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ICAN and fiscal federalism

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THE Dacia Sandero is Britain’s cheapest new car, but what sacrifices have been made to bring it in at such a low price?
What did you think it was going to be like? It’s Britain’s cheapest new car, for Pete’s sake. Of digital climate control, quick-clear windscreens and DAB-enabled, sub-branded stereos, there was no sign. At £5,995, this no-frills, five-door hatchback costs less than some food mixers.
Dacia, (pronounced “Datch-ha”), was founded in 1966 as Romania’s state car-maker, 6building obsolete Renaults under licence. It was acquired by Renault in 1999 and the Logan, billed as the “5,000 Euro car” was launched in 2004 aimed at developing countries and Eastern Europe. Designed to be built cheaply, with labour not robots, it could accommodate a family of five and had a big boot. Renault even had to drag a team out of retirement because it no longer had anyone on staff who knew how to design a wind-up window. Louis Schweitzer, the former Renault CEO who masterminded the Logan, didn’t think that Europeans would want a stripped-as-a-cell Dacia, pointing out that the brand wasn’t designed for “cheap-chic Europeans”.
Yet many Western Europeans maintain that this is exactly the car they want. The original Sandero of 2008, a hatchback version of the Logan, has been a sales success in Europe along with the 4×4 Duster. But while the simple motoring life sounds great in theory, and many people write to Honest John clamouring for back-to-basics vehicles, Britons are notorious for over-specifying their cars from the options list.
And the history of basic cars in the UK is patchy. Ford’s 1953 103e Popular was Britain’s cheapest car at £400, but the specification was Spartan with no electric windscreen wipers, heater, or even a boot floor. It was a poor rival to the more advanced Morris Minor, or even Ford’s own Anglia 100E which cost nearer £500 and an aura of poverty motoring hung over the ‘Pop’ like a smokescreen.
Cars such as the Sandero tend to be enthusiastically purchased for other people to drive – the daughter, the nanny. Is it safe enough? In the 2008 New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) crash test, the Sandero got three stars, but just one for pedestrian safety. The new model has yet to be tested, but Renault isn’t predicting any more than three stars. All UK Sandero models come with electronic stability control, anti-lock brakes with emergency brake assist, traction control, driver/passenger and front side airbags and two rear Isofix seat mounts.
When it arrives in January there will be three engines and three trims. Two petrol; a toothless 74bhp, 1.2-litre, four-cylinder base model with the headline price, as well as Renault’s most modern 89bhp, 898cc, turbocharged three-cylinder starting at £7,395. The turbodiesel is Renault’s highly commended 89bhp, 1.5-litre four-cylinder for a minimum of £8,395.
Trim levels start with Access, (15in steel wheels, power steering, but no radio or painted bumpers, mirrors and door handles). Another £600 gets you into an Ambience with a radio, USB slot, remote central locking, electric front windows, painted bumpers and nice hub caps. Two thirds of buyers will likely fork out an extra £2,000 for the top-spec Lauréate trim (air-conditioning, electric door mirrors, cruise control and rear electric windows).
It’s all a bit reminiscent of those Seventies adverts for the Citroën Visa which boasted “four wheels, a big bumper at the front and a big bumper at the back”. But while it’s easy to scoff, at least they don’t mug you for the options. Alloy wheels are £425, metallic paint is £470, the protection pack of boot liner, alarm and rear parking sensors is £430 and extending the three-year, 60,000-mile warranty to five years will cost £395, or £850 for seven years and 100,000 miles.
The trouble is all these extras add up fast and take away Dacia’s unique selling point. Buy a Lauréate diesel, add the above extras and you’ve spent £12,220. Take that money to a Kia dealer and with a discount you could be driving a top-spec Rio or even a starter Kia Cee’d. Makes you think, doesn’t it?
Interestingly, we didn’t get the basic Sandero to drive at the launch, we had a £8,795 turbo petrol in top trim. This is not the most attractive car and the clumsy roof-to-side panel join and the visible lower sill seam anchor the Sandero’s appearance firmly in the 1970s. The undamped panels tend to clang shut and the doors don’t always latch; it feels and looks old hat. Step inside and the one-piece door cards and slush-moulded dashboard maintain that impression. The trim is austere, unremittingly grey, the seat fabrics are thin and unpleasant to touch, and the switches grind rather than spin. There’s not a lot of love in here.
The seats are narrow with thick, old-school cushions that feel as though you are sitting on them rather than in them. The steering adjusts for height only, but there is a simple height adjustment for the driver’s seat. The rear seats provide basic and spacious accommodation for three adults and the boot is amply large, with the rear seats folding 60/40 including the squab.
On the move the little triple provides adequate power, but overtaking requires a crystal ball and at times the power surges irrationally. It’s reasonably quiet and refined, although the gear-change quality is gritty and obstructive, especially in the lower gears. The steering hasn’t a lot of on-centre feel.
The ride is quite comfortable, but the body trembles over irregular surfaces and the ride feels wobbly and nervous almost as if the car were frightened by bumps. The handling is very old fashioned with lots of body roll, and a rolling gait which you have to overcome by hurling the car at the corner as if it were a test of nerve and skill that won you the heart of a fair lady. No one is going to drive their Dacia like this.
Renault bullishly hopes to maintain retail price with a “no discounts” policy, which it claims has held in Europe. Daewoo and GM’s US brand Saturn tried in vain to enforce such policies before, but Renault bosses have even threatened to withdraw the brand if they have to discount. Renault dealers will be thirsty for the extra Dacia business but the initial investment is minimal, not much more than a corner in Renault showrooms.
The fight for the cheap end of the market is a perfectly acceptable ploy and the Chinese will do this when they start to import cars. But Dacia isn’t really good enough to hold its own against rivals without that low price, yet most people will splurge on the options list and more than half will opt for the Stepway version, an “urban warrior” model with a raised ride height and costing from £7,995 to £10,795 when it arrives in May, so where’s the point?
Doubtless the Sandero will find buyers, but there’s delusion here especially as we know that Renault can build a better car for Western Europe. Could I introduce you to the Clio?

THE FACTS
Dacia Sandero
Tested: Five-door hatchback with 898cc, three-cylinder turbo petrol, five-speed manual transmission, front-wheel drive
Price/on sale: £5,995 to £9,795 (£8,795 as tested)/now
Power/torque: 89bhp @ 5,250rpm/ 100lb ft @ 2,500rpm
Top speed: 109mph
Acceleration: 0-62mph in 11.1sec
Fuel economy: 42.2mpg/54.3mpg (EU Urban/Combined)
CO2 emissions: 116g/km
VED band: C (£0 first year, £30 thereafter)
Verdict: It’s cheap and cheerful but drives better than it has a right to and is also spacious. But this is austerity motoring at its most basic and for many people a used car will be a better option.
Telegraph rating: Two out of five stars.

RIVALS
Chevrolet Spark, from £8,875
A smaller car built by GM’s Korean division, better built and with a better specification. Not as good to drive as the Vauxhall Corsa and less highly specified, but quite fun.
Citroën C1, from £7,995
Cheapest result of a marriage between Toyota and PSA. A much smaller car, with a 1.0-litre engine that sounds like a washing machine. Very cramped in the back but fun and easy to manoeuvre in cities.
Skoda Citigo, from £7,630
Cheapest version of the VW Up, a clever and highly technical car which can seat four adults in comfort, but hasn’t got much luggage space and is about as exciting as a honeymoon in a gravel pit to look at.

New contender for oldest dinosaur

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Palaeontologists have found what is likely to be the oldest known dinosaur, filling in a yawning evolutionary gap.
A study in Biology Letters describes Nyasasaurus parringtoni, a new species from 10-15 million years before the previous earliest dinosaur specimens.
It walked on two legs, measured 2-3m in length with a large tail and weighed between 20 and 60kg.
The find suggests that many millions of years passed between dinosaurs’ first members and their dominance on land.
“It fills a gap between what we previously knew to be the oldest dinosaurs and their other closest relatives,” report co-author Paul Barrett, of the Natural History Museum in London, told BBC News.
The find shores up the idea that dinosaurs evolved on the southern parts of the supercontinent Pangaea
“There was this big gap in the fossil record where dinosaurs should’ve been present and this fossil neatly fills that gap.”
However, the team behind the work has stopped short of definitively calling N parringtoni the earliest dinosaur, because the fossil skeletons used to define it were incomplete: one upper arm bone and six vertebrae.
The early evolution of dinosaurs is difficult to unpick, as a rich variety of reptiles were proliferating at the time – and some may even have independently evolved characteristics that are associated with dinosaurs.
But the researchers, from the University of Washington and University of California Berkeley in the US and the Natural History Museum, saw a few features that are unambiguously those of dinosaurs, notably what is called an “elongated deltopectoral crest” that served as an anchor for strong pectoral muscles.
Lead author of the research Sterling Nesbitt, of the University of Washington Seattle, led a team that in 2010 reported the finding of dinosaurs’ oldest relative, a member of a group called the silesaurs.
It now appears that those creatures shared the southern part of the supercontinent Pangaea 6- now South America, Africa, Antarctica and Australia – with N parringtoni.
“Those animals were the earliest of this group that led up toward dinosaurs,” explained Dr Barrett. “Now this takes dinosaurs back to the right kind of time when those two groups would have split apart from each other.”
As it closes that evolutionary gap, it shows that dinosaurs did not start out as dominant as they later became.
“We push the origin of dinosaurs further back in time to a time when lots of reptile groups are evolving,” Dr Barrett said.
“Dinosaurs start out as a very insignificant group of reptiles – all relatively small animals, relatively rare in comparison with other reptile groups – and it’s only a bit later in their history that they suddenly explode and take over as the dominant forms of life for nearly 100 million years.”

Arab World hit hard by climate change

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The Middle East and North Africa will be especially hard hit by climate change in the coming decades, the World Bank said in a report Wednesday, saying the region will see less rainfall, more recording-breaking temperatures and rising sea levels.
Should temperatures rise as expected, the hotter conditions are likely to hit the region’s $50 billion (€38.2 billion) tourism industry and further worsen its food security since many countries in the region — especially Gulf states — depend heavily on imports to feed their populations. Crop failures will also increase while yields will decrease and household incomes will fall, the report said.
The report was presented at the United Nations climate negotiations in Doha, Qatar, where nearly 200 delegates for the first time are in the Middle East to discuss cutting emissions in an attempt to ensure that global temperatures don’t rise more than 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) over what they were in preindustrial times.
Temperatures have already risen about 0.8 degrees C (1.4 degrees F), according to the latest report by the IPCC.
“Climate change is a reality for people in Arab countries,” Inger Andersen, World Bank Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa region, said in a statement.
“It affects everyone — especially the poor who are least able to adapt — and as the climate becomes ever more extreme, so will its impacts on people’s livelihoods and wellbeing. The time to take actions at both the national and regional level in order to increase climate resilience is now,” Andersen said.
Among the most critical problems in the Middle East and North Africa will be worsening water shortages, the World Bank said. The region already has the lowest amount of freshwater in the world. With climate change, droughts in the region are expected to turn more extreme, water runoff is expected to decline 10 percent by 2050 while demand for water is expected to increase 60 percent by 2045.
The World Bank said the region — already suffering from searing summertime temperatures that can reach as high as 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) — needs to start preparing for an even warmer world.
The report urged countries to ensure their national policies were “climate resilient,” starting with “collecting climate data to strengthening basic services.” It also called for improved access to services such as education, health and sanitation, along with strengthening of social safety nets to compensate for sudden loss of livelihood and training schemes to “give citizens the skills and resources to navigate climate challenges.”
Countries need to improve their infrastructure with an eye on climate change, including improved drainage systems to address worsening floods and measures such as sea walls to address rising sea levels.
“Reducing vulnerability to climate change will require concerted action on multiple levels,” said Rachel Kyte, World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development. “Political leadership now will be critical in establishing climate change as a national and regional priority.”
The report concluded that climate change is already happening in many parts of the Middle East and North Africa.
Over the past 30 years, climate disasters have affected 50 million people in the Arab world, costing about $12 billion (€ 9.2 billion) directly.
The report cited the 2006 flooding of the Nile River Basin, which caused 600 deaths, as well as the record five-year drought in the Jordan River Basin that ended in 2008. Of the 19 record temperatures in 2010, almost a quarter were from the Arab world, including Kuwait where temperatures reached 52.6 C (126.7 F) in 2010 and 53.5 C (128.3 F) in 2011.
In 2010, the Arabian Sea experienced its second-strongest cyclone on record, with winds as strong as 230 kilometers per hour (145 miles per hour) that killed 44 people and caused $700 million (€534.6 million) in damages in Oman.

Swimming robot reaches Australia

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A self-controlled swimming robot has completed a journey from San Francisco to Australia.
The record-breaking 9,000 nautical mile (16,668km) trip took the PacX Wave Glider just over a year to achieve.
Liquid Robotics, the US company behind the project, collected data about the Pacific Ocean’s temperature, salinity and ecosystem from the drone.
The company said its success demonstrated that such technology could “survive the high seas”.
The robot is called Papa Mau in honour of the late Micronesian navigator Pius “Mau” Piailug, who had a reputation for finding ways to navigate the seas without using traditional equipment.
“During Papa Mau’s journey, [it] weathered gale-force storms, fended off sharks, spent more than 365 days at sea, skirted around the Great Barrier Reef, and finally battled and surfed the east Australian current to reach his final destination in Hervey Bay, near Bundaberg, Queensland,” the company said in a statement.
Some of the data it gathered about the abundance of phytoplankton – plant-like organisms that convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and provide food for other sea life – could already be monitored by satellite. However, the company suggested that its equipment offered more detail, providing a useful tool for climate model scientists.
Liquid Robotics still has a further three robots at sea. A second is due to land in Australia early next year. Another pair had been heading to Japan, but one of them has suffered damage and has been diverted to Hawaii for repair.
Each robot is composed of two halves: the upper part, shaped like a stunted surfboard, is attached by a cable to a lower part that sports a series of fins and a keel.
They do not use fuel but instead convert energy from the ocean’s waves, turning it into forward thrust.
Solar panels installed on the upper surface of the gliders power numerous sensors that take readings every 10 minutes.
Mixing electronics and water might sound like a risky idea – but Dr Jeremy Wyatt, from the school of computer science at the University of Birmingham, said there was good reason there was so much interest in marine robotics.
“The ocean is a very big place and therefore a safe place to test autonomous robots – these Wave Gliders move slowly and have a low risk of bumping into other objects,” he said.
“There are also autonomous sailing competitions in which craft plot their journey completely independently – unlike the Wave Gliders which autonomously follow a prescribed route – and there are a variety of types: robots which bob on the ocean surface, gliders and even fully autonomous submarines which plan their own routes and dive to collect data.
“We are reaching a tipping point in that the technology is becoming so cheap that it’s now a much cheaper to use a robot to gather data than to pay for a manned ship to be at sea for months at a time.”

Microsoft expands social network Socl

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Microsoft has opened up to the wider public its version of a social network, which allows users to share content in an online gallery similar to Pinterest.
Socl – pronounced “social” – allows users to create visual posts. It is powered by Microsoft’s search engine Bing.
It has been in private beta test mode for a year and in May was given a low-key launch, aimed mainly at students.
Now anyone with a Facebook or Microsoft account is able to sign up.
Socl was developed by Microsoft’s Fuse Labs unit as a “research project… focused on the future of social experiences and learning”.
On the website, Microsoft made it clear that it did not intend to go head to head with Facebook or other social networks.
“Socl is an experimental research project with a minimal set of features,” it said.
As part of the wider launch, Microsoft has redesigned the homepage of the website.
Users are invited to create “rich, visual collages” based on interests. The posts can be shared on Facebook or Twitter.
There is a People hub, which allows users to discover other profiles and posts, and a Me page that displays their own.
Users can also create video parties, for which they can make a playlist, watch online videos or chat with others.
Richard Edwards, an analyst at research firm Ovum, said that, while the Western world was saturated with social sites, other regions were “ripe for a new type of social network”.
Currently the site is most popular in India, according to Google Trends, which monitors search terms around the globe.
Google Trends also maps interest in the site and its data suggests that it peaked mid-year but has since died off, which may throw light on why Microsoft is relaunching the site.
“When it launched in May, Facebook was IPO-ing [initial public offering, of shares] and shortly afterwards Microsoft acquired Yammer so perhaps it didn’t want to confuse the market with too many social networks,” said Mr Edwards.
Its relaunch could be tied into future products.
“It seems to be geared to tablet devices. There are also rumours that Microsoft could be bringing out an Xbox-style device. The plans for Socl could be linked to as yet unannounced parts of its strategy,” said Mr Edwards.

Smartphone App Alerts Drowsy Drivers

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Drivers talking or texting on their smartphones have given mobile devices a bad reputation as road distractions. But a new smartphone app could actually warn drivers if they appear distracted or drowsy behind the wheel.
The app uses smartphone technology to mimic fancier car safety systems by detecting signs of trouble that could lead to accidents. Modern phones with cameras facing both front and back allow the app to monitor a driver’s head pose, eyes and blinking rate to detect possible distraction or drowsiness, even as it keeps watch on the road ahead.
“We can determine the distance between cars in front and whether a driver is changing lanes on the outside, while detecting drowsiness and distraction inside,” said Andrew Campbell, a computer scientist at Dartmouth College.
The smartphone sits mounted on a dashboard holder as a hands-free helper for drivers. Whenever the car safety app detects any dangerous patterns in driver behavior or outside conditions, it warns the driver with a blinking light and a noise alert.
Such an app could provide a cheap, effective safety solution that works with any car model. But the app developers — a team from Dartmouth College, Autonomous National University of Mexico, Microsoft Research Asia and the University of Bologna in Italy — faced huge challenges while making their idea into a reality.
First, today’s smartphones don’t have the capability to process video streams from both the front and back cameras simultaneously. Campbell and his colleagues had to develop intelligent algorithms that switch quickly between the two cameras while processing the data.
The rapid-switching solution means that the car safety app technically has a blind spot in the front or back at any given time. Researchers fixed that problem by using the smartphone’s other sensors, such as accelerometers and gyroscopes, to figure out what is going on in the blind spot either inside or outside the car at any given time.
“When the phone camera is looking at the driver, we can use accelerometer sensors to detect if the car is weaving,” Campbell told TechNewsDaily. “We use sensors to fill in when the camera is looking at the wrong place.”
Second, the app’s vision algorithms can push the computing limits of existing smartphones and slow down the image-processing from the cameras. If a smartphone camera typically captures video at 30 frames per second, the app’s software analysis slows the process to about 8 frames per second on an Android smartphone that has a single computer processing core.
That limitation forced the developers to design vision algorithms with minimal computing power requirements as they ran tests on Samsung Galaxy smartphones. To get the best results, they plan to first market their app for the latest quad-core smartphones running Google’s Android system sometime in 2013 (sorry iPhone users).
For now, the team aims to complete road testing of the application with a small pool of users in either November or December. They have enlisted 20 people and three different cars models, but admit that it’s difficult to push the limits of the app without having drivers almost falling asleep behind the wheel.

CUB and Dubai Leadership Summit

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The need for good Leadership in either an organization or nation is imperative because a Leader of any organization or nation can be likened to a driver of a vehicle whose duty it is to control the direction that the vehiclegoes. So, a leader of a country could be described as perfect driver who is expected to steer the affairs of his nation towards taken the country to the promise land. However, the Longman dictionary of Contemporary English definesLeader as a person or thing that leads or in advance of others while the same dictionary defines leadership as the qualities necessary in a leader or control or power over a group. Also Professor Duncan Bruce, deputy Chancellor, Commonwealth University Belize, while speaking at a workshop on the conflict and crisis Management in Nigeria’s capital City Abuja in March this year described a leader as “a powerful engine that propels the boat in a stormy sea”. If these definitions of a leader and leadership are in agreement with findings of the social science experts, then one could be right to say that the 6th Dubai Leadership Summit being organized by CommonWealth University Belize, scheduled to hold between December 16 and 19, 2012 came at no better time than now. This is due to various reasons.
There is no gainsaying the fact that, there has been crisis of leadership all over the world particularly within the African Continent. From Johannesburg to Cairo, from Nigeria to Libya, Syria, Mali among others, it is crisis, crisis everywhere.These Crises, according to both Political and Social Science experts, rear their ugly heads as a result of what they called “Leadership failure”. In fact, the administration of a home could collapse if the head of the family do not perform his functions well. To lead a group, the leader should plan adequately and implement his plans to the letter. There could be trouble if a leader makes adequate plans but refuses or fails to implement his own policies.
In Nigeria, for example, the people now see their leaders as total failures. This is because from the local government area councils to the Central government, the businesses are being run as there were no plans.What else do you want to say when a national Budget in a year is not implemented until the third quarter of the year, and then government officials would begin to praising themselves that the Budget for that year has achieved its objectives. Whereas, in a real sense of the word, two third of the said budget would go into private pockets of a very few privileged at the detriment of the poor masses.
As a result of the poor implementation of policies or lack of plans, people will begin to witness various crisis including Unemployment, Poverty, armed robbery and crimes of different kinds, insecurity, terrorism like Boko Haram, Militancy like what obtains in the Niger Delta Region in Nigeria, Odudua’s Peoples’ Congress (OPC) in South West Nigeria, Kidnapping and other vices.
It is therefore necessary for who ever that wants to take the leadership role in a given society should be adequately prepared for the onerous responsibility of a leader. No doubt, leadership is a burden. This is a fact that nobody can run from. From the daily reports one receives, and discussions among the populace in Nigeria, it is quick to know that the people have lost confidence in their leaders.Nigerians now see government or by extention their leaders as bunch of liars. This is because the impact of government is not being felt by the people.
For instance, on a weekly basis, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meets and the result of the meeting is always the announcement of contract awards that run into billions of naira.The most painful thing in this situation is the fact that, the contracts would not be executed for the benefit of the electorate just as the same contract would be captured in the following year’s national budget, may be, at a higher sum.
It is necessary for the organisers of the upcoming 6th Dubai Leadership Summit to make sure that those that are privileged to attend the event were adequately told about the roles they are expected to play towards the development of their society and the responsibility of their position in their societies. Corruption is the bane in Africa, indeed in Nigeria. Corruption has eaten deep into the fabric of Nigerian society. There is political corruption, economic corruption, morally, Nigerians are corrupt, and there is total collapse of values. All these are taking place because there is “leadership failure”. Elections are rigged before the eyes of our leaders and sometimes it is being alleged that, it is the leaders themselves that either instruct or lead the Pack in the electoral malpractices in Nigeria because elections is a do-or-die affair in our land. I want to recapitulate that leadership is not a tea party.
However, Commonwealth University Belize, is known world wide for its academic excellence and participants of this Summit would find it useful especially as the theme for this year’s Summit is “Vision makes the difference in leadership Effectiveness”. Commonwealth University is famous in leadership training just as it has trained many world Leaders in different leadership Courses. This year’s Dubai Leadership Summit will focus on issues like negotiation skills, corporate governance, Gender issues in leadership, Project management for leaders, cultural Diversity and Leadership, Conflict Management Resolution, Security and Emergency Management. Others include Developing and implementing a vision, Ethical issues in governance and Leadership, Delegation and Decision Making for Leaders and E-learning for Academics, Managers and Professionals.
Those that are expected at the Summit include Ministers, governors, chairmen, chief Executives of Corporate organizations, Directors, Deputy Directors, Legislators, Local government Chairmen, Traditional and Religious Leaders. Expectedly, the chancellor of Commonwealth University, Professor Michael Addison will host the Summit while top Management Staff of the Institution like the Deputy Chancellor, Professor Bruce Duncan, Professor David Iornem, the Summit Coordinator, Professor Addison Mark Wokocha, Chairman, Academic Advisory council of the University and Professor Jonathan Zwingina, Chairman, Legislative Programmes of the institution will be in attendance. This a must Summit to attend.

Lokogoma: Not bomb blast — Police

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THE Nigeria Police Force yesterday dismissed rumour of a bomb explosion at a shopping complex in Lokogoma, a settlement in the Federal Capital Territory.
The Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Frank Mba, who debunked the rumour during an interaction with newsmen in Abuja, described the unfortunate incident as false alarm.
Mba said that no case of bomb explosion was reported in or around the FCT, noting that investigations by security operatives had indicated that the incident was a mere fire outbreak.
“It is unfortunate that some people have gone to town to report that it was an explosion; it was a mere fire outbreak at a shopping complex in Lokogoma.
“Reports reaching us showed that the fire, triggered by an electrical fault, started from a laundry shop at the shopping complex.
“It was also said that part of the building was razed by the fire and the explosion.
“The big sound that caused the false alarm came from the compressor of the air conditioning system at the shop,” he said.
Mba also said that no lives were lost in the incident except for the property contained in parts of the building razed by the fire.
He urged residents of the territory to disregard the rumour and move on with their legitimate businesses, assuring them of police’s readiness to protect their lives and property.
The police spokesman, however, advised property owners to always provide safety equipment in their buildings and to ensure strict adherence to safety precautions and to avoid similar occurrence in future.
A loud explosion was heard at the Lokogoma area of the FCT early Tuesday morning.

Kwankwaso launches Mobile clinic

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Kano State Governor, Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso has launched the Kano state Free Medical Mission and 16 ambulances for the state Mobile Clinic Programme tagged “Kwankwasiyya Medical Outreach”.
Speaking during the ceremony held at Government House, Kano, Governor Kwankwaso  explained that the medical mission is part of the fulfillment of his campaign promise to provide pro–poor services  for the people.
He said the mission will not only provide the much needed but barely affordable services to the door step of the people but also afford local health personnel opportunities to learn innovative techniques and procedures form their foreign partners.
The governor thanked the US based medical mission for its sacrifice and humanitarian disposition, assuring that his government will continue to work with them to make life better for the citizenry.
Governor Kwankwaso stated that his government is working round the clock to renovate hospitals in the state and provide them with facilitiesto reduce suffering, restore health and save lives especially in the rural areas where the poverty rate is higher.
He maintained that the administration has put in place a buoyant drug revolving fund to ensure steady supply of qualitative and affordable drugs to all health facilities in Kano besides waging a serious war against prohibited and counterfeit drugs.
Regarding the Mobile Clinic Programme, Kwankwaso stated that the ambulances will be deployed to cover major routes and other strategic referral centers in the state in order to reduce suffering from accidents and other emergencies.
On his part the team leader, Sustainable International Medical Mission, Dr. Chukuemeka Onwenu revealed that the mission was started by four Nigerian physicians based in the U.S. who had a vision to deliver quality medical care to people who cannot afford it, and create bridges with physicians in Nigeria to improve delivery of health care and to provide programmes that would sustain the sector.
Dr. Onwenu said the mission which comprises 36 professionals will offer services in General surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Urology and treat eye cases adding that that they will work in Kano for two weeks.
He noted that the mission aims to conduct at least 500 surgeries and treat 5,000 outpatients free, adding that the mission has also supplied assorted medicines and equipment worth millions of Naira and praised the state government for its zeal to increase access to qualitative health care services.

OKOROCHA TO PROBE OHAKIM

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From VICTOR DURUAMAKU – Owerri
Imo state governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha has bowed to pressure mounted by groups and Imolites calling for the probe of the administration of ex-governor Ikedi Ohakim.
Addressing a group known as Joint Action Group (JAG), comprising of Keke NAPEP operators, mechanics, transporters and artisans who had earlier issued a 21-day ultimatum for Ohakim’s probe at the house of assembly complex, Owerri, Gov. Owelle Rochas disclosed that government has decided to make public the activities of the former governor within 14 days.
He said “Let me inform you the decision of the present administration to bring justice to bear following your protest over the activities of the past administration. Nobody has negotiated to cover the activities of ex-governor Ohakim within the four years he governed the state, rather it may interest you to know that the panel set up to look into the activities of the former governor has just presented its report. Within the remaining 14 days of your ultimatum, we shall make Ohakim’s activities in government house known to the public”.
Gov. Okorocha who posited that it is worrisome that Ohakim did only 3 uncompleted projects and 87 kilometer of roads also uncompleted in four years, added that government will ensure that the funds stashed away by the former governor are recovered for the development of the state.
“I want to thank you for your patience so far. Honestly, I agree with you that it is worrisome that Ohakim did only 3 uncompleted projects in four years and 87 kilometer of uncompleted road project. So, the money must be somewhere and if that money is recovered, it will help to make Heath-care services free in addition to the free education programme” Gov. Okorocha said.
He urged them to be law-abiding as the security agencies and other relevant authorities are set to ensure that the former governor faces the full wrath of the law.
Earlier, the leader of the group, Rev. (Mrs) Ngozi Amadi, said they are disappointed that the state government is yet to take position on the former governor after it issued a 21-day ultimatum last week.
She said “Your Excellency, instead of arresting and trying Ohakim, we have his men still gallivanting and threatening fire and brimstone. Our leadership have been receiving threatening calls but never will that derail our call for justice. If this is democracy, then we every right to call our leaders and ask for what is reasonably attainable. It is true that we commend your revolutionary feat in transforming our state; we surely will not rest on our oars until those who looted our treasury are brought to book”.
Rev Amadi maintained that ex-governor Ikedi Ohakim’s squandered public funds on non-existent Oak Refinery, Midwest Airline, Dredging of Nwaorie River, Oguta Lake Resort as well as diverted substantial sum of the N18.5 Billion Bond.
She, however, lamented that it has become worrisome and insulting to hear Ohakim claiming that he invested N25.7 Billion on President Goodluck Jonathan during his election as such would not be arrested by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).

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