₦airaland Forum

CHAIRMAN of the Technical
Committee on the Niger Delta, Ledum Mitee and the Ijaw National Congress (INC) have cautioned against inflicting collateral damage on communities in the on-going military offensive targeted at suspected militant camps in Niger Delta.

Meanwhile, a group, Hope for
Niger Delta Campaign (HNDC)
based in The Netherlands, has strongly condemned any
attempt by groups parading
themselves as militants to set up militant camps in the Niger Delta.

According to Mitee, the Federal Government-desired peace in the Niger Delta through attacks on suspected militant camps would merely be short-lived except it tackles the root causes of militancy in the region.

He told The Guardian that he did not believe that because of the activity of some criminals, the government should suffer communities. According to him, the government needs to
continually engage in dialogue with the people and more importantly, go to the root causes of militancy in the first place.

“Why is it that we have
militancy? There are core
demands and agitations by
communities. I am not sure we have dealt with those core issues, which breed militancy in the first place. To deal with symptoms exclusively without
dealing with the root cause of the crisis seems, to me, to be short-sighted ”, he said.

www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29478:mitee-inc-express-worry-over-fresh-anti-militants-offensive&catid=1:national&Itemid=559

The proposed establishment of a federal university in the middle belt region of the country by the federal government has become
a source of disagreement
amongst Senators from the
region. Senators from Kogi and Nasarawa States, the two likely states to host the proposed university, on Monday, jostled to prove that their respective statesare the best option for the location of the proposed
institution.

While Smart Adeyemi (PDP, Kogi State) urged President Goodluck Jonathan to upgrade the Federal College of Agriculture, Kabba, to a federal university, Abubakar Sodangi (PDP, Nasarawa State) argued that Kogi State is already over populated with federal
government establishments,
stressing that his home state is the best option for the new school.

Both senators addressed Senate correspondents separately in Abuja, on Monday, where they tried to make their case.

A broadcast journalist wants a Federal High Court in Abuja to restrain Zain Nigeria and the National University Commission (NUC) from airing the, "Zain Africa Challenge" programme for allegedly using his intellectual property.

Christian Ojorovwu Ogodo,
owner of TV Xtra Production
Limited, is seeking an order of the court to stop Zain Nigeria and two other organisations from infringing on his copyright using any television station in the country.

Counsel to Mr Ogodo, Oghenovo O. Otemu said that in 2008 his client had developed a concept known as, "University Challenge", an educational quiz programme, which was open to all Nigerian
university students. He said the programme was an intellectual property of the Nigerian Copyright Commission. After
registering it with the copyright commission Mr Ogodo said that he had proposed the programme
to the NUC for endorsement of the project.

"After about four weeks of the submission of the proposal to the [NUC], the plaintiff was informed that a similar proposal has been approved by the [NUC] in favour of [Zain Nigeria]," he said.

When he realised what had
happened, Mr Ogodo said he
protested in writing to the NUC that (his) proposal was hijacked by both the commission and Natives Filmworks limited, the
production company.

The NUC, in a letter dated July 10, 2008, "merely wrote back saying that they had investigated the claim of plagiarism and could not
establish the claim."

The end to the fall of Nigeria's foreign reserves may not be anytime soon as factors such as strong demand for foreign
exchange, year end expenditure, and elections are predicted to still take a toll on the funds.

"A nation's falling foreign
reserves has two levels of
influence on the economy"
Biodun Adegboye, an economist and lecturer at the University of Lagos said.
"It affects both the external and the internal economic situation of a nation. Anytime we have a depletion, a country loses its credit worthiness, both externally and even internally. Countries that would otherwise have borrowed such an economy funds would become jittery and reluctant to do so."

Mr.Adegboye also said such a
country loses its confidence in economic viability."Look at China; they are seeking ways to grow their foreign reserves. It's over $1 trillion already. The advantage and significance of a strong and solid foreign reserve base is to be able to contain any external shock that may affect the smooth running of the system. Let's assume that there is an external shock and the country cannot generate funds, how do we then push the budget demands and balance its forecast?"

"In recent times, we were told the existing foreign reserves can cover about nine months of imports but at this rate, we cannot say this is what will happen. The lower the months that can be covered however, the worse for an economy."

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Germany’s Sebastian Vettel
sobbed with joy after becoming Formula One’s youngest world champion on Sunday with a pole to flag victory in the season-
ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The 23-year-old Red Bull driver lapped up the pressure under the Yas Marina floodlights to chalk up his fifth win of the
season while Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, the pre-race favourite for a third title, struggled home seventh.

Vettel, adding the drivers’ crown to the constructors’
championship won the previous weekend in Brazil, ended up with 256 points to Alonso ’s 252.

“Thank you boys, unbelievable,” gasped the German over the team radio, the tears flowing
behind the visor after he took the chequered flag.
Team principal Christian Horner spared him no emotion: “You are the world champion. Enjoy it. You are the man,” he bellowed from the pit wall.
“I love you,” said Vettel in reply.

Alonso, who was the overall
leader before the start, paid the price for an early pitstop that dropped him to 13th.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has failed the “stress test” of Unity Bank losing 3-2 to Unity Stars F/C in their Semi-Final encounter at the on-going CBN Governor’s Cup. The tournament is for financial institutions in the country.

The game, which was played at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna, was one of the toughest since the tournament began penultimate week.

Two first half strikes from
Ibrahim Hamisu and Skipper
Ibrahim Yakubu put the lemon green Unity Stars in the driving seat. Fifteen minutes into the game, Unity’s phenomenal Tukur Abdullahi dribbled his way to the right flank and sent in a cross, which Hamisu converted to raise the curtains.

CBN tried to respond but Unity’s midfield manned by Hamisu and Sunday Moses resisted the onslaught, and combined well with their defence which was
commanded by the towering
Ibrahim Yakubu to give their
goalkeeper Henry enough cover.

Unity Stars’ second goal came following another ‘draft’ display initiated by centre half Jamilu, who located Sunday Moses in the middle.

The Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC) in collaboration with the South Africa based Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society (CASAS) recently organised an international workshop on the harmonisation of indigenous languages. The workshop, held on October 26 and 27 at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, brought participants from several African countries for the
first phase of the project, with a focus on Hausa, Ijaw, Yoruba and Igbo languages.

Speaking at the opening of the Abuja workshop, Minister of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Abubakar Sadiq Muhammed said, “Despite Asia’s multiculturalism and
multilingualism, they have been able to maintain their cultural and linguistic identities and have used them as springboard for socio-economic growth and
development. The Asian
countries have achieved a lot
through the use and
development of their indigenous languages.”

As linguists got to grips with the task in the different language clusters, Director of CASAS, Kwesi Kwaa Prah spoke about his work on the preservation of mother
tongues.

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