Turai Yar'Adua signs agreement with IAEA on cancer control in Nigeria

Turai Yar'Adua signs agreement with IAEA on cancer control in Nigeria
The First Lady, Turai Yar'Adua, on Thursday signed an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency on behalf of her NGO, the International Cancer Centre, Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Turai, who is attending a conference in Vienna, signed the agreement on cancer control in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa. NAN reports that the First Lady, Hajia Turai Yar'Adua, signed on behalf of the centre while Prof. Werner Burkart, Deputy Director General and Head of Nuclear Sciences and Applications of the IAEA, signed on behalf the agency.
The agreement was signed at the IAEA Headquarters in Vienna after a meeting between the the ICCA Board of Trustees with the out-going Director General of the Agency, Dr Muhammed El-Baradei. Speaking on the occasion, Yar'Adua called for collaboration between the two organisations especially in the areas of early detection, therapy and management.
She said that the partnership would help in the reduction of the scourge of cancer not only in Nigeria, but in the West Africa. She said only 20 per cent of cancer patients in Africa had access to medication.
"Cancer treatment is very expensive and patients must travel far away from their countries to get the required attention and my plan is to reduce the scourge through early detection of the disease,," the First Lady said. She said that statistics showed that those dying of cancer in Nigeria were more than those who died as a result of HIV and AIDS and malaria put together.
Also speaking, a member of the ICCA Board of Trustees, Alhaji Muntari Maimaje, said the centre was ready to collaborate with the IAEA in the areas of research,manpower training, and purchase of equipment. Another speaker, the Chairman, National Committee on Cancer Control in Nigeria, Prof. Durosimi Etti, said the centre planned to train some Nigerian doctors under the IAEA's Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy.
Responding, El-Baradei, said the IAEA had a good working relationship with Nigeria and that it would support the centre's plan to boost cancer control and management in Nigeria and other Africa countries.
The two sides will collaborate to develop and implement an integrated and comprehensive cancer control programme including planning, registration, prevention, screening and early detection, diagnosis and treatment and palliative care and support.

Sony Corporation ridicules Nigerians, ex-president in new movie

Sony Corporation has released a new film depicting Nigerians and an ex-president as being less than human.
The American company had recently insulted Nigerians in an advert, for which the Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili, has demanded an apology.
Read more in www.punchng.com

NEWS UPDATE: Ahead of lying-in-state, armed riot policemen beseige Gani’s office

NEWS UPDATE: Ahead of lying-in-state, armed riot policemen beseige Gani’s office
See www.punchng.com for more details

Togo leads Morocco 1-0 in World Cup qualifier in Lome

Tunisia misses vital goal chance against Nigeria. Togo leads Morocco 1-0 in World Cup qualifier in Lome. Super Eagles line-up against Tunisia: Vincent Enyeama (Goalkeeper), Olubayo Adefemi, Joseph Yobo, Ayodele Adeleye, Taye Taiwo, Seyi Olofinjana, Mikel Obi, Kalu Uche, Osaze Odemwingie, Ike Uche, Chinedu Obasi

Super Eagles line-up against Tunisia

Super Eagles line-up against Tunisia
Vincent Enyeama (Goalkeeper)
Olubayo Adefemi
Joseph Yobo
Ayodele Adeleye
Taye Taiwo
Seyi Olofinjana
Mikel Obi
Kalu Uche
Osaze Odemwingie
Ike Uche
Chinedu Obasi

Reps, Sanusi disagree on N420bn bailout for five banks

Reps, Sanusi disagree on N420bn bailout for five banks
Members of the House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Currency and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, on Wednesday disagreed over the legality of the N420 billion bailout for five stressed banks.
The disagreement arose during a meeting between the lawmakers and Sanusi over the lawmakers' stand that the injection of the fund should have been done with approval of the National Assembly.

Related story: Reps summon Sanusi over banks’ shake-up - www.punchng.com

The real loser in the banking tsunami

If politics is the art of muddling, Nigeria must be among the world‘s leading capitals. This might not sound so nice to super-patriots, who think we‘re too much in the habit of bashing our beloved country, but how long shall we be in denial? How long shall we compete with the ostrich at its own game, burying our heads in the sand while the country burns? Of all the major events that have wracked the country‘s soul in the last four weeks, none has been as profound as the shake up in the banking sector.

Boko Haram - the codeword for the so-called religious crisis that swept five northern states, claiming over 700 lives - has receded from the news headlines, leaving the families directly affected to bear the brunt. The university teachers‘ strike enters its 10th week, with the teachers and government negotiators damaged, exhausted and bereft of goodwill. The teachers compare themselves with bankers, oil workers - and even politicians - and wonder why they cannot earn the same salaries as these people. They conveniently forget that every job is essentially a matter of choice and that in an open economy, reward is determined mainly by consumers’ perception of value created from time to time.

The government, on its part, has been hijacked by little cults of buccaneers, with each group fighting to keep its own turf. The country is adrift and President Umaru Yar‘Adua, however well-intentioned he might be, is too distracted by his failing health to stop the drift. The man remains a ‘willing hostage‘ to a somewhat perverse view in his inner circles that western medicine and experts cannot be fully trusted, and that the less that is known about his actual state of health, the better.

These are things we‘re not expected to say. How then can we challenge ourselves to honest solutions? Boko Haram, the university teachers‘ strike, and even the President‘s offer of amnesty to militants in the Niger Delta, all bear the national imprint of muddling and denial; but none, in recent times, is as profound as the mild tsunami in the banking sector. The story is barely three weeks old but we cannot even remember how it started or what it was supposed to achieve, much less the lessons to be learned.

Boiled down to the facts, we have been told that out of the first 10 banks audited in the first phase of a special investigation by the central bank and the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation, five - Union Bank, Afribank, Intercontinental Bank, Oceanic Bank and Finbank - had a total loan portfolio of N2.8trn. A further breakdown showed that margin loans stood at N456.3bn; exposure to the oil and gas sector, N487bn; and non-performing loans, N1.2trn. The banks had been gutted by poor corporate governance, credit abuse, and poor risk management practices.

To stem a possible collapse of the affected banks, the central bank injected N400bn, removed the CEOs and boards and advised the government to take steps to recover the loans. What appeared to be a genuine rescue mission has now been mired in controversy; everyday brings a new, monstrous angle to the story. It‘s a northern agenda to take back the banks from predominant southern control, some have said. Others have said that even before the central bank governor was appointed, a plan had been hatched to sell off some top banks to foreign interests as far back as March and that the voodoo audit was merely an excuse. Yet others have attacked the procedure, saying that it is unfair to thrash the reputation of those involved when the audit is only half done and those indicted did not get a chance to see the report first.

These are fine arguments and the imputation of motives may even be true. Like most things Nigerian, however, the fine arguments and imputation of motives have managed to obscure the main issue: are the five banks named threatened by a clear and present danger of collapse from bad loans and poor governance? The answer, of course, is yes. The disagreement in approach reminds one of criticisms of the anti-corruption war under Nuhu Ribadu‘s EFCC. He was accused of ”selective” justice and witch-hunt; yet not one of those charged and convicted denied committing the crime - their excuse was that they were not the only ones!

Did Oceanic Bank, on Cecilia Ibru‘s watch, give a N13bn loan to the CEO‘s nanny and offered credits running into hundreds of millions of naira to fictitious companies? Did Erastus Akingbola, who reportedly presided over the audit committee of Intercontinental Bank, grant a loan of N2.4bn to a company that is less than one year old with a share capital of N1m and which directors got the loan? Did the CEOs of Union Bank, Afribank and Finbank try to outspend drunken sailors?

The records are damning and I cannot, for the life of me, understand why some insist on mixing things up. True, the central bank‘s tardiness at the initial stages - including Lamido Sanusi‘s approval to Oceanic Bank to publish its 2008 results, in spite of glaring audit lapses - has not helped matters. Nor has the NDIC‘s irresponsible indifference, if not complicity, over the years. But the focus, at this stage, should be on efforts to recover the huge outstanding loans.

Various interests have already cashed in on the fuzz to divert the public‘s attention from the main issue. We must refuse to yield. We must insist, for example, that as Farida Waziri‘s EFCC continues investigations, she cannot play fast and loose with the full names of those arrested, specific details of amounts recovered so far, and from whom. As at Saturday, the EFCC was already classifying amounts paid by debtors and ”commitments/promises to repay” as actual total amounts recovered so far. This is wrong and fraught with intent to manipulate, collect bribes and steal.

I cannot also understand the suspicious silence on what has been done about the debts owed by Notore Chemical Industries (N32.3b); Ascot Offshore Nigeria Ltd. (formerly Wilbros), N44.6bn; and Berkeley Group, N4.3bn, companies that have been rightly or wrongly linked to former Governor James Ibori, said to be Waziri‘s single greatest benefactor.

Shouldn‘t we worry about what happens next to the five banks? We should, but not before the debt recovery has reached an advanced stage, the prosecution of those so far indicted has commenced fully, and the audit of the remaining banks completed. Those who worry that Sanusi is in a hurry to sell some banks on the cheap should comfort themselves with the thought that it is hardly in the interest of any serious investor to put a kobo in the banks at this stage, with so many questions begging for answers and the disclosure of the depth of the problem still unfolding. In any case, even if the government allows politics to override its decision about who buys the banks, the government won‘t force customers to bring in deposits if the banks are not properly run.

All muddling should be set aside: first things first.

EVENING UPDATES: Senate may dump Uwais committee report

EVENING UPDATES: Senate may dump Uwais committee report

AFTERNOON UPDATES: Controversy trails death of popular Yoruba actress, Monsurat Omidina

Controversy is trailing the death of popular actress, Monsurat Omidina aka Moladun Kenkelewu.

While some reports indicated that the 46-year-old actress died in her Ikorodu, Lagos home after a brief illness, the President, Association of Nigerian Theatre Practitioners, Mr. Jide Kosoko, told our correspondent that there was no indication of any indisposition prior to her death.

An evening newspaper in Lagos said she was hypertensive and in her bedroom with blood running from her nose and ears. The paper also quoted family sources as saying she had been ill for some time and was billed to visit the United Kingdom‘s Consular Office on Tuesday morning to obtain a visa to travel to UK for treatment.

However, Kosoko, who spoke on the telephone with our correspondent on Tuesday afternoon, said, ”She wasn‘t ill. Nothing was wong with her that I can tell you I know of. Maybe she was ill before but I don‘t know about that.” He added that she had been buried according to Muslim rites.

The news threw fans and stakeholders in the Nigerian movie industry, especially the Yoruba genre, into shock. The actress was married to popular Yoruba actor and comedian, Babatunde Omidina aka Baba Suwe. Kosoko told our correspondent that Monsurat‘s husband was ”in a very bad state” and could not speak with journalists.

Monsurat, who was also a comedian, was popular in the slap-stick humour genre. Her stage style was to over-dramatise with excessive make-up, funny costumes and she largely featured in films with her husband. She usually played the role of a gossip with a caustic tongue.

According to http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2138362/, some of her video works were Ògo ìdílé (2004); Obáj‘obalo (2003); Ògédé Didùn (2003); Ojabo Kofo (2003); Perosoko (2003); and Kadara Afri-T (2002).

A blogger on Facebook, Abisoye Oluwafemi Opeyemi, said she was planning to release a multi-million debut film next month.

The Association of Nigerian Theatre Practitioners, Mr. Jide Kosoko, declined to comment when contacted on the telephone. He asked our correspondent to call back in 30 minutes.

Speaking about her movie carrer in an interview posted on waleadenuga1.blogspot.com, she said she started with stage performance in 1982 in Ibadan with ”Chief Olowookere. We lived at Aremo and Iya Sala used to come around and we would see them between Ikolaba and the premises of NTA Ibadan. They used to do rehearsals behind Odo Alana behind NTA premises then. I told them of my intention to join them. After I joined, we used to rehearse everyday by 4p,m. Then, one thing led to the other and another group was formed called ‘Loveally’. I can recall, my mother in-law asked whether I could do what they were doing? She also inspired me greatly.”

On how she met her husband, she said, ”Hee, you see is not something I like talking about. I lost my ex-husband in 1993 and our relationship started in 1994 but we did not marry until 1995. We went to registry to solidify our love. The very first time I met him he was with other Oga’s sitting and I greeted all of them and they answered but he didn’t respond to my greetings and I was bitter. I was later told, that it was his behaviour and that has nothing to do with pride.

”He later sent somebody to me intimating me about his love for me. Then there was a day a respected woman in the industry invited me over to her place. On getting there I met her with Baba Suwe and she said it was Baba Suwe that actually wanted to see me. He started by wooing me and in the process he slept off and I was smiling and wondering whether he was acting a script or he just slept off like that. The rest was now history.”

UBA to sell N500bn bonds

The United Bank for Africa Plc, Nigeria’s fourth-biggest lender by market value, has said it plans to sell N500 billion ($3.25 billion) of bonds.
Quoting a statement distributed by the bank on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Bloomberg reports that the bonds will have a seven-year tenor and will be issued in portions.
Shareholders will vote on the proposed sale at a meeting on October 2, 2009 and the issue is subject to regulatory approval, it said, without providing further details. The bond sale comes amid a debt crisis in the Nigerian banking industry that led Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, to dismiss the chief executive officers of five lenders on August 14 and inject N420bn into the banks.
In May, New York-based Eurasia Group said Nigerian banks may have as much as $10 billion in toxic assets.
First Bank of Nigeria Plc, the nation’s biggest lender by market value, said on July 27 it would sell N500bn of bonds. Last week, shareholders of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Nigeria’s third-biggest bank by market value, approved the sale of N200bn of bonds.
Bloomberg reports that UBA’s spokesman, Mr. Charles Aigbe, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ajddekyRt.8w