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I grew up as a
teenager, in the streets of Benin City, opposite the famous New Benin
Market and ‘Regent Cinema’ where the notorious Anini had his enclave.
There, it was purely the survival of the toughest and craftiest – or so
we thought, until the God factor became clear.

Well, I survived,
despite the daily troubles and fights, especially when we had to fetch
water from those public taps where iron buckets were used freely like
in WWF – World Wrestling Federation. I had an uncle who nicknamed me
‘fighter’ because every time he entered my father’s house, he found me
by the corner kneeling down, with my eyes shut, and usually, he would
be told that I was involved in a street fight. How I managed to escape
without serious bodily harms I have now discovered to be God’s love for
innocent and ignorant children.

My story, however
is about adults. I told everybody at that time that I would rather have
internal ailment than have bodily injury that would live a scar on my
skin. Now I know better, having found out that inside our body resides
the most delicate organs. So, when I trace the history of Nigeria in
the last fifty years, I have found out that many of our leaders have
always travelled outside the shores of this nation to take care of
their failing health in the area of the heart, liver, or kidney.

The question then
arises, why have all these leaders who have continuously recycled
themselves or their children not been able to build an ultra modern
hospital that will take care of these organs effectively?

All fingers point
in one direction. This happens to be the last card in our quest for a
corrupt-free society and it is also the joker in the pack of cards, for
our acquire-all looters in the corridor of our nation’s power. A lot of
comedians have joked about most governors and even some past presidents
concentrating their efforts in refurbishing or making our prison houses
more comfortable. But to their bewilderment, according to the jokes, if
you refurbish Kuje Prison, when you are out of office, the new helmsman
may decide to send you to Gasua Prison, where the sun’s heat has never
been known to be merciful. But again, a leader who is sympathetic could
keep you in Kuje Prison in Abuja, where most political prisoners live
better than most of us outside.

Not so smart heart

It is, therefore,
very credible that these gang of leaders have refused to build a
hospital good enough because it will not support their evil ploy of
looting and bleeding the nation. As has been found out, even our
courts, after the usual de-briefing from the brief case of these
international thieves, grant that “the accused be allowed overseas
travel for medical care, for a failing heart, liver, or kidney.” If our
politicians and their cohorts know that once they are caught in the web
of fraud and corruption, they will receive full treatment right here in
Nigeria, there will be some kind of rethink to this whole disease of
kleptomania. It is strange that their heart that was strong enough to
steal but not strong enough to face the music, and the same heart would
always fail them before or during trial.

Unfortunately, President Umaru Yar’Adua (may his gentle soul rest in peace), died from heart and kidney related diseases.

Perhaps, if he was
able to get treatment for these obviously terminal ailments here in
Nigeria, the time spent in transporting him abroad could have been used
to stabilise and accord the sickness proper and more effective care
and, most importantly, the craft and chicanery of the cabal would have
been made more difficult, if not impossible.

When I saw Rotimi
Ameachi of River State on television, speaking about the new Port
Harcourt City his administration is building, and the international
standard hospital he has budgeted for in that garden city, I could not
help but say a Daniel has come to judgement. But your Excellency sir,
is our new modern hospital going to be able to treat effectively and
perfectly the very elusive problems of the liver, kidney, and heart?

For a popular musician once sang “…can’t always trust it no, the
heart is not so smart, goes where it should not go, the heart is not so
smart”.

The chickens are
coming to roost. The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the
Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), the Federal Government will be
setting up a committee that will determine the authenticity of the Pius
Okigbo Panel report, review the allegations and recommendations with a
view to ascertaining whether the allegations can sustain a criminal
charge against former military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida on
the abuse of government funds during his time in power.

A coalition of
civil society organisations had, on May 5, 2010 made real its promise
to dust and produce the certified true copy (CTC) of the report long
submitted by the Pius Okigbo Panel and alleged to be missing, after the
Justice Minister requested for the original copy in his reply to
group’s earlier petition.

Mr. Adoke received
the group’s couriered document last week after his return from Cape
Verde. Speaking with NEXT on Sunday, two of Mr. Adoke’s aides: the
Special Assistant on Media and Special Duties, Onyema Omenuwa and the
Chief Press Secretary, Ambrose Momoh said they could not as at now
state any specific action the government will take on the report.

Pick up a copy of NEXT on Sunday newspaper for details.

Three notable cases best epitomise
how Aliyu Modibbo, as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory,
Abuja, made a mockery of the Abuja master plan and entrenched lack of
due diligence as standard operating practice in land management.

The cases are the purchase of
4million square metres of land by Sunrise Estate Development, Houses
For Africa Development Ltd and Harmony Properties Development all in
Abuja.

Shady dealings

On Tuesday, January 22, 2008, at
the office of the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in
Area 11, Garki, Abuja, Mr. Modibbo, then FCT minister, met with
officials of a fictitious company with the grandiose name of Houses For
Africa Development Ltd.

Pick up a copy of NEXT on Sunday newspaper for details.

The desperation of
many Nigerians to obtain foreign degrees following the derelict state
of tertiary institutions in our country, has rendered them susceptible
to fraudsters operating under the guise of running foreign registered
and accredited institutions in the country, a Next investigation has
revealed.

One of such
spurious institutions which have defrauded unsuspecting Nigerians of
money running into millions of dollars, is known by the names, British
School of Project Management or Project Management College, UK.

The institution(s)
runs programmes leading to the award of Executive Masters Certificates
and Advance Diploma degree in Project Accounting and Project
Management. Project Management College UK prides itself as the
“Nigeria’s first project management training institute”.

Established in
2003, it has centres in Abuja, Abeokuta, Port Harcourt, Ibadan and
Lagos, and also has opened shop in two West African countries – Ghana
and Sierra Leone.

The institution charges fees that range from N150, 000 to about half a million naira, for a two-weekend to six months course.

Pick up a copy of NEXT on Sunday newspaper for details.

Newly inaugurated
Vice president, Namadi Sambo resumed work at his new office at the
presidential villa, Abuja yesterday and was received by a delegation
led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed.

The former Kaduna State governor is the fourth Vice President of Nigeria.
Mr Sambo was taken
round the Vice President’s wing of the presidential complex where he
met some top government functionaries. He was all smiles as he toured
the complex, waving to the staff, security personnel and journalists
who all took turns to congratulate him.

The delegation
that received the vice president included the ministers of finance,
Olusegun Aganga and Remi Babalola; that of the national planning
commission, Shamusideen Usman and the acting Director General of Bureau
for Public Enterprises (BPE), Bolanle Onagoruwa, all of whose
activities fall under his supervisory purview as the head of
government’s economic team.

Later, the Vice
President received various visitors who came to congratulate him. One
of the early callers was the Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido.

The vice president is, however billed to return to Kaduna tomorrow
to officially hand over power to his successor, Patrick Yakowa who was
sworn in yesterday.

Hundreds of women matched through the street of the ancient city
of Kano yesterday to protest what they described as the imposition of a former
state official as gubernatorial candidate of the ruling All Nigerian Peoples
Party in the state.

The women, who were mainly supporters of an influential Islamic
Cleric and governorship aspirant in the state, Ibrahim Khalil faulted the state
governor, Ibrahim Shekarau’s alleged attempt to impose the immediate past
Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Salihu Sagir Takai as the
governorship candidate of the ANPP.

The ANPP women, who all carried placards chanting pro- Khalil
slogans, later converged at the Kano State Government House to impress it on
Mr. Shekarau the need to create a level playing ground for whoever emerges the
party’s governorship flag bearer in 2011.

Security operatives denied them access to the State House, but
leaders of the group were allowed in to confer with the Permanent Secretary,
Government House, Muhammad Garba Fagge on their mission to Government House.

Mr Fagge apologized to the women for waiting at the gate for so
long and the denial of access by security agents. He, however, maintained that
the decision was hinged on the need to prevent ‘violation of laid down
protocol’ by the women Group.

Security at the government house has been beefed up across Kano,
with plain-clothed personnel and heavily armed mobile policemen taking positions
in readiness to foil any uprising since the former Director General of the Kano
State Pilgrims Welfare Board, Sani Lawan Kofar Mata, was sacked last week.

Spokesperson of the Group, Ladi Ahmad Mijinyawa told newsmen
that they were at the Government House to advise Mr. Shekarau not to intervene
in the process that will lead to the emergence of an acceptable candidate for
the party.

Go for the best

Mrs. Mijinyawa explains that Islamic teachings enjoins the
faithful to always go for the best, whenever its confronted with options and
choices.

“The decision to close the door on Khalil, an influential
cleric, is wrong, and a violation of divine injunctions,” she said.

The female activist explained that herself and the duo of Messrs. Shekarau
and Takai were students and protégé of Mr Khalil and members of the Muslim
Society of Nigeria and, as such, if he had to pick any of the candidate, Mr
Shekarau would have settle for Mr. Khalil.

Multinational German telecommunications firm, Siemens AG, has
assured Nigerians that it will pay the price for the bribery scandal involving
it and some top government officials, if fined by the federal government.

The Chief Executive Officer of Siemens Nigeria Limited, Alain De
Cat, said this on Thursday at the Nigerian Economic Summit Group’s (NESG)
Executive Business Roundtable in Lagos, held to discuss business principles as
tools to strengthening ethics and transparency in the conduct of business in
Nigeria.

Mr. De Cat, who stated that the company had paid over a billion
dollars in fines and sanctions to regulators in both Munich and Washington,
said investing in Nigeria’s future is, however, a more profitable venture for
the nation than paying fines.

“Siemens will be willing to pay Nigeria back by investing in
Nigeria’s future, which is by investing in training for capacity building of
Nigerians to develop the nation’s local content, which the federal government
is very particular about,” said the telecoms company boss, who just assumed his
office in Nigeria last month.

Siemens AG in 2008, agreed to pay $1.3 billion in penalties to
U.S. and German authorities, for bribing government officials in several
countries, including Nigeria, from 2001 to 2007.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), last week,
renewed its investigations into the bribery case, saying it is going to
question three former ministers implicated in the corruption scandal involving
Siemens AG.

Promoting self regulation

“We always underestimate what can happen in one year and
over-estimate what can happen in 10 years,” he said, urging Nigerian companies
and business to develop the attitude of ‘self-regulation’, which he said can be
strengthened via some sort of public vigilance, such as using independent
feed-back mechanism. He enumerated steps taken by Siemens Nigeria Limited to
enhance the efficiency of its operations in Nigeria to include publishing of
business guidelines, collective action, encouraging whistle-blowing from staff,
and a no cash transaction policy, amongst others.

The chairperson of the occasion and former Nigerian envoy to the
United Kingdom, Christopher Kolade, admitted that the Nigerian business
environment is entering a season where regulators have become very important
and dominant. “They (the regulators) may be tempted to give a knee-jerk
reaction to challenges,” he said, calling on the business community to look for
sustainable ways of planning how to do business and doing business the right
way.

“Recent dictates from the corridors of power show that methods of catching
criminals is what is being developed, rather than building methods to support
those who want to do business rightly. In focusing on codes and law, we look
for people who practice compliance. Rather, what we need to get are people who
will generate commitment to the fulfilment of the responsibility they are
assigned to,” he said.

The striking Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria [JUSUN] in Ondo
State on Thursday insisted that it would continue with its on-going strike
pending the time the state government approves the agreement reached during
negotiations between the two bodies.

The union, in a statement issued by its secretary, Femi Ogunode,
said 60 percent basic pay for outfit allowance and 10 percent hazard allowance
proposed by government was unacceptable to them.

They maintained that the original position was that the state
government should implement either of the two consolidated judiciary salary
structure [CONJUSS] recommended by the federal government.

The letter said, in part: “After considering “The Caring Heart”
posture of Governor Olusegun Mimiko and his efforts to better the lots of the
people through various laudable programmes, we painfully agreed to abandon our
agitation for the implementation of either of the two salary structures
recommended by federal government.

“Instead, we opted for 85 percent basic salary for outfit
allowance, 85 percent Litigation allowance and 55 percent hazard allowance.”

Considerate staff

The judicial workers also stated that the agreement was to be
signed immediately, but the Head of Service said he would seek the approval of
Mr. Mimiko before he could endorse the agreement.

“The members of our union had sacrificed much for the state,
with the acceptance of 60 percent, 35 percent and 30 percent as outfit,
litigation and hazard allowances, respectively,” the letter said.

The Union recalled that some of their members, who were legally
qualified, had been enjoying 60 percent outfit allowance before, noting that
its members were only agitating that it should go across board.

It added that hazard and litigation allowances are exclusive of
all judicial workers nationwide.

The striking workers maintained that what they had conceded to the state
government was reasonable and urged Mr. Mimiko to approve the agreement reached
in the interest of industrial harmony in the state.

Amid protests and rowdiness, which spanned over an hour, the
House of Representatives dumped a proposal to institute a two-party system for
future elections in the country.

The House voted in support of a multi-party system by 172 votes
to 48, while one member abstained, when the Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, called for
division. But members of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Action Congress
(AC) and a handful of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members in the House who
wanted a two-party system, kicked against the result.

The House had, on two previous occasions, failed to vote on the
amendment to Section 80 of the Electoral Act 2006 to include a clause
regulating the number of parties in the country.

During the previous debates on the issue at similarly rowdy
plenary sessions, some members, particularly those of the PDP, had canvassed a
multi-party system while the opposition spoke in support of two parties. This
prompted Mr. Dimeji to defer voting to this week, citing faulty electronic
voting machines his reason.

But yesterday’s plenary was almost stalled as members disagreed
on the voting method. The Speaker consulted with key members and principal
officers even as some of the lawmakers lobbied on the method of voting.

After about 10 minutes, Mr Bankole said, “We’ve had enough
consultations, a lot of different advise and counter advise. The simple thing
to do is voice vote.” But this angered some of the lawmakers who sang No! No!
No! We no go gree o! We no go gree! However, the Speaker went ahead to put the
question, asking the proponent of the two-party system to say ‘yes’ and those
against to say ‘nay’. Although, those against the system won, the exercise
induced more protests from some members, some of who got up and moved to the
front to complain to Mr Bankole and his deputy, Usman Nafada who jointly
presided.

In the ensuing confusion, five staff from the serjeant-at-arms
were immediately deployed to protect the mace, the House symbol of authority.
Pleas by the Speaker, the chief whip, Emeka Ihedioha and his deputy, Aminu
Tambuwwal failed to calm the rowdy lawmakers or make them return to their
seats.

Complaining members

Bordered about the turmoil, Mr Bankole asked members who did
not come with their electronic voting cards to raise up their hands at the end
of which only about five of them indicated so.

“We’ve tried voice vote, members are complaining; we’ve divided
the House, members are complaining. Before I go to the next level, if you know
you are two-party system, move to my left, if you know you are for multi-party,
move to my right.” This infuriated the aggrieved members who shouted “No! No!
No!” While some members of the opposition shouted “two-party system! two-party
system!” others, apparently members of the PDP shouted “multi-party!
multi-party! Calls for ‘Point of Order’ by Sani Saleh Minjibir (ANPP, Kano) and
one other unidentified member were rebuffed by the Speaker.

Support for lawmakers

The Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) yesterday praised the
decision of the House. The group, in a statement signed by its publicity
secretary, Yinka Odumakin, said the only way to regulate political parties is
to allow the electorates to decide.

Nigerians should expect an increase in electricity tariff as
their new year present in 2011, the sole administrator of Nigeria Electricity
Regulatory Commission (NERC), Imamuddeen Talba, has said.

Mr Talba, who spoke at a workshop on the annual review of the
Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) organised by the commission, said the planned
increase would not be effected this year.

“The 2008 tariff order has frozen retail tariffs at N6.00 for
2008, N7.00 for 2009 and N8.50 for 2010 average per kilowatt hour (KWh). Let me
also assure you that the minor review we are about to conduct today will only
affect wholesale price and not the retail tariff,” he said.

Mr. Talba explained that electricity consumers, who pay the
retail tariff, would not be affected by the minor review, as the MYTO as well
as government subsidy had already taken care of it.

While explaining the reason for the minor review, Haliru Dikko,
the head of market competition and rates of the commission explained that the
commission took into consideration, “the rate of inflation, naira exchange rate,
and the gas price.”

Tariff will increase in
2011

Though the MYTO provides that the major tariff review will be
carried out once in every five years, which should have been in 2012, Mr. Talba
explained that to move this sector forward, the commission has decided to bring
backward the date for the major review of the MYTO to ensure that tariffs are
in line with present economic realities.

The time table for the major review was, after contribution by
attendees, approved by the commission. This includes provision for “draft
retail tariff determination.” Mr. Dikko, who explained the process for the
major review, stated that “the tariff (new tariff including retail) will become
operational from January 2011.” On the excuse by some electricity producers, particularly
subsidiaries of the PHCN, that unavailability of gas was their reason for not
meeting their generation target, Mr. Talba stated that the excuse was no longer
tenable.

“There is more than enough gas, so nobody should complain that
there is no gas,” he said, while confirming that the NNPC had agreed to supply
sufficient gas to any generating company that had an agreement with it.

While explaining that low use electricity consumers,
particularly those in the R1 and R2 category, would still enjoy government
subsidy beyond 2011, Mr. Talba stated that the Federal Government had only
released 43.9bn of the N177billion meant for electricity subsidy between 2008
and 2011.

The spending of the released sum has, however, become
contentious – making the NERC to call for an audit.

“Based on a number of concerns by the commission and
stakeholders on the administration of the subsidy so far released, we have
appointed a firm of auditors to review the subsidy disbursement,” Mr. Talba
said.

NEXT on Sunday, in its previous reports, had detailed how the management of
the first N32billion subsidy led to the dismissal of the former commissioners
of NERC.