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The Nigerian Union
of Pensioners (NUP), Ondo State chapter, yesterday faulted the recent
biometric enrollment for pensioners across the country, saying it is a
pointer to the fact that “Nigeria is a failed state”.

The pensioners’
outburst is coming on the heels of the directive given by the Permanent
Secretary from the office of the Head of Service of the federation,
that all pensioners who were not available during the biometric
exercise should report to Abuja for further enrollment. The pensioners,
however, blamed the office of the Head of Service for the shortcomings
experienced during the biometric registration, stressing that the
office lacked the technical skill to carry out such a programme.

The State Chairman
of the NUP, Eni Olotu, told his colleagues yesterday in Akure that the
action of the Head of Service was totally unfair to the pensioners. Mr
Olotu, who doubles as the Chairman of the south-west Zone of the union,
lamented that 2,000 out of the 6,000 pensioners in the state were not
registered during the biometric exercise. He noted that the inability
of the pensioners to be registered was as a result of the lack of
enough manpower and equipment brought to the state during the exercise.

“During the
registration exercise, the people who carried out the assignment came
with just two computers, which was not enough for the pensioners in the
state,” he said.

“Despite that many
of our pensioners came from a long distance for the exercise, those
posted to the state still messed up. One of the laptops being used for
the exercise was stolen. So, do you now blame our members for the head
of service’s ineptitude? It is not true that our members were not
available for the exercise. Some whose data were captured during the
exercise also have one problem on the other.”

Pondering options

The Chairman said
the directive that pensioners who were not registered go to Abuja for
another round of registration was not acceptable to the union.

“We vehemently
reject the directive that our members who were not registered should
come to Abuja. We are totally against it,” he said.

“Why should aged
people between the ages of 67 and 75 be asked to come to Abuja for
registration exercise? It is totally unfair on our members. How do you
expect people who will not collect more than N1,000 every month to now
go to Abuja?”

Mr Olotu also
pointed out that the union might be forced to protest if the issue was
not urgently resolved. “It has again been proven that Nigeria is a
failed state. There is nothing which government can do well. We have
served the country meritoriously and deserve to be treated well. The
government is only giving us our right and nothing more; it is not a
favour or privilege,” Mr Olotu said.

He hinted that the south-west zone of the union would deliberate on
the issue later in Ibadan to decide the next line of action.

The Federal
Government says it is committed to the development of more gold mines,
as part of efforts to broaden the country’s economic base and diversify
revenue sources away from oil.

Mohammed Sada, the
minister of mines and steel development, who disclosed this yesterday
in Abuja at the 2010 ministerial briefing, said a lot of progress has
been recorded with the ongoing reforms aimed at creating the desired
economic impact and contribution to the country’s gross dometic product
(GDP).

The minister, who
spoke on the theme, ‘Revitalising the Nigerian minerals and metal
sectors’, said government is working seriously towards establishing
more mines in the country.

The mines are
expected to help the country produce about 650,000 ounces of gold per
annum, considering the ongoing high level of exploration for the
mineral at various locations in the country.

“In the next two or
three years, the country is going to have more gold mines. Currently,
government is assisting in the establishment of the first major gold
mine in the country in Osun State.

“But, we have to
focus attention on the reforms and ensure that operators avoid those
things that would drive away potential investors in the industry,” he
said.

Effective regulation

As a prelude to the
effective regulation of operations in the sector, the minister said
about 10,000 cumulative applications have been processed for various
mineral titles between 2008 and 2010, out of which 6,000 have already
been approved and granted, while the ministry has supervised the
successful reclamation of two abandoned mine sites in Badawa, Kano
State, and Nsukwe, Abia State.

Besides, he said a
comprehensive mining inspectorate template has been created for proper
supervision of mining activities in the country, while a fully
automated cadastral office has been established to ensure that adequate
information about the various mineral resources available in the
country are put online at the disposal of potential foreign and local
investors.

As part of effort
to help the government diversify solutions to the perennial power
supply problems, the minister said the ministry is working with the
presidential task force on power to ensure that coal is considered a
veritable alternative source to the existing sources of power
generation and supply.

Strategy for poverty reduction

Describing Nigeria
as a country known globally for tin, columbite, and tantalite
production and export, as well as coal exploited as local energy source
and for export, the minister said the development of the nation’s
minerals has been adopted as a strategy for poverty reduction and rural
wealth generation.

In line with this
strategy, he said government has disbursed and managed a World
Bank-assisted micro grant to 86 mining co-operatives and communities,
valued at about $3million (about N450million), saying government is
targeting about 250 beneficiaries before the end of the project.

He identified lack
of reliable geological infrastructure for data generation and
dissemination as one of the problems the industry is facing, assuring
that under the reform dispensation, government has divested interest in
mining business, and concentrate on being administrator/regulator, to
allow the private sector to drive mining operations in the country.

“In view of the critical importance of steel, the steel department
is currently undertaking a critical study on ways to revamp the steel
sector, so that it can play its role in the nation’s
industrialisation,” he said, adding that government should help
mobilise the necessary funding required for the acquisition of
geosciences data, sustained mineral exploration, and institutional and
human capital development.

Africa needs a coordinated multi-country response to
tackle the menace of cross border diseases, President Goodluck Jonathan
said yesterday in Abuja.

Presenting a keynote address to declare open the
Inter-Country meeting on Cross-Border Public Health Issues, at the
Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, Mr. Jonathan said, “Diseases that cross
borders need a coordinated multi-country response. You are therefore
challenged to deliberated and agree on best practices in addressing
cross-border public health issues.”

The president who was represented by the Vice
President, Namadi Sambo, also said he was delighted that “we sister
African countries are meeting together to solve our major health
problems,” adding that as a sub region, health issues in one country
are bound to affect the neighbouring countries unless guidelines on
prevention and control are developed and implemented.

“The world is only secure if all of us are safe,” he said.

The President commended the Ministers of Health from
the various countries “for conceiving this idea of cross-border
discussions.” He also stated that with the calibre of delegates at the
deliberations, he was sure that “the outcome of the meeting would
appreciate Africa’s health challenges with a view to building bridges,
including networking and creating workable partnerships to tackle
them.”

Mr. Jonathan further disclosed that Nigeria has
placed health as a cardinal objective, stressing that a healthy nation,
creates a healthy human capacity needed for national development.

“We as a country are committed to creating an
enabling environment to ensure smooth implementation of the
recommendations from this meeting in line with the dictates of our
National health policy.”

He, therefore, directed the Ministry of Health and
the Millennium Development Goals’ office to setup a Regional Centre for
Disease Control in Nigeria as soon as possible.

The President also used the opportunity to commend
the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organisation and other
development partners for the successes achieved in the eradication of
polio and guinea worm in the country, adding that such efforts should
also be geared towards controlling diseases such as cholera,
cerebro-spinal meningitis and malaria.

Speaking earlier, the Minister of Health, Onyebuchi
Chukwu, said cross-border public health issues have persisted despite
the existence of guiding resolutions, adding that to this end countries
represented at the meeting had decided to jointly consult and
deliberate on an effective way of implementing these resolutions.

In his remark, the WHO Regional Director for Africa,
Luis Sambo, commended Nigeria for hosting the meeting, which he said
gives the countries the opportunity to share experiences and strategies
to overcome their health challenges.

He used the occasion to commend Nigeria on her
efforts to eradicate polio in the country, disclosing that Nigeria had
achieved 98 per cent reduction in polio cases, with only eight cases
recorded as at June, 2010.

Countries at the meeting include; Benin Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Central African Republic.

The Akure division of the Appeal Court commenced
proceedings yesterday with the inaugural sitting of the appellate
court, five months after approval was granted.

At yesterday’s proceedings, six criminal appeal
cases were attended to by the three judges posted to the division by
the president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami. They are the
presiding judge, N. S. Ngwuta, C.E. Iyizoba, and M.A.A. Adumein.

The Ekiti State governorship election appeal that
was heard at the Court of Appeal, Ilorin, Kwara State, would have been
heard at the Akure court if it had commenced sitting at that time.

Speaking before the beginning of proceedings, Mr.
Ngwuta remarked that the taking off of the Akure division of the court
was the fulfillment of people’s aspiration in the state to bring
administration of justice nearer to the people.

“I want to warn that in fulfillment of every
desire, there is an obligation created. It is our duty to lay proper
foundation for the new Court of Appeal division in the state, but to do
that better, we seek the co-operation between the Bench and the Bar.

“It is going to be joint responsibility. I urge you to be diligent
in your work, and you should not file frivolous petitions and
applications. Moreover, be honest in your dealings and in doing that,
you owe the court a higher duty,” the presiding justice stated.

On Monday, the
Chief Judge of Kogi State, Nasiru Ajanah, advocated for the financial
autonomy of the state’s judiciary as a vital element in maintaining its
independence.

Justice Ajanah made
the appeal while speaking during the commencement of the 2010/2011
legal year at the State High Sourt in Lokoja.

“It is important to
reiterate here and strongly emphasize that the judiciary is not seeking
autonomy for its own sake, but in the interest of the government and
generality of the people.” The state chief judge said the court’s
financial independence was supported by section 121[3] of the 1999
constitution, which states that money from the consolidated revenue
fund belonging to the judiciary should be paid directly to the heads of
the courts.

“The truth remains
that the Nigerian system of government involves checks and balances
between the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary,” he said.
“The independent judiciary has a vital constitutional role to ensure
that the acts of the Executive and the Legislature comply fully with
the basic law and that the fundamental rights and freedoms which are at
the heart of the Nigerian constitution are fully safeguarded.” Mr
Ajanah also appealed to the state governor, Ibrahim Idris, to ensure
the implementation of the constitutional provision.

Staff welfare

Mr Ajanah said that
the state judiciary was the first to implement the new salary structure
for judicial workers. He also said that within the year, laptops were
provided to all 60 magistrates manning the various courts.

“This has greatly improved the quality of judgments coming from those courts,” he said.

Mr Ajanah said that
the effect of the implementation of the new salary structure meant an
improvement in the welfare of the workers and a reduction of corruption
to the barest minimum. He promised to extend the arrangement to the
area courts in the coming year.

“We are also working towards acquiring verbatim reporting equipment
to reduce the issue of recording proceedings in long hand,” he said.

President Goodluck
Jonathan yesterday commissioned the Total Radar Coverage for the
Nigerian Airspace (TRACON) seven years after the contract for the
project was signed.

The contract to
execute the project was signed in 2003 between the Nigerian Airspace
Management Agency (NAMA) and Thales S.A of France under the Ministry of
Aviation in the sum of 66,500,870 Euros.

The equipment has been installed in nine airports across the country.

The project
comprises 4 Primary Radar and 5 Secondary Radar Heads co-located in
Nnamdi Azikwe, Murtala Muhammad, Malam Aminu Kano and Port Harcourt
International airports. TRACON has 5 relay stations which serve as
standalone Secondary Surveillance Radar located at Talata Mafara,
Maiduguri, Numan, Obubra and Ilorin.

During the
commissioning, Mr. Jonathan noted that this was another stride by the
present administration to overhaul the aviation system and raise it to
international standards.

“This is another
deliberate stride by this administration to provide safe and secure
airspace across the country. The sector is currently undergoing
transformation from its past state of disrepair to conform with
international standards” he said.

He also noted that
this is coming shortly after Nigeria received the category 1 status in
the aviation sector, adding that this was a befitting gift for
Nigeria’s 50th anniversary.

“The TRACON equipment installation is a good milestone and a good 50th anniversary gift to Nigeria” he said.

Mr. Jonathan
commended the Minister of Aviation, Fidelia Njeze and her team as well
as the officials NAMA for the success of the project.

The Minister of
Aviation, Mrs. Njezeh, is the seventh minister to work with the seventh
project team and Mr. Jonathan is the third President to commission the
project before its completion according to the Acting Managing
Director, of NAMA, Nicolas Udoh.

Mrs. Njezeh in her welcome address admitted that the journey towards the realisation of this milestone was not an easy one.

She also noted that
the project was birthed to give surveillance to the airspace and “to
ensure the safety of all aircraft within the Nigerian airspace to avoid
collusion”.

“This will make Nigeria a force to be reckoned with”, as it is the third after Egypt and South Africa to attend this status.

The architectural
design of TRACON consists of Voice Communication Systems, Voice
Recording Systems, Very High Frequency Transceivers, fibre optic,
Display Consoles, Integrated Aircraft Billing systems and spares while
radars at the international airports comprise of both the primary and
secondary radars.

Between 2005 and 2006 alone, Nigeria witnessed two ghastly air crashes that claimed several lives.

Following the
tragedies, one of the projects embarked upon to address the safety
needs of the industry was the TRACON Project aimed at providing total
coverage for the Nigerian airspace to enhance civil and military
surveillance of aircraft (s) operating within the country.

The project was awarded by the Federal Government in 2003 and was supposed to be completed within 36 months.

Dignitaries present at the occasion include the governors of Delta
and Rivers, members of the National Assembly, Head of the Civil Service
Federation, some members of the Federal Executive Council, the Chief of
Defence Staff and Service Chiefs amongst others.

The N2.2 billion fraud case against Joe
Musa, former director general of the National Arts Gallery, was stalled
on Monday by the absence of the judge, Olukayode Adeniyi, at the
Federal Capital Territory High Court.

An officer of the court, who requested
anonymity, told the open court that Justice Adeniyi had commenced his
official leave. The move stalled further prosecution witnesses
testimonies on the case.

Mr Adeniyi was made a vacation judge in
August, when all the judges at the FCT judicial territory were on their
sabbaticals. All the cases listed for his hearing have been shifted to
further dates. Mr Musa’s case was adjourned to sometime between October
30 and November 4.

Case history

The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) on January 29 instituted an eight-count charge
against Mr Musa and three other senior officials of the gallery. The
four were accused by Festus Chidi Orji, the gallery’s chief internal
auditor, of pocketing about N40 million meant for staff training.

The accused, who jointly pleaded not
guilty to any of the allegations, said that no funds were particularly
voted for staff training during Musa’s tenure. According to them, the
account books of the office under Mr Musa were kept clean for the first
time in the history of the organization.

Mr Musa said the allegations were baseless and orchestrated to replace him.

The other accused persons are: Olusegun Ogunba, director of finance;
Kweku Tandoh, director of research and education; Elizbeth Oparagu,
deputy director of administration and Chinedu Obi, special assistant to
Mr Musa.

The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), on Monday,
said that errors from human performances account for over 75 per cent
of air accidents and incidents recorded globally in the aviation
industry.

The agency, at its international aviation safety
conference, organized in Lagos, explained that for air safety to be
fully achieved worldwide and in Nigeria particularly, human errors in
the aviation sector must be reduced to the barest minimum. “This
conference seeks to boost industry operators’ understanding of human
factor issues in aircraft operations with a view to reducing errors
from human performances to zero level and ultimately improve aviation
safety,” said Sam Oduselu, the Commissioner of the bureau, while
speaking at the event which witnessed the massive presence of industry
stakeholders.

According to Mr Oduselu, the conference, which seeks
to engage the industry players in cross fertilization of ideas on how
to put a complete end to any form of aircraft accident or incident,
became imperative following the recent rising cases of air mishap
experienced in the world’s aviation sector. He underscored the fact
that more than 80 per cent of aviation hull loss accidents are linked
with human factors, adding that global statistics have revealed that
human errors in aviation community has become a growing concern. “Human
factors are implicated in all incidents and accidents because each link
of the safety chain involves human beings,” he said. “Invariably, human
decisions and potential human errors are seen in accidents or incidents
involving one or more of design, maintenance, organization, the crew or
ATC (Air Traffic Control).”

The duties of the AIB

Mr Oduselu said that AIB conducts investigations and
embarks on relevant safety research and educational programmes to
emphasize on safety of the nation’s airspace, in order not to have a
repetition of the mishaps of 2005 and 2006 that saw to the untimely
deaths of hundreds of travellers. According to him, for human errors to
be reduced to a zero level, the government, airlines and agencies
should be willing to invest in manpower development. “Human errors will
reduce when capacity building is given a prime place in aviation
development,” he said.

Fidelia Njeze, the Minister of Aviation, who was
represented by Anne Ene-Ita, the Permanent Secretary, stated that human
errors in aviation is one challenge constantly confronting the sector
on a daily basis. “Although improvements in technology have reduced
equipment failure in the list of causal factors of aviation disasters,
human element as the interface among other components of aviation
operations remains an issue that is yet to be fully addressed,” she
said.

“Experts must begin to adopt a systematic approach to
investigations that take into cognizance the roles and delicate
interactions that take place between the different preventive stages
before accident or incident occurs,” she said. “To its credit,
investigative reports of incidents and accidents in Nigeria in the past
have no doubt provided valuable information that have helped shaped the
direction the sector has taken in terms of safety, but we must do more.”

The bribery scandal
involving Nigerian born FIFA Executive Committee member, Amos Adamu has
been generating a lot of comments from football experts across the
world. But in Nigeria, the opposite is the case.

Most people NEXT
contacted over the scandal, either declined to comment about it, and
those who did spoke on condition of anonymity.

The scandal gained
global prominence after British newspaper, The Sunday Times, filmed
Adamu agreeing to accept $800 000 in return for his vote in the 2018
Fifa World Cup bid.

A former Nigerian
international described the scenario as an “embarrassment to the
country”, but hoped that Adamu will get off the hook.

Even the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) were not ready to dabble into the issue, until more facts emerge.

“We just have to
wait for the outcome of this investigation before we can issue a
statement on the matter,” said Musa Amadu, the acting secretary general
of the NFF.

The wait may be
till Wednesday when Adamu is expected to face an ethics panel at the
Zurich headquarters of the football governing body.

Adamu in Zurich

Adamu was at FIFA’s
headquarters on Monday to meet with the body’s president Sepp Blatter,
who has promised an “in-depth investigation” into allegations against
Adamu, and another FIFA official, Reynald Temarii.

Two other Africans
who were fingered in the British newspaper investigations are also
expected to face the ethics committee on Wednesday.

They are FIFA
Referees’ committee member Amadou Diakite from Mali who said the
undercover reporters should offer about $1 million, and Slim Aloulou,
the Tunisian chairman of FIFA’s disputes resolution committee, who said
they should not pay “peanuts,” suggesting bribing members 1 million
pounds each.

Adamu is alleged to have said the money will be used to build artificial pitches in Nigeria.

The video released
by the Sunday Times appeared to show Adamu asking for the sum for four
artificial football pitches in Nigeria, to be paid to him personally.

Asked if the payment would influence his vote, Adamu is heard
saying, “Obviously, it will have an effect. Of course it will. Because
certainly if you are to invest in that, that means you also want the
vote.”

Henry Okah has
denied that he is the leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of
the Niger Delta (MEND), the militant group which claimed responsibility
for the October 1st dual bombings in which about 16 people were
reportedly killed.

Mr. Okah was
speaking when he was being questioned by prosecution lawyer, Shaun
Abrahams, at his bail application hearing at a Johannesburg court
yesterday.

When shown
documents seized from his house on October 2nd, in which his wife and
“a representative of the Okah family” wrote to Amnesty International
calling him the leader of MEND, Mr. Okah said:

“I am confused
because I don’t know where this is coming from. I don’t accept that
this letter is from my wife. The president has just made it clear that
Tompolo is the leader of MEND. I assume the leader of MEND is Tompolo.
There are lots of commanders,” he said.

When asked by prosecution who the overall leader of MEND is, he replied, “I have no knowledge of that.”

In an intriguing
twist of events, after he was shown an email sent by his wife to
international media organisations inviting them to a rally, Mr. Okah
did a backtrack.

“There are 30
international email addresses in here. Your wife says you are the
leader of MEND. You are notifying the world that you are the leader of
MEND. Yet, you are in court today saying you are not,” Mr. Abrahams
said.

But Mr. Okah
replied, “The media describes me as leader of MEND. For clarity, that’s
why I think she did it…that’s the only way the media will know what
she’s talking about.”

Okah’s ‘purchase list’

As his cross
examination continued, Mr. Abrahams read from a notebook seized from
him in which some notes were made in his own writing.

When some of the entries were read, however, Mr. Okah said he did not remember what they meant, as “it was a long time ago.”

A more recent entry
was dated September 19, just two weeks before the bombings, and read:
“we will fight to the finish.” Mr. Okah said that he had nothing to do
with the Niger Delta or MEND.

Also written in the
notebook were the following items: “Boats, Micro-uzzi, binoculars,
Jungle boots, 40mm cannon, raincoats, Surface to Air Missiles, Grenade
launchers, Land mines, Assault machine guns.”

Prosecution told
Mr. Okah that he wrote these down because he “wanted to source them for
the militants in the Niger Delta region.”

However, Mr. Okah insisted that they were notes made when he was reading war books “for intellectual purposes.”

“I’m someday planning to write a book on military tactics,” he added.

Judge Hein Louw
described the proceedings as worrying, and said to Mr. Okah; “Why write
down this list…it seems to me a purchase list…if you were in my
position, would this not look incriminating to you?”

‘Girlfriends can supply weapons’

Another document
seized from Mr. Okah’s home was said to be from the militant leader,
Asari Dokubo, who claimed to have bought N6.8 million worth of arms and
paid in advance. Mr. Okah, however, told the prosecution that:

“Asari Dokubo is
one of the numerous thugs who is acting on behalf of the Nigerian
government to destroy my image…I really don’t understand why anyone
should consider the rantings (sic) of an ant.”

When the
prosecution pointed out that an invoice from a Chinese company seized
from his home had some of the items listed in his diaries, Mr. Okah
maintained that Godsway Orubebe, minister of Niger Delta, was
instrumental to that quotation getting into his possession.

He added that; “Nigeria is so corrupt that even minister’s girlfriends can supply weapons. Everybody supplies weapons.”

Throughout his time
in the witness stand, Mr. Okah maintained that the Nigerian government
was trying to set him up by allegedly bribing journalists, and that
“even the Attorney-General was a liar” for suggesting he had links with
Hezbollah.

When asked by Mr. Abrahams to be specific in his testimony, Mr Okah replied :

“I am trying
desperately to stop embarrassing the Nigerian government.” To which Mr.
Abrahams replied: “Mr. Okah, the only person you are embarrassing is
yourself.”

On statements by
prosecution that his brother, Charles, who was arrested at the weekend,
sent MEND’s latest message of a bomb attack, Mr. Okah replied: “if you
are able to prove that he sent the email, then he should be held
responsible for that.”

Mr. Okah’s bail application continues tomorrow (Wednesday, October 20).