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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.

A group of young men in Lafia, Nasarawa State,
launched a violent protest on Tuesday over the sudden removal of street
lamps in their neighbourhood.

On Monday night, men claiming to be under the
direction of Mustapha Agwai, the Emir of Lafia, removed the street
lamps in the Tudun Amba area of the city. The move roused the anger of
the local youth, who barricaded the road leading to the governor’s
house.

Manyi Adamu, who was among the protesters, said that
the road will remain closed until those who removed the lights replaced
them.

“The light has been helping the community, preventing
the prevalence of accidents at this junction,” he said. “Only for these
men to come and begin to remove them.”

The managing director of the Nasarawa Urban Development Board
(NUBD), Jafaru Ango, arrived on the scene to calm the young men. He
explained that the lamp posts were removed in preparation for the
expansion of the Lafia-Doma road. He pledged that as soon as the work
was completed, the street lamps would be replaced.

The Lagos State
government, last week, warned officers against dereliction in the
treatment of official correspondence and files, just as it advised
ministries and agencies to reduce their line of reporting for effective
service delivery.

This was contained in a circular issued on August 25 by the head of service, Adesegun Ogunlewe.

In a bid to make
the civil service more efficient, the state government issued a
directive early this year giving officers in the state public service
48 hours within which to treat and complete assignments on
correspondence and files.

The HOS, however,
observed that the long line of reporting system adopted in most
ministries and agencies of government where supervising officer minutes
assignment to subordinate officers, who in turn minute the same
assignment to two or more low ranking officers, was not only causing
undue delay in the treatment of correspondence but also made it
difficult to track officers responsible for any delay.

This long chain of
command, according to Mr Ogunlewe, “is rendering the 48 hours deadline
on completion of assignments ineffective and of little or no
significance.”

He, therefore,
advised supervising officers to reduce the line of reporting in their
respective MDAs and take steps to put appropriate tracking mechanism in
place.

According to him,
“supervising officers are enjoined to cultivate the habit of minuting
mails and files to a particular officer in charge of a given
responsibility for effective action, rather than passing it down a
chain of command.”

In order not to
leave room for any lapse, he further added that in the absence of the
head of the MDAs, mails and files should be handled by the next most
senior officer, in accordance with the laid down regulations.

Mr. Ogunlewe warned
that any form of ineptitude or outright dereliction of duty on the part
of supervising and subordinate officers in the treatment of official
correspondence and files would attract appropriate sanctions.

Ado Bayero, the
Emir of Kano, is among several individuals and corporate organizations
nominated for this year’s Green Award, Chairman of the Green Award
organizing committee, Ayegbeni Omonhimi, said yesterday in Benin.

Mr Omonhimi, who
paid a visit to the Edo State Deputy Governor, Pius Odubu, said the
idea behind the award is to sensitize Nigerians to be environmentally
conscious and safeguard our natural heritage.

He said the awards
are given to individuals and organizations that were environment
friendly, and for their immense contributions to the conservation of
ecological resources.

Mr Odubu, who
described the proposed award as an essential motivation to the
awardees, however, advised against building the gesture around serving
politicians whose positions are transient.

The Deputy Governor
observed that identifying politicians with the Green Award could create
the impression that it is politically engineered, and may discourage
rival politicians from being part of the event.

The national award
will be given to Mr Bayero; while the International Award goes to the
president of Friends of the Earth Worldwide, Nimmo Bassey.

Other recipients are Olayinka Omoregbe, (International Award);
Awake! and Watchtower magazines, (published by Jehovah’s Witnesses),
nominated for the International Media Award, and Catherine Oronsaye for
the Inner City Award.

Nigeria will
continue to work with Mali and other member-countries of the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to ensure the speedy
realization of the sub-regional organisation’s objectives, Goodluck
Jonathan said yesterday in Abuja.

Speaking during an
audience with Mali’s new Ambassador to Nigeria, Mahamane Amadou Maiga,
who was at the Presidential Villa to present his letters of credence,
Mr Jonathan said his administration will give “maximum cooperation” to
ambassadors of ECOWAS member-countries in the collective effort to
achieve greater economic integration and development in West Africa.

“Nigeria and Mali
have a lot in common,” he said. “We all have to work together to
strengthen our political and economic ties. We will give you maximum
cooperation to ensure that our sub-region moves forward,” the
president, who is the current Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads
of State and Government, told Mr Maiga.

At an earlier
audience with Nestor Padalhin, the new ambassador of the Philippines to
Nigeria, Mr Jonathan stated that the existing cordial relations between
Nigeria and the Philippines could be further strengthened with
increased bilateral trade.

The new ambassadors
thanked President Jonathan for receiving them soon after their arrival
in the country and assured him that they will do their best to enhance
existing relations between Nigeria and their countries.

They also used the opportunity to congratulate the president on Nigerian’s forthcoming 50th independence anniversary.