Nigeria Content Online

Goodluck Jonathan
on Tuesday promised to facilitate the establishment of solid mineral
industries in each of the six geopolitical zones, to diversify the
national economy. He made the pledge in Gusau, Zamfara State, when he
commissioned a multimillion mineral processing plant established by the
Zamfara State government and a private investor.

President Jonathan,
who said the component units of the federation should strive to provide
alternative revenue sources for the growth of the national economy,
added that our country has a greater potential in agriculture and solid
minerals than oil and gas, and that this had not been tapped for speedy
economic growth.

“We will partner
with states and foreign investors with genuine commitment to develop
our solid mineral potential for economic growth,” he said He also said
the Zamfara government would benefit from the national Consolidated
Mineral Development Fund for its initiative to set a pace for mineral
development.

The president,
however, urged the foreign partners to respect international standards
and cautioned the residents of the plant environment to be mindful of
eventual hazards.

The state governor,
Mahmud Shinkafi, said more than N4 billion was spent on the mineral
processing plant. The project was expected to generate revenue and
create jobs for the people, he said.

The president, as
part of a one-day visit to Zamfara State, also paid a courtesy call on
the Emir of Gusau, Kabir Danbaba, and commissioned a school for
children with special needs, as well as a girls’ focal primary school.

Zamfara chief

Mr Jonathan was
conferred with the traditional title of ‘Dan Iyan Zamfara’ as he
concluded the one-day official visit to Zamfara.

The Chairman of the
State Council of Chiefs, Attahiru Anka, said the council conferred the
title on the president in appreciation of his visit.

“The Zamfara State
Council of Chiefs conferred on Your Excellency, President Goodluck
Jonathan, the title of Dan Iyan Zamfara, to commemorate your visit to
the state and your love for the development of Nigeria,” he said.

Mr Anka said the
gesture was also intended to close regional barriers in mutual
understanding and corporation among ethnic nationalities in the country.

Mr Jonathan and his
entourage were later seen off by Mahmud Shinkafi, the governor of
Zamfara; Patrick Yakowa, the governor of Kaduna State; and other top
government officials at the Gusau airstrip.

The Sultan of
Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III; the Emir of Birnin-Gwari, Zubairu Jibrin
and the Emir of Argungu, Muhammadu Mera, were among the traditional
rulers who attended the occasion.

Mr Jonathan was accompanied on the trip by the National Security
Adviser, Aliyu Gusau, and the governors of Sokoto and Kebbi States,
Aliyu Wamakko and Saidu Dakingari, among other top federal and state
officials.

The solution to kidnapping seems to
have eluded security agencies in Benin as another medical doctor, Osaro
Osifo, was on Monday night kidnapped by unknown gunmen at his residence
along Nekpen-nekpen Street, Benin City.

The kidnapped doctor is attached to the Dentistry department of the Central Hospital, Benin City.

Reports have it that the family has been contacted and a million naira ransom demanded.

However, members of the Edo State
chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) are warming up to
embark on a strike if the doctor is not released by today.

State chairman of NMA, Osahon
Enabulele, who confirmed the kidnapping, said the family members are
looking for the ransom fee, as the kidnappers have threatened to kill
their victim if the ransom was not paid as at last night.

“We will stop out-patient services and
only attend to patients already admitted and emergency cases, until our
colleague is released alive unconditionally,” he said.

Meanwhile, residents of Clifford Eweka
Street of Airport Road in Benin City, woke up last week Thursday to
discover a decomposing body of a young man believed to be in his late
twenties in an uncompleted building along the street.

The residents, who still live in fear
following several attacks by unidentified gun men around its environs,
said their attention was drawn to the corpse by some youths in the area
who play football behind the uncompleted building.

Killed youth

The victim, according to a youth in the
area, was seriously battered by those who murdered him. The source said
the death of the young man must be connected with the recent clashes
between two rival cult groups (Eyee confraternity and Blackaxe) in
Benin City who were fightihg for supremacy.

Residents in the area said they no
longer sleep with two eyes closed, owing to several gunshots that are
fired at night. The state police public relations officer, Peter Ogboi,
said the command was yet to be informed about the incident and promised
to contact the nearest police station for adequate investigations.

“We call on residents in the area to always alert the police
whenever they notice any strange movement in their area,” Mr. Ogboi
said.

Hell was almost let
loose at Otu-Jeremi, headquarters of Ughelli South local government
area of Delta State, on Tuesday, as irate youth from the community
challenged the state governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, and his deputy, Amos
Utuama, at the venue of the commissioning of the town’s road project.
The youth, numbering about 50, had patiently waited for the governor
and his entourage for some hours at the entrance of the town, before
storming the venue immediately the governor and his entourage arrived
in the town to commission the 4.6 kilometres stretch of road in the
community.

Trouble started
when the governor was about to make his speech, minutes after the
opening speech by the commissioner for Works, George Ugboma, who had
told the community that the road project was executed with a total sum
of N205 million, and was for the economic and social wellbeing of the
people. The youth, who had earlier vowed to stop the commissioning,
immediately swung into action, interrupting the speech of the governor.
All attempts to calm them down proved abortive, until the governor
asked them to come forward and make their demand, which he could not
meet immediately.

The youths got
angrier when the governor asked the state chairman of the Christian
Association of Nigeria (CAN), Goddowell Awomakpa, to pray for
deliverance for some of the leaders of the youth, who were then made to
kneel down in the full glare of the community. This act, and the
statements from the governor that the era of ‘area’ was gone in Delta
State, was too much for the youth to accept and they refused to keep
quiet or leave the presence of the governor, even in the full presence
of security personnel.

When it was
apparent that the youth were not ready to yield ground to the
embarrassment of the deputy governor, who was the chief host and hails
from the community, the governor left the area immediately.

Allegation of deceit

However, some of
the youth who spoke with our correspondent, said the roads being
commissioned by the governor was built by Shell Petroleum Development
Company (SPDC), including the two bridges commissioned yesterday. Some
of the youth also accused the governor and his deputy of deceiving the
people with commissioning of the projects, saying most of them were
executed by the immediate past governor of the state, James Ibori.

Efforts to reach the deputy governor’s spokesman has so far failed,
though some of his aides said they were preparing a statement for the
media later. The governor has earlier commissioned a bridge and some
stretch of road at Okhan, with many others lined up, as part of his
third year anniversary celebration in office.

The Ondo State
governor, Olusegun Mimiko, has foreclosed the possibility of the
opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party defeating the Labour Party in the
state in next year’s election.

His comments came barely 72 hours after the ex-president, Olusegun Obasanjo-led South West rally in Ondo State capital, Akure.

The governor, who
spoke at Igbokoda, the headquarters of Ilaje Local Government area when
about 10,000 members of PDP, AC, ANPP and other parties decamped to
Labour Party, said the mood at the Igbokoda rally was clearly different
from the crowd in Akure, which showed signs of being a rented one.

“The show by the
rented crowd has once more shown that Labour Party is waxing stronger
by the day in Ondo State. It is a case of a dead dog and a living
tiger. What threat can a dead dog pose to a ferocious living tiger?
Absolutely nothing!

“When PDP was alive
in Ondo State, Labour Party defeated it silly; not to talk of now that
they are already in the grave,” he said.

He assured the
people that the Ondo State University of Science and Technology
(OSUSTECH) will take off in due course, as the position of the Vice
Chancellor and other Principal Officers would soon be advertised.

Mr. Mimiko, who
also promised to complete all inherited projects and initiate new ones,
said the resuscitation of moribund industries in the riverine areas is
the priority of his administration to tackle youth unemployment.

“Now that Ondo
State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC) has been
strenghtened through the passage and signing into law of its
Appropriation Bill, you will soon begin to see them in action. As a
matter of fact, the rate of development will be more rapid than
expected,” he said.

Meanwhile, a
pressure group known as Progressive Coalition (PC) in Ondo State
yesterday announced its decision to fuse into the ruling Labour
Party(LP), which they described as a progressive party.

Coalition of progressives

The group, at a
news conference in Akure, said it decided to move into the ruling party
in order to make Labour Party more formidable during the 2011 general
elections.

Its chairman, Niran
Jogbodo, who addressed reporters, said membership of the group cuts
across the five political parties in the state, adding that they had
resolved to work harmoniously with the ruling LP to spread dividends of
democracy to the grassroots.

The group, which
came into existence during the struggle to reclaim the gubernatorial
mandate of the LP candidate and incumbent governor, Mr. Mimiko, added
that progressives have decided to work with the present administration
in the state because of its giant strides.

“For these and many
other reasons, all progressives across all parties except the PDP, have
fused with the LP. The official ceremony and rally will take place next
Thursday and it will serve as the official burial ceremony of the PDP
in this state,” Mr. Jogbodo said.

“Sustaining the
current developmental efforts and to join hands to block conservative
politicians from taking over this state again. Ondo is a progressive
state, and conservatism has always been bad news for us.”

The group also
condemned the statement credited to Mr. Obasanjo that the PDP would
capture Ondo State in 2011, saying such statement was malicious and
inciting.

“We will not allow
an intruder to disturb our peace. We are not animals to be captured,
neither are we criminals nor do we intend to be prisoners of war,” Mr.
Jogbodo said.

“He should go back to his Ota farm to capture grasshoppers and
rabbits, and not civilised people of Ondo State. We must tell him that
this state is peopled with men of integrity, and not those who play god
on other human beings.”

The Ekiti chapter of the People’s
Democratic Party said on Tuesday that it would appeal the minority
judgment of the state election petition tribunal governorship re-run
election in the state.

The majority judgment, which was read
by the chairman of the tribunal, Hamma Barka, declared that the
petitioner failed to prove and establish the allegations of
malpractice, corruption, and non-compliance with the Electoral Act
pleaded in his petition. But the minority judgment, read by Abiodun
Adebara, nullified Governor Segun Oni’s election on grounds of
irregularities and declared the Action Congress governorship candidate,
Kayode Fayemi, as the winner of the election.

The party’s chairman in the state, Bola
Olu-Ojo, told a news conference in Ado-Ekiti that “the major plan of
our appeal will be based on minority judgment which was not in our
favour.”

While noting that the party was yet to
receive a copy of the minority judgment, Mr. Olu-Ojo said it would
refrain from “disparaging” any government agencies on the tribunal’s
split judgment. Adding that sentiments do not win court cases, the PDP
chairman observed that the party would present hard facts to prove its
case at the tribunal.

The chairman of Gudu Local Government
Area of Sokoto State, Yusuf Kurdula, says his administration has taken
measures to contain the influx of Nigeriens into the country.

He said this in Balle, headquarters of
the council, when he received a team of the state’s chapter of the
Nigeria Union of Journalists, which was on a monitoring tour of
projects. Mr. Kurdula said though the council shares borders with the
neighbouring Niger Republic, it has taken proactive measures to
forestall breach of peace due to the influx.

He said the people had been sensitised on the need to promptly
report all suspicious persons and their movements to security agents.
“They are also being sensitised on the need to live peacefully with
each other. Nobody should take the laws into his hands,” he said.

The Nigeria Academy of Science (NAS) on Tuesday,
called on journalists to get more active in popularizing science
reporting, as this will influence policy decisions that will improve
social and economic development of the nation.

Science reporting, which covers health, medicine,
environment, technology, agriculture, is under-reported in Nigeria,
owing to insufficient information on the part of the journalists as
well as scientists and the society at large, the Academy believes. At a
meeting announcing the onset of a new prize called the NAS-Pfizer
Science Award for journalists, Oye Ibidapo-Obe, the president of the
Academy (which is a body of foremost Nigerian scientists, including
experts in various fields of science, engineering and medicine), told a
group of journalists that it is not enough to report science
superficially. “You, as journalists, need to go the extra mile of
explaining issues of scientific significance to the public. The
scientists cannot go out there, but you are what they rely on for
information, so you need to live up to your calling.”

The prize

According to him, the new prize, which will be given
at the end of each year for the best science report, is designed to
encourage and improve the media’s knowledge in communicating science
topics to the public. Sponsored by Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals
through the Academy, it also aims to strengthen the media’s coverage of
scientific issues particularly those relevant to policy decisions.

“The Nigerian Academy of Science seeks to establish
science reporting prizes for both electronic and print media. This will
be administered by a panel of judges at the end of each year,” Mr
Ibidapo-Obe said. To this end, he says there will be a couple of
training sessions for journalists on science reporting, in order to
enhance their capacity to win the prize.

Akin Jimoh, a science and public health media trainer said the
importance of science reporting cannot be overemphasized, as effective
reporting has the potential of driving important policy decisions. “As
journalists, we ought to do investigative science reporting. There are
issues everywhere that we are not looking at. For example, we have the
budget issues; we can write about what effect the science budget can
have. We have the Abalaka HIV issues which no one is looking at now.
There are lots of issues. We just need to be better trained and
sensitive to science issues.”

A freelance
broadcaster, Wole Sorunke, popularly called MC Murphy, yesterday
signified his intention to run for the governorship seat of Ogun State
in the forthcoming 2011 general election, boasting that he is going to
change governance in the state if elected into power.

The radio presenter
said he would contest as an independent candidate and has held a number
of meetings with various groups in the state towards this.

‘I am not going
back on this, and towards this I am contesting as an independent
candidate,” he said. “I want to change governance, and it is high time
for this. I have and continue to consult necessary quarters, and I am
optimistic. I have held meetings with traditional rulers across the
geo-political zones and party chieftains as well as who is who in the
state politics. All these have given and assured me of their support.’

Mr. Sorunke said
his formal declaration is going to be flamboyant, as a number of
musicians have expressed their readiness to grace the occasion slated
for Abeokuta in support and to propagate his campaign across the four
corners of the state.

Meanwhile, as at
the time of filing this report, the campaign posters of Mr Sorunke have
started surfacing in Abeokuta and its environs.

The aspirant said
his mission in politics is to address the welfare of the citizens and
make the state better than he met it if elected into the office.

‘I am optimistic
that we shall get there, it is time for the youth to rule this state
since its creation over 30 years ago,’ he said.

“Youth unemployment will be issue to be tackled, so that the crime rate would be drastically reduced.”

The Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria
(PMAN), has called on state and national assemblies to enact stricter
measures against piracy if the war against pirates is to be won.

Emeka Maduka, the head of Anambra chapter of PMAN,
stated that the association was not satisfied with the efforts of
government agencies in the fight against piracy, and was therefore
relying on the lawmakers for help.

“Government has the might to tackle this monster,
but its efforts have not yielded much dividend,” he said. “For us
artistes, there’s equally very little we can do except to continue to
shout.”

The association boss also accused the police of
undermining the fight against piracy by always freeing culprits
apprehended by PMAN, and lamented that the music industry had suffered
untold damage as a result of the activities of pirates.

“If piracy can be stopped, other crimes like
kidnapping and robbery will also be stopped because piracy is also
robbery,’ he said. “The damage we have suffered cannot be quantified,
but it runs into several billions of naira and this is why we are
calling on the legislature and government to come to our aid.”

He also urged the Anambra state government to
donate land to the body order for them to build a secretariat, pointing
out that such a development would enable them to better co-ordinate
their activities.

PMAN in Anambra State has an estimated membership of over 300.

Jibola Olanipekun,
who died seven years ago, regained 20 acres of land yesterday through
the order of an Oyo State High Court. Mr Olanipekun was murdered in his
Ibadan residence on June 20, 2003 and there is still no clue regarding
who might have been the perpetrators.

He had acquired the
piece of land at Podo area of Ibadan and been duly issued a Certificate
of Occupancy by the then military government of Oyo State. According to
available records, the Certificate of Occupancy was dated August 11,
1988, and was issued through the Lands Registry, Ibadan.

But, Khadijat
Olanipekun, the deceased’s widow, in the statements of claims filed in
court, alleged that a former governor of the state, Lam Adesina,
approved another Certificate of Occupancy in respect of the same parcel
of land, in favour of his wife Modupe Adeola Sarat Adesina.

The ‘C of O’ was processed in file LUD 75/7c, dated May 28, 2001, which was relied on to encroach on the disputed land then.

The widow said the
former governor and Deed Registrar, Lands Registry, Ministry of Lands,
Oyo State, who are the second and third respondents in the suit,
‘failed or refused to correct the wrong deliberately made’ despite
series of protests.

Speaking through
Agboola Olaleye, her lawyer, Mrs Olanipekun prayed the court to issue
against Sarat Adesina, her husband (Mr Adesina) and the Ministry of
Lands the following: “A declaration that the purported grant of
certificate of occupancy dated 28 May, 2001 N0. 41, page 41, Volume
3390 of the Register of Deeds to the first defendant (Modupe Sarat) is
invalid, ineffective, made malafide without regard and or due regard to
the principles of natural justice and is therefore null and void and of
no effect; an order setting aside the Certificate of Occupancy dated 28
May, 2001; and an order that the Certificate of Occupancy dated 11 May,
1988 is viable and subsisting”.

Mrs Adesina’s lawyer, G.F. Ido, who also represented the then Commissioner for Justice,

Bayo Lawal, had
pleaded the court to get the judgment arrested, but the presiding
judge, Segun Olagunju, said, “It is too late in the day to arrest the
judgment.”

The court, instead,
granted all the plaintiff’s prayers, arguing that it was the business
of the defendants to file their statements of defence while the matter
lasted.

He told them to go
to the Appeal Court if they had anything against the judgment. Instead
of the N5, 000 the plaintiff’s counsel asked from the court as cost,
the judge awarded N2, 500 each against the defendant, and in favour of
the plaintiff.