Our plan to create massive jobs in aviation industry – Onyeama

Allen Onyema, a lawyer, is the founder/Chairman of Foundation for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria (FEHN), a non-governmental organization in the vanguard of promoting non-violence.  A product of  University of Ibadan, Onyeama has level-three certification in non-violence education  from the University of Rhode Island Centre for Non-violence and Peace Studies, Rhode Island, USA.

In this interview, he speaks on his airline  project geared at creating jobs on a massive scale as well as engendering national unity. Excerpts:
You recently invested in aviation. Can you shed light on this new business outfit?
First and foremost, I am fulfilling the promise I made to God  in 2003 that I would not only give him one percent  of my gross earnings for evangelism but would also create massive jobs for if only he would come to my aid in my businesses. I knelt down and cried to him while I made the vow.

I challenged God and he answered me. That money (one percent) is never my money, it is God's. I have an account in one of the banks referred to as God's account. It is used for evangelism only. I have built and helped churches all over the country from this fund. It is never used for my sake. I have helped other religious bodies from there too. So floating Air Peace is a promise I made to God towards creating massive employment for nation.

I have been a peaceful person from birth. For several years now, I have been spending so much of what God Almighty put at my disposal pursuing peace ideals from different angles. Floating Air Peace airline is part of the greater desire in me to help foster unity and peace in my nation. All my companies have everything to do with peace because I am into peace building. Everything about me is peace, that is why I named it Air Peace because I want to use this airline to open up my country. Again, the peace of the flying public is our goal. Their peace of mind over there in the sky is our goal. Our mission statement is to be one of the best and to provide unparalleled commercial scheduled flights and even chartered flights for Nigerians and the flying world.

When is the airline taking off and what arrangement has been made for effective take-off?
You know that aviation is highly regulated. You have to follow the rules, you have to prove to the authorities that you are ready. I mean you have to prove to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) that you are ready. They have to audit you and they have to make sure that you are fit to fly. We are getting there, we are getting very close. We are at the last stage. We have five phases but we are on the fourth phase now.

The fifth phase is the certification itself and we are on the fourth phase now, which is flight demonstration. We have already started flight demonstration. You have to demonstrate to the NCAA for 50 hours, you are not carrying passengers but only their personnel, showing them what you are capable of doing when you start operations. We have come a long way, it is over a year now.

Do you have aircraft on ground already?
We have Boeing 737-500 and Dornier 328 jets.

What is the take-off of the airline going to look like?
You know normally we have to start with local flights. Everybody is scrambling for Abuja and Port-Harcourt, but we want to use this airline to open up this country. Kebbi must be able to go to Kano. Kano must be able to go to Enugu direct. Yola must link up with Sokoto and Kano directly. Abuja must link up with Makurdi and so does Lagos. Asaba should be able to reach PH directly and PH, Asaba.

Benin should also go to PH and Abuja directly. Smaller airports shall be accessed with our Dornier  jets. Warri to PH and PH to Warri must be done. PH should be able to fly to Calabar and vice versa. This design will not only open up the country for more economic activities, but would create massive employment opportunities for the teeming unemployed population of Nigeria both directly and indirectly. This is my desire, this is my conviction. We want to bring peace and unity to Nigeria  because all I know in my life is about peace building.

So I want to use this airline to promote peace the more in this country in several other ways. One, my recruitment policy does not understand ethnicity, neither does it understand religion. I am an Ibo man but a Yoruba man is my director of flight operations, a Yoruba man is my director of safety, a Yoruba man is my IT manager, an Ibo man is quality manager, an Ibo man is my director for maintenance and engineering, a Niger Delta man is the chief pilot and a northerner is my chief accountant. I have contacted the President of Arewa Transformation and Empowerment Initiative(ATEI), Alhaji Mohammed Danjuma, to send me a shortlist of prospective employees of northern origin for all  northern operations and even for the southern end too. This has been compiled already by ATEI and sent.

So, you have people from all over Nigeria and people, who are working in Air Peace will tell you that our recruitment policy is so transparent. And I make sure I am around, nobody asks you where you are coming from. All we want to know is your fitness for the job. We take people from all over the country to give that sense of belonging. I don't have to populate my airline with Ibo people just because I am an Ibo man. I want to give others a sense of belonging because I did not make my money from the Ibos alone. In a multi-cultural setting like Nigeria, we must celebrate those things that bind us together and relegate those differences of ours to the background.

We don't allow it to control our lives. So this airline's recruitment policy is very broad, it promotes rare broad nationalism as against ethnic nationalism. So, Air Peace promotes broad nationalism. Again, as I said earlier, we want to open up the country. There are plans to go to Makurdi, there are plans to use our Dornier jet to fly to Kebbi, there are plans for us to do Kano/Sokoto, there are plans for us to do Kano/Makurdi, there are plans for us to do Asaba/PortHarcourt, Benin/PortHarcourt, Warri/Port-Harcourt; Taraba might have a small runway, we want to go to there.

If they have any small runway, our Dornier jet is very powerful, it has short runway capability. We want to go to Gombe, not just Abuja/Gombe alone, there are people from Gombe, who may want to go to Sokoto.   We want to open up places, we want to go to places that other operators are not venturing to go to. This pioneering initiative will boost the economy of this country. The moment you start opening up the entire nation, it will help business, it will breed unity.

Is that the way you want to be different from other operators?
No.  Another area where we want to be different from other operators is safety. We have zero tolerance for unsafe practices in Air Peace and that is why we make sure that our aircraft are well maintained. We bought our Donier  jets from Europe, we bought our Boeing  jets from America and we make sure in conducting the tests and maintenance of our aircraft,  everything was employed to make sure we had the best. You can imagine, our aircraft  flew for 18 hours from United States to Nigeria, no snag, no defect and that is unusual. Besides that, Nigeria should start to ask questions from the airlines, who maintains your fleet? It is all about maintenance.

In America, they use 60-year old planes, no issues, it is all about maintenance. For us, we brought in BCT Aviation Maintanance Company from United Kingdom.   They are a major maintenance organization in the UK and  provide  these services to several major airlines of the world. Just as one of our competitors  is using Germans, we are using the British and they are here 24/7, maintaining these planes. If they do not sign any aircraft for operation every morning, that aircraft does not go into the sky.

So, they must certify every aircraft before it goes into the sky every morning. Those are the things we want to do and again, we want motivated staff.
One thing we have noticed in Nigeria is that most of the airlines' staff are always grumbling because of non-payment of  salary. We want to motivate our staff. I will run this airline the way I run my other businesses.

My staff in all my businesses take my business as their own. AIR PEACE SHALL BE SHARING PROFIT WITH STAFF !   I am going to run the South West Airline of America model. AirPeace will be declaring periodic bonuses as long as we are making it to trickle down. Every staff will see the airline as his own and protect it. This ensures safety more than anything.

What motivated you to invest in aviation?
I think I am one of those people, who are public spirit-driven. What that means is that I think of how to help. How do I help the unemployed and how do I help my country? I am not being boastful but  my track record speaks about that disposition for me. If you look at the things I have done in the past and I am still doing, you will discover that I am an example of one of those who asked themselves, what can I do for my country?

I remember in 2003, I asked myself this question, how do I arrest the incidence of ethnicity, incidence of violence in my country, especially in the Niger Delta and the North? To this end, I decided to do it myself.   I ran round the 36 states of Nigeria and did this thing solely on my own, I was not thinking of getting money. There was a time I discovered that I was spending a lot of my resources on seeking peace and doing peace building and most of my businesses were suffering.

At a time also, I asked myself, how do I help in restoring peace in the Niger Delta? And that led me to go to University of Rhode Island in United States, I contacted the King's Centre in Atlanta, I contacted Dr. Bernard Lafayette (Jnr.) and I asked him to come down to train my staff. We expended several millions in doing this, I funded them solely. In 2004, after the training, I went into the trenches, bringing people out and training them, transforming them. That is a good example of what can I do for my country?

It was later Shell noticed that there was this man, who has a foundation, Foundation for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria, that I was doing a lot all over the country and they contacted me to help in training and transforming youths from their host communities. And from then, there was no stopping me, Chevron saw what we were doing and keyed into my programme; in fact, the international community noticed me before the Federal Government of Nigeria noticed me and, before you know it, there was non-violence education everywhere. I introduced non-violence education into Nigeria for the first time. We also transformed the Niger Delta militants. I have paid my dues. I answered what motivated me earlier here.

How do you assess the transformation agenda of Jonathan's administration in the aviation industry?
This administration has performed excellently in the aviation industry. The government of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has done what no other government has done in this country in promoting the well-being of the aviation industry.‎

I once thought of reducing my boobs – Ebinabo Potts-Johnson

Maybe her chest isn't as heavy as Cossy Orjiakor, or as monstrous as Foluke Daramola's but upcoming actress and model, Ebinabo Potts-Johnson has a pair of mammary that stand out, far out from her chest to get you thinking you are seeing a trick of nature or something.

She got her claim to fame after bagging the first runner-up prize at the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria (MBGN) 2007 and represented Nigeria at Miss Universe 2007 pageant in Mexico.

The Voluptuous Bayelsa State-born beauty queen isn't like most girls who are crazy about flaunting their God-given gifts. She is particularly vexed by her big boobs, which according to her, prevent men from seeing other side of her.

"Although God put it there and really, at some point in my life I was actually thinking that I need to reduce this thing (her boobs) because most times when people see me, it's just the boobs they're seeing, they're not seeing the other parts of me. It can be embarrassing that people can only see you as a sex object" she complained.

"Sometimes you just don't know why a guy is coming after you. You don't know whether it is because of your personality or your body. Though I don't like to think a guy is coming for me because of my body but I get compliments a lot over my boobs. Sometimes. A guy just passes and says, ""Wow, your boobs are big" and I just give them a smile and walk off.

Bitter Kola and Ebola: What Nigerians must know— Health Minister

*Explains how Sawyer beat security to enter Nigeria
*'Our problem with monkey, bat eaters'
‎
Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, bares his mind on the deadly ebola virus. He also speaks on the strike by doctors, passionately appealed to them to call it off.

PROF. ONYEBUCHI CHUKWU‎
His words: "If doctors are not at their posts, we would have a challenge.  And some people have even written that part of the reason  the index case was successfully handled was because doctors were on strike and, if not, the index case may have been taken to a public health facility.  How true that is I don't know; but as the Minister of Health, I would want the doctors to call off their strike.  In the event that we, God forbid, have more cases, we would need the doctors".
But the focus of this interview is the Ebola problem in the country, what government is doing and the challenges ahead. Excerpts:
What  is the status of Nigeria regarding Ebola and its possible spread?
You will  recall that I  informed the nation that altogether we had placed 70 primary contacts of the index case – that is the imported case –  under active surveillance.
What we do is that once you begin to show any symptom, no matter how mild, we quarantine you. We now have eight persons under quarantine in Lagos. So, what  happened is that based on our report, last week, two of the health workers who came in contact  (with the Liberian) were tested for Ebola virus disease and they came out negative. But in the case of the nurse,  it has turned out positive and that's why we say we've been able to confirm a first Nigerian with the disease based on contact.
Also, some other health workers who are suspected of having symptoms, their results have not been made available because they are not ready yet.
We are maintaining that surveillance and, in terms of what we are doing, focus is on the secondary contacts and then the third degree contacts.
There was a meeting of health ministers in the West African sub-region in Ghana once the outbreak was noticed in Guinea.  What was the outcome of that meeting regarding  possible prevention?
Nigeria participated and one of the outcomes of that meeting was the establishment of a coordinating mechanism in West African countries and some  Central African countries on how to share common strategies and common best practices and the sharing of information as we move on.
Let me say that what has happened is unfortunate because this man, who was the index case, was warned by his own country  not to travel but how he managed to travel and not disclosing full information to those who asked him remains a mystery. Even while on the hospital bed, he was still denying. It is just unfortunate that he brought the disease into Nigeria and this tells you that every country of the world is at risk.
As the problem goes on we would constantly review out strategies and even the World Health Organisation, WHO, is holding a summit in Geneva, Switzerland, to review all the strategies in place and to see if there is need for a review. In-country here in Nigeria, we are working as a team, all hands are on deck – the Federal Government,  Lagos State government and other state governments, WHO, the American CDC – we're working as a team and we'll continue to review the strategy in place. But what is important is that whatever we do, it should enhance the prevention of the disease and it shouldn't be counter-productive!
What is the focus of the strategy because there seems to be too much focus on air travel, whereas our land borders are there and they are porous?
The first one is communication beyond just providing information.   We need to communicate effectively.   The federal  and  state governments are doing that.   The president has inaugurated an inter-ministerial committee for communication strategy.   Eight ministers that are relevant are serving on that committee and they have a mandate to co-opt any other minister that they feel is needed.
Based on that, we are working with the Minister of Information and the Minister of Communication Technology, we are working with the Foreign Affairs Minister, Minister of Interior, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Aviation, Minister of Science and Technology. Since March, we've had our jingles and adverts on television and even the private broadcast stations are now on board and are ready to sponsor these free of charge. The website is www.ebolaalert.org and information is there; you can make suggestions and make complaints – it is  interactive.   There are also telephone numbers you can reach the centres on.
Our toll-free helpline is 0800eboolahelp. We have a facebook page; we've opened accounts on Twitter and we have dedicated emails; but the Information Ministry is helping with grassroots communication since the ministry has the structure on ground.   The faith-based establishments too will be useful in this regard.   We want to be as open as necessary and possible.
On diagnosis
We have expanded the facilities for diagnosis in the country. I am in touch with our development partners and they seem to be impressed with what we have in the country but I think we can still improve the scale. Regarding the borders, at Seme, for instance, people are being screened and we are using infrared to detect any rise in temperature; we have reviewed our forms that travelers must fill before they land at our airports and we have temperature screening at the international airports too.
Just two days ago, through the appropriate ministry, we directed the Customs Service to ensure that corpses are not just brought in indiscriminately. What do we mean by this?   We are saying that before any corpse  is brought into the country, the necessary death certificate must be provided and certified as genuine and true before any such can happened and we would be very stringent with this.
You have to prove the case but we want to maintain a tight control over movement of corpses. In Anambra for instance, we are working with the state government and once the result comes out we will alert members of the public.   In Imo State, the corpse issue there has already been decided because they had a proper certificate of death and we are saying the body can be buried because it is not Ebola.
On Monday, we sent a team to Akwa Ibom to investigate a case that was brought in from one of these countries that was reported to us. We are working round the clock to tackle the challenge.
What about the infrastructure to manage this problem?
That is one area I must say  we are a bit slower than what we anticipated.   In Lagos, the state government has done well by providing a place for us to quarantine and treat patients and we are  asking for more.   Given the way the state government has acted pro-actively, I want to commend the authorities and I believe the state government  can do more. On our own part, we want to move ahead and provide isolation tents within our hospitals, so that we can have add-ons. We have trained the workers.
Personal protective equipment  is being provided through the Federal Government and our development partners, especially WHO. Other states appear slow but with the emergency on our hands, we cannot wait; so the Federal Government is moving ahead, though quite a number of governors are beginning to cooperate and we need to move a lot faster.
But how fast can you move?
It is immediate – very immediate.   Once I'm through with you now, I'm off to another meeting.   Since this thing started, I've not slept earlier than 4am everyday.   But we are all working together.
How much of cooperation are you getting from the local authorities?
We have some challenge there.   Once a council chairman, when he heard that we got space for isolation, they began to incite the youth to say 'we don't want Ebola in our community' – this was also a problem in other countries. The people need to understand that all of us are at risk because there is no person on whose passport is written EBOLA CARRIER.  People need to understand what we are doing.
The family of the infected nurse, now dead, are they part of those under surveillance?
Yes, they are under surveillance.   None of them has been symptomatic yet, but whenever we notice that, we would quarantine such a person. But we are counseling them at this stage and everybody really needs counseling. About delicacies like bats and monkeys. About peoples eating habits, even when you bar people from eating certain things, they go underground and it is even worse because you are not monitoring them.   And I know people who have accosted me at the airport or at functions to say since I spoke about bats and monkeys they've stopped.   What that tells us is that information is key.
But let me make this point.   It is more dangerous for those who are processing the meat and who may have cuts because when it is raw those in contact with it are more in danger.   The best thing to do is since we have other forms of protein, we can do without bats and monkeys for God's sake.   We have goat meat; we have chicken.   Must it be bats?   What is needed is enlightenment and appeal. We are at risk and we don't need to mince words about it. How soon do we expect the striking doctors to come back?
We've tried to do our best by addressing almost all  they demanded. But that is a question you should ask the Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, because even the Senate and the House of Reps have intervened, and after appearing to have dealt with all the issues, they refused.   Elders in the profession have intervened, the governor of Delta State (a medical doctor) intervened; even Mr. President had a one-on-one on two occasions with the leadership of NMA; so I don't know who else to help us appeal to them. I think the strike should be called off; we are appealing to them because we need them to be there, but if they don't, we will take the second best thing.
What level of collaboration exists with the private hospitals as a secondary option for people since the doctors are on strike?
Let me tell you, the index case was discovered at the airport and, because government doctors were on strike, he was taken to a private hospital.   I guess if doctors were not on strike, he may have been taken to LASUTH or LUTH. We are engaging them and our people are holding meetings with different groups of private practitioners.   We identified that the students need to be enlightened more because of the school environment.
How do we man the illegal entry points?
That  is one of the reasons  it has been difficult to just close the borders because what it then means is that when you close the designated borders, you leave room for people to use the illegal entry points which are totally off our radar.   Mind you, we don't have gates round the country; so it may even be more inimical to close the borders because of those illegal points, so we should encourage people to come in through the 22 designated entry points but once there is a consensus on that, we may then move.
Are we in touch with the American government regarding that serum that was administered on their doctors who got infected with the virus?
Yesterday, I inaugurated the treatment research group and one of its terms is to collaborate with similar such groups all around the world and they are getting in touch with the Americans. They also have the opportunity of looking at their own options and we should not underestimate the intelligence of Nigerians, that's why that committee was inaugurated.
There is no time frame because it is a standing committee on  Ebola and possibly other diseases.   This is just the beginning. Part of our measures also is to screen in-bound and out-bound passengers  just as the passengers too would be screened in their countries of disembarkation. For local flights, internal restriction of movements is counter-productive.   What is important is to follow up on contact tracing because there is not enough resources anywhere in the world to do that.   But for airports that we know could serve as connection points we are taking care of that.
Now, what about Professor Maurice Iwu's thesis regarding bitter kola and Ebola?
One of the things we decided to focus on by setting up that committee is to streamline claims of possible scientific cure, not a situation where pastors and imams claim  they can cure Ebola.   We might even go to the extent of making laws to arrest people with such bogus claims.   We would take every suggestion seriously. About Professor Iwu, we know that quite a number of Nigerians accessed his article through the internet.
What Professor Iwu and his research team proved in America is that in the laboratory test-tube – not in an animal or a human being –  bitter kola extract was able to hinder the growth of Ebola virus, that it was able to slow it down or kill it. That research was not concluded according to Professor Iwu himself and he says he is disappointed that the research was not taken to its logical conclusion.
We need now to work with him and that is why we need him.   He is a distinguished world renowned professor of pharmacognosy; and he is someone we value in this country because of his professionalism and working with others; we would be able to put all ideas to the test and see how far we go.
This is a serious business.‎

OSUN DECIDES: Rauf Aregbesola beats Senator Iyiola Omisore to win Osun governorship election

Rauf Aregbesola, the Osun State governor and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has won Saturday's governorship election. In the announced results by the returning officer, who is also the Vice Chancellor Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ile-Ife, Professor Bamitale Omole, Aregbesola won the poll in 22 Local Government Areas against Senator Iyiola Omisore of PDP who won in 8 Councils in the state. 
Breakdown of the figures declared is as follows:

‎Ilesha East – APC 16,116
PDP 5,913 Ilesha West – APC 15427 PDP 5,449 Atakumosa West – 6,128 PDP 5,142
Irepodun – APC 13,314 PDP 7,386
Ede South – APC 11,738 PDP 7,462
Boripe – APC 12,657 PDP 9,172
Atakumosa East – APC 9,134 PDP 6,293
Ede North – APC 15,403 PDP 10,427
Ifelodun – APC 17,447 PDP 12,476
Iwo – APC 21,093 PDP 15,435
Oriade – APC 12,523 PDP 10,214
Ejigbo – APC 9,942 PDP 4,422
Odo Otin- APC 11,950 PDP 12,902
Irewolede – APC 18,328 PDP 10,330
Ife Central – APC 9,680 PDP 24,555
Aiyedire – APC 7,834 PDP 7,828
Ila – APC 10,825 PDP 7,916
Obokun – APC 9,516 PDP 7,577
Olaoluwa – APC 7,927 PDP 4,913
Orolu – APC 8,558 PDP 6,786
Osogbo – APC 39,948 PDP 12,398
Ife East – APC 13,846 PDP 20,868
Aiyedade – APC 13,186 PDP 11,306
Ife North – APC 8,063 PDP 8,542
Ife South – APC 7,324 PDP 12,811
Egbedore – APC 10,617 PDP 7,022

TOTAL:
387, 527 APC
285, 925 PDP

Nigerians beg Obama to give Lagos nurse vaccine

Nigerians on different social media platforms on Saturday asked President Barack Obama to give a vaccine, ZMapp, being developed in the United States to treat a Nigerian nurse, Justina Ejelonu, reportedly infected with Ebola.

On such websites as Facebook and Twitter, the petitioners begged Obama to release the vaccine to Ejelonu and other Africans suffering from the virus. The petitions were made on the White House website.

Ejelonu, who is one of those that were infected with the Ebola virus after treating the Liberian victim, Patrick Sawyer, has said she did not have direct contact with Sawyer's body fluids.

The deadly virus, which leads to death in humans within days from infection, is transmitted through sweat, urine, blood, and other fluids from the body.

Ejelonu recounted her encounter with Sawyer in a report on a website, www.southeastnigeria.com.

According to the website, she said she had checked his vitals and helped him with food because he was too weak, and that the mode of transmission could be from touching the same surfaces as the Liberian.

She said, "I never contacted his fluids. I checked his vitals, helped him with his food (he was too weak). I basically touched where his hands touched and that's the only contact — not directly with his fluids.

"At a stage, he yanked off his infusion and we had blood everywhere on his bed. But the ward maids took care of that and changed his linens with great precaution. Every patient is treated as high-risk. If it were air borne, by now wahala for dey (there would have been trouble). I still thank God."

Ejelonu added that the workers' uniforms and Sawyer's bedding were burnt afterwards, saying the staff were under surveillance and off-duty till August 11.

She said, "Our samples have long been taken by the World Health Organisation and so far, we have been fine. Kudos to my hospital management because we work professionally with every patient considered as high-risk — that's the training."

The health worker noted that if it were a public hospital, the outcome might have been different, adding that she was however grateful to the Lagos State Government and the Federal Government for their support.