Wednesday April 24-30, 2019 Edition by oracle

Anambra: Concerns over Chidoka, others’ ordeal By IBE NWACHUKWU

he suspension from the Igwe Obosi cabinet of former Corps Marshall and Minister of Aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka (Ike Obosi) and several others may well be a storm

in a cultural Obosi tea cup. But, it may have added to growing concerns over the culture of intolerance and high-handedness that has come to define, mostly in the past four years, the relationship among members of Nigeria’s political

elite who appear prepared to stanch every voice of dissent irrespective of the consequences of such action. Recently, Chief Chidoka and a few other Ndi Ichies were suspended from Igwe Chidubem Iweka’s cabinet following what was de-

The

scribed as “abominable behaviour” by ChiefsChidoka and others. Trouble started in the wake of the killing of two idigenes of Obosi during the rescheduled Idemili South Federal Constituency elec-

racle

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Today

www.oraclenews.ng

Ex-governors at war • • VOX POPULI SACRUM

WEDNESDAY April 24 - 30, 2019

ISSN: 2545-5869

VOL.4 No.16 N200

Okorocha, Ohakim, Udenwa fight dirty Udenwa carpets Ohakim, Okorocha Ohakim, Okorocha fightback Ihedioha watches bemused Okorocha set up transition committee

• •

From COLLINS UGHALAA, Owerri

hese are clearly tough days for former Minister of Commerce and Industry and former Governor of Imo State, Chief

Achicke Udenwa. Recently, he courted the fury of his successor, Dr. Ikedi Ohakim and that of Governor Rochas Okorocha when he called on Governor-elect, Rt. Hon Emeka Ihedioha, to probe Okorocha, claiming that his

successor, Ikedi Ohakim had also probed him. Trouble started when Udenwa granted an interview to a national newspaper a few days after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Rt.

•

Hon Emeka Ihedioha winner of the March 9, 20119 governorship election in the state. The interviewer had asked him: “What is wrong with the electorate in Imo; they have been finding it difficult to get it right. This is because not long after Ikedi Ohakim

LASTMA announces road closures, diversions as Buhari visits Lagos

emerged, the people of Imo were praying for the end of his tenure; the same scenario is playing out now in the case of Rochas Okorocha whose election in Imo was received with a lot of funfair. Is it more of the problem of the electorate than that of the candi-

dates?” Responding, Udenwa took on Ohakim and Okorocha, saying: “To be honest with you, if you remember how Ohakim came into power when

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POLITICS

‘Failure to restructure will mean death’ •P14 BUSINESS

Policy correction revives interest in Brass LNG •President Buhari with Governor Ambode during the President’s last visit. Story on page 33

•P23

Fed. allocation to your state/LGA? See pages 30 - 31

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

NEWS

Anambra: Concerns over Chidoka, others’ ordeal Continued from Page 1

tion, in which Chidoka’s younger brother, Obinna, a serving Member of the House of the House of Representatives and a PDP candidate contested against an APGA from a neigbouring town. Igwe Iweka, apparently sworn to an oath of loyalty to Governor Willie Obiano and APGA, reportedly pulled out the stops to return the APGA candidate in the person of Ifeanyi Ibezim but in the process, two indigenes of Obosi were killed in the process. Angered by the circumstances under which the two young men lost their lives, Chidoka and a few other Ndi Ichies were said to have caused to be deposited at the Igwe’s palace the two corpses even though the Igwe, by tradition, is not allowed to see a dead body. Although the Igwe was not in his palace when the corpses were brought, The Oracle Today gathered that it was in an apparent response to what was considered an abomination in Obosi land that the former aviation minister and a few others were reportedly suspended from the cabinet. But, there are indications that the Igwe’s action has not gone down well with a critical section of the Obosi society, which sees the action of the traditional ruler as unprecedented and high-handed, especially given the fact that the Igwe has no powers under the Obosi cultural law to suspend an Ichie from the cabinet. Indeed, two families from Ugamuma and Umuota villages in Obosi, Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State have described the recent purported suspension of Chiefs Hyacinth Udemba (Akamkposi Obosi) and Linus Mgbakogu (Atta Obosi) from Obosi royal cabinet as illegal and unacceptable, stressing that the suspension of such highly revered Ndi-Ichies was quite sacrilegious in all its ramifications. The two families, Umuezechieamalu of Ugamuma village, kinsmen to Chief Hyacinth Udemba (Akamkposi Obosi), their representatives from the royal cabinet and Okpo Na Ezeani family of Umuota village, kinsmen to Mgbakogu, their own representative at the royal cabinet, said at the end of their separate extra-ordinary meetings at the weekend, that the customs and traditions of Obosi community bestowed a kind of immunity on Ndi-Ichie that they cannot be said to have committed abomination (Alu) in Obosi land, hence they are “Ome Abu Nso”. Describing their Ichies as committed, dynamic and boisterous persons appointed to represent them at the royal cabinet, the Umuezechieamalu and Okpo Na Ezeani families in separate statements signed by the Chairmen and Secretaries of Umuezechieamalu kindreds of Ugamuma village, home and abroad, Mr. Obiora Arinze, Mr. Nonso Ilechukwu, Mr. Tony Arinze and Mr. Nzube Onunkwo, and chairman of Okpo Na Ezeani families of Umuota village, Nze Goddy Onukogu, the villagers insisted that perhaps, the paramount ruler of Obosi, Igwe Chidubem Iweka may not be aware that an Ichie cannot be said to have committed abomination (Alu) in Obosi land. According to the statement, “these families are totally disappointed, disillusioned and utterly

saddened that the death of their sons which should evoke a solemn and sober reflection, is being used by the Igwe to further heat up the polity and aggravate the endemic crisis in his cabinet.” “The family regretted that this particular crisis was accentuated by partisan political position held by the Igwe, adding that this caused the situation to be handled without discretion and caution.” Specifically, the Okpo Na Ezeani family, claiming to be the custo-

•Okorocha

dian of abomination (Alu) cleansing rites Ikpu Alu) in Obosi, was never consulted before declaring such actions an Alu, adding, “in as much as we are aggrieved over the widely publicized purported suspension of our representatives in the cabinet, we urge the Igwe to initiate a peace process to resolve the crisis in Obosi which aggravated since his enthronement.” The Umuezechieamalu family, in their own communiqué made available to newsmen, identified

•Udenwa

their suspended Ichie, Udemba (Akamkposi Obosi) as the custodians of Eke market, Obosi which plays a significant role in the crowning of any Obosi king, Ndi Ichie and other title conferments in Obosi. They noted that after listening to the accounts of their two representatives at the Igwe’s cabinet (Chief Charles Umolu and Chief Hyacinth Udemba) on the allegations that led to the purported suspension of their son Akamkposi

Obosi from Igwe’s cabinet as pronounced by one ‘Prince Dr. Bennett Mozie’ on behalf of Eze na Ndi Ichie Obosi at the Igwe’s palace on March 23, 2019, the family is constrained to express their position. Said the communique: “As the custodians of Eke market, Obosi which plays significant role in the making of an Eze, Ndi Ichie and other titles taken in

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•Ohakim

Okorocha, Ohakim, Udenwa fight dirty Cont’d from page 1

I was leaving, he was not actually the people’s choice. He was a child of circumstances at the time. There were other considerations before Ohakim came in. It was a question of let us try him and see what he can do and he failed completely. He was very arrogant and did not even understand what the people needed. That is why he has been contesting and failing. He cannot make it even if he contests for 10 times.” On Governor Okorocha, Udenwa said: “And in the case of Rochas, he came as a redeemer because of the poor performance of Ohakim. People thought the redeemer had come. He was very deceitful and promised them everything. He promised them good governance, welfare, free education and so on only for people to now find out he was fake. That is why everybody is happy that they did not vote for Uche Nwosu who he wanted to foist on the people of Imo. He wanted a third tenure through Uche Nwosu, his son in-law and the people said no. We are yet to know what will happen.” Ohakim, however, took exception to the comment and in an interview in response to Chief Udenwa’s comments, Imo’s immediate past governor took on his predecessor, Achike Udenwa, to the cleaners. Describing Udenwa’s attack as unprovoked, Ohakim noted that from the time he took over from Udenwa and since the time he left

office as governor he had not done anything against Udenwa to warrant scurrilous attack on his person by his predecessor. “I moved on with my job without looking back,” Ohakim said. “Most of his associates were in my cabinet and we bonded. You will recall that when I took over, Achike Udenwa appointed 70% of my cabinet. If you take for example what happened in Akwa-Ibom, Obong Attah started all the profit centered projects which he worked on for eight years and his successor continued to work on them – the modern airport, the Ibom Power Plant, the Meridian Hotel and Gulf Center, etc. Nobody can show one thing which Achike started.” He also lambasted his predecessor, saying that though he was a Chartered Accountant, he did not produce the audited account of the state for the eight years he was in office as governor. “I started everything myself. I went to the capital market and raised money. I had to start from the beginning. Achike was an Accountant but the state did not have audited accounts for the eight years he was governor and I had to do it when I arrived. It took us time, vision and discipline to go raise money for profit-centered projects which nobody can dispute. If our administration was allowed to do eight years and a new person takes over, Imo state would be wearing a different look today.” He added: “While I was in office,

I restrained myself from talking about Udenwa’s administration despite the fact that he spearheaded a campaign of calumny against me and my administration. The relationship between governors and successors which has worried me long time ago made me not to be talking about issues concerning Achike Udenwa. I looked at the relationships between governors and their successors for example in Akwa-Ibom, Sokoto, Rivers, and so on and I decided that I must methodically manage our relationship. But now, I can no longer keep quiet. Governor Udenwa is taking too much advantage of that attitude. The interview was premeditated. It was either that he was genuinely uninformed, intellectually malnourished or deliberately being mischievous. After reading the interview, I started asking myself whether we as a people have entered in to a stage where there are no more ground rules or guideline. That interview to me was a story he designed to save his dwindling face. “But untruth, however well garnished, will produce unintended consequences which he must be responsible for. You could read his motive for saying the things he said. He wanted to gain status and impress, using dirty language to bend and twist issues. I have just realized belatedly that Achilike Udenwa alias Achike Udenwa is fake, paranoid and dangerous. He knows that any decent person will react with hor-

ror to his insane fantasies. You could see the display of characteristic borderline personality disorder. His interview was just a spin to paint me black and probably bring me down but he failed to reckon that Ndi Imo cannot be fooled again. And that is the specialty of unscrupulous politicians and psychopaths. Udenwa has the proclivity of saying things that make him appear competent, garner credit, attract attention and to rationalize his antisocial outlook. He is well known for that but unfortunately for him, that is not a sustainable approach to life”. Ohakim disclosed that “the remote cause of Udenwa’s paranoid on me is his failure to put in place an orderly succession plan for his exit from office in 2007 and which is the root cause of the problem our state is facing today. It haunts him because he knows that Imolites hold him responsible for the pains they are going through today. He lacked focus and was only known for playing Draught and Ludo at the Governor’s Lodge. It was common knowledge that Governor Udenwa never stayed beyond 3pm in the office throughout the eight years he was in the Government House. It was he who introduced clannish and divisive politics in the state through his

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The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

NEWS ACROSS THE NATION Plateau tertiary institutions commence indefinite strike

he Joint Union of Plateau Tertiary Institutions (JUPTI) on Tuesday embarked on indefinite strike to press home their demand for more funding and improved infrastructure in the institutions. The union is also demanding employment of more personnel, and exemption of the various institutions from the Treasury Single Account (TSA), among others. Chairman of the Union, Mr. Paul Dakogol, said in Jos, the state capital, that the strike was “long overdue,” following the decay in the state owned institutions. The union had in a letter dated April 10 issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the State Government to address the problems or it would embark on strike. The letter was signed by Dakogol and Mr, Solomon Ayum, JUPTI Secretary Dakogol explained that the strike became the union’s last resort as government exhibited lackadaisical attitude towards meeting the demands even when the union shifted its grounds after issuing the ultimatum. The chairman noted that the union’s demands were not personal but in the best interest of the state, the institutions and the future generation. “We are forced to embark on this indefinite strike following the failure of government to meet our demands. “As I speak, the seven institutions owned by the state government are in comatose; they are an eyesore because of lack of infrastructure. If we are not careful the condition of these institutions will degenerate into what we have today in our primary and secondary schools. “The shortage of both teaching and non-teaching staff as well as poor funding to enable the various institutions operate and perform well need to be addressed. “We also want government to exempt these institutions from the TSA because the way it’s being operated here is in complete contrast with what is obtainable elsewhere. It is not healthy for the survival of the schools,” he said. Dakogol declared that the industrial action would continue until reasonable and concrete agreement was reached between government and the union. This is the second time the union has embarked on an indefinite strike since the Simon Lalong administration assumed office in the state.

Saraki replies Tinubu: ‘Stop treating legislators like hapless pupils’

By VICTOR NZE

enate President, Dr Olusola Saraki, has told national leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu to desist from arm-twisting legislators to do his bidding, declaring further that the party leader’s ‘arbitrary and tactless interference in the process for the emergence of the leadership of the Ninth Assembly is already falling through.’ Saraki was, Tuesday, replying to a statement issued Monday by Tinubu in which the APC leader attacked Saraki and the National Assembly leadership for consistently and deliberately delaying the passage of national budgets, as well as bills sent in by the executive arm of government. In response through his Special Adviser (Media and Publicity), Yusuph Olaniyonu, the Senate President accused the APC leader of ‘sponsoring media attacks on his person aimed at destabilizing the leadership of the National Assembly having, according to him, failed to influence its emergence. “Since we have taken it for granted that Tinubu’s attack on Saraki every three months (quarterly) will come as expected, we would just have ignored his statement but for the fact that it was filled with untruth, fallacies and misrepresentations. The

statement was another effort to sell a concocted narrative about the Eighth National Assembly and its leadership. “Tinubu and his mob have been sponsoring the narratives in the media that the emergence of the present leadership of the National Assembly was a mistake. We hereby submit that Dr. Saraki and other leaders of the National Assembly were democratically elected by their colleagues. And it is because they are the choice of their colleagues that they have remained in office for the past 46 months, despite all the plots hatched by anti-democratic, reactionary and fascist elements pretending to be ‘progressives’. “In fact, Tinubu should know that if there was any mistake made on June 9, 2015, it was the miscalculation by himself and his small cabal in the APC who felt they could decide for the Senators-elect and House of Representatives Members-elect. When they failed after their grand-standing that they could always got whatever they desired, they resorted to undermining the institution of the legislature and waging a campaign of calumny against the law making body. “It is now clear that those who took the Senators away from the chambers contrary to the directive contained in the proclamation signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on

June 9, 2015 are ‘mistake personified’. It is obvious that if they repeat that arrogance during the inauguration of the Ninth National Assembly, they will fail again because Nigeria is greater than them. “The institution of the legislature is bigger than the over-bloated egos of these power mongers and dirty schemers. On the allegations that the senate deliberately delayed, padded, distorted the budget, Saraki said: “First, he alleged that national budgets were delayed, distorted, padded, new projects introduced, funds for projects reduced, “to halt progress of government”. It is unfortunate that a man like Tinubu who had been in the Senate (though for 22 months and under a military regime) should have a better understanding of how the legislature works. “The passage of budgets is definitely not the exclusive responsibility of the leadership of the Senate. Most of the work is done in the various committees. These committees are headed by Senators representing different parties. It is the level of co-operation between the committees and the MDAs in the timely defence of the budget proposals and the ability of the two chambers of the National Assembly to reconcile their figures that usually determine how soon the

•Director of Cosmic Insurance Brokers Limited, Abiodun Adediji (left); Lagos State Governor-Elect, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; and Managing Director, Cosmic Insurance Brokers, Dr.Teslim Sanusi, presenting a congratulatory card to Sanwo-Olu, in Lagos

Buhari back in Lagos to commission state projects

reparations are in top gear as the Lagos State Government will host President Muhammadu Buhari on an official visit to Lagos on Wednesday, 24th April 2019. During the one-day working visit, a number of State projects will be commissioned including the rehabilitated 10-lane Oshodi - Muritala Muhammed International Airport Road; the 170Bed ‘Ayinke House’ (Maternity Hospital)) at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) Ikeja;

the Lagos State Theatre at Oregun, Ikeja; new 820 Mass Transit Buses and the multi-level Oshodi Transport Interchange along the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway. In order to ensure a free flow of traffic during the visit, the State Ministry of Transportation has notified members of the public, especially motorists, about traffic diversion on some major roads as part of efforts to ensure a hitch-free movement. According to the statement, the

Presidential visit will hold between the hours of 9.00am and 3.00pm during which traffic along the following routes shall be diverted: Mobolaji Bank-Anthony Way (coming from the Presidential Wing of Murtala Mohammed Airport to LASUTH Under Bridge), Kodesoh Road, Obafemi Awolowo Way, Kudirat Abiola Way, Ikorodu Road (between Ojota Intersection and Anthony Interchange), Oworonshoki-Apapa Expressway (between Anthony and Oshodi Trans-

port Interchange), International Airport Road through the Local Wing of the airport to Mobolaji Bank-Anthony Way and back to Obafemi Awolowo Way. It pointed out that roads highlighted above shall only be cordoned-off when necessary, Obafemi Awolowo Way and portions of Mobolaji BankAnthony shall be closed to traffic on three (3) occasions within the specified period as they are central to the President’s itinerary.

budget is passed. “To put the blame of budget delay on the Senate President or Speaker can only be mischief, or at best, playing to the gallery. Describing Tinubu’s attacks as borne out of his failed Vice Presidential bid back in 2015, Saraki insisted that the APC chieftain’s position is rather based on self-interest, warning Tinubu to stop meddling in the affairs of the legislature. “Let us repeat again that we know that a Machiavellian politician like Tinubu will forever agonize over his erroneous belief that Dr. Saraki frustrated his ambition from becoming running mate to President Muhammadu Buhari through a Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2015. In his usual cavalier manner, he will stop at nothing to punish Saraki for that. We know that this attack is not about the interest of the nation or that of President Muhammadu Buhari. It is about his 2023 ambition and it is obvious in the statement as he struggled to explain this away. “However, Tinubu should leave Dr. Saraki out of his schemes and manipulations towards 2023. It is obvious his arbitrary and tactless interference in the process for the emergence of the leadership of the Ninth Assembly is already falling through. The frustration from this experience might have been responsible for this needless and baseless outbursts. “Our only advice for him is that if he is interested in the stability of the National Assembly, he should allow the members to elect their leadership in consultations with the party leadership. He should stop treating the legislators like hapless pupils receiving orders from a cane-wielding headmaster. A situation where he, Tinubu, is dictating to elected legislators and ordering them to either comply with his directives or get out of the party will not augur well for the legislature in the next dispensation. “History should have thought him that only a leadership that truly enjoys the support of members can help the President and his administration to achieve their objectives. It is a good development that the candidates for the various positions are already reaching out to their colleagues and forging alliances. We can see that after he realized that he has misfired, he is trying to retrace his step and in his usual devious manner, he is looking for scapegoats. “We advise him to leave Dr. Saraki out of his manipulations and “jockeying and maneuvering for influence and power”, as he termed it. Commending his colleagues at the 8th Assembly for leaving a ‘good legacy…despite all the underhand tactics to undermine the legislature by outsiders and the public posturing, Saraki declared that legislators have always worked as a team on critical issues that have benefits for our people and our nation. “That is why hitherto unachievable legislations like the PIGB, Police Reforms Act and other bills or amendments to existing laws were passed with ease because the members and the leadership know that they are elected as Senators of the Federal Republic not as party representatives. “Tinubu should know that while we await his attack for the next quarter, we can only advise him to stay on facts,” Saraki stressed.

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

NEWS ACROSS THE NATION

Lagos begins biometric registration of hajj pilgrims T

he Lagos State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board has commenced biometric registration of Hajj pilgrims at VES TASHEEL Sky Water Tower, located at 6, Otunba Yomi Oshikoya, off BankAnthony Way Etiebet Junction, Abule Onigbagbo Bus Stop, Ikeja, Lagos. The information was disclosed by the Board Secretary, Mr. Ishola Rahman while briefing the stakeholders and staff of the Board about the preparations for the Y2019 Hajj operations during a forum held at Old Secretariat, GRA, Ikeja. According to him, intending pilgrims are expected to visit the registration centre with two passport photographs and original copy of their International Passport to get their biometrics captured. He pointed out that intending pilgrims from Agege Local Government who have made complete payments already got registered while those of Ajeromi and Alimosho are ongoing. “Pilgrims are to await a phone call from their various coordinators for their respective dates of capturing to enable them to obtain a visa for the holy pilgrimage”, the Secretary submitted. Rahman reiterated the need for intending pilgrims to complete their payments promptly in order to fast-track the travel arrangements to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the Board Chairman, Dr. Tajudeen Yusuf during the inaugural lecture sought the cooperation and commitment of intending pilgrims in the obedience of the rules and regulations of Allah and His apostles, adding that the mandate of the Board is to follow the Quran & Hadith in the performance of Hajj. Dr. Yussuf allayed the fears of pilgrims with health challenges, noting that ill health is not a death sentence and will not in any way stop intending pilgrims from performing Hajj. He assured the pilgrims that the Board will make adequate arrangements to address any health challenges encountered during the journey.

Injustice fueling banditry in Nigeria – Emir

mir of Argungu, Alhaji Samaila Mera, has urged the judiciary to be fair and just in deciding cases between herdsmen and farmers, so as to help in tackling banditry in the country. The emir gave the advice at the launching of operation PUFF ADDER by the Kebbi Police Command in Birnin Kebbi on Tuesday.

”I urge the judiciary to ensure speedy dispensation of justice on herder/farmer cases as part of effort to tackle the menace of banditry and other criminal activities in Kebbi.” Mera expressed concern over unfair treatment of Fulani herdsmen especially by local vigilantes, saying it has aggravated the situation.

ederal Government has condoled with the families of the two persons, a Nigerian and a Briton, who were killed in Friday’s attack on the Kajuru Castle Resort, a popular resort in Kaduna State, promising that the killers will be apprehended and brought to justice. In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, also assured that the security agencies are doing everything possible to ensure that the three persons who were kid-

full course in matters involving Fulani herdsmen. In his speech, the Commissioner of Police, Mr Garba Danjuma appealed to the general public to provide security agencies with useful information about the activities of criminals. ”I am appealing to the general public to always provide the police and other security agencies in the state with timely and useful information about the activities of criminals and their collaborators around their communities with a view to nipping their activities at the bud ”, he said. Danjuma said police will not relent “until our homes and highways are made safe and secured.” The commissioner said useful information would help police to checkmate the activities of armed bandits and criminals. Justice Asebe Karatu, the Acting Chief Judge of Kebbi, assured that the judiciary would not compromise justice in any way, adding that justice would be delivered speedily without fear or favour.

Buhari cannot Islamise Nigeria – PFN Chairman

From THEO RAYS, Onitsha

C •Fun lovers at the Johnson Jakande Tinubu (JJT) Park, Alausa, Ikeja for the Easter celebration, Monday

60m Nigerians illiterate – Education Ministry

ermanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr Sonny Echono, says nearly 60 million Nigerians are illiterates, assuring that literacy centres will reduce the high percentage of illiteracy in the country. Echono made this known on Thursday at the Federal Government College Otobi, during the inauguration of a pilot Literacy Centre for the North Central GeoPolitical Zone. The permanent secretary expressed regret that the illiteracy rate among the youths and adults is high, saying that the literacy level at the lower cadre of the colleges is

also alarming. According to him, Literacy Centres to be established in 104 Federal Government Colleges (FGCs) are aimed at reducing the high rate of illiteracy at the low cadre of the staff of the institutions, stressing that the Federal Government designed the literacy programme to cater for them and others in the host communities. He said literacy was both a social and human right issue and called on the learners at the pilot centre to remain committed and take their studies with all seriousness. According to him, the essence of scheme is to fit into the Sustain-

Kajuru resort attack: FG assures improved nationwide security By VICTOR NZE

“Only a court of law should be allowed to dispense justice to anyone suspected of committing an offence,” he added, stressing that justice and fairness were the foundation of peace in any society. The emir added that some of the security challenges bedevilling Zamfara were a result of injustice and not allowing the law to take its

napped in the attack are released unharmed. The Minister said the dastardly attack that led to the death of Ms Faye Mooney, a British aid worker, and Mr. Matthew Oguche, a Nigerian, while visiting the popular resort, is a setback to efforts to promote tourism in the country. ‘’We commiserate with the families and friends of Ms Mooney and Mr. Oguche, and wish to assure that the security agencies will leave no stone unturned in their efforts to apprehend the killers and bring them to justice,’’ he said. Mohammed said the Federal

Government has recently stepped up efforts to stem the wave of violence and banditry in some parts of the country, through better intelligence gathering and increased collaboration by the security agencies. He said the efforts have started paying off, as the level of violent attacks, banditry and kidnappings is being reduced nationwide. ‘’The government will not relent until all parts of the country are made safe for all, whether they are tourists, business people or ordinary Nigerians who just want to live their lives under an atmosphere of peace and security,’’ the minister said.

able Development Goals (SDGs) especially SDG number four which highlights inclusive and equitable quality education and promotion of long learning opportunities. He explained that the programme would equip its beneficiaries with literacy and numeracy skills to be able handle challenges of life. An officer from the office of the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari, on SDGs, Mr Stephen Ojo, commended the foresight of the education ministry in designing the programme and promised to provide technical support to the ministry towards its success. He emphasised that the scheme would help build capacities and skills of all the participants. The principal of the school, Mr Amudipe Gabriel, commended the permanent secretary for his doggedness in ensuring that the programme began in earnest and for making his school the centre in the zone. The Coordinator of the programme, Mrs Abisode Olayiwola, in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the response from learners in the school and host community far exceeded the instructional materials made available. “We targeted 40 learners but what we had was twice that number, we are impressed by the turnout. We will make arrangements for all of them.”

hairman of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Anambra State chapter, Bishop Moses Ezedebego, has argued contentiously that President Muhammad Buhari cannot Islamise Nigeria. Bishop Ezedebego who is also the Secretary of Christian Association of Nigeria in the state said he was convinced as a Christian leader that nobody can Islamise Nigeria. The cleric, however, sounded a note of caution to Christians in the country, saying; “but we must pray. We must open our eyes. We must be on guard”. He lamented the high degree of insecurity in the country, which the government has refused to assume responsibility for it The indifference on the part of Government, he said, has created genuine suspicion among Christians in the country. He said “Government is not doing anything. No herdsman has been prosecuted. We are concerned about that” but urged Christians not to lose hope. “We should remain consistent and steadfast. We cannot give up. Winners never quit and quitters never win. God has a way of defending his own people,” said Ezedebego. Speaking on Easter, the PFN boss said without Easter there will be no Christianity, stressing that the celebration reminds all of God’s greatest manifestation of love by sending his son to take our place at the Cross of Calvary. Ezedebego said inspite of pressure on the Christians in this generation, there are still lot who are committed to serving God. “The only problem is that evil people are noise makers. We promote evil instead of good. There are thousands of prostitutes, armed robbers, cultists, criminals of all types who have given their lives to Christ but nobody talks about that story,” he said.

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

NEWS Man, wife, son set ablaze in shrine

… As Cultist shoots dead colleague at funeral of another By IBE NWACHUKWU

esidents of Akpom village, Umudioka community in Dunukofia Local Government Area if Anambra state, weekend, went into mourning mood following alleged setting ablaze of a suspected cultist, Ifeanyichukwu Ikechukwu (a.k.a Otalikpukpu) a suspected member of Senior Vikings Confraternity, (SVC). Also the same yet-to-be identified arsonists set ablaze Otalikpukpu’s wife and son while they were in their shrine. As the burial of the cultist and wife was about to commence weekend, the family went to Iyi-Enu Mission Hospital Ogidi, where the corpses were deposited, to bring their remains for burial. On hearing that the corpses were being brought, members of the SVC, in a bid to do their own burial rite for their deceased member, waited at Afor-Igwe market to escort the corpse to the burial arena and possibly take over. As they wore mourning garment waiting, they were dancing, brandishing all manners of offensive weapons that included, knives, ma-

chetes, charms and guns. In the process, one of them, Ofoegbu Chidera, unknowingly shot dead a member, simply identified as Kosiso, while trying to shoot into the air and he died on the spot. On a tip-off, the Special Anti-Cultism Squad (SPACS), of the State Police Command, led by the Commander, Mr Christopher Bassey, (CSP) stormed the scene and arrested the killer cultist, Ofoegbu, while others took to their heels. The Commander who blamed parents for the involvement of their children in cultism and other criminal activities, said that, “parents should monitor the type of companies their children keep. “From now onwards cultists should steer clear of burial of confirmed cultists to stop members of the dead cultists from engaging in criminal activities as can be witnessed in this one, police divisions will be made to arrest such cultists immediately to avert this devilish activities” he stated. Meanwhile the killer cultist said the deceased was his cousin and that the gun he used was stolen by another cultist, Chimezie Nwankwo, from a vigilante operative.

PUBLIC NOTICE DIVINE PURITY CHRISTIAN MISSION INT’L The general public is hereby notified that the above name has applied for registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission Under part ‘C’ of the Company and Allied Matters 1990. Trustees are : 1. OLIGBO IFEANYI JOHN. PRESIDENT/GENERAL OVERSEER 2. AGAFIE ANTHONY CHINEDU ---- SECRETARY Aims and Objectives - To preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

• MD FAAN- Engr. Saleh Dunoma, Director of Commercial and Business Development- Mr. Sadiku Rafindadi, Director of Human Resources and Administration - Mr. Honorious Anozie, General Manager, Safety- Mr. Elifue Agbi during an inspection of the Aerodrome Rescue and Fire Fighting facilities at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja

Market APC in S’East, give Igbos SGF position -- Nwoye to Buhari From Pamela Eboh, Awka

governorship candidate on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC ) in the 2017 governorship poll in Anambra State, Dr Tony Nwoye on Tuesday said that the appointment of Secretary to Government, SGF from the southeast would help to market it as a political party in the area and give the people of the area a sense of belonging. He observed that the President was at liberty to make any appointment as he deemed fit, noting that persons with capacity to sell the party in the geopolitical zone should be considered for such appointment. Nwoye made the statement during the launch of his 2019 Free Medical Outreach at Nsugbe in Anambra East Local Government Area of the

state which favoured no fewer than 700 indigent people of the area. He said, “We deserve the post of Secretary of Government of the Federation or the deputy senate president. The bane of APC in Anambra State and South East in general was lack of altruistic leaders. Nwoye who is currently representing Anambra East and West in the House of Representatives state maintained that the party performed abysmally low during the elections because of that factor. He added, “Igbo are critical stakeholders in the Nigeria project. And knowing Mr. President he will not fail to give this to us. He is a man with a large heart. “He would not say because our people did not vote for him, that he will not give us what is due to us. If we get SSG, it will help to market APC in this part of the country.

“Our party is not moving forward in Anambra because we, the leaders are selfish and self-centered. Good leadership begets good following. How can someone call himself a political leader and in an election he cannot deliver his polling booth to his party? “In all the elections in 2019, APC came last. This calls for sober reflection. How can we not be proud that we are APC members.” He wondered the essence of belonging to a political party when election cannot be won in that party? Nwoye added, “I want to help rebuild APC because I want to run for election in the party.” He asked President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint Secretary to Government of Federation from South East geopolitical zone in his second term.

Willie Obiano on Chieftaincy and Town Union Matters emerged as the chairman, while Celestine Ebogha became the Vice Chairman. Other elected executive members were Clifford Iferike, Secretary; Nnamdi Nonso, Assistant Secretaty; Onochie Akwuobi, Treasurer; Ignatius Orji, Financial Secretary; Ifeanyi Okoye and Abuchi Nwakamma, Public Relation Officers (PROs); Cyprian Okeke and Fidelis Ofoegbunam, Provosts. In the youth executive category, Ekene Ebogha and Prince Ikechukwu Okafor were elected as chairman and vice-chairman respectively, while Edwin Okoye and Michael Ofunelo emerged as secretary and Assistant Secretary respectively, just as Ekwunife Michael Okolo, Jude Ebogha, Hyacinth Obuasi, Onyeka Nnazoba, Isaac Edochie and Amechi Okonkwo emerged as Treasurer, Financial Secretary, PROs and Provosts respectively. In his post-election speech, the newly elected chairman of Dagama Central Executive, Emelife, noted that now that peace has finally returned, henceforth, whosoever that is offended in any form should not hide his or her feelings, but should say it out so that if it turns out to be true that he has been hurt, an apology would be tendered to him, for sake of peace.

Emelife who commended the peace committee for their commitment towards restoration of peace in the area, at their own expense, highlighted some of their outstanding community projects as street light, hall, event center, scholarship scheme, skill acquisition, youth empowerment and the celebration of the forthcoming Onwange annual cultural festival scheduled to take place next month. Announcing a donation of N500,000 for running of the town union, Igwe Obiora charged his subjects to gird their loins in order to forge ahead, even as he expressed satisfaction that peace has eventually returned to the area, courtesy of the peace committee. Chief Pius Ofoegbunam, a legal luminary from the area and Special Adviser on Legal Matters to Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the house of Representatives, also announced a donation of N200,000 for the running of the town union office and urged the newly elected officers to work towards total transformation of the community. Obinze, chairman of the peace committee, in his own speech, noted that he was fulfilled that the tortuous journey in search of peace has finally paid off and urged everybody to regard whatever transpired in the past as a past tense.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar general, Corporate Affairs Commission, plot 420 Tigris Crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

Anambra community cements peace pact with election of new excos

Signed by OLIGBO IFEANYI JOHN President /General Overseer

CHANGE OF NAME

I formerly known as NDIDIAMAKA NWACHUKWU now wish to be known as NWACHUKWU NDIDIAMAKA FAITH. former documents remain valid. Banks and general public please take note

This is to certify that KOLAWOLE KEHINDE AND KOLAWOLE AJARAT KEHINDE is one and the same person now wish to be known as KOLAWOLE AJARAT KEHINDE. Former documents remain valid. Banks and General public take note

I formerly known as GILBERT CHIEDOZIE GIFTED now wish to be known as NWAKAUBA CHIEDOZIE GIFTED. former documents remain valid. Banks and General public take note

I formerly known as MISS IHEJI ONYINYECHI now wish to be known and addressed as MRS ONUOHA ONYINYECHI COLLINS. All documents remain valid Banks and general public should please take note.

I formerly known as IGWE CHIDINMA BLESSING now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs NWEKE CHIDINMA BLESSING. All documents remain valid. Banks and general public should please take note.

THIS SPACE IS FOR SALE

By IBE NWACHUKWU

t was a happy reunion for the people of Dagama village, Ikem in Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra state as they cemented their peace processes with the election of their town union central executive committee and youth executive to pilot their affairs for the next few years. This followed the harmonization of all the grey areas that had hitherto brought about disagreements and disillusionment in the community by a peace committee led by Chief Sunday Obinze and Anthony Nwuneli. Obinze, incumbent President of Onitsha Bridge-head Markets Traders Association, OBMTA and Nwuneli, a former banker and now Chairman of Tony-Scandy Group had volunteered themselves to restore peace in the community which had witnessed internal wranglings among the citizens for the past three years now. During the general election of Dagama Central Executive committee, supervised by the traditional ruler of Dagama, Igwe Aaron Obiora (Ugama of Dagama), which led to the return of some of the 10-man executive members unopposed, Hon. Anthony Emelife Esq., Senior Special Adviser (SSA) to Governor

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24-30, 2019

NEWS

Man, 37, allegedly sets self ablaze in Ebonyi T

he police in Ebonyi on Monday rushed a 37-year-old man to the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, for treatment after he allegedly set himself ablaze. The man, identified as Chinedu Nweze, allegedly set himself ablaze beside a classroom block at St. Patrick’s Primary

School, Kpirikpiri, Abakaliki. He was said to have tied his legs and wet himself with petrol before committing the act. Nweze, who hails from Umuogharu, Ezza North Local Government Area of the state, had complained to his neighbours of frustration and inability to feed himself,

a day before the incident. Ebonyi Police Command Spokesperson, Mrs Lovett Odah, said that the command was investigating the incident to ascertain whether it was a suicide attempt or not. “The command dispatched an ambulance to the scene of the incident and took the man to hospital after it

received a distress call from a member of the public. Police are currently carrying out investigation into the incident but for now we have very sketchy information about the incident and cannot confirm if the act was a suicide attempt or not,” Odah said. According to her, the man is now recuperating at the hospital.

Coalition tasks WAEC to trace 29 missing candidates By Theo Rays, Onitsha

Participants at the opening ceremony of the Technical Session of the 43rd Regular meeting of the National Council on Agriculturein Umuahia, Tuesday.

NOA campaigns against violence in Ebonyi

ational Orientation Agency (NOA) in Ebonyi, has urged politicians, the youth, parents, traditional and religious leaders to rise and contribute to possible ways of stopping violence in the state. State Director of NOA, Dr Emmanuel Abah, made the call on Thursday at Umuoghara Autonomous community in Ezza-North Local Government Area during the launch of a sensitisation programme in the state. Abah said the programme was organised to curb postelection violence and promote discipline, unity and patriotism among Nigerians toward fostering a society devoid of enmity and violence. The director urged stakeholders in the area to accept the outcome of the elections and embrace peace to move the state and country forward. Abah explained that in spite of the legal framework that guided the electoral processes, some politicians usually wanted to cut corners and display their bad habits which often caused violence. He expressed regret over the killings that erupted in some parts of the state and country which resulted in the loss of lives and property after

the general elections. “Ebonyi is not left out in these ugly incidents where political violence was witnessed in different local government areas, including Ezza-North. Hence, all hands must be on deck to curb this menace. Politicians, youths, parents, traditional rulers and religious leaders must initiate possible ways to put an end to it. “As we flag this campaign today, all our local government offices will replicate same in all local governments and communities of the state to ensure it is extended to the grassroots,” Abah said. He advised all stakeholders to embrace peace in their immediate environments to ensure socio-economic development. The director also urged parents to always counsel their children on the need to shun acts capable of causing crisis. Abah lauded the efforts of the security agencies before, during and after the general elections and urged the citizens to co-operate by giving information that could help check the eruption of crises. The traditional ruler of the community, HRH, Nweke Igbo, applauded NOA for its tremendous efforts in

enlightening the public on peace building. Igbo promised to interact with members of his cabinet on how to end violence and enhance peace. He pleaded with the federal and state governments to step up measures to end rising cases of violence in the country. “There have been arrangements and plans to put a stop to this trend. We planned meeting on our 4th General Assembly to intimate them and spread this visit to the grassroots,” Igbo said. The Youth Leader of the area, Mr Emeka Nwonu, advised that the campaign be continued to enhance the quest for peace. “We trace the incessant violence to lack, idleness and joblessness but it is not a justification for the destruction of lives. I pray that those found guilty should be prosecuted accordingly to serve as deterrent,” he said Women Leader, Mrs Cecilia Obasi, promised to extend the campaign to other women social gatherings, pointing out that mothers were stronger influencers of children. “Quality time will be provided to educate our children to be morally upright,” she promised.

oalition of Civil Society Organization made up of Civil Liberty Organization, Southeast Educational Vanguard and Anambra Moralist Organization has given West African Examination Council (WAEC) 7 days ultimatum to upload names of 29 senior Secondary School students of God’s Own Secondary School, Umuchu in Aguata Local government area to enable them join their counterparts to participate in the ongoing West African Certificate Examination Senior Secondary Schools. The Coalition in Statement issued in Onitsha alleged that the management of the Umuchu based school alleged that they paid N739, 350 through First Bank PLC. Ekwulobia branch for 53 students’ numbers 265698 and 2656789. Unfortunately the WAEC server was able to upload 24 students, thus leaving 29 of the students not uploaded. The statement signed by the leaders of the coalition, Comrade Vincent Ezekwueme and Comrade Hyginus Udensi, the group gave the WAEC 7 days ultimatum to ensure that not only their names were uploaded in the WAEC server but they must participate in the examination including the first examination which took place

on 8th April. According to the Statement “this is a national embarrassment on Nigeria as a country and very sad and unacceptable situation the students and their parents have been traumatized with this sad development. Some of them are now on hunger strike because their future and educational pursuits is in great danger.” The group informed that top officials of the Umuchu School namely the principal Mr. C.P Anyikwa, PTA Chairman Nze C Umeznozie and Hon. E. C. Eze Board Chairman have severally gone to WAEC office in Lagos to draw the attention of the WAEC officials on the missing 29 names all to no avail as the names continue missing even at the moment that Exams are ongoing. The groups called on the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, to as a matter of urgency rescue these innocent students from this avoidable predicament recommending the need for the Minister to sanction those responsible for this National embarrassment as it is on the contrary to the commitment of this present administration to provide accessible, affordable and qualitative education to the citizens of the country.

Onitsha rotary presents sanitary items to consulting doctors By Oge Onyeanusi, Nnewi

he Rotary Club of Onitsha Metropolis, Anambra state, has presented sanitary items to consulting doctors at the General hospital Onitsha. Making the presentation to the Chief Consultant in charge of the General hospital, Dr Ebele Nelson, the Rotarian President for Rotary club of Onitsha Metropolis, Rotarian Ifeanyi Onwuanyi, said that, the items were purely meant for the consulting doctors for sanitary purposes. “It is for sanitation purposes before their consultation with patients and we also have other items to help keep the hospital clean” he stated.

Rotarian Onwuanyi who was flanked by two of his members, Rotarians Ijeoma Obiaku and Umeje, revealed that the club had earlier made similar donation by presenting sanitary pads to Nsugbe Foundation Secondary school. The sanitary pad he stated would be used by the school girls for their monthly mensturation. Among the items presented to the consulting doctors included, plastic buckets, detergents, towels, bleach, packer, mop, broom, among others. In her response, Mrs Igboka Chizombe, who represented the Chief Consultant, commended the Rotary club for her kind gesture and pledged to make judicious use of the items presented.

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24-30, 2019

NEWS

UTME: 2 CBT centres shut in Abia – JAMB

o fewer than 100 examination cheats have so far been arrested by security operatives across the country during the just concluded Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has said. In its Weekly Bulletin released in Abuja on Monday by its spokesperson, Dr Fabian Benjamin, JAMB said the fraudsters were engaged in multiple registrations to facilitate impersonation during the examination. The board noted that the act was inflating annual registration of the UTME exercise by up to 30 per cent. JAMB also said that data available to it showed that the

unwholesome practice was prevalent in virtually all the states of the federation, including Abuja. Among the persons arrested was a notorious cheat who had registered about 64 times in a bid to “ghost-write” for 64 candidates. The examination body said the arrest of the culprits was made possible by the comprehensive and mandatory identity checks conducted on those taking the examination with a view to fishing out professional ghost writers before the release of the results. JAMB also said that it had cancelled the results of two Computer Based (CBT) centres in Abia over what it described as “widespread irregularities” during the UTME. The board gave the names of the CBT centres as Heritage

Vice-Chancellor of Akwa Ibom State University, Prof. Eno James Ibanga flanked by all Principal Officers of the institution during the Maiden Inauguration of Akwa Ibom State University Alumni Executive Council/Foundation Laying Ceremony of AKSU Alumni Center, which held, Wednesday at the University Auditorium, Main Campus, Ikot Akpaden, Mkpat Enin Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State and Infinity CBT centre and Okwyzil Computer Institute Comprehensive School Ugwunabo, Aba, Abia. It said the drastic action was necessitated by the visual evidence obtained from a careful review of the CCTV recordings by a panel of experts engaged by the board. “However, in order not to unduly punish honest and

APC chieftain wants more inclusion of South-East

chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Nduka Anyanwu, has expressed the need for the South-East geo-political zone to be fully integrated in governance in the second term of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. Anyanwu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja while speaking with newsmen in reaction to claims in some quarters that the people of South-East did not support President Buhari’s second term bid. He said that records were there to show that the region did better for APC in the last general elections when compared to the 2015 general elections. According to him, there is a

significant increase in support for President Buhari and the APC-led government in the zone in 2019 when compared to 2015. The chieftain attributed the development to President Buhari’s giant strides in the region, especially in areas of project execution. “In 2019, the APC support in the South-East received a massive boost, which saw a 400 percent increase in the votes the President got in the region in the last election when compared to those of 2015. The zone from a position of zero APC Senators in 2015 produced four Senators for the APC and a number of members of the House of Representatives,” he said. This, he said, was an indication that the APC as a party, had been

accepted in the region much more than before. Anyanwu said that out of the five states in the region, the APC got the constitutionally required 25 percent and more of the votes cast in Abia, Imo and Ebonyi in the Presidential election which it could not achieve in 2015 elections. “In my home state, Abia, our party experienced a massive improvement in its support base which was clearly manifested in the number of votes returned for the President and other candidates of the party,” he said. Reacting to the zoning of offices in the incoming 9th National Assembly, Anyanwu expressed confidence that the party would find a common ground.

‘Abia did not reverse decision on brothels’ – Govt

bia State Government says it has not reversed its earlier decision to dislodge brothels and drug dealers operating in parts of the state. A statement by the Deputy Chief of Staff (CoS), at the Office of the Governor, Chief Ukpai Agwu Ukpai, Thursday, subsequently advised those working at the brothels to ‘avail themselves of the free vocational training offered by the Government through the State Ministry of Women Affairs in conjunction with the Education for Employment unit of the government.’

“The attention of Abia State Government has been drawn to reports that hoodlums, commercial sex workers and drug dealers who were previously dislodged from brothels located along Calabar road, Arochukwu Street and other locations within the Isi gate area of Umuahia are gradually returning to resume their unlawful activities. “We wish to state that at no time did Abia State Government reverse its earlier directive that they vacate the aforementioned areas and other similar places within Umuahia and environs. “Security agencies in the

state, especially the police, are hereby directed to fully enforce the subsisting directive of the Governor as well as take additional measures to rid Umuahia, Aba and other towns in the state of criminal hide outs. “Commercial sex workers affected by this directive are expected to avail themselves of the FREE vocational training offered by the Government through the State Ministry of Women Affairs in conjunction with the Education for Employment unit of the government,” said the official.

hardworking candidates who found themselves attached to these two centres, the board magnanimously relocated all the candidates who had taken or were scheduled to take their examination in the two centres to other centres where they had subsequently taken their examinations,” it said. JAMB, however, apologised to innocent candidates

involved in the relocation for the inconveniences they may have suffered, reaffirming its commitment to providing equal opportunity to all candidates to articulate their hopes and aspirations. The body said that all the results of the examination sessions conducted by the board in the two centres from April 11 to 18 were null and void.

Poor electricity, hinders e-library in Calabar – Official

Director, National Library Calabar branch office, Mr Nkereuwem Etuk says poor power supply in Calabar remains a major challenge to the function of the e-library service in the Cross River branch of the National Library. Etuk stated this in Calabar while commemorating the World Book and Copyright Day, said e-library in the National Library Calabar was functional but faced with the huge challenge of power shortage. World Book Day, also known as World Book and Copyright Day, or International Day of the Book, is an annual event organised (UNESCO) to promote reading, publishing, and copyright. The Director said the office could not continue to rely on generators because of the cost of fueling constantly. According to him, in spite its power challenge, people are still interested in using its services free of charge since the library is a national institution. He said in spite that the reading culture was going down not just in Cross River, the branch still had average of 100 persons coming to the library daily. “For Nigeria, we have a lot of issues with our reading culture as the National Library. We have been carrying out campaigns to sensitise people, to inculcate in them the habit of reading and usage of the library. “We try to encourage Nigerians to read, not just reading anything but important

materials that will give them more information about their country. In our academic environment, the habit of reading is also dropping, students now rely on social media with documented information, our people only look for the entertainment aspect of the social media. “The world is a global village and the social media is helping us to interact but it depends on what you are looking for in the social platform. Many of our people just use it for entertainment,” he said. According to him, there is no information that people search for that the National Library cannot provide; whether within or outside the nation. He said the National Library in Calabar had about 200,000 books from purchases by the Federal Government, grants from International Organisations and legal deposit materials. The director said Nigerians who wrote about Nigeria also deposited books and materials with the library. He, however, called for improved funding of libraries to enable them perform effectively. We also have power shortage and accommodation, we cannot stuck much books here because of space, until we move to the permanent place that we are trying to put up.” He advised Nigerians to inculcate the habit of reading, irrespective of status in the society, stressing that “a reading nation is a leading nation. “

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24-30, 2019

NEWS

Governing Council of Akwa Ibom varsity dissolved

ollowing the expiration of its 4 - year tenure, the Governing Council of Akwa Ibom State University has been dissolved as approved by the Visitor to the University, the Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Gabriel Emmanuel. Dissolution of the Governing Council which was inaugurated on 20th April, 2015 has also been signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem and takes immediate effect. It would be recalled that that the Obong (Engr.) Asuquo Stephen Udofia occupied the office of Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council and he was a member of the Pioneer Governing Council of Akwa Ibom State University. Obong Udofia is an Electrical/ Electronics Engineer. He started Desicon Engineering in 1975 and it became Desicon group in 2000. The company which is based in Port Harcourt specializes in Engineering, Oil and Gas services. He served as Managing Director for 32 years. In 1971, he joined Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria as a Telecoms Engineer. In 1965, he started working with Philips Nig. Ltd. Obong Udofia is the Chairman, Governing Board of Marid Institute of Management and Technology. He is a Fellow of Corporate Institute of Risk and Safety Management. He is also a Member, National Geographic Society of USA and an Ambassador of Peace. He has held several positions in the past: President, Nigerian/American Chamber of Commerce, (Rivers/Bayelsa Chapter), President, Port Harcourt Lions Club and President, Port Harcourt Club. This very remarkable Leader is happily married with children and has led a life worthy of emulation. It will be recalled that his tenure as Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council in Akwa Ibom State University has been marked by peace, transformation in infrastructural development, Staff/Students Welfare, training and development. We sincerely appreciate Obong (Engr.) Udofia and the entire Governing Council as dissolved for the massive work done in the Institution and wish them the very best in their future endeavours.

Okowa promises state-wide cultural carnival in 2019 By JONATHAN AWANYAI, Asaba

elta State Governor, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa has asked the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to partner with the Organisation ForThe Advancement of Anioma Culture (OFAAC) to organise a state-wide cultural festival. Speaking at the 16th Anioma Cultural Festival organised by OFAAC in Asaba today at the Oshimili South Local Government Arcade, Asaba the governor observed that cultural fiesta boost the unity of a people and promote their culture. “This kind of cultural festival breeds peace among our people, unite them and rekindle our traditional practices,” he said, adding, “It provides opportunity for our children the opportunity to understand our custom, culture and traditions.” He continued, “We will work with

OFAAC this year to put up cultural festival that will involve the entire state working with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.” Governor Okowa commended OFAAC for its consistency in organizing the cultural event and used the occasion to thank Deltans for their support for him and his Deputy, Deacon Kingsley Otuaro which manifested in the last general elections. While assuring that his administration would work harder within the next four years to meet the yearnings and aspirations of Deltans, Governor Okowa reiterated that cultural festivals provided boost to the unity of the people. Earlier in a welcome address, the President of OFAAC, Mr Kester Ifeadi, congratulated Governor Okowa on his electoral victory, assuring that OFAAC would continue to support the building of bridges across the state especially through the recognition and celebration of our rich

cultural heritage. “This year’s edition is very special because it is a festival of celebrations…. We are celebrating the unity and peace that has existed continuously in our state and we specially celebrate the victory of our son, Governor Okowa and the overwhelming support given to him by the entire state in the last governorship elections. “Our organization will continue to support in building of bridges across the state especially through the reorganization and celebration of our rich cultural heritage. This is the sixteenth edition and it is our determination to continue the celebration of the yearly festival” Kester Ifeadi, an architect, stated. The carnival attracted over 170 cultural groups from the nine local government areas that make up the Anioma nation and other ethnic nationalities in a rich display of dance, wrestling arts and crafts.

Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa (l) with the President of Organisation For The Advancement of Anioma Culture (OFAAC), Mr Kester Ifeadi during the 16th Anioma Cultural Festival organised by OFAAC at the Oshimili South Local Government Arcade, in Asaba

Attack on police officers: IGP orders immediate arrest of perpetrators in C/River

cting Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu has ordered the immediate arrest and prosecution of all persons involved in the gruesome attack on police officers on a legitimate mission to nab some suspected armed robbers and receivers of a stolen vehicle in a community in Cross River State. A statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, Mr Frank Mba, said the attack which occurred April 17, at Ogoja Community, was masterminded and executed by one Ikenga, a notorious receiver of stolen property, and his gang members. Four police officers attached to IGP Intelligence Response Team (IRT) unit were seriously and grievously wounded,

with deep machete cuts on their heads and other parts of their bodies. “The detectives (the victims of the savage attack) are investigating a case of a stolen Toyota Sienna Bus earlier reported by the Master Chapel Church, a Pentecostal church based in Lagos. The detectives had, after a painstaking investigation, arrested four (4) male suspects - Peter, Ben, Ebuka and Johnson. “The suspects who were positively implicated in the crime by Police investigation, confessed to indeed stealing the vehicle. They stated further that they had sold the vehicle to another criminal in Benue State. Hence, detectives moved to Benue State with one of the suspects. On arrest of the suspect in

Benue State, he stated that he had sold the vehicle to another notorious receiver of stolen goods based in Ogoja for a sum of #250, 000 Naira. With this discovery, the detectives proceeded straight to Cross River State, where the notorious receiver IKENGA was apprehended and the stolen vehicle recovered. “However, in a bizarre twist, shortly after his arrest, the suspect raised an alarm in his native language which attracted his gang members. Subsequently, the policemen came under serious physical attack from weapon- wielding hoodlums. The officers were savagely butchered by these armed gangs. Consequently, Ikenga, the notorious crook escaped with the stolen venue,” said Mba.

The IGP while condemning the attack warned that the police under his watch will not tolerate criminal attacks and assault on its personnel or facilities, even as he enjoined traditional rulers and community leaders not to allow such attacks to take place in their domain as they may be called to account. “The IGP has therefore ordered for the immediate manhunt and arrest of Mr IKenga and other members of his gang. He also urged members of the public to avail the police with credible and useful information that will lead to the apprehension of all persons involved in these unwholesome and illegal acts,” the statement read.

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24-30, 2019

NEWS

APGA slams indefinite suspension on Obiano’s aide for anti-party activities By Pamela Eboh, Awka

enior special Special Assistant (SSA) to Governor Willie Obiano, Onyeka Owelle Mbaso has been placed on an indefinite suspension for anti-party activities by his All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) In a suspension letter addressed to Mbaso, last Friday, and signed by the state chairman, Sir Nobert Obi and Secretary, Tony Ifeanya, the party explained that Mbaso was suspended following findings and recommendations of an Ad hoc Committee of the party which investigated his alleged anti-party activities. “Sequel to the findings and

recommendations of the ad hoc committee that investigated the case of anti-party activities against you and after giving you an opportunity to defend yourself, and the party caucus being satisfied that a prima facie case has been established against you, do hereby direct that you proceed on an indefinite suspension forthwith pending the determination of your case by the Disciplinary Committee of the party. “The committee will take you further on these issues and allegations and recommend appropriate sanction. “For the avoidance of doubt, your antiparty activities contravened Article 21(1) (d), (f), (g), (k), (n) and (o) of the constitution

of the APGA (2014 as amended) and so, in a situation like this, the provisions of Article 22 (1) (b) of the constitution of APGA (2014 as amended) shall apply.” Mbaso who is from Ozubulu Ward III, Ekwusigo Local Government Area of the stats contested the House of Representatives election in the last election and was also the chairman of APGA Aggrieved Aspirants Forum. Though Mbaso has denied being served any letter, it was learnt that offences levelled against him include, making “frivolous” allegations against the leadership of the party, just as he “has been painting the party black on social media.”

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel (m) with the Speaker, State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. (Barr) Rt.Hon Onofiok Luke (r) and Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem as they joined the Director General of the Divine Mandate Campaign Organization, Atukekong Idongesit Nkanga, and other members of the State Executive Council to worship at the Christ the King Cathedral, Wellington Bassey Way, Uyo, Easter Sunday

Anambra community to partner govt., police to eradicate cultism

ewly elected President-General of Nawfia Progressive Union (NPU) in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra, Mr Nathan Enemuo, says he will work closely with the state government, the Police and other security agencies to combat cultism among youths. Enemuo said made the assertion after his election on April 20 at the Nawfia Town Hall. A Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) who covered the election reports that Enemuo polled 263 votes to beat Chief Ifeanyichukwu Nkemka and Michael Nwegbe who garnered 41votes and two votes respectively. Mr Dozie Ekemezie won the VicePresident-General position with 211 votes against Mr Francis Okonkwo who polled 91 votes, while Mr Anthony Obiesili was elected Secretary-General. Other elected officers are Paul Diobi who was elected as Provost, Mr Nnamdi Obineme as Publicity Secretary and Mr Chika Orji for the position of Welfare Officer. Ejike Okeke was elected Financial Secretary, Mr Obinna Okpalo was treasurer, while Mr Ikechukwu Iloanusi was elected Assistant Secretary. Enemuo said his administration would galvanise the people of the community for sustainable peace and progress. He thanked his people for electing him and his team to pilot the affairs of the

community in the next three years, urging them to support his administration in the task to move the community forward. “The election was free, fair and peaceful; the turnout was massive, so, I want to thank Nawfia community for the confidence they have in me and other members of the new executive team. “We will focus on peace building, community development and provision of social projects. “Youth cultism is a serious menace in this town and we will work with the traditional ruler, state government and security agencies to tackle insecurity and cultism among youths in Nawfia,’’ he said. Nkemka, who lost his bid for the position of President-General accepted the outcome of the election in good faith and applauded the people for their peaceful conduct. He decried insecurity and slow pace of development in Nawfia and charged the new leadership to address the challenges. “The election is a victory for our community, it is peaceful and the people have spoken, for me, I will go back and prepare for the next time. “I call on the elected officers to entrench peace and fight insecurity in Nawfia; we must rally round this team and ensure they succeed in the task we have put in their hands,’’ he said. On his part, Mr Beluolisa Nwofor, SAN,

Chairman Board of Trustees of NPU, said the success of the election was a new vista in the development of the community. Nwofor, who was particularly elated with the orderliness and peacefulness of the process as against what obtained in the past, congratulated the new team and urged them to see their emergence as a call to duty. According to him, they must serve with diligence and commitment as well as network with every progressive partner to justify the trust that was reposed in them. An observer, Mr Bonny Ozonkwuaku, the President-General of Enugu-Ukwu community, called on other communities going into election to emulate the exemplary way Nawfia people conducted theirs. Ozonkwuaku, who spoke on behalf of other representatives of Anambra State Association of Town Unions (ASATU), said they were satisfied with the transparent and peaceful exercise and would report back to the association. “It is conventional that whenever a community is having election, ASATU sends observers, we witnessed the exercise from accreditation to voting and counting of results, and it was peaceful. “We are impressed with what we saw and we are calling on others to emulate the Nawfia example of peaceful election of community leaders,’’ he said.

Ebonyi Govt. commends IFAD-VCDP for extending operations to additional 3 LGAs

bonyi Government has commended the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)assisted Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) for extending its operations to additional three Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state. IFAD-VCDP operates in Afikpo South, Izzi, Ikwo, Ohaozara and Ishielu councils of the state but has extended its operations to Ivo, Ezza North and Ohaukwu LGAs. Ebonyi Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Chief Moses Nome, gave the commendation on Tuesday during the programme’s mission team’s visit to the state, noting that IFAD-VCDP has become a household name in the state. Nome said that such extension would enable farmers in the new councils to benefit from IFAD-VCDP’s numerous interventions like those in the former five LGAs. “You have fulfilled most of our requests as the addition of the new councils in your operations is a milestone which the government and people of the state appreciate. People do not easily embrace such programmes but that of IFAD-VCDP is aimed at lifting the standard of the rural farmers and enhancing agricultural production in the state,” he said. He urged the programme to use the extension of its operations to the new councils to address the problem of matching grant payment experienced by farmers. “The farmers find it difficult to pay the matching grant expected of them in accessing your interventions, so evolve new methods of assisting them in this situation. You have impacted much on our farmers, especially in the areas of rice and cassava cultivation as we assure that the government will offset all outstanding counterpart fund payments,” he said. Mr Ben Odoemena, IFAD-VCDP Country Programme Officer, equally commended the political-will shown by the Ebonyi Government in agriculture, especially on the programme’s activities. “We, however, urge the government to expedite action in offsetting its remaining counterpart fund payments to assist IFAD-VCDP execute its mandate in the state,” he said. Ebonyi Commissioner for Finance, Mr Obinna Nwachukwu, promised that the state government would continue to support IFAD-VCDP with the payment of the outstanding counterpart fund payments. “The lean resources of the state are being deployed into several projects and programmes but the government will do its best to support the programme. The outstanding payments have been captured in our budget and with the IFAD-VCDP team, meeting the governor over the issue, they would never be disappointed,” he said. IFAD-VCDP State Programme Coordinator (SPC), Mr Sunday Ituma, noted that the programme budgeted over N466 million for 2019 and has made a total disbursement of N132 million between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2019. “The total expenditure on IFAD loan is over N123 million, representing 34 per cent of IFAD funding in 2019,” he said.

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The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

POLITICS W

e do not intend to create the platform whereby the aides or supporters of the two former governors of Imo State, their excellencies, Chief Achike Udenwa and Dr. Ikedi Ohakim, would stand on and lampoon themselves, but having read an interview on the Nigerian Horn newspaper of Wednesday, April 19, 2019, by the former Executive Chairman of Orlu Local Government Area, former member of the House of Representatives and Udenwa’s Man Friday, Hon Chukwudi Mayor Eze, where he made unfounded claims, particularly that outside God, it was Udenwa who made Ohakim Governor in 2007, it became very clear that there is need to set the records straight. Given that it is public knowledge that Udenwa and Ohakim have been in a war of words, which was orchestrated by Udenwa himself when he launched an unprovoked media attack on his successor, Dr. Ikedi Ohakim, and Ohakim decided to clarify issues by granting an interview, we thought that the two foremost leaders in the state could sort out their issues at their level. We decided it was unnecessary for us to join the fray, especially for the fact that we have been under strict instructions from Ohakim never to disparage any leader, particular a former governor. He has always told us about a kind of relationship between former governors, especially between successors and their predecessors. It was therefore obvious that when Hon Mayor Eze joined the fray and began to make baseless claims, he was delving into a subject in which he did not have the requisite depth. He was not part of the critical process that brought Ohakim in as Governor. It was no surprise that he rehashed what his boss and mentor, Chief Achike Udenwa, had reeled out to him. It was equally not surprising that Hon Mayor Eze spoke the way he did. As a major beneficiary of the Udenwa administration and a core supporter of the former Governor, it is taken for granted that he would sing Udenwa’s praise any time. He can even take the bullet for him. Under Udenwa’s magnanimity he became the Executive Chairman of Orlu Local Government for a privileged two terms. During that time he also became the Chairman of ALGON in the state. He went to the House of Reps and attempted a return to the House in 2011 but it did not work out. When he therefore posited in his interview that second term for public office holders is earned based on performance and popularity, one takes the question to him - whether it was poor performance or unpopularity that denied him a return to the House of Reps. Anyone who has read the interview by Ohakim would notice that Mayor, also known as Ikenga Orlu, did not address the six major issues Ohakim had raised. It was glaring how he uncharacteristically prevaricated sensitive issues by constantly and jocularly asking his interviewer to switch topic. Ohakim had said in his interview that despite the claim of being a Chartered Accountant, Udenwa was not able to produce audited accounts of the state for the eight years he was Governor. Something as simple as audited accounts! This leadership ineptitude on the part of Udenwa inadvertently affected Ohakim’s speed in taking off, in assessing fund from the capital market. This invariably goes to prove that Udenwa should be blamed for not handing over the correct baton to his successor. This has nothing to do with who, outside God, made who Governor, a beer parlour cliche to defend Udenwa’s unwarranted attack on his successor who has been covering up for him since2007. Apparently because he did not know, Mayor did not provide any answers to the question but rather diverted attention to how Udenwa was ‘transparent’. But juxtaposed against the background of the revelation that Udenwa did not produce audited accounts of the state for the eight years he was governor, the claim of sainthood, particularly on accountability, on the part of Udenwa comes out clearer as cheap lie. Again having failed to provide answers to the revelation that Udenwa and two other leaders in the state, in his home in Amaifeke, entered into a well crafted agreement with Okorocha in 2011, which paved the way for Okorocha’s emergence as Governor of the state, one did not need further conviction that he did not know most of the things that transpired. Interestingly, some of those who signed the agreement had gone to court and swore to affidavit on the said agreement and other behind the scenes events that took place in their bid to dislodge Ohakim from

Inside Udenwa’s eight-year tenure The spat between former Governors Achike Udenwa and Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State isn’t about to end. In this report, COLLINS UGHALAA, writing for Ohakim, does a critique of former Governor Udenwa’s eight-year tour of duty in Douglas House, Owerri.

•Achike Udenwa

•Ikedi Ohakim

Government House. It is curious that Udenwa and his group now vehemently deny bringing Okorocha in as Governor but prefer to claim that Udenwa brought Ohakim, the same man they said was a failure in government. The Igbo say that when someone who was absent when a corpse was being buried is asked to exhume it, he would start digging from the position of the head. This accounts for the doublespeak in Mayor’s claims. Whereas he rigmaroled on the issue of 70% cabinet nomination by Udenwa, he nevertheless admitted that Udenwa gave Ohakimn Dr. Vincent Udokwu, who he described as Ohakim’s best commissioner. Does Mayor know that Udenwa did not leave a dime in the coffers of the state; rather he left a huge debt profile ? When asked by the interviewer to comment on the revelation that Udenwa said that the government house was not a savings account, he did not know whether to agree or disagree. Caught in this dilemma, his safest route was to evade the issue and rather wondered satirically why Ohakim lost reelection in 2011 since he left billions of Naira for his successor. Imo people know that what stopped Ohakim in 2011 was the gang-up against his government by some members of the elite class led by Udenwa. Can Ndi Imo forget the reported arrest and detention in a hotel in Onitsha, of the then INEC Returning Officer for Ohaji/Egbema LGA, Ngozi Nwoko with 28,000 PDP result. The Ngozi Nwoko is now a traditional ruler and his statement is a public document. A careful reading of Mayor’s interview would reveal one objective, which was to drop the claim that Udenwa made Ohakim governor in 2007. Having said this he became short of words to explain how, and rather begged that the issue be changed. As far as he was concerned, Udenwa was popular, and being an incumbent he could ride on the strength of his fabled popularity and incumbency nuances to decree a successor. He forgot that as incumbent Governor, Okorocha failed to install a successor, despite his claim of being popular. Was Udenwa a more popular Governor than Okorocha? Those who followed the Udenwa era know how that government was bugged down by insecurity, unemployment, poor economy, unpaid pensions and gratuity of councillors and civil servants running into billions, widespread poverty, political assassination and high political rivalry. The political rivalry that showed up early in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)

after Udenwa was given the governorship by the elders of the state is a testimony to how he could not manage people. That crisis lingered, and we hope it will be permanently resolved by the emergence of Governor-Elect Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha. Udenwa was grossly incompetent and unpopular in the PDP, let alone in the state at large, where demonstrations – even ones considered diabolical – were rife. It was under Udenwa that a serving Senator in Orlu Zone faced stiff opposition, to the point that he faced a failed recall process. Under Udenwa people from Orlu Zone protested with mock coffins of their opponents and conducted mock burials for them. With that kind of situation Udenwa could not have been loved by the people of Orlu Zone at least. If Udenwa was loved, how come he did not win his Senate bid on two consecutive times, knowing full well that he was running to be the Senator of his own zone, with 12 local governments only? Udenwa left the PDP in 2010 and joined the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) where he was the leader. He ran for the Senate seat on the ACN platform. It is on the record that not only did he fail to go to the Senate, his party under his leadership failed woefully in the state. The performance of the PDP in Orlu Zone over the years points to the fact that Udenwa has never been loved by his own people. The Action Alliance (AA) that sprung as alternative party for Governor Okorocha and his group few months to the governorship election had the day in Udenwa’s local government and the entire zone, except Oguta Local Government, where the firebrand politician and a chip of the Nzeribe bloc, Hon Gerald Irona, the Deputy Governor-Elect, comes from. The takeaway from this onslaught by the AA in Orlu Zone is that the people of the area are not happy with Udenwa. This height of dislike is explained by Ohakim when he said that “For eight years [Udenwa] was in office, he could not articulate a concrete program of action for even his Orlu zone, including a master plan which would have, in any case, benefited the entire state, because if he had started something in Orlu, by now we would have a second big city in the state apart from Owerri”. If anyone was in doubt of anything about Udenwa it was definitely not about the N4.5bn unpaid pension and gratuity and N6.8bn owed the councilors and chairmen that worked with him. And if anyone was in doubt of what Ohakim achieved as Governor, it was

not about whether Ohakim cleared those debts in his bid to rejig the battered economy. Yes, rejig the battered economy under Udenwa for which Ohakim never made any noice. Be that as it may, Ohakim’s revelation that Udenwa led the onslaught of petitions, blackmail, propaganda and gang-up against him has not been challenged. Ohakim stated in his interview that “The petition Udenwa and co wrote to EFCC over the Wonder Lake project destabilized that project. It could not proceed as scheduled because the petition was widely circulated among international investors and so they became scared.” Also, Ohakim’s claim that “the idea of the Oguta Wonder Lake project started during Udenwa’s time” has not been challenged. He said the project was “recommended by the transition committee Udenwa set up himself but rather than pursue it, he leased the Oguta Lake Motel out for pecuniary reasons. We had to retrieve the Motel and expanded the scope of the project to a multibillion dollar Wonder Lake complex”. This incontrovertible revelation about the Oguta Wonder Lake project brings to the fore the motive Udenwa led the onslaught against those projects located in his Orlu Zone. However, the answer to the question of whether or not Udenwa made Ohakim Governor in 2011 still hangs on Mayor’s lips. But let me offer some help: Udenwa did not make Ohakim Governor in 2007. Granted that the circumstances that brought Ohakim in as Governor in 2007 were clearly beyond Udenwa, even with his incumbency powers, everyone in Nigeria then knew that Ohakim was forced on him. In that circumstance, he had no choice. It was also in keeping with the circumstance of his emergence that some conditionalities were taken to “protect” him. Part of Udenwa’s helplessness was his inability to clearly map out a succession plan. He was caught up between Rt. Hon. Ike Ibe, a refined gentleman from Okigwe Zone, and others. In this confusion he was forced to settle for Engineer Charles Ugwu who was later removed by the court. Given that his wobbling succession cart had crashed, he moved to support the APGA candidate in the election. This, too, did not succeed because of other forces that weighed his hands down. This was why during a PDP rally in 2009 at the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri, former President Olusegun Obsanjo told the people of Imo State that Ohakim was “the promise made, promise fulfilled”. Ohakim’s emergence as Governor was not entirely made in heaven. There are certainly persons who should get the credit for contributing to the emergence of Ikedi Ohakim. Many others contributed to also making Udenwa Governor - or did he make himself Governor? Talking about who Udenwa foisted on Imo as Governor, that person should be Okorocha not Ohakim. Udenwa did not have a choice in the circumstance. Ohakim was a governorship aspirant in PDP when Udenwa was Governor. He did not give him any support whatsoever. Ohakim went to the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) and picked the guber ticket without Udenwa’s assistance. Udenwa supported another person instead in the PDP. Even up to the first governorship election, Udenwa had another person up his sleeve and not Ohakim. How did he now become the maker of Ohakim as Governor? But, for being a sitting Governor of the PDP, those who made Ohakim Governor had to broker a soft landing for Udenwa. It was therefore in protecting his interests that certain conditions were taken, including the nominations he made into the Ikedi Ohakim cabinet, which were not in any way a show of gratitude. Nonetheless, it should be noted that the ongoing debate between Chief Udenwa and Dr. Ohakim is not about who made whom. Let us even assume, without conceding, that Udenwa made Ohakim; is it enough reason for Udenwa to descend so low to abuse his successor without provocation? Is it not intellectually childish to ignore the critical issues Ohakim raised and begin to talk about who made whom and who is popular and who is not? Imo people expect former Governor Achike Udenwa to address the issues Ohakim raised. Let no one divert Imo people’s attention from the critical issues raised in Ohakim’s interview in defence of himself and his administration. Collins Ughalaa could be reached via email: ughalaacollins@gmail.com; or via telephone:07066222944.

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

POLITICS Diversity Let me take us through ordinary definition of diversity. The ordinary dictionary meaning of diversity is “a state of being diverse” as captured by the Collins Dictionary of English language. Diverse itself connotes difference. That is why synonyms of diversity include variety, miscellany, assortment, mixture, range, array, multiplicity and medley. Diversity has been used in different forms and in different contexts. We have seen it used in the science and sociology when we talk about biodiversity and cultural diversity. Either way, it connotes difference. The University of Oregon in the United States of America, writing about diversity said “the concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences. These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies. It is the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual”. Deriving from the above, diversity simply means difference. There are 1055 entries in the Encyclopedia Britannica on the specific issue of diversity all discussing the different applications of the word. But none of the 1055 entries take anything away from the fact that diversity is about difference. For the reason of this discourse therefore, we shall dwell more on ethnic diversity. •Obiora Okonkwo Ethnic diversity, according to thesaurus. com can also be discussed as conflation, fusion, multiculturalism and pluralism. While conflation means the merging of two or more sets of information, texts, ideas, etc., into one, fusion connotes the process or result of joining two or more things together to form a single entity. Its synonyms include blend, blending, combination, amalgamation, joining, bonding, binding, merging, melding, mingling, integration, intermixture, intermingling and synthesis. Multiculturalism indicates the presence of, or support for the presence of, several distinct cultural or ethnic groups within a society; just as pluralism, as a political philosophy, is the recognition and affirmation of diversity within a political body, which permits the peaceful coexistence of different interests, convictions and lifestyles. Beyond these, ethnic diversity has to do with the different ethnic groups which make up a society. Wikipedia defines ethnic group, as a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities such as common ancestry, language, society, culture or nation. In the study of anthropology, we read that membership of an ethnic group is often defined by shared cultural heritage, ancestry, origin myth, history, homeland, language or dialect, symbolic systems such as religion, mythology and ritual, cuisine, dressing style, art, and physical appearance. If the above is correct, it, therefore, means that Nigeria, as a country, is a nation of diverse people who are culturally, politically, linguistically, religiously, historically and even mythological diverse or different. Wikipedia lists the ethnic groups found in Nigeria. I lost count as I scrolled through. But a May 2017 publication in Vanguard Newspapers by Zents Kunle Sowunmi, says there are 371 ethnic groups inhabiting this space called Nigeria. It also listed their names. Implication of this is that Nigeria is a nation of 371 different cultures. Each of these groups seeks political control of the center. This breeds conflict. Worldatlas.com gives a breakdown of ethnic dominance in Nigeria listing the top 10. It lists Hausa as the most dominant ethnic group consisting of 25.1 percent of Nigeria while Yoruba comes second with 21 percent and Igbo third with 18 percent. According to the website, Ijaw is ranked fourth with 10 percent while Kanuri consist of 4 percent of Nigeria and Fulani taking up 3.9 percent while Ibibio and Tiv consist of 3.5 percent and 2.5 percent respectively. The above is however a corruption of figures generated by the 1953 population census which puts the population of Eastern Nigeria at 7.2 million with the Igbo dominating at 5million. That census also puts population of the Hausa at 5.6million with Fulani at 3.1million while the Yoruba population was put at 4.27million. I cannot establish the authenticity of figures from

‘Failure to restructure will mean annihilation’

In this treatise, Dr. Obiora Okonkwo, PDP bigwig, one-time senatorial aspirant and a well-known Abuja businessman, examines the imperatives of restructuring and the consequences for the nation of failure to restructure Nigeria. This piece examines the concept of restructuring within the context of Nigeria’s diversity and concludes that the only pathway to progress is to restructure. worldatlas.com but having been published; it will remain an instrument of measurement until our ethnographers interrogate the figures and present us with alternatives. What the above statistics show is the reality of the Nigerian situation. It is a statement on the conflicts that we have lived with. Writing in “Ethnic Diversity and Conflict in Nigeria: Lessons from the Niger Delta Crisis”, Wilson Akpan, states that “A Bill of Rights’ issued by the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) castigates Nigeria’s federalism as arbitrary and constructed to favour the major ethnic nationalities (namely the Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo).” He also noted that “Another declaration, the ‘Kaiama Declaration’, issued by the Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC) similarly denounces Nigeria’s ‘unbalanced’ federalism and the exploitation of ‘Ijaw resources’ for the benefit of other groups.”. The summary of this is that Nigeria is a nation of diverse ethnic groups with diverse ways of life, culture, mannerisms, ideologies, philosophies etc. The leadership challenge it therefore presents is one that challenges the leadership to appreciate that no president is leader of his ethnic group, but the leader of a multi-ethnic, multicultural and pluralistic society where each distinct group has its own expectation from the leadership. To my mind, these individual expectations breed the sort of conflict that had attended our expression of nationhood giving rise to the call for restructuring. So, it is not really about the diversity itself, but about managing the diversity. Restructuring The simple meaning that comes to the mind, for restructuring, is to change the status of something and make it more functional. But knowing that I am going to face an audience like this, I did not play around chance. So I looked up further definitions to be sure that I am on the right track. The dictionary tells me that it simply means to “organize differently”. While Wikipedia sees it as “the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable, or better organized for its present needs”, the business dictionary explains it as “bringing about a drastic or fundamental internal change that alters the relationships between different components or elements of an organization or system”. There are several other definitions of restructuring but the central meaning in all of them is that it is about altering the way something is structured in order to make it more functional or effective. We all go through some form of restructuring in our lives, either in our homes or workplace. Some people restructure their wardrobes every year to reflect their social status. Some restructure their homes to keep up with the times. As a businessman, I recently embarked on a restructure of The Dome Entertainment Centre, by re-modeling it and changing the outlook and offerings. The aim was to make it more effective and profitable. I am also sure that even here in the University, the management embarks on systematic restructure to make academic delivery more impactful. The new developmental projects that leadership of the Faculty of the Social science has embarked on are all part of the restructuring process. So, it is not in doubt what exactly restructuring means as a concept. However, it has become clear to us that simple things are not as simple as they seem and should be. The simple thing here would be to argue that if things aren’t as effective for Nigeria as originally designed or envisaged, the easy thing to do would be to change the system. If your computer system

•Obiora Nwankwow can no longer function optimally, and keeps suspending operation, the thing to do would be to shut it down and reboot. If the radio station or television channel you are listening to, or watching, has become boring, you simply tune to a better station. You don’t sit back lamenting that the radio station is not entertaining enough. Therefore, change is an integral part of restructuring. Hu Jintao, one-time leader of China, speaking on the need to restructure the political system in China said: “The political restructuring we pursue in China is aimed at advancing the self-improvement and development of the socialist political system. We will continue to expand people’s democracy and build a socialist country under the rule of law in keeping with China’s national conditions.” Faced with the challenge of drop in its entertainment programmes that cater for older people , the leadership of ABC television in the United States of America embarked on a restructuring exercise aimed at capturing the older demographic. Matt Dallas, an actor who is best known for playing the title character on the ABC Family series Kyle XY, justified the effort thus: “ABC Family is really restructuring their network because there’s a new kind of family, so I think they’re really trying to step away from that younger audience, and they’re bringing a network that can bring more to an older demographic”. David Miliband, who was succeeded by Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party in the UK, also spoke of restructuring of the British economy. He said “the whole of government needs to contribute to the shared goal of restructuring the British economy. But that means taking on the myth that the Treasury either knows best or can run it all. It just doesn’t.” In South Korea, we had Park Geun-hye, who, speaking as president to justify efforts made by her father to restructure the economy and the outcome, said “My father

was criticized as a dictator, but that should not overshadow his accomplishments in restructuring the country. He brought Korea out of 5,000 years of poverty. What he left unaccomplished was democratization of the system.” In the United States of America, B. Kevin Turner, a businessman and Vice chairman of Albertsons and a member of the Board of Directors at Nordstrom, told Microsoft while he was Chief Operating Officer there that “phones remain a critical component of the Microsoft device portfolio and an important piece of our mobility strategy, but a restructuring is in order”. He made the call at a time Microsoft phones were facing very strong competition from other top brands from Asia and United States. It lost market share and value. I don’t know how many of us here that use Microsoft phones. It is not impossible that our not using Microsoft phones here may be an outcome of the way and manner management of the company responded to Turner’s call for restructuring. In 2017, Deloitte, an international accounting firm, embarked on a project to market restructuring to businesses in West Africa. Its reasons were captured in this brief statement on its website www.deloitte.com. It reads: “The region has faced severe macroeconomic conditions marked by low commodity prices and foreign currency crises. Companies have sought to manage their exposures, and businesses have struggled to meet their obligations. This situation has necessitated the need to redefine efficiency and explore new options in unlocking value”. It titled the statement “redefining efficiency”. Further down, Deloitte said “low commodity prices, exchange rate fluctuations and decline in government spending have left many West Africans under strain. Nigeria, for instance, has experienced a

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

POLITICS

•Obiora Nwankwow “perfect storm” of economic and political events which have placed significant pressure on the economy”. Ladies and Gentlemen, Lions and Lionesses, I have no doubt that so far we have been able to establish the grounds for restructuring. It comes back to say that restructuring is a necessary process to bring a failing enterprise back to life and put it back on the path of profitability. As a businessman, I know that any business that fails to restructure its vision, processes and finances (debt) is headed for failure. Nokia used to be one of the biggest telephone manufacturers. When Samsung and others went smart, it remained analogue and refused to restructure. Its story today is different. Kodak used to be the biggest colour photography company. It used to have the best camera and films. But it did not see the need to restructure when digital photograph hit the market and smart phones adopted the technology. Today, not many people still see their signposts. Canon and Nikon dominate the market space today. But is business the same thing as politics? Perhaps!However, politics is about interest. So also is business. A business that is not profitable is not worth the time and energy. A political enterprise that is not rewarding for the constituent groups is also not worth the time and energy. In the end, what matters most is how politics, like business, has been able to impact on the lives of shareholders, in this case, the diverse people who make up the polity, and for whom government exists. Remember that at Annual General Meetings of companies, shareholders are also invited to vote. That they vote means that they have a voice on how their company operates. It is the same in politics. The few in power hold power in trust for the people whom they must also listen to in drawing up policies and laws for the good ordering of society. This is where the most critical issue of our nationhood –amalgamation- comes in. Restructuring Efforts One cannot exhaustively discuss diversity and restructuring without touching on amalgamation. In the early paragraphs of this text, we talked about diversity and one of the issues we touched on in discussing ethnic diversity was fusion. One of the synonyms of fusion, according to the thesaurus, is amalgamation. It means the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form. In geopolitics, it is the joining of two

or more administrative units. In Nigeria, this happened in 1914 and Sir Frederick Lugard was behind it. The implication of the merger was that both the northern and southern protectorates, which had hitherto existed as separate entities with different forms of government were amalgamated into one entity. The significant thing about this 1914 exercise was that no member of the diverse ethnic groups that make up the two protectorates was brought to a negotiation table to agree on the merger. When companies merge, the leaderships negotiate terms. Before the ruling party, All Progressives Congress, formed, there were negotiations that led to a merger which gave birth to the party. Even in marriage, you negotiate with your girl to agree to leave her parents and join you as wife. Ladies and Gentlemen, what happened in 1914 was a restructuring of Nigeria. In fact, that was the first restructuring that the country underwent and it eased governance as it enabled the fusion of the northern and southern protectorates for ease of trade between the north and the south. It also brought about the restructuring of Nigeria’s governance model. In 2014, Nigeria celebrated the centenary of that restructuring exercise. Between 1914 and 2014, Nigeria underwent several restructuring exercises. Between 1914 and 1960 when Nigeria won her independence, steps were taken to restructure the country. These were expressed in the constitution making of 1922, 1946, 1951, 1954 and 1960. Nigeria had the 1914 amalgamation constitution of Lugard which was replaced in 1922 by Sir Richard Clifford. That constitution restructured Nigeria and created a 46-member Legislative Council. The Council had powers to make laws also for the Lagos colony and the southern province. It also introduced several changes including the elective principle with Lagos and Calabar having the franchise to elect representatives to the council. Arthur Richards changed the constitution in 1946. With that, he restructured the country into three regions –northern, western and eastern regions. The enactment of that constitution coincided with the enactment of the United Nations Charter after which recognized the right of people to self-determination. It also restructured the polity and enabled the formation of political parties like the NCNC -National Council for Nigeria and Cameroons. In 1951, John Macpherson jettisoned the

constitution and created his own. Macpherson was clever. He allowed a level of consultation in the making of the constitution because its predecessor suffered the charge of imposition from the British colonialists. He created regional constituent conferences to harness inputs before the national constituent conference in Lagos. With that constitution, the political space was expanded for more participation. However, three years after, it was replaced by Oliver Lyttleton who gave Nigeria another constitution in 1954. This came after some conferences in London. The Lyttleton constitution also restructured Nigeria and granted more autonomy to the regions. It also removed Lagos from the control of any regional administration and made it the federal capital territory. If other constitutions before it worked to restructure Nigeria, the Lyttleton constitution of 1954 pushed the restructuring further. It is believed that the Lyttleton Constitution effectively prepared Nigeria for Independence in 1960. With independence in 1960, Nigeria was again restructured with the introduction of a parliamentary system of government, a bicameral legislature, regional parliaments and devolution of powers. That constitution retained the Queen as Nigeria’s Head of State with a Governor-General. While the queen held ceremonial office, the Governor-General exercised executive powers. However, three years after, Nigeria underwent another restructuring which made it become a republic. That was when the 1963 Republican constitution berthed. The 1963 constitution made drastic changes including creating office of a President who was to be elected by the people. It replaced office of governor-general which was appointed by the British monarch. It also restructured the judicial system creating the federal Supreme Court. But the 1966 military intervention ended the life of the constitution and Nigeria was restructured into a unitary state with a 1966 military decree. That episode began Nigeria’s romance with military rule which ended in 1979 after four military rulers –General Thomas Umunakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi, Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Mohammed, Olusegun Obasanjo- have taken turns running the country. The 1979 constitution began Nigeria’s second cycle of restructuring and constitution making. It was an Olusegun Obasanjo effort which eventually brought about the government of Shehu Shagari. That constitution restructured Nigeria further with the introduction of a presidential system with a federal government. It allowed a 19-State structure and a federal capital territory, with three arms of government. It also allowed for a three-tier government –the Federal, State and Local Government. That constitution operated till December 1983 when the government was removed by the military. The following years that terminated in 1999, saw Nigeria operating under military decrees. During these period however, different leaders made efforts to restructure Nigeria for effective management. Nigeria has, as a consequence grown from four regions in 1963 to 36 States as at today. The 2014 National Conference further recommended the restructuring of the country into 54 States with the addition of 18 more States. As I got to learn later, the creation of 18 additional States in 2014 by the National Conference was in furtherance of efforts to answer to the need to appreciate the country’s diversity and tap into potentials inherent in these diverse ethnic groups for national growth. It was observed that the amalgamation of 1914 did not take into cognizance the ethnic, cultural and religious diversity of the country. That failure was in view while delegates to the National conference debated on the need to cure logjams that had prevented ethnic groups from achieving their potentials. Were the delegates right or wrong? Time will tell more. Before the 2014 effort, Nigeria got a constitution in 1999 with which the country was returned to civil rule. Shortcomings of that constitution havefueled allegations of marginalization and estrangement. Following that, efforts were made in 2006 to alter the constitution and restructure the political system in the country. That did not scale through. Besides, the above which were centrally-based actions of government seeking to restructure the federation, there have been actions taken by sections of the country to raise questions and seek answers on why things are the way they are.

Down our history, we have had cases like those of Isaac Adaka-Boro and his agitation for a Niger Delta Republic. Issues raised in that struggle did not end with the death of that young man. We trudged on and managed ourselves with all the short-comings till we were faced with a civil war which was basically driven by the need for balance in our federation as underscored by the Aburi Agreement of January 1967. The end of that war still did not stop agitations for balance. We have seen other actions including the formation of the Odua’a People’s Congress, Movement For Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, Niger Delta Youth Volunteer Force and many others. We have seen the call for resource control dominate the polity at a time. We are witnesses to the rise and development of Boko Haram and their initial demands. Today, we are faced with the herdsmen menace. In all, we have seen regional efforts aimed at re-drawing the map to give ethnic diversities in the federation a greater sense of belonging. But have we managed the situation better? Recently, the call for the restructuring of Nigeria has become deafening. Those who have championed this call insist that Nigeria has come to the point where there is need for a review of the systems and foundation upon which the present structure was built. Many have described our federal system in various terms including “feeding bottle federalism”. Many have wondered why states of the federation cannot develop at their own pace using resources which nature has endowed them with. Many still wonder why we gather in Abuja every month to share money for the ineffective running of the States. There are also those who have asked why certain realities, like policing, have to be dependent on the federal government. There are questions as to why all the regions do not have equal number of states. There are more questions as to why we have to go to the federal government to obtain something as little as a license to drive a car. Many wonder why we have discriminatory unity schools and university admission policies. Some still ask why States cannot build and maintain their own railway lines. Many Nigerians are still asking to know why the federal government has to decide for State how much they must pay their workers as minimum wage even where the States lack the resources to do so. Many have wondered why we still have three-tiers of government or still fund local governments from the federation account. Many are asking why the federal government has to be involved in the creation of local governments. So many other people are raising questions as to why communities where natural minerals are found still do not have rights to participate in the mining of same. Many have argued that the revenue sharing formula which gives more to the federal government is reason for lack of development in the states and also, for high level corruption at the center. There are those who believe that our structured quota system which makes it mandatory for every section of the country to be involved on the leadership ladder is reason our country has been held back. Everyone who has asked such questions may be right or wrong depending on how they view reality. A critical examination of the exclusive legislative list of the Nigeria’s constitution brings home the reality of our problems. It shows you exactly where we are and where we ought to be. I am told that at the 2014 National Conference, the committee on the Devolution of Powers was the hottest because it was charged with just one assignment which turned out to be the most difficult –a review of the exclusive legislative list of the constitution. While some members of the committee wanted a radical unbundling of the list to give more powers to States, some others insisted on maintaining status quo. In the end, the committee did not achieve much because there was fear of moving from the known to the unknown and therefore, many of the delegates felt that it was better to stay with the known. But, that is where most of our problems lie. The liberalization and restructuring of Nigeria to free it to become more functional will have to begin with a dismantling of the exclusive legislative list to grant more powers to the States. Such powers will give the States more autonomy and responsibilities which will enable them

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‘Failure to restructure will mean annihilation’ Cont’d from page 13 pursue development. I do not believe that it is the business of the federal government to build roads and bridges in States and call them federal roads. Our federation needs to be unbundled such that the federal government will busy itself more with such things as defence, immigration, foreign policy, Customs Service, legal tender/monetary policiesand a few others. States can manage their resources and pay taxes to the central government. However, this paper is not meant to be a critique of the current political system that we practice. It is about our diversity and the value it brings to the management and survival of our country. What this paper simply says is that our diversity is our biggest asset in the task of building a nation of values. Like we said earlier, Nigeria is a country of about 371 ethnic diversities. This could also become 371 nations within a nation. It means that we have 371 options to choose from; it also means that Nigeria is endowed with survival options, if harnessed. Diversity and Restructuring Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, speaking at a book lunch in Abuja September 2017 said: “we should all be mindful of and sensitive to the feelings and preferences of those who may not think the way we think, the way we speak or worship, the way we worship or belong to the same political party as us. Our diversity ought to be our strength and, together, we can still build the Nigeria of our dreams. Our first constitution carefully considered Nigeria’s character as a diverse nation and chose the secular path in order to accommodate the diversity and peaceful coexistence.” He re-echoed same in his recent lecture at the Chatham House in London. It shows that it is not only you and me that are concerned about the future of our country with the present system. Those who are calling for restructuring have great reasons to do so. Those who are asking that our diversity become a pillar for our development are making genuine calls that we need not ignore. Adele Jinadu, writing in an article published in The Guardian of June 7, 2017 states: “The country must not fall victim to the fetishism or magic of legal-constitutional design. It must also begin to find ways of strengthening and deepening the spirit, the political culture of democracy and federalism, as mechanisms for managing diversity and for pursuing the public interest in a plural society; otherwise the design effort will be in vain.” Former Military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, in his 2017 Eid-el-Fitr message to Nigerians said: “The talk to have the country restructured means that Nigerians are agreed on our unity in diversity; but that we should strengthen our structures to make the union more functional based on our comparative advantages.” He also said: “Restructuring has become a national appeal as we speak, whose time has come. I will strongly advocate devolution of powers to the extent that more responsibilities are given to the States while the Federal Government is vested with the responsibility to oversee our foreign policy, defence, and economy. Even the idea of having federal roads in towns and cities has become outdated and urgently needs revisiting. That means we need to tinker with our constitution to accommodate new thoughts that will strengthen our nationality.” These statements are a few indications that we still have something to talk about on our country. Nigeria’s diversity is its main strength. Our worry should be on how to manage the diversity. We have seen, in recent times, how fractured our country has become. The only underlining reason for this brokenness is the mismanagement of our diversity. This mismanagement does not only rest with our political diversity, but also with our cultural diversity which should actually be a source of pride and great foreign exchange earner for our country. Our cultural diversity leaves us with options for revenue generation. But we are not looking at that area yet because oil is

still with us. Like I said earlier, 371 ethnic groups is power. Almighty God that created this diverse group of people imbued in each group some special talents found nowhere else. Many people refer to the Southeast people as great traders. Yes, we are not only great traders but fantastic business people who, through our little efforts at trading, rebuilt our home base from the ruins of devastation caused by war some 47 years ago. The effort the Igbo people put in rebuilding their homestead is a statement that there is something special in this segment of our national diversity. It is also an invitation to other segments of the diversity to study this specialness and build on it. Like we read in the Holy Books, the God that created them called them into different jobs. It says to us that the God that created Nigeria gave her a diversity that it needed to manage for its own good. The Nigerian diversity is such a huge pool of talent waiting to be unleashed in an environment that recognizes and rewards talent and knowhow. Our failure to do these fuels the call for restructuring behind which is the veiled call for appreciation of talents and unbundling of the systems that we operate to free Nigeria and make her grow. When Nigerians call for restructuring, they are in essence telling themselves that they do not understand why their country is not developing at the speed at which others are developing. The 1960s is not the 2018s. In the 60s, the number of Nigerians travelling abroad was limited to a privileged few. In fact, going abroad then was seen as a huge achievement. Today, Nigerians just hop into a plane and fly out to foreign lands. What they see when they travel challenge them to ask why their country is not catching up. They come back home to ask questions and get no answers. How would any one explain the fact that the Dubai we all know today was a desert in the 1980s? Yet, the Lagos which experienced developmental touch much earlier is nothing near it? How does anyone explain to Nigerians that the good things of life that they enjoy abroad are not yet possible in their country? How do you tell younger Nigerians that governmental systems elsewhere work but their own cant? Young Nigerians saw Barrack Obama become president of the United States of America. They have seen Emmanuel Ma-

cron become President in France. They have followed electoral developments in other countries where young people were elected to lead and they come back to observe the same is not yet possible in their country. Why? They see advancements made in technology, medicine, transportation, agriculture, sports in Europe, America, Asia etc., and they have no explanation as to why same is not possible in their country. The questions they ask bounce back without answers. Yet, they are told to believe that things will get better. While they actually do believe that things will get better, the realities that they see convince them otherwise. So, what exactly is the problem? The fact, ladies and gentlemen, Lions and lionesses, is that until we unbundle the governmental system and unleash the powers of our diversity on development, we may not really achieve our collective dreams. Our country will continue to struggle until we agree to unbundle the federation and allow the component units, whatever we call them, to tap into their local talents and endowments to grow. We shall remain a “third-world nation” if we do not appreciate the value that our diversity adds to our development and growth. This is the message in a publication on www.iiste.org titled ‘Managing Ethnic and Cultural Diversity for National Integration in Nigeria’, where Patrick A. Edewor, Yetunde A. Aluko and Sheriff F. Folarin argued that “national integration and its benefits can be realized only with the development and entrenchment of a supportive public culture; understanding, respecting and tolerating differences occasioned by socio-cultural diversity; as well as the development of new institutions and mechanisms that address poverty, revenue allocation and other national issues peacefully.” Should Nigeria Restructure? The above is a question that several Nigerians have asked and answered before now. I am sure many in this hall have their own opinions on whether Nigeria should restructure or not. However, going by the political trend since 1999, there seems to be only one answer to this question and that is a resounding yes. For me, however, I will like to raise more posers which will guide us towards an answer. Like many other Nigerians, I will like to

know why the southeast, for instance, has only five States while the northwest has seven and all others have six each. We may all not be convinced about the import of this but in a representative democracy, it means a lot. Five States for the south east translate to 15 Senators for the southeast. On the other hand, seven States for the northwest means 21 senators for the northwest while other geopolitical zones have 18 each. Is this the meaning of equity and balance? Do not forget that States are the basic units for sharing national revenue. Let’s go further a bit. I am also at a loss as to why of the 774 constitutionally approved local government areas in Nigeria, the southeast has a total of 95 while the northwest has 186 local government areas. The northeast has 113 while the south-south region has 125 and the south-west has 137 and the northcentral region comes in with 112 local councils. Thus far, no one has explained to the southeast people why this sort of structure exists. Also, no one has been able to justify this reality. The pain of this situation comes home when one realizes that revenue allocation and development planning are often times, based on population. The simple explanation for the skewed revenue allocation that we currently have will be that the population is more in places where there are more local governments. It therefore means that if each local government in Nigeria were to get a primary school, the Southeast will get one that is not proportional to what the northwest zone gets. Yet, our constitution opens with the statement “we the people of Nigeria having agreed to…”I ask, did the southeast agree to subjugate itself in this manner or some people agreed to subjugate it? Let me bring this home further. In a recent recruitment exercise into the Nigeria Police Force, each local government in Nigeria was allowed only 10 recruits. Implication of this is that while Bayelsa State had only 90 recruits, Kano had 440 recruits. If the numbers are pruned every year at 10 persons from each state, in nine years, Bayelsa State will have no person in the Police while Kano will still have some 350 persons. Why wouldn’t Kano have more candidates for consideration as IGP than Bayelsa? Do you see why we must restructure? Ladies and gentlemen, has it ever occurred to us that there are more natural resources buried under the soils of the north-central zone of Nigeria? Imagine if we restructured Nigeria such that each State will mine and harness resources endowed on it by nature and then pay royalties and taxes to the center. If we think in that direction, we will begin to see the opportunities that nature has given us to develop. North central will become the new bride for solid mineral exploitation and development. The value chain it will create will make the north central the new industrial hub in Nigeria. The potentials for job creation will be huge. But we are not yet thinking in that direction. Further, I am yet to understand why, despite high secondary school enrolment figures from the Southeast, only 12 unity colleges are built in the region against 24 in the north central and 15 in the north east. North West has 18 unity colleges same as South west while South-South hosts 17. The reality of this is that a state like Imo State, which has high secondary school enrolment figures, hosts only two unity colleges while the Federal Capital Territory plays host to five and Anambra State houses three. You may not know the implication of this until you relate them to allocation sharing. However, I have heard highly placed Nigerians suggest that restructuring means dismemberment. While I acknowledge the right of everyone to hold an opinion, it must be stated that change has no other name than change. We cannot build something on nothing. If we look critically at ourselves without the usual mutual suspicion that attends every national discourse, we will see the need to unbundle our national governmental system and adopt workable systems. For instance, what sense does it make to have a minister appointed from every State of the federation even when they do not have a job to do? What that means is that we

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Not exactly good scorecard for the minister... Travel and culture writer, VICTOR NZE reports that going by operators’ verdict, Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed may well have performed poorly in his ministry. To this effect, they believe that the only way that tourism, which Mohammed’s Information and Culture Ministry supervises, for instance, would be given a pride of place in the scheme of things is for it to have a ministry of its own.

he effectiveness of the Ministry of Culture and Information at addressing critical issues clogging the wheel of growth and development in the tourism subsector in Nigeria again topped discussions at a recent gathering of industry operators and other stakeholders against the backdrop of the federal government’s economic diversification mantra. The four-day training programme was organized by the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) in collaboration with National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) and Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), in Abuja, for tourism writers under the auspices of the Association of Nigerian Journalists and Writers of Tourism (ANJET) as well as for media managers from relevant agencies in the ministry. It provided the veritable platform for operators and key stakeholders to assess the level of impact the tourism subsector has made on the economy, with participants unanimous in scoring low the performance of the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed who also oversees the tourism agencies. The training programme ran from April 8 through to 12. It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 scrapped the then Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation and proceeded to merge that ministry with Information, with effect reducing the tourism subsector to an agency within the ministry, to the dismay of travel and tourism operators who had clamoured for a separate platform for tourism. Furthermore, the private sector operators had also frowned at Buhari’s choice of a politician, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to oversee the ministry as, according to them, it was a wrong move going by Mohammed’s perceived lack of appreciation of his role as a tourism chief and the fine line of difference between being the government spokesman on one hand, and a tourism minister who is a brand ambassador for the entire country. During the training programme, the operators, as well as other stakeholders were unanimous in reaching to a submission that Buhari’s choice of minister in Muhammed, may have done more harm to the subsector than good, further declaring that the minister may have now put at risk the gains which tourism has made over the years due to his failure to manage the role as tourism minister and business face of the country, which ordinarily should inform his manner of operations and utterances. Failure of the Minister to show up throughout the four-day training for tourism writers and media managers from the various agencies within the ministry provided the perfect platform for industry operators to carpet Mohammed over his perceived misconception of his role at the Ministry of Culture and Information in activating and unlocking the growth potential of tourism in the country nearly four years after his appointment, aside paying lip service to the subsector. The minister who was invited as the special guest at the training session failed to show up at the occasion to present government’s roadmap and policy framework, but instead detailed the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Deaconess Grace Gekpe, to represent him. To make matters worse, Gekpe too failed to turn up only to send a representative, the newly appointed Director of Domestic Tourism in the ministry, Mrs. Opakirite J. Nzobwu, who turned up after the ceremony had ended. Participants and guests present berated the minister and the permanent secretary for their lack of respect shown to the event and tourism having regard to the fact that the minister’s and permanent secretary’s offices at the Federal Secretariat (Bullet House), is less than fiveminute walk from the venue of the event. Many expressed the fact that the minister has all along been a pretender to the office as he has never really showed interest and commitment to the sector beside bashing in the glow and appurtenances of the office but not

•Acting Director General of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), Alhaji Momoh Kabir, delivering his address at the just-concluded four-day training programme organized by NIHOTOUR in collaboration with the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) and the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), in Abuja, for tourism writers as well as for media managers from relevant agencies in the ministry

interested in deepening the growth of the sector besides the rhetoric and public appearances put up by him when it pleases him and his team. Aside accusing him of not working in synergy with the private sector, further submitted that the failure of the minister and his permanent secretary to understand the fact that tourism carries a bigger weight to that of information which explains why they have continued to act disinterestedly towards matters involving tourism besides grandstanding and rhetoric. “It is a sign of total disregard for the operators and the sector as well as negation his promises of providing technical assistance to the sector and training tourism reporters. Given the fact that in his first trip to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) headquarters in Madrid, Spain, one of the agreements he signed was for technical assistance and training of Nigerian personnel including tourism reporters and till date none of those promises has been fulfilled,” said a participant at the programme. The minister’s performance in office nearly four years now has been chequered, if not outright low, in terms of assessment considering that much of the factors bedeviling the tourism subsector could have been surmounted during tenure in office. Although, the highpoint of Mohammed’s tenure was the hosting of the 61st meeting of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation Commission for Africa (UNWTO/CAF) conference in Abuja from June 4 to June 6 next year. However, nearly a year after, nothing much has come out of that conference which ironically held under the theme; ”Tourism Statistics: A Catalyst for Development,” despite the numerous recommendations put forward by the participants leading many critics to conclude that the event was more politically informed than business. It would be recalled that participants at that 61st UNWTO-CAF Meeting called on Nigeria, as well as other African countries, to allocate and mobilize financial and technical resources to strengthen and modernize its data sources including census, survey-based, administrative and innovative sources, collection mechanisms and dissemination systems while investing in human resources capacity building. The tourism experts from across the conti-

nent who made the call in a 12-point communique issued at the end of their meeting, also challenged the member nations of the continent to improve the mechanisms for measuring tourism with high-quality official statistical information to cover all dimensions of sustainable tourism, including economic, social, and environmental, in order to develop the potential of tourism in Africa, as well as plan, manage the sector and support effective evidencebased policy decisions in line with the African Union Agenda 2063, which serves as the basis for Africa’s long term socio-economic and integrative transformation. The meeting which gathered more than 20 African ministers of tourism, in addition to over 500 delegates from 44 countries in Africa, ran from June 4 to 6 at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja, and a final leg at the Eko Atlantic City project in Lagos on a technical visit, was supervised by the UNWTO Secretary General, Mr. Zurab Pololikashvili, with Nigeria’s Minister of Culture and Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, as host. It would also be recalled that during his presentation at the same UNWTO event in Abuja, the Statistician-General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Dr Yemi Kale, disclosed to Mohammed and rest of the participants that the tourism sector accounted for 34 per cent of GDP and about 20 per cent of Nigeria’s employment creation in 2017. Till date, no move has been set in motion by Mohammed to establish a separate ministry for tourism, which was the case before his tenure, in the same way as the minister has not made any recommendations towards realising that arrangement even as it emerged during the UNWTO event that the industry portends huge revenue for the country if harnesses. Incidentally, the call for a separate ministry for tourism also dominated position of experts at the training programme in Abuja, as the stakeholders insisted the minister was at fault for failing to realize that tourism was bigger than information and should by now have been returned to the status quo pre-2015. Also, on the highly imperative issue of a Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) which the UNWTO and other relevant international agencies in

tourism say would better position Nigeria tourism in terms of improved data collation and business profitability as it is a critical tool for tourism development, the ministry has equally failed to adopt any realistic approach towards having a useful tourism statistics in the country. On his part, President of the Federation of Tourism Associations in Nigeria (FTAN), Alhaji Saleh Rabo, reiterated the call for the creation of an exclusive ministry of Tourism by government which, he said, would exploit the full potential of the subsector. “If government now says that it is looking to replace oil with tourism, that move should be complemented by first establishing a separate ministry of Tourism, instead of the present arrangement where tourism is squeezed into a ministry of Information and Culture. “The minister’s lack of understanding and concern for the tourism sector in preference for his information and political portfolio is the major reason why the federation and other tourism stakeholders as well as culture workers are clamouring for a restoration of the ministry of tourism and culture. ‘‘We call on President Mohammadu Buhari, as a matter of urgency to create a Ministry of Tourism and Culture so that tourism will be given its rightful place and attention and not made to play a second fiddle to information as we have seen display here today by the minister and his team who totally disregard our event for other matters that they rate above us and tourism,’’ summed up Saleh. A 14-point communiqué reached by the participants at the four-day training programme agreed that; tourism is beneficial to individuals, communities, states and nations, therefore, there is need for all stakeholders to live up to expectation and turn the potentials of the sector into reality; greater co-ordination is needed between stakeholders, to ensure sustainable tourism development in the industry. Similarly, the participants urged Tourism and Culture agencies to make their presence felt and be functional in every state, considering the importance of their mandates to tourism development; as well as calling for adequate funding for ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in charge of Tourism for better performance. “There is a dire need to privatize the tourist sites to make them functional. “Relevant agencies of government on tourism should create platforms to educate operators, managers of tourism destination and communities on crisis management. NCAC Zonal offices should be given autonomy to run programmes or collaborate with other stakeholders and they should have diplomatic staff in all embassies; NIHOTOUR should do more by publicizing its programmes and activities through print, electronic media and Road shows. “For the impact of Tourism to be felt in Nigeria, infrastructural facilities such as roads, airports, rail and water ways must be developed and well maintained,” the communiqué read. Commenting at the programme, Acting Director General of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), Alhaji Momoh Kabir, said the task of marketing the destination Nigeria lies strongly with tourism writers and as such emphasis should be placed on improving capacity in the field. According to Momoh, this explains the decision of his agency to collaborate with others in the ministry of Information and Culture to organize the training programme for tourism writers in the country. “Any step to growing the brand in terms of marketing and promotion should begin with building capacity of practitioners in the media industry who essentially report the industry. “And this basically informed our decision to enter into this collaborative effort with our sister agencies towards staging this programme for tourism writers under the aegis of the Association of Nigerian Journalists and Writers of Tourism (ANJET), said Momoh.

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

POLITICS

‘Failure to restructure will mean annihilation’ Cont’d from page 14 must create jobs for them to be accommodated. This trend denies us the services of our best hands and brains as someone has to be appointed to fulfill requirement, qualified or not. I have also heard many people quarrel over the high cost of governance and maintenance of a presidential system of governance. To my mind, while the system of governance may not necessarily be our problem, I strongly suggest that we restructure the governmental system to eliminate wastages, enthrone merit, purpose and accountability. I am inclined to believe that what Nigerians desire more is good governance and not necessarily who is driving it. For us therefore to have a good governmental system, we must agree to a lean legislature which should also operate on a part-time basis. Some of the political problems we have had in States leading to assassinations and arson are directly tied to the quest for office and financial benefits. If however we restructure and make the offices less attractive, and on parttime basis, those who will line out to be voted for, will be persons of deep integrity who already have legitimate addresses; they will be successful business persons that communities will go to beg to represent them because they have proved, through their successful endeavours, that they have integrity and capability; to legitimately pursue a cause for public good. In essence, I will advocate that no person who has been unable to create, nurture and grow a private enterprise;one who has been unable to achieve excellence and success in previous endeavours, with proven impact on the society, should be allowed to represent the people in any capacity. I say this because politics should not be a profession for the hungry and deprived but a vocation just like priesthood. As the priest offers himself, sacrifices personal comfort and luxury to be of service to the people not taking into consideration whether he will be rich or poor, so also should the politician offer himself not for the benefits the office confer on him but for the sake of the people. After all, the politician holds public office in trust for the people. On the part of the electorate, they must also understand that though the politician holds office in trust for them, such trust does not translate to paying schools fees for children of voters, or paying hospital bills or sharing money among voters. In other words, the electorate should appreciate that the work of a legislator is to make laws for good governance while the executive implements same. If voters do not moderate their monetary expectations from the elected, they will remain victims of bad governance as those who share money to the electorate, must work to recoup. Therefore, whatever an individual gets from an elected representative need not be the yardstick for assessment. I also believe that our national financials ought to be restructured. The system of government that brings 36 States to the center at the end of every month to share money is not sustainable. Whatever we decide to do with the States; whatever we decide that the federating units shall be called;regions or States, all partners in the federation must have capacity to develop internal resources with which they can develop at their own pace. It

•Obiora Nwankwow really does not make sense for the federal government to fix minimum wage for state where the monthly take home from the federation account is not able to offset the State’s wage bill; neither does it make sense that the sharing of proceeds of Value Added Tax on alcoholic beverages, for instance, shouldhugely benefit State that had outlawed sale and consumption of such beverages. I strongly suggest that States should fix wages that they can pay given resources available to them. That, to my mind, is one reasonable way to solve the problem of unpaid wages and pensions in the States. When we have done that, we will then find greater sense in making the center less attractive by restructuring our resource allocation systems such that the federating units will have more. Doing so will shift development focus to the federating units. The current focus on the federal government is more because everyone perceives it to hold more development funds than the States. A restructured system will make all of us here focus more on what is happening in our States and hold our Governors and State lawmakers more accountable to us than we currently hold the FG. Such a situation will spur collaboration among the States in pursuance of economic development and integration. For instance, nothing stops the States in the Southeast from collaborating to build railway lines, or monorail, to connect all state capitals in the region and boost economic activities that will drive development of the region. Such collaboration could also extend to the South-South region for mutual benefits. States in other regions could also collaborate to pursue developments that are of mutual benefits to them. In doing this, states are now forced to look back at their diversity to get, integrate backwards and make use, of the best because regions will be in development competition. This is the sort of thing that restructuring will achieve. It is not already happening because our current system of government enthrones a leadership recruitment system that does not allow for the best from our diversity. Today, we are faced with the chal-

lenge of deforestation which has been blamed for the high rate migration of cattle to places where the pasture is green. This movement has created security challenges for our country leading to violent clashes between herders and farmers. But, the solution lies in restructuring both our mindsets and our animal husbandry policies. Ranching is an option that offers us numerous advantages in the value chain. With ranching, a State like Nasarawa can create ranches where about N100m would be made every day from dairy products alone. We are not yet talking of other advantages. If we think this way, we would be able to see the opportunity that ranching offers us for healthier animals, research and development of more nutritious grass, creation of tannery factories, schools for communities that will form around the ranches. This also makes it possible for government to provide some other social services like health, transportation, potable water, veterinary services. We also stand to gain from the development of hygienic butcheries and many more. These are possible if only we restructure our animal husbandry system to embrace better options. I am convinced that the benefits we shall derive from the value chain that ranching creates can only come our way if se restructure our mindsets and belief systems to understand that we no longer live in the dark ages where our parents trekked from Obolo-Afor to Onitsha. If we take the example of a country like the United States of America, we will see the advantages of restructuring. By unbundling their federation and creating opportunities for their people, the US created a situation where every state has something it is known for, for which it is a proud producer. For instance, if you are talking of the automobile industry in the United States, you look towards Michigan. If you are talking aircraft manufacture, you look towards Florida etc. We can achieve the same in the Southeast with proper planning. We can restructure our systems to create an integrated structure where the Southeast can drive its rapid development from three points –heavy

industries in the Nnewi/Onitsha axis, light industries in Aba/Owerri axis and agro-allied hub in Abakaliki axis. These can be linked with dedicated rail-lines and expressways along which shall be estates and business districts. This is something that we can achieve if we agree. Projections In the Elements of the Philosophy of Right, German Philosopher, George Hegel, argued that the “State is the final culmination of the embodiment of freedom or right”. Hegel states that an individual’s “supreme duty is to be a member of the State”. I think Hegel sums up our aspirations. We all want to be members of a state, in this case, Nigeria. But our aspirations are such that we all want to be members of a better State which is managed in the best of professional traditions. I do not think anyone of us here expects a State where there is no corruption; we rather would prefer a State where the good outweighs the corrupt; a State where the systems are functional; a State where public utilities are not luxuries. In this regard, our advance toward the next general elections must take into cognizance the need to restructure our polity and make it work effectively for the people. This is where the people, me and you, who desire to live as members of this State should begin to demand from their political leaders, strong commitment towards restructuring. This should now be the battle the people must undertake to create the sort of society that they desire. We must now demand that from our politicians as condition for being voted. For as Chief John Nnia Nwodo, President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo said during a visit of Southern Leaders to the National Assembly recently, “all the problems we are having in our country emanate from our constitution”. He also argued that “our constitution is not ripe for a diverse people with diverse religion, diverse culture, and diverse ethnicity”. Ladies and gentlemen, Lions and Lionesses, that constitution, ought to be revisited for the appreciation of our national diversity. In the past, some political parties

promised restructuring and even had it in their manifesto. But the fear of the unknown forced them to drop them. However, we cannot continue to live in fear of the unknown. Even the leviathan can, and should, be confronted. Nigerians must henceforth demand, and hold those they elect, accountable for the progress made, or not made, towards restructuring the country in a way that delivers the best services to them. My fears however is that if we fail to do this, we shall still operate a system where leadership is for the fittest and mightiest. If we allow that to remain, we would gradually walk back into the Hobbesian state of nature where life is “brutish, nasty and short”. None of us want to bequeath such a country to our children. We look forward to handing over a country where, like Hegel said, “citizens are happy even to sacrifice their lives for the state”. This must be a state where their rights are respected and defended and where they fulfill their obligations because they have found love within the borders. Failure to restructure will mean annihilation. Let us not become beings that live for nothing. Not restructuring will be akin to pressing down a spring. The spring will remain down so long as you stay down with it. If you let your hands slip, it springs up with such a force that may even blind you. If we fail to restructure therefore, we may have inadvertently worked for the eclipse of Nigeria by the next millennium. Like they say, a stitch in time saves nine. Conclusion Ladies and Gentlemen, Lions and Lionesses, I am sorry for keeping you on your seats this long. I appreciate your patience. Like I said at the beginning, I am not a professor or a lecturer. I am just a businessman who sees in politics an opportunity to share my talents for the development of human capital and society. I just hope that the scholars here will be kind in assessing my presentation. I also hope that we shall expand this discourse till we begin to see that there is nothing wrong in re-working an unworkable system because it will make no sense to take our cars to the workshop when they malfunction, or to fix the roofs on our homes when they leak but refuse to fix our governmental system when it fails to achieve the visions of our founding fathers. As we go forward, we should be able to imbibe the dictum of Hegelian philosophy in understanding that as society evolves, everything reaches its antithesis and therefore, gives birth to new thinking. Perhaps, we have reached that point where the diverse people of this country must stand as one to rescue their country and make it work. Making Nigeria work in this regard includes also restructuring our mindsets and respect for the diverse ethnicities in the federation; and appreciation of their religious and cultural differences. In making such appreciations, we find the need to unbundle and free ourselves to achieve greatness. After all, we all want Nigeria to be greater. •Obiora Okonkwo, who holds a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Political Science, with distinction, from the Russian Academy of Science, Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Moscow, delivered this lecture at a Lions’ event recently

BU$IN£SS The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

•Energy •Finance

•Stock

•Insurance

•Aviation

•e-Platform

Brass LNG: Policy correction revives project interest

• NLNG model replaces ConocoPhillips technology By SOPURUCHI ONWUKA

revious gas policy swings that stalled gas export investments in a bid to deepen domestic gas are paving way to all inclusive policy actions that now promote investments across all value channels in the petroleum industry. With unofficial reversal of export project restrictions and creative resolution of fiscal disputes that create investment uncertainty in the local business environment, discussions about reviving stalled gas liquefaction projects are becoming dominant. Key gains in the prevailing understanding between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and herb investment partners are the rising investors’ interest in reactivation of frozen gas liquefaction projects in the country. This policies currently being dismantled had led to freeze of new liquefied natural gas projects in the country, trapping whopping $1.2 billion or N432 billion investment funds in the stalled Brass LNG project. The Brass LNG project which is modeled after the Nigerian LNG is a gas export investment package spawned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) joint venture with Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) and ConocoPhillips. According to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), foreign investors comprising Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) Limited, ConocoPhillips and their affiliates spent the money in site preparations before government altered the country’s gas policy direction to domestic supply. The Oracle Today reports that Brass LNG and Olokola LNG (OkLNG) both sparked gas liquefaction boom in Nigeria following the commercial success of Nigeria LNG Limited. Whereas the two projects activated in 2003, it proved that the Brass LNG was more feasible given its location which is proximate existing liquefaction infrastructure already established by the NLNG. Olokola’s commercial viability and investment requirements are dented by its pioneer industry presence in a location very remote from vibrant industry hubs. The location of OkLNG calls for additional investments in key feedstock trunklines as well as dredging of marine channels for cargo vessel navigation. Brass LNG was proposed to be a

• Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu 2-train greenfield liquefaction facility with capacity for 10 million tons per annum (MMtpa) located next to the Brass River oil terminal. The company is a special purpose business unit in which NNPC, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and Eni conceived a gas export venture. In November 2004, Brass LNG Limited awarded a construction contract to Bechtel to build a two-train, 10 million metric tons per year (mtpa) liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Nigeria’s Bayelsa state. The plan was for construction to begin in the third quarter of 2006. Promoters of the project had forged feedstock collaboration that committed Eni’s Agip companies in Nigeria to supply 4.7 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas, Total to supply 3.6 tcf and third party suppliers to fill the balance of approximately 4.1 tcf. Feedstock opportunities to the liquefaction plant informed development of Chevron’s Funiwa offshore gas field in the Niger Delta. The field development drilling however suffered a fatal blow out that tasked the nation’s pan-industry incident containment capacity. After all, the expected FID for Brass LNG never happened! In 2007, the former Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC, Dr. Mohammed Barkindo, announced shift in government’s gas policy from export projects to domestic demand development and satisfaction; and implementation of the new policy

imposed project approval restrictions on gas liquefaction projects including Brass LNG, OkLNG and NLNG Trains 7 and 8. The new gas policy also featured in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), a preview of which industry players and investors had decried before it was introduced to the National Assembly for legislative processes. Thus, with policy instability and fiscal uncertainties all incubated in the PIB, investor confidence in the new gas projects began to wane. Chevron left in 2006 and Total filled the space in 2008.ConocoPhillips left the country in 2014 after selling off its upstream petroleum stake to indigenous Oando Plc. Unfortunately, Oando would not stake short term funds in uncertain Brass LNG. So, the acquisition transaction progressed without Brass LNG, forcing ConocoPhillips to bequeath its stake in gas venture to remaining partners: NNPC, Eni, and Total. ConocoPhillip’s departure had great implications for the Bras LNG project. The project technology was owned by the fleeing American company, making it difficult to progress the project. At the point of departure, ConocoPhillips and partners had concluded early site preparations, awarded early project assessment contracts and met sundry technical and environmental requirements as demanded by regulation. In January 2017 Brass LNG’s share-

holder restated commitment to the project at a meeting in London but no final investment decision (FID) has been signed. Later in March same year, they invited investors to replace ConocoPhillips in the project. And with ConocoPhillips completely off radar, NNPC declared in June 2017 that partners would redesign the project and find a market for the LNG ahead of FID. Pressure also mounted from Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State who demanded NNPC to immediately reactivate the project to create jobs and ancillary business opportunities for the local people. Chairman of Brass LNG, Mr. Jackson Gaius-Obasekei, said the board of the company had reconstituted the management team and replaced the ConocoPhillip’s technology to APCI technology used in building Nigeria LNG. He had also hinted that project cost was scaled down to enable shareholders progress with FID, adding that the two train plant would no longer be taken at once due to prevailing cash constraints. He said the board adopted a scalable option to enable plough back of revenue from initial train in developing the second. But rumours had spread that the project had turned to conduit through which about $22 billion (N7.92 trillion) has drained, sparking off a legislative inquest into the cost status of the stalled project. Chairman of House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating cost overruns on Brass LNG, Hon. Jerome Amadi Eke, said the National Assembly needed facts to deal with petitions on the project, adding that a facility visit would follow to verify claims by the corporation. According to the General Manager, New LNG Venture of the NNPC, Mr. Ahmed Dikko, the project promoters had acquired 606 hectres of land, awarded early works contracts, awarded the plant’s front end engineering design (FEED), Pre-FEED Concept Evaluation Study (PFCES), Project Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA); conducted ambient noise survey, cultural site heritage study; and developed displacement and settlement action plan. According to Mr. Dikko, the early site works on the project took whopping $1.2 billion (N432 billion). In comparison, total cost estimates for the 8.0 Mmtpa expansion project of the

CBN Exchange Rates APRIL 9th, 2019 Currency Buying(NGN) Central (NGN) Selling(NGN) CFA 0.5033 0.5133 0.5233 US DOLLAR 306 306.5 307 POUNDS STERLING 401.9616 402.6184 403.2752 EURO 343.485 344.0463 344.6075 SWISS FRANC 306.337 306.8375 307.3381 YEN 2.7464 2.7509 2.7553 CFA 0.5053 0.5153 0.5253 WAUA 424.2929 424.9862 425.6795 YUAN/RENMINBI 45.5579 45.6328 45.7076 RIYAL 81.5848 81.7181 81.8514 SA RAND 21.6446 21.6799 21.7153 DANISH KRONA 47.5326 47.6105 47.6884

Page 23

•Tourism

Business

FG, States spend N428bn to Service debt in 2018 P18

Energy

Aiteo to re-stream NCTL after quenching fire P19

e-Platform

Blackberry scraps BBM, May 31

P26

Insurance

Government, benefactors, not insurers, to bear cost of Notre Dame rebuilding P24

Equity & Capital Market

First Aluminium heads for voluntary delisting as low patronage persist P28

Stock Market Highlights As At 9th april, 2019

Summary

ASI DEALS VOLUME VALUE EQUITY CAP BOND CAP ETF CAP S/N

29,149.46 3,634.00 374,026,184.00 N3,057,257,127.99 N10,948,759,970,801.20 N10,568,156,819,587.70 N5,550,177,217.78

Coy (By Volume)

STERLNBANK CHAMS FBNH UBA GUARANTY

119,718,964 50,233,524 44,585,763 26,934,117 24,072,320

Value(N) N311,311,788.26 N14,060,975.14 N323,135,169.45 N161,941,612.65 N787,994,298.70

5 Top Gainers

Symbols Last Close STANBIC N43.2 GUARANTY N31.55 NB N60 ACCESS N5.6 MAYBAKER N2.3

Current Change %Change N46 2.8 6.48% N34 2.45 7.77% N60.2 0.2 0.33% N5.7 0.1 1.79% N2.38 0.08 3.48%

5 Top Losers NASCON ETI DANGCEM DANGSUGAR NEM

N20 N19.05 -0.95 N11.25 N10.5 -0.75 N185.5 N185 -0.5 N13.75 N13.45 -0.3 N2.33 N2.1 -0.23

-4.75% -6.67% -0.27% -2.18% -9.87%

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

BUSINESS

Nine Heads of State to attend US-Africa Business seminar in June

he Corporate Council on Africa has announced that nine Heads of State in Africa are scheduled to attend the 12th U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Maputo, Mozambique beginning from June 18 and ending 21, 2019. In a statement, the names of the following presidents are on the attendance list: King Mswati III, Kingdom of Eswatini; H.E. Filipe Nyusi, President, Republic of Mozambique; H.E. Paul Kagame, President, Republic of Rwanda; H.E. Hage Geingob, President, Republic of Namibia; H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta, President, Republic of Kenya; H.E. José Mário Vaz, President, Republic of Guinea-Bissau; H.E. Peter Mutharika, President, Republic of Malawi; H.E. Edgar Lungu, President, Republic of Zambia; H.E. Mokgweetsi Masisi, President, Republic of Botswana. The Summit will bring together more than 1,000 leading U.S. and African private sector executives, international investors, senior government officials and multilateral stakeholders. Themed “Advancing a Resilient and Sustainable Partnership”, CCA’s 2019 Summit will engage key U.S. and African government officials and decision makers to discuss their strategies, vision and initiatives to facilitate increased business and investment. According to the statement,the Summit will provide several opportunities for business executives to meet heads-of-state, ministers and high-level U.S. and African government decision makers to advocate for their business interests. The Summit will also serve as a platform for businesses to hear from leading U.S and African industry experts on best practices in sectors including agribusiness, energy, health, infrastructure, ICT and finance; explore new business and investment opportunities, meet and network with potential business partners and obtain real-time leads; and advocate to shape effective U.S.-Africa trade and investment policies. Since its inception in 1997, the U.S.Africa Business Summit has been considered an essential conference for U.S. and African private sector executives, government officials and multilateral stakeholders interested in doing business in Africa. Corporate Council on Africa is the leading U.S. business association focused solely on connecting business interests between the United States and Africa. CCA uniquely represents a broad cross section of member companies from small and medium size businesses to multinationals as well as U.S. and African firms.

• Donald Trump

ECA, ECE to convene international PPP forum T By JEROME USHAKANG

he Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and its sister regional commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), will in May convene the 4th International Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) forum in Geneva. The Forum, which will run from 7-9 May, 2019 under the theme: The Last Mile: Promoting People-first PPPs for the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, aims to increase the expertise of governments to identify, negotiate, manage and implement successful PPPs projects, says ECA’s Eunice Ajambo. In a statement, Ms. Ajambo, an Economic Affairs Officer in the Macroeconomics and Governance Division at the ECA, said the forum will examine actions needed to strengthen the PPP model by increasing collaboration between the public and private sectors and identifying ways in which stakeholder engagement can be increased, among others.

The ECA will focus a session on the “Role of African PPP Units in Implementing PPPs.” Collaboration between the public and private sectors is increased through the exchange of knowledge and experiences of PPPs by member States, including experts from the two sectors, particularly in the identification and testing of best practice. Forum outcomes will feed into Sustainable Development Goal 17 - To strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development, and particularly the targets to mobilize additional financial resources for developing countries from multiple sources; and enhance international support for implementing effective and targeted capacity-building in developing countries to support national plans to implement all the sustainable development goals. With only a decade to the expiration of the 2030 Agenda, the impetus to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals remains an imperative. In

2019, the ECA’s Economic Report on Africa estimates that the continent’s financing needs for the SDGs range from $614 billion to $638 billion a year. Africa’s annual financing needs for infrastructure, food security, health, education and climate change mitigation alone are estimated at $210 billion. Mobilizing the various means of implementation to finance the SDGs has been an ongoing quest for African countries, with member States and partners exploring various financing instruments and seeking ways to strengthen existing ones. The Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development (AAAA), of the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development, calls for the consideration of the financing mix for the SDGs. It recognizes that “both public and private investment have key roles to play in infrastructure financing... “. Blended finance instruments including PPP serve to lower investmentspecific risks and incentivize additional private sector finance across key

development sectors led by regional, national and subnational government policies and priorities for sustainable development... “ The ECA estimates that a total of 29 African countries have PPP Units. The Commission’s recent analysis and consultations with member States and other private sector stakeholders showcase continuous challenges, including the financial and efficiency gains of PPPs, in addition to the need for capacity to develop, structure, manage and evaluate PPPs, given their associated risks. Yet PPPs are a necessary component of the funding mix. They augment government budgets, and are thus an opportunity for resource mobilization and engagement with partners, including the private sector. “They are an alternative to full privatization and its related weaknesses, and they help solve the dire need for public services and goods, if structured and managed well. There exist best practices where PPPs have been successful,” said Ms. Ajambo as she stressed the importance of the Forum.

FG, States spend N428bn to Service debt in 2018

T L – R shows Chief Financial Officer, Access Bank Plc, Mr. Seyi Kumapayi; Non- Executive Director, Access Bank Plc, Dr. Mrs. Ajoritsedere Awosika; Chief Executive Officer, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Oscar N. Onyema OON; Group Managing Director/CEO, Access Bank Plc, Mr. Herbert Wigwe; Group Deputy Managing Director, Executive Director, Access Bank Plc, Mr. Roosevelt Ogbonna ; Executive Director, Personal Banking Division, Mr. Victor Etuokwu during the Closing Gong Ceremony in commemoration of the successful merger of Access Bank Plc and Diamond Bank Plc and Listing of the N15b Corporate Green Bond.

UBA rewards 20 more customers with N30 million in Wise Savers Promo

nited Bank for Africa (UBA) has rewarded another 20 customers who emerged winners in the second quarterly draw of the UBA Wise Savers Promo with N1.5 million each, bringing the total amount won by 40 customers so far to N60 million. The electronic raffle draw which was held at UBA House on Thursday 18th of April, was witnessed by the Consumer Protection Council, National Lottery Regulatory Commission and Lagos State Lottery, Board. Lucky winners who emerged in the second edition, cut across all regions of the country. They include Alli Abiodun Ganiu, Tari E Francis; Onah Joseph, Okwandu Faith Ezinne, Igwedinma Chiedozie Onyekachi, Mgbakor Edmund Eke, Nwokoye Adeseye Ifeanyichukwu and Achi Sheyin Micheal. Others are Onyekwuluje Christiana Osho; Ibilola U Okeke; Amos Luka, Mukhtar Halima, Musa Abubakar, Olanrewaju Kolade David; Okongwu Hillary Chidinma; Loretta O Okodua; Adeyemo Biodun Adeola; Oyewusi Oyeyinka Abidemi; Adeola O Adewumi and Anyanwu Vivian. The promo, which commenced in September last year is expected to run till September 30, 2019, and will see another 40 customers from across Nigeria become millionaires, winning N60 million in the remaining

quarters of the year. At the end of the promo, a total of N120 million will have been won by 80 customers. Speaking during the event, UBA’s Executive Director, Ayo Liadi, expressed satisfaction at the level of response received from customers across the country, adding that the campaign was targeted at rewarding loyal customers and also inculcating in them the habit of saving regularly. He noted that there was a remarkable increase in the number of participants in this edition compared to the previous one, adding that the bank’s objective of helping customers’ save for the rainy day is being achieved. He said: “It is very easy to spend money but to save is a habit all must imbibe. Our key objective is to encourage our customers to save regularly. We are here to support our customers and to encourage them to save as well.” Ayo Liadi urged other customers to take advantage of the subsequent opportunities the remaining two quarterly draws offer. According to Liadi: “There is no better time to give back and delight customers than this challenging economic period where people need all the support they can get to make life more meaningful. With this in mind we decided to prioritise our customers as we always do at UBA by giving them plenty to cheer about and that

is the reason why another 20 more customers have been made millionaires today”. “During the recent cheque presentation to the first quarter lucky winners, I watched with bated breath how happy and elated each of the winners became. You could easily see the joy and happiness in their eyes indicating that the N1.5m would make a huge impact in their lives. That in itself will spur us to do more in fulfilling their dreams” he said. Head Retail Liabilities, Tomiwa Sotiloye, while explaining that the promo was consistent with the bank’s novel initiatives in prioritizing customers, said that it was necessitated by the invaluable belief the Bank has in its customers. “We will continue to listen and give them nothing short of the best that they deserve. UBA will not relent, because we are impressed with the impact this has made so far and will continue to touch the lives of our loyal customers positively”. Sotiloye noted. The criteria for qualifying for the draw is to save at least N30,000 in your UBA savings account or in instalments of N10,000 each for a period of three months. Those yet to be UBA customers can open a savings account on any of our numerous bank channels including Magic Banking (*919*20#) and LEO, or in any of the UBA branches across the country, and start saving.

he Federal government and the 36 states have spent a total of N428.4 billion to service external debt amounting to N7.76 trillion ($25.3 billion) in 2018. National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which disclosed this in a report titled, “Nigeria’s Foreign and Domestic Debt position for Fourth Quarter, and 2018’,added that the amount spent on external debt services represents 4.7 percent of the N9.1 trillion approved budget for 2018. The report showed that the country’s external debt rose by 33.8 percent to N7.76 trillion ($25.3 billion) in 2018 from N5.8 trillion ($18.91 billion) in 2017. Further disaggregation of Nigeria’s external debt revealed that multilateral debt stood at $11.01 billion and accounted for $249.05 million or 16.92 percent of the total external debt service. Bilateral debt (AFD) which stood at $344.63 million accounted for $150.36 million or 10.21 percent of the external debt service figure, while $11.17 billion of the external debt which was commercial (basically Eurobonds and diaspora bonds), accounted for $1.03 billion or 70.03 percent of the total external debt service. Others, comprising of agency fees and oil warrants, accounted for the remaining $41.75 million or 2.84 percent of the total external debt service fee. Meanwhile the country’s total public debt comprising of foreign and domestic debts rose by 12 percent to N24.39 trillion in December 2018 from N21.73 trillion in December 2018. Further analysis showed that the domestic debt rose by 4.3 percent to N16.63 trillion in December 2018 from N15.94 trillion in December 2017. Lagos State took the lead with the highest foreign debt profile among the thirty-six states and the FCT, accounting for 5.64 percent of the total debt, while Edo (1.09 percent), Kaduna (0.90 percent) and Cross River (0.75 percent) followed closely. Similarly, Lagos State accounting for 3.19 percent of the total domestic debt stock, while Yobe State has the least debt stock with a contribution of 0.17 percent to the total domestic debt stock.

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

ENERGY Aiteo to re-stream NCTL after quenching fire Sopuruchi Onwuka

ndigenous energy group, Aiteo, has declared total control of the fire outbreak on the Nembe Creek Trunkline (NCTL), saying it is currently working to bring the crude export conduit back online. Aiteo said it has mobilized specialized equipment to the swamps for “remedial action to facilitate a quick return (of the pipeline) to full functionality.” Corporate spokesman, Mr. Ndiana Mathew, said post incident damage evaluation has been activated with constitution of a joint inspection team comprising representatives of all stakeholders. He said the team comprising security forces, regulatory agencies, community representatives and Aiteo personnel would embark on a joint investigation visit (JIV) to the site in line with regulatory requirements. “This team is expected at the incident site imminently,” Mr. Ndiana stated, adding that some culprits have been apprehended by security agencies on suspicion of complicity in the fire incident. The arrests, he said, followed confirmation by the joint security task force that saboteurs were responsible for the incident. He added that some culprits arrested in connection with the incident would be subjected to the processes of the law. The Oracle Today reports that Aiteo declared shut down of the critical NCTL following fire incident that sparked on April 21. Consequently, third party producers that flow their production through the facility were forced to shut in crude oil production or seek alternative export means. Aiteo said urgent intervention and containment action by the operations emergency response team entailed shut down of the facility. Aiteo stated that the NCTL operated smoothly until the incident, adding that the fire might have occurred through an illegitimate, third party breach. Aiteo Group is founded by Benedict Peters. The company has significant business interests in oil and gas exploration and production; bulk petroleum storage; refining of petroleum products; trading, marketing and supply as well as power generation and distribution. Its subsidiaries are Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company Limited (AEEPCo) and Aiteo Power. Aiteo Group acquired OML 29 from Royal Dutch Shell and emerged as Nigeria’s leading oil and gas company after successfully tripling production level.

• AITEO founder, Benedict Peters

MX Oil plans name change as Aje ops turn cash positive By SOPURUCHI ONWUKA

rojections of oil and gas production from the offshore Aje field has beat reserves auditors’ forecast to post increasing positive revenue outlook for all stakeholders in the asset’s development and operations; and key operating partner, MX Oil Plc, is realigning its share structure to reward major risk bearers and facilitators. The company declared in investor relations statements that production numbers, unit prices of oil barrel in the export market and reserves estimates are all in the positive to justify a share rebase programme that would now compress the total share profile of MX Oil Plc. The board of AIM-listed MX Oil Plc is said to considering proposing a change of name and a share capital reorganization following its recent fundraising. The plan came after the company issued an update of Aje field production and revenue returns outlook, detailing greater reserves estimates, steady production numbers and shorter break-even period. MX Oil revealed that production from Aje field remained broadly consistent at 3,150 barrels of oil per day (bpd) since early February, leading the operating partners to successfully conclude 10th crude oil lifting

from the field in March. The company stated that its current operating costs remain in range with no visible demand for capital expenditure in the short term. “As a result, it is expected that the project will only require two further liftings and sales of the oil to repay the liabilities at project level and to start generating free cash flow for the investors. MX’s assumption is based on normal operating conditions, the current price of oil and continued production from Aje remaining stable,” MX Oil’s CEO, Stefan Oliver, declared in a statement. The company also said that the technical work by RPS only remains further scenario-based evaluation to complete in the second quarter of the year. It added that production modeling of the two Aje wells by both AGR Tracs and the RPS Group shows that the wells hold greater reserves potentials indicated by stagnation in the rate of production decline. The result is that the proven and probable (2P) reserves of the producing wells are expected to increase and AGR Tracs are working on an update to the CPR. Based on revenue assumptions MX anticipates that the Aje investment should start producing positive cash flow from first quarter of 2020 and move the company into

profitability. Mr. Oliver stated: “I am pleased to be able to update the market with regards to the most recent cargo sale and Aje’s operations more generally. Aje has now completed 10 cargo sales, the cash flow from which has enabled the partners to repay material amounts of debt held at partnership level. “Assuming normal operating conditions, current production rates and oil price, we estimate that two further liftings of similar size and value to our last, should result in project level debt being repaid or significantly reduced Once this debt is repaid, assuming the factors above, our investment should generate free cash flow from each cargo sale which are estimated to cover all the company’s operating overheads at current levels, allowing the company to move to profitability. “It has been a difficult journey and I would like to thank shareholders for their continued patience. I am optimistic that we will shortly be in a position to provide regular updates from this point onwards.” In a subsequent statement he said the board of the company was in the process of preparing a circular to shareholders of MX Oil Plc to convene a general meeting to consider a resolution to change the Company name from ‘MX Oil plc’ to ‘ADM En-

ergy plc’; and consolidate the ordinary shares on the basis of 1 consolidated ordinary share of 1p for every 100 existing ordinary shares of 0.01p each thereby reducing the number of shares in issue, after the issue of 36 shares, from 4,471,349,700 to 44,713,497. The Oracle Today learnt that the rationale for the name change to ADM Energy plc follows the recent strategic investment by Shaikh Ahmed Bin Dalmook Al Maktoum. Shaikh Al Maktoum is reputed to hold an extensive network of influential contacts within the oil and gas industry, which the board of MX Oil regards as an important opportunity for the company. Further, the Board considers the Consolidation will help present the company in a more attractive light to institutional and high net worth investors. According to Mr. Oliver, “Our recent announcements have shown the significant developments occurring in the company. We are pleased with the progress of our Aje investment and, with the support of a new influential shareholder, the company has been repositioned to take advantage of opportunities that were previously out of our reach. I look forward to updating the market with our progress.”

Wärtsilä to supply LNG engines to Nigerian cement factory

• LNG terminal

NNPC Clears Top Awards at Enugu International Trade Fair

fter an impressive performance at the recently concluded 40th Kaduna International Trade Fair, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has once again cleared all the major prizes at the 30th Enugu International Trade Fair, including the Overall Best Participating Organization award. The awards which were presented to the corporation’s contingent at the closing ceremony are: the Overall Best and Most Colorful Pavilion; Best Organization with Courteous Personnel; Most Valuable, Impressive and Consistent Participating Corporate Organization; Best Organized Corporate Special Day; and the Most Reputation Conscious Participating Organization. NNPC also swept four awards at the 2018 edition of the fair which was attended by the Group Manag-

ing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru. The Corporation also won four prizes at the just concluded Kaduna International Trade Fair. The GMD who was at the NNPC Special Day at the Kaduna International Trade Fair a fortnight ago commended the Group Public Affairs Division for the impressive performance and for emerging the best exhibitor at last year’s edition. Speaking at the closing ceremony of the Enugu Trade Fair, Governor of Enugu State, Chief Emeka Ugwanyi, commended participants at the fair while calling on more corporate organisations to leverage on the peaceful atmosphere to invest in the state. The Governor who had earlier visited the NNPC Pavilion during the fair, commended NNPC on its CSR initiatives, especially the annual Na-

tional Science Quiz Competition, which was won by Enugu State in 2018. Governor Ugwanyi who was represented by the Commissioner of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Sam Ogbu Nwobodo, expressed gratitude to the management and staff of the NNPC while assuring them of safety of its facilities in his domain. In his closing remarks, President of Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA), Sir Emeka Udeze, thanked all exhibitors for their patronage while inviting them to next year’s edition. He commended NNPC for its consistency and quality representation, adding that ECCIMA was proud of its relationship with the corporation and would continue to partner with it for the overall interest of the nation.

innish technology group Wärtsilä has reached agreement to supply Nigerian cement factor, BUA Group, with dual-fueled engine power plant that will power a new factory in northern part of the country. Wärtsilä said the 48 MW plant was ordered by the BUA Group following the decision to construct a new cement line in Sokoto. The plant will operate without connection to the grid and provide the power needed to serve the new cement line 3 at the Sokoto cement production facility. It will operate on five Wärtsilä 34DF dual-fuel engines running primarily on LNG but with the capability to switch to low pour fuel oil if necessary, unlike the facility’s two existing power plants which operate on heavy fuel oil. The new Wärtsilä solution will run on clean-burning LNG and will have a far lower environmental impact. The equipment is scheduled for delivery at the end of 2019, and the new plant is expected to become operational in mid-2020.

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

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EDITORIAL Don’t let your Mother Tongue die U

considered a “villager”. Of the three major NESCO deserves commendation for languages (out of perhaps 300 others), instituting the International Mother the most neglected has been Igbo; Yoruba Tongue Day first observed on February comes second, and Hausa next. Yet, most of 21, 2000. It is symbolic, for it was particuthose who speak English in Nigeria do not larly chosen to honour four students who even speak it well: they cannot pronounce stood against all odds for the reinstatewords correctly, and, when they write, they ment of their mother tongue as a national murder the language with bad grammar. language in Eastern Pakistan. The BengaliA “de-culturised” society, it is said, breeds speaking people who constituted the homosexuality and total failure of systems majority of the province demanded inauresulting in senseless murders and mutilaguration of their language as the official tions, lack of respect for societal symbols – language, as opposed to Urdu which the just about everything we are witnessing in government had instituted as a national Nigeria today. Is it any wonder that today’s language. The students who joined in the children no longer recognize crimes as mass protest and extensive campaigning crimes? Is it strange that suicide bombing, for their right died in the process. once thought to be alien, has found a home They did not die in vain, however. The govin Nigeria today? ernment resisted the protesters initially The theorists of languages predict that several but gave in on February 21, 1952. And years of mother-tongue instruction always Bengali became the official language in lead to a better second-language acquisiPakistan on February 29, 1956. tion than being instructed in that second It is almost impossible to find any group of language from the first day of school. Today, Nigerians protesting for recognition of many countries are looking for novel ways their indigenous language like the heroic to ensure the easiest and most effective students from Pakistan. The mark of an learning method for their students: mother “educated” person in Nigeria is their abiltongue is canvassed as one of the ways. ity to speak English. If you chatted with Not yet in Nigeria. Is there any educated Nigefriends in your mother tongue, you are rian today that does not consider his native tongue inferior to the English language? As minister of education in the late 1980s, Prof. Babs Fafunwa ensured that every student studied a Nigerian language. He had quoted from a study conducted then that showed students would learn better if they were taught all subjects in their mother tongue. And we believe he was right. How many books today are written in Ijaw, Urhobo or Gwari? History has been abolished in Nigerian schools, and the study of indigenous languages is threatened also. Where are the proud speakers and writers of the Igbo language today? Many “educated” Igbo avoid speaking the language even in their own homes. Apparently in a bid to rebuke such foolish people, Ndigbo in the United States annually celebrate their heritage. One’s language is their identity, for everyone thinks in his language. Igbo parents who discourage their kids from speaking the language are fools who deserve 10 years in jail. Those whose language is on the brink of extinction like Ndigbo would do well to think deeply and begin to walk back from the brink. Nigerians, especially the “nouveau elite” members, are reminded that English is a bor-

rowed language and can neither convey nor institutionalise our core values in children. It cannot substitute for any of our local languages. Wa, zo, bia all Nigerians. Shame on any tribe that allows its mother tongue to go into extinction! The Hausa have an adage, “Whoever leaves home, the home leaves it.” Our first language, that beautiful sound we heard while still in the womb, plays an important role in shaping our thoughts and emotions. A child’s psychological and personality development depends largely on what has been conveyed through the mother tongue. Our heritage, cultural and traditional values are all preserved in the mother tongue – it’s our identity, a reflection of who we are and what we stand for. And who would disagree with the great Nelson Mandela? “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” In the face of the multicultural diversity that has led to many conflicts in Nigeria, we should celebrate this diversity and appreciate its strength and power. Parents are urged to make concerted efforts to help their children develop good literacy skills in their first language. Education policymakers in countries with multiple languages such as Nigeria should continue the efforts of people like Fafunwa. Our Vision TO BE among the top five newspapers in Nigeria and, in due course, the Numero Uno; to be a newspaper of records that effectively caters to the information needs of all segments and sections of the Nigerian society as well as all social classes and cultures. Essentially, we want to be a responsible corporate citizen, a commercially viable, properly organised media business, which meets its obligations to society, government and the workforce. Mission WE INTEND to contribute to the development of an inclusive Nigerian society, with a view to getting rid of the dark sides of our national life (slothfulness, greed, corruption, nepotism, totalitarianism, etc); to continually engender and sustain national debates that would ultimately lead to the enthronement of healthy national values--hard-work, justice, equity and fairplay, transparency, good governance, resulting, in themselves, the egalitarian Nigerian society of our dream. We will give voice to the voiceless and at all times, strive to be balanced, objective, honest, truthful and fair to all sides; so that through The Oracle Today, our people, the Nigerian people can see a bright light at the end of what has been a very dark tunnel. And we shall do all this in absolute trust in God who blesses good intentions.

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 -30, 2019

OPINION Atiku’s citizenship and Buhari’s ‘illiterate lawyers By FAROOK KPEROGI

he law of attraction says like attracts like, which explains why Muhammadu Buhari is a magnet for mediocrities. Almost all his appointees are, like him, underwhelming, intellectually incurious rubes. It’s no wonder that even the lawyers he assembled to defend his unprecedentedly audacious electoral robbery are also risible dolts. Take, for example, Festus Keyamo, Buhari’s reelection campaign spokesman and one of the lawyers defending his stolen mandate. In the run-up to the presidential election, Keyamo took self-righteous umbrage at scientific polls that predicted that Buhari would lose the election, and his point of attack against the polls was that pollsters merely sampled a little over a thousand Nigerians even though Nigeria’s population is close to 200 million! He wondered why neither he nor anyone he knew had been polled! Apparently, Keyamo has no earthly clue that scientific opinion polls base their snapshots and predictions on something called sampling and that 1,000 is a fair sample to make predictive statements about potential voting behaviors. Gallup, which has accurately predicted American presidential elections since 1944—except in 1948, 1976, 2004 and 2016—polls no more than 1,000 people. You don’t poll every member of a population to make generalizable predictions about the population in research. Every first-year Nigerian university student learns about random sampling in introductory research methods classes. But a self-important lawyer who is defending presidential electoral fraud is clueless about this. It isn’t only research illiteracy that plagues members of Buhari’s legal team. They are also constitutional and historical illiterates. Their constitutional and historical illiteracy is instantiated by their claim that PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar should never have been allowed to run for president because he “is not a citizen of Nigeria by birth” since he was born in what was called British Cameroons, which later became the Sardauna

Province of Northern Nigeria in 1961. Many lawyers have already pointed out the scorn-worthy constitutional illiteracy that that sort of reasoning evinces. The Nigerian constitution unambiguously accords the same rights and privileges to people born in British Northern Cameroon as it does to those born in the defunct Southern Nigeria Protectorate and the defunct Northern Nigeria Protectorate. In any case, Atiku’s paternal and maternal forebears migrated from what is now Sokoto and Jigawa states respectively to what later became British Northern Cameroon. The Nigerian constitution recognizes anyone who is descended from any of the ethnic groups that are indigenous to what is now Nigeria as a Nigerian. Atiku’s paternal forebear came to the Jada area of what was later British Northern Cameroon from Wurno in present-day Sokoto State, which has historically been inhabited by Fulani and Hausa people. By our patrilineal traditions of descent, Atiku isn’t even truly native to Jada; he is from Wurno. For the sake of argument, let’s assume that Atiku’s ancestors had always lived in British Northern Cameroon. Well, Buhari’s lawyers betrayed historical illiteracy in thinking that British Cameroons is and has always been synonymous with modern Cameroon. In the 19th century, the German Empire, like other avaricious European powers, expropriated a huge swathe of land in west and central Africa, which it called “Kamerun.” However, in the aftermath of the First World War (which is actually more properly a First European War), Germany was dispossessed of Kamerun along with other lands it had exploited. In 1922, the League of Nations divvied up Kamerun between Britain and France. France renamed its own portion of the territory “Cameroun” and Britain renamed its own “Northern Cameroon” and “Southern Cameroon.” The two territories are non-contiguous. Britain retained control of Northern Cameroon and Southern Cameroon in 1946, the year Atiku was born, after the United Na-

tions, which replaced the League of Nations in 1945, reclassified the Cameroons as “UN Trust territories.” On February 11, 1961, “subjects” of British Northern Cameroon, which had been governed by the same British colonizers that governed Nigeria, voted to join newly independent Nigeria. In other words, an independent British Northern Cameroon never existed at any point in history, and no one was ever its “citizen.” So which country do Buhari’s nescient lawyers expect people born in British Northern Cameroon to go and be president of? Or do they expect them to be stateless— or be second-class citizens in Nigeria— because of the historical accident of once being governed as British Northern Cameroon? People born in British Northern Cameroon were never part of French Cameroun, which became independent in January 1960. They were even different from British Southern Cameroon, which voted to become part of French Cameroun the same day that British Northern Cameroon voted to be integrated to independent Nigeria. In fact, both northern and southern Cameroons were administered from Nigeria, a reason a prominent preindependence Nigerian political party was called the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons. It’s transparent that Buhari’s lawyers are merely clutching at straws to salvage their client’s indefensibly reprehensible electoral heist. When a theft is as blatant and as easily detectable as Buhari’s, you can’t invoke the resources of knowledge and logic to defend it. When Atiku’s legal team first pointed out that INEC’s own data, stored on its server, showed that Buhari lost the election to Atiku by nearly two million votes, Buhari’s lawyers—and supporters— made fun of the claim. However, they stopped laughing when they were confronted with overwhelming evidence. They went from laughing to claiming that Atiku’s agents had “hacked” into INEC’s server to gain access to— and “manipulate”— it, and even called for the arrest of members of the Atiku team. Meanwhile,

INEC, which got hundreds of millions of naira to maintain a server and train staff to operate it, was told to say that it did not have any election results on its server. Well, how can Atiku’s agents “hack” into and even “manipulate” data on a server that has no record of election results? Let us, for now, not even ask what INEC did with the hundreds of millions of naira it budgeted for a server to house election results. Where does it keep the record of the last election? Why is it reluctant to give its record of the results, if it has any, to the Atiku team even when the election tribunal says it should? This is downright conscienceless villainy. Now that Atiku has enlisted the expert intervention of Microsoft and IBM to authenticate his claim that the electronic record of the presidential election stored on INEC’s server is inconsistent with the results the compromised and morally putrid chairman of INEC announced, there is panic in the Presidential Villa, and Buhari’s ignorant lawyers are engaging in comical, illiterate rhetorical antics for the sole purpose of diversion. There are also unconfirmed reports that the DSS has arrested a whole host of INEC’s IT staff members on suspicion that they were the conduits through which the Atiku team got access to the authentic results of the presidential election, which shows that Buhari lost to Atiku. So the Buhari team went from vain boasts of triumphalism, to vacuous laughter when their electoral robbery was exposed, to panic when firm, irreproachable evidence of this robbery was presented, then to comical diversions, and now to illegal arrests of INEC’s IT staff. What’s next? Strangulation and intimidation of the judiciary, which started before the election with the illegal firing of the Chief Justice of Nigeria. The judiciary is now practically impotent. This is undisguisedly full-blown fascism. •Professor KPEROGI, an acclaimed public affairs commentator, first published this article on FB

Appraising Chadwick’s “Day Break In Udi” (2) By DONS EZE the most strikiing project which Proaderhaps, Chadwick was proud to showcase was the “connecting Owa Clan Native Court and

the Clan Native Administration Dispensary”, which took two months to complete, with “12,000 man-days of free labour”. On completion, the road was named “IKE DIMKPA (by the power of a strong man)”, he stated. Chadwick mentioned some political implications of the scheme to include, increased participation of women in governance as they now come freely to ask for government assistance in their felt needs like building of maternity homes, evoking spirit of community consciousness, spirit of civic duty or patriotism, fewer internal squabbles in communities, and competitiveness among different communities for carrying out projects, among others. From his observations after five years of implementing the programme, Chadwick maintained that “communal development is most successful among those groups of people in which group consciousness is strongest”. “Development should not be forced”, he stated, adding that “it is desirable that the people should come of their own to ask permission to start work, and should be allowed to choose their own projects.” Chadwick was particularly happy with the Agbaja people (people of present Udi and Ezeagu) for the successes recorded by the programme in the area and recommended that it be extended to other areas. “In view of the achievements of the Abaja Clan in Udi Division, the question naturally arises as to whether other Ibo clans can do as well, he asked. Chadwick answered thus: “My guess is that they probably can now that the Abajas have shown the way and set the pace. It must be

remembered, however, that the Abajas are particularly suited by temperament and social organization for an experiment of this kind. “Their indigenous organization with its age grades that are responsible for communal labour, is still for the most part intact, and consequently that most valuable thing, namely community consciousness, is strong in the communities within the Abaja clan. It is stronger in Abaja clan than in any other Ibo clan I know, and I have known many. I should say, therefore, that some Ibo clans may equal the Abaja Clan eventually in achievement, but I doubt whether any will surpass them,” he stated. Evaluating Chadwick There is no doubt that Chadwick’s programme had stimulated development activities in the former Udi Division. The programme was actually in line with the modern development paradign of community driven development. This means that Chadwick was innovative and ahead of his time. Many communities were said to have capitalized on the programme to establish their own adult literacy classes and to embark on self help development projects. That was why the programme had attracted worldwide acclaim. The question, however, was whether Chadwick’s method was actually voluntary, people coming out on their own to choose their projects without somebody looking across their shoulders. In other words, it is whether or not Chadwick had employed force to get people to key into his programme? Christiana Eneh in a drama sketch of the Aba-Ugwu Festival of Okpatu, depicted Chadwick as a terror who had always used forced labour to drive his programm, and the people would resent him and abuse him in Okpatu dialect.

According to the play, Chadwick, represented by an actor costumed in “baggy khaki shots, big long sleeve shirt, hose, and canvas shoes, would be bombarding the perplexed villages with question and orders thus: “What is your name? Are you married? How many children have you?... You must be washing your clothes. You must send your children to school. Your wife has to stop child-bearing. Prepare now and follow us to Udi for some jobs.” The people would resent Chadwick, and they will abuse him in a language he would not understand, while the wives would be sad that their husbands had been conscripted into Chadwick’s work. Growing up in the villages some few decades ago, we were entertained with a song that went thus: “Chadwick shilum bialu ya olu”, and the refrain was “omaja”. “Chi abo hu ututu m jelu ya olu. Chi agba hu efifie o shielu m akpu. M shi ya Chadwick a na elicha akpu eli? O shim shut up ya machiem anya. M shi ya Chadwick n’ijeko kwe anwu. Oga-ala ulu ani n’ekwe Nduma onwu” Literary translated as follows: “Chadwick had invited me to do his work. In the morning I set out to do his work. In the afternoon he brought casava fufu for me to eat. I asked Chadwick whether casava fufu is edible at all. He told me to shut up, else he will slap hell out of me. I told Chadwick that he was definitely going to die. Wicked old man in league with the dead”. From that song, we were able to deduce that the people were being forced to do “Chadwick’s work”. At the end of the day, he gave them casava fufu to eat, which at that time, was a taboo to every free citizen of Oghe. It was only the followers of the White

man’s God that ate that meal. Children were warned not to visit their homes else they gave them the food and they became infested with portruding stomachs. That was the meal Chadwick gave the people, after doing his work! Tufiakwa! From those two instances, and there could be more, it appears that Chadwick was either a new convert to voluntary communal work or that the report he filed to UNESCO was faked. DON EZE, PH.D, wrote from Enugu

THE GROUP Managing Editor/COO Felix Oguejiofor Abugu Deputy Managing Editor/COO Sopuruchi Onwuka Chairman Editorial Board Igwebike Mbanefo SE/SS Editor Odogwu Emeka Odogwu Acting BDM Kelechi Nze Head, Graphics & Designs Nnamdi Alex Chukwu Circulation Manager Felix Oti

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

HEALTH Causes of Breast Cancer: The debates and the resolutions

Researches are on all over the world to find out the exact causes of breast cancer. Expert oncologists and pathologists as well as other medical professionals are making efforts to resolve the causes in order to know how best to treat it. The exact cause of the breast cancer has remained a mystery. This is because, in some ladies, the cause of the disease in one may not be the cause in the other: viral, bacterial and or fungi risk factors in one person might not be the same in the other persons. The fact that it develops in an organ that is sensitive to oestrogen stimulation and occurs only after puberty suggests that hormonal influence is crucial. The longer the period of oestrogen stimulation as in those women with early menarche, late menopause and few or non pregnancies, the higher the risk for breast cancer development. Nevertheless, although most women in the developed world will have menarche by 12 or 13 years of age, have their first pregnancy immediately after the age of 21 years and have no more than two or three children, breast cancer will not develop in the great majority of these women. A strong family history of breast cancer also is an important risk factor. Breast cancer in first degree relative imparts a relative risk of up to 3 times compared to the general female population. Number of first degree relatives with breast cancer as well as pre-menopausal occurrence and bilaterality of breast cancer in first degree relatives have been associated with even higher relative risk from six to eight times that is in the general female population, but this finding has been debated by some experts. There have been no studies to date that have demonstrated a greater than 40% lifetime risk for the development of breast cancer despite combinations of familial risk factors. The lifetime risk in the general female population today is 20% compare to the former 25% previously speculated. Many patients with breast cancer will present with a history of a breast biopsy for either a palpable breast abnormality or a mammographically detectable lesion. Although, these lesions may have been deemed benign pathologically and labeled fibrocystic disease. There are breast lesions that appear to increase a person’s relative risk of developing breast cancer. These lesions are ductal hyperplasia and atypical ductal and lobular hyperplasia. Most cases of fibrocystic disease of the breast have a large fibrous or cystic component that by itself appear not to have any increased malignant potential when compared with the general population. When epithelial proliferation predominates within the lesion, however, especially when the epithelium appears to be atypical, an increased malignant potential with the breast

is thought to exist. These atypical hyperplasia lesions, typical ductual hyperplasia or atypical lobular hyperplasia, occur in up to 7% of biopsies done for fibrocystic disease and increase a person’s relative risk to five times that of the general female population in the world. Hyperplastic lesions alone also can increase the relative risk of breast cancer in up to two times that in the general female population, however, there is a known inter-observer variability in the degree of hyperplasia found within pathology specimens. Mild hyperplasia has no increased malignant potential, whereas, more florid hyperplastic lesion have a higher malignant potential. In patients with a moderate risk lesion such as atypical hyperplasia, a strong family history may significantly increase that risk. Some experts believe polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons can initiate mammary gland carcinogenesis as can radiation. In human breast cancer, the initiating substances are partly known to be viral, fungi or bacterial. Viral sequences are not identified within the DNA of human breast cancer but initiating infectious agent. Ionizing radiation is thought to initiate breast cancer in Japanese

HEALTH

With Dr. JOHN

NWABUEZE •Calls only: +234-8127227226, Email: ogudoben@gmail.com

atomic bomb survivors and in patients who received early and frequent fluoroscopy from tuberculosis. So, radiation and tuberculosis fluoroscopy are identified as causes of breast cancer in some cases. It does not appear, however, that radiation is an important initiator in most human breast cancer patients. But that leaves chemical initiation in humans as the most likely cause, although the compounds important in the process are yet to be identified. Tumour promotion is the process whereby the already existing malignant cancerous cells undergo reversible expansion in population as well as a further reversible alteration in the DNA. In human breast can-

cer, the following step most likely is related to hormonal influence, alcohol intake, fat intake, serum lipid content and infections trigger the causes of breast cancer. The two processes important to note in the causes of breast cancer are initiation and promotion of alcoholism and bad lifestyles in the development of clinically apparent breast cancers are speculative. Through epidemiologic studies, it is known that bilateral oophorectomy significantly diminishes the risk for subsequent breast cancer if performed before the age of 35 years. Tamoxifen, a chemotherapy given to women is at maximum a protective effect and reduces recurrence for

the subsequent development of breast cancer. However, intervention at or just beyond the initiation stage in breast cancer might help to reduce the incidence of the clinically apparent disease. The breast cancer is thought to be promoted by prolonged oestrogen stimulation in women with the requisite genetic make up. Physiologically, prolonged oestrogen stimulation occurs with early menarche, late menopause and in the absence of pregnancy. In a trend towards younger age of menarche, late menopause, decreased parity and later age of first pregnancy is occurring. Several studies have demonstrated a statistically significant increase in breast cancer risk with age at first pregnancy over 35 years. Conversely, first pregnancy before the age of 18 years appears to lower the risk of subsequent breast cancer, presumably because the cyclic oestrogen effect on the breast is temporarily interrupted at a more influential period in breast cancer development. In the United States as well as in Nigeria, the use of oral contraceptives has plateaued, although the incidence of breast cancer continues to rise. Many studies have been performed looking at the possible risk cause of breast cancer with the use of oral contraceptives; results have been mixed overall. Earlier published reports by World Health suggested a positive correlation, especially in women who began taking oral contraceptives before the age of 25 years and in those with prolonged use. Criticism arose, however, with regards to patient’s accrual and follow-up. Most recently, studies have suggested statistically significant correlation of breast cancer cause between the use of oral contraceptives and breast cancer development. Knowing the causes of breast cancer is good, but the application principles of the knowledge in order to avoid the cancer are better. The knowledge of the causes of breast cancer is prerequisite to prevention approach to eliminating the breast cancer. The female body is physiologically different from the male. Lifestyles like indulging in alcoholism, smoking, exposing body to free radicals and environmental wastes, drug abuse and self medication and so on are such things to be avoided in order to be free from breast cancer. •Dr. John Nwabueze Calls only: +234-8127227226, Email: ogudoben@gmail.com

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

ENERGY

NLNG’s LNG Akwa Ibom lands cargo in UK

xport cargo movements from Nigeria tracked by The Oracle Today show that gas from the country was billed for discharge at an LNG facility in the United Kingdom on Tuesday. The cargo from Banny Island is part of the two billed for reception at liquefied natural gas terminals located at the United Kingdom’s Milford Haven waterway in the week. According to shipping sources, the Dragon LNG terminal was scheduled to receive a cargo transported onboard the 141,000 cubic meters LNG Akwa Ibom liquefied natural gas carrier from Nigeria on Tuesday. The second cargo is heading to the South Hook liquefied natural gas terminal. Milford Haven shipping data shows the Q-Max LNG carrier Al Mayeda, transporting a Qatari cargo is scheduled to dock at the facility on April 26. The Dragon LNG terminal at Waterston, Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire, is owned by Shell (50 percent) and Petronas (50 percent). The facility has a maximum gas send out rate to the NTS of 7.6 billion cubic meters of gas per annum. The terminal can supply up to 10 percent of the UK’s energy needs. The South Hook LNG terminal, owned by Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil and Total, can provide around 20 percent of Britain’s natural gas requirements. Meanwhile, Nigeria’s African competitor, Equatorial Guinea, is seeking LNG buyers post 2020 as its contract with Shell runs to its end. Marketing sources said Equatorial Guinea would have to find buyers for its LNG supplies from 2020 onwards or face storage build up. The country is in talks with inde-

pendent and state-owned companies as well as traders to close down deals with terms varying from 3 to 5 years. Equatorial Guinea’s minister for mines and hydrocarbons, Gabriel Obiang Lima, told agency sources that the country also plans to lift royalties from future LNG exports from the current 12.5 percent to close to 50 percent. He noted the government invited potential buyers to make them aware of the possibilities, adding that talks are being held with Total of France, Shell, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), Lukoil of Russia, Swiss trading company Vitol and a joint venture between Lukoil and NewAge. The Marathon Oil-operated EG LNG facility, currently being supplied from the Alba field is expected to cut down on production as sources from the field run out. Marathon Oil has already agreed with the government of Equatorial Guinea to process third-party resources at the facility in order to expand its lifespan. In its statement on Thursday, Houston-based Noble Energy said it has reached an agreement with the Equatorial Guinea government to process the resources from the Alen field at the EG LNG plant. Existing production and processing facilities in place at the Alen platform and in Punta Europa require only minor modifications to produce and process the Alen gas. Noble Energy estimates an incremental 600 billion cubic feet of gross natural gas equivalent resources from the Alen field are recoverable as a result of the project.

Policy correction revives... Contd from page 17 NLNG is estimated at about $4.0 billion (N1.44 trillion) or $500 million (N180 billion) per 1Mmtpa . The initial project cast for the two train plant was approximated at $8.5 billion (3.06 trillion) or $850 million (N306 billion) per 1 Mmtpa, but as the project delayed, cost continued to vary until new figures hovered between $15 billion and $20 billion. Group General Manager in charge of Public Affairs at NNPC, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, explained that cost on project partners had remained at the $1.2 billion (N432 billion) spent on early site preparations. He cited presentations made by Mr. Dikko to House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the expenditure, saying that no further expenditure was made on the project except personnel overhead and sustainable development programmes. Engr. Dikko said that the project which was conceived and designed to assist in monetizing the nation’s abundant natural gas resources, reduce gas flaring, and create employment for the Niger Delta youth, was already at a critical point of Final Investment Destination before the pull out of its major partner, the Conoco Philips. He said as contained in the shareholders’ agreement, Conoco Philips, whose investment value was $192 million received only one dollar as entitlement at the point of exit. NNPC blamed the stagnation of the project on the exit of Conoco Philips, saying the project concept depended readiness of ConocoPhillips to provide the needed technology to drive the process.

Mr. Ughamadu said the remaining shareholders have adopted alternate technology to bring the project alive. He also said reviewed project cost has come to $18 billion (N6.5 trillion). “At inception, the project cost to build the plant was estimated at about $18 billion and not $22 billion, using Optimized Cascade Technology (A Conoco Philips LNG technology) of 2-train (10MTPA). However, this cost estimation was further revised downwards to about $16.5 billion CAPEX value in October, 2016 under project economics comparison that was carried out with PFCES of APCI Case Technology assumption.” Mr. Uhamadu did not specify whether the projects would now be realized on scalable basis as Mr. Obaseki said. In all, with the sideline agreement between government and industry players over policy issues that stall investment, it becoming clearer that the 16 year old Brass LNG project is heating up discussions again, and, according to Chief Operating Officer (COO) in charge of upstream ventures at NNPC, Mr. Rabiu Bello, the corporation and her partners are working together to press forward with investments that yield reciprocal benefits to all stakeholders. Mr. Bello told The Oracle Today that creative approached have been evolved to resolve the longstanding fiscal dispute between the government and commercial players that stake funds and technology in generating value for the country. He cited the NLNG Train-7 as a good example of gains recorded in the new industrygovernment relations.

• NNPC GMD, Maikanti Baru (right) in a handshake with a Nigeria Red Cross official

Scarcity: FG raises inter-agency committee on fuel smuggling

hree key government agencies, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigerian Customs Service and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) have struck collaboration in combating cross border fuel smuggling. Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division of NNPC, Mr, Ndu Ughamadu, stated that the heads of the agencies including Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, the Comptroller General of NCS, Col. Hammed Ali (rtd.) and the Director of the DPR, Mr. Mordecai Ladan, personally held a meeting on best deterrence against supply leakages in the domestic fuel market. He said government is worried by the growing incidents of petroleum products smuggling across the nation’s border towns, leading to agreement by the agencies to inaugurate a Joint Committee to tackle the menace headlong. Dr. Baru stated at the meeting that smuggling of petroleum products across the nation’s borders was causing serious loss to the nation’s revenue generation drive and had been subverting government’s efforts to ensure adequate supply of petroleum products in all parts of the country. Dr. Baru explained that the malaise also denied Nigerians the full benefits

of the goodwill of the current administration. He said: “The negative economic impact of smuggling is that it is undermining Nigeria’s economic growth as huge amount of money is spent in terms of under-recovery. This huge loss is draining the treasury. Remember, these are monies that could be used to develop several critical sectors of the economy.” He said while the corporation had not relented on its efforts to flood the nation’s petroleum products market and avoid shortages at all times, the activities of unscrupulous marketers remained a major concern as diversion and smuggling seem to continue unabated. According to the GMD, available records showed that there was an upsurge in incidents of petroleum products smuggling across Nigeria’s borders in recent months, which is incentivized by high rate of arbitrage, especially considering the high price of petrol in Nigeria’s neighbouring countries. While calling for stiffer punitive measures against unscrupulous marketers found diverting and smuggling petroleum products, Dr. Baru charged the Customs to intensify surveillance along the identified border communities and other suspected areas to check the activities of petroleum

products smugglers. Earlier in his remarks, the CG of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), said the Joint Committee was necessary in order for the three organizations to collaborate and find a lasting solution towards halting smuggling of petroleum products. Ali said working with information on real-time basis, the Service would leave no stone unturned to ensure that smugglers of petroleum products are stopped in their tracks. “We have enough men and resources that can manage the nation’s 4,070km border-line and address this menace once and for all. What we need however is information on realtime basis,” the Customs boss stated. Also speaking, the Director of DPR, Mordecai Ladan, said the Department was open to collaborations with sister government agencies towards addressing the menace of smuggling. Ladan, who attributed the surge in smuggling to high arbitrage and culpability of unlicensed filling stations, said his organisation would not hesitate to name and shame the perpetrators in the nearby future. “As the industry regulator, we are only aware of 1,900 licensed filling stations. We will, however, continue to provide more information for this Joint Committee to succeed,” Ladan stated.

Nigerian Red Cross Society partners NNPC on disaster management

he Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has expressed its readiness to partner the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRSC) towards developing the capacity of the corporation’s staff on disaster management. Group Managing Director of the corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru, disclosed this while receiving the Secretary General of the NRCS, Mr. Abubakar Ahmed Kende, a release by the NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, stated in Abuja. Dr. Baru who described the NRCS’s work as very crucial to human existence and survival, said partnership with the Society would help tremendously in managing disasters and emergency situations across the country. According to the GMD, because disasters usually come unannounced, the best one could do to manage them is to remain ever prepared through consistent trainings and ca-

pacity development. Dr. Baru further noted that as an organisation dealing with highly inflammable hydrocarbons, the NNPC considered safety and disaster management very seriously. “Therefore, as a corporation, we will consider partnering with you in your capacity development programmes so as to empower our personnel on the best ways to manage natural disasters and emergency situations,” Baru stated. He said NNPC had trained a great number of its staff on road safety through the Federal Road Safety Corps’ Special Marshall Programme, with many of them becoming fully certified Special Road Marshalls. He also assured the Society that NNPC’s doors would always be open towards future collaborations which will help to manage disasters and avert emergency situations throughout the country. Earlier in his remarks, the Secretary General of the Society, Mr. Kende,

said when people were trained even on little things such as first aid, they would be empowered to handle critical emergency situations and save lives. He said given the continued existence of conflict situations and natural disasters in Nigeria, there was the need for more collaboration between the Society and other organisations across the country. “Over the years, our vast network of volunteers has lifted millions of Nigerians out of dire situations caused by natural and man-made disasters,” he stated. He further explained that in 2017 alone, the Society responded to 142 serious emergencies in 24 states, and evacuated over 12,000 casualties. Established in 1960 by an Act of Parliament, the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) provides humanitarian services to the most vulnerable groups in the country through its healthcare and disaster management programmes.

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

INSURANCE & PENSION

FBN General NCRIB advocates compulsory building insurance laws Insurance unveils N ClaimsAlert Service Stories by VICTOR NZE

BN General Insurance has launched a new service called FBNGI ClaimsAlert Service. FBN General Insurance ClaimsAlert Service is designed to provide a responsive service to all her Comprehensive Auto Insurance policyholders who have been involved in an accident within the Lagos Metropolis where the service is currently active: Eti-Osa, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland, Surulere, Kosofe, Shomolu and Ikeja. The FBN General Insurance ClaimsAlert Service is a value-added service to all her Comprehensive Auto Insurance Policyholders only and this comes at no extra cost. FBN General Insurance has a dedicated team of Claims Agents, Customer Support Staff and Auto Garages for prompt and quality repairs of your vehicles. Customers will get claims to the value of N50,000 and below resolved at the scene of the accident.

igerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) has called on the Federal Government to give more impetus to the implementation of the enforcement of compulsory building insurance as enshrined in Section 64 and Section 65 of Insurance Act 2003. Speaking during the First Quarter

Media Parley in Lagos, President of NCRIB, Mr Shola Tinubu, also noted that the body is quite aware of the desire of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to drive insurance penetration in the country, and as such would work in synergy with the regulatory agency of government. According to him, the unfortunate incidences of collapse buildings are

actually accentuated greatly by the lax of regulatory enforcement in the construction environment. He, therefore, called on the government to continually engage stakeholders in the construction built environment and related institutions to elicit their input for a long lasting solution to the malaise. “In the light of recent building collapse in Lagos and Oyo State as well

• (From left): Assistant Executive Secretary, the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), Mr. Tope Adaramola; Executive Secretary/CEO, Mr. Fatai Adegbenro; President, Mr Shola Tinubu; Honourary Treasurer, Mrs Ekeoma Ezeibe and Honourary Auditor, Mr. Tunde Oguntade at the 2019 first quarter Press Conference of the Council held recently in Lagos

Government, benefactors, not insurers, to bear cost of Notre Dame rebuilding

ajor European insurers expect France to bear the bulk of the cost of rebuilding the Notre-Dame Cathedral after a fire tore through the eight-centuries-old Paris landmark on Monday. The cost of a likely multi-year restoration project could itself take a year to become clear, industry experts said. “It is really going to be up to the French state and benefactors to help to restore and rebuild this,” Robert Read, head of art and private client at Lloyd’s of London insurer Hiscox told Reuters, adding it could take up to 20 years to restore the cathedral. “The scaffolding costs are going to be enormous, actually securing the building is going to be enormous. The cost of renovating the (British) Parliament is a similar sort of number,” Read said. The cost of repairs and upgrades to the neo-Gothic fronted parliament building on the banks of the River Thames has been estimated at up to $8 billion. French President Emmanuel Macron has said France would launch a fundraising campaign to rebuild Notre-Dame, which ranks among the finest examples of French Gothic cathedral architecture. The government owns the cathedral. Several of France’s business elite have already pledged money to help, including a 200 million euros ($226 million) donation from Bernard Arnault and 100 million from Francois Pinault, heads of luxury goods groups LVMH and Kering respectively. “Rebuilding would be very tricky

as some of the craft required to rebuild, the stone-masonry craft would probably have to be relearnt,” Hiscox’s Read said. Reinsurer Swiss Re said works of art in buildings such as the cathedral are generally not insured because they are often priceless. Any art works on loan from third parties would, however, be insured, Read added. While some of the large paintings at Notre-Dame could not be taken down in time, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, said at the scene of the fire that a number of the many artworks in the cathedral had been rescued and were being put in safe storage. Contractor Liability Notre-Dame was in the midst of renovations and industry sources said the contractor would have its own liability policy. “Typically that would be for tens of millions of euros. But effectively that is going to be a drop in the ocean compared to what the actual cost of restoring the cathedral is,” Read said. “If they are deemed to be liable they would be carrying some cover, but it’s not unlimited and it’s definitely not going to be enough to rebuild the Cathedral.” Meanwhile, about 90 percent of the priceless relics and art works housed within the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral were saved from last Monday’s devastating fire as contingency plans to evacuate the treasures worked, a leading insurance adjuster said on Wednesday. Insurance adjuster Michel Honore, the director of fine art at Sedgwick,

has been given the task of assessing any damage to the cathedral’s “Trésor” or treasure. The contingency evacuation plan included putting priorities on objects for removal, Honore told Reuters, adding “the plan itself worked perfectly and was adhered to the letter and that is why the contents lost is not as severe as might have been feared.” He spoke by phone from Paris after attending a meeting of adjusters – specialists appointed by insurers to investigate claims on their behalf – at a site close to the cathedral. Officials have said that emergency workers formed a human chain to whisk items out of harm’s way during the blaze. Notre-Dame’s treasures are made up of 1,000 to 1,200 items including precious metals, traditional church dresses and paintings. More modern items also include a gift to the cathedral from Pope John Paul II. “One of the first items to come out was the crown of thorns and the remnants of the crucifix. They were on the top of the list and they were taken out in priority in strict application of the plan,” Honore said. The crown, made of braided reed brought to France from Constantinople in the 12th century, has been revered as an object of Christian worship for centuries. Remnants of the crucifix refers to relics believed by Christians to be part of the cross where Jesus died. Honore said most of the large paintings in the cathedral seemed “to be ok,” but they would need closer inspection by specialist re-

storers for traces of soot or deposits from the fire or firefighters’ water. “There is great optimism that the main organ in the cathedral will remain unscathed but again it needs close checking for acidic deposits,” he said. While most of the valuable items were removed, some had to be left behind, though it was unclear how many. “The items that could not be removed on the night of the fire are in the process of being checked and wrapped and removed from the premises and are being stored in the Louvre Museum,” Honore said. The items at the top of the priority list were relocated to Paris City Hall and will in all probability be taken to the Louvre for safer keeping. The cathedral is owned by the state and major European insurers expect France to bear the bulk of the cost of rebuilding. Two insurers including AXA ART, a unit of AXA, have an insurable interest in the art works within the cathedral, Honore said, adding five adjusters had been commissioned. He did not name the other insurer. Matters of faith and state were separated by law in France in 1905. Items that predate the law are insured by the state and are not insured on the open market. With the exception of relics such as the crown of thorns, an inventory is carried out on a regular basis to value the artifacts and in the event that an insured item is destroyed, the insurer would pay out. Insurers would also foot the bill to restore any items that are damaged, Honore said.

as other similar disasters, the NCRIB is quite touched. It is our belief that the unfortunate incidences are actually accentuated greatly by the lax of regulatory enforcement in the construction environment. “To combat this, Government needs to be more proactive in implementing building laws. Also, they have to continually engage stakeholders in the construction built environment and related institutions to elicit their input for a long lasting solution to the malaise. “While the Council commiserates with the victims of the building collapse, we like to use this opportunity again to call on government to give more impetus to the implementation of the enforcement of compulsory building insurance as enshrined in Section 64 and Section 65 of Insurance Act 2003. “Similarly, Nigerians are also advised to, on their own, insure their personal assets in order to mitigate their losses when and if losses of this dimension do occur. Every individual should ideally live up to his responsibility of care by protecting whatever is valuable to him or her, both life and property. Our slogan has been ”Whatever is worth having, is worth insuring,” he said. On insurance penetration in Nigeria, the NCRIB chief said the leadership of the council would complement the effort of the National insurance Commission (NAICOM) in driving the policy. “This is commendable. While the entire industry operators are saddled with the task to make this vision come to pass, the NCRIB would soon be redoubling its efforts by making inputs into the initiative. “We like to use this opportunity to appreciate NAICOM for its favourable disposition towards growing the industry and assure that our Council will continue to complement the Commission in this regards,” he added. While calling on the government to inject fresh ideas into the running of the nations’ economy, Tinubu, said the move would include creating more investment opportunities that will increase the nation’s earnings and reduce external borrowings. He said that the reflation of the economy should be anchored on enhanced promotion of local capacity, to reduce over dependence on foreign goods and services, adding that by doing so, the strain on the nation’s currency vis-a-vis other foreign currencies would be reduced. “Permit me to express the delight of our Council that the 2019 General elections have been held and new political office holders to steer the affairs of the nation for the next four years have also been elected. “It is quite heartwarming, i want to utilise this opportunity, once again to congratulate the President Muhammadu Buhari, and the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. I also congratulate all elected state governors and members elected into the legislative arms across all levels in the country.” he said. Tinubu who stated that as actors in the financial ecosystem, further called for an improved enabling environment for business and professional growth must be created. “This must be initiation and tenacious pursuit of laws and regulatory prescriptions that would enhance economic growth. Urgent attention must be paid to reducing poverty, which has as its bye product, unemployment and poor standard of living,” he said.

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 -30 , 2019

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

e-Platform

Porting: 9mobile leads with 4,017 new customers in February

Stories by VICTOR NZE

igerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Monday said that telecommunications operators carried out 14,639 Mobile Number Portability activities in February 2019. The NCC made this known in its “Incoming and Outgoing Porting Activities of Mobile Network Operators’ Report’’ on its website. The commission said in the report that 10,650 subscribers ported within the networks in January, hence an increase of 3,989 activities in February. It said that out of the 14,639 porting activities recorded in February, 7,735 were “Incoming Porting Activities’’, while 6,904 were “Outgoing Porting Activities’’. The regulatory body said that in the outgoing table, 2,281 subscribers moved from Globacom Nigeria to other networks through Mobile Number Portability in February. According to NCC, those that left Globacom increased by 1,094, as against 1,187 customers that desert-

ed the network in January. It said that in the month of February, 1,643 customers moved from MTN Nigeria, showing an increase of 571 subscribers against 1,072 that left the service provider in January. NCC said that 1,801 subscribers moved from 9mobile in the month under review, representing an increase of 197 customers that left the network as against 1,604 that left in January. It said that 1,179 customers of Airtel Nigeria ported to other networks within the same period, a decrease of 225, when compared with 1,404 users that left in January. In the incoming table, 9mobile led with an additional 4,017 customers joining its network in February. MTN Nigeria came second on the gainers’ list with 1,582 subscribers; 1,268 subscribers moved to Airtel Nigeria, while Globacom Nigeria got 868 customers. The exercise was launched on April 22, 2013 by NCC, with the aim of deepening competition in the industry.

Telcos mull new cost-based tariff hike

mbrella body of telecommunications companies in the country, the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has disclosed that it is proposing a costbased tariff for voice calls in the country. Chairman, ALTON, Gbenga Adebayo, who said that the new model would reflect the cost of doing business in the country, further added that the base price tariff that is currently operational does not consider the multiplicity of taxes and levies in the telecom industry. “We are asking that tariff should be cost-based and for that to happen, we need to understand what the costs are that are being incurred due to multiple taxation and consequently, relate that to the tariff that will be charged in those areas. That

is actually what the conversation is about. “We are going to be approaching the NCC with all the cost information and we are going to be requesting through the established protocols for a cost-based tariff. We will not be right to say it is an increase in tariff but tariff that will reflect the cost of service provision.” “There is a base price, a minimum bottom price- that has been determined by the NCC and that is based on general cost of service provision and operating expenditure and recurring cost. It certainly doesn’t consider issues of taxation and levies. “Telcos are struggling under the burden of a tortuous mix of levies, taxes and charges that significantly inhibit their ability to function effectively.

LG files patent for smartphone with three selfie cameras

G submitted a patent for a smartphone that features basic sketches of the device, outfitted with three rear cameras and three front-facing cameras. The patent was registered with the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Office) and went live, Friday. The device in the diagrams appears to have three cameras in the notch cluster above the phone. Each camera’s function isn’t explicitly described, but we could speculate that one has a standard lens, another – ultra-wide, and the third might be a ToF sensor. Maybe not in that particular order, but given the LG G8’s inclusion of the ToF sensor, this could be a possible setup for a triple camera. Given the design of the smartphone in the diagram, this could very well be a successor to the LG V50 that launched about a couple of months ago at the MWC. The

rear looks very similar to the LG V50 with its horizontally placed triple camera. In fact, the overall design is very similar to LG’s current flagships. The left side features the same separate volume keys and dedicated Google Assistant key. The right side has the power key and a long SIM/microSD card tray. Even the top of the device is blank like the LG G8 and V40. Aside from the triple selfie cameras, one key difference is the absence of a headphone jack. Could this indicate LG will stop offering the feature in a future device? Maybe not right now, but this far into the trend of removing a headphone jack, it probably won’t be missed as much by the general population. Audiophiles, on the other hand – they might probably be devastated to no longer have the Quad-DAC.

•The new LG V50 ThinQ 5G smartphone

How internet users in Nigeria can be protected from cybercrime – NCC

igerian Communications Commission (NCC) has stressed the need for the over 114 million internet users in the country to show interests in getting constant enlightenment to ensure proper protection against cybercrime. The Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, NCC, Mrs Felicia Onwuegbuchulam stated on Sunday that there was need for awareness programmes where consumers were informed on the dangers of cybercrimes. Onwuegbuchulam said that such programmes would ensure that internet users learnt and observed skills through which they could be protected while on the internet. She said, in a statement, that the commission recently held the 47th edition of its monthly Consumer Town Hall Meeting (CTM) in Abia, where it discussed cyber space issues. According to her, cyber space covers everything consumers do online or with computing devices, including mobile phones, tablets and personal

computers. “The internet touches almost all aspects of human lives. There is, therefore, need for the consumers to show interests in getting constant enlightenment and be conscious of fraudulent tendencies by some internet users while online. “As at February this year, there are over 114 million internet users in the country, with over 63 million of them accessing broadband services on 3G and 4G networks. The need to constantly educate is further underscored by the large numbers of Nigerians online, with even more to come online. “The commission is intensifying efforts towards implementing its various initiatives aimed at deepening connectivity across the nooks and crannies of Nigeria. As access to internet increases, the dimension of cyber-criminal activities is also becoming more sophisticated,’’ she said. Onwuegbuchulam urged consumers to take the skills learnt through consumer engagement programmes

very seriously and apply them, in order to be safe on the cyber space. The director said that the liberalisation of the telecommunications industry in 2001 led to an unprecedented growth in the usage and dependence on internet-based solutions, services and applications. According to her, as the internet is being used for legitimate, positive engagements, some individuals also use it for criminal activities in the cyber space. She, however, said that aside the continuous monthly consumer enlightenment programmes, the commission had also initiated a process to establish an Internet Industry Code of Practice for Internet Service. ”The Internet Code is a regulatory intervention that will help to secure the country’s cyber space against imminent threats from cyber attackers. It will also address such issues as online child protection, privacy and data protection, contents, among others,’’ Onwuegbuchulam said.

Since Emtek decided to pull the plug of BBM, the original BlackBerry company that still offers security solutions, is making the BBM Enterprise (BBMe) application available on Google Play and App Store. “The decision was made out of BlackBerry’s respect for loyal users”, the press statement by BlackBerry Limited read. The BBMe app will be free to use in the first 12 months, after that it will be $2.49 for six months. “Today we’re announcing that we will be closing BBM consumer service on 31 May 2019,” BBM said in a blog post on its website. The proprietary mobile instant messenger and videotelephony application said it is shutting down because “users have

moved on to other platforms, while new users proved difficult to sign on. “Though we are sad to say goodbye, the time has come to sunset the BBM consumer service, and for us to move on,” the statement added. Blackberry had in 2018 shut down the Blackberry Playbook Video service. Blackberry said users’ data such as photos, videos and files will be available for download before the app is shut down at the end of May. “Once the BBM service is shut down, you will not be able to open BBM on your device to see any old or new messages, or retrieve asset files,” it said.

theme. “Submissions can also be in poetry, prose, science fiction, nonfiction, paintings, drawing and film (documentary, musical, dramatic, and others),” the statement read. Continuing, Adedoyin said: “A bio note, with contact information, should accompany all submissions and posting is not guaranteed.” Shortlisted entries will appear on NASRDA’s Special Celebratory Web-

site-slated to come online soon. “Entries may be included in the digital and /or hardcopy versions of the Commemorative Anthology. This call for submissions is in celebration of NASRDA’s 20th Anniversary dated to take place on May 5, 2019. Interested writers can send their submissions to nwspublishers2016@gmail.com and kingceiphus@gmail.com.”

Blackberry scraps BBM, May 31

lackBerry has announced that it will be shutting down its BBM consumer service on May 31, 2019. Emtek Group acquired the rights for BBM back in 2016 to bring back to life the beloved messenger from the early-mid 2000s. However, last Thursday, the company announced it is discontinuing the consumer version on May 31, citing “very fluid industry”. A press statement from the firm revealed that company employees “poured their hearts” into making BBM great again, but acknowledged that users have moved on to other platforms, while new users proved difficult to sign on.

NASRA, ANA seek content from creative writers

ational Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) in collaboration with the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) is calling for creative content, to be posted on agency’s 20th Anniversary Website. According a statement from the ANA Public Relations Officer (South), Mr Wole Adedoyin, submissions should have a ‘science, astronomy, space or space-science’

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

e-Platform

Beat the Heat: LG Keeps Mea cool with its new range of air conditioners The latest DUALCOOL air conditioners are designed with ultimate comfort in mind

G Electronics (LG) impresses visitors at InnoFest MEA with its new Split Air and Floor Standing DUALCOOL air conditioners for 2019. Featuring full-scale air purification, the revolutionary two-in-one DUALCOOL Split Air Conditioner sets itself apart from the competition with its ability to effectively clean the air while keeping the home comfortably cool. The LG Air Purifying System built into DUALCOOL Split Air Conditioner removes microparticles, or particulate matter (PM), through a three-step process. First, the sensor detects dust particles up to PM1.0 in size along with other harmful airborne matter. Next, the Ion Diffuser generates over five million negative ions that attach to the particles. And finally, the positively charged Micro Dust filter easily filters out tiny, negatively charged microparticles including viruses and bacteria. Using the principle of electrostatic charge, LG’s system also filters out minute, inhalable particles (up to PM0.3) that can cause respiratory issues. Providing essential information at-a-glance, the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Display shows current conditions and air purification progress via icons that change color to reflect the cleanliness of the surrounding air. Located on DUALCOOL’s front panel, the simple, colorful display indicates indoor air quality in real time, irrespective of whether purification is running or

not. In addition, the LG DUALCOOL Split Air Conditioner offers highperformance cooling, with the use LG’s advanced DUAL Inverter Compressor, saving energy and cooling faster than a conventional model. Meanwhile, the Comfort Air mode helps users feel more relaxed and protects their health by adjusting the vane to the optimal angle, keeping airflow circulating around the room, rather than blowing directly onto the individual. At InnoFest MEA, LG also introduced its DUALCOOL Floor Standing Air Conditioner – a luxurious model, aiming to bring sophisticated style to homes across the region. Delivering effective cooling performance and convenient control, the DUALCOOL Floor Standing appliance will let consumers enjoy an indoor life of unparalleled comfort and ease. The latest standing-type DUALCOOL elevates any living space with its premium design. The Chandelier Grill – vertical vanes on the front of the air conditioner – boasts elegant lines with flowing curves and shining dew-like accents. The metallic exterior of the DUALCOOL helps to create a minimalist feel and comes in a choice of two exclusive colors: premium gold and white. The new Floor Standing Air Conditioner offers a robust cooling performance. Its entire ventilation section has the ability to move, ensuring wider coverage and enabling the DUALCOOL Floor

ollowing new data from its Fability, recent survey on TV reliConsumer Reports has

pushing some televisions up while others drop. “Reliability data give consumers a more complete picture of product quality,” says Simon Slater, CR’s manager of product survey research. Reliability is especially important for televisions because consumers tend to keep them longer than most electronic devices. The survey found that 87 percent of all TVs bought by Consumer Reports members in 2010 are still in use. Both Hisense and Vizio have challenged CR’s results, saying that their own data on reliability contradict our findings.

Standing unit to cool every corner of the room. For fast cooling, the Ice Cool Power mode distributes air that is 4 degrees Celsius lower than in normal mode. Ice Long Power generates even more powerful airflow to further maximize user comfort. Moreover, the Wi-Fi-connected appliance provides remote control through SmartThinQ™, making it possible to manage settings and check energy consumption via a smartphone. To emphasize the reliability and durability of the Air Conditioner, the company backed

its Inverter Compressor with a 10year warranty. “Developed solely with user comfort and style in mind, we’re proud to have showcased our latest Split and Floor Standing DUALCOOL air conditioners at InnoFest MEA,” said Song Dae-hyun, President of LG Electronics Home Appliance & Air Solution Company. “By offering top-quality air conditioning and purification, our innovative appliances empower consumers across the region enjoy a comfortable and healthier indoor environment.”

Consumer Report updates findings from survey on TVs announced the removal of “recommended” designation from several Hisense and Vizio television sets in its TV ratings. This affects two Hisense TVs and seven Vizio sets, which had previously been “recommended” models. The survey covers 97,554 TVs owned by Consumer Reports members who purchased new sets between 2010 and 2018. Respondents were asked whether their televisions broke or stopped working as they should. Using this information, CR is providing predicted brand reliability ratings for televisions through the fifth year of ownership. The survey also provides ratings for owner satisfaction. Both ratings apply to entire brands, not individual models. Predicted reliability and owner satisfaction ratings are now included in our Overall Scores for TVs, along with ratings based on our extensive lab testing, which covers HD picture quality, UHD performance, HDR effectiveness, viewing angle, motion blur, sound quality, and more. The addition of the new ratings are

Detailed Results Consumer Reports estimates that 20 percent of Hisense and Vizio TVs will experience a problem within the first five years. Both brands get a rating of Fair for predicted reliability. By comparison, we estimate that 11 percent of TVs made by Sony, which has a Very Good rating for reliability, will develop a problem during that period. No brand that earns a Poor or Fair rating for predicted reliability is eligible for a CR recommendation. In addition to Vizio and Hisense, Element, RCA, and Westinghouse also have subpar

reliability ratings. But no models from those brands had high enough Overall Scores to be recommended. “The survey results provide an opportunity for manufacturers to step up,” says Richard Fisco, who leads electronics testing at Consumer Reports. “Some of the televisions that are losing recommendations score highly in several areas of our performance testing, including picture quality. So if manufacturers can improve the reliability, their models should do quite well in our ratings.” In an emailed statement, Hisense said: “As the fastest-

growing TV brand among the top six brands, with defective rates of less than 4 percent, we stand by the quality and longevity of our TVs and are committed to developing products that speak to the premium technology advances consumers demand, regardless of the category of TV they purchase.” Vizio also commented by email, saying that it “strongly disagrees with Consumer Reports’ reliability rating” and that CR’s information “sharply diverges” from the company’s own data. The statement also said that as “a leading HDTV brand in the U.S.,

Vizio takes product reliability and customer satisfaction seriously. Vizio’s mission is to deliver the best, most reliable products with the most relevant features at the best price for consumers, and we have been largely successful in that.” Smarter TVs, More to Go Wrong? The Consumer Reports survey didn’t reveal what sorts of problems developed with televisions from specific brands. But we did ask consumers what problems they experienced with their TVs overall, regardless of brand or when the issues started. The most common complaints included streaming apps freezing and slow or inconsistent internet connectivity. “These results seem to reflect the increased complexity of today’s smart TVs,” Fisco says. The survey revealed sharp differences among brands when it comes to owner satisfaction. Three brands—LG, Samsung, and Sony—earned our highest mark for owner satisfaction, and TCL was just a notch below them. (Vizio earned a middling Good rating and Hisense got a Fair rating for owner satisfaction. Several lesser-known brands earned Poor ratings.)

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

EQUITY & Capital Market First Aluminium heads for voluntary delisting as low patronage persist By JEROME USHAKANG

he list of companies delisting from the official list of The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has continued to elongate as First Aluminium Nigeria Plc has chosen to voluntarily delist its shares due to low patronage and stagnation of its share price over the year. In a recent notification to the (NSE),First Aluminium said over the last seven years, there has been little or no trading activity on the shares held by the minority shareholders. The company explained that its decision to delist from the Exchange is because shareholders were not benefiting from the continued listing and were not getting exit opportunities, while the company’s shares have continued to trade at a significant discount to the intrinsic value. First Aluminium said, “Its share price was stuck at 50 kobo for about six years between June 2011 and June 2017, and has experienced further diminution, both in share price and trading volumes. According to the firm, over the last 18 months, daily average volume ranged between 2,815 to roughly 2,918 units during the period between July 2017 and December 2018. It stressed that the shareholders are not benefiting from the continued listing as they are not getting exit opportunities and their investments have been locked up, and as a result finding it difficult to dispose of their shareholding.” Neither the company nor its shareholders have benefitted as the company’s shares continue to trade at a significant discount to the intrinsic value.” The company said. It stated that in addition, rationalisation of operational expenses

to support the company’s business and to meet the needs of various stakeholders as the attendant cost required to comply with its listing requirements including filing fees, penalties or sanctions, are not commensurate with the benefits to the company. Also, the increasing competitive environment and the struggle to defend market share have resulted in market pressure to reduce price and this might significantly impact operating margin. The company said, the delisting will create an opportunity for it to carry-out an imminent corporate restructuring exercise to take advantage of emerging opportunities and may consider re-listing the company in the future if the market conditions are favourable. According to the firm,”The voluntary delisting will not occasion loss of business opportunities as there are similar unlisted aluminium companies who are commanding significant share of the aluminium market. It also declared that minority shareholders will not lose their shares because of the voluntary delisting and such shareholders may retain their membership in the unlisted company. The majority shareholders are the promoters of the transaction and offer other shareholders the opportunity to either remain shareholders of the unlisted company or accept a consideration for their shares which the majority shareholders are willing to purchase. First Aluminium Nigeria Plc was listed in the Daily official list of the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 1992. ALUCON Holdings S.A. holds about 75.48 per cent of the current shareholding with minority shareholders holding about 24.52 per cent.

• L – R shows Abiodun Adeniran, Executive Director, Vetiva Securities; Patrick Ilodianya, Managing Director, SFS Capital; Jude Chiemeka, Divisional Head, Trading Business Division, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Pai Gamde, Chief Human Resource Officer, NSE and Adewunmi Senbanyo, Investment Manager, AIICO Pensions during the Compliance Officers and Operations Officers workshop on Derivatives organised by the NSE on Monday, 18 March 2019

Etiebet asks SEC to nullify Access-Diamond merger By JEROME USHAKANG

ormer Minister of Petroleum, Chief Don Etiebet has advised the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to anull the merger between Access Bank Plc and Diamond Bank Plc which took effect in March 2019, because of an on-going court case against Access Bank Plc and its Chief Executive Officer, Herbert Wigwe. Etiebet made the request in a petition written to the Securities and Exchange Commission, notifying the apex capital market regulator of an impending court case against Access Bank Plc, Mr. Wigwe, and other Executive Directors. According to the petition which is dated March 19, 2019, Etiebet said his decision to seek for a nullification of the merger was in pursuant to the provision of Section 124 (3) of the Investment and Securities Act 2007 which ‘empowers any person to voluntarily file any document, affidavit, statement or other relevant information in respect of the merger’.

Etiebet’s argument: Etiebet accused Access Bank Plc and its executives of hiding the criminal charges against them from SEC and other regulators like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). He further argued that if the regulators had knowledge of the case, the merger would not have been approved. This can affect the Access Bank and Diamond Bank merger. Etiebet’s petition to SEC against the merger can see the approval of the consolidation withdrawn if SEC discovers Access Bank Plc truly hid the fraud case from regulators. According to Daily Trust, Etiebet based his argument on the provision of Section 127 of the Investment and Securities Act 2007, which states that;“The commission may revoke its own decision to approve or conditionally approve a small, intermediate or large merger if the decision was based on incorrect information for which a party to the merger is responsible and the approval was obtained in deceit.” However, Access Bank claimed it has clarified stand in the Fraud case in

March 2019, Access Bank Plc released a statement clarifying the company’s position, including that of its CEO and Directors. The Bank claimed that it actually reported the case first to the Police Special Fraud Unit before a suit was filed against Access Bank. In the statement, the management said in 2015, the bank made financial provision for a customer — Metal Steel Products Limited — to import billets and other machinery used for the expansion of the customers’ factory. But following the arrival of the imported goods, the company, (i.e, the customer), went ahead to clear imports without first making some necessary payments. This prompted Access Bank Plc to report the development to the Police Special Fraud Unit, which obtained a court order for Access Bank to take over Metal Steel Products Limited’s business operations. It added that the lawsuit was instituted due to the misunderstanding between the Registrar that took charge of the property and Metal Steel Products Limited.

that the action of the defendant was by a decision of the governing Board of SEC, which is the highest decisionmaking body of the commission. Ruling on the first count of a five charge of use of office for personal enrichment against Mr Gwarzo, the judge said the ICPC did not prove its allegation. He held that while the first prosecution did not implicate the first defendant in her testimony, the remaining witnesses who are operatives of the ICPC contradicted themselves. “Furthermore, exhibit 19, which is a memo from the governing Board of SEC, has clearly demonstrated that the decisions of the board of SEC as the highest decision and policy-making body of commission is legal. “As a result of this, the first defendant is acquitted on the first charge,” the judge ruled. The judge also absolved Mr. Gwarzo of the allegations that he used his official position to corruptly enrich himself by using the monies paid to him as car grant as the DG of SEC. Mr Baba-Yusuf held that: “The burden of proof was on the prosecution but through its own exhibit, which includes a board resolution which approved the car benefit for

an executive director who had spent more than two years in office, the charge against Mr. Gwarzo has not been established,” he said. He said the fourth witness under cross-examination agreed that the board resolution was lawful and that the car grant was non-refundable. Mr Baba-Yusuf held that the testimony of Prosecution Witness Two clearly showed that the first defendant had no role in deciding what he was entitled to and as such could not have used his office to enrich himself. The judge, however, concluded that the evidence as a whole cannot be used by any court or tribunal to convict him. He, therefore, discharged and acquitted him. The court in the fourth count also discharged Mr Garba on the grounds that the evidence that he aided the suspended director-general of SEC to use his office to corruptly enrich himself was not proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The judge then held that no prima facie case was established against Mr Garba who acted based on a decision of the governing board of SEC, which is the highest decision-making body of SEC.

GSK, Fidson plans to commence partnership in 2021 Court Discharges, Acquits, suspended SEC DG, Gwarzo

laxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc (GSK) and Fidson Healthcare Plc are fine-tuning plans to go into partnership in 2021. Following the proposed partnership, GSK is intends to transfer the manufacture of some of its products to a local partner---Fidson. In a notice sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the company announced it had picked Fidson Healthcare Plc as its preferred local contract manufacturing partner. GSK will thus transition the manufacture of its respiratory and wellness products to Fidson from the third quarter of 2021.However, the firm, maintained that activities would continue at its Agbara plant till then. Until then, it will be business as usual at the Agbara factory, as GSK continues to ensure supply continuity of all its locally manufactured brands. Prior to this move, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc (GSK) had early this month, issued a notice stating that it would shut down its production facility in Agbara by the third quarter of 2021. The decision, according to the firm would enable it to focus on building a more sustainable com-

mercial business. At a recent ‘Facts Behind the Figure’ session, held a few weeks ago, Fidelis Ayebae, Fidson’s Managing Director had hinted at a partnership with a global pharmaceutical giant. But declined to mention the name of the partner, preferring to wait until the conclusion of the company’s Rights Issue.

Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court has discharged the suspended Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mounir Gwarzo, of the charge of fraud filed against him. Mr Gwarzo’s co-defendant, Zakwanu Garba, who was the Executive Commissioner of the commission, was also discharged and acquitted. The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) had arraigned the two officials before Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf on a five-count charge bordering on fraud. The former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, suspended Messrs Gwarzo and Garba from their positions in November 2017 over allegations of corruption. The minister then set up a panel to investigate the alleged issues, after which the ICPC arraigned them in court. However, delivering judgment on the case on recently, the judge, Mr. Baba-Yusuf, held that the prosecution did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused persons committed the offence for which they were charged. The judge said by its own admission, the prosecution through its witnesses and evidence confirmed

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

MONEY Market

We-Fi seeks support for women entrepreneurs in West Africa STORIES BY KAYODE OGUNWALE

omen Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) has urged public and private sectors executives to strengthen support for women-led small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in West Africa. This was revealed during just concluded We-fi summit. Attended by more than 400 public and private sector leaders from West Africa and other regions, the Summit was organized by We-Fi in collaboration with the African Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, and the World Bank Group. The Summit concluded with a joint call to action, urging wide-ranging public policy reforms and private sector actions to help women entrepreneurs overcome persistent barriers, both financial and non-financial. It was revealed at the summit that, Women constitute the majority of Africa’s self-employed population and play a key economic role, with significant benefits for their families, communities, and countries. Acknowledging the challenge of full economic participation, Summit leaders noted that “Women entrepreneurs also face other barriers that prevent them from accessing finance, markets, technology, mentoring, and capacity-building support. This limits the potential of women entrepreneurs and impedes economic growth and poverty reduction across Africa.” Due to these constraints, female entrepreneurs in the region consistently lag men on several key indicators of business performance. A recent World Bank study found that monthly profits and sales from female-owned firms in the region were on average 34 percent and 38 percent lower, respectively, than those of male-owned firms. Summit leaders called on governments to undertake policy and legal reforms to increase women entrepreneurs’ access to financial services, government contracts, and the basic infrastructure of the digital economy. They also highlighted the urgent need to remove labor and mobility restrictions for women and to ensure their equal rights to property. In the past decade, African governments have improved women’s economic inclusion by implementing 71 legal and regulatory reforms more than any other regions in the world, according to a World Bank report. While African countries have made significant progress in closing the gender gaps, further strengthening women’s roles as entrepreneurs will transform the continent. Acknowledging the importance of public and private sector collaboration, Summit leaders underscored

the vital role that private sector and civil society organizations play in improving women’s access to capital, markets, digital skills training, mentorship, and business networks. In addition, they called for better collection and reporting of sex-disaggregated data by both the public and private sectors to help measure the impact of policy reforms on women entrepreneurs. The Summit is the first of its kind for We-Fi, a global partnership among 14 donor governments, eight multilateral development banks, and other public and private sector stakeholders, established in October 2017 and housed in the World Bank Group. Donor governments have so far committed over $350 million to support We-Fi’s activities. In April 2018, the World Bank Group and the Islamic Development Bank were among the recipients of We-Fi’s first round of funding to support women-owned and led SMEs, many of which are in Africa. The first allocation of $120 million is expected to mobilize over $1.6 billion in additional funds from the private sector, donors, governments, and other development partners. Advisor to the President, United States of America, Ivanka Trump said, “I was honored to join our We-Fi partners and inspiring entrepreneurs in a meaningful dialogue with West African leaders on the economic empowerment of women. The White House, and the whole of U.S. government, stands firmly behind the goal of economically empowering 50 million women through W-GDP by 2025 and in so doing, championing American values of freedom and equality around the world. This mission is crucial to the peace and stability of Nations and is achievable if we focus our collaborative efforts on job training, entrepreneurship and breaking down the legal and cultural barriers that restrict women from achieving their full economic potential.” “In Africa, women are more likely than men to be entrepreneurs, but they face entrenched barriers that make it harder to succeed,” World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva said. “By helping tackle financial, social, and legal constraints, We-Fi can help unleash the tremendous potential of women entrepreneurs as a force for job creation and economic growth.” “Supporting women entrepreneurs requires comprehensive solutions that focus on innovation, value chains, and use of Islamic finance. We should consider women entrepreneurs to be partners of development financial institutions rather than recipients of financing. Our role can thus be to incubate and empower their businesses, not just to provide financing,” said Islamic Development Bank Group President Bandar M. H. Hajjar.

• Head, Brand Management, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc. Lashe Osoba; Officer,, Lagos Lottery Board, Nike Oyebamiji; Head Lagos Office, Consumer Protection Council, (CPC) Susie Onwuka; Executive Director, UBA Plc, Liadi Ayoku; Head, FMCG, UBA Plc. Isiuwe Chike; and Mass Retail/Agent Banking Manager, UBA Plc, Bolajoko Agunlejika at the 2nd Quarterly Draw of UBA Wise Savers Promo where 20 Savings Account Holders won N1.5m each, in Lagos

FG, States, LGAs share N1.92tr in three months – NBS

he National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursed N1.92 trillion to three tiers of government in first quarter of 2019. This NBS figures are however allocations by Federation Account Allocation Committee for the months preceding when they were shared. For instance, allocation by Federation Account Allocation Committee for the Month of December, 2018 was shared in January, 2019 and so for the other two months of February and March. The NBS figures, which tallied with the figures from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), said FAAC disbursed N649.19 billion to the three tiers of government in January, 2019 (December 2018); N660.37 billion in February (January 2019) and the sum of N619.86 was distributed to the three tiers in March (February 2019). FAAC Allocations for March 2019 will be done later this month. Of the N1.92 trillion so far disbursed, the Federal Government has received N803.18 billion in the three months. States received N530.14 billion while the local governments have received N398.43 billion. In January 2019, Delta state received the highest allocation of N17, 360,640, 513.62 excluding the N3, 862,469,150.06 the state collected on behalf of its 25 local government areas. Osun state got the lowest state allocation of N1,730,201,728.81 aside from the N3,886,506,134.26 it collected on behalf of the 30 local government areas of the state. The NBS breakdown showed the federal government received N270.17 billion in January, N275.33 billion in February and N257.68 bil-

lion in March while the 36 State Governments received N178.04 billion in January, N182.17 billion in February and N169.93 in March. All the 774 Local governments received N133.83 billion in January, N136.88 billion and N127.72 billion in March. The NBS report further revealed that the amount disbursed in January comprised N547.46 billion from the Statutory Account, N100.76 billion from Valued Added Tax (VAT) and N976.53 million exchange gain differences while the sum of N45.36 billion was shared among the oil producing states as 13 percent derivation fund in January 2019 alone. Further breakdown of revenue allocation distribution to the federal government revealed that the sum of N216.57 billion was disbursed to the federal government’s consolidated revenue account. N4.81billion was disbursed as share of derivation and ecology and N2.43 billion as stabilization fund. N8.15 billion was shared for the development of natural resources and N5.82 billion to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. The report also stated that revenue generating agencies such as “Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) received N4.69 billion, N4.04 billion and N8.04 billion respectively as cost of revenue collections.” For February, the report said the amount disbursed comprised N497.12 billion from the Statutory Account; N104.47 billion from Valued Added Tax (VAT) and N8.12 billion as excess charges recovered. The sum of N50 billion was distributed as FOREX Equalisation Fund and N654.70 million as exchange gain differences. N48.49 billion was shared among the oil producing states as 13 per cent derivation fund in February.

Revenue generating agencies such as Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) received N5.66 billion, N7.62 billion and N4.07 billion as cost of revenue collections. Further breakdown of revenue allocation distribution to the Federal Government of Nigeria received the sum of N221.33 billion into the consolidated revenue account. N4.94 billion was disbursed as share of derivation and ecology and N2.47 billion as stabilisation fund. Also, N8.30 billion was shared for the development of natural resources and N5.90 billion to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. In March, the NBS report revealed that the amount disbursed comprised of N474.42 billion from the Statutory Account, N96.39 billion from Valued Added Tax (VAT), N4.02 billion as excess bank charges recovered. N44.17 billon was distributed as FOREX Equalisation Fund and N858.46 million as exchange gain differences. N50.95 billion was shared among the oil producing states as 13 per cent derivation fund in the month. Further breakdown of revenue allocation distribution to the Federal Government of Nigeria received the sum of N203.04 billion into the consolidated revenue account while N4.63 billion was disbursed as share of derivation and ecology; N2.31 billion as stabilization fund. Revenue generating agencies such as Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) received N3.91 billion, N6.49 billion and N3.19 billion as cost of revenue collections. The NBS report also noted N7.77 billion was shared for the development of natural resources and N5.52 billion to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja in March.

after a meeting of the AfDB’s governors in Washington D.C. to continue discussions on a 7th General Capital Increase. Monsef urged other AAA-rated member countries to join Canada in providing temporary callable capital to the Bank. “I sincerely hope that this announcement will facilitate the general capital Increase negotiations and help support your efforts. Canada stands with you.” In a follow-up bilateral meeting, Minister Monsef and President Adesina discussed values and interests in

common on gender and increasing access to finance for women, as well as on climate and renewable energy issues. Canada has been a member of the African Development Bank since January 1983 and has participated in all general capital increases of the Bank. It provided temporary callable capital in 2010 while the GCI VI negotiations were ongoing. That decision enabled the Bank to continue to provide its support to regional member countries in the aftermath of the international financial crisis.

AfDB applauds Canada’s US$1.1bn callable capital support pledge

frican Development Bank over the weekend expressed appreciation $1.1 billion commitment in temporary callable capital by the Canadian Government to support its development activities on the continent. The pledge was made by Maryam Monsef, the Canadian Minister of International Development and for Women and Gender Equality, on the sidelines of the World Bank-IMF Spring meetings. Addressing members of the Diplomatic Corps based in Washington

D.C., Monsef expressed delight, saying her country “is demonstrating its commitment to African countries and our confidence in the African Development Bank by announcing that we are going to subscribe up to US$ 1.1bn in temporary callable capital if required. “The African Development Bank is a key partner for Canada and we are committed to supporting the Bank’s African member countries. Canada and Canadians are proud of our long history of partnership and collaboration with Africa,” she noted.

She reminded the 100 attendees that Canada was determined to ensure that “no less than 50 percent of bilateral development assistance is dedicated to sub-Saharan Africa by 2021-2022.” Before the latest pledge, Canada’s total capital subscribed amounted to $3.5 billion, as at June 30, 2018, of which $252 million has been paid in and $3.22 billion is callable capital, making Canada the fourth largest shareholder among AfDB’s non-regional member countries. The announcement came a day

Today Wednesday Wednesday April April24 17--23, The Oracle Today 30,2019 2019

Money t0 States

Federation-Account-Allocation-Committee (FAAC) Feb. 2019

TheOracle OracleToday Today Wednesday Wednesday April April 17 24--23, 30,2019 2019 The

Money to LGAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Federation-Account-Allocation-Committee (FAAC) Feb. 2019

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

NEWS

... over Chidoka, others’ ordeal Cont’d from page 2 Obosi; Umuezechieamalu family deserves some respect in dealing with issues involving it in the cabinet and Obosi. “We note with trepidation the practice of successive Eze Obosi to ridicule Ndi Ichie from our family. Obosi history recorded the humiliation of Chief J.S.B Orakwue (Ajee Ukwu), Chief Charles Umolu (Akpe Obosi) and now Chief H.N Udemba (Akamkposi Obosi). It is therefore painful that the only reward for the indispensable role played by our family in the crowning of an Eze Obosi has in recent times suffered the impunity of arbitrarily suspension of our Ndi Ichie without reference to the family being stakeholders in the kingship institution”. The family however insisted that the alleged suspension will not see the light of day as it has been proven that the traditional ruler of Obosi lacked the powers to suspend or expel an Ndi Ichie title holder of Obosi, worse still the alleged suspension document was signed and pronounced by “a nonentity in Eze na Ndi Ichie relationship. “It is an irony that Rev. Bennett Mozie should assume a bogus title to announce a decision which was not contemplated by Ndi Ichie Obosi on whose behalf he signed.” According to the kinsmen, the fact that the Igwe in council did not deliberate on the matter or approve of any suspension and did not even hear the accused’s defence before rushing to pronounce a suspension confirms the pronouncement as a fraud. The statement further added that it has been established that Ndi Ichie title holders in Obosi enjoy the immunity of Obosi revered custom and tradition (Ome abu

nso) which exempts them from any wrong doing or committing any form of sacrilege within Obosi land. And even when any sacrilege is deemed to have been committed in Obosi by anyone, a particular kindred has the prerogative to declare the action an abomination or sacrilege. This same kindred is responsible for the performance of cleansing rites in Obosi. “It is therefore abominable forany other authority to declare any action a sacrilege except the custodians. “So the purported suspension of Akamkposi Obosi is therefore not acceptable to Umuezechieamalu family and we request it’s immediate reversal and recourse to due process if needful”

They therefore advised the royal father to initiate a process to resolve various escalating crisis in Obosi to enthrone peaceful co-existence among the people. While calling on the general public to disregard various sponsored propaganda aimed at tarnishing the image of their revered son Chief Udemba, which they said was in an attempt to divert public attention from the numerous problems, crimes and murders taking place in the community. Reacting to his kinsmen’s position on the suspension saga, Chief Udemba maintained that he is not in anyway perturbed over the pronouncement, saying: “I am not perturbed in anyway, as the pronouncement was a reactive

response of a frightened and fidgeting monarch. ‘’I can scarcely believe that one could allow the wants of life to subjugate his oath to seek the well being of his subjects above his personal interests and to defend them in the time of trouble. This is the aspect of the duties of the royal office that command loyalty to the stool. And to do otherwise would literally mean to have surrendered his ‘’OGBALA’’ to the external aggressor and hence losing his immunity and regards as a monarch. And I’m very disturbed as this act of betrayal by the monarch is not the first of its kind by the Igwe in the recent times and I wonder if it would even be the last.’’

•Osita Chidoka

Okorocha, Ohakim, Udenwa fight dirty Cont’d from page 2

Onongaono politics. He divided the state into Home-based and Abuja-based. That was why the transition from his administration to mine was the most rancorous in the whole country. He supported three different governorship candidates at the same time. One in Orlu zone where he comes from, Hope Uzodinma; one in Owerri zone, Martins Agbaso and one in Okigwe zone, Ike Ibe, all in the same party, PDP.” Udenwa picks on Okorocha again However, in another interview, Udenwa once again took on Governor Okorocha, describing him as a disaster. Asked to comment on the claim by Governor Okorocha that he had outperformed both Udenwa and Ohakim, Udenwa said: “That is only in his imagination. It doesn’t really matter. If you set an exam and you answer the questions you set, you will get distinctions. So, that is what has happened in that case. I think the biggest judges are the Imo people. “The Imo people will tell you that the eight years of Okorocha was a disaster and they still see it as a disaster today. Not me seeing it as a disaster, but the Imo people see it as a disaster. So, no matter what claims he has been able to make, that doesn’t really matter. If you are in government, what is important is

the feeling of the people, not your own feeling.” He added: “When my successor came in, he knows better why at the end of his first four years, the Imo people wanted a change. It was not a question of Okorocha at the time; it was a question of wanting a change. Whoever that change was, it was acceptable to them. That was why you saw it that way. With the eight years of Okorocha, it became a disaster, complete disaster”. He continued: “Oh! Disaster in terms of even his own human relations; disaster in terms of development projects, disaster in terms of lifting the economic situation of the state, disaster in not even being able to pay salaries regularly or to pay pensions at all. So, it was a complete disaster as far as the people are concerned. But he might feel he has done his best. Of course, he won’t do more than his capacity. Maybe he has gotten to the level of his own capacity and he feels he has done wonders”. Okorocha fires back If former Governor Achike Udenwa thought that Okorocha would continue to keep quiet and take his attacks he was wrong. In a statement issued on Monday by Okorocha’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, the Governor said: “That we chose not to respond to

his first, second and third media attacks could not have given him the impression that we would continue to fold our hands and watch him doing that for the fourth time, especially when they come unprovoked.” He wondered why the former governor chose to attack him, stressing that Udenwa has been in fistcuff with another former governor, Ikedi Ohakim. The governor described Udenwa as the governor the state has had, challenging him to publish his achievements, which he said would be juxtaposed with his own accomplishments in office for eight years in office. “In less than four weeks, Udenwa, who governed Imo State from 1999 to 2007 has launched unprecedented media attacks against Okorocha, Ohakim and President Muhammadu Buhari. While Ohakim had replied him, we decided to hold our peace because we believe that at times, silence is golden. But the two term former governor has continued the attack on Okorocha for reasons that could only be known to him. “Udenwa is adjudged the worst governor Imo State has had in both military and civilian dispensations. He blew away the eight years he held sway as governor and should not blame anybody but himself.

“If he feels that this claim is false let him be patriotic enough to publish his achievements for the eight years he was governor and let Okorocha publish his own achievements for also eight years, since they both did eight years. In fact, he is envious of Okorocha because while he left no footprints behind, Okorocha is leaving behind enviable footprints as Imo governor for eight years,” the governor said. He added that if the debate is taken further from 1999 to 2019, when people talk about Clean and Green Initiative, Ohakim’s administration would come to mind. He said: “And when people talk about free education, urban renewal and so on, the Okorocha administration would come to mind. But what would Udenwa’s era be remembered for?” Worst governor ever in Imo Not done, Governor Okorocha said that “Chief Udenwa is adjudged the worst governor of Imo state has had both military and civilian. He blew away the eight years he held sway as governor and should not blame anybody but himself”. According to him, Udenwa “was the kind of governor who valued gossip to a large extent. And that was why he could not find any of the people who served in his administration for eight years qualified to succeed him.”

LASTMA announces road closures, diversions as Buhari visits By VICTOR NZE

agos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) has announced diversions of major roads in the metropolis for the visit of President Muhammadu Buhari, who is expected to arrive on Wednesday to commission projects. A statement by the agency, Tuesday, said the diversions would be created in mostly parts of the Ikeja and Oshodi axis of the state, where some of the projects are sited. The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA has thus issued a travel advisory to motorists and residents during the visit. “As a result of the presidential visit, motorists and the general public are hereby notified of roads where traffic diversions are going to be observed in order to have a hitch-free movement for Mr President, and for motorists to plan their journey in advance. “The presidential visit shall be between the hours of 9.00 am and 3.00 pm during which traffic shall be diverted from the following roads: Mobolaji Bank-Anthony Way (coming from the Presidential Wing of Murtala Mohammed Airport to LASUTH Under Bridge), Kodesoh Road, Obafemi Awolowo Way, Kudirat Abiola Way, Ikorodu Road (between Ojota Intersection and Anthony Interchange), Oworonshoki – Apapa Expressway (between Anthony and Oshodi Transport Interchange), International Airport Road to the Local Wing of the airport to Mobolaji Bank-Anthony Way back to Obafemi Awolowo Way. “While other roads highlighted above shall only be cordoned off once when necessary, Obafemi Awolowo Way and portion of Mobolaji Bank-Anthony shall be closed to traffic on three (3) occasions within the specified period as they are central to the President’s itinerary. “In view of this, motorists are advised to avoid these roads where necessary and make use of alternative routes of their choice. But where it becomes inevitable for the highlighted roads to be made use of, patience and cooperation with traffic managers should be the watchword. “While all inconveniences as a result of these diversions are highly regretted, traffic managers (or enforcement & security agents) shall be positioned at all strategic intersections to allow for orderly vehicular movement,“ the statement by LASMA read. It would be recalled that Buhari was in Lagos, March, last year, to commission the new Ikeja bus terminal, among other projects, a visit that caused traffic gridlock and untold hardship to commuters and motorists in the state.

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24-30, 2019

Love and Living

...With Ireto Temofeh

MODEL OF THE WEEK

LOVE NEWS

Oral sex linked with throat cancer: Australian study

ral sex has long been considered the safer sex option for young people wanting to avoid pregnancy or STI infection. But research from the University of NSW (UNSW) suggests that giving oral sex to somebody with human papillomavirus (HPV) could be linked with oesophagus cancer. Rates of oesophagus cancer have been on the rise, particularly in men, but doctors have been unsure why. Professor Shan Rajendra from UNSW compared the behaviour of people with throat cancer with those without and found that a high proportion of those with cancer have HPV in the oesophageal tissue. For years, having Barrett’s oesophagus â€” where the throat cells change due to chronic heartburn â€” was thought to increase throat cancer risk. But

Professor Rajendra’s research suggests it’s only people with HPV in their Barrett’s that need to be concerned. Professor Barrett studied just 261 people and said a larger longitudinal study was now needed to confirm his findings. Past studies have linked HPV to mouth and throat cancers. When researchers from Ohio State University compared people with mouth or throat cancer with those without, the greatest difference was their oral sexual behaviour. The greater the number of oral sex partners someone had had, the greater their risk of oesophageal cancer. With male and female high school students now being immunised against HPV, experts hope the incidence of oesophageal cancer will drop over the next 20 years. The study was published in the

Name: Joy , Tel: +2347030801774 • If you want to be our next ORACLE GIRL, e-mail or forward your photos/data to ireto007@yahoo.com. Call 07031028714.

ODD NEWS

Self-driving Uber car runs over and kills a pedestrian in Arizona

woman was killed after she was struck by a selfdriving Uber vehicle in Arizona in the first pedestrian death via a self-autonomous car. Elaine Herzberg, 49, was hit by a SUV 10 around 10pm on Sunday in Tempe when she was walking outside of a crosswalk She was immediately rush to the hospital where she died from her injuries, ABC 15 reported. Tempe Police says the SUV was in autonomous mode at the time of the crash and a vehicle operator was also behind the wheel. The accident is the first time a pedestrian has been killed on a public road by an autonomous car, which has been praised as the safer alternative to a traditional car. In a statement, an

Uber spokesperson said the company is aware of the incident and is ‘fully cooperating with local authorities in their investigation’. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi offered his condolences to the victim’s family on Twitter on Monday and afternoon, and reiterated that the company will be working with local law enforcement to figure out what happened. The ride-share service has since paused its self-driving car operations in Pittsburgh, Phoenix, San Francisco and Toronto. This is not the first time Uber has grounded its fleet of self-driving cars. In March 2017, an autonomous Volvo SUV got into accident when the other vehicle ‘failed to yield’ while making a left turn

according to police. ‘The vehicles collided causing the autonomous vehicle to roll onto it’s side. There were no serious injuries,’ Tempe police spokeswoman Josie Montenegros said. The only known death involving a self-driving car and a driver was when Tesla

Romantic Joke

The Phone Call It was two o’clock in the morning and a husband and wife were sleeping when suddenly the phone rang. The husband picked up the phone and said, “Hello? (paused for a few seconds) How the heck do I know? What am I, the weather man?” and slams the phone down. His wife rolls over and asks, “Who was that?” The husband replies, “I don’t know. Some guy who wanted to know if the coast was clear tonight.”

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24-30, 2019

ENTERTAINMENT

With Douglas Omoyooma

Why I’m still single – Nkechi Blessing Sunday, actress By Douglas Omoyooma

f there is one thing that sets Nkechi Blessing Sunday, aka Omoge Lekki apart, it’s how she has blended seamlessly into acting Yoruba movies despite being of Igbo descent. Blessed with a fluent Yoruba accent, the fair skinned-AbiaState-born actress is indeed making waves in the Yoruba sector of Nollywood both as an actress and a moviemaker. Thanks to her role in Omoge Lekki, where she acted the role of a seductress which earned her the sobriquet, Omoge Lekki. Also she has stared in Omo Ologodidan and Bad Market among others. Oracle Today recently caught up with the actress and she opened up on the journey so far. Recalling her foray into the Yoruba sector of Hollywood and how she became popular in the sector she began: “Switching character wasn’t hard at all even though it was my first production. I had fun acting that character because it went as far as showing and teaching young ladies out there not to live fake life. “Talking about how I ended up being successful in the Yoruba sector of Nollywood, it all started in my early days. I had all my early days in the Agege area of Lagos where we communicated with our neighbours in Yoruba and with that, I was able to master the language like my mother tongue.” Nkechi Blessing came into Nollywood in 2007 and ever since she has never looked back, starring in movies like Omo Bewaji, Star of Fire, Fiditi and Church Girls among others. In fact, ever since her exploits in Omoge Lekki where she put her alluring backside to good use, Nkechi has never stopped flaunting what her mama gave her. Speaking on her alluring backside she continued: “It’s interesting, I like to show off what I have got. It’s not always intentional though. Flaunting my sex appeal it is my way of appreciating the work of God and the way he created me. My being able to act has gotten me more roles than my sex appeal. However, I was featured in Ikatobase and Omoge Lekki because of my sex appeal. In the movie Ikatobase, I had to seduce a lecturer because of my sex appeal,” she said. How does she handle your admirers? I simply tell them I am not searching.

Have you ever been sexually harassed by either a producer or a director? Never! she says waving her head vigorously. “I tHave never been sexually harassed by anyone in the industry. And by the way, you know, the way you carry yourself matters too. So I try as much to be me at all times. And talking about sex for role, I have never experienced it so I can only speak for myself and based on that, I really can’t speak. I don’t know about anyone else. What is that role she can’t play? The role I can’t play is going nude on set, not even for a huge some of money; nah, I can never act nude!

Each time I look in the mirror, I see a more beautiful version of myself. I’m happy I never gave up... I want to believe that we are a blessed people. Nollywood exposes you to better opportunities and takes you to greater heights.

Relationship Despite being pretty and curvy, the actress says she is currently not in a relationship: “ At the Moment I am Single. I am very serious. Of cause! I am ready for marriage but that’s only when Mr Right comes through.” Does she see marriage as a barrier to your career? Marriage as a barrier to my career? For now I don’t because I am not in a serious relationship right now. Can you quit acting for marriage? Yes, I can quit acting for marriage if my partner doesn’t want it. Anything that will make my home work is paramount to me. Role models? “My role models are Mercy Aigbe and Toyin Abraham. They have both added value to my life. Mercy Aigbe made my first Movie, Omoge Lekki possible while, Toyin Abraham taught me the power of positivity; she is the definition of a perfect role model.” Advice for fans “Please, always remember to put God first in everything you do and pray without ceasing. Also, always have it at the back of your minds that God’s time is the best. Lastly, popularity is not the same as being successful; let us be wise.”

“It’s interesting, I like to show off what I have got. It’s not always intentional though. Flaunting my sex appeal it is my way of appreciating the work of God and the way he created me”

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24-30, 2019

SPORTS AFCON 2019: No new players for Eagles – Rohr By MADUABUCHI KALU

nce again, the Super Eagles’ Technical Adviser, German Gernot Rohr, has ruled out any possibility of bringing in new players to bolster the Super Eagles’ squad for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt. The three time African champions it is recalled, last won the competition in 2013 and since then have not been able to participate in the previous two editions in 2015 and 2017 due to their inability to qualify for the tournaments. Despite admitting that he has goalkeeping concerns – with first-choice Francis Uzoho struggling for regular

•Super Eagles football this season – Rohr is not ready to call up any other player to bolster his squad for the continental biennial competition. “We have a little challenge because our young goalkeeper, Francis Uzoho has not really played at his club this season,” Rohr told BBC Sport. “Uzoho made one mistake in the last qualifier (against Seychelles) but we gave him a chance with the youth Under-23 and it was good for his confidence. “Daniel Akpeyi is playing now for a big team in South Africa and doing very well. Our third goalkeeper, Ikechukwu Ezenwa too is good so, we can work harder with them. “We have a good spirit as a team since

Oduduru broke Nigeria’s sprint jinx

...Sets new national 200m record

By MADUABUCHI KALU with Agency Report printer Divine Oduduru, last weekend gave Nigerian athletics hope by running •Oduduru 9.95seconds, a world leading performance at the Michael Johnson invitational meet in Waco Texas, USA. It was the first time a Nigerian sprinter is breaking the 10.00 seconds barrier since 2006, when Olusoji Fasuba broke the African record with a 9.85 seconds run in Doha, Qatar. Before going under 10.00seconds, Oduduru ran 19.76 seconds in the 200m to erase (subject to ratification) the 19.84 seconds national record held by Francis Obikwelu since 1999. Oduduru’s 19.76 is the third fastest African time in the 200m. Namibia’s Frankie Fredericks has the fastest 19.68 seconds, which is the African record since 1996. Oduduru, who is a student of the Texas University of Technology has established himself as the athlete to beat at the All Africa Games and with a little bit more push, he could also be a candidate for the gold at the World Athletics Championships in Doha. At the 2018 African Athletics Championships in Asaba, Delta State, Oduduru was eclipsed by the like of Akani Simbine who posted 10.25 seconds, Arthur Cise of Cote d’ Ivoire 10.33 and Simone Magakwe of South Africa with 10.35.

the World Cup, so there’s no time to bring in new players,” Rohr said. The country have struggled to fill the void created by the shock retirement of the country’s most capped player, Goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama in 2015, and the exit of replacement, Carl Ikeme. A lack of experience has been highlighted as a weakness but Rohr, who led Gabon to the last eight of the 2012 Nations Cup on home soil, is focusing on turning his young team into a major force in North Africa this summer. “We can work on every aspect to improve the team, that is why we have the friendly matches,” he added. “We qualified without two of our

most experienced players in Obi Mikel and Victor Moses. “I know what pressure is because I have experienced it with Gabon as hosts in 2012 – so this (challenge) is nothing new. “For the World Cup our president said we could go to the semi-finals but we saw what happened – now in Egypt he says we have to win it. “We work now to make a great tournament then we take it from there.” The three-time African champions will play in Group B with Guinea, debutants Madagascar and Burundi at the Nations Cup which will take place from 21 June to 19 July.

AFCON 2019 Preparation

Eagles to battle Atlas Lions –Rohr

By MADUABUCHI KALU n a bid to ensure that the Super Eagles prepared adequately for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), there is the likelihood that the Gernot Rohr led three time African champions will battle the Atlas lions of Morocco in international friendly before the tournament starts in the next two months. This much was made public by no other person than the team’s Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr. According to him, the country’s football govern•Rohr ing body, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) are in talks with Morocco for a friendly ahead of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. A friendly with the Lions of Teranga of Senegal is already sealed but plans to play the Black Stars of Ghana is doubtful because the Ghanaians have a planned training camp in the United Arab Emirates ahead of the AFCON. In words of Rohr: “there is a possibility that we play a friendly match against Morocco before the AFCON, but nothing is decided yet. “We really like playing against this good team from Morocco. But in March, it was not possible because we already had a scheduled friendly meeting with Egypt at home in Nigeria.” The Atlas Lions, who are one of the favourites to win the 2019 AFCON, have not met the Super Eagles in an international match since 2004.

Ronaldo 1st to win EPL, La Liga, Serie A titles By MADUABUCHI KALU with Agency Report here is no gain saying that the story of the beautiful game of football will not be complete without the generous mention of five time World Footballer of the Year, Cristiano Ronaldo. Despite the fact his cap is already filled with different kinds of feathers, the Portuguese super star has not stopped making history by adding more feathers to his already crowded cap. The five time EUFA Champions League winner, just at the weekend added yet another feather to his cap as he became the first player to have won three European’s top leagues, as he won Seria A tittle with his club, the Old lady of Turin, Juventus. The Portuguese captain who inspired his country to win Europe’s highest football prize for the first time in 2017, reached a titles milestone as Juventus clinched an eighth-consecutive Serie A crown with a 2-1 victory over Fiorentina, as they came from behind following a below-par first half. With the victory against Fiorentina at the weekend, Ronaldo became the first player to win each of the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A titles.

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24-30, 2019

SPORTS Onyekuru absence as Galatasaray beat Kayserispo 3-1 By MADUABUCHI KALU with agency report

outings across all competitions so far this term, with 12 goals and three assists to show. verton loanee and The Super Eagles rookie Galatasaray of Turkey striker, should, however, be available for Henry Onyekuru was missing selection in Galatasaray’s trip to in action in the Turkish Super Lig Konyaspor for their next league clash with against Kayserispor, as game on April 29. he observed a match suspension The Oracle Today sports is yet for accumulated cards had to ascertain whether Onyekuru received in course of the league (Onye Goal) will be a part of season. Gernot Rohr’s squad that will Despite his absence, Gala won confront the rest of the continent 3-1 on Saturday evening, with the in Egypt in the next two months team making light of his absence. as the Franco-German football It is recalled that the Nigerian tactician is yet to disclose those international received his first who are to make his team for the yellow card of the season against biennial tournament. the same opponent, Kayserispor, However, there are some on November 10, after which he players barring any unforeseen was booked in the tie against circumstances are sure bet for Kasimpasa in February, then the competition and the include versus Bursaspor on March 17 the like of Ahmed Musa, Alex and in the Istanbul derby with Iwobi, William Troost-Ekong, Fenerbahce the previous Sunday, Odion Jude Ighalo, Wilfred Ndidi, April 14. Leon Balogun, John Ogu, Samuel Though Galatasaray coped Kalu, OgeneKaro Etebo among well in his absence, it was a let others. down for Onyekuru, who has 37

Rangers unstoppable, piped MFM FC 1-0 to extend lead to six points By MADUABUCHI KALU

nugu Rangers Coach, Gbenga Ogunbote is in ‘Cloud 9’ at the moment as he charges continue to dish out excellent performance week in week-out in the ongoing 2018/19 Nigeria Professional Football League. The Flying Antelope, despite the determination and resilience of visiting Mountain of Fire and Miracle (MFM) Football Club of Lagos at the Nnamdi Azuikiwe Stadium otherwise known as (The Cathedral), the Coal City based side still find out a way of pocketing the maximum points as they defeated Dr. Olukoya’s Boys by alone goal to extent their leadership of Group A log to six points with two outstanding

matches in their favour. It was Pascal Seka’s 37 minute goal that gave Enugu Rangers the maximum as both teams missed several scoring chances after the only goal of the encounter. Speaking after the match, Coach Ogunbote praised his charges for their resilience in the match. “It was a tough match but we thank God we came out on top and it is a thing of honour that we were able to extend the lead,” he said. Ogunbote, however, noted that the league was still far from ending, adding that his team were going to take the remaining matches one after the other. “Getting the ticket to play on the continent next season is still our target and we are

still on course as we are going to approach all our remaining games with determination,” he said. On his part, the MFM FC’s Coach, Fidelis Ilechukwu, expressed dismay at the outcome of the match, noting that they came for victory or a draw. He, however, acknowledged that the match lived up to its billing, noting that his players did well but were let down in the first 45 minutes by a single error. “Rangers are not a small club, but we would have gotten something positive if not that we gave them a lot of respect in the first half. ”It is painful that we lost today’s match which we should have picked a point from. But so be it.”

Nigeria Curling Federation unveil sport, equipment, secretariat

he Nigeria University between the age of 18 and 25. Games Association (NUGA) “To participate, the athlete says trials for selection must either be a university of athletes for the 30th World student or a newly graduated University Games, would hold at student of less than a year. the Obafemi Awolowo University “Universities are to register (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State. their students (athletes) Bola Orodele, NUGA because we do not deal with Secretary, disclosed this while individuals. speaking with the sportswriter “The universities know who in Lagos on Monday, saying that is who, we don’t, the website is the event will hold between April still open for registration,” he 24 and April 28. said. Orodele said the trails would Orodele also said there is hold in five events -Athletics, room for sponsorship, saying Judo, Table tennis, Taekwondo that the body’s door is opened and Tennis. to intending sponsors. The World University Games “We are making some is scheduled for between July 3 moves already in the direction and July 14 in Stadio San Paolo, of sponsorship. There are been Napoli, Italy. some things that have been The NUGA scribe said approved by African Viceuniversity students wishing to Chancellors of Universities on participate in the trials must be what universities should do.

My target’s to qualify for 2020 Youth Olympics- Chukwuma By MADUABUCHI KALU

Jan. 9 to Jan. 22 in Lausanne, Switzerland. inner of 100m at The athlete, who also won the just-concluded gold in the 200m, said that she Confederation of was happy winning three gold African Athletics (CAA), medals for Nigeria. Rosemary Chukwuma, “I need to win the gold medals Championships, says that her and to make my country proud, I sight is set on qualifying for 2020 felt good winning three medals, Youth Olympics in Switzerland. it is a good development. Chukwuma told sports “I can say it is not a bad journalists in interview that she one because, I just started felt good winning three gold the season. I am okay with my medals at the Confederation performance. 2018 was a great of African Championships year, but I believe that this year sayinghat “it is the season’s will be greater,” she said. opener for me”. The 4x100m gold medalist, “My major target is to run a who was reacting to other good time that will qualify me activities she would have loved for 2020 Youth Olympics and I to engage in disclosed that she believe that I can do it. I know loves dancing. that with God all things are “If not for the 100m that I am possible,” she said. involved in, I would have loved The Oracle Today Sports to be a Long jumper or a dancer reports that the 2020 Youth because I love dancing a lot,” Olympics is scheduled for she said.

he Nigeria Curling Federation (NCF) at the weekend in Lagos made history as it unveils the sport, equipment and secretariat at the Adegoke Street, Surulere, Lagos to the ever-growing Nigeria sports family. The ceremony was performed by the President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), Musa Kida, who was the special guest of honour and the Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Barrister Solomon Dalung, who was represented by Nkana Mbora. The president of the Curling Federation, Daniel Danmola was conspicuously absent because he was in faraway Norway with the Nigerian team participating in the world championship. Speaking at the event, the Minister of Sports said it was

NUGA to hold trials for World University Games in OAU

historic that the new sport was being introduced to Nigerians during his time and hoped that very soon. The country’s athletes would begin to win laurels for self and country at international events. On his part, the NBBF President, Kida said he was proud for being part of the epochmaking event. “I would do everything in my capacity to attract Total to the sport in terms of sponsorship and backing your programmes,” he promised the young federation.

Curling is basically played on ice, but can also be played in the tropics on a dry curling sheet. A team is made up of 4 players. Its main equipment comprises of a stone (or rinks), a brush. It is contested among two teams of four players each. The team with the most rinks within the target circle wins the match. A technical official with the federation, Kennedy Imonitie said Curling was one of the easiest and healthiest sports to play. “It has to do with mental balance. It is easy to play.”

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24-30, 2019

SPORTS Hazard agrees terms with Real Madrid over mega transfer

By MADUABUCHI KALU helsea and Belgium superstar, Eden Hazard, has agreed personal terms over a move to Real Madrid, it has been claimed. The Chelsea winger has long been linked with Real Madrid with Manager Zinedine Zidane an admirer. Hazard will enter the final year of his contract at Stamford Bridge this summer. That means it will be the last transfer window Chelsea can demand a big transfer fee for the Belgium international. Telefoot journalist, Fred Calenge has claimed Hazard has agreed personal terms with Real Madrid should a move materialise. And with Zidane looking to overhaul his Real Madrid side this summer, Hazard could be on the move. Los Blancos goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, has admitted Hazard would be a big asset for the La Liga giants. “I (would) choose Eden, of course,” Courtois told Belgian newspaper, Het Nieuwsblad. “I really like him, but the choice is up to the board. “I do not know what will happen. That is not a question for me, but for the chairman and the management. “The team is what it is now. Karim Benzema is in a good shape and scored 17 goals. [Gareth] Bale started well, but then had to deal with injuries. “You see in the matches that we have quality, only sometimes it is not possible to score.”

Hosting African Championships excites –Rivers’ Govt R By MADUABUCHI KALU with Agency Report

ivers Government has expressed excitement over the hosting of the 18th All African Senior Badminton Championships in the State capital, Port Harcourt The Rivers excitement over the hosting of the championships was made known by no other person than the State Governor, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike during the opening ceremony of the championships tagged: ‘Port Harcourt 2019,’ on Monday. The action of governor of Rivers who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Ipalibo HarryBanigo, thanked the Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA) for granting Nigeria the hosting right. “We are delighted to host Africa and we are extremely excited that the BCA supported Nigeria to host the championship.

“I assure all the participants that they will enjoy the traditional of hospitality of the state, and by the time you are done, you will desire to come back,” he said. According to Governor Wike, sports is an important aspect of human life as it drives unity and development. “So, I expect that African continent can showcase great talents with sports to drive our unity and development,” he said. The Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA) President, Tukebana Bau, said the championships came back to Nigeria after a very long wait of 19 years. “The BCA is committed to not only help badminton players in any corner of Africa but to also make sure we choose the best country for our major event. “The confederation, being an athlete centred organisation is committed to the welfare of players and to make sure they are provided with the best facility for training and championships,” he said.

Rohr sweats over Troost-Ekong fitness By MADUABUCHI KALU uper Eagles Technical Adviser, German Gernot Rohr is not a happy man at the moment reason being the uncertainty of one of his trusted defenders, William Troost-Ekong, who is battling fitness after copping an injury in his club assignment at the weekend. The Nigerian international fitness is now in doubt for his club’s next game following the injury he suffered at the weekend’s encounter which led to his leaping out of the field before the end of the match. It is recalled that Troost-Ekong suffered a similar setback, which ruled him out of a fixture against AC Milan, due to an abductor injury last month, bowed out in the 76th minute of Udinse’s 1-1 draw with Sassuolo on Saturday. The Holland-born stopper is now in doubt to star for his Udine-based side in next Monday’s clash with Atalanta, as he is said to be done with a muscular complaint. The development has already left Udinese’s coach, Igor Tudor, worried about being without Troost-Ekong, who has started 32 of 33 matches for his team so far this term in the Italian top flight. Tudor stated: “We need to focus on ourselves, on our work. Fofana and Ekong are two important players. “Now we have five games to think about and the commitment must be on this.” Troost-Ekong has been one of the pillars in the Eagles central defensive unit, where he has distinguished himself in partnership with others Eagles’ defenders.

Quadri ready to gun for top honour at Budapest

igeria’s table tennis sensation, Aruna Quadri has disclosed that he is fit and ready for any challenge at the International Table Tennis (ITTF) World championship in Budapest. The journey for glory for Quadri and other African super stars begins today April 23, as the main draw of the men’s and women’s singles gets underway in Budapest, Hungary. The 2018 Commonwealth gold medalist, currently ranked 23 in the world, says he is primed to push for glory in the men’s singles events. Quadri, who’s is the first African to be named the star player by ITTF, having won the qualifying round of the men’s doubles events with Omar Assar from Egypt is determined to give his best and lift Africa in the singles. “I am fit and I am ready to roar regardless of who I am set up against. There is no doubt that it is a tough tournament because there are no minnows in table tennis as everybody is capable of causing upset,” Quadri boasted.

Lisbon Lions’ captain, McNeill, dies @ 79

By MADUABUCHI KALU ootball fraternity was Tuesday thrown into mourning as the news of filtered in of former Celtic captain, Billy McNeill, the captain of the ‘Lisbon Lions’ side that became the first British team t o win the European Cup in 1967, has died aged 79, his family announced on the club’s website on Tuesday. Billy McNeill, who spent the whole of his playing career with the Glasgow giants, also went on to manage Celtic. McNeill had suffered from dementia for a number of years and a statement issued by his children said: “It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our father Billy McNeill. “He passed away late Monday, April 22, surrounded by his family and loved ones. He suffered from dementia for a number of years and fought bravely to the end, showing the strength and fortitude he always has done throughout his life.” McNeill joined Celtic from junior side, Blantyre Victoria in 1957 and the defender went on to make a club record 822 appearances for the Hoops over 18 seasons. He also won 29 caps for Scotland. McNeill enjoyed two spells as Celtic manager and, in total, won 31 trophies during his lengthy association with the Parkhead club. “While this is a very sad time for all the family and we know our privacy will be respected, our father always made time for the supporters so please tell his stories, sing his songs and help us celebrate his life,” the statement added.

Osheku predicts new record in Okpekpe

ormer-international and a foremost coach in the land, Tony Osheku, has predicted a new course records at the next edition of the annual IAAF silver label Okpekpe International 10km Road Race coming up on May 25, in the hilly town of Okpekpe, Edo State. Osheku, one of Nigeria’s top road race experts believes the 2019 IAAF road race regulations and the decision of the organisers of the Okpekpe race to seek a gold label status for the event next year will make this year’s race the best in terms of the quality of its elite field of athletes. “The 2019 IAAF regulations have made it compulsory for all label races to have a minimum of six men and six women from the pool of athletes whose status corresponds to the Label being applied for,” he said. “This will ensure that a Gold Label race, for example, has at least 12 of the world’s 300 best specialists at that particular distance. “What this means is that the seventh edition of the Okpekpe 10km Road Race will have at least 12 gold level running athletes in attendance, that is athletes who run 27, 28 minutes consistently for men and 30, 31 and 32 minutes for women. “The last time we had athletes who ran under 29 minutes for men and 33 minutes for women was five years ago, precisely 2014 when the Ethiopian duo of Teshome Mekonnen and Wude Ayalew ran 28:35 and 32:41 respectively to set the current course records for men and women.”

The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

Crime RRS expands security operations in Lagos Stories by VICTOR NZE

agos State Anti-Crime outfit, the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) has expanded its security patrol and operations across the metropolis with the foiling of five armed robbery attacks and rescue of 12 victims in different parts of Lagos. Commander, RRS, ACP Olatunji Disu, who disclosed this in the outfit’s report for the month of March 2019, said the expansion and unre-

lenting efforts of the officers and men of the anti-crime squad have led to a reduction in armed robbery rate in Lagos within the past few months. ACP Disu explained that the continued collaboration of the squad with other security agencies to enforce law and order in every nook and cranny of the metropolis has resulted in the improvement of security of lives and properties. He averred that such partnership aided the foiling of an armed attack

by a gang of robbers on residents of Anifowoshe Street, Ilasamaja and Olaoye Estate, Alagbado on 17th and 23rd of March, 2019 respectively, stressing that motorised patrol and monitoring had since been intensified in those areas. According to him, “On 17th of March, 2019, there was a distress call from the Controller notifying officers about a robbery operation at Anifowoshe Street, Ilasamaja. In a swift response, RRS operatives and other law enforcement

agents raced to the scene to foil the attack as the robbers took to their heels”. “On 23rd of March, 2019, another distress call about a robbery incident at AIT area of Alagbado, Lagos was received. The RRS patrol vehicle swiftly responded to foil the attack by the armed robbers who then took to their heels”, he added. On other life-saving activities of the regiment, the Commander noted that the squad had also participated actively in the rescue of

Nasarawa killings: IGP orders CP to fish out perpetrators

Police arrests ‘spiritual father’ of Abuja-Kaduna highway kidnappers

gainst the backdrop of the shootings on April 14, 2019 in Numa Kochu village, in Nasarawa State which resulted in the death of innocent persons, the Acting Inspector General Police (Ag. IGP), Mr. Mohammed Adamu, has ordered for the immediate deployment of combined units of intervention squads to provide additional support to the existing operatives in the State. A statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, Abuja, DCP Frank Mba, quoted the IGP as further directing the Commissioner of Police, Nasarawa State, Mr Ademola EmmanuelLonge to ‘identify and fish out all the persons connected to the dastardly killings.’ The combined tactical teams comprising the Police Mobile Force (PMF), Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU), Explosive Ordinance Department (EOD), IGP Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) and Specialized Investigators from the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) have been mandated to provide support to the existing security architecture in the State to prevent further attacks and carry out discrete investigation into the killings. While restating the commitment of the Force to uncover and bring the perpetrators of the killing to justice, the IGP implored ‘any member of the public with useful and credible information that could aid the ongoing investigation not to hesitate to avail same to the Police through the following contacts: 08033097663, 08033674246.’

•(From left): Acting Inspector General of Police, Mr Mohammed Adamu exchanging souvenirs with the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode when he led other top police officers on a courtesy visit to the Lagos House in Alausa, Ikeja, Monday

Late ASC Jumbo: Two former traffic wardens arraigned for culpable homicide

Police have arraigned in Court TGIIhetheIdoko two Traffic Wardens – TW Sunday and TW GII Katdel

Dabit for complicity in the death of Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr Ogar Jumbo, an Assistant Superintendent of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). The arraignment of the erstwhile Traffic Wardens is sequel to the outcome of investigation into the case

of alleged discreditable conduct and unlawful exercise of authority reported against them on 20th March, 2019. The former Traffic Wardens had earlier been subjected to the internal disciplinary procedures of the Force – tried in an Orderly Room, and dismissed before the arraignment. Police investigations positively indicted them for assault and

Lagos identifies 13,750 traffic law violators in first quarter of year 2019

agos State Government, through the Vehicle Inspection Service, has revealed that about 13,750 motorists have been identified via the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) Camera as violators of traffic laws in Lagos State within the first quarter of 2019. The ANPR camera initiative, a collaboration with Soft Alliance Limited, was introduced to aid coordinated monitoring of commuter movement to ensure total compliance of motorists with traffic laws in the State. Speaking on the development, the Director, Vehicle Inspection Service under the Ministry of Transportation, Engineer Gbolahan Toriola said the State Government

20 fire and 15 accident victims and quelled a public disturbance in the month under review. Disu revealed that as part of strategies to enhance its operations in Lagos, all RRS operatives have been instructed to ensure timely response to all distress calls received on the State’s toll-free lines. He attributed the achievements and success of the squad in Lagos to the continued support and encouragement of the successive administrations in Lagos.

adopted the advanced technological method to maintain a strong level of enforcement without hampering the traffic flow on the roads. According to Toriola, the ANPR technology camera captures the number plate of vehicles, records it into the system and synchronises with a database platform comprising of FRSC, Courteville and LASDRI, among other agencies, to confirm validity as well as the authenticity of the documentation of vehicles and their expiration dates. He revealed further that some of the cameras were installed on the VIS patrol vehicles to aid the tracking of vehicles without plate numbers plying the roads. Toriola added that e-tickets are

subsequently produced and served to defaulters according to the offences captured by the ANPR technology, stating that the practice is designed to encourage voluntary compliance. He also emphasised that in case the offender is not found or does not respond with prompt payment within seven days, such person will be blacklisted and charged to a mobile court with 100% increment of the penalty fee. He, however, assured motorists with complete documentation not to entertain any fears and sought the cooperation of all residents to maintain sanity on the roads while improving the transportation sector of the State.

excessive use of force on the deceased after his arrest. Forensic Analysis by a pathologist as seen in the autopsy report traced the cause of death to injuries inflicted on the deceased during his encounter with the Traffic Wardens. The autopsy report states in part that the death; was due to blunt force injury to the head; ii. multiple skin and soft tissue injuries on the fore head and face, and that; iii. there was no natural disease in the body to sufficiently explain the sudden death “While the Force deeply regrets the unfortunate incident which resulted in the death of ASC Ogar Jumbo, the IGP enjoins the Public not to lose faith in the Force, reiterating his earlier assurances that, under his watch, no form of impunity or “man’s inhumanity to man” will go unpunished,” a police statement read. The IGP, therefore, warned that like these indicted traffic wardens, any Police Officer found wanting for unlawful use of force and other sundry offences, will be publicly named, shamed and brought to book to serve as deterrent to others. The two erstwhile Traffic Wardens have been remanded at the Kuje Prisons pending the next adjournment of the case.

n continuation of efforts to rid the Abuja – Kaduna Expressway of kidnapping and other heinous crimes, cracked detectives from the IGP Intelligence Response Unit (IRT) and other operatives attached to Operation Puff Adder have arrested one Mallam Salisu Abubakar, 48yrs old, a native of Dutsinma local government area, Katsina State. According to Mr Frank Mba, the Force Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, Abuja, the Mallam, a self-confessed spiritual father of kidnappers terrorizing Abuja-Kaduna expressway and parts of other North-West/North-Central States of the Country, was arrested April 16, 2019, following intelligence and subsequent manhunt, in his hideout, in a forest, at Galadimawa Village, Kaduna State. “Investigation has clearly implicated the suspect for aiding and abetting the commission of several high-profile armed robbery and kidnapping operations in the North West and North Central States of the Country. “The suspect is notorious for providing spiritual guidance and intelligence for kidnappers, before and after their operations. His arrest, no doubt, will assist Police operatives to apprehend several other kidnappers and vicious criminals still at large,” said the police spokesman. Similarly, the operatives on April 14, 2019, in Abuja, arrested one Godwin Ige a.k.a ‘white’ ‘m’ 28years old, a native of AkokoEdo local government area of Edo State, the fourth member of the gang responsible for the kidnap of Channels TV Staff, Mr. Friday Okeregbe. The operatives recovered from him one Berretta pistol, one locally made pistol, eleven live ammunition, two live cartridges and a Honda Accord branded car with Reg. No. KWL 420 GU in which the victim was kidnapped on March 22, 2019.

39 The Oracle Today Wednesday April 24 - 30, 2019

his week, I had set out to know what has happened to little Uzoamaka Chukwu who was stripped, dehumanized, and humiliated by some people in Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area of the State in a broad day light on July 13th, 2016. Thirty-eight days after rescue came her way through Ms Rita Nnenna Anoh of Veroz Group, Port Harcourt who adopted her to give her the best life can afford, Governor Dave Umahi ordered her return with a 7-day ultimatum. Umahi through his then Chief Press Secretary, Emma Anya announced that “government is asking that wherever she is, she should come back so that we can take over her training from secondary school to the university level. We will also be able to rehabilitate her.” I had written then that Chief Dave Umahi truncated her blissful future on an ego trip by his seven days ultimatum to return Uzoamaka on August 22nd 2016, and out of courtesy Miss Anoh on September 24th, 2016 returned Uzoamaka claiming high pressure from unmentioned quarters. And I ask, where is little Uzoamaka Chukwu now? What has happened to her? Am I right or wrong? Chief Emmanuel Uzor, his now Chief Press Secretary may tell us! We want to know. Again, I would have written on our beloved Prince Engr. Arthur Eze’s N1B donation for the reelection of Umahi and the millions to the traditional institution in Ebonyi State before the killing of innocent passers-by by Ebonyi communities over their boundary dispute. The killing happened near Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo (AE -FUNAI) road. Twelve persons were allegedly killed during the communal clash between two sister clans Ndiagu Alike Ikwo in Ikwo Local Government Area and Enyibuchiri Abakaliki, in Abakaliki Local Government Area, both in Ebonyi State. Two tertiary institutions’ communities, students and staff alike were thrown into panic mood, that of Alex Ekwueme University, Udufu-Alike and Ebonyi State College of Education, Ikwo. It was really shameful that such happened. Ebonyi State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Awosola Awotunde through the PPRO, DSP Loveth Odah confirmed the killing of eight persons including a three-month baby in a renewed boundary dispute between two communities in Ebonyi State. Six (6) of the victims came from the same family returning from the matriculation ceremony of their son. They were burnt to death in a bus they were travelling in; two others were also killed from bullet wounds they sustained from the attacks. Bizarre! The attack was near the boundary between the two communities over claims of ownership of some portion of lands in the area suspected to be rich in mineral resources. Odah said one of the victims was a wife of a police officer serving in Ebonyi State whose husband was on secondment to Borno State to fight the insurgency in the NorthEast. “The victims were coming from Abakaliki where they attended matriculation of their son at the Ebonyi State University (EBSU). Five of them were from the same family including a little baby and one is a neighbour who joined them. They were burnt to ashes. ‘’The driver on sighting the gunwielding warriors tried to turn the

CORNUCOPIA By Odogwu Emeka Odogwu Telephone number: 08060750240

E-mail : odogwuchampionawka@yahoo.co.uk

Impossible Ndiagu Alike Ikwo and Enyibuchiri Abakaliki, Ebonyi State:Thanks Umahi!

•Umahi sympathises with a widow car but in his haste drop the car into a ditch. The gunmen opened fire on the car and some bullets punctured the fuel tank and it caught fire killing the six occupants. Why ambush innocent people? Why would this happen? These people had nothing to do with the communal crisis in Ebonyi State, so why hurt them to the extent of killing them. Commissioner for Boundary Peace and Internal Security, Dr Kenneth Ugbala wondered why a land dispute will spill into markets and roads very far from the where the disputed land is. The deputy governor of the State, Kelechi Igwe visited the area while the State Governor, David Umahi who was on working vacation outside the country, cut short his vacation and returned to attend to the crisis. Umahi summoned an emergency stakeholders meeting from the three council areas where some killings have taken place recently. He expressed sadness at the unfortunate death of innocent citizens following the outbreak of communal clashes in some parts of the state. These council areas include Enyibichiri in Abakaliki local government area, Echie Alike in Ikwo local government area and Umuogodoakpu and Ukwuagba communities in Ohaukwu local government area. Umuogodoakpu and Ukwuagba communities have been having a boundary dispute with Agila community in Ado local government area of Benue state

and many lives have been lost. After the Enyibichiri and Echie Alike crisis, Ukwuagba and Umuogodoakpu crisis took place with lives lost. Umahi accused some stakeholders from the communities of fuelling the crisis. His words: “If there is any further aggression against the Agila people that will result to our people being killed, you will present yourself for arrest and prosecution immediately. “If the chairman of a community is not able to protect the lives of his people, then he is not worthy to be the chairman. He should resign or I sack him whether it is constitutional or not constitutional is immaterial to me. What is important is the lives of Ebonyi people and the constitution that we swore to uphold, talks about the lives and welfare of the people. “So, if you were elected in error and you cannot protect the lives of the people, it means you are not capable”. Umahi stated further: “The Ohaukwu people in Agila are the aggressors and what is happening is that it is the problem of sabotage from the leaders in Ohaukwu Local Government. I am told there is a security committee the Chairman removed and another security committee he has inaugurated. And so the other people will go and throw stones on Agila side and give them information on how to kill the Ohaukwu people. We are placing the security of the place in the hands of the leaders and they will sign an undertaking with the Deputy Governor that if there is any further aggression against

the Agila people that will result to our people being killed, they will present themselves for arrest and prosecution immediately.’’ Imagine this! How can people derive joy in creating crisis in their towns? The governor had a closeddoor meeting with the Enyibichiri and Alike stakeholders, and later stakeholders elected and appointed from Abakaliki, Ikwo and Ohaukwu at his office at the Government House, Abakaliki. That resulted in suspension of two council chairmen, and political appointees over the killings in the state resulting from communal crises. Umahi’s suspension was with immediate effect, as he directed the affected chairmen and political appointees of the affected areas to hand over all government properties in their possession to the next in command. He as well suspended three traditional rulers that were accused of having a hand in the sponsorship of the nagging crises. Civil servants alleged to have a hand in the crisis have been asked to forfeit their salaries. A total of 51 political holders both elected and appointed were suspended indefinitely by Umahi pending the time they must have ensured the return of peace in the affected local government areas. That’s why I thumped up for Governor Dave Umahi. Thank you for that single action. If action is taken against perpetrators of evil, it would reduce, if not completely eradicated. It would help to restore peace. Me thinks! Another peace maker, or so I think, Senator representing Ebonyi

Central Zone, Senator Obinna Ogba has as well called on the two warring communities, Enyibichiri Echialike in Ikwo Local Government Area and Enyigba in Abakaliki Local Government Area of the State to stop further killings and destruction of property because they are brothers. I was pained that no fewer than 200 have been killed and over 20,000 others displaced in different communal crisis between Ebonyi and states it shared common boundaries with. Just in Igbeagu community in the Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State over 10 persons were feared killed and 7,000 others displaced following a renewed inter-communal crisis between indigenes of the community and their neighbours in Ukele, Cross River State. Over 1,500 houses have reportedly been destroyed by Ukele militia groups fighting in Izzi Local Government Area as displaced persons were seen fleeing the zone along AbakalikiOgoja highway with their belongings. As I write, Izzi has been deserted. Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State, Dr Eric Igwe, had directed the Cantonment Commander of Nkwegu Military Barracks, Abakaliki, Lt. Col. Saaid Sadiq, to deploy more troops in the trouble spot to ensure the safety of residents and foreigners travelling along the Abakaliki-Ogoja transSahara highway. Why can’t Izzi and Ukele have an everlasting peace? Is it impossible? Why would people be slaughtered on the altar of insecurity and wickedness? Commander, Nkwagu Military Cantonment, Lt. Col. Sa’aad Sadiq, stated that more troops had been deployed from Cross River and Abakaliki to quell the crisis and enjoined the people of Izzi to support the peace process by attending security meetings. Recall that two people were killed in Amata Igboeze community in Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, during a traditional marriage ceremony between the community and their in-laws from Nenwe community in Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State over slight provocation. Though, the Ebonyi State government is blaming the federal government as it has not displayed enough sincerity in ensuring that the problems of boundary areas in Nigeria not only in Ebonyi State are amicably resolved. The Commissioner for Boundary Peace and Internal Security, Dr. Kenneth Ugbala, described the National Boundary Commission (NBC) as a toothless bulldog following its inability to demarcate the disputed land between the people of Igbeagu in Izzi Local Government area of Ebonyi State and Ukele community in Yala Local Government area of Cross River State since the outbreak of the crisis several years ago. Is the Federal government sincere with regard to resolving boundary disputes? Why won’t the National Boundary Commission demarcate these boundaries? Is land more important than the life of an Ebonyi person? Is this the Ebonyi state where I can call a home having lived there for about 10 years between 80’s and 90’s? Unbelievable! Impossible! Ndiagu Alike Ikwo and Enyibuchiri Abakaliki, Ebonyi state, stop denting the good heights Ebonyi has recorded since democracy returned. Thanks Umahi! But these killings must stop! •Phone Number: 08060750240 E-mail :odogwuchampionawka@ yahoo.co.ukOdogwu

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Notra-Dame Inferno: Vanity of the rebuild donations...

he world was shocked earlier this week – Monday evening precisely – when we all woke up to a burning Notra-Dame cathedral in the heart of Paris. The cathedral is a historic symbol of French National treasure and a rich treasure trove of catholic, Christian relics and artifacts, most notably the renowned crown of thorns worn by Christ to the crucifixion. Folks were glued to CNN and other news channels as this agelong building was, almost nonstop, ravaged by fire. For me, the collapse of the cathedral’s spire was somewhat reminiscent of a similar, if epic, collapse of the New York Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. As was the case with the Twin Towers, the rebuilding effort towards Notra-Dame is shaping up to be swift and spectacular. As a matter of fact, the donations started pouring in from the World’s super rich within hours of the fire. It was almost as if they were striving to outdo each other in a stupendous display of generosity. Topping the list were: Bernard Arnault, scion of France’s wealthiest family and owners of the luxury brand LVMH Louis Vuitton, who donated two hundred million Euros towards the rebuild effort; Francois-Henri Pinault, France’s second wealthiest family and owners of luxury brand, Kering and Gucci, were not to be outdone and donated one hundred million Euros for the rebuild; the heirs of global cosmetics brand, L’Oreal, donated two hundred million Euros through their Bettencourt-schueller Foundation; and also other corporate and wealthy donors contributed. At the moment, the rebuild war chest stands at a little under a billion Euros. Even Donald Trump – arguably the world’s

Okey

Igwe greatest narcissist – called Pope Francis and offered technical and professional assistance towards the rebuild. The donations are commendable – I should not be confused for a socialist or populist intent on vilifying the rich – and I could not be happier for France and the Catholic Church. But cast against the façade of raging poverty in multiple locations across the world (especially in Africa) and inequality in developed countries exemplified by the yellow jacket revolution in France itself, the donations raise a lot of momentous questions. For instance, are we really doing God’s work when we spend millions in building the ‘house of God’? What is and should be the role of the rich and super rich amongst us in ensuring a more equitable and better world for all? How about the place of governmental policy in ensuring a more structured deployment of charitable donations for the common welfare? First, Christ makes it abundantly clear in

His teachings that the most cardinal of all his commandments is love. The main thrust of love is giving. But what manner of giving? In several teachings, He shows examples – there is the example of the preacher who bragged about building magnificent church buildings in lieu of taking care of the poor and needy who Christ summarily sentenced to hell; there is also the example of those that were equally cast to hell on judgement day for neglecting to clothe, feed, and take care of Christ by doing the acts to the least amongst the brethren. The unifying principle is that He is more interested in caring for the poor and needy than building mansions that will ultimately pass away. Permit me to state that I do not totally condemn nice church buildings or donations for it, but I am confident that life is much more precious than any building will ever be. Armed with the means and resources, I will always choose to invest in rescuing folks all over developing countries living in hunger, diseases, and en-

during unimaginable conditions in slums and crime infested neighborhoods. Love should move the super-rich amongst us to come to the rescue with the same alacrity and swiftness we witnessed this week toward rebuilding Notra-Dame Cathedral. Second, billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are shining examples of the doctrine of equitable distribution of wealth for the benefit of the poor and needy. Through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, they have schematically fashioned out an outreach to developing countries that focus on the most vulnerable. Their mission statement recognizes that “all lives are equal.” And so by investing billions of dollars in healthcare, education, and poverty eradication programs, the foundation ensures that “more children and young people survive and thrive” and thereby empowers the poorest in the darkest corners of the world. This is most admirable! I will advise others to follow after this example. Dangote can, for instance, reorder his priorities and invest more than two billion dollars earmarked for the purchase of Arsenal football club – an investment that is at best an ostentatious bailout on personal luxury – into improving decaying infrastructure all over Nigeria. Third, governmental policy must be properly tooled to better structure charitable donations and or investments for the general welfare. As a constitutional matter, these principles are enshrined in our constitution under the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy – “the security and welfare of the people SHALL be the primary purpose of government.” As the gap between the rich and the poor widens, unleashing poverty along with it across the globe, we all, as citizens of the world community that has significantly shrunk to a global village, sit on a keg of gunpowder that will certainly explode unless promptly checked. It behooves all governments at all levels to deploy policies that will take advantage of private sector generosity to formulate schemes that will result in win-win partnerships for both private donors/investors and the general public. Enyimba Economic City is one of such novel schemes (kudos to the cerebral governor of Abia State). Capable of generating close to one million new jobs, such projects should be duplicated across Nigeria and Africa and the Adenuga’s, Dangotes, Dantatas, Authur Ezes, and others would do well to invest in them. By so doing, they would be doing the Lord’s work, honoring the crown of thorn he wore for us all, and helping in no small way to advance the course of humanity by creating jobs and lifting millions of youths out of poverty. The world will become a better, safer place for posterity and all of us. In closing, the task of making the world better in this regard, belongs to us all no matter how rich or poor – there is always something we can contribute (money or service) to move society forward. •Okey Igwe, Esq. Member-Elect, ABHA Umunneochi Constituency.

•Notra-Dame cathedral

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