I produce organic food for children –Debo Adebayo, CEO Tomi’s Treats

Founder of organic baby food company, Tomi’s Treats, Mrs Debo Adebayo, is a Surrey University graduate of chemical engineering, chartered engineer as well as member of the Institute of Chemical Engineers.

She has had a 10-year stint in the oil and gas sector as a process engineer and project manager working for organizations like Foster Wheeler, KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton, as well as Amec Oil and Gas with assignments in Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Libya and the UK. She’s also a custodian of an MBA degree she obtained from Cass Business School in the UK. In this interview, she spoke about her passion for introducing organic fruit and vegetables into infants diet at a young age and why it’s always worth taking a risk in business if you believe in an idea. Excerpts:


Tell us about your journey into incorporating Tomi’s Treat?
I am passionate about kids’ health and launched Tomi’s Treats to bring organic fruit
and vegetables to enrich children’s diet. The idea was conceived when I was working on
my MBA. Our infant formula is popular in the UK and good for working mothers who
don’t really have time to be mashing and doing organic cooking themselves. Before I left the
UK for Nigeria, I investigated to see if there was any Nigerian company already into organic
infant formula but I found none. My mind was thus made up.
It’s been over a year since you launched your business. How is your product
doing in the market?
Tomi’s Treats is organic fruit and vegetable puree formulat­ed for infants of 6 months plus. Our product has no chemicals or sugars added to it. It’s com­pletely healthy and supplies recommended essential fruits and vegetables. It’s currently in mango, banana, apple and pear flavours with new ranges in the pipeline. Our formula is ideal for weaning babies and also serves as healthy snacks for children. My children take them in their lunch packs and also parents use them in their children’s party packs. Children’s nurseries are becoming very health conscious and currently stock our prod­ucts. We supply to specific mar­kets/supermarkets. Our real cus­tomers are nurseries, mothers filling lunch boxes/party packs, women’s groups and churches. Our products are well pack­aged in travel-friendly colourful pouches and quite unique with child safety baby caps.
Don’t you think your product is too new for the Nigerian market?
It’s funny you said that. We met with one of the leading su­permarkets in Nigeria last year and they said it’s a great product but they were reluctant to stock it as they felt Nigerian parents were not ready for it yet. They are now our biggest clients. With rapid investments in Nigeria and the new wave of supermarkets and malls growing across the country, we hope Tomi’s Treats will continue thriving as the first indigenous organic baby food brand.
What prompted you to explore organic baby food?
After I had my first child and I visited Nigeria on holidays, I could not find any organic food to buy for my baby. So, on re­turning to the UK, I decided to follow this idea up while doing my MBA and I created my own business, Tomi’s Treats.
Can all families afford your infant formula?
Not all families can afford the product now but we are work­ing on ways to reduce our price without compromising our qual­ity. We feel that not many babies and children are eating healthy diets. Getting fruit and vegeta­bles into their diets early in life is the best way to help children understand that health is wealth. Our goal is to make Tomi’s Treats afford­able to all fam­ilies.
W h a t are your b i g g e s t challeng­es in the b u s i n e s s and how have you been able to overcome them?
The main challenge has been raising aware­ness because a lot of fam­ilies still don’t know what our product is and the health benefits of organic baby food. From the feedback that we are getting, a lot of children love the product and we are steadily in­creasing our customer base. The biggest challenge since last year is realizing there is no better person to sell my product than I. When people hear the story of how I started the business? They are intrigued especially as my work experience is from a totally different industry. I spend a lot of time managing the busi­ness as well as being a wife and mother to 3 kids and consulting in the oil and gas sector. I think over the last year, we have got the business on a good footing and we are now focusing on our marketing strategy as well as building a super team to take it to the next level. I’m also con­tending with logistics i.e getting our products to different mar­kets and we are already in Abu­ja, Enugu and of course Lagos. We look forward to selling in all t h e capital cities in Ni­geria.
What are your goals for Tomi’s Treats over the next 5 years?
We have just launched our website featuring a special ba­by’s section for new and expect­ing mothers. We envisage that 2015 will be a good year and are planning to introduce new flavors to our range. We’re also developing our customer base and generating more awareness about our products. We are fo­cused on growth and entering into more African countries over the next 5 years.
How did you source your start-up capital?
Luckily enough, the product a n d idea sold itself and we were able to get some private investors passionate about health to back our concept.
How do you source your raw materials?
My raw materials are all organ­ically produced in the EU. Work­ing with my suppliers has been a real learning experience about the organic baby food market. I have been able to leverage their years of experience in this area to get a quality product into the African market. From sourcing the fruits, agreeing on pricing to ship­ping the product have really shown me the complexities of the business. Our goal is to source and pro­duce our formula in Africa. Cur­rently we are speaking to a num­ber of suppliers/producers who we believe will be able to sustain the quality we are looking for. The responses we have received on the product over the last year have been really positive.
How do you relax af­ter a hard day’s work?
My kids are very energetic, so after a day’s work in the office, my work is not over until their bedtime. I love to read.
From childhood I’ve al­ways loved reading as it relaxes and helps me un­wind. My husband is a sports fanatic and movie buff so if we are not entertaining guests, my husband and I spend our evenings curled up on the sofa as I read and as he watch­es a football or rugby match on TV. I love my work and I love to work, but when I’m not at work, I’m with my family . I also love to cook and exercise. I love to run. I participated in a marathon in the UK for charity. I also raised 2,000 pounds for charity five years ago.

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Insurgency could be a ploy for tenure elongation –Senator Kabiru Gaya

Senator Kabiru Gaya ( APC, Kano South ) is not new to governance, having been Kano State governor in the third republic on the platform of the defunct National Republican Convention, NRC.

In this interview with ADETUTU FOLASADE-KOYI, Senator Gaya canvasses support for Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s candidacy for Presidency and also reveals why the fight against insurgency cannot work. Excerpts:
There’s stalemate in the Senate debate on Presi­dent Goodluck Jonathan’s request on the extension of state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States. Would you support the extension eventually?
Well, I appreciate your question, but it is not a matter of support or not; it is a matter of assessing correctly the situation of things happening in that location. You remember this is the third time they are asking for extension and even if you send your son to school, or give a person an assignment, if he fails the first time, you ignore it; you send him back for the second time. If he fails, you send him back and for a third time, he failed woefully and now you want to send him again? I mean, it is just like a doctor giving a wrong medicine to a patient and the patient hardly recovers from the ailment, yet that patient comes back to that killer doctor. I mean, these are the scenarios we are presented with. You see, with the last request, not this one, the last request granted in May this year, remember we didn’t agree on the same day. We debated and invited service chiefs. They came and told us that they needed the extension as a tool to fight the insurgency and that let us be rest assured that in three months, this issue will be entirely over, there will be peace, there will be stability in those regions and even beyond and that if we don’t give them that tool to work, their hands are tied. We knew that even at that time there was progress, the civilian JTF, in collaboration with the military were working hard, they had sent the insurgents out of Maiduguri town and maybe out of Yobe town and they scattered to Sambisa forest. So, the military knew where these people were; they were supposed to have gone there to attack them in the village before they dispersed to other villages where people were and you cannot even identify them. That was not done. We also asked them what the other problem was, and they told us it’s about money and you remember recently, we granted $1billion apart from almost N1 trillion which was put in the national budget for security. Yet, because we wanted them to stop killing our people, Nigerians, both Muslims and Christians, we agreed on that, even against our wishes, because the prime objective in this country, for any leader, whether president or governor or local government chairman, the main re­sponsibility is to maintain peace in his constituency. And if that prime objec­tive is not there, it means no progress. Nothing will work out. The people can­not even live well if there is no peace . You will sleep with one eye open. Now in Maiduguri, they sleep with even both eyes open, which means they are not sleeping. So, what we are saying is that when we approved the last one, we gave them conditions. The first condition was that they would report to us monthly. On that, we can share the blame that they didn’t report to us and we didn’t call them back but they were supposed to report to us monthly. But after about three months, when they reported, we insisted that our committees on Defence and Security, should meet with them because we had a break during that period and decided that we can’t stop our committee mem­bers from going on break and that they should rather, invite the service chiefs to hear from them. They invited them and the story they heard from them was that it may be difficult for them to fight the insurgency war and win,( in quote,) because they had seen that there was in­ternal sabotage, or was it even external sabotage? So, how can we simply close our eyes and extend this thing again? And the issue on ground now is not just that of state of emergency. The second condition we gave them was that they should involve the civilian JTF, not all of them, screen them, find those who are responsible, who are good enough with verifiable background, who cannot betray the military and move them into the system because they are from that area and know the terrain; use them and give them official backing by employing them. That was not done. We said improve the welfare of those at war because whether we like it or not, whether we pretend to ourselves or not, we are at war; that is the soldiers. Even now, there is a petition on my desk and so many petitions on how their welfare is not being taken care of. So, that one was not done. And you find out that there are conflicting information and stories. In this situation and the world we are in now, with internet accessibil­ity, people are sending information and you can see and know what is happen­ing real time . Our people are being shot at daily, and that if the insurgents are coming, you find that the military are directed to go off the roadblock.
That was what happened in Mubi. The story we heard, may be true, it may not be true. So, there must be problems in­ternally which we need to find out.A nd then two, three days after ammunition is moved to barracks, the insurgents will come in and take the ammunition away…You see, a leader must be con­cerned about the welfare and security of his people. When we had the prob­lem of the Chibok girls, people were clamouring and demonstrating and they made it look like it was political, it’s not political. Therefore, the Senate decided that no, we cannot even grant the state of emergency but if we do not grant, we will be boxed to a corner because the military will hands off the affected areas. We are in a fix; if we don’t grant, they’ll say okay, let everybody go and take care of himself. But we are Nigerians. When we sent the military to go and fight the insurgency in Niger Delta during (late President Umaru Musa) Yar’Adua’s time, there was no state of emergency, but they crashed the rebellion, They crushed the insurgents, and there is peace now. We are putting N150 billion in the budget every year to maintain peace in Niger Delta.
Why are they not taking the same steps here? I’m not being sentimental or talking about party politics, I’m talking about the loss. When you watch the videos, it shows how people are shot like animals. You don’t even shoot animals like that, you slaughter them and you see even human beings are now being slaughtered. Some are even charmed; wherein, you see a human being walks in voluntarily and gives his head to be slaughtered. I mean, you can imagine if that’s your child or brother, mother or father. But people don’t give a damn! This blood, God will make us pay for it. Honestly, any leader that allows the blood of his citizens to be wasted, God will ask of us. If we, as Nigerians can­not ask, the Supreme Being will ask for it and I think we need to look inwards, forget politics and positions.
When the APC was formed, Nigerians believed the party would challenge the ruling Peoples Demo­cratic Party effectively in the 2015 general elections. But there are many presi­dential aspirants. What’s happening?
That is democracy. For example, before the different political parties that formed the APC came together as a mega party, some political parties were not used to conducting primary elections; instead they would impose a consensus candidate as their presiden­tial flagbearer and at the end of the day, they would lose the election. In the case of the PDP, they conducted primary elections and subsequently won the presidential election. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua were produced through that democratic process. However, the story has changed now as the PDP had started to borrow from what the ANPP did and lost elections. They are now imposing a candidate against the wishes of so many silent people who cannot speak out, but when it comes to vot­ing, they will express their will! That is why the government has problems and is employing means and ways to perpetuate the current leadership in power beyond 2015. Let us start with the issue of constitutional amendments. Remember the President brought to the National Assembly, a bill seeking powers for the President to initiate a new Constitution. If that had scaled through; that means the country would start a new democratic arrangement afresh, on a clean slate. For instance, my self, Senator Buka Abba Ibrahim of Yobe and others were beneficiaries of the 1999 Constitution. We operated with the 1979 Constitution as governors in 1991. But in 1999, a new Constitu­tion came up.
Buka Abba Ibrahim, Jolly Nyame (Taraba), Abubakar Audu (Kogi) who were former governors contested again in 1999 under a new Constitution and they won. However, after the first term, they wanted to contest again in 2003 but there was a protest which made some people to go to court in order to challenge their al­leged plan to contest after two terms in office, contrary to the provisions of the Constitution. The Supreme Court, in its interpretation, said, since the country is operating a new Constitution, whatever was done in the past, remained a plus for them. Now, if the president should bring a new Constitution, what that means is that, all those years that every political office holder has served since 1999 till that time were null and void and would become a plus to anybody who wanted to contest for any elective post. So, that means if the new Constitution had been allowed to pass through, the president can go for another eight years.
Maybe after seven years in office again, they would introduce yet another Constitution that would qualify them for another eight years, so that when Nigerians are tired, they will retire to fate and the president would then transform to a life-presi­dent. That is why we killed that idea in the senate. We did not allow it to fly. Later, they brought some people to­gether again and organised a National Conference with a view to amending the 1999 Constitution, which was a plot to also introduce a new Constitu­tion but that also failed because we knew that it was a game plan by the Jonathan administration to elongate the system beyond 2015 through the backdoor. The third attempt which is already being challenged in court is the issue of insurgency. We have been fighting this battle, trying to calm it down. Some senators even flew the kite when they said on the floor of the Senate that Nigeria is in a state of war and, therefore, election is not on the table. This statement emanated from some PDP senators.
This message sent serious signal and it generated a lot of reactions until when some people said they did not say it. But of course, a lot of people think that this issue of insurgency is a ploy to elon­gate the system because there won’t be election in a war situation and so, everybody will continue in office with­out the mandate of Nigerians which is totally illegal and unconstitutional. You know, in a war situation, anything can happen just as when we introduced the Doctrine of Necessity doctrine to create the office of an Acting President which is not even in the Constitution, when the late Yar’adua was sick. It was our prerogative and power to make sure that the executive ensures peace in the country.
That is what we are battling now because if you say you cannot hold elections in three states because of insurgency, which is now extending to Gombe and Bauchi States, since they are already threatening to take over Gombe by Christmas, before heading for Taraba. Now, the situation is so bad that if you call the name Boko Ha­ram, the military will drop their weap­ons and start running, not to talk of civilians. So, there must be strength and ability by the leaders to fight the war. People like Governor Rabiu Kwank­waso, for instance, have been sending relief materials to Boko Haram victims through the governments of Borno and Yobe which would soon extend to Adamawa because he is concerned and he is not happy with the situation there. It is not good to see Nigerians running away to another country for food and shelter while our soldiers and govern­ment appear helpless.
Are you saying that the APC is warming up to take over in order to correct the situation?
I am not trying to introduce politics into the situation but we have to tell ourselves the truth. Governor Kwank­waso was a Minister of Defence, and is now a serving governor. Before now, he was a legislator, and rose to become a Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. He was also Special Adviser to the President on Dafur. He was a member of the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC) hence, he has the credentials. He is a young man too. He can work for 18 hours a day. I believe that all our elders and leaders in the APC should support him. If you look at the situation in other countries, their citizens are going for young people to become their presidents. In America, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, for instance, were young men who became president hav­ing youthful hair but grew grey hair in power because of mainly the external problems that their country was facing. We won’t mind if Kwankwaso is elected president and has to grow grey hairs in the course of tackling Nigeria’s internal problems. Look at how he had ensured peace in Kano. He will do the same for the country being a former defence minister. Now, as governor, his budget is 75 percent capital while 25 percent is for recurrent expenditure. If he can come to the federal level and replicate that, Nigerians will be very happy.
Kano is the most beautiful state in Nigeria today both during the day and at night. By installing street lights, the governor has improved the security situation and equally boosted commercial activities in the state because traders stay outside for a longer period, making their sales. At the moment, many of the displaced persons from the insurgency-ravaged states are now taking refuge in Kano because the state is very peaceful. The governor has brought in development by creating an enabling environment for people to invest. He is equally creating manpower development. Recently, he sent out 2,500 youths to go and study professional courses abroad;and become things such as pilots, doctors, nurses and even experts in Information/Computer Technology. Maybe, when the young pilots return, we may not need to hire expatriates as pilots in Nigeria again.
He had built over 3,000 classrooms, established 26 institutions and two universities. If somebody can do that, then, he is a good material. Every day, Governor Kwankwaso starts work around 9:00am, he goes for a break around 6:00pm and resumes again around 9:00pm and works till 4:00am and closes for the day. He is a young man, he can cope. We should allow him to run by giving him the necessary encouragement. I, therefore, plead with other contes­tants on the platform of the APC to step down for this young man and allow him to make a difference in our country.

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Our mission is to salvage Imo –M. I Okoro

The Director General of Martin Agbaso Campaign organiza­tion Chief Meckson Innocent Okoro and Dr. Jude Duru-onweni in charge of strategy and planning of the team recently spoke with jour­nalists in Lagos.

The duo, who are core profession­als in their careers , ex­plained why, Chief Martin Agbaso,Peoples Democrat­ic Party, PDP, gubernatorial aspirant should become the governor of Imo State in 2015. The two profession­als, Okoro, a Real Estate/ property practitioner for over 25 years, and Dr Duru- Onweni, a Cardiologist for over 35 years, have decided to go the extra mile to ensure Agbaso becomes the next governor of Imo State. That feat, they said would make Imo state the most preferred destination to live and do business in Nigeria come 2015 and beyond. Excerpt:


Both of you are experts with over 25 years of practice. Why are you now drifting into politics, to work for Martin Agbaso?
If you have a very poor rep­resentation at government level, be it as a councilor, State House of Assembly member, Federal House of Representatives, Local Government Chairman, Gover­nor etc, you will notice that poor representation affects every facet of our lives. It will affect our quality of living, it will affect our education, and it will affect our food consumption and food supply. It will affect everything about life. Some of us have been waiting; we keep on complaining and hoping that the country will be better. Honestly, the country is not getting any better and it does not hold a vibrant hope for our children. What shall it benefit me if I make all the money as an estate surveyor and valuer and then my children don’t have any future? What will it benefit me to make all the money and live big, travel abroad when our dependants in the villages are suffering. Some of them, when they see you come, they look upon you as messiah and by the time they expect you to begin to drop something, you know that you don’t even have enough to talk. You now find out that the only way you can positively impact on people is through quality representa­tion and good governance. For instance, Lagos state, within the period of this political era, a lot has happened. Somebody who has not been to Lagos 5-8 years ago, when he comes to Lagos now, would not know where to start because Lagos has meta­morphosed into something else. I give credit to the drivers of the economy of Lagos state.
There are other states of the federa­tion where good governance is lacking. Why we say civilian government is better than that of military is because we believe that good governance can only come through democracy which is government of the people by the people, and for the people. But these days, we discover that they use these less privileged people to get to power. Imme­diately they get there, they shut their doors, they don’t see them. That is why people like us are saying No. it will not happen again. Enough is Enough. For me to leave my vibrant busi­ness and comfort zones to jump around with the monkeys, and to walk the mud like a pig?. It’s as bad as that. I have decided to pay the price, even if it means to take my life so that the less privileged will live, so that my children will have future. That is why people like us have decided to go into government.
There are astute poli­ticians coming out in the Imo gubernatorial race for 2015. What makes you think Ag­baso has more advan­tages?
Two principal factors one has to consider are which party that will guarantee us access to power,and what platform are we going to use and who is the person that can command my respect to follow. The quality of the man and woman I want to follow and who will now become governor of a state, matters a lot to me. Two major decisions; are, who is going to be the candidate we are to follow and what are the qualities of that candidate and which party and why? Because, if everything is in order, if the government is doing well, we are..contributing through our profession . We de­cided to follow Martins Agbaso, because he is prepared, he’s well educated, he’s an economist, he’s an investor, economist and has made his mark . He is somebody who is better focused and ready to know what to do to better the lives of the people. His main focus will be job creation. There is no grammar you can speak without focusing on how to generate employment, because if our people go to school and they don’t have employment that is a waste. That is a challenge. He is well prepared. We have our poli­cies already on blue print. So, as soon as he’s elected into power as governor of Imo state, our focus will be job creation. We plan to make sure that within the first three years we would have created 250,000 jobs for Imo employable youths. If he doesn’t achieve it, he will resign within the first three years. Apart from job creation, we are also going to look at housing. We are going to look at the industrialization of the state.
Our people are business people; we are going to look at the goodwill of the government to attract foreign investors. 50 and about 55percent of people that travel to India, Asia and Dubai to buy things are mainly from the eastern region. Our fo­cus will be to make sure that we use the government’s goodwill to attract these foreigners to come and invest under PDP arrange­ment. We can begin to encour­age the industrialization of the state,so as to create the needed jobs for our youths and when the state is properly industrial­ized , there will be demand for housing. Then we will begin to develop large housing estates and focus more on social housing so that people will benefit. Apart from housing, we will also look at mechanized agriculture for the state. You noticed that since oil came, all states of the federation, none laid emphasis on agricul­ture again. But when we focus on agriculture, people will feed well, the nutritional value will increase. But because it is easier to go to Abuja and collect grant, nobody is interested in agricul­ture.
Poor representation is what is killing us, even our governors, . What most of them do is that they get this grant, instead of ploughing it back for the benefit of the masses, most of this mon­ey go to private pockets. You see somebody who never had good house in the village before he became governor, now has houses in South Africa, America, and London. How long can we live like this as a nation?. That is why people like us are worried that we have to make sure that the right things are done. If we don’t do this, it will continue to reoccur. We can only complain. How many houses do I need in this world? How many cars do I need? Most of the money they repatriate abroad to buy these houses, they find out that when they have done such investments the taxes they pay there create jobs for people abroad.
Agbaso has not been a frontline politician. How would he cope?
My boss, Chief Martin Agbaso was the one that made sure that the present governor came to power. Martin Agbaso contested in 2007. He was unanimously elected in Imo state and for obvious reasons from Abuja end he was not allowed to become governor. He was in court for more than three years. At the time he came out of that court without success, he came out for election again. But this time around, he was the one that brought Rochas. And he made sure he used the structure. After all, Rochas has always been aiming for presidency, but he now brought him, gaining from the APGA platform, and made sure that he used his structure to put him as governor and put his brother as deputy. Less than one year, Rochas swept him out. It is only a man that was able to give somebody power that will be able to wrestle that power out of that person, not any other person.
One adage says, it’s only the owner of a dog that can put his hand into the dog’s mouth. If you are not used to the dog he can bite you. That is why the man that put the present government in power has decided, to take it back, having seen that things are not going the way they planned to go. Good governance is lack­ing completely. People are doing things without due process, with a total disregard for rule of law. No, this is not his vision. He has to go back to wrestle the power out. This time around, he has decided to go through a popular party, PDP.
Is APGA not in existence in Imo any more?
We believe that Imo people cannot stand out as an opposition state to the rest of the country. There is no how APGA , even if he put a governor there cannot get the best. But if you are within the ruling party and the state is being governed by a PDP gover­nor , the people will be better off, because the desired develop­ment will be able to come to the people. We are using the oppor­tunity to appeal to the conscience of the Imo people to know and to do the right thing. I am not going there, before I will get what I have not gotten before. The only thing I have not gotten, and am ready to have is good governance for my state, and you know, unless we do something our people will perish.
Do you consider the incumbency power in Nigeria’s Politics?
There are lots of factors to consider. The present governor is a beneficiary of incumbency fac­tor during the time of Ohakim. It was this Agbaso that made sure that the present governor was elected, even when Oha­kim was governor of Imo state. We thought that by the present governor, the messiah has ar­rived. Unfortunately, the messiah is yet to come. As far as we are concerned, people of Imo state know what they want, and the fact that somebody is an incum­bent does not make any differ­ence. Today, people are wiser than yesterday. What people are looking for is any government that can improve on the stan­dard of living of all the people. Can you imagine the governor of Ogun state joining APGA and coming for re-election? If Amosun joins APGA, I doubt if he can go far. The present governor, okorocha, betrayed the mandate Imo people gave him. APGA was supposed to be our traditional party just like APC is, in the west. Unfortunately, a man that emanated from the platform of APGA, no sooner he became governor used one leg to kick out APGA and brought APC. That was not the deal.
That was not the mandate the people gave him. That alone, has scored him less; the incumbency to us means nothing. It’s like a wash-wash thing. In fact, our advice is that he should not even present himself for re- election. He will regret, and he will know that mandates belong to the people. He betrayed our people. If only he has remained in APGA, and then resolved the problem, it would have been a different thing. But the fact that he went to slap the sensibility of our people by imposing APC on them is unfortunate.

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Muslim/Muslim ticket will set Nigeria on fire –Rev. Uma Ukpai

Rev. Umah Ukpai is a frontline and renowned evangelist . Aside the call of God upon his life, he is known for his blunt approach to issues of life. Re­cently, he spoke with Sunday Sun on the state of the nation, especially as the 2015 elections is fast approach­ing. He also talked about the lead­ership crisis that recently rocked the Assemblies of God church , the denomination he belongs to.

Excerpts.
The atmosphere is looking unpredictable. Looking at the radar, what are you seeing as we approach 2015?
A society of honest people wanting to have a fair election, it doesn’t hide. This is a country where the rule of law does not obtain. A country that we have no regard for the sacredness of human beings around us. We have no plan to serve the people. Most of our politicians, not all of them want an ac­cess road to power, political power, financial power and to me, it is the primary purpose behind their interest going into politics. A situation where you have no feeling for the poorest of the poor, the less privileged, a situation where you don’t have the fear of God in your own conscience, you cannot be fair to anybody. God will help us. It will not destroy Nigeria because God loves this country beyond our imagination. Some of the things we do in this country, if done in other countries, the country will cease to exist. That we are here is a puzzle and a miracle. Well, as a preacher , I will say be­cause of the prayers of the saints, not for the prayers this country would have been down long time ago because the things that look for unity is not there. We don’t have what i call corporate sentiments of our nation. We don’t think like a nation, we think like tribalists. The whole constituency is the tribe and we think only about this our little tribe. We don’t think about the big picture, the big Nigeria and unfortunately, if your father is not from a given place, you might have been born there but you are not from there. They can collect tax from you; even as they collect these taxes they will let you know you are not one of them. It’s difficult to have a united nation because the practice and the constitu­tion do not support that. Unfortunately, the most cheated man in life is the selfish man. And because we are congregation of selfish, self centered people, we are going to cheat ourselves during 2015. Only God’s mercy would keep us together at the end of the term. May be I should just chip in, there is nothing new that will happen that has not happened before. We are going to see people kill others, we are going to see and hear of stealing of voting materials, we are going to see disorganized election, but God in his own miraculous way will keep us together at the end of the day. But we shall have bruis­es, we shall be wounded and some of the wounded solders will be left behind. But we shall still be there as a nation.
You just used the words wounded, bruises. Is 2015 election based on the picture you’ve painted?
No; It’s already on. We are wounding our­selves. We already have wounded soldiers and it will be more. Even in the process of having no elections, we are already wound­ing and hurting one another. And as I said, and am saying over again, we are political lepers. A political leper does not feel any pain. When he hurts you, he doesn’t feel the pain. Why? Be­cause, the limbs are all dead. We are not feeling people. We have lost the capacity for surprise. We have lost the capacity for wonderment. When you lose the capacity for surprise, you are dangerous, you can do the unimaginable. As it stands now, our politicians can do the unimaginable. They were club­bing three men who offended them and I hear, even when the men could not run again, they were still clubbing them. When they fell, they were still clubbing them until the three died. I just asked myself, what did they stand to gain by killing three people? The family of those three persons cannot be the same again. Their children have lost their bread winner; the wives have lost their husband. When I heard it, I wept. I did not think there is anything that can justify such acts. Nothing, not even in winning that election, assuming the people who killed those three persons are going to win the elect ion, No: and because God will judge, the repercus­sion is more than the gain.
The picture you painted is like it”s going to be a fearful 2015 election. Is it going to be a do or die thing?
To the politician, it’s a do or die affair. Even as we are speaking now, 2015 is very far away. I’m talking about now. Our at­titude to one another smells danger. When you don’t care how your neighbor feels, you don’t care about how your enemies feel, Jesus said we should love our enemies. When you don’t care how your enemies feel, you are a dangerous man. Most politicians don’t care about how their opponents feel. They are willing to destroy them with a club and use that club to catapult themselves to a place of relevance. They will use the club to kill their opponents and use the same club to protect themselves and say we have won.
INEC has promised free and fair election. Foreign agen­cies have been meeting with the INEC chairman to give necessary support to ensure free and fair election. From the picture you’ve painted, it’s likely history will repeat itself?
Oh Yes, history will repeat itself. But if we want a change, let all the politicians go to school and learn how to play the game of politics. As long as we have untrained politi­cians, they are going to break the rules of the game which is what they are doing already. Will somebody please, start a school for politicians where they will be taught the rule of this game? We need a school for Nigerian politicians. We need it urgently because the longer we delay, the more people shout aaah: Just this ward congress they had, how many people were killed? And as I speak nobody has been arrested for killing somebody dur­ing the ward congress. Our security agencies have said nothing about those who were killed and those who killed them. But am sure some family members are weeping? A nation that kills her own is not a good nation, we are killing our own.
You just said we have sur­vived by sheer miracle. For how long are we going to bank on these miracles?
Unfortunately the bible says, his mercy endures forever. As long as he remains merciful so shall we remain as a nation. But what we do, do not reflect on us as people that want to survive as a nation. The love of unity is over for one another, care for one another, respect for one another and appre­ciation for one another.
And you said that noth­ing shocks and surprises us Nigerians? Why are we so ad­dicted to such attitudes? Why are we different from other nations?
It is because we have no respect for God. A man who has no regard for God cannot have regard for his neighbor. To me, it’s very frightening. Do you know I can not even go near any congress; whether ward congress or primary congress. I can’t go near them because of what may happen.
There’s this pastor that warned Christians about voting for Moslem- Mos­lem party, and some pastors are also condemning it. what is your take on that?
To me, it is selfishness at his highest peak and whoever is thinking about Moslem/ moslem party is not even thinking of the consequences and that person is selfish. It’s equivalent to a man saying , I will be the principal runner for this ticket and my son will be my running mate. It’s simply saying , no other person is suitable except us. To me, it doesn’t make sense.
But we had that during Abiola and Kingibe?
And what was the result?
They won overwhelmingly sir
Where are they? Did they rule.? The prob­lem is not whether they won or not. How did that profit Nigeria when they won.
Are you saying religion is something we can’t overlook?
No, you cannot overlook. To overlook religion is to commit suicide in broad day light. And anybody who is talking about Moslem- Moslem ticket is already setting the country on fire. Anybody who is talking about Moslem- Moslem ticket has made Nigeria an accident waiting to happen. Same thing goes to Christian Christian ticket. Politics is what you do everyday. When you go to mosque and you will not go to church, when I go to church and I will not go to the mosque that is what we are practicing ev­eryday. When the church bell rings and you will not go to the mosque and you will go to church , you are declaring your position, what you stand for.
Some people are of the opin­ion that president Good luck Jonathan shouldn’t contest for 2015 election because of the chaos and insurgency in the country. What is your take on that?
Whoever is asking him not to contest has stopped thinking. Number one ,the insecurity in the country is part of life. Life has no trou­ble free zone. There is no country under the sun that has no problem, not one country. In the United States of America, the best coun­try on the planet earth, they can kill a black man without giving account. They have not shut down white house, or have they? That this problem started while he was in office, he must have learnt lessons that money can­not buy. He has learnt lessons that no school can teach. We need a man who has tested these problems and learnt some lessons and found ways of solving these problems. We shouldn’t be afraid of opposition. It is part of life. Even in your own family, you are bound to have a child that opposes you. Even in a church, you are bound to have someone who opposes you. Infact a good church is a church where they have some elders who oppose the , but it should be handled with majority.
But he doesn’t seem to be solving any problem?
He is. He may not be solving it the with the speed that you want but he is. When the Boko Haram starts, why we are still here in Nigeria? Why has it not overrun us? Some­body must have wedged the hedge. The oth­er thing I want you to know, you don’t need knowledge or anointing to criticize others. Criticisms do not require knowledge, and it does not require accountability. You can just wake up and criticize everybody. That we are still here and that we are still functioning, shows that somebody is working very hard to stop our enemies from crushing all of us. To me, he is the best candidate. He has gone through the mill. He has gone through these crises, he knows it more than many people who are proposing to take over from him. Secondly, we had never had such teachable leader. A leader who is humble, a leader you can demand account and he will give it. We have had bullies rule over us. Somehow, I think we prefer bullies to leaders who can think, leaders who are accountable, leaders who are teachable, leaders who have feeling, leaders who are meek and humble. That is something we never had in Nigeria. So, it is strange to us. We want the violent man who will drive us quick to our graves. We are not used to the leader who will work with us, as we go through the crises of life.

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Does the Senate have the political will to abolish Degree/ HND dichotomy?

Vice chairman of the Senate Com­mittee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Senator Kabir Gar­ba Marafa, a chemical engineer, tells ADETUTU FOLASADE-KOYI why he supports abolition of the discrimi­nation between degree holders and HND holders in Nigeria.

As far I’m concerned, this is one of the hypocrisies that is prevalent, unfortunate­ly, in our body polity in this country. The fact of the matter is that the first degree holder happens to be in the civil service a lot earlier than the HND holder or poly­technic graduates. So, they have been the ones piloting the affairs of even, the Minis­try of Education and all other parastatals and they always feel threatened by the HND holders. This is the fact of the mat­ter. I am an HND holder. I graduated from the famous Kaduna Polytechnic.
I make bold to say that I competed, not even that I can compete, I competed favourably with first degree holders in a federal parastatal of note. Immediately after graduation, I started working with the Kaduna Refin­ery, and in that refinery, I met products of other universities in Nigeria with who we worked together. My appointment was confirmed before most of them. During that time, members were made to pass through on-the-job training among other processes, for six months. We discussed and debated over a lot of issues together especially concerning the practical and theoretical aspects of the job.
There is nothing they can show me to prove that they are better than me. The truth is that the leadership at almost all the strata was being occupied by degree holders, and for whatever reasons, they feel that al­lowing the HND holders to pass through the system like them, would be a threat to them. You could see that, even from the pattern of debate on the floor of the Sen­ate last Thursday. Most of my colleagues were saying a lot of things, but you don’t need a soothsayer to tell you that most of those who made their contributions were hypocritical.
How do you mean they were hypocritical?
Somebody said there are polytechnics that are operating from a two-bedroom flat. The truth of the matter is that we even have ghost universities, that are not in ex­istence at all. Like one of my colleagues, Senator Hadi Sirika said, in this current age of the computer, communication and technological advancement, we have open universities whereby one can study from the comfort of your bedroom and earn a degree which would be recognized by everybody. So, simply because we have a polytechnics that operate from a two-bedroom flat, does not mean that all poly­technics are bad! Somebody also talked about requirements for admission into polytechnics; entry points. It has been var­iously argued that examination is not the true test of one’s ability and knowledge. Let me give you a veritable example. Now, tell me, how many people passed through the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA)?
The simple answer is that a lot of our re­tired and serving military officers passed through the NDA when it was just a three year program me, but because of this craze for degrees, and the fact that they were opportune to be the political lead­ers of Nigeria, they were able to change their system to a degree-awarding institu­tion. But can anyone tell me in all honesty that the graduates of NDA now, who are degree holders, are better than the prod­ucts of the same institution, who were not degree holders in those days? The bot­tom line is that we all got it wrong. It’s not about the entry point. The dichotomy has nothing to do with the admission require­ments. The ungodly thing we are doing in this country is to say that the HND holder cannot be promoted beyond a certain grade level, and nobody can defend that wicked injustice. I don’t care about the entry point and you can say whatever you want to say.
I said earlier that I started at the Kaduna Refinery and I was discrimi­nated against when I was at the refinery at the entry point, at that time, A lot of my colleagues are now being frustrated after they were promoted to certain lev­els. They were told point blank that they cannot proceed beyond certain stages un­til they acquire additional qualifications. That was happening after they had prob­ably spent four years of training and ex­cellent performance on the job for over 25 years. I started working with the Kaduna refinery in 1985, and my colleagues that are still there now, are still being told that they cannot be managers. This is ungodly, it is unconstitutional.
Did you leave Kaduna refin­ery because of discrimination?
No. I left before I could reach the man­agerial level. I left, if you want to know, because I felt that I could do better else­where and the job was kind of constrict­ing, because it limited my potentials, kind of. I believe I could make earn more out­side. That’s why I resigned. I was a little far away from the bridge, but as I talk to you, a lot of my colleagues who could not obtain further qualifications are being frustrated despite the fact that they are performing well in their various departments. That is why people are buying qualifications all over the places. That’s what is happening in the system now! After 25 years, after having performed very well on the job, you now bring someone who has B.SC to be their boss! Can you tell me that former President Olusegun Obasanjo doesn’t know every aspect of engineering? Did he have a degree then? Look at our own Senate President David Mark; you cannot say he wasn’t a Signals man in the Army. Simply because he didn’t obtain a degree at that time wasn’t his fault. It was the system then. If it had been stipulated as a requirement that he must obtain a degree, our Senate President, I know, would have done so. But through no fault of his, you are now saying such person cannot rise beyond certain level?
What is the implication of the HND/degree holders dichotomy bill being referred to the Sen­ate Committee on Education?
It is highly unfortunate and the highest case of hypocrisy, because the commit­tee, first of all, is being dominated by degree holders. They are obviously going to continue with the whole agenda of dis­crimination there.
Some of your colleagues ar­gued that the HND holders have no business in adminis­tration as they are expected to be on the field. Do you agree with their position?
All these arguments are nothing but pure sentiments. I want to say, with due respect; it is all hypocrisy in the land. Hon­estly speaking, at this time and age where all forms of discriminations are being eliminated in all facets of life both locally and internationally, why do we want to continue to perpetuate this discrimination against HND graduates? On the number of years being spent in the university and polytechnic, it takes a minimum of four years to earn an HND, while the number of years being spent in the university to earn degrees before this period differ. If they say that the HND holders have no business in administration, fine and good, but everybody should be able to aspire to the topmost position in his or her cho­sen career.
For instance, somebody who passed through the NDA in the 1960’s and1970’s, spent three years, but he can go on to become a Field Marshall in the Nigerian Army if he remains in service. That’s all! They have never said that be­cause you spent only three years, and now there are people spending between four to five years, and coming out with degrees, those who spent three years in those days, would not end their career at the rank of a major. That is the crux of the matter. That is the bottom-line. To me, it is not about entry point. There is no way you can argue that the HND holder, after spending 25 years on the job cannot be a manager. Please allow him to reach the pinnacle of his career!
But some HND holders are now going to the university to earn a degree in other fields.
Yes. Necessity is the mother of invention. That is the way I see it. It also depends on the individual. To me, I have vowed that I will never go to any university to do any­thing because I am satisfied with the qual­ity of instructions I received at the Kaduna Polytechnic; so, what is happening is just sheer discrimination. Those who are go­ing for degrees after obtaining an HND were being frustrated to do so due to dis­crimination. If I want to go for my PhD, I will look at the polytechnic elsewhere in the world that offers PHD and go for it, be­cause I don’t see any reason why anybody should say that somebody who spent four years and additional one year practical training would be discriminated against as if they are non-Nigerians. The whole sys­tem is frustrating! The implication now is that everybody is running away from the polytechnics and rushing to universities to obtain a degree because we place so much emphasis on paper qualifications.
There are also arguments that some polytechnic graduates cannot express themselves in good English language?
The same thing applies to university graduates. Before I resigned from the Kaduna Refinery in 1993, there are some graduates who were employed then that could not fill the log book correctly, which should be the reports after their shift work for the day. A lot of them could not even do that simple task! We are even seeing them here in our offices in Abuja. We have seen graduates of universities now that cannot construct good sentences in English language. So, it is not a problem that is peculiar to the polytechnic gradu­ates. It affects everybody and it was so because government seems to be eroding everybody into the same direction. People now believe that before they can succeed, they must earn a degree. So, people are now obtaining the certificate through all dubious means. I also disagree with the argument that graduates of universities don’t go to polytechnics. There are lots of university graduates that went to the poly­technics after obtaining their degrees.
Af­ter my HND, I went for a Post-Graduate Diploma in Diplomacy and International Relations at the same Kaduna Polytechnic and I had as classmates, many university graduates and we still have others who are still obtaining PGD’s in various cours­es at polytechnics up till now. It is wrong to believe that a B.A or B.SC can become anything in Nigeria while you place a ceil­ing on HND holders; that he cannot pro­gress unless he obtains a degree! So, what do you want him to do? He has to go and look for that degree! You have a compe­tent engineer or a technologist as the case may be, who’s very good on the job and you say he cannot become a manager. He now goes to the university and study law only to come back to head a technical or­ganization, or agency. Is that not stupid? It doesn’t make sense.
I want to appeal to the Nigerian elite, to, for God’s sake, put sentiments and hypoc­risy aside while looking at issues that af­fects the future of our younger generation. It’s a calamity that has befallen the Nige­rian educational system; to say that the NUC is performing better than the NBTE, etc. It is also wrong to run down the regu­latory agency in charge of polytechnics and colleges of education. If the Nigerian constitution could say a school certificate holder can become the president of Nige­ria or governor of a state in Nigeria; for God’s sake, it will be ungodly for anybody to say that an HND holder cannot become the Managing Director of Kaduna Refin­ery, he cannot become the head of produc­tion, he cannot even become a manager or head the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation or a manager after spending 30 years of his productive life on the job. It’s absolutely unfair to by-pass such per­son and give it to the degree holder.
What is the way forward now?
I want to commend my colleagues for allowing the bill to pass second reading. But I want the Senate Committee on Edu­cation to know that God will definitely ask them if they allow this discrimination to continue. They know, in their innermost minds, that this barrier at the topmost level against the HND is wrong and they cannot defend it. We’ve seen it in Nige­ria today, where a lawyer was appointed head of the NPDC here in Abuja! We do all manners of injustice and we expect to progress? The barrier is simply ungodly! I saw the limitations when I joined the ser­vice and because I was still young, I took the decision to opt out. This is a battle that must be fought. I will support all the polytechnic graduates to ensure that the discrimination and injustice against them comes to an end.

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2015: Jonathan walks tight rope as crises explode in frontline states

The mammoth crowd that graced President Goodluck Jona­than’s declaration to contest the 2015 presi­dential elections last Tuesday, notwithstand­ing, there are clear in­dications that all is not well with his aspiration. Not leaving anything to chance, leaders of the party have gone to work to checkmate what appears to be the president’s current most challenging politi­cal ‘banana peel’ to his re-election bid.

The last ward and Local Government Congresses of the party have exposed the party’s under belly and set it and the president’s ambition on the path of distress.
Al least, 6 frontline states, where in basic cold calculations the president is inured of Landslide votes in the elections are up in flames, with the conflagra­tion threatening to spill out of control to consume all the party’s interests in the states.
The affected states include, Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia, Delta, Rivers and the President’s home state of Bayelsa.
As the crises in these states simmers, the style and nature of the politics of the Vice- president Arch Nenadi Sambo have come into full focus, threatening to abort his political marriage with Jonathan.
Rattled by the develop­ments, presidency offi­cials, and members of the National Working Commit­tee, NWC, of the party are working round the clock to ease the eruptions. Part of the measures being taken is the immediate dissolution of the integration commit­tees set up by the party in the affected states. The governors, who are in the thick of the crises are also being implored to “put on hold” further measures concerning the congresses and their planned succes­sors in office, pending an upcoming meeting with the president and the party’s NWC”. Secret fact finding committees have also been dispatched to the affected states to effectively douse the inferno.
The committees have been empowered to make “necessary and desir­able promises of brighter prospects and rehabilitation on behalf of the party to the combatants to extract proven commitments to peace and stability”. Lead­ers of the party are growing grey hairs particularly on the situation in Enugu and Bayelsa, which are not only considered crucial to the president’s ambi­tion, but whose crises have taken dangerous dimensions recently. Sunday Sun further learnt from a source who is an insider in the emerging imbroglio, that the commit­tee was charged not to issue threats, or even sanction the belligerents no matter the weight of intransigence or nuisance value in order not to play into the waiting hands of the opposition. The general thinking is that the crises is like a fly perch­ing on the scrotum which should be handled with utmost care and caution lest the fly is smashed alongside the scrotum.
A last ditch effort to arrest the drift in Enugu at the highest level last week failed to work as the parties to the conflict reneged and went back to the trenches. The leaders of the two camps in the state, Deputy senate President, Ike Ekwer­emadu, and governor Sul­livan Chime, who are both nursing Senatorial ambitions for Enugu West are core loyalists of the President. The presidency last Thurs­day, opted for a middle passage way by tactically refraining from throwing its weight behind any of them, allowing them to test their strength on the field with an unwritten golden rule that the victor and the vanquished must accept the outcome. Tacitly, the party machinery has been handed over to the governors, but the situation in Enugu, which apart from being one of the earliest to break out, is unique because of the personages involved and the level of their co-operation, support and friendship with the president. That measure has so far not resolved the impasse, as both camps are still throwing open more flanks of discord.
In Bayelsa, Governor Seriake Dickson’s second term ambition and the reluctance of the presidency to endorse it is the major catalyst. Although Jonathan is lukewarm about it, his wife Dame Patience, who brought the governor to power in 2011 has already drafted in the president’s Senior Special Assistant on domestic and social events, Dr Wari Pomowei Dudafa.
Dickson, who is yet to figure out how he offended the first lady, has resolved to fight back, thus muddling the waters. In a deft move to seize full control of the party Machinery in the state at all levels, he threw up a creative zoning formulae for elective offices in 2015, which effectively shut out all serving national and state House of Assembly members. Only two state lawmakers survived the putsch. They are the major­ity leader, Peter Akpe, (Sag­bama 2) and Daniel Igali (Southern Ijaw 3). National Assembly members who were stopped in their tracks include Senator Emmanuel Paulker, (Bayelsa Central) Senator Heineken Lokpobiri (Bayelsa west) and Senator Clever Ikisikpo (Bayelsa East). Others are Foingha Jephthah (Nembe/Brass) Henry Ofongo (Sputhern Ijaw) Warman Ogonba (Ye­negoa/Koloknma, Dr Stella Dorgu (Sagbama/Ekeremor, and Nadu Karibo, (og­bia). These are adjudged hard core loyalists of the president. The development deepened the crises in the party in the state as all the lawmakers, except Dorgu conducted parallel congress­es, in apparent bid to fight Dickson.
The National headquar­ters of the party is keeping sealed lips on the develop­ment, obviously watching the body language of the presidency. So far, the presi­dency is yet to intervene, or react, thus keeping everyone involved in the crises guess­ing and somehow confused.
In Neighbouring Rivers state, alleged attempts to impose former Minister of state for Education by the first lady Dame Patience, is behind the crises. Again, Jonathan is keeping mum as more frontiers in the crises open by the  day.The attempt to impose Wike has ruffled many political feathers. as more frontiers in the crises open by the
16 governorship aspirants of the party boycotted the last ward and local Govern­ment congresses in protest over the alleged endorsement. But Wike’s camp absolves the first lady and points at the Rivers state governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi for fuelling the rumpus. Amaechi is of the rival All Progressives Congress, APC.
The 16 governorship aspirants who boy­cotted the congress are Engr Beks Dagogo, -Jack, Barrister Dumo lulu -Briggs, Major Lancellot Anyanya, Engr Samson Ngere­bara Barrister Nimi Walson – Jack, Senator Lee Maeba, Hon Gabriel Pidomson and Dr Silva Opusunju. Others are Hon Bernard Mikkoo, Chief (Hon) Pawana, Samuel Horsfall, Hon Oseleye Dennis Ojuka, Prince Tonye Princewill, Capt Nwankwo Sun­day, Prof Don Baridam, Hon Tamunosisi Gogo – Jaya, and Abie Bob Abbey – Hart (Esq). A statement by their spokesperson Setonye Ijuye Dagogo, stated that they were deceived into believing that there would be level playing field for all of them. The state leadership of the party which is loyal to Wike, was accused of breaching the pro­cedures leading to the delegates ward and local Government Congresses.
Another grouse of the aspirants was the legality of the State Working Committee, SWC, and alleged assault on them by hired thugs.
“As a group, we had raised issues about the legality of the SWC, and wrote a memo to the integration committee set up by the NWC in this regard”. Sunday Sun learnt that if the crises is not resolved earnestly and soon, the aspirants may defect enmasse to other parties with their supporters, and work against the interest of the president in the 2015 presidential elections. If this occurs, coupled with the growing influence of gov­ernor Amaechi’s APC in the state, the Wings of the President may be clipped.
In cross River, the burgeoning troubles in the party are creating wide scale disaf­fections, creating ripples and threatening to thaw the presiden’ts positive profile in the state.
Already, the governor Iiyel Imhoke, who is believed to be working in concert with the top party hierarchy has wielded the big stick by sealing off the party secretariat, and suspending a governorship aspirant and 10 others.
In Ebonyi, the party has broken into two – the governor and the others.
The ward/LG congresses committee sent to the state walked into a war front. The governor was frontally challenged; leading to embarrassing situations.
Ebonyi has the same polar party status like Cross River. The degenerating situation may work for the PDP in the two states, as there is no party in the two states that has what it takes to challenge the PDP. Defec­tors to a new, fledgling party may not have enough time to build and energise it before the elections next year.
But the growing disaffection may have the effect of reducing the Presidents vote tal­ly, and jeopardizing his chances of outright victory at the first ballot. The governors of the two states may have been given a “wild card” to deal with the situation as they deem fit, as they are roundly perceived as acolytes of the president and loyal party members.
“The party is not losing sleep over what is happening in Cross River and Ebonyi. They are core PDP states. No crises in the party will make PDP lose the states. Trouble shooting in the states is just to ensure nor­malcy, not that there is any cause for alarm” Sunday Sun was told.
The crises in the party in Abia and Delta have the imprimatur of governors Theodore Orji, and Emmanuel Uduaghan. Their pref­erences for particular governorship aspirants have pitched them against other individuals and interest groups.
The two states are perceived to be highly politically conscious. In Delta state alone, over 27 governorship aspirants are on the field. The vast majority of them have intimi­dating financial war chest and other arsenals to vie for the position.
There is no strong party waiting in the wings to receive them, and time is too short for them to make any meaningful impact on the platform of a new party.
The battle ground for all the belligerents is therefore centered in the party, with every­thing being thrown-in to clinch the ticket of the party.
Sambo in the mix.
While the party and the presidency are grappling with the odious affairs in the six states of the South East and South-South, there are insinuations putting Vice President Nenadi Sambo in the ring for the sweep­ing anti-Jonathan sentiments in the North. Although the problems in the region are convoluted ranging from ethno-religion, insurgency, zoning mantra, and other al­lied factors, critics of the vice president insist that he has done very little to change the equilibrium. More worrisome, is that though he is lukewarm in this direction, the president seems to be at peace with him, fuelling the understanding that he may pair with him again in the elections next year. A major grouse of his critics is that through his inactions, he has exposed Jonathan to his ad­versaries in the North as he has had to deal with them directly.
As the number one political leader of the North, he has not shown the initiative and drive to cushion the biting effects of the caustic attacks on the regime from the North.
Atiku Abubakar played that role for Olusegun Obasanjo when he was vice presi­dent before they fell out. Jonathan did it for late Musa Yar’Adua, during the restiveness in the Niger Delta. Even Dr Alex Ekwueme did all in his powers to rein-in the South East for Shehu Shagari, and the National party of Nigeria, NPN, at a time the late Dr Nnnamdi Azikiwe and his Nigeria Peoples party, NPP, were the ‘sweet stakes’.
A review of Sambo’s ascendancy in politics shows that Senator Ahmed Ma­karfi made him governor to stop Suleiman Hunkuyi and Yusuf Hamisu Mai Rago. He was not initially gunning for the seat.
Among other things, he has been ac­cused of lacking in essential influence and vast contacts, preferring to play safe and moderate politics. Interestingly, these were the attributes that attracted him to Jonathan and facilitated his selection as his deputy in 2010.
“Some governors in the North see him as their mates and even inferior to them politically, despite his number two citizen­ship Sunday Sun was told by one of his critics, who prefers anonymity. As the APC continues to capitalize on the aforemen­tioned factors to gain ground in the North, he has failed to reach out to the kingpins and the hotbed of APC politics in Kano and Sokoto, at least to impress on them that their actions portend more ruinous effects on him than Jonathan. If he did, the impact has not been noticed.
Jonathan had to take the bull by the horn and reached out to Jigawa state governor, Sule Lamido, former Military President, Gen Ibrahim Babangida (Retd), Niger state governor, and Chairman of the Northern governors Forum, Aliyu Babangida. His reconciliation with former central bank governor, Salisu Lamido Sanusi was at the instance of the former.
The aggrieved supporter of Jonathan and Sambo’s critic has this to say.
“It is not too late for Sambo to do a reality check in terms of influence, contacts and rating in each state of the North. Unlike Atiku he has loose contacts with leading traditional rulers, top-ladder politicians and military brass. Jonathan as an easy-going politician would not have stopped him, and this would have paved the way for him to build his political empire”.
With the emerging push to oust him from running with Jonathan, there are no clear indications yet that Jonathan is ready and willing to jettison him. Obviously pouring cold water on the criticisms, Jonathan has charged all the leaders of the party in the North to go to the field and “pull the chest­nut out of the fire”, as it were. Jonathan is said to be more pleased with his loyalty, and non-controversial nature than the lack of ag­gression and influence which his detractors peddle to get him off the presidential track. Having removed the burden of the North from Sambo’s shoulders, the new game plan of massive injection of leaders into the Northern battlegrounds may have come in handy. But will it save the day for Jonathan?

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No more crisis in Ondo PDP, S/West chairman declares

The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in South West has declared that the cri­sis within Ondo State chapter of the party has been finally laid to rest.

The zonal chairman of the party in the South West, Mr. Makanjuola Ogundipe who spoke in a chat with news­men stressed that the internal crisis rocking the party in the state has been settled add­ing that all stakeholders have agreed to work together in the interest of the party.
He said the leadership of the party at both the zonal and national levels rose to the cri­sis in the state chapter of the party and ensured that it was put to rest.
He disclosed that the lead­ership of the party was also handling other issues that could cause crisis within the party in other parts of the country, stressing that the PDP is working towards the victory of President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 election.
Mr. Ogundipe who opined that President Jonathan would win the presidential election in all the states of the South West zone noted that the achievements of Jonathan are enough to campaign for him.
According to him, “the cri­sis in APC is more than the crisis we have in PDP. We are even able to manage our own crisis in the PDP; APC is not able to manage its own crisis. In the PDP, every member has equal right, but in APC there is hierarchy.
“We have settled all the crises in PDP, but it is not pos­sible to have absolute peace in politics and that is why there may still be quarrel in some states. But I want to assure you that such quarrel will soon be laid to rest.
“It is normal for a party that is as big as PDP to have crisis. Infact, crisis is part of politics but the ability to man­age such crisis defines a good political party and this, we have achieved in PDP espe­cially in the South West,” he stressed.
He also expressed opti­mism that the party would de­liver South West for the PDP in 2015 just as he expressed confidence in the ability of President Jonathan to deliver more dividends of democracy in his second term.”

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INEC officials extort N200 to register voters in Ogun

With the dust raised by the shoddy ef­fort to distribute permanent voter cards in Ogun State yet to set­tle, officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state currently en­gaged in the Continuous Voter Registration exercise are alleged to be demanding N200 to regis­ter each prospective voter.

Aggrieved eligible voters in Ado Odo/Ota Local Government Area of the state who were asked to pay before they could be reg­istered expectedly screamed blue murder and came close to curs­ing the INEC officials for mak­ing them suffer indignities in the bid to perform a civic act. At the Council’s secretariat on Wednes­day, they told the Sunday Sun how the extortion caper was carried out by the officials. What they said should make the Chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega worry deeply about the horren­dous fraud that may be committed in the 2015 election.
According to the victims, the INEC officials perpetrated the il­legal act with the connivance of some local government officials who served as their fronts. First, they would tell an eligible voter to approach a middle-aged man within the complex to pay the sum of N200 to him. If the voter accepted and paid, the front would write down the personal data of the eligible voter and inform the person to return the next day to be registered.
This was how Mrs. Omolara Taiwo, who claimed to have been a victim of the illegal demand got herself registered by the INEC of­ficial, who first persuaded her to meet the designated front.
Another eligible voter, Mr Alex Ojuromi, corroborated the claims of Taiwo, and lamented that the process was bedeviled by inad­equacy of materials, breakdown of direct data machines as well as other problems.
His words: “Although I was ap­proached to pay the sum of N200 for the civic exercise, I did not do so. I must confess that I am tired of coming around here for the registration exercise. I have been wasting my precious time, coming here for the past three days with­out being registered even after the extension of the exercise by two days in the state.”
Fuming, Ojuromi, a business­man said: “I am going home. I don’t care if I don’t vote in next year’s general elections. Why must I vote after all? Those I vot­ed for in the last general elections did not remember me, for any­thing? It is their family members, friends and business associates only that they remember. Two of my graduate children are at home, unemployed,” he said and stormed off.
Other eligible voters across the state, while passing a damning verdict on INEC also alleged that politicians, their friends and fam­ily members took charge of the exercise, thereby exploiting the situation to their advantage.
Going by what they witnessed with respect to the PVC distribu­tion and CVR exercises, residents who spoke with Sunday Sun sub­mitted that the electoral body was not ready to conduct the 2015 gen­eral elections.
Many of them who could not find their names on voters’ register or even re-register expressed fears that they would be disenfranchised in the forthcoming elections.
Even with the extension of the exercise in the state and five oth­ers, anxious voters who besieged registration centres across the 20 local governments were lamenting their inabilities to register.
The inability of prospective vot­ers to register was occasioned by the commission’s direct data cap­ture machine, DDC, which they said frequently malfunctioned. Besides, shortage of manpower also to contributed non-registra­tion of prospective voters.
Reacting to the exercise, the chairman of the Peoples Demo­cratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Engr. Bayo Dayo said supporters of the party across the 20 local governments complained that they were not registered.
His words: “It is a big shame that INEC could not handle this simple exercise. This is the only country that I have seen where something as ordinary as registra­tion of voters is so difficult. The way it is done in foreign countries is for the organization to simply put the necessary forms in res­idents’ letterboxes. The forms would then be filled and later re­turned to the necessary office by free post. But in Nigeria, you must lose your work, just to go and reg­ister to be able to vote. It is not good enough. Many supporters of my party came for the registra­tion more than five times without success. By the time this faulty exercise ends, we should be ask­ing INEC what they are going to do for those people that were not registered.
On his party, the Publicity Sec­retary of the Ogun State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Sola Lawal described the ex­ercise as an abysmal failure.
He said: “A large percentage of our people have been disen­franchised systematically. I have gathered that not up to half of the voting population in the state had so far been registered. This is not good enough for democracy. The exercise has to be thoroughly re­viewed for optimal success.”
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the state have called for further exten­sion of the exercise. Speaking in this vein, a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dave Salako, asked for a one-week or 10-day extension of the CVR ex­ercise, arguing that INEC officials had failed to register up to a quarter of the people who had presented themselves for the exercise.
“I have gone through the length and breath of Ogun East, at the registration centres, there has been large turn-out of people but not even one quarter of them were captured. We were told that the machines they brought were epi­leptic. Why should they bring the machines that have not been ser­viced for two to three years? We had to help them out in servicing those machines. Not one quar­ter of the large turnout has been captured for registration. We are therefore asking for an extension of the exercise and we wonder why it is only in the South West that we are having this kind of problem. Those in the North are not complaining. It seems they want to disenfranchise us in the South West,” Salako said.
Similarly, a member of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Honourable Olayiwola Ojodu, appealed to INEC to extend the registration exercise by more than one week.
Ojodu, who currently represents Abeokuta North state constituency urged INEC to provide more DDC machines in each of the wards across the state in order to ensure easy registration.
“We have fears about the exer­cise and quite a lot of reservations on the part of INEC. INEC’s best is not enough. Prospective voters troop out in large numbers as ear­ly as possible to get themselves registered, but the inefficiency of the machines and other logistics have made the exercise difficult for them. I can say to you that in my ward, INEC has not recorded 40 per cent registration and this is not good enough. A lot of people will be disenfranchised if nothing reasonable is done. I say again that this is not the best of INEC,” he added.
Another member of the state House of Assembly, Remi Hassan said that INEC underestimated the turnout of prospective voters by failing to provide enough materi­als. Hassan argued that the addi­tional days earlier given by INEC had failed to make impact on the conduct of the exercise. He how­ever said that since the CVR exer­cise was continuous, prospective voters still had the opportunity to register in their various local gov­ernment headquarters.

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APC Governors Forum slams police for tear-gassing Reps

Chairman of the APC Governors’ forum, and the Governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, has described the action of the secu­rity agents who did not only deny members of the House of Representatives access to the House but also tear-gassed them, as shameful and unfortunate.

Okorocha who spoke on behalf of the forum yester­day described the incident as a disgrace to the nation’s growing democracy, and the worst known incident in the history of the country’s Na­tional Assembly.
“What happened at the National Assembly on Thursday was condemnable by all lovers of democracy. It was not a good thing to the image of the nation. It was a slap on the face of our democracy. The National Assembly of every nation is seen as a very powerful propeller in her democracy. And ours won’t be an excep­tion. So, our democracy was disgraced. Our National Assembly members were disgraced and invariably Ni­gerians who they represent were also disgraced by the singular action of the police.
“It is important to add that using the police to intimidate the members of the National Assembly was unaccept­able. Again, using tear gas on the National Assembly members was equally despi­cable. It was an insult to all Nigerians of goodwill, and all lovers of democratic ide­als in the country,” he said.
According to Okorocha, “the police who are Nige­rians should help the coun­try’s democracy to grow, as it is in the interest of Nige­rians to have a united and democratic nation, including the police”
His words: “It will also be an honourable act for the po­lice, as a highly responsible institution to apologise to Nigerians and members of the National Assembly for what happened last Thurs­day. That would not be seen as a mark of weakness, but would only portray the force as a strong institution with personnel who appre­ciate democratic ideals and ethos.”
It is hoped that such ugly scenario will not happen again in the best interest of the nation and her citizenry,” Governor Okorocha added.

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33,000 Nigerians trapped

From the Chairman of Pentecostal Fel­lowship of Nigeria (PFN), Borno State chapter, Bishop Mohammed Naga, came a startling rev­elation that no fewer than 33,000 Nigerians sacked from their communities by Boko Haram since June are still trapped in caves and mountains on Nigeria’s North-east border in Borno, while many are also stuck in some villages in Cameroon.

Naga who expressed his frustration on the condition of the displaced Nigerians, said he was more pained that government did not take any action to rescue the people, wondering why a govern­ment would abandon its people in a strange land for long and allow them to die in caves and hills without help. He said, perhaps, those displaced Nigerians, who, according to him, were predom­inantly Christians, had become abandoned property.
The bishop who is also the head Maiduguri-based Pentecostal Believer Covenant Church (PBCC) spoke to Sunday Sun:
“Many of our people who fled communities behind the Gwoza hills into caves and mountains are dying daily of hunger and starvation. There is no food, water or shelter for them. They are just there with their children. When Boko Haram ransacked the Mobile Police Training Camp (at Limankara, Gwoza), they carted away tear-gas canisters and they are now using them to suffocate our people in caves to death. It is so pathetic,”
Residents of communities behind the Gwoza hills, about 135 kilometers southeast of Maidu­guri, Borno capital, fled into villages in neighbouring Camer­oun Republic following coordi­nated attacks in the area by Boko Haram between December 2013 and June, 2014. There are equally others who fled from the central communities in Gamboru/Ngala in September to Fotoko, another community in Cameroun when Boko Haram raided their homes.
Checks show that these residents are made up of locals and Nigerians from different ethnic backgrounds who were engaged in livestock business and other economic activities in the commercially thriving Gamboru/ Ngala towns. Bishop Naga who hails from Gwoza says the people are bitter with the presidency over the way they are being treated.
We are bitter with Federal Government
“We the Christians in the northeast especially here in Borno are very bitter with the government. Our people are like abandoned property. It beats my imagination that government is not doing anything or saying anything about thousands of Ni­gerians in another land especially when the people are suffering. We cannot judge the government by its intention but its action and movement or utterances. It is as if Nigeria no longer want our people and the worse thing is that we don’t even know where to go. When the 1959 or so plebiscite was conducted, our people were asked where they wanted to be and we voted for Nigeria. From the northeast up to Bakassi, our people have the highest number of votes of those who want to remain with Nigeria. So is it now that the Nigerian government no longer want us? I am asking this question because of the way our people are being treated. Govern­ment cannot protect our people and there is also no efforts to res­cue those trapped. The statement from some quarters like Alhaji Mujahideen
Asari Dokubo that they don’t know we exist, that they don’t bloody care about us, that we can go anywhere quoting the Gideon Okar coup of 1990 is also why our people have been asking this question.
Government politi­cized Boko Haram
“The truth is that government has politicized Boko Haram issue and the people are at the receiving end. The government has to come to the rescue of the people be­cause people don’t know where to go again. They have been trauma­tized and devastated. People are dying even of hunger here. In my area, there are well over 50 big churches, all burnt down, homes razed and farmlands destroyed.

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Don’t bring violence to Ekiti, transport unions, others warn APC lawmakers

Transport unions, traders and students in Ekiti state have warned the All Progres­sives Congress (APC) lawmakers not to import violence into the state as they vowed to curtail any move that could lead to the breach of public peace.

The unions, in a state­ment signed in Ado Ekiti yesterday, warned the APC lawmakers to weigh the consequences of waging war in the state.

The statement reads in part: “The former Speak­er of the state House of Assembly,Hon Adewale Omirin had in an interview on AIT ,Lagos on Thurs­day disclosed the plan of his colleagues to resume at the Assembly on Monday at all cost.”
The unions, in the state­ments signed by their lead­ers including Chief Ad­ekola Clement,Comrade Dahunsi Olaniyi,Awoniyi Tolulope
Ayodele and Chief (Mrs) Olabisi Okummolade com­mended the state governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose for stretch­ing hands of friendship to the lawmakers, which according to them was re­buffed.
“Rather than reciprocat­ing the gesture, they oc­cupied themselves with holding secret meetings , mapping out strategies on how they would destabilize the state and make it ungov­ernable for the governor.
“To make the matter worse, they are currently outside the state precisely in far away Lagos hobnob­bing and romancing with those opposing the progress of the state.
“It has come to our knowledge that the APC lawmakers intend to come to the state as from Monday to cause a breach of peace, commotion and violence which by the grace of God we intend to curtail
“They should jettison personal interest and know that the interest of the peo­ple of the state is greater than their selfish interest,”
They commended what they described as the ma­turity of the governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose and promised to support his administra­tion
While congratulating the new speaker, Hon Dele Olugbemi on the assump­tion of his new position, the group urged him to work with all the lawmakers in the assembly as a team ir­respective of political affili­ation.

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COEASU threatens to suspend academic activities nationwide

The Colleges of Educa­tion Academic Staff Union (COEASU) has made a passionate appeal to the Federal Government to address the security chal­lenges in some colleges of education or it would be forced to suspend academic activities nationwide.

The union explained that the security challenges, par­ticularly in the North have resulted in the death of some COEASU members and students, saying fears have gripped colleges of education in the areas.
The position of COEASU was taken at the Expanded National Executive Coun­cil (ENEC) meeting held in Abuja to examine the federal government responss to the outstanding issues and to de­liberate on other challenges besetting the nation as they af­fect the colleges of education.
The union also decried the non implementation of the re­tirement age and CONPCASS for its members by some state governments warning that they face industrial action.
The communiqué which was signed by the COEASU President, Comrade Emman­uel Nkoro and the General Secretary, Comrade Nuhu Origima, decried the massacre and kidnapping of staff and students of Federal College of Education, (FCE), Kano and Federal College of Education (FCE) (T), Omoku, Rivers State.
On the situation at FCE Kano, COEASU ENEC de­cried the infiltration of the campus leading to the mas­sacre of innocent students and staff conducting their normal academic business stressing, ‘’council is particularly deep­ly concerned given the fact that the college, situated in the heart of the town, could have been so attacked for hours be­fore security agents’ belated response’’.
The union expressed her condolences to the entire community of FCE Kano on the cold-blooded murder of staff and students by yet-to-be identified gunmen. COEASU implored the government to step up efforts to stem the spate of violent crimes in the country and tasked security agents to unravel those behind the killings.
On incessant kidnap of staff of FCE (T), Omoku, the three-page resolution stated that no fewer than ten staff was ab­ducted in the last three months leading to the death of three even as it expressed dismay that the security agents have not arrested the perpetrators of the crime.
It urged the government as a matter of urgency to se­cure all institutions across the country to ensure meaningful teaching and learning process necessary for the overall de­velopment of education.
‘’Council strongly warned that she would not be con­strained to suspend academic activities in colleges of educa­tion nationwide, indefinitely, if the dire insecurity in the colleges is not addressed and such incidents recurs,’’ it ad­vised.
The communiqué also viewed the federal govern­ment’s response through a letter dated October 28 noting that the three months mora­torium is quite belated, and unsubstantial in its terse con­tent but enjoined members to strive irrespective of the disposition of government to­wards ensuring quality service delivery in line with global best practices.
COEASU described the grave implication of Benue, Niger, Kaduna and Sokoto states non implementation of the CONPCASS and that their action portends damage on the education process in the colleges and urged the respec­tive governments to start the implementation or risk serious industrial action spare-headed by the national secretariat.
The ENEC meeting also decried the refusal of Akwa Ibom State government to implement the retirement age of 65 years in the state College of Education, Afaha-Nsit and described as pathetic the dis­criminatory implementation of the retirement age in the state tertiary institutions which excluded the colleges of edu­cation

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I want to train graduates –Cane weaver

The cane village is not where you expect to see a graduate of Mechanical Engineering. But that is exactly where you will find Ol­adele Oluwatosin, a native of Oyo State.

He learnt the trade as a child while watching his mother do it. His mother reg­istered the business 32 years ago. Oladele comes from a long line of cane weavers.
“It is a trade that belongs basically to the Urhobos in Delta State,” he told Sun­day Sun. “And my mother is from Urhobo. She married my father who is from Oyo State. My grandfather started the business in Lagos.”
But as a child, he did not love the job. He even wanted to get out of it. “Nobody really enjoys work as a child. There is no work that you do as a child that you enjoy. Even going to school, you will probably prefer to stay home and watch cartoon than go to school. It is when you grow up that you can become grateful for the things you learnt as a child. At a point, I left home and I felt good. I was happy to be away from the work.”
When he left home, Oladele went to the Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech) where he studied Mechanical Engineer­ing. When he left school, he worked in a school, at the airport, at a pharmaceutical company, advertising agency and finally an IT (Information Technology) company where he eventually resigned and returned to cane weaving.
Talking about that decision, he ex­plained to our reporter why he took that bold step four years ago. “At a point in one’s life, certain things will make you have a rethink about what you are doing. It is good working with people because it gives you the experience you need to run your own business. I was working with an IT company before I joined this business. Before then I had worked in the cargo section of an airline, a pharmaceutical company as an operations personnel; an advertising company and my first job was in a school.
“I decided to reach out to people more. It is not just about making more money. Coming to the cane business, you have to do what people can see and appreciate. You have to do a lot of research in order to come up with things that can be exported. Somehow, we have been able to achieve that.”
After these years, would you say that business has been good? You asked this cane weaver. “Yes, it has been good,” he replied. “The business has sustained me and my family. It has also allowed me to reach out to friends and families.”
He could almost swear that it is much better than what he was doing before now. “Of course, it is much better. Above all, I have time for myself and my family. I don’t have to wake up so early in the morning and end up in traffic in the eve­ning. Though it is a little bit more tasking running your own business than when you are working for somebody.”
Oladele is working hard to improve on what his mother has been doing all her life. “There is so much that we are doing right now. We are speaking with the Lagos State Government to see how we can re-introduce crafts in the school curriculum. We have written to them, but they have not responded. We are hoping that one day somebody will see what we are seeing.
“We are also looking for capital to enlarge what we do now. The problem is that most of the time when you approach banks for loan, they will ask us what we do. When you tell them that you do basket, nobody wants to borrow you money because they don’t believe that basket can be profitable.
But does he think that it is a bankable business? “For God’s sake, for the little capital that I have been able to borrow, I have returned it with interest and I even had excess for myself. Even with the account books, they still feel that they cannot give me loan to make basket. The interest rate they are giving is out of place. Once we even got a chance, but when I saw the interest rate, I knew that it would kill my business.”
How about the microfinance banks? “Some of them don’t also believe in the basket business. The kind of business that we do, you don’t make sales every day. Every microfinance bank is looking for businesses that can give you sales every day. The kind of need that we meet is not the kind that comes up every day. If I do basket for you, it is not supposed to spoil in the next three to four years. So, to keep yourself in business, we are trying to recreate the need for ourselves.
Apart from baskets, what else can be made with cane? “My God, we can make chairs, mirror stands, garden chairs! We can weave the pillars of your house and even the walls of your room. There is so much that can be done with cane. It is as far as your imagination can take you.”
One of the major reasons Oladele is seeking additional fund for his business is to be able to make his goods more market­able. He told Sunday Sun: “We are looking at getting a befitting showroom to display our products. We cannot just send people out to get customers when we do not have the right place for them to come in and see what they want. And our products are not water resistant. So, we cannot hang them outside all the time.
“People will like to come to a place that is well kept, see what they want, pick their orders and go. By the time we get a showroom, it will give us the opportuni­ty to employ more hands; get marketers to go out and sell our products. We also have plans to spread to other parts of the country.”
He also intends to empower young graduates with the skills they need to succeed in cane weaving. It will be his contribution to reducing the high rate of joblessness in the country. “As time goes on, we intend to talk with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) because cane weaving is a very viable business to venture into. I want to see if we can bring in corps members, train them to help reduce the joblessness in the country.
“As a person, I have given it a careful thought. It will be free, but the returns will be a plus. It is just like when someone says he is paying you N250, 000 as a staff. Then you should know that you are worth more than that sum. Whatever work you are doing is giving your employer more than twice the amount he is paying you. While I am training them, they will also be working for me. Even if I am to pay them, it will not be as much as what I am paying my regular staff. One of my own ideas of wealth is that you have to invest in lives. My concept of being the richest person is adding value to people’s lives,”
Oladele has nine people working with him. Surprisingly, they are all Ghanaians. “In Nigeria, there is no job integrity. Nobody respects this kind of job. If I tell somebody that I am going to work, and it is not in a bank or an oil company, they will kind of sniff at it. It is only in Nigeria that people do not understand that the road sweeper is as important as the managing director of an oil company. This is because if the road is not clean, it can cause an accident that can even kill the managing director. A lot of Nigerians don’t want to do it because it is a dirty work.”
Oladele has a huge dream for his business. “In the next 10 years, we will be doing business in the whole 36 states of the federation.”

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