Lawmakers oppose N6b plan to register SIM cards

The controversial registration of phone users by the Nigeria Communication Commission breaches sections of the Advance Fee Fraud Act, lawmakers argued on Thursday, in support of their opposition to attempts by the NCC to conduct the N6.1bn exercise.

The prolonged debate between majority of the House of Representatives members opposed to the plan, and the House communication committee which supports it, reached new heights yesterday with lawmakers citing the anti-419 Act to defeat the plan, and also naming an Ad hoc committee on the matter.

Within 10 days, the House ruled, the new committee comprising of heads of three other related committees, would meet with Dave Salako, the communication chairman, and resolve how the planned registration infringes on section 12 and 13 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act.

The committees involved are Ethics and Privileges, Drugs, Narcotics and Anti-Corruption and the committee on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Against the proposed registration which Mr. Salako has come to be identified with, the sections of the 2006 law puts the responsibility of registration on the telephone operators, which a majority of the House members have argued for more than three months now.

The section says “Any person or entity providing an electronic communication service or remote computing service either by e-mail or any other form shall be required to obtain from the customer or subscriber full names; residential address.”

Further details of the section outlines penalties for a defaulting user or provider. According to the edict, the defaults are to be administered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The Act stood central to the lawmakers’ opposition to the NCC’s plan yesterday, as the budget of the commission came up for discussions again.

Although the entire budget is meant for 2010, it has yet to be finalised by the House, barely two months to the end of the year, solely on account of the contentious registration plan which members have faulted.

Whose interest is it?

Representatives have maintained that the responsibility of the exercise is that of phone operators and not the regulator, the NCC. The N6.1 billion is to cater for an exercise estimated at N120 per user within six months.

Defending the plan in an interview with NEXT a fortnight ago, the NCC spokesperson, Reuben Mouka, said the commission is concerned about the exercise, since the operators have protested that they cannot complete the work within the given time.

The operators are said to be arguing for three years, against the six months the commission claims it wants because of the upsurge in kidnapping, supposedly to forestall losing customers that may be disconnected if there is no sufficient time.

“We don’t believe that N6.1bn for millions of users is too much. Security of lives is not comparable to N120 per person,” Mr. Muoka, the NCC head of public affairs, said.

Some members also told NEXT they fear the resolved attempt to pass the bill may point at other interests.

“For me, I would not know what is beyond,” said Sekonte Davies, a member from Rivers State.

“But I don’t care whose ox is gored; I believe there are certain interests who want to use the opportunity to siphon money. I may not know them, but I believe very strongly that it could have political purposes.”

The House spokesperson, Eseme Eyiboh, denied that charge at a news conference yesterday. He said the recurrence of the rejected bill does not imply other motives.

“We are not promoting any interest,” he said.

Colleges Of Education Teachers Mull Strike Over Plan To Scrap NCE

THE standard of education in Nigeria may dip further soon as the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) is perfecting plans to embark on industrial action to protest the planned proscription of National Colleges of Education (NCE).

President of the union, Mohammed Ibrahim disclosed this in Abuja yesterday while reacting to the declaration by the Minister of State for Education, Kenneth Gbagi that government plans to discontinue with the NCE programmes.

He said: “If this trend, which is conspicuously anti-people, is not halted, we will have no option but to mobilize the hapless Nigerian masses who have a future in the college of education system to resist to the last man, this dastardly act of insensitivity to the implication of such an unbecoming executive arrogance.”

He explained that the Certificate in Education being awarded by the Colleges of Education is meant to serve as a benchmark certification for teaching at the basic education level in the country.

Ibrahim argued that despite the award of degrees by some Colleges of Education duly certified by the National Universities Commission (NUC), the colleges have not lost focus on the special role of acting as a midwife in facilitating the academic progress of a fairly good percentage of less privileged Nigerians who cannot afford direct university education for numerous and obvious reasons of poor governance and deliberately imposed poverty on the seemingly helpless masses in this country.

He said: “Considering the critical roles that the Colleges of Education have been playing in the country for several decades now, the recent idea of scrapping out colleges of education from the tertiary education tripod spells grave implications for common Nigerians and the system as a whole.”

Nigerian military warns of action in oil delta

Nigeria's military threatened on Saturday to carry out raids against what it said were camps of criminal gangs in the creeks of the oil-producing Niger Delta, and told civilians in the vicinity to leave.

Any major offensive by the armed forces would be the first in the Niger Delta, the heartland of the OPEC member's energy industry, since an amnesty programme brokered by President Goodluck Jonathan began in August 2009.

Seven expatriate workers were kidnapped from an oil rig off the Niger Delta almost a week ago, while the home of President Goodluck Jonathan's main adviser on the region was attacked with explosives late on Thursday.

"We have observed with concern some criminal acts within the past few days by some people claiming to be militants ... Many of these criminals are known to be hiding in camps within the creeks of the Niger Delta," Chief of Defence Staff Oluseyi Petinrin said in a statement.

"These camps will no longer be tolerated. To avoid any collateral damage, we are seizing this opportunity to instruct all law-abiding citizens who live around the vicinity of these camps to leave immediately," the statement said.

The military taskforce in the Niger Delta (JTF) said one camp in Bayelsa, one of the three main oil-producing states, was raided on Friday. Officials said there was an exchange of gunfire, and weapons and maps of oil facilities were seized.

The Niger Delta had been hit by years of militant attacks on oil infrastructure prior to the amnesty. At its peak, the unrest prevented Nigeria from pumping much above two thirds of its 3 million barrels per day (bpd) oil production capacity and cost it an estimated $1 billion a month in lost revenues.

A resurgence in violence would be an embarrassment for Jonathan, the first Nigerian head of state from the region who faces a tough battle in presidential elections due next April.

Okah’s Bail Application Suffers Another Hitch

Henry Okah, the alleged Nigerian terror mastermind, will only know, in a week’s time, whether he will be granted bail or not after his case encountered further problems at the Johannesburg Magistrate Court.

The South Africa Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reports that Magistrate Hein Louw told the court that he was not yet ready to hand down judgment on Friday, saying that he needed time to finish listening to the court recordings.

Louw said he had had problems accessing the audio transcripts and that he would only be able to do so some time in the following week.

Okah also lost an application to be kept in police custody, pending the outcome of his bail hearing.

He has been accused of being behind Nigeria’s Independence day bombings.

At least, a dozen people were left dead and many others injured.

Nigeria’s state security services have also linked Okah to the bombs attacks that rocked the southern oil city of Warri in March this year.

He is currently facing charges of terrorism.

Ex-Senator’s Mother-In-Law Rescued

The Ebonyi State Police Command has rescued the kidnapped mother-in-law of the former senator representing Ebonyi Central Senatorial zone in the National Assembly, Mr. Julius Ucha, while four suspects have been arrested for their alleged complicity in the abduction of the victim.

Accordingly, 15 suspects have been nabbed by the command for their involvement in various crimes of kidnapping, robbery, child theft and murder in the state.

The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Emmanuel Ayeni, disclosed this in Abakaliki, on Friday, while briefing newsmen on the efforts made by the command in combating criminal activities in the state.

According to him, “Mrs. Mary Nwainya, the mother-in-law of Senator Ucha has been rescued unhurt, while four suspects have been arrested, who are at present assisting the command in the investigation, “ he said.

Mr. Ayeni said that four suspects had also been arrested in connection with the death of one Otubo Moses, who was murdered by some hoodlums a fortnight ago.

Kidnapped ex-UBTH CMD regains Freedom

Former Chief Medical Director (CMD), University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Professor Eugene Okpere, was in the early hours of Thursday left of the hook after spending four days with his abductors.

Chairman of the state chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) , Dr. Philip Ugbodaga, who said no ransom was paid for his release, however vowed that his association would continue its protest against incessant kidnap of doctors in the state until there are concrete assurances for their security.

But in a protest march on Thursday to Edo Government House, medical doctors in their hundreds, said government has not done enough to combat crime, especially kidnapping, in the state.

They were received by Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor, Dr. John Ejale, and a Senior Special Assistant (SSA) in the Economic Management Team of the governor, Taiwo Akerele.

They told the protesting doctors that the state government was doing all it could to stem the rising wave of crimes but that its actions were limited by the fact that security agencies are under the direct control of the Federal Government.

Nigerian security rejects reports that arms were bound for Gaza

Security forces in Nigeria believe a recently-seized arms shipment -- reportedly from Iran -- was bound for the western African nation, not another land.

Marilyn Ogar, spokeswoman for the county's security service, on Friday rejected reports that the material was headed to the Palestinian territory of Gaza, as claimed by some reports in Israel.

In fact, some observers speculate, the weaponry was seized ahead of the 2011 controversial elections which would pit Goodluck Jonathan, the current president from the Christian south, and presidential candidates from the Muslim north.

The country's security service said that it had seized 13 shipping containers in the port of Lagos filled with illegal weapons, including rockets, grenades and bullets.

Each shipping container carried 20 wooden crates, and a leading global shipping company has said that the weaponry came from Iran.

Nigerian officials won't confirm that the materiel originated in Iran, and the country's foreign ministry issued a statement knocking down reports that Nigeria was targeting a particular nation in its investigations and that it was planning to go to the United Nations to lodge a complaint.

This comes as the foreign ministers of Nigeria and Iran met on Thursday.

"If at the end of these investigations, there were breaches of international instruments or conventions to which Nigeria is party, the country would, as a responsible member of the international community, 'do whatever was necessary,' " the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The company, CMA CGM, said it was a victim of a false cargo declaration. The shipper -- who the company identified as an Iranian trader -- had listed the materials inside the containers as "packages of glass wool and pallets of stone."

The containers in question were loaded in Bandar Abbas, a port in southern Iran, and discharged in Lagos in July, the company said.

There has been Christian-Muslim sectarian violence in northern Nigeria, and analysts say the upcoming vote will potentially be one of the most controversial and violent election periods in the country's history.

Liberty Stadium Named After Awo •As Jonathan Visits Ogun

President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday announced the re-naming of the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan, Oyo State as Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, just as he paid tribute to the visionary leadership the sage offered Nigeria while alive.

Jonathan made the announcement at the Ikenne home of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, when he paid a courtesy call on Yeye Oodua, Chief (Mrs) HID Awolowo, as part of his official tour of the state.

The president was accompanied on the visit by dignitaries, including Ogun State governor, Chief Gbenga Daniel; his counterpart in Oyo State, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala; Minister of Works, Senator Sanusi Daggash; Minister of Commerce, Senator Jibril Martins- Kuye; Minister of Youth Development, Senator Akinlabi Olasunkanmi; members of the National and state assemblies, among others.

The renaming of the stadium came shortly after the president inaugurated an expressway in Ikenne town named after the sage and which was constructed by the Ogun State government.

The president, who expressed happiness that he was visiting the Awolowo home for the first time in his life and for him to be received and blessed by Mrs Awolowo, disclosed that the renaming of the Liberty Stadium was a decision reached between him and the affected state governor.

According to him, the Awolowo family’s significance transcends Ikenne and Ogun State where the family took its roots, declaring that the sage remained a national figure.

Dr. Jonathan recalled the struggle made by Chief Awolowo as a young man and through his old age to establish his foot-prints on the evolution of the country’s march towards greatness, noting that his efforts resulted in the building of Cocoa House, the Liberty Stadium and Western Nigerian Television (WNTV) now Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), which was the first of its kind in Africa.

The president, who noted that Awolowo distinguished himself among his contemporaries in his pursuit of an ideal society and life abundant for the masses, promised to pursue the vision of the sage in order to transform the country.

“We will continue with his vision to transform the country into a better place,” President Jonathan promised.

While welcoming the president, Chief (Mrs.) Awolowo assured him of her prayers and support for the success of his administration, just as she recalled the very cordial relationship between her husband Awolowo and the Ijaws, urging the president to feel at home.

Chief (Mrs.) Awolowo noted that there existed enormous challenges in governance of the country, especially at the level of the presidency, but said such challenges were not insurmountable.

“The presence of challenges is not to stop a man from reaching his goal, but to bring out the best in him,” she said, adding: “I equally wish to encourage you to be very strong and focused in your service to over fatherland.”

However, Mrs Awolowo, who recalled that Papa Awolowo, like some of his contemporaries, devoted quality time to analysing these challenges and proffering solutions to them as expressed in some of his various books, later presented the president with a few of them.

“I will not only recommend these books to you, but would rather present you with some copies to help you in discharging your constitutional responsibility. It is my honest belief that Your Excellency will find them very interesting and insightful,” she said.

Speaking further, she paid tribute to the Ogun State governor, Chief Daniel, whom he said had transformed the state into one of the fastest growing states in Nigeria.

“Having commissioned some projects during your short stay, I have no doubt that you have been convinced that Ogun State is one of the fastest developing states in Nigeria,” Mrs Awolowo said.

“On this note, I wish to commend the efforts of our indefatigable governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, for all his achievements,” she further said.

Dignitaries, who also joined her in welcoming President Jonathan to Ikenne include Bishop Michael Olusina Fape, who prayed at the event; Chief Mohammed Jobi-Fele, Reverend Adebajo Olusesan and Chief Kessington Adebutu.

Members of the Awolowo family were also in attendance and they included Reverend (Mrs.) Tola Oyediran, Publisher, Tribune titles, Master Oluwole Awolowo and grandchildren.

It will be recalled that the Liberty Stadium was built and declared opened on September 30, 1959, a development which heralded sporting development in Nigeria.

The sage had built the stadium when he was Premier of Western Region and the stadium was recorded as the first of its kind in Africa.

According to findings, the stadium was so named to commemorate the attainment of regional self-government by Western Nigeria.

The stadium’s construction was handled by a reputable chartered architect, JEK Harrison, in consultation with the then Ministry of Works and Transport of Western Region.

Liberty Stadium was as well known as the only Olympic Standard Stadium in the country until 1972 when the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, was inaugurated in preparation for the All Africa Games, hosted by Nigeria in 1973.

Among the major events that brought glamour to the stadium was the famous world title fight between Nigeria’s Dick Tiger and Gene Fulman in 1963.

The stadium had also hosted world football tourneys, including the group games of the Africa Nation’s Cup held in Nigeria in 1980 and the Group C games of the 1999 World Youth Championship, Nigeria 99.