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Dideolu Awolowo, the wife of the late politician
, Obafemi Awolowo praised the Ogun state governor, Gbenga Daniel for
contributing his quota to the development of the state.

She said this when the governor paid her a
valedictory visit at the Awolowo’s home in Ikenne, noting that the
Daniel administration has changed the face of Ogun State through
meaningful people-oriented programmes and projects in consonance with
the template of late Obafemi Awolowo.

The matriarch of the Awolowo family made
reference to the Free Trade Zones, renewal of critical infrastructure,
construction of roads and housing estates across the state,
establishment of a new university and polytechnics and development of
the grassroots. “You have touched the lives of the people of Ogun
State. The tree of good governance and economic development that you
have planted during your tenure will continue to grow. You have not
disappointed the Awolowo family; you have not disappointed the people
of Ogun State. You have succeeded in your present endeavour, your
detractors will not succeed in pulling back the hand of the clock of
progress,” she said.

Similarly, Ebenezer Babatope, former minister of Transport and long
time associate of the Awolowos who was also in Ikenne during the visit,
described Mr. Daniel as one of the prides of the Yoruba race who has
consistently followed the footsteps of Obafemi Awolowo in his deeds.

The new Resident
Electoral Commissioner in Ekiti State, Hussain Pai, has called on staff
of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state to
work assiduously at becoming role models for their counterparts across
the country. Mr Pai said this in Ado Ekiti yesterday while taking over
the office from his predecessor, Isyaku Maigoro, who recently retired
from the Commission.

He said the staff
must see it as their duty to conduct free, fair and credible elections
in 2011. He said he hopes to build on the good legacies left behind by
his predecessor by ensuring that no staff of the commission circumvents
existing rules in the conduct of an election. The commissioner promised
to discharge his duties very effectively and ensure that the elections
were devoid of crisis. He praised Mr Maigoro, who was described by
staff of the commission as highly experienced and unbiased.

Earlier, Mr Maigoro urged commission’s staff to support his
successor and ensure that Nigerians are proud of their conduct of the
elections. He reminded electoral officers in all the 16 local councils
of the state and other top management staff of the commission to allow
the new INEC boss the benefit of their wealth of experience. “The REC
has a serious role to play in the conduct of 2011 , but his role could
only materialise if the Electoral Officers and other staff that are
directly connected to the conduct of elections are responsible and
alive to their responsibilities”, he said.

Lagos doctors have
criticised the state government for “insulting the medical profession”,
vowing to continue with the ongoing industrial action, after an
emergency congress yesterday.

The strike embarked
on by the Medical Guild, comprising of doctors employed by the state
government, is going to four weeks, and the congress still saw an
overwhelming vote in favour of the continuation of the strike. Edamisan
Temiye, the Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association, Lagos Chapter,
described the state government’s attempt to demote the striking doctors
as “retrogressive” and “unacceptable”. The doctors are pressing for the
implementation of agreements reached with the state government to pay
the Consolidated Medical Salary (CONMESS), among other issues, but the
state government was said to have offered to demote the workers before
the agreements to be met.

“It is sad the
Lagos state government is not only reneging on its promise but also
engaging in the blackmail of the medical profession,” he said, accusing
the state government of breaking the labour law. “If you are on step
nine on a particular level, they now demote you to step two, and earn a
salary of step two worker. So all the seven years you’ve gained, you
will lose and get stuck at that step two for ‘only God knows how long’.
They have demoted doctors’ level in the state; some are losing up to
N160 000 compared to their counterparts working across the road or in
other hospitals; and that is unacceptable.”

Sack threats

Mr Temiye also
described as ‘insulting’, the state government’s allegation that the
ongoing strike was politically motivated, adding that doctors in
federal hospitals across the state would soon be joining their
colleagues in state hospitals, on a solidarity strike. Reacting to a
recent call for the sack of all striking doctors by the state’s former
governor, Bola Tinubu, he said the state doctors are currently
overworked and that it would be impossible to find replacements should
the doctors be dismissed from service. “We believe it’s a threat and it
will remain so, and if they go ahead and sack the doctors, we will see
how they are going to replace them,” he said. “Lagos State has less
than one-third of the doctors they employ, so there no enough doctors
in the first instance. I don’t see any doctor working somewhere else
and coming to Lagos State to pick slave wages when he can get something
else better.”

No going back

Ayobode Williams,
the Medical Guild chairman, said the doctors would continue to stay
away from work until the state government honours the agreement it
reached with them. “Our agitations still remain the same because the
state government has still not fulfilled their own side of the
bargain,” he said. “The congress has voted and said that the strike
would continue, not until the government implements CONMESS to the
letter and reinstate our past chairman (Ibrahim Olaifa), and the tax
issues that we requested for.”

At the congress, 336 doctors had voted in favour of the continuation
of the strike, while 38 doctors voted against its continuation; 11
doctors abstained from voting.

Kirikiri, the
relatively quiet town in Lagos State which gives the famous prison its
name, woke up last Saturday to a crowd that had turned out to celebrate
the release of Olabode George, the former chairman of the Nigerian
Ports Authority, who ended his prison term that day. Over 1,000 George
supporters, dressed in ‘uniform’ traditional attire popularly called
‘aso ebi’ along with elaborate headgear, flocked to the sleepy town.

Stella Onyekwere, a
fruit seller, said that there were so many visitors that it was
difficult to get through them to her home near the Kirikiri Medium
Prison.

“The number of
people that came here today, I have not seen it in Kirikiri before,”
she said. “They were plenty. You see them with different uniforms. See
the women with their gele. People full everywhere.”

A few residents said that the unprecedented turnout made them afraid.

“Come and see the
security people that came to guard him (Mr. George),” said Mrs.
Onyekwere. “They were many and they were wearing their black. That
black suit is not ordinary o. If you see the kind of guns they arranged
inside the suit, you will fear.”

According to
another Kirikiri resident, who identified himself simply as Samuel,
some of the supporters of the released prisoner had been in the
neighbourhood since Friday night to beat the restriction of movement
due to the Lagos State monthly environmental sanitation.

“In fact, they have
been busy since yesterday night; that is when many of them came,” he
said. “So this morning, they were ready. Many politicians were here. I
saw this Alao-Akala (Oyo State governor) and other PDP governors. Even
(Goodluck) Jonathan, came here in the night around 3am.”

“But seriously,
this is not good now,” Samuel went on to say. “Somebody that stole
billions of naira, they were coming to celebrate him like this, but
there are many innocent people inside there (Kirikiri Prisons). If it
was a poor man that stole money, they would have left him to die there
and they will bury him there. That’s why you can’t blame people who are
doing everything possible to make money.”

Hours later, the
release of Mr. George from prison was the talk of the town. At each
stretch of shops, restaurants, and bars, people were discussing it,
either quietly condemning the jamboree or loudly telling how they
scrambled to pick the cash that Mr. George threw in the air for his
supporters. Posters bearing the image of Mr. George were posted on
walls with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) logo and the
inscription, ‘The Joseph of our Time.’

While the fanfare
was going on, restaurant owners made a killing by doubling food prices.
Eno Akpan, who runs a restaurant in the area, said she regretted
opening her shop late after the environmental sanitation. She had sent
her daughter ahead, who sold plates of rice for N300 instead of the
usual N150.

“If I knew it will be like this, I would have prepared everything,”
she said. “I can even sell a plate for N1,000 and they will buy.”

President Goodluck
Jonathan has urged Nigerians to place national building above personal
interest. Mr. Jonathan, who is the presidential flagbearer for the
People’s Democratic Party (PDP), also urged all political parties and
candidates to elective offices to steer clear of false, malicious,
spiteful, malevolent and wicked campaigns against their opponents. He
spoke in reference to a publication in a national daily, which reported
that the PDP voted N2.9billion to capture the southwest. The PDP had
lost some states in the zone to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)
which now controls three states to PDP’s two, while the labour party
controls one. The presidential spokesman, Ima Niboro, said the
president “noted with regret and sadness the totally false, malicious
and repugnant lead report.

“The entire report
has no factual basis and its contents are a product of the
mischief-driven imagination of its authors,” he said. “President
Goodluck Jonathan who has been busy touring all the states of the
federation, including the southwest, in an all-out effort to win the
hearts and minds of Nigerians in the traditional and
politically-correct manner, has absolutely no need to resort to any
underhand tactics to win the coming presidential elections.” He also
stated that the president and his supporters across the country are
working extremely hard to achieve success in the elections in an
indisputable and transparent manner.

Rule of law

Mr. Niboro said the
tumultuous crowds that have attended the Jonathan/Sambo Campaign
rallies across the country and the increasing endorsements of the
ticket by other political parties, royal fathers and interest groups
clearly point to the success of the president’s untiring campaign to
convince Nigerians to give him a fresh mandate for four years.

“As he continues to
show by word and action, President Jonathan remains fully committed to
free, fair and credible elections in April. His being a candidate in
the elections has not affected this commitment in any way,” he said.

The statement also
explained that Mr. Jonathan is also a firm believer in the doctrine of
separation of powers and the rule of law.

“He is fully committed to upholding the independence of the
judiciary at all times and will never be part of any conspiracy to
misuse security agencies for partisan political purposes or impugn the
integrity of the judiciary for private ends,” Mr. Niboro said.

Electoral reforms,
the consolidation of the Amnesty programme, increase in power supply
are some of the achievements of the administration of Goodluck Jonathan
and his deputy, Namadi Sambo in the few months they have been in charge
of affairs in Aso Rock. The National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples
Democratic Party, (PDP), Rufa’i Alkali said this at the weekend in
Benin. Mr Alkali, who addressed journalists during a brief stopover of
the presidential trail in Benin City on a campaign trip to Delta State,
said this makes it obvious why Nigerians must return Messrs Jonathan
and Sambo back to office through their votes come April 2011. He said:
“What we are saying is that if we know that we have won the elections,
we would have gone home and stop campaigning, why should we waste time
resources and energy and carry our president around the country at high
risk to campaign? No, we believe we can win but we cannot win without
reaching the people. That is why you must reach them, talk to them and
also promise them things they will understand. So, we are prepared to
go extra mile to reach the people, and that is what we are doing, that
is why we are not sleeping.”

Promoting peace

Mr Alkali said one
area of interest to the government is to ensure that the nation
continues to live in peace and harmony, as against insinuations that
the PDP-led government has failed in tackling the incessant security
breaches across the federation.

“This party, this government initiated and then encouraged and
supported the movement of the electoral reforms that today Nigerians
are celebrating, so the issue of security is also being looked at very
seriously,” he said. “The issue of security of lives and property is
the fundamental requirement of the government. Government is busy
tackling these issues of security breaches as we observed in Jos,
Bauchi. But remember that most of these issues were inherited by this
government. Most of what this party has been doing is to address these
problems.”

The Resident
Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ekiti State, Isyaku Maigoro, has
identified intimidation of opponents by political office holders as
being responsible for the violence experienced during elections. The
electoral officer, who is retiring from the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) today after the expiration of his tenure,
said Nigeria will continue to witness a flawed election as long as the
doctrine of win at all cost remains. Speaking in Ado Ekiti on Saturday,
Mr Maigoro called for attitudinal change among all those involved in
the electoral system for Nigeria to join the league of advanced
democracies in the world. “A situation whereby a governor or any other
political office holder goes to the polling unit with thugs to cast
their votes always resorted to intimidation of opponents and had always
been causing serious problems among politicians,” he said. “But a
situation whereby a politician goes to cast his vote solely without
anybody escorting him will enhance peaceful conduct of election and I
am convinced that Nigeria will start to get it right the day this habit
is embraced.”

Afraid of losing

He said politicians
always create situations to either mar the electoral process or ignite
crisis when they realise that they are losing. Mr Maigoro expressed
confidence in the ability of the leadership of the electoral Commission
to conduct a free, fair and credible election in 2011.

The REC also warned against taking politics as a business by
Nigerian politicians, saying this is the only anti-dote to winning at
all costs attitude of politicians.

Ahead of the 2012
gubernatorial election in Edo State, a faction of the Labour Party (LP)
has entered into a coalition with the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP)
and other political parties in order to challenge the Action Congress
of Nigeria (ACN)-led government at the polls.

A national leader
of the PPP, Solomon Edebiri, who disclosed this in Benin City over the
weekend shortly after a meeting with leaders of Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC), ANPP and a faction of Labour Party in the
state, described both the ACN-led government and the PDP in the state
as “birds of the same feather.” “Our people have seen that while the
PDP ruined this state for over ten years which our people are still
suffering, the ACN government has become a military regime where only
one person dictates to all,” he said. “We are working on aligning with
all political parties to ensure that PDP and ACN do not come back to
power in Edo State. That is the idea. We want to be sure that the
people have a true progressive party.

He further
described PDP and ACN as ‘the same kind of wine in different bottles’,
saying politicians in both parties are the same. “You know they have
been decamping from PDP to ACN and from ACN to PDP. So, certainly our
people cannot take them very serious,” he said.

Not strong enough

Mr Edebiri said
opposition parties in the state have come to realise that none of them
can singly take on the ruling party because the resources cannot be
enough.

“So, we are therefore putting together a team of political groups to
form a very strong coalition to ensure that these people do not come
back in 2012,” he said. “We have to start it now by ensuring that we
have enough candidates from other political parties in the House of
Assembly in Edo State. And that is the essence of the various alliances
that we are putting together.” Mr Edebiri explained

The National
Universities Commission (NUC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) with the Institute for Lasers, Photonics, and Biophotonics
(ILPB), United States of America for the development of an
international joint research centre for nanomedicine in some Nigerian
universities. According to details of the MOU, the first phase of the
initiative is to implement the program at NUC-selected universities
while the second phase will bring Nigerian researchers to train at ILPB
and equipment distributed to Nigerian universities. The MOU postulates
that by this time, there should be “global impact of research with
widespread implementation of quantum dots and other nanoparticles in
the fields of medical diagnosis and treatment.” The third stage, meant
to take place five to 10 years from now, will be defined by major
research focuses, sufficient funding, and effective personnel training
and the centre is expected to become a first-class research center not
only in Nigeria, but in the world.

The NUC appointed
Paras Prasad, a professor of chemistry and medicine with the University
of Buffalo (UB) and the executive director of the ILPB, as the head of
the joint research center.

“The two major
application areas are alternate energy and health care. We are applying
this merge of photonics, of light wave energy, for application in the
area of medicine called nanomedicine. The other, alternative energy
focuses primarily on solar energy harvesting,” he said.

Beneficial science

Folarin Erogbogbo,
leader of the Nigerian group and research assistant professor in cancer
nanotechnology, explained that the primary focus in Nigeria will be on
nanomedicine, which could be applied to disease diagnosis, treatment,
and delivery.

“Over here [at UB],
we’ve done some work that could be beneficial for the early detection
of cancer. However nanomedicine doesn’t end there,” Mr. Erogbogbo said.
“It could be used in other areas like malaria and AIDS research and so
on; obesity issues, as well.” Mr. Erogbogbo, one of the primary
promoters of this collaboration, identified Prasad’s propensity to work
with international researchers and noticed that UB did not have a
strong academic presence in Africa. “The joint research institution
would incite a lot of change in Nigeria… we’re bringing cutting edge
technology to Nigeria,” Mr. Erogbogbo boasted.

Abike Dabiri-Erewa,
the chairperson of the House of Representatives Committee on the
Diaspora, was present to witness the signing of the MOU.

“We look forward to partnering with a world leader like UB that can
help us develop our scientific infrastructure. This is a bold step that
will go a long way toward the NUC’s vision for creating opportunities
in frontier areas of research and technology,” she said.

About 258 inmates of Gusau Medium Prison in Zamfara State have
completed studies in the recitation of the Holy Qur’an. Speaking at the
graduation ceremony on Sunday, the state’s prison controller, Abubakar
Falke, said most of the inmates spent between 9 and 12 years in the
prison. He said they were also trained in different trades, for them to
become self reliant after their jail terms. The controller, who said
that the Qur’anic recitation study was introduced to inculcate moral
behaviour in the inmates, added that 50 of them had indicated interest
to register with the National Open University.

He urged the state
government to pardon them because they had been rehabilitated and
acquired some skills to take care of themselves and urged the inmates
to be of good behaviour after serving their jail terms. In his remarks,
the state governor, Mahmud Shinkafi, directed the state attorney
general to review their files and advise the government accordingly.
Mr. Shinkafi commended the prison warders for introducing the
programme, which he said would go a long way in reducing the social
vices in the society. The wife of the state governor, Aisha Shinkafi,
donated some clothes and copies of the Holy Qur’an to each inmate. She
also gave N10,000 each to the 50 inmates who recorded outstanding
performance