Nigeria Content Online

The N850 million
banquet hall of the Nasarawa State House which was under construction
collapsed yesterday morning while a number of construction workers and
engineers on site watched helplessly. However, no life was lost in the
incident.

An eyewitness
reported that the iron rods and pillars used to prop up the building
gave way before the entire structure came crashing down. The collapse
of the 1000 seater capacity hall is the second state sponsored project
to have collapsed in the past two months.

In December, the N539 million water treatment plant also collapsed in its first test run.

The damage from
yesterday’s collapse affected the structural integrity of buildings
around the Government House including the Press Centre and security
post and a hotel some few meters away from the fence.

Residents and
workers as well as security men who were at the Government House gate,
adjoining the site of the disaster, ran in different direction, as the
collapse threw them into panic.

Emergency meeting

The governor and
the members of his cabinet were reported to be holding an emergency
meeting behind closed doors and as at press time none of them,
including the commissioner for Housing, Environment and Urban
Development, Muhammad Yamusa Chindo, was present at the site for an
immediate assessment of the degree of damage.

The contractor,
Shelter Development Ltd, was forced to mobilise the workers to begin
recovery, using the whole day to clear up the rubble.

The contract for the project was awarded last year, and the
contractor started the job in August after the foundation laying
ceremony by the state governor. He pledged that the work would be
delivered in three months, but after six months, the contractor was
only able to complete the erection of the collapsed pillars.

The expectations of
Udu people in Ughelli South local council of Delta State that the area
will soon become a host community to a higher institution have been
temporarily put on hold as work on the proposed Michael and Cecilia
Ibru University, has been abandoned.

The proposed
institution of higher learning, belonging to former Managing Director
of Oceanic Bank and her husband is located along the Udu-Ughelli Road,
between Otu-Jeremi and Ekapamrhen in Ughelli South local government,
Delta State.

Mrs Ibru was
recently convicted of corrupt enrichment following her arraignment by
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over her tenure as
head of Oceanic Bank.

A resident of Udu,
Ojarekre Urubwevwu who spoke to NEXT at the site, said construction
work on the site was abruptly put on hold when the bank chief was
arrested and detained for financial crimes by the EFCC.

“We be dey happy
say we go soon get university for here o, until we hear say dem carry
the madam put for prison. Na that time the people wen dey do the fence
come stop work wen dem hear say madam dey for prison. May be dem fear
say dem no go see their salary take,” he said.

Mr Urubwevwu, who
owns a farm opposite the proposed school’s site, said that grounds of
the planned university was a beehive of activities prior to the
incarceration of Mrs Ibru last year. Ever since then, however, the site
has been abandoned for unknown reasons.

Still hoping

All efforts by NEXT
to locate any of those who worked on the site before the abrupt
stoppage of work failed, as they were said to have been brought from
far away to work on the site.

Even though he
could not tell when the landed property was acquired for the
institution and when work began at the site, the local farmer said the
project had made people around the community to be very happy.

He, however, expressed hope that work on the project will resume
again, and that the hope of having their name written on the world map
through the school will come to pass.

Angry youth
yesterday staged a mildly violent protest in Ekpoma town following
another robbery attack in the university community.

The armed robbers
attacked a new generation bank, carting away an undisclosed sum of
money and injured no fewer than seven persons. This is coming after
weeks of robbery scare in the administrative headquarters of Esan West
local government area of Edo State.

The gang of seven
armed robbers who came in two cars, a Mercedes Benz saloon and a Honda
car, allegedly stormed the bank, situated few metres from the
divisional police headquarters, destroyed the ATM machines and emptied
out the cash content of both cash machines.

NEXT gathered that
while attempting to escape with their loot, the robbers shot and
injured two bank staff, a cleaner and a security man in the process.
The injured persons were rushed to the nearby Irrua Specialist Teaching
Hospital (ISTH), Irrua.

Five other persons,
including a two-year-old child, also sustained bullet injuries from the
sporadic shooting by the robbers on their way out from the bank. Some
of the bank computers in the bank and other facilities were riddled
with bullets.

However, the police
in Ubiaja, Esan South East local government area, later claimed to have
recovered one of the cars used for the operation. But the angry youth,
mainly motorcycle riders in the town, protested the incessant attacks
on banks, the killing of innocent people by armed robbers, and the
alleged subsequent shooting and injuring of innocent people by the
police.

They made bonfire
with tyres along the popular Royal Market Road, just as they threatened
to burn down the police station. They were, however, dispersed by the
police with tear gas.

One of the
protesters, who did not want his name mentioned in print, said that
they were angered by the failure of the police to respond to distress
calls while the raid lasted. He alleged that sporadic shooting from the
police after the robbers had resulted in the injuries sustained by
several persons.

The chief medical
director of Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, George Akpede,
disclosed that not less than seven victims of the bank raid were rushed
to the hospital, most of whom he said were in critical conditions due
to the severity of the injuries. Some, he said, suffered
intra-abdominal injuries, fractured bones, while others had bullets
lodged in their bodies.

Pathetic incident

Chairman of Esan
West local council, Stella Okoro, who visited the affected bank and the
victims at the hospital, described the incident as pathetic. She,
however, promised that efforts would be made to collaborate with the
security agents to prevent future occurrence, with a promise to assist
the victims with hospital bills.

The council boss,
however, accused the banks of foot dragging on her call for them to
team up to procure armoured personnel carriers to effectively police
the banks.

The commissioner of
police in the state, David Omojola, said the robbery was “a call on the
police to re-order their strategies to prevent future occurrence.”

On the allegation
that his men were responsible for the injuries sustained by most of
those injured, he said “that is not likely to be true because police
will not go out and start shooting at members of the public. We are
always very careful with the use of firearms because we know the
implication.”

He, however,
assured the people of their security despite the incessant robbery,
saying those behind the robbery would be arrested.

Banks in Ekpoma
last month closed shops for several days following an alert that
robbers were billed to carry out an attack in the town.

An Abuja High
Court, yesterday told the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) to call all its witnesses in the case against former Director
General of the National Gallery of Arts, Joe Musa or he will close the
case.

Adekayode Adeniyi,
the presiding judge, told the EFCC on Thursday that if the commission
refuses to call all its witnesses by February 16, he will close the
prosecution.

Mr Adeniyi said
this while ruling on an oral motion by Oluwemimo Ogunde, counsel to Mr
Musa praying the court to close the case following the alleged attempts
by the anti-graft body to deliberately prolong the matter.

Presenting the
motion, Mr Ogunde submitted that Steve Odiase, counsel to EFCC sent him
a text at about 5 pm on Wednesday that he (Odiase) was sick.

“My Lord, this
again shows that the prosecution is not ready to go on with the case
but to frustrate my client who is serving an unending suspension over
an offence strange to him,” he said. “By the record of the court, the
last time the prosecution called witnesses was six months ago; all the
adjournment we had had were at the instance of the EFCC. This motion
would have called for the summary closure of this matter, but for the
benefit of justice, I shall be urging the court to give a deadline
within which the other prosecution witnesses will come to testify or
withdraw the case.” In his ruling, the Judge said the matter was
stepped down for today and tomorrow for the prosecution witnesses to
testify, but it appears the EFCC is actually frustrating the court and
the accused persons.

“This calculated
step by the prosecutor to further drag the matter is containing in the
letter addressed to the court by Mr Odiase, stating that he is sick,”
he said. “I thought the counsel has been to court several times with a
number of lawyers, so I can not fathom how his being sick should affect
our proceedings. I however, grudgingly for the benefit of justice allow
this excuse to stay by giving the prosecution February 16 as the day to
present the witnesses or risks the case being closed preparatory to
judgment.” Mr Musa along with four other former senior officers of the
agency, are standing trial for alleged conversion of N87 million of the
agency for personal use between August 1, 2008 and April 9, 2009.

At the last
sitting, the EFCC said its prosecuting counsel is afraid for his life
and the commission is no longer comfortable with both its lawyer and
witnesses appearing before that court .

Mr Odiase told the
trial judge that the EFCC instructed him to seek an immediate transfer
of the case-file to the Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory,
following threats by some undisclosed persons to kill him over the
matter.

Threat to lawyer

He came to court on
that day with two heavily armed mobile police escorts and read one of
the threat massages he said was sent to his phone the previous night.

“Last night they
sent me another one, and I promptly reported it to the police and the
director of operations in EFCC, Steven Otutoju. This was how they
killed our forensic expert in Kaduna recently, we no longer feel
protected in this court and therefore want the case-file transferred,”
he said.

The latest threat
message he read was : “You still have the honourable option of opting
out of Musa’s case now or accept the choice of preparing your funeral
oration yourself and or the possible extermination of your family. This
is the final warning!”.

But Mr Adeniyi
refused to hands-off of the trial as requested by the EFCC, maintaining
that there was no basis for the anti-graft agency to seek a withdrawal
of the case-file.

“I will not concede
to this request because there is no basis to seek the withdrawal of
this case, if you are being threatened by anybody, then report it to
the police or other relevant agencies,” Mr Adeniyi said. “Justice is a
3-way traffic. The accused persons were arraigned before this court on
July 7, 2009, and since then the case has suffered series of
adjournment at the instance of the prosecution.” Those on trial are the
former Director-General of the establishment, Joe Musa; Director of
Finance, Olusegun Ogunba; Director of Research & Education, Kweku
Tandoh and Deputy Director Administration of the Gallery, Oparagu
Elizabeth.

The Vice President,
Namadi Sambo, has urged the National Union of Road Transport Workers
(NURTW) to support the on-going voters’ registration exercise for the
success of the 2011 general election.

Speaking yesterday
when he received the President of the Union, Najeem Usman Yasin and his
management team in the State House, Abuja, the Vice President solicited
the support of the union to sensitise its members and mobilise them to
take part in the ongoing voters registration exercise, reiterating that
2011 elections will be transparent, free, fair and electorates’ votes
will count as there will be “one man, one vote”. He assured the union
and Nigerians of government’s determination to develop a good network
of roads across the country, fix the power sector, provide healthcare
facilities and build infrastructure, noting that no economy grows
without a good transport system.

Mr Sambo also
expressed regret at the inability of the union in accessing the Public
Mass Transit Revolving Fund Scheme being managed by the Urban
Development Bank of Nigeria and promised to address the issue with the
Bank’s Managing Director to help the union access the fund. On the
Union’s request to acquire land in the Federal Capital Territory, the
Vice President advised the officials to apply to the Minister of FCT
for land and specify the number of housing units it will use the land
for, adding that government will assist them as long as the houses are
for the benefit of Nigerians.

Access to funding

Earlier, Mr Yasin
expressed gratitude for government’s efforts to enhance the welfare of
workers in the country. He also congratulated President Goodluck
Jonathan and the Vice President on their victory in the recently
concluded PDP primary election. The union boss said the purpose of his
courtesy call was “to register support and commend the Federal
Government for adopting various strategies aimed towards addressing the
country’s infrastructure deficit which is evident in areas such as
inadequate power generation and distribution, poor roads and
transportation networks” as well as “health, education facilities and
security.”

He asked for the Federal Government’s assistance in accessing the
Public Mass Transit Revolving Fund being managed by the Urban
Development Bank, describing the conditions for getting the fund as
being stringent. Other requests solicited were the acquisition of land
in the FCT for mass housing and government’s intervention in Anambra,
Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Enugu States where people who have no
business in trade unions continue to usurp the functions of the union.
Others present were Minister of Labour, Emeka Worgu; Permanent
Secretary, Ministry of Labour, Anthony Ozodinobi and senior government
officials.

Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko, has expressed concern over technical hitches facing the conduct of the voters registration exercise and urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to brace up and correct these.
The governor, who visited six registration centres in company of top government officials of the state, commended the people for their enthusiasm to perform their civic responsibility by registering despite the frustration being encountered.
Mr. Mimiko said the people of the state are enthusiastic to register but are discouraged by the technical challenges on the part of the electoral commission.
“The performance is less than satisfactory. The pace of registration is disturbing. There are basically some technical errors in some of the machines. Some of these problems are being rectified, but my worry is that I don’t know how many people will be able to register within this time frame and with these technical challenges that our people are facing in almost every polling unit, one is worrisome,” the governor said.
Noting that there could be possibility for the extension of the exercise if the errors were not rectified on time, he said, “In some cases, INEC is trying to solve some of these problems but there are many of them. We’ll continue to interface with INEC to ensure that the exercise comes out successful at the end of the day.
“I don’t have any doubt in my mind that this exercise has to be extended in terms of time line.”
Patient with INEC
He commended the people for their patriotism and enthusiasm concerning the exercise, appealing to them to be patient with INEC and not to be discouraged by the challenges confronting them in their quest to register as voters.
“I want to especially thank our people; I’ve gone round and learnt that our people have been waiting since 6am to 5pm to get registered. That level of commitment and enthusiasm is uncommon. I don’t have any doubt in my mind that our people have decided this time that they will want to register,” Mr. Mimiko said.
“The minimum condition is that this time frame has to be extended. Some of these equipment have to be changed, some upgraded, and some to be recalibrated. What is important is that our people have decided that they must be registered this time around,” he added.

A motion seeking to
commit the Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board
(JAMB), Dibu Ojerinde, to prison has been instituted before a Federal
High Court in Lagos by Joseph Nwobike on behalf of SW Global Ltd (1st
plaintiff), Fleet Technologies Ltd (2nd plaintiff), and Global Portal
Services Ltd (3rd plaintiff).

Mr Ojerinde
allegedly flouted the order of the court restraining the board from
registering candidates for the 2011 Unified Tertiary Matriculation
Examination (UTME). The court, presided over by Okechukwu Okeke, on
October 26, 2010, gave an order of injunction restraining JAMB (1st
respondent) from securing or retaining the services of Sidmach
technologies Ltd (2nd respondent) and Electronic Test Company Limited
(3rd respondent) or any other company for the registration of its
candidates for the examinations. Mr Nwobike is also contending that
despite the order, the 2nd and 3rd respondents are now carrying out the
registration of candidates for the 1st respondent’s UTME 2011 whilst
the motion on notice filed in the suit and the order of the court are
still subsisting. Apart from the JAMB registrar, the plaintiffs are
also seeking for the committal to prison of the managing directors of
the 2nd and 3rd respondents.

Breach of agreement

The aggrieved
companies, who sued jointly as members of the Converged Examinations
Management Technology Platform Consortium, had in an affidavit in
support of the suit deposed to by the General Manager of SW Global
Limited, Tunde Sosina, claimed that they had entered into an
Information Technology Services Agreement dated February 12, 2009 with
JAMB. He added that the provision of the agreement empowered them to
provide the sole platform for the Converged Examination Management
Technology for all examinations conducted by JAMB and other two
examination bodies under the Federal Ministry of Education. The two
other examination bodies, according to the affidavit, are the National
Examination Council and National Business and Technical Board.

Mr Sosina further stated that following an approval policy of the
federal government, the three examination bodies held several
pre-contractual meetings and negotiations wherein the plaintiffs
represented their technical, financial and operational capacities to
implement the technology platform fully for the various examinations
usually conducted by the three exams bodies. According to Mr Sosina,
under the agreement, it was mutually agreed that the plaintiffs would
provide JAMB and others with Registration Management, Notification and
Validation, Item banking, Integration and Back-End, Biometrics
Technology, Admissions Management for JAMB, and Data Capture
Management. He equally said that the tenure of the agreement was for
five years. According to him, JAMB, not minding the existence of the
agreement, started making arrangements on how to award part of the
contract to Sidmach Technologies Limited and Electronic Test Company
Limited.

The majority leader of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Ifedayo
Akinsoyinu, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to declare a state of
emergency in Plateau State as a way of taking control over the crisis in the
state.

Mr. Akinsoyinu, told reporters that with the crisis that had
engulfed Jos, the capital of Plateau State in recent times, there was no
alternative to the declaration of a state of emergency in the state.

The lawmaker, who described the continued crisis in Jos as
alarming and disgraceful, charged Mr. Jonathan to urgently find a lasting
solution to the problem in the area. Mr. Akinsoyinu, (Labour, Ondo West), said
leaders of various communities in Jos should be probed for the continuous
crises that have engulfed the ancient town in recent times.

“The crisis in Jos is fast becoming too many,” he said. “Government
must brace up and get to the root of the matter. There are many people who are
fueling the crisis that should be brought to book. The solution to the crisis
is in the region because some cabals are behind the crisis, it is only when
these cabals are probed that Jos will enjoy peace.”

The lawmaker also criticised the federal government for not
doing enough to find a lasting solution to the crisis, saying the government
has failed in its duty of providing adequate security for its citizenry.

Changed dressing

Meanwhile, residents of Jos have adopted various survival
strategies as the warring parties resort to secret killings in the troubled
city. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that one of the strategies,
known as ‘chameleon tactics,’ involved the usage of clothes deemed acceptable
to each of the warring territories.

“I wear my jeans trousers and T-shirt if I move to Christian
settlements and change to caftan, trouser and cap when returning to the areas
inhabited by Muslims,” Shehu Mohammed, an undergraduate of the University of
Jos said.

Mr. Mohammed, whose campus is in a Christian-dominated area,
resides at Bauchi Road, populated by his fellow Muslims.

“The dressing has helped me a lot. It helps me from attracting
the attention of hoodlums,” he said.

Another resident, Bulus Pam, told NAN that he usually changed
his dressing whenever he was going to the market to purchase meat and
vegetables.

“If I want to buy meat, I wear jumper, cap and trousers because those items
are sold in Hausa-dominated areas,” he said.

The Oyo state government has reopened the murder charge against
Teslim Folarin, Senate majority leaders, and three others over the killing of
Lateef Salako (aka Eleweomo), factional chairman of the National Union of Road
Transport Workers (NURTW).

Justice Akintunde Boade of the Oyo state High Court, on
Wednesday, ordered the service of a suit filed by the state government on Mr.
Folarin and others accused persons.

After listening to H.F. Sule, Oyo state director of Public
Prosecution, DPP, who told the court that the state was not a party to the
release of the accused persons last Thursday, the judge fixed January 27 for
mention of the matter when they were expected to have been properly served on
the notice.

Before their release last week, Mr. Folarin and other accused
persons, Ramoni Jayeoba, Bankole Olaide Raji and Raimi Ismaila, spent nine days
at the Agodi prison where they were remanded on the order of the Ibadan Chief
Magistrate’s court over their alleged involvement in the killing of Mr. Salako.

The magistrate, Fatimat Badrudeen, struck out the two-count
charge of felony (conspiracy to murder) and murder preferred against the
accused persons and discharged them when the police formally withdrew the
charges for further investigation.

Effort by the counsel to the Oyo state government to stop the dismissal of
the matter were unsuccessful as the magistrate refused audience to the state’s
DPP, arguing that the police, who was the original prosecutor, had the right to
withdraw. Eleweomo was killed by yet unknown persons shortly after the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) congress held at the Ona-Ara local government area of
the state, late last year.

One of the ways the ongoing voter registration exercise can be
saved from collapse is for the Independent National Electoral Commission to
hand over its conduct to banks, a member of the House of Representatives, Uche
Ekwunife, has said.

Mrs. Ekwunife, who represents Anaocha, Njikoka, Dunukofia
federal constituency in Anambra State said yesterday in her Nri hometown where
she had gone to register that this had become necessary in the face of the
likelihood of many Nigerians not being registered because of the slowness of
the machines.

According to her, banks have the requisite equipment and
experience to do a better job and at less cost to the federal government.

“I believe the banks in Nigeria can handle what INEC is doing.
They have the experience, the security, uninterrupted power supply and they
open and close early,” said Mrs. Ekwunife, who is seeking re-election to her
seat on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance.

She noted that 20% of the money spent in the current exercise
would have been enough to pay banks for their charges and still give the
federal government value for its money.

“All they need do is to send all the required data to the banks
so that people can register wherever they are,” she stated.

Mrs. Ekwunife who regretted the amount of time wasted in
registering people blamed it on the equipment being used and said a lot still
needed to be done by INEC to convince Nigerians they were serious.

Use the old register

She also suggested a return to the old voters’ register if the
current exercise proved too difficult to handle. She said those who did not
find their names in that old register could now come for update. Alternatively,
Mrs. Ekwunife called for an amendment of the Electoral Law in order to enable
INEC to adopt Option A-4 for the purpose of the April elections.

“INEC needs exactly one year to do registration if they must get
it right and we have just three months to go,” she stated.

She said the issue was not about extending the exercise but in
making sure the equipment worked well. Mrs. Ekwinife said even if the
registration exercise was extended, INEC would still need to add at least two
months to get enough people to register.

“It is either they do this or they will revisit the Electoral Act and opt
for Option A-4,” Mrs. Ekunife said.