If there is one national headache that Nigerians unanimously yearn for a cure, it is sure the poor state of the power sector.  There is unanimity of opinion in Nigeria that the country cannot develop or witness any significant growth without proportional growth in the power sector.

The dire condition of the sector explains the clamour for the declaration of state of emergency in the sector. According to World Bank estimates of 2010, Nigeria ranks among the 10 countries with the lowest kilowatt consumption per capita. Nigeria has 136kw per capita and the countries that rank below Nigeria are Haiti 24kw, Ethiopia 54kw, Eritrea 52kw, Congo Democratic Republic 95kw, Nepal 93kw, Tanzania 78kw, Myanmar 131kw and only about 50.6% of Nigerians have access to electricity as compared to Ghana’s 60.5%, Pakistan’s 62.4% and Libya’s 99.8%.

Nigeria’s power sector has been left to stagnate and degenerate into such decadence that many lofty efforts made since 1999 seem to be a drop of water in the ocean. The requisite investment in the sector was criminally abandoned and there was no conscious plan to take a second look at the sector so as to arrest the decadence.

Based on the forgoing therefore, when the present administration came with the desire to reform the power sector, Nigerians heaved a sigh of ecstatic relief. The reforms have seen the lunching of the Power Sector Road Map, the unbundling of Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, settlement of outstanding arrears of staff of PHCN and recently the sale of electricity distribution companies, popularly called DISCOS.

The power sector privatisation re-commenced in earnest in August 2010, following the unveiling of a detailed roadmap for the power sector reform by President Goodluck Jonathan. The roadmap had stipulated that only 11 distribution companies and six generation companies would be fully privatised, while the ownership of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) would be retained by the government but with private sector management, as articulated in the Electric Power Sector Reform Act of 2005.

All these noble and notable efforts geared towards reviving and revamping the sector seems to have been yielding the needed dividends, though some may argue in trickles. The minister in charge of power, Professor Chinedu Nebo said very recently that by the middle of June this year, the country would migrate from the present  4000 plus megawatts to 6000 megawatts and likely to hit 10,000 by the end of the year.

This sounds like good music to the ears of desperate Nigerians. But, stakeholders in the sector have warned that before these dreams could be turned into realities, gas supplies to the power plants will have to significantly improve and the pipelines more secured to ensure uninterrupted gas supply.

Also some of the archaic laws hamstringing some states from generating and distributing within the confines of their states, such legislations that compel states to dump their generation into the national pool should be reviewed so as to encourage more states’ participation in power generation and distribution. This will mean removing power from the exclusive list.

With the improvements already witnessed in the sector, it is now sure that the only way to go is the way of the reform, if the sector has to embrace the much needed improvement. The impact of a reformed power sector will be there for all to see as there is going to be more private players in the sector who are going to see the business of power generation and distribution as a serious one and this will in turn result in significantly improved mega wattage.

At this desperate state of the sector and given the genuine efforts of this administration in righting the criminal wrongs of the past decades, supporting these efforts is the only right thing to do. A reformed power sector will not only jumpstart the economy, it will set it on the desired path of perpetual growth. It will help release and unleash the abundant potentials that abound in the country. All hands must be on deck.

In this interview, former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Dipriye Alamieyeseigha speaks about the futility of attempts for power change in 2015, just as he gave insight into how he got his state pardon, among other salient issues. Correspondent Wale Elegbede brings the details…

Are you not perturbed about agitation between North and South for 2015 presidency?

This is a free country. The freedom of speech is a key in a democratic setting and ours should not be an exception. Those agitating for movement of presidency to the North have their own opinion and they are entitled to it, but I will tell you that without any doubt, President Goodluck Jonathan will remain president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, come 2015.

Is that a way of saying Aso Rock is not vacant in 2015?
Yes
But how will the South handle oppositions who are against your stance?

They will all, at the appropriate time, join the moving train.

How did you see the state of emergency rule declared by Jonathan in three Northern states?

I am fully in support of the decision by the president for what he did. He exhibited courage and that is what he should do. He is the Commander-in-Chief and he is backed by the constitution. The life of Nigerians, which he has sworn to protect, can no longer be wasting anyhow.

But there are fears and reports of spill over of Boko Haram to some other states. How do you think the president should handle this?

I thought that the federal government waited for too long. Some of this people have already infiltrated into other states but they would not garner that formidable force to cause any colossal damage. Yes, they can strike and run but the federal government is well equipped and capable of handling such isolated cases.

The pardon granted to you by the Council of State generated forms of ripples in the country. What was your feeling like when you heard the news?
It started during the time of Yar’Adua. It was a pardon that was negotiated. People don’t know what happened, so they can talk. But if I open my mouth, some of them will keep quiet. President Goodluck Jonathan was part of the negotiating team. There is no person in this country that understands the issues surrounding Alamieyeseigha better than Mr. President. He was my deputy governor and he knew everything that happened then. I am already writing my memoir. At the appropriate time, you will know. People have the right to say or speak their personal opinion. The federal government has taken a decision and I don’t think those people who are criticising my state pardon have the information the federal government has. They don’t know the contributions I have made towards the sustenance of peace in the country. Maybe it could have been better that let there be no oil; let there be no money to share at the federal government level and at the state level, then the impact could have been visible. Because things are so rosy and at the end of the month they go to Abuja and share the money, so they don’t feel the impact and they know that people went into the creeks; slept in every camp to make sure that amnesty was achieved. Even the former President Olusegun Obasanjo will agree how many commendation letters he himself wrote to me congratulating and thanking me for what I did. I risked myself, went as far to the high sea severally to rescue expatriates at the risk of my life. People have forgotten all these things. And it was number one on the negotiated items that I was going to be given pardon.

Who negotiated the pardon with you? 

The Federal Government did. The Yar’Adua’s government was involved; Goodluck was only part of the negotiating team. The press recorded and reported it that when I was in Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Vice President Goodluck Jonathan visited me then in EFCC. It was part of the process. It is what Yar’Adua would have done. What is even this corruption that they are talking about? The whole thing was political and one day, I will expose everybody. I have started writing; people are ignorant of what really happened.

So, late President Yar’Adua brokered the state pardon deal for you?

Yes. Otherwise ,they would have even killed me. Without Yar’Adua, I would have died by now because so many attempts were made on my life.

Who are those people after your life?

Well, he is somebody all of you know. Somebody used the phrase, “Oga at the top”. You know them and I will reveal them at the appropriate time.
Are you saying your pardon was in order?

Yes. Like I said, this pardon was negotiated and if I fulfill my own part of the bargain, then why shouldn’t Federal Government fulfill its part?

Where and how would you place the British government’s involvement in your travails then?

British government brought me to this country. Didn’t you hear that our own Attorney-General went to the British Court to say that Alamieyeseigha should not be allowed to come home? Have you ever heard that a sovereign nation will go to another sovereign nation to say that its own national should not come home?  When people commit offense, they run away from their countries. This one want to come back, they said he should not come back to his own country. Nuhu Ribadu was at the airport to identify me.

Did you actually sneak into Nigeria disguised like a woman? 
Why didn’t they arrest me if I dressed like a woman? It is nonsensical. It was a computer graphic by a newspaper and there was an annotation under that photograph. People did not look at that. How can a governor-general dress like a woman to escape?

What do you think led to your travail? 

The summary of it, according to Obasanjo, is that Atiku Abubakar nominated me as his running mate. End of story. And he said it is over his dead body; he would fight me and Atiku to the end of the world. That unless he dies, Atiku cannot be president of Nigeria. That was the beginning and the end of the story. But again, I am going to tell my story.

Did you take him seriously after that threat? 

Maybe the only mistake I made was that I left this country to Germany for medical surgery. Again I made a mistake in calling him when I recovered from the surgery that I just came out from the theatre. I started having funny calls and they started plotting against me.

What about your impeachment as Bayelsa State governor?

Were you not told how I was impeached? I did not appear before any panel. My House of Assembly people were forcefully carried to Awolowo Road in Lagos and under gun point signed my impeachment; taken to Abuja and with full police back-up and taken to Yenogoa to pronounce my impeachment. Everybody knows what happened.

Did Jonathan support your impeachment? 

If he had not succumbed, he would have gone with me. They would have taken me and him out.

So, were there any hard-feelings against Jonathan at any point?

No way. He is my younger brother.

Did Jonathan give you secret support during your time of travail? 

He will always be my younger brother. If he has not succumbed to what they did, he is only one person and of course, he also would have been removed.

Have you spoken to Obasanjo since then?

There is no need. The damage has been done but I have told him face to face that I have forgiven him and I have forgiven everybody.

What is your reaction to reports that you want to run for Senate in 2015? 

It is not true. I am not talking about politics. I enjoyed my freedom.
Considering the genesis of your travails, Is there any lesson you think leaders should learn from what is happening in Rivers State?

I have told Amaechi himself that he should use me as example that nobody fights against the Federal Government. He should learn that after God, it is the government.  Amaechi is in a regional government. There is the federal government and there is President and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. However, you will be shocked that the president himself does not know much about the issues. It is people around that are creating this entire problem. If you call two of them and seat them down, I am sure they would not be able to tell you what has happened between them.

By most accounts, the high rate of maternal mortality in Bauchi State is indeed a source of serious concern to all and sundry.

This is because the maternal mortality rate in the state is put at 1,549 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines maternal death  as the “death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and size of the pregnancy, from any cause related to, or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes.’’

Dr Usman Al-Rasheed, Senior Policy Adviser of Targeted States High Impact Project (TSHIP), a Bauchi-based non-governmental organisation, has said that available statistics showed that 300 women died of pregnancy-related complications in the state every year.

Al-Rasheed, who categorised the causes of maternal deaths, also stressed that maternal mortality ratio in Bauchi State was around 1,549 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.

He identified the causes of the deaths as haemorrhage (23 per cent); infection (17 per cent); eclampsia (11 per cent); unsafe abortion (11 per cent); obstructed labour (11 per cent); malaria (11 per cent); anaemia (11 per cent) and other factors (5 per cent).

“Some of the social causes that contribute to maternal deaths are cultural practices that restrict women from seeking medical attention, malnutrition and child delivery without the supervision of skilled health personnel,’’ he said.

Al-Rasheed said that the components of safe motherhood, which were vital for safe delivery by pregnant women, included antenatal care, clean and safe hospital as well as postpartum care.

“A pregnant woman is expected to attend antenatal clinics at least four times, during which she would be educated on her required nutrition and how to handle some medical conditions such as malaria, hookworm and anemia,” he said.

Hajiya Fatima Mohammed, a member of the TSHIP Advocacy Group on Reproductive Health, who spoke during advocacy visits to rural communities in the state, said that neglect of postpartum care was the common killer of new mothers in the state.

“Pregnant women die mostly of Postpartum Hemorrhage (PPH), which is loss of blood in excess of 500 milliliter or any amount sufficient enough to cause cardiovascular collapse,” she added.

Mohammed, who is also the North East Zonal Vice-President of Federation of Muslim Women Association in Nigeria (FOMWAN), stressed that apart from maternal deaths, records of neonatal deaths in the state were also frightening.

According to her, neonatal mortality is the death of an infant within the first 28 days of life.

Citing the National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) of 2008, Mohammed said that it was estimated that 53 neonatal deaths per 1,000 births were recorded in the state.

“As per the records of NDHS, Bauchi State had the highest number of neonatal deaths in North East zone as at that time,” she added.

All the same, Alhaji Iliyasu Aliyu, the District Head of Akuyam, said that a lot of women were reluctant to patronise health facilities because of the involvement of male health workers in handling child delivery cases.

“Some of the pregnant women do not go to the health centres for child delivery because there are no female midwives or nurses there to attend to them.

“Government should intervene by posting female health workers to the health centres to encourage pregnant women deliver their babies there,” he added.

However, the Bauchi State Government has adopted some measures to check the incidence of maternal mortality in the state.

Dr Nisser Umar, the Executive Chairman, Bauchi State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, said that the government had concluded plans to purchase 4,000,000 doses of Misoprostol tablets and Chlorhexidine tubes for distribution to primary health centres.

“Misoprostol is a tablet used after childbirth to stop bleeding, while Chlorhexidine is a form of tube applied on the umbilical cord of a newborn after birth to prevent infection. They have all been tested and proven to be effective,” he said.

He, however, stressed that postpartum haemorrhage was a major cause of maternal mortality, while infant deaths were mostly caused by infections via the babies’ umbilical cords.

On complaints about the dearth of female health personnel to handle child delivery cases, Umar said that efforts were underway to address the issue on a long-term basis.

In the meantime, he said that district heads had been directed to submit names of qualified female school leaders in their domains for training as health workers.

Besides, Umar pledged that primary health care facilities in the state would be well-managed by the agency, adding that the facilities would also be provided with adequate female health personnel.

Moreover, Alhaji Sambo Jumberi, the Permanent Secretary in charge of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) projects in the state, said that the problem of inadequate health facilities and personnel was being addressed.

He said that this year, the MDGs Office had upgraded 10 dispensaries in some rural areas to 10-bed capacity maternity clinics so as to ensure that more expectant mothers across the state were able to have access to quality health care delivery.

As an interim measure, Jumberi said that the office would recruit qualified workers to man the facilities before handing them over to the local government councils.

He also said that child delivery materials had been procured for the 10 maternity clinics, adding that the strategy was to facilitate the early detection of pregnancy-related complications in expectant mothers.

Although the challenges of maternal care in Bauchi State appear quite enormous, stakeholders urge the state government to sustain its current efforts to tackle the menace of maternal mortality decisively.

(NAN Features)

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The oil giant, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC has painted a gloomy picture of its operations.

It has also debunked the misrepresentation about its corporate image and objectives, especially as it borders on the relationship with the National Assembly.

Speaking at an interactive session with members of the House Committee on Finance at the ongoing probe on non-remittances of revenue generated by government agencies, the Group Executive Director, GED, Finances, Bernard Oti said it was not well with the company.

“Tragedy has befallen us,” he said

Oti disclosed that corporation was not running a normal operation following incessant crude theft, vandalism of its pipelines as well as killings of its staff.

“Tragedies befall us; we are not running a normal operation, crude theft is incessant and our men are being killed,” he stated emotionally at the weekend.

He said that it was these unfortunate challenges that the corporation is currently faced and putting frantic efforts to surmount.

According to the corporation, it was not in its character to shun parliament’s invitation as been perceived or speculated in the media, adding that it was a responsible corporate entity citizen with Nigeria as its focal point.

President Goodluck Jonathan has denied any involvement in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF elections which ended on Friday in Abuja.

A statement yesterday by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Dr. Reuben Abati said, “We have noted with regret the mischievous effort by sections of the mass media to portray President Jonathan as an interested party and the main loser in yesterday’s election of the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF).”

Dr. Abati in the statement said contrary to the impression of presidential partisanship and interference in the affairs of the NGF, erroneously conveyed by some headlines in the media yesterday, President Jonathan, who is currently leading Nigeria’s delegation to the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, had no preferred candidate in the NGF elections and could, therefore, not have been “floored” by any other candidate, as some newspapers sensationally reported.

He said President Jonathan has the greatest possible respect for the Nigerian Governors’ Forum as an independent body of mature, responsible, and knowledgeable elected political leaders, who have a critical role to play in strengthening democratic governance in the country, and who are quite capable of running their own affairs without being ‘tele-guided’, as some media reports misleadingly implied.

“The president has always shown a willingness to work harmoniously with any leadership freely and independently chosen by the Governors’ Forum for the collective progress and development of all sections of the country and will continue to do so.

“He has not in the present instance or ever before, interfered in elections to leadership positions in the Governors’ Forum. Reports in the media which convey that impression are totally off the mark and the handiwork of mischievous individuals and groups with the intention of sowing the seeds of discord and disunity in the polity.”

Abati added that President Jonathan trusts that as true democrats and respected national political leaders, members of the Governors’ Forum will quickly resolve the issues and differences amongst them, which emerged yesterday and continue to contribute effectively to national development as a strong and progressive body.

• 19 governors, northern youths back him

The newly elected chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Chief Jonah Jang of Plateau State, yesterday formally assumed leadership of the powerful forum by presiding over the meeting of the forum in Abuja.

Jang was adopted as the consensus candidate of the Northern Governors’ Forum, ahead of the controversial NGF election held at the Rivers Governor’s Lodge and was endorsed by the 19 governors.

Speaking after the inaugural meeting, Jang thanked Nigerian governors for the confidence reposed in him to serve them as the Chairman of the NGF and pledged to work for the interest of the forum and country.

In a communiqué signed by Governor Jang and his deputy, the Governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, they vowed to unite members of the NGF and work for the unity of the country.

According to the communiqué, the forum restated “its commitment to continue being a platform for peer review, productive and collaborative engagement with all levels of governments.”

The forum also resolved to continue to encourage and collaborate with Mr. President to restore peace and security in the country and to secure a befitting permanent secretariat outside any Governor’s Lodge and thanked all Nigerians for their support while promising not to let them down

Also speaking, the Deputy Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, Dr Gabriel Suswam said that the forum has endorsed the emergence of Chief Jonah Jang as the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum.

He said, in an earlier meeting of the forum presided over by Dr Babangida Aliyu, that they had unanimously adopted Governor Jang as the consensus chairman and they stood by that decision.

Confirming the position, the Governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Ibrahim Shehu Shema also said that in the overall interest of the nation, he and his Bauchi State counterpart, Mallam Isa Yuguda, had to step down their ambition to lead the forum when the Northern governors endorsed Jang as the consensus candidate.

In the same vein, the Chairman of the South-East Governors’ Forum, Chief Peter Obi and the Chairman of the South-South Governors’ Forum and Governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke also announced the decision of the governors in their zone to support the leadership of Chief Jang.

Fielding questions from newsmen, the Deputy Chairman described as fraudulent the process that purportedly produced Governor Rotimi Amaechi and said even in a village council election, an outgoing chairman cannot preside over his own election.

He said it was in acceptance of the leadership of Chief Jang that 18 Governors turned up for the inaugural meeting, despite the less than 12 hours notice and expressed optimism that the next meeting would bring more governors to the fold.

In attendance at the meeting were the governors of Plateau, Kogi, Benue, Enugu, Ebonyi, Bauchi, Abia and Ondo.

Others were the governors of Katsina, Kaduna, Delta, Anambra, Taraba, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Gombe and Kwara states.

SUNDAY Pilot recalls that the governor had on Friday night rejected what they described as the manipulation of the NGF election in favour of Rotimi Amaechi, despite the fact that Chief Jang already had the endorsement of 19 governors before the conduct of the election.

Meanwhile, Governors Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State and Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State have introduced the Governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang to Vice President Namadi Sambo as the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum.

Akpabio and Yuguda conducted the introduction at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Saturday afternoon.

The duo have also taken Jang to the national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party for introduction to the National chairman of the party, Dr. Bamanga Tukur.

Akpabio is also the chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum.

Governors Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State and Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State have introduced the Governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang to Vice President Namadi Sambo as the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum.

Akpabio and Yuguda conducted the introduction at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Saturday afternoon.

The duo have also taken Jang to the national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party for introduction to the National chairman of the party, Dr. Bamanga Tukur.

Akpabio is also the chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum.

Mbaise nation is a densely populated area located in the southern tip of Imo state.

It boasts of three local councils of Aboh, Ezinihitte and Ahiazu.  It shares boundaries with Ngwa community of Abia State; Emekuku, Okpala and Ihitte Uboma, among other communities of Imo State.

Although landlocked without any major river to boast of, Mbaise sits arrogantly on an arable land with an inviting environment and idyllic surrounding. Its traditional and cultural heritage makes the area a tourist delight.

For instance, ‘Iri Ji Mbaise’ is one traditional fiesta observed yearly in August by the Mbaise people, which emphasises the cultural thickness of the area.

Its people are known to be resourceful and skillful, accounting for the many trades that Mbaise people are instantly identified for.

Perhaps, because of the population of the area and the tendency of the people to succeed in the face of prevailing challenges, Mbaise people, particularly the young ones, find themselves in different parts of the world.

On the political scope, Mbaise is easily the most remarkable in Imo State.

Its sons and daughters have at various times occupied top political offices in the state and the federal level.

Currently, reputed Mbaise daughters occupy ministerial and senatorial slots. These are inclusive of Prof Viola Onwuliri, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Senator Chris Anyanwu, representing Owerri Senatorial District in the Senate.

Far more significant is that the eminent Mbaise son, Rt Hon. Emeka Ihedioha , occupies the sixth most important position in the country, being the  Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Last Wednesday, select Mbaise leaders, numbering about 40, paid him a solidarity visit in his House of Representatives’ office, principally to express their profound appreciation over the many infrastructural projects and other aids he has been able to bequeath to them.

Leader of the delegation, Chief Paddy Njoku, who is chairman of National Examination Commission Board, captured the essence of the visit.

According to him, they were in the National Assembly to “give honour to whom honour is due.”

Noting that the Deputy Speaker has done the Mbaise nation and the entire Imo State proud, given the many projects he has attracted and the good works he has been doing, it became imperative to come to his office to express deep appreciation.

He stressed that the visit was also important to let the Deputy Speaker know the extent to which Mbaise people recognise his remarkable contributions to the development of the area, to enable him enhance his excellent works.

“We have had many political leaders but Hon Ihedioha stands out in providing and attracting development projects to our people,” he emphasised.

Chief Njoku is right.

In fact, the record of Hon Ihedioha’s road infrastructure, electricity projects, education facilities, water projects, hospital facilities is significant and verifiable.

For instance, Ihedioha got NDDC to award the contract for OKpala-Igwuruta Road, linking Imo to Rivers, with the first phase costing N4.2b. He then facilitated the award of contract for the dualisation of the Owerri-Elele (Omayelu) 35-kilometre road at N23b.

He also attracted the contract for the design of the famous 63-kilometre Mbaise Ring Road cutting across three local councils, at the initial cost of N1bn.

Besides, Ihedioha facilitated the award of N5bn contract for the award of construction of the roundabout at Ahiara Junction along Owerri-Umuahia Road with two spurs, and got the Federal Government to take over the construction of Airport Junction, Umuohiagu-Uvuru Road.

He also initiated the process of constructing a N1b jetty at Imo River and the construction of a giant size 133×333 KVA sub-station at Mbaise, located between Nguru and Ibeku, with the initial contract cost of N2.2b among others, which necessitated the ‘thank you’ visit by his kinsmen recently.

During the solidarity visit by select Mbaise leaders, Hon Ihedioha reassured his people of his determination towards attracting more development projects.

He stated that empowering the people of Aboh Mbaise / Ngor Okpala Federal Constituency and the entire Imo State would continue to be his cardinal focus. He advised the people to ensure the protection of projects sited in their communities.

Since his election into the House of Representatives in 2003 to represent Aboh Mbaise/Ngor Okpala Federal Constituency, Hon Ihedioha has evidently made empowerment programmes and infrastructural projects the centre of his legislative governance.

This is on account of his legislative open-mindedness, liberal political ideology and instructive political forthrightness.

These attributes indeed find relevance in his guiding legislative principles which, among others, include building basic human capital and infrastructural base to drive socio-economic development.

This guiding principle has informed by Hon Ihedioha’s deep concern over the growing climate of unemployment in the state and Nigeria at large.  He is also disturbed about the increasing level of poverty, decadent nature of the social amenities, insecurity and other social challenges that are evident in the state and the country.

Driven by liberal political disposition and passion for democracy dividends trickling down the masses, Hon Ihedioha’s commitment has remained one targeted at ensuring capacity building through entrepreneurial training programs aimed at scaling down the rate of unemployment and to create wealth especially among the rural poor. All of these are geared towards setting off socio-economic development and more importantly battling social challenges, particularly insecurity which has currently enveloped Imo State.

Pragmatic and focused, Hon Ihedioha has put this vision into reality by serially organising skills acquisition programs involving people in the 27 local councils of the state and 305 wards targeting the grassroots and vulnerable groups – women and youths. So far, no fewer than 2, 000 youths and women have benefited from the programs.

Many more would benefit this year as such similar initiatives have been designed to take place.

Austin Uganwa wrote from Abuja

To provide a credible opposition, you need a political party whose leaders have been tested and trusted and who have provided credible leadership that transcends ethnic or geographical demarcations; who have been found to be above board in their individual and official dealings within and outside government.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo of blessed memory was no doubt a credible opposition. He was a strategist and a great thinker who provided Nigerians with statistical and logical arguments as to the position of government and what they were up to.

He it was that exposed the weak economic policies of the Shagari era, which he prophesised that unless an urgent action is taken, there shall be total socio-economic downturn.

Accordingly, we witnessed the coming into force of the Economic Stabilisation Act, otherwise known as austerity measure.

Recently, the tempo of opposition frenzy has risen to another level with the nose-diving of their individual capacities to govern Nigeria in 2015, courtesy of the merger of mixed up parties seemingly moving forward.

Typical of the loudness of empty political barrels, all we have been hearing from our ambitious aspirants to national power is a cacophony of criticism of the incumbent ruling party PDP, and a damning silence as to their own credible credentials for pointing accusing fingers.

It is common sense that it takes more than a capacity to unleash criticism to demonstrate ability to succeed in any human endeavour. So as far as Nigerians are concerned, the opposition zealots are non-starters.

There is no gainsaying that Nigeria is not a banana republic that can be governed with ease, with which monkeys devour bananas.

Even the monkeys demonstrate several uncanny skills in navigating the bush and staying alive to munch their favourite fruit, rather than gathering in isolated groups to groan about other consumers of bananas! Nigeria is still a developing country treading the difficult and unpredictable path that all great nations must go through as part of the process of nationhood. Governing Nigeria is not a tea party!

The frivolous manner in which opposition leaders respond to the inevitable vicissitudes of political leadership as we are all witnessing in today’s Nigeria indicates that their obsession with capturing power is completely blind and insensitive to its inherent challenging responsibilities.

As far as our evidently juvenile and exuberant opposition mandarins are concerned, all it takes to “fix” Nigeria is for its desperate leaders to get into Aso Villa but nothing could be further from the truth.

Even more condemnable is the brazen lack of patriotism that motivates opposition politicians as they seek to maliciously discredit the incumbent Goodluck Jonathan administration by going to the extent of engaging in covert and overt acts of sabotage, capable of threatening not just their perceived political rival but indeed the entire nation.

This can be deduced from their consistent refusal to contribute actively and responsibly to the quest for lasting solutions to the nagging national problems that confront government while zealously capitalising on real and imaginary challenges.

An objective analysis of these undesirable tendencies of the ambitious opposition, however, will convincingly prove that such rascality is the direct result of the glaring incapacity and unsuitability of the ringleaders.

For example, Tinubu is today prancing around the stage in the ill-fitting guise of a national leader whereas in Lagos State, where he once governed, he is regarded as a sharp contrast of competence and prudence vis-a-vis the incumbent governor of the state.

In fact, the political arena in the state is buzzing with the open secret of Tinubu’s envious ego casting ominous shadows on the greater successes of his supposedly anointed successor!

General Buhari is another opposition character who typifies the sheer unsuitability and incapacity of the political clique blindly seeking to grab power in Nigeria.

This is a retired general whose record of draconian dictatorship and pathological hatred for politics is unmatched in Nigeria’s political history and yet, out of sheer inordinate ambition after getting booted out of power by his smarter collaborators, plunged head on into politics of seeking the presidency at the first opportunity! No wonder he is also emerging unopposed as the worst president Nigeria will ever have, according to those who have observed him closely in his here-today-gone-tomorrow brand of barrack politics.

It is logical to go further and conclude that any group of Nigerians who continue rallying round such politically peculiar political prospectors have been fatally inflicted by their maladies such that they are unable to see, think or act with the expected intelligence and circumspection that has convinced the majority of Nigerians to steer clear of failed politicians.

His is also highlighted by the peculiarities of the hired crowds who are bussed to their rowdy and risky rallies, where crude weapons and menacing slogans take the place of meaningful lectures and voter education.

But we must live with these liabilities in the name of democracy, whereby the good, the bad and the ugly are said to be equal in exercising civic rights, sadly including the right to be voted for.

To ward off the unspeakable implications of a government of misfits descending on our besieged nation, we must fervently pray that the irreconcilable differences and conflicting ambitions of the opposition leaders continue to render their political agenda the huge joke that it has been well beyond 2015. Amen!

Mustapha Minjibir wrote from Kano

Since the dawn of the current democracy in 1999, genuine efforts have been carried out to improve on the existing road network in the country.

The essence of these efforts was aimed at combating the decay that trailed the usage of overstretched roads, following the collapse of the rail transportation system nearly two decades ago.

Nigeria boasts 200,000km of road networks owned by the federal government, states and local government councils.

In all this, only about 65,000km of the 200,000km of roads is paved mostly with bituminous layers.

Out of this, the FG owns 35,000km, representing 54 per cent of the entire bituminous road network in Nigeria. The balance is shared between the 36 states and the 774 local councils.

The stress under which Nigerian roads have been subjected to is best appreciated when considering the number of cars plying these roads.

Studies have shown that in 1983, there were only 150, 000 cars plying Nigerian roads. The number of vehicles on Nigerian roads shot to the skies when it rose to nine million last year from 1.3 million vehicles in 2000.

The rise in the number of cars plying the roads has led to increasing pressure on the roads, which has been further made worse due to the absence of rail transportation for haulage.

Another study, tagged ‘Road Vision 2000’, revealed that in 2010, only 27 per cent of federal roads were in good condition, “with a devastating consequence to the nation’s economy.”

The decay on our roads, the study further reveals, has led to the loss of a whopping sum of N175 billion,  which comprises of a N75 billion loss due to reduction in asset value; N88 billion loss due to the increased vehicle operating cost and N12 billion loss due to delayed turn around and increased travel time.

Realising the need to tackle the road decay in the nation, the Federal Ministry of Works, under Architect Mike Onolemenmen, Minister of Works, set out to achieve, among others, the completion of road projects that have attained 75 per cent on major economic routes such Abuja-Lokoja-Benin dualisation project; Kano-Potiskum-Maiduguri dualisation; Onitsha-Enugu Expressway rehabilitation and Benin-Ore-Shagamu Expressway rehabilitation project.

Another focus of the works ministry in the last one year has been to fast track the groundbreaking on the 2^nd Niger Bridge and Oweto Bridge, just as the ministry is expected to fast track the completion of roads to sea ports, airports and refineries and also to ensure the completion of maintenance works on 3^rd Mainland Bridge.

The works ministry, in its projected investment plan, 1^st NIP and Transformation Agenda, completed the dualisation of the Onitsha-Owerri and Onitsha Eastern Bypass at the cost of N4.52 billion, Kano –Kazaure-Daura-Mai Adua Road in Katsina at the cost of N.63 billion and the dualisation of the Onitsha-Owerri Section II was also completed at the cost of N1.65 billion. There are about 13 ongoing road projects, just like there are about eight new road projects.

At the beginning of 2012, the ministry scaled down 168 numbers of ongoing projects to 80 prioritised projects. In the last 12 months, the ministry made progress on 32 road projects to substantial completion. With over 35 per cent of the road projects completed, 38 per cent of the road projects are ongoing and are at various stages of completion.

In 2012, about 615km of roads were paved in bituminous layers to demonstrate the determination of the Jonathan administration to improve on road networks across the country and tackle the age-long neglect of road infrastructure.

In demonstration of his commitment to the development of the road network across the country, the Jonathan administration has embarked on ongoing road projects, valued at N1.397 trillion. Highlights of the projects include the 84 ongoing road projects in the North at a whopping sum of N850.7 billion; with the North-East having the highest number of 30 road projects with 1.1461km length, which is estimated to cost the federal government the sum of N332.9 billion. The North-Central comes second with 31 projects, consisting of 1,054km length at the cost of N262.3 billion and the North-West, with 23 projects consisting of 1,028km length at the cost of N255.5 billion, follows at the rear.

The South has a total of 111 ongoing road projects worth the sum of N544 billion, with the South-West leading with 37 road projects consisting of 1, 230km length at the cost N236.9 billion. Then there’s the South-South consisting of 34 projects with 876km length at the cost of N159.4 billion and South-East with 40 ongoing projects, consisting of 978 km length at the cost of N149.6 billion.

Considering the difficulties involved in financing road projects, the Jonathan administration is considering the option of borrowing from multilateral agencies and pension fund for key economic highway Infrastructure that can repay the capital; floating of road bond for highway projects, conventional PPP finance contracts and Viability Gap Fund (when created).

Some of the PPP projects  under procurement are the construction of the 2^nd Niger Bridge at Asaba/Onitsha; Access road to Murtala Muhammed International Airport Road, Lagos, and construction of a bridge over River Niger at Nupeko, Niger State.

In order to realise the objective of a developed road network, the ministry of works is working out modalities towards the execution of the dualisation of Keffi-Lafia-Makurdi-Enugu (9^th Mile). The essence is to reduce traffic related accidents and provide an alternative to Abuja-Lokoja route for South-bound traffic and further improve safety on our roads.

In a bid to broaden its funds and help in the completion of ongoing projects, the Federal Ministry of Works in 2012 received additional funding of N85 billion from the SURE-P for selected projects.

The road projects that got funding from the SURE-P are dualisation of Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja Road (N25 billion); the sum of N22.5 billion was released for the reconstruction of Benin-Ore-Sagamu (3 sections); N8 billion was released for the rehabilitation of Onitsha-Enugu-Port Harcourt Road (3 sections); N20 billion was given for the dualisation of Potiskum-Maiduguri roads (5 sections); construction of Loko/Oweto bridge across Benue River (N5 billion) and construction of 2^nd Niger Bridge at Onitsha/Asaba (N5 billion).

In the last one year, the ministry, through the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), has completed 48 per cent of ongoing road maintenance projects, while about 52 projects were ongoing and on the verge of being completed.

There can be no denying the fact that the Jonathan government is determined, more than ever, to provide an improved road network for the citizenry. With the visible improvement of our roads now a delight, it won’t be long that nightmare associated with road travels will soon be a thing of the past.

There is no doubt that with President Jonathan marking his mid-term in power, Nigerians look forward for more additional strides in the development of road infrastructure that has led to the death of many and caused untold sorrow and pains to many Nigerian families.

Rufai wrote in from Abuja

If there is one national headache that Nigerians yearn for its immediate cure, it is surely the poor state of the power sector. It is a well known fact that no country can develop or witness any significant growth, without proportional growth in the power sector. Evidently, Nigeria provides a classic example. For instance, the World Bank estimates of 2010 ranked Nigeria among the 10 countries with the lowest kilowatt consumption per capita. Nigeria has 136kw per capita and the only countries that rank below Nigeria are Haiti (24kw), Ethiopia (54kw), Eritrea (52kw), Congo Democratic Republic (95kw), Nepal (93kw), Tanzania (78kw), Myanmar (131kw) and only about 50.6% of Nigerians have access to electricity as compared to Ghana’s 60.5%, Pakistan’s 62.4% and Libya’s 99.8%.

Nigeria’s power sector has been left to stagnate and degenerate into such decadence that several lofty efforts made since 1999 seem to be a drop of water in the ocean. The requisite investment in the sector was criminally abandoned and there was no conscious plan to take a second look at the sector so as to arrest the decadence. When the present administration, therefore, came with the desire to reform the power sector, Nigerians heaved a sigh of ecstatic relief. The reforms have seen the launching of the Power Sector Map, the unbundling of Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, settlement of outstanding arrears of staff of PHCN and recently the sale of electricity distribution companies, popularly called DISCOS.

The power sector privatisation re-commenced in earnest in August 2010, following the unveiling of a detailed roadmap for the power sector reform by President Goodluck Jonathan. The roadmap had stipulated that only 11 distribution companies and six generation companies would be fully privatised, while the ownership of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, would be retained by the government but with private sector management, as articulated in the Electric Power Sector Reform Act of 2005. All these noble and notable efforts geared towards reviving and revamping the sector seem to have been yielding the needed dividends, though some may argue in trickles. The minister in charge of power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, said very recently that by the middle of June this year, the country would migrate from the present  4,000 plus megawatts to 6,000 megawatts and likely to hit 10,000 by the end of the year.

While this sounds like good music to the ears of desperate Nigerians, like some stakeholders have observed that we have our hope and fears. For instance, all the good intentions of the present administration notwithstanding, have the authorities put in place adequate mechanism towards ensuring that the exercise is not manipulated and the entire project derailed just like NITEL? Has the Federal Government done its sufficient checks so as to ensure that the distribution companies buying into the power project have the capacity to deliver in strict compliance to specifications of the terms of agreement? It is also important to take a closer look at experts’ advice that some of the archaic laws hamstringing some states from generating and distributing power within the confines of their states, which should be reviewed so as to encourage more states participation in power generation and distribution. This will mean removing power from the exclusive list.

A reformed power sector will not only jumpstart the economy, it will also set it on the desired path of perpetual growth. It will help release and unleash the abundant socio-economic potentials that abound in the country. 

The herculean task and challenges of traveling to Abuja by commuters from the South-Eastern part of the country through the 9th Mile corner via Obollor Afor, a border town between Enugu and Benue states will become easier in the next two years.

This will be made possible by the federal government’s recent approval for the reconstruction of the Ogrute/ Umuida/Unadu/Akpanya/Odolu federal road in Igbo Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu and Kogi states, with Abuja as its terminal.
The reconstruction of this federal highway, which was abandoned for over five decades, is estimated to gulp a total of N12.9 billion from the federal government and expected to be completed within 24 months.
Architect Mike Oziegbe Onolememem, the Minister of Works, who visited Enugu last week to flag off the reconstruction of the road, described it as a route that will make traveling to Abuja, very easy for South-Easterners because it is a shorter distance, with less challenges.
He stressed that the present civilian administration in the country under President Goodluck Jonathan took the bull by the horns in the project, in view of its commitment to provide empowerment for rural communities in the country, through provision of enabling environment.
He emphasised that in addition to the fact that a lot of boundary communities within Kogi and Enugu states will be connected once again by the road, it will open a gateway for those communities, who are mostly agrarian, to find a means of evacuating their agricultural products to the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, and other towns.

He cautioned that the people must avoid acts that will effect damage to the road on completion like the burning of old tyres on top of tarmacs, in view of the fact that the cost of building or reconstructing such roads is enormous.

He reminded them of the pains they have gone through in the past five decades or thereabout, that the road was impassable.
The chairman senate committee on works, Senator Ayogu Eze, representing Enugu North senatorial district, who facilitated the realisation of the contract, corroborated the minister’s statement that the rehabilitation of the road will widen the scope of economic and commercial activities among the Enugu Ezike communities  and their neighbours from Kogi State, in addition to shortening the long distance experienced by commuters from the South-East zone in shuttling to the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, and beyond.

Senator Eze extolled the present administration in the country under President Goodluck Jonathan for doing a lot in the area  of infrastructural development of the South-East zone of the country, especially in road construction and rehabilitation, stating that the zone had never witnessed  such transformation from previous administrations in the country.

Diana Ernestine Earle Ross, popularly known as Diana Ross, is an American vocalist, music artist and actress. Ross first rose to fame as a founding member and lead singer of the Motown group, The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that has included successful ventures into film and Broadway.

She received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her role as Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues in 1972, for which she won a Golden Globe award for most promising female newcomer. She has won seven American Music Awards, and won a Special Tony Award for her one-woman show, An Evening with Diana Ross, in 1977.

In 1976, Billboard magazine named her the “Female Entertainer of the Century.” In 1993, the Guinness Book of World Records declared Diana Ross the most successful female music artist in history due to her success in the United States and United Kingdom for having more hits than any female artist in the charts with a career total of 70 hit singles with her work with the Supremes and as a solo artist. Diana Ross has sold more than 100 million records worldwide when her releases with the Supremes and as a solo artist are tallied. In 1988, Ross was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as member of the Supremes alongside Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson.

Ross is one of the few recording artists to have two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame one as a solo artist and the other as a member of The Supremes. In December 2007, she received the Kennedy Center Honors. In 2012, Diana was finally honored by NARAS with a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in her 50th year in the music business.

Diana Ross was born at Hutzel Women’s Hospital in Detroit, Michigan on March 26, 1944. The second-eldest child of Ernestine née Moten, a schoolteacher, and Fred Ross, a former United States Army soldier, Ross would later say that she didn’t see much of her father until he had returned from service following World War II. Much has been made of whether her first name ends in an “a” or an “e”. According to Ross, her mother actually named her “Diane” but a clerical error resulted in her name being recorded as “Diana” on her birth certificate.

Her high school yearbook listed her as “Diana” and as early as 1963, when The Supremes released their first album, she was listed in the liner notes as “Diana”.

Despite her early life as a “tomboy”, upon her teenage years, Ross had dreams of being a fashion designer. She studied design, millinery, pattern-making and seamstress skills while attending Cass Technical High School, a four-year college preparatory magnet school, in downtown Detroit. In her late teens, Ross worked at Hudson’s Department Store where, it was claimed in biographies, that she was the first black employee “allowed outside the kitchen”. Ross graduated in January 1962, one semester earlier than her classmates. Around this same time, Ross was turned on by the emerging rock and roll music scene, and her early influences included Frankie Lymon and Etta James.

At fifteen, Ross was brought to the attention of music impresario Milton Jenkins, manager of the local doo-wop group the Primes, by Mary Wilson. Paul Williams, then member of The Primes, convinced Jenkins to include Ross in the Primettes, considered a “sister group” of the Primes. Ross was part of a lineup that included Wilson, Florence Ballard and Betty McGlown, who completed the lineup.

In 1968, Ross started performing as a solo artist mainly on television specials, including The Supremes’ own specials such as TCB and G.I.T. on Broadway. In mid-1969, Gordy decided to have Ross leave the group by the end of the year and Ross began sessions for her own solo work that July. One of the first plans for Ross to establish her own solo career was to bring in a new Motown recording act. Though she herself didn’t claim discovery, Motown pinned Ross as having discovered The Jackson 5. Ross would introduce the group to several public events, including The Hollywood Palace, though she added in “Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5”, which didn’t sit well with the Jacksons’ father, Joseph Jackson and Gordy. In November, Ross confirmed a split from the Supremes on Billboard. Ross signed a new contract as a solo artist in March 1970.

The album of the same name became Ross’s first non-soundtrack studio album to reach the top ten, peaking at #5. Later that year, the Diana & Marvin album, her duet album with Gaye, was released, and spawned five hit singles, including three released in the United States and two in Europe, gaining an international hit with their cover of The Stylistics’ “You Are Everything.” In 1973, Ross began giving out concerts overseas where she immediately sold out at every concert venue she performed at. That year, Ross became the first entertainer in Japan’s history to receive an invitation to the Imperial Palace for a private audience with the Empress Nagako, wife of Emperor Hirohito.

Ross’s next solo album, 1974’s Last Time I Saw Him featured the successful title track, but it was not as successful as Touch Me in the Morning. Ross didn’t have an album release in 1975, but was at work on the film Mahogany. She had an incident with Gordy on the set of the film when she struck him after the two had engaged in an argument. Ross returned on the musical scene in 1976 with another eponymous album, which saw her gain a dance audience after the release of the disco-tinged song, “Love Hangover,” which returned her to number-one. Will Smith later sampled the hook of “Love Hangover” for his song “Freakin’ It”.

Ross’s 1977 album Baby It’s Me faltered on the charts. Ross decided to try her hand at Broadway and in 1977 she starred in her own one-woman show entitled An Evening with Diana Ross. Her performance resulted in her winning a Tony Award, and a television special of the Broadway show was later aired on television.

In 1971, Diana Ross began working on her first film, Lady Sings the Blues, which was a loosely based biography on music legend Billie Holiday. Some critics lambasted the idea of the singer playing Holiday considering how “miles apart” their styles were. “Lady Sings the Blues” opened in theaters in October 1972, becoming a major success in Ross’s career. Jazz critic Leonard Feather, a friend of Billie Holiday, praised Ross for “expertly capturing the essence of Lady Day.” Ross’s role in the film won her Golden Globe Award and Academy Award nominations for Best Actress.

After the film, Ross returned to her music career, re-emerging with another film in 1975 with Mahogany, her second film, in which she starred alongside Billy Dee Williams and whose costumes she designed. Diana’s story is simply that of an aspiring fashion designer who becomes a runway model and the toast of the industry.

The Nigerian Referee Association, NRA has thrown its weight behind the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for the proposed NFF autonomous bill lying in the floor of the Upper and the Lower house of the National Assembly.

The NRA president, Alhaji, Ahmed Maude told Pilot Sports that the passage of the NFF autonomous act will not only give the federation the powers to pilot the affairs of the nation’s football without interference from any quota, but will also strengthen the relationship between it and the National Sports Commission.

He also said that it will help in restoring the fragile peace that  currently exist in the football circle which has embedded with so many court cases, adding that football thrive more in a peaceful environment.

However, Maude debunked the notion that if the bill is passed into law, the NSC will not have control over NFF again. He noted that provided the national assembly will define the line between the FIFA statute and the laws of the land and when to be applicable, then the NSC will perform its supervisory role over NFF as usual without clash.

According him, the bill will put stop to discriminate sack of elected board members of the NFF, and will also define who becomes a board member and their powers for effective representation and management of football in the country.

The senate has identified quality football and systematic development of sports as the veritable tools for the stimulation of economic growth as well as raised the financial base of the country.

Senate president, David Mark said at the public hearing on Nigeria football Federation Act organized by the senate committee on sports last Friday that the sector cannot be achieved without systematic planning and development of the sector.

Represented by Senator Abu Ibrahim, Deputy Chief Whip, mark added that Nigeria was long over due in terms of sports development and challenged the sector to key into the global system of sports development.

The senate president who advocated for upgrading of sports to meet the expectations of Nigerians maintained that with the plan review of the sector, there will not be uncertainty; it will enable the administrators to play ahead of time.

Mark who called for short and long term plans for sports also canvassed support from the private sectors as the federal government alone cannot take the sector to its desired height hence the enormous  need for sports in the country.

The senate president who decried lip service paid to the sector in the past, concerted effort should be made geared towards launching the nation among the comity of nations.

Earlier, the president of the Nigeria Football Federation, Aminu Maigari had told the committee  that Nigeria is currently ranking 28 out of 225 in the world in the area of sports.

According to him, NFS foresee the country becoming among the first 10 in sports globally stressing the need for the law makers to ensure the passage of the new law in the interest of the Nigeria people.

Former Green Eagles defence marshal, Yisa Sofoluwe, has revealed some of the things about his success in the defence, things he believed his career of many years with the national team stand out.

Sofoluwe, an ace in his seven-yearsreign in the Green Eagles defence said to be a successful defender, a player must at a time be an attacking pool.

The knowledge of playing in the attack formation, according to him, exposes a defender to the numerous tricks attackers have up their sleeves, and thus equip him for the stopper’s job.

Sofoluwe who broke into the Green Eagles squad in 1983 after his distinguished outing for the Flying Eagles in inaugural World Youth Championship outing in Mexico said the secrets behind his early success was that he learnt to be a striker first before a defender.

He attributed the success of Ben Iroha a former Eagles defence stalwart and current Super Eagles captain Joseph Yobo to their origin as front men before taking up defending duties.

He further revealed that he had been so versed in the way of the attackers that he was always good at stopping them.

He would later earn the sobriquet ‘Defence Minister’ from late master commentator, Ernest Okonkwo, who never ceased to be amazed by Sofoluwe’s uncanny display of skills in defence.

‘’Playing in the defence is a difficult job’’, he began. ‘’Weather you are playing in the No. 2 or 3 position it is one of the most difficult spots one can play on the pitch.

‘’You have to be a good player to do well there. These are positions that need skill. And that makes the spot difficult. You have to be calculative and rightly too to be able to interpret correctly every move of an opponent and what direction he is heading with the ball. And of course, once you misjudge any move you are condemned to the wrong direction, and that instantly results to a goal.

Sometimes, you have to pretend that you don’t know what direction a player wants to go with the ball until he makes a move and you promptly intercept him.

‘’I was lucky to be a successful defender in my playing days because I started playing organised football as an attacker. That gave me the privilege of knowing the kind of things attackers do to outwit defenders.

‘’When I was playing for ITT FC, I was a very good attacker and I was good at deceiving defenders. And when I was converted to playing at the No. 2 position by my coach Sessci Asena, then, I already knew what an attacker wants to do next, watching his moves.

‘’That was why perhaps till today no Nigerian player has ever played like me at either No 2 or 3 positions.

‘’Believe me, that secret did not work for me alone. It worked for Ben Iroha too. He was a great defender in his days in the Super Eagles and you will recall that he too played as forward for Nigeria at Nigeria ‘’99 World Youth Championship.

So playing in the front at the initial time I would say, builds a defender. It makes a player not only skilful but calculative. These are the hallmarks of a defender.’’

Sofoluwe was in the team that for the first time qualified to represent Nigeria at a World Youth Championship. The country’s outing at the Mexico ’83 cadet championship was not impressive as the team was eliminated in the early rounds. But when he returned with the team, he and seven others earned promotion to the Green Eagles.

‘’Our defence then was solid’’, he recalled. With me and the like of Sunday Eboigbe, Bright Omokaro as well as Stephen Keshi there was no scoring us easily.

‘’Our formation was very, very good, perhaps the next set of Geagles that equalled our record was the Tunisia’94 African Nations Cup winning team that also featured in the USA ’92 World Cup.

He recalled how he got the name ‘Dean of Defence from late ace commentator, Ernest Okonkwo

‘’Yes it was during a certain game that we played against Ghana in 1983. I shone like a million star in the defence. During that outing, Ernest Okonkwo gave me ‘Dean of Defence and Defence Marshal’. In a matter of time, it stuck. And till I retired from the national team, in 1988, fans always identified me with that. I don’t know what he saw in me perhaps he noticed I was very skilful. But I just didn’t allow that name get into my head. I kept on playing my game until it was time to quit.

In the year 2000, there was a riot in Kaduna as a result of the introduction of the sharia legal system in the state. Many lives were lost and properties worth millions of naira destroyed.

The Council of State meeting convened by Olusegun Obasanjo, who was president then, as a way to resolving the crisis, ordered a return to status quo ante in states of the north where sharia had been introduced.

General Muhammadu Buhari who, as former military head of state, is a statutory member of the council, was conspicuously absent at the meeting. He addressed the press some days later, claiming that the sharia issue was not on the agenda at the meeting and, therefore, was not discussed.

I was covering the State House then for my medium, Daily Star Newspaper.

To put lie to Buhari’s statement, a copy of the minutes of the meeting was issued to us (which was not a usual practice), which, contrary to Buhari’s claim, contained a decision on sharia.

It is against this background that the recent statement credited to General Buhari on the state of emergency declared by the federal government on three northern states, where there has been Boko Haram insurgency since 2009, should be viewed with all seriousness.

The former head of state was said to have made comparison between the way the federal government handled the militancy in the Niger Delta and the current Boko Harma insurgency in the North. He was quoted to have said that, “When the Niger Delta militants started their activities in the South-South, they were invited by the late President Umaru Yar’adua.

“An aircraft was sent to them and their leaders met with the late President in Aso Rock and discussed issues. They were given money and a training scheme was introduced for their members. But when the Boko Haram emerged in the North, members of the sect were killed.”

One wonders what Buhari intends to achieve by this statement, which is capable of pitching the people of the North against the federal government. As an elder statesman, the former head of state ought to exercise some caution when commenting on sensitive national issues. In the case of the insurgency in the North, Buhari did not present the true picture.

To start with, the agitation of Niger Delta militants was for resource control and environmental conservation as a result of oil exploration in the region.

Till date, nobody has established the demand of the terrorists in the North.

Again, Buhari may have forgotten, or deliberately omitted to tell his listeners, of the Odi massacre of 1999 and the Gbaramatu military invasion of 2008, where over 2,000 people were killed and several buildings (including the palace of Gbaramatu king) destroyed. The attack was in search of Government Ekpemupolo (otherwise known as Tompolo), one of the leaders of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

Buhari did not speak when members of the Boko Haram sect mercilessly bombed churches and attacked hapless Christians.

While other Nigerians, including notable Northern leaders, were condemning the attacks on innocent Christians and offered condolences, Buhari remained mum.

The former head of state was voiceless when members of the sect bombed military formations and the UN House in Abuja; our modern day defender of the weak and oppressed was unable to advise members of the sect to embrace the federal government peace initiative and stop senseless bloodletting.

The Niger Delta militants heeded late President Yar’Adua’s order and surrendered their arms in return for amnesty. But members of Boko Haram sect rebuffed the federal government dialogue and peace deal; instead, ferocious attacks were launched on military formations and unlucky Nigerians.

The belief is that the insurgency in the North was as a result of the election of Goodluck Jonathan as president in 2011. Whether this is true or not, the fact remains that as a former head of state and politician, General Buhari’s statement is capable of inflaming passion in the North, thereby complicating the already security situation in the region.

And the question that not been answered over time is if Buhari becomes president, is he going to be president for the Muslims only? What about people of other faiths?

Among Nigeria’s former heads of state, Buhari has remained intransigent, fanatical and narrow-minded in the affairs of the country. He sees himself as a sectional leader, yet he wants other sections to vote for him as president.

He has refused to see himself as an elder statesman who should see the whole country as his constituency.

This brings me to the character of Nigerian politicians. What we have in Nigeria are political merchants who do not care if Nigeria remains as a country or not, so far they can have access to the national treasury.

Before now, the opposition parties accused President Jonathan of doing nothing to protect Nigerians from terror attacks. Now that a state of emergency has been declared, they are kicking against it.

In 2001 when there were terror attacks on landmark buildings in the United States of America (USA), the people, irrespective of political leaning, were united in the condemnation. They did not blame the attacks on the administration of President George W. Bush (Jnr.), neither was the 2005 train attack in London blamed on Tony Blair’s government.

The All Progressive Congress (APC) as a political organisation is yet to convince Nigerians that it is an alternative for the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). And except the ruling party fails to puts it’s house in order and resolves its internal crisis, the APC is simply working for the success of PDP in the 2015 general elections.

The point I am trying to make is that our politicians should be circumspect in their comments.

They should know when to play politics and when to unite for national interest.

Nigerians are becoming matured politically; they are no longer deceived by political rhetoric or gimmick.

The earlier our politicians realise this may be the beginning of them to play politics with moderation.

After all, politicians are all the same; the one crying foul now may be the worse when he gets there.

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed has commiserated with the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero over the death of his wife, Hajiya Rabi Ado Bayero.

The minister in a statement by his chief press secretary Hazat Sule described Hajiya Rabi’s death as sad and painful.

He prayed Allah to grant her soul eternal rest by granting the deceased Al-jannah Fir-dausi and the family especially the husband, the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

Hajiya Rabi, who died on Thursday, was buried according to Islamic rites on Friday, May 24, 2013 in Kano City.

On Wednesday May 29, Nigerians will roll out the drums to celebrate 14 years of uninterrupted democratic rule. In this interview the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh fielded questions from our Assistant Editor, Sunday Pilot, MIKE ODIAKOSE on the journey from 1999 to date, including the burgling of the registration of APC by opposition parties. Excerpts:

By May 29, Nigerians will be marking 14 years of uninterrupted democratic rule. How would you assess the journey so far?

It has been 14 years of challenges. 14 years of successes; 14 years of addressing the rot we inherited from previous administrations; 14 years of trying to salvage, to recover a nation from the damages inflicted by previous administrations. In these 14 years, the party has been able to stabilise democracy. For the first time, we have witnessed transitions from democracy to democracy, from presidents to other presidents and the biggest achievement the party has made is that it has brought democracy to stay. Democracy has come to stay in Nigeria- that is the major achievement. Secondly is that fact that we have improved on the process of elections and democratisation. The biggest achievement in democracy is making sure democratic tenets and principles are imbibed by Nigerians and parties, as it is done in the developed world.

The provision of infrastructures can be done by a dictator or by the military. So, on the issue of democracy, we have improved on the process of elections and the tenets of democracy. Now President Goodluck Jonathan has been able to show that one man, one vote can work in Nigeria. We have better conducted elections in Nigeria. People do not dispute it; people actually go and vote and they accept the result of the election as exemplified in the 2011 election and other governorship elections that we have been able to conduct.

On the issue of infrastructure, as a party we believe that the achievements of Mr. President and the PDP government has been grossly under publicised and undervalued. We are aware of the massive infrastructural development going on in this country. From the briefings we have been taking from the ministers, we are shocked at that developments and achievements of this particular president and his team. For the party, if we go from sector by sector, Nigerians can see the areas that the PDP has improved the living standard of Nigerians. In telecommunications, we have better communication now and the telephone is now available for all Nigerians.  Almost all the people in Nigeria have access to a telephone for easy communication. On issue of roads, there have been a massive award of contracts by the states, by the federal, by the local governments and this is getting down to the people.

Infrastructural developments, building of schools, hospitals, all other things are going on. But like I said before, the biggest development we have done is on the issue of democracy, entrenching democratic tenets and principles in the body polity.

Talking about entrenchments of democratic tenets in this country, the opposition just came together to merge and form APC. Is your party worried about this development?

No we are not worried, we welcome them. The merger or coming together of the tortoise cannot produce an elephant. They will still remain as plenty of tortoise s and it is not an elephant. The fact is that these are mushroom parties that have been parading as ethnic voices and religious factions cannot make them a national party. We welcome them. We are just disappointed that they have not lived up to the billings of an opposition party. We expected that by the time they were coming together, that they would move to a different level on issues of how they conduct their activities. We expected that there would be debates on issues. We expected that they would tackle us on our programmes, show why our programmes are not good and show alternatives that are best for Nigerians, but we have been very disappointed that all we get are insults; all we get are propaganda, lies, deceit of Nigerian people.

Our challenge to the opposition is that they should move up to the next level of politics in Nigeria. Let them try and take up issues. If the president or if the party or the government in power provides a particular programme, let the opposition party criticise and show better alternative or other options. Let the opposition prove why they do not believe in the programmes of the PDP-led government. They can’t get up today and criticise the party that we are not dialoguing with the opposition. The president decided to create a committee for amnesty to dialogue with Boko Haram and they said, ‘No, it is not good; you can’t do that.’ They criticised him. He then decided to impose a state of emergency and they say ‘no’ again. What do they want? Have they been able to offer solutions to the challenges of security? What is their option, what are they providing?

Besides the issue of tacit support and endorsement of these religious and acts of insurgency, what else, apart from condoning it? What else have they been able to do? They have never offered any solution, they have never condemned them, and they have never offered any solution on how we can get out of it. They just criticise the president, criticise PDP, criticise the National Assembly and criticise everybody. One day they will question whether we are human beings, the way they are going about it. They question everything. They always criticise everything. Life is not about noise making; life is about making progress. Let the opposition proffer solutions on how we can make progress. We want to make progress and that is it.

Talking about insecurity in the North, don’t you think the handling of this situation may affect the PDP by 2015?

Affecting the PDP is secondary; the most important thing is protecting the life and properties of the citizenry. That is what is paramount to Mr. President. Mr. President is motivated by the interest of the country, by national interest, unity of this country and not the interest of whether PDP will win election or whether it will harm PDP; that is secondary. Let us maintain peace in this country. When there is peace and stability and the unity of Nigeria is no longer threatened, then we can talk about which political party will win. The president believes that it is better we have peace and stability under any party’s rulership, under anybody’s rulership, than we having destruction for us to remain in control; that is what is paramount. We want peace and stability first before we talk of the interest of PDP.

PDP controls almost 80 percent of elected offices and some people believe opposition parties are weak because PDP has infiltrated and planted agents in these parties to weaken them. How do you react to this?

No, no, no. There is no reaction to it. Everybody wants a winning team. PDP is in every hamlet, every village every town, every city, every family. In your family, they have PDP. There is no family in this country without PDP members. PDP is a large party, a mass movement. Our founding fathers are credible. They are decent Nigerians, they are nationalists and they are the best of their generation. Those are the people that formed PDP. So Nigerians want to identify with this party that was formed by these elders and fathers of the nation. Consistently, we have proven that we have the overall interest of the nation at heart in all our activities and in all our actions, and PDP has been able to perform. That is why people are still in PDP.

For the opposition, we do not know what they are doing, but we know that some people that run elections in PDP and when they don’t get the ticket, they run to other parties and they call themselves ‘opposition’. Oppositions are grown out of PDP. 90 percent of the people who could not get appointments or get elected under PDP and could not get our party flag are the ones in opposition. Who is in the opposition that has not been in PDP? I want you to name them. Right from the formation of the PDP, they were with us when we were forming PDP. It was when they felt it could not accommodate them, when they felt they could not struggle for their own right amongst the national leaders that they decided to have a sectional party. Tomorrow, maybe if they are guaranteed they will win an election, if they are guaranteed or if they think there is possibility of PDP appointing or nominating them as candidates, they will rush back. But no, we can’t do that. We don’t appoint candidates like other parties. We go through primaries, very serious primaries that are more hotly contested than elections, before we can bring our candidates and that is why our elected officers always show the difference from the opposition. That is also why when you are elected in PDP, we put you through a lot of tests. You must live above board.

PDP is quick to expose any corrupt activities of our leaders, whether appointed or elected. We are very quick to expose it in national interest. We take the interest of the nation far above that of promoting our party. If you are elected on the platform of PDP and you do not stay above board, we will make sure that you are brought to book and let the law take its course. Other parties condone corrupt activities of their leaders. They do not have any example of any leader or any member of their party that they have ever exposed or brought to the fore for corruption.

Closely related to this is question you just answered is this insinuation that PDP has a hand in the non-registration of APC, by sponsoring another pseudo-synonym. 

That issue has been over flogged because if they say that we are blocking them from registering APC, they can register QED. But I understand that the people that registered APC are negotiating with them and they are going to settle with them. I understand that they paid it off. I don’t have any problem with that. From what I understand, they have been able to negotiate. It is their negligence, their inefficiency, their incompetence to handle the registration of a simple political party cannot be ascribed to PDP; we are not their functionaries. They were completely incompetence in handling the matter. So, now a particular group of persons who applied first and they are in contention, it is for them to go and negotiate with them. We have no business with them. I understand that they negotiated with them and I can tell you that we don’t have any problem with that. They are free to answer APC; they are free to answer QED. In fact, if they like they can answer PHD, we are waiting for them in 2015 election.

The founders of PDP had a vision of establishing a very strong party and that was why they set up the PDI (People’s Democratic Institute). But it look like your party is under-utilising that institute.

I can inform you that the party is in the process of appointing a new Director General for PDI. The national chairman has a vision on what he intends the PDI to be and how he wants to get them active. Let me assure you that from the end of the third quarter, you will see a brand new, revitalised PDI in operations in Nigeria. They are going to be active in promoting party interests and party positions on all matters, especially in organising seminars and making sure that our people are more knowledgeable on party affairs and organisation of the party.

Taking a cue from what you said on corruption, Nigerians are worried that in spite of the fight against corruption, it keeps rising every day. What is the party doing to stem the rise?

Past administrations entrenched corruption in Nigeria. Under the past administrations, the teachers became corrupt, doctors became corrupt, the mechanic became corrupt, drivers became corrupt, gatemen became corrupt, corruption even entered the church and corruption is everywhere. But the party has taken deliberate policies and process to ensure that we always bring out the issue of corruption. When we start talking about and exposing corrupt people, it will start coming down. In the history of this country, corruption has never been in the front burner as to how PDP has made it to be. It is the People’s Democratic Party that has brought out corruption as an evil that is capable of destroying the growth of Nigeria as a nation. Nigerians should actually understand that why we discuss corruption now is because the party, as a deliberate policy, has been bringing out anti- corruption programmes. For the first time, PDP has ensured we set up EFCC; we ensured that we set up the ICPC; we ensure that there is due process even in the award of contracts; we ensured that the police are equipped to fight corruption and we have not condoned any act of corruption by any officer at any level by this party. That is what we have done to ensure that corruption is brought down. Today we are now debating corruption everywhere in this country. People are talking about corruption and how we can bring it down. We are bringing it down. When you want to do something now, they tell you that you are politically exposed. Nobody used to say that you are militarily exposed. The fact that you read about people in the newspapers does not mean they have acquired a lot, no.  We are ensuring due process on all aspects.

Does an average Nigerian have anything to celebrate democracy at 14?

We have a lot to celebrate for democracy. First of all, freedom. The ability to be very free. Rule of law is working in this country. The liberty to associate with any group that you want, the freedom to select your leaders. These are democratic principles that Thomas Jefferson taught us. They are things that even Americans celebrate- liberty and freedom and the question of choice. In Nigeria, we have it today. Then in terms of infrastructure, Nigerians now know that they have a president that is very committed to the development of this country. It is not easy to do the much that we have been able to do in the past two years, even with the attendant detraction of sectarian violence in sections of this country. The well planted issue of violence to ensure the government is distracted from its objectives and yet the ministers are working, ministries are working, development is going on is a major achievement. The president, although very humble, should be praised for his massive commitment and his focus on development amidst all these attempts to distract him.

Your message to Nigerians on democracy day

We have only one party today, only one national party, only one party that takes care of national interest, only one party that fights for the unity of this country, only one party that can provide for you and protect you and only one party where you do not need a godfather, where you do not need to know anybody to climb to the highest level, to get appointed, to get elected- that is the PDP. It is the party that belongs to the people. It is the party that gives power to the people. Let Nigerians have faith; let then keep on supporting the party. We will continue impress the people and we will continue to work for the success of the nation.

Politics of Osun State, in recent years, has been as interesting as it has been intriguing. The state, like its counterparts in the South-West, has had the opportunity to test two dominant political parties at various times. Whichever one that has put smiles on the faces of the people is known to the people alone.

Just as Osun witnessed governance by parties, it has thrown up politicians both of impeccable character and of questionable one. But the people of the state can beat their chest that they have people who can take them to the Promised Land.

It is, therefore, surprising that some people would hide somewhere to disparage the status of some sons and daughters of the state who have not only distinguished themselves in their chosen professions, but also done well in service to the state in particular and Nigeria in general. Why would anybody seek to pull down a person like Senator Christopher Iyiola Omisore, who has not only served as a deputy governor in the state, but also as chairman of the all-important Senate Committee on Appropriation in the upper chamber of the National Assembly? He used that position to bring a lot of development indices to the entire Yorubaland and all parts of Nigeria while he was in office. Omisore has distinguished himself in Nigerian politics, just as he has done in engineering profession in the country. For now, Omisore has not come out to say that he is contesting for any position in the nearest future. He has been telling those who care to listen that only God will decide for him on any position he should vie for when the time comes. Why then would anybody seek to drag his name in the mud?

Having served at the prestigious Drake Gordham in the United Kingdom and served the company in Nigeria as its project manager on many projects, Omisore has an established private engineering firm in the country, Chrisore Engineering. The company has handled many high profile engineering jobs, among which are the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor’s and deputy governor’s residences, Afribank headquarters, EIB headquarters, UACN complex, Abuja and UBN Stallion House, among others.

If Senator Omisore has done all these, apart from his giant stride in politics of Osun State and Nigeria in general, why would any disgruntled politician then seek to tarnish his image? In present day Nigeria, what should interest any patriotic citizen is developmental politicking and not satanic bid to pull down a house God has already built? Omisore is not interested in politics of bitterness. He is keeping his fingers crossed until service to motherland would beckon again. Thus, his detractors should allow the sleeping dog lie. Omisore was marred in the alleged murder of the former governor of Oyo State, Chief Bola Ige, whom Omisore himself acknowledged as a political leader. Since his detractors tried to link him with the death of the revered Esa-Oke high chief, Omisore has not uttered much public statements; he waited for justice to run its full course and eventually, he was vindicated as not having anything to do with the death of the Yoruba leader.

At this moment in the history of the Yoruba race, when dearth of good leadership, after the era of the likes of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Adekunle Ajasin, Chief Akin Omoboriowo, Papa Abraham Adesanya, among other illustrious leaders, is plaguing the land, what should be paramount on the minds of good children of Oduduwa is how to develop the land and find a veritable compass to lead us to greatness within the committee of people in Nigeria. We should not be playing politics of divisiveness at this point of our history. Those who have distinguished themselves among us should not be brought down in the name of politics. Omisore has contributed, immensely, to the engineering profession in Nigeria. He is a registered member of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) whose companies have handled many high-profile works both within Yorubaland and across Nigeria. Omisore and his ilk deserve to be given the opportunity to serve their fatherland with their God-given talents.