BusinessDay 01 Dec 2019

World AIDS Day: Experts harp on need for HIV testing HIV positive.

“I was very scared and dead inside; I broke down right there and then. I knew my life was over. Throughout that week, I was unable to sleep and eat.

“Both parents of mine are negative. I am still learning to live with HIV; I know I have a lot more to go through with the disease,” Ajiri said.

“While at NYSC assignment, I was dating a guy who I did not really know and he

ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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t was tears and agony when Ajiri, a 25-yearold graduate of one of the Nigeria’s prestigious Federal Universities, tested positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in December 2018.

According to Ajiri’s narration, after the medical test, her doctor called her into his office and dropped the fatal message that she had tested

Continues on page 8

I have no hands in alleged impeachment plot against Taraba Assembly speaker - Ishaku Nathaniel Gbaoron, Jalingo

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overnor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State has described as false and malicious reports that went viral on social media on Friday which attracted reactions about a purported impeachment plot against principal officers of the Taraba State House of Assembly, including Abel Peter Diah, the speaker.

This came barely hours after a publication on a social media platform alleged

some mapped out plans by the governor to siphon over two hundred million naira (N200,000,000) from the treasury of the state’s Universal Basic Education (UBE), to buy up state legislators in order to change the entire leadership of the state Assembly.

But in a statement signed by Bala Dan Abu, his senior special assistant on media and publicity, a copy of which was made available to newsmen in Jalingo Saturday, Continues on page 2

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Kogi election: When reality synchronised with permutations P.14

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Vol 1, No. 290 N300

Market sentiment unchanged as There would be turmoil in ??

FCMB Group posts N136bn gross Nigeria if ‘hate speech’ bill is earnings in 9 months P.40 passed - Ogunkelu P.16 p 41.

inside Lagos traffic: 36 years of fruitless search for solution

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Career choices and how not to raise children L-R: Ama Ikuru, general manager, Capacity Building Division NCDMB; Jean Cahuzac, chief executive officer, Subsea 7; Musa Lawan, group general manager, NAPIMS; Anwar Jarmakani, chairman Nigerstar 7; Paul McGrath, chairman/managing director, Mobil Producing Nigeria; Yann Cottart, chief executive officer Nigerstar 7; Derek Izedonmwen, Sales & Marketing director, Nigerstar 7, and Bayo Ojulari, managing director, SNEPCO, at the vessel reflagging event of the Seven Antares and Seven Inagha offshore construction support vessels at Nigerdock yard, Lagos.

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Rising public debt, headwind to achieving 2.38% GDP in Q4 HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

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he incessant alarm being raised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) seems not to be in vein as Nigeria’s rising public debt is seen to be a headwind to achieving the estimated growth rate in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Nigeria’s total public debt stood at N25.70 trillion as at Continues on page 38

Second-hand clothing, frozen foods flood Nigerian markets Despite border closure

AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

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hree months into the closure of the nation’s land borders to trade across borders by the Federal Government to curtail the menace of smug-

gling of banned items such as foreign parboiled rice, vehicles and others, contraband items still serve as commodities for exchange in many Nigerian markets.

When BDSUNDAY visited some markets in Lagos, it was discovered that items such as

second hand clothing, frozen poultry products like chicken, turkey and gizzard that are prohibited for import, but usually smuggled into the country through Seme border that bound Nigeria and Benin Republic, were very much available in the market.

It was also discovered that frozen poultry, which at the beginning of the border closure, was scarce, are now finding their way little by little into many Nigerian markets.

This observation has left many to wonder how smugglers Continues on page 2

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Cover Second-hand clothing, frozen foods ...

Continued from page 1 manage to move these items into the country despite the presence of joint security personnel comprising of officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NCS) and Nigerian Police Force (NPF) within the border post.

Presently, a carton of foreign chicken popularly known as ‘Orobo chicken’ now goes for N13,500 while a carton of turkey, which was very scarce at the beginning of the border closure, now goes for N14,500 at wholesale price.

“Our market is now available but when we buy a carton of Orobo chicken for N13,500 from the cold room, we retail for N1,500 per kilo; turkey, N1,600 per kilo and gizzard now goes for N1,600 per kilo as well,” said a middle aged frozen foods seller, who gave her name as Iya Bisola.

According to her, sourcing for goods at the early stage of the border closure was very difficult until dealers started finding ways to bring in goods despite the closure of the border.

“I do not import these foods. So, I don’t know how importers are able to bring in goods amid the presence of security personnel at the border but we that retail, only understand the situation through hike in prices of goods. Though, prices are a little bit low presently, in the next one week, prices would go up, higher than what they are today. This was because Christmas is around the corner and demand is usually high at that time,” Iya Bisola predicted.

Confirming this, BDSUNDAY recalls that just recently, Fatuhu Mu-

hammad, a member of the House of Representatives, representing Daura/Sandamu/MaiAdua in Katsina State, spoke on the floor of the House, describing the border closure as an exercise in deception.

According to him, the border closure is a fraud because while Nigerians are made to believe that the borders are closed; commodities are still finding their way into the country through the purportedly closed land borders.

Muhammad accused the men and officials of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) of being culpable in the act of allowing contraband items into Nigerian markets.

“We all know borders are closed. But they still allow things to go in and out. I was a living witness and I stand to be corrected.

The day before yesterday (around November 14) I was there at the border between Nigeria and Niger around 1am. Nobody knew and I saw what they were doing,” the lawmaker alleged.

Muhammad however, called for the summoning of the Customs authorities by the House. He also queried the rationale behind the decision to shut down the land borders when smuggling of illegal goods it sought to control, still find their way into the Nigerian market.

“Customs needs to be invited here. They need to be questioned. This is the National Assembly.

We need to know what is going to happen before you take any instructions; such very weighty orders to shut down the borders,” he cried out.

He lamented that the border closure had taken a huge toll on the livelihood of residents in his constituency.

L-T: Acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Hon. Justice John Terhemba Tsoho; Director of Studies, National Judicial Institute (NJI), Maryam Kawu; Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Asset Management of Nigeria (AMCON), Ahmed Kuru and Hon. Justice Abdullahi Mohammed Liman at a seminar for Judges of the Federal High Court in Abuja…at the weekend.

Meanwhile, a 45-year old Omotola Adedoyi (not real name), a trader, who deals on second hand clothing, popularly known as ‘okirika’ in one of the open markets in the suburb area of Alimosho Local Government Area, Lagos State, told our correspondent how she has been able to sustain her business in the last three months.

“I used to stock my goods mid of every year ahead of the festive season. As at the time I stocked up my goods earlier in June/July this year, the border was still open and we were not having problem of sourcing for goods, but today, it has become very difficult,” Adedoyi lamented.

According to her, a bale of second hand clothing that was formerly sold for N180,000 earlier in the year, now goes for between N220,000 and N250,000 since the border was closed.

She said that people are really finding it difficult since the border closure because Seme border was the major route through which these goods come

I have no hands in alleged impeachment plot against...

Continued from page 1 the governor described the allegations as untrue.

“It is yet another wicked and malicious attempt to cause confusion and conflict in the relationship between the executive and legislative arms of government in the state on the one hand and Governor Ishaku and Peter Diah, his political godson, on the other.

“Both men have had several years of fruitful personal and official relation-

ships nurtured by mutual trust, cooperation and collaboration,” the statement said.

It further explained that Governor Ishaku would never sponsor and did not sponsor the so-called impeachment move, if indeed there was any such move by the honourable members, let alone fund it with such a staggering amount of money from the public purse.

“The allegations are ridiculous, absolutely false

and malicious. It is certainly for these reasons that the author of the article failed to sign it. Governor Ishaku wants the general public to ignore this article and the lies contained in it,” he added.

The statement however, described Ishaku as an apostle of peace who will not do anything that will rock the existing level of trust and understanding between him and members of the state House of Assembly.

into the country, but today, many Nigerians are beginning to find alternative routes because, “man must survive”.

“This was why good and quality second hand clothing are very expensive in the market today.

People retail the goods the same way they bought and that is the simple law of economics,” Adedoyi stated.

A source close to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), who does not want his name in the print, told BDSUNDAY that Customs commands such as Federal Operations Unit, Seme and Idiroko commands are currently out of business since the border closure started.

The source further said that it is only Customs officers, who man the border lines that make money from smugglers.

“These officers collect big money from smugglers and help them to cross the goods through the bush paths at night.

These officers ensure that the smugglers get to their destinations unnoticed because if the smugglers are caught, the officers would

be held responsible,” the source claimed.

Despite the heavy presence of these contraband commodities in Nigerian market, poultry farmers in Ogun State recently commended the Federal Government for extending the border closure till end of January 2020.

They said not until recently, poultry farmers have not been enjoying the opportunity provided to them by the country’s population.

To them, border closure has help to reduce the importation of poultry products and increase demand for locally grown poultry meat, adding that if properly managed, the business of poultry can contribute tremendously to national development.

Olalekan Odunsi, a poultry farmer, said a lot of farmers that have shut down their farms before the border was closed, are already going to dust them.

“The chicks now are fully booked and farms are already filling up so that they can be able to meet Nigerians demand for meat consumption.

The main thing is that we can feed ourselves because we have everything it takes to feed ourselves.

So, I think the border closure is good, though presently it pains but with time we will get there,” he said.

With the opportunity created for farmers by the closure of the border, more jobs are now created the youth and Nigerians save more money.

The border closure, farmers say, would help in reducing unemployment in country, therefore they urged youths to make good use of the opportunity to start something in poultry business rather than wait for government to create job.

This was because the market is now open and the demand has increased for both poultry meat and eggs in Nigeria.

Pundits believed that in addition to closing the borders to trade that government to should make use of the opportunity to encourage Nigerian youths to go into poultry farming while farmers also need to expand their coast to benefit from the policy.

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari ordered for the closure of the land borders with some of Nigeria’s neighbours in August 2019. The Federal Government had also given conditions that neighboring countries must in addition to adhering to ECOWAS protocols as applied to transit cargoes, must adhere to before the border would be reopened to trade.

Recently, Nigeria, the Republic of Benin and Niger, established a joint border patrol team; comprising the Police, Customs, Immigration of the tripartite countries to recommend a date for the reopening of the borders.

LASTMA mourns murdered officer, condemns attacks on personnel

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he Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) has condemned the incessant attacks on its personnel while carrying out their official duty.

Olajide Oduyoye, general manager of LASTMA, decried the Friday attack on the authority’s personnel in a statement by Olumide Filade, LASTMA’s spokesman, on Saturday in Lagos.

Oduyoye mourned the murder of a LASTMA of-

ficial, Ola Oyeshina, who was attacked on Friday in the course of sanitising Iganmu-Sifax axis of Apapa.

The general manager, who disclosed that a huge stone was thrown at the late officer, said he was immediately rushed to Area “B” police station along with two of the people that attacked him.

Oduyoye revealed that owing to the trauma experienced, Oyeshina was immediately referred to LUTH

from Randle Hospital, Surulere.

“It is unfortunate that the agency lost the young promising officer to the cold hand of death in the early hours of Saturday, November 30, 2019,” the general manager said.

He assured that the perpetrators of the dastardly act would be prosecuted in the court of law to serve as deterrent to others who may want to perpetrate such condemnable act in the future.

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News

MTN in 5G trial exercise in Cross River, harps on possibilities of the new robot

Buhari to launch construction of new varsity in Daura

MIKE ABANG, Calabar

resident Muhammadu Buhari will tomorrow participate in a “ground breaking ceremony for the University of Transportation, Daura,” Garba Shehu, senior special assistant, Media and Publicity to the President, said.

Daura in Katsina State is Mr Buhari’s hometown.

Shehu said the President arrived in Daura on Friday evening “after attending the 5th Summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.”

President Buhari arrived the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua International Airport at 4.20 p.m. and was received by Governor

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ohammed Rufai, chief technical officer of MTN Nigeria, at the weekend said the trial exercise of 5G in Calabar, the Cross River State Capital, when fully in operation will provide faster speeds for simultaneous users.

Rufai said this at the unveiling of the 5G robot at its headquarters in Calabar, adding that the robot has high accuracy through the camera head and motion detective control. On the difference between 4G and 5G, he disclosed that 5G is a transformational change from 4G. “5G has the potential to provide 20X faster data speed and carries a massive amount of data for a

large number of simultaneous users,” he said.

“So, users in high-density areas – like airports, stadia or urban areas – can still experience the fast speeds and low latency of 5G service. As the world replaces more and more household items with ‘smart devices’ that connect to the internet, also known as the Internet of Things. This network capacity will be critical. 5G will potentially be able to handle more than 2.5 million connected devices per square mile,” Rufai further explained.

According to him, 5G will support business innovative ambitions and create new markets, transforming chain management and creating smarter, more efficient manufacturing.

According to him, “It is also a

fundamental platform for the Internet of Things (IoT) — the rapidly expanding number of devices that collect transmit and share data via the internet. By 2020, more than half of all new businesses will rely on the ‘IoT’ to cut costs, build efficiencies, and grow their bottomline.”

Speaking during the trial exercise, Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State commended the telecommunication giant for its innovation and giant strides in the communication industry.

Ayade, who was represented

by Ayi Henshaw, permanent secretary in the State Ministry of Information, further said MTN ambition was in line with the state government agenda of making Calabar one of the smart cities in Nigeria.

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Aminu Masari, the spokesperson said.

“The President, who is on a 5-day official visit to the state, will on Monday participate in a ground breaking ceremony for the University of Transportation, Daura, and commission the Kwanar Gwante (Shargalle Road), which is off Kano-Daura Road.

“The specialised university, which will be built by CCECC Nigerian Ltd, will focus on research and development of human capital for the transport sector.

“The President will depart Daura on Tuesday for Kaduna,” Shehu said.

Failure of Visions 2010, 2020 show Nigeria’s unseriousness in achieving economic development DANIEL OBI & MICHAEL ANI

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n less than two months an economic development plan aimed at catapulting Nigeria into the league of the first 20 global economies by 2020 will come to an end without any part of the outlined plan implemented.

The Vision 2020 policy document which was drafted in 2009 under the administration of the then President Olusegun Obasanjo was supposed to, among other things, make efficient use of Nigeria’s human and natural resources to achieve rapid economic growth, and translate economic growth into equitable social development for all citizens.

However, 12 years after, hopes of a better nation envisaged in the plan appear to be fading with Nigeria still faced with several economic maladies including epileptic power supply, weak infrastructure and institutions among others.

The country has now become the poverty capital of the world; about six Nigerians fall into the poverty trap every minute, according to data from the World Poverty Clock.

“Nigeria has the problem of policy somersaulting rather than consistency which is making it achieve little or less of set goals,” said Evans Osabuohien, professor of economics and chairman of the Centre for Economic Policy and Developmental Research at Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State.

Africa’s largest economy has spent huge resources, not once,

twice or thrice, in developing an economic development plan and has always lacked the political will to implement its set agenda.

Since Nigeria returned to civilian rule, it has not made any headway in seeing through wellthought out policies.

A recent example is the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) formulated in 2017 under the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. The ERGP aimed at resuscitating an ailing economy from a recession following the drop in oil income, due to a drop in prices, which accounts for almost 85percent of the West African nation’s foreign earnings and unrest in the Niger Delta region of the country.

From all indications, the projections made in the plan appear not to be “going as planned”.

For example, the ERGP forecasts that by 2020, Nigeria’s economy would grow at an average of 4.6 per cent annually while inflation was projected at a single digit.

Similarly, the unemployment rate was expected to be within 11.23 percent by 2020 and an average of 3.7 million jobs created to increase the total jobs added into the country to 15 million.

But in reality, growth is still tepid at 2 per cent while unemployment has almost doubled to an all-time high of 23.3 per cent as at the last data released by the Abuja-based statistical agency, NBS. Inflation is nowhere near the country’s single digit target. The federal government is planning on collapsing both the Vision 2020 and the Economic ERGP into a new development plan that would kick off in the fourth

quarter this year, according to a statement made by Zainab Ahmed, the minister of Finance.

Analysts fear little or no progress will be made in the proposed plan based on failure of previous plans.

“It is clear that Nigeria is lagging behind in almost everything and that is because of failure of being consistent in achieving set policies and objectives, said Philip Alege, Professor of Economics at Covenant University.

“For me, Nigerian’s are not sincere in achieving any plan for its citizens, it wouldn’t be talking about 2023 elections instead of brainstorming on how to get its country working,” Alege told BDSUNDAY. Aside from failing to implement policies drafted in its development plans, Nigeria has a penchant for killing policies however good so long as they were drafted by a previous government.

Before the formulation of Vision 2020 in 2009, Nigeria had an economic development plan known as Vision 2010 that was drawn up under the then military government of General Sani Abacha.

The Vision 2010 plan which was crafted in 1996 was articulated by over 300 Nigerian stakeholders from all walks of life including expatriates. It had a workable document to put Nigeria on economic growth trajectory by 2010.

Vision 2010 was, therefore, a more comprehensive development strategy programme by both Nigerians in the public and private sectors to put Nigeria on a path of growth and development through economic diversification, political restructuring

and socio-cultural unification.

The Vision 2010 was also against the back-drop of gross mismanagement and political misalignment after years of military dictatorship.

In 1996, at the time of the Vision 2010 was being made it was clear that after 36 years of independence; the economic and political performance of the country was far below its potential and the expectation of Nigerians. The Chairman of Vision 2010 Committee, Ernest Shonekan said then: “For us in Nigeria, the need to do this visioning has never been more compelling given our relatively weak position in the world in many areas of human endeavour”. The Vision which looked at many sectors, assessed where Nigeria was, where the country wants to be and marshalled out road maps on how to get there.

The Vision 2010 was abandoned by subsequent governments: Abdusalami Abubakar, Olusegun Obasanjo, Musa Ya’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari. And Nigeria has either stagnated or receded economically.

From a pre-independence economic growth rate of 6-7 percent to 11 percent immediately after independence, Nigeria is now struggling to growth at a rate of 2 percent.

With an estimated 87million people (about half of the country’s population) living in extreme poverty, Nigeria has overtaken India as the country with the largest number of people living in poverty.

Michael Omolayole, a member of Vision 2010 and who had served as managing direc-

tor and chairman respectively of many companies including Unilever, Chemical and Allied Products and American International Insurance Company Plc. (AIICO) regretted the abandonment of what he described as the collective wisdom in Vision 2010.

Looking at Nigeria past and present, Felix Ohiwerei, a shrewd industrialist who was on a committee for Vision 2010 said nonimplementation of the vision to put Nigeria on a growth path is regrettable.

Sam Ohuabunwa , another member of the Vision 2010, reckons we have not made progress as a country due to non-implementation of the vision. “There has not been any significant improvement, and in some cases, it is worse and this means that we have not done the right things. If we have followed policies consistently, we would have arrived at a better position,” he said.

Phillip Asiodu, who served as Chief Economic Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, considers the nonimplementation of the Vision 2010 by Obasanjo government as a great regret.

Asiodu believed that any leader could have made the difference in economic growth as envisioned in Vision 2010 if the recommendations were implemented. “When you are in power, you must always think of the people and their welfare,” he said.

In 2006, after realising the failure of Vision 2010, the Nigerian government led by Obasanjo assembled technocrats again to come up with another plan, Vision 2020.

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News Akwa Ibom denies collapse of 97% of constructed roads ANIEFIOK UDONQUAK, Uyo

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h e Ak w a Ib o m State Government has denied that 97 percent of the road it has constructed has failed, describing such reports as untrue and unfounded.

Ephraim Inyang-eyen, commissioner for works in an interview in Uyo, the state capital, said though there might have been problem with one or two roads constructed, it did not mean that 97 percent of road projects embarked upon by the present administration had failed.

He said the recent continuous heavy downpour has slowed down several road projects in the state.

He maintained that some of the roads alleged to have failed have not been completed but were at the asphalting stage, noting that the state government had ordered the contractors to suspend all earth work and asphalting jobs till the rains were over.

He revealed that the error discovered on one of the commissioned roads had been corrected, adding that the government was waiting for the rains to stop for it to complete the roads as work could not continue with the constant heavy rains He said it was only the Airport/Okpoedi road where contractors handling the road had to be forced out because of poor quality job, stating

Ephraim Inyang-eyen

that he has insisted that the current contractor handling the road should work according to the Ministry’s specifications.

He explained that he has been pressuring the contractors who were lagging behind in their jobs to speed up work, saying his work so far cannot be faulted as he was the champion of quality jobs.

The Commissioner decried the abandonment of the Calabar-Itu road project started by the Federal Government, adding that the road was not captured in the 2020 budget, as the contractor supposedly hired to construct the road was never mobilised to site.

He reiterated that the

award of the road contract at the eve of the 2019 general election was a political move, and called on the FG to take steps in repairing Federal roads in the state as many of them were bad.

“The report by Victor Ekwere, member representing Mkpat Enin State Constituency that 97 percent of the roads done in the state since the coming of Governor Udom Emmanuel has failed is absolute fallacy; it is not correct.

“The Awa/Ikot Edem/Ikot Emem/Ukam road does not just stop there. The spur goes to Asung, my village, and I will be an irresponsible person to get a contract done that goes to my village that will fail after

Terragon urges government to support growth of data science in Nigeria SEYI JOHN SALAU

one year. So, it is not correct.

“I discovered in the course of that particular road that if because of constant rainfall, they do asphalting intermittently as we have sun, there is bound to be water sipping into what was done and when they start a new one, there were gaps. That is what happened on that road and I was the one who discovered it with my team before the commissioning,” he said.

According to him, “That road was commissioned in May; how would we repeat the same error for the road to be done under the rain? It has rained from the day that road was commissioned till today.

“The same contractor is handling the 13.9 kilometre Awa Nkana road. We have finished up to stone base but every time the road is primed for asphalting, it rains torrentially and any time it rained, it takes two or three days for the water to dry out. The last time I went to that road, they had finished but they had to wait till December because the forecast says it will rain till December.”

“If you go round this state, you will see that there are several roads that are near completion that further work cannot be done particularly asphalting. I take responsibility as the supervisor of Awa/Ukam road, Asong/ Ikot Ebiere that the member representing Mkpat Enin, Victor Ekwere was being tricky; he did not discover the error.

Ikpeazu commissions 56,000 bird capacity poultry cluster in Abia UDOKA AGWU, Umuahia

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overnor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State has formally commissioned the 55,500 bird capacity Ultra Modern Poultry Cluster for Abia Central Senatorial Zone under the Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) The facility, which lies on a land area of 3.5 hectares, has a modern administration building with offices, classrooms and living quarters for the trainees.

All the facilities were built by the Abia State Government while the CBN supports with the training programme.

Ikpeazu, while commissioning the project at Umuosu-Nsulu in Isialangwa North Local Government Area of the State, stressed the need for all to embrace the project and called on stakeholders and politicians to use poultry farming as empowerment

tool for youths in the state.

Governor Ikpeazu, who gave assurance during the ceremony that the cluster would be replicated in all the three Senatorial zones of the state, charged the LGA Chairmen to provide pens for would be farmers in the LGAs. The governor noted that his government decided to toe the path of training for poultry farmers because of the need for the farmers to understand the rudiments of poultry farming so as to be successful in the business.

He hinted that the cluster would provide virtually everything needed for the poultry farmer from training; feed production, poultry production and provision of market for the farmers.

The State Chief Executive commended the CBN for its efforts in tackling food insecurity in Nigeria and while charging the youths avail themselves of the opportunity of the cluster to make a better life.

He equally revealed that

the cluster now produces poultry feed and disclosed that the feed has been subsidised to N2,000 only per bag for the farmers.

Ogbuagu Camilus, the representative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in his speech, disclosed that Abia was the first State in Nigeria to key into the CBN Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme. He assured the Governor that the CBN would sustain the partnership with a view to ensuring that the project achieves its goals.

Ikpeazu

Ikechi Mgbeoji, a professor, the state Commissioner for Agriculture, in his speech, said the project would bring about a quantum leap in poultry production in the State, create employment and generate wealth, both for the people and government. He said the cluster, which was largely sponsored by Governor Ikpeazu administration would serve as one of the sites for the implementation of the Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme (AADS) of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The projects according the Commissioner would create direct and indirect employment for over 10,000 youths, along all the value chains in the poultry industry.

He hinted that so far 1,000 youths have been profiled by the Central Bank to benefit from the AADS, out of which 220 are currently participating at the cluster, after which each of the participants would be allocated birds from the about 55,500 birds already stocked at the cluster.

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he Federal Government has been urged to prioritise industry collaboration with the private sector to develop a 21st Century curriculum that focuses on preparing Nigerian students to fit into the emerging fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Science, among others.

“We think that in terms of curriculum in the educational system in our schools, government can work together with private sector to influence the curriculum and infuse more advanced topics around data science, machine learning so that students could get access and hands on experience at a very early stage, before they get out of school and get trained by their employers,” Ayodeji Balogun, co-founder and chief operations officer, Terragon Group, said.

Balogun made the observation at the 2019 Data Science Nigeria (DSN) Summit and Boot camp held recently in Lagos, where he called on government to provide adequate infrastructure that would enable players in the ecosystem perform optimally.

“The biggest problems we have in Nigeria as far as I’m

concerned, is access to data and infrastructure. In other countries, the government provides access to some sample data sets that engineers can work with to train their models; you don’t have to think about looking for data sets, here in Nigeria, there’s nothing like that, so we think that government can support a lot in that area.

“In a continent of about 1.2 billion people across a landscape that may be larger than many other continents put together, it is often quite difficult to identify and reach people in Africa. At Terragon, our goal is to use data and technology to simplify this process of connecting brands to the African consumer through intelligent connections at scale on the mobile device,” Balogun said.

According to him, Terragon relies very heavily on data, and leverages data science to enable smart connections to mobile for businesses across Africa. Data science, artificial intelligence and machine learning are among the tools deployed by the tech company.

“This is why partnering with the Data Science Nigeria AI Summit and Boot camp was critical to its business strategy, as it aligns with Terragon key objectives and goals,” he said.

MTN concludes ‘Pulse Invasion’, as Uniben hosts final campus invasion for 2019 SEYI JOHN SALAU

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elecommunication Company, MTN Nigeria, has concluded its lineup for 2019 ‘Pulse Campus Invasion’, an initiative geared towards developing Nigerian students for the business world leveraging entertainment. MTN concluded this year’s campus Pulse Invasion following five days of excitement and fun at the University of Benin (Uniben) Campus in Benin, Edo State.

Rahul De, the chief marketing officer, MTN Nigeria said, “Wehavefoundawaytoreach millions of young Nigerians in their language with the Pulse offering as well as with the Pulse Invasion series. As with previous years, we aimed to infuse entertainment and entrepreneurship into a holistic experience for the students during the invasion.

“Understanding that we have contributed to hundreds of students acknowledging the value of their talents and understanding the importance of dedication while finding ingenious ways to

transform their passion into profit is humbling for us as a company. We actively believe working in partnership with our expert and celebrity partners, we can ensure that we are good together,” he stated.

The invasion kicked off with games, quizzes and other thrilling activities at the sales village located in the basement car park of Uniben.

Two days after, students were treated to motivational speeches by some of Nigeria’s accomplished entrepreneurs, including award-winning photographer and publisher, Style Mania Magazine, Kelechi Amadi-Obi; life coach and managing consultant, EdgeEcution, Steve Harris and mental health awareness advocate and graphologist, Oladipupo Macjob.

The speakers shared thought-provoking insights into their careers and the necessities for success in life and business. Nigerian music stars, multiple award-winning DJ and music producer, Sodamola Oluseye ‘DJ Spinall’ Desmond, and hype man, Kunle ‘Shody’ Oshodi-Glover, thrilled the students with scintillating performances at the Hall 2 Car park.

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News Stakeholders demand increased investment in trauma care infrastructure IFEOMA OKEKE

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takeholders in Nigeria’s health, accident and emergency response industries have demanded increased government and private sector investments in facilities that will ease the plight of trauma victims.

In recent years, the country has witnessed an increase in the number of suicides occasioned by depression.

There are also several cases of persons traumatized owing to the loss of family members or friends, accident victims from road, water, and air mishaps, just as fire disasters, floods, homelessness, failed marriages, truncated relationships, collapsed businesses, loss of jobs have

wrecked emotional havoc on thousands of Nigerians.

Stakeholders who gathered in Lagos for the 2019 trauma conference organised by TraumaCare International Foundation expressed the worry over the plight of victims, the majority lacking access to requisite facilities for speedy treatment and help from professionals.

The experts, who be-

moaned cases where doctors and medical officials turn down the request to treat patients in emergency conditions, urged the public to report such officials for disciplinary actions.

Ak i n Ab a y o m i , La gos State Commissioner for Health, who spoke at the event, lamented the stressed-induced trauma that thousands of residents

face daily in the state due to infrastructural gaps , assuring that efforts were made to mitigate the impact on citizens. Abayomi, also decried the activities of irresponsible commercial motorcyclists saying they were a source of trauma to many.

“Many people are going through challenges associated with living in a mega city where no one seems to care;

UNN medical centre receives N6m equipment boost Seyi John Salau

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fforts by University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) to upgrade its medical centre received a big boost recently following the donation of various equipment worth over N6 million by a medical equipment company, Equator Medics International Limited.

Some of the equipment include a multi-purpose operating table for surgical procedures of the head, neck, thorax and abdomen. The facility which can be raised or lowered hydraulically by

L – R: Augustine Onwurah, medical director, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN); Ambassador Romanus Okafor, managing director, Equator Medics International Ltd.; Lady Faith Chinyeaka Okafor, Prof.

Patrick Okpoko, deputy VC (Admin), UNN; Charles Ebiziem, deputy registrar, and Prof. Uju Umoh, director of Quality Assurances and member Governing Council, UNN, during the presentation of medical equipment to UNN Medical centre

ing of 21 parameters in the blood and a Patient monitor for body vital signs; ten hospital beds with crank and lyres each, Drip stands with swivel handle, ten number of hospital mattresses, one wheel chair, two examination couch, two ward screens, blood glucose meter, glucose strips and two automatic blood pressure meters.

Okafor, who presented the equipment to the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Charles Igwe, said it was a modest contribution in support of the commitment of the University management to provide quality medical services to the school community and members of the public.

“This is our little way of supporting the giant strides of the Vice Chancellor, Professor Ugwu, at upgrading the University medical centre to a befitting status.

It is my company’s believe that UNN deserves medical facilities befitting of an institution of its status.

“It is the collective responsibility of well-meaning Nigerians to support educational institutions in the country such as UNN as government cannot do it alone.”

He appealed to corporate organisations and alumni members to support the development of the University through construction or renovation of facilities in the institution.

“UNN has produced a lot of high profile individuals

government was working on a Bill for the establishment of a national blood transfusion to address the challenge.

The Minister also called on NGOs to scale up partnership with the government to boost Healthcare service delivery to Nigerians.

A participant, Christian Ikpa told journalists that thousands of Nigerians die annually not knowing where and how to get help in times of trauma.

“I commend the effort of Trauma Care Foundation, but given the magnitude of the challenge and the population of the country, it is important that more private sector establishments partner with the government in investing in the requisite infrastructure, and the hiring and training of officials involved in the management of trauma.

Road crashes claim 143 lives in Edo in 10 months - FRSC IDRIS UMAR MOMOH & CHURCHILL OKORO, Benin

…As Health minister urges other alumni to emulate donor means of an oil pump is also used for gynecological and orthopedics operations.

Supplies also are an Ultrasound Scanning Machine.

The scanning machine is mainly applied in the dynamic image diagnosis of the liver, gall bladder, spleen, kidney, urinary bladder, pancreatic gland, as well as in gynecological tests. According to Ambassador (Dr) Romanus Anayo Okafor, the managing director of the company, it is also used for pregnancy and contraception examinations.

Others are Hematology analyzer which is used for blood analyses and test-

there is trauma from chronic diseases, road accidents, irresponsible Okada riders, physical violence, and mental health crisis,” Abayomi said.

“What we do to trauma cases at the scene of an accident is also a source of problem. We are looking for opportunities to establish water ambulances and increase ambulance points around Lagos to assist those in need of emergency medical attention,” he said.

Osagie Ehanire, minister of Health, lauded the organisers of the event saying it came at a time the Federal Government was taking proactive steps to curb the score of trauma on citizens.

Ehanire who identified the challenge of access to blood for most victims of accidents and ill health in the country, disclosed that the

with the capacity to assist in the development of the school through collaborative efforts.

“We should not allow this great institution, which is the pride of Nigeria to lose its enviable position in the hierarchy in Nigeria and Africa.

The Vice Chancellor, Professor Igwe, commended Okafor for the equipment, which he described as a major boost to the University’s commitment infrastructural development.

Professor Igwe, who was represented at the occasion by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration), Professor Patrick Okpoko, said the equipment will go a long way in achieving his dream to turn around the facilities at the of UNN medical centre.

The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, expressed delight at the gesture of Equator Medics, the managing director of which, he described as worthy ambassador of UNN. The minister, who was represented by the Chief Medical Director, National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu, Dr. Cajethan Nwadinigwe, called on other UNN Alumni to emulate the example of Okafor and support their alma mater.

He advised the University management to maximise the benefits of the equipment by ensuring proper maintenance and training of its personnel who will manage them to ensure optimal utility.

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he Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has said a total of 143 persons were killed in road traffic crashes between January and October, 2019 in Edo State.

Anthony Oko, Corps commander,Edosectorcommand, made the disclosure at the flag off of 2019 Ember months with the theme, ‘Road crash is absence of mind: Stay alert, stay alive’.

Oko said the road traffic crashes recorded within the period involved 351 vehicles, 664 persons injured and 170 road crash cases. He said 37 percent of the road crashes was caused by drivers’ absent-mindedness.

He also disclosed that in 2018, 136 persons were killed, 801 persons injured out of the 290 road crashes that involved 387 vehicles.

The Edo sector commander, further explained that out of the 290 road accidents, 113 represented 39 percent were caused by drivers’ absent-mindedness causing 206 total crashes.

He opined that absentmindedness is a topical issue that required the st¹andate and relevant stakeholders as the yuletide approaches if the safety on the highways are anything to reckon with in Edo state and the country at large.

“Drivers absent-mindedness behind the wheel and causes of road traffic crashes is well correlated and well documented too.

“To mention but a few causes of road traffic crashes

that emanate from driver’s absent-mindedness are, use of phone while driving, fatigue.

“Driving under influence, dangerous driving, wrongful overtaking, loss of control and few others are factors/ causes that road safety managers are to look out for during this period.

“Therefore, if we all gathered here do not act promptly before the end of the year frenzy our records will surpass last year’s negatively. Available records still show December and January having highest crash rate compared to other months”, he said.

He however, implored all road users to adhere strictly to road traffic laws and regulations at all levels and collaborate with Federal Road Safety Corps, Edo sector command to enforce traffic laws and ensure prompt rescue services.

In his remarks, Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, represented by Ferguson Enabulele, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Infrastructure advised road users and drivers to be careful in activities and action concerning road traffic.

He called on road users to be alert and calculative as well as cautioned against haste in approaches.

Also speaking, the Zonal Commander, Zone RS 5, Kehinde Adeleye, who noted that there was increase in traffic volume during ember months, however called for the need for safety measures to be put in place.

Adeleye, represented by Toby Joseph, a Deputy Corps Commander, assured that the ember months’ campaign exercise would be on 24 hours daily.

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News

IITA moves to transform agriculture …Unveils digital tools

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World AIDS Day: Experts harp on need for ...

Continued from Page 1 was very cruel and knew of his status. I was enraged the most when I realised it was that guy that infected me.”

“I thank God for my Mummy for her advice and words of encouragement; she has been the only person that has been supporting me; she knows what I am going through now,” she said.

Ajiri’s is not an isolated case, because there are many Nigerians who are living with HIV. The disease has its challenges- the shock of knowing one is HIV positive and the initial confusion on how to handle are said to be destabilising. However, with proper management, those who live with the virus, like, Ajiri, can now lead a normal life without allowing HIV control them.

Each year, every December 1, the world marks World AIDS Day. On such occasion, Nigeria joins the rest of the world to show support for people living with HIV and to remember those who have died from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related illnesses.

Th e t h e m e o f t h i s year’s World AIDS Day‘Communities make the difference’-highlights the important opportunity to recognise the essential role that communities have played and continue to play in the AIDS response at the international, national and local levels.

Calling attention to the significance of communities, Gambo Aliyu, director-general of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), said that communities include networks of people living with or affected by HIV, women and young people, peer educators, counselors, community health workers, Civil Society Organisations (CSO), religious and traditional leaders, policymakers and activists.

“Communities are vital to facilitating an enabling environment that promotes equal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care services for Nigerians. They are also vital to safeguarding the rights of Nigerians living with HIV,” he said.

Nigeria’s HIV/AIDS epidemic: No stop in hope Nigeria has shown steady progress on increasing access to treatment for people living with HIV, with the adoption of a test and treat policy in 2016.The results released in March by the Government of Nigeria indicate a national prevalence of HIV in Nigeria of 1.4percent among adults aged 15–49 years. Previous estimates had indicated a national HIV prevalence of 2.8 percent,signaling progress in the fight against the epidemic.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the National Agency for the Control of AIDS estimates that there are 1.9 million people living with HIV in Nigeria.

“HIV/AIDS is a very dangerous situation, but we have been able to control the level today, but we need to sustain that advantage,” said Musa Shaibu, chairman executive committee, Nigerian Business Coalition Against AIDS (NiBUCAA) Nigeria’s statistics highlight those at risk While Nigeria’s national HIV prevalence is 1.4percent among adults aged 15–49 years, women aged 15–49 years are more than twice as likely to be living with HIV than men (1.9percent versus 0.9percent.) The difference in HIV prevalence between women and men is greatest among younger adults, with young women aged 20–24 years more than three times as likely to be living with HIV as young men in the same age group. Among children aged 0–14 years,

HIV prevalence according to the new data is 0.2percent.

Significant efforts have been made in recent years to stop new HIV infections among children.

At the national level, viral suppression among people living with HIV aged 15–49 years stands at 42.3percent (45.3percent among women and 34.5percent among men). When people living with HIV are virally suppressed they remain healthy and transmission of the virus is prevented.

OjoSikiru, a Lagos-based medical practitioner, said every Nigerian should know his/her HIV status, because with the drug treatment it can significantly reduce the risk of HIV infection from spreading.

“Men who have sex with men and have a partner with HIV, sexually transmitted infection (STI) and unsteadily use condoms, this set of people are considered the high risk of being infected with the disease,” Sikiru said.

“HIV testing is important to know one’s status, for increasing treatment and ensuring that all people with HIV are offered the preventive drug,” he added.

AIDS is a set of symptoms (or syndrome as opposed to a virus) caused

by HIV. A person is said to have AIDS when his/her immune system is too weak to fight off infection, and such a person develops certain defining symptoms and illnesses. This is the last stage of HIV, when the infection is very advanced, and if left untreated will lead to death.

Where is the problem?

Stigma and discrimination still have terrible consequences. The very people who are meant to be protecting, supporting and healing people living with HIV often discriminate against the people who should be in their care, denying them access to critical HIV services,

resulting in more HIV infections and more deaths.

“It is the responsibility of the state to protect everyone. Human rights are universal- no one is excluded- not even sex workers, gay men and other men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, transgender people, prisoners or migrants. Bad laws that criminalise HIV transmission, sex work, personal drug use and sexual orientation or hinder access to services must go, and go now,” Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS executive director.

Sidibé said women and girls continue to be disproportionately affected. “It is outrageous that one in three women worldwide has experienced physical or sexual violence. We must not let up in our efforts to address and root out harassment, abuse and violence, whether at home, in the community or in the workplace,” the UNAIDS’ ED said.

Way forward Gambo Aliyu, DG NACA, said that as Nigeria strives to achieve epidemic control; the efforts of communities are urgently needed to ensure “that HIV remains on the political agenda”.

He noted that the global AIDS response is at a precarious point—partial success in saving lives and stopping new HIV infections is giving way to complacency.

According to him, “At the halfway point to the 2020 targets, the pace of progress is not matching the global ambition. This report is a wake-up call—action now can still put us back on course to reach the 2020 targets.”

Sikiru, a medical practitioner (quoted above) suggested that: “Working more on raising awareness about the importance of knowing your status and ending all stigmas related to HIV testing will help curb the increasing prevalence.”

s part of its continuous efforts to transform farming, improve yield and livelihoods of farmers in Nigeria, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) recently unveiled a suite digital tools that are helpful. The digital tools include the cassava, Goseed and yam seed trackers; Akilimo, IITA herbicide calculator, e-commerce site and IITA News App. IITA Director-General, Nteranya Sanginga, who spoke during the unveiling of the tools, described the development of the digital tools as a remarkable feat, adding that they would assist in creating impact at scale.

“This aligns with our vision that led us to create the Partnership and Delivery Directorate whose responsibility is to ensure that not only are we carrying out research and writing scientific papers, but also delivering and making impact on farm level,” Sanginga said.

The seed trackers are mobile platforms designed

knapsack sprayers, helping farmers to avoid underdosing or overdosing which leads to environmental pollution and weeds resistance,” he added.

Akilimo on the other hand, is a mobile agronomy advisory tool developed by the African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) that combines weed management/best planting, fertilizer recommendations, scheduled planting, according to Christine Kreye, West Africa Coordinator for ACAI. For the IITA News app, IITA Head of Communication, Kathy Lopez said the app captures and disseminate, in real time, news about research and delivery activities to the public.

Launching the Cassava Seed Tracker, Yam Seed Tracker, Sanginga and Olusegun Ojo, directorgeneral of the National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC), noted that the development of the digital apps were steps in the right direction.

Among those present at the launch were Alfred

to help in seed production planning, seed traceability, seed inventory, real-time tracking of production status, seed certification, marketing, information resources, among others, Lava Kumar, the IITA Head of Germplasm Health Unit and Virologist said.

The IITA herbicide calculator is a mobile app that was developed by the Cassava Weed Management Project and deployed across Nigeria and other African countries and is being used in controlling weeds in cassava, explained Godwin Atser, IITA Digital Extension and Advisory Services Specialist.

“The App helps growers to estimate correct amount of herbicides to be added to

Dixon, IITA director for Development and Delivery, who called for the integration of digital tools in IITA; Paul Ilona, Country director of HarvestPlus; and Prof. Simon Irtwange, president of the Yam Export Association of Nigeria.

While the DG of the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) Umudike, Abia State, Joseph Ukpabi was represented; Debo Akande, executive adviser to Oyo State Governor on Agribusiness, joined the event via telephone, assuring launchers of the tools of Governor Seyi Makinde’s support and readiness to make IITA a partner in his agribusiness plan for the state.

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News

Nigeria-South Africa relations blossom again ...as SA minister engages Nigerian stakeholders

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OBINNA EMELIKE

ew months ago, some sad incidents saw Nigeria and South Africa, two African giants almost going against each other. That period witnessed attacks on lives and properties across both countries, as well as, the height of fake news and videos spreading on social media, which unfortunately escalated the situation.

Time, they say ‘is the healer of all wounds’, and rightly, the healing process long commenced with the state visits by the leadership of the two countries, starting with the three-day state visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to South Africa in October, where the Nigerian president signed a wide range of bilateral agreements with his South African counterpart.

Following that, in November, Nomalungelo Gina, deputy minister, trade and industry, South Africa, attended the Future Energy Nigeria, WAPIC Conference and Expo 2019 in Lagos, in the company of Darkey Africa, South African Consul General in Lagos.

The minister noted that

the two countries can complement each other and grow economies together.

Consolidating on that gain, Mmamoloko KubayiNgubane, Tourism minister of South Africa, was in West Africa for a four-day working visit in the region. Starting from Accra, Ghana where she attended the first UNWTO Presidential Leadership Taskforce on Women Empowerment on Tourism Sector with Focus on Africa, she visited Lagos, for the Nigerian leg of her visit, which held at Wheatbaker Hotel Ikoyi and other venues.

Like in Ghana, where she interacted with tour operators, media and broad stakeholders in the tourism value chain, she extended further on that milestone in Nigeria, allowing the stakeholders to bare their minds with the hope of finding lasting solutions to some challenges they face.

Resolving the issues is necessary, especially now that President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, has called for the need to double domestic arrivals to the country to over 21 million by 2030.

So, the tourism minister, who describes herself as the ‘chef marketer’ of South Africa, is already pushing for

Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, Tourism minister of South Africa.

results.

To woo more Nigerians to visit South Africa, the minister assured that, “We are open for business and tourists”, while saying that things are in place to ensure no further incident or attacks on anybody in the country, both citizens and foreigners.

She noted that the country has engaged two respected African ex-presidents to meet communities across the country and dialogue to ensure mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence of both locals and foreigners, especially in some townships

Hacey Heath Initiative launches ‘Media Against Sexual Violence’ campaign Josephine Okojie

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acey Health Initiative, a non-governmental organisation, has launched a media initiative aimed at tackling sexual harassment and violence against women in Nigeria.

During the unveiling of the campaign tagged Media against ‘Sexual Violence campaign,’ Jennifer Foltz, deputy public affairs officer noted that preventing and responding to gender-based violence is a cornerstone of the U.S. Government’s commitment to advancing human rights and promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

According to her, violence, rangingfromsexual,emotional or psychological violence, is often experienced at home by young women and girls and the fact that violence has been accepted as a ‘private affair’ often stops other people from intervening and disallows girls and young women from reporting cases of violence.

She said the United States is ready to promote any course that is geared towards creating more awareness of the danger of sexual harassment and gender-based violence.

Earlier in her remark, Rhoda Robinson, executive director of Hacey Health Initiative saidthecampaignispartofactivities commemorating the 16 days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence leadinguptotheInternationalDay fortheEliminationofViolence Against Women (IDEVAW) on November 25.

Robinson said the media is expected to play a key role when it comes to the campaign towards eradicating sexual harassment and other forms of violence against women and children.

“Information that is published or broadcast constitutes one of the major channels of influence on social norms regarding sexual assault. By covering a range of events related to sexual assault, the media can help create a greater understanding of what sexual assault is and why it is unacceptable,”

she said.

“This approach fosters public attitudes of non-tolerance toward this type of violence,” she added.

Akeem Jimoh, executive director of Development Communication Network, said the purpose is to raise awareness among media professionals and spokespersons about the importance of publishing or broadcasting accurate information on sexual assault that is free of sexism, prejudice,andsensationalism, and to support these people accordingly.

He said the majority of cases of sexual violence in Nigeria go unreported, which he attributed largely to fear on the part of the victim of being socially stigmatised or blamed.

Other panelists at the forum argued that Girls can experience violence in schools ranging from bullying, sexual harassment and intimidation and this can affect girls’ ability to continue and complete their education especially when the violence is committed by those in positions of care or authority.

with high unemployment rate where attacks have been recorded in the past.

But aside positioning South Africa as a destination of choice for West Africans and Nigerians in particular, the minister said the relationship going forward is mutual, “We are committed to strengthening partnerships and driving collaborations that will help forge a stronger cultural exchange between the people of the people Nigeria and the people of South Africa”, she said.

On the challenges of visits to South Africa, part

of the questions raised by most of the stakeholders at the engagement, she explained that on backlog of visas, South Africa has increased manpower at her embassies and consulates to assist in making the process smother. Again, she noted that the country is streamlining her visa regime to a world class e-visa system, which the president is backing for quick implementation. Already, the pilot scheme of the e-visa has started in Kenya with the hope of rolling it across the world soon.

However, said noted that as fast and simple as the evisa is, it is guaranteed with genuine documents.

She said the country has not increased visa cost in years now in order to make it more accessible to applicants, but that the e-visa will curb the extra costs, especially processing fees charged by VFS and the visa processing centres.

She also challenged the stakeholders on formidable partnerships for hosting opportunities, tour packages and feedbacks to enable her country to improve where necessary in offering visitors the best hosting experience.

She has also proposed long term visas for frequent

travellers and promised to increase the frequency of communicating the developments on related issues to the stakeholders.

On his part, Darkey Africa, South African Consul General in Lagos, noted that on the issue of negative perceptions, that the consulate has quarterly meetings with relevant stakeholders to discuss issues affecting them, hence he charged others to avail themselves the opportunity to participate and contribute to the growth of both countries along their line of business.

He explained that there has never been a deliberate attempt to undermine any applicant as visa are issued on merit. As well, he called on the stakeholders present, especially National Association of Travel Agencies of Nigeria (NANTA) to help with certified partners as the consulate wants to work with structures that help make its duties seamless.

On the focus on Nigeria, the minister said South Africa has identified three key markets; China, India and Nigeria.

In closing, the minister reiterated the importance of tourism and peace to South Africa, noting that “Tourism is number 2 priority in this administration”.

DBN reiterates commitment to Nigeria’s sustainable development drive …Holds workshop for MfB executives Seyi John Salau

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he Development Ba n k o f Ni g e r i a (DBN) has again reiterated its commitment towards taking the lead in Nigeria’s sustainable development initiative drive.

Therefore, in aligning with the bank’s advocacy initiative to deepen the financial services institution to further bridge Nigeria’s financial inclusion status, the DBN recently held a capacity-building programme on environmental and social risk management practice for top executives of Microfinance Banks (MfBs) in Lagos.

“In fulfilling our mandate of increasing access, Development Bank of Nigeria Plc is poised to not only be change drivers but be a strong ally partnering with participating financing institutions to drive sustainable development by ensuring that lending is done with the interest of the environment and social wellbe-

ing of the people,” said Tony Okpanachi, the managing director, Development Bank of Nigeria, represented by Bonaventure Okhaimo, the chief operating officer of the DBN. According to Okpanachi, the workshop was a follow up on the feedback received at an earlier training organised in 2018 for middle level managers of MfBs by the DBN. He however charged participants to take advantage of the lessons from the workshop to ensure improved compliance as well as best practice in environmental and social risk management principles.

The session highlighted strategies on identification, measurement, and mitigation of environmental and social risks in project financing, from a policy and strategic point of view. It also exposed participants to measures of developing environmental and social risk footprints in areas of resource efficiency, reducing carbon emission and other sustainable banking

initiatives.

Participants comprising CEOs and top executives of leading Microfinance banks in Nigeria expressed their gratitude to DBN for granting them the opportunity to be part of this timely initiative that is designed to upscale MFBs in operationalising the requirements of Nigerian Sustainable Banking Principles (NSBP).

They also pledged that they will inculcate in their various organisations the strategies and concepts to influence policies and changes that would not only encourage a renewed level of compliance with NSBP but also promote strong corporate governance and responsible banking practices.

The DBN has so far onboarded 27 participating financial institutions and disbursed over N100, 000 billion to more than 95,000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria since the commencement of its operations in 2017.

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NewsFeature Stakeholders call for full implementation of Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act Ngozi Okpalakunne

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he need for full implementation of Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act was a major issue discussed at a lecture organised by Benola Cerebral Palsy Initiative, recently in Lagos.

The lecture, which came under the theme, ‘Nigeria’s Discrimination Against Person’s Living with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018: Implications for persons living with Neuro-developmental/ Intellectual disability’, was part of the activities to mark this year’s World Cerebral Palsy Day. Speaking at the event, Ibijoke Sanwo–Olu, wife of the governor of Lagos State, affirmed that the lecture, which was the third in its series, would help scale up awareness and engender concrete action to address a major health issue which has been established to be affecting over 17 million people world- wide.

Emphasisng the need for the full implementation of the Discrimination Against Persons Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, which was signed into law by President Buhari in 2019, Ibijoke, who was represented by the, wife of the Chairman, Eredo Local Council Development Area Lagos, Olajumoke Saliu, explained that it would promote social inclusion of persons with disabilities across all

sectors and levels in the society.

She further said: “The law also stipulates a 5-year transitional period for modifying public buildings, structures and automobiles to make them accessible and usable for people with disabilities.

“As a medical practitioner, l clearly understand and appreciate the enormous difficulties associated with Cerebral Palsy, especially in taking care of the victims and as such, the aspect of the law stipulating national

effort to push for the full implementation of non-discrimination against persons with disabilities is a welcome initiative.

“As stakeholders, we just have to fall in line with terms of ensuring equal treatment and participation of people with disabilities.

“The present administration in Lagos State is committed towards scaling up health care delivery. In line with this, the state government is already implementing six key developmental agenda for a greater Lagos and the administration has also reassured that the government will leave no stone unturned to play up health of all residents including those with one form of disability or the other. It is our collective interest to team up with government”.

While commending the organisers of the event, she urged other organisations and public spirited individuals to take a cue from the laudable works of the foundation.

On his part, the founder of Benola Cerebral Palsy Initiative, Femi Ggbadebo, a retired Air Vice Marshall, explained that the organisation which was established in 2013 is committed to using the experience he and the wife acquired in the successful management of their 19 year-old boy living with Cerebral Palsy to help parents who would otherwise, have resorted to more drastic measures like infanticide, rejection or abandonment, as a form of response to having a child with such a disability.

According to him, Cerebral has to do with the brain, while Palsy has to do with using the muscles.

“Put together, Cerebral Palsy is a group of disorders that combine to limit an individual’s ability to move and keep to a balance/posture, as a result of injury to parts of the brain, or a developmental

problem,” Gbadebo said.

He further explained that the condition often occurs before birth or soon after, adding that Cerebral Palsy results in different disabilities, in each child from simply being clumsy or awkward, to being unable to walk.

Enumerating some of the signs of the disease, he said they vary greatly as there are different types and levels of disabilities.

“One of the main signs is a delay in reaching motor or movement milestones, which is often accompanied by any combination of the following- difficulty in controlling head movement when picked up; stiff legs that cross or ‘scissor’ when picked up,” he added.

On her part, the co-founder of Benola Cerebral Palsy, Alaba Gbadebo appealed to parents with children living with disabilities not to hide them in the homes.

Alaba also advised that children living with such condition should be shown love and care at all times, adding that God who created them has a purpose for that.

Speaking on the theme of the lecture, a Lagos-based legal practitioner, Anuoluwapo described disabilities as impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions.

Quoting World Health Organisation’s (WHO) 2011 World Disability Report, he said that about 15 percent of Nigeria’s population is living with disabilities.

According to him, the Discrimination Against Persons Living with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability and imposes sanctions, including fines and prison sentences on those who contravene the provision of the law.

The Act also, he explained,

stated that the plan for the building of any public structure must be scrutinised by the appropriate building authority.

In addition, he said that the laws also confirm the rights of disabled persons to liberty, education, health and first consideration in queues, accommodation and emergencies.

The legal luminary recommended that there should be awareness and education of persons with disability of their rights and the protection from the law; improvement of health outcomes for people with disabilities by enhancing access to quality, affordable health care services, which make the best use of available resources; that policies that identify priorities to reduce existing inequalities and plan improvements for access and inclusion of persons with disability should be put in place; that government should integrate disability education into undergraduate and continuing education for all health-care professionals, teachers and other relevant professionals, and that there should be proper training for community workers so that they can play a role in engaging persons with disabilities.

Other recommendations include: Sensitisation of the public on disability awareness and training of members of the public, private organisations and key government agencies on showing care and respect to people living with one form of disability or the other; improved access to justice for persons living with disabilities, as considerable obstacles in terms of access to justice are still encountered by persons with disabilities.

For Anuoluwapo, the enactment of the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act is only a first step in the fulfilment of Nigeria’s obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

He observed that advocacy efforts of organisations like the Benola Cerebral Palsy Initiative, will prove invaluable in ensuring that the authorities put effective measures in place for the full implementation of Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act. It is interesting to note that besides the lecture, the organisers also held a 1000-man Cerebral Palsy awareness walk, all in a bid to draw attention to the plight of victims, while also bringing to the fore actions to help people living with the condition and their families.

Some of the victims, who spoke in an interview, lauded the organisers of the event, adding that the annual lecture which commenced few years ago has given them sense of belonging.

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Expanding the tax net in Lagos

Frank Aigbogun editor Zebulon Agomuo DEPUTY EDITOR John Osadolor, Abuja

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Tayo Ogunbiyi Ogunbiyi is of the Lagos State Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja

A

ll over the world, governments use tax revenues to provide jobs, build damsandroads,operate schools and hospitals, provide medical care and for hundreds of other purposes. Without taxes to fund its activities, government could not actually exist.

Taxation is used in developed countries as important tool for maintaining the stability of a country’s economy. Payment of tax in turn empowers citizens to demand, not beg, that government fulfills its responsibility. It makes the people more conscious in monitoring government and holding public officers more accountable for their use of public resources.

It is in this wise that Lagos State is charting the course of sustainable development through the diversification of its local economy. With its army of faithful and committed taxpayers, the State has proved that it is possible to build an economy that is more productive and not completely reliant on oil.

On its part, the state government has been making efforts to convincingly justify why Lagosians must pay

tax through prudent management of public funds and the numerous developmental projects it has completed as well as hundreds of ongoing projects.

Perhaps more significant is the state government’s success in tapping into the resources of business community in the state. The state government has effectively cleaned up its finances to the point where it can seamlessly convince investors to take up a series of bond offered to finance infrastructure projects in the state.

It needs to be stressed that, there is no magic wand that can bring development in any society without the availability of required resources. The most successful democracies in the world where governments are accountable to the people are the ones with a strong institution of taxation.

Late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, puts the matter with characteristic clarity on the floor of the House of Representatives in Lagos on 16th august, 1954, when he said: “...I would therefore wind up by saying that we, on the threshold of this new constitution, are on the cross roads; there is that broad, smooth road, with promises of no taxation, and efforts to get money from other places, leading nowhere but perdition, poverty, disease and economic enslavement; and there is the other road people who go therein pay tax.

They also have to apply self-help and self-sacrifice to get where they want.

But this road, Mr. President, leads to success, prosperity and to the exploitation of natural resources by the people of this country ...”

From the late sage’s exposition, it is evident that the significance of tax-

ation to the growth of any economy cannot be over emphasized as it is the major tool by which societies can develop. Obviously, any society where there is proven development must be one where the twain issues of taxation and careful administration of public finance are taken seriously.

There is vast empirical evidence that taxation correlates highly with economicgrowthinadditiontosome spill-over effect on effective service delivery. Lagos is a good example for research work in this direction.

At the global level, no economy in history has ever achieved high per capital growth without a sustainable tax system.

In fact the advanced capitalist economies depend heavily on taxation in running their economies. In Europe, U.S.A and Latin America, tax evasion is a punishable offence without the option of fine. The global economic power of Japan is Personal Income Tax. It is, therefore, in order to move Lagos to the league of such societies that the State Government has been encouraging individuals and corporate organizations to pay their taxes, as this will help the state boost its revenue and carry out its responsibilities to the citizens.

Increase IGR through a robust tax administration process is critical to sustaining investment on infrastructure development. For our society to achieve the kind of development being witnessed in developed climes, the issue of taxation must be accorded utmost importance by all and sundry. There is no other alternative to this.

This is the reality and any analysis to the contrary might not really hold

water. To this end, the public needs to be educated on the fact that no strategic planning or vision, no matter how well meaning, could really yield concrete results in a mega city like Lagos except the needed funds are readily made available.

Meanwhile, it is important to stress that more taxable Lagos residents should willingly comply by promptly paying their taxes. Recent revelation that only 600,000 out of possible taxable Lagos residents pay tax is quite disturbing. It is rather unfair that such tiny fracture of Lagosians is saddled with the enormous burden of the whole state. Considering what the state government has been achieving in terms of developmental strides across the state, more could still be achieved if only more Lagos residents are up-to-date in paying their taxes.

Being a melting point of people from diverse parts of the world, Lagos has peculiar infrastructure needs.

Therefore, taxable Lagos residents must continue to partner with the state government through prompt and regular payment of taxes.

If Lagos is to truly operate a 21st century economy, the state needs to pay more attention to taxation as well as other means of boosting her internal revenue. Implementation of financial policy such as widening of the State tax net, expansion of tax base, updating/upgrading of databases, improvement of administrative processes and operational efficiencies, among others would certainly boost the economy of the African foremost City-State.

Ogunbiyi is of the Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

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Personality on Environmental and Special Offences, among others.

His leadership style and robust communication with the rank and file has rekindled the air of optimism among Lagos residents that a man with the right mix in education, practical application of motivational leadership and eclectic management of security challenges has come to town.

Odumosu flaunts a rich curriculum vitae with extensive academic credentials in various fields that have prepared him for the most challenging command in the 36 states. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Bachelor of Law degree and Master Degree in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution from the National Open University of Nigeria. He also holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Lagos State University. Others include a Post Graduate Diploma in Security Management and Operations, Advanced Diploma in Law Enforcement Administration and Higher Diploma in Terrorism Studies from University of Lagos. He also obtained a Post Graduate Diploma in Public Relations and Marketing

Motorists in prolonged gridlock often become sitting ducks for armed criminals who are always lurking in the neighbourhood. Valuables are routinely lost to the thieves who smash windows and, sometimes, bones in their heinous crime almost unhindered

Odumosu

Odumosu: A cop primed for Lagos’ challenges

Onome Amawhe

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f all the commands in the Nigerian Police Force, Lagos holds the status of being the most strategic with its status as the nation’s economic capital. Deploying a commissioner to head the command is not a decision lightly taken as the performance or lack of it almost aggregates to the general performance of the force nationwide.

In the past five years, Lagos has been on the front burner for all the wrong reasons, especially in the areas of state of road traffic and security. Initially, Lagos had to contend only with the crippling traffic that was pronounced mainly in the Apapa area, home to the busiest seaports in the country. But in the last one year, the nation’s commercial capital has been the subject of unprecedented traffic logjam. The high rate of failure of the roads, some of which could not retain their pristine state for just a rainy season provided the perfect storm for nightmarish experiences on the roads.

When Hakeem Olusegun Odumosu was named the Commissioner of Police in Lagos on November 14, he knew his task was cut out. It also came with an air of expectation

that there must be something unique about him that could be harnessed to bring succour to Lagos road users.

Apart from the extensive failure of the major highways, poor traffic management of roads undergoing repairs, undisciplined road users and the savoury attitude and pace of work by some of the contractors rehabilitating the roads have all combined to create the perfect storm of a nightmare scenario.

But Odumosu comes with the resumé of a super cop. Less than a week into his redeployment, he signalled his intention to make efficient traffic management a top priority.

He immediately deployed over 1,000 policemen to join in tackling the gridlock that has made commuting unbearable in the state.

The move has a two-pronged objective. Motorists in prolonged gridlock often become sitting ducks for armed criminals who are always lurking in the neighbourhood. Valuables are routinely lost to the thieves who smash windows and, sometimes, bones in their heinous crime almost unhindered.

The new Lagos police boss introduced an innovative approach to the schedule of service men manning the roads. Rather than

policemen leaving motorists to their fate at the peak of the crippling traffic having completed their beat, Odumosu reviewed the time schedule of traffic wardens to run between 10am and 10pm, while the second shift would run from 10pm to 10am to provide 24 hours coverage. Assuring motorists of safety, Bala Elkana, Lagos police spokesman, said its men will all operate in their usual reflective jackets. The measure will help in ensuring free flow of traffic and will also curb the menace of traffic robbery.

Odumosu belongs to the school of thought that believes a good boss should lead from the front and maintain a handson approach to policy execution. Mobilising his men for the task ahead, the Lagos police chief convened a meeting of heads of all the critical units and departments in his command. In attendance were Deputy Commissioners of Police, Department of Finance and Administration, Department of Operations, Criminal Investigation Department and Rapid Response Squad.

Also in attendance were Area F Commanders, Area Operations Officers, State Traffic Officers, Divisional Traffic Officers as well as the chairman, Lagos State Task Force

from Nigeria Institute of Journalism.

Odumosu was enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force on March 3, 1990 as cadet ASP and rose through the ranks.

He started his policing career as Operations Officer in Isokoko, Ketu and Satellite Divisions as well as Area D Command, Mushin, Lagos. He was the chairman, Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences, Governor’s Office, Alausa, Ikeja.

He equally served as the Officer in Charge, Pensions Office in Edo and Ogun states. He was in charge of Research and Planning Department, Kaduna State Command.

Odumosu was one time Commander, Rapid Response Squad, Lagos State Command and Area Commander, Akwanga, Nasarawa State. He was Assistant Commissioner of Police Operations, Western Ports Authority Command, Lagos and Area Commander, Agodi Area Command, Oyo State.

He was Deputy Commissioner of Police Operations, and Deputy Commissioner of Police, Administration, Department of Operations, Force Headquarters Abuja.

He was Commissioner of Police, Department of Research and Planning and Commissioner of Police (Inspectorate) and Department of Training and Development, Force Headquarters Abuja. He served as the Commissioner of Police, Edo State and later Commissioner of Police, Finance and Administration, Department of Operations, Force Headquarters Abuja. Odumosu also served as member and Head of Enforcement Unit of the Presidential Taskforce on the Restoration of Law and Order on Apapa gridlock, Lagos.

He belongs to various professional bodies, including the Institute of Corporate Administration where he is a fellow. He is also a Fellow of International Institute of Professional Security. The Lagos police chief is an active member of International Association of Chiefs of Police and a member of Institute of Public Administration of Nigeria.

He is a multiple awards winner.

Odumosu is very much familiar with Lagos terrain and there is no doubt, he will bring his wealth of experience to bear in piloting the affairs of the Command.

Onome Amawhe is an international journalist based in Lagos.

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Politics Kogi election: When reality synchronised with permutations ZEBULON AGOMUO

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efore the November 16 offseason gubernatorial election in Kogi State, many analysts raised concerns that blood was likely to flow going by the level of desperation shown by some political parties and their candidates.

Some non-governmental organisations also had expressed same concerns.

The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu alluded to the expectation of chaos when he said that prior to the election, series of signs showed what was in the offing.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu also suspected that the election was not going to be violencefree. He made the observation before the exercise during some of the meetings he had with stakeholders. The repeated attacks on Natasha Akpoti, candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) by political thugs, gave an indication that it was not going to be a smooth exercise.

Akpoti’s attacks were not stopped even though she raised the alarm. In fact, the woman was shell shocked that despite the presence of the security apparatchik at the last stakeholders’ meeting, she was prevented by thugs from entering into the venue of the meeting, yet the security agents did not stop the assault nor ensured she attended the meeting to which she was duly invited.

She left the venue without participating in the meeting. Her party’s secretariat was torched by thugs few days to the election and no one was arrested. She suffered series of intimidation and nobody stopped her attackers. It was at that point she knew that for some people, the election must be won by “all means.”

Haruna Mohammed, INEC resident electoral commissioner that supervised the Kogi election, said the violence witnessed during the exercise was predictable. He cited the impeachment of the deputy governor of Kogi State a few days to the election as a pointer to the unbridled disturbance that greeted the election.

Six days to the exercise, BDSUNDAY had carried a cover story on ‘Those who will make or mar Kogi, Bayelsa polls’.

In the permutation, certain individuals and institutions were listed. From what transpired at the election and the reports by local and international observers, it would appear that they marred, rather than make the election.

The INEC has continued to receive bashing for its actions and inactions. In some places, election materials were allegedly deliberately delayed and made to arrive late. The commission has also been roundly condemned for going ahead to announce result despite obvious proofs that the exercise was a sham.

Despite the damning reports by local and international observers calling for outright cancellation of the poll by reason

Mahmood Yakubu

Yahaya Bello

Dino Melaye

Natasha Akpoti

of the killings and high level of fraud that characterised the election, INEC said it was credible. While friends, relations and families of innocent victims were grieving over the cold blood murders, INEC said everything went well. Whereas election did not hold in many places as attested to by observers, the Commission said it was satisfied with all that happened.

When it was public knowledge that thugs and “fake policemen” disrupted the exercise in many polling units and carted away ballot boxes and election materials, INEC declared results. The body language of the umpire has given it away as being complicit in the malfeasance that took place in Kogi.

The permutation before the election was that it was going to be bloody as the security agencies may turn a blind eye to electoral fraud. Reports alleged that they did not acquit themselves so well.

Although the IGP has claimed that those that perpetrated the fraud or helped politicians to carry out the killings and the reported electoral fraud were “fake

policemen”, many Nigerians believe the police are being economical with the truth on this matter.

They wondered how a few fake police-

They were the ones that were responsible for the violence and ballot snatching we had in Bayelsa and Kogi states

men could overrun Kogi without resistance from the over 35,000 (Thirty-five thousand) policemen that may have been posted to the state out of the sixty-six thousand (66,000) deployed to the two states where elections held that day.

Doubting the claim by the InspectorGeneral of Police on “fake policemen”, Dino Melaye, candidate of the PDP in the Kogi West senatorial run-off election on November 16, said: “It is therefore, a serious problem for Nigeria if fake policemen could overpower the 66,000 policemen provided for elections in Kogi and Bayelsa States.”

According to him, “Nigeria is in a precarious and perilous situation. If justice is not done, then Nigeria has become a banana republic and everybody will go for self help.”

INEC trumpets its innocence Whereas many Nigerians are heaping the blame of the dangerous trend elections are assuming nowadays on the Commission, INEC is looking elsewhere for

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Politics scapegoats. It is blaming the politicians.

But critics allege that it appears that INEC is speedily losing the confidence of Nigerians. They are also saying that the umpire appears to have learnt nothing from the charade of election in 2019.

While debunking allegations that the INEC did not do its job well in Kogi, Rotimi Oyekanmi, spokesperson to INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, laid the blame at the door posts of politicians.

“They were the ones that were responsible for the violence and ballot snatching we had in Bayelsa and Kogi states,” he said, declaring that the experience witnessed in those two states had posed a new challenge.

Oyekanmi also claimed that the commission had been more transparent and open in its work; made itself available and provided up-to-date information about its activities to the world.

He also said that the number of registered voters in the country has since increased to 90million and, therefore, the need to reach out to them as part of the challenges facing INEC, disclosing that the commission had since made efforts to reach out to Nigerian teeming youths by going to university campuses, using star artistes with a view to encouraging them to register and also vote in elections.

But analysts disagreed with the claim by the umpire that it had learnt some lessons from what transpired in Kogi.

They also alleged that INEC’s handling of elections and what the exercise has become in Nigeria have discouraged many Nigerians from voting. They claim that majority of those who go to INEC to register for permanent voter card (PVC) were merely doing so to possess the card, and not for the purpose of voting.

From the 2019 general elections that produced the present crop of ‘leaders’ in the country, to the Kogi and Bayelsa elections, it is clear to Nigerians and their friends all over the world that electoral

process in the country has taken a turn for the worse and that means democratic growth is impaired.

According to analysts, Kogi election, particularly, will ever remain a watershed, a sore spot in Nigeria’s democratic journey. That state’s November 16 governorship election represents everything negative, bizarre and absurd about an electoral umpire that decided to declare victory in an election that was steeped in blood.

They are of the view that if there is anything anybody could do, going forward, to refocus the country’s democracy that is already adrift; it has to start with the electoral body.

Implications for future elections Tony Alams, a public affairs commentator, said: “I don’t personally believe that the present INEC can ever conduct a credible election in Nigeria. We saw its work in Ekiti, Osun and in the 2019 general election. In fact, many Nigerians believe INEC was going to do nothing different in Kogi and Bayelsa. If you followed the pattern of conduct of the exercise, particularly in Kogi, it was exactly a replication of what happened in 2019 general election.”

Alams said further: “We have seen that the ratio of actual voters viz-a-viz those who registered has been on a downward decline. The reason is simple- people have lost faith in the process. People have lost confidence in today’s INEC. How many youths would want to die for going out to vote? People are wiser these days.

It would even grow worse.”

A school teacher in Itakpe, Kogi State, who spoke with BDSUNDAY on condition of anonymity, said the state was like a war zone on the Election Day. According to her, a day to the exercise, an ominous sign had hung around the state, and everybody knew it was going to be bloody.

“Neither my husband nor me stepped out to vote. We knew that our votes would not count. I pity those that risked their lives to go to vote,” she said.

On the future of elections in Nigeria, the teacher said: “The future is bleak for Nigeria. I am sorry to say, but that is the whole truth. When you see government championing these things, what it tells

you is that hope is lost. Unless there is a divine visitation on Nigeria, the country is gone.

“How do you explain that in an election where over 10 people were brutally murdered, and a woman politician assassinated in broad day light, yet the result of such an election is upheld; does that make any rational sense? True power comes from God. And power is transient.

Kingdoms rise and wane. This is my consolation.”

Speaking in tandem, Vitalis Avoaja, a psychologist, said that the INEC may have put itself in a tight corner that many Nigerians no longer believe what it says, even when it has the best of intentions.

“I think what has happened is that INEC has gotten itself muddied that an average Nigerian no longer takes it seriously. Everything it does or says is now being taken with a pinch of salt. Look at what happened a few days ago; there were reports in some media platforms that Smart Card Readers were no longer going to be relevant.

“That story was on the cover of some prominent papers. By evening of that day, the Commission came out to deny it. Even at that, some Nigerians have marked that. A day is coming, depending on what they want to achieve in that particular election, they will point out to you that those reports were correct; that they had said it that the Smart Card Readers would no longer be recognised.

“We followed some of these arguments in court recently. But honesty, these things portend grave danger for the country,” Avoaja said.

Many Nigerians converge on the opinion that it is no longer a secret that virtually all the institutions in the country have been weakened and compromised.

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Politics There would be turmoil in Nigeria if ‘hate speech’ bill is passed - Ogunkelu Abimbola Ogunkelu is a former minister of Cooperation and Integration and chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). In this exclusive interview with INIOBONG IWOK, he assesses the recent elections in the country, the controversial ‘hate speech’ bill, while calling for urgent electoral reforms to restore credibility to the nation’s electoral process. Excerpts:

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What is your take on the Kogi and Bayelsa elections? he biggest problem of Nigerian politics is that voting at elections doesn’t seem to count anymore. There is a lot of rigging and malpractices; it would only change when electoral reforms are carried out and elections are done electronically and people don’t have to vote twice. So, the real problem in Nigeria is the electoral process. The umpire cannot be trusted and the whole process cannot be trusted. Until there is a change where the process is free and fair and the votes count, then democracy is in jeopardy in Nigeria.

law, there are condition parties must meet to be registered. That should be part of the electoral reforms.

Is this an indictment on INEC? It is not an indictment on INEC alone; it is an indictment on the actors in all the political parties.

Because if you commit election fraud and you are sanctioned and pay for it, then you would not want to do it again. It is the impunity in the system that you can do and get away from it that is the problem.

Until there is sanction, irrespective of your position in the society; anybody that commits fraud is sanctioned and asked to pay fine, then we are just wasting our time with democracy in this country.

But there has been increased clamour for the passage of the Electoral Offences Commission Bill by the National Assembly?

It may not be the solution; we are just creating commissions, and we already have the judiciary system, it should be strengthened, so that if you go to court, you can be sure to get justice.

If you create another commission and all this impunity still goes on, what is the need? What is happening now is like animal farm; there would be no end to this problem. It is not a question of creating new commission, but strengthening the institutions we have. Nigerians naturally are calm and not wild like Americans or Britons. If half of the problems here had occurred in Britain, it would have led to them carrying guns.

And they are often punished for the crime they commit no matter the years, either thirty years or fifty years after. But here people rig elections and nothing happens to them; nobody questions them.

Are you saying the PDP did not lose both elections?

Yes, it appears so. If the elections

Abimbola Ogunkelu

were not manipulated, why are they doing rerun for the senatorial election in Kogi State?

Because it becomes too apparent and people shouted, that is why they are doing rerun; why must you do rerun election?

Until we have national ID; this problems would continue. Every time we wanted to have national identification, a section of the country would shut it down. Until it becomes mandatory to the citizens where people use to vote, that is part of the solution. The National ID card project has been on from 1980 to now, but because some sections of the country do not want it, no progress yet. We must know who we are, all the countries we have around us are francophone countries, they have national ID card, and we must have it. It is mandatory that if we are doing electoral reforms, we must do voters card.

What is your view about the hate speech bill?

It shows that our law makers still

have work to do. Who determines what hate speech is? And what is love speech? You can as well have a love speech bill. It is a subjective matter; the members of the National Assembly are getting ridiculous.

If they pass such bill, there would be turmoil in the country. Anybody you don’t like you can accuse the person of hate speech, then such individual can go and sue someone because of that. I hope the leadership of the National Assembly would use their common sense to throw out that bill.

What is your take on agitation for power shift to the South in 2023 and the position of the North?

Zoning is a convenience arrangement that the PDP started; that means it is not in the law. But it is part of the constitution of a political party. If the people feel they don’t want zoning; that is fine.

Zoning is not part of the problem; the panacea is having electoral reforms and room for independent candidate. If someone thinks he

is popular enough to run in a local government area election, let such individual run. We have over 90 political parties now; apart from the two functioning ones, all the rest are useless and with time all the parties would be scrapped.

When we have independent candidate, why do we need so much political parties?

But the parties say INEC can’t scrap them?

Of course, INEC do not have the power to scrap any political party; the parties should fold up on their own. In 1999, when we returned to democracy, there were only three political parties registered, but the activists started shouting that; how can we have such low number of political parties? Then the system was opened up and today we are having ninety plus political parties that are of no use to the system. They had thought the military would give money to political parties; but that money never came and the parties folded up. It is the business of INEC, in

Is part of the reforms also including a restructuring or change of the current system of government?

Right now, we are operating a quasi-unilateral system of government. There are many items on the concurrent list that belong to state and local government.

During the military era, they took over everything, because that was the style they understood; now we have gone back to democracy since 1999, the current military constitution to me needs a revamping; the whole country needs restructuring. We call ourselves a federation, but the state has less power, we need to give powers more to the state and less to the central. That is why the needless struggle to be president of the country. The federal is so strong. If we had states which are strong, there would not be this struggle; there are many countries in the world where they have federation, the federal government should run the army and foreign affairs; state should have their police force. In the US they have state police, and FBI which is federal. They have county police; that is why you commit a crime the police are on ground to arrest you.

What is your reaction to the leadership crisis in Lagos PDP, in which you are a chieftain?

There is no disruption in the party.

We had a chairman that defected to another party and another chairman was put in place to run the affair of the party for three months and it expired. The national secretariat of the party’s decision was that a new state congress of the party should be conducted, and someone else was elected in that congress.

Two people contested for the position of the chairman. That is democracy in place; did you hear of any fighting? We are aware that some people went to court, but election took place, a day after they went to court and there was no court judgment severed on the party. What they got was interim injunction and it was adjoined when they went back to Court.

Doherty has been elected the state chairman; it is not the Court that would elect officers for the party.

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State of the Nation The paradox of social media and hate speech bills CHIDI SOLOMON OGBUEHI

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he hue and cry for bills against Hate Speech and for regulation of the online space by the present ninth National Assembly seems to challenge deontic logic and gauge the press. The Nigerian government must evolve a tradition of respect for press freedom and as a matter of policy recognise the fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens of access to information about how they are governed.

It cannot be overemphasised that a free press will provide the people with true account of the goings in government and society at large, and act as a watch dog of the people’s right against government abuses. Hence, the code of conduct of the Nigerian press declares, “That the public is entitled to the truth and that only correct information can form the basis of a sound journalism and ensure confidence of the people”.

The social media provides the window for ventilation of opinions that naturally would have been gate-kept by the eagle eyes of editors in the traditional media. The emergence of social media has therefore made global citizens and groups active contributors and consumers of global news and information.

By definition, ‘Social media’ means internet-based tools and services that allow users to engage with each other, generate content, distribute and search for information on-line. It is this interactive or collaborative nature of these tools that makes them, ‘Social’.

The social media also called Web 2.0 come in various forms, which are video context communities, e.g. YouTube. Collaborative projects, e.g. Wikipedia, Blogs and micro blogs e.g. Twitter, Social networking sites e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Two, WhatsApp and 2go, Virtual Social world - Flicker. With the wide range of social media offerings, global news and information flow are no longer left in the hands of professional journalists.

The concepts like online and citizen journalism have emerged to describe changing patterns of global news and information gathering and dissemination in the era of social media. It is therefore expected, the two way interactive flow of information.

What then is the thrust of the social media bill? In addressing this question, one will need to emphasise that there are actually two bills agitating the minds of social media users and Nigerians at the moment. There is ‘Hate Speech Bill and Social media Bill’. Both bills are not one and same, though they somehow happened to have been conflated in discourses on the internet. The Hate Speech Bill, otherwise called the ‘prohibition of hate speech bill’ is championed by Senator Sabi Abdullahi, the APC deputy chief whip in the Senate, while the Social Media Bill, otherwise called the ‘Internet Falsehood and Manipulation Bill’ is the brainchild of Senator Mohammed Sani Musa, a senator in APC, Niger East.’

There are strong indications that these bills have been plagiarised from similar legislation in Singapore, especially the one sponsored by Musa. It is equally worrisome to note that despite the criticisms that trailed these bills from well informed Nigerians when they were first introduced in the upper legislative chamber of the National Assembly and the public outcry over these bills, they have already passed second reading on Wednesday, November 23, 2019, in the House.

The Hate Speech Bill stipulating that any person that violates the law shall be liable to life imprisonment and where

Senator Aliyu Abdullahi, sponsor of the hate speech in the Senate the act causes any loss of life, the person shall be punished with death by hanging.

In response to this, the United Nations and the United Kingdom have opposed the death penalty clause, in the proposed National Commission for Prohibition of Hate Speech Bill introduced

by Senate Deputy Chief Whip, Abdulllahi. The UN described the death penalty as barbaric, noting that its inclusion in the bill was unacceptable.

On the bill to regulate the use of social media in Nigeria, entitled, ‘Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulations Bill, 2019, (SB.132), after scaling through the second reading in the Senate, was referred to Opeyemi Bamidele, APC Ekiti Central-led Committee on Human Rights and Legal Matters to report back to the plenary in four weeks.

The bill, going by what the sponsor, Mohammed Musa, in his lead debate, proposes a framework and system of regulation, control and conduct on the use of internet and various social media platforms in transmission of information in Nigeria.

Acceding to him, “The bill is not an attempt to stifle free speech or dissenting voices, it is rather an opportunity to address a growing threat which if unchecked, can cause serious damage in our polity and disrupt peaceful coexistence.” He further stated that much as the internet has numerous benefits, it is also used to manipulate information and spread falsehoods. The sponsor added that, non-state actors engage in geo-political interests and identity politics, use internet falsehood to discredit governments, misinform people and turn governments, one group against another.

However, Chimaroke Nnamani, who spoke against the bill, was cut short by a point of order raised by Bala Ibn Na’Allah, who quoted the provision of Section 39(1) (3) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, to justify the introduction of the bill by the Senator. Section 39(1) of the 1999 Constitution provides that “Every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information without interference”.

The bill stipulates that offenders would

serve a minimum of three years jail term or a fine of between N150,000 or both. It is noteworthy at this juncture to point out that a similar bill of anti-social media was introduced by the Eighth Senate, which equally sparked outrage across the country, and was later withdrawn. The old bill titled, ‘A bill for an Act to prohibit Frivolous and other Matters Connected therewith’ was sponsored by the then Senate Leader, Bala Ibn Na’Allah, and sought to compel with sworn court affidavit or face six months imprisonment upon conviction.

Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) had earlier cautioned the Federal Government on its plan to regulate social media.

NUJ’s position came after the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, challenged the NUJ-led campaign against the proposed bill.

Nigerians are beseeched on daily basis with multi-faceted political and socio-economic problems. We are daily confronted with high level of insecurity, banditry, rape, kidnapping, inequality in the economic system, high level of unemployment, epileptic power supply, poor rating of the nation’s international reputation, religious and tribal intolerance, insurgency, institutional corruption, poor infrastructures in both educational and health care delivery sectors, ritual and political killings, the flagrant ravaging of lives, homes, farm lands and in many cases whole communities by the never-touched herdsmen, directly or indirectly defended by the powers we voted to secure the land. We read of some governors who have plundered the treasury of their states, polarised the state and today are in the Senate chambers to make laws meant to govern the law-abiding citizens.

Perhaps, one may be accused at this juncture of being heuristic and being in a haste to solve all the problems at a go. This is not the case and cannot be. Succinctly, a country or leadership should as a matter of necessity, first prioritise the needs of the governed and address them in that order. Leaders must realise that they lead by virtue of the people’s mandate to whom power belongs; leaders need to be reminded that they are first among the equals in considering their relationship with other citizens. Members of the National Assembly must not forget in a hurry that

a nation is more stable politically when the powers of the leaders are reasonably charted and bridled by the constitution.

Although I do not claim to possess superior economic prowess, especially in the area of hierarchy of needs but will like to borrow from Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The basic need of man from this generally acceptable theory is food and shelter, according to Maslow. These are economic needs.

Next is security needs, before social and actualisation needs of man. The essence of this brief analysis is to situate the current quest and haste of the ninth National Assembly to pass bills on social media and the hate speech that attract death penalty amongst the more obvious pressing needs of the society. This analysis will provoke readers to discern the pureness of motive in preferring to pass bills on matters that may not contribute meaningfully to the socioeconomic, political, or psychological growth of the nation.

One of the major qualities of good leadership is patriotism. By this, leaders must have selfless and deep-rooted love for the nation and not motivated by personal ambition and idiosyncrasy. Members of the ninth National Assembly are yet to demonstrate this devotion and dedication in their call to duty. One may begin to ask: Of what economic value will this bill add to the nation’s dwindling currency? How can the death of Nigerians for making hate speech contribute to the development of the nation? Why is there no bill to hang political looters? Why is there no bill to hang party leaders who sell and buy votes? Why is there no bill to hang Boko Haram members who have killed, maimed and plundered the North-East Nigeria with impunity? How is hate speech more dangerous and destructive to nationhood than human trafficking and ritual killing? How can we equate the monumental corruption in the government which in the first place, was responsible for Buhari’s administration smooth ride to power, with hate speech?

Nigerians voted Buhari administration into power because he promised to fight corruption, if therefore, there is any area that should have occupied the minds of the legislators, it should be in this direction.

It needs to be overtly admitted that the future will have no pity for those men who, possessing the exceptional privileges to alleviate the people’s suffering through appropriate legislation, but have chosen to provide hangman instead for fellow Nigerians. With the forgoing in view, the call on the elites, well-meaning Nigerians, the executives, religious leaders, opinion leaders, and those in the Diaspora to unite to challenge and speak-up against this bill and to call attention of the ninth National Assembly to more pressing needs of the country: They should channel their intellect to issues that border on insecurity, unemployment, devaluation of naira, the case of insurgence, corruption, among others.

What a paradox, that with all the innumerable challenges that are crippling the economy, our legislatures are busy debating on issues that worry Nigerians least. Do we need to arrange workshops and seminars to refocus them to face developmental legislation as that is actually what we need at present? National Assembly should delineate and concentrate on the essentials of governance, and not to amplify their phobia forcriticism which is an inevitable ingredient for a true democracy.

Chidi Solomon Ogbuehi is a research fellow with Lagos State University

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Sunday 01 December 2019

Sunday Feature

Sunrise in the West

Amid hopelessness and abandonment, Hawawu Aminu and other women have shown that milk-making is more than a business

H

ODINAKA ANUDU awawu Aminu begins her morning prayers at 3.22am.

Her two oldest children, Muhammad and Ibrahim, join her five minutes after. She rises from the prayers 17 minutes later, washes her face, brushes her teeth and drinks some milk. It is not the regular type of milk, but the fermented one popularly called ‘nunu’ in the south-western Nigeria. She has stored it in a flask and kept it for herself and her children.

In her Fasola community, a tranquil town in Oyo State in Nigeria, the milk is popular because everyone feels it is healthy.

She offers me some, but I decline. For me, it is too early to have a cup of milk. Besides, I am sceptical about the way it had been preserved.

She scurries onto the field and drops her mat. Ibrahim, her second son, hurriedly begins to sweep the open field, which now serves as a milking parlour— amid the intermittent lowing of cows and chirping of birds. Few minutes after, she is ready to start the cow milking process.

Hawawu starts with the biggest cow. She has six more and will take the milking process one after another. She cleans its udder and teat carefully to ensure that nothing contaminates the milk. She washes her hands with a soap and sponge, and asks her son to do so too. This is to prevent micro organisms from contaminating the milk to be produced. She sits down, pulls down the teat to pass dirt, and begins the actual milking after 12 minutes.

She places a bucket underneath the udder and begins to press the teat. The process goes on until the udder becomes completely deflated. The cow gives her 1.5 litre of milk. This is

Women milk makers at a milk collection centre at Fasola community.

pretty poor when compared with other countries, but Hawawu is not worried.

She had learnt cross-breeding from a group of Dutch dairy farmers who taught her and other women the importance of that in 2018. Since December of 2018, cross-breeding has increased the milk production of her cows from just one litre to 1.5 litres.

“I will get two or three litres from each cow by next year,” she tells me.

I am reluctant to interrupt her work, so I decide not to ask how that dream will be realised.

She empties the milk into a keg, covers it properly and continues with the next cow. She is through with milking the seven cows in about 49 minutes.

In cow milking, time is the most important asset, she says.

Women milk makers at the community

“If you waste a lot of time, your milk will be contaminated,” she says, slapping her forehead.

“And nobody will accept it from you.”

Milk collection centre Hawawu and her children head for the milk collection centre. It was set up by a local dairy firm—FrieslandCampina WAMCO. The firm collects the milk, which is its most important raw material, for onward use at the factory. It pays the women N100 for a keg. All together, she produces 10 and a half kegs of raw milk, earning N1, 050—approximately $3 every day. This is small, but it is enough for the whole family. And it takes her out of the extreme poverty line of $1.90 per day.

Hawawu, like other women milking different cows, understands the little science of milk-

Picture taken in 2017

ing cows. Before now, her husband had been the one in charge of the cows. He would move the cows from one area to another in search of pasture and water. He husband was soon to abandon her and the children for other women. So the responsibility fell

over the kegs to a man they have all come to know as John. He is very popular among the women and always pays them their money conformably.

His full name is Adekunle Olayiwola John, dairy development manager of FrieslandCampina WAMCO in Fasola community.

He moves the kegs of milk to the laboratory to run two important tests: coagulation and resazurin tests. The former is meant to test the thickness or purity of the milk while the latter is to determine the quality or level of bacteria in it.

Thirty minutes later, he comes out, smiles and congratulates Hawawu and her children. He then asks them to go for their money at the payment section.

“You will be surprised that they now know whether the milk will pass the tests or not,” John says.

He discloses that because of education and enlightenment, rejection of milk from Hawawu and other women has fallen to less than five percent.

Hawawu collects her money and heads home.

Abandonment, tears Hawawu was married to Bagudu 17 years ago. They had seven children. The man was hard working, but perhaps, lacked business acumen. He had 12 cows, but the number declined

Milk produced by Hawawu and her children on her. But she and other women to four. Despite his declining decided to settle the cows in one fortunes, he decided to increase place, thanks to the support of the number of his wives. He married two, three, and then four. As FrieslandCampina WAMCO. “The first step is that it is a Muslim, he was permitted to wrong to move around with the marry four wives. But two years later, he thought that four were cows,” she tells me.

“When you do that, cows not enough, and married five. tend to be unhealthy and cannot And then six. The marriage all toproduce quality milk,” she notes. gether produced 23 children, but She explains that getting wa- it was the women that catered ter and pasture to the cows in a for the children.

“My husband has a licence to settlement is always better than marry more if he wants to, and moving cows around.

“Cows are like human beings; he may be thinking of that at the you have to take care of them like moment,” Hawawu says, shedyou take care of human beings,” ding tears.

After his departure, Hawawu she says.

She notes that it is important grew the number of cows to to know the health status of a seven and used the proceeds to cow before getting milk from it. take care of the family. No one At the milk collection centre, knows Bagudu’s whereabouts or Hawawu and her children hand does he know his family’s.

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BDSUNDAY 19

Sunday Feature

An amputee begging somewhere in Ikeja, Lagos

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

“That is what we go through,” Hawawu tells me.

Questions have been raised about the culture of marrying many wives and having many children without catering for them.

A family psychologist Yakubu Ishola says a number of men use religion and culture as excuses to play on women’s emotions.

“For them, women are good only for sexual intercourse,” he says.

“But such a practice is archaic.

A woman is not a baby factory and when someone sees women as factories, he then produces children that will create problems for the society,” he notes.

In northern Nigeria, men feel a sense of entitlement to marry many wives, but no woman is permitted to marry more than one husband.

The children are the biggest victims. They become street urchins and ready tools in the hands of unscrupulous politicians who use them to rig elections and unleash mayhem on their opponents. Many of these children have become impatient with the society and joined dreaded terrorist groups such as Boko Haram and Islamic State of

West Africa.

The children hardly go to school. A survey by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in December 2018 showed that the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria rose from 10.5 million to 13.2 million in fewer than five years— the highest in the world. Most of the children are in the northern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, where Boko Haram terrorists have disrupted academic activities.

More than 80 percent of them are said to be in different states of the northern Nigeria.

Hawawu and her husband are from Yobe, one of these states. Even though they are in the south-western state of Oyo, three of her seven children do not go to school.

Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi Lamido, an elite traditional ruler in the north-western Nigeria, has been in the forefront of advocating against producing children that are not catered for. He has made few friends and many enemies in his quest to change a people’s orientation.

“Our population is a liability already,” says Sanusi.

He avers that northern Nigeria has the highest level of

Women involved in production of Peak and Three Crowns milk (pictures beside)

fertility, population and poverty because leaders have failed to educate the people, especially the girl-child.

“Except we stop seeing women and girls as baby factories and begin to see them as human beings with rights against abuse, right against being divorced arbitrarily and right to earn an income, the situation will continue,” he says.

Sanusi advocates that any man who divorces his wife to marry another should be compelled by law to take care of the first wife and the children.

Hawawu and other women in the Fasola settlement have different tales to tell. Some are fortunate to have their husbands around, while others are not.

Getting information from Hawawu is not so easy. Her English is not so clear, but I listen carefully to understand her. Taking elaborate pictures of her is also not permitted. A few men are also fully involved in milk production—with the support of the women.

The women in your milk In the evening, Hawawu’s first daughter, Amira cooks for the whole family. At 12, she has learnt how to cook and she plans to open a big restaurant in the future. Though Amira is not in school, she believes she will become a university graduate

Hawawu is the only woman in the picture. She, alongside the men, was trained by Dutch dairy farmers in 2018

at some point in the future. Hawawu always sleeps early at 9pm to be able to wake up early. Her children have learnt that habit.

She and other women like Fatima Abu may not be popular, but they contribute to every Peak or Three Crown Milk Nigerians drink. The two milk brands are used by 200 million Nigerians and exported to the West and Central Africa.

“These women are unsung heroes,” Ike Ibeabuchi, managing director of MD Services Limited, a manufacturing and services firm based in Abuja and Enugu, Nigeria, says.

“When I have a cup of milk each day, I remember the labours of such women,” he says.

Euromonitor International, a research firm, in a recent report, says FrieslandCampina leads in the drink milk products segment in Nigeria by virtue of its strength in powder milk through its Peak brand.

“Peak benefits from its longstanding presence in the country, widespread distribution, strong marketing and advertising support and its offer of a wide range of pack sizes, including small formats,” the report also says.

FrieslandCampina WAMCO maintains that 900 of such women are involved in providing milk at various collection centres at Fasola, Maya, Iseyin, Ishaga and other communities.

Integrated into the community Hawawu and several other women in Fasola are Fulanis from northern Nigeria. But they now speak Yoruba, the language of their host community. They eat the Yoruba food and sometimes dress in their traditional attire.

At least, three of her children can speak Yoruba fluently. They go to the same mosque as other Yorubas without discrimination.

Cooperative to the rescue When Hawawu says, “I will get two or three litres by next year,” no one fully understands how possible that will be. But as I see her and other women meet and speak in hushed tones, I know that something is on the cards.

“I will enrol all my children in school next year,” she says, rais-

ing my curiosity.

Her optimism is fuelled by the coming of Fasola Women Dairy Cooperative Society, formed to enable these women send their children to school and have access to funding for other life’s issues.

The women contribute part of their income every day to the cooperative society and are entitled to take double of their deposits when the need arises.

“My second child wants to be a medical doctor. I send him to Ibadan (capital of Oyo State) to learn the basics of medicine from a doctor,” Hawawu says.

“I hope to train him from what I get from the cooperative society,” she adds, excitedly.

The cooperative was supported by the dairy company and it is meant to ensure that none of the women lack money when any need arises.

Civil servants are involved too The business of milk-making is also open to civil servants.

Funke Majaro is a teacher in a secondary school in Oyo State, but she also runs F&F Farms and rears cattle.

She has 30 cows. I am told that many government workers like Funke are in the business to escape poverty and make a living in case they do not get their salaries early from their employer. In Nigeria, state governments pay their workers whenever they deem fit. Several states owe workers today from one to 20 months salaries. But Funke has escaped that malaise.

Peace in Oyo There is relative peace in Oyo communities owing to the approach adopted by Hawawu and other women. By settling down cows in a particular location, the tussle between crop farmers and herders is reduced. In many communities in Nigeria, herders move their cows to crop farms.

The cows and bulls eat the crops and destroy the farms. It often results in killings. In 2018, herdsmen killed 1,700 people—six times the number killed by Boko Haram, according to the 2018 Global Terrorism Index.

“If I come back in my next world, I will still run a cattle farm,” Hawawu says.

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Sunday 01 December 2019

TheWorshippers

Pastors do far more than preaching the gospel – Igbinijesu Pastor Philip Igbinijesu is the Apostolic Set-man and God’s visionary for Word Assembly, a mission-oriented ministry with international outreaches and satellite churches in South Africa, Canada, USA and Nigeria with a passion for kingdom relevance, leadership development and social impact. In this interview with SEYI JOHN SALAU on the recently concluded International Festival of Victory (IFOV), Igbinijesu spoke on Word Assembly and the importance of agriculture to national development. Excerpts: We are here again this year for the International Festival of Victory (IFOV); what is the motive behind it? ur festival of international victory is a deliberate coinage in the sense that Word Assembly has international spread; we are in Southern Africa, we are in the United State of America, and we have a lot of outreaches in several other nations. So, there is a broad flavour like a parade of nations that the ladies did today; it speaks to what we believe in as a church and the international outreach perspective that we bring to ministry. But, outside of that is the celebration of victory. Word Assembly’s flagship programme is the ‘International Festival of Victory’ – we come together to celebrate the victory of the cross; the victory of Jesus, the victory we have experienced, the testimonies that abound across all our service centres and others.

Basically, it is a fusion – we want it festive atmosphere; it is a celebration, but in celebrating we are also testifying of the victories we have got and also prophesy about the victories to come; same way we also want people to know that it is not local but international.

This is the 11th edition of IFOV; how has the progress been like for the church?

It has been progressive, and one of the things we leant to do with God is to walk one step by step with him. Push enough faith but don’t put yourself under the pressure whereby you do things that are not necessary. So, it’s been beautiful – there has never been a better yesterday; everyday has been better, every year. So, we are grateful to God in terms of the quality, dept, maturity, and outlook; in terms of the appreciation of the people in what happens during IFOV and many other ancillary blessings – numerical

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Philip Igbinijesu

additions to church in marriages because as the people come, they get involved and before you know it – we have celebrated several marriages. So, it has been a blessing.

There is this argument that many pastors nowadays are just motivational speakers and all of that; what is your position on this?

As for motivation, what people do not know is that there are fewer people than pastors because pastors and churches have come under a lot of hammer for taking advantage of people – why that maybe a far-front truth, the reality of the matter is that the job of every pastor has always been to be touched by the feelings and infirmities of the people. Pastors do a lot beyond what people know in educating people to have better husbands, wives, students, and better citizens. You can’t put a cost on that because cumula-

tively, the people have been taken out of jail, homes that could have been broken and the resultant effect of wayward children; how do you put a cost on that to be able to evaluate what pastors do?

So, churches and pastors do more than to take people to heaven; our job is to make people better citizens and agriculture just happen to be one of the many things that we see as something that we need to do. But, more precisely Word Assembly is a church that is very big on community social responsibility initiatives. There are lots we are doing in that regard – so we just see it as a logical addition to other things. Anything that will add value to the people is a plus for us; not just as Word Assembly, but the church global.

So, basically it is about enabling people, empowering people and feeding people.

Dr. Titus Masika of Kenya was a special guest at this year’s

IFOV; why the focus on agriculture?

Doctor Masika is someone that came under very profound and revolutionary ideas on how to optimise the agricultural potentials of African countries. As I speak Dr. Masika is a consultant in virtually all the eastern African countries. A lot of multinational institutions and even some delegations from different bodies in the UN come all the way to his home country of Kenya to witness the revolution that was birthed through very creative concepts that God gave to him on how to transform her people’s opportunities in the place of agriculture. So, having such a revolutionary opportunity come visit and participate in the programme, we do feel that anybody who is involved in the entire agricultural value chain from the most basic subsistence farming to mechanised farming, to agro-production and all the other things that have to do with the different aspects to which you can produce or transform your agricultural produce into.

Was Dr. Masika here to speak about God and agriculture or just the business of agriculture?

Dr. Masika is a bishop of a group of churches; he is a minister of the gospel and a highly read man with PhD in different fields of human development. But, precisely part of his quest to see how he can transform community and empower them to be self-sustaining.

It was in that quest that God gave him a revolutionary idea on how to optimise crop yield, how to be able to fast-track the production of basic and other kinds of crops; how to strategise and how to also create some system that can help you to water your land when it’s arid; and many other revolutionary and creative ideas without the high cost that will go with it when you ordinarily want to make experts or business people to help you overcome some of these challenges

that people faced depending on where they are located and the quality of their soil. So, how to navigate your way through all of this was why Dr, Masika was invited.

I met him when I went to speak at a conference in Kigali, Rwanda – I was just blown away and being a pastor leading congregations of people and knowing that you never go wrong with agriculture, I just reason that we need to bring this man at great cost because I want the people to be empowered and blessed.

What motivates the church into such a summit on agriculture?

Well, like you know – with 200 million people and we have been projected by 2035 which is just about 15/16 years away; Nigeria would likely be the third most populous nation in the world. By then Nigeria would have overtaken the United States; United State is like 320 to 330 million people, but by 2035 going to 2050, Nigeria would have overtaken the U.S. India at number one and China at n umber two; while we will be number three. Right now, we have food crisis, the other day, the Niger State government signed a memorandum of understanding, begging the World Bank to come help the state overcome malnutrition.

Malnutrition, shun all the grammar, is inability to feed your people, and that for me is ridiculous.

Nigeria has no reason not to be able to feed her people. Vast arable lands, boundless youthful population and this is one land where you don’t even have to pray and fast – just put something in the ground and it will come up.

But, how to now be deliberate, systematic in order to optimise crop yield. The basic business sense of agriculture; how do you ensure that you can network with like-minded people in order to increase the possibilities that can come out of agriculture.

Christian faithful urged to worship God in His glory SEYI JOHN SALAU

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elievers and Christian faithful generally have been urged to imbibe the act of worshipping God in his glory and honour in recognition of his majestic place in human existence.

This admonition was given at the 2019 annual thanksgiving service of Divine Mercy Baptist Church, Ikosi, with the theme, ‘Celebrating God’s Glory and Honour’.

“We need to know that it is God’s worship that dominates heaven as all the hosts of heaven have no other

job than to worship God continually for who he is and for what he has done. We shall do well as saints on earth to borrow a leaf on the pattern of heavenly worship in order to make our worship here on earth a true worship,” Femi Popoola, the pastor of Divine Mercy Baptist Church, said.

According to him, the glory and honour of God point to God’s redemptive work in Christ Jesus.

“As believers, we are to celebrate God’s glory and honour by belonging to God’s heavenly kingdom.

Our celebration must be rooted in God’s heavenly kingdom; the pri-

mary purpose of man’s existence is to worship God,” Popoola said, emphasising that as people of God, “we need the spirit of God because without the spirit of God we cannot behold the glory and honour of God.” Speaking further to the congregation on God’s glory, Popoola said: “The first thing to be given attention in the passage as we come to celebrate God today is to understand that the Bible gives us the revelation of God as God of indescribable glory and honour.

God’s glory is so overwhelming and awesome that Apostle John

grappled with the right words to describe the majesty of God on his throne in heaven.

“From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible does not fail to reveal God’s glory to us. However, in Revelation, we are made to see a glimpse of how much the earth is far from comprehending the glory of God as it were in heaven,” he further said.

Oluwaseyi Amasha, chairman, anniversary committee, said that when believers celebrate God’s glory and honour, God in turn smiles on us in his kindness; just as Psalm 22:3 says, God inhabits the praise of his people.

“God is the only being worthy of our celebration. He’s glorious, gracious, majestic, sovereign, supreme, immortal, invisible, and unsearchable. We are created and exist for this sole purpose – the worship of God. “Apart from worshipping God for who he is, we also set today apart to worship him for what he’s done in our lives since last year we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the church. You may not be where you wish to be but you aren’t where you were last year. God deserves our praise for the things he has done in our lives, regardless,” Amasha said.

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TheWorshippers Inspiration With Rev. Yomi Kasali

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hursday 28 November is celebrated in America as ‘Thanksgiving Day’ and their citizens globally will be taking out the day to spend time with their families and loved ones. It is a very unusual day in their lives and many of

Happy thanksgiving them take this celebration very seriously; they do not go to work, only emergency services workers are allowed to spend some time at work, shops close, the Leaders join millions of citizens to thank God for being with them over the years.

I am not interested in writing about the history behind thanksgiving in America but want to inspire you today to be ‘THANKFUL’ to God always. I know thanksgiving was celebrated in America on Thursday but today’s article is based on my believe of this special occasion. I want to join the most powerful country in the world to celebrate ‘Thanksgiving Day’ because it is in line with my faith and values.

There was an event of healing of some lepers mentioned in the Bible where Jesus healed 10 lepers but only one of them came back to ‘THANK’ Him. That account infuriated the Master and He publicly ‘Condemned’ the action of the 9 Lepers and ‘Commended’ the only person that came back to show

people in church feel very entitled to receiving certain Blessings from God and don’t see why they should be Thankful to Him because ‘He was obligated to do so...’.

What a wrong mindset!

gratitude. From the passage mentioned, it is safe to deduce that only 10% of people that receive blessings that come back to thank God. ‘Then Jesus answering said, were there not ten cleansed?

But Where are the nine, there are not found that returned to give glory to God but this STRANGER’ (Luke 17 v 1718).

We celebrate our own version of thanksgiving to God in our church annually on the third Sundays of De-

cember to celebrate God’s faithfulness and kindness to us as His children; I often ask people to come with a thankful heart and not an entitlement culture. I’ll share my thoughts with you on why people don’t thank God. 4 possible reasons why people don’t thank God Entitlement culture: Those nine people that were healed possibly didn’t come back to Thank God because they were Jewish hence felt Entitled to the healing. Many

RCCG teens hold fashion show Ngozi Okplalakunne

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he Teens Department of the Redeemed Christian Ch u r c h o f G o d (RCCG), City of David, has concluded plans to hold its annual Genesis fashion show in Lagos.

The show, which is the 5th in its series, aimed to encourage decent dressing among teenagers.

Speaking at a press briefing to herald the event, Pastor Clement Okafor of the RCCG, City of David, said that the fashion show is scheduled to hold on December 16th 2019 and that it would feature teenage designers and models from different denominations.

BDSUNDAY 21

Okafor went further to explain that the show is also an opportunity for the young ones to discover their talents and follow it passionately.

In addition, he said that the fashion show indicates that teenagers can dress decently and look nice at the same time.

“Teens of today dress indecently, but with this show, we are trying to educate the world that one does not need to dress indecently before such an individual will look nice; you can dress decently and still look fashionable.

“Most teens do not dress well, and such habit is formed at home; a situation where parents are not conscious of what their children put on. It ought not to be so; parents particularly mothers, should

monitor what their children put on and that is teaching them values. They will hold on to such values wherever they find themselves tomorrow. They will not depart from following such values because it has formed part of their lives,” he said. ‘’We are not teaching them modeling, but we want to give them values and values are more important than money. There are family and societal values and when the societal value is conflicting, a child will go back to her family values. So, parents should inculcate family values in their wards, it is very crucial. You can imagine where there are no family values and that is the reason we have so many problems in the society today. The family is the bedrock

L-R: Pastor Shola Omotosho with Pastor Clement Okafor standing third right, both of Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), City of David and others during a press briefing held recently in Lagos to announce the 5th edition of Genesis fashion show organised by the Teens Department of the Church.

of any society. Whatever that happens in the home transcends in to the society,’’ Okafor noted.

Also speaking at the briefing, Pastor Shola Omotosho revealed that this year’s edition of the fashion show is tagged ‘dominate’ and that the show since its inception has brought about decency in dressing among the teenagers who participate in it.

Enumerating the prizes for the teenager who will emerge as overall winner, he said, such youth will go home with the sum of three hundred thousand naira; the second will receive one hundred and fifty thousand naira, while the third position will win one hundred thousand naira.

In addition, Omotosho said that the winners at the show will undergo five months’ mentorship programme that will enable them establish on their own.

“The essence of the programme is also to encourage the young ones in the society to work hard in life, to acquire skills that will not only keep them busy but also make them financially balanced,’’ he said.

Some of the teenage designers and models, who spoke during the media chat, lauded the church for supporting them in organising the show and assured their readiness to continue to be pacesetters in decent dressing in society.

It’s not a big deal: Another possible reason those lepers didn’t show gratitude was because it wasn’t a Big Deal to them as Jewish people. There were many documented testimonies of lepers healed in the past so why should this be different? After all, He is the Messiah and should prove that to them by Healing Lepers like them.

They were on their way to the priests: They were told to go show themselves to the Priests and actually got healed on the way, so they would love to approach Thanksgiving Religiously not actually with Gratitude in their hearts. The only person that came back didn’t have a relationship with the Priests (he wasn’t Jewish) but with the Healer who healed them.

We sometimes become so ‘Religious’ that we lose our ‘spirituality’.

There were other problems unsolved in their lives: This is the most popular reasons why people don’t Thank God, they focus on several other problems in their lives and ignore the little ones that He solves daily for us.

That kind of attitude always shows ingratitude towards God and people that help them because they trivialize some acts of kindness because of the bigger ones they were looking for.

Let me drop my pen and close my thoughts by asking you to celebrate the goodness of God in your life while also asking you to cultivate an attitude of ‘THANKS’ always.

Drop me a note of acknowledgment and encouragement.

Rev Yomi Kasali is Senior Pastor, Foundation of Truth Assembly (FOTA), Surulere, Lagos.

Nathaniel Bassey, Chinyere Udoma, others lead at ‘2019 Unusual Praise’

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housands of worshippers gathered at the Periwinkle Estate, Freedom Way, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos for the 2019 Unusual Praise where Natheniel Bassey, Chinyere Udoma, Tope Alabi, Osinachi Nwachukwu and Panam Percy Paul ushered people to the awesome presence of God through their songs of praise and worship.

Lanre DaSilva Ajayi, chairperson of the event said the difference with Unusual Praise is that it is a Catholic gathering and it is also welcomed to non-Catholics. Unusual Praise was hosted by Catholic Church of Divine Mercy, Lekki.

According to her, praising God through music makes people feel good, adding that there is a true feeling of worship together and people need to experience it themselves.

“We are all going to be under one roof praising God,” Ajayi said.

Nathaniel Bassey, Nigeria’s popular gospel singer said it is important that people praise God for several reasons.

“From scriptures, we see that praise deals with the greatness of God. The bible says ‘Oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good and his mercies endures forever.

The only response to the greatness of God is praise.

Secondly, praise is an offering that we give. In the Old Testament, they will kill goats and other animals but in the New Testament, our sacrifice is praise.

“Jesus said if we don’t

praise him, he will raise the stones to praise him. So, praise is the duty of man to God and that is why we are alive. God saved us for us to show forth his praises. Praise is why we live. The psalmist said, ‘God kept me alive so that I might offer praises to you.’

“As we gather for Usual Praise, each and every one of us must have a reason to give thanks and praises. Being alive alone in this country is a testimony. So, we have reasons to praise God despite the economy, insecurity challenges, we have reasons to praise God,” he said.

M o n s i g n o r Pa s c h a l Nwaezeapu, the head of the host Parish for Unusual Praise spoke on the importance of the event, stressing that it is an opportunity to thank God for all he has done.

“There are many things we take for granted. People ask God for millions of dollars and I ask people that if God decides to give you millions of dollars but takes his breath from you, which one will you prefer? His breath or millions of dollars? Without the air or water, can you survive?

“This event is about gathering people together to say ‘Thank you.’ Praise and worship is first and foremost about God. For us, we have a mission to also evangelise and to get people who already know God to encounter him more and deepen that conversion experience. For those who do not know him, it gives them the opportunity to encounter Him and be converted.

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Sunday 01December 2019

Focus

Lagos traffic: 36 years of fruitless search for solution I

Chuka Uroko

President Buhari

was responding to a transportation study said to have been commissioned by the Federal Government in 1974, which indicated a crisis situation with regards to traffic in Lagos, compared to what was the case in the early 1970s, unless the challenge was urgently addressed.

Th e a d m i n i s t r a t i o n h a d planned to execute the metro line project in two phases, with the first starting from the Marina to Yaba. This phase was slated for completion in July 1986, while the second, commencing from Agege to Yaba through Oregun and Ikorodu Expressway, was slated for completion in March, 1987.

But the project suffered a setback as the military coup which saw the junta, led by then

Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu

Lateef Kayode Jakande

General Muhammadu Buhari, overthrew the civilian administrations of then President Shehu Shagari and Governor Jakande.

Though some efforts have been made in bits and pieces by successive military and civilian administrations 36 years after this ambitious attempt by Jakande, the monster called traffic gridlock has persisted in the state, growing in size and stature along with the state’s population which has grown geometrically from about five million to an estimated 22 million.

With a vehicular density of over 222 vehicles/km and largely unplanned network of roads, Lagos, the smallest of Nigeria’s 36 states, by landmass, sitting on 3,577 square kilometres, con-

tinues to face traffic challenges.

The best of all attempts by one administration after another in the state has not been good enough; hence the state which is Nigeria’s economic hub, is gradually but steadily grinding to a halt with grave implications not just to the state’s economy but also to the health and well being of the residents.

As a city, Lagos likes being addressed in superlative terms as: The largest economy in West

”

n the last 36 years, Lagos State government has been consistently investing time, energy and resources in its search for a sustainable solution to traffic congestion which has become a major feature of its badly degraded and difficult environment.

For so long also the solution has been elusive, begging the question as to what the state is doing wrongly or not doing at all, accounting for this nightmare that has made the state a loathsome destination for investors and tourists in spite of its huge population.

About 40 years ago, precisely on March 29, 1978, a major glimpse into the state’s traffic challenge was given by the defunct Daily Times Newspaper which hit the newsstand with a screaming headline: ‘Lagos Traffic Defies Solution’ with a rider— ‘chaos despite new measure’.

This means that Lagos has known traffic crisis for as long as when the present governor of the state was a boy in primary school.

A Metro Line Project, which came five years after, was the first major attempt at solving this problem but it turned out a project that never was. It was a good dream truncated by a rampaging military junta.

On July 16, 1983, Lateef Jakande, the first civilian governor of the state (1979-1983), flagged off the Lagos Metro Line project that was projected to cost N689 million at that time. It was a major attempt at introducing an intra-city rail system as a response to the traffic crisis in the commercial city.

“We are making history today.

One hundred years from now, generations yet unborn would thank us for the wisdom in establishing this project. At that time, the metro line would have expanded from the north-south route of Lagos to other states. I dream of a comfortable future and I thank God for making me and this administration instruments for this future,” Jakande said at the flag-off event.

According to projections, the first phase of the project was to be completed in July 1986. It was to have 30 trains, each running 28.5 kilometers on raised concrete tracks from Marina to Agege.

It was projected that the 30 trains would carry 88, 000 passengers per hour, which is 2, 288, 000 passengers in 16 hours, about half of the population of Lagos going by the World Health Organisation (WHO) calculations at that time.

The Jakande administration

The Jakande administration was responding to a transportation study said to have been commissioned by the Federal Government in 1974, which indicated a crisis situation with regards to traffic in Lagos, compared to what was the case in the early 1970s, unless the challenge was urgently addressed.

Africa; one of the fastest growing cities in the world, a mega city; a smart city and one of the 100 resilient cities in the world. But it easily and pitiably falls flat when the cards are laid out on the table.

A major card is gridlock; another is misery which is quite deep.

Misery is a native in Lagos and looking at both life and living in the state, it does seem that the residents have committed a grave and unforgivable sin and the ultimate punishment is traffic which is the first reason for everything that makes the state difficult to live.

A Global Liveability Index published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the world’s leader in global business intelligence, says Lagos is one of the worst places to live in the world, adding that it has been within the range of 137th-139th position out of a total of 140 cities in the world from year 2011-2019.

Environment issues bordering on living conditions were a major consideration in the ranking. Congestion is the reason an average Lagosian spends about 4 hours on the road every day just to get to his shop or office.

It is so bad nowadays that even somebody who lives in Surulere has to leave his house by 5:00am in order to get to work in Victoria Island and he won’t get there until 8:00am.

In Lagos, this gridlock is no respecter of location and for the commuters, there is no hiding place. So, whether it is a journey through Lekki-Epe Expressway, Agege Motor Road, Abule EgbaOshodi, Ifako-Ijaiye-Agbado Road, Isolo-Ejigbo-Ikotun Egbe Road, or Lagos-Badagry Express-

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BDSUNDAY 23

Nigerian bank oligopolies: A case of review Continued from back page

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way, it is the same “highway to hell”.

Apparently, the gridlock which is everywhere and anywhere in the state, including the very exclusive neighbourhoods, has defied solution which, in some cases, comes right from the Federal Government.

Besides the provision of roads infrastructure, the state government, especially during the administration of Babatunde Fashola, had to come up with two separate but interrelated laws aimed to control traffic situation in the state.

These are the Lagos State Traffic Law and the law setting up the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA, both aimed to regulate and control traffic flow in the state.

The traffic law which was so effective in its early days that it demanded a psychiatric evaluation of any person who drove against the normal flow of traffic or who failed to comply with any of the provisions of this Law failed due largely to lack of enforcement.

Today, it seems as though the state never had any such law in place. LASTMA which came out smoking with some level of positive results soon became an octopus, assuming larger than life image and extorting motorists on spurious charges, leading to its widespread condemnation.

The congestion we see everywhere in Lagos today is as a result of action and inaction of the state government,” Adebola Adefuyi, an environment and regional analys

Though officials of the authority are still seen everywhere on Lagos roads, their impact is quite minimal. They are no longer serious with their work after former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode clipped their wings, telling them

to stop the harassment and extortion of motorists while on duty.

The reconstruction and expansion of major highways in the state are also part of measures the state government has taken to contain traffic crisis in the state. A ready example of this effort is the Lagos-Badagry Expressway which is being expanded into 10-lanes with a light rail in-between.

But the expressway has become an albatross. After 10 years with very little to justify the efforts, it has become a nightmare where motorists spend upwards of five hours within a stretch of three kilometers.

In the midst of these efforts and failures, the state, its residents and the economy have continued to suffer. It has become unbearable to live in the state and this was reflected in the ranking of the state as the third most miserable city in the world by an international ranking organisation.

Both travel time and cost have gone up in recent time by over 1000 percent. Apart from impoverishing the resident, the crisis situation is also diminishing the economy of the state as it significantly affects productivity from the level of artisans to CEOs in the corporate world.

“The congestion we see everywhere in Lagos today is as a result of action and inaction of the state government,” Adebola Adefuyi, an environment and regional analyst, told BDSUNDAY. He explained that the inability or unwillingness of the successive governments to enforce existing traffic and street trading laws are major causes of the present crisis situation.

Adefuyi was of the view that for so long as the state government shied away from creating new city centres in places like Ikorodu, Badagry, Abule Egba and other far-flung suburbs, so long will everybody find their way to the already congested city centres, and for so long too will this crisis continue.

Ezeillo Nnamdi, a Lagos resident residing in one of the suburbs, agrees, stressing that the state government should, as short term measure, make the roads motorable because, according to him, “there is no road to drive on in Lagos at the moment.”

implementation of IFRS in 2012.

Shareholder must get a financial advisor to help interpret audited account at a fee to be able to get the full meaning and interpretation of what is sent as electronic financial reports. In most cases, due to poor internet penetration shareholders are always unable to access the audited financial statement sent electronically. The old IAS or the Nigeria Accounting Standard Board requirement would have sufficed for now.

The banking halls are expensively designed as if it is a furniture or boutique show rooms of Harrods of Knightsbridge, staffed with 5 questionable unskilled urbane cute ladies whose attire is like preparing for miss world audition.

Some of the branches are constructed using the roman pillars carved with white marble, plaster of Paris and Italian Chandeliers.

The cost of operations is absorbed by naïve shareholders whose dividend yield from investment in banking stock hovers around 3percent. Return on investment is perpetually negative when compared with above average borrowing rate of 20percent. Overall, the shareholders are worse off investing in banks’ shares. In all the institutions, management are mafia-like, being controlled by few influential owner managers who are on executive pay and perquisite never paid anywhere in the world.

The above summarises the typical Nigerian banking situation.

The industry is dominated by capitalist elite with zero government ownership control or interest.

In the past, government used to own majority interest in some of the institutions, making government involved in decision making which benefits the generality of the people. It is high time government revisited ownership of these institutions by acquiring majority control or nationalise some to enable the industry serve the people better. In United Kingdom, when the banks were failing, government rescued them to protect the general populace. In Nigeria, government only rescued the banks with public fund. The public continue to indirectly pay for malfeasance of bankers through Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

The banking public and customers should gradually come together to rescue themselves from the oligopoly tendencies through class action. The shareholders’ associations should be well focused and reactive. Some of the banking aberration should be tested by class actions which can be instituted by either shareholders’ association and or Bank Customers’ association. The docility of bank customers must end.

The CBN supervision and manpower as structured is designed not to deliver good service to the public, the leadership hierarchy is uncertain or predictable. We have had instances of governor of CBN

spending one term, while others served two terms. In another case, the governor was sacked even before expiration of his tenure in first term without justifiable explanation or reasons to the public.

At the lower CBN staff hierarchy, promotion criteria are very vague, recruitment process opaque to favour the children of the elite and political class. Therefore, you have a regulator whose staffers are in perpetual state of uncertainty in mind and promotion, hence compromise in bank supervision work. This is the right time for government to set up a new banking supervisory authority. The government should put in place an agency similar to Financial Conduct Authority of United Kingdom. The organisation can be called Nigeria Financial Supervision Authority (NFSA) whose role amongst others is to ensure honest, fair and effective financial dealing so that consumers and businesses get a fair deal for the whole economy.

The supervision model of CBN is weak and cannot handle all kinds of atrocities being committed by banking publics, especially the sophisticated elite who are fleecing the economy through foreign exchange round-tripping and bad loans. The proposed NFSA will regulate the conduct of businesses in the financial market inclusive of prudential regulation.

The prudential aspect of the regulation shall be carved from current CBN. All personnel of CBN in charge of prudential activities shall be transferred to the new agency.

In the history of failed bank since early 1990s, no CBN staff has been indicted publicly for bank failure, despite yearly supervision of the banks. What CBN does is to make management or bank owners the culprit without penalising staff who have been involved in the supervision prior to failure. Bank failure does not come overnight. It takes time for a bank to get to critical failing point.

Both Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and CBN are always involved in the supervision. What is needed is a penalty regime for bank examiners who are involved in investigation of any failed bank three years prior to the liquidation or take over by government agency. No bank should fail ordinarily if the supervision is right.

In conclusion, government should revisit capital barrier to entry to all aspects of banking businesses to make the market more competitive and prevent the current oligopoly tendencies. If implemented holistically, financial penetration and inclusion shall be a success. More mortgage, microfinance and credit unions shall be available to serve the public than the existing banking oligopolies. A new regulatory agency is needed to protect the public.

Olajide–JohnBrowne is an expert in banking, investment and corporate governance. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and Chartered Institute of Taxation, Nigeria.

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Sunday 01 December 2019

Feature How private, non-profit organisations tackle unemployment ...the WAVE example

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Kingsley Alumona

hat unemployment in Nigeria stands at 23 percent as at third quarter of 2018, according to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), indicates that unemployment is a glaring stain in the country’s fabric.

While the government has done little to address this critical national issue, economic experts agree that government alone cannot provide employment for all citizens within the working age. This is why private and social sector organisations, in their own ways, are synergising to ensure that many Nigerians get employment.

One of the organisations in the lead of confronting the unemployment menace by using avant-garde ideas and innovative approaches to expand the frontiers of job creation and placement in the country is West Africa Vocational Education (WAVE), a not-for-profit organisation based in Yaba, Lagos.

In this clime where many believe that getting a job or creating one is seemingly difficult, the co-founder of WAVE, Misan Rewane, does not think so. One of the reasons she founded WAVE was because she enjoys challenging paradigms.

“I like making the unthinkable thinkable,” she had said in a recent interview, adding that, “I see WAVE playing an ‘innovator role’ in rewiring education-to-employment systems across the continent, testing and designing new ways to deliver competencybased education in close partnership with industry.”

One of the striking aspects of WAVE’s learning space is the inspirational aura that it commends. Powerful motivational quotes on creativity and leadership that adorn the classroom walls are enough to set someone on the right track. One of the posters says ‘Wave goodbye to endless entry level job searches’. WAVE believes that, over the years, this declaration has been a promise kept because 70 percent of its alumni are in employments, entrepreneurship or furthering their education.

WAVE tackles unemployment from a single angle—through teaching hardworking young people skills they require to find work and, more importantly, to succeed at work so they could start a career and build a brighter future. WAVE’s philosophy is that competency is more valuable than credentials or certificates.

Its mission is ‘To level the playing field for underserved African youth by building an ecosystem that supports relevant skills development and increased incomes for work-ready youth.’ This it is achieving by influencing education to replicate the first part of its model: competency-based education driven by market demands.

Rewane spoke on the type of people qualified for the kind of services they offer and the type of companies or organisations they partner with to actualise their mission.

“All we ask of the jobseekers is literacy and numeracy skills, and a growth mindset,” she said. “The employers are only required to align ideologically with our terms and conditions. The organisations simply need to have a willingness to learn our methodology.”

WAVE believes that its students’ jobs start when they are undergoing training not after they graduate. Its pragmatic method of instruction that encapsulates its mission is reflected in one of its slogans: ‘Dream big, start small, learn fast, grow big.’

The modus operandi of WAVE is perhaps its most interesting and innovative story.

Fortunately, the students do not have to pay for the one-month intensive-training fee if they cannot afford it. When they secure a job on their own or when WAVE finds them a suitable level-entry job according to their location, performance and interest, they would offset their fees, which could be done

WAVE’s 56 class graduation

in three instalments.

However, in the event any of the successful graduates could not secure a job or offset the training fee within the stipulated time, there is room for negotiation. “This scenario is uncommon, because many of them pay within the time frame they are supposed to pay,” Kike Akintoye, one of the staff, said.

Rewane shed more light on how they get funding. “Our academies aim to cover their costs through a mix of philanthropy, training fees and recruitment fees. Our corporate training also serves to cross-subsidise our training of unemployed youths.”

The one-month training is split into two stages: the two-week classroom training stage and the one-to-two-week internship stage. The two-week classroom stage comprises five main instructional models and practicals. The models include communication, problem solving, managing expectations, teamwork and time management.

According to one of the employees, both in-house and visiting instructors handle these models. “Some resource persons come to teach and motivate the students.

They talk about their success stories and how they got where they are. The students benefit a lot from these interactions,” he said.

The internship stage involves matching the trainees to short-term opportunities to develop practical skills and experience while shadowing existing employees in their assigned workplace. Currently, WAVE boasts over 300 employer partners across Lagos and other cities in Nigeria like Ibadan and Owerri.

Some of these businesses—which are mainly in the hospitality and retail industries, bakeries, restaurants, supermarkets and boutiques—include, but not limited to, Hans and Rene, Nok by Alara, Sweet Kiwi, Mr. Price, Artist and Scientist, Nylah’s and Catering, Amazon Spur, Fitness Fair.

“We are currently planning to synergise with other businesses in Abeokuta and Abuja,” Akintoye said, adding that, “Sometimes, many of our employer partners have employed over 1500 youth across our programmes.”

Recently, WAVE’s Yaba Academy graduated 48 students of its 56 cohort, having

graduated over 300 youths this year. In their graduation ceremony, amid joy and confidence, the graduands spoke about their lives before WAVE, their challenges and what they wanted to become in the near future.

Faith Avuru sought admission in two tertiary institutions, but could not get in.

She felt disappointed. She heard about WAVE from a church member and showed interest. She learnt about communication, public speaking, negotiation, teamwork, and others.

“One of the challenges I encountered in WAVE was when we were asked to go outside and find ten things that are difficult to get around WAVE and its environs. That day, I came back with two items, and I was like wah, I tried,” she said. “I job shadowed at WAVE where I was in charge of outreach and admissions. In five years’ time, I want to be a chartered account. I’ll like to work in one of these big companies, Chevron for example, which I know is possible.”

Goodluck Etim was once a teacher, but due to some circumstance he lost his job and his house. That was how he got to WAVE. He thought everything would be simple in WAVE, but life became tough coupled with the class stress. He contemplated quitting, but summoned courage and saw it through. ”I’m here now saying WAVE is amazing and fantastic,” he said. “The most challenge I had in WAVE was when we were asked to design a paper bag and sell it to the public. At first, I thought it was a joke. But, I succeed in selling it for 20 naira—something I thought anybody would buy. I job shadowed at Mr. Price at Ikeja where I was a sales representative. In five years, I want to be a secondary school teacher. With the various skills I’ve acquired in WAVE, I should be able to do this well.”

Comfort Inyang worked as a sales representative. While on the job, a friend told her to come to WAVE, that she would get a better job there. Due to the fact she was not getting what she wanted from the sales job, she resigned and enrolled in WAVE. “I learnt a lot of things in WAVE, including how to write a CV that is presentable to an employer. Before now, all I do is to go to cyber cafés and copy someone else’s CV and change some things in it without knowing

what I was doing. I also learnt how to compose and conduct myself during interviews,” she said. “I Job shadowed at Craft Gourmet.

Communication skills and teamwork helped me to blend well with the staff of where I was posted. In five years, I’ll like to be a military person. I want to join the navy, in their educational department.”

Within its six years of existence, WAVE has successfully graduated over 3000 youth, majority of whom do not possess tertiary education. It has partnerships with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and Lagos State Ready Set Work Programme.

Furthermore, over six thousand secondary and university students have benefited from employability skills training through WAVE partnerships with governments.

This is an indication that WAVE is making progress towards realising its vision: ‘A world where every African youth has the skills and the opportunity to become what they imagine.’

Speaking on WAVE’s challenges, Misan Rewane stressed that it is really challenging when your products are people and you are selling a variable product on both sides when what each side needs is certainty. A jobseeker wants certainty around the condition of employment. An employer wants certainty about the commitment and the ability of the candidate to perform on the job. She noted that these are factors they could only influence, not fully control.

“Certainty about employment conditions and candidate commitment is done through vetting. But there is only so much vetting WAVE, the jobseeker and the employer can truly do on each end,” she said.

“This is just one of the many paradoxes in the work we do.”

Asked why WAVE has ‘West Africa’ as part of its name, but seems to operate only in Nigeria, Rewane stated that it serves as a reminder that they have aspiration to serve young Africans, educators and employers well beyond Nigeria. “In 2019, we supported training providers from Senegal to Benin (and beyond) in designing demand-driven training programmes,” she said.

Alumona contributed this piece from Ibadan, Oyo State.w

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25 Inside Lagos

Dark Wednesday in Ajegunle as 4 die in gas explosion JOSHUA BASSEY

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ednesday, November 2 7 , 2 0 1 9 was a sad day for some residents of Aduke Street, off Ojo Road, Ajegunle, in Apapa area of Lagos State.

The residents of the bustling neighbourhood had woken up this fateful day having no premonition of what would befall them.

For many of the residents, the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) shop within the neighbourhood had been there, serving their cooking gas need.

Some bonding, perhaps, had developed between the gas shop owner and the residents. But all that was disrupted in a moment on Wednesday, as explosion rocked the community. By the time the dust settled, four lives had been lost and 23 other persons left injured.

Jubilee Ocha, a resident of the neighbourhood who witnessed the incident, said it happened at about 7:30 am and lasted for about an hour. Before the rescue team of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) could reach the scene, a colossal loss had been recorded.

The explosion, according to Ocha , occurred when a resident of the area who was refilling her gas cylinder, took a call that was coming into her cell phone.

This was corroborated by the officials of LASEMA. “Upon arriving at the

scene of incident, it was discovered that a gas shop exploded as a result of gas leakage. Further investigation revealed that the fire ignited as a result of a call made by an unidentified resident said to have been filling a gas cylinder at the gas shop, thereby escalating to other shops and a bungalow behind the shop.

“Unfortunately, two children (male and female) lost their lives and multiple burnt casualties was recorded,” Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, the director general of LASEMA confirmed.

The injured were said to have been rushed various hospitals for immediate medical treatment while the first dead, (a female child) was moved away by the family before the arrival of the Lagos rescue team on the day of the incident.

The second dead met at the scene was bagged by the LASEMA team and handed over to the family before the area was cordoned and post-disaster assessment conducted by the emergency team on Wednesday.

However, two among the 23 injured later died in the hospital the following day (Thursday), bringing the number to four deaths.

Si n c e t h e i n c i d e n t , there have been questions around how the sale of cooking gas is regulated in Nigeria, especially in Lagos, and how concerned agencies at the federal and state levels are monitoring the increasing number of gas retail shops, most of which operate from kiosks within residential areas and buildings.

Ch e c k s r e v e a l e d a

growing trend in LPG retail shops across Lagos, in what calls to question the role of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Lagos State ministry of physical planning and urban development.

While DPR, a federally agency, has responsibility to regulate the petroleum/ gas sector, and also issues operating licenses for gas plants, the Lagos ministry of physical planning and urban development, has municipal responsibility for granting of building permits- residential or commercial, and that includes siting of gas plants and skid tanks.

A document from the ministry sighted by Inside Lagos, shows that to site a LPG plant, an operator requires between 450 to 1000 square metres land size in developing areas, while between 301 and 450 square metres of land

would be needed in builtup areas. For standard gas plants, a distance of 200 to 250 metres is required to separate them.

Similarly, a radius to adjoining street in developing areas is expected to be 250 metres and 200 metres in developing and built-up areas respectively. In the same vein, the pump to pump distance required at a standard gas plant in developing areas is 3.00 metres, while built-up areas, it is 1.5 metres.

Other requirements include provision of fire equipment, borehole and overhead water tank, water sprinkler, smoke/gas leakage detector among others. In the document, no provision is made for siting of plant, skid tank or gas retailing in kiosks, shops and residential apartments.

But checks across Lagos showed an increasing number of gas retail shops in residential areas, with the federal regulatory agency and the state authorities doing nothing to check the trend.

Many of those involved in the business neither have licenses nor can boost of any of the requirements spelt out by the government.

Findings further revealed that several persons are going into the cooking gas retail business to fill a demand gap.

Investigations show that more urban households are switching from charcoal and kerosene to LPG

for domestic cooking.

“I used to be a marketer with an insurance company before I switched over to this business,” said Tope Oladele, who runs a LPG retail shops in Okota area of Lagos.

According to Oladele, he started the business in 2017 when he discovered a number of residents in his neighbourhood are now using cooking gas against kerosene. Within Oladele’s shop are three long gas cylinders, from where he retails to his customers, most of whom come with the 3.5kg and 6kg cylinders.

Efforts to get the DPR to comment on the issue were unsuccessful, as Paul Osu, spokesperson of the agency, did not take calls or respond to SMS sent to his cell phone.

A former permanent secretary in the Lagos State ministry of physical planning and urban development, Dapo Thomas had told Inside Lagos that the responsibility was more of the DPR to regulate the sector, as the state deals more with building permits.

According to Thomas, in some cases, it would amount to going out of her ministry’s purview to stop landlords from letting out their property for siting gas retail shops.

“We don’t give licenses for gas plants. We give permits for buildings whether commercial or residential.

It is DPR that gives licenses to operate gas plants. It is

for them to check those operating illegal gas plants and shops,” said Thomas, who, however, is worried about the growing number of gas retails shops in the state.

A former commissioner in the ministry of physical planning and urban development, Rotimi Ogunleye, in the wake of the deadly gas explosion at Second Coming Company Nigeria Limited, near Magodo, in January 2018, had stated that the government would shut down all illegal gas plants, especially those within residential areas, so as to guarantee the safety of the residents.

Similarly, the DPR in December 2018 vowed to clamp down on illicit retailers LPG in the country.

The agency during LPG stakeholders’ meeting in Port Harcourt, Rivers, equally announced a ban on the sale of cooking gas in shops and homes.

Bassey Nkanga, DPR’s Port Harcourt zone operations’ controller, said it was illegal for retailers to transfer cooking gas from one cylinder bottle to another for sale to customers.

“Plans are ongoing to clamp down on any LPG retailer involved in decanting of cooking gas in shops and at homes. We have set up a monitoring unit to arrest defaulters, seize their equipment and sanction them,” he said.

Peter Esele, a former president of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), reacting, development, described Nigeria as a place where officials talk more and do less.

Esele, who acknowledged that Nigeria being a developing nation lacks the required infrastructure to pipe gas into homes as obtained in the advanced economies, said public enlightenment was needed to educate people on the danger of substandard gas cylinder.

Esele condemned the indiscriminate siting of cooking gas shops in kiosks within and around tightly habited areas. He believed the concerned authorities have an obligation to educate the people and check the carnage.

26 BDSUNDAY

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Sunday 01 December 2019

PhotoSplash

L-R: Bolaji Okusaga, managing director/CEO, Precise Limited, presenting an award of most outstanding bank 2019 retail to Abdul Imoyo, head media relations Access Bank onbehalf of the bank, and Princewill Ekwujuru, chairman, Brand Journalist Association Of Nigeria (BJAN), at the BJAN 7th annual brands and marketing conference in Lagos.

Ojukwu Chiemerie Anthony, winner of a brand new grinding machine in the Glo ‘My Own Don Beta promo’, is flanked on the left by Okafor Favour and on the right by Nkechi Felicia Chinwuani, who are both his neighbours, at the prize-presentation ceremony held in Nnewi, Anambra State, on Friday.

L-R: Sanusi Kuburat, category manager, home and hygiene, Reckitt Benckiser; Asif Hashimi, West Africa, general manager, Reckitt Benckiser (RB), Hygiene and Home West Africa; Helen Paul, brand ambassador, Harpic, and Suleiman Adamu, minister of Water Resources, during the National Launch and Flag-off of ‘Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet’ Campaign to commemorate 2019 World Toilet Day in Abuja.

L-R: Emeka Oparah, vice president, Corporate Communications and CSR of Airtel Nigeria/book reviewer; Israel Jaiye Opayemi, MD/chief strategist, Chain Reactions Nigeria; Charles Aigbe, divisional head, brand and corporate communications, Fidelity Bank plc; Ikem Okuhu, author of the book; Joy Okuhu, wife of the author; Ibrahim Sheu Birma, chairman of the occassion; Nkechi Ali-Balogun, council member, NIPR; Felix King, founder, Felix King Foundation, and Yomi Badejo-Okusanya, MD, CMC Connect, at the public presentation of a book Pitch Debunking Marketing’s Strongest Myths in Lagos.

L-R: Charles Ngoka: Etofolam Osuji, Ican council member; Nnamdi Okwuadigbo , Ican president; Geof Onuoha, and John Evbodaghe, registrar/ce, during the tee off at the ican president’s golf tournament held at the arsenal golf & country club, Owerri.

L-R: Bisi Alade, comptroller of customs service, represented by deputy comptroller of the Cross River State Command; Mohammed Rufai, chief technical officer, Mtn Nigeria; Aye Henshaw Jnr, representative of the governor, the permanent secretary, Cross River State ministry of Information and Culture, and Adekunle Adebiyi, chief sales and distribution executive, at the Calabar Demo of the 5th Generation of Cellular Network (5g) on the 28th of november 2019, in Cross River.

Lion Blessing Umebali (m), facilitator, Lion Patience aina (r), club director; Lion Kunbi Olomola, club director; Lion Bola Jafojo-Adediji; club director; Lion Femi Akande (l), member; Lion Tokunbo Akomolede, cluba administrator, and Leo Animashaun Mariam, 2nd vice LEO president of Ikeja Elite Leo club, at the Advanced Lions Leadership Institute (ALLI), after the Club Membership Orientation and club Officers Training.

Sunday 01 December 2019

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Perspective

Digital culture or digital economy?

MIKE ABANG,Calabar

T

Tunde Akanni

D

on’t be surprised that Kaduna State government was recently declared as the most transparent state government in the country.

The journey started way back in 2016. My witness account: Veteran media professional and well wisher of all times, Taiwo Obe, affectionately hailed T.O., constituted a gender-balanced team of younger colleagues including yours sincerely.

In his democratic way of doing things, he told us we were going to Kaduna to interact with colleagues in the civil service of that state manning the information desk across all ministries, departments and agencies. He was the lead trainer. On account of my development work experiential assets, I was made to lead the session on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). I titled it ‘Leaving No One Behind’. With me also in that team were multiple award winning travel writer, Pelu Awofeso and distinguished communication amazons, Iyabo Olubunmi Akinkugbe and Anike-Ade Funke Treasure.

After each of the sessions, T.O. himself led clarifications with comments and or questions. He reiterated to the participants the all-important relevance of the online media to their work in this age. That training programme immediately initiated online groups enabling participants to henceforth, professionally ventilate information, including photographs and other forms of illustration, on the activities of their respective organisations. Since then, the online presence of Kaduna State government remains unmatched, even as it has improved relentlessly.

Kaduna’s Governor, Nasir El-Rufai appears to have learnt so much from the values that accrued to campaigns from the use of social media and he was determined to tap into them and even sustain them for his government and the development of the state. Ironically, the huge lessons El-Rufai imbibed, perceived to be the handiwork of its party’s publicity team, had been lost on the arrowhead of the team then and now the Information Minister, Lai Mohammed. Consequently, this is impacting the vision of the government given Lai Mohammed’s strategic position.

Sometimes, you wonder how inexplicable, far-reaching decisions are taken by government functionaries, taking the communities of the informed and others alike by surprise. I was in the thicket of a media mapping of Nigeria for a global media player when the story broke: The old Ministry of Communications has been renamed the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy. It was a little exciting against the preceding era of what I had described as that of “communication governance of indifference”(https://opinion.premiumtimesng.com/2016/12/19/nigerias-communication-governance-of-indifference-by-tundeakanni/). Nigeria couldn’t have had a worse regime in the sector, I had thought. But even the recent movement from the public subsector of communications to the private sector by the same people who had played regulator to the same private sector rendered one somewhat hopeless. Minister Isa Ali Pantami’s seeming initial enthusiasm was therefore, interesting.

Pantami reinforced my excitement with his engagement with the price regime of data and allied issues.

As one tried to ruminate further on the renaming of Ministry of Communications, Minister Lai Mohammed blared out the plan by government to regulate social media. Incred-

Call all CMDs, MDs of tertiary hospitals to order, AMLSM tells Health Minister

Ali Isa Pantami, minister of Communications ible! Nigerians thought they had fought the last battle on this when one strange Senator Na’Allah introduced that bill during the Dr. Bukola Saraki-led Senate. If anyone was in doubt, the Senate President, Dr. Lawan, later broached a rather more severe one that his Senate was working on the legislation that would ensure that anyone who runs foul of the planned hate speech law would face death penalty. To achieve what? Many have queried.

Nobel Laureate Soyinka even asked: Is it now cool to kill?

While Minister Pantami seems to be interested in calming the troubled nerves of those who have been bothered by the seemingly ceaseless abuse of privileged positions in the regulatory sector, the gesture leaves so much to be desired. His renaming gesture is as seemingly intuitive as it is exclusivist. Digitech is rather all- encompassing, economy being just one of the variables.

Communication professionals and scholars of diverse leanings locally and internationally have engaged deeply with the evolution of digital technology. Almost consensually, they have also reiterated that it is as multidimensional and open as much as it is rapidly transforming the lives of people globally even as much more is expected with the looming Internet of Things (IoT) phenomenon. A particularly convincing multidimensionality of internet, which is even a strand of digitech manifests in the decision of Oxford University to set up what it calls Oxford Internet Institute. It harbours specialised internet-related programmes from the perspectives of communication, political science and so forth.

Even in Nigeria, such is the stretch of digital technology through the gamut of human life that no fewer than three recent, well researched, multi-author publications by Nigeria’s leading communication scholars of diverse bent have focused on it in varying degrees. And more are in the works, indeed, believably to the knowledge of Minister Pantami himself. Given the obvious cross-cutting relevance of digital technology therefore, the

Ministry should have been made to have a more accommodating outlook by renaming it rather as Ministry of Communication and Digital Culture. Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy is rather exclusivist rather than being all-encompassing.

If the renaming suggested above would be reflective of the minister’s readiness for genuine democratic disposition to business, it should, in conjunction with the Information and Culture minister, be extended further to the repealing of the Cybercrime Prohibition and Prevention Act of 2015. The Act, among others, provides for Cybercrime Advisory Council with members drawn from different public sector organisations. In spite of the centrality of the internet to the operations of all contemporary media organisations, none of the media inclined professional bodies is included on the council. Not even either of the Guild of Online Corporate Publishers (GOCOP), or the Online Publishers Association of Nigeria (OPAN), whose main operational terrain is the internet. And to think that a GOCOP member, Premium Times, is a Pulitzer awardee, with all the global respect and reckoning? Most important perhaps, is the need to perpetuate democratisation in the scheme of things in relation to what has been described as the most open technology in the world. But what is the current level of participation in the annual global Internet Governance Forum (IGF), as well as the regional ones which avail us all with the inspiration to update on global best practices? It may as well not be out of place for our policy makers to reckon properly with the two major annual conferences of communication experts held here in Nigeria annually.

They should ensure that representatives of all relevant government organs, especially those in charge of communications, Information and Culture attend the scholarly conferences dutifully.

Tunde Musibau Akanni, PhD, is director of Digital Media Research Centre of the Lagos State University, Ojo. Follow him on Twitter @AkintundeAkanni

he National Publicity Secretar y of the Association of Medical Laborator y Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN), Ifeanyichukwu Casmir Ifeanyi has called on the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire to urgently call all Chief Medical Directors of Teaching Hospitals and Medical Directors of all tertiar y hospitals to order over the continuous victimisation of (AMLSN) members nationwide.

Ifeanyichukwu made the appeal at the 200th National Executive Meeting of the Association held at Transcorp Hotels Calabar, Cross River State.

He said that AMLSN was concerned about the grave consequences of this tragic and hostile situation on the nation’s health sector because at the receiving end, are the patience who come to receive care.

“We also appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari to inter vene and permanently end these unnecessar y and avoidable crises in the interest of our health care deliver y system,” he said.

According to the Publicity Secretar y, the union is an indispensable component of the Nigerian healthcare system, mandated by law as “we provide medical laborator y ser vices and collaborate with other health professionals towards the deliver y of efficient public health ser vices to citizens of Nigeria.”

He however, lamented that “today, a war of attrition is being waged against the medical Laborator y Scientists and its members in the countr y and the sole objective of the war is to render (MLS) profession in Nigeria extinct with the continuous attack on our members.”

He alleged that acts of harassment had been the order of the day.

He listed intimidation and victimisation in breach of Public Ser vice Rules, which he described dastardly acts. He said such acts included the recent suspension, demotions and summar y dismissals of medical Laborator y Scientists in UCTH Calabar, ISTH, OOUTH Sagamu, BDTH Kaduna and many hospitals.

He further revealed that the war of attrition against his union has wreaked havoc on the nation’s healthcare deliver y system, and that the situation could worsen if the persons and groups behind the trouble were not called to order by the Minister of Health and the Federal Government.

“Today, Nigeria, a countr y with the highest per capita spending on health in Africa, is continually being rated abysmally low (187 out of 192 countries in the world),” he said.

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Sunday 01 Decemb er 2019

Perspective Squandering Nigeria’s riches has got to stop!

Ayo OyozeBaje

T

he recent revelation that some 47 former state governors and their erstwhile deputies set our national treasury back by a whopping N37.367 billion every month gives cause for serious concern. As at August 2016, it was made known that part of the reasons many states could not pay civil servants’ salaries was because of the humongous sums paid to ex-governors and deputy governors. Ironically, most of them still go on to become senators or hold onto some juicy political appointments. As at then, 21 senators received pensions from government as ex-governors and deputy governors!

How do we justify this scandalous economic situation when several pensioners at the state and federal levels have become victims of debilitating diseases, while some of them died because their pensions were not paid as and when due? How do we explain this iniquity when according to the 2019 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC), the number of Nigerians unable to meet their daily food needs without humanitarian assistance has been rising for several years?

Specifically, a new joint United Nations (UN) and European Union (EU) report published on April 2, 2019 showed that Nigeria, (with specific reference to northern Nigeria), was one of the eight countries that housed twothirds of the 113 million people who faced acute hunger across the globe in 2018. In 2004, a nongovernmental organisation Food Aid International (FAI) said that about 3,000 people died daily of hunger and poverty in Nigeria.

Currently, the country ranks as home to the hungriest people in the world!

So, how do we explain the fact that in Akwa Ibom State, the law provides that ex-governors and deputy governors receive pension equivalent to the salaries of the incumbent? Or that in Rivers, the law provides 100 percent of annual basic salaries for the ex-governor and deputy, one residential house for the former governor “anywhere of his choice in Nigeria”?

Yet, incumbent Nigerian governors earn N2.2 million monthly as Basic Salary and by the time other allowances are added the figure could jump to as high as N5million per month. The gross social inequality in Nigeria is not only an insult on the collective psyche of Nigerians but it is not sustainable. What manner of an expensive democracy are we practising that pauperises the poor citizens to satiate the epicurean tastes of the already rich politicians?

With trillions of naira revenue, mostly from crude oil sales from the ‘60s till date, it is a crying shame that Nigeria parades some of the most disturbing dismal figures in the Human Development Index (HDI).The statistics of our social inequality are simply scary. Looked at

Nigeria’s Naira- plenty of this has been squandered

naira notes from the Human Development Index (HDI), which is a summary measure for assessing long-term progress in the three basic dimensions of human development, there is nothing to write home about. The three key areas of long-term healthy life, access to knowledge and decent standard of living paint a parlous picture of pure deprivation of the long-suffering masses.

For instance, Nigeria’s HDI for 2014 stood at 0.514 putting the country amongst the lowest global ranking of those in the low developing category. In fact, Nigeria placed 152 out of the 188 countries and territories so assessed. And it was the only oilproducing country languishing in that shameful socio-economic stratum. Also, according to the 2015 HD Report Work for Human Development for 188 countries assessed by the United Nations, life expectancy index was 0.44, education index was 0.59 while

the GDP index and HDI value were placed at 0.36 and0.466 respectively.

Furthermore, between 2005 and 2014, Nigeria’s HDI value rose from 0.467 to 0.514(10.1percent) an average of 1.07percent.

When the value is discounted for inequality the HDI falls to 0.320, a loss of 37.8 percent due to inequality in the distribution of HDI dimension indices. Sadly, Nigeria sordid social inequality was comparable to that of Ethiopia and Congo (DR) at 29.4percent and 36.2 percent respectively.

According to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, about 110 million Nigerians were still living below poverty line despite the policies of past governments to improve their welfare. His reason was that the policies were wrongly formulated and as a result did not have direct impact on the people. He aired his view during a courtesy visit by members of the Alumni Association of the National Insti-

tute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS), at the State House, Abuja during the First Term. But Nigerians want their leaders to do more than they say on bridging the inexcusable gap between the few very rich and the millions of poor citizens.

We have to learn from some other countries once described as less-developed that have made the real change. For instance, in July 2004, UNIDO Report listed countries such as China, India, Singapore and Thailand amongst those with robust economies that reduced poverty rate from an average of 40percent in 1981 to 21percent in 2001, while ours was escalating. In fact, the Report singled out Nigeria as the country with the worst case of capital flight and advised us to borrow a new leaf from Uganda, which had a similar challenge but was able to reverse the drift.

Back then in 2004, our politi-

cians were accused of stashing $107 billion abroad. Similarly, in April 2011 CNN MarketPlace Report stated that Nigerian politicians own 40 percent of luxury properties in Central London, with the cost ranging from 17 million to 33 million pounds sterling. Dubai is not left out.

We can no longer sustain the huge capital flight of unpatriotic politicians, who steal the nation blind only to empower foreign nationals. Such barefaced robbery of our common patrimony must also come to a halt. But how? That is the million-naira question.

The World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, stated in April 2014 at the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings that Nigeria, with 7percent of the world’s poor ranked third in the world while India was placed at number one with 33 percent of the world poor. But we have since overtaken India as the World Poverty capital.

While not a few Nigerians thought the ‘change’ mantra, as promoted by the APC-led government back in 2015 would bring succor to the poor (sentiments aside), there has been more heat than light in the art of governance of this democracy. What with the exasperating economic recession, rising inflation, exponential increase in poverty rate, lack of access to quality jobs and of course, the resultant increase in rate of suicide? Nigeria has continued to be prodigal and profligate in its style of expenditure. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also continued to warn Nigeria against rising debt. The present government keeps on piling debts which do not positively impact the lives of citizens. When you look at the country, it is difficult to see where all the money is going into, as infrastructure remains abysmal; quality of life, education, power (electricity) is non-existent. It only shows that these monies are borrowed and shared away among the few privileged fellows in government. The other day, the IMF said that Nigeria’s debt to gross domestic product ratio at 28 percent has increased but is still below the average sub-Saharan Africa and Africa as a whole.

But what is the way forward?

To tread the path to prosperity, political re-engineering is sin qua non. The pay structure of political appointees must be drastically scaled down, to the civil salary scale in their states or federal level, in tandem with the harsh economic reality.

The undue fixation of political power at the bloated federal centre must be done away with.

We should revisit and implement the well thought out recommendations of the 2014 National Conference. With true fiscal federalism firmly in place, more economic resources would be devolved to the states and local governments in this regard. We must retool our concept of governance, from the primary school level to the highest office in the land; to be for the state instead of satisfying the self.

Sunday 01 December 2019

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BDSUNDAY 29

Ogun Watch Ogun may vote more budgetary allocations on capital projects in 2020

…proposes N32bn on roads …bullish on revamping healthcare delivery …to construct more housing units with N5bn

A

Stories by Rasaq Ayinla head of Tuesday Ogun State’s 2020 Budget presentation before the State House of Assembly for consideration, some official communications gathered by BDSUNDAY in Abeokuta, Ogun seat of power indicate that Governor Dapo Abiodun may vote more funds on the provision and fixing of more critical infrastructure across the state in coming year.

Abiodun, having pledged to bring good governance to the people of Ogun State and create socio-economic scenario that improves ease of doing business, is however, budgeting big on critical infrastructure such as roads, health facilities, housing among others, with a view to changing the economic growth and development narrative.

The official information gathered on Ogun 2020 fiscal estimates proposal shows that Ogun State Ministry of Works and Infrastructure proposes the sum of N32, 463, 069, 709.35billion for the construction and rehabilitation of roads across the State, covering both capital and recurrent expenditures for the State in the year 2020.

The Consultant to the State Government on Works and Infrastructure, Ade Akinsanya, disclosed this at the Treasury Board Meeting on Year 2020 Budget held in Abeokuta, saying that the Ministry proposed to generate N1.3 billion from the checking permit, fire service and Vehicle Inspection Office duties.

He further said that the agency is currently looking into new technologies that would aid rehabilitation of roads in the State.

Responding, the Chief Economic Adviser to the Governor, Dapo Okubadejo explained that the Public Private Partnership

Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun state spreading warm handshake to welcome the new Commissioner of Police to the State, Kenneth Ebrimson, while the outgoing Commissioner of Police, Bashir Makama watches.

initiative was critical to the development of infrastructure in the state, saying the state has to look for cheaper ways of delivering infrastructure.

Also, the Ogun State Primary Health Care Development Board said that it would renovate 80 healthcare facilities and also procure additional Central Cold Chain Store, to accommodate the supply of newly introduced Rota Virus and Measles vaccines to ensure sound healthy living for the residents of the State in the coming year.

The Executive Secretary of the Board, Elijah Ogunsola said that a total of N901, 094,304 would be expended on capital expenditure, while overhead and personnel costs would take N27, 186,000 and 90,000,000 respectively, saying the entire

expenses would be made to offer qualitative primary healthcare delivery services that will guarantee State Government’s agenda on health at primary, secondary and tertiary facilities across the State.

Meanwhile, the State Ministry of Housing has proposed N5.150 billion for massive construction of housing units across the three Senatorial districts of the state as the government declares intention to work on modalities that will fast-track the sales of housing projects inherited across the state to generate more revenues to government coffers.

Speaking on the proposal on housing in the year 2020, Jagunmolu Omoniyi, special adviser to Governor of Housing, expressed government’s decision to build

one thousand, five hundred affordable houses across the state with the pilot project at Idi-Aba in Abeokuta as pilot project, noting that Ijebu-Ode, Sagamu, Ilaro and Ota areas would also have their share of the project within the proposed sum of N5, 150 billion for year 2020.

Commenting further on government’s position on infrastructure development, Dapo Okubadejo, Chief Economic Adviser to the governor, explained that the Public Private Partnership initiative is critical to the development of infrastructure in the state, but the State has to look for cheaper ways of delivering infrastructure, saying the Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government must intensify efforts in the area of revenue generation.

Ogun pledges support for Gateway United FC ahead of 2019/2020 NNL

T

he Ogun State Government says it has received a second batch of equipment from the Carter Centre for its School of Nursing in Abeokuta, the state capital.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Adesanya Ayinde, who made this known in an interview with newsmen, said the donations were received through the Nigerian Public Health Training Initiative (NPHTI).

He said the School of Nursing, Abeokuta was selected in 2014 as one of the six health training institutions in the six geo-political zones of the country to benefit from NPHTI’s goal of building the capacity of the school to produce higher quality of middle and lower level health workers to meet the maternal and health demands in the State.

Ayinde disclosed that the items include an 18-seater bus, a 40 KVA Mikano generating set and medical equipment as well as furniture for tutors and students.

The Permanent Secretary listed oxygen concentrator, stretcher, wheel chairs, hospital beds with mattress, white boards, projector with board, computer sets and equipment for the demonstration room, amongst others.

Ac c o r d i n g t o h i m , “o u r schools of nursing are among the best in the country. We are confident that the Prince Dapo Abiodun administration is committed to giving enough political will to meet the requisite international standards.

“You know there is always little or no progress possible without political will. If we get political will alongside NPHTI support, we will no doubt reduce maternal and child mortality burden,” Ayinde stated.

The Permanent Secretary added that the present administration’s disposition towards Public Private Partnership would in no small measure impact positively on the health sector.

FG, Carter Centre donate equipment to Ogun School of Nursing

T

he Ogun State Government says it has received a second batch of equipment from the Carter Centre for its School of Nursing in Abeokuta, the state capital.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Adesanya Ayinde, who made this known in an interview with newsmen, said the donations were received through the Nigerian Public Health Training Initiative (NPHTI).

He said the School of Nursing, Abeokuta was selected in 2014 as one of the six health

training institutions in the six geo-political zones of the country to benefit from NPHTI’s goal of building the capacity of the school to produce higher quality of middle and lower level health workers to meet the maternal and health demands in the State.

Ayinde disclosed that the items include an 18-seater bus, a 40 KVA Mikano generating set and medical equipment as well as furniture for tutors and students.

The Permanent Secretary listed oxygen concentrator, stretcher, wheel chairs, hospital beds with mattress, white

boards, projector with board, computer sets and equipment for the demonstration room, amongst others.

According to him, “our schools of nursing are among the best in the country. We are confident that the Prince Dapo Abiodun administration is committed to giving enough political will to meet the requisite international standards.

“You know there is always little or no progress possible without political will. If we get political will alongside NPHTI support, we will no doubt reduce

maternal and child mortality burden,” Ayinde stated.

The Permanent Secretary added that the present administration’s disposition towards Public Private Partnership would in no small measure impact positively on the health sector.

In a separate interview, the Principal, School of Nursing, IdiAba, Abeokuta, Dele Alonge, said the Carter Centre, apart from equipping to the school, had put in place training programmes for some of its tutors, adding that a baseline for measuring performances of students had

also been instituted.

Alonge disclosed that the State Government was also expected to play its part by erecting the needed structures such as hostels, bigger demonstration room and more classrooms, while the Carter Centre had demonstrated willingness to equip them.

She said the School had a current status of provisional accreditation by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN), expressing optimism of full accreditation for the School soonest.

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Sunday 01 December 2019

Life&Living Is only child syndrome real?

IFEOMA OKEKE

L

ike most incorrect assumptions, blame this one on archaic notions of gender and normalcy.

“Only child syndrome is a leftover stigma that has been attached to kids without siblings for more than a hundred years,” a popular doctor, Newman said.

“Society is still buried in this idea that the perfect family is ‘a boy for you, a girl for me,’ and that kids have to have siblings. Some people are still holding on to that even though research shows having one child or no children is becoming much more popular and affords families the opportunity to give their only kids so much more. So this notion of the ‘only child syndrome’ doesn’t hold up anymore, because only children are just as common and well-adjusted as children with siblings.”

Are only children at risk of not learning important social skills without siblings?

Some people believe that being raised in a single-child household means that kids don’t learn how to share, communicate or interact with other kids at a young age. But this simply isn’t true, according to both the stats and the experts.

“Only children usually have lots of opportunities for socialization, especially when they are school-aged and older,” Dr. Duval Tsioles says.

“They interact with other kids all day in school, during extracurricular activities and at various other peer and social functions. For younger kids, playdates, play groups, preschool programs, camps and spending time in public places—like chil-

dren’s museums, play spaces and kid-centric events—offers plenty of opportunities for social engagement.”

And the data proves this. In a study titled “Good for Nothing: Number of Siblings and Friendship Nominations Among Adolescents,” published in the Journal of Family Issues, researchers asked 13,500 kids to name ten friends and found that only children were just as popular as their peers from multi-child homes.

“These results contribute to the view that there is little risk to growing up without siblings, or alternatively, that siblings really may be ‘good for nothing,’” the scientists concluded.

In other words, an under-yourroof buddy is certainly nice, but it

doesn’t make up for the vast socialization that happens in outside-thehouse, non-familial environments.

Are only children lonely without built-in playmates?

No! In fact, alone time is pretty crucial in the formation of a child’s personality and can even lead to confident, desirable characteristics in your stress-free kid. According to a study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, “solitude could lead to relaxation and reduced stress when individuals actively chose to be alone.” So why not allow your child this benefit without stressing yourself out that she’ll be a lifelong loner without a sibling?

Moreover, says Dr. Newman, “In studies, only children have as many

friends as those with siblings, and as they get older, kids are so connected with cell phones and social media, so this ‘lonely’ stigma doesn’t carry any weight.”

But aren’t siblings your lifelong friends and confidants?

Sometimes. After all, we all know those sisters who talk on the phone 19 times a day and finish each other’s sentences. But just as often, a sibling relationship is fraught with petty arguments, bullying or even distance and contempt.

“One of the advantages of being an only child is that there’s no sibling rivalry, no sibling abuse and no verbal aggression between brothers and sisters,” Newman says. “This happens in an inordinate number of families,

where this negative contact can have lifelong affects. Siblings don’t always like each other, even into adulthood.”

Are only children inherently selfish?

“The stereotypes people have about only children actually have more to do with temperament than not having siblings,” Dr. Duval Tsioles explains. “Some children—only children and children with siblings—are born with more sensitive, intense, reactive temperaments. These kids are bigger feelers and bigger reactors. So when something happens or doesn’t go as they imagine it will, they tend to have stronger reactions, and this can appear as selfishness. When they are only children, this temperament or personality often gets attributed to their only-child status without consideration of temperament.”

So is it actually beneficial to be an only child?

Yes! “Only children often have strong relationships with their parents in part because they get the full time and attention of caregivers who are able to focus their emotional and physical energies on just one child,” Dr. Duval Tsioles says. “Only children sometimes have more opportunities to be involved in activities outside the home because parents aren’t juggling multiple schedules. They may also have more opportunities to have different life experiences because it’s less costly to afford those with only one child.”

Kids who grow up without siblings also tend to be super creative and become more articulate adults, according to Dr. Duval Tsioles. They learn how to stand up for themselves from a young age and are less likely to rely on other people to make them happy.

Embasan: Infusing cultivated luxury into your home IFEOMA OKEKE

E

mbasan is the answer to the sophisticated, cosmopolitan consumers’ desire for quality bed and bath linens. By employing the use of only the finest fibres and the best mills in Italy and Portugal, the brand is able to expertly craft a premium range of contemporary products that exude refined luxury and comfort. Robust hues, unusual textures and geometric patterns permeate the collection, giving the brand a curious infusion of West African art.

While speaking during the Embasan launch at Seattle Residences in Victoria Island, Lagos, Keji KolaBalogun, CEO Embasan Living commented, “we decided to have our brand launch here in the penthouse of Seattle Residences and staged an open house so that our guests could not only interact with the collection but also experience the Embasan lifestyle; Embasan is all about making a cultured statement in your home while retaining the ultimate level of comfort and versatility.

“We have positioned our brand as a premium brand, which speaks to the quality of our linens, the skill of

our partner mills, and the sophistication of our designs but we have tried to make the brand relatively affordable and approachable.”

She remarked that the brand’s target audience is the refined, cosmopolitan buyer who understands the quality of the brand and is looking for something that is distinctive and unique.

“The Creative Director and I are both Nigerians but we grew up all over the world (London, Paris, Shanghai, Dubai) so we want to fuse the skill and quality that we have been able to source around the world with some creative influences from our native home, Nigeria.”

She further explained, “we came up with this idea because we found that everybody we know waits until they travel abroad or until someone they know is travelling in order to buy their bed and bath linens. They don’t feel confident purchasing these items in Nigeria because the quality they are looking for is not available and the premium retailers that stock these products are few and far between.

Evidently, there is a ready gap in the market for quality bed and bath linens in Nigerian because that is an untapped market at the moment and these are staple items that everyone

needs in their home.”

In addition, Kola-Balogun explained that there is no recognisable African bed and bath linen brand being retailed internationally; therefore, while the brand is launching in Nigeria first, she believes there is also a market for the brand abroad.

“There is a market in Nigeria and a market abroad as well and we are just primed to capture that market. You can see from the launch that people seem very fascinated by the products

and people are already buying and making enquiries. We are already speaking to a lot of premium retailers concerning stocking our collection so it is about to be a very busy year for us,” she added.

Also speaking at the event, Teni Sagoe, Creative Director of Embasan said, “the brand is primarily inspired by the elements: water, earth and fire and we feel that this alignment with nature makes the brand feel relatable; nature is always a good

starting point because that is where everything comes from.”

According to Sagoe, “our first collection is called ‘DRENCH’ and we picked that name because the literal translation of Embasan is ‘to immerse oneself’ or to ‘bath with clothes on’.

We developed this notion into the tagline for the collection, which is ‘drenched in cultivated luxury’.

We feel that this is what makes the collection unique, because it is supposed to infuse luxury and refreshing vibes into our environment. It is designed to create a feeling of sanctuary and tranquil indulgence in ones home and make consumers proud that this kind of brand can emanate from Nigeria.” We also chose that name because water always renews, it is always fresh and very soothing.”

She further explained that the ‘cultivated’ aspect of the tagline speaks to the brand aiming to infuse creativity and art into the collection. “In one of the bedrooms at the launch you can see an art installation; we aim to elevate our bed and bath linens to art and to show the power of true artistry in Nigeria and that is a theme that will always run through all our collections.

In the foundation of this brand is the need to appreciate and also illustrate how artistry is evolving in Africa.”

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Arts Fela’s Republic and the Kalakuta Queens, a must-see festive musical OBINNA EMELIKE

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bout two years ago, live theatre lovers in Nigeria and Africa were thrilled at the staging of Fela and the Kalakuta Queens at Terra Kulture Arena in Victoria Island, Lagos and at some notable theatres across Africa.

The musical was very successful and travelled from Lagos, to Abuja, Cairo in Egypt, and Pretoria in South Africa severally, enthralling global audiences at each show.

Credit goes to Bolanle AustenPeters (BAP) Productions for the creative ingenuity it poured in and the resources to make the show a success, as well as, in every one of its previous stage productions; from Saro the Musical, Waka the Musical, Fela and the Kalakuta Queens and Moremi the Musical.

Again, ridding on the success of these previous stage productions, BAP is set to enthrall the public even more this festive season with a super production it tagged ‘Fela’s Republic and the Kalakuta Queens’.

The latest production is a sequel of Fela and the Kalakuta Queens, which was about the most-seen stage production in 2017. It is an

At one of the rehearsals for the musical play at Terra Kulture

epic story of one legendary icon, on one stage for 10 days and in one city. It also enables the audience to follow the man Fela, the myth, the legend and the unapologetic activist.

The musical play celebrates Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the legendary icon and the unapologetic and prophetic

messages enshrined in his music.

Speaking during media unveil and rehearsals of the musical play, Bolanle Austen-Peters, CEO, BAP Productions, said through the new production, “We celebrate the essence, resilience and strength of his queens, The Kalakuta Queens”.

Austen-Peters, the director and

Ikem Okuhu launches new book

I

kem Victor Okuhu, a brand journalist with years of experience in media and banking industries, has launched a new book.

Titled, ‘PITCH: Debunking Marketing’s Strongest Myths’, the new book chats new approach to Nigeria’s domestic marketing.

With a focus on marketing communications, book pushes for a paradigm shift from the conventional foreign literature books in marketing concept, to the local approach that understands and relates to Nigeria’s peculiar corporate environment.

The book is the first ever written by IkemOkuhuashiscontributiontowards the growth of marketing communications and advertising in the Nigerian corporate business environment.

Dwelling primarily on some of the things marketers hold dearly and consider sacrosanct, the author provides some new and potentially controversial perspectives into some of marketing communication industry’s strongly held views.

PITCH consciously calls on the writers of marketing communication, advertising books and corporate players in the Nigerian business environment to demystify and wake up to the realization that the country has come of age to generate the kind of literature that will drive the nation’s market.

Okuhu is of the opinion that writers of brands need to document homemade marketing literature based on the way it affects our domestic business environment and no longer based from the perspective of foreign authors

that make little or no sense to local consumers..

He frowns at the “official secrecy policy” which denies the entire ecosystem the body of knowledge it requires to grow.

The contents of PITCH is based on thepersonalexperiencestheauthorhad gathered from his years of field experiencerangingfromseminars,workshops and conferences in advertising and marketing.

The book contains 12 chapters.

In the first chapter, the author places the business of leading the marketing war on the table of the CEO to meet business dynamics. The contemporary CEOs should lead the way of marketing with compelling battles rather than sit in their comfort zones and wait for the reports of his team of subordinates.

In doing this the author stressed the importance of CEO branding in driving marketing.

Courageous as he is, the author in chapter two, holds the view that advertising is dead and quickly supports his claim. He employed the writings of Andrew Essex and Kevin Robert as base argument. The chapter as well x-rays the blurring line between Advertising and PR as occasioned by the social media, the dropping of advertising campaign budgets in many markets, and many other reasons to show the finishing influence of traditional in the contemporary marketing, and the switch to other components of marketing communication.

In chapter three, the author discussed the need to drive market share rather than mind share. What he means is that in a market given to generic names he cited the case Coca-Cola vs Big Cola, Gala vs Rite Bite and Omo vs other detergents to argue that while the well known brands may have the mindshare, the new and lesser known ones may be leading in market share making the market very competitive.

Chapter six dwells on innovation and its role in marketing, although the ascerts in the argument that innovation is not everything, citing some cases, including that of IBM that has more than 26 international patents but has not been great in marketing, to defend the position.

The book launched, which held on recently at the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Lagos, attracted some dignitaries including, Ibrahim Shehu Yerima (Peoples Democratic Party Chieftain), the chairman /chief launcher, Felix King, CEO, Oracle Experience, among others.

producer of the latest musical play and who, no doubt, is powering Nigeria’s theatre, promised to thrill her audience with live music, opulence and tantalizing performances that will leave them blown away this festive season.

On expectations at the show come December, Olaton Adeniji,

who plays Fela, promised a more enthralling show as he leads the cast to mimic Fela, and spotlights societal issues, which Fela campaigned against in the 70s that are even getting worse now.

Speaking on the support for the show, Adeyemo Sanusi, business manager, consumer products, Ecobank, noted that the pan-African bank is passionate about African culture and the the partnership with BAP Productions was appropriate because the company is known to promote African cultural heritage.

Also in line with the bank’s efforts at youth empowerment, he noted that the production of the musical play involved many youths who are positively engaged, hence urged the general public to see the show during the festive season.

However, Fela’s Republic and the Kalakuta Queens shows at The Terra Arena, Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos on December 14, 15, 21, 22, 26, 28, and 29, 2019. It continues on January 1, 4, and 5, 2020 with two time slots of 3pm and 7pm each day .

The musical play is made possible by the support of Ecobank, Amstel Malta, MTN, Dormanlong, the estate of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Africa Magic, Beat FM among others.

Ope Wemi-Jones set to launch revolutionising initiatives on service delivery

O

pe Wemi-Jones, founder, The Customer Focused Company, has announced her mission to contribute to revolutionizing the customer service space in Nigeria; with series of initiatives geared towards heightening awareness for quality service delivery and the education of both customers and service providers on their roles and responsibilities.

According to her, the carefully curated initiatives are simple to use as well as cost effective. The products are all woven around her new book of quotes titled, ‘Quote Me On Customer Service’. The book is further expressed in the form of a perpetual calendar, Post cards and flash cards that you can pass on to spread the spirit of excellent customer service among other things.

Most engaging is the Customer Xperience Reporters(CXR) platform created on Facebook to encourage customers share their love-hate service experiencemoments. The products supporting this notable initiativewill be unveiled on December 5, at The Grandeur located in Ikeja by 10 a.m.

In her book ‘Quote Me On Customer Service’, OpeWemi-Jones plays on the power of words to change the minds of people and ultimately behavior. She gave more expression to quotes by Customer Service Gurus and great thinkers across the world with her pithy and elegant analysis.

They are quotes that will broaden the minds of service providers and customers in their daily interactions with one another. She is also offering a video library on 12 customer service topics at an attractive discount. They are ideal to introduce and reinforce the importance of customer service so employees will keep customers.

They are also flexible to use and can be structured into short or long sessions depending on the amount of time that employers are willing to spend.

“The good news is that all Nigerian companies irrespective of size can join the service revolution by investing in these materials. They sure guarantee good returns on investment.

My goal is simple, “I want to contribute to a world where we serve each other better,” she said.

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Arts Obi Okigbo returns to Nigerian art scene with Convergence ...as Wheatbaker concludes 2019 art calendar OBINNA EMELIKE

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b i Ok i g b o, a Brusselsbased Nigerian-born artist, is staging a comeback to the Nigerian at scene with her much anticipated solo exhibition titled Convergence.

The exhibition, which is curated by SMO Contemporary Art, features 50 paintings and drawings on paper, canvas, linen and silk by the artist.

It also marks the end of an exciting 2019 art program for the Wheatbaker Hotel Ikoyi, which has generously donated its exclusive spaces and walls for many exhibitions this year.

Convergence explores the artist’s fascination with how our belief systems, behavioral patterns, and aesthetic values have been shaped by ancient art and mythology from different cultures and eras. Okigbo’s

Obi Okigbo and Sandra Mbanefo Obiago during a media parley heralding the exhibition at Wheatbaker Hotel Ikoyi recently.

experimentation with delicate paintings using Indian ink and pigment, touch on universal themes of transcendence. Her powerful portraits of heroes of African descent are “a celebration of collective memory, the

archetypal quest for the self and the truth of our existence”.

Okigbo grew up in Nigeria, and practiced architecture in London, Rome and Paris before moving to Brussels in 1995, and becom-

ing a full time studio artist.

She has exhibited in Nigeria, United Kingdom, Dubai and Belgium, and established the Christopher Okigbo Foundation in 2005, which focuses on researching and preserving the legacy of her

late father, the poet Christopher Okigbo. Convergence is Okigbo’s second major solo exhibition in Nigeria since 2003.

“We are pleased to host the culturally significant works of Obi Okigboin what can only be described as a well-timed homecoming for the artist,” said Mosun Ogunbanjo, director of the Wheatbaker. “Obi’s Convergence presents fascinating portraits of the who-is-who of heroes of African descent along the hotel’s corridor’s providing not just fantastic art, but a veritable history lesson for our esteemed guests.”

“Obi Okigbo’s creativity is a visual Convergence of global mythology, literature, philosophy, and culture presented on a rich tapestry of art,” said Sandra Mbanefo Obiago, the exhibition curator and founder of SMO Contemporary Art. “By presenting her works alongside poetry by her late father, the famous poet

Christopher Okigbo, she invites us to “step back into the belly of memory”, drawing from generational stories and personal experience spanning across time and space.

A few years ago, Nigeria’s Nobel Laureate, Prof.

Wole Soyinka, described Obi Okigbo as “belong(ing) to that sturdy artistic stock that increasingly finds its place among the best anywhere in the world. Her canvases provide shifting visions of reality, her sense of juxtaposition is always deft and eloquent, not arbitrary or faddish. The continent, so rich in many artistic traditions, should be proud to have this talented addition, who has taken the basics of form and texture into a self-renewing language of expression for a modern age.”

The exhibition is supported by the Wheatbaker and sponsored by Louis Guntrum wines and is open to the public from November 25, 2019 to February 16, 2020.

Art masters converge at Alexis Galleries for La Floraison II (The Bloom 2) OBINNA EMELIKE

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fter a successful maiden edition last year, La Floraison is set to thrill with a more exciting second edition.

Tagged La Floraison II (The Bloom 2), the exhibition will gather art masters across different media of artistic expressions and each with over 30 years experience in the practice at Alexis Galleries in Victoria Island, Lagos for the super exhibition.

As expected, Bruce Onobrakpeya, the living art legend, is leading the pack of veteran artists at the exhibition, which opened on Saturday November 30, 2019 and runs until December 6, 2019 at Alexis Galleries.

Other art masters displaying works at the exhibition include; Bunmi Babatunde, Segun Aiyesan, Sam Ovraiti, Duke Asidere, Abiodun Olaku, Edosa Ogiugo, Gerry Nnubia, Joe Essien, Ato Arinze, Gab Awusa and Alex Nwokolo.

John Oyedemi, Joshua Nmesirionye, Moses Unokwah, Sam Ebohon, Dominique Zinkpe, Zinno Orara, Fidelis Odogwu, Diseye Tan-

tua and Reuben Ugbine are featuring as well.

La Fl o r a i s o n I I ( Th e Bloom 2) is the celebration of nature’s beauty and splendour. The artworks interpret, explore and present themes and concepts related to living unbounded lives. Like life, these works are simple and complex and capture many forms, shapes, sizes, materials, patterns and connections in usual narratives.

Speaking on the choice of the artists, Patty ChidiacMastrogiannis, founder and director, Alexis Galleries, explained that all the artists are renowned and masters because they have been consistent for over 30 years, with distinctive styles and aesthetics, especially the living legend, Bruce Onobrakpeya, who has been practicing for 60 years now. The artists, according to her, are no longer just artists who create artworks but “social influencers, mentors and advocators”.

On the reason to visit the exhibition, she noted that the quality of works on display speaks volume of rare creative ingenuity and are exquisite crossover from traditional to contemporary

art; skill they have impressed on global art connoisseurs, in their various exhibitions across the world.

As well, the exhibiting art masters have achieved the

feat by brilliant fidelity to their traditional roots, while also playing in the contemporary art genre, with confident bold strokes and colors.

She assured that La

Floraison II (The Bloom 2) would bring the artists together to show their diverse expressions, with a unique way of seeing the people and places around them.

Speaking during a media parley heralding the exhibition, Alex Nwokolo asked the public to watch out for his Red Canopy Series, while Sam Ovraiti will thrill with works that look at simple things in life. Gabriel Awusa will showcase Woman Alone and Disguised Beauty, Gerry Nnubia displays works from his Go Gether Seres and Abundance, while Abiodun Olako showcases The Spirit of Enterprise, among other exciting works by the masters.

As in the tradition of Alexis Galleries, part of the proceeds from the exhibition sales will be donated to the Bakhita Villa project in Lagos, which helps to save and rehabilitate women victims of human trafficking upon return to Nigeria. Under the congregation’s management and operations, the space houses women and children, providing them with a safe space and human and professional support to rebuild their lives.

The exhibition is supported by Pepsi, Tiger, Indomie, Mikano, Delta Airline, Cool World, UPS, Cobranet, Cool FM, Wazobia FM/TV, Art Cafe and The Homestores Limited.

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Bliss with Nonye Ben-Nwankwo

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Email: chiwuagwu@yahoo.com Phone number (sms only) 08057511893

I don’t worry about cyber bullying – Anita Joseph Livespot X announces promo

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ctor, Anita Joseph is blessed with a figure that would make most men drool. She knows it and she doesn’t spare time ‘displaying’ her ‘assets’ on her social media handles.

Even as some of her skits and posts on her handle do attract criticisms and condemnations from some of her followers and fans, the actress has said she doesn’t care about the backlash she gets online.

In a chat with Bliss recently, the actress said she has developed thick skin over what people say about her.

“No, such bullying doesn’t worry me anymore. I have grown thick skin for them already. Criticisms make you work better sometimes. But there are people that even when they know it’s good, they still criticise so I am used to all that.

“My skits keep a lot of people alive. My skits are something very different from others and they are in Igbo Language mixed with English. My skits cure blood pressures, depression, pain and others. So I am happy making people happy. That’s what matters to me.”

And as she so vibrant on social media, she said she is not ready to leave that scene any time soon.

tickets for Cardi B show

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“I go off social media once in a while when I need to concentrate more spiritually but not a break anyway. For now, I am here.”

She is also seen as a very controversial actor and she admitted to it saying, “I think I am controversial. But what do you think?”

Olamide, other celebs back Access the Stars

S

ince the auditions of the much talked about music reality show, Access the Stars, kicked off, so many Nigerian celebrities have backed the show and even graced the auditions.

In Abeokuta recently, some of Nigeria’s biggest stars, Orezi, Olamide, Reekado Banks, Small Doctor and Q-dwwot, graced the first concert of the new music reality show.

The show which seeks to cast a spotlight on some of the budding music stars in the country kicked off in Abeokuta this past week and delivered on its promise with a truly breathtaking show.

Leading the charge were some of Nigeria’s music heavyweight, as Small Doctor got the show off to a brilliant start.

Following his performance were the likes of Reekado Banks, Orezi and Q-dot, who is a fan favorite in the town of Abeokuta. The show was then wrapped up by a super performance from Olamide.

Speaking after the Abeokuta concert, one of the judges on the show Seyi Shay spoke of her expectations in Lagos audi-

tions coming up soon.

“We all know Lagos is home to some fantastic talents. I honestly can’t wait to meet the amazing singers and vocalists who will be looking to steal our hearts. Abeokuta really impressed us the judges and we can only expect more from Lagos.”

The Lagos show will also see some top performances from some of Nigeria’s music finest as the show seeks to give budding music stars a platform to perform alongside the more

established music superstars.

Access The Stars is a brainchild of two of Nigeria’s biggest brands, who are teaming up for a mega opportunity to discover new music talents across the country. The new talent hunt which is sponsored

by Star Lager Beer and Access Bank will give exceptional Nigerians the chance to perform alongside Nigeria’s biggest stars, while the winner of the show will walk home with up to 150 million Naira in cash and prizes.

nd as international music star Card B, is all set to come to Africa, so many of her fans can’t wait to attend the show and catch a glimpse of the music sensation.

Assuch, the organisers of the concert, Livespot X, has announced a flash sale on its tickets to see superstar and rap queen, Cardi B perform live on stage in Lagos and Accra at the Livespot X Festival on December 7 and 8 respectively.

There is expected to be a huge turnout of people for LXF, as fans eagerly anticipate the queens’ arrival to Africa for the very first time.

The one-day event hosted by Livespot X, the entertainment division of Livespot360°, promises to be an all-round sensational experience with live performances, music, illusionists, DJs on the wheels of steel and a host of other exciting appearances.

So many of the musician’s fans cannot wait to see the getup of the singer who is also famous for her numerous ostentatious hairstyles. Over the last few months, Cardi has been seen wearing a couple of exciting hairstyles and even colors.

This being her first visit to Africa , it is expected that the Queen won’t spare an ounce of creativity in expressing her style.

Her stunning appearance at the

2019 Met Gala, where she wore a Thom Browne gown with 30,000 burned and dyed coque feathers cannot be forgotten. The dress apparently took 35 people more than 2,000 hours to make.

Cardi b is also capable of pulling a rabbit out of a hat when it comes to her choice of shoes.

Cardi got her entire Instagram fans confused when she put up a picture of a complicated footwear that looked like two shoes mashed up together. It was a variation of the Dsquared2 Giant Sandals, which were the star of Milan Fashion Week over the summer.

Mo Abudu chairs Emmy Awards gala

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o Abudu, CEO of EbonyLife Media, chaired the 47th International Emmy Awards Gala, which held on Monday, 25 November in New York City. She is the first African, male or female, to land the coveted role. Following her appointment as the first African director of the Academy, the move signals a change in the opportunities opening up for television content producers on the continent.

Ms. Abudu launched EbonyLife TV in 2013, with a mission to change the narrative about Africa. In 2014, she started EbonyLife Films, which has created the three highest-grossing films in the history of Nollywood. In 2018, EbonyLife announced a threeseries scripted deal with Sony Pictures Television, followed by an agreement with another major US studio to develop an African science-fiction TV series.

Speaking at the gala, Mo Abudu said, “These partnerships are the first of their kind between Hollywood studios and a Nigerian television company. We are happy to be at the forefront of forging these new partnerships because it is truly about sharing our local stories with a global audience - stories that are historical, authentic and progressive.”

Stand-up comedian and actor Ronny Chieng, a correspondent on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and star of Crazy Rich

Asians, will host the gala, while businesswoman, philanthropist, author and former model Iman will present the Directorate Award to CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour. Actor Conleth Hill, known worldwide for his role as Lord Varys in Game of Thrones, will present the Founders Award to the show’s creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

Mo Abudu’s guests included Zain Asher, News Anchor, CNN International; Shuli Adebolu, Hon. Commissioner for Tourism, Arts & Culture; Abiola Oke, CEO, OkayAfrica; Gbenga Akinnagbe, actor (The Wire); Heidi Uys, Head of Programming, EbonyLife Media; and Eunice Omole, Head of Strategy, EbonyLife Media.

The visit was supported by Lagos State Government.

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Sunday 01 December 2019

Travel

Destinations to escape to during the gloomy winter months Stories by IFEOMA OKEKE

I

t’s now, when gloomy winter months approach, that friends and family ask for my advice.

They want to know where they can luxuriate in the sunshine.

Here’s my pick of 25 destinations to whet your winter-sun appetite.

Cyprus – Pissouri The Columbia Beach Resort hotel in the south-west of the island has indoor and outdoor pools, plenty of places to soak up the sun and a pleasing Mediterranean feel to the architecture.

Spain, Andalucia The area around Ronda is known as Spain’s frying pan, but in winter the El Ventorillo villa comes into its own. It has a tennis court and 50 acres of olive groves and grounds to explore.

Lanzarote – Playa Blanca Adult-only H10 White Suites is one of the island’s best smaller hotels with some great deals if you can travel in November (when temperatures are around 23C).

Lanzarote – Yaiza This pretty village is surrounded by vineyards, lava fields and

Grenada

farmland, so the ten-bedroom La Casona de Yaiza is a good base if you like active holidays. It’s within easy reach of the coast and Timanfaya National Park. Seven nights from £715pp B&B including three

dinners, car hire, walking notes and maps but not flights (inntravel.co.uk).

La Palma This island mixes clear skies with a collection of villages and

Cyprus

black sand beaches. Just inland, the Hacienda de Abajo is a restored 17th Century sugar estate with a restaurant, spa and swimming pool.

Tenerife On the sheltered west coast near Playa del Duque, the fivestar Vincci La Plantacion del Sur was once a banana plantation but now glistens with gardens and a swimming pool.

Israel - Tel Aviv With new flights from Virgin Atlantic, and December average temperatures of 19C, Tel Aviv makes sense, while the Dan hotel, on the beach, provides the glamour.

Morocco - Marrakech Villa des Orangers has suntrap rooftops and cosy fires; plus this package has plenty of extras, including hammam treatments and a tour of Marrakech by sidecar.

UAE -Ajman The smallest emirate in the UAE is 25 minutes from Dubai but has little of its neighbour’s high-octane presence and temperatures

of 25C in November. The Oberoi Beach Resort Al Zorah is a good fit, a low-rise but luxurious hotel on the beach.

Oman - Old Muscat Lying on the Gulf of Oman, the Chedi Muscat hotel has infinity pools and a relaxed ambience that suits this historic Middle Eastern country well. Old Muscat is a short drive away and temperatures will be in the high 20s in November and December.

Caribbean, Antigua Opening in December 1, adultsonly Hammock Cove will have 42 villas with private plunge pools.

It’s aiming for ‘ultra all-inclusive’ style, with 24-hour room service.

There are two restaurants, a spa, pool and beach.

Nonsuch Bay Resort may be all-inclusive but all the rooms also have kitchens. Set in tropical gardens, it has its own white-sand beach in a protected reef. Sailing is big here – and tuition is included in the price.

The Grenadines Petit St Vincent is the connoisseur’s private island. There are plenty of flashier ones but rarely with more charm or a better wine cellar. All 22 cottages have a system of flags to summon room service in customised Mini Mokes.

St Barts Le Sereno is a 39-suite hotel (plus three villas) that manages to blend luxury with a low-key presence on one of the island’s key reefs.

Grenada Few Caribbean islands are as delightfully old-fashioned. This year has also seen the opening of luxurious Silversands; a stylishly minimal hotel on the beach with infinity pool and gourmet restaurant.

Mexico - Tulum The Playa del Carmen can feel as if it’s overwhelmed with vast resorts but head to Tulum and there are enticing small hotels.

Run by a San Francisco couple, Zamas, on a stretch of white sand, has ten simple cabanas plus a selfcatering house.

Finchglow Travels receives Best Travel Agency Award …reassures customers of excellent services

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inchglow Travels, one of the largest Travel Management Companies in Nigeria and International Air Transport Association (IATA) certified Category A Travel Agency, has announced that it has been honoured as the ‘Best Travel Agency’ of the year at the Balearica Awards (Nigeria Tourism Awards) held in Lagos on November 22, 2019.

Receiving the award, Bankole Bernard, the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of Finchglow Group, the parent company of Finchglow Travels who spoke

through Olamide Oni, the company’s spokesman remarked: “We are glad to have been named the ‘Best Travel Agency’ in Nigeria, which was determined by the votes of the citizens. I would like to specifically thank first and foremost, our customers from all over this prestigious nation for the strong vote of confidence.

“Thanks to the entire staff of Finchglow Travels who always make extraordinary efforts to satisfy our customers. We have grown to establish our branches in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt delivering efficient services to our

customers and trade partners.

“As a customer-centric organization, we always ensure that we meet and exceed our customers’ expectations through our unrivalled services and dedication. I would like to use this medium to reassure our customers of our commitment to providing the very best of service. We continue to support smart initiatives like the Nigerian Travel Week and we look forward to seeing it grow bigger in the coming years.”

Nigeria Travel Week is a weeklong travel and tourism event that seeks to help the growth

and development of the industry, while showcasing organizations and individuals putting in work to build the sector. With a focus on positioning travel and tourism to become the new oil in Nigeria, the organizers of the event have continued to introduce new frameworks to see this happen.

While much has evolved in the industry, Finchglow Travels has stood the test of time and it continues to expand in line with its set vision. Having been established in 2006, the agency has built a solid reputation and has continued to soar even in the

digital age by adopting excellence as its watchword.

Finchglow Travels is one of the subsidiaries of Finchglow Group. Other subsidiaries under the group include Lagos Aviation Academy, Finchglow Holidays, Travelden, Prysm Investment, and FCM Travel Solutions.

Finchglow Travels is Nigeria’s leading travel agency with office presence in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. The organization commenced operations in the year 2006 with the objective of providing quality services to travellers in the country.

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Travel Bvlgari Resorts, Emirates Airline lure Nigerian visitors with a taste of luxury in Dubai

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vlgari Resorts and Residences, Dubai’s leading 5-star luxury hotel brand, in partnership with Emirates Airline, is encouraging discerning Nigerian travellers, VIPs, among other visitors, to visit the Bvlgari Resort property in Dubai. A team from the resort unveiled the luxury band and its exiting packages at an exclusive dinner event for CEOs of travel agencies in Lagos recently.

While unveiling the hotel brand at the exclusive dinner event, which held at The Seattle Residence Apartment, Victoria Island. Lagos, the team led by Saeed Shehata, director of sales, Bvlgari Resorts Dubai, explained that Bvlgari Resort opened in December 2017 in Dubai with unique offerings. On the reason to visit, the team noted that Dubai, the host city of the resort, is a destination of choice for visitors seeking the solitude of an island escape, while Bvlgari Resort carters to visitors seeking the residential feeling of a private house, yet situated just minutes from the heart of the vibrant city and its cultural attractions.

Explaining the rationale for the partnerships and interest in Nigeria, Shehata said, “Bvlgari is a new luxury brand, and we have chosen to partner with Emirates Airline and Emirates Holidays to encourage Nigerians to experience the highest class of hotel luxury. Nigeria is an important market for us. We have very few properties in the world, but we

are located in the best destinations in the world”.

On his part, Afzal Parambil, regional manager West Africa, Emirates Airline, pointed out that, “Dubai has become one of Nigeria’s top destinations of choice, and Nigeria has also become the number one African market for Dubai. This was achieved with the deep support of travel agents, media partners and Nigerian travellers as a

whole. Destination Dubai always gives you a reason to go back and visit Dubai. There are always many great reasons to visit Dubai. The breathtaking Bvlgari luxury resort now in Dubai is a perfect reason for another trip to Dubai, and of course, fly better on Emirates.”

The highlight of the event attended by most influential travel agencies was the lucky dip where two people won a two-night stay

at Bvlgari Resorts and Residence within the next one year. The first winner was H.O Ogunye, CEO of Yone Travels &Tours, while the second winner was Chuks Nwanne, travels writer of Guardian Newspaper. Similarly, Daisi Olotu, CEO, Dees Travels &Tours Ltd, won an Emirates business class ticket to Dubai.

The Bvlgari Resort Dubai is an urban oasis, developed by Meraas, a leading Dubai-based

holding company, exclusively situated on the manmade seahorse shaped island of Jumeira Bay, connected by a 300m bridge to central Dubai. The hotel has an accommodation of 101 rooms and suites, including Superior Rooms, Deluxe Beach View Rooms, Premium Ocean View Rooms, Junior Suites, Deluxe Suites and The Bvlgari Suites.

Also on offer are 20 villas, including one-bedroom beach view villas, two bedroom beach view villas, two bedroom skyline view villas, three bedroom skyline view villas, and The Bvlgari Villa.

The 700-square-metre Bvlgari Spa has 8 treatment rooms, including 1 treatment suite, relaxation lounge, steam and sauna, indoor swimming pool (25m x 7.5m) and vitality pool, fitness center and movement studio, workshop gymnasium, and hairdresser, manicure and pedicure salons.

The Bvlgari Resort Dubai offers various meeting events venues, both at the resort and the Yacht Club.

The hotel is about 15 minutes away from the Dubai Mall, Dubai Downtown, & Dubai International Financial Centre, 20 minutes away from the Mall of Emirates, and 25 minutes away from the Gold & Spice Souks.

However, the resort’s director of sales, disclosed further that the property can be booked through Emirates/Emirates Holidays offices in Nigeria or any approved travel agent of intending travelers’ choice.

Pay-Small-Small is Wakanow’s way of facilitating travel dreams - Adedeji

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debayo Adedeji, chief executive officer, Wakanow.com Limited, has disclosed that his company introduced its Pay-SmallSmall (PSS) product as part of efforts to help Africans find solutions to travel related economic and financial challenges.

According to Adedeji, “In most parts of Nigeria and Africa at large, travelling is still considered a luxury because of the economic position of the general populace. The fact that over 50 percent of the Africa population live b e l ow t h e g l o b a l p ov e r t y line and the abysmal state of the formal credit system in most developing countries, has made travel financing quite challenging. Wakanow is committed to finding lasting solutions to these travel related challenges.

“Our ground-breaking travel financing product called Pay-Small-Small (PSS) is a flexible instalment pay-

Afzal Parambil, regional manager West Africa, Emirates Airline; H.O Ogunye, CEO, Yone Travels & Tours/ one of the winners of the two-night stay at Bvlgari Resort Dubai; Chuks Nwanne, travels writer for Guardian Newspaper/another winner; and Saeed Shehata, director of sales, Bvlgari Resorts Dubai, at the exclusive VIP dinner organised for top CEOs of selected travel agencies in Nigeria.

ment plan that gives the traveller as much as 150 percent savings on their travel expenses”.

Also throwing more light on the product, Olajumoke

Bolu-Kujero, head of marketing, Wakanow, said, “PSS is designed to allow travellers lock down choice travel deals by making only a minimum of 25 percent down payment

of the travel cost and paying the balance in convenient installments for up to three months before the travel date”.

She further revealed that PSS is for all categories of income earners.

“It is a travel planning tool as well for high income earners who want to take advantage of existing travel opportunities without tying down cash needed for other business or personal commitments. Pay-Small-Small affords everyone the means to conveniently plan and pay for their travel no matter their earning capacity”, she explained.

According to her, the innovative solution is Wakanow’s w a y o f f a c i l i t a t i n g t ra v e l goals and dreams within and beyond Africa. To sign up for PSS, she urged intending travellers to visit www. wakanow.com and select Pay Small Small at checkout.

Wakanow is West Africa’s

Adebayo Adedeji, chief executive officer, Wakanow.com Limited

leading, full-service online travel company with offices in Nigeria, and in many parts of the world - Dubai, Ghana, Kenya, as well as, in the United Kingdom.

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ExecutiveBookshelf With Chido Nwakanma • Reviews • News • Interview • List

Career choices and how not to raise children Kingsley Obom-Egbulem (2018), When Fishes Climb Trees. Lagos: ParentingNow. ISBN 978-978-968-905-7. 158pp

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hen Fishes Climb Trees is in the genre of motivation/Christian literature that has held sway for four decades. Originally from America, the research on motivation runs through a vast swathe of subjects and themes. Kingsley ObomEgbulem in this book draws on two decades of experience as a Teens Pastor. His book primarily addresses the needs of these young people at the critical period of becoming or unbecoming.

Teens are in the nether region: they are no longer children, but it would take a few more years to qualify as adults. Obom-Egbulem treats the matter of careers and the paths to them, the influences that determine career choices, when to start, and how to go about the pursuit. The message is in line with one of two subtitles of the book as “A guide to helping children discover

My book world

Joe Attueyi

J

oe Attueyi has 35 years’ experience in the Nigerian oil and gas sector in finance, logistics and asset management roles. He worked for NNPC and Ashland Oil (Nigeria) in various financial and cost accounting positions before joining Conoco for ten years. In 2002, he became GM Production/ Director of Conoco Energy Nigeria Ltd and a member of Conoco’s Nigeria Business Unit leadership team. After leaving Conoco, Joe with a few investors founded and was MD of Shebah Exploration & Production, a Nigerian E&P company. He is CEO of PE-backed indigenous oil company DWC E&P Company Ltd and a director/ investor in Nigeria-based

purpose.” The other subtitle addresses parents: “The price for moving our kids out of their comfort zones in pursuit of courses, careers and a life they are not wired for!”

Simi the songstress, recording artist and performer, provides a persuasive testimonial in the Foreword.

She states, “Don’t attempt to dream for your children.

Let them soar. The mind is a beautiful thing, and it’s different for everyone. God doesn’t ask a son to share a mind with his father. Your job is to raise them well and train them with good values and inspire them to develop great character.

But let them be their person.

Advice them, but be there for them even if they decide to go a different career path from what you would prefer.

It’s their life. Let them live it.”

Simi was in the Teens Church Kingsley ObomEgbulem pastors at Daystar Christian Centre, Oregun.

She chose music against all the odds and succeeded.

She imbibed the messaging of her pastor on the right of each person to determine her life choices.

Obom-Egbulem makes bold assertions in pursuit of his thesis. He postulates that for successful careers, it is

critical to commence early.

He suggests age ten as takeoff point. The factors of time and age have a gravitational pull that counts in the inverse as people age. “Talent discovered late doesn’t mature with time. Rather, it is challenged by upcoming young talents with time, those against whom it might be almost impossible to compete.”

Across 21 chapters, When Fishes Climb Trees delves deeply into the subject of future choice. It cites many cases from the experience of the author as well as in literature, local and international. It discusses the harmful effects of wrongful decisions on the development of personality. The damage is more hurtful and longer-lasting when parents impose the choices.

Boxes at the end of each chapter contain nuggets that summarise the point as well as re-emphasise it. Sample, For Mom/Dad: “Be careful about this term ‘stubborn child’. It is often used inappropriately and irresponsi-

bly. A child trying to connect talents with purpose is often mistaken for a stormy petrel or enfant terrible. Be ready to accept what makes your child proud and happy, even if it doesn’t make you happy at the moment.”

Use of talents is one of the critical lessons in the New Testament based on the teachings of Jesus Christ.

When Fishes Climb Trees harps on the management of skills as one of the essential duties of childminders. Parents and those who stand in loco-parentis, teachers, should major on talent identification, nurturing and management.

They should do so without preconceptions and pushing personal preferences.

When Fishes Climb Trees would serve as essential reading for the family. It is the kind of book that parents and children would read chapter by chapter, then sit down to analyse and discuss in the sitting room to unearth choices and points of view.

There is joy in reading a well-written book regardless of genre CBO Capital Partners.

Joe holds a BSc Accounting from University of Nigeria (1984), is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, an alumnus of Harvard Business School’s GMP program (2006) and JMW’s Europe Leader of The Future Program (2000).

1. W h a t a r e y o u reading currently?

I have the (un)fortunate habit of reading multiple books at the same time. I am currently reading A. How China escaped the poverty trap by Yuen Yuen B. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini C. How to Spell Naija in 100 short stories by Chuma Nwokolo 2. W h a t i n f o r m s your choice of a book to read?

Regardless of the subject, well-written flowing prose is my first requirement in a book. My primary interests are Biographies, History, socio-political economy and fiction. I am an introvert by nature. A well-written book in flowing prose on any subject (and watching football) and I can spend the whole weekend without stepping out of the house 3. W h i c h b o o k s

would you rate as the Top 5 or Top Ten in your reading experience?

A. The Years of Lyndon Johnson, by Robert Caro.

By far, the best biography I have ever read. Recommended reading for every politician on the pursuit and use of power for the public good.

B. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Not just an outstanding book of fiction but also a history book on Igbo society before the advent of the white man and the effect of the clash of civilisations on Igbo culture and society.

C. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey These principles, if you imbibe and practice them daily, will bring significant positive changes to every area of one’s life D. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Outstanding fiction that transports you into Afghanistan’s history, culture, politics, religion etc.

E. The New Testaments, especially the direct teachings of Jesus Christ Even if one were not a Christian, the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament

would provide not just great reading but principles by which to live. Most, if not all, times they are contrary to what my natural self will want to do in any situation.

But following Him and His teachings is life-changing.

4. W h a t b o o k s would you return to again and again?

The five books listed above.

5. W h i c h b o o k s would you consider essential or critical in your profession or line of business?

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. A masterclass in leadership training.

6.

Please suggest five essential books in your field and five general interest books that are must-reads for young people.

Different people have different interests, and essential books are a function of one’s interests. My suggestion to every young person is read widely. We cannot overemphasise it.

Read voraciously. A traveller and a reader tend to be the most enlightened people in any room.

7.

Do you prefer hard copy or digital texts?

I love the smell of books.

On family vacations abroad

I used to spend a lot of time in Barnes and Noble and/ or Waterstones so I can get out of the way of those who want to shop. Due to convenience, I seem to be migrating to digital texts. But I can’t stay away from Bookshops!

8.

What are the significant differences and appeal of each in your view?

I think most people who still prefer hard copy books are of a particular generation running on habit — the smell of the books, ability to touch and flip pages etc. Digital texts are more convenient.

I have more books on my iPhone than I could carry as hard copies on a trip 9. Any preference between fiction and nonfiction?

None at all. There is joy in reading a well-written book, regardless of genre.

10. Who are your alltime favourite authors?

The five listed in question 3.

11. Do you share the notion that young Nigerians do not read?

No, I don’t share that notion at all. What they read, how they read and where they read is different, but they do read. Our generation went to the library to read or borrow books. Or

bought the books ourselves.

Young Nigerians may never enter a library simply because between social media platforms and ebooks they have more access to reading materials than we ever did.

The primary reason I am on Facebook is that I have found it a source of reading some very excellent writing by young Africans. In the past three months, at least five of the young folks on my Facebook friends list have won one award or the other for their writing. They write, and they read—they do it differently from our generation.

12. Any thoughts on reading generally and what it contributes to readers?

The best gift my parents gave me was the joy of reading. And I transferred that gift to my children. A wellwritten book takes you to places you may never reach physically. Expands your horizon. Teaches you stuff you might not learn in formal classroom settings. Exposes you to ideas and concepts that can change your life for good.

I never understand when people say they are bored.

Immersed in a good book, boredom gets banished permanently.

Sunday 01 December 2019

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SundayBusiness Implementing mortgage guarantee programme to enable home-ownership

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ike many other good ideas before it, implementation is a major challenge that close industry watchers say is already affecting the mortgage guarantee programme that has just been introduced.

As a new initiative by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the programme holds out hope for low income earners who, ordinarily, cannot take mortgage loan because it is unaffordable to them. This is why the delayed implementation of this programme is already raising concerns.

The programme is coming as a homeownership enabler. It is a kind of mortgage which is given to a borrower by a lender, where an identified third party will take responsibility for the loan if the borrower defaults. The programme is structured in such a way that once the borrower defaults, the third party receives a claim from the lender, pays the lender off, and assumes responsibility for the mortgage.

As such, mortgage guarantee products incentivise lenders to accept loans with lower downpayments, thus increasing affordability. With increased affordability, it means more people will be brought into the mortgage net, making more money available to more home seekers.

Besides incentivizing mortgage lenders, a quality mortgage guarantee programme is also used to provide credit loss protection to

lenders in case of borrower’s default and, according to CBN officials, a robust primary mortgage market is a synergy of several components, all working together to effect affordability and access for intending buyers.

That homeownership level in Nigeria has remained low at less than 5 percent in the country, which is Africa’s largest economy, is explained more by absence of mortgage system than anything else.

The country has practically no process that supports housing development and homeownership unlike advanced societies such as England where there is a body called building society which subsidises mortgage and delivers same to home buyers either through banks or by itself.

A major problem with the mortgage system in Nigeria is accessibility and the second is clarity. When you approach mortgage banks for loan, they will begin to ask you for things that you cannot provide and so, mortgage is not accessible.

In terms of clarity, there is no unified system. It is obvious that there is no clarity in the mortgage system and if there is any such thing, it is not yet published and so people don’t know and, if people don’t know, it means such a process does not exist.

This is why the coming of mortgage guarantee products which exist in various forms, and are administered by different agencies are

most welcome. Tokunbo Martins, director, Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department (OFISD) at CBN, explains that, “in most cases, the national government of the host country is the driver of any successful mortgage guarantee programme, which they administer either through a government agency, a private entity or a hybrid encompassing both types of entity”.

The highpoint of this programme as homeownership enabler lies in its numerous benefits. It is a product of great value to any housing market because it offers opportunity to both the supply and the demand sides of the mortgage market. It provides potential opportunity of lower down-payment for borrowers, while opening up a larger market for lenders who make the decision to finance the target population for the programme.

The importance of this programme in Nigeria cannot be overemphasised given that Nigeria is a country where typical downpayment is over 20 percent, with extremely high additional costs for regularisation, titling and other home-buyer responsibilities.

“Mortgage guarantee in our market will also be used as a valuable tool to regularise and standardise the market in every area from documentation to underwriting to collateralisation and mortgage dispute resolution. These are major issues we need to resolve”, Martins noted

Curbing indoor air pollution in Nigeria

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round the world, more than three billion people, nearly half the world’s population, cook their food using solid fuels like firewood and charcoal on open fires or traditional stoves. This produces a lot of smoke, creating indoor air pollution, which, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), kills millions of people annually.

This type of pollution is of particular concern in developing nations like Nigeria, where women and their young children, who typically stay close to their mothers while they are cooking, bear the brunt of the health problems caused by indoor pollution. Though, air pollution occurs both indoors and outdoors, Nigerians often pay attention only to outdoor air pollution, underestimating the severity of the impact of indoor air pollution. Due to this, these sources of energy (firewood and charcoal) have therefore, been highlighted as a barrier to economic progress and a major source of illness.

It is in recognition of the dangers of indoor air pollution, that leading downstream Company, Enyo Retail and Supply have prompted a revolution in energy use that is already underway. Part of this involves a massive shift from cooking with wood and other forms of biomass to cooking with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is a cleaner source of cooking en-

ergy. It has the potential to change the landscape of household energy utilisation in developing countries.

It has substantial potential benefit for health, and even in climate protection.It also plays an important role in reducing household air pollution.

According to Habiba Abubakar, Sales and Marketing Lead, Enyo Retail and Supply, as players in the LPG space, they are proud to be leading the charge as the leading suppliers of gas in Nigeria.

“The question is how can cooking gas or LPG change our way of living? Simple! Cooking has been around forever and will always be part of everyone’s everyday life.

This is not a speculative market and because it is a part of everyone’s life, it is a very large target market.

LPG will take this routine task and revolutionise the way in which we all do it,” Habiba says.

Also commenting, Abayomi Awobokun, chief executive officer, Enyo Retail and Supply, said that although clean cooking energy transitions are extremely challenging to achieve, they offer enormous potential health, environmental, and societal benefits; hence all Nigerians need to key into it.

“LPG was first introduced in Nigeria in the 1990s. For many years, it was considered to be the rich man’s fuel, due to its limited availability and lack of distribution facilities. However, Enyo’s SL-Gas has emerged as a reliable kitchen

fuel in the country as its availability has increased significantly and we have built up distribution channels that make it accessable to a much wider population and at an affordable cost,” Awobokun explains.

Research shows that aggressive action on the fight against indoor air pollution is ongoing in various countries including India, China, Pakistan and Bangladesh. These countries used to lead as the most polluted regions, with over 1.5 million air-polluted related cases.

Proper sensitisation by both the government and LPG providers on the use of LPG and the actual adoption of it has contributed to the reduction of indoor air pollution in these areas.

Nigeria needs to become aggressive in this area as well, adopting measures that will promote clean energy. Thankfully, the provision of small sized LPG stoves like 3KG and 6KG by companies like Enyo Retail and Supply (SL-Gas) make LPG more affordable for the average man. Sensitisation campaigns

by Enyo Retail is a step in the right direction and more efforts like this are required if Nigeria is to become fully aware of the dangers of indoor pollution and act to reduce the menace. There would be greater benefits for all if a national policy is in place to accelerate the adoption of LPG and to address the challenges of supply, regulation, distribution and affordability of this clean cooking energy.

Talking Mortgage with CHUKA UROKO (08037156969, chukuroko@yahoo.com)

in a paper she presented at a real estate forum in Abuja recently.

Continuing, she said, “One of the most important benefits of mortgage guarantee is that it has the capacity to encourage the influx of investor funds, both local and international, into the mortgage market. A well-executed mortgage guarantee programme provides comfort to intending investors by signaling the presence of standards in the industry that would likely reduce the risk of losing their invested funds”.

In addition to all these, the programme also ensures increased access to housing finance; access to higher amount mortgages; better loan rate terms; market standardisation and increased consumer literacy; more stable property values, and overall more stable and improved national housing sector leading to better economy.

It also ensures reduction of credit risk; expansion to new markets/ deepening of existing markets;

reduction in capital adequacy requirements; enhanced access to financing such as portfolio risk rating, refinancing and securitisation.

With all these in place, mortgages become more affordable to citizens; more people can meet their housing needs on their own; there will be financial system stability; more jobs and economic security for the citizens; better social inclusion and contentment for the citizens, and achievement of political and economic promises.

Like any other economic plan or policy, the programme which has proposed pilot project with Nigeria Mortgage Guarantee Company (NMGC) as special purpose vehicle (SPV) is not without constraints.

The project consultants, while cautiously optimistic about the viability of the project, have identified multiple constraints to its success and, according to the OFISD director, the biggest constraint is the 1978 Land Use Act.

Heineken, Goldberg, Life, “33” Export and Amstel Malta win big at the 2019 ADVAN awards SEYI JOHN SALAU

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t was a moment of celebration as Heineken, Goldberg, Life, Amstel Malta and “33” Export, brands under the Nigerian Breweries’ trade mark all won big at the recently held the 9th edition of the 2019 Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) ‘Marketing Excellence West Africa’ awards in Lagos.

Topping the chart of awards were Heineken and “33” Export’s first place awards in the Product Packaging and Consumer Promo Categories respectively. “This is a great night for us. Awards like this let us know how impactful our brand activities are on our consumers and the marketing community as a whole. We are happy and grateful to be recognized this way, we look forward to achieving more feats in the coming years,” said Sandra Amachree, the brand public relations manager, Nigerian Breweries Plc. According to her, these commendable awards won by Nigerian Breweries’ brands at the ADVAN ‘Marketing Excellence West Africa’ awards only goes to show the strength of these brands and the impact their campaigns have on their consumers and the marketing community

as a whole.

Earlier this year, Heineken launched one of its numerous groundbreaking innovations; the Heineken Sleek Can, a first of its kind packaging in the Nigerian beer industry with a charge to bring a fresh perspective to beer consumption in Nigeria. It is this type of innovation that earned the brand its first place spot for one of the ADVAN ‘Marketing Excellence West Africa’ Awards.

“33” Export celebrated its 40th anniversary this year and the brand threw a series of ’33 Connect’ parties in celebration of this. It is no wonder that the brand won the first place award in the Consumer Promo Categories.

Life Lager and Goldberg Lager also carted away second place awards at the ceremony. Goldberg Lager got second place in both the Product Packaging and Consumer Promo Categories. The brand recently re-launched with its ‘Omoluabi’ campaign and accompanying the relaunch was an all-new product packaging.

The brand’s consumer promo campaign, ‘Ita Faaji’ also got the second place award in the Consumer Promo category. In addition, leaving with a second place award in the Experiential Category was Life Lager’s music competition platform, Hi-Life Fest.

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SundayBusiness Rising public debt, headwind to achieving 2.38%...

Continued from Page 1 June 30, 2019 according the data from the Debt Management Office (DMO).

The nation’s debt stock rose by 3.11 percent from $81.27 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2019 to $83.88 billion (N25.70 trillion) at the end of June 2019.

A breakdown of the DMO’s numbers show that the total external debt stands at $27.16 billion, while domestic debt climbs to $56.72 billion.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Staff projections indicate that real GDP in Q4 2019 is expected to grow by 2.38 percent, driven by the non-oil sector.

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the CBN, said the headwinds to this projection, include: continued high level of unemployment, mild resurgence of anticipated inflationary pressures towards the December festive season, rising public debt, high level of insecurity, and slow pace of oil price recovery.

However, in his optimism, Emefiele said: “Despite these headwinds, growth is expected to pick on the back of recent actions to boost credit to the private sector through the recent Loan-to-Deposit Ratio (LDR) and Global Standing Instruction (GSI) initiatives, sustained interventions by the Bank in selected employment and growth-enhancing sectors, as well as fiscal policy measures to support

growth”.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday resent to the Senate for approval a proposal to borrow $29.96 billion offshore to fund some critical projects - but still did not present a detailed draft plan for that loan request - a major reason the Bukola Saraki-led 8th National Assembly refused to approve it.

Buhari made the request a day after the IMF warned Nigeria against rising debts. IMF projects government debt to reach 31.4 of GDP in 2020 from 29.9 percent in 2019 and 27.3 percent in 2018.

In its latest report on Regional Economic Outlook (REO) for SubSaharan Africa, themed “navigating uncertainty”, IMF said the region’s public debt as a ratio to GDP has stabilised at about 55 percent on average across countries.

Oil exporters’ debt ratios have fallen by about 10 percentage points of GDP since 2016. Adjustment in this group of countries occurred through expenditure compression. The reduction in the noncommodity primary fiscal deficit of nearly 14 percentage points of GDP during 2013–18 was achieved largely by cutting public investment and, to a lesser degree, current primary expenditure, while noncommodity revenue fell slightly.

Other resource intensive countries also made some progress on fiscal consolidation, mainly by reducing recurrent spending. In non-resource-intensive countries,

the primary fiscal deficit increased as revenue fell as a ratio to GDP, contributing to higher debt ratios.

Despite the stabilisation of debt dynamics, public debt vulnerabilities remain elevated in some countries. Among low-income and developing sub-Saharan African countries, seven (accounting for 3 percent of regional GDP) are in debt distress (Eritrea, The Gambia, Mozambique, Republic of Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe, South Sudan, Zimbabwe), and nine (accounting for 16 percent of regional GDP) are at high risk of debt distress (Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Zambia).

The remaining 19 low-income and developing countries have low to moderate debt vulnerabilities. For middle and upper-income countries, public debt remains sus-

Chivita 100% wins most innovative juice brand at Marketing World Awards Anthony Nlebem

L

eading fruit juice brand, Chivita 100% has won the Most Innovative Fruit Juice Brand of the Year Award at the recently held 2019 Marketing World Awards.

The award re-affirms the brand’s dominance in the Nigerian fruit juice segment and is seen as a deserved recognition for the brand’s category leadership which it has earned through superior product quality and its innovative approach at deepening conversations on the role of 100% fruit juice in daily wellness.

As the market leader in the fruit juice category, Chivita 100% has been championing the 100% fruit juice consumption narrative in Nigeria through advocacy and engagements. The results are the recognitions and increasing number of satisfied consumers who are embracing Chivita 100%’s call for a personal journey of everyday wellness.

According to Akin Naph-

tal, CEO, Instinct Wave, organizers of the Marketing World Awards, Chivita 100% Fruit Juice has demonstrated a commitment to excellence and an uncommon innovativeness for market leadership.

“In the last 12 months, through monthly advocacy and engagements, Chivita 100% has been at the forefront of enlightening and promoting daily 100% fruit juice consumption for everyday wellness. The brand’s October 17th celebration of Chivita World Juice Day, the first of its kind in Nigeria, was a high point and competitive edge for recognition in this category,” he stated.

The Marketing World Awards celebrates brands, organizations and individuals that have delivered superior product values to the market and exhibited excel-

lence in upholding concrete marketing strategies.

Speaking on the award, Chi Limited’s Managing Director, Deepanjan Roy commended and appreciated the organizers for recognizing Chivita 100%’s strides in innovativeness for market leadership.

“We would continue to ensure the innovative excellence which has seen Chivita 100% win the Most Innovative Juice Brand of the Year Award. This award is a recognition of our efforts at taking the lead in superior product quality and drive for awareness on the role of 100% fruit juice in everyday wellness,” he said.

Ideal for health, nutrition and refreshment, Chivita 100% is made from real natural fruits with no added sugar or preservatives. It is convenient, delicious and offers healthconscious consumers a range of refreshing and nourishing fruit choices as an addition to a complete breakfast diet.

Chivita 100% is available in 1Ltr pack sizes and in four variants - Real Orange, Real Apple, Real Pineapple and Red Grape.

tainable under the baseline in most cases, IMF said in the report.

In reviewing Nigeria’s debt, FSDH Research observes in its July 15, 2019 note to BDSUNDAY that the level of debt has been on the increase over the years.

For a country with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of over N130 trillion, that debt level is not too much, the analysts at FSDH said.

The debt-to-GDP ratio is 19.03 percent, which is below both the 25 percent benchmark set by the FGN and the 56 percent international threshold set for countries in Nigeria’s economic peer group.

Therefore, Nigeria is actually underborrowing at the current level.

It has the capacity to borrow an additional N7trillion, given the 25 percent benchmark.

The main problem, however, is the country’s ability to service the debt without causing untold hard-

ship on the country. In measuring the ability of Nigeria to service her debt obligations, the firm looks at the ratio of domestic debt serviceto-FGN Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocation.

This is where the problem lies for Nigeria. Low revenue generation makes it very difficult for the FGN to meet its debt obligations without sacrificing other important responsibilities.

“As outlined in our previous reports, FSDH Research notes that the current high debt service to revenue structure in Nigeria is unsustainably high and the high gure is due to the low revenue of the country. Although the strategies of the DMO in debt management and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in monetary policy administration have reduced the interest burden of the government, Nigeria needs to accelerate revenue generation to enable it to meet all her debt obligations without stress,” the analysts said.

FSDH Research recommends that the DMO considers the issuance of discount bonds (zero coupon bonds) to manage the interest expenses of the FGN in the short-term. The low interest rate environment, both in Nigeria and in the international market, provides a good opportunity for the government to lower its interest expenses.

There is also high appetite at the moment for quality fixed income securities.

MindBody & Soul

with Chioma Nwosu

Are you toxic?

Y

ears ago, I was in a toxic relationship.

I was lied to, emotionally abused, gaslighted and manipulated.

After some years, I found the strength to move on and let go. I tried to get into several other relationships, but it failed, and I wondered why. When I finally got into a relationship, I realised I became toxic too, I was slowly becoming my ex. Luckily, I found out early on and was able to draw the line.

Perhaps, you’ve experienced having that one friend who, when things are going well with your life, makes you feel like you’re still not good enough by pointing out your flaws instead affirming your success (for instance, someone who has a perpetual “negativity mentality”).

Or you might have a partner or family member who makes you feel guilty about how great your life is while they are struggling with their own because they claim to be “victims” of a world that

doesn’t give them any breaks.

Toxicity means the quality, state or relative degree of being poisonous. Toxic people are harmful. Are you toxic? Can you attest to showing toxic traits? Are you controlling, exhausting, jealous, manipulative, can’t take no for an answer, have no respect for boundaries, always seeing yourself as the victim, guilt trip, gaslight, abusive (emotionally or physically), you are always right.

These are signs that you may be toxic. One of the toughest things, though, can be identifying the signs that we have become the toxic person in our lives. It can be painful to admit that we are creating our hardships, but, once we take ownership, we can turn things around.

It’s no fun to realise that you are responsible for bringing negativity into your own life as well as those around you. If you find that you are running in circles, repeatedly fighting the same battles, alienating friends, and are

overwhelmed with pessimism, you may need to step back and evaluate what is indeed causing your problems.

The good news is that the sooner you take ownership of your role in your unhappiness, the sooner you can kick toxic behaviours to the curb.

It can happen to the best of us — so don’t feel bad. Commit to making healthy changes and, even when times are tough, you’ll feel stronger and better able to find the silver lining.

Chioma Nwosu is a mental health/positive psychology advocate, speaker and founder of Olamma Cares Foundation an NGO focused on encouraging the social acceptance of developmental disabilities and mental disorders, finding and implementing long term solutions of these conditions through training, capacity building, advocacy and intervention.

Email: cnwosu@olammacares.com Instagram: _olamma_

36 BDSUNDAY Sunday 01 December 2019

C002D5556

BDSUNDAY 39

SundayBusiness Rising public debt, headwind to achieving 2.38%...

Continued from Page 1 June 30, 2019 according the data from the Debt Management Office (DMO).

The nation’s debt stock rose by 3.11 percent from $81.27 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2019 to $83.88 billion (N25.70 trillion) at the end of June 2019.

A breakdown of the DMO’s numbers show that the total external debt stands at $27.16 billion, while domestic debt climbs to $56.72 billion.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Staff projections indicate that real GDP in Q4 2019 is expected to grow by 2.38 percent, driven by the non-oil sector.

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the CBN, said the headwinds to this projection, include: continued high level of unemployment, mild resurgence of anticipated inflationary pressures towards the December festive season, rising public debt, high level of insecurity, and slow pace of oil price recovery.

However, in his optimism, Emefiele said: “Despite these headwinds, growth is expected to pick on the back of recent actions to boost credit to the private sector through the recent Loan-to-Deposit Ratio (LDR) and Global Standing Instruction (GSI) initiatives, sustained interventions by the Bank in selected employment and growth-enhancing sectors, as well as fiscal policy measures to support

growth”.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday resent to the Senate for approval a proposal to borrow $29.96 billion offshore to fund some critical projects - but still did not present a detailed draft plan for that loan request - a major reason the Bukola Saraki-led 8th National Assembly refused to approve it.

Buhari made the request a day after the IMF warned Nigeria against rising debts. IMF projects government debt to reach 31.4 of GDP in 2020 from 29.9 percent in 2019 and 27.3 percent in 2018.

In its latest report on Regional Economic Outlook (REO) for SubSaharan Africa, themed “navigating uncertainty”, IMF said the region’s public debt as a ratio to GDP has stabilised at about 55 percent on average across countries.

Oil exporters’ debt ratios have fallen by about 10 percentage points of GDP since 2016. Adjustment in this group of countries occurred through expenditure compression. The reduction in the noncommodity primary fiscal deficit of nearly 14 percentage points of GDP during 2013–18 was achieved largely by cutting public investment and, to a lesser degree, current primary expenditure, while noncommodity revenue fell slightly.

Other resource intensive countries also made some progress on fiscal consolidation, mainly by reducing recurrent spending. In non-resource-intensive countries,

the primary fiscal deficit increased as revenue fell as a ratio to GDP, contributing to higher debt ratios.

Despite the stabilisation of debt dynamics, public debt vulnerabilities remain elevated in some countries. Among low-income and developing sub-Saharan African countries, seven (accounting for 3 percent of regional GDP) are in debt distress (Eritrea, The Gambia, Mozambique, Republic of Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe, South Sudan, Zimbabwe), and nine (accounting for 16 percent of regional GDP) are at high risk of debt distress (Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Zambia).

The remaining 19 low-income and developing countries have low to moderate debt vulnerabilities. For middle and upper-income countries, public debt remains sus-

Chivita 100% wins most innovative juice brand at Marketing World Awards Anthony Nlebem

L

eading fruit juice brand, Chivita 100% has won the Most Innovative Fruit Juice Brand of the Year Award at the recently held 2019 Marketing World Awards.

The award re-affirms the brand’s dominance in the Nigerian fruit juice segment and is seen as a deserved recognition for the brand’s category leadership which it has earned through superior product quality and its innovative approach at deepening conversations on the role of 100% fruit juice in daily wellness.

As the market leader in the fruit juice category, Chivita 100% has been championing the 100% fruit juice consumption narrative in Nigeria through advocacy and engagements. The results are the recognitions and increasing number of satisfied consumers who are embracing Chivita 100%’s call for a personal journey of everyday wellness.

According to Akin Naph-

tal, CEO, Instinct Wave, organizers of the Marketing World Awards, Chivita 100% Fruit Juice has demonstrated a commitment to excellence and an uncommon innovativeness for market leadership.

“In the last 12 months, through monthly advocacy and engagements, Chivita 100% has been at the forefront of enlightening and promoting daily 100% fruit juice consumption for everyday wellness. The brand’s October 17th celebration of Chivita World Juice Day, the first of its kind in Nigeria, was a high point and competitive edge for recognition in this category,” he stated.

The Marketing World Awards celebrates brands, organizations and individuals that have delivered superior product values to the market and exhibited excel-

lence in upholding concrete marketing strategies.

Speaking on the award, Chi Limited’s Managing Director, Deepanjan Roy commended and appreciated the organizers for recognizing Chivita 100%’s strides in innovativeness for market leadership.

“We would continue to ensure the innovative excellence which has seen Chivita 100% win the Most Innovative Juice Brand of the Year Award. This award is a recognition of our efforts at taking the lead in superior product quality and drive for awareness on the role of 100% fruit juice in everyday wellness,” he said.

Ideal for health, nutrition and refreshment, Chivita 100% is made from real natural fruits with no added sugar or preservatives. It is convenient, delicious and offers healthconscious consumers a range of refreshing and nourishing fruit choices as an addition to a complete breakfast diet.

Chivita 100% is available in 1Ltr pack sizes and in four variants - Real Orange, Real Apple, Real Pineapple and Red Grape.

tainable under the baseline in most cases, IMF said in the report.

In reviewing Nigeria’s debt, FSDH Research observes in its July 15, 2019 note to BDSUNDAY that the level of debt has been on the increase over the years.

For a country with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of over N130 trillion, that debt level is not too much, the analysts at FSDH said.

The debt-to-GDP ratio is 19.03 percent, which is below both the 25 percent benchmark set by the FGN and the 56 percent international threshold set for countries in Nigeria’s economic peer group.

Therefore, Nigeria is actually underborrowing at the current level.

It has the capacity to borrow an additional N7trillion, given the 25 percent benchmark.

The main problem, however, is the country’s ability to service the debt without causing untold hard-

ship on the country. In measuring the ability of Nigeria to service her debt obligations, the firm looks at the ratio of domestic debt serviceto-FGN Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocation.

This is where the problem lies for Nigeria. Low revenue generation makes it very difficult for the FGN to meet its debt obligations without sacrificing other important responsibilities.

“As outlined in our previous reports, FSDH Research notes that the current high debt service to revenue structure in Nigeria is unsustainably high and the high gure is due to the low revenue of the country. Although the strategies of the DMO in debt management and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in monetary policy administration have reduced the interest burden of the government, Nigeria needs to accelerate revenue generation to enable it to meet all her debt obligations without stress,” the analysts said.

FSDH Research recommends that the DMO considers the issuance of discount bonds (zero coupon bonds) to manage the interest expenses of the FGN in the short-term. The low interest rate environment, both in Nigeria and in the international market, provides a good opportunity for the government to lower its interest expenses.

There is also high appetite at the moment for quality fixed income securities.

MindBody & Soul

with Chioma Nwosu

Are you toxic?

Y

ears ago, I was in a toxic relationship.

I was lied to, emotionally abused, gaslighted and manipulated.

After some years, I found the strength to move on and let go. I tried to get into several other relationships, but it failed, and I wondered why. When I finally got into a relationship, I realised I became toxic too, I was slowly becoming my ex. Luckily, I found out early on and was able to draw the line.

Perhaps, you’ve experienced having that one friend who, when things are going well with your life, makes you feel like you’re still not good enough by pointing out your flaws instead affirming your success (for instance, someone who has a perpetual “negativity mentality”).

Or you might have a partner or family member who makes you feel guilty about how great your life is while they are struggling with their own because they claim to be “victims” of a world that

doesn’t give them any breaks.

Toxicity means the quality, state or relative degree of being poisonous. Toxic people are harmful. Are you toxic? Can you attest to showing toxic traits? Are you controlling, exhausting, jealous, manipulative, can’t take no for an answer, have no respect for boundaries, always seeing yourself as the victim, guilt trip, gaslight, abusive (emotionally or physically), you are always right.

These are signs that you may be toxic. One of the toughest things, though, can be identifying the signs that we have become the toxic person in our lives. It can be painful to admit that we are creating our hardships, but, once we take ownership, we can turn things around.

It’s no fun to realise that you are responsible for bringing negativity into your own life as well as those around you. If you find that you are running in circles, repeatedly fighting the same battles, alienating friends, and are

overwhelmed with pessimism, you may need to step back and evaluate what is indeed causing your problems.

The good news is that the sooner you take ownership of your role in your unhappiness, the sooner you can kick toxic behaviours to the curb.

It can happen to the best of us — so don’t feel bad. Commit to making healthy changes and, even when times are tough, you’ll feel stronger and better able to find the silver lining.

Chioma Nwosu is a mental health/positive psychology advocate, speaker and founder of Olamma Cares Foundation an NGO focused on encouraging the social acceptance of developmental disabilities and mental disorders, finding and implementing long term solutions of these conditions through training, capacity building, advocacy and intervention.

Email: cnwosu@olammacares.com Instagram: _olamma_

40

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@Businessdayng

Sunday 01 December 2019

EquityMarket

Market sentiment unchanged as FCMB Group posts N136bn gross earnings in 9 months TELIAT SULE

TELIAT SULE Market sentiment towards FCMB remained the same today as the group announced a 2.2 percent increase in gross earning at the end of the third quarter ended September 30, 2019. FCMB Holdings’ share price closed at N2.01 per share. On Friday last week, investors traded 967,495 units of shares of FCMB Holdings worth N1.94 million. Year to date, the stock has appreciated by 6.3 percent, emerging as one of the few banking stocks that gained year to date.

Results announced by FCMB Holdings showed that gross earnings rose to N135.82 billion in nine months as against N132.87 billion it realised same period in 2018.

Interest and discount income increased from N95.42 billion in 2018 to N101.80 billion this year’s September.

Net fee and commission income was flat at N15.31 billion compares with N15.46 billion in comparable period in 2018.

Profit before tax was down by 13.3 percent to N12.80 billion as at September this year as against N14.77 billion the group made in similar period in 2018.

Profit after tax at the end of the third quarter was N10.79 billion in contrast to N11.34 billion last year September, a decline of 4.8 percent during the reference period.

Cash and bank balances fell by 19.4 percent to N149.25 billion in September 2019, as against N185.15 billion last year September. Net loans and advances were flat at N638.07 billion whereas they were worth N633.04 billion in September 2018. Deposits from customers rose by 5.1 percent from N821.74 billion in Q3 2018 to N863.44 billion in Q3 2019.

Only the FCMB Microfinance Bank recorded growth in its profitability, albeit, this only accounted for 1 percent of the group’s profit after tax.

The bank’s PAT fell by 12 percent to N7.99 billion in September

2019 as against N9.06 billion in September 2018. This is as the bank’s profit contributed 75 percent of the group’s PAT as at the end of Q3 2019 whereas in 2018, its contribution was 88 percent.

FCMB Pension contributed 6 per-

cent to the group’s profit by third quarter ended September 2019 whereas it was 8 percent that the same business contributed to the group’s PAT in 2018. Credit Direct contributed 16 percent to the group’s profit in 2019.

Dangote Flour Mills becomes the 110th firm delisted from NSE since 2002

D

angote Flour Mills (DFM) has become the 110th firm to be delisted from the main board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) since 2002. DFM was the 7th firm to be delisted in 2019 after Great Nigerian Insurance which was voluntarily delisted on January 25, 2019; Diamond Bank which was voluntarily delisted on April 1, 2019 after a merger with Access Bank; Newrest ASL Nigeria that was voluntarily delisted on May 13, 2019; First Aluminium that was

voluntarily delisted on July 31, 2019; Skye Bank that was delisted through regulatory intervention on August 29, 2019; and Fortis Microfinance Bank that was delisted as a result of regulatory intervention on August 21, 2019.

When discounted by the current market returns, the market capitalisation of the delisted firms has caused the overall market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange to lose N100 billion due to the delisting of the seven firms in 2019.

The delisting trend started

in 2002 when Impresit Bakolori and Dumez Nigeria were delisted from the main board of the NSE. In 2008, nineteen firms were delisted from the NSE. In 2009, eleven firms were equally delisted with reasons ranging from voluntary and regulatory interventions.

“Some firms could not meet the post listing requirements of the NSE. So, the regulator will not allow them set bad precedents for others. In this regard, the affected firms will be asked to delist”, said an analyst who did not want his

name in print.

While it is good to set good standards, the steady rise in the number of delisted firms calls for new strategy to attract and retain firms on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

As at the close of business last week Friday, the market capitalisation of the NSE closed at N13.03 trillion. At the exchange rate of N306/$, this amounts to $42.6 billion, a far cry from the $1 trillion market capitalisation benchmark the NSE has been pursing for a while.

In October 2019, the FCMB Limited Olufemi Badeji as an executive director, corporate and investment banking with effect from October 2, 2019 following the approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN).

Niger Insurance appoints Igbiti as MD/CEO

F

ollowing the approval from the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), the board of directors of Niger Insurance Plc has announced Edwin Friday Igbiti as the substantive managing director and CEO. He holds an MBA from the University of Ado Ekiti and advanced Diploma in Management from the University of Lagos. He is a member of the Chartered Insurance Institute of London; Member, Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), and a fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria.

Sunday 01 December 2019

www.businessday.ng

www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@businessDayNG

@Businessdayng

BDSUNDAY 41

BrandsOnSunday SPOTLIGHTING BRAND VALUE

‘Hate Speech’: Nigeria ‘majoring’ in the ‘minor’ amid daunting challenges When Nigeria looks at the economic growth of its peers such as Malaysia, Singapore and India, it should be worried. Innovative thinking and adherence to economic policies underlined the growth of these economies, not wasting time on mundane issues as “Hate Speech”. Daniel Obi writes that the world is leaving Nigeria behind and it cannot catch up if it continues to major in the minor

A

Nigerian serious issues t 2.1percent, Nigeria’s economy with human and abundant material resources is not growing as expected. Some factors, both explainable and inexplicable account for this unimpressive growth.

Foreign investments are also not coming into the populous African nation with about 200 million people, in relation to the size of the economy with other smaller African countries, especially Ghana, Kenya competing with Nigeria on this space. This is largely due to pitiable infrastructure and poor rate of Ease of Doing Business in the country.

While Nigeria ranks 131among 190 economies on ease of doing business according to World Bank, President Muhammadu Buhari has travelled 51 times since assuming office in 2015, most of which are to woo investors.

Today, Nigeria is said to be the poverty capital of the world. One wonders where the wealth of the nation from oil and agriculture export is going to.

Mid last year, the country overtook India as the country with the largest number of people living in extreme poverty, with an estimated 87 million Nigerians, or around half of the country’s population, thought to be living on less than $1.90 a day.

In Nigeria, as with other countries on the continent, the poverty figure is projected to rise, according to the report by the World Poverty Clock and compiled by Brookings Institute.

In the midst of high rate of poor people, the country is facing big challenge of insecurity which is threatening peace and business from kidnapping to Fulani herdsmen, insurgents in many parts and secessionist movement in the South East.

The country has also had several cases of failed programmes owing to implementation problems, such as Vision 2010 and Vision 2020. Nigeria failed to follow through such programmes expected to launch the country into growth path as in early 1970s.

To get Nigeria’s economy which was growing at about 9-11percent immediately after independence in 1960 back on

track, the country needs innovative thinking, strong adherence to its laws and strong institutions.

The trivial But today, the country has dissipated much energy, discussing mundane issues which do not have direct positive impact on the economy or institution building. A lawmaker, who is also deputy chief whip in the Senate, Aliyu Abdullahi has recently sponsored a bill called ‘Hate Speech and Anti-social media’ to keep critics quiet. Abdullahi is from Niger State, a region with high poverty rate that should focus more on economy.

The bill proposes that any person who uses, publishes, presents, produces, plays, provides, distributes and/or directs the performance of any material, written and or visual which is threatening, abusive or insulting or involves the use of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour commits an offence if such person intends thereby to stir up ethnic hatred, or having regard to all the circumstances, ethnic hatred is likely to be stirred up against any person or person from such an ethnic group in Nigeria.

According to the bill, any person who commits this offence shall be liable to life imprisonment and where the act causes any loss of life, the person shall be punished with death by hanging.

Weighty! The death penalty was few days ago expunged from bill which has passed second reading.

Sometimes, some Nigerians forget that the country is operating a democratic rule which is government of the people by the people and for the people. This

system of government thrives under criticisms. It is different from authoritarian regime.

This kind of bill is sometimes sponsored to control the media and shut up the people. This is because the country’s democracy is fledgling, coming out of military dictatorship, yet ruled by the military men who only changed their uniform and not their character.

Expectedly, the bill has attracted widespread criticisms from different corners in Nigeria, including the civil groups and state governors. Speaking on AIT programme, Femi Falana, a frontline lawyer, said democracy gives right to protest and complain. “Democratic tenets allow freedom of expression but the Hate Speech bill is meant to restrict that,” he said.

Former Vice President, Atiku

To get Nigeria’s economy which was growing at about 9-11% immediately after independence in 1960 back on track, the country needs innovative thinking, strong adherence to its laws and strong institutions

Abubakar has also frowned at the moves to pass a bill criminalising purported hate speech. Other prominent Nigerians have kicked against the bill.

Wasting time duplicating effort What the bill tries to address has already been taken care of by the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria and other laws.

Section 39(1) of the Constitution guarantees Freedom of Expression as fundamental right which is universally recognised and protected. This section of the Constitution says “Every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference”.

Sub section (2) says, “Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, every person shall be entitled to own, establish and operate any medium for the dissemination of information, ideas and opinions.”

However, the right to freedom of expression is not absolute as there are restrictions to the rights, one of which is found in the law of defamation, sedition and libel.

If the Constitution had taken care of this restriction to free expression, why is National Assembly therefore, interested in enacting another law?

Falana says the bill violates the Constitution, explaining that “Enforcing the law on Constitution breaches will not be about enacting further laws.”

It is calculated that if the bill is passed, it will be abused because in a situation where someone speaks against evil in society, excesses or high-handedness of government, it will be labelled hate speech.

Freedom of expression under Buhari administrations It appears Buhari has a destiny with issues of Freedom of Expressions as moves to control free speech keep recurring in governments led by him. It is surprising that the Hate Speech Bill is coming when Buhari said he has become is a ‘Converted Democrat.’

Buhari, as military Head of State in 1983-85, a similar law, Decree 4, was promulgated which did not take kindly to press criticisms. This saw two Nigerian journalists in jail. Drafted on

March 29, 1984, Decree No. 4 is similar to the provisions of Hate Speech Bill and it was repressive.

Section 1, sub-sections (i), (ii) and (iii) of the law - provided that: “Any person who publishes in any form, whether written or otherwise, any message, rumour, report or statement, being a message, rumour, statement or report which is false in any material particular or which brings or is calculated to bring the Federal Military Government or the Government of a state or public officer to ridicule or disrepute, shall be guilty of an offence under this Decree.

“Any station for wireless telegraphy which conveys or transmits any sound or visual message, rumour, report or statement, being a message, rumour, report or statement which is false in any material particular or which brings or is calculated to bring the Federal Government or the Government of a state or a public officer to ridicule or disrepute, shall be guilty of an offence under this Decree.

“It shall be an offence under this Decree for a newspaper or wireless telegraphy station in Nigeria to publish or transmit any message, rumour, report or statement which is false in any material particular, stating that any public officer has in any manner been engaged in corrupt practices or has in any manner enriched himself or any other person {Gazette, 1984).

Taking Nigeria forward Buhari government has demonstrated determination and equally made giant strides on the ease of doing business and agriculture to see Nigerian economy bounce back. This is what the nation needs at this time and it should be sustained.

Gagging the people or restricting freedom of expression cannot guarantee economic success. Nigeria has more pressing economic issues that should occupy the attention of the National Assembly than the Hate Speech.

Hate Speech Bill is just diversionary and duplication of efforts this time when all arms of government, especially Executive, NASS and all Nigerian citizens should focus on innovative thinking and enforcing already existing laws to catch up with other countries that are leaving her behind.

42 BDSUNDAY

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Sunday 01 December 2019

Health&Science HIV/AIDs: NNPC-NAPIMS, Total, others collaborate to drive awareness in secondary schools

I

ANTHONIA OBOKOH

n a bid to curtail the rising incidences of HIV/AIDS in the country, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Total and other partners have collaborated to drive awareness and sensitise students across secondary schools in Lagos on the disease and preventive measures.

In commemoration of the 2019 World AIDS Day which is celebrated every December 1 with the theme ‘Communities makes the difference’, the campaign will help reduce the spread of HIV and AIDS in Nigeria.

The awareness campaign was for five selected senior secondary schools in education district 4, Lagos State.

The schools are Ajigbeda Girls Senior Secondary School, Gbaja Girls, Ideal Girls, Ansir Ur Deen, and Government Senior College, Eric Moore.

Speaking at the event, Ajukwura Wokomah, general manager -corporate social responsibility (CSR), Total Upstream Nigeria limited said the United Nations programmes on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), said that the organisation be-

L-R: Gbenga Alabi, executive secretary, Nigeria Business Coalition Against AIDS; Omolola Sule, advocacy lead, Lagos State Aids Control Agency; Ajukwura Wokomah, GM, CSR/SD, Total Nigeria; Olubunmi Lawson, supervisor, Community Development, Public Affairs Department, NNPC-NAPIMS; Charles Ngeribara, CSR advisor, Total Nigeria and Olubunmi Adebayo, principal, Ajigbede Girls Senior Secondary School, Surulere, Lagos with students of Government College, Eric Moore, Lagos at the 2019 HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign for five Secondary Schools in Lagos sponsored by NNPC /Total Nigeria and other partners held at Ajigbede School, Surulere, Lagos on Thursday

lieves that young people need to be aware of the disease, noting that with such knowledge they can protect themselves, families and communities against HIV/AIDS. “We believe that students of your age need to be aware of the disease because with knowledge comes the ability to make informed decisions to protect yourselves, your families, and your communities against HIV/ AIDS,” Wokomah said.

He stated that youths are the most vulnerable to HIV infection due to ignorance and engagement in risky behaviours such as drug abuse, cult ac-

tivities, blood rituals, and sexual exposure whether by consent or rape.

“As we all know HIV/ AIDS has become a major global health crisis in the past three decades. The disease has also become a real development challenge especially for developing nations where young people, who are the most productive segments of the population remains at risk,” Wokomah added that there is a link between the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS and the level of ignorance among the public saying that at Total, we believe that raising public awareness on this

scourge is a sure way to combat it.

AIDS is a set of symptoms (or syndrome as opposed to a virus) caused

by HIV. A person is said to have AIDS when their immune system is too weak to fight off infection, and they develop certain defining symptoms and illnesses. This is the last stage of HIV when the infection is very advanced, and if left untreated will lead to death.

However, about 40 million people have died of AIDS-related illnesses; 37.9 million people are living with the virus with a global HIV prevalence of 0.8%. Unfortunately,

a vast majority of people living with HIV are in low- and middle- income countries which include Nigeria. In Nigeria, 1.9 million people are living with HIV with a national prevalence of 1.4%.

Gbenga Alabi, executive secretary, Nigeria Business Coalition Against AIDS (NIBUCCA) said the school and education system in and around the world play a major role in shaping the attitudes, opinions, and behaviour of young people who are important group and potential resource for the prevention of HIV and achieving 90-90-90 target.

“Every year, December 1, presents us with an opportunity to reflect on how far we have gone in addressing the challenges of HIV/AIDS. The theme for the 2019 campaign is communities’ makes the difference which emphasizes the role which individuals, Age groups, peers, Government, and the corporate world could play towards ending AIDS by 2030.”

Al a b i , t h e r e f o r e , commended saying it with great privilege and honour that NIBUCCA is identifying with the strategic and laudable school-based awareness project addressing reproductive health in the

context of HIV/AIDs. “This is the fourth edition of the senior secondary school Awareness project and we have been able to reach out to various schools in three (3) districts out of the 6 districts in Lagos state, as we still look forward to spreading this awareness program and empower young students with the necessary knowledge and life skill set they require to keep on forging on in life,” he said.

Alabi further said that the project will be empowering students in the identified five schools with reproductive healthrelated information, empowering Girl- Child with assertive and life-building skills. Also, Anti- AIDS Club will be established in the beneficiary schools for reasonable effective coverage, effective participation, and sustainability.

“I urge us all to work collectively and aggressively to support the youths who are the future leaders, for the overall well-being of the country, towards the actualisation of Good health and well being, which will in turn drive a decent work and economic growth and sustainable communities as contained in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,” he said.

Liver Cirrhosis in Nigeria; Causes, treatment and natural remedies Contributor

Tobi Ayodele Keeney

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he liver is the largest solid organ found in the upper right part of the abdomen.

This organ is responsible for the metabolism of carbohydrates, fat, fatsoluble vitamins and the production of essential and blood clotting proteins. The liver is also our body’s natural detoxification system, serving to eliminate and detoxify harmful waste, toxins, bacteria, drugs, and alcohol. It helps to purify your blood and helps to keep your body system up and

running properly.

The liver is a very resilient organ and is normally able to regenerate damaged cells. However, when there is frequent, chronic and long term damage or injury (from alcohol, drugs and chronic viral infections), the liver becomes scarred and stiff also known as cirrhosis.

Such a liver that is scarred fails to function properly and ultimately, this leads to chronic liver failure, possible liver cancer, and ultimately death.

Cirrhosis of the liver makes it difficult for blood to flow into the liver from the portal vein which carries blood from the digestive organs to the liver. Over time, hypertension of that portal vein occurs causing the veins in your throat to

burst and bleed. Other symptoms of liver damage include yellowing of the eyes (jaundice), decreased appetite, confusion, impotence, weight loss, itchy skin, swelling of the legs and abdominal swelling (ascites).

Cirrhosis of the liver can be caused by several numbers of issues but the main culprits include hepatitis B and C, chronic alcohol use (drinking more than two drinks per day over several years), medication use (especially paracetamol) and autoimmune diseases.

Hepatitis B and C are viral infections that affect the liver thereby causing scarring, inflammation and eventually cirrhosis and liver damage.

Hepatitis infections are mainly contracted

through oral, anal or vaginal sex. In Nigeria alone, it is estimated that about 35 million people are infected with Hepatitis B alone.

Hepatitis B is the most common cause of liver disease in Nigeria.

Currently, the conventional therapies for cirrhosis involve managing symptoms and addressing complications of the disease. These can include procedures and medications to treat the viral hepatitis infection, to control hypertension and to help reduce the build-up of toxins in your blood. If physically and financially possible, a liver transplant remains the last resort “curative” treatment for liver damage and that is not yet feasible in Nigeria as we speak.

Prevention in the case of liver cirrhosis is much better than cure. People are advised to limit the use of alcohol, and stop the practice of self-medication with pain killers.

This is especially important for people who drink alcohol and then take pain killers to relieve the headaches that occur after drinking.

This combination only serves to hasten the damage of the liver.

It is encouraged to lose weight and eat a diet low in fats, sugar and high in fiber, vitamins, and nutrients. Most importantly, it is advised to practice safe sex to reduce the risk of contracting hepatitis B or C which is especially rampant in Nigeria.

Finally, anyone under

the age of 45 is encouraged to get the hepatitis B vaccine if it hasn’t been given already. Herbs such as milk thistle and licorice help to detoxify the liver. Digestive enzymes especially serrapeptase may help reduce the scarring of the liver and zinc and vitamin D can help reduce the risk of developing liver cancer. When it comes to natural remedies for cirrhosis, it is important to note that this does not negate the need for proper medical treatment, rather it should be used as an adjunctive therapy. Let us all be aware of this growing health issue and take measures to quash it away from our country.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy week!

Sunday 01 December 2019

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Sports In Numbers: Unai Emery’s poor run as Arsenal manager

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Anthony Nlebem

rsenal finally sacked Unai Emery following a disastrous run of results, the latest being a 2-1 defeat in the Europa League against Eintracht Frankfurt, with Freddie Ljungberg appointed as interim manager.

While there was initially some positivity at Unai Emery’s appointment, his first season at Arsenal was unconvincing and his last seven games in charge were winless - the first time Arsenal have experienced such a run since 1992.

Now, Arsenal have officially relieved Emery, the former Sevilla boss of his duties, releasing a statement which declares: “Our most sincere thanks go to Unai Emery and his colleagues who were unrelenting in their efforts to get the club back to competing at the level we all expect and demand. We wish Unai and his team nothing but future success.”

“The decision has been taken due to results and performances not being at the level required.

“We have asked Freddie Ljungberg to take responsibility for the first team as interim head coach. We have full confidence in Freddie to take us forward.

Thursday night’s result leaves Arsenal needing a positive result at Standard Liege to be certain of a spot in the last 32 of the Europa League, with boos greeting the players at the end of the Frankfurt loss.

‘Emery Out’ posters were present through the stadium, with the fans who made the journey making their views on their languishing manager clear to see. Other fans showed how they felt by simply not turning up.

Arsenal are also well adrift of the top four spots in the Premier League thanks to their recent winless run, with the north London outfit eight points behind Chelsea ahead of their trip to Norwich on Sunday.

Here are list of Unai Emery’s poor run of results as Arsenal manager: 18 - This season has seen Arsenal pick up only 18 points from their first 13 matches; their worst-ever start to a Premier League campaign; ahead of 1994-95 under George Graham. Listless.

7 - Arsenal have not won any of their last seven matches in all competitions (D5 L2) - they never went on as poor a run across 1235 games under Arsène Wenger, last waiting this long for a win in February 1992 under George Graham (8 games). Denouement.

56 - When Arsenal play Norwich City on Sunday, it’ll be 56 days since their last Premier League victory. This is their longest wait for a league win within a season since the 56 days between January 1st and February 26th 1994. Crisis.

9 – Unai Emery named nine different Arsenal captains during his 78 games in charge, with only one of those players wearing the armband on more than 20 occasions (Laurent Koscielny, 24). Whimsical.

88 - Arsenal won exactly the same number of points in Unai Emery’s 51 Premier League games as they did in Arsene Wenger’s final 51 games in charge (88 points).

Preservation.

Sumonu, Majekodunmi shine at Southern Sun Ikoyi golf tournament Anthony Nlebem

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t was with great joy and spectacle as the 8th edition of Southern Sun Ikoyi annual golf tournament, held at Lakowe lakes and Golf Resorts came to a conclusion as Adewemimo Sumonu emerged winner in the men’s category while Funke Majekodunmi came top in the ladies’ category.

This year edition concludes a series of weeklong activities commemorating Southern Sun Ikoyi’s 10th anniversary celebrations ensured that spectators were left thrilled with excitement as the golfers displayed spectacular show of competitiveness and sportsmanship throughout the tournament that had about 70 golfers in attendance.

Winners emerged in various categories which included nearest to the pin and the longest drive hole for both male and female with mouthwatering prizes courtesy of the premium sponsors and Southern Sun Ikoyi in ensuring the winners enjoy the best culinary experience at the Hotel.

Mark Loxley commended athletes, sponsors, guests and the media for taking out time to participate at this year’s edi-

L-R: Udeme Ufot, group managing director, SO&U; Kieran Conway, development chef offshore, Tsogo Sun and Mark Loxley, General Manager, Southern Sun Ikoyi at the prize-giving ceremony of Southern Sun Ikoyi 8th annual golf tournament held in Lagos.

tion of the tournament despite the long drive and their busy schedules, whilst reiterating the hotel’s continued commitment to promoting golf as a sporting activity within Lagos’s thriving business community.

“Today was a fun outing complemented by the fine weather and excellent display of sportsmanship displayed by the participating athletes of this year’s edition of the tournament. We are indeed grateful for the tremendous support from our sponsors, corporate clients and friends of the Hotel who continue to consistently identify with our laudable cause as this event serves as a platform to appreciate them by taking them out of their busy

lives to a serene environment with an opportunity to relax, network and have fun while enjoying the sport of Golf.”

Loxley noted “This event is not commercial, as it is in line with our annual Corporate Social Responsibility philosophy as an institution in supporting the community within which we operate, through giving back generously to the society that has supported our business and helped us grow. Proceeds from the tournament would be given to the Arrows of God orphanage, which has been the Hotel’s adopted charity since it began operations in the country.” he concluded.

BDSUNDAY 43

SO Nigeria treats sponsors at remarkable patron’s cocktail Anthony Nlebem

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pecial Olympics Nigeria (SON) recently held its 2019 Patron’s Cocktail at the Southern Sun, Ikoyi.

This event held annually to appreciate sponsors, partners and donor organizations that have supported the mission and vision of SO Nigeria.

In attendance were the board of Special Olympics Nigeria, executive and senior management representatives from partnering organizations including Premier Lotto, Union Bank, Central Securities Cleari n g Sy s t e m s Ltd (CSCS), Globacom Ltd, Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Prime Atlantic Ltd, Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), Caverton Offshore Support Group, Lagos State Internal Revenue (LIRS), Nikky Taurus Nigeria Limited, DF Holdings, Vigeo Holdings, Punch Nigeria, OHO Investments, , Leadway Assurance Company Ltd, Arkleen Oil and Gas, Channels TV, Jumia Nigeria, Soul Communications Ltd, Phillips Consulting Limited, Axa Mansard Insurance, Southern Sun Ikoyi, Colemex Ltd, and family members, friends and individuals who prefer to remain anonymous.

The host of the event – Udeme Ufot, a director of SO Nigeria, delighted the audience as he compered

the occasion. A video reel of the highlights of the 2019 World Summer Games, Abu Dhabi, was played as the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Victor Osibodu, appreciated all sponsors.

The National director, Naomi Ejobe conveyed her profound gratitude to the sponsors as she shared some achievements of the organization this year which was made possible through the partners and donors of the organization.

This year, SO Nigeria attained the title of Healthy Community – a title awarded to only 37 programs out of over 100 Special Olympics programs. The organization also partnered with Eye Foundation to restore the eyesight of an athlete and received sponsorship from the Embassy of France in Nigeria for a community focused sports initiative.

The event had in attendance, Chief Phillip Asiodu, Chief Dele Fajemirokun, Augustine Kokukokor, Mrs. Angela Emuwa, Funke Osibodu, Theophilus Emuwa among others.

Plaques were presented to sponsors, some of which gave remarks on the joys of being partners of SO Nigeria.

Nigeria Pitch Awards: Organizers set for 7th edition

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rganizers of the prestigious Nigeria Pitch Awards have announced plans to stage the 7th edition of the annual football awards.

Speaking in Abuja, Shina Philips, CEO/MD of Matchmakers Consult International, organisers of the awards, stated that arrangements have been concluded to kick off activities leading to the award ceremony, which is scheduled to hold in March 2020.

“We have come a long way since the first edition in Calabar in 2013. Despite the challenges with sponsorship, we have continued to advance the course of football in Nigeria through the Nigeria Pitch Awards. We have lined up a plethora of interesting events to make the 7th edition of the awards a huge success”, Philips said.

Speaking further, Philips said voting by sports editors spread across the 36 states of the federation would begin in the second week of December 2019. “The process usually begins with voting by over 100 sports editors in the 36 states of the country. Voting will begin in the second week of December and this will be on till the second week of January 2020.”

Commenting on what football fans should look at for in the 7th edition, Philips said: “We will continue to sustain the high standards set from the first edition. The voting process will remain

Super Eagles and Leicester City midfielder Wilfred Ndidi, receiving his award statuette and certificate for Midfielder of the Year 2018 from Ahmed Fresh, NFF Board Member at the 2018 Award Ceremony in Asaba

credible and transparent and we will stage an award ceremony that all football administrators, footballers, winners and voters will be proud of”, Philips concluded.

The Nigeria Pitch Awards was endorsed by the Nigeria Football Federation in 2012. The voting process which involves voting by sports editors across the country is coordinated by SIAO Partners, Nigeria’s foremost indigenous accounting firm. The annual award ceremony usually takes place on the night of a Super Eagles match in the country. The awards is arguably Nigeria’s only audited awards and the longest running football awards in Nigeria.

BDSUNDAY

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Nigerian bank oligopolies: A case of review

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he Nigerian banking market has become a hell for the consumers. It is now a seller’s market.

Having spent most part of my professional life as an investment banker, rose through the ranks to become an Executive Director, responsible for Treasury and Financial Services, I can say that things have changed. During my active working period, we worked as a team to interface with the best of corporate and high net worth clients. Also, I regularly interfaced with all supervisory agencies, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). As a front office staff, I worked with colleagues to provide services in which we charged fees and commission that were fair to both the customer and bank. It was a win-win situation.

In the then First City Merchant Bank Limited, founded by the indefatigable Otunba Subomi Balogun, our motto was “culture of excellence”. The excellence and culture were reflected in all aspects of ethic required for banking business which staff must abide by. There was no short cut. In my subsequent training and work with the Mike Adenuga’s Equatorial Trust Bank Limited and Devcom Merchant Bank Limited the culture of ethical banking was still reflected in the way we dealt with customers. I had the privilege of internship with merchant banks in the City of London, United Kingdom with broad working experience with banking institutions in United States of America which made me grounded in regulations, compliance and how banks should relate with customers in service delivery, compensation, fees and charges.

The era mentioned above was between 1990 and 2006, when we had more than ninety banks in the market place offering different products. The banking market was competitive but not perfect. Banking regulation and supervision was top notch.

However, since 2007 to date the Nigeria banking market has changed from being competitive but to an oligopoly, where the buyers are at the mercy of the few sellers. In fact, due to high concentration

ratio of the Universal banks, the market is tending to a monopoly, with exclusive non-competitive pricing. The banks have become collusive oligopolies where they collude, rather than compete and act like a monopoly to enjoy the benefits of higher profits. This article discusses the unfair practises being perpetrated by the banks under a collusive oligopoly situation, remedies available to the buyers of banking products and policy recommendations to the government of All Progressives Congress Party (APC) led by General Muhammadu Buhari.

In economic theory, an oligopoly is defined as a market structure with a small number of firms, none of which can keep the others from having significant influence and few firms dominate. In contrast, a monopoly is one firm, duopoly is two firms. A monopoly contains a single firm that produces goods with no close substitute, while an oligopoly market has a small number of relatively large firms that produce similar, but slightly different products. In both cases, there are significant barriers to entry for other enterprises. Firms operating under conditions of oligopoly are said to be interdependent with each other.

Oligopoly is a cartel and the cartel behavior of the oligopoly is that it reduces competition and can lead to higher prices and reduced output and services. Given the lack of competition, oligopolies may be free to engage in the manipulation of consumer decision making. The manipulative tendencies are what is currently reflective of the Nigerian banking market.

The industry is dominated by a small number of large firms in which over 80percent of loan book is controlled by less than 20percent of the banks. All the banks sell either identical or slightly differentiated products, and the CBN has created significant barriers to entry, making it difficult to grant approval for new banks due to higher initial capital outlay. Minimum capital required to set up a bank is about N15 billion excluding set up cost. Therefore, the banks in Nigeria exhibit all known disadvantages of an oligopoly without any known advantages. The question then is

why does CBN deliberately create or encourage bank oligopolies?

In all the banks, average lending rate is above 20percent as compared to 1percent in United Kingdom; 2percent in Canada; 2.25percent in South Korea, and 4.35percent in China. At 20percent lending rate, it is impossible to make use of the borrowed fund for any profitable business except gambling and lottery! Generally, in developed economies, interest rate is between 1-5percent. The borrowers in Nigeria are always under pressure of repayment due to other structural problems of harsh business environment. The so-called ease of doing business slogan is a theoretical idea in manuals of government agencies and does not reflect practical reality of what potential investors are facing.

In a recent report, it was established that the cost of doing business in Nigeria ports is the highest in the world, while the ranking by World Bank on ease of doing business is 145 among 185 countries.

Other charges that are now common in the banks are service charge, commission on Automated Teller Machine(ATM), card maintenance fee, stamp duty, value added tax, limit on ATM withdrawals with multiple charges. The banks do not give interest on credit balance on current account and interest rate on deposit is far less than treasury bill (TB) rate. The banks have elevated their risk status even more than government, offering lower interest rate on deposit than government treasury bills. Treasury bill auctions are oversubscribed because of its attractive higher interest rate than the bank offers. In all these the CBN appears indifferent to consumer plights. Consumer protection and customer services are show room exercise to deceive the public. No records of feasible consumer protection by the supervisory agencies.

In the Capital markets, listed companies violate rules of the exchange and cleverly hide under cloak of in-

AKIN OLADEJI–JOHNBROWNE Olajide–JohnBrowne is an expert in banking, investment and corporate governance. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and Chartered Institute of Taxation, Nigeria.

formation technology to confuse shareholders. Annual financial reports are sent to shareholders in electronic format in a society where technology and internet penetration is less that 10percent.

Based on Nigeria Accounting Standard Boards regulations, account are now published under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Although IFRS was designed to bring consistency to accounting language, practices and statements, and to help businesses and investors make educated financial analyses and decisions there exist differences between IFRS and other countries’ Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Under IFRS it is easier to declare huge paper profit as we commonly see in financial results of Nigeria banks. IFRS balance sheet and profit and loss statement might show a higher stream of revenue than GAAP’s.

In addition to the United State (US) using GAAP, some countries use other standards. The Canadian GAAP is different from US and the adoption of IFRS for banks in Nigeria appears too early since unifying accounting standards worldwide is an ongoing process that requires public education. Canada and USA are still under GAAP till date The difference between GAAP, IFRS and former IAS makes it difficult for fairly educated Nigerian shareholders to interpret audited financial reports since

Quick Takes

Off the Cuff

Seriake Dickson and his fact finding panel

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he Bayelsa State gubernatorial election of Saturday, November 16 has come and gone as the winner has since been declared, but the effect will linger for many years to come.

Local and international observers speak in tandem that the exercise fell below the acceptable standard of credible polls anywhere in the world. A few people were killed, many injured, and there were reported cases of electoral fraud, allegedly perpetrated by parties and their candidates. Starting from when the results had not been declared, Governor Seriake Dickson has been shouting that all was not well with the election. Since after the exercise, the world has moved on, but Governor Dickson appears not in haste to put the past behind him. He wants to probe the festering sore. Elsewhere where the same election took place on the same day, President Muhammadu Buhari has since ordered inquisition into the mindless murder of a PDP women leader. The inquiries were not commissioned by the Kogi Governor, Yahaya Bello.

Now, Dickson decided to set up a six-member panel of enquiry to investigate violence in

Continues on page 23

Nembe Local Government Area before and after the election.

What is curious here is what else he wants to find out and what he intends to do with the findings.

He charged the panel to also investigate election violence in other parts of the state and collate the number of those that died, injured and property destroyed during the governorship election.

Don’t forget that his government and party, ‘ Democratic Party (PDP), have accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) that won the election of perpetrating the pre-election violence in Nembe three days to the election.

But he all along believed that the opposition party hired thugs that carried out the acts. Look at this: A Government House statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Fidelis Soriwei on Friday said APC thugs “ambushed and killed over 20 persons, and injured over 93 persons including bystanders during an aborted PDP Governorship rally in Nembe on November 13, 2019.”

The governor also condemned the political violence and brigandage as the injured were receiving medical attention at designated hospital

across the state.

He also accused the security agencies of looking the other way while innocent civilians and bystanders were mowed down while wondering why the assailants and their sponsors have not been arrested and prosecuted two weeks after the incident.

“Nembe leaders need to know that they have set a record. Members of the opposition parties, particularly APC have been going round without any molestations and attacks. However, it is sad to note that members of the same party now turned around in Nembe to unleash violence on the campaign train of the PDP.” The governor believes he knows the troublers of the state. He charged the panel not to indict anyone, but to collate the number of the dead, their names and families and the number of buildings destroyed in the attack.

Pray, what actually does he want to do with the statistics? Is it for the sake of fulfilling all righteousness? If he is not looking at punishing those who perpetrated the dastardly acts, what is the essence? Just an effort in futility?

Salvo

“At every level, leaders must develop the capacity to respond to criticisms with facts and figures to set the records straight.”

Deji Adeyanju, convener of Concerned Nigerians, speaking in a letter to the PDP national chairman, Uche Secondus, on the harassment of journalists and disturbing cases of human rights violations by its governors.

N9. 58 trillion That’s the worth of assets of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) in the contributory pension scheme (CPS), according to Aisha Dahir-Umar, acting Director-General of the Commission.

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