
Zira’s application because he is not a necessary party in the suit.

Also, Mr. Agabi said Mr. Zira’s application was
defective, as a joinder ought to be a political party and not an individual.
Mr. Oke, who represented the PDP, agreed and recommended that the judge dismiss
the application for lacking in merit.

But in his reply, Godwin Ogboji, counsel to Mr
Zira, said his client sought to be joined as a co-defendant in the suit because
the governors’ action could prevent INEC from conducting free and fair
governorship elections in Adamawa state in 2011 elections. He said the lawsuit
would adversely affect him as a candidate.

Mr. Ogboji told the court that it would be in the interest of justice if the
application were granted, as none of the original parties to the suit would be
adversely affected in any way. He noted that “Mr. Zira has started campaigning
already, opening campaign offices in all the local government areas of the
state, recruiting personnel, procuring campaign vehicles and criss-crossing the
of the state in pursuit of his ambition,” he said “For anybody to suddenly stop
the said poll would be injurious to my party’s interest.”

President Goodluck Jonathan is worried that the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is fast losing grip of the South West
zone, which he believes might affect the party’s outing in the 2011
general elections.

The President is said to have expressed his fears,
during a meeting with the national chairman of the PDP, Okwesilieze
Nwodo last weekend.

Three of the six states in the South West region are
controlled by opposition parties while there are protracted crises in
the others controlled by the PDP.

The six states in the zone are Oyo, Ogun, Osun Ondo,
Ekiti and Lagos. While Oyo, Ogun and Osun are controlled by the PDP,
Lagos and Ekiti are run by Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)
administrations. The Labour Party controls the government in Ondo State.

According to a source at the national secretariat of
the PDP, Mr Okwesilieze, who returned from his overseas trip last
Friday, was said to have met with the President to discuss the state of
affairs in the ruling party.

Mr Jonathan was said to have mandated the PDP
chairman during the meeting to explore all avenues towards resolving
the crises and unite the various factions in the party in the zone.

“Jonathan gave Nwodo the mandate to explore all
avenues towards resolving the crises so as to avoid a situation where
the main opposition party in the South West, the Action Congress of
Nigeria could exploit the crack within the PDP state chapters to its
advantage,” the source said.

Both Messrs Jonathan and Nwodo were said to have
discussed the crisis in Enugu State, especially the dissolution of the
party’s executive in the state.

The President, the source said, insisted that the
matter should be left to the court to determine since some members of
the party had challenged the dissolution in court.

It was learnt that the President, who is the leader
of the party, was aware of the plan to dissolve the executive in Enugu,
having held a meeting with Mr Nwodo and some members of the National
Working Committee (NWC) before he (Nwodo) went on vacation abroad.

Our source indicated that Enugu State chapter was
dissolved because it was among the chapters whose members did not
challenge their 2008 congresses in court but merely quarrelled over the
matter.

When contacted yesterday, Ike Abonyi, the media aide
to Mr Nwodo said he was not aware that Mr Jonathan is worried over the
state of PDP in the south west zone.

“I am not aware of the President’s position on the matter you are
talking about. All I can say is that the PDP chairman returned from
abroad last Friday. I have not been briefed about his meeting with the
President,” Mr Abonyi said.

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps has said it is
ready to ensure a violence-free election as the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) begins its registration of voters in January next year.

Okeh Emmanuel, public relations officer of the corps, told
journalists in Abuja yesterday that the need to guarantee the safety and
security of voters, electoral materials and officials cannot be
over-emphasized.

He was reporting on the outcome of the Commandant-general of the
corps, Ade Abolurin’s, briefing of top management staff, including state
commandants and zonal commanders, at the corps’ national headquarters Abuja.

“All hands must be on deck as any manifestation of violence in
politics gives an unmistakable impression that the security system of the country
is yet to get it right especially in this era of modern civilization,” he said.

“All eyes are on the organization and we cannot afford to fail
or disappoint the confidence Nigerians reposed on the corps”.

Proper training

Mr. Abolurin had said that the corps would commence the training
of its electoral duty personnel drafted from state commands across the country
at the various corps’ colleges and institutions in Katsina, Abeokuta and Abuja.

The personnel have been drafted from various departments such as
the special duties, counter-terrorism, intelligence, anti-fraud, and
anti-vandal units.

“The training program will further propel the corps personnel
for better service delivery and to ensure institutional integrity,” he said.

Mr. Abolurin said the resolve to organise this training program
was in tandem with President Goodluck Jonathan’s promise to deliver credible
elections.

“As an organisation which enjoys government support and funding,
[the corps] must not fall short of expectations in the general interest of the
country,” he said.

The Democratic People’s Party (DPP) said
on Monday that the defection of former governor of Sokoto State,
Attahiru Bafarawa, to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), has not
shaken the party.

Mr. Bafarawa, the chairman, Board of
Trustee (BOT) of DPP, has since forwarded his letter of withdrawal to
the party’s national chairman, Jeremiah Useni, the national secretary of
the party, Mohammed DanAzumi, said in Abuja yesterday.

Mr. DanAzumi claimed that Mr. Bafarawa
had the constitutional right to move to any party of his choice, so long
as the constitution had given him the freedom of association.

“It’s worthy to note that a wrong defection can ruin a politician and it is better to look well before leaping,” he cautioned.

The DPP scribe said it was natural that
Mr. Bafarawa’s supporters would join him, adding that the chunk of DPP
faithful would remain.

He, however, described the defection as
expected, claiming that Mr. Bafarawa move to ACN was not a surprise to
the party, adding that discussions had been on for quite a long time.

The job creation
committee of the National Economic Management Team (NEMT) yesterday
submitted a framework to facilitate the realisation of an ambitious
target of creating 15 million new jobs in the country in the next five
years.

Chairman of the
Committee, Aliko Dangote, said in line with its specific mandate of
developing an action plan for interventions towards increased job
creation, the committee recommended priority areas in three core
sectors with strong and natural comparative advantage.

But the exercise is
already generating a conflict in responsibility among agencies of
government, as the representative of the Federal Ministry of Labour gave
indication during the ceremony that the ministry would, at the
appropriate time, express its concern over the ‘creation of another
office to do a job already assigned to the Federal Ministry of Labour –
making sure that unemployment is removed in the country.’ The official,
who represented the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chukwuemeka
Wogu, said: ‘I think Labour is well positioned today to drive and
coordinate the activities that would generate employment, whether from
the private or private sector.’ But Mr. Dangote identified the areas the
committee intends to focus its attention on to include agriculture and
agro-allied industries, manufacturing as well as building and
construction, though he also acknowledged the strategic importance of
the micro, small and medium-scale industries.

The framework
submitted yesterday focused on creating the environment that would
support entrepreneurs effort to set up new businesses; provide
opportunities for existing businesses to grow, as well as help mobilize
the informal sectors into the mainstream of the economy to enable them
benefit from government and private sector supports.

The committee
identified the entertainment and sports industries as emerging sectors
where the country has strong and natural advantages, where opportunities
to create jobs are immense, pointing out that as an extremely creative
and competitive nation with abundance of young people, these would be
natural areas of growth and focus.

At the core of the
overhaul, the committee explained, is the need to resuscitate
structured, credible and respected vocational programmes to provide the
skills that would fuel the growth of local industries and improve the
attractiveness of vocational careers.

Wait and see The
committee therefore asked government to appoint a Special Adviser to the
president on Job Creation, who would also be a member of the NEMT as
well as establishment of an Agency for Job creation responsible for
gathering, analyzing and disseminating information on job creation.

“The agency will be a
public-private partnership, but with independent leadership and
thinking to ensure that performance on job creation takes centre stage
in the assessment of the tenures of successive governments,” the
committee said.

Minister of Finance,
Segun Aganga, emphasized the importance of creating jobs for the
people, particularly for the youths who have the highest rate of
unemployment among the age bracket of 15 to 24 years, at 41.6 percent.
He said despite the growth of the economy, projected at 7.7percent this
year, unemployment has continued to outstrip the economic growth.

Though the Minister
was unable to explain how the committee would achieve its mandate
differently than the existing job creation agencies like the National
Directorate for Employment (NDE) and Ministry of Employment of
Productivity, he urged Nigerians to “wait and see” as said government is
determined to ensure its impact is felt as felt as possible.

The Abia State
Government, yesterday, said it has uncovered a plot by some people to
smuggle 50 suspected kidnappers out of the country.

Kingsley Emeruwa,
the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, who disclosed this while
briefing journalists at the government house, said the state government
has reported the case to the inspector general of police. According to
him, a member of the group, who he said is a relative of the former
personal assistant to the impeached Deputy Governor, Chris Akomas,
impersonated the substantive Deputy Governor, Eric Nwakanma, to ask for
a waiver from the South African Embassy for entry visas for 50 persons
who they claimed were to undergo training on project management and
window server. The state government’s spokesperson said a letter from
the South African embassy to the government asking for confirmation
drew attention to the scam.

Reduced crime rate

Mr Emerua, who also
said kidnapping in the state has reduced following the invitation of
soldiers to the state, said the state Governor, Theodore Orji, has
banned any form of reception party by any group for the soldiers. He
also said the governor has requested that nobody should place any
advertorial for him on his birthday, but instead donate the money that
would have been used for such venture to charity.

The Special Adviser to the governor on security matters, Awa Agwu,
denied media reports that between 12 and 15 persons were kidnapped in
Aba last week. According to him, kidnapping in the state has dropped to
the barest minimum. Mr Agwu said political opponents of the government
are using the press to write things that are not factual, and urged
journalists to crosscheck their facts before publication. “The
prevalence of crime in Abia is below 15% and we commend the Army for a
job well done in the fight against kidnapping,” he said.

The Chief Judge of
the Federal Capital Territory, Lawal H. Gummi, has announced that he
will deliver his judgment on a suit challenging the party on the issue
of zoning on November 24.

Mr. Gummi fixed the
date after listening to arguments by the parties in the suit filed by
Sani Aminu Dutsinma, a presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), yesterday.

Mr. Dutsinma had
sued both the party and its national chairman, Okweselize Nwodo,
contending that the party had deliberately ignored its constitutional
zoning arrangement to make room for Goodluck Jonathan to contest in
2011.

In an originating
summons deposed, Mr. Dutsinma had asked the court to force the party to
adhere to the provisions of its constitution and zone the presidency to
the Northern zone of the country.

The PDP’s defence

The PDP refuted the
allegations that it had previously zoned the presidency to the north,
and maintained that it would be discriminatory to exclude anyone from
contesting election in a democratic setting on the basis of religion or
place of birth.

“It is our
submission that nomination of candidate of a political party has always
been regarded as a domestic affair,” said Olusola Oke, the party’s legal
adviser.

“If internal
democracy must be deepened, no individual aspirant should be given
advantage over the other by reason of his place of origin,” Mr. Oke
said.

He asked the court
to strike out the matter for lack of jurisdiction, saying that Mr.
Dutsinma was not a bona-fide member of the party, having failed to pay
his dues for the past 3 years.

Furthermore, the
party said that its constitution never specified that any zone will
serve for two consecutive terms as president.

He, therefore, asked the court to discountenance Mr. Dutsinma’s claim that a zone is entitled to two terms.