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Although Nigeria
contributed much to liberate South Africa from the stranglehold of
apartheid and, thereafter, threw her economic doors wide open for South
African investors and goods, these actions have not stopped a low
estimation of her citizens by South Africans, the South African High
Commissioner to Nigeria, Kingsley Mamabola, said on Tuesday, in Abuja,
at a meeting with the minister of interior, Emmanuel Ihenachor.

Answering a
question from NEXT at the meeting planned to explore ways of broadening
the existing bilateral relationship between both countries, Mr.
Mamabolo gave reasons for the increasing hostilities and physical
attacks launched against Nigerians in South Africa.

According to him,
the regard for Nigerians in South Africa is very low because the
criminal activities of a few Nigerian citizens there are the most
visible things to the hosts. He denied, however, any insinuation of
government backing for the attacks, insisting that a lot of effort was
being made to offer Nigerians in South Africa more protection under the
law.

“There is a lot
that needs to be done about the perception of South Africans about
Nigerians. The perception South Africans have about Nigerians is not
good at all. Those Nigerians of a very tiny percentage – I will say
just about one percent – engage in crimes that are generally seen by
all and which overshadow the good works of the majority of Nigerians.

“South Africa is a
law abiding society. There is law and order in our country. There is no
lawlessness. South Africans as a whole fight for human rights in
general. So, it is not true that the government is not doing anything
on the situation. It is only in the newspapers that you see that (the
hostility against Nigerians),” Mr. Mamabola said.

Responding, Mr.
Ihenachor openly refuted a tag of ‘haven of piracy’ and related
criminal activities wrongly placed on Nigeria in the global maritime
industry.

Poor perception

The minister
denounced the poor perception and challenged promoting the perception
to either show evidence of the high activities of pirates in Nigeria or
stop the image smear.

“I remember that he
said that when he (Mr. Mamabolo) was posted here (to Nigeria), people
were saying: ‘why are they punishing you? Why are they sending you
here?’

“Now, he is enjoying Nigeria. It is an issue of perception,” the Nigerian minister said.

“If you read the
papers and go on the Internet, you will never want to come to Nigeria
because they say Nigeria is the second piracy capital in the whole
world. This is untrue. I, as a master mariner, I have always been
saying that I have not seen even one pirate in Nigeria. I do not know
where those reports are coming from. If you report that Nigeria is a
piracy nation, then there is a tendency that insurance on all the goods
coming to Nigeria will rise,” Mr. Ihenachor said.

Mr. Mamabolo
promised to look into the case of the deportation of a Nigerian from
South Africa for non-possession of yellow card, with a view to
preventing a future occurrence.

Apart from
immigration issues, other areas the FG is planning to explore through
the meeting with the South African government include prison management
and maritime enterprise.

The South African
government says it hopes to learn from Nigeria how it has successfully
engaged in international peacekeeping for years now, as well as how it
has effectively managed the conflicts of its federating units to form
unity in diversity.

Nigeria needs to
create 25 million jobs within the next ten years if it wants to tackle
poverty and unemployment, according to a report presented yesterday in
Abuja.

The five-chapter
report was an independent project by Next Generation Nigeria, a youth
group exploring how the nation could benefit from its young people. It
was compiled in collaboration with the British Council and the Harvard
School of Public Health.

Presenting the
report, Frank Nweke, director general of the Nigeria Economic Summit
Group, who worked on the project, said a shortage of jobs is a serious
challenge.

“Without remedial
action, the crisis in the job market will worsen rapidly as growing
numbers of young Nigerians enter the workforce,” he said.

Mr. Nweke said the
country cannot generate new jobs unless it diversifies its economy. He
called for a reduction in the overdependence on oil and more
investments in agriculture, information and communications technology,
textile, and leather.

“The oil industry
contributes 40 percent to the national GDP [Gross Domestic Product],”
he said. “But it is highly capital-intensive and employs only a tiny
fraction of the population.”

More investment

Nigeria needs to
spend up to 4 percent more of its GDP on the infrastructure that will
underpin a world class economy, said Mr. Nweke.

Poor power generation, in particular, has forced a lot of industries to close down in the last few decades.

“Unless we address
those things that made them shut down, the kind of employment needed to
take the youth off the streets, make them more productive, and prepare
the country to be the largest economy, cannot be generated,” he said.

Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, managing director, World Bank, and chairperson of the
Next Generation Nigeria, said at the event that Nigeria must tap into
the energies of the young. If this demographic are managed well,
Nigeria can take off in the manner that countries like South Korea were
able to do in the 1980s and 1990s.

“However, this demographic dividend will not come up automatically,” she said.

“Immediate policy actions need to be taken to seize the window of
opportunity. We need to invest in the health and education of our young
people,” she said.

Workers of the
Union Bank of Nigeria have shelved their plans to go on strike until
discussions over their disagreement with the management is resolved on
September 30.

The workers accused
the bank’s management of mismanagement, ethnic prejudice, and massive
layoff of workers without adherence to due process.

The agreement,
signed between the warring parties, include an accord to halt
retrenchment, and the cut off of workers’salaries, and tax deductions
reverted to previous pre-July status, among other contentious issues.

Denja Yakub, the
secretary of the Nigerian Labour Congress told NEXT that a one-month
discussion framework has been agreed upon by workers and the bank
management.

Reaching a consensus

“We agreed on the
contentious issues that they would resolve all those issues that were
raised before the 30th of September. And then they say they are not
retrenching and do not have the plans to retrench. They also said that
those who were affected by the sack the bank embarked on would be
reconsidered,” he said.

Last week, the
Nigerian Labour Congress published a letter it wrote to the governor of
the Central Bank of Nigeria stating that dangers abound if Funke
Osibodu, the bank’s GMD/CEO, is not checked. It added “No bank in the
country has the record of unfair labour relations and attitude as being
exhibited by the Madam Osibodu-led management team.”

Bank denies allegations

In a rejoinder
published in a national daily yesterday, the bank denied the
allegations levelled against it by the union stating, “We view with
concern the inaccuracies and misinformation contained in the
advertorial letter written by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) to the
Central Bank of Nigeria.”

The statement by
Francis Barde, head of corporate affairs, stated that it has noted the
list of demands from the NLC and dialogue had since commenced. “The
bank states that it values the harmonious relationship with the
in-house staff unions and will continue to work and dialogue with them
and the NLC.”

The bank said that
it is on record that most of the staff that were terminated or
dismissed were involved in various acts of gross misconduct, which
resulted in losses by the bank.

Mr. Barde in an
interview said, “The agreement is that the management will revert to
what the members of staff were enjoying before, pending when they are
able to sit down together with the management to decide where we are
now. So, whatever that it was before, they have been reverted, since
the staff are not comfortable with what the management have done, so if
there would be any change now, they would sit down with the management
and decide, because that is the crux of the argument.”

The previous
management of Union Bank, along with seven others were sacked by Sanusi
Lamido Sanusi, the Central Bank governor, on grounds of mismanagement
of funds, lax credit risk management practices, among others.

The Ekiti State governor, Segun Oni, yesterday asked
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to explain
statements credited to its officials that the tenure of office of all
the governors that won rerun elections should be counted from May 29,
2007 when they first assumed office, saying INEC needs to explain what
happens to the period spent in office by acting governors in those
states.

State governors such as Timpre Sylva of Bayelsa
State, Liyel Imoke of Cross River State, Aliyu Daikingari of Kebbi
State, and Segun Oni were removed from office midway into their tenure
after losing at the electoral tribunal before winning back their posts.

But Mr. Oni said the issues surrounding the tenure of office is simply a constitutional matter.

“Even as we are not afraid of standing for elections
anytime, provided the constitution is followed, it must, however, be
stated that laws are not known to take retroactive effect,” he said.
“Though the issue of tenure of office of the states where by-elections
were held is still a subject of various law suits, we must state
without fear of contradiction that tenure of Oni and other governors
whose elections were nullified and returned to office after winning by
or rerun elections is not for the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) to fix. It is simply a constitutional matter,” said
Wale Ojo-Lanre, the spokesperson to the Governor Oni.

Blaming the opposition

Mr. Ojo-Lanre, in another development, described the
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the state as a party of failed
politicians who abhor development and progress of the state. He was
referring to statements credited to the ACN that the Ekiti State
University Teaching Hospital has not witnessed any development since Mr
Oni took office.

“The party’s comment on the Haemo-Dialysis Centre
donated to the state University Teaching Hospital (UTH) by MTN is a
demonstration of their frustration and hatred for the well-being of
Ekiti people,” Mr Ojo-Lanre said.

“It is on record that only 12 hospitals were selected
out of 60 applications that were submitted. Governor Oni also wrote a
personal letter to the MTN Foundation, reiterating the state
government’s commitment for the project,” he said.

The spokesperson said that the hospital was picked as
one of the 12 recipients of a dialysis centre due to the report of a
team sent to the state by the foundation that claimed that it met the
standard set for the installation of the dialysis equipment.

The Ekiti State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria had on
Tuesday lauded the MTN Foundation for donating the haemodialysis centre
to the University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti. But the party said the
state government has not fulfilled its obligation to the hospital.

Former Presidential
Candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Pat Utomi, is expected to
moderate the public debate between the executive and legislative arms
of the Ogun State Government over the controversial N100b bond.

The State’s
Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Sina Kawonise, who made
this known yesterday in Abeokuta, said the debate is scheduled to hold
on Wednesday, September 8, 2010.

Lawmakers had challenged the states’ governor, Gbenga Daniel, to the debate after they declined to back the bond deal.

Mr. Kawonise
initially mocked the idea of a public debate on the matter but the
position was later changed. The lawmakers promised to okay the bond if
they lost the debate.

Live transmission

Mr Kawonise said
the public debate, which will be transmitted live on Gateway Television
and Gateway Radio, will hold at the station’s studio at 10.00am and
that the executive and the legislature are expected to be represented
by three members each.

“The public debate
which will be transmitted live on Gateway Television and Gateway Radio
will hold in the studios of the Gateway Television, Abeokuta as from
10.00am, while a renowned political economist, Prof Pat Utomi will
serve as the Moderator,” he said.

“The state government wishes to give the assurance that all
necessary arrangements have been put in place at the Gateway Television
to ensure smooth transmission of the programme. It is hoped that the
leadership of the state house of assembly will live up to its call on
this crucial matter.”

The Oyo State
governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, has warned the state’s chairman of the
proscribed National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Lateef
Akinsola Oluwatoki (aka Tokyo), against embarking on any act that could
disrupt the peace of the state.

The governor made this known in a release from the office of his chief press secretary, Abraham Ojo, on Wednesday.

He expressed
disgust at the threat posed by Mr. Akinsola, the recently reinstated
chairman of the drivers’ union, in a letter sent to traditional rulers
and political figures within the state on the 30th of August. The
governor said that the chairman will face the full wrath of the law if
he fails to heed the advice, adding that the union remains proscribed
in the state.

“For the avoidance
of doubt, the union remains proscribed by the state government
following the spate of violence unleashed by the leadership of the
union, leading to wanton destruction of property and unwarranted fear
by the residents. The circumstances leading to proscription of the
NURTW are very well known to all the well meaning people of the state,”
the release stated.

The governor also
considered as an affront to the constituted authority and disrespect to
the rule of law, the recent threat by Tokyo to take over the parks “at
all cost.”

Tokyo had alleged
that the appointment of park managers to take over the collection of
fees for the 33 local governments chairmen at motor park within their
jurisdictions was a crafty way of ceding the parks to his archrival,
Lateef Salako (aka Elewe-Omo), whose loyalists are claimed to populate
the men used for the job.

Tokyo, therefore,
threatened to use force to get back the parks, but the statement from
the governor yesterday promised to visit his threat with the “full
wrath of the law” if carried out.

The governor also
warned Tokyo that he will be held responsible for any breakdown of law
and order in the transport sector of the state, “as all the security
agencies will not shirk in their responsibility in dealing
appropriately with any one that foments trouble.”

Meanwhile, one of
the senior loyal members to Elewe-Omo in the state NURTW, Mukaila
Lamidi, on Wednesday, said his group has fully complied with the
proscription order of the governor since its pronouncement some weeks
back.

He debunked the allegation that the park managers employed by the
local government to collect park fees are members loyal to his boss.

Seven years of
battle, that started with the invasion of Iraq, the successful removal
of a dictator and the descent of the country into insurgency and
sectarian warfare, came to a virtual inconclusive end yesterday after
the US formally announced an end to its campaign in Iraq – leaving
behind 50,000 ‘non combatant’ troops to be attached to the Iraqi army.

Iraqi Prime
Minister, Nouri Maliki in a television broadcast yesterday declared
that his country is now “sovereign and independent.” But how long this
sovereignty will last is something only time will tell. The country is
basically without a functioning government owing to the ruling class’s
failure to form a coalition-government after the last general election
and this paints a grim picture of how Iraqis could work together to
solve their nation’s political conundrum.

Sectarian violence
amongst the ethnic and religious groups (Sunni, Shiite, Kurds and
others) lingers on and is responsible for the political impasse which
portrays a very delicate future for the country.

The war leaves history with indelible marks in view of its cost and casualties.

According to the US
Department of Defence, the Iraq war recorded more than 4,000 US troops
killed and about 32,000 wounded in the operation. It is estimated that
the war has also cost the US tax-payers over $750 billion. The number
of Iraqi casualties is disputed, as tens of thousands of civilian lives
and Iraqi combatants lost are unaccounted for, owing to a lack of
reliable figures.

US president,
Barack Obama, who has always considered the war a ‘dumb war’, with this
withdrawal has made true his campaign promises of winding down the war.
The remaining troops are to help train Iraqi military and security
operatives and are also strategically stationed to protect the US
dealings in the nation’s vast oil reserve.

Some argue that
this desire to safeguard Iraqi oil – beyond the peevish statement of
the US president that launched the war, that Saddam Hussein tried to
kill his father, was the main reason behind the US-led invasion of
Iraq. The official reason was the (now generally acknowledged as false)
claim of acquisition of so-called weapons of mass destruction by the
Iraqi government.

Now that the
intruder has somehow withdrawn from the country, fears of an outbreak
of sectarian violence and communal rifts remain the major
preoccupations of Iraqi leaders.

Only last week, a
series of bomb blasts across the country killed over 50 Iraqis, just as
the main batch of US soldiers started leaving. How many of such will
this new sovereign Iraq face? Again, only time will tell.

The federal government’s target to increase power
generation in Nigeria to between 8,000 and 9,000 megawatts, as
contained in the new electrical reform blue print, would still not meet
the power demands of Nigerians, chairman of the House committee on
power, Patrick Ikhariale, said yesterday in Benin.

Mr Ikhariale, who spoke when he led other members of
the committee on inspection of facilities of the Power Holding Company
of Nigeria (PHCN), Benin distribution zone, said that this was owing to
the expectations that cottage industries which have packed up because
of low power generation may spring up again to take advantage of
improved power supply.

He said the federal government was exploring
collaboration with the government of Brazil to start the Manbila power
plant in Taraba State which, if fully operational, he said could
generate over 2,000 megawatt; about 35 per cent of our nation’s power
needs.

“The federal government is trying to indeed enhance
the power situation in Nigeria but, for some reasons at different
points in time, we’ve really not got the mark. As we speak today, it is
obvious that we operate below 4,000 megawatts in terms of energy
generation transmission and distribution,” Mr Ikhariale said.

“The requirement of Nigeria conservatively today
can’t be less than 8,000 to 9,000. But I need not educate anybody that
if indeed we get to that, because of the cottage industries, most of
them that have shut down a couple of years ago, coming on board,
springing back to business, it will certainly reduce the potency of
that 8,000 megawatts to meeting the demands of Nigerians as of today.
Therefore, it is to be expected from such reasonable projection that
indeed Nigeria as a country needs a lot more than 8,000 megawatts of
electricity.”

Improved funding

The lawmaker said that to boost government’s
determination of making power available to the people, the National
Assembly allocated over N500 billion for the power sector even when, on
request, the 2010 budget was slashed by 40 per cent.

“It is because of the belief and the focus that the
federal government has in the energy sector that we had so much
allocated to the power sector so to achieve this, all hands must be on
deck and if you choose to develop the generating aspect and overlook
transmission and distribution, it is not going to achieve any
meaningful result.” He commended the federal government for unbundling
the PHCN and exploring other sources of power generation such as wood
and solar energy.

“We know the importance of power that is why whenever
the issue of power is raised in the Assembly, it is followed with so
much enthusiasm and nationalistic interest,” he said.

George Chiatula, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of
the Benin distribution zone of PHCN which oversees activities in Edo,
Delta, Ekiti and Ondo states, said the zone was expected to generate
513 megawatt and distribute same to customers in the area.

“But we would only meet that target by the time the 2009 Capital Intervention Projects are fully operational,” he said.

He added that some of the operational challenges
facing the zone were the inability of the NIPP (Nigeria Independent
Power Projects) to complete the transmission projects at Asaba and
Agbor in Delta State; and Okada and Eyaen in Edo State, and others.

The Nigeria Police yesterday arrested a former official of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Farooq Oreagba,
former general manager of Strategy/New Products, who was sacked along
with 94 others, last Thursday, by Emmanuel Ikazoboh, the interim
director general of NSE, was arrested over his alleged refusal to
surrender some Exchange property in his possession.

Sola Oni, the NSE’s
spokesperson, who confirmed the arrest, said, “What actually happened
was that because he (Mr. Oreagba) has been disengaged and the Exchange
could not get some company’s properties with him, that was what led to
the involvement of the police.”

Mr. Oni, however, declined claims that Mr. Oreagba was arrested while he was handing over to the new head of the department.

“Some people called
me to ask if he was arrested while he was trying to hand over. All
these information is not true. For us to have involved the police, it
shows there was no voluntary submission of the NSE properties with him.

“We have said that
those who were disengaged will be given whatever they are entitled to,”
he said, adding that there is no basis for Mr. Oreagba to hold on to
the said property.

Legal action

Calls and text
messages to Mr. Oreagba’s mobile phone went unanswered. He, however,
called back late yesterday that he has been released. A market operator
and a close associate of his, who would not like to be named, said Mr.
Oreagba would soon consider legal action against his arrest.

“The police are
currently in the process of securing a warrant to undertake a search of
his house and personal effects, since they have not been able to find
any incriminating thing on him so far,” he said.

Meanwhile, some
operators said Mr. Oreagba was also caught attempting to tamper with or
delete information from some of the Exchange’s computer systems.

Market dealers at
Proshare Nigeria Limited, an investment advisory firm, said, “An alert
was raised this (Tuesday’s) morning at and around 10am when it was
reported that he (Mr. Oreagba) came to the office yesterday (Monday) to
take his things but locked the office on his way out. When he came in
today (Tuesday), the officers on duty noticed some anomalies that led
to the invitation of the police force.”

Our meteorologists
and climatologists must be busy revising school geography textbooks.
Based on present weather evidence, an ‘August break’, a mini-dry season
in the midst of the wet period, no longer exists. It’s currently
raining cats and dogs, with local flights regularly skidding off
runways when not cancelled. Passengers now carry prayer books in their
hand luggage. The alternative? Travel by road and risk death at a
police checkpoint. This August has also produced three curious tabloid
reports. A man was allegedly shot by security guards in Abuja for
stealing firewood. Ordinary firewood? But did ecologists not predict
conflicts around dwindling resources, such as water and forests?

I was not surprised
at the second story. A boy lost his life in Lagos after being mauled by
a dog. The poor kid died, not from his wounds, but as a result of
rabies. In the colonial days, Town Council trucks periodically went
round to pick up and kill stray dogs. Mad dogs roam our cities, and
have enjoyed undisturbed independence since 1960. The health
authorities appear to be ignorant of dangers posed by rabies. For
lessons to be learnt in Nigeria, lives must be lost.

The final story is
of the Sisyphean task embarked upon by the idle authorities in Abuja –
the war against prostitution. No nation has yet won that titanic
battle. If the law of the land forbids a profession, then the law must
be enforced. However, legislation impinging on moral, ethical and
religious issues is difficult to enforce.

In history, there
have been hundreds of years of self-deceit and hypocrisy over
prostitution. Kings and presidents are still occasionally caught with
their pants down. So, who exactly is a whore? Take the case of rampant
corporate prostitution in Nigerian banks. These organizations offer
attractive career prospects, and then pressurize female marketing staff
into “meeting targets.” In the process, the blackmailed young women end
up meeting lots of randy men, to the delight of the bank bosses. Why
men are never hired in these departments is anybody’s guess. “Sex
sells,” said the world’s No.1 female tennis player, Serena Williams,
when asked about fashion and sports.

Lawmakers in our
country are the guiltiest in encouraging what they legislate against.
Ask any university graduate where she’d like to serve as a Youth Corp
member, and the answer is Abuja. And where in Abuja? The National
Assembly. There’s money there.

Gender discrimination

A state governor
banquets by sending a fleet of buses to female hostels in the nearby
university and to the NYSC camp. Objective? To gather up girls, never
the boys! Just to eat, drink and dance? They are, of course, not
prostitutes; but no law stops them from collecting money in the morning
if amorous services are rendered.

If the FCT minister
sends out task forces to round-up mad dogs and sex workers, we will
have less incidence of rabies, no doubt; but prostitution will remain.
That age-old profession is driven by rich men. The Abuja authorities
must be very sure that the rights of citizens to movement and lawful
assembly are not abused during their raids. Besides, there is stark
gender discrimination in restricting the movement of women where men
can go anywhere and anytime.

Prostitution thrives in the richest nations as well, and is
therefore not just a symptom of poverty, as many believe. Jobs and
quality education will only ameliorate the situation. Countries like
Nigeria with a high percentage of unstable and large families; decayed
institutions and a copycat culture, easily destroy those pillars of
morality that discourage women from selling their bodies for sex.