Nigeria: Wike's Supporters On Rampage, Hit PDP Members, Journalists

By Henry Umoru
ABUJA--Supporters of Minister of State for Education, who is also a governorship aspirant in Rivers State, Mr. Nyesom Wike yesterday unleashed terror on opponents and journalists in Abuja.
The venue was the PDP Presidential Campaign Office, Legacy House, Maitama, at the second day of the Senator Iya Abubakar led Peoples Democratic Party, PDP South South Integration Committee's sitting.

The Committee had on Wednesday met with PDP stakeholders, leaders and members from Akwa Ibom and Edo States and it was the turn of Rivers State for reconciliation.
Soon after the minister arrived the venue, the atmosphere was charged as his supporters blocked and stopped members of PDP perceived not loyal to Wike from entering the hall to submit or defend their memoranda which they had earlier submitted.


Journalists who had covered the previous meetings were harassed, humiliated and beaten. Television camera men working with Channels Television, Silverbird as well as a Vanguard correspondent were molested.


The supporters manhandled the reporters and attempted to seize their cameras,recorders and telephones. The supporters who blocked the entrance to the hall, were prepared to beat up anyone. Some of the aspirants like Kenneth Ibikani Dublin, Chief Larry Allison; Major Lanstort Annyayan, among others could not enter the venue.


Displeased with the development which saw Rivers PDP stakeholders prevented from presenting their memoranda to the Iya Abubakar Committee, former Commissioner for Water Resources in the state and Rivers State Coordinator, Yar'Adua/ Jonathan Campaign Organisation in 2007, Hon. Lolo Ibienye expressed strong concern. The protest attracted instant rebuke from the minister.
Throughout the period the Minister was in the hall with members of the committee, other aspirants were not allowed to come close to the venue as the hefty looking supporters of Wike molested and stopped everyone.


The waiting room of Legacy House was completely taken over by the Minister's supporters.
Narrating his experience to Vanguard, Lolo Ibienye claimed he was shoved by the minister, warning that if the national leadership of PDP fails to address these problems, the party in Rivers State was sitting on a keg of gun powder, waiting to explode at any time. He added that with the molestation of party members and journalists by the Minister of State for Education's thugs. It would have been disastrous if the exercise had taken place in Rivers.
Ibienye who noted that the molestation and punching was not necessary, said that the Committee received 22 petitions from the state and of the petitions received, only four persons from the state were allowed to defend their petitions.


How it happened -- Ibienye
He said: "I am Hon. Lolo Ibienye, Commissioner for Water Resources during former governor Peter Odili's tenure and Rivers Coordinator, Yar'Adua/ Jonathan Campaign Organisation in 2007. What happened there was that the group led by the Honourable Minister of State, Education, Nyesom Wike brought people intended to stop petitioners from going to defend their petitions. Only a few people were allowed into the hall. 22 petitions were received from Rivers State and only four out of the 22 persons who petitioned were allowed to defend their petitions. Professor Israel Owate presented his, Chief Paworiso Samuel Horsfall presented his report, while Barrister Alalivo Frederick and Elechukwu Ogbowu presented theirs as well.

"In an attempt to stop the molestation and harassment of party stakeholders and preventing them from entering the hall to defend their petitions, Wike then shoved me. That is not what we expect at the moment at all; the molestation of stakeholders and journalists should not have happened, it is not necessary at all. If it happened in Abuja with few of us in attendance, what would have happened if the meeting had taken place in Rivers State?


"The national leadership of the party must know that it is not well with Rivers PDP, it is a clear indication that PDP in the state is sitting on a keg of gun powder."
When asked to comment on the fracas, he said: "It happened, go ahead and use it that way, what happened there was not necessary at all."


When Vanguard called Mr. Wike and sent a text message for his response, he said he was at a meeting and would call back. He had not responded at press time. Meanwhile, a group stormed thhe Legacy House , the Wadata Plaza, National Secretariat of the party, demanding the zoning of governorship seat to the riverine area of the state was stopped by security operatives.


Addressing the group, PDP national publicity secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh who advised them to always imbibe democratic tenets and the rule of law, urged them to ensure that they they put their house in order to ensure that PDP wins the election in Rivers State.
There was however a reprisal action at Legacy House at 11. 40 am when an aggrieved member, and legal adviser to Network for Defence of Democracy and Good Governance, NDDGG, Barrister Tubotamuno Dick, led a group of boys who carried bottles of soft drinks, forced themselves into the premises, and it became a free-for-all among the two groups, but the police intervened.


Policeman hit me -- Dick
Barrister Tubotamuno Dick who sustained injury in his left eye in the course of battling with the Police to gain entry told journalists that the act of not allowing justice and fair hearing to prevail was not good for the nation's democracy, adding, "They were stopping people but I said we came to defend our petition. They molested our people, pushing them down. I went there and presented myself as a lawyer. Can you imagine a Nigerian Policeman hitting me in the eye? This means that the committee set up by the federal government has already been compromised.
"In Rivers PDP, we have only chairman and secretary and we have written to the national secretariat that if we allow a two-man exco as constituted to go for elections, we will have so many legal issues. As we speak, 70 per cent of PDP exco members decamped with Amaechi to APC."
Nyesom Wike who was there from 9 a.m, left the place at 12.32 p.m with his supporters, thereby giving room for some persons to enter.


Speaking with Vanguard, a governorship aspirant who was locked outside, Kenneth Ibikani Dublin, said: " I was not even allowed in; I expect that PDP National Secretariat will look at the issue. Iam going back to my people, inform them of what happened, then we will come up with a communique."

Nigeria: Enough of Crocodile Tears for Adekunle

By Adewuyi Adegbite
The demise of Brigadier Benjamin Maja Adekunle, the commander of the 3rd Marine Commando of the Nigerian Army during the civil war between 1967 and 1970, has exposed further the hypocrisy of the Nigerian elite. History is replete with the exploits of Adekunle in the war, but for his truculence, the war would have dragged on for years. However, he was not acknowledged by the government of his days because of his larger than life personality, his brilliance, and fame, which overshadowed those of his peers and superiors in the Army. His unceremonious retirement might have resulted from envy rather than allegations levied against him. Unfortunately for him, he was neither here nor there after the cessation of hostilities, because the Nigerian side, which he laboured to keep one, did not reward him, and the Biafran side, which he helped in taming, detested him.


The refusal of some Igbo members in the House of Representatives to observe a minute silence to honour him was symbolic of hatred for him, even in death. In actual fact, Adekunle belongs to the class of Nigerian heroes and heroines who were denied recognition by the State for their lofty contributions to the development of the nation. Inversely, many Nigerians of shady characters with no clear cut contributions to the development of the nation except being political office holders or close to the corridors of power, either at the state or federal level are honoured with the national awards.

What an irony?


Eulogies and tributes trailing the demise of Adekunle from eminent Nigerians are surprising because he had been bedridden for quite some time, with very few people paying attention to him. But for one of his juniors in the military, Gen. Alabi Isama, who brought his pathetic condition to the open through an interview he had in some national dailies, Adekunle would have died in solitude, and this is the way the hypocrites would be hailing his dead body.


It is pathetic that providence had foisted on Nigeria its second eleven in major positions of responsibilities. The travail of Adekunle in the hands of the military and the government of his day could be understood in the above context.


One takes solace in the words of the ex-Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, in a letter he wrote to Luis Conte Aguero in 1953, "Epitaph is not at the moment a monument to the martyrs who have fallen. We cannot even speak of peace for the dead in this oppressed land, but posterity which is always more generous with the good will build these monuments in their memories, and in due time, future generation will revive the tribute/honour owed those who saved the fatherland's honour in the time of infinite shame".

Actis $1.5bn investment in Nigeria, others’ property market targets middle class

Actis, a private equity company, will lead investment of as much as $1.5 billion in African commercial property to meet rising demand from international companies targeting a growing middle class, its officials have revealed.

The London-based company has a five-year plan to invest in projects including shopping centers, office towers and industrial parks in fast-growing economies such as Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya.
Kevin Teeroovengadum, director of Actis’ sub-Saharan Africa real estate unit, revealed recently in an interview in Johannesburg that the company is seeing a shift in interest from South African brands to European retailers.

Michael Chu’di Ejekam, Teeroovengadum’s counterpart in Nigeria, had noted in Lagos that African market is “huge, under-supplied and growing”, adding that there is a sharp demand-supply imbalance which they are trying to bridge.
“This is sub-Saharan Africa and in comparison with some other markets, it is one of the fastest growing in the entire world. Africa dominates the list of the fastest growing economies in the world”, Ejekam, who spoke in an interview with BusinessDay, said.
African Development Bank’s annual outlook also notes that Africa’s economy, excluding Libya and Somalia, is forecast to expand 4.5 percent in 2013 and 5.2 percent next year amid a rise in oil and mining projects and direct investment from foreign companies.
Teeroovengadum points out that Nigeria, the continent’s most populous country, grew 6.6 percent in the first quarter while South Africa, the continent’s biggest economy, expanded by an annualised 0.9 percent.
Actis has raised about $1.4 billion across seven Africa funds since 2003, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The company is also pursuing deals in South America and Southeast Asia in sectors including energy and technology.

McKinsey & Co. says in a 2010 report that Africa is home to the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population, predicting that household expenditure in the continent is forecast to expand 63 percent to $1.4 trillion by 2020. Shantayanan Devarajan, World Bank’s chief economist for Africa, said in May last year that “this is a very good time for retailers to get a foothold in Africa.”
In Nigeria, Ejekam notes that within 8-kilometre radius of Ikeja City Mall in Lagos, household expenditure is about $18,000 per annum per household, adding that with about one million households within this radius, household expenditure per annum is about $18 billion. “For us as private equity investors, we find this very compelling”, he said.

This is the number of jobs the Federal Government is proposing to create on a yearly basis.
The Information Minister, Labran Maku said it is part of a deliberate policy to expand the Nigerian economy.
With an average official rate of unemployment put at about 18 million adults or about 23 percent of the adult population, it would take the Federal Government an average of 49 years to absorb all the unemployed even if the unemployment rate remains unchanged.
What this clearly shows is that the creation of jobs will have to go beyond what the Federal Government can do directly to enable the private sector also create jobs.

Nigeria's property boom: only for the brave

(Reuters) - On one of the most exclusive streets in Nigeria's capital sits a crumbling mansion with an unwelcoming message painted at its entrance: "BEWARE! THIS HOUSE IS NOT FOR SALE".
The warning refers to a popular property scam. In the most elaborate version, robbers break into your house while you are away, change the locks, and then produce multiple copies of fake title deeds. Posing as estate agents, they show buyers around your house and sell as many copies of the deeds as possible. When you get back, your house belongs to six people.

This sort of deception epitomises the tricky nature of Nigeria's real estate business, but despite the risks, there are huge returns to be had in a market where around 16 million homes are needed just to meet current demand.
Navigating through opaque land laws, corruption, a lack of development expertise and financing, a dearth of mortgages and high building costs will take courage and influential local partners.
"There are sizeable challenges to overcome but in many ways Nigeria represents the perfect storm for real estate investment; huge population, rapid urbanisation and a growing middle-class," said Michael Chu'di Ejekam, Director of Nigerian Real Estate at Actis, a London-based private equity firm.
Actis has $5.2 billion under management, including two sub-Saharan Africa real estate equity funds totalling $434 million, which it says are attracting U.S. and European investors.

Nigeria's population of nearly 170 million is bigger than Russia's and its economy is growing at 6 percent, a combination which is producing a new wave of property buyers from bankers and airline staff to mobile phone and fast food shop owners.
"I see demand from the middle-class higher than ever before," said Deolu Dara, Associate Vice President at Nigeria-based Avante Property Asset Management, which manages several multi-million dollar residential projects in Lagos.
A successful real estate investment in Nigeria can earn an returns as high as 30-35 percent, while rental income yields in cities such as Lagos and Abuja can easily reach 10 percent, developers and estate agents say.

MIDDLE CLASS
Property in Lagos, a heaving metropolis of around 20 million people, can be among the most expensive in the world with two-bedroom flats costing more than $1 million in upmarket areas.
However, the top-end range is dominated by well established players and developers should target middle-income workers in major cities, such Lagos, Abuja and the oil-hub Port Harcourt. The most popular units fall in a price bracket of 20-35 million naira, developers and estate agents say.

Nigeria's middle class make up around 23 percent of the population and earn around 80,000-100,000 naira per month, according to report by investment bank Renaissance Capital.
In smaller cities and rural areas, a lack of information about land and regulation is off-putting, while a violent Islamist insurgency has made the north of Nigeria unattractive, despite huge unmet demand in cities such as Kano and Kaduna.

The majority of Nigerians live in poverty in shanty towns or in basic concrete block and iron-roofed houses they have built themselves, but building mass housing for the poor is not a popular investment.
"If you know the market, the people, focus on middle class and cherry pick your deals, you can clean out," added Dara, who said Africa's biggest oil and gas industry is also driving demand. One foreign oil major bought 300 flats recently.
Nigeria's construction and real estate sectors are growing at more than 10 and 12 percent respectively, a boon for foreign and Nigerian construction firms, including UPDC (UACN.LG), Cappa D'Alberto (CAPALBE.LG) and Julius Berger (JBERGER.LG).

Yet, there is still not enough quality affordable housing because business is frustrated by widespread corruption, poor state infrastructure and a lack of expertise and financing.
Constructing a block of flats costs three times as much in Nigeria than in South Africa, builders say, and many developments are abandoned when projects run out of money or become slums because they are poorly built.

London-based estate agent Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL.N) ranks Nigeria 96th out of 97 on its transparency index, just in front of Sudan but behind six other African countries.
Having support from powerful politicians or business magnates will help to avoid terminal financial pitfalls.
LOCAL PARTNERS
"It's a business that requires local partners and local knowledge or you'll run into problems," Dara at Avante says.

Avante's chairman is Wale Tinubu, the head of oil and gas firm Oando (OANDO.LG) and a close relative of former Lagos state governor Bola Tinubu, who still wields influence there.
London-based Actis has given directorships to Nigerian energy firm Seven Energy and local conglomerate UAC (UACN.LG).

Once the supply challenges have been overcome, there remains a problem with that huge latent demand. No mortgages. Unless you are willing to pay a 25 percent interest rate.
The mortgage debt-to-GDP ratio in Nigeria is under 0.5 percent, compared with 72 percent in the U.S. and over 30 percent in Malaysia and South Africa, government figures show.

"In places like America you seem to be able to buy property without a stress but it just isn't like that here," said Ike Ejekam, 31, who is about to buy a newly-built two-bedroom apartment for 20 million naira in a gated community in the popular Lekki district on the Lagos peninsula.

Ejekam represents the new breed of buyers who expect well-built housing with all the modern conveniences. He works at a branch of a local bank and is using his life savings and funds borrowed from family members to buy his property outright.

"I don't like to think about mortgages because it scares me when I see how difficult it is for my friends to get a loan."

Nigerian banks don't like giving out mortgages because reliable information about buyers and land is scarce, while there is no secondary market to offset the risks.
MORTGAGE DENIED

The government says it is trying to fix this by securing a $300 million loan from the World Bank to establish a mortgage refinancing company, which should free up some bank lending.

A Federal Mortgage Bank was also launched this year, which government hopes will help build 500,000 new homes. The bank plans to float a 200 billion naira mortgage bond, the proceeds from which can be handed over to home buyers with the state guaranteeing against default for five years.
The government is also discussing passing legislation to create a secondary mortgage market and to improve land laws.

"With this sense of urgency we could have a significant improvement in the mortgage market by 2015," United Bank for Africa (UBA.LG) CEO Phillips Oduoza told Reuters.
This optimism is also being felt by developers as dozens of well-financed projects are underway, including the Eko Atlantic City - a multi-billion dollar project built from 9 square kilometres of land being reclaimed from the sea in Lagos.

The billionaire Chagoury brothers, who are of Lebanese descent, are leading the mega-project, which will feature parks, swimming pools and skyscrapers with floor-to-ceiling glass. Banks, including France's BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), Belgium's KBC (KBC.BR) and several Nigerian lenders are on board.
In Abuja, UPDC has started its 228-unit 'Metro City', which consists of well-designed blocks with balconies built in palm-fringed private compounds. Privately owned Churchgate Group is building its ambitious $1 billion World Trade Centre, a series of skyscrapers housing offices, flats and upscale shops.
"Nigeria is a huge real estate opportunity," said Ejekam at Actis. "The story is getting out, slowly."
(Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Nigeria’s farming reforms still face hurdles, say companies

Nigeria is reforming its farming sector to bolster production and draw investment but companies this week said more needs to be done to tackle entrenched corruption, poor infrastructure and rogue government agencies.

Nigeria’s annual economic summit focused on agriculture for the first time, in line with President Goodluck Jonathan’s commitment to fixing Nigeria’s biggest employer. Agriculture Minister Akinwumi Adesina, who has been praised by donors and businesses for his efforts, was keen to stress the success of reforms began two years ago.

He said subsidies used to reduced the cost of fertiliser for farmers were not longer managed by corrupt politicians but instead were given directly to farmers.He said food imports had fallen by 850 billion naira ($5.2 billion) and food production was up by 8 million tonnes, helping to create 2.2 million new jobs, Reuters reports.

The government wants to add 20 million tonnes of domestic food production by 2020 and rice, corn, sorghum, palm oil and cocoa have already increased, Adesina said. The world’s second-largest importer of rice, Nigeria aims to become self-sufficient by 2015 after introducing a 100 percent tax on polished rice imports this year, likely to mostly affect countries like India, Thailand and Brazil. Security sources and farmers have said one backlash has been a rise in smuggling of rice and sugar from neighbouring countries and into ports.

Higher cassava output has been used to make flour, reducing wheat imports mostly from the United States by almost 9 percent, Adesina who noted bank lending to agriculture had risen to 25 billion naira this year from just 3.5 billion in 2012
said.
Duties on agricultural equipment have been scrapped and tax breaks given to companies willing to invest in both farming and industrial processes, as well.
The country’s reforms have drawn new foreign investors such food giant Cargill, seed company Syngenta and brewer SABMiller, while Dangote Sugar and others are investing more.
However, many companies asked to speak at the summit gave a less rosy picture, saying state and local governments still extort unofficial payments, while officials at ports and customs either worked around government policies or outright ignored them.
Confusing laws on land, much of which is owned or claimed by government officials, also mean it is difficult to expand. That has left 60 percent of Nigeria’s arable land fallow, farmers say.
RHETORIC VS ACTION
“We’re still battling with the basics; visa processing times, port delays, access to credit, transport systems. Rhetoric is all we are getting. It’s time to walk the walk,” said Alan Jack, managing director of Shonga Farms, a mainly poultry and milk farming group which supplies the Lagos branch of Kentucky Fried Chicken, owned by Yum! Brands.
Jack said imported chicken from Brazil cost 135 naira per kilo, while a chick in Nigeria cost 180 naira, making government plans to emulate its South American rival unrealistic.
“Ports would scare the life out of anyone. It’s the worst thing about your system,” said Calvin Burgess, chief executive of Dominion Farms, a U.S.-owned firm looking to farm rice in Taraba state.
He said $10 million of agriculture equipment was delayed for almost a year because customs and other agencies sought bribes and noted Dominion had operated in Kenya for 10 years “without anything like these problems”.
The government says port reform is a key policy, but investors say progress is slow. Industry players were also critical of Nigeria’s dilapidated road network and
troubled power supply noting it is often more profitable to ship produce to the U.K. rather than transport it from Lagos in the south to the biggest northern city, Kano.
“We don’t benefit from any infrastructure put in place. We have to build our own roads and provide our own electricity,” said Gbenga Oyebode, chairman of palm oil firm Okomu Palm, said.
Nigeria is privatising much of its power sector, which should help improve electricity shortages that hurt the agriculture sector.
Nigeria’s reforms are needed to reduce reliance on a struggling oil sector and cut a $11 billion food import bill

Flour Mills of Nigeria notifies NSE on agreement with Adecoagro

Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc has notified the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) that it has entered into a technical assistance agreement with Adecoagro, a leading South American Agro Industrial Company.

Adecoagro owns and operates over 278,000 hectares of high quality farmland and several industrial assets where it produces over 1.2 million tons of food commodities and renewable energy, including, corn, wheat, soybean, rice, cotton, milk, sugar, ethanol and electricity.

Under the terms of the Agreement, Adecoagro will assist FMN in the management and sustainable development of its Kaboji Farm, one of the largest commercial farms in Nigeria comprising 10,000 hectares near Kontagora, Niger State dedicated mainly to the cultivation of maize and soybean.

The Technical Assistance Agreement envisages a mutually rewarding co-operation between the two leading companies (FMN and Adecoagro) with the purpose of increasing the historical crop yields, helping to provide sustainable agriculture, maximizing returns on the farm, creating jobs and enhancing value for farmers and achieve maximum yield and sustain profitability in the farm’s operations.

Source

CBN Disburses N6bn Agric Loans to Farmers

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said it disbursed over N6 billion loans to farmers under its credit guarantees as at December last year. A report from the Bankers’ Committee at the weekend,  also anticipated that with the Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and collaboration between banks and counterparties, the loans under guarantee would have risen to over N20 billion by end of the first quarter of this year.

The increase in agric sector credit was linked to the N200 billion agriculture credit scheme and the N600 billion NIRSAL interventions.

The NIRSAL guarantees up to 75 per cent of bank loans to the sector. The NIRSAL initiative, which was conceived by the CBN, the Bankers’ Committee and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), seeks to create incentives and catalyse processes to encourage the growth of formal credit, direct and indirect, for the agriculture value chain, as a mechanism for driving wealth creation among value chain participants.

According to the central bank, NIRSAL is also expected to be a catalyst for innovative risk management strategies, long-term financing for agribusiness and significant job creation by new entrepreneurs.

“The mandate of NIRSAL is to act as the custodian of all credit guarantee schemes, interest draw back schemes, and commercialisation initiatives related to an integrated value chain approach to agriculture and agribusiness in Nigeria,'' the CBN said. Under NIRSAL, there are five pillars to be addressed by an estimated $500 million that will be invested by the CBN,” the programme document explained.

There is also a risk-sharing facility of $300 million, planned to address banks’ perception of high-risks in the sector by sharing losses on agricultural loans. There is equally an insurance facility of $30 million intended to expand insurance products for agricultural lending from the current coverage to new products, such as weather index insurance, new variants of pest and disease insurance. Besides, there is also a technical assistance facility amounting to $60 million, meant to equip banks to lend sustainably to agriculture, producers to borrow and use loans more effectively and increase output of better quality agricultural products, among others.

“The current improvement in the sector’s  was linked to access to credit through the new policy focused on increasing private sector participation, emphasis on the entire agriculture value chain, and using agriculture to boost employment, wealth creation and food security,” it added.

source

Nigeria: FG commends Rivers over land donation for housing scheme

WorldStage Newsonline—The Federal Government of Nigeria has commended the Rivers State Government for donating over 10 hectares of land to enable it execute one of its housing programmes.

The Minister of Housing, Ms Amal Pepple who said this when she inspected the parcel of land in Iriebe, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state stated that “we are very happy to have this collaborative effort because I am not happy that I have not really done anything in Rivers state.”

Pepple who was accompanied on the inspection tour by the Rivers State Commissioner for Housing, Mr Marshal Uwom also said that with the land, she could now put the stamp of her ministry ”which is the stamp of President Goodluck Jonathan in housing in Rivers state because it is his government and we are all working and ensuring that whatever he wants to do, we do them.”

Continue After The Break...

Nigeria: Lest We Be Surprised Again

President Goodluck Jonathan's latest remarks about the activities of the deadly Boko Haram sect were probably made in all sincerity but they merit a comment if only because he inadvertently admitted lapses and unpreparedness by government with respect to its most important function,
i.e. securing the lives of Nigerians and their property. Speaking at the State House in Abuja on Tuesday night during the breaking of Ramadan fast with Muslim members of the diplomatic community, Jonathan said the activities of the Boko Haram sect and its tactics of terror took the nation by surprise.

The president regretted that attacks by the sect resulted in the death of thousands of innocent Nigerians, including security operatives. He however said that with the Federal Government's commitment and with prayers by Nigerians, the insurgency has been significantly contained.

Only recently, Defence Headquarters in Abuja announced that the special military operation mounted in three North Eastern States since May has reduced the level of insurgent-perpetrated violence in the region by ninety percent. For once, this was a claim by Nigeria's security agencies that appears to accord with realities on the ground.

While many Nigerians initially doubted that the military-led security operations in the North East and other states could ever contain the murderous sect's activities, the surge ordered by the president since May when he clamped a state of emergency on the three states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe has evidently worked. So successful has the operation been that the military-led Joint Task Force, which up until May was seen by local residents as a bigger threat to their lives than the insurgents, has undergone a complete reversal of fortunes in its public image.

Where once community leaders were calling for its withdrawal, hundreds of youth now formed vigilante groups, nicknamed themselves "Civilian JTF" and proceeded to help JTF in manning check points and in combing neighbourhoods to fish out insurgents.
Hence the president is right when he says the Federal Government's actions have ameliorated the situation, even though he also acknowledged Nigerians' prayers. Inevitably, as the violence dies down, hopefully for good, the national soul-searching will commence as to exactly what happened during Boko Haram's reign of terror, how and why we got there as well as what we must do to consolidate on recent gains and, most importantly, prevent a future recurrence.

President Jonathan unwittingly kicked off this debate in his recent remarks to the diplomatic community when he said the nation [read: the Federal Government] was taken by surprise when the insurgency exploded first in the North East and later spread to many other Northern states.

Why was the government "taken by surprise"? To begin with, the manner in which the security agencies, most notably the police, handled the case of captured sect leaders should have been a warning to the authorities that fleeing sect members could be bent of revenge. Even before the events of 2009, Boko Haram sect's activities in the previous decade should have attracted high interest from the security agencies, especially those ones of them that are in charge of intelligence gathering and risk assessment.

Nor was Boko Haram the first time ever that a misguided quasi-religious group took up arms against the Nigerian state. The Maitatsine group serially unleashed mayhem in Kano, Bulunkutu, Tudun Wadan Kaduna, Yola, Gombe and then Funtua between 1980 and 1993. Any security agency worth its salt should have known that such a thing could happen again.

Of course, the socio-economic milieu that enabled deranged clerics to recruit thousands of misguided urban youths for such operations still obtains in Nigeria; in fact it has decidedly worsened since the 1980s with a larger reservoir of unemployed youth and wider economic disparities. As such, all that is needed at any one time is for some event or person to ignite the powder keg. At the beginning of the Boko Haram palaver, the Federal Government was much distracted by many of its leading members' belief that the insurgency was but a reaction by Northern power brokers at their loss of presidential power.

It took a long and precious time before leaders of the Jonathan administration came round to realise that this was not the case, that is if they ever did. Nor do the Nigerian security agencies have any good excuse because in the 52 years since this country's independence, the security sector has gobbled up a larger proportion of the national budget than most other sectors. That it was caught napping when a ragtag sect went to war suggested that the sector did not utilise all those monies properly.

The most important thing now is to prevent these sad events from ever occurring again, not only in the North but in any part of Nigeria. It is clear now that security agencies, in particular the State Security Service [SSS] must pay special attention to odd quasi-religious groups and closely study their trouble- making potential. The police too must do something to enhance its capability to handle internal insurgency in order to prevent the military from taking over its duties as happened in this case.

As for the military, which should never have been involved in this campaign if only the police were trained to handle it, the impact of these operations on its professionalism will only be felt in years to come.
When all is said and done however, it is a steady improvement in the economic fortunes of Nigerian citizens, effective poverty alleviation measures, widening of educational opportunities, effective skills acquisition programs, reduction in wealth gap, just implementation of social programs, banishing the cancer that is corruption as well as credible political leadership that will together erode the pool of disenchanted and misguided youths available to undertake any crank project that anyone will dream up. All these must be done as much as possible to prevent ourselves from being taken by surprise again.

Nigeria: Fashola Orders Sealed Kalu's House Re-Opened

FORMER Governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, and Lagos State government, Tuesday, disagreed over the reason for the sealing of Kalu's property in Park View Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Meantime, Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola has ordered that the house be reopened.
While Kalu's aide linked the sealing of the house to the criticism of Fashola by Kalu over the deportation of 72 residents of Lagos, who are of South East origin, the Special Adviser to Governor Babatunde Fashola on Media, Hakeem Bello, said he believed the action has nothing to do with the alleged deportation of Igbos from Lagos.

According to him; "Fashola's administration has no time for trivial matters."
Emeka Obasi reacts
Reacting to the sealing of the Park View house of Kalu, his Special Adviser, Media, Emeka Obasi, said it was done as a revenge for the criticism of Kalu, who is the Coordinator of Njiko Igbo, a group fighting the cause of the South East.

Obasi said the property had been there for several years and that sealing it after just two weeks of his boss criticsing Fashola over the deportation issue was an indication that there was more to it.
Obasi said Kalu was not the only Igbo to have suffered such fate in Lagos State "after the wicked and ungodly act of deporting legitimate residents of Lagos State."

He added, "Why is it that it is now that the property is being sealed, barely two weeks after my boss disagreed with the action of Fashola? We maintain our stand and this will not distract us from fighting for the people.

"The action of the Lagos State Government remains unconstitutional because every citizen of Nigeria has a right to live in any part of the country. Fashola should remember that the Igbo community constitutes about 35 per cent of registered voters in Lagos State and they should be treated like they matter in the scheme of things."

Hakeem Bello comments
The Special Adviser to Governor Babatunde Fashola on Media, Hakeem Bello, when contacted, said he could not give any details on the development as he had not been briefed on the matter.
He, however, said that if the owner of the building had committed an infraction against any of the state laws, he or she should be ready to be sanctioned when the long arms of the law finally caught up with the him or her.

" I don't think it has anything to do with the alleged deportation of Igbos from Lagos. Fashola's administration has no time for trivial matters," he said.

Nigeria: Towards an End to Property Demolition

The demolition of a housing estate in Abuja last year has remained a sore point for estate developers in the territory. While the affected developers are still trying to recover from the loss, stakeholders in the sector are of the opinion that more investment could be lost if conscious efforts are not put in place to checkmate these activities. Even though some stakeholder consider the destruction of such building as unnecessary since the country is faced with an alarming housing deficit, others are of the view that the government needs to put in place the right policies so that housing will be available for everyone. Evelyn Okoruwa writes Billions of money invested in property has been lost of recent to the demolition of such properties, often termed illegal by the authorities.

According to stakeholders in the housing sector, the ripple negative effect demolition of property has on the economy cannot be over emphasised as it cripples economic activities.
One of such negative effects is the resultant unemployment as workers employed in these demolished sites have been out of work.

The build industry employs labourers such plumbers, carpenters, iron benders, brick layers, masons, painters and professionals like architects, surveyors, engineers and other relevant professions.
Apart from that the transport sector has been greatly affected since people hardly move building materials from one point to another, this has invariable affected both the building materials sellers and the transporters. While in the mining sector only few aggregates are being bought, in addition to that, the developers themselves have lost the money invested in developing such sites.

An independent developer who craved anonymity told LEADERSHIP that he lost over N20 million during the demolition exercise and is yet to receive any compensation from the government.
He disclosed that he took ill when his site was demolished and is still yet to recover from the shock due to the money he lost, emphasizing that the money was borrowed and he is still trying to service the loan he took to develop the site.
Speaking on the issue, the President Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Chief Olabode Afolayan, noted it is really difficult to quantify the loss as millions of money have been lost in the whole demolition exercise.He disclosed that the exercise ha not only affected the housing sector but all other sectors that depend on it to strive.

"For a couple of months, Dangote Cement had to close its factory in Benue State because of drought. You can begin to itemise it that way. So the loss is really much. It is unquantifiable. I can authoritatively say that it has affected the GDP of the country by the time things are being put together at the end of the year."

However, the government has promised to forestall any future demolition. REDAN's Executive Secretary, Mr. Goke Odunlami, disclosed that members affected in the Lugbe demolition has agreed to take the advice of the chairman, Senate committee on the FCT, Senator Smart Adeyemi, to go into negotiation with the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, instead of pursuing the court case.

He further disclosed that most of the affected members have agreed to opt out of court and negotiate with the minister, while reaffirming that the Lugbe crisis will soon be over. Rrecall that over 1,004 houses were demolished in Lugbe, Abuja, between August and October last year and it was estimated that property owners may have lost over N37 billion to the demolition of illegal structures.

While stakeholders continue to groan over their loss, they lament the unseriousness of the government to provide housing for Nigerians considering the huge housing deficit which is widely acclaimed to be between 16 to 18 million. While noting that the housing deficit is much more than the estimated number, they lamented that rather than encourage developers, the government is making it difficult for them to help ease the deficit.
As part of the Federal Government's transformation agenda, it had on many occasions promised to deliver affordable housing to Nigerians.

However developers have argued that the federal government is not ready to provide housing and have implored Nigerians to know that their future is in their own hands in terms of housing delivery.
They urged Nigerians not to rely solely on the government but contribute their own quota, stressing that the implication of the government's laid back attitude to the housing sector is that for there to be adequate housing in Nigeria, the sector must be 99.9 per cent private sector driven but however urged the government to bring the right policies into play in order to move the sector forward. Stressing the importance of the right policies, the National Secretary General, Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Mr. Akinpelu Adewumi, noted that any government policy that is not implementable, measurable or sustainable will not give any result.

He disclosed that if government is serious about mass housing, it must be seen to be driving the policy. He opined that one way the government can drive it is to provide infrastructure, noting that if developers are allowed to provide infrastructure for buildings, such houses will not be affordable.
Adewumi urged the government to provide infrastructure first and then see how to incorporate local materials into the production and as such the cost would be brought down drastically.
By encouraging our local goods, he said more jobs would be created in the process while building cost would also be reduced.

Nigeria: Where Are the Seized Assets?

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission should account for, and dispose of seized assets
The House of Representatives last week directed its Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes to initiate a probe of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with a view to accounting for all the assets the commission has seized from suspects it investigated since its inception in 2004.

The decision of the House followed a motion sponsored by Hon. Toby Okechukwu and 15 others who expressed the need for proper management of the seized assets. Okechukwu told the House that the EFCC had between 2004 and 2010 confiscated over 200 mansions through 46 forfeiture by court orders. The seized items include landed property, business concerns, billions of Naira in bank accounts, shares in blue chip companies, exotic vehicles, fuel stations, hotels, warehouses, shopping malls, schools, bakeries, estates, telecommunication companies, and radio stations, in and outside Nigeria.

The House move is indeed a welcome development in view of the unusual secrecy that has enveloped seized assets of accused and convicted persons in custody of the EFCC from its inception to date. In the United States of America where "confiscation" or "forfeiture" of assets was first adopted as part of the government's war against drug barons, property and bank accounts of suspected narcotics lords can be frozen or seized without a court judgment. All that was required is a "reasonable ground" to prove that the assets in question are indeed traceable to the drug baron. In fact this method of fighting crime has become popular in many countries including Britain, Italy and South Africa.

That explains why when the EFCC adopted the asset seizure at its inception about a decade ago it was hailed as one sure way of fighting sleaze. Consequently the commission has over the years seized countless number of real estate property, vehicles as well as physical cash. Unfortunately in typical Nigeria fashion, after the initial public show, nothing more is heard of the confiscated assets.

Whether under its pioneer Chairman Mallam Nuhu Ribadu or his successor, Mrs. Farida Waziri, the EFCC is known to have seized huge amount of assets from politicians, drug barons, bank chief executives and other suspects and convicts over the years. But the commission has so far failed to account for the whereabouts of these confiscated assets. And as presently alleged on the floor of the House, over $170 million proceeds from seized assets was allegedly transferred to an unidentified account, while 200 mansions, countless landed properties and exotic cars were left to rot away or vandalised. According to House Speaker Aminu Tambuwal "these landed property, monies, and business concerns were estimated to be worth in excess of two trillion Naira."

It is therefore only proper that the EFCC should be held to account for the properties it had confiscated from all the people it had investigated from its inception to date. There is also the urgent need to locate the whereabouts of the $170 million allegedly transferred to an unnamed account after it had been traced to the office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF).

Unfortunately, the two individuals who at one time or the other headed the anti-corruption agency failed to honour the House Committee's invitation to appear before it and help with the search for the confiscated assets. While we consider that to be rather unfortunate, the House should not despair in its determined efforts to ensure that the seized assets were accounted for by the EFCC.

Such assets were meant to be auctioned in a transparent bid and the proceeds deposited with the Central Bank or the money returned to the government agency or private organisation from where it was looted. For an organisation set up to fight corruption, EFCC should be transparent in its dealings

Nigeria: Heirs Holdings, Lsdpc to Turn Falomo Buying Complicated In to World Type Mall

Heirs Holdings, a pan-African investment company, chaired by Mr. Tony Elumelu, Tuesday signed an agreement with the Lagos State Development Property Corporation (LSDPC), for the redevelopment of the iconic Falomo Shopping Mall located in Ikoyi, Lagos State.  The mall will undoubtedly be redeveloped in to a shopping mall, a company complex and top notch residential apartments that will serve the requirements of the burgeoning populace in Lagos State and beyond.

Speaking at the website tour, the Managing Director of LSDPC, Mr. Biodun Oki, said: "The Falomo Shopping Mall's redevelopment is long overdue. Our partnership with Heirs Holdings is consistent with their state government's urban redevelopment project and it bodes well for their state, the united states and for the citizens.

"Once this project is completed, we can all look forward to a fresh and improved landscape that will stimulate business activity in this area and beyond.

"Relating to the private sector within our redevelopment agenda could be the model for all future projects."

Speaking on the program to remodel the shopping complex, the chairman of Heirs Holdings said: "Redeveloping among the country's most iconic malls is part of our commitment to drive development and move Nigeria forward through our business activities.

"As well as financial services, oil and gas, and power, real estate and hospitality is another of our core sectors since it plays a vital role in a nation's development. Specifically, real estate development contributes not merely visually but economically to the country's progress.

"We've other development projects in the offing. This include the Transcorp Hotels in Ikoyi, Lagos and Port Harcourt, that'll commence this quarter now that people have secured the land.

"We are also expanding our existing property in Abuja and that is just the start of the mega plans we have to transform the Nigerian skyline."

The Falomo Shopping Mall redevelopment project is really a private-public sector agreement between Heirs Real Estate Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Heirs Holdings, and the Lagos State Development Property Corporation (LSDPC).

Heirs Holdings is really a pan-African proprietary investment company that deploys capital in projects that will yield value on the long term.

Nigeria: Dubai Property Deal Turns Sour As Marketing Company Drags Businessman to Court

An attempt by a Nigerian businessman, Mr. Washington Umweni to own one of the luxury apartments in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, has resulted in a legal tussle between him and the companies marketing the apartments in Nigeria.

In a suit filed at the Lagos High Court Sigma 111 Limited, TFG Real Estate Limited and four others plaintiffs have dragged one of their investors, Umweni and his lawyer, Mr. Tunde Abioje to court asking the court to compel Umweni to pay his overdue instalments for the purchase of Unit 2212 TFG Marina, a high luxury apartment hotel situate in Dubai Media City.

They are also asking for the payment of N170 million as damages arising from Umweni's refusal to continue to pay the instalments. They claimed that the refusal of Umweni to fulfil his obligations under the contract he executed with them constituted a breach of contract.

In his response to the suit, Umweni stated that it was The First Group who was in breach of their contract hence it made three separate proposals to make a refund and noted that there would not have been any problem if the company had refunded him his contributions.

He said: "I am amazed by their action. They earlier claimed in one of their numerous letters to me that no Nigerian court can delve into this matter and that I should go to Dubai and sue them there, now, they have gone to a Nigerian court in Lagos. This shows that they are beginning to come to terms with reality. I will get justice no matter how long it takes. The First Group cannot take my money for nothing."
In his statement of defence, Umweni said he was no longer interested in the TFG Marina Project and wanted his contribution which stood at N9.7 million refunded to him.

He stated that the project was a mere paper work and that the suit by the defendants was a cover up to tie down his money. In an affidavit he deposed and attached to the statement of defence, Umweni said that at all material time, he was made to believe he was dealing with The First Group (TFG) and not with the two companies that filed the action against him.

Source

Nigeria: FG Urges Nigerians in Diaspora to Invest in Centenary City

Senate President David Mark's quest for a vast land where he is said to be planning a university in his native Otukpo, Benue State, has pitted him against peasant farmers in Asa III, who claim that the retired military officer-turned- politician wants to deprive them of their farm land, their only means of livelihood.
The move was said to have started in the first quarter of the year when a delegation of the nation's number three citizen, led by one Chief Obogo Alapa, met some Asa III elders to inform them of the proposed university which, it stressed, would bring development to the area.

It was learnt that the villagers told the delegation that they welcomed the development, but that they needed to know the exact size of land and in which area of the village before they could give their terms.
Consequently, it was agreed that the delegation should take representatives of the villagers to the area and show them the location and size.

This was later undertaken, with a bulldozer setting out what represented the area of interest for the proposed institution. The said land, according Mr. Sam Obochi, measures about "4 x 4" km, covering the farmlands of many families. The area demarcated alegedly extended from Asa III to their boundary with Akpegede village on the one hand, and their boundary with Otobi on the other.
However, trouble started when the villagers discovered that bulldozers were sent in to clear the vast farmland without any further discussions with them. "The Alapa delegation that went to show the villagers the area to be taken by the university project did not return to give the villagers any feedback", the villagers claimed.
Some of the villagers went to their farms and asked the bulldozer operators to stop work on the grounds that the said land belonged to their families and that at no time did they hand over the land to anybody for any project.
As learnt, the workers ignored the villagers which led to protests during which the villagers blocked the main road that passes through Asa III in their efforts to attract public attention to their plight.
Attacks
If the villagers expected any form of sympathy, what they allegedly got was a rude shock as, rather than coming for negotiations, those taking their land were said to have mobilized persons from Igbanomaje, Otukpo, to attack them. The assailants were said to have invaded Asa III and shot six of the villagers, burnt down houses of those considered as the arrowheads of the alleged land-grab opposition, and looted every store in sight.
The villagers ran into the bush and kept away from their homes for four days. Those who ventured into the village were said to have been arrested by gun- wielding vigilante and policemen brought in from Otukpo. 18 persons were allegedly arrested including three minors. 15 were detained in Makurdi Police Station while the minors were detained in the Juvenile Detention Center, Gboko.
As learnt, six men were shot by the attackers and had to be rushed to the General Hospital Otukpo. But even at the hospital, the police went after them and attempted to arrest them. It took the resistance of the hospital staff to stop further action against the villagers who then sneaked out of the hospital that night to secret locations outside Otukpo to seek medical help.
Two weeks after the attack, leaders of the village, it was learnt, sent an emissary to Alapa, the alleged leader of Mark's representatives, to express their disappointment over the attack on Asa III.
A peace meeting was reportedly held with the Alapa group on June 21. The Chairman of Otukpo Local Government Council, Dr. Innocent Onuh, was one of the leaders that attended the meeting. That meeting was held at the palace of the Ad' Alekwu of Asa III, Mr. Inalegwu Onche, where the villagers claimed to have told Mark's representatives that due process should be followed if the Senate President wanted to acquire land for his university project.
Killing
The following day, the villagers said policemen from Otukpo Divisional Police Headquarters invaded the village at about 5.30 am to arrest some youths.
Those who noticed the arrival of the policemen were said to have alerted others by phone. Those who could not get the information on time were arrested while those who escaped arrest had their Okadas (motorcycles) taken away. The villagers then mobilized and insisted that every villager must be taken to the police station. Overwhelmed, Sunday Vanguard was told, the police started firing into the air to disperse the crowd. In the process, one of the police constables was shot due to accidental discharge by a fellow police man.
This was said to have infuriated the policemen the more as they insisted on arresting as many of the villagers as they could. But the policeman behind the shooting allegedly reported himself to the police authorities in Otukpo. He was said to have declared that he could not bring himself to accuse the villagers of a crime they did not commit.
The policeman was arrested and detained, then transferred to the Benue State Police Command headquarters in Makurdi where he was detained, pending his orderly room trial. In spite of truth about who shot the deceased policeman, the team that left the village only reinforced with more officers, soldiers and armed vigilante, and stormed the village later that day. The raid was unprecedented, according to the villagers, as they could not resist the large armed team that stormed their little village. Several villagers were arrested with others running into the forests. At the end of the day, many houses were allegedly burnt down and shops looted, creating a scenario of a village at war.
Strangers
After the raid, Mr. Obochi, a senior civil servant in Makurdi, but whose family land is part of the parcel in dispute, decided to meet the Senate President's representatives in Otukpo. He was arrested and detained for one week, in Makurdi, along with those earlier arrested.
Obochi told Sunday Vanguard, in an interview in Makurdi, that what was happening in Asa III since the beginning of the year was a clear case of intimidation of the peasant farmers.
He said he was arrested in the process of trying to resolve the issue between the Mark group and his brothers and sisters in his village. According to him, "my offence was that I bailed those who were arrested by a combined team of policemen, soldiers and vigilante".
Narrating the situation, Obochi said, "The Mark group claims that the villagers are strangers and as such will not receive any compensation for the land and their crops. Rather, they said that compensation will be paid to Otukpo indigenous people. Their informants misled them. They told them that those farming on the land in question are 'Aalala'".
Those referred to as 'Aalala' are those from south of Idomaland, especially Ogbadibo and Okpokwu Local Government Areas.
Obochi insisted that those who own the land and even currently own farms on the land in question are aboriginal Otukpo people.
He added that most of the houses destroyed and the looted shops belonged to indigenes of Asa III and not strangers which made it difficult for any reasonable member of the society to comprehend.
Obochi said the villagers had no intention of fighting Mark but that they won't allow anyone to forcefully take away the land which they inherited from their ancestors.
Effort to see Mark
Asked if the aggrieved villagers made any effort to meet the Senate President in person, he said, "I met Adakole Elijah ( an aide of the Senate President) and requested to see Sen. Mark. He promised to facilitate my meeting him. That was before the arrest and that was the last time I saw the man. I also had a chance meeting with one Onyilokwu Ekwo (said to be very close to the Senate President) and I told him that we don't want bloodshed in our village and that he should arrange a meeting for us to meet Mark. There was no response and I cannot just walk to Senator David Mark's house".
Demand
According to Obochi, the demand of the owners of the farm land is, "the Senate President should follow due process by coming to the owners of the land. If a dirty man has something which you need, the person cannot look dirty to you.

"He should come to us and make a request, then we will decide whether to give him the land or not; or give him part of the land; but certainly not the whole land as demarcated. We don't have any personal problem with Mark He chose the wrong process. Those he is working with are not representatives of the farmers who own the land. He should stop further work on the land in question until the issue is resolved".
Neither the Senate President's media team nor his family members responded to inquiries by Sunday Vanguard, in spite of repeated calls and text messages.
Source

Dubai Property Deal Turns Sour As Marketing Company Drags Businessman to Court

An attempt by a Nigerian businessman, Mr. Washington Umweni to own one of the luxury apartments in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, has resulted in a legal tussle between him and the companies marketing the apartments in Nigeria.  In a suit filed at the Lagos High Court Sigma 111 Limited, TFG Real Estate Limited and four others plaintiffs have dragged one of their investors, Umweni and his lawyer, Mr. Tunde Abioje to court asking the court to compel Umweni to pay his overdue instalments for the purchase of Unit 2212 TFG Marina, a high luxury apartment hotel situate in Dubai Media City.

They are also asking for the payment of N170 million as damages arising from Umweni’s refusal to continue to pay the instalments.  They claimed that the refusal of Umweni to fulfil his obligations under the contract he executed with them constituted a breach of contract.

In his response to the suit, Umweni stated that it was The First Group who was in breach of their contract hence it made three separate proposals to make a refund and noted that there would not have been any problem if the company had refunded him his contributions.

He said: “I am amazed by their action. They earlier claimed in one of their numerous letters to me that no Nigerian court can delve into this matter and that I should go to Dubai and sue them there, now, they have gone to a Nigerian court in Lagos. This shows that they are beginning to come to terms with reality. I will get justice no matter how long it takes. The First Group cannot take my money for nothing.”

In his statement of defence, Umweni said he was no longer interested in the TFG Marina Project and wanted his contribution which stood at N9.7 million refunded to him.

He stated that the project was a mere paper work and that the suit by the defendants was a cover up to tie down his money.
In an affidavit he deposed and attached to the statement of defence, Umweni said that at all material time, he was made to believe he was dealing with The First Group (TFG) and not with the two companies that filed the action against him.

Nigeria: Widow, 80, Drags Nephew to Court Over Property

Kaduna — A'isha Abdullahi, an 80-year old widow of Anguwar Dosa, Kaduna, has dragged her nephew, Abdulrahman Mohammed, to Magajin Gari Sharia Court for allegedly claiming her inherited property.
Abdullahi told the court: "Our late father left the house to us. I left the house to his (Abdullahi's) mother to take care of, I don't have a child.

"I took three of her children and at that time I resided at Warri, Delta state, with my husband."
The complainant added that she returned to Kaduna after the death of her husband.
"For almost 13 years they asked me to go to the house, I them told I can't stay with her husband and children using one toilet and bathroom. So I rented a single room," Abdullahi said.
She said that she never collected rent from them, but asked her sister to use the money generated from the house for her upkeep.

According to her, Mohammed claimed that he bought the house from her after the death of his mother at the cost of N250, 000.
The accused, however, denied the allegation.
Mohammed told the court that the house in dispute was "inherited by my mother and when her (A'isha) husband died she came back to Kaduna, but she refused to stay in the house for no reason.
"She has nobody than we because she brought us up; right from childhood I grew up with her in Warri."
He recalled that one day some community elders came to the house to say that the complainant wanted her share of house to be sold.

"They asked me if I am interested, which I said 'yes' and I gave them first N140,000 and later I paid N110,000, making N250,000 all in all," he said.

He said "the elders were there, we all sang and she sang, but she later took me to Kawo Upper Area Court on same matter which the judgment was in my favour."
The presiding officer, Khadi Ibrahim Mohammed, asked the accused to produce a copy of the judgment of the Upper Area Court on the matter before the court.
Mohammed adjourned the case to Aug. 6 for hearing and continuation. NAN

Nigeria: Aggrieved Client Slams First City Group

Abuja based businessman Mr. Washington Agbons Umweni, who allegedly went into business with Dubai property marketing company, The First City Group, has accused the company of defrauding him of the sum of N9.8 million.

This is even as The First City Group Through its lawyer, Mr. Ismail Muftau, has insisted that the relationship between The First Group and Umweni is founded on a contract which is governed by a Sales Purchase Agreement (SPA), signed by both parties and that the said sales purchase agreement shall only be governed and or construed by, in accordance with the Federal Laws of the United Arab Emirate and that it is only the courts of Dubai that shall have absolute jurisdiction to entertain any dispute or issues arising from that contract.
 Continue...

Nigeria: Boosting Food Security Through Mechanisation, the Way Forward for Nigeria

The present administration has come up with the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) in a bid to earn foreign exchange from agriculture and make the nation self-sufficient in food production. But, with the continual drift of the young population of young Nigerians moving away from the rural areas to the urban in search of white collar jobs and away from the drudgery of manual farm labour, self sufficiency in food production is becoming a herculean task.

Seasonal shortage of food is becoming apparent as a result despite the fact that many labourers lack the incentive or tools to perform the high quality work needed to improve productivity. So, feeding the increasing population cannot be done with the cutlass and hoe or an agricultural system that relies on human muscles. In developed countries, mechanisation has taken over from the use of raw human power as is still the case in Nigeria.

The policy challenges of mechanisation, or lack of it, are of far reaching significance. The use of poorly-yielding varieties of planting materials even compound the problem further as crops yields across the nation have remained relatively stagnant and low over time, posing serious policy challenges that require urgent intervention. Agricultural mechanisation, embracing the use of tools, implements, and machines for a wide range of farm operations such as land preparation, planting, harvesting, on-farm processing among others, therefore becomes desirable.

There is an added dimension of soil, water and forest conservation practices that need to be built into the larger framework of environmental impact of agriculture, climate change and food security. The constraint posed by the prevailing land tenure system on mechanisation is such that agricultural lands in many parts of Nigeria are not easily made available for farming because of extant influences such as ownership structure and the stiff competition for estate development today, which is exerting dangerous influence on agriculture and the prospect of feeding the nation.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) reckons that Nigeria is still at the early stage of agricultural mechanisation; even at that, it notes that the mechanisation of power-intensive operations has been slow. A significantly higher proportion of farming area is still cultivated by hand tools in Nigeria and West Africa compared to other developing countries

Statistics had it that, last year, a total of 3,012,360 ha of land was expected to be put under cultivation in the Nigeria with a tractor population of about 40,000 with a tractorisation density of 0.1 hp/ha. The tractorisation density of the country fell short of the recommended 1.5hp/ha by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). For Nigeria to be able to feed its growing population, therefore, there is a need for investment in mechanisation both on the part of the private and public sectors.

Source

Senior Technical Officer - Nigeria - Civil/Construction/Real Estate/ Infrastructure/ Pharma - Projects

Ripe4 is currently representing a large energy conglomerate that has great interest within the African Region. One of their latest ventures is focused heavily around identifying, developing and managing investment opportunities in the areas of Infrastructure and development which spans across various industries that include: O&G, Real estate, Hospitality, Healthcare infrastructure, etc.

With this in mind, they are seeking to identify and attract a SENIOR TECHNICAL OFFICER to be based in Lagos, Nigeria who will have ultimate responsibility for:
- Leading field supervision, prepare and submit standardized progress reports using dashboard views.
- Leading infrastructure project development and management; schedule, quality and cost control.
- Liaising with procurement and contracts department to ensure timely procurement of project/technical materials.
- Responsibility for ensuring best value is obtained for the project including supplier base, use of internal and external resources.

We are seeking a professional with:
- Minimum 7 years of experience post bachelors within multiple companies and sectors across various geographical regions that include Sub-Saharan Africa coupled with additional 3-4 years of full cradle to grave project management experience
- PMP, PMI, Prince or Prince2
- Proven experience of dealing with contractors.
- Degree in Mechanical or Civil Engineering
This is a tremendous opportunity to fast-track your career, join a new division of an already established reputable organisation that could see you rising to the next level in 2 � 4 years.

This is a permanent role offered on a residential status in Lagos, Nigeria with full expatriate benefits.
Please get in touch for more information and for a confidential discussion.

Status:	Staff
Required Skills/Experience:	- technical background in Civil/ Mechanical or a related discipline - extensive experience working across various industries: Downstream Oil and Gas, Infrastructure, Commercial Real Estate, etc. - previous exposure to work in Sub-Saharan Africa with a particular focus on West Africa
Minimum Experience:	15 years
Location:	Lagos, NIGERIA
Onshore:
Offshore:
Remuneration:	100000 - 200000 US Dollars/year
Advert Published:	18 Jul 2013
Expiry date:	16 Sep 2013
OilCareers Ref. No.:	J1002031

Click here to Apply